Onstage: Review: Altar Boyz
Sandy Underwood The Altar Boyz strike a pose. Elevating cliches to entertainment is the Cincinnati Playhouse's M.O. this fall. It started in September with Dracula, a familiar tale that was squeezed to extract every ounce of camp humor. It continues with the current production, Altar Boyz, taking the entertainment phenomenon of "boy bands" (typically…
Music: Fighting the War on Terror
C. Matthew Hamby Delusional Christians and other religious malcontents, along with the always well-intentioned but woefully misguided PC Police, might be doing everything they can to strip the fun out of Halloween by eradicating its, you know, oh-so-satanic presence from our public schools. But it's a wasted effort since, for better or worse, Halloween…
‘Mysterious’ academic accounting at Antioch University
Graham Lienhart During a vigil at Cintas' annual shareholders meeting, Eleuteria Mazon, a Cintas employee in Illinois, talks about the company's safety violations. The future of Southwest Ohio's most liberal college hangs in the balance this week. Although the Antioch University Board of Trustees says money is the problem, others are saying it's a…
Onstage: Review: Caroline, or Change
Taylore Mahogany Scott stars in Caroline, or Change. New Stage Collective and its artistic director, Alan Patrick Kenny, are nothing if not ambitious. When Kenny announced he would open NSC's 2007-08 season with the sprawling and complex Caroline, or Change by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and composer Jeanine Tesori, some wondered if NSC was reaching…
Music: We Are the World
Kimberly Nickoson Liz Wu Given the fact that World Music Festival organizers Zach Mechlem and Liz Wu are attempting to raise the profile of local World music artists with their first annual event, it seems fitting that our interview takes place in the international atmosphere of Cafe Istanbul at Newport on the Levee. Over…
MainEvent: Nappy Roots: An Affrilachian Arts Sampler
Tracy A. Hawkins Frank X Walker Roots of 'Affrilachia' Esteemed author/editor FRANK X WALKER knows there is much more to Appalachia beyond the stereotypes. He's the author of three exceptional books of poetry — Affrilachia, Buffalo Dance and Black Box — all of which are intensely personal and autobiographical treatments of "how a body's…
Sound Advice: : Jonatha Brooke and HORSE the Band
Jonatha Brooke Jonatha Brooke Thursday · 20th Century Theatre From the Folk/Pop brilliance of The Story, her duo with college pal Jennifer Kimball, to her acclaimed dozen-year solo career, Jonatha Brooke has worn the sensitive singer/songwriter badge. After the intense introspection of 2004's Back in the Circus (all of Brooke's discs since 1998 have…
News: Mental Health Care for All
It's 3 in the morning the day after you lost your job, and you're feeling desperate. Everyone you know is asleep — they all have jobs with insurance and savings accounts and their own responsibilities, so it's not like they'd be able to "get" what you're dealing with anyway. A few blocks away a mentally…
Film: Advancing the Game
IFC Films Breeze Loo (Roger Fan) busts out his signature move in Finishing the Game. A lot of people don't like films about racial affairs in America. They're aware of our lack of parity, but don't want to pay $9.50 to feel guilty or angry about it. With the indie comedy Finishing the Game,…
Locals Only: : MC Till
Adam Hayden, also known as MC Till, figures out how to engage others in his music and his point of view. And in Cincinnati, where more MCs line the city's blocks than churches and liquor stores, that's not an easy feat. It's August's Scribble Jam Festival, and the parking lot of Annie's Entertainment Complex…
Diner: Let’s Do Brunch!
Joe Lamb Honey Brunch is a civilized affair and as such has rules. · It should be eaten outdoors, weather permitting. · There should be linen and fresh flowers. · Women should be encouraged to wear gloves. · It must under no circumstances be rushed. · It should be enjoyed with those you love.…
News: Too Many Behind Bars?
Joe Lamb Hamilton County commissioners Pat DeWine (left) and Todd Portune debate a proposed sales tax for a new jail. Not shown is the representative of the No Jail Tax PAC — barred from the WCET debate. With less than two weeks until Hamilton County voters go to the polls to decide on a…
Auto Comps
Two corporate brands are looking to snuggle up with taste-making young consumers with new CD EPs. Toyota Motors' Scion line has always been serious about its factory installed sound systems and now their Audio/Visual department has teamed with five hip record labels — Ninja Tune, Vice, Light In the Attic, Greensleeves and Strictly Rhythm —…
Preston McClanahan’s
STARTREE Bound by gravitational force, PRESTON McCLANAHAN'S sculpture STARTREE (1965-67) behaves like an astral system: The viewer is powerless to resist its attraction. The work is one of several in the current Graphic Content exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Center. Following McClanahan's design, Martin Michaels engineered the sculpture with music composed by Sawn Lane…
Art: Who You Gonna Call?
Check out more information at the CityBeat ScaryBeat site, While Cincinnati thankfully has never been on the receiving end of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man's supernatural rampage a la Ghostbusters, Southern Ohio and its surrounding region is by no means impervious to the unexplained. "In the '60s, if you were to tell people you were…
News to Use
Clean Out the Chemicals The Hamilton County Solid Waste Management District's (District) free household hazardous waste drop-off sites close for the season Oct. 27. Since the program began March 17, more than 6,300 households have participated, disposing of more than 557,138 pounds of household hazardous waste. Environmental Enterprises, Inc., 4650 Spring Grove Avenue and10163 Cincinnati-Dayton…
The Clay Street Press
Clay Street Press Franz Jantzen's "The Entire First Floor of Duttenhoffer's Bookstore, Cincinnati." Walking into THE CLAY STREET PRESS to see the exhibition Dig It Al!, I was stunned to witness three large digital photographs by Washington, D.C., artist FRANZ JANTZEN doing everything cubism did. Each picture made me think of the moment when…
News: Green Burb
Wyoming is poising itself to become one of Greater Cincinnati's "greenest" areas. In August the city adopted its 2007 Master Plan, a document that is recreated every 10 years. This year it includes as a goal "ecological stewardship and sustainability," with environmentally friendly "green" initiatives. Proposals include preserving existing green spaces, areas that house natural,…
Onstage: Review: Never Swim Alone
Here's a sweet little irony for you: The Satori Group is presenting Never Swim Alone, a playlet about America's obsession with winning, weekends through Nov. 4 at The Carnegie in Covington. Satori itself won (and abundantly deserved) a Pick-of-the-Fringe award last June for iLove, their engaging, thoughtful, visually diverting investigation into how and who and…
Living Out Loud: : Love Will Keep Us Together
Difficult to watch and impossible to deal with, the situation came to an end for me last month. I said goodbye to the father and his son. It wasn't my idea to leave the consulting job I was told my services were no longer required but I was ready to go, because I…
Film: Sights of the Season
King Video Max Shreck stars as Count Orloff in F.W. Murnau's 1922 classic of German silent cinema, Nosferatu. Halloween shares an undisputed bond with cinema. The season is not complete without multiple viewings of the creatures that helped shape the season — the classic Universal monsters Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Creature from…
New Waves
One would think that aficionados of instrumental Surf music would be at least a little reluctant to anyone coming along and messing with the formula. Like Blues, there are expected features of Surf — reverb being the main one, I suppose — and, while there have been groups that play the music in funny costumes…
In Rainbows
HOT Artists Are Doing It For Themselves On Oct. 10, experimental British Rock band Radiohead gave the music industry a wedgie by releasing their new album, In Rainbows, exclusively through their Web site as a download. No middleman — you just pay the money straight to the band and it's all yours. In fact, you…
Bettye LaVette: The Scene of the Crime (Anti-)
BETTYE LAVETTE — THE SCENE OF THE CRIME The promotional angle for 61-year-old classic-soul veteran Bettye LaVette's follow-up to her 2005 comeback, I've Got My Own Hell to Raise, is that she's returning to Muscle Shoals, Ala., to record after over three decades and is being joined by Southern Rock band Drive-By Truckers. (In…
Close Calls on Key Ballot Issues
Endorsements for the Nov. 6 election continue this week, with attention turning to the two most contentious ballot issues local voters will face: a new operating tax levy for Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) and a Hamilton County sales tax increase to fund a new jail and other safety programs. Both tax issues address long-simmering funding…
Onstage: Review: The Pillowman
Know Theatre Tribe Nick Rose (left) and Todd Patterson star in Know Theatre's The Pillowman. There's little middle ground in reaction to a Martin McDonagh script. Maybe none. Get it or forget it. Love it. Hate it. Admire it. Scorn it. This is especially true of his 2003 exercise in excess, The Pillowman, which…
PJ Harvey: White Chalk (Island)
PJ HARVEY — WHITE CHALK Strangely sexy pathos intact, PJ Harvey's ghostly ethereal voice cuts right to the painful point in the opening seconds of her new disc White Chalk, purring "Soon as I'm left alone, the Devil enters my soul." In "Grow Grow Grow," her shrill voice glides effortlessly back and forth between…
Cover Story: Book of a Lifetime
Sean Hughes Back From The Dead Tim Lucas is a dedicated man. He's also a meticulous, uniquely incisive autodidact, a revered figure in certain circles who lives an almost monastic life in pursuit of his obsessions. In an age when publishers of every stripe are questioning the future of the printed word, Lucas and…
‘Caroline, or Change’ heads another exciting week of live theater
New Stage Collective Taylore Mahogany Scott stars in New Stage Collective's Caroline, Or Change. Fasten your theatrical seatbelt. This week will be a wild ride with new productions all over town, many being staged for the first time in Cincinnati. At the top of my list is the 2004 musical, CAROLINE, OR CHANGE at…
It’s All About Sports
First off, let me say that I tend to really enjoy Larry Gross' slice-of-life columns, even if they do revolve around Madonna's. His column about the unwelcome Cubs fans does make a good point in regards to our provincial nature ("That Cincinnati Vibe," issue of Oct. 10), but I've found that this characteristic primarily exists…
Is the Insulting Chief Wahoo Logo the Cleveland Indians’ Curse?
Jerry Dowling If enough Cleveland Indians fans believed they were cursed by Chief Wahoo, they would call for the front office to retire this fatuous embarrassment, which mocks the club's foibles and dismisses Native Americans with the same cartoon flippancy. In more ways than one, curse or not, Chief Wahoo is a loser. One…
World Music Fest
WORLD MUSIC FEST takes place Tuesday from 8 p.m.-2 a.m. at The Southgate House ($12 at the door, $10 online at www.worldmusicfest.org). There will be a VIP international buffet before the show (6-7:30 p.m.) at Mammoth Café featuring ethnic cuisine from local restaurants and a classical Chinese music ensemble led by Ming Ke on Chinese…
Film: Men in Transition
Sidney Kimmel Ryan Gosling stars with a love doll in the touching Lars and the Real Girl. Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited and Craig Gillespie's Lars and the Real Girl deal with unconventional stories about men trying to connect. One works, the other doesn't. Lars and the Real Girl screenwriter Nancy Oliver (Six Feet…
