Husted Suggests ‘More Strict’ ID Law
It seems Ohio may soon get a controversial voter ID law. While speaking at a Tea Party event in Cincinnati on Monday, Secretary of State Jon Husted said the General Assembly is likely to take up a voter ID law after the November election. “I was listening to a show one night where they talked…
Hartmann to Mallory: Cooperate
In contrast to the partisan gridlock at the federal level, Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann, a Republican, sent a letter to Mayor Mark Mallory, a Democrat, today asking the mayor to commit to earlier promises to boost collaboration between Hamilton County and the City of Cincinnati. “I am writing to express my disappointment in the…
Romney Wrong About Obama Voters
Well, surprise. Most of the Americans who don’t pay federal income taxes live in states that polls show are locked in for Mitt Romney. They are down South. Or out in the Southwest, according to Tax Foundation data. Mississippi has the most filers with no income tax liability. It has voted Republican in every presidential…
Flea Circus
At 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept.15, the City Flea was already in full swing as people began filling the empty parking lot at Twelfth and Vine Streets. Lookers and buyers alike crowded underneath the merchants umbrellas 'oohing" and 'awing' over the unique merchandise. Inspired by the Brooklyn Flea in New York, creators Nick and Lindsey…
Daily MPMFer: Walkmen, You, You’re Awesome and More
MPMF news and musings: ArtWorks/Springboard Cincinnati is once again handling one of the cooler aspects of the "MidPoint Midway" (the fairgrounds-like area connecting Main to Vine streets, with food vendors, a music stage, poster expo and lots more). Last year's MidPoint Music Festival saw the introduction of the "Box Truck Carnival," where numerous local artists…
Morning News and Stuff
President Barack Obama announced trade action against China while in Cincinnati yesterday. Obama said his team had filed a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization on the claim China is cheating in auto trade by offering “extensive subsidies” to its automakers and auto-part producers. China fired back with its own lawsuit for U.S. tariffs that…
Obama Announces Trade Action against China at Cincinnati Stop
President Barack Obama announced a new trade action against China during a Cincinnati campaign stop on Monday, where he also took the opportunity to attack Republican challenger Mitt Romney. The U.S. filed the case at the World Trade Organization on Monday and claims that China offers “extensive subsidies” to native automakers and auto-parts producers. The…
Streetcar Delayed until 2015
The $110 million streetcar project's opening is being delayed by more than a full year — from spring 2014 to summer 2015. Meg Olberding, city spokesperson, attributes the delay to “a number of scheduling issues.” “There’s so many moving pieces,” she says. “There are issues with utility and we have to order the cars. We…
Shadowy Political Handbill on the East Side
Over the past few days, packets of anti-Democrat political literature tucked into plastic sandwich bags were tossed into East Side driveways. Don’t assume it’s litter. Nope, it’s apparently a broadside from some bag ladies with an Indian Hill address who call themselves a “grassroots, conservative group.” They are new on the scene and bent on…
Afghan Whigs to Play Bogart’s on New Year’s Eve
Billboard magazine recently ran an interview with Greg Dulli, frontman of legendary, recently-reunited crew The Afghan Whigs, titled "Afghan Whigs: Gone In November?" in which the singer/songwriter was coy about the band's plans beyond its current run of U.S. tour dates. Today we can answer that question with a resounding "NO!" After the current slate…
Morning News and Stuff
President Barack Obama is in town today. Expect some coverage from CityBeat this afternoon. Last time Obama was in Cincinnati, he discussed gay rights, small business support and girl scout cookies. Ohio is typically considered a must-win for presidential candidate Mitt Romney, but he is currently losing in aggregate polls. Ohio Rep. Connie Pillich of…
Daily MPMFer: F.Stokes, Culture Queer and More
MPMF news and musings: Wanna be a volunteer for this year's MidPoint Music Festival? The great local volunteerism org Give Back Cincinnati is handling this year's vital MPMF helpers. Click here for details and perks. And now, with the countdown down to just 10 days, here are our daily MidPoint Music Festival 2012 picks ……
Cincinnati Ballet’s ‘New Works’ Opens with Emotion
The intense energy between Principal dancers Cervilio Amador and Janessa Touchet is so palpable you can feel it — even when their hands aren’t touching. Their expressive duet in Heather Britt’s world premier “Opus 5.5” provided an inviting opening to Cincinnati Ballet’s annual Kaplan New Works season opener last Thursday evening. The production offers a…
The Music Man (Review)
Critic's Pick I need to confess my affection for Meredith Willson’s The Music Man, winner of the 1958 Tony Award for best musical. I played a role (non-singing, much to the relief of my parents) in a high school production many years ago when it was recent hit, so I know all the dialogue. I listened…
Daily MPMFer: Grizzly Bear, Eclipse and More
MPMF news and musings: The official MidPoint Music Festival guide (on the streets of Greater Cincinnati until Wednesday, then resurfacing when it's MPMF-time) included a few feature stories this year about some of the festival's bonus features and additions. Read Leyla Shokoohe's interview with MPMF main-man, CityBeat's own Dan McCabe, about the fest's dedication to…
Your Weekend To Do List: 9/14-9/16
The thought of an “underground” party might conjure up images of a chic 1920s speakeasy or perhaps a creepy warehouse rave. Neither is true of Saturday’s Scion Exposed tunnel party, which is literally underground, at 220 Central Ave. beneath the Second Street overpass. Part car show, part concert, Scion Exposed features a pop-up skate park,…
REVIEW: Tonefarmer’s ‘Helium 3’
Local Indie Rock quartet Tonefarmer has returned with its first new recording in five years, Helium 3, which gets the “album release party” treatment tonight at the Northside Tavern. The band will be joined by Canoes and The Ready Stance for the free, 10 p.m. event. Recorded with producer/bassist for The Afghan Whigs John Curley…
Morning News and Stuff
UPDATED 11:20 a.m.: Here's a picture of Nick Nolte in a bumper car. Fact-checkers at The Columbus Dispatch said a new TV ad by Ohio treasurer and Republican U.S. Senatorial candidate Josh Mandel “might be the most audaciously over-the-top ad to run so far in the expensive and bitter race for the U.S. Senate.” The…
Daily MPMFer: Cloud Nothings, Shrub and More
MPMF news and musings: Kick-ass longtime MPMF sponsor Dewey's Pizza is giving away a trio of special "Next Level Experience" passes for you and two of your closest friends (or, I suppose, you could give them to people you hate, though that would just be kinda weird). If you win, you'll receive a three-day wristband…
Stage Door: ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and ‘Good People’
No matter what your theatrical tastes are, there's something onstage right now for you to enjoy this weekend: A classic story: If you can get a ticket (there aren't many left, I'm told, except perhaps for Saturday matinees at 2 p.m.) to To Kill a Mockingbird, you won't be disappointed. It's a wonderful theatrical retelling…
Your Thursday To Do List
Whether you have a great relationship with your boss or you’re dealing with your own personal Michael Scott, we’ve all had a laugh or two at the expense of our employers. And while I’m still perfecting my bit on Danny Cross, there’s group of former senate staffers who turned office jokes into a touring comedy…
Daily MPMFer: Two Week Countdown Begins
The official MidPoint Music Festival guide, featuring preview blurbs on all 186 artists performing at this year's fest, is on the streets now to help make your MPMF.12 itinerary-planning a little easier. Yesterday, when the issue had just come out, I already had a handful of people asking me who my top picks were for…
Kasich at Romney Rally: Wives ‘at Home Doing the Laundry’
At a Romney-Ryan rally near Cincinnati yesterday, Gov. John Kasich made some remarks women voters might find offensive. When describing what his wife and the wives of Mitt Romney, Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Rob Portman are doing as the men attend political rallies, Kasich told Romney supporters the women are “at home doing the…
Morning News and Stuff
More bad news for Secretary of State Jon Husted. The Ohio Supreme Court told Husted his approved ballot language for Issue 2 contains “factual inaccuracies” and must be rewritten by the Ballot Board. Voters First previously contested the language as misleading to voters. If approved by voters, Issue 2 will put an independent citizens commission…
The Words
How far has the literary profession fallen in the past half-decade or more? Beyond the notion that the novel is dead, we live in a day and age when writers are being exposed as frauds with regularity and now the screenwriting and directing team of Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal pile on with the story…
Elena
A domestic thriller from director & co-writer Andrey Zvyagintsev (teaming with Oleg Negin for the screenplay) about a housewife (Nadezhda Markina) who hatches a plan to protect her inheritance when unexpected incidents threaten to unravel the steadfast woman’s means of security. The Russian actor and filmmaker captured major attention with his award-winning debut, The Return,…
Death By China
This feature documentary debut from Peter Navarro explores China’s elevation into the World Trade Organization and the resulting flood of questionable exports into U.S. markets, seemingly with the full support of the presidency and Congress thanks to a just-signed free trade agreement. Timely, in that not only should American audiences be mindful of China in…
Arbitrage
Richard Gere takes center stage as Robert Miller, a hedge fund giant on the verge of a huge professional and personal crash that will most certainly take down his devoted wife (Susan Sarandon) and loyal daughter (Brit Marling). Yet, intriguingly, what captures far more attention in writer-director Nicholas Jarecki’s film is the dynamic that emerges…
Last Ounce of Courage
This wartime family drama from writer Darrel Campbell (who also co-directed with Kevin McAfee) traces the redemptive path of a young man (Hunter Gomez) who lost his father and struggles to make peace with his grieving grandfather (Marshall R. Teague) upset over the loss of his son. Campbell has served as a writer for the…
Resident Evil: Retribution
The latest installment in the movie slash videogame world generated (written and directed) by Paul W.S. Anderson and featuring his wife Milla Jovovich finds the wonder warrior Alice (Jovovich) battling the Umbrella Corporation and its ever-expanding and perpetually mutating army of undead creatures. This time she’s joined by familiar faces from the very beginning, like…
Biden Praises Diplomats During Dayton Visit
DAYTON – Vice President Joe Biden took time at the beginning of his Wednesday campaign stop in Dayton to condemn an overnight attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans, while praising the work and courage of American diplomats and promising to bring to justice those who carried out the attack.…
Inspector General: ODJFS Wrongly Reimbursed Companies
Ohio’s inspector general released a report today criticizing the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) for improperly reimbursing federal stimulus funds to hired organizations that did not follow rules. In a statement, Inspector General Randall Meyer’s office said ODJFS “failed to adequately oversee federal grant funds applied to the Constructing Futures jobs training…
Your Wednesday To Do List
The Cincinnati Ballet opens each season with a fresh crop of modern performances, but this season’s Kaplan New Works Series stands out as being the first featuring all women choreographers. While ballet dancers are predominantly female, male choreographers significantly outnumber women. Choreographers Amy Seiwert, Paige Cunningham Caldarella, Heather Britt and Jessica Lang all present new…
Music Tonight: Blowfly!
Blowfly hatched from Soul songwriter/producer Clarence Reid’s depraved imagination as his alter ego who loves to make parodies about, well, getting off. As Blowfly, he rapped nasty ditties decades before Too Short and 2 Live Crew. In the ’70s and ’80s, Reid released a slew of Adults Only party records as Blowfly on his own…
Welcome to the Film Belt!
As CityBeat’s contributing film editor and the vice-president of the executive board of the Midland Film Institute, I am proud to announce a bold addition to this year’s MidPoint Music Festival. For the first time ever, in the historic Over-the-Rhine district, Indie rockers and indie filmmakers are coming together for one festival. The School for…
Something Old, Something New
Dan McCabe’s been keeping a close eye on the transformation of Over-the-Rhine’s Washington Park since last October. Closed for almost 18 months, Cincinnati’s second-oldest park reopened this July after a meticulous renovation and expansion that cost more than $50 million. “MidPoint’s kind of a biological parallel,” says McCabe, MidPoint Music Festival’s executive producer. (Full disclosure:…
‘Boardwalk’ Boss Seeks Power, No Forgiveness
The 1920s is an era romanticized and glorified, often by individuals who weren’t even alive at the time. Looking back on the fashion, underground parties, strong booze and Jazz can make you want to dive right into a Fitzgerald story a la Midnight in Paris. Boardwalk Empire (9 p.m. Sundays, HBO) takes what we love…
Where The Frames Take Me
This year marks my fourth sojourn to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and for the first time I have been able to add a few extra days to my usual long weekend mad dash through an impossibly overbooked itinerary that leaves me feeling like a camera-toting tourist snapping pictures of all the officially sanctioned…
Fall Beer Brewing
When President Obama did his “Ask Me Anything” interview on Reddit in August, the Redditors were curious about Internet freedom, marijuana legalization and Obama’s beer brewing efforts at the White House. The President assured his audience that White House Honey Ale, which is made with honey from the White House garden beehives, is “tasty.” Obama’s…
Mama’s Back and She’s Better than Ever
Shanghai Mama’s was closed for nine months following a fire last October. There was some despair among downtowners as the months dragged on. Call it the dark night of the soul. But Mama’s back, and I’m happy to report that she’s better than ever. If you expected big changes to the interior of this cozy…
Cromer Is a Man for All Theater Seasons
What makes Bruce Cromer one of our region’s best actors? He’s especially good at virtuous characters such as Atticus Finch, the admirable, broadminded attorney in To Kill a Mockingbird, a role he’s currently playing for Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (CSC). A year ago he was Sir Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons for CSC,…
Morning News and Stuff
The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber released its positions on this November’s ballot issues. The chamber supports the Cincinnati Public Schools tax levy and Hamilton County mental health and services levy, but it does not support extending City Council’s terms to four years. The chamber also opposes Issue 2, which would place the redistricting process in…
From Senate Staffers to ‘Steps’ Satirists
The Capitol Steps are on their way to Cincinnati, and they’ll stop at nothing to get audience members laughing as this grueling election year surges forward. The Steps are a group of Capitol Hill staffers turned political satirists, and no party is safe from ridicule when these performers take the stage. The founding members began…
Ending a Love Affair With Football
A funny thing happened to me during the first full weekend of football — or didn’t happen to me. I just didn’t care. For the first time I can remember, the sight of a football game — be it a professional team or my alma mater — did very little inside me. I wanted to…
State Auditor: Charter School Wasteful, Unethical
State Auditor Dave Yost released an audit today looking at Value Learning and Teaching (VLT) Academy’s 2010-2011 school year, and the findings are not pretty. The charter school, which is located in downtown Cincinnati, was found to be potentially overpaying in multiple instances — including potential conflicts of interest. “Those who are entrusted with taxpayer…
Worst Week Ever! Sept. 5-11
WEDNESDAY SEPT. 5 To many, home ownership seems like something only attainable by winning a lottery ticket or lawsuit. For those of us who aren’t terrible and hopeless about money, the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati’s annual Citirama showcase of new homes is a way to check out what’s on the market. This year’s…
Investigation: Police Chase Violated Procedure
An internal police investigation determined that officers acted improperly in a July 10 car chase that ended up with one child seriously injured and four teenagers hurt. The Professional Standards Section investigation, dated Sept. 4, determined that Specialist Diana Cloud violated department policy and procedure when she pursued a car full of the youths, who…
Boehner Staffer Got Redistricting Request Filed in 13 Minutes
The Ohio Voters First campaign for Issue 2 has shined some light into how Ohio’s district boundaries are redrawn. In a new graph, the campaign revealed that getting a business added to a district is sometimes as simple as asking for a favor. Just a day before the approval of Ohio’s new district maps, Tom…
Where the Frame Takes Me: Offscreen
TORONTO – Welcome to this special dispatch from the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. I’m on a mission to capture experiences — frames of reference, if you will — from my extended journey in Toronto. TIFF is about the movies, the premieres and the galas, the red carpet photo opportunities and the first looks at…
Cincinnati vs. The World 09.12.2012
Gina Rinehart, an Australian billionaire mining tycoon who inherited her fortune, stated that the key to economic success for Australians is to cut labor costs to compete with Africans who “are willing to work for less than $2 a day.” Rinehart earns $600 a second from her mining company, BBC reported. WORLD -2 American Airlines…
Open Studio
W hile the crowd bustled during a recent opening at Manifest Gallery, many people ventured into a quiet corner of the first floor. Those who did enjoyed a real treat. Down a narrow, freshly whitewashed hallway, they saw a tableaux of objects arranged on the floor in a brightly lit room. On the checkered linoleum…
Democrats Embrace All Same-Sex Rights
Democrats have had a strange election cycle regarding same-sex rights. The party went from shying away from the same-sex marriage issue in 2010 to President Barack Obama embracing same-sex marriage rights in June and the official Democratic platform embracing same-sex rights last week. More telling, Democrats are not hiding their support at all. They are…
Pop is Alive (Get Over It)
You know what I like? Pop music. Some of you may be judging me right now and, for that, I’m judging you in return. There is absolutely no legitimate reason to dislike Pop. Of course, I get it. Most Pop music isn’t the well-written, deeper-than-the-ocean type stuff, but rather easy to understand and anchored by…
Land of (In)Equal Opportunity
A report released shortly before Americans took the day off work for Labor Day, a national holiday meant to celebrate workers, painted a dismal picture of employment and wage disparities in the state of Ohio. The “State of Working Ohio 2012” report by left-leaning policy research group Policy Matters Ohio showed that unemployment among blacks…
Tonefarmer Takes You Higher with ‘Helium 3’
Local Indie Rock quartet Tonefarmer has returned with its first new recording in five years, Helium 3 , which gets the “album release party” treatment Friday night at the Northside Tavern. The band will be joined by Canoes and The Ready Stance for the free, 10 p.m. event. Recorded with producer/bassist for The Afghan Whigs…
Poor Little Rich Me
I am poor. This election-era talk about lifting, taxing or not taxing America’s middle class doesn’t land or resonate with me. When I hear numbers like the possibility of $250,000 tax breaks for the wealthy, it’s drowned out by the white noise poverty thrums through my head or the rumbling hunger makes in my gut.…
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Review)
Tennessee Williams was a brilliant American playwright, one of the most literary writers for the stage during the 20th century. But his works are not easy going for people seeking pleasant entertainment. For that reason, I was surprised that Cincinnati Landmark Productions chose Williams’s 1955 Pulitzer Prize-winner, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, to open…
Girl, Interrupted
I f there’s a recurring theme that seems to sum up the events of the past few years for Girl In A Coma, including the trio’s latest album, Exits & And All The Rest, it boils down to one word — growth. Some of the events that have produced the growth have been anything but…
To Kill a Mockingbird (Review)
Critic's Pick Harper Lee’s only novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, was published in 1957. It became an instant bestseller, a Pulitzer Prize winner and an Academy Award-winning movie in 1962. The book has sold more than 30 million copies in 18 languages. The novel’s thoughtful adaptation by Christopher Sergel is the opening production for Cincinnati…
Sound and Vision
MPMF’s Poster Expo 2012, the “Powerhouse Poster Arcade,” is modeled after the American Poster Institute’s ongoing FLATSTOCK series of exhibitions, which features the work of concert poster artists. Run and organized by the folks at local Powerhouse Factories graphic design studio, like FLATSTOCK, which grew out of its association with regional music festivals like SXSW…
