CityBeat | Feb. 23-March 8, 2022

THE PET ISSUE

FEBRUARY 23, 2022 - MARCH 8, 2022 |

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VOL. 27 | ISSUE 04

PUBLISHER TONY FRANK

ON THE COVER: PURRFECT DAY CAFE PHOTO: DANIELLE SCHUSTER

EDITOR IN CHIEF MAIJA ZUMMO MANAGING EDITOR ALLISON BABKA DIGITAL CONTENT EDITOR MAGGY MCDONEL CALENDAR EDITOR, WRITER SEAN M. PETERS ART DIRECTOR TALON HAMPTON

THE PET

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS MUSIC: MIKE BREEN ARTS & CULTURE: MACKENZIE MANLEY THEATER: RICK PENDER DINING CRITIC: PAMA MITCHELL CONTRIBUTING WRITERS MORGAN ZUMBIEL, ANNE ARENSTEIN, BRIAN BAKER, STEPHEN NOVOTNI, BRIAN CROSS, HAYLEY DAY, JANE DURRELL, BILL FURBEE, JASON GARGANO, GREGORY GASTON, AUSTIN GAYLE, MCKENZIE GRAHAM, NICK GREVER, KATIE GRIFFITH, KATIE HOLOCHER, BEN L. KAUFMAN, DEIRDRE KAYE, JAC KERN, HARPER LEE, MADGE MARIL, ANNE MITCHELL, LAUREN MORETTO, TAMERA LENZ MUENTE, JACKIE MULAY, JUDE NOEL, GARIN PIRNIA, KATHY SCHWARTZ, MARIA SEDA-REEDER, LEYLA SHOKOOHE, SAMI STEWART, STEVEN ROSEN, KATHY Y. WILSON, P.F. WILSON

ISSUE

04 NEWS 09 COVER 21 ARTS & CULTURE 26 EATS 34 MUSIC 39 CROSSWORD |

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NEWS

Lt. Col. Teresa Theetge P H O T O : P R O V I D E D BY C I N C I N N AT I P O L I C E D E PA R T M E N T

Lt. Col. Teresa Theetge Becomes Interim Police Chief, First Woman to Lead Local Police Outgoing chief Eliot Isaac’s last working day was Feb. 18.

BY A L L I S O N BA B K A

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he Cincinnati Police Department has a new leader.

Lt. Col. Teresa Theetge has

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begun her post as interim police chief as city officials conduct a national search for the next permanent leader

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due to the retirement of Chief Eliot Isaac.

Theetge, who held the executive assistant chief position before becoming interim chief, has been with the CPD for more than 31 years and becomes the first woman to lead the department. She also had been the first woman to hold the executive assistant chief position.

“City leaders recognize that there’s no glass ceiling at City Hall, so I applaud them for that,” Theetge said during a Feb. 16 press conference. “I look forward to being the first female and showing that I can do it just as well as a male counterpart can do it, but I also look forward to the day when race or gender is not part of the conversation

but rather who’s the quality candidate for the job.”

Isaac, the CPD’s longtime chief, will retire on March 1. He first announced his retirement plans in June 2021, but at that time did not provide a timeline other than to suggest that it would be early this year.

On Feb. 9, Isaac said he would leave the position in March, but that his last working day would be Friday, Feb. 18.

“We have very talented homegrown people,” Isaac said. “I want the citizens of Cincinnati to rest that they are well in hand, that the principles and the work that we’ve done will continue in the interim and will continue in the future.

I’m fully, fully proud of this agency.”

Interim City Manager John Curp

will conduct a national search to fill the position. The city is selecting from potential consultants to aid the search, and Isaac will assist Curp as well.

In a Feb. 16 release, Curp said that though the search for Cincinnati’s next police chief is a national one, the city encourages qualified local candidates to apply.

According to the city’s anticipated hiring timeline provided in a statement, Cincinnati will recruit national candidates in June and bring candidates to Cincinnati for the first round of interviews in July and August. Those will be followed by more interviews for finalists in addition to

public sessions. Curp will make the final decision.

“I fully anticipate that this process will produce candidates that the entire city can stand behind and will produce the best leader for the police department,” Curp said.

When asked during a media briefing if she might consider trying to make her new interim police chief role permanent, Theetge said that’s a conversation for later.

“I think one thing law enforcement has taught me over 30 years is you take it one day at a time. My concentration right now will be leading this agency during the interim process and assisting

the city manager in any way that I can in the search or whatever may come my way,” Theetge said. “But never say never. We’ll see what the future holds.”

Isaac has been with the CPD since 1988, becoming a captain in 2004 and District Four commander from 2007 to 2012, his bio says. In 2015, he became interim chief when former city manager Harry Black fired former police chief Jeffrey Blackwell. (Black departed in 2018 during the Cincinnati City Council “Gang of Five” texting scandal.)

“Thirty-three years. What an amazing journey. Sometimes you’re just left in awe of a career like this,” Isaac said during the briefing. “Thirty-three years

is a long time, and I believe it’s time for others to have the opportunity to lead this organization.”

After joking that he may find more time for fishing and golfing during his retirement, Isaac said he won’t disappear from public view.

“By no means am I done. I love this city. I’ll be back in some capacity, somewhere,” he said.

Cincinnati Bengals Cap Exciting Season with Super Bowl Run, New Contract for Head Coach Zac Taylor

BY M A I JA Z U M M O A N D A L L I S O N BA B K A

Paul Brown Stadium P H OTO : J O N R I D I N G E R , W I K I M E D I A C O M M O N S

The Cincinnati Bengals were about two minutes away from having a Cinderella story. Unfortunately, the Los Angeles Rams grabbed the glass slipper.

The Bengals lost 20-23 in Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 13, the team’s first shot at the Vince Lombardi trophy since 1989. After earning a 10-7 regular-season record, winning the AFC Championship, and pulling out magical win after magical win in the post-season, the Bengals were thwarted in the game’s final two minutes by sacks, a lack of consistency and some questionable referee calls.

Despite the near-win, there still are plenty of bright spots ahead for the Bengals and their fans.

Just days after the Super Bowl, the Bengals announced that the team has extended head coach Zac Taylor’s contract through the 2026 season.

“Zac has come into the league and worked to develop the foundations for a winning program that can be successful over time,” said Bengals president Mike Brown in a Feb. 16 release. “The fruits of Zac’s efforts were seen this year, and Zac is well-regarded by our players and coaches. I know the effort and passion Zac brings to the building and to our team, and I am pleased by his approach. And I think the city of Cincinnati sees him the way the players and I do. He’s brought excitement to the town and deserves credit and

recognition for that.”

In 2019, Taylor became the Bengals’ 10th head coach, replacing Marvin Lewis, who had served the team since 2003. In his three seasons leading the team, Taylor has a 16-32-1 record.

Bengals players also have earned kudos. During the Feb. 10 NFL Honors awards show, wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase was named the 2021 Offensive Rookie of the Year, while quarterback Joe Burrow earned Comeback Player of the Year honors.

Chase, a first-round draft pick, had a stellar 2021-2022 season, pulling down 81 catches for 1,455 yards along with 13 touchdowns. He set a new Bengals record for receiving yards during the

regular season and has more than any rookie since the Super Bowl was created in 1966, among other accomplishments.

Chase is just the third Bengals player to win Offensive Rookie of the Year and the first since 1992.

Burrow famously came roaring back during the 2021 season after being sidelined in 2020 with a torn ACL. During the regular season, the secondyear quarterback threw 366 passes for 4,611 yards and 34 touchdowns. Burrow set several Bengals records this season, including the most passing yards in a game, passing yards in a season and passing touchdowns in a season.

Efforts from Chase, Burrow and the rest of the team paid off, as Bengals

FEBRUARY 23, 2022 - MARCH 8, 2022 |

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fans throughout the United States tuned in for the big game on Feb. 13.

According to stats provided by NBC, Super Bowl LVI reached 112.3 million viewers across NBC and the channel’s Telemundo, Peacock, NBC Sports Digital, NFL Digital and Yahoo Sports mobile platforms, making it the mostwatched show in five years.

The Bengals have announced their opponents for the upcoming 2022-23 season, although the actual schedule is still a mystery.

In the AFC, the Bengals will have a rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs

and take on rivals the Pittsburgh Steelers. They will also go up against the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New York Jets and Tennessee Titans, which Cincinnati defeated in 2021-2022’s AFC Divisional round.

NFC opponents this season will include the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints and Super Bowl LV winners the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Cincinnati Has the No. 2 Truck Bottleneck in the Nation for 2022 — Yes, Again

BY A L L I S O N BA B K A

The Brent Spence Bridge P H OTO : F O R M U L AO N E , W I K I M E D I A C O M M O N S

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FEBRUARY 23, 2022 - MARCH 8, 2022

Once again, Greater Cincinnati is being recognized for its horrendous traffic clusterfucks. In its 2022 “Top 100 Truck Bottlenecks” report released on Feb. 8, the American Transportation Research Institute found that the I-71 and I-75 confluence at the Brent Spence Bridge is the second-worst in the entire country. That's the same ranking as in 2021 and three spots higher than in 2020.

The annual report, which is based on the previous year's data, is based on information from GPS and other tools to determine the speed and ease in which freight trucks can move through selected locations.

According to ATRI's research based on 2021 figures, trucks on I-71/I-75 — two of the region’s major freight corridors — had a peak average speed of 33.6 MPH, a 16.3% reduction from 2020 and a 6.7% drop from the year before that.

But the Brent Spence Bridge isn’t the

only spot in Greater Cincinnati where ATRI found major bottlenecks.

The 2022 report also listed the I-71/I75/I-275 exchange near the Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron and the I-75/I-74 exchange near Northside among the worst 100 in the nation. Both locations have dropped since the 2021 rankings, though — Hebron is now No. 71 instead of No. 24, while Northside is almost off the list at No. 96 instead of at No. 81 like last year.

For its 2021 report, ATRI found that the coronavirus pandemic affected freight traffic patterns. But this year, "traffic levels rebounded across the country as more Americans returned to work and consumer demand for goods and services continued to grow," ATRI says in a press release.

The worst bottleneck in the United States is in Fort Lee, New Jersey, for the fourth year in a row.

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FEBRUARY 23, 2022 - MARCH 8, 2022

THE PET ISSUE

Purrfect Day Cafe P H OTO : DA N I E L L E S C H U ST E R

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Purrfect Day Cafe offers coffee, pastries and alcohol, as well as a room filled with adoptable cats.

P H OTO : DA N I E L L E S C H U ST E R

A

t Purrfect Day Cafe in Covington, it’s imperative that guests watch where they sit. No, there isn’t assigned seating or a mean girl “cool table” mentality, but in the cat room, there are between 20 and 25 friendly felines making themselves comfortable lounging in pet beds and baskets, nesting on wall perches and even snuggling beneath blankets.

During a recent visit, cafe owner Chuck Patton issued the important reminder to peek before you plop while motioning toward a furry pink throw draped across a white couch.

Underneath, a tortoiseshell cat was slumbering, like a tricky Where’s Waldo?, her form hidden from view, making a barely visible lump in the fabric. To the cats at the cafe, this is their home — at least until they’re adopted — and, even though they’ve all been behavior tested, none of them likes being sat on (as one can imagine).

“We are looking for cats that have been socialized,” Patton says. “(Our shelter partners) make sure that they're a good fit, not only to be around other cats, but to be around people.”

Purrfect Day works with three Tri-State-spanning animal rescues

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— Kenton County Animal Services in Northern Kentucky, Cincinnati Animal CARE Humane Society in Northside and P.A.W.S. of Dearborn County Humane Center in Lawrenceburg, Indiana — to get their cats and kittens.

All of the cats at the cafe are adoptable and all have all been spayed or neutered, are dewormed, are up-todate on their shots and are FeLV- and FIV-negative. If you fall in love with a cat, you can fill out an adoption form on-site and work with an adoption supervisor to bring your new furry friend home as soon as the same day.

Each session in the cat area costs $15 and lasts 50 minutes. Reservations are available online.

“Our cats tend to be super friendly and super affectionate,” Patton says.

“And that is what gets them adopted.

It's not necessarily, ‘Oh, this one looks like that. This one looks like that.’ It's the cat that, you’re sitting and you have your glass of wine and then this cat just immediately climbs into your lap and wants you to pet it. And somebody says, ‘Hey, I’ve got to bring this cat home.’”

In 2021, Purrfect Day adopted out 709 cats, making it one of the top five cat cafes in the U.S., says Patton. “I want to reach 1,000 (adoptions). I think we can do it,” he says of this year’s goal.

FEBRUARY 23, 2022 - MARCH 8, 2022

A native of Fort Thomas, Kentucky, Patton opened Purrfect Day in November of 2020. He also runs a Purrfect Day Cafe in his current town of Louisville, which he opened in 2018 (in 2021, the Louisville location adopted about 1,700 cats). The original inspiration for Purrfect Day came from a cat cafe Patton saw while visiting South Carolina, and the idea to open a branch in Covington was the result of a conversation with the director of Kenton County Animal Services.

“We had had such success in Louisville and I thought how great would it be if I could take this success and kind of bring it into the Tri-State area where I grew up,” Patton says.

“What has been amazing is that this community has just absolutely embraced it.”

If you’re paying a visit to the cat room, Purrfect Day recommends you come 15 minutes prior to your reservation to grab a drink or snack from the cafe. The menu — which features soft pretzels from Dayton, Kentucky’s Tuba Baking Co., as well as pastries, “paw-corn” and a full bar — is full of feline puns. There are “meowmosas,” a selection of “purrbons” and specially brewed beers from Northern Kentucky’s Darkness

Brewing and Braxton Brewing Co. The cafe also offers “kitt-teas” and hot or iced “paw-fee,” including a frappe called the Smelly Cat. “I think the most important thing to point out is that the cat portion of it — where the cats live and hang out and interact with customers — is completely separate from the area with the bar.

So the misnomer is, ‘I'm going to be coming in there and there's going be cats everywhere and I'm going to eat and drink where the cats are.’ And that's simply not the truth,” Patton says.

The cat room and the cafe are selfcontained spaces, separated by glass, with individual entry doors and their own HVAC systems. Food is not allowed in the cat room (and cats aren’t allowed in the food room), but guests can bring in their drinks, including alcoholic beverages.

Patton says he sees plenty of guests visit the cafe who are allergic but enjoy the cats’ distant company, as well as those whose partners are allergic to cats. The separate systems and viewing windows allow for contained experiences.

“Our patrons are about 70% snugglers, 30% adopters,” Patton says, noting the snugglers are an important part of the Purrfect Day operation.

The cafe has around 20 adoptable cats, unless it’s kitten season — then there are more.

The cat room and cafe are totally separate.

P H O T O : P R O V I D E D BY C H U C K PAT T O N

P H O T O : P R O V I D E D BY C H U C K PAT T O N

Guests can drink at the bar while watching the cats through a window at the far end.

P H O T O : P R O V I D E D BY C H U C K PAT T O N

“(The cats) have been through trauma, right? They’ve been out on the streets, somebody finds them, somebody surrenders them, then they go into a shelter. Then a lot of times they go through a major surgery — a spay/neuter — and then they get put back into a crate and they come to the cafe. There’s a lot of stress there,” he says. “And our goal is to destress that.

That's where the 70% cuddlers come in — they just make sure that the cats feel safe, make sure that the cats are loved on. And then when that happens, it really completely changes (the cat’s) personality for the adopter that is coming in.”

The end goal for the cat cafe is to get these animals into forever homes.

“What I embrace is clearing out the end of the pipe. By getting all these animals adopted, the shelters hear about it and they say, ‘You know what,

(now) we can do more outreach. Now we can take in more cats; we can vet more cats,’” Patton says.

“We really want to be able to assist the shelters so they can be able to continue to assist the community,” he continues.

Patton tells a story about how Purrfect Day’s model helps get cats adopted, and quickly, in ways that some shelters can’t do on their own.

“What's special to me is shelter directors from rural parts of our states, they literally have cats — this happened two weeks ago — that have been sitting in cages since August, and then they come to the cafe and they're very sweet and they get adopted within a week,” he says. “And that just is heartwarming to watch (the shelter’s) reaction to that.”

In addition to the cat room, the cafe offers space for private parties and meetings and hosts events, including

yoga with cats and trivia nights. It also supports surrounding shelters by donating 50% of its tips to a general fund. Patton says Purrfect Day recently was able to give $3,000 to P.A.W.S. in Lawrenceburg.

He and his team are also hoping to host some dog-friendly events outdoors this summer, possibly modeled after his successful “Hot Diggity Dog” event in Louisville that has adoptable puppies and hot dogs. Patton and his wife, Tricia — who designed the interior of Purrfect Day — have also purchased the old townhome next to the cafe and are renovating it to become a pet-friendly Airbnb, with an outdoor gathering space connecting the two buildings.

But all of this wouldn’t be possible without the community.

“Our mission is expanding throughout the Tri-State and especially helping out some of these shelters that

don't have the resources to do that,” Patton says. “If you pay the fee to go into the cat room, obviously you're keeping our lights on. If you are coming in and you are tipping, that is getting donated. There are people that have this assumption, I’ve even had really close friends say, ‘I look forward to coming to see you. I’ll come see you when I'm ready to adopt.’ I'm like, no, I have a bar here — coffee, teas, all that other kind of stuff. Like, if you’re going to have a drink anyway, you might as well (have it here).”

“If you cross our threshold, you are helping out,” he says.

Purrfect Day Cafe is located at 25 W. Eighth St., Covington. For more info or to book a reservation, visit purrfectdaycafecovington.com.

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The Dogs of Cincy Instagram account features local dogs, like Lucky.

P H O T O : P R O V I D E D BY J A N E S U L L I VA N

W

hile doomscrolling on social media has become the norm these days, there are plenty of accounts injecting our stressed-out cerebral cortexes with some much-needed serotonin in the form of adorable animals.

Locally, Instagram account Dogs of Cincy (@dogsofcincy) showers its 19,000+ followers with almost-daily photos and stories of the Queen City’s cutest canine residents.

Helmed by Cincinnati native Jane Sullivan, Dogs of Cincy lives up to

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its tagline of “The coolest dogs in the Queen City.” It recently featured a standard poodle dressed like Joe Burrow (in a black turtleneck, pink sunglasses and iced-out chain; a Belgian malinois, in training to be a narcotics detection dog, posing at CVG airport; and two cuteas-heck corgi puppies on a couch. Each image is accompanied by a caption detailing the dog’s personality — their likes, dislikes and fun facts. Sullivan also shares resources, hosts a forum and sells local pet-friendly products on her website shopdogsofcincy.com.

“It’s just me,” Sullivan says of Dogs of Cincy. “I take all the photos or interact

FEBRUARY 23, 2022 - MARCH 8, 2022

online with all the humans to get the dog info. It’s a shame dogs can’t speak.”

Sullivan, a photographer and artist, is no stranger to gaining an audience.

“My career for years was as a singer/ songwriter,” she says. “I wrote and sang the Emmy-nominated theme song ‘Breathe’ for NBC (daytime soap opera) Passions, which was on from 1999 to 2009. I also had several songs featured in the Hilary Duff movie Material Girls.”

She says that her drive to create, coupled with her “love for Cincinnati, photography and dogs, culminated in @dogsofcincy.”

We asked Sullivan more about

the account, her favorite featured pups and why her focus is dogs. (We unfortunately didn’t ask more about Passions, which, editor’s note, is handsdown the best daytime soap opera to ever air on TV.) CityBeat: What inspired you to launch the Dogs of Cincy IG page? Who was the first dog you posted?

Jane Sullivan: I started Dogs of Cincy almost seven years ago. Hard to believe.

I had read all the stories in (photoblog) Humans of New York and I thought it would be so interesting to talk to strangers about their dogs and hear their

Dog of Cincy founder Jane Sullivan P H O T O : P R O V I D E D BY J A N E S U L L I VA N

stories. Everyone loves to talk about their dogs. The first dog I featured was Gunner. He likes to steal underwear.

CB: I’m sure people ask this a lot, but why dogs and not cats?

JS: Dogs are generally just out and about and more accessible than cats.

I meet them on walks, at parks, at breweries, all over the city. I love cats too, though. My 19-year-old cat just passed recently. Her name was Pixie.

CB: What would you consider the mission behind Dogs of Cincy?

JS: My mission is simply to show the stories behind every dog in our city.

Dogs are parts of our families. They are there for us in ways humans can’t be sometimes. They listen and comfort a lot. Thank god for dogs during the pandemic! They bring joy, and I hope that people look forward to the posts and it’s a bit of good news in their day.

Who doesn’t want to read an inspiring, funny or happy story about a cute dog?

We also give out great info for local dog people — boarding, grooming, best parks, dog-friendly bars/restaurants, etc.

CB: How do you find the dogs you feature on your page? Can people submit their pets to be featured?

JS: Dogs of Cincy began organically by me just approaching people all over the city. It was hard at first, but then it got easier. I’ve never once had someone say no to a brief conversation and photo of their dog in seven years, which is amazing to me. What I discovered is I loved making these connections

to people, who I probably would have never met. Hearing the stories of their dogs and meeting random, kind people always leaves me with a smile. It’s heartwarming. During the pandemic, when people weren’t out with their dogs as much and the thought of a stranger coming up close to them to talk was out of the question, people started sending me pics and bios of their dogs for features. So now, it’s turned into a combination of both.

CB: One a scale of 1-10, how much of a dog person are you? Do you have dogs at home?

JS: I’m a 10 on that scale, of course.

We have two amazingly sweet dogs, Lucky and Belle (ages 13 and 10).

CB: What’s been a favorite story behind a dog you’ve posted about?

JS: Oh, every story is so unique, surprising and interesting, it’s hard to say. But I recall in the first few years, when I was in Mt. Adams, I photographed the oldest dog I had ever met. She was 16. I remember her name was Ella Mae. Her human mom wanted to make sure I spelled “Mae” correctly because she said the dog was “Irish.” I just loved how much she cared about her dog. Ella Mae was a classy, little old Beagle lady out for a jaunt on Pavilion Street — maybe she had been at Crowley’s. Little thoughts like that are so relatable to dog lovers.

Follow Dogs of Cincy at instagram.com/dogsofcincy.

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Washington Park Dog Park P H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R

G

ood news for Covington canines: In January, crews broke ground on a new neighborhood dog park that officials say should be open by the

spring.

Funded by federal sources and a $10,000 donation from the Northern Kentucky Association of Realtors, the park — at Ninth and Philadelphia streets — will take over a site currently occupied by a playground.

“I’m really excited, in fact, probably ecstatic,” Covington Parks & Recreation Manager Ben Oldiges says in a statement about the park. “This has been talked about for the last decade, and we’re finally underway. There will be a lot of happy dogs and dog owners.”

The forthcoming dog park will be named after Army Sgt. Jason Bishop, a graduate of Covington’s Holmes High School who was killed in Iraq in 2006 (the playground was also named after Bishop).

Dogs will be able to get all their zoomies out at this 1.5-acre site, chosen via a survey of Covington dog-owners.

Officials say the cost and wait will be worth it when the park unveils its “high-end decorative fencing,” water fountains for humans and dogs, benches (mostly for humans), a trail around the perimeter and shady areas for relaxing.

While you and your canine pals wait for the Covington park to open, here are

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10 other spots around the city where your hounds to play:

David J. Stricker Dog Park 1359 Clough Pike, Batavia, bataviatownship.org Found off a walking trail at the Batavia Township Community Park, this spot offers an acre for dogs to run around and enjoy themselves offleash. Located at the 71-acre Batavia Township Community Center and Park, it also boasts nearby wooded trails and paved walking trails.

Hamilton Bark Park 20 New London Road, Hamilton, hamiltonparks.net This park has tons of room for pups to run around and socialize, plus an adorable sculpture of a dog.

Kellogg Park Dog Field 6701 Kellogg Road, Anderson, andersonparks.com Your dogs can run and play fetch at this 4-acre park in Anderson that features drinking fountains and an ArtWorks mural.

Doris Day Dog Park

Newport Dog Park

3006 Westwood Northern Blvd., Mt. Airy, cincinnatiparks.com This 2-acre park adjacent to Mt. Airy forest features agility equipment like ramps and tunnels as well as water fountains and pools in the summer. It is named after Cincinnati-born actress and singer Doris Day, who was an ardent animal lover and activist.

901 E. Sixth St., Newport, facebook.com/ NewportDogPark The popular Newport Dog Park was forced to close in 2020 due to overcrowding and infrastructure issues, which led to greener pastures. The community teamed up with the City of Newport to raise funds and resources to reopen the park even bigger and better than before — just 500 feet away and behind the Campbell County Public Library’s Newport Branch. The off-leash dog park is twice the size of the former park and features a separate space for small dogs, as well as concrete pathways and community walking paths, “pet-friendly benches” and landscaping.

Fido Field 630 Eggleston Ave., Downtown, instagram.com/fidofield This downtown dog park offers an oasis for your pup to run around and meet others within a city environment.

The park describes itself as Cincinnati’s “first fenced, off-leash, nonprofit urban dog park.”

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Otto Armleder Memorial Park & Recreation Complex Dog Park 5057 Wooster Pike, Linwood, greatparks.org This 10-acre dog park has separate areas for small and large breeds, plus a dog shower and drinking fountains.

Simmonds Family Dog Park 8715 Hamilton Cleves Pike Road, Cleves, greatparks.org Your pups will have tons of room to roam at this 11-acre park with four separate fields plus agility equipment.

Located in Miami Whitewater Forest.

Washington Park Dog Park 1230 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, washingtonpark.org Enjoy a nice piece of green in the center of the city with a view of Music Hall, Memorial Hall and the expanse of the park. Grab a beer or wine from the Porch bar and watch your pups frolic in the creek-like water feature and climb up a turf-covered hill (with a special tunnel to crawl through).

Wiggly Field Dog Park 7850 VOA Park Drive, Mason, yourmetroparks.net Visit the Voice of America MetroPark and let your pup play in multiple fenced-in parks with benches and shaded areas. There are separate spaces for large dogs and small dogs.

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15 PET-FRIENDLY PLACES TO DRINK WITH YOUR DOG

BY CITYBEAT STAFF

Liberty’s Bar & Bottle P H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R

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trip to your local watering hole shouldn’t mean leaving your furry friend at home. Greater Cincinnati is home to dozens of dog-friendly spots, welcoming well-behaved pups to enjoy a day out with their humans.

These drinking and dining destinations allow pets in portions of or all of their establishments, as long as they are well behaved. (In 2018, former Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed House Bill 263, which allowed “the owner of a retail food establishment or food service operation to allow dogs in an outdoor dining area of the establishment or operation.”)

Regardless, we always recommend calling the business in advance before bringing your pooch along.

Note: This is not a comprehensive list of all dog-friendly Greater Cincinnati bars and restaurants.

13 Below Brewery Named for its location 13 nautical miles “below” Cincinnati, this brewery is right on the Ohio River. With a corner pub-vibe, their small-batch beers can be enjoyed with friends, family and dogs in the taproom or in the beer

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garden when the weather warms. The on-site Incline Smoke Shack features a walk-up window and “dry-rubbed and slow-smoked” meats. 7391 Forbes Road, Sayler Park, 13belowbrewery.com.

Braxton Brewing Co. Rooted in the ethos and innovation forged in a Midwestern garage, founder Evan Rouse started homebrewing when he was just 16, before he could even taste his creations. Now with three locations — the flagship taproom in Covington, a second taproom in Pendleton and the Barrel House in Fort Mitchell — the brewery serves year-round favorites, special releases and collaborations, housemade VIVE hard seltzer and even a new NA brew, all of which can be enjoyed with your furry friend. Braxton says all of their taprooms are dog-friendly. 27 W. Seventh St., Covington; 331 E. 13th St., Pendleton; 5 Orphanage Road, Fort Mitchell, braxtonbrewing.com.

BrewDog This Scotland-based brewery has expanded U.S. operations with a massive taproom in Pendleton. It’s the chain’s second-largest bar in America (with additional global spots in 60

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countries including Germany, Spain, France and Finland, among others).

The taproom features a bar on the first floor, a game area on the loft-second floor and a rooftop patio. All outdoor areas are dog-friendly. 316 Reading Road, Pendleton, brewdog.com/usa.

Brink Brewing Co. College Hill’s Brink Brewing Co. is a neighborhood gathering space loaded with interactive features including a 20-seater community table, reclaimedwood bar and a gigantic Scrabble board that’s very popular with patrons after a few pints from the brewery’s widereaching tap list. Head to the bathroom to see more than three decades’ worth of collected beer labels. Dogs are welcome on the patio. 5905 Hamilton Ave., College Hill, brinkbrewing.com.

Covington Yard This outdoor establishment features a small community of repurposed shipping containers housing food and drink options including Mr. Bulgogi and Hangry Omar’s, plus a bar slinging craft beer and cocktails. Dogs are welcome as long as they are leashed, kept off of tables and chairs and you don’t let them eat or drink out of dishes intended for

humans. 401 Greenup St., Covington, covingtonyard.com.

Gulow Street Gulow Street is a cozy yet sophisticated bar and restaurant located at the corner of Hoffner and Gulow streets — the establishment’s namesake. The streamlined menu offers bites like a burger and breakfast sandwich with pimento cheese, plus a cocktail menu. Clever house drinks include the Spaghett (Miller High Life, Aperol and lemon) and a basil paloma with Tajin. A converted garage on the property doubles as a patio space, and dogs are welcome to hang out there with their people. 1614 Hoffner St., Northside, gulowstreet.com.

Higher Gravity This bar doubles as a craft beer and wine shop dedicated to providing the best beverages to thirsty customers. Let Higher Gravity’s friendly “beeristas” pour you a flight, and don’t leave without visiting their growler and crawler station to take a cold one home with you. Higher Gravity is kid- and dog-friendly, as well as B.Y.O.F. (bring your own food), so bring the whole fam and order in something tasty from

Somerset P H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R

one of their Northside neighbors.

4106 Hamilton Ave., Northside, highergravitycrafthaus.com.

Liberty’s Bar & Bottle Liberty’s offers the best of both the bar and the bottle with rotating craft beers on tap and more than a dozen wines available by the glass — including half-pours — along with bottles of wine and craft beers via retail. Dogs are welcome and you’ll frequently find one or two sleeping under their owners’ stools at the bar. Bring a pet along and they’ll get to slurp up a water bowl while you sip on an IPA and admire the sleek interior. 1427 Main St., Over-theRhine, searchable on Facebook.

MadTree Brewing Co. With 32 MadTree-exclusive taps, ambient lighting and an industrial brick facade leftover from the building’s factory days, there’s more than enough space to accommodate all the beerdrinking, cornhole-playing, dog-loving humans that hang at the 10,000-squarefoot outdoor beer garden on the regular.

The garden is both tented and heated in winter and allows pets year-round;

just remember to enter the garden directly instead of through the main entrance if you plan on bringing a furry friend. 3301 Madison Road, Oakley, madtreebrewing.com.

Northern Row Brewing Over-the-Rhine’s Northern Row taproom and patio slings more than a dozen taps of its own beer, and features a full bar and cocktails made with house-distilled spirits. A food menu includes salads, sides, sandwiches and a Sunday breakfast burrito. The brewery’s cozy patio is dog-friendly.

111 W. McMicken Ave., Over-the-Rhine, northernrow.com.

Pins Mechanical Co. This multi-level bar has pinball machines, duckpin bowling lanes and other “old school” entertainment options like foosball and ping pong. The rooftop patio has fire pits, its own bar and giant yard games. On its Instagram page, Pins makes its devotion to dogs known, writing, “We love dogs and they’re ALWAYS welcome at all locations.” 1124 Main St., Over-the-Rhine, pinsbar.com/cincy.

Rosedale

Somerset

Rosedale is self-described as “Overthe-Rhine’s backyard,” offering a giant dog-friendly patio, bocce courts, fire pits, a monthly $3 discounted drink menu and food from the MORTAR Mess Hall, where food entrepreneurs hone their skills in a professional setting.

Bring your furry friend along and enjoy happy hour together. 208 E. 12th St., Over-the-Rhine, rosedaleotr.com.

An exotic escape in the heart of Over-the-Rhine, Somerset features two bar spaces — one in a plant-filled and glass-roofed conservatory and another in a cozy lounge space. The large back patio offers an awe-inspiring garden, loaded with tropical plants, unique seating nooks and imported pieces from co-founder and creative lead James Fisher’s collection, as well as the collections of his friends and family.

Dogs are welcome. 139 E. McMicken Ave., Over-the-Rhine, somersetotr.com.

Queen City Radio Located in a former 1920s service station, Queen City Radio has been turned into a well-manicured fullservice bar and outdoor beer garden.

The bar serves rotating taps of local, regional and national beer, canned and bottled brews, wine, cocktails and boozy slushies. Garage doors create indoor/outdoor space, weather permitting, and the on-site food truck Lübecker serves up German-style fare.

The expansive patio is the perfect place for a furry friend to keep you company while you enjoy good drinks and good weather, or bring them inside. 222 W. 12th St., Over-the-Rhine, qcrbar.com.

Woodburn Brewing Co. East Walnut Hills’ Wooburn Brewing was acquired by local brewery and distillery March First in 2020, reopening in April of 2021 with the stated goal of “enhancing” the taproom by adding more seating, a lounge area and a kitchen. The beer menu features Woodburn’s original brewing recipes and the kitchen now serves Koreaninspired fare. With the addition of eats, dogs are now welcome on the large back patio instead of inside. 2800 Woodburn Ave., East Walnut Hills, woodburnbrewing.com.

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30TH ANNUAL

PRESENTED BY:

MARCH 4 - 6 A RENAISSANCE CELEBRATION OF BOCK BEER, OVER-THE-RHINE, AND THE COMING OF SPRING

30TH ANNUAL

Beer

Historic Tours

Over 30 different bock beers from local breweries will be on tap at Bockfest Hall.

Join us for a unique brewing heritage tour experience with visits to the historic pre-Prohibition brewery lagering cellars deep underground!

Get our Bock Beer Experience tasting ticket for Saturday to try them all!

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FEBRUARY 23, 2022 - MARCH 8, 2022

.05K Fun “Run”

Not quite ready to tackle the 5K yet?

Join us for the 3rd Annual Bockfest .05K Fun “Run” on Sunday at Bockfest Hall and be rewarded with a limited edition t-shirt, bottle opener medal and a beer!

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For tickets & the full schedule of events visit: WWW.BOCKFEST.COM

Goat Yoga

Sausage Queen

Family Sunday

Join us on Sunday for a fun and relaxing yoga session with live goats!

The renowned Sausage Queen leads the Bockfest Parade by carrying a tray of Bockwurst. Join us for the Sausage Queen, gender-neutral, pageant with multiple preliminary rounds at various local bars.

FREE Family Friendly activities on Sunday at Bockfest Hall include music and dancing, kidʼs petting zoo, games, and the “Little Links” competition.

Hang out afterwards for the FREE petting zoo for kids in the afternoon!

FEBRUARY 23, 2022 - MARCH 8, 2022 |

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FEBRUARY 23, 2022 - MARCH 8, 2022

ARTS & CULTURE

Missy Mazzoli P H O T O : M A R Y L E N E M AY

New Music Composer Missy Mazzoli’s world premiere concerto with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra puts the violin at center stage

BY A N N E A R E N ST E I N

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issy Mazzoli is no longer “the 21st century’s gatecrasher of new Classical music,” as NPR proclaimed in 2018. She’s now firmly inside the seemingly intractable fortress — an acclaimed composer whose works are commissioned and performed by major ensembles throughout the world.

On March 11 and 12, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra will present Mazzoli’s violin concerto — “Violin Concerto (Procession)” — a co-commission with the National Symphony Orchestra, performed by Mazzoli’s frequent collaborator Jennifer Koh. During the concert, the May Festival

Chorus will also sing Mozart’s “Mass in C Minor.”

“This is the first orchestral piece I’ve written with the violin specifically in mind,” Mazzoli tells CityBeat, although she has several works for solo violin, including a commissioned fanfare for CSO concertmaster Stefani Matsuo.

Mazzoli’s concerto is also the latest in a series of collaborations with Koh, which began in 2010 when Koh asked Mazzoli to participate in her “Bach and Beyond” project, a program combining Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for violin with newly commissioned works referencing specific Bach pieces.

Mazzoli’s response was “Dissolve,

O My Heart,” commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, based on Bach’s “Chaconne from the Partita in D minor.” Mazzoli writes on her website that although the task was “utterly terrifying,” she was inspired by Koh’s approach to Bach through the lens of contemporary music.

In the last decade, Mazzoli has written several short solo pieces for Koh. Most recently she penned “Hail, Horrors, Hail,” commissioned by the ARCO Group — Koh’s Classical music inclusivity nonprofit — as a response to COVID-19 isolation, as well as the 2020 “Alone Together” series.

A violin concerto seemed like the obvious next step, but Mazzoli says the composition evolved over years of discussion, shared coffee and Chinese food.

Speaking from her apartment in Brooklyn, Mazzoli says that conversations began with what form a concerto would take.

“I asked Jen what her role feels like

when she stands in front of an orchestra in a dramatic sense. And over the years, an idea began to take shape,” she says.

Mazzoli and Koh continued scrutinizing the concerto form itself, questioning the soloist’s role, and gradually the concerto began to develop. At that point, the composition was purely an independent project, and Mazzoli credits both her and Koh’s managements with helping to secure the CSO and the National Symphony as co-commissioners.

Attendees shouldn’t expect to hear a conventional concerto with themes, variations and elaborate cadenzas and orchestral accompaniment.

“Missy’s work questions whether the soloist is leading the orchestra or within the ensemble,” Koh says. “It’s musical questioning that’s communicated in a very musical way.”

Although “Violin Concerto (Procession)” is purely instrumental, Mazzoli’s work in opera serves as a powerful influence. She says “creating

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Violinist Jennifer Koh with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 2016 P H O T O : M A R K LYO N S

a mini-drama for each movement” helped her with structure.

“A concerto has an interesting relationship between the one and the many, and that suggests a lot of dramatic scenarios,” Mazzoli says. “The soloist can be leading and guiding the orchestra through something or be in opposition to them, or the orchestra can engulf the soloist.”

“Each movement took on one of these relationships and explored it to its ridiculous end,” she continues with a laugh. “It’s not absurdist at all. This isn’t a funny piece, just in an extreme way.”

The opening movement, “Procession in a Spiral,” has the soloist taking the spiral to an extreme, Mazzoli says. “The movement starts with this spiral with a wide range that collapses in on itself until we’re left with the violinist soloing at the end of the movement.”

The second movement is inspired by the neurological condition known as St. Vitus’ dance, in which the sufferer’s muscle groups move irregularly or involuntarily. “The violinist leads the orchestra through this maniacal dance, accelerating into a tempo that’s almost

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impossible to play,” Mazzoli says.

The concerto concludes with another procession, this time ascending “into heaven or infinity,” she says Mazzoli and Koh had a unique opportunity to workshop the concerto at The Juilliard School, where Koh serves as a creative partner. Koh, a longtime advocate for new works, says that the workshop sessions were revelatory for both performers and composition students.

“There’s an incredible amount of trust between Missy and me, and they picked up on that. It was important for the kids to see how the best collaborative processes happen,” Koh says. “A lot of ideas were flying back and forth.”

Both accomplished artists bring perspectives as people who have led ensembles and performers. And for both, collaboration is essential.

“I tell composers that as violinists, we spend our lives learning the standard rep, but we interpret them in new ways,” Koh says. “Missy and I are specialized and have a great deal of knowledge of what is complicated and what works,

FEBRUARY 23, 2022 - MARCH 8, 2022

both in terms of a composition and the players involved.”

Koh’s last performance with the CSO was in 2016, and she is looking forward to returning. Mazzoli will be in the audience for the performance, but her music debuted at the CSO in 2020, with “Fanfare for the Unimpressed” for the orchestra’s Fanfare Project, an initiative that commissioned more than a dozen composers to write works for solo instruments.

One of Mazzoli’s childhood dreams was fulfilled when her hometown Philadelphia Orchestra, led by Yannick Nezét-Séguin, performed her haunting, dreamlike “Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres)” in December — a piece also performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic and during the BBC Proms series at Royal Albert Hall in London.

“I didn’t realize what it meant to me until I walked onto the stage with the musicians,” Mazzoli says. “It’s exciting, really a dream. I’m grateful the work can exist in lots of different environments, in multiple spaces.”

And now Mazzoli is ready to experience the performance of her “Violin Concerto (Procession)” at Cincinnati’s Music Hall.

“Hearing my music performed is really an out-of-body experience. I’m always listening for what I can improve during rehearsals. But during the concert I try to let it wash over me,” she says.

“I really love that tension of hearing it in front of an audience and not knowing what they’re going to think or how it’s going to come off.”

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra will perform Missy Mazzoli’s “Violin Concerto (Procession)” March 11 and 12 at Music Hall (1241 Elm St., Overthe-Rhine). More info and tickets: cincinnatisymphony.org

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R E V I E W BY R I C K P E N D E R

CRITIC’S PICK

ONSTAGE

World Premiere of ‘Rooted’ at the Playhouse Grows from Humor to Understanding

L to R: Tarah Flanagan as Emery Harris and Tasha Lawrence as Hazel in Rooted, a world premiere at the Playhouse in the Park P H OTO : M I K K I S C H A F F N E R

Deborah Zoe Laufer’s world-premiere play, Rooted — a commission presently onstage at the Playhouse in the Park — is a beguiling work. At first, its three offbeat women feel a bit like characters in a sitcom, and they’re certainly the source of much laugh-outloud humor. But before long, a rather profound message about belief and connection comes through, making this 95-minute show genuinely satisfying.

Emery Harris (Tarah Flanagan) is an eccentric amateur botanist. She’s lived in a treehouse in the branches of an immense oak tree for more than a decade, accessible only by climbing a rope and entering through a hatch that she keeps tightly secured. Despite her lack of scientific training, she’s been conducting experiments to communicate with plants and posting her research on YouTube.

Emery’s pragmatic sister Hazel (Tasha Lawrence) has anger issues.

She’s a waitress in a diner who’s bored and unhappy with life in the claustrophobic small town of Millerville. Hazel looks after Emery, paying bills and delivering food — but she is yearning to find a way to escape and perhaps take

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her sister with her.

As it turns out, Emery’s research has developed a significant online following of people looking for emotional healing — they have decided she is something of a new-age messiah. Hundreds of them are flocking to the cow pasture shaded by Emery’s tree. One of the seekers, Luanne (Emily Kratter), a quirky, naive young woman, ends up in the treehouse, at first as an unwanted guest and eventually as a catalyst for deeper understanding.

Emery, a serious recluse, has named a dozen or so of her plants — Stuart, Gioncarlo and more — and speaks with them as she attempts to understand their lives and reliance on one another.

Laufer uses this as a metaphor for the human need for connection, whether it’s rational or irrational. Similarly, Emery’s followers, camping nearby, chant for her to come and speak to them. She really wants them to leave her alone, but Hazel sees this chaotic cult as an exit ramp from Millerville.

While Hazel seizes the opportunity, Luanne and Emery find themselves sliding into a meaningful friendship.

Created with a strong whiff of magical

FEBRUARY 23, 2022 - MARCH 8, 2022

Tarah Flanagan plays Emery Harris, an eccentric amateur botanist who lives in a treehouse.

P H OTO : M I K K I S C H A F F N E R

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Emery Harris becomes a new-age messiah by accident in Rooted.

P H OTO : M I K K I S C H A F F N E R

realism, the delightful treehouse set, designed by Se Hyun Oh, is as much a character as the women are.

At several moments, Emery’s linkage to the natural world is evocatively portrayed. The design incorporates an outside balcony across the front perimeter of the Playhouse’s Rosenthal Shelterhouse stage, and each of the women come out occasionally to address or be stupefied by Emery’s worshipers, represented by raucous crowd noise (Megumi Katayama is the sound designer and the source of some lovely musical underscoring). From that position, it is almost as if the audience is playing the crowd.

Directed by Noah Himmelstein, the three actresses deliver increasingly textured presences, amplified by colorful voices. Flanagan’s tentative Emery is endearing, cowed by the attention, shuffling around her tiny space using a walker. Her enthusiastic belief in science and her shock at this unexpected and largely mindless devotion are both real and touching, and her attachment to her plants makes her especially lovable.

Lawrence’s exasperated, boisterous portrait of salty and profane Hazel, who loves her sister but desperately wants some change in her life, evolves into an opportunistic schemer with some

hilarious notions about how to build upon Emery’s fame.

Kratter played Luanne in 2018 at the Playhouse in the world premiere of another play by Laufer, Be Here Now. In that production she was a tirelessly optimistic and maddeningly cheerful co-worker of the cynical central character. She has retained those amusingly innocent qualities, but Kratter’s portrait makes her more thoughtful and emotionally whole as she comes to grasp what Emery is learning from her plants.

The arc Laufer has created for this story takes theatergoers on a pleasant trip from humor to understanding. In her playwright’s program note, she writes that she’s focused on several themes — “the yearning for meaning and belief, the struggle to be truly present, the power of female friendship and what happens when you slow down and allow there to be quiet and connection in the midst of a chaotic, sometimes frightening world.” That strikes me as something we all need in 2022.

Rooted has its world premiere at the Rosenthal Shelterhouse Theatre at the Playhouse in the Park (962 Mt. Adams Circle, Mount Adams) through March 20. Tickets start at $30. More info at cincyplay.com.

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FOOD & DRINK

Tacos from Agave & Rye P H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R

Covington’s Madison Avenue Showcases Dining, Drinking Delights CityBeat’s dining critic explores the neighborhood’s charm

BY PA M A M IT C H E L L

R

elentless winter weather coupled with the Omicron surge didn’t keep me from dining out during these past few months, but I did find myself frequenting the same two or three nearby restaurants. Restless, I finally decided in late January that it was time to widen my horizons and explore new neighborhoods.

My first inspiration came after friends from Indiana and Kentucky suggested we meet at Coppin’s Restaurant & Bar in Hotel Covington (638 Madison Ave., hotelcovington.com). I hadn’t eaten there since before the onslaught

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of COVID-19 and agreed to make it a Saturday night destination. We lingered for a couple of hours in a half-empty dining room — the bar and lounge areas were much livelier — and had a lot of fun the evening the Cincinnati Bengals advanced to the AFC Championship game.

We walked Madison Avenue and the nearby streets and noticed that Hotel Covington wasn’t the only interesting place to hang out in the area. A week or so later, I went back for a closer look at what the neighborhood has to offer for hungry, or thirsty, folks.

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When it opened in 2016, the hotel jump-started a renaissance in the heart of Covington’s business district. This year, the hotel’s ownership announced an expansion into an adjacent building.

Coppin’s, the hotel’s restaurant and lounge named after the department store that occupied the address a century ago, offers an expansive gathering place for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner.

Although the stunning courtyard wasn’t an option on a winter night, it’s one of the nicest spaces there. Throughout the year, the lounge area boasts comfy easy chairs and sofas along with traditional tables and bar stools. Coppin’s is adjacent to the hotel lobby and a unique gift shop that carries an array of local and regional products, including craft bourbons and a few creations by Donna Salyers’ Fabulous Furs.

Across Madison Avenue is the original Agave & Rye (635 Madison Ave., agaveandrye.com), a taqueria open since 2018. My goodness, what a success story that operation has become in a short time, with 10 locations in five

states and counting. Their Rookwood branch is much larger, has more parking and probably does many times the business as this Covington location, but I prefer the cozy feel over here. The trademark bold décor works best for me in this one-room, corner spot. It’s a great place to relax while eating giant tacos, many of them served with a soft tortilla wrapped around a crispy one.

And for those looking for drinking establishments, the Madison Avenue corridor has plenty to offer, including Braxton Brewing Company’s flagship location (27 W. Seventh St., braxtonbrewing.com). As a nod to the ongoing COVID-19 concerns, they have installed several igloos on the rooftop where up to eight people can enjoy the heated space, booked in two-hour increments. The taproom menu features an array of the brewery’s offerings, from easy-drinking lagers and shandies to hearty porters and a one-of-a-kind collaboration with a famous Cincinnati company: Graeter’s Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip Milk Stout.

On Pike Street, just a hop, skip and

Voted Best Smoke Shop

Voted Best Green / Sustainable Goods Store

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Coppin’s Restaurant & Bar at Hotel Covington

Braxton Brewing Co.

P H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R

P H O T O : PAT T Y S A L A S

Ripple Wine Bar P H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R

jump from Braxton, is a new location for Bircus Brewing (39 W. Pike St., bircus. com), which bills itself as “a circus inspired microbrewery with wood-fired pizza.” But look into that during the evenings, as North South Baking Company (northsouthbaking.com) sells a variety of pastries from the Bircus storefront on many mornings.

This is Kentucky, so you won’t have to walk far if you’re in a bourbon mood.

The bars at Coppin’s and Agave & Rye are well stocked with Kentucky’s signature spirit, but you can also head a block north on Madison to the neighborhood’s preeminent cocktail lounge, The Hannaford (619 Madison Ave., thehannaford.com). Housed in yet another 100-year-old building, this slick watering hole is named after the building’s

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architect, Samuel Hannaford, worldrenowned for his design of Cincinnati’s Music Hall and City Hall.

The Hannaford’s list of bourbon pours is impressive, but for me, the fun of the place rests with its clever takes on classic cocktails. The current list includes sours, a Tom Collins, an old fashioned, margaritas, fizzes and so on, but almost all of them do something a little different from the standard recipes without taking me completely out of the tried-and-true. For instance, the “Ginberry Fizz” adds blackberry, orange and sparkling wine to the basic gin and lime.

My favorite spot in the neighborhood, though, is Ripple Wine Bar (4 W. Pike St., ripplewinebar.com), which opened less than a year before the pandemic

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struck. I fell instantly in love with this narrow space that has a bar seating about 20 as well as a small dining room upstairs. Unless you arrive as soon as they open at 4 p.m. (any day but Sunday), you’ll need to make a reservation, even for the bar seats.

The wine selection, knowledge and care with which the wines are served have few peers in our region. If you’re hungry, a tiny kitchen somehow produces a plethora of tasty dishes, from beef wellington popovers and stuffed poblano peppers to shrimp and grits and pan-seared scallops.

Ripple Wine Bar recently achieved notable accolades from the Kentucky Restaurant Association, which gave its 2022 Outstanding Restaurateur award to owner Matt Haws and the

2022 Outstanding Manager award to Gabriella DiVincenzo — pretty impressive, considering they outshone all the fine establishments in the larger Kentucky cities of Louisville and Lexington.

We sat at the bar and had a great time with DiVincenzo as our cheerful guide through the wine list. After an hour or so, I noticed that while the cooking was accomplished by three men in a makeshift kitchen, the entire service and bartending staff was female, prompting one server to say, “Every night is girls’ night here.”

Whatever night you happen to make it to this neighborhood, you’ve got plenty of intriguing options.

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THE DISH

Cincinnati Classics: Maury’s Tiny Cove Is a Retro Steakhouse Full of Memories and West Side Charm

BY K AT I E G R I F F IT H

Matt Huesman, the owner of Maury’s Tiny Cove, doesn’t like the word “regular.”

When referring to customers, menu items, staff or anything that perpetuates the timeless charm of one of Cincinnati’s oldest restaurants, he prefers “loyal.”

“It makes them sound regular,” he says.

“A regular guest might be somebody that gets to use the restroom everyday. A loyal guest, when I say that it really encompasses the guests who came in and helped us with renovations, and they do come in weekly, even biweekly (to eat). There are our guests who have their regular seats at the bar; most want to sit in the front of the cove. The loyal guest has a better connotation because it’s so much more encompassing than the regular guest.”

When Huesman bought the West Side steakhouse 12 years ago, it was flagging.

Maury’s had been serving Cincinnati since 1949. Today, it persists as an icon for what it means to be a West Sider, which Huesman says has a lot to do with pride and loyalty.

Huesman relied on the word of that loyal customer base to direct his attention to what the restaurant’s challenges were. “The three D’s” — dingy, dark and dirty — were the resounding answers, he says. Maury’s didn’t have a cleanliness problem, he adds, but rather outdated and unused interior elements like the nowremoved bulky sidestations or the carpet in the upstairs bar.

After defining areas for improvement, Huesman was compelled to marry Maury’s beloved signature interior with necessary updates and minor redecorating.

In a testament to their dedication to the restaurant, customers pitched in both physically and financially, Huesman says.

Some helped paint, while another paid to update the entire exterior landscaping.

Huesman added a deck and a door to the upstairs lounge, Maur’s Bar, which granted the establishment its second window and allowed Huesman to tweak the darkness as part of the business’s cozy cove charm.

“I like to think that the guest is our focus,” Huesman says. “Even when we did the renovating, we did everything with the mindset of, ‘We don’t want to upset the applecart, we want to honor the tradition of Maury’s,’ and that worked. Even our music is set for this kind of atmosphere.”

A jukebox filled with music from the 1950s usually governs the ambiance, with a lot of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

“The More I See You,” by Nat King Cole is a mainstay, Huesman says.

The soundtrack is met by a retro interior — most of which hasn’t changed in 70 years — and when Cole’s smooth voice reigns atop soft violins, you can almost hear the crackling of a record player. Red

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leather booths line the wood-paneled walls of the cove on the first floor, reaching toward a low tin ceiling embossed with a doily-esque pattern. Each table is draped with white linen cloth and dimly lit with personal lamps. Glass booth dividers are etched with martini glasses that morph into bull horns, a familiar symbol at Maury’s.

The late Maury Bibent, Maury’s original owner, was a Taurus. Friends and customers made it a tradition to give him all sorts of bull knick-knacks and figurines, which worked their way into interior decorations and even Maury’s logo. The restaurant has only had two owners since.

Huesman recently replaced a number of Bibent’s bulls with a collection of character mugs that honor his father, and the bulls were auctioned to help pay for the restaurant’s renovations.

Maury’s exterior is unassuming. The entrance, branded with a simple blackand-white lettered sign, sits on the main strip of Harrison Avenue in Cheviot. Its long gray-and-white facade boasts yet another bull, on a nearly life-sized sign, holding a martini glass with a dinner napkin tied around its neck.

Upon entry, customers are greeted warmly and promptly by any staff member within earshot. Brittany Ammer, bartender and manager, juggles serving the bar, handling tables and responding to staff members’ inquiries. Huesman sits at the end of the bar, returning calls to confirm reservations, penciling in times and details, periodically stopping to deliver food to tables or chat with a guest. The bustle of the evening rush stirs and a line forms for carry-out pickup. There are only a few free tables left.

“Hello, welcome to Maury’s. How are yahs?” Ammer asks the crowd. She serves a customer a Maur-hattan, Maury’s classic Manhattan cocktail, and says brightly, “Let me know if you need anything else. I’m here until the lights go out.”

“That’s only because she turns them out,” a smiling hostess jokes as she passes the bar, a group of guests tailing behind her.

Much like the venerable interior of Maury’s, a bulk of the menu offers the original restaurant’s dishes, which Bibent named after local sports teams. When Huesman took over, he added many of his own dishes but didn’t take anything away.

The Bearcat is an 8-ounce filet mignon served with Maury’s famous shredded lettuce salad and choice of side.

The Panther, a fish sandwich named after Elder High School’s mascot, is one of 50-year customer Mary Sue Cheeseman’s favorite choices. Cheeseman likes to indulge in the weekly specials Huesman

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Brittany Ammer, Maury's bartender and manager P H O T O : K AT I E G R I F F I T H

Maury’s Tiny Cove has an iconic sign featuring a bull holding a martini.

P H OTO : H A I L E Y B O L L I N G E R

imagines, but she says her late mother’s favorite meal was the salad.

“My mother thought Maury’s salad was the only salad that was any good because, quote, she didn’t like ‘weed salads,’” Cheeseman says. “She didn’t like all those new lettuces. She loved to go to Maury’s before she died.”

As a lifetime West Sider, Cheeseman chose Maury’s to commemorate some of the most memorable moments of her life. In addition to visiting consistently with her husband Terry, she has groups of friends who convene there often. Cheeseman says one of her fondest memories is gathering friends and family there to celebrate her late mother’s life in 2016.

When the Cheesemans were looking forward to their Oak Hills High School 50-year reunion, they found themselves in a last-minute scramble to secure a location. Cheeseman says she called Huesman the same week of the event, and he was able to move things around for the group to gather.

“I said gosh, I’ve got to find someplace for all these people to go,” Cheeseman says. “And he opened up the upstairs to us. And as graduates of Oak Hills, coming

back for a reunion, that just meant a great deal to us. That was as comforting as being back at the high school.”

“I describe it as our own Cheers. It’s like everybody knows your name,” Cheeseman continues. “That’s really what I enjoy about it. And like I say, you’re always going to know one or two of the people in there — if you don’t know a whole lot more than that. It’s nostalgic and comforting.”

Scanning the dining room on any given night, you get the feeling just about anyone inside could share a fond memory of a time at Maury’s. And while the term “regular” doesn’t do any facet of the place justice, as a term of endearment, there are a lot of simple, regular things that make the West Side of Cincinnati what it is — traditions like parish festivals and the Harvest Home Fair, high school rivalries and football games. The lack of pretension and the friendliness of its patrons give this side of Cincinnati the beloved hometown charm it’s known for, and Maury’s Tiny Cove punctuates that perfectly.

Maury’s Tiny Cove, 3908 Harrison Ave., Cheviot, maurys-steakhouse.com.

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MUSIC

Samantha Fish P H OTO : K E V I N K I N G

Fish Swims ‘Faster’

Blues songstress Samantha Fish adds a Pop dimension on her new album

BY A L A N S C U L L E Y

S

amantha Fish readily admits she was caught off guard when the pandemic hit in March 2020 and she had to cut short a European tour and return to her home in New Orleans. The shock was undoubtedly shared by many of her musician peers, and Fish never imagined the COVID-19

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crisis would be more than a minor speed bump interrupting her busy 2020 touring schedule.

“I never thought this thing would last more than two weeks,” Fish says in a recent phone interview. “I didn’t really get comfortable with the idea that I was going to have time off until somewhere

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in the summertime when it was like, ‘OK, wake up, wake up! This is real.’”

“I just didn’t really know. The TV was yelling at me every morning telling me something kind of different. I just wasn’t sure. And we kept booking shows, but they’re pushing them back,” she continues. “I think seeing those dates on my calendar was like a little bit of a mind trick because I’d be like ‘Oh, July, we can make something work in July.’ Then July went away.”

Eventually, Fish figured out a way to get back to playing live. She trimmed her band down from its previous sixperson lineup to a trio of bass, drums and Fish on her customary guitar and vocals and began playing drive-in and socially distanced shows at venues that could make reduced attendance work financially.

“We got to October (2020) and we realized, OK, we can actually do this safely,” Fish says. “We just have to have really strict rules, not only for the venues and the fans, but for us as a band as well we have to follow protocols. But it’s nice just being able to do it, even though it’s a little more restrictive than usual. I still think we’re having fun and we’re getting to play music.”

Fish continued to play these sort of shows well into spring of 2021 before heading into more traditional venues as touring opened up last year. She’ll be playing with her band at Riverfront Live in the East End on March 4 with The Devon Allman Project.

Getting back on the road — even for shows with limited attendance — made good sense for Fish. She didn’t just sit

idle during 2020 waiting for touring to resume. She used the time to make her new album, Faster.

“I spent pretty much the whole year (2020) writing songs,” Fish says. “I did a bunch of virtual collaboration sessions over Zoom, like writing sessions. I just made the most of it.”

Faster was released in September, and it marks the next chapter in what has been an impressive run of albums for Fish.

After establishing herself as a Blues artist to watch with her 2013 debut, Black Wind Howlin’, and her 2015 follow-up, Wildheart — which had some Roots Rock mixed in — Fish really began to stretch out stylistically.

For Chills & Fever, released in March 2017, Fish went to Detroit to record with the Detroit Cobras and came out with a stellar album that still had a Blues element. But it also included rocking vintage R&B (“It’s Your Voodoo Working,” “Somebody’s Always Trying” and the song “Chills & Fever”); uptempo Rock (“He Did It” and “Crow Jane”); classic Soul (“Nearer To You” and “Hello Stranger”) and sultry balladry (“Either Way I Lose”).

In December of that year, her music took another turn on Belle of the West, an album on which Fish successfully delved into rootsy Americana, with more of an acoustic, fiddle-laced sound, plenty of spunk and still a Blues thread running through many of the songs.

For 2019’s Kill or Be Kind, Fish went to Memphis to record, plugged back in and delivered an album with stinging Rock (“Love Your Lies,” “Watch It Die” and “Bulletproof”); Soul (“Try Not to Fall in Love With You,” “She Don’t Live Here Anymore” and the title track); and Blues-tinged Pop ballads (“Fair-Weather” and “Dream Girl”), all wrapped in the most sophisticated songwriting of her career.

“I think Kill or Be Kind has that soulfulness,” Fish says. “Memphis was such a big part of it. You know, it’s like our backdrop says so much, like really sets the tone for the album.”

Faster covers its share of stylistic ground and introduces a few more new wrinkles to Fish’s sound. In particular, Fish says she was able to bring a Pop dimension to the album by co-writing and working with producer Martin Kierszenbaum.

“Martin’s a pretty incredible producer. He’s worked with some major Pop acts in the kind of mainstream field,” Fish says, noting a resume that includes Sting, Lady Gaga and Madonna. “I think my goal with this record was I wanted to make songs that could cross over into a realm that I hadn’t crossed into yet, but also maintain the authenticity of who I am as an artist and a guitar player. That, of course, is always the challenge

when you’re trying something new — maintaining who you are but also committing, committing to the process.

“I see these songs, it’s a very diverse record. They all feel very different from one another. I think they’re empowering. They’re fun. There are some that are more skewed Rock & Roll.

There’s some Pop influence. I feel like there’s Bluesy guitar all over it. My voice just tends to skew Bluesy anyway, so it’s kind of got this soulful quality to it.”

Now Fish is back where she spends much of her time each year: on tour.

She enjoyed playing in the trio, a format that really relies on her guitar playing to carry the melodies, but also gives the musicians more room to be spontaneous and stretch out on songs if they are so inclined.

“The thing with a trio is you can make it rock harder, play with different dynamics,” Fish says. “I mean, I love playing with big, lush bands, but the nature of it when you have more people on stage, we have little more orchestration that goes on. In the trio, I don’t prefer one over the other, to be completely honest. On certain songs, I completely miss the big band. And on other songs, I love the freedom that the trio kind of brings where you’re communicating with two people on stage, like, ‘Hey, I’m going to try something completely different. You guys follow me.’”

As 2021 progressed, Fish expanded her band, adding Matt Wade on keyboards, along with Ron Johnson on bass and Sara Tomek on drums.

And once Faster was released, she began to liberally feature those new songs in her sets, along with a few songs from Kill or Be Kind, while touching back on earlier material.

“We’re doing throwback stuff. We’re doing stuff from the Wildheart record,” Fish says. “That’s cool for the old-school fans because they’ve been hollering out those requests for the last couple of years, and I’ve been, not ignoring them, I just forgot the songs. It’s nice to get to play those again.”

Samantha Fish plays Riverfront Live (4343 Kellogg Ave., East End) on March 4 with The Devon Allman Project. Get tickets and details at riverfrontlivecincy.com.

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SOUND ADVICE

Lilly Hiatt P H O T O : DY L A N R E Y E S

Lilly Hiatt

Feb. 25 • Southgate House Revival It was something of a surprise when Lilly Hiatt dropped Lately, her fifth album of countrified singer/songwriter Rock & Roll in October 2021.

It had been just 17 months since her last record, Walking Proof, which drew praise from everyone from Paste to Pitchfork. Then again, it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise — Walking Proof surfaced just as COVID-19 emerged in March 2020, eliminating any chance of Hiatt touring behind the record.

“Last year was tough,” Hiatt says in a press release that accompanied the release of Lately. “That’s an understatement for certain. Tears were shed, lives were lost and lonely was a way of life. I

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have always felt lonely but never gone to the depths of solitude that I had in 2020. The irony of that is I was not alone at all in that space. Everyone had lost something, and we all were trying to rebuild our lives as we knew them.

As a means of keeping sane, I started to write songs. Some of them sucked.

I kept doing it though, because I had nothing else to fill my cup.”

The 10 songs that populate Lately are often stripped back and stark, relying on straightforward lyrics both personal and universal. “Been” rides on a midtempo strut of intertwining guitar lines and Hiatt’s modest but affecting voice as she reminisces about a time before COVID: “I close my eyelids tightly/I think of Amsterdam/Biking through the alley/Black Angels turned to 10/Plants

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and little house boats/I’d never seen before/Writing down on paper/And lusting after more.”

“Ride,” which opens with moody pedal steel guitar and brushed drumming, is an atmospheric, Bluesinflected ode to driving down the road with your companion of choice: “Fast down the pike/Sunset how we like/End of the day/Not much left to say/I love to ride with ya, honey/Nothing else matters when you’re with me.”

The relatively upbeat titular track is the most curious of all, moving on a rudimentary Casio-toned keyboard riff and a weirdly optimistic lilt infusing Hiatt’s vocal delivery: “One day this will all be a distant memory/But right now it’s living inside of me/Wanna buy a pack of smokes/I wanna drive to the

river/This city’s got me beat/And I have nothing to give her.”

Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15.

(Jason Gargano)

Ministry with The Melvins and Corrosion of Conformity March 5 • Madison Theater

Al Jourgensen, whose visage now conjures that of a Mad Max villain, is pessimistic about the future. The enduring frontman for Industrial Rock institution Ministry has long delved into the darker side of life, but his band’s last two records — 2018’s AmeriKKKant and 2021’s Moral Hygiene — take things to a new level. Both are concept albums about our current cultural climate and

the rise of right-wing radicalism and its skewing of everything from the arts to media to science. Jourgensen’s interest in politics comes as no surprise (see the song “N.W.O.,” from 1992’s Psalm 69, which was critical of the United States’ involvement in the Persian Gulf War) but his all-encompassing fixation on the topic pervades nearly every moment of Ministry’s recent output.

“It’s just having any moral compass besides just thinking about yourself,” Jourgensen said in an October 2021 interview with Spin about his work’s conceptual preoccupations of late.

“We’ve become not only a nation but a world full of narcissism and selfish values. There needs to be some responsibility towards your fellow earthlings in your community. The idea that empathy is uncool — just like it was uncool in the 1930s — is how fascism rose. The first thing (politicians) have to chip away at is your moral compass and your empathy. Once that’s gone, they can manipulate everything else.”

While Jourgensen has long been the only member left from Ministry’s late 1980s/early 1990s heyday, Moral Hygiene features some notable backing players: former Tool bassist Paul D’Amour; onetime Killing Joke synth/ programming guru John Bechdel; and a guest appearance by Dead Kennedys’ frontman/provocateur Jello Biafra, who also teamed with Jourgensen on the side project Lard.

Yet for all the lineup changes over the years, Ministry’s sonic formula remains much the same. Like AmeriKKKant, Moral Hygiene features disorienting ambient noises (from air-raid sirens to clips of Donald Trump’s hideous utterances), industrial beats, thunderous guitar riffs and Jourgensen’s evermenacing vocals, all of which wash over the listener like a continuous wave of mutilation. Foreboding about the future of civilization pervades, as song titles like “Alert Level,” “Disinformation,” “Broken System,” “We Shall Resist” and “Death Toll” might suggest.

Ministry’s tour-mates this time out include Stoner Rock icons The Melvins and Metal mainstays Corrosion of Conformity, all of which rose up out of an early 1980s scene that would be shocked to learn each act still exists four decades later.

The Melvins will likely draw from the two albums they released in 2021 (Working with God, which opens with “I Fuck Around,” a cover of The Beach Boys “I Get Around,” and Five Legged Dog, their first-ever acoustic record), as well as tunes from their 23 other studio

efforts. They should also inject a sense of levity to the proceedings, something we can all use right about now.

Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $39.50 advance and $45 at the door.

(JG)

UPCOMING CONCERTS Postmodern Jukebox March 2, Taft Theatre Beach House March 2, PromoWest Pavilion at OVATION Mat Kearney March 5, Taft Theatre All Them Witches March 12, Woodward Theater Yola March 12, Taft Theatre Henry Rollins March 13, Bogart’s Greta Van Fleet March 29, Heritage Bank Center The Flaming Lips (with Heartless Bastards) April 5, Andrew J Brady Music Center alt-J and Portugal. The Man April 8, PromoWest Pavilion at OVATION Jack White April 13, Andrew J Brady Music Center Justin Bieber April 19, Heritage Bank Center Olivia Rodrigo April 22, Andrew J Brady Music Center Journey April 24, Heritage Bank Center Khruangbin April 29, Andrew J Brady Music Center Leon Bridges May 6, Andrew J Brady Music Center AJR May 10, Riverbend Music Center Miranda Lambert and Little Big Town May 22, Riverbend Music Center

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BRAND EX CROSSWORD

BY B R EN DA N E M M E T T Q U I G L E Y W W W. B R E N DA N E M M E T TQ U I G L E Y.C O M

ACROSS 1. Fictional nation with 13 Districts 6. Hunter, to Joe 9. Mollusk shell lining 14. Old shopping mall 15. Not straight 16. They’ll put things on your Amazon shopping list 17. Nail polish brand used for fishing?

19. Play with horses 20. Lab work overseers, maybe 21. Chatter’s caveat 22. Desire 23. First-ever nasal decongestant?

29. Adjust the origami 31. One going on a rhyme spree 32. Hertz rival 33. Plus thing 35. Letters before an alter ego 38. Particulate matter that makes cleaning mirrors difficult?

41. Wrestling move named after a pesticide

42. Legal work 43. Football Hall of Famer Greasy 44. Hendrix who strung his guitar upside down 45. Corner pieces?

46. Hollywood types who use lip balm?

51. Phantom ___ 52. Last name of the family on “Succession” 53. “Ghosts” channel 56. Take back, as one’s words 58. Chef who prepares watches?

61. Spiker Gabrielle 62. So, so fresh 63. In a suitable fashion 64. They’re sometimes drawn in the nude 65. Artful 66. Drink with a creamy leaf on its surface Down 1. Ceasefire agreement 2. Quintana Roo quencher

LAST PUZZLE’S ANSWERS:

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Bertha G. Helmick

ATTORNEY AT LAW

“Severance” star Some seaweed Reduces the workforce Everybody has one Close by “Goldberg Variations” composer Ophthalmologic case Words on a jacket Top section of a form “None for me” “The Tempest” trickster Like chairs that are hard to get out of Piece of fabric Hebridean isle Positive feedback?

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3. “Pump those brakes” 4. Preposition for 31-Across 5. Top out 6. Indian pundit 7. Hunter near Gemini 8. Newspaper that bought Wordle, for short 9. Called in the past 10. Clear of guilt 11. Make, as butter 12. Cosmetics for the cheeks 13. New Jersey county or Massachusetts county 18. Dallas, to sports fans 24. Lopsided victory 25. Not permitted by law 26. Alcoves in abbeys 27. Film pioneer Marcus 28. Embedded under the surface of 29. Comic actor Paul 30. Statesman Barak 33. When some have dinner 34. “___-Hulk”

DISSOLVE YOUR DISSOLVE YOUR

MARRIAGE MARRIAGE

Dissolution: An amicable end to

end

Dissolution: An amicable to

marriage. onyour yourheart. heart. marriage.Easier Easier on Easier on your wallet.

Easier on your wallet.

Starting at $500 plus court costs.

12 Hour Turnaround. at $500

810 SycamoreStarting St. 4th Fl, Cincinnati, OH 45202

plus court costs.

513.651.9666

12 Hour Turnaround.

FEBRUARY 23, 2022 - MARCH 8, 2022 |

CITYBEAT.COM

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FEBRUARY 23, 2022 - MARCH 8, 2022