Locals Only: : Nathan Holscher
Keith Klenowski Nathan Holscher Tall, tattooed and rail thin, Nathan Holscher cuts a figure that could be imposing if he channeled his intensity into Rock's frenetic abandon or Punk's confrontational chaos. But Holscher has translated his emotional passion into the Folk idiom, and when he talks about his music and his intentions his words…
News: If Fish Lived There
Jackie Brookner (right) discusses placement of her fish sculpture (close-up below) at Salway Park, along Mill Creek. Hands morph into fish in order to clean water: It sounds like Frank Esher and a tree-hugger ganging up on a sculptor to make her do the impossible. Laughing Brook is an empty streambed in Salway Park…
Film: A Love Supreme?
MGM Robert Benton (far right) guides Morgan Freeman (left) and Greg Kinnear on the set of Feast of Love. Charles Baxter's novel The Feast of Love opens with the appearance of its narrator, Charles Baxter, waking and rising from bed late one night. Baxter wanders around his neighborhood in Ann Arbor, Mich., unexpectedly spying…
More MidPoint notes, from European imports to cool shirts
Producer Erwin Musper helped bring a number of European bands to this year's MidPoint Music Festival. Well, it's here again. For the sixth year, the MidPoint Music Festival returns to the streets of Downtown and Over-the-Rhine for three nights (Thursday-Saturday) of independent, original music showcases. I've spent the past several days preparing the massive MidPoint…
StreetScapes puts a museum on Clifton asphalt
CityBeat Archive Streetscapes takes over Tellford Avenue in Cliftonthis weekend. This weekend marks the sixth anniversary of the popular Clifton art fair STREETSCAPES, which allows local artists to re-create masterworks in chalk onto Telford Avenue. To give it a moniker like "art fair" is somehow deceptive. As the event's coordinator KIP EAGEN tells me,…
Music: Hip Mama
Frank Veronsky Producer/musician Chuck Prophet calls Kelly Willis' music "Housewife Goth." Despite displaying such a big voice on record, Kelly Willis' telephone voice is surprisingly quiet and low-key, befitting her small physical stature. It's also soaked in her trademark Southern twang, reflecting her Oklahoma roots as well as old-fashioned courtesy. Preparing to go on…
MainEvent: Gilgamesh In Uruk: G.I. In Iraq
Performance Gallery Gilgamesh In Uruk: G.I. In Iraq Same Old Story Any story that's lasted for nearly five millennia must have something to say. That's the premise guiding and inspiring Performance Gallery, one of our city's more innovative theater companies, for its production, opening Thursday, GILGAMESH IN URUK: G.I. IN IRAQ. The tale of…
Dance: Review: New Works
Jeff Corcoran Cincinnati Ballet's Kimberly Demaree and Jay Goodlett strut their stuff during a rehearsal. Cincinnati Ballet's New Works season opener was a night of white costumes, arched backs and adventures in dance — not to mention an overall crowd-pleaser. Five delightfully diverse world premiers (six including the "celebrity choreographers" frothy warm-up piece) came…
Sloppy Work on Referendum
Rev. Jack Wintz This statue of the Franciscan patron, Saint Francis of Assisi, is coming to Over-the-Rhine If their Hamilton County experience is any indication, it's no wonder the people trying to get a statewide referendum to overturn a state law restricting strip clubs are falling short of their goal. The "Vote No on…
Reduce Your Meds
As you take more prescription medications to manage illness, you drive up the potential risk for medication-related side effects: drug/drug, drug/food and drug/dietary supplement interactions. Polypharmacy, the routine consumption of five or more prescription medications with or without OTC medications and dietary supplements, is becoming more common. Physician-directed polypharmacy de-escalation is a strategy to reduce…
Sonic Boom Records
Two culture warriors in the fight to keep the music alive are celebrating their own survival in two new CD compilations. Seattle's indie record store haven, Sonic Boom Records is kicking off its 10th anniversary this month with lots of live in-stores, a commemorative T-shirt designed by James McNew of Yo La Tengo and a…
Impossibly Plausible
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: First, General Petraeus, I want to thank you for once again appearing before this committee. Your testimony of two weeks ago regarding the political and military situation in Iraq was, in my opinion, factual and invaluable. Indeed, the reason you've been called back here today is to obtain more of your objective,…
Film: Blood & Sex
Focus Features Sensuous and gruesome: David Cronenberg on the set of his latest thriller, Eastern Promises. The first thing one notices is the eyes. A soothing shade of baby blue, they gleam brightly as if yearning to engulf everything in their wake. It's fitting that David Cronenberg possesses such a distinctive gaze, for he's…
The Muppet Show: Season 2 (Buena Vista Home Video)
THE MUPPET SHOW: SEASON 2 1977, Rated G Season two finds Kermit and company firmly in control of their element. The familiar opening — where Scooter knocks on the door of the guest's dressing room as a way to introduce that episode's star — starts here, and a cavalcade of big-name guest stars follows,…
In a Pickle
I like spicy. I like pickles. So what's not to like about the Spicy Pickle? The Denver-based chain recently moved into a storefront (2504 W. Clifton Ave., Clifton Heights, 513-569-0000) that I always thought screamed out for a good restaurant. Entering the room of pickle-colored walls — I know this might sound unattractive, but it…
News: Law Group: Stop the Killing
A person convicted of capital murder in Hamilton County is 6.2 times more likely to get a death sentence than someone convicted in Franklin County and 3.7 times more likely than in Cuyahoga County, according to the American Bar Association (ABA). The attorneys' group released a report Sept. 24 — "Evaluating Fairness and Accuracy…
Cover Story: MPMF Schedule
Church of the Red Museum Church of the Red Museum ARNOLD'S 9 p.m. Chris Collier (Newport, Ky.) Folk/Americana For the past decade and a half, Chris Collier has been one of the area's premiere Folk artists, putting out four acclaimed releases (particularly 2006's double disc, Over Twenty) and earning her numerous Cincinnati Entertainment Awards…
GOP: Money and Racism
In the recent article "Money and Politics" (issue of Sept. 19), I found the attack by Councilwoman Leslie Ghiz on the Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) and the upcoming levy issue to be completely in character with the Republican Party's creed. But there is more to it than that. The attack on CPS is only a…
The Illusion of Lack
Are you ready for this? Robert Scheinfeld believes that our entire world is a hologram. Imagine yourself the writer, director and producer of your ultimate experience: unlimited abundance, living your life in joy, creating fun challenges for yourself, complete with a cast of characters following your script (think of the holodeck in Star Trek). Oh,…
Re Place
Joe Lamb Darkness has fallen over a large corner of the main gallery at The Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center. The artist responsible is DEANA ANN RENNICK. The installation is called RE PLACE, and it deals with perceptions of space. Certainly, this issue is a popular one in installation art: Looking at Rennick's…
Cover Story: MPMF Schedule
Of God and Science Of God and Science ARNOLD'S 9 p.m. Wink Keziah & Delux Motel (Charlotte, N.C.)Americana/Alternative Wink Keziah has turned the raw material of his harrowing life experience into the tripabilly Country swampiness of his songs with Delux Motel, his latest and perhaps greatest band (he once guitared for Adam's House Cat,…
Cover Story: MPMF Schedule
darynyck darynyck ARNOLD'S 9 p.m. Raison D'Etre (Wilder, Ky.)Folk/Americana The three hyper-talented women of Folk trio Raison D'Etre have been astounding audiences with their gorgeous three-part harmonies for more than a decade and a half; regular visitors to the Cincinnati Museum Center will know them from their frequent appearances as a musical adjunct to…
Is Greater Cincinnati Becoming a College Football Hotbed?
Jerry Dowling You've thought all these years that Cincinnati wasn't a college football town, and you were right. But the football teams from the universities of Cincinnati and Kentucky are a combined 8-0, they're both in the Associated Press rankings and do you think, maybe, that this year is a little different? Whichever side…
I Like Killing Flies (New Video Group)
I LIKE KILLING FLIES 2003, Not Rated Filmmaker Matt Mahurin's lo-fi portrait of New York City restaurant Shopsins was one of the best documentaries of 2003 that no one heard about. The Greenwich Village institution is legendary for its eccentric, 900-plus-item menu and, more importantly, for its proprietors. Culinary magician Kenny Shopsin is a…
Living Out Loud: : Hiding Behind the Mask
I got news of her death through an e-mail. On a Thursday afternoon, a friend of a friend let me know she had died of cancer. I knew she was sick, but I didn't think she would ever die. I thought her courage would carry her through. I've written about her in roundabout ways for…
August Wilson
CityBeat Archive The late August Wilson will have several of his plays staged during the Cincinnati New Light Festival, which runs Friday through Oct. 6. I've commented more than once that African-American playwright AUGUST WILSON has been too long ignored in Cincinnati. That's changing with a near avalanche of works by Wilson, who died…
Lucky You (Warner Home Video)
LUCKY YOU 2007, Rated PG-13 Curtis Hanson is the one of the more underrated directors of our time (think a less prolific Howard Hawks). Versatile and uniquely talented as a storyteller, Hanson is one of the few contemporary filmmakers who works within the Hollywood system without dumbing down his material (see L.A. Confidential) or…
Cover Story: Sounds Like a Music Festival
Sean Hughes MidPoint Music Festival continues to go high-tech as the sixth version approaches, this year upgrading its web site to offer bands and festivalgoers as much information as possible. When you land on mpmf.com, here are the fun tech tools to try out: · SoundsLike Search Engine: The writeups for all 240 acts…
Cover Story: Parties, Panels and Workshops … Oh My!
Superdrag Superdrag with frontman John Davis, well, in front One of the cooler aspects of the MidPoint Music Festival, the thing that keeps it from being "just" a festival and more a "music conference" is the collection of daytime panels and workshops. Organizers have worked hard to keep the educational aspect of MidPoint —…
Cover Story: Indie Innovation
Geoff Raker MidPoint Music Festival Every year Sean Rhiney and Bill Donabedian meet on Main Street to hang the MidPoint Music Festival banner a week or so before the fest. This annual event is the semi-formal symbol of another successful year for the 15-person all-volunteer staff, which spends 11 months of every year planning…
