The Keller Inside
For our interview, Keller Williams takes a break from recording his radio show, Keller’s Cellar, at his Fredericksburg, Va., home base. The show (which can be accessed through kellerwilliams.net) is much like Williams’ work as a musician: Eclectic doesn’t even begin to describe it. “It’s a 59-minute, self-indulgent mix tape of stuff I’m into,” Williams…
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell (Review)
This title has plagued bookstore tables the past few years with its cheekily lewd cover sticking its tongue out at browsers. I have to admit to being one of the suckers lured into picking it up and flipping through it just to see if it might live down to its expectations. I can’t say I…
Six Feet Deep Festival
Symbiotic, which organizes arts and music shows in alternative places, will drain the swimming pool at Ziegler Park in Over-the-Rhine Saturday for its newest installation art excursion: Six Feet Deep. The park’s empty public pool will feature swimming instruction a la music, with performances by Matthew Shelton, Wonky Tonk, Envelope (Columbus) and The Sundresses (pictured).…
The Invention of Lying (Review)
Imagine a marriage between Bruce/Evan Almighty and Funny People, and now remove lying from the world. OK, on the surface audiences could be forgiven for mistaking the premise for the Jim Carrey vehicle Liar, Liar, but remember I included Funny People in the mix, with its insular Judd Apatow vision of a world of bromantic…
Covedale Center Unveils Expansion Tonight
Since the Covedale Center for the Performing Arts opened back in 2002, it’s become the go-to place for onstage entertainment on the West Side, including the summertime Cincinnati Young People’s Theatre, which provides theater opportunities for high school kids from across the city. The facility is owned and operated by Cincinnati Landmark Productions (CLP), recently…
Dhani Tackles the Art World
Cincinnati's beloved linebacker Dhani Jones will have an exhibit of his photographs on display at Country Club this Friday. Aside of crushing Steelers players, Jones is also the star of the Travel Channel series Dhani Tackles the Globe, in which he participates in the sports of local communities around the world in an attempt to…
Who’s Up for Some German Krautrock?
The Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus reports it still has tickets left for Thursday's super-rare appearance by Faust, the anarcho-artistic pioneering German Krautrock band that formed in the early 1970s and has influenced everyone from Kraftwerk to punk to Radiohead. Founding members Jean-Herve Peron and Zappi Diermaier are still part of the group,…
Music: Slick Idiot
Once part of KMFDM, En Esch and Guenter Schulz parted ways with the Industrial titans some 10 years ago to design this new project. While the band fills out for concerts, the chief engineers always occupy vital roles: The hairless Esch handles vocals with a reptilian growl resembling Iggy Pop making a come-on in a…
Events: Skyline’s 60th Anniversary
Lunch doesn’t get cheaper than 60 cents, and to celebrate their 60th anniversary, Skyline is throwing a party from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. on Fountain Square with 60-cent Coneys. Yes, their “hot dog in a steamed bun, with mustard, covered with…original, secret-recipe chili, diced onions and a mound of shredded cheddar cheese,” for 60 cents. That’s…
Art: Art Off Pike
Art Off Pike, a Covington street festival now in its fifth year, always features a loveable array of artists, craftspeople, student artists and local characters offering food and entertainment to match the exhibitions both inside and outdoors. More than eighty creatives will peddle their wares, and I have found those at this scene to be…
Birds of Avalon
It’s been five years since bassist Paul Siler and guitarist Cheetie Kumar broke ranks from Garage Rock titans Cherry Valence, got married after nearly a decade of dating and assembled their new band project, Birds of Avalon. The next shift was Siler’s move to guitar, a subtle but powerful step that allowed Siler and Kumar…
Music: Andrew Bird and St. Vincent
In today’s fickle pop culture world, we don’t run into many virtuosos these days. If you’ve ever seen Andrew Bird perform or heard one of his patented orchestral Folk songs, you know you’re in the presence of a master maestro — whether he’s playing guitar, violin, glockenspiel or just whistling. His background includes Classical training…
Events: Queen City Bike and Dine
Start your fall with Cincinnati’s third Queen City Bike Dine from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday. This event, brought to you by The Hideaway, Five Star Foodies and the Green Doge Cafe, will start at Park Vine at 1109 Vine St., stretch for 20 miles and end at Grammer’s in Over-the-Rhine. The tour will include…
Halloween: Hamilton County Fair Halloween Bash
Darkness descends on the Hamilton County Fairgrounds with the second annual Halloween Bash. It’s a monster-sized value with dinner, drinks, beer, music and spooky spectacles, all included with admission. Adults get their fill of fear competing for prizes in a costume contest, bidding at a silent auction and dancing to live music. Little ghouls get…
Lit: Niehoff Lecture
The Mercantile Library caps another stellar year with its 22nd Niehoff Lecture, which will feature the insights of A.S. Byatt, the versatile British writer who has drawn praise from every corner of the literary landscape. Her latest book, the Booker Prize-nominated The Children’s Book, tells the sprawling story of several families, centering most fully on…
Events: Canine Happy Hour
Do you enjoy dressing your dogs in galoshes and sweater vests? Do you address them the same way you speak to an infant? Well it's about time you enjoyed a night out with them. While your pups can't share a beer with you, they can enjoy free goody bags and treats all night long. Let…
Slick Idiot with Chakras, Riothead, Common Man Down, Blood Werk and Another Tragedy
It’s perplexing to figure out what angle Slick Idiot is going for. With discs bearing appellations like DickNity, Screwtinized and xSCREWciating, what does the German Industrial outfit expect the crude puns to represent? Does the band traffic in some kind of satire or social commentary, or is it sexualized synth Rock that’s unashamedly silly? Most…
Events: Six Feet Deep
In the interest of “organizing art and music shows in alternative places,” Symbiotic drains the swimming pool at Ziegler Park for its newest installation art excursion: Six Feet Deep. The park's empty, public pool will feature swimming instruction
Lectures: Hank Willis Thomas
As part of fall's Lightborne Photography Resident Artist Series, Hank Willis Thomas will be giving a free lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Cincinnati Art Museum's Fath Auditorium, and will have his photographs on display Friday through Nov. 15 at Art Academy of Cincinnati's Convergys Gallery. A contemporary photographer whose subject matter is race, advertising…
Comedy: Jerry Rocha
In the fifth grade, Jerry Rocha got his first break as a stand-up comic. “My fifth grade teacher actually made a deal with me,” recalls the Texas-native. “He said ‘If you shut up during class, and don’t make jokes, I'll let you do five minutes on Fridays.’ I was like ‘Absolutely.’” Unfortunately, Rocha is afraid…
The Sounds of Science
Andrew Bird might not consider himself to be a man out of time, but his renaissance talents and fascination with 19th/early 20th century music forms suggest otherwise. In today’s fickle pop culture world, we don’t run into many virtuosos these days. If you’ve ever seen Bird perform or heard one of his patented orchestral Folk…
The Long Gones (Profile)
It takes Rock & Roll double trickery to make it all happen, but it all works out in the grand scheme of things. It’s the good with the bad. It’s the great with the awful. You can’t fight it, just roll with it. It’s designed to be that way. The Long Gones formed in 1996…
Onstage: Dead Man’s Cell Phone
Something exciting is happening in local theater: Actors you have long appreciated onstage with one particular theater company are finding their way to other stages, and that “cross-pollination” is making for even greater local theater. Our pool of local actors is growing and maturing, and our many fine theaters are drawing the best from that…
Music: Birds of Avalon
It’s been five years since bassist Paul Siler and guitarist Cheetie Kumar broke ranks from Garage Rock titans Cherry Valence, got married after nearly a decade of dating and assembled their new band project, Birds of Avalon. The pair invited keyboardist/vocalist and old friend Craig Tilley to jam with them, followed in short order by…
Victoria Musica (Review)
How can people with the best of intentions do things that eventually turn out to be wrong, or at least misguided? Such matters are the foundation of Michele Lowe’s Victoria Musica, in its world premiere at the Cincinnati Playhouse. The overt focus of this play is Victoria Wedlin (Mariann Mayberry, pictured), a world-renowned cellist whose…
Deadline Today to Register to Vote
Today is the deadline to register to vote in this year's elections on Nov. 3. Find details on the Hamilton County Board of Elections web site. Here are voter registration contacts for other local counties:—- Boone County, Bulter County, Campbell County, Clermont County, Kenton County and Warren County.
CityBeat Podcast 28: Full Spectrum and World Music Fest
On this episode we speak with Liz Wu on the World Music Festival and Full Spectrum. —- If you like what you hear, please support our podcast by subscribing to our podcast in iTunes or via our RSS feed. Also, please tell your friends and share this link on Facebook and MySpace.
Friday Movie Roundup: Fall Season Kicks In
The fall movie season gets a much-needed kick in the ass this week, as no fewer than a half-dozen worthwhile (or at least intriguing) films in a variety of genres hit movie houses. —- After a six-year hiatus, Jane Campion returns with Bright Star, an affecting yet curiously conventional true-life period piece from a filmmaker…
Film: In the Loop
Mix The West Wing’s knowingness of policy wonks with The Office’s deadpan, mockumentary-style humor, and then throw in Wag the Dog’s scabrous, pessimistic take on the political motives for going to war, and you have In the Loop. Of course, you also have the ingredients for a cynical, deceptive campaign to launch an unnecessary and…
Monsters of Folk, Living Colour, Mike Kinsella, Guy Clark and Matt Baumann
Monsters of Folk was spawned in post-show jams between Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket and M. Ward earlier in the decade. Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, Jim James and Matt Ward actualized a tour in 2004 (which was dubbed Monsters of Folk by their tour manager) but it’s taken the quartet five years to translate the…
RocKamp Honors Mr. K
In hopes of honoring the memory and life of Ken Glidwell (better known as radio personality and local musician Mr. K, who passed away from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident over Memorial Day weekend last year), a new "band camp" has been set up for area teenagers. The focus of "RocKamp" — underwritten by…
Stage Door: Equus Shines
I'm reviewing another show for next week's issue of CityBeat, but on a few nights ago I saw the final rehearsal of New Edgecliff Theatre's staging of Peter Shaffer's Equus. This is one you'll want to catch, and since this is the opening weekend, now's the time to do so — once this is reviewed…
Whip It (Review)
As a performer, Drew Barrymore’s charm lies in her free-spiritedness, and even when this devil-may-care approach bites her in the butt she still garners our sympathies. While she's no longer an adorable child star, she still seems unwilling to crossover into the beautifully painful world of grown-ups. Therefore, she slips free of the grip of…
Week 4 – Bobby Smith
You were under a lot of pressure tonight. What advice would you give other athletes who want to keep cool in extreme sports such as Bengals Football Bolo Toss? Concentration, Focus, and give it up to the big guy upstairs (points up). Is there anyone who you would like to thank who may have played…
Madness, Blackberry Smoke, Dennis Diken with Bell Sound, Will Hoge and Kris Kristofferson
It’s been a couple of days since the end of MidPoint and I still feel as though I bodysurfed a tsunami. And as wrung out as I am, I can only imagine the post-traumatic stress that Dan McCabe must be addressing right now. And however drained he is at this very moment, you can bet…
Charlie’s Corner
Collectively we are getting dumber as a nation. We are relying too heavily on computers to do all the work for us. We don’t have to remember anything because we can use our space phones to look up any information about anything in a matter of seconds. Since there is literally an app for everything,…
Gore Vidal: Obama a Disappointment
Never one to mince words or hold back his opinions, Gore Vidal says he regrets voting for President Barack Obama last year and calls Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, "the stupidest man in the country" in a wide-ranging interview with The Times of London.—- Vidal — an award-winning novelist, essayist and social critic — believes…
G-20 Problems in Pittsburgh
Our friends at Pittsburgh City Paper have roundup stories and a comprehensive blog section of coverage from the recent G-20 summit in their town (with some video, including this shot of police roughing up a protester). Much of the coverage focuses on the arrest of more than 100 people at a demonstration last Friday in…
The Terrific (or Terrible) Trio Strikes
A tri-partisan mix of Cincinnati City Council members are once again reaching across party lines to hold a joint fundraiser — and bragging quite a bit while doing it. Democrat Jeff Berding, Republican Leslie Ghiz and Charterite Chris Bortz are holding a campaign fundraiser together on Oct. 7. The trio also held a joint fundraiser…
Health Care Reform March Planned
UPDATE: March organizers called to clarify that although Organizing for America and the AFL-CIO are helping publicize the event and distribute literature, they aren't official sponsors. ORIGINAL ITEM: A march to support Democratic led efforts to reform the U.S. health care system is scheduled downtown on Oct. 18. The event is sponsored by Organizing for…
The Best Soups in Cincy
As the weather cools and we enjoy a season of colds and threats of flu, we can at least be thankful that we have soup to get us through. Yes, it’s soup season. That elixir that has nursed us through broken hearts, hangovers and mononucleosis. To celebrate, here’s a list of some of the best…
In the Loop (Review)
Mix The West Wing’s knowingness of policy wonks with The Office’s deadpan, mockumentary-style humor, and then throw in Wag the Dog’s scabrous, pessimistic take on the political motives for going to war, and you have In the Loop. Of course, you also have the ingredients for a cynical, deceptive campaign to launch an unnecessary and…
Courtney Love, Tom Petty, Iggy & Kiss
[HOT] Love and War We are pretty sure that Courtney Love was sent here from heaven because God loves tabloids, Minimum Gauge and Internet feuds. Love has taken to social media like a drunken moth to a flame, often incoherently babbling and usually insulting some famous person or another. Love apparently has been slinging barbs…
Capitalism: A Love Story (Review)
Forgive me for saying this, but it seems like Michael Moore has always been with us. What I mean is that Moore, the progressive filmmaker, has been schlumping around with his trusty camera and crew documenting his quixotic attempts to shine a little light on the forces arrayed against middle-class Americans (in other words, since…
Line of Inquiry
Michele Lowe asks a lot of questions: Why would a man claim his fictional Holocaust memoir was true? Why would a writer say she was a member of the Crips gang when she was really from suburban Los Angeles? Why would Bernard Madoff fleece people and charities of billions of dollars while posing as someone…
Police, Fire Unions Use Fear to Protect Turf
When he was on trial in Nuremberg after World War II, Nazi leader Hermann Goering told a panel of judges how clever officials could manipulate the public to do their bidding. “Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to do the bidding of the leaders. That is easy,” Goering said. “All you…
Sept. 23-29: Worst Week Ever!
WEDNESDAY SEPT. 23 If the 2004 election made you think, “Goddammit, there are too many Christians in this country,” then a new report released today will probably make you feel more comfortable about the amount of neighbors you have who believe they'll be reunited with Elvis when they die. According to the report, “American Nones:…
Queen Mary Family Restaurant (Review)
At the end of my time as a regular restaurant reviewer at CityBeat, I had hoped to go out with a bang. The blogosphere used phrases like “impressed,” “OMG” and “fantastic” to describe the Queen Mary Family Restaurant, so I was excited to discover new ethnic, culinary challenges and deliver them to you with a…
Music: Social Distortion
With music such a commodity these days, it's no surprise that former bands, once popular, are now reuniting in waves. Why not sharpen your chops, comb over the gray hair and hit the lucrative tour circuit again? That's why it's unique to see a band like Social Distortion, who after 25 years plus in the…
Rikki, Cops and Cucumbers
On that Friday afternoon, when the guy awkwardly climbed over the roped-off section to get to the outside tables in front of Knock Back Nat’s on Seventh Street, I had a feeling we were in for trouble. Just a few minutes earlier, I had to step around the same guy at the Garfield Market just…
Brown, Taylor, Cunningham and Ruby
[WINNER] Sherrod Brown: Showing his guts and integrity, Brown — Ohio’s Democratic U.S. senator — last week took issue with White House Chief of Staff (and all-around shifty a-hole) Rahm Emanuel after Emanuel said he didn’t think the public option would survive in the Senate’s health care reform bill. But Brown cited bills that have…
Broke Bearcat
Dear Maija,A couple of my bros got a hold of a state-used ID printing machine and are about to make mass money selling fakes to other kids at UC. They’re only interested in a third person joining the business because it’s difficult to be available to all the 20-year-olds between our classes and all, so…
And the Fests Keep Comin’
Early fall is starting to shape up as “music festival” time in Cincinnati. After another spectacular MidPoint Music Festival, you’d think folks might want some down time. Instead, they’ve got plenty of choices this weekend, in “fest” form. • This Friday and Saturday, Fountain Square keeps the good vibes from MidPoint and this summer’s MidPoint…
What You See Is What You Get
The subtitle of Larry Gross’ latest independently published book says everything you need to know about its content, which largely consists of his Living Out Loud columns for CityBeat: “Adventures, Discoveries and Conclusions Made While Exploring a Life — Namely My Own.” CityBeat recently traded e-mails with Gross, who revealed everything from Jack Webb’s influence…
Bright Star (Review)
Jane Campion’s love letter to the brief but passionate romance between poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and his neighbor Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish) does its best to combat the inherent limitations of the biopic genre, breathing life into characters whose unfortunate fates are known from the get-go. Much of the credit goes to Cornish, whose…
You Say You Want a Revolution?
Once a month, crowds gather at Northside Tavern for a hot session of trio sonatas and brass quintets. Or wind ensembles and string quartets. Or operatic arias. On a recent Sunday evening, an audience decked out in jeans, multiple tattoos and piercings ambled past the Cincinnati Wind Quintet warming up to perform a Viktor Ewald…
Beyond Belief
It’s a fresh, warm Friday morning in early August and I’m deep in “God’s Country” near Petersburg, Ky. The sun shines confidently on small pockets of verdant forest, the air is crisp and every few miles a local farmer is selling summer corn, tomatoes and melon. Today, however, “God’s Country” has a few strange bedfellows:…
Social Distortion with The Strangers and Middle Class Rut
With music such a commodity these days, it's no surprise that former bands, once popular, are now reuniting in waves. Why not sharpen your chops, comb over the gray hair and hit the lucrative tour circuit again? That's why it's unique to see a band like Social Distortion, who after 25 years plus in the…
