Art: Art After Dark
Typical art museum opening hours aren’t conducive to a kick-starting a Friday night out musing over art with a cocktail in hand; Art After Dark allows culture-thirsty 9-5ers the opportunity to pore over exquisite special exhibits and live music for free after normal hours. A cash bar will dish out cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. This…
Event: What Women Want: 2012 Town Hall Meeting
You’ve heard the hubbub about the perils facing women’s rights in the 2012 election; the more priorities and concerns are discussed openly, the more efficacy women can possess as a voting bloc this November. The YWCA hosts “What Women Want: 2012 Town Hall Meeting,” a non-partisan, all-female interactive gathering intended to spark engaged, passionate conversation…
Onstage: The Three Musketeers
“All for one, one for all!” That’s the philosophy of the valiant central characters, defenders of King Louis XII of France in Alexander Dumas’ 1844 novel, and they’re brought to vibrant life for one final weekend onstage at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. It’s easy to tell the good guys from the bad guys…
Event: A Weekend in Clifton: Celebrating Streetscapes and Cliftonfest
Come experience the best Clifton has to offer at Cliftonfest. There will be live music the entire weekend as well as many artists showing off their creations. Don’t miss Art Cars in IGA or the classic works of art being recreated using sidewalk chalk. Local artistic vendors come to the streets to display and sell…
Art: MOTR Muerte: An Art Exhibit of Dia de los Muertos Masks and Paintings
With all the hubbub of MPMF, why not add a little rock and roll to your art-going experience? MOTR Pub on Main Street (a MPMF venue, actually co-owned by festival producer Dan McCabe) will feature paintings and Dia de los Muertos masks by Robyn Nomadical Roth, opening this Final Friday. The artist began painting calaveras…
Comedy: Tony Woods
Like most comedians, Tony Woods had many day jobs before becoming a full-time stand-up. “I used to be one of those people who would sit around the house all day, smoke weed, watch TV and go ‘I could do that,’” he tells an audience. One such job was security guard. Woods’ first assignment was at…
Music: Lydia Loveless
With as big of a presence as it has become on the local original music scene, it’s hard to believe that MOTR Pub — which regularly brings in touring acts and features music in Over-the-Rhine seven days a week — has only been around for two years. Wednesday night, the club celebrates its anniversary (it…
Event: MPMF 2012 Kick-off Celebration
Can’t wait for Thursday to rock out at MidPoint Music Festival? Good news — you don’t have to. Kick off the 11th year of MPMF with DJ Ice Cold Tony and 500 Miles to Memphis on Wednesday night. DJ Ice Cold Tony will be playing MPMF mash-ups from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m., followed by a…
Imperial Teen
Imperial Teen is still kicking, still churning out singularly crafted Indie Pop so ear-pleasingly addictive that it’s kind of remarkable they’re not more of a household name. But, then again, that’s never been the band’s reason for being. Sixteen years after surfacing, the men and women of this indispensable melody machine continue to fly their…
Ryan Talks NFL Refs at Cincy Town Hall
Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan weighed in on the controversy over replacement National Football League referees in a Tuesday town hall-style meeting in Cincinnati, comparing the Obama administration to the substitute officials who cost his home-state Green Bay Packers a victory with their botched call Monday night. “Give me a break. It is time…
JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound
JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound’s sophomore album, Want More, might sound like some lost artifact from Otis Redding’s archive, but the Chicago quartet is young enough to be Redding’s grandchildren and have only been working their Indie Rock corner of Chicago Soul since 2007. Even as they channel Soul’s classic era, they remain solidly…
Laetitia Sadier
Laetitia Sadier can at first seem an imposing pop figure. She’s a French intellectual with strong leftist opinions about how greedy, selfish capitalism and the excessive power of the financial sector are thwarting true democracy. And her new album — Silencio — has songs with political subject matter and challenging titles like “The Rules of…
Cincinnati Unemployment Drops to 7.5 Percent
Cincinnati and Hamilton County are making a comeback. In August, the city dropped to 7.5 percent unemployment, down from 8.2 percent in July, according to new data released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. The county dropped to 6.8 percent, down from 7.3 percent in July. Ohio’s seasonally unadjusted rate saw a…
Black Owls
Over the course of three excellent albums, including their new eponymous double-disc set, Black Owls have incorporated vintage influences into their singular sound. As manifested in David Butler’s wildly expressive vocals and Ed Shuttleworth’s alternately sinewy and chunky guitar lines, the Granville, Ohio, group draws inspiration from the ’70s like a blood transfusion, gaining life…
A National Dilemma?
What's your favorite musical group/artist of all time? Got it? Good. Who are you voting for this upcoming election for President of the United States? Got it? Good. Now let's say that favorite artist of yours was coming to Cincinnati to perform. Let's say it's a remarkably intimate show with limited tickets. And let's say…
I Just Can’t Get Enough…Emmys
The 64th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards took place Sunday night. Each year I get excited for this one awards show dedicated to television, and every year I forget how boring and predictable it usually is. First off, there is no booze served at the Emmys (unlike the drink-friendly Golden Globes which honor TV and film),…
Morning News and Stuff
City Council approved a $29 million plan that will shift $15 million from the Blue Ash airport deal to move utility lines and pipes in order to accommodate for streetcar tracks. The money will be reimbursed if a conflict with Duke Energy is settled in the city’s favor. The city is currently trying to resolve…
Cincinnati Research Team Uncovers Grim NFL Stat
So much for glory days on the gridiron. Playing pro football makes it far more likely than normal a brain can turn into mush. And there’s elevated likelihood these once powerful bodies will shut themselves down with Lou Gehrig’s disease. Disturbing new data from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health lab in…
City Council Moves Streetcar Refinancing Plan Forward
City Council’s budget committee voted 6-3 Monday to use $29 million from other projects in part to move utility lines and pipes to accommodate for streetcar tracks. The plan will use $15 million from the Blue Ash airport deal and $14 million from a new financing plan to ensure the streetcar’s opening is not delayed…
Daily MPMFer: Freelance Whales, Leogun and More
The MidPoint Music Festival countdown is down to just 3 days, kicking off this Thursday. Here are our daily MidPoint Music Festival 2012 picks … BIG SHOTFreelance Whales (Queens, NY)Baroque Indie Electro PopFrontman Judah Dadone founded Freelance Whales in 2008 and recorded much of the band's lauded, self-released debut album from late 2009, Weathervanes (reissued…
What Is A Radiohead Anyway?
I don’t like Radiohead. Just like that, my budding career as a music journalist is destroyed by one, four-word sentence. I’m sure the pretentious Pitchfork police are on their way to my house right now to take me away. I can imagine most of you yelling at me through the monitors on your Mac Book…
Morning News and Stuff
Newspapers all around the state — including The Cincinnati Enquirer, which labelled its article an “Enquirer Exclusive” (both The Toledo Blade and Columbus Dispatch ran a story with the same angle as The Enquirer) — are really excited about a new poll that found Sen. Sherrod Brown leads Josh Mandel in the U.S. senatorial race…
‘Mormons’ Are Coming to the Aronoff
The Mormons are coming! The Mormons are coming! No, not the one running for president (although he's showing up pretty often). It's the award-winning irreverent musical The Book of Mormon, which Broadway Across America announced this morning will be part of its 2013-2014 season at the Aronoff Center. The winner of nine Tony Awards (including the best…
Homeless Groups Net Grant for Vets
Three homeless aid groups in Cincinnati are getting a bit of help from the federal government. On Sept. 19, the Secretary of Veteran Affairs announced it awarded nearly $600 million to homeless aid groups around the United States, and three local organizations managed to secure $600,000 of that funding. The money will be awarded primarily…
Obama Administration Says Ohio Botched Welfare Reform
For the past month, Romney-Ryan and crew have been busy accusing President Obama of eliminating welfare-to-work requirements. You can hardly miss the campaign commercials that claim Obama has taken the “work” out of welfare reform. But what we haven’t heard is that state officials in Columbus are getting squeezed by the Obama Administration because Ohio…
Your Weekend To Do List: 9/21-9/23
German weekend is upon us. Cincinnati hosts the largest Oktoberfest in North America, bringing 500,000 people downtown to enjoy beer and bratwurst, music and dancing. Oktoberfest takes over Fifth Street between Broadway and Vine from noon-midnight Friday, 11 a.m.-midnight Saturday and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday. Between filling up on Dunkel and sauerkraut, stop by the…
Mallory to Hartmann: We are Collaborating
Mayor Mark Mallory was not happy with Hamilton County Commission President Greg Hartmann’s Tuesday letter criticizing him for failing to follow through with a city-county shared services plan. Mallory fired back today in his own letter, criticizing Hartmann for going to the media first and explaining why he no longer supports the City County Shared…
Stage Door: Great Start to Fall
The fall theater season in Cincinnati is off to a great start, with well received productions on several stages. If you get a chance to see Cincinnati Shakespeare Company's production of To Kill a Mockingbird, I urge you to do so. It's onstage through Sept. 30, but almost all of its performances (including several added…
Morning News and Stuff
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will be stopping by Greater Cincinnati next Tuesday. The campaign stop is part of a three-day bus tour across Ohio. The state is considered a must-win for Romney’s presidential campaign, but aggregate polling is not friendly to his prospects in Ohio. Will Romney dye his face for the Ohio events?…
Anna Louise Inn Wins Zoning Appeal
In the ongoing saga of Western & Southern vs. the Anna Louise Inn, there have been several court cases and zoning rulings, most of which have been appealed by one side or the other. Today it was the Cincinnati Zoning Board of Appeals’ turn to rule on something that’s already been ruled on, and it…
Board Votes Down Washington Park Rules
The Cincinnati Park Board today voted to strike down signs enforcing rules in Washington Park. The vote ended Park Rule 28, which allowed the Park Board to enact new rules by placing a sign on Washington Park grounds. The signs, which the city could use to enforce any park rule as law, had recently come…
Q&A with Journey
Journey is a legendary Rock act from the ’70s/’80s, but the band is not done yet. The group put out its 15th album, Eclipse, last year, Journey's second effort with current lead singer Arnel Pineda, and is currently out on tour with fellow ’80s hitmakers Pat Benatar and Loverboy. The band's classic music is standing…
Council to Move Funds to Avoid Further Streetcar Delays
Cincinnati City Council plans to move $29 million in funds to avoid further delays for the streetcar project, but the city is still looking at a 2015 opening date. City officials announced Wednesday that a council committee will vote Monday on three pieces of legislation to keep the $110 million project in line with the…
Daily MPMFer: Laetitia Sadier, Jody Stapleton and More
MPMF news and musings: Three-day wristbands are running low (get 'em here now, quick-like). If you miss your chance (or are broke like me), there are ways to win freebies. (It's the luck of the draw, so don't bank on it, but definitely worth a shot!) The fine folks at local club conglomerate 4EG (which…
Procter & Gamble Sued for Religious Discrimination
Two Cincinnati-based companies are facing a lawsuit over the termination of a former Muslim worker. The lawsuit, filed in an North Carolina court Monday, claims a woman named Safa Elhassan was fired from Procter & Gamble facilities after facing discrimination in the workplace. Elhassan worked for P&G through XLC Services, a Cincinnati-based company that provides…
Jonathan Zeng Gets Vocal
Just a few months after Jonathan Zeng was denied a music-teaching job at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy because of his sexual orientation, he is using his experience to help others. Zeng is an award-winning performer and a music educator but he’s never ventured into song writing, until now. He’s currently working on an upcoming album…
Your Thursday To Do List
Literary festival Books By The Banks may be a month away (Oct. 20 at Duke Energy Convention Center), but local bibliophiles can get in on the fun early with tonight’s Books By The Banks Poster Debut. The festival, now in its sixth year, brings more than 100 local, regional and national authors to Cincinnati for…
Morning News and Stuff
Cincinnati plans to avoid a streetcar delay. Despite what the city told CityBeat Monday, it seems the delay was due to the ongoing conflict with Duke Energy, and the city wants to put an end to it. City officials are seeking to set aside $15 million from the recent sale of the Blue Ash Airport…
WATCH: Afghan Whigs Launch U.S. Tour on ‘Kimmel’
The Afghan Whigs kicked off their upcoming U.S. tour — which brings them to back to their hometown twice, at Bogart's on Oct. 25 (sold out) and Dec. 31 (tickets on sale to the general public tomorrow through ticketmaster.com) — by performing on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live last night. The Whigs performed "My Enemy," Track…
Trouble with the Curve
Gus (Clint Eastwood) is a typically grizzled old coot whose eyes are going bad, which, for a scout, is the kiss of death. So, when his best friend and boss Pete Klein (John Goodman) gives him the one last chance that the plot has to grant him, Pete hedges by calling in Gus’s somewhat estranged…
House at the End of the Street
Spooky thrills creep up on a mother (Elizabeth Shue) and her daughter (Jennifer Lawrence) as they move into an all-too affordable house next to a horrific crime scene, where a young girl killed her parents. To make matters worse, the daughter, as the new girl in town, ends up befriending the surviving son (Max Thieriot)…
For A Good Time, Call
Judd Apatow ushered in a tsunami of bromantic comedies featuring guys who freely love (and explicitly express that love for) their guy friends and audiences took to this trend like it was a grand re-invention of storytelling. For A Good Time, Call from director Jamie Travis (writer-director of The Saddest Boy in the World) returns…
End of Watch
A quick glance at the filmography of David Ayer reads like a Los Angeles rap sheet. He started off writing scripts — the initial installment of The Fast and the Furious back in 2001, Training Day (also 2001), Dark Blue (2002) and SWAT (2003) — before moving up the ranks into directing his own screenplays,…
Dredd 3D
Not quite a remake or a reboot, director Pete Travis (Vantage Point) grabs the reins of Dredd 3D taking the graphic novel character of Judge Dredd (Karl Urban), familiar to moviegoers thanks to an earlier incarnation by Sylvester Stallone during his action-oriented prime, and reconfigures him to meet our lawless times. In the future, the…
Explore the Great Outdoors this Weekend
It's no coincidence that Sept. 22 marks both the beginning of fall and the first day of the ninth annual Great Outdoor Weekend in Cincinnati. The best time to enjoy the outdoors is autumn — when there's crunching leaves beneath your feet and a cool gust of wind at your back. An initiative of Green…
Natalie Portman Supports Obama in Cincinnati
Actress and acclaimed rapper Natalie Portman played up her Cincinnati ties in a Wednesday appearance at the Obama campaign-sponsored Women’s Summit at Union Terminal. The Academy Award-winner said her mother graduated from Walnut Hills High School and her grandfather — Art Stevens — grew Champion Windows in Cincinnati after starting as a door-to-door salesman. “Because…
Daily MPMFer: The Dukes Are Dead, Tennis and More
MPMF news and musings: The official MPMF.12 "Kick Off Celebration" is set for Wednesday, Sept. 26, in the Hanke Building just off Main St. (215 Michael Bany Way, between 12th and Reading). The free, open-to-all (21-and-up) party starts at 6 p.m. and will feature music from DJ Ice Cold Tony (who will be laying down…
Liberty for Sale
In 1997, the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) opened a private prison in Youngstown, Ohio. The Northeast Ohio Correctional Center was to hold out-of-state prisoners with the promise of profits and tax revenue for Youngstown, a largely industrial city southeast of Cleveland that had struggled economically since its steel industry went downhill in the 1970s…
Event: Writer’s Night
Tuesdays are the second most dreadful day of the work week, which is why it’s primetime to go out and let your creative juices flow, right along with the taps. Songwriters, comedians, poets and everyone in between is welcome — spit your own creative, original assemblage of words for the chance to score $40 in…
Event: Oktoberfest Zinzinnati
If you enjoy consuming high amounts of alcohol and dancing absurdly through the streets, then Oktoberfest Zinzinnati is probably your best excuse to do just that. Since 1976, the annual Oktoberfest has celebrated Cincinnati’s rich German heritage with deep fried sauerkraut, German style music and, of course, beer. It’s only logical that the nation’s largest…
Event: Swappy Seconds Clothing Swap
Do you ever find yourself standing in front of your closet that’s overflowing with clothes, but wanting to pull your hair out because you have nothing to wear? The solution is simple — and quite fun, really. If you have $3, five items of clean, gently used clothing and a ride to Mayday, you’re invited…
Voters First Sues Over Republican Claims
Voters First Ohio is not letting Republicans get away with any dishonesty on Issue 2. In a complaint filed to the Ohio Elections Commission yesterday, the pro-redistricting reform group claimed a recent mailer from Republicans contained three incorrect statements. “In an effort to affect the outcome of the election and defeat State Issue 2, Republicans…
Event: Cincinnati Park(ing) Day
Free health clinics. Lemonade stands. Bike repair shops. Mini urban farms. Art installations. All possibilities to squeeze into a standard downtown Cincinnati parking spot, which typically measures somewhere around 8 feet by 18 feet. Park(ing) Day, the fourth Friday of each September, is the day to make it happen; parking meters across the country get…
Event: RAW Artists Showcase
Ladies, grab your little black dress, and gentlemen, put on your tie and come out to RAW Cincinnati. This artist showcase features many up-and-coming artists handpicked by the organization. Be a part of a film screening, sit front row for a fashion show, enjoy a musical performance and view artists’ work in the gallery. Meat…
Comedy: Kevin Pollak
Not long after discovering a gift for mimicking famous movie actors, Kevin Pollak pursued a career in stand-up comedy. In the 1980s, that talent actually helped improve his acting skills, landing him roles in serious films like A Few Good Men, Grumpy Old Men and The Usual Suspects. In 2001, Pollak decided to start doing…
Music: Serengeti and Abiyah
Several years ago, when Top Cat’s in Corryville was party central for a lot of local Hip Hop fans and playas, I attended a show by creative MC Busdriver, whom I thought was a pretty big underground star that would draw the entire “Top Cat’s Hip Hop scene” to the same club. My “party of…
Onstage: Good People
Out of work and desperate to support a kid. Sound familiar? It’s the world we live in, and David Lindsay-Abaire’s play gives us a look at the tough place people can find themselves. It’s not all gloom and doom: These are, after all, “good people” struggling to make ends meet — and they have moments…
Art: School of Art Visiting Lecture
The School of Art at the University of Cincinnati hosts a series of ongoing lectures that sadly go under-attended, despite the international renown of the speakers involved. Whether lack of campus parking or the confusing sprawl of DAAP’s Aronoff Center are to blame is uncertain, but one thing is for sure: The speakers often warrant…
Curmudgeon Notes 9.19.2012
• Enquirer prices are going up in a smart way. The paper is embracing a computerized system which charges frequent users for its digital content. The more individuals read, the more they’ll be charged. Full access will mean just that and be available to home delivery and digital subscribers. However, the Enquirer will still limit…
Fringe Reprised
Does this late September weather make you wish you could turn back the clock? Know Theatre is ready to take you back to June and the 2012 Cincinnati Fringe Festival with a brief reprise of several shows and artists who pleased audiences three months ago. Today through Saturday you can stop by the theater on…
Life with Louie
Much like Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm, bits of the plot in Louie (10:30 p.m. Thursday, FX) feel plucked from the star’s presumably hilarious real life. But Louis C.K.’s dark comedy offers serious commentary on show business, parenting and life’s unexplainable quirks, making Louie more than just a sitcom about the fictionalized life of a…
Paul Thomas Anderson Offers Ode to Passing of an Old God
Our first few moments in the presence of Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) capture the extraordinary power and the isolation of the character. Quell is in the Navy toward the end of World War II, aboard a ship among his fellow seamen and on shore leave, enjoying a break on the beach with the sun high…
Children of the (Candy) Corn
In the 1880s, George Renninger, a worker for the Wunderlee Candy Company, invented a new kind of candy. The tiny cone-shaped “treat” was aesthetically a three-color interpretation of a kernel of corn, with the yellow “bottom” resembling the corn and the orange middle and white tip representing … well, not sure on that one. Honestly,…
BrewRiver GastroPub Is Steeped in Local History
Philosophers have long romanticized the idea of an infinite multiverse: parallel universes existing concurrently with our own, one for every single possible outcome. If such a phenomenon exists, we can find solace in the notion that there’s an alternate reality where Prohibition never happened, where area German immigrants were neither persecuted nor discriminated against, where…
I Just Can’t Get Enough
Google unveiled its latest Easter egg of a search tool last week, inducing “bacon number” madness. Now when you’re playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, instead of cross-referencing IMDB, Googlers can simply type in the actor’s name and “bacon number” for an automatic calculation. After hours of furious research, it was found nearly every human…
‘Project Obscura’ Puts Focus on Communities
It’s appropriate that Project Obscura at Northside’s Prairie Gallery opened before FotoFocus officially kicks off Oct. 5. After all, the camera obscura (Latin for “dark chamber”) led to the modern camera. In addition , Project Obscura taps the creativity of kids as young as 4. FotoFocus exhibits featuring Herb Ritts, Andy Warhol and Edward Steichen…
Reporters Shouldn’t Dismiss Race in African Violence
It’s time for Western news media to abandon post-colonial guilt when we write and talk about sub-Saharan Africa. I’m talking about the double standard that gives a pass to bloody black regimes when former white rulers were damned for similar acts. Washington, London and Paris turn a blind eye out of sloth or short-term national…
Morning News and Stuff
Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann wants Mayor Mark Mallory to live up to past promises of county-city collaboration. In a letter to Mallory, Hartmann criticized the mayor for failing to stick to his pledge of supporting the City-County Shared Services Committee. The committee seeks to streamline county and city services to end redundancies and make…
Worst Week Ever!: Sept. 12-18
WEDNESDAY SEPT. 12 Usually, when a person quits their job because they know they’re about to get fired for doing something bad it goes the same way. They tender their resignation, feel thankful for all the stuff they didn’t get caught doing and move on to the next stop on the line of Jobs That…
Cincinnati Art Museum Honors Sarah Vanderlip
When Sarah Vanderlip — winner of Cincinnati Art Museum’s first Marjorie Schiele Prize — arrives here for the Sept. 29 opening of her show, it will be an Ohio homecoming, a full circle of sorts, for the California artist. Schiele, a Cincinnati native and artist who died in 2008, bequeathed much of her estate to…
A Library All Their Own
T here’s a little red house mounted to a wooden stand in front of Afsaneh Fowler’s home in Loveland. At first glance, it looks like a bird feeder or a dollhouse or maybe even a quirky mailbox. It’s actually her neighborhood library. And it’s not because the Cincinnati Public Library’s fiscal outlook has fallen, but…
Young Bengals Receivers Step Up
One of the biggest questions coming out of the Bengals training camp was whether or not the team could find a second receiver to complement A.J. Green — for at least one day. In the Bengals’ 34-27 victory over the Browns, Cincinnati had some weaknesses exposed, but the receiving corps certainly wasn’t one of them.…
Shadowy Political Handbill on the East Side
Last week, packets of anti-Democrat political literature tucked into plastic sandwich bags were tossed into East Side driveways. 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 kicking President Barack Obama out of office, along…
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…
Obama Announces Trade Action Against China at Cincinnati Stop
President Barack Obama announced a new trade action against China during a Cincinnati campaign stop in Eden Park Sept. 17, where he also took the opportunity to attack Republican challenger Mitt Romney. The U.S. filed the case at the World Trade Organization claiming that China offers “extensive subsidies” to native automakers and auto-parts producers. The…
How to Maintain Friendship with a Republican (or Democrat)
We’ve all been there. You’re just minding your own business, killing time on the Internet, when you see “4 friends like this” beneath Mitt Romney’s shining visage. First comes the feeling of shock. “But his brother is gay,” you think. “He doesn’t believe his own brother should have equal rights?” Next is disappointment, leaving you…
Cincinnati vs. The World 09.19.2012
A Gaza resident and taxi driver tired of dealing with the region’s ongoing fuel crisis created Gaza’s first electric car, made from all recycled materials for less than $1,000. WORLD +2 Ohio Gov. John Kasich attempted to pay ode to the wives of fellow Republicans absent at a Cincinnati-area rally for GOP presidential nominee Mitt…
Redistricting Reform Wins, Republicans Lose in Court
Ohioans will choose whether or not to pass redistricting amendment Issue 2 in November, and the Ohio Supreme Court says Secretary of State Jon Husted needs to make the ballot language more clear for voters. In a bit of a surprise, the Ohio Supreme Court on Sept. 12 ruled against Husted’s ballot language, which was…
Fighting for Life
S even-month-old pit bull mix Oreo, dark chocolatey brown with all-white paws, was, at one time, the “miracle dog.” In 2009, Oreo’s owner hurled her from the roof of his sixth-story Brooklyn, N.Y., apartment. Her tale was picked up nationwide when the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) took her in…
The Courtship of My Ohio
It makes me nervous knowing the re-election of President Barack Obama rests partially in the hands of Ohio voters and in the trustworthiness of the shaky Ohio electoral process. I have the same uncertainty and nerve-wracked feelings when I watch the Bengals play. When I do I have to look away — turn the channel…
The ‘Peace’ Maker
When consummate singer/songwriter Nick Lowe played his most famous composition — “(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding” — near the World Trade Center site a few years back, he knew the event was special. “I remember that song on that evening, hearing the echo bouncing off those buildings and thinking, ‘Wow, it’s really…
Paul Thorn
You know who there aren’t enough of in America? Guys like Paul Thorn. Thorn plays a loud version of Americana, a bluesy, Southern Rock. His lyrics often illustrate stories about rough lives, hard times and rowdy women, making him a sort of funkier Johnny Cash. His voice and demeanor make him seem a little rough…
Glen Hansard
Glen Hansard's elevation from Rock musician to Academy Award winner in 2008 following the success of the film Once also put his blossoming personal relationship with musical collaborator Marketa Irglova square in the public eye. Four years and two albums later another film — the musical documentary Swell Season that cataloged the two years following…
Fred Hersch Returns to the Wisp
With all of Fred Hersch ’s amazing accomplishments in a career that spans five decades — nearly 40 live and studio albums, playing piano with Stan Getz, Art Farmer and other Jazz giants, securing the first solo piano booking at the legendary Village Vanguard, becoming an esteemed educator and tireless AIDS activist, earning five Grammy…
Needtobreathe
Needtobreathe loves Ohio. In the last two years, the band has played in our state more than half a dozen times. This week’s performance at the Taft will mark Needtobreathe’s third time in Cincinnati in that time span, too. The band headlined here, but also came for King’s Island’s Spirit Song Festival at the beginning…
Teenage Bottlerocket with NOFX, Loudmouth and The Dopamines
Are you a fan of Ramones-indebted Pop Punk that worships Top Gun and Evil Dead, cracks wise-ass observations about Metal show mosh pits and likes to creep out the womenfolk when out in an automobile? If so, congratulations — Teenage Bottlerocket's Freak Out is now your favorite record ever. But if you weren't able to…
U.S. Loves Drake, Passion Pit Loves Tacos, Music Biz Hates You
HOT We’re No. 1! The good news? America is No. 1! The bad news? We’re No. 1 out of all the countries in the world for illegal downloads. The worst news? According to the study published by the BBC, we’re risking moral shaming and punishment from the recording industry (of some sort; see below for…
