CityBeat | July 11, 2018

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WHAT A WEEK!

BY T.C. B R I T TO N

Independence Day fell on a Wednesday this year, meaning you either had a really long holiday weekend or you didn’t and you’re still bitter about the people who did. Lucky for all of us, there was enough #America news to carry us into this week.

Stamp of Disapproval

From the right angle, Las Vegas can serve as a stand-in for a number of international cities, thanks to resorts like the Venetian, Paris and Luxor. There’s no real harm in tricking your Instagram followers into thinking you’re enjoying a gondola ride in Italy when you’re really at a conference in America’s armpit. But a mix-up surrounding the New York-New York Hotel & Casino’s replica Statue of Liberty turned out to be a costly mistake for the U.S. Postal Service. In 2011, USPS released a “forever” stamp with Lady Liberty’s face, only these stamps wouldn’t actually last forever because the image wasn’t of the real Statue of Liberty — it’s the version artist Robert Davidson created for Vegas’ New York-New York. The property features a tribute to the Big Apple, complete with towers that resemble the Empire State and Chrysler buildings and other landmarks. USPS accidentally used Davidson’s statue for the stamp and he sued for copyright infringement — citing that his version is noticeably “sexier” and more “sultry”(?!) — and won $3.5 million this week. Don’t mess with a man’s slutty statue!

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Scaling the Statue of Liberty

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The real Lady Liberty found herself in the spotlight on July 4 thanks to progressive political group Rise and Resist and its member, Therese Patricia Okoumou. The group was protesting the current immigration policies on Liberty Island July 4 when Okoumou decided to up the ante and climb the damn thing. She made it to the base, near Lady Lib’s foot, stating that she would not come down until all the children in immigrant detention centers were released, but emergency responders were able to safely remove her after three hours.

She later said she was following the words of Michelle Obama: “ ‘When they go low, we go high.’ And I went as high as I could.”

Girl, she didn’t mean literally! Okoumou is now being charged with trespassing, interference with government agency functions and disorderly conduct and could face jail time. While I’m not a lawyer, I would like to invoke the words of Cher Horowitz: It does not say R.S.V.P. on the Statue of Liberty.

Record-Breaking Binge

There’s nothing that screams U.S.A. more than stuffing your American pie hole with nitrates and, thus, the 102nd annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest took place Wednesday at New York’s Coney Island. Reigning champion Joey Chestnut

downed 74 dogs in just 10 minutes, surpassing his record-breaking 72 franks last year. This is Chestnut’s 11th win — he’s only lost once since 2007. The way his body is able to handle getting a year’s worth of sodium in one sitting, year after year, is miraculous. A true American hero. In the women’s competition, Miko Sudo won for the fifth time in a row with a modest 37 hot dogs. Here’s hoping at this time the contestants have gained independence from their toilets, because you know their sausagestuffed asses were planted on the pot for at least two days afterward.

Social Media Celebrations

Usually the Fourth of July equals grainy fireworks pics, poolside selfies and snaps of grilled meats on social media — and I saw more than my fair share of that boring ish — but some kept it interesting on the internet this holiday. InfoWars’ HBIC Alex Jones warned followers earlier last week that Democrats were planning to launch a war on July 4, and not just a symbolic one like liberals’ sinister war on Christmas — a real civil war. Did that happen? Must’ve dodged that draft.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr. shared some cringeworthy patriotic memes involving his dad, including one image of him as Salt Bae, sprinkling red, white and blue stars, which Junior called “Freedom Bae” *Dry heaves* Folks across the nation #TookToTwitter to complain about lackluster — or cancelled — fireworks shows in St. Petersburg and Tampa, Fla., Lexington, Ky. and beyond. Watching shit blow up is an American right, not a privilege!

Sacha Baron Cohen appeared to be up

This Week in Questionable Decisions…

1. Scarlett Johansson, who was criticized for portraying an Asian character in the film Ghost in the Shell, is facing more backlash after being cast as a transgender man in mob movie Rub & Tug. 2. An Ontario man listed a 6-year-old McDonald’s cheeseburger and fries on eBay for $29.99. We’ve all seen photos of old fast food that never rots as a sort of warning of what the junk can do to our bodies. In 2012, Dave Alexander conducted a similar experiment and thought someone would be interested in purchasing the results. eBay disagreed, removing

New York-New York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas P H O T O : J AY G A LV I N / C R E AT I V E C O M M O N S

to something involving the president and Trump University, according to a cryptic Tweet posted Wednesday featuring video of Trump bashing Cohen (he appeared on SBC’s Da Ali G Show back in 2003). It was later revealed that Cohen has been at work on a Showtime series called Who Is America?, which will premiere July 15. The America? network is being incredibly tight-lipped about the new SBC show, but apparently an undercover Cohen got Dick Cheney to sign a waterboard kit for it. Sign us up.

This Is America

The president spent the holiday splitting his time between Twitter, the golf course and hosting a picnic for military families, but he was back in full force at a campaign rally in Great Falls, Montana Thursday.

(You know he requested a city with the word “great” in it.) And if you had a Bingo

the listing because food items can’t be sold on the site without an expiration date.

3. Amber Heard warned folks on Twitter of ICE Checkpoints in Hollywood, saying, “Everyone better give their housekeepers, nannies, and landscapers a ride home tonight...” Oof. 4. Back before Pete Davidson was engaged to Ariana Grande and the two were spewing TMI about each other’s privates, Pete made a joke about the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing and how Ariana got more famous from it because the attack took place during her concert.

5. Speaking of Pete and Ariana (What is their celebrity coupling name, anyway?

PeRiana? GranDavidson?), they can go ahead and move right over because a new young Hollywood romance has blossomed into an engagement just one

card of egregious Trumpisms, that shit would be totally full after the fuckery he spewed at the crowd.

Naturally, he brought up the Statue of Liberty protester, calling Okoumou a clown, while praising the first responders who got her down safely. Of course, he couldn’t just stop there. “I would have said, ‘Let’s get some nets, and let’s wait till she comes down. Just get some nets.’ ” #nets He also suggested doing a DNA test on Sen. Elizabeth Warren to test her Native American ancestry, clarifying that he’d have to “do it gently because we’re in the #MeToo generation.” On Twitter, Chrissy Teigen responded best: “how does this dipshit think 23 and me works? where does he think you swab?” Actually, I don’t want to think about that answer.

Contact T.C. Britton: letters@citybeat.com

month into the relationship: Justin Bieber reportedly proposed to Hailey Baldwin in the Bahamas this weekend.

6. A 19-year-old who was kicked out of the historic Stonewall Inn in New York returned in the middle of the night to bash in the window and neon sign of the gay rights landmark.

7. What dreams are made of: Jessica Simpson allegedly spent $100,000 on Postmates food delivery in one month.

8. DJ Khaled cancelled a U.K. concert due to “travel problems” but was seen all over social media posting about being on vacation. Busted!

9. Video of Meghan Markle meeting fans reveals what appears to be the Duchess of Sussex using a vaguely British faux accent.

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NEWS Union Terminal PH OTO: NIC K SWARTSELL

Coming Home The Holocaust & Humanity Center’s new location in Union Terminal stirs up historic resonance

BY N I C K SWA R T S EL L

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teve Boymel was not quite 3 years old the day in May 1949 when his parents walked him through Union Terminal’s concourse as they arrived in Cincinnati. The family of Russian Jews had been fleeing the horrors of the Nazis since 1942 and the aftermath of that devastation for years afterward.

Today, Boymel, now a board member of Cincinnati’s Holocaust & Humanity Center, stood in the same building to take part in a new journey: the groundbreaking for the HHC’s new home.

It’s a fitting destination for a center that works to keep the lessons of the Holocaust alive while celebrating the deep resilience of the human spirit, Boymel says.

“That walk was the beginning of a new life,” he said of his first steps in Cincinnati through the train station. At the time, his mother and father had just one suitcase and $7 to their name — the latter given to them by two sailors when the family got off a boat New York City because they were taken by Boymel’s smile.

The Boymels had experienced horrific hardships during World War II, and they were far from the only ones. The Nazis killed an estimated 6 million Jews in concentration camps between 1939 and 1945, according to historians, including about 1.3 million in Russia. All told, about 7 million Russian citizens perished in the war and the Nazi’s campaign of terror against Jews and other minority groups.

Boymel’s family suffered greatly. His parents came from large families, but most of their siblings died during the Holocaust.

Following the war, the Boymels lived in a displaced persons camp near Munich, Germany, where Boymel was born. They were finally able to leave for America four years after the war ended.

After they arrived in Cincinnati, the family found its footing. Boymel’s father got work at a local meat processing facility

in the West End, and his mother made extra money babysitting. Later, his parents purchased a nursing home in Middletown.

As the family rose, they remembered the lessons they had learned, giving to a number of charities supporting children.

Boymel, now the president of a health care management company, says he was immediately on board when HHC Executive Director Sarah Weiss pitched the idea of moving the center into Union Terminal.

The HHC, currently headquartered on Montgomery Road in Kenwood, works to teach new generations about the lessons of the Holocaust via exhibitions, educational programing and by sharing the stories of local survivors. The center’s 12,000-squarefoot new home will include innovative galleries, theaters, offices and archival space.

“Trains are a painful reminder of this chapter of Holocaust history,” Weiss says.

“However, we can tell the story of trains to freedom. That’s what this location represents to the hundreds of survivors who arrived in Cincinnati through Union Terminal. This is the reason this location is so fitting. We will be able to explore one of the darkest moments of humanity, while at the same time sharing and showcasing the strength of humanity.”

HHC currently gets more than 100,000 visitors a year — a number that is likely

“Trains are a painful reminder of this chapter of Holocaust history,” says HHC’s Executive Director Sarah Weiss. “However, we can tell the story of trains to freedom.”

to rise when it moves into Union Terminal. The terminal is home to the Cincinnati Museum Center, which sees more than 1.4 million visitors a year.

Several local Holocaust survivors, HHC staff, funders and volunteers, along with Cincinnati City Council members David Mann and Jeff Pastor, representatives from the Cincinnati Museum Center and other partners, crowded into the unfinished space in the terminal’s lower level July 5 to officially celebrate the groundbreaking for the new space. Many took small hammers to a wall set up to ceremonially begin construction on the HHC’s new home.

“Union Terminal has a storied history of those who enlisted to fight injustice in World War II and those who escaped the horrors of the Holocaust and arrived here to build a new life in Cincinnati,” Whitney Owens, chief learning officer at the Cincinnati Museum Center, said during the event.

“These walls still echo with their stories.”

The historic 1931 Art Deco train station is currently undergoing a $212 million

renovation, due to be completed this fall.

HHC’s new space should open in January 2019.

The coming move is the work of a number of HHC employees, volunteers and supporters. The center engaged philanthropists to raise more than $13.7 million for the new location, including a large contribution from primary donors Nancy and David Wolf. Turner Construction, GBBN, Berenbaum Jacobs Associates and Jack Rouse Associates are all involved in designing and building the project.

“The Museum Center is the cultural CONTINUES ON PAGE 09

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CITY DESK

Greater Cincinnati Near Bottom for Jobs Accessible by Public Transit

BY N I C K SWA R T S EL L

Cincinnati in Top 20 for Home Price Increases Last Year

BY N I C K SWA R T S EL L

When it comes to getting to work via public transit, Cincinnati started from the bottom, now we’re… a little ways up from the bottom.

The Cincinnati metropolitan area was 10th in the nation for increasing accessibility to workplaces via public transit last year, a recent study found — but the region still lags far behind most others.

Transit accessibility to jobs increased in Cincinnati by 6.78 percent last year, according to the University of Minnesota’s Accessibility Observatory report. But that improvement is just a start for a region where most jobs aren’t accessible by public transit at all.

Thousands of riders on SORTA’s Metro system face long, convoluted commutes, some riding for more than an hour and taking transfers to get from one Cincinnati neighborhood to another just a few miles away. Those riders include people like Whitney Harmon, whom CityBeat spoke to last year for a story on Metro. Harmon rides the bus an hour each way from her home in Winton Terrace to her job as a cook downtown. Others face even longer commutes.

The new report ranks Cincinnati 39th in the country in terms of jobs accessible by public transit, even though the city ranks 26th in overall employment. The Cleveland metro area, by contrast, ranked 29th for transit accessibility, even though it ranked lower than Cincinnati (28th) for overall jobs.

The Columbus metro area came in 25th for accessibility to jobs via transit, though it

Buses downtown PH OTO: NIC K SWARTSELL

Home prices in the Queen City jumped 19 percent between March 2017 and March 2018, according to a study by real estate website GOBankingRates. com.

ranks 31st for overall employment.

Other peer cities like St. Louis, Louisville, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh also fare better in the rankings for overall accessibility, though Cincinnati did better than Nashville and Kansas City.

Of the Cincinnati metropolitan area’s 1,018,914 jobs, just 365 are accessible by transit within 10 minutes, according to the report. Another 2,157 are accessible within 20 minutes. Those numbers are lower than Ohio’s other big cities, and the gap gets even bigger for jobs accessible within 40 to 60 minutes. Both Columbus and Cleveland have more than 74,500 jobs reachable by

transit in that time. Despite having more jobs overall, the Cincinnati metropolitan area has just 48,793 jobs you can reach via public transit in an hour.

SORTA is considering a .5 percent to 1 percent sales tax levy for November’s ballot. If passed, it would mark a departure from Cincinnati’s unusual transit funding arrangement in which the city covers nearly all of the cost for the region’s bus service.

Depending on the size of that levy, SORTA could shore up big coming budget deficits for Metro, or, with a more ambitious ask, greatly expand the bus system’s connection to the region’s jobs.

Bevin Administration Cuts Kentucky Medicaid Vision and Dental Benefits

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BY N I C K SWA R T S EL L

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Roughly 460,000 Kentuckians who receive Medicaid will have their dental and vision coverage cut under a new move by Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration.

The cuts come after a federal judge blocked Kentucky HEALTH, the Bevin administration’s attempt to restructure the state’s healthcare system. The effort would have made Kentucky the first state in the country to place work requirements on Medicaid recipients.

Under a plan approved by the Trump administration, Bevin sought to require able-bodied recipients to work 80 hours a month, take job training courses, go to school or volunteer in order to keep their benefits. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg rejected

Cincinnati is one of the top 20 cities in the country when it comes to increasing home prices, a report released in June found. Despite that spike, the region is still one of the more affordable in the country for homeownership.

the work requirements, calling them “arbitrary and capricious.” Boasberg also took the Trump administration to task for approving the plan, saying it overlooked key elements of federal Medicaid law.

The work requirements were scheduled to be phased in starting July 1 in Northern Kentucky’s Campbell County.

Bevin’s administration says the subsequent cuts to vision and dental benefits are a direct result of the judge’s decision, claiming the state has no way to pay for the benefits now.

Kentucky HEALTH had a new mechanism for paying for vision and dental benefits.

But the Bevin administration didn’t have a backup plan for those benefits if HEALTH’s

work requirements were struck down. Since Boasberg rejected HEALTH, sending it back to the state’s health and human services cabinet for reworking, there is no way for the state to administer the benefits, the Bevin administration says.

“This is an unfortunate consequence of the judge’s ruling,” the Kentucky Health and Human Services Cabinet said in a statement.

The “optional services,” the cabinet said, will be restored once the state wins a legal challenge against the judge’s ruling.

Kentucky was one of 32 states to expand Medicaid coverage under President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Republican Gov. Bevin was elected in 2015

after running a campaign promising to dismantle the expansion, which he says will be too costly for the state over time. About half a million low-income Kentuckians gained coverage under the expansion.

The Bevin administration says the state will face a $300 million shortfall in Medicaid funding by 2020.

Kentucky Democrats blasted the Bevin administration’s cuts.

“We have folks that are showing up for dental appointments that they made months ago and neither they nor the providers are really certain what the rules are,” State Rep. Joni Jenkins said.

“And that’s just unacceptable for government to be operating this way.”

That was the eighth-highest jump percentage-wise (tied with Indianapolis) in the study, which looked at median home listing prices in cities across the country on popular real estate website Zillow. The median price of a house in Cincinnati went from $160,000 to $190,000 in that time, according to the data.

There are some limitations to the study.

Every house for sale doesn’t end up listed on Zillow, for example. And cities on the list with exceptionally low home prices— such as Cincinnati and Evansville, Ind. — could see big jumps in the percentage rise of home costs due to smaller spikes in actual dollar values of homes. Seattle, for example, saw a lower rate of increase for its homes.

But in actual dollars, the median Seattle home price determined by the study spiked by more than $100,000 over the last year to roughly $726,000.

The city with the highest increase in real-dollar home sales was Sunnyvale, Calif., where the median value of a home for sale on Zillow jumped by almost $300,000 last year. Another California city, San Jose, ranked second, with an $184,000 increase. When considering real-dollar increases, Cincinnati ranks 16th on the list.

Still, a $30,000 jump is a big one and could put home ownership out of reach for some in Cincinnati, where the median annual household income is around $35,000.

On the other hand, Cincinnati’s homes are still relatively affordable compared to other cities, and sales of million dollar homes are relatively rare here. The city ranks 41 out of 50 cities considered by another study undertaken by Lending Tree that looked at the number of homes sold for more than a million dollars. Only .43 percent of houses in the Queen City reach the seven-digit mark, according to the study. Cincinnati is the highest-ranked city in Ohio for million dollar homes, however, researchers found. Columbus ranked 44 on the list and Cleveland came in at 47.

FROM PAGE 06

destination in Cincinnati,” said George Vincent, a member of HHC’s capital campaign committee and a past president of the Museum Center. “To have a chance for the HHC to share in all the visitors here is an unbelievable opportunity. It’s a rare gift to be able to bring these two institutions together.”

Weiss says that HHC’s mission is more important now than ever, as rising tides of anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance increasingly roil national and local political discourse. Just last year, for example, Clifton’s Hebrew Union College, the former home of the HHC, was vandalized with anti-Semitic messages. White nationalist and neo-Nazi movements have become increasingly high-profile across the country and here in Ohio.

In some ways, the state has been an epicenter for resurgent hate groups. Ohio is home to 35 organizations the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified as hate groups — the fifth-most in the country behind much more populous states like Texas and California. Kentucky has 23 and Indiana 26, which include six in the immediate Tri-State area.

Several high-profile national leaders of those groups have lived in or operated from the Buckeye State. They include

Steve Boymel PH OTO: NIC K SWARTSELL

Traditionalist Worker Party founder Matthew Heimbach and Andrew Anglin, who founded The Daily Stormer, which billed itself “the world’s most genocidal Republican website.” It is perhaps the country’s most influential outlet for hateful,

neo-Nazi and white supremacist material.

Anglin built The Daily Stormer from an unassuming office building in Worthington, Ohio beginning in 2013. In just four short years, the site grew to attract more than 10 million views and half-a-million

visitors a month, riffing on news stories and current events with a youth-centered, meme-heavy approach that is violently racist and anti-Semitic in tone.

And at least two former Greater Cincinnati residents with ties to neo-Nazi groups have been charged with crimes stemming from a now-infamous “Unite the Right” rally last summer in Charlottesville, Va. that left one anti-racism activist dead.

Virginia prosecutors are trying former Northern Kentucky resident James Alex Fields on murder charges after he allegedly ran his car into a group of protesters, killing demonstrator Heather Heyer and injuring others. Fields also faces federal hate crimes charges in connection with the incident. Another local man, Dan Borden, faced assault charges in connection with a separate incident involving the beating of a black anti-racism protester. Borden was filmed at the rally wearing a helmet with Nazi insignias.

In the current political atmosphere, those like Boymel with personal connections to the Holocaust say putting the work of the HHC front and center is a vital task.

“This isn’t just being done for today,” he says of the HHC’s new location. “This is being done in perpetuity. Most of the witnesses are dead now. If we don’t do something for our community, this history is lost, and then the revisionists can have their way.”

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09

Super Summer Reading They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, Hanif Abdurraqib (2017; Essays) You know how a song can take you viscerally back into a memory? This essay collection is Abdurraqib letting songs take you into his memories and thoughts. And like songs, these essays — perfectly portioned for plane rides or trips to the pool — get stuck in your head. The book was published

by Two-Dollar Radio, a family-run publishing company in Columbus, Ohio, where Abdurraqib grew up.

R

Leah Stewart

emember in high school when you spent your summers procrastinating, avoiding the soul-sucking drudgery of required summer reading lists in favor of swimming pools and TV? One of the good things about growing up is that the magic of reading returns. As an adult, spending time absorbed in a new book becomes a delicious luxury — a slice of self-care in a busy world.

As such, we have asked a handful of local literary geeks — librarians, novelists, advocates and CityBeat staffers — for their top three “required summer

reading” recommendations for adults. The book options range from dystopian adventures and sexy sci-fi to music biographies and true-crime thrillers. There are fluff y reads for poolside lounging and longer, more challenging options for people who want to dig deep. Whether you’re reading alone or with a book club, here are 27 options to pique your interest.

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Hillary Copsey

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Illustrations by Joe Rocco

Founder, Make America Read A fi rm belief that reading builds compassion, critical thinking and civil discourse led Hillary Copsey to launch Make America Read, a biweekly newsletter that provides book recommendations and discussions to encourage people to read more widely. Copsey is a freelance writer, member of the author selection committee for Books By The Banks and regular book discussion leader at The Mercantile Library.

The Animators, Kayla Rae Whitaker (2016; Fiction) I’ve recommended this book to everyone since reading it last summer. Funny and

cutting, Whitaker’s novel is light enough for a summer read, but smart enough that you’ll linger over the last pages, thinking about ambition and friendship and who gets to tell what stories.

Men We Reaped, Jesmyn Ward (2013; Memoir) This structurally brilliant memoir isn’t Ward’s most recent, well-known or awardwinning book, but I’d argue it’s her best.

Telling the stories around the deaths of five young men close to her, including her brother, Ward poignantly and personally considers race, class and masculinity in America.

Novelist/University of Cincinnati professor Stewart is the author of six novels, most recently 2018’s What You Don’t Know About Charlie Outlaw.

The Salt Line, Holly Goddard Jones (2017; Sci-Fi) I’m always looking for books that are in what I consider the sweet spot, books that have the strengths of both literary and genre fiction — skillful sentences, psychologically complicated characters and compelling plots. This book is a riveting tale of a dystopian future in which the world has been changed by the spread of some truly horrific ticks, and a sensitive, fascinating portrait of the people who have to live there.

List

Reading recommendations fr om local literary author ities, boo k nerds and CityBeat staff ers Steve Kemple

Librarian, artist and musician Steve Kemple is the manager of the Price Hill Branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County and an avid reader.

Baby, You’re Gonna Be Mine, Kevin Wilson (Aug. 7, 2018; Short Stories) Kevin Wilson’s first book is one of my favorite story collections ever, both funny and poignant, so I’m really looking forward to this. He brings quirky humor and a touch of the fabulous to the losses and longings of everyday life.

Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi (2018; Fantasy) I’ve heard great things about this book. As a kid, I loved fantasy, and as an adult I still go looking for that feeling of transport and magic.

Mirages of the Mind, Mushtaq Ahmad Yusufi; translated by Matt Reeck and Aftab Ahmad (2014; Fiction) Last summer I picked up this novel for two reasons: 1) the cover is fi lled with swirling eyeballs, and 2) it was translated from Urdu, and I had never read anything translated from Urdu. I kept reading because I couldn’t get enough of its protagonist, Basharat, an Indian Muslim who has relocated to Pakistan with his family. In loosely connected anecdotes and digressions, we follow Basharat as he navigates cultural displacement with a series of preposterous schemes, which almost always end badly.

In all, he emerges a heroic fool, relentlessly unflappable in the face of his own tragic undoing. Yusufi, who is widely read in his native Pakistan, serves his satire with wellcrafted irreverence.

White Tears, Hari Kunzru (2017; Fiction) To the young Brooklynite music producers Seth and Carter, who are both white,

the black music of the early recording era is supremely authentic. In this ambitious novel, the two set out to collect the most obscure 78-RPM Blues records, which they mine for samples to repackage in their own electronic music. When Carter discovers Seth’s recording of a man in a park singing a haunting Blues number that sounds like it drifted in from the past, he doctors it and posts it online, passing it off as a long-lost record by a fictitious singer named Charlie Shaw. The hoax seems harmless, until Seth learns the fake recording — and the singer they invented — are both, somehow, real.

The story takes a supernatural turn.

Shanzhai: Deconstruction in Chinese (Untimely Meditations), Byung-Chul Han; translated by Philippa Hurd (2017; Philosophy) The question posed in White Tears — what’s fake and real, anyway? — is mirrored in the Chinese concept of shanzhai, about which the German-Korean cultural theorist Byung-Chul Han has recently written an interesting book. The term is generally used to describe what most outside of China would call knock-off consumer electronics. However, Han points out that there is much more to shanzhai, which has grown to encompass cultural products such as books, music and movies.

Many of the so-called “fakes,” he points

out, are better than the originals and in the case of cultural applications of shanzhai, the result is often politically subversive.

Although shanzhai is a recent term (dating to the late 1990s), the book traces its antecedents in Chinese art history, where notions of authenticity differ dramatically from Western ones.

Mackenize Manley

CityBeat Copy Editor Freshly graduated with a double major in Journalism and English, I’m currently basking in the freedom of reading for the heck of it (and for work, too). As a kid, I spent summers reading in the nook of a giant oak behind my home. Now, I generally fl ip through novels snug in the comfort of my hammock or on my apartment deck.

Currently, I’m nearly done with Call Me Your Name — a dreamily-written romance set in Italy. You’ve probs heard of it already, but it’s got my seal of approval, too.

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What You Don’t Know About Charlie Outlaw, Leah Stewart (2018; Fiction) law If you’ve yet to take your summer vacay at the beach or need something to read while hanging in your hammock, Leah Stewart’s latest novel is perfect. Plus, she’s a Cincinnati local, which is cool. It’s a page-turner that marries depth with action and cliffhangers. Stewart ties in societal commentary without feeling heavy handed. Outlaw, a popular actor, struggles with his sense of identity, fame and how others perceive him. He’s kidnapped while vacationing on

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a secluded island to get away, while in L.A., his ex-girlfriend — they both still have feelings for one another — deals with her own diminished fame. Stewart has created an easy, thought-provoking read to escape in.

Theft By Finding: Diaries, David Sedaris (2017; Memoir) When I was a kid, I would sneak into my sister’s bedroom, pull her fuzzy pink diary from its hiding spot (between the fold of the mattress and box spring) and fl ip through the pages — simultaneously hoping and feeling terrified that she would fi nd me there. There’s something about a journal of someone’s innermost thoughts spilled onto the page that is fascinating.

After I fi nish Call Me By Your Name, Theft is next on my list. Reading Sedaris before, I expect that the collection will be marked by his trademark observational humor.

According to NPR’s review, his diaries “are not especially introspective.” Instead, he acts as a “cultural historian.” This doesn’t come as a surprise having read his work before: Sedaris is an author that looks out before delving inward.

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Citizen: An American Lyric, Claudia Rankine (2014; Poetry/Fiction) Rankine’s Citizen has perhaps never been more relevant than it is now. It wields powerful prose-poetry, often recounting racial aggressions in a society that frequently claims to be “post-race.” Told in interchanging points of view, Rankine, a black woman, forces the reader to encounter race as it stands in America — a very much alive and oppressive social construct — and to dissect his/her/their own behavior. Slight slips of the tongue, tired stereotypes on TV, offensives that could unfurl anywhere... the list goes on. “Micro-agressions” are elevated to larger, systemic violence — like the shootings of unarmed black men by police; depending on what copy you grab, that list will differ. With each shooting, Rankine edits and republishes the book to account for their death. Citizen is not a fun read, but it’s essential. It’s often unsettling, uncomfortable and, as a white person, it forced me to confront my own privileges and biases.

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Ella Mulford

Popular Library Department Manager – Cincinnati Main Library Ella Mulford has been working for the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County for seven years. By some miracle, she still manages to get some reading done with three kids, three cats and a dog running around. She is currently reading Text Me When You Get Home: The Evolution and Triumph of Modern Female Friendship by Kayleen Schaefer.

Dead Witch Walking Walking, Kim Harrison (2004; Fantasy) This book is the first of The Hollows series.

If you loved the Sookie Stackhouse books that True Blood was based on, this series is for you. Witches, vampires, werewolves, pixies, elves and demons, oh my! This series has 15 full-length novels and multiple short story collections, so it could keep you busy all summer. I just finished listening to the entire series again on audio and it was even better the second time around.

Bonus: The entire series is set in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. It is perfect for a staycation by the pool.

An American Marriage, Tayari Jones (2018; Fiction) This book was my favorite of 2018 — you can’t put it down. This book will hold your attention from page one. Beautifully written, An American Marriage will give you the entire range of emotions, but its real brilliance is in the storytelling. When characters Celestial and Roy are in the wrong place at the wrong time, Roy gets arrested and goes to prison for a crime he did not commit. Jones makes every character explode off the page as you feel with them and for them. This book tackles hard topics like the prison industrial complex, racism and classism, and Jones expertly maneuvers the plot and characters like a chess master keeping the reader wanting more.

Filled with heartbreak, regret, love and hope, this is a book you won’t want to end.

Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood (2003; Sci-Fi) If you are devouring The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu like I am, you need this book.

This is the first book in the MaddAddam Trilogy, which takes us into a postapocalyptic future. Our main character, “Snowman,” recalls the time before the plague that killed most of humanity to try to understand how he got to his present state. He takes us on a ride that includes: uncontrolled genetic engineering, “miracle” pharmaceuticals, all-seeing corporations and many dark-web-related things.

Atwood is a master at creating universes that play at the edges of reality. She makes us think this could be our reality, and she does so in a way that is subtle and terrifying. Read this if you are wondering if things could be worse.

Cedric Rose

Librarian/ Collector – The Mercantile Library I’ve worked in libraries for what, the last couple of decades now?

The last 13 of those have been spent on the 11th floor at 414 Walnut Street buying books, talking to readers and

meeting authors. But I’m still always a little surprised by how solitary the experience of reading is, yet mentally intimate between a reader and writer so distant in space and time. It’s by no means unique to reading, but the written word relies on so little: this sparse thread of consciousness that, when a reader finds a writer who’s right for them, can have a profound (if quiet) effect.

Manhattan Beach, Jennifer Egan (2017; Fiction) I really dug Egan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad (2010) for its originality, hipster-sci-fi sensibility and an experimental form that as far as storytelling goes, really paid off by hooking you along and rewarding you with both the miniature stories of which the larger novel is composed, and, when you reached the end, the overall arc. Manhattan Beach is a historical novel; its protagonist is the (fictional) first woman diver at Brooklyn’s Navy Yard, so it’s nothing like Goon Squad.

But one of the many pleasures of good fiction is that you fall for both the writing and the mind that made it. Shameless plug: Egan is coming to the Mercantile Library in October, an added incentive for me to read what I’ve looked forward to reading anyway.

Closer You Are: The Story of Robert Pollard and Guided by Voices, Matthew Cutter (2018; Music, Biography) In 1994, I went to Lollapalooza at Riverbend and as I turned away from the second stage, I was accidentally knocked to the ground by a living wall of sweaty, inebriated Bob Pollard. He didn’t even say anything, but I was impressed by his functional drunkenness and later, performance. In more recent years, I saw a very sober Pollard deliver a stellar free concert on Fountain Square. I love Guided

by Voices, but Pollard’s Lo-Fi, up-fromthe-basement at age 36, Dayton-born,

school-teacher-turned rocker-whose-lyrics-remind-me-of-ancient-poetry mystique also fascinates me. And that last time I saw GBV it seemed as though there was a redemption story there — how art has the power to transcend and maybe even repair flawed characters and broken souls.

How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us about Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, Michael Pollan (2018; Memoir/Philosophy) There’s been a lot of buzz lately — especially surrounding micro-dosing celebs — about the potentially therapeutic uses of psychedelic drugs. Who better to delve into the subject than The Don of nerdy food writing, Michael Pollan? What’s more, he goes all immersion journalism on the subject, experiencing for himself the effects of LSD, psilocybin and even smoking some terror-inducing toad venom. Despite our advanced technology, the workings of the mind remain a black box to science. Pollan’s trips to inner frontiers shed light on the dark workings of that black box, as well as the untapped potential of these drugs to treat depression, addiction and other modern ailments — even the fear of death.

Steven Rosen

CityBeat Arts & Culture Editor Steven Rosen is a member of Rock and Read, a music-book reading group.

Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968, Ryan H. Walsh (2018; Music, Biography/ History) A recent pick of my book group, this is an inventive, deeply researched account of how the music, politics, drug explorations and countercultural rebellion of the late 1960s/early 1970s combined to make Boston a “secret” (compared to, say, New York or San Francisco) influencer on a changing America during that period. Walsh centers

books in the series. Twenty Years After After, the second in the series, is by far the best.

You have it all: sword fights, international intrigue, the power of friendship, prisoners of the Bastille and one heck of a wonderful villain. Plus, minor spoiler: musketeer versus musketeer!

Maija Zummo

CityBeat Editor in Chief I read constantly — literally, at my job, but also all the time at home. While I am a champion for print, I love the OverDrive reading app and check out almost a digital book a week from the library (no late fees).

Generally, I’m halfway through an Agatha Christie mystery at all times, but have recently been into true crime and history.

his story on how a cantankerous Van Morrison, while living in Boston, came to write and begin performing his landmark, mystical Folk-Jazz masterpiece, the Astral Weeks album. But there are all sorts of unusual and compelling twists and turns in his narrative about the interconnected nature of all things Bostonian — Timothy Leary, the movie Zabriskie Point Point, a strange cult leader named Mel Lyman, and much more.

Fiction Reference Librarian – Main Library Adam has worked for the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County for 10 years. He is an avid reader and needs summer to be longer so he can get through the 100-plus books on his to-read shelves.

Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi (2018; Fantasy) Read it because summer is a time for adventure. Two young girls hold the secret to returning magic to the land of Orïsha, but they are ruthlessly hunted by the son of the King, who has decided magic must never return. The real magic is Adeyemi’s writing: fun characters, a wild imagination and beautiful world-building that blends in West African mythology.

Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe, Thomas Ligotti (1986; Short Stories) Read it because summer nights are for sitting around a campfi re. There are many, many great short stories in this collection, but the one that stands out is “The Last Feast of Harlequin.” A reporter with a penchant for clowns learns about a small town’s harlequin festival. He attends the fête, bringing with him his clown suit.

Nothing can go wrong, can it?

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Michelle McNamara (2018; True Killer, Crime) With a forward by Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn, this gripping true-crime novel

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Twenty Years After After, Alexandre Dumas (1845; Action/Adventure) Read it because: Summer, for me, was sitting in the backseat reading the largest books I could find while my parents drove through Yellowstone National Park. Most people have heard of The Three Musketeers, but many forget there are a total of five

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, Mary Beard (2016; History) Mary Beard, professor of classics at Cambridge University, is one of the world’s foremost classical scholars and this whopping 450-page best-seller offers a fascinating and engaging look at the people, culture, mythology and lost history of ancient Rome. While the language is didactic, Beard writes in a way that is accessible to those with even a casual interest in Rome, covering everything from the founding of the city and the legacy of its emperors to history’s missing stories of women, slaves and lower classes.

The book challenges the accepted narrative and makes a compelling case for why these ancient people and their way of life is still relevant today.

Not necessarily a poolside read, but you’ll be impressed with yourself when you fi nish it.

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Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous, Christopher Bonanos (2018; Biography) Departing from music, I look forward to this new, comprehensive biography of the singular New York crime/street photographer Arthur Fellig, who used the name “Weegee” because it seemed like he had an occult sensibility (like a Ouija board) to predict where the next body would be found and get there fast with his camera.

Adam Vorobok

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Siren Song: My Life in Music, Seymour Stein with Gareth Murphy (2018; Music, Biography/Autobiography) This is what I’m reading right now. Stein is an old-fashioned (especially in this digital-music age) “record man,” someone who thrived on his ability to hear hit records and discover music acts capable of becoming stars long before others did. He learned his trade as a Brooklyn teenager interning in Cincinnati with King Records’ Syd Nathan, who treated him like a son, and went on to create the Sire record label (“sire” was another word for king, he figured). Sire believed in Punk Rock and New Wave at a time when bigger, more powerful labels thought acts like the Ramones, Talking Heads, Dead Boys, Richard Hell, Pretenders and many more were too radical for consumer tastes in the age of Classic Rock superstars. The book is a tellall — Stein is candid about his personal life and his thoughts on other music-business figures.

I’m looking forward to Bonanos separating the myth from the reality of Weegee’s work, and to provide insight into the way he composed memorable street shots like the unforgettable “The Critic.”

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women, Kate Moore (2016; History/Biography) This incredibly well-researched historical narrative follows the vibrant and tragic true lives of America’s “Radium Girls,” female factory workers in the 1920s who were poisoned by the radium paint they worked with to apply luminous numbers to clocks and dials. The “Undark” paint was a huge fad in home décor and military applications, and these women spent all day lip-pointing brushes dipped in the lethal substance — at the instruction of their employers — ingesting and digesting deadly amounts of glowing poison. When the women started falling ill from radiation sickness — stories detail bone fractures, jaw necrosis, rotting and putrid teeth, shattered hips and femurs — questions about health, safety and the workplace were raised that forever changed our labor laws.

— released in February — took on extra relevance after the arrest of suspected Golden State Killer Joseph James DeAngelo in April of this year. The Golden State Killer, so named by McNamara — the voice behind the website True Crime Dairy — is an extremely violent and sadistic serial killer/rapist who is believed to have murdered 12 people, raped more than 50 and burgled more than 100 houses in California between 1974 and 1986. The cold case became a driving obsession in the life of McNamara, wife of actor Patton Oswalt who herself died tragically of an accidental overdose in 2016. This chilling read is deeply upsetting on a multitude of levels but it’s also equally addictive, in part because of the raw and visceral prose. McNamara was a rare writing talent who could bring horrors to life without sacrificing the humanity of the victims. I’ll Be Gone is as binge-worthy as any Netfl ix crime doc.

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Must be 21 to enter gaming floor. For help with a gambling problem, call the Ohio Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-589-9966. ©2015 Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved.

Must be 21 to enter gaming floor. For help with a gambling problem, call the Ohio Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-589-9966. ©2015 Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved.

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STUFF TO DO WEDNESDAY 11

LIT: Author Liza Mundy discusses her latest book, Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II, at The Mercantile Library.

See interview on page 20.

ART: The CAC exhibits two shows that examine identity: Alison Crocetta’s A Circus of One and Firelei Báez’s To See Beyond. See review on page 24.

EVENT: Cincinnati Burger Week Kick-Off Party Cincinnati Burger Week officially kicks off on Monday, offering $5 specialty patties at participating restaurants across the Tri-State (see the write-up on page 17 for more). But before the burgers hit the grill, head to Braxton Brewing Co. in Covington for the official kick-off party, featuring a sneak peek of various burger options, live music from The Band Washington and Braxton brews. This is also your first chance to grab — and stamp — your official CityBeat Cincinnati Burger Week passport. 5:30-8:30 p.m.

Free admission. Braxton Brewing Co., 27 W. Seventh St., Covington, Ky., citybeat. com. — MAIJA ZUMMO

MUSIC: Chicago Bedroom Pop band Zigtebra bring gallons of reverb to Urban Artifact. See Sound Advice on page 32.

ART: Delicate Bond of Steel at Marta Hewett Gallery New York’s Aicon Gallery is hosting a pop-up exhibition of South Asian artists at Pendleton’s Marta Hewett Gallery through Sunday.

Called Delicate Bond of Steel, the goal of the exhibit is to explore the “historic cultural and artistic ties that continue to bind South Asian

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nations such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, despite the traumatic partitions and redrawing of borders,” according to a release. On view are works

by Anila Quayyum Agha, G.R. Iranna, Arunkumar H. G., Gigi Scaria and more.

Cincinnatians may remember Pakistani-American Agha’s work, All the Flowers are For Me, which was on display at the Cincinnati Art Museum last year. Her laser-cut suspended and illuminated steel cube installation threw highly detailed shadow — reminiscent of Islamic architecture forms — on gallery walls. Opening reception 6-9 p.m. Thursday. Through July 15. Free.

Marta Hewett Gallery, 1310 Pendleton St., Pendleton, facebook.com/martahewettgallery. — MAIJA ZUMMO tgallery EVENT: House Party at The Taft The Taft Museum of Art is

throwing an after-hours party for anyone interested in spending a night at the museum. Dean’s Mediterranean Imports and Horchata will be supplying the snacks for a spicy spread of Mexican and Mediterranean. If you’ve been meaning to catch a free showing of Shakespeare in the Park, now’s your chance: Cincy Shakes will be performing excerpts from A Midsummer’s Night Dream in the “Far Flung” willow tree sculpture in the lawn. And Freedom Nicole Moore & The Electric Moon will take over the secret garden with their modern Neo-Soul vibes and samples from their self-titled forthcoming EP. Parking is limited. 5-8 p.m.

Thursday. Free admission.

Taft Museum of Art, 316 Pike St., Downtown, facebook. com/taftmuseumofart.

— SAMI STEWART

OPERA: concert:nova presents The Bradbury Tattoos, a multi-media Rock opera based on sci-fi author Ray Bradbury’s short story collection The Illustrated Man. See feature on page 19.

ART: Temple of Tolerance at Thunder-Sky, Inc. presents the collected ephemera of “Temple of Tolerance” builder and artist Jim Bowsher. See review on page 23.

MUSIC: Red Wanting Blue Formed in the mid ’90s at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio and eventually settling into the Columbus, Ohio music scene, Rock band Red Wanting Blue built up its national profile with constant touring and a steady stream of acclaimed DIY releases.

Led by singer/songwriter Scott Terry (now based in Brooklyn), the band’s loyal grassroots following allowed them to work with notable producers and develop its melodic, Americana-flavored sound throughout the

’00s, before signing with a Caroline/EMI imprint in 2010.

With the wider distribution and backing, subsequent albums — like 2012’s From the Vanishing Point — began doing well on the Billboard charts and RWB was getting radio airplay, playing sold out shows and appearing on David Letterman’s TV program. This year saw the release of RWB’s 11th full-length, The Wanting, which was produced in Nashville by acclaimed singer/songwriter Will Hoge.

The band wrapped up a spring tour last month and comes to Cincinnati for a one-off outdoor show this weekend, teaming up with Cincinnati singer/songwriter Kyle English and Columbus AltRockers Go Analog as part of Fountain Square’s free Fifth & Vine Live music series. 7 p.m. Friday. Free.

Fountain Square, 520 Vine St., Downtown, myfountainsquare.com. — MIKE BREEN

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VISUAL ART: Ansel Adams: A Photographer’s Evolution Taft Museum of Art, Downtown (through Sept. 16)

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EVENT: One Night One Craft: Fluid Identity Watercolor Portraits Inspired by the works of Firelei Báez on view at the Contemporary Arts Center, local watercolor artist and designer Joya Logue will explore the techniques and styles for creating unique abstract portraiture as part of the One Night One Craft series. Through the use of vibrant colors, Logue will help guests navigate identities by creating painted portraits in the complex style of Báez. 6-8 p.m. Wednesday. $20 non-members; $15 members. Contemporary Arts Center, 44 E. Sixth St., Downtown, contemporaryartscenter.org. — LIZZY SCHMITT

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ONSTAGE: The Mystery of Irma Vep The Mystery of Irma Vep is a “penny dreadful.” What’s that, you might ask? Back in the 19th century, these were cheap, sensational stories published for the working class. That’s pretty much what inspired Charles Ludlam to write a satire

of theatrical, literary and cinematic melodramas. This campy tale — featuring a sympathetic werewolf, a vampire, an ancient Egyptian princess brought back to life, a lonely British lord, an unreliable groundskeeper and a head-spinning whirl of others — is designed for two actors who play eight characters. Costume changes and clever scenes mean this is an evening of manic fun. Through August 5. $29 adults; $26 seniors/ students. Warsaw Federal Incline Theatre, 801 Matson Place, Price Hill, cincinnatilandmarkproductions.com.

— RICK PENDER

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FILM: Spring Grove’s Date Night Outdoor Movie: Grease If date night at the cemetery sounds like something reserved only for teen rebels sneaking out past curfew, think again. Spring Grove has the perfect excuse for an outing both normies and goths can dig. Grab some grub from food trucks on site like The Dapper Donut, Sunny Side Brunch & More and Quite Frankly before settling down for a 40thanniversary screening of Grease in the rose garden.

Bring a picnic blanket or chairs, pull that poodle skirt (or leather jacket) out of your closet and get ready for one of those perfect “Summer Nights.” 7-11:30 p.m. Friday.

Free. Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum, 4521 Spring Grove Ave., Spring Grove Village, springgrove. org. — MORGAN ZUMBIEL

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MUSIC: Crazy cool Indie Rock trio Sleepspent plays The Comet. See Sound Advice on page 33.

EVENT: The O.F.F. Market Good news for all you flea market aficionados — there’s no need to wait until the next City Flea to get your shopping fix. The O.F.F. Market is back for its July market and another chance to shop art, coffee and baked goods, clothes, jewelry, housewares and all sorts of other good stuff handcrafted right here in Cincinnati. Plus, this market is inside MadTree’s barrel warehouse, so you can shop small and local while escaping the grossness outside in the sweet AC. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.

Free admission. MadTree Taproom, 3301 Madison Road, Oakley, theoffmarket. org. — MORGAN ZUMBIEL EVENT: Market Bleu For more market action,

head to the quarterly Market Bleu at the CAC. This night market takes over the museum’s lobby once a season to highlight local handcrafted products and fine arts. This time, regional artists from Louisville, Lexington, Columbus and Indianapolis will also be setting up shop. Discover everything from ceramics and skincare to jewelry and photography, while sipping on cocktails from the house bar. 5-10 p.m. Saturday.

Free admission. Contemporary Arts Center, 44 E. Sixth St., Downtown, marketbleu. com. — MAIJA ZUMMO ART: Let It Grow at Wave Pool Calling all crazy plant ladies: Wave Pool in Camp Washington has an exhibition just for you. Let It Grow plays on the “contemporary fixation on houseplants” by examining the relationship between human and plant.

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EVENT: Burlington Antique Show As the Midwest’s premier antique market, the Burlington Antique Show is celebrating more than three decades of bringing the best antiques and vintage collectibles to the Boone County Fairgrounds. More than 200 dealers converge the third Sunday of the month (through October) to exhibit and sell their authentic wares — Midcentury Modern, Art Deco, pre-war, Industrial and more. It’s generally pretty crowded, so if you’re a real hunter, aim for early-bird admission ($5; 6-8 a.m.) 6 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday. $3 starting at 8 a.m. Boone County Fairgrounds, 5819 Idlewild Road, Burlington, Ky., burlingtonantiqueshow.com.

— MAIJA ZUMMO

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THURSDAY 12 12 THURSDAY

COMEDY: Ryan Ryan Singer Singer COMEDY: Comedian Ryan Ryan Singer Singer has has just just released released his his first first book, book, Ryan Ryan Singer’s Singer’s Notebook.

Notebook. The The KetKetComedian tering native native returns returns home home to to Southwest Southwest Ohio Ohio this this week week to to record record his his fourth fourth album, album, due due to to tering be titled titled Free Free Love.

Love. “(I’m) “(I’m) talking talking about about everything everything from from getting getting older older to to singularity, singularity, Bigfoot, Bigfoot, be space, milkshakes,” milkshakes,” he he says, says, “but “but mostly mostly the the idea idea that that we we have have to to focus focus on on love love nowadays nowadays space, over hate hate even even though though it’s it’s hard.” hard.” He He also also continues continues to to do do his his popular popular podcast podcast Me Me & & ParanorParanorover mal You, You, which which also also informs informs his his stand-up. stand-up. Think Think of of itit as as aa Coast Coast to to Coast Coast A.M. A.M. for for the the Never Never mal Not Funny Funny generation. generation. Singer Singer started started his his stand-up stand-up career career at at Go Go Bananas Bananas and and has has recorded recorded Not all of of his his albums albums there. there. In In addition addition to to headlining headlining clubs clubs across across the the country, country, he he also also features features all from time time to to time time for for close close friend friend Marc Marc Maron.

Maron. Through Through Sunday.

Sunday. $8-$14. $8-$14. Go Go Bananas, Bananas, 8410 8410 from Market Place Place Lane, Lane, Montgomery, gobananascomedy.com.

Montgomery, gobananascomedy.com. — — P.F. P.F. WILSON WILSON Market

EVENT: Beer and Cheese EVENT: Pairing at Listermann Findlay Market artisan cheesemonger The Rhined and Listermann Brewing

WEDNESDAY 18 18 WEDNESDAY

MUSIC: Alabama-bred MUSIC: singer/songwriter Jason Isbell plays the PNC Pavilion. See Sound Advice on page 33.

YOUR WEEKEND WEEKEND TO TO DO DO LIST: LIST: LOCAL.CITYBEAT.COM LOCAL.CITYBEAT.COM YOUR

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EVENT: Cincinnati Burger EVENT: Week For seven blessed days, an American pillar of beefy, greasy goodness will be just $5 across the city, thanks to CityBeat’s Cincinnati Burger Week. Restaurants including Nation, Tickle Pickle,

Company present their new collab: a pineapple-jalapeño saison (official name TBA).

To commemorate the matrimony, head over to the brewery for a night of cheese and beer pairings. Feels like a Midwesterner’s fever dream, right? Four cheeses will be paired with four Listermann brews. If you want a dose of culture, they’ll also teach you how to match up the perfect duo at home. 6-8 p.m. Monday. $30. Listermann Brewing Company, 1621 Dana Ave., Norwood/Evanston, facebook.com/listermannbrewing. — MACKENZIE MANLEY

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MONDAY 16 16 MONDAY

Frisch’s, BugerFi, MOTR Pub, B&A Street Kitchen and more will each serve their specialty take on the burger.

From seasonings in the patty to what’s layered on top, like an abstract work of art, interpretations are endless. And with partners like Braxton Brewing Co. and Jack Daniel’s, expect some great beverage specials, too.

Grab an official Burger Week passport and get stamped at different dining destinations throughout the week. If you get three stamps and submit your passport, you’ll be eligible for a prize. Through July 22. Various Locations, cincinnatiburgerweek.com.

— MACKENZIE MANLEY

J U LY 11 – 1 7, 2 0 18

self-sustaining organisms from their natural habitat and place them in pots in our homes? What does it mean to force them to rely on us as their sole caretakers? The artists in the exhibit come at these question from different angles and media, including via “cartoon plants” made of paper pulp, cosmic and oversized dioramas and even a living plant wall.

Opening reception 7-10 p.m.

Saturday. Through Sept.

1. Free. Wave Pool, 2940 Colerain Ave., Camp Washington, wavepoolgallery.org.

— MAIJA ZUMMO

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ARTS & CULTURE

An Inked-Up Rock Opera Sci-fi author Ray Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man transforms into concert:nova’s world premiere multi-media opera, The Bradbury Tattoos

BY A N N E A R EN S T EI N

T

Poster art for The Bradbury Tattoos PHOTO: PROVIDED

which he shared with other creative team members. The completed images will be in full color in a variety of formats. For example, there will be glow-in-the-dark designs for the “Kaleidoscope” story, which takes place in outer space.

“The tattoo art makes this a genuine audio-visual experience,” Greenberg says.

Nelson also hopes to display examples of 1950s carnival and tattoo art from Designs

by Dana’s historical collection during the opera’s run at Memorial Hall.

Staging this complex mix of words, music and visuals will be Kelvin Chan, who has worked extensively with new and experimental opera.

Experimental genre bending is always the name of the game for concert:nova. “It wouldn’t be worth it if we weren’t pushing the envelope,” Nelson says.

Greenberg agrees. “It’s a perfect time for this. Cincinnati’s blowing up artistically right now, really coming into its own.”

The Bradbury Tattoos occurs 6 and 9 p.m.

Friday (July 13) and 5 and 8 p.m. July 22 at Memorial Hall (1225 Elm. St., Over-theRhine). Tickets: concertnova.com

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

the stories take over, the singers become integrated into the soundscape.”

The original staging called for each story to be performed in a different venue in Memorial Hall. But the logistics proved to be complex, so all four stories will play in the main auditorium.

Greenberg describes the score as a mix and match, and his original instrumentation has changed with the staging. “There’s a lot of improvised stuff in it,” he says. “A lot of Jazz musicians will be involved, although it’s not traditional Jazz.”

Tattoos are the crucial framing device for the opera. The concert:nova team secured Mast, a nationally recognized tattoo artist with strong local ties. He divides his time between San Diego and Cincinnati, where he works at Designs by Dana in Covington.

Nelson says that Mast’s old-school tattoo training is in perfect sync with the stories themselves. “Steve is a great traditional tattoo artist with a deep appreciation of the history of tattoos going back to the ’50s,” he says.

Mast began by creating black-and-white mockups and a “tattoo” for each story,

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and dramaturg Burnham to help determine which stories to use, and to craft the libretto. Four were chosen: “The Last Night of the World,” “Kaleidoscope,” “Zero Hour” and “The Highway,” and the task of transforming a highly visual and verbal work into opera began.

Greenberg multi-tasks as an instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, producer, arranger and activist. His experiences scoring films and videos were the foundations for composing an opera, although the format is anything but traditional.

“Since this was an adaptation, I approached it like a film score,” he says. “I took notes as I read the stories, and did an outline of sound design by creating reference tracks. I gave those to Michael; he created a libretto based on what he heard.”

Burnham calls those soundscapes brilliant and hugely helpful to building the format for each story. To create a unifying structure, he replaced the unnamed narrator with three characters.

“It’s a combination of straight singing and sprechstimme, a kind of spoken singing,” Burnham says. “A woman, a man and a child begin to tell the stories and as

J U LY 11 – 1 7, 2 0 18

here’s so much more to Ray Bradbury than Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles. Over the course of a career spanning nearly 70 years, the astonishingly prolific author — who died in 2012 — wrote hundreds of short stories, screenplays, teleplays, essays, poetry and novels that imagined a future uncomfortably reflecting present-day realities.

Bradbury’s use of exotic settings, interpersonal conflicts and outsized emotions are on an operatic scale. So, fittingly, one of his most famous collections of sci-fi short stories, 1951’s The Illustrated Man, takes the stage at Memorial Hall this Friday (July 13) and July 22 as The Bradbury Tattoos, a multi-media opera and the first such work commissioned by concert:nova. The Bradbury Tattoos received a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts; this will be its world premiere.

In keeping with concert:nova’s model, this collaboration brings together the area’s immense creative talents to celebrate Bradbury’s genius in unique, intriguing formats. The stage adaptation is

by Michael Burnham with a score by Zac Greenberg and visuals by tattoo artist and surfboard shaper Steven Mast.

Greenberg and concert:nova’s producing artistic director, Ted Nelson, had been kicking around collaborative projects for years. “We’re both Classic Rock and science fiction nerds,” says Greenberg, adding that they first thought of David Bowie after his death in 2016, but when Nelson reread Bradbury’s short story collection, the direction seemed clear.

“It struck me that even though these are science fiction stories, they’re conversations about ideas, and that lends itself to an operatic setting,” Nelson says.

The Illustrated Man is a series of 18 stories depicted by tattoos on a wandering freak-show worker barred from performing; each tattoo becomes an animated, unsettling story.

Nelson and concert:nova’s managing artistic director, Ixi Chen, enlisted actor

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Liza Mundy Sheds Light on Female Stories

BY JAS O N G A R G A N O

Liza Mundy has a burning desire to tell stories. More specifically, the longtime journalist is interested in shedding light on topics that, for one reason or another, have been in the shadows for far too long — stories that often focus on women and their place in society.

A former staff writer at The Washington Post Post, Mundy has focused most of her energies on books in recent years: 2007’s Everything Conceivable, which looked at the rising childbirth phenomenon of “assisted reproduction”; 2008’s Michelle, a biography of former first lady Michelle Obama; and 2012’s The Richer Sex, which is best described by its subtitle: How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners is Transforming Sex, Love and Family.

But Mundy’s most recent book, last year’s Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II II, took things to a different level in terms of the time and effort involved. The U.S. Army and Navy recruited more then 10,000 American women as code breakers during World War II, yet their vital roles in aiding the war effort had never been told. Women like Dot Braden, a onetime Virginia schoolteacher now in her late 90s who jumped at the chance to take a mysterious job with the Army in 1943. Braden and various other code breakers are at the center of Mundy’s fascinating book — a herculean reporting endeavor that finally gives its subjects the credit they deserve.

She’ll be discussing Code Girls Wednesday (July 11) at downtown’s Mercantile Library.

“It was the most challenging research effort I’ve ever had, and also the most satisfying,” Mundy says.

Mundy was just as surprised as everyone else when confronted with the facts of how these women and their contributions could be hidden for so long — women who, in decoding Japanese and German correspondence, were essentially the cyber-hackers of their day and assisted U.S. military and the Allied cause in such an important way.

“It was a top-secret project at the time, and so in the moment, when it was happening during the war, the women of course couldn’t talk about what they were doing,” Mundy says. “They were told to tell people, if anybody asked what they were doing at these giant compounds, that they were secretaries, that they sharpened pencils and filled inkwells and emptied trash cans. And because they were women, people believed that — people believed that the work they were doing couldn’t possibly be important.”

But even decades later, when some of what these women did was revealed, their stories were still obscured or even denied.

“I think that in the 1980s and ’90s, when the books started being written about World War II code breaking, historians really committed the sin of ignoring the

Author Liza Mundy visits The Mercantile Library.

PHOTO: NINA SUBIN

women’s contributions and ignoring records that were there,” Mundy says. “I had to get a lot of material declassified, but when I went to the National Archives, just to look at the voluminous records that had already been declassified, I was really surprised at how much information was in those records already: women’s names, women’s addresses, oral histories.

I think that historians had looked at those records and dismissed the ones that were about women. The records were there but historians just weren’t ready to open their mind to the significance of these women’s contributions.”

The parallels to the current “Me Too” movement are obvious. Asked why she thinks women’s stories and voices are finally being taken seriously, Mundy points to the fact women are now in positions where they can make a difference.

“When I got started in journalism, almost all of my editors were men — older men who, to varying degrees, didn’t think these issues were important,” she says. “They thought something like sexual harassment would not be a very prestigious topic to write about. It’s (taken) the accession — sometimes invisible but evident to those of us who have been working in the field long enough — of woman into top editing positions so that these kinds of stories are now seen as important, prize-winning journalism.”

And Mundy’s dedication to tell these types of stories is stronger than ever.

“I believe in telling people’s stories and educating the public about the truth and reality of other people’s lives so that it enlarges everybody’s understanding of what other people are going through,” she says. “I firmly believe that this kind of reporting has a social value in making us all more humane people.”

Liza Mundy discusses Code Girls 6 p.m.

Wednesday (July 11) at The Mercantile Library. More info: mercantilelibrary.com

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Contemporary Arts Center

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Summer Quarter: Saturday, July 14, 2018

The majority of works are from the collection of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg, with selections from the Cleveland Museum of Art and the collection of Connie and Jack Sullivan. This exhibition is organized by art2art Circulating Exhibitions, LLC, and the Taft Museum of Art.

J U LY 11 – 1 7, 2 0 18

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VISUAL ART

Thunder-Sky’s ‘Temple of Tolerance’

BY S T E V EN R O S EN

a Wapakoneta native who has long been interested in Bowsher and who runs a Cincinnati-based graphic design firm.

Temple of Tolerance contains wonderful photos by Merrilee Luke Ebbeler, artful and worthy of their own exclusive exhibition. There’s one that’s a ground-level view of the actual “temple,” rising like a rocky volcano from the neatly cut backyard grass, that makes it look as otherworldly as something Armstrong might have seen on the

the story behind Bowsher’s acquisition is available, and it makes fascinating reading while you study the objects.

I can only mention a couple: A spoon that Bowsher discovered amid the rotting logs of Henry David Thoreau’s cabin at Walden Pond; a child’s cup with “James Earl” engraved on the side, recovered from the fire-damaged remains of assassin James Earl Ray’s childhood home in Alton, Ill.; a late-1800s photo of a girl suffering

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Jim Bowsher’s “Temple of Tolerance” in Wapakoneta, Ohio PHOTO: MERRILEE LUKE EBBER

Temple of Tolerance is at Thunder-Sky, Inc. (4573 Hamilton Ave., Northside) through Aug. 3. For more information, visit Thunder-Sky’s Facebook page or call 513-426-0477.

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from excessive growth of hair who Bowsher had met and interviewed when she was almost 100.

You’ll understand Bowsher’s approach to history after you see this exhibit. He explores through often-ephemeral objects how, for better and worse, we develop from our past as individuals and as a culture.

Everything, thus, has value — even a child’s sled. We weren’t just arbitrarily created good or evil. Whether you consider it art or history, Bowsher’s work is a noble undertaking.

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moon. Within its confines, green wilderness has started to peek and climb through the cracks. At the top, where thinner and more shaped rock has been assembled to create an altar, a boy squeezes through a passageway. Overhead, dramatic clouds fill the sky. Magic is in the air.

There is also a photo of another large outdoor sculpture, a war memorial for which Bowsher collected shell casings from firing ranges and displayed them inside a see-through acrylic canister. That object is the centerpiece of an archway made with wrought-iron fencing.

The most engrossing part of this show is the selection of actual objects that Bowsher has collected over the years, displayed in cases. A pamphlet describing them and

J U LY 11 – 1 7, 2 0 18

The exhibition now at Northside’s ThunderSky, Inc. gallery through Aug. 3 is different from shows I’ve seen there recently.

Indeed, it’s different from what I’ve usually seen here at our smaller, nonprofit alternative galleries — I think it’s a breakthrough.

The exhibit’s full name is Jim Bowsher and the Temple of Tolerance. I’m not sure that the title is going to immediately resonate with a Cincinnati audience — Bowsher is an unfamiliar name here as he lives in Wapakoneta, the small town between Dayton and Toledo that is best known as the birthplace of astronaut and first moonwalker Neil Armstrong. On the basis of this exhibition, it should also become well known for being the home of Bowsher and his outdoor art environments.

In terms of the way the exhibit approaches an offbeat and alternative (but important) subject with scholarship and documentation — and balances history with art — Temple of Tolerance reminds me of The Keepers, the influential 2016 show at New York’s New Museum that posited collecting itself could be a form of creating art.

Bowsher is a collector whose passion for discovering the overlooked significance in older objects approaches heroic proportions. But he doesn’t treat them like trophies to show off, the way a crass or bourgeois collector would. He instead uses them as the basis for storytelling — both by collecting their histories from those who know, and by then telling their stories to others. (He spoke in June at Chase Public in connection with the opening.)

At the same time, Bowsher took 18 years to create his backyard “Temple of Tolerance” with found and repurposed materials — large rocks, primarily. What he has built is an impressive art environment that has drawn increased international attention.

While this exhibit can’t bring the actual “Temple of Tolerance” here — it weighs hundreds of tons, occupies two acres and is bigger than the gallery, itself — it certainly makes you feel its presence. The exhibit has been curated by Scott Bruno,

FOLLOW the GREEN

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VISUAL ART

Two New CAC Exhibits Look at Identity from Different Angles

BY L E Y L A S H O KO O H E

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

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J U LY 11 – 1 7, 2 0 18

Two exhibitions on display at the Contemporary Arts Center through Aug. 19 offer a pair of identity-probing perspectives from artists Alison Crocetta and Firelei Báez.

This is the first solo museum exhibition for Crocetta, a hybrid performative and sculptural artist based in Columbus, Ohio, and the first Ohio exhibition for the Dominican Republic-born, Brooklyn-based Báez.

“I don’t want to over-determine why certain exhibitions are matched or paired with other ones,” says curator Steven Matijcio. While at first glance, the artists and their respective works feel very different, he recognized “a lot of shared ambition” between the two exhibitions.

A Circus of One, Crocetta’s exhibition, examines both costumes and tools from her past performative films. Matijcio says the collection of work showcases Crocetta’s analysis of the “performance of identity,” by utilizing the starting point and concept of circus and “over-the-top, indulgent experiences” to strip away from and explore the human framework of crafting an identity. The centerpiece is the premiere of her performative work A Circus of One (Act II), which has two more live shows at the museum — at 7 p.m. July 24 and 3 p.m. Aug. 18. Tickets can be reserved at contemporaryartscenter.org.

Translating past performative work into a reflective exhibition can be a challenge, but Crocetta views sculptural elements as both objects for her performances and collaborative tools to use within them. and She refers to her movements as “actions,” imbuing the exhibition on the whole and individually with a serious, considered intentionality.

“One of the main themes of my entire career has always been my interest in the impact of performance or impact of human gesture on sculptural form,” she says. “How can sculptural form be transformed through human gesture? And also how does sculptural form extend, support, expand the possibilities for the body?”

Crocetta’s Bear in Mind (The Bill of

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Rights) is a 2006 video of an American Sign Language interpreter translating the Bill of Rights.

You can listen to a recitation of the “gloss” — the literal transcription of the American Sign Language version — while watching the video. The recitation renders the Bill of Rights down to its most essential elements: “The Bill of Rights. First Amendment. Congress. They forbid your free expression. Can’t they. You have rights.” The distillation to essentials and the resulting contemplation of those elements is Crocetta’s point with this piece and, honestly, her entire body of work here.

From Surrender, Surrender Surrender, a 2013 work wherein An image from Alison Crocetta’s performance Surrender she interprets the concept of “play” PHOTO: PROVIDED by meditating on the occurrence of surrender in childhood games, we are preshe starts from a “more essentialist place,” sented with a soft white garment she wore pushing into a “hyperbolic” post-race during the original performance, as well realm, one where we’ve moved beyond the as a white flag of surrender. Two images multitudes of damage caused by race and from the performance are also on display. can examine the fluidity of identity.

The juxtaposition of freedom and surIt is especially fitting that her collecrender, which relinquishes resistance and tion of work presented here is called To therefore could also be considered a form See Beyond. Much of it features pairs of of freedom, is powerful to consider. penetrating eyes; if the body becomes fluid Báez’s works are equally intentional, in her work, the eyes are steadfast portals, and her paintings create an amplified both literally and metaphorically, through conversation around identity. Matijcio says which to view the work and the world it

interprets.

The first paintings to confront the viewer are “for Marie-Louise Coidavid, exiled, keeper of order, Anacaona” and “Can I Pass? Introducing the Paper Bag to the Fan Test for the Month of June.”

The former is a portrait of an exiled queen of Haiti, rendered in sumptuous purples and magentas that are reminiscent of religious iconography. The queen’s face is a deep-ocean-colored swirl, but her eyes are piercing.

“Can I Pass?” melds two tests of racial “passing” into a larger contemplation on self-identity. The first test is whether or not a person’s skin is lighter or darker than a paper bag, which translates to passing or not passing for being white and all its attendant implications. A similar Caribbean-born test uses hair blowing in a fan’s breeze, with denser hair resisting the wind and thinner hair moving easily.

The title of Báez’s exhibit — To See Beyond — comes from the name of the work Matijcio positioned as the “bookend” of the exhibition, an exuberantly colorful and gently amorphous portrait with a pair of eyes staring from the opposite end of the floor at “Can I Pass?” It feels almost ethereal when compared to the sobering “Can I Pass?,” a counterbalance for the many ways we can perceive ourselves.

A Circus of One and To See Beyond are on view through Aug. 19. More info: contemporaryartscenter.org

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TV

Ryan Murphy’s ‘Pose’ Explores Ball Culture

BY JAC K ER N

J U LY 11 – 1 7, 2 0 18

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Fresh out of Pride month, queer culture seems to be at a crossroads. Visibility and acceptance is at an all-time high. Marriage equality has been upheld by the Supreme Court. LGBTQ people and allies flock en masse to allencompassing Pride festivals and parades. RuPaul’s Drag Race is as mainstream as just about any other reality show, bringing all kinds of related topics — both the good and Pose’s Indya Moore as Angel the problematic — to a mass audience.

P H O T O : S A R A H S C H AT Z / F X Like anything once considered taboo that becomes more embraced by society, it can be easy trans people and gays, people of color and to forget the past and the predecessors in whites and even the trans women who queer culture who fought for the freedom don’t “pass” as cisgender and the feminine so many enjoy today. At the same time, trans women who do. Blanca tries to break these very freedoms feel threatened amid down these walls. the current political climate, and not As with anything from Murphy (plus coeveryone under the LGBTQ umbrella is creators Brad Falchuk and Steven Canals), treated equally.

Pose is a visual delight. The ball scenes are This context is why Pose (10 p.m. Sunintoxicating with all the colors, movement days, FX) is such an important series. Set and music straight from your favorite ’80s in 1987 New York City, this Ryan Murphy mixtape — a stark contrast from most of drama initiates viewers into the underthe characters’ everyday lives, which more ground LGBTQ scene of the era known often than not include rejection, poverty as the ball community. Balls were part and discrimination, all while the commuamateur fashion runway, part drag show, nity is being ravaged by a disease that the part beauty pageant and part dance battle, president won’t even speak about. where primarily gay, trans and genderThis gritty yet glittery world is also juxtanonconforming people of color were free to posed with what’s best represented by the express themselves, competing in various gilded phallic Trump Tower (Murphy just categories at the mercy of a panel of judges couldn’t resist), where New Jersey family and an opinionated audience. man Stan Bowes (Evan Peters) takes up a So many elements of ball culture — job under Patrick Bateman 2.0 Matt Bromfrom dance moves to lingo — have been ley (a perfectly cast James Van Der Beek). co-opted over the years by people who Here, it’s all about wealth, opulence and embrace the fun, flashy elements without keeping up with the Joneses — no passion ever having to face the hardships this or personality. One poignant scene cuts community lived through. See: Madonna’s between a vibrant underground ball and “Vogue,” most Drag Race fans. So it’s amazan actual ballroom, where the cookie-cuting to see a show that specifically highter upper crust rock in unison across a dull lights the queer people of color and trans dance floor. The two worlds collide when women who are so often erased from the Stan meets Angel (Indya Moore), a sex narrative, including LGBTQ writers, direcworker who goes on to join House of Evantors and actors (sadly, trans actresses playgelista. Stan must reconcile his feelings ing trans characters is quite revolutionary). for her with his persona as a straight-laced Most ball participants belong to a house, husband and businessman. Is he falling for which is both a team they compete on Angel, or just fetishizing her? and a surrogate family, as most have been If you want a raw, real look at ball culrejected by their own because of their ture, there’s no topping the 1991 docusexuality or gender expression. Pose opens mentary Paris Is Burning Burning, which gives a with Blanca Rodriguez (Mj Rodriguez) truly unfiltered view. It’s no doubt a strong leaving her cumbersome house, led by inspiration for Pose, which is a fine addistone-cold stunner “mother” Elektra tion to Murphy’s repertoire, a soap opera Abundance (Dominique Jackson), in an with heart and an important message effort to start her own. Blanca’s more comworth sharing at a perfect moment in time. passionate “House of Evangelista” grows to It exposes the harsh reality of the queer include young queer people she’s invited community’s struggle to simply survive, off the street and into her home. while also celebrating them: “How lucky Balls and houses were not all about are we?” one character says. “We create camaraderie — many characters aren’t ourselves.” even accepted within their own comContact Jac Kern: @jackern. munity, as evidenced by the rift between

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Top: Chicken gobbets, octopus and hummus, beet toast; Bottom: Restaurant interior

Family is King at Crown Republic Gastropub

PHOTO: HAILEY BOLLINGER

The friends-and-family run downtown eatery focuses on flavor and freshness, with a Mediterranean twist

BY L E Y L A S H O KO O H E

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

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amily is the name of the game for the newly opened Crown Republic Gastropub in Cincinnati’s Central Business District. Located on the first level of the same building as Encore Apartments, Crown Republic is the culinary child of a three-member ownership team consisting of Anthony Sitek, Haley Nutter-Sitek and Mike Casari. The trio of friends (Anthony and Haley are now married) met in culinary school in 2009 at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island and formed what Casari calls a “family-like bond,” starting a small catering company and personally working in restaurants up and down the East Coast before finally opening their own.

“It’s been a dream of ours for so long now,” Anthony says. “We’ve been working on this venture for at least five years.”

Anthony and Casari are head chefs, and Haley is front-of-house manager. The three have an easy, comfortable rapport — so comfortable, in fact, that Casari currently lives with the Siteks and their two children.

That kind of closeness translates well to a restaurant, at least in this instance, with a well-balanced managerial dynamic and a cohesive menu with ingredients that are made, as Anthony says, “99.9 percent in-house.”

“We’re smoking our own meats, we’re curing all of our meats, we’re making our pasta, we’re making our own sauces, we’re making all the dressings,” he says. “Only thing we’re not making is our bread, which we’re getting from Ryan over at Sixteen Bricks.”

The trio bring a lot of culinary clout, too: The Siteks worked in Chicago before moving to Miami, where Anthony opened a pair of Mediterranean-themed restaurants, and Casari opened Lady Gaga’s family

restaurant in New York City under chef Art Smith. Crown Republic’s menu draws on that Mediterranean influence, with what Anthony calls “clean and light” flavors and a general movement toward freshness in the industry.

I stopped by on a Saturday for a solo, pre-theater meal, and because my eyes are always, always bigger than my stomach, I ordered enough food for two: the octopus tabbouleh ($16), fried chicken gobbets ($8) and pappardelle ($16).

The octopus was tender, served on a bed of farro tabbouleh under creamy, zesty duck-fat hummus and loaded with fresh herbs and merguez. When I ran out of the four pieces of housemade pita (more akin to the kind gyros are served on than pocket-y pita), I shoveled the rest of that delicious food confetti into my mouth with a fork.

Did you know the name “pappardelle” comes from the Italian phrase “to gobble up”? Well, it does, and that’s exactly what you’ll do. The housemade noodles are at least two-inches wide and curled in a winding nest under a nice Bolognese sauce, topped with a pat of green ricotta gremolata and sprinkled with parmesan cheese and parsley. I’m not sure if everything

CRG Burger

FOOD&&DRINK DRINK FOOD

PHOTO: HAILEY BOLLINGER

BY S TA FF

Blackbird Eatery, 3009 O’Bryon St., O’bryonville, 513-321-0413, blackbirdeatery.com Blackbird is the latest venture by longtime Cincinnati restaurateurs Mary and Mark Swortword, who closed their Columbia Tusculum restaurants Green Dog Café and Buz to focus on the new project in a more central neighborhood. (The Swortwords were also the original owners of Blue Ash’s Brown Dog Café.)

Formerly a chicken joint called Son of a Preacher Man, the building had been vacant for over a year when the Swortwords began extensive renovations in January. While they were able to use a lot of kitchen equipment from their previous restaurants, Mark told me they completely gutted the dining room and started from scratch to transform the single room into a more intimate, inviting space where guests might linger over drinks and dinner or Sunday brunch.

My first visit — for dinner — turned out surprisingly quiet, even though we went on a Saturday night. For mains, the Nori Pesto Salmon ($17) with zucchini, pea shoots and green couscous sounded so good we almost fought over who would get to order it. Not only was it lacking in taste, but the dish also arrived lukewarm. We had better luck with the grilled lamb tenderloins ($29), consisting of slices of medium-rare lamb over green lentils with pickled golden raisins and a yogurt sauce.

Overall, while I think the cooking needs a few tweaks, there’s enough good stuff coming out of the kitchen to satisfy most diners who find their way to this little restaurant row on O’Bryon Street. (Pama Mitchell)

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

The Takeaway 1324 Main St., OTR, 513-8731157, facebook. com/takeawayonmain Business at The Takeaway is split between the deli and a tidy grocery.

The deli offers an assortment of sandwiches, sides, daily soups, salads and a kids menu — a rarity in to-go shops. Among other sandwich options, you can chow down on the Reuben, featuring house corned beef layered on rye bread from Allez; the northeast-Ohio staple, Trail & Swiss, featuring Troyer’s Genuine Trail bologna; or one of three variants of The Salad Sandwich, with egg, chicken or tuna salad. Vegetarian-friendly options include the Caprese with housemade basil pesto on Allez sourdough or one of three salads — the Caesar, kale apple and house.

On the first visit, a BLT felt like a safe choice. It proved to be that and more.

The bacon was the thickest cut I’ve had on a sandwich in a long time (the slicer is set to 26), the aioli was creamy, but not overpowering, and the wheat bread sufficiently held it all together. (I also added a slice of cheddar.)

I also tried the tuna salad on a Mainwood Pastry croissant on a subsequent visit, and it only served to further my belief that any “salad” sandwich should exclusively be served on flaky bread. The croissant lasted to the very last triumphant bite — no soggy bottom slice here — and the housemade mayonnaise sets the trio of salads apart. (Leyla Shokoohe)

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Sacred Beast 1437 Vine St., OTR, 513-2132864, sacredbeastdiner. com Before I had the chance to eat at Sacred Beast, I had heard so much buzz — about the concept, the owners and their impressive pedigree, the physical design and the “simple food, taken seriously” motto — that my expectations were over the moon.

It took me two tries to understand the raves, but then I became a believer.

It was hard to tell which of the food choices might qualify as a main course, but our server said that the bottom portion of the “Now Serving” column could be considered entrées.

Those entrées include king salmon, steak tartar with french fries and an egg, chicken thighs, hash browns (yes, in the main course section) and the cryptically listed “ham and cheese,” all priced between $13.95-$18.95. Descriptions of these and other presumably lighter dishes are sparse, and you might want to ask before you order.

It wasn’t easy to decide what to eat, but I’m happy to report that my choice of the Diner Breakfast hit the jackpot.

It’s a truly great plate of food and I’d be hard-pressed to order anything else upon a return visit. Soft scrambled eggs, a short stack of ricotta pancakes topped with two strips of maple-glazed pork belly and a small grilled tomato make up this scrumptious meal. (PM)

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noodle-y needs to be al Saturday, serving breakCrown dente or not, but these fast, lunch and dinner with Republic noodles were very soft. extended hours Friday and Oh, and the gobbets.

Saturday. The restaurant Gastropub You’re probably wondering is closed on Sundays for 720 Sycamore St., what those are. family time.

Over-the-Rhine, “An adult chicken nug“Families take care of crgcincy.com; get,” Anthony says. The each other, and we underHours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. gobbets are soaked in the stand that means separatMonday-Friday; 10 malt brine the crew makes ing and giving everyone a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday their pickles in — how’s their space,” Haley says. that for resourceful? — “Family always comes first. then fried and served with That doesn’t go for just honey hot sauce on the how we serve our food like side. family style, that goes for The tangy malt brine elevates the everything. Our employees, our customers. chicken’s coating and the honey hot sauce We want them to always feel 100 percent brings balance; a single order is perfect to comfortable here and if they don’t, then split with a second person. During lunch, we’re not doing our job properly.” the gobbets are also available in Crown To that end, the trio is keeping their Republic’s spin on a po’boy, served with price point low and consistent. Nothing on lettuce, tomato, malt pickles and garlic the menu is over $25 — they’d rather have aioli on a hoagie. you come in twice a week than once every Speaking of lunch, I also visited Crown six months, Anthony says — and they have during a weekday and tried the beet toast a solid offering of wines, beer and specialty ($8) and CRG burger ($12). The former is cocktails. The dessert menu is created by made with a walnut tapenade, which took Benjamin Arington of Fat Ben’s Bakery. every single one of my taste buds for a Check out his restaurant options like surprise ride to FlavorTown. It was smoky, housemade gelato or coconut pistachio sweet, wholly unexpected and really good. cake, or swing by Fat Ben’s in-house pastry “Everyone has a beet salad on their menu, window, open 7-11 a.m. Monday-Friday, for but we’re doing a beet toast with roasted a morning jump-start. beets, arugula and goat cheese,” Anthony “Honestly, we feel like there wasn’t a says. “It’s not like it’s a complicated dish concept like this in this city,” Anthony says.

— it’s a simple dish. We’re just adding “Cincinnati’s such a family-oriented city elements to make it better and make your that we were trying to just become a part palate explore, essentially.” of that family. We’re not in it for the money.

I think ordering a burger at any restauWe’re in it to show people what we could rant is a good barometer for determining do and what we’ve learned. When you walk the restaurant’s style and quality level (this in our door, we want you to feel comfortis a self-originated thought and I’m not able. We want to know you by first name.” sure if other food reviewers do it, but I do You know. Like family. and it’s worked pretty well thus far) and Crown Republic’s did not disappoint. It FIND MORE RESTAURANT NEWS had a delightful pickle aioli and reminded AND REVIEWS AT CITYBEAT.COM/ me of a much better, more mature Big Mac. FOOD-DRINK The restaurant is open Monday through

RECENTLY REVIEWED

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THE DISH

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Felix Coffee Co. Pop-Up Celebrates Its First Anniversary

BY SA M I S T E WA R T

Dozens of coffee shops have made names for themselves with individual visions and aesthetics in various Queen City neighborhoods. One of the newer kids on the block has a burning passion for serving the perfect cup of black coffee and making their customers feel like family. Felix Coffee Co. is a pop-up that surfaces at local markets, serving a limited variety of third-wave coffees and teas and a curated selection of merch.

Logan Peele and Jessica Ufkes brought the idea of Felix Coffee Co. to fruition just over year ago and celebrated the pop-up’s first anniversary in April. The duo has set themselves apart by committing to a nomadic business practice, wheeling their way around the Greater Cincinnati area and feeling out various communities to find where they belong before planting roots. Two words describe their timeline so far: baby steps.

The shop’s name comes from the Latin phrase felix culpa, which translates to “a happy fault.”

“It all started with us wanting to do something bigger than just being college students,” Ufkes says.

Once the idea for launching a coffee shop had been planted, it stuck. Despite frequent reminders from others of how little money they would make as a start-up shop and the possibility of it all falling through in the end, they weren’t fazed.

Instead, it fueled their passion.

“Logan and I said ‘Screw you guys. We love you, but we’re starting this coffee shop,’” Ufkes says.

Felix stems from Peele’s obsession with coffee and Ufkes’ love of community.

Community without coffee feels like a dim office space with a drop ceiling, and coffee without community is just a damn shame.

“We want people to feel at home…even if they don’t know us,” Peele says.

Ufkes and Peele ask themselves, “If we’re not pleasing (our customers), who are we pleasing?” They want to serve others via quality coffee, so they focus on simplicity, education, transparency and building relationships.

Felix’s community-forward focus is inspired by the people that nurtured them in their earliest stages: Sozo Loveland, the church where Peele’s father preaches, was the first place to experience Felix as an entity. Felix’s first endeavor was becoming the welcoming committee at Sozo, offering hot coffee to everyone who walked through the door.

“We’re thankful for the people who have enabled us along the way. Without them, we wouldn’t be here,” Peele says.

While the hospitality of Sozo was integral in Felix’s initial lift off, local Yield Coffee Roasters equipped Ufkes and Peele with the insider info they needed to turn their dreams into action. Felix sources beans from Yield, and the company has taken the couple under their wing,

Scenes from a Felix Coffee Co. pop-up PHOTO: PROVIDED

nurturing their skills in the coffee industry and encouraging their budding business.

Out of the dozens of coffee companies Felix could’ve chosen to buy their coffee from, Yield stood out from the rest for a number of reasons — most importantly, their status as a nonprofit and heart for direct-trade relationships.

While offering locals excellent service and a great cup of coffee is important to Peele and Ufkes, ensuring that the farmers

who harvested the beans earn a living wage is possibly more so.

Caring is what Peele and Ufkes do best — from turning strangers at the market into friends to sustaining the symbiosis within the coffee community, they’ve put their heart and soul into their business. They’re less worried about the bottom line and more zeroed in on the big picture.

“We never really thought about money,” Peele says. “We’re focused on serving

others.”

That mindset backed their decision to think outside the box and become a coffee company without walls. By tossing away any preconceived notion of how a coffee shop should run, Peele and Ufkes were free to create a shop that is an extension of themselves and their ideals.

Eventually, Peele would like to apply the roasting skills he’s been honing with Yield to his own business to roast all of Felix’s coffee. But presently, his motive is to continue laying a groundwork and dream about the future.

Peele and Ufkes refer to themselves as “opposite creatives” —where one falls short, the other picks up the slack. Their partnership has allowed them to use their strengths and strengthen their weaknesses.

For now, they’ll still pop-up and serve the community until it’s time to take bigger steps forward; Ufkes and Peele plan on investing in an espresso machine and eventually a brick and mortar shop.

In the meantime, Felix will remain a mobile coffee cart serving great coffee from a company they believe in to strangers they hope will become friends.

To find Felix Coffee Co., visit felixcoffeeco. com/findfelix.

CLASSES & EVENTS WEDNESDAY 11

CityBeat Burger Week Kick-Off at Braxton Brewing Co. — Kick off CityBeat’s Burger Week at Braxton with an after-work party featuring live music from The Band Washington, Braxton brews and samples and sneak peek tastes from participating Burger Week restaurants. This is also your first chance to pick up a Burger Week Passport. 5:30-8:30 p.m. Free.

Braxton Brewing Co., 27 W. Seventh St., Covington, Ky., citybeat.com.

THURSDAY 12

Taft Museum House Party — Head to the museum after work for an evening of cocktails, light bites, live music from Freedom Nicole Moore & The Electric Moon and excerpts from the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, performed in the “Far Flung” willow tree sculpture on the lawn. 5-8 p.m. Free. Taft Museum of Art, 316 Pike St., Downtown, taftmuseum.org.

Brewcademy Session 2: Belgian-Style Beers — Learn about the diverse world of Belgian-style beers from teachers at Rhinegeist.

This session includes tasting and sensory techniques, beer history and the influence of Belgian brews on other craft beers and food.

6:30-8:30 p.m. $45. Rhinegeist, 1910 Elm St., Overthe-Rhine, rhinegeist.com.

The Future of Tea at Tokyo Kitty — Presented by Wendigo Tea and powered

by Smooth Nitro Coffee technology, this event at Tokyo Kitty features a keg tapping of the world’s first Kappa Matcha Latte. Get a nitro matcha latte on tap featuring Wendigo’s Kappa Ceremonial Stone Ground Matcha with organic almond and coconut milk. This Japanese-inspired nonalcoholic drink can also be combined with tea cocktails. 5 p.m.

Free admission. Tokyo Kitty, 575 Race St., Downtown, facebook.com/thattokyobar.

Date Night: Taco and Margarita Fiesta — The team from Tablespoon Cooking Co. brings you South of the border for a date-night cooking class featuring Latin American flavors. Tickets are sold in pairs. 6-9 p.m.

Findlay Kitchen, 1719 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, tablespooncookingco.com.

FRIDAY 13

The Rhined One-Year Anniversary — The Rhined celebrates its anniversary with an all-day cheese sale (40 percent off a different cheese every hour), plus drink specials, cheese pairings and raclette nachos. 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Free admission.

The Rhined, 1737 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, facebook. com/therhined.

SUNDAY 15

Pets in Need Ice Cream Social — This ice cream social, featuring sweets from United Dairy Farmers plus games, music and a visit from Lockland police and firefighters, will celebrate National Ice Cream Day and feature adoptable pets from the SPCA Cincinnati.

Noon-3 p.m. Free admission. Pets in Need of Greater Cincinnati, 520 W. Wyoming Ave., Lockland, facebook. com/pincincy.

MONDAY 16

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NSYC Ramen Mondays: The Sashimi Bowl Launch — This brand new NSYC/Kiki College Hill pop-up features fresh, raw marinated tuna bowls over rice or coconut curry ramen from chef Hideki Harada. 4-9 p.m. $11-$15. Northside Yacht Club, 4227 Spring Grove Ave., Northside, facebook. com/northsideyachtclub.

Cincinnati Burger Week — CityBeat CityBeat hosts the annual Burger Week fest, featuring $5 specialty beers all week long at participating restaurants. From gourmet blends to off-menu specialties and even beer pairings, CB pays tribute to America’s sweetheart: the hamburger.

Find participating restaurants, burgers and more at cincinnatiburgerweek.com.

TUESDAY 17

Homage to Fromage — In the second installation of this cheese series, join Stephanie Webster of The Rhined as she walks guests through a tasting of five French and French-inspired cheeses, paired with wines from the same region. 7-9 p.m. $35. New Riff, 24 Distillery Way, Bellevue, newriffdistilling.com

AN IRISH WHISKEY, SCOTCH ANd cRAFT BEER TASTING EVENT

Save the date

october 3rd, 2018 5:30-8:30 Pm New Riff Distillery

Newport, Ky

hopscotchcincy.com

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

A Sunday Afternoon at Smale Park — This steampunk summer picnic, hosted by Airship Amelia, is an old-fashioned fun fest.

Bring whatever food or drink you want to this potluck and dress to impress. 1 p.m.

Free. Smale Riverfront Park, W. Mehring Way, Downtown, facebook.com/airshipamelia.

Secret Society of Spirits: Midsummer Mixology — Learn how to make light, bright cocktails to cool down on a hot summer day. Secret Society of Spirits sessions include three instructions and methods to create three cocktails. 4 p.m. $40; $36 groups of 8 or more.

Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, memorialhallotr.com.

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July Happy Hour with Aftab Pureval — Nation Kitchen and Bar hosts this

happy hour featuring Aftab Pureval, who is running against Congressman Steve Chabot. Hosted by the Young Dems. 5:30 p.m. Free admission. Nation Kitchen and Bar, 1200 Broadway St., Pendleton, facebook.com/ hamiltoncountyyoungdemocrats.

Fabulous!

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Bacon Bourbon and Brew Festival — Area food vendors will descend on Festival Park to present recipes that include bacon, bourbon and craft beer. The Bourbon Society of Greater Cincinnati will host tastings, lectures, discussions and some of the area’s top mixologists. 5-11 p.m. Thursday and Friday; noon-midnight Saturday; noon-9 p.m. Sunday. Free admission. Festival Park, Riverboat Row, Newport, Ky., facebook.com/baconbourbonandbrewfestival.

Most classes and events require registration and classes frequently sell out.

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MUSIC

‘Almost’ is Now Cincinnati Indie Pop quartet The Ophelias go national with their debut for Joyful Noise Recordings

BY J U D E N O EL

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sk Spencer Peppet about her influences, and you can trace a clear lineage to the Chamber Folk boom of the mid-2000s: the immersive, lightly orchestral fingerprints of acts like Wye Oak, Joanna Newsom and Andrew Bird freckle her work as guitarist and songwriter for The Ophelias, the Cincinnatibased band whose sophomore LP, Almost, Almost is being released nationally this Friday via respected indie imprint Joyful Noise Recordings.

Quick as she is to cite the Indie troubadours of the Obama administration as inspirations, it’s evident that Peppet is an even bigger fan of her own bandmates.

“I never felt like I’m the one calling the shots,” she says. “We feel like an actual team together; I’ve never worked with a group so intuitive, creative and aware and just so on it.”

Peppet initially enlisted Micaela Adams (drums), Grace Weir (bass) and Andrea Gutmann Fuentes (violin) in her senior year of high school to upgrade her solo material for a one-off live performance, transforming whispery lo-fi tunes into confident compositions that recall The Cranberries or Horse Feathers. This experiment in Baroque Pop proved more fruitful than Peppet expected — the quartet wrote an entire live set’s worth of arrangements in just one day, generating enough enthusiasm among its members to form a fully-fledged band.

“It was a totally magical experience, honestly,” Peppet says. “I felt like I had found the best people in the world.”

By graduation, The Ophelias had already crafted an album’s worth of material. Creature Native was released in August 2015.

For a home-recorded and self-released project, the record aims miles beyond the over-mumbly minimalism that can oversaturate Bandcamp’s streaming landscape.

Creature Native dips into ominous greyscale hues, tinting wiry Folk Rock landscapes with the band’s own brand of overcast cloud cover. Sheets of guitar and bass ripple against jittery percussion, tempered only by sleepy violin melodies stretched thin. A cover of the Velvet Underground and Nico’s “These Days” slips so

The Ophelias P H O T O : K AT E R I N A V O E G T L E

seamlessly into the tracklist that you could mistake it for an original.

In 2017, Joyful Noise announced that it would reissue Creature Native as the inaugural installment in its monthly White Label Series, a subscription-based catalog of overlooked records curated by the imprint’s own artists. WHY? frontman and fellow Cincinnatian Yoni Wolf nominated The Ophelias for the January pressing, lavishing praise in the liner notes.

The Ophelias opened for WHY? just two months later at Over-the-Rhine’s Woodward Theater, which happened to be attended by Joyful Noise founder Karl Hofstetter. Encouraged by Wolf, the band handed its demos to Hofstetter.

“At first, (Karl) was like, ‘Oh, you guys might be a little young, you might be a little inexperienced at the moment, but we could pass this on to some other labels we know,’ ” Peppet says. “But then he listened to the demos and was, like, ‘No, we definitely want you on our label.’ ” Now labelmates with the likes of Kishi Bashi, Sebadoh and The Low Anthem, The Ophelias have ventured into more ambitious territory, crafting new material that holds firm to its DIY ethos while asserting its place in the “Prestige Indie” canon.

“Fog,” the lead single and opener on the band’s sophomore album, bursts with

optimism not heard on previous outings, stacking layers of vocals harmonies atop a single piano note before segueing into a breezy chord progression. Clocking in at just under two minutes, the track packs an impressive amount of curveballs in its short span, with a triumphant chorus bouncing between violin solos and heavily distorted vocal bridges before fading out.

The Ophelias’ newfound maximalism can be partly attributed to Wolf, who produced Almost Almost, sprinkling in some extra percussion while challenging the band to explore new territory.

“I’ve learned a lot from him — especially about hooks and songwriting,” Peppet says. “(Yoni) is a big hook proponent. And he definitely has an ability to look at a song, even if it’s very unfinished, and say, ‘Oh, I know what we should do.’ Sometimes, it’ll be like, ‘We should drop everything out and put this one thing in here.’ Other times, he’ll say we should add six different vocal harmonies to one part.”

On a personal level, Peppet says she’s made a point of being more direct in her songwriting since her earlier forays.“I don’t care if the person it’s about knows it’s about them — it’s what needs to be said,” she says.

That directness is especially evident (lyrically and sonically) in Almost’s second

single, “General Electric.” Carnivalesque keyboard melodies trade space with a revolving door of bleary-eyed refrains, the catchiest of which isolates the bass before easing into a sing-song stanza: “Control me like a puppet/Call me on my cellphone /I’m General Electric/You’re a Casanova.”

Ophelias fans can also look forward to an updated version of “Night Signs,” which will appear on Almost. The song was uploaded last March as a demo but has since climbed to six-digit streaming numbers on Spotify thanks to its inclusion on several taste-making playlists, including Spotify’s own “Viral 50” chart.

From playlists to magical songwriting sessions to fateful encounters with label heads, one could make a case for divine intervention playing a part in The Ophelias’ rise to their first national release. But there’s much more than serendipity that’s taken the quartet this far. They’re skilled musicians, earnest artists and, above all, friends who genuinely admire one another.

“I know a lot of bands can have a frontwoman and rotating members behind her,” Peppet says. “We’re all definitely a group together. It’s very equal, very level and I miss that when I don’t have it.”

For more on The Ophelias, visit facebook.com/theopheliasband.

SPILL IT

Siri Imani Shemixes “Plug Walk”

BY M I K E B R EEN

BY M I K E B R EE N

Elton Triggers POTUS The State Department denied a report that President Trump signed an Elton John CD featuring “Rocket Man” for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to give to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un on a recent visit, a callback to the “Little Rocket Man” nickname that almost got us all killed. But it’s verifiable that POTUS has had John on his mind lately, particularly the Pop star’s attendance records. Trump vomited some trademark word-salad at a Montana rally about why he’s better than Elton, saying (in part), “I have broken more Elton John records, he seems to have a lot of records. And I, by the way, I don’t have a musical instrument. I don’t have a guitar or an organ. No organ. Elton has an organ… Really we do it without, like, the musical instruments. This is the only musical: the mouth. And hopefully the brain attached to the mouth. Right? The brain — more important than the mouth, is the brain.”

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Jack White’s Boarding House Reach is the biggest vinyl seller of 2018, followed

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Though disappointing, fans are generally understanding when artists axe concert appearances for logical reasons (see: Elvis Costello’s and The Avett Brothers’ recent cancellations).

The disappointment is harder to take if the performer boasts on social media that they’re living it up on vacation and frolicking in a fancy pool hours before a bailing on a gig. DJ Khaled did just that moments before U.K.’s Wireless Fest said he couldn’t be there to press buttons and yell his name due to “travel issues.”

1404 MAIN ST (513) 345-7981

J U LY 11 – 1 7, 2 0 18

In a just-released new track and music clothing for the homeless and others in video, MC Siri Imani of the Cincinnati the area around Over-the-Rhine’s Findlay Hip Hop/Soul/activism collective Triiibe Playground (and elsewhere). Joining Imani rewires the Rap hit “Plug Walk,” giving it and Love in the video for the “Plug Walk new lyrics, energy and meaning in the first Shemix” are people who’ve assisted those of a series of “shemixes.” Imani — joined efforts, as well as those who’ve been on the on the track by Triiibe vocalist Aziza Love receiving end.

— says “Plug Walk Shemix” is the first of “From elders to children, this past winter seven such reconfigurations to be released. we watched the majority of them huddle In the case of the first “shemix,” the around the grills at Findlay Park staying ingenious resurrection uses the skeleton warm, rotating coats to take care of each of Rich the Kid’s “Plug Walk” to create other and even start small, barely controlsomething completely new, a commentary lable fires at this park,” Imani says “Over on the ways in which artists choose to wield the power of music. The artistic design of the project is incredibly creative and powerful, as Imani takes Rich the Kid’s own framework to directly address what is problematic about his veneration of potentially destructive behavior.

On the original “Plug Walk,” Rich the Kid evokes drug dealing, big cars, big money and Gucci shoes. Built around the same beat and minimalistic Siri Imani atmospherics of the original, Love augments PH OTO: YO U T U B E “Plug Walk” with aching but gorgeous vocals and melodic ornamentation, which add the course of three weeks we were able to a richer aesthetic to the track. Lyrically, give them what they needed to survive the Imani takes on the role Rich the Kid’s season.” approach can play in keeping a community According to Imani, one of people startdown. While she stresses “not that there’s ing some of the fires for warmth asked, “If necessarily anything wrong with” Rich y’all can do this in weeks with barely any the Kid’s testosterone swagger, from the money, why couldn’t the city do the same opening salvo, it’s clear the script has been for us?” flipped for the “shemix.”

“It definitely gave me something to Immediately establishing her masterthink about,” Imani says. “Why as a city ful skills and expanding the scope of (haven’t we) gotten behind these people power and influence, Imani opens with when they’ve needed us? Yet we’re usually “You let your plug walk?/I bring my city the first to condemn or sentence them for to the council at my block talk.” She later crimes that are usually birthed from their stings back with, “You don’t care ’bout own survival. Not to justify any crimes, but these children/’Cause they grow up and there’s always two sides, ya know?” they listen/To all your raps about bitches, Imani and Triiibe’s deeply thoughtful pimpin,’/The lean and the trickin’ ain’t and imaginative approach is one of the even how you be livin,’ ” and “You got the more exciting things going on culturally sauce at what cost?/That’s why I say that in Cincinnati right now. And there’s much you lost.” more to look forward to — besides six more With the accompanying video clip, shemixes, regular performances and their Imani explores some of the same societal non-musical work in the community, a ills from a different angle, one touched on full-length recording project from Triiibe toward the end of the track.

— III AM WHAT III AM — is due later this “The lyrics of the ‘Plug Walk Shemix’ year. The group provided a sneak peek last speak to the way the youth perceive our month with the release of “Gossip” and its lyrics, resulting in decisions they make accompanying music video. later in life,” Imani says. “This video also Watch both videos at citybeat.com and speaks to how gentrification plays a huge visit “TRIIIBEworldwide” on Facebook for role in this.” the latest on Triiibe.

Part of Triiibe’s vast community outContact Mike Breen: mbreen@citybeat.com. reach work includes providing food and

MINIMUM GAUGE

31

SOUND ADVICE Zigtebra with Vice Ensemble, Xzela and Andrew Would

Thursday • Urban Artifact

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C I T Y B E AT. C O M

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J U LY 11 – 1 7, 2 0 18

Bourbon & Bacon

32

t i c k e t s ava i l a b l e at c i t y b e at. c o m

Zigtebra’s origin story reads like the synopsis of a critically-acclaimed epic novel — a cross-country tour de force that reveals the gravitational powers of familial bonds and Synth Pop. The Chicago duo takes its name from the portmanteau of its members’ respective spirit animals. Emily Rose (Zebra) and Joseph Dummitt (Tiger) are half-siblings who reportedly met as members of an avant-garde, LGBTQ dance troupe called Pure Magical Love. Brought together by the fates, Rose and Dummitt (aka Joe Zeph) channeled their shared taste for dreamy sounds and experimental art into a collaborative project, spawning their 2015 debut album, The Brave.

Since then, Zigtebra has kept busy and well-traveled. In 2017, they released a new song and music video each month while working on improving their live show. As of now, the band is in the midst of a ninemonth nationwide tour.

The duo’s Sparkle Tip EP, released in May, is a brief but cavernous effort, flooding skeletal electronic arrangements with gallons of reverb. You can almost taste the chlorine when Rose bobs to the surface for air, reciting verses that sound like New Wave nursery rhymes — half-giggled, half-moped.

You can’t help but be reminded of Youth Lagoon or Beach House, two projects with which Zigtebra shares a frugal approach to songwriting. The duo’s compositions seem to be held together by an ectoplasmic force, keyboards floating like slime-green clouds while drum machines clatter with the hollow tones of a washer-dryer in action.

In an interview with EP Culture Beat Beat, Rose said that much of Zigtebra’s recent creative output is influenced by their life

Sleepspent PHOTO: JONCARLO DIA Z

Zigtebra P H O T O : M AT E O

on the road — more specifically, the music that blasts on the car stereo while driving between tour dates.

“I’ve been in love with Perfume Genius lately,” she said. “I’m letting our music be inspired by other current and past musicians. Listening on the road for so many miles, you get to turn on some music and really dial in to the sound. The bass tones they’re using. The rhythm. What leads up to the chorus? What’s the topic of the song?”

With an album currently in the works, it’s only a matter of time before Zigtebra’s new music can soundtrack your own drives, haunting the open highways with their imaginative (and vaguely Gothic) spirit. (Jude Noel)

make familiar influences sound as fresh and as bracing as they were a couple of decades ago. And keep in mind this is a band that has been together for just barely over a year, and has already released its first EP and experienced its first personnel shift. Sleepspent is already off to a stellar start — can a pervasive presence and a deservedly high profile be far behind?

(Brian Baker) Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit PHOTO: DANNY CLINCH

Jonathan Butler

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit with Hiss Golden Messenger Jason Isbell’s most recent record, 2017’s The Nashville Sound, might be the best thing the Alabama-bred singer/songwriter has ever done, the culmination of a twodecade career that keeps getting richer by the year. In fact, for those who still care about such things, The Nashville Sound placed fifth in the Village Voice’s annual Pazz and Jop critics’ poll, curiously nestled between Lorde’s Melodrama and The War on Drugs’ A Deeper Understanding Understanding.

But that’s not to say that the rest of Isbell’s six-album discography — which doesn’t include his six-year stint in Driveby Truckers — is lacking. It’s just that The Nashville Sound is more sonically diverse than past efforts, artfully weaving hardcharging Rock & Roll, classic Country, Blues and Folk with the all the affecting, detail-driven lyricism that has made Isbell one of the most heralded songwriters in recent memory. The album’s centerpiece is “Anxiety,” a dynamic, consciousnessburrower in which Isbell asks, “Anxiety, how do you always get the best of me?” It’s the perfect sentiment for our surreal, often nerve-wracking times — the kind of song that can’t help but resonate with listeners who similarly see our cultural fabric fraying.

“I think the better songs are the more personal songs,” Isbell told CityBeat in an interview last year. “The reason I say better is that I mean higher quality. Songs that connect with people in a more serious way are usually the ones that seem the most personal to the lives of the songwriters. I think the reason for that is that’s the only way to tell a story that is unique, because every song has been written a thousand times before and every story’s been told over and over and over for years.”

Let’s hope Isbell keeps revealing his personal issues for years to come. (Jason Gargano)

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If all you know about El Paso is that it’s a city in a Texas and a 1959 Country hit by Marty Robbins, you should get out more.

Then you’d know that it’s also the hometown of Sleepspent, a crazy cool Indie Rock trio with an obvious love of ’90s Shoegaze and Dreampop, with an equal affection for the likes of The Smiths, The Cure and Jeff Buckley. The band’s ambient Indie Rock sound also nods to Radiohead, Weezer and Coldplay in their earliest incarnations, when their respective brands of bristling mid-tempo AltRock were in full bloom and well before they disappeared into the fog of hyperbolic success.

El Paso native Austin North began his band career while still a student at the University of California-San Diego, but he ultimately returned to Texas to form Sleepspent with friend/guitarist/co-songwriter Aaron Quintanilla in 2017. North’s early Jazz guitar studies gave the band a solid structural foundation upon which to build, and their broad spectrum of influences helped to feed their creative pursuit of a unique sound in a crowded field of shallow Pop/Punk pogomeisters. Perhaps one of the most impressive elements of Sleepspent’s songs, on display for the first time on the band’s debut EP, It’s Better If You Don’t Speak or Think, is North’s streamof-consciousness lyrics, where he openly examines his often debilitating feelings of loneliness and subsequent periods of selfimposed isolation. It all combines to create a powerful sonic presentation that relies on walls of guitar wash and melancholic nuance in equal measure.

Although Quintanilla was involved in the writing and recording of the EP, he opted out of the group, leaving North, bassist Cecilia Otero and drummer Josh Mendoza to carry Sleepspent forward. It’s Better is an all-too-brief glimpse into a young and impossibly mature band of old souls who

FEMI KUTI

|

Wednesday (July 18) • PNC Pavilion at Riverbend

Friday July 21

J U LY 11 – 1 7, 2 0 18

Sleepspent with Sorrytown and Smoke Parade Saturday • The Comet

Friday July 20

33

LISTINGS

CityBeat’s music listings are free. Send info to Mike Breen at mbreen@citybeat.com. Listings are subject to change.

See CityBeat.com for full music listings and all club locations. H is CityBeat staff’s stamp of approval.

WEDNESDAY 11

CAFFÈ VIVACE - Blue Wisp Big Band. 8 p.m. Jazz.

H

FOUNTAIN SQUARE Reggae Wednesdays with The Ark Band. 7 p.m.

Reggae. Free.

MOTR PUB - Miss Tess and the Talkbacks with Billy Prine. 10 p.m. Americana/ Country Blues. Free.

H

RIVERBEND MUSIC CENTER - Kesha and Macklemore with Wes Period. 7 p.m. Pop/Hip Hop. $30.50-$112.50.

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (LOUNGE) - Arlo Mckinley with Eric Bolander.

9 p.m. Singer/Songwriter.

Free.

H

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (SANCTUARY) - The Devon Allman Project with special guest Duane Betts. 7 p.m. Rock. $20, $25 day of show.

STANLEY’S PUB - Magnolia Wind. 8:30 p.m. Americana. Free.

URBAN ARTIFACT - Dead Humor and Stranger. 9 p.m.

Rock. Free.

THURSDAY 12

20TH CENTURY THEATER - Moon Walk with Grapefruit and Fire On All Sides. 8 p.m.

Michael Jackson tribute/ Various. $5.

H

BOGART’S - The Wailers. 8 p.m. Reggae.

CAFFÈ VIVACE - Bill Gemmer Trio. 7:30 p.m. Jazz.

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

|

J U LY 11 – 1 7, 2 0 18

FOUNTAIN SQUARE Salsa on the Square with the KY Salsa All-Stars. 7 p.m.

Latin/Salsa/Dance. Free.

34

THE GREENWICH - Voyager Sextet. 8 p.m. Jazz. $5.

HORSE & BARREL - John Ford. 6 p.m. Blues. Free.

Wilderness, Calumet and Lauren Ring. 9 p.m. Americana/Rock/Various. $10, $12 day of show.

H

STANLEY’S PUB Derek Curtis, Maria Carrelli and Wilder. 9 p.m.

Country/Folk/Americana.

Cover.

H

URBAN ARTIFACT - Zigtebra with Vice Ensemble, Xzela and Andrew Would. 9 p.m. Alt/ Synth/Pop/Various. Cover.

H

WASHINGTON PARK Roots Revival with The Harmed Brothers. 7 p.m.

Americana. Free.

H

WOODWARD THEATER - Faust with John Bender. 8 p.m. Rock/Experimental/Progressive/Various. $22, $25 day of show.

FRIDAY 13

ARNOLD’S BAR AND GRILL - The Part-Time Gentlemen. 9 p.m. Americana. Free.

BOGART’S - The Purple Madness Prince Experience.

8 p.m. Prince tribute. $24.

CAFFÈ VIVACE - Eric Lechliter Trio. 8:30 p.m. Jazz.

H

THE COMET - Triiibe with Blvck Magic. 10 p.m. Hip Hop/Soul/Various.

Free.

H

CROW’S NEST - Uncle Jake & The 18 Wheel Gang. 10 p.m. Bluegrass/ Folk. Free.

H

FOUNTAIN SQUARE Red Wanting Blue with Go Angalo and Kyle English.

7 p.m. Rock/Roots/Various.

Free.

GRAND CENTRAL DELICATESSEN - Ricky Nye Inc. 8 p.m. Blues/Boogie Woogie.

H

THE GREENWICH Muwosi. 8 p.m. R&B/ Jazz. Free.

THE MAD FROG - THWAP Thursdays. 6 p.m. DJ/Electronic/Dance. Cover.

JAG’S STEAK AND SEAFOOD - Pete Dressman. 9 p.m. Rock. $5.

H H

MOTR PUB - Fluffer with Moira and Mungbean. 10 p.m. AltRock. Free.

LUDLOW GARAGE - The Summit with Kris Lager Band. 8:30 p.m. $15-$25.

NORTHSIDE YACHT CLUB - Arlo McKinley and the Lonesome Sound with Onward Etc., The

MANSION HILL TAVERN The Bluebirds. 9 p.m. Blues.

Cover.

MARTY’S HOPS & VINES - The Mood Rings. 9 p.m.

Acoustic. Free.

Rock/Various. Cover.

SATURDAY 14

PEECOX ERLANGER Saving Stimpy. 9 p.m. Rock. $5.

MOTR PUB - Darlene with Even Tiles. 10 p.m.

Indie Pop/Rock. Free.

ARNOLD’S BAR AND GRILL - Willow Tree Carolers. 9 p.m. Americana. Free.

THE REDMOOR - Chris Londen with Spacepark. 7 p.m. R&B/Pop. Cover.

NORTHSIDE TAVERN - Heavy Hinges. 10 p.m.

Rock/Various. Free.

BOGART’S - Who’s Bad. 8 p.m. Michael Jackson tribute

H

H H

OCTAVE - Dizgo. 9 p.m.

Jam/Electronic/Rock/Pink Floyd tribute PEECOX ERLANGER Saving Stimpy. 9 p.m. Rock. $5.

RADISSON CINCINNATI RIVERFRONT - Basic Truth. 8 p.m. R&B/Soul/ Funk. Free.

THE REDMOOR - Just Vince and The Fellas. 8:30 p.m. Dance/Pop/R&B. $10.

RICK’S TAVERN - Trailer Park Floosies. 9:30 p.m.

Rock/Pop/Dance/Hip Hop/ Various. Cover.

RIVERBEND MUSIC CENTER - Miranda Lambert and Little Big Town with Natalie Hemby and Tenille Townes. 7 p.m. Country/Pop. $28.50-$88.25.

SCHWARTZ’S POINT Daybreaker Trio. 8:30 p.m.

Jazz. Cover.

H

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (REVIVAL ROOM) - Punk Rock n’ Roll Invitational with The Nothing, Black Cat Rebellion, MethMatics, The Tutted Puffins and The Pistol Mystics. 8:30 p.m. Rock/Punk/ Various. $8.

STANLEY’S PUB - Terrapin Moon. 9 p.m. Grateful Dead tribute. Cover.

URBAN ARTIFACT - Motel Faces with Room for Zero and Rind. 9 p.m. AltRock.

Free.

H

WASHINGTON PARK Friday Flow with Bobby V. 7 p.m. R&B/Soul. Free.

WASHINGTON PLATFORM - Erwin Stuckey & The Omega Band. 9 p.m. Jazz. $10 (food/drink minimum).

H

WOODWARD THEATER - New Sincerity Works with Pike 27 and Young Colt. 9 p.m. Pop/

Future Sounds D.O.A. – July 20, The Mad Frog Faster Pussycat – Aug. 1, MVP Sports Bar & Grill The Pietasters – Sept.

6, Northside Yacht Club The Accidentals – Sept. 19, Urban Artifact

RIVERBEND MUSIC CENTER - Evanescence with Lindsey Stirling. 7 p.m. Rock/Various. $25-$99.50.

Dying Fetus – Sept.

20, Bogart’s

(STAR) THE COMET Smoke Parade, Sorrytown and Sleepsent. 10 p.m.

AltRock. Free.

RIVERSIDE MARINATrailer Park Floosies. 9:30 p.m. Dance/Pop/Rock/Hip Hop/Country/Various. Free.

Yungblud – Oct. 19, Madison Live

COMMON ROOTS - Raw Velvet. 4 p.m. Rock/Various.

Free.

SCHWARTZ’S POINT Josh Strange Trio. 8:30 p.m.

Jazz. Cover.

CROW’S NEST - Easy Tom Eby. 10 p.m. Americana.

Free.

SILVERTON CAFE - ModernGroove. 9 p.m. Funk/Pop/ Jazz. Free.

H

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (REVIVAL ROOM) - See You In The Funnies, Jon Worthy, Sundae Drives and Founding Fathers. 9 p.m. Alt/Rock/ Pop/Various. $5.

CAFFÈ VIVACE - Rick VanMatre Quintet. 8:30 p.m.

Jazz.

THE GREENWICH Meet Me On the Moon: A Phyllis Hyman Tribute with Qamil Wright and Atlas, The Poet. 7 p.m. Soul/R&B/Jazz. $15.

H

HAMITON COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS - Real Rap Is Back Music Festival with 8Ball & MJG, Bun B, Beanie Siegel, Freeway, Case and more. 5 p.m. Hip Hop. $25-$60.

JAPP’S - Ricky Nye Inc. 7 p.m. Blues/Boogie Woogie.

Free.

JIM AND JACK’S ON THE RIVER - Partytown. 9 p.m.

Rock/Country/Pop. Free.

LYDIA’S ON LUDLOW Forest Hills Bluegrass Band.

7 p.m. Bluegrass. Free.

MANSION HILL TAVERN - Doug Hart Band. 9 p.m.

Blues. Cover.

MARTY’S HOPS & VINES - Kick the Blue Drum. 9 p.m.

Blues/Rock/Roots. Free.

H

NORTHSIDE TAVERN A Voice for the Innocent Benefit Metal Show with Zephaniah, Lucis Absentia, Verment, Stagecoach Inferno, Split the Abyss and Bloodgate. 7:30 p.m. Metal.

Free.

H

NORTHSIDE YACHT CLUB - Alice Bag with Breaking Glass. 9 p.m.

Rock/Punk/Alt/Various. $8, $10 day of show.

STANLEY’S PUB - Jimmy DeTalente and the Electric Revival. 9 p.m. Country.

Cover.

THOMPSON HOUSE - Gallifrey Falls with From the Ruins. 8 p.m. Metal.

URBAN ARTIFACT - The Way Down Wanderers. 9 p.m. Americana. $8, $12 day of show.

WASHINGTON PLATFORMMike Wade. 9 p.m. Jazz. $10 (food/drink minimum).

SUNDAY 15

LATITUDES BAR & BISTRO - Blue Birds Band. 8 p.m. R&B/Rock. Free.

MANSION HILL TAVERN Open Blues Jam with Deb Olinger. 6 p.m. Blues. Free.

H

MOTR PUB - Turtledoves with Sam Moss and Brianna Kelly. 8 p.m.

Indie Rock. Free.

H

RIVERBEND MUSIC CENTER - Janet Jackson. 8 p.m. Pop. $29.95-$179.95.

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (REVIVAL ROOM) - Ar’mon And Trey, The Bomb Digz and Lucki Starr. 4 p.m. R&B/Pop.

Sugar Candy Mountain – Sept. 20, MOTR Pub

The Dead South – Nov. 8, Madison Theater Thrice/The Bronx – Nov. 10, Bogart’s George Winston – Dec. 5, Ludlow Garage

$18.50-$103.50.

H

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (REVIVAL ROOM) - 6 String Drag. 8:30 p.m. Roots Rock. $10, $12 day of show.

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (SANCTUARY) - Larry Keel Experience with Slippery Creek. 7 p.m.

Bluegrass. $15.

URBAN ARTIFACT - PsychoAcoustic Orchestra. 7 p.m. Jazz.

MONDAY 16

CAFFÈ VIVACE - Faux Frenchmen. 7:30 p.m. Jazz.

H

MEMORIAL HALL - A Celebration of Miles Davis with Mike Wade, Phil DeGreg and Aaron Jacobs.

7 p.m. Jazz. $8.

NORTHSIDE YACHT CLUB - Sweettalker, Brother Lee & The Leather Jackals and Friday Giants. 8 p.m. Rock/ Various. Cover.

H

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (REVIVAL ROOM) - Whitney Rose. 7 p.m. Country. $10.

TUESDAY 17

CAFFÈ VIVACE - Emmaline Campbell Duo. 7 p.m. Jazz.

H

MADISON LIVE - Blank Range with Michael Moeller. 8 p.m. Rock. $10.

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14. Like a cappella music 15. Heavy partier 16. Textbook fuck-ups 17. Like a rout 18. Heel 19. Long lunches 21. Univ. period 22. Out on a boat, say 24. Locality 26. Chevy SUV 30. Jam band behind the Curveball festival 32. Some paintings 34. Wearing kicks 36. Lunchtime 37. High energy 38. â&#x20AC;&#x153;2001â&#x20AC;? nutjob 40. Priced 42. Enormous amount 43. Affirmative vote 44. Friends 45. Sport whose ref is called a gyoji 47. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Life in the Fast Laneâ&#x20AC;? singer 50. Diminutive and playful 53. Hung it up 54. Go overboard with the drugs 56. Graphing calculator function 57. Mormons: Abbr.

59. Make up class?: Abbr.

61. Broncos run for it 62. Of the lungsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; air cells 66. Rucker of country 68. Backward dance move 69. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You betâ&#x20AC;?

70. BeyoncĂŠâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s singing sister 71. Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s story character who bakes a loaf of bread

Hoover

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