Event: City Apple Festival
Pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin ales, pumpkin pies, pumpkin patches — if you’re sick of all the pumpkin, visit Washington Park for the City Apple Fest, where Tristate farmers offer their locally grown apples and produce. Food vendors will be on hand to offer their famous fall recipes, and if you’ve got the gut, literally speaking,…
Halloween: Dead Can Dance
Exhale Dance Tribe’s popular interactive Halloween carnivale returns to Memorial Hall for a costume party replete with an interactive dance performance, food, drink, tarot cards, a silent auction and kids’ games. Come “dressed as your worst nightmare.” 7 p.m. Saturday. $30; $20 student. Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, exhaledancetribe.com.
Event: Rhinegeist Hopgeist and Fresh Fest at MadTree
Cincinnati celebrates suds with two back-to-back beer festivals. Starting at noon, Rhinegeist throws the inaugural Hopgeist, a party centered around double IPAs from local, regional and national breweries including 50 West, Listermann Brewing Company, 21st Amendment, Dogfish Head, Deschutes and more. Rhinegeist will also be pumping out their new Double IPA homebrew collaboration, Homie. And…
Art: Gallery Talk with Terry Berlier
Terry Berlier is an interdisciplinary artist who works primarily with sculpture, installation and video. Assistant professor of art practice in the Department of Art and Art History at Stanford University, Berlier’s work is often kinetic, interactive and/or sound based and focuses on everyday objects, the environment, ideas of nonplace/place and queer practice. Berlier gives a…
Halloween: Pumpkin Chuck
You take so much time carving and perfecting your pumpkins every year for Halloween, only to throw them in the trash once November rolls around. Instead, bring your leftover pumpkins to Stanbery Park for the eighth annual Pumpkin Chuck. Use handmade trebuchets and watch your worthless orange squash fly down the sledding hill. The event…
Halloween: Trick-or-Treating
Trick-or-treating hours for the cities of Cincinnati, Covington, Newport and Bellevue are 6-8 p.m. Friday. A new trend this year? The Teal Pumpkin Project. The initiative provides children with food allergy-safe treats. Put a teal pumpkin on your porch to indicate you have non-food fun to give away like glow sticks, pencils, bubbles, erasers, vampire…
Music: Murs and Mayday
Endlessly creative veteran L.A. rapper Murs first teamed up with Miami Rap group ¡Mayday! (featuring a pair of MCs and a full live band) on the latter’s first album, 2012’s Take Me to Your Leader. The two entities (both signed to Tech N9ne’s Strange Music imprint) connected so well they decided to reteam for this…
Halloween: The Malice Ball
Over-the-Rhine’s now annual masquerade ball is a “night of elegant drama filled with twisted energy.” It’s got all the makings of an excellent Halloween party: fog, DJ Matt Joy, a FotoFocus photobooth, spookily themed makeup and styling from 8-10 p.m., plus hot bartenders from Bakersfield and The Eagle OTR. Dress in a traditional costume (cat,…
Halloween: Fountain Square Costume Contest
Give your Halloween costume a noontime test run on Fountain Square during their eighth annual costume contest. A panel of local celebrity judges will decide who wins prizes for best individual costume, best team or group costume and best youth costume, along with funniest, scariest and most creative costume. Now that you know the categories,…
Comedy: Jarrod Harris
With a new album about to be released, tentatively titled Present & Talkative, Jarrod Harris is building a new stand-up routine. “I’ve done so many different things in comedy,” he says. “Sometimes I’ll do a character the entire show.” Lately he’s been talking to audiences about one of his offstage interests: conspiracy theories. “It’s an…
Halloween: Assorted Bar Parties
Need ideas for what to do this Halloween? Celebrate All Hallow’s Eve at Japp’s in OTR with a costume contest, dance party and “scary good” cocktails (9 p.m.-2 a.m. Thursday). Dance, magic, dance at Neons for their “David Bowie: Labyrinth-themed Halloween Party and Silent Disco” (4 p.m.-1 a.m. Friday); wax your stache for Mount Lookout’s…
Onstage: A Russian Hallow’s Eve
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra celebrates All Hallow’s Eve with an all-Russian program. Andrey Boreyko conducts the orchestra through Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Tchaikovsky’s Suite No. 3, with guest violinist Alina Ibragimova. 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets start at $12. Music Hall, 1241 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, cincinnatisymphony.org.
Onstage: Into the Woods
Stephen Sondheim took the Brothers Grimm to Broadway with this mashed-up fairytale musical. It’s likely to be a show audiences will flock to see at the Covedale Center. Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack (of the beanstalk), Rapunzel, a weird witch and an earnest baker and his wife all converge in a mysterious wood. Their…
Event: Disney on Ice
A world of magic and wonder awaits with Disney On Ice's Princesses & Heroes. The show combines the classic tales of Disney’s destined (heterosexual yet sometimes curiously mixed-species) couples, including favorites such as the Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and even special appearances from the characters of Frozen. The…
Event: SuicideGirls Blackheart Burlesque
What better way to celebrate hump day than by visiting a troupe of scantily clad girls dancing and unleashing their inner geeks? The new SuicideGirls Blackheart Burlesque show features SG’s brand of badass pinup models doing their thing, but with a couple of unique twists. The ladies teamed up with renowned choreographer Manwe Sauls-Addison (Lady…
50 West’s John Tomain Brews Up Comfort Food
Chef John Tomain of 50 West Brewing Company crafts every menu item with one goal in mind: It has to go great with beer. “We’re a brewery first,” he says. “We just happen to have food.” But as any fan of the brewpub will tell you, the food is not exactly an afterthought. Tomain hails…
Alton Brown Goes Live
From the moment celebrity chef Alton Brown first showed up on our television screens with his wacky culinary science show Good Eats, he’s been educating and entertaining us on all things food related. And on Saturday, he’ll be at the Aronoff Center for Alton Brown Live! The Edible Inevitable Tour, featuring “a pinch of comedy,…
WATCH: Trademark Aaron and Easy Lantana’s “The Best” Video
This summer, on-the-rise Northern Kentucky-based Hip Hop artist Trademark Aaron released his excellent EP Act Accordingly, which included a bonus track titled "The Best," a collaboration with Cincinnati MC Easy Lantana, the RCA/Polo Grounds Music recording artist who made waves nationally last year with his single, "All Hustle, No Luck." The track about hard work…
Morning News and Stuff
Morning y’all. Before we begin, I have to share something only tangentially related to the news. Last night I went and checked out a concert at Union Terminal, which has a 100-year-old organ in house and more than 4,000 pipes for that organ built into the walls. I don’t know a whole lot about baroque…
Valley of the Sun Tour Diary: Janky Promoters
One thing that I’ve learned on this trip is that the show’s promoter can often set the mood of an entire night. On this tour, we’ve been lucky enough to have several great promoters who know how to run things and take care of a band, which helps lead to a great show. Our night…
Ian McLagan
It isn’t everyday that a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member comes to town. But when one as talented as Ian McLagan comes without much advance word, you have to worry if he’ll attract the sizeable audience he deserves. McLagan was the keyboardist for Small Faces, huge British hitmakers of the late 1960s whose…
City Council Moves Closer to Marijuana Expungement Ordinance
If you got caught with a joint that one time in college here in Cincinnati and now you're applying for jobs, that youthful indiscretion can make it much tougher for you. But that could change. Some of the 10,000 Cincinnatians convicted under an unpopular and now-repealed marijuana law may soon be able to put the…
An Interview with Ian McLagan
Ian McLagan, who performs at Southgate House Revival on Wednesday, is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. And for good reason. In 1965, he replaced one Jimmy Weston as keyboard player in Small Faces, one of the two great Mod bands (the other was The Who) who captured the youthquake mood and sense…
Music Tonight: JoyCut
Progressive Italian Indie/Electronic band JoyCut are continuing their ever-expanding global takeover with an extensive fall tour, which includes a free show tonight at Over-the-Rhine's MOTR Pub. Cincy trio Orchards open the show at 10 p.m. JoyCut blends elements of Dark Wave, EDM, Post Rock and other adventurous styles to concoct its engaging, often mesmerizing instrumental…
Morning News and Stuff
Hey all! We’re hustling this week to put together our election issue, which will be just overrun with everything you need to know before Nov. 4 or, heck, right now if you’re doing the early voting thing. In light of that, I’m going to hit you with a brief, just-the-facts version of morning news. •…
Cranley’s Hand Up Initiative Criticized for Diverting Funding
Remember this summer, when Mayor John Cranley shuffled some money around to nonprofits outside the normal budget process while others got cuts? Get ready for some deja vu. Cranley’s “Hand Up” job initiative will be funded in part by cuts to other anti-poverty and blight mitigation programs. That has some advocates for the poor up…
Valley of the Sun Tour Diary: The Wonders of Gaff Tape
Today, I wanted to write about something that all five of us share on this trip. Something we all cherish, hold close and respect more than anything. I want to talk about something that holds us all together on a daily basis. The love of Rock & Roll. Ha ha! Just kidding, I’m talking about…
CityBeat Staffers’ Favorite ‘This American Life’ Episodes
This American Life, the true storytelling public radio show hosted by Ira Glass, is one of the most popular radio programs and podcasts today. Each week since 1995, Glass presents a theme — cars, summer camp, break-ups — and a variety of writers, comedians, journalists and everyday people share stories of their experiences with that…
Lectures Highlight CAM’s ‘Eyes on the Street’ Show
Last night, British photographer Paul Graham presented his FotoFocus-sponsored lecture at Cincinnati Art Museum. Graham’s work is in two of FotoFocus’ featured exhibitions — the museum’s Eyes on the Street and the Stills show at Downtown’s Michael Lowe Gallery. Eyes on the Street is up until Jan. 4; Stills closes Nov. 1. Graham’s work is…
JRo to Open Le Bar a Boeuf in Edgecliff Building
Everyone's favorite French chef Jean-Robert de Cavel, owner of Table and French Crust Cafe, is opening a new destination restaurant in The Edgecliff condominium building in Walnut Hills (2200 Victory Parkway). The whimsically titled Le Bar a Boeuf — literally translated to "beef bar" — will be a French neo-bistro, de Cavel says, with new takes on classic…
Tyler Shields Returns to Cincinnati for Miller Gallery Show
American photographer and firebrand Tyler Shields makes his return to Cincinnati for a Miller Gallery exhibition as part of the ongoing FotoFocus Biennial. This is Shields’ second appearance at the Miller Gallery in conjunction with FotoFocus, first appearing in 2012 with Controlled Chaos. This year's exhibit – Provocateur — opens tonight and he’s been shooting in various…
Weekend Music: Carolina Chocolate Drops, Busdriver and More
Losing a key singer/songwriter in any band is a difficult proposition (see: Van Halen, multiple times), but popular Roots act Carolina Chocolate Drops haven’t missed a beat since their amicable split with Dom Flemons (now a solo artist). Singer/multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens, the sole original member of the group, continues to drive the Drops, who began…
Clifton Beerfest Returns
Clifton Beerfest, previously held annually at Fries Cafe in Clifton, is moving next door to the Corinthian this year to continue the tradition and also in memory of Fries owner Jerry Freese, who passed away earlier this year. The fest includes 93 local, regional and national craft beers to sample, plus live music from Trashgrass band…
Stage Door: Safe House and Spooky Performances
Last night I was at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park for the opening of Keith Josef Adkins' new play, Safe House, the 71st world premiere staged by our Tony Award-winning regional theater. (CityBeat feature story here.) It's a fascinating piece that's about the little-known circumstances of "free people of color" in 19th-century America — not…
Morning News and Stuff
Morning y’all. Here’s what’s happening in Cincinnati and the wider world this morning. On a side note, I can’t wait until Nov. 5 so I can stop writing about politics quite so much. Anyway, onward. The city’s last facility providing abortions could be closing soon. Planned Parenthood’s Elizabeth Campbell Surgical Center in Mount Auburn received…
WATCH: Walk the Moon’s “Shut Up and Dance” Music Video
In early September, Cincinnati major-label act Walk the Moon had its new single, “Shut Up and Dance,” released by RCA Records. The song — which the band performed on Late Night with Seth Myers on Sept. 15 — is slated for inclusion on the band’s next full-length for RCA, the group’s second for the label.…
From the Copy Desk
Good late morning, readers. Roughly 13 more work hours until the weekend… we got this. I think. This week's issue was filled with Words Nobody Uses or Knows, most of which were found in our cover story, Lost in Wilberforce, a piece about how the country's oldest historically black college is dying a slow, sad…
West Coasters Taste Ohio Delicacies in Real Estate Blog Video
Movoto Real Estate made a video introducing 12 West Coasters to five of Ohio’s favorite dishes. Predictably, the Cincinnati-centric grub gets mass hate by people with extremely sensitive gag reflexes. Here are the best reactions. Glier’s Goetta: On its appearance: “Quinoa sausage?” On its taste: “[I want] an Egg McMuffin with that.” On its mouth…
FAILE Mural Unveiled in Covington Tonight
Covington’s collection of high-end street art expands today with the unveiling of a vibrant mural created by Brooklyn-based artists FAILE. The mural will cover the rear walls of the adjacent Republic Bank and Donna Salyer’s Fabulous Bridal buildings on the corners of Sixth Street and Madison Avenue. Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller, collectively known as…
Morning News and Stuff
All right. Let’s talk about this news stuff, shall we? In just 12 days, voters will decide whether or not to back a plan put forward by Republican Hamilton County Commissioners Greg Hartmann and Chris Monzel for fixing Union Terminal. But the details still haven’t been worked out completely, as this Business Courier article discusses.…
MadTree Uses Local Carriage House Farm Ginger
Ginger is typically found growing in warmer climates like Asia and Hawaii, but local Carriage House Farm is bucking trend by growing their own. The North Bend farm plants ginger in late winter, protecting it with a plastic "high tunnel." The plastic tunnel keeps the soil at a comfortable 50 degrees, while the rhizomes sprout…
Christmas Ale Comes to Zip’s Cafe Just in Time for Halloween
Nothing says October like Christmas ale. Santa Claus is coming to Zip's Cafe in Hyde Park a little early this year, carrying a sack full of Great Lakes Christmas Ale — and presents for all the good little of-age drinkers. A man literally dressed as St. Nick will deliver and tap a Christmas Ale keg, pouring $5 pints…
Arnold’s Bartender Becomes Area’s Youngest Certified Cicerone
Cincinnati's oldest operating bar and tavern has a new angle: their bartender Tyler Del Matto just recently passed the Certified Cicerone exam in Asheville, N.C. He's currently the only working bartender in the city with the certification, one of only 58 in Ohio and the youngest certified Cicerone in the region.The Cicerone exam is a…
REVIEW: concert:nova’s ‘Gothic Halloween’
Before Anne Rice and Stephen King, Edgar Allen Poe set the standard for gothic creepiness. He's the inspiration for Gothic Halloween, a terrific program of music and Poe's classic stories guaranteed to chill the blood temperatures to appropriate Halloween levels, performed with wicked glee by the adventurous ensemble concert:nova. It's an evening of music from…
Music Tonight: We Were Promised Jetpacks and More
It’s a double bill of Scottish Indie Rock at Bogart’s tonight as We Were Promised Jetpacks and The Twilight Sad pull into town for a free, all-ages 8 p.m. show. The concert was originally scheduled for Over-the-Rhine’s Woodward Theater, but was moved due to the new venue not quite being ready yet to host events…
Something Wicked This Way Comes
October is synonymous with Halloween, haunted houses, harvest festivals and more-sexy-than-scary costume balls. Whether you plan on being a slutty nurse, a moody John Snow, your basic zombie or Dracula, the Tristate offers more than enough events for you to get your freaky on all haunting season. BAR EVENTS Arnold's Halloween Blackout — Arnold's hosts a Halloween…
St. Vincent
Bill Murray is seemingly on the verge of being canonized for his role as the premier sad comic in Hollywood. This time, the unlikely sainthood claims stem from his portrayal of a crusty, hard-drinking war veteran whose only brief pleasure in life seems to come from time spent with a stripper (Naomi Watts), until a…
Ouija
Why would anyone play around with supernatural artifacts, especially the well-known spirit board? Only in the movies, right? It’s game on in Ouija, from director and co-writer Stiles White (sharing writing duties with Juliet Snowden), as a typical group of friends recklessly tempt fate and must confront their deepest fears with repeated uses of the…
John Wick
Directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski take the helm after careers in stunt work and second unit direction. Leitch coordinated stunts for TRON: Legacy and the reboot of Conan the Barbarian, while Stahelski, with a background in kickboxing, broke through as a stunt performer and a stunt double for one Keanu Reeves (The Matrix series),…
Dear White People
It is ironic that writer-director Justin Simien displays such assurance over material that is so fraught with uncertainty. The subjects up for consideration in Dear White People are race and racial identity with sexual orientation thrown in for bonus complications. Time and again, during the coverage of this film since its breakthrough premiere at the…
To Do This Week
Festive fun for skeptics, believers, kids and pets. For the kids, take part in the World's Largest Nerf Battle on Saturday at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds in an attempt to set a Guinness World Record on Saturday. Bring your Nerf Blaster, Nerf darts and protective eyewear. There's also a Kids Fall Fest at Washington Park…
Music: The Twilight Sad and We Were Promised Jet Packs
The Twilight Sad is properly named. The Scottish trio of vocalist James Graham, guitarist Andy MacFarlane and drummer Mark Devine specializes in mood-altering music that ranges from hushed melancholia to swirling, rhythmically dynamic rave-ups. The band's songs somehow come off simultaneously epic and intimate. It's as if their buddies Mogwai found a singer equal to…
Art: Documenting Cincinnati’s Neighborhoods
It’s hard to have any conversation about Cincinnati’s past without someone bemoaning the impact of I-75 construction in the 1950s. The West End neighborhood was torn asunder, much of its architecture destroyed and many of its residents uprooted. The urban fabric of the inner city was torn in half, and for what? Trucks and travelers,…
Music: Burger Records Caravan of Stars
Located in a nondescript strip mall in Fullerton, Calif., Burger Records is a throwback to an era when record labels had a unified sound and vision — or at least a unified aesthetic. Co-founded in 2007 by longhairs Lee Rickard and Sean Bohrman, a couple of self-described “squares,” Burger began as a hyper-local, aggressively DIY endeavor.…
Music: Busdriver
Regan Farquhar’s Hip Hop nom de plume is the rather prosaic Busdriver, but we’re not talking Ralph Kramden’s city vehicle here — more like Ken Kesey’s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Metro. There is a swirling Psychedelia woven into Busdriver’s diverse and intense catalog that defies a simple Hip Hop label and pushes him closer to…
Music: The Werks
The Jam Band scene can be a hard bubble to burst for upcoming bands, partly because many fans are devoted to the grandfatherly gods of the genre (i.e. The Grateful Dead, Phish, String Cheese Incident), but also because there seem to be a lot of bands trying to get that free-flowing, from-the-basement improvised magic moving.…
Music: Carolina Chocolate Drops
The premise of the Carolina Chocolate Drops was simple — to take back the African-American string-band tradition that flourished in the 1700s and 1800s, yet faded away in the early 1900s. As the 20th century progressed, the banjo, which originated in Africa, became a go-to instrument for white Appalachians and other musicians, along with the fiddle. …
Event: Reinventing Radio: An Evening with Ira Glass
Ira Glass’ This American Life is one of the most popular radio programs in America, with 4 million listeners over the air and an additional 1 million via podcast. It is regularly the most downloaded podcast on iTunes, along with Welcome to Night Vale, a radio show that takes place in the eerie, fictional town of Night Vale, and…
Onstage: Safe House
I thought I knew quite a bit about American history before I read Keith Josef Adkins’ new play, Safe House, about to have its world premiere at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. But his central characters, members of a “free family of color” in 1843 Kentucky, were in a situation that I did not know of. …
FotoFocus Talk Spotlights Lexington’s Photographic Heritage
If the assault of Mitch McConnell ads has you thinking Kentucky must be the most hopelessly unprogressive state ever, a FotoFocus Biennial-related lecture last Sunday provided another take on the Bluegrass State. The speaker, who also presented slides, was the veteran Lexington photographer Guy Mendes, who with Carey Gough has the exhibition Blue Roots and…
Event: Laverne Cox
Orange Is the New Black star Laverne Cox is on a nationwide college speaking tour that stops in the Tristate Tuesday. The actress — best known for her character Sophia, an incarcerated transgendered woman and prison hair stylist — has become a public voice for transgender rights and awareness. As NKU’s LGBTQ History Month keynote…
Halloween: MainStrasse Pawrade
Bring your furry companion to MainStrasse Village for the 13th annual Halloween dog costume Pawrade. The day includes dog-friendly games, vendors, rescue groups and delicious bites for dogs and humans alike. Dress your dog up as Mickey or Minnie — this year’s theme is “Cartoon Characters” — but try something more creative than bringing your…
Event: Kids Fall Fest
Head to Washington Park for Kids Fall Fest, a fun-filled afternoon with a range of activities for the little ones. Puppet shows, magic tricks, face painting, stilt walkers, a pumpkin patch and a free screening of Casper will all be a part of the festivities. Noon-8 p.m. Saturday. Free. 1230 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, washingtonpark.org.
Event: Taste of the World
Ben Franklin once said, “In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom.” Find both wisdom and freedom at the 11th annual Taste of the World, featuring wine, beer and spirits from around the globe, plus edibles prepared by more than 20 of the area’s best restaurants. A silent auction and raffle includes donated…
Event: Bark Out Against Battery
A large number of women in abusive relationships won’t leave their circumstances because of threats to their pets. The fifth annual Bark Out Against Battery raises funds to support the partnership between the YWCA and the SPCA, created to help provide protective shelter for animals while women seek help and safety from their abusers. The…
Marrakech Moroccan Café & Grill (Review)
H ow many of the ideas you’ve had while smoking a hookah have ever come to fruition? Ideas beyond, “How about heading home and taking a nap?” Well, smoking a hookah was how the concept of Marrakech Moroccan Café & Grill was born, and the result is a welcome addition to the intercontinental dining scene…
Event: World’s Largest Nerf Battle
Anyone older than 8 is invited to participate in the World’s Largest Nerf Battle, an attempt to set a Guinness World Record. Bring your own Nerf blaster (you have one, right?), Nerf darts and eye protection to the Hamilton County Fairgrounds on Saturday and prepare to get hit by tiny Styrofoam projectiles. Halloween costumes encouraged.…
Comedy: Aziz Ansari
Aziz Ansari is literally everywhere these days, including Miami University’s Family Weekend. Explain to your parents that he’s Tom from Parks and Rec, and then get them to buy you a ticket to his stand-up show about life and dating in the age of texting and hashtags — if it’s not sold out. 8:30 p.m.…
Cincinnati Detectives Go ‘Inside Homicide’
True crime has long been a popular genre of books, film and television. That interest is further piqued when the crime at hand happened in your own back yard. Inside Homicide (10 p.m. Thursdays, Investigation Discovery) follows Cincinnati detectives Jenny Luke and Jennifer Mitsch along with Atlanta’s Summer Benton as they investigate homicides in their…
Ira Glass: The Golden Age of Wireless
This American Life host Ira Glass had radio in his blood from the start — only he didn’t know it. “I was working at NPR for a while and my parents were very much against it,” he says. “Especially working in public radio because they believed there was no money to be made.” Having struggled…
Rediscovering Lost Photos From a Long-Ago West End
It’s hard to have any conversation about Cincinnati’s past without someone bemoaning the impact of I-75 construction in the 1950s. The West End neighborhood was torn asunder, much of its architecture destroyed and many of its residents uprooted. The urban fabric of the inner city was torn in half, and for what? Trucks and travelers,…
Home Free
I t hought I knew quite a bit about American history before I read Keith Josef Adkins’ new play, Safe House, about to have its world premiere at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. But his central characters, members of a “free family of color” in 1843 Kentucky, were in a situation that I did…
Burger Records Caravan of Stars with The Coathangers, together PANGEA, Cherry Glazerr, AJ Davila & Terror Amor and Mozes & the Firstborn
Located in a nondescript strip mall in Fullerton, Calif., Burger Records is a throwback to an era when record labels had a unified sound and vision — or at least a unified aesthetic. Co-founded in 2007 by longhairs Lee Rickard and Sean Bohrman, a couple of self-described “squares,” Burger began as a hyper-local, aggressively DIY endeavor.…
The Werks with Zoogma and Peridoni
The Jam Band scene can be a hard bubble to burst for upcoming bands, partly because many fans are devoted to the grandfatherly gods of the genre (i.e. The Grateful Dead, Phish, String Cheese Incident), but also because there seem to be a lot of bands trying to get that free-flowing, from-the-basement improvised magic moving.…
Busdriver with Clipping, Milo, Counterfeit Money Machine, Eugenius and Kenny Segal
Regan Farquhar’s Hip Hop nom de plume is the rather prosaic Busdriver, but we’re not talking Ralph Kramden’s city vehicle here — more like Ken Kesey’s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Metro. There is a swirling Psychedelia woven into Busdriver’s diverse and intense catalog that defies a simple Hip Hop label and pushes him closer to…
Carolina Chocolate Drops
I first came across the Carolina Chocolate Drops at the MerleFest music festival in North Carolina not long after they formed in the mid-2000s. The premise of this exciting band was simple — to take back the African-American string-band tradition that flourished in the 1700s and 1800s, yet faded away in the early 1900s. As…
Halloween: Batfest
The Cincinnati Museum Center devotes the entire day to celebrating bats. Learn about caves (and explore the world’s largest artificial limestone cave), the bats that inhabit them and their role in our ecosystem. Watch a bat flight, examine bat specimens and sample bat-pollinated fruits. Or, to get real festive, get your face painted, make a…
Event: Queen City IndieCon
Cincinnati celebrates the queens of indie writing, bringing in star female authors to speak, sign and mingle for two days. Keynote authors, among 17 speakers, include Abbi Glines (bestselling author of the Too Far series) and Samantha Young (hit author of On Dublin Street). There will also be panels, cupcake breaks, a Royal Affair Awards…
The Twilight Sad with We Were Promised Jetpacks
The Twilight Sad is properly named. The Scottish trio of vocalist James Graham, guitarist Andy MacFarlane and drummer Mark Devine specializes in mood-altering music that ranges from hushed melancholia to swirling, rhythmically dynamic rave-ups. The band’s songs somehow come off simultaneously epic and intimate. It’s as if their buddies Mogwai found a singer equal to…
Art: The New Clownville Amusement Park at Thunder-Sky, Inc.
Bill Ross and Keith Banner’s gallery honoring the work and legacy of Raymond Thunder-Sky hosts its five-year anniversary with a show of Thunder-Sky-inspired works by such artists as Robert McFate, Antonio Adams and Emily Brandehoff. An exclusive showing of Thunder-Sky’s own drawings will be part of the exhibit, and true to his legacy, artists from…
Halloween: The Shining
We could say, “Here’s Johnny,” but we won’t. Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance returns to the big screen in the Kubrick-helmed The Shining for one night only at the Esquire. Winter is coming, with all the mania, REDRUM, ghost bartenders, blood elevators, rotting bathtub ladies and freaky twins you can handle. 10:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24.…
Deke Dickerson Sings “Instrumentals” with Los Straitjackets
The world’s greatest wrestling-masked instrumental musical ensemble Los Straitjackets return to the Cincinnati area tonight for a show at Southgate House Revival. The band is joined by Roots music fave Deke Dickerson, who collaborated with Los Straitjackets on the recently released LP, Los Straitjackets: Deke Dickerson Sings The Instrumental Hits. As the cheeky title suggests,…
Comedy: Tig Notaro
After battling some serious health problems over the past few years, comedian Tig Notaro feels great. “I am utterly happy and healthy, as far as I know,” she says, “and do not have a complaint in the world. It’s embarrassing frankly.” The way she discussed her health problems on stage, along with other personal challenges…
Music: The Toasters
While it’s true that “Ska Punk” had its mainstream flash-in-the-pan moment in the’90s, it’s a shame that Ska often gets dismissed today as a sort of punchline. (“Ha, remember when Ska and Swing music were popular?”) From its origins in late-’50s Jamaica through today, Ska has endured thanks to new, young bands rediscovering the music…
Morning News and Stuff
Good morning y’all! Here’s a quicker than usual rundown of the day’s news before I jet for an interview. There is yet another version of the Union Terminal restoration deal being passed around. The deal, which Hamilton County Commissioners are expected to vote on soon, doesn’t make many changes to the sales tax hike on…
Halloween: Is It Normal or Paranormal?
Is this normal? Renowned psychic medium Victor Parauta can tell you. During this workshop, he’ll shed light on a variety of possible paranormal causes of common physical, emotional and psychological symptoms, as well as a variety of normal causes for events that seem otherwordly. There will also be a Q&A session where audience members can…
Happy Accidents
P unk Rock has a rich history of musicians sourcing political figures for inspiration. The Sex Pistols kicked the door open for the genre by gamely taking on the British government, Dead Kennedys needled California Gov. Jerry Brown on “California Über Alles” and Hardcore rabble-rousers Reagan Youth used their very moniker to mock the Gipper…
Onstage: The Theresienstadt Opera Project
Cincinnati Chamber Opera presents two works performed in Theresienstadt, a Nazi concentration camp outside of Prague where Jewish artists, composers, musicians and writers were interred until they were shipped to death camps. Brundibár, a children’s opera by Hans Krása and Adolf Hoffmeister, tells the story of two children whose quest to get medicine for their…
Valley of the Sun Tour Diary: A Day in the Life of a Merch Guy
Before I left, I had a lot of people ask me just what I’d be doing while on tour. The best answer I could give them was, “I don’t know, sell shirts I guess.” So, in an effort to give you a better picture of what a day in the life of Valley of the…
Pulling the Thread
Veteran bands with decade-long histories have typically experienced what Inspector Clouseau — and then R.E.M. — once colorfully described as “life’s rich pageant.” The Scotsmen who have comprised We Were Promised Jetpacks since 2004 have certainly lived at both extremes on that shit-sandwich-to-champagne continuum, and yet their experiential breadth would hardly earn them classifications as…
They Raped That City
If you are a woman or a young girl, imagine being held against your will in a house in your neighborhood by a gaggle of dirty and dirty-minded thugs you kind of know from around the way. And if you are a young girl, a teenager, you know these men — all in their twenties…
Cincinnati vs. The World 10.22.14
Ridership on Cincinnati’s new Red Bike system has blown away expectations, according to its organizers. Officials projected 1,000 rides per week, but since the service started four weeks ago, there have been 7,000 rides. Cincinnati +1 A Democratic congressman is demanding an investigation after an AP report revealed that suspected Nazi war criminals and SS…
Worst Week Ever!: Oct. 15-21
George W. Bush Visits with UC Football Players, Explains How to Succeed in Life Even though everyone has given up on watching the University of Cincinnati’s football team this season because they aren’t very good, that didn’t stop coach Tommy Tuberville from introducing President George W. Bush to some of the squad down in Dallas…
City to Pay for Compost Site Clean Up
City Council voted Oct. 15 to spend $300,000 to clean up Compost Cincy, a former Winton Hills composting company created in 2012 with the help of the city’s Office of Environment and Sustainability. Neighbors of the site have complained for the past year of unbearable odors. The company closed its doors in October 2013, but…
Effort to Save Historic Murals Moves Forward
In an effort to save the iconic industrial murals that hang in the two shuttered terminals slated for demolition at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Mayor John Cranley has resurrected the city’s Mural Preservation Task Force. The task force, originally launched by Cranley’s predecessor Mark Mallory, is set to meet Oct. 30 and is comprised…
City Ends Fiscal Year with $18 Million Budget Surplus
The city budget ran an $18 million surplus for the fiscal year ending June 2014, City Manager Harry Black said last week. The extra money is the result of budgetary reductions worth $7.9 million as well as a $5.9 million boost to the city’s revenues. Black outlined ideas for spending the extra money in an…
A Tale of Two Suburbs
W hile images of shouting crowds, tear gas and riot police in Missouri continued to flicker across TV screens across the country, a fluctuating group of 15 to 25 activists in early October camped out in Beavercreek, Ohio’s squat, nondescript police department. They stayed for three days, eventually blocking the front door to the department…
Lost in Wilberforce
T here’s a rumor in the dorms that Meat wants to challenge Jarred to a freestyle battle. Meat thinks he’s got chops too, here in the school year’s early going, and in truth he’s shown promise. But Jarred Hill, a fifth year senior, former class president and member of the Royal Court, enjoys something like…
A Master of Art Forgery Eludes Dogged Local Tracker
The dynamic between art forger Mark Landis and former museum registrar/Cincinnati resident Matthew Leininger is the mythic and existential stuff of legends. This is the ultimate game of cat and mouse played out in an all-too-real world stage that shrinks to human scale thanks to the immediate proximity of its recent act taking place in…
