Support the Troops, Make Tough Decisions
A recent CityBeat news article ("Not a War of Words," issue of Oct. 11) argued that both U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt and I have been avoiding a frank discussion of the war in Iraq. While much of my time before audiences has been spent detailing my plans for improving health care for Ohioans, ensuring livable…
Troublemaker’s Journal
The other morning, while having coffee and reading the paper, Sherry and I talked about my next column. I told her my idea. She said, "Why don't you wait and write it after the election?" I said, "No, I won't feel right doing that. I think I have to write it now." She shrugged and…
Mangy Dogs, Those Republicans
Joe Lamb Bill Clinton backs John Cranley for Congress, hoping the Democrats can retake the House. Speaking with a cadence more like a Southern Baptist preacher's than a politician's, former President Bill Clinton arrived in town Oct. 24 to give a stump speech for Democratic congressional candidate John Cranley. The swanky luncheon at downtown's…
Film: Word Play
Thinkfilm Fuck explores the history and various meanings of the mother of all swear words. Fuck, a new film by Steve Anderson, is the latest documentary to humorously celebrate, defend and maybe even cash in on outrageousness in American popular culture by treating it as history rather than an ongoing battleground. In a way,…
Nina Simone — Remixed & Reimagined (RCA/Legacy)
Nina Simone — Remixed & Reimagined Nina Simone's name rolls off most people's tongues in the most mythical sort of way. Having a classical education from Juilliard during Jim Crow already made this black woman half-beast, an implicit larger-than-life figure, who, in Lauren Hill's self-comparison, "defecated on the microphone." Exalted as the high priestess…
News: Blaming the Jews
The White House and the big media are controlled by a "criminal syndicate led by neo-con Jews," the World Trade Center on 9/11 was toppled by a "controlled demolition" and the planes seen slicing through the twin towers were actually drones. We are, says Jim Condit Jr., write-in candidate for Ohio's 2nd Congressional District,…
Art: Half Artist, Half Angel
Nancy Burson Nancy Burson's "Untitled (Snake Man)," a Polacolor print, is part of the Cincinnati Art Museum's collection. Nancy Burson's career as a photographer burgeoned in the late 1960s, when she gave herself a set of guidelines. "I wanted to ask people to expand their vision," she says. "Early on, I came up with…
Gomez — Five Men in a Hut (A’s, B’s & Rarities: 1998-2004) (Capitol/EMI)
Gomez — Five Men in a Hut (A's, B's & Rarities: 1998-2004) Gomez burst into the public consciousness eight years ago with their startling debut, Bring It On, a dazzling blend of psychedelic Blues, British Folk and propulsive Pop that earned the UK quintet the coveted Mercury Music Prize. Although the band has amassed…
Music: This Moment In Black History
Julie Arkenstone Frank Black says today's music lacks Rock & Roll's classic sense of mystery. You know that old saying about how you can't keep a good man down? Meet Frank Black. When he disbanded the wildly influential Pixies, he didn't sit around and wish for a return to the salad days of Surfer…
The Baldwin Brothers — Return of the Golden Rhodes (TVT)
The Baldwin Brothers — Return of the Golden Rhodes The Baldwin Brothers' forte is dirty Funk/Trip Hop, heavy on the Rhodes electric piano. It's upbeat, positive stuff, with only a couple tunes that delve into slow groove minor key darkness. There's a handful of guest vocalists and MCs featured here, but the Baldwins' strength…
Cover Story: Sex, Love and Longing
Jim Fugett Provocative film Shortbus is as sweet as it is subversive Shortbus is a movie with lots of sex: straight sex, gay sex, conventional sex, contortionist sex, three-way sex, orgiastic sex and, of course, sex with one’s self (auto-fellatio, no less). Oh, and none of it is simulated. Writer/director John Cameron Mitchell’s follow-up…
Buffalo Killers — Buffalo Killers (Alive)
Buffalo Killers — Buffalo Killers Garage Rock fans of every stripe grieved at the news that Thee Shams had called it a day after the 2005 release of their thunderous Sign the Line. In fact, the Cincinnati quintet wasn't breaking up so much as reconfiguring; brothers Zachary and Andrew Gabbard pared the group down…
Diner: Strange Bedfellows
Al Calis "I wonder if Democrats and Republicans eat differently?" I casually suggest one night at dinner. I've always seen food as a marker, something that provides a sense of identity and helps distinguish "us" from "them." And I've never seen two groups more "us-er" or "them-er" than the modern incarnations of our county's…
Cover Story: Long Journeys to Fulfillment
CityBeat Archive Shortbus: Prepare to be touched What is Shortbus? Is it an underground New York City sex club for the gifted and challenged? Is it a fable of sexual reconstruction? Maybe it's an antidote to the cycle of movies that present sex as either an act of pure titillation or a secret, closeted…
Throw the Bums Out
Election Day is now two weeks away, and you've likely been inundated with TV and radio ads, mailers, doorknob hangers, live phone calls and automated/recorded phone calls. Now the media and special interest groups' endorsements are rolling out. Are you any more informed than before the deluge began? We certainly hope so — but if…
Boo(bs)!
The Halloween Crisis: A Neoconservative Strategy Paper Situation: These are undeniably prosperous times for Trick-or-Treaters. Indeed, current conditions are such that no child's sweet tooth need be left behind. The factors creating this propitious climate are many. A robust economy has allowed America's candy supplies to rise to historic levels. Also, favorable foreign trade policies…
The Trick or the Treat
Notes: Maybe I'm morbidly satirical this week because I just finished re-reading Orwell's 1984. The biting similarities between The Party and our current administration startle me. Question: did we really go to war with Iraq three years ago, or am I just dreaming? Maybe it's all just a Halloween hoax that'll be all wrapped up…
Locals Only: : Sexed-Up Varicose
Bad Veins Bad Veins Bad Veins. Here's a case of two men, well-matched opposites, plus one electric lady. Literally. First, Benjamin Davis, 27. Davis is Bad Veins' lead vocalist, guitarist and synth player. Note: Davis only sings through telephones and megaphones. Even live. Soft-eyed and fascinating, with choppy brown hair, Davis comes across as…
Bengals Face the Reality of Being a Good NFL Team
Jerry Dowling After three years of fighting against their history, which followed 12 years of fighting against their ineptitude, the Bengals are back to living the good life and fighting against the realities of the NFL. It's what we've always wanted. But it's such a struggle. The schedule is a lot tougher, the opponents…
Unholy Ghosts and Cool Ghouls and Boys
· Halloween without howling, undead Bluegrass miscreants Hogscraper is like Christmas without Santa Claus. This Saturday, the treacherous trio brings its outlandish stage show and hell-bound Devilgrass back to Newport's Southgate House for their outrageous annual spooktacular, featuring their usual assemblage of like-minded freaks. The band hits the main ballroom stage at midnight, but you…
Film: Songs of the Road
Ohki Shigeru Ken Takakura (left) and Yang Zhenbo star in Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles. Although several of his films have been suppressed in his homeland and for years he was more acclaimed overseas, Zhang Yimou has never shown any interest in artistic defection. All his films are of and about China. That…
Music News, Tid-Bits and Other Morsels
Smokin Weed HOT Curious George and Iron (Brained) Mike Perhaps trying to prove that young whippersnappers like Pete Doherty and Courtney Love (well, okay, relatively young) don't have the market cornered on "bat-shit crazy," a couple of once gorgeous and wildly famous Pop stars have made some interesting "What the fuck?" headlines in the last…
News to Use
Dissect the Vote To analyze how the results of the election might affect civil liberties in Ohio and across the United States, the ACLU of Ohio will host a panel of experts for Election Dissection 2006. The program is at 7p.m. Nov. 15 at St. John's Unitarian Universalist Church in Clifton. Speakers include Nancy Minson,…
Onstage: Laugh a Lot
Joan Marcus King Arthur (Michael Siberry) rests on his servant Patsy (Jeff Dumas) in Monty Python's Spamalot. If you've loved the absurd humor of the British comedy troupe Monty Python's Flying Circus — especially their classic film Monty Python and the Holy Grail — get your coconuts and clippity-clop downtown for the touring production…
Living Out Loud: : Tiny Death Rows
Morning. September 2004. I drove past the Planned Parenthood protestors and a dozen "right to life" signs proceeding down the driveway. Routine exam, I thought. Within an hour, I was hospitalized with a needle piercing my right breast. I kicked the nurse who held me down. I'd planned on seeing the play The Exonerated that…
News: Referendum on the War
Even if Democrat challenger Sherrod Brown doesn't defeat U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, the race will have pushed the Republican incumbent toward the center. This midterm election is a referendum on the Bush administration and on DeWine's role as a part of the conservative establishment. The race is increasingly tilted in favor of Brown. DeWine,…
News: The Fighting 1st District
Both candidates for Ohio's 1st District seat in Congress agree the concept of change should be on people's minds as they step into the voting booth Nov. 7. For the Democratic challenger, Cincinnati City Councilman John Cranley, the change to remember is the contrast between Republican incumbent Steve Chabot's principles when he first ran…
Upcoming Concert Reviews of Mute Math, Deicide and More…
Artists Worldwide Deicide Mute Math with The Whigs and Jonezetta Thursday · 20th Century Theatre Mute Math began five years ago as an offshoot of the Contemporary Christian band Earthsuit, when former members Paul Meany (keys, vocals) and Darren King (drums) began working on demos from their homes in New Orleans, La., and Springfield,…
Onstage: Airborne
Sandy Underwood Child actor Noah Galvin carries Ace as Billy, whose imagination spawns fighter pilots. Richard Oberacker, a theatrical composer with local roots (Anderson High School and UC's College-Conservatory of Music), writes in the program for Ace, currently onstage at the Cincinnati Playhouse, that he and his creative partner Robert Taylor wanted "to write…
Don’t Sleep
C. Matthew Hamby "They think that I'm a new jack, but only if they knew that, they who think wrong are they who can't do that …" — Rakim Allah There are some things worth losing sleep over. Problem is, the older you get, the shorter that list becomes. For instance, I routinely hear…
