WEDNESDAY 8/06
MUSIC: JAKE LA BOTZ gets ready for his third annual tattoo parlour tour at One Shot Tattoo. See Sound Advice preview here.
ART: PHYLLIS WESTON-ANNIE BOLLING GALLERY presents a bright and engaging show with a cute title, Young at Art: Works on Paper by Emerging and Established Artists. See review here.
ART: CREATIVE GALLERY Although the community of galleries in Over-the-Rhine is always in flux, Creative Gallery has consistently mounted exhibitions of almost baroque density. This summer the gallery has relocated a couple of doors down (1315 Main St.) into a beautifully maintained space. Symbiotic Remnants is the current exhibition and it features work by Florida-based artist Kyle Jackson, whose art hangs not only on the walls of the space, but also in the front windows and in midair as suggestive winged things. Working with an idiosyncratic vocabulary of mixed media, Jackson combines ceramic elements with melted plastic and reused objects like TV screens and turntables. Several of the wall pieces feature a series of clay vessels, fired to a soft white, with haloes of the molten plastic spread out around them. These are supremely graceful, with the themes of post-industry or recycling only lightly struck upon.
Overall, the artwork constitutes a thin, opaline, abstract display. The exhibition runs through Aug. 27. For gallery hours or to make an appointment, call director Daniel Robson at 513-546-1036. Get gallery details and find nearby bars and restaurants here. — MATT MORRIS
ART: ART BEYOND BOUNDARIES The Chinese connection in Beyond Borders at Art Beyond Boundaries Gallery has nothing to do with the Olympics and everything to do with mutual understanding. This show pushes boundaries even further than is usual with this gallery, dedicated to the work of artists with disabilities. Artists at Cincinnati's United Cerebral Palsy Center made quilted textiles inspired by paintings on paper by artists at the Center for Persons with Disabilities in Chongqing Huiling, China. Many of these lively objects have a nice sense of color and a bright outlook. They are modestly priced, as are the photographs of the Chinese originals (which stayed in China). 1410 Main St., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday through Sept. 15. Get gallery details and find nearby bars and restaurants here. — JANE DURRELL
THURSDAY 8/07
MUSIC: TIA FULLER and her quartet kick off the "It's Commonly Jazz" series with power at Seasongood Pavilion in Eden Park. See interview here.
EVENTS: WORLD'S LONGEST YARD SALE If you've got a hankering for some bargain hunting, forget that street sale in your neighborhood. Take a couple days off work and take a road trip down U.S. 127 for the world's longest yard sale. You know, really get it out of your system. The sale stretches from the Ohio/Michigan border through Mainstrasse Village in Covington and all the way to Gadsden, Ala. The yard sale makes use of vacant lots, churchyards, parks and private residences and draws shoppers from all over the country and even the world. So get your kicks on the back roads Aug. 7-10. Get details and find nearby bars and restaurants here. — BRIAN CROSS
COMEDY: GREG GIRALDO As the former host of Comedy Central's Stand Up Nation, Greg Giraldo would seem to be qualified to judge the state of comedy in America. "I dunno," he says, laughing. "I don't know how frank I feel like being today, to tell you the truth. I'm in a non-hater mode. I'm trying to live and let live." But he adds, "There's a lot of shitty comedy out there that appears to be very popular with people these days. But there's always been shitty comedy. I don't know if it's better or worse. I'm not going to go into specifics, but there are a couple of super-popular comedians that really blow." Frankness is a staple of Giraldo's humor as evidenced by his take on this country's treatment of the elderly. "We need to treat our old people the way they do in Europe," he tells his audience. "Leaving them alone to die in the heat while we go on vacation. That's what happened in France. Fifteen thousand people died because they had to skip the country and go off to the Riviera and sun themselves in their ball-hugger man thongs. When I go on vacation I leave my grandmother in the basement where it's cooler. You gotta do that." Giraldo performs Thursday-Sunday at The Funny Bone on the Levee. $17-$20. Buy tickets, check out performance times and find nearby bars and restaurants here. — P.F. WILSON
EVENTS: THE GREAT INLAND SEAFOOD FESTIVAL Man is born to eat. But only once a year can man find a five-pound lobster on the banks of the Ohio River. The Great Inland Seafood Festival in Newport brings these giant creatures to raffle winners and other delicious, reasonably priced seafood to all attendees Thursday-Sunday. Last year the event included 10,000 whole Maine Lobsters, which sold out at $10.95 a piece long before the festival ended. More than 15 local restaurants will sell the freshest seafood available, including shrimp, crawfish, crab legs, oysters, salmon, redfish and more. Be sure not to miss the entertainment line-up, which includes Matthew Groda, Music Explosion, Bad Boy Toy, Tommy Tutone and more. The event has been a local hit for the past 21 years. Admission is free, and the seafood is cheap. Get details and find nearby bars and restaurants here. — BESSIE TALIAFERRO
FRIDAY 8/08
ONSTAGE: TERRY LABOLT AND FRIENDS If you've paid attention to musical theater in Cincinnati for the past two decades, you've certainly heard of Terry LaBolt. He's been part of the local theater scene for longer than that as a professor and music director at UC's College-Conservatory of Music, an AIDS survivor and committed volunteer for Stop AIDS of Cincinnati. He's also conducted Broadway and national touring productions of shows like 42nd Street, Hello, Dolly! (with Carol Channing), George M. (with Joel Grey) and Sugar Babies (with Ann Miller and Mickey Rooney); for a while he played piano with the legendary long-running Off-Broadway production of The Fantasticks. More recently, he's been leading tuneful cabaret nights on Sundays at Below Zero in Over-the-Rhine. With a new lease on life (thanks to a kidney transplant), LaBolt will soon take on a new post as music director of musical theater at Indiana University in Bloomington, and his friends at the Covedale Center for the Performing Arts are giving him a grand send-off. They've assembled a big cast of local stage favorites headlined by Broadway veterans Pam Myers, Jessica Hendy and Gina Valentine, in addition to some local folks with special Covedale connections — Josh Borths, Liz Comstock, Lesley Hitch, Nancy James, Patti James, Roderick Justice, Shannon Kramer, Mary Jo Katona, Patricia Linhart, Carol Sherman-Jones, Spring Starr-Pillow and more. The benefit will support the Covedale Center. $15-$25. Buy tickets, check out performance times and find nearby bars and restaurants here. — RICK PENDER
EVENTS: TASTE OF COLERAIN Colerain means a lot to those of us who grew up in the township. We stole from our first convenient store there, got in our first post-high school fight and spun donuts in the Colerain Middle School parking lot as soon as we got our first rear-wheel-drive car. But this weekend Colerain will open its doors to the non-idiotic whiteboy with the 19th annual Taste of Colerain festival, sponsored by the local gigantic supermarket that made I-275 and Colerain Avenue look like an airport runway. The event will offer more than the Olive Garden and TGI Friday's menu items that you might expect (although Friday's Jack Daniels Chicken Alfredo won "Best Entrée" last year). Local businesses like Big Art's BBQ Grill, Dena's Diner, Gary's Cheesecake & Fine Desserts, Ray G's Restaurant, Tag's Café & Coffee Bar and Vinoklet Winery will be represented. Music every night, free children's activities, auctions and other fun stuff that doesn't involve committing your first misdemeanor. 5-11 p.m. Friday; 4-11 p.m. Saturday; and 3-8 p.m. Sunday. Free. Get details and find nearby bars and restaurants here. — DANNY CROSS
SATURDAY 8/09
MUSIC: WYE OAK Before being usurped by the "Indie hipster beard" trend, the biggest thing in Indie Rock was "the duo that sounds bigger than a duo." The duo trend has become so popular, keep an eye out for the new CBS sitcom, Just the Two Of Us, starring bandmates Nicole Richie and the kid from The Hills (which one? Why the one who can grow the longest beard, of course) as a romantically involved couple that are such control freaks, they can't maintain a trio format. Each week, the show starts with a special guest star being fired from the band; in the premiere episode, look for Tom Brokaw as a hirsute, heavily tattooed bassist with a nasty freebase habit. Of course, just because there are a lot of Indie Rock duos doesn't mean they all suck. In fact, Baltimore duo Wye Oak (named for the state tree of Maryland) crafts an engaging sound that mixes textural, noisy atmospherics with simple, dulcet Pop melodies falling somewhere between Cat Power, 4AD ambience, My Bloody Valentine and Sigur Rós. The band is supporting its debut album, If Children, which was released on Merge Records to widespread acclaim in April. The band's free show at the Gypsy Hut Saturday also includes a performance from local Indie Pop sensations Pomegranates. Buy tickets, check out performance times and find nearby bars and restaurants here. — MIKE BREEN
DANCE: GALA OF INTERNATIONAL DANCE STARS promises to be the most contemporary in the series' seven-year run. See interview here.
MUSIC: THE BAD WORDS celebrate their new CD at Stanley's Pub with guests Okeanas and Todd Murray. See Locals Only here.
EVENTS: PEACE ART CAMP Buddhism holds that peace is attainable for every person, family and between all living beings. The monks of GSL Monastery will host an open discussion about peace to begin building understanding about this elusive concept. A creative, artistic exercise follows the discussion as a way to represent in pictures and words what peace means for each person, family or group of friends. The program and activities are open to anyone who wishes to attend and specifically designed to include children ages seven and up. The program also includes peace games for the whole family. The festivities run 1-4 p.m. at GSL Monastery, 3046 Pavlova Drive, Groesbeck. RSVP requested. Get details and find nearby bars and restaurants here. — MARGO PIERCE
SUNDAY 8/10
MUSIC: WE ARE SCIENTISTS try something funny in a weird sort of way at The Southgate House with their slanted humor and deft Indie Pop. See interview here.