Some homeowners want to flush Cincinnati Health Department’s sewer-inspection tactics
Page 5
FOOD & DRINK
Goetta life: Variations on a Tristate tradition
Page 29
Volume 1, Issue 17
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; Billie Jeyes, Literary; 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, Josh Katz, Jonathan Kamholtz, Michelle Kennedy, Brad King, Kim Krause, Craig Lovelace, Perin Mahler, Susan Nuxoll, David Pescovitz, Jeremy Schlosberg, Peggy Schmidt, Althea Thompson, Kathy Y. Wilson, John 0. Young.
photo editor Jymi Bolden
photographers Jon Hughes, Staff; Sean Hughes, Marty Sosnowski.
listings editor Billie Jeyes
editorial intern Dennis Breen
cartoonists Gary Gaffney, Julie Larson, Tern Tomorrow.
art director Paul Neff
production manager Mark Dodge
display advertising Michael Finney, Bill Kellerman, Mimi Thomas.
classified advertising Jenifer Marcinkoski
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The Straight Dope
BY CECIL ADAMS
Awhile ago I saw a tagline on altfan. cecil-adamsfrom someone who was dam proud to he a member of the National Rifle Association. I asked if the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution still holds water today since the intent was to provide guns and protection against the other side of the puddle. This sparked a huge debate on the Net about the right to bear arms with, as usual, both sides claiming they are right. Ifigured it’s time to take it to the top and ask you to settle it all for its. Is it time to reevaluate the Second Amendment? If only so that those who argue can at least now argue an up-to-date amendment?
Colin Joyce, Scranton, Penn.
You mean well, Colin, but you couldn’t write a proper question to save your soul. What you want to know is what the framers of the Bill of Rights intended the Second Amendment to mean, and whether their intention has any continuing legal relevance in view of the (supposedly) dramatically altered social landscape upon which we gaze today. The answer to the second question is easy: yes, else why have a constitution? But the answer to the first is knottier.
Historically there have been two interpretations of the Second Amendment: the states-rights argument and the individual-rights argument. The states-rights view is that the Second Amendment merely guarantees the states the right to organize militias and citizens the right to join. (Militia here means any armed force raised for the common defense, not just the national guard.) The individual-rights view is that the Second Amendment means what it says: Citizens have the right to keep and bear arms. The states-rights view currently prevails in federal case law, but the individual-rights view is probably closer to the framers’ intent. A reasonable restatement of the amendment might go something like this: “Since we as a nation have found it necessary to organize citizen militias to defend against tyranny and may be compelled to do so again, and since these militias are necessarily composed of volunteers supplying their own weapons, the right of individuals to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
OK, some gun-control advocates will
concede, but that merely means infringed by the federal government. As an article in Mother Jones put it, “The legal precedents are clear: Almost any state or local gun-control action is fine; the Second Amendment does not apply. On the federal level, only laws interfering with state militias are prohibited.”
This is a crock. The legal precedents are far from clear. They also are pathetically sparse,' suggesting a reluctance on the part of the courts and the legal community generally to deal with the issue.
(An enlightening article in the Yale Law Journal a few years ago was titled “The Embarrassing Second Amendment.”) In almost every other aspect of law the Bill of Rights has been broadly construed to restrain the states as well as the federal government. Few today would argue that states can abrogate the right to free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment. Yet many are prepared to let them gut the second, on the grounds that the framers did not foresee urban violence on the scale we face now.
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Maybe they didn’t, but so what? Civil-liberties advocates don’t accept urban violence as an excuse to curtail other constitutional rights, such as the protection against unlawful search and seizure.
Accepting the Second Amendment at face value doesn’t mean you can’t regulate gun ownership. No one can argue plausibly that the. authors of the Bill of Rights meant to make the authorities powerless to disarm criminals. The framers likely would have objected to a blanket proscription of handguns, which they would have seen as legitimate weapons of self-defense, and arguably they would have opposed a ban on assault rifles, the AK-47 being to today’s oppressed what the long rifle was to those of 1776. But local gun registration presents no obvious constitutional problems. Criminals don’t register guns of course; that’s the point. Arrest a carful of mopes with guns and no permits, and you have a good ipso facto case for throwing the book at them. How much better to approach gun control on a reasonable basis rather than make a religious war out of it.
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Giving Regards
I just wanted to drop you a note to tell you how excited 1 was to see the wonderful article about our Dance Department in your current issue of CityBeat (Feb. 23March 1). Your paper has been a valuable friend to the School for Creative and Performing Arts, and we really appreciate that friendship! Please give my regards to Kathy Valin for writing the article.
Melanie Jeinke Schoolfor Creative and Performing Arts Cincinnati, Ohio
Love and Meals
First of all, I want to congratulate you for getting an email address. Welcome to the 1990s. You can now expect a lot more mail from those of us who have long since lost our appetite for envelope glue.
I want to express my appreciation for Daniel Brown’s on-going series based on his thoughts concerning major art figures of the past.
This is the stuff of full course meals and, coming from an alternative paper where one is more apt to find Bud Lite and a slice of pizza, I find it to be both filling and satisfying.
Another brief “thank you” to Karen Amelia Arnett for her
Letters policy
CINCINNATI CITYBEAT accepts letters for publication.
mail to: Letters, Cincinnati CityBeat 23 E. Seventh St., Suite 617 Cincinnati, OH 45202fax TO: 513/665-4369
Please include the letter writer’s name, address and daytime phone number.
Writers may request their be withheld from publication. Letters may be edited for length. Please type letters if possible.
offering “Promises. About to Be Kept” (“Backyard Naturalist” Feb. 16-22). One small column about her reflections on nature after an ice storm, but there was so much love in it. It was like taking a walk in the woods with God. He/She makes such great stuff.
It’s nice to come across one such as Karen who can both appreciate and communicate her joy for all of us to share.
Tim Folzenlogen New York City e-mail: ponderable@aol.com
Big Points
The article by Brad King, “Enter Where?” (Feb. 23March 1), was very good as far as it went. Evidently the City of Cincinnati is limited in its knowledge of ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).
Also, look at the photo accompanying the article even able-bodied people could have trouble with that huge lock in the sidewalk, the uneven and broken steps, broken drain pipe. So many building-code violations.
One big point of this letter: Where are the on-street handicap parking spaces?
W. Sims, Cold Spring, Ky.
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 responses meriting a CityBeat T-shirt.
Here are some of the responses to last week’s question: “What do you do when you get a oold?”
Nancy R. Rowers: I definitely don’t breathe on my husband because if he gets a cold, it’s “a lot worse” than what I had!
His cold makes him and the rest of the family miserable. I guess it’s a “guy” thing!
Unique Johnson: Live with it. It will be over soon. No medicine. Lot’s of tissue.
Dave Downs: My theory on fighting a cold is take a day off sleep take aspirin & O.J. sleep. At night, a little “sippin’ whiskey” helps for the next few days keep drinking fluids & you’ll be well in 7 days. Or go to the doctor, get a prescription and you’ll be well in a week.
Showdown at Little Big Pom
Deters and
Leis
clash over both style and substance
BY JOHN FOX
It’s becoming the hottest ticket in town. Some refer to it as “Changing of the Old Guard.” Others have dubbed it “Much Ado About Nothing.” I call it
“Showdown at Little Big Pom.”
Last week’s flare-up between Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters and Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis was the stuff of tabloids and made-for-TV movies.
The conflicts between Leis and Deters represent classic Hollywood fare: ex-Marine bullheaded arrest-’em-alland-sort-out-the-bodies-later approach vs. 1990s pragmatic let’s-use-our-limited-resources-as-best-we-can approach; old Republican vs. new Republican; show of force vs. attempt at reason.
New approach welcome
Deters and Leis say they’re not getting along because they can’t agree on how to prosecute obscenity cases such as the Bames & Noble/Libido magazine case that Deters decided last week not to pursue.
Is the feud a signal, as many rush to point out, that Leis’ two-decade reign as public moral crusader is finally coming to an end? Don’t pull out the death notices, and Hustlers just yet.
Deters’ penchant for restraint and common sense in his recent handling of obscenity cases is admirable. By aligning his office, which of course represents we the people of Hamilton County, closer with the concepts of individual freedom espoused by the U.S. Constitution, Deters offers some hope to those of us who take such matters seriously. Is Deters’ abandonment of Leis’ bully tactics a tme change of fortune for First Amendment backers in the Cincinnati area? Only time will tell, but it’s a good first step.
Deters has a strong legacy to uphold as the county’s official anti-obscenity watchdog, and if he slips at all, he has Leis and plenty of unofficial anti-obscenity watchdogs (Phil Burress, et al.) nipping at his heels. But Deters is also a politician, and he knows that voters are more concemed right now about drugs, crime and deficits than they are about pornography. That race has been run, he says. Prosecuting Larry FJynt and the Contemporary Arts Center doesn’t get you elected to bigger and better offices in the 1990s it keeps you stuck at your chair in the County Courthouse chasing endless “enemies” and your own tail.
So what did Deters do when faced with the no-win situation at Bames & Noble in which a man instructed his
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daughter to buy Libido: The Journal ofSex and Sensibility in order to set up the bookstore? He opted out. What did Deters do when Leis asked him last year to “review” Poor Super Man, the world-premiere play performed at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, for obscene content? He reported the play wasn’t exactly his idea of fun, but it didn’t mean it was pornography.
Common sense and a respect for the Bill of Rights from the Hamilton County prosecutor? What a concept!
Actions in context
The real irony in this feud is that Leis did such a thor*bugh job of cleaning up pornography locally in the 1970s and early 1980s that there’s little left for Deters to do. There aren’t any X-rated bookstores or back-alley peep shows or red light districts around anymore.
But instead of declaring victory and moving on to fight serious crime, Leis and his unofficial watchdogs have continued to find “enemies” lurking everywhere in gay bars, art museums, abortion clinics and bookstores. Their definition of “pornography,” which at one time was a lot easier to agree with, has now been extended to just about any activity that’s not Christian-, heterosexual- and family-oriented.
Remember that Leis initiated criminal prosecution against the CAC over its Robert Mapplethorpe photo exhibit, losing decisively before a Cincinnati jury, while Burress’ Citizens for Community Values (CCV) has suggested restricting local sales of magazines such as Cosmopolitan and People.
Deters has been dragged into this fantasy world and expected to pursue prosecution of “criminals” such as Bames & Noble with the same zeal and righteousness that Leis used against tme pomographers 20 years ago. Deters just seems to be asking Leis to wake up, smell the cappuccino and stop crying wolf.
Perhaps Deters’ restraint is even more noteworthy now in light of Cincinnati’s ongoing coupling of moral crusades and government leadership. Project Spotlight, an anti-gay political action program launched by CCV two years ago, is targeting five current City Council members for defeat this fall. Well, make that four now that Dwight Tillery has “suddenly” changed his mind about Cincinnati’s Human Rights Ordinance and voted to strike its guarantee of equal protection for gays, lesbians and bisexuals. Cincinnati has become a crucial hub of America’s “profamily” political activity. Radical right-wing concepts such as Project Spotlight and Issue 3 are tried out here, testmarketed if you will, in the tradition of Right to Life and the National Coalition Against Pornography. They’ve come to rival Ivory Soap as Cincinnati’s No. 1 exsport.
This is the climate in which Deters operates. But like many savvy young up-and-comers in the Republican Party, he understands the national clamor for “less govemment.” In a strange way, he’s simply towing the party line by steering his office out of our bookstores, theaters and personal lives.
In the end, Joe Deters may prove to be the rarest of birds: a Republican who is tme to his beliefs and a politician with common sense. Only time will tell.
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BURNING QUESTIONS
No Stonewall, No Spotlight
Stonewall Cincinnati has vowed to yank its endorsement of Cincinnati City Councilman Dwight Tillery.
On March 8, Tillery yanked his support of fair housing, employment and other protections for Cincinnati gays, lesbians and bisexuals.
Tillery initially supported those protections, which were spelled out in the city’s Human Rights Ordinance passed by City Council in 1992 when Tillery was mayor. However, on March 8 he voted for a measure to repeal the part of the ordinance that dealt with sexual orientation.
His reasons? The passage of Issue 3, he says. In 1993, Cincinnati voters approved the ballot initiative to bar the city from enacting any laws that provide legal protection to gays, bisexuals and.lesbians. Tillery also said he was dissatisfied with U.S. District Judge Arthur Spiegel’s ruling that gays, lesbians and bisexuals are an identifiable group entitled to protection. Spiegel issued a permanent injunction against Issue 3 taking effect.
“The decision clearly gave special rights to gays,” Tillery said in a written statement. An appeal of the injunction currently is pending with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Is Tillery detailing all the reasons driving his decision?
His decision followed a CityBeat report on Feb. 9 that a campaign called Project Spotlight had been launched to defeat all “pro-homosexual” City Council candidates, Tillery among them, in 1995 re-election bids. Officials from Project Spotlight, now called Operation Spotlight, have said that because of his changed vote the campaign no longer will target Tillery. Did Operation Spotlight help change Tillery’s mind?
“No," said Joseph Booth, Tillery’s administrative assistant, after Tillery did not respond to three requests to answer the question himself.
And what about his 1995 campaign backing? Is it possible that Tillery has an influential contributor who opposes protection for gays?
“No,” Booth said again, emphasizing that he was only relaying Tillery’s responses.
Police Division, Cont.
The Cincinnati Police Division has been urged to make special provisions for Lt. Clarence Williams, who was administratively charged March 3 with neglect of duty, failure of good behavior and dishonesty.
Williams’ lawyer John Burlew said that, instead of a closed disciplinary hearing before a division captain, the hearing should be before an outside city department head and should be open to the public. The charges stem from the division’s bribery investigation of police officers Andre Eddings and Claudia Vercellotti, who both were fired.
Before he was charged, Williams, who is president of the Sentinels Police Association an organization for black police officers went to Cincinnati City Council with the Sentinels’ claims of racist practices within the division. Disciplinary procedures were among the general examples of racism cited, but the Sentinels and their lawyer refused to provide specific examples.
When Williams was charged, Burlew said he was calling for special handling because of discrimination within the division. Again, specifics were not provided.
“I want them to put up or shut up,” he told The Cincinnati Post. “You will find that all the Nazis didn’t go to Brazil. Some of them are in internal affairs.”
Who, specifically, are the Nazis? Why are specifics repeatedly withheld, and is this just an attempt to create public sympathy for Williams?
Burlew did not return five telephone messages left March 5, 6 and 7 by CityBeat. Workers in his office said he was ill. Will the police division respond to Burlew’s accusations by providing the requested open, independent hearing?
“Clarence Williams will have the same procedure that every other officer, black or white, in the department has,” said William Gustavson, Cincinnati public safety director. Williams' hearing was set for March 13.
BURNING QUESTIONS is our weekly attempt to afflict frie comfortable.
News&Views
An Alternative Look at How and Why It Happened
Suspicious of Sewage Inspectors
Cincinnati health inspectors' attempts to protect make some residents leery
BY NANCY FIROR
Charles Reifsteck’s temper used to flair every year when he got a bill from the Cincinnati Health Department.
Grudgingly, he would mail off $25 to renew his permit to operate his home sewage disposal system in Winton Place. Sometimes his payments were accompanied by his thoughts.
“This is paid under protest,” read one of his responses, still on file at the health department. “It is a rip-off.”
The “rip-off,” Reifsteck said, involved a health department sewage inspector who showed up almost every year but did no.t properly inspect the system.
But by the time Reifsteck moved to Okeana in 1994, things had begun to change, he said.
Though a long-time city health department policy has called for annual sewage system inspections, the department, in the course of a reorganization, saw a need for stepped-up inspections and monitoring of the systems. The upgrade, enacted in 1994, followed problems with lax oversight of sewage disposal regulations that led to state penalties against the Hamilton County General Health District two years ago.
But despite strides city officials say they have made in thoroughly inspecting and monitoring private sewage systerns in the city’s jurisdiction to prevent sewage pollution, some who own the systems remain confused and unhappy with the health department’s actions.
Some simply are annoyed that after years of less-thanaggressive inspections, health department inspectors are showing up and telling residents to make repairs. Others say the inspectors have become ongoing nuisances who show up unexpectedly, don’t wear identifiable uniforms and drive unmarked cars.
(“The inspector) just showed up without an appointment and I wasn’t home,” said Mary Hunter, who now lives in the house Reifsteck built on Winton Ridge Lane.“
He called the next morning wanting to get in the house, which means if I were there he would have wanted in the
repair, said Cincinnati Health Adcock.
“It has been the expectation try to establish (financial)
Private sewage disposal do not have public sewer been the source of controversy malfunctioning systems, side of the city’s jurisdiction.
The magnitude county, Adcock city inspectors In the District’s ed 24,000 Cincinnati Malcolm treat household treated waste neighboring poorly maintained, charge partly The county’s those systems instead tanks and leaching fields. not being charged the enacted to pay for inspections.
In the Cincinnati Health however, owners of both $50 fee and both systems tion. There are about 570 diction, though health have located all of the vision sanitarian in the mental services section.
About half the city’s leaching fields and about said.
In 1994, the department and noted 186 violations,
SEWAGE: FROM PAGE 5
house to test the home’s septic system. The test involved flushing dye down the toilet, then seeing if the die surfaced on the property. The die surfaced and the system failed inspection a result Hunter believes the inspector might have caused by letting water flow in the bath tub and overloading the system. But, after discussions with health department inspectors, she is planning to have the 40-year-old system repaired.
Though such systems have a limited life and 40 years is extreme, Clark said there were a number of variables such as amount of use and attention to maintenance that affected whether the system could be repaired.
Regardless of the solution, he said, the health department would work with Hunter in finding it.
Failing the test
Under Ohio law, a homeowner whose sewage system has failed must tap into the public sewer system if the service is available, Clark said.
The expense a homeowner would incur if ordered to tap into a public sewer $5,000 or more is of great concern to some residents, said another Winton Place resident. He did not want to be named because he said the health department might retaliate by issuing orders for him to tap into the public sewer even though his systern had been well cared for and had passed department inspections.
He said he questioned the knowledge of some department inspectors because when they first came to his house they could not find the septic tank’s location, which would have been obvious to a qualified inspector.
“It’s kind of like they were finding their way, trying to do too much too soon,” he said.
Annual Health District Meeting Scrambles for Quorum
BY NANCY FIROR
Despite the public embarrassment they have endured for a history of conducting official meetings without a quorum, the Hamilton County General Health District Advisory Council almost did it again this year.
The council’s March 6 annual meeting, held to appoint county health board members, began with 14 members present. To have a quorum, the 30-member council of township and village officials needed 16 present. But some quick thinking averted the problem, officials said.
“I put my presentation up front,” said Tim Ingram, county health commissioner. “That took up some time.”
Although mismanagement and internal problems led to a complete reorganization of the health district in 1993, the council failed to muster a quorum at a special meeting in 1994 and had a quorum at the annual meeting later in 1994 only after an editorial in The Cincinnati Post named all members who missed the special meeting.
A tour of the health district’s new Sharonville offices also was used to pass additional time Monday while hurried telephone calls were placed to some of the absent members. Soon there were 17 present, official business was conducted and the scramble for a quorum was forgotten, Ingram said.
“Two years in a row we’ve had a quorum,” he said.
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“That’s a record.”
The District Advisory Council came under fire last year after the Ohio Department of Health imposed penalties against the health district for its failure to meet state regulations. Problems in the health district surfaced in August 1992, when the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency announced it was about to take action against the district because of its widespread approval of inadequate private sewage systems.
As of November 1993, the council had managed a quorum twice in eight years with 1992’s quorum being attributed to a free dinner for council members at the Montgomery Inn Boathouse downtown.
While all of the townships were represented at this year’s meeting, attendance by village officials continues to lag, said Joe Sykes, council chairman.
Townships officials, he said, probably were showing more interest because their communities had the most private sewage systems. But interest by village officials might increase, he said, because Ingram has launched a number of health district programs that affect their communities, such as immunizations.
Members of the Hamilton County Board of Health, which governs the Hamilton County General Health District, appointed March 6 were: Dr. Ken Amend of White Oak.
Board Member Tom Chatham of Green Township to serve the remaining three-year term of Linda Moeves, who resigned. The health board will choose someone to finish Chatham’s original term.
Monday’s attendance, Sykes said, also could have been affected by confusion over where to hold the meeting. The first letter sent to members said the meeting was to be downtown, but a second letter changed the place to the district’s new offices. But Sykes said he had heard that just two people might mistakenly have gone downtown.
American Art’s Anti-Christ
The mixed-media art and careers ofAndy Warhol
ESSAY BY DANIEL BROWN
Modem art, with its early optimism and warrelated nihilism and despair, ends abruptly with the American Abstract Expressionists.
The explosive beginnings of television and the electronic media blurred the relationships between “high/fine” art and “popular” culture, and the world headquarters for arts and culture, as in finance and media, moved from Paris to New York.
A younger and more iconoclastic group of artists began to investigate Robert Rauschenberg’s famous interstices between art and life. The transitional American artists between the heroism of Abstract Expressionism and what we now know as Pop Art are Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, who not only investigated popular culture but used eclectic materials such as Rauschenberg’s famous goat head and car tire of the late 1950s.
Putting It Together
The seminal figure in American contemporary art, our most important artist since Jackson Pollock, is Andy Warhol. He created an image/aura/persona, blending and blurring not only fine and popular arts but presciently including film, celebrity, the New York and European jet set, rock music, the club scene and the media (founding Interview magazine in 1969). He captured and manipulated the downside and excesses of the 1960s; his art and life are ultimately about death.
Although the words “Pop Art” were the invention/creations of English artist Richard Hamilton and English art critic Lawrence Alloway, who moved to New York, Pop Art and Andy Warhol have become virtually interchangeable. Warhol is unquestionably this century’s Anti-Christ, anti-hero, an evil and manipulative man who, like Faust and Satan, preyed on the weaknesses of all whose lives he touched thus his importance and .extraordinarily appalling genius.
Andy Warhola left McKeesport, Penn., for New York to create commercial design and displays for department store windows such as Tiffany’s and Bonwit Teller. Highly ambitious with relentless energy and an uncanny sense of perfect timing, he brilliantly foresaw the commodification of everything in American culture, including art, and he is thus American art’s one and only contemporary prophet.
Warhol painted celebrity after celebrity, socialite after socialite. His portrait paintings all look similar and interchangeable. An extraordinary colorist, Warhol deliberately made his commissioned patrons compete for his work, preying upon their insecurities and vanities. With hindsight, these portraits seem monuments to death, not life, and to vanity run amok.
Warhol’s paintings and rapidly executed silkscreens the easiest and fastest method of making prints were churned out by a bizarre cast of characters at his notorious Factory in New York. After Warhol rapidly created the original image, the silkscreens were pulled off the presses in assembly-line fashion.
Every person and object in Warhol’s metaphysic is equally important or unimportant. “Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes,” he said long before the advent of MTV and the explosion of the celebrity of the moment through electronic media invented and disseminated before and since his death in 1987.
Warhol, to European eyes and minds, is an heir to their beloved Marcel Duchamp; Warhol’s images of soup cans, car crashes, Brillo boxes and the like are part of the tradition of the found object placed in galleries and museums. Warhol also can be viewed through the jaded and horror-filled European memory as a follower of Dadaism, those nihilistic European artists who created random and senseless images between the wars. Since
Great Jews of the 20th Century,” a portfolio of ordinary prints, was no doubt created because so many contemporary art collectors in America and Europe are Jewish. They sold like hotcakes. So did his series of “Endangered Species,” formulaic silkscreens playing upon the new monied environmental classes. All possessed the same great colors that Warhol understood from his days as a commercial designer combined with an extraordinary natural eye and talent.
His senseless early death seems a perfect ending to this brilliantly tawdry life having been shot at the Factory by a crazed woman, he insisted upon being placed in a wing of a New York hospital where no one could find him. His seemingly simple surgery somehow went awry; when he rang for help, by the time the nurses arrived he was dead.
Europeans have a love/hate relationship with America, in Warhol European collectors found their own traditions intertwined with the America they saw, partially understood, resented and admired.
Warhol’s first silkscreens are his most important contribution to contemporary art, and America’s most significant images from the 1960s to the end of this century. Their flatness, coldness, impersonality and repetitiveness are their meaning and intent. He created images from “The Disaster Series” (1962-63) of car crashes and electrie chairs, while at the same time soup cans, Brillo boxes, Marilyn Monroe and the bereaved Jacqueline Kennedy still wearing the blood-stained suit from her husband’s assassination in Dallas. Warhol seems to have equated soup cans and the like with Monroe and Jackie; he understood America’s addiction to commodities as well as our national addiction to violence.
The media circus surrounding his death and the auctioning off of his most ordinary possessions, such as cookie jars, would have thrilled Warhol. He amassed a huge fortune his true life goal took care of his mother, with whom he lived, and left it all to his brother. The Warhol Foundation is filled with the same recycled people from the Factory, thus the ongoing lawsuits.
If Warhol were alive today, I suspect he’d try to portray Tom Cruise, E.T., Barbra Streisand (who would decline), Sharon Stone, John Travolta, Rob Lowe’s purloined nude videos and, most importantly, Michael Jackson and Madonna.
We hate Warhol because he understood our darker side, our culture we willingly consume but scorn. To look at any Warhol, in any medium, is to look directly at ourselves. I believe Warhol was truly evil, but he was, to date, America’s last great genius, a true chronicler of our devolving culture and civilization. He succeeded beyond any measure of expectation because he created the very world he knew was evolving. He created to destroy, and destroyed to create.
This is the sixth installment in a series about the careers of artists of the 20th century. You can run it by yourself without any trouble if you remember you're married and ^ just stop flirting wit+i the customers! Think of me! What will do? We've Put you can't go into the Navy now! invested every cent we have in this restaurant!
As early as 1963 Warhol started making films with a 16mm camera; and nearly anyone surrounding the Warhol “scene” were in these endlessly tedious movies. Warhol invented the word “superstar,” and socialites such as Jane Holzer and Edie Sedgewick interacted with the male hustlers of Warhol’s world. Some from the Factory scene, such as Ultra Violet, lived to tell their tales; others, such as Sedgewick, committed suicide. Warhol never cared.
Even Warhol’s weaker works from the 1980s continued his cynical understanding of mass culture. “The
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Here’s a riddle: What do the Brady Bunch and Deng Xiaoping have in common? We’re still working on that one, but if anyone can pull them together it’s our Breakfast Club. More than just music (although there is a lot of that), the Breakfast Club with Ric and Dave serves up a breakfast buffet complete with Table of Contents book reviews on Wednesdays, XRay band interviews on Thursdays, and general goofiness every day of the week. The Breakfast Club with
and
ISTORY BY CRAIG LOVELACE
PHOTOS BY JVMI BOLDEN
Centerfor Peace Education offers area students and teachers mechanismfor combatting school violence
t doesn’t get any more depressing than this.
Roughly two years ago a kindergarten student at a Cincinnati elementary school arrived at class one morning with a knife. Discovered by his teacher, the boy was asked what he intended to do with the weapon. His reply: Kill another student. Hard to believe? Certainly, but it illustrates the harsh reality many youths face today. Too many of them live in environments where violence permeates the air and death no longer is the exception but the expected.
Kinshasha Nia Azariah, executive director of the Center for Peace Education.
There are plenty of studies suggesting this young student was probably being raised in a violent environment himself and was responding to a problem in the only practical way he knew.
For seven years running, the Center for Peace Education (CPE) has been reaching into schools across Hamilton and neighboring Ohio counties trying to eradicate behavior like this through conflict-resolution train-
ing. Designed for youths in grades K through 12, the training demonstrates there are non-violent ways to solve disputes.
CPE’s programs are growing, and their popularity, ironically, parallels reports of increasing violence among area youths and discipline problems within schools.
Though new executive director Kinshasha Nia Azariah says she wishes the center could “work itself out of a job,” the scenario does not appear likely. On the contrary, in the coming year the Mount Auburn-based
organization will be spreading its wings even farther and undergoing somewhat of a metamorphosis in how it views itself.
Negotiations are under way to offer
CPE’s programs to Head Start preschoolers and staff alike. If a deal is signed, the children will be the youngest age group the center reaches.
Additionally, Nia Azariah hopes to strengthen ties between CPE, which caters to educators and students, and Private Complaint Services of Cincinnati, which attempts to settle disputes among adults and businesses, keeping matters from entering the court system. Periodically, the groups jointly sponsor training sessions, each emphasizing their specialties.
The center most likely will undergo a name change in the coming year aimed at signaling its philosophical evolution. In the past, its focus revolved primarily around peace and justice demonstrations. Nia Azariah says the world has changed, and so must the organization.
ON PAGE 10
PEACE: FROM PAGE 9
“What’s happened with the center is I think we’ve made this transition from expressing our peace and justice philosophy from a more traditional way of doing it (with) a more professional, businesslike attitude,” she says. “While we still retain our roots in peace and justice, we’ve got to see what we do as a product, market our training and bring a whole business sense, a whole business acumen to the table.”
Looking back, looking ahead
Sounds like a far cry from an organization formed 15 years ago to protest turning Hughes High School into a military academy.
Not really, especially if one listens to the 33-yearold Nia Azariah, who has worked off and on for the center since 1987. She says stereotypes associated with peace activities sit-ins, human roadblocks, far left political leanings probably would not win many votes in Congress today. The trick for the center, she says, is to pick a name that will reflect its past yet attract people from the 9-to-5 world.
What kind of name is being considered? Officials haven’t discussed it yet, but Nia Azariah envisions something like the “Conflict Resolution Institute.”
have constructive control over their own lives, Nia Azariah says.
among staff, administrators, teachers and parents. All meet as a team in as many sessions as it takes until everyone agrees on a core group of concerns.
The cost varies depending on scope and length of the sessions, but generally schools pay $60 an hour for each trainer. There is a side benefit for teachers who complete CPE courses: The hours count toward credits in the Peace Education program of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Education.
“Children can be their own best problem-solvers, given the proper tools, proper skill development and proper environment,” she says. “You don’t need the teacher, you don’t need the principal you can do this, but you’ve got to learn the skills.”
All the CPE programs are growing in stature, and figures supplied by the Cincinnati Public School District provide disturbing evidence why the programs are needed.
Kinshasha Nia Azariah, executive director, and Betty Miller, administrative assistant of the Center for Peace Education.
CPE’s bread and butter are three programs: Peer Mediation, Cooperative Discipline and Students’ Creative Response in Conflict. Each shows students and teachers how to deal with conflict in non-violent ways, express differences and appreciate cultural diversity.
In Peer Mediation, for example, CPE-trained students act as arbitrators between their fighting peers. The course is designed for grades 4 through 12 and for use in schools where discipline problems involve students only. Students voluntarily participate in the training and, in the end, mediate resolutions among their peers so some matters don’t reach the principal’s office, where suspensions might be the outcome.
Extremely popular in the schools where CPE conducts training, Peer Mediation shows students how to
Prom the 1992-93 school year through the first quarter of this current school year, 468 children were expelled under the district’s disciplinary “Dangerous Weapon” section, meaning those students used some object in a violent manner. More revealing astonishing may be a better word is the fact that 173 of the total, or 37 percent, were students in grades K through 6.
“You don’t even have to look at the news anymore, you just have to look out the window and see the incredible increase in violence,” Nia Azariah says. “I mean, when we were young you might get beat up after school, but we’re to the point where we’re worrying about kindergartners.”
The second program, Cooperative Discipline, comes into play when discipline problems are more extensive, reaching into the teaching ranks. Nia Azariah says, for example, educators at times can be disrespectful toward their charges, leading those youths to vent their frustrations with the teachers or other students.
Weapons use, however, is only a byproduct of the root causes Nia Azariah says are eroding America’s social and moral fabric, creating this need for conflictresolution instruction. Though the list of reasons is long, she points to three as most important: two-wage-earner families; mobility among workers; and the media, for which violence generates big revenues.
Cooperative Discipline alerts teachers to basic reasons behind students’ troubled behavior, such as power, attention seeking, fear of failing and revenge. Channeling the negative behavior into something positive is the course’s goal.
When both parents work, many children are left alone for much of the day with fewer adult role models for them to identify and interact with.
“A lot of children from all economic levels are coming home to empty houses,” Nia Azariah says. “The parents are working and kids are fending for themselves. Young people, because they don’t have someone to interact with, flip on the tube (after school), and all these cartoons are steeped in violence and violent response to conflict. You’re talking the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers even the Disney cartoons and the Bugs Bunny cartoons.”
Aiming programs at correct audience
The Center for Peace Education, however, is not without its critics. Among them is the Cincinnati Public School District.
Take the class clown who’s constantly tossing spit balls or cracking jokes, Nia Azariah says. Instead of repeatedly reprimanding this child who must enjoy performing, the program suggests letting him use his energy to write a rap time about a math theory.
Lionel Brown, the district’s deputy superintendent of student discipline and attendance, says CPE doesn’t adequately address the needs of African-American youths, many of whom live in the inner city and encounter violence on a regular basis. Instead, he says, the center directs its programs toward “middle-class, European Americans.”
When discipline problems become widespread, Students’ Creative Response to Conflict might be warranted. This is the most comprehensive of the three programs and involves creating a “whole new social structure,” Nia Azariah explains, where violence is openly discussed from the top down and never tolerated. Aimed at children ages 5 to 13, the training incorporates elements of the other two programs but also stresses building self-esteem and teaching communication as well as problem-solving skills.
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“I would say the concept is excellent; no one can quibble with the concept,” Brown says. “However, there is a concern that I have that they are not culture-specific and geared toward the middle or affluent class (only). Another major concern I have is it does not connect the home and community.”
To that extent, Brown touts the school district’s Project Succeed, which he says presents a “holistic approach to student problems” by providing training on such issues as health and maintenance to individual students and their parents if necessary. Brown says the instruction is much more personal than CPE’s programs.
Deciding what’s best
Nia Azariah refutes Brown’s criticisms and points to inner-city schools such as Rothenberg Elementary in Over-the-Rhine as well as Hughes and Withrow high schools, which utilize CPE training.
Which is the best program for a particular school? It depends on how severe discipline problems are, which is why CPE evaluates a school before signing on the dotted line.
“This is not just an urban issue,” she says. “We’ve been out to Sycamore High School and Princeton, and while the problems there have not escalated to where
The evaluation is more of an open-house discussion
they are worrying about kindergartners, they are having issues where young folks are bringing weapons to school.”
The school district has spent more than $42,000 in the past four years for CPE to conduct training. Nearly 68 percent was disbursed in the 1992-93 school year for the center to test its methods in two inner-city elementary schools. When school finances were pinched and results failed to show a decrease in disciplinary problems, however, the district divorced itself from the center. Though the school district’s central office does not officially sanetion the group, it does allow schools to individually contract with CPE.
Yet Nia Azariah says she finds it odd the district office spent another $1,700 last year to train its inschool suspension officers in conflict-resolution management. While not elaborating, she indicates the center’s Lionel Brown exit might have been more politically, not performance, oriented.
“There are some people who don’t like us,” she says. “We know that. It’s just some territorial stuff going on here.”
Brown, however, is correct when he says poor results were the outcome in 1992-93, though a University of Cincinnati researcher claims the failure was both parties’ fault.
“There was no commitment from the public schools in any real shape or form,” says Dan Kmitta, a doctoral student in peace studies who conducted the study evaluating the center’s programs.
The relationship between CPE and the Cincinnati Public School District was occurring at about the same time the Buenger Commission was urging major school reform, including consolidating services and whittling away levels of bureaucracy. The downsizing scrambled plans, and the center didn’t get started in the schools until early in 1993, much later than it desired.
Complicating matters further, Kmitta says, was internal conflict within the Center for Peace Education that led to the departure of two trainers and stymied any real progress the group could have made.
A subsequent study of the 1993-94 school year showed improvements. The number of disciplinary actions at the schools studied slightly decreased, according to the report’s executive summary. The biggest change, however, occurred in the attitudes among teachers and students. In practically every instance, those who participated in conflict-resolution training expressed positive comments about its effectiveness.
While little quantitative data exists suggesting CPE is accomplishing its goals, Nia Azariah is quick to use anecdotal evidence to illustrate the center’s success.
She relays the story of a company picnic a few years ago which a fourth-grade girl, who had received CPE training, attended with her father. During the picnic, an argument between two men began escalating toward a fight. The student approached the men and mediated a settlement using the techniques she learned from her conflict-resolution instruction.
Tucked away on the second floor of a church in Mount Auburn is the office of Kinshasha Nia Azariah, who in July took over the reins of the Center for Peace Education (CPE).
The office is as nondescript as the paper signs at the entrance to the Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church directing visitors up the stairs to the center’s headquarters.
It would be difficult to guess it was love that brought Nia Azariah here. Not love for peace or conflict resolution. It was love, literally.
“My then-boyfriend, soon-to-be husband, soon-tobe ex-husband and I were into that dating phase, and he’s very much committed to peace and justice issues,” she says. “And CPE was having a function, and they were just starting to think about conflict-resolution training and how they could bring it to Cincinnati.”
The two attended that 1987 session. He hated it, while she found it fascinating. Later in the year, Nia Azariah became a trainer for the center, which provides instruction in conflictresolution management primarily to schools. The timing, as it turned out, could not have been better.
NAME: Kinshasha Nia Azariah, 33.
TITLE: Executive director, Center For Peace Education (CPE), 103 William Howard Taft Road; 221-4863.
HISTORY WITH CPE: 1987, trainer; 1989, part-time education director; 1991, full-time education director; 1992-93, ran own company; July 1994, named executive director.
Nia Azariah lost her job as development director with the Arts Consortium of Cincinnati, which at the time was making a complete changeover in administrative personnel.
She also enjoyed the idea of again working with young people, which she did previously as a theater instructor for Cincinnati Recreation Commission.
Nia Azariah has worked off and on for the center since then. In 1989, she became a part-time education director, though leaving the same year for personal reasons. She returned two years later as the full-time education trainer, only to leave in 1992 to run her own business.
Called the Azariah Group, the company specialized in diversity training, focusing on race, class and gender issues. She returned to CPE seven months ago when asked to become executive director.
Even before ever hearing about conflict resolution, Nia Azariah saw it in her theater students’ non-verbal eye communication with peers with whom they were upset.
“I saw kids in a really embryonic way doing conflict management with the skills that they had,” she says. “I saw them trying stuff without knowing what they were doing.”
A native of Cincinnati, Nia Azariah was raised in the West End and North Fairmount. She says her upbringing helped prepare her for her current job.
“When I was growing up, I’d hear some negative things being said about people and groups, but I’d also hear (that) people generally are inherently good,” she says.
It’s the attitude she takes today when hearing others speak of troubled people as if they were laboratory specimens instead of human beings.
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WIZARD’S
SILICON INJECTIONS
BY DAVID PESCOVITZ
Indecency on the Net
A twisted torture-and-rape fantasy story posted on the Internet by a 20-year-old college student has him facing five years in jail at the same time proposed bills in Congress threaten constitutional rights in Cyberspace.
FBI agents arrested University of Michigan linguistics major Jake Baker last month and charged him with “interstate transmission of a threat to kidnap or injure,” referring to a female classmate whose name Baker used in the tale. Baker posted the story on a Usenet newsgroup dedicated to sexually themed stories where it was later spotted by an alumnus in Moscow who alerted the university.
Baker, who maintains that the violent tales were a result of school-related stress, says he had no intention of harming the woman and is planning to seek psychological counseling whether the university requires it or not.
Meanwhile, 25-year-old California resident Tanithy Tyrr posted her own fantasy on the Internet about meeting Baker on the street where she then tortures and shoots him. in the related matter on Capitol Hill, Sen. James Exon (D-Neb.) introduced last month his Communications Decency Act of 1995, "to protect the public from the misuse of the telecommunications Network and telecommunications facilities.” The proposed amendments to the Federal Communication Act outlined by the bill would outlaw "transmission of obscene comments, suggestions, proposals and images" with a $100,000 fine punishment and a two-year prison term.
“I want to keep the information superhighway from resembling a red-light district,” Exon said in an interview.
But Mike Godwin, staff counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, argues that established constitutional guarantees should apply to all media.
“The Rrst Amendment was designed to protect offensive speech because no one ever tries to ban the other kind,” Godwin said.
The CIA’s Help Wanted
In its perpetual search for new recruits, the CIA has announced it will place help-wanted ads on the Internet’s World Wide Web.
“it’s a research question,” said David Christian, an agency spokesman. “We are still hiring at a much-reduced rate. This is another way of getting the information out.”
The CIA first set up its home page late last year, making digitally available the full texts of its annual “World Factbook” and “Factbook on Intelligence," a primer on U.S. spying. On the slate to be uploaded is the CIA’s roster of chiefs of state and Cabinet members of foreign government and the “Handbook of International Economic Statistics."
Point your World Wide Web browser to: http://www.ic.gov
One Spy
Price is Right hostess Janice Pennington is seeking aid in the ongoing search for her former husband, a German who possibly spied for the United States, by placing a missing-persons ad on the World Wide Web. Friedrich “Fritz” Stammberger vanished 20 years ago while mountain climbing along the border of Russia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Last week, Pennington’s site on the Web came on-line to collect information, with her book Husband, Lover, Spy as a starting point. On May 30, Pennington will award $1,000 to the person who offers the best clue.
Pennington’s current husband, Carlos De Abreu, whom Pennington met after her first husband disappeared and married in 1984 when Stammberger was declared legally dead, acknowledges that if they find Stammberger, “It will be a difficult situation.”
Will she go back to him (if he's found)? “I’m not fearful,” De Abreu said.
Come on down with your World Wide Web browser to: http://husbandloverspy.com
DAVID PESCOVITZ (pesco@well.com) is an associate editor at Blaster, a new technology and youth-culture magazine, and is WIRED's 'Reality Check’ columnist.
Bug Assassins for Hire
Through its products Lawrenceburg-based Gardens Alive! Changing image of organic gardening as back-breaking venture
BY POLLY CAMPBELL
If your idea of an unusual mail-order catalog item is the fruit-of-the-month club, you probably don’t know about beneficial nematodes. These bugs in a box are sent out by the thousands from Gardens Alive!, a mail-order company in Lawrenceburg, Ind. The firm also sells ladybugs, trichogramma parasites and lacewings all “good” insects that kill other, “bad” insects that eat up gardens.
Besides making Greater Cincinnati beneficial insect central, Gardens Alive! sells an array of gardening products to American gardeners who prefer to grow their grass and flowers and vegetables without using chemicals. It’s the largest organic-gardening mail-order company in the country.
Gardens Alive! was started 12 years ago in Indiana. Plant foods and fertilizers were the company’s first products, sent out at first from the owner’s home, then moving to Sunman, and four years ago to a facility in Schenley Place in Lawrenceburg.
Missy Mullen, director of telephone sales and customer service, said the company’s growth in the last several years has been dramatic. “This year, we’ll have 16 or 17 phone staff during our peak season, up from six or seven just three years ago,” Mullen says. “People are becoming more aware of organic alternatives, as they see more and more reports of the harm chemicals can do to them.”
Environment
customer testimonials very similar to many mainstream gardening catalogs. It changes the image of organic gardening as requiring back-breaking work and esoteric knowledge. Increased research into organic methods means “products are getting better and better,” Mullen says. But customers also need education in organic techniques. The catalog is heavy on information, and salespeople are trained to answer questions, sometimes in great detail. “We will try to answer any question, and if we can’t, we make a referral,” Mullen says.
MarDi Gardens is one of two sources of Gardens Aiivel products outside the firm’s catalog. Diane Samsei, with her store mascot Sarah, operates the Montgomery store.
To Learn More
MarDi Gardens will be holding classes on organic lawn care, gardening principies and herb gardening in March. The Gardens Alive! Lawrenceburg store also holds free seminars throughout the spring and summer on topics such as pest identification, composting, growing roses organically and natural pet care.
The company’s niche is anyone with a lawn, a flower bed or a vegetable patch who cares about the environment. Gardens Alive! also has a line of natural pet-care products. “Our philosophy is to provide unique products that work as well or better than conventional chemical products,” Mullen says. Many of their products, such as Tomatoes Alive! fertilizer, or Neem Insect Killer (made from the seeds of the neem tree), are used in a similar way to conventional fertilizers or insecticides. Their latest product is A-maizing Lawn, a pre-emergent weed killer for lawns, something customers clamored for but was not available in an organic version.
For more information, contact: Gardens Alive!, mail-order: 5100 Schealey Place, Lawrenceburg, IN 47025; 812-537-8650. Retail store: 776 Rudolph Way, Lawrenceburg, Ind; 812-537-8698. MarDi Gardens, 9823 Montgomery Road, Montgomery; 891-6410.
The catalog is full of “with” and “without” photos and
Salespeople prefer not to diagnose problems over the phone because it’s easy to be wrong. “For instance, the stink bug, which is a bad insect, looks almost exactly like the spine soldier bug, which is beneficial. We don’t want to make a mistake and tell a customer to get rid of a good bug,” she explains. Such diagnostic questions are referred to a county extension agent.
Other questions are answered by recommending the organic approach. This emphasizes control, rather than eradication, of pests. It means starting with the least invasive solution, before trying something more drastic. “If you have aphids,” Mullen says, “we would start by suggesting lady beetles or lacewings, then moving to a mild insecticidal soap, then to sun oil or eco oil, before recommending rotenone, which is a plant-based, but rather harsh insecticide.”
The company has looked into the idea of going retail, though they have no definite plans. So far, there are only two places that Gardens Alive! products can be purchased outside the catalog. Gardens Alive! operates a store in Lawrenceburg and has a distribution agreement with MarDi Gardens in Montgomery. Diane Samsel opened MarDi Gardens a year ago. She says she’s doing well, having upped her newsletter mailing recently from 700 to 2,400 names.
Isn’t it interesting how many travel stories include taking off some clothes? Throw out that idea at a party, and you may reel in more than you intended, but there it is. Recently in CityBeat I wrote about a Turkish bath in Budapest and now, thinking about how a chamber music concert in a castle on an island in a Cornish bay turned into an adventure, I realize that clothes (a limited number) were removed there, too.
Getting to the concert was the first adventurous part. We were in Penzance, in the southwest corner of England, and access to St. Michael’s Mount in Mount Bay was only by ferry from the village of Marazion a few miles away. My husband had opted for an afternoon nap, but I found the bus station and a bus to Marazion and was the next to last to board the open boat crossing to the Mount.
The island juts out of the water like the last tooth in a giant’s jaw and is crowned by a castle incorporating a Benedictine abbey. This afternoon, the castle would be the setting for one of a series of concerts presenting young performers in out-of-the-ordinary settings. I was early, so I could take my time for the long climb up to where the castle grows out of the rock, and sit on a boulder outside its locked gate with other early arrivals. From this lordly distance, a sailboat race in the bay below seemed to be planned for the entertainment of us on the heights. When the gate opened, we all walked about on the castle terraces, looking at the sailboats skidding across the bay and finding, from another
angle, that we could see beneath the water the outline of a causeway linking the island to the shore. Eventually the concert began in the old abbey chapel where 100 people could be seated. Homely vegetables, leaves drooping, were set up like still lifes on the deep window sills. A quintet had gathered near the altar, music stands lighted by an old-fashioned floor lamp with a fringed pink shade. Anachronisms can be endearing.
Hospitality on the house
Another anachronism, someone who I later learned was the lord of the castle, welcomed us with considerable enthusiasm and announced, incorrectly as it turned out, that wine at the interval would be “on the house.” The interval was a long time in coming 30 minutes of Mozart was followed by 45 minutes of Shostakovitch, all of it exquisitely performed but when it did come, wine was served for 50 pence in a reception room of restrained elegance.
We were free to wander about the castle, glass in hand. It was like being a guest at a party and given the run of the place. Small rooms of immense charm, none of them seemingly on the same level, looked out on terraces or across the bay. It was all domestic size; the Jacobean dining table would only.seat 12. The lord, who was aristocratically tall and aristocratically thin, was everywhere, being gracious. (“He got it all wrong,” the woman selling the wine for the benefit of the concert organization had grumbled. “But then he always does.” The English love their lords, but they don’t expect much of them.)
The break was supposed to be 10 minutes but stretched to half an hour, and the concert itself wound up at six o’clock. My husband’s afternoon nap was long over, and he would be wondering what on earth was keeping me. I ignored the lord’s invitation, issued at large, to come have tea with the musicians, and hurried down the bends and twists of the steep slope to be on
the ferry’s first run. No ferry. The tide was going out, and ferry operations were suspended. We would have to walk the causeway, once it emerged. The concertgoers gradually gathered in the lee of a wall (rain had begun), and we watched the tide go out, a slow business quite a lot like watching grass grow. The musicians, changed out of their concert clothes into jeans and sweat shirts and carrying their instruments, arrived and looked with amazement at the watery distance from island to shore. It was more than a quarter of a mile.
Garters away!
A Jeep crossed slowly from the town, and we all noted the water still reached midway up its hubcaps. Next to me a stout and cheerful Englishwoman had been bucking up her wispy husband and the company in general by assuring us that the tide was bound to go out. Now, as the rain quickened, she said, “No wetter there than here,” and reached up under her tweed skirt to unfasten formidable-looking garter clips.
“Looks like something’s going to happen,” her husband said with such interest that one could see he’d spent a happy married life wondering what his wife would do next.
I rolled up my pants legs, removed my shoes and socks and strode off into very cold sea water. A musician was directly ahead of me, her cello held high as she picked her way across. I remembered that a wave had once swept a long-ago lord and his horse off this causeway and drowned them, but we eventually made it safely. Sitting on a rock to pull socks and shoes on again, I was passed by the sturdy lady, now shod and garters refastened. “Good show,” said she, waving her hand.
JESUS LIZARD WITH COP SHOOT COP AND THE METHOD Alternative. 9 p.m. Thursday. Stache’s, 2404 N. High St., Columbus. $10. 614-263-5318.
THE MIGHTY, MIGHTY BOSSTOHES WITH WAX AND FACE TO FACE Punk/Ska. 8 p.m. Friday. The Newport, 1722 High St., Columbus. $10.50. 614-228-3582.
The 26th annual meeting of the Psychophysiology & Biofeedback Association will be held at the Albert B. Sabin Convention Center and will feature sensory-DEPRIVATION pods, magnetic fields of dreams, deviated septum chambers and a fleet of highly trained toe pinchers. Once you’ve mastered the art of lowering appendage temperatures, shake off that QUEASY new age feeling and savor the scent of boiling hops, barley, malt the raw products that go into the making of every MOUTHWATERING Hudy Delight, Bruin Pale Ale or Oldenberg. The Zinzinnati Brewery Tour, sponsored by the Cincinnati Historical Society is better than finding Willy Wonka’s golden ticket. (See Events listings). Although JCOR’s play list has expanded to 10 songs, don’t let your EARBONES have grooves worn into them; instead, hear Jesus Lopez-Cobos conduct the CSO for Welcher’s Three Texas Watercolors of Georgia. (See Upcoming.) Ever since you were young, an early-morning trip down 1-75 brought STRANGE WIFFS of sweet pungency or Mr. Bubble. Maybe this odor will be explained by author Stanley Hedeen in his presentation “The Mill Creek: An Unnatural History of an Urban Stream.” (Also in Upcoming.)
The Taft Museum presents 100 exquisitely decorated Chinese SNUFF bottles, dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. (See Art.)
Varied Venues
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.
KIM PENSYL Contemporary Jazz. 8 p.m. Saturday. Sungarden Lounge at the Hyatt Regency, 151 W. Fifth St., Downtown. $5. 579-1234. LA BOTTINE SOURIANTE Celtic. 8 p.m. Saturday. Victoria Theatre, 126 N. Main St., Dayton. $10/$12/$15. 513-223-3655.
PAT KELLY Jazz pianist with trio. 6 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday (with Sandy Suskind, flute). High Spirits Lounge at the Regal Hotel, 150 W. Fifth St., Downtown. 352-2160.
MOVIN’ MERVYN AND GUESTS Trinidadian Folk. 7 p.m. ThursdaySaturday. Zarabanda World Cafe. 3213 Linwood Ave., Mount Lookout. 321-1347.
THE MUSICAL ARTS CENTER FLUTE AND GUITAR DUO Classical. 8 p.m. Friday. Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Rookwood Pavilion, Madison and Edwards roads, Norwood. 396-8960.
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.
ELIZABETH ELKINS Acoustic. 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Blue Jordan Coffeehouse, 4573 Hamilton Ave., Northside. 541-3675.
THE AKOUSTIKATS Eclectic acoustic. 10 p.m. Saturday. Buffalo Wings and Rings, 3207 Linwood Ave., Mount Lookout. 321-0120.
APlease include a contact name and daytime phone number.
GEORGE CLINTON Funk. 8 p.m. Sunday. The Newport, 1722 High St., Columbus. $20.50/$22 day of show. 614-228-3582.
TRACY CHAPMAN WITH DILLON O’BRIAN Folk. 7 p.m. Tuesday. Bogart's, 2621 Vine St., Corryville. $13.50/$15 day of show. 281-8400.
PHIL WILLIS, RUSTY BURGE AND ERIC SAYER Jazz. 8 p.m. Friday. Borders Books and Music, 11711 Princeton Pike, Springdale. 671-5853.
BILL BRANZEL QUARTET Jazz. 8 p.m. Saturday. Joseph-Beth
BRIAN EWING, MIKE BOERSHIG AND LARRY LANKFORD Folk. 7 p.m. Sunday. Leo Coffeehouse, University YMCA, 270 Calhoun St., Clifton. 321-8375. OXFORD STRING QUARTET
Snuff bottles, on view at the Taft Museum, are a joy to the senses.
GILLY’S
Clubs Directory
MUSIC
ALLYN’S CAFE
3638 Columbia Parkway, Columbia-Tusculum. 871-6779.
MILLION'S CAFE 3212 Linwood Ave, Mount Lookout. 871-1148.
MOLLOY’S ON THE GREEN 10 Enfield Place, Greenhills. 851-5434.
ANVIL SLUGS Rock favorites. Murray's Pub. Cover. BAD HABIT WITH FOREHEAD Rock favorites. Blue Note Cafe. Cover. BIG TROUBLE Blues. Mansion Hill Tavern. Cover.
Music
BLISTER Modern Rock. Shady O’Grady’s. Cover.
NORTHSIDE TRIBE Rock. McGuffy’s. Cover.
BLUE LOU AND THE ACCUSAT80NS Blues. Local 1207. Cover.
PLOW ON BOY WITH GLEEM Folk Alternative. Top Cat’s. Cover.
BOB CUSHING Acoustic. Million’s Cafe. Free. CRAWDADDY Alternative favorites. Club Gotham. Cover. DIXIE KARAS QUARTET Jazz. Ivory’s. Cover. DOUBLESHOT WITH ANNIE ELLIS Pop. Briarwood. Free. THE DUKES Blues. Burbank’s Eastgate. Free. GEORGE LAVIGNE Rock. New Nineties. Cover. GOSHORN BROS. Classic Rock. Tommy's. Cover. GROOVEYARD Rock. Stow s. Cover. HEAVY WEATHER WITH WORLD IN A ROOM Alternative. Ripleys.
POSITIVE REACTION Reggae. Club Gotham. Cover.
SNOWSHOE CRABS Alternative Rock favorites. Salamone’s. Cover.
SONNY AND THE DOGS Blues. Burbank’s Eastgate. Free.
UPRISING Reggae. Ozzie’s. Cover.
UPTOWN RHYTHM AND BLUES Rhythm and Blues. Stow’s. Cover.
WILLIE RAY AND THE MIDNIGHTERS Open Blues jam. Burbank’s Sharonville. Free.
YAZ 7-11 Blues. Burbank's Forest Fair. Free.
FRIDAY
MARCH 10
ANN CHAMBERLAIN JAZZ TRIO Jazz. Coco’s. Cover.
ANVIL SLUGS Modern Rock. Shady O’Grady’s. Cover.
BAD HABIT WITH FESTIVE SKELETONS Rock favorites. Blue Note Cafe. Cover.
BIGGIE MAGOO WITH SNOOZE BUTTON TRIVIA Rock. Stache's. Cover.
BRIAN LOVELY AND THE SECRET Alternative Rock. Tommy’s. Cover.
BROWN JENKIN Rock. Salamone’s. Cover.
BOB CUSHING Acoustic. Foley's Western Hills. Free.
CRAWDADDY Acoustic Alternative favorites. Scooter’s. Free. THE DIXIE CRUISERS
Dixieland Jazz. Arnold’s. Free.
PHOTO: PETER SOREL
Sam Daniels (Dustin Hoffman), left, and M^j. Walter Salt (Cuba Gooding Jr.) fight a deadly virus in Outbreak.
Size
born. With Teri Garr and ex-MTV veejay Karen Duffy. (Rated PG-13; at Showcase Cinemas Cincinnati, Eastgate and Erlanger; closes Thursday at Showcase Cinemas Springdale.)
Isn’t Everything
With expanded \Short Takes, have a glance at the best and worse of the newest CD releases
FAR FROM HOME THE ADVENTURES OF YELLOWDOG 20th Century Fox’s family adventureFar from Home tells the tale of a young boy who becomes lost at sea. His trusted doggie leads him home. Too bad theater owners 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 Turfway Park and Forest Fair.)
REVIEWS BY MIKE BREEN
As part of our music mix, CityBeat reviews the newest CDs, discs by artists coming to town and records that may be obscure but deserve to be slammed or appraised anyway. Sometimes (actually, usually) this space in the paper, which we lovingly call “Short Takes,” isn’t big enough to accomodate every review. So, in tribute to spring-cleaning, here’s a few recent releases that have crossed the peach crate in the corner I call my desk.
★ FORREST GUMP After raking in 13 Oscar nominations, our man 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 think. (Rated PG-13; at area Showcase Cinemas.)
KIM PENSYL When
You Were Mine
(Shanachie/Cachet, Box 284, Newton, NJ 07860).
HEAVYWEIGHTS In Heavyweights, Disney trots out a family comedy about overweight kids at a summer camp who face ridicule from their peers and eventually triumph. This one’s from director/writer Steven Brill who previously brought us The Mighty Ducks. Big surprise. With Ben Stiller. (Rated PG; at area Showcase Cinemas.)
Keyboardist Kim Pensyl has been an established Jazz player since his 1988 debut, Pensyl Sketches. On his latest release, Pensyl adds vocals to his already contemporaiy, R&B-flavored Jazz, on the Babyfacepenned track “Another Sad Love Song” (previously a hit for Toni Braxton). There’s a quaint beauty in Pensyl’s composing and arranging, and with the subtle Funk undertow and overall urban feel of this thoroughly modern record, it’s no wonder Pensyl is one of the leading forces in contemporary Jazz. Pensyl performs Saturday at the Hyatt Regency, Downtown.
CityBeat grade: B.
THE JAYHAWKS Tomorrow The Green Grass (American).
The jayhawks, probably the best traditional Rock band in America, combine the finest elements of Gram Parsons’ soulfulness, Rolling Stones’ honky-tonk and Neil Young’s uncanny songwriting ability into a faultless blend of incredibly well-crafted and spirited songs. The band’s major label debut, Hollywood Town Hall, was widely heralded in 1992. With Tomorrow The Green Grass taking the vivacity of Hollywood Town Hall to a pinnacle, the Jayhawks’ reputation as one of the best stateside bands should deservedly grow enormous. Every song on Tomorrow has classic scribbled all over it.
CityBeat grade: A.
LOOSE DIAMONDS New Location (dos, 500 San Marcos, Suite 200, Austin, TX 78702).
With a classic rootsy Rock sound, this Austin quartet is quickly making a big name for itself. Traditionalists with a gruff yet subdued exterior, the guys in Loose Diamonds make soulful Country Rock that has a barband appeal that masks the group’s graceful and ample songwriting ability. Highlighted by a multi-vocal approach that keeps the listener from getting too used to one voice, the group spans from gritty, guitar-driven rockers like “For Shame of Doing Wrong” to the moving and more balladesque title track. Killer stuff. Loose
Diamonds will appear with Watershed at Ripleys on Thursday.
CityBeat grade: A.
P J HARVEY To Bring You My Love (Island).
PollyHarvey’s emotionally raw and strikingly pained voice makes you flinch in part from near pity for her vulnerable bleeding heart but mostly because of the massive pain that marks her vocals and words. Here, Harvey continues the dynamic whispered and screeching anguish from her previous release, Rid ofMe. Having worked with producers like underground guru Steve Albini and now with Flood (known for his work with U2), the trademark scraping sound that Harvey flaunts on her records is clearly the sole work of Harvey’s genius. With the consistently stunning albums she has created so far, Harvey should easily go down in musical history as the heiress to poetic Punk princess Patti Smith’s throne. CityBeat grade: A.
ADAM ANT Wonderful (Capitol).
Ant returns with his first record in five years after concentrating on his film career, and the result is a pretty flaccid and mellow homecoming. Back on board is longtime Ant collaborator Marco Pirroni and, while there are marks of the old days of Antmusic (the melodrama, most notably), the songs show a maturity in writing and presentation. But Wonderful is just barely a decent album with no stand-outs. Like so many other aging Rock stars’ work, it lacks verve and innovation. Vive le schlock.
This Cleveland band stands eye to eye with “hippie”type bands dominating music scenes around the country. Group members, who have jammed with the likes of Greg Allman and John Popper (Blues Traveler) during last year’s H.O.A.R.D.E. tour, take the spontaneous Grateful Dead formula and make it their own on this live CD. Combining a bluesy shuffle and danceable rhythms with soulful vocals and a trippy Dead-like overall vibe, this group is due for the kind of attention H.O.A.R.D.E. buddies are getting. Ororobos will bring its multi-media show “Oroboganza,” featuring jugglers, musicians and computer art between sets to Ripleys on Friday. An acoustic set will open the show at 9:30 p.m.
The Jayhawks’ solid reputation can only get stronger
Tomorrow the Green Grass. Making up the band, unmaking the bed, are (from left) Marc Perlman, Karen Grotberg, Louris, Tim O’Reagan and Mark Olsen.
CityBeat grade: B.
CONTINUES ON PAGE 18
SHORT TAKES: FROM PAGE 17
THE THE Hanky Panky (550 Music/Epic).
It’s kind of hard to miss when you’re recording the songs of Hank Williams Sr. So Alternative music giant Matt Johnson (who basically is The The) really would have had to have screwed up to make this all-Williams cover album bad. To his credit, Johnson gives the songs an incredibly soulful rendering, with the songs fluctuating from celebratoiy, Gospel-like tunes like “Six More
Miles,” to more spooky, ghost-townlike tracks like “I Saw the Light.” Watch for Johnson’s Monday Night Football, a tribute to Williams Jr. The The’s Matt Johnson
CltyBeat grade: A.
URbAN DANCE SQUAD Persona Non Grata (Virgin).
With “Deeper Shade Of Soul,” UDS had a crossover Rap/Altemative hit that was an almost novelty favorite. And after four years without releasing a record, the group is back. Since losing their deejay (who provided the band’s trademark oddness), the core members have sharpened the fierceness of their sound that was the base of their bombastic live shows. Straight from the top, with “Demagogue,” UDS unleashes a shower of riff-heavy HipHop that puts the group in the league of Rage Against the Machine. Persona is a refreshing and invigorating comeback for a band way too good to be lost in obscurity.
CltyBeat grade: A.
QUICKSAND Manic Compression (Island).
On this New York-based groove-core quartet’s sophomore record, Quicksand continues its muscular, punkish sound with even more creativity than its debut, Slip. Like a slightly less experimental version of Fugazi, Quicksand takes the syncopated nature of bands like Helmet but gives it a more melodic and less metallic
whitewash. With the success of lesser so-called Punk bands, watch for Quicksand to get huge in 1995.
CltyBeat grade: A.
SYNAESTHESIA Embody (Cleopatra, 8726 S. Sepulveda, Suite D-82, Los Angeles, CA 90045).
This ambient/electronic piece is the work of Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber of Frontline Assembly, who “sonically manipulate” the songs of R. Deckard. The extended tracks are boundless with swooping sonic bursts and are both tranquil and energized with the hypnotic dance undertones. “New Horizons” is a 10-minute aural journey with an occasional Mideastern flavor that would make Philip Glass proud. Another stand-out is “Door to the Other Side,” with its hypnotizing wave of tonal gushes.
CltyBeat grade: B.
VARIOUS ARTISTS Women for Women (Mercury).
With a stellar, all-star female lineup, Womenfor Women is intended to raise awareness about breast cancer with a portion of the proceeds going to the National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations. The packaging features vital information on the disease. The songs are by heavyweights such as Annie Lennox, Carly Simon, Melissa Etheridge and Tina Turner. Though the songs are some of the best Pop hits of the past couple of years, it would have been nice to have some songs on the record that aren’t so huge and overplayed. Still, the songs compliment each other so well that the disc makes for a great listen all the way through.
CltyBeat grade: B.
CUBANTE Antimatter (Machinery/Dynamica, Box 1394, Hollywood, CA 90078).
The UK’s industrial duo Cubante is even more raging than the most vicious Ministry and Nine Inch Nails. For NIN, anger comes with almost sad reflection and vulnerability. With Cubante, it’s all about fury. John Lydon sang “Anger is an energy,” and this band rides that energy with focused abandon. The unstoppable, thick drive is reminiscent of KMFDM in its vocal and overall approach. Metallic guitars give way to thrashing Techno-like drum beats, barely giving the listener time to catch a breath.
CltyBeat grade: B.
KLARK KENT Kollected Works (I.R.S.).
“One day I fell out of the pack/I felt like Yasir Arafat.” It’s those kind of goofy, youthful and dated couplets that made Klark Kent such a thoroughly entertaining listen especially when I was 15. Kent is actually the alter ego of Police drummer Stewart Copeland. While this dense Punk/New Wave mix ain’t no Sting, these enthusiastic recordings (mostly from the late 70s and early ’80s) hold up pretty well. Quirky and kinetic (and occasionally bearing the mark of early Police work), these works are a lot more spontaneous and vigorous, albeit immature, than the soundtrack work and pop attempts that have peppered Copeland’s illustrious career.
CityBeat grade: B.
New Tunes
POSITIVELY YEAH YEAH YEAH
BY JOHN M. JAMES Seattle Star Side Project
This month Columbia Records sez it will release Above, the debut album from Mad Season, whose membership draws from the biggest names in Seattle-areacode Rock vocalist Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, guitarist Mike McCready of Pearl Jam and drummer Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees.
The first single looks to be “I’m Above” featuring a duet of Staley and Marc Lanegan of the Screaming Trees. Word is that a cover of John Lennon’s "I Don't Want To Be a Soldier” may show up on the album, too.
Lemme Ramble On
Don't miss it! Thursday, March 9, on the Late Show with David Letterman\ It's Oasis! The hottest musical import from England currently, live! And if you desire a closer seat, mark Saturday, March 18, in yer rock 'n' roil daytimer as their rare U.S.
some panels) at the South By Southwest Music Conference, March 15-19 in Austin, Texas. At the beginning of April, he'll be a part of the weekly national radio broadcast of Mountain Stage and then creep into our area with dates on April 13 in Cleveland, April 14 in Ann Arbor, Mich., and April 15 in Chicago. And dig this rumor ahem that Gary Oldman (in my opinion the greatest living actor today) will portray Jimmy Page in the film adaptation of the Led Zeppelin chronicle, Hammer of the Gods. From Sid to Jimmy, from Hank to Hendrix. Lollapalooza '95 goes on-line this month as a Wide World of Music website on the Net. The website will contain information, dates, etc., as well as interactive interviews with festival originator Perry Farell. Latest buzz on acts includes Hole, White Zombie, Stone Temple Pilots, Snoog Dogg and Cypress Hill on the ever-so-boring main stage, but, heck, a day in the sun and great past side-stage line-ups still get me excited. For more, point your browser to: http://american.recordings.com/wwwofmusic/ubl.htmi
Releases Coming Tuesday
And like the winds, young grasshopper, are subject to change. 2Pac Me Against the World (Interscope); Laurie Anderson The Ugly One with Jewels (Warner Bros.), live from London; Simon Bonney Everyman (Mute), ex-Crime and the City Solution; Chokebore Weightless (Amphetamine Reptile); Cold Water Flat TBA (Fort Apache / MCA); Collective Soul Collective Soul (Atlantic), sophomore album; the Dead Milkmen Final Delivery (Restless); Faith No More King For a Day Fool For a Lifetime (Slash), limited two-LP vinyl release date; Helium The Dirt of Luck (Matador); Elton John Made in England (Polygram); Annie Lennox Medusa (Arista), all covers; Moby Everything is Wrong (Elektra); the Mother Hips Back tofhe Grotto (American); Peter Murphy “Scarlet Thing In You" (Beggars Banquet/Atlantic), CD 5-inch single; Graham Parker 12 Haunted Episodes (Razor & Tie); Iggy Pop & the Stooges Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell (Griffin); Linda Ronstadt Feels Like Home (Elektra), with Tom Petty and Neil Young covers; Rottin Razkals Rottin to the Core (Mad Sounds); Spyro Gyra Love & Other Obsessions (MCA); Matthew Sweet 100% Fun (Zoo), CD and cassette release; various artists Encomium - A Tribute to Led Zeppelin (Atlantic), with Tori Amos, Sheryl Crow, Stone Temple Pilots, Helmet; Neil Young & Crazy Horse The Complex Sessions (Warner Bros.), VHS video.
JOHN JAMES be found behind the counter at Wizard Records in Corryville.
BY MIKE BREEN
Cincinnati on Record
It seems like local bands have been putting out records, tapes and CDs at an ever-quickening pace. Who’s going to be the next big Cincy group to get a national recording contract? Who knows.
But here are a few of the current crop of local releases that may be contenders for the big time.
Grand Poobah Futon is a relatively new Cincinnati band whose skills indicate veteran status, playing subtle and unique acoustic music that members say is “anti-Seattle.”
The music on Johari Window’s debut, Pondering Thoughts, ranges from psychedelic to Rock to Funk.
The band’s six-song cassette, Hangbrain, is highlighted by great storytelling lyrics and a sound that is reminiscent of Jeff Buckley with its depth and dynamics. This is a highly talented band whose enigmatic music speaks for itself. Definitely check out this original crew.
Mister Black’s CD, Simply Objectionable, is the first disc release from the Cincinnati-based Altema-Pop trio formerly known as the Impostors. Despite a wide range of influences (Tool to John Gorka to Prince), the band’s sound is tight and focused with a wry wit. There’s a quirky Pop Rock feel to Simply Objectionable that jumps from the bluesy strut of “She Is,” to the dynamic and morose single “Impact Modifier,” to rockin’ and humorous “Whispered Secrets” without losing the group’s consistent and singular sound. See the band live Friday at Mt. Adams Pavilion (949 Pavilion St., Mount Adams).
The quintet Mystery Wagon has a quirky and organic sound that is full of energy and refreshingly hard too catego
rize. Singer Eric Falstrom, known for his previous solo work, has a high, scraggly voice that sounds a bit like the vocalist for the ’60s band, ? and the Mysterians. But Mystery Wagon has a decidedly ereative, uncontrived and crafted sound that sets it apart from more straightahead outfits. The band’s four-song, radio-sampler cassette has a kinetic energy that is demo-quality raw (which lends itself well to the group’s sound), providing a ragged glimpse into a clever crew. Mystery Wagon plays Saturdays at Zipper’s (604 Main St., Covington).
Beel Jak’s debut 7-inch single is more of the over-the-top power slam that the band is becoming (in)famous for. Sounding like a close shave with a cheese grater, this trio creates abrasive soundscapes that are oddly atmospheric with Jeremy Springer’s burst of noisy guitar chunks floating above the drive of the machinelike rhythm section. Anger and humor mix in the lyrical pool, with the delivery being furious but the content being like a series of inside jokes (sample: “I like you more/because you’re a whore”). Beel Jak is recording an album at Cincy’s Ultrasuede Studios.
The Goshorn Brothers is a rare band that lives up to its local reputation and press. Impeccable songwriting skills and a solid Blues/Country/Rock mix, the Goshoms are Pure Prairie League alumni. Fans of that band will find the Goshoms’ music even sweeter to their ears. On their first CD, True Stories, a series of live tracks recorded at Tommy’s on Main Street in Over-the-Rhine, the group is backed by an excellent group of musidans, including Jazzers Steve Schmidt and Randy Villars. Running through a slew of well-written originals as well as a couple of choice covers (including the Kinks’ “I’m Not Like Everybody Else”), True Stories is both timeless and flawless. The Goshom Brothers play every Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Tommy’s (1427 Main St., Over-the-Rhine).
Johari Window is a diverse five-piece that has performed around town with like-minded bands Heavy Weather and Middle Earth. The group has a natural and emotional groove and possesses the impact of the best of 10,000 Maniacs. Singers Amy O’Meara and Suzie Winings harmonize with a slightly offbeat, endearing demeanor and each hit melodies that are often moving. The music on the debut, Pondering Thoughts, is an equally stunning whirling dervish of different influences with results that range from psychedelic swirl, to vital Rock crunch to a discriminating Funk underbelly often at the same time.
The band My Friend Kevin is an astute Alternative Rock outfit with an essential and histrionic feel that recalls
Alt-Rock’s biggest stars. The heart-felt delivery of singer Jim Stilgenbauer is on par with the vocals from such bands as Live and Pearl Jam, groups that have a way of connecting with the universal subconscious by being emotionally driven and realistic in their presentation. If they stick it out, these guys have huge potential. See My Friend Kevin on March 29 at Top Cat’s (2822 Vine St., Clifton).
Concert Watch
Tickets are available from TicketMaster (749-4949) for these shows:
Live with Love Spit Love at Millet Hall in Oxford on March 24. $12. Songstress Kirsty MacColl hits Bogart’s on March 25. $6/$8 day of show. Blues Rock superstars Blues Traveler at the Newport in Columbus on March 28. $16.50/$18 day of show. Veruca Salt and Hazel at the Newport on April 5. $12.50/$14. The magnificent fIREHOSE bassist Mike Watt and Nirvana’s Dave Grohl and his new band Foo Fighters at Bogart’s on Wednesday, April 19. $8/$9 day of show.
Also coming soon:
Singer/songwriter Michael Jerling at the Southgate House on March 24. $10 at the door. 779-9462. Swirly rockers Catherine with Letters to Cleo at Sudsy Malone’s on March 30. Cover. 751-2300.
Send all music-related material to MIKE BREEN, Cincinnati CityBeat, 23 E. Seventh St., Suite 617, Cincinnati, OH 45202.
Smack Bunny Baby was hailed by SPIN as one of the "10 Best Albums You Didn't Hear" of 1993. But in 1995, Brainiac's Bonsai Superstar is going to be one of the 10 best albums that you will hear. AVAILABLE AT ALL CAMEL0T STORES
BY GARY GAFFNEY
Head Lines i Film
Turfway, Forest Fair and Biggs Place Eastgate.)
JUNIOR Director Ivan Reitman (Kindergarten Cop, Twins), should know how to make Arnold Schwarzenegger funny. In Junior, he blows the best sight gag, pregnant Schwarzenegger by miscasting Danny DeVito as a straight man and Emma Thompson as some slapstick clown. With Pamela Reed. (Rated PG-13; at Norwood, Turfway and Biggs Place Eastgate.)
JUST CAUSE Paul Armstrong (Sean Connery), a Harvard Law professor answers a cry for justice from Bobby Earl Ferguson (Blair Underwood), a convict on Florida’s Death Row. As Armstrong investigates the details of an 8-year-old case, he encounters resistance from both the arresting officer, Det. Tanny Brown (Lawrence Fishburne) and the residents of a small southern Florida town. Director
R; at Norwood.)
★ 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 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 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
Hong Kong Phoo-ey
Searching
for Chinese action movie, filmfanatic scours rental stores with varying results
ity Beat sent local movie-fiend LARRY THOMAS to video stores with one challenge: Find a copy of the Hong Kong action flick Hard Boiled.
Shouldn’t be too hard, right? American filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction) consider Hard Boiled’s director, John Woo an idol. Here’s what Thomas found.
Corporate mentality
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 may find pleasure in The Quick and the Dead. Chances are, no one else would. (Rated R; closes Thursday at Showcase Cinemas Springdale and Erlanger.)
★ 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.
Stepping into the Anderson Township Blockbuster at 8094 Beechmont Ave., I saw changes since I last visited. The section of cult movies like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is noticeably absent. The foreign-language film section has fewer titles, although the available entries such as Diva and Cousin, Cousine are a good starting point for neophytes. Making use of the extra space is a big video-game section and children’s video corner, which speaks volumes for Blockbuster’s market. There also are a zillion copies of all the latest hits, none of which were available. On the plus side: The store stocked Hard Boiled, as well as a documentary about Ed Wood, Look Back in Angora; and one copy of the Mexican horror film Cronos.
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 Showcase Cinemas Cincinnati.)
The Hyde Park Blockbuster on 3880 Paxton Ave. carries the same selection of current hits, but offers a larger selection of classics and foreign titles. It has a small martial arts section and a smattering of “mature” titles. There were two copies of Hard Boiled. Rental rates at Blockbuster are $3.25 for two nights, $2.11 each additional night for regular movies. Video games and kids’ movies are priced differently.
★ 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 Herrman. (Rated PG; opens Friday at Norwood, Turfway, Forest Fair and Biggs Place Eastgate.)
Stopping at Network Video in Mount Washington (2042 Beechmont Ave.), I found enough variety on the other shelves to stave off disappointment at finding all the new releases checked out. The store offers a martial arts section and a hefty soft-core adult section (nothing worse than what’s shown on cable, though). Surprisingly, this Network Video has no foreign films. No copies of Hard Boiled here. Video games take up an ample portion of the store. This Network also rents laser discs, not a film buffs dream selection, but enough current releases to make it worthwhile. One-night rentals here are $2.49 for new releases, $1.99 others, $1 kids’ titles.
Even supermarkets such as the Hyde Park Kroger (3760 Paxton Ave.) are getting into the video-rental act. The good news: They have great prices. Kroger charges $1.97 per night for new releases; 99<t for others; Mondays and Tuesdays are rent-one-get-one-free nights. The bad news: The selection reeks. Think you’ll find a copy of Hard Boiled? Think again. Krogers have the hits and huge kids selections, but that’s about it. No store featured a Hong Kong section or Japanese animation. “Homogenized” seems to be the corporate watchword.
The free and the brave
Clifton’s Home Cinema Video, at 3234 Jefferson Ave., is worth checking out. Yes, it has the expected new releases such as Clear and Present Danger. And yes, all the copies were checked out. What separates Home Cinema from other dealers is the eclectic collection of titles that can’t be found elsewhere, such as Claude Chabrol’s Betty. Although I didn’t see a copy of Hard Boiled, I did notice an earlier Woo effort, A Better Tomorrow. Home Cinema has the most scintillating foreign film section, a small soft-R grouping, a good bunch of classics and even a copy of the six-tape volume of the epic documentary, Shoah. Rentals are $2.63 per night for new releases; $2.11 for older titles. The main branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, 800 Vine St., downtown, offers a good assortment of classic and foreign titles. It doesn’t cany Hard Boiled, but the price can’t be beat. Library patrons can check out movies for two days for free, with the ability to renew for two more days.
Hard Boiled turned up at a couple of local video stores.
The ultimate solution
★ THE RIVER WILD In the lat est 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 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
lege bachelor pad. Roommates also gives that old opposites-attract theme a whirl. The prudish, old-fashioned Rocky knocks heads with his young grandson all the time. Pity actor Peter Falk (A Woman Under the Influence, Wings of Desire). It took five hours a day to apply the layers of latex for him to appear as an old man. The makeup works. Nothing else in the films does. Roommates is laughably bad. We learn that Rocky lives 107 years. This film feels just as long. With Julianne Moore and Ellen Burstyn. (Rated PG; at area Loews Theatres.)
THE SANTA CLAUSE Tim Allen 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 box-office draw do not always match. With Judge Reinhold and Peter Boyle. (Rated PG; at Norwood, Turfway, Forest Fair and Biggs Place Eastgate.)
THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
Based on the Stephen King short story “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption," director Frank Darabont inspires more than frightens with this tale of friendship behind bars. Voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were very inspired; they nominated The Shawshank Redemption for Best Picture Oscar, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor for Morgan Freeman. With Tim Robbins. (Rated R; at area Showcase Cinemas.)
STARGATE Cutting-edge special effects wrap around a rather old-fashioned science-fiction epic. Consider Stargate as a hip Forbidden Planet. In true ’90s fashion, The Crying Game’s Jaye Davidson steals the show instead of Robby the Robot. With Kurt Russell and James Spader. (Rated PG-13; at Forest Fair.)
STAR TREK GENERATIONS
TV’s Next Generation has pushed James T. Kirk and company off the silver screen. Generations’ flimsy story about an evil scientist who harnesses a rift in time is high on technology and low on drama. Too bad: Trekkers deserve better, and non-fans won’t get any of the inside jokes. With Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes. (Rated PG; at Norwood, Turfway, Forest Fair, Biggs Place Eastgate and Westwood.)
Ex-CIA agent Crowe (Laurence Fishburne) is seduced by another out-of-favor
operative, Margaret (Ellen Barkin), in Bad Company.
STREET FIGHTER Inspired by the video game, Street Fighter puts Jean-Claude Van Damme, the Muscles of Brussels, in a cartoon environment about an Allied Nations commando team against the psychotic warlord Gen. M. Bison (the late Raul Julia).
Director Steven De Souza, screen writer for Die Hards 1 & 2, gets the chance to prove if he can direct all the stuff that his imagination comes up with. With Kylie Minogue and Wes Studi. (Rated PG-13; at Norwood, Turfway and Biggs Place Eastgate.)
TALES FROM THE CRYPT PRESENTS DEMON KNIGHT Tales from the Crypt takes its unique mix of black comedy and pulp horror to the big screen. Director Ernest Dickerson (Juice) does his best to keep the horror and gross-out fiends happy. With Billy Zane and Jada Pinkett. (Rated R; at Norwood, Turfway, Forest Fair and Biggs Place Eastgate.)
★ FEARLESS Director Peter Weir’s (Dead Poets Society) tale about plane-crash survivors coming to terms with the accident becomes more poignant upon each showing. Overlooked upon its theatrical release, Fearless rides on the strength of strong performances by leads Jeff Bridges and Rosie Perez. Don’t settle for watching this film on video. Fearless loses too much of its potency on a TV set. Take advantage of seeing it again on the big screen. (Rated R; 3:15 p.m. Sunday at the New Neon Movies, Dayton, Ohio.)
MARY SHELLY’S FRANKENSTEIN All of actor/director Kenneth Branagh’s pomp and circumstance result in a monster movie that contemplates the metaphysical more than menace. Robert DeNiro’s spin on the monster is all makeup and little action. Branagh’s version stays truer to Mary Shelley's vision than other movies. Unfortunately, it seldom scares. With Tom Hulce and Helena Bonham Carter. (Rated R; 11:30 p.m. Friday at the New Neon Movies, Dayton.)
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW Local lovers of the time warp may want to travel up Interstate 75 for the opportunity to throw toast and toilet paper. Hey, how far will you go for a sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania? (Rated R; midnight Saturday at the New Neon Movies, Dayton, Ohio.)
★ SIXTEEN CANDLES Back in the ’80s, director John Hughes (The Breakfast Club) created a new film genre, the serious-minded teen comedy. Sixteen Candles, his first film, may also be his best. Its story is rather ordinary. A high school geek (Anthony Michael Hall) has a crush on a female classmate (Molly Ringwald) who has eyes for a handsome jock. Sure, Sixteen Candles made star of Ringwald, but
★ THREE COLORS BY KRZYSZTOF KIESLOWSKI Ending his career on a high note, Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Red earned Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography. People either love or hate Kieslowski. Academy voters love him this year. Audiences also loved Red's story of a young woman (Irene Jacob) who enters into the life of a bitter, retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintgnant). Dialogue often takes a back seat to the director’s photography in his films. Emotions are represented visually through objects like telephones and short-wave radios.
For those who enjoyed Red and missed the earlier two films in Kieslowski’s trilogy, here’s a wonderful chance to sit back and watch a magnificent opus in its entirety. Similar in style to Red, Kieslowski’s first installment, Blue, looks at Julie (Juliette Binoche), a woman who must come to terms with the loss of her family. Possessing a sharp, comic sensibility, White presents a fairly slap-stick tale about a Polish hairdresser (Zbigniew Zamachowski) and his French wife (Julie Delpy).
★ WHAT’S UP DOC? Director Peter Bogdanovich had classic screwball comedies on his mind when he directed this comedy vehicle for lead Barbra Streisand. Granted, there is nothing original in this story about an absent-minded musicologist (Ryan O’Neal) who becomes involved with daffy young woman (Streisand). Soon, crooks and ether assorted mayhem jump into their lives. As a homage to a past film genre, What's Up Doc? hits more
THE WALKING DEAD With a strong track record in cinema, producers George Jackson and Douglas McHenry (New Jack City, Jason's Lyric) bring the Vietnam movie full circle with this look at the experience of AfricanAmerican soldiers in the war. Sgt. Barkley (Joe Morton) leads a group of men on a mission to evacuate the survivors of an abandoned Viet Cong P.O.W. camp. People in the film industry credit New Jack City for creating the new genre of the black gangster film. The Walking Dead may do the same for war movies. With Joe Morton. (Rated R; at Showcase Cinemas Cincinnati and Springdale; Showcase them up. (Unrated; 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Main Library, Downtown. 369-6922.)
Kieslowski’s style sometimes leaves audiences questioning. Whether watching the trilogy in its entirety, or one of the individual stories, here’s the rule for enjoying a Kieslowski film: Don't think, just feel. (All three films are rated R; at The Movies, downtown.)
PHOTO: ALAN ZENUK
20-28. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. 1223 Central Parkway, Over-the-Rhine. 381-4033.
GALLERY 99 New and varied works by 17 members. Through April 30. Noon-6 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, noon-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday. 1101 St. Gregory St., Mount Adams. 651-1441.
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 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.
UtterKiosk
Nellie Taft Redux
Back from Boston and Rome, former Cincinnatian builds new abstracts upon a base ofpalimpsest
REVIEW BY FRAN WATSON
About five years ago, Nellie Taft was featured at Closson’s Downtown Gallery. She displayed fragments of landscapes in brilliant color and intriguing composition, with more than a little West Coast influence and a lot of terrific spatial manipulation. A few incongruous pieces were shown in an alcove apart. Dark and exciting, their total abstraction foretold the new Nellie Taft now showing at Closson’s Kenwood Gallery.
Taft has been studying at Boston’s School of the Museum of Fine Arts and collecting awards since that 1989 exhibit for everything from printmaking to four Copely Society prizes for painting, two of which were firsts. She also received the Clarissa Bartlett Traveling Scholarship Award in 1991, choosing Rome as the city in which she would work.
tant script is preserved, ready to be called back in to play at the artist’s whim. The warm beige of exposed linen becomes an earthy base for an encyclopedia of paint activity. This same ability is seen again in an untitied mixed-media piece where skillful tonal placement makes a quiet putty-colored patch shout as loudly as any red ever could.
Ceramic sculptures by Robert Pulley of Columbus, Ind., are included in a group show opening Monday at the Dayton Visual Arts Center.
CIVIC GARDEN CENTER OF GREATER CINCINNATI From the Far Side, features the works of group of Carnegie Arts Center artists. Through March 31. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. 2715 Reading Road. Avondale. 221-0981.
★ CLOSSON’S GALLERY KENWOOD Paintings, primarily abstracts, by Nellie Leaman Taft. Through March 25. 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, are 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.
GALLERY AT WELLAGE & BUXTON Ballard Borich, a noted poet, displays his abstract paintings on paper in A Larger Group of Smaller Paintings. Through March
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, born and raised in Newport and now living in Florida, combines remnants and artifacts of his past uneaVthed recently during a visit to his now torn-down former residence with these powdered graphite drawings. Through March 18. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. 1435 Main St., Over-the-Rhine. 651-4613.
INNER SPACE DESIGN Currently showing works by James Brown, Robert Motherwell, Roy Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelley, Robert Rauschenberg, Louis Bourgeois, Donald Judd, Elizabeth Murray, Robert Indiana, Tom.Nakashima and Louise Nevelson. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. MondaySaturday. 2128 Madison Road, O’Bryonville. 533-0300.
JAMAR GALLERY Has closed and is currently looking for a new location. It will be located temporarily at 79 Locust Hill Road, Anderson Township. By appointment only. 752-1344.
KALDI’S COFFEE HOUSE & BOOKSTORE Pam Polley's paintings, queens have known, attempt to overcome stereotypical expectations of women, celebrating instead their strength, sexuality and power. 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.
KZF GALLERY Paintings and drawings by Ken Landon Buck, sculpture by Barbara Beatrice, paintings and prints by B.B. Hall. Through April. MORE, PAGE 24
Rome is such a visual feast from so many different points of view, that Taft’s decision upon a theme for her work was surprisingly focused and universal. Graffiti, as old as writing itself, abounds on modem Italian walls, a kind of running record of daily life, today’s message slapped atop yesterday’s without completely obliterating the outdated communication. In ancient times, tablets would be erased and written on again, leaving remnants of the first record as historical evidence.
These are palimpsests, and aside from their historical value, contain some classic artistic qualities. Layering provides depth and mystery, calligraphy acts as line and direction and the very familiarity of script connects with everyone.
Seven tiny gems, acrylic on paper, measuring as little as 4 by 4 inches, were the beginning of Taft’s exploration of palimpsest as an element of abstract painting. Scribblings beneath a veil of paint submerge and resurface without ever completing a thought. They provide the complex basis for good paint, guiding the eye to still pools of color or busy nests of form. These were the trial balloons of the show “to see if it would work.”
When she was convinced of its viability, palimpsest became part of larger oil paintings. Three of these “e,” “Earth Whisper” and “Abundance” are real gangbusters. Taft takes advantage of her left-handedness by writing in mirror-images. Words are sheer gibberish, with little wads of letters bubbling along in a flurry of paint strokes in the top part of “e,” while a solitary swathe of ochre floats dramatically on deep blue-black space at the bottom, completely utilizing its challenging 60-by-18-inch surface.
Earth tones are dominant throughout the show. The former Cihcinnatian puts them to work thrusting her focal points forward with solid color-sense. The swaying X-composition of “Abundance” happens over calligraphy placed directly on raw linen. When the rabbit-skin glue is applied to prepare the support for paint, the impor-
Ten uninhibited monoprints are adequate explanation of Taft’s award as Printer of the Year from the Museum School. She approaches this medium with all the reverence of skinny-dipping on a hot July day. A rectangle here, a gesture there, and a splash of color in the midst of black somewhere else makes for the same kind of pleasant spontaneity found in her paintings. That instinctive sense of balance that corrals the energy of Taft’s paintings into composition provides subliminal success in her prints. If there were any doubts as to her control over color, “Karasjok Night” banishes them. An infinity of uneven black nearly covers its surface, appearing to break in just a few small areas and peel back at the lower edge to reveal an unremarkable green elevated to luminosity through placement and contrast. Moves like this place Taft firmly in command of her media.
With so much good from which to choose, some pieces must suffer in comparison. In a quartet of oblong paintings, individual works hung side by side, Taft does not quite work the same magic seen in “e." Expressive painted areas pop up between hard-edged solid divisions of varying lengths displayed so that these edges read across the four at varying places. They are somehow too calm to compete with their flamboyant companions and they have little to say. Taft’s paintings speak across that critical void between the viewer and the art, telling secrets that only they can know. It is the lack of this intense communication, so obvious elsewhere in the gallery, which diminishes these four.
In this exhibit, as in the 1989 display, two paintings seem completely disconnected from the works previously discussed. Two glowing landscapes realistically flash back to the technicolor influence of West Coast artist, David Parks. They’re good, no mistake, and while incongruous, they do play a part in the success of Taft’s current work. Nine pieces were sold on opening night, and the work continues to sell in a community that is consistently lukewarm toward complete abstraction. Viewing the two styles in the same space, rendered with equal ability, seems to be working to the advantage of the avant-garde, just as her abstract work stole the show in the midst of Taft’s 1989 realism. When art is this strong, seeing is believing.
Nellie Taft’s “Untitled” is a mixed-media on paper. It’s on display until March 25.
NELLIE TAFTS work is display through March 25 at Closson’s Gallery Kenwood, 7866 Montgomery Road, Kenwood. 891-5531.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CLOSSONS
Art
9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. 655 Eden Park Drive, seventh floor, Walnut Hills. 621-6211.
LEFTHANDED MOON A continu
ing exhibition of hand-carved and painted fimo pendants by Jeni B. and ceramic rattles by Nance Emmet.
11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday. 48 E. Court St., Downtown. 784-1166.
MACHINE SHOP
GALLERY Juried DAAP
Undergraduate Show.. Through March 17. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. TuesdaySaturday. 100 E. Central Parkway, Over-the-Rhine. 556-1928.
★ MALTON GALLERY Amish Drawings highlights works by a selftaught anonymous Amish girl from Holmes County, Ohio. Gallery One. Works by Fran Watson, Amy Mehalick and Althea Thompson are on display in Gallery Two. Both shows run through March 31. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. MondaySaturday. 2709 Observatory Ave., Hyde Park. 321-8614.
MARITAIN GALLERY Paintings by William Schickel and prints by Georges Rouault. Through April 30. 1-5 p.m. SundayFriday. 127 W. Loveland Ave., Loveland. 683-1152.
★ MARTA HEWETT GALLERY Glass sculpture by Edward B. Francis.
6-10 p.m. Friday. Through April 10. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, noon5 p.m. Saturday. 1209 Main St., Over-the-Rhine. 421-7883.
MILLER GALLERY
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 on display.
PENDLETON ART CENTER This building houses a multitude of artists. 1310 Pendleton St., Over-the-Rhine. 721-6311.
GALLERY Dayton Area Works on Paper is a juried exhibition showcasing artists living within a 30-mile radius of Dayton. 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.
★ STUDIO 701 Art From the Heart showcases large and small works on canvas and paper by M. Katherine Hurley, winner of a recent Artist's magazine award. A good look at conservative landscape work. Studio 701 of the Pendleton Art Center, 1310 Pendleton St., Over-theRhine. 241-4123.
GRETA PETERSON GALERIE Curator Tom Bryant’s Tomar Collection features paintings by Spaniard Evaristo Alguacin, Swede Mona Starfelt, Neil Di Teresa, from Berea, Ky., and Cincinnatian Mark Rozic. Also, sculpture by Jeff Johnston, textiles from Sweden, Portugal, Italy and South America. Through April 1. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. 7696 Camargo Road, Madeira. 561-6785.
★ SUB.GRESSIVE Parasite=Host is an unsettling new installation created by David Opdyke. By appointment through March. 31. 1412 Main St., Over-the-Rhine. 421-4221.
★ TANGEMAN FINE ARTS
GALLERY UC Fine Arts Collection: Enriching the Future, is a project developed 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 to 50004000 B.C. found during UC excavations at Lerna in Greece. Through March 24.10 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. Tangeman Student Center, UC, Clifton. 556-2962.
THOMAS MORE GALLERY Dress Code, sculpture by Jill Rowinski, continues through March 24. The artist will show slides and talk about her performance art at 11:30 a.m. March 14 in Room 2203. 8 a.m.-9:45 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.4:30 p.m. Friday, noon4 p.m. Saturday, 48 p.m. Sunday. Thomas More College Library. 333 Thomas More Parkway, Crestview Hills. 344-3309.
★ TONI BIRCKHEAD GALLERY Recent paintings by Cincinnatian Kim Krause, who teaches at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. Through April 14. 10 a.m.4 p.m. weekdays, Saturday by appointment. 342 W. Fourth St., Downtown. 241-0212. TOON ART GALLERIES Disney Dimensions highlights limited-edition and one-of-a-kind 3-D pieces from raku pottery to collector plates and jewelry. 10 a.m.6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. By appointment Monday. 21 E. Fifth St., Westin Hotel, Downtown. 651-3500.
Kathleen Preininger Johns will demonstrate Pysanky, a 2,000-year-old Ukranian folk tradition of decorating whole eggs, 10 a.m.-noon Saturday at the Cincinnati Art Museum. She also will conduct a hands-on workshop 1-4 p.m.
Impressions of New England features realist paintings by Rudy Colao, Bernard Corey, Anders Gisson, Lewis Gordon, Jonathan Hotz, Stapleton Kearns, T.M. Nicholas, James O’Neil, Paul Strisik, Fohn Terelak and Lori Zummo. Through March 25. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. 2715 Erie Ave., Hyde Park. 871-4420.
MULLANE’S PARKSIDE CAFE
Merle Rosen, designer of the murals at Petersen’s Restaurant downtown, displays her new paintings. Through March 31. 11:30 a.m.-lO p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-ll p.m. Friday, 5-11 p.m. Saturday. 723 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
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. Tuesday-Saturday. 1315 Main St., Over-the-Rhine. 241-6672.
★ LAURA PAUL GALLERY
Presents Key to the Heart, featuring works by jewelry artist Angela Cummins. Through March 11. Defined Paper features the works of Berringer, Clark, Hall and Hubert. Through March 31. 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.
★ UC CLERMONT COLLEGE ART GALLERY Recent Works by Katherine Hurley, Dianne Loos and Lynda S. Reiner.
RAN GALLERY Permanent collection includes works by Potthast, Farny and Meakins. St. Walburg Monastery in Northern Kentucky has received the estate of Margaret Hay Edwards, M.D. The reception to sell the paintings for the estate takes place 5-9 p.m. March 17. There are more than 50 pieces of artwork, including paintings by the famous English artist Haywood Hardy and Tyrone Power’s sister Anne Power Hardenbergh. Proceeds will benefit Madonna Manor and Villa Madonna Academy. Through March 29. 10 a.m.5 p.m. Monday, noon-7 p.m. TuesdaySaturday. Contact Margaret Singh, 3668 Erie Ave., Hyde Park, OH 45208. 871-5604.
RAYMOND GALLERY Italian landscapes by Jennifer Strange, a young artist from Indianapolis. Through March 31.10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-
with paintings, drawings, photographic sequences and installation plans to create a continuous architectural landscape for the viewer to experience when projected three-dimensionally and viewed through polarized glasses; through April 5. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday-Saturday. $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.
MIAMI UNIVERSITY ART MUSE-
UM Distinct from 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 of Africa; 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.
GREAT MIDWEST QUILT SHOW AND SALE On display are 14 contemporary quilts by Miami Valley quilt makers Fern Miller and Helen Stevenson. There also will be an exhibit of antique quilts from the collections of Bertie Wespiser and Jan Thomas. In addition, there will be merchant area in which vendors offer quilts, fabric, crafts and linens. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday-Saturday, noon5 p.m. Sunday. $4. Proceeds benefit the Warren County Historical Society. Montgomery County Fairgrounds Coliseum, 1043 S. Main St., Dayton, Ohio. 513-932-1817. HOMER, WENAMUN AND LATE BRONZE AGE MEDITERRANEAN TRADE The University of Dublin’s J.V. Luce presents the free lecture. 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Room 308, Blegen Library, University of Cincinnati, Clifton. 556-1948.
ST. FRANCIS CENTER FOR PEACE AND RENEWAL Presents Mary Hynes, assistant professor of theology at Avila College in Kansas City, Mo., to speak about forgiveness. Registration for the daylong seminar begins 9 a.m. Saturday. $30 includes lunch. 10290 Mill Road, New Burlington. 825-9300.
RAISING OF THE GREEN Dominican Community Services (DCS) holds its third annual auction/fundraiser Saturday. The evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with a silent auction and casino games and ends with a live auction. The funds raised will benefit DCS’ ongoing efforts to strengthen family life and promote self-sufficiency in the inner-city neighborhoods of the West End and Over-the-Rhine. $40 includes a buffet dinner. Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. 621-0012.
★ NATIONAL AFRO-AMERICAN MUSEUM AND CULTURAL CENTER From Victory to Freedom: Afro-American Life in the '50s is a permanent exhibition featuring artifacts staged in settings reminiscent of the period. $3.50 adults, $1.50 students.
6 BAILEY CIRCUS The Greatest Show on Earth comes to Riverfront Coliseum on Wednesday with special guest Asian elephants, Romeo and Juliet. Through March 19. $5.50-$13.50. 100 Broadway St., Downtown. 721-1000.
★ THE TAFT MUSEUM A spe cial display of four works by Grandma Moses continues through March 19. In conjunction with the Grandma Moses exhibition, the museum offers a free family program 1-3 p.m. Saturday with storytelling, gallery games and a take-home art project for children 5-10. 10 a.m.-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.
SEXUAL ASSAULT AND SEXUAL
ENTITLEMENT: IS THERE A CONNECTION? The male/female dialogue takes place noon Friday. University Center, Room 303, Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights. 572-6497.
ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE Begins 1 p.m. Sunday on Pete Rose Way. Call 251-2222 for more information.
THE THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN BOOT SCOOT - Round up your cowboy hats, grab your hat and get yourself together for a night of line dancing. Young Country Y96’s Coyote Kim and C.C. Rider will lead the corral all night long. 9 p.m.-l Saturday. $15. Proceeds will benefit Hamilton County Special Olympics. Xavier University Armory, Evanston. 271-2606.
TURN THE BEAT AROUND The Southern Ohio Rodeo Association and the Dock present a benefit for AVOC with female impersonator Hurricane Summers, live vocalist Michael Newberry and IGRA dance champions Max and Steve. Hors d’oeuvres will be served at 8:30 p.m. Sunday with entertainment starting at 9 p.m. $3 at the door. The Dock, 603 W. Pete Rose Way, Downtown. 491-2142.
WOMEN STARTING A BUSINESS Three businesswomen present the free lecture. 6:30 p.m. Thursday. University Center, Room 303, Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights. 572-6497.
ALBERT B. SABIN CONVENTION CENTER 26th Annual Meeting of the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback convenes Thursday-Tuesday. There will be a free public lecture by noted stress psychologist Wesley E. Sime at 5:30 p.m. Thursday on stress hardiness and peak performance followed by a Q&A session. Championship Auto Shows presents its Custom Car Show. 5-11 p.m. Friday, noon-11 p.m. Saturday, noon-9 p.m. Sunday. $7.50 adults, $3 children 4-12, free to children 4 and under. 525 Elm St., Downtown. 352-3750.
ZINZINNATI’S BREWERIES
TOUR The Cincinnati Historical Society’s Jim Bruckmann, descendent of of the city's old brewing families, conducts the tour, which departs from Museum Center at Union Terminal at 9:30 a.m. March 16. $16, $20 non-members. Register before March 15. 1301 Western Ave., Queensgate. 287-7031. MORE, PAGE 26
Surprise It’s Back!
Schoolchildren
to bring musical productions back to zoo with 'Music! Words! OperaV creations
BY ANNE ARENSTEIN
Opera at the Cincinnati Zoo will return this May after an absence of almost 25 years, and the stage setting won’t be the only thing that’s different.
The productions will all be original works written, produced and performed by students from 10 Hamilton County elementary schools. The operas will be the culmination of a year’s work with “Music! Words! Opera!,” sponsored by Cincinnati Opera’s outreach and education department, as part of the company’s 75th anniversary season.
“Music! Words! Opera!” is a curriculum designed to introduce students to opera and to guide them through the stages of creating, producing and performing their own works. The program was developed by Opera America, the service organization for American opera companies, and began more than 10 years ago with regional task forces, one of them in Cincinnati. However, this year marks the debut of “Music! Words! Opera!” in Greater Cincinnati.
The first part of the program, “Listen and Discover,” introduces three operas through storytelling and listening. Students in kindergarten through second grade learn about Hansel and Gretel, The Magic Flute and The Child and the Enchantments. Grades 3 through 6 study Aida, The Barber ofSeville and Madame Butterfly and from there, it’s on to “Create and Produce Your Own Opera!”
Far from being devoted solely to music, the curriculum offers opportunities for integrated teaching, says Melanie Sokhey, former director of outreach for Cincinnati Opera. “Teachers are delighted with the program’s flexibility,” she says. “Music teachers are working with social studies, history, language arts and even science to develop their productions.”
Making it up
The 10 public and private schools in Hamilton County were selected from a pool of 23 applicants last May. Many teachers were already at work over the summer, according to Sokhey, and in October, a series of workshops challenged teachers to go through the curriculum themselves.
“They went through the stages of creating their own operas,” explains Sokhey. “It was amazing to watch them gain the confidence to create their own operas. The creativity was fantastic. One opera took place on an airplane, and the characters were a first-time passenger from Appalachia, a PTA president and an aging opera star who’s making a pass at the flight attendant.
“Another opera was a murder mystery with a courtroom scene in which the murder victim makes an appearance,” she says.
Acceptance into the program meant a commitment to produce an opera using a theme based on the zoo. It’s one thing to get teachers excited, but what about kids who’ve never seen an opera or, as one teacher commented, if they have, they think it’s a lot of screaming?
For most teachers, students’ reactions have defied all expectations. “Kids who don’t normally participate in anything are completely involved,” says Margaret Artmayer, music teacher for Weigel Elementary, who has spent the year working with fourth-graders. “The language-arts classes wrote stories, which were tied in
CHILO LOCK #34 PARK AND CROOKED RUN NATURE PRESERVE DAYTRIP Travel along the Ohio River and visit some of the
Above: Weigel Elementary fourth-graders (from left) Julie LeRoy, Patrick Hines and Zach Allen rehearse.
Left: Music teacher Margaret Artmayer says Weigel’s opera, The Legend of the Magic Spots, is about a cheetah whose spots help animals
adapt to changing habitats.
with science because of our animal-adaptation theme, and we’ve taken field trips to the zoo.” Weigel’s The Legend of the Magic Spots is about a magic cheetah whose spots help animals adapt to changing habitats.
“The reaction is totally unexpected,” Artmayer says. “When I told the kids that there would he a lot of afterschool time involved in putting the opera together, they couldn’t wait!”
Embellishing the work
Some teachers go beyond the curriculum. At Sharonville Elementary, music teacher Sandy Suiter and language-arts teacher Susan Whiter wanted to do a western and were delighted to discover The Girl of the Golden West, which their sixth-graders are studying. Suiter emphasizes that the students were the real inspiration. “We studied the operas as literature, and the kids loved it,”"she says. “When we went on to improvising scenes, we began by speaking in a monotone and then having the voice rise and fall on the appropriate words. From there, we moved from speaking to singing, and it was amazing how quickly they grasped the idea of recitative.”
At North Avondale Montessori, a class of fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders straggles into music class and looks expectantly at the video monitor. There are isolated groans when the music video announced isn’t Boyz II
Theater
Carnegie Theater, Carnegie Arts Center, 1028 Scott Blvd., Covington. 559-0642.
FALCON PRODUCTIONS Presents Shakespeare’s shortest play, The Comedy of Errors, first performed at Gray’s Inn on Dec. 28, 1594. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Through March 17. $7 adults, $5 students and seniors. Westwood Town Hall, Harrison and Montana avenues, 'Westwood. 779-0571.
FOREST VIEW GARDENS Phantom runs through April 2. Reservations required. ThursdaySunday. 4508 North Bend Road, Monfort Heights. 661-6434.
JIM GAMBLE PUPPET PRODUCTIONS Presents Carnival of Animals. 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday. $3. Raymond Walters
College, 9555 Plainfield Road, Blue Ash. 745-6776.
KETTERING CHILDREN’S THEATRE Presents Tim Kelly’s Aladdin And His Wonderful, Magical Lamp, with music by Pam Hughes. 7 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Closes March 12. $5 adults, $4 children 12 and under. Rosewood Arts Center, 2655 Olson Drive, Kettering. 296-0294.
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.
★ PEGASUS PLAYERS Opens the 1995 season with a production of Nuts, by Tom Topor. CCM’s Michael Burnham directs this courtroom drama that deals with child abuse, prostitution, the legal and mental health establishments and individual responsibility. 8 p.m. Saturday, March 17-18 and 24-25. $8. Gabriel's Corner, Liberty and Sycamore streets, Over-the-Rhine. 521-1884.
VILLAGE PUPPET THEATRE Charles Killian, the original founder of the theater, presents The Dream of Prince 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.
WYOMING PLAYERS Present Agatha Christie’s thriller, The Unexpected Guest. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Through March 18. $5. Wyoming Middle School Auditorium, 17 Wyoming Ave. 761-0041.
Classical Music
CINCINNATI CHAMBER
ORCHESTRA Keith Lockhart conducts with Scott St. John soloing on a 1717 Antonio Stradivarius violin and viola. The program includes Peter Maxwell Davies’ Ojai Festival Overture, Kodcily’s A Summer Evening and Bartok’s First Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra. 3 p.m. Sunday, Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. 723-1182.
THE CINCINNATI KLEZMER PROJECT An open rehearsal from the local ensemble features a repertoire gleaned from recorded Klezmer music, Yiddish theater songs and
ORCHESTRA Jesus Lopez-Cobos conducts Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileirds Nos. 5 and 2, Stucky's Fanfare for Cincinnati and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 in G Major with soprano Roberta Alexander as the special guest artist. 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. $10-$40. Music Hall, 1240 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. 381-3300.
COLLEGE-CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC Gerhard Samuel conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra. The program includes May-Tchi Chen’s Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra, Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2 and Debussy’s La Mer. 8 p.m. Saturday. Corbett Auditorium. Kurt Sassmannhaus conducts the Starling Chamber Orchestra. The program includes Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Haydn’s Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra in C Major, Hob. VII, Gerhard Samuel’s Transformations and Rossini’s String Sonata in C Major. 7 p.m. Sunday. Corbett Auditorium. $10 adults, $5 seniors and free to UC students. University of Cincinnati, Clifton. 556-4183.
CSO LOLLIPOP 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 Fanfare for the Common Man. 10:30 a.m. Saturday. $6 adults; $4 children. After the concert, the CSO will continue 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-theRhine. 381-3300.
PETER CIASCHINI AND WILLIAM
XAVIER UNIVERSITY PIANO & GUITAR SERIES Pianist Kevin Kenner, 1990 winner of the International Chopin Competition and 1989 Triple Prize Winner of the Van Cliburn Competition, plays selections from von Weber, Schumann and Ravel. 2:30 p.m. Sunday. $14-$16. University Center theatre, Xavier University, 3800 Victory Parkway, Evanston. 745-3161.
Dance
COLLEGE-CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC The Ballet Ensemble celebrates spring and is choreographed by dance faculty Oleg Sabline, Shellie Cash-Muller and Carol N. Iwasaki. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. $10 adults, $5 seniors and free to UC students. Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati, Clifton. 556-4183.
★ CONTEMPORARY DANCE THEATER Choreographers (Without Companies) highlights five works by Cincinnati’s most engaging choreographers: Deborah Breleux’s “As Fate Sometimes Has It,” Bill Donnelly’s “Water Catches Moon,” Gloria Esenwein’s
life. Right now, the center is in need of clothes. To schedule a pickup of donated items, call 351-3457.
TRI-STATE HARVEST A volunteer organization whose sole purpose is to transport surplus food to those who need it in the community. To donate food or become a volunteer, call 281-FOOD.
UNITED WAY HELPLINE Provides counseling, support-group 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 It operates the nation’s
Auditions & Opportunities
BOOKFEST ’95 BANNER CONTEST Individuals, schools,
and
County are
organizations in
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.
CINCINNATI RECREATION
and 3:30-4
Robert
is
to 45-year-old man who is more than 6 feet tall and weighs more than 185 pounds to play the title role; he is also looking for 40-plus ex-boxer types and a 25- to 40-year-old woman. Equity and non-Equity actors welcome. Rehearsals begin in late March,
Main St., Overthe-Rhine. 241-8124.
OHIO ARTS COUNCIL Ohio artists and organizations that receive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts International Program will be supported by the Ohio Arts Council’s International Program, which will provide as much as $5,000
Lim at 202-682-5422. Artists and performing artists should contact Pennie Ojeda at 202-682-5422.
‘Syndicate Wife’ To Be Reprinted
SHOWBOAT MAJESTIC AUDITIONS The Showboat Majestic is looking for performers 16 and older for the summer production of Rollin' on the River. 7-10 p.m. Thursday. 241-6550. Auditions for the July 12-30 production of Baby are 710 p.m. Monday-Tuesday. 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.
Latonia used-book shop plans of Campbell County Mob recounting
BY BILLIE JEYES
DSMALL 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.
aniel “Doc” O’Connor, the owner of For The Love of Books, a used bookstore in Latonia, is trying to tell me about the book he has decided to reprint. But it’s hard to carry on a conversation because the phone doesn’t stop ringing. Everybody who calls, it seems, wants a copy.
SPRING RE-LEAF ’95 A thousand Japanese Tree Lilacs are available to Cincinnati residents at no charge for planting along city streets and in front yards. Tree pickup will take place April 22 at the Union Terminal parking lot. To be eligible, you must apply by March 31. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Urban Forestry, 3215 Reading Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229.
The book is Syndicate Wife. It was originally published in 1968 by Macmillan. And, despite its out-of-print status, it has remained a popular item in this area because it is one of the few books that chronicles the Mob’s presence in Campbell County.
Syndicate Wife is the story of Ann Drahmann Coppola who, before she committed suicide in 1962, cooperated with authorities to send her abusive husband, Trigger Mike Coppola, to jail.
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 telephone, operate the cash register and assist the Naturalist staff. Call Nancy Hemmer at 521-PARK for more information.
O’Connor eventually decided to reprint the book himself after receiving numerous requests for it.
“We’ve been working on this since 1993,” says O’Connor in between calls.
FLOWER AND GARDEN SHOW
“In those days,” he continues, “Campbell County was so far from Frankfort that it was left alone and became a haven for gangsters.”
The Civic Garden Center of Greater Cincinnati needs volunteers for the children’s exhibit at the Cincinnati Flower and Garden Show. April 27-30. 2715 Reading Road, Avondale. Call Bobbie Shields at 221-0981, ASAP.
1995 APPALACHIAN FESTIVAL
In the book, author Hank Messick paints a vivid picture of Newport in its Mob-controlled days and details the frame-up of George Ratterman who had dared to declare his candidacy for sheriff of Campbell County on an anti-syndicate platform.
The May 12-14 festival at Coney Island, which celebrates the area's rich mountain heritage with downhome entertainment, crafts, food and cultural attractions, needs volunteers. Applicants must be at least 18. Call Jerry Sebastian at 606-441-8684.
Ratterman, a married man and father of eight who had played football for Notre Dame and the Cleveland Browns, was lured to the Terrace Hilton’s Gourmet Room by the mob where his third drink was drugged with chloryl hydrate.
Semiconscious, he was taken across the river to The Tropicana in Newport and placed in a third-floor bedroom with a “dancer” named April Flowers. The police were called in, and Ratterman was arrested. He eventually managed to prove his innocence and was elected sheriff for one term.
Readings, Signings & Events
Messick, a reporter for the Miami Herald and The Courier Journal, spent a lifetime reporting on organized crime. He wrote several other books on the subject, including The Silent Syndicate (Macmillan, 1967), Syndicate in the Sun (Macmillan, 1968) and Lansky (Putnam, 1971). He has written a new forward for the reprint and will be signing 25 copies.
FICTION WRITING WORKSHOP
“We were planning an ultra-short run of 350 copies, but we’ve received so
Terri Alexander will teach the basic skills of fiction writing. 1 p.m. Saturday. Barnes & Noble, 7663 Mall Road, Florence. 647-6400.
CHARLEY HARPER The Cincinnati wildlife artist will sign copies of his new book, Beguiled By
many requests that we’re probably going to increase the printing to 500,” says O’Connor.
Syndicate Wife will be sold for $22.50 before its April publication; costing $29.95 thereafter. Call 261-5515 to order.
Books You Won’t Find in The Supermarket
Alphabet: The History, Evolution, and Design of the Letters We Use Today by Allan Haley (Watson Guptill, $24.95).
Anglo-Saxon Mythology, Migration & Magic by Tony Linsell (Paul & Co., $29.95).
The Atlas ofEndangered Peoples by Steve Pollock (Facts on File, $16.95).
Being Frank: My Time With Frank Zappa by Nigey Lennon (California Classics, $14.95).
The Cubist Poets in Paris, an anthology edited and translated LeRoy C. Breunig. (University of Nebraska Press, $35).
Easter Island : Archaeology, Ecology and Culture by Jo Anne Van Tilburg (Smithsonian Institution Press, $45).
Nano: The Emerging Science of Nanotechnology: Remaking the World Molecule by Molecule by Ed Regis (Little, Brown, $23.95).
Railroad Timetables, Travel Brochures & Posters: A History and Guidefor Collectors by Brad S. Lomazzi (Golden Hill Press, $49.95).
Stalin’s Letters to Molotov 1925-1936 edited by Lars T. Lih, Oleg V. Khlevniuk and Oleg V. Naumov (Yale University Press, $25).
Subversive Words: Public Opinion in Eighteenth-Century France by Arlette Farge (Penn State Press, $15.95).
CRITIQUE GROUP Meets at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Arnold’s Bar & Grill, 210 E. Eighth St., Downtown. 441-5573.
GATHERING HOUSE Offers classes and workshops designed to help both men and women discover their innate creativity. 100 S. College Drive, Oxford. 513-523-4284.
GREATER CINCINNATI WRITERS LEAGUE Critique group meets at 8 p.m. on the second Friday of every month at the Regency, 2444 Madison Road, Hyde Park. 753-5697.
Sharonville. 863-6053.
QUEEN CITY WRITERS CLUB Critique group meets at 7:30 p.m. the third Monday of every month. Northside Bank and Trust, 9135 Colerain Ave., Colerain Township. First meeting free. 522-0108.
SCIENCE FICTION READERS GROUP Meets at 7 p.m. Wednesday to discuss Timothy Zahn’s Heir to Empire. Borders Books and Music, 11711 Princeton Road, Springdale. 671-5852.
SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS Organization of working journalists 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 workshop 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 writers. 871-8702.
Young Readers' Events
B&N FLORENCE CHILDREN’S STORY TIME There will be a story time 10 a.m. Wednesday. Learn how to be a clown. 7:30 p.m. Friday. Barnes & Noble, 7663 Mall Road, Florence. 647-6400
CHILDREN’S
BEHRINGER-CRAWFORD MUSEUM Housed within the historic Devou family home, it is the only museum of Northern Kentucky natural and cultural heritage. 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, 15 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. 14 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday. $1 adults; free children 12 and under. 327 N. Second St., German Village, Hamilton. 513-893-7111.
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
Whole Lotta Goetta Goin’ On
Despite suspicions ofbeing mystery meat, tour reveals many variations on the Cincy-breakfast-dish theme
BY POLLY CAMPBELL
If you were born here, you probably like it, and if you plan to live here long, you ought to get to like it: that quintessential Cincinnati soul food, goetta. That’s pronounced “gedda” for you out-of-towners, and you’re not likely to hear of it outside the 452, or maybe 450 ZIP code.
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.
Goetta is a breakfast thing. Not a sausage, exactly, it’s a frugal, German, oldfashioned meat ereation. Half pork and beef, half oatmeal the chewy kind called steel out, cross cut or (only in Cincinnati) pinhead goetta’s cooked for hours with onions and a few spices and formed into loaves. You slice it arid fry it and eat it with eggs. With syrup or ketchup or applesauce if you want.
MORE, PAGE 30
Now, get your nose out of the air. These days, when everybody’s favorite piece of meat is an anemic chicken breast, goetta may be regarded suspiciously as mystery meat, something only a native west-sider would eat. But I love it and I never even tasted it until 1982.
You can slice it really thin so it’s crisp all the way through, like bacon, or thicker so it’s crunchy outside and soft inside. It’s not as greasy as sausage, but its flavor is definitely meaty, and the oatmeal gives it an earthy, chewy texture.
Even if I didn’t love it, I’d like it because it’s uniquely local. It hasn’t been standardized and franchised and advertised.
The taste test
A lot of people make their own goetta in pressure cookers or crockpots, and most local meat markets have their own recipes. A couple of small sausage companies sell it wholesale to grocery stores. I don’t make it usually I just get the Glier’s brand, packaged in a roll, in the sausage section, or sliced at the deli. (Glier’s Meats in Covington also makes spicy-hot and all-beef versions.)
But I thought it was time to make a more thorough survey of goetta. I concentrated on the west-side butcher shops and Findlay Market. I enjoyed my tour of places like Leunenberger Meats in Price Hill, Humbert’s Meats in Westwood and Avril & Son downtown, which are all staffed by cheerful, polite, grown men.
I was amazed at how many variations on a theme I found. And my sampling only scratched the surface, I’m sure.
In a family taste test, we came up with a three-way tie plus one 6-year-old’s refusal to even look at the stuff.
My favorite are the squat, rectangular slices from Eckerlin’s Meats, Booth No. 20 in Findlay Market. It’s peppery, very textured and tends to fall apart when you
flip it over in the pan. ground, firm loaves. It’s My husband voted Butcher Shop in Bridgetown. greasy, a drier texture. always responds to “what with “Goetta” when what
Howard Tullen, left, and Hoffmann Sausage Co., goetta since 1935. she wanted corn flakes Sausage Co.’s. These are spicier than some. Hoffmann’s slice very thin, but still bought some at Wassler’s It’s also available at other Kroger’s and some IGAs.
Less fat than
Hoffmann’s is a local, makes more than
ones such as chorizo and
Sports
Recreational
ARE HUMAN INVENTORS COPY-
CATS? Children are invited to join Cincinnati Park naturalists and learn that many human inventions are based on animal adaptations.
I-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Free. Trailside Nature Center, Burnet Woods Museum, Clifton. 751-3679.
BIRDS OF PREY Raptors possess unique adaptations that allow them to hunt for prey quietly and swiftly. Meet several native species at 2 p.m. Sunday.'Visitor Center, Miami Whitewater Forest, Mount Hope Road, Crosby, Whitewater and Harrison townships. 521-PARK.
CINCINNATI RECREATION COMMISSION For the latest in CRC events, call 684-4945.
CLUB-FITTING SESSIONS PGA
golf professionals will conduct free club-fitting sessions 2-4 p.m. Sunday throughout the golf season. Meadow Links & Golf Academy, West Sharon and Mill roads, Forest Park. 825-3701.
EXPLORERS NATURE CLUB
Children 6-10 can learn about animal hibernation and winter prairies.
3:30-4:45 p.m. Thursdays. $15 prorated. Through March 23. Avon Woods, 4235 Paddock Road, Paddock Hills. 861-3435.
INTRODUCTION TO BINDING
Michelle Kline of Wild Birds Unlimited will teach bird-lovers about the birds of Northern Kentucky. 2 p.m. Sunday. Barnes & Noble, 7663 Mall Road, Florence. 647-6400
LUNKEN BIKE TRAIL The American Walkers’ Association is sponsoring the 3- to 5-mile walk. 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Golf Course Clubhouse, Lunken Golf Course, Airport Road, Linwood. 984-0812.
MEET THE WOODCOCKS The program begins with a slide show followed by a walk down Pine Oak Trail to look for the courtship dance of the male woodcock. 6 p.m. Sunday. Binoculars are recommended. Farbach-Werner Nature Preserve, Poole Road, Colerain Township. 521-PARK.
NATURALIST TRAINING IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS Cincinnati Park Naturalists will offer environmental activities, studies in natural history and interpretive walks. Recommended for ages 11-14. 4-5:15 p.m. Tuesdays. Through March 21. $15. Avon Woods, 4235 Paddock Road, Paddock Hills. 861-3435.
PRAIRIE FIRE Fire has been used as a land-management tool for hundreds of years. Learn more about this process 1 p.m. Saturday. Winton Center, Winton Woods, U.S. 42, Sharonville. 521-PARK.
PRESCHOOL NATURE CAMP Children 4-5 can explore a winter wonderland and test maple syrup. A different nature theme will be presented every week. Classes take place 12:30-2:15 p.m. Mondays. $30 prorated. Through March 20 at Avon Woods, 4235 Paddock Road, Paddock Hills. 861-3435. And 12:30-2:30 p.m. Mondays through March 13 at California Woods Nature Preserve, 5400 Kellogg Ave., California. 231-8678.
begin consecutively at 11 a.m. $13. Front St., Morrow. 677-PELO.
WINTER FUN FOR PRESCHOOLERS Preschoolers can explore a winter wonderland 12:30-2:15 p.m. every Monday. Through March 20. $30. Avon Woods, 4235 Paddock Road, Paddock Hills. 861-3435.
10K SPORTS DASH AND 5K
WALK Registration begins 6:30 a.m. Saturday. The run and walk begin at 8 a.m. at the Cincinnati Sports Club, 3950 Red Bank Road, Fairfax.
$8. 527-4550.
’95 CABIN FEVER FISHING
SERIES The fourth annual amateur fishing tournament begins 7 a.m. Sunday. “We’ll be stocking the lakes with thousands of rainbow trout throughout the spring," says Neal Ramsey, fishing-tournament director for the Hamilton County Park District. The series will continue each Sunday at different locations through April 22.
$20 per two-person team includes boat rental. Registration begins at 6 a.m. Lake Isabella, Loveland-lndian Hill Road, Symmes Township. 521-PARK.
dents. 101 S. Monument Ave., Hamilton. 863-8873.
CINCINNATI SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRA Jesus Lopez-Cobos conducts Welcher’s Three Texas Watercolors of Georgia O’Keeffe, Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, Jenkin’s Goodbye “In Memory of Benny for Clarinet and Strings, Balada’s Shadows for Orchestra and Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68 with Richard Stoltzman on clarinet. 8 p.m. March 31-April 1. $10-$40. Music Hall, 1240 Elm St., Over-theRhine. 381-3300.
Etc.
HOME INSPECTION CLASS
Gene Carroll, engineer and certified home inspector, will teach a threehour class on how to inspect a home before you buy it. 6:30 p.m. March 22. $15. Russel Lee Career Center, 3603 Hamilton-Middleton Road, Hamilton. 868-6300.
Suburban Torture
BY JULIE LARSON
RUN FOR THE CHILDREN The Council on Child Abuse presents the 5K run and fitness walk. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. Saturday and the
Sports
★ CINCINNATI HEART MINIMARATHON There will be a free fitness clinic at the Albert B. Sabin Convention Center on March 25. Participants will be able to pick up their registration packets, $15 per event. The races will take place March 26. The 5K run begins at Fountain Square at 9 a.m., the 15K run at 10:30 a.m. and the 10K walk at 1 p.m. HeartSkate, the minimarathon’s first in-line skating event, begins at Columbia Parkway and Delta Avenue. The recreational skate begins at 12:30 p.m. and the 10K race at 2:15 p.m. Call the American Heart Association at 281-4048 for more details.
Onstage
MARIEMONT PLAYERS
Presents Rahjyit Bolt’s translation of Lysistrata, Aristophanes’ bawdy, antiwar comedy. March 17-April 2. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. $10. Walton Creek Theatre, Muchmore Road, Mariemont. 684-1236.
DAYTON PHILHARMONIC
ORCHESTRA Richard Chenoweth, principal French horn, will be the guest soloist. He will perform Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat Major K. 417, Serenade No. 12 in C minor, K. 384a and the Jupiter Symphony. The coffee concert, with complimentary doughnuts and Irish creme coffee, begins at 10 a.m. March 17 and the Casual Classics concert begins at 6:30 p.m. Victoria Theatre, 138 N. Main St., Dayton, Ohio. $10-$14. 513-224-9000.
BLUE ASH SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRA Paul Stanbery con-
HERB GARDENING Learn about the essentials for your spring garden, what to plant and when. 2 p.m. March 19. Barnes & Noble, 7663 Mall Road, Florence. 647-6400.
Events
SUNWATCH ARCHAEOLOGICAL
VILLAGE Hosts a Native-American Toys and Games Festival, with handson participation in double ball, chunky and a hoop and ring game. Demonstrations will illustrate traditional materials and techniques used by Native-Americans in the making of dolls, rattles and various games. Noon4 p.m. March 18-19. $4 adults; $3 children 6-7; free to children under 5. All fees include materials. SunWatch Prehistoric Village, 2301 W. River Road, Dayton, Ohio. 513-268-8199.
GOING BACK TO COLLEGE
OPERA: FROM PAGE 25
Men or Salt-n-Pepa it’s the Triumphal March scene from Aida. But for the next 15 minutes, there isn’t a sound as the kids watch with the same rapt attention they give to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers or Saved by the Bell. When the video is over, they argue about the actmg, the singing and the costumes with the same energy and insights as professional critics.
NKU’s Harriet Krumpleman will conduct a seminar on how to go back to school. 1 p.m. March 25. Barnes & Noble, 7663 Mall Road, Florence. 647-6400
Auditions & Opportunities
FAHRENHEIT COMPANY AUDITIONS Auditions for the 1995-96 Fahrenheit Theatre Company will be held March 25 at the Armory Fieldhouse Building, 3900 Winding Way, Xavier University, Evanston. Reservations must be made by 5 p.m. March 22. 559-0642.
Literary
The school opera productions will take place over the weekend of May 13-14 throughout the Cincinnati Zoo as part of the ZOO/OPERA DAYS. The Opera Gala in June may be the 75th anniversary’s big event but for those who about opera’s future, May 13-14 at the zoo may be the real for celebration. Information: Robin Wilson at 621-1919
Music teacher Betty Srock isn’t surprised. “The whole school has been deeply involved in the opera project, and they’re really having fun with it,” she says, emphasizing the word “fun.” Cincinnati Opera hopes that the fun will continue for at least another two years with new schools participating each year. As arts programs continue to be cut back and cultural institutions grapple with shrinking audiences, “Music! Words! Opera!” is a necessity, says Phillip Farris, Cincinnati Opera’s music director of opera outreach and education: “We need to nurture the next generation of opera lovers, and this is a terrific start.”
GOETTA: FROM PAGE 29
WILL HILLENBRAND The chil dren’s illustrator introduces his newest book, The Treasure Chest. 11 a.m. March 25. Oakley Blue Marble, 3054 Madison Road, Oakley. 731-2665.
The smoky taste is a pleasant variation. Remember a few years ago when the experts were telling us that oat bran had magic, anti-cholesterol properties? I figured that made goetta perfectly neutral, nutritionally. The oatmeal and the meat entered into a relationship that canceled each other out, right? Too bad the oat easy street turned out to be a dead-end. No, it’s not health food, but it’s not bad. Glier’s package says that out of 220 calories, 120 are from fat, a little more than 50 percent. Sausage is more like 85 percent. R&R’s Quality Meats in Cheviot is making a turkey goetta, simply replacing
★ ROBERT OLEN BUTLER The winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction will be signing and reading from his recently released paperback, They Whisper. March 28. Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Rookwood Pavilion, Madison and Edwards roads,
the pork and beef with ground turkey. I don’t know the fat content, but the turkey goetta doesn’t leave any grease in the pan. In fact, it’s not quite fat enough to cook crisp. (I compromised by using a little bit of vegetable oil to fiy it.)
How about no-meat goetta? There is something next to the goetta on the groeery shelf called Jumpin’ Joe Grotta, which is oatmeal and solidified cottonseed oil.
Workshops Partner/couple massage workshops. Two 2-1/2 hour sessions, two coupies, $110 per couple. Shiatsu therapeutic massage, hour+, $40. Gift certificates available. Jeanne Theodore, 769-3869. 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.
MASSAGE THERAPIST Licensed massage therapist with 12 years experience and excellent professional referrals. Specializing in myofascial therapy. In the privacy of your own home. Call Kathie Stuhlbarg, L.M.T., 871-2434.
MASSAGE THERAPY Licensed massage therapist specializing in stress management, relaxation, and injury. House calls and gift certificates available. Flexible hours. Strictly non-sexual. Oakley area. Sherry Meinhardt, L.M.T. 731-0490. PSYCHIC FAIR
Victory of Light Psychic Fair, Sunday, March 19 at the Quality Hotel in Covington, 10 a.m. 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 on psychic healing, Tai Chi, spirit guides, astrology. Admission $5, readings $10. Sponsored by Victory Books, 609 Main Street, Covington. For 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 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, call for appointment 661-0302.
THERAPEUTIC BODYWORK
Bodywork is individualized and includes Massage-Swedish, Deep tissue, and Amma; Acupressure- jinshindo; Energy Work- Reiki, Therapeutic Touch; and Integrative Bodywork. Kirk Prine, Ed.D., C.M.T., by appointment only. 431-3112.
Business Opportunities
ASSOCIATES- 3 NEEDED Weight management/wellness and athleb'c performance programs. Earn $500-$5000+ per month, part-time.
TELEMARKETERS
Musician’s
BackBeaf
Classifieds 66S4700
BEADS BEADS BEADS FROM AROUND THE WORLD CALL ABOUT CLASSES Treasure Island Jewelry, 34 W. Court, 241-7893
ASTROLOGY/ TAROT For personal tarot readings and astrology chart readings. Tarot classes begin March 9th. 371-7044
TOMMY’S ON MAIN PRESENTS
GOSHORN BROTHERS Every Friday & Saturday 1427 Main Street, 352-0502
CINCINNATI CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
THE INTIMATE ORCHESTRA Featuring violinist and violist Scott St John
KEITH LOCKHART CONDUCTING
Sunday afternoon, March 12,3:00 p.m. Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm St, 723-1182
CLUB PARAGON
Alternative, disco, house, techno Food always available ‘til 4 a.m. 15 E. 7th Street, 581-5518
THAT FABULOUS BAND WONDERLAND
Fri., March 10 at Stew’s, Sat, Marchl 1 & Fri., March 17 at the Main St Brewery, :Sat, March 25 at Stew’s, Fri., March 31 at the Main St Brewery. For booking & info, call 684-9160
BYE BYE, LOVE!
Hello, Happiness! I’m a fun-loving, funky-chic, featherweightseeking someone to help me get over my miserable ex-husband. You don’t smoke, don’t drink, and don’t expect any action from me on the first date. I’m not looking for perfection in a man; at this point any mammal will do. Please respond by seeing BYE BYE, LOVE on March 17 at a theater near you.
FUTOWN CASUAL HARDWOOD FURNITURE Hyde Park, 871-4505
TAXES ARE RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER! Come & relieve some stress at INNER PEACE MASSAGE
Outcalls available. Receive $5 off any service when you mention this ad. 3907 Harrison Ave., Cheviot, 661-0302
MASSAGE, ACUPRESSURE, & ENERGY WORK Kirk Prine, EdD., C.M.T., 431-3112
HEAVY WEATHER Ripleys, Saturday, March 11 Main St Brewery, Sunday, March 19
TANNING & MASSAGE Unlimited tanning - $29.95/month. Body massage, new expanded staff, outcalls. Ask about a 10 min. in-your-office neck/shouldermassage! LA BOD IN COVINGTON, 112 PIKE ST., 581-TONE
FREE CALLS! *
MEN/WOMEN 366-2349 EXT. 6000
COFFEE HOUSE & WINE CELLAR Open until 5 am. Fridays & Saturdays 1054 St Gregory Mt Adams
CLASSES
Beginner astrology classes offered by professional reader. Every Monday from March 27- May 1. Norita Ruehl, 441-0908
HEALTH CONSCIOUS
Busy manager needs part/full time sales reps to capitalize health/environmental market trends. 381-8290
Welcome to Back Beat, the back page of Cincinnati CityBeat. This last page is your last chance to have the last word.
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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 THE DRUMSHINE SHOP carries Cincinnati’s
