Nov 29 – Dec 6, 2017
The Art of Being Kathy Y. Wilson: “Sanctuary” paints a portrait of the writer at home in her “colored museum”
Your Weekly To Do List (12/6-12/12)
Canine Costume Ideas The 28th-annual Reindog Parade takes over the streets on Mount Adams on Saturday with a festive procession of pooches dressed in their cleverest holiday wear. If you feel like entering your dog in the contest, here are some really genius human-animal couples’ costume ideas. You’re welcome. Santa and Rudolph, except your dog…
It’s a Netflix Christmas!
Made-for-TV holiday movies are a unique genre of cinematic storytelling wherein reality does not exist. For example, a surprising amount of dead characters come back to life and no one freaks out about it; elevators are enchanted and no one freaks out about it (there’s a whole subgenre dedicated to magic elevators); or people travel…
Ho-Ho-Holiday Theater
Lots of theater is on Cincinnati stages during December, but if you’re seeking something holiday-specific, here’s a checklist. Now in its 27th year, Cincinnati Playhouse’s A Christmas Carol has become a beloved holiday tradition for families. It’s a beautifully staged production with top-notch professional actors, especially Bruce Cromer as Ebenezer Scrooge. The message of the…
Have Yourself a Weird-Ass Little Christmas: An Offbeat Holiday Music Playlist
Several years ago, I developed a fascination with “bad music” when a friend loaned me a copy of the book Incredibly Strange Music: Vol. 1 from the fringe publisher RE/Search. It’s not the Nickelback brand of bad, and really the term “bad” doesn’t necessarily fit. “Strange,” “weird” or “funny” might be better descriptions. It’s music…
What’s the Deal with Chestnuts?
When Nat King Cole first crooned the opening line of “The Christmas Song” — “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire” — it’s quite possible he was among the last generation to have an authentic American chestnut. The ubiquity of the song and the association of chestnuts with the winter holiday season might lead one to…
Winter Warmers and Holiday Ales
Claus – Braxton Brewing Co. Braxton’s Claus is a peppermint sweet stout with a creamy milk chocolate base that is highlighted by a delicate peppermint undertone — it becomes more obvious as your glass warms and empties. The brewery collaborated on the beer with local candy company Doscher’s. With a low bitterness profile that sets…
Warm Seasonal Sippers
With the chill of winter comes a unified call around the Midwest to place coziness at the forefront of our lives. And as the weather outside becomes frightful, the lure of snuggling up to a warm drink becomes almost unavoidable. To mark the advent of winter cocktail season, we sampled some steamy beverages from local…
The Holiday Issue
The Holiday Issue 'Tis the season for cozying up to warm drinks, roasting chestnuts, holiday theater and really delicious latkes. This year's Holiday Issue highlights some of our favorite things about winter, including thematic seasonal drinks, bizarre Christmas music and made-for-TV holiday movies. Warm Seasonal Sippers Winter Warmers and Holiday Ales What's the Deal with Chestnuts…
Cincy Groove Celebrates 10th Anniversary
On Nov. 17, the website cincygroove.com officially turned 10 years old. Founded by photographer Scott Preston (who also does promotional work for local venues and artists), the site regularly features info on music events around Greater Cincinnati, photo galleries from various concerts and updates on local musicians’ latest projects. Cincy Groove’s 10-year anniversary is being…
Minimum Gauge: Controversy over the ongoing jailing of rapper Meek Mill heats up after recent bail hearing
HOT: Put Through the Mill The protests in response to the jailing of Meek Mill will likely heat up after a recent bail hearing. The rapper was sentenced to two-to-four years after Judge Genece Brinkley decided two since-dismissed charges violated his parole. During a delayed hearing on Dec. 1, Brinkley denied Mill bail, saying he…
Morning News: city enters new green energy deal; online charter in more hot water
Howdy, morning news mavens. Here’s all the news you’ve been craving. The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County last night held a public meeting on the potential sale of its downtown north building. It was… kind of tense, to say the least. Among the new information the public gleaned from the meeting: the results…
Searching for Humanity in ‘The Walking Dead’
It’s a good time to recap The Walking Dead’s hits and misses ahead of the Season 8 midseason finale (9 p.m. Sunday, AMC). This season of the zombie drama had a lot to prove. The previous Season 7 packed a ton of material into its 16 episodes — the introduction of King Ezekiel’s Kingdom, junkyard…
New Book Says Ohio Shaped President Grant
Ulysses S. Grant, the heralded Civil War general and the 18th president of the United States, was born in 1822 about 25 miles from Cincinnati in the tiny river town of Point Pleasant, Ohio. A year later, Grant’s family moved to Georgetown, Ohio, in Brown County, where he would spend the rest of his childhood…
Legendary local drummer John Von Ohlen switches focus to piano on latest project
In 2005, drummer John Von Ohlen was inducted into the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards’ Hall of Fame. While his credentials and status in the Jazz world had long been established — Von Ohlen played in Stan Kenton’s and Woody Herman’s groups, as well as with Rosemary Clooney and many others — he is also a longtime…
Two Taft quilt shows contrast the traditional with the modern
If the inventive 18th- and 19th-century women of the Elegant Geometry: British and American Patchwork Quilts exhibit at the Taft Museum of Art were alive today, they’d likely be swapping ideas with Heather Jones, a local quilter who has a solo companion show. In A Sense of Home, Jones honors her predecessors and the Taft’s…
What a Week!: Nov. 29-Dec. 5
Texting Turns 25 While it’s hard to imagine, as I write this sentence with two thumbs on an iPhone, texting wasn’t a thing before the early ’90s. In fact, the first ever SMS message was sent 25 years ago this week. A British software programmer sent the message, “Merry Christmas” to a colleague from a…
The Duo Behind ‘The Disaster Artist’
How many films have taken us behind the scenes of a movie set, revealing the controlled chaos that gives life to the mercurial creative genius? Thanks to Tim Burton, we watched the stunning lunacy, the ambition and thwarted dreaming of the films made by the titular Ed Wood. And there is Kevin Smith’s Zack and…
Sound Advice: Topshelf Records Tour featuring Prawn, People Like You, Slingshot Dakota and Us and Only Us (Dec. 13)
If you’re even a casual fan of Punk, Emo, Indie Rock, Post Rock or any tangentially related combinations or offshoots, chances are you’ve sought out a release from Topshelf Records. Over the past 11 years, the renowned independent label has amassed an impressive roster of nearly 40 artists including respected veteran Indie Rock bands (The…
On the heels of a deluxe reissue of its ‘Fold’ album, Motherfolk continues to develop its Indie Rock direction
One of the highlights of the Cincinnati’s Bunbury Music Festival in 2015 was the scorching set from Indie Folk sextet Motherfolk. But one of the highlights of the set itself was when vocalist/guitarist Nathan Dickerson called out the assembled multitude and playfully chastised them for not assembling at the band's recent gigs. “Where have you…
Library holds messy meeting on north building sale
A public meeting last night about the potential closure and sale of a downtown building owned by the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. More than 100 people crowded into a room at the downtown library for the meeting, one of the only public input sessions yet held about the…
Morning News: civil rights groups blast FOP president; Brock Turner appeals conviction
Hello all. Did you make it out to see Sanctuary, an exhibition of art and objects — celebratory, difficult, complicated — that legendary writer (and former CityBeat columnist) Kathy Y. Wilson has amassed? It’s like stepping into her East Walnut Hills apartment. Go. Have a seat on her couch. But be prepared for some frank,…
Review: “The Dancing Princesses” Is Top-Notch Holiday Entertainment
CRITIC'S PICK Musicals are a challenging art form requiring extensive collaboration among creators and performers to come into existence, let alone to be successful. So it’s no small feat that Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati has been staging world-premiere musical fairy tales during the holidays for 20 years. This time around, playwright Joe McDonough and composer David…
UCPD Chief resigned for “inappropriate behavior,” texted witness in investigation 171 times
The University of Cincinnati today released an independent report revealing the reason for former University of Cincinnati Police Chief Anthony Carter's abrupt resignation: a series of inappropriate text messages and phone calls to a woman at the middle of an investigation into threats made by her estranged husband. According to the report by consultants Exiger,…
STAGE DOOR: ’Tis the Season for Holiday Shows
There is plenty of seasonal entertainment on local stages this weekend. Let’s start with the world premiere of The Dancing Princesses at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati that opened on Wednesday evening and continues through Dec. 30. For the 20th consecutive year ETC is producing a family-friendly musical with fairytale roots and contemporary humor by local playwright…
People’s Liberty Announces Latest Grant Winners
People’s Liberty has announced the first round of winners for its 2018 Project Grant program. Eight individuals were awarded $10,000 each to sponsor innovative ideas that combat civic issues or promote community development. Since its inception in 2015, the Project Grant program has generated 56 grantees, with eight winners per bi-yearly cycle. Winners in the…
Morning News: federal report says climate change coming for Cincy; Newtown police chief blasts Trump’s pick for opiate crisis
Hello Cincy. It’s Friday and lots of news is happening so let’s get right to it. Climate change is coming for Cincinnati and other areas around the Ohio River, a new Army Corps of Engineers report says. The river itself will get higher, seasonal changes around the 13-state river basin will be more severe and,…
Anti-abortion club says Miami University policies “chill” free speech
A student anti-abortion club filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against Miami University, saying it abandoned its annual “cemetery of the innocents” display on the Hamilton campus after the college demanded that warning signs be placed ahead of the display. Wait, call off the lawyers! A Miami spokeswoman called the flap an “unfortunate misunderstanding” Thursday. Claire…
Sound Advice: Eric Johanson with Tab Benoit (Dec. 9)
It seems like a lot of Blues guitarists begin as a “young Blues prodigy,” something that bodes well for the survival of the uniquely American art form. Google those words and you’ll get a half millions results about musicians as young as 8 from all over the world. Louisiana native Eric Johanson is a good…
Sound Advice: Peter Oren with Matthew Milia (Dec. 10)
Even a cursory listen to Peter Oren's two magnificent albums, last year's Living by the Light and the just-released Anthropocene, will fire sophisticated musical synapses into making a number of relevant connections. As a vocalist and guitarist, Oren's earthy baritone and plaintively powerful fingerpicking style will inspire thoughts of Smog's Bill Callahan and Brit Folk…
Morning News: Council, county give final approval for FCC stadium; DeWine to name Husted as running mate in governor’s race
Good morning Cincy! Let’s get straight to the news. As expected, both Cincinnati City Council and Hamilton County Commissioners yesterday gave final approval for a raft of spending for infrastructure around a potential FC Cincinnati stadium. The $37 million deal city council approved at its meeting yesterday includes almost $10 million from two TIF districts…
Metro’s Woes
Harlan Ingram usually finds herself waiting for Metro’s route 19 after she gets off her third-shift job at Christ Hospital in Mount Auburn. Her early-morning commute back to College Hill will take at least 45 minutes — and that’s if everything goes smoothly. Oftentimes it doesn’t. “I’ve had problems with the 19 since I first…
Morning News: city, county set to give final FCC stadium approvals; CBO: GOP tax reform will hit moderate and middle income earners hard
Good morning all. Here are some quick news hits for you today. Cincinnati City Council is poised today to give its final approval on a plan by Mayor John Cranley that would spend as much as $37 million in city funds to build infrastructure around a planned stadium for FC Cincinnati in Oakley. With a…
Smut Peddlers
In Smut’s relatively brief three-year history, the Cincinnati band has compiled a trio of short but potent recordings, including the just released End of Sam-soon, endured some personnel shifts, raised its local profile to a prominent level and scored various touring opportunities beyond the Queen City’s zip code. While remote tours were initially a stated…
‘Roman J. Israel, Esq.’ Fights the Good Fight
We rarely associate the law and lawyers with principled stands. We, as a society, have lost any sense or memory of a time when this might have been possible. The civil rights era is remembered for the marches and rallies, the nonviolent protests and sit-ins, but it could be argued that none of that would…
Winter TV Preview
While most primetime and cable series go on hiatus in December and January, a fresh batch of series and seasons are set to debut. Here’s a taste of what to watch, stream, binge and DVR this winter. Two trends are clear: The miniseries is back in a major way, and famous crimes from the past…
Visual Sweets in Store at ‘Brain Candy Live!’
After the Discovery Channel cancelled its hugely popular MythBusters program last year, co-host Adam Savage should have taken an extended vacation. The intricately planned and executed experiments that Savage, his co-host Jamie Hyneman and their dedicated crew created over the course of 14 seasons were mentally and often physically grueling, so by all rights the…
