Tropical Depression Bill is slated to make his way through the Tristate on Saturday (WCPO weather report here) with heavy rains and the possibility of flooding. Many of this weekend’s events have been postponed due to weather, including Paddlefest — with the exception of Friday night’s River Music & Outdoor Festival at Coney Island — and CityBeat‘s Porkopolis Pig & Whiskey festival, which has now moved to Saturday, Aug. 1. The rest of the outdoor events listed below have not yet been postponed, but please call or check social media before you head out — we’d hate for you to be left out in the rain.
FRIDAY
Gorge on goetta at MainStrasse’s GOETTAFEST Cincinnati has a lot of regional culinary specialties that non-Cincinnatians find weird (like, you know, Skyline), but goetta might take the cake. Made of ground pork, pinhead oats and spices, Cincinnati’s signature breakfast food has been ingrained into our city’s cultural DNA since it was first invented by German immigrants in the late 19th-century as a way to stretch a serving of meat into several meals. Cincinnati has a lot of regional culinary specialties that non-Cincinnatians find weird (like, you know, Skyline), but goetta might take the cake. Made of ground pork, pinhead oats and spices, Cincinnati’s signature breakfast food has been ingrained into our city’s cultural DNA since it was first invented by German immigrants in the late 19th-century as a way to stretch a serving of meat into several meals. 5-11:30 p.m. Friday; noon-11:30 p.m. Saturday; noon-9 p.m. Sunday. Free. Mainstrasse Village, Sixth Street, Covington, Ky., mainstrasse.org.
Rock with THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION at Woodward Theater Musical provocateur Jon Spencer chose the perfect handle for his new project when it was formed back in 1991 — Blues Explosion — and it continues to accurately reflect the visceral sound and fury emanating from his incendiary trio almost a quarter century later. The Blues Explosion’s numerous releases have been among the most scorchingly inventive and influential releases of the modern Rock age. Next year will be The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s 25th anniversary. And its recently released new studio album, Freedom Tower – No Wave Dance Party 2015, may well be the proof that the threesome is just getting warmed up. Read more here. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion performs Friday at Woodward Theater. More info/tickets: woodwardtheater.com.
Cure what ales you at Jungle Jim’s INTERNATIONAL BEER FESTIVAL Cure what ales you this weekend as Jungle Jim’s brings more than 400 beers to the table for its 10th-annual International Beer Festival. You can taste (and buy) brewskis from more than 100 breweries around the world while enjoying picnic-style food. Beer buffs and experts will be in attendance to talk shop about the sudsy art form, and you can taste special brews and rarities. The fest kicks off with a firkin tapping, “a keg of beer that’s been fermented inside of the barrel it’s fermented in,” according to Jungle Jim. 7:30-10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. $50 daily; $20 non-drinker. Oscar Event Center, 5440 Dixie Highway, Fairfield, junglejims.com.
Stop by the opening of BY THIS RIVER at the Weston Art Gallery The Weston Art Gallery hosts an opening reception for a group exhibition curated by Michael Solway, director of the Carl Solway Gallery, featuring six American artists “exploring the sensorial, geographical, historical and ephemeral dispersal of water from rivers to oceans.” The show began as part of an ongoing conversation between Solway and Fluxus pioneer Ben Patterson regarding their long-held mutual instinct to live near major bodies of water, and will bring together recent works by artists working in photography, painting, sculpture, paper, video and sound, as well as a series of interactive constructions. Opening reception: 6-9 p.m. Friday. Through Aug. 30. Free. 650 Walnut St., Downtown, westonartgallery.com.
Laugh with VINCE MORRIS at Funny Bone on the Levee Columbus native Vince Morris has never felt more comfortable on stage. “I have enough material that I let the crowd take me where they want to go,” he says. “I’ll talk about fatherhood or social issues, but I don’t have a strict set list. I don’t like to be too organized.” Raised by a single dad, his material about fatherhood also comes from his own experiences helping to raise his 6-year-old daughter. Wednesday-Sunday. $12-$15. Funny Bone on the Levee, Newport on the Levee, Newport, Ky., funnyboneonthelevee.com.
SATURDAY
See the hardest working man in show business, KEVIN HART Kevin Hart, everyone’s favorite little comedian and most likely literally the hardest working man in show business (in the past two years he’s been in seven movies, including Ride Along, The Wedding Ringer, Get Hard and on and on), brings his “What Now?” stand-up tour to U.S. Bank Arena. According to Billboard, “What Now?” is on its way to becoming the highest-grossing comedy tour of all time. 7 p.m. Saturday. $49.50-$150. U.S. Bank Arena, 100 Broadway, Downtown, usbankarena.com.
Get calm at the Peaceful Acres SUMMER SOLSTICE LAVENDER FESTIVAL From medicine to aromatherapy or as a fragrant ingredient in everything from cookies to tea, the Summer Solstice Lavender Festival allows attendees to stroll through blooming fields of lavender to pick a bundle and learn about its uses, as well as purchase lavender-infused body and food products. Going hand-in-hand with the herb’s calming properties, three-minute gong meditation sessions will be held all day, along with several workshops like lavender painting and wreath making. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Free. Peaceful Acres Lavender Farm, 2387 Martinsville Road, Martinsville, peacefulacreslavenderfarm.com.
Celebrate the end of legal slavery in America at the JUNETEENTH FESTIVAL Juneteenth, a national celebration of Emancipation Day and the legal end of slavery in America, will hold its 28th-annual festival at Daniel Drake Park. The nonprofit festival will include historical reenactments (including visits from Abe Lincoln and Harriet Tubman), exhibits, craft demonstrations, live music and a wide variety of food. An amalgamation of June and “nineteenth,” the name reflects the date in 1865 when General Gordon Granger reissued the Emancipation Proclamation. The event, whose popularity has skyrocketed, aims to bring Cincinnati’s diverse community together to celebrate freedom. A special Father’s Day concert caps the weekend on Sunday. Noon-9 p.m. Saturday; 2:30-6 p.m. Sunday. Free. Daniel Drake Park, 5800 Red Bank Road, Kennedy Heights, juneteenthcincinnati.org.
See Cincinnati Opera’s first summer production, IL TROVATORE Leading off the Cincinnati Opera’s 95th season is Il Trovatore, Giuseppe Verdi’s melodrama based on that old staple of Italian opera known as “la vendetta,” or vengeance. Don’t focus on the plot, which was considered overblown even in Verdi’s day, though it does propel some of Verdi’s most familiar music, including the “Anvil Chorus.” And what a cast: bass Morris Robinson, tenor Russell Thomas and the highly anticipated debut of mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton in the role of the vengeful gypsy Azucena. Read more here. 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Saturday. More info/tickets: cincinnatiopera.org.
SUNDAY
Watch the season premiere of TRUE DETECTIVE After a wildly successful debut season, the second iteration of crime-drama anthology True Detective is under a microscope. How can — or perhaps just can — the first season be topped? While a cop drama featuring Surfer, Dude stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson seemed forgettable on paper, True Detective rose to become one of the best programs of 2014. Season Two brings us a new setting, crime and cast: the disappearance of a California city manager leads to an investigation involving a dirty cop (Colin Farrell), a career criminal trying to go legit (Vince Vaughn), an uncompromising sheriff (Rachel McAdams), a damaged war-veteran officer (Taylor Kitsch) and the U.S. transportation system. Expect a more linear narrative set in the present day around various California locales, with more complicated characters to delve into. Writer/creator Nic Pizzolatto returns with rotating directors. While it’s counter-productive to harp on comparisons to Season One, it’s hard not to speculate if this season will be as strong or if it could be the Midas touch for the diverse cast — particularly Vaughn and Farrell. Season Premiere, 9 p.m. Sunday, HBO.
OR… Bar Rescue (9 p.m., Spike) – Jon visits a bar that’s been a backdrop for a porn video.
Halt and Catch Fire (10 p.m., AMC) – Stress at Mutiny mounts as Cameron and Donna deal with the fallout from Sonaris in addition to money troubles. Elsewhere, Joe calls in Gordon’s help to get West Group’s computer systems running during off-hours.
Ballers (Series Premiere, 10 p.m., HBO) – Entourage: Sportz (alternate title) stars Dwayne Johnson as a retired football-star-turned-athlete-manager in Miami.
The Brink (Series Premiere, 10:30 p.m., HBO) – Three disconnected, unlikely men in U.S. government/military (Jack Black, Tim Robbins and Pablo Schreiber) are tasked with preventing World War III when a geopolitical crisis arises.
See DOPE from director Rick Famuyiwa Director Rick Famuyiwa (The Wood) has been rather quiet since Brown Sugar back in 2002, with only one other feature as a writer-director (2010’s Our Family Wedding) and a screenplay credit for Talk to Me in 2007. But he’s riding a strong wave of attention following the reception of his latest coming-of-age dramedy Dope at the Sundance Film Festival, which is not necessarily known as a hotbed for embracing stories about geeks in Inglewood, Calif. While there will certainly be gangsters, drug dealers and tough choices facing the film’s young college hopeful (Shameik Moore), Famuyiwa won’t forget to highlight the pop culture referencing teen dreams that will not be deferred nor deterred.
This article appears in Jun 17-23, 2015.
