CityBeat | April 20-May 3, 2022

Finding

LOST VENUES

A new book examines how Cincinnati’s concert venues of the 1950s and ’60s played a role in shaping music history

BY JUDE NOEL

APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022|

CITYBEAT.COM

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Finding

LOST VENUES

A new book examines how Cincinnati’s concert venues of the 1950s and ’60s played a role in shaping music history

BY JUDE NOEL

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APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022

NEWS

Cincinnati City Council member Reggie Harris speaks before the city raises the transgender pride flag on March 31, 2022.

P H O T O : FA C E B O O K . C O M / C I T YO F C I N C Y

Cincinnati Takes New Steps Toward More Direct LGBTQ+ Protections in Municipal Code Council member Reggie Harris is spearheading efforts for “equal protection under the law”

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

T

he Queen City soon could be even more affirming for residents and employees.

Cincinnati City Council member Reggie Harris is collaborating with other city administrators and organizations to update language in the city’s municipal code to provide more comprehensive legal protections and practices. The new provisions will more directly cover gender expression and identity from discrimination and other LGBTQ+ concerns.

LGBTQ most often stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (or questioning), with the longer acronym of LGBTQIA adding intersex and

asexual.

Harris specifically is working on sections 914-1 (“Definitions”), 914-3 (“Housing Discrimination Prohibited”), 914-5 (“Employment Discrimination”), 914-15 (“Exclusions”) of the municipal code, Harris tells CityBeat in an email.

“Cincinnati led the way with its nondiscrimination ordinance, but since then we’ve learned a lot. It’s time to update it so we can continue to lead the nation when it comes to equity,” Harris says.

Section 914-1, the city’s unlawful discriminatory practices chapter of the municipal code, lays out the words and phrases whose meanings have been

standardized throughout the code. The section covers a wide range of topics, from age to disability to marital status.

The code currently includes definitions for sexual orientation and transgender individuals, but Harris says that more current language is needed.

“First and foremost, we are updating the definitions listed in our nondiscrimination code to account for what we have learned as best practices over the years. This includes making sure language pertaining to gender expression and gender identity is up-todate and as inclusive and accurate as possible,” Harris says.

Harris and others also are working on additional sections of the code.

“We are reviewing the enforcement procedure for the ‘Source of Income’ discrimination to address the Section 8 (housing) discrimination occurring throughout the city,” Harris says.

“Lastly, we are recommending that the businesses to which the code is applied is expanded so that workers throughout the city, no matter where they work, have equal protection under the law.”

“Together, these changes will make

sure that the nondiscrimination language in our city’s code reach(es) as many people as possible and all Cincinnatians have the legal protections they need to live vibrant, fulfilling lives,” Harris adds.

Harris, who is serving his first term on Cincinnati City Council and chairs the Equitable Growth & Housing Committee, is developing the municipal code’s new language alongside city solicitor Andrew W. Garth and representatives from Equality Ohio, a nonprofit organization based in Columbus that advocates for LGBTQ+ issues. He began digging into the issue upon taking his seat on Cincinnati City Council in January, he says, adding that Garth’s office is reviewing the updates and will produce an ordinance for the council to evaluate.

Harris hopes to introduce the ordinance to the council “in the next couple months,” he says.

“I used to serve on the board of Equality Ohio and learned about actions local governments can take to ensure that the legal protections provided to its most vulnerable

APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022|

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communities are as robust as possible,” Harris says. “I was aware coming into office that the code, while progressive at the time, needed an update. This is what Equality Ohio does extremely well, and that is why I am so happy to partner with them on this project.”

The effort is Harris’ latest push to affirm and protect Cincinnati’s LGBTQ+ residents. On March 31, the city raised the trans pride flag at City Hall for the first time in Cincinnati’s history in recognition of International Transgender Day of Visibility. Harris, who is gay, coordinated the effort and marked it as an acknowledgement of progress and a look ahead at the work that still needs

to be done.

“We have to do both symbolic gestures and policy gestures, and that is the way we move forward,” Harris said at the time.

During city council meetings in April, Harris, vice mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney, council member Greg Landsman and others have denounced bills sponsored by members of Ohio’s House of Representatives that restrict care or education for LGBTQ+ individuals.

HB 454, titled the “Enact the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act,” would prohibit offering minors any kind of gender affirming treatment, from hormones to surgery.

The bill also would put the onus on healthcare providers by defining that treatment as “unprofessional conduct” for state licensing boards and making “actual or threatened violations” of the bill grounds for a lawsuit.

The more recent HB 616 would prohibit the “promotion and teaching of divisive or inherently racist concepts in public schools” while also nixing educational materials about sexual orientation and gender identity.

Educators would be in danger of losing their teaching credentials.

Additional state across the nation, including Florida and Texas, have been introducing — and even passing

— legislation that is effectively antiLGBTQ+ and, frequently, racist.

Before joining Cincinnati City Council, Harris had worked in affordable housing, social work, social policy and the arts, according to his government biography.

“Personally, I have always said that the legal and lived experiences of our LGBTQIA+ community need to be of our utmost priority. The legal underpinnings of our municipal code provide the basis for this, and it is incredibly important to make sure those protections are in place as a foundation for the equity work we do,” Harris says.

Mayor Aftab Pureval, Refreshed City Council Celebrate First 100 Days in Office

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

April 15 marked 100 days since Cincinnati mayor Aftab Pureval and most members of Cincinnati City Council took office.

During that week’s full council meeting, Pureval noted the milestone, saying that the city was on the path to growth.

Pureval won a decisive victory during the Nov. 2 general election after his campaign focused on affordable housing, economic growth, public safety and climate change.

“Our overwhelming mandate was to chart a new future for our city now, and in our first 100 days, we have stepped up and taken immediate action to begin that important work,” Pureval declared, echoing what he had said in November when he announced his incoming administration’s transition team.

Pureval was sworn into office on Jan. 4 as Cincinnati’s first new mayor in eight years, also becoming the city’s first Asian-American mayor. He replaced former mayor John Cranley, who ended his second and final term in December and is now campaigning to become Ohio’s next governor.

Likewise, an almost entirely new Cincinnati City Council was sworn in alongside Pureval in January, marking a historic moment. Voters elected newcomers Reggie Harris, Meeka D. Owens, Victoria Parks, Scotty Johnson, Jeff M. Cramerding and Mark Jeffreys in November, with only Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney, Greg Landsman and Liz Keating returning to their previous council seats. The 2021 race for Cincinnati City Council was one of the largest in the city’s history, with 35 candidates running for nine seats at two-year terms.

Pureval subsequently selected Lemon Kearney as vice mayor. She had been appointed to Cincinnati City Council in 2020 after Tamaya Dennard was arrested on corruption charges and later resigned, and the vice mayor retained her seat during November’s election.

“In just 100 days, we have stepped up and delivered results for our residents,” Pureval said during the April

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13 council meeting. “We transitioned in a new mayor, a majority-new council, a new interim city manager, a new interim police chief and a new health commissioner — a new city government. And right out of the gate, we rolled up our sleeves and focused on getting things done.”

“Taking action on our zoning, deconcentrating poverty and desegregating our city, addressing the changing economy and the coming deficit by finding innovative ways to help our city adapt and grow — these are big existential undertakings,” he continued.

“But with these public servants and a community that is ready to work with us, I am confident that the future we are building will be one we will all be proud of. The new future is now.”

Pureval highlighted what he said are some of the city’s accomplishments from the past 100 days, including: • establishing the council’s first fully focused housing committee and environmental committee • procuring resources and equitably distributing COVID-19 tests, vaccines and other protective measures • enabling a convention center development district • redeveloping downtown’s former Macy’s department store building into housing • enticing Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. to remain in Cincinnati and add more jobs • building $4 million worth of earned media for city tourism during the Cincinnati Bengals’ Super Bowl LVI run • allocating more than $1 million in new funding for fire and emergency resources • creating community-based initiatives to address youth violence

APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022

Mayor Aftab Pureval is sworn in on Jan. 4, 2022.

P H O T O : FA C E B O O K . C O M / C I T YO F C I N C Y

• investing $1 million in federal funds for new pedestrian safety measures • adding to an affordable housing trust fund and streamlined ways to get state funding • planning for a comprehensive audit of the city’s tax abatement structure • relaunching the Green Cincinnati Plan • continuing to develop a connected bicycle infrastructure network Pureval stressed that his administration and the council are approaching issues through an equity lens, trying to ensure that marginalized people — who frequently are women, Black, Brown, LGBTQ+ or disabled — are centered instead of left out of Cincinnati’s future growth. He noted that the city has focused particularly on uplifting Blackowned and women-owned businesses and contractors, removing barriers to affordable housing, and developing safer neighborhood infrastructure.

During his milestone week, the

mayor also announced that he and his wife Dr. Whitney Whitis had recently welcomed a second son to their family, which already included 2-year-old Bodhi. Pureval said that he would take two weeks of parental leave to be with his family, though six weeks of paid parental leave is available to all city employees.

“Paid leave is so critical for all our families. It’s been proven to boost employee morale and retention, improve outcomes for children, and increase gender equity at home and in the workplace,” Pureval said in social media posts. “Although I will only be clearing my calendar for two weeks, it is important to me to set an example for other expectant fathers and to support my family during this time.”

The mayor added that he would be in touch with his administration during his leave and would also be available for urgent matters. Kearney will preside over upcoming Cincinnati City Council meetings in Pureval’s absence.

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Finding

LOST VENUES

A new book examines how Cincinnati’s concert venues of the 1950s and ’60s played a role in shaping music history

BY JUDE NOEL

Former Cincinnati Post journalist Dale Stevens (center, beard) waits in the crowd before a 1965 Rolling Stones concert at Cincinnati Gardens.

P H OTO : ST U L E V Y

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APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022

Rock band Blue Magoos play Cincinnati’s Swifton Center, mentioned in Steven Rosen’s book, in 1967.

P H OTO : ST U L E V Y

P

icture this: It’s 1968, and an up-and-coming Grateful Dead is making a stop in Cincinnati on its first real tour.

That on its own would be a significant event, but what makes this particular gig even more special is its unusual location: the Hyde Park-Mount Lookout teen center, a small converted church on Erie Avenue. Against all odds, a West Coast band known for its countercultural appeal and association with hallucinogenic drugs is playing in Cincinnati’s quiet suburbs before much of the country would get the chance to see it in person — and the band is doing it in a house of worship.

Cincinnati made history, in a sense.

That event was nothing less than a culture shock for an area with manicured lawns and wholesome activities.

Teenagers were building their own makeshift lightshows to be used in the venue, local press was abuzz about the Dead’s pioneering Psychedelic sound and parents were quickly forced to become aware of LSD evangelists like Wavy Gravy and Ken Kesey.

This is just one evocative moment featured in Lost Cincinnati Concert Venues of the ‘50s and ‘60s, a new book by prolific music journalist and former CityBeat Arts & Culture Editor Steve Rosen. Narrowing his focus on two decades that saw Jazz undergo an experimental renaissance while Rock & Roll rose to cultural dominance, Rosen’s book shows how a handful of nowdefunct venues and local grassroots movements helped some of the most exciting figures in popular music make their mark on the Queen City.

Rosen was born at the very start of this two-decade era, coming of age alongside Rock music itself. As the book’s foreword by former vice mayor and the Ludlow Garage venue founder Jim Tarbell says, Rosen frequented underground venues like the Black Dome before attending Indiana University in 1968, fostering an obsession with the nascent Progressive Rock scene

making waves in the United States.

Much of the book, however, covers the years before that, paying tribute to the establishments that hosted Jazz greats and the earliest wave of Rock stars.

“If you’re going to write a book like this and try to have something timely, it really starts with the ’50s,” Rosen tells CityBeat.

For example, Rosen’s history of the Cincinnati Gardens, which opened in 1949 and was demolished in 2018, spans the entire scope of the book, as its early days were a “golden age for Rock & Roll/R&B package shows,” Rosen says. The venue hosted now-legendary acts like Buddy Holly, The Chantels and Chuck Berry in their heyday.

At roughly the same time, on the other side of the river, Newport’s Copa Club was booking a who’s-who list of Black performers that have since been classified as iconic. Over the course of a single year, attendees saw Miles Davis, Sam Cooke, the Isley Brothers and a host of other talented entertainers.

Rosen’s dropping of names of that caliber passing through Cincinnati between 1957 and 1960 is impressive, but the stories of what came after — reconstructed from old newspaper articles as well as new interviews with those who were there — are what make his book such an immersive read.

“What’s lost are those shows, and, to some extent, those kinds of shows where the smaller emerging acts of that time were playing in places that seemed to be able to accommodate them,” he says. “Even people we think of as stars today — Santana, The Kinks, Procol Harum — there was a time they were playing at some of these midsize halls.”

Brushes with the Avant-Garde Rosen was able to conduct much of his research through public libraries and a subscription to a database of digitized newspapers, searching for names of venues and sliding down

Steven Rosen’s book, Lost Cincinnati Concert Venues of the ‘50s and ‘60s, is available now.

P H O T O : P R O V I D E D BY S T E V E N R O S E N

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online rabbit holes.

“It’s a funny thing, making all of these different connections,” Rosen says.

“Let’s say I wanted to find out about The Beatles at Cincinnati Gardens and when that was first announced. When I look it up, there on the entertainment pages are all these different things — I mean, stories, photos, ads all related to other aspects of entertainment. There’s always a reference in one story that makes you curious — what are they talking about?”

In one particularly evocative article from 1964 cited by Rosen, a young couple wins an all-expenses-paid night on the town and proceeds to visit seven music venues in short succession. It’s a testament to the wealth of Jazz moving through Cincinnati in the early ’60s, when the city became an essential stop for touring acts.

The concert reviews of Dale Stevens, a Cincinnati Post journalist and Jazz radio DJ, may have been Rosen’s most valuable discovery. It seems as though each time a now-renowned musician visited a Cincinnati venue during the ’60s, Stevens covered the event, leaving pithy and prescient insight behind for future generations.

According to Rosen’s preface, Stevens deserves “a statue” for his contributions to the development of Cincinnati’s entertainment scene, penning multiple stories per day about everything from live entertainment to films to food over the course of his 33-year career at the Post.

When saxophonist John Coltrane played Babe Baker’s Jazz Corner in Avondale in 1963, Stevens responded to crowds confused by the quartet’s avantgarde sound by affectionately comparing their performance to a “three ring circus.” Tunes like the standard “My Favorite Things” would expand into epic feats of virtuosity under the band’s influence, stretching out to 20 minutes as each member got their chance to rattle off technical, sometimes abstract solos. It wasn’t Jazz meant to serve as a soundtrack to a relaxing dinner date — it was a challenge posed to the audience, and one they may not have enjoyed but wouldn’t forget.

And when “sick” comic Lenny Bruce brought his controversial standup routine to the West Side’s Surf Club in ‘62, Stevens was there, too, returning with a review that now feels strangely contemporary.

“Lenny Bruce is both profane and profound,” Stevens says in the quoted review. “And if that seems a strange combination for a comedian, then don’t call him a comic. Call him an orator, or even a preacher. A doctor, maybe.”

Bruce was known for his shocking humor, which led to an obscenity conviction two years later, making it even more surprising that the gig took place in one of Cincinnati’s more traditionally conservative neighborhoods.

“How did he get there, what was he like and how was he received? That’s what you really want to know,” Rosen says. “It turns out this place, the Surf

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Club, booked a number of important artists for their first time in Cincinnati — the Smothers Brothers and Peter, Paul and Mary, for example. When you realize what kind of an impact those artists had, and you know that their legacies endure, it’s just so exciting to learn about what it was like so early on when people didn’t know what to expect.”

Counterculture in Cincinnati Near the University of Cincinnati’s campus, the newly constructed Seven Cities Coffee House also introduced a spark of counterculture to the city in the early ’60s. In his book, Rosen depicts a charming, quirky spot that wouldn’t feel out of place in Clifton today. Each of the cafe’s alcoves was inspired by the decor and architecture of a major city like Madrid or Tokyo, with one even incorporating sand on the floor. It all combined with the scent of brewing coffee and sound of the era’s burgeoning Folk scene. “(It) seems like a portal to the present day, when there’s at least one imaginatively designed, indie-spirited hip coffee house in every town,” Rosen writes in Lost Cincinnati Concert Venues of the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Of great importance was Seven Cities’ “Greenwich Village” stage, which helped launch the local Folk and Jazz scene for artists who frequented the venue. Drummer/vocalist Popeye Maupin, Psychedelic soul singer “Mad” Lydia Wood and pianist Danny Cox are just a few musicians who built a local following on the stage for an eclectic, left-leaning college crowd.

Perhaps the event that is the most incredible in retrospect, though, is the Grateful Dead’s two-day stop at the Hyde Park-Mount Lookout Teen Center in 1968.

“As part of the research, I spent a lot of time looking at websites devoted to these bands. The Dead certainly have a lot devoted to them, and even there are people seeking information about this show because it just seems odd,” Rosen says. “Even for that tour, which was just a swing through the Midwest, they were playing more typical clubs.”

The unlikely booking of what would become one of Rock’s most influential Jam bands was arranged by the teen center’s director, Jim Tarbell, who’d discovered the then-fledgling Dead on a summer vacation to San Francisco in search of Rock’s cutting edge.

Though the venue, located in the abandoned Episcopalian Church of the Redeemer, had hosted many members of Cincinnati’s local Progressive Rock scene as well as New York’s Vanilla Fudge, whose heavy Psych sound is often cited as a precursor to Heavy Metal, Tarbell wanted to tap into the West Coast’s wellspring of talent — and hippiedom — for a breakthrough gig.

“I needed to go to California because that’s where the real scene was,” Tarbell tells CityBeat.

APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022

An old Ludlow Garage concert poster from 1970 P H OTO : C O L L E C T I O N O F ST E V E N RO S E N

James Brown performs in 1966 at Cincinnati Gardens.

P H OTO : ST U L E V Y

Blue Magoos play Swifton Center in 1967.

P H OTO : ST U L E V Y

Book author Steven Rosen

Specifically, Tarbell was interested in the acts frequenting The Fillmore West, a now-legendary theater where bands like Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin’s Big Brother and the Holding Company got their starts. Though Tarbell didn’t get to see those acts in person while visiting, he couldn’t escape their influence or the Grateful Dead’s appeal.

“Everything I heard about (the Dead) said, ‘These guys are really interesting,’” Tarbell says. “So I called their management and asked if there was a chance they’d be able to play at the teen center.”

As luck would have it, the Grateful Dead was about to go on the road for the first time that fall. It was just $2,000 for Tarbell to book the show — a price he says would have increased dramatically had he contacted them a few months later.

“It was nuts,” Tarbell says. “The Grateful Dead had become so big by that time that people were really excited to be there — like they were a part of history. We had a light show, which was a first, because nobody was doing them at the time, except in San Francisco. It all contributed to the atmosphere of the

venue.”

“The Grateful Dead in church,” Tarbell remembers wistfully. “It’s crazy — crazy good.”

The gig also was noteworthy for the Dead’s lineup, which featured keyboardists Tom Constanten and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, with McKernan rejoining the band for the first time following his discharge from the U.S. Air Force.

Though the Grateful Dead arrived two hours late, the band jammed through the night, extending songs by more than 15 minutes in its nowfamous improvisational style. A review in the teen section of the Enquirer recalled the event as being “lorded over by some huge communal over-soul.”

Though the Grateful Dead show was a success and became a mythical nugget of Cincinnati music lore, Tarbell’s eye for talent quickly outgrew the center. In 1969, he went on to open the short-lived but highly impactful Ludlow Garage, which launched that year with a performance by rockers Grand Funk Railroad and closed in 1971 after eccentric Experimental Rock

P H O T O : M I N DY R O S E N

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Tour Some of

Cincinnati’s Iconic Lost

Venues Cincinnati Gardens

OPEN: 1949-2016; demolished in 2018 ADDRESS: 2250 Seymour Ave., Bond Hill NOTABLE BOOKINGS: Buddy Holly and The Crickets, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones

Babe Baker’s Jazz Corner

OPEN: 1958-Late 1960s ADDRESS: 3128 Reading Road, Avondale NOTABLE BOOKINGS: John Coltrane, Lester Young, Cannonball Adderley

Judy James and the Dee Felice Trio perform at the Surf Club in the 1960s.

P H O T O : P R O V I D E D BY J A N C E L L A

group Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band took the stage (a new version of Ludlow Garage has been in place since 2015).

Rosen, then a college student, happened to be in attendance when Beefheart came to town.

“I just had this sort of image, this vision of them while they were playing,” Rosen says, remembering the way each band member contributed to the collective vibe. “I thought, ‘Oh my god, it’s like all these guys are connected by this really big rubber band.’ As each one played, it was pushing them into another. They were pinging and ponging off of each other. It was a weird sensation, but really cool music.”

A mural of Beefheart, painted by local artist Ellina Chetverikova, was installed in Clifton’s Gaslight district in late 2019, along with six other works commissioned in honor of the Ludlow Garage’s 50th anniversary. The range of performers depicted — including B.B. King, Judy Collins and Iggy Pop — exemplify Tarbell’s eclectic tastes.

As Tarbell did with the Grateful Dead concert at the Hyde Park-Mount Lookout teen center, his Ludlow Garage brought a taste of counterculture to an area that was otherwise less familiar with the scene.

“I would take people like The Allman Brothers Band into a neighborhood eatery run by an elderly couple, this place called the M&M Restaurant, kind of a burger joint,” Tarbell says. “I’ll never forget when I walked in with the band with all this long hair, and I heard Vivian, one of the waitresses, say ‘Oh my god, now what?’ But before it was all over, everybody had lunch, and it was all sunshine and lollipops. That’s kind

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of the way the scene played out in the neighborhood.”

Pop Music’s Legacy Underground venue The Black Dome, which operated solely in 1969 at Vine Street and William Howard Taft Road, brought in seminal Boston Psych-Rock outfit Earth Opera, Progresesive Psych Rock band Procol Harum and heavily make-upped Hard Rock vocalist Alice Cooper.

“I remember going to the Black Dome during the summer of ’69, so I was home from school,” Rosen says. “I went with a friend, and it was already kind of late for a show, getting around 11 or so. I remember everybody being crowded in and standing. The place was kind of dark. It was a different energy from sitting in a big venue just watching someone. The opening act was Eli Radish. I thought, ‘Boy, that’s just a cool name.’ Although I don’t get it, it’s cool.”

The headliner that night happened to be James Gang, a Cleveland trio fronted

by Joe Walsh, who would join The Eagles in 1975.

“It was just electrifying,” Rosen remembers. “They had these longer guitar solos, and they were really tight.

It was exactly the kind of music that at that time was considered new.”

Rosen’s book concludes with a lost venue best known for hosting sports: Crosley Field. While The Beatles were the most famous band to perform at the former home of the Cincinnati Reds, the story of their rain-delayed 1966 show is tame compared to Crosley’s infamous 1970 Cincinnati Pop Festival.

APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022

The surprising “peanut butter incident” was the centerpiece of that memorable event. During the Stooges’ set, “Godfather of Punk” Iggy Pop went crowd surfing, procured a jar of peanut butter from a fan, smeared it all over himself and tossed globs into the audience. The festival also featured clashes between cops and dancing kids plus Alice Cooper’s attempt at hypnotizing the crowd, which was interrupted when a pineapple upsidedown cake that was launched from the crowd hit Cooper in the face.

It’s a surreal snapshot of where Rock and Pop music were headed at the turn of the decade. Iggy Pop’s animalistic, stage-diving live presence and sound would foreshadow the rise of Punk, while Cooper’s theatrics would only intensify over the years, influencing future generations of carnivalesque Rock tours.

Though Rosen says “the world of popular music is even wider and broader than ever” these days, he believes it’s important to preserve the memory of venues that are no longer standing and to salute the variety of music they brought to the city. Venues like Ludlow Garage and Babe Baker’s Jazz Cafe may have been relatively short-lived, but they gave many Cincinnatians their first experiences with Pop music’s artistic vanguard.

Steven Rosen’s Lost Cincinnati Concert Venues of the ‘50s and ‘60s is available at local and online retailers and stevenrosen.net. Rosen will discuss and sign the book at 7 p.m.

May 16, at Joseph-Beth Booksellers (2692 Madison Road, Norwood).

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ARTS & CULTURE

Artistic rendering of FotoFocus’s new building P H OTO : J O S E GA R C I A D E S I G N + C O N ST RU C T I O N

A New View Cincinnati lens-based arts nonprofit FotoFocus breaks ground on a new event and exhibition center in Over-the-Rhine

BY N ATA L I E C L A R E

T

he future’s looking brighter than ever for FotoFocus, the Cincinnati-based nonprofit that celebrates the art and history of photography, film and lens-based media.

For the past 12 years, the organization has been relying on partnerships with local venues to present its own curated events. But come 2024, it will have a home of its own called FotoFocus Center at the corner of Liberty and Sycamore streets in historic Over-the-Rhine.

“I’ve wanted us to have our own building from the beginning,” FotoFocus artistic director and curator

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Kevin Moore tells CityBeat. “When you collaborate with other institutions, you’re meeting their expectations or parameters a lot of the time. Sometimes that’s great — it sends you off in unexpected directions. But for us, it’s going to be a chance to do, creatively, anything we want.”

Founded in 2010 in Cincinnati, FotoFocus provides programming and support for projects that make lens-based media accessible to the public. Signature programming includes the Biennial, which is held every two years in October and offers a month-long series of events relevant to photography, film and lens-based art.

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Unified by a single theme, Biennial events are held at galleries, museums and other venues throughout Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, Dayton and Columbus. It represents the largest gathering of its kind in America, according to FotoFocus’s website.

Other signature programming includes day-long symposiums about art in the current social climate, in-person talks, virtual conversations and film and video screenings.

The organization describes the soon-to-be-built FotoFocus Center as “a world-class venue purpose-built to present a wide range of curated exhibitions, educational events and film screenings each year, furthering FotoFocus’s mission of enriching our understanding of photography.”

It will include 4,500 square feet of gallery space, an 835-square-foot outdoor terrace on the upper level and 2,200 square feet of office space.

The project is estimated to cost $6-$7 million.

FotoFocus is collaborating with Jose García Design + Construction to bring the new venue to its feet. The design company was founded by architect Jose García and boasts a visually stunning portfolio of projects, including the sleek studio space at Lightborne Communications in Over-the-Rhine, where FotoFocus staff have been operating.

Moore says the FotoFocus Center will have a flexible, open-plan space that can convert to accommodate different shows and functions.

“The space is tailor-made to exactly what we think about and what we see of the future of an exhibition space for photography and lens-based art and what it will look like and how it will need to function,” Moore says.

He says the center is designed to accommodate a social component, too.

“You don’t show art as only a solitary, contemplative experience. You show it to have a conversation. So people being there, talking about it, talking with each

Artistic rendering of the lobby in FotoFocus’s new building P H OTO : J O S E GA R C I A D E S I G N + C O N ST RU C T I O N

other in response to it, that’s really the ethos of FotoFocus, I’d say,” Moore says.

“We think of ourselves as a kind of conversation-generating organization.

It’s sort of like exploring the world through photography — it’s not necessarily about photography, per se,” he continues.

FotoFocus executive director Mary E. Goeke says the organization and its board began discussions about a new building roughly two years ago.

They were given the green light to explore properties and determined Over-the-Rhine as the most ideal location because of its proximity to other arts and cultural institutions like the Taft Museum of Art, the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati Art Museum, the Art Academy of Cincinnati and the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning.

“As a nonprofit dedicated to the education of fine art photography — both its history and its contemporary practitioners — we felt that we wanted it to be community-based,” Goeke tells CityBeat. “We find that our partnerships with universities and with the regional arts organizations

are really the significant identifier, I believe, for FotoFocus’s mission. We are collaborators. I think that’s how we view our work.”

One such collaboration, Goeke says, is with The Carnegie in Covington.

FotoFocus held a symposium and regional juried exhibition there in the past, and she envisions partnering with them again on future projects.

Another collaboration could also be with BLINK, the sprawling festival of light and art that takes place downtown every few years (as of press time, BLINK is slated to take place Oct. 13-16).

FotoFocus has partnered with the Contemporary Arts Center for previous BLINK festivals, supporting light installations seen at the space.

“I do think that, for us, this is a really pivotal time. We were founded 12 years ago in a very organic way, in terms of working directly with gallerists and institutions in the city,” Goeke says.

“We’ve built up really good partnerships with many venues. We look at the facility as a place that’s meant to be very open and as a community gathering spot for photographers and people interested in lens-based art.”

Aesthetically, the FotoFocus Center

will feature contemporary design sensibilities with homages to Overthe-Rhine’s historic architecture. The corbeling pattern of the brick (in which bricks stick out further from the wall to create a sort of ledge) is a nod to the 19th-century masonry that’s prominent in many buildings throughout the neighborhood. Large glass windows refer to factory buildings as well as an historical, open-forum style of architecture that was popular in the 19th century, Moore says.

The building design integrates artistic details that are specific to lens-based media, too.

Custom-gridded steel window frames reference a camera’s viewfinder to allow light to enter the building’s common spaces. White exterior marble (which will be backlit during the evenings) references black-and-white photography. Wood materials in the interior have a visual sepia effect.

“We wanted it to represent the idea of photography in a way,” Moore says.

“When we chose Jose García, we knew that he was a materials guy. We knew we weren’t going to get a glass and steel cube.”

“You can take the building as an

indirect metaphor,” García said during a reception after the FotoFocus Center’s groundbreaking on April 8. “It’s a very quiet building, and yet I hope it’s interesting enough for you to start looking at details and, in your own mind, make whatever references you want to make.

“Do I see a viewfinder, or do I see a hallway turned inside out? Is that a beacon in the night that is trying to say, ‘I’m here?’ Or is it trying to pay homage to a material that you find inside the 19th-century building? Is it too showy?…Is it flat? Is it deep? Or is it all of the above? That’s a continuing metaphor that has no end.”

Find out more about FotoFocus, its new building and future programming at fotofocus.org.

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CULTURE

Queen City Commons Tackles Food Waste Through Composting

BY M AC K E N Z I E M A N L E Y

Queen City Commons’ co-operators Marie Hopkins (left) and Julia Marchese P H O T O : P R O V I D E D BY Q U E E N C I T Y C O M M O N S

Turn food waste back into soil — that’s the initiative upon which the composting service Queen City Commons (QCC) was founded.

Started by Marie Hopkins, the idea first formed over a conversation with a friend who had recently moved into an apartment and was in search of an organization to take her food scraps.

“I had heard about the service in a few other cities and was looking to do something new,” Hopkins tells CityBeat.

“I thought, ‘(Composting) is really easy and should be accessible for everyone.’”

With a background in biomedical engineering and nonprofit experience, Hopkins began researching the idea in 2019. She later set up a GoFundMe and received a $10,000 Hamilton County Waste Reduction Innovation Grant to fund the project.

QCC started collecting scraps by the beginning of 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Currently registered as an LLC, it’s in the company’s five-year plan to transition into a worker-owned cooperative.

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As composting services have become more prominent in cities across America, so too has the role food waste plays on the environment.

A 2019 report from Greater Cincinnati sustainability alliance Green Umbrella cites that 40% of food produced in the U.S. is wasted, which not only squanders resources but also produces greenhouse gasses.

Cincinnati is not an anomaly: The same report notes that “more than 30% of organics entering the landfill could be residentially composted and nearly 50% could be commercially composted.”

Hopkins says QCC started off in March 2020 doing commercial collection but pivoted to include residential drop-off locations. Julia Marchese was one of the first residents to sign up for QCC’s services and later joined Hopkins as the company’s second employee.

QCC currently collects food scraps from Greater Cincinnati businesses and organizations and also provides compost drop-off sites for residents.

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Queen City Commons’ compost pile P H O T O : P R O V I D E D BY Q U E E N C I T Y C O M M O N S

Alexandra Hutchinson and Derek Brockington | PHOTOGRAPHY: Rachel Neville

May 17-18, 2022 ● 7:30 PM

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Composting containers used by Queen City Commons P H O T O : P R O V I D E D BY Q U E E N C I T Y C O M M O N S

“We try to make it as accessible as possible,” Marchese says. “With (the) commercial operation, we offer up as much information as possible about how the process works, what’s compostable and what’s not as well as doing employee training so we’re not getting a lot of contaminants.”

QCC currently has 17 commercial partners, including coffee shops, restaurants, offices and food pantries.

Around 120 residents are signed up to use their community bins.

For residents, QCC accepts compost on a sliding-scale payment option — between $5 and $15 per month, based on income. Neighborhoods with drop-off locations include College Hill, Northside, Over-the-Rhine, Walnut Hills and Madeira. QCC also collects scraps at the Northside Farmers Market every Wednesday during summer.

Marchese notes that their drop-off locations are chosen intentionally, whether to be close to an apartment building or in a more concentrated urban area.

“That’s part of the thought behind the drop-off : If you don’t have time, energy or space to (compost) at home, you have one close by in the neighborhood,”

Marchese says.

Though QCC is a small part of the food waste solution, Hopkins says multiple avenues are needed to tackle the issue. Their focus has largely been on partnering with local farms and gardens to provide composting material to use as soil. Food scraps collected

by QCC are composted back into soil that farms can then use to grow more food, offering at least one way to reduce waste.

In Ohio, non-residential facilities larger than 500 square feet that compost are required to register with the state’s EPA. This can be a barrier, Hopkins says.

So far, QCC has partnered with growers that meet those guidelines, including Carriage House Farm and Walnut Hills Gardens, to compost collected food scraps without having to register with the state’s EPA. Such collaborations speak to their closed-loop ethos.

As an example, Marchese says QCC collects around 150 to 200 pounds of scraps per week from Bouquet, a restaurant in Covington. That material is then taken to Carriage House Farm, which uses the finished soil in garden beds to grow produce, some of which Bouquet buys. Seeing those circular

APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022|

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Food ready to be composted by Queen City Commons P H O T O : P R O V I D E D BY Q U E E N C I T Y C O M M O N S

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relationships in action, Marchese says, is a “proud mom moment.”

Most of the scraps QCC collects are vegetative: onion and banana peels, moldy bread, overripe produce, greens, coffee filters, beans, eggshells and paper. Each of their 64-gallon residential compost bins includes a label with information on acceptable items to toss in.

Non-compostable items include: dairy, meat and fish, oils and grease, harsh cleaning products, plastics, produce stickers, pet waste, compostable serviceware, clothing and dryer lint, most tea bags, glossy paper and cardboards.

Since QCC only does small-scale composting, they are unable to accept the “compostable’’ plastics that you might get at a coffee shop or restaurant.

These plastics need to be processed at larger facilities.

“If you are conscious of going to a farmers market or buying local produce, that’s one way people can connect with the natural world and our reliance on it,” Hopkins says. “Composting is a way to connect to the other end of that. You know where you’re buying your food from and you’re also choosing to do

something with what’s leftover.”

The leftovers are then turned into something useful that can provide nutrients, Hopkins says. If humans won’t eat it, soil biology will.

Marchese adds that composting makes people more aware of their own consumption and community impact.

As QCC grows, they hope to expand the model already in place by adding drop-off bins in more Hamilton County neighborhoods. They also aim to create more of a network of places to process their scraps.

“We’re another piece of the composting puzzle across the city,” Marchese says. “There’s so many different ways to compost and there’s so many ways to collect it.”

Find out more about how to compost with Queen City Commons and get addresses for current residential drop-off bins at queencitycommons.com.

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VISUAL ART

Covington Toy Shop Earth to Kentucky Celebrates KFC’s Founder with Action Figure Art Show

BY S E A N M . P E T E RS

Colonel Sanders action figures on display in The Colonel: A Group Art Show P H O T O : P R O V I D E D BY E A R T H T O K E N T U C K Y

Colonel Harland David Sanders is synonymous with fried chicken, but who is he really? The man started selling his secret-recipe chicken in the 1930s before launching the KFC franchise in the 1950s. Today, his cartoon face — complete with glasses, beard and Western bow tie — is plastered all over the fast food franchise’s branding.

Sanders’ life and lore have been the topic of several recent films. KFC produced a light-hearted mini biopic for Lifetime called A Recipe for Seduction, starring Mario Lopez as Sanders. A more serious film, titled A Finger Lickin’ Good Story: The Life of Colonel Sanders, is on schedule to shoot, making the white-haired Southern gentleman who’s been dead for 42 years all the rage in pop culture, for some reason.

While an illustrated likeness of Sanders is how most people recall his visage, Covington’s indie toy shop Earth to Kentucky is hoping to change that.

The Colonel: A Group Art Show features the work of more than 30 different artists from around the world. Each artist has crafted a unique depiction of Sanders using an actionfigure-sized “blank Colonel” resin sculpture made by California artist Scott Cherry as the template. Designs reimagine Sanders as Guy Fieri and The Joker, and there are gold-plated and pinstriped Colonels along with Colonels dipped in acid — it’s all colorful, absurd

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and strangely appetizing.

Earth to Kentucky co-owner and show co-organizer Dustin Benzing talked to CityBeat recently to discuss more about the exhibit’s origins, artists and weirdest pieces on display.

The Colonel: A Group Art Show runs through May 7.

CityBeat: Did you curate this exhibit? Where did the idea come from?

Dustin Benzing: The idea for this show has been around for quite a while, in different forms. My friend Scott Cherry, an artist in California, and I would bounce ideas around for it, but it wasn’t until he sent me a photo of the in-progress (Colonel) sculpture that it really started to come together.

I think Scott really worked out most of the framework for how we ended up putting it together and curated the bulk of the lineup. It was a collaborative effort, but I really wanted to give him the reins since the show is built around his sculpture.

CB: How would you describe the original Colonel sculpture? Any interesting notes on the original artist?

DB: The Colonel figure is really fantastic. Scott always manages to infuse so much of his personality into his work. He’s one of the most talented people I know. In addition to his art

APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022

Artist Dano Brown’s action figure has Colonel Sanders dressed up as Guy Fieri.

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

Artist Jonathan Queen’s action figure reimagines Colonel Sanders as “Coloneljuice.”

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

toys, he does black velvet paintings and has a really fantastic ongoing stop-motion-style comic book called Barbarian Rage. It’s always great when we find a reason to collaborate.

CB: Tell me about your favorite items in the show.

DB: Honestly, this show has so many of my favorite artists, and they all knocked it out of the park. That sounds like I’m just dodging the question, but it’s the truth.

CB: Did any local artists contribute?

DB: We have about six local artists in the show including Maximus Patton (1 Trick Pony), Jake Hill (Skull & Void) and Jonathan Queen, who created the Kenner (toy) mural downtown.

CB: Which sculpture traveled the greatest distance to Kentucky? Who made it?

DB: I think it’s a tie between Jose Pacheco (Pez Banana) in Venezuela and Russell Taysom in the U.K. Both are roughly 4,000 miles from here.

DB: The pieces in the show will go on sale (April 15) at 5 p.m., both in store and online. They’ll remain on display until the show is done so that people have a chance to come down to the shop and see them in person.

CB: Did you make any designs of your own for this exhibit?

DB: I do have a piece in this show.

I couldn’t not make something for it, honestly.

CB: Do you like to eat KFC? Does that even matter with this event?

DB: I haven’t eaten KFC in a while, but seeing some of these pieces has actually made me a little hungry. I’d like to think this show has more to do with the Colonel’s mythic status as a Kentucky icon than his fried chicken, but I’m pretty sure there will be plenty of both.

The Colonel: A Group Art Show runs through May 7 at Earth to Kentucky (836 Main St., Covington).

More info: earth2kentucky.com.

CB: Will the items be for sale after the show completes? If not, what’s their fate?

APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022|

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APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022

FOOD & DRINK

Mama’s on Main in Covington P H O T O : C AT I E V I OX F O R Z E S T C I N CY

Red-Sauce Italian Mama’s on Main brings vibrant design elements and traditional, pasta-oriented Italian fare to MainStrasse R E V I E W BY PA M A M IT C H E L L

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ovington’s Main Street — the heart of historically designated MainStrasse Village — boasts one of the best assortments of restaurants in Greater Cincinnati. A lion’s share of credit for that abundance goes to a restaurant group informally known as

Otto’s Restaurant Family.

MainStrasse residents Emily Wolff and Paul Weckman opened Otto’s in 2003, bringing sophisticated versions of Southern favorites such as shrimp and grits and fried green tomatoes to the riverfront city. That was their only

restaurant for more than 10 years, but since 2015 Wolff and Weckman have added popular Mexican eatery Frida and two casual spots at opposite ends of the commercial strip of Main Street: The Standard and Larry’s.

And now the duo has Mama’s on Main, bringing traditional, pasta-oriented Italian fare to the neighborhood. If the difficulty we had getting a weekend reservation is any indicator, Mama’s looks like a goldplated hit right off the bat.

Wolff and Weckman clearly have a deep commitment to this part of Covington. Their personal journey

started in 2002 when they purchased the building at 521 Main St., where they lived upstairs from the newly-opened Otto’s. Wolff says that “the Village” — as residents refer to MainStrasse — had been mostly a bar destination back then. But they saw greater potential.

“We wanted to make this community shine as bright as possible,” Wolff tells CityBeat.

Otto’s became an anchor for the street’s other businesses, and that success helped make the couple’s further investments possible.

They opened Mama’s on March 4 after renovating the space formerly

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A spread of dishes available at Mama’s on Main P H O T O : C AT I E V I OX F O R Z E S T C I N C Y

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occupied by Commonwealth Bistro.

Wolff says she and her husband relish doing restoration and design work.

“We have a love affair with historic buildings and love the process of bringing them back to life,” she says.

“I did all of the design and artwork at Mama’s, and I have to say it’s my favorite to date.”

In putting Mama’s together, Wolff focused on the color red as a recurring motif, having decided that “Mama wears red lipstick.” Red barstools and other prominent splashes of scarlet enliven the two main rooms and adjacent spaces. The restaurant’s most prominent design element is a large stained-glass window salvaged from a MainStrasse church that had been destroyed by fire in the 1980s. This “serendipitous” discovery became the centerpiece of the restaurant’s main dining room.

“I was bringing a part of MainStrasse history back to the Village,” Wolff says.

Entering Mama’s, guests step into a cozy, softly lit front room facing a bar with those bright red stools and a couple of high-top tables. There’s a glowing faux fireplace with framed, old-timey family photos on its small mantelpiece. Lively conversation from the adjacent dining room greets you, along with a host checking your reservation.

Promptly seated, we were taken aback by the noise level, which took some getting used to. Thankfully, trying to hear each other over the cacophony turned out to be the only flaw in our evening, because the food, drink and service were all good.

As we got settled, I checked out the transformation of the space, comparing it to my memories of Commonwealth Bistro. Our table didn’t have a view of the stained-glass window, but we appreciated the three large, round paintings on the wall opposite our seats.

Wolff says the paintings honor her grandmothers, with pieces of family china and other personal elements worked into the design.

The facing wall contains a dozen or more vintage depictions of pin-up girls, neatly framed. The overall effect is harmonious thanks in part to a consistent red, white and blue color scheme.

Mama’s folded paper menu is unpretentious, displaying a handful of offerings under each heading: Appetizers & Salads, Pastas and Entrees.

The goal is to provide the neighborhood with traditional red-sauce Italian fare, starting with basic spaghetti and meatballs ($19). Simpler dishes include popular standards such as cacio e pepe ($16), rigatoni with vodka sauce ($19) and risotto made with artichokes and

The interior of Mama’s on Main P H O T O : C AT I E V I OX F O R Z E S T C I N C Y

lemon ($18).

Other intriguing pasta preparations include ricotta gnocchi tossed in herb pesto and tomato-hazelnut vinaigrette, garnished with salty, crispy prosciutto ($21); a tagliarini with a hearty mushroom ragu ($19); and, my favorite, agnolotti with pine nuts, lemon, ricotta and garlic breadcrumbs ($21).

The petite stuffed pasta shapes, which are similar to ravioli, hit all the right notes. The dish’s sauce was buttery but not overly greasy, with the lemon cutting through the richness of the cheese and pine nuts and the breadcrumbs adding that hint of crunchiness that I love in almost any savory dish. The portion was relatively small — our server had told us it was the lightest of the pasta dishes — but just right for my appetite.

If you’d like some protein with or instead of pasta, try pork milanese ($25), salmon piccata ($25) or chicken parmesan ($19). Those going meat-free can enjoy eggplant parmesan ($17).

We sampled the chicken, a thinpounded, tender cutlet with crispy breading atop red-sauced spaghetti.

The dish was satisfying, though nothing special. If you’re looking for something special, go with the tagliarini or the agnolotti.

We shared two quite delicious appetizers among the three of us: snap pea salad ($11) and fried calamari ($13). The salad featured crispy yet tender peas, thin slices of radish and bits of pickled shallot topped with a

generous portion of whipped ricotta.

Calamari, crunchy and greaseless, arrived in a large portion, plenty for three diners. A bowl of warm red sauce and slices of lemon accompanied the delicate, hearty squid. The combination of the crisp, springtime salad and the salty, savory calamari could not have been a more perfect start to the meal.

There’s a short list of Italian-inspired cocktails — I tried the unusual Negroni Bianco ($12) — along with at least one Italian beer and a handful of Italian and other wines by the glass. You can order from a more extensive list of wine bottles, but we were happy with the glass pours. The bright, slightly acidic Grillo ($11), a white from Sicily, was an excellent accompaniment to my lemony agnolotti.

For dessert, we sampled both the house tiramisu and the panna cotta (each $10). I’m a fan of the latter and order it whenever possible. This version was less firm in consistency than I’m used to, but it had a pleasing flavor, the creamy base topped with strawberry compote.

From 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, Mama’s hosts a pastry and espresso bar they’re calling Mama’s Mornings. The restaurant serves dinner Tuesday through Saturday.

Mama’s on Main, 621 Main St., Covington, instagram.com/ mamas621cov.

A selection of Italian-inspired fare available at Mama’s on Main P H O T O : C AT I E V I OX F O R Z E S T C I N C Y

APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022|

CITYBEAT.COM

25

THE DISH

Cincinnati-Based Really Good Boxed Wine Lives Up to Its Name

BY S E A N M . P E T E RS

Boxed wine has an unfortunate association with inferior vintages made to be chugged at sorority mixers.

While major boxed wine brands available at the grocery store have their share of the market, most wines that connoisseurs consider palatable historically are bottled instead of boxed.

That’s changing, though. Wine has come a long way, and it looks like the future of higher quality, globally ethical wine distribution requires an alternative to expensive, bulkyyet-delicate glass bottles. You can already buy wine in cans, Tetra Paks (those handy cardboard containers that chicken stock and almond milk often are sold in), kegs and vessels of other shapes, sizes and materials, but Cincinnati-owned Really Good Boxed Wine is touting the benefits of thinking inside the box.

Jake Whitman, Really Good Boxed Wine’s CEO, has compelling reasons that potential customers should give boxed wine another chance.

“I would say there are three major benefits to boxed wines overall,” Whitman tells CityBeat. “The first is that when you open it and you tap it, it stays fresh for six weeks.”

Wine undergoes a chemical transformation called oxidation after it’s been opened, which causes the drink’s flavor and integrity to degrade as time presses on. Opinions vary, but a traditional bottle of wine is best enjoyed the day its cork is removed. Many wines benefit from “breathing” for a duration of time after opening, but if you wait too long to drink the remainder, oxidation can bitter the taste, resulting in a flat astringency. The benefit boxed wine offers, then, is that it’s exposed to a minimal amount of oxygen as a result of the vessel’s design.

“The second is the cost. There’s cost savings all over the place,” Whitman says. “Our packaging costs are about 90% lower than the equivalent in bottles.”

A box of wine contains threeliters, the equivalent of four standard 750-milliliter bottles. There’s a significant manufacturer-cost for every aspect of the product being sold: the wine itself, the bottle, the label, the cork and the protective foil seal; many essential components needed to sell a few liters of wine.

“Four glass bottles, four corks, eight labels, four foils versus one box, one bag and two labels,” Whitman lists. “The packaging costs are 90% lower, so we can pass a lot of those savings on to the consumer and actually invest more in

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Three varieties of Really Good Boxed Wine P H O T O : R E A L LY G O O D B OX E D W I N E . C O M

the quality of the wine.”

Specifically, this is an estimated 50% discount on highly valued wine thanks to the savings made available by its utilitarian packaging.

The quality of boxed wine in general has been improving over the years.

Master sommelier Andy Myers has even endorsed Really Good Boxed Wine, making it the first boxed wine with such an affiliation. The prestigious title of master sommelier denotes complete authority of every aspect around vinification and is held by only 269 people globally, so Myers’ endorsement is a big deal for the Cincinnati brand.

But amazingly, that superior quality comes with a lower price point for consumers, too.

“A three-liter box weighs about the same as two bottles of wine when you ship it, so freight cost comes into play when shipping out to consumers, so we can pass some of those savings on to the customer as well,” Whitman says.

“The cost that we pay in production allows us to invest more in the quality of the wine itself, which I think is sort of the hidden secret of how we are putting such high quality wine for such a discounted price.”

That’s a secret that’s not so hidden anymore.

APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022

A mid-tier bottle of wine, something respectable enough to bring to a nice dinner party, starts at around $15. The wine going into Whitman’s boxes is valued at around $30 to $40 per bottle and, with boxes priced at $65 (with the equivalent of four bottles inside). That’s quite a palatable deal.

Whitman also says that the packaging for boxed wine is considerably more eco-friendly than that of bottled wine.

“It’s a significant improvement on sustainability and carbon footprint versus bottles,” Whitman says. “The California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance shows that the carbon footprint of the bag and box package are 84% lower. The carbon footprint for distributing it is 60% less. Packaging is the highest environmental impact in the winemaking process and this reduces that. You get this really beautiful combination, where it’s a significant savings to the customer and it’s more sustainable.”

Now, what’s in a box of Really Good Boxed Wine?

On top of producing its own juice in California, the direct-to-consumer brand partners with California producers, winemakers and vineyards for its product, and there have been talks with growers and makers in

Washington and Oregon for future releases. The wines currently available are cabernet sauvignon, sauvignon blanc and a pinot noir rosé.

The cabernet sauvignon is big and fruity, packing a wallop with 14.5% alcohol by volume. Pair the wine with some grilled cheeseburgers or some portobello steaks with a nice herbaceous chimichurri, and it will perform quite honorably in complementing the meal.

The wine stays fresh longer than a normal bottle thanks to the oxidationresistant design, meaning this writer could pour a single glass without worry of waste.

But, to be frank, the wine is good enough to warrant an extra glass.

To purchase Really Good Boxed Wine or sign up for its monthly subscription service, visit reallygoodboxedwines.com.

For ages 11 – 14

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27

MUSIC

Khruangbin in concert P H O T O : J A C K I E L E E YO U N G

Around the World Texas Psych Rock trio Khruangbin brings its distinct blend of global music to Cincinnati

BY L . K E N T WO L GA M OT T

U

ntil recently, Khruangbin hadn’t played a show in well over a year.

Nor had the Houston Psych Rock trio done any of the songs from their 2020 album, Mordechai, onstage.

So before bassist Laura Lee, drummer Donald Ray “DJ” Johnson Jr. and guitarist Mark Speer were able to return to the road in late 2021, they had to put in some extra rehearsal time to feel like they were back in the swing of things as a live band.

“We had to come back after 600 days of not playing a show and, for the first time, play songs that we’ve never played before, not to mention songs we haven’t

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played in almost two years,” Lee says in a recent phone interview Khruangbin not only got on the road, but also returned as a headlining act.

The tour that began last year is continuing into this summer, and visiting such notable venues as New York City’s Radio City Music Hall and the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville before moving up to amphitheaters this summer. Khruangbin stops by the Andrew J Brady Music Center on April 29.

It’s a sign of the growing popularity of the trio, which was formed in 2009

by Johnson and Speer, who played in

APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022

the St. John’s Methodist Church Gospel band, and then bonded with Lee over a shared love for Afghan music.

Their sound is created by combining music from around the world, spinning together Thai Funk, Jamaican Dub Reggae, Iranian and East Asian Pop with American R&B, Funk and Soul to create a distinctive original sound.

Finding global music isn’t difficult, Lee says.

“A lot of it happens naturally, it’s what we listen to,” she says. “I was in England for four years. By the end of it, I had a little different accent, a different cadence to how I’d speak. You naturally pick up on things that you surround yourself with.”

But the key to Khruangbin is not reproducing any of that music, but letting it come through as clearly read influences on the sound.

“We want to be able to go to Thailand and Ethiopia one day, play our songs and have them make a connection with the people there — that they can hear their music, but it’s not a copy,” Lee says. “We’re trying to create something unique and part of that is it can’t be just one thing. With Mordechai, we were

trying to pull in everything, as much as we could.”

Johnson says copying songs, phrases or styles might not be heard as lifeless appropriation by listeners who aren’t familiar with the original sounds, but reproducing others’ work doesn’t ring true for him, Lee and Speer.

“When you’re an artist, you know when you do something and it’s too referential, it’s not really you,” he says.

“We’re very conscious of that. A lot of people think you go into the studio and jam and that stuff just comes out. It doesn’t. It’s done with a lot of thought.

Sometimes we’ll analyze every single note before we record it. That’s how deep it can get, how microscopic it can get.”

Khruangbin has released three albums, 2015’s The Universe Smiles Upon You, 2018’s Con Todo el Mundo and 2020’s Mordechai. All of them have been recorded in a barn west of Houston.

“It all starts with bass and drums,” Johnson says of the recording process.

“Drums go in first, the bass follows, that’s the foundation. In terms of the framework, Mark is our singer. Even

Khruangbin P H OTO : P O O N E H G H A N A

though he’s playing the guitar, he’s interpreting a vocal. The vocal lines are tonal, they create a melody.

“The songs are really simple in that sense,” he continues. “There’s the rhythms and beat of the drums, heavy Reggae-inspired bass and the melody on top.”

Translating the Mordechai songs to live performance is a challenge Khruangbin has had to work at, first in rehearsal, then onstage as the group brings its acclaimed “you have to see it to get it” live show on the road.

“I had no idea we’re considered such a big act to see,” Lee says. “I’m very proud of that. The record is forever. The

shows, for me, have a special quality.

It happens one time. You experience it with all these special moments that will never happen again. Creating those moments is a real special thing for us.”

Khruangbin plays the Andrew J Brady Music Center (25 Race St., Downtown) on April 29 with Toro Y Moi. Tickets start at $42. More info: bradymusiccenter.com.

APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022|

CITYBEAT.COM

29

MUSIC

Cat Power’s Chan Marshall Talks About Her Latest Covers Album Ahead of Indianapolis Show

BY J E F F N I E S E L

When she was in high school, singersongwriter Chan Marshall, who records and performs as Cat Power, saw the Replacements play. At the concert’s end, singer-guitarist Paul Westerberg arrived without his band to sing the tune “Answering Machine.”

Marshall was struck by the performance, and she acknowledges the Replacements’s influence on her on her new album, Covers, which includes a rendition of the band’s tune “Here Comes a Regular.”

“He just threw his guitar off his body and ran away after playing it,” she recalls in a recent phone interview. “It impacted me so much. When I moved to New York, I had three favorite songs on the jukeboxes at the two bars I would go to — Sophie’s and Mona’s.

I would play ‘You Don’t Know Me’ by Ray Charles and ‘Try Me’ by James Brown at Sophie’s. And then, I would walk to Mona’s and play ‘Here Comes a Regular’ as many times as I could if I had any change left. That song is so beautiful. It’s almost a ballad for the heartbroken and weary who have found alcohol to help them. It’s just crushing.”

Her current tour in support of Covers stops at The Vogue in Indianapolis on April 26 (Cat Power is not coming to Cincinnati on the current tour).

Covers represents Marshall’s third album of cover songs and completes a trilogy — though Marshall says she’s not opposed to recording another album of cover tunes. The tracks started to come together during an organic jam session at Rob Schnapf’s Mant Sound Studio in L.A. “I like to warm up before the session starts,” Marshall says. “While the band was warming up and I was setting up the mics with Rob to make sure everything sounded good and that we could do everything in a week, I started composing. The band is really talented and open-minded and willing to let me guide them.”

At that first session, Marshall and Co. proceeded to play what would become the album’s first set of covers.

They started out with a deconstructed rendition of Bob Seger’s “Against the Wind” that features hushed vocals and fragments of piano and guitar.

“I had never played it before,” she says of the Seger tune. “I got the lyrics and said, ‘Fuck it.’ I got the lyrics and sang it, and we recorded the first take.

It sounded great. I jumped back in and had nothing to sing and was reminded of Nick Cave’s ‘I Had a Dream, Joe.’ Never in a thousand lifetimes would

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Cat Power P H OTO : M A R I O S O R R E N T I

I have thought to cover that song, but we did. I again jumped in the vocal booth and didn’t know what to play and played ‘Endless Sea’ by Iggy Pop.” Marshall also covers one of her own songs, “Unhate.” She says she regularly revisits an older song of hers when she’s assembling tracks for a covers album.

“I always do a new cover of one of my songs because things change in my life,” she says. “I remember I was in Africa and was singing that song on tour. I thought I was sick. When I came back to America to continue my tour, I found out I was pregnant. When I started to sing that song again, I changed it right away. That song is specifically about suicide. When I got sober, that’s when I made a pact with myself to not hide anything and not be afraid to ask for help and do the therapy and all of that stuff. It helped me be a stronger human.

That’s why I didn’t play that song for many years. Then, I started playing it again because I changed the words.

Everyone gets the blues in a real bad way. It’s just to say, ‘Don’t ever try it.’”

The rendition of Nico’s ballad “These Days,” a song penned by Jackson Browne, is incredibly beautiful as

APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022

Marshall’s echoing voice possesses a mercurial, Nico-like quality.

“I think the Velvet Underground in general was a huge influence on me,” she says. “They broke the mold with their sound. Nico broke the mold by becoming a female icon. She was so broken. That European classical way of singing that I wanna say is very Catholic is very influential. It’s that church-ingrained mentality. It’s like, ‘Don’t speak and don’t have an identity — just conform.’ She brought such strength and grace and elegance and such sadness and darkness. We started playing it on the Wanderer tour. One night, Jackson (Browne) came to the show, and I played it for him, and he liked it and now plays it again when he’s on tour. I got to meet him, and he’s super cool.”

With a career that now stretches back 31 years, Marshall has somehow managed to survive in a world that doesn’t make it easy for independent artists. So what has been the key?

“Basically, it’s been my community,” Marshall says. “It was playing shows with these people and meeting them over and over through the years. Elliott

Smith and Sleater-Kinney and Quasi.

It’s a long list of different bands. That’s what kept me going. Lana Del Rey asked me to go on tour with her when I was dropped from my record label.

Being a part of the music community has kept me going.

“It’s that community, and the community that would come to these shows and offer places to sleep on their floors. I developed those friendships all around the world. In all these different places, I have friends who are not part of a clique. They’re not part of the scene. We fortified each other as a peer group. Maybe we weren’t so happening.

These are painters and writers and different people I’ve met along the way.

I think that’s what helped me survive.”

Cat Power plays The Vogue (6259 N. College Ave., Indianapolis) at 8 p.m.

April 26. Tickets are $35. More info: thevogue.com.

This story was originally published by CityBeat sister paper Cleveland Scene.

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Dark Star Orchestra (The Grateful Dead Experience) September 24th & 25th Horseshoes & Hand Grenades w/ Kyle Tuttle Band, The Tillers and Restless Leg String Band October 1st The Lacs October 8th

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STAY MORE BETUNED NICE ORFOR LEAVE ANNOUNCEMENTS COMING SOON! APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022|

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31

SOUND ADVICE H.E.R.

Tuesday, April 26 • Andrew J Brady Music Center H.E.R., who recently made waves with her soulful single, “Damage,” is set to blaze through the Andrew J Brady Music Center this month.

That track most recently earned her a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Performance, though it was her song “Fight For You” — written for the film Judas and the Black Messiah — that nabbed her the award for Best Traditional R&B Performance. If you hadn’t heard of her before this year’s Grammys, you most likely know who she is now (the album that “Damage” is on, Back of My Mind, also was nominated for Album of the Year and Best R&B Album).

While not exactly unknown, H.E.R. — the stage name of 24-year-old Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson — has managed to slide under the radar of the general music-loving population for a few years. Though she’s been performing since she was a young teen, her real “breakthrough” came in 2016 with the release of her debut EP H.E.R. Vol. 1. Even then, if you weren’t listening to R&B radio or taking musical recommendations from NPR (which named it one of the five “Essential R&B Albums You Slept On in 2016”), you were probably unaware of her existence.

Then came 2020 and her captivating performance of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” for the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards’ “In Memoriam” segment. That was followed up by a 2021 Super Bowl pregame appearance and, most recently, her powerhouse performance at this year’s Grammys.

During the awards show, the singer started a musical medley with her deep and moody singles “Damage” and “We Made It,” with producers/songwriters Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis on keytar and bass, respectively. Then she quickly launched into a showstopping performance of “Are You Gonna Go My Way” alongside Travis Barker and Lenny Kravitz.

Not even Kravitz’s sky-high sparkly boots could detract from H.E.R.’s shining stage presence. She’s cool, calm and just so dang enthralling.

Come out. Catch the magic of H.E.R. firsthand.

Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets start at $59.50. More info: bradymusiccenter. com. (Deirdre Kaye)

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H.E.R. P H OTO : T I M SAC C E N T I

North By North with Fruit LoOops and Dearest Friday, April 29 • MOTR Pub By their own count, Chicago Garage Rock duo North By North has been booked for nearly 800 shows since 2016, performing almost nightly on their marathon tours. The band’s third album Get Weird — released in 2020 — offers a more fleshed-out glimpse of their raucous live sound.

Sharing Bluesy, nostalgic inclinations with The White Stripes and Thee Oh Sees, the record is laden with sinister chord progressions and wriggling organ tones, providing an appropriately spooky backdrop for their reverbsoaked vocals.

APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022

During live performances, their approach is stripped back to guitar and drums, putting added emphasis on vocalist and guitarist Nate Girard’s theatrical delivery.

Unfettered by the restraints of spelling, capitalization and music theory, Cincinnati quintet Fruit LoOops molds a similar raw energy in their own twisted image. Led by frontperson Jackie Switzer, the band’s anarchic spirit recalls the collision of Post-Punk and New Wave in the late ’70s, when acts like X-Ray Spex and Suburban Lawns imbued the underground with skronky snark.

Fresh off of a tour with Kenyan metal duo Duma, they’ve returned to their

home city with a signature blend of live music and Dadaist performance art.

Five-piece band Dearest, also based in Cincinnati, is the youngest and most melodically-minded act on this bill. Though they’ve yet to release a full album, the three singles the band dropped over the course of 2021 showcase Dearest’s affinity for vocal harmonies and memorable riffs.

“Honey” is the best of the bunch: a breezy Pop tune with an instrumental refrain that harkens back to late ’00s Indie anthems — there’s no shortage of chiming guitars and woah-oh-ohs.

10 p.m. show. Free admission. More info: motrpub.com. (Jude Noel)

LeAnn Rimes P H O T O : PA R A D I G M A G E N C Y. C O M

RECENTLY

ANNOUNCED

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Buddy Guy and John Hiatt

June 9 and June 10, Taft Theatre

July 30, Taft Theatre

Dead & Company June 22, Riverbend Music Center

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LeAnn Rimes

Aug. 6, Andrew J Brady Music Center

July 8, Hard Rock Casino

Less Than Jake, Bowling for Soup and The Aquabats!

July 9, PromoWest Pavilion at OVATION

The Psychedelic Furs July 20, Andrew J Brady Music Center

Collective Soul and Switchfoot

Lany Aug. 13, Andrew J Brady Music Center

Lauv Aug. 21, Andrew J Brady Music Center

Pitbull Aug. 23, Riverbend Music Center

Interpol and Spoon

July 26, PromoWest Pavilion at OVATION

Sept. 1, Andrew J Brady Music Center

Outlaw Music Festival (Willie Nelson, ZZ Top, Gov’t Mule and Larkin Poe)

Sept. 16, PNC Pavilion

July 30, Riverbend Music Center

Greta Van Fleet July 30, Heritage Bank Center

Lee Brice Sabaton Oct. 8, Andrew J Brady Music Center

Joe Satriani Oct. 22, Taft Theatre

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Bob Driehaus Bob Schute Bobby Straka Brad Gibson Brandi Ballou Brent Stroud Brian Boyer Brian Boyer Carol Horn Charles Curran Chas Wiederhold Chet Closson Chris And Emily Dobbs Chris Bennington Chrissie Carli Christine Jansen Christopher Dalton Christopher Hachfeld Christopher Kelsen Christyl Johnson Chuck Davis Chuck Lohre Clarity Amrein Colleen Mccroskey Craig Marshall Smith Crystal Dandridge Cynthia Rose Dan Bockrath Dan Klco Dan Lee Daniel Browne David Askam

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Jared Newman Jason Gargano Jeanne Fisher Jeff Brinkman Jeff Mellott Jennifer Mastrorocco Jill Dunne Jill Dunne Jill Morenz Jim Nolan Joan Smith Joe Rosemeyer John Alberti John Bealle John Funk John Gillespie John Yung Jon Berger Jonathan Goolsby Joseph Gastenveld Joseph Groh Joseph Metz Jude Noel Judy Breetz Jules Rosen Julie Coppens Julie Doepke Justin Levy Karen Dews Kathleen Kern Kathryn Grever Kathy Lutz

Katie Barrier Katie Brown Katie Niemeyer Keith Pandolfi Ken Katkin Kenzie Borgmann Kevin Clarisey Kevin Cole Kevin Necessary Kevin Reynolds Kevin Shaw Kiersten Wones Kristi Jones Kristin Wilson Kristin Wilson Kristin Woeste Krystan Krailler Kyle Ley Laura Simkow Lauren Spadafore Laurie Althaus Lewis Riley Leyla Shokoohe Linda Harris Lindsay King Lindy Kroell Lisa Mauch Lisa Slutsky Logan Lautzenheiser Louis Kerr Louisa Passano Madison Landon

Manos Semertzides Margaret Mcgurk Margy Waller Mariann Quinn Mark Jeffreys Mark Mahoney Mary Burton Mary Manera Mary Uetrecht Mary Woodconstable Mary-Elizabeth Keefe Matthew Jent Matthew Long Matthew Regnold Matthew Swaidan Melissa Werner Melvin Grier Michael Dillon Michael James Michele Hobbs Michelle Jones Mike Obrian Molly Scruta Monica Betomakita Monica Lira Morgan Wolf Natalie Coyle Natalie Krebs Nathan Kemphues Nick Barrows Nick Moscato Noah Goertemiller

Pam Collins Parker Cohen Patricia Wegman Paul Slater Penny Rose Phil Carver Phil Clark Rachel Szeles Randall Smith Rhonda Dossenbach Rich Richmond Richard Emery Rick Baker Rigel Behrens Robert Brumberg Robert Drake Robert Kuhn Russell Storm Ryan Brown Sabrina Baxter Samantha Grier Samantha Tansino Samuel Easter Samuel Huntington Santoshi Mahendra Sarah Estes Scott Lincoln Sean Hughes Sean Hughes Sean Owens Seth Robinson Shannon Drake

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Shari Kelly-Burrows Shelly Woodward Sherrie Kinderdine Sophie Wean Stephen Kuntz Stephen Sauer Steven Magas Stu Mcculloch Tammy Richardson Tara Keesling Teresa Brolley Thomas Hastings Thomas Scanlon Tiffany Vitagliano Tim Shumrick Timmy Broderick Timothy Dewald Timothy Reeder Tom Allen Tom Woodall Travis Gysegem Troy Brumley Tyler Waddell Vasilios Antoniadis Victoria Brink Vyronika Raevyn Wanda Nichols Zane Lesko

BOX SEATS 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. 1981 Genesis album 7. “Very funny” network 10. “Outside the Lines” network 14. Dirty up again 15. Baby’s bawl 16. Tiglon’s mother 17. Play about the Wingfield family 20. Going places?

21. Pizza flavoring 22. Abbr. in my snail mail address 23. Part of a Home Run Derby call 25. “The Blindman’s Meal” painter 28. “Time And Free Will” philosopher 30. Antiquated ed.’s request 32. UVa athlete 33. ‘80s hair style 35. Longtime fighter of the 49-Across 36. Some courses 38. Uplift 40. Search for 41. Apt. ad info

42. Hesitant interjections 43. Crime boss nicknamed “Lucky” 47. “The Ballad of Czolgosz” musical 49. Dark order 50. Oscars rental 51. Shoe attachments 54. 1994 #1 Lisa Loeb hit 55. Stuffed item during December 59. Journalist Oz 60. Symbol of the Conservative Party in England 61. Strong-arm 62. Soup base, perhaps 63. Liberal arts dept.

64. In the middle, in dialect DOWN 1. Drawing room?

2. “Watch your mouth!”

3. Invariably 4. Some teeth 5. Be on the 30-Down

LAST PUZZLE’S ANSWERS:

/ ( ) 7 8 1 , 9 & , 1 & ' $ + / ( % 8 ) ) 8 1 2 6 7 8 % 7 2 5 $ 6 : + 2 6 ( $ 5 % 2 6 7 ( / 2 1 5 ( 1 7

3 / $ = ( 8 / ( , 1 1 $ 7 / * 1 $ , $ $ / 2 : , / ( + $ 5 & , * $ ' < 1 + 7 / 2 8 , : ( 2 1 , 2 1 2 1 & 5 ( , % ( $ ( 0 2 5

$ 5 , 6 ( 1 5 ( 6 7 $ 0 <

1 $ 5 & $ / ( 6 & + , / , + 7 2 1 8 / 2 * < * 6 6 $ - $ .

7 $ = 2 6 = , 1 3 , = = $ $ 1 6 6 $ 7 ( 0 3 , ( 6 ( & 5 8 7 . 2 6

39. It’s educational, according to The Pixies 42. Takes drugs 44. Duds 45. Hint 46. It’s all around you 48. Urban pollutant 49. Fischer beat him to become the World Champion 52. Sports car option 53. “I ___ I’ve said, merely competent” (Billy Joel) 54. Spin, in a way 55. One who runs around airports 56. WellPoint offering 57. Starchy foodstuff 58. Guest’s offering

6. Bill in fashion 7. Ninny 8. Bête noire 9. Novelty carpet 10. Girls name that means “torch” 11. Mediterranean winds 12. Maui menu item 13. It’s around 1:00 18. Red serge wearers 19. Look in awe 23. Org. involved in the Berlin Airlift 24. Fertilizer compound 26. Syrian leader 27. Gametes 29. ___ notes (wine characteristic) 30. It shows people who are out 31. Go-go 34. Brooklyn ___ 35. Mountain myth, maybe 36. Basic particle 37. Per se 38. Chutzpah

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APRIL 20, 2022 - MAY 3, 2022