CityBeat | Sept. 1-14, 2021

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WHAT’S

IN A

NAME? For Erika Wennerstrom and Heartless Bastards, It’s Everything

The new Heartless Bastards album, A Beautiful Life, was almost released as Wennerstrom’s sophomore solo effort

BY BR I A N BA K ER

VOL. 26 | ISSUE 28 ON THE COVER: HEARTLESS BASTARDS’ A BEAUTIFUL LIFE ALBUM COVER PHOTO: BIG HASSLE MEDIA

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NEWS

On Aug. 21, the Kentucky Supreme Court said the state’s General Assembly can limit a governor’s powers.

P H OTO : U N S P L AS H

Beshear Yanks Kentucky’s School Masking Order after Recent State Supreme Court Ruling All of Kentucky’s 120 counties are labeled as high risk for COVID-19

BY A L L I S O N BA B K A

K

entucky Gov. Andy Beshear has rescinded a statewide order for those in schools to mask up, just weeks after putting the order into place.

The Kentucky Supreme Court shared an opinion Aug. 21 that the state’s General Assembly could limit what a governor can and cannot do on his or her own.

In practice, Beshear can no longer set a mask order for the Commonwealth, despite COVID-19 cases overwhelming Kentucky hospitals. Instead, Beshear would need to call a special session of

the General Assembly to discuss and pass a new state of emergency together, and then pass orders that result from the state of emergency.

The action essentially means that public health emergencies will be mitigated by committees of legislators instead of measures put forth by medical experts such as Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner for the Kentucky Department for Public Health. Stack and other medical personnel have been appearing at COVID-19 briefings with Beshear throughout the pandemic.

Beshear signed the order requiring everyone to wear a mask when in indoor areas within all educational settings on Aug. 10, saying that masking helps slow or reduce the transmission of COVID-19 (health experts agree, with many saying that the coronavirus is increasingly becoming more airborne).

Beshear was not legally required to end the school masking mandate immediately but felt it was his duty to do so, given the Kentucky Supreme Court’s decision.

“The position we put forth, I still think is right. But we lost. I lost,” Beshear said on Aug. 23. “I can still work my tail off every day with the tools that I have to protect people.”

As of press time, a mask mandate enacted by the Kentucky Board of Education remains in effect for public schools throughout the state.

Republican legislators and Catholic school advocates in Kentucky largely have been against mask mandates from Beshear — a Democrat — even as the Commonwealth suffers through another sustained COVID-19 spike.

Some have pressed the legalities of Beshear’s, or any governor’s, emergency powers.

In Ohio, a similar situation unfolded earlier this year with the passing of

Senate Bill 122, which blocks the Ohio Department of Health and, by extension, Gov. Mike DeWine from enacting health protocols. Until June, DeWine largely had supported protective measures such as masking, capacity limits, physical distancing and curfews, and credits those actions with slowing the spread of COVID-19 within the Buckeye State.

Kentucky remains engulfed

by COVID-19 The decision to limit the governor’s executive powers comes as Kentucky is sustaining a sharp, weeks-long spike in COVID-19 cases, largely attributed to the highly transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus. As of Aug. 28, all of Kentucky’s 120 counties are labeled as being high risk by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The virus has quickly spread throughout the state with little resistance, pushing healthcare workers to the brink.

In a report released Aug. 24, state and national agencies said that Kentucky had 18,157 new COVID-19 cases as of Aug. 20 — a 9% increase over the previous week.

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On the same date, the positivity rate was 13.9%, a 1.2% increase. It was 9.77% on Aug. 2 and 1.79% in June (the positivity rate is the number of people who test positive out of all coronavirus tests performed).

There also were 3,684 COVID-related hospital admissions — a 26% increase — at a rate of 30 COVID cases per 100 hospital beds. The report adds that 20% of Kentucky’s hospitals are critically short-staffed due to the virus’s hold.

Beshear said on Aug. 23 that up to 11 additional hospitals are experiencing nursing shortages.

During an Aug. 23 briefing, Beshear asked medical personnel to share what’s been happening in Kentucky’s facilities, saying that many hospitals are converting spaces into Intensive Care Unit overflow and discontinuing overnight surgeries to implement “modified disaster mode.”

“In the past three weeks, we have seen the number of COVID-19 patients in our healthcare organization quadruple.

We are seeing younger patients that are sicker. They are filling up our hospital beds, backing up patients in the emergency department, and we are getting to the point where it’s going to be hard to deliver emergency care to those who need it,” said Dr. Jason Smith, chief medical officer of UofL Health. “I urge everyone in Louisville and the Commonwealth, please, step up and get the vaccine for yourself, your families and the communities around you.”

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Additionally, Kentucky doctors are seeing more COVID-19 in children, with pediatric cases rising 400% over the previous month. On Aug. 18, there were 1,275 new cases in Kentucky among people 18 and younger.

Earlier in August, Dr. Scottie B. Day, physician-in-chief at UK HealthCare’s Kentucky Children’s Hospital in Lexington, said that though children hadn’t been hospitalized in large numbers with the original strain of COVID-19, things are different with the Delta variant now. He said that pediatric hospitalizations have increased week over week and pediatric COVID-19 deaths are twice the number of pediatric flu deaths reported by the CDC between 2019 and 2020.

Health experts urge vaccination Doctors and infectious disease experts continue to emphasize vaccination against COVID-19 as the main way to bring relief to hospital staff and end the pandemic.

“There’s two reasons to be vaccinated.

One is to protect you, and the other is to protect people around you,” said Dr. William Melahn, chief medical officer at St. Claire HealthCare. “Let me just point out a little bit of reality: If we had another disaster happen right now — even a small one — we don’t have any reserve left. So if we had a bus accident, an influenza outbreak or anything else, I’m not sure what we would do.”

SEPTEMBER 1-14, 2021

Vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have been deemed safe, receiving emergency use authorization for people as young as 12 years old.

Pfizer received full FDA approval for adults on Aug. 23. The approval from the FDA means that the Pfizer vaccine has gone through significantly more trials and researchers have examined more data. With this approval, businesses, schools, employers and other groups can mandate vaccination more easily, with many states already requiring a variety of vaccines for residents.

Pfizer is the first company to have applied for and received full FDA approval in the United States.

Moderna also has applied and is being reviewed. Johnson & Johnson says it will submit its application later this year. All vaccine manufacturers will also continue to conduct trials and seek approval for use in teens and children.

But overall, COVID-19 vaccination rates within Kentucky and throughout the United States have plateaued, starting for the most part in May and June when many states lifted public health orders such as masking and venue capacity limits.

As of Aug. 20, only 55.3% of all Kentucky residents have had at least one dose of an authorized vaccine since vaccines first became available in phases at the start of the year; just 47.2% are fully vaccinated. According to the CDC, a “fully vaccinated” person is

one who is two weeks past their second dose of a two-dose vaccine (Pfizer and Moderna) or two weeks after a singledose vaccine (Johnson & Johnson).

Most counties within Kentucky show COVID-19 first-dose vaccination rates of less than 50%, and some counties such as Robertson, Hickman and Christian have rates below 30%, according to Kentucky’s coronavirus dashboard.

Scientists warn that the Delta strain is much more dangerous than the original virus. People infected with Delta carry 1,000 times more of the virus, experts say, which makes it easier to transmit among others when speaking, singing, sneezing or breathing hard, particularly within indoor areas and regions with low vaccination rates. Health experts say that Delta is more than twice as easy to spread. New studies are showing that the virus is becoming even more airborne.

Unvaccinated individuals are at the highest risk for severe infection and substantial health issues from coronavirus, experts say, though some vaccinated individuals also are becoming infected due to Delta’s highly contagious nature. COVID-19 symptoms and rates are less severe in individuals who are fully vaccinated with a Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.

Find COVID-19 information and Kentucky vaccine locations at kycovid19.ky.gov.

CITY DESK

Cincinnatians Can Open Their Homes to Afghan Refugees Through Special Airbnb Program

BY M A I JA Z U M M O

Cincinnatians are ready to help refugees from the current crisis in Afghanistan in a new way.

Global rental platform Airbnb is providing free temporary housing for 20,000 Afghan refugees across the world and making it easy for anyone to open their own house to those in need.

Via its Airbnb.org nonprofit arm, the company is posting information to Airbnb.org/refugees about how to begin hosting emergency stays. Anyone can help, regardless of if they are already an Airbnb host or not. Airbnb will waive all of its fees on free or discounted rates to refugees.

While Airbnb, Brian Chesky (billionaire and CEO/founder of Airbnb) and others who donated to the Airbnb.org Refugee Fund sponsored the initial temporary housing call, this new program allows anyone in any community to step up. Those who can’t open your homes to guests still can donate to help cover the costs of other stays.

Learn more at Airbnb.org/refugees.

Cincinnatians can help house Afghan refugees through Airbnb.

P H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R

Cincinnati Parks Giving Away Free Trees to Help Urban Tree Canopy

BY M A I JA Z U M M O A N D DA N N Y W I C E N TOW S K I For the 33rd year, Cincinnati Parks is giving away free trees as part of its ReLeaf effort to build the city’s tree canopy.

“Tree canopy” is a term used to describe how many trees and how much coverage they provide in order to offset the “impacts of air pollution, urban heat island effect, residential energy demands and stormwater management,” says Cincinnati Parks.

“Just one large canopy deciduous tree, such as an oak or sycamore, can help control 400 to 1,000 gallons of stormwater through canopy interception. This benefits homeowners by adding shade, beauty, reducing soil erosion, and managing flooding from rainfall.”

Cincinnati Parks’ goal is to get every neighborhood in the city to 40% canopy coverage. In 2020, it was at 38%, according to the Cincinnati Park Board’s Division of Natural Resources.

Last August, the city’s Office of Environment & Sustainability evaluated Cincinnati’s trees and how their existence — or lack thereof — was affecting the heat index in area neighborhoods.

The report showed just how hot things can become in the region’s “heat islands,” which, when mapped, starkly overlap with lower-income neighborhoods and areas with larger Black populations. The region’s hottest areas featured roadways “with sparse vegetation,” the report noted, while tree-shaded neighborhoods “keep neighborhoods cool during summer heatwaves and lower the risk of heat-related illness for residents.”

While the Office of Environment & Sustainability’s 2020 report itself and related press briefing described the heat distribution as “inequitable” and “disproportionate,” the actual context of the imbalance is only hinted at.

While tracking heat islands, the 2020 heat map was visibly similar to those that track the city’s demographics, household income and history of redlining.

The neighborhoods with minimal tree canopies are the ones that Cincinnati Parks is first highlighting in its 2021 tree giveaway.

An Eastern Redbud in Cincinnati P H OTO : G R EG H U M E

Residents in Mount Adams (31% canopy); Walnut Hills (33%); East End (30%); Avondale (37%); Lower Price Hill (20%); Queensgate (10%); West End (14%); Over-the-Rhine (13%); Downtown (7%); Corryville (14%); Pendleton (12%); Camp Washington (8%); Carthage (33%); Hartwell (37%); Roselawn (26%); Bond Hill (25%); Madisonville (36%); Oakley (26%); Evanston (31%); and Linwood (28%)

have been able to request a free tree to plant in their yard since Aug. 21.

Applications for all other Cincinnati residents open at 8 a.m. Sept. 4.

Planting must follow specific guidelines. Cincinnati Parks says it is ideal to place a tree in your backyard as well as “in community entryways, street triangles, areas near street intersections and public frontages along major streets.”

Trees available this year — via a partnership with MadTree Brewing, Macy’s and Cincinnati Parks Foundation — include the Eastern Redbud, Sugarberry, Tuliptree, Swamp White Oak, Baldcypress, Red Maple, Allegheny Serviceberry, Pawpaw and Blue Beech.

For more info on Cincinnati Parks’ ReLeaf project or to request a free tree, visit cincinnatiparks.com.

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What’s in a Name?

For Erika Wennerstrom and Heartless Bastards, It’s Everything

The new Heartless Bastards album, A Beautiful Life, was almost released as Wennerstrom’s sophomore solo effort

BY BRIAN BAKER

F

or much of the past two decades, Erika Wennerstrom’s musical identity has been exemplified by the Cincinnati-spawned, now-Austinbased entity known as the Heartless Bastards.

Since the band’s formation in 2003, the Bastards have been known for their blistering performances, with Wennerstrom as the ferociously intense focal point and lead singer, captivating audiences with her unique guttural purr-n-growl. The band’s 2005 debut, Stairs and Elevators was met with critical acclaim, grabbing a glowing

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three-and-a-half star review from Rolling Stone, and write-ups comparing Wennerstrom to Janis Joplin, Chrissie Hynde and Patti Smith.

“I’m not really a calculated person,” Wennerstrom told CityBeat in a previous interview. “I really just try to follow my heart creatively. I always just hope that people will respond to the songs.”

The Heartless Bastards’ sixth studio album, A Beautiful Life, is slated to drop Sept. 10 on Sweet Unknown Records/ Thirty Tigers. And though a release from the label says Wennerstrom “first considered releasing A Beautiful Life under

SEPTEMBER 1-14, 2021

her own name as the follow-up to her widely praised 2018 solo debut, Sweet Unknown, she ultimately came to view the new album as a continuation of the journey begun on Heartless Bastards’ milestone 2005 debut.”

She and the band are taking the new songs on tour, with a local stop at Covington’s Madison Theater on Sept. 25.

A Dayton, Ohio native, Wennerstrom’s musical aspirations were bigger than her local scene, so she and then-boyfriend Mike Lamping moved to Cincinnati in the early 2000s to find a place in the area’s more diverse music community.

Ironically, her first band experience came in the form of now-defunct Post Punk Dayton band Shesus, which was her commuter gig for over two years.

Ultimately, Wennerstrom quit Shesus and began writing her own songs. She threw a band together — drummer Dave Colvin and Ruben Glaser and Jesse Ebaugh (both of former Cincinnati Rock/Blues juggernaut Pearlene) — and christened it Heartless Bastards based on a bar trivia game. The question: “What is the name of Tom Petty’s backing band?” And one of the fake answers was “Tom Petty and the

Heartless Bastards.”

The newly minted Bastards recorded a five-song demo at Cincinnati’s Ultrasuede Studio, one of which was given to Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney at an Akron gig. Carney sent the demo to Fat Possum Records owner Matt Johnson, and he signed the band and released Stairs and Elevators.

From the outset, Wennerstrom seemed an unlikely bandleader. With her winsome beauty and soft-spoken charm, she could have passed for a 1960s coffeehouse Folk chanteuse, but after a couple of slashing chords and a vein-throbbing chorus shriek, that notion was quickly dispelled.

Since the start of the band, the roll call accompanying Wennerstrom has changed dramatically — except for stalwart bassist Ebaugh, her demo bassist in 2002 and a constant since his official 2008 arrival. But her songwriting and stage presentation have remained largely the same.

Wennerstrom relocated to Austin, Texas in 2007, and while she maintains that the city hasn’t influenced her on a musical level, it may have had an impact on her worldview and how she expresses it.

Erika Wennerstrom released her new album under her band moniker, Heartless Bastards P H O T O : A A R O N C O N W AY

Erika Wennerstrom PHOTO: ANNA WEBBER

The shift was evident on the cinematic grandeur of Heartless Bastards’ last album, 2015’s aptly titled Restless Ones, and the contemplative revelation of Sweet Unknown, Wennerstrom’s 2018 solo debut. The latter was most profoundly influenced by her trip to an Amazon jungle retreat, which used ayahuasca as a meditative treatment.

“It was very eye-opening and lifechanging,” she said at the time. “It had me reassessing what’s important to me in this world. In a sense, it was sort of a mid-life crisis, with me reevaluating my life.”

Wennerstrom’s latest collection of songs, A Beautiful Life, originally was intended to be her second solo album, but she quickly reconsidered that strategy. Part of the issue was that many of the recent Bastards players, including original drummer Colvin, were unavailable to record due to scheduling conflicts. That could have been the tipping point toward solo status, but Wennerstrom had other thoughts.

“This has always been my project and these are my songs,” Wennerstrom tells CityBeat from her new digs in Austin. “I

think Heartless Bastards has a lot more reach, and I think there are some really important messages on this album that can help people. I wanted to raise more awareness about the environment and just being kind to each other without all this political stuff. These were messages people could really use right now and I thought going forward with just my name alone isn’t really fair to myself.”

With that settled, Wennerstrom searched for musicians to help actualize her vision for A Beautiful Life.

She wasn’t attempting to plug new Bastards into existing roles for one very important reason.

“I’ve always liked the idea of a band.

I love having that ‘family’ vibe,” she says. “But the reality is things change.

At the point I had this new album, I was talking to everyone and the timing wasn’t right. But I wasn’t looking to form a band in that moment; I was trying to make the best record I could.

I just called on people that I thought were perfect for the project.”

To that end, Wennerstrom enlisted Ebaugh on bass — he’s unavailable for touring due to his solo commitments — and Okkervil River guitarist Lauren Gurgiolo, a veteran of Wennerstrom’s solo tours. Other recruits included My Morning Jacket keyboardist Bo Koster, former White Denim drummer Gregory Clifford and renowned guitar-for-hire David Pulkingham.

“With the different guitar players on the album, I was looking for specific styles,” Wennerstrom says. “When I ask for someone to play their style, I’m asking them to be themselves. Like David Pulkingham — he plays a lot of classic style stuff. He lives in Austin, and I went over to his place and I described what I was going for and we played and he wrote the part in the first five minutes of being there.”

Wennerstrom had a very clear vision

for A Beautiful Life, and thanks to her perseverance and her stellar personnel choices, she feels like she got — in her words — “everything I wanted and more.” The challenge for Wennerstrom and her assembled multitude was crafting the eclectic sonic palette that she heard in her mind, which included touches of Psychedelia, Space Rock, Celtic Folk, Post Punk, French Pop and even Disney-inspired score work.

“The River,” a panoramic epic, is a case in point, inspired tangentially

by Wilco’s “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.”

“The opening of (Wilco’s 2001 album) Yankee Hotel Foxtrot has these sporadic, quirky instrument sounds, and the intro to ‘The River’ was my own way of doing that. I also wanted street noises,” Wennerstrom says. “I was picturing Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy. It’s this medieval town on a rock and sometimes the ocean wraps around it, and at the top is a castle. In my head, it’s like cultures combining. My friend Fared Shafinury is playing Persian setar and Andrew Bird got a more subtle part on violin, but he really wails at the end.”

A few of the songs on A Beautiful Life have roots in the earliest parts of Wennerstrom’s career, dating back and even prior to the formation of Heartless Bastards. Some of the ideas came from files that Lamping had found on an old computer and forwarded to Wennerstrom.

“A lot of the melody for ‘Went Around the World’ was pieced together about a year after the solo album, but the second verse is from a song I used to do at open mic nights at Arlin’s (in Clifton), but I never felt it was fully finished,” she says. “The same thing happened with ‘When I Was Younger.’ Mike sent me some files of songs from 20 years ago that he thought were pretty good — things I had never done anything with.”

“I was working on this melody and I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is going to fit perfectly on ‘When I Was Younger.’

Remember the band the Walkmen? It was sort of Walkmen-inspired,” Wennerstrom continues. “But really, that little melody from ‘When I Was Younger,’ I’ve been playing that at soundchecks for the last 10 years. I feel like sometimes the ideas tell you when they’re ready, and I just try to be patient with that.”

Perhaps the most important aspect of A Beautiful Life are the aforementioned messages contained in this set of songs. From the moment Wennerstrom finished the title track, she knew the new album was going to be a messagedriven affair.

“For the past however many years, I’ve been trying to write from as free a place as I can, and in those moments, be patient and let it out,” she says.

“Through my own work toward finding peace within myself, and the fact that music is like therapy, these messages come out and I think they’re messages I need for myself. With A Beautiful Life, I think I’m consciously reminding myself of things to be grateful for, and it’s not always easy.”

“I also think that the state of the environment and where we’re headed is not great for humanity. It’s something we collectively need to act upon now.

And we’re constantly sold this idea that we need things that we really don’t need,” she adds. “There’s got to be a better way than our current system. We need to slow down and connect. Maybe if we think with our hearts and minds aligned, the idea of taking care of each other might not seem so crazy.”

Circling back to the decision to make A Beautiful Life a “band album,” Wennerstrom points to the philosophical dilemma she had with the band’s name, which infamously came from that bar trivia game nearly two decades ago.

Luckily, her crisis of conscience about the perceived connotation of the name led her to its original intention.

“At my age, I’m like, ‘What was I thinking, naming the band Heartless Bastards?’ she says with a laugh. “After my solo thing, I thought the band would reconvene but maybe under my name or whatever, because I was worried the name was kind of negative. I guess I’m singing so much more consciously about love and loving one another, and I’ve got this band name. But the name was always meant to be a bit of a joke, so maybe it’s a reminder for me to have a sense of humor through it all.”

SEPTEMBER 1-14, 2021

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ARTS & CULTURE

The Vent Haven Museum (pictured) in Northern Kentucky has been hosting the international ventriloquism ConVENTion since the 1970s.

P H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R

Dummies, Idols and Nostalgia at Greater Cincinnati’s Vent Haven ConVENTion Remembering four decades of magic, camaraderie and brilliant performances hosted

by Northern Kentucky’s — and the world’s — only ventriloquism museum

BY DA N N WO E L L E RT

P

icture it.

It’s 1979 at the Vent Haven ventriloquism ConVENTion in Erlanger, Kentucky. I’m 8-years-old and I’m surrounded by kids my own age who — like me — are aspiring “vents.” The experience is magical, full of performances by professionals who make the whole thing look easy.

Even at this age, I know that Northern

Kentucky is ground zero for American vents. The Vent Haven Museum — the world’s only ventriloquism museum — has been hosting this international event since 1975, with around 500-600 attendees each year.

Vent Haven is located in Fort Mitchell, just 15 minutes south of downtown Cincinnati. Founder William Shakespeare Berger was a Cincinnati

businessman and amateur vent who acquired a collection of more than 500 dummies from 1910 until his death in 1972.

The museum, made up of four small buildings on Berger’s former home, has doubled in size through donations of vent materials since its 1973 opening. It now boasts 900 (and counting) ventriloquist puppets, some more than 150 years old, as well as an exhaustive collection of ephemera — photos, scripts, posters, recordings and more than 20,000 letters — and archives documenting the art form. A recent capital campaign will enable the museum to break ground this September on a larger, more climatecontrolled building.

The 45th ConVENTion took place July 14-17 at a Holiday Inn near CVG, with the annual tradition being less convention, more family reunion (last year was canceled due to COVID). From sunrise to sunset, attendees experienced master class seminars from the most brilliant ventriloquists in the country like Jeff Dunham, Jay Johnson, Tom Crowl and Liz Von Seggen. The evening performances could have been straight

out of any Las Vegas venue.

Filmmakers and authors Bryan W. Simon and Marjorie Engesser also brought their new book, I’m No Dummy Everyday: 365 Days of Ventriloquial Oddities, Curiosities, and Fun Facts, with proceeds benefiting Vent Haven.

In 2010, Simon produced the movie I’m No Dummy, the only feature-length documentary about ventriloquists, and went on in 2018 to follow that up with I’m No Dummy II. It’s thrilling that so many professional ventriloquists and aspiring performers come together to lift each other up and improve skills. During the 1979 convention, I’d already had several months of practice with the help of vaudeville star Edgar Bergen’s record and developed a character with my own dummy. At one point during the event, I found myself practically shoulder to shoulder with a young Jeff Dunham, who had started going to the ConVENTions with his father a few years before.

Similarly, I was at my first ConVENTion because of my father.

Dad is a super-fan of vaudeville and slapstick comedy, so this event was

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right up his alley. After all, for my seventh birthday the year before, my parents gave me my very own Simon Sez ventriloquist dummy (I later dropped the Sez) from Sears.

Part of this birthday gift was Bergen’s obligatory record Laugh and Learn: Lessons in Ventriloquism. Bergen and his two dummy partners — the elegant Charlie McCarthy and the goofy Mortimer Snerd — turned ventriloquism into American entertainment on The Ed Sullivan Show. My Simon Sez was a Howdy Doody-ized version of Charlie McCarthy. I had put a red cowboy shirt on him and began my vent journey. ******** Alongside Cincinnati-style chili, ventriloquism came of age in the United States during the vaudeville boom of the 1920s. Many vents performed during burlesque shows at Cincinnati’s Empress Theatre, where you could get a late-night coney or 3-Way after a show.

Some of the most elaborate and now most-coveted ventriloquist dummies were made here in Greater Cincinnati during the Great Depression. Figures made in Harrison, Ohio, by brothers George and Glenn McElroy are considered to be the Stradivariuses of ventriloquist dummies. Using typewriter and piano key mechanisms, the brothers — two young engineers — crafted what are now the most prized dummies in the field. They’re known for their complex movements like slanting eyebrows, wagging ears, thrusting tongues, winking eyes and even spitting and smoking tubes.

The Vent Haven Museum has nine of them. Globally renowned ventriloquist and comedian Dunham owns one called Skinny Dugan. The McElroys only made about 40 figures, so they rarely come up at auction or into the public eye, which makes them even more coveted.

From the 1940s through the 1970s, variety shows were the portals for many ventriloquists. Ed Sullivan introduced audiences to a number of vent/puppet duos: Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Señor Wences and Johnny, Jimmy Nelson and Danny O’Day, Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney. Through the television, audiences heard Farfel the dog punctuate the “Nestle makes the very best” jingle with a deep, loud “Chocolate.” And the phrase “S’alright” from Señor Wences’ dummy head Pedro became cemented into popular culture everywhere.

“Ventriloquism is a fabulous illusion. A good ventriloquist is the most believable thing in the world,” says Lisa Sweasy, director and curator of the Vent Haven Museum. “I like to watch a vent that has this distinct alter ego or character that they’re doing. To me, it’s a monologue that has to be perceived as a dialogue or else it’s no good.”

Part of the brilliance of an act is developing an entertaining dialogue between puppet and vent. And it’s important for the puppet’s voice to be different than the vent’s voice. The most common voices are nasal, like Lambchop’s; breathy, like Jessica Rabbit’s;

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goofy, like Mortimer Snerd’s; or guttural, like Yoda’s, Oscar the Grouch’s or even Miss Piggy’s.

Choosing a voice that brings a puppet to life and is sustainable, believable and appealing is the ultimate challenge of venting.

Ventriloquist Steve Taylor says that one of the most important aspects of a good act is the vent parody, in which the character makes fun of the ventriloquist and the entire concept. A dummy often refers to the hand in its body with lines like, “I thought I was constipated, but then I realized where your hand was.”

“Voice, breath and puppets.

That’s what we are,” says Jay Johnson, a regular returning presenter at the ConVENTion in Erlanger. “You have to fall in love with rehearsal and possess your act.”

Johnson is the only Tony Award-winning vent thus far, The Vent Haven Museum has more than 900 classic dummies. with the 2007 win for his oneP H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R man-show Jay Johnson: The Two & Only! He brought ventrilMany ventriloquists oquism back into the spotlight including Dunham, with his role as Chuck Campbell on the Lynn Trefzger and progressive 1970s sitcom Soap, indulgWillie Tyler have ing his character’s dummy Bob. described themselves Today, television shows like Amerias shy kids. Jay Johnca’s Got Talent are launching pads for son has said he used gifted vents, proving that it’s far from ventriloquism to save a dying art. Three ventriloquists have himself from a dyslexic become AGT champions since the childhood. show launched in 2006.

This year, I saw kids Megan Piphus, a graduate of who were the same Princeton High School in Sharonville, age as I was at my first brought her vent act to Season 8 in 2013. convention. One was Although she didn’t win, she went on with his mother, and to join the cast of Sesame Street as the he already had six voice of Gabrielle in 2020. personalities that he performed with for ******** friends and relatives.

The joy I’d felt as a Ventriloquism continues to be kid many years ago embraced, as the crowded 2021 returned as I made my Some highly coveted dummies were made in Greater ConVENTion shows. way through the event.

Cincinnati during the Great Depression.

And the community continues to I returned home P H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R grow. This year, I met a woman from from that initial ConLexington who had been a vent since VENTion inspired to she was 8. A former banker, she now as I approach a milestone birthday, and create a great act that I could perform teaches grade schoolers about how to this journey fueled that flame. for friends at recess and during show manage their money with her goofy guy During Liz Von Seggen’s “Introducand tell. My acts won the laughs of and gossipy church lady puppets. tion to Vent” session, I felt my muscle classmates, boosting my awkward adoAnother attendee has been an memory coming back. Although a tad lescent confidence. My dummy poked amateur vent for his children and rusty, I remembered most of the tricks fun at the school, teachers, even classfamily for nearly 30 years. And I sat next for masking those hard-to-hide bilabial mates in a non-threatening way that to a New Jersey orthopedic surgeon consonants like p and b, which require wouldn’t land me in detention. And who has been venting for children’s the use of both lips. although I didn’t make it to world-class education for more than 20 years.

Maybe ventriloquism is the ultimate vent venues in Las Vegas in the ensuBut what makes the ConVENTion form of therapy — being beside ing years, Sister Carlene’s third-grade really special is how accessible worldourselves in difficult conversations, class at St. Bartholomew Consolidated class vents are to aspiring performers articulating our inner voices, saying School saw some great performances. and younger attendees. Jeff Dunham things we wouldn’t normally say out Eventually, I packed my dummy has been coming since 1975, when loud and being able to laugh at our Simon away in his box, only bringhe was an eager adolescent vent. In quirks. Vents are educators, mediators ing him out for special performances Erlanger this year, he gave audiences and certainly laugh makers. and later for nieces and nephews. His a preview of his new character URL But maybe vents are also our modplastic mechanism eventually broke, (pronounced “Earl”), a snarky, social ern-day shamans. I know I came out of sending Simon the way of the Toy Story media-addicted millennial living in his the ConVENTion feeling 100% lighter toys — into a recycling bin. But I kept parents’ basement. and I’ll be back next year for even more. his cowboy shirt for another character The ConVENTion also organizes For more on Vent Haven — I might find in the future to revive the Junior Vent University and a junior including how to visit the museum old act. open mic night, and it’s astounding — as well as details about the 2022 But today, as an adult, I’m thinking how good the youngsters are. The Vent Haven ConVENTion, visit about my dad while I attend the 2021 youngest performer, Brickell Miller, was venthaven.org.

ConVENTion.

I’ve been nostalgic lately 6 years old.

SEPTEMBER 1-14, 2021

CULTURE

New Grants Help Community Gardens Bloom Where They’re Needed in Walnut Hills and Covington

BY A L L I S O N BA B K A

Two Greater Cincinnati community gardens have a few more resources, thanks to recent grant wins.

Melrose Foraging Forest in Walnut Hills and Redden Gardens in Covington each earned $1,000 through grants from Pure Farmland’s Pure Growth Project initiative. The grant winners — all community gardens and farms — were announced Aug. 16.

Though the grants are comparably smaller than other funding sources, they’ll bolster the projects that Cincinnati gardens already have in the works to bring affordable, sustainable food to the region, especially to those who might not otherwise have access.

Gary Dangel, food access coordinator for the Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation, tells CityBeat that Melrose Foraging Forest will use the Pure Farmland grant to “purchase and install more fruit trees, berry bushes, medicinal and culinary herbs, a perennial pollinator habitat, and garden signage.”

Melrose Foraging Forest is one of eight gardens in the urban agriculture network in Walnut Hills, Dangel says.

“The Melrose Foraging Forest will be producing apples, pears, cherries, peaches and pawpaws as well as goji berries, currants and strawberries. The idea is for everyone, regardless of their financial situation, to have access to free nutritious food,” he says.

The project donates most of its produce to Queen City Kitchen, La Soupe and church-based food programs, he adds.

“The amount we sell to local restaurants or at pop-up farmer’s markets does not nearly cover the cost of our soil, water, seedlings, compost and labor. So we rely on grant funding and a volunteer workforce to grow food for residents living in the Walnut Hills food desert,” Dangel says. “As we grow these healthy fruits and veggies, we also grow meaningful relationships with our neighbors.”

Brian Goessling, founder of Redden Gardens, also is looking forward to expanding projects with the Pure Farmland grant. He says that Redden will use the funds for educational signage within and near the garden.

“This will include information about topics such as chickens, beehives, composting, rainwater retention, pollinators/pollinator-friendly plants, and growing tips and tricks. It will serve to tell the story passively of what we are doing and why we are doing it,” Goessling says. “We hope that people in the community can take these principles and use them in their own homes or lives. It is another way we can reach the community efficiently by providing this self-guided tour.”

Found on Scott Boulevard in Covington, Redden Gardens rents plots of land to local urban farmers while also providing the community with free-forthe-picking fruits, vegetables and flowers outside its fences. Goessling says

Redden Gardens P H O T O : FA C E B O O K . C O M / R E D D E N G A R D E N S

that Redden Gardens also has launched “Covunity Fridge,” where locals can enjoy fresh food, hygiene products, cold and hot water, and a microwave.

Goessling and Dangel each say that grants are vital to urban agriculture efforts.

“Grant programs like these help communities thrive because they allow us to implement creative solutions to our own needs. Last year with The Center for Great Neighborhoods, the money supplemented other funds for an extension of our victory gardening program, which brings raised beds and container gardens directly to people’s homes,” Goessling says.

Both Dangel and Goessling want to expand their gardens’ programs in the future, ultimately connecting even more Greater Cincinnati residents to food and knowledge.

“We are looking to bring the community in through communal events, focusing on food and storytelling, and further educational programming. We would love to strengthen the bonds and knowledge sharing of our gardening groups and tie this to the community as a whole,” Goessling says.

Dangel also is looking to connect community members with one another.

Melrose Foraging Forest P H O T O : W A L N U T H I L L S R E D E V E L O P M E N T F O U N D AT I O N

“Turning the green space into a sustainable community area where people can safely meet outside for positive interactions is on our wish list,” he says. “We’ve been hosting a weekly nature enrichment activity with youth and counselors from Found Village. We

also want to expand the outdoor space to conduct classes on medicinal plants and edible landscapes.”

SEPTEMBER 1-14, 2021

Find information about Melrose Foraging Forest at walnuthillsrf.org and about Redden Gardens at reddengardens.org.

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Voted Best Smoke Shop

Voted Best Green / Sustainable Goods Store

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SEPTEMBER 1-14, 2021

CULTURE

Covington Street Hockey League Does More Than Play

BY K AT I E G R I F F IT H

Last fall, the Covington Street Hockey League (CSHL) seized an opportunity that allowed its game and philanthropic initiatives to grow. All it took was a crew of 24 people, some serious muscle, various power tools and a fleet of personally-owned trailers and trucks.

One trip to Dayton and two days of work later, the crew extracted plastic boards that once enclosed Dayton’s minor-league ice hockey rink.

Hara Arena was home to The Dayton Demolition until a 2019 tornado rendered the arena unusable. Three days before demolition was scheduled, CSHL founder and commissioner Jesse Kleinhenz rallied members of the league to retrieve the boards — a $50,000 value, he says. The team then buckled down on a vision to make Covington’s Barb Cook Park its new home.

While the enclosure has its practical benefits, like not losing the ball every other play, the CSHL sees it as an opportunity to engage the community and support its latest Youth Program.

“The rink is across the street from Latonia Terrace projects,” Kleinhenz says. “It’s a huge opportunity to reach out to a lower-income area and give people a chance to play something.

They could play hockey but they (also) could play soccer. There’s all kinds of activities you can do with an asphalted space.”

The CSHL struck a deal with the City of Covington: foot the $24,000 bill to asphalt the arena and the space was theirs. The rink opened in the spring, attracting community members and falling in line with Covington’s recent plans to redevelop area parks.

Street hockey, also called roller hockey, is played similarly to ice hockey but with a few differences. Most notably, there are no lines on a street hockey rink, which means no offsides or icing (an infraction regarding the lines on an ice rink). Also, ice hockey is played with a puck and street hockey with a ball, or “the great equalizer,” as Kleinhenz says.

As a result, street hockey commands more strategy and possession skills.

Four years ago, the league didn’t have intentions beyond getting people together to play. In 2018, about seven players showed up for their first pick-up game, Kleinhenz says. It was a snowy Saturday in January at Kenney Shields Park in Covington (their original home), so the bunch sidelined their skates, cleared some snow and played a game on foot. Aside from pandemic-related reasons, the league hasn’t skipped many Saturdays since.

“We’ve been so consistent,” Kleinhenz says. “It’s probably one of the biggest reasons street hockey here is still alive.

Thursday and Saturday. If it’s December and there isn’t snow on the ground, we are out there playing, three to four hours.”

Now, as an official nonprofit organization, the grassroots league is ingrained in Covington’s quirky identity,

adding to its laidback, inclusive and altruistic culture.

“When we decided we could make Covington Street Hockey bigger than just playing hockey, we started cleaning parks and being the city’s muscle,” Kleinhenz says.

“Just being a helping hand out there. We try to be as inclusive as we can, it’s free to play with us, and we generally have equipment to give away to people.

It’s a giving and volunteering culture. We are constantly encouraging our Members of the Covington Street Hockey League crew to volunteer P H O T O : K AT I E G R I F F I T H their time, and always wanting competitively during quarterly to reach our next tournament; otherwise, the group fundraising goal.” focuses on twice-weekly pick-up No one really asked them to do it, games. It’s a come-and-go, crackeither. The group of 100-plus players a-Busch-Light type of environment — a conglomerate of all ages and skill where camaraderie rules and teams are levels — found common ground off chosen at random after participants the rink, where members participate in toss their sticks into a pile. local park cleanups, engage youth by “What’s really incredible is the variety teaching hockey and providing equipof skill levels in the crew in and outside ment, host an annual holiday toy drive of hockey,” Kleinhenz says. “We have and hold quarterly tournaments and construction workers, social media fundraising events. experts, beer sales reps, teachers, Since the league’s inception, particiengineers, digital designers — all of pants have raised more than $35,000 these people come together to create from merchandise sales, donations, incredible merch and media content booths at local festivals and tournaand a great area to live in.” ments, according to the CSHL website.

From the beginning, the “bubs,” as Last year, $500 of those funds came in they call each other, have utilized the form of a grant from the Cincinnati individual talents of league members Cyclones, which the league used to buy to fuel league operations, merchandise children’s hockey sticks, says Kleinhenz. and media. From flags to uniforms and In May, the City of Covington advertising to fundraising, the CSHL honored the CSHL with its annual has its own leadership team that man“Authenti-CITY” award, which ages and oversees the enterprise. acknowledged five places, events, The group produces unscripted people or organizations that “make pre- and post-game interviews, where Covington an authentically cool city in players often satirize National Hockey the Tri-State,” according to the City of League interviews. The videos are Covington’s website. shared on social media, where the The league is made up of six teams public can enjoy and also get to know whose names represent the playful and the players. witty attitude adopted by the league: “We go out there on Rollerblades Goebel Goats, The Shields, Mainstrasse and have a good time,” Kleinhenz says.

Misfits, Roebling Trolls, Licking River “Right off the bat we started making Rats and Devou Devils. Local breweries really funny videos, just acting like we MadTree, Braxton and Rhinegeist were professionals, like post-game sponsor the teams with uniforms. interviews and stuff. I think that’s what Covington bar Gypsy’s, where really gained us some notoriety, just Kleinhenz is the general manager, is the cause we were being goofballs.” league’s clubhouse. Members gather The team’s habitual content creation before and after games, hold proper came as second nature and paid off drafts for the teams and fundraising in August, when they were selected by events there when needed. The six video submission to compete in the teams only convene to compete

Barstool Sports Summer Hockeyfest in Detroit. As one of 48 teams chosen nationally, the CSHL brought seven players and 40-50 supporters to the tournament, Kleinhenz says.

“They were taking team submissions by video only,” he says. “They were looking for the most electric teams and people that were going to go up there and cause a bunch of buzz and have a good time. We definitely created a spectacle, right off the rip we were the only team to show up with a trailer.”

The players competed Aug. 6 and 7 and made it to the semi-finals, until they were knocked out by the team that took first place. The CSHL returned home with pride and ready to focus their efforts on reestablishing quarterly tournaments that were thrown off by COVID-19, as well as their Youth Program, community giveback and future plans to implement a more competitive league for the six teams.

On Saturday, Oct. 30, the CSHL will host its first tournament in over a year called “Night of the Living Send 2.” Costumes are mandatory and admission fees apply. Kleinhenz says the team usually puts together some form of live music, craft beer and food sales for entertainment. “‘Send’ is a hockey thing for sure. It’s like ‘send it, go hard,’” Kleinhenz says, noting that it’s a phrase the league applies to wherever their focus lies, whether that’s continuing to cultivate a community that holds space for everyone and creates opportunities or simply playing the sport.

SEPTEMBER 1-14, 2021

Learn more about the Covington Street Hockey League at covingtonstreethockeyleague.com.

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at j u n g l e ji m s in t e rnat iona l m a rke t

oPen eVeRY thursday 4:00 PM - 10:00 PM Bourbon Bar · Cigar Lounge · Open-Air Seating · Craft Cocktails

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SEPTEMBER 1-14, 2021

FOOD & DRINK

Ziggy Whip ice cream flavors have included Angostura bitters, galia melon and bay leaf.

P H OTO : P ROV I D E D

OTR’s Punk Creamy Whip The Ziggy Whip walk-up window offers innovative ice cream flavors, piping hot hand pies and plenty of vegan options with a changing weekly menu and a show-flyer aesthetic

BY SA M I ST E WA RT

D

avid Jackman was sitting at the bar at Collective Espresso in Over-the-Rhine when he got wind that the nearby The Takeaway was reopening.

The Main Street deli and bottle shop had been hibernating for the winter and opened up again at the start of this

summer. Since its inception, The Takeaway has doubled as a home for pop-up restaurant concepts via its walk-up window on Woodward Street (e.g. Boombox Buns, Pata Roja Taquería).

With that in mind, Jackman asked The Takeaway if he could run a restaurant out of the window and shortly

thereafter opened Ziggy Whip, the city’s newest creamy whip and certainly the only one to offer “handies” — Ziggyspeak for hand pies (get your mind out of the gutter).

Jackman works alongside his wife, Lydia, as well as Ethan Bartlett. The trio has decades of culinary experience between them and the résumés to show for it. Prior to starting up Ziggy Whip, Lydia ran the foodservice at Oakley Wines and The Rhined, Bartlett was at Sleepy Bee and Jackman was the sous chef at the now-shuttered Please. Now, they’ve combined their expertise to bring their own concept to life.

“We didn’t want to just start working in other restaurants and keep putting our ideas to the side,” Jackman says.

“We had been working in enough restaurants at this point that we just wanted to work for ourselves.”

With a go-ahead from The Takeaway, the world was their oyster. The team shares a love of ice cream (the seasonal Putz’s, near Northside, is unanimously their favorite), and opening a creamy whip came up while brainstorming restaurant concepts — but certainly not one that would blend in with the rest of the city’s offerings.

They wanted to set themselves apart from the usual ice cream shack lineup by offering “savory things and fun ice creams that are different from a normal whip,” Jackman says.

Most creamy whips around the city offer food of the concession-stand variety — coneys, hamburgers, walking tacos — but Ziggy Whip offers “beautiful adult hot pockets,” Bartlett says. “They’re delicious and fun and not something you can get elsewhere.”

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They’re made with an olive oil crust, which provides a unique texture that is neither flaky nor doughy. And unlike pastries with butter or lard crusts, they’re easily veganized.

In fact, vegan options abound at Ziggy Whip. One of the two weekly handy options, the sorbets and the side of vegetables — which Jackman calls the unsung hero of the pop-up — will always exalt local produce and remain plant-based. Recently, bite-sized chunks of summer tomatoes were bathed in a whipped tofu and yuzu sauce and adorned with dill flowers, shiso and slivers of fresno chilli. Now that is a side of vegetables.

Like everything else on the menu, the hand pies reflect whatever seasonal goodies are available locally. A few weeks ago, Lydia tapped into her Tennessee roots and whipped up a vegan tomato pie with chickpea, olive, basil and a sunflower dip. Hand pies are $11 and come with a sauce to salve your singed taste buds. Just like all other pocket pies, these hold their heat with a death grip and you’ll struggle to muster up the patience to wait until they’re properly cooled to dig in.

More impressive than their ability to muster up a brand new menu chock full of intriguing, even off-the-wall flavor combinations is Ziggy Whip’s ability to tempt omnivorous guests into abandoning their usual orders and opting for equally enticing vegan dishes.

“We can’t just do self-serving flavors because we’re in the hospitality industry and part of hospitality is taking care of people,” Jackman says. “It’s about giving people the option to go the other route.”

The same goes for the scoop list, which is half ice cream and half sorbet and features flavors that are both approachable — vanilla, blackberry, dulce de leche — and distinctive — Angostura bitters, galia melon and bay leaf, one of the most captivating flavors thus far. The bay leaf scoop is a calming green hue you’d expect to taste like spearmint. Instead, it’s herbaceous and fruity yet reminiscent of cold-weather comfort food.

When concocting new flavors the trio asks themselves, “How can we make something as familiar as we can while still playing with all the things in the palate of seasoning?”

You can experience any flavor as a standalone scoop or a select few weekly flavors in sundae form. Scoops default as doubles — $5 for a cup, $6.50 for a buckwheat sorghum waffle cone (not vegan). They’re nutty and a little salty thanks to the buckwheat, but they’re also rich and slightly sweet because of the sorghum. You get all the crispiness without the lacerations on the roof of your mouth thanks to bread flour, which has a higher protein content and gives the cones their solid, yet giveable structure.

If cones aren’t your thing, you’re vegan, or you’re feeling like embarking on a culinary journey, opt for a sundae for $7.50. Just don’t expect simplicity.

In fact, it’s best that you leave all expectations at the door, er, window.

A few weeks ago, Ziggy Whip started

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Ziggy Whip’s menu of ice creams, sundaes, sweets, hand pies and veggies changes each week.

P H OTO : P ROV I D E D

pulling cotton candy by hand, which resulted in a galia melon sorbet topped with lime leaf cotton candy, cucumber candy and young coconut.

More recently the team adorned scoops of marzipan ice cream with caneles, red wine jelly, lemon thyme and more marzipan.

They allow themselves unhinged culinary exploration within the bounds of a simple menu that they rework weekly. You can expect to get handies, ice cream and a side of vegetables, but you’ll have to wait to find out which varieties until they drop the new menu on Instagram (@ziggy.whip.pop).

Similarly, the Ziggy Whip owners follow the same menu design format, but swap out certain elements, echoing the simplistic but unique offerings.

Drawing from Jackman’s adolescent years spent in the Punk community, where the abuse of the library scanner/ copier gave way to a stack of show flyers, the Ziggy Whip menus are equal parts ransom note and Punk show poster.

“Inspiration for the brand came from attempting to avoid the aesthetic of common brands,” Jackman says. “We wanted it to stand out but also have a DIY aesthetic without feeling cheap. I wanted the project to feel like it had the same community-driven feeling I grew up around.”

In the future, the team plans to pack their ice cream into pints and sell them around the city. For now, they’ll be your weekend warriors to sate that craving for something new and unexpected but comforting and delicious at the same time. “We’re finding ways to keep the theme of fun new flavors,” Jackman says.

“Keeping it very exciting and fresh and not really the same as anywhere else.”

The team also has been working on a restaurant concept called Malus for

SEPTEMBER 1-14, 2021

Ziggy Whip specializes in creatively-filled hand pies.

P H OTO : P ROV I D E D

nearly a year. It will fall under the same ownership umbrella as Ziggy Whip, but the only thing the two restaurants will share is “an ethos of seasonality and quality,” Jackman says.

He says Malus will be a “neo-bistro concept based around an experience of breaking bread. Whether it’s a casual bite or an extended menu shared among friends, we’re trying to rewrite what high-end food is in a more casual way without removing the caliber, just

removing the pretension.”

They haven’t set an opening date for Malus, but it’s on the horizon. “We’re trying to find the right space for it, the right funding,” Bartlett says.

Ziggy Whip is located at the walkup window in The Takeaway on Woodward Street in Over-the-Rhine.

They’re open Friday and Saturday.

For more info, hours and menus, visit instagram.com/ziggy.whip.pop.

THE DISH

Q&A with Executive Chef Leroy Ansley of Over-the-Rhine’s New Pearlstar Oyster Bar I N T E RV I E W BY S E A N M . P E T E RS

Cincinnati’s newest oyster bar is nearly ready to open, soon set to offer fresh tastes from the ocean (and much more) in Over-the-Rhine.

Executive Chef Leroy Ansley will oversee the kitchen at Pearlstar, located at 1220 Vine St. While the interior undergoes a redesign, Ansley is no stranger to this building — he was culinary director for A Tavola at the same address for three years.

“It is full circle that I get an opportunity to build another restaurant in this space,” he says.

Born in Kansas City, Ansley has lived in Cincinnati for 11 years and has since made a name for himself in the culinary scene. His career has taken him from fishing boats in the Virgin Islands to a year at Nada and his aforementioned stint at A Tavola. More recently, he has served as executive chef for Queen City Hospitality Group, first with Senate in Over-the-Rhine and then opening up Senate Blue Ash in 2017. Ansley says he’s excited to return to Over-theRhine and to create something new in a familiar space.

Pearlstar is expected to open this summer.

CityBeat: Talk about the team behind Pearlstar — who’s to thank for your upcoming opening?

Leroy Ansley: I was fortunate to cross paths with Terrell Raley, and after meeting with him, I knew I wanted to help him on this new venture. He is a successful restaurateur based out of Nashville and this is his first restaurant outside of that market.

He operates Butchertown Hall and Liberty Common, both of which are great eateries in Nashville. He had a strong vision for what he wanted Pearlstar to be and I am excited to be able to work with him on bringing Pearlstar to Cincinnati. 3CDC was also instrumental in helping the vision get off the ground.

CB: How did Pearlstar’s concept originate? What seemed to indicate Cincinnati needed another spot to eat oysters?

LA: Pearlstar is one of those concepts that there is so much you can do with it. In the truest sense, it’s an oyster house that’s going to source really fresh ingredients and allow those ingredients to speak for themselves. However, I know you have to expand the menu past the signature idea of what it is. For that reason we will have a lot of vegan and vegetarian options, po’ boys and tostadas, steaks, ceviche and crudos to name a few. We didn’t want to do just seafood; we really wanted it to

be a place where you can have something for everyone. I also believe Cincinnati is ready for some awesome oysters on a huge patio. I used to love going to The Anchor on Thursday nights for their oyster specials. There is a market for it, and I hope we can be a welcomed addition to the Over-the-Rhine dining scene.

CB: Where do you source the oysters? What’s important in a good oyster?

LA: The key with oysters is freshness — obviously, that is not groundbreaking. But there are so many different flavor profiles the bivalves offer that we intend to showcase. We will A spread of dishes available at Pearlstar, which offers more than just oysters. offer oysters from P H OTO : P ROV I D E D the East and West Coast as well as CB: What’s the the Gulf Coast. You want them to be most important velvety in your mouth with a beautiful thing for CityBeat liquor of tasty briny seawater. readers to know about Pearlstar right now?

CB: How’s the buildout going?

There’s bocce ball, as well? What else can we expect and when are you set to open?

LA: The buildout is going strong and we should be wrapping up the construction phase any day now. We wanted the space to feel completely different than what has been here before and I believe we accomplished that. Terrell did a great job on the design aspect of the restaurant and patio. It will be light and airy, somewhat nautical but transition to a candle-lit sexy-space at night time.

I am very excited with how it turned out and can’t wait for people to come in and check it out. Also, the patio will have an outdoor bar and two bocce ball courts. Anyone that has been coming down to Over-the-Rhine for years will remember playing bocce at Neons, so we had to incorporate that into the buildout.

LA: I want Pearlstar to be approachable to everyone. As much as we love oysters, I know they are an acquired delicacy. So we built a spot where, if you don’t like oysters, you can still come and enjoy some great food in a truly beautiful setting.

Pearlstar, 1220 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine, pearl-star.com.

Pearlstar Executive Chef Leroy Ansley P H OTO : P ROV I D E D

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SOUND ADVICE Neko Case

Friday, Sept. 3 • Memorial Hall Has it really been nearly a quarter century since Neko Case started making records? Bill Clinton began his second term in the White House when her twangy solo debut, The Virginian, surfaced, revealing an artist with a gift for storytelling and a singing voice both powerful and seductive.

On the other hand, Case’s enduring presence shouldn’t come as a surprise — her music is a timeless mix of moody torch songs and rootsy Folk, Pop and Country.

A Virginia native, Case left home at 15, the result of an upbringing affected by her parents’ messy divorce. In 1994, after nearly a decade of soul-searching that would become a staple of her nomadic life, she enrolled in art school in Vancouver, Canada, where she would also expand her creative horizons as a drummer in various Post-Punk outfits.

Armed with a fine arts degree four years later, Case released the aforementioned The Virginian, but it was the one-two punch of her next record, 2000’s Furnace Room Lullaby, and her vocal contributions to a new Vancouver band called The New Pornographers that would break her to a wider audience. Three increasingly successful solo albums followed, as did contributions to four more New Pornographers records.

In 2013, Case dropped arguably her best record, The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You, an impressively textured, emotionally satisfying effort that moves from majestic Power Pop to stark slow burners with equal effectiveness. Case’s most recent album, 2018’s Hell-On, surfaced not long after her then-home in Vermont burned to the ground, leaving her homeless and adding another chapter to her turbulent life and songwriting subject matter. As usual, she responded with perspective: “If somebody burned down your house on purpose, you’d feel so violated. But when nature burns your house down, you can’t take it personally.”

Case performs at 8 p.m. Sept. 3 at Memorial Hall. Masks are required, as is proof of COVID-19 vaccination or proof of a negative COVID-19 test from the prior 72 hours. (Jason Gargano)

Katy Kirby

Friday, Sept. 3 • MOTR Pub Katy Kirby was not raised on The Beach Boys, The Beatles, nor any of the Classic Rock bands that so many of our parents have passed down to our ears.

For her evangelical Christian family in Spicewood, Texas, the house music was a little different.

“My parents don’t know bands, but my dad loves barbershop quartets and they listen to a lot of worship music,” Kirby said in a Feb. 26 interview with

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Neko Case P H OTO : E B RU Y I L D I Z

TexasMonthly. “Once or twice a year, my dad will sucker all of us into learning a four-second barbershop part and it will take us an hour and a half to do, but it’s great.”

These early singing sessions were part of what first drew Kirby to music, an attraction that would eventually lead to her blossoming career as a Post-Folk artist. In February, Kirby released her debut album, Cool Dry Place, with Texas-based label Keeled Scales. The nine-track record calls to mind the sweet, effortless vocals of early Jessica Lea Mayfield and the simple, expressive arrangements of Big Thief.

In a way, the album is a comingof-age story centered on Kirby’s move from her sheltered, religious upbringing to Nashville, where she attended Belmont University. With space between her present and her adolescence, Kirby has been able to examine what the beliefs of her childhood meant to her now. Music was a catalyst in the process.

“Me thinking about music as a thing to do definitely intersects with me losing my faith, and I was writing my way out of a lot of that confusion,” she said in a Vice interview from Jan. 28.

With its delicate melodies and airy

SEPTEMBER 1-14, 2021

Katy Kirby P H O T O : J A C K I E L E E YO U N G

St. Vincent P H OTO : Z AC K E RY M I C H A E L

instrumentation, Cool Dry Place will be the perfect soundtrack for fall. Its songs have the softness of late summer, and spacious compositions to escort the change of seasons.

Kirby performs at 10 p.m. Sept. 3 at MOTR Pub. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination or proof of a negative COVID-19 test from the prior 72 hours is required. (Katrina Eresman)

St. Vincent

Tuesday, Sept. 7 • ICON Festival Stage at Smale Park Ever since she began writing, recording, and performing as St. Vincent, Annie Clark has found a way to be seriously good at what she does without taking herself too seriously.

The title of her first album, Marry Me, was taken from a recurring joke in the series Arrested Development. In 2017, she paired up with Carrie Brownstein to create an “interview kit” ahead of her album Masseduction, in which Clark provides scripted, sarcastic responses to some of her most common interview questions. In 2016 she wore a purple toilet costume for an entire set.

The perfect touch of volatility is part of the skilled and powerful performances St. Vincent is known for. With each new album, Clark reinvents her aesthetic. She’s done — in her words from a 2017 Vogue interview

— “near-future cult leader” (St. Vincent, 2014) and “the Cramps play a mental institution” (Masseduction, 2017).

For her sixth studio album, Daddy’s Home, released in May, Clark has created a world steeped in 1970s Rock & Roll. She performs as Candy Darling, the Warhol Superstar, wearing a blonde bob and standing with the ease and seduction of a retro lounge singer.

Daddy’s Home pairs deeply personal lyrics with soulful compositions. The album starts with the sexy, Glam Rock number “Pay Your Way in Pain,” and rolls right into the funky “Down and Out Downtown,” with lyrics that set the New York scene. The album cruises smoothly from song to song with heavy lyrics and sweet melodies throughout the ride.

If you’re lucky enough to catch her show on Sept. 7, you can expect to see Clark perform these tracks in her Candy Darling blonde wig backed by a tight band dressed in 1970s garb.

Cincinnati is early on the tour, so we don’t know quite what to expect yet, but if we’re lucky we’ll get the full experience her April 3 Saturday Night Live performance hinted at — backup singers, fur coats and all.

St. Vincent performs at 8 p.m. Sept.

7 at the ICON Festival Stage. Proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or proof of a negative COVID-19 test from the prior 72 hours is required. (KE)

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PUZZLE

hold anything?”

7. Stun

1. Some medicinal plants

47. “How am I going to measure anything with this empty suit you installed?”

8. Run things 9. Bettor’s guides

51. Wish one hadn’t

10. Type of deal for superstar athletes

15. On vacation 16. Pueblo Revolt of 1680 tribe 17. “Thanks for getting my school supplies, but how do I write with these?”

19. Sultan’s country 20. “What are you trying to ___?”

21. No longer worrying (about) 23. Song that Dolly Parton wrote on the same day as “I Will Always Love You”

52. Obie-winning playwright Will 53. “Only Connect” channel, with “the” 54. Santander rival 58. Get smart?

18. Wisconsin governor Tony

59. Legal proceedings

22. Saturation point, in a business cycle 24. Chapultepec Zoo animals

65. First subheading

25. Punch in, as a guitar solo or backing vocals

26. Bit of tea

67. Bay Area force letters

27. Uruguayan pronoun

68. Some Sunday supplements, in short

33. Rude boy’s music 34. Setting for the final chess matches in “The Queen’s Gambit” 35. Bit of work 37. Baking meas.

41. Baking measurements: Abbr.

44. “Seriously? You think this will

23. “___, Joy of Man’s Desiring”

64. Kings of ___ 66. Sporting tats

31. “You think this will glue things together?”

12. Military helicopter 13. Feature of someone who always loses keys?

25. Arch

28. “I seriously doubt this will highlight anything”

11. “Across 110th Street” singer Bobby

56. Knock off balance

60. “And this will remove mistakes?

I’m not old enough to even drink!”

69. Dark crime films DOWN 1. Side in the Super Bowl 2. Mike Trout’s team, on scoreboards

L AST PUZ ZLE’S ANSWERS:

30. Hair metal band named for a rodent

49. Recovery room, briefly

32. Yorick, in “Hamlet,” e.g.

50. ___ display (Mac screen feature)

36. Strengthener of locks

55. Gambling game

38. Christine of “The Good Fight”

57. Senator Paul who was an ophthalmologist

42. Indian ox

48. Humanitarian org. focused on kids

39. Did a DJ set

29. Threw back some sliders

40. Take an unwanted look

ACROSS

14. Animals in your neighborhood

BY B R EN DA N EM M E T T Q UIG LE Y

6. Noodles with the band

BACK-TO-SCHOOL

10. Hit one to the bleachers

58. Droids and the like: Abbr.

61. “-”: Abbr.

3. Beats on the field

43. Dad’s second wife

4. ___ nous

45. 39.37 inches, in England

62. Suffix for rocket or musket

5. Broadway star Lea

46. Get Door Dash, say

63. Fork settings?: Abbr.

6. Tease

47. Parts of a piano

3 , 7 6 3 ) 8 1 ' ( 1 2 / $ 7 2 7 7 $ 6 $ 3 ) $ & , ' 2 0 ( * / ( 1 < $ / 7 5 8 1 2 $ 5 , 7 ( 1 ( 1 2

$ ' .

8 1 & ( 1 2 6 ( 3 < / ( ( $ 6 ; & ( + ( $ 8 7 2 ' $ 5 , 5 $ 6 3 /

% 5 ( 7

/ 2 & ,

$ 7 2 / /

1 . + ( / ( / 0 $ 1 * ( 1 2 ( 7

) ( 7 $

( 9 $ &

5 ( $ 3 / ( : 2 / $ 3 / < 2 & 1 2 , ( 7 6 7 $ 2 2 1 2 $ 7 0 2 2 $ .

1 ,

( 9 ( 5 6 2 ' 8 & .

6 2 8 3

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