Firefighters Union Endorses Nine
For readers who have been wondering, and there have been a few judging from our emails, here is a list of the endorsements for Cincinnati City Council made by the local firefighters union. The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local No. 48 has endorsed a full, nine-member slate for council. The endorsements include five…
Review: Mack West’s “The Goodnight Trail”
When veteran Cincinnati musician Zach Mechlem launched his latest project, Mack West, a few years ago, he didn’t just form a new band — he created a new genre. Calling the band’s sound “AltWestern” to describe the dusty, often cinematic quality of its modern American Roots music, Mack West released its self-titled debut two years…
Review: Wussy’s “Strawberry”
Now in it tenth year, one of Cincinnati’s most celebrated bands, Wussy (led by former Ass Pony Chuck Cleaver and his equally skilled songwriting partner/co-frontperson Lisa Walker), has amassed an amazing discography so far. Beginning with 2005’s Funeral Dress, the group quickly developed a reputation for the “ragged glory” of its performances, both live and…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
Russian ballroom dance champion Maksim Chmerkovskiy completely lost his shit on Dancing with the Stars judges last night after only earning himself 20 out of 30 points for his performance with Hope Solo. Judge Len Goodman got the brunt of it after railing Solo. "Hope, I've never lost faith in you," Len said, after the…
Free Scary Pancakes
Scary pancakes! IHOP has a Halloween event happening Friday. Kids 12 and under get a free Scary Face Pancake as part of its "No Tricks — Just Treats" promotion. Halloweeners get to design their own Jack O’Pancake with toppings that sound even less nutritious than maple syrup. But hey, it’s a holiday! —-It’s also a…
Events: USS Nightmare Captain’s Tour
This rusting, hellish tub is already terrifying on an average night (if there is such a thing during this season of ghouls) but the Unrated Captain's Tour is a horrific ramping up of the fear factor designed to chill the bones of even Cincinnati's most intrepid adventurers. Expect a longer, darker tour during which you…
Onstage: Sweet Suspense: Poe-ssessed
If you’re looking for a different way to get your Halloween on this weekend, I offer the suggestion of New Edgecliff Theatre’s “Sweet Suspense” radio theater event at the Columbia Performance Center (3900 Eastern Ave., Columbia-Tusculum) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. This year it features adaptations of two Edgar Allen Poe tales of terror by the…
Events: Main Street Zombie Crawl
Over-the-Rhine might look like a scene from Dawn of the Dead this Saturday as zombies infest one of Cincinnati’s oldest and most unique neighborhoods. Hopping from bar to bar, the living dressed as the undead can enjoy “killer” drink and food specials at four of OTR’s most popular night-spots: The Drinkery, Japp's, MOTR Pub and…
Music: Ted Nash
L.A.-born Jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer Ted Nash comes to town this week to participate in the ongoing Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts. The saxophonist was commissioned to write a piece for Constella; the resulting "Double Deal: String + Jazz Quartets" will be presented Saturday, downtown at the Blue Wisp Jazz Club. As the…
Events: Rabbit Hash Steamboat Bicentennial Celebration
Two hundred years ago the very first steamboat sailed past Rabbit Hash, Ky. Two hundred years later they have a dog for a mayor. And this festival. Slap on your fancy breeches (and other 1800s period costumes) and visit Rabbit Hash Historical Society’s Steamboat Festival. Rabbit Hash isn’t just a little river town. This festival…
Art: Final Friday in OTR
This week the excitement and energy of Final Friday on Main Street in Over-the-Rhine is likely to be amplified by the upcoming holiday. Expect to see a grave assortment of PBR-drinking witches, warlocks and vampires skulking about the neighborhood, and you might spot a few people dressed up for Halloween. While you’re enjoying the reverie,…
Events: Pimp That Pumpkin
Pimpin’ ain’t easy, as they say … especially if what you happen to be pimping is a pumpkin. But that won’t stop the employees of Marsh, Inc., an independent strategic design agency, from taking over the Pendleton Arts Center with an exhibit of artfully designed pumpkins. These gourd canvases will be more than carved by…
Dance: Cincinnati Ballet’s Giselle
Looking for something to do this weekend that doesn’t require you to wear a costume? See a ghost story within a ballet masterpiece at historic Music Hall Friday and Saturday. With its 1841 premiere at the Paris Opéra Ballet, Giselle is about as classical as classical ballet gets, but don’t let that “scare” you. Ghosts…
Art: Opening: Who Are Three Men Who Have Never Been in My Kitchen
Artists Ryan Fabel, Jake Cruzen and John Early are taking Aisle Gallery back to the ’80s — if only in title alone — with their exhibition Who Are Three Men Who Have Never Been in My Kitchen, a reference to an episode of Cheers in which Cliff Claven competes on Jeopardy and writes the question…
Art: Thunder-Sky Screening
The remarkable Raymond Thunder-Sky story continues with the Thursday public unveiling of a documentary by Alfred Eaker about the late Cincinnati outsider artist who created imaginative drawings of fantasy construction projects based on visits (often wearing a clown costume) to real sites. There already is an outsider-art gallery in Northside devoted to preserving his legacy and promoting his and related work. And now the new film Thunder-Sky screens 7-10 p.m. Thursday at Bromwell's Gallery where a related exhibition called Direct Contact, featuring work by artists inspired…
Comedy: Andi Smith
Andi Smith is perhaps one of the more subtle stand-up comics touring today. Her soft-spoken manner belies a blunt sense of humor that’s inspired by everything from relationships to current events. Yet her comedy doesn’t rest on one or two subjects. “I don’t want to be a relationship comic, I don’t want to be a…
Music: Sebadoh
Lou Barlow is a direct guy. The 45-year-old founder and main frontman for lo-fi Indie Rock stalwarts Sebadoh doesn't mince words or waste time — a fact easily discerned when listening to his band's concise, emotionally direct songs. It makes sense, then, that Barlow would be similarly to the point when discussing Sebadoh's return via…
Music: Mike Posner
Hip Hop/Electro/Pop artist Mike Posner appears to have had the kind of "overnight" Pop career success that only seems possible in today's Internet-dependent age, going from (in the short version) Duke University frat boy to internationally buzzed about superstar-in-waiting in the span of about three years. But Posner got an early start — at 13,…
Morning News and Stuff
Leave it to The Enquirer to publish a story analyzing local school district spending vs. academic success only to ignore the existence of private schools while drawing the conclusion that “a district that spends more doesn't necessarily produce higher test scores and graduation rates.” The story, titled “Big-spending districts net mixed academic grades,” doesn't include…
Music: Dr. John
In the 1960s, New Orleans native Mac Rebennack turned his life and his career completely around with a few judicious changes. First, he switched from guitar to piano after a gunshot injury to his left hand, then he moved to Los Angeles to be an in-demand session guy (Sonny & Cher and Canned Heat, among…
Music: Delloween
Living Bluegrass legend Del McCoury may be 72-years-old, but he keeps a working schedule that would have most twentysomething musicians begging for mercy. This year, McCoury and his band toured extensively (including a local date at the Aronoff) with the Preservation Hall Band in support of their joint album, American Legacies. For most septuagenarians, that…
Music: The Bomb
Chicago's Naked Raygun blazed the trail many Punk, Post Punk and Alternative Rock groups that followed, but they never got much more than a pat on the back after other artists took influence from them and road it to the top of the charts. Billie Joe Armstrong has given NR props, and Dave Grohl says…
Onstage: Red
What does the color red mean to you? If you go to see John Logan’s Tony Award-winning play at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park — wrapping up its run this weekend — I’m willing to bet you’ll never think of “red” in simple terms again. The play focuses on abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko,…
Twilight Singers To Release Live Album
Area native Greg Dulli and his successful band The Twilight Singers are set to release their first live album next month. Live in New York features 21 tracks that cover the Twilights' entire career, recorded during a gig at NYC venue Webster Hall this May. The album will be available digitally Nov. 15; a special,…
CityBeat Wins Ohio SPJ Awards
CityBeat won four awards in various categories this weekend from the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). The awards were presented as part of the organization's 16th annual statewide competition for journalistic excellence. A luncheon ceremony was held Saturday in Cleveland's historic Flats district. CityBeat competed in the category of newspapers with circulation less than…
Sheriff Urges ‘No’ Vote on Issue 48
The person who often ranks in polls as the most popular politician in Hamilton County is breaking with his Republican colleagues and is appearing in a new radio commercial urging a “no” vote on Issue 48. Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis Jr. asks residents to oppose the anti-streetcar initiative that was placed on the ballot…
Paranormal Activity 3
Things go bump in the night and a camera records the deeds — the what of the action, but not exactly the how or the why. We function under the belief that if we can see, if we have visual proof of an occurrence, then that fact means that we can explain it. People…
The Mighty Macs
Even though it appears that there won’t be much of an NBA season this year, at least college basketball isn’t going to let us down. Games will be played and madness will ensue in the spring. But before then, a scrimmage match graces the multiplexes featuring the inaugural season of the women’s national college…
The Three Musketeers
Paul W.S. Anderson’s new retelling of Alexandre Dumas’ classic tale features his usual action-oriented antics: explosions galore and hi-tech freeze-frame combat sequences. Anderson's muse, Milla Jovovich, is also back as Milady de Winter, a lady not all that interested in waiting patiently for young D’Artagnan (Logan Lerman) and the three down-on-their-luck Musketeers (Matthew Macfadyen,…
Mike Posner
Hip Hop/Electro/Pop artist Mike Posner appears to have had the kind of "overnight" Pop career success that only seems possible in today's Internet-dependent age, going from (in the short version) Duke University frat boy to internationally buzzed about superstar-in-waiting in the span of about three years. But Posner got an early start — at 13,…
Dr. John with Cyndi Lauper
In the 1960s, New Orleans native Mac Rebennack turned his life and his career completely around with a few judicious changes. First, he switched from guitar to piano after a gunshot injury to his left hand, then he moved to Los Angeles to be an in-demand session guy (Sonny & Cher and Canned Heat, among…
Delloween with The Del McCoury Band
Living Bluegrass legend Del McCoury may be 72-years-old, but he keeps a working schedule that would have most twentysomething musicians begging for mercy. This year, McCoury and his band toured extensively (including a local date at the Aronoff) with the Preservation Hall Band in support of their joint album, American Legacies. For most septuagenarians, that…
The Bomb
Chicago's Naked Raygun blazed the trail many Punk, Post Punk and Alternative Rock groups that followed, but they never got much more than a pat on the back after other artists took influence from them and road it to the top of the charts. Billie Joe Armstrong has given NR props, and Dave Grohl says…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
Paranormal Activity 3 was top dog at the box office this weekend, raking in an estimated $54 million and besting Paranormal Activity 2’s $40.7 million opening. Director Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin) told 5Live that she’s working on a new sci-fi film “more or less by Moby Dick.” But in space. "So we’re…
Squeeze the Day for 10/24
Music Tonight: Swedish producer/DJ Avicii comes to Covington for a show at the Madison Theater. Avicii (born Tim Bergling and also known as Tim Berg) took the modern-age promo route, earning widespread praise on dance music blogs with his crafty House sound. He broke through initially with the track "Bromance"; a version with vocals called…
Morning News and Stuff
After three nights of arrests, Occupy Cincinnati protesters Sunday night chose to leave Piatt Park at its 10 p.m. closing time and march on the sidewalks around the park. Eleven members were arrested Saturday night for staying on the square after a rally past the 3 a.m. time allowed by its permit. The group is…
Squeeze the Day(s) for 10/22-23
Music Saturday: There's a clinic on modern Psych Rock music at the Southgate House as three disparate practitioners team up for a 9:30 p.m., all-ages show. Headliners The Black Angels touch on the Velvet Underground brand of psychedelia, with droning hypnotics, as well as later artists like Spacemen 3 and Jesus and Mary Chain. D.C.'s…
Friday Movie Roundup: Emilio Estevez Edition
Emilio Estevez has been making movies nearly as far back as I can remember going to movies. My first memories of Estevez date back to 1983's The Outsiders, in which he was but one of many young actor dudes (including but not limited to Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe and Matt Dillon) to…
Red (Review)
Critic's Pick At the beginning of Red, John Logan’s hit play currently onstage at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the painter Mark Rothko (Brian Dykstra) stands at center stage, staring toward the audience. But he’s not seeing the audience — he’s looking at a painting on the not-visible fourth wall of his studio in…
Your Weekend To Do List: 10/21-10/23
Happy Friday, y'all! Here's what's going down this weekend: —- Kicking off the weekend is for algernon, performing with The Minor Leagues at Northside Tavern tonight. Read our interview with the guys here. Northside continues to live up to its reputation as an arts and culture mecca as the Factory Square Fine Arts Festival takes…
Stage Door: Quirky Tunes by William Finn
Broadway musicals aren't always about song and dance. One of the best proponents of material that's quirky and idiosyncratic is composer and lyricist William Finn, whose earliest shows — eventually combined into the award-winning Falsettos — were about being gay in New York City. He's also created pieces like A New Brain (about a man…
Squeeze the Day for 10/21
Music Tonight: Minnesota-based sound artist Tim Kaiser is part musician, part inventor and part explorer. In turn, his appearance tonight at the Aisle gallery (on the third floor of 424 Findlay St., in the Brighton arts district) will be part exhibition, part performance, part electronics clinic, as Kaiser comes to town equipped with his unique,…
So, You’ve Decided to Have an Opinion
As I watched the news of Gaddafi’s death yesterday morning (and heard the news about the Occupy Cincinnati protesters last night), I couldn’t help thinking about how humans have had a pretty good year so far. To be clear, I don’t think the answer to murder is more killing — I didn’t rejoice in the…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
A few months after saying they’ll never get back together, the members of Oasis are already talking about a reunion for the 20th anniversary of the release of (What’s The Story) Morning Glory. "In 2015, if we can put our shit aside, we can tour and play the album in its entirety for the 20th…
Morning News and Stuff
Cincinnati Police arrested more than 20 Occupy Cincinnati protesters last night. Here's a recap of the events, which notes that a parade to honor local billionaire Carl Lindner was scheduled for this morning. Here's an impressive collection of reports that back up nearly every grievance articulated in its first official press release. The research was…
Police Arrest Protesters Just in Time For Lindner Parade
More than 20 Occupy Cincinnati protesters were arrested last night just hours before a morning parade was scheduled to celebrate the life of local billionaire Carl Lindner, who died on Monday. The Enquirer's homepage this morning includes a lengthy account of the arrests and reactions by Occupy, along with a live feed covering the parade,…
GOP Council Members Push for Piatt Arrests
Three of the four Republican members of Cincinnati City Council introduced a motion today calling for the city manager to immediately begin enforcing all city laws at Piatt Park, which eventually might result in the arrest of Occupy Cincinnati protestors. Councilman Wayne Lippert introduced the motion this afternoon. Councilwomen Leslie Ghiz and Amy Murray signed…
Both UC and X In Preseason Top 25
Both Xavier and the University of Cincinnati basketball teams are in the preseason Top 25 coaches poll released today, with Xavier checking in at No. 15 and the Bearcats at No. 22. North Carolina received 31 of the possible 32 first-place votes to take the top spot, with Kentucky, Ohio State, UConn and Syracuse rounding…
Johnny English Reborn
While it doesn't live up to the quirky physical comedy the incomparable Rowan Atkinson is capable of, this follow-up to his 2003 spy spoof functions well enough as a PG-rated comedy for kids. Atkinson's James Bond knock-off finds himself pulled back into the service of MI7 after spending five soul-searching years in a Tibetan…
The Way
Is it possible to make a movie about religious faith — why it works for some people, why it doesn’t for others — that explicates the matter in ways that anyone can appreciate, even if they don’t agree with it? Can a movie about spirituality be inclusive rather than divisive? Yes. Hell yes. Writer-director…
Candidates On: City-operated Swimming Pools
As part of CityBeat's continuing election coverage, we’ve once again sent a questionnaire to the non-incumbent Cincinnati City Council candidates to get their reactions on a broad range of issues. Nine of the 14 non-incumbents chose to answer our questions. Others either didn’t respond or couldn’t meet the deadline. During the next few weeks, we…
Rainy Day Documentaries
A pair of worthwhile documentaries that got criminally brief local theatrical runs hit the street this week via DVD/Blu-ray. Each is a nice stay-at-home viewing option on a crappy, rain-infested day like today.—- Andrew Rossi's Page One: Inside the New York Times is an often fascinating, sometimes frustrating fly-on-the-wall look at whether traditional print media…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
Method Man recently told Complex that the RZA and the GZA wrote most of Ol’ Dirty Bastard's first LP. On account of Dirty working too slowly, the RZA and GZA took matters into their own hands by taking old rhymes and having Dirty rap them. Method Man said: “The majority of the verses on that…
Squeeze the Day for 10/20
Music Tonight: Pioneering German music experimentalist Hans-Joachim Roedelius performs a rare Cincinnati show tonight at The Mockbee (2260 Central Pkwy., just past the Western Hills Viaduct if you're heading towards downtown). Roedelius is legendary in avant garde circles and his adventurous work in Krautrock (with Cluster and Harmonia), Ambient and Electronica has had a hand…
Morning News and Stuff
Approximately 50 Occupy Cincinnati protesters attended yesterday's City Council meeting to testify against Piatt Park's 10 p.m. closing time. Negotiations between the city and protesters is ongoing, according to reports, but no agreement was made yesterday after protesters turned down an offer of a new place to stay overnight and the city declined to let…
Local Serge Gainsbourg Film Screening/Discussion
When the French give the world an international pop star, which isn't all that often, they tend to be unforgettable — Edith Piaf, Maurice Chevalier, and, maybe most unusual of all, Serge Gainsbourg. A new and unconventional feature film about him, called Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life and starring Eric Elmosnino in the title role, opens…
Ghiz Deletes Controversial Facebook Posts
We reported here yesterday that City Councilwoman Leslie Ghiz posted personal information on Facebook about two citizens who had emailed criticism about her pressuring of City Manager Milton Dohoney to remove the Occupy Cincinnati protesters. The news quickly spread on Twitter (which you can follow in our live aggregator below), and Ghiz removed the posts…
Ghiz Posts Critics’ Personal Information on Facebook
Leslie Ghiz has angered some Occupy Cincinnati supporters by posting on her Facebook page the home and email address of one individual and the email address of another who criticized her for pressuring City Manager Milton Dohoney to kick the protesters out of the park. The two individuals wrote to Ghiz's campaign, according to Ghiz.…
The Haunted Cave at Lewisburg
The Cave is held in an old limestone mine and uses 4 square miles of its tunnels-it's listed as the World's Longest Haunted House in the 2010 Guiness Book Of World Records. It wastes no time dragging you in-literally, as amphibious creatures pull at your legs from the dark waters of an indoor lake. There…
David Bell
West-side Cincinnati native David Bell was a voracious reader as a child, spending much of his free time at the Westwood Public Library taking in such books as his favorite, Mabel Louise Robinson's King Arthur and His Knights. It was no surprise, then, when Bell took a creative writing class at St. Xavier High School,…
MainStrasse Paw-rade
Just when you think there’s nothing more adorable than a plethora of pooches playing in the park, the MainStrasse Paw-rade gathers a cornucopia of canines … in costumes. This year’s costume theme is famous artists and works of art, so feel free to tap your inner da Vinci for your pup’s ensemble. The dogs will…
Factory Square Fine Arts Festival
We like people who think outside the box, especially really big boxes (like shipping container big)! If you do, too, truck on down to Northside for parProjects' Factory Square Fine Arts Festival. This two-day event will stretch over one city-provided acre of land and feature local and national talent in both indoor and outdoor spaces.…
Make a Difference Day
It’s time to show Cincinnati how much we love the city we live and work in. Keep Cincinnati Beautiful, a local organization with a focus on keeping communities in Cincinnati clean, beautiful and thriving, is participating in Make a Difference Day, an annual national event created by USA Weekend. More than 30 community improvement projects…
Halloween Walk in the Woods
It's not just a free show for kids, it's a really awesome free show for kids. If you've been to other Blue Ash events, like the Taste of Blue Ash, you know they do a good job at providing top-notch entertainment for all of us freeloaders. This one's no different. Children get to trick-or-treat in…
Q102’s Bosom Ball with Hot Chelle Rae
It’s rare these days when a Top 10 radio hit also happens to be, arguably, one of the year’s best songs. Such is the case with Hot Chelle Rae’s “Tonight, Tonight,” easily the song of this past summer. “That’s what we keep hearing,” says the group’s lead vocalist R.K. Follese. “I don’t think it’s going…
Gruesome Playground Injuries
Don’t be put off by the title of Rajiv Joseph’s play getting its regional premiere to open the 2011-2012 season at Know Theatre of Cincinnati. It’s a kind of love story, although there are some moments you might want to avert your eyes: Doug (Jens Rasmussen) has a proclivity for bizarre wounds brought on by…
Candidates On: Taking a Two-Month Summer Break
As part of CityBeat's continuing election coverage, we’ve once again sent a questionnaire to the non-incumbent Cincinnati City Council candidates to get their reactions on a broad range of issues. Nine of the 14 non-incumbents chose to answer our questions. Others either didn’t respond or couldn’t meet the deadline. During the next few weeks, we…
Hans-Joachim Roedelius
German musician Hans-Joachim Roedelius is a pioneer in Electronic music, which means that, as technology advances and music continues to increasingly embrace electronic components, his importance grows with each passing year. In the ’70s, Roedelius founded the groups Cluster (then “Kluster” and, more recently, “Qluster”) and Harmonia, collaborated with Brian Eno and began his solo…
Occupy Cincinnati Updates 10/19
A federal judge has ordered police to stop ticketing Occupy Cincinnati protesters after the group filed a lawsuit against the city for banning people from Piatt Park when it closes. The city has already ticketed protesters approximately $25,000. J. Robert Linneman, one of the attorneys who filed the suit, according to Bloomberg Businessweek: "This case…
Music, Movies and the Not So Mundane
According to TMZ, Shia LaBeouf last week was involved in a drunken altercation in a Vancouver bar. While no one is sure what sparked the incident, LaBeouf and another man ended up brawling on the sidewalk. There is video footage of a shirtless man pummeling the Transformers star, presumably for being in Transformers. LaBeouf’s friends…
Morning News and Stuff
Former Bengal Carson Palmer was freed by the team yesterday when it traded him to the Oakland Raiders for two draft picks. Palmer had threatened to retire his he wasn't traded, and the Bengals secured a considerable package of picks in return: the Raiders' first-round pick next year and either a first- or second-round pick…
Springboro Haunted Hayride & Black Bog
The Springboro Haunted Hayride & Black Bog are some of the truly hidden gems of the Cincinnati haunt community. The attractions, which include a terrifically frightful dark ride and a lengthy trail excursion, are some of the best old school haunts in the region. And when we say hidden, we of course mean only to…
Sandyland Acres Haunted Hayride
A peaceful autumn hayride though a cornfield is not only shattered by creatures “stalking” the rows of corn but by no less than three flame-belching vehicles determined to run the fragile wagon off the path. Deep in the woods, there are backwoodsmen with ear-shattering shotguns and Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The dark barn at…
Land of Illusion
The Land is not one but five intense, haunted attractions. It’s our region’s “scream park,” the haunted house version of Disneyworld. New for this year is the Field of Screams, which is a mildly scary maze for young kids. The park’s vibe and clientele are overwhelmingly youthful — most of the patrons were teens —…
The Thing
Mary Elizabeth Winstead headlines capably enough as a researcher with enough smarts and common sense to recognize the true potential of an unknown and constantly evolving thing discovered by a team of scientists in Antarctica, and she gets much-needed support from Aussie Warrior Joel Edgerton in this John Carpenter rerun from Matthijs van Heijningen…
A Chronicle Written In Blood
T he local commercial haunted house industry got its start in 1970 at a small house on St. Clair Avenue in Clifton, charging customers the princely sum of $1 to experience 16 rooms filled with classic monsters such as Dracula, the Wolf Man, Mummy and Frankenstein’s Monster. Huge crowds swamped the event, and the WSAI…
The Phantom of Paul Brown Stadium: a Love Story
The spectre of death spiraled in Jessie’s DNA. Jessie had, among other ailments, a paralyzing fear of heights, albeit for well-grounded reason. Her father had committed suicide after being laid off from an engineering job that he had held faithfully for 29 years in the north Cincinnati suburbs. Her grandfather, a WWII veteran who served…
Oct. 12-18: Worst Week Ever!
WEDNESDAY OCT. 12 Even people who rarely go to bars should know from TV what commonly occurs inside them: people get wasted, talk really loud, do stupid things and then get mad at each other (this process is normally condensed on sitcoms to a single bottle smashed over the head, which actually also happens in…
Mount Airy and FOP
[WINNER] MT. AIRY FOREST : One of Cincinnati’s unique treasures is celebrating a major anniversary this year. Mount Airy Forest, the 1,471-acre park and nature preserve on the city’s northwest edge, was established 100 years ago. The Park Board commemorated the event earlier this month with a day-long event that included songs, storytelling and historical…
The Mysteries of Rothko’s Red
When I first started learning about contemporary art, Pop ruled. There was a wicked humor in Pop that was subversively accessible — taking the imagery of recognizable objects, often consumer products, and liberating them from their “official” meaning. It seemed both radical and fun in an ironic, distancing way. It wasn’t too long before I…
CEA Tip: See ’Em Before You Vote
Voting for (and the traditional griping over) this year’s Cincinnati Entertainment Awards is off to a fast and furious start in just the first week since the ballot was opened online at www.citybeat.com. If you haven’t voted yet, you have a few weeks to go — the voting will be closed at noon on Nov.…
Owners Lodge Spurious Claims Against Protestors
T here is a certain appropriateness that it is representatives of Big Business and corporate America who are trying to have the Occupy Cincinnati protestors removed from their encampment at downtown’s Piatt Park, which is a public space. In trying to capitalize on their oversized influence with politicians at City Hall, those corporate bigwigs are…
Macbeth (Review)
C incinnati Shakespeare Company’s production of Shakespeare’s tragedy has bursts of chemistry and feeling mingled with drowsy places where the language washes over your brain, and the staging feels perfunctory. Macbeth has been given a contemporary setting, but it’s hard to see what the update adds to the play. Actors have different props — machine…
CPS Seeks a Little ‘Stability’
W hen Cincinnati voters go to the polls in November, they will be asked to decide on a new, permanent funding source for local schools. The Cincinnati Board of Education is seeking a property tax levy, which is Issue 32 on the ballot. The measure is a permanent improvement levy for 7.95 mills. If approved,…
All’s Wells
A fter nearly a dozen years and four highly acclaimed albums as for algernon, Cincinnati singer/songwriter Jason Wells is experiencing something totally foreign but completely welcomed. Wells, the lone constant defining the band’s Indie Folk/Pop/Rock direction, is finally feeling confidence. “It’s hard to tell, but I feel more confident in my writing,” Wells says over…
Personal Stylist
B ettye LaVette’s late-career success story is one of the music business’ most remarkable. The powerful 65-year-old R&B singer/stylist first recorded in 1962 — “My Man — He’s a Lovin’ Man” for Atlantic Records, home in that era of such other classic Soul vocalists as Ben E. King, Solomon Burke, The Drifters, Percy Sledge and…
The Long Road to Fatherhood
“ W e don’t get over our fathers.” This comment, from Martin Sheen, came during a recent interview with the star of The Way, a new film written and directed by Sheen’s son Emilio Estevez, who was also presented and seated next to me. The father-son team was back home — Sheen is a Dayton…
Durst, Sonic Youth and Syl
[HOT] Durst Jokes Continue to Write Themselves He called his band “Limp Bizkit,” combines bad rapping with Heavy Metal and made a horrifying sextape (that was mysteriously leaked online). If nothing else, Fred Durst is incredibly accommodating when it comes to providing punchline set-ups. He was at it again recently when it was announced that…
It’s Time for Lime!
In recent years, thanks to a couple of national chains, burritos have become a basic in the American diet. Given that popularity, Chef Gina Puopolo abandoned her fine dining pedigree and opened up Lime Taqueria (522 Main St., 859-360-7420) in Covington’s popular MainStrasse district. Lime lives on the cutting edge of Mexican cuisine, and it’s…
Straight Man on Madison Avenue
The young guy sitting on the bench to my left was high on something. He kept mentioning how he got caught “getting it on” by the girl’s boyfriend. “He went out to his truck to get a gun,” the guy said. “I got out of there quick, man, hightailed it.” I nodded my head at…
Dark Visions
D ennis Lehane’s distinctive, often disturbing visions have made their way into 10 novels, including his ongoing series of crime thrillers featuring the working-class detective duo Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, the widely acclaimed Mystic River and The Given Day, a dense, well-researched historical novel set, like nearly all of his narratives, in the author’s…
By Golly’s (Review)
B y Golly’s first opened in Milford in the early 1980s. It quickly became a local institution, bolstered by inexpensive food and drinks. On Thanksgiving Day 2007, an electrical fire gutted the building. Owner Tom Seamans knew immediately that he wanted to reopen the tavern while making some changes to make the restaurant more family…
State of the Art (Deco)
T he promotional material for the Cincinnati Art Museum’s new Art Deco: Fashion & Design in the Jazz Age does something I haven’t seen before in the world of art-museum marketing: It headlines, “From the Curator that brought you Wedded Perfection.” Pop culture does that a lot — “from the director of Jaws” — but…
Squeeze the Day for 10/19
Music Tonight: Frenetic Japanese Noise Punk faves Melt-Banana are in town for what will surely be a wild show at the Southgate House tonight. Singer Yasuko Onuki (Yako for short) formed the group in 1992 and, since then, the band has released 10 albums and around two dozen EPs and toured with famous fans like…
