City Releases ‘Gang of Five’ Text Messages for Private Court Review
The drama continues in the ongoing litigation around texts sent between five Democratic Cincinnati City Council members during the tumult around the exit of then-Cincinnati City Manager Harry Black this spring. The city turned over some of the controversial texts today to the First District Court of Appeals. The messages will remain under court-ordered seal…
Mt. Airy’s Iconic Water Towers Are One Step Away From Local Historic Designation
A few months after it looked like parts of the iconic Mt. Airy water towers might be demolished, the structure — in its entirety — is now in the final stages of securing local historic landmark status. Initially, Greater Cincinnati Water Works said it would need to reduce water capacity in the 8.3 million-gallon facility…
Pre-Game for Thanksgiving by Getting Stuffed on Great Americana-Centric Music Wednesday at Southgate House Revival
Unless you are a recently unfrozen caveperson, you are likely hyper-aware that the night before Thanksgiving is the busiest night of the year for bars, as former residents return to their hometowns for the holiday to meet up with old friends, socialize with new ones and drink merrily. Escaping from the family — or letting…
Watch Frisch’s Big Boy Lay Down Some Slick Moves in the Name of Pumpkin Pie
It’s pie szn, folks. And — as a recently released parody vid à la Frisch’s states — the pumpkin variety “tastes so good it makes a big boy cry.” The music video release — featuring a pumpkin twist on Warrant’s 1990 hit song “Cherry Pie” — comes just in time for Thanksgiving Eve, when Frisch’s…
Legal Fight Over Cincinnati Tent Cities Continues
The tents downtown that popped up this summer are gone — but the fight over them continues. The Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition yesterday filed amendments to a lawsuit against Cincinnati and Hamilton County it filed this summer in response to the city’s removal of tent cities in downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. The amended filing seeks…
Minimum Gauge: Trump Honors Elvis Presley with Presidential Medal of Freedom and By Fondly Remembering That Famous Quote, “Elvis Has Left the House”
HOT: Obscure Singer Finally Recognized Given to people who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors,” the Presidential Medal of Freedom is one of the highest honors that can be given to a civilian by the…
Cincinnati Urban Sketchers Document the Cityscape, One Scene at a Time
If there’s ever been a perfect time to stroll through a graveyard, this is it: A crisp mid-October morning slicked with dew. The mossy headstones and memorials that populate Walnut Hills Cemetery jut solemnly into a cloudless sky. About 12 bundled-up folks in folding chairs speckle the surrounding lawn, hunched over their sketchpads. They’re mostly…
BLINK Cincinnati is Heading to Miami’s Basel House Festival
BLINK Cincinnati will go down south to shed some light in Miami Beach, Fla. next month during Art Basel, where the team behind the project will participate in Basel House, an annual festival where contemporary art abounds. (Need a refresher? Check out our slideshow on BLINK here.) The free Basel House fest (now in its sixth…
This ArtWorks-Developed Card Game Wants to Break Down Mental Health Stigmas
A new card game has been developed in Cincinnati that encourages young gamers to discuss mental health issues in a productive and progressive manner. Hey, Let’s Talk: Mental Health Card Game was developed by regional health foundation Interact for Health and ArtWorks, a nonprofit arts-based workforce development and job-training organization. The game was designed to…
Think Ohio’s ‘Heartbeat’ Bill is Strict? This Legislation Could Bring Murder Charges for Abortions
Flexing their renewed majority in Ohio's House of Representatives, Republican lawmakers last week passed a number of pieces of staunchly conservative legislation. Those included a potential law co-sponsored by Republicans Ron Hood and Christina Hagan that would outlaw abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected — as soon as six weeks after conception. But another…
REVIEW: Cincy Shakes’ ‘Twelfth Night’ is a Rollicking Romp
CRITIC’S PICK Guest director Austin Tichenor knows something about putting funny material onstage. He’s one of the zany minds behind The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) as a founder of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, which has cranked out numerous works in that vein (several of which had their initial productions at the Cincinnati Playhouse).…
Watch “Too Much,” The Latest Music Video From Cincinnati-Based Senegalese Hip Hop Artist Papa Gora
Papa Gora is a Senegal-born, Cincinnati-based Hip Hop artist who started turning heads this year with his debut recording project, H.O.P.E., which came out in early January. The album (the initials stand for “Home of People Everywhere,” and it is subtitled “Based on a Village in West Africa”) is a stunning, revelatory piece of art,…
Rising R&B Star Arin Ray, Whose Major Label Album Debut Dropped in March, Returns to Cincinnati for a Hometown Show
It was six years ago this week that singer Arin Ray (then a senior at Cincinnati’s School for Creative and Performing Arts) was eliminated from televised singing competition The X Factor, placing 10th overall. Ray is now 23 and living in Los Angeles, where he moved after graduation to work on getting his music career…
Walnut Hills Landmark Moves Toward Local Historic Designation
Imagine you’re a famous, talented celebrity visiting a mid-sized city and you’re not allowed to stay in its nicest downtown hotels. Or picture this: you and your partner, lifelong Cincinnati residents, can’t celebrate your wedding where most folks in town do. Those were the realities black residents and visitors in Cincinnati faced well into the…
Where to Drink the Night Before Thanksgiving in Cincinnati
The night before Thanksgiving is one of the nation's most restless. People flock back to their hometowns to feast with family, but on the evening prior of to turkey day there's an inherent drive to get the hell out of the house and party down. After scathing the far corners of the internet, here are…
REVIEW: Delve into a Wealth Of Cynicism In ‘Widows’
Steve McQueen, the academy award-winning director of 12 Years a Slave — as well as Hunger and Shame — is a formalist to the core. Within precisely composed frames, his actors are given space to live and breathe in. He provides color, scale and scope (whether historically epic or painfully intimate) that lay bare the…
Nick Cannon is Bringing ‘Wild ‘N Out’ to Cincinnati’s U.S. Bank Arena Right Before Christmas
Actor/comedian Nick Cannon is bringing the live version of his popular Wild 'N Out MTV show to Cincinnati's U.S. Bank Arena for a little pre-Christmas fun. "Nick Cannon Presents Wild 'N Out LIVE" comes to Cincinnati on Dec. 22. Tickets go on sale "Black Friday" — Nov. 23 — at 10 a.m. here. Tickets are…
Wave Pool’s ‘Invisible Labor’ Exhibit Seeks to Spotlight the Unseen
Wave Pool Gallery’s upcoming Invisible Labor exhibit gets meta. The premise is as follows: Behind the art that hangs along walls of museums and galleries is the work of people that are often in the shadows of recognition. Art handlers and exhibit preparatory crews are vital — and often artists themselves — to the process…
For Some OTR Residents, Senior Center is ‘Home’
On most days, Wendell Russell makes the short walk from his home to the Over-the-Rhine Senior Services Center in the morning so he can eat breakfast and sit and talk with other seniors who live in the area. He then stops back by his house to rest a little before coming back over for lunch…
Music Industry Legend Seymour Stein, Whose Career Began at King Records, Returns to Cincinnati for Q&A at the Library
When the renowned record company executive-turned-author Seymour Stein speaks in Cincinnati at the Main Library on Dec. 1, it will be a homecoming of sorts. Stein’s first job at a record label was with Syd Nathan’s King Records, back in the 1950s. Stein’s appearance here underscores yet another way King has had such an ongoing,…
Ohio House Passes Heartbeat Bill
The Ohio House of Representatives today passed one of the nation's strictest abortion restrictions. But even if the Senate passes it as well, it could face a veto by Gov. John Kasich. House Bill 258, sponsored by Republican State Reps. Christina Hagan and Ron Hood, would make it a fifth-degree felony to administer an abortion…
Ohio Releases Details for 2018 Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon Bottle Lottery
Big news for bourbon fans: The Ohio Department of Commerce has released details about its Ohio Bottle Lottery for Pappy Van Winkle and the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. Pappy, owned by the Sazerac Company and distilled at Frankfort’s Buffalo Trace, is a cult favorite among enthusiasts and regarded as one of the best bourbons in…
Cincinnati is the Fifth Worst City for Bed Bugs in America
Pest control company Terminix just released its ranking of the 25 most bed-bug infested cities in America and, surprise, Cincinnati was in the top 5 — no. 5 to be exact. Ohio had the most cities on the list, with four in the top 10; Cleveland ranked no. 1. The data was collected based on…
Freshly-Rechristened CMA “Vocal Duo of the Year” Award Winners Brothers Osborne Are Coming to Cincinnati Early Next Year
Last night (Nov. 14), T.J. Osborne and John Osborne of Brothers Osborne took home the “Vocal Duo of the Year” award at the 2018 Country Music Association awards ceremony (or CMAs). Earlier this week, the Country twosome announced a fresh string of 2019 tour dates, which include a visit to Cincinnati’s Taft Theatre on Jan.…
Over-the-Rhine Senior Center to Close
A location near Findlay Market that has provided meals and a gathering place for seniors for three decades will close at the end of November due to funding cuts. The Over-the-Rhine Senior Services Center at 1720 Race St. serves about 70 meals a day, according to the Cincinnati Area Senior Services, which runs the center.…
Psychodots, A Cincinnati Rock & Roll Institution, Are Calling It Quits
Sublimely melodic Cincinnati Rock legends psychodots have decided to call it quits. The trio’s Thanksgiving show (a ’dots tradition) on Nov. 23 at Woodward Theater will be the band’s final performance, according to singer/guitarist Rob Fetters. (As of now, tickets are still available; click here for details.) Though over the past several years the annual…
Watch This Time-Lapse Video of the Ice Skating Rink Being Built at Kings Island’s WinterFest
WinterFest returns to Kings Island Nov. 23 this year. The nostalgic winter wonderland is back, complete with festive food and drinks, special holiday shows and ice skating underneath a Christmas tree-bedecked Eiffel Tower. To transform the Royal Fountain on International Street into an ice skating rink takes more than three weeks and the team captured…
