Music: Beirut
Like a lot of bands these days, Beirut didn’t get its start in a garage, but rather in a bedroom. That’s where a young Zach Condon started recording songs on his own. But Condon had acquired musical influences beyond what the average teen is usually exposed to; legend has it that, while traveling throughout Europe…
Music: David Bazan
Scores of musicians have written about losing their religion, but few have been able put it quite as poetically as David Bazan. Far from a new face on the Indie music scene, Bazan certainly knows a thing or two about music and religion. He received his first taste of fame while performing with the well-loved…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
Brett Ratner, the cinematic genius behind the Rush Hour series and Tower Heist, has apologized after claiming to have had sex with Olivia Munn, the host of G4’s Attack of the Show. Ratner told The Howard Stern Show crew, “She’s actually talented. The Problem is I made her look like she’s a whore.” Ratner also…
Events: Fabricate Two-Year Anniversary
Fabricate, Northside's boutique-gallery hybrid chock full of unique art and locally made goodies, is celebrating its two-year anniversary with an opening reception for Cintessential, a group art show featuring works that represent something (person, place, thing, feeling, etc.) quintessentially Cincinnati — e.g. "the cintessential chili parlour." From 6-10 p.m. Saturday, check out a selection of…
Events: Taste of the World Wine and Beer Festival
There aren’t many things that ooze class and sophistication like the combination of fish and fine wines and beers, but this isn’t Mitchell’s Fish Market we are talking about. The eighth annual Taste of the World Wine and Beer Festival, presented by The Party Source, is back this Saturday at Newport Aquarium to bring you…
Art: Factory Square Shipping Container Galleries
Strange how what at first seemed like an afterthought — using interior, once-industrial space at Northside's new American Can Lofts as an adjunct display area for the outdoor Shipping Container Galleries that formed the heart of last month's Factory Square Fine Arts Festival — instead became one of the most significant, resonant art shows in…
Events: JLC’s Tour of Kitchens
If you can’t take the heat, try someone else’s kitchen. Seven Greater Cincinnati homes will open their kitchens as part of the inaugural Junior League of Cincinnati Tour of Kitchens Saturday. This self-guided tour begins at 10 a.m. at Keidel Supply Company (1150 Tennessee Ave., Paddock Hills). Pick up the official Tour of Kitchens program…
Art: Carmel Buckley’s Prints and Sculpture
Carmel Buckley is an artist infatuated with line and uncertainty. An associate professor at The Ohio State University and a native of Derby, England, Buckley is enjoying her third Cincinnati exhibition in a little over a year. Featuring a series of drawings and etchings along with freestanding and wall-mounted objects, Prints and Sculpture at Clay…
Music: Frontier Folk Nebraska
Perhaps we should begin with a clarification. It seems that Frontier Folk Nebraska’s name has sparked some misconceptions about the band that should be addressed. Frontier Folk Nebraska does not have any particular affinity for the frontier, they are not necessarily a Folk band and … well, you can guess where this is going. “We…
Events: Emery Theatre Preview
The revitalization of the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood gets another welcome dose of vitality Friday as the historic Emery Theatre reopens its doors for a special music and arts event, the latest (and most promising) phase behind the theatre’s comeback. The restoration is the mission of The Requiem Project, which is attempting to not only bring back…
Music: Crooked Fingers
After a short-lived hiatus that was intended to be a retirement from music (he apparently moved to Taipei to teach English), Eric Bachman is a busy guy again. Besides the resurrection of his beloved 1990s Indie Rock outfit Archers of Loaf — which recently wrapped up a tour behind the reissue of its debut album…
Events: A-Line Cocktail Class and Happy Hour
Every holiday party needs a delectable cocktail to accentuate the celebratory spirit. A-Line magazine, CityBeat's sister publication, hosts a free cocktail class at Japp's (1134 Main St., Over-the-Rhine) from 6-9 p.m. Thursday. This is the perfect opportunity for participants to learn how to make four holiday cocktails, including A-Line’s November cocktail, Cinnamon Orange Margarita from…
Comedy: Phil Palisoul
"Every joke has a victim," explains comedian Phil Palisoul. "It's called a punch line, after all. Someone's going to get it. Throughout my whole act, I victimize myself." Wallowing in feelings of inadequacy, he pokes fun at the fact that he's not more handsome, smarter or stronger than he is. "You need to be all…
Morning News and Stuff
Happy Election Day! It looks like SB 5 is headed for a big defeat even though Gov. Kasich last night told a bunch of East Side Tea Partiers how cool it would be if Issue 2 passed, while a union representative told opponents of the bill that it was about to get “shoved down the…
Art: Victory City
The intractable nature of the problems that face our nation have birthed not solutions-based collaborations but, rather, fraternal orders of grievance. The precipitous rise of Tea Party groups and Occupy movements attest to this collective failure of imagination. Fortunately, one Cincinnati man has toiled in the belief that he has discovered the cure to that…
Onstage: Wicked
“No one mourns the wicked,” sang the residents of Oz as the blockbuster musical opened its four-week run at Cincinnati’s Aronoff Center. In truth, everyone loves the Wicked: This is the third long visit to our city for a show that’s had more than 3,300 performances on Broadway since 2003. Stephen Schwartz’s Wizard of Oz-inspired…
Drinking Tip: Sparkling Cinnamon Apple Cocktail
For those curious (and we know you are), here's the recipe for Morton's The Steakhouse's Sparkling Cinnamon Apple holiday cocktail I mentioned in last week's Dish column. Created by Morton’s Vice President Wine & Spirits Tylor Field and Mixologist/Certified Sommelier Sara Fasolino, it just might be the cure for seasonal panic attacks. —- • 4…
New Local Music Showcase BRINK Returns Saturday
The Cincinnati Entertainment Awards ceremony is just a couple weeks away (deadline to vote for your favorite nominees is Friday at noon), but its sister event, BRINK: A New Music Showcase, returns for its 11th year this Saturday. Showcases for BRINK — created to give Greater Cincinnati’s new original bands some love and local music…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
Simon Eroro, a reporter for the Post-Courier in Papa New Guinea, agreed to be circumcised with bamboo sticks in order to secure an interview with a group of jungle rebels. The Courier is run by Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited and Murdoch had this to say of Eroro’s dedication: "Tonight, I have witnessed many examples of…
Squeeze the Day for 11/7
Music Tonight: New York-based Pop singer/songwriter Gavin DeGraw is joined by American Idol winner David Cook at the Taft Theatre for a 7:30 p.m. concert. Swedish Pop/Rock band Carolina Liar opens. DeGraw's love songs have found big success on the charts (his latest album, Sweeter, debuted at No. 8 when it came out in December;…
Sacha Baron Cohen Unveils New Character
Curious about where Sacha Baron Cohen, the Andy Kaufman-esque comedic genius behind Borat and Bruno, might set his satirical sights next? Wonder no more, as we now know the identity of his next character: climate change skeptic Lord Monckton. —- Cohen will also appear in Martin Scorsese's upcoming Hugo, a 3-D adventure set in 1930s…
Morning News and Stuff
An organization called Citizens' League Against Subsidized Sports is gathering signatures for a ballot measure that would add a tax on Reds and Bengals tickets. Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann says he knows that the county's lease doesn't allow it to institute a ticket tax but that it doesn't say anything about a citizens' initiative.…
A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas
Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) aim to save 3-D effects and Christmas in their latest adventure, but first they’ve got to unite after drifting apart. Cho (as one of the stalwart founding crew members of the all-new Starship Enterprise) and Penn (fresh off his stint in the Obama administration) have lost their…
Friday Movie Roundup: Calm Before the Storm Edition
With the rollout of fall's higher-profile “prestige” pictures still a week away (including Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar Hoover biopic with Leonardo DiCaprio as the notorious FBI director), a pair of lesser-known films open here this week that are worthy of your attention. —- Armed with awards at both Sundance and Cannes, Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter…
CityBeat’s Cheat Sheet
During the past two weeks CityBeat has published its list of endorsements in the race for Cincinnati City Council,along with those on local and state issues. Some readers have requested that the endorsements be put into a smaller format that will be simpler to print out and take along with them to their polling places…
Driehaus Will Run in New District
If GOP leaders thought they were going to get rid of Denise Driehaus with their new state legislature map, they can think again. Driehaus made it official today, announcing she would move into the new 31st House District before next year's election. Several weeks ago, the Republican-controlled state apportionment board reconfigured state legislative district boundaries…
Help for a Local Hip Hop Icon
If someone were to write a history of Cincinnati Hip Hop and didn't include at least a chapter dedicated to Mr. Dibbs, the tome would be about as useless as a Texas textbook. The DJ/producer's career stretches over two decades and his accomplishments have been wildly impressive (click here for CityBeat's 2005 profile of the…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
Justin Bieber maintains that the paternity suit filed by 20-year-old Mariah Yeater is bullpoop. Earlier this week Bieber released a statement saying, “It’s sad that someone would fabricate malicious, defamatory and demonstrably false claims.” This morning on the Today show, Bieber told Matt Lauer (Who remembers Where in the World is Matt Lauer?) that “basically…
Kentucky Struts Kickstart Kickstarter Drive
Earlier this year we told you about Northern Kentucky Roots band The Kentucky Struts' creative new album project, The Year of the Horse, which has gradually been released since January, with the band putting out one song a month online. As if that wasn't unique enough, the horse-themed album (with some proceeds being donated to…
Squeeze the Day for 11/4
Music Tonight: Mississippi Indie Rock group Colour Revolt plays Covington's Mad Hatter tonight. Local Indie band Pomegranates open things up along with Empires (an MPMF.11 favorite) and Department Store Alligator also supporting. Colour Revolt's relatively brief history is a lesson in endurance despite personal/professional obstacles. After a few self-released efforts and name changes, the band…
Morning News and Stuff
The Ohio Elections Committee dismissed a complaint against COAST for allegedly making false tweets about Issue 48, but it was only because the complaint, filed by pro-streetcar group Cincinnatians for Progress, improperly named a COAST political action as a defendant or something. Streetcar advocates say they'll refile the complaint, and COAST lawyer Chris Finney says…
Wicked (Review)
“No one mourns the wicked,” sang the residents of Oz as the blockbuster musical opened its four-week run at Cincinnati’s Aronoff Center. In truth, everyone loves the Wicked: This is the third long visit to our city for a show that’s had more than 3,300 performances on Broadway since 2003. Stephen Schwartz’s Wizard of Oz-inspired…
The Interrupters
Filmmaker Steve James is apparently incapable of making an uninteresting documentary, even when his subject matter might presumably be thoroughly played out. James, who has already garnered enough film-festival awards (and an Oscar nomination for his breakthrough 1994 doc Hoop Dreams) to merit multiple mantelpieces, tackles Chicago's soaring crime rate, and in particular the…
Tower Heist
Fast paced and fluffy, Tower Heist is a spectacle-laden comedy with widespread appeal. Even Alan Alda's Bernie Madoff-styled antagonist gets a soft treatment so as not to offend the "1 percent" of potential audience members his evil character represents. You can practically hear a chant of "rich people must share more" roiling under the…
The Return of Pauline Kael
A pair of new books centering on film critic Pauline Kael — The Library of America's lavishly rendered The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of Pauline Kael and Brian Kellow's incisive biography Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark — have resulted in an avalanche of recent Kael appraisals and reminiscences a decade after her…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
The xx will begin working on a new album so the people desperate to hear new xx will stop just covering songs from their debut album. The band has started a blog to keep fans up to date on the recording process or to post "inspirations + picture + favorite songs." Steve Carell is expected…
Morning News and Stuff
Cincinnati has the third-highest rate of childhood poverty in the country, and The Enquirer's Mark Curnutte tells the story of an East Price Hill family and school system struggling to keep up. Hamilton County for the fourth straight year dipped into its rainy day fund instead of instituting major cuts or raising taxes. National non-profit…
Squeeze the Day for 11/3
Music Tonight: The Southgate House in Newport presents "Kranky Records on Tour" in the venue's Parlour, featuring a bill of enticing musical experimentalism by artists who record for the 18-year-old Chicago indie label. Headliners A Winged Victory for the Sullen create broad soundscapes that combine Neo Classical ideas with Ambient atmospherics. The duo formed a…
Onstage: Joshua Bell
Superstar violinist Joshua Bell kicks off his solo recital tour in Cincinnati and brings the Constella Festival’s inaugural season to a close Tuesday at Memorial Hall. Bell is a rarity, a prodigy who survived adolescence as an acclaimed performer, emerging as one of the most creative and prolific musicians today — and good-looking, too. He…
Music: Judas Priest
One of the most important bands in Heavy Metal's history, Judas Priest, has been making music since 1969, but its tour coming to U.S. Bank Arena Tuesday night has been announced as its last. Of course, we're living in an era when “farewell tours” are largely embarked upon to make some cash and ensure future…
Art: Museum Gallery-Gallery Museum Re-opening
In August, after nearly two years at its Sycamore Street location, Museum Gallery-Gallery Museum, the occasionally outlandish fixture of the Over-the-Rhine gallery scene, closed its doors for the final time. It might be that all good things must come to an end, but it’s also been said that good things come to those who wait,…
Events: USO Tribute After-Party
This Saturday, enjoy a fun night on the town while supporting the men and women who protect and serve our country. The USO Tribute Cincinnati event has raised $3 million to support USO-Metro programs over the past seven years through corporate and individual donations, with the proceeds benefiting wounded warriors, recovering service members and their…
Comedy: Lily Tomlin
When today’s stand-up comics list historical comedic influences, George Carlin and Richard Pryor are probably the most often mentioned of their generation. For some reason, people tend to forget about folks like David Brenner, Robert Klein and Lily Tomlin. The latter is currently on tour and will bring her well-honed comedy to the Taft Theatre…
Art: Autumn Air Art Fair
Don’t you love second chances? A month after the Hyde Park Square Art Show, here’s the Autumn Air Art Fair in Clifton, with some of the same fine and funky artists. If you missed the Hyde Park event, or did go and regret not getting that perfect bowl or bracelet, opportunity is knocking. (If you…
Events: Happy Feet Ball
Want to use your boogie shoes while helping kids get a pair of their own? If so, the Charities Guild of Northern Kentucky, in association with Dr. Nicholas T. Gates, is throwing the perfect night out for you with the first annual Happy Feet Ball. The CGNK is getting footloose to raise money for their…
Music: Ma Crow
W hen local Bluegrass legend Ma Crow considers the question of what makes her latest group, the all-female Lady Slippers, so unique among all of the amazing outfits on her storied résumé, she doesn’t hesitate in delivering her answer. “They’re ladies!” Ma exclaims at the Northside Tavern, responding figuratively and literally at the same time.…
Squeeze the Day 11/2
Music Tonight: L.A.-based group Truth & Salvage Co. bring its organic amalgamation of traditional Roots/Country/Americana/Rock music to Oakley's 20th Century Theatre for an 8 p.m. show with opener Ruston Kelly, a Nashville-based singer/songwriter who grew up in Cincinnati (he attended Wyoming High School, which is when he began writing songs). T&SC received a boost early…
The Boogie Men Cometh
Last year, officials in Marshall, Texas, declared its city the birthplace of Boogie Woogie music. But 13 years ago, local pianist Ricky Nye started a tradition that has made Greater Cincinnati (or, more precisely, Newport, Ky.) one of the premiere active hubs in the U.S. for the rolling, rollicking American style of Blues/R&B music that…
Oct. 26-Nov. 1: Worst Week Ever!
WEDNESDAY OCT. 26 When a presidential candidate visits a swing state phone bank it’s normally to show unrelenting support for its causes, maybe whisper something in the leader’s ear about a young person’s appearance if it will get a laugh. Mitt Romney today visited a Terrace Park pro-Issue 2 and -Issue 3 call center only…
Police Audit and Anderson Township
[WINNER] POLICE AUDIT: In what might be one of the most overdue actions at City Hall in many years, a Massachusetts-based consulting firm will conduct a comprehensive audit of the Police Department. City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. hired Strategic Policy Partnership to perform the audit over the next three months, at a cost of $61,000,…
National Conversation
L ast week the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park announced that Blake Robison, currently the producing artistic director at the Round House Theatre in Bethesda, Md., will become its next artistic director, succeeding Ed Stern, who retires after 20 years a the end of the current season. Robison says, “I’ve always wanted to be part…
Senate Bill No. 5 Energizes Unions, Democrats
I f the latest Quinnipiac University Polling Institute survey holds true, which reveals that 57 percent of Ohio’s registered voters favor repealing Senate Bill No. 5 while only 32 percent oppose it, then the controversial measure is doomed. And if the opposition to SB 5 does turn out in an off-year election to vote “no”…
Ready to Die
I ’m not sure what I’m supposed to write about here, but I’m already overdue on turning this column in, so I’m sure I’ll think of something soon enough. I haven’t written one of these in a few months now. Truthfully, I haven’t even thought about writing one of these. It occurred to me a…
As Ma Crow Flies
W hen local Bluegrass legend Ma Crow considers the question of what makes her latest group, the all-female Lady Slippers, so unique among all of the amazing outfits on her storied résumé, she doesn’t hesitate in delivering her answer. “They’re ladies!” Ma exclaims at the Northside Tavern, responding figuratively and literally at the same time.…
Take Shelter
I t is time to take Jessica Chastain seriously. Forget the offensive she has launched on theaters in 2011 — The Tree of Life, The Help, The Debt, Take Shelter, Coriolanus, Wilde Salome and Texas Killing Fields, the final three titles of which have been relegated to impending status for regional viewers, although I was…
Ryan Adams, Juggalos and Odd Future
[HOT] Summer of Bitchy Whine Ryan Adams seemed well on his way to reclaiming his former glory, releasing one fairly straight-forward, mostly solid album this year (instead of eight random ones) and not being such a pissy little brat all the time. Early interviews for the new album seemed to suggest a new sense of…
It’s November? Already?
I am having a seasonal panic attack. November? How can this be possible? I just finished thinking about bug spray and sunscreen, and now I’m supposed to be thinking about wrapping paper and tinsel? Something is wrong here. Maybe the melting of the polar ice caps is speeding up time! We’re hurtling into the future…
Your Election Connection
When voters go to the polls on Nov. 8, they will be faced with making a bevy of wide-ranging decisions that will directly and indirectly impact their lives in the months and years ahead. They range from whether Ohioans will be subject to the provisions of federal health-care reforms passed by Congress in late 2009…
Blue Gibbon (Review)
I have an absolute passion for Chinese food. I have worked at or been involved with several Chinese restaurants for many years, so I have an educated palate for Chinese cuisine. Blue Gibbon Chinese Restaurant has been operated by the same family for over 30 years, so they obviously understand how to keep their customers…
Attack the Block
Inevitable comparisons with J.J. Abrams’ similarly themed Super 8 favors writer/director Joe Cornish’s seemingly effortless ability to extract laughs and shocks from an alien invasion in urban London. Much of the movie’s success derives from the crackle of comedy that rolls off the Cockney-accented teen antihero thugs who dare to take on an army of…
Remembering Vince Geier
Whatever else, it requires bravery for a photographer to wander around abandoned buildings, subway stations, wave pools and other derelict remnants of the built environment. Vince Geier of Northside, who died in June at age 37, had it. His friend Cathy Heil, who accompanied him (and others) into Detroit’s massive Michigan Central (Railroad) Station, empty…
Motion and Emotion
N ow playing — um, on display – at Phyllis Weston Gallery is Elements of Perception, a motion picture — er, pictures with motion and emotion — from Mark Patsfall and Brian Stuparyk. The cardboard 3-D glasses supplied for Stuparyk’s work will make the comparison clearer. Put them on and feel like a kid,…
