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NEWS Is a Plan to Fix Metro Finally Getting Ready to Roll Forward?

After a long stretch of uncertainty, various groups are coalescing to support a county sales tax levy to shore up Greater Cincinnati’s underfunded bus system

BY N I C K SWA R T S EL L

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t’s a hot mid-morning at Government Square, the central hub for Cincinnati’s Metro bus service, and riders are milling about waiting for their routes.

Many are like Marlon Tate — in the middle of hour or longer journeys involving transfers to get to work. Tate is waiting on Route 20 so he can get to his job in Fairfield.

“I’ll be on that bus for half an hour, depending on traffic,” he says. But that’s just part of the trip.

He starts his commute in the Western Hills area, where he catches the Route 33.

“That’s the first bus,” Tate says. “This is the second. That’s every day going to and from work.”

Waiting for a bus, riding the bus, waiting for another bus — the 20 only comes once an hour— riding the bus. It all adds up to a lot of time. Like Tate, a number of other riders face long waits for buses, commutes with transfers and other time-sapping situations. A new plan could help — if Hamilton County voters approve a sales tax levy to fund it next year.

In the meantime, support is growing for the proposed improvements, collectively called Reinventing Metro, and Cincinnati City Council took a tentative first step toward getting the plan passed Aug. 7.

Among the possible improvements Reinventing Metro could bring, depending on the funding levels: more frequent routes, more crosstown routes to get people from one side of Greater Cincinnati to another,

A bus at Government Square PH OTO: NIC K SWARTSELL

some 24-hour routes and dedicated lanes called Bus Rapid Transit for four routes along Cincinnati’s major traffic corridors.

Another rider near Tate who identified herself only as Ms. Doe is also waiting on the 20 on her way to Finneytown. Wearing a glittery hat and a floral shirt, she’s trying to get all of her daily errands done.

Doe moved away from the city three years ago and just moved back. She’s reacquainting herself with Metro, and had hoped more improvements had been made.

“They do need to expand the routes, so that people can go further out,” she said.

“They do need to make the routes more frequent. I’ve been down here since 9:30 (a.m.). The buses run an hour apart. I may not get there until 11:30 a.m., then I have to ride the bus back. It takes a lot of time. It’s like I’m working, but I’m not.”

Metro isn’t necessarily lagging due to the way it operates. An audit commissioned by the Cincinnati USA

Regional Chamber found that the bus service is efficient and uses money well.

Instead, the system’s budget problems are structural. Most transit agencies fund their regional bus services via countywide levies, which cast a wider net and generally raise more money. Since the 1970s, however, Metro has relied on a portion of the city’s earnings tax — a fairly uncommon arrangement.

The bus system faces a $5.8 million budget deficit this year and a $188 million shortfall over the next decade. And that’s just to keep the status quo. An independent report released by consultants AECOM in 2017 found Metro would need at least $1 billion in upgrades over the next 10 years to make it more functional and get more county residents to the region’s jobs.

Metro currently gets by on $100 million a year, much of it coming from a .3 percent tax assessed since 1973 on people who work in the city.

Metro’s precarious financial situation

hasn’t been helped by state funding. Ohio’s funding for public transit per capita is among the lowest in the country. Some help will likely be coming to Metro’s budget via a 10.5 cent increase in the state’s gas tax, however, which will generate roughly $70 million more for public transit every year. But that money will need to be divvied up among the state’s 60 transit agencies.

In the past, Metro has drawn from the system’s contingency fund to bridge budget gaps. Last year, SORTA’s board approved using $2.8 million from that fund. This year, however, only $3.8 million remains in the reserve. That money plus $900,000 in surplus funds from last year still leave the transit agency scraping for $1.1 million to make ends meet.

Supporters of passing a county levy say the income tax doesn’t generate enough revenue and forces the city to subsidize CONTINUES ON PAGE 08

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CITY DESK

CMHA Launches Social Services Hubs at Cincinnati Housing Developments

BY N I C K SWA R T S EL L

Connie Benton has lived at Findlater Gardens for the last 18 years.

She likes the sense of community among most of the residents in the 600 townhomes owned and run by the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority in Winton Hills, about eight miles north of downtown Cincinnati.

But her family has also experienced violence here, and some of her relatives struggle with the trauma that comes with those experiences.

On Aug. 12, CMHA unveiled a concept it hopes will help Benton’s family and others in Findlater and neighboring Winton Terrace: two Resource Opportunity Centers (ROCs).

These two hubs for various social service agencies are nestled in office spaces inside the neighborhoods’ community centers. The ROCs will host staff from Hamilton County Job & Family Services, Beech Acres Parenting Center, the Community Action Agency, Women Helping Women, Dress for Success, Easterseals, New Horizons Computer Learning Centers, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County Findlater Gardens resident Connie Benton and other organizations.

The centers are being estabPH OTO: NIC K SWARTSELL lished in already existing space that CMHA has rehabbed to by the Cincinnati Health Department. On make way for the agencies. The model an average weekday, residents must make allows residents to access services without a 45 minute to one-hour bus ride to get to taking long trips to other parts of town — a downtown. big help when you consider that only 15 The neighborhood is a prime example percent of Winton Hills’ 4,787 residents of Cincinnati’s pervasive racial and have their own cars, according to a report

economic segregation. It is 90 percent black with a median household income of less than $11,000, Census data shows.

Folks struggling with low incomes and lack of transportation will now have help — from job training to mental health services

to domestic violence response services — right in their own neighborhood.

All of that won’t strain CMHA’s limited budget, according to the housing agency.

“The beauty is, we’re partnering with people who already do this,” CMHA CEO Gregory Johnson says. “We hired a few outreach workers on our own dime, but all the service providers are using the funding they normally get to do their work.”

Johnson says the planning for the ROCs — what services would be offered, what needs would be addressed — was driven by residents over a number of evening meetings.

“This is really about helping each other,” he said. “I learned a lot about a lot of residents I’d never seen before. They expressed a lot of things I would have never, ever thought about. I think the buzzwords that we all use are a little different than what we heard in these meetings.”

Benton was one of the most active participants at those meetings. She’s optimistic that ROCs can address some of the needs in places like Findlater Gardens.

“There really is a good group of people here,” says Benton, who serves on the neighborhood’s community council. “I believe in them. But a lot of our people are traumatized and don’t even realize they’ve become desensitized to it. A lot of our residents don’t have transportation to get to services. Just to have someone here willing to listen to us, we really appreciate it.”

Ohio Freezes Most Law Enforcement Access to Driver’s License Photo Database

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BY N I C K SWA R T S EL L

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Most law enforcement agencies in Ohio will lose — at least temporarily — access to a database of roughly 21 million driver’s license photos taken in the state after a decision by Ohio Attorney General David Yost.

That could be a big deal for the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, which has led the state in usage of the database. Cincinnati Police have also been an active user of the database, performing the thirdhighest number of searches of any agency in the state in the last few years.

After media reports revealed federal law enforcement practices using facial recognition software on state driver’s license databases, Yost earlier this year

asked for a review of the database and the way officers use it.

That inquiry didn’t find any improper conduct, but, before they log back on, Yost wants the roughly 4,500 officers who had access to the system trained on the current weaknesses possible with facial recognition software that could lead to gender or racial bias. In the meantime, 20 state law enforcement investigators will retain access to the database; other officers can request searches through those investigators.

“The bottom line is there were no dragnets, there was no mass surveillance,” Yost said at a news conference in Columbus.

“Ohio’s system is done carefully, lawfully

and with strict controls and regulations.”

Then-Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine opened the doors to use of the photos in 2013, allowing thousands of local law enforcement and court officials to scan photos in the database with facial recognition software. DeWine broadened access to federal investigators in 2016.

Investigators have access to the database through the larger Ohio Law Enforcement Gateway, which is open to 26,000 officers and court employees throughout the state.

However, DeWine limited the number of officers with access to the facial recognition database specifically to 4,500 in 2014.

It is unclear to what extent the Federal Bureau of Investigation accesses the

photos. The Ohio Department of Public Safety says it gave the FBI copies of driver’s license photos in 2011 but otherwise doesn’t grant access to them on an ongoing basis. DeWine said in 2013 that the bureau had access to photos kept by the state through a state Bureau of Criminal Investigation database, however.

BCI says agents can gain access to specific photos for specific purposes.

In July, The Washington Post reported findings by researchers with Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy & Technology showing that FBI agents are able to access 21 states’ driver’s license records for facial recognition scanning purposes, including Ohio’s millions of driver’s license and mug shot photos.

Ohio Approves Rumpke Landfill Expansion Permits

Authorities Reveal New Details About Dayton Mass Shooting

BY N I C K SWA R T S EL L

BY N I C K SWA R T S EL L

Using video footage and physical evidence, Dayton Police investigators say they have pieced together the movements of Connor Betts running up to the moment early Aug. 4 when he opened fire in the city’s popular Oregon District, killing nine and wounding 17.

Officials also revealed at a news conference Aug. 15 that police gunfire hit two victims and that Betts was under the influence of drugs the night of the shootings.

Betts arrived in the Oregon District with his sibling Megan Betts and a friend, both of whom Betts would later shoot during his rampage.

Video footage from a local business first caught Betts at 11:04 p.m. in a parking lot, walking with his friend and sibling away from the car they took to the district — a car authorities say was loaded with Betts’ .223 caliber AR-15 assault-style rifle, 100round magazine and body armor. Those items were purchased legally by a friend of Betts who is now facing up to 15 years on federal charges related to the items.

At some point, Betts split off from his sibling and companion.

After entering and exiting two establishments, Betts cut back through alleyways and parking lots to get to the car he arrived in, where he retrieved a backpack believed to contain body armor and components of the firearm he used in the shooting.

There is a nine-minute gap in video footage while Betts lingered in an alleyway behind a business called Newcom’s.

Authorities believe this is where Betts assembled and loaded his weapon and put on the body armor.

“The next day as we were processing the scene… there was an unspent round that was damaged like it had to be ejected,” said Dayton Police Lt. Paul Saunders. “We’re

pretty sure that as he was turning this corner, he was charging his weapon.”

It is still unclear whether Betts targeted his sibling and their friend.

The two were among the first three people shot in Betts’ rampage as they stood outside a taco stand in front of Ned Peppers. Betts’ sibling died, and the companion was injured.

Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl said Betts and his sibling communicated that night — a brief phone call and texts, including one seven minutes before the shooting in which Betts’ sibling tells him they’re at the taco stand.

But not all law enforcement investigators are convinced Betts targeted the two.

Biehl points out that the two were on the far side of a set of umbrellas and were likely shot while Betts was in a place where he could not see who they were. He calls evidence from that evening “inconclusive” as to whether Betts was going after them specifically.

Biehl and other investigators do believe Betts acted alone and say there is no evidence anyone came into the alley to help him.

“We’re not saying this is the finality of that conversation, but clearly during that day during this time we don’t see anyone assisting him,” Biehl said. “It seems to strongly suggest that his companions had no idea what he was going to do or have any knowledge of the weapons in the vehicle.”

Betts opened fire about 1:05 a.m. and was shot and killed by several police stationed nearby about 32 seconds later.

His body armor did not protect him from police gunfire in part because of the manner in which he wore it, Biehl said, but did not provide details.

Betts’ body had 52 entry and exit wounds — likely representative of 24 to 26 shots fired by police.

Two of Betts’ victims were also struck by police bullets. One died, but officials say that the wounds sustained by that victim from Betts’ firing were already grave and likely not survivable due to massive blood loss.

Officials called the wound suffered by another surviving victim “superficial.”

Biehl expressed regret that police gunfire struck innocent bystanders but stressed that the scene was “chaotic” and that Betts needed to be stopped from shooting more people.

“There is a danger to reacting and a danger to not reacting,” Biehl said.

Authorities say they found drug paraphernalia on Betts, and his autopsy revealed he had cocaine, alcohol and Xanax in his system the night of the shooting.

Biehl said it is impossible to know Betts’ exact motivations the night of the shootings at this point, but he pointed to the 24-year-old’s past behaviors, including an obsession with mass shootings that Betts shared with friends and an ex-girlfriend.

Biehl said that investigators aren’t aware of a specific diagnosis of mental illness, but did note that Betts had received mental health treatment in the past. The shooter had only minor criminal charges on his record.

“I think we have a lot of historical information about his mindset and its progression,” Biehl said. “There is a history of obsession with violence and violent ideations, interest in mass shootings and a wish to carry out mass shootings.”

Delving deeper into those predilections is the job of the FBI, he said.

Ohio Lawmaker: Put Inmates to Death with Seized Fentanyl

BY N I C K SWA R T S EL L

Late last month, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine paused the state’s scheduled executions after drug makers told

Synan tweeted. “Just tired of fentanyl killing people, it has killed enough. Wish fentanyl never hit the streets. Much rather we find more ways to stop its destruction than to aid its cycle of death.”

Just a small amount of fentanyl is enough to kill a person, and the drug has led to thousands of overdose deaths a year in Ohio. Those on the front lines of the opioid crisis have criticized Wiggam’s proposal.

Some experts point out that the purity and strength of street fentanyl is unpredictable, which could lead to yet more botched executions.

“Not getting into the political debate of the death penalty,” Newtown Police Chief and Hamilton County Heroin Coalition Co-Chair Tom

Ohio’s last execution took place in July 2018, when the state put Robert Van Hook to death for killing and disemboweling a neighbor.

Some attendees at that hearing on April 2 voiced concerns about their property values, increased traffic from trucks hauling waste, a host of environmental issues and the possibility that the expansion would exceed height limitations set by consent decrees between Rumpke and Colerain Township officials in 2000 and 2015.

Rumpke says it is not a party to those decrees and that concerns should be directed to local officials. It also says the site expansion plans meet all environmental regulations.

“Ohio EPA has reviewed the permit applications and determined that they meet the requirements of Ohio’s environmental regulations, inclusive of siting and location requirements,” the EPA’s response to public concerns reads. “The Agency’s evaluation of the air, water and landfill permits concurrently helps to address the potential environmental impacts of the landfill operations and minimize adverse impacts. Today’s permit actions have been issued with such terms and conditions necessary to achieve protection of human health and the environment.”

Rumpke’s site is currently authorized to accept 12,500 tons of waste a day — an authorization that isn’t increased by the new permits, the Ohio EPA says.

Last year, the Hughes Road site accepted 2,346,857 tons of waste — almost 96 percent of it from Ohio and the remainder from Kentucky and Indiana.

The expansion will allow the site to continue to operate for the next 30 years, Ohio EPA officials said.

Residents and others can appeal the decision to the Ohio Environmental Review Appeals Commission within 30 days.

The Ohio EPA recommends those interested in filing an appeal contact the ERAC at 614-466-8950.

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Objections to the use of Midazolam, the drug believed to cause prolonged, possibly painful executions, have led to court battles over Ohio’s current death penalty methods.

the state they will cut off all supplies of drugs used for multiple other purposes if the state also uses those drugs to put inmates to death.

The Ohio EPA held a public hearing earlier this year about the proposed expansion.

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State Rep. Scott Wiggam, who represents Wooster and surrounding areas, says he is working on legislation that would allow the state to use fentanyl seized in drug raids for executions. Wiggam says that the powerful synthetic opiate is a more humane

way to execute inmates than the electric chair, firing squad or the state’s currentlypaused three-drug cocktail method, which opponents say causes sensations similar to drowning.

Rumpke’s Colerain Township landfill on Hughes Road secured an expansion permit, two air pollution permits for landfill discharge and a gas recovery facility and a permit for wastewater discharge for a stormwater pond from the state EPA allowing it to move forward with plans to expand the waste disposal site by up to 240 acres.

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Ohio has struggled recently to find suitable drugs with which to execute inmates sentenced to death. But one Republican lawmaker believes a solution could be readily available and already in the hands of law enforcement.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has given the green light for a Greater Cincinnati landfill to expand.

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FROM PAGE 04

service beyond the city limits.

Reinventing Metro would change that, and, advocates argue, substantively improve bus service if county voters approve a .7 percent or higher sales tax increase. At that level, the levy would raise about $110 million a year for bus service — double what the city’s earnings tax provides.

Over the past few years, various groups seemed at odds with what, exactly, to do about Metro’s problems. Former Hamilton County Commission President Todd Portune, for example, opposed a county levy in favor of a more regional approach.

And Metro’s board of directors punted on putting a levy ask on the ballot last year.

But now, support for the county levy seems to have coalesced. The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber backs the sales tax ask, as do the county commissioners and some prominent transit activists.

Pete Metz, the head of the chamber’s transportation initiatives, says the group representing some 4,000 regional businesses supports Reinventing Metro because the current funding system doesn’t allow Metro to provide transit services comparable to other cities with which Cincinnati is competing for talent and businesses.

“We have a public transportation system

that is woefully underfunded and that doesn’t connect people to where they need to go today, let alone connect people to where they will need to go as we grow as a region,” Metz said at an Aug. 12 presentation on the plan for environmental advocates hosted by Green Umbrella.

Cincinnati City Council took a first step toward the new funding model by agreeing to eliminate the portion of city income taxes that goes to Metro if county voters approve a levy.

There are still plenty of dominoes left to fall, but council’s vote could prime the countywide sales tax levy to fund bus service.

Council member P.G. Sittenfeld introduced the proposal that, if approved by voters, would eliminate the .3 percent of the city’s earnings tax that goes toward Metro’s operations — but only in the event that Hamilton County voters approved a sales tax boost of .7 percent or above for funding Metro.

Sittenfeld said the vote was the first step toward “multi-generational change” by vastly improving the region’s bus system.

The charter amendment will go to city voters in next year’s March primary election. Meanwhile, SORTA’s board will also need to approve putting the sales tax levy — which would be anywhere from .7

to 1 percent above the county’s current 7-percent sales tax — on a ballot in the spring or fall of 2020. Then county voters would need to approve that levy.

The income tax rollback is something of an olive branch for voters who may be skeptical of a tax increase — as is the potential inclusion of funds for road and bridge repair in the county tax levy ask.

The infrastructure dollars would also have to in some way benefit transit services.

That could push the overall sales tax hike to as high as 1 percent.

Overall, the city’s income tax is 2.1 percent, meaning that eliminating Metro’s portion would lower the city’s earnings tax to 1.8 percent. That’s easily the lowest of any major city in Ohio.

The idea of eliminating Metro’s share of the city’s earnings tax has in the past sparked questions from transit advocates.

Cincinnati’s Better Bus Coalition, which has led successful grassroots campaigns for improving bus service, floated its own proposal to create a ballot initiative that would have raised the city’s earnings tax if SORTA didn’t act on a countywide levy.

Even with the possibility of a county levy, Better Bus Coalition President Cam Hardy had previously expressed concerns about eliminating the city’s tax entirely because it would reduce the city’s presence on

SORTA’s board and chip away at a revenue source for Metro.

But Hardy has since come on board with the county levy plan, saying it’s the best option for improving Metro.

“We are hitting a historic moment in our region when it comes to discussions about public transportation,” Hardy said at the Green Umbrella event. “The plan before us today changes the way (the system) is funded. Our earnings tax today isn’t bringing in enough money to fund our transportation system. I live in Northside. My aunt lives in Bond Hill. It shouldn’t take me an hour and a half to go see her.”

Not everyone is convinced eliminating Metro’s portion of the city’s earnings tax is a good idea. Council member Chris Seelbach voted against council’s proposed charter amendment, saying he supports better funding for bus service but doesn’t think the city should give up a valuable revenue source. He was outvoted, however.

Now it will likely be up to voters to decide the next moves. Riders waiting at Government Square seemed to agree — something needs to be done.

“You know, I’m a patient person,” Tate says when asked about the possibility of more frequent service and more direct routes. “But oh yes, it would help. That I think would help everyone.”

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L t o R : M e l i s s a G e l f i n ; Ta y l o r C a r r a s c o ; D a v i d M o r s e | P H OTO S : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R

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Three company dancers have choreographed pieces for the Cincinnati Ballet’s annual Kaplan New Works Series

BY LEYLA SHOKOOHE

The Other Side of the Studio

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two works would be selected from the workshop to go onto mainstage performances in New Works. This spring, artistic director Victoria Morgan knew she had to add a third — Gelfin’s.

“She’s got a special touch,” Morgan says. “I just felt that she’s got so much potential. It’s very individual, a lot of undulations in it, a lot of use of flex foot, and turned in, and on the floor. It’s all very sensual. She’s titled it Clockwise and she has a very interesting orientation about time.

The piece has a lot of references to the past and the present and the future, and trying to find a place to stop that basically stops the inevitable action from happening. I love it.”

Morse also found himself working out big questions about the afterlife through choreography in his currently untitled work.

Inspired by C.S. Lewis’s book A Grief Observed, which was written following the death of his wife, Morse’s piece focuses less on the reactions we have to the death of our loved ones and more about how they feel after they’ve passed on — what Morse calls “spiritual grieving on the other side of the death marker.”

“I’m trying to take (four dancers) and meld them into one organism that is the spirit of this person who’s passed,” he says.

Gathering, his 2018 New Works piece, was electrifying; it was the stand-out in an evening full of stand-outs. His unique choreographic voice, both intentional and controlled, seems destined for more cultivation and performance — and is one upon which Morgan heaps praise.

“It’s interesting to me, because when I watch choreographers in the early stages, their work looks a little bit like this choreographer and that choreographer, but I feel like David’s looks so stylistic, so developed,” she says. “You look at a Monet, a Picasso, and go, ‘Oh, I know who that is,’ and I think David has that already.

He’s a young voice, but he’s very deliberate and studied and creative.”

Carrasco’s second New Works contribution started with a song. He is usually inspired by music first, and this year’s piece features “Four Friends,” by Ghost Quartet, a fun, folky tune that praises four different types of whiskey. In searching for other similar strains of music, Carrasco found his choreographic storyline to

be exploring addiction.

“It turned into a meditation on cyclical, addictive behavior that almost all of us have, whether that be an addiction to cigarettes, or alcohol, or a person,” he says. “You’re always searching for something better when it comes to dealing with an addiction, whether you’re deciding to step away from or fall back into your addiction. I just think that’s a very interesting, human consistent tendency.”

His energy is young and propulsive, and Morgan describes him as very dedicated.

“He’s somebody who really wants to choreograph,” she says. “Usually people are taking their lunch break at the 1:45 hour, but I look down from my little perch here and I often see him just in the studio, making stuff up. Just exploring, just being really physical. Sometimes he’ll grab another dancer so they can play with the improvisational stuff and feeding off each other. He just is compelled.”

For any dancer, being on the mirror side of the studio as choreographer, is an interesting, sometimes unfamiliar change of pace.

“I wanted to put my socks on and jump in but I was like, ‘Wait a second, that’s me, I need to be the one up front,’ ” Gelfin says.

Leading dancers who are colleagues makes Morse, Carrasco and Gelfin particularly wellpositioned to draw the most out of their dancers.

“You’ve watched them, you’ve danced with them, you know on a very deep level how they move, what’s a strength, what will look really great,” she says.

Morse adds that the product is the choreographic process itself, something that took both him and Carrasco a little time to learn last go-around, and all three choreographers emphatically agree. The advantages of their respective opportunity to choreograph on their home turf are not lost on any of them.

“All three of us are able to be really jumpstarting our choreographic careers in an environment where we know that we’re supported by the artistic staff, we know that we’re supported by the dancers,” Carrasco says.

“Not that it’s not high pressure, but it’s not like we’re going out of our environments. We’re in our home studio. It’s pretty incredible.”

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he dancers are taking the stage this fall in more ways than one. When Cincinnati Ballet’s 14th Kaplan New Works Series opens on Sept. 12 at the Aronoff Center for the Arts in the Jarson-Kaplan Theater, three of its company members will have their own choreography featured.

Soloist David Morse and corps de ballet dancer Taylor Carrasco both had pieces featured in the 2018 iteration of the beloved program that offers contemporary works in an intimate setting. For principal dancer Melissa Gelfin, this is her New Works choreographic debut, and a very personal one at that.

“My piece was more or less inspired by — gosh, this is going to sound really dark. The death of my grandmother came really close to the death of my dad,” Gelfin says. “My dad passed away; he was in the ICU and my grandmother had just gotten out of surgery for her brain tumor one floor below. Here was this pressure all of a sudden I felt, with time.”

Gelfin’s father passed away on Dec. 10, 2017, and her grandmother on April 1, 2018.

She describes time itself as simultaneously slowing down and moving normally during this period of her life, an understandable reaction to the shock of loss. She was fascinated by the pressure of time and how it relates to humans and the many relationships we have — parental, romantic, etc.

“Ever since those moments, (time) just gets me in a different way,” she says. “It was a very strange concept for me to deal with and process, so this is how I’m processing.”

Gelfin recently contributed a solo piece to elle émerge, Houston Ballet’s all-female choreographic workshop, alongside Cincinnati Ballet’s resident choreographer Jennifer Archibald and several others.

She also participated in Cincinnati Ballet’s annual Choreographer’s Workshop, an opportunity for company dancers to flex their choreographic muscles. Held annually in the spring since 2015, the workshop is evaluated by a distinguished panel of choreographers and dancers, and in the first two years, concluded with a free in-studio performance. In 2017, the stakes were upped when it was announced that

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Cincinnati Ballet’s Kaplan New Works Series takes place Sept. 12-22 at the Aronoff Center’s Jarson-Kaplan Theater. More info/tickets: cballet.org.

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HEARTLAND AT HISTORIC LEBANON

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ROBERT COLESCOTT Art and Race Matters: The Career of Robert Colescott Opening Celebration: SEP 20 • 8–11PM

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Robert Colescott, Interior II – Homage to Roy Lichtenstein, 1991, Acrylic on Canvas, 16 x 18 inches. © 2019 Estate of Robert Colescott / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Private Collection.

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The Esquire is devoting one of its six screens to showing classics and special event films

BY STEVEN ROSEN

D i a n e J a n i c k i | P H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R

Making Old Movies New Again

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For more information on the Esquire Theatre (320 Ludlow Ave., Clifton), visit esquiretheatre.com.

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on Sept. 16 and 17. (A third 1967 nominee, the culture-shaking Bonnie and Clyde, is part of the Action August offerings on Aug. 26, 27 and 29.)

• On Sept. 27, the theater will honor Cincinnati native Doris Day — who passed away in May of this year — by screening 1960’s Please Don’t Eat the Daisies.

• A condensed Jack Nicholson Festival occurs in September with Easy Rider, celebrating its 50th anniversary, on Sept. 11; 1975’s Oscar-winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest on Sept. 15; and 1974’s Chinatown on Sept. 21 and 22. The 1 p.m. screening of Chinatown on Sept. 22 is what Horine calls a “Deep Dive” — over the course of three hours or more, he stops and starts the film repeatedly to comment on how onscreen occurrences further the film’s overall impact.

After that, the schedule is still a work-in-progress and will eventually be posted on the online event calendar, but some of October’s highlights include Rosemary’s Baby, Eraserhead, The Exorcist, silent film actress Theda Bara’s A Fool There Was with live musical accompaniment, and a night of films by Ya’Ke Smith, Taft Museum’s Duncanson Artist in Residency.

For November, selections include films by the Coen brothers — Fargo, The Man Who Wasn’t There, The Hudsucker Proxy and The Big Lebowski — and such film noir classics as Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing and Body Heat. Thanksgiving weekend brings Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Planes, Trains and Automobiles and The Big Lebowski in rotation.

“Obviously, we are always looking for ways to increase attendance and to keep our patrons engaged. Diane has had great success with programing ‘event’ films and series over the years,” says Gary Goldman, Theatre Management Corp.’s president, via email. “Based on the success, we decided to take a shot at dedicating a screen and expanding the program.”

Janicki wants people to use the Esquire’s website to propose ideas for other films. There may even be sponsorship opportunities.

“I’m happy to hear anything,” she says.

“Whether you made a film and want to premiere it or just want to see something, we’ll find out what’s possible. We’re open to telling stories and showing films of all kinds.”

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August and, coming up, Star-Studded September and Noir November. Janicki is trying as much as possible to schedule guests for introductory remarks and post-film discussions.

“We’re trying to have as many of our (event) films as possible have some kind of special element to them, whether it’s an introduction and talkback with professor Horine, or having The Cinema Guys (local) podcast involved,” Janicki says. “We’re now working with (Clifton’s) Torn Light Records, doing Rock ‘n’ Roll High School with them on Sept. 4. We did Repo Man with them last month. They’ll find a vinyl record of the soundtrack to auction off.”

For Horine, involvement in this experiment is personal.

“I have few missions of my own in life and one is to get millennials to realize a benefit to seeing movies on something other than a small streaming device,” he says. “In other words, go to a real theater and see movies they may have heard about but never seen with a box of popcorn and a bunch of other people.”

He also finds that older audiences like to see favorite movies again, or catch ones they missed, and talk about it afterward.

Booking the events is something like scheduling boats in and out of a busy harbor.

Meeting recently at Sitwell’s Coffee House, Janicki brought a calendar with so many possible choices written into spaces for dates that it was difficult to read. But here are some of the so-far booked special events for September.

For a full schedule, including showtimes, go to esquiretheatre.com and click on “Events.”

• Some Like it Hot, Billy Wilder’s 1959 comedy classic featuring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, screens on Sept. 1 and 3.

• The Cindependent Film Festival presents its best short films on Sept. 1 and best feature on Sept. 7.

• A double-header of 1960s movie musicals occurs on Sept. 2 — the 1963 movie adaptation of Broadway hit Bye Bye Birdie and the 1964 Elvis vehicle Viva Las Vegas. Both films feature actress Ann-Margret.

• Two of the Best Picture Oscar nominees from 1967 are being shown in September. The Graduate with Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft plays Sept. 5, 6 and 7; In the Heat of the Night is

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lifton’s Esquire Theatre is primarily known as the city’s premier art/ indie/specialty cinema, a place where the more critically praised narrative and documentary films like Echo in the Canyon, Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am and The Last Black Man in San Francisco play alongside the more thoughtful and/or edgy Hollywood releases.

Now it is also seeking to expand its audience of Cincinnati theatergoing film buffs by booking at least one special presentation daily. It can be a familiar Hollywood classic, like Humphrey Bogart’s Casablanca; an avant-garde cult release, like David Lynch’s ominous Eraserhead; or a new documentary aimed at educating cinephiles, such as Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice GuyBlaché, an overlooked early filmmaker.

Essentially, the Esquire has turned one of its six screens into an “event house” that offers a repertory-like calendar. The other five screens are continuing to present the new first-run indie/art/documentaries, as well as appropriate Hollywood releases like Once Upon a Time in…

Hollywood, on a week-by-week basis.

While the Esquire has long booked occasional special presentations, it only decided to have a full-time event house in mid-March. It is committed to this programming format at least into December and beyond if the audience warrants it. As word gets out, the theater says attendance has been growing.

“The reason we brought repertory back is to have another way to reach people; to offer another way for people to connect with a brick-and-mortar theater,” says Diane Janicki, operations manager for Theatre Management Corp., which also operates the Mariemont and Kenwood theaters. She handles the event booking with consultant Joe Horine, an adjunct film professor at the University of Cincinnati as well as the associate director of The Underground Academy of Cinematic Arts for high school and middle school students who love to make or watch films.

“If they don’t want to see a current run, but have that connection to Some Like It Hot, this gets them to the theater,” she says. “If they realize they enjoy that experience again, they can see what else is playing and perhaps come back.”

There are also themed series, such as Action

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MARCH 28-APRIL 5, 2020 | Aronoff Center

BOLD MOVES

APRIL 23-25, 2020 | Aronoff Center

Melissa Gelfin & Maizyalet Velázquez, Photography: Aaron M. Conway

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FALL SHOWS Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers/ Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper September 28 • Middletown • 7:00 p.m.

Rhonda Vincent & The Rage October 19 • Hamilton • 7:30 p.m.

Amy Helm Band November 9 • Middletown • 7:30 p.m.

David Bromberg Quintet

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M i a m i O H .e d u / Re g i o n a l s /A r t i st S e r i e s

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For tickets, call (513) 727-3412 or to order online, visit

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November 16 • Hamilton • 7:30 p.m.

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Stranded in Newfoundland, Nick and Diane fell in love under strange circumstances and in the midst of the 9/11 terrorist attacks

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N i c k a n d D i a n e M a r s o n | P H OTO : PA I G E D E G L O W

BY RICK PENDER

True Love in ‘Come From Away’

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temporary shelter for about a thousand people in Gambo, 25 miles from Gander. Having been separated from most of their fellow passengers, Diane and Nick arrived separately.

“When we discovered that, we figured if we hang together there was a better chance of getting back to the same plane,” Diane says.

And so, over the next four days they did just that — stayed together, eventually forming a friendship. Many fellow passengers and locals thought they were a married couple. And a year after their layover in Gander, the couple got married for real.

Nick and Diane’s story bubbled to the surface when Sankoff and Hein began to assemble stories. Nick and Diane even visited Cincinnati late in the spring for the announcement of Broadway in Cincinnati’s 2019-2020 season.

With his gentle British accent, Nick chuckles, “Gander’s population, was almost 10,000. We descended on them like a swarm of locusts.”

With a bit of Texas twang, Diane adds, “All you could take (off the plane) was your carry-on bag.

I had my little make-up bag, but no medicine.

They had pharmacists who would take your information, fill a prescription for you, and bring it to your shelter.”

By the next evening, Nick says, everyone thought they were married, though at the time he says they had just become good friends.

In one instance, a local asked Nick where the pair was from. When Diane said Texas, Nick was asked, “What part of Texas?” — since he certainly didn’t sound like anyone from The Lone Star State.

“Not only did they feed and shelter us, they started to entertain us to take our minds off the circumstances,” Nick says.

For instance, a local geology teacher took the

couple on a sightseeing trip. At Dover Fault, a scenic overlook, Nick was taking photos.

“She thinks I’m trying to take a picture of the scenery,” he says. “No, I wanted a picture of her.”

Diane adds, “I’m trying to get out of the picture. He said, ‘No, no, stay there.’ That’s when I knew he was interested.”

The resulting photo has since become famous.

When they explained that they were not married, a justice of the peace offered his services.

After a few beers, Diane, not much of a drinker, said, “Why not?” Both were divorced and available, but they decided not to be so impetuous.

Once flights were restored, they spent time together in Houston and continued with transatlantic phone conversations and emails.

Nick later wangled another work assignment in Houston. It was then that they realized their feelings were real. After marrying in 2002, the pair returned to Gambo for their honeymoon, which included a dinner the locals staged for them. Gambo’s mayor, Claude Elliott, even wrote a song about their romance.

The pair has since settled in Houston, their love story immortalized by Come From Away’s creators.

That’s how this show works: No heroes or villains, just everyday people being kind to one another. Audiences everywhere have loved these stories. Citing current social media and news filled with divisiveness and anger, Hein says, “It’s never bad to tell a story about human kindness but particularly right now (it’s needed).”

Of the people featured in the musical, Nick and Diane Marson’s intersection is one of the sweetest tales about the people who “came from away.”

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n mid-September 2001, 38 planes with over 6,500 passengers landed unexpectedly in Gander, Newfoundland, a remote island off Canada’s east coast. U.S. airspace had been shut down in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The town’s 10,000 residents hosted people from all over the world for nearly a week. The “guests” spoke more than 100 languages. Meals were served, shelter and medications were provided, friends were made and lasting relationships were formed.

The hospitality of Gander and the connections made there has been captured and recreated in the award-winning musical, Come From Away. It’s been a hit on Broadway and in Toronto, London and Australia. And starting Sept. 17, its touring production will land in Cincinnati for two weeks.

Assembled by Tony nominees Irene Sankoff and David Hein, Come From Away distills events experienced by more than 16,000 people into a 100-minute show that portrays the innate goodness of humankind. A dozen actors play numerous passengers and locals, recreating people who met and embraced one another during the emotional moment.

Two of those passengers are Nick Marson, an oil industry engineer from London, and Diane Kirschke, a department store buyer from Houston. Both were in their 60s and flying from London to Houston. They did not know each other prior to the flight. Diane was returning from a family visit near London; Nick was on a business trip to Houston. Seated separately on the plane, they did not even meet during the first 24 hours in Gander, when passengers had to remain on the aircraft awaiting arrangements.

But fate intervened when they were sent to a

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Come From Away, presented by Broadway in Cincinnati, will be onstage at the Aronoff Center for the Arts, Sept. 17-29. Tickets/more info: cincinnatiarts.org.

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Cincinnati may be a midsize city, but it’s got a heavyweight Classical music scene — and the upcoming season comes with a host of anniversaries and new initiatives

BY ANNE ARENSTEIN

M u s i c H a l l | P H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R

A Season for Celebration

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sold-out concert at the Cincinnati Zoo, the company’s home from 1920 to 1971. In October, tenor Stephen Costello, who sang at CO in 2011 and appears regularly at the Metropolitan Opera, gives a solo recital of bel canto arias at Memorial Hall.

Artistic Director Evans Mirageas describes next year’s season as “looking back but mostly looking forward.” The Barber of Seville, which opens the 2020 anniversary season next summer, and Aida were both performed in the company’s first Cincinnati Zoo seasons; Dvořàk’s fairy-tale tragedy Rusalka makes its company debut; and two world premieres continue CO’s commitment to new works that speak to social issues.

Castor and Patience, with a score by Gregory Spears (Fellow Travelers) and a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tracy K. Smith, deals with an African-American family who inherit land in the American South, and all that it conveys.

Teenagers from WordPlay Cincy, the Music Resource Center and i.imagine tell their stories in Fierce, with a score by Cincinnati Jazz musician William Menefield and local author Sheila Williams.

“Our audiences trust us to have a balance of classic works and, at the same time, we’re on the cutting edge of keeping the art form vibrant with these new operas,” Mirageas says.

“We’ve emerged as a leader in the creation and promotion of new works that draw new and diverse audiences, and we demonstrate that opera can engage social conversation about important issues.”

One such work is Blind Injustice, an opera that premiered this summer to sold-out crowds.

It is based on the true stories of wrongfully convicted prisoners who were exonerated with the help of the Ohio Innocence Project.

Mirageas says the show’s run resulted in over 1,000 new advocates for the OIP. “We want to entertain,” he says, “but we also want to foster awareness.”

All three institutions — the CSO, CMC and CO — extend their reach into the community through diverse board representation, partnerships with schools, churches and young artists, and see inclusion as a moral necessity.

“We have to be relevant” says the CSO’s Martin. “And we have to continue conversations on how the arts can lift up the city.”

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For more info on each organization and their 2019-2020 seasons, visit cincinnatisymphony.org, cincinnatiopera.org and cincychamber.org.

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performed by duo Katia and Marielle Labèque.

There’s also an alternative to full orchestra concerts. The new CSO Proof series offers three intimate, informal multimedia events in Music Hall’s backstage area, which will feature dance, video, theater and performance art.

Chamber Music Cincinnati is one of the country’s oldest organizations devoted to music for soloists and small ensembles. Its 90th anniversary lineup has both brilliant young performers and seasoned veteran artists, all at the top of their game. All concerts are performed in Memorial Hall, an ideal venue for chamber music with terrific acoustics.

The season opener on Sept. 7 features a solo artist performing a marathon, or more accurately, a sonatathon. Renowned Canadian pianist and composer Stewart Goodyear makes his CMC debut playing all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in chronological order over the course of one day, starting at 10 a.m. — with meal breaks. It’s a bold programming decision that runs counter to a trend for shorter concerts.

“No one on the board questioned the idea of an all-day program of this caliber,” says CMC’s program chair John Spencer. “It’s a once-ina-lifetime event and a unique opportunity to celebrate our 90th birthday.”

In October, the esteemed Emerson Quartet returns to the Queen City. In November, pianist Inon Barnatan and cellist Alisa Weilerstein, a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” winner, make their CMC debuts.

In 2020, the Canadian St. Lawrence String Quartet brings a program with insights into Haydn and Beethoven, the Czech Pavel Haas Quartet returns by popular demand and the season concludes with pianist Murray Perahia, one of the most sought-after pianists for over 40 years.

CMC has seen an increase in attendance over the past five years and not surprisingly — Spencer says that featuring young artists helps draw in younger audiences.

“We approach every season with inclusion as a priority, and that includes the music being played,” he says. “Last season, Brooklyn Rider’s concert included five pieces composed by women, and we’re hoping to have a concert featuring more of their works. That’s true for composers of color, as well.”

Cincinnati Opera may turn 100 in June 2020, but the party starts early on Sept. 18 with a

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incinnati breaks the mold as a midsize city with a world-class orchestra, opera company and chamber music organization. All three of which are gearing-up for anniversaries this 2019-2020 season as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra celebrates 125 years, the Cincinnati Opera observes its 100th anniversary and Chamber Music Cincinnati turns 90.

The programs for each company are genuine celebrations that offer exciting and varied programs that look forward while still commemorating the past. In addition to drawing in top-tier artists across the board, there are new formats, more intimate venues and concerted efforts to reflect Cincinnati’s cultural diversity both onstage and in the organizations themselves.

The CSO kicked off its anniversary earlier this month with “Look Around,” a multimedia production created by composer Shara Nova and poet Siri Imani that enveloped Over-the-Rhine’s Washington Park in a blaze of sound and color with over 600 performers.

Imani recited her powerful poem “Lost Generation,” a lament and manifesto for young people of color. If anyone was uncomfortable with Imani’s painful questions, that was the point, says CSO president Jonathan Martin.

“You have to be willing to start a conversation about what we as a community are not doing (to address the inequities Imani raises),” he says.

Looking forward, the CSO is delivering a season with plenty of standard Classical offerings (Beethoven’s 250th birthday is in 2020). But this is also the most inclusive season on record, reflecting music director Louis Langrée’s passionate advocacy for his adopted city.

Guest conductors include Simone Young, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music alumna Xian Zhang, Thomas Wilkins and Damon Gupton; several world premieres are by women and an entire concert is devoted to African-American composers — and it’s not in February (Black History Month). Martin says that the CSO has programmed more music by underrepresented groups than any other major orchestra in the country — an initiative that will be a “benchmark moving forward.”

Though the official anniversary concert will be held in January, the celebration extends throughout the CSO’s season, opening Sept. 20 with Bryce Dessner’s “Concerto for Two Pianos,”

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D a m o n G u p t o n | P H OTO : DA M U M A L I K

ACTOR DAMON GUPTON NAMED CINCINNATI POPS PRINCIPAL GUEST CONDUCTOR

BY ANNE ARENSTEIN The Cincinnati Pops announced the appointment of actor and musician Damon Gupton as their first-ever principal guest conductor. The Detroit native has guest-conducted for the Pops since 2014 and most recently led last October’s Haunted Hall concerts.

Gupton’s three-year contract will lead with a live orchestra film screening of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

Following that, in the 2019-2020 season he'll conduct the annual New Year’s Eve concert, the Classical Roots concert in March and a one-night concert with Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers in April.

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In a statement, Pops conductor John Morris Russell calls Gupton “a tremendous talent and a fantastic musician who has really connected with our audiences and musicians.”

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A music education graduate of the University of Michigan, Gupton went on to study at the Aspen Music Festival School with David Zinman and Murry Sidlin. He was an American Conducting Fellow with the Houston Symphony and served as assistant conductor for the Kansas City Symphony. His guest conducting credits include the San Francisco Symphony, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and the Long Beach Symphony.

But Gupton is perhaps best known as an actor, having graduated in drama from New York City’s Juilliard School and starred in shows like Black Lightning and Criminal Minds.

In a statement, Gupton said he looks forward to getting to know Cincinnati even better and that he’s grateful to be working alongside versatile musicians and with an orchestra whose “programming and artistic collaborations are exceptional.”

T h e A p o l l o 1 1 C o m m a n d M o d u l e C o l u m b i a | P H OTO : E R I C L O N G

ONSTAGE: AUGUST: OSAGE

ONSTAGE: ONCE ON THIS

Usually we look to the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company for plays that have been around for a century or four, but some shows become classics in less time. One of those will kick off Cincy Shake’s upcoming season: Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County.

The 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner (it also won the best play Tony Award that year) is a classic in many ways; it has three acts, lots of characters — not typical of most modern dramas. In fact, it’s a sprawling story about three dysfunctional generations of the Westin family struggling to understand the suicide of the Westin patriarch. They gather in the family home where old wounds and buried secrets bubble and fester. There’s humor and heartbreak, and it’s a fine choice to showcase Cincy Shakes’ veteran actors, especially the women. The 2019-2020 theater season is billed as “The Season of the Woman,” with each production having sensational roles for females; August: Osage County could just have the most intriguing. Sept. 6-28. $60-$71. Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, 1195 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, cincyshakes.com. — RICK PENDER

The Cincinnati Playhouse’s season opener, Once on This Island, is a Calypsoflavored musical, a mythical fairy tale set in the French Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. Ti Moune is a peasant girl who rescues Daniel, a boy from a wealthy, aristocratic family, after a car accident.

They fall in love, but they’re from two disparate worlds and social classes. Four pompous gods conspire and compete to shape the lives of the pair, but it’s a story of life, pain, grief, faith and hope. A 1991 Tony Award nominee, the show’s 2017 Broadway production was named the season’s Best Revival of a Musical. The joyous score was composed by Stephen Flaherty, an alum of the University of Cincinnati’s CollegeConservatory of Music, and it’s one that will have you humming all the way home.

The 90-minute show is a perfect choice for everyone in the family, making it a great way to kick-off a season of theater-going. Sept.

7-Oct. 6. $30-$72. Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, 962 Mount Adams Circle, Mount Adams, cincyplay.com. — RP

COUNTY

ISLAND

Fall Arts Picks reason. This upcoming exhibition at the Cincinnati Museum Center will celebrate that landmark achievement, featuring the Command Module Columbia, the only portion of the spacecraft that survived the crew’s journey to the moon. (This will mark the first time since 1976 that the module has been on display outside the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.) Visitors can also catch a glimpse of Buzz Aldrin’s gold-plated extravehicular helmet visor and thermal-insulated gloves; the star chart that helped guide Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins on their travels; the survival kit that was onboard; and more. Cool aside: Armstrong, aka the first man to actually walk on the moon, was born a Buckeye and later taught at the University of Cincinnati. Sept. 28, 2019-Feb. 17, 2020. $16.50 adults; $15.50 seniors; $10.50 children; free toddlers; $10.50 member adult; $7.50 member child. Cincinnati Museum Center, 1301 Western Ave., Queensgate, cincymuseum. org. — MM

FILM: OVER-THE-RHINE

INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

B L I N K 2 0 1 7 | P H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R

CLASSICAL: BEETHOVEN

SONATATHON WITH STEWART GOODYEAR

MATTERS

The Contemporary Arts Center will kick off its season with Art and Race Matters, the first major survey of the work of the underrepresented and highly influential artist Robert Colescott since 1987. Colescott was known for his often-satirical paintings, which examine both the broad scope of black history and his own identity. Having begun his career in Portland, Oregon and Seattle in the 1950s and ’60s, Colescott drew inspiration from the civil rights movement. Through his work, he touches on the historical exclusion of people from African descent and blackness as it is presented in popular culture. The CAC show will navigate the breadth of his work over a stretch of 40 years, presenting it at a time the museum says his work has never been more relevant. Sept. 20, 2019-Jan. 12, 2020. Free. Contemporary Arts Center, 44 E. Sixth St., Downtown, contemporaryartscenter.org.

— MACKENZIE MANLEY

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing mission, harkening back to a time when space travel was cool and innovative multimillionaires — cough, Elon Musk — weren’t sending their Tesla into space for no apparent

In its inaugural 2017 run, BLINK Cincinnati was one of the largest and most innovative light and art events in the nation, transforming city blocks all the way from The Banks to the edges of Over-the-Rhine into a glowing, pulsing wonderscape. For four days, Cincinnatians could feast their eyes on large-scale projection mapping, light-based sculptures and installations, a parade, murals and performances. If you missed it in 2017, don’t fret: BLINK is back for a second run Oct. 10-13, 2019 — this time stretching across the Roebling Bridge and into Covington, Kentucky. This year’s fest will span 30 blocks, feature those same beloved large-scale light and art events, and also include a live performance from AltRock act Grouplove. To mark the expansion across the Ohio River, BLINK also plans to illuminate the Roebling, bathing it in “beautiful color, light and sound.” Oct. 10-13. Free. More info at blinkcincinnati.com. — MM

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ATTRACTION: DESTINATION MOON: THE APOLLO 11 MISSION

EVENT: BLINK

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Why spend 11 hours listening to recordings of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas when, over the course of one day, you can hear them played by one of the greatest pianists out there? Stewart Goodyear performs this astounding feat at Memorial Hall in three consecutive concerts beginning at 10 a.m. The piano is the only genre for which Beethoven consistently wrote throughout his life, and five of the sonatas, including “Moonlight,” are the best known in all of piano literature. Goodyear has done the “sonatathon” in four other locales and this performance marks his Chamber Music Cincinnati debut. It’s an exceptional opportunity to witness this kind of artistry and an even rarer chance to hear Beethoven mature as a genius of composition over a 30-year period. The sonatas are performed in chronological order with an intermission during each concert and breaks for lunch and dinner. CMC’s website includes a detailed setlist so you can check to see which concert features “Moonlight” or “Hammerklavier.” 10 a.m.-1:40 p.m.; 3-6:30 p.m.; 8-10:50 p.m. Sept. 7. $40; $10 student rush tickets day of concert. Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, memorialhallotr. com, cincychamber.org. — ANNE ARENSTEIN

VISUAL ART: ART AND RACE

Five days. Over 60 films. Seven locations. The Over-the-Rhine International Film Festival was first launched in 2013. The event originally focused on works that explored and celebrated the lives of those who experience disabilities. Last year, the programming moved beyond that scope to include “stories that celebrate the human spirit.”

(Until 2018, it was known at the ReelAbilities Film Festival and is still helmed by LADD, a local nonprofit that empowers adults with developmental disabilities.) That same sentiment will be carried on into this year’s fest. Whether you’re a filmmaker or a cinephile, you’re likely to resonate with a handful of works in their expansive lineup. Oct. 2-6. Prices vary. More info at otrfilmfest.org. — MM

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R o b e r t C o l e s c o t t ’s “ T h e W r e c k a g e o f t h e M e d u s a ” | C O U RT E S Y O F T H E E S TAT E O F RO B E RT C O L E S C OT T / / P H OTO : R AY L I T M A N

D a v i d S e d a r i s | P H OTO : I N G R I D C H R I S T I E

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

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LIT: AN EVENING WITH DAVID SEDARIS

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English major heartthrob™ David Sedaris is known for his witticisms and criticallyacclaimed memoirs and essays. Armed with a dry sense of humor, he has authored a handful of bestsellers, including Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. His latest book release, Calypso, is a collection of 21 semiautobiographical essays that hone-in the creeping realization of one’s own morality that comes with middle age. Presented

by WVXU, the one-night event, which includes a Q&A session and book signing, will unfold in Aronoff Center for the Arts’ Procter & Gamble Hall. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21. $48.75-$58.75. Aronoff Center for the Arts, 650 Walnut St., Downtown, cincinnatiarts. org. — MM

VISUAL ART: TREASURES

OF THE SPANISH WORLD

Delve into a rich history that spans three millennia of Spanish culture with the Cincinnati Art Museum. Over 200 works of art and historical documents from Spain and Latin America, including Roman Spain, will be featured in this ticked exhibition opening Oct. 25. From Medieval times to the early 20th century, you can expect to see a little bit of everything — paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, works on paper. Having debuted at Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid — and later on view in Mexico City and Albuquerque, New Mexico — many of these works have never been on exhibition outside of Hispanic Society of America in New York City and some pieces have never been exhibited at all. Oct. 25, 2019-Jan.19, 2020. $10; free for members. Cincinnati Art Museum, 953 Eden Park Drive, Mount Adams, cincinnatiartmuseum.org. — MM

FILM: FANTASTIC MR.

FOX 10TH ANNIVERSARY SCREENING

Wes Anderson's first foray into stop-motion animation turns 10 this year, but it hasn't lost an iota of charm since 2009. Starring the vocal talents of George Clooney, Meryl Streep and (of course) Bill Murray as Roald Dahl's beloved cast of woodland critters, Fantastic Mr. Fox is the coziest installment in the heist film canon. While the intricatelydesigned sets are alluring enough to warrant a re-watch, the family flick holds up as a true artistic statement — family dynamics are tested, the class struggles are all too real and the curse words are skillfully deployed (though hilariously censored). The Mini Microcinema will celebrate Fantastic Mr. Fox's anniversary with a retrospective screening and themed snacks. We can only assume that cider will be on the menu. 5 p.m. Nov. 9. $25. Mini Microcinema, 1329 Main St, Over-the-Rhine, mini-cinema.org.

— JUDE NOEL

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STUFF TO DO

Ongoing Shows ART: No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man Cincinnati Art Museum, Mount Adams (through Sept. 2)

WEDNESDAY 21

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

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FILM: 10 Things I Hate About You at Washington Park Free films take over Washington Park Wednesdays in summer. Loosely based on Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, pretty and pleasant Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) can’t go to prom unless her uptight sister (Julia Stiles) does. Thankfully, bad boy Patrick (Heath Ledger, RIP) steps in. Bring some chairs or a blanket and head to the park early to claim a spot on the lawn. The concession stand is open for snacks and alcohol (and also nonalcohol). 9-11 p.m. Free admission. Washington Park, 1230 Elm St., Over-theRhine, washingtonpark.org.

— MAIJA ZUMMO

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ONSTAGE: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at Warsaw Federal Incline Theater It’s a war between the sexes as seven frontier women take charge of their lives in 1850s Oregon in this romantic comedy. With musical hits like “Bless Your Beautiful Hide” and “The Sobbin’ Women,” seven dummy brothers think they know what a woman’s place is. But they learn what’s up through one of their spirited brides. Through Sept. 8. $29 adults; $26 seniors/students.

Warsaw Federal Incline Theater, 801 Matson Place, East Price Hill, cincinnatilandmarkproductions.com.

— MAIJA ZUMMO

THURSDAY 22

MUSIC: The Whispering Beard Folk Festival takes over Smale Riverfront Park through Saturday. See an interview with Saturday’s headliner Ryan Bingham on page 41.

Big Freedia PHOTO: BALLIN PR

MUSIC: Popa Chubby bring scoring Pop-infected Blues to the Southgate House Revival. See Sound Advice on page 43.

COMEDY: Taylor Tomlinson Most comedians start their careers in a comedy club of some sort. Taylor Tomlinson started in church at age 16.

After taking a comedy class with her dad at their church, the instructor, a Christian comedian, invited Taylor to be his feature act. She did the church circuit for two years before switching to mainstream comedy clubs in college. “I’m not saying I don’t want to get married,” she tells an audience. “I do.

I just don’t know if I’m ready yet. Sometimes I think I’m ready, and I see the Facebook posts, I feel the emptiness and I think I want to be married. Then I eat bread and I feel so much better. I just needed some carbs.”

She’s also unsure about having children. “I want to have kids, but I’m afraid because

as far as I can tell you can’t pick. You just go to the hospital in pain and a few hours later, ‘This is what came out of you. No tradesies!’ ” Through Sunday. $10-$45.

Liberty Funny Bone, 7518 Bales St., Liberty Township, liberty.funnybone.com.

— P.F. WILSON FILM: Blue Note Records: Beyond The Notes The Woodward Theater and Borne Content are hosting a screening of the acclaimed documentary Blue Note Records: Beyond The Notes, Swiss director Sophie Huber’s look at the history and continuing legacy of Jazz music’s most enduring and iconic record label.

The film is only screening in a select few U.S. cities this summer, mostly for one-night-only engagements.

Founded 80 years ago by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, Blue Note’s discography includes groundbreaking and indispensable works that are crucial building blocks of Jazz. Its roster

has included Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Art Blakey, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Ornette Coleman, Chick Corea, Jean-Luc Ponty… you get the picture. Jazz giants. The label has maintained relevance throughout its eight decades, expanding and growing alongside the genre, while also branching off into related but not strictly Jazz territory. Along with the modern vanguard of Jazz greats like John Scofield, Robert Glasper, Joe Lovano, Wynton Marsalis and Terence Blanchard, Blue Note has been home to successful albums by Norah Jones, Amos Lee, Al Green and Van Morrison. Beyond The Notes was a favorite at film festivals all over the world last year and recent reviews from outlets like The Guardian and The New York Times have offered glowing praise for the movie. 7 p.m. Thursday. $8. Woodward Theater, 1404 Main St., Over-theRhine, woodwardtheater. com. — MIKE BREEN

FRIDAY 23

COMEDY: Cincy Brew Ha-Ha takes over Sawyer Point for two days of laughs and drafts, featuring headliners Preacher Lawson and Jay Mohr. See an interview with Mohr on page 33.

ONSTAGE: American Idiot is a bombastic Punk Rock opera based on the Green Day album of the same name at The Carnegie. See review on page 34.

MUSIC: Super Low brings Memphis Indie Power Pop to the Northside Tavern. See Sound Advice on page 44.

MUSIC: BeWILDerfest returns to Urban Artifact with a variety of national and local acts. See more about the overall fest in Spill It on page 42, and more about headliners Clap Your Hands Say Yeah in Sound Advice on page 43.

MUSIC: Big Freedia Whether or not you’ve heard of Big Freedia, you’ve likely heard the New Orleans rapper on the radio. Sampled

in the intro and chaotic breakdown of Drake’s 2018 chart-topper “Nice For What,” snippets from her live performances act as a jarring interjection — the force with which she chants the line “these hoes, they mad” is somehow more empowering than any motivational lyrics Drake could muster. Though Freedia has only recently garnered the mainstream attention that comes with a 2016 Beyoncé collab and subsequent major label deal, her musical influence has been felt since the early 2000s. She first made a name for herself in Louisiana’s “Bounce” scene, known for its frenetic beats and shouted call-andresponse vocals: an early precursor to what’s known today as Trap music. Attracting attention from Indie artists like Matt and Kim and The Postal Service in the 2010s, Freedia’s popularity eclipsed New Orleans, even spawning a reality show CONTINUES ON PAGE 29

FRIDAY 23

EVENT: Germania Society Oktoberfest Don’t let the name confuse you: this year’s Oktoberfest party is actually kicking off in late August. The Germania Society boasts that their 49th-annual Oktoberfest is the most authentic in Cincinnati (or Zinzinnati if you’re really getting in the Deutsch mood). They have live German music and dancing, games for kids, plenty of food — including sauerkraut balls, Oktoberfest chicken, curry wurst and limburger cheese sandwiches — and, of course, a wide variety of bier, wein and schnapps.

Prost! 6 p.m.-midnight Friday; 2 p.m.-midnight Saturday; noon-8 p.m. Sunday. $5; free 12 and under.

Germania Park, 3529 West Kemper Road, Pleasant Run, germaniasociety.com/oktoberfest. — EMMA STIEFEL FROM PAGE 28

1404 Main St., Over-theRhine, woodwardtheater. com. — MIKE BREEN

SUNDAY 25

EVENTS: Pups & Pints at 3 Points Urban Brewery 3 Points Urban Brewery is celebrating the dog days of summer with its monthly Pups & Pints pooch-friendly night. Bring your favorite furry friend to the taproom, where they will receive attention from strangers while you drink a beer or two. There will also be treats plus special guests from the Cindependent Film Festival, who will be there to promote the upcoming fest. The Cindependent Film Festival runs Aug. 29-31 at multiple venues in Over-the-Rhine.

See page 32 for more info.

11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. Free.

3 Points Urban Brewery, 331 E. 13th St., Pendleton, facebook.com/3pointsbeer.

— MAIJA ZUMMO

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

EVENT: Rat Taxidermy Class If you’ve ever fancied yourself a bit of a Wes Anderson-type and longed to create and display your very own whimsical taxidermied rat, now is your chance. Meddling with Nature, an educational group that explores the connection between art and nature through direct, hands-on experience, is leading a rat taxidermy workshop at Hail Dark Aesthetics. Each participant

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MUSIC: Carriers Album Release Show If you started an Indie Rock project and were looking for an all-star rhythm section to record with that has Cincinnati connections, you couldn’t do much better than getting Afghan Whigs

bassist John Curley and The National drummer Bryan Devendorf.

That’s just what Curt Kiser (formerly of Enlou and Pomegranates) did for his first recordings with his band project, Carriers. But Kiser’s songwriting and performances on the debut album is definitely impressive enough on its own, as his songs create an earthy, hypnotic flow filled with emotional resonance.

The new full-length, Now is the Time for Loving Me, Yourself and Everyone Else, gets a wide release this week (including on vinyl) through Good Eye Records. After Indie favorite Sharon Van Etten gave Carriers a shout-out in the liner notes for her latest album, Kiser contacted her to say thanks and got even more words of encouragement from the singer/songwriter. “(Van Etten) was like, ‘I’m a fan. I hope my fans find comfort in your music, too,’ ” Kiser told CityBeat in a recent interview. “That’s what matters. I want people to find comfort and peace and know that they’re not alone.” Carriers celebrate Now is the Time’s release this weekend with a hometown show. Turtledoves, Joesph and Molly Parden will also perform. 8 p.m. Friday. $10; $12 day of show. Woodward Theater,

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(Queen of Bounce) and appearances on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Her “Azz Across America” tour, which runs until Nov. 21, follows the launch of her own Ben & Jerry’s flavor: Big Freedia’s Bouncing Beignets. Iconic.

8 p.m. Friday. $20. Bogart’s, 2621 Vine St., Corryville, bogarts.com.

— JUDE NOEL

MASSKRUGSTEMMEN STEIN-HOLDING COMPETITION PHOTO: GERMANIA SOCIET Y PR

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Django Western Taco

Pompilios

SUNDAY 25

P H O T O : PA I G E D E G L O W

Rivertown Brewery & Barrel House

Taste of Belgium

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WEDNESDAY IS

WINESDAY

AT JUNGLE JIM’S!

1 OFF ALL POURS!

$

EVERY WEDNESDAY AFTER 5 PM

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

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- BOTH LOCATIONS -

30

$

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Back that Glass up For Jungle Jim’s Winesday

HOW IT WORKS 1. Buy your glassware and first pour at our Tasting Bar. 2. Back that glass up every Wednesday after 5 PM to save $1 at our Tasting Bar. Visit Junglejims.com/Events for more information.

Offer only valid on Wednesdays. Must be 21+ to purchase.

will “go from start to finish on a rat of their choosing” and learn both naturalistic and anthropomorphic poses.

All supplies are included — except outfits for your rat; bring your own — and Meddling with Nature says, on the “‘gore scale’ this ranks at about a cooking level.”

Also note, this does require delicate hands. 6-11 p.m.

Sunday. $220. Hail Dark Aesthetics, 720 Main St., Covington, hailcincinnati. com. — MAIJA ZUMMO FILM: Rock ‘n’ Roll High School at The Mini Microcinema Over-the-Rhine’s Mini Microcinema has been celebrating a different timeless film’s anniversary each month this year, starting with the 30th anniversary of Sex, Lies, and Videotape. The series allows The Mini to showcase movies that still resonate with audiences today, despite being released 10, 20, 30 years ago or beyond.

This weekend, catch at 40th-anniversary screening of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School.

Just in time for the back-toschool rush, the plot follows the students of the lowachieving Vince Lombardi High as they riot against their principal and teachers with the help of The Ramones after the administration tries to stand in the way of the students’ love of Rock & Roll. Proceeds from the ticketed screenings will help fund the cinema’s operating budget and admission includes snacks and drinks.

7 p.m. doors Sunday. $25. The Mini Microcinema, 1329 Main St., Over-the-Rhine, rockroll40th.eventbrite. com. — MACKENZIE MANLEY EVENT: MOVEMENT at Great American Ball Park Michelob ULTRA and the Cincinnati Reds are bringing fitness and wellness experts to Great American Ball Park for a day of health education and activity. The event kicks off with a warmup with the Reds mascots, followed by a motivational lecture from fitness expert — and former-Bachelorette contestant — Peter Kraus. MOVEMENT will feature workouts from five local fitness studios including LB, Barre 3, Define, Planet Fitness and Modo Yoga. Local podcast What the F*T will be emceeing the event and, to round-out the day, guests can partake in a Michelob ULTRA happy hour. Tickets include a branded yoga mat, two tickets to an upcoming Reds game and two beers. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday. $20.

Great American Ball Park, 100 Joe Nuxhall Way, Downtown, reds.com/movement.

— HAILEY BOLLINGER EVENT: Cheetah Run 5k The Cheetah Run takes place inside the Cincinnati Zoo and includes admission.

EVENT: Yasssss! Queen Drag Brunch Your favorite local drag queens will be looking fresh as they slay and sashay from the window to the wall at the Metropole. This family-style brunch includes a mimosa and show. Call 513-578-6660 to RSVP. 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday. $35. Metropole at 21c, 609 Walnut St., Downtown, 21cmuseumhotels.com.

— MAIJA ZUMMO

This 3.1-mile course winds through the park’s unique gardens and animal exhibits and includes a cheetah encounter and post-race refreshments for runners. A free Cub Run takes place for children 12 and under; no registration required. 8 a.m.

Sunday. $40; $35 members.

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, 3400 Vine St., Avondale, cincinnatizoo.org.

— MAIJA ZUMMO

TUESDAY 27

FILM: Movies in the Park: Back to the Future Bring the kids, a blanket, snacks and watch movies for free at Liberty Center.

This week, it’s Back to the Future. A California teen travels 88 mph in a Delorean from 1985 to 1955 to save the future (and the past) and avoid making out with his mom. 8-11 p.m. Tuesday.

Free. Liberty Center, 7100 Foundry Row, Liberty Township, liberty-center.com.

— MAIJA ZUMMO

YOUR WEEKEND TO DO LIST: LOCAL.CITYBEAT.COM

sat aug 31st

Free admission Give summer a sizzling send-off with

BOURBON, BACON, BBQ & LIVE MUSIC!

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

Must be 21 or older to gamble. Ohio Problem Gambling (1-800-589-9966) or visit www.org.ohio.gov

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JUST OFF I–75 EXIT 29

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miamivalleygaming.com

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ARTS & CULTURE The Cindependent Strikes Back The Cindependent Film Festival returns after a successful inaugural year — and they’ve upped the ante

BY M AC K EN ZI E M A N L E Y

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fter a successful inaugural run, the all-genre three-day Cindependent Film Festival returns to Over-theRhine Aug. 29-31, touting a total of 106 films to be screened in 18 time-blocks, plus 31 screenplay readings, the scripts for which will be interpreted by actors at Know Theatre.

When I spoke with founder and creative director Allyson West on a recent Saturday, she said that over 100 filmmakers were scheduled to attend — not only Cincinnati natives but also artists from as far as Mumbai, India, Russia and Australia.

“Can you guys even believe that we’re bringing in 106 filmmakers?” West asks Emily and Brant Schulz, Cindependent’s volunteer coordinator and press producer, respectively. Snacking on popcorn and petting one of his cats, Brant answers succinctly: “Yeah, totally.”

And he’s right; those numbers aren’t surprising. Last year’s fest garnered an overall screening attendance of 2,104 guests and drew in 121 visiting filmmakers. The fest even landed on FilmFreeway’s Top 100 Best Reviewed Festivals list.

This second year comes with a few changes. Namely, Cindependent has a new home: The Woodward Theater. The fest’s first-year screenings took place in The Mini Microcinema, which can seat 39, and this year’s move to the Woodward means they’ll be able to accommodate 220 people for each screening and provide concert-quality sound. The Mini will still be involved as a hub for filmmakers to connect over coffee, grab lunch and, in the evening, sip cocktails and party.

Other venues include the Know Theatre, located on Jackson Street, where screenplay readings will be held. West notes that, as a result of last year’s readings, a few actors were actually approached for gigs in other projects. There’s also Graydon Law, where attendees can participate in “master classes” — another area of expansion for Cindependent. Last year’s fest included four classes and this year doubled the offerings to eight; topics include “Really Queer Film: A Discussion of Queer Storytelling” and “Carving Your Own Path: How to Stand Out in a Crowded Space.” Cincy design firm We Have Become Vikings will present “Film Posters and Design: Making

the Most Out of Your Story” and local Emmywinners Cincy Stories will cover “Video for Good: Community Engagement with Film Stories.”

Also new this year is an opening night film competition presented by Drive Media House, a local commercial production company. Announced in February, filmmakers and screenwriters submitted pitches for one- to three-minute videos, the winner of which partnered with DMH to make their idea a reality, culminating in an opening night premiere.

Of course, the newest component of the festival will be the films themselves.

“We have really cutting edge work,” West says. “We have things that haven’t been seen other places that were created a year ago. The way our festival works is that we’re constantly getting new stuff. So we have a new range of stories and the movies are completely fresh, which is incredible in and of itself.”

After the interview, I was fortunate enough to catch one of Cindependent’s screening blocks, “Ohio Against the World,” which will play at 8 p.m. Aug. 29 and feature shorts that were either filmed in the Buckeye State or were made by or star Ohioans. The set was diverse in topic and style, from the campy horror of Labor Day to the sci-fi Lovecraftian take of It Came Nameless in the Spring to the feel-good and highly-relatable message of How to Make a Movie (made by a high schooler!).

Being an all-genre fest, that variety is echoed in all 10 other blocks, in which short films are clumped together by overarching themes. Among the offerings are “Good Morning! Shorts;” “Ch-Ch-ChChanges: College Shorts;” “Count on Me:

2018’s Cindependent Film Festival PHOTO: COURTESY OF CFF

Vulnerability and Friendships;” “Birds, Bees, and Those In Between;” and “All For One, One For All!” Festgoers can catch feature screenings on Friday and Saturday — 8 Slices and Ginger, respectively.

With the stories all being told in different ways and through varying lenses, West says that the screenings will be received by an array of backgrounds and taste profiles — lending them the opportunity to “meet criticism or praise head-on and support a conversation that could feed all the way back into hospitality, which is respecting peoples’ individual opinions.”

Hospitality, both this year and last, is a big focus for Cindependent. West says it’s vital to make the filmmakers’ trips to the fest worth their time. They offer a two-night stay at downtown’s 21c Museum Hotel for visiting filmmakers. And filmmakers get VIP passes to the fest itself.

“I am hoping that the spaces we create help people relax, unwind, have fun,” West says. “And so we have to have a relaxed attitude that is unwound and that is ready to have fun as well so that we can make the space for people to do that in return.”

Here’s a breakdown of ticket options: a three-day pass ($90) gets you access to all the classes and general admission to all the screenings. If you just want to take one class or catch one flick, $20 gets you the former and $10 gets you the latter. A day pass is $25. And, if you want the full experience plus some, a VIP ticket is $260 and will get you access to a filmmaker lounge, cocktail viewing, entry to all five parties,

all masterclasses, bonus events and access to FestiVault, an online pass to the 2019 line-up. (You can buy access to the online vault for $10.)

“We really upped the ante with all the VIP pass perks as well,” West says. “The second floor of the Woodward this year will have a bunch of cocktail seating at the top (from Queen City Vignette) because I really, really, really, really, really love making a film festival that feels like more than just art — that feels like a party. That feels like a space where people can hang out and feel comfortable spending hours of their time there.”

Creating those connections is at the core of Cindependent’s programming. Instead of an isolated movie experience, they work to have attendees actually talk about what they’re watching via after-parties, post-screening Q&A sessions, etc. Despite bringing national and international filmmakers to the Queen City, West says engaging locals is “the bread and butter” of the experience.

“If we have a world-class film festival but we’re not able to showcase our own local stories that are incredible, then we’re not really doing Cincinnati justice,” she says.

“It’s super fun to get the community excited about films that have been made here. It’s even more rewarding to help stoke the fires for filmmakers that live and work here.”

The Cindependent Film Festival opens with a welcome party Aug. 28; films start Aug. 29 and run through Aug. 31. For more info/tickets: cindependentfilmfest.org.

COMEDY

Jay Mohr Checks All the Boxes

BY P. F. W I L S O N

There’s a fine line between a brilliant impression and a lame one. And, of course, different performers have their own unique approaches to mimicking others.

“Usually if it’s an actor, I start with a quote from a movie,” Mohr says. “It helps, too, if you can find a phrase or a word or two to act as an anchor that will lock you back in if it starts to stray.”

Growing up in the shadow of Manhattan’s skyscrapers in New Jersey, Mohr was an outdoorsy kid — fishing with his grandfather, playing little league and backyard sports with his friends. He later wrestled in high school. However, almost all of his pursuits, whether artistic or

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Jay Mohr headlines Cincy Brew Ha-Ha at Sawyer Point Saturday, Aug. 24. Comedy and admission are free, but wristbands and beer tickets need to be purchased. More info: cincybrewhaha.com.

OCT 15– 26

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athletic, have always been singular efforts.

“I’ve always been kind of a lone wolf,” he says. “All the things I love are really things you do alone: stand-up comedy, writing.

Wrestling is a team sport, but it really isn’t because it’s just you out there.”

He first started performing stand-up at 16. At age 17, still in high school, he drove to Buffalo, New York to do a gig for $50.

“I was in first period French the next day with a 50-dollar bill in my pocket,” he says.

“And I thought, ‘The teacher doesn’t have a 50-dollar bill in her pocket.’ ” As he puts it, his parents were passively encouraging.

“They weren’t like, ‘Go get ‘em, buddy,’ but when I’d go into New York City at age 17 to do spots, they took it in stride. It all just grew from there.”

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Jay Mohr is most widely known for, well, many things. He first gained national attention on Saturday Night Live before being cast in the blockbuster film Jerry Maguire. His status as a comedic actor solidified when he starred opposite Jennifer Aniston in Picture Perfect. Since then, he has appeared in over 25 films and his own sitcom, Gary Unmarried, hosted the first two seasons of Last Comic Standing and has authored two books with a third on the way.

Now the multi-hyphenate is slated to headline Cincy Brew Ha-Ha on Saturday, Aug. 24. Billed as America’s largest beer and comedy festival, the annual two-day event will unfold at Sawyer Point along the riverfront for the 13th year. The lineup, including Mohr’s set, boasts over 80 comedians, with Preacher Lawson as Friday’s main act.

“I’ve been around the block a few times for sure,” Mohr says. “For whatever reason, I’ve had some longevity, which I’m grateful for.”

One of the reasons for that longevity?

Mohr has had his foot in multiple showbiz arenas.

“You can really do anything in show business, so I decided at an early Jay Mohr age I wanted to check all the boxes,” he PHOTO: COURTESY says. “I wanted to write a book, and then I wanted to write another book. I just handed in my third book. I wanted to do a podcast. I wanted to do movies. I don’t know why more people don’t take that approach, but I’m glad I did.”

His latest lane? Poetry, which Mohr describes as critic-proof.

“I don’t care because it’s mine,” he says.

“If I wasn’t sure about it, I might be sensitive to criticism and people beating me up over it. I know it’s great, so it doesn’t matter. I’ve always been an eternal optimist.”

Mohr adds that if he isn’t good at a particular talent or trade, he simply doesn’t pursue it. Fortunately for comedy fans, one of the things he discovered he excelled at was impressions.

“People think when you do an impression of someone, you’re making fun of them and that’s not the case at all,” he says.

“That’s one way you can go about it, but if I’m doing my Norm Macdonald impression, and Norm’s in the back of the room, I’m not embarrassed to do the impression because I love Norm Macdonald; he’s a genius.”

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ONSTAGE

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‘American Idiot’ is Angsty, High-Energy R E V I E W BY S E A N M . PE T ER S

Celebrating the show’s 10th anniversary since its stage premiere, American Idiot is a Pop Punk Rock opera directed and choreographed by Maggie Perrino at The Carnegie in Covington.

Based on the famed 2004 Green Day album of the same name, its story follows three headstrong suburban punks who are ready to find their fame in the illustrious big city, only to have their plans The cast of American Idiot spilled like cheap beer at a concert.

PHOTO: MIKKI SCHAFFNER PHOTOGRAPHY Will (Robert Breslin) learns his girlfriend (Maddie Vaughn), a Faustian bedeviler Heather (Chandler Bates) is pregnant, whose openhandedness is juxtaposed by which means he has to stay back while her stranglehold on anyone who gets too his best friends, Johnny (Frankie close. Armstrong himself even took the Chuter) and Tunny (Ethan Baker), take stage in the role of St. Jimmy during the a Greyhound Bus out of their hometown. show’s run on Broadway.

The two travelers’ relationship dissolves Johnny starts to shoot dope while, back shortly after they rent a room together home, Will drinks Heather and the baby and, depressed and manipulated by TV out of his life. There’s a chilling moment media coverage of the war in Iraq, Tunny when Tunny solemnly strums a guitar durenlists and is shipped off to a battle zone. ing a peaceful evening alongside his fellow Meanwhile, Johnny flirts with his dream soldiers, only to have the guitar taken away girl, Whatsername (Hannah Gregory), and replaced with an M16. Their individual and with heroin. The struggles of these plights represent a common thread of three disillusioned young men takes the experiences shared by many Americans. audience through a musical showcase Special commendation to Chuter of highly acrobatic choreography, edgy and Gregory for their onstage romantic storytelling and a modern morality compatibility as the tortured lovers Johnny play about self-acceptance in the face of and Whatsername. A small but highlyinternal adversity. satisfying victory: a rose is thrown between American Idiot is more like a concert Johnny and Whatsername, who is about experience than a traditional evening of 10 feet above him on the set’s scaffolding. musical theater. Made five years after the This exchange happens twice and they critically acclaimed and Grammy-winning both successfully make the connection Green Day album was released, the stage each time. It’s a small detail in the show adaptation eventually won two Tonys and you could miss in a few blinks, but that had a Grammy. to have required some practice.

Onstage, the music is provided by a live For longtime Green Day fans, the band playing almost non-stop with only performance will be very satisfying — brief smatterings of dialogue from the cast you couldn’t ask for a better rendition of in between showtunes. While Green Day’s American Idiot than the impressive perforinstrumentation is more influenced by mance at The Carnegie. The set design is the likes of The Ramones than The Platters, emblazoned with angst and attitude and it’s only one degree away from the source; the lighting, albeit a bit aggressive, makes Green Day’s Pop Punk is simply early Rock you feel like a mosh pit could break out at & Roll sped up to 200 beats per minute any moment. The show’s titular song rings and seasoned with distorted chainsaw out like an anthemic declaration that’s as rhythm guitar. The album, written by the relevant today as it was 15 years ago: “Don’t band’s frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, was wanna be an American idiot/One nation adapted into a libretto by Tony Awardcontrolled by the media/Information Age winning director Michael Mayer (Spring of hysteria/It’s calling out to idiot America.”

Awakening).

While the source material for American It’s easy to see that Johnny’s arc is Idiot is a simple redemption story and directly inspired by Armstrong, whose the written characters lack depth, the struggle with addiction has led to the canbombastic performances and high-energy cellation of multiple Green Day tour dates. score makes for a head banging night at The show’s Johnny, who self-indulgently the theater. refers to himself as the Jesus of Suburbia, is plagued by an anthropomorphic repreAmerican Idiot at The Carnegie (1028 sentation of addiction in the manifestation Scott Blvd., Covington) runs through Aug. of a temptress alter-ego named St. Jimmy 25. Tickets and more info: thecarnegie.com.

FILM

‘David Crosby’ is Bracing, Heartfelt R E V I E W BY T T S T ER N - EN ZI

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In preparation for this review of director A.J. Eaton’s documentary David Crosby: Remember My Name, I Googled “genius,” seeking a definition that would serve as a starting point.

I landed on a Wikipedia listing with a description of what I sought: “A genius is a person who displays exceptional intellectual ability, creative productivity, universality in genres or originality, typically to a degree David Crosby from David Crosby: Remember My Name that is associated with PHOTO: SONY PICTURES CL ASSIC// IAN COAD & EDD LUK AS the achievement of new advances in a domain of knowledge.”

He is real, and that is how he helps In the case of singer-songwriter David redefine what genius is. That early Crosby, a founding member of The Byrds Wikipedia listing is far too idealized and and Crosby, Stills & Nash (later Crosby, willfully ignorant of the flaws in such Stills, Nash & Young), there’s a unique disindividuals who strive for perfection and cussion to be had about whether or not his precision. They may do good works and creative productivity achieves genius-level, affect change on universal social and but while watching Remember My Name, I cultural spheres, but how much harm do found myself willing to vote in his defense. they cause along the way?

I have a general appreciation for the When not engaged in creative efforts, do music of these groups, without an intense they embody an Omega-level menace to specialized insight into their full discograsociety? phies. Who doesn’t know “Mr. Tambourine Richard Linklater’s new film Where’d Man,” Bob Dylan’s first No. 1 hit, which You Go, Bernadette looks at what happens came from The Byrds? Or “Guinnevere” to an architect (Cate Blanchett) operating and “In My Dreams” from Crosby, Stills on this rarefied plane — she was a & Nash? Or “Déjà Vu” from Crosby, Stills, celebrated MacArthur Fellow (a recipient Nash & Young? of the unofficially named “genius grant”) What matters more than his bands’ — who lost her mojo after a monumental output and their impact on popular music work was demolished. She tried to zero-in is the uncompromising pursuit that drove on her daughter, but couldn’t connect with David Crosby. His life has that mythic anyone else in a meaningful way. She was “hellhound on his tail” quality to it, in brittle, too in-her-head, unable to suffer which his peculiar brand of genius won’t the fools around her and she wreaked let go. I was far more intrigued by the queshavoc in a suburban community that had tion of whether music itself, at this level, no defense against her unfettered energy. breeds this relentless focus or if the proThe film captures Bernadette as she cess of making the music is what pushes bottoms out and figures out what she must musicians to their breaking point. do to survive and thrive.

Crosby is a tragic figure who was In a nutshell, that is the story of Crosby, touched by something that, if not genius, but with far more dire results. People was the next best (or worst) thing. He died around him, some due to the direct couldn’t turn his back on music or influence of his actions. Being estranged the counter-cultural ideas that fueled from Stills, Nash and Young is akin to his passion. His bold statements and losing family. He even acknowledges that posturing created rifts in his creative he doesn’t necessarily bear any ill-will partnerships — leading to his ouster from toward them. The sad reality for him is The Byrds and later an acrimonious split that they cannot reconcile with him. If from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (an everyone feels that way, it probably means ongoing situation with no easy resolution). that Crosby is the problem.

Crosby’s dark creative impulses sent And he has lost time, the one thing, him spiraling into drug abuse, dealing possibly above all else, that he wishes he with legal problems from the time he could get back. If only music could grant spent as a fugitive from justice and years this one reprieve. But such are the limits in prison, and chronic health issues that of genius. David Crosby: Remember My have stunted his creative productivity in Name reminds us that those limits cannot certain phases of his decades-long career. (and should not) erase the greatness that He is a difficult man to like, but there is a was born from that initial spark. (Opening blunt honesty in his telling of his story that Friday) (R) Grade: A is both bracing and heartfelt.

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October 14-20

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e v e r y day i s taco t u e s day d u r i n g taco w e e k . w w w . c i n c y tacow e e k . co m

FOOD & DRINK

A Lesson in Vodka Wodka Bar introduces the complexities of this spirit to patrons in OTR — backed by an Eastern European food menu and opulent décor

Wodka Bar offers the house spirit distilled from potatoes, wheat, grapes, corn, rye or a blend; infused; in flights; and in cocktails.

R E V I E W BY PA M A M I TC H EL L

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Wodka Bar 1200 Main St., Over-theRhine, wodkabarotr.com

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smoked ham, smoked salmon (gravlax), kielbasa and smoked herring. The lone cheese on the plate was called oszczypek and it was delicious. Rounding out this savory delight was a beet and horseradish pâté, a generous portion of house pickles, dill butter and rye bread from nearby Allez bakery. We couldn’t get enough of the pâté and dill butter on the fragrant bread.

There is also a late-night menu served starting at 10 p.m. with pierogies, a kielbasa bowl, a “4-way pierogi” and pizzarogies — deep-fried pierogies stuffed with pepperoni and provolone cheese.

While our palates were treated to such a variety of tastes, I also enjoyed just being in the room. The thought and detail that Dworak put into the renovation and decoration of the space made me feel warm and fuzzy — even before my second vodka cocktail.

I returned about a week later near closing time when my friends and I were the only patrons. The bartenders gave us a treatise on the fun they’re having with infusions and we sampled vodkas flavored with peanut brittle, Arnold Palmer and more. I’m learning a whole new language.

Thanks, Wodka Bar.

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spirit of that part of the world, and Dworak wants to enlighten people (like me) who don’t appreciate its complexities.

Before opening Wodka Bar, Dworak had already developed a following for her pierogies — palm-sized steamed potatobased turnovers with various additional fillings — at Babushka Pierogies. They are still available at a Findlay Market stand and from a walk-up window outside the OTR bar. You can also try them — along with a several other items on the bar’s food menu — while sipping spirits and cocktails.

Wodka Bar’s drink menu includes a rotating selection of infused vodkas as well as a couple of vodka flights with either an infusion theme or four different types of “plain” vodkas. Keep leafing through your options because you can choose from a whole page of the house spirit divided by whether it was distilled from potatoes, wheat (the largest selection), grapes, corn, rye or a blend of one or more of these. Just reading through the wide-ranging origin of these vodkas is instructive; they come not only from Eastern Europe and Russia but also from France, California, Iceland and Pennsylvania, among others.

This being my introduction to vodka, I played it pretty safe and ordered a couple of vodka cocktails while trying a sip or two of my friends’ infused choices. The

cocktails, which range between $7 and $10, have clever names and our favorite — because of its name and taste — was the Russian Collusion. It’s a mix of Russian vodka, coffee liqueur and cream. We had it as dessert, and it was perfect for that.

The bartender said the most popular cocktail is the Hi-Rent Fizz, so we tried that, too. It’s a tall, refreshing mix of red currant-infused vodka with rose petal, hibiscus and lemon. I’d also recommend a drink called the Silkastan Sour, based on turmeric-infused vodka, sweetened with maple syrup and fluffed with an egg white.

Not wanting to down a lot of booze on empty stomachs, we got right to the food. There are only seven items on the eats part of the menu, but we tried most of them. Caviar in Puff Pastry ($10) came in cute pastry cups with little dabs of bowfin caviar and dill crème fraîche. Of course, we had to have some pierogies ($8), served four to an order. There were three flavor choices: cheddar cheese, sauerkraut or bacon and cheddar. We skipped the sauerkraut and did two with cheese and two that included bacon, and all agreed that the ones with bacon were our faves (duh, right?).

I thought the best food we tried, though, was called Taste of the Old Country ($15), a charcuterie-style platter of meats, cheese and veggies. We scarfed down one of these and ordered a second. Meats included

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must confess that vodka hasn’t been on my radar for quite some time. After a brief flirtation with deceptively “light” drinks like Vodka Collins in my youth, I came to think of it as tasteless and too neutral. Why use a spirit if it doesn’t have a distinctive flavor? Give me bourbon, gin or tequila. As for flavored vodkas, why not just add whatever flavor you want as a separate ingredient?

I now realize this was an uninformed and, let’s face it, ignorant opinion.

Then one night this summer I chanced upon a new bar specializing in vodka at the corner of 12th and Main streets in Over-the-Rhine. I was dazzled by the beautiful renovation of what had been a nondescript space. I should check this out, I thought, but first I’d better rethink my relationship to vodka.

Luckily, one of my friends is savvy about this spirit. She tries a lot of exotically infused vodkas when she visits her sister in Portland, Oregon, where they know a bar that specializes in it. When scheduling an outing to Wodka Bar, I made sure it was on a night she could come.

Along with another friend, we made our way there one weeknight when it was well attended by a mostly neighborhood crowd.

The bar itself, which seats about a dozen, didn’t have room for us so we grabbed one of the tables.

My companions had the same initial reaction that I did: Wow, what a beautiful space. The room’s centerpiece is a stainedglass ceiling light fashioned from the rose window of a church. Other Eastern Orthodox religious references pop up here and there, including on a mural in one of the bathroom ceilings. A lot of the prettiest pieces came from the downtown antiques store Wooden Nickel, including the rose window, the bar itself and lanterns hanging above the tables.

Owner Sarah Dworak pays tribute to her Ukrainian heritage not only with the décor but also through her drink and food menus. Vodka — the “w” is simply an Eastern European spelling and is pronounced like an English “v” — represents the iconic

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Silverton is now the happy home of HighGrain Brewing Co., the area’s newest destination for dinner and a pint.

Housed in the former Silverton Memorial Municipal Building, the minds behind HighGrain have transformed the historic 1950s local government center into a watering hole where the entire community can drink beer created with no carbon footprint.

HighGrain offers a wide range of styles, brewed by HighGrain brews “Old World-styles with a modern twist” Matthew Utter, a former head PHOTO: SEAN M. PETERS brewer for Christian Moerlein.

Utter, who lived in Germany recycled material and geothermal tunnels, for a decade, takes notable which aid in HVAC control. inspiration from the country’s beers and, Walk through the brewery’s front doors where applicable, sticks very closely to the and you’ll enter a wide-open dining area Reinheitsgebot purity laws, 500-year-old illuminated by natural light and compleregulations that dictate the ingredients mented by LED orbs hanging from the ceilallowed to produce beer (water, barley, ing. The bar is to your left and behind it the hops). brewing area, which was where Silverton’s “We’re going after Old World-styles with a fire trucks and ambulances were previmodern twist,” Utter says. ously housed. There’s more dining space in Utter was raised in Mariemont and the back, elegant in its rustic modernity. moved to Germany when he was 19 after HighGrain’s focus on the environment studying there as a foreign exchange also extends to where ingredients are student. His original plan was to learn how sourced for beer. to become an electrical engineer, but he “Our Norwegian table beer was origifound himself sidetracked by his interest nally brewed from a local hop farm on the in brewing. He earned a degree from the border of Indian Hill and Milford, Hopped Technical University of Munich in brewery Farms. We get all of our hops directly from technology and beverage production. The there,” Utter says. “We get all of our grain first beer he ever brewed, a hefeweizen, from Rustic Brew Farm (in Marysville, was made on a full-scale production line Ohio); he gave us all of our barley and malt.” at the König Ludwig brewery — not in a Utter explains that the carbon footprint garage or basement. they get from sourcing the grain and malts “I homebrewed after I started produclocally is offset with carbon credits from tion,” he says. “I wanted to know what else a company called CO2OL, so they buy you could do with ingredients that we credits from them, which indirectly plants weren’t able to do at a production facility more trees around the world in order to that already had their recipes in order.” make this beer a carbon-neutral beer.

As a result, there’s a wide selection of “To our knowledge, it’s one of the first beer inspired by recipes from all over the carbon-neutral beers that we’ve heard of, world on the HighGrain taps including especially in the area. It’s probably one American sours, Lithuanian farmhouse of the top three fastest-selling beers we ales and IPAs. have,” he says. “We’ll always have a carbon “Having a chef in house and the way neutral beer on our menu.” that we’re building our food menu, I want Over Exposure, as the beer is called, is to create a beer menu that respects that. texturally similar to a cream ale and has Not just pairs, but respects that in the a clean finish. Its subtle tartness is like an sustainability aspect,” Utter says. orange pith flavor, very delicious and easy HighGrain’s head chef is Lee Moeller, on the eco conscience. who served as chef for the Moerlein Lager Don’t like beer? A surprisingly robust House and executive chef for Bru Burger wine and bourbon selection is available to Bar. The food menu at HighGrain ranges accommodate all tastes and a cranberryfrom tofu tenders with maple mustard and apple cider will be served once it finishes watermelon panzanella to barramundi fermenting in the tanks. with plantain salsa, a bologna sandwich HighGrain wants to be a destination for with fried egg and biscuits made with the entire family. They have a fenced-in spent grain from the brewery. biergarten, a kids food menu and ample Utter and his partners, Brian Liscano parking, so you can feel comfortable at this and Josh Jansen, knew that wherever they new neighborhood hot spot. opened the brewery, they wanted to run HighGrain Brewing Co. is located at it as environmentally friendly as possible.

6860 Plainfield Road, Silverton. More info: This resulted in interior design choices that highgrainbrewing.com. utilize reclaimed wood, seating made from

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MUSIC Weary But Resolute Award-winning Americana artist Ryan Bingham headlines this weekend’s Whispering Beard Folk Festival on the riverfront

BY L . K EN T WO LG A M OT T

Ryan Bingham PHOTO: A XSTER BINGHAM RECORDS

Land Is Your Land’ and ‘Lean On Me,’ they have profound things they say, but we sang them in school as kids.”

Bingham doesn’t necessarily feel all songwriters have an obligation to write and perform of-the-moment political songs. But, personally, he does feel a sense of responsibility.

“I do, for myself,” Bingham says. “I’ve got two small kids. They’re 1 and 3. I remember how important it was for me when I was a kid and I heard those kind of things. I don’t want my kids to grow up and ask me, ‘Daddy, what did you say?’ or ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’ ” Since its release in February, Bingham has taken American Love Song, “The Weary Kind” and the rest of his music all over the world.

“We’ve been playing some of the (American Love Song) songs live and fitting them in with the older stuff,” Bingham says of his touring. “The (newer) songs are a lot of fun to play live and they mean something to me as well. When you’re playing, it has to mean something, at least for me. It’s going to be a good time.”

Ryan Bingham headlines the final night of the three-day Whispering Beard Folk Festival at Smale Riverfront Park this Saturday. Tickets/more info: whisperingbeard.com.

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

Roll of “Pontiac,” the Texas Hill Country vibe of “Got Damn Blues” or one of the aching ballads. Other times, talk turns to Bingham’s past, taking off from the album’s autobiographical opener “Jingle and Go.” And sometimes, the album’s political forays lead people to ask about his views on President Donald Trump, thanks to songs like “Situation Station”: “Well I been thinkin’ ‘bout the situation/How the world is full of frustration/As the president shits upon the nation/Wipes his ass with all denominations/Turns around and begs for donations/Ridin’ on the back of a poor man sellin’ them lies.”

“It’s been a tough record to talk about because a lot of the songs are pretty layered,” Bingham says. “It’s personal, but it’s also about current events. Over the years, I’ve gotten away from writing about myself all the time. It’s a personal story, but it’s also about what people are thinking and feeling.”

The latter, Bingham said, is why he’s written the social and political songs on the album.

“From the songwriting standpoint, it all kind of goes back to Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and Bill Withers. They were a real influence when it comes down to the political stuff, being able to take those subjects and write about them without alienating people,” Bingham says. “Songs like ‘This

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“Personally, it didn’t have that much impact on me,” Bingham says of all of the awards and acclaim. “I still feel like I’m the same person I was before it happened. I feel lucky. It gives you a chance to play music to more people. The folks that discovered me through that song — I feel fortunate to have had that experience, that exposure. But still, I’m the same old kid from West Texas.”

Two studio albums and one live record later, Bingham decided to tell the story of that West Texas kid in his songs on American Love Story.

“It really started over the past two years,” he says of the lead-up to the album.

“I started playing these acoustic shows, me and a guitar. I started telling stories about the songs and where they came from — I’d never done that before. I started writing some of those things down, about where I grew up, what I did, what I learned, and when you start writing them down, you remember more things.

“I’ve really tied it to the past, autobiographical things. But I’ve (also) been trying to write things that aren’t all about me, songs about political, social, economic things.”

That combination, Bingham says, has led to some pretty involved conversations. At times, that talk is about the music itself, whether it’s the Stones-ian Rock &

A U G . 2 1 - 2 7, 2 0 19

Ryan Bingham was born in New Mexico, grew up in West Texas, went to high school in Houston, went to college in the Texas Hill Country and rode bulls in Laredo during a stint on the rodeo circuit. So, it makes sense to describe American Love Song, Bingham’s latest release, as a Texas album.

“That’s what we were going for,” he says.

“I moved around a lot as a kid, especially in Texas. Musically, in West Texas, I was listening to Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark.

Then in Houston, it was Lightnin’ Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb. In Laredo, Mariachi music and Texas Tornados.”

For this latest album, Bingham says he wanted to make a Country Blues record.

“I think it really is something I’ve been moving to in my music. It feels like my soul resonates in that place,” he says.

Bingham tapped Charlie Sexton, the acclaimed Austin guitarist and longtime Bob Dylan sideman, to produce what is both is the most personal and, at the same time, the most political album in his 12-year career.

That career began after his stint riding bulls on the Southwest rodeo circuit, during which he’d play songs for his rodeo cohorts. Their enthusiasm gave him the impetus to leave the rodeo and pursue music and form the band Dead Horses.

After a pair of self-releases, Bingham signed with the respected and major-labeldistributed Lost Highway Records, which released his debut, Mescalito, in 2007 and Roadhouse Sun two years later.

Then came Crazy Heart. Bingham performed two songs on the soundtrack of the 2009 drama, which starred Jeff Bridges as a down-and-out Country singer (and featured Bingham in a supporting role). One of those tracks, “The Weary Kind,” which Bingham co-wrote with producer T Bone Burnett, served as the film’s theme song.

Crazy Heart became an awards-season darling, nabbing Bridges acting trophies from the Academy Awards and Golden Globes. But “The Weary Kind” was just as lauded, scoring an Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy.

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Psych Rock Trio Slow Glows Drop Debut

BY M I K E B R EE N

Cincinnati Psych Rock band Slow Glows will celebrate the release of their debut album, Stargaze Rock ’n’ Roll, Saturday, Aug. 24 at MOTR Pub (1345 Main St., Over-the-Rhine, motrpub.com). The free, 9 p.m. event will also feature performances by fellow local Indie Rock trios Pop Empire and Darlene.

Cincinnati has seen a lot of great Shoegaze-inspired bands emerge over the past few years and Slow Slow Glows Glows stands out as one of PHOTO: PROVIDED the best. Debuting just two years ago, besides being a consistent presence on the local club front, top of) the water. Area artists like Whiskey the trio has also done some regional/East Bent Valley Boys, Buffalo Wabs & the Coast touring and last year they released a Price Hill Hustle, Joe’s Truck Stop and the 7-inch vinyl single and their second EP, 79 Comet Bluegrass All-Stars will perform Moons. on riverboat mini-cruises throughout the Slow Glows — which features singer/ weekend. The boat shows are a separate guitarist Kelli Redding, drummer Rachel ticket ($8-$18) and you must have a festival Thode and bassist Ian Gorby — premiered wristband to attend. the music video for the new album’s first Music begins at 5 p.m. Thursday, 1 p.m. single, “Spiderland,” in late July via Left Friday and noon on Saturday. ThreeBank magazine’s website. Visit citybeat. day passes for this year’s Whispering com to check out the recently premiered Beard fest are $120. Friday and Saturday album track, “Tangerine,” on which the single-day tickets are $50 in advance or rolling, mesmeric rhythms and sparkly, $55 at the gate; Thursday tickets are $25 angular guitar churn resemble the peakin advance or $30 day of show. Advanced era sounds of The Cure and intertwine tickets (including for the riverboat sets) are enchantingly with Redding’s ethereal available through cincyticket.com. voice.

For complete Whispering Beard info, go Stargaze Rock ’n’ Roll drops this to whisperingbeard.com.

Saturday; visit slowglows.bandcamp.com BeWILDerfest Returns to stream, download and/or purchase it Hosted on three stages in and around on vinyl. For more on Slow Glows go to Urban Artifact (1660 Blue Rock facebook.com/slowglows.

St., Northside, artifactbeer.com), Beardos on the Move beWILDerfest is described as a “wild In January, the hugely popular Whisperculture music and beer festival.” The ing Beard Folk Festival announced it annual event, which began in 2016, returns was moving from its cozy confines in this weekend with a lineup that includes small-town Friendship, Indiana to Smale several of Cincinnati’s finest musical acts Riverfront Park (on West Mehring Way (like Tweens, Lung, Moonbeau, Us, Today, downtown, where The National hosted Soften, Common Center and In the its huge Homecoming music fest in 2018).

Pines), as well as top-of-the-line national/ Taking place Aug. 22-24, the 2019 WBFF international touring artists, including lineup is in keeping with the event’s tradiScreaming Females, Clap Your Hands Say tion of booking high-quality local, regional Yeah, Zach Deputy and Green Jellÿ. and national Americana artists, including “It’s been very fulfilling to see the festival headliners like M. Ward, Ryan Bingham, grow like it has every year,” fest booker The Felice Brothers and Peter Rowan.

Jeremy Moore said in a press release. “It’s As always, the Greater Cincinnati really great to get the opportunity to put music scene is well represented. On local acts on the same bill as nationally Thursday’s opening night, The Tillers recognized bands. The amount of quality and Maria Carrelli will perform; Friday’s eclectic bands here in Cincinnati is almost event features area acts My Brother the staggering at times.”

Bear and Easy Tom Eby; Frontier Folk Doors for beWILDerfest 2019 open at 5 Nebraska, Krystal Peterson and Chalk p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday. SingleEye are on Saturday’s bill. day tickets are $30; weekend passes are $50.

Besides the landlocked festivities, Visit bewilderfest.com for more.

Whispering Beard’s organizers are taking Contact Mike Breen: advantage of the new locale this year by mbreen@citybeat.com taking some of the music into (or at least on

MINIMUM GAUGE

BY M I K E B R EEN

PDA As Protest

Musicians have been making statements about some of the world’s most primitive anti-LGBTQ laws by overtly breaking them with some PDA. Last month in Russia, Rammstein guitarists Paul Landers and Richard Kruspe kissed onstage during a concert, defying the country’s “gay propaganda” laws, which forbid such public acts of “nontraditional sexual relations.” More recently, Matt Healy of the AltPop band The 1975 faced penalty in Dubai — where homosexuality is illegal — after sharing a hug and kiss with a male fan who’d asked the singer to marry him. It was The 1975’s first show in the UAE and Healy tweeted afterward that it could be their last after his “behaviour.”

Jay-Z’s Cool with NFL

One of the NFL’s highest-profile critics has now joined forces with the league. Music superstar Jay-Z has been bad-mouthing the NFL for the past few years for its alleged blacklisting of Colin Kaepernick after the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback protested racial injustice, most famously by taking a knee during the pre-game National Anthem. Last year, the league received more backlash after getting Maroon 5 to headline the Super Bowl’s halftime show in the black music haven of Atlanta. Jay-Z and his entertainment company, Roc Nation, have signed a consultation deal for live music events (including the Super Bowl halftime bookings) and they will also be involved in Inspire Change, the NFL’s new initiative that deals with issues of social justice in the wake of the Kaepernick controversy. While Jay-Z explained the move as the next step in making a change in the NFL, many felt the rapper had sold out the cause for a big payday.

U.S. Sides with Zep

The U.S. Department of Justice announced it is siding with Led Zeppelin in the ongoing copyright infringement battle over “Stairway to Heaven.” A recentlyfiled DOJ brief stated that it agreed with an initial judge’s ruling that only sheet music could be used as evidence in the case about whether Led Zep ripped off the band Spirit’s song “Taurus.” Lawyers representing Spirit were recently granted a new trial and were hoping to play recordings of both songs for jurors. In the first trial, the jury found in favor of Zeppelin without hearing the songs.

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Alec Ounsworth of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah PHOTO: MICHAEL REGAN

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with revered Blues label Blind Pig, Chubby released How’d a White Boy Get the Blues? in 2000; long a devotee of Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, White Boy saw Chubby incorporating Pop and Hip Hop elements into his sonic repertoire.

Coming up on his 60th birthday next year, Chubby has no intention of slowing down; he released the bracing Two Dogs in 2017 and the fan-favorite compilation Prime Cuts last year. Next year will see an extensive European tour, the release of a second Prime Cuts collection and a new studio set, The Flavor Is In the Fat, slated for release in February, a month after he gets married for the second time.

The scary thing is that Popa Chubby may just be getting warmed up for his third act.

(Brian Baker)

Show Times

A U G . 2 1 - 2 7, 2 0 19

Ted Horowitz probably thought few people would listen to scorching, Pop-inflected Blues played by “Ted Horowitz,” so he created the suitably audacious nom de plume Popa Chubby, which doubled up on entendre and threw in dichotomy for good measure. Obviously, the name references street slang for getting an erection, but then there’s the disconnect between chubby and PC’s actual size, which goes well beyond that definition. In fact, Popa Chubby needs every ounce of his girth to contain the massive talent responsible for over 30 albums and national/global tours across the past quarter century.

Popa Chubby played drums as a pre-teen in the early ‘70s but The Rolling Stones inspired him to pick up the guitar. A Bronx native, Chubby developed a heroin addiction and lived on the streets in his later teens, but got clean playing music and spent his 20s performing around New York, concentrating on the Blues but also working as a hired gun, most notably for Punk icon Richard Hell. In his early 30s, Chubby won a Blues talent competition conducted by a Long Beach, California public radio station, earning him the opening slot at a Long Beach Blues fest in 1992 and officially launching his career and a decade of playing upward of 200 dates annually.

In 1994, Chubby self-released his first two albums, which led to a Sony/OKeh contract and his major label debut, 1995’s Booty and the Beast, but it was one and done for Chubby as a Sony artist. He selfreleased his incendiary 1995 debut live album, Hit the High Hard One, yet another erection joke and a showcase for his compelling stage presence. After signing

O’BRYONVILLE 2034 Madison Rd. 513-871-HEMP

43

muscled percussion, it’s the wide, comfy stretch of a band that’s just as happy occupying a niche as they are making online waves.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah headline opening night (Aug. 23) of the two-day beWILDerfest at Urban Artifact in Northside. Find tickets and more info at bewilderfest.com. (Jude Noel)

Super Low

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PHOTO: FL ANNERY HARPER

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maintaining its affection hinges on much more complicated factors.

Just ask Alec Ounsworth, whose band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s self-titled 2005 debut was met with critical (and commercial) acclaim that’s almost unbelievable by today’s standards. On the strength of a 9-out-of-10 Pitchfork review and blog buzz, the self-released record earned the band a cult following, soundtrack placements on The Office and more than 100,000 albums sold. AltRock’s most influential Davids — Bowie and Byrne — were famously spotted at early tour dates.

In our current cultural climate, when memes and Twitter reposts often birth of-the-minute hits, it’s hard to imagine a time when glowing reviews could inspire readers to drop money on an album they hadn’t yet heard. Anyone who fervently consumed Indie Rock (and Rock journalism) during the blog era feels a twinge of nostalgia at the opening synth melody on “The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth.” It’s the faint, optimistic dial-up tone of a fledgling internet — the thrill of discovery still felt novel; communities were still tight-knit.

Though future efforts failed to penetrate the collective indie consciousness — largely due to the glut of similarly whimsical acts attempting to replicate Clap Your Hands’ success — it’s a disservice to Ounsworth’s talent to write his band off as a mere product of its time.

That debut album holds up better than most of its contemporaries, marrying earnest Garage Rock instrumentals with cryptic lyrics and a striking vocal delivery that recalls Talking Heads. Sure, the calliope and tinny keyboards feel a little dated, but what era-defining record doesn’t feel a little dusty?

Don’t write off their mid-career output either. I’m particularly fond of 2014’s Only Run, an atmospheric Synth Pop detour that feels massive and minimalist at the same time. Driven by droning basslines and

Super Low with Knotts and Freedom Nicole Moore

Friday • Northside Tavern

The descriptor tags at the bottom of Super Low’s Bandcamp page are “Indie,” “Rock,” “Power Pop” and “Memphis.” Those five words sum up Super Low pretty succinctly and are obvious touchstones for a band that, whether consciously or not, are in the tradition of fellow Memphis Power Pop standard-bearers Big Star and the hordes of like-minded outfits that followed.

Led by singer, guitarist and main songwriter Tiger Adams, the band dropped its full-length debut in July, a self-released, self-titled album teeming with the kind of melody-infested tunes that should bring a smile to the face of fans from Brian Wilson to The Shins. Album opener “Unlimited Data” shimmers by way of intertwining acoustic and electric guitars and soaring keys. Anchored by propulsive drumming and accented by Adams’ modest but emotive vocals, it’s the kind of summery ear candy we need more of at such a dark moment in time.

“I write the chords and melodies and then I usually have our old keyboardist help write the instrumental melodies,” Adams said when asked about the band’s songwriting process in a recent interview with killthemusic.net. “I always end up sounding dumb when I try to explain what the songs are about, but I think they are about trying to find a balance between everything and probably helping me make sense of things.”

Adams is likely aware of Super Low’s clear genre antecedents, but he namechecks a somewhat surprising act as a big influence.

“Pretty funny answer, but… I looked up to MGMT when I first started,” he said in the same interview. “They were probably the first non-Alternative-heavy Rock band I listened to. Congratulations came out when I was in eighth grade and it really got me into songs instead of bad Hard Rock.”

(Jason Gargano)

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A U G . 2 1 - 2 7, 2 0 19

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LISTINGS

CityBeat’s music listings are free. Send info to Mike Breen at mbreen@citybeat.com. Listings are subject to change.

See CityBeat.com for full music listings and all club locations. H is CityBeat staff’s stamp of approval.

WEDNESDAY 21

H

H

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CAFFÈ VIVACE - Blue Wisp Big Band. 8 p.m. Big Band Jazz. $10.

FOUNTAIN SQUARE Ras Bonghi Allstars. 7 p.m. Reggae. Free.

HILTON NETHERLAND PALM COURT - Braza Trio.

6 p.m. Brazilian Jazz. Free.

THE LISTING LOON - Ricky Nye. 8 p.m. Blues/Boogie Woogie. Free.

MANSION HILL TAVERN Losing Lucky. 8 p.m. Roots.

Free.

H

MOTR PUB - IN2ITIV3 with Diavolo and Parlor Voice. 10 p.m. Free.

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (LOUNGE) Adam Flaig and The Jellyfish. 9:30 p.m. Rock. Free.

STANLEY’S PUB - Kevin Daniel Band. 9 p.m. Pop/ Rock. Free.

THURSDAY 22

CAFFÈ VIVACE - Nick Fryer and the Queen City Serenaders. 8 p.m. Jazz. Cover.

FOUNTAIN SQUARE Salsa on the Square with Mambo Combo with Salsannati. 7 p.m. Latin/Salsa/ Dance. Free.

H

MEMORIAL HALL Jake Shimabukuro.

8 p.m. Ukulele/Various. $30-$50.

MOTR PUB - Dusty Bryant with Black Swift and Good Saint Nathanael. 10 p.m.

Rock/Various. Free.

NORTHSIDE TAVERN - The Hollow Roots and Fickle Hellcat. 10 p.m. Free.

THE PIKE BAR AND GRILL - Ricky Nye. 6 p.m. Blues/ Boogie Woogie. Free.

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

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NEWPORT ON THE LEVEE - Summer Music on the Levee with The Menus. 7 p.m. Pop/Rock/Dance. Free.

46

RIVERBEND MUSIC CENTER - Jason Aldean with Kane Brown, Carly Pearce and Dee Jay Silver. 7:30 p.m.

Country. Sold out.

SCHWARTZ’S POINT Mandy Gaines Duo. 8 p.m.

Jazz. Cover.

SEASONGOOD PAVILION - It’s Commonly Jazz with Michael Cruse Quintet. 6 p.m. Jazz. Free.

SMALE RIVERFRONT PARK - Whispering Beard Folk Festival with Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, The Tillers, Charlie Parr, Chicago Farmer and Maria Carrelli. 5 p.m. Folk/Americana. $25, $30 day of show ($120 for 3-day pass).

H

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (SANCTUARY) - Popa Chubby with Albert Castiglia. 8 p.m. Blues Rock. $20-$30.

STANLEY’S PUB - Rosalind & The Way with Peaceful Sorrow. 10 p.m. Folk/Americana. Cover.

TOP CATS - Vincent. 10 p.m.

EDM. $10.

URBAN ARTIFACT - Wonky Tonk, Frosty Palms and Sam Nichol. 9 p.m. Singer/ Songwriter

H

WASHINGTON PARK - Roots Revival with Young Heirlooms. 7 p.m.

Indie Folk. Free.

FRIDAY 23

ARNOLD’S BAR AND GRILL - Highly Likely. 8 p.m.

Jam. Free.

BLIND LEMON - Donna Frost. 9 p.m. Acoustic. Free.

H

BOGART’S - Big Freedia with Sweet Crude. 8 p.m. Bounce. $20.

BROMWELL’S HÄRTH LOUNGE - Mandy Gaines with The Rob Allgeyer Trio. 9 p.m. Jazz. Free.

H

CAFFÈ VIVACE - Brandon Coleman Trio. 8:30 p.m. Jazz. Cover.

FOUNTAIN SQUARE - The Brummies and Coastal Club.

7 p.m. AltPop. Free.

FRETBOARD BREWING COMPANY - Matt Waters. 8 p.m. Funk/Rock. Free.

HILTON NETHERLAND PALM COURT - Marc Fields Quartet. 9 p.m. Jazz. Free.

JAG’S STEAK AND SEAFOOD - The Sly Band.

9:30 p.m. Pop/Dance/Rock.

Cover.

JIM AND JACK’S ON THE RIVER - Danny Frazier. 9 p.m. Country. Free.

KNOTTY PINE - The Amy Sailor Band. 10 p.m. Country.

Cover.

LUDLOW BROMLEY YACHT CLUB - Trailer Park Floosies. 9:30 p.m. Dance/ Pop/Rap/Rock/Country/ Various THE MAD FROG - Westend.

9 p.m. House. Cover.

MANSION HILL TAVERN - Doug Hart Band. 9 p.m.

Blues. Cover.

H

MOTR PUB - Lauren Eylise and the Part Time Lovers. 10 p.m. Soul/ Folk/Various. Free.

MT. HEALTHY CITY PARK Balderdash. 7:30 p.m. Rock.

Free.

H

NORTHSIDE TAVERN - Knotts with Super Low and Freedom Nicole Moore.

10 p.m. Indie Pop/Rock.

Free.

NORTHSIDE YACHT CLUB - Iron Chic. 8 p.m. Rock. $15.

PLAIN FOLK CAFE Berachan Valley. 7:30 p.m.

Bluegrass. Free.

RIVERFRONT LIVE - Ted Nugent with Michael Austin.

8 p.m. Rock. $30, $35 day of show.

SCHWARTZ’S POINT Jason Branscum Trio. 8:30 p.m. Jazz. Cover.

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SMALE RIVERFRONT PARK - Whispering Beard Folk Festival with The Felice Brothers, M. Ward, Peter Rowan, The Harmed Brothers, Town Mountain, Willy Tea Taylor, My Brother the Bear, The Handshake Deals and Easy Tom. 1 p.m.

Folk/Americana. $50, $55 day of show ($120 for 3-day pass).

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (LOUNGE) - The Cousin Kissers. 9:30 p.m.

Country. Free.

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (REVIVAL ROOM) - Kellie Loder with Anna Applegate. 8 p.m. Folk/ Pop. $8, $10 day of show.

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ST. LAWRENCE SQUARE - Ricky Nye, Raymond & the Fernbank All-Stars and Robin Lacy & DeZydeco. 7 p.m. Blues/ Funk/Roots/Various. Free.

STANLEY’S PUB - Dead Humor, Sovereign Being and Stratoscope. 10 p.m. Rock/ Prog. Cover.

THOMPSON HOUSE - Ami Dang with Rose Winston and .Soldat. 9 p.m. Indie/ Ambient/Experimental. $8.

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URBAN ARTIFACT beWILDerfest with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Screaming Females, Shellshag, Tweens, Green Jellÿ, GRLwood, Glostik Willy, Lung, Whiskey Shambles, Common Center, In the Pines, The Grove and The Vims. 6 p.m. Various. $30; $50 for 2-day pass.

VERONA VINEYARDS - Lyn Payne Holland & Merry Herbert Duo. 6 p.m. Acoustic.

Free.

H

WOODWARD THEATER - Carriers (album release show) with Turtledoves, Joesph and Molly Parden. 8 p.m. Indie Rock. $10, $12 day of show.

SATURDAY 24

ARNOLD’S BAR AND GRILL - The Gray Dogs. 8 p.m. Blues/Roots. Free.

BROMWELL’S HÄRTH LOUNGE - The Rob Allgeyer Trio. 9 p.m. Jazz. Free.

CAFFÈ VIVACE - Craig Bailey Quintet. 8:30 p.m.

Jazz. Cover.

H

JACK CINCINNATI CASINO - Kool & The Gang. 8 p.m. R&B/Pop/Funk. $65.

JAG’S STEAK AND SEAFOOD - Gee Your Band Smells Terrific. 9:30 p.m. ’70s Pop/Rock/Dance. Cover.

JIM AND JACK’S ON THE RIVER - Excalibur. 9 p.m.

Rock. Free.

MADISON LIVE - Jamie Carr Band, The Howard Brothers Band and Stones Throw. 9 p.m. Rock/Blues. $8, $10 day of show.

MANSION HILL TAVERN Jay Jesse Johnson. 9 p.m.

Blues. Cover.

H

MOTR PUB - Slow Glows (release show) with Darlene and Pop Empire. 10 p.m. Indie/Pop/ Rock. Free.

NORTHSIDE TAVERN Dirty Fuss. 9 p.m. Indie Rock. Free.

PLAIN FOLK CAFE - Deadcentric. 7:30 p.m. Grateful Dead tribute. Free.

H

THE REDMOOR - Rock Your ALS with Hunting Agnes, Lost Coast, The Pistol Mystics and Moped Mafia. 7 p.m. Alt/Rock/Various. Cover.

SCHWARTZ’S POINT Marcelo Silviera Trio. 8:30 p.m. Jazz. Cover.

SHORTY’S SUGARTIT KENTUCKY PUB - Saving Stimpy. 9 p.m. Acoustic Rock. Free.

H

FOUNTAIN SQUARE Leroy Ellington’s Sacred Hearts. 7 p.m. Blues. Free.

SMALE RIVERFRONT PARK - Whispering Beard Folk Festival with Ryan Bingham, Lost Dog Street, The Wild Reeds, Possessed by Paul James, Senora May, John R. Miller & The Engine Lights, The Winetree, Frontier Folk Nebraska, Krystal Peterson and Chalk Eye. noon Folk/ Americana. $50, $55 day of show ($120 for 3-day pass).

FRETBOARD BREWING COMPANY - Strange Mechanics. 8 p.m. Rock/ Jam. Free.

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (LOUNGE) Andrew Adkins. 9:30 p.m.

Americana. Free.

HILTON NETHERLAND PALM COURT - Bill Gemmer Quintet. 9 p.m. Jazz.

Free.

H

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CLIFTON PLAZA - Ma Crow & Co. 7 p.m. Bluegrass. Free.

THE COMET - Testifiers, Slow Violence and Pout. 10 p.m. Post Punk/Experimental. Free.

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (SANCTUARY) - Recovery Rocks

2019: Northern Kentucky People Advocating Recovery Presents with JIMS, Marsellus Wallace, Chris Taylor Brown and more. 7 p.m. Rock. $25.

H

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (SANCTUARY) - Peace Slam 2019: A Celebration of Music, Art and Activism with Floyd and the Walkmen, Samsara Music Company and more. 8 p.m. Rock/Pop/Various. $12, $15 day of show.

STANLEY’S PUB - Mama Said String Band with Stringus Khan. 10 p.m. Bluegrass.

Cover.

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URBAN ARTIFACT beWILDerfest with Zach Deputy, Marbin, Moonbeau, Soften, Us, Today, ’68, Go Go Buffalo, Fykus, Baoku, listener, Patterns of Chaos, Timbre, Freak Mythology and more. 3 p.m.

Alt/Rock/Various. $30; $50 for 2-day pass.

SUNDAY 25

LATITUDES BAR & BISTRO - BlueBirds. 8 p.m.

Rock/R&B. Free.

H

NORTHSIDE YACHT CLUB - Mutilatred with Skincarver, Livid and Split Tongue. 8:30 p.m. Rock. $10, $12 day of show.

PNC PAVILION AT RIVERBEND - Why Don’t We with EBEN. 7 p.m. Pop

MONDAY 26

HILTON NETHERLAND PALM COURT - Peter Gemus Trio. 6 p.m. Jazz.

Free.

MOTR PUB - Knotts with Circadian Clock. 9 p.m. Indie Pop. Free.

TUESDAY 27

BLIND LEMON - Nick Tuttle.

8:30 p.m. Acoustic. Free.

CAFFÈ VIVACE - Emily Grace Jordan and Steve Schmidt. 7:30 p.m. Jazz HILTON NETHERLAND PALM COURT - Pam Mallory Trio. 6 p.m. Jazz. Free.

STANLEY’S PUB - Trashgrass Troubadours with Pat Fiddle. 8 p.m. Bluegrass.

Cover.

PUZZLE AC R O S S

1. ___ Vecchio (Firenze bridge)

Edge of the World

6. Iraq city on the Tigris

11. Quick shut eye

14. Get a goal

15. Westernmost of the Lesser Antilles

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23. Ian of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Time Banditsâ&#x20AC;?

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19. Grp. that gives people a puncherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chance 21. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Voyage of the Dawn ___â&#x20AC;? (C.S. Lewis book)

16. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Out of the Blueâ&#x20AC;? rock group 17. Feminist/activist hashtag starting in 2014

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24. Winnings 27. Hand sanitizer target 28. The turf of surf and turf 30. Grammywinning band for the song â&#x20AC;&#x153;Wax Simulacraâ&#x20AC;?

33. Maybe yes, maybe no 35. When doubled, Robert Kennedyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assassin 36. Disneyland attraction 40. Fire starters

64. Will ___ (special agent in Karin Slaughter stories) 65. Takes too much 66. Lav sign 67. Networks: Abbr.

DOWN

1. Pumps (up) 2. Forest feline 3. Drawer-opening button 4. Emotional shock 5. Some hydroelectricity sources?

25. Radio letters

43. Figure with equal angles

26. Sending to the canvas

45. Twisted author

29. Fun, so to speak

46. Canal boats

31. W-2 IDs

47. Point in the right direction

32. Crucial 34. Wild party

48. Street knowledge

36. Earth is an oblate one

51. Man with a title 54. Challenge

37. Winter root vegetables

55. Kitchen wall material

38. Take a stand?

57. Completely mad

39. â&#x20AC;&#x153;___ the crack of dawnâ&#x20AC;?

60. Lean-to 61. Jets sometimes make them: Abbr.

41. Res ___ loquitur

6. Big trap

42. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mad Menâ&#x20AC;? star Hendricks

7. Cortesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gold

40. Fast-paced musical piece

8. South Carolina fort

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52. Mistreat 53. Barcelonaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coach Valverde

59. Band with the power ballad â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sister Christianâ&#x20AC;?

62. Nothinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; at all 63. Spoken

12. Big Oilers fan, likely 13. Pauper 18. Chair umpireâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s call 22. Ancient marketplace

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58. Louis XV, e.g.

11. Home to the India Gate and the Lotus Temple

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50. Army ranks: Abbr.

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