CityBeat | September 18, 2024 by Big Lou Holdings

NEWS

Hamilton County Dems Condemn Latest Efforts to Tamp Down ‘Voter

Fraud’

Hamilton County Dems Condemn Latest Efforts to Tamp Down ‘Voter Fraud’

In Ohio, the Heritage Foundation only lists nine cases of voter fraud committed by fraudulent use of absentee ballots in decades.

and absentee ballots to the Board of Elections; even candidates use them to submit paperwork,” an organization spokesperson told CityBeat in an email. “In Ohio, drop boxes are bolted to the ground, have 24-7 video surveillance, are emptied by elections officials of two different parties, and are fire proof. There is absolutely no reason to ban them, because it would cause unnecessary challenges for voters and elections administrators.”

Ohio Republicans offered an alternative view of LaRose’s position on social media, citing election security as a grave concern.

“Thank you @FrankLaRose for protecting the integrity of the ballot in Ohio,” wrote Ohio Republican Party chairman Alex Triantafilou on X, formerly Twitter. “Ohio has ONE MONTH of early voting so common sense protections against fraud are very welcome.”

LaRose quote-tweeted Triantafilou, writing, “As you know from your years of service at the Hamilton County Board of Elections, we are constantly seeking to strike the balance between making it easy to vote AND hard to cheat.”

Hamilton County Republican Party Chairman Russell Mock, House Speaker Jason Stephens and Senate President Matt Huffman did not respond to requests for comment from CityBeat

Is voter fraud actually a problem?

BY ZURIE POPE AND MADELINE FENING

In Ohio, the Heritage Foundation only lists nine cases of voter fraud committed by fraudulent use of absentee ballots in decades.

BY ZURIE POPE AND MADELINE FENING

HHamilton County Democrats have delivered a resounding condemnation of voting restrictions proposed by Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

amilton County Democrats have delivered a resounding condemnation of voting restrictions proposed by Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

In a letter to Senate President Matt Huffman and House Speaker Jason Stephens from Aug. 29 – first obtained by the Toledo Blade – LaRose recommends numerous changes to how Ohio’s elections are conducted.

The alterations included possibly banning ballot drop boxes, with LaRose arguing the court’s ruling “creates an unintended loophole in Ohio’s ballot harvesting law that we must address.”

LaRose issued a new measure that would require family members of disabled voters who need assistance dropping off absentee ballots to physically enter their county’s Board of Elections office during business hours, rather than using the 24/7 ballot drop-off box. If the voter is not returning their own absentee ballot, they will be required to go into the board of elections office and fill out an attestation form, a legal form under election law.

LaRose also called for requiring proof of citizenship on voter registration forms, and requiring Ohioans cast

provisional ballots if the information in their voter file doesn’t match what was provided to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles or Social Security Administration.

The measures come in the aftermath of high profile legal defeats for Ohio election laws. A federal judge blocked the law banning foreign nationals from donating to ballot issue campaigns, and House Bill 458 – which prohibited anyone but a few qualifying family members from assisting voters with disabilities in delivering or mailing absentee ballots – was also struck down in April of 2023.

Democrats and Republicans react

Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairwoman Gwen McFarlin said in a press release that LaRose’s ballot box measures will hurt seniors and voters with disabilities the most.

“This directive will disproportionately harm our seniors, people with disabilities, and our working families,” McFarlin said. “The law says we’re allowed to help our families return ballots. This restriction imposed by Secretary LaRose contradicts that law.

This is voter intimidation and it’s just plain wrong.”

Several members of local Democratic party leadership echoed McFarlin’s worries in the press release.

“This is more of the same chaos that we’ve seen time and time again from those who should be acting as our leaders. All of us – Democrats, Republicans and Independents – can see this for what it really is: a last minute change of the rules designed to confuse voters and restrict our right to vote,” said Congressman Greg Landsman.

“This last-minute switch is a part of an organized campaign that Republicans, led by former President Donald Trump, are pursuing to undermine the integrity of our elections. It’s painfully transparent that Secretary LaRose issued this directive out of allegiance to Donald Trump, not out of service to Ohioans,” said Mayor Aftab Pureval.

The League of Women Voters of Ohio, a non-partisan grassroots voting rights organization, told CityBeat that LaRose’s concerns over voting security at ballot drop-boxes are unfounded.

“Drop boxes are a secure and direct way that voters can submit voter registration forms, absentee request forms,

Is voter fraud actually a problem?

The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, has been monitoring election fraud cases state by state over decades. Accounting for a wide range of fraudulent voting activities – such as filling out an absentee ballot for someone who has died or moved away, voting while ineligible, paying for votes, pretending to be someone else at the polling place, etc. – the Heritage Foundation chronicles only 1,546 proven cases of election fraud in the U.S. since 1979, with 1,313 of these resulting in criminal prosecutions.

In Ohio, the Heritage Foundation only lists nine cases of voter fraud committed by fraudulent use of absentee ballots, and only one case of impersonation fraud at the polls.

The Heritage Foundation has admitted before that their voter fraud tracker is not entirely comprehensive, but many notable Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, have pushed voter fraud conspiracies since his 2020 election defeat against President Joe Biden without evidence, and in the face of evidence to the contrary. LaRose, however, has publicly stated that he believes the 2020 election was conducted fairly and accurately.

Election Day 2024 is on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose PHOTO: OFFICIAL PORTRAIT

State Money for University of Cincinnati’s Cyber Range Project

Secured

BY ZURIE POPE

Acyber security project from the University of Cincinnati will receive $6.5 million in funds from the state’s capital budget, according to a Sept. 9 press release from State Rep. Rachel Baker (D-Cincinnati).

UC’s Ohio Cyber Range Project is a cyber security learning and teaching tool for students and educators, ranging from K-12 to collegiate level. It can also be used to train law enforcement, the workforce and even to test existing cyber programs.

“This is an exciting investment into innovation with the potential for large-scale impact,” Rep. Baker said in the news release. “This investment will have an extraordinary influence on education, workforce development, and economic development. It places Ohio at the forefront of statewide impact on cybersecurity.”

The funds come as Ohio lawmakers approved $4.2 billion for the capital budget, with millions going to areas throughout the state. Signed by Governor Mike DeWine on June 28, several projects in Southwest Ohio were given funding, from 16.75 million for the University of Cincinnati Health to $46 million for the Hamilton County Convention Center Development District.

Launched in December 2017 and headquartered at the University of

Cincinnati, the Cyber Range is an interdisciplinary project with the School of Information Technology, the Department of Political Science and the Department of Electrical and Computer Science all working to fulfill its mission.

Similarly, the Cyber Range Project’s governmental partners span across varying agencies, including the Adjutant General’s Office of the Ohio National Guard, the Ohio Department of Public Safety, and the Ohio Department of Education & Workforce, among others.

Services offered by the Ohio Cyber Range Project include:

Providing virtual lab environments for colleges and high schools, as well as for camps and workshops for students and teachers.

Holding “Cybersecurity Bootcamps,” so adults can earn cybersecurity education and certificates.

Supporting formal courses, student groups, student research, as well as industry and academic research

The group’s 2023 Annual Report gives a more detailed insight into the variety of their operations, with everything from online bootcamps for students training local governments.

No one from UC’s Cyber Range Project was immediately available for response to CityBeat’s comment requests.

UC’s Ohio Cyber Range Project is a cyber security learning and teaching tool for students and educators

PHOTO: PHILIPP KATZENBERGER/UNSPLASH

JD Vance Has Nothing to Offer Working People

BY GEOFF DANIELS

JD Vance Has Nothing to Offer Working People

BY GEOFF DANIELS

EEarlier this week, I was reminded of the screenshots that leaked a while back from the X group chats where J.D. Vance earnestly tests out what he calls “cool kid lingo” with teenage Republicans. Most of us got that kind of thing out of our systems when we ourselves were teens, but Vance in his youth seemed more preoccupied with getting as far from his hometown and family as possible. Following the announcement that he is Donald Trump’s VP pick, you and I likely cannot imagine how cool he must be feeling in those group chats right now.

arlier this week, I was reminded of the screenshots that leaked a while back from the X group chats where J.D. Vance earnestly tests out what he calls “cool kid lingo” with teenage Republicans. Most of us got that kind of thing out of our systems when we ourselves were teens, but Vance in his youth seemed more preoccupied with getting as far from his hometown and family as possible. Following the announcement that he is Donald Trump’s VP pick, you and I likely cannot imagine how cool he must be feeling in those group chats right now.

I bring this up to say that I have never interacted with Vance. Most of us are not in the kinds of circles he is in. What many of us are more likely to relate to, however, is the place he comes from and the people he depicts in his best-selling memoirturned-Netflix Oscar bait Hillbilly Elegy Middletown is my father’s hometown and where I spent much of my childhood and teen years. My parents live there now, not far from the high school. Like Vance, much of my family moved there from Kentucky coal country on the promise of manufacturing jobs that could pave their way to the fabled American middle class during the post-World War II boom. My grandmother and great-grandmother were part of that migration, and both played large roles in my life. Early memories with them include Sunday school at what was then Bonita Drive Church of Christ, celebrating family birthdays with cake from Central Pastry, or just being watched after school at the house they shared on Johns Road. With us both being millennials, I imagine Vance and I would share many of the same reference points for the city and its history. It is not a mysterious place: the impacts of deindustrialization, the descent into widespread poverty and rampant opioid addiction are broadly featured throughout much of the Midwest.

For the record, my parents’ house was a few towns over from Middletown in my childhood, so it would be as disingenuous of me to try and say that I’m “from” there as it is for Vance to say he’s from Appalachia. As far as I can tell from his book and movie, Kentucky was just a place he visited occasionally. The astroturfed Appalachian Spokesperson role he was appointed to in the mid-10s was only ever pretense. More disingenuous than any convenient mischaracterization of his biography, though, is any instance in which we have ever seen Vance lecture about how the “elites of both parties” have left working-class people behind. In reality, he has only ever used his upbringing

as an opportunity to exoticize and sell himself to those exact same forces, who could then use him as a mouthpiece for their preferred narratives about the working poor.

This was first demonstrated while making a name for himself as a Never-Trump Republican darling when liberals in the media propelled his book to the top of bestseller lists. In reality, he was just there to lend authenticity to what they wanted to say about poor and working people who voted against Hillary Clinton in 2016 — that they were vile, ignorant slobs at their essence, incapable of attaining the virtue that Vance had achieved as a reward for his life spent Doing Homework and Playing By Rules. Never mind that Trump’s victory was actually owed to the same upper-middle-class demographic that has always been the bedrock of the Republican base. When it became clear that Trump’s grip on the party would not loosen, he pivoted easily into the blood and soil nationalist he is today just in time to launch a bid for the senate, repurposing his biography to emphasize the ragged conservative fixation on nuclear families and updating it to invoke the cultural grievances that were always just under the surface. His nationalism offers nothing new for the working class — it only further empowers patriarchy, the church and Silicon Valley oligarchs to lord over them, in the same way the GOP was doing before he showed up on the scene.

really cannot understand Vance properly without Thiel. Vance himself has referred to the day he met the venture capitalist following a talk Thiel gave at Yale as “the most significant moment of [his] life” — an experience I’m sure is relatable for anyone punching a clock. Thiel has expressed regularly that he “doesn’t believe in democracy” and that America should be run as a corporation — the same type of corporation that has only ever turned working people into grist for the mill of profit.

In fact, nothing Vance has said over the past eight years should be seen as novel. His attempts at appearing marginally more pro-union than your typical Republican — which has received breathless coverage from outlets desperate to paint him as a maverick — fly completely out the window when confronted with his run-of-the-mill platform and very limited record in congress. He has not sponsored the PRO Act, which would expand worker protections and employees’ rights to organize and collectively bargain in the workplace, nor has he worked to fortify the National Labor Relations Board against the legal assault from Elon Musk, one of his ticket’s most invested backers. Should Musk succeed in court against the latter, any union contract in the country will be rendered unenforceable. Instead, all say that workers may look to have in their working conditions, their wages and benefits, and even their own safety would be replaced by the demented vision of oligarchs like Vance’s mentor and benefactor Peter Thiel.

Much is said about the connection between those two in particular, but you

Of course, the Thiel-Vance gambit is nothing new. It’s the same basic force that Chamber of Commerce Republicans have represented as they ushered in three of the main weights that dragged Middletown from its “All-America City” designation in 1957 to being named by Forbes as one of the “Top 10 Fastest Dying Cities in America” by 2008: the slashing of safety net programs, the collapse of manufacturing jobs and the opioid epidemic. Vance is no different than Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich were 30 years ago, except now the Welfare Queen myths have been expanded to apply to poor white people as well, marrying moralizing liberalism to vengeful conservatism. Nor is he distinguishable from the host of self-hating Ivy League strivers who — in both parties — ushered in disasters such as NAFTA in service of the corporate bottom line, sapping the economic lifeblood out of steel-producing Middletown and similar cities and shattering the prospects that families like his and mine left Kentucky to attain. It is entirely predictable that cronies like him will continue to serve the Thiels of the world, whose only true political project is to dismantle any entity that may, for example, protect consumers from the malfeasance of the pharmaceutical or tech industries.

Vance is not a hillbilly or a workingclass savant, or a disruptive shock to our political system. He’s certainly not anyone the downtrodden should have any faith in. He is not even a meaningful departure from the business interestsfirst Republican Party. He is merely some dude indebted to venture capital weirdos who would hiss at a poor person if they ever had to see one. His story is not some unique tale of rags-to-riches success or an example of how to live a virtuous life. If there’s anything that’s “one-in-a-million” about Vance’s experience, it’s that most of the millions of people who go through the challenges he faced in his early life do not make the decision to go to work for the people responsible for inflicting those hardships.

The only thing Vance offers working people is an opportunity to misunderstand themselves via his own biography, as if they personally could have scored internships at the most anti-worker think tanks in America if only they’d found the right boots to lick. His cynical wager is that you too would sell out your coworkers, your neighbors and your family if it meant you could maybe someday see Glenn Close fail to win an Oscar for playing your meemaw in a very dumb movie. The fact that Vance is from a place so thoroughly ravaged by the politics of the last 50 years, and still commits himself to overseeing the status quo, should show what he is: merely the new boss, same as the old boss. Any insistence that he is otherwise, from any political pundit or party, is an insult to working people.

Geoff Daniels was born in Cincinnati and raised in Butler County. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 2014. He currently resides in Chicago and has worked as a labor organizer for essential workers since 2019.

JD Vance PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

JD Vance

PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

Elegy

A framework and campaign in crisis, the JD Vance

BY MADELINE FENING

Amanda Bailey didn’t know, when she moved into her new house on McKinley Street in Middletown, Ohio, that she would be living inside a spectacle.

“I was literally unpacking my car,” Bailey tells CityBeat on a sticky afternoon in August. “My neighbor came out. He introduced himself, told me he’s lived in the neighborhood for 53 years, told me a little bit about the street, and then he started telling me about the history of the house.”

She didn’t know it at the time, but his welcome-to-the-neighborhood introduction was also a warning.

“At first, it freaked me out,” she tells CityBeat from her front porch. “It first started with passersby and people just staring at the house. Me and my kids would be sitting on the front porch, as we would do every day, and people would just stare, have their phones up, and then all of a sudden the reporters started coming.”

Bailey, a mother of six, lives in the childhood home of Republican Senatorturned-vice presidential candidate JD Vance. At least, this was his home when he was living with his “Mamaw,” a character perhaps more infamous than Vance himself in Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis — Vance’s account of growing up in Middletown.

Bailey didn’t read the book, but she watched the 2020 film adaptation starring Glenn Close and Amy Adams.

“I look at the movie, and I’ll go back and I’ll try to see, like, okay, where was that at? Where did this happen at?” Bailey says after politely (and understandably) declining our request to see the home’s interior. “But I mean, the stories…I would love to know if there’s

actually guns in my walls, but unfortunately, I rent.”

A house two doors down from Bailey has a Trump-Vance 2024 yard sign, and another has a small sticker on their mailbox, but the street doesn’t appear to be a parade of support for either Trump or his challengers, Vice President Kamala Harris and her VP pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

CityBeat asked Bailey if she supports the Trump-Vance ticket.

“I would say I support Trump,” Bailey says.

But not so much Vance?

“Yes and no. I’m on the fence about that,” she replies. “I mean, he has potential, but they all have potential. They all say what they want to say just to get in that office, in my book.”

Vance’s struggles can be traced back to the porch where Bailey casts doubt upon him now, but much has changed about his moral framework since his early days in Middletown. Ebbing and flowing between hatred and admiration for his running mate, for elites, for the poor – taking on religious leanings from tech billionaires and swapping a legal career for capital investments. Freshly 40 years old, Vance’s winding journey from self-proclaimed “hillbilly” to vice presidential nominee suggests a man still in search of a purpose and a campaign for which his Ohio Senate colleague believes there’s only one ending.

“I’m not going to talk a lot about a fellow senator who I expect to be working with a year from now,” Sen. Sherrod Brown tells CityBeat. Before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on July 21, the TrumpVance ticket led the polls by 3.2 points. This is according to polling analysis website 538, which is part of ABC News and collects data from national polls and those conducted in battleground states.

Harris has narrowly surpassed Trump in polling since becoming the Democratic nominee. As of Sept. 11, the day after the first Trump-Harris debate, Harris is ahead by 2.7 points.

As of press time, CityBeat’s repeated requests for an interview with Vance were never met with a direct response from his team.

VANCE’S EVOLVING RELATIONSHIP WITH MIDDLETOWN

Of all of Middletown’s city council members, only one responded to CityBeat’s request for comment for this story. This author, who was born and raised in Middletown, used to drink her parents’ beer in the basement with this council member. He doesn’t deny it.

“I’m fine with that, yeah,” Zack Ferrell confirms with CityBeat. “It’s part of our childhood.”

Although this author and Ferrell shared pilfered Milwaukee’s Best Lights and some overlapping classes, Ferrell’s home life looked quite different.

“I grew up in a household of addiction,” Ferrell says. “If my grandparents weren’t around, I wouldn’t have been anything. I wouldn’t have gone anywhere.”

Ferrell’s story evokes details in Vance’s memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, which chronicles the path of Vance’s family from Eastern Kentucky to Middletown, Ohio. Many “hillbillies” took this path, Vance says, in pursuit of the middle class life offered by stable manufacturing jobs. But for Vance’s family and many others on the “hillbilly highway,” he writes, abuse of substances and of one another doomed their attempts at assimilation and upward mobility.

Vance describes his family’s errors

starkly, recounting his mother’s opioid addiction and scores of failed relationships with cutting disdain. Though Vance found heroes in his older sister and his famous gun-toting Mamaw, his fatalistic view of Middletown’s working class identifies just one villain: themselves.

“We talk about the value of hard work but tell ourselves that the reason we’re not working is some perceived unfairness: Obama shut down the coal mines, or all the jobs went to the Chinese. These are the lies we tell ourselves to solve the cognitive dissonance—the broken connection between the world we see and the values we preach,” Vance writes in chapter nine of Hillbilly Elegy.

The book, released in June 2016, was an instant success, widely praised as required reading for those scrambling to understand why Donald Trump won the White House. Conservative writer Rod Dreher praised Hillbilly Elegy in The American Conservative, saying “Vance has earned the right to make those judgments,” and later pointed out that liberals “praise [Vance’s] points about the poor needing to understand that whatever structural problems they face, they retain moral agency.” But historian Bob Hutton wrote that Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy arguments about bootstrapping were steeped in eugenics and “a work of self-congratulation,” according to his essay in Jacobin. Vance became an overnight figurehead for news networks seeking a Rust Belt perspective, dragging Middletown’s 50,000-odd population into a spotlight it never asked for and never saw coming.

“I identify with so much of it. I think it’s his story of growing up in Middletown,” Ferrell says. “But, the one thing I will say is he did not do Middletown any favors with that book.”

After news broke that Vance would

Vance story

be former President Donald Trump’s running mate, Middletown City Schools posted a celebratory “Middie Rising” photo of the alum on the district’s social channels. Edit history on the post shows its author eventually removed an exclamation point from the post, and comments were quickly removed and turned off after jabs were made at Vance. Middletown, despite sitting within the reliably red Butler County, had a unique bone to pick with Vance after the release of his controversial memoir. Not everyone in the district was ready to celebrate the veep news.

“Up until Vance garnered the spotlight with his book, I would agree that he represented Middie-Rising. But how is telling the world that your hometown sucks, positive?” Tammy Daniels, a retired English teacher for the district, told CityBeat after the announcement. “How a person reaches the level of success that Vance has is more important than being successful. He has said horrible things about immigrants, women and has said if he had been where Mike Pence was on Jan. 6, we wouldn’t have certified the election, defying our Constitution. I would like to be proud of a hometown person being picked as a vice presidential running mate, even if I disagreed with his politics, but I can’t be. It’s not his politics I disagree with but the lack of integrity in his character.”

One week after being announced as Trump’s running mate, Vance took the stage of Middletown High School’s auditorium to rally supporters. It had been eight years since Vance marred Middletown with Hillbilly Elegy, but after walking across the stage of his alma mater, he professed a love for the town nowhere to be found in the pages of his book.

“This town was so good to me,” Vance said to the screaming MAGA-clad crowd.

WHY VANCE?

Although Vance had hundreds from Trump’s base in the palm of his hand during the Middletown rally, it was less than a decade ago that Vance openly disavowed and mocked the man who would later become his running mate.

“I’m a Never Trump guy,” Vance said in a 2016 interview with Charlie Rose about Hillbilly Elegy. “I never liked him.”

In a 2016 Atlantic essay, Vance compared Trump’s MAGA movement to a “quick high.”

“There is no self-reflection in the midst of a false euphoria,” Vance wrote. “Trump is cultural heroin. He makes some feel better for a bit. But he cannot fix what ails them, and one day they’ll realize it.”

Vance also called Trump “America’s Hitler” in messages to a former college roommate in 2016. The digs continued

on Twitter: “My god what an idiot,” he said in now-deleted tweets, referencing Trump.

He’s since said he regrets the comments about Trump and claimed his views have evolved over the course of Trump’s first term.

“I’ve been very open that I did say those critical things and I regret them, and I regret being wrong about the guy,” Vance said in a 2021 Fox interview. “I think he was a good president, I think he made a lot of good decisions for people, and I think he took a lot of flak.”

Trump famously cuts ties with those who aren’t all-in on his vision, but he publicly forgave Vance for his past comments while endorsing his Senate candidacy in 2022, Vance’s first political race.

“Like some others, JD Vance may have said some not-so-great things about me in the past, but he gets it now, and I have seen that in spades,” Trump wrote in a

statement issuing the endorsement. “He is our best chance for victory in what could be a very tough race.”

With only two weeks of campaigning as a Trump-endorsed Republican, Vance’s poll numbers surged, outpacing former Republican State Treasurer Josh Mandel for the number one spot in the Republican primary. He went on to defeat Democratic challenger Tim Ryan by seven points.

David Niven is a political science professor at the University of Cincinnati, where he teaches courses on American political thought and elections. He tells CityBeat that Trump’s 2022 endorsement proved useful to Vance, but now he’s cashing in on that loyalty.

“The fact that [Vance] was selected as the running mate is really, really telling,” Niven says. “They didn’t choose anyone they thought was going to bring them more votes. They chose somebody who

The former home of JD Vance in Middletown, Ohio PHOTO: AIDAN MAHONEY

would be a loyal companion, who would be a sidekick, who would be the lap dog. [...] He’s really very much a 25th Amendment pick here, somebody who will never question a potential president that he would serve under.”

Traditionally, Niven says, veep picks are supposed to balance out the qualities of the person at the top of the ticket. Former Indiana Gov. Mike Pence did just that in 2016, appealing to evangelicals and offering years of political experience between the U.S. House and governorship.

“That was a very traditional pick,” Niven says. “This is the opposite of traditional. [Vance] doesn’t bring anything to the ticket that Trump didn’t already have. He doesn’t have an in with a particular constituency that Trump didn’t already have. He doesn’t have any great regional appeal. And even if you want to believe that Vance offers some strength in his home state of Ohio, Trump was already very likely to win Ohio.”

Even the functionality of a running mate during a presidential campaign doesn’t give Vance much to bring to the table when Trump prefers a one-man show, according to Niven.

“One of the weird dynamics in this race is [that] often vice presidential candidates are used to level attacks. They’re going to be the more aggressive candidate,” Niven says. “But Trump attacks all day long. He doesn’t need an attack dog by his side. It’s an unusual situation where, as a campaign asset, there’s not a heck of a lot that Vance can offer that they weren’t already doing.”

“I think a great issue with JD Vance is, well, who really is he? Is he the JD Vance who said Trump is America’s Hitler, or is he the JD Vance who stood beside Trump?” Niven adds. “When Trump said, ‘JD kisses my ass,’ and he just went along kissing, which of those folks is he?”

The idea that Vance has one foot in the door predates his sharp pivot on Trump. He attacks the elite class, most often liberals, in certain parts of his memoir, describing them as judgemental and out of touch with his community while still yearning to adopt their qualities.

“The lesson? Powerful people sometimes do things to help people like me without really understanding people like me,” Vance writes in chapter 11.

“Sometimes I view members of the elite with an almost primal scorn— recently, an acquaintance used the word “confabulate” in a sentence, and I just wanted to scream. But I have to give it to them: Their children are happier and healthier, their divorce rates lower, their church attendance higher, their lives longer. These people are beating us at our own damned game,” Vance writes in his memoir’s conclusion.

But the other foot is planted firmly on necks of fellow working class Middletown “hillbillies” who “must wake the

hell up” from their own victimhood and break the cycles of poverty:

“People talk about hard work all the time in places like Middletown. You can walk through a town where 30 percent of the young men work fewer than twenty hours a week and find not a single person aware of his own laziness […] the rhetoric of hard work conflicts with the reality on the ground,” Vance writes in chapter four of Hillbilly Elegy.

But Vance, who attended Yale Law School, has since ascended to a massive level of wealth and cultivated connections that secured him an elite title, something Niven says is antithetical to his MAGA campaign messaging.

“One of the really odd things about Vance is, he is a fabulously wealthy Silicon Valley, Ivy League-educated populist, which is to say he is all of the ‘thems,’” Niven says. “He is all of the ‘thems’ wrapped into one. [He is] now running against ‘them,’ running against exactly who he is.”

During Vance’s July campaign rally in Middletown, he addressed those vague “thems.”

“We really have been forgotten in Middletown, Ohio,” Vance said. “They think that we’re backwards, they think that we’re bad people, they think that we don’t know how to do anything and we do. This is where things are made, this is the source for America’s greatness.”

CAPITAL AND CHRISTIANITY

In his own pursuit of American greatness, Vance started his venture capital career in 2016 as a junior investor at Mithril Capital, a firm backed by controversial tech billionaire and GOP mega-donor Peter Thiel. While the early Facebook investor and co-founder of PayPal describes himself as a libertarian, Thiel’s views have been criticized by Democrats as dangerously far-right.

“I no longer believe that freedom and

democracy are compatible,” Thiel wrote in a 2009 essay for Cato Unbound, a Cato Institute web publication. Adding that “the extension of [voting rights] to women [...] rendered the notion of ‘capitalist democracy’ into an oxymoron.”

Then there’s the 2016 “Right Wing Dinner Squad” he reportedly hosted, which included white nationalist Kevin DeAnna as a guest. DeAnna spent six years running the Youth for Western Civilization student group, which served as a far-right youth organization for “the web-savvy white nationalist movement,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Vance and Thiel’s friendship blossomed in Silicon Valley, just as Hillbilly Elegy was released. Thiel connected Vance with a network of elite tech leaders, including David Sacks, who donated $1 million to a pro-Vance super PAC in 2022. This is pocket change compared to Theil, who poured a record $15 million into Vance’s senate campaign.

But Theil gave Vance more than a new wellspring of money and connections. His billionaire friend helped usher in a higher-power mindset that translated to business and faith.

“My worry that I had prioritized striving over character took on a heightened significance: striving for what? I didn’t even know why I cared about the things I cared about. [...] I looked to the future, and realized that I’d been running a desperate race where the first prize was a job I hated,” Vance writes in a 2020 essay published in The Lamp, a Catholic magazine. “I began immediately planning for a career outside the law, which is why I spent less than two years after graduation as a practicing attorney. But Peter left me with one more thing: he was possibly the smartest person I’d ever met, but he was also a Christian.”

With new contacts in his phone and new faith in his heart, Vance co-founded his own venture capital firm in 2020, Narya Capital, which was funded by Thiel and Eric Schmidt, a former Google

executive, among others.

Narya’s website says the firm is “focused on using technology and science to solve for the future,” by investing in companies that range from health science to space security, but also in eyebrow and headline-raising companies like Rumble, the “free speech” video service alternative to YouTube, and Hallow, a Catholic prayer app that came under fire for its privacy settings that would allow the company to sell users’ prayer data.

ROTTING ON THE VINE

Of all of Vance’s venture capital endeavors, he’s only served on the board for one company: AppHarvest.

“It’s not just a good investment opportunity, it’s a great business that’s making a big difference in the world,” Vance told Fox Business when the company went public at the start of 2021.

AppHarvest promised high-tech solutions to traditional farming through a hydroponic indoor farm startup in the Eastern Kentucky city of Morehead. Part of the promise included second-chance employment for blue collar workers who were in recovery, but it didn’t last long.

“The idea is there, the sentiment is there. The execution, horrible,” said one former AppHarvest employee, who we will call Sarah.

Sarah has requested anonymity for this story for the sake of protecting her identity and future employment in the area.

She loved the prospect of AppHarvest’s mission to serve not only the nutritional needs of Kentuckians but the economic needs of Eastern Kentucky residents.

“I go camping a lot near the area, and I’ll still drive by it sometimes,” Sarah says. “Nothing ever, ever, ever prepared me for the view coming around the curve on the road and seeing it. I mean, it’s amazing, it’s incredible. I was so impressed. I applied the day after I went there.”

Before she even set foot in her corporate office – her new position was related to marketing – red flags popped up, though she only recognized their color in hindsight. While she was in the interview process, she was told that all of AppHarvest’s corporate employees were at the farm harvesting tomatoes.

“Because they were so understaffed for the amount of space,” Sarah recalls. “It wasn’t a red flag either. To be honest, that kind of excited me. I like to be able to be hands-on, and kind of knowing everything that’s going on, and help where I can. It was sort of intriguing to me that when they need help, they would lean on the people that work there. However, I came to realize that that was not as savory as I had hoped

Amanda Bailey speaks with CityBeat from her front porch in Middletown, Ohio.

PHOTO: AIDAN MAHONEY

that it was.”

Within a matter of weeks after Sarah was hired, word of problems in the company’s greenhouse started to spread around the office. An investigation by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting and Grist found that greenhouse employees were working in grueling conditions: dehydration, heat exhaustion and medical emergencies from heat indexes sometimes reaching 155 degrees.

“Being in a 150-degree greenhouse with a bottle of water is not sufficient, no matter what anyone says,” Sarah tells CityBeat. “At the end of the day, it was more about quota. I know that everyone was being tasked with overtime constantly. We were missing the marks so much that basically every single person there was getting overtime constantly. And not only were they getting it and wanting it, they were being required to do it.”

Worker burnout and reported loss of health insurance allegedly prompted AppHarvest to abandon its initial hiring ethos and seek workers from outside the Morehead area, according to former employees.

“I started to notice when buses of Hispanic workers started showing up every day to the farm,” Sarah recalls. “I do know for a fact that they were all bused back out to their hotels and motels where they were being put up prior to Mitch McConnell coming to speak at the farm.”

Vance and Sarah’s participation in the company only overlapped by three weeks – he left in April 2021 to start his Senate campaign – but she wonders if Vance and other board members were aware of the writing she saw so clearly on the wall.

“I think that it was in a downward spiral from the beginning,” Sarah says. “I was astounded with the things that we spent money on that were unnecessary. Every single thing in the office is branded, like the glassware, the notepads, the recycled pens, the mouse pads. We had a $5,000 coffee maker that made any kind of coffee that you want.”

CityBeat told Sarah that it appeared, from her account, that the environment for corporate employees far outpaced the quality of conditions for those working the farm.

“Oh, good lord, yes,” she says. “We had state of the art call pods, meeting rooms – when I said that we were required to go in-office, there was no complaints. We had a person on staff who would just be designing new office space.”

Luke Schroeder, a spokesperson for Vance, told CNN that the now-VP nominee “was not aware of the operational decisions regarding hiring, employee benefits, or other workplace policies which were made after he departed AppHarvest’s board.”

“You don’t typically run for office by demonizing a large portion of the electorate who otherwise might vote for you,” Niven says. “There are women in the Republican Party who don’t have children, for example. I think he’s just a fundamentally odd person. I think, ‘You don’t say those things.’ And he didn’t just say one odd thing or two odd things, three odd things. He says odd things in odd ways that attack odd villains.”

This makes sense to Sarah – but still disappoints her.

“I would think if I was a high level on a board of such a big project with such promise that I would want to be involved, that would be the idea behind being on the board, right? And especially as an investor, you would think you would want to walk around and make sure things are running smoothly.”

CRINGE AT BEST, SCARY AT WORST

Fast forward to the summer of 2024, and things still aren’t running smoothly for Vance.

During his July 22 campaign stop at Middletown High School, Vance made headlines for attempting a sugar-free joke about racism.

“It is the weirdest thing to me, Democrats say it is racist to believe – they say it’s racist to do anything. I had a Diet Mt. Dew yesterday and one today. I’m sure they’re going to call that racist, too,” Vance said to quiet chuckles from the packed auditorium of supporters.

“It’s good,” Vance said, continuing with the bit, reeling in slightly more chuckles. He then appeared to react as if the crowd is uproarious, though it’s not, laughing and dropping his head before pointing to the quiet crowd: “I love you guys.”

The awkward moment would have cycled out of the public’s attention sooner if Vance hadn’t continued apace with gaffes that appear to be ungenerously scripted for the junior senator.

During an Aug. 22 photo-op at a donut shop in Valdosta, Georgia, Vance attempted to engage in small talk with the employees, something critics didn’t know you could blunder so badly.

“I’m JD Vance, I’m running for vice president,” Vance said to an employee who told him she didn’t want to appear on camera.

She replied: “Okay.”

The staff’s indifference to Vance radiated through a donut shop free of patrons and full of secret service.

Niven, who studies and researches

political campaigns, admits it’s hard to run a smooth campaign, to put yourself out there for the world to dissect.

“This stuff is not easy,” Niven says. “It’s not easy to present yourself to a national audience. It’s not easy to connect with every donut seller in America. But he’s done a uniquely bad job of it so far, despite the enormity of not just his ego, but of the Trump campaign’s ego.”

Although an unsuccessful soda joke and an even more unsuccessful donut shop run aren’t of much consequence to democracy, the campaign has dealt with odd and extreme statements made by Vance since he entered the political arena.

Perhaps the most notable resurfaced video first appeared in 2021. In a conversation with then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Vance says the U.S. is being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”

In the clip, Vance continues: “It’s just a basic fact – you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC – the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?”

Vance defended the resurfaced comment to former Fox News host Megyn Kelly in July, calling it a “sarcastic comment,” but he has made similar comments in more serious settings before.

While speaking at a forum for the Center for Christian Virtue leadership in 2021, Vance said he was “disturbed” by Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, because she doesn’t have children.

“You know, so many of the leaders of the left, and I hate to be so personal about this, but they’re people without kids, trying to brainwash the minds of our children. And that really disorients me and it really disturbs me,” Vance said.

“Randi Weingarten, who’s the head of the most powerful teachers union in the country, doesn’t have a single child. If she wants to brainwash and destroy the

minds of children, she should have some of her own and leave ours the hell alone.”

Again in 2021, Vance took another specific jab at adults without children, this time during a speaking engagement at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.

“When you go to the polls in this country as a parent, you should have more power – you should have more of an ability to speak your voice in our democratic republic – than people who don’t have kids,” he said. “Let’s face the consequences and the reality: If you don’t have as much of an investment in the future of this country, maybe you shouldn’t get nearly the same voice.”

Niven doesn’t see any benefit to Vance making these comments, past or present.

“You don’t typically run for office by demonizing a large portion of the electorate who otherwise might vote for you,” Niven says. “There are women in the Republican Party who don’t have children, for example. I think he’s just a fundamentally odd person. I think, ‘You don’t say those things.’ And he didn’t just say one odd thing or two odd things, three odd things. He says odd things in odd ways that attack odd villains.”

Remaining in lockstep with Trump, Vance has also repeatedly criticized Harris for appearing to behave outside her assumed racial or ethnic identity. This comes after Trump claimed Harris, the daughter of a Black father and Indian mother, “happened to turn Black” in recent years.

“She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” Trump said at a National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago on July 31. “I think somebody should look into that, too.”

When CNN questioned Vance about these statements, he called Harris a “fundamentally fake person” and “a chameleon.”

“I believe that Kamala Harris is whatever she says she is. But I believe importantly that President Trump is right that she’s a chameleon,” Vance said. “She pretends to be one thing in front of one audience. She pretends to be something different in front of another audience.”

Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, whose parents are both first-generation Americans – his mother is from Tibet, and his father is from India – tells CityBeat he’s angered but not surprised by Trump and Vance’s statements about Harris.

“This is on the heels of President Trump trying to put the Central Park Five under the death penalty. It’s on the heels of him questioning the citizenship of our first black president and his

place of birth. It’s on the heels of policy after policy that is xenophobic and racist while he was in office,” Pureval says.

“Whenever an Asian American or a Black woman raises their hand and tries for a higher office, they are inevitably met with racism and offensive attacks.”

Vance has said he needed to defend his own biracial children from racist attacks during his 2022 Senate campaign. His wife, Usha Vance, was born to Indian immigrants.

When again asked by a CNN reporter about whether he, the father of three biracial children, was taken aback by Trump’s comments about Harris’ racial identity, Vance doubled down.

“They don’t give me pause at all,” Vance told reporters during an interview near the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona.

“I applaud Senator Vance for how proud he is of his family and of his inlaws and of his children,” Pureval tells CityBeat. “But those are experiences that his own family have gone through and will go through, and that’s just a reality of existing in this country at this time as someone with mixed ethnicity.”

Though they occupy opposite sides of the political spectrum, Pureval tells CityBeat his family has much in common with Vance’s.

“My wife is from Appalachia. My own children will go through this period – and I’ve already started, they’re too young right now – but I’ve already started thinking about, how am I going to talk to them about how to celebrate their Appalachian background? Their Tibetan background, their Indian background? And also, the fact that they’re an American citizen, first and foremost,” Pureval tells CityBeat. “It’s a modern process.”

Assimilation pressures, holding onto pieces of your identity, culture shock, judgment – Vance’s book documents how strongly he felt these societal forces as a “hillbilly” navigating elite spaces and how his own parents and grandparents did the same once they left Eastern Kentucky for the suburbs of Ohio:

“I lived among newly christened members of what folks back home pejoratively call the ‘elites,’ and by every outward appearance, I was one of them: I am a tall, white, straight male. I have never felt out of place in my entire life. But I did at Yale,” Vance writes in chapter 12.

“You can just imagine a well-bred housewife watching out the window in horror as her Kentucky-born neighbor slaughtered squawking chickens just a few feet away,” Vance writes in chapter two.

Pureval understands this kind of reflection, and he says he can empathize with Vance in that way.

“You know, I guess I have a certain amount of empathy for someone who is trying to articulate how his background, maybe his family’s background,

more accurately, impacts his day to day life. That is something that I certainly reflect on a lot,” Pureval says. “But what frustrates me more than a book that he wrote several years ago are the xenophobic and oftentimes racist policies that he is advocating.”

TARGETING HAITIANS IN SPRINGFIELD

On Sept. 9, Vance took to X, formerly Twitter, to promote a false conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants were stealing and eating other people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio, about an hour north of Cincinnati.

“Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio,” Vance posted. “Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country. Where is our border czar?”

This comes as an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants have settled in the region surrounding Springfield, according to the city. The rise in population has put a strain on resources such as housing, health care and education, but city officials have confirmed the migrants are in the country legally, many as recipients of Temporary Protected Status.

A spokesperson for the city of Springfield confirmed to ABC News that the claims of immigrants eating pets are false, saying there have been “no credible reports or specific

claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals in the immigrant community.”

The Springfield News-Sun reported that the unsubstantiated claim first gained traction on social media. Some users claimed a picture of a man carrying a goose was a Haitian in Springfield, but the photo turned out to be taken in Columbus, Ohio. Others shared a video of a woman being questioned by police for allegedly eating her cat, but this took place in Canton, Ohio. NPR reported that similar unsubstantiated claims about Haitians in Springfield first originated on Gab, a far-right social platform, in the form of a comment from a user claiming, “once Haitians swarm into a town animals start to disappear.”

One day after posting the false claim about Haitians eating pets in Springfield, Vance claimed that his office heard the rumor from Springfield residents directly and admitted the claims might not be true.

“In the last several weeks, my office has received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who’ve said their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants,” Vance wrote on X. “It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false.”

He goes on to paint a picture of a Springfield in dire distress as a result of Haitian migrants settling in the area, telling reporters and activists to “spare your outrage.”

Rewind to Vance’s 2016 memoir, in which he directly calls out

“conspiracy-mongers” who convince white working class voters to believe “the worst of their society.”

When he raises this topic in Hillbilly Elegy, Vance is primarily referring to the conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was not a U.S. citizen – a lie that was heavily perpetuated by his now-running mate. He also references 9/11 conspiracies from right-wing radio personality Alex Jones, email chains about Obamacare microchips and a story from WorldNetDaily suggesting the Sandy Hook mass shooting was a false flag.

“Admittedly, there is an industry of conspiracy-mongers and fringe lunatics writing about all manner of idiocy…” Vance writes in chapter 11. “With little trust in the press, there’s no check on the internet conspiracy theories that rule the digital world. [...] This isn’t some libertarian mistrust of government policy, which is healthy in any democracy. This is a deep skepticism of the very institutions of our society. And it’s becoming more and more mainstream.”

Trump repeated the lie about Haitians in Springfield during the Sept. 10 presidential debate, saying: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating – they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country.”

Days later, a bomb threat was made to “multiple agencies and media outlets” in Springfield, according to the city commission office. The situation in Springfield comes as the Trump-Vance campaign continues to take heat for the candidates’ connections to Project 2025, a right-wing initiative created by the Heritage Foundation. The project lays out a plan for the first 180 days of a second Trump term. In addition to banning abortion and disbanding the Department of Education, this plan calls for state and local police to help carry out a mass deportation plan.

Ohio Capital Journal editor-in-chief and opinion columnist David DeWitt penned a response to Vance’s false claims about Haitians in Springfield, saying his family has called Springfield home for three generations, and that his partner’s parents are Haitian immigrants.

“Sometimes the disgusting sewer of presidential year politics hits a little too close to home,” Dewitt says in the opening of his defense of his hometown and its people. “You end up watching a national conversation play out largely divorced from reality or the actual experiences of communities intimately connected to your own life.”

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Additional research for this report was provided by CityBeat contributor Ashley Paul.

JD Vance addresses supporters during his first solo campaign rally at Middletown High School on July 22.

PHOTO: LYDIA SCHEMBRE

ARTS & CULTURE

Thrills and Chills

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company delivers a spine-tingling scare in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Thrills and Chills

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company delivers a spine-tingling scare in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

BY NOAH MOORE

TThe monster awakens at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company for its regional premiere of a new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein by David Catlin. Thrills and chills come alive alongside the titular monster in this co-production with Merrimack Repertory Theatre that reframes the classic story through the lens by which it was conceived. This new production promises a new take that pays homage to the story and its author, according to director Brian Isaac Phillips.

he monster awakens at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company for its regional premiere of a new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein by David Catlin. Thrills and chills come alive alongside the titular monster in this co-production with Merrimack Repertory Theatre that reframes the classic story through the lens by which it was conceived. This new production promises a new take that pays homage to the story and its author, according to director Brian Isaac Phillips.

“(Our production) embraces the historic anecdote of how the story was originally created,” said Phillips, remarking on how Shelley came up with the idea during a campfire storytelling contest. “It’s very theatrical in the sense that you get Mary Shelley and company sitting and telling the story, and then the story comes alive.”

This adaptation frames the piece in the same context that Shelley originally conceived the idea for Frankenstein — while sharing ghost stories around a campfire. The show dives into her story of one inventor’s misguided pursuit of knowledge, which results in the titular monster’s awakening. Since its release, the story has cemented itself in pop culture, inspiring Halloween costumes and film and TV adaptations.

“What I’ve always loved of the story of Frankenstein is how much thematically has become weaved into other pop culture stories. There’s so many adaptions on the stage and in film,” Phillips said. “What I love about this (version) is that it takes that story and, through five actors, finds a way to tell it brand new; it’s a new way of looking at classic material.”

The show features a small cast, starring John Patrick Hayden, Jasimine Bouldin, Alexis Bronkovic, Jay Wade and Billy Chace. The actors are solely denoted as Actors 1 through 5, playing a range of characters both in-story and in real life. Through this framing device, the show’s script hopes to demonstrate the parallels between the monster and its author.

“It takes that sense of isolation that the monster feels and shows how that ties to the isolation Mary Shelley feels outside of society,” Phillips said. “That otherness is very much in the novel and in this production, and I think it’s something we’re very excited to bring to life.”

This production features a wide range of settings and time periods, which Phillips says lets the technical teams truly shine. From around a campfire to being stranded on a ship in the Arctic, audiences will be

transported across time and terrain with some stunning visuals. He lovingly likens the technical work to a playground.

“It is a fantastic playground, and one they’ve created as part of the co-collaboration with Merrimack Repertory Theatre,” Phillips said. “The design team has done a wonderful job of creating something that is going to have so much spectacle and fun for us here, then fit it in a truck and provide that same experience to a different city. This is going to see a huge audience not just in Cincinnati, but beyond.”

As a co-production with Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, Massachusetts, this show is also unique in that it will run for several weeks, before packing up and transporting the production to the northeast 24 hours later. Once the show closes in Cincinnati on Nov. 2, the theater packs up the set in a truck and drives it to New England, where it’s staged for a three-week run. Nonetheless, this adaptation will see its regional premiere in Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s production.

The show continues the company’s 2024-25 season, featuring several Hamlet-adjacent titles The company kicked off its season with the free tour

of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, along with September’s modern twist on the story in Fat Ham, and a new work about the women of the play with A Room in the Castle in January Amid the classics are several new works inspired by them, with the goal of revitalizing stories for a new era. Such is precisely what Catlin’s work has done, says Phillips.

“We’re always looking for new takes on classic stories, taking something that is a novel and looking at it through an adaptation that is fresh and exciting, and I think that’s what David Catlin’s done here,” he said. “It’s not a departure from Mary Shelley’s novel at all; I think it actually embraces that source material strongly, and that’s why the framing device is so powerful.”

For those looking for a true Halloween experience, Phillips assures you this production will deliver.

“There’s going to be jump scares; there will be blood…all the things you expect from a great horror film, you’re going to have that on stage,” Phillips said. “It’s a rollercoaster ride of thrills and chills, which is perfect for spooky season.”

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein runs Oct. 11 through Nov. 2 at the Otto M. Budig Theater. More info: cincyshakes.com.

The Otto M. Budig Theater

PHOTO: HAILEY BOLLINGER

The Otto M. Budig Theater

PHOTO: HAILEY BOLLINGER

for Restaurant Week

September 23-29

CULTURE

OOClifton Cultural Arts Center Continues to Thrive in New Building

BY DEIRDRE KAYE

Clifton Cultural Arts Center Continues to Thrive in New Building

BY DEIRDRE KAYE

n any given afternoon inside the new Clifton Cultural Arts Center building, you will walk in to find a buzz of activity and immediately feel an air of positivity and excitement. It might smell like crafting ink from a potato stamping class or melting metal in the stained glass workshop. Under the cheerful greetings, children’s laughter echoing off the wall or lively salsa music rolling down the halls, you can hear the whir of a 3D printer hard at work or the whoosh of a kiln firing the latest projects. This is in stark contrast to the still lovely and nostalgic musk or the emptiness often felt inside the 80,000-foot school building CCAC had been in since its conception in 2002. That space offered a long-standing lineup of adult tap class, art camps and even allowed for room rentals. But, it just wasn’t right. The new building feels more alive, more welcoming and much, much better suited for the happenings of an eager community of artists.

And the roof! There are two sets of stairs and an elevator leading up to CCAC’s 7,000-square-foot roof, featuring a partial “living roof,” panoramic views of Clifton and still room for about 400 people. It’s the perfect rentable event space. They recently hosted a proposal party and are currently hosting a giveaway for a free rooftop wedding. CCAC also acquired a liquor license, making it the perfect spot for an open-bar wedding or engagement party. They’re even combining art and alcohol for their Crafts and Cocktails series — potato stamping and potato vodka cocktail, anyone?

The arts can often feel exclusionary

CCAC’s new building opened six months ago and sits in the Gaslight District, off Clifton Avenue. It came to exist thanks to years of work, millions of dollars raised and a whole community worth of voices eagerly proclaiming their needs. While the new building is only about a quarter of the old space’s square footage, it uses each inch purposefully. The theater room has omitted a stage, so it can be multi-use. The second floor, where most movement classes take place, has two spaces available for movement classes — one with regular hardwood floors and one with slightly softer smoothsurface floors. Whether the creative bodies utilizing those rooms want to enjoy that oh-so-satisfying click-a-clack of tap shoes or need something a little more gentle on joints, it’s available on the second floor. There is a rentable conference room, multiple carpeted studios that can be used for private lessons or as dressing rooms and large, well-lit gallery spaces throughout. Currently on display on the third floor is a bold, bright collaged map of the west side of Cincinnati, installed by ArtsWave. And the roof! There are two sets of stairs and an elevator leading up to CCAC’s 7,000-square-foot roof, featuring a partial “living roof,” panoramic views of Clifton and still room for about 400 people. It’s the perfect rentable event space. They recently hosted a proposal party and are currently hosting a giveaway for a free rooftop wedding. CCAC also acquired a liquor license, making it the perfect spot for an open-bar wedding or engagement party. They’re even combining art and alcohol for their Crafts and Cocktails series — potato stamping and potato vodka cocktail, anyone?

The arts can often feel exclusionary

— only attainable by the wealthy and only acceptable to pursue by the youth or the retired. But CCAC makes art approachable to all. In less than a year at their new space, they’ve awarded thousands of dollars in scholarships.

“We’ve awarded roughly $9,000 in scholarships in the first six months of being in our new home, with even more scholarship opportunities in the fall,” shares John Leo Muething, Marketing and Development Manager at CCAC. “Over half of the classes at CCAC are now Fair Share Pricing eligible, meaning anyone can select a subsidized tuition rate, no questions asked. CCAC has always had a robust, application-based scholarship program that has been funded from a combination of individual donations to our annual campaign and foundations, like the Woodward Trust, The Fifth Third Foundation and the Louise Taft Semple Foundation, to name just a few. This year, however, we were able to expand our scholarship program through Fair Share Pricing thanks to an incredibly generous donation from the Gerald H. Fitzgerald Scholarship Fund.”

They also offer classes to a wide range of ages and experience levels. A partnership with Mutual Dance Theatre means several afterschool dance classes are available to kids from neighboring schools, complete with school pickup and the walk back to CCAC. This summer they hosted numerous summer camps with themes from costume design to comic book creation.

Among their wide array of adult classes was a small, month-long stained glass class, and they will continue offering stained glass workshop time. There are also pottery classes and access to multiple 3D printers. On any given afternoon at CCAC’s new space, you’ll enter to find a local artist’s work on the walls, exuberant kids making their way to class and adults with tap shoes at the ready.

“At the core of everything CCAC does is our vision of bringing people together through shared experiences,” says Muething. “I like the word that Leslie [Mooney, executive director] often uses: ‘cross-pollination.’ By having programming for everyone to express themselves — people of different ages, backgrounds, interests — and having those programs all in the same location happening at the same time, we are creating opportunities for folks to interact. For example, this summer, it was so cool to see our summer campers take a break from their own creative activities and wander through the gallery featuring work of local emerging artists. Or seeing a young parent waiting to pick up their child from ballet, and they witness an African dance class and decide to sign themselves up. Those are the times when we’re not just encouraging people to share their art; we’re encouraging them to build a community.”

This summer CCAC also hosted Wednesdays in the Woods — one of their more lively and all-ages events. Gathering in Burnet Woods each Wednesday, art

fans could listen to local music, dance or simply commune. Food trucks showed up. Art supplies were loaded onto nearby picnic tables and families from the Clifton area and beyond enjoyed time together outside. On rainy evenings, CCAC’s new home offered the perfect shelter from the storm. Suddenly, stained glass class became soundtracked by salsa music and visitors poked in their heads to see new and experienced artists hard at work. Fall is on its way and school is back in session, which means new chances for CCAC to share art with their greater community. On Thursdays, they’re hosting two different regular events. Bearcats (or anyone, really) can enjoy music at U-Square at the University of Cincinnati, or swing by the new building for rooftop sessions from local musicians. TikTok FYP awash with cookie recipes and icing hacks? There are three upcoming holiday-themed, one-day cookie decorating workshops available on Oct. 26, Nov. 16 and Dec. 21. All supplies included. Maybe a family art night is in order? Perhaps your “little” with their ohso-big imagination will enjoy a performance of Peter Pan on Oct. 13? Whatever your kid, your parents, your bored uncle or you could possibly be interested in, there’s a class or event at Clifton Cultural Arts Center to pull you in and make you never want to leave.

Fall is on its way and school is back in session, which means new chances for CCAC to share art with their greater community. On Thursdays, they’re hosting two different regular events. Bearcats (or anyone, really) can enjoy music at U-Square at the University of Cincinnati, or swing by the new building for rooftop sessions from local musicians. TikTok FYP awash with cookie recipes and icing hacks? There are three upcoming holiday-themed, one-day cookie decorating workshops available on Oct. 26, Nov. 16 and Dec. 21. All supplies included. Maybe a family art night is in order? Perhaps your “little” with their ohso-big imagination will enjoy a performance of Peter Pan on Oct. 13? Whatever your kid, your parents, your bored uncle or you could possibly be interested in, there’s a class or event at Clifton Cultural Arts Center to pull you in and make you never want to leave.

To view the Clifton Cultural Arts Center’s full schedule, visit cliftonculturalarts.org.

Clifton Cultural Arts Center’s new building in the Gaslight District

PHOTO: PROVIDED BY CLIFTON CULTURAL ARTS CENTER

Clifton Cultural Arts Center’s new building in the Gaslight District

PHOTO: PROVIDED BY CLIFTON CULTURAL ARTS CENTER

CULTURE

WWEmpowering Cincinnati: Womxn Transforming the Film and Media Landscape

BY TAANIA SUKUMAR

Empowering Cincinnati: Womxn Transforming the Film and Media Landscape

BY TAANIA SUKUMAR

ith the Cindependent Film Festival slated for its Sept.19-21 run, Cincinnati’s independent film industry is enjoying a well-earned spotlight. The city has been undergoing a steady transformation, driven by diverse voices and new creative energy. At the heart of this shift, womxn are leading a transformation aimed at making the city’s creative landscape more inclusive and accessible.

Their influence can be seen not only in the narratives they help shape but in the collaborative environments they work to cultivate behind the scenes.

This new energy is fueled by increased arts funding and a renewed sense of community, with organizations like Film Cincinnati and Women in Film playing a crucial role in driving these changes.

Women in Film, as one of the Cindependent Film Festival’s sponsors, will host the official opening night after-party on Sept. 19 at Arnold’s Bar and Grille, starting at 10 p.m.

The party’s theme, “Silver Screen,” will evoke the glamor of classic Hollywood, honoring the trailblazing female directors who made their mark during that era.

Kristen Schlotman, a film producer and executive director of Film Cincinnati, acknowledges the pivotal role of womxn in the industry.

“It’s always been womxn who have lifted me up. Womxn have a tremendous sense of understanding human nature. They also have a tremendous gift for communication,” she said. “Both of these are instrumental in the process of filmmaking and remain the root of why we need to promote and support more and more womxn in film.”

Jaime Meyers Schlenck, an editor and president of Women in Film, Cincinnati, said she resonates with this.

“I think the perspective of womxn during the filmmaking process begins well before the camera rolls,” she said. “Womxn are often mindful of gender balance when putting crews together and will have womxn in multiple positions of power. From my own experience, womxn filmmakers provide a more holistic experience to the filmmaking process. It’s a more creative and inclusive atmosphere.”

Erica Bock, a film professor at the University of Cincinnati, distinguished producer, and part of the Women in Film board, also said Cincinnati’s appeal for filmmakers lies in its growing opportunities and supportive community.

“Cincinnati is a good place for a filmmaker to pursue a career,” she said.“Not only do we have the opportunity, the

community, and the support, but we are really producing people that know how to professionally do their craft.”

Since the formation of its Cincinnati chapter in 2016, Women in Film has been instrumental in building a strong local filmmaking community. Through workshops, networking events and talks with industry professionals, the organization helps emerging filmmakers gain access to an often intimidating industry, creating spaces for connection and growth.

Schlenck talks about the importance of community in the industry. “As I’ve gained experience and climbed that ladder as a woman, one thing has remained constant: the relationships you create are tremendously important,” she said.

Bock emphasizes that Women in Film is inclusive and open to everyone, not just womxn, with a mission to promote fair treatment for all in the industry.

Schlenck echoes this, stressing the organization’s dedication to advancing talent from all backgrounds and tackling industry disparities. In 2023, biological women made up about 32% of producers, 17% of directors and only 6% of composers in behind-the-scenes roles. To address this gap, Women in Film focuses on targeted initiatives to bring in more womxn through their workshops and events, aiming to increase opportunities both on and off camera within its network to improve these numbers. Despite the statistics, Schlotman, Shlenck and Bock all speak to the importance of dedication to one’s craft, offering valuable insights to filmmakers navigating the industry.

“Never underestimate the power of your passion,” said Schlotman. “There is not one formula to succeed in this industry. Take the time to understand the mechanics and then look within them to see where you see yourself.”

Bock discusses the importance of being proactive. “Just be a go-getter,” Bock said. “Ask for what you want; believe that you’re meant to be in the room that you’re in. Confidence takes you a long way.”

Women in Film actively creates opportunities for filmmakers to do exactly that through mixers and events that foster collaboration among members and local filmmakers.

Schlenck underscores the value of embracing every opportunity to network, encouraging filmmakers to attend screenings, mixers and film festivals — even when they might not feel like it. She highlights these moments as essential stepping stones for building connections and advancing in the industry.

Bock shares a similar perspective, noting that these seemingly simple events create an environment for film enthusiasts to get to know each other. She points out that their happy hours regularly attract 100 to 150 local filmmakers and enthusiasts, providing a space for meaningful connections.

This spirit of connection continues at this year’s Cindependent Film Festival, where Women in Film, and Film Cincinnati are making a major impact.

Women in Film has curated a block of short films directed by womxn that will screen throughout the festival. The films selected reflect Women in Film’s

commitment to supporting emerging filmmakers.

“We’ve hand-selected these films to represent the talent we aim to support,” says Schlenck, noting that the festival’s mission aligns with Women in Film’s goal of elevating diverse voices.

Women in Film will host a booth at Cindependent’s Sept. 21 Cinema Expo, held at Memorial Hall, to share membership information, recruit new members and give out prizes.

Film Cincinnati is also sponsoring the festival’s Master Classes through its new initiative, Film Cincinnati Live!

Film Cincinnati is also sponsoring the festival’s Master Classes through its new initiative, Film Cincinnati Live! Both organizations are helping to drive the festival’s success by fostering opportunities for filmmakers and promoting collaboration within the local community.

Both organizations are helping to drive the festival’s success by fostering opportunities for filmmakers and promoting collaboration within the local community.

Looking ahead, Cincinnati’s film industry seems poised for success, fueled by the passion and dedication of its filmmakers. The city’s evolving landscape, with the unwavering support of organizations like Women in Film and Film Cincinnati, is actively striving for equal opportunity in the film industry.

While progress is being made, true equality for filmmakers of all gender identities and backgrounds remains a goal yet to be reached. However, there’s hope that one day it will become a reality.

For more information about Women in Film, visit wifcincinnati.org. For more information about Film Cincinnati, visit filmcincinnati.com

Women in Film’s The Art of the Storyboard presentation with Coen Brothers storyboard artist J. Todd Anderson

PHOTO: JACOB DRABIK

Women in Film’s The Art of the Storyboard presentation with Coen Brothers storyboard artist J. Todd Anderson

PHOTO: JACOB DRABIK

FOOD & DRINK

Down to Earth Dining

Cincinnati’s newest foodie obsession, Wildweed, is well worth the praise.

REVIEW BY PAMA MITCHELL

At last, the wait is over. For the past couple of years, rumors, news stories and announcements suggested that a notable chef would be opening a highly anticipated new place downtown. After the location on Walnut Street was confirmed, I went by the building for months, wondering when David Jackman’s fans would be able to enjoy his cooking in a setting that befits his skill. Happily, Wildweed opened its doors in late July.

Almost immediately, it seemed that every foodie in metro Cincinnati showed up to grab a table. With my boyfriend and a couple of our friends, I joined the throngs for what turned out to be an evening of excellent food and drink, to be sure. But more than anything, we had loads of fun at Wildweed in what felt like a citywide celebration. A party atmosphere, even.

I first happened upon Jackman’s cooking when he and his wife Lydia ran a pop-up in a storefront on Elm Street across from Findlay Market. His lunch offerings — not complicated, but remarkably interesting and delicious — were so intriguing that we returned for dinner at that location before another business took over the space. That meal was memorable, as well. Jackman, 36, said that, in all, he ran about 250 pop-up meals around town while waiting for renovation of

the historic Columbia Flats building on Walnut Street. He also was chef at PearlStar in Over-the-Rhine for a while and cooked for several months earlier this year in the now-shuttered restaurant Pleasantry. In all, he amassed enough of a following to fuel an elevated level of anticipation for the opening of Wildweed.

Considering the restaurant’s name, I assumed it referred to the chef’s reputation as a forager, someone who not only grows their own produce but who also finds edible delicacies in the wild. Jackman elaborated on his choice for the name, saying, “It was born out of nothing (and) we built it from the ground up,” confirming that he cooks with “lots of wild foraged ingredients.” His staff is “a team that likes to push and grow” as they seek to develop a “playful, fun, energetic identity that respects ingredients, so they become greater than the sum of their parts.”

He also said that one of his primary goals is “to help build people’s careers.” It took about two years to gather his current team together, including sous chef Justin Singer, general manager Justin Caper, beverage director Lia Heinze, and Valerie Diehl, who oversees the restaurant’s cocktail program. Lydia Jackman helps with guest relations “and fitting in where necessary,” David said, adding that

bakery, El Camino, served with herb butter. A tomato salad with crispy garlic and anchovy sauce stood out among appetizers, taking full advantage of what was then the peak of tomato season. Burrata with cucumber, basil and herb oil was another scrumptious starter. Though the preparations may seem simple, some kind of alchemy elevates them to a higher level.

The same holds for the noodle dishes, which include selections for vegetarians and meat-lovers alike. The promise of chanterelles — my favorite mushroom — attracted me to summer squash cappelletti, delicately formed pasta shapes stuffed with the mushrooms and lightly sauced. Another winner was doppio ravioli; doppio means double, wherein each raviolo has two fillings. Wildweed’s version also is vegetarian, stuffed with a combo of beans, cheese, basil, braised lobster mushroom and preserved lemon. Fried shallots elevated another stuffed pasta, chicken tortelli, the crunchy onions adding welcome texture to the savory dish. Malfaldine, a flat, ribbon-shaped pasta, was sauced with rabbit ragu and parmesan and was hampered by over-salting.

with a young daughter at home, “evening work is harder” for Lydia.

The foundation of David Jackman’s culinary reputation revolves not only around his use of foraged foods but at least as much because of his skill with various forms of pasta. The August menu at Wildweed included five dishes in the “Noodles” section; along with two “Mains,” and they comprise the central part of a meal.

Along with the superior food, though, you might want a cocktail or glass of wine. The drink choices might change by the time you read this, but you are highly likely to find something to like. Familiar cocktails — such as daiquiris, martinis, Singapore slings or bee’s knees — became more interesting with the addition of imaginative ingredients. For instance, the daiquiri included green tomato and coconut, and the gin martini added apricot, marigold and oolong. I tried a milk punch, which had no milk but was a mix of tequila, sherry and a couple of other flavors. It was intriguing and satisfying. Wildweed offers nine glasses of wine, well chosen by beverage director Heinze. With my pasta, I had a glass of sparkling wine from Germany, dry on the palette and robust with bubbles.

That night’s menu included five starters plus bread service — notably, slices of miche from the College Hill

A couple at the table next to ours ordered smoked ribeye steak that made our eyes pop out with envy. It smelled incredible and we doubted that the pair would finish the large cut of beef; they did, though. Even the non-meat eaters among us thought we might have to try that steak should it be on the menu next time we visit.

I remembered intriguing desserts from Jackman’s popup dinners — pawpaw ice cream, for one — and was not about to skip that course at Wildweed. Not surprisingly, it might have been the best part of our dinner. We tried an off-menu panna cotta with raspberries that was custardy, not too sweet and completely luscious. But the real knockout for me was beeswax ice cream, listed on the menu as comprised of olive oil, bee and fennel pollen, Maldon salt and honey. I could have kept eating that creamy concoction into the wee hours.

For a genuine splurge, make your reservation at the chef’s counter for an intimate view of your meal’s preparation. You will enjoy a multi-course, off-menu dinner with optional wine pairings and have a close-up view of how this inventive culinary team works its magic. The restaurant is on the small side, and only five seats at the front bar are available for walk-ins. Plan ahead, and get ready for a special night out.

Wildweed, 1301 Walnut St., Over-the-Rhine. More info: instagram.com/wildweed.cinci.

Wildweed opened its doors in July PHOTO: LYDIA SCHEMBRE

New Streetwear Brand Dinner Rush is Made by Line Cooks, for Line Cooks

BY SAMI STEWART EATS

New Streetwear Brand Dinner Rush is Made by Line Cooks, for Line Cooks

BY SAMI STEWART EATS

DDinner Rush is a burgeoning online community dedicated to uplifting and supporting members of the food and beverage industry. On the surface, it’s a streetwear brand made by and for members of the industry. Everything is designed in small batches by Tony LaQuatra, a veteran of the design industry, and, more recently, a dedicated member of the food and beverage industry.

inner Rush is a burgeoning online community dedicated to uplifting and supporting members of the food and beverage industry. On the surface, it’s a streetwear brand made by and for members of the industry. Everything is designed in small batches by Tony LaQuatra, a veteran of the design industry, and, more recently, a dedicated member of the food and beverage industry.

Looking a bit deeper, you’ll find that Dinner Rush is two-pronged. Beyond the line of streetwear is a full-fledged online community where industry members can seek advice, connections and support from one another through an industry-only Discord server. “It’s like an after-hours industry bar that’s online, and it’s always accessible,” he says.

LaQuatra has been working as a line cook since the pandemic and is currently working under the tutelage of chef-owner of the Pickled Pig, Gary Leybman. However, LaQuatra is a designer by trade. In high school, he got a job at a concert-booking business, where he made merch for touring bands and started falling in love with the design process. He went on to study design, work in marketing and eventually open a small design business with friends, but it fell victim to the pandemic alongside thousands of other small businesses. Following such a loss, LaQuatra decided to turn to a familiar trade for a change of pace and started working in restaurants.

“I’m a product of the restaurant industry,” he says. His father and mother met working at a hotel restaurant in the Bond Court building in Cleveland (now known as the AECOM building). His father was a chef and his mother a server. Growing up with parents in the industry, LaQuatra has always wholeheartedly believed that folks up and down the industry pipeline deserve more recognition than they receive. “My dad was pretty big in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and it would be cool for him to get the recognition he deserves,” he says.

Born from this sentiment was Dinner Rush, a space where chefs, servers, bartenders, baristas and the like could find community with one another. LaQuatra took his budding excitement about the restaurant industry and merged it with his long-running love for design. “As I got older, became a father and got sober last year, I wanted to revisit some of the things I used to love. I missed making t-shirts, and I get

to use the culmination of everything I learned in marketing and design over the years,” he says. “I thought, ‘I’m going to make some shirts, see if people like them, maybe make some side money.’ Then it kind of just evolved into what it is today.”

LaQuatra heads up Dinner Rush by himself. He’s the creative director, lead designer, head of marketing, webmaster, logistics coordinator and everything else that goes into this passion project. Drawing inspiration from his years designing metal band t-shirts, some shirts read “PUNISH BAD TIPPERS,” complemented by a quote from the late Anthony Bourdain: “If you’re a cheap tipper, by the way, or rude to your server, you are dead to me. You are lower than whale feces.” Others say “IN THE WEEDS” above an overflowing ticket printer, an expo station lined with dishes ready to be served and a chef in apparent distress.

What’s the point of calling out the negative parts of the industry? As they say, misery loves company. Working long and odd hours, vying for tips to pay the bills and providing an essential, but often thankless service to a relentless stream of customers can feel disheartening. “My dad told me my whole life not to get in the industry… for a good reason, I guess,” he laughs. “But no –– I love it.”

On the other side of that same coin

are the many beauties of this industry. It’s a true melting pot filled with people of all backgrounds, where creativity is not only encouraged, but rewarded. Not to mention the satisfaction in the simplicity of making something beautiful with your own two hands for someone to nourish themselves with. “There’s tons of creative people in the industry, people that are writers, poets, artists outside of the kitchen. Working in a field like the restaurant industry that forces you to be creative pushes you to be creative in other areas of your life as well,” LaQuatra says.

“There’s tons of creative people in the industry, people that are writers, poets, artists outside of the kitchen. Working in a field like the restaurant industry that forces you to be creative pushes you to be creative in other areas of your life as well,” LaQuatra says.

He calls out his design skills that have transferred surprisingly well into his day-to-day work as a line cook. Plating comes naturally to him: finding colors and textures that are complementary and lift each other up and playing with symmetry and space to offer a feast to the eyes first before offering it up to the palate.

Beyond creating a streetwear brand to scratch an itch for design, LaQuatra wanted Dinner Rush to be a space where industry creatives could meet, share ideas and skills, commiserate and find support among like-minded folks. “I’m in this industry, and I have this other skill set. I know there are other people like me out there. I’ve met them. How can we bring them together and create something awesome that’s outside of the kitchen?” he says.

He launched an industry-only Discord server shortly after his first Dinner Rush drop. Part of the inspiration for the community was the concept of a motorcycle club, a group of rejects finding community in one another. “Something I love so much about the industry was how accepting everybody was to me personally. It was like, ‘We don’t care where you came from. We don’t care who you are. We’re your family now.’” LaQuatra says. “That’s kind of what I’m going for.”

Since its inception, the server has over a dozen channels, each a dedicated space serving a unique purpose. #recipe-share is full of images of beautifully plated dishes and whole hogs moments prior to breakdown. #sober reads post after post of chefs checking in with each other about their sobriety goals, struggles and successes. #support is a space to share GoFundMe campaigns benefitting colleagues fighting health battles or grieving the loss of friends in the industry.

“I’ve heard that people in the industry don’t even feel comfortable talking about stuff that they need support for,” LaQuatra says. “So that was kind of where the idea came from. You know, we serve so many other people that we forget to take care of ourselves.”

For more information about Dinner Rush, visit dontburnthefood.com.

Dinner Rush’s mission is two-pronged: to create stylish streetwear and to nurture an online community for those in the local service industry.

PHOTO: PROVIDED BY DINNER RUSH

Dinner Rush’s mission is two-pronged: to create stylish streetwear and to nurture an online community for those in the local service industry.

PHOTO: PROVIDED BY DINNER RUSH

MUSIC

The Deepest Well

Cincinnati-based musician Yoni Wolf details the sonic journey behind WHY’s new album, The Well I Fell Into.

grandmother’s uterus.”

“There’s a balance, and I don’t always know if I’ve achieved that proper balance or if I’ve crossed a line,” Wolf says of his lyrical turns. “It’s very hard to say but that’s part of the job. You may lose a finger if you’re working in a factory on a lathe, but the fallout for my job is emotional and relational. So that’s the risk, but the reward is honesty and connection. You have to sort of straddle that line, and you definitely don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but you also want to tell your truth.”

Wolf’s songwriting and vocal delivery have inevitably evolved over the years, with The Well I Fell Into yielding his most nuanced and accessible results yet.

“Definitely there is some rumination going on, but I think the difference is just me,” Wolf says. “I think that I’ve probably changed over the years. Maybe I’m less angry — or angry more so at myself and realized that I only have myself to blame at this point. I’m certainly not angry at anyone who these songs might be partially about.”

Wolf is fond of the album format as a creative endeavor and delivery system, but he’s not necessarily wedded to that approach with every project. In fact, he recently created a Substack subscription page dubbed “Yoni’s Wolf’s Wet Paint” (yoniwolf.substack.com) in which he posts a newly crafted song each month.

BY JASON GARGANO

Cincinnati-based musician Yoni Wolf details the sonic journey behind WHY’s new album, The Well I Fell Into.

BY JASON GARGANO

WWHY?’s freshly minted eighth album, The Well I Fell Into, is yet another compelling entry in the ongoing sonic adventures of Cincinnati-based frontman Yoni Wolf and his merry band of co-conspirators. It’s a breakup album, 14 wistful songs that burrow into one’s consciousness through layered arrangements, modestly expressive vocals and lyrical concerns both intimate and universal.

HY?’s freshly minted eighth album, The Well I Fell Into, is yet another compelling entry in the ongoing sonic adventures of Cincinnati-based frontman Yoni Wolf and his merry band of co-conspirators. It’s a breakup album, 14 wistful songs that burrow into one’s consciousness through layered arrangements, modestly expressive vocals and lyrical concerns both intimate and universal.

Wolf has been making and releasing music his entire adult life, which, at age 45, means he’s been at for nearly three decades — first as a key member of the slanted Bay Area hip-hop crew cLOUDDEAD, then, for the last 20 years, in WHY?, which employs elements of folk, rap, pop and indie rock in ways both familiar and unorthodox. The band — which includes his brother/drummer Josiah Wolf and multi-instrumentalist Doug McDiarmid, among a host of other contributors — has long been an outlet for Wolf’s fertile imagination, a place where surreal wordplay collides with deeply personal ruminations on this thing we call life.

Wolf has never shied away from mining his own experiences for inspiration. It then comes as no surprise that the dissolution of a long-term relationship couldn’t help but infect the creation of The Well I Fell Into, which the band is self-releasing this time out.

“Marigold” sets the tone as Wolf’s narcotized sing/speak voice delivers the following amid a pensive piano line: “I used to be married/Now I drag around the ring on a sling in a barrel of salt/ She gave me her twenties/I gave her a painting by my mother of a couple of marigolds.” The arrangement eventually blooms with the help of swelling strings, backing vocals, jaunty rhythms and various other embellishments, including a lightly plucked harp and hand claps, all culminating in what sounds like ambient traffic noises and a faint audio clip of someone relaying this information: “If you can just give me some ideas from your life, and how terrible your life has been, I would be glad to add that to my small repertoire.”

That last bit is just one example of what gives WHY? albums their unique, often unexpected textural flavor. It’s also representative of Wolf’s playful metaphysical thematic tendencies.

“Songwriting makes me feel normal,” Wolf says by cell phone from a recent tour stop in New York City. “It makes me feel like I have somewhere to put my energies and my thoughts. Otherwise, I sort of spiral out. That’s why I do it. In terms of making albums, I actually enjoy a lot of parts of the process. There are other parts that are arduous, but I just like making stuff. I’m wired that way.”

Wolf doesn’t deny that his personal

life is infused into his art, but he is also the first to insist his songs aren’t completely autobiographical; his experiences are just a jumping-off point.

“For us, things tend to find their way,” Wolf says of the band’s conceptual approach to each project. “You have to just be present for it and keyed in, then things start to develop naturally and you have to follow those instincts and impulses. And when the heart stuff reveals itself, then you have to go to the head stuff to sort of edit and make something work and fit.”

The Well I Fell Into’s melancholic tone and self-lacerating themes persist throughout its 45-minute running time, yet Wolf says the results came together in an organic rather than preordained way.

“In terms of talking about it, it’s weird,” he says. “It’s sort of reverse engineering for me because I don’t go into a project with clear intentions or with a clear meaning or anything like that. I allow the songs to become what they become, and everything sort of evolves and develops throughout the different parts of the process.”

Part of that process is diving into intimate or touchy subject matter. Take the oddly fascinating “When We Do the Dance,” a drowsy ditty rife with obtuse, ear-wormy lyrical snippets, the most curious of which is this admission: “I want to bust into your great great

“I don’t know that I always will, but it is something that I have enjoyed doing and it allows you to tell a fuller story than one three-minute song,” Wolf says of the album approach. “The way the songs come together becomes more than the sum of their parts. I grew up on later Beatles albums and Pink Floyd albums and De La Soul albums that were so intentionally sequenced and really told a story like that. That became formative for me and what I like doing. I also value a song that can sit on its own. So, I may in the future just make songs and put them up on streaming or something, but this album felt like it wanted to be all together and tell the story as it does.”

Which brings us back to the personal nature of the songs he creates and presents to the world.

“The word that comes to mind is ‘vulnerable,’” Wolf says. “You’re so in it when you’re making something that you’re not really thinking about how it’s going to be perceived. You spend so much time getting it to be actually what you want it to be and polished and the master sounding good so it hits, and then it’s out there and you have to let go and hope that they’ll hear it in the way that you intended it to be heard. But you can’t really control all that. You just have to let go.”

WHY? plays Woodward Theater on Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. More info: woodwardtheater.com.

WHY? plays Woodward Theater on Sept. 27 at 7 p.m.

More info: woodwardtheater.com.

MUSIC

TTCincinnati’s Talk Low Music Festival Wants to Change the Way We Listen to Experimental Music

BY ALANNA MARSHALL

Cincinnati’s Talk Low Music Festival Wants to Change the Way We Listen to Experimental Music

BY ALANNA MARSHALL

he Talk Low Music Festival is bringing five days of experimental music to Cincinnati this month, spanning three local venues and featuring artists from all over the world. The festival’s objective is to create a unique context for deep listening. “Deep listening has an academic context, which means a way of listening to music that treats all sound as inherently musical,” says Ryan Hall, who runs Whited Sepulchre Records, the Cincinnati-based record label presenting the festival. Hall has played a vital role in curating a compelling and diverse lineup that appeals to various people, including those familiar with the experimental music scene and those who may be just dipping their toes into the water.

“This will be a first for a lot of people,” Hall says. “The way [the artists] present their music is so unique that people will hopefully walk away with their minds blown a little bit by what they can do with sound.” Maria Chávez is performing on Saturday, Sept. 28 at Woodward Theater, along with Laraaji and SHERMVN. “I am always honored when a festival celebrates the works of artists outside of regular music. It is so important for this to be shared with communities that otherwise would not have a chance to experience this work live. It is vital that festivals like Talk Low exist all over the world, especially in a time where unique voices are being silenced regularly,” she says.

Chávez is a conceptual sound artist, abstract turntablist and DJ. Born in Lima, Peru, she moved to Texas with her family at an early age. “When I was a kid DJ, the DJ boys pushed me out of the scene for being too experimental with the turntable in the late ‘90s,” Chávez says. “I was lucky to stumble into the arts and find my people who gave me safe spaces to extend my experiments into an actual performance practice that I wrote a book about in 2011. [It] is considered the first of its kind on the topic of abstract turntablism.” Chávez’s book, Of Technique: Chance Procedures on Turntable, outlines how to break records and needles and the many ways to use them during performances.

Chávez has been a professional DJ since she was 17 years old and has since evolved into a prominent figure in her community. “Over time, my career evolved from just DJing to creating large-scale multichannel sound installations for museums, performing with the turntable as an instrument and device, teaching about my

performance practice, writing papers and so much more.” She is elated to bring her multi-media installations to the Queen City after a long time away, saying, “The only other time I’ve performed in Cincinnati was in 2003, so I’m excited to see how the city has grown and meet artists from the area.”

Sarah Jane Quillin is a member of the Chicago-based experimental pop trio, Desert Liminal. She works with her best friends and bandmates, Rob Logan and Mallory Linehan, by her side. The band has released two records under Whited Sepulchre Records, which is why Hall decided to invite them to perform at Talk Low on Thursday, Sept. 26, at DSGN CLLCTV with Nairobi-native KMRU and Five Pointed Stars. Quillin talks about the origins of her interest in songwriting, saying, “Since I was young, I played piano and was a deep listener. I became part of underground music communities when I was a teenager, heavily invested in Midwest melodic hardcore music.”

Quillin emphasizes the connections that form between people with the intersection of music and art communities, saying, “Today’s streaming algorithms and the rising costs of touring put experimental artists at a huge disadvantage, so it’s even more special and important that the creators of Talk Low Festival made this space for openminded artists and listeners to come together.” In the hopes of inspiring others to create sounds and curate deep listening events themselves, Quillin talks about what attendees can expect from Desert Liminal’s performance. “Walls of sound, rising vocal harmonies, swirling violin loops, fuzzy guitar [and] driving drum grooves,” she says, “made with love in Chicago.”

When it comes to the process of getting the Talk Low Music Festival up and running, Hall has taken on various roles, including applying for an ArtsWave grant in December 2023 that would end up being approved in January 2024. ArtsWave is a Cincinnati-based arts agency that supports more than 100 arts organizations in the Greater Cincinnati area through funding, services and advocacy. “That was the catalyst that started this whole thing, applying and receiving the full amount of funding from ArtsWave.”

The Talk Low experience is not entirely akin to previous music festivals held in Cincinnati. “There will be different ways to engage with the music [like] paying close attention with your ears and your mind – being

intellectually engaged by the music, but also with your body by dancing and moving,” Hall says. At other festivals, there are certain “barriers” between the artist and the audience, which is something this festival hopes to change. The chosen venues are intimate, giving a real chance to break down the barrier between the performer and the audience. DSGN CLLCTV, the Woodward Theater and the Contemporary Arts Center aim to provide that interactive space for both entities.

“I hope people can go with an open mind and see that music doesn’t necessarily have to be verse, chorus, verse, chorus...It can incorporate lots of sounds and structures that aren’t inherently what we think of in the ‘pop song’ structure,” Hall says.

“I think people will feel the warm calm and gratitude that follows a cool deep listening experience,” Quillin says.

With this year being the festival’s official debut, the anticipation is high to see all the work behind the scenes to make this event a reality play out. With a variety of artists coming from around the world to provide a space where experiencing music and sound is all-encompassing and interactive, both experimental experts and amateurs alike are invited to discover all that the festival has to offer. “I hope people will be energized by the fest and pursue the things that scare them, even if it is not in the arts. I hope people will see that the world is so large — take the chance, do the thing that scares you and see what happens afterward,” says Chávez.

The Talk Low Music Festival will run from Sept. 24-29 at various locations in Cincinnati. For more information about the festival and lineup, visit talklowfest.cargo.site.

Conceptual sound artist Maria Chávez will be performing at the Talk Low Music Festival on Sept. 28

PHOTO: KARL OTTO

Conceptual sound artist Maria Chávez will be performing at the Talk Low Music Festival on Sept. 28

PHOTO: KARL OTTO

SOUND ADVICE

VAMPIRE WEEKEND WITH CULTS

Sept. 20 • The ICON Festival Stage at Smale Park

The first phrase we hear leave the lips of Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig on the band’s latest album, this year’s Only God Was Above Us, is “fuck the world.” That’s quite an opening salvo from an outfit best known for its preppy pedigree and sunny dispositions. But, as they say, we live in trying times. The resulting record is darker and more aggressive than anything the trio — bassist Chris Baio and drummer Chris Tomson remain the core with Koenig — has yet conjured. Vampire Weekend has evolved in the years since their 2008 self-titled debut, an endlessly hooky and wry record that incorporates elements of punk, art pop, African music and, of course, Paul Simon. The follow-up, 2010’s Contra, refined the band’s sound further through songs so expertly formed that they made it

seem almost too easy. By 2013’s stellar Modern Vampires of the City, the band added an unforeseen dose of emotional depth to their bag of tricks, each song crafted with such precision and sense of purpose that their conceptual intentions — namely the fact of growing older and wiser while also attempting to evolve musically — almost go unnoticed.

It took six years for Vampire Weekend’s fourth album, Father of the Bride, to surface in 2019. A lot had changed, most significantly the departure of a founding member, multiinstrumentalist/studio guru Rostam Batmanglij, leaving Koenig free to investigate new artistic avenues, no matter how messy and aesthetically disjointed the result might be. Only God Was Above Us splits the difference between the conceptual cohesion of Modern Vampires of the City and the sprawling nature of Father of the Bride, the work of a band continuing to search for meaning both musically and personally.

“When the band was starting, I was obsessed with getting Contra out in 2010,” Koenig said in an interview with The Guardian earlier this year about the inevitable slowdown of Vampire Weekend’s output. “I thought it was important that we released albums back to back. It was so rushed. There was a real feeling of, ‘This is a rare opportunity.’ To continue at that pace and with that level of agitation would send anybody to burnout. And then you get into these existential things: If all you’re doing is making music, what’s the music about?”

Vampire Weekend plays the ICON Festival Stage at Smale Park on Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. More info: bradymusiccenter.com. (Jason Gargano)

EXTREME WITH LIVING COLOUR

Sept. 24 • Taft Theatre Extreme and Living Colour both broke out about the same time Taylor Swift entered the world in 1989, a period

wherein hard rock and hair metal ruled the airwaves, Ronald Reagan wrapped up his “morning in America” reign as president and the first commercial internet service providers surfaced. Each is a four-piece East Coast-based outfit driven by flashy, often-inventive guitar players and powerful, uncommonly expressive singers who aren’t afraid to preen — qualities that would help each gain notice during MTV’s influential late ‘80s/early ‘90s apex.

Each band released a handful of albums during their initial runs, and each would reform off and on in the 2000s and thereafter to tour and occasionally drop new recorded efforts. (Extreme’s most recent album, last year’s Six, drew notice through the ‘80s-esque guitar heroics of the eternally youthful Nuno Bettencourt, who’s made it a point to dedicate his dexterous axe work to his late idol, Eddie Van Halen.)

Extreme’s breakout was 1991’s “More Than Words,” an acoustic

Vampire Weekend

PHOTO: MICHAEL SCHMELLING

ballad that represents the stylistic antithesis to the band’s heavier, funkmetal leanings. The song’s tasteful black-and-white video featuring singer Gary Cherone and Bettencourt was in heavy rotation on MTV for months, propelling similar success on rock and even pop radio.

Living Colour’s enduring anthem “Cult of Personality,” from their debut album Vivid, broke through a few years earlier via a music video that

crosscuts clips of the band playing live with images of the various political leaders whose names — and, in some cases, actual audio-recorded voices — appear in the song. Living Colour founder and guitarist Vernon Reid and singer Corey Glover both admit the importance of “Cult of Personality,” which Reid says they largely wrote in one rehearsal session, in the band’s initial breakthrough and enduring legacy.

“I think if it weren’t for that song, I’d be working for UPS,” Glover said in a recent interview with the YouTube channel The Logan Show. “How about that? If it weren’t for that song and the evergreen nature of that song, because it seems like every so often it pops up in very interesting places — with (wrestler) CM Punk or the video games or Guitar Hero or even within the political discourse, where people use it and quote it on newscasts. It has

a weird sort of continuing life that I am very happy and grateful that it exists.”

That “continuing life” extends to each band’s ability to draw fans to live shows that are more than just vehicles for nostalgia.

Extreme and Living Colour play Taft Theatre on Sept. 24 at 8 p.m. More info: tafttheatre.org. (JG)

THE FRONT BOTTOMS

Sept. 27 • Bogart’s

Indie-emo rock outlet The Front Bottoms is bringing its unique sound to Cincinnati. The duo of Brian Sella and Mat Uychich are touring the country as part of their “Finding Your Way Home” tour. Now, the band is finding their way to the Queen City.

The Front Bottoms have been a mainstay in the alternative music scene for some time. Founded in 2006, Sella and Uychich have been releasing music under the band’s moniker since their early college days. The act has become known for its blend of differing alternative sounds and writing styles. A bit folky and a bit Midwestern emo, The Front Bottoms have cornered a section of alternative music that has earned them a strong following.

The band is mostly known for their earlier works. Songs like “Twin Size Mattress” and “Funny You Should Ask” marked the height of the band’s popularity in the early 2010s. The 2013 album, Talon of the Hawk, featured both singles and received the band’s highest praise to date. The blend of uptempo and catchy beats melded with lyrics of teen angst struck a chord with the audience of the time.

Despite the early success, The Front Bottoms haven’t stopped releasing music in the nearly two decades they’ve been together. Since the band reached their heights with Talon of the Hawk, they’ve since released four studio albums and multiple EPs. The album You Are Who You Hang Out With came out just last August. Although a slight departure from their original sound, the newer release shows that the band was willing to grow rather than stay stagnant.

The Front Bottoms won’t be the only ones gracing the stage. As part of the tour, the band will see support from solo artist Alex Lahey. The Australian multi-instrumentalist is looking to bring her groovy vibes to the States. Lahey manages to capture indie rock in its purest form, writing some of the catchiest riffs and lyrics one can hear and making her a great act to support The Front Bottoms.

The Front Bottoms play Bogart’s on Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. More info: bogarts. com. (Logan Turner)

Extreme

PHOTO: JESSE LIVOLA

The Front Bottoms

PHOTO: BRITTANY THORNTON

1. Mug rival

6. EverBank Stadium pro

BACK UP A BIT

BY BRENDAN EMMETT QUIGLEY

9. “___ Tour” (A Tribe Called Quest)

14. Rat Island native

15. Knee injury initials

16. Main course?

17. Like highways and bowling alleys

18. No longer drinking 19. Italian fashion house

20. Cabinet door handle

21. Third canonical hour / Put the pedal to the metal

23. That, to a Nuyorican 25. Munich mister

26. Spice ___ / Fold-up sleepers

31. Scale’s reading

35. “That’s disgusting”

36. Concerns of voters

38. Othello, for one

39. Some are controlled

41. ___ PreCheck

42. Model Hadid

43. Swerve

44. Rugged mountain range

46. “Maningcast” brother

47. Wholly absorbed

49. Well-known / Mushroom heads

51. French fashion house

53. Temple paper?

54. Throat infection / Element #54

59. Concerning phrase

63. Screen persona

64. Hurricanes are formed here

65. Beginning of a case

66. Commonplace

67. Four-stringed instrument

68. Con artist Charles with an eponymous scheme

69. Loses it

70. “I thank God I was raised Catholic, so ___ will always be dirty” (John Waters)

71. Stood petrified

Down

1. Mistake on the mound

2. Spy novelist Furst

3. Vegas alternative

4. It comes between Papa and Romeo

5. The drip, e.g.: Abbr.

6. Rock used in Oriental art

7. One to grow on

8. Shape of a character, in typeface

9. Current amount

10. Arab royal / Metaphorical sticking point

11. Not quite closed

12. Hoped in an Uber, say

13. Fudge alternative

21. Word files

22. Makes a tuck

24. Dynafit products

26. Start a rally

27. YA target audience

28. Titled person

29. Italian wine commune

30. Artful dodges

32. Automaton of Jewish folklore

33. “Yo, dawg”

34. Wedding gown part

37. “Wyatt ___ and the Cowboy War”

40. Unit of Time? / Zip around

42. “St Matthew Passion” composer

44. “That’ll do”

45. Playboi Carti songs

48. Google phones

50. Script doctor

52. Picture puzzle

54. Bird beaks

55. Arabian Peninsula sultanate

56. Grandma

57. Humiliated people step on one

58. Lethal killer with tiny arms

60. Prefix with plastics and medicine

61. Modern-day style

62. City roughly halfway between Buffalo and Cleveland

65. Coppertone bottle letters

LAST PUZZLE’S ANSWERS: