FRIDAY MUSIC: SUFJAN STEVENS “Fourth of July,” the centerpiece of Sufjan Stevens’ latest album — the stripped-down, Elliott Smith-esque Carrie & Lowell — is as intimate and revealing as anything in the crafty singer/songwriter’s songbook. It’s about Stevens’ long-estranged mother, the “Carrie” from the album’s title, who died of stomach cancer in 2012. Spare and moody, “Fourth of July” floats by like an almost surreal dream, as minimal keyboard atmospherics and Stevens’ hushed voice relay what it was like to sit at his mother’s death bed, culminating with the repeated phrase, “We’re all gonna die.” Read more about Stevens in this week’s Sound Advice. Sufjan Stevens performs with Gallant Friday at the Aronoff Center. More info/tickets: cincinnatiarts.org.
FILM: OUTREELS CINCINNATI Since its inception four years ago, OutReels Cincinnati has pursued a mission to showcase LGBTQ issues through lectures and film. Presented by the Cincinnati Film Society, the festival returns to the Tristate this weekend with more than 20 short and feature films from around the world, screened over three days at the Aronoff Center. Among the productions are Gazelle: The Love Issue (pictured), a film about loss and personal creative expression, and Upstairs Inferno: The Documentary, which profiles the arson of a New Orlean’s gay bar in 1973 — the largest gay mass murder in U.S. history. Continue the discussion 10:30 a.m. Sunday at 21c Museum Hotel over brunch with members of the OutReels committee (reservations required). Find the full schedule at cincinnatifilmsociety.org. Friday-Sunday. $12.25 single ticket; $62.25 VIP pass. Aronoff Center, 650 Walnut St., Downtown, 513-621-ARTS, cincinnatifilmsociety.org.
EVENT: JUNGLE JIM’S INTERNATIONAL WINE FESTIVAL Wine and dine at Jungle Jim’s International Wine Festival. More than 90 wineries from across globe — including California, Italy, Spain, New Zealand and South America — will be pouring 400 wines, all available for tasting. Live music sets the mood, and each country pairs food tastings with the wines offered. General tickets include tastings, a commemorative glass, food and live music. Connoisseur tickets provide an additional tasting experience with an international dinner-by-the-bite and open bar. 7-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. $25 driver; $65 grand tasting; $125 connoisseur. 5440 Dixie Highway, Fairfield, junglejims.com/winefest.
MUSIC: ONE CITY, ONE SYMPHONY We expect the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra to perform great music that will entertain and inspire audiences. But this weekend’s concerts are the culmination of an annual project that goes well beyond the presentation of Classical music: One City, One Symphony is a collaborative initiative using music to bring together citizens from across the Tristate. Since 2012, the CSO has collaborated annually with community organizations for preparatory events that will crescendo with concerts at Music Hall on Friday morning and Saturday evening. Read a full feature on the concerts here. One City, One Symphony takes place Friday and Saturday at Music Hall. Tickets/more info: cincinnatisymphony.org/onecity.
DANCE: PERFORMANCE AND TIME ARTS Cincinnati-based choreographer and dancer Diana L. Ford produces the newest Performance and Time Arts (PTA) show, sponsored by the Contemporary Dance Theater. On the bill are excerpts from Ford’s “Welcome to America: There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This Crap,” and segments from locals Regina Ford-Fowler, Ivy Pea, Robin Alicia-Clare Hoskins, Pamela Carter Pitts, Jeremy Reneau, Heru Lasana, Isabelle Provosty and Elissa Yancey in conjunction with LaMonica Sherman and the Winton Terrace Sister Circle — a diverse selection of artists, including poets, spoken-word performers, choreographers, dancers, visual artists and rappers — all focusing on social change and justice. In short, a typical outing for PTA. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. $12-$15. College Hill Town Hall, 1805 Larch Avenue, College Hill, 513-591-1222, cdt-dance.org.
EVENT: GREATER CINCINNATI HOLIDAY MARKET Get all your Christmas shopping done early at the Greater Cincinnati Holiday Market. Artists, boutiques and specialty stores from Cincinnati and beyond gather to sell their best holiday goods, flea-market style. This three-day event showcases homemade jewelry, food and accessories, as well as specialty clothing, household goods and kitchenwares. Check out cooking demonstrations at the Specialty Food & Treats show, and don’t forget to get a picture with Santa. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. $9; free for children. Duke Energy Convention Center, 525 Elm St., Downtown, cincinnatiholidaymarket.com.
COMEDY: KYLE GROOMS Comedian Kyle Grooms spends quite a bit of time in Miami, where he once worked in television — he has a semi-regular gig there, but mostly headlines clubs across the country. Comedy fans might recognize him from his work on Chappelle’s Show or from his Comedy Central Presents special. “People judge you just because of how you look,” he tells an audience. “I didn’t know that was serious until I started wearing glasses. People started saying I looked smart. Huh? I ain’t smart, I can’t see! I didn’t go to Harvard, I went to LensCrafters.” Thursday-Sunday. $8-$14. Go Bananas, 8410 Market Place Lane, Montgomery, gobananascomedy.com.
ONSTAGE: LOW DOWN DIRTY BLUES In an after-hours jam session at a Blues club in Chicago late on a Saturday night easing over into early Sunday, musicians and singers are swapping stories and songs. And those songs are bawdy ballads from the likes of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Big Mama Thornton and more. The cast includes Felicia P. Fields, a Tony-nominated actress for The Color Purple, as the proprietor of the club. Created by the guys who assembled several past Playhouse hits including Hank Williams: Lost Highway and Love, Janis, this show is here for the holidays, so get ready for some low-down, dirty fun. Through Dec. 20. $30-$85. Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, 962 Mt. Adams Circle, Mount Adams, 513-421-3888, cincyplay.com.
SATURDAY EVENT: TAP & SCREW TAPFEST Tap & Screw’s TapFest features 10 locally homebrewed beers from the concluded 27th-annual local Bloatarian Brewing League Beer & Sweat homebrewing competition. At 5 p.m., an expert panel will award one of the finalists with the Judges Prize, which includes a brewery upgrade kit that will greatly enhance the brewer’s ability to replicate their award-winning beer recipe. Attendees will also have their voices heard when they decide the People’s Choice Award winner. 11 a.m.-2:30 a.m. Saturday. $15. 5060 Crookshank Road, Westwood, tapandscrew.com.
MUSIC: THE MOWGLI’S The Mowgli’s follow the tradition of bands that start out by building a strong grassroots audience organically through touring and word-of-mouth, ultimately leading to broader mainstream success (think The Lumineers, Mumford & Sons or Dave Matthews Band). With an irresistible blend of Indie Rock, hyper-melodic Pop, hippie-tinged Folk and occasional splashes of Reggae and Hip Hop, The Mowgli’s sprinkle their infectious soundtrack with a potent message of positivity and hope. At their most exuberant, The Mowgli’s pound out fist-pumping anthems that preach love and its philosophical cousins (optimism, tolerance, brotherhood), but even at their most introspective, the California septet still firmly maintains a optimistic perspective. This viewpoint is not a trendy bumper-sticker aphorism, but a concrete mission statement — the band’s “Be a Mowgli” website and Instagram account encourage followers to spread goodwill and kindness. Read more about the Mowgli’s in this week’s Sound Advice. See The Mowgli’s with Lights and Phases Saturday at the Thompson House. More info/tickets: thompsonhousenewport.com.
MUSIC: MUSE AND MA CROW AND THE LADY SLIPPERS Appalachian music is famous for its high, lonesome sound, eerie harmonies and themes of doomed love, faith and longing for the wild beauty of a region extending from Southern New York down into Georgia and Mississippi. When it came to planning a concert that featured traditional and new Appalachian sounds, MUSE, Cincinnati’s Women’s Choir, turned to the legendary Ma Crow and the Lady Slippers, one of the few all-women Bluegrass bands in the region — or anywhere else. Each member brings outsize talent and years of experience: Ma Crow on guitar and lead vocals, Trina Emig on banjo and mandolin, Margie Drees on fiddle and vocals and Vicki Abbott on upright bass and vocals. Valleys Rivers Mountains: Our Life’s Journey is the concert title — one that has special resonance for Crow, who last performed with MUSE in 2002. Read more about Ma Crow and the Lady Slippers here. Ma Crow and the Lady Slippers perform with MUSE Saturday at Northern Kentucky University’s Greaves Hall and Sunday at St. Anthony Parish in Madisonville. Tickets: musechoir.org.
EVENT: SHOP: CINCINNATI AT BRAZEE STREET STUDIOS Peruse one-of-a-kind gifts for the holidays (or just because) at C-LINK Gallery’s annual SHOP: Cincinnati exhibition. Beginning Friday, the gallery inside Brazee Street Studios will showcase a treasure trove of handmade items crafted by local artists, including everything from jewelry, ceramics and ornaments to greeting cards, paintings and more. Get started 6-9 p.m. Friday at the first of two free receptions. Through Dec. 26. Prices vary. C-LINK Gallery, 4426 Brazee St., Oakley, brazeestreetstudios.com.
EVENT: TASTE OF THE WORLD Top area restaurants head to the Newport Aquarium to serve up dinner-by-the-bite, and sample craft beer, wine, spirits and cocktails from The Party Source. Benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. 7:30-11 p.m. $125. Newport Aquarium, Newport on the Levee, Newport, Ky., lls.org/pages/soh/taste.
SUNDAY
ATTRACTIONS: POINSETTIA EXPRESS AT KROHN CONSERVATORY Take a walk through a winter wonderland at Krohn Conservatory. The conservatory’s holiday floral show, Poinsettia Express, takes visitors through a charming array of floral arrangements whose colors resemble candy canes as toy trains carry peppermints through a village of gingerbread houses. In the Schmalz Family Holiday Village, see motionettes from the 1940s and ’50s Shillito’s and Pogues display windows, Santa music boxes, a 12-foot Christmas tree and even a model of a town inspired by A Christmas Carol. Through Jan. 3; special evening hours 5-7:30 p.m. Dec. 9 and Dec. 16-23. $7 adults; $4 children. Krohn Conservatory, 1501 Eden Park Drive, Eden Park, cincinnatiparks.com/krohn-conservatory.
EVENT: ICE RINK AT FOUNTAIN SQUARE Temperatures may be in the 70s this week, but that doesn’t mean you can’t channel some early holiday spirit. Fountain Square’s Ice Rink is officially open, offering daily skating and special events (like frozen-turkey bowling Nov. 24) all the way through February. Rent a pair of skates on-site and spend the day in the heart of downtown. Open daily. $6 admission; $4 skate rental. Fifth and Vine streets, Downtown, myfountainsquare.com.
ONSTAGE: SLEUTH Mystery fans have a tasty treat in store for them at The Carnegie in Covington with this 1970 award-winning play by Anthony Shaffer. It’s a two-man show about a renowned mystery writer who loves to play games, but when he discovers that his wife is about to leave him for another man, he maps out a scheme that aims at dire consequences for his romantic rival. Matters soon get out of hand, resulting in as much humor as drama as the complicated story unfolds. Be prepared for twists and turns that will keep you guessing. That’s the fun of it, after all. Through Nov. 22. $18-$25. The Carnegie, 1028 Scott St., Covington, Ky., thecarnegie.com.
ART: AFTER THE MOMENT: REFLECTIONS ON ROBERT MAPPLETHORPHE Seven regional curators have each chosen five new works by local artists that reflect how Mapplethorpe’s The Perfect Moment influences today’s artistic landscape. When the CAC presented that show in 1990, law-enforcement officials infamously and unsuccessfully prosecuted it on obscenity charges. Thirteen of Mapplethorpe’s own photographs will be displayed; many — if not all — were in the The Perfect Moment, including one of a naked 5-year-old boy, “Jesse McBride,” that was specifically cited in the 1990 prosecution. Also, 1980’s “Man in a Polyester Suit,” controversial for its depiction of a man wearing a suit but exposing his penis, will be shown. Read more about Mapplethorpe and The Perfect Moment here. After the Moment: Reflections on Robert Mapplethorpe continues through March 13 at the Contemporary Arts Center. More info: contemporaryartscenter.org.
ATTRACTIONS: THE ART OF THE BRICK Millions of LEGO bricks are taking over the Cincinnati Museum Center. Anticipated exhibit The Art of the Brick features more than 100 artworks created by contemporary artist Nathan Sawaya using nothing other than LEGOs. Explore life-size human figures, a 20-foot-long T-Rex skeleton and replicated famous paintings, including “Starry Night” and “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” plus familiar sculptures like “The Thinker” and the Sphinx. Sawaya has also created a Cincinnati-themed piece that will be revealed when the exhibit debuts. Create your own LEGO masterpieces in the interactive Brickopolis, and don’t miss special themed days revolving around Star Wars, dinosaurs, superheroes and more. Through May 1. $19.50 adults; $12.50 children 12 and under. Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, 1301 Western Ave., Queensgate, 513-287-7000, cincymuseum.org.
This article appears in Nov 11-17, 2015.
