Music: Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber
Formed in New York City in 1999, the eclectic Jazz/Soul/Funk/Hip Hop/Fusion “big band” Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber has showcased a rotating cast of varied musicians (who’ve worked with the likes of TV on the Radio, William Parker, Phish and many others) on 14 avant-garde recordings since its formation. Veteran Rolling Stone critic David Fricke…
Comedy: Dave Stone
Comedian Dave Stone started doing stand-up in his hometown of Atlanta and now makes his home in Los Angeles. Comedy fans might recognize him from last summer’s Last Comic Standing or The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Or they might have heard his voice on AdultSwim’s Squidbillies. “Anybody ever call in sick to work…
Art: Shanghai’d for the Month at Iris BookCafe
Shanghai’d for the Month: Photographs by Tim Stegmaier can be seen at Iris BookCafé through Saturday, the intriguing result of the Cincinnati photographer’s month in Shanghai in 2013/14. Stegmaier has an individual eye and a seemingly endless interest in how people go about their lives and the urban areas in which those lives take place.…
Morning News and Stuff
Good morning all. Here’s what’s going on in the news on this amazing fall day. No, seriously, it’s pretty much ideal outside right now so take a minute to go outside for a smoke break or to get some coffee or do some jumping jacks or pull ups on a street sign or something. I’ll…
Morning News and Stuff
Happy Monday, Cincy! Hope everyone had a great weekend. Here are your morning headlines. • The Cincinnati Red Bike program celebrates its one-year anniversary tomorrow, and it's had a great start. In the past 12 months, the bike share program has blown the lid off of initial first year projections. It has logged more than…
Report: Dubose Shooting “Entirely Preventable”
An internal review released today by the University of Cincinnati finds that the July 19 shooting death of unarmed black motorist Samuel DuBose by UC police officer Ray Tensing was "entirely preventable" and resulted from tactical mistakes made by Tensing. The report also says Tensing made misleading and untrue statements about that incident. The report,…
Your Weekend To Do List (9/11-9/13)
FRIDAY MUSIC: THE DAMNED What do The Pretenders, Pink Floyd, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, Motörhead, Culture Club, T. Rex, Nick Lowe, Naz Nomad and the Nightmares, Goth Rock, The Lords of the New Church, The Sisters of Mercy, Miami Vice, The Young Ones, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones have in common? They all…
Stage Door
The fall theater season is fully under way. I’ve seen several productions that I can recommend, starting with Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati’s staging of Luna Gale. The story focuses on a weary social worker caught on the horns of a horrible dilemma — a custody battle between teen parents with drug issues and a zealously religious…
Morning News and Stuff
Good morning y’all. Here’s a brief rundown of the news today before you head off for your weekend. At a news conference this morning, the Cincinnati Fire Department released a report on the March 26 death of FAO Daryl Gordon, the 54-year-old who was killed after falling down an elevator shaft while responding to a…
‘Secret Garden’ at Cincinnati Playhouse: Gorgeous But Complicated
For more than a century, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel The Secret Garden has charmed young readers. It’s not what you might expect relative to today’s “young adult” fiction: Mary Lennox, an ornery 10-year-old British girl in Edwardian times is orphaned by cholera in India and returned to England to the care of her withdrawn uncle…
‘Luna Gale’ at ETC: No Heroes, No Villains
Critic's Pick In her director’s notes for Ensemble Theatre’s season-opening production of Rebecca Gilman’s Luna Gale, D. Lynn Meyers writes, “There are no villains here and no heroes, just people who make decisions as best they can.” The award-winning play, a work being staged by theaters across America this year, is about a battle over…
Spoonful of Cinema: Fall Movie Preview
Autumn 2015 looks unusually strong. Perhaps I’m optimistic, but there seems to be several upcoming titles on the release schedule in the months leading up to the holidays that I find myself looking forward to as much as any fall I can remember. It just comes down to whether you trust the cast and crew…
Foxfire, Longstone Fests Spotlight Local Music and More
With the summer music-festival season winding down and Cincinnati’s MidPoint Music Festival just two weeks away (did you pick up this week’s CityBeat for official guide, right? If not, you can find info here), you might think there’d be a music-fest lull this week. But two (very different) festivals northeast of Cincinnati are keeping the…
Morning News and Stuff
Heya, Cincinnati. Let’s talk about news, because, oh dang, we’ve got a lot to discuss. As we noted yesterday morning, Cincinnati City Manager Harry Black has fired police chief Jeffrey Blackwell, replacing him with CPD Assistant Chief Eliot Isaac, a 26-year veteran of the department. The firing took place quickly and was announced at the…
‘Motown: The Musical’ — Go For the Great Tunes
Motown: The Musical is one of those shows that gets the moniker of “jukebox,” and this one totally deserves it, since it offers nearly 60 tunes that cover a span of more than 30 years of Pop music. They spin by even faster than the 45 rpm disks most were originally released on in this…
Music: Greensky Bluegrass
W e often hear about things like the Punk revival and the endless offshoots it’s spawned. Or we find an article about the rebirth of Hip Hop and how its true culture never died. But what we don’t see or hear about quite as often is Bluegrass spinoffs like Midwestern Jamgrass. The reason, perhaps, is…
MidPoint Gets Crafty This Year
While MidPoint has consistently stayed true to its vision of spotlighting new and innovative music, certain things about the festival have changed over the years, often inevitably. One of this year’s most noticeable (and, in our humble opinion, coolest) changes is the addition of the MidPoint Indie Craft Village in Over-the-Rhine’s Washington Park (see map…
Where to Eat: Staff Picks
Cincinnati's best dining destinations as selected by CityBeat staff. BEST OTR SAUSAGE HOUSE GIVING SENATE A RUN FOR ITS MONEY The go-to place in Over-the-Rhine for housemade sausage is Krueger’s Tavern, a bar and eatery where Lavomatic once held forth. There you’ll find menu items like jagerwurst (“hunting sausage” with lean beef and pork, touches of pepper, garlic…
MPMF.15 Schedule: Sunday, Sept. 27
Check out Friday's schedule here, and see Saturday's schedule here. Artist schedule subject to change.ARNOLD'S BAR AND GRILL (AGES 21 AND UP)11 p.m. Young Heirlooms (Cincinnati) Indie Folk/Americana Young Heirlooms’ appearance at last year’s MidPoint fest proved to be a highlight for many attendees, as the band’s gorgeously lush Folk melodicism and elegant instrumentation echoed…
Event: Longstone Street Festival
Take to the streets for Milford’s annual Longstone Street Festival. Get your fill of live music, food, games and arts and crafts at this 12-hour, family-friendly event. A live music stage will host nine bands throughout the day, including Folk, Funk, Soul, Bluegrass, Americana and Alt Rockers, including headliners Seabird. 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday. Free.…
Event: Cincinnati Hispanic Fest
The Cincinnati Hispanic Fest highlights the food, music, dance, sports, art and culture of local Hispanic communities. The main stage features more than 15 musical acts over the course of the two-day event, along with cultural dancing performances, a Festival Queen competition, live mass and a free showing of the film Cesar Chavez on Saturday…
Event: Old West Fest
If you have a pair of cowboy boots laying around that you’ve been meaning to break out, you’re in luck — Old West Fest is back for its eighth year, featuring an authentic recreated Old West Dodge-City-style town, with gold panning, covered-wagon rides, kids activities, live entertainment (including trick riding and a saloon show) and more.…
Music: Speedy Ortiz
After becoming Indie Rock darlings with 2013’s debut Major Arcana, singer/songwriter/guitarist Sadie Dupuis of Massachusetts foursome Speedy Ortiz recognized something most who’d heard her multifaceted guitar Rock could have told her when the album was released — she and her band can actually pull off this “professional musician” thing. Dupuis quit her teaching job and…
Event: Cincy ComiCon
Let your nerd flag fly, Cincinnati. Cincy ComiCon is back once again to ensure comic books get their fair representation in the Queen City. Created somewhat as a response to the Cincinnati Comic Expo, whose tendency is to feature more film and TV stars than comic book creators, Cincy ComiCon is all about the writers…
Event: The Galloping Pig
If you’re feeling generous and a bit British, then look no further to satisfy your anglophilic desires. The 2015 Galloping Pig looks to raise funds through the BowTie Foundation toward the education of underprivileged youth as patrons gather to watch the Cincinnati Polo Club square off in an exhibition match. But there’s more than just…
Art: Art Driven at 506
I had a disorientating introduction to the Elsmere, Ky., art gallery/studio known as 506 Ash. That is also its address on Ash Street, itself one of the more unusual streets I’ve come across in our metropolitan area. It was a Saturday afternoon and just past the gallery — a well-kept single-story building with parking in…
Comedy: Kurt Braunohler
Comedian Kurt Braunohler has a penchant for the ridiculous. “I think I was always a fan of the absurd,” he says. “I always liked the out-of-place or the non-sequitur. I always think that’s the funniest thing.” However, Braunohler originally had no desire to be an entertainer; instead, he majored in philosophy and English in college.…
Event: MainStrasse Oktoberfest
Oktoberfest season in Cincinnati rolls on with MainStrasse’s Oktoberfest celebration this weekend. The festivities kick off Friday evening with a ceremonial keg tapping at Goose Girl Fountain with the German American Citizens League and affiliated sister organizations, followed by live German music, German food and other family-friendly entertainment. 5-11:30 p.m. Friday; noon-11:30 p.m. Saturday; noon-9…
Eats: Cincinnati Food + Wine Classic
L ast year, Donna Covrett, former Cincinnati Magazine dining editor, and Courtney Tsitouris, a food writer, designer and producer, launched the inaugural Cincinnati Food + Wine Classic, a three-day event designed to, as they say, “capture the energy and enthusiasm of the Midwest’s dynamic food and beverage scene.” In other words, it was three days…
Onstage: The Secret Garden
Blake Robison is the guy who makes the artistic decisions at the Playhouse in the Park, and he’s committed to shows that appeal across generations. He says The Secret Garden is one of his favorite musicals. “So many stories with child protagonists are cutesy and saccharine. Not so in The Secret Garden,” he says. Mary…
Comedy: Sean Patton
“For years I’d go up on stage with a definite set list,” says comedian Sean Patton. “I knew exactly what I was going to say. But lately I’ve been feeling like I want to challenge myself, because I feel audiences enjoy a set more when the comedian enjoys the set.” This new direction grew out…
Art: Cash For Your Warhol: Fund Your Startup! at BLDG
Conceptual artist Geoff Hargadon’s street art project, Cash For Your Warhol, grew out of the predatory signs the wealth-management advisor increasingly saw after the financial crisis in 2009. Boston-based Hargadon contacted the actual company who makes the “cash for your…” signs in Oklahoma, had “Cash for Your Warhol” printed up with his phone number and…
Comedy: OTR Improv Fest
Calling all comedy fans: OTRimprov, a local sketch group dedicated to creating a strong improv community in Cincinnati, will host its second Improv Festival Cincinnati at the Know Theatre to fête the group’s fifth anniversary. The four-day fest will feature improv acts from around the country in addition to workshops in storytelling, sketch writing and…
Event: Harvest Home Fair
End your summer at the 156th-annual Harvest Home Fair. The fest opens Thursday with a parade, followed by various contests, including a flower show, art show and horse show, live music, a cooking demonstration by Buddy LaRosa and a Dog Walk and Mutt Mingle on Sunday. Other attractions include the 4-H petting zoo, auto show,…
Music: Black Box Performance Series
The fourth full season of the Contemporary Arts Center’s groundbreaking Black Box Performance Series opens Thursday night at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, with classical pianist Vicky Chow pairing with 1-bit electronics composer Tristan Perich on his original work Surface Image. Canadian pianist Chow will be playing piano live while the tones Perich…
Literary: Nathan Singer
Cincinnati-based artist Nathan Singer has been scratching his creative itch in a variety of formats over the years — most notably through his work as an actor and playwright, his Rock & Roll outfit The Whiskey Shambles and his multifarious forays in literary fiction. Singer’s latest novel, Transorbital, looks to be another dive into America’s…
Art: Seeing Calvino: Invisible Cities
Ohio artists Leighton Connor, Matt Kish and Joe Kuth created illustrations responding to ideas raised by Italian writer Italo Calvino (1923-1985), whose most famous work — Invisible Cities — imagines how cities looked through the eyes of Marco Polo. The 55 featured illustrations were recently projected on screens during a festival in Rome. Curated by Adam…
MPMF.15 Schedule: Saturday, Sept. 26
Check out Friday's schedule here, and see Sunday's schedule here. Artist schedule subject to change. ARNOLD'S BAR AND GRILL (AGES 21 AND UP)12:15 a.m. Forest and the Evergreens (Columbus, Ohio) Young Funk Formed in Ohio’s capitol city in late 2011, Forest and the Evergreens have been honing a smooth, spirited sound that melds Soul, Funk,…
MPMF Visitor’s Guide
Hello. Welcome to Cincinnati. Chances are you’re here for the 14th-annual MidPoint Music Festival. If you aren’t, you should be, because about 30,000 extra humans have descended on the city for a weekend of live music spread across bars, theaters and parks in downtown and Over-the-Rhine (Cincinnati’s super-hip revived-historic ’hood). If you in town for…
Noon News and Stuff
Good morning all. Let’s get right to the news. It’s a big day at City Hall, and so the morning news today is all about what's going on with city government. First, a breaking story. Cincinnati City Manager Harry Black announced today that he has fired Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell. He’s named current CPD Assistant…
Getting Around MPMF
Thanks to the ongoing streetcar project, there is still a bit of road construction going on this MidPoint season downtown and in Over-the-Rhine. But don’t be discouraged — most of the routes around MidPoint’s territory are still pretty easy to navigate. Especially because MidPoint is a totally walkable and very bike-friendly festival. Biking is a…
MPMF.15 Ticket and Box Office Info
Full-Festival Passes: $89 Includes admission to all MidPoint venues and shows (subject to venue capacity rules) all three days, including the Washington Park main stage. One-Day Passes: $40 Admission to all MidPoint venues and shows (subject to venue capacity rules) for one day, including the Washington Park main stage. VIP Experience: $179 A VIP badge…
UPDATED: City Manager Fires Police Chief Blackwell; Chief Promises Lawsuit
UPDATE: Supporters of fired Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell took to the steps of City Hall Cincinnati City Council chambers to voice their opposition to the chief's dismissal by City Manager Harry Black. Former chief Blackwell himself appeared at Council's public input session, though he was not invited to speak before Council. Afterward, he told…
Immerse Yourself in Musical Discovery at MPMF 2015
Visit our MidPoint Music Fest page for full access to the official MPMF guide. It’s interesting to think back to the Cincinnati of 2001, the year the first MidPoint Music Festival took place. Cincinnati’s downtown and Over-the-Rhine areas were seriously struggling and trying to rebuild their image and soul after the upheaval that followed the…
Craft Spirits in Saint Bernard
On a recent Saturday, my boyfriend Brian and I headed to Woodstone Creek — I love a glass of a good red wine and he’s always willing to sip straight whiskey, so it was the perfect place for us to sample a selection of both. The all-in-one tasting room, winery, meadery and distillery is located…
Cincinnati Food + Wine Classic 2.0
L ast year, Donna Covrett, former Cincinnati Magazine dining editor, and Courtney Tsitouris, a food writer, designer and producer, launched the inaugural Cincinnati Food + Wine Classic, a three-day event designed to, as they say, “capture the energy and enthusiasm of the Midwest’s dynamic food and beverage scene.” In other words, it was three days…
Kurt Braunohler: The Absurdist
Comedian Kurt Braunohler has a penchant for the ridiculous. “I think I was always a fan of the absurd,” he says. “I always liked the out-of-place or the non-sequitur. I always think that’s the funniest thing.” However, Braunohler originally had no desire to be an entertainer; instead, he majored in philosophy and English in college.…
CAC’s Performance Series Deserves a Loyal Following
The fourth full season of the Contemporary Arts Center’s groundbreaking Black Box Performance Series opens Thursday night at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, with classical pianist Vicky Chow pairing with 1-bit electronics composer Tristan Perich on his original work Surface Image. Canadian pianist Chow will be playing piano live while the tones Perich…
Dr. Lahiri and Friends Start Residency at Hulu
Fans of The Mindy Project (Season Premiere Tuesday, Hulu) would be hard-pressed to explain the comedy’s lackluster reception on Fox. Led by hilarious star/creator/writer Mindy Kaling — can you believe we once knew her only as Kelly from The Office? — the show about a group of doctors and staff at a New York women’s…
The Anticipated End of the Labor Day Movie Blues
Not so long ago, the fallow period in the film-release schedule used to be in the early part of the year. Late January to the end of February could be counted on as the time when studios, fresh off the expansions of their prestige/awards-season films (and a bit of wallowing in the glory of accolades…
Doing It for Love in ‘A Chorus Line’
Let me admit right up front that I’m a total sucker when it comes to A Chorus Line. No matter how many times I’ve seen it (quite a few over the past four decades since it opened on Broadway in 1975), there are still moments that grab at my heartstrings and bring tears to my…
Chop Shop
I had a disorientating introduction to the Elsmere, Ky., art gallery/studio known as 506 Ash. That is also its address on Ash Street, itself one of the more unusual streets I’ve come across in our metropolitan area. It was a Saturday afternoon and just past the gallery — a well-kept single-story building with parking in…
Planned Parenthood Sues Ohio over Abortion Restrictions
Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio filed a federal lawsuit Sept. 1 against the state of Ohio, charging that “hostile policies” passed by the state in the last few years greatly restrict women’s access to abortions. The suit comes after new restrictions were slipped into Ohio’s budget earlier this year. Among those restrictions was a clause…
City Report, FOP Vote Could Mean Decisive Week for Embattled Police Chief
With Cincinnati’s Fraternal Order of Police set to cast a vote of no confidence regarding Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell next week, a debate has sprung up about the chief’s future and his performance. Supporters say Blackwell has done a great job in his two years as chief and that the current controversy around him…
The Once and Future King
L ong before he was a Grammy-winning musician and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Bootsy Collins was a kid in Cincinnati looking to break into the music business. That quest led him to the door of then-bustling King Records in Evanston. “He would go there every day and knock on that door as…
I’m with Stupid
My partner and I were once walking to Findlay Market from the spooky end of Green Street. We held hands as we neared the market. A scruffy, possibly homeless, black man approached. I made eye contact with him. At first, he spoke amicably. Until he saw that we were hand in hand. “None of that!”…
Music: Babes in Toyland
Kat Bjelland’s banshee voice, primal guitar playing and uncommonly intense presence infected anyone who was lucky enough to catch Babes in Toyland’s searing live shows in the early 1990s. Even impersonal setups like Lollapalooza — Babes shared the 1993 main-stage bill with the likes of Dinosaur Jr., Alice in Chains, Fishbone, Tool and Rage Against the…
Sound Advice: Babes in Toyland with FEA
Kat Bjelland’s banshee voice, primal guitar playing and uncommonly intense presence infected anyone who was lucky enough to catch Babes in Toyland’s searing live shows in the early 1990s. Even impersonal setups like Lollapalooza — Babes shared the 1993 main-stage bill with the likes of Dinosaur Jr., Alice in Chains, Fishbone, Tool and Rage Against the…
Music: Los Lobos
Los Lobos began making music back when Richard Nixon was still in office. For the historically illiterate, that’s more than 40 years, during which the Los Angeles crew has put forth its distinctive sounds — from slanted Tex-Mex and Folk to straight-up Country and Rock — via more than a dozen studio albums and a variety of…
Sound Advice: Los Lobos
Los Lobos began making music back when Richard Nixon was still in office. For the historically illiterate, that’s more than 40 years, during which the Los Angeles crew has put forth its distinctive sounds — from slanted Tex-Mex and Folk to straight-up Country and Rock — via more than a dozen studio albums and a variety of…
Music: Fishbone
As my musical horizons expanded in high school, I gradually developed an affinity for Punk Rock and New Wave, became obsessed with 2 Tone-era Ska bands like The Specials and The English Beat, found Funk by digging out my dad’s Sly and the Family Stone records and dabbled in Heavy Metal thanks to a metalhead…
Sound Advice: Fishbone with Downtown Brown
As my musical horizons expanded in high school, I gradually developed an affinity for Punk Rock and New Wave, became obsessed with 2 Tone-era Ska bands like The Specials and The English Beat, found Funk by digging out my dad’s Sly and the Family Stone records and dabbled in Heavy Metal thanks to a metalhead…
Music: The Damned
What do The Pretenders, Pink Floyd, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, Motörhead, Culture Club, T. Rex, Nick Lowe, Naz Nomad and the Nightmares, Goth Rock, The Lords of the New Church, The Sisters of Mercy, Miami Vice, The Young Ones, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones have in common? They all have a one-degree-of-separation connection…
Sound Advice: The Damned
What do The Pretenders, Pink Floyd, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, Motörhead, Culture Club, T. Rex, Nick Lowe, Naz Nomad and the Nightmares, Goth Rock, The Lords of the New Church, The Sisters of Mercy, Miami Vice, The Young Ones, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones have in common? They all have a one-degree-of-separation connection…
All-Star Cincy Hip Hop Lineup Joins Talib Kweli
Some cross-generational Cincinnati Hip Hop champs are currently doing a series of Ohio dates with modern legend Talib Kweli, who has recently been doing road dates supporting his summer releases, a rarities and B-sides collection and the new Fuck The Money, the latter of which is available for free via the acclaimed MC’s kweliclub.com. Although…
From Gray Sky to Greensky
W e often hear about things like the Punk revival and the endless offshoots it’s spawned. Or we find an article about the rebirth of Hip Hop and how its true culture never died. But what we don’t see or hear about quite as often is Bluegrass spinoffs like Midwestern Jamgrass. The reason, perhaps, is…
The Ultimate Wedding Gift?
HOT: The Ultimate Wedding Gift? If you have friends or relatives getting married soon and you want to make all of the other guests feel horrible about their wedding gifts, there is a present now available that is unbeatable. How about giving the new couple the original manuscript for Richard Wagner’s “Wedding March”/"Bridal Chrous" (cribbed…
MPMF.15 Schedule: Friday, Sept. 25
Check out Saturday's schedule here, and see Sunday's schedule here. Artist schedule subject to change.ARNOLD'S BAR AND GRILL (AGES 21 AND UP) 12:15 a.m. Tyler Childers & The Foodstamps (Paintsville, Ky.) Americana/Folk/Country Spawning from a working-class coal town in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains might sound like an Americana artist cliché, but it is…
