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PUBLISHER
TONY FRANK
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ASHLEY MOOR-MAHONEY
DIGITAL CONTENT EDITOR
KATHERINE BARRIER
STAFF WRITER
MADELINE FENING
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
HAIMANTI GERMAIN
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
ASPEN SMIT
CONTRIBUTING CRITICS
THEATER CRITIC: RICK PENDER
DINING CRITIC:
PAMA MITCHELL
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
ANNE ARENSTEIN
JASON GARGANO
DEREK KALBACK
CONTRIBUTING
PHOTOGRAPHERS
HAILEY BOLLINGER
RON VALLE
CATIE VIOX
SENIOR DIGITAL MARKETING CONSULTANT
MARK COLEMAN
PROMOTIONS MANAGER
MK MCGUIRE
DISTRIBUTION TEAM
TOM SAND, STEVE FERGUSON
BIG LOU HOLDINGS
DIGITAL OPERATIONS COORDINATOR
ELIZABETH KNAPP
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
GUILLERMO RODRIGUEZ
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER CHRIS KEATING
The Department of Homeland Security is running out of ways to justify deporting Imam Ayman Soliman.
BY MADELINE FENING
Supporters of Imam Ayman Soliman gathered at the Ohio Capitol on Aug. 25 to publicly ask Gov. Mike DeWine to help free Cincinnati’s imprisoned faith leader.
“Ayman would be going to his death if he is deported back to Egypt,” said Sister Gemma Doll of Dominican Sisters of Peace. “And our Catholic faith — faith that unites us, Governor DeWine — stands firmly in the stance of every human person has the right to life.”
Sister Doll was one of several members of the faith community to deliver a letter to DeWine’s office, urging the Republican to “act swiftly and decisively” on Soliman’s behalf.
“Governor, your intervention could turn despair into hope, silence into spiritual restoration, and save a beloved human life,” reads the letter signed by 1,166 “concerned members of the faith community.”
But Soliman’s detention at the Butler County Jail is a federal issue, and Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said he wouldn’t free Soliman at DeWine’s request.
Soliman will remain in the Butler County Jail for the duration of his immigration fight after a U.S. District Court judge in Cincinnati granted a preliminary injunction on Aug. 21, ordering that Soliman remain in the court’s jurisdiction.
Tala Ali, a member of Ayman’s advocacy team and chair of the Cincinnati Islamic Association, said the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) case against Soliman is “nonexistent.”
“On Aug. 7, DHS lawyers filed a claim that Ayman should not be considered for asylum based on multiple warrants in Iraq for murder and terrorist-related activities,” Ali said. “Ayman has never been to Iraq.”
Ali called the Iraq claim a “monumental screw-up on behalf of DHS lawyers.” She believes the claim could be a case of mistaken identity — the wrong Ayman Soliman — or perhaps something worse.
“Or they’ve exposed themselves in failing to delete a footnote in their filing as they copy and paste filings en masse to dragnet and target Muslims,” she said.
The Iraq claim is not the first federal accusation against Soliman to be quickly debunked. It’s the third.
Here’s a pared-down timeline of Soliman’s legal journey to better understand the issue:
2014: Soliman fled Egypt to the U.S. after he said he was jailed by the Egyptian government for his journalistic coverage of the Arab Spring.
2015: Soliman applied for asylum status.
2018: His asylum application is vetted and approved. Soliman now has indefinite legal status in the United States — he applied for a green card soon after.
2021: Soliman discovered there was an “FBI flag” on his record when he was offered a position at the Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC) as an Islamic chaplain. Soliman sued the FBI and the Terrorist Screening Center, claiming his fingerprints did not match prints in the government’s terrorism screening database. That lawsuit is ongoing.
December 2024: Soliman is informed that his previously decided asylum case is being reopened for review. His attorneys tell CityBeat they still don’t know what triggered this decision.
July 2025: Soliman is arrested by federal agents during a mandatory immigration check-in appointment at a Department of Homeland Security office in Blue Ash. Advocates said he was extensively
questioned by immigration and FBI agents about his political affiliations before the arrest.
July 2025: DHS lawyers introduced and then dropped their claim that Soliman had previously shown material support for a terrorist organization. The claim was dropped on the matter of removability from the U.S. but still cited the claim for arguments against releasing Soliman on bond.
August 2025: DHS lawyers claim Soliman has multiple warrants for his arrest in Iraq. His lawyers tell CityBeat that they are still awaiting final clarification from DHS regarding this claim.
Ahilan Arulanantham is the co-director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at UCLA School of Law. His expertise includes asylum and the border, and he’s argued before the United States Supreme Court on behalf of Americans of the Muslim faith who were targeted by the federal government for surveillance because of their religion.
Arulanantham said the government’s various terrorism claims against Soliman – a devout faith leader with no criminal record – are likely false, but they’re not surprising. In fact, he told CityBeat that cases like this are very common.
“There’s lots of those historically to look at, in my experience, and they’re just rife with error of all kinds,” Arulanantham said. “There are huge databases flooded with garbage, which is why you get these. [...] It could be that some other person named Ayman Soliman was traveling and got arrested somewhere, could be in some other country. And then that goes back and triggers some other thing, and then a flag pops up, and they’re like, oh, this person’s now in [Cincinnati]. And so then somebody
goes, ‘What’s that?’”
But rather than investigating the perceived connection between an immigrant and a name on a list, Arulanantham said DHS will often press charges or place someone on a restrictive list.
“I had a German Muslim woman, a client, a green card holder, on the no-fly list. She literally could not board a plane to go see her mom,” he said. “We sued and then they took her off [the list], and we never figured out what on earth caused it.”
While it can be hard to identify what exactly triggers someone being placed on a no-fly list or having false warrants in Iraq, Arulanantham points to a deeper systemic issue.
“I hate to say it, but there’s a lot of Islamophobia in the FBI,” he said. “They were trained by people who were Islamophobic and we’re giving these trainings to FBI agents that were caricaturing Islam in a negative way and really giving people a false understanding of it, and as a result, sort of helping to drive Islamophobia within the FBI.”
While false or far-reaching claims of terrorism aren’t uncommon for Muslims in the U.S., Arulanantham said one fact in Soliman’s asylum case stands out as unique: the fact that it was brought up for review at all.
“People who are asylees almost never have attempts to revoke their asylum status,” he said. “Unless in the rare instance when somebody commits and is convicted of a crime after they already got asylum. The basic reason for that is, if there were really any basis for these allegations, and they’re based on pre-asylum conduct — conduct that he allegedly engaged in before he won asylum — then they should have brought it up at that hearing. In general, this doesn’t really happen.”
Soliman’s next scheduled appearance in immigration court is on Sept. 3.
BY MADELINE FENING
Thirty-four people were arrested at a nightclub during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in Fairfield.
The Fairfield Police Department made the announcement in an Aug. 21 press release, but said the arrests happened in the early hours of Aug. 16 at the Sabor Peruano Night Club on Dixie Highway. Butler County Sheriff’s deputies and ICE assisted in the operation, according to FPD. Facebook accounts connected to the business describe Sabor Peruano as a Peruvian dance/ nightclub with food and drinks.
FPD said the arrest operation was “in direct response to recent violence in the area and aimed at reducing the criminal activity associated with the club.”
“Over the past two months, there have been two shootings directly linked to the Sabor Peruano Night Club,” the press release reads. “Investigations revealed that many of the individuals involved were in the country illegally.”
The local police department worked closely with ICE on the investigation and the arrests, saying they anticipated
encountering “individuals who were in the country illegally and possibly armed.” All arrested were transported to the Butler County Jail where Sheriff Richard Jones has a federal contract to house ICE detainees.
It’s unclear how many of those arrested were noncitizens. The Butler County Jail did not respond to CityBeat’s request for the total number of ICE detainees as of Aug. 21.
“The Fairfield Police Department is committed to maintaining the safety and well-being of our diverse community, and we value the strong relationships we’ve built with our residents and businesses,” reads the FPD press release. “While we support local establishments, we must also ensure that all operations comply with the law and will not tolerate behavior that compromises public safety.”
FPD will continue to “closely monitor the situation” at Sabor Peruano, claiming the owner “has not taken sufficient steps to resolve the issues.”
CityBeat reached out to the business for comment but did not hear back by press time.
In June, senior ICE officials urged officers to “turn the creative knob up to 11” by arresting “collaterals,” according to internal agency emails viewed by The Guardian. Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said in May that,
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are looking to set a goal of a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day.” One of Trump’s biggest campaign promises was to carry out “the largest deportation program of criminals in the history of America.”
BY MADELINE FENING
One of the victims in July’s downtown Cincinnati brawl has been charged in connection with the fight, the Cincinnati Police Department announced Aug. 19.
CPD said a 45-year-old white man has been charged with disorderly conduct, a fourth-degree misdemeanor, in connection with the July 26 brawl near the intersection of Fourth and Elm streets.
Police are not releasing his name because he has also been identified as a
victim; under Marsy’s Law, victims have the right to keep their identity confidential. But WLWT has reported that a man named Alex Tchervinski confirmed to the outlet that he is the victim facing the misdemeanor charge. Tchervinski’s lawyer, Doug Brannon, appeared in court on his behalf on Aug. 26, entering a plea of not guilty.
Tchervinski is the eighth person to be charged in connection with the incident and the first suspect also identified as a
victim.
The brawl became national news after videos blew up on social media depicting a group punching and knocking a man to the ground, where they continued to punch and kick him. A woman is also seen being punched to the ground and appears unresponsive with blood on her face. Videos of the alleged attacks gained millions of views online, in part thanks to racist dog-whistle commentary from farright conservative commentators like Libs of TikTok, Charlie Kirk and Elon Musk.
Other videos shared online show a white man hitting a Black man in the face. Videos shared with local news outlets depict different snippets and angles of the scene, including moments where the n-word can be heard in the crowd.
Following a July 30 bond hearing for several individuals charged in connection with the brawl, a suspect’s family member told reporters that one of the men charged was spat on and called racial slurs in the lead-up to the fight.
During a July 30 meeting on public safety held by Cincinnati’s Downtown Neighborhood Association, CPD Chief Teresa Theetge said her department needs to conduct a fair investigation to understand the whole story.
“I know there are many out there that
are waiting for me to make a statement from this side denouncing some participant’s behavior in that activity, and I know there is some on this side who are waiting for me to denounce the other half of that fight’s participation in that activity. Here’s where I have to operate, folks,” Theetge said, gesturing to the center aisle of the room. “I have to operate in the neutral zone as the facts are being gathered by the investigators.”
Mayor Aftab Pureval released a statement after CPD announced the charge against the brawl victim, now known to be Tchervinski, saying, “We have been clear about the fact that anyone involved in perpetrating violence should be held accountable. This is another step toward achieving that, and I want to thank CPD and the prosecutors for their hard work as this process continues.”
But Ken Kober, president of Cincinnati’s Fraternal Order of Police, condemned the charge, saying, “The city administration is eroding the very fabric of the justice system with orders to prosecute those without probable cause. Cops are being used as political pawns. It’s disgusting.” CPD is asking anyone who witnessed or has information about the July 26 incident to contact Crime Stoppers at 513-352-3040.
BY KATHERINE BARRIER
The City of Cincinnati, the Hamilton County Treasurer’s Office, The Port and nonprofit Working in Neighborhoods are teaming up to bring financial relief to some of the city’s most vulnerable homeowners. At a joint press conference Aug. 18, the intergovernmental partnership announced a new tax-relief initiative that will help about 250 Cincinnati homeowners with delinquent property taxes totaling nearly $800,000.
Many Hamilton County homeowners felt sticker shock after seeing how much their property taxes went up in 2024 — some as much as tripling — after Ohio’s scheduled reappraisal and property tax update in 2023. The rise prompted concerns about lower-income homeowners potentially losing their homes. This program aims to prevent those foreclosures and offer vulnerable homeowners a fresh start.
“Across the state, we’ve seen property values rise and taxes rise with them,” Hamilton County Treasurer Jill Schiller said. “And while there needs to be a holistic approach by the state legislature to address these issues, we are using the tools we have to help our
most vulnerable.”
The Hamilton County Landbank, which is managed by The Port, will coordinate with the Treasurer’s Office to purchase and retire tax liens before 2025 tax bills are due next year.
“One-time debt relief doesn’t just prevent foreclosure; it clears the way for families to access resources that help keep their homes stable for the future,” said Laura Brunner, president and CEO of The Port.
Homeowners eligible for the program will automatically be notified by mail, says Sr. Barbara Busch from Working in Neighborhoods. To be eligible for the program, you must:
• Reside in the City of Cincinnati
• Live in an owner-occupied single or two-family home
• Have a home with a market value of $100,000 or less
• Owe $10,000 or less in delinquent property taxes as of July 2025
If you get a letter, you’ll contact Working in Neighborhoods to establish a plan. Working in Neighborhoods will also be partnering with other housing organizations to provide additional legal and financial services to
Fall in Cincinnati is beautiful, but sometimes you just want to get away and experience the changing leaves and crisp autumn air somewhere else. Luckily, Greater Cincinnati is situated between many unique towns, cities and parks that offer a variety of fall road trip and vacation ideas, whether you want to hike and camp, relax with a glass of wine and waterfront view, explore charming villages or revel in some spooky season fun. All of the following vacation ideas are located within a six-hour drive of Cincinnati, making them ideal for a spontaneous fall getaway.
Distance: 3 hours
For a fall adventure filled with hiking, waterfalls, train rides and scenic views, travel down to Cumberland Falls and McCreary County in Kentucky. Known as the Niagara of the South, Cumberland Falls provides dramatic views, with a 125-foot span of water falling into a boulder-strewn gorge. And during the full moon, you can see the moonbow, a phenomenon you won’t see anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere. There’s also plenty of hiking and camping opportunities, as well as horseback riding, birding and even gem mining. And to explore more of this slice of Appalachia, catch the Fall Color Runs train with Big South Fork Scenic Railway, just a half an hour away in Stearns. The three-hour excursion takes you through 16 miles of forested gorge and descends into the dramatic Big South Fork landscape to reach the Blue Heron Coal Mining Camp.
Distance: 6 hours
After being devastated by Hurricane Helene last September, Asheville is ready to once again welcome tourists to this slice of paradise in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Located in Western North Carolina, Asheville is a lively area for the arts, brewery enthusiasts and classic architecture. Along with the hiking trails, breweries and art districts that are prominent in the area, one of the most popular attractions is the Biltmore Estate, the largest privately owned home
in the country, where there are tours of the mansion once owned by the Vanderbilt family, a museum with rotating exhibits and a retail and restaurant area, all located on the grounds.
Spooky season is also the perfect time to visit and experience the haunting tales of Asheville by going on a ghost tour. Try the walking tour with Asheville Spirits or laugh it up on the Ghosted tour through LaZoom Tours. Afterward, visit The Crow & Quill, a cozy, darkacademic-style cocktail bar in downtown Asheville.
Distance: 2 hours and 30 minutes
For a fall full of outdoor fun, travel about two-and-ahalf hours southeast to Red River Gorge in Kentucky. The area comes highly recommended by many of Cincinnati’s outdoors-people, and with good reason: The land is rich with sandstone cliffs, waterfalls, natural bridges and trails that draw in hundreds of hikers and campers every year. Among the incredible geological features are the most freestanding arches east of the Rocky Mountains. Hiking trails range from easy to difficult and some are as short as 1.5 miles or as long as 5-plus miles. You can also camp, climb or even kayak in an underground cavern here. Don’t forget to stop by Miguel’s Pizza on Natural Bridge Road while you’re there — a Red River Gorge tradition.
Distance: 2 hours and 30 minutes
For a fall full of outdoor fun, travel about two-and-ahalf hours southeast to Red River Gorge in Kentucky. The area comes highly recommended by many of Cincinnati’s outdoors-people, and with good reason: The land is rich with sandstone cliffs, waterfalls, natural bridges and trails that draw in hundreds of hikers and campers every year. Among the incredible geological features are the most freestanding arches east of the Rocky Mountains. Hiking trails range from easy to difficult and some are as short as 1.5 miles or as long as 5-plus miles. You can also camp, climb or even kayak in an underground cavern here. Don’t forget to stop by Miguel’s Pizza on Natural Bridge Road while you’re there — a Red River Gorge tradition.
Distance: 2 hours
Brown County in Indiana is a fall wonderland, offering visitors everything from outdoor recreation and historic walking tours to art galleries and studios. Lace up your hiking boots to take on the 7 Vista Challenge, hit the mountain biking trails or saddle up for a trail ride with Brown County Saddle Barn. In the cute nearby town of Nashville, you can learn to line dance, take horse-drawn tours of the historic area and drink at plenty of local breweries, wineries and distilleries. Watch live music at the historic Brown County Playhouse or enjoy some of the beautiful artwork scattered around town.
Distance: 3 hours and 30 minutes
Evansville, Indiana, knows how to celebrate fall. Each October, the West Side Nut Club puts on a giant, weeklong festival that attracts over 200,000 people and is one of the largest street festivals in the country. This year, the festival runs Oct. 6-12 and will feature traditions like Family Day, Amateur Hour, a King and Queen contest and a pet parade, plus plenty of rides, games and food. Also every October, the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana puts on the Spooky Show at its gallery in downtown Evansville. The show runs throughout the month and features all kinds of spooky, funny and whimsical creations, both 2D and 3D. And if you want to see some real ghosts, pay the Willard Public Library a visit, where the Grey Lady purportedly haunts the halls. Visitors and staff have reported encounters with the ghost and unexplained occurrences like the smell of perfume when alone, library books and furniture moved around, strange objects found in the library and the feeling of hair or earrings being touched. Each October, the library also hosts ghost tours that you can take, but you can also ghost hunt from the comfort of your home by watching the library’s live Ghost Cams.
Distance: 3 hours
Mammoth Cave, the largest cave system known in the world (400+ miles to be exact), holds thousands of
years of human history and features a rich and diverse array of flora and fauna. The park, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Region, offers tours of the caves, hikes, canoeing on the Green River, horseback riding, camping and much more. When you need to fuel up for a day of adventure or unwind after, visit the rustic-kitsch Blue Holler Cafe nearby to enjoy a giant pretzel on the patio.
Distance: 4 hours and 45 minutes
For some adrenaline-pumping action this fall, the Gauley River Recreation and New River Gorge areas in West Virginia offer some quality whitewater rafting. From September through mid-October, scheduled releases from the Summersville Dam create incredible rapids on the Gauley River. The Upper Gauley offers Class V rapids, while the Lower Gauley is a tamer experience. The New River also has whitewater rafting opportunities, with the lower portion seeing Class II-IV rapids and the upper portion offering Class I-III rapids, along with shoals and calm pools, making this a more kid-friendly spot. You can explore different whitewater rafting experiences and find a qualified guide here. Not interested in rafting? These destinations also offer plenty of fishing, hiking and camping opportunities.
Distance: 2 hours and 40 minutes
Mansfield, Ohio, is best known for its historic Ohio State Reformatory — a spooky former prison constructed
in 1886 and made famous by serving as the set of The Shawshank Redemption, plus some other big-budget movies. Its penchant for paranormal activity and transformation into the Blood Prison haunted attraction each autumn makes it a popular spooky season adventure. Outside the Reformatory, visitors can also traverse the Shawshank Trail, walking in the steps of the movie’s characters, Red and Andy, to see 15 authentic sites; ride the Richland Carrousel; or visit Malabar Farm State Park, a 900+-acre farm in Lucas once owned by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louis Bromfield.
Distance: 4 hours and 30 minutes
Located on the shores of Lake Michigan, Indiana Dunes is the state’s only national park. It features a 15-mile coastline, 50 miles of trails over 15 distinct trail systems of varying difficulty and several sand dunes on the shore. Camping, boating and fishing are popular ways to relax at this national park. There are also six bike trails ranging from 3.6 miles to 19 miles round-trip to allow you to get out and enjoy the fall colors. Bird watching the fall migrations is also a popular activity at Indiana Dunes this time of year. Just an hour away is Chicago if you want to grab some deepdish pizza and take funny pictures in front of The Bean on this trip too.
Distance: 2 hours and 20 minutes
Nothing will warm you up on a crisp autumn day the way a good Kentucky bourbon will, and Bardstown is
swimming in good bourbon. A prominent stop on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Bardstown is considered the Bourbon Capital of the World, where visitors can visit and tour 11 local and regional bourbon distilleries, including Bardstown Bourbon Company, Maker’s Mark and Barton 1792. Bardstown is also home to some great wineries, including McIntyre & Family Winery, which has some fantastic fruit wines (mix their apple wine with some Fireball for a great fall cocktail, trust us), and Springhill Winery and B&B. For a drier Bardstown experience, shop at some of the cute boutiques in downtown Bardstown, take a historic walking tour or visit the Kentucky Railway Museum. If you want to stay at a haunted B&B in honor of Halloween season, the Jailer’s Inn was a former jail and is plenty spooky.
Distance: 4 hours and 40 minutes
Gatlinburg is the mecca of tourism for Midwesterners because it has almost everything you could want for a fun vacation with the family or a getaway with friends, especially in the fall. The city is the gateway to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, so you can hike to see the changing leaves, go horseback riding or even go whitewater rafting. In town, you can keep yourself entertained for days at Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!, adventure park Anakeesta and numerous other attractions like Hillbilly Golf and mini golf, arcades and mirror mazes. You can also get a bird’s eye view of the mountains and take a ride on the Ober Mountain Aerial Tramway.
Distance: 5 hours and 15 minutes
Name a more relaxing fall activity than settling in an Adirondack chair with a glass of wine and a view of the changing leaves — maybe add a fire pit and a good book and now we’re talking. In Ohio’s wine country, a.k.a. Geneva on the Lake, just about an hour away from Cleveland, wine and relaxation are ripe for the picking, just like the grapes. With over 30 wineries in this small area (many award-winning), it’s an oenophile’s dream. Visit popular spots like Ferrante Winery & Ristorante or South River Vineyard, or go on a tour of several wineries by utilizing Genevaon-the-Lake’s shuttle service. And with Lake Erie as your backdrop, it’s the perfect destination to see the beautiful fall foliage.
Distance: 5 hours
For a beautiful fall getaway along the shores of Lake Michigan, travel to Saugatuck, Michigan. Hit the water in the Star of Saugatuck paddlewheel boat for a tour of fall colors this October, or head out to Saugatuck Dunes State Park to hike the beaches. You can also explore the dunes in a buggy with Saugatuck Dune Rides. For a more relaxed trip, go on a winetasting tour at spots like Modales and Fenn Valley Vineyards, or indulge in some retail therapy at downtown Saugatuck’s boutiques.
Distance: 2 hours
If you long to visit New England to see the fall colors and quaint towns that conjure visions of Stars Hollow, Granville, Ohio, offers a similar experience much closer to home. Granville is a small town about 30 minutes east of Columbus that was settled by New Englanders, so the style of its historic buildings resembles those you would see in Massachusetts. Its downtown area is filled with shops like Green Velvet (home decor, gifts and jewelry) and Readers’ Garden Book Store; restaurants like the gastropub at the Granville Inn or brewpub Three Tigers Brewing Company; and lovely landmarks, like Alligator Mound, the Bryn Du Mansion estate and the Robbins Hunter Museum.
Distance: 5-5.5 hours
For an ultimate outdoor adventure, head north to Ohiopyle State Park in Pennsylvania. Here, you can make the most of fall with camping, fishing, hiking, biking and horseback riding. The region also offers rock climbing in the Meadow Run Climbing Area, Bruner Run Climbing Area and at a series of four walls along the Lower Youghiogheny section of the Great Allegheny Passage. There are climbing opportunities for climbers of all abilities, but inexperienced climbers are encouraged to do a guided trip with one of Ohiopyle’s outfitters.
For river recreation, Ohiopyle’s Youghiogheny River is great for whitewater kayaking for all experience levels. The Lower Yough features class III and IV rapids that should only be attempted by experienced rafters. The Middle Yough, however, is great for beginners, with its class I and II rapids. Experienced canoeists can also take advantage of the smaller rapids. While you’re in Ohippyle, however, don’t forget to take in the scenic views and changing leaves. The area is home to the beautiful Ohiopyle Falls and
Cucumber Run; Pennsylvania’s deepest gorge, which can be seen from Baughman Rocks; and Tharp Knob, which is an ideal spot for a picnic. Meadow Run also offers two natural waterslides in its creek.
Distance: 45 minutes
If fall is all about spooky season for you, be sure to visit Ohio’s most haunted town: Waynesville. This charming, rural town is older than the state of Ohio, having been founded in 1796, so you know there are some ghost stories that have accumulated there over the years. The Hammel House Inn and Restaurant (which is currently closed temporarily due to a fire) is said to be the most haunted building in the town, with tales of a ghostly male figure appearing in Room 4 and the sounds of an unseen girl crying being reported. The Stetson House and Friends Boarding Home, now a museum, are also said to be inhabited by spirits. For some spooky fun, take the ghost tour at the Friends Boarding Home, or join them this October for the annual Ghost & Goblet Dinner.
If ghost hunting isn’t your thing, Waynesville also offers plenty of antiquing, earning it the nickname “the Antiques Capital of the Midwest.” There are also tons of specialty shops, the annual Sauerkraut Festival in October and the Ohio Renaissance Festival nearby.
Distance: 1 hour
Celebrate autumn by spending the weekend in a place that epitomizes one of the most autumnalcoded shows of all time, Gilmore Girls. Augusta, Kentucky, is a mini Stars Hollow, Connecticut — the main setting of the show — so much so that it is even better known as the Gilmore Girls-inspired town. Hop on
the ferry and get coffee and breakfast at the Augusta General Store for the Luke’s Diner experience, head to the local library and take in all the fall vibes with a walk along the Ohio River at sunset.
But as much as we love the New England vibes of Augusta, don’t forget you’re in Kentucky and there’s plenty of good bourbon to be had nearby. Visit the Augusta Distillery for some Buckner’s Single Barrel and a tour of the facility. And Becker & Bird Distillery is located at the Baker-Bird site in Augusta, one of the most historic spirits sites in the country and home to the Baker-Bird Wine Cellar, the largest and oldest wine cellar on the National Registry of Historic Places and the only winery that survived a Civil War battle.
Distance: 2 hours and 30 minutes
Voted as one of the best places to see fall colors, the Hocking Hills region is a must-do trip in autumn. Hocking Hills State Park offers seven trail systems with beautiful sites like the waterfalls at Cedar Falls and Old Man’s Cave, the rocky arches of Rock House and the gorges of Ash Cave. Outside the park are even more trail systems, including Airplane Rock, Conkles Hollow and Zaleski State Forest — which is a mustvisit if you want to add a little spookiness to your trip: Nearby is the Moonville Tunnel, once part of the Marietta and Cincinnati (M&C) Railroad and one of the few remainders of the ghost town of Moonville. (It’s also allegedly haunted). To unwind after a day of exploring, be sure to visit Logan, Ohio’s Hocking Hills Winery for a glass of wine and a charcuterie board, or fuel up for your day of hiking, climbing or kayaking with a delicious breakfast sandwich at the fantastic Coffee Emporium (no relation to Cincinnati’s own Coffee Emporiums).
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Cincinnati Shakespeare Company launch new seasons
BY RICK PENDER
Two of Cincinnati’s exceptional professional theaters kick off their 2025-2026 seasons with powerful shows on Aug. 30 and Sept. 5. At the Cincinnati Playhouse, it’s Where the Mountain Meets the Sea by Jeff Augustin; Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is staging an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People
On Aug. 30, veteran guest director Timothy Douglas returns to the Playhouse to stage Augustin’s play, a timetraveling duet about fathers, sons and the distances between them. His Playhouse productions — including last season’s Primary Trust, Clyde’s the season before and several of August Wilson’s “Century Cycle” plays — have repeatedly pleased audiences.
Augustin’s script tells two parallel stories: Jean, a Haitian immigrant father, is on a road trip from Miami to California in search of possibilities. Years later, after Jean’s death, his son Jonah, an adult gay man, retraces his father’s journey, hoping to better understand a distant parent he never really knew. Their narratives are interwoven monologues. They never speak to one another directly, but as their stories unfold, common ground is revealed. Their bond across time deepens as their stories unfold, accompanied by folk-infused music created by The Bengsons. (The husband-wife duet is fondly remembered locally for their 2015 production of Hundred Days at Know Theatre in 2015.)
Augustin’s show debuted in 2020 at the Humana Festival in Louisville as a video concert during the pandemic; it had a fully realized off-Broadway production in 2022. A year ago, Douglas staged it at Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia. Joanie Schultz, the Playhouse’s associate artistic director, saw it there and urged Blake Robison, the theater’s artistic leader, to include it in the upcoming season. This is the first time it’s been staged without the Bengsons’ personal involvement, but with their enthusiastic blessing. In a phone conversation with CityBeat, Douglas said the two musicians he has cast have been folded into the storytelling. He said the show defies description: “It’s not a play; it’s not a musical.” Instead, he terms it “storytelling,” more
like musical versions of “The Moth” or “StoryCorps” on public radio. He also suggested, “The evening is really a meditation, in no way a traditional play.”
The 80-minute production will be performed on the Playhouse’s intimate Shelterhouse stage. With Douglas, a subtle director who understands the script’s silences as much as its songs, it seems likely to be deeply affecting. “I’m so sure that Cincinnati audiences are going to so fully embrace it,” he said, “I’m really excited to share it with them.”
On Sept. 5, Cincy Shakes opens An Enemy of the People, Amy Herzog’s new adaptation of Ibsen’s 1882 bitter and tragic play about local politics, staged by artistic director Brian Isaac Phillips. The show premiered in a limited 16-week sold-out run on Broadway in 2024 that earned positive critical assessment and five Tony nominations. The production won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. Actor Jeremy Strong, best known for his Emmy-winning role as Kendall Roy in HBO’s Succession, received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance as Dr. Stockmann.
A small-town doctor in Norway has been an upstanding citizen of the community. But when he’s hired to oversee a spa and research shockingly reveals that the water is dangerously contaminated, he risks everything to expose the secret. He is not heeded and, in fact, is condemned by those in power, especially his own brother. A pair of Cincy Shakes veterans play the pair — Brent Vimtrup is the upright Dr. Stockmann and Matthew Lewis Johnson is the town’s corrupt mayor Peter Stockmann.
In a conversation with CityBeat, Phillips said not many classic plays address issues of climate, so he was drawn to this one after seeing it in New York last year. He was impressed by Herzog’s swift adaptation of Ibsen’s long, talky script, previously adapted in 1950 by playwright Arthur Miller. “Herzog’s version gets to the crux of the matter a lot quicker with a lot more urgency than Miller,” Phillips said. In fact, the production takes just about two hours.
As a parent, the director thinks about the world coming to the next generation.
“This play talks about the idea of when greed and commerce become a priority over health and safety.” A man who chooses to stand alone and say, “Wait second, this is wrong, this isn’t the way it’s supposed to be,” is at risk. Phillips said, “For us as a people, it’s important to have this dialogue about something that is a prominent crisis.”
When rehearsals began, Phil lips recalled, there was some joking comparing the play to the movie Jaws. “Dr. Stockmann is the Roy Scheider character saying, ‘You can’t go into the water,’ but the govern ment, the mayor, the towns people, they’ve got to make their money off the summer tourists.” Phillips compared the circumstances Ibsen imagined to “Dr. Fauci, looking out for public safety, public health during the pandemic, trying to make sure we’re being cautious. But it’s hurting busi ness, and people would rather ignore a warning to make sure their livelihood is not threatened.” It’s a classic dilemma that Cincy Shakes will enable audiences to explore.
Phillips wants his production to inspire dialogue. “Using our recent history of going through COVID is a way to think about this. Where do you stand? With Dr. Stockmann or Mayor Stockmann? What are your plans? How would you address something like this? Would you have the courage to stand up if you were the one person standing alone?”
Where the Mountain Meets the Sea will be presented by the Cincinnati Playhouse from Aug. 30-Sept. 28. More info: cincyplay.com.
An Enemy of the People will be onstage at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s Otto M. Budig Theater from Sept. 5-20. More info: cincyshakes.com.
BY ANNE ARENSTEIN
ristian Mǎcelaru makes his official debut as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s music director on Oct. 3 with a program that models his goals as a conductor and leader.
Mǎcelaru spoke to CityBeat from his native Romania, where he was on a brief vacation before gigs in Romania, Germany and France before he arrives in Cincinnati in late September.
“In my role as music director and the season’s curator, I want to make sure there’s a balanced approach to challenging ourselves, even when we hear familiar music,” he said. “I hope we’ll challenge our audiences just enough to maintain their perspectives and the context of how they listen to Beethoven or any of the composers we’ll introduce this season.”
Mǎcelaru’s vision for the entire season is holistic, with familiar classics informing contemporary music and rarely performed works.
The opening program leads off with Abstractions by Anna Clyne, a Britishborn, U.S.-based composer. “Anna is a composer that I’ve collaborated with and championed for many years,” Mǎcelaru said. “She writes in a way that is so mesmerizing, and this piece is such a beautiful reflection of her ability to use the orchestra in a very poetic and intimate way.”
Internationally acclaimed pianist Hélène Grimaud follows, performing Gershwin’s Concerto in F, much less familiar than Rhapsody in Blue.
“I’m a big fan of putting in a composition that is less performed, and this is one of them,” Mǎcelaru said. “Gershwin is a quintessentially American composer. He isn’t thought of as an intellectual composer but he’s extremely sophisticated. The concerto has so much sophistication in the thematic material, in the orchestration, in the way he takes motifs and changes them. And there’s an unbelievable trumpet solo in the second movement.”
Richard Strauss’s suite from his opera Der Rosenkavalier is the concert finale, and it’s the perfect contrast to Clyne’s introspective piece, according to Mǎcelaru.
“It’s so important to acknowledge what has been created so we can understand how we build on that,” he said. “The Rosenkavalier suite presents the orchestra in both intimate and virtuosic passages,” he continued. “That’s why Strauss is there: nothing is more virtuosic for an orchestra to play than that.”
“To be able to present the entire
spectrum of the orchestra’s ability across different kinds of music is one thing that I really want to highlight with this concert.”
The job of music director encompasses all the season’s programs, and includes discussions with guest conductors, soloists and orchestra personnel across time zones and continents.
“We want every guest conductor to have the opportunity to bring to the Cincinnati Symphony the things that they are most passionate about, and they have the most expertise in,”
Mǎcelaru explained. “The music always comes first.”
He highlighted Dame Jane Glover, renowned for her expertise in Mozart and the Classical repertoire, who makes her return the weekend after the season’s first concert.
“It’s an all-Mozart program, ranging from an opera overture to a chamber piece to a full symphony, again showing off the CSO’s ability to play a variety of Mozart works led by an artist the musicians respect so much,” he said.
CSO Conductor Laureate Louis Langrée returns in November to lead the orchestra in Stravinsky’s score for the ballet Petrushka, and later in the season, he returns to conduct Brahms and Schumann.
CSO Creative Partner Matthias Pintscher returns in November to ring the bells with performances of Rachmaninoff’s massive cantata The Bells, based on Edgar Allen Poe’s poem of the same name and Berlioz’s phantasmagoric Symphonie Fantastique.
Contemporary music and commissions are a priority for Mǎcelaru and are regularly featured throughout the 2025-26 season.
“For me, new music does so many wonderful things, touching on themes and areas of the music world that are difficult to express in other media,” he said. “A lot of the new music that we’re performing this season was already set before my time, but it’s also a reflection of what attracted me to the Cincinnati Symphony.
“I was impressed by the CSO’s progressive approach to commissioning and to performing contemporary music, which is why I’ll be conducting a lot of this new music this season. I strongly endorse new works and I’m so happy to be able to bring this new music to our community.”
Mǎcelaru is equally passionate about Baroque music, a result of studying violin with Sergiu Luca, a musical pioneer performing early music on period
instruments.
“It’s no surprise that one of the first things that I will be doing is Handel’s Messiah because I have a very strong affinity for this style in my own playing as well as this repertoire, and this is something that is very close to my heart.”
It promises to be a holiday highlight with the always terrific May Festival Chorus and a roster of world-class soloists: Lauren Snouffer, Sasha Cooke, Nicholas Phan and Jonathan Lemalu.
Mǎcelaru continues a deep dive into American music history in November, leading Dvořák’s 7th Symphony, Tales: A Folklore Symphony by Kennedy Center Composer-in-Residence Carlos Simon, Copland’s Variations on a Shaker theme from Appalachian Spring and Lisa Bielawa’s violin concerto Pulse with Kentucky native Tessa Lark making her CSO debut.
The program reflects another thematic element: incorporating American music into European forms and emerging with a unique American sound.
“With American music, we don’t eliminate an entire genre just because we’re not used to it,” Mǎcelaru explained. “Simon’s symphony is very powerful, based on songs he grew up with in an African American church where his father was a minister. Lisa’s piece is grounded in Roots music and
so is Tessa Lark, a Kentucky native. “ Other featured artists include legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma in November, pianist Daniil Trifonov, bass Morris Robinson and conductors James Conlon and Roderick Cox. The 2026 season offers a powerful concert in January honoring the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with select movements from Margaret Bonds’ Montgomery Variations and former poet laureate Rita Dove reading poetry commissioned by the CSO, inspired by Samuel Barber’s exquisite Adagio for Strings.
Mǎcelaru’s final concert in late April isn’t the season finale, but it’s a blaze of music and stagecraft. Stravinsky’s Firebird ballet is a spectacular production staged by award-winning puppet creator and director Janni Younge, postponed two years ago.
For Mǎcelaru, the entire season expresses his excitement about being a presence in Cincinnati.
“It’s the excitement for this new role in my life and hopefully the excitement that the audience will share for this new journey that we are beginning together so that we can discover yet one more color in this beautiful rainbow that is classical music.”
For more information about Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s 2025-26 season, visit cincinnatisymphony.org.
BY KATHERINE BARRIER
AFrench restaurant at Findlay Market is closing its doors for good.
Annette de Cavel, current owner of the de Cavel Group and the widow of one of Cincinnati’s most celebrated chefs, Jean-Robert de Cavel, announced on Aug. 22 that she would be closing the French Crust Café & Bistro that following weekend.
The French Crust was founded by Jean-Robert in 2013, first opening as a small cafe on Vine Street in downtown
Cincinnati before moving to its current location at the corner of Elm and Elder streets by Findlay Market in 2016. The restaurant was known for its Parisian flair, serving seasonal French breakfast, brunch and lunch dishes.
Jean-Robert passed away in December 2022, five years after a diagnosis of leiomyosarcoma cancer. Annette says the decision to close his restaurant was not easy.
“After Jean-Robert’s passing, I devoted myself to keeping our
restaurants alive, as they were part of the dream we built together,” she said in a press release. “French Crust has been filled with laughter, friendships, and countless memories. I am deeply grateful to our loyal customers, our incredible staff, and this community for walking alongside us. Jean-Robert chose Findlay Market for a reason — he loved the relationships, the energy, and the way it brings food lovers together. It always held a special place in his heart, and it was an honor to be
AJamaican restaurant that closed late last year and was once featured on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives is making a comeback and reopening in a new neighborhood.
Island Frydays closed its Corryville restaurant in December 2024, with owner Leo Morgan citing the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason. But now, Morgan is firing up the grill to once again serve the jerk chicken, oxtail and other authentic Caribbean dishes the restaurant
became known for, this time in College Hill.
“Island Frydays has been a Cincinnati treasure for years, and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome them to College Hill,” Emmanuel Karikari, CEO of the College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation (CHCURC), said in a press release. “This is about more than just food. It’s culture, it’s energy, it’s community. Their return is another powerful step in making the College Hill business district a true destination for the city.”
Island Frydays will be located in the revitalized College Hill Plaza at 5835 Hamilton Ave. The food truck will serve the public Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., with Monday through Wednesday reserved for catering services. The restaurant plans to move into a more permanent brickand-mortar location in College Hill’s business district in 2026, according to CHCURC.
“Island Frydays is about more than cooking; we’re about bringing people together,” Morgan said in the release.
part of that tradition.”
French Crust closed after service ended at 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 24. The de Cavel Group’s other restaurant, Le Bar à Boeuf in Walnut Hills, will remain open.
“We invite you to join us one last time this weekend for brunch or lunch, to celebrate the spirit of French Crust together,” the restaurant shared on social media. “Merci for the memories — we’ll carry them with us always.”
“We’re so thankful for the love and loyalty Cincinnati has shown us, and we can’t wait to share the joy of our food and culture with the entire City of Cincinnati.”
Island Frydays’ return is part of the more than $91 million invested in revitalization efforts in the College Hill Business District, which includes restaurants, bars and other small businesses.
You can follow Island Frydays on social media for updates. More info: islandfrydays.com.
The creators of one of Over-theRhine’s most recognized bars are opening a new “entertainmentled venue” in the heart of downtown Cincinnati.
The Academy, a creative collective that founded underground speakeasy Ghost Baby — which was recently named one of USA TODAY’s 2025 Bars of the Year — is set to open its new concept, Prim, this fall. The concept will be located in The Foundry, a mixed-use development across from Fountain Square along Fifth Street.
Prim’s creators say the venue is designed to reimagine the evening out and “living room entertainment,” with an immersive space that’s intimate, intentional and entertainment-led. The concept will feature cocktails and music, ranging from vinyl sets to live performances, and guests can utilize the space to fit the vibe they’re seeking, whether it’s a low-key night out or a high-energy one.
“This isn’t just a new venue — it’s a feeling,” Adammichael Gesell, director of hospitality at Prim and Ghost Baby, said in a press release. “We’re creating something that lingers long after last call. It’s not about the drink in your hand — it’s about the memory being made, the energy of the room, the connection between friends, old and new. That’s the
soul of hospitality, and that’s what Prim is all about.”
Josh Heuser, who helped found Ghost Baby and also founded AGAR, a local experiential agency, envisioned the concept behind Prim. He says with Prim, he isn’t just opening another bar, but making a statement about the future of Cincinnati and his confidence in its potential.
“We’re not blind to the conversations happening around downtown right now — and we don’t shy away from them,” Heuser said. “We believe in this city. Prim is an invitation to lean in — to create, to connect, to celebrate what makes Cincinnati vibrant. As the core thrives, so does the city, and ultimately the surrounding neighborhoods. And we’re proud to be part of that momentum. We have a clear vision to help redefine what’s possible here — and we’re building it, one experience at a time.”
Prim’s interior will be designed with a bold monochromatic maximalism approach, featuring layered patterns, dramatic textures and eclectic styling that will be balanced by a unified and sophisticated color pattern, says the team.
“By design, Prim is an experience for the senses,” said Robyn Novak, executive director of Strategy & Design at AGAR. “It invites guests into a world that’s vibrant and eclectic — where uptown meets
downtown, and polish meets play.”
Prim fills the final available space in The Foundry, which is also home to other local bars and restaurants, like American brasserie The Davidson, lounge Vintage on Race and the elevated London-style pub, Marigold.
“The Foundry has quickly become a showcase for the city’s most exciting food and beverage destinations, serving as the anchor of the Fountain District,” Christy
Samad, executive vice president of Civic and Commercial Space Activation for 3CDC, said. “When the opportunity came to bring Josh and his team into the development’s final space, it was an easy yes. He has a unique ability to create venues that don’t just serve guests — they shape culture.”
Prim is expected to open sometime this fall at 70 W. Fifth St. You can sign up for updates at primon5th.com.
CityBeat caught up with Momma co-founder Etta Friedman to talk about the band’s evolution, their Ohio connections and what it means to share such personal songs.
BY JASON GARGANO
Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten have been writing songs together as Momma for a decade now. The duo met as high school students in the Los Angeles valley, each informed by their love of power pop and indie rock from 1990s staples like The Breeders, Veruca Salt and That Dog to contemporaries like Girlpool and Alex G. Friedman and Weingarten relocated to Brooklyn in recent years, adding bassist Aron Kobayashi Ritch and drummer Preston Fulks along the way perfect complements to
the duo’s dreamy, sneakily addictive interweaving vocals and guitars. Momma gained notice with their third album, 2022’s Household Name, a collection of crunchy guitar gems that couldn’t help but recall their influences while simultaneously delivering a personality all their own. Now comes this year’s Welcome to My Blue Sky, a cohesive and endlessly catchy concept album centering on its lead duo’s respective relationship issues, which they describe as “parallel chaos.” CityBeat recently connected with Friedman via cell phone
to discuss Momma’s creative evolution, the benefits of having Kobayashi Ritch as an in-band producer and the inevitability of writing about their own lives.
CityBeat: The new album has now been out for four months. Making a record is such an insular thing. How do you feel about the response to it now that people are hearing it and it’s out in the world?
Etta Friedman: Honestly, I feel like it’s always super weird. The songwriting process is so insular. Allegra and I
went back to our roots of like how we first started writing music together, and that was just the two of us with an acoustic guitar. It feels really intimate, so then to share it is great. But then to share it and have people resonate with it, it always feels surreal. This past headline tour that we did in May, that was kind of our first real headline tour. It was really cool to see how our audience has grown and who shows up for us. That’s always interesting. I like seeing who’s there. It feels just crazy. It definitely feels strange.
CB: The new songs seem like a natural extension of what you’ve done in the past — the dreaminess has been there from the get-go — but there’s also a tighter and sleeker aspect this time. Was that evolution something you talked about as you wrote and recorded the new songs?
EF: We’ve never intentionally tried to make a dreamy-sounding record or a grungy record or a poppy record. We’ve always just made music that we would want to listen to at that time in our lives. Household Name was a very guitar-heavy, kind of a rippin’ rock record that we were trying to accomplish at the time. We’re not classically trained musicians and being able to understand the structure of a song — we weren’t writing bridges before Household Name. There’s a lot that has changed as we’ve grown. The constant, which I’m proud of, is that we kind of just stuck to what we would want to listen to and what we like at the time. So, it’s never really been intentional to do a whateversounding record. It’s just been where we’re at in our life.
CB: What’s it like having the producer be in the band?
EF: It makes everything so much easier, at least for me as someone who is not well-versed when it comes to recording generally. It’s easy to demo things. He’s really quick with it. He’s so, so talented. He just has a different type of ear. There are a lot of times where Allegra and I are stuck on something, we will bring it to Aron, and he’ll either add some weird production noise or a type of drum sound or something. Allegra and I would be like, “Wait, why would you do that?” at first, and then it comes together and we’re like, “Oh, it sounds so much better now.” It’s cool that we have a different brain to see outside of ourselves. We’re blessed to have him so dedicated to us while also doing his thing and his passion. I’m just proud of him. I love that guy.
CB: You and Allegra have talked about the personal nature of the new songs and drawing from what was going on in your relationships in terms of break-ups and infidelity. Why were you interested in delving into that so intensely?
EF: This whole record is about an experience that we just happened to have at the exact same time. And we were both there for those experiences with each other, so it was pretty easy emotionally to write from the same place because we were just going through the same things. We were lucky that we had each other during that time. I think writing helps us process. We kind of had no choice but to
write about what we wrote about, to be honest with you. Anytime we tried to stop writing about what we ended up writing about, it would come back somehow. We both ended up at a certain point looking at each other and saying, “OK, this is just what’s going to happen.” In that sense, it was easy for this record.
CB: As an Ohio native, I have to ask about “Ohio All the Time.” It seems clear that something happened in Ohio or, at the very least, it is a metaphor for something. What led to the use of Ohio in the song?
EF: (Laughs.) So, something did happen in Ohio. Honestly, it’s almost like an inside joke in our band. We always somehow end up there. We’ll be going through a tour and hit Ohio like five separate times somehow. The song is a nod to the touring life as well. But, to answer your question, there was a pretty pivotal night that was had in Sandusky, Ohio.
CB: You guys threaded the needle in terms of the record being quite specific to what was going on in your lives, yet there is also a universal aspect to it. How did you go about keeping that balance?
EF: Totally. We really laid our hearts out on the table with this one, whether that’s blatant or cryptic or however the listener wants to think about it. We’re talking about an experience where you’re surprising yourself as you’re growing. Maybe you thought you were a different person than you actually are. Maybe you all the sudden acted out in a way where you are like, “Well, I would never do that.” And then you have to come to terms with the fact that sometimes you’re going to make a mistake or do something that maybe shocks you, but at the end of the day, sometimes you have to do things like that to make yourself happy.
With something like infidelity, you never really think like, “Oh, shit, I’m really going to hurt this person you love so much right now.” But then you’re like, “Oh, shit! Wait, why did I do that?” But it needed to happen. When my brain, my body and my heart are telling me something and I wasn’t listening to that for so long, I had to mess up to learn that I’m actually not a bad person and I’m OK. People mess up. It is what it is. It’s life. It sucks. I just hope if someone is going through something like that or if somebody is making someone feel bad, they can maybe find some solace in what we’re writing about.
Momma plays Woodward Theater on Sept. 13 at 8 p.m. More info: woodwardtheater.com.
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Sept. 16
• MegaCorp Pavillion
Is it really possible that Alfred Matthew Yankovic, a 65-year-old accordion player and singer from Lynwood, California, is playing pavilions and amphitheaters in the year 2025? Uh, yes, it is.
“Weird Al” Yankovic brings his enduring parodic skills to what he’s dubbing the “Bigger & Weirder 2025 Tour,” which kicked off in Las Vegas in June and runs through Sept. 25. It’s the biggest undertaking of his four-decade career, and his apparently vast fan base is responding: Most of the shows which include his first-ever stop at Madison Square Garden and an appearance at Riot Fest in Chicago have sold out, a development that’s both surreal and heartening at a moment when levity is needed more than ever.
Yankovic pulls from his vast catalog of parodies for a set list that goes back as far as his 1983 self-titled debut album (which includes “My Bologna,” his take on The Knack’s “My Sharona”) and its Grammywinning follow-up, 1984’s “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D (which includes “Eat It,” his perpetually amusing version of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”), to ‘90s singles “Smells Like Nirvana” (reference should be obvious) and “Amish Paradise” (his riff on Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise”) and 21st-century efforts like “White & Nerdy” (his take on Chamillionaire and Krayzie Bone’s “Ridin’”).
Ever the entertainer, Yankovic’s live shows feature an eight-piece band, numerous costume changes and, of course, his beloved accordion. Needless to say, “Weird Al” didn’t expect to be selling out large venues across America nearly 50 years after he wrote his first song at 16 years old.
“When you take accordion lessons, I think the high-water mark is, ‘Maybe someday I’ll play in an Italian restaurant or at a wedding,’” Yankovic said in an interview with Billboard earlier this year. “I guess I was shameless. I grew up a complete nerd in high school. And when you’re not somebody that’s socially acceptable, you kind of have nothing to lose. I kind of held on to that mentality, like, you know, ‘Who cares?’”
“Weird Al” Yankovic plays MegaCorp Pavilion on Sept. 16 at 6 p.m. More info: promowestlive.com. (Jason Gargano)
Sept. 18 • MegaCorp Pavillion Indie folk veterans The Avett Brothers are stopping in Newport this September. With over two decades of music under their belts, The Avett Brothers show no
sign of slowing down. Their 2024 selftitled release continues their evolution through a mix of folk, country, indie, punk and bluegrass. On the record, each style shines. Take, for instance,
the slow-burning, seven-minute ballad “Cheap Coffee,” which follows the almost pop-punk energy of “Love Of A Girl,” a track that seems to nod to Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up” and Bob Dylan’s
“Subterranean Homesick Blues.”
Prior to their self-titled album, the band was busy with Swept Away, the Tonynominated musical built around songs from 2004’s Mignonette. The production tells the haunting tale of a 19th-century whaling crew shipwrecked at sea — a tale of love, adventure and even cannibalism. In the early aughts and 2010s, folk was experiencing a major resurgence, with Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers leading the way with their signature “stomp clap” sound paired with anthemic vocals and aggressively strummed acoustic guitars. And with the ubiquity of widebrimmed hats, Wellingtons, suspenders, beards and button-downs, it was clear that indie folk had entered the mainstream. In 2008, The Avett Brothers stepped forward with their major label debut, I and Love and You, produced by Rick Rubin. The album smoothed out some of the band’s rougher edges, leaning into a more accessible pop-inflected sound. Its title track showed just how deftly the band is able to balance sweet sentiment without managing to sound saccharine.
Listening back now, there’s a certain nostalgia in lyrics like “Your life doesn’t change by the man that’s elected,” a reminder of a time that felt markedly apolitical. And maybe that’s part of their enduring appeal: The Avett Brothers remind us what good songwriting is all about — pure emotion, introspective lyrics and, yes, even the occasional stomp and clap.
The Avett Brothers play MegaCorp Pavilion on Sept. 18 at 6 p.m. More info: promowestlive.com. (Derek Kalback)