Music: Reel Big Fish
What’s up, 1997? How you doin’? Still have “MMMBop” stuck in your head? Is Tara Lipinski still your hero? No? Well, you little “Sell Out”! It’s been almost 15 years, and do you know who still hasn’t sold out? Reel Big Fish. That’s right, your favorite Ska band is still skanking around on stage and…
Music: Unknown Hinson
Nearly two decades ago, music teacher/studio musician Stuart Baker joined the cast of a Charlotte, N.C., public access sketch comedy program called The Wild Wild South, performing as a character he invented and christened “Unknown Hinson.” Darkly patterned after Country stars of the 1950s, with a loudly embroidered and rhinestoned wardrobe and black string tie,…
Comedy: Mark Sweeney
Comedian Mark Sweeney considers St. Louis his hometown, though he and his family didn’t settle there until he was in the eighth grade. “We moved around constantly the first 15 years of my life,” he recalls. “I was constantly the new kid in class, showing up in the middle of the semester, which always sucked.”…
Music: Friends
A current trend amongst emerging Indie artists is the “un-Google-able” band name, a moniker that requires fans (or the curious) to search a little harder to find them in cyberspace. Several of these bands have proven that just because you might not exist (easily) in the eyes of Google, you can still be successful (see:…
Events: World AIDS Day
More than 25 million people have lost their lives to the AIDS virus between 1981 and 2007. An estimated 33.3 million people worldwide currently live with HIV. World AIDS Day, started by the World Health Organization, is a worldwide event that focuses on supporting those who are living with HIV, remembering those who have lost…
Onstage: Abraham Lincoln’s Big, Gay Dance Party
It’s hard to know where to begin commenting on Know Theatre’s holiday offering, Abraham Lincoln’s Big, Gay Dance Party, a zany and generally incoherent but passionately conceived piece of theater. Don’t go thinking it has anything to do with the holidays, and despite the fact that some fourth-graders light its political fuse when their teacher…
Music: Mr. Gnome
Mr. Gnome is the sound of the Cocteau Twins as guided by My Bloody Valentine and PJ Harvey’s pipes transplanted into Tony Iommi’s body, an Ambient Art Pop hush married to a hardass Shoegaze squall that is equally invested in achingly beautiful melodicism and psychedelically compelling noise. The brilliant and surprising hook is that Mr.…
Onstage: Snow White
Good and evil play tug-of-war throughout the story of Snow White, Ensemble Theatre’s new holiday fairytale musical. As the leading lady, energetic Sara Kenny brings a lot of spunk but not enough soul to her role. David Kisor and Joe McDonough’s eighth collaboration (since 1997) is a fanciful retelling of the story of a princess…
CCM’s Oklahoma! Gets Props
Well, the erratic LCT awards got this one right — even if the announcement arrives almost two weeks after the brief run of Oklahoma! at UC’s College-Conservatory of Music. (Nov. 17-20). Three performers and the show’s director and choreographer have been cited by a judging panel from the League of Cincinnati Theatres. The recreation of…
Squeeze the Day for 11/29
Music Tonight: The Rumpke Mountain Boys are back! The local Bluegrass/"Infamous Trashgrass" four-piece has spent much of November doing show dates in Colorado, which means the group's popular every-Tuesday-night residency at Stanley's Pub has featured a string of capable fill-ins in their place all month. But now the band — which was also out west…
Actors Theatre of Louisville Names New Artistic Director
Les Waters, a British director who’s worked in the U.S. for nearly 20 years, has been named the next artistic director at Actors Theatre of Louisville. It’s only the third time in the theater’s 42-year history that a new artistic leader has been chosen. Jon Jory led the theater for three decades years, during which…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
Tobey Maguire has reached a settlement in a lawsuit that claims the Spider-Man star won more than $300,000 from an allegedly illegitimate poker ring organized by a Beverly Hills hedge-fund manager who is now doing time. Maguire shelled out $80,000 to kill the lawsuit, which was filed back in March by a trustee for investors…
Reel Big Fish
What’s up, 1997? How you doin’? Still have “MMMBop” stuck in your head? Is Tara Lipinski still your hero? No? Well, you little “Sell Out”! It’s been almost 15 years, and do you know who still hasn’t sold out? Reel Big Fish. That’s right, your favorite Ska band is still skanking around on stage and…
Unknown Hinson
Nearly two decades ago, music teacher/studio musician Stuart Baker joined the cast of a Charlotte, N.C., public access sketch comedy program called The Wild Wild South, performing as a character he invented and christened “Unknown Hinson.” Darkly patterned after Country stars of the 1950s, with a loudly embroidered and rhinestoned wardrobe and black string tie,…
Mr. Gnome
Mr. Gnome is the sound of the Cocteau Twins as guided by My Bloody Valentine and PJ Harvey’s pipes transplanted into Tony Iommi’s body, an Ambient Art Pop hush married to a hardass Shoegaze squall that is equally invested in achingly beautiful melodicism and psychedelically compelling noise. The brilliant and surprising hook is that Mr.…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
Y’all have a good Turkey Day? You feeling fat? Well Takeru Kobayashi ate 7.5 pounds of turkey in 10 minutes. That’s what’s up. Pat Robertson’s The 700 Club last Wednesday featured Condoleezza Rice and host, a black Kristi Watts, discussing the ideal Thanksgiving side dishes. Watts asked Rice what she just had to have and…
Squeeze the Day for 11/28
Music Tonight: It's a fittingly slow Monday for concerts, as touring bands gradually make their way back to the road after the Thanksgiving weekend. But that doesn't mean there's no live music in the area tonight. You can dance the Mondays away, Salsa-style, at The Mad Frog in Corryville, as Latin ensemble Tropicoso continues its…
Morning News and Stuff
Headline: "Stadium tax rebate favors wealthy." Analysis: "No shit." Owners of the county's most-expensive homes reportedly receive more savings from the property tax rollback than they pay in the sales tax increase that was supposed to pay for the sports stadiums. An Enquirer analysis of last year's property tax payout found that the half-cent sales…
Abraham Lincoln’s Big, Gay Dance Party (Review)
It’s hard to know where to begin commenting on Know Theatre’s holiday offering, Abraham Lincoln’s Big, Gay Dance Party, a zany and generally incoherent but passionately conceived piece of theater. Don’t go thinking it has anything to do with the holidays, and despite the fact that some fourth-graders light its political fuse when their teacher…
Always … Patsy Cline (Review)
There’s a lot to like about the Cincinnati Playhouse’s non-holiday show for the holiday season, Ted Swindley’s Always … Patsy Cline. It’s a revue that includes two dozen of Cline’s best-known songs, and actress Carter Calvert perfectly captures the iconic Country singer’s delivery and manner. Cline established a model that many Country singers still follow,…
Report: OTR Tops U.S. in Inequality
A new Census Bureau report reveals that from 2005 to 2009, a segment of Over-the-Rhine had the highest income inequality of more than 61,000 communities nationwide. The segment — known as Census Tract No. 17 — is the northeast quadrant of Over-the-Rhine. The findings were featured in an article Tuesday by McClatchy Newspapers, which attributes…
Squeeze the Day 11/23: Pre-Turkey Binge Edition
Music Tonight: Once upon a time, Thanksgiving was contained to just one day — a no-work Thursday during which we all pretty much just chilled with the family and ate too much turkey (or whatever turkey-ish, meat-like food creation non-carnivores pretend tastes just like the real deal). But, over time, it has become a three-day,…
Wednesday Movie Roundup: Sweet Holiday Bounty Edition!
After months mediocre movie options, recent weeks have give us a plethora of worthwhile offerings in a variety of genres — from art-house-leaning fare like Margin Call, Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Skin I Live In, Like Crazy, Take Shelter, The Interruptors, Senna, The Way and The Guard to higher-profile multiplexers like Moneyball, Drive, 50/50…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
Supposedly inspired by his days of ruining jokes on SNL, Jimmy Fallon has “grounded” ?uestlove and apologized via Twitter after his house band The Roots played guest Michele Bachmann out to “Lyin’ Ass Bitch.” “I’m honored that @michelebachmann was on our show yesterday and I’m so sorry about the intro mess. I really hope she…
Morning News and Stuff
Some Ohio anti-abortion groups apparently didn't learn their lesson from Gov. John Kasich's SB 5 failure, as at least one has broken away from Ohio Right to Life for refusing to endorse HB 125, the “heartbeat bill.” Ohio Right to Life believes HB 125 won't withstand a challenge under Roe v. Wade, but Warren County…
Arthur Christmas
'Tis the season for early holiday arrivals. Black Friday barely hangs onto the distinction of being the official start of the shopping season, what with all the stores offering online specials in advance and trumpeting the opening of their doors long before midnight following Thanksgiving. And it seems that the multiplexes have taken notice, unleashing…
Hugo
Consider this review the disclaimer that should run before any and all screenings of Martin Scorsese’s Hugo. This film is, first and foremost, not for children. To be perfectly honest, Hugo probably isn’t suitable for contemporary adult audiences. With Hugo, Scorsese has completely indulged his inner child, the wildly imaginative free spirit in love with…
Photographing Police is a Dangerous Business
Are increasingly militarized local police — helmets, assault rifles, black uniforms and boots, etc. — using excessive force more often than previous generations? Or has technology — cell phones and YouTube — made any use of force, whether excessive or justified, easier to document? A classic example shows Oakland, Calif., police beating an unresisting Occupy…
