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NEWS Texts Detail the Power Struggle In (and Out of) City Hall Sets of recently released messages sent among Cincinnati officials and former mayor Dwight Tillery reveal the complicated power dynamics that roiled City Hall last year BY N I C K SWA R T S EL L

ore than a year after the intense battle inside Cincinnati City Hall kicked off by moves to fire thenCity Manager Harry Black by Mayor John Cranley, that epic struggle is still shaking loose new information about the city’s complicated political workings. The latest revelations came earlier this week when the city’s law department released two new batches of emails and other messages; one involving the mayor, council members and Black, and another involving several Democratic council members and influential former Cincinnati mayor and council member Dwight Tillery, a fellow Democrat. The messages illustrate once again the pitched fight over Black’s job, the intense interest Tillery has shown in the decisions made by the city’s elected officials, the deep antipathy between the former mayor and Cincinnati’s current mayor — and potential political fault lines in the race to become the next one.

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The Battle Over Black

In his missives, Tillery strongly urges the council members — mainly Wendell Young, P.G. Sittenfeld and Chris Seelbach in the messages released by the city so far — to stand by Black. Tillery warns of civil unrest and anger in the black community over Black’s treatment, which he likens to Cranley’s unceremonious and controversial dismissal of Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell in 2015. He also expressed concerns that Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac would be the next to get the axe if Black was removed. Blackwell, Tillery and Black are all African-American. Cranley has at times received heated criticism — including from the three men and some community groups — for the ways in which he has treated black leaders. “Met with mayor at 2:30,” Black wrote to council member Sittenfeld on March 9, 2018. “Gave ultimatum that I resign or

he will initiate a smear campaign against me.” According to Tillery and certain council members, Cranley was acting beyond the powers accorded to the mayor by the city charter in his drive to remove Black. Cranley, meanwhile, pointed to multiple allegations that Black used intimidation against city employees and had a drinking problem. “What staggers me is that you know Harry is abusing and retaliating against city workers,” Cranley wrote to Sittenfeld in April, “and you are putting your feelings about me ahead of helping them. And politics ahead of what’s right for the city.” Council members only occasionally responded to Tillery’s missives about Black, but they did so respectfully. Sometimes, they seemed to take his advice. Other times, they did not. “I’m hopeful we can stick together,” council member Seelbach wrote of a group of five council members to Tillery on March 26, 2018 as Cranley worked to get enough votes on council to fire Black. “Landsman is wavering. So anything you can do to have people reach out to him would be helpful. Cranley has entire bus (business) community calling him.” Tillery responds that he’s working on that. “Yes, I’ve text him and told him it won’t be good if he throws the manager under the bus,” Tillery writes. “There will be a march and rally against Cranley.” “When is march?” Seelbach responds. “Cranley is making everything about Landsman. You should all post to every African-American group you can to

Cincinnati City Hall PH OTO: NIC K SWARTSELL

contact Landsman.” Tillery sends similar texts to Sittenfeld and Young throughout the dramatic struggle over Black’s tenure as city manager. That battle, which appeared to begin when Black fired Assistant Cincinnati Police Chief Dave Bailey for alleged insubordination on March 8, 2018, culminated in Black resigning on April 21 just before five members of council, including swing vote Landsman, voted to fire him. In between, five Democratic council members — Tamaya Dennard, Landsman, Seelbach, Sittenfeld and Young — worked together trying to keep Black from getting fired or from getting a larger severance than the $274,000 his contract stipulated. Black stated he wanted to stay on the job but wavered after Cranley suggested a deal worth $393,000 plus a year and a half of health benefits paid by the city. “Update (while acknowledging it ain’t over till the fat lady sings),” Sittenfeld wrote Tillery March 27, 2018. “The five council members have affirmed that we’re sticking together and we will be voting down the big buyout for Harry tomorrow.” “Wow what a great thing,” Tillery responds. “Yes, it’s taken a helluva lot of effort, and I appreciate what you’ve done to yield this outcome,” Sittenfeld writes back. Black eventually walked away with the contractually stipulated package but later

won a settlement from the city for another $370,000. The six-week ordeal took a number of twists and turns, including the joint release from the five council members of a statement supporting Black. That triggered a lawsuit by conservative activist Mark Miller and his attorney Brian Shrive over violations of Ohio’s open meetings laws. Eventually, Miller and Shrive prevailed in court, winning $90,000 in legal fees and a $1,000 fine against the council members. As a result of the lawsuit, the city released text messages between the involved parties. Another lawsuit brought by media outlets triggered the release of texts between the mayor, the city manager and other council members.

Race and the Coming Mayoral Race

The texts involving Tillery show a deep divide between him and the mayor, even though the two were formerly close allies. In the messages, Tillery calls Cranley “racist,” “crazy,” and “the local Donald Trump,” among other things. “Cranley is about to start a race riot in this city,” he wrote to Sittenfeld on March 28, 2018. “We need to have an emergency meeting to discuss this because people are ready to go to the street.” But not all of the messages are about CONTINUES ON PAGE 06

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Cranley. Some, specifically to Sittenfeld, are about the race to become the next mayor of Cincinnati — a contest likely to be between Sittenfeld, Vice Mayor Christopher Smitherman and whatever other contenders may enter the ring. In one series of messages, Tillery takes Sittenfeld to task for his role in brokering a deal between the city and FC Cincinnati allowing its coming Major League Soccer stadium in the West End to move forward. The stadium hasn’t been popular with many in the historically black neighborhood, or in some other corners of Cincinnati’s various black communities. “Black people feel very passionate about that community and it will hurt you in the mayoral race,” Tillery wrote to Sittenfeld in May 2018, just before council approved a community benefits agreement between the team and a few last-minute representatives of the neighborhood. “I must tell you that if you have a black person who voted against the FC deal, he or she will have a very, very strong leg in the black community against you.” The lengthy message goes on to say that Smitherman, who supported the stadium, wouldn’t necessarily be that person, but that council member Dennard, Sittenfeld’s former staffer, could emerge as a challenger in 2021. Dennard, who voted against a publicly funded infrastructure package for the stadium, has made no indication she is considering running. “I don’t think you get the gravity of the damage that will be done in putting that soccer stadium down in the last historical neighborhood for black people,” Tillery writes. “You won’t be able to overcome this. As your friend and confidant, please don’t make this political mistake.” Sittenfeld doesn’t respond to Tillery’s warnings. But on April 13, 2018, Tillery writes again to let Sittenfeld know he has an op-ed coming soon in The Cincinnati Enquirer. “I greatly respect your difference of opinion,” Sittenfeld writes back. “…I believe in the good this proposal can do for the community. I also understand that if this vote, or any other vote, causes me not to have a future in public service, I can live with that so long as I know I did what I believe to be the right thing.”

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Health Gap Funding Fights

After Tillery served a single two-year term as mayor between 1991 and 1993, he remained active and influential in city politics. Before the two were adversaries, Tillery served as the co-chair for Cranley’s first mayoral election campaign in 2013. He made contributions to some current council members in the last council election, giving Seelbach and Young $1,100 each in March 2017, and Dennard the same amount in September that year. Until last year, he also ran the Center for Closing the Health Gap, a nonprofit he founded in 2004 to address health disparities suffered by African-Americans.

The Health Gap says it has touched more than 360,000 people through its Do Right! campaigns and has hosted annual health expos providing more than 100,000 attendees with more than 30,000 free health screenings. But there have been questions about its efficacy, and about the money the city has given it. The nonprofit got increasing funding in the city’s budget under Cranley — at least until the mayor and Tillery had a falling out over Cranley’s pick for the head of the Cincinnati Health Department. The row between the two got deeper after Tillery backed Cranley’s mayoral challenger, then-Councilwoman Yvette Simpson. Then two media reports hit at roughly the same time at the beginning of 2017 probing spending practices at the Health Gap. Those reports raised questions about the organization’s spending on a program that provided fresh fruit to 11 convenience stores — some of which didn’t have produce in them when reporters went looking — and $3,600 invoiced to the city by the Health Gap for events by a Tilleryrun political organizing group called the Black Agenda. The Health Gap later returned the money after the city said it represented improper spending on political events. A city audit later found less-than-ideal billing practices at the Health Gap but laid part of the blame for those lapses at the city’s feet. Tillery left his leadership role at the Health Gap last year. Meanwhile, since 2017, funding for the Health Gap has been a recurring budget fight, with the city manager and mayor cutting the group’s funding and council Democrats adding it back in. Cranley has said that the Health Gap should go through the same process overseen by the United Way of Greater Cincinnati that other nonprofits apply to in order to get city funding, though under his tenure, the center’s funding via the city went from $200,000 a year to $1 million a year. The city manager sought last year to zero out funding for the Health Gap in the city budget, but a veto-proof majority of council put $700,000 back in as part of a larger spending package. That decision came after roughly 100 supporters of the Health Gap flooded council chambers, leading to a testy meeting between the mayor and council. This year, the city manager and mayor again zeroed out the organization’s budget. Six members of council have signed on to a budget ordinance that would give the organization $750,000 next year. At times in his texts with council members last year, Tillery brought up the city funding for the Health Gap. “I will not be bullied by John, who continues to try to find ways in which to stop our funding,” Tillery wrote in a group message to the five council Democrats on March 26, 2018. “John continues to break the law by violating the charter. I am letting you know I will take whatever steps I need to take to protect my reputation and the center’s.”

CITY DESK

Iconic Hudepohl Smokestack Demolished BY N I C K SWA R T S EL L

It lorded 170 feet over the gray tangle of highway ramps and green overgrown medians that is Queensgate like an ancient ruin, greeting highway drivers with a strange but familiar word spelled out in white bricks: “Hudepohl.” Now it’s gone. One of Cincinnati’s most iconic, and sadly neglected, landmarks was demolished June 16 after sitting dormant on West Sixth Street for more than a quarter century. The Port Authority Demolition of the Hudepohl smokestack of Cincinnati acquired PH OTO: NIC K SWARTSELL the property in 2014 for $400,000, and largest brewer in the city by the dawn of in 2017 received $1.8 million from the the 1960s, brewing half a million barrels a Environmental Protection Agency to year from the Queensgate plant. But by the remove asbestos and another $2.2 million end of that decade, regional and national from the City of Cincinnati to demolish the brewers with more advertising resources building and remediate the property for took advantage of the increasing popularfuture, as-yet-unnamed development. ity of television, cutting sharply into the The Port said the smokestack needed market share for local breweries. more than $980,000 in immediate repairs Hudepohl’s acquisition of local competi— more than was available to save it while tor Burger Beer’s brand name, the subsecleaning up the rest of the site. quent popularity of light beers in the late The demolition comes as Cincinnati’s 1970s and early 1980s and a shift toward brewing industry soars again and as interspecialty, high-end brewing buoyed the est in the city’s history has increased. company somewhat, but industry trends The Hudepohl plant occupied space that were murder for local breweries as five had been used for brewing since the 1860s, major national brands consolidated a according to Hamilton County records. larger and larger market share. An exhaustively footnoted article in the By the middle of the 1980s, Hudepohl Journal of the Brewery History Society was only brewing about 55 percent of the details the site’s history and fate. beer it had brewed at its peak, and only it Hudepohl, itself founded by Louis and Shoenling remained as local brewers Hudepohl in 1885, acquired the former in Cincinnati. Lackman Brewing Co. on West Sixth Street The two merged in 1986 and, with in 1934, just after Prohibition ended. The Shoenling possessing a much more facility had been used by local ice cream modern plant on Central Parkway, production company Niser while producproduction at the Queensgate facility ing alcohol was outlawed, so it was still in ceased the next year. good shape when Hudepohl switched back Some other tenants occupied parts of to beer from “near beer” and soft drinks. the facility over the years, but mostly it The company benefited greatly from languished. Fires in the mid-1990s gutted a rare federal contract that allowed it to the interior and plans to redevelop the can beer during World War II so long as it buildings fell through. Now, the slate is shipped flat green-painted cans to troops being wiped clean. in the Pacific Theater, meaning thousands The company’s original OTR bottling of young men far from home got beer from plant still exists, however — and the the plant in the West End. Hudepohl brand itself survives thanks Hudepohl maintained operations at to Christian Moerlein Brewing Company its other facility on McMicken Avenue owner Greg Hardman, who helped in Over-the-Rhine until 1958. A series of resurrect the label. expansions concluding in the late 1960s Some pieces of the facility will be saved, eventually allowed the company to operate including stone and steelwork from the exclusively from its West Sixth Street locabuilding’s entryway and a neon light tion, including the construction of a new box, according to social media posts from brewhouse under the city’s 1959 urban representatives of OTR’s Brewery District. renewal plan that also saw the demolition The rest, unfortunately, will live on only of much of the West End around it. in memory. As it expanded, Hudepohl became the

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Cincinnati City Council Decriminalizes Possession of Up to 3.5 Ounces of Marijuana BY N I C K SWA R T S E L L Getting caught with as much as 3.5 ounces of marijuana by Cincinnati police won't result in legal ramifications, Cincinnati City Council decided June 12. Council approved one of three dueling ordinances that sought to decriminalize either 100 grams or 1 ounce (28 grams) of marijuana. Vice Mayor Christopher Smitherman, who is running for mayor, introduced the 100-gram ordinance with council member Jeff Pastor. The ordinance doesn't include provisions for expungement for those already convicted of possession of small amounts of marijuana — something several council members called for — but that could be coming eventually. Smitherman says the ordinance is a matter of fairness, especially for people of color who have been disproportionately cited under both a strict city law enforced between 2004 and 2010 and the Ohio Revised Code. That can have big implications, Smitherman said. “Now someone applies to get a loan to go to college, or they apply for a job in the construction industry, and they’re choosing between someone who doesn’t have a drug conviction and someone who does," he said. "We’re creating a permanent underclass.” Pastor and Smitherman have pointed to statistics showing that 86 percent of the more than 16,000 citations issued by the city for marijuana possession between 2004 and 2019 went to black residents, most of them black men. The vast majority of the citations issued took place under a harsher city antimarijuana ordinance that was repealed in 2010.

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But state laws against marijuana still exist, and almost 84 percent of those cited under the laws in Cincinnati over the past 15 years have been black.

“When we look at the statistics, we can’t just say this is institutional racism," Smitherman said. "What we can say is that this is clearly a bias. I think everyone in this room would come to the conclusion that African-American men don’t smoke more marijuana than white men. But they are carrying the brunt of enforcement.” Smitherman and Pastor's ordinance does include a prohibition on smoking marijuana in public but does not have a minimum age stipulated, as council member David Mann’s ordinances did. That was one of the objections Mann

made to the legislation. Mann introduced legislation decriminalizing possession of 1 ounce of marijuana. "The issues to think about are the quantity, where possession and use would be permitted and the age of possession to be permitted," Mann said. "My understanding is 100 grams is about 300 joints. That troubles me.” “I remain very troubled by the blessing that this ordinance gives to possession by a minor," he continued. "This says it’s OK, if you’re 12 years old in Cincinnati, to possess 100 grams of marijuana. Why on earth are we doing this?” Council members Pastor, Smitherman, Greg Landsman, Chris Seelbach and Wendell Young voted for Smitherman’s and Pastor's ordinance. "We have for far too long put people away for something that I believe should be legal and I believe will be legal," Landsman said. "I’m thrilled to be voting on this today.” Council members Mann, Tamaya Dennard and Amy Murray voted against the ordinance. Council member P.G. Sittenfeld was absent due to the birth of his first child. Murray has expressed a number of reservations about the decriminalization efforts, including questions about lack of an age limit, the discomfort with the effort expressed by Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac and other issues. Isaac said he'd rather keep the city's current law, but that CPD officers will recognize the decriminalization ordinance and police accordingly. Dennard said she supports decriminalization but wanted to see legislation that would expunge past marijuana convictions as part of a package that decriminalizes the drug. “I don’t really want to vote for either one until I know for sure that there is a path forward for expungement for people this has already destroyed — disproportionately people of color,” she said. Deputy City Solicitor Luke Blocher said that may ultimately be the purview of the municipal court, not city council. He said the city's law department is working on ways to structure an ordinance that would grant expungements. “This at least stops the hemorrhaging," Pastor said of the ordinance. "I think it would do injustice for us not to take some sort of action.”

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A glimpse at the collection of the Ohio Lesbian Archives | Photo: Hailey Bollinger

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The Ohio Lesbian Archives, one of only a handful in America, celebrates its 30th anniversary of compiling, recording and elevating LGBTQ life, literature and ephemera

t looks like they could use a bigger room. Hidden away in the basement of the Clifton United Methodist Church, the Ohio Lesbian Archives is bursting at the seams. A table is strewn with newspaper articles and old event flyers, which have recently been removed from the rows of fi ling cabinets just a few feet away. Nearby is a collection of vinyl records from the 1970s and ’80s and back-toback bookshelves, which are stuffed with novels, poetry collections and books on art and history; stacks of plastic storage tubs hold more memories. One of only a handful of lesbian-centric archives in the entire country, the OLA has spent decades chronicling lesbian history in Cincinnati and beyond. The organization celebrates its 30th anniversary this September. In the mid-1970s, OLA co-founder and Miami University post-grad Phebe Beiser was in her 20s; the Stonewall Riots were a fresh memory, the beginning of the AIDS crisis was just a few years away and the

American Psychiatric Association had only recently declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder. But amid the turmoil of being a member of the LGBTQ community in America in the ’70s and ’80s — and inarguably in the decades to follow — there was still refuge to be found in Cincinnati. There was the “Lesbian Commune,” aka the no-men-allowed West Clifton Avenue house where Beiser lived with five other women, sharing dinners on weeknights and fighting over shirts in the fashion of all 20-something roommates. There was Adam’s Rib, a gay bar on Calhoun Street that has since been replaced by a parking garage and a Smoothie King. And a neighborhood away, there was the Crazy Ladies Bookstore. Founded by Carolyn Dellenbach in 1979 in the “safe zone” of Northside, as Beiser puts it, the bookstore was a hub for lesbians, gay men, feminists and forward-thinkers. “You couldn’t find gay and lesbian books in bookstores back then,”

Pins and ephemera at the archive | Photo: Hailey Bollinger

Ohio Lesbian Archives co-founder Phebe Beiser | Photo: Hailey Bollinger

The Ohio Lesbian Archives is located at Clifton United Methodist Church, 3416 Clifton Ave., Clifton. More info: facebook.com/olarchives.

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Beiser says. “This was B.E.: Before Ellen (DeGeneres). Where else could you read the stories of our lives?” And then there was Dinah. First published by the now-defunct Lesbian Activist Bureau under the name Dinosaur News, Dinah was born under its new moniker in 1975 as a response to a lack of LGBTQ literature and inclusion in society. A grassroots effort headed by a just a handful of women, including Beiser, the monthly newsletter was vital in connecting the local lesbian community in the era before social media. The team covered concerts, wrote personal essays and columns on political and social issues, published photography and event calendars, ran ads for local LGBTQ-friendly businesses and reviewed novels by lesbian and feminist publishers. More than just a newsletter, Dinah came to be a pillar of the community: the women hosted fundraisers, parties and even started a softball team. Dinah was a solidly indie effort, partially due to the reality that not everyone wanted to hear what a feminist, lesbian collective had to say. “We had to print it ourselves at first,” Beiser says. “A couple of the women went to this little family print shop. (The employees) saw it and said, ‘Are you for or against?’ Well, we’re for. They said, ‘We’re not printing it. We won’t take this job.’ ” Over the years, the Dinah team collected dozens of novels, but after they’d been reviewed for the publication and passed around among friends, they couldn’t find much use for the books that began collecting dust on their shelves. “We said, ‘What are we going to do with this now? We can’t throw it away. The downtown library might not even want this.’ So people would just hold onto it,” Beiser says. They also had hundreds of flyers and copies of other LGBTQ publications from across the country. “Pretty soon we had a collection started,” she says. In 1989, Beiser and Victoria Ramstetter, a fellow Dinah editor and “commune” roommate, turned that donation-based collection into the Ohio Lesbian Archives in a room on the third floor of Crazy Ladies Bookstore. It stayed there until the store’s closing in 2002 before finding a new home in the Clifton United Methodist Church

in 2006, where it has remained for the past 13 years. Visitors to the archive, which is open by appointment, are mostly local students and researchers, Beiser says, but anyone with an interest is welcome to pore over the collection, which has grown to include nearly 1,000 books bearing titles like Lesbian Art in America, The Gay and Lesbian Literary Heritage and Gone is the Shame: A Compendium of Lesbian Erotica. There are piles of Ms. Magazine from the ’70s, photos and banners from Pride marches through the decades, and drawers filled with newspaper clippings and every issue of Dinah. There are tins of political buttons adorned with Pride flags and messages like “Gay & Lesbian Voters for Clinton & Gore.” There’s an original, yellowed copy of a 1982, 27-page Cincinnati Enquirer feature titled “Homosexuals: A Cincinnati Report” that detailed the lives of gay and lesbian Cincinnatians, and articles about the 1981 kidnapping of 19-year-old Stephanie Riethmiller, whose parents paid to have her “deprogrammed” from a lesbian lifestyle. Although the OLA now has artifacts ranging across the LGBTQ spectrum in its collection, Beiser and Ramstetter decided to prioritize lesbian stories at its inception due to the exclusion they felt, even among gay activists. “In the earlier days, when there would be a gay archive, it would 90 percent be gay men. So Vic and I and some of the Crazy Ladies women, we were really firm in that (the OLA) was lesbian,” Beiser says. “We wanted to make sure lesbian stories were not lost.” On their own, these artifacts offer glimpses into the past, but together they reveal a more complete portrait of lesbian life through the years. “This is history” Beiser says. “Once a rally or march or event happens, then it’s over. There would be no record of it happening. These flyers add up. They tell the record of a story of a partially underground community. I remember back in the day, (being) invisible. We don’t want to go underground again.”

A recent Tea Dance at Rosedale OTR | Photo: Brittany Thornton

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The monthly Sunday LGBTQ community parties have attracted hundreds upon hundreds of guests in the past two years — and the impact of the gatherings is still growing

n a recent breezy Sunday afternoon at Over-the-Rhine’s Rosedale, Richard Cooke greets a guest as they enter the bar: “Welcome home,” he says. As the afternoon goes on, more people flood in, many of whom Cooke meets with the same phrase. Cocktails are served, a live DJ spins tunes, people hug one another, laugh and chat and several snap pictures in front of the rainbow flag strung on Rosedale’s patio. Together, they share this space. This is Tea Dance Cincinnati. Organized by Cooke and his husband Marty Wagner, the inaugural dance took place in April 2017. On June 23 — during Pride weekend — they’ll throw their biggest Tea Dance yet at the Music Hall Ballroom. And come July 28, Cooke will help host the fi rst Tea Dance in a different city at Lexington, Kentucky’s 21c Museum Hotel. (That collaboration manifested through a partnership with Cincinnati’s 21c, which had previously hosted a dance.) An LGBTQ tradition from the 1940s and ’50s, Tea Dances historically functioned as a way for same-sex couples to openly,

yet discreetly, be together. It wouldn’t be until the Stonewall Riots of 1969 — a vital moment in LGBTQ history that celebrates its 50th anniversary this year — that the gay rights movement would begin to move into the mainstream. And with it, the dances. When Cooke revived the tradition in Cincinnati in 2017 — coming in the form of monthly events held at different bars across the city — he never thought in his wildest dreams that they would become as popular as they are. “I didn’t know what I was getting into, to be honest,” Cooke says. “My intent, really, was to create a gathering spot for our LGBTQ community. What I’m seeing now — since we have so many people that come — it tells me that we have a very large, vibrant, diverse LGBTQ community in the city. And there’s a real need for this on a regular basis.”

Tea Dance Cincinnati holds monthly events at different bars | Photo: Brittany Thornton

Guests at the most recent Tea Dance Cincinnati event | Photo: Brittany Thorton

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The Pride Tea Dance will take place at Over-the-Rhine’s Music Hall Ballroom from 4-8 p.m. June 23. Doors open at 3:30 p.m. and the event is 21+. Admission is free; VIP is $25. More info: facebook.com/teadancecinci.

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Scanning the patronage at the recent Rosedale event, that belief is reflected in the crowd. When I spoke with Cooke last summer for a previous story on the Tea Dances, he said that one of his goals was to serve the underrepresented local LGBTQ community. “I truly mean that. I support it. I fully encourage it. I’ve reached out to members across the spectrum in the community,” he says. “I look for ambassadors. I take advice from queer people, lesbians, AfricanAmerican LGBTQ people — so I’m continuing to look for supporters and champions and collaborate with them. And I think that’s how we ensure that our Tea Dances are inclusive and diverse as well.” On June 23, Tea Dance Cincinnati will unfold in the Music Hall Ballroom for what Cooke says will be their biggest event and highest expected attendance to date — he says they’re expecting upward of 1,000 guests. Held during Pride weekend, they’re proportionately upping the event’s entertainment, too: There will be six DJs — Thaddeus, Identity, Ben Welham, Milkshake, Gabriela Nine and Jacoby — placed throughout the space, each playing 30-minute sets; and drag queen Penny Tration will act as emcee, with performances from the Cin City Burlesque dance troupe, a flash mob from DANCEFIX and acts from aerial acrobats. Plus, you can sip on signature cocktails designed by local mixologist Molly Wellmann. Like their other monthly events, the Pride Tea Dance is free and no ticket is required. As long as you’re 21 and older, you’re welcome to party it up. Branching off from their usual dances is an option to upgrade to a $25 VIP ticket, the proceeds of which will go toward ArtsWave Pride. The ticket includes reserved seating, a cocktail in a take-home souvenir cup and light bites. Artists Joe Rigotti, Carla Lamb and Pam Kravetz are helping create the decorations. On a recent phone call, the latter recalled her experience at the first Tea Dance Cooke ever threw at Mr. Pitiful’s in Over-the-Rhine. “I walked in and was totally blown away by the amount of people,” Kravetz says. “At that point, it was pretty much word of mouth and it was just packed. The energy was electric. People were dancing and it was a super diverse crowd. It was crazy fun in the middle of a Sunday afternoon and I fell in love with it.” Kravetz would meet Cooke at a later dance, where she told him, “Anytime you need anything, I’m there for you.” Flash-forward to present day, and she’s doing just that. As described by Kravetz, the décor for the Pride Tea Dance will include “wonky, crazy and

wonderful” balloon installations, 40 disco balls and a Pride-themed photobooth. “There’s such a beauty and elegance and history to the Music Hall Ballroom,” she says. “I was super intrigued by how we could take such a beautiful and historically relevant space and create this larger than life — a little kitschy, a little campy, very sexy — afternoon dance. That’s kind of where we were with this.” The Cincinnati Bombshells guerilla knitting crew — a group Kravetz is a part of — will “yarn bomb” the trees outside of Music Hall, rainbow pom-poms and all. Out front will be Swift Movement, a parkour team, activating the space. And don’t forget to look down: The sidewalk will be decorated with chalk. “As soon as you come past Washington Park, you’re just going to see an explosion of color and energy,” Kravetz says. For those planning to attend, Cooke says newcomers will see the biggest and finest Tea Dance so far. And they should expect it to be as much — not only is it a celebration of Pride, but this year is also the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. Of that landmark, Cooke says it’s important to recognize the transgender women of color who stood up on the front lines 50 years ago, like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. Harassed by local police for simply meeting together at New York’s Stonewall Inn, LGBTQ patrons fought back against discrimination and demanded rights. “It’s really encouraging that during this milestone we’re celebrating in some of the most iconic buildings in the city,” Cooke says. “And that we’re welcomed and supported in the city.” Kravetz, who has participated in the Pride parade for several years as an ally, echoes that sentiment. This year, she says it feels like the whole city is looking beyond the parade and afternoon festival and into expanded events. Regardless, at this elevated Tea Dance or one of their recurring events, Cooke says attendees are made to feel at home and appreciated. “Tea Dances are not only celebrations,” he says. “But they’re also spots where the LGBTQ community can feel they can gather on a frequent basis to meet with other people, connect, see their friends, make new friends.” That concept, rooted in LGBTQ history, is not something Cooke wants to lose sight of. “It’s a journey. We’re on this journey and we’re not done,” he says. “Each time people come to (a) Tea Dance, it’s a reminder of our community, our solidarity and that we’re all in this together to become equal citizens.”

Cincinnati Pride 2018 festivalgoers | Photo: Ty Wesselkamper

he first Pride parade was held on June 28, 1970 in New York’s Greenwich Village, a year after the Stonewall Riots. Cincinnati Pride, started 46 years ago, is a week-long celebration and affirmation of LGBTQ individuals no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity. We’ve compiled a handy guide of all things Pride leading up to — and following— the annual Cincinnati Pride parade and festival on June 22. And this year, many collaborators — including Underground Cincy, Five:Four Events, Cincy Tea Dance, ChicOut and Cincy Black Pride — have come together to schedule associated and ancillary events to mark the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. Without further ado, here’s the lowdown on all things Pride. Find more at the official cincinnatipride.org site or collaborative events at cincyprideevents.com.

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19

Black Alphabet Film Festival Cincy — Join Cincinnati Black Pride for two nights of Black LGBTQ films. Kicking off Wednesday and continuing through Thursday, a director’s reception precedes each evening at 4 p.m. The Changing Same, directed by Joe Brewster and Miche’lle Stephenson, will lead Wednesday night’s flicks, followed by Kareem Ferguson’s Gay Baby and feature film parTy boi with a panel discussion that includes director Michael Rice. OUT Again, by Robin Cloud, will close the night. On Thursday, Congo Cabaret — directed by Deondray Gossett and Quincy Le Near — will lead the night followed by the Sampson McCormick-directed A Different Direction and then Alex and Zachary Mastoon’s Word is Bond. Celebrating its 10th anniversary is U People, the night’s feature film, directed by Hanifah Walidah and Olive Demetrius. 6 p.m.

Wednesday and Thursday. $12 each day. Esquire Theatre, 320 Ludlow Ave., Clifton, cincinnatiblackpride.com. Summer Cinema: The Devil Wears Prada — Outdoor cinema? For summer? Groundbreaking. Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway costar in this 2006 classic. The Devil Wears Prada nabbed Streep an Oscar nomination and showed us what queens both actresses really are. Wear your coolest digs because best dressed gets a prize. Bring a lawn chair, some pals and chill with Cincinnati Pride. 9-11 p.m. Free admission. Washington Park, 1230 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, washingtonpark.org. Party on the Purple — Before The Devil Wears Prada, head over to Purple People Bridge for special drinks, raffles, food and drag. 6-10:30 p.m. Free admission. Purple People Bridge, 1 Levee Way, Newport,

cincinnatipride.org. Wednesday Night Jazz at Revel OTR Urban Winery — Ya like Jazz? Ya like Jazz LGBTQ musicians? If the answer is yes to both, Revel OTR Urban Winery is a place to unwind. 9 p.m.-midnight. Free admission. Revel OTR Urban Winery, 111 E. 12th St., Over-theRhine, revelotr.com.

THURSDAY, JUNE 20

Lunch, Learn & Vibe Speaker Series — Grab some grub and listen to a panel of local LGBTQ advocates chat about the power and influence of the LGBTQ community in Cincinnati. Hosted by the Cincinnati USA Convention and Visitors Bureau, panelists include Tim’m T. West, cofounder and director of Cincinnati Black Pride; Julia Packer-Wesselkamper; and Preston Keith, the director of University of Cincinnati’s LGBTQ Center. Jenell Walton will moderate and Dave

Jefferys, executive director of the LGBT Meeting Professionals Association, will present. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. $10 lunch. Union Hall, 1311 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine, cincinnatiusa.com. Pride Charms & Light Paintings — For teens, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County’s Main Branch will host an afternoon of crafting. Make some charms you can wear to show off your Pride and paint the day away. Supplies are provided. 4-5:30 p.m. Free. Main Library, 800 Vine St., Downtown, cincinnatilibrary.org. Queer Speed Dating — To celebrate the love (or lust) in the air, Queen City Radio is teaming up with Pure Romance for a night of match-making. Message Queen City Radio on Facebook with your orientation to sign up. 7-10 p.m. Free. Queen City Radio, 222 W. 12th St., Over-the-Rhine, facebook.com/ queencityradiobar.

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The Birdcage | Photo: Hailey Bollinger

Pride and Hey Girl Hey — a Columbus, Ohio-based organization that seeks to provide a safe space for queer women of color — will feature the sounds of DJ Kaotic. 10 p.m.-2 a.m. $10. 4027 Hamilton Ave., Northside, cincinnatiblackpride.com.

A drag show at Queen City Radio during 2018’s Pride festivities |Photo: Ty Wesselkamper

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Multifaith Pride Service — Several local organizations will converge for this multifaith celebration of Pride. Drop by early — starting at 6:30 p.m. — for snacks and drinks provided by Jeff Thomas Catering. 7-8:30 p.m. Free. Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky, 200 Home Road, Covington, cincinnatipride.org.

Official Cincinnati Pride Weekend Kickoff Party — Dance your heart out at the 20th Century Theater while DJ Jacoby is on the decks to get hyped for Pride weekend. Burlesque dancers Ginger LeSnapps, Alexander Cameron and Alexander Storm will provide entertainment while Mr. Johnny Dangerously sells raffle tickets for rad prizes. 10 p.m.-1 a.m. $5 suggested donation. 20th Century Theater, 3021 Madison Road, Oakley, cincinnatipride.org.

FRIDAY, JUNE 21

Happy Hour with The Birdcage & Rhinegeist — The Birdcage and Rhinegeist will join forces for this pre-party the night before the week’s main event: The Cincinnati Pride parade and festival. Sip on $5 Rhinegeist pints, fruity cocktails or grab a bucket for the whole crew for $25. For each purchase of the night, $1 will go toward Cincinnati Pride. Raffle ticket prizes include a Rhinegeist Coleman Cooler and swag bags.

4-8 p.m. Free admission. The Birdcage, 927 Race St., Downtown, cincinnatipride.org. Drag Rush — Take a step back in time to the 1800s at Boomtown Biscuits & Whiskey with burlesque troupe Smoke & Queers. Plus, a special menu of fried chickpeas, cheese curds, blackened chicken thighs, and housemade sauces. Oh. And there will be rainbow biscuits — what more could you ask for, really? 4-7 p.m. Free admission. Boomtown Biscuits & Whiskey, 1201 Broadway St., Pendleton, facebook.com/ BetterTogetherCincy. UNDERGROUND: FOREPLAY — Black velvet. Plush seats. Cocktails. A whole lot of dancing. DJ Mowgli will take over the Contemporary Arts Center’s Black Box theater for UNDERGROUND: FOREPLAY, a night of “music, dance, and liberation” that celebrates 50 years of progress in reference to the anniversary of Stonewall, the birth of the modern LGBTQ rights movement. From 8-9 p.m., check out a visual and performing arts showcase in collaboration with Cincinnati Black Pride. 8 p.m.-midnight. $22. Contemporary Arts Center, 44 E. Sixth St., Downtown, undgndcincinnati.com. Black Tea: A Dance Party in Cincy — This official dance party from Cincinnati Black

Rock the Boat — RockHard Productions presents their annual boat ride along the Ohio River for Cincinnati Black Pride. Two levels will be packed with two bars, three DJs and more. Do you dig Hip Hop, Reggae and House? Join DJ Eazy Kutz, DJ Diamond and MC Lil Ryan on the top deck. Feeling 1980s and ’90s throwback tunes? DJ C-Ray has got you covered. 18 years and up. 10:30 p.m.-2:30 a.m. with boarding until 11:30 p.m. $35. Cincinnati Public Landing, 435 E. Mehring Way, The Banks, searchable on eventbrite.com. Cincinnati Leather Pride Ball 2019 — Head out to Mixwells for their annual Leather Pride Ball. From drag queens working the crowd to a “Create Your Own Gear Station” and a Leather Gear Male Fashion Show, the night promises a bit of everything. Come early and treat yourself to a free wiener hot off the grill. Leather and puppy attire is encouraged, but come as you are — everyone is welcome. 21 and up. 8 p.m.-2:30 a.m. Free admission. Mixwells Northside, 3935 Spring Grove Ave., Northside, facebook.come/mixwellsbar.

SATURDAY, JUNE 22

Cincinnati Pride Parade — Don your coolest rainbow threads and join in celebrating the diverse, vibrant LGBTQ community in Greater Cincinnati. The parade will begin at Seventh Street and Central Avenue and wind through Vine Street and Fountain Square before it ends at Sawyer Point and Yeatman’s Cove,

where the Pride Fest festivities begin. 11 a.m.noon. Free. cincinnatipride.org. Cincinnati Pride Festival — Sprawling throughout Sawyer Point and Yeatman’s Cove, this bash will run through the afternoon and stretch into the evening. Entertainment includes various DJs, drag queen showcases, closing with headliner Todrick Hall, who rose to fame on the ninth season of American Idol. Noon-9 p.m. Free. Sawyer Point, 705 E Pete Rose Way, Downtown, cincinnatipride.org. ChicOut Pride in the Park — After the Parade, ChicOut will host an afternoon of vintage lawn games, drinks, grub and more. Tickets get you a T-shirt and two drinks. 1-6 p.m. $20. Smale Riverfront Park, W. Mehring Way, The Banks, facebook.com/ chicoutproductions. Afterglow — Top off the day with this afterpride party. Marketed as a celebration of “50 years since the Stonewall Riots that ignited the Pride movement,” the festivities will last through 4 a.m. so you can literally party all night long. Entertainment includes six DJs inside and two outside; five bars serving up specialty cocktails; live dance, vocal and aerial performers; and gogo dancers. Plus, you can grab specialty cocktails — and mocktails! — from a total of five bars. 10 p.m.-4 a.m. $27. OTR LIVE, 209 E. 12th St., Over-the-Rhine, facebook.com/BetterTogetherCincy.

SUNDAY, JUNE 23

Pride Tea Dance — To round out the weekend, Tea Dance Cincinnati will unfold in the Music Hall Ballroom with their biggest event yet. Six DJs will be placed throughout the space and play 30-minute sets. In between, an array of performers will grace Music Hall: the Cin City Burlesque dance troupe, drag queen Penny Tration, a DANCEFIX flash mob, aerial performers and more. Plus, you can sip on signature cocktails designed by local mixologist Molly Wellmann. The whole space will be decked out with Pride. 4-8 p.m. Free; $25 VIP ticket. Music Hall, 1241 Elm St., Over-theRhine, facebook.com/teadancecinci.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR THESE ‘DON’T MISS’ EVENTS

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FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT CITYBEAT.COM

Chris Fortin (left) and Melissa Neeley |Photo: Holden Mathis

A new radio show on Radio Artifact, Out Cincinnati seeks to share local LGBTQ stories and delve into issues facing the community

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hris Fortin grew up in Cincinnati listening to Alternating Currents, a radio show that last aired on WVQC-FM before it shuttered in 2013. At the time it ended — having aired for nearly four decades, mostly on community radio station WAIF-FM — it was the second longest-running LGBTQ radio show in America. In its absence, Greater Cincinnati has had no radio show specifically highlighting the queer community. But Fortin is changing that. His brainchild, Out Cincinnati, seeks to fi ll the gap in programming by acting as an “audio vault,” as Fortin puts it, for LGBTQ stories. Premiering May 4 on Radio Artifact — an onlinebased radio station that was launched by brewery/ music venue Urban Artifact in 2017 — it has since rolled out a new episode every week. The shows air on Radio Artifact Saturdays at noon via radioartifact.com and also WVXU-FM’s HD2 channel. You can also fi nd archived episodes of Out Cincinnati on YouTube; get the links at outcincinnati.com. “I knew this radio friend of mine, Melissa, and I said, ‘What do you think?’ She said, ‘I like it,’ ” Fortin says of the Out Cincinnati concept. The friend in question, Melissa Neeley, liked its premise so much that she joined as producer. “We spent probably a month just gathering ideas and thinking about how we wanted to do the show and just coming up with a loose format and pitching it to Radio Artifact,” Neeley says. “Basically, we did the fi rst show that we recorded — it wasn’t the fi rst that aired — and they cleared us to be a part of the family of Radio Artifact shows.” Both Fortin and Neeley have previous backgrounds in radio, so joining forces for the show came naturally. But the two have known each other, and worked on various here-and-there projects together for years. In part, they met through the story of Leelah Alcorn, a transgender teen from King Mills, Ohio who died by suicide on Dec. 28, 2014. The story of her death received

international attention, as she had posted a note on Tumblr that went viral speaking out about societal issues facing transgender individuals and asked us all to “Fix society. Please.” Neeley was working at WLWT-TV the day the news broke. Later, Fortin would reach out to her about the Leelah Highway Project — a group who adopted a stretch of I-71 South in Warren County in her memory — and she wrote a story about that initiative. (Read about Leelah’s Highway on page 22.) At the time, she says she came to realize that there was a lack of local coverage of LGBTQ issues. “I just felt like there's so much of this missing in the normal news coverage because it's looked at as a sort of like, ‘Well, those are those people over there,’ ” Neeley says. “And I think what Chris has been trying to express — and I'm totally on board with him — is, ‘Why is that?’ These are our neighbors, our friends, direct family members. “It is our community. So why we can’t we talk about this? This is an issue that affects all of us.” That’s the function, essentially, of Out Cincinnati: To talk about issues facing the spectrum of LGBTQ individuals in our greater community. So far, their show lineup rings true to that premise. In the fi rst episode, they talked to Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Seelbach — who is the first openly gay politician to be elected to Cincinnati City Council — and his husband, Craig Schultz, about their love story and an array of political topics. “Cincinnati is the most inclusive LGBTQ city in the country when it comes to policy,” Seelbach says in the episode. “We were the first city in the country to make it illegal to send kids to conversion therapy (and) the third city in the country to offer transgender health benefits for all city employees. People would never think that this Midwestern conservative city would be leading the way but we are.” On May 25’s episode, the show connected with Jonah

and Laurie Yokoyama from Heartland Trans Wellness, a nonprofit housed in the basement of the Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church. The center provides accessible resources to trans, queer and other LGBTQ individuals. Alongside that, Heartland also hosts support groups and community events where trans and queer people can connect. In yet another episode, Out Cincinnati interviewed legendary singer/songwriter Judy Collins ahead of her recent concert at Memorial Hall. The episodes themselves feel organic, with Fortin and Neeley starting each segment with a back-and-forth discussion on the day’s guests and topics at hand. “I like to interview people and hear their point of view, especially people who have been through it in the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and so on, and talk about 2019 and their point of view on things,” Fortin says. “It’s different than it was in ’85 and ’80 and ’92; people were doing advocacy work in different ways… and they have advice for how the people of tomorrow can get involved.” Though the show airs every Saturday, they interview guests throughout the week and edit the segments into a cohesive hour-long episode. “It’s my baby (but) I couldn’t do it without Melissa,” Fortin says. “She takes those cuts and makes them into magic.” Of Fortin, Neeley says that they have a great working partnership. Combined, she points out that they have over 30 years of experience in the radio world. With Out Cincinnati, they’re able to put that work into something that they wouldn’t be able to do at a commercial broadcast outlet. “I want people to reach out to us if they have a topic or an issue they think we should cover or something that needs to be highlighted,” Neeley says. “I want people to feel free to just email us or hit us up on social media or whatever and say, ‘Hey, guys, could you talk about this?’ ” Find more about Out Cincinnati at outcincinnati.com.

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8TH ANNUAL YELLOW SPRINGS PRIDE CELEBRATION!

Saturday, June 29 PRIDE

Music, Food, Beer & Vendors!

11a - 6p, John Bryan Community Center

PRIDE PARADE

5p - 6p through downtown Yellow Springs 6:30p, Little Art Theatre Documentary followed by Q&A

THE RUBI GIRLS 10p, Peach's Grill

FOR MORE EVENTS & INFO VISIT: www.facebook.com/ys.pride/

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9p,

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MEET THE RUBI GIRLS!

A clean-up crew beside a memorial for Leelah Alcorn | Courtesy of Leelah’s Highway

Transgender Kings Mills teenager Leelah Alcorn took her own life five years ago and her story continues to make an impact

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n a stretch of I-71 in Warren County, Ohio, an adopt-a-highway sign stands. Inscribed on the green backboard: “In memory of Leelah Alcorn.” Alcorn, a 17-year-old transgender girl from Kings Mills, Ohio, died by suicide Dec. 28, 2014. This year marks the fi fth since her death, which drew international attention after a note she left on her Tumblr blog went viral. In the note, she explained that her parents had sent her to conversion therapy, a widely discredited practice aimed at changing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. She left us — the community at large — with a request: “Fix society. Please.” Locally and beyond, people have pushed for policies in response. Cincinnati became the first city in the U.S. to ban conversion therapy in 2015, followed by Athens, Columbus, Dayton and Toledo in Ohio. Lakewood, a suburb of Cleveland, became the sixth city in the state to ban conversion therapy for minors in October 2018. Still, there is no statewide ban in Ohio. Nationally, only 18 states have banned the practice. Colorado is the most recent, banning conversion therapy on June 1 of this year. Chris Fortin, host for LGBTQ radio show Out Cincinnati (see page 20), who grew up in the same town that Alcorn did, would pass a makeshift memorial perched on the side of the aforementioned highway every day on his way to work. He never knew her, but he wanted to do something with more permanence. That came in the form of a highway clean-up project and the adopt-ahighway sign in her honor. Canadian fi lmmaker Elizabeth Littlejohn would later make Alcorn’s story — and the activism work around it

— into a 24-minute documentary, Leelah’s Highway. Post-fi lming, Fortin came on to the team as their publicity person. In reference to seeing the fi lm multiple times, he says it’s hard for him to be so nuts and bolts about the issues it presents. “I just want to not have (suicide) happen again. And that’s it. I almost come off this cold, I think, because I'm not sad,” Fortin says. “But I'll watch that fi lm. And I'm like, ‘OK, no more.’ I mean, I'm sad for a second. But I've cried about this. No crap. No more. Nobody else dies.” Leelah’s Highway premiered in Cincinnati at last August’s inaugural Cindependent Film Festival, where it was nominated for best documentary short. A self-described human rights activist and educator, Littlejohn says she believes in the right for gender selfdetermination. She believes that Alcorn’s story is one that needs to be told. “Leelah Alcorn made her blog, drawings and last note public, and asked that those who read it #FIXSOCIETY in her name,” Littlejohn wrote in a recent email. “This is an unusual documentary in that Leelah made an explicit request that her loss was to mean something for greater society; as the director, I took this to heart.” She adds that the documentary was made to support the Trans Lifeline and Trans Wellness Center, two nonprofits that aim to better the lives of trans individuals through providing support, resources, advocacy and education. “This story has already been covered by international media, but the point of view of Leelah, and the community response to her loss, was important to recount as part of a longer narrative focusing on her last

request,” Littlejohn says. Looking ahead, Littlejohn says they’re working with Anne Davis, the president of the National Association of Social Workers, to include the documentary as part of a suicide prevention educational tool within high school and university gay-straight alliance organizations. Beyond the fi lm festival circuit, she hopes that Leelah’s Highway can be part of a larger social movement that provides space to discuss complex issues in educational settings, bring support to trans youth and advocate for administrations to put policies in place that protect youth. When asked why Alcorn’s story still resonates nearly five years later, Littlejohn notes that it needs to be heard now more than ever. Where she lives in Ontario, she cites recent rollbacks to the sex education curriculum to exclude LGBTQ rights and inclusion under Premier Doug Ford. In the United States, the Trump administration announced in May proposals to rollback Obama-era protections for discrimination against transgender people by healthcare providers. “After the screening in Cincinnati at the Cindependent Film Festival, a number of youth came up to me and thanked me, so I hope that I have created it in their honor and (with their) demographic in mind,” she says. “This was one of the greatest moments I have encountered yet with this documentary — their heartfelt appreciation for my careful telling of Leelah’s story.” If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 and the Trans Lifeline can be reached at 877-565-8860.

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CINCINNATI PRIDE, INC. 46 YEARS OF CINCINNATI PRIDE! This year is Cincinnati Pride’s 46th year for the Festival & Parade. It has been voted #1 Charity/Festival by CityBeat readers two years (2017 & 2018) in a row! The festival hopes to bring in over 110,000 people this Saturday, June 22, 2019. As another year goes by, our city and community continues to grow bigger and stronger. We couldn’t put on such a great celebration without the community of volunteers, sponsors, and the love we have for this fantastic city! The mission of Cincinnati Pride is to provide the Greater Cincinnati LGBTQIA+ community and our allies with a space celebrating and afﬁrming our individuality and our importance to the Greater Cincinnati area by giving expression to our community’s diversity and rich history. It also renews our dedication to promoting the acceptance of all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.

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We support local economic growth through community partnerships in order to attract individuals to the Greater Cincinnati area and collaborate with other organizations through outreach programs, citizen involvement, and events. We also provide information and educational resources to those inside and outside the LGBTQIA+ community. This is among the many reasons Cincinnati Pride has been named 2019 Best of Cincinnati #1 Charity/Festival and 2019 Best of Cincinnati #2 Music Festival.

Come join us and celebrate the local LGBTQIA+ community and our allies— including the individuals, groups, and businesses that make it up—and embrace the diversity of Pride. Watch as a parade makes its way through Cincinnati, starting Downtown at the intersection of Seventh Street and Central Avenue before moving onto Vine street, Freedom Way, and into the festical grounds at Sawyer Point & Yeatman’s Cove. The parade kicks off at 11am, and the festival begins at noon at Sawyer Point & Yeatman’s Cove. Check out the Fifth Third and Belterra Stages, Biergarten, Game Alley, VIP Tent Experience, Delta Wine Grove, Sober Zone, Kroger Family Fun Zone, Misting Tunnel, and TriHealth Nursing & Senior Tents! Thank you, Cincinnati, for your continued support! I love being part of something that beneﬁts this amazing community! Andrew Morano Festival & Parade Sponsorship Chair & Board Member

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Brooklyn Steele-Tate President

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Joel Lam Treasurer

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Eva Carol “Iowa" Proﬁt Vendor Chair

Jen Scott Parade Co-Chair

Andrew Bare Parade Co-Chair

Megan Green Non-Proﬁt Chair

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STUFF TO DO Ongoing Shows ONSTAGE: The Wolves Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, Over-the-Rhine (through June 29)

WEDNESDAY 19

ART: The second phase of the CAM’s No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man features “Before I Die.” See feature on page 31. ONSTAGE: Human Race Theatre Company’s Rock opera Lizzie — about Lizzie Borden — shatters eardrums and expectations. See review on page 32. LIT: The Mercantile Library hosts The Gay Metropolis: An Evening with Charles Kaiser. See interview on page 34.

PHOTO: PROVIDED

family, including current drummer Aston Barrett Jr., Family Man’s son who carries the torch for his late uncle (Carlton was murdered in 1987). The Wailers’ setlist features Reggae classic after Reggae classic, giving multiple generations of fans the chance to experience Marley’s magic with some of the roots of Reggae music’s family tree. 8 p.m. Wednesday. $20. Bogart’s, 2621 Vine St., Corryville, bogarts. com. — MIKE BREEN

THURSDAY 20

FRIDAY 21

ONSTAGE: Shakespeare in the Park A Midsummer Night’s Dream The Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is bringing the Bard to the great outdoors this summer during its annual Shakespeare in the Park traveling performance series. The troupe of six actors from the CSC Professional Intern Company will be presenting excerpts from Macbeth, A Midsummer

Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet for free in parks, pavilions and public spaces across the Tri-State. This week, catch A Midsummer Night’s Dream 7-9 p.m. Friday at Seasongood Pavilion in Eden Park (1600 Art Museum Drive, Mount Adams), 7-9 p.m. Saturday at Linden Grove Cemetery (401 W. 13th St., Covington) and 7-9 p.m. Tuesday at Bramble Park (6300 Bramble Ave., Madisonville). Expect costuming, crowds and truncated showtimes. No tickets required. Get more info and addition show info at cincyshakes.com. — MAIJA ZUMMO COMEDY: Randy Rainbow Randy Rainbow, the New York-based singer/comic actor/writer/video producer, brings his live show to the Taft Theatre. The 90-minute stage show, described as a “greatest hits package,” includes some of Rainbow’s most popular song parodies plus a Q&A. Rainbow became popular with the

LGBTQ community when his 2010 video parody, “Randy Rainbow is Dating Mel Gibson,” went viral. Since, he’s done tons of political satire and in February Rainbow was cast on Broadway as Sebastian Sebastian in a week-long restaging of Call Me Madam. His large, loyal and vocal fanbase weigh in on new song parodies, which Rainbow generally drops on Mondays after marathon sessions of writing, filming and editing. His most recent videos posted in May included a nod to Pop icon Ariana Grande’s “Breathin,” which became “Just Impeach Him.” 8 p.m. Friday. $47. Taft Theatre, 317 E. Fifth St., Downtown, tafttheatre.org. — JANET GROEBER COMEDY: Andrew Schulz Andrew Schulz is probably most recognized as a cast member of the TV series Sneaky Pete, as well as for his past work on MTV’s Guy Code. On the latter, he got to CONTINUES ON PAGE 28

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FILM: Easy Rider at the Cincinnati Art Museum The Cincinnati Art Museum hosts a screening of 1960s biker film Easy Rider as part of its Moving Images series. Perfectly lined up with the ethos of the current No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man exhibit, this 1969 film — the directorial debut of actor Dennis Hopper — follows outlaw hippie motorcyclists Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Hopper) as they take a cache of smuggled cocaine from Mexico to Los Angeles, sell it and try to make their way to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. With a soundtrack featuring the likes of The Band, The Byrds and Steppenwolf; a dusty open-road landscape; and “New Hollywood” style, the film won Best First

Work honors at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival and an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (for Jack Nicholson). Catch this free screening (with a cash bar) featuring an introduction by Stan Corkin, University of Cincinnati Niehoff Professor of Film and Media. 7 p.m. Thursday. Free admission. Fath Auditorium, Cincinnati Art Museum, 953 Eden Park Drive, Mount Adams, cincinnatiartmuseum.org. — MAIJA ZUMMO

FILM: The Devil Wears Prada at Washington Park Free films return to the park on Wednesdays this summer. Bring a blanket or lawn chair, grab snacks (and/or booze) from the concession stand and get ready to watch an assortment of movies on the big screen. Join Cincinnati Pride for this week’s screening: The Devil Wears Prada. Bring your family and friends and wear your finest fashions to compete for best dressed. Prizes will be awarded.

Films start at dusk. 9-11 p.m. Wednesday. Free admission. Washington Park, 1230 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, washingtonpark.org. — ERIN GARDNER

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MUSIC: The Wailers Though they don’t have their most famous member, Bob Marley (for obvious reasons), The Wailers have continuously packed venues over the past 38 years, keeping their crucial legacy alive. Starting in 1963, future Reggae legends Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer formed The Wailers as a Ska singing trio in Kingston, Jamaica. The band would grow to take on many forms, most notably Bob Marley & the Wailers, which came together in the mid-’70s with brothers Aston “Family Man” Barrett and Carlton Barrett on bass and drums, respectively. The grouped backed Marley on his journey to becoming a worldwide, cross-genre music icon until his death in 1981. Marley reportedly personally requested that the Wailers continue on after his death, a mission Family Man Barrett has stayed true to ever since. The post-Marley Wailers were founded by the Barrett brothers and have featured a rotating lineup that has included other original band members, as well as other members of the Barrett

The Wailers

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demonstrate his knowledge about relationships, something he still does onstage. “Women, you show love through love; we show love through sacrifice,” he explains to an audience. He insists men show love all the time, but their partners don’t know it. “For example, we’re sitting on the couch, cuddling, chilling and watching movies. You’ve got your leg on top of my leg. I don’t want your leg there. At no point in time during the movie am I thinking, ‘Baby you know what would make this better? If I had no feeling from the hip down. If I had one leg with blood in it and the other doing a Lieutenant Dan.’ ” 7:30 and 10 p.m. Friday; 7 and 10 p.m. Saturday. $25$55. Liberty Funny Bone, 7518 Bales St., Liberty Township, liberty.funnybone. com. — P.F. WILSON

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SATURDAY 22

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FRIDAY 21

FROM PAGE 27

EVENT: Cincinnati Pride Parade and Festival Join in celebrating the LGBTQ community during this day of family-friendly fun. There will be food, drinks, vendors, entertainment and nothing but good vibes to go around, so come being unapologetically, authentically you. The parade steps off at 11 a.m. with a route that winds from the intersection of Seventh Street and Central Avenue to The Banks and Freedom Way, ending at Sawyer Point,

EVENT: Big Bounce America Big Bounce America is an aptly named tour taking a giant inflatable bounce house to 40 cities across 25 states through November. And the world’s largest bouncy castle — according to Guinness World Records — is making a stop in Cincinnati Friday through Sunday. The colorful big-ass inflatable bounce house includes a basketball court, slide and ball pit, plus a DJ in the middle “playing a carefully selected soundtrack with nightclub quality sound and lights,” according to a release. Traveling with the main attraction are also an obstacle course called the Giant and a “space-themed wonderland” called airSPACE. The Giant features more than 40 obstacles to overcome and airSPACE is an intergalactic inflatable maze filled with aliens, spaceships, moon craters, a five-person race slide and 50-foot-wide bounce space. The family-friendly Big Bounce pop-up features sessions organized by ages, including those for adults only so you don’t step on any kids. Time slots start at 1 p.m. Friday. Tickets range from $16 to $30 for adults (ages 16 and up) for a three-hour pass to all three attractions. Each ticket is for a dedicated time slot. Heroes Sports Park, 2175 Springdale Road, Mount Healthy, thebigbounceamerica.com. — MAIJA ZUMMO

with the festival immediately following at noon. The fest will feature headline performances from Ty Herndon, Peppermint, Kiiara, Nina West and Todrick Hall. See more about Pride and associated events on page 11. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday. Free. Sawyer Point and Yeatman’s Cove, 705 E. Pete Rose Way, Downtown, cincinnatipride. org. — NICK SULLIVAN EVENT: That’s My Jam: A Fruited Beer Festival More than 15 breweries are coming together to show off their best fruited beers to ring in the first official weekend of the summer.

Participating breweries include Sixth Sense, DankHouse, Seventh Son, Sonder, Brink, Grainworks, Fifty West, MadTree, Branch & Bone, Jackie O’s, Listermann, Rhinegeist and more. Tickets include 20 tasting tickets and a That’s My Jam glass; upgrade to VIP for a T-shirt and crowler. Designated driver admission includes food and unlimited soft drinks/bottled water. 2-5 p.m. Saturday. $50; $65 VIP; $15 designated driver. Streetside Brewery, 4003 Eastern Ave., Columbia Tusculum, streetsidebrewery. com. — NICK SULLIVAN

PHOTO: HAILEY BOLLINGER

SATURDAY 22

EVENT: Brunched CityBeat’s boozy breakfast club is back as our annual Brunched event takes over multiple floors of The Phoenix downtown with bottomless bloody marys and mimosas, screwdrivers, bellinis, Irish coffee, craft beer and more! Oh — and food. Greater Cincinnati brunch hot spots will be on hand offering samples of their best bites. Look for stations from Sleepy Bee, Holtman’s Donuts, Revolution Rotisserie, Branch, First Watch, Keystone Bar & Grill, OTR Bagelry and more. Tickets include food and drink samples, the ability to vote for the best bloody mary and best mimosa, live music, valet parking and plenty of brunch swag. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Sunday. $40; VIP tickets are sold out. The Phoenix, 812 Race St., Over-theRhine, brunchedcincy.com. — MAIJA ZUMMO

SUNDAY 23

MUSIC: Potty Mouth brings feel good, artsensible Power Punk to MOTR Pub. See Sound Advice on page 44.

! W NO

MONDAY 24

MUSIC: Country and Americana artist Charley Crockett stops at the Southgate House Revival. See Sound Advice on page 44. MUSIC: “Snarky, geeky and sweet” sibling musical/comedy duo The Doubleclicks head to Know Theatre. See Sound Advice on page 45.

TUESDAY 25

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LIT: Washington Post editor Karen Attiah accepts the Harriet Beecher Stowe Freedom Writer Award for murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi at The Mercantile Library and gives the evenings lecture. See feature on page 33.

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FILM: NY Cat Film Festival Fourteen short films screen at the NY Cat Film Festival at the Esquire Theatre. An annual celebration of cats, some of the short films are The Pet Effect, Pure Fluff, Winter Break and Instagram Cat Mom, among others, that explore “the fascinating felines who share our lives,” according to a release. A

A NS

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EVENT: Dog Day of Summer at Spring Grove Dogs usually have a ruff time getting into the grounds of Spring Grove Cemetery, but for this one day each year, furry friends are invited to share in the historic site’s scenery with responsible pet owners. In addition to self-guided exploration, a remembrance ceremony will be held at noon in honor of all the lost pups. Owners are encouraged to bring pictures of their departed companions to use in decorating white luminary bags. Other events include a gift basket raffle, a guess-the-treats contest, organized trail walk,

animal adoptions and a luau picnic. Fred’s Mission and 2nd Hand Paws will also be on-site with adoptable dogs. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday. Free admission. Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum, 4521 Spring Grove Ave., Spring Grove Village, springgrove.org. — NICK SULLIVAN

portion of the proceeds will benefit Pets in Need of Greater Cincinnati, a nonprofit veterinary clinic treating cats and dogs for lowincome individuals/families. If cats aren’t your furry friend of choice, The NY Dog Film Festival will follow next weekend, with screenings 2-4 p.m. June 30 to honor comedic, colorful, competitive and companion canines and the humans who love them. 2-4 p.m. Sunday. $10. Esquire Theatre, 320 Ludlow Ave., Clifton, esquiretheatre. com. — ERIN GARDNER

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ARTS & CULTURE

Memento Mori in the Museum Candy Chang’s interactive “Before I Die” at the CAM allows visitors to reflect upon and declare their life goals

Candy Chang’s “Before I Die” interactive art installation PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

BY S T E V EN R O S EN

Students at the Art Academy of Cincinnati created such a wall outdoors in Over-the-Rhine in 2017. Among Chang’s guidelines are that all walls use the word “die” rather than shy away from it, and that messages written by participants be free of logos, slogans, website addresses and hashtags. Overall, she sees her art — when done outdoors — as a means to challenge the commercial visual clutter that dominates cities, especially billboard advertising and public digital screens with their vacuous messages and promotional content. “Our public spaces are for everyone, but if you take a quick look at the messages on display, it seems like we only value commerce,” she said in her email replies. “There’s no acknowledgement of the grief-stricken, of the anxious, of the fact that we’re all walking wounded. No wonder loneliness and social isolation are becoming a public health crisis.” “My work seeks to address this by creating rituals for emotional communion where we can share our inner lives in public,” she continued. “By providing opportunities for neighbors and passersby to confide in one another without fear of judgment, our built environment can offer profound moments of communion and kinship.” No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man is at the Cincinnati Art Museum through Sept. 2. More info: cincinnatiartmuseum.org

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Chang has a busy career. Even as her wall was being installed in the art museum, she was working on her newer “Confessions” piece for the just-opened Wonderspaces exhibit in San Diego. Inspired by both Japanese Shinto shrine prayer walls and Catholic practices, it asks visitors to go into a private booth and contribute a confession on a provided wooden plaque. Another recent project of hers was 2018’s “A Monument for the Anxious and Hopeful.” Another variation on her quest to have people express their thoughts on life — and death — publicly but anonymously, it opened at New York’s Rubin Museum. She and collaborator James A. Reeves got more than 55,000 people to declare in writing their goals and fears, which they are analyzing with psychologists and researchers to see what can be learned from the responses. The fact that “Before I Die” was displayed at Burning Man in 2012 helped underscore how the event’s organizers see it foremost as an experiment in sensitive, humane new urbanism — creating a utopian metropolis, Black Rock City, out of nothing — rather than merely as a party or festival with scattered art in the remote Nevada desert. There obviously have been more “Before I Die” walls created around the world since 2011 than Chang can personally build or supervise. She believes that the concept should be free to anyone, and offers support to others via her website, beforeidieproject.com.

filling up all of the available “Before I Die” wall space so quickly that museum staff had to erase the board at the end of the first day and again two days later (after first photographing the filled-up wall for posterity’s sake). Chang finds this level of response and the thoughtfulness of replies very moving. She conceived “Before I Die” after losing a close friend and confronting a long period of grief. She sees the piece as a modern-day memento mori — Latin for “Remember you will die” and a term used for the practice of reflecting on mortality. “After I lost my loved one and spent a long period in grief and depression, I wanted a way to restore perspective and find consolation with my neighbors,” she told CityBeat via email. “I never expected it to go beyond my neighborhood in New Orleans, and it’s been one of the greatest experiences of my life to see this little experiment on an abandoned house grow into this global project — all thanks to passionate people around the world. Each wall is unique and reflects the people of that community. Each wall is a tribute to living an examined life. And each wall reimagines our relationship with death and with one another in the public realm.” Born in Pittsburgh to Taiwanese immigrant parents, Chang grew up in Lima, Ohio. She holds a master’s degree in urban planning from Columbia University and undergraduate degrees in architecture and urban design from the University of Michigan.

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ith her ongoing “Before I Die” project, Candy Chang has become a leader in the burgeoning field of participatory public art. To date, since the first one appeared on the outside of an abandoned New Orleans house in 2011, there have been more than 5,000 blackboard-like “Before I Die” walls created in some 70 countries — including one just installed at the Cincinnati Art Museum as part of the second phase of its No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man exhibit. She created it in 2018. On its own, Chang’s “Before I Die” is a rather simple piece, consisting solely of chalkboard paint, spray paint and dustless chalk. The wall now at the art museum is 8 feet high and 42 feet long — it occupies roughly a half of a second-floor balcony’s overall space. Boldly stenciled at the top are the words “Before I die” and ellipses. Below that are vertical columns that feature the phrase “Before I die I want to,” followed by long white lines. It’s the unsigned responses written in color chalk by visitors on those lines — and elsewhere on the wall — that elevate the impact of “Before I Die.” So far, the responses in Cincinnati have been both narrowly specific and abstractly all-encompassing; funny and tender. A few can be smartass. At their best — and there are many examples of such — they are profoundly existential, since the wall gently forces people, especially young people, to confront mortality. Some examples of responses from just the first weekend of “Before I Die” at the museum: “make healthcare affordable;” “confirm life beyond Earth;” “have no regrets;” “swim backwards across the Bay of Fundy;” “adopt a child;” “help people;” “be on Ellen;” “get Joey Votto autograph;” “sell my art;” “pet more cats;” “yodel on top of the Swiss Alps;” and “love myself.” Many contributors want to travel, especially to Burning Man. On the recent opening weekend of No Spectators’ second phase, people were

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In the sweltering New England summer of 1892, Lizzie Borden was accused of the brutal killing of her father and stepmother. Though acquitted, the speculation around Lizzie as the true perpetrator who got away with murdertimes-two endures. As the schoolyard rhyme goes: “Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks. And when she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41.” Currently onstage at The cast of Human Race Theatre Company’s Lizzie the Human Race Theatre PHOTO: SCOT T J. KIMMINS Company in Dayton, Lizzie is a bloody good highLizzie’s neighbor, the sweet and kind octane Rock opera sung by four supremely Alice — played by an angelic Michaella talented women. A collaboration between Waickman — adores Lizzie and makes writers Tim Maner, Alan Stevens Hewitt every attempt to catch her before she hits and Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, Lizzie rock bottom. Their relationship offers the assumes that audiences are familiar fragile Lizzie much-needed solace from with the grim fate of the Bordens. The the living hell of the Borden household. production is uninterested in which other But in the end, Lizzie just can’t believe that residents of Fall River, Massachusetts anyone can keep her safe. might have had murderous motives or Sonically and conceptually, the show is access to the Borden home that fateful reminiscent of Duncan Sheik and Steven August day. The show doesn’t wring Sater’s hit musical Spring Awakening: a its hands over who killed the Bordens; buttoned-up period piece on the brink rather it points an unapologetic, almost of busting out of its corset that channels gleeful, finger directly at Lizzie herself. We all of its pent-up rage into a killer guitar know who — what we don’t know is why. solo. All four women are nothing short Delightful and disturbing, Lizzie spends of incredible, both individually and as its dramatic energy exploring what awful an ensemble. Director Jamie Cordes has life experiences might have left Lizzie with kept the production’s staging minimal, yet such a merciless axe to grind. ruthlessly effective, somehow leaving both The central tension of the show is everything and nothing to the imagination. derived from Lizzie’s frenzied, fraught The band sits onstage; in Human Race’s journey to commit the deadly deed. intimate space, the audience feels like Abused, consequently unhinged and they are also part of the show’s reeling brimming with rage, she sings through her action. A high-backed chair, a boiling hot pain: “You touch with selfish hands/This is tea set and a rickety barn all swirl beneath not love/You speak in cold demands/This John Rensel’s trance-inducing lighting is not love.” design. Ray Zupp’s ghoulish yet gorgeous The Bordens’ no-nonsense Irish maid set design and Liz Bourgeois jaw-dropping Bridget anchors the story. Played by a costumes have sifted through the show’s commanding Leslie Goddard, Bridget era, fabulously deconstructing and puts it like this: “In the house of Borden modernizing selected details. there’s a lock on every door/In every room In watching this production, it’s hard a prisoner of a long, silent war.” In other to imagine a musical genre more fitting words, the house of Borden is a powder keg for this story. The grungy blend of Punk waiting for a spark. and Heavy Metal — complete with head When their despised stepmother makes banging and growling vocals — captures a play for the family’s wealth, it sends both Lizzie’s inner life and the media Lizzie’s frosty sister Emma — played by circus that ensues following the killings a regal Natalie Bird — on an impromptu and trial. These women are not sugar, spice vacation. Alone and grief-stricken over the and everything nice; they are here to make death of her pet pigeons — killed by her some noise. father — Lizzie careens over the edge. A gorgeously staged, riotous, thumping Dressed in combat boots and lace, her performance, the Human Race’s Lizzie is hair swirling around her as she screams/ an electric crime of excess that shatters ear sings into a handheld microphone, drums and expectations. Deánna Giulietti’s Lizzie struts across the Lizzie runs through June 30 at the stage, a Punk-Metal princess struggling to Human Race Theatre Company (126 control her desperation and later relishing N. Main St., Dayton). More info/tickets: in the chaos and freedom that flows in the humanracetheatre.org. wake of her actions.

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Mercantile Shines Light on Jamal Khashoggi BY L E Y L A S H O KO O H E

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The Mercantile Library will award journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the late The Washington Post Global Opinions columnist killed by Saudi Arabian agents in Turkey in October 2018, with the Harriet Beecher Stowe Freedom Writer Award on June 25. Accepting the honor on his behalf and giving the HBS Lecture is his Washington Post editor, Karen Attiah. “Each year, we try to select someone who exemplifies Jamal Khashoggi’s Washington Post editor, Karen Attiah Harriet Beecher Stowe’s comP H O T O : C O U R T E S Y K A R E N AT T I A H mitment to shining light on oppression in the name of opposition, a way to tell the truth and freedom,” says Paul De Marco, a local lawshine the light. We think it’s the perfect yer and nominating committee member. way to continue the legacy of Harriet “Certainly, the prior recipients have done Beecher Stowe.” that, and I can’t think of anyone more worStowe spoke at the Mercantile in 1873, thy (than Khashoggi). Because Karen was according to Amy B. Hunter, the library’s his editor, we thought it would be fitting for literary programs and marketing manager. her to accept this award.” The library was established in 1835, and Khashoggi was a Saudi dissident, the Stowe program in 2003, first as just a outspoken against the Saudi royal family lecture; later, a $10,000 award was also and the Saudi government. He worked for introduced. Recent recipients include Al-Arab News Channel and was picked up Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim by the Post in 2017. His columns criticized Crow, in 2015; Claudia Rankine, author of and analyzed the Saudi government, the Citizen, The American Lyric, in 2016; and ascendancy of Crown Prince Mohammed Colson Whitehead, author of The Underbin Salman and the prince’s attendant ground Railroad, in 2018. crackdown on citizens who dared to ques“It brings powerful speakers and it tion his actions. In doing so, Khashoggi exposes a lot of people in Cincinnati to gave a glimpse into the conflicted world of authors that perhaps maybe they won’t anyone who wants better for their country have been exposed to,” Hunter says of the — and says so, in print, globally. award and lecture. Published September 18, 2017, one of Coverage of Khashoggi’s murder in the Khashoggi’s first columns for the Post Saudi consulate in Turkey in 2018 was hard speaks about “the Saudi paradox” of to miss. Just days after Khashoggi went balancing extremist viewpoints on both missing and news began to circulate that ends of the political spectrum, and the he had been murdered and dismembered resulting arrests and silencing. It ends with after entering the consulate to obtain a these words: marriage license, the Post published a “It was painful for me several years ago blank space in its print edition on Oct. 4, when several friends were arrested. I said 2018 where his regular column would have nothing. I didn’t want to lose my job or my appeared. The journalist’s murder touched freedom. I worried about my family. off a widespread fervor over freedom of I have made a different choice now. I the press and brought the oppression have left my home, my family and my Khashoggi sought to illuminate in his job, and I am raising my voice. To do home country to a greater audience. so otherwise would betray those who “I think there’s a critical role that jourlanguish in prison. I can speak when so nalists and the free press play in that. It’s many cannot. I want you to know that not like they have the power of armies Saudi Arabia has not always been as it is behind them, the power of the purse or the now. We Saudis deserve better.” power, in my case, to be able to subpoena Harriet Beecher Stowe, namesake of witnesses and things like that. But they the award Khashoggi has been presented, have incredible power just sitting down believed in speaking when others could and knocking out a story,” De Marco says. not as well. “And I’ve always had a profound respect for “Harriet Beecher Stowe herself wrote people who choose the written word as about slavery and the stories that she their medium for truth-telling and shining heard and partly witnessed because slaves a light in the darkness.” were coming across the (Ohio River) basiThe Harriet Beecher Stowe Freedom cally to her home,” says De Marco. Writer Award & Lecture will take place “In that spirit, I think there’s a perfect 6-8 p.m. June 25. Tickets are $20 for alignment with what Khashoggi did in nonmembers and free for members. More coming to the United States, finding The info: mercantilelibrary.com. Washington Post as a way to blare out his

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Author Charles Kaiser on ‘The Gay Metropolis’ BY M AC K E N ZI E M A N L E Y

On June 28, 1969, New York City gay bar the Stonewall Inn was raided by police. It wasn’t the first time that police had targeted the bar, but this was the first time the community there launched immediate demonstrations against the discrimination, social oppression and police brutality. Now known as the Stonewall Riots, the landmark event — celebrating its 50th anniversary this year — is widely hailed as the most important moment in the modern fight for LGBTQ rights. But history runs deep. Looking beyond Stonewall, the fight for LGBTQ rights raged — and still rages — on. Charles Kaiser chronicles this history in his book The Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life in America. Kaiser will be at downtown’s Mercantile Library June 19 to discuss and read from the book. First published in 1997, he has updated The Gay Metropolis for the third time for the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. Organized by decade, the book winds through modern LGBTQ history, starting with the 1940s and World War II, weaving through Stonewall and the AIDS epidemic and moving to the present day. Updated for a second edition in 2007, Kaiser appeared on The Colbert Report, where he explained why he started his account in the 1940s: “The United States Army is the great unwitting secret engine of gay liberation in 1940 because all of these people are drafted and they come from little towns and villages where they think they’re the only gay person,” Kaiser said, “and they discover that, actually, there are quite a few other people like them.” In the time since, visibility has completely transformed when it comes to LGBTQ individuals, Kaiser says in a recent phone interview. “In the 1950s there were approximately three openly gay public figures in America: James Baldwin, Allen Ginsberg and sort of Gore Vidal — although he never described himself as gay,” Kaiser says. “But there were no openly gay people really in any profession to seek out before the 1970s.” He points to the issue of The New York Times Magazine from January 17, 1971, titled “What it Means to Be Homosexual.” In the cover story, journalist and novelist Merle Miller came out as gay. Back then, such a public declaration was basically unheard of. “The reactions he got by mail were from doctors who said that if they emulated him, they would lose all their patients,” Kaiser says, “and from lawyers who said they would lose all their practices and even Broadway producers who said they would no longer be able to raise money if anyone knew that they were gay Broadway producers.” Today, scroll through social media feeds and these “coming out” stories are widely shared by celebs and non-celebs alike. In part, Kaiser decided to revisit The

Charles Kaiser PHOTO: JOE STOUTER

Gay Metropolis for a third time because, as he puts it, there has been more legal and cultural progress in the last 12 years than there was in the first 30 years of the movement. “I wanted to deal with marriage equality,” he says. “And I wanted to deal with (media) like Brokeback Mountain and Moonlight.” He says he feels unbelievably lucky to have been alive in a time where LGBTQ people have made progress throughout their lives. “In my 30s, when the AIDS epidemic hit, it was the most horrendous experience that you could imagine — watching half of my gay friends succumb to this ghastly disease,” he says. “But even though it was ghastly to live through, it strengthened the movement in ways that nothing less than this catastrophe could have accomplished. It really forced us to be much more organized and much more united.” The epidemic also humanized and created sympathy for gay people in a way that had not existed before with straight America, he says. But in this modern era, he also points to setbacks. In the book he mentions a quote by former President Obama: “For every two steps forward, it often feels we take one step back.” In reference to rollbacks via the Trump administration, Kaiser calls it “the greatest threat to democracy and personal liberty in (his) lifetime.” He cites the recent ban on transgender soldiers and sailors in the military. He also points to a number of appointed federal judges who aren’t in favor of LGBTQ and other minority rights. “There’s a lot of work to be done,” he says. “But as I think we proved in the most recent election in 2018, the decent people of America are in the majority.” And that majority, he says, needs to get out, organize and vote. The Gay Metropolis: An Evening with Charles Kaiser takes place at The Mercantile Library June 19. More info: mercantilelibrary.com.

New ‘Black Mirror’ Highlights Humans BY JAC K ER N

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After the tease of Black Mirror’s choose-your-ownadventure special “Bandersnatch” in December, the fifth season of Charlie Brooker’s twisty sci-fi anthology returned to Netflix this month with three episodes. This smaller offering reverts back to the series’ earlier days on British Channel 4, when seasons consisted of sparse but excellent episodes. Angourie Rice in Black Mirror episode “Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too” While the episodes in Season 5 don’t quite PHOTO: COURTESY OF NETFLIX stack up to the likes of “Fifteen Million Merits” or “White Bear,” they are a fine Cyrus. When Rachel receives an A.I. toy, addition to the Black Mirror universe. “Ashley Too,” programmed to mimic the This batch kicks off with “Striking uber-positive Pop star, this super-fan gets Vipers,” named after an immersive Mortal more connected to her idol than she could Kombat-esque virtual-reality game where ever imagine. players can feel everything. When two longNow, there are viewers who only either time buddies (Anthony Mackie and Yahya tuned in or trashed that ep because of that Abdul-Mateen II) begin to play, it evolves casting and, while I love to see relatively from a sensory playground to an escape unknown actors in the series, Cyrus nailed from their very different lives — one is the role of a celebrity who isn’t quite as a bachelor, the other is a husband and squeaky-clean and happy as her public dad — and sparks a major change in their persona. relationship. For some reason, Netflix seems to be The story bucks gender norms and hetrandomizing the episodes instead of preeronormative stereotypes in a really intersenting them in order (as outlined above), esting way, particularly in how it explores so I ended up watching “Ashley Too,” then the masculinity or straightness of two “Striking Vipers,” then “Smithereens,” black men. For many, that will be too taboo which made for an increasingly foreboding and seem silly, but I found it significant. To and compelling experience. break down these barriers in the world of Being an anthology, Black Mirror is truly gaming — where homophobic slurs are the type of show you can watch in any often tossed about like confetti — is quite order — newcomers are often advised not fascinating. to start with series premiere “The National Next up, “Smithereens” is classic Black Anthem” so as not so get deterred by, ahem, Mirror — a dismal tale of social media a particular sex scene — though if you folinfecting the world that could very easily low it season by season, you’ll notice little take place today without a single advanceEaster eggs and threads between. Multiple ment in technology, making it all the eagle-eyed viewings of this latest installmore of a grim warning. Actor Andrew ment reveal clues of the twists to come and Scott shines in everything, from Sherlock several winks and nods to storylines in to Fleabag, and this episode is no excepprevious episodes. tion. Before we know anything about his Overall, this season offers relatively character — and he truly keeps us guessing lighter fare for what can typically be an until the end — it’s clear that he’s on the extremely heady, dark watch. And outside brink of a destructive break. His mission of a few pieces of tech, these stories could for vengeance gets botched and sidevery much play out in the real world today. tracked so many times viewers might feel Because, despite the curious, futuristic almost as frustrated as him. Wait, are we gadgets associated with Black Mirror, the rooting for a villain now? series is really about how humans interact “Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too” shows with them — and human nature in general. what technology can bring out in a person Of the latter, some of the best parts of this who is suffering, isolated or lonely. Rachel season are the relationships explored (Angourie Rice) has recently lost her mom between characters. and moved to a new high school. She is disContact Jac Kern: @jackern connected from her dad and sister, and the only thing that seems to excite or inspire her is Ashley O, a Pop star played by Miley

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Community, Connection and Cuisine Social OTR excels at creating a dining experience with a mission in an expanding part of Over-the-Rhine R E V I E W BY PA M A M I TC H EL L

Social OTR’s main dining room PHOTO: HAILEY BOLLINGER

Social OTR 1819 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, socialotr.com

development program that starts with training students for four weeks at the CityLink facility. The next step is for students to learn on the job in a casual/upscale environment, and that’s where Social OTR comes in. Students work in the basement prep area and then in the kitchen for 24 to 30 hours per week. After 12 weeks, graduates get placed in kitchens around the area. Chef/instructor Eli Stull told me that their goal is to fulfill staff needs especially at the fine-dining level restaurants. To that end, he said Social OTR intentionally creates menus designed “to give students a balanced skill set when they get placed in higher-end restaurants.” His team teaches everything from knife skills, molecular gastronomy and baking to butchery, pasta making and just about every cooking technique — braising, sautéing, roasting and so on. Anthony Berin, general manager at Social OTR, said he has been working on this project for over two years has had the concept and design in mind for most of that time. As a nonprofit, revenuegenerating model that’s self-sustaining, it’s the very definition of a social enterprise. Combine that with the emphasis on communal tables and shared plates and the name “Social” is just right.

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butter-poached wild mushrooms and ramps. A special of diver scallops was cooked just right, tender and succulent. Another winner was charred pulpo — aka octopus, although the kitchen overcooked it on the first attempt. The bartender/server replaced it with a flawless redo and was generous enough to take it off our tab. (To me, that’s a sign of great service and a genuine customer orientation.) They didn’t have a lot to choose from at dessert, but cocktails and other libations shone brightly. Whether you prefer tequila, rye, gin or any other spirit, the house cocktail list has you covered. And our bartender/server recommended an Austrian red wine called Zweigelt that paired beautifully with the pappardelle. Our dinner, and another quick visit for drinks, made everyone happy. But there’s a whole back story to what Social OTR is up to. Because of the growth in dining options all over the Tri-State, restaurants have a hard time finding and keeping reliable staff. And plenty of potential employees can’t afford to train in the industry and/or have other obstacles that diminish their work options. Social OTR “teaches people looking for employment the necessary skills to get restaurant jobs,” according to the Findlay Market website. In partnership with CityLink, a faithbased nonprofit organization that works on multiple fronts to combat poverty, Social OTR participates in a workforce

communal tables that encourage diners to sit with strangers and perhaps make new friends. (They do have several smaller tables on side walls if that suits you better.) The back room, with an entrance from the alley, has a darker, cozier feel where the bartenders double as servers for the communal and individual tables. In my experience, that seems to be the most popular of the two rooms and it’s where I’ve hung out. But the Elm Street side feels perfect for starting your weekend morning with one of the brunch entrées, such as the scrumptious-sounding pork belly and Brussels sprout hash or duck confit eggs benedict. I first went for dinner on a Wednesday, which happens to be burger night. Each week, the staff comes up with a different burger prep, and this time it included not only duck-fat fries but also a bottle of beer and a shot of whiskey, all for $16. The same night happened to feature $1 oysters, a treat one of my companions couldn’t resist. Otherwise, the menu includes about eight “Snacks,” 10 to 11 “Small Plates” and just two “Large Plates” — a steak dish and chicken roulade. We focused on the snacks and small plates and never made it to the steak or chicken. Safe to say that our consensus favorite was the piping-hot, generous portion of pappardelle pasta. Its mushroom herb sauce became extra delicious with

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very time we host out-of-town visitors, they insist on including Findlay Market on our agenda. I’ve lived in Cincinnati since 1995 and have delighted in the continuous growth of the market and, more recently, its neighboring streets. We are truly blessed to have this gem in our midst, honored just this month by Newsweek magazine as one of the 10 best markets in the world. As much as I’ve appreciated the butchers, bakers, chocolate makers, artisans and eateries in the market itself, Findlay just keeps getting better as new commercial and residential developments pop up on Race and Elm streets. While the bars and restaurants in the south-of-Liberty section of OTR have gotten the most buzz over the past few years, the Findlay Market area north of Liberty is fast becoming the next “it” inner city neighborhood. New and interesting restaurants have led the way in this renaissance, with more to come. French Crust, Harvest Pizzeria and (especially) Sartre put this section of Elm Street on the foodie map, and now Social OTR has added another wonderful dimension to the neighborhood’s dining options. A nonprofit venture owned by the Corporation for Findlay Market, Social OTR not only nails its ambitious New American menu but also aims to fill a multitude of societal and business needs in our community. I’ll get back to that part of this restaurant/bar with a mission, but as CityBeat’s dining critic, I feel it’s my mission to tell you first about the dining experience at Social OTR. In a word: terrific. The restaurant actually is a two-in-one, with front and back rooms featuring different décor and service styles but the same menu. They’ve been doing dinner since opening in February and added weekend brunch in mid-May. At the Elm Street entrance, you’ll find a couple of sidewalk patio tables and a sunny front room with a mirrored bar. Social OTR emphasizes connection: most seating is at

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6085 Montgomery Road, Pleasant Ridge, lonelypinesteakhouse.com Lonely Pine Steakhouse takes a simple concept — quality food at an affordable price — and elevates it with Southwestern flair and retro decor. The newest venture by Gorilla Cinema Presents, it is the first foray into food service for the company. Founder Jacob Trevino has already made a name for himself in the local nightlife scene with Gorilla Cinema’s film-themed drinkeries Tokyo Kitty, The Video Archive and Overlook Lodge. However, Lonely Pine is less focused on blatantly paying homage to a film, though there are clues for those on the hunt for Easter eggs. “There are only nods to Back to the Future,” Trevino says. “You could go to the restaurant a hundred times and, if I don’t point them out to you, you’ll never see them.” The first course I ordered was a cucumber-serrano gazpacho ($7). The chilled green soup comes with a flourish of cilantro microgreens and edible marigolds that contrast beautifully both aesthetically and on the palate. Next was a 16-ounce bone-in New York strip, dry-aged in house for 30 days. An aggressive sear yielded a perfectly cooked medium-rare center. The NY strip is the second priciest option on the menu at $45, the most expensive being “The Cowboy,” a 16-ounce bone-in ribeye that’s similarly dry aged for $55. But there are options for someone on a tighter budget. For only $16 you can have the 4-ounce Ohio wagyu petite tender, a rare deal for such an esteemed cut, or a 6-ounce sirloin cap for $22. (Sean M. Peters)

Mom ‘n ‘em

3128 Colerain Ave., Camp Washington, momnemcoffee.com Mom ‘n ‘em coffee shop and wine bar is a passion project four years in the making for brothers Tony and Austin Ferrari — and a tribute to mom Theresa. The pair are adamant about Mom ‘n ‘em being a “third place” that’s not home and not work, reserved instead for talking shop, drinking wine or coffee and hanging loose for a handful of hours — something Tony says was lost when Camp Washington was dramatically reconfigured to accommodate I-75 in the 1960s. The layout of the space — a former 19th-century home — contributes to that warmth, too, with its open kitchen area and table-and-comfy-chair-filled living room and dining room spaces.

In one of my braver food moments, I ordered the anchovy toastie. Two thick slices of local Allez country loaf were generously swiped with homemade salsa verde, atop which rested silver strips of previously-tinned anchovies, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and doused with a sprinkling of aleppo (a zingy Italian chili.) I was as shocked as any anchovy-avoider that I enjoyed every bite. There are eight other tinned fish varieties to try, as well as cheeses, cured meats, pastries from North South Baking in Covington, the “Dirty Nati” Egg Samich and more. Oh, and, to whom it may concern: They have a full liquor license with cocktails like a classic negroni and Manhattan, and a smart selection of beer in their cooler. Friday night wine flights are $5, and family-style Bistro Night dinners are on the horizon as well. If you want to take a little of the Ferrari brothers’ spirit home with you — and by this point, you should — you can grab a bag of their special namesake-blend espresso, created in partnership with Deeper Roots Coffee. (Leyla Shokoohe)

Libby’s Southern Comfort

35 W. Eighth St., Covington, libbyssoutherncomfort.com There’s no denying that the folks behind Libby’s Southern Comfort have impressive bona fides in the poultry arts. The owners of this entry into Covington’s flourishing restaurant scene claim not just a family history of chicken expertise but a professional one to boot, with a lineage going back decades. Butch Wainscott owns the Greyhound Tavern in Fort Mitchell, which has maintained a reputation for exceptional chicken dinners throughout the 30-plus years that he’s been at the helm. This summer, his son, Brad, fired up the fat in Covington and opened Libby’s. Two out of my party of four ordered the two-piece chicken dinner ($14.25), including me. The meat itself was high quality, and the prep may not have been quite the same as my childhood chickens, but this was good chicken. If I hadn’t been determined to try the chicken, I might have ordered an Oyster Po’ Boy ($12.95) — I love fried oysters. Libby’s comes on a Blue Oven potato bun, something else I’m fond of, and is one of five items on the menu’s sandwich section. A Pork belly BLT and shrimp roll also looked enticing. There are also a couple of salads and a daily soup offering. I might never encounter a chicken dinner to match those in my memory’s eye from grandma and mom. But I’m glad this Kentucky family is keeping the tradition alive. (Pama Mitchell)

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Murder on the Menu — This true-crime murder mystery dinner tells the story of Cincinnati’s oldest unsolved homicide. Start the night by taking a walking tour of the 1879 crime scene, followed by a four-course meal inspired by the 19th century, paired with beer. This month features Urban Artifact’s fruited sours and Missing Linck beer. 6-9 p.m. Washington Platform Saloon & Restaurant, 1000 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, whokilledharry.com. Beer n’ Board Games — Visit the new Play Library storefront for an evening of beer and board games. For ages 21 and up. Choose from more than 1,000 board games and enjoy provided beer and snacks. 6-9 p.m. $15. The Play Library, 1306 Main St., Over-the-Rhine, facebook.com/playlibrary. Third Thursday Biergartens in College Hill — The third Thursday of the month head to the alley next to the Doll House building in College Hill aka Tortilleria Garcia for a neighborhood biergarten pop-up featuring beer, music and yard games. Last call is 8 p.m. 6 p.m. Free admission. 5917 Hamilton Ave., College Hill, facebook.com/CHCURC.

FRIDAY 21

SATURDAY 22

Brunched — CityBeat’s boozy breakfast club is back as our annual Brunched event takes over multiple floors of The Phoenix downtown with bottomless bloody marys and mimosas, screwdrivers, bellinis, Irish coffee, craft beer and more! Oh — and food. Greater Cincinnati brunch hot spots will be on hand offering samples of their best bites. Look for stations from Sleepy Bee, Holtman’s Donuts, Revolution Rotisserie, Branch, First Watch, Keystone Bar & Grill, OTR Bagelry and more. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. $40; VIP tickets are sold out. The Phoenix, 812 Race St., Over-the-Rhine, brunchedcincy.com. Provençe Party — Oakley Wines celebrates Provençe with food and wine. Chef Lydia Jackman will be preparing a menu with ratatouille, clams, salt cod, fresh melon and prosciutto, goatcheese-stuffed squash blossoms, a Provençe-inspired cheese list and lavender ice cream. For booze, look for pastis; red, white and rosé wine from Provençe by the glass, carafe or bottle; and lavender-infused drinks. 3 p.m. drinks; food service starts at 5 p.m. Free admission. Oakley Wines, 4011 Allston St., Oakley, facebook. com/oakleywines.

Negroni Week Kick Off at Washington Park — Cincinnati Negroni Week is June 24-30 and uses this simple three-ingredient cocktail (and different variations) as a way to raise funds for charity. This year’s Negroni Week kick-off will be at Washington Park and will feature bartenders from more than 20 different destinations, including Sundry and Vice, The Mercer OTR, Boomtown Biscuits & Whiskey, Wiseguy Lounge and more. In addition to booze samples, there will be swag, food trucks and DJs. Must be 21. Proceeds benefit The Arbor Day Foundation. Noon-4 p.m. $25-$35. Washington Park, 1230 Elm St., Overthe-Rhine, facebook.com/ cincinnatiusbg. Kimchee Bomb! — Learn how to ferment your own kimchee at home in this hands-on class at The Pickled Pig. You’ll learn proper cutting, seasoning and brining techniques and leave with your own custom kimchee creation. 1-4 p.m. $45. The Pickled Pig, 645 E. McMillan St., Walnut Hills, facebook.com/ smokedandpickled. The Peach Truck Tour — The Nashville-based Peach Truck sells Georgia peaches throughout Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Michigan. The peaches — they harvest more than 40 varieties, all non-GMO and nourished in red Georgia clay — are available by the half-bushel aka a 25 pound box for $42. 8-10 a.m. Richwood Flea Market, 10915 Dixie Highway, Walton, Kentucky and Semco Outdoor, 11864 Chesterdale Road, Springdale; 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Woodcraft Furniture, 1065 Reading Road, Mason; Noon-2 p.m. Performance Lexus at River Center, 633 W. Third St., Covington; 3-5 p.m. Eastside Christian Church, 5874 Mont Clair Blvd., Milford; 3:30-5 p.m. Bargains and Buyouts, 5150 Glencrossing Way, Western Hills. Info and stops at thepeachtruck.com.

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That’s My Jam: A Fruited Beer Festival — More than 15 breweries are coming together to show off their best fruited beers, resulting in one sweet event to ring in the first official weekend of the summer. Tickets include 20 taster-size beer tickets and a That’s My Jam taster glass; upgrade to VIP for a T-shirt and crowler. 2-5 p.m. $50 general admission; $65 VIP; $15 designated driver. Streetside Brewery, 4003 Eastern Ave., Columbia Tusculum, streetsidebrewery. com.

SUNDAY 23

Dog Party Day — Hightail Mt. Adams is having a “pawty.” Bring your dog for dog treats, a photo booth (with balloons and streamers), party hats, doggy

games and half-priced drinks for humans. 4-8 p.m. Free admission. Hightail Mt. Adams, 941 Pavilion St., Mount Adams, facebook. com/hightailmtadams.

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Summer Solstice at Fibonacci — Celebrate the longest day of the year at Fibonacci with special beer releases: Compton Cream Ale, Compton Cream Ale with Strawberries, Compton Cream Ale Sweet Thai Chili and Hello World Mead Ale. There will also be $15 tarot card readings, flower wreaths and live music, plus some barbecue. 5 p.m.midnight. Free admission. Fibonacci Brewing Company, 1445 Compton Road, Mount Healthy, facebook. com/fibonaccibrewing.

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MUSIC

Naked Truth Cincinnati “Eclectic Soul” singer/songwriter Lauren Eylise’s music continues to connect with and offer healing to an evergrowing audience BY B I L L F U R B EE

Lauren Eylise PHOTO: PROVIDED

world. Her upcoming single, “Peaks & Valleys,” is due in August (it has already been licensed for use in a commercial, she says). She’s excited to move on to the next phase of her career and share even more of herself. “I’ve gone through so much since my first project’s release and it’s time I share the stories that have brought me here,” she says. Returning to the advice of LaBelle, Eylise doubles down on her commitment to move forward. “I’ve always been of the mindset to keep going. No matter what, keep going,” she stresses with determination. “I’m always about three steps ahead of what I’m working on. I am constantly evolving and I never stop working toward my goals. For me, that requires that I stay moving forward and that I remind myself, no matter how big or small the moment or show, I must keep going.” Beyond her professional accomplishments, Eylise is laser-focused on staying true to her artistic integrity. “While I’ve done some pretty amazing things, what matters most to me is living my truth as an artist,” she says. “I’m closest to that when I’m creating from an authentic, raw and personal space. That’s where I am now, so this moment matters most.” Lauren Eylise performs a free show June 29 at Fountain Square with Abiyah and Freedom Nicole Moore. More info: myfountainsquare.com.

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paused right before emerging on the stage for her set and took time to speak directly to me. Her message was simple: ‘Keep going. Don’t stop. No matter what, you have to keep going. You have it.’ ” Heady advice for a young talent to receive. Perhaps Eylise’s most high-profile career opportunity was her selection as a spokesperson for P&G’s Secret deodorant #allstrengthnosweat campaign. She says her participation has offered a platform to show a more personal and intimate side of her life and career. “While I am so very proud and grateful to be a mother, I am also extremely overprotective of my son and my family life just as my mother was with me growing up,” she says. “As such, up until now I’ve been very selective with what I share and I’ll continue to be very careful.” But being more open about her personal growth in the videos that are a part of the campaign — in which her son also appears — has been an extension of her artistic gifts and her ability to connect. “The Secret campaign allowed other women like me — mothers and career women alike — to see themselves in my story and to also get to know my music along the way,” she says. “In that way, it’s not only expanded my audience but (it’s) allowed my audience to get to know me on a more intimate level.” By the end of this year, Eylise hopes to share her next recording project with the

While that time in New York was artistically productive, her roots here in the Queen City pulled Eylise back. “I love my second home of New York City with all my heart, (but) I cannot deny the rich musical history embedded in the very streets I grew up in,” she says. “I’m able to travel and tour but returning home is always that icing on the cake.” “I’m always so surprised but excited to find that it’s not just home that loves my music,” she adds. Her talent and skillful songwriting have indeed been warmly embraced by many beyond our own city limits. “From L.A. to New York to Arkansas to Chicago, everywhere I go the embrace is so encouraging and uplifting,” she says. “People want to know more about me and my music.” Those aforementioned elements of redemption and transformation so crucial to her musical personality are a big part of why people connect with her. “Everywhere I perform, people let me know that my music touches them and/ or heals. That embrace alone is more than enough for me and I’m grateful to receive it,” she says. Bonus, then, that she gets to share her craft with some notable folks along the way, performing alongside icons like Erykah Badu and Patti LaBelle. “Patti LaBelle was by far the most influential person I’ve had the honor of gracing the stage with,” Eylise says. “She literally

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auren Eylise’s story is one of empowerment, redemption and transformation. It’s one of binding ties to the roots of her craft, and it’s one for which she’s shaping the contemporary narrative of songwriting, Soul and R&B. And it’s taken Eylise to a lot of places in relatively short order. Her debut landed only two years ago, and that Life/Death/Life EP swiftly began turning heads and earning the young artist comparisons to none other than multiple Grammy Award winner Lauren Hill. It was a sign of much more to come. Eylise calls her music Eclectic Soul — it’s heartfelt Indie Folk with R&B and Soul inflections. When the full Part Time Lovers backing band joins her onstage, the worlds of Funk and electric Blues combine for a soul-stirring, vulnerable and sensual concoction. “I believe music generally is taking a major turn,” Eylise says, describing her approach to fostering a unique medley of sounds. “Genres are becoming much more obsolete, more like guide posts as opposed to concrete boundaries. Artists, now more than ever, are able to create organically without the pressure of abiding by certain rules. You can produce an album with a variety of influences and still be successful.” That attitude bodes well for the work she’s yet to share, and for tomorrow’s artists and songwriters around the bend as well. “I think this next generation will further push that boundary and usher forth what the seasoned folk call ‘good music,’ as opposed to a replica of whatever is hot on the radio at the time,” she predicts. Eylise’s own path began in Cincinnati, where she’s still a proud resident, despite significant success out of town. “I’m born and raised here, and there’s just no place like home, especially with family still living here,” she says. It was while attending college in Cincinnati that she made the decision to leave a racially hostile campus culture and set out for New York, learning of an unplanned child on the way just a couple of months after. That’s a lot of life change in a small window of time, and it gave birth to a recorded single, in addition to a son.

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SPILL IT

Shannon Garcia’s Captivating Debut BY M I K E B R EEN

More New Local Releases

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Contact Mike Breen: mbreen@citybeat.com

Fire Storm

Several artists have responded to a recent New York Times story that revealed how a major fire in 2008 at Universal Studios destroyed numerous master recordings (including unreleased material) by some of music’s biggest acts. And it seems like all were unaware that their recordings were lost. R.E.M. released a statement saying they were looking into it, while reps for Steely Dan and Asia said they only knew the masters had gone missing and were given no further explanation. Other Universal Music Group-owned recordings by legends like Chuck Berry, Louis Armstrong and Aretha Franklin were also reportedly lost. UMG said there are inaccuracies in the story, but failed to clear things up, stating that all commercially released music was still available (which… duh).

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Beefy Tweets

Anthony Scaramucci, who lasted a whole six days as the White House Press Secretary, recently got into a Twitter beef with guitar hero Nils Lofgren. The Springsteen and Neil Young bandmate started it, calling Scaramucci an “ass wipe” and “nit wit” for defending outgoing Press Secretary Sarah Sanders. Scaramucci responded by belittling Lofgren, calling him a “nobody” and a “complete joke,” which brought out an army of Lofgren supporters and barely any Scaramucci defenders. Ultimately, Scaramucci backed down, wishing the guitarist well. Lofgren then apologized — at least for calling him an ass wipe.

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flipside). The group will celebrate the new single this Friday, June 21 with a concert at Woodward Theater (1404 Main St., Over-theRhine, woodwardtheater.com). Showtime is 8 p.m. and tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door. There are also VIP tickets available for $30 that include a meet-andgreet, a pre-show acoustic performance, buttons, a signed poster and a copy of the single. Opening the show are Nashville AltPop group The Pressure Kids, Cincy Dream Pop band Sungaze and Hip Hop artist Ronin Halloway, who will be celebrating his own new release (see below). Multimagic’s next scheduled live appearance is on Aug. 10 at the Bellwether Music Festival. Find more info on the band at multimagicband.com. • Ronin Halloway has been releasing singles and collaborating with other local Hip Hop artists (including the thoughtful three-track Icarus Trilogy with JayBee Lamahj) for the past couple of years, building up anticipation for his seven-song recording project, Pressure. A collaboration with local producer/ beatmaker SmokeFace (aka Evan Brown, also the drummer for Multimagic), the album continues the kind of deeper conceptual vision exhibited on the Icarus project and “explores themes of loss, addiction and longing across raw, synthbased soundscapes,” according to press materials. The titular track “Pressure,” released as a single in May, is a dynamic whirlwind of swirling atmospherics, throbbing low-end and Halloway’s versatile vocals, which shapeshift constantly throughout the track, taking on different tones, rhyme schemes and even moods. It’s almost as if Halloway is letting multiple personalities take turns on the mic and it makes for a gratifying listening experience. Get more info on Ronin Halloway at roninsroad.com.

Rolling Stone has received criticism over the years for their critical response to certain artists, going back to their initial stonewalling of every Led Zeppelin album. They’ve also been taken to task for reliably fawning over everything put out by certain legends, including Bruce Springsteen. So it was humorously “shocking” when a review of The Boss’ Western Stars album made news as the worst review he’s received from the magazine in 25 years. Slate joked that Rolling Stone “slammed” Springsteen, but the album received a 4-out-of-5 star rating. The magazine’s rare five-star reviews aren’t so rare for Bruce — according to Slate, the only album to not get a perfect score was 2012’s Wrecking Ball, which received 4.5 stars but was declared Rolling Stone’s second best album of that year.

• After a two-year hiatus, singer/songwriter/guitarist Coran Stetter’s Indie Pop group Multimagic returned at the start of this year with a new song, “Dreams,” and an entirely new lineup that features drummer Evan Brown, keyboardist/singer Meg Kecskes, guitarist James Ruehlman and bassist Anthony Maley. The band is prepping for another new song release, “Sunshine,” which will be available on 7-inch vinyl from area label Soul Step Records (“Dreams” is on the

BY M I K E B R EE N

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Late last month, Indie Pop singer/songwriter Shannon Garcia released her compelling recording debut, fnExists. The foursong release is credited to Shannon Garcia and the Taken and she performs with a full band live, but, on the EP, she plays most of the instruments herself. Garcia moved to Cincinnati from Raleigh, North Carolina and in 2016 began pursuing her musical interests as a way to deal with the emotional Shannon Garcia fallout from the end of a PH OTO: YO U T U B E relationship. She met a few musical-minded residents of the Queen City — including WHY? drummer Josiah Wolf (who produced fnExists), WHY? guitarist Matt Meldon and singer/pianist Jess Lamb — and took lessons from them to learn how to play their respective primary instruments and expand her arsenal. Garcia’s creative journey resulted in some captivating songs. A sense of heartbreak and vulnerability imbues fnExists with a melancholic aura, even when the tempo runs upbeat and the melodies are lilting and catchy, as on the Chamber Pop leadoff track “Question.” Garcia’s enchanting voice has an irresistibly haunted quality that adds a cinematic dimension to tracks like “Seventeen” and “Reminders,” both of which sway like ethereal ’50s girl-group ballads as heard on a dusty old jukebox in a decimated ancient diner that’s been rediscovered after the apocalypse. Reflective and ultimately hopeful and reassuring in its catharsis, fnExists is described as a “passion project,” something that shines through with every note. Garcia is doing a string of tour dates to promote fnExists, including a pair of Cincinnati shows. On Saturday, June 22, she’ll play The Listing Loon (4124 Hamilton Ave., Northside). Music begins at 8 p.m. with Andy Holmes. She’s also performing at The Comet (4579 Hamilton Ave., Northside, cometbar.com) on Sunday, June 23 at 11 p.m. Both shows are free. Visit shannongarciaandthetaken.com for more info.

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Potty Mouth co-founder Ally Einbinder and original member Abby Weems have gone on record as being somewhat dismayed at the characterization of their sound as “Riot Grrrl,” the X-chromosomatic Punk offshoot championed by women rockers in the Pacific Northwest in the early ’90s. The obvious differences are the timeline and geography; Potty Mouth was formed in 2011 by Einbinder and bassist Phoebe Harris during their time at a college in Massachusetts. And though Einbinder and Harris unknowingly christened their lo-fi Post Punk outfit with a name that mirrored the title of the debut album from Bratmobile, they’ve long maintained that they weren’t even aware of the Riot Grrrl standard-bearers’ existence. Einbinder and Harris conceived Potty Mouth at Smith College, then recruited fellow student/drummer Victoria Mandanas and Weems. Of the four, only the rhythm section had any practical experience; in fact, Harris and Mandanas were the only ones who could actually play their instruments. Einbinder and Weems learned to play guitar on the fly, becoming more proficient with each rehearsal and gig. In 2012, the year after their formation, Potty Mouth released the Sun Damage EP, followed by the blazing full-length debut, Hell Bent. On the brink of recording their eponymous second EP, Harris left the band and Einbinder, Weems and Mandanas continued as a trio, with Einbinder shifting to bass and Weems carrying the guitar load. Although they have sometimes augmented their live sound with a second guitarist, Potty Mouth has maintained their three-piece status in the studio, including

Charley Crockett PHOTO: PROVIDED

on their recently released sophomore full-length, SNAFU. The band’s last two releases were their first to feature outside co-songwriters, most notably former Death Cab for Cutie guitarist Chris Walla, and SNAFU benefits from a decided shift away from lo-fi to a big, polished Pop Punk sound. (Brian Baker)

Charley Crockett with Andrew Hibbard Monday • Southgate House Revival

The day after Charley Crockett performs in Greater Cincinnati, he’ll head to Nashville for one of the biggest shows of his career: A milestone for any Country artist, Crockett will make his debut at the legendary Grand Ole Opry on June 25, performing alongside Dustin Lynch and Montgomery Gentry. “The Opry is one of those stages I didn’t even consider as a possibility, to be honest,” Crockett says in a press release. “So, to say I’m humbled by the invitation to play there is like saying thanks to somebody that just saved my life! I hope they like me.” The odds of that are pretty good.

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Monday • Know Theatre

In our age of internet hellscapery and unending options for instant gratification, music still provides one of the greatest escapes. Sometimes it’s a centering place to commiserate and feel not so alone. Sometimes it can be empowering, giving you something with which to rage along.

2015

The Doubleclicks

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Crockett sounds like he has classic Country music tattooed on his DNA, but there’s a broader range of influences embedded within in his honky-tonkin’ — subtle additives that give it an endearing distinction. A true Americana artist, Crockett’s music also draws from vintage Soul, earthy Blues, rollicking Rockabilly and even Cajun, Funk and Jazz. Part of that eclecticism may come from his nearly lifelong journeys. A Texas native (and distant relative of Davy Crockett), Crockett’s travels have taken him to Paris, North Africa and California, as well as New York City and New Orleans, where he busked, absorbing the patchwork of diverse sounds created by his fellow performers on the street and in subway stations. Last year, Crockett — who returned to his home state, settling down in Dallas (when he’s not on tour) — released two albums. On Lonesome as a Shadow, he showcased his ample talents as a songwriter, while Lil G.L.’s Blue Bonanza is an engaging example of his gift for song interpretation. Part of his Lil G.L. series of cover LPs (the title comes from a nickname given to him for his sonic similarity to littleknown musician G.L. Crockett), Crockett rewires R&B, Blues and Country tunes, offering new perspectives on songs by the likes of Jimmy Reed, George Jones, Charles Brown, Lavelle White and Ray Charles. “People call me a stylistic chameleon, and I like that,” Crockett says. “This is Soul music. It’s Blues. It’s Country. It’s just music.” (Mike Breen)

And sometimes it can be a hilarious haven of silliness — because what better way to get some relief from the weight of everyday existence than by laughing? If you can laugh to some catchy songs, all the better. The music of The Doubleclicks is that medicine, and it goes down smooth, though their outof-nowhere zingers might make you guffaw enough that it shoots out of your nose. Based on the West Coast, The Doubleclicks are a sibling comedy/music duo featuring Laser MalenaWebber and Aubrey Turner, who deliver their clever Indie Folk Pop (they proudly identify as “Nerd Folk”) with a musical base of cello, ukulele, acoustic guitar and a meowing toy keyboard. They began the project in 2011 and have since written songs about Star Trek, The Hobbit, how dinosaurs are just big chickens, the Mars Curiosity Rover and cats — they have a lot of songs about cats. The twosome’s sound is a remarkably charming mix of kids’-music innocence and Freak Folk weirdness — like Garfunkel & Oates performing on Yo Gabba Gabba! with Kimya Dawson — and it has drawn an ever-increasing fanbase that has helped their albums reach the upper echelon of the Billboard comedy charts. According to the description on The Doubleclicks Bandcamp page, album The Book Was Better is a reaction to the aforementioned online fuckery: “We spend too much time yelling on the Internet, and we should all try something else. Certainly we can’t stop using the Internet, that would be ridiculous. But just a tiny break sometimes, yeah — that’s probably good. Go to a museum. Go roller skating and break your arm. Try to throw a birthday party and don’t cancel it when you get overwhelmed at the very idea of human interaction.” The album includes “The Ballad of Millie Rosa Jane,” a song about the freedom (and time reclaimed) that comes with quitting social media, presented in the style of a hero’s-epic Folk song, and “Clifford is Not Too Big,” which is a sly body-positivity anthem that features lines like, “Shut up the voices that tell you that you’re the wrong size.” The Doubleclicks are all about getting laughs, but they’re also good at slipping in some righteous messaging about serious topics. The new album’s “I’m Winning” is about video games and non-binary gender identity (Malena-Webber is non-binary and uses the pronouns they/their). The duo hired a collective of non-binary and genderqueer artists from across the country to make the music video for the song. (MB)

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 19

BURNET WOODS BANDSTAND Wednesdays in the Woods with The Cliftones. 6 p.m. Reggae. Free.

CAFFÈ VIVACE - Blue Wisp Big Band. 8 p.m. Big Band Jazz. $10. FOUNTAIN SQUARE - Reggae Wednesdays with Zion Lion. 7 p.m. Reggae. Free. KNOTTY PINE - Dallas Moore. 10 p.m. Country. Free. MARTY’S HOPS & VINES Mike Biere and Rick Boyer. 7 p.m. Acoustic Rock. Free.

MOTR PUB - Jack Burton Overdrive with Whiskey Shambles. 10 p.m. Rock/Various. Free.

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (LOUNGE) Night Owl with St. Mary St. Michael. 9 p.m. Singer/ Songwriter. Free.

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (REVIVAL ROOM) - The Claudettes with New Sincerity Trio and Mike Michel. 8 p.m. Rock/ Alt/Pop/Blues/Roots/Various. $8, $10 day of show.

THURSDAY 20

ARNOLD’S BAR AND GRILL - Philip Paul Trio. 7:30 p.m. Jazz. Free.

CAFFÈ VIVACE Animal Mother with Jeff Lederer. 7:30 p.m. Jazz. Cover.

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

J U N . 19 - 2 5 , 2 0 19

FOUNTAIN SQUARE Salsa on the Square with La Formula. 7 p.m. Salsa/Latin/ Dance. Free.

THE GREENWICH - Rusty Burge Quartet. 8:30 p.m. Jazz. $5.

HOUSE - Rockin’ the Roebling with Dan Varner Band. 6 p.m. Country. Free.

MOTR PUB - Moon King with Audley. 10 p.m. Electronic/Pop/Various. Free.

NEWPORT ON THE LEVEE - Summer Music on the Levee with Naked Karate Girls. 7 p.m. Rock/Pop/Various. Free.

THE GREENWICH Now Here This (album release show). 8:30 p.m. Jazz/Various. Cover.

RIVERBEND MUSIC CENTER - Brantley Gilbert with Michael Ray and Lindsay Ell. 7 p.m. Country. $20-$63.25.

KINGS ISLAND - Spirit Song Fest with For King and Country, Bethel Music and more. 4 p.m. Christian Rock/ Pop/Various. $61.

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (REVIVAL ROOM) - See You In The Funnies, EG Vines and Heavy Hinges. 8 p.m. Alt/ Rock/Pop. $7, $10 day of show.

TAFT THEATRE - The Allman Betts Band with Stoll Vaughan. 8 p.m. Rock/ Blues/Roots. $22 (in the Ballroom).

TOP CATS - The Fritz. 9 p.m. Funk/Dance/Rock. Cover. URBAN ARTIFACT - Out of the Dark Into the Bass Benefit featuring Tekknatron x CR33P and more. 9 p.m. Electronic/Dance. Free.

WASHINGTON PARK - Roots Revival with Maria Carrelli. 7 p.m. Americana/Country. Free. WASHINGTON PLATFORM - Scott Wojahan Trio. 9 p.m. Jazz. $10 (food/drink minimum).

KINGS ISLAND - Spirit Song Fest with TobyMac, Crowder and more. 4 p.m. Rock/Pop/Various. $61.

BROMWELL’S HÄRTH LOUNGE - Steve Schmidt Trio. 9 p.m. Jazz. Free.

MOERLEIN LAGER

STANLEY’S PUB - Suede Jackets. 10 p.m. Rock. Free.

SCHWARTZ’S POINT Brazilian Commusications. 8 p.m. Jazz. Cover.

BLIND LEMON - Donna Frost. 9 p.m. Acoustic. Free.

CAFFÈ VIVACE - Scott Whitfield. 8 p.m. Jazz. Cover.

THE COMET - The Ex-Bombers with Radar. 10 p.m. Alt/Pop/Rock/Various. Free.

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (REVIVAL ROOM) - The Ruen Brothers and Mike and the Moonpies. 9 p.m. Rock. $10, $12 day of show.

FRETBOARD BREWING COMPANY - Lift the Medium with Blackwater and Reverend Jack. 8 p.m. Rock

HILTON NETHERLAND PALM COURT - Faux Frenchmen. 9 p.m. Jazz. Free.

FRIDAY 21

MEMORIAL HALL - Al Di Meola. 8 p.m. Jazz. $28-$54.

NORTHSIDE YACHT CLUB - The Ataris. 9 p.m. Pop Rock. $13, $15 day of show.

HILTON NETHERLAND PALM COURT - Brad Myers Trio with Mandy Gaines. 6 p.m. Jazz. Free.

FOUNTAIN SQUARE - DJ Diamond. 7 p.m. Dance/ DJ. Free.

KNOTTY PINE - Wayward Son. 10 p.m. Classic Rock. Cover. MANHATTAN HARBOUR MARINA - Ben Maile. 8 p.m. Acoustic. 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. Free. MAURY’S TINY COVE Ricky Nye. 7 p.m. Blues/ Boogie Woogie. Free.

TOP CATS - WiseMouth 2 with Leo Pastel, pERez, Yogi Split, OG Vern, Suicide Rascal, Pangeaux, Dayo Gold and GrandAce. 8 p.m. Hip Hop/R&B. Cover. URBAN ARTIFACT - The Electric Indigo, Kaitlyn Peace and Leopold The Ghost. 9 p.m. Rock

WASHINGTON PARK Friday Flow with Ruff Endz. 7 p.m. R&B. Free.

WOODWARD THEATER - Multimagic (vinyl release show) with Ronin Halloway (release show), Sungaze and The Pressure Kids. 8 p.m. AltPop/Hip Hop/Various. $10, $12 day of show.

SATURDAY 22

ARNOLD’S BAR AND GRILL - The Harmed Brothers. 8 p.m. Americana. Free.

BOGART’S - The Wailers. 8 p.m. Reggae. $20.

MOTR PUB - Sweet Lil’ with Faintlife. 10 p.m. Indie Rock. Free.

BROMWELL’S HÄRTH LOUNGE - Mandy Gaines with The Steve Schmidt Trio. 9 p.m. Jazz. Free.

MT. HEALTHY CITY PARK - The Colour of Rhythm. 7:30 p.m. R&B. Free.

CAFFÈ VIVACE - Faux Frenchmen. 8:30 p.m. Jazz. Cover.

MVP BAR & GRILLE - Night Train: The Guns N’ Roses Experience. 9 p.m. GNR tribute. $10. NORTHSIDE TAVERN Whoa Dakota and Saturn Batteries. 10 p.m. Indie Rock. Free.

PNC PAVILION AT RIVERBEND - Gov’t Mule with Nikki Lane. 7 p.m. Rock/Blues/Roots/Country

SCHWARTZ’S POINT Jason Branscum, Brandon Coleman & Justin Dawson. 8:30 p.m. Jazz. Cover. SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (LOUNGE) - Sean Whiting with Sasha Colette. 9:30 p.m. Blues/Rock. Free.

THE COMET - Tooth Lures a Fang, Mister Moon and Joshua Powell & the Great Train Robbery. 10 p.m. Indie Pop/Rock. Free.

p.m. Jazz. Free. JAG’S STEAK AND SEAFOOD - The Good Hooks. 9 p.m. Rock/Various. Cover. KINGS ISLAND - Spirit Song Fest with Skillet, Kari Jobe and more. 4 p.m. Christian Pop/Rock/Various. $61. MANHATTAN HARBOUR MARINA - Tyler Moore Band. 8 p.m. Rock/Pop/Various. Free. MANSION HILL TAVERN Stacy Mitchart. 9 p.m. Blues. Cover. MARTY’S HOPS & VINES Encore Duo. 9 p.m. Acoustic Rock. Free. MOTR PUB - Spacer with Welp and Monsantos. 10 p.m. Alt/Rock. Free.

NORTHSIDE TAVERN - Build Us Fiction with Fycus and Patterns of Chaos. 10 p.m. Alt/Rock/Hip Hop. Free.

RIVERFRONT LIVE Ashley McBryde and Austin Burke with Noah Smith. 8 p.m. Country. $20, $25 day of show. SCHWARTZ’S POINT - Pat Kelly Trio. 8:30 p.m. Jazz. Cover. SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (LOUNGE) - Jody & Sammy Stapleton. 9:30 p.m. Roots/Folk/Pop. Free. SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (REVIVAL ROOM) - Ohio Valley Salvage, Chalk Eye, aBrass Owl. 8:30 p.m. Rock/Various. $8. STANLEY’S PUB - Strange Mechanics with Aaron Benjamin. 10 p.m. Funk/Jam/ Various. Cover.

FOUNTAIN SQUARE Juice with Malibu Wild and Horse Divorce. 9 p.m. Rock/R&B/Hip Hop/Various. Free.

FRETBOARD BREWING COMPANY - The BillyRock Band. 8 p.m. Rock/Various. Free.

VERONA VINEYARDS - Ma Crow & Co. 6 p.m. Bluegrass. Free.

URBAN ARTIFACT Goran Ivanovic Trio. 9 p.m. Jazz/World/Various. Cover.

THE GREENWICH - Radio Black. 9 p.m. Pop/R&B/Hip Hop/Various. Cover.

WASHINGTON PLATFORM - The EWI Quartet. 9 p.m. Jazz. $10 (food/drink minimum).

HILTON NETHERLAND PALM COURT - Gary Gorrell/Jim Connerley Quartet. 9

SUNDAY 23

20TH CENTURY THEATER

- Woodstock Revival Adult Performance Program. 4 p.m. Rock. $6, $8 day of show. LATITUDES BAR & BISTRO - BlueBirds. 8 p.m. Rock/R&B. Free.

MOTR PUB - Potty Mouth with Colleen Green and Leggy. 8 a.m. Indie Rock. Free.

RIVERFRONT LIVE Puddle of Mudd with Saliva, Trapt, Saving Abel and Tantric. 6 p.m. Rock. $30, $35 day of show.

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (SANCTUARY) - Electric Six with Heavy Hinges. 8 p.m. Dance/Pop/Rock/Various. $12, $15 day of show.

WASHINGTON PARK - CCJO Meets Soul. 7 p.m. Jazz/Soul. Free.

WOODWARD THEATER School of Rock Mason: A Tribute to The Beatles. 6:30 p.m. Rock/Pop. Cover

MONDAY 24

HILTON NETHERLAND PALM COURT - Peter Gemus Trio. 6 p.m. Jazz. Free.

KNOW THEATRE OF CINCINNATI - The Doubleclicks. 7 p.m. Pop/ Acoustic/Comedy. $10. THE MAD FROG - Smile Empty Soul with Coldville and Dead Eyes. 7 p.m. Rock. $10. MEMORIAL HALL - Max Hatt and Edda Glass. 7 p.m. Bossa Nova/Jazz/Roots. $8.

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (SANCTUARY) - Charley Crockett with Andrew Hibbard. 8 p.m. Country/Blues/Soul. $15.

THOMPSON HOUSE Snarls, Roof Rabbit and Lo the Loyal Conscripts. 8 p.m. $8.

TUESDAY 25

CAFFÈ VIVACE - Ricky Nye & Chris Douglas. 7:30 p.m. Blues/Jazz

NORTHSIDE TAVERN Ok Computer [A]. 9 p.m. Acoustic Radiohead tribute. Free.

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6. Story with a headshot

9. Permeate throughout

14. Let

17. Strings in the orchestra

21. Actress Ortiz 22. Crucial 23. Has to lift weights at the gym? 28. Offensively smelly 29. Row of Staples 33. Geisha accessory 36. Rings around the aloha shirt collar

70. Programmable thermostats

38-Across (and from the theme answers)

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20. Promotional gimmick

15. Spotify playlist, e.g.

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30. Diss track, e.g.

48. LL Cool J procedural

31. Corporate picture

50. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Indeedyâ&#x20AC;?

32. ___ out a living (scraped by)

51. Totally pointless

37. Reading spot

1. Prickly plants

33. Egg, in biology

52. Mad Lib requests

38. Viral video trend that involves people wearing trash bags, and an alternate title for this puzzle

2. Vegetable-oil component

34. Make, as a 26-Down

53. Baby screecher

3. Page of Hollywood

35. Tops the cake

54. Contents of Room 101 in â&#x20AC;&#x153;1984â&#x20AC;?

39. Letters on some fighter jets

55. Render useless, as polls

40. Yankee or Oriole, briefly

56. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Too bad!â&#x20AC;?

43. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My Dog Has Fleasâ&#x20AC;? instrument 44. Ballerinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bend 45. The Man upstairs

DOWN

4. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You think Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m jokingâ&#x20AC;? 5. Illness with farm origins 6. Maker of the X1 series

42. Clintonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s secretary of defense

48. Bohr of physics

7. Sequelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sequelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s number

47. Slackerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s posture

49. Insect knows for sure?

8. Ventura County city

46. Big buttes

55. Place for pampering

59. Former rep Olympia 60. Promote canonized folk with a boot in the rear?

66. Chickens do it 67. Core 68. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Christinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Worldâ&#x20AC;? painter 69. Thing sucked out during a

13. No problem 19. Hydrocarbon ending 24. Judge 25. Relating to the ears 26. Cod-filled meal served in slices 27. Trigonometric term

63. Neighbor of Jor.

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65. Moral value

12. Instinctive motive

62. See 10-Down

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J U N . 19 - 2 5 , 2 0 19

58. Affirmative that is a homophone of a pronoun

9. Francis, in Roma 10. With 62-Down, rum drink

57. Bit of soreness

41. Jaunty tune

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