Democrats plan for ’08, and Roxanne Qualls is back on city council
Joe Lamb Just before the do-si-do: Vice Mayor Jim Tarbell and Former Mayor Roxanne Qualls just before the pair officially switched seats. Will Ohio again go Republican when we vote for president in 2008? Put aside for now the question of whether the GOP stole the state's electoral votes in 2004. For the sake…
Music: Dogs, Pee and Hip Hop
slim Jim Puvee Much to the chagrin of family and friends, I'm neither a huge sports fan nor much of a dog lover. I make every effort to catch the Super Bowl each year, and I also try to make a Reds game from time to time. Beyond that, I'm pretty indifferent to the…
Sound Advice: : The Subdudes and Dar Williams
Rick Olivier The Subdudes The subdudes Saturday · Madison Theater Once upon a drier time, being from New Orleans was just plain cool, but in the post-Katrina world, calling the Big Easy home is a windswept badge of courage even if your life was largely untouched by the devastation. The musical response to Katrina…
Main Event: Dracula
Dracula Biting Humor Dracula, as most of us who enjoy being creeped out are well aware, is one of the undead, drawing his vitality from mortals whom he drains of their blood and their independent spirits
News: Government and God
Hadia Mubarak If she wore a golden cross on a necklace instead of a head scarf, no one would look twice. Hadia Mubarak, a Muslim researcher, is part of a panel Sundaydiscussing the relationship between church and state. We don't talk about religion, politics, sex or death when we want to have a polite…
Heroes: Season 1 (Universal)
HEROES: SEASON 1 2006, Unrated It seems odd that this release has come so late in the summer, only a few weeks before the new season begins. Perhaps NBC didn't want to drag eyeballs away from Last Comic Standing or The Singing Bee? If you just need a refresher it's not a problem, but…
The Castle (Kino)
THE CASTLE 1997, Not Rated Filmmaker Michael Haneke (Cache, The Piano Teacher) brings Franz Kafka's final unfinished manuscript to the screen in this thought-provoking, challenging and flawed work originally produced for Austrian television in 1997. The story follows a man, referred to simply as K., who encounters maddening levels of bureaucracy as he attempts…
News to Use
Human Rights Program "Diversity: Engaging Your Global Future Now" is the theme of the Center for American and World Cultures' fall program series that culminates in the annual Human Rights and Social Justice Day Nov. 14. The series at Miami University in Oxford includes "Pieces of Power: Cultural Empowerment Through the Visual Arts," a symposium…
Diner: Hot Food and Hospitality
Joe Lamb Shirley Copeland, who has worked at the same White Castle for more than four decades, was the Grand Marshal at this year's Fourth of July Parade in Northside. Shirley Copeland is a woman with many families: her children and grandchildren; her church family; and her co-workers and customers at the Northside White…
Music: Seeing the Blues
George Forste Local musician and filmmaker Chuck Land turns his camera on the Cincinnati music scene, making "passion project" documentaries to draw attention to it. Crowds at shows are small. Live music venues are disappearing. The Blues scene in Cincinnati needs some serious mojo. "There is so much great talent in the Blues community…
Livin’ on the Air at WNKU
I started working at WNKU (89.7 FM) in November 1989, when popular Bluegrass DJ Ed McDonald left to pursue other opportunities. Sheila Rue, the station's general manager, asked me to host the show, and I agreed to do it for the princely sum of $25 a week. Buddy Griffin, who was playing fiddle in my…
The ‘Hills’ Have Legs
After taking Even the Hills, the sophomore CD from singer/songwriter Nathan Holscher, for several test drives, I was convinced he was probably in his mid-40s. The element of searching and wanderlust in his lyrics made me think he's probably traveled the world a few times over. Then I read his bio, which said he was…
News: Of Human Bondage
Graham Lienhart El DeRomano says prostitutes are often unwilling victims of sex traffiicking. Slaves aren't usually understood by people who aren't slaves. That was one of the points made in a discussion about modern slavery in Ohio at an Aug. 24 forum sponsored by the Salvation Army of Greater Cincinnati. "You see a woman…
Why the Big Ten Network Won’t Bully Cable Systems or Fans
Jerry Dowling Back when all television was free to consumers, there was a lot less of it. But television still was powerful enough to hook us on football, and you know what the man says: You have to buy the new and improved one. The change has come along slowly. Paid cable and satellite…
Cover Story: Home Is Where the Hurt Is
Woodrow J. Hinton Home Is Where the Hurt Is The image of a short, squat woman throwing firewood at a tall, wiry man sounds more like a comedy sketch than a case of domestic violence. But what if she regularly hits and kicks him, and everyone in the house knows it? Another man, not…
Music: Act Locally, Rock Globally
G. M. Clausen Singer Ruthie Bram is one of the global performers on the "EuroRock 2007" tour. Fourteen bands you've never heard of will be playing a night of short sets Friday at the Madison Theater. Many of the musicians are too young to drink legally, with this tour being their first. So why…
Shakespeare Was a Big George Jones Fan: Cowboy Jack Clement’s Home Movies (Shout! Factory)
SHAKESPEARE WAS A BIG GEORGE JONES FAN: COWBOY JACK CLEMENT'S HOME MOVIES 2007, Not Rated Cowboy Jack Clement is an iconic Nashville character — the soul of Nashville, some might say — who began his career producing for Memphis' Sun Records (he's responsible for Jerry Lee Lewis' "Whole Lot of Shakin' Goin' On") and…
Dracula and Romeo and Juliet
Danny Nader Richard Hess (left) and Mark Halpin's The Kid in the Dark, a recent winner at the 2007 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards, is back at Know Theatre Sept. 13-15. Several Cincinnati theaters come back to life this week with openings at the Cincinnati Playhouse (Dracula; see To Do and Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (Romeo and…
Film: Review: 3:10 to Yuma
Lion's Gate Films Black hats are back: Ben Foster (left) and Russell Crowe deliver believable menace in director James Mangold's remake of 3:10 to Yuma. As far as devilish incarnations go, The Usual Suspect's Keyser Soze figures to have a select seat at the table of onscreen villains. The old spook story told by…
Living Out Loud: : Jail Bait
It seemed like any other early morning in Over-the-Rhine. I was headed to my office on a warm, sticky Thursday while thinking about the upcoming weekend. As I got out of my car, I was greeted by the bright lights of flashing police cars as they lit up the black sky like a strobe light.…
Locals Only: : Jonuh
Jonuh Jonuh The air is thick and humid. A wet, lung-hurter. As I walk by The Mad Hatter, the club's glass side door busts open. Then skin. A shirtless, rib-revealing-thin guy flies out of the door, landing on the ground. Hard. His bare back breaks his fall. I picture him picking gravel out of…
News: Stolen Away
Joe Lamb Jim Tobin of the Catholic Conference of Ohio speaks at a press conference after federal immigration agents, aided by local police, arrested 161 undocumented workers at a plant in Fairfield. A raid last week that led to the arrest of 161 illegal immigrants at a chicken packaging factory in Fairfield might fan…
Rehabbed Emery Theatre Offers Sighs Over Size
You've heard it before: Size matters. But just as in a more notorious context, when it comes to concert venues, bigger isn't necessarily better. So much of what we call Classical music was originally intended for intimate surroundings. Orchestra concerts have evolved from home entertainment in palace chambers to entertainment for the masses in palatial…
Apsara
Apsara, the new Thai restaurant owned by Chanaka Delanerolle of Teak, has opened in the space of the former Watson Bros. Bistro & Brewery in Blue Ash, and Jessi Singh opened a fourth Indian eatery called Guru India, in Crescent Springs. His other three include Baba India in Oakley, Akash India downtown and Ambar India…
Cover Story: Domestic Violence Awareness Month
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and the YWCA is offering a variety of cost-free programs open to anyone interested: · Oct. 2 7:30 a.m. — Coordinating Council Discussion led by Judge Ron Adrien of Cleveland. This discussion will focus on the importance of a strong community coordinating council for domestic violence. 9 a.m. —…
Understanding Mercury Poisoning
The element mercury, commonly known as quicksilver, exists in different forms — elemental or metallic, inorganic and organic. Mercury is released into our atmosphere through vapor that comes from the earth's crust, fresh waters, the oceans or from the burning of coal. Bacteria in bodies of water cause changes that turn mercury into organic methyl…
Book Reviews of Revenge of the Donut Boys, At The Center of the Storm and More…
MIKE SAGER — REVENGE OF THE DONUT BOYS MIKE SAGER — REVENGE OF THE DONUT BOYS (THUNDER'S MOUTH PRESS) It doesn't take special skill as a writer to find humor in a gathering of swingers at a Florida hotel. All those body parts, contortions and sex toys are bound to provoke laughs. But Mike…
Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars (Docurama)
SIERRA LEONE'S REFUGEE ALL STARS 2005, Unrated Civil war in Sierra Leone forces thousands into refugee camps in the Republic of Guinea. A small band of musicians formed in one of the camps with the goal of using music as a means of de-traumatization, both for themselves and their brothers and sisters in the…
The Art of Change
It's funny how a bunch of different threads in life can occasionally come together to form a string of a theme. I've experienced some of that convergence this past week. Labor Day weekend was the anniversary of my move to Cincinnati in 1984, so I usually get a little sentimental this time of year. It's…
Mercy and Peace Don’t Sell
It seems that there's little room in our culture for peacemaking and mercy. During a recent episode of the public radio show This American Life, Dal LaMagna, an entrepreneur who made his fortune selling specialty grooming products, was featured because of his peacemaking work in Iraq. LaMagna had the idea that, if no one else…
Old Friends Two “old friends” are rising back into the aural zeitgeist next week. Heart vocalist Ann Wilson returns with Hope & Glory, her debut solo album showcasing a new, poignant, serious-minded original song and 11 powerfully resonating cover s
Television Alert The Tonight Show with Jay Leno presents the Kings of Leon Thursday and Spoon Tuesday. The Late Show with David Letterman hosts Arctic Monkeys Friday, Kayne West Monday and Suzanne Vega Tuesday. Late Night with Conan O'Brien boasts Dinosaur Jr. Wednesday and Hot Hot Heat on Friday. Jimmy Kimmel Live features Rilo Kiley…
Art: Review: Massive/Intrinsic
Joe Lamb Craig Schmidt's "Saw-tooth Acorn" is part of Massive: Intrinsic at Mac's Farm and Sculpture Center. Can a big idea — actually a massive one — change its location and still carry its weight? That is to say, can the Massive sculpture exhibitions we knew in the great, glorious interiors of SSNOVA/The Mockbee…
Newsroom Firings and Couric’s Big Adventure
August is an awful month for news until some sap screws up and discovers he — and it's usually he in our Hall of Shame — is the only story in town. This past month has been worse than awful. No sap. No screw-up. No media frenzy to critique. Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) comes close,…
