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A SPLENDID CENTURY CINCINNATI ART 1820â€“1920 On view through January 24 FIFTH THIRD GALLERY

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NEWS

Cincinnati City Hall P H OTO : N I C K S WA RT S E L L

A 140-Year-Old Mayoral Scandal: Sketchy Citizenship, Rampant Corruption and Voter Fraud Elected in 1879, Charles Jacob, Jr. was the only mayor of Cincinnati not to be a valid U.S. citizen — although he claimed to be BY M I C H A E L D. M O R GA N

t was like that birther thing with President Barack Obama, except that this scandal had a basis in reality. Charles Jacob, Jr. was elected Mayor of Cincinnati in 1879. Jacob was a Bavarian immigrant who came to the

country penniless, worked hard as a butcher, rose to the status of pork baron, and gained the respect of his fellow citizens through public service and elected office. It was a story of the American Dream personified. Then, a problem

emerged. Some of what followed is unique to the election and mayoralty of Jacob, but parts of the story feel familiar. The election of 1879 was orderly and honest by 19th-century standards. For some voters, national party affiliation was important, but partisanship was more malleable than it is today. Local elections were determined more by local issues. A candidate’s position on Sunday laws and the prosecution of vice, for example, was a critical question for Cincinnati voters. Although the Citizens Committee for Moral Reform did not represent the perspective of most Cincinnatians, they were nevertheless a potent source of political support. The reformers sent straightforward questionnaires to the candidates asking whether they would pledge to enforce Sunday laws. This would mean closing saloons, theaters and ending almost all forms of secular entertainment on the Christian sabbath. L.A. Harris, the Democratic candidate for mayor, provided a non-response, saying: “When I accepted the nomination I declared that I would not make

any promises or pledges...Therefore, I feel that it would be unbecoming on my part...to make any promise or pledge.” Jacob took a different approach. The Republican candidate grabbed moral indignation by the horns and answered unequivocally: “Yes, I am a law-abiding citizen, and if elected will enforce the laws on Sunday and all other days. No decent man can walk on Vine Street on Sunday without blushing.” Republicans seemed to believe that Jacob could win over the moral crusaders with promises of reform, and still carry German wards based on his ethnicity and his status as a regular in the Vine Street bars. It was a bad calculation. As the election neared, Jacob’s promise to shutter Vine Street saloons and theaters on Sundays threatened his chances for victory. Forced to choose between satisfying either Moral Reformers or German-Americans, Jacob took the creative approach of simultaneously pandering to both. Neither Facebook nor Fox News existed in the 1870s, but there was an equally

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powerful force available: a language divide. Many Cincinnatians, including registered voters, spoke German. Jacob took advantage of this by writing a letter to the German-language press denying that he had promised Moral Reformers to close saloons on Sundays. In German, Jacob claimed that what he had told the Moral Reform Committee was: “I am a law-abiding citizen, and desire all laws executed; but I will never assist to prevent law-abiding citizens from enjoying their usual pleasures, either on week-days or Sundays. I am no church visitor and no temperance man, and would not dictate to order-loving citizens to stay away from properlymanaged amusements.” Snarky opinion in the Cincinnati Enquirer quipped that, “It is unfortunate for Mr. Jacob that there are people in this city who can read both English and German.” In fact, a large percentage of Cincinnatians were bilingual, but the choice to obtain news from single, heavily biased sources of their choosing made voters susceptible to blatant lies and duplicity; and Jacob’s timing was perfect. By contradicting himself in German just days before the election, he minimized the public’s opportunity to scrutinize his hypocrisy. The ploy worked. Charles Jacob, Jr. was elected Mayor of Cincinnati on April 7, 1879. Then a scandal broke. Democrats alleged that Jacob was not a naturalized citizen. If true, it would be illegal for him to hold the office of mayor. Naturalization used to be simple. Bigotry and the pseudo-science of eugenics helped birth the modern immigration framework in the 1920s. Before that, America’s borders were open to the world. Anybody who got off a boat or walked across a border was welcome to live and work here; but if you wanted legal citizenship status, which included the right to vote and hold office, immigrants had to follow a process. The route to citizenship was straightforward but inflexible. An aspiring American needed to live in the country for at least five years, be at least 21 years old, and declare allegiance to the U.S. Constitution. If these conditions were met under oath, you became a legal citizen and received naturalization papers to prove it. Initially, rumor held that Jacob had never applied for citizenship. When confronted, he nervously dismissed this allegation and assured an Enquirer reporter that he did, in fact, possess naturalization papers. When the reporter offered to accompany him to retrieve his documents and nip the controversy in the bud, Jacob soundly refused. This, of course, inspired the reporter to dig deeper. A search of

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court records showed that Jacob had been naturalized in 1856, but this did not solve the new mayor’s dilemma. Jacob immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 16 in the year 1852. That would mean that he swore a false oath and was granted citizenship at the age of 20, having only been in the country for four years. He jumped the gun, it seemed, out of political zeal. He wanted to vote for John C. Fremont, the first Republican candidate for U.S. President. As a result, he became a citizen under false pretenses, committed voter fraud in 1856 and in every election since, and had served two terms on city council in violation of state law. Democrats goaded Jacob, saying that if he wanted “to stop all clamor upon this subject,” he “should produce his naturalization papers.” He had won the election but had not yet been sworn into office when the scandal broke. The Enquirer, an unapologetically Democraticleaning paper, explained that if Jacob was not a citizen, Ohio law required city council to elect a qualified candidate to fill the office in his place. With his back to the wall, Jacob produced his papers. An early use of “alternative facts” followed. Nineteenth century newspapers rarely made serious claims to objectivity. They commonly had strong party affiliations, and Cincinnati’s press fell in step behind partisan loyalties. The Gazette did not bother to deny the dates or the math, but simply concluded that the “Democrats will hardly Charles Jacob, Jr.’s grave in Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum attempt, on so absurd a claim, to P H O T O : M I C H A E L D. M O R G A N prevent (Jacob’s) induction into the office of Mayor.” Jacob himdetermine whether immigrants would voted Democratic. They warned that self developed autobiographibe systematically disenfranchised on the inquiry into Jacob would set preccal amnesia. He claimed that prior a national scale. It was a hysterical edent for disenfranchising all “foreignreporting of his birthday as November but well-pleaded argument, albeit a born people, who suppose themselves 24 came from unknown origin. Personhypocritical one for a newspaper that in good faith to be citizens.” Henceforth, ally, he could no longer recall his date had tacitly endorsed suppression of honest Germans and Irish could be of birth, and although he lacked any immigrant votes in past elections. turned away from the polls or denied knowledge, he was nevertheless sure Although the Enquirer had a clear the right to hold office because of the that he was born on some date that agenda, they also had persuasive evislightest accidental error in paperwork. made him 21 by the time of his naturaldence. Reporters located the man who Moreover, it was not simply a local ization in October 1856 — although he had accompanied Jacob to America, matter. Inquiry into the legitimacy still lacked any explanation for residing along with several of the mayor-elect’s of Jacob’s citizenship was, according in the country for less than five years at childhood friends from Bavaria. All to the Commercial, part of a broader, the time. confirmed, with certainty, that Jacob nationwide Democratic “anti-foreign The Cincinnati Commercial, a Repubhad been in the U.S. less than five spirit” constituting “a warfare in which lican-leaning paper, initially tried to years at the time of his naturalization naturalization papers, however legal dismiss the controversy. Then, with ceremony; and several recalled that his in form, will be held an insufficient inauguration just days away, they pubbirthday was celebrated in the fall as defense to claim of citizenship.” If you lished a long, slippery slope harangue a child. Proving that the Commercial believed the Commercial, the quesintended to rally the roughly one-third had no monopoly on histrionics, the tion of whether or not Jacob would be of the Cincinnati population that was Enquirer warned that if the matter allowed to take the oath of office would foreign born, lots of whom typically

NOVEMBER 2020

was not resolved, every official act of the mayor would be subject to legal challenge. Citizens would refuse to pay taxes. No official decree requiring the mayor’s signature would be valid. Municipal anarchy would ensue. Then, the whole scandal just went away. Charles Jacob, Jr. took the oath of office and became Mayor of the City of Cincinnati on April 17. Was he a legal U.S. citizen? All of the evidence suggests that he was not. He was close to reaching the age of 21 and close to having been in the country for five years when he was naturalized, but as bouncers tell college students every night of the week, almost 21 is just 20. However, in the case of Mayor Jacob, enough people either chose their facts or chose not to care so that his citizenship status became irrelevant. Jacob presided over an intriguing mayoralty. At his inauguration, he promised to cut taxes and “to suppress all immoral conduct in our city, be this on the Sabbath or any other day.” He also promised to clean up a dysfunctional and corrupt police department. To aid this last objective, Republicans in the statehouse passed legislation that abolished Cincinnati’s Board of Police Commissioners and replaced it with a single chief of police who served at the pleasure and direction of the mayor.

This is vaguely like the system that is currently in place, except without any form of checks and balances. Being a police officer was a purely political job in the 1870s. There was no training. Qualifications were minimal, and even those were routinely ignored. The requirement, for example, that officers speak English was overlooked and some officers in Over-the-Rhine spoke only German. Correct political affiliation was the true, primary qualification, but Jacob was empowered to take the tradition of doling out police jobs to a new level. The mayor drew the ire of his own chief of police by routinely ignoring his decisions and hiring and firing the department’s officers without even consulting the titular head of the force. Under the guise of cleaning up the department, Jacob instituted a mass purge. In a single day, he fired 20% of the force, and in more restrained moments he fired a half-dozen or more cops a day. In fairness, many of the officers that Jacob fired were guilty of being drunk, derelict or abusive on duty, but the wrongdoers also had a curious pattern of voting Democratic. When the legislation was passed giving Mayor Jacob unfettered control over the police force, a Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives

who championed the move declared that giving Jacob these broad powers would mean the end of “rascals who shield themselves under the official uniforms.” Unfortunately for the City of Cincinnati, that is not what happened. Whether Jacob’s vows to clean up the police force were a cynical ploy from the beginning is unknowable, but he did no such thing. Despite mass firings, Cincinnati Police continued to display egregious conduct. Many, including the city’s top detectives, maintained open relationships with gambling houses, brothels and criminal gangs. The only reform that Jacob seems to have accomplished was streamlining the bribery process. Under his administration, one man was responsible for collecting protection money from all illegal casinos, which was then funneled through the Republican Party apparatus. Voter fraud was real and rampant in the 1800s, and it had nothing to do with the post office. Both parties engaged in organized corruption and they used the same, crude techniques; but the party that was best able to exert physical power over the polls always had an advantage. This made political control of the police force important in either ensuring a fair election or, more commonly, stealing one. Party bosses flipped elections by using “repeaters,”

men that they shipped in from other towns and states who made their way around the city voting five or six times in multiple precincts. Poll judges were expected to verify voter credentials, but the process was informal. In a city like Cincinnati, where the population was dense, growing, and often transient, the system was flawed, particularly when crooked poll judges falsely verified that “repeaters” were local residents. Police officers played a role by tamping down legitimate objections to illegitimate voters and, at times, used threat of force to disenfranchise people based on ethnicity, race or precinct. Jacob did not use Cincinnati Police in a violent capacity, but he did use his power over the force egregiously. The maximum number of officers in the city was limited to 300 by statute. Shortly before his re-election bid in 1881, Jacob swelled the ranks to 339, using the additional men in uniform as an extension of his campaign. Nevertheless, Jacob lost. He came into office promising to clean up the city, and two years later it was more corrupt and vice-riddled than when he took the oath of office. The validity of his citizenship did not reemerge. He lost on merit, and so ended the term of the only mayor of the City of Cincinnati to not be a valid U.S. citizen.

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egardless of whether this year has felt like it’s crept by at a snail’s pace or ripped through your personal stratosphere at lightning speed, November is here — which means the holidays are upon us. And, yes, whatever you celebrate and however you celebrate it is definitely going to look different this year (people will probably be getting packs of face masks from grandma instead of socks), but that doesn’t mean you can’t still spread a little kindness and cheer with some thoughtful gifting. We could all use it. Of course, budgets are tight and unemployment is high (as is the traditional holiday stress) so we aren’t promoting the “capitalist machine.”

But we are promoting the idea that if you’re going to give gifts this year, shop local. Support small businesses as they too struggle to make their way through this pandemic. In this year’s Gift Guide you’ll find a collection of suggestions to spark some inspiration or literal purchases from local boutiques — something for everyone on your list, color coded into a rainbow (a symbol of support and hope adopted during COVID). Please note, this is obviously not a representation of every single local small business or every gift inside the included businesses; just use this as a starting point and reminder to support your neighbors.

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Charley Harper cardinal plate set, $50, MiCA 12/v, 1201 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine, shopmica.com; Chai sugar scrub, $8.50, Queen City Alchemy, 1808 Race St., Over-the-Rhine, queencityalchemy.com; Moglea hand-painted notebook, $23.50, Paper Wings, 1207 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine, shoppaperwings. com; Assorted beanies, $12, Handzy, 17 W. Pike St., Covington, hellohandzy.com; Mat + Nat vegan leather “Adele” bag, $130, MiCA 12/v, 1201 Vine St., Overthe-Rhine, shopmica.com; Queen City retro T-shirt, $25, Rivertown Inkery, 3096 Madison Road, Oakley, rivertowninkery.com; Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo mugs, $26 each, Cincinnati Art Museum, 953 Eden Park Drive, Mount Adams, cincinnatiartmuseum.org; Set of two double-walled glasses, $50, Wolfpack, 1813 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine shopthewolfpack.com; Maryam Nassir Zadeh Cecil Pump, $550, Continuum, 1407 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine continuumbazaar.com; Cincinnati Tiger crewneck, $40, Rivertown Inkery, 3096 Madison Road, Oakley, rivertowninkery.com.

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Yani Yeti plus, $39.50, Gumdrop, 15 W. Pike St., Covington gumdroptots.com; Maison Louis Marie Gift Set, $110, Continuum, 1407 Vine St., Overthe-Rhine continuumbazaar.com; Fall in Love candle, $18, Wolfpack, 1813 Elm St., Over-theRhine shopthewolfpack.com; Happy Home gift box, $45, Lucca, 126 W. Elder St., Over-the-Rhine, luccaworkshop.com; Wild Wild Midwest T-shirt, $25, Wolfpack, 1813 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, shopthewolfpack.com; Plantfulness : How to Change Your Life with Plants, $16.99, Handzy, 17 W. Pike St., Covington, hellohandzy.com; Clove vase, $68, Rookwood Pottery, multiple locations including 1920 Race St., Over-the-Rhine, rookwood.com; Confection comforts care package, $85, Rookwood Pottery, multiple locations including 1920 Race St., Over-theRhine, rookwood.com.

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Metallophone, $18, Gumdrop, 15 W. Pike St., Covington gumdroptots.com; Bauhaus Earrings in gold, $190, Contemporary Arts Center, 44 E. Sixth St., Downtown, contemporaryartscenter.org; Wildflower soap, $8, Deerhaus Decor, 135 W. Elder St., Overthe-Rhine, deerhausdecor.com; Handmade local silk face mask, $10, made by co-owner ecorawstudio, Deerhaus Decor, 135 W. Elder St., Over-the-Rhine, deerhausdecor.com; Locally made ceramics, $30$60, Wolfpack, 1813 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine shopthewolfpack.com; Marble and wood coaster set, $40, Lucca, 126 W. Elder St., Over-the-Rhine, luccaworkshop.com; Charley Harper ceramic tiles, $39 each, Cincinnati Art Museum, 953 Eden Park Drive, Mount Adams, cincinnatiartmuseum.org; Mattel Handheld Electronic Games, $28, Lentz & Co., 339 Ludlow Ave., Clifton, lentzandcompany.com; Kids lounge set, $22, Gumdrop, 15 W. Pike St., Covington gumdroptots.com; 3-Way shirt, $25, Cincy Shirts, multiple locations including 1301 Main St., Over-theRhine, cincyshirts.com; Walk This Way: Footwear from the Stuart Weitzman Collection of Historic Shoes, $21.95, Taft Museum of Art, 316 W. Pike St., Downtown, taftmuseum.org.

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Peace Out 2020 card, $6, Handzy, 17 W. Pike St., Covington, hellohandzy.com; Printfresh embroidered pajama set, $138, Sloane Boutique, 1216 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine, sloaneboutique.com; Nourish facial serum, $34, Queen City Alchemy, 1808 Race St., Over-the-Rhine, queencityalchemy.com; Cincinnati Against the World Shirt, OATW, $30, GOODS, 1317 Main St., Over-the-Rhine, facebook.com/goodsonmain; Children’s Bible, $23.36, Downbound Books, 4139 Apple St., Northside, downboundbooks.com; Emile Henry Tagines, $99.99 sale, Artichoke OTR, 1824 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, artichokeotr.com; Molinard Perfume, $65, High St., 1401 Reading Road, Pendleton, facebook.com/shophighst; 1947 (Weber Costello Co.) globe, $85, Lentz & Co., 339 Ludlow Ave., Clifton, lentzandcompany.com; Dog pillows, $36 each, High St. ,1401 Reading Road, Pendleton, facebook. com/shophighst; BLM hats, $25, GOODS,1317 Main St., Over-the-Rhine, facebook.com/goodsonmain; “Hawthorne Road” lino print by Cincinnati artist Nicole Hollon, $50, MiCA 12/v, 1201 Vine St., Overthe-Rhine, shopmica.com.

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ARTS & CULTURE

Composer Anthony Davis P H OTO : W I S E M U S I C C L AS S I CA L . C O M

The CSO Speaks Out with Next Livestream from Music Hall

The symphony performs Anthony Davis’ You Have The Right To Remain Silent, a jazzy four-movement concerto that explores social justice and racial conflict BY A N N E A R E N ST E I N

he opening words of what is known as the Miranda warning — what the police use to notify those being arrested of their rights — might seem a bizarre inspiration for a composer, but for Anthony Davis, it made perfect sense. Social justice and racial conflict are at the heart of many of Davis’ wideranging compositions for orchestra, chamber ensembles, piano, theater (he wrote the score for the Broadway production of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America) and especially in his operas. Last May, Davis won the Pulitzer Prize for his fifth opera, The Central

Park Five, a musical recounting of the five Black and Latino teenagers unjustly imprisoned for the rape of a white woman in New York’s Central Park. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is performing Davis’ You Have The Right To Remain Silent — a four-movement concerto for orchestra, clarinet and Kurzweil processor (a keyboard synth) — during Nov. 21’s livestream from Music Hall. Acclaimed clarinetist Anthony McGill is the soloist, along with Davis’ longtime collaborator Earl Howard on the Kurzweil. Silent debuted at the Miller Theater

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in 2007 and the CSO is the first major orchestra to perform it. The program also includes Julia Perry’s Homunculus C.F. and Franz Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony. Shy and soft-spoken, Davis says when the Miller Theater in New York commissioned Silent in 2006, he had to trick himself into writing an orchestral piece. “I was so into opera at the time,” he says. But he found a way into the work through TV cop shows, where reading the Miranda rights was always part of the script. Davis was also inspired by too many of his own incidents of Driving While Black. He recalls an episode when he was on his way to a gig in Boston with legendary Jazz composer and instrumentalist Anthony Braxton. “I was stopped in Connecticut and held at gunpoint for 45 minutes. I matched the description of a man who robbed a bank in Hartford. I got no explanation and no apology. And I missed the gig,” he says ruefully, with no trace of anger. The four movements in Silent are “Interrogation,” “Loss,” “Incarceration” and “The Dance of the Other.” Davis explains that the premise is that the orchestra is interrogating the clarinet, which responds in jumpy, agitated phrases with frequent pauses for improvisation. Orchestra members recite “You have the right to remain silent” in flat mechanical voices. CSO music director Louis Langrée says that he felt an immediate visceral response to the score. “The music was saying something bigger than the music,” he says. McGill, principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic and former CSO associate principal clarinet (also the recently named winner of the Avery Fisher Prize for Classical musicians), has been among the most visible artists responding to George Floyd’s murder. “When I heard the title (of Silent), I was in. But when I heard the piece, it was chilling. You can’t help but react,” he says. Silent introduced McGill to a totally different sonic world that included his debut playing the contra-alto clarinet. The significant role of improvisation for clarinet, contra-alto clarinet and the Kurzweil processor is rooted in composer Davis’ career as a Jazz pianist and proponent of Free Jazz, a form grounded in improvisation. It presents unique hurdles for the soloist and the conductor. “I’ve never done anything like that for a large stage piece,” McGill says, referring to the amount of improvisation. “In the duet with the Kurzweil, you’re interacting with yourself through the lens of a different

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instrument that’s also improvising on that sound.” Langrée adds that the conductor has to be totally in-sync with McGill and Kurzweil player Howard. Unlike a Classical concerto, there’s no pause indicated for the orchestra before the improvisation begins. “It’s when I feel completely in connection with Anthony and Earl, when it’s time to stop and when it’s time to join them,” Langrée says. “It’s the first time I’m experiencing that.” Howard, an Electronic musician and composer, is a frequent collaborator with Davis and is the artist for whom Silent was written, along with clarinetist J.D. Parran. Howard’s appearance with the CSO is mandated not only by his mastery of Electronic music but also by his thorough knowledge of Davis’ musical language. There is no written score for the processors because Howard is blind. Both Davis and Howard praise the CSO and McGill’s musicianship and willingness to go all-out on improvising. “(McGill) brings so much to the table,” Davis says. “It’s all about the ear, how you hear music, how intuitive you are in your choices.” And he’s impressed with the CSO and Langrée’s leadership. “This is typically American music, we are an American orchestra,” Langrée says. “They have no problem swinging phrases, passing from the most experimental music to Bernsteinesque jazzy moments, keeping the musical mother language.” Davis’ extraordinary, powerful piece concludes with an off-kilter waltz trailing off into a sequence of descending phrases and then, the word “silent.” “It’s about the future of American music and it’s exciting to see barriers breaking down between musical worlds,” Davis says. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra streams You Have the Right to Remain Silent at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21 for free. Watch on the CSO’s Facebook, YouTube and at cincinnatisymphony.org.

NOVEMBER 2020

Anthony McGill’s Musical Activism

Clarinetist Anthony McGill P H OTO : A N T H O N Y M C G I L L . C O M

On May 27, the New York Philharmonic’s principal clarinetist Anthony McGill posted a statement and video in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis. The statement read, in part: “We live alongside that reality all across America. What the news this week and most weeks of my life demonstrates, however, is that Black lives didn’t matter in our glorified past, and still don’t matter that much today. “Now’s the time to protest. Join me. This time, let’s try and #TakeTwoKnees in the struggle for justice and decency.” McGill played “America the Beautiful” in a minor key, plaintive and haunting. He then got down on his knees and bowed his head. It’s impossible to watch it and not be moved to tears. The devastating, powerful post went viral, prompting performers from all over the world to take two knees. “I tear up every time I watch one,” McGill says, speaking from his home in Manhattan. As cultural institutions undergo long-overdue examinations of embedded and systemic racism, McGill stands as a witness and passionate advocate for social justice. And he’s buoyed by the response from his colleagues. “People can’t stay silent,” he says. “This is a sea change, a community of musicians stepping up and saying what’s wrong? What’s right here? We need to do better.” McGill grew up on Chicago’s South Side, nurtured by supportive parents and his older brother Demarre, now principal flute for the Seattle

Symphony and associate professor of flute at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. But none of their many achievements and education are protection against racism. Anthony McGill joined the CSO as associate principal clarinet in 2000. He wasn’t the only Black player in the CSO; cellist Norman Johns was already a 25-year veteran. “I knew on whose shoulders I was standing. Norman is such a gentle, loving person. Forget about glass ceilings, he had to break a cement ceiling,” McGill says. The atmosphere improved considerably by the time McGill joined the CSO but outside of Music Hall, it was otherwise. In an interview with NPR Music’s Tom Huizenga, McGill recalled being pulled over by a Cincinnati police officer. “I was told I didn’t yield the right of way to a cop and he called me the usual ‘boy.’ He sat in his car with the lights flashing 30 minutes. Then he wrote a citation and just walked away,” he says. McGill left the CSO in 2004 and Norman Johns is still the CSO’s only Black musician. McGill’s response is establishing the Music Advancement Program at Juilliard, an endowment that provides scholarships for young musicians to study during the summer. He sees it as payback for the encouragement and support he received. For McGill, advocacy and activism are inseparable. “Injustice is unacceptable. People have to speak up,” he says. For more about Anthony McGill, visit anthonymcgill.com.

CULTURE

ArtWorks Focuses on Social Justice with 200th Mural BY K AT R I N A E R E S M A N

t’s almost impossible to walk through downtown Cincinnati without noticing a mural. Thanks to ArtWorks, the Queen City is home to dozens upon dozens of them, as varied in location as they are in theme. ArtWorks dedicated its 200th mural in a ceremony on Oct. 24. That’s the 200th mural the nonprofit has created in the 13 years since the public art program started, which means ArtWorks has been creating an average of 15.4 murals annually since 2007. (ArtWorks itself was founded in 1996.) “When we launched, I never guessed we’d be at 200 in 13 years,” says former Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory, who challenged ArtWorks to create a mural in each of Cincinnati’s 52 neighborhoods after he saw a similar program in Philadelphia. “It’s a phenomenal number, and it really speaks to the drive and the commitment that ArtWorks has for the work that they do.” According to ArtWorks’ website, they have more than halfway met Mallory’s request, painting murals in 36 neighborhoods and seven cities nearby. In 2007, ArtWorks CEO Colleen Houston — then the director of programs — was selected to launch the initiative. ArtWorks organizes and funds the murals, but hundreds of local citizens and artists from around the world are also to thank for these public works. “There are probably one hundred people that are invested in making every single mural happen,” Houston says. The process includes a year’s worth of planning and fundraising with community partners, collaboration with the property owner and adjacent property owners, and the hard work of an average of 12 to 15 artists, including youth apprentices, per project. “There is a collective pride and a collective ownership in each work of art,” Houston says. The 200th ArtWorks mural, titled “Time Saved vs. Time Served,” is part of the current season, themed “New Voices.” “It’s all about really looking at voices throughout our community that aren’t heard as much,” Houston says. In this case, the voices receiving a platform through the mural are those of returning citizens — formerly incarcerated people — who are often stigmatized and given fewer opportunities than others in the community. The concept for this milestone mural came from Tyra Patterson, the project’s artistic director, who has a personal story

that leaves her deeply invested in social justice causes. In 1994, Patterson was arrested and ultimately incarcerated for murder and robbery, both crimes she did not commit. She was in prison for 23 years. “I wanted to know what went wrong with my case,” Patterson says. “In order for me to do that, I had to educate myself, so I became like the prison advocacy warrior.” Patterson cites a famous Shirley Chisholm quote as her mantra: “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a The dedication of the mural “Time Saved vs. Time Served” at 235 W. Court St., Downtown folding chair.” P H OTO : LO U I S R I D E O U T / / C O U RT E SY O F A RT WO R K S “I wanted to be at the tables when people are as an ArtWorks youth apprentice — so So ArtWorks was brilliant in this and I making decisions about things that she was well qualified for her role, but couldn’t be more grateful.” impact us,” she says. “I personally feel she attributes a lot of the vision to “Time Saved vs. Time Served,” delivers that we’re the subject matters and we Mallory. a powerful message with multiple need to be in that space.” “I love how high he set the bar,” she layers. On a building at 235 W. Court Patterson now works as the Comsays, “really thinking about art for all, St., portraits of five smiling women — munity Outreach Strategy Specialist at and really high-quality art, and art that one of them Patterson herself — sit the Ohio Justice & Policy Center, and is employs youth.” beneath the scales of justice, circling an ambassador for Represent Justice. A Being one of the driving forces an Ohio-shaped clock marked by fives few years ago, she was in Philadelphia behind the mural program is something to represent prison sentences. Each for a speaking engagement and, like Mallory is still proud of. woman in the mural is a returning Mallory, was struck by the murals. She “When you’re in a leadership position citizen, and each is deeply involved in met artist Russell Craig, a returning and you make decisions, sometimes the social justice causes. citizen involved in the Philadelphia decisions you make fall by the wayside,” “I picked them strategically because mural scene, and asked him to show Mallory says. “With ArtWorks...there’s a I wanted their voices to be heard,” her around the social justice murals. visual impact, there’s a visual reprePatterson says. “It inspired me even more,” Patterson sentation of those decisions, and those According to The Sentencing Project, says. “I said ‘This needs to be imprinted murals are going to live on for years.” the number of incarcerated women everywhere.’ ” The ArtWorks mural program continhas increased by 750% since 1980. Patterson approached ArtWorks with ues to turn heads — and not just those Whether they have made mistakes or her idea. She also specifically requested of passersby visiting the city. This year, were wrongfully convicted, Patterson that all hired artists be returning Cincinnati earned 20th place on the believes in providing resources and citizens. She and Craig co-directed and annual SMU DataArts’ Arts Vibrancy opportunities that will help them developed the design concept together. Index, which “identifies the 40 most succeed in reentry. “This is the first mural where we’ve arts-vibrant communities across the “I wanted people to know that just been really intentional about hiring U.S.” This was ArtWorks’ first time in the because somebody made a mistake, returning citizens,” Houston says. “I top 20. The mural program was highthey still need to be humanized for that,” think creating meaningful jobs and lighted as one facet that makes Cincinshe says. “If people don’t understand employment for returning citizens was nati stand out from the other over 900 the legalese, they will understand art.” critical to the mission.” metros evaluated for the list. Prior to the mural project, public One of Patterson’s biggest goals is “People coming here from other art was a small piece of the ArtWorks to help destigmatize those who have places, from around the country, and pie, but it was one of Houston’s favorite served time. Both lead artists and the from around the world, seeing those pieces. teaching artists had served time in murals and getting the impact that that “I felt like public art was a huge prison, which gave the youth apprenart represents — that is impossible to opportunity to coordinate high-impact tices an opportunity to see returning measure,” Mallory says. projects,” she says. “There’s so much talcitizens in a leadership role. ent in our city. There’s incredible artists, “This has never happened — them and I just felt like there was so much hiring a returning citizen (in these For more about ArtWorks, their potential to elevate that.” roles),” Patterson says. “It sparked mission and to find the locations of Houston has a background in social the right conversation, especially at all 200 murals — or book a mural and public art — and spent some time a time like this with systemic change. tour — visit artworkscincinnati.org.

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FOOD & DRINK

A spread of dishes from Teak OTR P H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R

Teak Thai’s Over-theRhine Reincarnation Is Spicy and Fresh After relocating from Mount Adams, Teak serves former house favorites and great dim sum in an accommodating spot near Washington Park R E V I E W BY PA M A M IT C H E L L

irst impressions can make all the difference in how you feel about a place, and Teak OTR won us over with a series of opening moves. This new addition to Over-the-Rhine is almost entirely indoors — we’ve just about run out of outdoor weather anyway — but the dining room made us feel comfortable about eating inside amid a pandemic that isn’t letting up; it has tall ceilings, promising good ventilation, and Plexiglas dividers between seating areas. We arrived early on a weeknight and had the place to ourselves for a while, seated in a comfy booth for our party of four. You might remember Teak Thai in

Mount Adams, which closed almost four years ago. In many ways, Teak OTR is a reincarnation of that restaurant, with the same owner and much of the kitchen staff. The newly designed dining room, with a lovely bar area and well-lit corner location, brings a freshness to the enterprise. And it was smart to relocate from the mostly residential Mount Adams to this spot, just blocks from Washington Park and Music Hall. After we were seated, our server arrived promptly and, as I noticed with other staffers, wore her mask properly fitted over her nose and mouth all evening. It’s a pet peeve of mine when

restaurant staff has their masks askew, worn more as chin warmers than PPE. I didn’t see anything like that at Teak. She took our drink order and soon brought lovely cocktails — a rum-based Thai Island for me, minty Whiskey Smash for two companions and, from a short list of martinis, a brandy-infused and mezcal-scented Zinger for our fourth. At $8 apiece, that’s a more than reasonable price by downtown standards. Bottled or canned craft beer is $5 a pop, and a half-dozen interesting brews go for $7. Our first food course was a knockout. We tried two of the evening’s three dim sum offerings — steamed dumplings ($6 per order). One was triangle-shaped pasta stuffed with tender, spiced pork; the second was a ball of rice flour around diced shrimp. Even better were the crab puffs, which was your basic crab rangoon done just right. My friend, Debbie, is something of a self-styled expert on these appetizers and has her favorites around town. She pronounced these perfect, each with a bit of cream cheese and crabmeat inside a crispy, not greasy, fried wonton shell. With four of us and five crab puffs, we had to cut that last one into portions, as nobody was willing to relinquish a

final bite. I might have passed on a large plate/ entrée and gone instead with soup and salad, many of which looked inviting. As the weather cools, I could return for Hot & Sour Mushroom Soup or Chicken with Coconut Milk Soup (each $5), and the Vegetable Soup ($4) caught my eye as well. Then there’s an entire sushi menu, which we set aside for another day. As it happened, we each went ahead and ordered an entrée from the long menu typical of many Thai restaurants around town. At Teak, big plates or entrées are categorized as House Specials, Fried Rice Thai Style, Stir Fry Dishes, Thai Curry and a section called Something in Common (the common ingredient in those seven dishes is chicken). Three of us chose House Specials — Ginger Salmon ($18), Hot Pot Soup ($17) and Crispy Duck ($19) — and one selected yellow curry with chicken ($14). Thai food is traditionally spicy and we were asked to select a heat level up to 10 (for all except the soup), and everyone said five. For the salmon and the chicken dishes, a five was much too fiery. Debbie asked for something cooling for

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her salmon. She hoped for something like raita, but lacking that, our server suggested chai iced tea with milk. Along with the milky tea, she brought a plate of sliced cucumbers. Put together, these flavors made the ginger salmon a lot more palatable. Kathy, on the other hand, asked for a redo of the yellow curry, and the server whisked the plate away. A few minutes later, however, the cook emerged to tell Kathy that the yellow curry sauce he used was premixed and couldn’t be dialed back in its spice level. (Curry here comes in spice levels from three to 10 because of the dish’s inherent heat.) Instead, Kathy shared some of Michael’s milder Hot Pot Soup and Teak removed the curry from her bill. My Crispy Duck, one of Teak’s most popular plates in the Mount Adams days, came with a side of basil sauce that I’d ordered as a “five” in spiciness, which worked fine since I had control of how much sauce to use. It was a good dish, especially when piping hot to show off the just-cooked crunch of the pieces of boneless duck meat. Generously portioned, the duck rested on a pile of vegetables; I would have liked more carrot or broccoli and less bok choy and onion. The duck was tasty enough without the side sauce, though it did help perk up the veggies.

Teak OTR’s dining room and bar P H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R

The Hot Pot Soup was my favorite of the other main dishes we tried — shrimp, crab meat, squid and mussels simmered in a rich broth. The salmon with ginger and asparagus was nicely cooked but the spice level burned my lips. For fans of traditional Thai spice, Teak delivers. If

you’re looking for something more mild, be sure to consult your server about each dish’s heat level. Our server offered one dessert: ginger crème brûlée, ($8), and we split two orders. It was well made, with candied ginger adding both spice and sweetness to the rich cream base.

Teak serves lunch and dinner every day except Monday, and take-out is available. Teak OTR, 1200 Race St., Over-the-Rhine, teakotr.com.

RIVERFRONT LIVE PRESENTS:

outdoor socially distant concert series RESERVED TABLES/BOXES FOR PARTIES OF 4-10 ALL PARTIES SEPERATED BY MINIMUM 6 FEET MASKS REQUIRED WHEN NOT AT TABLE/BOX

Upcoming shows riverfrontlivecincy.com

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

NOVEMBER 2020

The Allman Betts Band Saturday, December 12

Brandon “Taz” Niederauer Saturday, December 19, 2020

Ticket Information 513-321-2572

THE DISH

The Reopened and Reinvigorated Postmark Offers Fine Dining in Clifton R E V I E W BY PA M A M IT C H E L L

As a Cliftonite of almost 25 years, I’ve followed with avid interest the fortunes of several restaurants on Telford Street in a building that once housed the neighborhood’s post office. The first one was Tink’s Café, in the mid-2000s, which started a welcome trend of using the space for the closest thing to fine dining in Gaslight Clifton. That tradition continues today with the reopened Postmark, part of chef/owner Brad Bernstein’s growing mini-empire that includes Red Feather Kitchen and the recently acquired Dutch’s, both on the East Side. During the pandemic, I’ve walked the streets of Clifton every day, many times passing the mostly dark Postmark. I had heard from neighbors that it had partially reopened with casual events, often including live music, during the summer months, but I never saw any publicity or signage about what and when these meals occurred. A few weeks ago, I spotted menus posted on the window, and days/hours of service. Postmark is back. It didn’t take me long to plan having dinner there, with the added incentive that the weather promised a few more warm-enough days where their sidewalk tables would be available. My date and I nabbed one on a quiet Thursday night, and I’m happy to say that the meal lived up to our expectations — and then some. Postmark now offers a three-course tasting menu for $35, although you can order everything à la carte, as well. The first course covers soups and salads, the second course includes a selection of four pasta preparations, and you finish with one of four entrées. In addition, the menu section Boards, Baskets & Snacks offers an array of tasty items priced by the piece. For instance, the bruschetta I selected with my salad course — toasted bread with mozzarella, cherry tomato and pesto — was listed at $2 for one piece or $5 for three. Other than my single slice of that toast, we didn’t try anything from the snacks section. David opted for three courses and, since I didn’t want a pasta course that night, I went with salad and entrée — leaving room for dessert, I calculated. Postmark has redone its side dining room into a wine shop, and diners can select a bottle and enjoy it with the meal for $10 corkage fee on top of the retail price. David went inside with our server and came back with a valuepriced Oregon pinot noir; at $23 for the bottle and corkage, it complemented

The exterior of Postmark P H OTO : V I N C E N T D I F R A N C E S C O

nicely the range of meat and fish we selected. The Soup & Salad section includes one of my favorite appetizers, beef (here called steak) carpaccio, very thinly sliced raw meat with a light vinaigrette and shaved Parmesan ($12). David ordered butternut squash soup topped with pepita brittle for crunch and a dollop of stewed apple and fennel ($6). The soup was creamy, slightly sweet and lovely, and while I liked the carpaccio, I also wished for a larger portion. His pasta course, cacio e pepe ($8) also wasn’t large, but it was just right as an intermezzo between the rather rich soup and his Steak Diane entrée ($20). Both that and my Sole Meuniere ($19) were the stars of our meal. For the Diane, slices of meltingly tender beef tenderloin came smothered in mushroom bordelaise sauce accompanied by roasted potatoes. The sole, a thin and light piece of fish, was perfectly cooked with a bit of brown crust around its edges. It rested on a dice of wilted greens made tangy with lemon and capers. I loved that dish and will be back for seconds, assuming it stays on the menu. As a matter of fact, Postmark changed

a few items on the list just a couple days after our dinner, but the Diane and Meuniere remained. Smart move. For dessert, our server offered crème brulee, chocolate mousse and lemon tart. Chocolate seems to be a magic word for David, so he went with the mousse ($7), a worthy take on that traditional sweet ending. I opted for the lemon tart and was delighted by this version; basically, a deconstructed treat served more like a pudding, with small meringue cookies adding sweetness and crunch to the tart lemon pudding. I loved it and it’s another dish I hope they’ll keep making. Having heard from our server that it was the last day of that menu, I wanted to get an update on the changes. Carryout seemed to be the best way for a quick revisit, so I picked up a threecourse tasting ($35) and brought home three dishes we hadn’t tried. One was the Bistro Salad ($8 a la carte), built around the freshest butter lettuce imaginable, no small feat for restaurants that may face a lot of food waste during these challenging times. As much as I appreciated the high-quality greens, the other salad ingredients were sparse — a few thinly sliced shallots and some

pine nuts — to the point where I added some enhancements of my own. The vinaigrette was rather lackluster, too. As a pasta course, I took the newly offered Risotto alla Milanese ($11 a la carte), intrigued by the lobster, saffron and chorizo preparation. While I couldn’t find any evidence of lobster in my portion, chorizo gave it a nice zip. Finally, the Braised Lamb entrée ($21 a la carte) with baby carrots, leeks and parsnip puree had just the right savory heft for the autumnal season. The other new entrée, Winter Squash with lentils, wheat berries and golden raisins ($17) also caught my eye, but sometimes you just have to choose, and the bottle of cabernet sauvignon I’d opened the night before cried out for the lamb. Although few diners joined us the evening we ate at Postmark, staff members told me that business had been picking up by mid-October and that the previous Saturday had been fully booked. It’s wonderful to have this level of cooking on my side of town, and I hope those bookings continue and help Postmark thrive.

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Postmark, 3410 Telford St., Clifton, postmark.restaurant.

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DRINK

Bar Owners Look for Aid to Make it Through Pandemic Winter BY S E A N M . P E T E RS

Winter is coming and local bar owners are braced for one of their most challenging seasons in living history. (Except for perhaps the advent of Prohibition.) Because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Cincinnati’s independent entrepreneurs have their backs up against the wall and, while grateful for any government assistance they can procure, some feel left to fend for themselves. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s Bar and Restaurant Assistance Fund is “designed to assist Ohio’s on-premise liquor permit holders...to help them through the financial difficulties experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to the state’s official messaging on businesshelp.ohio.gov, where business owners can apply for the aid. The governor designated $38.7 million of funding received by the State of Ohio from the federal CARES Act and aims to provide $2,500 assistance payments to on-premise liquor permit holders because “these permit holders have not been able to fully use their liquor permit and it’s had an impact on their business.” Applications for this assistance opened Nov. 2 and many say they’ve had difficulty accessing the website in this early rush for relief, which is acknowledged by the governor’s office; if you attempt to log in you’ll likely be greeted with, “Due to great interest, you may experience some delays...Thank you for your patience.” The most recent offering from Mayor Cranley’s office would use $4 million in CARES Act funding to dole out grants to locally owned, non-chain bars, restaurants and breweries. Grants would be between $5,000 and $10,000 and applications can be submitted at tasteofcincinnati.com, which has transformed from the annual food fest’s landing page to an application portal hosted by the city and Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber. (The application deadline is Nov. 15.) “Honestly, 10k is a pretty fair number to me from the city,” says Chris Breeden, owner of Cincinnati’s oldest bar, Arnold’s Bar and Grill. “I hope that there will be a federal stimulus in place before the holidays.” Business at Arnold’s is down 75% over last year, Breeden says, but he, his family and employees are in a position where they can float for a few months before it becomes more challenging, thanks to cooperation from the city and their federal PPP loan. He fears that is

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One of Braxton Brewing Co.’s new outdoor igloos P H OTO : S E A N M . P E T E RS

not the case for a lot of restaurants and bars and that the compounding mix of fewer patrons, a 10 p.m. mandated last call and cold weather could turn this into a nuclear winter for many businesses. Jesse Baker, owner of Arcade Legacy: Bar Edition in Northside, says the $5,000 he qualifies for would not even cover one month’s bills for his retro video game bar — but any assistance is welcome. “The PUA unemployment money is drying up and that leaves me with no help very soon,” Baker says, referring to the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program many selfemployed and contract workers rely on. “We’ve just reopened and business is down by about 70% so far. I am hoping that will rise as people realize we are back open. There’s not much to work with, though, since we still have to stop serving at 10 p.m. I’d say about 75% of our business is after 10 p.m. most nights. It doesn’t add up for us.” Baker believes the only thing that would truly work to save more businesses is a rent freeze through the winter, but does not hold out hope that something like that would happen. Nothing the federal government has done has made him feel confident his business will survive; Arcade Legacy has subsisted on revenue from its original retail location in Fairfield’s mainly vacant Cincinnati Mall and from

NOVEMBER 2020

donations given by loyal customers. Jake Rouse, CEO of Braxton Brewing Co., anticipates a lot of bars will go belly up unless something drastic is done on a federal level. His family’s Covington brewery installed insulated plastic igloos on their rooftop to encourage Arnold’s Bar and Grill’s courtyard wintertime guests P H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R to patronize their taproom while 12-month fee renewal waiver, which maintaining health standards concould add up to thousands for some. current with the pandemic. This, like But it’s not much. many local business owners who were Rouse says sales were down around allotted additional outdoor seating to 50% in his breweries’ taprooms the encourage patronage, was done to help weekend we talked to him. These wildly with thin profit margins. fluctuating sales trends have forced “We’ve been pretty big advocates in him to reconsider some plans and find D.C. on additional stimulus,” Rouse whatever way he can to help his team says. “It just feels as though D.C.’s left “survive this timeframe.” They’ve also an entire subsegment of the economy only sold about 40% of their volume behind with restaurants and bars...a compared to last year to other bars and lot of restrictions on capacity, but no restaurants, which are no longer buying restrictions on rent forgiveness or debt normal quantities. forgiveness. So it’s very, very difficult to So what can patrons do to help? continue to make it.” Baker of Arcade Legacy says, “Just Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear recently come and support the business when announced some help: the state’s possible. That’s all any business can Department of Alcoholic Beverage really ask.” Control is giving current licensees a

THE DISH

Breaking the Box of ‘Other’: Asian Food Week Celebrated and Educated About Asian Culture and Cuisine BY L E Y L A S H O KO O H E

Cincinnati’s inaugural Asian Food Week took place Nov. 2-8, but patrons can still show love to the Asian restaurants that participated (and those that didn’t) beyond the slated event. Expanded from Asian Food Fest, an annual weekend celebration of Asian foods (canceled this year by COVID-19), Asian Food Week featured more than 35 participating restaurants offering threecourse meals for $20 or a special secret menu offering. Asianati, an organizing body behind both events, calls itself a “one-stop guide for Asian food in Greater Cincinnati” and is dedicated to celebrating Asian food culture in the region through its extensive website and accompanying blog. “Our ultimate goal is one day, we want something like an Asia Town, where there’s a community of people that come together and it just speeds off,” says Asianati co-founder Koji Sado. “(We thought) what if we start something like a website to begin with? We can help the local businesses, give a little more background and education to people who aren’t that aware or know what’s out there because there’s a lot of hidden gems in Cincinnati. You just have to go out and find it.” Asian restaurants are often relegated to specialized categories on best-of lists — best dumplings in town, best pad Thai — but that kind of exoticized categorization unnecessarily restricts the perception of Asian restaurants to a box of “other.” “I’m really interested in telling the stories and the histories and the culture and the real meaning and significance behind this food, not just, ‘This is a really good pan-fried dumpling, and here’s some places to get it,’ ” says Caitlin Behle, co-editor of Asianati’s blog. “Asian Food Week is really an opportunity for us to celebrate what is a beautiful community of Asian restaurants that also make really damn good food.” Participating restaurants included those that offer Indian and Middle Eastern cuisine. While many might equate “Asian” specifically with far East countries, the broader continent of Asia was represented during Asian Food Week — restaurants spanned from Banana Leaf Modern Thai in the suburb of Mason to Northside’s Bridges (Nepalese) to Christine’s Casual Dining (Filipino) in Dent to Guru Indian in Crescent Springs. “I think it’s nice to kind of give the city exposure of all the different cuisines that the Asian continent has to offer,

looking through all the different people involved, you have a pretty nice spread,” says Kam Siu, owner and founder of Dope! Asian Street Fare. “We wanted to join because we felt like our cuisines were varied versus what everybody else is doing in terms of flavor profile.” Dope serves up innovative dishes inspired by several Asian cities, with specialized takes on everything from ramen to dumplings to Pho Lang Thang, a Vietnamese restaurant near Findlay Market, took part in Asian Food Week wings. Located P H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R within the food hall of the year“Whatever we decide old downtown Kroger, Dope rolled with to do with our menu, it the punches when COVID-19 hit. has to be approachable “We definitely lost almost all of our for the general public, dine-in lunch base since none of the but at the same time businesses are really back,” Siu says. sticking true to the But the entrepreneur, who also owns roots, and I feel we do and runs Panda Trading Company, an that. We are a good repingredient and supply store for Asian resentation of the Asian restaurants in Cincinnati, jumped on food cuisine,” Siu says. the food-delivery trend right away. “We do a really good “Eighty percent of our business is all job; once people come through third-party sources. The dinein and try us out, they in and carry-out, whoever’s downtown, come back. We capture they still stop in to support us. We see a them.” lot of regulars,” Siu says. Ultimately, food is COVID-19’s impact on the broader the great equalizer. Asian food community was marked. Everyone needs it to A March study from data company survive, and everyone Womply found Chinese restaurant has their own special revenue declined in New York in the foods of different immediate wake of the pandemic’s Downtown’s Lalo also participated significance. Learning, beginning by nearly 20%, and many P H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R sharing and celebrating outlets have reported on the shuttering the stories behind of restaurants in the pandemic’s spin to everything we do. them are what Asianati’s core executors aftermath, both Asian and non-Asian. “The whole point of us is to celebrate hoped folks took away from their “When you think about, ‘What resAsian culture. As you consume food, experience at Asian Food Week. taurant do I want to eat from during a it releases dopamine in your brain, “How I think about it is: every culture pandemic?’, there’s this sort of lingering right? I wanted to make sure there’s a is associated with food,” Sado says. perception that Asian restaurants might positive reinforcement of whenever “Food is an essential of survival, so not be safe, or unfortunately, the Asian people think about Asian culture or eat there’s always a cultural tie to food. We people working there might not be safe,’” something that’s new, and it brings out talk about racial discrimination and says Behle. pleasure, it reinforces positivity to Asia some of the issues that go on today, A silver lining for Siu and Dope amid overall.” it’s very important to share how we’re the pandemic: the restaurant is expandbeing treated and the differences and ing to a second location in Anderson sometimes the injustice that happens. I Township on Nov. 20, with the same To learn more about Asianati, wanted to make sure there’s a positive fresh take on multi-country cuisines. visit asianati.com.

NOVEMBER 2020

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NOVEMBER 2020

MUSIC Ric Hickey P H O T O : R I C H I C K E YA R C H I V E . B A N D C A M P. C O M

Cincinnati Gets a Fresh Hickey Venerable scenester Ric Hickey returns with his first new album in a decade, Outsider Looking Out BY B R I A N BA K E R

ince the mid 1980s, Ric Hickey has been a fixture of Cincinnati’s music community, as a counter jockey at local record stores and as the guitarist/vocalist for a variety of compelling bands — the Speed Hickeys, Telegram Sam, the Loose Wrecks and Sparrow Bellows among them — as

well as through an ever-evolving and always fascinating solo career. Recently, however, Hickey has been largely absent from music; Sparrow Bellows has quietly dispersed and his last solo release was The Last Shaggy Dog in 2010. But Hickey has notched several

significant life events since then: a new full-time position with the Starfire Council, a community organization that helps individuals with disabilities achieve mainstream inclusivity; marriage; fatherhood; and, sadly, the passing of his beloved father, singer/ songwriter/stand-up comic Ray James. During this period of somewhat diffused focus, Hickey continued writing songs even though he was only sporadically performing. Throughout his career, Hickey had shared new material with his father, a reliable and informed critic with an ear not compromised by parental pride. James’ assessment of Hickey’s new song portfolio just prior to his 2015 death was that it ranked among his son’s finest work. But it would be

another five years before any of it would see the light of day as Hickey’s new solo album, Outsider Looking Out, officially released on Halloween. “I didn’t feel like I had 12 or 13 songs that were the strongest so I let them simmer,” Hickey says during a recent phone interview. “I can be hypercritical of my own stuff, but I just finally decided to see it through. I got it to a point where I was like, ‘Wow, I’m really proud of this track list. This is it.’ My dad felt so strongly about some of these songs, I figured I would release them and honor his wishes. He wanted people to hear this stuff.” Outsider Looking Out is very different than Hickey’s previous material. A

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devoted Frank Zappa acolyte, Hickey recorded the new album at home with just an acoustic guitar and none of the electric pyrotechnics of his established catalog. The consistent elements here are Hickey’s expressive voice and lyrics, which are keenly observational and wryly humorous with just a touch of considered cynicism, combined with his supple, unplugged guitar touch. “It feels like a very natural transition for me,” Hickey says. “The last things I released were the Sparrow Bellows CD and The Last Shaggy Dog, a disc of home recordings that had drums and massive overdubs and layers of guitars. It was 10 years ago so it was bound to be a little different.” Hickey has always been an adept storytelling songwriter, although he has drifted into an inside-jokiness that is hilarious on the surface but only meaningful to those who actually experienced the documented situation. On Outsider Looking Out, Hickey stripped away more than just the instrumentation; steered by Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, he tells relatable stories without the veil of metaphor or coded anonymity. One example is “The Man Who Left the Band,” inspired the late Jeff Austin’s departure from the Yonder Mountain String Band prior to

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the birth of his second child — a situation that clearly resonated with Hickey. “I heard about it on some Bluegrass website or someplace,” he says. “The next morning, my wife Michelle left for work, I made coffee and started messing around with this idea of ‘the man who left the band.’ It turned into a longer fictionalized thing; it’s not about him, it’s just inspired by him. By 9 that morning I had it done, and by 10 a.m. or 11 a.m., I had recorded what you hear on the album.” Hickey readily admits that he is motivated by very different musical impulses at this stage of the game. A guitarist since the age of 11, Hickey was long guided by his desire to be an ace guitarslinger, a goal he largely achieved. During his decade-long hiatus, his focus began to shift in a very unexpected direction. “I’m thankful that fortune and fame never came to me because I would not have been able to handle either one,” Hickey says with a laugh. “When I was younger, it was all about getting better on guitar. But as I’ve gotten older, my tastes and what I respond to have changed. Everything Willie Nelson does is amazing, but it wasn’t like switching gears. It wasn’t like, ‘I’m no longer interested in being the next Edward Van Halen, now I want to be the next Willie Nelson’ — but it is what impresses me

NOVEMBER 2020

most. It used to be ‘Eruption,’ now it’s ‘Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain.’ ” Many of Hickey’s other influences shine through on Outsider Looking Out; the Keith Richards/Rolling Stones feel of “Small World Getting Smaller,” the Bob Dylan-inflected “Talkin’ Bobby Bare Jr.’s 115th Dream,” the James Taylor/David Wilcox fingerpicked beauty of “Country Boy.” Perhaps the album’s oddest influence would be General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, whose deathbed words provided Hickey with the inspiration for the album’s closing song, the moving “Cross Over the River.” In the final analysis, the overarching influence through it all remains Ray James. “‘Cross Over the River’ didn’t involve the usual work or toiling over the rhymes, it just needed me to let it come through me,” Hickey says. “It’s another Keith Richards thing; he believes songwriters have their antennae up all the time and have to be ready to receive the right signal. I don’t want to get too new-agey, but with my dad being a songwriter and the influence we had on each other, when something like that happens to me, I feel like he’s behind it somehow.” Outsider Looking Out may stand among the best releases of this pandemically truncated year, but there’s more Hickey on the horizon. The album, available physically at Everybody’s

Records, Shake It and Southgate House Revival, has also been posted digitally on Hickey’s Bandcamp page along with Outsider Looking Outtakes, a collection of unused songs of the same vintage. The Bandcamp page also houses Hickey’s recent Friday happy hour live streams, which numbers close to 150 acoustic covers and originals, as well as his ongoing archive project, featuring unreleased live and studio recordings across his long band and solo history. Given the abundant-yet-still-notenough material his father left behind, Hickey is determined to leave a more complete legacy for his daughter. “I felt like when my child was born, she’d be able to look back and say, ‘My crazy dad did all this shit when he was young, but he did something like this in his 50s,’ ” says Hickey. “It’s hard to articulate but it has a lot to do with not only my father but becoming a father. If we’re fortunate to have one parent we’re close to, we have moments where we see the world through their eyes, and feel like they see the world though ours. I’m seeing the world through Ava’s eyes right now, and I just want to leave something that she’ll be proud of.” Listen to Ric Hickey’s new album, Outsider Looking Out, and learn more at richickeyarchive.bandcamp.com.

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General: Offer good through 11/30/2020; subject to change; valid to qualified residential customers who have not subscribed to any services within the previous 30 days and have no outstanding obligation to Charter. Services subject to all applicable service terms and conditions, subject to change. Services not available in all areas. Restrictions apply. Spectrum Internet and TV: *Bundle price for Internet and TV Select is $89.98/mo. for yr. 1; standard rates apply after yr. 1. Taxes, fees and surcharges (bdcst surcharge up to $16.45/mo.) extra and subject to change during and after the term; installation, equipment and additional services are extra. **Restrictions apply. For contract buyout qualifications, go to Spectrum.com/buyout. INTERNET: Speed based on wired connection. Available Internet speeds may vary by address. TV: TV equipment required, charges may apply. †Channel and HD programming availability based on level of service. Account credentials may be required to stream some TV content online. Spectrum Mobile: Spectrum Internet subscription required. Auto-pay required. ˆˆSavings based on comparison of single line comparable unlimited plans amongst major national carriers as of 06/09/2020. Data usage limits vary by carrier. To access 5G service, 5G compatible phone, Unlimited rate plan and 5G network connection required. Spectrum Mobile currently offers 5G in parts of select cities. Not all 5G capable phones compatible with all 5G networks. If 5G phone not compatible with 5G network or a 5G network is not available in your area, phone will automatically revert to the 4G network. 5G coverage will continue to expand throughout 2020 and beyond. Speeds may vary. Visit https://www.spectrum.com/policies/mobile-terms for full terms and conditions. ©2020 Charter Communications.

NOVEMBER 2020

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

DELIVERY CONTRACTORS NEEDED

CityBeat needs contractors to deliver CityBeat every Wednesday between 9am and 3pm. Qualified candidates must have appropriate vehicle, insurance for that vehicle and understand that they are contracted to deliver that route every Wednesday. CityBeat drivers are paid per stop and make $14.00 to $16.00 per hr. after fuel expense. Please reply by email and leave your day and evening phone numbers. Please reply by email only. Phone calls will not be accepted. sferguson@citybeat.com

NIGHT GARDEN RECORDING STUDIO Seamless integration of the best digital gear and classics from the analog era including 2” 24 track. Wide variety of classic microphones, mic pre-amps, hardware effects and dynamics, many popular plug-ins and accurate synchronization between DAW and 2” 24 track. Large live room and 3 isolation rooms. All for an unbelievable rate. Event/Show sound, lighting and video production services available as well. Call or email Steve for additional info and gear list; (513) 368-7770 or (513) 729-2786 or sferguson.productions@gmail.com.

JANUARY 25-31 WWW.CINCYWINGWEEK.COM

BEER

SPIRITS

WINE

FOOD

ALL OUTCASTS WELCOME

Taproom and Patio Now Open 48

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

Live Music Every Sunday

NOVEMBER 2020

Daily Happy Hour