NEWS & VIEWS Many Main Street rehabs still off-limits to wheelchair access
Page 5
FOOD & DRINK Veggie burgers offer omnivores an appetizing option
Page 27
LITERARY Nikki Giovanni’s "Grand Mothers’ illuminates special nature of family relationships
Page 29 Art, Music, Theater, Book Reviews
Volume 1, Issue 15
editor/co-publisher John Fox
GENERAL MANAGER/CO-PUBLISHER Dan Bockrath
managing editor Alison Tranbarger
news editor Nancy Firor
essayist Daniel Brown
contributing editors Mike Breen, Music; Dale Doerman, Onstage; Rick Pender, Onstage; Steve Ramos, Film; Fran Watson, Art
contributing writers Karen Amelia Arnett, Brian Baker, Elizabeth Carey, Jane Durrell, Jeff Hillard, Jon Hughes, John James, Billie Jeyes, Josh Katz, Jonathan Kamholtz, Michelle Kennedy, Brad King, Kim Krause, Craig Lovelace, Perin Mahler, Susan Nuxoll, David Pescovitz, Jeremy Schlosberg,
photographers
listings
editorial
cartoonists
CtiyBeat
Burning Questions Is the CBC/ Guckenberger rift real, or is it the figment of an overanxious media? 5
On the Beat The Police Division’s use of rotating shifts causes more problems than it solves 6
Putting It Together Giacometti was this century’s urban chronicler 7
DailyBred
Technology Teaching computer semi-literates about the Internet 11
Health & Fitness Take a test to see if you’re ready to make permanent changes in your lifestyle 11
UtterKiosk
Index to calendar listings 12
Music “Spill It” offers news of Over
The Rhine, Goshom Bros., Sylvan Acher, Blue Lou & the Accusations, Ass Ponys and Alice Hoskins 14
Music They Might Be Giants remains skilled in the eclectic 17
Film Review of To Live, an epic
Chinese soap opera 19
Art Review of environmental works
at College of Mount St. Joseph 21
Onstage Review of Fahrenheit
Stretching Their Talents: Student School for Creative and Performing Rainey, above) are working with to create new works that will debut same time, they’re working to carry of art. Cover Story, 8.
The Straight Dope
BY CECIL ADAMS
Recently I posted thefollowing question to the altfan.ceciladams news i group on the Internet:
“Yo, grammar mavens! What is the rule governing the use of “or not” with “whether”? Thefollowing sentences both make sense to me as a native speaker ofEnglish: (1)1 don’t know whether it will rain on Monday. (2) I will see you on Monday, whether or not it rains. Are these sentences grammatically correct?”
RAF replied: “You’re correct; they’re both acceptable and proper.
BPH replied: “You’re incorrect. The former is not proper, and the latter, while not improper, is verbose, even though it is common. ‘Whether’ denotes a differentiation between several choices, and should not be used with a single antecedent.
The proper word to use for the subjunctive clause in the first sentence is ‘if as in, 7 don’t know if it will rain on Monday. To which FH replied.
“On what planet-ofthe-hyperactive-alienschoolmarms, Bub? Thus spake the American Heritage Third: ‘whether 1. Used in indirect questions to introduce one alternative: We should find out whether the museum is open.’ A usage note under the definition of ‘if specifically discourages the use of ‘if in such cases because it often creates ambiguities.
BPH had concluded his post with the thought, “The worst part about grammarflames is triple-checking to be sure you haven’t made your petard self-hoisting. To which FH replied. “Maybe you should’ve given it one last check before you lit thefuse. Oh, my. While I’m not exactly sorry I asked, I am not actually any clearer on the concept, and decided I should submit this to the Omniscient One, a.k.a. Unca Cece.
Deborah, via the Internet
And smart you were to do so, Deb. I love grammar questions because they give everybody a chance to get passionate about a matter of no consequence at all, only without the use of guns. They should try this system in the Balkans.
Regarding the question at hand, your
sample sentences are acceptable and proper as stated. I would be predisposed to think this regardless: No. 1, because you show the proper attitude of awe with respect to myself, an all-too-rare occurrence these days, and, No. 2 because one of your defenders was Frank H., one of Cecil’s buds from way back. While Frank is not always right (nobody is, except me), anybody who can come up with a phrase like “planetof-the-hyperactive-alien-schoolmarm” you gotta love. But notwithstanding my prejudices, you are supported by both authority and common sense.
As you rightly surmise, there are instances in which it is wrong to append “or not” to “whether.” The test for determining such instances is whether or not you can delete “or not” without affecting the sense of the sentence. For example, in the preceding sentence “or not” adds nothing to the sense and is thus super-
ILLUSTRATION: SLUG SIGNORINO
fluous, if hard to resist. Not so in your sentence No. 2. Regarding sentence No. 1, both Frank and the AH3 are correct in pointing out that though “if’ and “whether” are more or less synonymous, “if’ can be ambiguous in some circumstances. The AH3 example is “Let her know if she is invited,” which can be interpreted to mean “Let her know whether she is invited” or “Let her know in the event that she is invited.”
Cecil naturally speaks with popelike infallibility in these matters, but since there are always unbelievers, let me quote Theodore Bernstein (The Careful Writer, 1965): “Usually the or not is a space waster. When, however, the intention is to give equal stress to the alternatives, the or not is mandatory. One way (besides Cecil’s) to test whether the or not is necessary is to substitute iffor whether. If the change to ifproduces a different meaning the or not must be supplied.” Your sentence No. 2 once again passes the test.
Sundance Surprise
What a wonderful surprise to see the Sundance Film Festival featured in your paper (Jan. 26-Feb. 1). And you actually sent a photographer and a reporter what a novel idea!
Other local papers have become so insular in nature that it seems they aren’t even cognizant of the creative, artistic world of filmmaking.
All in the name of tight budgets. And yet somehow you managed it!
I only wish I’d known ahead of time that you were going. I would have encouraged you to follow
Cincinnatian Greg Newberry, who was there taunting studio heads with his latest script
“Jimmy High Five” by carrying around a concrete laden Jimmy Hoffa mummy. Or maybe you could have connected with Ohio native Patrick Markey (producer ofA River Runs Through It and The Quick and the Dead') or producer Sarah Green (City of Hope and The Secret of Ronan Innish) and ask them both if it’s true their next projects could be shooting in Cincinnati.
Better yet, next time please take us along. Since our own budget doesn’t include such luxuries (?!).
Thanks for making me feel
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more in touch, even though we couldn’t be there!
Lori Holladay, executive director, Greater Cincinnati Film Commission
Sharing Credit
Thank you for the fine article, “Mending Fences” (Jan. 12-18), highlighting the untold progress at the Lewis Center over the past year. I believe patients and clinical staff are encouraged by Jeffrey Hillard’s responsible reporting of the many positive developments as the center seeks to simultaneously improve clinical and safety efforts, bolster research and teaching and achieve a new level of broadly based planning for the future. Scandal mongering in mental health journalism, if the past century is any guide, is easy. It is much harder to get at the deeper truth!
On a more personal note, 1 think the article erred in allotting me too much credit for improvements. While those real contributors amongst our 600 employees are too numerous to mention, much credit is due to our clinical director, Lawrence Ostrowski, M.D., who really held the staff together over the most difficult passages these past few years.
Moreover, the Clozapine program is truly the outgrowth of a group of superb clinicians dedicated to working with some of our most unfortunate fellow citizens. Notably, Drs. Edward Hackett and Leo D’Souza have taken the lead in this biopsychosocial project which is unsurpassed in this area. These and many other excellent people are what the Lewis Center is all about.
Again, thanks to Jeff Hillard and CityBeat for digging a bit deeper into the truth of a story.
Daniel R. Wilson, M.D., medical director, Pauline Warfield Lewis Center
On Their Own
If NPS, PBS, etc. are as great as you and other liberal types suggest they are (Feb. 2-8), I am sure they would be able to succeed on their own without government subsidy.
The debt continues to grow despite the “best(?)” efforts of a Democrat President and his Democrat Congress. Finally someone is in there to make some tough choices.
Thomas E. Brinkman Jr. and Cathy F. Brinkman, Cincinnati.
Battle Hymns of the Republic
Is there anyone left in America to fight the goodfight'?
BY JOHN FOX
Two recent events got me thinking about our nation’s state of affairs.
One was the 50th anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima. The other was the New Hampshire schmooze-fest of the intended 1996 Republican presidential candidates. Both featured plenty of flag-waving, patriotic music and talk of “the good old days.” And both left me with an empty feeling.
First was the hoopla surrounding the February day in 1945 that U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima. Six weeks later after 6,500 Americans and 21,000 Japanese were killed the Marines secured the island. World War II would last just six months more.
I watched Bill Clinton on TV on Sunday delivering an impassioned speech at the Iwo Jima memorial near Arlington National Cemetery. He talked of honor, loyalty, fighting for a just cause and raising that famous flag on the mountain. Gray-haired grandfathers who were 20-year-olds at Iwo Jima listened with pride.
I couldn’t help but wonder about how Clinton felt giving that speech. He’s the president, after all, and he has to do these head-of-state ceremonies. But he knows many Americans distrust him because he protested the Vietnam War when he was 20, instead of joining the Marines or even the National Guard.
What did Clinton feel at the podium? Did he wish at that moment that Vietnam was as “good and noble” a war as WWII had been, so that he could have gone off dutifully to some God-forsaken Pacific paradise to kill the evil enemy? Did he lament that the 1960s weren’t as simple and uncomplicated as the 1940s?
And for the generation after Clinton’s, there hasn’t even been a Vietnam to electrify the nation’s policies and attitudes. Young people today can’t imagine a society struggling with its moral convictions about war much less a society totally committed to defeating a common enemy like Hitler or Japan. Our wars are
Saving Our Assets
Kudos to the CityBeat staff and Dennis Breen for blowing the lid off the sweetheart “negotiations” involved in the City/Bungled Bengals/Rancid Reds deals (Feb. 9-15). I just wonder who will be signing the present City Manager’s checks in his next job? Will he do a better job of
TOMORROW
protecting corporate assets than he has with our mutual civic assets?
Michael Wood, Cincinnati
Talking Back
Each week, Cincinnati CityBeat poses a question on its back page. Our staff selects the best responses to print the following week, with published
about oil and money. Back in the early 1940s‘, President Roosevelt rallied the entire population around sacrificing for the common good of the U.S. war effort. Today President Clinton can’t rally us to do anything to help each other. We barely want to do anything to help ourselves.
On Sunday, I looked at the old faces of those WWII veterans who had stormed the small, heavily fortified island and thought to myself, “Were you people really so innocent?” I could not comprehend such faith and trust in our govemement.
Later that night, I watched news reports of the day’s Republican Party fund-raising dinner in New Hampshire, which in exactly one year hosts the first primary of the 1996 presidential campaign. There were nine smarmy politicians smiling, waving, talking to “concerned voters” and patting each other on the back, and I became very agitated.
There were a few familiar faces there, such as scary Sens. Bob Dole, Phil Gramm, Arlen Specter and Richard Lugar. There were a couple radical-right nut cases, Pat Buchanan and California Congressman Robert Doman. And there were a few people I didn’t really know but who looked kind of scary: Lamar Alexander, running on the popular I’m-an-ex-govemorof-a-Southem-state platform; Bush cabinet screecher Lynn Martin; and some guy named Alan Keyes.
These people, collectively and individually, spoke of yearning for a simpler, more directed time in our nation’s histoiy the post-war 1950s. That’s when our economy was expanding like crazy, every family had a mommy and a daddy, women stayed at home to raise the kids, blacks rode in the back of the bus, abortions were done in secret, everybody went to church, the entertainment industry was under siege from Joe McCarthy, our military spent tax money like there was no tomorrow and no one questioned authority.
These politicians are vying to be our next president. They think they can help American people reclaim past pride and past glory. They want to fight for more just causes and raise more flags on the mountain.
I did not see a hero among them. I simply saw politidans trying to appropriate true emotion and feeling with empty words and meaningless promises. I did not find a collective future to believe in and sacrifice for.
responses meriting a CityBeat T-shirt. Here are some of the responses to last week’s question: “What areas of government spending would you eliminate to trim to the federal deficit?”
RUTH C. SMITHER: Make every department cut 10 percent off last year’s budget and hold Social Security cost of liv-
ing to zero percent for the next three years We need “tough love.”
JEFF FOSSETT: Foreign aid. It is ridiculous the amounts of money we send to other countries, never expecting to get it back, when we have so many problems at home.
CconT'O I'D BEEN HIRED
MINING QUESTIONS
BY NANCY FIROR
News&Views
CBC Stadium Talks: Questionable or Correctable?
Did the Cincinnati Business Committee (CBC) bypass the regional stadium task force in stadium negotiations and try to silence Hamilton County Commissioner Guy Guckenberger, as recent newspaper reports suggest?
No, Guckenberger said, though it was easy to get that impression from a Feb. 12 story in The Cincinnati Enquirer. The story reported that after talking to the CBC’s executive director Guckenberger was backing down on plans to set a deadline for Red’s managing partner Marge Schott to enter into open stadium talks.
A Feb. 19 Enquirer editorial, “Soap Town: It’s Another World,” then reiterated what many were thinking: ”... just as Soap Town residents are starting to cheer because someone finally told annoying Marge to put up or shut up, mysterious (CBC Executive Director) Ron Roberts emerges from the shadows to call Guckenberger and tell him to back off. Roberts reveals that the regional task force led by public officials has been outranked by two dozen unelected J.R. Ewings. ...”
Humorous? Yes.
Accurate? No, Guckenberger said.
On Fob. 11, The Enquirer reported that Guckenberger, a co-chairman of the stadium task force, was fed up with Schott’s silence in task force negotiations, which are aimed at finding solutions for Reds and Bengals stadium needs.
BY BRAD KING AND NANCY FIROR
In the story, Guckenberger said he would recommend that the task force hire a financial consultant and move ahead in talks with the Bengals, possibly leaving the Reds behind; if Schott did not agree to participate in open talks by March 1.
The rehabilitation of buildings along Main Street is prompting praise from Over-the-Rhine’s redevelopment proponents. But it also is excluding potential customers with disabilities.
Guckenberger told CityBeat he knew all along that the CBC had been assisting in stadium discussions between Schott and Cincinnati City Manager John Shirey. But, he said, he commented on setting a deadline for Schott because he had heard, through intermediaries, that the CBC’s efforts were not accomplishing anything.
As redevelopment has taken off, buildings have been gutted, remodeled and painted. Yet a number of businesses have opened without entryways that accommodate people in wheelchairs.
“I should have called Ron Roberts before made that statement,” Guckenberger said.
After the story hit the streets, Guckenberger said The Enquirer called again, wanting his response for a follow-up story, which included Schott’s reaction to Guckenberger's ultimatum.
It’s a reflection of life for some 50,000 Cincinnati-area residents,who have significant physical disabilities and deal with this type of discrimination around the Tristate on a daily basis, said Marcia Cassidy, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) technical consultant at the Center for Independent Living Options Inc., a non-profit organization in downtown Cincinnati.
Meanwhile, Guckenberger said he had been thinking about the Feb. 11 story, which reported his deadline plan more "aggressively" than he anticipated. He said he decided to call Roberts to double-check on where the CBC’s negotiations stood.
“(Roberts) was very nice very pleasant,” Guckenberger said. “He was not upset at all.”
Compounding confusion is the limited authority of the city’s Department of Buildings and Inspections, where officials say they cannot enforce ADA requirements if meeting requirements involves construction in the public right-of-way.
Business owners are saying that they have tried to correct the problem but cannot get approval to do so from Cincinnati’s Public Works Department.
“It’s a lot like eating at a different restaurant or drinking out of a different fountain because of the color of your skin,” Cassidy said.
But on Main Street, a number of business owners are saying that they have tried to correct the problem but cannot get approval to do so from Cincinnati’s Public Works Department. The department will not allow businesses to install wheelchair ramps that encroach on the public sidewalk.
Because Roberts indicated the CBC was making some progress, Guckenberger said he decided on his own to hold off on setting deadlines. He said he then called The Enquirer to report just that.
But to Guckenberger’s dismay, the story that followed reported that Guckenberger had not been aware that the CBC was talking to Schott. It “really got wrong the fact
Since 1991, the St. John’s Social Service Center at 1316 Main St. has had a step leading into the building but no ramp or incline that enables those in wheelchairs to enter.
Linda Howell, the center’s manager of social services, said the center designed a ramp for its entrance. But in order to meet the ADA ramp specifications, the ramp almost reached the street and blocked the sidewalk.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, inclines at building entrances optimally would not exceed a 1-inch rise for every 20 inches the incline extends horizontally. But at an existing building site such as St. John’s, a ramp could have a 1-inch rise for every 8 inches it extends out.
Unfortunately, there’s a problem with placing a ramp on the public sidewalk at all, said Joe Maxi, a civil engineering technician for the city’s public works.
“If it’s out in the public right-of-way and it’s serving a CONTINUES ON PAGE 6
ACCESS: FROM PAGE S
private business, that’s an encroachment,” he said.
Howell said the center also had looked into placing a portable ramp at the door, but that didn’t work either.
“There is nothing we can do and meet the codes,” she said.
So Howell and the center’s staff are left to do what they can to meet the needs of disabled people coming to the center for help.
“Our staff will come out and make sure they get up the step,” she said.
Cassidy said that beyond the humiliation some wheelchair users feel about being carried into a building, there is a more pressing problem.
“(My chair) is a 300-pound chair, and I don’t know anybody who wants to lug this chair up a flight of stairs,” she said.
ADA is no guarantee
The Ohio Building Code incorporates a portion of the ADA, which the city’s building department, in turn, enforces. But that does not offer clear-cut answers, said Gregory Nicholls, senior plans examiner in the department’s licenses and permits section.
Once a permit for a certain renovation is approved, the developer is obligated to spend a proportional amount on improving “the route to those improvements,” he said.
But along Main Street a lot of those routes involve steps, Nicholls said, and a lot of those steps are out on the public right-of-way, which might as well be considered a line that defines where public works takes over and the building department does not cross.
“We don’t have any jurisdiction over that line,” he said.
So what weight does the ADA carry? A lawsuit probably is the only thing that would produce an answer, Nicholls said.
But Maxi said developing entryways for people in wheelchairs is important to the city, even thought public works will not permit an incline that encroaches on the public sidewalk.
Toward that end, he said, public works will help a business try to figure out a plan of action.
He said his department’s first suggestion would be to find a solution within the space of the private business, such as such as lowering the floor. Keeping the work on the private business’ property also relieves the hassle and extra cost of getting additional approval for work done on the public right-of-way, he said.
“It’s best to have an idea that you want to do ...,” Maxi said. “It’s hard to get all the city agencies to agree on what’s best to do.”
Though the motive was not to help people in wheelchairs, the Main Street Brewery at 1203 Main St. came up with a plan that accommodated the disabled. The business, which opened in late 1994, got rid of an existing step and moved the entrance into their private property, said Vince Bryant, one of the brewery’s owners.
“We completely re-did the entryway to accommodate the lobby and to meet certain codes,” he said.
Cassidy said such accommodations were beneficial to business owners because they invited the patronage of the disabled. For those who truly want to provide accommodations, she said, there are ways for the city and the business community to work together to develop alternatives to inclines and ramps.
Sidewalk warps humps in the concrete in front of a building that those in wheelchairs can use to roll up to the door are one such solution, Cassidy said. Using alternative entrances to buildings or waiving certain city codes when possible are among other solutions. There also are ways for business owners to combat renovation costs, including tax breaks that can cover up to 50 percent of the cost of a wheelchair ramp.
Last June, more than 100 police officers and spouses went to Cincinnati City Council to attempt to stop the Cincinnati Police Division’s proposal to increase its use of rotating shifts. They presented research that indicated rotating shifts were unsafe and considered by most progressive police departments to be a product of the Dark Ages. They asked the Law and Public Safety Committee to review the issue before a final decision was made. The committee requested that the police division re-examine the policy, especially the safety aspects that were brought forth, and report back a month later.
The Police Division administration offered a report that was nothing more than previous memos pasted together and merely addressed the history of rotating shifts and how they were going to be implemented here. Not only did the Law and Public Safety Committee accept the report, which did not mention or address any safety issues, but some members defended the administration’s right to manage the division without interference from City Council the same group that has no problem getting involved with promotions and appointing independent panels.
Thus, the Cincinnati police rotating shift policy was finalized: Officers with fewer than five years on the force (about 50 percent of the force), along with their supervisors, change work schedules every eight weeks from third shift (11 p.m.-7 a.m.) to second shift (3-11 p.m.) to first shift (7 a.m.-3 p.m.). The actual shift hours vary from precinct to precinct.
The truly astounding part is that in 1985 the Cincinnati Police Division conducted its own study of fixed shifts and found that “frequent shift changes (had) been identified by psychologists as a major stressor in policing.” The study also said that "the pilot study of fixed shifts produced positive results in the areas of production, crime trends and overall cost and morale” and that "the basic premise of fixed shifts is itself an officer safety consideration.” This study resulted in the entire division moving to fixed shifts in early 1986.
Last spring the division reversed its policy in the name of mixing rookie and veteran officers and ensuring diversity on all shifts. The concerns they are trying to address are valid, but putting them above officer safety is not the answer.
Rotating shifts haven’t promoted either of these two goals. They might, in fact, be exacerbating them. Many officers feel the division is making policy decisions based on achieving these two objectives alone. This belief is driving a wedge between supervisors, who must now rotate With the rookies, and non-rotating veterans. Many non-rotating officers think some supervisors are giving them "low-man-on-the-totempole” assignments that would normally go to rookies to whom the supervisor is tied. And the Sentinels' recent protest of alleged racist hiring and promotion practices confirms the conflict within the Cincinnati Police Division. (The Sentinels is an organization for African-American officers.)
One concluding fact worth noting: Between 1976 and 1986, seven police officers were killed in the line of duty while working rotating shifts; since the division moved to fixed shifts in 1986, only one has died serving our city.
Modern Art’s Urban Chronicler
Giacomettiforesaw the rage despair; anonymity of modem city
ESSAY BY DANIEL BROWN
Three years ago at the Chicago International Art Fairs, a friend and I took a break from the exhilaration of the new “post-emerging” Navy Pier Shows and the tedium of the international exhibitions to visit the Art Institute of Chicago.
Disappointed by the overrated Monet paintings, we wandered through the early European Modernism collections and stopped dead in our tracks in front of a portrait of man’s head by Swiss artist Albert Giacometti. This quite small oil symbolized both the hope and the alienation of modern humankind; art’s never been the same for me since that compelling moment of epiphany.
The London Times wrote, in the late 1970s, that English novelist Barbara Pym was the most underrated novelist of this century (I agree), and for me Giacometti is her visual equivalent: the most underestimated and undervalued artist of the 20th centuiy. A great psychologist in the visual arts, his only heir is the contemporary artist Lucian Freud.
Giacometti’s vision was uniquely his own. His models were few; he used himself, his brothers, his mother and father and his eventual wife Annette. Friends were frequently depicted, including Surrealist Andre Breton, composer Igor Stravinsky, writer Michel Leiris and artists Matisse, Georges Braque, Henri Laurens and Jacques Lipschitz. All are transformed into symbols of Man and Woman, the intensely intimate personal friend and/or mentor who symbolizes the individuality and autonomy of love in an era of alienation and urban angst. Giacometti always captures the immense dignity of his family, his friends, himself; he celebrates life and conquers the idea/concept of death, that anomie which entered life and language after World War I.
Putting It Together
Like Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, Giacometti utilized every medium; he may well be the century’s finest draftsman. Paintings, drawings and lithographs abound, but his highly elongated, radically distorted and distilled sculptures are his most profound contribution.
Giacometti’s work walks a perfect tightrope never has it been so taut between hope and alienation, autonomy and despair. Every image is intensely personal yet transcends the artist.
Influences abound in his art from Oceanic tribal sculpture to Fernand Leger’s early abstractions but
ORIGINAL
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We sometimes forget the mass exodus of people from small towns, villages and farms to even larger urban areas, occurring even more radically everywhere today. Perhaps Giacometti’s sheltered Swiss life allowed him both the knowledge and the detachment though he often traveled to Paris to actually see the condition of modern man and woman in his great sculptures.
His portrait busts of faces and figures are often placed on huge pedestals or bases, although all are small or depicted walking in anonymous urban spaces. The figures are enlarged beyond reality but compressed in small space, symbolizing both potency and urban despair, reflecting the sociology and psychology of urban life. Giacometti is this century’s first psycho-aesthetician, as Marcel Proust was in modem literature.
Giacometti’s sculpted figures often contain one head, planted, as in “The Forest” of 1950. The attenuated, elongated figures and severed heads represented the quintessential alienation of modern urban life. No one moves or connects, but they propose, metaphorically, that human life can transcend any literal space. These bronzes are preceded by Giacometti’s prototype “The Cage” of 1930-31, where life itself seems trapped by alienating, Kafka-esque forces.
The urban squares where Giacometti placed his totemic figures seem prophetic of cities which French architect Le Courbusier truly wanted to build: filled with enormous buildings, with blank cement spaces in between. Giacometti’s cities are hauntingly surreal, representing both sides of this century’s greatest paradox: people vs. their environments, the decision to stay in place or to leave for cities.
Giacometti’s tragic, anonymous urban totems cannot and do not connect or interact, though they are occasionally depicted walking (“Walking Man I,” 1960). Walking implies the ability to leave, as well as to enter. All these faces and figures are stylized, nude; the women often seem like Earth goddesses.
His borrowings from Oceanic sculptures make Picasso’s borrowings from Africa seem both egotistical and tame. Never in the history of art has a Western artist appropriated the art of another culture with such exquisite and absolute perfection. Giacometti’s art is a lesson all multiculturalists should study, analyze, recognize and admire. Art can render and depict identity, but Giacometti avoided the pitfalls of identity politics.
Our alternative community groups that have created a symbiotic dysfunctional dialogue in America fail to recognize the rage, anger and despair within cities so available to see and interpret in the brilliant artwork of Alberto Giacometti.
This is the fourth installment in a series about the careers of great artists of the 20th century. Next week: Jackson Pollock.
CPA Dance
STORY BY KATHY VALIN
PHOTOS BY JYMI BOLDEN
TO AR TR CARRY TISTIC AD IT I O ON N
ccording to The New York Times with public and private salvation a remote prospect in this era of reduced spending, it seems inevitable that some of our country’s professional dance companies will be forced to scale back or even go out of business. Yet ambitious and marvelously skilled dancers still pour from schools such as Cincinnati’s School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA), despite Money magazine’s ranking of their job prospects as just above butchers, sanitation workers and taxi drivers.
What exactly is it that motivates these students to stick with a profession requiring the emotional and physical stamina of a Rocky Balboa, not to mention the almost certain prospect of a serious lack of proportionate financial remuneration?
One reason is that a significant number of SCPA kids have beaten the odds and graduated to professional careers. Another is the inspiration of teaching professionals such as Sheila Cohen, founder and director of the SCPA Dance Ensemble and director of the SCPA Dance Department. She has made it her life’s work to pass on the expressive traditions of her profession to new generations. A third, and perhaps most compelling, reason is the excitement of experiencing dance as a living art form not just a repertory of received movements but an ever-fresh partnership between choreographer and performer.
Beginning in November, the Dance Ensemble was given
the unique chance to experience dance as just such a ereative partnership, when members began rehearsing for a series of performances, which run Friday through Sunday at The Dance Hall. Six members of Cincinnati Ballet are choreographing and.presenting their original work rangmg from ballet to modem, with music from Gregorian chant to contemporary and thanks to Cohen’s direction, the young SCPA dancers have been allowed the rare opportunity to work with these professionals and share in the creation of these new works.
Teacher’s faith in students
Cohen is in the midst of her comfortably crowded office on the fourth floor of the Over-the-Rhine magnet school. The small room, which doubles as an organized (and crowded) repository for more than 50 repertory pieces, complete with videotape records and hanging costumes, has the warm ambiance of the happening moment.
Cohen is a small, intense, fluent woman with large dark eyes. Costumed in practice clothes, she works as we speak, juggling the demands of a teaching and coaching schedule involving more than 300 students. Her duties include organizing and directing SCPA’s company of preprofessional dancers who receive rigorous training in techniques ranging from ballet to Martha Graham’s seminal modern dance.
Clockwise from top: SCPA dancers onstage; Cincinnati Ballet member and choreographer Rebecca Rodriguez demonstrates movements for the SCPA dancers; SCPA student Rick Bedel takes time for academic study during a rehearsal; dance students practice their choreography in unison.
Cohen’s confidence in the training is absolute. “My kids can do anything,” she says.
What is it like, Cohen is asked, for these student dancers to have new movements choreographed on them rather than performing a piece that’s already in repertory?
“A challenge,” she says with a smile. “When you learn a role done on someone else, you must find your own way of doing that role. But the role itself, the movements, are already established. For a dancer, it’s more intense to have movements created on you. The atmosphere in the studio is quieter than usual. The kids are so focused on this, not just learning the steps but learning the mood and trying to feel their way along with the choreographer.”
Cincinnati Ballet dancer Rebecca Rodriguez concurs. “They have been fabulous,” she says. “Very open and willing.”
Dancer Jay Goodlett compares the students to college basketball players. For him, they’re “playing” for the glory and not the profit.
Cohen says she and other SCPA Dance Department staff have choreographed works on their students, but “this is different because we teach them and train them every day. They know us. It’s a different experience to have a professional come in who doesn’t really know
them and is just attracted by the way they move. Choreographing a new piece is a partnership, and our kids are finding out what that creative partnership is really like.”
'You are just absolutely alive’
The kids seem to be handling the challenge of their new partnership with aplomb. On top of rehearsing for the Cincinnati Ballet concert, many attended the recent local audition for the prestigious School of American Ballet (the official training school of the New York City Ballet) and gave performances the same evening. Dance is already a defining portion of their young lives.
For 15-year-old Janice Schreiber, a walk-on part as a page in Cincinnati Ballet’s Nutcracker was the beginning. “I was just in kindergarten, so all I really did was sit down onstage with the other kids and watch,” she says. “But... that was what sparked it.”
What does she do for fun? “Well, because of all the time we spend together, my friends are mostly other dancers. Even when I go out to a movie or for dinner, I end up talking about dance: roles, costumes, companies.”
Does she have a pre-performance ritual? Ever practical, Schreiber pauses. “No, not really. I make sure to take the time to give myself a thorough warm-up, though.”
When fellow student Darius Crenshaw was 4, his mother noticed him raptly watching dancers on television. Barbara Crenshaw says she asked him, “Do you think you’d ever want to do that?” “Yes,” he told her. Now a ripe old veteran of 17, Crenshaw who was recommended to an alternative program by his math teacher and still maintains a healthy interest in chemistry and medicine has been twice accepted as a student at the School of American Ballet and regularly performs as a soloist locally.
The kids’ routines are stories of a devotion to art that takes no heed of political currents or economic realities. “He goes over his roles endlessly,” Crenshaw’s mother says. “He’s got a special spot in the hallway for doing releves (a strengthening exercise), he’s practicing for hours on end at school and at home. He’ll come in so tired sometimes he can’t even eat his dinner.”
For Darius Crenshaw, performing new choreography involves responsibility. “I want to introduce it to an audience as well as I can, to put it over the best way possible.”
Why? “Because I owe it to the choreographer and the audience,” he says.
The problems of learning new movements and characters don’t seem insurmountable to these young pre-pro-
CONTINUES ON PAGE 10
SCPA: FROM PAGE 9 fessionals. In the end, they get to work with artists they idolize and, ultimately, to perform. As Schreiber says, “It’s like a dream. When you’re onstage dancing, for this one moment, you get to do the one thing that you are just righrifor right there, and you are just absolutely alive. It’s very much from the inside of you.”
Rodriquez agrees: “For dancers, performing completes the circle of work. After months of rehearsal, they finally find out if the audience likes it or not.”
Freedom to develop
The partnership has been just as much of an invigorating venture for the Cincinnati Ballet dancers whose works the SCPA ensemble will perform. The group includes dancers Daryl Bjoza, Erik Kegler, Peter Merz, Rene Micheo, Goodlett and Rodriguez.
Cohen remarks on a recent conversation she had with Cincinnati Ballet Artistic Director Peter Anastos. “He mentioned that it would help his ‘cause’ because by choreographing, his dancers will be reminded what it’s like on the other side of the (artistic) fence,” she says.
As fledging choreographers, the Cincinnati Ballet dancers have set works that vary in style from Merz’s work on point to Micheo’s earthy, barefoot modem.
When Micheo talks about his cast, which uses the whole 18-member ensemble, he notes members’ professional demeanor and the respect they show in rehearsals. He gives them hints on what to do, what they should be thinking as they move, and then “he gives us the freedom to develop it,” Schreiber says.
Does Micheo worry about the young dancers’ abilities to respond to this challenge? “Absolutely not,” he says. “These kids have wonderfully vivid imaginations, and they respond viscerally to the powerful music and stories. Of course, nobody gets stabbed onstage. It’s not that kind of reality. But we treat
CoverStory
them like the professionals many will become.”
Building character
“We’ve gone to schools, colleges, dance ensemble members have performed with the Cincinnati Ballet and the Cincinnati Pops,” Cohen says. “These kids are working hard. They’re performing artists. Young performing artists.”
She explains that what she hopes to offer her students is “encouragement, of course, and understandmg.”
“But you can’t sulk because you didn’t get the role you wanted,” she says. “You’ve got to put the inevitable jealousies and disappointments aside. Keep your feet moving, keep your body going and be ready to jump in. As a director, a choreographer, I am looking for the best person for the part. But as a teacher, I am not only trying to build strong technique but strong character.”
From what we have seen of Cohen and her remarkable charges, it seems she is succeeding admirably in both aims. In this time of increased emphasis on “family values,” it’s refreshing to note that teachers such as Cohen and dancing professionals such as Goodlett, himself a graduate of SCPA, can come together with these gifted kids to pass along the love of an art whose creative, physical and, yes, moral discipline is being bred into their young bones.
These are family values in action, values well worth preserving no matter what Money magazine has to say about job prospects and remuneration.
WELL BEINGS
BY JOSH KATZ
About Those Resolutions
According to the National Sporting Goods Association, consumers spent $750 million on treadmills in 1993, up nearly 50 percent from 1992. Heath-club attendance rose to 18.2 million in 1993 a 32 percent increase from 1987. But how many of those treadmills are still in use? How many people are still visiting those health clubs?
The statistics do not paint a pretty picture:
50 percent of adult Americans drop out of formal exercise programs in the first three months.
One-third of U.S. adults are overweight.
Twenty-four percent are completely sedentary. A sedentary lifestyle, like many behaviors (smoking, drinking, obesity), develops over time. Likewise, most people who permanently change a behavior do so in stages. In his book, Changing For Good, clinical psychologist and researcher James Prochaska discusses how self-changers (people who change on their own) follow patterns of change. The stages of change are applicable to most behaviors, including adopting a more physically active lifestyle. The six stages can be summarized as:
Precontemplation Denial of the problem is high; awareness of the problem is low. There is no intention to change within the next six months.
Contemplation A struggle ensues to understand the problem with an intent to change, at some point, usually within six months or more. This uncertainty can keep people in this stage for years. These people are often considered as substituting thinking for action.
Preparation Planning to take action within the next month. These individuals still need convincing to embark on the action; awareness is high. These are appropriate recruits for action-oriented programs.
Action The stage that requires the greatest commitment of time and energy. For most chronic behaviors, action is assumed to last approximately six months. The problem? Many individuals equate action with change, ignoring the previous “ground work” and maintenance to follow. The result is an increased risk for relapse.
Maintenance Individuals deal with relapse but maintain the new behavior for greater than six months. Confidence is at its highest peak, except when approaching periods of relapse. This stage can last up to five years.
Termination The final stage is where there is no temptation to engage in the problem behavior and there is a 100 percent confidence that one will not engage in the old behavior regardless of the situation.
Let’s take a little test and figure out at what stage you are in for the behavior you want to change. Respond to the following statements with yes or no:
1) solved my problem more than six months ago.
2) have taken action within the past six months.
3) am intending to take action in the next months.
4) am intending to take action in the next six months.
A "No” answer to all four statements indicates that you are in the precontemplation stage. If you answered “Yes” to statement 4 and “No” to the others, you are most likely in the contemplation stage. Those in the preparation stage will answer “Yes” to statements 3 and 4 and “No” to the others. Action-oriented people will answer "Yes” to statement 2 and “No” to statement 1. If you have changed a behavior for more than six months, you will answer a bona fide “Yes” to statement 1. Which processes of change would be appropriate for you? If you are in the precontemplation stage, use processes that enhance your awareness of the problem. It is only in the later stages, that you will begin to set realistic goals toward changing your behavior.
It is rare to permanently change a behavior in a brief period of time. Most "changers” stumble, fall and get up several times before finally making a change. If you’re interested in making a change, try the approach outlined in Changing For Good. Who knows you may keep those New Year’s resolutions after all.
JOSH KATZ is exercise physiologist. Contact him at Cincinnati CityBeat, 23 E. Seventh St., Suite 617, Cincinnati, OH 45202.
SSending the Bosses Back to School
how 4-year-olds a VCR and watch them program the time. Sit 40year-olds in front of a computer and watch them have mild heart spasms and anxiety attacks.
While it’s true that more and more people are surfing the ’Net, many of the 30-plus set are still trying to learn the software on their home and/or office PC.
Rick Roller, owner of RTK Enterprises in Norwood, spends most of his time helping people to do just that. His out-callbased business is geared almost entirely to home and residential training.
“We teach people how to use what they have,” Roller says.
And business is booming. “Two years ago, we were mainly developing programs and spreadsheets for companies, maybe we did two to three sessions a month. Now, I do five training sessions a week.”
By relating icons in the software to objects in an office (i.e. a desk, a filing cabinet), Roller helps users get accustomed to their new equipment without making them feel too much like a DOS Dummy.
While Roller has trained every age from 10 to 70, most of his clients are 30 to 40.
Seeing a similar trend is Reed Rogers, senior account manager for Executrain, a national computer-training company with a Cincinnati branch downtown.
“The majority of our students, at least 60 to 70 percent of them, are between 30 and 45; another 20 percent of them are at 45 and older,” Rogers says.
What’s causing the rush back to school? Rogers attributes it to downsizing (“There are just fewer support people to get the job done in a depleted work force.”) and to marketability (“You’re more likely to get
Be Careful What You Say...
How does one answer a cyberpass?
Type a semicolon, an option 1 and an end parenthesis, then cock your head to the left to see: p)
Does WYSIWIG give you a headache? Type :*»\
While designed to make our lives easier and more efficient, like any new technology, computers have increasingly led to a new vocabulary.
hired on if you have experience with a PC.”).
Says Rogers, “Three years ago, we were training 350,000 people a year. This year, we expect to train over 1.2 million people nationally.”
But are they teaching them the Internet surfing skills they’ll need to get ahead of the wolf pack of twentysomethings?
“As they ask, we’ll train them,” says Roller. “But most of what we do now is to get the on CompuServe or America Online, and let them navigate from there.”
The 1994 Webster’s New World dietionary includes the terms “RAM” (Random Access Memory), “multitasking” and “microchip.” Absent are the definitions for WWW, WYSIWIG and bbs (World Wide Web, What-YouSee-Is-What-You-Get and bulletin board system, respectively). For those not intimately involved, sometimes the language alone can be a barrier to getting around on the Infobahn. Publishing a home page, or an information area, on the World Wide Web may sound great, but does the average user give a floppy disk?
Often too ture writer series i.e. denotes more Internet, pages people Just the
The most popular areas of on-line services available now are the forum or chat rooms. In these areas, you can talk to several people from all over the country, about anything from drinking beer, to Star Trek, to the Newtster’s personal sexual habits. reading mini-primer:
Not Just an Entertainment Calendar... A State of Mind
This Week’s Theme: Evolution
Listings Index
Music (concerts, clubs, varied venues) 12
Sports (recreational, spectator) 16
Film (capsule reviews, theater guide) 16
Art (galleries, exhibits, museums) 21
Events (cool happenings) 24
Onstage (theater, dance, classical music) 26
Etc. (events, meetings, attractions) 26
Literary (signings, readings, events) 28
Attractions (museums, historic homes) 29
Upcoming (a look at what’s ahead) 30
Review Ratings
F Utter Failure
Recommendations
★ CityBeat, staffs stamp of approval
To be included
Thursday. Coyote’s Music and Dance Hall, 400 Buttermilk Pike, Fort Mitchell. $14/$ 18 day of show. 721-1000 or 341-5150.
EKOOSTIK HOOKAH WITH DEEP WATER JUNCTION Rock.
7 p.m. Thursday. Bogart’s, 2621 Vine St., Corryville. $5/$6 day of show. 749^949.
PANTERA WITH TYPE O NEGATIVE Metal. 7:30 p.m.Thursday. Riverfront Coliseum, Pete Rose Way, Downtown. $20/$23 day of show. 721-1000. ERIC MARIENTHAL Jazz.
Time plays tricks on vegetables, animals and art. At the Cincinnati Art Museum, THE DAWN OF ENGRAVING: Masterpiecesfrom the 15th Century features fine examples of late Gothic and early Renaissance engraving. (See Art listings.) Microsoft-boiled egghead Bill Gates has REARRANGED our faces and how we view the world. Will our great-greatgreat-granchildren have bulbous foreheads and find Calculus II mere child’s play? Thoughts like these are too painful to dwell on, so come on down to the Contemporary Arts Center to see how Pittsburgh artist Paul Glabicki uses state-of-the-art computer programs, paintings, drawings and photographic sequences to create a continuous architectural landscape. (Also in the Art listings.) Before the internal combustion engine, four-legged mammals would sprint us around the country. Learn to ride horseback again with lessons at Winton Woods. (See ETC.) This year’s Bockfest also will give you an opportunity to see a part of town that has undergone A RENAISSANCE. (See Events.) Perhaps his genius at moving his characters through VARIOUS PSYCHOLOGICAL STATES was what put Fyodor Dostoevsky in a class of his own. A theatrical version of this Russian master’s The Brothers Karamazov is at the Playhouse in the Park. (See Onstage.) Thp question “Can one have enough of DINOSAURS?” is like asking if one can have enough water. Dinosaurs —A Global View, opens Saturday at the Museum of Natural History and traces the evolution and life habits of dinosaurs over THE CHANGING FACE OF THE PLANET with 70 original paintings and drawings plus life-size models of lesser-known prehistoric lizards. (See Attractions listings.)
* STEVE FERGUSON Drive to Columbus to celebrate Mardi Gras with Ferguson, a founding member of the seminal Rock group NRBQ. It’s closer that New Orleans. 9 p.m. Sunday. Stache’s, 2404 N. High St., Columbus. $8/$ 10 day of show. 614-263-5318.
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.
8 p.m. Saturday. Sungarden Lounge at the Hyatt Regency, 151 W. Fifth St., Downtown. $5. 579-1234.
Please include a contact name and daytime phone number.
BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO WITH HIGH STREET RHYTHM ROCKERS AND ROBIN LACY AND DEZYDECO Zydeco. 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Bogart’s, 2621 Vine St., Corryville. $10.50/$12 day of show. 749-4949.
★ LOVE SPIT LOVE WITH MICHAEL PETAK Fronted by former Psychedelic Fur Richard Butler, LSL is a grittier and more vital version of Butler’s original band. Don’t miss the chance to see the band in a very intimate setting.
8 p.m. Monday. Top Cat’s, 2820 Vine St., Corryville. $10/$12 day of show. 749^4949.
BIG HEAD TODD AND THE MONSTERS AND THE DAVE MATTHEWS BAND WITH THE UGLY AMERICANS Rock. 8 p.m. Tuesday. Taft Theatre, Fifth and Sycamore streets, Downtown. $20/$21.50 day of show. 749^4949.
Booksellers, Rookwood Pavilion, Madison and Edwards roads, Norwood. 396-8960.
BRIAN EWING Alternative Folk. 8 p.m. Saturday. Blue Mountain Coffee Co., 3181 Linwood Ave., Mount Lookout. 871-8626.
BILL BRANZEL QUARTET Jazz. 8 p.m. Saturday. Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Rookwood Pavilion, Madison and Edwards roads, Norwood. 396-8960.
CLARENCE FOUNTAIN AND THE FIVE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA Blues. 8 p.m. Saturday. Miami University Hamilton, 1601 Peck Blvd., Hamilton. $10.863-8833 or 721-1000.
BILL CHURCH, DAVID DINSMORE AND JENNIFER KING AND TOM ACKERMAN Folk. 7 p.m. Sunday. Leo Coffeehouse, University YMCA, 270 Calhoun St., Clifton. 321-8375. OVER THE RHINE BASSOON
BRIAN EWING Alternative Folk. 9 p.m. Tuesday. Mama Earth’s Coffee, 31 W. High St., Oxford. 513-521-0686. SAXOPHONE SUMMIT The best local Jazz sax players join forces for the latest installment of the “Jazz Workshop at Kaldi’s” series. 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. Kaldi’s Coffee House & Bookstore, 1204 Main St., Over-the-Rhine. 241-3070.
BORN CROSS-EYED Grateful Dead favorites. First Run. Cover.
BRIAN LOVELY AND THE SECRET Alternative Rock. Local 1207. Cover.
THE HOP HEADS Rockabilly. Allyn’s Cafe. Cover.
COLD SMOKE Pop Rock. Chatterbox. $2.
JIM GILLUM Acoustic. Blind Lemon. Cover.
CORE Hard Rock. Rivertown Tavern. Cover.
JOHN REDEL AND THE BOTTOM LINE Blues. Rivertown Tavern. Cover.
CRAWDADDY Alternative favorites. Fat Frank’s. Cover. $2.
DOUBLESHOT WITH ANNIE
ELLIS Pop. Briarwood. Free.
KEVIN FOX Acoustic Modem Rock. Stanley’s. Free.
FOREHEAD Alternative Rock favorites. Salamone’s. Cover.
MARY ADAM 12 Funk. Stache’s. Cover.
GEORGE LEVIGNE Rock. New 90’s. Cover.
GOOBER AND THE PEAS AND COWSLINGERS Psychobilly. Sudsy Malone’s. Cover.
THE MENUS Rock favorites. Salamone’s. Cover.
GOSHORN BROS. Classic Rock. Tommy’s. Cover.
MODULATORS Eclectic. Mt. Adams Pavilion. Cover.
GRAVEBLANKETS Folk. Canal Street Tavern. Cover.
MY MOTHER’S CREATION
Alternative. First Run. $2/$4 under 21
HOPPER WITH FEEDER AND DUPE FLY Alternative. Top Cat’s. Cover.
KEVIN FOX Acoustic Modern Rock. Stanley’s. Free.
NEW BEDLAM Rock. Club One. Cover.
MARY ADAM 12 Funk. Stache’s. Cover.
OHIO VALLEY ROUNDERS Bluegrass. Arnold’s. Free.
THE MENUS AND PSYCHODOTS Rock favorites. Blue Note. Cover.
PSYCHODOTS Pop Rock. Blue Note Cafe. Cover.
MICHAEL DENTON Acoustic. Blind Lemon. Free.
RON ENYARD TRIO WITH PAUL PLUMMER Jazz. Kaldi's. Free.
MODULATORS Eclectic. Shady
O’Grady’s. Cover.
MYSTERY WAGON Folk Alternative. Zipper’s. Free.
THE ROTTWEILERS
Alternative. Club Gotham. Cover.
NEW BEDLAM Rock. Club One. Cover.
SONNY AND THE DOGS Blues. Burbank’s Florence. Free.
OUT OF THE BLUE Blues Allyn’s Cafe. Cover.
STACY MITCHART AND BLUES
U CAN USE Blues. Shady O’Grady’s. Cover.
SYLVAN ACHER AND FABIEN Jazz. Blue Wisp. Cover.
TIGERLILIES WITH UNCOOL AND SNOTBOY 77 Alternative. Top Cat’s. Cover.
UNPREDICTABLE COVER Rock favorites. Ms. Kitty’s. Cover.
UPTOWN RHYTHM AND BLUES R&B. Stow’s. Cover.
THE ZIONITES Reggae. Sudsy Malone’s. Cover.
Local Scene
BY MIKE BREEN
Bock Fest
In a city that has street festivals celebrating chili and the “taste of Blue Ash" (it just doesn’t sound very appetizing), it should be no surprise that this Friday and Saturday marks Bockfest ’95, a Main Street-centered celebration of the dark and foamy enigma known as Bock beer.
Just another reminder that Blue Lou and the Accusations are hosting a CD-release party at 6 p.m. Sunday at Mansion Hill Tavern (502 Washington St., Newport). The Blues band has just announced that they will be performing with special guest Pigmeat Jarrett at this free show in support of its new disc, 60 Watt Bulb. Local fave and current college-radio darling Ass Ponys debuted on national TV on The John Stewart Show on Feb. 16, playing the single “Little Bastard" and closing out the show with “Banlon Shirt.” The appearance came after the band had to cancel more than a month of its tour due to illness. (Just like the Eagles!) The Ponys have recuperated and are gearing up to join the Throwing Muses tour, which will stop April 22 at Bogart’s (2621 Vine St., Corryville). Over The Rhine is making a short-notice, rare local appearance at the Blue Note Cafe (4520 W. Eighth St., Price Hill) on Thursday with labelmates/special guests hHead from Toronto. Monday’s Spin Doctors concert at Bogart’s has been canceled. Refund tickets at the point of purchase. Dayton’s best post-Punk
Some of the scheduled musical appearances include the Goshorn Brothers at Tommy’s On Main (1427 Main St.) on Friday and Saturday. Bluegrass from the Ohio Valley Rounders (Friday) and Celtic music from Silver Arm (Saturday) will be featured at Arnold’s Bar & Grill (210 E. Eighth St.). Kaldi’s Coffee Flouse & Bookstore (1202 Main St.) will feature Ron Enyard’s great Jazz trio on both nights, and Brian Lovely and the Secret spend the weekend at Local 1207 (1207 Main St.).
‘Man O’ War’ at Blue Wisp
Local Jazz guitarist and synth-player Sylvan Acher and his group Fabien have a new CD, available from Human Music (Box 26160, Cincinnati, OH 45226). Man O' '‘Mar features French-born Acher’s eclectic and soothing Jazz sounds augmented by such local talent as pianist Steve Schmidt and Russell Burge on vibes and marimba.
Join Acher for the CD’s official unveiling at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Blue Wisp Jazz Club (19 Garfield Place, Downtown) for a refreshing breath of local Jazz.
POSITIVE REACTION Reggae. Club Gotham. Cover.
RON ENYARD TRIO WITH DAVID YOUNG —Jazz. Kaldi’s. Free.
SHIRLEY JESTER JAZZ TRIO Jazz. Coco’s. Cover.
SILVER ARM Celtic. Arnold's. Free.
SONNY AND THE DOGS Blues. Burbank’s Florence. Free.
STRETCH LINCOLN Blues
Funk Rock. Stow’s. Cover.
SYLVAN ACHER AND FABIEN Jazz. Blue Wisp. Cover.
TOM MARTIN Rock. Mt. Adams Pavilion. Cover.
TONQUE N GROOVE Rock. Courtyard Cafe. Free.
UNPREDICTABLE COVER Rock favorites. Ms. Kitty’s. Cover.
WARSAW FALCONS WITH PLOW ON BOY Rock. Ripleys. Cover.
WILLY WISELY TRIO Rock. Ozzie’s. Cover.
SUNDAY FEB. 26
BLUE LOU AND THE ACCUSATIONS Blues. Mansion Hill Tavern.
THE BLUEBIRDS Blues. Allyn’s Cafe. Cover.
BOB CUSHING Acoustic. The Straushaus. Free.
CAT CITY Jazz. Blue Wisp. Cover.
DAVE SAMS Acoustic. Blind Lemon. Free.
JOHN KOGGE AND THE LONESOME STRANGERS Folk. The Stadium. Cover.
JOHNNY SCHOTT WITH TIERRA DEL, MYSTERY WAGON, MELANGE AND IAN MATHIEU Open mike. Tommy’s. Cover.
KEVIN FOX Acoustic Modem Rock. Foley’s O’Bryonville. Free. KILLDOZER AND THE HAIRY PATT BAND Underground Rock. Sudsy Malone’s..Cover.
LUBE, OIL AND FILTER Rockabilly. Mt. Adams Pavilion. Cover.
THE MENUS Rock favorites. Katmandu’s. Cover.
MILHAUS Rock favorites. Blue Note Cafe. Cover.
OPEN JAM Open mike. Rivertown Tavern. Free.
SONNY AND THE DOGS Open Blues jam. Southgate House. Free.
STACY THE BLUES DOCTOR WITH BLUES U CAN USE Blues. Local 1207. Cover.'
MONDAY FEB. 27
BOB CUSHING Acoustic. Cloverleaf Inn. Free.
DAYTON JAZZ ORCHESTRA Big Band. Gilly’s. Cover.
FRED GARY AND DOTTIE WARNER Eclectic. Arnold's. Free.
MARC MICHAELSON Rock Mt. Adams Pavilion. Cover.
RICK HICKEY Solo Rock. Sudsy Malone’s. Cover.
SONNY AND THE DOGS Blues. Fat Frank’s. Cover.
TUESDAY FEB. 28
BOB CUSHING Acoustic. Foley’s Western Hills. Free.
BRIAN LOVELY AND THE SECRET Alternative Rock. Tommy’s. Cover.
CRAWDADDY Acoustic Alternative favorites. Scooter’s. Free.
JIM CONWAY Acoustic. Blind Lemon. Free.
Killdozing Me Softly With Your Song
ewind to 1987. The twilight of Ronald Reagan’s inexplicably charismatic presidency. A time when America was telling its new poor just how well off they were and how lucky they should feel.
BY BRIAN BAKER
INTERVIEW
SCOTT KARNER Acoustic. Blind Lemon. Free.
JOHNNY SCHOTT WITH CAROL JUST BAND AND REBECCA VIE Open mike. Zipper’s. Free.
LAURIE TRAVELINE, CHRIS
ALLEN AND MILES LORETTA Acoustic. The Friendly Stop. Free.
MY FRIEND KEVIN Alternative. Sudsy Malone’s. Cover.
OPEN MIC Folk. Canal Street Tavern. Cover.
Standing in the shadows was a trio of musicians whose rills were so dense that they had seemingly been crafted from a stray hunk of black hole. They were crisscrossing the country to support a twisted piece of artistic malevolence misleadingly titled Little Baby Buntin’. Killdozer was coming for your children.
PHIL DEGREG TRIO Jazz. Blue Wisp. Free.
SHINDIG Rock favorites. Blue Note Cafe. Cover.
THE TURNPIKE CRUISERS Big Band. Arnold’s. Free.
WEDNESDAY MARCH 1
ARNOLD’S WEDNESDAY NIGHT GUYS Eclectic. Arnold’s. Free.
BLUE BIRDS Blues. Tommy’s. Cover.
Fast forward to 1995. Head ’dozer operator Michael Gerald is reminiscing about his last visit to Greater Cincinnati more than eight years ago. “I remember we found this little place in Newport or Covington that was a local brewery, and we were excited that we were going to try some local beer. Turns out it was made in Wisconsin, which means it’s great beer anyway.”
BLUE WISP BIG BAND Jazz. Blue Wisp. Cover.
Forming at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1983, Killdozer released its first album, Intellectuals Are the Shoeshine Boys of the Ruling Elite, in 1984. In doing so, the group attracted the attention of indie giants, Touch and Go Records, where Killdozer has remained ever since.
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.
FOREHEAD Alternative favorites. Murray’s Pub. Cover.
But the time has not always passed easily. Original guitarist Billy Hobson left in 1990, his spot filled by the ably suited Paul Zagoras. It was then nearly four years until they recorded Uncompromising War on Art Under the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, the followup to 1989’s Twelve Point Buck.
GREENWICH TAVERN JAZZ
ENSEMBLE Jazz. Greenwich Tavern. Cover.
GULLIBANQUE Reggae. Ripleys. Cover.
During their fallow periods, growling bassist Gerald and drummer Dan Hobson entered the legitimate work force. Not that they worked legitimately, mind you. Gerald’s most recent foray into the 40-hour work week came at the expense of an insurance company just after the end of the group’s Australian tour for Proletariat last August.
JEFF GOITHER Acoustic. Blind Lemon. Free.
JJAR Rock. Top Cat’s. Cover.
KEVIN FOX Acoustic Modern Rock. Stanley’s. Free. THE MENUS Rock favorites. Katmandu Cafe. Cover.
Gerald’s main duties were filing the hundreds of legal and medical documents that wind their way through the insurance system. His main focus, however, was avoiding that tedium. “Things would find their way into my shoulder bag that I carried my lunch in, and then I’d drop them in the dumpster on my way to the El (train). It was a combination of fighting the system and reducing my workload.”
NOAH HUNT Acoustic open jam. Local 1207. Cover.
OVERDUE AND THE MENUS Rock favorites. Blue Note Cafe. Cover.
PIGMEAT JARRETT Blues. Allyn’s Cafe. Cover.
As the insurance industry breathes a collective sigh of relief, Gerald and his mates head back to the road to tell the oppressed working masses about their latest Touch and Go effort, God Hears Pleas of the Innocent. It seems natural to wonder what cover song might appear on the next disc. This time around the band chose the obscure but perfectly interpreted “Pour Man,” from obscure but perfectly interpretable ’60s
QUEERS WITH THE SMEARS AND CANDY ASS Punk. Sudsy Malone’s. Cover.
TRILOGY Classic Rock. Mt. Adams Pavilion. Cover. THE WEBSTERS Alternative favorites. Salamone’s. Cover.
singer/songwriter Lee Hazelwood. In the past, Killdozer has offered up liquid metal versions of the obvious (Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” and Black Oak Arkansas’ “Hot and Nasty”) to the preposterous (EMF’s “Unbelievable” and Jessie Colter’s “I’m Not Lisa”) without a blink.
“One guy from England keeps writing that we should do Motown songs,” says Gerald. “I don’t know if he just doesn’t get it, or if he really does get it, and we don’t.”
“Getting it” is important to Killdozer, whatever “it” happens to be at the moment. God Hears Pleas of the Innocent is a more personal, more Bluesoriented album than Proletariat, which Gerald admits was a bit oblique, even for Killdozer: “I don’t know what (the last album) was based on.” Maybe being based in Chicago had something to do with the atmosphere of the new record. “I like fucked-up music, and the most fucked-up music is the Blues,” says Gerald without a hint of irony. “Delta Blues or Country Blues. But not the crap that comes out of Chicago. You know, white guys with handlebar mustaches who hang out at Buddy Guy’s Legends and jam all night on ‘Sweet Home Chicago.’ That’s not the Blues; that’s shit. Those are Blues tourists.”
The crime of repetition in musical endeavors is a very real possibility when a band has been together as long as Killdozer, but Gerald doesn’t worry about geezer status. “It doesn’t bother me to be considered an institution if we are,” he says resignedly. “I just wish we were a well-known and popular institution.” Still, Gerald knows the price of fame, noting that Smashing Pumpkins’ guitarist James Iha recently purchased a huge home just blocks from Gerald’s apartment. “I can’t help it, I wish I had bought that house,” he says.
While he acknowledges that he would love for millions to know the glory of Killdozer, Gerald concedes that he is not about to give up the freedom that he is afforded through his affiliation with Touch and Go. “I think it would be great to be a really well-known band on Touch and Go,” he says. “It happened somehow for the Offspring (on Epitaph).”
Killdozer is certainly not about to fall into a creative rut pursuing success. God Hears Pleas of the Innocent is a major developmental step forward for the band and, with a few breaks, could be the disc that widens the group’s exposure.
Gerald doesn’t think in terms so crassly compartmentalized: “We’ll just keep making up stuff that we think is really cool. And hope that people pay attention.”
At this volume and quality, it’s a safe bet they will.
KILLDOZER will appear at Sudsy Malone's (2620 Vine St., Corryville, 751-2300) on Sunday, with Columbus' Hairy Patt Band.
CINCINNATI RECREATION COMMISSION
CROSBY TOWNSHIP
FAIRVIEW HISTORIC TOUR American Walkers Association. 4.5 miles. 2:30 p.m. St. Monica’s Church, Fairview. 984-0812.
Spectator
FREE GOLF CLINIC Golfers can keep their swings in shape this winter by participating in the Hamilton County Park District’s free golf clinic at the Meadow Links and Golf Academy in Winton Woods. In Sync Balance and Weight Shift Analyzer takes place from noon-3 p.m. Sunday. West Sharon and Mill roads, Forest Park. 825-3701.
CINCINNATI CYCLONES IHL hockey vs. Kalamazoo, 7:30 p.m. Friday and Cleveland, 6 p.m. Saturday. $6-$12 adults; $4-$10 students. Cincinnati Gardens, 2250 Seymour Ave., Norwood. 531-7825.
PROFESSIONAL BOXING
GREAT MIDWEST CONFERENCE INDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS UC, Marquette, DePaul, Memphis, Alabama-Birgingham compete for the indoor track and field championships. 6 p.m. Friday, noon Saturday. $5 adults, $2 students. UC Armory Fieldhouse, Clifton. 556-0562.
Boxers include Harold Brazier, Cowboy Bily Wright, Frank Rhodes, Ravea Springs, Cocoa Shinholster and Jimmy Huffman. 8 p.m. Tuesday. $25 reserved seating, $15 general admission. Coyote’s Music and Dance Hall, 400 Buttermilk Pike, Fort Mitchell. 341-5150.
TURFWAY PARK Live racing. 7 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 1:30 p.m. weekends. Simulcasts from Fairgrounds, Golden Gate Fields, Gulfstream, Oaklawn, Garden State Park and Aqueduct. Parking $2, valet parking $3; grandstand admission $3.50, clubhouse $2.50. 7500 Turfway Road, Florence. 371-0200.
THURSDAY NIGHTS:
U.S.A.T.F. OHIO TRACK AND FIELD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS A meet for all ages. Free admisssion. Registration for competitors is $8 per event. 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. UC Armory Fieldhouse, Clifton. 556-0193.
28TH O.R.R.R.C. MARATHON & 6TH HALF-MARATHON The 26.2-mile run and 13.1-mile run begin at 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Sunday respectively. Meet at the main lodge at Hueston Woods State Park, State Route 732, Oxford. $14. Registration begins at 7;30 a.m. Call 513-254-8746 for details.
XAVIER MUSKATEERS Men’s basketball vs. Illinois-Chicago. 8 p.m. Thursday, La Salle, 2 p.m. Saturday. $6-$10. Cincinnati Gardens, 2250 Seymour Ave., Norwood. 745-3411.Women’s basketball vs. Cleveland State 7 p.m. Thursday. Schmidt Fieldhouse, Xavier Campus, Evanston. $4 adults, $2 students.
BUFFALO WINGS DURING HAPFYHOUR:4-8:30EVERYFRI
Recreational
& Saturday, Feb. 24-25 BOCKFEST PARTY PigmentJarrett Trio 6-9pm Saturday, February 25, March 4 Brian Lovely & The Secret Tuesdays Goshorn Bros. Friday, February 24 Saturday, February 25, March 4 Bluebirds w/Randy Villars Wednesdays See Kiosk Calendar For Schedule
CINCINNATI FINANCIAL CRITERION Three-turn, eight-mile closed loop. Registration for bicy-
•TONS OF VINYL* 5975 Glenway
of Nagoya while searching for the identity of the murdered woman. A successful screenwriter, J.F. Lawton (Pretty Woman, Under Siege) makes the leap into the directing chair with this action thriller that mixes both ninjas and samurais. With another action role under his belt, Lambert (the Highlander films) looks to give our man Jean-Claude Van Damme a run for his money. Before the bombardment of summer action blockbusters, The Hunted may be a moviegoer’s best bet for adventure. (Rated R; opens Friday at area Loews Theatres.) No screening. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION Based on a Stephen King short story, director Frank Darabont inspired voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. They nominated The Shawshank Redemption for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor for Morgan Freeman. With Tim Robbins.
(Rated R; opens Friday at area Showcase Cinemas.)
BY STEVE RAMOS
CltyBeat grade: B. TO LIVE From cinema’s most outstanding couple, Chinese director Zhang Yimou (Ju Dou, The Story ofQiu Ju and Raise the Red Lantern) and his wife Gong Li comes their latest work, 7b Live.
Opening
BULLETS OVER BROADWAY
BY JOHN M. JAMES
To Live begins in the North China provinces, circa 1946. Xu Fugui (Ge You) the son of a wealthy landowner, whiles away his time gambling. His wife Jiazhen (Gong Li) does not approve. Before Fugui realizes it, his family fortune may dwindle away to nothing. Zhang takes this family’s tragedies and measures out the passing years from Mao Zedong’s “Great Leap Forward” of the ’50s through the ’60s and the Cultural Revolution. What we have here is a soap opera of epic proportions. Zhang leaves behind the lofty artiness of his earlier films (Raise the Red Lantern and Ju Dou) and crafts one gigantic, melodramatic soap opera. Zhang’s actors serve him well. Ge You won Best Actor at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and Gong Li shines in her supporting role. Considering the film to be “politically reactionary and artistically mediocre,” the government banned To Live from China.
Earning Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor for Chazz Palminteri and Best Supporting Actress for both Dianne Wiest and Jennifer Tilly, Woody Allen's fantastic comedy returns. A young playwright (John Cusack) receives tips from an unlikely source. (Rated R; opens Friday at Showcase Cinemas Cincinnati and Eastgate)
CltyBeat grade: A. FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL A die-hard bachelor (Hugh Grant) falls for an American woman (Andie MacDowell) in this British comedy that received Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. Four Weddings and a Funeral returns to bask in the limelight. (Rated PG-13; opens Friday at Showcase Cinemas Cincinnati.)
CltyBeat grade: B. THE HUNTED Like many westem businessmen, Paul Racine’s (Christopher Lambert) work often takes him to Japan. Matters quickly turn for the worse, however, when he witnesses the killing of a woman, Kirina (Joan Chen). Soon, the woman’s assassin (John Lone) is fast on his trail. With the help of a modern-day samurai warrior (Yoshio Harada), Racine battles the assassin throughout the streets
live recordings from 1968, one with Rob Tyner on flute. Fill ‘er up with original leaded, m’boy.
Releases Coming Tuesday
The Alkaholics Coast II Coast (RCA); Animal Bag Image Damage (Mercury); Band of Susans Here Comes Success (Restless); Better Than Ezra Deluxe (Elektra); David Bowie Santa Monica (Griffin); James Brown Get On the Good Foot, Hell and Reality (Polydor), reissues; Alex Chilton A Man Called Destruction (Ardent); Clawhammer Thank the Holder Uppers (Interscope); Del Amitri Twisted (A&M); Durutti Column Sex and Death (ffff); Roky Erikson & Evilhook Wildlife s/t (Sympathy For the Record Industry); Faith No More King For a Day Fool For a Lifetime (Slash), limited two-LP vinyl release; Flowerhead The People's Fuzz (Zoo); Bill Frisell Go West and The High Sign/ One Week (Nonesuch), music for the films of Buster Keaton; Al Green Soul Survivor [A&M), reissue; P.J. Harvey To Bring You My Love (Island), LP available; Jeff Healey Band Cover to Cover (Arista); Robyn Hitchcock Element of Light, Fegmania! and Gotta Let This Hen Out (Rhino), reissues; Jewel Kilcher Pieces of You (Elektra); Kustomized The Battle For Space (Matador); Love Battery Straight Freak Ticket (A&M); Johnette Napolitano & Holly Vincent Vowel Movement (Mammoth); New Order The Best Of (Quest/ Warner Bros.); Harry Nilsson Personal Best: Anthology (RCA), two-CD box set; Nitzer Ebb Big Hit (Geffen); the Nonce World Ultimate (American); Orange 9mm Driver Not Included (EastWest); the Pooh Sticks “Cool in a Crisis" (Seed), CD 5-inch single with two non-album tracks; the Prodigy Music For the Jilted Generation (Mute); Quicksand Manic Compression (Island); Red House Painters Ocean Beach (4AD); Sonic Youth Made in USA Soundtrack (Rhino), from 1988 film; Bruce Springsteen Greatest Hits (Columbia) with two new tracks; the Carl Stalling Project Volume 2 (Warner Bros.), more cartoon music; Dave Stewart Greetings From the Gutter (EastWest), solo effort from Eurythmics founder; Swell Swell (American), reissue of self-produced 1991 album; Sybil Vane Sybil Vane (Island); various artists Golden Throats 3: Sweethearts of Rodeo Drive (Rhino), with Buddy Ebsen, Jack Palance; various artists The Witch Trails (Alternative Tentacles), featuring Dead Kennedys; Mike Watt Ball Hog or Tug Boat (Columbia), ex-Minutemen, ex-Firehose; the Who Live at Leeds (MCA), expanded to 76 minutes.
JOHN JAMES can be found behind the counter at Wizard Records in Corryville.
Not Your Average ‘Joe’
Onfifth album, quirky Alternative duo They Might Be Giants matures to a full band and expands seemingly limitless sound
REVIEW BV MIKE BREEN
The sound of They Might Be Giants has always been puzzling and whimsical. The second you start to pinpoint They Might Be Giants performing March 5 at Bogart’s as a goofy novelty act, you realize how much more there is to the sound.
They do write good songs. They do have truly inventive and often poetic lyrics. And, perhaps most striking, they do have musical ability that is incredibly underrated. On Joe Henry the latest and fifth CD, they run the gamut of well, pretty much everything.
The 20 songs on Joe Henry are the debut of They Might Be Giants as a full band. Originally, the group was just the duo of John Flansburgh and John Linnell. Now, with four more backup musicians, the band is able to expand its seemingly limitless sound potential.
Lyrically, the group can write emotional, heart-felt songs (albeit still with a smirk) like “The End Of The Tour,” which contains the couplet “Never to part since the day we met out on Interstate 91/1 was bent metal you a flaming wreck when we kissed at the overpass.” But They Might Be Giants is just as likely to throw in a song about a “brain washing dirt bike” or wax surrealistically about “interplanetary exploration.” The beauty of TMBG is that the band won’t sit still for anything.
Musical categorization besides, perhaps, simply “eclectic” is something the band has always blissfully fled. On-Joe Henry, the group jumps so many musical genres that it’s beyond the point of saying TMBG is
They might be touring giants (from left) Tony Maimone, John Flansburgh, John Linnell and Brian Doherty.
diverse. “Efxtra Savoir-Faire” is a winkfilled, cocky lounge tune; while “0, Do Not Forsake Me”sounds like an outtake of “Swing Low Sweet Chariot.”
Without batting an eye, TMBG swings from one genre to the next, one mood to the next, and does it seamlessly, as if the group couldn’t write a “normal” song if it tried. When TMBG is at its oddest, it almost seems normal. Joe Henry shows the band as a matured unit, both musically and lyrically. While the group may never achieve mainstream success, it’s refreshing to see musicians who treat music like a finger-painting instead of a Matisse. CltyBeat grade: B.
Short Takes
REVIEWS BY MIKE BREEN
HHEAD Jerk (I.R.S.).
This Toronto-based trio plays endearing Power-Pop with more of an emphasis on the Pop side. But, unlike too many bands schooled in the fine art of songwriting, the melodies and chord progressions are organic and unusual, showing that the band possesses a strongly uncontrived and natural talent that feeds off ingenuity and not precedent. hHead’s sound combines the craftsmanship of Freedy Johnston with the vigor of Poster Children. While hHead’s music is driven by a jangly, distorted guitar, the group trades in musical muscle for a more hyper-little-kid-type of energy. There’s a simplicity on Jerk that is somewhat misleading; this is a group that has songwriting finesse but in an innocent and extremely unpretentious manner. (hHead joins labelmate Over The Rhine for a show Thursday at the Blue Note Cafe.)
CltyBeat grade: B.
MICHAEL PETAK Pretty Little Lonely (Slash).
While the somewhat haughty Jeff Buckley can tout a famous, dead father and a largely undeserved buzz, Michael Petak one-ups him by just being all the more real and raw. Like Buckley’s speed-addicted, more ereative cousin, Petak sidesteps-the “singer-songwriter” syndrome by creating a sheet metal, gravely sound that seethes with anguish and disconcem. Surprisingly, the album is full of acoustic instrumentation and sound experimentation, giving Pretty Little Lonely a Folk music soul but with a much more explorative, enigmatic heart. Check out the whimsical, William Burroughs-like spoken-word number “Diary of a Glue Addict.” (Petak opens for Love Spit Love on Monday at Top Cat’s.)
CltyBeat grade: A.
TAD Live Allen Broadcasts (Futurist, 6 Greene St., Second Floor, New York, NY 10013).
Live albums can be a pretty pointless pursuit. Too often, the post-production contains so many overdubs and studio tricks that it could be put out as a studio effort. The key to a great live recording is capturing the spirit the musicians exude on stage. And Tad’s latest, a live in-studio show on disc, is just such a record. Barreling through a slew of newer songs along with the classics “Jack Pepsi” and “Stumbling Man,” the muscular, raw recording lends itself to Tad’s sound just as well as the band’s studio recordings do. While the band’s peers (Soundgarden, etc.) have turned into Van Halen, it’s mighty refreshing to hear singer Tad Doyle’s gruff voice and the band’s aggressive nature undaunted by the lure of mainstream success. It may be a little overzealous to call this record (along with Jesus Lizard’s similarly candid Show') the Who’s Live At Leeds for the ’90s, but I just did so deal with it.
CltyBeat grade: A.
PO’ BOY SWING Lite and Sweet (Royalty, 176 Madison Ave., Fourth Floor, New York, NY 10016).
If you can get past the glaring similarities to Faith No More, you’ll learn that Po’ Boy Swing is an extremely fun and entertaining Rock act. The Long Island foursome genre-jumps a lot but doesn’t become too much to bear. There’s a healthy dose of Funk Rap Metal throughout the album’s 11 tracks, but just when it starts to become tiresome, the band slips in something like the Easy Listening classic “When I Need You.” If you can let go of all your hangups on this increasingly dated category of music, Lite and Sweet is a very enjoyable party on CD, and the band would seem to be even more raucous and engaging in concert.
CltyBeat grade: B.
Unfortunately, Zhang’s are not limited to just screen. (Unrated; opens the Esquire Theatre.)
CltyBeat grade: A. VERTIGO Another New Neon Movies’ three-monthlong series of Alfred Hitchcock movies. Vertigo’s tale mysterious identity gives some complex material thy of his craft. Keeping a friend’s wife (Kim Novak), retired police detective j Stewart) battles his fear j while falling into a deadly only one of Hitchcock’s efforts, Vertigo remains ema’s classic suspense ; With Barbara Bel Geddes. (Unrated; opens Friday I Neon Movies, Dayton.)
CltyBeat grade: A. THE WALKING DEAD j Vietnam movie finally j circle with this look at j ence of African-American in the war. Sgt.
PHOTO: MICHAEL HALSBAND
Sthe Monsters STRATEGE1M
[2/4/1-24580)
TUESDAY,
won’t let pets inside. This one is for the pooches. Woof. With Jesse Bradford, Mimi Rogers and a certain yellow dog. (Rated PG; at Norwood, Turfway Park, Forest Fair and Biggs Place Eastgate.)
★ FORREST GUMP After rak ing in 13 Oscar nominations, our Gump is bouncing back to a theater near us. Tom Hanks combines the right amount of syrupy pathos with humor in his portrayal of a simple man’s travels through life. The masses adore Forrest Gump. Let’s see what those 4,924 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
movie anymore. Maybe Whoopi Goldberg, Drew Barrymore and Mary-Louise Parker have some important lessons to share with men as well. Chances are that they do. (Rated R; at area Showcase Cinemas.)
THE BRADY BUNCH On a resi dential street in a Los Angeles suburb, something a bit strange is going on. It’s 1995 and TV’s favorite pre-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. Just like Abba, The Brady Bunch is suddenly pretty hip with the alternative crowd. Last weekend, moviegoers catapulted The Bradys to the top of box office. With Gary Cole and Michael McKean. (Rated PG-13; at area Loews Theatres.)
★ COBB In the movies, the vile seldom get top billing. In his latest film, Cobb, director Ron Shelton (Bull Durham, White Men Can’t Jump) looks at the closing days of baseball great TV Cobb (Tommy Lee Jones) and turns this theory upside-down. Cobb the athlete holds little interest for Shelton. Based on the 1961 biography My Life in Baseball that sportswriter A1 Stump (Robert Wuhl) co-wrote with Cobb, Shelton’s film begins with Stump’s agreement to help Cobb write his biography. During a cross-country trek to Cooperstown, N.Y., for a Hall of Fame banquet, Stump learns of Cobb's boozing, racism, bigotry and overall obnoxious behavior.
3 Christopher Lambert returns as the Scottish clan leader who finds that being immortal be a real pain. Mario Van Peebles turns up as an evil sorcerer. Sooner or later, somebody always loses his head in these Highlander movies. Maybe for Lambert, the third time is the charm. (Rated R; at Norwood and Turfway Park.)
Jones jumps headfirst into the role with relish. The result is a performance that should have earned an Oscar nomination. More than a sports biography, Cobb shows a rotten man who must face his impending death. With Lolita Davidovich. (Rated R; at Showcase Cinemas Cincinnati.)
★ HOOP DREAMS Documentary filmmakers Steve James, Peter Gilbert and Frederick Marx spent seven years following the lives of Arthur Agee and William Gates, two AfricanAmerican boys from Chicago’s inner-city. Gates and Agee share a common dream. These two envision time when NBA uniforms will drape their bodies. Hoop Dreams weaves together the best elements of two different film genres. It has all the emotional intensity of a dramatic narrative and the educational impact of fine docu-
★ DESTINY IN SPACE Sure, everything looks cooler when it’s blown-up super huge in the IMAX format, but too often the initial excitement fades fast. (Remember Antarctica?) This time, IMAX cameras follow the space shuttle as it repairs the Hubble, and the images are amazing. Move over Star Trek Generations, here’s a real out-of-space adventure.
(Unrated; at Robert D. Lindner Family Omnimax Theater.)
★ DISCLOSURE Sex. Power. Betrayal. Disclosure, director Barry Levinson’s film of the bestselling novel by Michael Crichton, rightfully sidesteps any controversy and sticks to pure entertainment. Set in the offices of DigiCom, a high-tech computer firm, Disclosure turns sexual harassment upside-down. Few topics are as timely and volatile as sexual harassment. Those who go to Disclosure expecting an intelligent treatment of a controversial issue are forcing their brains where they do not belong. With
UtterKiosif
Adapting Alan Bennett’s successful stage play The Madness ofGeorge the Third for the silver screen, director Nicholas Hytner creates an abundance of cinematic pomp and circumstance that’s equal to this grand tale of royal intrigue. Thirty years into his reign and still smarting from losing the American Colonies, King George III (Nigel Hawthorne) begins to lose his senses. His son, the Prince of Wales (Rupert Everett), does not hesitate to jump at the chance of wresting control from his father. The Madness ofKing George plays up its story as a fairly funny, family drama more than some historical crisis. In the process, comparisons to the domestic shenanigans with today’s House of Wmdsor are inevitable. Boosted by
Oscar nominations of Best Actor for Hawthorne and Best Supporting Actress for Helen Mirren, The Madness ofKing George may cross over into mainstream success. Its quality deserves the attention. With Ian Holm and Rupert Graves. (Unrated; at the Little Art Theatre, Yellow Springs.)
★ A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE
This soft-spoken poem of a film stands distinctly apart from the flash and crash standard of most movies. A Dublin bus conductor, Alfie Byrne (Albert Finney), finds personal happiness elusive. Funny and touching, A Man ofNo Importance unfolds with the lyrical bounce of great literature. Still, the film’s greatest pleasure is in watching Finney tackle a role that is so different from our persona of him. With Tara Fitzgerald. (Rated R; closes Thursday at the Esquire Theatre.)
MIXED NUTS As proprietor of the Lifesavers suicide-prevention hot line, Philip (Steve Martin) faces crises both personal and professional in director Nora Ephron’s (Sleepless in Seattle) adaptation of the hit French film Le Pere Noel est une Ordure, With Madeline Kahn. (Rated PG-13; at Turfway.)
MURDER IN THE FIRST Based on a true story from the ’40s, 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; closes Thursday at Loews Kenwood Towne Centre.)
★ 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 (Nastasha Richardson). Lovell believes Nell should be left alone and the university psychologists feel that Nell should be placed in a hospital under their care. Nominated for another Best Actress Oscar, Foster proves she can tackle a role that is far removed from how audiences perceive her (very smart, articulate and attractive) and makes it work. With Jeremy Davies. (Rated R; at Loews Theatres Kenwood Towne Centre and Florence.)
★ 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 abandoning his family in a small New England town. Based on the novel by Richard Russo, Nobody’s Fool offers Newman fantastic dialogue, touching scenes and a character worthy to his abilities. Academy voters thought so; MORE, PAGE 20
From Luxury to Heartache
With wife Gong Li beside him, director Zhang Yimou crafts a soap opera ofepic proportions
REVIEW
BY. STEVE RAMOS
Nobody gives out an award for cinema’s most outstanding couple. Still, if somebody did, Chinese director Zhang Yimou (Ju Dou, The Story of Qiu Ju and Raise the Red Lantern) and wife Gong Li would win hands down. Forget those two Brits, Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson. No other partnership comes close to the quality of work that this Chinese husband-and-wife team consistently creates. Their latest film, To Live (Huozhe), adds further proof.
With Li aglow under the spotlight, Zhang crafts powerfully moving films. He does not think small. Zhang tackles stories that cut a wide emotional swath. We’re talking epics here.
The more famous of China’s new group of filmmakers known as the Fifth Generation, Zhang’s films garner worldwide recognition. They also grab the attention of the Chinese authorities. Considering the film to be “politically reactionary and artistically mediocre,” the government banned To Live from China. No surprise really; its story doesn’t exactly portray the Communist Party in a good light.
Based on the novel Lifetimes by Yu Hua, To Live begins in the North China provinces, circa 1946. Xu Fugui (Ge You) lives in the lap of luxury. As the son of a wealthy landowner, he whiles away his time gambling in dice games. His wife, Jiazhen (Gong Li), now pregnant with their second child, does not approve. His addiction to the dice is dwindling the family fortune away to nothing. Her cries go unheeded. Before Fugui realizes it, another man may possess everything that was once his.
Fugui is not alone in undergoing great changes. By 1949, China is changing as well. Now traveling throughout the countiyside with a puppet troupe, Fugui and his friend Chunsheng (Guo Tao) are rounded up by the Nationalist Army of Chiang Kai-shek. Civil War brings chaos to the land and to Fugui. Victory belongs to the Communist People’s Liberation Army. Soon, Fugui finds himself in their ranks.
Upon returning home to his wife and children, a lesson becomes painfully clear: Your private life and political life are now one, just like the home and the state. Still, fate is a little kind. What perfect timing for Fugui to become a man who owns nothing.
Zhang uses the family of Fugui and Jiazhen as a looking glass that reflects upon the events of 20th century China. Their personal tragedies and triumphs (more tragedy than triumph) function as a dramatic yardstick that measures out the passing years from Mao Zedong’s
Film
“Great Leap Forward” of the ’50s through the ’60s and the Cultural Revolution.
Zhang’s actors serve him well. Ge You won Best Actor at last year’s Cannes Film Festival for his portrayal of a man who loses and struggles to regain his family. He is the centerpiece of To Live, and the narrative revolves around his expressive face. It’s a bit of a surprise. Not since Gong Li’s performance in the film Red Sorghum has her male co-star ever received more attention than she. This world-class star still shines, even in supporting roles. Zhang comes down to earth with To Live. He
Fugui (Ge You, standing) and Jiazhen (Gong Li) silently endure the strain of Fugui’s habitual gambling in Zhang Yimou’s multi-generational epic, To Live.
leaves behind the lofty artiness, high-style visuals and psychological musings of his earlier films like Raise the Red Lantern and Ju Dou. Although magnificent and spectacular to the eye, Zhang emphasizes the people and the performances more than the lighting. It’s a welcome change because To Live is nothing other than one gigantic, melodramatic soap opera. Funny, that’s exactly the type of old Chinese film that Zhang and his peers once criticized. All the matters of life and death that occur within Fugui and Jiazhen’s domestic household become inflated to match the epic events that surround them. For Zhang, these characters are balloons that he puffs and puffs full of air, twists and bends into shapes until he has just the right proportions.
It’s a balloon that’s popped in the director’s face. Not only has 7b Live been banned in China, but its Hong Kong-based production company, Era International, received harsh criticism for distributing the film without Beijing’s approval.
How quickly things change. Just two years ago, Zhang was the apple of the Chinese authorities’ eye. His film The Story of Qiu Ju received many awards, and Ju Dou and Raise the Red Lantern were unharmed. Now, as the bad boy of Chinese cinema, Zhang is suspended for two years from making any film that’s co-financed by a non-Chinese company. Last fall, this stopped production on his Shanghai Triad for more than a month until he shifted financing to the Shanghai Film Studio. Zhang’s soap operas are not limited to just the silver screen. Sometimes life and art become one in the same. CityBeat grade: A.
may find pleasure in The Quick and the Dead. Chances are, no else would. (Rated R; at area Showcase Cinemas.)
Film
they nominated Newman for Best Actor. Here is a movie that stands heads and shoulders above the competition. With Bruce Willis and Melanie Griffith. (Rated R; at area Loews Theatres.)
★ QUIZ SHOW Juiced by Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor for Paul Scofield’s performance as the elder Mark Van Doren, Robert Redford’s Quiz Show returns to the nation’s box offices looking for that audience that never materialized.
Taking a cue from attorney Richard N. Goodwin’s book Remembering America: A Voice From the Sixties, director Redford has crafted his best movie to date. With Mira Sorvino and David Paymer. (Rated R; at area Showcase Cinemas.)
THE PAGEMASTER The older Macaulay Culkin gets, the less kids like him. At least, that’s what Hollywood fears. Well, the folks at 20th Century Fox have found a way to keep Mac just the way kids want him turn the child-star into a cartoon. A young boy, who is afraid ofjust about everything, is transported into a cartoon land, where he must battle with famous figures from classic novels With the voices of Patrick Stewart and Whoopi Goldberg. (Rated G; at Norwood, Turfway and Biggs Place Eastgate.)
★ THE PROFESSIONAL Filmmaker Luc Besson (La Femme Nikita, Subway) revolves his bloody action story around an unlikely protagonist, a young girl. Just as cinema violence begins to seem blase, Besson shakes things up by throwing a child in the mix. With Jean Reno and Natalie Portman. (Rated R; at Norwood.)
★ RED People either love or hate Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski. Nominating Red for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography, Academy voters love him this year. Valentine (Irene Jacob), a young Swiss model and student, steps into the life of a retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintgnant) who has become bitter with life. In Red, dialogue takes a back seat to the director’s photography. In his stories, emotions are represented visually through objects like telephones and shortwave radios. It’s style that times leaves audiences questioning. Here’s the rule for enjoying a Kieslowski film: Don’t think, just feel. (Rated R; at The Movies, formerly Real Movies; and at the New Neon Movies, Dayton, Ohio.)
★ RICHIE RICH A little rich boy in real life, Macaulay Culkin has finally found a perfect role. Based on the popular children’s comic book, Richie Rich weaves a rather simple message about the importance of friendship with a light-hearted romp about kidnapped parents and a search for hidden loot. Plus, Warner Bros, unveils its first new Roadrunner cartoon, a short titled Chariots of Fur, in more than 30 years. With Jonathan Hyde and Edward Hermnan. (Rated PG; at Showcase Cinemas Cincinnati.)
★ PULP FICTION Director Quentin Tarantino has shifted from cult favorite to Academy darling. Pulp Fiction received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor (for John Travolta) and Best Supporting Actor (for Samuel L. Jackson). With wild frenzy, Tarantino mixes gun play, drug abuse and racial epithets into a series of interrelated crime tales. If Pulp Fiction did not reveal strong growth in Tarantino’s technique, his personal hype might have overshadowed this fantastic film. An accurate reflection of what really makes America go round, violence, drugs and racism. With Uma Thurman. (Rated R; at area Showcase Cinemas.)
★ THE RIVER WILD In his latest effort, director Curtis Hanson (The Hand that Rocks the Cradle) turns Meryl Streep into an action heroine. Facing terror from two criminal goons, Streep’s character leads her husband and son on a white-water rafting trip. What the story lacks in character development, it makes up with frantic action and breathtaking photography. With Kevin Bacon and David Straithairn. (Rated PG-13; at Norwood, Turfway and Biggs Place Eastgate.)
THE SANTA CLAUSE Tim Allen
THE QUICK AND THE DEAD For The Quick and the Dead, director Sam Raimi (Darkman, The Evil Dead Trilogy) lumps together a series of cliches taken from standard western elements into a film that possesses nothing resembling a story. In the town of Redemption, Ellen (Sharon Stone) takes on its ruthless leader Herod (Gene Hackman) in a deadly gunfight. Stone is believably dirty and ragged in her cowboy clothes although, her cleavage seems a bit out of place. Poor Hackman, here’s a character who thrives on dialogue, stuck in a movie that’s interested only in funky camera angles. Aficionados of film photography
LOEWS KENWOOD TOWNE CENTRE THEATRES 7875 Montgomery Road, Kenwood Towne Centre, Kenwood. 791-2248.
SHOWCASE CINCINNATI 1701 Showcase Drive, Norwood Lateral and Reading Road, Bond Hill. 351-2232.
WEST
makes the leap from TV stardom to the big screen. Kids may eat up the story about a grouchy dad who becomes Kris Kringle. Do they know what “tool time” even means? In film, quality and boxoffice draw do notalways match. With Judge Reinhold and Peter Boyle. (Rated PG; at Norwood, Turfway, Forest Fair and Biggs Place Eastgate.)
SPEECHLESS In director Ron Underwood’s Speechless, two political speech writers, Kevin Vallick (Michael Keaton) and Julia Mann (Geena Davis), meet incognito in the middle of a tense cam
paign for a New Mexico congressional seat. The film should have appropriated All’s Fair, the book that chronicles the romance between President Clinton’s campaign manager, James Carville, and head of the George Bush campaign, Mary Matalin. Their story contains more laughs. With Christopher Reeve and Bonnie Bedelia. (Rated PG-13; at Norwood and Turfway.)
TURFWAY PARK 10 7650 Turfway Road, Erlanger. 647-2828.
WORTH THE TRIP
LITTLE ART THEATRE 247 Xenia Ave., Yellow Springs. 513-767-7671.
ROBERT D. LINDNER FAMILY
OMNIMAX THEATER 1301 Western Ave., Museum
STARGATE Cutting-edge special effects wrap around a rather oldfashioned science-fiction epic. Consider Stargate as a hip Forbidden Planet. In true '90s
THE NEW NEON MOVIES 130 E. Fifth St., Dayton, Ohio. 513-222-SHOW.
fashion, The Crying Davidson steals the of Robby the Robot. Russell and James PG-13; at Forest Fair.)
STREET FIGHTER the video game, Street puts Jean-Claude Van Muscles of Brussels, environment about Nations commando the psychotic warlord Bison (the late Raul Director Steven De writer for Die Hards the chance to prove direct all the stuff tion comes up with. Minogue and Wes PG-13; at Norwood, Forest Fair and Biggs Eastgate.)
TALES FROM THE SENTS DEMON KNIGHT the Crypt Keeper host, Tales of the unique mix of black pulp horror to the Director Ernest Dickerson does his best to keep and gross-out fiends Billy Zane and Jada (Rated R; at Norwood, Forest Fair and Biggs Eastgate and Westwood.)
Repertory
THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN RIENCE THROUGH The Main Library of films for Black History with an emphasis African Sanctus, The Blues Began Hunter: Blues at (Unrated; 2 p.m. Saturday Main Library, Downtown. 369-6922.)
MUSIC FOR EVERYONE Main Library’s Filmagic part in Black History placing the spotlight American music, Ty’s Band, Kumba Simon’s Sound, Apt. S, Rhythm and The Legend of (Unrated; 10:30 a.m. the Main Library, 369-6922.)
★ DAZED AND CONFUSED The longest, continuous filmmaker Richard Dazed
Openings
ond-year art students at Oak Hills High School who given the same creative problem as the Parsons students. 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-noon Saturday. 139 E. Fourth St., Downtown. 751-3814.
CINCINNATI NATURE CENTER On display are detailed drawings of vintage architecture by Clermont County resident Frank Herman. For the past 20 years, Herman has been a client of Clerco Inc., an adult sheltered workshop for the mentally retarded and developmentally disabled. Opening receptiori, 2-5 p.m. Sunday. Through March 12. 4949 Tealtown Road, Milford. 831-1711.
KALDI’S COFFEE HOUSE & BOOKSTORE Paintings by Pam Polly. Opens Sunday. Through March 31. 7 a.m.-l a.m. MondayThursday, 7 a.m.-2:30 a.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-2:30 a.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-midnight Sunday. 1202 Main St., Over-the-Rhine. 241-3070.
★ C.A.G.E. Group show featuring sculpture by Susan Balboni of Kent, Ohio; mixed-media boxed constructions by Sally Grant of San Antonio, Texas; photo collage by Cincinnati's Susan Forman; mixedmedia wax paintings by Victoria Beal of Chicago; paintings by Beth Black of Bloomington, Ind.; and Book ofShadows, a video ballet by multimedia artist and composer Janis Mattox. Opening reception, 6-9 p.m. Friday. Through March 25. Noon-8 p.m. Friday, noon6 p.m. Saturday, noon-4 p.m. Sunday. 1416 Main St., Over-theRhine. 381-2437.
CARNEGIE ARTS CENTER
★ MARTA HEWETT GALLERY Glass sculpture by Edward B. Francis. Opening reception, 610 p.m. Friday. Through April 10. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, noon-5 p.m. Saturday. 1209 Main St., Over-the-Rhine. 421-7883
★ ROSEWOOD ARTS CENTRE GALLERY Dayton Area Works on Paper is a juried exhibition showcasing artists living within 30mile radius of Dayton. Opening reception, 2-4 p.m. Sunday. Through April 7.11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. 2655 Olson Drive, Kettering. 513-296-0294.
★ SUB.GRESSIVE Parasite=Host is an unsettling new installation created- by David Opdyke. Opening reception, 7-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. By appointment through March. 1412 Main St., Over-the-Rhine. 421-4221.
Paintings by Paige Williams Murphy, assistant professor at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, are displayed in the Duveneck Gallery. Opening reception, 5:30-10 p.m. Friday.... Sculptures by s Cincinnatians Larry Jones and Ed Aub can be found in the Aileen McCarthy Gallery and the Comer Gallery respectively and The Downstairs Gallery features a student exhibition: Through March 25. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. TuesdayFriday, noon-4 p.m. Saturday. 1028 Scott Blvd., Covington. 491-2030.
★ TANGEMAN FINE ARTS GALLERY UC Fine Arts Collection: Enriching the Future, is a project developed as part of the university’s 175th celebration. The exhibit includes many works that have not been displayed publicly in years, including works by Elizabeth Nourse and prehistoric artifacts dating from 5000-4000 B.C. found during UC excavations at Lema in Greece. Opening reception, 5-7 p.m. Friday. Through March 24. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. Tangeman Student Center, UC, Clifton. 556-2962.
★ CINCINNATI ART GALLERIES
WENTWORTH GALLERY Figures, features the works of Field, Guttman, Mierzwa and Bill Mack. Through Feb. 27. 10 a.m.9 p.m. Monday-Saturday, noon7 p.m. Sunday. Kenwood Towne Centre, 7875 Montgomery Road, Kenwood. 791-5023.
Moments ofLight features a diverse compilation of paintings done in watercolor, drybrush and tempera by Gary Akers, winner of the The American Watercolor Society’s Mario Cooper Award in 1984 for William. Opening reception, 5-8 p.m. Friday. Through March 31. Permanent displays include works by Potthast, Weis and Wessel 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.
★ XAVIER UNIVERSITY GALLERY Student show opens March 1 with an opening reception, 2-4 p.m. March 12. Through March 17. Noon-4 p.m MondayMORE, PAGE 2 2
★ CINCINNATI ART MUSEUM
Jcontemporary folk art gallery
The Dawn ofEngraving: Masterpiecesfrom the 15th Century featuring many fine examples of late Gothic and early Renaissance engraving, opens Saturday. Through July 23. $5 adults; $4 students and seniors; children free. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Eden Park. 721-5204.
Perceiving Environmental Art
Exhibit proves ways to view works are as varied as landscapes that inspired pieces
REVIEW BY JANE DURRELL
Samuel Goldwyn is famously supposed to have said Western Union could carry the messages; he would just make movies. The wily old mogul very likely didn’t care, but in fact he had put his finger smack on an artistic truth.
A good message doesn’t guarantee good art. Neither are messages art’s reason for being; the first responsibility of art is to excite a response to itself. At Issue: Our Environment, an exhibition of landscapes at Studio San Giuseppe Art Gallery, College of Mount St. Joseph, is a grand show but the message, important as it is, is not what makes it so. There are some very good things to look at in it.
Barry Andersen’s stunning aerial photographs present a god’s-eye view of the land; the viewer may read them as environmental statements if so inclined, but it is as a celebration of unwitting beauty all about us that they make their impact.
statement of opinion. It is fashionable to mourn fields turned into neighborhoods, but it also is fashionable to deplore overcrowded housing. Alleviating one is likely to lead to the other so here I am, responding to the perceived message, not the art.
Craig Lloyd’s “Tract” is a mixed-media drawing on display as part of the exhibition At Issue: Our Environment at the Studio San Giuseppe Art Gallery at the College of Mount St. Joseph.
Willard Reader’s clear and ordered depictions of a steel mill, an industrial dock, a building under construetion, all remind us that American painter/photographer Charles Sheeler first showed how to see working-world landscapes in terms of interacting shapes and volumes. That is to say, to look at them the way we see classical architecture. Reader does it very well.
If Ron Davey’s huge charcoal and pastel drawings and his linocuts are political in intent (pro-Native American), they are so extremely interesting in themselves that the message doesn’t swallow them. Here Serpent Mound comes into play. Landscapes, lightly drawn, fill the space while across the picture plane a line like a live wire twists and sputters. Some of tile shapes it describes are reminiscent of ancient native cultures.
Gallery director Jerry Bellas originally planned two shows, one of work strongly rooted in traditional landscape and a second showing landscape as a staging ground for other concerns. The usual bugaboo, budgetary considerations, got in the way and instead he has incorporated both approaches in a single show that generously includes the large number of regional artists (17) who would have exhibited in the two shows. Paintings and drawings and photographs and a couple of installations make a disparate assemblage. A very spotty effect could have resulted, with abrupt transitions and general lack of continuity, but Bellas has hung the exhibition admirably and in the end has a stronger show than the two might have been separately.
M. Katherine Hurley, who has a touch for tender color, is well-served by having her romantic “Breadbasket” hung next to the glorious color of a Barry Andersen photograph. Painting and photographs again go well together with the pairing of Valerie Shesko’s acrylic “Mountain Dusk” and Jessica Hines’ “Spirit of Place” photo series.
Other work well worth mentioning: Shesko’s oil-onpaper paintings, very effective; the vivid, all-over patterns of leaves and branches in Sheila Jordan Kappa’s work; Carrie Pate and Cheryl Pannabecker’s mixedmedia installation, which gives us some complexly layered wooden tables to puzzle over and a pretend piece of landscape complete with litter.
Representing over 30 artists with paintings, carvings and » objects of art. The primative teHUgft works range from raw & ™™™ unpolished to others of exceptional skill & craft. New inventory of works by nationally known folk artists. Works on displayby Linvel Barker, Howard Finster, Shirley Lambdin, RA. Miller, Lonnie & TWyla Money and Mose T.
Bobbi Vallery’s installation, on the other hand, is nothing if not a political statement. Her passionate argument against hunting wild animals combines a video with blow-ups of torn segments from newspaper stories and a cluster of trophy cups, along with a miscellaneous little pile of plastic giraffes and other animals. The video, titled The Living Room, is a weirdly dreamy drift around a room whose quiet inhabitants are all stuffed animals, but not the plush kind. A zebra, mountain goats, a bear, all sorts of cats with fierce teeth bared are caught in taxidermy’s best imitation of life. The mounted, severed heads of a buffalo and an antlered deer look down from the wall. We see a couch, directly in front of a mountain lion, and lamp shades and heating vents also appear, making the point that all these dead things are incongruously in what is called a “living” room. Background music dissolves into what seem to be the murdered animals’ final moans. (It’s awful, of course, and I am no friend to hunters, but on learning that this is an actual living room and the hunter himself closely related to the artist I find myself thinking about that family relationship and wondering where it stands now. This is not the intent of the piece.)
CINCINNATI GAS & ELECTRIC
1315 main street
LOBBY Diversity, the Unifying Theme of the American Republic is the result of a 1994 competition involving college juniors at the Parsons School of Design in New York City and sec-
Craig Lloyd’s mixed-media “Tract” seems to suggest the transformation of acreage into development; a panel of squared shapes could be lots, and the semi-opaque pane across the drawing of a tree may refer to windows. There are some interesting interactions here, but in the context of the show one wonders if the word “tract” is meant to be taken both as a stretch of land and as a
To add perspective, Bellas has included fossils, petrifled wood and other memories of landscape gone these millions of years, in some cases pairing them with artworks. Thus we see that an igneous rock, 250 million years old, from Norway, can echo the palette-knifed abstraction of a Jack Meanwell landscape. Bellas also shows a U.S. Geological Service map of Hamilton County and several infrared satellite images of our area. The ways of looking at landscape are as varied as the land itself, and that in the end is the message of the exhibition.
AT ISSUE: OUR ENVIRONMENT continues at Studio San Giuseppe Art Gallery, College of Mount St. Joseph, through March 5. 244-4314.
Through Feb. 28. 1-5 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, noon-5 p.m. weekends. Union Terminal, 1301 Western Ave., Queensgate. 241-7408.
Friday. 3800 Victory Parkway, Evanston. 745-3811.
ARTS CONSORTIUM OF CINCINNATI, LINN STREET Art for City Walls is a yearlong exhibit focusing local artists. 1-8 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekends. 1515 Linn St., West End. 381-0645.
840 GALLERY Life drawing students in the School of Art exhibit their recent work. Feb. 27-March 3. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. D.A.A.P. Building, University of Cincinnati, Clifton. 556-2962.
★ BABA BUDAN’S ESPRESSO BAR Colorful and cartoonish oil paintings by Laura Herman. Through Feb. 28. 7 a.m.-ll p.m. Monday-Thursday, 7 a.m.-l a.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-l a.m. Saturday, 11 a.m.-ll p.m. Sunday. 243 Calhoun St., Clifton. 221-1911.
Galleries & Exhibits
BASE ART Using photographs and words, Cincinnati native Jay A. Plogman rips apart racial and ethnic stereotypes while searching into the philosophical, emotional and concrete aspects of Being American. Through March 25. Noon-4 p.m. Saturdays and by appointment. 1311 Main St., Overthe-Rhine. 491-3865.
★ ADAMS LANDING ART CENTER Five in Photography features color photos by Barry Anderson, hand-colored photos by Diane Kruer, Polaroid transfers by Ann Segal, light boxes by Connie Sullivan and installations by Mike Wilson. Through April 15. 11 a.m.3 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday or by appointment. 900 Adams Crossing, Downtown. 723-0737.
BEAR GRAPHICS AND ILLUS-
TRATION GALLERY Chris Payne’s illustrations and Jan Knoop’s paintings, prints and sculptures. Through February. Noon-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. 105 E. Main St., Mason. 398-2788.
BORDERS CAFE ESPRESSO Works by Thomas Greene III. Through Feb. 28. 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday. Borders Books and Music, 11711 Princeton Road, Springdale. 671-5852.
★ ARTERNATIVE GALLERY
Coffee Break features oils and pastels by Carole Meyer, pottery by Terry Kern, wearable art by Suzanne Poag, Kimberley Henson and Vera Stastny and dolls by Michele Naylor. Through March 25.
CAFE ELITE Features photographs by Lisa Britton which illuminate direct connections between human beings and natural environment. Through Feb. 28. 11 a.m.10 p.m. daily. 364 Ludlow Ave., Clifton. 281-9922.
10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Wednesday and Friday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. 2034 Madison Road, O’Bryonville. 871-2218.
ARTISTREE STUDIOS Offer an array of artwork in a variety of media from artists around the Tristate. ArtisTree also offers classes, workshops and lectures. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Sunday. 6818 State Route 128, Miamitown. 353-2100.
CARL SOLWAY GALLERY An exhibition of new interactive sculpture by San Francisco multimedia electronic artist, Paul DeMarinis, is on view. DeMarinis’ recent series of installation works, “The Edison Effect” uses optics and computers to make new sounds by scanning phonograph records with lasers. Through March 31. Painter Julian Stanczak, who was bom in Poland and studied under Joseph Albers, displays paintings that ereate intense perceptual effects by working in a systematic way; often referred to as “Op Art.” Through March 31. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. MondayFriday, Saturday by appointment. 424 Findlay St., West End. 621-0069.
ARTS CONSORTIUM OF CINCINNATI, UNION TERMINAL Art for City Walls is a yearlong exhibit focusing on local artists. Bein’ Round Natti Town, a permanent exhibition, highlights the first 150 years in Cincinnati. TheNeo Ancestralist Resident Artist Exhibit, retrospective in nature, explores the various styles and mediums while focusing on major issues, both social and cultural.
CARNEGIE ARTS CENTER Art The Universal Language celebrates diversity with abstract landscapes by Korean artist Yung Ja Lee, African-American Old and New Memories by Richmond, Kentucky’s Betsy Johnson, painting and pottery by living Native American Artists, curated by Alice Lambert and Linda Whittenberg and Sacred Run Photographs by Alice Lambert. Through Feb. 25. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, noon-4 p.m. Saturday. 1028 Scott
Blvd., Covington. 491-2030.
★ CHIDLAW GALLERY, ART ACADEMY OF CINCINNATI
Inside the Outsiders is an exhibition of Folk Art from Regional Collections. Through March 10. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Art Academy of Cincinnati, Eden Park. 562-8777.
★ CINCINNATI ART CLUB On exhibit is Masterworks, a juried show for artists more than 53 years old. The winner will receive $600. Through Feb. 26. The gallery is open 1-5 p.m. Friday-Sunday. 1021 Parkside Place, Mount Adams. 241—4591.
★ CINCINNATI ART GALLERIES Displays 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.
CIVIC GARDEN CENTER OF GREATER CINCINNATI Works by Carole Parrish. Through Feb. 28. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. 2715 Reading Road, Avondale. 221-0981.
★ CLERMONT COLLEGE ART GALLERY A Kaleidoscope: Appalachian Art ofSouthern Ohio. Through Feb. 24. 8 a.m.5 p.m. weekdays. 4200 Clermont College Drive, Batavia. 732-5224.
★ CLOSSON’S GALLERY DOWNTOWN 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 and Heruy Mosler. 10 a.m.-8 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m.6 p.m. Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday. 401 Race St., Downtown. 762-5510.
★ CLOSSON’S GALLERY KENWOOD Paintings, primarily abstracts, by Nellie Leaman Taft. Through March 18.10 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday. 7866 Montgomery Road, Kenwood. 891-5531.
★ COLLECTOR BOOK AND PRINT GALLERY The politically motivated lithographs of Gabriel Glikman, Russian Jewish artist and sculptor, on display. Through March 31. 3-6 p.m. WednesdaySaturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. 1801 Chase Ave., Northside. 542-6600.
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.
FITTON CENTER FOR CREATIVE ARTS Class Act is a student exhibition. Through March 3.... In the lobby, there will be Chinese New Year paintings. Through March 19. 9 a.m.-8 p.m. MondayThursday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m.-noon Saturday. 101 S. Monument Ave., Hamilton. 863-8873.
★ GALLERY 48 Photos, paint
ings and drawings by the AfricanAmerican group UMOJA, which means “unity” in Swahili. Through Feb. 28. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. 1223 Central Parkway, Over-theRhine. 381^1033.
GALLERY 99 Twenty artists from this co-operative gallery have contributed to put together their show, Faces. Through Feb. 28. Noon-6 p.m Thursday-Sunday, noon-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. 1101 St. Gregory St., Mount Adams. 651-1441.
★ GALLERY AT WELLAGE & BUXTON Ballard Borich, a noted poet, displays his abstract paintings on paper in A Larger Group ofSmaller Paintings. Through March 25. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. 1431 Main St., Over-the-Rhine. 241-9127.
GLASS CRAFTERS STAINED
GLASS STUDIO Features handcrafted stained and beveled glass miniatures, windows, lamps, mirrors and more. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. 11119 Reading Road, Sharonville. 554-0900.
GOLDEN RAM GALLERY Paintings by John James Audubon. Through Feb. 28-. 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.
HARROGATE Works exhibited are mostly of maritime themes including 19th and 20th century paintings, ship models and artifacts. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. MondaySaturday. 3075 Madison Road, Oakley. 321-6020.
★ HEBREW UNION COLLEGE SKIRBALL MUSEUM —Aishet
Hayil: Woman of Valor features paintings, textiles and sculptures. Through March 31.11 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 2-5 p.m. Sunday. 3101 Clifton Ave., Clifton. 221-1875.
HILLEL JEWISH STUDENT CENTER Michal Koren, Jonah Tobias, Nate Waspe and Pam Zelman, students from UC’s school of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning, display their work. Through March 31. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday. 2615 Clifton Ave., Clifton. 221-6728.
★ IN SITU Gregory B. Saunders’ The Kentucky Series: A Personal Archeological Dig is a collection of large-scale drawings based on the Kentucky landscape. Saunders, bom and raised in Newport and now living in Florida, combines remnants and artifacts of his past unearthed recently during a visit to his now tom-down former residence with these powdered graphite drawings. Through March 18.11 a.m.-5 p.m. TuesdaySaturday. 1435 Main St., Over-theRhine. 651^613.
INNER SPACE DESIGN Presents one-of-a-kind necklaces by New York jewelry designer Nancie Taphom. Through Feb. 28. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. 2128 Madison Road, O’Bryonville. 533-0300.
★ JAMAR GALLERY Features
1202 Main St., Over-the-Rhine. 241-3070.
KZF GALLERY Paintings and drawings by Ken Landon Buck; sculpture by Barbara Beatrice; paintings and prints by B.B. Hall. Through April. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. 655 Eden Park Drive, 7th Floor, Walnut Hills. 621-6211.
LEFTHANDED MOON A continuing exhibition of hand-carved and painted fimo pendants by Jeni B. and ceramic rattles by Nance Emmet. 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. MondaySaturday. 48 E. Court St., Downtown. 784-1166.
MACHINE SHOP GALLERY Juried DAAP Undergraduate Show. Through March 17. 11 a.m.2 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. 100 E. Central Parkway, Over-the-Rhine. 556-1928.
★ MALTON GALLERY Cincinnati & Beyond, a show investingating the landscape, presents watercolors by Bruce Kreidler and monotypes by Mary Farrell, both Cincinnatians. Through Feb. 28.10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. 2709 Observatory Ave., Hyde Park. 321-8614.
MIAMI UNIVERSITY'S HIESTAND GALLERY Two and Two features works by graduate students at UC and Miami. Through Feb. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Maple Street, Miami Universty, Oxford. 513-529-1883.
MILLER GALLERY Giftsfrom the Garden focuses on floral paintings in oil, acrylic and watercolor by ten nationally recognized artists. Through Feb. 25. 10 a.m.5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. 2715 Erie Ave., Hyde Park. 871-4420.
MULLANE’S PARKSIDE CAFE The paintings and drawings of John Moylan will be display through March 4..11:30 a.m.-lO p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.11 p.m. Friday, 5-11 p.m. Saturday723 Race St., Downtown. 381-1331. ★ NORTHERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY The Main Gallery features Ana England’s Finite Yet Unbounded, and Suzanne Fisher’s Dark Flowers, The Third Floor Gallery features Reconsiderations, works by Darryl Curran and Kenda North. Through March 10. 9 a.m.9 p.m. weekdays, 1-5 p.m. weekends. Fine Arts Building, NKU, Highland Heights. 572-5148.
OLMES GALLERY Works of Nancy Suddeth Corbett currently on display. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. 3515 Roundbottom Road, Newtown. 271-4004.
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 A new inventory of works by Linvel Barker, Howard Finster, Shirley Lambdin, R.A. Miller, Lonnie and Twyla Money, Mose T. and G.C. DePrie, is on display.... Metal furniture by master craftsman Joe DeLuco of Cincinnati. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. TuesdaySaturday. 1315 Main St, Over-theRhine. 241-6672.
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k Convenient location at Montgomery Inn Recreation at the Boathouse -I
★ Available parking Call to sign up! 352-3660
an exhibition of recent oils, watercolors, landscapes, florals and nudes by Yuri G. Savchenko, a renowned Ukrainian artist who will be honored by the Ukraine Government with an exhibition of his works in Kiev this year. Miniature Lithographs by Valerij Demyanshyn Oils by Italian artist Guido Buson Plus new arrivals of antique Russian icons, tryptychs, crucifixes and crosses. Through Feb. 23.10 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. 135 W. Fourth St., Downtown. 333-6022.
KALDI’S COFFEE HOUSE A BOOKSTORE Exquisite Drawings by 6-year-old Lexan Rosser. Through Feb. 26. 7 a.m.1 a.m. Monday-Thursday, 7 a.m.2:30 a.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-2:30 a.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-midnight Sunday.
PARISIAN GALLERY Features works by the members of the Hilltop Artists. Through March 6. 10 a.m.-9 p.m. daily. Forest Fair Mall, 300 Forest Fair Drive. 522-0117.
★ LAURA PAUL GALLERY Presents Key to the Heart featuring works by jewelry artist Angela Cummins. Through March 11. 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 This building houses a multitude of artists. 1310 Pendleton St., Overthe-Rhine. 721-6311.
★ GRETA PETERSON GALERIE
artists. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. WednesdaySaturday, or by appointment. 9352 Main St., Montgomery. 791-7717.
WENTWORTH GALLERY
Figures, features the works of L. Field Estate, B. Mack, Guttman and Mierzwa. Through Feb. 27. 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday, noon-7 p.m. Sunday. Kenwood Towne Centre, 7875 Montgomery Road, Kenwood. 791-5023.
★ WOLF PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS
Spanning the Ohio: Photographs of Cincinnati’s Bridges by local photographer J. Miles Wolf and Innervisions: Largeformat Black and White Photographs by Florida artist Woody Walters will be display through March 15. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. 708 Walnut St., Downtown. 381-3222.
WOMEN’S ART CLUB OF CINCINNATI Meets at 1 p.m. the second Saturday of every month. Room 501, 1310 Pendleton St., Over-the-Rhine. 522-0117.
WOODBOURNE GALLERY Renewing their Cincinnati Artist of the Month series, the Woodboume Gallery presents the Tuscany Hill hand-wrought jewelry
of Stuart C. Nedelman. Through Feb. 28. 10 a.m.-8 p.m. MondayThursday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday. 9885 Montgomery Road, Montgomery. 793-1888.
WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERIES Urban Landscape features the'works of Rackstraw Downs, John Moore and Yvonne Jacquette. Through March 19. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, noon-5 p.m. weekends. Creative Art Center at Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio. 513-873-2978.
★ YWCA WOMEN’S ART GALLERY Twelve artist/craftswomen present works ranging from multi-media artwork, quilts, decoupage boxes, ceramics, stained glass, birdhouses, baskets, cut paper collages and assembled textiles in Assemblage ’95. Through March 3. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. 898 Walnut St., Downtown. 241-7090.
★ XAVIER UNIVERSITY GALLERY Paintings and drawings by Johana. Through Feb. 24. Noon-4 p.m. Monday-Friday. 3800 Victory Parkway, Evanston. 745-3811.
Dostoyevsky's
840 GALLERY Drawing students in the School of Art exhibit their recent work. Through Feb. 24. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. D.A.A.P. Building, University of Cincinnati, Clifton. 556-2962.
Museums
C★ CINCINNATI ART MUSEUM Singing The Clay: Pueblo Pottery of the Southwest Yesterday and Today, features 11 examples of pottery from each pueblo. Through June 4. Manet to Toulouse- Lautrec:'French Impressionists to PostImpressionist Prints and Drawings presented by PNC Bank, through March 5. Edward Potthast 1857-1927 features eight paintings by the native Cincinnatian, through March 5. Richard Bitting: Nine Summer Haiku is a suite of nine color lithographs with music and text transformed into designs, through April 9. ...Air in Motion, Heart in Motion includes 14 prints by Shinoda Toko, trained in calligra-
harles Guiteau. Leon Czolgosz. Guiseppe Zangara. Samuel Byck. Not household names. Lynette Fromme? Sara Jane Moore? Vaguely familiar, perhaps. John Wilkes Booth. John W. Hinckley Jr. Lee Harvey Oswald. Assassins, one and all. And each is part of Assassins, an unusual theatrical production of a work by Stephen Sondheim. It is being produced by UC’s College-Conservatory of Music through March 5.
What kind of a look does a show need to span two centuries and include eight of the most bizarre characters in American history?
CCM scenic designer Tom Umfrid modestly says, “I don’t create with a lot of bravado, and I don’t try to overintellectualize my work. There are a lot of issues you have to consider to design a musical. For instance, the composer may have written only 15 seconds of music for a scene transition. You can’t have a scene change that takes longer; It won’t work. Umfrid has worked frequently with director and CCM musical theater professor Aubrey Berg. He says Berg recalled an earlier set for the musical Chicago, which had a lot of opportunity for “presentation,” or scenes that might be thought of as pictures. “Aubrey likes to create stage pictures, and he wanted flexibility,” Umfrid says. “So I’ve built an ‘environment’ that lets him stage and improvise scenes.”
Umfrid has created a playing space made of concrete pieces juxtaposed with surreal elements such as red neon bars that glow menacingly with each attack.
“In this show,” Umfrid explains, “each assassination is re-created, somehow. The music is for each scene is linked to the period of the historic event. The script calls for projections of old drawings and photos, but we ruled that out. Instead, we have used the actors and the staging to re-create familiar elements and images of some of the events, such as the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald.”
Umfrid says Assassins is not a typical musical. “It’s brash and gritty, rather than light and frothy. It’s a thinking person’s musical, a psychological study of the assassins. Sometimes you’ll be taken aback. In fact, audiences should be aghast by the time the show ends. That’s part of its effect.”
Berg, in a press release, cites from the script: “Any kid can grow up to be presi-
dent; any kid can grow up to be his killer.”
This leads him to observe, “There is a real sense of America possessing a life philosophy as a land of extraordinary freedom, a freedom which breeds creativity and lunacy.”
It is a paradox that our hard-fought freedoms have also created a nation where there have been more attempts on the lives of our leaders than in any other major nation.
CCM, Umfrid says, sometimes selects shows to match the talents of student performers. Assassins demands acting skill, and Berg has assembled a cast of 20 excellent performers.
“There’s lots of strong characterization, placing real demands on the actors,” Umfrid says. The show is not linear, he explains: “The assassins interact with one another across time and space, sometimes in a surreal manner, investigating the ‘what ifof various situations.”
The show treats some issues head-on, but from an unusual direction. Umfrid observes, “Assassins is anti-gun, to be sure, but it’s full of guns.” In fact, Umfrid is warning friends that earplugs might be in order. “There’s a lot of shooting,” he points out 45 incidents of gunfire. Umfrid has had to order an unusual array of firearms from a supplier in New York, in addition to a large supply of ammunition. And that’s just the beginning of the show’s technical needs, which include a hanging and an electrocution.
Stephen Colella
Sondheim's \Assassins’ covers of violence against U.S. leaders
Wilkes Booth, and Chuck Ragsdale portrays David in CCM’s Assassins.
The assassins in this show are, in some ways, each of us. Their lives and motivations are not so far removed from our own, although they have made choices most of us have not. Much of the show is cynical, but Sondheim and his collaborator, John Weidman, have humanized these unusual people to the point that we can understand them.
Working from Umfrid’s creative set, Berg takes this humanizing another step. Many of the assassins enter or exit through the audience, he points out. “I’ve tried to give the sense of the ordinary person coming into the action, getting involved in this grand conspiracy. I believe it enforces the extraordinary power of the piece.”
ASSASSINS opens Thursday and continues through March 5 at CCM's Patricia Corbett Theater. CCM is suggesting it will be most appreciated by mature audiences. Tickets ($17 general, $11 students): 556-4183.
PHOTO:
portrays
Art
projected three-dimensionally and viewed through polarized glasses, through April 5. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, ThursdaySaturday. $2 adults; $1 students and seniors; children 12 and under free; free to CAC members; free to all on Mondays. 115 E. Fifth St., Downtown. 345-8400.
phy but best known for her paintings, through May 14. Free tours include Manet to Toulouse-Lautrec, 1 p.m.
Thursday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday; American Portraits 1750-1850, 1 p.m. Friday, Highlights of the CAM, noon Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday; Object of the Month: “Italian: Composite Armor, 2 p.m. Sunday; and thefamilyfun tours, Wildlife in Art, 1 p.m. Saturday and Animal Safari, 3 p.m. Saturday. Explore the sights, sounds and words of the Renaissance and Baroque eras with an in-depth gallery tour. 10:15-11:30 a.m. Feb. 25 and March 4 and 1:15-2:30 p.m. Feb. 21 and Feb. 28. $5 adults; $4 students and seniors; children free. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. TuesdaySaturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Eden Park. 721-5204.
MIAMI UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM Distinctfrom Shellfish, a collaborative effort by Diana Duncan Holmes and Timothy Riordan, combines books, poetry, photographs and mixed-media pieces. Husband-and-wife Cincinnatians team up again with superior poetry and photographs, through March 10. Stitched, Woven and Plaited: Contemporary Craft Traditions ofAfrica, through June 11. Forever Flowers continues through Oct. 1. Also showing is a joint exhibition by the faculty of the Miami University Department of Art & Architecture and the University of Cincinnati Department of Art. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday. Free. Patterson Ave., Oxford. 513-529-2232.
★ NATIONAL AFRO-AMERICAN MUSEUM AND CULTURAL CENTER Dream, Myth, and Reality: Contemporary Artfrom Senegal is comprised of 70 works by 50 Senegalese artists working in oils, acrylics, fibers, collage and glass, through March 5. From Victory to Freedom: AfroAmerican Life in the 50s is a permanent exhibition featuring artifacts staged in settings reminiscent of the period. $3.50 adults, $1.50 students. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. 1350 Brush Row Road, Wilberforce. 513-376^944.
★ CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER Carrie May Weems examines the status of AfricanAmericans in today’s society through narrative photographic images, through March 26.
Cincinnati sculptor Patricia Renick explores the loss and violation of identity and the metaphoric voyage of the spirit through her installation of female figures atop boat forms in 2068 through March 12.
★ THE TAFT MUSEUM Jeffrey Hamilton, a specialist in 18th and 19th century furnishings and exteriors, highlights the elegant federal furniture in a slide show talk and gallery tour. 12:10-12:50 p.m. Feb. 25. A special display of four works by Grandma Moses continues through March 19.... 10 a.m.-
Sponsored by Reece Campbell Inc./Chronis Inc. Omope Carter Daboiku presents a morning of combined storytelling and toymaking. Each child should bring an orphaned sock. 10 a.m.-noon Saturday. Free to Contemporary Kids, $5 for others. In Memory Spaces, Pittsburgh artist Paul Glabicki uses state-of-the-art computer programs while working simultaneously with paintings, drawings, photographic sequences and installation plans to create a continuous architectural landscape for the viewer to experience when
jidonp Caiguest conductor Rebecca Tryon -flute Christopher Philpotts - English horn with works by Enure, Honegger and Mendelssohn
Center and its environs celebrate the end of the month by staying open from 6-10 p.m. Friday. It’s a wonderful way to check out this part of town which has been undergoing a renaissance of sorts. With the additional Bockfest celebration, the hours have been extended to noon-5 p.m. Saturday.
5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. 316 Pike St., Downtown. $3 adults; $1 seniors and students; children 12 and under free. 241-0343.
GREATER CINCINNATI CONVENTION CENTER If you want to get depressed about your surroundings, check out the Home and Garden Show, which opens Saturday. Noon-11 p.m. Saturday, noon-6 p.m. Sunday, 5-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday and noon-10 p.m. Friday. Through March 5. $6.75 adults; $2.50 13 and under. The Cincinnati Cat Club presents its 41st annual Cat Show. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. $5 adults; $4 seniors; $2 12 and under; $12 for families. 525 Elm St., Downtown. 352-3750. LONELY INSTRUMENTS FOR NEEDY KIDS (LINKS) People with closeted, stored or otherwise unused musical instruments can donated them to LINKS, which will, in turn, match donated instruments with talented but underfunded students. Buddy Rogers music will repair, clean and recondition each donation if necessary. Drop the instruments off at the LINKS booth set up near the food court in Kenwood Towne Centre on
★ CATS WHO CARE Members of the national touring company of Cats present a cabaret evening of music and dance to benefit AIDS Volunteers of Cincinnati. $10 per person, $30 getfyou a reserved table for two. 11:30 p.m. Thursday. The Dock, 603 W. Pete Rose Way, Downtown. Call 421-0582.
DISCOVER CARD STARS ON ICE Kristi Yamaguchi, Scott Hamilton, Paul Wylie and Katarina Witt are some of the stars featured. 7:30 p.m. Friday. $22-$33. Riverfront Coliseum, 100 Broadway, Downtown. 721-1000.
RHETAUGH DUMAS As part of UC’s Distinguished AfricanAmerican Lecture Series, nurse and psychologist Rhetaugh Dumas, vice provost for health affairs at the University of Michigan speaks on the Challenges ofthe New Health Care Environment. 4 p.m. Wednesday. Room 5051, Medical Sciences Building. She will also speak on New Conceptsfor a New Century: Challengesfor Nursing and Education. 3-4 p.m. March 2. Procter Hall Auditorium, UC College of Nursing, Clifton. 556-1826.
★ FINAL FRIDAY The galleries of Main Street, Pendleton Art
n an attempt to support emerging playwrights, Fahrenheit Theatre Company brings a new play, The Color Wheel by Stacy Jordan Pershall, to its season of classics.
Unfortunately Pershall’s script isn’t emerging; it’s bogged down in mostly trite, self-indulgent authorship. Pershall should cut the umbilical cord and let the play have a life of its own. The bottom line is: Does anybody really care about these characters?
The first act takes off like a three-legged turtle as we meet through monologue Abigail (Marni Penning), a young adult who is troubled by Voices (R. Chris Reeder) in her head. When life becomes unbearable and she hides under her blanket, her mother Evelyn (Sarah Crabbs) comes to her rescue and packs her off for professional care.
Meanwhile, in parallel monologues (a theatrical device surely devised for torture by the Nazis), Holly (Shannon Rae Lutz) expresses her unhappiness with her fading marriage to Davis (C. Charles Scheeren). By the close of the first act, Abigail is in treatment doing battle with her Voices, and Holly has decided to try life on her own after Davis has a fling.
Fahrenheit Theatre Company’s The Color Wheel.
The second act is much improved, largely because we have dialogue, not monologues filled with drivel about the search for identity and the meaning of life. Instead, there is conflict between characters with real problems to work out. In fairness to the performers, they do their best with a bad situation. Lutz breathes life and honesty into her character, and Penning thankfully has a number of genuine, touching and humorous moments. Reeder overplays the Voices with a demonic laughter so cliche I am surprised they didn’t put a black cape on him. It would have been interesting to see the Voices portrayed more seductively rather than presented as a medieval battle of good vs. evil. Glen Becker acquits himself nicely as the Doctor, and Scheeren offers a credible vision of Davis. Crabbs is less than compelling as the mother.
The play, at Carnegie Theatre in Covington, is Fahrenheit’s fourth production of the season. Director Jasson Minadakis stages it nicely, but he doesn’t have much of an opportunity to make it work until the second act. With a first act of this quality, the Carnegie is the wrong theater to use; it has too many clearly marked exits.
Shannon Rae Lutz plays Holly and C. Charles Scheeren plays her husband Davis Maher in
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Events
NKU BLACK HISTORY MONTH
LECTURES Thomas Winter will speak on Race Film Making and the Great War: The Training of Colored Troops in 1918. 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Landrum 506, NKU, Highland Heights. 572-6388.
PUBLIC LIBRARY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY
Fitting Exercise Into A Hectic Lifestyle offers helpful suggestions on how to incorporate fitness into busy schedules. Noon Thursday. Dan and Mary Gibbons and Barb Chilers present a two-projector slide show contrasting present day Zimbabwe with the Zimbabwe of 1900. 2 p.m. Sunday. 800 Vine St., Downtown. 369-6900.
SEVENTH ANNUAL BOY SCOUT
SPORTS BREAKFAST FOR THE KULIGA DISTRICT There will be a silent auction featuring Steve Carlton autographed posters, Cincinnati Cyclones and other team memorabilia with WLW’s Andy McWilliams as master of ceremonies and UC Head Football Coach Rick Minter as guest speaker. 7:30-9 a.m. Thursday. $100 per person. Western Hills Country Club, Cleves-Warsaw Pike and Neeb Road, Western Hills. 961-2336.
STONEWALL CINCINNATI'S CASINO PARTY The annual fund-raising event offers an evening of gambling, dancing, hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. 8 p.mmidnight Saturday. $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. 541-8778.
★ THIRD ANNUAL BOCKFEST
The Over-the-Rhine entertainment district will once again be home to this annual celebration heralding the arrival of bock beer and the coming of spring. Bockfest, sponsored by Oldenberg Brewery, Hudepohl-Schoenling and Avril’s Meats, kicks off with a parade at 6 p.m. Friday in front of Arnold’s (210 E. Eighth St.) with WLW’s Jim Scott serving as grand marshall. The parade will end up at Old St. Mary’s Church where Mayor Roxanne Qualls will issue a proclamation and the Rev. Dorman Byers will bless the bockbeer and bockwurst. The festival continues Friday evening, all day Saturday and Saturday night with the bars and restaurants of Main Street offering special food and entertainment. Horse-drawn carriage rides will be available 7-10 p.m. Friday. There will also be free trolley service throughout the Bockfest area.
★ TRIBUTE TO THE NEGRO LEAGUES Baseball greats from the Negro Leagues will be signing autographs at Artistic Apparel, an afrocentric gallery and bookstore. 3-6 p.m. Saturday. Swifton Commons Mall, 7030 Reading Road, Roselawn. 351-2787.
UC’S DISTINGUISHED AFRICANAMERICAN LECTURE SERIES
Jack Travis, an architect who established his own firm in New
Sycamore streets, Downtown. 749-4949.
York City, will discuss his personal experiences as a black architect and give a critical analysis of the difficulties faced in order to include diverse cultures into mainstream American architectural aesthetics. 7 p.m. Thursday. Room 636, DAAP, UC, Clifton. 556-1204.
RON WIXMAN The tour guide for the Smithsonian Institute discusses the culture, people and places in Russia and Turkey as part of Joseph-Beth's World Odyssey Travel Series. 6 p.m. Saturday, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Rookwood Pavilion, Madison and Edwards roads, Norwood. 396-8960.
★ 1995 CINCINNATI INTERNATIONAL WINE FESTIVAL
CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE IN THE PARK The world premiere production of The Brothers Karamazov, a new play by Anthony Clarvoe based on the classic novel by Dostoevsky, opens Thursday. 8 p.m. WednesdayFriday, 5 and 9 p.m. Through March 23. $19-$31. Robert S. Marx Theatre. ...Meet the Artists takes place after the Sunday matinee, which will be signed, and allows audience members to interact with the cast and the production staff. The program is free and attendance at that performance is not required. The Saturday matinee will be audio described. The play that catapulted Harold Pinter to international fame, The Caretaker, continues through March 5. 8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 5 and 9 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday. $22-$29. Thompson Shelterhouse. Tickets to all shows are half-price when purchased noon-2 p.m. the day of the show. Eden Park. 421-3888.
Begins 7:30 p.m. Wednesday with A Night In Italy. Chef Jimmy Gherardi has gathered together the city’s fines Italian chefs for an unforgettable evening consisting of a multi-course Italian feast accompanied by some of the finest Italian wines you will ever taste. $75. Continental Room, Omni Netherland Plaza Hotel, Fifth and Race streets, Downtown. The festival continues through March 4 events at the Greater Cincinnati Convention Center, the Star of Cincinnati, the Omni Netherland Plaza Hotel, the Westin Hotel and The Phoenix. Call 241-3434 for more details.
ENSEMBLE THEATRE OF CINCINNATI Presents fastpaced adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. 8 p.m. WednesdaySaturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Through Feb. 26. $20 adults; $15 students; group rates available. 1127 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine. 421-3555 or 721-1000.
FAHRENHEIT THEATRE The world premiere of Stacy Jordan’s The Color Wheel, the story of two young women struggling to survive and find love, happiness and independence in 1990s America, continues through March 12. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday. $7.50 adults; $6 students and seniors; $5 groups of 12 or more. Carnegie Theater, Carnegie Arts Center, 1028 Scott Blvd., Covington. 559-0642.
★ FIFTH THIRD VOICES OF HARMONY A seven-week festival celebrating ethnic and cultural diversity in the arts continues 8 p.m. Saturday with Voices of Jazz, featuring Kathy Wade and SCPA’s Jazz Band and Jazz ensemble Meridian 8. School for the Creative and Performing Arts Theatre, 1310 Sycamore St., Overthe-Rhine. 632-5910.
FOOTLIGHTERS Based on Isherwood’s Berlin Stories, Cabaret is set against the turbulent backdrop of 1930s Berlin. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. Closes Saturday. Stained Glass Theatre, Eighth and York streets, Newport. $10. 793-1435.
FOREST VIEW GARDENS
Theater
Enjoy a three-hour meal brought to you by singers-servers who perform The Fabulous Forties. Through Feb. 26. Phantom opens March 2. Through April 2. Reservations required. ThursdaySunday. 4508 North Bend Road, Monfort Heights. 661-6434.
* ARTS CONSORTIUM OF CINCINNATI Presents Dhana Bradley-Morton’s production of James Weldon’s Johnson’s God’s Trombone, a rousing tribute to the powerful oratory of the black preacher with great gospel music. 7:30 p.m. Sunday. $17.50 advance, $22.50 day of show. Group rates available. Music Hall, 1240 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. 381-0645.
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.
NORTHERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY THEATRE DEPARTMENT
Pippin, one of the most popular musicals of the ’70s with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, ereator of Godspell, continues through Feb. 26. 8 p.m. TuesdaySaturday, 3 p.m. Sunday. $7 adult; $6 NKU faculty; $5 NKU students. Mainstage, NKU Theatre Department, Highland Heights. 572-5464.
TRI-COUNTY PLAYERS
Presents their 34th annual speakeasy and melodrama musical variety show, A Night at theAlbee and Shiver My Timbers. Cabaret seating. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Through Feb. 25. $8. College Hill Town Hall, 1805 Larch Avenue, College Hill. 825-0094.
VICTORIA THEATRE ASSOCIATION Forever Plaid, a musical tribute to the “guy groups” of the ’50s and early ’60s, opens Tuesday. 8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Through March 5. $13—$17. Victoria Theatre, 138 N. Main St., Dayton, Ohio. 513-228-3630.
VILLAGE PUPPET THEATRE
Charles Killian, the original founder of the theater, presents The Dream ofPrince Shiraz, an original work written and directed by Salil Singh with music by Ewar. The play, is based on tales from Indian folklore and mythology, and uses both marionettes and shadow puppets. 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. 291-5566 or through Select-A-Seat at 721-1000.
WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY
Oliver Goldsmith’s restoration comedy, She Stoops To Conquer, continues, 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. Closes Feb. 26. Festival Playhouse, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway. $11 -$ 14 adults; $10—$11 students. 873-2500.
Classical Music
BACH MUSIC FESTIVAL While Bockfest goes on in Over-theRhine, experience a different sort of Bach with seven performances. The two-day Bach Music Festival stars the pipe organs of Over-theRhine. The CCM Brass Choir, CCM Woodwind Ensemble and the Austin organ perform 2 p.m. Saturday, Old St. Mary’s Church (123 E. 13th St.), free. Good News Children’s Gospel Choir, cellist Deborah Natanelle, Philippus’ harpsichord and Moerlein organ, 4 p.m. Saturday, Philippus Church (106 W. McMicken Ave.), free. Voxhumana, Cincinnati Court Dancers, Emery String Quartet and the Wurlitzer organ, 7 p.m. Saturday, Emery Theatre (1112 Walnut St.), $10.... Bach’s Brunch
with Elaine Kennedy of WGUC, Blythe Walker and her All-Girl String Quartet with flute and harpsichord, 11 a.m.-l p.m. Sunday, Grammer’s (1440 Walnut St.), $25 in advance at the Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce office at 1317 Main St.... Philippus Choir with strings, woodwinds, organ and harpsichord, 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Philippus Church (106 W. McMicken Ave.), free. Tour the renovated Old St. Paul’s Church to the music of the CCM Trombone Choir, 3 p.m. Sunday, Verdin Bell Co. at Reading Road and Pendleton Street, free. Old St. Mary’s Singers, Blythe Walker, trumpet, strings and the Austin Organ, 5 p;m. Sunday, Old St. Mary’s Church (123 E. 13th St.), free. 241-2690.
CINCINNATI CHAMBER
ORCHESTRA Continues its popular Monday evening series with a performance featuring conductor Jindong Cai. The program will also feature soloists Rebecca Tryon on the flute and Christopher Philpotts on the English horn in a performance of Honegger’s Concerto da Camera for Flute and English horn. 7:30 p.m. Monday. $15 adult; $10 senior; $6 students. Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm St., Overthe-Rhine. 723-1182.
COLLEGE-CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC Pianist James Tocco and Tenor David Adams perform Beethoven’s Septet in E-Flat Major, Op. 20, Corigliano’s Poem in October for tenor and chamber ensemble and Hummel’s Septet in D minor. 8 p.m. Wednesday. $10 adults, $5 students. Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati, Clifton. 556-4183.
CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Guest Conductor Ivan Fischer leads the CSO for an all-Brahms concert featuring guest pianist Rudolf Buchbinder. 11 a.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday. Joyce Van Wye will speak on The History and Renovations of Music Hall. 10 a.m. Friday. The lecture is free to all concertgoers. These concerts are sponsored by Price Waterhouse. $10-$40. Music Hall, 1240 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. 381-3300.
CSO LOLLILOP FAMILY CONCERT Associate Conductor Keith Lockhart invites Tristate families to share in the fun of the “Great CSO Birthday Party.” Program includes Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever and Copland’s Fanfarefor theCommon Man. 10:30 a.m. Saturday and March 11. $6 adults; $4 children. After the March 11 concert, the CSO will be continuing the birthday celebration in Corbett Tower with a Party of 1/2 Note with lunch, cake, party favors, games and special guest Keith Lockhart. $6 adults; $4 children. Music Hall, 1240 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. $4-11. 381-3300.
CONCERTS AT RAYMOND WALTERS COLLEGE Presents Soprano Sebronette Barnes, performing her sophisticated opera and spiritual folk music. 8 p.m. Saturday. $6. 9555 Plainfield Road., Blue Ash. 745-5705.
OVER-THE-RHINE
BEECHMONT PLAYERS
Bottoms Up, a rambuctious farce by Greg Kreutz, opens Friday. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Through March 4. $7 adults; $6 students and seniors. Clermont College Theatre, 4200 Clermont College Drive, Batavia. 677-7380.
BROADWAY SERIES It’s hard to believe that there is anyone left in the world who hasn’t seen Cats, but if there is, here’s your opportunity. Through Feb. 27. 8 p.m. Monday-Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. $29-$39. Taft Theatre, Fifth and
PHILIPPUS CHURCH
DAYTON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA AND PHILHAMON1C CHORUS Combine their talents for Bravo Broadway, with guest soloists soprano Jan Horvath, tenor J. Mark McVey and baritone Randal Keith. 8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. $16—$38. Dayton Convention Center, Dayton, Ohio. 513-224-9000.
MUSIC LIVE WITH LUNCH Pianist Katharine Boyes performs 12:10 p.m. Tuesday. Christ Church Cathedral, Fourth and Sycamore streets, Downtown. Free; lunch $3. 621-1817.
NORTHERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY BRASS CHOIR The program includes trumpet ensembles by F.G.A. Dauveme and Andre Danican Philidor plus Moravian brass music of the 18th century, a sonata from Cesare Bendinelli, Tutta L’arte Della Trombetta, ca.
BANKBUILDING
UtterKiasfr
ages 5-14. Drawingfrom Life and Printmaking and Drawing run through March 4 and Junior High Drawing and Painting through April 22.1125 Saint Gregory St., Mount Adams. 562-8748.
ARTS CONSORTIUM OF CINCINNATI Offers an array of photography, art, dance, martial arts, music and theater classes. 1515 Linn St., West End. 381-0645.
C.I.C. PERCUSSIONS Offers adult drum classes in Djembe and Conga, 3:30-6 p.m. Saturdays; children’s class in Nigerian Drum and Dance, 10 a.m.-noon Saturdays. Classes run through March 25. The Miller Gardette Loft, 2401 Concord, Walnut Hills. 221-2222.
CINCINNATI BALLET Offers classes for adults and children. Adult Ballet Class Session II takes place 7:15-8:45 p.m. Monday and Tuesday. $10 per class. 100 E. Central Parkway, Over-the-Rhine. 621-5219.
CINCINNATI MARLIN MASTERS Coached swim workouts for all abilities. Monday and Thursday evenings and Sundays at noon. Keating Natatorium, St. Xavier High School, 600 Northbend Road, Finneytown. Call Chris Gilligan at 232-0382.
CITIZENSHIP CLASSES Travelers Aid International continues its citizenship classes. 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.
CONTEMPORARY DANCE THEATER Offers classes in tap, jazz, ballet, modem dance, African dance, creative movement for children and yoga. Vine and East Daniels, Corryville. 751-2800.
FLYING CLOUD ACADEMY OF VINTAGE DANCE Offers classes in 19th and 20th century social dance at 8 p.m. every Wednesday. $3 members; $5 non-members. University YMCA, 270 Calhoun, Clifton. 351-7462 or 733-3077.
GLASS CRAFTERS STUDIOS Offers classes in the art of stained glass. 11119 Reading Road, Sharonville. 554-0900.
GOSPEL STUDY Father Jim Willing presents and discusses the Gospel for the coming Sunday 12:05-12:55 p.m. every Wednesday in the Undercroft. Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains, 325 W. Eighth St., Downtown. 421-5354.
SCRIPPS HOWARD SCHOOLS PROGRAMS Intensive, multilayered, first-hand experience with original works of art designed for students in grades 1-12. Scheduling is arranged to meet the teacher’s needs. $5 per student for the year covers gallery admissions, teacher manuals and materials. Contemporary Arts Center, 115 E. Fifth St., Downtown. 721-0390.
SUNWATCH ARCHAEOLOGICAL VILLAGE Ages 8-12 will make a ring, bracelet, necklace or earrings. 3-4:30 p.m. Tuesday. $5. All fees include materials. SunWatch Prehistoric Village, 2301 W. River road., Dayton, Ohio. 513-268-8199.
TIGER LILY PRESS Andy Agee, an Art Academy graduate, will teach an etchings class 710 p.m. Tuesdays, beginning March 14. Theresa Kuhr, a UC graduate with an MFA in printmaking, will teach a collagraphic printing class 9 a.m.-noon Saturdays, starting March 18. Register before March 1. Art Academy of Cincinnati, 1125 St. Gregoiy St., MORE, PAGE 28
‘V’
Is for
Veggie Burger
Even an omnivore can enjoy Cincinnati's vegetarian options that take two hands to handle and go well withfrenchfries
BY POLLY CAMPBELL
Every once in a while a vegetarian friend will urge some sort of glutenized, texturized or tofu-ized protein on me, exclaiming how amazingly close to chicken it tastes, or how it is like ground meat. “Oh, my, yes,” I’ll say, while I think to myself, “When was the last time this person ate chicken?”
Or take that clever vegetarian invention, the veggie burger. Despite the name, none of its variations taste particularly like ground beef. But some of them closely resemble the burger-eating experience: meeting the occasional requirement as an American to eat something that takes two hands, drips ketchup on your clothes, makes you smell like onions all afternoon and goes good with french fries. Really, veggie burgers aren’t anything at all like a meat burger, but that’s OK; they stand on their own.
There are lots of veggie burgers on Cincinnati restaurant menus, which is nice for vegetarians, but omnivores like me can find a lot to like, too.
Featuring DAILY BREWS &) DAILY SPECIALS
M-F 6:30 am-5:30 pm SAT7:45am-3:00pm 120 East 4th Street Mercantile Arcade Downtown 721-2233 S
The best of the faux Whoppers are at Ulysses Whole World Foods, now a vegetarian take-out-only place at 209 W. McMillan in Clifton. Open the foil-paper wrap on a Radical Burger, and you’ll swear you see golden arches. The dark-brown patty in the middle looks a lot like meat, but it’s really a mixture of tempeh (made from soybeans) and seitan (from wheat). The pickles, ketchup, shredded lettuce, tomatoes and onion make it look and taste comfortingly familiar. Instead of mustard, there’s a nice sloppy eggless dijonnaise sauce altogether very moist and substantial. If you need incentive to give up the meat, check this out: This burger is practically fat-free.
Food & Drink
It has an earthy, full flavor not like meat, but somehow hitting the same spot on the taste buds. To further lift this sandwich above the others, it’s on what’s billed as a “plenty bun” a soft but hearty homemade-tasting roll that could make a ketchup sandwich taste good. The meatless Sloppy Joe ($4..50) also comes on this bun. No fries here, but lots of good salads and soup, and the eatery’s trademark peeled carrot with the top still on just to remind you that you’re eating healthy.
“We got the ‘Whole World’ in our hands!” Employees of Ulysses Whole World Foods enjoy a variety of veggie burgers. (From left): Kathleen Selby, David Mark Basil Enright and Karen Dreyfuss.
Carol’s Corner (825 Main St., Downtown) calls its burger a Tree Hugger. It’s a mix of grains and dried vegetables formed into a patty that I could swear was (gasp!) deep-fried, though a call to the restaurant later assured me it was grilled. I liked it crunchy and textured unlike some other v-burgers, you can tell it apart from the bread. It’s $4.75. A grilled, grainbased mixture, somewhat neutral-tasting, is the norm for most burgers: They’re more of a blank canvas than a focal point. The version at Pigalls Cafe (127 W. Fourth St., Downtown) is good, with oats and sunflower seeds in evi-
dence. It’s $6.99, same as a meat burger, and comes with fries, lovely coleslaw, and a choice of toppings for customizing. I almost ordered the bacon and blue cheese, but decided that might be considered something of a vegetarianfaux pas. Instead, I got cheese and onions with herbs. There’s also guacamole or mushrooms. It was getting hard on me, at this point in my research, to keep ordering veggie burgers. I consoled myself with a glass of Merlot (just the right thing) and a piece of lemon mousse pie.
There are five other burgers on the Ulysses menu, all $3.95. Variations (which I haven’t tried) on the Radical Burger include a Swiss Bliss, with mushrooms and swiss cheese; and a BBQ (fake) Bacon Cheeseburger. There’s a blackened and spicy all-tempeh Atomic burger. I have had the W.O.W. Burger, which has two burgers of seitan instead of the tempeh. I don’t think the seitan works as well as the tempeh, having a spongier texture and less taste itself, but with added cheese and tartar sauce, who notices? The menu lists a lot of side dishes, including fried sweet potatoes with chutney dip and fresh-cut french fries.
Very different from these extravaganzas, and one of my favorites, is the veggie burger ($4.75) at What’s for Dinner? in O’Bryonville (3009 O’Biyon). Here, the garnishes and condiments play a more supporting role to the burger, which is based on lentils, rice and peanuts.
Mullane’s (723 Race St., Downtown) cooks say they can make any dish vegetarian, and do so to a burger with their own grain mixture. Its pleasant predominant taste is of sesame. It’s $4.75, “through the garden.”
The burger at The Alpha (204 W. McMillan, Clifton Heights) was nicely garnished with spinach and sprouts on toast ($3.75), but the patty itself was lackluster and undercooked. I’d recommend trying one of the many other vegetarian items on the menu.
BEECH ACRES SINGLE PARENT CENTER Offers a single parent support group which meets at 6 p.m. Tuesdays, through March 21. Southern Ohio Baptist Church, Lexington and Reading, Avondale. 231-6630.
Mount Adams. Call 562-8748 for information and prices.
TREASURE ISLAND JEWELRY
CAFE MATIN Vous etes invites a 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 St, Clifton. 221-8952 or 556-7474.
Offers classes on stained glass; basic, beaded and wire-wrapped jewelry; polymer clay; and lamp work beads. 34 W. Court St., Downtown. 241-7893.
VITAL VISIONS PROGRAM
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.
Targets at-risk students. A multifaceted program includes a visit with an artist of international and/or national reputation, plus a tour of the materials and techniques employed by the artist. Each student receives a complementary exhibition-related workbook. Free to eligible schools. Contemporary Arts Center, 115 E. Fifth St., Downtown. 721-0390.
COUNCIL ON SELF ESTEEM Meets at 7 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of every month. Sharonville Community Center, corner of Creek Road and Thornview Lane. 941-8802.
DROP INN CENTER SHELTERHOUSE Provides shelter, food, clothes, showers, counseling and first aid to the needy. 12th and Elm Streets, Over-the-Rhine. 721-0643.
WINTON WOODS RIDING CEN-
TER Register for the spring session of horseback riding lessons.
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.
Registration must be made in person between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Feb. 25-26. Classes begin March 4. 10073 Daly Road, Springfield Township. Call 931-3057 on Fridays and Saturdays for more information.
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.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD ASSOCIATION OF CINCINNATI 2314 Auburn Ave., Mount Auburn. 721-7635.
Groups & Programs
SALVATION ARMY REHABILITATION CENTER Provides help to as many as 100 men a day and currently has a waiting list to enter. The men recycle clothing and fur
AIDS VOLUNTEERS OF CINCIN-
NATI 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.... Become a foster parent of a glass piggy bank for $3 and the money collected will benefitthe caring programs of AVOC. The event will conclude in early July with a FunFest HOG Calling in Shooter’s parking lot. 2183 Central Parkway, West End. 421-2437.
Head Lines
BY GARY GAFFNEY
SMALL ARTS ORGANIZATION GRANT PROGRAM Applications for grants must Be in by March 15. Organizations must be non-profit and must be based in the City of Cincinnati. The applications are available at Room 158, City Hall. 352-1595.
TRI-COUNTY PLAYERS AUDITIONS Auditions for the April 28-30 and May 5 and 6 production of Wendy Wasserstein’s Isn’t It Romantic will be held 2 p.m. Sunday, and 8 p.m. Tuesday and. Wednesday. College Hill Town Hall, 1805 Larch Ave., College Hill. 731-7074.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED AT MIAMI WHITEWATER FOREST AND WOODLAND MOUND The Hamilton County Park district is looking for dedicated adults to join the volunteer staffs. Volunteers will greet visitors, answer the
niture to help build themselves better life. Right now, the center is in needs of clothes. To schedule a pickup of donated items, call 351-3457.
TRI-STATE HARVEST A yolunteer organization whose sole purpose is to transport surplus food to those who need it in the community. To donate food become volunteer, call 281-FOOD.
UNITED WAY HELPLINE Provides counseling, supportgroup information, crisis intervention and assistance 24 hours a day. 721-7900.
YWCA PROTECTION FROM ABUSE PROGRAMS Alice Paul
House and House of Peace are emergency shelters providing housing, advocacy and support to battered women and their children. 241-2757.
9T05, CINCINNATI WORKING
WOMEN Founded in 1973, 9to5 is the local chapter of a national membership organization dedicated to working for rights and respect for working women. It operates the nation’s only toll-free Job Survival Hotline: 1-800-522-0925. 22 W. Seventh St., Downtown. 381-8925.
Auditions & Opportunities
BOOKFEST ‘95 BANNER CONTEST Individuals, schools, scouts and other organizations in Hamilton County are invited to create felt banners for Bookfest ’95. Contest winners will win books signed by this year’s authors, Natalie Babbitt and Marilyn Sadler. Deadline for entries is March 11. Call 369-6945 for more information.
INDIAN HILL FLAG DESIGN CONTEST In celebration of the bicentennial year, Indian Hill residents are invited to enter the Village Flag contest. Entries should be in color, on paper no smaller than 8 1/2 x 11”. One entry per person. Mail entries before March 31 to Indian Hill Historical Society, 8100 Given Road, Cincinnati, OH 45243.
CometoDieMasquerade!It'lllie o fun-flltedoigtifofiddelightsuillti an IntervieuiuiiththeVampire'theme,.sodressaccordingIngooriritiim [prizes formostinspired].Costumeparade,floorshorn,craning(tieKingandQueen, dancing,doorprizes,fortune-telling food. Music,too - ZiidecoandRinjthm&Bluesbi|RichijlieATheRedHots! The Contemporary Arts Center Fifth &Walnut, Downtown Saturday, February 25 8pm-midnipht
$12.50perperson in advance/$15 at the door Cash Bar Call (513)345-8400for reservations and information
OHIO ARTS COUNCIL Ohio artists and organizations that receive grants from the NEA International Program will be supported by the Ohio Arts Council’s International Program which will provide as much as $5,000 to eligible Ohio arts organizations and as much $2,000 to Ohio artists and performers. Interested artists should complete the application form provided by the NEA International Program. 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.
SHOWBOAT MAJESTIC AUDITIONS The Showboat Majestic is looking for performers 16 and over for the summer production of Rollin' on the River. 7-10 p.m. March 8 and 9. 241-6550.
Auditions for the July 12-30 production of Baby take place 7-10 p.m. March 13 and 14. 731-6329. Performers should prepare a song, bring sheet music for the accompanist and be prepared to be tested for dance ability (Good luck!). Westwood Town Hall, Montana and Harrison avenues, Westwood.
Dean of the graduate school at Rutgers University and founding editor of Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society discusses Women and the Informarion Society. 3:30 p.m. Thursday. Room 127, McMicken, UC, Clifton. 556-6776.
★ THIS MAGAZINE
BOOKED
is currently reading Earl Emerson’s Fat Tuesday. It meets at 7:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month. Little Professor Book Center, 814 Main St., Milford. 248-BOOK.
OHIO VALLEY ROMANCE WRITERS OF AMERICA Local chapter of the national organization meets at 1 p.m. on the second Saturday of every month at the Holiday Inn, 3422 Lylebum, Sharonville. 863-6053.
QUEEN CITY WRITERS CLUB Critique group meets at 7:30 p.m. on the third Monday of every month. Northside Bank and Trust, 9135 Colerain Ave., Colerain Township. First meeting free. 522-0108.
SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS Organization of workingjournalists and writers offers monthly programs, monthly newsletter and subscription to national Quill magazine. Local and/or national dues. Marc Emral, 683-5115.
WRITERS WORKSHOP Open to all emerging writers, the work-
UtterKiosk
Loving Keepers of the Standards
shop meets once a month to discuss and share works in an open forum atmosphere. $3. Arts Consortium of Cincinnati, 1515 Linn St., West End. 381-0645.
WRITING LIVES WRITING WORKSHOP Workshop for women writers. 871-8702.
REVIEW BY JANE COHEN
radition may be as simple as a favorite family recipe or as profound as a commitment to civil rights. Author Nikki Giovanni remembers her grandmother as much for her incredibly light Parker House rolls as for her insistence that the family march in protest after four black children were killed in a church bombing in Birmingham, Ala.
Giovanni’s memories of her grandmother prompted her to gather work from friends and peers for Grand Mothers Poems, Reminiscences, and Short Stories about the Keepers of Our Traditions (Henry Holt and Co.; $15.95). All but one of the 27 selections in this poignant and beautifully composed collection are by women, and more than one half are by previously unpublished authors.
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF BREWING HISTORY AND ARTS
Although Giovanni claims that the book is not balanced “We are mostly Southern, Pan-Asian and black,” she writes in the introduction I felt America’s ethnic diversity was well-represented, accentuating the spectrum of traditions that exist in this country.
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.
BEHRINGER-CRAWFORD MUSE-
UM Housed within the historic Devou family home, it is the only museum of Northern Kentucky natural and cultural heritage.
Technically, the quality of the writing varies throughout this collection. Contributors include well-known authors such as Maxine Hong Kingston and Gloria Naylor and previously unpublished writers, such as Yolande Giovanni, Nikki Giovanni’s mother. Yet each story captures the special quality of a unique relationship.
Harlan Hubbard Collection is an assortment of oils, acrylics, watercolors and woodcuts donated by the artist/author 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
This restored Victorian mansion, built in 1861, provides the setting for the Butler County Historical Museum. 1-4 p.m. TuesdaySunday. $1 adults; free children 12 and under. 327 N. Second St., German Village, Hamilton. 513-893-7111.
In two of the best stories, tradition is the backdrop against which family dynamics play out. Susan Powers’ outstanding short story, “The Roofwalker,” tells of a loving and gentle grandmother who provided quiet support in times of need and brought the magic and mysticism of Sioux culture to her granddaughter in Chicago. As the grandmother passes on Native American traditions through language and storytelling, the combination of love and Native American beliefs helps the girl cope during a time of family turmoil. The simplicity of Powers’ prose provides the perfect counterpoint to the drama within the story, creating a moving yet subtle remembrance of an indispensable relationship.
Lyrically written, “Ba-Chan,” by Anna Esaki-Smith, offers a glimpse into Japanese culture. As we accompany a young girl through a traditional cremation ceremony for her maternal grandmother, the narrator weaves into the story the conflicts and complications within her family. Through her participation in the ceremony, the girl realizes the treasured place she occupies within her family.
BICENTENNIAL COMMONS A picturesque riverfront park.
Skating hours: 4-9 p.m. Thursday, 5-10 p.m. Friday, noon-10 p.m. Saturday, noon-7 p.m. Sunday. Admission: $2 adults; $1 children 12 and under. $1 skate rental; $2 rollerblade rental. Bicentennial Commons at Sawyer Point, Downtown. Call first to confirm times. 352-6316.
BUCKINGHAM LODGE A preCivil War house now home to the Indian Hill Historical Society. By appointment only. Camargo Road, Indian Hill. 891-1873.
The grandmother as moral exemplar, passing on a tradition of good works, is a common thread running throughout this collection. Giovanni’s introduction describes a grandmother who embodied the social and ethical standards of her family. In “My Russian Grandmother” by Rosel Schewel, her grandmother created a legacy of giving through involving her grandchildren in the weekly ritual of putting money into “pushkies” the small metal boxes Jews use to collect money for various charities. The author attributes her commitment to charity to her grandmother’s tradition of giving.
CAREW TOWER OBSERVATION
In “A Conspiracy of Grace,” Ethel Morgan Smith renders in loving and vivid detail a grandmother who set a rare example of generosity and caring, visiting the sick “as naturally as wearing an apron everyday.” Warmhearted and adoring, she nonetheless demanded and received model behavior from her grandchildren. As a narrator, Smith’s voice is exceptionally strong and distinctive, evoking the rhythms of Southern speech.
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 Wine St., Downtown. 579-9735. CHATEAU
Sometimes what our grandmothers pass on to us is simply unconditional love. In “Listening With Her Heart,” Virginia Fowler remembers a grandmother with a unique talent for communicating with her loved ones.
Q&A with
Nikki Giovanni, teaches at Virginia Va. She was in town
Giovanni: I think up to the expectations prove themselves. you exist.
JC: You mention writer also of children’s teens will read this Giovanni: Yes, gram with teens in despite having young connection to them. center, where I conduct found these people vividly and feel so need older people
JC: How did you
Giovanni: I just who are interesting. wanted to focus on relationship. I also don’t consider themselves all have a story to JANE COHEN
Attractions
active Critically acclaimed dancer/choreographer Shawn Womack performs Muses: Masters of theirArt. Audience participation is encouraged. 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday.... General admission, noon-5 p.m. WednesdayFriday 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.
CINCINNATI FIRE MUSEUM Featuring permanent exhibit, The Early Volunteer Fire Fighters of Cincinnati which covers the period from 1853 to the present. 10 a.m.^4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, noon-4 p.m. weekends. $2.50 adults; $1.50 children 2-12. Annual family membership is $25. 315 W. Court St., Downtown. 621-5553.
★
Monday-Saturday,
Sunday. $4.95
$2.95 children; members free. Museum Center at Union Terminal, 1301 Western Ave., Queensgate. 287-7030.
★ CINCINNATI MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Dinosaurs -A Global View opens Saturday and traces the evolution and life habits of dinosaurs over the changing face of the planet with 70 original paintings and drawings plus a group of realistic life-size models of several little known dinosaurs, including Styracosaurus, Deinonychis, a baby Titanosaurus plus a half restored skull of the terrible camivoreAlbertosaurus. Through Apr. 30.... The Space Art ofJames Hervat will be on display through May 14. Meet Lester The Lab Rat from TV’s Beakman’s World as he conducts experiments. 14 p.m. Saturday. Step back 19,000 years to the Ice Age Ohio Valley for the museum’s permanent exhibit, Cincinnati’s Ice Age: Clues Frozen in Time. Find out about the variety of caves in our region then take a tour of the museum’s Cavern exhibit. Water Chemical Magic and Chemistry Detectives are part of a series of hands-on science programs designed for elementary school-age children. 1-3 p.m. Saturday. Kitchen Chemistry, also part of the series, takes place 13 p.m. Sunday. $42, $46 non-members.... Learn about spider webs, beaver lodges and rabbit warrens in Animal Architects. 1-2:30 p.m. Saturday. $16, $19 non-members. Museum hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. $4.95 adults; $2.95 children; members free. Museum Center at Union Terminal, 1301 Western Ave., Queensgate. 287-7020.
CINCINNATI PLANETARIUM Sting narrates Prokofiev’s family
classic, Peter and the Wolf: A Laser Tale, 7 p.m. Friday, 2 and 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Native American Skies, 1 and 3 p.m. weekends Laser Hendrix, 8:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday Lazerpalooza, 9:30 p.m. and 10:45 p.m. Friday and Saturday Laser Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon, midnight Friday and'Saturday. Laser Floyd: The Wall, 8:15 and 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Evening shows $6; afternoon shows $4 adults, $3 children 12 and under. Located in the Geier Collections and Research Center of the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, 1720 Gilbert Ave., Walnut Hills. 395-3663.
CINCINNATI RAILROAD CLUB INC. The recently renovated historic railroad control tower that guided the passenger trains into and out of the former railroad passenger train terminal is now open to the public. On-view in Tower A, are the tracks diagram board, the train dispatcher desk and the newly created largest railroad library in the United States Free. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. Fifth floor, Union Terminal, Western Avenue, Queensgate. 651-RAIL.
CINCINNATI ZOO AND BOTANICAL GARDEN Explore the Jungle Trails, the zoo’s newest exhibit, which re-creates the natural habitat of orangutans, bonobo chimps and other animals. Also, check out the Komodo dragon exhibit, which holds the world’s record for the most baby Komodo dragons to hatch. The zoo continues its 1995 Winter Movie Series with Walt Disney’s The Incredible Journey. Showings are free with zoo admission. 11 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Zoo hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily.
$7.50 adults, $4.50 children 2-12, $5.25 seniors; $4.50 parking.
Annual membership: $54 for families, $46 for single parent families, $35 for individuals and $22 for students. 3400 Vine St., Avondale. 281-4700.
DAYTON MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Vision Quest: Men, Women and Sacred Sites of the Sioux Nation is the collaborative project of photographer Don Doll who has photographed the Sioux for 30 years. Through March 26 All My Relatives: Indian Life on the Plains provides a fine collection of Plains Indians artifacts including three war shirts, an eagle feather war bonnet, a buffalo wearing robe, beaded dresses and moccasins, cradleboards and decorated leather bags. Through May 31.
A 8-month-old red fox that was too tame to be reintroduced into the wild can be seen at Wild Ohio, a zoo containing animals native to Ohio. The museum also offers laser shows on Fridays and Saturdays. Call the hot line (513-275-6656) for 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.
DELHI HISTORICAL SOCIETY The restored 1880 farmhouse has reopened with a pictorial display by Price Hill’s infamous George Remus. Through Feb. 28.... Everything Old is New Again features 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.
DINSMORE HOMESTEAD The historic farmstead built in 1841-42 was home to the Dinsmore family who never threw anything away, leaving a fascinating collection of letters, diaries and receipts. 15 p.m. Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. $3 adults; $2 seniors; $1.50 children under 12. 5654 Burlington Pike, Burlington, Ky. 586-6117.
GREATER LOVELAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY Features its winter exhibit, Antique Valentines. Through Feb. 26.... Other highlights include a tum-of-the-century
Suburban Torture
BY JULIE LARSON
kitchen and the Nisbet Library. 201 Riverside Drive, Loveland. 683-5692.
HARDING MUSEUM OF THE FRANKLIN AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Open 1-5 p.m. Sunday and by appointment. 302 Park Ave., Franklin. 513-746-8295.
JOHN HAUCK HOUSE MUSEUM
The Victorian house with painted ceilings, decorative arts and inlaid floors is displaying Antique Valentines, circa 1840-1900, through March 5. .Cincinnati at the Turn of the Century, a postcard exhibit, 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.
KROHN CONSERVATORY
Cincinnati’s flower house continues its Pre-Spring Floral Show. Florists will create the of New Orleans with lampposts, fountains, mirrors and thousands of brilliant blooming early spring bulbs. Through March 5. The African Violet Society’s display can be seen this weekend. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Free for Cincinnati residents, children 5 and under and school groups; $2 adults; $1 children, seniors and groups of 25 or more. 1501 Eden Park Drive, Eden Park. 421-4086.
LITTLE RED SCHOOLHOUSE
Built in 1873, the brick house served as school for 63 years. Restored by the Indian Hill Historical Society, it is now a museum. By appointment only. Free. 8100 Given Road, Indian Hill. 891-1873.
MIMOSA MANSION Built in 1853-55 as Tuscan Villa featuring 1850s laminated Rococo Revival furniture and an exceptional collection of early lighting devices. The house also features two player grand pianos: a Mason and Hamlin and a Chickering. 1-6 p.m. weekends. Group tours available, by appointment. $4. 412 E. Second St., Covington. 261-9000.
PROMONT Completed in 1867, this Italianate villa belonged to former Ohio Gov. John M. Pattison. All rooms are furnished with period antiques. 1:30-4:30 p.m. Friday and Sunday. $2 adults; $1 children; group tours can be arranged. 906 Main St., Milford. 831-4704.
SHARON WOODS VILLAGE Guided tours of eight restored and furnished 19th century homes. 15 p.m. weekends. $5 adults; $3 seniors; $2 children 6—12; free to children 6 and under. Sharon Woods Park, Route 42, Sharonville. 563-9484.
STAR OF CINCINNATI
WARREN COUNTY HISTORICAL
SOCIETY MUSEUM Features artifacts from 1790 to the present, including 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
Featuring lunch, dinner, weekend and brunch cruises which depart from Star Landing at 15 Mehring Way, Downtown. 723-0100.
Designated by Congress in 1969, 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 chiefjustice. Free. 2038 Auburn Ave., Mount Auburn. 10 a.m.4 p.m. daily. Closed Monday. 684-3262.
1515 Linn St., West 345-8400.
COLLEGE OF MOUNT
JOSEPH MUSIC DEPARTMENT Cathy Moore and Schiebler direct Ernest musical comedy based Wilde’s The Importance Earnest. 8 p.m. March 2 p.m. March 5. College 5701 Delhi Road, Delhi 244-4373.
CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Keith conducts, with Cho-Liang guest violinist. The includes William Grant Festive Overture, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Schelle’s Centennimania Stravinsky’s The Rite 7:30 p.m. March 2, and 4. $10-$40. Simon Anderson will William Grant Still at 3 and 4. The lecture certgoers. Music Hall, St., Over-the-Rhine.
CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE PARK The Rosenthal Generation Theatre gram of performances people, continues with Howard's Max’s Maximum Nutrition Show. 10:30 12:30 p.m, March 4 adults; $2 ages 5-18. Plaza, Eden Park. 421-3888.
CINCINNATI POPS Keith Lockhart conducts CCM to Broadway, Harewood and Pam cial guest artists. 8 $12-$35. Music Hall, Over-the-Rhine. 381-3300.
BELLAND-SCHONWEISS-SMITH TRIO The piano form works by Haydn 8 p.m. March 8. Free. Concert Hall, NKU, Heights. 572-5433.
WYOMING PLAYERS Agatha Christie’s thriller, Unexpected Guest. 10, 11, 17 and 18. $5. Middle School Auditorium, Wyoming Ave. 761-0041.
ARTS CONSORTIUM
NATI AND THE CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER The of photographs by Carrie Weems provides an background for musical Six on Six: Center Center takes place March 11. Contemporary Center, 115 E. Fifth Downtown. 345-8400.
CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Jesus Cobos conducts Haydn’s No. 100 in G major, Mozart’s Concerto for in E-flat major, K. 365, Without Fanfare, Susskind’s Passacaglia in Memory Dmitry Shostakovich and Orchestra and Ravel’s with pianists Katia and Labeque and Timpanist Espino. 8 p.m. March $10-$40. Music Hall, Over-the-Rhine. 381-3300.
CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Jesus Cobos conducts Welcher’s
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Limit one free ad per week. Free ads must be typed or neatly printed on a 3x5-size card. Ads are limited to 25 free words. Each additional 25 words (or portion thereof) costs $5, and payment must accompany ad. Examples of free ads include the selling of your personal items such as a bicycle, furniture, guitar, etc. and ads for roommates.
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MASSAGE Partner/Couple Workshops Partner/couple massage workshops. Two 2-1/2 hour sessions, two pies, $110 per couple. Shiatsu therapeutic massage, one hour+, $40. Gift certificates available. Jeanne Theodore, 769-3869.
Deadline for receipt of paid classifieds is Friday, 5 p.m., 6 days prior to publication. To keep our rates as low as possible, payment must accompany all ad orders. We accept cash, local check, money orders, Visa or MasterCard. Ads can be placed by phone, in person or by mail. (Note: Deadlines will likely be advanced during holiday weeks).
MASSAGE Affordable Massage Receive an affordable massage for only $25 per hour. In the Roselawn area. Outcalls are available for $30$50 per hour. Male, Ohio licensed therapist. Hours by appointment only. Call 284-3421.
Please check your ad and report any errors to us within 1 week of publication so that corrections can be made. Publisher will not be responsible for errors or failure to run an ad except to the extent of the cost of the first insertion of the ad. Publisher reserves the right to categorize, edit, cancel or refuse ads.
MASSAGE THERAPIST Massage therapist with 12 years experience and excellent professional referrals. Specializing in myofascial therapy. In the privacy of your own home. Cali Kathie Stuhlbarg, 871-2434.
Artist's Exchange
ACTRESSES & UNDERSTUDIES
MASSAGE THERAPY Licensed massage therapist specializing in stress management, relaxation, and injury. House calls and gift tificates available. Flexible hours. Strictly non-sexual. Oakley area. Sherry Meinhardt, L.M.T. 731-0490.
am forming a new theater group and need four actresses and three male understudies. Experience helpful, but not necessary. am also seeking experienced production people. Call Phil at 831-0118.
WRITING GROUP
PROFESSIONAL
ASTROLOGER/READER
Spiritual minister, teacher, lecturer, and counselor offers group parties and individual services. For your personal tarot readings and astrology chart readings, call Deborah Williams. Tarot reading classes begin March 9th! 606-371-7044.
Seeking young, twenty-something, ereative fiction writers to form new writing group. Hoping to meet monthly or bi-monthly in northern Kentucky at the York St. International Cafe. Call Brad, 542-9411.
CHEVROLET
1988 Red Chevy Beretta, power steering, power brakes, am/fm stereo cassette. New tires, brakes, and exhaust. With 47,000 miles, its in excellent condition. Asking $5800. Call Dave. 471-3228.
Body/Mind/Spirit
PSYCHIC FAIR Victory of Light Psychic Fair, Sunday, March 19 at the Quality Hotel in Covington, 10 to 7 p.m. Experience the energy! Over 30 of the region's most respected psychic readers, over 30 tables of crystals, jewelry, books, tapes, herbs, etc. Free workshops psychic healing, Tai Chi, spirit guides, astrology. Admission $5, readings $10. Sponsored by Victory Books, 609 Main Street, Covington. For more information, call 581-5839.
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, as 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
A MORE NATURAL WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT Looking for a more natural way to lose weight? Fed up with diets that leave you hungry and unsatisified? We can help! Call Kathy now, 681-3754.
ASTROLOGY CLASSES Professional reader and experienced
alternative methods of caring for yourself. 3519 Glenmore Avenue, 662-5121.
THE GIFT OF PEACE
Let us bring Inner Peace to you. Outcalls available. Receive $5 off any service when you mention this ad! Inner Peace Massage, located at 3907 Harrison Avenue, in Cheviotonly minutes from downtown. Stop in, or call for appointment 661-0302.
THERAPEUTIC BODYWORK
Bodywork is individualized and includes Massage-Swedish, Deep tissue, and Amma; Acupresure-jinshindo; Energy Work- Reiki, Therapeutic Touch; and Intergrative Bodywork. Kirk Prine, Ed.D., C.M.T., by appointment only. 431-3112.
Business Services
CERTIFIED NURSES ASSISTANT
Experienced certified nurses assistant available for in home care, mornings and afternoons. Have references and reliable transportation. Quotes available upon request. Call Tawana Moore at 271-6411.
CUSTOMIZE YOUR GIFT No Time To Shop?
Our custom gift service answers all of your pain-in-the-neck gift buying needs. Employees, co-workers, inlaws...we can customize a gift basket for that person who is impossible to buy for. Free gift wrap! Free shipping anywhere in the U.S.! It's fast, it's painless, and you don’t have to go to the mall! 481-7161.
DESKTOP PUBLISHING 20% Off
B&B Publishing is offering 20% off on Typesetting/Design fees on your initial order. Call or fax 481-0515.
SECRETARIAL SERVICE
Experienced executive secretary offers small businesses a smart alternative by contracting out secretarial and business services. Business documents, word processing, bookkeeping all done at reasonable prices. Short and long term assignments considered, pick-up and delivery available. Call Kim Blair, 821-0036.
VIDEO DESIGNER
Do you have a project that needs that special touch? Specializing in documentation of events, arts and commercial projects. Call Bob Leibold, 481-3011. Fax, 481-1444.
VIDEO EDITING
DreamSand Video & Print
You can save money on corporate, meeting, event & training videos. Discover our new JVC Edit Desk to edit camcorder, VHS and SVHS footage into professional programs. FREE titles! Call DreamSand Video & Print at 541-9078.
musicians. have seventeen years of experience! Call Rob at 356-5346.
FENDER STRATOCASTER
1993 Fender Stratocaster guitar for sale. Blue with wood grain. Red, blue, and silver lace censor pick-ups. Rosewood neck. Great condition, asking $800 best offer. Call 985-8694.
CREATIVE KITCHEN COOKING CLASSES
GUITAR EFFECTS PROCESSOR Ibanez PT-5 Effects Processor for sale. 11 analog and
Join Carol Tabone, director of Lazarus Creative Kitchen, for her winter cooking program. Italian to French, Chinese to Thai, and more. Classes include Make-Ahead Baked Pasta Dishes on February 27, Dinner In A Skillet on March 1, and A Homey Supper For Casual Entertaining on March 8. Evening and day classes available. For reservations and a free brochure, call 369-7911.
For Sale
DOWNHILL SKIS
190 cm Kastle RX skis with Geze 942 bindings for sale. Included are Dolomite rear entry boots (men's size 10), poles, and ski bag. Entire set only used three times, so everything is in excellent condition. Asking $295, or best offer, for entire set. Call 385-5564.
MOVING SALE
Bedroom set for $150, Southwestern rug for $40. Pool table, $150. Working range, dishwasher, water heater, $20 each. Call 281-7208.
RACE BIKE
PEAVEY
54 cm Trek 2300 race bike for sale. Two extra race wheels, two extra training wheels. Carbon composite frame, profile bars, flight seat. Race ready for tri’s and du's. Asking $1050. Call 385-9120.
ROAD BIKES
RECORDING CONSOLE
twelve-channel boards Fostex 1240 recording console, very quiet. 4 aux, 4 groups, XLR ins., 1/4 ins., direct out, very smooth faders. Asking $1500. Call 581-6985.
RECORDING EQUIPMENT
A.P.I. and M.I.C.-pre modules, 515 q’s and 512's, with switches and options. For a board, or adaptable for portable use. Asking $450 each. Call Mark Miller, 921-7428.
2 road bikes for sale. Giant Cabriolet 10-speed with small frame and gel seat. Other is a Miata 310 12-speed with large frame and lots of extras. Both in good condition, both for $240- but willing to separate. Call 621-4748.
Help Wanted
SEEKING GUITAR/DRUMMER
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Original mainstream alternative band seeking lead guitar and drummer. We have songs, studio, and drive. Must be creative, must be committed, must groove. Call Chase, 851-9740.
SPEAKERS
Two Fisher 50 watt speakers for sale. 10" x 16", wood grain cabinets, great condition! Asking only $100. Call 321-9635.
THE DRUMSHINE SHOP Hey drummers and percussionists!
Did you know that The Drumshine Shop carries Cincinnati’s largest selection of sticks, heads, and other percussion accessories? Stop in and check out our top-notch collection of Paiste, Zildjian, Sabian, Ludwig, Mapex, and Premier. Located at 8627 Reading Road in Reading, half mile north of Galbraith. 821-8866.
VOCALIST & GUITARIST NEEDED
Cincinnati Men's Chorus is searching for Artistic Director and Principal Conductor. Position is responsible for the growth and development of the Chorus, as well as the planning and execution of a nine month concert season. Duties include supervision of two sub-groups within the Chorus, and acting spokesperson to the community and the press.Salary range for this part-time position is $5000$6000. Review of applications begin March 15 and continue until the position is filled. Send resume and two reference names to Cincinnati Men’s Chorus Search Committee, P.0. Box 3061, Cincinnati, OH 45201.
ENVIRO-CONCEPTS
Vocalist and guitarist needed. Original rock ballads. Home studio. Vocalist feels female. Guitarist versatile. Make CD, play out when pieces fit. Harolds of Eternity. Call Jim, 731-6500 or 281-1524.
WANTED
Environmental company expanding rapidly. Need sales reps, as well as a few people to train and lead a sales force. Prefer people who are outgoing, personable, and career oriented. Training provided. Call 631-8935.
Lead keyboard with backing vocal ability to complete six piece modern rock cover band. Play list includes: Sting, Counting Crows, Black Crows, INXS, R.E.M., Have original material and plan on recording CD in near future. Have JBL P.A. system and soundman. Devoted to music, serious musicians only. Call 451-2887.
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.
CURIOUS
ART-DECO MUSIC
ONLY ARTISTS
CONTEMPORARY FOLK ART GALLERY presents a new inventory of works by Howard Finster, Michael Finster, R.A Miller, Mose T., and others. Tbesday- Saturday 11 AM.-5 P.M. 1315 Main St, Over-the- Rhine 241-6672
VIDEO DESIGNER
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
BEADS BEADS BEADS FROM AROUND THE WORLD CALL ABOUT CLASSES
Treasure Island Jewelry, 34 W. Court, 241-7893
JAZZ LIVE!
FROM THE HYATT GRP Records Saxophonist ERIC MARIENTHAL
Saturday, February 25th, 8 p.m. 151 W. 5th St, 579-1234
invite you to celebrate the release of their new compact disc MAN O’ WAR at the Blue Wisp Jazz Club, downtown
*Friday, Feb. 24 9:30 p.m. Concert*
*Sat, Feb. 25 7:00 p.m. CD release party* *Sat, Feb. 25 9:30 p.m. Concert* For reservations & info, call 721-9801
CINCINNATI CHAMBER
ORCHESTRA
KEITH LOCKHART, MUSIC DIRECTOR
Extend your weekend with the Intimate Orchestra, Monday, Febraury 27, 7:30 p.m. Complimentary buffet at 6:30 p.m. For ticket info, call 723-1182
USED IBM COMPUTERS UNDER $500 Kevin 598-9703. Leave Message. See classified ad on inside page!
Sunshine Promotions presents: LAURIE ANDERSON
Monday, March 27, at 8 p.m. TAFT THEATRE Reserved seat tickets on sale at all Ticketmaster locations, by phone 7494949, or at the Taft box office at 5th & Sycamore
WHERE NOTHING IS ORDINARY
LeftHanded Moon 48 E. Court St, 784-1166
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& frame AFFORDABLE MASSAGE! Roselawn, male therapist, $25/hr 284-3421
SHIKI BUTON 2037 Madison Road, 3214778 CINCINNATI RECREATION ROWING & FITNESS CENTER ENERGY BODY CENTER
info@one.net http://www.one.net
CORPORATE VIDEO EDITING Training videos, product promotions, videotaped meetings. Phone or fax for information, 541-9078. DREAMSAND VIDEO & PRINT STILL HUNTING FOR A BIRTHDAY PRESENT? STOP LOOKING! Call our custom gift service and order a fabulous personalized gift for that fabulous certain someone! Theme
MULLANE’S PARKSIDE CAFE
Lunch & dinner. Great food. Art shows. Vegetarian specialties 723 RACE ST. 381-1331
