Music: Shelby Lynne
Shelby Lynne — the singer/songwriter whose rootsy and rockin’ but melodic and confessional 2000 album I Am Shelby Lynne has become a classic of the Americana/AltCountry genre — is a bit worried about her latest release, Tears, Lies and Alibis. The songs have a poetically observational precision that she takes care not to bury with…
Art: Thom Shaw Tribute at Miller Gallery
Thom Shaw, the renowned and beloved Cincinnati African-American artist who passed away in July, had his first-ever solo show at Hyde Park's Miller Gallery in 1973. As a goodbye tribute to him, the gallery is hosting WEBEJAMMIN, a show of Jazz-inspired vibrant, geometric abstract paintings, through Sept. 22. Shaw loved the music of such Jazz…
Events: The Cincinnati Beer Festival
There are very few consumer goods that sell themselves these days. Cigarettes (gross), hookers (grosser) and beer (deliciousest) are the first three that come to mind, and only one of those deserves any sort of commemoration. That’s exactly why there’s the Cincinnati Hooker Beer Festival this weekend at Fountain Square. The beerstravaganza kicks off Friday…
Onstage: Collected Stories at ETC
For 25 years, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati has been telling a lot of amazing stories. They’ve given local theatergoers wonderful experiences that span the globe and give us windows into lives and situations we never imagined, but can certainly relate to. For most of its quarter-century, ETC has been focused on the presentation of new…
Events: Quilting, Stitches & Crafts Expo
If you enjoy quilting, stitching and/or crafts, boy, do we have an expo for you! The aptly named Quilting, Stitches & Crafts expo crams a feverishly productive weekend full of fabric remnants, needles, buttons and several specials guests, including Mark Lipinksi — apparently dubbed the “bad boy of quilting”— into the Sharonville Convention Center (11355…
Events: Second Sunday in OTR
Second Sunday gets a green makeover with this month’s “Eco-OTR” theme. From noon-5 p.m. head downtown for an afternoon of family-friendly events with a green theme. The all-day Street Fair on Main will feature over 60 craft and food vendors with music from DJs; at noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., meet at Main and…
Onstage: New Works at Cincinnati Ballet
It’s time for Cincinnati Ballet’s annual New Works mixed repertory program, kicking off the company’s season Sept. 9-19. The sensuality and inner workings of a handful of various local, national and international choreographers’ new — and mostly contemporary — pieces are on display. “It isn’t just movement for movement’s sake,” says Exhale Dance Tribe’s Missy…
Comedy: Kyle Kinane
When comedian Kyle Kinane moved from Chicago to Los Angeles seven years ago, he not only changed cities, but also the only living arrangement he had ever known. “I lived with my parents until I moved out to California,” he says. “It was change by leaps and bounds all around when I moved.” After diligently…
Music: Andre Williams
Rock & Roll and Rhythm & Blues have their legions of foot soldiers — men and women who played a role in the recording, writing, producing and/or performing of great old songs but, for whatever reason, never became known outside their tight-knit world. Yet, as the decades go by and the music retains its staying…
Events: Pride Night at Kings Island
Fred Flintsone isn’t there anymore, but you’ll still to have a gay old time. The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Greater Cincinnati presents six hours of thrill rides beneath the rainbow banner at this year’s Kings Island Pride Night. The GLBT Center’s 14th annual fundraiser draws in thousands of queer folks from the local…
Events: Cincinnati Hispanic Fest
The Cincinnati Hispanic Fest is a two-day fiesta with plenty to do. Come out and celebrate the growing Hispanic community in Southern Ohio with entertainment stretching from dancers to DJs. The live entertainment runs for 11 hours each day and plenty of food will be available to sustain a long day of dancing. For those…
Art: The Pleasure of Your Companionship at PAC Gallery
On the last Saturday in August, PAC Gallery in East Walnut Hills opened a new exhibition with an inventive strategy for including performance art in a commercial gallery exhibition. The gallery’s E-invite explained that Kris Ebeling’s solo exhibition The Pleasure of Your Companionship would open with an exclusive performance event for no more than 30…
Much Ado About Nothing (Review)
There are two unlikely pairings in Cincinnati Shakespeare’s 1960s-flavored Much Ado About Nothing. First is the romance between Beatrice and Benedick, competing wits whose friends trick them into realizing they’re perfect for each other. That match-up triumphs here just as it should, thanks to a playful and well-paced performance by Bruce Cromer, as Shakespeare’s most…
Events: MainStrasse Village Oktoberfest
Folks who live in the Greater Cincinnati area are collectively good at a handful of things, but beer drinking stands at the top of list. The annual MainStrasse Oktoberfest in Covington is a prime opportunity for people to showcase their talent with more than six blocks of bars and restaurants to patronize. The festival offers…
Love’s Labour’s Lost (Review)
Outdoor theater, especially when it features a witty script by Shakespeare, can be a rare treat. A production of Love’s Labour’s Lost by Cincinnati Outdoor Classics on a temperate Saturday afternoon held out such a promise. This youthful play is perfect for college students (the company is an outgrowth of the drama program at UC’s…
Art: David Rosenthal(s) at Phyllis Weston Gallery
Phyllis Weston Gallery’s newest exhibition gives lasting and living proof that the Rosenthal clan has always been intrinsically involved in our city’s artistic development. A Cincinnati Legacy of Art: David Rosenthal (1876-1949) to David S. Rosenthal (b. 1968) traces the work of two David Rosenthals. The first studied with Duveneck and Sharp at the Art…
Music: Atmosphere
The last time Slug felt as sick and contradictive as this was the last time he played a show in Cincy. He and the other half of Atmosphere, DJ/producer Ant, haven’t played here since, save a Scribble Jam or two. But the last headlining show that Atmosphere played in Cincinnati was nearly seven years ago.…
Music: The Dukes of September Rhythm Revue
As a student of musical history, Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen knows that during the Great Depression musical revues were a popular form of live entertainment. “There were Earl Carroll’s ‘Vanities’ and the Ziegfeld Follies,” he says. “From the audience point of view, it’s fun because revues are fast-moving, a lot of singers are involved and…
Burke Seeks Chabot Probe
Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman Tim Burke is asking for a special meeting of the county's Board of Elections to investigate what he says are false claims made by Steve Chabot and Mike Robison. Chabot and Robison allegedly have told people that State Rep. Denise Driehaus (D-31st District) has contacted the Board of Elections about…
Listen to the 2010 MidPoint Compilation NOW
Every year, a compilation featuring several of the artists performing at the MidPoint Music Festival is lovingly compiled to give an overview of some of the fest’s participants. MPMF10’s comp has been assembled and you can listen to it right here, right now. While the amount of already well-known acts performing at MPMF10 is something…
Friday Movie Roundup: Bring On the New Season
The fall movie season gets underway this week with a curious quartet of options: a languid character piece about a mysterious hit man played by George Clooney; a reasonably effective romantic comedy featuring a pair of real-life lovers; a B-movie homage packed with a crazy-quilt cast; and an intriguing documentary about our ill-advised adventure in…
A King Records’ Record Broken
Thanks to Paul Grein, who writes the "Chart Watch" blog for Yahoo, we now know that one of legendary Cincinnati-based King Records' impressive chart-topping records has been toppled. James Brown's King release Pure Dynamite! Live at the Royal was the last mono-only release to make Billboard magazine's Top 10 until John Mellencamp's new No Better…
Donald Fagen’s Revue Redo
As a student of musical history, Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen knows that during the Great Depression musical revues were a popular form of live entertainment. “There were Earl Carroll’s ‘Vanities’ and the Ziegfeld Follies,” he says. “From the audience point of view, it’s fun because revues are fast-moving, a lot of singers are involved and…
Atmosphere with Blueprint, Grieves & Budo and DJ Rare Groove
The last time Slug felt as sick and contradictive as this was the last time he played a show in Cincy. He and the other half of Atmosphere, DJ/producer Ant, haven’t played here since, save a Scribble Jam or two. But the last headlining show that Atmosphere played in Cincinnati was nearly seven years ago.…
Shelby Lynne
Singer-songwriter Shelby Lynne, whose rootsy and rockin’ but melodic and confessional 2000 album I Am Shelby Lynne became a classic of the Americana/AltCountry genre, is a bit worried about her latest release, Tears, Lies and Alibis. The songs have a poetically observational precision that she takes care not to bury with too much production or…
Stage Door: Whither Goest Yon Stage Door?
No matter which way thou goest this weekend one canst run into a play by Shakespeare.—- Cincinnati Outdoor Classics (populated mostly by students enrolled in the CCM Drama program) are presenting an open-air production of Love's Labour's Lost at Seasongood Pavilion in Eden Park. It's the story of some virtuous (and foolish) young men who…
Going the Distance (Review)
Nanette Burstein, whose “documentary” American Teen proved a nice warm-up for the romantic-comedy hijinks here, works from a script by Geoff LaTulippe that tries hard to inject new life into a long-listless genre. The surprise is that it often succeeds, delivering unique character details (its use of pop culture is relatively keen) and a central…
Whitewater Memorial Park Hike
Key At-A-Glance Information Length: 4.3 milesConfiguration: Loop and out-and-backDifficulty: ModerateScenery: Woods, seep springs, and lakeExposure: Mostly shadedTraffic: ModerateTrail Surface: Soil and exposed rocks and rootsHiking Time: 3.5 hoursDriving Distance: 1 hour northwest of CincinnatiSeason: Year-roundAccess: Sunrise-sunsetMaps: USGS New Fairfield: Whitewater Memorial State ParkWheelchair Accessible: NoFacilities: Restrooms and water at main officeFor More Information: Whitewater Memorial…
Restrepo (Review)
America's foolhardy occupation of Afghanistan, in the interest of huge private military contracts and maintaining an oil pipeline that the U.S. media ignores, is examined in microcosm via one platoon's deployment in Afghanistan's dangerous Korengal Valley. Filmed from June 2007 to July 2008, documentarians Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger put faces to the names of…
Queen City Bike and the Catholic Church
[LOSER] CATHOLIC CHURCH: Just days before his trial was expected to begin, all charges against a Cincinnati priest accused of molesting a boy in West Virginia were dropped Aug. 27. The Rev. Robert Poandl allegedly abused a boy on a trip there in 1991, when the complainant was just 10 years old. The case was…
Fall Arts Preview: Dance
I’m always sad to see summer go, but fall is around the corner and that means dance and so much more returns to the stages of Cincinnati. Once again, Cincinnati Ballet kicks off the season with its ever-evolving New Works production (pictured) featuring, well, new works from local, national and international choreographers. The program consistently…
Ampline (Profile)
Ampline’s latest offering and debut for Phratry Records, You Will Be Buried Here, features the band’s signature instrumental elements: Mike Montgomery’s shreddingly supple guitar work, Kevin Schmidt’s thunderous bass runs and Rick McCarty’s hammer-of-the-gods drumming. But there’s something else on Buried that is significantly less common in the Cincinnati-based trio’s previous catalog, namely lyrics to…
Fall Arts Preview: Live Theater
September marks the beginning of Greater Cincinnati’s 2010-11 theater season. The Cincinnati Playhouse hopes to hit a “high” note with actress Kathleen Turner (pictured) in a story about a tough nun trying to tame an even tougher kid. High (Sept. 9-Oct. 2) is, in fact, Broadway-bound in early 2011, following its stop in St. Louis.…
God, Geese and the Rodeo Clown Save the Nation
What a monumental letdown. For a person who once described himself as a “rodeo clown” and regularly provides the type of high drama on his nightly TV show that would make the unhinged Howard Beale proud, Glenn Beck's much-hyped “divinely inspired message” to the American people landed with a thud this past weekend. Basically, it…
Cincinnati Theater? Big News? You Bet!
Over the past week, there’s been a lot of theater news to report. On Aug. 25, many fans of local theater were surprised by the announcement that the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards (CEAs), supported by CityBeat since 1997, would join forces with the Acclaim awards, created in 2004 and supported by The Cincinnati Enquirer. If you…
Fall Arts Preview: Visual Art
This fall, Cincinnati-area museums and galleries are presenting a variety of outside-the-box fare, including quilts, wedding dresses, motorcycles and even an installation made of trees. The Taft Museum of Art opened its exhibition American Elegance: Chintz Appliqué Quilts, 1780–1850 on Aug. 27. To make these elaborate quilts, middle-class ladies cut colorful, decorative elements from imported…
Fall Preview: Looking Forward With Eager Eyes
I’ll skip the diatribe about how the year in movies has been so far. It sucks. Let’s look forward. The second half of the year brings everything from film-festival favorites and art-house Oscar bait to documentaries and big-budget blockbusters. Perhaps what’s most intriguing about the fall is the lineup of directors. A quick scan through…
Fall Arts Preview: Classical Music
Neil Young might be right that Rock & Roll will never die. But time will tell. Orchestras all over the world are still playing music from the 16th century; if The Beatles are being cited as an influence in 2310, that will be a good indication of Rock’s timelessness. In the meantime, there’s plenty of…
The American (Review)
Usually when people talk about a movie feeling “European,” it’s not exactly a compliment. It’s shorthand for languid pacing, character-based drama, maybe a few casually naked boobs and a general lack of Hollywood conventionality. The American feels very much like the product of people who want to make a “European”-style movie — except that they…
Poco a Poco (Review)
CRITIC'S PICK New flavors are popping up everywhere in Cincinnati’s dining scene, and Poco a Poco is a recent example. This Latin American eatery in the space formerly occupied by Red seemed like the perfect spot for a balmy Cincinnati summer night. So after strolling the streets of Hyde Park Square with my BFF Tracy,…
Surprise and Delight
While I was in Cuba in July, Fidel Castro emerged from seclusion to say harsh words about the United States and to express a dark view of the immediate future. Our group didn’t know it, of course, until we read it in The Miami Herald on the way home, probably because the nice Cubans we…
She Blinded Me With Scientists
Dichotomy looms so large for We Are Scientists that it’s almost a provisional member. They’re a California band that’s lived in New York for nearly a decade. The members are inveterate smartasses in interviews and between songs on stage, although their finely honed sense of humor rarely comes through in the music in any obvious…
Cincy Hip Hop Vs. Ohio
Several Cincinnati-based artists and institutions are up for Ohio Hip Hop Awards, an annual event that honors the statewide Hip Hop community, culminating in a music conference/awards ceremony Sept. 17-19 in Cleveland. The event spotlights everything from MCs, DJs, break-dancers and graffiti artists to labels, radio, venues and promoters. Among the many Cincy Hip Hop…
The Class of 2014
I’m the kind of guy who usually comes around to modern technology sooner or later, but most of the time more later than sooner. I resisted e-mail for years, wasn’t all that interested in the Internet and was one of the last people on the planet to get a cell phone — still I came…
State of the Arts: What’s Missing?
The charge to arts leaders and our writers was simple, yet also complex and difficult: “What is the one thing you would change or add to the local arts scene to make it better?”” Well, maybe it wasn’t worded quite so bluntly, but that was the point. There are plenty of exciting things happening locally…
Travel Alert: Off-Road Dining Trumps Highway Hellaciousness
Stay off the highways! This isn’t an ARTIMIS warning. It’s a food alert, aimed at saving you from bad food and saving local eateries from extinction. Last month, we were on I-75 headed on a long drive that would end after the “dinner hour” in our small town destination. Worried that we’d never find a…
August 25-31: Worst Week Ever!
WEDNESDAY AUG. 25 It's commonly accepted that as one accumulates wealth he or she also gains social skills and etiquette (basic rules: be quiet around rich people; laugh when they reference Barack Obama). That's why the early residents of an upscale western Hamilton County neighborhood were pleased to learn today that county commissioners have temporarily…
Andrea Thompson [Abby Girl Sweets]
The popularity of cupcake bakeries has swept the nation, and Cincinnati is no exception. Nathan and Andrea Thompson, owners of local cupcakery Abby Girl Sweets (41 West Fifth St., Downtown; 513-335-0898), both admit that when you make “every batch from scratch,” you never know what might come out of the oven, which, in their case,…
