Earth Day at 25 finds new challenges from the political right as well as from within the ^hvironmental J| movement Pages 7 & 9
editor/co-publisher John Fox
GENERAL MANAGER/CO-PUBLISHER Dan Bockrath
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contributing editors Mike Breen, Music; Dale Doerman, Onstage; Billie Jeyes, Literary; Rick Pender, Onstage; Steve Ramos, Film; Fran Watson, Art.
contributing writers Anne Arenstein, Karen Amelia Arnett, Brian Baker, Polly Campbell, Elizabeth Carey, Jane Durrell, Jeff Hillard, Jon Hughes, John James, Josh Katz, Jonathan Kamholtz, Michelle Kennedy, Kim Krause, Craig Lovelace, David Pescovitz, Jeremy Schlosberg, Peggy Schmidt, Kathy Y. Wilson, John 0. Young.
photo editor Jymi Bolden
photographers Jon Hughes, Staff; Bonnie Greer, Sean Hughes, Doug Motto, Marty Sosnowski.
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News&Wews
Editorial Leaders should learn from Robert McNamara’s “confession” and develop political courage 4
Earth Dismay: As Earth Day reaches its 25th anniversary, people of all political persuasions from solid green to conservative right are debating the environmental movement’s effects. CityBeat offers a package of earth-related stories, including information on people and organizations throughout the Tristate trying to make every day Earth Day. Earth Day, 7-10.
provisions.
deadlines: Calendar listings information, noon Thursday before publication; classified advertising, 5 p.m. Friday before publication; display advertising, noon Monday before publication. Next issue will be published April 27, 1995.
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Burning Questions Is violent crime on the increase or decrease, and why did Cincinnati Police officials change their minds to hold a public hearing for Lt. Clarence Williams?
News Stanley Broadnax, in jail for drug trafficking, faces more legal trouble over his Mount Auburn properties
5
5
News Covington revitalizes blighted areas through aggressive loan and incentive programs 6
UtterKiosk
Index to calendar listings 11
Music Hip-hop bluesmaster G. Love discusses overdubs, his roots and the Special Sauce 18
Music Despite constant talk of breakups, Throwing Muses are still together and still friends 19
Film Jefferson in Paris disappoints historians and audiences alike 22
Art Anthony Becker assembles an engaging collection of collages and paintings 23
Onstage New plays showcased with readings at Ensemble Theatre and performances at NKU 25-26
Literary Author Michael Signorile defends controversial practice of “outing”; downtown’s Queen City Books to
close within weeks
Whole Lotta Zep: We asked for essays about Led Zeppelin, and you responded. Vying for a choice pair of floor seats to Tuesday’s concert featuring Jimmy Page and Robert Plant (right), dozens of readers submitted memories and stories of “what Led Zeppelin meant to me.” Check out the winning entries. Music, 13,
Dean of His
Generation: At 20, Leonardo
27
The Straight Dope
BY CECIL ADAMS
hat do the Queen’s Guards or the Black Watch or whatever really wear under those kilts?And if the answer is nothing, like my boss claims, would! the desire tofollow such pure tradition really result in inspections at the lineup by sergeants or offcers with mirrors attached to their shoes to ensure compliance? I could buy the naked bit, but am sure the inspections part (can youjust picture afoot thrust between a guard’s legs?) is just some weird man thing. Please tell me the truth.
ries you mentioned have some basis in reality, as I have seen a swagger stick equipped with a mirror for just that purpose.” I am willing nay, eager to believe that said swagger stick was manufactured as a joke. I mean, come on, at least gynecologists do their exams indoors.
Smoking Is Good For You
Yvonne Walton, Londonderry, N.H.
First off, as a loyalfan I acknowledge your omniscience, so this is not meant to be taken as a correction at all, since you are truly incorrigible. However, you may want to reassure the reader lookingfor advantages of smoking [March 2-8] that aform of inflammatory bowel disease called ulcerative colitis is thought to be prevented by smoking. Relapses of this disease, marked by weeks ofbloody diarrhea, are frequently provoked by suddenly giving up smoking. Not that this would make a good ad campaign for thefolks at RJR, since ANOTHERform ofinflammatory illustration: slug sioNORiNo bowel disease called Crohn’s disease, with only slightly different symptoms, occurs mostly in smokers. Anonymous, Chicago
Bummer about the Crohn’s disease. The thought of writing those ads makes me drool:
SMOKE SARCOMAS
Look sharp, feel sharp and avoid weeks ofbloody diarrhea
Anonymous also sent me a reference to a medical journal article titled “Beneficial Effects of Nicotine” (Jarvik, British Journal ofAddiction, 1991) that summarizes the many positive aspects of this wonder drug. “When chronically taken,” it says here, “nicotine may result in: (1) positive reinforcement [it makes you feel good], (2) negative reinforcement [it may keep you from feeling bad], (3) reduction of body weight [by reducing appetite and increasing metabolic rate], (.4) enhancement of performance, and protection against: (5) Parkinson’s disease, (6) Tourette’s disease [tics], (7) Alzheimer’s disease, (8) ulcerative colitis and (9) sleep apnea. The reliability of these effects varies greatly but justifies the search for more therapeutic applications for this interesting compound.”
You’ll want to sit down for this, Yvonne, just make sure you’re not sitting directly across from a kilt-clad Scot. Apparently they don’t wear anything under there, or at least they’re not supposed to. I know because I posted this to the Net (soc.culture.celtic) and got numerous replies such as the following: “Me wears the scotty-skirt, and I can assure you that correctly there is nowt unner it, however we 20th century derivatives feel the caul a bit and so unless it’s a formal occasion, I actually (NO! No! I can’t admit anything not in writing anyway!).
Yeah, and what other medical miracle lets you blow smoke rings?
“You’re thinking: So what does one weirdo prove? Nowt, I suppose, but when you hear from half a dozen weirdos, you have to figure something’s up. Here’s another. “It is actually true. Underpants or whatever are strictly out. Which reminds me of an old story. American
ince 1979 Shiki Buton has been Cincinnati's original futon manufacturer and showroom. Experienced artisans at our Cincinnati factory handcraft every futon with only the finest materials. Dense cotton fibers provide strength, comfort, support and years of healthful rest. So if you're shopping for a futon and serious about a quality investment, stop by and browse our cozy showroom in O'Bryonville.
If They Only Had a Heart
Leaders stuck at crossroads with severe lack of courage
BY JOHN FOX
Three different and clashing thoughts cascade around my head as I consider my chosen subject: There are few feelings worse than regret; history is a heartless teacher; and the most overlooked and underused character trait is courage.
For a week now I’ve been chewing on the publishing of Robert McNamara’s book about his role in the Vietnam War. As you probably know, he has finally broken his silence about his time as secretary of Defense for John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson 30 years after he mapped out and carried out the U.S. war effort in Southeast Asia.
I was moved by McNamara’s tearful TV interview in which he explained that he and his government cohorts were dead-wrong about how to fight the Viet Cong, that they misinterpreted (or ignored) the military data and sent thousands of Americans to needless deaths. I’ve also been moved by the reactions to his “confession” from U.S. soldiers who served in Vietnam and, especially, from family members of those who died there.
I’m not knowledgeable enough on the subject of Vietnam to debate here the machinations of the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon administrations, nor do I have the space to ponder why McNamara decided to talk now and whether his confession means squat to those ex-soldiers and family members.
I just felt this overwhelming sense of regret from all sides. A good many young people who came of age in the 1960s protested against the war because they knew it was wrong. I imagine a good many soldiers and nurses who served in Vietnam knew the war was wrong. And now we get first-hand confirmation that a good many members of the U.S. Defense Department knew the war was wrong. Yet it went forward for more than a decade, tearing our nation apart and killing 58,000 Americans. Everyone, it seems, is sorry that Vietnam happened. But it did. And no matter what anyone says, we can’t sweep it under the collective carpet and complain that “enough’s enough.”
Vietnam, in a way, is this nation’s and baby boomers’ holocaust a horrible human tragedy as well as an important milestone in history. Like the Holocaust,
Vietnam has been “redefined” and “placed into context” by a subsequent generation. Some deny the war’s relevance to the 1990s; others pretend it didn’t happen. But Holocaust survivors have the right attitude: “Never again.”
One of McNamara’s answers in the TV interview struck me in particular, when he was asked why government officials didn’t heed war protesters and the “will of the people.” “We did listen to the people,” he said. “It was just the wrong people.” McNamara and his cronies listened to the same people government officials have always listened to: military brass, other government officials and big business making a profit off the war effort. They ignored the anti-war hippies, they ignored history and they ignored the truth.
McNamara and those who ran the Vietnam War, as he now admits, did not have the courage to stop the war when they realized its futility. Three presidents and hundreds of members of Congress did not have the courage to stop it. And so 58,000 Americans died.
If McNamara’s “confession” has no relevance to our country’s current political situation, as some argue, then we are doomed to repeat Vietnam’s failures. Not in terms of sending troops to god-forsaken comers of the world, but by lacking the courage to do the right thing.
There are many nightmares in today’s American dream the budget deficit, violent crime, broken health-care system, welfare abuse, unfair tax burdens, failing public education, environmental neglect but no one in Washington has the courage to correct the problems. Sure, the Republicans put on a good show with their Contract With America, but they have not offered substantive changes. Newt & Gang are all about cosmetic touch-ups disguised as fundamental policy shifts, while the Democrats wander around aimlessly.
No, we have no political courage in Washington or in Columbus, Cincinnati or Clifton. I wonder if in 30 years wq’ll be listening to Bill Clinton or George Voinovich or Roxanne Qualls or a neighborhood council president mutter a coulda-shoulda-woulda “confession.”
On the coattails of a report that shows violent crime decreasing in Cincinnati, Councilman Dwight Tillery has announced that increased violence will be an issue in his re-election campaign.
Tillery has been a long-time advocate of working with youth to prevent violent behavior and was instrumental in starting the city’s Reshaping Youth Priorities program.
He said April 18 that he was troubled that some residents lived in fear of teen-agers who behaved violently and did not have qualms about using guns. In addition, he said, the issue erupts every time there is an incident such as the drive-by shooting earlier this month in Evanston that left a youngster dead.
But according to figures released April 14, violent crime in Cincinnati dropped more than 10 percent in the first three months of this year compared to the same time period last year. No juveniles were charged with murder during the first three months, according to the report, while two were accused in the same time period last year.
If this trend continues, police administrators are predicting an overall decrease in crime in Cincinnati for the fourth consecutive year.
So, what examples of increasing violence is the publie missing?
The “growing number of adults who have become literally frightened of teen-agers’’ and, because of fear, often do not call the police or report the crime, Tillery said.
Is Turn-about Fair Play?
The Cincinnati Police Division has reversed itself on how it will conduct a disciplinary hearing after adamantly announcing last month that the officer involved would not be given special treatment.
The hearing is to decide administrative charges of neglect of duty, dishonesty and failure of good behavior against Lt. Clarence Williams. The charges stem from a bribery investigation that involved former police officers Andre Eddings and Claudia Vercellotti.
Following news reports that Williams also was under investigation in connection with the case, Williams and other members of the Sentinel Police Association an organization for black police officers appeared before Cincinnati City Council to complain about racist practices within the police division.
When administrative charges were issued March 3 against Williams, his lawyer, John Burlew, argued that the hearing should be open to the public because, without outside scrutiny, racism would affect the hearing’s outcome.
It is standard procedure for Cincinnati Police Division disciplinary hearings to be closed. And, at the time charges were issued, city Safety Director William Gustavson said the rules would not be changed for Williams.
“Clarence Williams will have the same procedure that every other officer, black or white, in the department has,” Gustavson told CityBeat in a March 9 report.
But on April 11, the division issued a statement that said Williams’ hearing now would be open to the public because of public interest in the case. Why the turn-about?
Gustavson could not be reached, but Police Chief Michael Snowden said the answer hinged on Burlew being the first to request an open hearing.
“It was a joint decision between the city manager and the safety director," Snowden said. “No one ever asked (for an open hearing) before.”
Williams’ hearing has been postponed until after July 10 to ensure a fair trial for Eddings, whose case goes to court on that date.
BURNING QUESTIONS is weekly attempt to afflict the comfortable.
News&Views
An Alternative Look at How and Why It Happened
Building Woes for Broadnax
Whileformer Cincinnati health commissioner awaits decision on shock parole, city waits to prosecute on building code violations
BY NANCY FIROR
From behind bars, former Cincinnati Health Commissioner Dr. Stanley Broadnax is fighting city charges that allege building code violations at property he owns on Sycamore Street.
Through his lawyer, Broadnax has refused the city’s latest offer to settle the case, and a bench warrant has been issued for his arrest when he is released from prison.
Serving a 10-year sentence for trafficking in cocaine and drug abuse, Broadnax has asked for early release through shock parole a request that will be decided in May.
In prison or not, the city of Cincinnati remains intent on prosecuting Broadnax for misdemeanor building code violations, which can carry a penalty of incarceration, said Charles Rubenstein, chief assistant city prosecutor.
“We want compliance with the building regulations...,” Rubenstein said. “Generally, the courts use the ability to jail (someone) to give incentive to bring buildings into compliance.”
But Cincinnati lawyer William Bell, who represented Broadnax in the matter until April 7, said the case would have been resolved by now if it were not for the city’s unfair treatment of Broadnax.
The city building code case against Broadnax stems from orders issued in September 1992 by the city’s Department of Buildings and Inspections. The orders
ence of opinion” with Broadnax. his advice, Broadnax, who because he was incarcerated, Neither Bell nor Rubenstein ment proposal, but Rubenstein numerous attempts to resolve “(Broadnax’s decision) 18 to get a response from CityBeat’s deadline on April 19. Gerard Hyland, supervising CONTINUES
Sycamore St., owned by Stanley Broadnax, are the subject of housing code violations.
BROADNAX: FROM PAGE 5
analyst in the city’s Department of Neighborhood Housing and Conservation, said Broadnax did not follow proper procedures in applying for city approval of his plans on Sycamore. In 1993, the Mt. Auburn Steering Committee was established and, in collaboration with city staff, it set specific guidelines for the submission of applications, which Hyland said Broadnax was aware of because he attended most of the meetings. But Broadnax’s request was for something isolated such as tearing down a building and did not explain why demolition was needed or what development demolition would make possible as the rules required, Hyland said.
William Langevin, director of the building department, said that if Broadnax’s buildings deteriorated to the point where safety was jeopardized the city might have to do some demolition. As the owner, Broadnax is responsible for the cost of demolition, Langevin said.
In addition, he said his department did all it could to work with Broadnax in correcting the problems. It is the city’s policy to work with anyone who is responsive, but Broadnax was not, he said.
“We give everyone every chance” before taking them to court, Langevin said.
City officials credit special programs for stopping urban blight
BY ELIZABETH CAREY
wenty years means 1,000 to 1,500 homes have been rehabilitated, thanks to a no-interest loan program in Covington.
The program was started to rid the city of urban blight.
“We don’t want to end up like Cincinnati in Over-the-Rhine, where there’s been controversy for probably 20 years over how should the city deal with this neighborhood,” says Howard Hodge, director of Covington’s Housing Department. “In the meantime, you’ve got literally dozens and dozens and dozens of buildings that probably 15 or 20 years ago someone could have fixed up.”
Under Covington’s plan, loans based on a participant’s income are granted to rehabilitate dilapidated or vacant buildings. One of those programs, the Urban Reclamation Program, has added about $12 million to the city’s tax base since 1980.
Part of the Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) funded by
the federal department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the rehabilitation program offers existing home owners, first-time home buyers, disabled or handicapped home buyers and low-tomoderate-income families money to purchase homes in need of rehabilitation.
“Rather than tearing down the building and having a vacant lot, we get it rehabbed,” Hodge says. “We get a new owner/occupant in the city, which is good. And quite often, physically, the building that was the worst building on the block is now the nicest building on the block, which kind of spurs on other people to clean up and fix up their problems.”
National criteria for receipt of the block-grant money requires that it be allocated by cities to assist lower- to moderateincome families or to eliminate blight. By giving homebuyers incentive to buy sub-standard homes or homes in disrepair and by assisting lowincome homebuyers, the community maintains its housing base. In addition, city officials hope to make the city more attractive and to increase the city’s tax base.
(vacant buildings) was the city would tear down them down,” Hodge says. “However, what we found is when you do that, that doesn’t give the city the ownership of the property... So you exchange one set of problems for another set of problems. Instead of a vacant, blighted building you’ve got a vacant, blighted lot.”
When the city acquires a property, it decreases the recorded price of the house to $4,000-$5,000 less than what the city bought it for. Typically, houses then sell for between $1 and $3,000 although some have sold for as high as $9,000.
By using CDBG grant money to purchase property untouched by the traditional real estate market, Hodge says that Covington is being proactive in solving problems that face aging cities.
“Even if we just turn the property over to a neighbor for use as a driveway or garden or something, at least it’s not a blighted lot,” Hodge says. “It’s maintained, it’s back on the tax rolls. It’s not a blight on the neighborhood.”
To
Those
Low-income
(those
home-buyers and handicapped heads of household can qualify for $18,000 to $22,000 in a deferred loan or grant.
Moderate-income families (those with an annual income of less than $48,360 for a family of three) can qualify for up to $11,000 in a deferred loan.
Upper-income families (those with an annual income of more than $48,360 for a family of three) can qualify for $7,000 in a deferred loan.
Any applicant seeking to rehabilitate a vacant property can qualify for $22,000 in matching funds other funds must be obtained through private lending institutions.
For
“A low-income family can be eligible for rehab assistance anywhere in the city of Covington,” Hodge says. “But in target rehab areas, any income group, or any income level, is eligible for assistance according to the amount of income you have.”
The Urban Reclamation Program also makes sense for the city, he says. When houses are deserted, become dilapidated, or otherwise become vacant, the city uses CDBG money to buy vacant buildings either through voluntary sales or through court action.
“Traditionally, the way you deal with
Covington’s efforts seem to be paying off in more ways than one. Since the program’s inception, Hodge says, the Urban Reclamation Program has added $12 million to the Covington’s tax base. This increase is in part seen as responsible for a reduction in property taxes. Covington property taxes have dropped from 74 cents per $100 in the 1980s to 35 cents per $100 today. Another advantage of Covington’s home loan program is that it can be used as a home-buyer’s downpayment. For low- or moderate-income families, this maneuver can be the difference between being able to buy a house and continuing to rent.
Mayor Denny Bowman points to this ability to draw in people as the rehabilitation program’s biggest benefit. For the first time in three decades, Covington’s population has increased by almost 3 percent, he says, which has led to an increase in the city’s financial outlook. In 1984, Covington’s general fund was $10 million, while in 1994 it increased to $27 million, Bowman says.
EARTH DAY COLLAGE Artists from the Town and Country Fine Art Gallery will assist children in creating a group collage, as well as individual Earth Day collages. 11 a.m.-noon. Saturday. Books & Co., 350 E. Stroop Road, Dayton, Ohio. 1-800-777-4881.
DAYTON MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Celebrates Earth Day with free museum admission. Among the day's programs, will be free tree giveaways; lectures on mulch, weeds and organic lawns; an otter feeding; and free sun-gazing through telescopes. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. 2699 DeWeese Parkway, Dayton, Ohio. 513-275-7431.
EARTH DAY CELEBRATION ON FOUNTAIN SQUARE Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls presents an Earth Day Proclamation, followed by more than two hours of entertainment. Friends of Parks will give away 2,000 white pine seedlings. There will be more than 20 exhibitors displaying earth-friendly wares. Mr. Tree, "the park board's walking talking maple,” will greet children. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday. Fountain Square, Downtown.
EARTH DAY WEEKEND AT THE ZOO Conservation groups from around the city will have booths set up, and there will be tours through the EPA laboratories. Also, Thane Maynard will bring some of the zoo's animals. 26 W. Martin Luther King Drive, Clifton. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. April 29. At the zoo itself, on April 29-30, there will be tours and festivities, including a performdnce by Drums For Peace at 2:30 p.m. on April 30. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. $7.50 adults, $4.50 children 2-12, $5.25 seniors; $4.50 parking. 3400 Vine St., Avondale. 281-4700.
★ ECOTOON:OUT ENDANGERED PLANET This exhibition of editorial cartoons from 40 countries, first shown at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, opens Monday. Through May 14. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. $7.50 adults, $4.50 children 2-12, $5.25 seniors; $4.50 parking. Cincinnati Zoo, second floor of the Thorn Tree gift shop, 3400 Vine St., Avondale. 281-4700.
★ EARTH CYCLE Celebrate the 25th Earth Day by helping to save one of Ohio's greatest natural ecosystems the Little Miami River. Registration for the three races begins at 7 p.m. Sunday. The Silver Ride, a flat 25-mile course, begins at 10 a.m.; the Golden Ride, a flat-to-hilly 50-mile course, begins at 1:30 p.m.; the Diamond Ride, a flat-to-hilly 75-mile course, begins at 8 a.m. $30, $3 extra for lunch; $15 T-shirt. Day-of-race registration will be held in the amphitheater in Nisbet Park, Loveland; the races take place on the Little Miami Bike Trail, Loveland. 351-6400.
RECIPES FOR A BETTER PLANET A discussion of ways to preserve the Earth takes place at 1 p.m. Saturday, with representatives from the Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services, Procter & Gamble and CG&E discussing what local industries are doing to protect the environment. Museum Center at Union Terminal, 1301 Western Ave., Queensgate. 287-7020.
★ MARCH FOR PARKS Your registration fee will benefit the Little Miami River, home to 83 species of fish and 28 species of mussels. The 10K walk, run or roller-blade events start at 10 a.m. Saturday, but be sure to arrive by 8:30 a.m. to allow time for parking and catching a shuttle bus in time for a 9 a.m. check-in. $45 adults; $15 students 16 and under accompanied by an adult. This gets you a T-shirt, lunch, a Paramount's Kings Island pass and a tree seedling. Nisbet Park, Loveland. 531-5554.
STUDIO SAN GIUSEPPE AT THE COLLEGE OF MOUNT ST.
JOSEPH Medusa, the Movement for the Education of Student Artists, is sponsoring Dream of the Earth, a weeklong celebration of Earth Day with works by students, faculty and staff. Through Sunday. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, 1:30-4:30 p.m. weekends. College of Mount St. Joseph, 5701 Delhi Road, Delhi Township. 244-4314.
BIRTHDAY/EARTH DAY OPEN HOUSE WNKU celebrates its 10th anniversary with live music and a tour of the station. 7-9 p.m. Thursday. Highland Heights. Reservations required. 572-6500..
11TH ANNUAL GREEN UP DAY Volunteers can plant seedlings, mulch trees, pick up litter and spruce up the City of Cincinnati's 17 parks. Participants will receive lunch from McDonald's and a free T-shirt. 9 a.m.-l p.m. May 6. Call 357-2607.
1995 BARROWS CONSERVATION LECTURE SERIES
Daniel and Laurie Marker-Kraus, founders of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, present the second lecture of the series. 7 30 p m. Wednesday. $6 zoo members; $8 non-members; $5 students. Rockdale Temple, 8501 Ridge Road, Amberley Village. 556-7797.
★ CityBeat stamp of approval.
Respect our mother: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Who Causes Environmental Woes?
Women challenge
way-too-PC
theory of who's atfault in global sense
ESSAY BY DONELLA H. MEADOWS
To a small but influential bunch of global thinkers the abbreviation IPAT (pronounced “eye-pat”) says volumes. It summarizes all the causes of our environmental problems.
IPAT comes from a formula originally put forth by ecologist Paul Ehrlich and physicist John Holdren: Impact equals Population times Affluence times Technology. Which is to say, the damage we do to the earth can be figured as the number of people there are, multiplied by the amount of stuff each person uses, multiplied by the amount of pollution or waste involved in making and using each piece of j§| stuff.
A car emits more pollution than a bicycle, and so the 10 percent of the world’s people rich enough to have cars cause more environmental impact in their transport than do the much more numerous bicycling poor. But a car with a catalytic converter is less polluting than a car without one, and a solar car even less. So technology can counter some of the impact of affluence.
The IPAT formula has great appeal in international debates because it spreads environmental responsibility around. The poor account for 90 percent of global population increase so they’d better get to work on P. Rich consumers need to control their hedonistic A. The former Soviets with their polluting factories, cars and buildings obviously should concentrate on T.
I didn’t realize how politically correct this formula had become, until a few months ago when I watched a panel of five women challenge it and enrage an auditorium full of environmentalists, including me.
IPAT is a bloodless, misleading, cop-out explanation for the world’s ills, they said. It points the finger of blame at all the wrong places. It leads one to hold poor women responsible for population growth without asking who is putting what pressures on those women to cause them to have so many babies. It lays a guilt trip on Western consumers, while ignoring the forces that whip up their desire for ever more consumption. It implies that the people of the East, who were oppressed by totalitarian leaders for generations, now somehow have to clean up those leaders’ messes.
As I listened to this argument, I got mad. IPAT was the lens through which I saw the environmental situa-
Cover Story
tion. It’s neat and simple. I didn’t want to see any other way.
IPAT is just what you would expect from physical scientists said one of the critics, Patricia Hynes of the Institute on Women and Technology in North Amherst, Mass. It counts what is countable. It makes rational sense. But it ignores the manipulation, the oppression, the profits. It ignores a factor that scientists have a hard time quantifying and, therefore, don’t like to talk about: economic and political POWER.
IPAT may be physically indisputable. But it is politically naive. I was shifting uneasily in my seat.
There are no AGENTS in the IPAT equation, said Hynes, no identifiable ACTORS, no genders, colors, motivations.
Population growth and consumption and technology don’t just happen.
Particular people make them happen, people who shape and respond to rewards and punishments, people who may be acting out of desperation or love or greed or ambition or fear.
Unfortunately, I said to myself, I agree with this.
Suppose we wrote the environmental impact equation a different way, said the annoying panel at the front of the auditorium. Suppose, for example, we put in a term for the military sector, which, though its Population is not high, commands a lot of Affluence and Technology.
Military reactors generate 97 percent of the high-level nuclear waste of the United States. Global military operations are estimated to cause 20 percent of all environmental degradation. The Worldwatch Institute says that “the world’s armed forces are quite likely the single largest polluter on earth.”
Suppose we added another term for the 200 largest corporations, which employ only 0.5 percent of all workers but generate 25 percent of the Gross World Product and something like 25 percent of the pollution.
CONTINUES ON PAGE 10
Alternative Energy Home Tour Counters 'How Big and How Much’ Mentality
BY POLLY CAMPBELL
Chas Kaiser loves visitors. Since he started building his house two years ago on Earth Day, he figures he’s shown it to about 600 peopie. He likes to point out that a dome is nature’s strongest structure and that an underground dome has benefits all its own, like steady year-round temperatures and a wonderful lack of noise.
He shows visitors his south-facing glass doors, which let in slanting winter sun to heat up the terra-cotta floor, but not overhead summer sun. He points out the quilted curtains, the skylights and the plaque dedicating the house to his dad.
Kaiser’s home, behind his welding shop in Batesville, Ind., is not just shelter: With its Santa Fe design and metal fittings he crafted himself, it’s a personal and artistic expression. It’s also his way of saving energy and money. (His average pionthly utility bill is less than
$60.) But more than that, it’s Kaiser’s contribution to the idea that everyone can make an environmental difference.
“I want people to see it, to see how you can live a little closer to nature, save some money, and do the earth a favor,” he says. That’s why he likes to show his house and why it will be on the Alternate Energy Association’s 14th annual Home Tom on Sunday.
Homearama this tour isn’t. Instead of examples of the latest in conspicuous overconsumption, the Alternate Energy Association (AEA) tour highlights five houses most in southern Indiana this year that use progressive designs to reduce energy use and do less harm to the environment. There will be inspiration for planners and dreamers of houses and energy-saving ideas for owners of existing houses. There will be examples of passive and active solar designs, integrated sun spaces, berming (building part of the house into a hillside), superinsulation, efficient lighting and appliances, use of recycled and reused materials, water conservation and alternative landscaping.
Chas Kaiser’s home
The tour begins at EarthConnection in Delhi Township.
“These are ideas that you won’t see promoted anywhere else,” says John Robbins, of the AEA and whose firm
photo: »•«. rosbins designed two of the houses.
“Everything going on in Cincinnati in terms of architecture is mostly the in Batesville, Ind., is domed and bermed.
same-old same. Builders think the only choices are how big and how much? And they seem to think more is always better.”
Instead, the homes on the AEA tour reflect choices to buy efficiency and, therefore, to buy down energy bills and buy down pollution.
“It’s not just their technical aspects that makes these homes interesting. It’s their indication of human spirit, the expression of their owners’ convictions and personalities,” Robbins says. “None of these houses look the same, except for the south-facing glass.”
Kaiser’s house, though underground, is full of light and warmth. An aquarium with one-way glass lets natural light into the bathroom, and a sleeping loft upstairs is also lit by the south glass wall.
Another tour house has a two-story sun space that collects solar energy and can either funnel it through or block it off from the rest of the house. The Berne CONTINUES ON PAGE 10
Making an EarthConnection at Mount St. Joseph
BY ANNE ZARA
Sister Paula Gonzalez is continuous energy, perpetual motion. She is the founder of EarthConnection, a center for learning about “living lightly” on the earth.
Here’s her bottom line: “The next 20 years are critical years, and every year our options are reduced.”
“This
The destruction of the human race is inevitable, Gonzalez says, because of the amount of pollution and destruction that increases every year. It is crucial that people take steps immediately to change the status quo. And what Gonzalez is doing is a living example of one way to foster permanent change.
She with help from a multitude of volunteers is building a house. Not just any house, this abode across Neeb Road from the College of Mount St. Joseph is energy-friendly.
environmental insults are long-lived; it is time to move toward a source-friendly approach.”
The budding is heated completely by solar energy, has been constructed mostly with donated or “found” materials and will be a holistic learning center.
On Saturday, there will be an open house at EarthConnection, with opening and closing rituals that the public may attend. The home is also the starting point'of the Alternate Energy Association’s 14th annual Home Tour on Sunday.
is a statement of permanence, a building for 1,000 years. Today’s buildings, the way they are constructed, last about 30 years.”
SISTER PAULA GONZALEZ, FOUNDER OF EARTHCONNECTION
“There is a significant amount of pollution related to energy use,” Gonzalez explains. “In the United States, it is higher than anywhere else in the world, and it is increasing steadily. Fossil fuels are finite sources. Our
Here are a couple of the features visitors will notice about EarthConnection. It has a lot of windows to reduce the amount of electricity used for day lighting. And 16 solar panels on the south roof serve as collectors.
But visitors won’t notice the half-mile of tubing underground and the half-mile of tubing under the floor of the building to channel the heated water that is an integral part of the home’s energy system. It also has a timber-frame construction. “This is a statement of permanence, a building for 1,000 years,” Gonzalez says. “Today’s buildings, the way they are con
structed, last about 30 years.”
The sun space behind the main seminar room has extremely energy-efficient R-8 windows. The walls are R-25 and the ceilings R-40.
Gonzalez lives by the 3-R’s. “They are different from the ones I grew up with; now they mean Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,” she says. “Reuse everything until it’s worn out. Recycle is the beginning of awareness, and yet it perpetuates the throw-away concept.”
EarthConnection is a vital example of the reuse way of life. The carpet padding is made from recycled tires. When the Mount St. Joseph science building was remodeled, many of the cabinets and doors were reclaimed and built into EarthConnection. Almost all of the oak used as trim was found in the basement of the Mother House of the Sisters of Charity, which founded the college.
EarthConnection is constructed of 13 species of wood all bioregional, meaning less fossil fuel was used to transport the wood than if lumber had been trucked in.
“It is time to restore our spiritual connection,” Gonzalez says. “Eco-spiritually complements reverence for the earth and religious traditions. They used to be part of one another.”
Conservatives, Community and Ecology Commentary
BY DAVID MORRIS
The new conservatism exposes an inherent contradiction. The Contract With America promises uninhibited capitalism and healthy communities. But you can’t have both.
Strong communities are rooted, stable and protective of their way of life. They prize their local institutions. Polls consistently tell us the obvious: People prefer community banks, neighborhood schools, public libraries, locally owned businesses. Unbridled capitalism has the opposite tendencies. Its effects are uprooting, unsettling and destabilizing. It encourages absentee ownership and giant corporations.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich is right. Capitalism is a powerful force.
That is not new news.
Economists from Karl Marx to Adam Smith have marveled at the prodigious productivity of capitalism and the marketplace. Yet Smith and Marx realized that unregulated capitalism can become highly destructive.
of federal regulations echoes the environmental community’s request, later embodied in the National Environmental Policy Act, for a formal cost-benefit analysis. Yet there are cost-benefit analyses and there are cost-benefit analyses. The differences between the conservative and environmental kinds of cost-benefit analysis are instructive. Environmentalists wanted the analysis to encompass both public and private actions.
Conservatives scorn cost-benefit analyses of privatesector actions. They assume the marketplace takes into account all costs.
The most coherent and best organized challenge to unbridied capitalism has come from environmentalists....
Twenty-five years ago, on the first Earth Day, environmentalists proposed a fundamental truth: There is a difference between price and cost.
Newt doesn’t acknowledge that. In the country most supportive of the unlimited accumulation of wealth and private power, in the country where capitalism has progressed the furthest and the public sector is the weakest, Gingrich is leading a revolution to eliminate even the few tepid curbs on capitalism enacted in the last half century.
Conservatives prefer cost-benefit analyses that internalize a short-term focus. Back in 1981, Ronald Reagan issued an executive order requiring the Office of Management Budget (OMB) to analyze the costeffectiveness of health and safety and environmental initiatives before they could be implemented. The result? Virtually no significant regulations were implemented in the Reagan years except as a result of lawsuits. Why? OMB analysts were forced to evaluate public-sector regulations almost as if they were in the private sector.
Price is what the individual pays. Cost is what the society as a whole pays.
The most coherent and best organized challenge to unbridled capitalism has come from environmentalists. Which is why conservatives from Ronald Reagan to Phil Gramm view environmentalism as public enemy, or should we say, private enemy No. 1. Twenty-five years ago, on the first Earth Day, environmentalists proposed a fundamental truth: There is a difference between price and cost. Price is what the individual pays. Cost is what the society as a whole pays. A market economy works well when it relies on accurate prices, but the prices Americans pay do not reflect the full social and environmental costs of extracting the raw material, processing it into a final product and disposing of that product.
In the early 1920s, car companies developed highcompression, powerful engines. They needed an additive to reduce the knocking that occurred with regular gasoline. They chose lead. It was cheap, and very small amounts could produce the desired effect. By 1940, the vast majority of gasoline contained lead. But lead emissions from gasoline caused massively expensive public health problems. The price of lead was very low. The cost of lead was very high. After the environmental revolution of the early 1970s and the resulting Clean Air Act, the federal government began phasing out leaded gasoline.
Full reckoning required
Environmentalism demands full cost accounting. The new Right’s insistence on a cost-benefit analysis
The private sector requires high returns on investment. So did the OMB. To pass muster, their cost-benefit analyses required very short paybacks. That is why the private sector inevitably has a short-term focus.
Environmentalists argue that the public sector, on the other hand, should more seriously consider the long-term effects of its actions. A key variable in any cost-benefit analysis is the discount rate, a wonderfully accurate term, because it is the rate at which we literally discount the future. The higher the discount rate, the less consideration we give to the future.
Discounting the future
Discount rates and cost-benefit analyses are important items for discussion, but the bottom line for most of us is that we don’t make decisions on the basis of traditional cost-benefit criteria. The Republicans pride themselves on their devotion to families. But no parent could justify having children on the basis of a rigorous cost-benefit analysis. We have children for qualitative reasons. Similarly, we value most highly those things we would be hard-pressed to put a dollar sign on: peace and quiet, good neighbors, dear friends, a clean environment.
Republicans boast about their support for communities. But communities by definition are small in scale and tend to value humanly scaled systems.
Conservatives are indifferent to scale considerations. When it comes to business, they make no distinction between locally owned or owner-operated enterprises and global corporations. When it comes to technology, they make no distinction between benign solar cells that could make one’s home an electric power exporter and nuclear reactors so dangerous that their indefinitely lived lethal wastes must be dumped on some unwilling recipient community.
Only with regard to government itself do conservatives appear to take into account the issue of scale. But the Contract with America seems less about decentralizing government than abolishing govern
ment. Conservatives are very suspicious of the exercise of collective authority no matter at what scale. They prefer that we exercise our authority as individual consumers rather than as collective citizens.
“We vote with our pocketbooks” is a favorite phrase of theirs. And they are right, in a trivial way. How we spend our money may influence corporations to modestly change the kinds of goods and services they offer. But how we spend our money rarely, if ever, influences the truly important decisions: the character of our immediate surroundings, the health of our natural environment, the stability of our jobs.
Caring about community
Democracies operate on the assumption that peopie have the right to make rules that affect their futures. Conservatives like to speak about the responsibilities of communities, but they rarely discuss the authority of communities.
What rights should citizens have to protect the character of our community and the health of our environment? A few months ago the citizens of Solvang, Calif., enacted a ban on “formula restaurants,” which are defined as those “virtually identical to restaurants in other communities as a result of standardized menus, ingredients, food preparation, decor, uniforms and the like.”
In effect, Solvang has outlawed sameness and encouraged diversity. Do conservatives think that is a proper exercise of citizenship?
Back in 1970, Vermont passed Act 250. That landuse law created a citizens panel to approve large scale developments. The panel must take into account the development’s impact not only on the natural environment but on the economic environment. Earlier this year, this panel rejected a permit for Wal-Mart to build a superstore in St. Albans, Vt. The board concluded
CONTINUES ON PAGE 10
IPAT: FROM PAGE 7
Perhaps, if we had the statistics, we would find that small businesses, where most of the jobs are, produce far less than their share of environmental impact.
Suppose we separate government consumption from household consumption, and distinguish between household consumption for subsistence and for luxury, for show, for making us feel better about ourselves. If we had reliable numbers, which we don’t, we might be able to calculate how much of the damage we do to the earth comes from necessity and how much from vanity.
An equation was beginning to form in my head: Impact equals Military plus Large Business plus Small Business plus Government plus Luxury Consumption plus Subsistence Consumption.
Each of those terms has its own P and A and T.
Use a different lens and you see different things; you ask different questions, you find different answers. What you see through any lens is in fact there, though it is never all that is there. Whatever lens you use, that it lets you see some things, but it prevents you from seeing others.
DONELLA MEADOWS is environmental studies adjunct professor at Dartmouth College.
County house also has an open upstairs, which is used for both a photography and a sky-diving costume-sewing business.
The house in Manchester looks like a traditional brick home, with a two-car garage and three baths, but is heated entirely by passive solar, a wood-burning stove fueled by deadwood and lumber scraps, and a propane water heater. The family of four averaged $88 a month for energy in 1994. The home in Sunman has a partially bermed, singlestory construction. The home is built around a southfacing sunroom.
This Berne County home has a two-story sun space.
The tour begins at EarthConnection, a home at College of Mount St. Joseph. (See story, Page 8.) While AEA tours in the past have covered ground all around Greater Cincinnati, Robbins points out that there is a reason to find these houses in Indiana. Energy costs in Cincinnati are very cheap, he says. Electricity costs as much as 20 percent more in Indiana; water costs more, and Indiana has adopted stricter standards for insulation in its budding codes. “We aren’t challenged here to save energy by its high cost,” Robbins says. “Ohio is an energy-guzzling state, the third-highest consumer of energy per capita in the nation.”
CONSERVATIVES:
that for each dollar in public benefit there would be $3 in public cost. Is that the kind of cost-benefit analysis conservatives would applaud?
California has ordered car companies to sell tens of thousands of electric vehicles a year by the late 1990s even if it means that the price of cars may temporarily and modestly increase. Minnesota has ordered its largest electric utility to build or purchase sufficient solar-generated electricity to power 150,000 homes even if it means the price of electricity might temporarily and modestly increase. All of these initiatives reflect the popular will. All of them can be justified on the basis of evaluations that rely on full cost accounting. All curb the prerogatives of private capital and property. Does the Contract with America encourage such initiatives?
Environmentalists believe that communities can create the rules that channel entrepreneurial energies, scientific genius and investment capital in directions compatible with their values. Many conservatives don’t. Indeed, while conservatives would dramatically curb our ability to regulate commercial transactions, they would extend and expand the privileges given to private corporations, the most powerful business enterprise ever invented. With unlimited life and limited liability and possessing the same rights and privileges as a person, the corporation is a creature invented by and nurtured by the state. It was designed to multiply the power and reach of business and in that it has succeeded beyond the wildest imagining of its creators. The 100 largest global corporations are larger than all but a handful of the planet’s nations. If conservatives were truly serious about empowering communities, they would tackle not only big government but big business.
Conservatives, to their credit, are raising fundar mental questions. To their discredit, they are not encouraging any serious debate about those questions. Their actions are wrapped in the rhetoric of community yet many of their actions would undermine community. They offer us the illusion of bringing power closer to the people. But in reality their actions tend to remove decision-making authority further and further from the people and communities affected by those decisions.
PHOTO: JOHN ROBBINS
Listings Index
Music (concerts, clubs, varied venues) 11
Rim (capsule reviews, theater guide) 19
Art (galleries, exhibits, museums) 22
Onstage (theater, dance, classical music) 25
Attractions (museums, historic homes) 27
Literary (signings, readings, events) 28
Events (cool happenings) .' 28
Sports (recreational, spectator) 29
Etc. (events, meetings, attractions) 30
Upcoming (a look at what’s ahead) 30
Review Ratings
Recommendations
★ CityBeal staffs stamp of approval
To be included
Submit information for CityBeat calendar listings in writing by noon Thursday, seven days before publication. Mail to: Billie Jeyes, Listings Editor, Cincinnati CityBeat, 23 E. Seventh St., Suite 617, Cincinnati, OH 45202. Fax: 665-4369.
Please include a contact name and daytime phone number.
Dance Hall, 400 Buttermilk Pike, Fort Mitchell. $10/$14 day of show. 721-1000.
ALTAN Celtic. 8 p.m. Friday. Victoria Theatre, 138 North Main St., Dayton. Ohio. $12. 513-223-3655. THE BAND Classic Rock. RESCHEDULED from Friday to May 7. Bogart’s, 2621 Vine St., Corryville. $15. 749-4949.
VAN HALEN Rock. 7 p.m. Friday. Nutter Center, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio. SOLD OUT.
JOHN ANDERSON AND TRACY LAWRENCE Country. 8 p.m. Saturday. Riverfront Coliseum, Pete Rose Way, Downtown. $19.50. 241-1818.
SLASH'S SNAKEPIT WITH TAD Hard Rock. 7 p.m. Saturday. The Newport, 1722 High St., Columbus. Saturday. $15. 749-4949. THROWING MUSES AND ASS PONYS Alternative. 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Bogart’s, 2621 Vine St, Corryville. $10. 749-4949. DREAD ZEPPELIN AND THE
This Week’s Theme: Trees
Tree Huggers of the world, unite. This is your week. First of all, you can be part of a massive plant-a-thon. During the Earth Day Celebration on Fountain Square, Friends of Parks will be giving away 2,000 WHITE PINE seedlings. Also, Mr. Tree (right), the walking talking MAPLE, will be greeting children and adults alike. One word of advice don’t CUT him down. He’s very sensitive. (See Earth Day listings, Page 7.) Secondly, you can enjoy the extraordinary selection of trees during the Spring Grove Cemetery Walking Tour. Unfortunately, Mr. Tree won’t be able to make it. (See Events in UtterKiosk.) Even if you don’t have green fingers, you can help make the city’s 17 (count ’em) parks look good. Tasks for the 11th Annual Green Up Day on May 6 include planting seedlings, mulching trees and picking up litter. Now, we know that the last part is particularly hard but if we didn’t throw down our trash in the first place now, there’s the ROOT of the whole problem. (See Earth Day listings, Page 7.) If you like WOODEN acting, why not try to catch Ruins, complete with marionettes, puppets and shadow puppets that have finally come out of the TRUNK for their share of the spotlight. (See Onstage.) Lastly, if anyone cares, Opening Day is Wednesday. Baseball players will be carrying big STICKS and speaking very, very softly, so as not to irritate already irritated ex-fans. (See Sports.)
part of D'Agostino’s promotional tour for his latest release, Venus Over Venice.
9 p.m. Thursday. York Street International Cafe, 738 York St., Newport. 261-9675. 9 p.m. Friday. Blue Jordan Coffeehouse, 4573 Hamilton Ave., Northside. 541-FORK. (With Jason Dennie and Common Ground.)
10 a.m. Saturday. March for Parks, Exit 52 off Interstate 275, Nisbet Park, Loveland. 531-5554. (See Earth Day listings, Page 7, for info on other March for Parks events.)
MILLION’S CAFE 3212 Linwood Ave., Mount Lookout. 871-1148.
MOLLOY’S ON THE GREEN 10 Enfield Place, Greenhills. 851-5434.
MT. ADAMS PAVILION 949 Pavilion St., Mount Adams. 721-7272.
MT. LOOKOUT TAVERN 3209 Linwood Ave., Mount Lookout. 871-9633.
MURRAY’S PUB 2169 Queen City Ave., Fairmount. 661-6215.
NEW NINETIES NIGHT CLUB 3613 Harrison Ave., Cheviot. 481-9013.
OGDEN'S PLACE 25 W. Ogden Place, Downtown. 381-3114.
OZZIE’S PUB & EATERY 116 E. High St., Oxford. 513-523-3134.
Throwing Muses (David Narcizo, left, Kristin Hersh Georges) plays Bogart’s on Saturday with the Ass
J^Budweiser
• 4 CONCERT SERIES
BOGART’S
IN THE UNIVERSITY VILLAGE
CALL THE 24-HR EVENTLINE: 281-8400
TICKETS: BOGART’S & TICKETMASTER
SHOWS BROUGHT TO YOU BY SUNSHINE PROMOTIONS
RESCHEDULED FOR SUNDAY, MAY 7 THROWING MUSES w/ASSPONYS SATURDAY, APRIL 22
Whole Lotta Zep
Local Led Zeppelinfans share their memories in ‘CityBeat’ essay contest
n anticipation of Tuesday’s Jimmy Page/Robert Plant concert at Riverfront Coliseum, we asked CityBeat readers to pull out their old Led Zeppelin eight-tracks, sift through their memory banks and share their stories about a special Zep lyric, song, album, concert or moment.
Readers responded by submitting dozens of essays, which CityBeat staffers narrowed down to our top three choices.
Our first place essayist gets two “Gold Circle” floor tickets to the Page/Plant show, a gift certificate to diJohn Restaurant & Bar in Covington, Page/Plant’s new CD, No Quarter, and two lovely, all-cotton CityBeat T-shirts. Second and third place writers get the CD, shirts and a fistful of free movie passes.
Mom asked, “Would you like to go see a really good band?” Since my world of aural landscapes amounted to two Kiss albums and a Charlie Rich tape, I had no clue of what was to follow. Watching Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains the Same with your mom may seem like a nightmare to some people, but to me it will be a great memory that I’ll take to my grave.
trip tickets on the Long Island Railroad and departed at 11:00 a.m. for our big day. Once in the city we found the “Teens to 21 Fair,” a four-day event of concerts, fashion and culture. We quickly got lost in the crowd there, positioning ourselves close to the stage where the Hello People and A1 Kooper were about to perform. This was my first “hippie” event. Everywhere were young, alternative folks with long hair, granny glasses, sandals, beads and the smell of buming incense wafting throughout. I bought a pair of dog tags (a peace sign and a dove) and purchased two Fugs records.
John Stevens, Florence
Below are the top three essays, plus excerpts from selected runners-up. Enjoy the show.
DREAD ZEPPELIN w/ THE WEASEL BROS. SUNDAY, APRIL 23 GRANT LEE BUFFALO w/THRONEBERRY SUNDAY, APRIL 30
GRAHAM PARKER FRIDAY, MAY 19
COMPULSION
w/ LOW POP SUICIDE & LATIMER WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26
SHAG w / ROUNDHEAD & STIR FRIDAY, APRIL 28
BACK DOORS w/ BROTHERS-N ARMS SATURDAY, APRIL 29
SONS OF ELVIS w/ HOWLIN' MAGGIE & GREAT UNCLE SHORT FUSE WEDNESDAY, MAY 3
SPONGE w/ EVERCLEAR THURSDAY, MAY 4
ADAM ANT FRIDAY, MAY 5
SPYRO GYRA w/ JOHN McCELLAN SATURDAY, MAY 6 ^H.DAVmLOWER^OF^RACKER
IT’S ALWAYS BEEN TRUE... THIS BUD’S FOR YOU BAND
VERUCA SALT w/ THE MUFFS WEDNESDAY, MAY 17
ALL W/ TOADIES THURSDAY, MAY 18
DEL AMITRI w/ MELISSA FERRICK SATURDAY, MAY 20
JULIANA HATFIELD w/ JEFF BUCKLEY & COLD WATER FLAT WEDNESDAY, MAY 24
LETTERS TO CLEO THURSDAY, MAY 25
MORPHINE SUNDAY, MAY 28
KMFDM and DINK SATURDAY, JUNE 3
TUCK & PATTI FRIDAY, JUNE 23
First Place
“A Day in the Life”
Once upon a time in Levittown, a sleepy post-war suburb on Long Island, I was a lOth-grade bass player in a band named Truth. Every Wednesday after school I would go home, tune my stereo radio to 102.7 WNEW-FM and listen to and record Scott Muni play that week’s releases from England.
One day I caught on tape a song called “Dazed and Confused” by a new group named Led Zeppelin. That’s where it all started.
One week Muni announced that Led Zeppelin was playing at The Fillmore East. I was 15 and had never gone into the city without my parents, but this was my big chance. My bandmates and I got tickets for the 11:30 p.m. show on May 31, 1969.
The Fillmore East, in New York’s lower east side, was once the Yiddish Theater; my grandpa Sol, a Russian immigrant, had taken my family there to see plays in Yiddish. I used this fact to my advantage when convincing my mom that if it was OK for grandpa to go there it was OK for me.
That Saturday, we purchased round-
It was time to start working our way downtown. First stop, 42nd Street. Only Larry had been here before. We had discussed going to a pom theater, so we walked down 42nd trying to decide which moire to see; the final decision was based on the titles and money. I don’t remember what we saw, but I do rememher wishing I wasn’t in there. We took the Subway downtown to Cooper Union and stood in line, then made our way up to the balcony. The opening act was Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, a soulful duo with a southern rock twist. Some of their friends included Leon Russell on piano, Jim Keltner on drums and Rita Coolidge doing background vocals. They were followed by Woody Herman and the Thundering Herd,
ZEP: FROM PAGE 13
who performed a short but intensely powerful set and whipped everybody into a frenzy.
It was now about 1:30 a.m., and adrenaline was all that was keeping me awake.
I can still remember a delay caused by a hum in an amp that was never cleared up, but by the time Led Zeppelin came out no one cared. The crowd went nuts when they broke into “How Many More Times.”
train at the next stop.
My most vivid and visual memory of the phenomenal concert (in 1969) was the women literally stripping their shirts and bras off and throwing those sweat-drenched items onstage. Robert Plant dutifully slipped the bras onto his smoking mike stand and waved them around like some sexual flag.
Laurie Ann Koresky, Amelia
Eventually we all settled down to listen to about 90 minutes of music from the band’s first album and their upcoming second album. We walked out of the Fillmore at around 4 a.m., and all we could hear was a buzz in our heads. We could barely hear each other speak.
We caught the next Long Island Railroad train back home. As the train pulled out of the station, we laid back in our seats and tried to got some rest. All of a sudden the conductor called for tickets, and we handed him our return ticket stubs. He announced that they had expired and that we’d have to got off the
We tried to explain that we were just a bunch of suburban kids returning from a long day in the city... but he didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t like the way we looked and what we stood for, and we had no money. We ended up being thrown off the train in Jamaica, Queens at the crack of dawn. We walked the streets for a while, and all we had left was pocket change. We decided to call my dad to see if he would bail us out. Of course, he did.
I’ll never forget how awful and wonderful it felt when he arrived to have him there. I was embarrassed by the situation but so very proud to have the father that would come to the rescue under those circumstances, Dazed and Confused.
JEFF KRYS is operations manager at WGUC-FM and has worked through the years with local bands like Ekimi and Sleep Theater via his promotions/publishing company Krysdahlark. The 41-yearold moved from New York to Cincinnati to attend the University of Cincinnati. Though he doesn’t consider himself a Led-head, he says he is currently going through a Zep renaissance after recently dusting off the band’s debut and being “blown away.”
Second Place
"Instant Suntan”
BY RON LIGGETT
Joe is crazy. Always was. That’s why we found a way to get him in the band. He and I tried several times to put our own group together, but he wasn’t talented as a player. We did find something that he had a knack for he became our light man.
Joe had been my next-door neighbor for three years, and we had spent many evenings on the back porch tossing back a few and contemplating the important issues of sex, sports and rock and roll. One debate that we carried on for years was about who was the best band in the world: I am a dyed-in-the-wool Rolling Stones fan; Joe is a bonafide Led-head. Back and forth we razzed one another as we set up or tore down the band equipment and during the rides to and from jobs. When we were home I would hear “Kashmir” floating across the back fence from Joe’s house and this would prompt me to go inside and fire up “Honky Tonk Women."
A local radio station had a call-in survey to determine the best band in the world. It was 1979, so both of our favorites were still recording and touring. As it turned out, the Stones and Zep were the top vote-getters.
I lost track of the contest when I practiced with the band until late that night. After practice, I got a phone call from Joe. “Hey, guess who won?”
I told him I’d been at practice so he’d have to tell me.
“Look out back,” he said.
I opened the back door with the phone still at my ear. Suddenly the night was illuminated with a four-foot blast of white light.
Propped on the back fence was a sign made of hundreds of light bulbs that read “ZEPPELIN RULES.”
“Whoa! Instant suntan,” I said, laughing. RON LIGGETT
Our song was “Thank You” from Led Zeppelin II. In fact, that gentle Zep ballad usually accompanied the cello player and me (via eight-track tape) on our frequent “parking” trips to the most romantic spot in our adolescent universe a hilltop overlooking Yogi Berra’s house. (I grew up in New Jersey, a few miles from New York City.)
One night after a particularly satisfying amorous adventure we were listening to the sounds of WNEW-FM, the first truly progressive rock station in America. Deejay Alison Steele who sounded a lot like Robin Wood with laryngitis came on after a long set of Zep cuts and made a profound announcement: “Tomorrow morning, 10 a.m. Tickets. Led Zeppelin. Madison Square Garden Box Office.”
The line at the Garden box office turned out to be shorter than I expected but longer than anything I’d ever seen. Most of the people surrounding me had very long hair and smelled like a combination of cow manure and marijuana. When I reached the ticket window I handed an overweight cigar-chomping former taxi-
Brian and I would discuss music, and Led Zeppelin would usually dominate the conversation. We began dating.... Later I found out I was pregnant, and we started making future plans involving the “three of us.” I listened to a lot of Led Zeppelin, and the baby had its favorite songs it would kick to. Brian and I laughed at the idea of having a Zep fan, and it wasn’t even bom yet! Candace Rae Geschwind, Cincinnati
driver $20. He gave me a dirty look, two tickets to the concert and a $5 bill. By the time the concert rolled around, we knew every Plant intonation, every Jimmy Page riff, every John Paul Jones bass lick and every John Bonham paradiddie. We sat, hand-in-hand, somewhere in the nose-bleeds engulfed in a sweetsmelling, hallucinogenic cloud. The quartet ambled on stage, and for the next two and a half hours they launched into an electrifying exhibition that was, without question, one of the most amazing things either of us had ever seen.
Third Place
"Stairway
to Yogi”
BY ROBERT PARISH
To be honest, I can’t remember if my first in-person encounter with Led Zeppelin took place during the spring of 1969 or 1970. Suffice it to say I was there at the beginning and now have the hairline to prove it. Back then, I was in love with a celloplaying ingenue who had a thing for me and Robert Plant (he and I have the same initials, which she thought was “groovy”).
Over the next several years, the cello player and I had our share of good times and bad times. But, even with a whole lotta love, our relationship ended because of a profound communication breakdown. The little heartbreaker shook me, leaving my tender psyche dazed and confused. Eventually, I climbed down off the gallows pole and rambled on to Cincinnati where I met a beautiful (non-cello-playing) Kenny Loggins fan. Last Christmas, she gave me a boxed set of Led Zeppelin CDs. A note inside said, “I can’t quit you baby.”
ROBERT PARISH 18 (or 19 he still can’t remember) when he had his first Zeppelin experience. Today, he and his wife Diane reside in Terrace Park with their two children. Robert who has lived in Cincinnati for the past eight years, produces, writes and directs industrial videos. His wife says Robert’s illicit substance these days is restricted to a
music. The 97X/Butler County Metroparks Earth Day Celebration will be at the Rentschler Forest, just north of Hamilton on Reigart Road just off Route 4. You will need a Motor Vehicle Permit to drive in - $2.00 for the day, $5.00 for the entire year. See, we’re conserving your cash, too! It runs all day - 11:00am - 6:00pm.
QEver notice how it’s more fun to help clean someone else’s house than it is your own? Along those ■ lines, 97X invites you to a work day putting the finishing touches on Oxford’s very first Habitat for Humanity house. We will meet at the radio station at 10:00 am, Saturday, April 29, and then head to'the site. We’ll feed you, provide the tunes to work to, and even give you a fresh clean work shirt. The work day lasts from 10:00am to 5:00pm (or less) and we’ll be painting, landscaping, and hopefully pouring some cement so we can all carve our initials in it. If you have the time and the inclination and would like to help out with this endeavor, please call Julie Maxwell at (513) 523-4114, (513) 863-5665 or E-Mail us on line at WOXY97X.AOL.COM. We’ll give you the information you need, sign you up and get you ready for 8 hours of back-breaking labor (not really, it’s mostly fun). Call soon, we’re limited to about 30. Q
95
You could be the 97X Band of ^^B the Year... but how will you know Attt if you don’t enter? Be listening to 97X for all the details of 97Xposure ‘95. Bigger and better them ever!
Spill It
BY MIKE BREEN
Appalachian
Fest
Spring is the time of year when outdoor music tests start to sweep the nation. One of the best is right here in Cincinnati. The Appalachian festival began in 1969 and celebrates every aspect of "mountain life," from crafts to food to dancing. But the music has always been a focal point of the event and this year brings one of the best line-ups in the festivals history.
This is also the first year the music has "gone electric.” Banjo player extraordinaire Bela Reck (who’s appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and Saturday Night Live in the past couple of weeks) along with his band the Flecktones is probably the best known of the performers. Other renowned musicians appearing this year include Mojo Rlter Kings, Goose Creek Symphony and Peter Rowan.
The event takes place May 12-14 at Coney Island. Information: 451-3070.
Local Signing
Warlock Records, a New York City-based label that releases mostly R&B, Rap and Urban Jazz, has branched out and signed local Industrial group, Sound Mind. The group plans to hole up in local Ligosa studio to record the basic tracks for a debut record that members hope will be completed in about a month and a half.
"It’s not a major-label,” says drummer Keith Adams. "But it does have major distribution, which is great.”
To see what caught Warlock’s ears, check the band out Saturday at Top Cat’s. Also performing on the strong triple bill will be “buzz bands” Roundhead and Snaggletooth.
Send music news to MIKE BREEN, Cincinnati CityBeat, 23 E. Seventh St., Suite 617, Cincinnati, OH 45202.
Short Take
BY MIKE BREEN
BETTER THAN EZRA Deluxe (Elekira).
Better Than Ezra passionately plays straight-ahead, college radio-friendly Pop better than most anyone in the field. The songs from Deluxe span a range of styles, but the New Orleans-based trio calls upon the variety of influences without losing coherence. The three gracefully
jump from the crunchy, Live/REM-ish single “Good,” to the Latin-influenced “Rosealia,” to the light yet emotional ballad “Cry in the Sun.” With an ever-growing buzz and heavy radio play on the nation’s Alternative stations, Better Than Ezra is positively a band on the rise.
Better Than Ezra will play Sudsy Malone’s on Tuesday. CityBeat grade: B.
Music
WILBERT LONGMIRE Jazz. 4 p.m. Sunday. Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati, Clifton. $5 and $10. 556-4183.
BLUE LOU AND THE ACCUSATIONS Blues. Allyn’s Cafe. Cover.
BOB CUSHING Acoustic. Knotty Pine. Free.
EUGENE GOSS AND KEN KRESGE Jazz. The Promontory. Free.
FOREHEAD, ANVIL SLUGS AND BROTHER CANE Alternative favorites. Blue Note Cafe. Cover.
FRANK POWERS TRIO Eclectic. Arnold’s. Free.
GOSHORN BROS. Classic Rock. Tommy’s. Cover.
IDENTITY Reggae.
REVIEW
New Tunes
POSITIVELY VEAH YEAH YEAH
BY JOHN M. JAMES
No Shame in Being Funny
Bruce McCulloch, troupe member of Comedy Central's Kids in the Halt, has just released a clever collection of audio skits and musical rants titled ShameBased Man (Atlantic Records). It’s kind of a Canadian version of King Missile in that the McCulloch’s sharp wit and observations are posed above retro-twangin’ musical beds by fellow Canucks Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet. This props up his performance art rambling about a variety of subjects: spending every vacation drunk watching Eraserhead, pondering the existence of fairies that look after his alcoholic father and recalling the days when acid had names like potato chips do now.
The track "Stalking” was featured recently as a short film on Saturday Night Live, where other short films by McCulloch will be featured this season.
Two other standouts on the 20-track album are
“That’s America” (“Where else can a guy get a job riding a whale at Marineland?”) and the personal musical empowerment declaration “Doors” (“Hey man, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. You know that new Depeche Mode album? It sucks. can say this, because know. Because I'm a Doors fan. ...”). Funny stuff.
They Drained Keg Doing This
Need a reason or theme to base a new compilation album on? The title Songs About Drinking sez it all, and this double LP set on the Too Many Records label comes in a literally unique package. Every cover is hand-created by recycling old album jackets into something new.
Some of the bands include Sea Pigs, Pounded Clown and Strawman.
Tunes on the Tube
MTV continues this week of unplugged domination. Thursday, catch an encore of Sheryl Crow Unplugged, featuring her version of Led Zeppelin’s “D'yer Maker" and a 30-minute MTV News Raw interview following the performance. Friday night, they rebroadcast the entire Melissa Etheridge Unplugged with special guest Bruce Springsteen. Also mark your calendars for Mike Watt on The Jon Stewart Show on April 28.
Releases Coming Tuesday
And like the winds, young grasshopper, are subject to change. Aphex Twin / Care Because You Do (Sire); Billy Pilgrim Bloom (Atlantic); Miles Davis Live at the Plugged Nickel (Columbia), seven-CD box set; The Dentists Deep Six (EastWest); Doctor Zhivago original motion picture soundtrack (Rhino Records), 30th anniversary edition; Bob Dylan Unplugged (Columbia), CD and cassette release; Roger Eno Lost in Translation (Gyroscope / Caroline); Filter Short Bus (Reprise); Flotsam & Jetsam Drift (MCA); The Human League Octopus (EastWest); King Crimson THRACK (Capitol); Rahsaan Roland Kirk Simmer, Reduce, Garnish and Serve (Warner Bros.), compilation; Little Feat Ain’t Had Enough Fun (Zoo); Thurston Moore Psychic Hearts (Geffen), solo double album on green and black wax!; Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild (Atlantic); The Pooh Sticks Optimistic Fool (Seed), fourth full-length album; Iggy Pop & the Stooges Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell (Griffin); Shabba Ranks Ah Mi Shabba (Epic); Sonic Youth Bad Moon Rising (Geffen), reissue; Super Cat The Struggle Continues (Columbia); Teenage Fanclub TBA (Geffen); various artists Hillbilly Fever (Rhino), five-volume series; Vocal Sampling Una Forma Mas (Sire), all sounds by human voices and body parts!; Yo La Tengo Electr-o-pura (Matador), the seventh album.
JOHN JAMES can be found behind the counter at Wizard Records in Corryville.
SNAGGLETOOTH, ROUNDHEAD AND SOUND MIND Alternative. Top Cat’s. Cover.
SONNY MOORMAN AND THE DOGS Blues. Burbank’s Forest Fair. Free.
TOM MARTIN Rock. Mt. Adams Pavilion. Cover.
UNCLE SIX Rock. Sudsy Malone’s. Cover.
UNDER THE SUN AND THE DAMN VANS Alternative. Salamone’s. Cover.
THE WEBSTERS, JOHNNY CLUELESS, MILHAUS AND MORE Rock favorites. Caddy’s. $5.
SUNDAY
APRIL 23
THE BLUEBIRDS Blues. Allyn's Cafe. Cover.
CAT CITY Jazz. Blue Wisp. Cover.
DAVE SAMS Acoustic. Blind Lemon. Cover.
THE IMPULSE BAND FEATURING RICHARD DANIELS Jazz. Babe Baker’s. Free.
JOHN KOGGE AND THE LONESOME STRANGERS Folk. The Stadium. Cover.
LUBE, OIL AND FILTER Rockabilly. Mt. Adams Pavilion. Cover, THE MENUS Rock favorites. Katmandu Cafe. Cover.
MILHAUS AND THE MENUS Rock favorites. Blue Note Cafe. Cover.
MISS MAY 66 AND THISTLE Rock. Sudsy Malone’s. Cover.
NOAH HUNT AND JASON DENNIE Acoustic. Tommy’s. Free.
PAVILION MUSIC CO. ORCHESTRA Big Band. Skipper’s Lounge. $5 -
PIERRE BENSUSAN Folk. Canal Street Tavern. Cover.
STACY THE BLUES DOCTOR WITH BLUES U CAN USE Blues. Local 1207. Cover.
ST. ALPHONSO’S Rock. Ozzie’s. Cover.
MONDAY APRIL 24
BILLY LARKIN Jazz. The Promontory. Free.
BINGO BONGO Folk. Main Street Brewery. Cover.
BOB CUSHING Acoustic. Cloverleaf Lakes. Free.
CAPTAIN MIKE’S OPEN JAM Open mic. Blue Note Cafe. Cover.
DAYTON JAZZ ORCHESTRA Big Band. Gilly’s. Cover.
FRED GARY AND DOTTIE WARNER Eclectic. Arnold's. Free.
G. LOVE AND SPECIAL SAUCE AND BU BU KLAN Alternative. Sudsy Malone’s. Cover.
INFINITY CONNECTION Poetry and music. Kaldi’s. Free.
MARC MICHAELSON Rock. Mt. Adams Pavilion. Cover.
PAUL PLUMMER QUARTET Jazz. Blue Wisp. Cover.
PHIL BLANK BLUES BAND Blues. Burbank’s Tri-County. Free. SCOTT KARNER Acoustic. Blind Lemon. Cover.
SONNY MOORMAN AND THE DOGS Blues. Fat Frank’s. Cover.
TUESDAY
THE MENUS Rock favorites. Katmandu Cafe. Cover.
NOAH HUNT AND JASON DENNIE Acoustic. Local 1207. Cover.
ONLY MORTALS Rock favorites. Main Street Brewery. Cover.
LAURIE TRAVELINE, CHRIS ALLEN AND MILES LORETTA Acoustic. The Friendly Stop. Free.
OVERDUE AND THE MENUS Rock favorites. Blue Note Cafe. Cover.
MANDY GAINES TRIO Jazz. Main Street Brewery. Cover.
PHIL BLANK BLUES BAND Blues. Burbank’s Tri-County. Free.
SHINDIG Rock favorites. Murray's Pub. Cover. SHOUT Open mic. Empire. Free. SONNY MOORMAN AND THE DOGS Blues. Fat Frank’s. Cover. TRILOGY Classic Rock. Mt. Adams Pavilion. Cover.
PHIL BLANK BLUES BAND Blues. Burbank’s Tri-County. Free.
WEDNESDAY APRIL 26
6 DEGREES AND SLICKFEET Rock. Ozzie's. Cover.
Coming Soon
ANN CHAMBERLAIN AND SHIRLEY JESTER Jazz. The Promontory. Free.
BRAINIAC Sudsy Malone’s. Thursday, April 27. Cover. 751-9011. HELIUM Sudsy Malone's. Friday, April 28. Cover.
ARCHERS OF LOAF AND SISTERN Alternative. Sudsy Malone’s. Cover.
ARK BAND Reggae. Ripleys. Cover.
ARNOLD'S WEDNESDAY NIGHT GUYS Eclectic. Arnold's. Free.
BLUE BIRDS Blues. Tommy’s. Cover.
BLUE WISP BIG BAND Jazz. Blue Wisp. Cover.
BRIAN LOVELY AND THE SECRET Alternative Rock. Shady O’Grady's. Free.
CELTIC JAM Celtic. Hap's Irish Pub. Free.
CURTIS CHARLES Classic Rock. Zipper’s. Free.
FESTIVE SKELETONS Rock favorites. Blue Note Cafe. Cover.
FOREHEAD Alternative favorites. Murray’s Pub. Cover.
GREENWICH TAVERN JAZZ ENSEMBLE Jazz. Greenwich Tavern. Cover.
JEFF GOITHER Acoustic. Blind Lemon. Cover.
KENNY TAYLOR Rock. Scooter’s. Free.
MATT REYNOLDS QUARTET Jazz. York Street International Cafe. Cover.
KISS OF DEATH Actor David Caruso received a lot of flak for leaving the critically acclaimed TV drama NYPD Blue. Making the jump from TV to the big screen may be harder than he thinks. But based on the advance buzz, Kiss of Death should shut up Caruso’s skeptics. Loosely based on the 1947 film of the same name, Kiss of Death follows Jimmy Kilmartin (Caruso) as he crosses path with the law and the underworld to bring down a car-theft ring headedcy the gangster Little Junior (Nicolas Cage). With a screenplay by author Richard Price {dockers), director Barbet Schroeder ( Reversal of Fortune, Single White Female) looks to deliver the type of crowd-pleaser that audiences have been waiting for. With Samuel L. Jackson and Helen Hunt. (Rated R; opens Friday at Showcase Cinemas.) No screening.
SUMMARIES AND CAPSULE REVIEWS
BV STEVE RAMOS
Opening
MIAMI RHAPSODY First time director David Frankel pays homage to Woody Allen in this comedy about a young woman (Sarah Jessica Parker) who’s about to get married. Witnessing her family’s infidelities, she questions the reality of commitment in today’s world. Love and neurosis, all set in the Jewish community of Miami. With Antonio Banderas and Mia Farrow. (Rated PG-13; opens Friday at the Little Art Theatre, Yellow Springs.) No screening.
THE BASKETBALL DIARIES
Stuck in production limbo for years, poet/musician Jim Carroll's The Basketball Diaries finally makes it to the silver screen. Thank star power, actor Leonardo DiCaprio’s star power. Because of him, director Scott Kalvert finally received financial backing to make the movie, and because of DiCaprio, The Basketball Diaries is an emotionally wrenching and powerful movie experience. For those not familiar with his autobiographical chronicle, Carroll's teen-age years on the streets of New York were filled with drug addiction, street-hustling and petty thefts.
Carroll (DiCaprio) and friends Mickey (Mark Wahlberg), Pedro (James Madio) and Neutron (Patrick McGaw) are hot high school basketball players, but the streets possess temptations hard for a teen-ager to say no to. Carroll soon finds himself locked in heroin addiction and his glory days on the basketball courts are behind him. He’s on the streets trying to get enough money for his next fix. He’ll turn tricks. He'll steal. He’s on the brink of death.
PRIEST Filthy. Perverse. Blasphemous. Nothing sells movie tickets like a good scandal. Promising boycotts, picketing and a nasty letterwriting campaign, the Catholic League inadvertently puts the spotlight on Priest. Is this mucl? ado about nothing? Not really. Overcoming a dreary beginning that looks like too many lowbudget British films, Priest evolves into a satisfying melodrama. A young priest, Father Greg Pilkington (Linus Roache), arrives at an inner-city Liverpool parish. Traditional in his ways, Father Greg finds things a bit shocking. Wakes turn into drunken riots. Resident pastor Father Matthew’s (Tom Wilkinson) sermons dwell on political issues instead of the metaphysical. Right away, Father Greg makes it known to all that he does not approve. No surprise. He’s also hard on himself. Personal conflicts soon become publie, and Father Greg finds himself embroiled in controversy that places his vocation in jeopardy. Controversy is what director Antonio Bird’s first feature film is all about. Consider its tabloid-like taboos homosexual priests and incest. Pretty wild stuff. Too bad it’s misleading. Priest plays more like a riveting character study than a piece of shock cinema. While its homosexual story-line may gather attention, a sub-plot revolving around a young girl being abused by her father makes a stronger impact.
Roache also makes an impact. With integrity, he pushes Priest out of the realm of TV movie of the week territory and fashions it into a credible bigscreen drama. Realistic, touching and surprisingly moving. “I won’t be your cause,” Father Greg tells a peer. “I won’t be your crusade.” Good advice for Priest’s filmmakers. Tell the Catholic League to go make their stand elsewhere. They’re putting politics where it does not belong, in a small melodrama. With Cathy Tyson. (Rated R; at the Esquire Theatre and the New Neon Movies, Dayton.)
No one will ever accuse The Basketball Diaries of glamorizing drugs in the typical Hollywood fashion. It’s ugly, brutally honest and at times in-your-face disgusting. It’s also an amazing tour-de-force for DiCaprio, whose performance is the most inspired turn from a young actor in a very long time. Hollywood gossip has him starring in the James Dean biography. Sounds just right. With Lorraine Bracco and Ernie Hudson. (Rated R; opens Friday at Loews Kenwood Twin, Tri-County and Florence.)
CityBoat grade: A.
THE CURE Only Hollywood can take a touching and significant subject like a child inflicted with HIV and turn it into a pile of hokey mush. Damn. One wishes hard for The Cure to be a good film. But wishing doesn’t make it so. Called “AIDS-boy" by the local hooligans, 11-year-old Dexter (Joseph Mazzello) develops a friendship with Eric (Brad Renfro), his next-door neighbor. Together they share laughs and adventure while pursuing a dream of finding a cure for Dexter’s illness. Overladen with touchy-feely sentiment, it comes as no surprise that this film was directed by Thirtysomething regular Peter Horton. Every character is drawn in bland, broad strokes. “AIDS-boy” is articulate, mature and wise; he lives with his good-mom (Annabella Sciorra), who laughs and jokes and makes icecream sundaes for dessert. Eric has a bad-mom (Diana Scarwid), who chainsmokes, swills bottles of wine and
CltyBeat grade: B. WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING Success can be scary. After driving the bus in last summer’s action hit Speed, Hollywood throws actress Sandra Bullock into a starring role, in a romantic-comedy no less. The result? Bullock 1, nay-sayers 0. Working at a Chicago Transit Authority token booth, Lucy (Bullock) has no family and few friends. Watching a handsome man (Peter Gallagher) pass through her token booth every day, she finds love at first sight. When Lucy’s dream lover falls onto the tracks, she saves his life. Taking him to the hospital, Lucy meets his family. Miscommunication occurs. Suddenly, she’s his fianc6e. Lucy likes the feeling and likes his family. After meeting the man’s brother, Jack (Bill Pullman), she falls in love with him Things can be complicated when you’re trapped in a lie. Tossing movie-star glamour aside, Bullock mixes girl-next-door looks and down-to-earth charisma into a wonderful star performance. It’s Bullock’s film, and she does wonders with an average script and luke-warm turn by Pullman. Does love triumph in the end? Hey, it’s a Disney movie. With
No Excuses
On a stage or in the studio , G. Love and Special Sauce like it in one take
INTERVIEW
BY
BRIAN BAKER
There is an overriding theme to the young career of Hip-Hop bluesmaster G. Love immediacy. Everything happens at once with the 21-year-old Philadelphia native and his partners, Special Sauce. The three (Love on guitar, vocals and harmonica; Jimmy Prescott on string bass; and Jeffrey Clemens on drums), by chance or choice, have lived their lives like they’ve conducted their recordings with no overdubs.
A year after forming, the band was signed to the Okeh label. Two weeks later, they were recording their eponymously titled first album, live in the studio. Then came months of club tours, opening in the larger venues, headlining the smaller ones. Whatever the audience, G. Love and Special Sauce were in their element busting a Delta groove in front of the living.
Now it’s a year after their debut and they find themselves in a Los Angeles studio mixing the tracks for their sophomore effort and the modus operandi is unchanged no overdubs. “What’s an overdub but an excuse, really,” says Love laughing.
Well, almost none. “We had to overdub one guitar part on “Kiss and Tell” because I broke a guitar string,” admits the G-man. Another track they’re working on, “Sweet Sugar Mama,” leaks into the phone during our interview. He begins to sing along with his own vocal track, an improvisation in the mold of the first album’s opening track, “The Things I Used to Do.”
That first album was a magnificent amalgam of style that their producer dubbed “ragmop,” a confident lacing together of the not-so-disparate elements of deep-roots Blues and contemporary urban Rap. The follow-up, scheduled for a fall release and tentatively titled The Coast to Coast Motel, promises to notch up the intensity considerably.
But even as G. Love reinvents a couple of genres, he bows to those who came before. When asked how influential he thinks his style could become, he avers to his predecessors. “We’re really doing something old, man,” he states casually. “Maybe we’re the evolution of what we’ve learned if I can be so bold as to say that.”
Like the bluesmen that came before him, G. Love is
very much a product of his surroundings. Growing up in the vicinity of Philadelphia’s South Street, he was exposed at an early age to street performers of every variety, from musicians to performance artists. “There was one guy who played wine glasses, man, set up like 50 glasses and played Mozart,” he says, still amazed by the craft. As a goof, he and his friends decided at 16 to stand out on the street and play for change. While they didn’t earn guitar cases full of cash, the experience gained was invaluable, in both the development of sound and in performing live. One other byproduct of those early days will be available only on this tour in the form of a cassette featuring some of the songs that Love used to bust out on the Philly sidewalks. Titled Oh Yeah, it features the early street versions of “Baby’s Got Sauce,” “Shooting Hoops” and “Rhyme for the Summertime,” among others.
“What’s
an overdub but an excuse, really.”
G. LOVE
When the new set is released this fall (“Maybe on my birthday, which is Oct. 3 ...”), Love has insisted that, like the band’s debut, a vinyl version will be among the formats. He is a staunch supporter of the viability of vinyl and had his contract written to reflect that concern. All of G. Love and Special Sauce’s material must appear in the not-yet-obsolete format.
As if all of his musical activism wasn’t enough, G. Love’s social concerns are a matter of public record as well. Formerly a phone canvasser for Sane Freeze (now known as Peace Action), he has donated a track from his Oh Yeah cassette for inclusion on the organization’s soon-to-be-released fund-raising compilation.
Last year, a Nike commercial that utilized “The Things I Used to Do” resulted in a payment in product royalties, namely a large number of shoes, which were donated to a shelter in Harlem. Proceeds from the single release of the homeless anthem “This Ain’t Living” were slated to benefit a homeless advocacy group, but with the new record so close, plans for a new single from the first disc were shelved. “We may put that single out ourselves,” says Love.
“As we grow as a business, we just feel that we have to give back more to the people,” Love says, seemingly without a sense of how unusual that level of concern appears in one so young.
Prediction: People will soon have plenty of cash for good works, based on the success of G. Love and Special Sauce.
G. LOVE AND SPECIAL SAUCE to Sudsy Malone’s Monday. Bu Bu Klan opens the show. 751-2300.
Staying friends and Muses for More
Than a Decade
BY BRIAN BAKER
Loyalty is a word that gets preached and not practiced much in the entertainment arts. Contracts are bought and sold, talent is a commodity on the exchange and money always talks. Bands form and dissolve at the whims of whoever is perceived to be the power broker of the entity. Friendship is often the first casualty in the negotiations. So it is refreshing to find two people whose friendship has flourished and matured in spite of the industry’s pitfalls. Through personnel shifts, critical praises and poison, and commercial indifference, the core of Throwing Muses has remained the best-friend tag team of Kristin Hersh and David Narcizo. (Bassist Bernard Georges and keyboardist Robert Rust round out the group on the current tour, which hits Bogart’s on Saturday.)
Guitarist, singer and main songwriter Hersh, of course, gamers the lioness’ share of the press. Her solo, acoustic release Hips and Makers (Reprise) was a resounding success last year, which led to more focus on her and fueled rumors that the Muses were no more. The recent release of University (Sire) should help dispel nasty breakup talk for the time being. Drummer Narcizo has heard plenty of stories about the band’s demise throughout the years and is never fazed by them.
For Narcizo, the glue that bonds his professional working relationship with Hersh is the material. “I have always been, and still am, very attracted to her songs,” says Narcizo. “As a songwriter, she still surprises me.”
That is merely the professional overview, which dates to 1983. Hersh and Narcizo have known each other since childhood, when their parents’ friendship brought them together as playmates. As teen-agers in their small Rhode Island community, Hersh started a band, which Narcizo tapped to play at his parents-outof-the-house party. After a succession of drummers, Hersh invited her friend to give it a try. “I was a little hesitant because 1 had never played anything but concert and marching drums in school,” Narcizo remembers. “1 had never actually played on a drum kit.”
Throwing Muses became the first American band signed to England’s archly atmospheric 4AD label. The switch to Sire Records, the departure of Hersh’s halfsister, Tanya Donelly to form Belly, and the aforementioned Hersh solo excursion have all been viewed as the Muses epitaph.
Narcizo admits that those times could have been much worse than they turned out to be. “I think if we were a band that got together to make it and be famous, we’d be really bitter,” Narcizo says plainly.
Rather than listen to the ravens in the media shouting about his band’s nevermore while Hersh worked on Hips and Makers Narcizo used his hiatus time by helping a friend in his picture-frame shop.
“It was therapeutic for about a week,” he says. “I just want to play.”
Never one to subscribe to the ritual of discipline, for the first time in years, Narcizo found himself practicing and discovering things he had wanted to learn for a very long time.
So the pages turn on yet another incarnation of the Muses. No doubt when this tour is over, some cataclysm will be predicted that once again closes the lid on the band. And absolutely no one should be surprised when Hersh and Narcizo emerge with yet another reinvented Throwing Muses.
THROWING MUSES plays Bogart’s Saturday. Cincy’s Ass Ponys opens the show. $10. 749-4949.
Jack Warden and Peter Boyle.(Rated PG; opens Friday at area Loews Theatres.)
CityBeat grade: B. THE WILD BUNCH Twenty six years after its initial release, director Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch returns to the big screen in the director’s original cut. An American classic, few movies have influenced today’s film culture like The Wild Bunch.
A gang of outlaws (including Ernest Borgnine, Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, j Jaime Sanchez, Bo Hopkins and Edmond O’Brien) led by William Holden face off against a former comrade (Robert Ryan) and the Mexican Army. Still controversial for its visceral images, its original R rating was briefly changed by the MCAA to NC-17 before Warner Bros, fought back suecessfully.
In a time when young movie-goers flock to Pulp Fiction, Peckinpah’s action sequences may seem too slow for today’s tastes. Too bad. The Wild Bunch reminds audiences that violence and suspense do not only exist at the quick-edit pace of a MTV video, They can also be quiet, cautious and move with the lyrical rhythm of poetry. For those who have only seen the studio's version video, these additional scenes make considerable impact on Peckinpah’s story, especially in explaining the antagonism between Holden and Ryan. Watching The Wild Bunch at the Cinerama Dome last month in L.A., this reviewer never expected the film to find its way to Cincinnati. This is the type of grade-A movie experience that hits the big cities and seldom reaches here. If there was ever a reason to be thankful for the re-opening of downtown’s Movies, this is it. The arrival of the director’s
Continuing
disco family, the Bradys, is still hanging around. The twist is that the world around them has moved on, but that wacky Brady Bunch is trapped in the '70s. Keeping true to her TV roots, actress Shelley Long (Diane of TV’s Cheers) takes a spin at portraying pulp icon Carol Brady. With Gary Cole and Michael McKean. (Rated PG-13; closes Thursday at area Loews Theatres.)
★ BULLETS OVER BROADWAY Dianne Wiest took home an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Woody Allen’s fantastic comedy. A young playwright (John Cusack) receives tips from an unlikely source. Allen’s trademark elements of witty dialogue, quality production and stellar cast are in place. (Rated R; closes Thursday at Norwood and Turfway.)
★ BYE
the worst kind of cinema nightmare, a boring action flick. Lawrence deserves better. (Rated R; at area Loews Theatres and opens Friday at Showcase Cincinnati.)
BILLY MADISON Comedian Adam Sandler of TV’s Saturday Night Live leaps onto the big screen in this story about a 27-year-old man, Billy Madison (Sandler), who repeats grade school so he can inherit'his father’s (Darren McGavin) billion-dollar hotel business. Attracting few ticket-buyers this time around, maybe Sandler will do his ‘opera man’ routine in his next film. (Rated PG-13; at Norwood, Turfway, Forest Fair, Biggs Place Eastgate; closes Thursday at Westwood.)
BORN TO BE WILD Punished by his mother (Helen Shaver), 14-yearold Rick (Wil Horneff) faces the burdensome task of cleaning her animal research lab everyday after school, Life stinks. But then, Rick meets a new friend at the lab, Katie. She’s funny. Smart. A real friend. Oh yeah, Katie’s also a 3-year-old gorilla. Kids are ignoring this tale of boy-beast friendship. Guess they’re waiting for Disney's Pocahantas. (Rated PG; closes Thursday at area Loews Theatres.)
BOYS ON THE SIDE Director Herbert Ross tells a woman’s tale that deals with trust, friendship and hope for the future. Now that doesn’t sound like just a woman's movie anymore. Maybe Whoopi Goldberg, Drew Barrymore and Mary-Louise Parker have some important lessons to share with as well. Chances that they do. (Rated R; at Norwood, Turfway, Forest Fair and Biggs Place Eastgate.)
THE BRADY BUNCH On a residential street in a Los Angeles suburb, something a bit strange is going on. It’s 1995 and TV's favorite pre-
friends follow suit with affairs of their own. Benny may learn more from this relationship than from all her school work put together. Director Pat O’Connor brings Maeve Binchy’s wellknown novel to the screen. With Colin Firth and Saffron Burrows. (Rated PG; at Loews Kenwood Towne Centre.)
COLONEL CHABERT Based on the novel by Honore de Balzac, Colonel Chabert, director Yves Angelo (The Accompanist and Un Coeur en Hiver) reunites two of France's acting powerhouses, Gerard Depardieu and Fanny Ardant, last seen together in Woman Next Door. In the year 1817, Count Ferraud (Andre Dussollier) plots to be rid of his wealthy wife (Ardant). Her riches were accumulated under Napoleon’s reign, and the Count knows that they have become a political obstacle to his own interests. Into their courtroom battles walks Colonel Chabert (Depardieu), an army officer believed killed 10 years earlier at the Battle of Eylau. Seeking to prove that his wife is no longer a widow, Chabert
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★ IMMORTAL BELOVED Director Bernard Rose takes liberties with the life of Ludwig van Beethoven in this mystery that searches for the composer’s immortal beloved. A rather ordinary story offers balance to a film that is so lush and extravagant in its production that this film crosses class barriers and epitomizes junk culture. As Beethoven, Gary Oldman finally finds a role that is deserving of his intensity. With Jeroen Krabbe and Isabella Rossellini. (Rated R; opens Friday at the New Neon Movies, Dayton.)
IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS
Director John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness puts a great twist on Stephen King-mania through its tale about a best-selling horror author whose books literally turn readers into monsters. Brought in by the publishing company,, insurance fraud investigator John Trent (Sam Neill) searches for the missing author Sutter Cane (Jurgen Prochnow). In past films, (Prince of Darkness, Halloween), Carpenter used less-clever material for a more-frightening effect. Here, the terrible irony is that he wastes what might be the best idea for a horror film in some time. With Charlton Heston. (Rated R; opens Friday at Norwood, Turfway, Forest Fair and Biggs Place Eastgate.)
★ INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE With a few scary moments, some horrific, blood-drenched sequences and one truly creepy scene. Interview emerges as a good, not great horror film. Tom Cruise is fine as Lestat, as is Brad Pitt as Louis. Thankfully, Interview ends on a wild scene that is both terrifying and hilarious. Too bad that tone was not held throughout the entire film. With Christian Slater. (Rated R; at Forest Fair and Biggs Place Eastgate.)
THE JUNGLE BOOK Disney s new adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling classic combines great photography of the Indian landscape and wildlife with a timeless story about a wild jungle boy named Mowgli (Jason Scott Lee). With Sam Neill. (Rated PG; at Norwood, Turfway, Forest Fair and Biggs Place Eastgate.)
JURY DUTY Inspired by the O.J. trial, Hollywood finds another vehicle for their favorite low-budget comedy star, Pauly Shore. This time around, Shore plays Tommy Collins, an unemployed young man who finds his jury duty gig to be the answer to his financial worries. As long as ticket-buyers keep flocking to see Shore’s movies, Hollywood will keep making them. Scary. With Tia Carrere. (Rated PG-13; at area Showcase Cinemas.)
JUST CAUSE Answering a cry for justice from a convict on Florida’s Death Row, Paul Armstrong (Sean Connery), a Harvard Law professor investigates the details of an 8-yearold case in small southern Florida town. He encounters resistance from both the arresting officer, Det. Tanny Brown (Larry Fishburne) and the residents. Director Arne Glimcher leaves behind the passionate romance of his debut effort, The Mambo Kings, and tackles author John Katzenbach’s best-selling thriller head-on. With Ed Harris and Kate Capshaw. (Rated R; closes Thursday at area LoewsTheatres.)
★ LEGENDS OF THE FALL Sharing an isolated existence on a large Montana ranch, Col. William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) and his three sons Alfred (Aidan Quinn), Tristan (Brad Pitt) and Samuel (Henry Thomas) experience some conflict when the youngest Ludlow, Samuel returns with his fiancee, Susannah
★ I.Q. Albert Einstein’s (Walter Matthau) niece Catherine (Meg Ryan) only has eyes for whiz-kids like her self. Ed (Tim Robbins) reads sci-fi magazines when he is not busy fixing cars at the local gas station. Ed knows that Catherine is the woman he loves. Here, her Uncle Albert and his group of loopy colleagues come to Ed’s rescue. Director Fred Schepisi (Roxanne, Six Degrees of Separation) reminds us that believable characters" with humorous dialogue create the finest comedy. With Charles Durning. (Rated PG; at Norwood, Turfway, Forest Fair and Biggs Place Eastgate.)
(Julia Ormond). From the cruelties of World War trench warfare to the hardships of a changing frontier, Legends of the Fall is the best kind of soap opera one that is larger than life. Melodrama finally receives the Tiffany treatment that this genre rightfully deserves. With Karina Lombard and Gordon Tootoosis. (Rated R; at Loews Florence.)
LOSING ISAIAH Desperate for crack, Khaila Richards (Halle Berry) abandons her baby in a Chicago alley. A white social worker, Margaret Lewin (Jessica Lange), discovers and adopts the black infant into her family. Years later, Khaila discovers her son is alive and wants him back. Margaret fears losing Isaiah, and the courts will decide whether the young boy (Marc John Jeffries) will return to his birth mother or remain with his adopted family. Based on the novel by Seth Margolis, director Stephen Gyllenhaal (A Dangerous Woman, Waterland) looks to spark a debate over issues of racism and what it means to be a parent. With the talents of Lange, winner of this year’s Best Actress Oscar, and Berry in the leads, Gyllenhaal may make the impact that he’s hoping for.
With Samuel L. Jackson and David Strathairn. (Rated R; closes Thursday at Showcase Cinemas Cincinnati.)
★ THE MADNESS OF KING
GEORGE Director Nicholas Hytner’s The Madness of King George peeks at the royal family’s back-stabbing, circa 1789. Life's a bit rough for his royal highness, King George III (Nigel Hawthorne). It doesn’t help matters when one’s senses begin to fade. Plotting against the king, disgruntled members of Parliament find an ally in his son, the Prince of Wales (Rupert Everett). A renowned stage director (Miss Saigon, Carousel), Hytner uses the broader spaces of cinema to unfold playwright Alan Bennett’s story across magnificent locations. After so many drab films from the British film industry, The Madness of King George is the most Hollywood-looking film to come from there in some time. Chuck the Masterpiece Theatre perception out the window. This movie has spunk. With Ian Holm. (Unrated; at the Esquire Theatre and New Neon Movies, Dayton.)
MAN OF THE HOUSE - 11 year old Ben Archer (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) plots to prevent Jack Sturges (Chevy Chase) from marrying his mom, Sandy (Farrah Fawcett) by making Jack look really dumb at the YMCA Indian Guides campfather/son games. If Tim Allen can make the jump from TV to silver screen with huge success, Home Improvement co-star Thomas figures to give it a whirl as well. (Rated PG; at area Showcase Cinemas.)
MAJOR PAYNE Finding his military career cut short, Maj. Bensen Winifred Payne (Damon Wayans) accepts an assignment at Madison Academy for Boys to turn a bunch of young, ill-behaved Junior ROTC cadets into a top-notch outfit. Wayans (In Living Color) and director Nick Castle (Dennis the Menace) do their best to make the movie's gags a lot funnier than its title’s play on words. With Karyn Parsons and William Hickey. (Rated PG-13; at area Showcase Cinemas.)
MRS. PARKER AND THE VICIOUS CIRCLE Juiced by a critically acclaimed performance of Dorothy Parker by actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, director Alan Rudolph (Choose Me, The Moderns) looks at Manhattan in the '20s and the antics of those members of the cultural aristocracy, the Algonquin Round Table. You decide: Does Rudolph's film portray this collection of writers, editors, poets and humorists as literary geniuses or simply a bunch of harddrinking, loose-living decadents? To no surprise, they’re a little bit of both. With Campbell Scott and Matthew Broderick. (Rated R; closes Thursday at the Esquire Theatre.)
MURDER IN THE FIRST Based on a true story from the 1940s, Henri Young (Kevin Bacon), faces unrelenting brutality during his incarceration at the notorious prison Alcatraz. His quest for justice teams him with an idealistic public defender, James Stamphill (Christian Slater). With Gary Oldman and Embeth Davidtz. (Rated R; at Norwood and Turfway.)
★ MURIEL’S WEDDING
Muriel's Wedding's first-time filmmaker PJ. Hogan puts a unique spin on this ugly duckling tale. Life’s pretty bad in Muriel’s (Toni Collette) tacky, coastal hometown of Porpoise Spit, Australia. She dreams of walking down the
church aisle, dressed in her wedding finery. Upon moving to Sydney with her friend Rhonda (Rachel Griffiths), Muriel plots a scheme that will change everyone’s perception of her once and for all. Funny, fresh and touchingly poignant, Hogan’s movie makes a star out of newcomer Collette. Granted, its ABBA soundtrack sticks in one’s mind for an uncomfortably long time. Still, it’s the laughter that you’ll remember most. With Bill Hunter. (Rated R; at Showcase Cinemas Cincinnati.)
★ NELL Jodie Foster, the industry’s most powerful woman, tackles Nell, a story about a young recluse who is discovered by Dr. Jerome Lovell (Liam Neeson), a local physician, and some university psychologists, including Dr. Paula Olsen (Natasha Richardson). In Nell, Foster proves she can tackle a role that is far removed from how audiences perceive her (very smart, articulate and attractive) and make it work. With Jeremy Davies. (Rated R; at Norwood, Turfway, Forest Fair, Biggs Place Eastgate.)
★ NOBODY’S FOOL An American acting treasure returns to the silver screen with a melancholy tale of an older man named Sully (Paul Newman), who faces up to aban-
WEST
fruitcake. With Judge Reinhold and Peter Boyle. (Rated PG; at Turfway, Forest Fair and Biggs Place Eastgate.)
★ THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH Based on Rosalie K. Fry’s 1957 novella, Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry, a young girl, Fiona (Jeni Courtney), longs for her young brother, Jamie (Cillian Byrne), who is betieved dead. She sees him on Roan Inish, an island where her family once lived. Are ancient spirits teasing with a young girl’s mind, or is Jamie alive? Working again with cinematographer Haskell Wexler (Matewan), director John Sayles crafts a story so beautiful, The Secret of Roan Inish qualifies as art. With Eileen Colgan and Mick Lally. (Rated PG; closes Thursday at Showcase Cinemas Cincinnati.)
★
UtterKiosk
Rebel Rising
20-year-old DiCaprio is being hailed as the next James Dean
INTERVIEW BY STEVE RAMOS
Pushing a tousled mop of hair away from his eyes, the young man faces a table full of reporters and makes his announcement: “I’m a regular 20-year-old.”
Unbelievable. Shocking. It can’t be true. Making this claim is actor Leonardo DiCaprio (Leo to friends), Hollywood’s brightest new star, the young man who stole This Boy’s Life away from Robert De Niro and the one who received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of a retarded boy in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?
Now, DiCaprio’s in his first starring role, playing musician/poet Jim Carroll in the film version of Carroll’s 1978 memoirs, The Basketball Diaries. Talking to DiCaprio at a New York hotel, it’s clear that he’s anything but regular.
Actress Lorraine Bracco has never seen anyone like him. As Carroll’s mother in the film, she had to keep reminding herself of DiCaprio’s age. His performance is one of a seasoned veteran as he portrays a teen-ager who immerses himself in the world of basketball, poetry and drugs. Bracco watched DiCaprio’s passion, brutal honesty and innocence. “Where does he grab this stuff from,” she wonders. “This kid’s got more than a lot of us combined.”
Hollywood’s noticing. DiCaprio can make films happen. Basketball Diaries’ director Scott Kalvert struggled for years to make this movie. When DiCaprio signed on, the production got off the ground. Talent is important, but talent combined with box-office appeal is deadly. In Hollywood’s eyes, DiCaprio’s killer.
In a town filled with inflated egos, DiCaprio’s parents, George and Irmalin, keep his feet on the ground. Separated when their son was 1 year old, they remain friendly to each other and work full-time for DiCaprio’s production company. They manage his schedule and filter out bad scripts.
Is DiCaprio kept in a protective bubble? He hopes so. “I feel that I’m separate from Hollywood,” he says. “I live in Hollywood, but I don’t take these (industry) people seriously.”
Growing up near the Hollywood Billiards, in what he refers to as “the middle of dirt,” DiCaprio learned early about drugs, prostitution and homelessness. He has yet to acquire a Beverly Hills address. He lives with his mother and dog in a modest East Hollywood ranch house. The set-up confuses the press.
While filming The Basketball Diaries, the gossip
Film
columnists had a field day. To them, DiCaprio was a party animal, a club-crawler who never slept. Yet, a recent piece in Details magazine portrayed him as a homebody somebody who’d rather play with his dog and watch videos.
Who’s the real Leonardo DiCaprio?
“I’m not exactly Mr. Momma’s Boy,” he says. “I like to go have fun. I like to meet people. I like to travel.” But work comes first.
DiCaprio’s rule?
There are no rules. “I don’t have big expectations on myself to be great in every film,” he says. “I want to have room to make mistakes because that’s where you learn the most. The only thing is I want to choose good movies.”
DiCaprio’s accolades may be catching up with him. Being called a great young actor is one thing. Unanimously considered to be today’s greatest young actor, that’s a big difference. “I think that Leo is brilliant,” says Kalvert, pointing to a scene in The Basketball Diaries. Strung out on heroin, DiCaprio’s character bangs on his mother’s apartment door, begging for money. Screaming. Swearing. Finally, he cries, “Mommy, please, I’O be a good boy.” That dialogue was not in the script but something DiCaprio ad-libbed.
“I don’t think that anyone is ever going to say that the kid isn’t brilliant,” Kalvert says. “He’s just one in a million. It doesn’t look like somebody’s acting. It looks like someone’s living through the movie.”
DiCaprio’s next role may be living the life of his idol, actor James Dean, in a movie biography. “It would be such a damn challenge,” he says. “No matter how good you are, you’re never going to be who he is.” If he agrees to it, the movie will begin production this year. DiCaprio, the next James Dean? Watching his performance in The Basketball Diaries, statements like that begin to make sense. That’s the kind of stuff DiCaprio loves to hear.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as aspiring writer Jim Carroll The Basketball Diaries.
a jet. Based on Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin’s hip comic, Tank Gid goofs up by going liveaction instead of animation. Maybe, they'll get things right for sequel. Until then, just buy the comic. With IceT, Iggy Pop and Ann Magnuson. (Rated R; closes Thursday at Loews Florence.)
TOM AND VIV Brilliant poet, awful person. Director Brian Gilbert’s Tom and Viv promises to show both sides of T.S. Eliot (Willem Dafoe).
Based on a play by Michael Hastings, Tom and Viv looks
his masterpieces like The Wasteland, finds himself incapable of facing Viv’s problems. Receiving Oscar nominations for Best Actress (Richardson) and Best Supporting Actress (Rosemary Harris), Tom and Viv wowed most critics, its audiences? Well, that may be another story. With Tim Dutton. (Rated R; closes Thursday at the Movies.)
TOMMY BOY Graduating from college, Tommy Callahan (Chris Farley) returns home to Sandusky, Ohio, and learns his father’s business. To everyone’s
‘Jefferson’ Hangs in Umbo
REVIEW BY STEVE RAMOS
Thomas Jefferson (Nick Nolte) never had a chance. Taking liberties with his factual life for dramatic reasons, producer Ismail Merchant, director James Ivory and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala inject Jefferson in Paris with a heavy dose of make-believe.
Titillating audiences with subplots regarding an affair with his slave, Sally Hemings (Thandie Newton), and hints of intimacy with his oldest daughter, Patsy (Gwyneth Paltrow), Merchant and Ivory then step back as if embarrassed by the scandal. No one’s happy. Historians take issue with the screenplay.
Inspired by the 1974 book Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History, Jhabvala’s revisionism puts Jefferson in Paris during the years when he really was in Virginia and leaves out important colleagues such as Benjamin Franklin and John Adams.
For the regular-film filmgoer, Merchant-Ivory’s hints at scandal frustrate: Do a soap-opera right, or don’t do it all. Here, the camera focuses on Jefferson as he moves toward Patsy. Right when it looks like their lips will shockingly touch, the camera pulls back. No fair and no fun. In a time filled with Tommy Boys and Tank Girls, Merchant and Ivory bring high-brow entertainment to the multiplexes. Look at their track record: A Room with a View, Howard’s End and The Remains of the Day. Popular. Profitable. Critically acclaimed. Merchant and Ivory know what to do: Take a historical set piece, use elaborate costumes, place actors in breathtaking sets. Voila! A guaranteed winner.
A widower homesick for his Virginia plantation, ambassador Thomas Jefferson (Nick Nolte) forms a lifelong friendship with Sally Hemings (Thandie Newton) in Jefferson in Paris.
So explain a total loser like Jefferson in Paris.
Nolte is only adequate as our founding father, looking at the camera, speaking his lines without mumbling. But the story’s main plot, Jefferson’s love affair with Maria Cosway (Greta Scacchi), fails from her flat performance. Jefferson in Paris is caught in limbo. Not accurate enough for interested scholars and too academic for average filmgoers, this movie will bore any and all interested parties. CltyBeat grade: D.
TV’s Saturday Night Live, producer Lome Michaels yanks Farley and Spade off the tube and tosses them upon the silver screen. Are we witnessing the next Martin and Lewis? With Rob Lowe and Julie Warner. (Rated PG; at area Showcase Cinemas.) THREE NINJAS KNUCKLE UP With louder shrieks and goofier slapstick, Three Ninjas continues to deliver what America’s kids want. Sure, these ninjas are OK, but those Mighty Morphin Power Rangers would probably kick their butts. (Rated PG-13; closes Thursday at area Showcase Cinemas.)
ioned heart on its gold-sequined sleeve. Surprisingly, the film promotes gentle themes of family and romance. But in true ’90s fashion, these protagonists dress in drag. With Terence Stamp and Hugo Weaving. (Rated R; 11:50 p.m. Friday at the New Neon Movies, Dayton.)
CELEBRATING THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH The Main Library’s Filmagic series gives children a peek inside the big-top (Unrated; 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Main Library, Downtown. 369-6922.)
revive an old argument during Rosh Hashanah. Based on the short story by Chaim Grade, a powerful look at a confrontation between the secular and the religious. (Unrated; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Temple of Shalom.) THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW Local lovers of the time warp may want to travel up Interstate 75 for the opportunity to throw toast and toilet paper. Hey, how far will you go for a sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania? (Rated R;
★ CLERKS Smart people stuck in
Openings
PHOTO: A. BORREL
CAFE ESPRESSO Works by Thomas Greene Jr. 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday. Borders Books and Music, 11711 Princeton Road, Springdale. 671-5852.
★ CAFE Z A series of lithographs by April Foster are on display. Twentyfive percent of the proceeds go to AVOC (AIDS Volunteers of Cincinnati). Through May 31. 227 W. Ninth St., Downtown. 651-3287.
C.A.G.E. Presents Erkel's Salon, an exhibit of local art and music. Through April 30. Noon-8 p.m. Friday, noon-6 p.m. Saturday, noon-4 p.m. Sunday. 1416 Main St., Over-theRhine. 381-2437.
★ CARL SOLWAY GALLERY Limbus: The Source of a Mechanical Opera is a portfolio of 65 woodcuts by Jay Bolotin, with hand-coloring, related paintings and drawings for the new opera. Through June 2. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, Saturday by appointment. 424 Findlay St., West End. 621-0069.
CARNEGIE ARTS CENTER Paintings by Cincinnatian Aileen May are displayed in the Duveneck Gallery. Drawings and paintings by Daniel Beard can be found in the Aileen McCarthy Gallery; the Corner Gallery features naive paintings by Covington’s Mary Bruce Sharon, and the Downstairs Gallery spotlights the Creative Youth Expo and 4th Congressional District Art Discovery. Through April 29. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, noon-4 p.m. Saturday. 1028 Scott Blvd., Covington. 491-2030.
CINCINNATI ART GALLERIES Works by Potthast, Weis and the Wessels as well as a fine collection of Rookwood pottery. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m.4 p.m. Saturday. 635 Main St., Downtown. 381-2128.
CINCINNATI NATURE CENTER Landscapes by Cincinnatian James Benesch. Through April 23. 4949 Tealtown Road, Milford. 831-1711.
★ CIVIC GARDEN CENTER OF GREATER CINCINNATI Enjoy the center’s gardens in spring and take in the 18th biennial Art Academy of Cincinnati Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition. Through April 30. Works by J.A. Ritschel. Through April 28. 9 a.m.4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.3 p.m. Saturday. 2715 Reading Road, Avondale. 221-0981.
CLOSSON’S GALLERY DOWNTOWN Presents 19th and 20th century American, European, regional, Far Eastern and West African paintings, prints and sculpture. Through May 1. Permanent collection features some of the best art by Cincinnati's earlier artists, including Frank Duveneck, John Henry Twachtman, Herman and Bessie Wessel, Charles Meurer, William Louis Sonntag, John Weis, Charles Salis Kaelin, Julie Morrow DeForest and Henry Mosler. 10 a.m.-8
Dancing at Jimmy’s Collages
REVIEW BY FRAN WATSON
There are advantages to exhibiting art in a restaurant nice long hours of availability, lots of wall space and a captive audience that spends more than a few seconds contemplating the art. For disadvantages, consider an unevenly informed band of critics who might be less than interested in the cutting edge.
Fortunately, Anthony Becker, now showing at Jimmy’s restaurant downtown, covers many bases. The bar and restaurant area feature more traditional pieces, all well-received by the clientele. There are some quite good watercolor landscapes that introduce Becker’s sure eye and a penchant for verve, a few oil landscapes and some energetic expressionism toward the back of the room.
These last works are inspired by Becker’s own garden not, however, the charming, manicured plots of recent spring catalogs. Becker seems more in tune with the constant motion and passion of nature. If expressionistic breezes can be painted, they are here, along with raindrops, the slow movement of growth and decay and, beneath the petals, the quiet busyness of insects. He utilizes matte black calligraphy to emphasize the lavish vegetation, allowing an occasional flashy daylily to escape the layers of surface, re-establishing subject matter.
“Summer Fireworks,” an 8-by-4-foot diptych in oil on canvas, runs the gamut of lush good painting. Becker likes a lot of paint and knows how to keep it together in spite of slash-and-crash excitement. His brushwork is the scene-stealer in “Industrial Landscape,” looking eastward over Cincinnati. It smacks of late Cincinnatian Paul Chidlaw’s way with pigment, with recognized perspective leading the eye along a lavender Ohio River.
In all of the paintings, despite their various media and styles, Becker constantly adheres to basic art rules, just almost instinctively. Strokes are never so swift that they don’t add up to comfortable composition. Colors are always compatible and balanced without sacrificing spontaneity. One senses an innate ability at work.
In Jimmy’s “music room,” five couples of wonderfully surprising dancers cavort. This time the medium is collage, and the style is sheer fun. All perspective relationships are unusual, to say the least. Body parts on individual figures never match. Costumes are patched together with pretty close patterns inviting second takes. So much is worth seeing that it’s difficult to take in everything big pink lips on little faces, eyes of different sizes (but full of meaning), a man’s bare toes
being trod upon by his partner’s needle-nosed pumps, and strangely formed Frankenstein hands with fingers from many sources that encircle waists and gesture in rhythmic enthusiasm.
Most of this collage material is cut from magazines, including occasional cryptic fragments of print that seem so appropriate to the overall design. Becker will join many different shades of a single color in one area to compound confusion. (Black fur photographs entirely differently from black satin, for instance.) Direction becomes tricky, too, as light hits from a variety of sources in a single space, or the drape of a cloth defies gravity. Where nothing else will do, painted, scored paper is applied for yet another texture.
While this quintet of
Five of Anthony Becker’s collages of dancers are on display at Jimmy’s on Walnut Street.
“Dancers” boogies along one wall, a single “Dancing Couple” is hung separately. Its female dancer clamps a rose between her perfect teeth. Behind her, two hotties of Head & Shoulders shampoo float like fugitives from a lost commercial as the man blatantly watches to see who is watching him a dash of social commentary, perhaps, on our flawless, commercial lifestyle, full of flake-free hair, cavityless smiles, fresh country fragrance and the ponderous importance of other people’s opinions. Nonetheless, they, like their five peer couples, are outlandish exhibitionists; dressed to kill and making all the right moves. In spite of unorthodox construction, their positions are those of absorbed activity. The coupies are locked in dance. Their strangely askew faces reveal pure pleasure in the moment and each other. Flamboyant jitterbugs, flung apart by the joyous beat, are the only pair not complexly intertwined, another element of intrigue further enhanced by collage. Collage is a medium that thrives on ambiguity. Its mosaic of incongruous elements creates dimension through tone and texture, coming to life from surprising sources. But even this freedom, where everything goes, does not preclude the quality of rendering, a very present element in all of Becker’s work. Even the dimensional arty pun of “Rembrandt,” with hair of battered brush bristles and a curling mustache of old paint tubes, emerges as a truly recognizable self-portrait of the master. And like any fine creative artist, Becker makes it all look so easy.
ANTHONY BECKER’S works display through April at Jimmy's, 1005 Walnut St., Downtown. 621-9828.
GOLDEN RAM GALLERY Original oil paintings by Nelle Ferrara. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. 6810 Miami Ave., Madeira. 271-8000.
★ CLOSSON'S GALLERY KENWOOD Recent Paintings: Art of the Flower displays works by Melinda Bitting. A devoted birder, Bitting is the principle illustrator for a Fieldguide to the Birds of the Philippines, to be published this year by Oxford University Press. Through May 12. 10 a.m.8 p.m. Monday-Saturday. 7866 Montgomery Road, Kenwood. 891-5531.
HARROGATE Works exhibited are mostly of maritime themes including 19th and 20th century paintings, ship models and artifacts. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. 3075 Madison Road, Oakley. 321-6020.
★ HASSELLE POTTERY AND DESIGN ARTS GALLERYPresents New Work in Clay by Robert Hasselle and Terri Kern. Through April 30. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. 4046 Hamilton Ave., Northside. 541-1171.
★ COLLECTOR BOOK AND PRINT GALLERY Spotlights abstracts and Irish sketches by Cincinnati artist Reginald Grooms, who taught art at UC for more than 40 years. Through June 30. There also will be a special display of Stephen Birmingham’s works. 3-6 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. 1801 Chase Ave., Northside. 542-6600.
HEBREW UNION COLLEGE SKIRBALL MUSEUM Contemporary Jewish and Israeli artists present Aishet Hayil: A Woman of Valor. Through April 23. 11 a.m.4 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 2-5 p.m. Sunday. 3101 Clifton Ave., Clifton. 221-1875.
★ HILLEL JEWISH STUDENT CENTER A joint exhibit features works on paper by Haifa native Itzhak Shalhevet and stone sculptures by Andrew Barnett Davis. Through April 28. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday. 2615 Clifton Ave., Clifton. 221-6728.
SHARON COOK GALLERY Serene transitional to wild abstract imagery. The gallery represents Phoenix Art Press and Winn-Devon. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. 1118 Pendleton, Over-the-Rhine. 579-8111.
DIJOHN Paintings by Fran Watson and relief sculptures by Larry Watson. Through May 31. 742 Madison Ave., Covington. 781-0623.
★ IN SITU Elementi: Solum, Aer, Ignus, Aqua features color photographs of the Great Plains by Larry W. Schwarm. Through May 20. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. 1435 Main St., Over-the-Rhine. 651-4613.
★ FITTON CENTER FOR CREATIVE ARTS The 31st Greater Hamilton Art Exhibit displays 62 juried works in all media from Hamilton-area artists. Through April 28. 9 a.m.8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m.-noon Saturday. 101 S. Monument Ave., Hamilton. 863-8873.
★ IN SITU INSIDE Photographs, a collection of gelatin silver prints by Margaret Silverman, is the first show to be displayed in the new exhibition space, designed especially for photography, printmaking and drawing. Through May 20. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. 1435 Main St., Over-the-Rhine. 651-4613.
INNER SPACE DESIGN
Currently showing works by James Brown, Robert Motherwell, Roy Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelley, Robert Rauschenberg, Louis Bourgeois,
★ GALLERY AT WELLAGE & BUXTON Small Works on Paper highlights works by Gretchen Andres. Through April 25.10 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. 1431 Main St., Over-the-Rhine. 241-9127.
spring cleaning Phantasy Emporium Magic, Star Trek TNG, Jyhad & other card games; comic books & science fiction
GALLERY 48 Action Auction Art. Through April 28. The auction will take place April 28. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. 1223 Central Parkway, Over-theRhine. 381-4033.
GALLERY 99 Spring showing has new and varied works by 17 members. Through April 30. Noon-6 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, noon-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. 1101 St. Gregory St., Mount Adams. 651-1441.
YOU NEVER KNOW WHATS OUT THERE, LURCHIN' IN THE IKRAPT j
RAPTURE By Eric 4/20-22:8 p.m. Sun, 4/23: 7 p.m. The Carnegie Theater 1028 Scott Street Covington Information: 541-2860
Mature Audiences Only Supported by
Cincinnati artist Mary Ann Lederer and Elizabeth Farians created the print “Dancing Lightly with the Living Earth,” at right. The work was created to “inspire and move people to adopt a way of life in harmony with the living earth,” says Farians, who heads Artist Advocates for Animals, People and the Environment (APE). The 14-by-22-inch print is available for $17, including postage and handling. A postcard version is $1.25 plus a selfaddressed, stamped envelope. To receive a copy, send money to: APE, Donald Judd, Elizabeth Murray, Robert Indiana, Tom Nakashima and Louise Nevelson. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. MondaySaturday. 2128 Madison Road, O’Bryonville. 533-0300.
June 30. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. 19 E. Second St., Dayton, Ohio. 513-278-2710.
MILLER GALLERY The first major show of landscapes and genre scenes in the classic French Impressionist manner by Sotiris-Corzo. Through April 29. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday. 2715 Erie Ave., Hyde Park. 871-4420.
★ ONE SHOT GALLERY Presents new works by Cincinnati artist Mils, with vintage political cartoons by fellow Cincinnatian Claude Shafer. 10 a.m.4 p.m. weekdays, weekends by appointment. 658 Main St., Downtown. 721-1193.
ONLY ARTISTS - On display is a show of paintings, primarily oils on Masonite, by noted contemporary folk artist Hugo Sperger. Through April 30. Metal furniture by master craftsman Joe DeLuco of Cincinnati. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. 1315 Main St., Over-the-Rhine. 241-6672.
JAMAR GALLERY Has closed and is currently looking for a new location. It will be located temporarily at 79 Locust Hill Road, Anderson Township. By appointment only. 752-1344.
OVER-THE-RHINE A continuing exhibition of original work from more than 40 Over-the-Rhine artists. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Carew Tower Arcade, Downtown. 421-1110.
★ KZF GALLERY Between Abstraction and Realism: Where to Draw the Line highlights sculpture, paintings and works on paper by three Cincinnati-area artists: Karen Heyl, Sheila E. Yeagle and Heather Young. Through July 28. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. 655 Eden Park Drive, seventh floor, Walnut Hills. 621-6211.
LAURA PAUL GALLERY Fresh Paint features original works on canvas by Carol Griffith and Enrico Embroli, functional forms by Lynn Sweet and paint on paper by A. Hall. Through April 30. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, or by appointment. Dixie Terminal Arcade, 49 E. Fourth St., Downtown. 651-5885.
PENDLETON ART CENTER Houses a multitude of studios. 1310 Pendleton St., Over-the-Rhine. 721-6311.
LEFTHANDED MOON On display are sterling silver works by Joseph Antonio, and black and white photos by Robert Colgan. 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday. 48 E. Court St., Downtown. 784-1166.
ROSEWOOD ARTS CENTRE GALLERY Holding Stones, features sculptural objects by Palli Davene Davis of Oberlin, Ohio. Through May 19. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. 2655 Olson Drive, Kettering. 513-296-0294.
* SEMANTICS GALLERY 47 highlights recent drawings, paintings and sculpture by David Birkey and Janalyn Glascock. Through April 22. Friday. Noon-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. 1125 Walnut St., Over-the-Rhine. 684-0102.
STUDIO 701 Art from the Heart showcases large and small works on canvas and paper by M. Katherine Hurley, winner of a recent Artist’s magazine award. A good look at conservative landscape work. Studio 701 of the Pendleton Art Center, 1310 Pendleton St., Over-the-Rhine. 241-4123.
THE SUN’S EYE —An exhibition of art jewelry in sterling silver and gemstones by V.L. Punkari and J. Gustafson. Through April 30. 11 a.m.5:30 p.m. weekdays. 923 Vine St., Downtown. 241-2066.
TANGEMAN FINE ARTS GALLERY Enlightening the Classics: 18th Century Etchings of Ancient Roman Architecture. Through April 27. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. Tangeman Student Center, UC, Clifton.
★ MACHINE SHOP GALLERY
GRETA PETERSON GALERIE New selections in the Tomar Collection. Through April 22. 11 a.m.4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. 7696 Camargo Road, Madeira. 561-6785.
RAN GALLERY Permanent collection includes works by Potthast, Farny and Meakins. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday, noon-7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. 3668 Erie Ave., Hyde Park. 871-5604.
The solo retrospective Bukang Kim: 1985-1995 includes about 40 works by the Korean artist, some as large as 7 feet by 8 feet, predominantly acrylic on canvas and acrylic on paper. Through April 21. 11 a.m.2 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. 100 E. Central Parkway, Over-the-Rhine. 556-1928.
★ MALTON GALLERY Presents The Art of Printmaking, an exhibition that explores the various disciplines of
★
Theater
Works in Progress
BY DALE DOERMAN
Plays are the literary equivalent of amphibians classified as literature by some and theatrical fodder by others. Unlike lietion, plays are not usually intended for the reading public. Getting a script written and published are just steps toward the ultimate destination production.
So how does a director get exposed to potential productions? How does the playwright even know whether she or he is on the right track with the latest draft? There has to be a reading in front of an audience, and that’s what the Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati has in mind.
The 3rd Annual Local Playwright Festival occurs Friday through Sunday. Over the weekend, four playwrights will have an opportunity to get a good sense about how ready their scripts are for production. And who knows, maybe a director or board member in the audience will take an interest and consider that script for future production.
Onstage
Center in New York. The prospect of that New York reading excites McDonough. “I’m kind of proud about it,” McDonough admits. “Good exposure never hurts, so I kind of hope but I’ll probably know more about that after it takes place. I have to wait to see how big of a deal it is up there.”
“There’s certainly value for the playwrights themselves in hearing their work, but I think also it can be an opportunity for people who come to see it, too,” he says, adding that a question-and-answer period will allow the ETC audience learn more about the playwriting process and how a play evolves.
“I salute ETC for taking some leadership in this to provide a venue for playwrights and for the community to see and participate in the developing process of a play. This is a nice benefit, for those of us who write, that this is here.”
MICHAEL DeFRANCESCO, WHOSE ONE-ACT ‘CONFESSIONS' WILL BE READ
Michael DeFrancesco has been selected to have his one-act play, Confession, read. His script The Big Dig was part of last year’s festival.
“Last year was a very helpful experience in fact,” DeFrancesco explains. “It was held on two successive weekends, which had an added benefit. You were able to have a reading and hear an audience get a reaction from it plus have an actor’s response, then make changes and then hear the changes the following week. This year has a much tighter framework.”
DeFrancesco admits that “Cincinnati isn’t a play-writing town, like Minneapolis or some other places. Readings become something that have their own audience because they aren’t staged. I salute ETC for taking some leadership in this to provide a venue for playwrights and for the community to see and participate in the developing process of a play. This is a nice benefit, for those of us who write, that this is here.”
Joseph McDonough’s full-length Out of the Whirlwind also was selected for participation. This same script also will receive a staged reading at Lincoln
The only female playwright represented in the festival is Melanie Marnich. Her entry, Beautiful Again, won a 1994 Individual Artist’s Grant from the Ohio Arts Council. “That was one of the biggest validations that ever happened to me,” Marnich confides.
She also has penned some children’s theater, which was produced at the Taft Theatre for the Cincinnati Children’s Theatre Company, as well as a production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which opens in a few weeks. Her play Hero went on to two Equity showcases in New York.
Marnich says she will keep a close eye on this reading. “In the past, I have chosen to not always be so involved, and that’s not always a good thing.,” she says. “I know there’s a fine line in professionalism you have to walk in terms of protecting your work and your intent for the work and, of course, trusting the talented people that have gathered around to do it.
“As time goes on, I think that I’m learning to take in all of the comments that come to me and encourage the peopie I’m working with to really push and then judge for myself what is working and what isn’t,” she says. “Comments are always valid. Whether you choose to translate that into the text is another thing.”
Mark Alan Denny is the virgin playwright this time out with his play
CONTINUES ON PAGE 26
721-1000.
Onstage
★ ENSEMBLE THEATRE OF CINCINNATI ETC’s third annual Local Playwright Festival presents Joseph McDonough's Out of the Whirlwind, 7 p.m. Friday; Melanie Marnich’s Beautiful Again, 7 p.m. Saturday; Mark Alan Denny’s Caregiver and Michael DeFrancesco’s Confessions, 2 p.m. Sunday. $3. 1127 Vine St., Downtown. 421-3555.
Y.E.S. FESTIVAL Ray Geiger's Company Procedure, Cassi Harris’ Francis and the Biograph Girl and Eric Pfeffinger’s Traumaturgy, the winning plays in the seventh biennial new play festival, will be given their first fully staged performances, April 20-30. Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights. Tickets and times: 572-5433.
Classical Music
★ CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Jesus L6pez-Cobos conducts, with Alicia de Larrocha on the piano. The program features Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BMV 565; Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466; Cordero’s Fanfarria Jubilosa; and Villa-Lobos’ Bachiana Brasileiras Nos. 4 and 8. 11 a.m. Friday, 8 p.m. Saturday. $10$26. Music Hall, 1241 Elm St., Overthe-Rhine. 381-3300.
FOREST VIEW GARDENS Eat, drink and enjoy Hot on Cole, a Cole Porter review. Through April 30. Reservations required. ThursdaySunday. 4508 North Bend Road, Monfort Heights. 661-6434.
THE CINCINNATI SAXOPHONE QUARTET Presents its final concert. 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Taft Museum, 316 Pike St., Downtown. Free. Reservations required. 241-0343.
★ THE FOXROCK THEATRE COMPANY Presents Eric Overmyer’s Dark Rapture. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday. Through April 23. $10 adults; $5 students and seniors. Carnegie Theater, 1028 Scott St., Covington. 541-2860.
★ CINCINNATI BOYCHOIR Celebrates its 30th anniversary of its founding with special guests: the Dayton Boys Choir, Trinity Brass and Cincinnati Boychoir alumni. 8 p.m. Friday. $10; $6 students, seniors and Enjoy the Arts members. Mother of God Church, 119 W. Sixth St., Covington. 779-9485.
MIAMI VALLEY DINNER THEATRE Gypsy, the musical based on the life of Gypsy Rose Lee, runs through April 29. $26.95-$34.95. Route 73, Springboro. 513-746-4554.
CINCINNATI OPERA OUTREACH
RUINS Mark Fox presents “Object Theater" with marionettes, puppets and shadow puppets. 8 p.m. Friday. Through April 23. $5. 2827 Massachusetts Ave., Camp Washington. 651-2346.
The Arts and Humanities Resources Center for the Elderly presents “Famous Lyricists of the American Theater,” with a tribute to Cole Porter. Monday at Maple Knoll Senior Center, 11199 Springfield Pike, Springfield Township. Wednesday at Archbishop Leibold Home, 476 Riddle Road, Clifton. Friday at Twin Towers, 5343 Hamilton Ave., College Hill. All programs begin at 1:30 p.m. Free, but tickets should be picked up in advance. 369-4474.
SHOWBOAT MAJESTIC Tim Perrino directs The Wizard ofOz, the opening show of the 1995 season. Through May 7. 8 p.m. WednesdaySaturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday. $11 adults; $10 students and seniors; group rates also are available. Public Landing, at the foot of Broadway Street. 241-6550.
COLLEGE-CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC The Wind Symphony, under the baton of Frank Battisti of the New England Conservatory, performs. 8 p.m. Thursday. $10; free to UC students. Corbett Auditorium. University of Cincinnati, Clifton. 556-4183.
THE DAYTON ART INSTITUTE Classical pianist Karen Walwyn performs works by Liszt, Adolphus Hailstork and Louis Gottschalk. 3 p.m. Sunday. $5. Dayton Art Institute, 456 Belmonte Park North, Dayton, Ohio. 1-800-797-5500.
STAGECRAFTERS Berni Shayne directs Enter Laughing, a comedy by Carl Reiner and Joseph Stein. 8 p.m. Thursday, 9 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday. $7. Jewish Community Center, 580 Summit Road, Roselawn. 351-1234.
DAYTON PHILHARMONIC
Bring your own meal to "Bach’s Lunch" and listen to the Carillon Brass Quintet for free. 11:30 a.m. Friday. YWCA, 141 W. Third St., Dayton, Ohio. The Concert Band presents a free concert. 2 p.m.
★ VICTORIA THEATRE ASSOCIATION Theatre for the Young at Heart presents The Chinese Golden Dragon Acrobats, a dynamic troupe of dancers, tumblers, jugglers and athletes. 1 and 3:30 p.m. Saturday; 1, 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. Sunday. $8.50 adults; $6.50 students 12 and under. The 3:30 p.m. performance Saturday is audio-described and sign-interpreted. Victoria Theatre, 138 N. Main St., Dayton, Ohio. 513-228-3630.
WAN A K E
The Perfect Mother's Day Gift wiliiii 7 ■ §1111111
VILLAGE PUPPET THEATRE
Charles Killian presents The Dream of Prince Shiraz, a play based on tales from Indian folklore and mythology. Through May 28. 4:30 and 7 p.m. Friday; 12:30, 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. Saturday; and 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. $5.25. Special showings and prices available for groups of 15 or more. 606 Main St., Covington. 1291-5566 or through Select-A-Seat at
A tale of romance and tragedy. One of the most beloved ballets by audiences and dancers alike. ? M 13, 8pm • May 13 & 14, 2pm Tickets available at: TicketMasterOutlets, Thriftway Stores
or kycalling 749-4949
Saturday. Veterans Administration Center, 4100 W. Third St., Dayton, Ohio. 513-224-9000.
MAY FESTIVAL CHAMBER
CHOIR
A Resounding Y.E.S. for New Plays at NKU
BY RICK PENDER
The 70-voice choir, under the baton of Robert Porco, presents a free concert. 3 p.m. Sunday. St. Boniface Catholic Church, 1750 Chase Ave., Northside. 381-3300.
MNORTHERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY Faculty members Nina Key and Diana Belland team up for two piano duets by Dvorak and Bach. 8 p.m. Monday. Free. Greaves Concert Hall, NKU, Highland Heights. 572-5433.
ST. JOHN’S UNITARIAN
CHURCH Catherine Roma directs “Fine Musician Friends,” a benefit concert for AVOC (AIDS Volunteers of Cincinnati). 8 p.m. Saturday. $8 is the suggested donation. 320 Resor, Clifton. 961-1938.
ike King teaches theater at Northern Kentucky University, so he has read a lot of plays. He has certainly exceeded his quota for the past year, given the 140 he read during the selection process for NKU’s seventh biennial Y.E.S. Festival, which begins Thursday and runs through April 30 on various stages at the Highland Heights campus.
SORG OPERA COMPANY
In fact, 250 full-length plays were submitted, each of which was read twice as part of the initial screening. King, who supervised the selection process, says the top 20 were identified and then a balanced choice of three was made. “I’ve been here for 10 years,” he observes, “and I think this is one of the strongest festivals we’ve presented.”
Presents Gilbert and Sullivan’s lolanthe. 8 p.m. April 21-22. $15-$25 adults; $7.50-$12.50 full-time students 21 and under. Sorg Opera House, 63 S. Main St., Middletown. 513-425-0180.
★ XAVIER UNIVERSITY The Castellani-Andriacco Duo performs for the Xavier Classical Guitar Series. 2:30 p.m. Sunday. $11. 3800 Victory Parkway, Evanston. 745-3161.
Dance
★ CONTEMPORARY DANCE
The plays being given their first fully staged public performances are Ray Geiger’s dark comedy Company Procedure; Cassi Harris’ serious drama, Francis and the Biograph Girl; and a light romantic comedy by Eric R. Pfefftnger, Traumaturgy. The three shows will be presented in a revolving repertory mode during the 11-day Year End Series festival.
THEATER CDT’s 1994-95 concert series continues with Bebe Miller Company, an acclaimed New York dance company. 8 p.m. FridaySaturday, 7 p.m. Sunday. In conjunction with the performances, CDT holds its “Silent Auction Fund-Raising Benefit." Bidding for auction items takes place Friday-Saturday; there will be a special raffle Sunday. $15 adults; $10 students and seniors. The Dance Hall, Vine and East Daniels, Corryville. 721-1000.
King says the writers come in for the last week of rehearsal, so they can offer their insight to the performing students. Because these three playwrights happen to live in the Midwest (Geiger in Dayton, Ohio; Harris in Nashville, Term., and Pfefftnger in Bloomington, Ind.), they’ve actually come in several times as the productions have been assembled.
DAYTON CONTEMPORARY
“This is incredible training for young actors,” King says. “Typically, college students act in the classics, although as professionals they will more often do new works. This is more like the reality they’ll find when they start working.”
DANCE THEATER Bring your lunch and enjoy “Dance & Dialogue.” Noon Friday. Free. 126 N. Main St., Dayton, Ohio. 513-228-DCDC.
King also believes the Y.E.S. Festival is a service to members of the local community, who get to see new works, and to the writers. “The university environment allows for creativity and experi-
MONA TAPP Eclipsed Pulse is a multimedia performance incorporating dance, acting, slides, music and poetry. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. Through April 22. $7. Gabriel’s Corner, Sycamore and Liberty streets, Overthe-Rhine. 241-6553.
READINGS: FROM PAGE 25
Comedy
Caregivers (Sunday After Christmas), an adaptation of a short story he wrote some years earlier at Pima College in Tucson, Ariz. “A professor told me that he thought it was more of a stage piece than anything else.”
GO BANANAS Steve Barrett and Todd Tony through Sunday. ACME Comedy Troupe, with Roger Naylor, Michael Flannery, Steve Caminette and Bruce Wade, opens Wednesday. 8:30 and 10:45 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 8:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday and Sunday. $5 weekdays, $7 weekends. 8410 Market Place, Montgomery. 984-9288.
Denny, who’s working on a degree in English Literature at the University of Cincinnati, admits he has a novel finished and a “couple of screenplays sitting around collecting dust. I write it’s catch as catch can.”
When asked what he hopes to get out of the reading, Denny says: “The whole process is your plays are out there, you can’t hoard them. You have to share them, and you have to take the advice that’s given and see if it fits in with what
my focus of the play was supposed to be.
“Once the reading starts, that’s the key,” he says. “When you get the actors familiar with the script and they’re really dedicated to bringing the characters to life, that’s when I’ve seen what’s extraneous and what has to be removed, what really worked and what needs to be pushed further. So I’m interested to find out. The play is never done, ft’s never done.”
Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati presents its LOCAL PLAYWRIGHT FESTIVAL at the theater, 1127 Vine St., Over-theRhine. Out of The Whirlwind, 7 p.m. Friday; Beautiful Again, 7 p.m. Saturday; Caregiver and Confessions, 2 p.m. Sunday. $3 per performance. 421-3555.
mentation restraints,” world struggle nal ing, Stage. Conger, tale dramaturg plays fiancde to back Francis describes much not never based a volunteer (Ind.) Francis Theater. post-show
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF BREWINQ HISTORY AND ARTS
Houses the largest display of brewing and beer artifacts in the world.
10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. $4 adult tour and tasting; $3 adult tour only; $2 beer tasting only; under 12 free. Oldenberg Complex, Interstate 75 at Buttermilk Pike, Fort Mitchell. 341-2802.
BB RIVERBOATS Lunch, dinner, sightseeing cruises. Cruises depart from BB Riverboats’ base at Covington Landing. $4.50-$27.95. 261-8500.
parking. 3400 Vine St., Avondale. 281-4700.
BEHRINGER-CRAWFORD MUSE-
DAYTON MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY All My Relatives: Indian Life on the Plains runs through May 31. The museum also contains Wild Ohio, a zoo containing animals native to Ohio. Call 513-275-6656 for laser show times. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday. $3 adults; $1.50 ages 3-17; free to children 2 and under. 2699 DeWeese Parkway, Dayton, Ohio. 513-275-7431.
UM Housed within the historic Devou family home, it is the only museum of Northern Kentucky natural and cultural heritage. On display is the Harlan Hubbard Collection, donated by Hubbard in 1985. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 1-5 p.m. weekends. $2 adults; $1 students and seniors. Devou Park, Covington. 491-4003.
BENNINGHOFFERN HOUSE
DELHI HISTORICAL SOCIETYThe restored 1880 farmhouse features The Life and Times of Bootlegger George Remus; through June 30. Everything Old is New Again is a then-and-now exhibit of tools for the house and farm; through Sept. 30. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 1-3 p.m. Sunday. 468 Anderson Ferry, Delhi Township. 451-4313.
This restored Victorian mansion, built in 1861, provides the setting for the Butler County Historical Museum. 1-4 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday. $1 adults; free children 12 and under. 327 N. Second St., German Village, Hamilton. 513-893-7111.
DINSMORE HOMESTEAD - The historic farmstead built in 1841-42 home to the Dinsmore family who left a fascinating collection of letters, diaries and receipts. 1-5 p.m. Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. $3 adults; $2 seniors; $1.50 children under 12. 5654 Burlington Pike, Burlington, Ky. 586-6117.
BICENTENNIAL COMMONS A picturesque riverfront park. Skating hours: 4-9 p.m. Thursday, 5-10 p.m. Friday, noon-10 p.m. Saturday, noon7 p.m. Sunday. Admission: $2 adults; $1 children 12 and under. $1 skate rental; $2 roller blade rental. Bicentennial Commons at Sawyer Point, Downtown. Call first to confirm times. 352-6316.
GREATER LOVELAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY A Civil War Display features John Hunt Morgan's ride through Hamilton and Clermont counties. Through May 29. Other highlights include a turn-of-the-century kitchen and the Nisbet Library. 201 Riverside Drive, Loveland. 683-5692.
BUCKINGHAM LODGE A pre Civil War house now home to the Indian Hill Historical Society. By appointment only. Camargo Road, Indian Hill. 891-1873.
HARDING MUSEUM OF THE FRANKLIN AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Open 1-5 p.m. Sunday and by appointment. 302 Park Ave., Franklin. 513-746-8295.
CAREW TOWER OBSERVATION
DECK Come to the top of the tallest building in Cincinnati for a breathtaking view of the city’s seven hills. 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m.5 p.m. Sunday. $2 adults; $1 children 5-12; free to children under 5. 441 Vine St., Downtown. 579-9735.
JOHN HAUCK HOUSE MUSEUM
The Italianate house, built during the Civil War, features the postcard exhibit Cincinnati at the Turn of the Century; through the fall. 10 a.m.4 p.m. Thursday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. $2 adults; $1 seniors; $.50 children. 812 Dayton St., West End. 721-3570.
Lilies, hydrangeas, mini roses, snapdragons, lilacs, azaleas and chrysanthemums are on display at Cincinnati's flower house for the annual spring floral show; through April 30. The Hothouse Horticulture Series continues with “Children's Gardening.” Music performed by folk musician Greg Jowahses. 7 p.m. Wednesday. $3 adults; $1 children. Free for Cincinnati residents, children 5 and under, and school groups; $2 adults; $1 children, seniors and groups of 25 or more. 10 a.m.9 p.m. Wednesday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday-Tuesday. 1501 Eden Park Drive, Eden Park. 421-5707.
CINCINNATI CHILDREN'S MUSEUM Newly opened interactive museum. Omope Daboiku is joined by students of the Hamilton County Headstart Program for African folk tales and stories. 1:30 and 3 p.m. Saturday. Noon-5 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. $6 general admission; children under 5 pay their age in dollars. Longworth Hall, 700 W. Pete Rose Way, Downtown. 421-5437.
MORE, PAGE 28
To Tell Or Not To Tell
Founding
editor of 1OutWeek defends controversial practice of ‘ outing’ uting.
The very word conjures up a spectrum of emotions, depending on your point of view. Some see it as a McCarthy-like tactic designed to invade the privacy of the bedroom for the benefit of an extremist minority. Others see it as a way of empowering an embattled gay and lesbian minority.
Michael Signorile, one of the founding editors of the now-defunct OutWeek magazine, the controversial publication that outed Malcolm Forbes, falls into the latter category.
“Most people have that issue generally confused,” he says, explaining that the only time outing is appropriate is when it relates to a story that the public should know about, citing the Wall Street Journal’s recent frontpage outing of Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner as a newsworthy item, since Wenner’s wife is part owner of the Rolling Stone empire.
In his controversial 1993 autobiography, Queer in America (Random House), Signorile maintains that there is an unconscious nationwide conspiracy to keep gays and lesbians locked in the closet, rewarding those who stay in and penalizing those who dare come out. The powerful triumvirate of Washington legislators, Hollywood publicists and New York media contribute to the silencing of the homosexual voice by forcing gays and lesbians to live outwardly straight lives.
This enforced denial leads to an absence of role models for gay and lesbian adolescents, who make up 30 percent of teen suicides, even though gays and lesbians only make up 10 percent of the population.
In the book, he writes about an unnamed legislator who, in order to maintain his closet, sexually harasses young male aides when his wife goes out of town. When rumors of his closeted homosexuality came up earlier in his career, he counteracted them by siding with well-known homophobe Sen. Jesse Helms on several anti-gay bills.
“There are many people affected by one person’s closet,” Signorile explains. “He is treating himself as somewhat less than human and is also being deceptive towards his wife and his children. He is living a lie.”
Signorile says homosexual politicians have a obligation to reveal themselves because they represent the gay and lesbian community. “It becomes relevant in these times when these issues are so much in public discussion,” he says.
Signorile is probably best known for outing Pete Wilson, the assistant secretary of Defense during the Gulf War. In Queer in America he reveals the reluctance of both the mainstream and alternative press to cover the story despite its newsworthiness, considering the anti-gay stance of the military.
The book also elaborates on how the media consciously cover up celebrities’ homosexuality through false information planted in gossip columns. Signorile should know. He used to be one of the “column planters.”
As to the recent trend of lesbian chic? “The media consistently is jumping onto trends,” Signorile explains. “It is the nature of how the media works commercially driven and very competitive. Somehow, the whole idea of lesbian chic developed as if lesbians had never existed before. Then it snowballs because everyone has to sell papers.
CINCINNATI FIRE MUSEUM Features the permanent exhibit, The Early
Queen City
On June 10, Queen brated its 15th anniversary.
Cary’s BookMart, Professor in Hyde Kings’ Automall Blue trend in book selling. On a personal Bob Raterman and well
Attractions
513-224-3521.
WARREN COUNTY HISTORICAL
SOCIETY MUSEUM Displays
Shaker and Victorian furniture and an extensive collection of paleontological and archaeological artifacts. 9 a.m.4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. 105 S. Broadway, Lebanon. $3 adults, $1 students. 932-1817.
WILDER-SWAIM HOUSE This 1832 farmhouse, originally owned by the Wilder family, is now home to the Montgomery Historical Society. By appointment only. Free. Zig-Zag and Cooper roads, Montgomery. 793-0515.
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE
This Greek Revival-style house has been restored to its appearance during the years Taft lived here as a child and young adult, and serves as the only memorial to the nation’s 27th president and 10th chief justice. Free. 2038 Auburn Ave., Mount Auburn. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. daily. Closed Mondays. 684-3262.
perform classic children’s stories, 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Groesbeck, 2994 W. Galbraith Road; 10 a.m. Saturday, Price Hill, 3215 Warsaw Ave.; 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Cheviot, 3711 Robb Ave. Cheering Up A Princess will be presented by the Cincinnati Opera Outreach, 7 p.m. Thursday, Delhi Hills, 5095 Foley Road; 2 p.m. Saturday, Bonham, 500 Springfield Pike, Wyoming; 2 p.m. Tuesday, Loveland, 649 Loveland-Madeira Road.
Readings, Signings & Events
Head Lines
BY GARY GAFFNEY
Oakley, 4033 Gilmore
7 p.m.
All events are free, but tickets should be picked up in advance. 369-6960
NICK CLOONEY Autographs copies of his new book, Nick. 1-3 p.m. Saturday. The Cincinnati Historical Society’s Heritage Shop, Museum Center at Union Terminal auditorium, 1301 Western Ave., Queensgate. 287-7030.
Madcap Productions presents A Forest Full of Fables, 7p.m. Thursday, Symmes Township Regional, 11850 Enyart Road; 2 p.m. Saturday, Sharonville, 10980 Thornview Road. Magician Tom Bemmes performs, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Pleasant Ridge, 6233 Montgomery Road. The Sock and Silk Puppet Troupe performs, 10 a.m. Wednesday, North Cincinnati, 2802 Vine St., Corryville. The John S. Gardiner Story Theatre presents Stories Alive! From Aesop to Zany. 10 a.m. Tuesday, Cumminsville, 4219 Hamilton Ave.; 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Elmwood Place, 6120 Vine
NEVADA BARR The winner of the 1994 Anthony and Agatha awards for her first mystery novel, The Track of the Cat, signs her newest book, III Wind. 7-8 p.m. Wednesday. Books & Co., 350 E. Stroop Road, Dayton, Ohio. 800-777-4881.
ARTIE ANN BATES AND JEFF CHAPMAN-CRANE The creators of Ragsdale read and discuss their book. 10:30 a.m.-noon Saturday. The Blue Marble, 1356 Fort Thomas Ave., Fort Thomas. 781-0602.
BOOKFEST ’95 The following events are scheduled at area branch libraries. The Bookfest Storytellers
★ SANDY FEEN AND JOSIP NOVAKOVICH The two writers read from their work. Novakovich is the author of Apricots From Chernobyl and Fiction Writer's Workshop. Feen is a member of the performance poets group RedKitchen and was the firstprize winner in the Columbus Arts Festival 1993 poetry reading auditions. Afterward, there will be an open mic poetry reading. 8 p.m. Wednesday. York Street International Cafe, 738 York, Newport. 261-9675. BARBARA GRAY The author of Life’s Little Instruction Book signs her books. 2:30-4:30 p.m. Saturday. Media Play, Surrey Square, 4488 Montgomery Road, Norwood. 531-5250.
★ STANLEY HEDEEN The professor of biology at Xavier University and author of The Mill Creek: An Unnatural History of an Urban Stream signs and discusses his book. 2-3:30 p.m. Saturday. Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Rookwood Pavilion, Madison and Edwards roads, Norwood. 396-8960. He also will be at Media Play from 4:30-5:30 pirn, later that day. Surrey Square, 4488 Montgomery Road, Norwood. 531-5250.
JOANNA LUND The Healthy Exchanges Cookbook and demonstrates low-fat 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday. Booksellers, Rookwood Madison and Edwards Norwood. 396-8960.
GARY PAULSEN Hatchet, a Newberry Honor its the Oakley Blue Marble. Thursday. Tickets required, purchase of a book. 3054 Road, Oakley. 731-2665.
★ MICHELANGELO The author of Queer one of the founding editors now-defunct
STEVE LEHRER The author of Cooking with the Chicken Breast signs copies and cooks samples. 2-4 p.m. Saturday. Barnes & Noble, Sycamore Plaza, 7800 Montgomery Kenwood. 794-9440.
ing the crisis of sexual violence in our community, begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday with an assembly at Bicentennial Commons. The march proceeds across the L&N Bridge for a ceremony at the Campbell County Courthouse in Newport. The main speaker is Holly Broach-Sowels, author of Daddy Don’t 655-2650.
Spectator
CINCINNATI CHEETAHS USISL
professional soccer vs. Detroit, 6:30 p.m. Sunday. $7.50 adults: $3.75 children 12 and under. Deer Park High School, 8351 Plainfield Road, Deer Park. 985-3985.
CINCINNATI LEOPARDS
USWISL Women’s Soccer vs. Chiquita, 10 a.m. Saturday. Prices and location: 985-3985.
CINCINNATI REDS Opening day
National League baseball vs. Chicago, 2:05 p.m. Wednesday. $4.50-$9. Riverfront Stadium, 100 Broadway St., Downtown. 421-REDS.
RIVER DOWNS Post time for horse racing: 1 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday: and 3 p.m. Friday. $1.50. 6301 Kellogg Ave., Anderson Township. 232-8000.
TURFWAY PARK Simulcasts from Keeneland, Aquaduct, Sportsmans Park, Garden State Park, Penn National, Retama Park and Oaklawn. 1 p.m. Wednesday-Monday. Free. 7500 Turfway Road, Florence. 371-0200.
UC BEARCATS Great Midwest Conference Baseball vs. St. Louis, 4 p.m. Saturday: Wright State, 7 p.m. Tuesday. Free. Johnny Bench Field, UC campus, Clifton. 556-CATS.
Take care of it by planning now for summer's herb harvest
AMERICAN WALKERS ASSOCI-
BY ELIZABETH CAREY
ATION The Cincinnati chapter has hikes each weekend. 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Spring Grove Cemetery, 4521 Spring Grove Ave., Winton Place. 561-3799.
In spring, fancies turn to some more bizarre urges, such as wanting to put away winter clothes; wanting to put away all your clothes, commonly known as lust; and wanting to get one’s hands in the moist, fertile soil and procreate.
BEELINE BENEFIT The 5K Run/Fitness Walk begins at 9 a.m. Saturday. $8. Shea Stadium, Harris Avenue, Norwood. 474-1399.
For many, the choice of the three would be to plant. A well-thought-out garden can bring produce during the rest of the year but also can be the least dangerous of these urges. (Anyone caught without a winter coat recently will undoubtedly understand.)
CCDD “ALL PEOPLE’S” ANNUAL 5K RUN Proceeds benefit University Affiliated Cincinnati Center for Development Disorders. 9 a.m. Sunday. $10. Pete Rose Way, Downtown. 474-1399.
CINCINNATI RECREATION COMMISSION For the latest in CRC events, call 684-4945.
CINCINNATI MARLIN MASTERS
Coached swim workouts for all abilities. Monday-Thursday evenings and Sundays at noon. Keating Natatorium, St. Xavier High School, 600 North Bend Road, Finneytown. Call Chris Gilligan at 232-0382.
CLUB-FITTING SESSIONS PGA
One of the easiest, and most pleasurable, types of gardens is an herb garden. It is also arguably one of the best ways to get started on obtaining a green thumb. Herbs are forgiving. Some require almost no attention. Others require a minimum of care, needing only water during dry spells. Jan Laine, program director of the Civic Garden Center of Greater Cincinnati, says, “Herbs really aren’t particular about soil, as long as they have a good, well-drained soil; and they’re not particular about fertilizing, either.”
golf professionals will conduct free club-fitting sessions 2-4 p.m. Sunday throughout the golf season. Meadow Links & Golf Academy, West Sharon and Mill roads, Forest Park. 825-3701.
FIGURE SKATING CLUB OF
CINCINNATI Meets 6:10-8 p.m. every Wednesday. Northland Ice Center, 10400 Reading Road, Evendale. $6.50 guest fee.
Starting an herb garden can be broken down into two steps: planning and planting. Even in city apartments, it’s possible to create an own herb garden using a little ingenuity.
your garden area.
According to Laine you should plan on planting Shorter plants, such as thyme, in the front. Taller plants such as dill, basil and oregano should go in the back, so that they will not leave the shorter ones in constant shade. Finally, prime your container or space for the plants. A good mixture of soil, fish emulsion, lime (the chemical) and mulch will make for a good bed. Agents at the Hamilton County Extension Service can help you determine a good mixture for your garden. Your soil should be tilled to about 12 inches outdoors, to allow for good root growth. For apartment gardening, pick large clay pots, or even window boxes, and fill with a rich mixture of potting soil.
Planting
While some moreadventurous types may want to start herbs from seed, beginners might want to consider purchasing plants from a reputable plant store or nursery.
6:30-9:30 p.m. Monday. People interested in signing up for sixes, quads, triples and doubles leagues should call. 2135 Stapleton Court, Forest Park. 576-1381.
The most important aspect to herb gardening is the planning. Without proper planning, herb gardens can fail miserably. You will need three things: A list of the herbs you like, including plant descriptions; a sunny spot; and somewhere/something to plant them in.
“Some plants are easier to grow from transplant than from seed,” Laine says. Planting from seeds takes more care and some garden know-how, such as thinning out, and hardening off. Laine recommends buying herbs transplants locally. Some good resources of herbs are the Civic Garden Center, whose annual Plant & Herb sale occurs May 6, or retail outlets and area nurseries. Laine says many nurseries can offer planting tips, as well as help out if the plants don’t thrive.
To transplant your plants, dig a small hole; Laine suggests it be no deeper than the original pot the plant
Midwestern Collegiate Conference Baseball vs. Butler, noon Saturday and Sunday: Eastern Kentucky, 3 p.m. Tuesday: Northern Kentucky, 3 p.m.
MIAMI GROUP OF THE SIERRA CLUB The Ohio Chapter of the Sierra Club outings canoeing, kayaking, hiking and backpacking are open to the public. 841-0111. OVER-THE-LINE SOFTBALL LEAGUES Also known as ThreeOn-Three Softball, the game differs
MORE, PAGE 30 Lunch-Oinncr-Canroul
Several books are out on the market that can help you in making your plant selection. For a culinary garden, concentrate on what kinds of herbs you like in your food. For instance, if you cook mostly Italian and/or Cajun, your herb garden might consist of oregano, basil, dill, thyme, sage, chives and parsley. For Oriental flavorings, perhaps you would choose lemon grass or even coriander (also applicable to Southwestern cuisine).
The point is, if you’re not going to use it, don’t bother with it.
The next step is to determine the heights of these plants as well as their sun requirements.
Laine says, “Most herbs will have the heights on their labels, or on the seed packets. You can figure from that how tall they will get.”
Now you can begin to layout your garden on paper. Draw out the area you will be using and plot out where your plants will be. Even if this is'a porch, deck or window sill, it helps to have a visual representation of the area the plants will live in.
Once you’ve made your preliminary drawing, check out your sun factor. Monitor how long the sun hits the area you’ve chosen for your plants. A good spot will have six to eight hours of direct sun daily. If your herbs wall not be getting a minimum of six hours a day, change
'W A comes in. If it’s in a container, take the l plant out by holding it upside-down and gently squeezing the sides of the container. It should plop into your hand. If not, gently shake the container to loosen it up.
Once the plant is out of the container, hold it upright and gently loosen up the roots. (A quick tap on each of the sides of the ball of dirt should do.) Place the root end of the plant in the hole and cover the roots with dirt. Pack the dirt in gently.
Give the plant a good watering. This will give the roots a firm base from which to grow, as well as added nutrients.
Within a few weeks, you should start to see marked growth and will be ready to begin picking off the beginning leaves of your herbs.
Fresh tomatoes with mozzarella and basil, fresh oregano and garlic chicken on the grill, fresh dill on salmon are but a few of the possibilities now. The money you spent on plants will more than be made up by the money you save on buying fresh herbs. Plus, you’ll gain the invaluable feeling of having done it yourself.
This is the first in series of articles on herbs. Look for COOKING WITH FRESH HERBS in June.
CIVIC GARDEN CENTER OF GREATER CINCINNATI Offers a garden variety of classes, including "Water Gardening,” 10 a.m.-noon Saturday. 2715 Reading Road, Avondale. 221-0981.
Sports
★ CONTEMPORARY DANCE
THEATER Artists from Bebe Miller Company present a Modern Dance workshop, 11:15 a.m. Saturday. CDT also offers classes in tap, jazz, ballet, modern dance, African dance, creative movement for children and yoga. The Dance Hall, Vine Street and East Daniels, Corryville. 751-2800.
from conventional baseball in several ways: Teams consist of three players and one optional hitter; the field is triangular in shape and approximately one-third the width and equal in length to a standard softball diamond; the batting team supplies its own pitcher; and there is no running, as "ghost-runners” are used. The object of the game is to hit the ball over a line 55 feet from home plate and between home plate and between foul lines. The season begins May 5. The cost is $60 per team and registrations are currently being accepted. 521-PARK.
FLYING CLOUD ACADEMY OF VINTAGE DANCE Offers classes in 19th and 20th century social dance. 8 p.m. Wednesdays. $3 members; $5 non-members. University YMCA, 270 Calhoun, Clifton. 351-7462 or 733-3077.
MODELING WORKSHOP Learn how the modeling and talent industry works. Meetings take place 7:30-9 p.m. Tuesdays. Reservations required. 2141 Gilbert Ave., Walnut Hills. 281-8030.
★ THE SAND COURTS The new sand volleyball complex is offering men’s, women’s and coed leagues. Tournaments will be held on various weekends throughout the summer. A free instructional clinic on the fundamentals of volleyball will be offered 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Sunday and is open to the public. Knights of Columbus’ sports facility, 3144 Blue Rock Road, Colerain Township. People interested in entering their team should call 385-0240.
RUST-LESTER CENTER FOR CHANGE Offers the career-strategy seminar, “The Five O’Clock Way to Manage Your Job Search."
UC INTERNATIONAL FOLK DANCERS The group meets 8:15-11 p.m. Saturdays. $2; $4 non-members. University YMCA, 270 Calhoun, Clifton. 631-3830.
Groups & Programs
★ TOUR DE WEDNESDAY Tour de Wednesday is a joint Sierra Club/Cincinnati Cyclery Club activity for intermediate bicyclists. 10 a.m. every Wednesday. All riders must wear ANSI-approved bicycle helmets. 752-9639.
AIDS VOLUNTEERS OF CINCINNATI An estimated 1,000,000 Americans are infected with HIV. AVOC offers support groups for persons living with HIV, as well as their families, friends and loved ones. All services are free and confidential. 2183 Central Parkway, West End. 421-2437.
BOONE COUNTY COMMUNITY THEATRE Meets at 7 p.m. on the second Thursday of the month. Gathering House, 7431 U.S. 42, Florence. 371-5491.
CAFE MATIN Vous etes invites d nous rejoindre tous les samedis au cafe Baba Budan a partir de 11 heures. Bienvenue aux etudiants, professeurs et connaisseurs de la langue frangaise. Baba Budan’s Espresso Bar, 243 Calhoun, Clifton. 221-8952 or 556-7474.
THE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING OPTIONS An agency that works with people with disabilities to achieve goals of independence. 23 E. Seventh St., Suite 601, Downtown. 241-2600.
Classes & Exhibits
CLIFTON COUNSELING CENTER Serves the gay, lesbian and bisexual communities with support and therapy groups. "Flesh and Spirit Gatherings” are designed for gay/bisexual men integrating sexuality and spirituality and meet at 7 p.m. on the fourth Sunday of every month. $20. 411 Oak St., Clifton. 221-2299.
THE GREATER CINCINNATI LITERACY TASK FORCE Dedicated to providing services for those who cannot read or write, its members promote community awareness of the adult literacy problem. 621-7323.
CAMP ART ACADEMY Children may enroll for summer art classes. 1125 St. Gregory St., Mount Adams. 562-8748.
C.I.C. PERCUSSIONS Offers Djembe, Shekere and Conga classes for adults and a Nigerian drum and dance class for children. The Miller Gardette Loft, 2401 Concord, Walnut Hills. 221-2222.
CENTER FOR PSYCHOTHERAPY
The center offers a woman-towoman workshop series, beginning with “Women and Anger.” 9 a.m.-noon Saturday. 4156 Crossgate Drive, Blue Ash. Reservations: 791-7022.
CITIZENSHIP CLASSES
Travelers Aid International’s citizenship classes begin at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday for the next New Citizens Project Test, scheduled for June 10. The non-profit group also offers English for the foreign born, immigration counseling, application assistance, finger printing and photos. 707 Race St, Suite 300, Downtown. 721-7660.
INTER-ETHNIC COUNCIL OF GREATER CINCINNATI Its mis sion is to provide a forum for ethnic and nationality groups in the area, to meet and educate its members and the public and to promote the values of a multicultural society. 721-7660.
NATIONAL SPACE SOCIETY If you’re tired of government inaction on manned space development, join the fledgling local chapter, which will hold its first meeting in May. 941-5270.
PARENTS WITH HEARING
IMPAIRED CHILDREN SUPPORT GROUP Meets at 6:45 p.m. every third Thursday of the month. Cincinnati Bible College, Room 251, 2700 Glenway Ave., Price Hill. 541-9073.
QUEEN CITY SWEEPERS
Sweepstakes enthusiasts can join the iocal club and keep up on up-to-date info on local and national sweepstakes as well as discover tips for winning. 3 p.m. Saturday. Free. Perkins restaurant, 9307 Montgomery Road, Montgomery. 1-800-409-1442.
UNITED WAY HELPLINE Provides counseling, support-group information, crisis intervention and assistance 24 hours day. 721-7900.
WOMEN'S ART CLUB OF CINCINNATI Meets at 1 p.m. the second Saturday of every month. Room 501, 1310 Pendleton St., Overthe-Rhine. 522-0117.
YWCA PROTECTION FROM ABUSE PROGRAMS Alice Paul House and House of Peace gency shelters providing housing, advocacy and support to battered women and their children. 241-2757.
Auditions & Opportunities
ARTS IN COMMON This collaborative program between Hamilton’s
groups and individuals. Deadline is June 30. 863-8873.
BASE ART JURIEDlEXHIBITION Artists may submit up to three entries of work, all of which must have been completed in the past year. $5 per entry. Drop off’the artwork noon4 p.m. April 22. Awards include gift certificates and a special award of a free one-year membership in BASE Art. 1311 Main St., Over-the-Rhine. 491-3865.
CALL TO ARTISTS AVOC (AIDS Volunteers of Cincinnati) is holding an auction June 10 at the Contemporary Arts Center and is looking for help from the visual arts community. Every donating artist will receive recognition through promotional materials and a show catalog. Tara Materials Inc. has donated 100 canvasses, and any artist who wishes to paint on one should contact Jerry. 421-7272.
CINCINNATI ART MUSEUM BIG SALE IX Donate your bric-a-brac to CAM’s biennial garage sale, to be held Sept. 9-10 at the Albert B. Sabin Convention Center. Bring your donation to the museum's loading dock 9 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays. To arrange for pickup of larger items, call 721-5204, Ext. 303.
CINCINNATI CHILDREN’S MUSEUM The new interactive museum needs volunteers. 421-6136, Ext. 217. Longworth Hall, 700 W. Pete Rose Way, Downtown.
CINCINNATI OPERA BALLET CORPS Auditions take place 1 p.m. Sunday. Dancers must be at least 15 and should bring both point and character shoes and may arrive at noon to warm up. No appointmerits necessary. Ballet Studio, Emery Center, 100 E. Central Parkway, Fifth Floor, Over-the-Rhine. 621-1919, Ext. 226.
CINCINNATI PUBLIC SCHOOLS SUZUKI STRINGS PROGRAM This program, now in its 11th year, offers more than 270 children the opportunity to learn to play a stringed instrument. Your donation will be matched by the Corbett Foundation. 929-2419.
GOSPEL STUDY Father Jim Willig presents an After Easter Gospel Study. 12:05-12:55 p.m. beginning Wednesday. Cathedral Undercroft, Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains, 325 W. Eighth St., Downtown. 421-5354. If you can’t make it, you may order a subscription of the Gospel Study Tapes. $18.
FIFTH THIRD ART ON THE SQUARE Volunteers 16 and over are needed for the May 19-21 celebration of the city’s artistic heritage. 744-8820.
THE ISIDOR SCHIFRIN ESSAY CONTEST Essays must answer the question: "Jewish Education: Who Is It For?” The deadline for entries is May 1. Word count for junior and senior high school students is 7501,500; word count for college students and adults is 1,500-2,000. Send entries to the Bureau of Jewish Education, 1580 Summit Road, Cincinnati, OH 45237.
KENTUCKY SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL Jugglers, fire-eaters, tarot card readers, palmists, acrobats, Renaissance musicians, face painters, storytellers, magicians and street performers should contact Michael Ramach. 512-583-8738.
NYU SUMMER ABROAD Earn nine to 12 credits when you join NYU’s Music and Dance Program in Pisa, Italy. Seminars and workshops in composition, new music performance and experimental dance are available. Concerts will be held in Pisa, Lucca and Montepulciano. There also will be a two-day multimedia festival in Pisa, July 14-15. The application deadline is May 15. 212-998-5090.
OHIO ARTS COUNCIL Applications for the Long-Term Assistance Program, a grant that helps minority arts organizations, should be submitted by May 1. 614-466-2613. The Ohio artists who receive NEA grants will be supported by the Ohio Arts Council’s International Program, which provides as much as $5,000 to eligible Ohio arts organizations and as much as $2,000 to Ohio artists and performers. The deadline is May 15 for projects beginning Nov. 1. For collaborative projects, residencies should call Silvio Lim at 202-682-5422. Artists and performing artists should contact Pennie Ojeda at 202-682-5422.
PEPSI JAMMIN’ ON MAIN The May 12-13 festival, designed to showcase Cincinnati’s diverse musical heritage, is looking for volunteers 16 and older. Volunteers will receive free admission to the festival and a free commemorative T-shirt. 744-8820.
TALL STACKS The Greater Cincinnati Tall Stacks Commission is seeking volunteer supervisors for the Oct. 11-15 event. 397-0555.
VOICES AND VISIONS OF URBAN YOUTH Filmmakers Spike Lee, Marcus Turner and Hark Bohm will judge the photographers, videographers and filmmakers’ completed work, which should supersede the negative, commercialized and stereotypical images of youth and expand the margins and assumptions constructed around "minority imagery." Artist application deadline is June 1; film and video, Sept. 1; visual art, Sept. 15. The conference will take place Sept. 22-Oct. 1. 721-2777.
1995 GREATER CINCINNATI MATH COMPETITION KUMON
U.S.A. is sponsoring the citywide math competition that is free and open to any student, in grades 1-6, through April. The winner will receive a $100 U.S. savings bond, second place will receive one for $50 and third place will receive for $20. All three winners will receive trophies. Call 281-0743 by April 30.
1995 APPALACHIAN FESTIVAL
The May 12-14 festival at Coney lsland,-which celebrates the area’s rich mountain heritage with downhome entertainment, crafts, food and cultural attractions, needs volunteers. Applicants must be at least 18. Call
Suburban Torture
BY JULIE LARSON
"Developing Your
Ability” on Thursday, April 27, 1995 at 7:30 p.m. at the Edgewood Public Works Building, Edgewood, KY. Free. 341-7447. PARILLO PERFORMANCE Nutrition and exercise products for fat loss, muscle gain, or improved endurance. Olympus Gym, 128 E. 6th St. Free Downtown delivery. 651-9114. pcvrmr
TALK TO A LIVE PSYCHIC! Learn about your future... Money, romance, happiness, Get individual consultation. 1-900-420-2444 ext. 070. 18 years and older. $2.99/minute. 24 hours, touch tone required. Avalon Comm., 305-525-0800.
PSYCHIC READINGS & MORE Experience the energy! Victory Books is metaphysical emporium at 609 Main Street, Covington. Featuring new and used books, New Age cassettes and CDs, incense, oils, tarot cards, jewelry, crystals, and much Psychic, tarot, and astrological readings by appointment. Open daily. Call for information, 581-5839.
READINGS
Norita Ruehl, spiritual advisor and professional reader, offers private or group readings. Receive the answers to specific questions and personal Hostess Plan is available is available with .a group of ten. All information is strictly confidential. Call 606-441-0908.
STRESS THERAPIST/ HYPNOTHERAPIST Ron Scanlon, Certified Stress Therapist, Certified Hypnotherapist uses Relaxation, Emotional Clearing, and Muscle Tension Release to balance the body, heart, and spirit. Understand and let go of everyday aches and pains. 1-513-298-4939 THE BODY MALL Understand yourself and those you love better. Professional astrologer Jeri Boone offers counseling through the art of astrology and numerology. Or join Jeri and Beverly Boone, both licensed massage therapists, they offer therapeutic massage, Swedish massage, cranial sacral, body reflexology, polarity therapy, and accupressure. The Body Mall has a fully trained professional staff, and offers study groups, development workshops, children’s classes, and many alternative methods of caring for yourself. 3519 Glenmore Avenue, 662-5121.
THERAPEUTIC BODYWORK Bodywork is individualized and includes Massage-Swedish, Deep tissue, and Amma; Acupressure-jinshindo: Energy Work- Reiki, Therapeutic Touch: and Integrative Bodywork. Kirk Prine, Ed.D., C.M.T., by appointment only. 431-3112.
No inventory, no deliveries, no collections, customer risk, employees, quotas, no products to purchase, no complicated math or paperwork, no experience necessary. Call 631-8935.
THRILL SEEKERS
Championship marketing team, recruiting for money motivated team players. Excellent $$$$$, fun environment, training provided. Call 721^577.
CERTIFIED NURSES ASSISTANT
Experienced certified assistant available for in home care, mornings and afternoons. Have references and reliable transportation. Quotes available upon request. Call Tawana Moore at 271-6411.
DESKTOP PUBLISHING 20% Off
B&B Publishing is offering 20% off on Typesetting/Design fees on your initial order. Call or fax 481-0515.
LADIES NIGHT OUT Intimate Moments, Inc. invites you to an evening of Lotions, Lingerie, Novelties, and Adult Toys. Call Laura today to book party or for your free catalog. 18 years and older. 779-8394.
VOODOO
FESTIVAL
KENTUCKY
Looking for jugglers, fire-eaters, tarot card readers, palmists, acrobats, Renaissance musicians, face painters, storytellers, magicians, street performers of all kind, or any other acts with Renaissance flavor. Great hourly pay. Contact Michael Ramach, 502-583-8738.
PERSONAL CARE ASSISTANTS
People with disabilities are seeking assistance to achieve an independent lifestyle. Need assistance with personal hygiene, housekeeping, driving. Must be dependable and punctual. Transportation and telephone required. Call 241-2600.
TELEMARKETERS NEEDED NO EXPERIENCE
NECESSARY/WILL TRAIN
If you want to work with good people in a great environment, set your own hours, and get a bonus for coming to work, want you! Telemarketers needed for all shifts. Must type 20 WPM. Apply: TeleWorks, 1463 E. Galbraith Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45215, EEOC. Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. 821-3666.
THE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM
Be
BaekBeaf
Classifieds 665-4700
AFFORDABLE MASSAGE!
Roselawn, male therapist, $25/hr 284-3421
USED IBM COMPUTERS UNDER $400
KEVIN BIRCHFIELD, 598-9703, LEAVE MSG. See classified ad on inside page!
ENERGY BODY CENTER
MASSAGE, ACUPRESSURE, & ENERGY WORK Kirk Prine, E4D., C.M.T., 431-3112
PARRILLO PERFORMANCE Products for muscle gain or fat loss CALL OLYMPUS GYM, 651-9114
LOBSTER’S MUSIC
Buys Sells Trades all musical instruments 1100 Sunset Ave., 921-5717
FRAN’S AN AMERICAN SANDWICH SHOP 1107 Walnut Street
CLUB PARAGON
Alternative, disco, house, techno Food always available ‘til 4 am. 15 E. 7th Street, 581-5518, Newport
OPENING FRIDAY, APRIL 21 PRIEST
ESQUIRE, 320 LUDLOW AVENUE 381-8750
CD STATION BUY* SELL* TRADE Trade 2 for 1 used, or 3 for 1
all trades! 8146 Beechmont Avenue 474-6491
playing Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park 421-3888 FUNNY BOOKS N’ STUFF COMIC BOOK SHOP NEW COMICS EVERY WEDNESDAY. OLD COMICS, LOTS MORE! 5063 GLENWAY, 921-5720 UVE ROCK ‘N ROLL WITH BAD HABIT APRIL 21-22 AT CHUG-A-LUGS 7899 Dream Street, Florence
THE DRUMSHINE SHOP carries Cincinnati’s largest selection of all percussion accessories. 8627 Reading Rd., 821-8866
EXPERIENCE THE ENERGY! Come visit Northern Kentucky’s premier metaphysical emporium. Featuring new and used books, New Age CDs, jewelry, crystals, and much more! Open daily. VICTORY BOOKS, 609 MAIN ST., COVINGTON 581-5839
THE FOXROCK THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS DARK RAPTURE a play by Eric Overmyer April 20-22 8:00 p.m. Sunday, April 23 7:00 p.m. THE CARNEGIE THEATER 1028
Welcome to Back Beat, the back page of Cincinnati CityBeat. This last page is your last chance to have the last word.
So talk back to us! Answer our sometimes silly, sometimes cerebral weekly question. Then beat it to the nearest mailbox, fax or modem. If we print your response in our letters section next week, you get a free Cincinnati CityBeat T-shirt. Not a bad deal for the cost of a stamp or fax, eh?
This week’s question: Match three ofyourfavorite (or least favorite) odors with their sources distinctive to Cincinnati, the city ofmany smells!! Send responses by 5 p.m. Tuesday to: Back Beat, Cincinnati CityBeat 23 E. Seventh St., Suite 617, Cincinnati, OH 45202 fax: 513/665-4369
Name:
Address:
Square- from 5 p.m.- 9 p.m. Join that fabulous band Wonderland to kick offArt On The Square! For booking & info, call 684-9160. CALLING ALL STARVING ARTISTS !
SHOWCASE YOUR TALENT...AND SUPPORT FIFTH THIRD BANK ART ON THE SQUARE ‘95 Cheap, cheap advertising rates for local artists, art students, art lovers - well, you get my drift Call CityBeat Classifieds for more information on this very special offer to support this very special event! 665-4700 HOLISTIC COUNSELING
Do you have a project that needs that special touch? Specializing in documentation of events, arts and commercial projects, & non-linear editing. Call Bob Leibold, voice/fax 481-1444
ECHO FURNISHINGS
GREAT MIX OF NEW & USED FURNITURE LOW MILES, LOW PRICES Downtown, 13 Garfield Place, 684-0010 Visit our 2nd location in the Milford Shopping Center! 831-2847.
We’d Like to welcome Wayne & Ron to INNER PEACE MASSAGE
Receive a lhr massage for $25 when you mention this ad. Inner Peace Massage, 3907 Harrison Ave., Cheviot Only minutes from Downtown! 661-0302 SALSA! SOCA! REGGAE! Come dance in our LITTLE RED RHUMBA ROOM! EVERY SATURDAY ZARABANDA
Daytime voice telephone number:. SHOWBOAT MAJESTIC PRESENTS THE WIZARD OF OZ For tickets, call 241-6550
Dolls. Each uniquely hand painted, adorned in brightly colored ornamental robes. Comes complete with folklore. Guarantees a whimsical gift or conversation piece. Send $8.95+ $1 shipping & handling to Merlin’s Big Toe Productions P.O. Box 30345, Cincinnati, OH 45230
INTERNET ACCESS CINCINNATI
Providing the finest network services since 1993, with a staff possessing decades of Internet experience. From individual SLIP and PPP accounts, to full Business World Wide Web exposure, to dedicated 14.4, 28.8, 56k, ISDN, & FRAME RELAY, and T1 connections Call today, voice:333-0033 modem:887-8855 info@iac.net http://www.iac.net CONNECT YOUR MIND TO THE WORLD
JACQUELINE’S ALTERATIONS
Professional, affordable alterations of men’s and ladies clothing. Convenient Downtown location. 22 W. 7th St #202 (in the Lancaster Bldg.) 665-4660
THE BODY MALL
offers counseling through the art of Astrology and Numerology. Also offering Therapeutic Massage, Body Reflexology, Polarity Therapy, & Acupressure. Featuring study groups, develpoment workshops, & children’s classes. AN ALTERNATIVE METHOD OF CARING FOR YOURSELF. 662-5121. 3519 Glenmore Avenue
