CityBeat | Jan. 6, 2010 by Chava Communications

CONTENTS

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VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 9

with

this providence the swellers

jan 26 • 6:30pm

jan 27 • 6:30pm

BadFish a tribute to sublime w/ scotty don’t feb 24 new Found Glory w/ saves the day, hello Goodbye, Fireworks mar 3 FloGGinG molly w/ Frank turner, the architects mar 9 oVerkill w/ Vader, God dethroned, warbringer, evile apr 7

For a Complete list oF shows, Visit liVenation.Com charge by phone: 1-877-598-8703 • bogart’s box office is now open every mon-fri from 12-5pm & always open on show days at 2pm • tickets also available at shake it records

all dates, acts and ticket prices subject to change without notice. a service charge is added to each ticket.

4-pack offers are available for every bogart’s show at livenation.com while supplies last

VOICES

NEWS

TO DO PICKS

ARTS

DINER

FILM

CLASSIFIEDS

MUSIC 17

Americana’s Most Wanted:

The Tillers’ new album, celebrated with a release party Saturday, stretches the concept of “roots” music.

On the cover: The Tillers photo by Cameron Knight • Design by Jason Kidwell

ONLINE CITYBEAT.COM BLOGS

Local band Cari Clara signs a record deal, Asian food is delivered in Walnut Hills, the Bengals and UC Bearcats suffer a CityBeat cover jinx

PODCASTS

#42: Cincinnati’s radical media

ONLINE COLUMNS

I Shall Be Released: New CDs from Sister Hazel, Alec Ounsworth, Lisa Germano, Glenn Tilbrook & the Fluffers and even Frank Zappa On Second Thought: Predictions for the news media world in 2010

MUSIC TOWN MESSAGE BOARD

PHOTO GALLERIES

New Year’s Eve at Know Theatre’s speakeasy and at Northside Tavern, plus the Bengals fan champions

Which music genres are thriving locally, the end of music and promotional talk about upcoming local shows

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4PORKOPOLIS BY KEVIN OSBORNE

A Fight for the Local GOP’s Soul

t’s only the first week in January but already political campaigns are gearing up for what likely will be the most high-profile local race this year. There was little surprise this week when Cincinnati City Councilwoman Leslie Ghiz finally confirmed months of speculation by announcing her candidacy for the Hamilton County commission. Ghiz, a Republican, is running for the seat now held by Democrat David Pepper. He’s not seeking reelection, opting instead to run for Ohio auditor. Pepper is one of two Democrats on the three-member county commission, along with Todd Portune. Republican Greg Hartmann rounds out the group. When Pepper was elected in late 2006, he helped form the first Democratic majority on the commission since 1962, when pillbox hats and cigarette smoking were still in style. Like Janet Jackson, the local GOP wants to be in control once more. To do so largely depends on running a strong enough candidate that can appeal to voters in places as diverse as Indian Hill, Norwood, Sharonville and Delhi Township. Ghiz is getting a major boost by using Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis Jr. as her campaign manager. Love him or hate him, blustery old Si almost always ranks as the most popular local Republican in polls and still retains a lot of clout among party members. Hoping to deflect some of Ghiz’s attention, Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Monzel announced the same day that he’s also running for the county commission, although he hasn’t yet formally kicked off his campaign. The race is shaping up to be a fight for the local Republican Party’s soul, and could impact its direction for years. On one side, there’s Ghiz who represents traditional “law and order” Republicans, but is generally centrist beyond that. She’s consistently opposed police layoffs on council and endorsed county tax levies in 2006 and 2007 that would’ve paid for a new jail. Besides her focus on public safety issues, Ghiz also wants to reduce government spending but she isn’t dogmatic about it. Other than those core issues, Ghiz is something of a moderate, as witnessed by her frequent endorsements by Log Cabin Republicans, and is open to negotiation with her colleagues. On the other side is Monzel, who is a hardcore conservative. He’s supported by the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spend-

ing and Taxes (COAST) and activist Chris Finney. That’s the same crowd who held sway over county government when their last pet candidate, Republican Phil Heimlich, was a county commissioner. Heimlich followed COAST’s advice and did things like appointing Finney as the chairman of the county’s Tax Levy Review Committee, along with cutting lopsided deals to rent jail space from Butler County and sell the Drake Center, all of which ended up driving county government in a fiscal ditch and doing little to solve a financial crisis that’s been brewing for more than a decade. In fact, the situation was so bad that voters booted Heimlich from office after a single term, preferring Democrat Pepper. Like the national GOP, the local Republican Party needs to decide whether it wants to hitch its wagon to ideological conservatives and so-called “values voters,” or take a more mainstream course that could appeal to a wider base. Unfortunately, as local GOP Chairman Alex Triantafilou recently booked loony U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) as speaker at a major fundraiser next month, the signs don’t appear good for rationality. As someone who’s covered Ghiz and Monzel for years, I can say both are genuinely nice people, no matter their policy positions. It will be interesting to see if their demeanor and campaigning styles change and toughen up once primary campaign season rolls around. Already Ghiz has received some criticism for her style during last year’s City Council campaign. That’s when she took on a harder edge and began frequently using Twitter to harshly criticize Democrats on council. Her prime target was Councilwoman Laketa Cole, who Ghiz tweeted never shut up during meetings, and provided red meat for her followers. Never one to let an opportunity for publicity pass him by, the Rev. Charlie Winburn — the third and final Republican on City Council — also hinted publicly that he’s considering a run for the county commission. Charlie must have a good sense of humor because there’s no way he will launch a campaign. First, Ghiz and Monzel are starting their third council terms, having served more than four years on council. By comparison, Winburn is just starting his first term, and has been in office for 35 days. Crazy. Also, there’s little chance that conservative voters in rural areas like Crosby Township would back a flamboyant politician of Winburn’s ilk. Of course, county Democrats might not be facing the

VOICES current predicament of losing control of the commission if it weren’t for their poster boy, Portune. Before the last commission election in 2008, Portune cut a deal with Hartmann to eliminate competition in their separate races. Under the backroom deal, the Democratic Party promised not to run a candidate against Republican Hartmann in his race, and in return the GOP wouldn’t endorse any candidate who challenged Portune, who was seeking his third term. Why an incumbent like Portune, who had eight years in office under his belt, felt he needed the extra protection is anybody’s guess. Many rank-and-file Democrats were angered by the deal, stating it forfeited the party’s best chance to win all three seats on the commission in a presidential election year that had a record-setting Democratic turnout. If a party-endorsed candidate had run two years ago, the entire issue of retaining control likely would be moot. Instead, heavy-hitters like attorney Stan Chesley pushed party Chairman Tim Burke into supporting the deal, and exCincinnati Mayor Dwight Tillery endorsed the pact. Swift move, fellas. The least Portune can do to atone for his selfishness is work his ass off for whoever emerges as the Democratic candidate in the race later this year. ✽✽✽✽✽ A federal appeals court recently upheld a judgment that dismissed a defamation lawsuit against CityBeat’s sister alt-weekly newspaper that was filed by the co-developer of the controversial Heimlich Maneuver. As reported by Toledo Legal News, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals found Dr. Edward Patrick didn’t demonstrate the threshold requirement of falsity regarding an article published by Cleveland Scene. The initial article noted that a supervising doctor refused to sign Patrick’s residency certificate for his time spent at Jewish Hospital, and that the hospital refused to certify Patrick had obtained any training in emergency medicine there. “And the record supports the district court’s conclusion that although Dr. Patrick made some attempt to rebut this evidence, the rebuttal evidence is wholly insufficient to make the showing of falsity necessary to survive summary judgment,” wrote Chief Judge Alice Batchelder. Patrick, 72, claims to have co-created the maneuver with Dr. Henry Heimlich, a Cincinnati resident and father of Phil Heimlich. Critics have complained that some uses for the maneuver advocated by the elder Heimlich are unsafe and questioned the credentials of him and Patrick.

january 06-12, 2010

4living out loud

by c.a. macconnell

Sun’s Gonna Shine Anyway I haven’t written about him. I haven’t been able to understand what happened. I wrestled with the beginning — and the ending, well, a mess. Words surfaced here and there, but I shook them off. I didn’t want to hit that story lurking there, that not-so-old wound. Last year at this time I was madly in love with a former hippie who still liked Phish, and I made fun of his band obsession every chance I got. Damn, we’d kid and laugh. Inside jokes, Flight of the Conchords. On one of our first dates he wasn’t eating much so I asked him if he had an eating disorder. He cracked up, saying no, he was getting over the flu. Shy but affectionate, he had long, dark hair. He dressed like a rocker, with a collection of expensive jeans and hoodies. We’ll call him Ryan. Tall and lean, Ryan had a wide chest, narrow hips and a flat stomach. I loved his hands. I even loved his goofy dog. Ryan was quiet and reserved. It was hard to tell what he was feeling, but if I wanted to know, I just flat-out asked, “What the hell are you thinking?” And he’d tell me, in a few short words. Last New Year’s Eve, we hung out at my efficiency apartment, half-watching TV. Mostly, we watched each other. When he was next to me on the crummy couch, I felt safe. Calm. I’ve always been a worrier, but with him there was never a question. I wanted him there. Just me, him, two pints of ice cream, a movie, the cats and a teeny tiny room. Us. We didn’t go out much. We didn’t rage on the town. Sometimes we’d hit a club or go out for fish but mostly we stayed in watching movies, touching and laughing and curling up on the bed again. Our world. We hung out nonstop until one night last April. We were on a date. He was driving. He looked at the road and stated, “I got into the University of Montana.” I looked at him, smiling. “That’s great,” I said. Then it started to sink in. “I’m happy for you,” I said. My eyes filled up. Silence. Back near my apartment, we sat in the car. Clothes rustled as we shifted nervously. The tension made me twitch. “What are you going to do?” I finally asked him. “I’m going,” he announced flatly. “Just like that, no conversation, you’re going?” I said, getting out of the car. Ryan sped away. Inside my apartment, I had a flashback. I envisioned the day when my Dad left my Mom. It all felt so similar — the silence, then the shock. I had no warning and then, suddenly, my whole world was gone. With Ryan, I felt the same way. I knew he was applying to schools, but I didn’t know he

was dead-set on leaving. Suddenly, I realized that I wasn’t in the picture. That was followed by weeks of hashing it out, many tears, endless words that went nowhere. I was torn. I knew he wanted to leave Cincinnati. He wanted to stay together until he left. I refused. And after countless painful talks, I realized this: He didn’t want to stay, and he didn’t want me to go with him. And I knew that if it were right, geography wouldn’t be an issue and the two people would make it happen. A hard truth. We broke up. We got back together. We cut it off completely. I haven’t spoken to him since. By our last conversation, I didn’t know when or where or if he was going. I found out when someone posted Facebook pictures of his going-away party. I saw these pictures minutes before I had to meet the band July for Kings to interview them. I cried,

I’ve always been a worrier, but with him there was never a question. I wanted him there. Just me, him, two pints of ice cream, a movie, the cats and a teeny tiny room. Us.

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washed my face, suited up and showed up. These things never have good timing. It seemed ridiculous. In one moment, what had seemed like the right match turned into something nonexistent? He said he loved me, but when it came down to it, he wanted to leave. Alone. Tonight, I sit in a coffee shop. While I write, in the background, Nina Simone sings, “The sun’s gonna shine in my back door someday.” Across from me, a woman stops knitting to listen. She breathes in, grinning, eyes shut tight. Then she looks at me, her smile turning bright and wide. Utter joy. “It’s a good song, isn’t it?” I ask her. She laughs, nodding. “Yeah!” Sometimes, all we have are these moments — a good tune, a child learning a karate move for the first time, the morning a yellow rose opens. To me, these simple beauties are all moments of love, in the strangest of forms. Unlike the movies, real love can be tricky. But I remember last New Year’s when we watched the ball drop in between mad, gorgeous, new touch, when we discovered a new cheek, hand, neck, eyelid, chest and lips. I remember his soft laugh, his cool socks, the way his long hair was always a mess, half-wet and tied back loosely. Sometimes there is no explanation, life lesson or revelation involved other than this — when I watched him sleep, I knew deep down that someday he wouldn’t be there, but I thought, Right here, right now, this is just right. CONTACT C.A. MACCONNELL: letters@citybeat.com

4awesome for everyone

Worst Week Ever! Inappropriate

4by danny cross

WEDNESDAY DEC. 30 It is a fact of life that some people driving on the road have more alcohol in their blood than is legally allowed — there are just not enough TGI Friday’s locations for everyone to be able to walk home after a super-fun dinner. The State of Ohio in 2008 decided that although getting one DUI after drinking a fishbowl of Long Island Iced Tea is normal, accumulating five arrests for it is unreasonable and should be documented on a public database. The Enquirer reported today, however, that last-minute changes to Senate Bill 17 resulted in only 1 percent of the 36,000 such drivers being included, which was news to the bill’s sponsor, Ohio State Sen. Timothy Grendell, who said he thinks it’s weird when people who can’t walk think they can still push the pedal and turn the wheel OK enough to get home safely.

THURSDAY DEC. 31 God blesses everyone with different skills, that’s why we should never judge people who look like freaks because they might be able to do something cool like sing good. The Enquirer reported today that some young preachers are in a similar situation, as they’ve been blessed with the Bible’s words to tell people but not the delivery it takes to really get the message across. That’s why a collection of churches has organized the Festival of Young Preachers, which will take place in Louisville next week hoping to give rookie preachers feedback on content, mannerisms and methods of preaching. The festival will also feature seminars on specific preaching styles and a mandatory class on how to explain why God can make bets with the devil but humans aren’t allowed to steal fruit from him.

FRIDAY JAN. 1 We, as humans, don’t have to worry about any other species invading us because our consciousness and free will allow us to make awesome weapons to defend ourselves from even the scariest creatures on Earth. But that doesn’t mean some of the not so scary ones can’t mess up our habitats, which is potentially worse than whatever happens when a hippopotamus gets mad at you. Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray last week filed a brief to review the state’s defense of the Great Lakes from the Asian carps that have already usurped the Mississippi River’s bass population. In addition, Cordray says he is concerned with wild boars, Fallow deer and the creepy centaurs in eastern Ohio that wear shirts but no pants.

SATURDAY JAN. 2

SUNDAY JAN. 3 Fact: Cincinnati is one of few major cities to address a massive deficit without raising taxes or making big service cuts. Opinion: Cincinnati’s leaders are a bunch of dicks. The Enquirer today, via a surprisingly thorough analysis, supported both these statements, as City Council’s 2010 budget does little to address the city’s long-term financial problems. By utilizing one-time cuts and borrowed money to soften the $51 million deficit, City Council has assured that next year’s budget negotiations will be as difficult and annoying as this year’s and that they’ll continue to have union support for whatever office they choose to run for next year.

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MONDAY JAN. 4 If the best things in life were free, society would better appreciate grocery store salad bars (yes, those are free). But the truth is that people only like free stuff when it’s good, which is why USA Today is so interested in free hotel breakfast consumption being on the rise despite the fact that hotel attendance is down and the food turns crunchy if you try to eat it after 10 a.m. According to market research firm the NPD Group, which helps the restaurant industry figure out where people are eating if they’re not eating at restaurants (their houses?), free breakfast at cheaper hotels is part of a two-part problem that impacts both restaurants and high-end hotels. NPD expects the trend to continue in 2010 but for people to not have learned their lesson when the economy picks back up.

TUESDAY JAN. 5 If you think that rich people hate poor people, you’re wrong. Rich people just hate poorness, which is a state of existence and not the real essence of the poors. But that won’t stop landlords from being disappointed in those of us whose small contributions to the economy are coming from our parents’ basement and not the apartment we used to rent from them. The Enquirer today reported that landlords are now giving generous offers to attract new renters, as rent prices fell 3.5 percent last year and are expected to drop further. Among the deals being offered by property owners who miss getting money for nothing are reduced deposits, new appliances and puppies to scratch up the floor so they can keep your deposit. DO YOU NEED ANYTHING? E-MAIL: dcross@citybeat.com

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We all know what a robber looks like — for years the white dude with a black mask across his eyes was the most typical suspect when a bank or corner store was knocked off. The Enquirer reported today that police have lately been adding to this description a ponytail and boobs, as more women have been robbing banks than ever before. The interesting aspect of the trend — aside from how women

get away when they’re such slow runners — is that women doing bad things without the help of men is actually an extension of women doing lots of things without men. Crime researchers say their biggest concern with women committing crimes on their own is that their husbands are probably somewhere else doing something even worse.

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Keeping Families Together Clergy: Time for immigration policy based on reason, not anger 4by the rev. jim schutte

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uring the holiday season, it’s nearly impossible to ignore the importance of family. Yet while many of us spent the holiday season celebrating and reconnecting with loved ones, we couldn’t avoid the fact that so many others in Cincinnati didn’t spend the season with their families — immigrants who are unable to reunite with families because of how utterly broken our immigration system has become. I am reminded each Sunday as I lead services that family values transcend immigration status and country of origin. Scripture teaches us to love our neighbor, describing stories of immigrants like Abraham or Ruth, people cast out of their native regions, seeking refuge in foreign places. It is in these teachings and stories that we find parallels with today’s immigrants living all around our country and in our own communities. Sadly, though, our dysfunctional immigration policy and lack of action by Congress results in countless children in Ohio spending the holidays without a mother or a father. These families are not alone. I hear stories from around the community about breadwinners who worry they will be deported. Mothers and fathers speak about their fear of losing their children or forcing their kids to leave the United States, the only home they have ever

known. My congregation, just like thousands of others across the country, is afraid. We can no longer let this type of fear divide our communities. We must call on Congress to act and keep our communities and families together. Faith groups nationwide are uniting in a new, unprecedented grassroots movement rooted in a theological and moral ground. In December, leaders of diverse faith communities launched a national postcard campaign. This month, members of Congress will receive hundreds of thousands of postcards from people of faith urging them to pass immigration reform that unites families rather than tearing them apart. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano recently reaffirmed the Obama administration’s commitment to enacting comprehensive immigration reform in early 2010. Now is the time for leaders from Ohio to stand up for a pragmatic, sensible approach that restores our values of compassion and lawfulness over the disorder and inaction that have won out in recent years. It is up to us and our leaders in Congress to make sure our immigrant neighbors do not celebrate future holiday seasons afraid and alone. The Rev. Jim Schutte is priest at St. Leo Catholic Church in Fairmount and is a member of The AMOS Project, a Tristate coalition of 30 churches dedicated to promoting social justice and reducing poverty.

NEWS

Slow Ride to Nowhere? City’s new environmental law faces uncertain future 4By matthew cunningham

ith the election of a new City Council, the future looks uncertain for Cincinnati’s Environmental Justice Ordinance. The first-of-its-kind law, which was slated to go into effect Dec. 21, was touted by backers such as former councilman David Crowley as a way to ensure the city’s poorest residents are protected from heavily-polluting businesses. But the ordinance failed to earn funding in the current city budget, approved after Crowley and fellow Democrat Greg Harris left the group. A motion submitted in June by Councilman Jeff Berding, an Independent, seeks to postpone implementation of the law by one year. Berding’s proposal was scheduled to be voted on Jan. 5, just after CityBeat’s deadline. One thing everyone involved in the dispute over the law agrees on is that 2010 will be its make or break time. “It’s a big deal,” says Marti Sinclair, program director for the Environmental Community Organization. “The citizens and city advisers met for four years to work out this ordinance.” Berding’s motion, which would call for a private firm to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the ordinance, is more about politics than anything else, Sinclair adds. “It’s a slap in the face to the citizens who worked so hard,” she says. “I think this has

kind of been pulled out of the hat. They know what the citizens want and what we’ve worked on.” But Councilman Chris Bortz — a Charterite who is Berding’s ally — says the motion is about stopping an ill-conceived law that could do more harm than good in a former Rust Belt city trying to remake itself for the 21st Century. “It could be a real burden to companies making investments in the city because it’s very hard to understand,” Bortz says. At its most basic, the Environmental Justice Ordinance is a check on companies that are likely to produce toxins and dangerous pollutants in the course of business. The ordinance would establish a board and administrator who would review, then grant or deny, permits for potentially polluting businesses to build or expand operations in various city neighborhoods. The idea is that the additional oversight could prevent a given neighborhood — historically, poorer and mostly minority — from suffering the effects of excessive pollutants in the local environment. Specific categories of businesses and construction are exempted from the Environmental Justice Ordinance including office buildings, residential developments and “most commercial” projects, say officials. Reviews will be conducted only in neighborhoods defined

PHOTO: citybeat archive

Ex-Vice Mayor David Crowley, who left office last month, lobbied for the new law.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 104

4 winners and losers JOE DETERS: Poor Joe just can’t seem to catch a break lately. The Ohio Supreme Court last week voted 6-1 to issue a stay preventing Deters from firing the law firm hired by Hamilton County commissioners to handle legal issues connected to riverfront redevelopment. Deters had convinced 12 Common Pleas Court judges in October to sign an order axing the law firm, stating it was an unnecessary expense and the Prosecutor’s Office could handle future riverfront issues. Commissioners, however, said the firm’s expertise was needed and that Deters lacked the authority to fire it. Also, commissioners questioned his motives because he opposes The Banks riverfront project. Deters’ order was to take effect Jan. 1, but the high court’s stay prevents that until it makes a final ruling in the matter, expected later this month.

CITY COUNCIL’S KINDLES: Try saying that three times quickly. At the suggestion of Cincinnati Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls, City Council is buying 10 Kindle electronic readers — one each for the mayor and council members. The devices will cost $7,200 but will save $25,632 annually in paper costs by eliminating the need for hard copies of reports and resolutions. Republicans are crying foul, saying it’s an unnecessary expense when the city is facing deficits. Apparently the local GOP doesn’t understand math. Still, politics is unfortunately all too often a matter of perception, and buying the devices now sends mixed messages to the public. The real test on whether the purchase is a good thing, however, will be seeing if the devices remain available to future council members and don’t mysteriously disappear when current members leave office.

ROB PORTMAN: Facts often are the enemy of many political campaigns. A case in point are the statements made in Republican Rob Portman’s campaign for the U.S. Senate. Portman is the former congressman from Terrace Park and budget director under George W. Bush who wants to replace the retiring George Voinovich next year. Portman has been stumping against the TARP bailout, a program he supported in 2008, as well as what he calls excessive spending by President Obama. As noted by Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, a Democrat who’s running against Portman, that’s blatant hypocrisy. “He decries the size of the budget deficit, but the debt swelled to $500 billion on Portman’s watch as director of the Office of Management and Budget under George W. Bush,” Fisher’s campaign manager rightly said. Own up to your past, Mr. Portman. 09

january 06-12, 2010

ALAN KALMANOFF: Local political junkies will remember Kalmanoff as the city of Cincinnati’s first federallyappointed police monitor, hired in 2002 to oversee the implementation of dozens of reforms to the Cincinnati Police Department. He left after six weeks, however, following a highly publicized dispute with city officials over allegations of excessive spending. We’ve written before about how some of The Enquirer’s articles on Kalmanoff’s billings at the time were distorted or just plain wrong, but he’s carried on as director of his consulting firm, the Californiabased Institute for Law and Policy Planning. Now Kalmanoff can add “author” to his resume with the recent publication of Second Ticket to the Dance, a book about his battle with heart disease and the changes he made to his life as a result. Good for you, Kal.

by kevin osborne

4SLOW RIDE NOWHERE?: FROM PAGE 09

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as “environmental justice communities” as well as in one-mile radius around them. The law was approved in June 2009 after more than three years of work and undergoing several alterations. Mayor Mark Mallory and most of council’s Democrats support it. Bortz voices an argument made by Berding and by parties opposed to the ordinance, such as the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state environmental regulators, they argue, already regulate the companies that would be targeted by the ordinance. “The scariest polluters in the city are the chemical manufacturing industry, and they’re monitored (by the state and EPA) very carefully,” he says. “I think for the most part they’ve been compliant and careful.” Adding permits that only affect the city and not the surrounding suburbs would simply make it that much easier for a company to choose a location other than Cincinnati, opponents contend. “To create that additional layer, I think was generally thought of as overkill,” Bortz says, adding that that scenario would see Cincinnati losing both jobs and environmental quality. “We can keep them out of the city of Cincinnati, but can’t keep them out of our air and water supply. Something like this needs to be national or international.” The debate could be a moot point, at least for the near future. Council didn’t include funding for the ordinance’s manager, expected to be an employee under the city’s Office of Environmental Quality, and the organization of its board of appeals. “For whatever reason — the budget, or whatever — there’s not a lot of loose cash hanging around,” says Bonnie Phillips, the Office of Environmental Quality’s environmental compliance manager.

Bortz had a more blunt assessment. “Council didn’t put it back in the budget,” he says. “The administration — it was pretty clear from the beginning — they didn’t like it.” Berding’s motion was originally submitted in June, and only came up this week under a so-called “sunset” review: The newly elected council is essentially sorting through unfinished business left from the prior group. Both Bortz and new Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan, a Democrat, said they wouldn’t be surprised to see the motion vanish into the proverbial sunset, especially given the lack of funding for the ordinance. That’s not to say the ordinance will go quietly into the New Year. “We have to do something,” says Quinlivan. “You just can’t have a new law in the books with no funding to support it.” The first-term councilwoman campaigned in 2009 on a platform that, in her words, stressed making the city “cleaner, greener and smarter.” And a motion she planned to submit Jan. 5 in that spirit could provide for a very similar step to that proposed by Berding and the business community. Quinlivan’s motion would call for a one-year delay in the implementation of the ordinance. Her goal, she explains, is to give the new council a chance to both assess the ordinance and figure out a way to pay for it. Cost estimates for implementation vary widely depending on which side is presenting: Supporters put the figure at around $150,000, while opponents suggest it could be $170,000 to $280,000 higher per year, mostly for appeals and legal fees from businesses that are denied permits. “If the environmental justice ordinance could really help us and we could even market it to our advantage, it might be really good,” she says. “On the other hand, if it’s something that really discourages businesses from moving here, it might be really bad. That’s why I’m for gathering more information.” Ellen van der Horst, then the Chamber’s president and CEO, wrote a letter last summer

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Current Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls is among the environmental law’s backers. “On the local level you have to be focused on enforcement, and we already are,” he says. “We just don’t have a lot of that type of industry anymore.” Bortz noted that due to specifications in the ordinance that focus on companies that produce and use toxic chemicals it wouldn’t have been able to prevent one of the area’s more recent environmental emergencies, the 2005 styrene leak from a rail car near Lunken Airport. That leak resulted in a mandatory evacuation of parts of the Columbia Tusculum neighborhood. Supporters of the ordinance see the lack of funding and council’s potential plans as holding up a groundbreaking piece of legislation. For Quinlivan, the motion she’s submitting is an opportunity to approach the ordinance in a smarter, possibly more financially sound fashion. “(By next year) our budget situation could be all different. And if this is important to people, we can find the money to do the implementation.” ©

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to the mayor and City Council urging that the ordinance is rejected. “In its current form, the proposed ordinance would have a significant negative impact on business development,” van der Horst wrote. “At a time when the city of Cincinnati faces a projected $40 million budget deficit, creating a new unfunded mandate detrimental to business growth could only have a negative impact,” the letter added. “Without significant business growth, the city’s tax revenues will likely decrease and it will become more difficult to reduce the city’s projected deficit.” But Quinlivan says that if her motion passes she’d like to talk more with both sides of the issue to sort truth from spin, determining, for example, whether the ordinance would have potentially hampered a recent expansion by Graeter’s Ice Cream, as ordinance opponents have claimed. Bortz suggests that given the time and a cost-benefit analysis there is a chance the city will indeed find the ordinance a case of gilding an already effective lily.

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fragmented, the jolt of the metropolis is depicted with sacred ardor. Urban Rapture opens at the Carnegie this Friday with a reception from 6-9 p.m. and continues through Feb. 19. Visit www.thecarnegie.com for information. — MATT MORRIS

Sparrow Bellows

SATURDAY09 4 PHOTO: Sean Hughes

WEDNESDAY06 4 ART: WESTON ART GALLERY hosts three very different exhibitions by three separate artists: Rick Mallette, Alice Pixley Young and Steve Zieverink. See review on page 26. MUSIC: ARTIST IN RESIDENCE FEATURING SPARROW BELLOWS One of the many cool things about the Southgate House (24 East 3rd St., Newport) is the beloved venue’s “Artist in Residence” series, which puts an original local band onstage in Juney’s Lounge each Wednesday of the month. It’s a great chance to see your favorite local band in a super-intimate and super-loose setting — fans will often get an early peak at a new song or two or maybe hear a new cover song being tried out. You can also interact pretty easily with the performers, as they’re usually within arm’s reach, making it easier to hand them shots or give them hi-fives (but, conversely, making it easier for them to punch you in the face if you yell out “Freebird” in a drunken stupor one more time). The first A.I.R. band for 2010 is Sparrow Bellows, the awesomely melodic, rockin’ trio featuring guitarist/singer/songwriter Ric Hickey, singer/ bassist Sammy Wulfeck (also of Goose) and drummer Brian Kitzmiller. All A.I.R. shows are free and start at 9 p.m. www. southgatehouse.com. — MIKE BREEN

THURSDAY07 4

FRIDAY08 4

CONTINUES ON PAGE 144

january 06-12, 2010

COMEDY: BRENDON WALSH Comedian Brendon Walsh can’t decide whether he’s depressed or successful: “Is it a sign of depression if the only reason you take the sweatpants off you’ve been wearing for three days in a row is to use them as Brendon Walsh a napkin in bed? Or is it a sign of living the dream?” So far, he thinks it’s the latter, following a successful seven years doing stand-up. “I just wanted to

MUSIC: COLTRANE MOTION blends distorted guitar racket with a palpable keyboard atmosphere at the Northside have a job that paid me as much as loading trucks all day Tavern with Eagle To Squirrel and Bullying Ben Jones. See and let me drink on the job,” Walsh says. Before trying his Sound Advice on page 22. first open mic, he had a somewhat captive audience of city workers. “One day I got up on the back of a flat-bed truck, MUSIC: THE TILLERS celebrate the release of By the Signs ‘Alright, guys, just so we’re clear my name is pronounced at the Southgate House with Magnolia Mountain and The Bren-don not Bren-dejo, which is how I heard some of you Dirt Daubers. See Music on page 17. pronouncing my name.’ ” Walsh recalls. “It really busted up all the Mexican guys ’cause I think ‘pendejo’ means ART: FABRICATE Fabricate, Northside’s newest gallery asshole. Or motherfucker. I know ‘pendejo’ is a curse (and boutique and supply store), keeps the momentum word. I don’t know. I don’t even going with its third exhibit since get my own jokes!” Brendon Walsh opening in November. Their latest performs at Go Bananas Thursday art offering, A Shot in the Dark, through Sunday. Tickets are $8is a photographic survey of Rock $12. www.gobananascomedy.com. musicians and shows (local — P.F. WILSON and non) by area photographer Scott Beseler. According to the press release, Beseler says, “My photographs are a thanks to the sound. Cincinnati was once ART: CARNEGIE VISUAL AND known as a music town and my PERFORMING ARTS CENTER photography is evidence that the Cedric Michael Cox makes use of tradition is still alive and well.” PHOTO courtesy Cedric Michael Cox Cincinnati’s ornamental Italianate Calling the images “stills that Painting by Cedric Michael Cox architecture and gritty textures in show motion and sound, tears city-themed paintings on display in and beers, sweat, blood, spit, alcohol, smoke and mirrors, a number of exhibitions. Soul Within Structure is a series of tattoos, friends and fools,” his subjects include the likes paintings at the Contemporary of locals The Heartless Bastards, The Lions Rampant, Arts Center’s UnMuseum The Sundresses and many others. The opening reception that remain up until March 8. starts at 7 p.m. at Fabricate with potable beverages, hors Concurrently, a new exhibition d’oeuvres and a special performance by The Cut in the Hill of Cox’s work is set to open Gang (frequently photographed by Beseler) at 10:15 p.m. this Friday at the Carnegie After Fabricate, head to Mayday for an afterparty with 11 Visual and Performing Arts bands including The Cincinnati Suds, The Chocolate Horse, Center in Covington (1028 The Jellyhearts, Wonky Tonk and others who have been Scott Blvd.). Cox exaggerates photographed by Beseler. The opening reception runs from the geometry of the city, 7-11 p.m. at Fabricate, 4012 Hamilton Ave. color-coding it in brilliant www.fabnorthside.com. Mayday is located 4227 Spring reds, golds and blue-greens Grove Ave. — MAIJA ZUMMO borrowed from luminous PHOTO courtesy go bananas stained glass windows (or, in an alternative reading, patchwork quilts). Lively and

Screenprint of Two-Headed Pig

photo courtesy chelsey Hughes

Up. The all-ages “Screamo Unplugged” show (our name, not theirs) starts at 8 p.m. and also features Mark Rose of Spitalfield and Josh Hill of the local band Ellison. Tickets are $8, $10 day of show; go to www.southgatehouse.com to get yours early. The Southgate is at 24 East 3rd St., Newport. — MIKE BREEN

WednesDAY06 4

january 06-12, 2010

ART: NVISION Through the end of this month, Chelsey Hughes will be showing her strange etchings and screenprints of medical anomalies, human oddities and other comparable subject matter at NVision (4577 Hamilton Ave., Northside). Hughes is a student at the Art Academy of Cincinnati focusing on illustration and printmaking. Her work will share NVision’s space with its usual conglomeration of locally designed and/or vintage clothing, furnishings and objects of art. Hours are 2-9 p.m. WednesdaySunday. Call 513-542-4577. — STEVEN ROSEN

4TO DO: FROM PAGE 13

ART: CINCINNATI ART MUSEUM Rookwood Pottery is widely considered to be some of the highest quality, massproduced pottery ever made. Hand-painted and fired, each of the works is unique and a local treasure. The Cincinnati Art Museum houses an excellent collection of the works in its Cincinnati Wing, featuring vases that date back to the 1880s when Maria Longworth founded Rookwood Pottery. Each work presents a character and Rookwood Vase style unique to its era. The vivid, colorful glazes offer visitors a peek into our local heritage and shine with a vibrancy that’s as breathtaking today as it was when they were first produced. Tour CAM’s collection with a trained docent, who will offer context and details on Rookwood’s rich history. Free. Parking is $4. 2-3 p.m. www. cincinnatiartmuseum. org. — STEPHEN CARTERPHOTO courtesy cincinnati art museum NOVOTNI MUSIC: JT WOODRUFF When you hear the soaring Post Hardcore roar of Dayton, Ohio’s successful Hawthorne Heights, the first thing you think is probably not, “Wow, that tune would sound great around a campfire and performed on just an acoustic guitar.” But singer JT Woodruff will do just that (minus the campfire) this Saturday at the Southgate House (in the cozy Parlour room), the same venue in which the Heights filmed a music video and, more recently, performed the final show of its ’09 tour, just before Christmas. Expect to hear some acoustic versions of HH faves as well as songs slated for the band’s new album, Skeletons, due within the next few months on Wind-

SPORTS: HAMILTON COUNTY PARKS WINTER HIKE SERIES Every Saturday through Feb. 6, Hamilton County Parks offers up a 4 to 5.5-mile hike along some of the city’s best trails. Fight cabin fever by finding some friends, bundling up and getting your ass out of bed before 10 a.m., which is when the hikes start. As an added bonus and warm reward, a bowl of soup will be served to each hiker at the end of the hike. Hikers will also each receive one free walking stick. This Saturday, the hike takes place at Winton Woods (10245 Winton Woods, Springfield) and the soup of the day is bean soup with cornbread. On Jan. 16, head to Sharon Woods (11450 Lebanon Road, Sharonville) for a hike and chicken noodle soup. On Jan. 23, Miami Whitewater Forest (9001 Mount Hope Road, Crosby Twp.) hosts the hike with chili soup and crackers. Then on Jan. 30, hike around Woodland Mound (8250 Old Kellogg Road, Anderson) for some chicken wild rice soup. And, last but not least, go to Shawnee Lookout (2008 Lawrenceburg Road, Miami Twp.) for some exercise and vegetable beef barley soup. $5 per person, per hike. Register for hikes at www.greatparks.org. — MAIJA ZUMMO

MONDAY11 4 MUSIC: THE BLED, Tuscon’s Post-Hardcore quintet, drums up anticipation for its upcoming fourth album Heat Fetish at Covington’s Mad Hatter with I Am Messenger and The Paramedic. See Sound Advice on page 22.

TUESDAY12 4 ONSTAGE: EIGHTH BLACKBIRD, the wildly innovative, Grammy-award winning sextet, performs at CCM’s Corbett Auditorium. See Arts on page 24. EVENTS: TUESDAY NIGHT MOVIES AT GRAMMER’S Bored on Tuesday nights? Head to Grammer’s for their weekly movie night. Each Tuesday the bar screens two cult classic movies like The Breakfast Club or Dazed and Confused inside the Tarbell Room. The action has moved indoors because it’s freaking cold out, but in the spring the movies will be projected outside, “bike-in” style, in the beer garden. And, as always, Grammer’s will be providing drinkers and movie-goers with limitless free popcorn. To learn what movies are being screened each week, join the “Tuesday Night Movies at Grammer’s” group page on Facebook. They send out an e-mail the Monday before. Or just stop by the bar at 10 p.m. Free. Corner of Walnut and Liberty in Over-the-Rhine. www.grammers.net. — MAIJA ZUMMO

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Pete Rose will be at the Cavalcade of Customs

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PHOTO: Gerald von Foris

FRIDAY08 4 EVENTS: CAVALCADE OF CUSTOMS If you don’t like cars, baseball and SpongeBob Square Pants then you hate America. This weekend’s Cavalcade of Customs will have everything for the red-blooded American in all of us (and don’t try to act like SpongeBob is gay — that was one of the Teletubbies). In addition to showcasing dozens of hot rods and custom cars, the event will include an autograph session with Reds legend/banned MLBer Pete Rose, kid-friendly mascots like SpongeBob, Mr. Red and Dora the Explorer, and lots of other stuff for those who don’t know the difference between a camshaft bolt and a camshaft button (the bolt is smaller). The main draw, of course, will be the many “sweet,” “badass” and “awesome” cars, along with special exhibits, noted designers, collectible toys and charity auctions. $14; $5 children ages 6-12. 3-10 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday at the Duke Energy Convention Center. www.autorama.com. — DANNY CROSS

So here we are in 2010 and still no teleportation (a la Star Trek) nor jet packs (a la The Jetsons). What a rip-off! Oh well, at least we do have an iPhone app that lets you know the right moments to go take a leak when you are at the movie theater. Also cool in these futuristic times— free stuff from citybeat.com. Head to the site and click on “Free Stuff” to win tickets to see the unique teaming of Indie bands CALEXICO (pictured) and THE AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT with the LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA later this month in Louisville. You can also still register to win tickets to ANI DIFRANCO’s show at Covington’s Madison Theater this February.

PLAN AHEAD

PHOTO COURTESY myspace.com/borgesrocks

After an impressive performance at the MidPoint Music Festival last year, rising Americana stars SARAH BORGES AND BROKEN SINGLES (pictured) play the Southgate House on Jan. 15. The Tony Award-winning musical SPRING AWAKENING, with its mix of sex, nihilism and Rock & Roll show tunes, begins its run at the Aronoff Center Jan. 12. And the ONE MORE GIRL ON A STAGE music fest featuring many of the finest area acts with a female presence comes to Newport’s York Street Café on Jan. 15 and 16.

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4SPILL IT By mike breen

Hot Blast of Blues The Blues can often conjure images of sweltering heat and sweat-inducing sun rays (like in that movie, Crossroads, with the Karate Kid), but a swift winter chill can be just as fitting. Be it Seasonal Affective Disorder or just the need for some down and dirty grooves to grind to (and keep warm), the Blues can be your best friend come wintertime. Luckily, Cincinnati Blues doesn’t take the winter off. The Cincy Blues Society’s annual “Winter Blues Fest” is coming up at the end of January (two nights, three stages and 26 bands at the Southgate House, Jan. 29-30). But Monday you can get your Blues fix via a stellar lineup at Play By Play in Silverton. And it’s for a good cause — helping area artists spread the good word of Midwestern Blues. The “Road to Memphis 2010” showcase kicks off at 7 p.m. and raises money to help local musicians get to Memphis at the end of the month and battle in the International Blues Challenge (check blues.org for more on the IBC festivities). Monday’s benefit show will feature IBC competitors Cheryl Renee with Them Bones (competing in the “Band” category and representing the Cincy Blues Society) and Ricky Nye (CBS rep in the “Solo/Duo” category), as well as Twelve-Eight (participating in the new Youth Showcase at the IBC) and Jimmy D. Rogers, who is the Columbus Blues Alliance’s entry in the “Solo/Duo” category (oddly, Cincinnati’s Sonny Moorman Group — not performing at the benefit — is the CBA’s “Band” competitor and the band’s Live as Hell album is up for Best Self-Produced CD honors). Next Sunday (Jan. 17), the Kentuckiana Blues Society’s IBC representative Dick and the Roadmasters team with Nye and Them Bones for another “Road to Memphis” show at Covington’s Madison Theater (6 p.m. start time).

More Local Notes

contact mike breen: mbreen@citybeat.com

PHOTO: cameron knight

The Tillers have plenty of reasons to toot their own horn.

Licensed to Till With a new album at the ready, The Tillers have ambitious goals for 2010 4interview by brian baker

s the members of The Tillers awaited their Cincinnati Entertainment Awards Folk/Americana win this past November, the trio was busy fomenting a feud. In a Queen City Folk version of the East Coast/West Coast WASSUP Rap skirmish, The Tillers and Magnolia Mountain THE TILLERS (myspace.com/thetillersthree) had crafted a war of celebrate the release of By the Signs Satwords. urday at the Southgate House with guests “A few weeks prior, I Magnolia Mountain and The Dirt Daubers. told (Magnolia Mountain’s) Mark Utley we should do something crazy at the CEAs and stage a Folk fight,” says Tillers vocalist/banjoist Mike Oberst with a wry smile. “So the music scene in Cincinnati will know not to screw with us. We’re not just singing ‘Where Have All the Flowers Gone.’ ” Magnolia Mountain’s Utley hacked The Tillers’ Face-

book page (“You should vote for Magnolia Mountain … we bow down to Magnolia Mountain”) and ultimately posted a photo of The Tillers’ acceptance speech with a nicely Photoshopped image of Kanye West (“Magnolia Mountain had one of the best albums of the year!”) on the Tillers’ MySpace page. And his Misfits-inspired rendering of The Tillers’ “new album cover” was real enough to upset Tillers bassist Jason Soudrette’s grandmother. “She called me up irate and said, ‘Is that your new album? I’m not buying it,’ ” Soudrette says with a bemused laugh. “I thought she was going to disown me.” It was all fiction. In fact, Utley provided The Tillers with their favorite song from their soon-to-be-released sophomore album, By the Signs. “It’s one of the best songs we do,” Oberst says of the Utley-penned “There Is Enough.” “It pretty much blows CONTINUES ON PAGE 184

january 06-12, 2010

• Local Hardcore band Paralyzer — formed from the ashes of File & Claw and featuring members of several other current/ former bands — will release its new CD, Counting Catastrophe, Saturday at the CS13 gallery/performance space in Overthe-Rhine. The show is free (though donations for CS13 won’t be frowned upon) and all-ages. Showtime is 8 p.m. Till Plains and White Walls will also perform. (paralyzer.net) • When CityBeat profiled Butler County kinda Roots, kinda Indie/Alt rockers Sohio a few months ago about the band’s forthcoming album, it was confirmed that the release was finished (after more than three years in the making) and that it would hit streets in early 2010. What the band members didn’t know was what the full-length would be titled. Well, it’s early 2010, the album is being released Friday and it finally has a name — Impossible Hope. For the release show Friday, the group is joined at the Southgate House by local Indie Rock/Pop bands Black Owls, Cash Flagg and The Transport. Show starts at 9 p.m. (sohiomusic.com) • OK, here’s the deal. A “new rule,” if you will. If you move to Cincinnati and are in a really good, active band, even though your bandmates may not live here, we still get to claim you as an honorary “local band.” (If your band sucks … we’ll pass, thanks.) So, with this new edict in place, head to the Blue Wisp Jazz Club this Saturday to see and hear Cincinnati’s newest “revved-up Swing/Rockabilly/Blues/Jazz” band, Neon Swing X-perience. The group is based in Pittsburgh but singer/trumpeter Mike Urick moved to Cincy to go to grad school, so the band members split travel time. The group has been a popular hire around the country, having performed at The Derby in Hollywood and Central Park in the Big Apple, and NSX already has steady tour dates booked into the summer. (www.neonswing.net)

4LICENSED TO TILL: FROM PAGE 17

4 club directory Allyn’s Cafe — 3538 Columbia Parkway, Columbia-Tusculum. 513-871-5779.

Madison Theater — 730 Madison Ave., Covington. 859-491-2444.

Arnold’s Bar and Grill — 210 E. Eighth St., Downtown. 513-421-6234.

Mayday — 4227-4231 Spring Grove Ave. , Northside. 513-541-0999.

Bella Luna — 4632 Eastern Ave., Linwood. 513-871-5862. Black Angus Burgers & Brew — 10575 Chester Road, Glendale. 513-772-1500. The Black Sheep — 3807 North Bend Road, Cheviot. 513-481-6300. Blue Rock Tavern & Speakeasy — 4114 Hamilton Ave., Northside. 513-542-6644. Blue Wisp Jazz Club — 318 E. 8th St., Downtown. 513-241-9477. Charlie’s Throttle Stop — 7121 Dixie Hwy., Fairfield. 513-874-6111. Chez Nora — 530 Main St., Covington. 859-491-8027. Claddagh Irish Pub — 1 Levee Way,Newport on the Levee, Newport. 859-581-8888. Comet — 4579 Hamilton Ave., Northside. 513-541-8900. Crow’s Nest — 4544 W. 8th St., Price Hill. 513-921-2980.

Mansion Hill Tavern — 502 Washington St., Newport. 859-581-0100. Miller’s Fill Inn — 52 Donnermeyer Dr., Bellevue. 859-431-3455. Mr. Pitiful’s — 1323 Main St., Over-the-Rhine. 513-369-0202. Northside Tavern — 4163 Hamilton Ave., Northside. 513-542-3603. Play by Play Rock Cafe — 6923 Plainfield Road, Silverton. 513-793-3360. R.P. McMurphy’s Irish Pub & Coffee House — 2910 Wasson Rd., Oakley. 513-531-3300. The Redmoor — 3187 Linwood Ave., Mount Lookout. 513-871-6789. Rick’s Tavern & Grille — 5955-5 Boymel Dr., Fairfield. 513-874-1992. Rohs Street Cafe — 245 W. McMillan St., Clifton Heights. 513-238-7647. Shady O’Grady’s — 9443 Loveland-Madeira Road, Loveland. 513-791-2753.

CS13 — 1219 Sycamore St., Over-the-Rhine. 000-000-0000.

Silverton Cafe — 7203 Montgomery Road, Silverton. 513-791-2922.

Dee Felice Cafe — 529 Main St., Covington. 859-261-2365. Deer Park Inn — 7228 Blue Ash Road, Deer Park. 513-791-3178. Dirty Jack’s — 5912 Vine St., Elmwood Place. 513-242-2800. Dollar Bill Tavern — 8074 U.S. 42, Florence. 859-746-3600. The Greenwich — 2442 Gilbert Ave., Downtown. 513-665-4700. Havana Martini Club — 441 Vine St., Downtown. 513-651-2800. HD Beans And Bottles Cafe — 6721 Montgomery Road, Silverton. 513793-6036.

Southgate House — 24 E. Third St., Newport. 859-431-2201. Southgate House (Lounge) — 24 E. Third St., Newport. 859-431-2201. Southgate House (Parlour) — 24 E. Third St., Newport. 859-431-2201. Stagge’s Saloon — 8450 Blue Ash Rd., Sycamore Twp. 513-794-1234. Stanley’s Pub — 323 Stanley Ave., Columbia-Tusculum. 513-871-6249. Terry’s Turf Club — 4618 Eastern Ave., Linwood. 513-533-4222.

InCahoots — 4110 Hunt Road, Blue Ash. 513-793-2600.

The Underground — 1140 Smiley Ave., Forest Park. 513-825-8200.

Inner Circle Entertainment Complex — 4343 Kellogg Ave., East End. 513-321-0220.

Waterfront/South Beach Grill — 14 Pete Rose Pier, Covington. 859581-1414.

Jefferson Hall — 1 Levee Way, Newport on the Levee, Newport. 859-491-6200.

Win Place or Show — 9933 Cincinnati-Columbus Road, West Chester. 513-777-2920.

Jim and Jack’s on the River — 3456 River Road, Riverside. 513-251-7977.

Wine Cellar — 1101 Saint Gregory St., Mount Adams. 513-241-9009.

Jim Dandy’s Family BBQ — 2343 E. Sharon Road, Sharonville. 513-771-4888.

Woodies Tavern — 10020 Demia Way, Florence. 859-282-1264. York Street Cafe — 738 York St., Newport. 859-261-9675.

Knotty Pine — 6947 Cheviot Rd., White Oak. 513-741-3900.

Zion United Church of Christ Norwood — 2332 Sherwood Lane, Norwood. 513-531-5400.

Mad Frog — 1 E. McMillan St., Corryville. 513-784-9119.

everything we do out of the water. He wrote it just for us. He said, ‘I think this says everything there is to say about you guys. Do whatever you want with it.’ ” What The Tillers did is surround Utley’s song with nearly a dozen more of equal wonder and beauty. Drawing on new influences as well as the trio’s core inspirations, By the Signs is an amazing achievement by any yardstick, especially coming on the heels of the band’s 2008 debut, Ludlow Street Rag. “We wrote a lot more on the new album,” says guitarist Sean Geil. “The first album was more traditional songs, but we still tried to be fresh with those, too. We can’t deny the generation we grew up in.” “With the new one, we just let it be more free and more melodic,” Oberst says. “We didn’t try to hold too close to any specific style of Folk.” “It’s a little more Tillerish,” Soudrette says. “It’s more of us than our influences.” The Tillers evolved quickly, with Geil and Oberst’s jams in mid-2007 shifting to a full-fledged band with Soudrette’s addition a few weeks later. Although all three come from Punk backgrounds, Oberst and Geil channeled their longstanding love of Folk/ Bluegrass/Old Time music into band work. “I was playing in the Mt. Pleasant String Band and Mike was with the Blue Rock Boys,” Geil says. “We played a show together and met and liked what we were doing. I checked out Mike’s MySpace page for his own songs and found out we were into a lot of the same stuff.” The pair’s first eight-hour jam revealed their mutual love of the Carter Family, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly and Roscoe Holcomb; within a week, they played their first show. After club gigs and numerous hours spent busking on local street corners, Geil and Oberst decided a bass player was essential and recruited Soudrette, Oberst’s bandmate in the Punk band Disarmed, in 2000. “We knew he was a hard working guy and could catch on quick,” says Geil. “We’d

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do a two chord song, throw in a three chord song, then give him a one chord song and take it easy on him. Before we knew it, he was able to play a half a night with us.” Soudrette was unfamiliar with the songbooks that inspired his bandmates, plus they wanted him to play stand-up bass, which he had never attempted. With a few rehearsals and gigs under his belt, Soudrette accompanied Geil and Oberst on an afternoon slot at a music festival then sat in for a second set at the old Northside haunt, The Gypsy Hut, that night. “My fingers were numb,” Soudrette says. “I’m not even sure if there were flatwound strings on there; roundwounds are like cheese graters.” In addition to the CEA win, By the Signs’ imminent release and the upcoming festival season, The Tillers are excited about their inclusion in an upcoming USA Network documentary and series of reports about people who live along Route 50, produced and hosted by veteran TV newsman Tom Brokaw. Oberst heard about the special and sent Ludlow Street Rag, featuring their original song “There is a Road (Route 50),” to Brokaw, but he never received the package. Weeks later, Oberst received a call from a producer who had Googled songs about Route 50; The Tillers’ popped up near the top. “At first they just wanted to use the song,” Oberst says. “But we talked for a long time and he liked our story and said, ‘We might want the band to be featured as a part of the documentary.’ So we’re representing Cincinnati and struggling Folk musicians.” Last June, Brokaw arrived at Oberst’s Sayler Park home on Route 50 to interview the band. They arranged a backyard show with a few dozen friends as an audience, which was taped, and then Brokaw sat down with the band for an interview. “Tom Brokaw was a super cool guy,” Geil says. “I don’t think he’d ever seen our (‘Route 50’) video, so we watched him watch it. He said, ‘Well, we’ve got everything we need,’ then he kept talking to us. All of a sudden, he was like, ‘Get the cameras up again, we’ve got some good stuff going on.’ He has that way; that’s why he is who he is. He probably had that planned all along.” ©

4music

Painting with Sound Pete Fosco makes Ambient music with a melodic heart and discernible texture 4interview by brian baker

PHOTO courtesy pete fosco

Pete Fosco Herzog, the soundtracks to their movies” have been inspirational, says Fosco. “And music like Popol Vuh, and Brian Eno was huge for me, the Ambient series and Music for Airports, and early minimalism like Terry Riley. Even early Spiritualized and Galaxie 500; I love their guitar tone. I listen to a lot of Pop music, too. I come home and listen to Townes Van Zandt, but I don’t ever have any thoughts of, ‘How can I sound like this?’ ” While a good deal of Fosco’s sound is based in improvisation, there is a compositional element to his work as well. “I’m not a great guitar player; I have a hard time remembering long, complicated passages,” Fosco says. “But it’s kind of half and half. Some is improv and some is stuff that I’ve practiced in my bedroom and basement, and then I just see where it goes. It usually ends up not at all what I thought it would be, which is good and bad, I guess.” Fosco has definitely kept himself occupied with his Ambient explorations during the

past four years. He’s recorded a number of self-released and distributed cassettes and CD-Rs, culminating in the 2008 release of Crescent Avenue through Dead Pilot Records. That turned out to be a banner year for Fosco — he got married, bought a house, adopted a pair of dogs, released Crescent Avenue, recorded In Electric Nights, did a number of dates at the Art Damage Lodge (“We’re really lucky to have a venue like the Lodge,” Fosco says) and a limited 10-day tour of the Midwest and East Coast, live work that he hopes to continue in the new year, if at a slightly lighter pace. “This year, I think I’ll just sleep,” he jokes. “I’m going to work one week out of every month … I’m kidding.” PETE FOSCO (www.myspace.com/petefosco) performs Sunday at the CS13 Gallery (1219 Sycamore St., Over-the-Rhine) with Andrew Weathers, Slicnaton and Discerning Crane.

january 06-12, 2010

here is a hypnotic quality to Pete Fosco’s guitar manipulations, an Ambient drone that suggests the casual intensity of Steve Reich or Brian Eno. At the same time, there are melodic and harmonic touches that lift Fosco’s sonic texturalism above the realm of simple ambience, to a place where tone poems and more traditional song structures and, perhaps more to the point, people co-exist and collide. “Werner Herzog talks about ecstatic truths and this direct connection that happens betweens two humans, and not just as performer to audience,” Fosco says over lunch at the Greenup Café in Covington. “There’s this interaction that happens. It’s hard to explain; in three years of playing out, I’ve maybe hit it once or twice. You know when it happens. As far as the recordings, different people will take different things out of it.” Fosco’s latest album, the about-to-drop In Electric Nights, is slightly more organic and cerebrally psychedelic than its predecessor, last year’s Crescent Avenue. Like a dreamy, Ambient vision of Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain, In Electric Nights is also more typically “song based,” featuring five shorter compositions, as opposed to Crescent Avenue’s 30-minute opus and two shorter codas. “The new one’s more compact,” Fosco says. “There’s just five shorter tracks. There’s one song that’s nine or 10 minutes, but it’s going to be vinyl only, so I wanted to keep it to like 17, 18 minutes per side. You don’t want to compromise the quality of the sound for the format.” Oddly enough, music came secondarily for Fosco, who began studying in the University of Cincinnati’s Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) program, then shifted to the College-Conservatory of Music’s (CCM) electronic media curriculum, from which he graduated in 2004. Originally intent on becoming a filmmaker, the self-professed “music nerd” shifted his focus to music, learning guitar after his CCM experience. “I studied digital film editing and did a little music stuff, but I was never really totally satisfied,” Fosco says. “When I got done with school, I applied to grad school for film and didn’t get in anywhere. I was really angry at first but, looking back on it, it was because my stuff wasn’t very good. I understand now.” Turning to his interest in guitar, Fosco bought a Telecaster and practice amp and began to learn. Although he took lessons from some adept teachers (local singer/songwriter/ guitarist Roger Klug, among them), Fosco felt his creative muse being sparked by his previous ambition. “A lot of film music, like Ennio Morricone soundtracks and Akira Kurosawa and Werner

4music listings

Havana Martini Club — DJ Rudy Alvarez (Chris Comer Trio with Jazz at 5 p.m.). Dance/Latin. Free.

Inner Circle Entertainment Complex — The Nigel Dupree Band |

CityBeat’s music listings are free. Send info to MIKE BREEN via email at mbreen@citybeat.com or fax at 513-665-4369. Listings are subject to change. See Club Directory for all club locations. H is CityBeat staff’s stamp of approval.

Concerts Trey Songz & Friends — R&B. Friday, January 8. 9 p.m. Bogart’s,

H2621 Vine St., Corryville. $39. 513-281-8400. Allstate Gospel Superfest with The Whispers, Vickie Winans, Richard Smallwood & Vision, Karen Clark H Sheard, Hezekiah Walker & LFC, Dorinda Clark Cole, J. Moss,

James Fortune, Melvin Williams and more — Gospel. Saturday, January 9. 6 p.m. Cintas Center, 1624 Herald Avenue, Evanston. $15-$35. 513-745-3411.

Clubs

Black Angus Burgers & Brew — Sonny Moorman Group. Rock/

Blues. Free.

Blue Wisp Jazz Club — Jim Connerly, Ron Enyard and Ed Felson. Jazz. $5. Dee Felice Cafe — Lee Stolar Trio. Jazz. Free. Dirty Jack’s — Future Without a Face | Beneficial Genocide | Another Wasted Youth. Metal. Cover.

Dollar Bill Tavern — Kat’s Meow. Pop/Dance. Free. The Greenwich — iolite. Jazz/R&B/Soul. $5. Havana Martini Club — Jack Doll (5 p.m.). Jazz. Free. Jefferson Hall — 4th Day Echo. Rock. Cover. Rohs Street Cafe — Emily Ash. Jazz. Free. Southgate House (Lounge) — Hillbilly Thursday: The Sloes. Folk/Roots

Rock. Free.

Wednesday January 6 Arnold’s Bar and Grill — Justin Wade. R&B. Free. Blue Wisp Jazz Club — Blue Wisp Big Band. Jazz/Swing. $10. Charlie’s Throttle Stop — Open jam with Sonny Moorman Group. Rock/Blues/Open jam. Free.

Crow’s Nest — Bob Cushing. Acoustic. Free. Dirty Jack’s — Black Don Promotions | Slum Muzik Ent.. Hip Hop. Cover. The Greenwich — Midnight Sun Cafe & Open Mic Jam. Open mic. Cover. Havana Martini Club — DJ Rudy Alvarez. Dance/Latin. Free. HD Beans And Bottles Cafe — Open mic. Open mic. Free. Northside Tavern — Wade Baker | Ayo Awosika. Jazz. Free. Southgate House (Lounge) — Artists in Residence: Sparrow

HBellows. Rock. Free.

Stanley’s Pub — Super-Massive. Reggae. Cover.

Thursday January 7 Arnold’s Bar and Grill — Wayne Shanon and Dottie Warner. Lounge.

Friday January 8 Arnold’s Bar and Grill — The Flock (The Catfish Evans Trio with Jazz/ Swing at 6 p.m.). Rock/Roots/Irish. Free.

Bella Luna — Blue Birds Trio. R&B/Soft Rock. Free. The Black Sheep — Fine Line (6 p.m.). Acoustic. Free. Blue Rock Tavern & Speakeasy — Tater Famine. Folk/Punk. Free. Blue Wisp Jazz Club — Dan Dorff Group (Steve Barone/Jack Doll Trio at 4:30 p.m.; Delbert Williams with Blues at midnight). Jazz. $10.

Charlie’s Throttle Stop — Scotty Bratcher. Blues. Cover. Dee Felice Cafe — The “New” Sleepcat Band. Jazz/Swing. Free. Deer Park Inn — Sonny Moorman. Blues. Free. Dirty Jack’s — 859 Stylz Ent. Hip Hop. Cover. Dollar Bill Tavern — One Night Stand. Pop/Dance. Free. The Greenwich — The Last Boppers. Jazz. Cover.

Jefferson Hall — The Websters. Rock. Cover. Jim and Jack’s on the River — Cold Smoke. Classic Rock/Oldies. Cover. Knotty Pine — Bad Habit. Rock. Cover. Mad Frog — The Skeetones | Ninefold | Elemental Groove Theory. Rock. Cover.

Mad Hatter — Bazookas Go Bang | Make This Your Summer | Papa

Shango | The Masses. Rock. Cover.

Mansion Hill Tavern — Chuck Brisbin & the Tuna Project. Blues. $4. Mayday — The Portions | The Signals | Rocket 00000. Rock. Free. Northside Tavern — Nathan Holscher | The Kiss Me Everlasting. Roots/ Indie. Free.

Putter’s Two-Putt Tavern — Basic Truth. Funk/R&B/Soul. $3. R.P. McMurphy’s — Cover Model. Rock/Alternative. $3. The Redmoor — DJ Perry Simmons. Dance/DJ/R&B. Cover. Rick’s Tavern & Grille — The Whammies. Rock/Pop/80s. $5. Southgate House — Sohio (CD Release Party) with Black Owls,

H Cash Flagg and The Transport. Americana/Roots Rock. $8 for 21 plus, $11 for 18-20. Stanley’s Pub — Rocky Cash | Katty Whomp Us. Rock/Americana. Cover. Terry’s Turf Club — Eric Campbell & The Bevadors. Jazz. Free. Win Place or Show — Nine Story Plunge. Rock. $3. Wine Cellar — 1969 Band. Classic Rock. Free. Woodies Tavern — Sunset Betty. Rock. Cover. York Street Cafe — Rebecca Williams | Eric Falstrom. Acoustic. Cover.

Saturday January 9 Arnold’s Bar and Grill — Cincinnati Dancing Pigs. Americana. Free. Bella Luna — Blue Birds Trio. R&B/Soft Rock. Free. Blue Wisp Jazz Club — Neon Swing X-perience (Blues Wisp High

HSchool All Star Jazz Band at 6 p.m.; Steve Barione with soft Jazz at midnight). Jazz/Rockabilly/Swing (see Spill It, page 17). $10.

Charlie’s Throttle Stop — Black Bone Cat. Rock/Blues. Cover. CS13 — Paralyzer (CD release show) with White Walls and TIll Plains.

HHardcore/Punk (see Spill It, page 17). Free.

Dee Felice Cafe — The “New” Sleepcat Band. Jazz/Swing. Free. Dirty Jack’s — SpazOut Ent. | Los D Hustle | Down Bottom. Hip Hop.

Dollar Bill Tavern — Sheer Fantasy. Rock/Pop/Dance. Free. The Greenwich — “Purple Lotus”. Open mic/Various. $5. Havana Martini Club — Tropicoso. Latin. $10. InCahoots — John Fox. Classic Rock. Free. Jefferson Hall — Lt. Dan’s New Legs. Rock. Cover. Jim and Jack’s on the River — Main Stream. Classic Rock/Oldies. Cover. Jim Dandy’s Family BBQ — Pete Snow & Caroline Rose. Acoustic. Free. Knotty Pine — Bad Habit. Rock. Cover. Mad Hatter — A Wayward Heart | Cardboard Derby | Lights Down Low.

Win Place or Show — The Truth. Rock. $3. Wine Cellar — Austin Lee Speigel. Rock. Free. Woodies Tavern — Delirious. Rock. Cover. York Street Cafe — Red Idle Rejects. Rock/Blues. Cover.

Mad Hatter — The Bled | I Am the Messenger | The Paramedic. HRock (see Sound Advice, page 22). $10.

Sunday January 10

Cheryl Renee with Them Bones, Ricky Nye, Twelve-Eight, Jimmy D. Rogers and Noah Wotherspoon. Blues (see Spill It, page 17). Cover.

Allyn’s Cafe — Blue Birds Big Band. Classic Rock/R&B. $3. Blue Wisp Jazz Club — Play it Forward presents: Toca Madera, Viaje and Chico Futuracho. Jazz/Latin. $5-$10.

Madison Theater — Higher Ground | Detached | Last Days | America’s Nightmare. Hard Rock. $10.

Chez Nora — Mary Ellen Tanner. Jazz. Free. Comet — Comet Bluegrass Allstars. Bluegrass. Free. CS13 — Andrew Weathers | Pete Fosco | Slicnaton | Discerning Crane.

Mansion Hill Tavern — II Juicy. Blues/R&B. $3. Mayday — Fabricate After-Party Rock-n-Roll Extravaganza with The Lions

Dirty Jack’s — Cali D. Productions presents Sweat it Out Sunday. Hip Hop/

Rock. Cover.

Rampant, You, You’re Awesome, The Jellyhearts, The Chocolate Horse, The Cincinnati Suds, Oxford Cotton, Matthew Shelton, My Wife the Tiger, J. Dorsey All-Stars and Wonky Tonk. Indie/Various. Free.

Miller’s Fill Inn — Better Late Than Never. Rock. Free. Mr. Pitiful’s — The Jones’s. Jazz/R&B/Soul. $5. Northside Tavern — Coltrane Motion | Eagle to Squirrel | Bullying

HBen Jones. Rock/Indie (see Sound Advice, page 22). Free.

Play by Play Rock Cafe — July for Kings | Bottom Line | Mark Borison. Rock. Cover.

R.P. McMurphy’s — Ten Foot Big. Rock. $3. The Redmoor — Boo Radley. Rock. Cover. Rick’s Tavern & Grille — House Party. Rock/Pop. $5. Rohs Street Cafe — My Brother Benjamin | Sasha Colette and the

Magnolias. Roots/Americana. $5.

Silverton Cafe — Groove Crew. Rock. Free. Southgate House — The Tillers (CD Release Party) with Magnolia

H Mountain and The Dirt Daubers. Americana/Folk (see interview, page 17). $8, $10 day of show. Southgate House (Lounge) — Hickory Robot. Americana/Bluegrass.

Free.

Southgate House (Parlour) — JT Woodruff (Hawthorne Heights)

H| Josh Hill (Ellison) | Mark Rose (Spitalfield). Acoustic. $8/$10 day of show.

Stanley’s Pub — Bubble LIfe. Jazz/Funk. Cover. Terry’s Turf Club — Eric Campbell & The Bevadors. Jazz. Free. The Underground — Kutless | Mile 7 | The Great Transparency | Brent

Reed Band. Rock/Contemporary Christian. $13/$16 day of show.

HExperimental (see Pete Fosco interview, page 19). $5. DJ. Cover.

Jefferson Hall — Matt Cowherd and Jamie Combs. Rock/Acoustic. Cover. Mad Frog — Hip Hop Revival with Jamo. Hip Hop. Cover. Mansion Hill Tavern — Open Blues Jam with Them Bones. Blues. Free. Stanley’s Pub — Tater Famine. Acoustic/Folk/Punk. Free. Zion United Church of Christ Norwood — Leo Coffeehouse with

Prudence Hunt, Vedge and The Sloes. Acoustic. Cover.

Monday January 11 Blue Wisp Jazz Club — Jazz Jam Session with Sandy Suskind. Jazz. Cover. Jefferson Hall — DJ Toad. Dance/DJ. Cover. Mad Frog — Tropicoso. Latin/Salsa. Cover.

Mansion Hill Tavern — John Redell. Blues. Free. Northside Tavern — Northside Jazz Ensemble. Jazz. Free. Play by Play Rock Cafe — “Road to Memphis 2010” with

Shady O’Grady’s — No Saints - No Saviors. Classic Rock. Cover. Southgate House (Lounge) — Open Mic Night: Mike Kuntz. Open

mic. Free.

Stanley’s Pub — Wade Baker Jazz Collaborative. Jazz. Free.

Tuesday January 12 Blue Wisp Jazz Club — Jack Finucane Quintet. Jazz. $5. Claddagh Irish Pub — Sonny Moorman. Blues. Free. Dee Felice Cafe — “Fat Tuesday” with the Royal Palm Orchestra. Jazz. Free.

Jefferson Hall — Donny Bray and Dustin Ivey. Acoustic. Cover. Mad Frog — Open Mic with Celebrity Status Ent. Open mic/Various. Cover.

Northside Tavern — Megan Hutch. Acoustic. Free. R.P. McMurphy’s Irish Pub & Coffee House — Open Mic Night. Open mic. Free.

Southgate House (Lounge) — Karaoke with DJ Swirl. Various.

Free.

Stagge’s Saloon — Bob Cushing. Acoustic. Free. Stanley’s Pub — Rumpke Mountain Boys. Bluegrass/Jam. Cover. Waterfront/South Beach Grill — Blue Birds Trio. Classic Rock/R&B. Free.

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4 sound advice

CBrecomMends

The Bled music news tid-bits and other morsels of relative insignificance

Bono Dictates New Decade All was not quiet on the day after New Year’s Day this year, especially in The New York Times — hard to keep quiet when you give U2’s singer some big op-ed space. Bono wrote an extensive piece for the “Liberal Rag” (copyright: Fox News Corps.) offering 10 ways to make the next 10 years “more interesting, healthy or civil.” It was actually an entertaining piece that tempered Bono’s perceived over-the-top didacticism with amusing, interesting observations and ideas, from making cars sexy again and organizing a sort of massive “Abrahampalooza” arts festival celebrating Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the name of peace (“No politicians allowed. Artists only.”) to real-deal issues like rotavirus vaccines and allowing free-for-all pollution (if the biggest polluters pay for it). Bono might not be a philosopher king but he’d be one of the best people in the world to close a bar down with.

january 06-12, 2010

“Also, Please Stop Playing Gary Glitter Songs at Football Games” Child AbuseWatch.net seems like a noble enterprise — spreading information in the name of child abuse prevention. But a press release from the organization denouncing the NFL’s “hiring” of The Who for the Super Bowl halftime show this year seems a bit odd. Are they huge Led Zeppelin fans? Old Who fans still smarting from the It’s Hard album? Actually, The watchdog Web site is expressing its objection due to guitarist Pete Townshend’s sketchy child pornography charges in the U.K. a few years back. The group’s founder called The Who “a great band,” saying they only had beef with Pete and his indiscretions. (Townshend maintained he was doing “research” by looking at a kiddie porn site but entered a guilty plea, admitting what he did was illegal and receiving a “caution” from the police. He was cleared of possession charges, as no illegal images were found on his computers.) Minimum Gauge formally issues its objection of the halftime hiring as well. Not because of the porno allegations, but because Townshend can’t seem to stop killing our memories by selling his songs to any advertiser with a big enough wallet.

Superuncool Chris Cornell gave the supergroup thing a whirl with the dreadful Audioslave, then put out an “of-the-moment” Pop album that got him laughed out of the room. Where to go from there? Back to the money. Cornell announced Soundgarden would reunite in 2010, “tweeting” about it on New Year’s Eve. The band has been gone for about 12 years and the other members have done a better job keeping their dignity (drummer Matt Cameron’s job in Pearl Jam has kept him busy but he isn’t exactly the tabloid-level star Cornell seems to want to be). You know what all this means? We are one Kurt Cobain Zombie away from the Grunge Oldies Allstar Revue Tour!

PHOTO: Kyle Dehn

THE BLED WITH I AM MESSENGER AND THE PARAMEDIC Monday • The Mad Hatter Over the past nine years, The Bled has lived up to its name in more ways than one. The Tucson Post-Hardcore quintet formed in 2001, initially billing itself as the Radiation Defiance Theory and then almost immediately (and wisely) shortening it to The Bled. A pair of EPs within their first year raised the band’s profile, making them a hot local club draw and ultimately leading to the band signing with Miami’s Fiddler Records. On the eve of recording their debut full-length, frontman Adam Goss opted out of the band and recommended James Munoz to take his spot. With Munoz at the mic, The Bled recorded 2003’s Pass the Flask and began touring nationwide for the first time, gaining positive notices for their Metal/Math/Hardcore diversity. After changing labels and bassists, The Bled recorded its sophomore album, Found in the Flood, for Vagrant Records; the album cracked Billboard’s Top 100 and earned the band a slot on the Vagrant stage at 2006’s Warped Tour. In 2007, The Bled released a third full-length, Silent Treatment, and toured with My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, The Dillinger Escape Plan and Linkin Park, among others. At the end of that run, the band members announced that they were taking a lengthy break from the road. Finding themselves mired in debt, The Bled’s members took day jobs and outside band gigs to make ends meet; three members ultimately left the band, leaving only Munoz and original guitarist Jeremy Ray Talley. The arrival of new members was tempered by the band losing their Vagrant deal, but The Bled announced last November its signing with Rise Records and its fourth album, Heat Fetish, which will be released in February. They’ve done their share of bleeding but they’ll never be desanguinated completely — The Bled has plenty more where that came from. (Brian Baker)

COLTRANE MOTION WITH EAGLE TO SQUIRREL AND BULLYING BEN JONES Saturday • Northside Tavern It wasn’t so long ago that Michael Bond and Matt Dennewitz packed up their respective keyboards and guitars and headed for Chicago after plying Cincinnati fans with their eclectic vision of droning noisy Dance Punk. As Coltrane Motion (“More Roscoe P. than John C.” as is stated on the duo’s MySpace page), Bond and Dennewitz have crafted a sound

and join the adrenalized fray. The past couple of years have been hectic for CM. The duo’s debut full-length, 2007’s Songs About Music, was a critical smash, prompting at least one blog to predict the duo’s imminent appearance in an iPod commercial. The duo’s recent blasts of touring have been punctuated by cool single releases, the most recent being “The Year Without a Summer” b/w “Maya’s Tune,” and CM’s spin on two Bruce Springsteen tracks, “I’m Going

Coltrane Motion

PHOTO: JACOB HAND

that blends sheets of distorted guitar racket with a palpable keyboard atmosphere, itself a hybrid of ’60s Phil Spectorish girl groupisms, ’70s Soul, ’80s Synth Pop and contemporary lo-fi bedroom laptop flights of fancy. Like a bizarre mind meld of New Order, My Bloody Valentine and They Might Be Giants, Coltrane Motion has created a fascinating and vibrant tumult in the studio which is amped up to almost seismic proportions in front of an audience, as the two launch themselves around the stage with frenetic abandon, inspiring audiences to follow suit

Down” and “I’m On Fire.” Bond and Dennewitz still make regular pilgrimages back to Cincinnati — they did a show with The Seedy Seeds back in May and they tore shit up at their MidPoint slot in September — but don’t take their presence for granted. It’s just a matter of time before Coltrane Motion gets noticed in a major way and their indoor musical maelstroms make them a buzzy sensation on the coasts. You’ll wish you’d seen them when, which is now. (BB)

ARTS

CURTAIN CALL BY RICK PENDER

A Youthful Perspective

CONTACT RICK PENDER: rpender@citybeat.com

PHOTO courtesy steven goldstein

Steven Goldstein

A Chair with Flair Steven Goldstein comes to CCM with inspired teaching philosophy 4interview by anne arenstein

or aspiring musical theater performers, the expectation — and reality — is that you have to have it all: a great voice, dancing skills and acting chops. Opera singers increasingly face the same demands from audiences who want nothing less than performances that are compelling dramatically as well as musically. WASSUP There’s little argument that For info on CCM’s upcoming great opera can’t exist without preformances, go to www.ccm.uc.edu great voices, and the challenge for future opera singers is learning the acting skills to bolster their vocal performance — creating a love scene that is more than two people belting out timeless melodies, looking emotionally blank. Steven Goldstein is uniquely qualified to take on the challenge. The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s recently appointed Weinberger Chair of Acting for the Lyric Theatre has impressive stage, film and opera credits, appearing in productions staged by David Mamet, William H. Macy and renowned opera director Francesca Zambello. Along with CCM’s opera department chair Robin Guarino, Goldstein brings a breadth of experience

along with New York cred. How did CCM get so lucky? Timing, for one thing. If the work wasn’t steady, it was solid. But Goldstein acknowledges what every singer, actor and dancer knows, pre-conservatory: “It’s a difficult career. I was at a point in my life where I was trying to expand my own career and, luckily, Robin Guarino knew my work. When the job opened up she kept telling me I’d be perfect for it.” Going through the interview process, Goldstein saw the opportunities “to direct, to teach acting for a singer who acts or for an actor who sings, those were the perfect storm of my interests.” Goldstein works with students in the opera department’s graduate and artist diploma programs and with musical theatre students. He taught for the Atlantic Theatre Company, a company he co-founded after graduating from NYU, but the CCM appointment is his first university teaching position and his first experience working with opera singers. And what was his first impression of students far from the mecca of Broadway and larger drama and opera programs? CONTINUES ON PAGE 254

january 06-12, 2010

The new year often prompts thoughts of new beginnings, perhaps leading to a resolution or two. As I thought about my first column of 2010, it occurred to me that such beginnings could be focused on introducing young people to the theater for the first time. Adults who help children experience the arts have a particularly powerful influence on future appreciation. With the beginning of the year, I’d like to suggest several ways to share theater with a child that might establish a lifelong love for this vibrant art form. The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park is our area’s most sophisticated and established professional theater, currently marking its 50th anniversary. But the Playhouse offers more than shows for grown-ups at its Eden Park facility’s two stages. In fact, its outreach program connects with as many as 60,000 kids throughout our area. The Next Generation Theatre Series, the Playhouse’s Touring Company, takes productions for young audiences to area schools and offers public performances at community centers across the Tristate. The program is overseen by veteran director Mark Lutwak, previously artistic director at Honolulu Theatre for Youth. The touring works are performed by young professional actors from the theater’s Bruce E. Coyle Intern Company. Last fall Dennis Foon’s New Kid was presented at 13 venues during October and November, focusing on kids in grades 3-7. The script is about a boy who moves to a new country with a different language and who struggles to make friends and fit in. (The boy and his mother speak English, while others — including a bully — use a comic invented language.) The play was an impetus to talk about bullying and prejudice, demonstrating how theater can foster better communication and more profound understanding. Two more shows will be toured by Lutwak and his crew: a reduction of Edmond Rostand’s romantic drama, Cyrano de Bergerac, for older students (grades 6-12), offered Jan. 16-Feb. 14; then The Garden of Rikki Tikki Tavi, adapted by Y York from one of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories, will find its way to younger audiences (grades K-3), touring March 27-April 25. Rikki Tikki Tavi debuts as culmination of the Rosenthal Next Generation Theatre Series on March 27. The series is another way the Playhouse seeks to ignite kids’ interest in theater. Presented on Saturday mornings in February and March in the Playhouse’s lobby plaza space, each show is 30-60 minutes long and offered at 10:30 a.m. (Tickets are just $5 for kids 4-18.) Most of the eight programs feature professional actors and storytellers who are veterans with young audiences. This year’s works include some titles that sound like fun regardless of your age, including The Mouse that Barked (Feb. 6) and The Stinky Cheese Man (Mar. 13), adapted from Jon Scieszka’s popular children’s books and using puppets to tell the story. You can find a complete list of shows at www.cincyplay.com. Another good option to give kids a taste of theater is Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati, whose next production at the Taft is Jack and the Beanstalk (Feb. 26-March 6). This group has been charming kids with productions since 1924. Info: www.thechildrenstheatre.com Regardless of where you go, taking a youngster to the theater is something you’ll be glad you did. Might even be worth a New Year’s resolution.

4arts

Flipping the ’Bird Acclaimed ensemble eighth blackbird continues to shatter Chamber music expectations

january 06-12, 2010

To be included: Submit information for CityBeat calendar listings in writing by noon Wednesday, seven days before publication. Mail to: Maija Zummo, Listings Editor, CityBeat, 811 Race St., Fifth Floor, Cincinnati, OH 45202. Phone: 513-665-4700, ext. 145 Fax: 513-665-4369. e-mail calendar@citybeat.com Please include a contact name and daytime phone number. Due to space considerations, we cannot guarantee that all submitted information will make it to print. H is CityBeat staff’s stamp of approval.

4ART

4interview by anne arenstein

4calendar listings

he new year for Chamber music opens with strings. And flutes. And clarinets, prepared piano, flexatones, harmonicas, bongos and cowbells. That’s standard operating procedure for eighth blackbird, the wildly innovative, Grammyaward winning sextet acclaimed as the country’s premier contemporary music ensemble. Acknowledges flautist Tim Munro, “We like to wreak havoc, PHOTO: Luke Ratray in a creative way.” Back in black: eighth blackbird The group makes a welcome return to Cincinnati next week for a sextet playing against a recording with Meanwhile…, a program of of themselves, six CCM students will join five works by established masters and exciting eighth blackbird for the local premier of the young composers, all but one commissioned live version. by eighth blackbird. Expect that grand diver“Collaborating with other musicians — sity of sound to be accompanied — literally — the next generation of Chamber musicians with eye-catching details, wit and irreverence, — is an enormous rush,” Munro says, “and and performed with consummate artistry. this piece is 500 percent better live.” Meanwhile… gets its name from Stephen Midway through its 14th concert season, Hartke’s Meanwhile: Incidental music to eighth blackbird returns to familiar terriimaginary puppet plays (2007). Munro detory. They met as undergraduates at Oberlin scribes both the program and the composition Conservatory and honed their ensemble as “a magical mystery tour.” Each of the six skills in CCM’s Artist Diploma program movements “open onto different landscapes from 1996-99. Munro joined in 2006. A nawith different tonalities and different combinative of Australia, he also studied at Oberlin. tions of instruments. That’s our program as a Having played all over the world, eighth whole.” blackbird spends more than half the year on Missy Mazzoli’s “Still Life with Avalanche,” tour. Since 1997, they have commissioned from 2008, “is a pile of melodies collapsing in more than 80 compositions, recorded four a chaotic free fall,” according to the comalbums and racked up major prizes, composer. Just shy of her 30th birthday, Mazzoli is mission grants and a Grammy in 2008. widely sought after as a composer and soloist What counts for the group’s burgeonthroughout the world. Indie Rock is a major ing audiences is the unique performance influence on her music, says Munro. art. The performers’ sheer exuberance and George Perle’s “Critical Moments 2” (2001) affection for the music is as much a draw as pays tribute to the doyen of new music who the music itself. The two are inextricable, died in early 2009. Munro recalls that Perle was Munro asserts, the Down Under persona the first eminent composer to write for them, emerging. and the nine short, highly individualist pieces “That’s our reason for existence,” he will be played from memory. Although eighth says, “incorporating drama and movement blackbird has played the work since 2001, into it. People apologize for new music: Munro admits that “it’s a hard knot.” But what’s You’d bloody well get it or you’re an idiot. missing on the music stands is more than made We want everyone to love it.” up for by “the intensity of our interactions.” Munro adds that eighth blackbird is Also performed from memory is Thomas taking baby steps in fulfilling its mission to Adès’ “Catch” (1991), a musical game of make new music experiences relevant and monkey-in-the-middle for four performers, one entertaining to all audiences. Major strides of whom really gets into the action. is more like it. The program highlight is Steve Reich’s “Double Sextet” (2007), co-commissioned by Chamber Music Cincinnati presents EIGHTH BLACKBIRD the University of Cincinnati College-Conserva8 p.m. Tuesday at Corbett Auditorium. Tickets: $10-$25. Call tory of Music’s “Music X” series and awarded 859-581-6877 or buy tickets online at www.brownpapertickets. a Pulitzer Prize in 2009. Originally written com.

Openings Carnegie Visual & Performing Arts Center — A New Year H of Art features paintings, drawings and sculpture works by artists Jommi Chung, Marc Leone, Christopher John Troutman, Scott Donaldson, Cedric Michael Cox and Matt Tullis. $8; $5 students/seniors. Opening reception: 6-9 p.m. Jan. 8. Carnegie Visual & Performing Arts Center, 1028 Scott Blvd., Covington, 859-491-2030.

Fabricate — A Shot in the Dark is a collection of Scott Beseler’s sweetH ass photographs of area musicians including The Lions Rampant, You, You’re Awesome, The Jellyhearts and more. Musical guests, The Cut In The Hill Gang, will play at 10:15 p.m. at Fabricate with additional entertainment provided by PROJECTMILL DJ’s, along with potable beverages and hors d’euvres. The afterparty will be at Mayday featuring 11 bands. Opening reception: 7-11 p.m. Jan. 9. Fabricate , 4012 Hamilton Ave.,Enter through Red Polly Northside, 513-541-2394.

Sandra Small Gallery — Interior Views is a narrative figuration exhibit

that focuses on classical realism. Opening reception: 5:30-8 p.m. Jan. 8. Sandra Small Gallery, 124 W. Pike St. , Covington, 859-291-2345.

Galleries & Exhibits Art Central Foundation — Homeless: Telling Our Own Stories includes

three series of work, each asking the viewer to explore homelessness. Telling Our Own Stories is a group of self-documenting photographs; Mark Anthony Mulligan exhibits brightly colored, primitive city landscapes; and In Three Years is a collaborative effort by several homeless individuals and a group of visual artists. Through Jan. 9. Art Central Foundation , 1504 N. Breiel Blvd., Middletown, www. artcentralfoundation.org.

Artisan Enterprise Center — Bright Ideas celebrates color through the works of Baker hunt family artists, including Bob Hebenstreit, Stephen Kenkins, Gilda Horn, Kurt Einhaus, Valma Morris, Lisa Molyneux and David Laug. Through Jan. 13. Artisan Enterprise Center, 25 W. Seventh St., Covington, 859-292-2322. Bromwell’s Gallery — Represent features a collection of printmaking, abstract paintings, photography and sculpture by various artists. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Through Jan. 16. Bromwell’s Gallery, 117 W. Fourth St., Downtown, 513-315-4622.

CS13 — Partially Buoyed features paintings and paper collages by Cincinnati

based artist, Michael Stillion. His folklore is dominated by tales of humanoid characters who navigate a blend between a post apocalyptic world and the wild west. 1-4 p.m. Sundays. Through Jan. 10. CS13, 1219 Sycamore St., Over-theRhine, cs13gallery.com.

Iris Bookcafe — Tables and Walls: Photographic Work by Iris Artists presents 46 photographs by seven photographers who have previously shown at Iris, either on walls as exhibiting artists, or on tables at Second Sunday Portfolio Reviews. 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday. Through March 20. Iris Bookcafe, 1331 Main St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-381-2665. Manifest Creative Research Gallery — Backyard is a regional H exhibit featuring work from artists within 100 miles of Cincinnati. 2-7 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; noon-5 p.m. Saturday. Through Jan. 8. Manifest Creative Research Gallery, 2727 Woodburn Ave., Walnut Hills, 513-861-3638.

Manifest Creative Research Gallery — Past Tense-Marking Time

features modern paintings that bear a strong echo of Fauvism and Expressionism. 2-7 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; noon-5 p.m. Saturday. Through Jan. 8. Manifest Creative Research Gallery, 2727 Woodburn Ave., Walnut Hills, 513-861-3638.

NVISION — Chelsea Hughes exhibits etchings and screenprints that explore medical anomalies. 2-9 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. Through Jan. 31. NVISION, 4577 Hamilton Ave., Northside, 513-542-4577. PAC Gallery — Soviet Propaganda Paintings & Posters features Russian works of propaganda. By appointment. Through Jan. 30. PAC Gallery, 2540 Woodburn Ave., East Walnut Hills, 513-321-5200. Phyllis Weston-Annie Bolling Gallery — From Moscow to St.

Petersberg: A New Collection of Russian Impressionism and Realism Paintings features unseen works from the prestigious Union of Russian Artists. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Through Jan. 30. Phyllis Weston-Annie Bolling Gallery, 2005 1/2 Madison Road, O’Bryonville, 513-321-5200.

St., Downtown, 513-977-4165.

YWCA Women’s Art Gallery — Reflections Over Afternoon Tea features

realistic paintings of MaryBeth Karaus and ceramics by three outstanding ceramicists: Jancy Jaslow, Pam Korte and Brenda Tarbell. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. MondayFriday. Through Jan. 15. YWCA Women’s Art Gallery, 898 Walnut St., Downtown, 513-241-7090.

York Street Cafe — Gone Baby Gone is the final exhibit of photographer of Linda Tabler before she moves. Look for images of classic cars, the Red River Gorge, Arizona and more. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Through Jan. 10. York Street Cafe, 738 York St., Newport, 859-261-9675.

Museums Cincinnati Art Museum — The Cincinnati Art Museum houses an excellent collection of Rookwood Pottery in its Cincinnati Wing, featuring vases that date back to the 1880s when Maria Longworth founded Rookwood Pottery. The vivid, colorful glazes offer visitors a peek into our local heritage and shine with a vibrancy that’s as breathtaking today as it was when they were first produced. Tour CAM’s collection with a trained docent, who will offer context and details on Rookwood’s rich history. 2-3 p.m. Jan. 9. Cincinnati Art Museum, 953 Eden Park Drive, Mount Adams, 513-721-2787.

Contemporary Arts Center — Soul Within Structure, this H UnMuseum installation, is by local artist Cedric Michael Cox, who uses the historic Cincinnati neighborhood of Over-the-Rhine as inspiration. $4.50-$7.50.

10 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Through March 8. ... Standard Definition is a multi-sensory experience with a multi-channel sound and video installation by artist/musician C. Spencer Yeh in his first solo museum exhibition. $7.50; $6.50 seniors; $5.50 students. 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Through Jan. 24. ... Marilyn Minter: Chewing Color is a solo exhibition of recent paintings and photographs that reveal the sometimes flawed side of glamour. $7.50 adults; $6.50 seniors; $5.50 students. 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesdays-Fridays; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.Through May 2. Contemporary Arts Center, 44 E. Sixth St., Downtown, 513-345-8400.

Taft Museum of Art — Antique Christmas features vintage Christmas decorations from area private collectors in the galleries of the H Taft Museum of Art over the holidays. A variety of rarely displayed objects and toys

created during the years that the former house was inhabited (1820-1931) will grace its halls and rooms. $8; $6 students/seniors. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. WednesdaySunday. Through Jan. 10. ... Drawn by New York: Drawings and Watercolors features drawings and watercolors from the New York Historical Society. The works in this exhibition convey the many transitions of the United States, which began as a dependent colony but soon grew to become a frontier nation, then a burgeoning industrial giant and finally a world power. $8; $6 students/seniors. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. Through Jan. 17. ... Explore the exhibition Drawn by New York with either Tamera Muente, curatorial assistant and exhibitions coordinator, or Nancy Huth, curator of education. Free with admission. 1:30 p.m. Jan. 7, 9 and 15. Taft Museum of Art , 316 Pike St. , Downtown, 513-241-0343.

4ATTRACTIONS Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal — Mummies:

Secrets of the Pharaohs follows researchers and explorers in recalling the discovery of ancient Egyptian mummies all while being narrated by award-winning actor Christopher Lee. Extended through Feb. 11. $5.50-$7.50. Shows start at 1 p.m. Monday-Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. ... In honor of the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s landmark publication,On the Origin of the Species, Museum Center will present an exhibit featuring the personal and scientific aspects of the man who changed the way biologists view the natural world and the history of life on Earth. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. Through Feb. 15. ... Ring of Fire is about the immense natural force of the great circle of volcanoes and seismic activity that rings the Pacific Ocean and the varied people and cultures who coexist with them. $5.50-$7.50. 7 and 9 p.m. Saturdays through January. ... Search for the Great Sharks at the OMNIMAX lets viewers accompany expeditions of Dr. Eugenie Clark and Rodney Fox, who have studied sharks since the 1950s. $5.0-$7.50. 7 and 9 p.m. Fridays in January. Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, 1301 Western Ave., West End, 513-287-7000.

RoHo Photo Gallery — Body of Work is a juried photo exhibition. Noon-5 p.m. Saturday. Through Jan. 30. RoHo Photo Gallery , 331 W. Fourth St.,Loft #1 Downtown, 513-254-7646.

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden — Penguin Days offers half price admission and cool-weather entertainment like “fishing” penguins, elephants breaking frozen blocks of fruit, polar bears and seal lions eating fish-cicles and snow monkeys snacking on delicious frozen treats. $7 adults; $4.50 children. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Through Feb. 28. Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, 3400 Vine St., Avondale, 513-281-4700.

Semantics Gallery — Melanie e. Derrick and Phil Valois exhibit objects

EnterTRAINment Junction — During the month of January, EnterTRAIN-

and graphics. Derrick presents 11 Biscuits, new work inspired by The Daily Puppy, an online newsletter where owners can create a profile and post pictures of their dogs. Valois exhibits /*Power and Persuasion*/ offers future artifacts as tools to perpetuate new myths. Noon-4 p..m Sundays. Through Jan. 31. Semantics Gallery, 1107 Harrison Ave., Brighton, 513-207-5262.

U-turn Art Space — Colony looks at how cultural identity is revised,

stereotyped and mythologized through the work of Adam Longbonz, Travis Meinolf, and two collaborative groups - Maidens of the Cosmic Body Running and Tenthaus. Noon-4 p.m. Saturdays. Through Jan. 30. U-turn Art Space , 2159 Central Ave. , Brighton, uturnartspace.blogspot.com.

Weston Art Gallery — Painting and Wall Drawing features oil HPaintings from 2009 and a 36-foot wall drawing by artist Rick Mallete. ... Live Station is a site-specific installation by Steve Zieverink. ... Nightfall features installations by paper artist Alice Pixley Young. ... 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. TuesdaySaturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Through Feb. 28. Weston Art Gallery, 650 Walnut

ment Junction offers buy-one-get-one admission. Come inside and see over 80,000 square feet of fun and trains. $12.95 adults; $9.95 kids. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday; noon-6 p.m. Sundays. Through January. EnterTRAINment Junction, 7379 Squire Court, West Chester, 513-898-8000.

Newport Aquarium — During Winter Family Days two children (ages 2-12) will be admitted free with each adult paying full price. $20 adults. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily. Through Feb. 28. Newport Aquarium, One Aquarium Way, Newport, 859-261-7444.

4EVENTS Cavalcade of Customs — Do you like cars and car stuff? Head to the Cavalcade of Customs for Drag City racing exhibits, Toyarama Collectible Toys, Survivor’s Alley featuring Traditional Rods, Customs & Bobbers, special guest

appearances by celebrities like Pete Rose and Chip Foose, and a BMX extreme freestyle show. $14; $5 ages 6-12. 3-10 p.m. Jan. 8; 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Jan. 9; 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Jan. 10. Duke Energy Cincinnati Convention Center, 525 Elm St., Downtown, 513-352-3750.

Peiter Griga at Prairie Gallery — Artist Peiter Griga will stage a live

performance of Retrieval #1, his dramatic interpretation of the ancient mellification ritual in which humans were embalmed with honey. This performance will be taped and shown at the opening for Griga’s solo show at Praire which is opening on Jan. 22. 7 p.m. Jan. 8. Prairie Gallery , 4035 Hamilton Ave., Northside, 513-703-5729.

Sunday Jazz Brunches in the Park — At the Stonewood Banquet

Center listen to swinging Jazz piano by the Chris Comer Trio and enjoy a buffet with over 25 items, a carving station and an omelette bar as well as fresh salads, pastries, desserts and other Sunday favorites. $13.95 adults; $6.95 children. 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Jan. 10, 24, Feb. 14, March 7 and 21. Sharon Woods, 11450 Lebanon Road, Sharonville, 513-563-4513.

Tuesday Night at the Movies — Each Tuesday the bar screens two cult classic movies with all the free popcorn you can eat. 10 p.m. Tuesdays. Grammer’s, 1440 Walnut Street, Over-the-Rhine, 513-421-8300.

4GET INVOLVED Art Opportunities Manifest Creative Research Gallery — Manifest seeks to present and document the best painting of the most varied types being made in the world today. PAINT is an exhibit that calls for works of painting from around the world, made by students or professionals, as they carry the tradition forward, or reform it for another day. Postmark deadline for entries is Jan. 22. Manifest Creative Research Gallery, 2727 Woodburn Ave., Walnut Hills, 513-861-3638.

Theater Opportunities Shadowbox Cabaret — Shadowbox: The Sketch Comedy and Rock andΩ

Roll Club is a non-profit entertainment ensemble holding auditions for singers, actors, dancers, and musicians. Full time, part-time, and intern positions are available. For more information or to schedule an audition contact Tom Cardinal, Recruiting Director at 614-416-7625. Ongoing. Shadowbox Cabaret, 1 Levee Way, Newport, 859-957-7625.

prepare a one-minute musical theater song, preferably from shows written since the 1980s, in a Pop/Rock style. Be prepared with sheet music in proper key. An accompanist will be provided. Singing and dance placement will take place so please have comfortable clothes for dance and appropriate shoes. 7 p.m. Jan. 10 and 11. Stained Glass Theatre, 802 York St., Newport, 859-291-7464.

4HOLIDAY Betts House Holiday Decor — Explore 19th century holiday traditions at the Betts House this Christmas, as the house will be decorated for the season and featuring guided tours. $2. 12:30-5 p.m. Saturdays. Through Jan. 6. Betts House, 416 Clark St., West End, 513-651-0734. Holiday Fest: The Beach on Ice — The Beach’s tropical paradise has been transformed into a winter wonderland with millions of festive lights and over 12 holiday rides and attractions. $9. 5-10 p.m. Friday; 3-10 p.m. Saturday; 3-8 p.m. Sunday through Jan. 10. 5-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday and normal Friday-Sunday hours Dec. 14-27. The Beach Waterpark, 2590 Waterpark Drive, Mason, 513-398-7946. Holiday Treasures Guild Show at the Kennedy Heights Arts Center — Holiday Treasures Guild Show features one-of-a-kind

handmade treasures created by local artists. Work includes paintings, photography, jewelry, ceramic works, fiber creations, mosaics and sculpture. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays. Through Jan. 9. Kennedy Heights Arts Center, 6546 Montgomery Road, Kennedy Heights, 513-631-4278.

Light Up the Levee — This holiday light show will illuminate the

exterior Riverwalk from the Gallery Building to the Newport Aquarium with LED lights dancing, synchronized to holiday music. 6:10 p.m. and every 20 minutes through 11:50 p.m. daily. Through Jan. 10. Newport on the Levee, 1 Levee Way, Newport, 859-291-0550.

4LITERARY Readings, Signings & Events 15th Annual Author-Signed Poster Auction Party — Posters in the live auction include ones signed by Greg Mortenson, Jeff Kinney,