Film: Toothless
Universal Pictures Robin Williams plays Tom Dobbs, a talk show comic turned politician, in director Barry Levinson's Man of the Year. Writer/director Barry Levinson (Rain Man) squanders an attempt to stir debate over the Republican voter fraud that marred the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections and that threatens to cloud the upcoming 2008 balloting…
Web Onstage: Madness and Beauty
If you don't know the plays of Paul Rudnick, you should: He's a very funny guy, able to generate great quips at the slightest turn of events. Valhalla, a play he created in 2004, is a fine example of humor if not theater in its current production by Ovation Theatre Company. The show, which is…
News: The Money Behind the Curtain
Steve Carter-Novotni Did a watchdog catch WCPO with its pants down? Clyde Gray prepares to emcee a debate. Whatever you think of the corporate media, you probably expect that, when you're watching the news, what you're seeing is just that — news. But that's not always the case. Cincinnati station WCPO (Channel 9) is…
Lady of the Water
Notes: The Lady of the Water in this song isn't a real lady at all, but rather a reference to the beautiful statue that adorns the center of downtown Cincinnati's most famous fountain. Recently, we've missed our lovely mistress on account of renovations surrounding her pool; however, the construction is complete and she's returned. I…
Web Onstage: He Says/She Says
Deogracias Lerma Liz Holt and Charlie Clark play sexy — but ill-fated — lovers in Know Theatre's See What I Wanna See. When I write a review, I invite you to take my word for it. Some readers trust my judgments and insights; others (although I can't imagine why) might prefer an opinion from another…
Chef Like Me
Thompson bought Kaldi's in June 2005. The 33-year-old has worked in the catering industry for almost 20 years and previously specialized in high-volume catering, working for Coney Island, Americana and Paul Brown Stadium. "When I bought Kaldi's," he says, "I was interested in something more intimate." CityBeat: Where did you eat your last great meal…
Books: X-Man
Barry Goldstein Head-scratchingly imaginative: Jim Shepard Jim Shepard's novel Project X is laceratingly real in its depiction of Columbine-esque teenage alienation, so vivid and tender and pitch-perfect that one can't help but see the world differently upon its conclusion. That's a common occurrence when reading Shepard, who's crafted five previous novels and two short…
News to Use
Learn to Make Peace The Michigan Peace Team presents the Nonviolent Peacemaking Workshop from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Peaslee Neighborhood Center in Over-the-Rhine. The program includes both theoretical and practical information. The cost is $30 per person, including lunch. For more information, visit www.michiganpeaceteam.org. To register, call Kristen Barker at 513-579-8547. Religious…
Picking on Sick People and Their Helpers
Jymi Bolden Christopher Finney seemed to forget his family values during an off-color tirade. It's usually religious scolds who fret about Halloween's influence on children, and their concern usually involves figments of our imagination: witches, vampires and such. But Kings Island's FearFest has aroused the ire of mental health advocates by presenting very real…
Hi-Tek — Hi-Teknology2 (BabyGrande)
Hi-Tek — Hi-Teknology2 Hi-Tek's career as a producer has snowballed since his work on Doom, the 1997 TVT Records debut from Cincy Hip Hop group Mood. The Cincinnatian's tracks with Mos Def and Talib Kweli made him much sought-after, leading to sessions with the likes of Common, Beanie Sigel and Snoop Dogg. More recently,…
Upcoming Concert reviews of Lisa Germano, Asobi Seksu and More…
Dina Douglass Lisa Germano Lisa Germano Saturday · Publico Gallery Singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Lisa Germano first entered the public's consciousness in 1987, when she became John Mellencamp's violinist (or rather, fiddler). She spent several years touring and recording with Mellencamp, while doing sessions and tours with other big names as well. Thankfully, she gave up the…
Living Out Loud: : Thoughts from a Defensive Smoker
On most Friday afternoons, you'll find my friend and me over at Madonna's on Seventh Street downtown during their cocktail hour. The service is friendly, the jukebox is solid and the drinks are reasonably priced. My friend and I smoke, and we can go there without feeling like second class citizens. It's one of the…
Music: The Wolves Survive
Los Lobos Los Lobos are one of the national headliners for Saturday's unveiling celebration at Fountain Square. To many fans of the veteran band Los Lobos, 1992's Kiko remains both a watershed moment and the high point of an album catalog filled with outstanding records. A sonically and stylistically adventurous work, Kiko took Los…
It’s a Crime
Cincinnatians have struggled recently with an alarming crime surge or a runaway perception that crime is surging, take your pick — it's the same thing really. Placed on top of lingering doubts about the city's population loss, downtown issues and political leadership, many of us feel the city is drifting downriver without power. And then…
Jihad Jerry & The Evildoers — Mine is Not A Holy War (Cordless)
Jihad Jerry & The Evildoers — Mine is Not a Holy War Devo's legacy is safe with the Kidz Bop scene. As Devo 2.0 entertains pre-teens with unironic covers of "Whip It" and "Uncontrollable Urge," Gerald Casale explores the new frontiers of de-evolution and where the band might have gone had they remained a…
Kids Rap Radio
HOT Kidz Rap Though they're nothing more than kiddie karaoke, one of our great joys in life is seeing the TV commercials for the latest Kidz Bop album, if for nothing else than to see what weird Pop songs producers make the tykes redo. Though not necessarily inappropriate, odd selections have included Modest Mouse's "Float…
Music: Minuses and Pluses
Robin Laananen When Minus the Bear's second album came out last year, pre-release downloading hurt sales, but boosted the attendance numbers at their concerts. When Minus the Bear coalesced just over five years ago, the Seattle quintet was little more than a moonlighting gig for a group of friends who were also members of…
Old News Is Good News
The recent news article about Serpent Mound ("History Mystery," issue of Oct. 4) incorrectly attributes to me the following quote: "Native Americans are different from the Hopewell, the Adena and the Archaic cultures." To claim that I made this statement, which the author puts in quotation marks, is to suggest I subscribe to some version…
Onstage: Hahn Solo
Kasskara Look into my eyes: Hilary Hahn is a busy woman. In her 23-year career, violinist Hilary Hahn has amassed a press kit that rivals the thickness of a small city's phone directory. For a gifted and driven Classical talent, that's an impressive feat. What elevates it to a more startling level is the…
Elegy to a Speed Freak
My college roommate — I'll call him "John" — was addicted to amphetamines. John was a genius, but he seemed alien to everything else I encountered at school. He was a computer science major when that still meant painstaking programming in COBOL or Fortran — writing thousands of lines of original code to create a…
Film: No Ordinary Camp
Magnolia Pictures Are you been saved? Becky Fisher's Evangelical Christian summer camp for kids is at the center of Jesus Camp. Jesus Camp, a documentary about children at an Evangelical Christian summer camp with a decidedly conservative political agenda, has an unusual back-story. The filmmakers, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (The Boys of Baraka),…
Locals Only: : Bleeding Back To Life
J. Eddington Northern Southern Trying to follow Matthew Lang's scattered account of the last two years on the road is a little like trying to follow a busload of musicians whose zigzags and pit-stops are strategic only in terms of gigs, cigs, booze and sleep. When he returned to Cincinnati from Los Angeles for…
Brad Andress 1986-2006
Our deepest condolences to the friends and family of Brad Andress, bassist for the hard-working local Pop/Punk group Close to Home. Andress passed away Oct. 6 after a battle with cancer, something he only discovered earlier this year, while the band was on the road touring. Andress had been undergoing treatment for the cancer; in…
Oakland’s Reliance on ‘Little Things’ Tested in Baseball Playoffs
Jerry Dowling As football and baseball overlap at this time of year, one inveterate channel surfer is struck by the big difference between them, which is The Big Play. Your football team can score six points in one glorious 75-yard pitch and catch. At the end of 60 minutes, an entire game can be…
Diner: Change the City
VINYL Go: 1203 Sycamore St., Over-the-Rhine Call: 1-877-24-VINYL Hours: Lunch: 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday; dinner 5-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 5 p.m.-midnight Friday-Saturday; "After Dark" menu: 10 p.m.-1 a.m. Monday-Thursday and midnight-4 a.m. Friday-Saturday; brunch: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. Prices: Moderate to expensive (depending on how hungry you are) Payment: All major credit cards Red Meat…
Domestic Violence: Defining the Evidence
Testimonial or non-testimonial? That is the question. The U.S. Supreme Court starts its new term in October. Before we get into this year's term, there are two companion cases from the end of last year's term we should look at. Davis v. Washington and Hammon v. Indiana are a pair of domestic violence cases, decided…
News: Not a War of Words
CityBeat Archive Local Democratic and Republican Party leaders agree that the war in Iraq is the top issue in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District. However, the two parties' candidates have yet to acknowledge it as such, even as political tensions mount due to the increasing prospect of civil war in Iraq. "I expect that (the…
News: Numbers Game
CityBeat Archive Election 2006 People in Hamilton County who want to support medical care for the poor and care for neglected and abused children face the ironic task of voting for levies that actually cut their funding. That's because the two Republicans who control the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners crafted the levies not…
Cover Story: Dale’s Deals
Geoff Raker M.I.A.: Dale Mallory When voters go to the polls Nov. 7, it's highly likely they will elect to the Ohio Statehouse a person facing a criminal investigation by Cincinnati Police who has rarely campaigned publicly and who dodges questions about his involvement in secret lobbying for a controversial project proposed for the…
