Familiarizing The Exotic
“D on’t cry for me, Argentina.” For most Americans, that line from the musical Evita encapsulates our collective knowledge of the eighth-largest country in the world, the second-largest in South America. A curious mix of mostly Spanish and Italian immigrants, Argentina is as mysterious to us as its history, culture and cuisine. But a little…
CCM’s Kurt Response
T he 2012-2013 season has no special significance for Kurt Weill, the German-American composer of “September Song,” “Speak Low” and “Mack the Knife.” But it’s a landmark year for the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). Last month, the Kurt Weill Foundation (KWF) announced a major grant sponsoring CCM’s musical theater and opera season,…
Music: Jorma Kaukonen and Steve Kimock
Two of the most important and distinctive guitarists to emerge from the seminal ’60s and ’70s Bay Area Rock & Roll scene join forces this Sunday for a killer double bill at the 20th Century Theatre. Kaukonen started as a Buddy Holly-loving aspiring Rock guitarist, but he took a detour into Folk and Bluegrass after…
Art: 18th Annual Studio Collection Sale
Plenty can change in 18 years. Spring Grove Village was Winton Place, and the Studio Collection sale was held in the Westwood studio of papermaker Margaret Rhein. But the show became so popular it had to move to Spring Grove’s Harmony Lodge. Still, some things stay the same. The sale, this year featuring 12 women,…
Event: Holiday Crafty Supermarket
The indie craft market that began at the Northside Tavern has come a long way since its inception in 2009; this month, it was featured in Country Living magazine alongside six other indie craft fairs. That’s a big jump for a gathering that began with just 20 local crafters in a neighborhood bar. This year’s…
Event: OTR Skate
OTR skate is back. The lively roller skating party event highlights local musicians while benefiting the OTR Rec Center and aiding the revitalization of the community as a whole. The event began in 2011, drawing massive crowds and raising funds for scholarships and community youth programs. This time, the event will feature music by Cincy-bred…
Art: The Carnegie Presents NINE
The Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center in Covington hosts an exhibition of nine disparate artists in their six different galleries, titled NINE, with an opening reception this Friday evening. As one can expect from many Carnegie exhibitions, this will be a 3-D heavy show, with metal, glass and ceramic sculptures on display throughout the…
Film: Redlegs
Cincinnati native Brandon Harris returned to his hometown in 2010 to shoot his directorial debut, a micro-budgeted drama about three grief-stricken guys (played by Andrew Katz, Evan Louison and Nathan Ramos) dealing with the mysterious death of a good friend. Two years later, Harris is back with the finished film, Redlegs, which opens a weeklong…
Music: One City, One Symphony
When the CSO wants to celebrate its Music Director Designate Louis Langrée, what better piece than Beethoven’s magnum opus, the mighty Symphony No. 9, known as the Choral? Beethoven embodied his firm belief in 18th century Enlightenment ideals with the soaring “Ode to Joy,” which has become the emblematic hymn to freedom. The concert opens…
Onstage: Our Town
You probably think you know all about Thornton Wilder’s 1938 Pulitzer Prize winner. Maybe you read it in high school. Or you remember that folksy stage manager describing scenes of daily life (and death) in Grover’s Corners, N.H. But I predict if you go to see Footlighters’ production of the show at Newport’s Stained Glass…
Comedy: Erik Griffin
Erik Griffin isn’t embarrassed to say what the biggest key to his success has been. “Admitted mama’s boy here,” he laughs, “put that on the record.” He elaborates: “She was one of those supportive moms, and if I said I wanted to be a rock climber she’d buy me rope and hooks the next day…
Morning News and Stuff
A new report from left-leaning Policy Matters Ohio shows the impact of state budget cuts on individual counties. Statewide, more than $1 billion in tax reimbursements and the Local Government Fund was cut between the 2010-2011 budget, which was passed by Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, and the 2012-2013 budget, which was passed by Republican Gov.…
Fox 19 Apologizes for Macke’s Ignorant Remark
Fox 19 on Nov. 9 apologized for an ignorant comment made by news anchor Tricia Macke on her personal Facebook page last month. Macke’s comment, “Rachel Maddow is such an angry young man,” sparked outrage among gay-rights organizations for its depiction of MSNBC’s openly gay broadcaster as a man. According to screen shots published by…
At Last, We Can Know …
In my recent Curtain Call column , I talked about collaboration and made some mention of past ventures by Know Theatre. After a period of self-examination covered in an earlier column ("Big-Picture Thinking at Know Theatre," issue of Oct. 24), the Over-the-Rhine company has now shared some of its programming plans for the holidays and…
Morning News and Stuff
People are feeling better about downtown and Over-the-Rhine, according to a new survey. Out of respondents who said they visited downtown, about 83 percent said their opinion of Over-the-Rhine was more favorable now than it was in the last year. Bars and parks topped activities, while dining and events on Fountain Square topped attractions. The…
Hank Williams: Lost Highway (Review)
Critic's Pick For a guy who spent most of his mental energy on comic books, “Hillbilly” singer Hank Williams surely knew how write songs that connected with people from all walks of life. The revue Hank Williams: Lost Highway at the Cincinnati Playhouse demonstrates how his songs and singular vocal style remain fresh and immediate…
Glen Campbell Says ‘Goodbye’ at Taft Theatre
Singer/guitarist Glen Campbell is truly Country music’s “Rhinestone Cowboy.” Starting out as a masterful, much-used session musician, in the ’60s and ’70s, Campbell represented the genre as one of its premier stars and was also embraced on the pop charts, scoring huge crossover hits with singles like "Wichita Lineman," "Galveston," "Southern Nights" and "Rhinestone Cowboy."…
Explore Heights of Local Music This Weekend
The Heights Music Festival returns this weekend for its fall event and another wide-ranging sampling of Cincinnati’s original music scene. Music will run Friday and Saturday night from 7 p.m. until about closing time at four venues in Clifton Heights near the University of Cincinnati campus — Baba Budan’s, Mac’s Pizza Pub, Christy’s Biergarten and…
Music Tonight: Dean & Britta, Aimee Mann and Much More
• Dean & Britta (formerly of critically-acclaimed Indie dreamscapers Luna) bring their unique multimedia show, "13 Most Beautiful … Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests," to Over-the-Rhine's revitalized Emery Theatre. The project originated four years again after Dean Wareham received a phone call from a curator (and big Luna fan) at the Andy Warhol Museum…
Republican Anti-Abortion Agenda Renewed
Here they go again. Republicans are renewing their anti-abortion agenda in Ohio. Two of the governor’s October appointments have been criticized by a pro-choice group, and the state legislature is now considering a new version of the heartbeat bill. Yesterday, Senate President Tom Niehaus told The Cincinnati Enquirer that the Ohio legislature, in cooperation with…
Benefit Tonight for Cincinnati Music Heritage Group
Scott Preston and his excellent local music web mag Cincy Groove are presenting a benefit concert at Southgate House Revival tonight to help keep a spotlight on the Cincinnati area’s outrageously rich musical history and influence. The 9 p.m. show will raise funds for the Cincinnati USA Music Heritage Foundation, a non-profit that has done…
Your Weekend To Do List: 11/9-11/11
Tattoos and body art have been a part of various cultures for thousands of years. The concept came to the States in the late 19th century, when ink could be found on soldiers and people living on the fringe of society. Today, the medium’s popularity makes it more difficult to find people without any tattoos.…
Obama Cries While Thanking Volunteers
Just a day after securing his next four-year term, President Barack Obama had a heartfelt moment with campaign volunteers in Chicago. While thanking his staff, Obama said they were better than he was when he compared their experiences and accomplishments to what he did as a community organizer in the 1980s. He said he had…
Morning News and Stuff
If Tuesday's election was supposed to be a strong message from social progressives, women and younger voters, Ohio Republicans are not getting it. Instead, they are continuing their pursuit of the heartbeat bill . That’s what Ohio Senate President Tom Niehaus told The Cincinnati Enquirer yesterday. At the time the heartbeat bill was originally suggested,…
Stage Door: The Little Guys
There's plenty of good theater available around town in the next few days, including the just-opened production of Hank Williams: Lost Highway at the Cincinnati Playhouse, as well as Romeo and Juliet and Titus Andronicus, which finish their runs at Cincinnati Shakespeare this weekend. But for this week's edition of Stage Door, I'm recommending three…
Motionless in White
I’m sick of Hot Topic bands, those shitty Metalcore bands that the dude behind the counter wearing his YMCMB tank-top, five lip piercings and gauges the size of a gloryhole politely gushes over for the 10 minutes you’re at the register trying to purchase a Reign in Blood T-shirt that was on the clearance rack…
Ruthie Foster
Although Ruthie Foster is far from a household name, there’s no denying her astonishing talent and range. A native Texan, Foster’s family tree was ripe with Gospel singers, but she quickly absorbed the Lone Star State’s other musical identities, like Folk, Blues, Country and Rock, to which she added her own soulful spin. After a…
JEFF the Brotherhood
JEFF the Brotherhood's strangely typeset, non-acronymic name is part fabrication and part truth. No one in the two-piece is named Jeff, but a brotherhood is at its core. The offspring of Robert Ellis Orrall (a singer who had minor Top 40 singles in decades past and has written for Taylor Swift and Reba McEntire), Jamin…
Delta Spirit
Unless you’ve seen Delta Spirit before, there is no way you are fully prepared for one of its concerts. Not so much a raging, thrashing party as just a gentle, bouncing ocean of people, the crowd’s vibe at a Delta Spirit concert is transcendent, almost spiritual. Blending mellow with “danceable,” Delta Spirit’s music oozes California…
James McMurtry
The children of musical celebrities often have a difficult time establishing their own voices in the shadows of their parents’ accomplishments and reputations. As the son of renowned Lonesome Dove author Larry McMurtry, James McMurtry had a slightly different problem when he embarked on his singer/songwriter career in the ’80s. People scrutinized his lyrical style…
‘513 Rocks!’ Music TV Show Premieres Tonight
Tonight at 7 p.m. on Fox Sports Ohio, the new television program 513 Rocks! makes its broadcast debut. The 30-minute program aims to showcase local music — artists and venues — as well as local charitable organizations. The show was developed by Cincinnati Bell Technology Solutions, which is showcasing its charitable text-to-give technology (viewers tonight,…
I Just Can’t Get Enough
Election season is over! Regardless of how you voted, I think we can all celebrate the fact that our portals to pop culture — television, radio, social media and the rest of the Internet — will no longer be clogged with annoying political rants, campaign advertisements and baseless polls, making more room for puppy cams,…
Morning News and Stuff
With a push from Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls and City Council approval, the Homeless to Homes plan is moving forward . The shelter-moving plan, which was originally put together by Strategies to End Homelessness, will use $37 million in loans to build new shelters for the Drop Inn Center, City Gospel Mission and the YWCA.…
Council OKs Application for Homeless Relocation Loan
UPDATE 11-8-12: An aide to Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls tells CityBeat that the $7 million loan will only go toward moving two of the shelters: the Drop Inn Center and a new women's shelter to be operated by the YWCA. Because the City Gospel Mission requires a religious component to is outreach to the homeless,…
Court Rules City Can Reduce Retiree Healthcare Benefits
A state appeals court today rejected a lawsuit filed by city of Cincinnati retirees who claimed promised healthcare benefits were illegally reduced in 2010. Before the cuts, retirees did not have to pay-out-of-pocket expenses and deductions for prescriptions and medical care. The city shifted some costs of the pension health package to the ex-workers under…
Music Tonight: King Tuff, Charlie Hunter and More
Lo-fi Garage Pop royalty, King Tuff, performs a free show tonight at MOTR Pub with Cleveland's Gap Dream. King Tuff is the pseudonym and band name of Kyle Thomas, a Vermont native now based in L.A. who, after a dozen years working of Tuff material as a side project to bands like Feathers and Witch,…
Don’t Quit, Willie!
Voice of the common man, conscience of the American people, shepherd of men and 700WLW staple Bill Cunningham made an impassioned plea to his radio audience Nov. 2, saying if Mitt Romney lost the election, he would end his 30-plus year career in radio. “For nearly 30 years I’ve been the voice of the common…
Election Results 2012
A version of this article was originally published in Morning News and Stuff, but to wrap up this year's overly long election coverage, we figured it would be a good idea to republish the results as a standalone article. You're welcome! The election is finally over. All election results for Ohio can be viewed at…
Lessons Through the Grapevine
“You want to make grapes suffer.” RIPLEY, OHIO – The leaves and temperatures are falling in mid-October, and red grapes varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon are ripe for the picking. Sticky-fingered workers sift through this year’s crop, harvesting the perfect grapes and ditching any with imperfections. Bees hover around, waiting to feast on the unwanted fruit.…
Ohio’s Jobless Face Uncertainty
It’s only one day after President Barack Obama’s re-election, and some groups are already demanding action. In a new report by left-leaning Policy Matters Ohio, the group says the expiration of federal unemployment benefits could leave Ohio’s jobless stranded. “ If Congress doesn’t renew federal benefits, the impact in Ohio will be immediate and negative,”…
Dear Lebanon Tea Party: We Are Sorry
During the past year CityBeat has spent a lot of energy reporting on countless Republican screw-ups, from typical shortsighted policies to legislation that is straight-up offensive to women, minorities, gay people and the poor and working class. But we didn’t realize that by pointing out how offensive and irrelevant the country’s GOP leaders were acting,…
No Doubt’s Sorry, Mustaine’s Regret and Epic Loses Grips
HOT Beyond a Reasonable No Doubt Is dressing up in Native American costumes to promote your new album insensitive? No doubt, say some fans of Pop band No Doubt. After posting the video for its new single “Looking Hot,” the Internet got angry and filled with complaints that the clip promoted stereotypes (tee-pees and smoke…
Skyfall
Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace now feel like warm-ups for newbie Bond star Daniel Craig, pacing laps before the full-on marathon. If you buy this analogy, then Skyfall must be seen as the race of Craig’s life, the one where he, in those final tough miles, breaks free of the pack with cool confidence…
The Tillers’ Fond ‘Farewell’ Is a Brilliant Re-Introduction
Just before the old Southgate House music venue in Newport closed down at the end of last year, Cincinnati Folk/Americana favorites The Tillers decided to record their final show at the historic mansion. The trio planned to release the recording at a future date and announced a tentative release party at a “TBA” venue. Now,…
A Hall of Fame Night in West Chester
Cooperstown came to West Chester for a night, at least. On Nov. 3, the Courage and Character Foundation hosted eight Hall of Fame players and Pete Rose as part of the Johnny Bench and Friends fundraiser in West Chester. The nine players on hand — Bench, Rose, Wade Boggs, Paul Molitor, Lou Brock, Dave Winfield,…
Posthumous Lindner Campaign Contribution Goes Missing
CityBeat last week reported an August 2012 campaign contribution by the late billionaire Carl Lindner, who had died 10 months earlier. On Oct. 31, the Ohio secretary of state’s campaign finance database listed the $5,000 donation to the Republican Senate Campaign Committee, dated Aug. 24, 2012. Lindner, a prominent local businessman who contributed heavily to…
Creation Museum Attendance Drops for Fourth Straight Year
The Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky., created quite an uproar in 2007 when it opened with exhibits showing early humans co-existing with dinosaurs. Five years later, the public fascination with that take on paleoanthropology seems to be fading. This week, the museum told CityBeat that attendance for the year ended June 30 came to 254,074.…
Project Censored
People who get their information exclusively from mainstream media sources might be surprised at the lack of enthusiasm on the left for President Barack Obama in this crucial election. But that’s probably because they weren’t exposed to the full online furor sparked by Obama’s continuation of his predecessor’s overreaching approach to national security, such as…
Worker Mistreatment Alleged at U-Square Development
Some members of City Council during a special joint committee meeting Nov. 1 agreed that the city needs to take a hard look at the way it inspects projects done with taxpayer money, but they took no action other than discussing allegations that workers were being underpaid at the University Square development in Clifton. Council…
Cincinnati vs. The World 11.07.2012
Despite Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted’s best efforts to deter early voting across the state this election cycle, state election officials estimate that Ohio has seen a record turnout of early voters this year. CINCINNATI +2 A Chinese man divorced and successfully sued his wife for $120,000 for giving birth to their daughter that…
Jon Husted: Secretary of Suppression
By the time this article is published, the election will hopefully be over. The month of early voting and Election Day will have come to a close, and voters will have made their choices for the president, U.S. Congress, state offices and many other major offices and issues. But when it’s all said and done,…
Drown the Pigeonhole
The story of Damien Jurado’s relationship with Punk Rock seems too symmetrical, too fortuitous and too rare to possibly be true. Somehow, though, all the pieces match. Now 39 and based out of Seattle, Jurado was once a 14-year-old living in the beach resort town of Ocean Shores, Wash. Around 1986, he began growing infatuated…
Marley
Why does Bob Marley — the man and his music — still resonate more than 30 years after his death? That’s a question director Kevin MacDonald tries to unpack in this straightforwardly rendered, often fascinating documentary about the Reggae legend. Known for both his fiction (The Last King of Scotland, State of Play) and nonfiction…
Going to the Well
T he Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST) is making a lot of use of member and lawyer Chris Finney these days. The group was recently involved in two lawsuits filed within one week: one regarding the Blue Ash Airport deal and another accusing Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) of campaigning for Issue 42,…
Worst Week Ever!: Oct. 31-Nov. 5
WEDNESDAY OCT. 31 Space jumper Felix Baumgartner discouraged American leaders from funding exploration to Mars during a recent interview with the London Telegraph. According to Baumgartner, the red planet probably sucks and the money that would be used on such trips in the future would be better invested on the planet we presently live on.…
Magic Mike
Steven Soderbergh, despite threats of an early retirement, continues his relentless pace with the entertaining, sneakily incisive Magic Mike, the 49-year-old director’s 11th effort since 2004 and his third in less than a year following the effective thrillers Contagion and Haywire. (By comparison, his buddy David Fincher has made nine movies since 1992.) Set amid…
Morning News and Stuff
The election is over. All election results for Ohio can be viewed at the secretary of state's website . All results for Hamilton County can be viewed at the Hamilton County Board of Elections website . President Barack Obama won over Mitt Romney in what can only be called an electoral college landslide. He won…
Touched My Soul
What does “local” mean anymore? With all the movements to instill a local and/or regional focus on our consumer urges counter-balanced by the narrowing of our reach, thanks to technology, what is the difference between local and global? What would 19th century hipsters think of the accessibility present in today’s world? My soul has been…
Cats Around the Country Proclaim, “I Can Haz TV Show”
Crazy Cat Lady has gone from a silly stereotype to a career path thanks to Ben Huh and the staff behind popular website I Can Has Cheezburger. Drawing 2 million page views per day, the site is one of the leading sources for cat memes and funny clips of other cute animals (which is saying…
Unscientific Election Poll: Paint Norway Blue
Saleha Mohsin is an American journalist and University of Cincinnati graduate currently living in Norway. She blogs about her ex-pat life at edgeofthearctic.wordpress.com. Despite the garbage that is thrown about in the run-up to Election Day, I love the American presidential race. Cable news channels and their obsession with combing over the minutia of the…
Sessions of Discovery
Maybe we should pay closer attention to Buddhist philosophy. Not that everything should be reduced to a bumper sticker, but there’s one that you see often: DON’T JUST DO SOMETHING — SIT THERE! Be still, it tells us, embrace the call of life around you. We tend to think that to sit in silence is…
Finally
I have never before felt so simultaneously relieved to vote and deterred from it in all my life. And it’s because of astounding voter turnout. I spent my girlhood watching my parents and grandparents number among the first in line to vote, like voting in and of itself was insufficient. They made venturing to the…
Hot Toddies Keep Out the Chill
Cocktail tastes change with the seasons. When the wind and rain shut down outdoor patios, it’s just not Tiki time anymore. All of a sudden, a hot toddy sounds appealing — comforting and even healing. I don’t know about you, but when it comes to flu shots, I’d rather skip the doctor and follow the…
Camille Paglia’s Inclusive ‘Journey Through Art’
Long an incisive cultural critic, a dedicated teacher and a nimble-minded writer, Camille Paglia is known for her polarizing opinions on everything from politics (she’s voting Green Party this year) to pop culture (she recently confessed her love for Real Housewives of New Jersey, which she says is a more accurate depiction of the state’s…
Adding to Andy, Most Beautifully
Guitarist/vocalist Dean Wareham is no stranger to the cult of success or the success of cult. His first band, Galaxie 500, was obsessively followed by a small coterie of fans who grew with each independent release and, like the similarly configured Velvet Underground, ultimately became much more an influence on subsequent musical generations than a…
