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Out & About: Staff Picks Best Way to Break a Sweat: Attend a Staggering Statistics live show. Speaking of which, the local trio's blistering MidPoint slot in Neon's main room was akin to a trip to the gym: hot, sweaty and occasionally a strain on one's ass muscles. Favorite moment? After insisting that a pesky camera crew get out of his face, frontman Austin Brown had this to say to a clearly ecstatic standing-room-only crowd: "I guess we're not going to get on MTV now." Best New Band: Armed with a smoldering, deep-voiced frontwoman and a bluesy, minimalist sound reminiscent of Mazzy Star or Cat Power after several Pabsts, The High and Low is the latest band to surface from Cincinnati's ever-fertile musical soil. Expect more highs than lows to be in the quartet's future.
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Seat in a Movie Theater: Underneath Cincinnati Best Out-of-Town Review for a Local Band: Robert Christgau's rave for Wussy in The Village Voice was a major coup for the eclectic Roots-based quartet. Christgau, a longtime fan of frontman Chuck Cleaver's other band, The Ass Ponys, dropped this nugget about Wussy's first full-length, Funeral Dress: "11 three-minute songs, all about perfect, one after the other after the other." Best "Live" Band: The Anchor Grill, a gritty 24/7/365 pit-stop popular with the late-night crowd, has a slogan, "We may doze, but we never close." They also have a band that's always on duty - an automated cabaret lacking the delicate articulation of its Chuck E. Cheese counterpart but delivering a similar, eerie feeling when they play. This greasy spoon serves sandwiches and breakfast at any time of day. 438 W. Pike St., Covington, 859-431-9498. Best Cocktails with a "View": In addition to the wood-fired brick oven, the main attraction at Palomino is the martini. The best is dirty with Belvedere and blue cheese-stuffed olives. Oh, and garnished with the city's best floor-to-ceiling view of the hulking hole that will again be Fountain Square. Have another one for nostalgia's sake. Best Dessert Cocktail: No one ought to be drinking their troubles away, but if you're going to do it, do it properly with Kona Bistro's Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip Martini. It tastes like dessert, and it works like magic. If you could marry a drink, we'd be celebrating our third anniversary by now. 3012 Madison Road, Oakley, 513-842-5662. Best Singles Party Masquerading as an Arts Event: They're held at the Art Museum. Art is present during them. But do people actually view the art while attending a One World Wednesday or participate in arts-related activities? That's not entirely certain. And while it's possible, it might not be probable. One World Wednesday events highlight a different country each month, including (of course) the artwork of said country and different cultural rituals like dance, food and drink. But the events we've attended seem to highlight drinking the featured worldly alcohol while navigating the "singles-bar" type atmosphere-punctuated with occasional food. They say there's an art to that, too. 953 Eden Park Drive, Mount Adams, 513-721-ARTS. Best Art Kids on the Block: Graphic design and fine art cohabitate at Powerhouse Factory Design, the rehabbed three-story brick Covington building that's also home to the most creative kids in the Tristate. It's a commercial printing business with a first-floor gallery and retail shop, a second-floor work space and a third-floor loft living space where the Western Kentucky University grads live. Not only do they create Rock posters seen all over town, they also do prints, T-shirts and host regular gallery shows. Do these people sleep? We kinda hope not.
Best Gallery With the Longest Name: Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center Best Hard-Working Art Gallery: Junior Gallery might not be the most polished gallery (yet), but give it a year or two. Despite the fact that it hasn't even celebrated its first birthday yet, this gallery has multiple reasons to celebrate, including remarkable, eclectic programming and a commitment to showcasing contemporary art and artists. Dedicated to showcasing and cultivating emerging artists, Junior might be young (hence the name), but its goals are far from it. Best Way to Bring University Art Downtown: One of the newest and most intriguing spaces downtown has to offer is University Galleries on Sycamore, a space where the constant and the ever-changing exist in an interesting juxtaposition. The space presents UC's Fine Arts Collection in its first permanent exhibition venue in the history of the university, yet also provides a venue for a rotating series of exhibitions by DAAP students and faculty as well as local and regional contemporary artists and designers. Bravo! 628 Sycamore St., Downtown, 513-241-1400. Best New Bright Spot in Over-the-Rhine: Despite any and all controversy surrounding the Art Academy's new building, nobody can argue with the fact that it's one of the reasons to hold on to hope for an area that can always use it. Located just two blocks from Main Street and the Final Friday gallery district, the new building opened last summer amid much celebration from students, faculty, alumni and area businesses. The warehouse-esque space is sprawling and raw, exactly what the Art Academy needs to accommodate classrooms and exhibition space for its creative masses. 1212 Jackson St., Over the Rhine, 513-562-6262. Best Way to Trick People into Liking Public Art: Leave it to ArtWorks to wrap what can be the jagged little pill of public art in a cold, sweet and sugary treat. The ArtWorks Ice Cream Truck is bound to turn up just about anywhere, not just art-related events. Festooned with art, the old-school truck stays stocked with cups of free UDF ice cream. Make a donation while you're at it. To find out the truck's schedule this summer, Best Hand Jobs: From a distance, it looked like some kind of caveman interpretation. It was actually the regional championship for the the USA Rock Paper Scissors League tournament March 3 at downtown sports bar Game Day. Complete with a referee to keep the rules straight - rock smashes scissors, etc. - it was serious business. Bud Light, one of the league's sponsors, even distributed Mardi Gras-style beads with graphics of a hand doing you-know-what. Oh, and the champion's prize was a trip for two to Vegas April 9 to compete in the finals, where the grand prize is $50,000. The lucky man - he admitted there's no strategy - was 31-year-old Jason "D-Mack" Dimaculangan of Mount Airy, an insurance agent by day and head promoter for Purgatory and Continental Lounge by night. Rock paper scissors us proud, Jason. Best of, uh, luck. www.usarps.com. Best Way to Start a New City Council Term: The arts community rejoiced when Cincinnati Councilman Jim Tarbell, known to most as a staunch arts supporter, was appointed Vice Mayor by Mark Mallory. Already head of Council's Arts and Culture committee, Tarbell has done well by the arts in past years, trying to keep city-funded arts cuts to a minimum, encouraging council-wide support of the arts and putting his money where is mouth is (you're likely to see him in attendance at any number of theater performances or arts events). Best Time Machine: Going to the Cincinnati Playhouse last September offered a window back to San Francisco in the 1960s when Janis Joplin reigned as the queen of Blues and Rock. Love, Janis made you remember (or experience for the first time) why Joplin's no-holds-barred singing grabbed a generation. It was especially powerful when Cincinnati singer Lauren Dragon, who alternated the role with another actress, was onstage recreating those gut-wrenching vocals. 962 Eden Park Circle, Mount Adams, 513-421-3888.
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Singing Editorialist: Jake Speed Best Diversity Vibe: We saw it coming for five years, but when the Cincinnati Opera's production of Margaret Garner finally arrived at Music Hall in July 2005 we were still impressed by the crowds that turned out. The tragic story was inspired by a real woman trying to escape to Cincinnati from enslavement in Kentucky. It made many people - who had never before attended an opera - stop and think. Bravo, and encore! 1241 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-768-5500 Best Sign of Arts South of the River: The Carnegie Visual + Performing Art Center has truly become a showplace, especially with its beautifully renovated century-old theater. Last weekend's opening of the Otto M. Budig Theatre (fixed up for about $2 million) means our area has another great space for performers to share their artistry. Look for theater productions this summer. Best Onstage Magic: If you haven't been a regular at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, you're missing something spectacular. With each production, designer Brian Mehring's takes an imperfect space - it's small and the theater seats are on a steep slope - and makes the perfect setting for storytelling. He does it with modest funding, too. Let's buy some more tickets and see what he does with a better budget. 1127 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-421-3555 Best New Theater Scene: It's still a work in progress, but it appears that Northside could become another neighborhood for interesting theater. Lyle Benjamin, who runs Queen City Off Broadway, has produced several shows this season in the Cincinnati Artist Warehouse (4011 Hamilton Ave.), and we recently saw another great space (4120 Hamilton Ave.) where theater veteran Dale Hodges staged Les Belles-Soeurs in February. The latter is named (at least temporarily) "The Village Theater." We like the sound of that. Best Evidence of an Arts District: Know Theatre Tribe, who have been engaging audiences at Gabriel's Corner since the late 1990s, now have a new home at 1120 Jackson St. just south of the new Art Academy and only a block from Ensemble Theatre. In 1999 CityBeat talked about the prospects for an "arts district" in Over-the-Rhine - could it finally be happening? Best Homecoming: Greg Dulli's keynote speech at MidPoint Music Festival was like a reunion with a long-lost friend. Dulli discussed his storied past as the Afghan Whigs frontman, fielded questions from late-'80s scene-mates and dished out tips on how to deal with the ever-evolving music business, all with his trademark candor and wit. Come back more often, Greg. Best New Live Local Music Series: It sometimes takes a little extra push to get people out to see local original music, especially downtown. But with the inspiration of the MidPoint Music Festival and the "Jammin' OnÉ" fest, "Exile on Main Street" has become like a "Final Friday" (though it's usually on the first Friday of the month) for musicians and music fans, as several clubs around the Main Street Entertainment District open their doors (for at least one night) to the city's finest original rockers. With a rotating "curator" each month selecting the performers, the monthly event stays fresh and interesting. Best Sign of the Local Music Apocalypse: Two of the best bands in Cincinnati over the past 10 years, AltPop trio Promenade and Electro rockers Chalk, broke up within less than a month of each other last summer. Softening the sting slightly, both bands also released new CDs at their farewell shows. But making the sting stingier, both discs were the best of their respective careers. "Uh oh, they always come in threes," you say? Thee Shams, another of Cincy's cornerstone original bands, followed suit and split earlier this year. The sky is falling! Best Way to Get Local Music Fans to Read: OK, so it's a picture book, but Tokyo Rose Records' Where the Kids Are Goin' Tonite photo tome documenting the past 25 years of local Punk/Post Punk/Alternative/Indie bands was a welcome walk down memory lane, worthy of the "time capsule" for future generations. What's that? Photo book not cool enough for you? Well, jerky, how about the inclusion of a two-CD set, iLove, featuring new love songs written and recorded by local acts like The Ass Ponys, The Fairmount Girls, Staggering Statistics and Ruby Vileos? Yeah, that's what I thought. Best Local Music Flashback: Shake It Records reminded everyone that, despite the national (and sometimes local) assumption that Cincinnati is ass-backwards and behind the times culturally, we actually have a great tradition of being ahead of the curve musically. The compilation CD Auto Glamour Sound is a fascinating document of the adventurous late "70s/early "80s Art Punk underground scene here, featuring acts from the old Hospital Records roster like 11,000 Switches, Human Zoo and BPA (who were also feted with their own retrospective from Shake It last year, Maybe Use My Knife). Best Local Landmark on MTV: High-profile Dayton Emo band Hawthorne Heights filmed its hit video for "Niki FM" at Newport's Southgate House, giving Greater Cincinnati's finest original music club some national airtime. The majestic, historic venue got even more exposure as the shoot was chronicled for MTV's Making the Video show. Sadly, no Junie cameo. www.truebodyproject.org Best National Surge for a Local Band: Every year for local Garage/Pop trio The Greenhornes seems to be better than the last, and this year was another pinnacle. Already possessing a phone-book-sized press kit full of lavish praise from publications around the world, the band released its first offerings for mega-indie V2 Records (an EP and "catching up with" compilation) and opened an international tour for The White Stripes. The Hornes' Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler also made news with their "side project," The Raconteurs (featuring Jack White and Brendon Benson), the most anticipated new band of 2006. Best Local Music Film: OK, it's really the only one, but with Dead On it's good to know local musicians are inspiring enough to make up an entire documentary. Making it more interesting, local filmmaker John Parker made the film using the rules of the experimental film doctrine, Dogme 95 manifesto. Telling the story of making original music in the 'Nati, the film featured talk and performance from local acts like Abiyah, Jake Speed, Buckra, Jim Cole, Ronnie Thompson and Michael McIntire and the Marmalade Brigade. Best Music Video Crafters: If you can find music videos on TV anymore, chances are you've seen the work of Over-the-Rhine video production house Lightborne. The company has helmed clips by Kenny Chesney (they've also created video designs for Chesney's upcoming world tour), Bad Religion, Atmosphere and Cincy's Greenhornes, and they've also done extensive work on promos for MTV. Some work on the recent video debut from The Raconteurs (featuring a couple of Greenhornes and Jack White of The White Stripes and directed by auteur Jim Jarmusch) was also done by Lightborne, which, in the interest of full disclosure, is a sister company of CityBeat's - a bratty, know-it-all sister, but we love 'em anyway. Best Hip Hop Writer: Paraphrasing KRS-One, Mildred Fallen is Hip Hop. Aside from her intense knowledge of the culture, she captures the essence of Cincinnati's vibrant and often underrated Hip Hop scene like no one else. Need to know who spins and who spits in and around the city? See (and read) Mildred in CityBeat and elsewhere. Best Hip Hop Spot: Top Cats Best Place to Listen to Wham! on a Saturday Night: Looking to dance to music you like but can't admit to? Then head over to '80s night Saturdays at alchemize. With cheap drinks and The Breakfast Club on the big screen, it's a night of cool without the pretension. 1122 Walnut St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-381-2400. Best Kentucky Representation: Louisville's My Morning Jacket paid a visit back to Bogart's in October, bewitching all with their performance (of mostly new numbers), which, if you closed your eyes, you'd bet was Neil Young backed by The Flaming Lips. Two words: Wordless Chorus. We waited throughout the entirety of the show for frontman Jim James' voice to crack, and it never did. Spectacular. Best Creative Use of 48 hours: The 48 Hour Film Festival is a smorgasbord of creativity, just another example of our area's ever-vital, often underappreciated arts scene. Local filmmakers have but a weekend to write, shoot and edit a short film, many of which end up being as compelling as full-length movies with million-dollar budgets. You hear that, Renny Harlin? Best Literary Jack-of-All-Trades: Brock Clarke - UC professor, author, editor and all-round lit junkie - has had a stellar year, following up his first novel, 2001's Ordinary White Boy, with a fine collection of short stories, Carrying the Torch. Best Book Reading: Sam Lipsyte's animated reading last October from his criminally underappreciated novel, Home Land, left his audience gasping for air amid a torrent of gut-busting one-liners and its strangely touching story of a thirtysomething dude adrift in a contemporary New Jersey. Best Threads: The Cincinnati Art Museum celebrated fashion as art form from November to early March with a solo exhibition of "wearable art" by New York-based artist Cat Chow. She's a Material girl - key indicators would be her gowns lovingly constructed out of dollar bills, Ivory soap labels and spiraling, continuous zippers. What's more, their significance at times trumped the pieces themselves; "Feminine Protection," a glimmering cocktail dress made of flower-patterned metal washers and copper jump rings, spoke to our inner Rosie the Riveter. 953 Eden Park Drive, Mount Adams, 513-721-ARTS. Best Healthy Image: Last June, local writers/ movement gurus Stacy Sims and Donna Covrett teamed up with other creative like minds - poet/filmmaker Aralee Strange, filmmakers Selena Burks and April Martin and 13 local high school girls - for the True Body Project, one of the ArtWorks summer apprenticeship projects. For six weeks these women sought truths about their physiques, body images and voices via cool, get-in-touch-with-your-inner-(badass)self activities like Pilates, visits with Women Writing for (a) Change and InkTank, examining the body in the visual art realm, boxing and writing. Self respect for our future? Truly brilliant. www.truebodyproject.org. Best Community Art Show: Artist and programmer Saad Ghosn turns away no one for his S.O.S. shot of sociopolitical art advocating peace and justice. It's why the exhibition offers a broad sample of established artists, emerging work, even art from students at Corryville Catholic Elementary. No one will confuse S.O.S. with a museum-quality exhibition but that's not its main point. Issues of peace and justice affect everyone, and everyone should have the chance to comment artistically if they so choose. Best Arts Ambassador: Tony Luensman has enjoyed local recognition as the longtime co-director of the performance arts group Saw Theater. His Cincinnati profile continues to grow via his multi-media art installations at the Weston Art Gallery and the Annie Bolling Gallery. But multiple installations at the Taiwan Contemporary Arts Center have shifted the spotlight to the international stage, and Luensman is fast gaining a worldwide reputation - which means Cincinnati audiences are finally willing to embrace him as the best visual artist in town. It helps to strike it big elsewhere before the hometown crowd accepts you. Best Arts Director: InkTank Executive Director Jeff Syroney spends his days staring at the grit outside the Main Street storefront of InkTank, the literacy support non profit he co-founded in Over-the-Rhine. Maybe that's why he's dedicated to making the community a more creative place and, more impressive, why he focuses his arts program on the disadvantaged. Like many small arts groups, InkTank started with more dreams than financial resources. But Syroney is dedicated, efficient and tireless in spreading the InkTank mission. His efforts have paid off with a growing organization. He's also quick to recognize the people around him, another reason for the group's success. 1311 Main St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-542-0195 Best Movie Fish Tank: OMNIMAX Best Grass-Roots Gallery Owner: Recent University of Cincinnati College of DAAP graduate and longtime Over-the-Rhine resident Lily Mulberry put her time, money and passion for art to great use when she opened Gallery 1305 in a Main Street storefront in May 2005. Many share Mulberry's view that Over-The-Rhine is Cincinnati's arts neighborhood, but the twentysomething artist stands out for reaching into her own wallet and doing something about it. 1305 Main St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-374-5618 Best Out of Body Experience: Percussion much?! You didn't need to be able to hear to be able to feel the effect of the Kodo Drummers show last March at the Aronoff Center. With bodies cut as tight as the rhythm they beat, the male and female performers pump that rhythm throughout your being as you see the beat of your heart on stage. An out-of-body experience had, and a new appreciation gained. Best Alley Cat Show: Props to the downtown thinkers for reaching outside the box on this one back in June. The combination of an old favorite, the Violent Femmes, rockin' an unusual venue for music, the Backstage District alley near the Aronoff Center, had everyone there forgetting we were boxed in in the middle of downtown Cincinnati. Very atypical. Very alternative. Very cool. Best Cool Urban Bar: Hip grooves play every night of the week at Clique, and the bar staff is, dare we say it, cool. There's a very un-traditional Cincy club scene going on in this place, which really feels like a hot Chicago club without the Chicago cover charge. 6-8 W. Pike St., Covington, 859-491-0081 Best Bar to Make You Immediately Feel Like a Regular: Anyone can walk into Little Bit and feel welcomed and comfortable. The service is fast, and the bar staff is sweet and sassy. What more could a girl ask for? 2401 Vine St., Mount Auburn/Corryville, 513-721-8484 Best Bar for Pot Heads: Porkopolis Tavern and Grill maintains its low-key Cincinnati feel mixed with upper-class entertainment. Kilns from the old Rookwood pottery shop still decorate the interior of the building and are available for private dining parties. A bar at the entrance of the establishment make lone drinkers feel like they're truly at the center of the action. 1077 Celestial St., Mount Adams, 513-721-5456 Best Brewpub Lineup: For great German beer (handmade in America!) it's hard to beat Hofbrauhaus and their lineup of regular and seasonal specialties. Everything from the refreshing Munich Weizen (wheat beer) to their hearty Dunkel is spot on in terms of flavor and quality. 200 Third St., Newport, 859-491-7200. Best Fired-Up Crooners: Local upstarts The Cathedrals delivered a fine performance amid the 100-plus-degree heat - not to mention the hype surrounding their winning a nationwide contest to appear - at Lollapalooza 2005 in Chicago. Armed with angular guitars and presence to spare, the quartet's moody, '80s-inspired soundscapes left the somewhat sparse crowd (they played Sunday's opening slot at a ghettoized stage) begging for more. Best Multi-Media Extravaganza: The second annual Lite Brite Film Test lit up the Southgate House in July with a variety of eye- and ear-catching options, from the local premiere of the hilarious and oddly touching Rock documentary Dig to the haunting sounds of England's Scout Niblett and locals The Light Wires. Miss future installments at your peril. Best Theme Show: '80s Pop Rocks at the Southgate House, where dozens of local bands covered an '80s song to grand effect in July. Highlights abound, but we'd be remiss to not mention Le Technopuss13s' uproarious, thoroughly rousing version of Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." |
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