Oct 4-11, 2017
A Sesquicentennial Celebration: The University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music marks its 150th anniversary with a year of special programming
Feinstein Swings with the Crooners
The term “crooner” applies to male singers with a smooth, sophisticated delivery of standards known as the Great American Songbook. “Crooning is where my heart lies,” says Michael Feinstein, iconic performer and passionate advocate for American popular song, who brings his trio to the Taft Theatre Thursday for a show devoted to crooners and the…
Discover a Softer Side of the Gun Debate
The National Rifle Association’s American Rifleman magazine once published a story with the headline “Happiness is a warm gun,” which inspired a famous Beatles song. And maybe creative solutions to violence start with a warm and fuzzy gun. By presenting iconic firearms in a soft and approachable format, fiber artist Jen Edwards hopes she can…
Morning News: Cranley, Simpson debate minority contracting at NAACP forum; P&G beats back activist investor in proxy vote
Good morning all. Lots happening this morning, so let’s get right to it. Mayor John Cranley and Councilwoman Yvette Simpson… you guessed it… had another forum last night, this one hosted by the Cincinnati NAACP and Prince Hall Masons. I was unable to make it to or tune in, but The Cincinnati Business Courier has…
Minimum Gauge: ‘SNL’ and Jason Aldean honor Tom Petty, Las Vegas shooting victims
HOT: Petty Quibbles Saturday Night Live honored the late Tom Petty and the victims of the recent mass shooting at a Las Vegas Country music fest by having Jason Aldean (who was onstage in Vegas when the shooting began) say a few words and open the show with a defiant version of Petty’s “I Won’t…
Fight over news media access to second Tensing trial leads to $56,000 legal bill
A Columbus law firm defending actions by Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Leslie Ghiz to regulate news coverage of the second Ray Tensing murder trial in June has sent a $56,723 bill for its work, an amount that will be borne by county taxpayers. Normally, the county prosecutor’s office represents county judges in legal matters.…
What a Week! Oct. 4-10
Monopoly Man Trolls Equifax Hearing Who didn’t get caught up in the Equifax hack? The credit reporting agency was compromised some time between May and July, which means some Elliot Alderson-type might have the Social Security numbers, credit card and other personal info belonging to you and more than 145 million Americans. Odds are that…
Cincinnati’s New Sincerity Works Celebrates ‘Wonder Lust’
In early September, New Sincerity Works — the project spearheaded by veteran Cincinnati musician Mike Tittel — issued Wonder Lust, the band’s third full-length release since its origins in 2013. While three albums in four years suggests a uniquely prolific pace, the abundance of New Sincerity Works material isn’t indicative of a haphazard “release every…
New Music Hall Sounds Wonderful
The headline for my story last week on the pending reopening of the renovated Music Hall asked: “But how will it sound?” The answer, after the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s first concert there on Friday, is: wonderful. Sonic balances are equalized, the CSO’s command of dynamic and tonal palettes can by fully heard and the sound’s…
Fest Frames the African-American Experience
Talk about a labor of love. I can’t accurately pinpoint when I first met filmmaker Pam Thomas, founder of Black Folks Make Movies and the driving force behind Cincinnati’s inaugural FADE2BLACK Film Festival, which runs from Thursday through Saturday at University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning. But I do know that…
Your Weekly To Do List (Oct. 11-Oct. 17)
Haunted Walking Tours It may surprise you to know that several people have died while inhabitants of Cincinnati — and some of them gruesomely. As Halloween approaches and the veil thins between the living and dead, people become increasingly interested in ferreting out the restless spirits. Luckily, Cincinnati has plenty of freaky paranormal tours to…
Morning News: streetcar traffic study underway; Franklin monument to confederacy placed on private property
Good morning all. Here’s your news today. It must be exhausting to run for elected office, even on a local level. I know it's exhausting to cover it. Last week, Mayor John Cranley and Councilwoman Yvette Simpson faced off not once or twice, but four times, including at an event Friday hosted by the Urban…
Stage Door: Angels in Louisville and a weekend full to the brim in Cincinnati
A month ago I traveled to Louisville to see Millennium Approaches, the first part of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America at Actors Theatre. I returned last Saturday to see Part Two: Perestroika of this tale “Gay Fantasia on American Themes,” set in 1985 at the peak of the AIDS crisis. It’s one of the finest…
Best Coast Squeeze in Some Headlining Dates on Paramore Tour
Californians Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno have been creating melody-riddled Rock songs as Best Coast for nearly a decade, moving with relative ease from the fuzzed-out, lo-fi bliss of 2010’s Crazy for You to the sleeker sonics of their third and most recent album, 2015’s California Nights. Costentino sings with a voice that channels equal…
‘American Vandal’ Parodies True Crime Series
True crime series have saturated our screens at a rapid pace in recent years, from dramatized miniseries like The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story and NBC’s recent Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders to docuseries like Making a Murderer, The Jinx and The Keepers. They’re compelling, they’re addictive, they’re headline snatching…
ScaryBeat: You’ll Float, Too
HAUNTED ATTRACTIONS U.S.S. Nightmare As a self-professed scaredy-cat, there is one comforting thought I’ve always had wandering through haunted houses: If they can’t touch you, then they’re not real. Well, if you’re brave enough, the U.S.S. Nightmare offers the option to make their nautical nightmare a tactile reality. For a few extra shillings ($40 instead…
Once again, Ohio Supreme Court says no to a Chesley end-around
By a 4-3 vote Thursday, the Ohio Supreme Court stopped a Hamilton County court’s contested liquidation of disbarred lawyer Stan Chesley’s former firm, calling the case “the latest chapter in the ongoing campaign to shelter assets” from creditors holding a $42 million judgment against Chesley in Kentucky. The opinion, issued Thursday, prohibits Hamilton County Probate Judge Ralph…
Sound Advice: Bob Log III with We’re Witches (Oct. 11)
Bob Log III is a relentless one-man Blues machine. Born in Chicago but raised in the Arizona desert, he is a curio in a jumpsuit, a slide guitar maestro with enough showmanship kitsch to give Jon Spencer a run for his money. Inspired by equal parts AC/DC and Delta Blues advocate Mississippi Fred McDowell, the…
Morning News: GE cuts jobs at The Banks; sheriff outmaneuvers county on jail spending
Good morning all. Here are some quick news items for you. The weekend is almost upon us, so I’ll be brief. Mayor John Cranley and Councilwoman Yvette Simpson are debating yet again this morning at a forum hosted by the University of Cincinnati Real Estate Center and Program and the Urban Land Institute of Cincinnati.…
Sound Advice: Pinback (Oct. 13)
Pinback is one of many Indie Rock entities that include the considerable talents of Zach Smith, better known as Armistead Burwell Smith IV, and Rob Crow, a pair of singing, songwriting multi-instrumentalists from San Diego. Smith and Crow roomed together but didn't begin to collaborate musically until Smith's departure from his first high-profile band, Three…
Sound Advice: Wolves in the Throne Room with Pillorian (Oct. 16)
When one hears the words “Black Metal,” it conjures up the sound of demons writhing in a pit of brimstone, the smell of corpse paint and smoldering Norwegian churches and the pulse of an addict with a turkey baster full of meth and gorilla adrenaline. Only some of that is true of Wolves in the…
Your Weekly To Do List (Oct. 5-10)
THURSDAY 05 EVENT: HOPSCOTCH It’s Thursday night. Do you know where your Scotch is? Most likely at HopScotch, CityBeat’s inaugural tasting celebration of Irish whiskey, Scotch and craft beer. Only 250 tickets are available for this alcohol adventure at New Riff, featuring samples from brands including Glenfiddich, Slane Whiskey, Isle of Arran, Tullamore Dew, Bruichladdich…
No Indigenous Peoples’ Day In Cincinnati — Yet
A year after Cincinnati City Council briefly considered — and then punted on — a motion to change Columbus Day in the city to Indigenous Peoples’ Day, advocates are again calling on elected leaders to make that change. A group of roughly 20 crowded into City Hall yesterday before council’s weekly meeting to implore council…
