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AUTOMAGIK’S GOLDMINE ELEVATES THE CINCINNATI BAND’S GAME WITH A BLEND OF BLAZING INDIE ROCK, SOULFUL R&B AND IMMEASURABLE PASSION

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NEWS Is Cincinnati Getting Serious About Pedestrian Safety? Following a number of pedestrian deaths, some elected officials say the city needs to fundamentally change how it approaches efforts to keep walkers safe

A crosswalk paddle in Northside PH OTO: NIC K SWARTSELL

BY N I C K SWA R T S EL L

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ifteen-year-old freshman Gabby Rodriguez was running to catch her Metro bus to Western Hills High School the morning of Sept. 10 last year when she was sideswiped by a Dodge Journey on four-lane Harrison Avenue. As she struggled to get up, a white car hit her again. The driver of the Dodge stopped. The white car did not, and authorities are still searching for the driver. Rodriguez succumbed to her injuries at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital later that day. “September 10, 6:40 a.m. was the worst phone call I’ve ever gotten,” Eduardo Rodriguez, Gabby’s father, told Cincinnati City Council Jan. 7. “And then to see her in the back of the ambulance, there was my daughter like a fish out of the water. It’s the drivers. We tend to be in a hurry. One minute late, two minutes late. We don’t think about the outcomes. We have to pay attention, especially when we’re driving on busy roads with a lot of kids around.” In the wake of a number of tragic injuries and deaths involving pedestrians like Rodriguez hit by cars in Cincinnati in the past few years, city officials are working to find ways to make walking safer in the Queen City. One — announced by Cincinnati City Council member Greg Landsman — includes legislation that asks city administration to report on moving the city toward a way of approaching traffic

safety called “Vision Zero.” Landsman’s proposed legislation has a number of other components, including requesting reports on the feasibility of naming a point person within the Cincinnati Police Department responsible specifically for pedestrian safety and a report on purchasing handheld cameras for the department that could capture speeders’ information and generate citations automatically. Perhaps the biggest — and broadest — piece Landsman would like the city to look into is Vision Zero. Vision Zero isn’t just a set of policies, its adherents say. Instead, according to advocates, it’s a whole different way of thinking about traffic in which fatalities from automobile-related incidents are entirely avoidable. Vision Zero calls for municipalities to set concrete, data-driven action plans with finite timelines to reach zero traffic fatalities. The concept originated in Sweden in the late 1990s, and has since been adopted by New York City, San Diego, Austin, Texas and other municipalities. In the two years since the concept was implemented in that last city, traffic deaths have declined by 25 percent — despite Austin’s massive population growth. The city has resolved to eliminate all traffic-related deaths by 2025.

The proposal comes as an increasing focus is being placed on pedestrian safety. The issue is reaching a critical state, officials say — something advocates for better walkability and pedestrian safety have been saying for years. Cars struck more than 425 pedestrians last year in Cincinnati, including more than 40 in December alone. That year-long total is almost twice as many incidents as the number recorded five years ago. Seven people died in those pedestrianautomobile incidents last year. And the incident that killed Rodriguez was just one of 13 traffic accidents involving Cincinnati Public Schools students making their way to school since the beginning of the school year, CPS Superintendent Laura Mitchell told council last week. Three other students were involved in separate late December accidents as they walked to schools on the West Side. One, Kenya Austin, was walking across an intersection when a car struck her, breaking her femur. The two others also involved students in crosswalks; in one case, a Cincinnati Police cruiser was just feet away. Those weren’t the first accidents that have garnered attention over the past few years. Others included the Nov. 26, 2016 death of 3-year-old Khloe Pitts, who died after a car hit her and sped away as her

family left the Festival of Lights at the Cincinnati Zoo in Avondale, and the death the next month of Sarah Cole, a popular Northside business owner who was struck and killed by a car on Hamilton Avenue. Cole and Pitts were among seven pedestrians who died after cars hit them that year. Another seven died the next year. After Cole’s death, efforts to make busy areas around Northside safer abounded. Most recently, the city’s Department of Transportation and Engineering made parking in the curb lanes on Hamilton Avenue 24 hours. Last year, during the pilot phase of that change, crashes there decreased by 40 percent over the year prior, and rush-hour crashes decreased by nearly 70 percent. That’s probably due to the fact traffic was reduced from four lanes to two, slowing traffic through the busy neighborhood business district. The parking arrangement is now permanent. Landsman has called for other changes, including making a busy Northside intersection at Chase and Florida avenues a four-way stop. In Northside and elsewhere, the Cincinnati Police Department temporarily stepped up traffic enforcement in some hot spots last year. That enforcement CONTINUES ON PAGE 07

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CITY DESK

New City Program Aims to Prevent Evictions BY S E T H W E B ER

Cincinnati City Council passed an ordinance Jan. 9 which seeks to help families facing eviction due to inability to pay rent. The ordinance, submitted by Council member Greg Landsman, will appropriate $227,000 from the Community and Economic Development Department’s non-personnel budget for a pilot program which aims to give one-time assistance to families who face eviction. Another $167,000 specific to the West End and related to the sale of city-owned land to a company moving for FC Cincinnati’s stadium there will bring the total money for the program up to $403,000. City Council passed the ordinance 6-1, with council member Amy Murray voting no. Murray found the initiative to be an unnecessary expense, citing aid through United Way to reduce homelessness and questioning the wisdom of starting a pilot program when the city has a $19 million budget deficit. Landsman argued that this initiative is vital to building a healthy economy and will prove to be less expensive for the city in the long run. “It’s much less expensive to keep people in their homes than to watch people lose their homes and the support needed in association with that,” he said.

Now that the ordinance has passed, the city will be doing the work of choosing a social services agency to partner with. Landsman said agencies being considered include the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Community Action Agency and Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME). St. Vincent de Paul has been doing this work for decades and in 2017 helped 2,000 Hamilton County residents with rent at a cost of $700,000, said Mike Dunn, executive director of Cincinnati’s Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Another $700,000 was used for utility assistance, he said. The need for eviction prevention is huge, Dunn said, and while an extra $227,000 for the cause would be welcome aid, there will still be a great number of people who would be turned down. Just for St. Vincent de Paul’s center at 1125 Bank St., 7,000 applications were turned down in 2017, said Mary Reid, director of social services. There were nearly 50,000 residential eviction filings in Hamilton County between 2014 and 2017, with 83.6 percent of the filings requesting a money judgment from the tenant, states a June 2018 study by Elaina Johns-Wolfe at the University of Cincinnati. The study also found that Hamilton County’s eviction rate was at 4.04 per 100 renter-occupied units, above the national average of 2.34.

A growing poverty rate and rising rent have not helped the situation. A February 2017 report by the Community Building Institute at Xavier University found the number of households in poverty in Hamilton County has risen 40 percent — from 41,587 to 58,046 — since 2000 and “overall, the availability and affordability of housing has not kept pace with the rise in poverty.” Black residents are among the hardest Walnut Hills has seen a high number of evictions over the past few years hit by the rising rent costs. PH OTO: NIC K SWARTSELL Overall, Cincinnati faces a roughly 30,000-unit gap when it comes to units of housing affordable for Chamber has recommended that $100,000 households making 30 percent of Hamof the pilot program’s money go to legal ilton County’s median income — about counsel for tenants facing eviction. The $14,678 a year — or less, according to the chamber also recommends allowing Ohio Housing Finance Agency. families one-time access to as much as The Hamilton County Human Services $2,000 in eviction prevention aid.

Organizers: Cincinnati Women’s March Canceled BY N I C K SWA R T S EL L The local iteration of the national Women’s March on Washington will not take place this year, at least according to a group of organizers who have been heading up planning for the Cincinnati event’s third year.

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Organizers writing on the Women’s March on Washington – Ohio Chapter’s Facebook page cited logistical difficulties as reasons for the cancellation of the scheduled Jan. 19 event.

“We have worked diligently... to bring to fruition our vision of an inclusive and diverse march that centers the experiences of women and femmes,” the Facebook post reads. “Unfortunately, we ran into several barriers that prevented that vision from being actualized in 2019. We were unable to confirm a location or secure event insurance. We understand the frustration and perhaps anger this may cause many, but we hope that deep commitment to the ideals of the Women’s March can fuel an even stronger coalition of progressive women and femmes to make our march in 2020 — election year — bigger and better than ever.”

Last year, the local iteration of the Women’s March drew thousands downtown to a space outside the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. But there was also contention from some activist groups, who felt the local organizers put too much emphasis on voting and promoting the Democratic Party over concerns about deeper issues around racial and economic justice. A coalition of activist groups including Cincinnati Black Lives Matter (now called Mass Action for Black Liberation), regional representatives from the American Indian Movement and others led a well-attended alternative event later in the day. Since then, controversy has arisen around the national Women’s March on Washington, with reports alleging racism, anti-Semitism and co-option of the event by a few well-connected organizers. Though new organizers took the helm of the local event this year, Cincinnati’s Women’s March has also seen tensions. In December, local activists with a group called Young Activists Coalition

announced they would be stepping away from the planning of the march due to questions around diversity. “On the national and state level, the Women’s March organization has failed to directly address specific concerns about antisemitism among the national leadership,” a Dec. 22 post by YAC read. The group was formerly called the Young Feminists Coalition and included high school and college students advocating on issues like gun control. “Members of the Greater Cincinnati community have been asking questions about both issues. YAC acknowledges that OWM has expressed reservations about YAC’s commitment to inclusivity and hopes that OWM will be willing to continue the dialogue so all concerns can be addressed.” The remaining Cincinnati march organizers also spoke about questions around inclusivity. “Our core group of organizers are three very passionate Black women committed to ensuring that the voices and experiences of women and femmes of color are always a part of any movement

targeting women,” the group said in a post on Jan. 12. “...This process had made even more clear to us how divided our community here in Cincinnati is. With the issues around the exclusion of women of color in the past two Cincinnati marches to the concerns about anti-semitism on the national level, many women and femmes are experiencing hurt, anger and distrust of one another. Over the course of the next year we hope to provide opportunities to explore those sentiments, to learn from each other and to hopefully bridge the divide.” Activist group Cincinnati Socialist Alternative will hold an event at Sawyer Point at 11 a.m. Jan. 19 for those still wanting to march. It’s unclear if other activist groups will also hold marches or other events for the day. Marches will still take place that day in many other cities, including Cleveland and Columbus, though other cities, including Chicago, have also seen their marches canceled. The main march through Washington, D.C. is still moving forward.

FROM PAGE 04

comes after media reports showed that the number of traffic citations written by Cincinnati police dropped 60 percent between 2009 and 2016. Despite those efforts, fatalities have continued. One of the most recent fatal incidents: the Dec. 30 death of 2-year-old Dameon Turner as his parents walked him in a stroller on the Hopple Street Viaduct. An impaired driver in a pickup truck hopped the curb, striking and killing Turner. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters Jan. 8 announced a grand jury had indicted the suspected driver, Satwinder Singh, on aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated vehicular assault and other charges. Singh, who is suspected of being intoxicated on multiple drugs when he was driving, faces 14 years in prison. That’s led to more intense efforts to buckle down on keeping pedestrians safe, as well as some debate about what that entails and who is responsible — drivers, pedestrians, officials or all of the above. Officials from the city’s Department of Transportation and Engineering, the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority’s Metro bus service and Cincinnati Public Schools Jan. 7 outlined potential measures to address

pedestrian-involved accidents around Western Hills and Dater High Schools — where a number of recent accidents involving students have happened — specifically. John Brazina and Dennis Lechlak of DOTE said the department is considering or has already implemented specific improvements to the area in order to improve pedestrian safety. Along with those improvements, DOTE officials said educating students about the hazards of traffic needed to be a priority. “Pedestrians have to be educated on how to use these crosswalks,” Lechlak told council. That drew a response from CPS Superintendent Mitchell. “Our first and No. 1 priority is that our children need to be safe,” she told council. “I do agree that our students need to be educated. But we’re finding that even when our students are educated, sometimes they’re hit. I think the bigger issue is really around driver safety. How can drivers across the city be more cognizant of pedestrians? It goes beyond, quite honestly, just educating our students. We need more active support as it pertains to (crossing guards) and as it pertains to educating drivers.”

Mitchell said the city should help increase the number of crossing guards working for the district. CPS currently pays about $750,000 a year for 94 crossing guards across the district. Three more crossing guards joined the complement around Dater and Western Hills High this month. Landsman also pushed back at the idea that pedestrians should drive efforts to prevent future traffic tragedies. “There is still the mentality in our Department of Transportation and Engineering that streets exist to get people from one place to another as fast as possible,” he said at a council meeting. “That viewpoint needs to change.” Metro, which carries a number of students to school each day, also promised changes to help improve safety. At Western Hills High and Dater, that includes changing bus stop patterns so that students are always dropped off on the side of the street their school is on, reducing the need to cross busy roads, Metro CEO Darryl Haley told council. Metro bus drivers have also been told not to stop their buses across crosswalks. In the longer term, it remains to be seen what the city will do about increasing rates of pedestrian injuries and fatalities

— something that has been a national trend in recent years. Almost 6,000 pedestrians died in traffic accidents in 2017, according to data from the Governors Highway Safety Association. A decade ago, that number was fewer than 4,000. While it’s unclear whether there is enough political will for a comprehensive solution like Vision Zero, elected officials have pledged to do more to push the city toward a time when traffic deaths don’t happen. “People have to watch out for children, for adults, for high school kids, in crosswalks,” Council member Amy Murray said during a Jan. 7 council committee meeting. “We need to make sure people are safe where they’re crossing, but we also need to ask people at home, please make sure you’re not texting and driving, make sure you’re driving the speed limit and if you see a school bus or a Metro bus, be aware because we don’t want this to happen again.” Landsman says it will take a sweeping effort to end traffic fatalities. “This is about keeping children and families safe, and right now, we have a ton of work to do,” he tweeted announcing his push for Vision Zero Jan. 7.

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AUTOMAGIK’S GOLDMINE ELEVATES THE CINCINNATI BAND’S GAME WITH A BLEND OF BLAZING INDIE ROCK, FUNKY R&B AND IMMEASURABLE PASSION

AUT O M AGI K’ S ‘ GO L DM I N E’ B R I N GS I N DI E R O CK I N T O T HE DI S CO

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

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PHOTOS BY EMERSON SWOGER

ast month, four days before Christmas, Automagik stalked onto the stage of Over-the-Rhine’s Woodward Theater with one clear directive — adrenalize the assembled multitude with songs from their new album, Goldmine, as well as selected nuggets from their potent catalog. After an electrifying opening set from Hip Hop troupe Triiibe, the members of Automagik took their places one at a time. Drummer Andy Cluxton established the pulse, then bassist Jamie Rasmussen added some slippery Funk for the trunk. Lead guitarist Devin Williams sauntered out in his white denim jacket and pants (sullied later in the evening by a drunken face plant into a mud puddle), and ripped off a few searing riffs, hyping frontman Zachary Evans' appearance with this appropriate introduction: “And now, the Dad of Disco from San Francisco… Kentucky: The Dance Enforcer.” Evans, resplendent in a silver jacket with

gold epaulets over a spangled sleeveless T-shirt, counted in and Automagik launched its set like a Saturn V taking off from Cape Canaveral. Streaking into the stratosphere to the blistering, ass-shaking strains of “Fashion Police” from the group’s 2013 sophomore full-length, Black Sundae, the band immediately established the baseline groove and rhythmic attitude for Goldmine's album release show. The quartet followed up with its first taste of new material, the Soul/Indie Pop booty/ Bootsy swagger of “Sexual Tension.” The song and the glittery reminder of ’70s club life were a mere taste of the full throttle danceathon ahead. The show and new album signify the Indie Rock group’s whole-hearted move into a more funky and dance-friendly direction. “We've got a big ass golden disco ball,” Evans says. “Anytime that becomes part of the picture, you've done something right.”

A GREAT ESCAPE

Next, the band was in the midst of a fairly hectic touring schedule during the 2016 presidential campaign and the discord and division that still afflicts the country was beginning to become more apparent. The musicians weren't interested in soapboxing for its own sake. “We were in a weird spot as a band, and the country was in a weird spot as well,” Evans says. “We're not super into politics but the social climate was pretty tense, and we wanted to escape all that.” Finally, Automagik heard about the somewhat clustered deaths of David Bowie, Glenn Frey and Prince while in that same touring cycle. Evans and Williams suddenly found themselves wanting to avoid writing elegies to fallen icons and instead chose to celebrate the music they left behind. “When Prince died, that was a clear, definite low. We wanted to make an album that was high, that celebrated Prince and life and positivity,” Evans says. “Coming off that tour, we wanted to make music that we were having fun making. It needed to be sexy and it needed to make you dance. “Every song is the heartbeat tempo — 120 BPM — so it's human as hell. We were looking to our heroes and trying to find ourselves at the same time, and we're pretty pumped about where it landed.”

AUT O M AGI K’ S ZACHAR Y EVAN S

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Only Automagik's most fervent fans would be aware of the evening's most potent surprise; every song from Goldmine performed that evening would represent the first time any of them had been played in front of an audience. Performances don't get much more kamikaze than that. “They weren't road-tested yet, we were dealing with new instrumentation — two keyboards onstage — and we weren't sure how it was going to come together,” Evans says. “That added to the excitement and anticipation, especially with the keyboards. We like to rock. We like to plug our guitars into our amplifiers and turn them up and that's it.” Goldmine was created quickly in the summer of 2016, written over the course of seven weeks, recorded in the basement of Evans' parents and, other than a couple of songs written the following year, completed in about two weeks. Less a departure and more a fresh approach to the souful Indie Rock Automagik had successfully crafted over the previous six years, Goldmine was inspired by three distinct sources: the early stylistic influences of primary songwriters Evans and lead guitarist Williams, the 2016 presidential race and that year's significant musical deaths. First and foremost, Evans and Williams utilized their time-tested writing process of holing up in a room together and banging out songs. But their childhood love of R&B and Soul came out in more direct ways than it had on the band's earlier releases. “In the history of Automagik, a lot more Pop Rock and Pop Punk was prevalent,” Williams says. “The funkiness and those kind of Prince/Michael Jackson hooks were always kind of hanging out in the background, peeking through in synthesizer lines on stuff like 'Boogie Man' and 'Fashion Police.' “Soul and R&B have been in our DNA since we were kids and they're just resurfacing now. I was into Boys II Men when I was a kid, then I got steered into Punk when I was an angry teenager, then came Rock & Roll and the classics, and now it's back to R&B, Soul and the positive groove but with everything else brought along, coming to a good place.”

The roots of Automagik stretch back a decade, when Williams, drummer Teddy Aitkins and bassist Skylyn Ohlenkamp were looking for a vocalist to front their new Mars Volta/Fall of Troyflavored project, The Javelin Dance. Williams found Evans through a Craigslist ad and, after hearing a couple of his songs, invited him to jam. “I held up a sign so he didn't drive past that said, 'Don't Not Stop,' ” Williams says. “I also promised him a milkshake.” “Ten years later, I still haven't gotten that damn milkshake,” Evans says. “All I got was this stupid band.” The Javelin Dance made in-roads with some limited touring, even opening for one of their inspirations, Fall of Troy. But the “progressive noodlers,” as Williams describes the band at the time, began to unravel. “Way too much shredding,” Evans says. “It was like, 'How difficult can we make a song to play? Everyone do that.' ” When relations with Ohlenkamp became strained, Evans and Aitkins provided the solution that led to formation of Automagik. “Teddy and Zach said, 'The only way we can continue to play together and not kick him out of the band is to start a completely new band,' ” Williams says. “I was like, ‘OK, let's start a band where we write goofy Pop songs and I'll play keyboards.' That's when we did the first Automagik album and Javelin Dance fell off after that.” Keyboardist Baron Walker and bassist Dylan Oseas (Injecting Strangers, Oids) did stints with Automagik, and, in 2013, Aitkins relocated to Maryland and started a family. Evans and Williams returned to Craigslist where they found Cluxton's ad. “He had listed Red Hot Chili Peppers and Mars Volta (as stylistic touchstones), and we were like, 'Ooh, man, I think this is the one,' ” Evans says. “We'd talked to some stragglers that were not the one.” By chance, Cluxton and Rasmussen had accepted an audition with a cover band and showed up for the try-out on the same night. Cluxton says he suggested warming up with some Chili Peppers and was met by blank stares; he didn't return. At the next practice, Rasmussen asked the band for Cluxton's number and texted him. “I played with a few local bands, none worth mentioning, and I'd only played one or two paying gigs in my entire life,” Rasmussen says. “These guys had all this stuff lined up and I just wanted to play

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CREATING MAGIK

A U T OM A G I K B A SSI ST J A M I E R A SM U SSE N

music and get paid. But I texted Andy and said, 'Hey, man, that was fun. Let me know if you're ever doing something else.' A month later, he was with these guys and hit me up. We came in right after Black Sundae.” The current lineup of Automagik was solidified with the new rhythm section's willingness to get in the van and tour, surviving on what Evans describes as “cheese, $3 wine and sad dads,” the latter being band code for cold Chef Boyardee right from the can. Over the next three years, the reconstituted Automagik recorded 2015's Dark Daze and 2016's The Road EPs. The group played locally and toured relentlessly until the completion of Goldmine, after which they largely retreated from the road and recorded a wealth of material for various solo and side projects. With the release of Goldmine, Automagik is looking at exploring a new band paradigm, with less roadwork and more releases on a regular basis. “Since Zach and I have known each other, we've been writing music all the time,” Williams says. “And now that we've put out this thing we made at home — just us — I feel like a lot more stuff is going to see the light of day, a lot sooner.” Goldmine may just be the tip of the goldmine for Automagik.

ZACH A RY EVA N S WITH AUT O MA G IK FA N S A T WOO DWA RD THEA TER

SHAKE IT UP

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Goldmine opens with the rousing slap of “Salt & Pepper” and its recurring, insistent and profane chorus: “Just want to shake my motherfucking ass to the beat of the drum and the bass.” Back in the day, Motown Records would release a hit single by an artist and then make that hit track side one on the eventual album. By that yardstick, Goldmine is Automagik's anti-Motown album; “Salt & Pepper” will never find its way onto radio playlists but it definitely sets the raucous tone for Goldmine. “My mom put that track on and she was like, 'What did you say on that?' You've got to censor that. Make it ‘mamafunkin',' ” Evans says with a laugh; he noted at the Woodward show that his mother had taught him how to swear. “I was like, 'Mom, you cuss more than me. And you know damn well I'm not going to (change the word).' That's something we try to do to break the ice, especially at shows. That's what got us to put that as the first track on the album. Shake people up a little bit.”

Goldmine stands as the perfect hybrid of the band's collective influences. The album's 11 tracks skillfully weave their love of the Pop/R&B/ Funk brilliance of Prince, Zapp and Parliament/ Funkadelic into their Punk/Indie Rock/Glam/ Prog roots. Without being aware of their existence, Automagik has tapped into the Rock/Funk zeitgeist that Central Ohio’s Royal Crescent Mob captured magnificently in the ’80s and ’90s. Automagik wrote and completed the majority of the Goldmine songs in 2016, meaning the musicians banked some of the best and most musically significant material in their eight-year history for over two years without polishing it live and tweaking it based on audience response. That takes enormous patience, supreme confidence and balls of brass. “It was partly because we didn't want anyone to know until it was ready to be known,” Evans says. “We also took a lot of liberties making (Goldmine) and the instrumentation was pretty ambitious for a quartet to perform. We were like, 'Can we even play these songs as four people?' ” While pondering the puzzle of how to perform the funkier new material live, Automagik continued to tour sporadically, but never learned the new songs and as a result never folded them into their set lists. “It was a concern,” Williams says. “Are we going to do this or are we going to chuck it? (The title track) 'Goldmine' itself was such a big thing. We were never going to be able to play it.” “We didn't know what to do with the album for a good two years,” Evans says. “We were into it tremendously for a very short amount of time. It was so good and we were so excited about it, but I guess we were waiting for the right time.” “Then Melvin Dillon from Soul Step Records came along,” he says.

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GET TO STEPPIN’

Dillon moved to Cincinnati nearly a decade ago and wound up founding Soul Step as a vinyl-only label, working cooperatively with bands to release their albums in the resurgent format. By pure chance, he found out about Cincinnati’s MidPoint Music Festival through a co-worker and, as a part of his first MPMF experience, was drawn into the Over-the-Rhine club Below Zero Lounge by an appealing racket. “I poked my head in the door and there was this tall, slender figure with giant red hair just going to town,” Dillon says of his first Automagik encounter. “They were one of the first Cincy acts that I'd ever seen play here and I followed them throughout their development and their various CDs and EPs.” Later, Dillon became friendly with Rob Mason of Old Flame Records, an indie label Mason reheadquartered in Cincinnati a few years ago when he moved to town. Mason and Dillon had worked with some of the same acts; Old Flame released Automagik’s last two EPs. “He was like, 'Hey, you should really think about this Automagik record,' ” Dillon says. “I knew them, but what I wasn't expecting was this completely different yet familiar sound from them. I immediately fell in love with (Goldmine), and I couldn't get it pressed fast enough.” When the band members met Dillon, he told them he'd seen them at Below Zero, which was Automagik's MidPoint debut. They were floored. “We thought no one was at that show,” Evans says. “Apparently he was the only person there. He told us he'd been following us since then. He's such a great guy; he's so excited about every artist he works with.” The Soul Step vinyl version of Goldmine will be the only physical release for the album, which was made available on all the typical digital platforms by the end of 2018. There was, in fact, an interesting iteration of Goldmine that was available over a year ago that got the ball rolling for the album's official late 2018 debut.

“We had a poster with a download code at 2017's MidPoint, so some people have been listening to the album for over a year,” Rasmussen says. “I was chatting with people at the show and they couldn't believe how long we sat on this.” “We always want to bring art and design into the equation whenever we can, so we did the screen print as a roundabout way of getting the album out,” Evans says. “We talked about some sort of 24k gold, diamond encrusted USB drive but, you know, money.” While Goldmine represents a major shift of structure for the band, no one seems to be stressing out over the change, essentially because it's in line with their existing work flow. “When I joined, the Automagik engine had been running for three years,” Cluxton says. “A lot of the songs had been written and so, in a lot of ways, it's what we've been doing the whole time anyway.” “The only real difference was the style of music,” Rasmussen says. “It was more rhythm focused. With Rock, there's a fair amount of leeway; it's loud, you can do whatever. With this, everything had to be on point. We've always prided ourselves on being tight, but it's a different animal when it's tight in relation to binary code.” For more on Automagik, visit automagik.net and facebook.com/automagik.

S O UL S T EP R ECO R DS ’ GO L D VI N Y L VER S I O N O F ‘ GO L DM I N E’

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FOR A HEALTHIER AND MORE PRODUCTIVE YEAR

through January 31

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Become a member of the Cincinnati Art Museum I N T E R V I E W W I T H K A I T LY N S H A R O , M A R K E T I N G & C O M M U N I C A T I O N S M A N A G E R How will becoming a member of the Cincinnati Art Museum help people grow during the year? Whether you want to dust off your sketchpad, learn something interesting or meet someone new, a membership to the Cincinnati Art Museum can help you achieve many goals in one easy step. Membership brings many benefits, like free tickets to exhibitions (including Paris 1900: City of Entertainment), discounts on programs and events and special behind-the-scenes tours. Plus, engaging with art can be an excellent source of creativity and stress relief. As a member of the museum, you are also invited to bring an artwork to the curators at our twice-a-year “Consult a Curator” event.

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What challenges hold people back from experiencing the Cincinnati Art Museum? A busy schedule can make it challenging to fully engage with cultural activities, but over the past few years, the Cincinnati Art Museum has made it easier than ever for Cincinnatians by introducing Thursday evening hours, free parking and new programming. The entire museum is open from 5–8 p.m. on Thursday to better accommodate the needs of today’s students, families and working professionals. By broadening access, the museum seeks to serve more Cincinnatians and visitors with its

gym resolution fall through? BECOME A MEMBER HER E INS TE AD cincinnatiartmuseum.org

exhibitions and renowned collection of 67,000 artworks across cultures and history. How will engaging with the museum help folks achieve their Resolutions goals? The Cincinnati Art Museum is a great place to enhance your creative side. From gallery talks to Sketching Sunday to docentled tours, the museum has something for everyone. Whether your resolution involves spending more time with family and friends or allowing yourself more personal time, the museum is here to help. It offers many free programs for families including Creativity and Growth, a collaboration with Indigo Hippo that focuses on wellness, mindfulness and self-improvement through calming gallery activities and art-making. Plus Art After Dark every final Friday is a fun way to meet more people, enjoy great music and reconnect with existing friends with drinks and an amazing backdrop. What is new this upcoming year at the Cincinnati Art Museum? We having amazing exhibitions coming in 2019 including Art Academy of Cincinnati at 150: A Celebration in Drawings and Prints (February 1–April 28), Paris 1900: City of Entertainment (March 1–May 12), No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man (April 26–September 2) and Kimono: Refashioning Contemporary Style (June 28–September 15).

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Find your new best friend with My Furry Valentine INTERVIEW WITH LISA JONES, EVENT MANAGER How will finding a new best friend with My Furry Valentine help people grow during the year? Bringing a pet into your life can bring someone so much joy and happiness. My two rescue pups Roxy and Pablo certainly have filled our house with a lot of laughter over the years. Since 2012, My Furry Valentine Mega Pet Adoption event has seen over 5,000 companion animals find their forever families. We hear so many stories from adopters whose lives have been changed for the good after bringing their new pet home — it is really rewarding. What challenges hold people back from being more engaged with My Furry Valentine? Unfortunately many people still “shop” for rather than “adopt” their pets. Some may have the misconception that animals in rescues or shelters were abandoned because of health or behavior problems. In reality, most of these animals wound up without a home because of an issue their family was facing, like a move or financial struggles, not because of anything on the animal’s part. You can find all types of animals, even pure bred, in need of a loving home at a local shelter or rescue. How will engaging with My Furry Valentine help folks achieve their Resolutions goal? This year’s event will feature hundreds of adoptable animals (dogs, cats, puppies, kittens, birds and other small

critters) from dozens of different rescue and shelter groups from around the region. Adoptable animals are gathered at a centralized location at the Sharonville Convention Center to make it easier to find your perfect pet, but if you want to stay closer to home, the event also offers dozens of satellite locations around the city throughout the weekend. My Furry Valentine makes adoption a breeze, so if you’re serious about finding a new furry companion, there’s no better place to search. With so many lovable homeless animals out there to meet, the process can seem daunting, but My Furry Valentine eliminates adoption barriers with low fees, convenient meet-and-greet options and pet experts on hand to answer all your questions. In addition to convenience, all animals participating in My Furry Valentine from rescues and shelters are fully vaccinated, spayed or neutered and have health records on site. What accomplishments are you most proud of during 2018 at your business? In 2018, we hosted our biggest event yet with more than 966 adoptions and 15,000 guests. Even with the explosive growth we’ve experienced, we’re proud to keep My Furry Valentine free to all rescues and shelters with adoptable animals thanks to the awesome volunteers, sponsors and vendors that support us in our mission to end the euthanasia of homeless animals in our community.

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Be a hero for cats with Ohio Alleycat Resource I N T E R V I E W W I T H M E A G H A N C O LV I L L E , S H E L T E R D I R E C T O R How will working toward being a hero for cats help people grow during the year? Everyone can benefit from making the world a better place for all living creatures. There are more personal benefits, too. In particular, adopting a cat not only gives that cat a home but also adds a loving and entertaining companion to the adopter’s life. What challenges hold people back from being more engaged with Ohio Alleycat Resource? People may think they don’t have enough time to do anything, but even a small gesture like helping someone get a cat spayed or neutered by providing transport to OAR, for example, can make a world of difference for that cat and person. Or a couple of hours can be spent volunteering at an adoption event — the payoff is great and the time commitment is small. How will engaging with Ohio Alleycat Resource help folks achieve their Resolutions goal? We provide all types of services that people can take advantage of to help cats: a low-cost, high-quality spay/ neuter clinic; trap-neuter-return training and trap loans; a shelter where cats can be adopted.

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What is new this upcoming year at Ohio Alleycat Resource? We are planning to target Price Hill with efforts to help cats and their people. We’ll be doing a wellness clinic in April and organizing trap-neuter-return of community cats

in that area. We’ll also reach out to residents to let them know about low-cost spay/neuter for their cats. We’ll still work in other areas, too, but can really use volunteers for this effort. What accomplishments are you most proud of during 2018 at Ohio Alleycat Resource? Over 12,400 spay/neuter surgeries, 750 adoptions (and) helping SPCA Cincinnati reach a 90 percent live-release rate for cats in 2018 for the first time ever. What offerings or programs will be particularly helpful for people serious about their 2019 Resolution? We offer support and training for people who want to help cats in big and small ways. If potential cat heroes contact us, we’re happy to help them figure out how to plug into OAR’s programs. We also, of course, always have lots of adoptable cats and kittens waiting for someone to adopt them. What benefits of working with or visiting Ohio Alleycat Resource might surprise people? Most people don’t realize that our work is about helping people, not just about helping cats. Many of the people we help are elderly or low-income and could use a hand in ensuring that they can continue to care for the community cats outside their door. The love for these animals is vital to the quality of life for the person. By supporting OAR, people can help OAR’s efforts to provide spay/neuter to stop cat reproduction for these colonies so that a growing population doesn’t overwhelm the caregiver. What is Ohio Alleycat Resource’s Resolution for 2019? Help more cats and their people!

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Get to the core of it with Pendleton Pilates I N T E R V I E W W I T H S O N YA M C D O N N E L L , O W N E R

What challenges hold people back from being more engaged in Pilates?

Being unfamiliar with the purpose of Pilates and its benefits; fear of not being “fit enough” or having enough experience to start Pilates; cost.

How will engaging with Pendleton Pilates help folks achieve their Resolutions goal?

Pilates can be a way to stay fit on its own or a part of a broader fitness regimen. Pilates builds strength and flexibility, improves balance and alignment, helps with focus and the mind/body connection and ultimately improves posture, thus helping to prevent and recover from injury. It helps you do whatever you do better. Pilates is appropriate for most ages and fitness levels because it meets you where you are; it’s intelligent exercise with serious results.

Tell us about someone who benefitted from making Pilates a bigger part of their life.

We work with everyone from professional athletes to people who are just starting a fitness program. We’ve had many of our clients tell us they couldn’t have recovered as quickly from injury or surgery without their Pilates practice. Some clients have avoided surgery altogether.

What accomplishments are you most proud of during 2018 at Pendleton Pilates?

We’re most proud of helping even more people achieve their fitness goals in 2018 and teaching them the importance of adding the positive benefits of Pilates to their lives: strength, flexibility, better posture and alignment and balance, as well as confidence and better body awareness.

What offerings or programs will be particularly helpful for people serious about their 2019 Resolutions? Mention this article and receive 15 percent off the Initial Consultation Series (three private intro sessions on the reformer).

What benefits of working with or visiting Pendleton Pilates might surprise people?

It is appropriate and beneficial to almost everyone, and challenging physically and mentally while helping teach how to move without unnecessary tension. We offer individual attention from teachers. Pilates can help to focus and calm the mind.

What is Pendleton Pilates Resolution for 2019?

Sharing the amazing benefits of Pilates with more people to help them achieve their personal goals and to teach them all the important principles of efficient and graceful movement.

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Take a culinary journey with Taste of Belgium I N T E R V I E W W I T H A N D R E W M A L O N E Y, M A N A G E R

How will visiting Taste of Belgium line up with folks’ New Year’s goals?

that we need to expand upon. It was a very productive year for us and we can’t wait until these new programs go into effect.

We want to take our guests on a journey through creative dishes and authentic beer. Each item has a story, and we want our guests to experience Belgium (with a quirky American twist). Most guests think of Taste of Belgium as a brunch/ lunch establishment when in reality we are more than the waffle. We were built on the waffle, sure, but as a company, we offer an incredible dinner menu and boast one of the best curated beer lists in the city.

What is new this upcoming year?

We will open up a commissary to tie all aspects of TOB into one World Waffle Headquarters (WWHQ). We also are unrolling a wellness program with our staff to promote a sense of well-being with our crew. We have a ton of new and exciting menu items planned and we are expanding our beverage program further to allow for a more interactive dining/drinking experience.

What accomplishments were you most proud of during 2018?

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Discovery — 2018 was a year where, as a company, we took a step back and evaluated ourselves and looked at areas we need to improve on and areas that are great

What offerings will be particularly exciting in 2019?

We have been working with our POS system to introduce some really incredible loyalty programs that will offer guests rewards when buying coffee, pastries and even beer.

What benefits of visiting Taste of Belgium might surprise people?

For guests, the continued surprise I see daily is people not knowing we have alcohol or dinner. Our dinner menu uses Belgian influences with an American twist to offer items like the Beltucky Hotbrown, mussels and frites, snails, galletes and crepes and a multitude of other items to introduce our guests to a unique dining experience.

What is Taste of Belgium’s Resolution for 2019?

Our resolution is to grow from our strengths and weaknesses to enhance the guest experience and to introduce Cincinnati to better beer. We want to continue to grow as a brand through new marketing strategies and to implement improved protocols and procedures on the store level to enhance guest experience. We also hope to give guests more opportunity to learn about Belgium as a whole through food, drink and atmosphere.

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Prioritize your health with the YWCA Fitness Center I N T E R V I E W W I T H K ATA R I N A S C H N E I D E R , M S | F I T N E S S C E N T E R M A N AG E R

How can the YWCA help people grow during the upcoming year?

Let this be the year that you prioritize your own health. It’s common to give so much of your time and energy to others but not focus on yourself. Whether you want to lose weight, reach a strength goal or gain the energy to be more active with your family, the YWCA Fitness Center can get you there.

What challenges hold people back from being more engaged in fitness?

Joining a gym for the first time can be intimidating, but don’t let that deter you. You’ll find a friendly, welcoming environment at the YWCA and our experienced team members are here to answer your questions. Don’t know how to use the machines? We’ll be happy to give you a free equipment orientation.

How does the YWCA help people accomplish their goals?

Between our fitness floor, gymnasium, group fitness room and swimming pool, we have the tools you need to get in shape. What sets us apart from the competition is our team. Your goals are our goals, and we want you to succeed. We’ll encourage you, celebrate your wins and

even remind you if you haven’t been in for a while. Our members are glad to share their fitness successes including reaching weight-loss goals, completing long-distances races injury free or even just showing up to the gym.

What is new this upcoming year at the YWCA?

We are developing new education workshops and expanding our group fitness offerings.

What accomplishments are you most proud of during 2018?

Our members offer invaluable feedback, and we are proud to listen to their needs and make changes based on their suggestions.

What offerings or programs will be particularly helpful for people serious about their 2019 Resolutions?

Group Fitness classes! Are you bored with your usual routine? Don’t want to exercise on your own? Struggling to develop your own workouts? Our instructors provide fun, physically challenging classes for all fitness levels.

What benefits of joining the YWCA might surprise people?

How easy it is to include fitness into your schedule. Our location on Ninth and Walnut streets makes it convenient to pop in before/ after work or during lunch.

START 2019 OFF RIGHT! NO ENROLLMENT FEE FOR NEW MEMBERS! The excellence of TriHealth classes and training, in the heart of Downtown Cincinnati. Just 2 Blocks North of the Aronoff Center.

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RESOLUTIONS 2019 â€˘ 25

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STUFF TO DO

Ongoing Shows ONSTAGE: The Second City - It’s Not You, It’s Me Playhouse in the Park, Mount Adams (through Jan. 27)

WEDNESDAY 16

MUSIC: Indie Rock band Weakened Friends brings their small but brilliant catalog to MOTR Pub. See Sound Advice on page 44. ONSTAGE: Know Theatre presents Red Bike, a rolling world premiere and poetic meditation on childhood and the desire to overcome. See review on page 34.

Greensky Bluegrass PH OTO: DY L A N L A N G I L LE

THURSDAY 17

MUSIC: Roots rockers Sarah Shook & the Disarmers blend Punk and Country at the Southgate House Revival. See Sound Advice on page 44.

FRIDAY 18

from Gustav Holst’s The Planets and assorted John Williams creations for various Star Wars films while images from NASA screen overhead. Help commemorate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing with this celestial celebration. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. $25-$101. Music Hall, 1241 Elm St., Over-theRhine, cincinnatisymphony. org. — MAIJA ZUMMO

CLASSICAL: Cincinnati Pops in Space The Pops adventure into the far reaches of the galaxy as they launch themselves into deep space with this weekend’s concert series. With a blend of Classical fare and pop culture favorites, John Morris Russell will lead the orchestra through selections including the Galaxy Quest and Star Trek theme songs, selections

EVENT: Travel, Sports & Boat Show For more than 60 years, the Cincinnati Travel, Sports & Boat Show has been injecting Cincinnati winter with a dose of summer wanderlust. Head to the convention center to check out vendors, dealers and exhibitors showcasing the latest goods, services and more to get you outdoors and into nature. There will be more than 300 boats, from canoes and kayaks to pontoons and wake boats, with demo pools, hunting dog seminars, outdoor outfitters,

MUSIC: Umphrey’s McGee takes over the Taft Theatre for two nights of Jam. See Sound Advice on page 45.

resorts, campgrounds, RV dealers, marinas, artisan snack makers and even a few taxidermists stuffed into 250,000 square feet. Take part in an annual turkey calling contest, stop by the biergarten or head to the Adventure Sports area to shop for gear for your next rock-climbing, spelunking or scuba-diving adventure. 5-9:30 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday; show continues Jan. 23-27. $13 adults; free 12 and under. Duke Energy Convention Center, 525 Elm St., Downtown, cincinnatiboatshow. com. — MAIJA ZUMMO

SATURDAY 19

ONSTAGE: In the Heights at the Playhouse in the Park Before there was Hamilton, there was In the Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hip Hop Broadway musical about New York’s tightknight, majority Dominican CONTINUES ON PAGE 28

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COMEDY: Shane Mauss These days, Shane Mauss is exploring the meaning of life. “I really like to talk about some of our subconscious decision making,” he says. “I’m also bi-polar and have been writing material about that recently. And then there are the struggles to improve my life and this journey we’re all on.” Last year he did a tour of 111 cities with a show called Good Trip. “It was about psychedelics and people turned out to be very interested in the subject matter,” he says. Talking about psychedelics is really just a leaping off point for Mauss to discuss psychology and consciousness in an interesting way. His podcast, Here We Are, also informs his stand-up set. “I

interview a lot of neuroscientists, psychologists and behavioral economists, and then I kind of work some of that stuff into my act.” 8 p.m. Thursday; 7:30 and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 8 p.m. Sunday. $8-$14. Go Bananas, 8410 Market Place Lane, Montgomery, gobananascomedy.com. — P.F. WILSON

EVENT: Beach Night at Taft’s Ale House Get out of the cold and into Nellie’s Tap Room at Taft’s Ale House for a tropical getaway. Beach Night at Taft’s is a heated indoor party where you get a free lei and welcome pint when you walk in the door. Build a sand castle while you listen to music from the Queen City Silver Stars, or sip on cocktails like margaritas, mojitos and piña coladas. Dare to wear a Hawaiian shirt; the best of the best will win a $50 gift card. In addition to beachy mixed drinks, there will be $3 cans of Taft’s Culebra Cut Coconut Brown Ale and $5 Nellie’s Key Lime Caribbean Ale to keep the heat turned up. Only 40 or so tickets will be released, so if you miss the party itself,

you can still head to Taft’s and listen at the stairwell for the sound of flip-flops and steel drums. 5 p.m. Thursday. $10. Taft’s Ale House, 1429 Race St., Over-theRhine, taftsalehouse.com. — MAIJA ZUMMO

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MUSIC: Greensky Bluegrass Just two days after Michigan’s Greensky Bluegrass returns to Greater Cincinnati to perform, the Bluegrass/ Americana Jam band will release its anticipated seventh full-length studio album, All for Money, on its own Big Blue Zoo Records. The unique and criticallyacclaimed group — featuring Anders Beck (dobro), Michael Arlen Bont (banjo), Dave Bruzza (guitar), Mike Devol (upright bass) and Paul Hoffman (mandolin) — got its start in 2000 and has since taken its mix of rollicking string-band sounds to all corners of the U.S., becoming one of the country’s most beloved acts on the Jam circuit and beyond. All for Money was produced by Glenn Brown and Jack White bassist Dominic John Davis and kicks off a year that includes more touring, including a three-night headlining stint at the famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado in mid-September, plus a return to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and appearances at several other music fests, like California’s High Sierra Festival and the band’s own Camp Greensky in Wellston, Michigan. 8 p.m. Wednesday. $27; $30 day of show. Madison Theater, 730 Madison Ave., Covington, madisontheateronline.com. — MIKE BREEN

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neighborhood of Washington Heights. Usnavi narrates three days in the life of the Heights and the characters that live there from his corner De La Vega Bodega. Expect vibrant choreography, Latin rhythms, Rap, Hip Hop and more song and dance. It’s the perfect precursor to the arrival of Hamilton’s touring production at the Aronoff Center on Feb. 19. Every Tuesday during the run of In the Heights, a minimum of 100 tickets will be available for just $10 starting at 6 p.m.; limit two per person. Through Feb. 17. $30-$106. Playhouse in the Park, 962 Mount Adams Circle, Mount Adams, cincyplay.com. — MAIJA ZUMMO

SUNDAY 20

ART: Third Sunday Funday: Vive La France at the Taft Museum of Art Paris to New York: Photographs by Eugène Atget & Berenice Abbott closes Sunday and the Taft Museum of Art celebrates with a special Third Sunday Funday themed “Vive La France.” It’s a Francophile and family-friendly afternoon with macaron baking demonstrations from OCD Cakes, wandering mimes from Cincinnati Circus, a hands-on photo transfer craft project, French language practice at the Art Cart and even animal encounters. Paris to New York: Photographs by Eugène Atget & Berenice Abbott explores the

PHOTO: PROVIDED

photographic relationship between American Berenice Abbott and the elderly French Eugène Atget, who met in Paris in the 1920s and influenced each other’s life and work. Atget’s antique images of Paris are juxtaposed next to Abbott’s photos of New York in the 1930s. 1-4 p.m. Sunday. Free admission. Taft Museum of Art, 316 Pike St., Downtown, taftmuseum.org. — MAIJA ZUMMO EVENT: Lunar Eclipse This week, 2019 will see its first lunar eclipse: the sun, Earth and moon will align — and Cincinnati will have a stunning view. Head over to the Cincinnati Observatory to watch the whole shebang unfold; the process will start at 10:33 p.m. when the shadow of the Earth first crosses the moon. By 11:41 p.m., the moon will be completely in Earth’s shadow. One downer: If it’s cloudy, the event will be canceled (but not the eclipse itself). 10 p.m.-midnight Sunday. $5. Cincinnati Observatory, 3489 Observatory Place, Mount Lookout, cincinnatiobservatory.org. — MACKENZIE MANLEY EVENT: Big Gay Brunch at Below Zero Lounge This Sunday, get brunch with a side of drag. VJ Fuel will play some of your fave music videos and comedy

EVENT: Art on Vine What started as a college class project has evolved into a recurring monthly fine arts fair with more than 70 local makers, crafters and artists. Head to Rhinegeist on Sunday for a little shopping, beer and family-friendly fun. Interact with artists, buy some goods and enjoy food from in-house Sartre. Noon-7 p.m. Sunday. Free admission. Rhinegeist, 1910 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, artonvinecincy.com. — MAIJA ZUMMO

clips, all of which will be projected on Below Zero’s screens. Drink specials will be flowing — what’s brunch without a few mimosas? — and you can feast on a brunch buffet via A Catered Affair. Keep the partying flowing after at Mr. Pitiful’s, the host of this week’s It’s Time For Another Tea Dance, aka a monthly event that gathers LGBTQ folks and allies for drinks and dance at venues across the city. Noon-4 p.m. $15; brunch reservations recommended. Below Zero Lounge, 1120 Walnut St., Over-the-Rhine, facebook.com/belowzerolounge. — MACKENZIE MANLEY EVENT: January Tea Dance After you fill up on brunch, head over to Mr. Pitiful’s for January’s Tea Dance. This is where the conversation to bring Tea Dances to Cincinnati started almost two years

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ahead to what’s possible for the future.” Expect cocktails, DJs and plenty of dancing. 4-7 p.m. Sunday. Free admission. Mr. Pitiful’s, 1323 Main St., Over-the-Rhine, facebook.com/teadancecinci. — MAIJA ZUMMO

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EVENT: Living His Dream: Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the Museum Center with interactive programming, vendors and performances. Activities throughout the day include a workshop with WordPlay Cincy, storytelling with Omope, fun in a STEM lab with the University of Cincinnati, booths from the Harriet Beecher Stowe House and Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center and a speech presented by the Holocaust & Humanity Center. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday. $14.50 adults; $10.50 children; $13.50 seniors; free for members. Cincinnati Museum Center, 1301 Western Ave., Queensgate, cincymuseum.org. — MAIJA ZUMMO

ago, so it seems a fitting way to ring in 2019. The tea dance is a revived LGBTQ tradition that dates back to the 1940s and ’50s, when it was illegal for same-sex

couples to dance and touch in public. To skirt around the issue, Sunday afternoon tea dances were invented as a guise for the LGBTQ community to interact. Richard Cooke and his husband Marty Wagner brought them to Cincinnati in April 2017 with new life. Each month, the dances unfold at a different bar, but always on a Sunday afternoon. According to their Facebook page, on the cusp of 50 years of Pride, “We’re going back to our roots at Mr. Pitiful’s to remind us of where we have come as an LGBTQ community and to look

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EVENT: MLK DAY 2019 The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center celebrates the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. with a day of events, starting with the 2019 King Legacy Awards Breakfast at 8 a.m.; tickets are $40 per person and $20 for youth. This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. Holly Y. McGee, assistant professor of history at the University of Cincinnati. After the awards program, the 44th-annual MLK march departs from the Freedom Center at 10:30 a.m. and heads for Fountain Square for an interfaith prayer service before continuing to Music Hall for a commemorative celebration. The celebration — themed “400 Years of Enslavement: It Stops with Us” — features keynote speaker Reverend Derek Terry, plus the MLK Chorale and WordPlay Cincy Scribes. Then at noon, the Freedom Center opens to the public with free admission to all permanent exhibits; The Rosa Parks Experience and Mandela: The Journey to Ubuntu cost an additional fee. In addition to exhibits, guests can take part the Hoxworth Blood Center’s annual MLK blood drive, engage with hands-on activities, takes pictures in the photobooth station and watch performances from youth docents. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday. Free museum admission; prices vary for breakfast and additional exhibits. National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, 50 E. Freedom Center, Downtown, freedomcenter. org. — MAIJA ZUMMO

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ARTS & CULTURE

History Makes Progress The Over-the-Rhine Museum has secured two historic buildings near Findlay Market to bring the neighborhood’s past to life via an immersive experience BY S T E V EN R O S EN

The space at 3 W. McMicken Ave. and 12 Findlay St. PHOTO: HAILEY BOLLINGER

recreating the everday and oftenchallenging circumstances in a city’s historic, densely urban neighborhoods. In Over-the-Rhine, like in New York’s Lower East Side, that also can mean telling the story of immigrants coming to America — such museums, in their way, can be seen as more vernacular extensions of the Statue of Liberty. “This is a museum where you immerse yourself in the past and allow yourself to be transported,” Steinert says. “It’s almost time-travel really. The idea is that as you experience that, you build empathy and compassion. “So many of the things we struggle with today — poverty, immigration, xenophobia — are old problems. You may look at poor people today, but in fact your ancestors three generations ago were in the same spot. If you know that, you’ll be able to build a better, more inclusive future for Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati, the whole country.”

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

tenants, and eventually rented out more of the McMicken building as their children moved out. The family sold the complex in the 1950s. From then on, ownership patterns were less long-term. “The house went through Anne Delano Steinert maybe six to seven PHOTO: HAILEY BOLLINGER landlords from the early ’50s,” Steinert says. Steinert has developed a plan to begin turning the site into a museum in incremental phases. The first would be to create a multi-use space in the McMicken storefront and use that as a base for area walking tours. Those will start this summer, thanks to a grant from Ohio Humanities, depending on whether or not the interior space is usable. Next would come restoration of the exterior storefront to the way it was when it was used by the Kabakoffs, though the interior wouldn’t yet be a recreation of the dry goods store. “The hope would be to open that sometime in 2020, and once we have that kind of physical presence, people can come and see the potential,” Steinert says. The purpose of such a house museum, as opposed to the more traditional ones that are homes of the city’s most illustrious and powerful citizens, is to bring a city’s history to life — especially the stories of those who lived in its oldest neighborhoods — by

131 families — at least 235 individuals — who have lived at the addresses over the years. As Over-the-Rhine’s fortunes declined in the later decades of the 20th century, the stories can be wrenching. For instance, one recounts a woman with children who lived in an attic room with just a mattress on the floor. “We’re going to try to get a grant to convene national museum and history experts, give them what we know about these people and the spaces, and let them figure out what they think the brightest moments are,” Steinert says. There are two main families — and future museum focuses — that comprise the complex’s history. The first were German immigrants C.L. and Anna Fettweis, who emigrated here in the 1840s and bought the single-family residence in 1860. Sometime in the 1870s, they built the brick tenement on McMicken, taking out a mortgage for $1,000 from the Ancient Order of the Druids, a benevolent society. The family operated a marble monument business on the McMicken building’s first floor storefront; a hand-painted “ghost sign” for the business still remains visible on the building’s side. The second family was Solomon and Rebecca Kabakoff, Russian Jewish immigrants who came to Cincinnati and purchased the complex in the late 1920s from the Fettweises, who had already moved out. They then added the connecting building, already having established a dry goods store in Over-the-Rhine. “The family moved in and had a dry good store on the first floor (of the McMicken building), run by Rebecca,” Steinert says. “The father was a tailor and furrier, and according to the grandsons I talked to wasn’t particularly involved in running the shop.” Most of the building, she continues, was used for their family. They rented out the Findlay Street building to other

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he long-planned Over-the-Rhine Museum — inspired by New York City’s popular Lower East Side Tenement Museum — has taken a major step toward becoming reality. Anne Delano Steinert announced the nonprofit museum — for which she serves as board chairman — has acquired a site near Findlay Market. She is also a historian and preservationist, pursuing a doctorate in urban history at the University of Cincinnati. The museum site is a currently vacant two-building complex, with about 4,600-square-feet of total space, at 3 W. McMicken Ave. and 12 Findlay St. The two separate buildings — one a single-family home; the other multistory and tenementstyle — back up to each other and have a shared connecting structure. The nonprofit OTR Adopts had purchased the complex from an owner who was considering rehabbing it and later agreed to sell the buildings to the fledgling museum. The museum has already paid $10,000 to OTR Adopts and then used a $25,000 grant from the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./ U.S. Bank Foundation and the foundation’s promise of a like amount in 2019 to make the first of three approximately $50,000 payments on the property. The museum has until December of this year to finish the $165,000 purchase. “This is a huge milestone, but it doesn’t mean it’s done,” Steinert says of the site acquisition. “To bring this amazing cultural resource to life, we still need help.” Steinert cautions that completing the purchase would not mean the museum could immediately open. She estimates it would take a total of $2.4 million to do everything necessary — structural repairs, usable bathrooms, office and event space, a gift shop and painstaking assembly of period-accurate recreations of living quarters. She thinks the museum could interpret the stories of up to six families. Steinert and the museum’s board members and volunteers have identified

VISUAL ART

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‘Burning Man’ Comes to CAM BY S T E V EN R O S EN

Burning Man, one of the most radical and artful experiments in American community-building ever undertaken, will be sharing some of its fantastical art and fascinating artifacts with the Cincinnati Art Museum, starting April 26. Admission to the special exhibition will be free, in keeping with the communitybuilding spirit. The art museum announced Jan. 8 that No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man will be coming from the Smithsonian “Shrumen Lumen” installation by FoldHaus American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C. PHOTO: RON BLUNT Its press release promises the large exhibit will range “from Cincinnati, the exhibition will move to the giant mutant art vehicles and creative Oakland Museum of California from Oct. costuming to immersive gallery-sized 12 to Feb. 16, 2020. installations.” The name “No Spectators” comes from As described by the release, the annual a long-standing saying at Burning Man. Burning Man event “has been called ‘an “You are encouraged to fully participate. It’s experience in collective dreaming.’ It’s all about being there, being fully present a cultural movement and a thriving and not just observing,” curator Atkinson temporary city of more than 70,000 active says in the release. “There are no outsiders. participants from all over the globe who Everyone is part of the experience.” gather in the dust of the Black Rock Desert Public programs will accompany the outside Reno, Nevada, for seven days.” exhibition here, with more information The annual Burning Man has its roots about them available in spring on the in the San Francisco counterculture of Cincinnati Art Museum’s website. A the 1980s; it started at Nevada’s Black community celebration will kick off the Rock Desert in 1990. The flat part of the exhibition at the museum’s Art After Dark desert, where much of the activity takes event 5-10 p.m. April 26. place and parade-float-sized artworks Meanwhile, University of Cincinnati’s are displayed, is known as the “playa.” College of Design, Architecture, Art and Burning Man occurs from late August into Planning is hoping to get involved with early September and is most famous for the local activities surrounding the exhibit. celebratory burning of a towering effigy — Samantha Krukowski — an associate the so-called “burning man.” DAAP professor who is a Burning Man “The visual culture created in conjuncveteran and has edited the book Playa tion with the Burning Man gathering each Dust: Collected Stories from Burning year is a democratic and inclusive model of Man — will have students in her Special artistic expression,” says Cameron Kitchin, Topics in Landscape Architecture studio Cincinnati Art Museum’s Louis and Louise and charette working with the museum Dieterle Nippert director, in the release. and the Walnut Hills neighborhood. They “Working with the thinkers and artists will collaborate on a local version of one who create the culture challenges the very of the Nevada event’s most significant notion of an art museum.” and serious elements: the building and The pieces in the Cincinnati exhibition, subsequent burning of the temple. some quite large, will be placed throughHer plans are to dovetail with museum’s out the art museum’s galleries. After the planned Art Climb project, which aims April 26 start, more art will be unveiled on to connect the hilltop institution more June 7. Both phases will close Sept. 2. closely with the corner of Gilbert Avenue No Spectators was organized by Nora and Eden Park Drive in Walnut Hills via Atkinson, the Lloyd Herman Curator of a stairway. Krukowski wants to have her Craft at the Smithsonian American Art students and others collect the cleared Museum. David J. Brown is the guest honeysuckle from that space to build a curator at the Cincinnati Art Museum. large temple when No Spectators opens on The exhibition also will feature a April 26. She then wants that temple — or a companion exhibition, City of Dust: second one — to be set afire on Sept. 2, the The Evolution of Burning Man, which is last day of the Cincinnati exhibit. organized by the Nevada Museum of Art in “It’s utilizing ritual fire to renew a site,” Reno and traces Burning Man’s origins. she says. No Spectators is produced in collaboraFor more information on No Spectators: tion with the Burning Man Project, the The Art of Burning Man, visit nonprofit organization responsible for cincinnatiartmuseum.org. producing the annual Nevada event. After

VISUAL ARTS

CAC Unveils New Performance Art Fest BY M AC K EN ZI E M A N L E Y

Since then, it’s been all over the world: Toronto, Glasgow, Singapore, Portland, Sydney and New York. But the stop in Cincinnati marks its regional premiere. A group of five to eight Cincinnati-area adults over the age of 65 will discuss “the evolution of love and sexuality from the perspective of life’s later years.”

NIC Kay: Pushit! [An Exercise in Getting Well Soon] — NIC Kay’s

90-minute performance unfolds in public in a historically black neighborhood. The press release describes it as “a meditation on emotional labor and the impossibility of the stage as a place of freedom for the black performer.” If performances in other cities are any indication, onlookers can expect to literally exercise themselves: Kay will walk, move and dance through the neighborhood of choice. Rashaad Newsome: Running — Running had its premiere in New York City’s Park Avenue Armory in late 2017. The press release describes it as an “immersive performance evoking an abstract portrait of soul created through light and voice.” The title itself stems from the singer’s “vocal run,” a term that describes a series of melodic notes that go up and down in quick-succession. The show features three vocalists singing a score written by Newsome, who incorporated samples of vocal runs by Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Whitney Houston, Marvin Gaye and more. Its stop in Cincy marks Running’s regional premiere.

FRIDAY, JAN. 18, 2019

Tania El Khoury: As Far As My Fingertips Take Me — This regional

premiere will be in partnership with Camp Washington’s Wave Pool. Through a wall, an audience member will be put in conversation with a Syrian refugee. Their arms will touch, but they won’t actually see one another. The refugee will draw on the participant’s arm while they listen to the stories of those who have faced border discrimination. Joseph Keckler: Live — Held in conjunction with the 21c Museum Hotel, the international performer’s vocal range spans three-octaves, which melds with rich, witty storytelling. Keckler’s performance was recently hailed as “riveting and beautifully absurd” by the Huffington Post.

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

They have sex. Though that fact isn’t revolutionary in itself, the premise of ordinary folks divulging intimate stories to a room full of strangers may very well be. All The Sex I’ve Ever Had first started nearly a decade ago in 2010 via director Darren O’Donnell (of German-Canadian company Mammalian Diving Reflex).

PHOTO: MAMMALIAN DIVING REFLEX

Mammalian Diving Reflex: All The Sex I’ve Ever Had — Old people?

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The Contemporary Arts Center has announced an upcoming new festival: This Time Tomorrow. Expect a diverse array of performance art over four days — April 11-14 — at venues across the city. “This is the spirit of collaboration, experimentation and exploration that we are taking on wholeheartedly over the course of four days — and asking audiences to take this risk with us,” said Drew Klein, the CAC’s performing arts director, in a special announcement on Jan. 11. Here’s a sampling of what’s to come: INTERMEDIO & Ashley Walton: On Touching — You may recall Intermedio, a creative studio local to Cincinnati, from their part in 2018’s FotoFocus Biennial: The Place of Forgetting. The group returns with the world premiere of On Touching, which also takes place at the intersection of sound and space. “Musical sound emanates from a series of continually unfolding transmissions, both physical and digital, distributed between performers and a wearable cybernetic system,” says a release. Lorena Molina: Tu nombre entre nuestras Lenguas — On Dec. 11, 1981, nearly 1,000 people (mostly children) were murdered in the Salvadoran village of El Mozote — the largest massacre in modern Latin American history — at the hands of the Salvadoran army, who were trained and funded by the United States. The Salvadoran government denied this injustice for nearly 40 years. Salvadoranborn and Cincy-based, Molina’s work will act as a ceremony to the lost and address America’s role in the affairs of other nations, which often contributes to the refugee crisis. Amanda Curreri: RopeWalk — An assistant professor at University of Cincinnati’s DAAP, Curreri’s performance will take it outside. Fifty participants will come together and create multi-colored ropes that will span the Purple People Bridge, a site that’s connected to the history of slavery and acts as a dividing line between the North and South. The walk is meant to represent public healing. Daina Ashbee: Serpentine — Ashbee created the choreography in this performance, which is repeated for up to two hours, but it’s interpreted as a solo by Areli Moran of Mexico. (This will be its regional premiere.) A composition by Jean-Francois Blouin — a haunting electric organ — accompanies the “dark and feminine” piece.

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ONSTAGE

Poetic ‘Red Bike’ Pedals Through Childhood R E V I E W BY R I C K PEN D ER

If fresh, new theatrical works are what you option to be a solo show or to use several seek, Know Theatre is the place to find performers, and there is no requirement them. Continuing its involvement with regarding gender or ethnicity; this producthe National New Play Network, Know is tion’s actors are both African-Americans.) presenting yet another “rolling world preGramata-Jones and Jenkins-Copeland miere,” this time with Red Bike by Caridad are fascinating to watch, sometimes Svich. Two unique productions already moving in sync with one another and happened in 2018 in Salt Lake City and sometimes separately. One often picks Philadelphia; Know marks its third stagup an unfinished line from the other, and ing. There will be one more in Providence, occasionally they speak in unison. Such Rhode Island later this year. actions are all in service of Svich’s poetic Svich’s new play is about life in a small script, but I repeat, this is not a traditional, town from the perspective of an 11-yearstraight-ahead narrative theater. old, a role shared at Know by two young adult actors, Maliyah Gramata-Jones and Montez O. Jenkins-Copeland. The actors switch fluidly back and forth, the scenes divided by a rasp of static noise; having performers of both genders broadens Svich’s observations. A shiny bicycle, portrayed by several pairs of handlebars, offers a ride to greater freedom. However, the boundaries of a small town are restrictive, both literally and metaphorically. Laconic parents work in dead-end jobs in a wareMontez O. Jenkins-Copeland (left) and Maliyah Gramata-Jones house (the stage is littered with cartons, many sporting PHOTO: DAN R. WINTERS Amazon logos), and frequently tell the kid, “Go on now, go for a ride. See you later.” The bike The steady drumbeat of poetic, impasis the vehicle of independence, affording sioned rhapsodizing, while beautifully exhilarating opportunities of mobility and written by Svich, is repetitious and might autonomy to the kids. Other adults in the not appeal to all theatergoers. Neverthepoverty-stricken locale — “a town that’s less, the cumulative effect of her cascading gonna die” — are mostly focused on how text is to depict the tumultuous desire bad things have become since the good of yearning youth to overcome a stifling old days. All these roles are additionally environment. “No one wants to be nothplayed by the two versatile actors, who are ing,” we are told. Even being a superstar especially adept at various voices to distinseems possible. It’s a heartwarming and guish characters, young and old, earnest universal hope: “Somebody gotta make and sardonic, world-weary and broken. red bikes somewhere, so kids like me can The actors repeatedly rearrange the dream.” Red Bike is an unusual work, one cartons onstage with carefully paralleled that Svich indicates is the first in a sevenchoreography, perhaps representing the play cycle she calls American Psalm. repetitive nature of life for the town’s citiBy the way, this isn’t Svich’s first time zens. But occasionally they grab a pair of for a Cincinnati production of her work: handlebars and pedal as hard as possible — Alchemy of Desire/Dead-Man’s Blues was as kids are inclined to do — to escape from a Rosenthal New Play Prize winner as a a seemingly powerful man. world premiere at the Cincinnati PlayMaybe he’s law enforcement, maybe a house back in 1994. That script, a spooky, real estate developer; at the very least, he’s evocative meditation on the subject of grief an intimidating figure of authority, repreand healing, has gone on to many subsesented by a booming voice and pulsating, quent productions. throbbing abstract images projected on Despite the passage of time, Svich cloudy plastic sheeting that’s the set’s rear — who received a 2012 Obie Award for “curtain.” He needs to be outrun. lifetime achievement — continues to If this sounds a tad abstract, that’s push boundaries and experiment with because it is. I’d be quicker to categoprovocative material. It’s good to see her rize Red Bike as a poetic meditation than work on display again in Cincinnati. a narrative tale. Director Holly L. Derr Red Bike, presented by Know Theatre, keeps the actors moving at a rapid clip continues through Feb. 2. Tickets and more through the 70-minute, intermission-less info: knowtheatre.com. performance. (In fact, Svich’s script has the

FILM

Scouting for New, Original Movies BY T T S T ER N - EN ZI

The start of a new year gives rise to certain inevitable critical tropes: we fanatically focus on the current awards season infighting; offer previews of either the upcoming year or, more selectively, the highlyanticipated movies on the dawning film festival circuit; and bemoan those that get dumped into the multiplexes during the first quarter. I’m leaving the task of breaking down the list of would-be blockbusters and the potential highlights on the Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway in Serenity independent/future awards season landscape for moreP H OTO : C O U R T E SY O F AV I R O N PI C T U R E S advanced prognosticators. No dispatching bad guys with ease. Penélope superheroes, remakes, reboot, Cruz plays a woman who returns to Spain or significant adaptations of familiar titles. for her sister’s wedding and must confront No easy pop-culture-laden, family-friendly her worst nightmare when one of her animation. There’s a niche here that I daughters is snatched from the festivities. would rather hone-in on. She goes on the search, with assistance Here are a few upcoming titles with from a former lover (Javier Bardem), who’s intriguing performers in front of the willing to risk his own family’s well being camera and/or filmmakers working along to do the right thing. the margins, rather than in their expected sweet spots.

Serenity (Jan. 25)

Rather than starting off with a discussion of The Upside — the American remake of The Intouchables — starring Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston or M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass, his latest stab at returning to his former twisted glory, audiences might find themselves perversely attracted to this dramatic thriller from Steven Knight (the screenwriter behind Dirty Pretty Things and Eastern Promises). Matthew McConaughey stars as a fishing boat captain whose peaceful life is derailed when he runs afoul of his ex-wife (Anne Hathaway).

Arctic (Feb. 1)

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Greta (March 1)

Neil Jordan returns to the feature film scene with this seemingly fun and efficient thriller about a young woman (Chloë Grace Moretz) who goes out of her way to find the owner (Isabelle Huppert) of a lost purse, which leads her down a rabbit hole. I don’t know about you, but I’ve missed the storyteller behind The Crying Game, Interview with the Vampire and In Dreams.

Us (March 22)

This film marks an exception on this list. Jordan Peele, following up the huge success of Get Out, doesn’t need any extra help in reminding audiences that they might want to check out his new film. The first trailer, which focuses on the idea that we can be our own worst enemies, promises a continuation of the smart thrills and social horror that he brings to the table like no one else at the moment.

Captive State (March 29)

Having proven capable of moving from a taut large-scale spectacle (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) to an intense character study (The Gambler), director Rupert Wyatt seeks to merge these sensibilities in this sci-fi thriller. Following a diverse collection of people attempting to survive in Chicago during an extra-terrestrial occupation, Captive State features an eclectic cast of familiar faces (Vera Farmiga, Alan Ruck and John Goodman) along with a pair of intriguing newcomers (Ashton Sanders and Cincinnati’s own KiKi Layne) worth keeping an eye on.

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

Secrets, lies and kidnapping drive the action in the latest film from the much-celebrated Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi (A Separation, which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay), but Everybody Knows is not a wham-bam Luc Besson thriller featuring Liam Neeson

CINCINNATI • OHIO

Everybody Knows (Feb. 8)

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Expect more than a mere mashup of The Mountain Between Us (minus the frigid would-be romantic element) and Cast Away in this frozen tundra thriller from co-writer/director Joe Penna (a Brazilian filmmaker who cut his teeth on cinematic shorts and television). With Artic, Penna has a real ace up his sleeve. Mads Mikkelsen (The Hunt, Hannibal) will bring his welcome gravitas to this story about a plane crash survivor in the Arctic who must decide between waiting in his makeshift camp or setting off into the unknown.

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FOOD & DRINK Vegan Food for Body and Soul Imani’s Vegan Soul Kitchen aims to nourish community with healthy food and education BY L AU R EN M O R E T TO

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immense change in the new year. She was accepted into the Findlay Culinary Training Program and started classes Jan. 7. The program consists of four weeks of culinary training followed by a three-month internship at Social OTR, a nonprofit restaurant operated by Findlay Market in collaboration with CityLink. There, Zabad will work alongside professionals in the industry to hone her skills. During this time, Imani’s Vegan Soul Kitchen will cease normal operation but will still offer meal prep and catering services. And come February, she’ll be back to cooking for the public. For those who’d like to sample her vegan fare, she’ll have 10 products featured at Black Coffee, a coffee shop opened beside and operated by Black Owned at 824 Elm St., when it opens — hopefully in February. There, you’ll find pre-packaged, nutritious goodies like waffles, chix’n salad, kale salad and garden sandwiches. For more info, follow Imani’s Vegan Soul Kitchen on instagram @ imanis_vegan_soul_kitchen.

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open the door to a wealth of chronic diseases; among them cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer and Type 2 diabetes. That’s why the World Health Organization suggests eating more fruits and vegetables and cutting back on calorie-dense food. A variety of diets can help you accomplish this, including veganism. Along with impacting the health of the community, Mike Vinegar, the chef at Gabriel’s Place, believes Zabad’s success will inspire hope. He notes the obstacles she faced both as a woman and as a former resident of Avondale when starting Imani’s Vegan Soul Kitchen. “It’s kind of a motivational outlook added to the existence out here,” says Vinegar, who has known Zabad since she started attending yoga classes at Gabriel’s Place about two years ago. “A little girl can look up to someone who started their own business.” When she’s not prepping for Imani’s Vegan Soul Kitchen out of Gabriel’s Place, she’s volunteering. On Tuesdays, she cooks alongside Vinegar for Share a Meal, a program where residents of Avondale and beyond can come and enjoy a healthy meal for free. “I felt honored to be able to help others,” says Zabad, who hopes to dedicate a day through Imani’s Vegan Soul Kitchen when she can do the same. Both Zabad and her business will see

that takes a gardento-table approach to food education. Both Gabriel’s Place and Zabad seek to address the challenge of eating healthy in a neighborhood that lacks easy access to nutritious food. Avondale is a Liti Zabad predominately black neighborhood PHOTO: HAILEY so Zabad focuses her recipes on soul food, incorporating ingredients like yams and black-eyed peas. “I went with something that I knew the community embraced,” she says. “I had to meet people with what I knew they would eat.” The last grocery store in Avondale, an Aldi’s, closed in 2008. While construction of the Avondale Town Center, which has a grocery space, was half-complete as of September, they currently do not have a tenant to occupy the space. Further complicating this issue are transportation and poverty. Of Avondale’s population, 36 percent do not have a vehicle and 45 percent are below the poverty level, according to the American Community Survey 5-Year Population Estimate from 2014. And while public transportation to nearby neighborhoods with better grocery options is available, it makes shopping an inconvenience and adds rideshare fares and bus payments to the mix. Race also plays a factor in food insecurity in Cincinnati. Black adults were almost twice as likely as white adults to have experienced food insecurity in the last year, according to a September 2017 report published by Interact for Health, a Cincinnati-based health and wellness foundation. “I’ve been in that situation where we didn’t have anywhere to go to get fresh food, so we just got junk food and that’s what we ate,” says Zabad, who grew up in Avondale. “And people wonder why we have diabetes and stuff so prevalent in those communities.” Poor diet and physical inactivity can

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hen Liti Zabad reminisces about her aunt Liz, who passed away from cancer and diabetes in June 2017, she speaks with passion. She describes a feminine, sweet and funny woman; a gifted drawer and a lover of makeup who worked for Mary Kay. “I miss her. It hit me around the holidays that she’s gone. I wait to see her come and squeeze my cheeks — she do the auntie thing,” Zabad says. “What made me want to cook for the community was (her) passing away, and me realizing that her food choices really took her life so early.” Zabad was a vegan for some time before she opened Imani’s Vegan Soul Kitchen in July 2017. Often, she would post pictures of her vibrant meals and receive comments from people asking where she got them. Once it was revealed that she was behind the creations, they would then ask if she could cook for them. Zabad answered the call and Cincinnati was first introduced to her vegan fare at the Nubian Yoga Festival in Clifton’s Burnet Woods, where she sold out of food within the first hour. “When I decided to actually start cooking, it was easy; it was like the universe aligned,” she says. As the owner and sole employee of Imani’s Vegan Soul Kitchen, she offers two meal options a day. While both are vegan, one is extremely plant-based. She refers to them as “advanced” and “transition vegan” meals. Customers can expect everything from cauliflower “chix’n” to black bean burgers and Cincinnati-style cheese coneys. All meals are $15 and come with a choice of hibiscus tea or strawberry lemonade. “I definitely made a lot of believers out of people who were like ‘yuck cauliflower chicken’ — to be honest, I was one of them. I’m like, ‘oh that doesn’t even sound good to me’ — until I made it. And me knowing how I cook, it was phenomenal,” says Zabad, who estimates that about 60 percent of her clientele are not vegan. She says that many people who have tried her meals now have meatless meal days or are transitioning to a vegan diet. These transition meals aren’t the only way she’s made veganism approachable. Zabad cooks out of and offers pick up from Gabriel’s Place in Avondale, an urban agriculture education program

THE DISH

Coppin’s Goes Nose-to-Tail and Root-to-Stem with New Menu BY M A I JA Z U M M O

Chef Mitch Arens of Hotel Covington’s Coppin’s has revamped the restaurant’s menu for the new year and placed a specific and intentional focus on reducing waste. Arens, a Tri-State native, worked at New Orleans’ Cochon Butcher before returning home last year to take the helm of the Northern Kentucky eatery and brought with him that former restaurant’s eco ethos and focus on low-impact food. “(Cochon Butcher) was very environmentally conscious — we recycled, we composted, we had a full-time forager who worked for the restaurant group that worked with all these local farms. After doing that for five years, you just kind of realize that’s the way things should run in restaurants,” Arens says. “There should be a focus on not sending so much stuff to the trash or, if we are, utilize it or have someone else utilize it or turn it into something else.” For the new menu, Arens is building relationships with local farms and producers to source everything from lamb, beef and chicken to produce, cheese and ice cream. The goal — specifically with the proteins and plants — is to use the entirety of the items that pass through his kitchen, nose to tail and root to stem. “There’s something you can do with everything on there,” he says. “We’re getting all these beautiful things from local farms — the turnips, the beets (and) the carrots right now, they all have really nice greens, so I’ve got the turnip greens on one dish; the turnips on another,” he says. “We’ve got our roasted carrot side, in which the carrots themselves are roasted, and we take the carrot tops to make a pesto out of it so you’re eating the whole plant, which is really cool.” The same goes for the meat. Using the savvy whole-animal skillset learned at Cochon Butcher, Arens is adept at creating modern dishes using atypical cuts of meat — the more unique cuts that other chefs don’t tend to work with. “People tend to really jump on the pork

Lamb tartare from Freedom Run Farm, served with vinegar chips PHOTO: MITCHELL ARENS

bellies or the osso buccos or the pork loins — kind of the trophy pieces,” he says. “Same thing with the lamb; everybody wants lamb chops, lamb shoulders to braise.” A glance at the brand new dinner menu, which goes into effect this week, reveals upscale but still Southern-inspired dishes like lamb neck ragu with farro pilaf and root vegetables or a coppa steak — a pork shoulder and neck muscle Arens says cooks up like “a cross between a pork roast and a pork chop” — with pork and cider reduction. There’s even a cheese dip flight with pimento, benedictine and whipped ricotta, served with crackers from pastry chef Maddy Bernard. “A lot of these different cuts and things have such a unique flavor or such a bold flavor because they are on the bone or it is the actual greens on the vegetable that still taste like the vegetable,” Arens says. Because they don’t have the space to butcher and store in house, he’s working with his four big protein providers — Freedom Run Farm, Marksbury Farm,

Black Hawk Coppa steak made with Marksbury Farm’s pork Farms and Sakura Farms PHOTO: MICHAEL VILL AREAL — to see what cuts of meat they’re having a hard time moving to make sure rillettes, jerky, sausage, liver mousse and that the entire animal is being utilized. pickles. Also keep an eye out for new menu “Freedom Run Farm had a ton of lamb additions like entrees for two, including a necks they weren’t using, which is one of whole fish “on the half shell,” served with my favorite cuts of meat — it’s on the bone, skin and scales on. there’s all that connective tissue, you cook “I hope these diners and the people it slow and low and the flavors are just coming in will leave having a better really intense coming off the bone like understanding of the utilization of product that — so we have committed to taking all and the simplicity of a delicious dish,” of their lamb necks so they’re no longer Arens says. trying to turn that into grind or throw that “(We’re) just cutting down on waste, in the freezer or sit on it and not be able to showing respect for the animals and where utilize it,” Arens says. “It’s kind of the same they came from and the people that spend with Marksbury Farm.” their lives dedicated to growing (them).” He says Coppin’s is also making its own Coppin’s Restaurant & Bar is located stocks and utilizing scraps in other ways, at Hotel Covington (638 Madison Ave., like on the charcuterie board, which also Covington). For more info, visit features Woodlands Pork whole-muscle hotelcovington.com. cured meat, along with housemade

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CLASSES & EVENTS THURSDAY 17

Curries from Around the World — Watch as instructor James Trent demonstrates how to create curries with international flavor. He’ll make curries from Southern China, Thailand and India including curried pork pot stickers; red curry coconut soup with butternut squash and peanuts; yogurt and mint tandoor chicken with Malai curry; and kheer with cardamom red bananas with honey wontons. 6-8:30 p.m. $55. The Cooking School at Jungle Jim’s, 5440 Dixie Highway, Fairfield, junglejims.com.

FRIDAY 18

Proofed Craft Spirits Night at March First — March First Brewing is also a cidery and distillery and they’ve invited some friends for an evening of spirit sampling. Try craft whiskey, rum, vodka and more from distilleries including New Riff, Second Sight, Voltage Vodka and more. 6-10 p.m. $2 per tasting ticket; 6 for $10. March First Brewing, 7885 E. Kemper Road, Sharonville, marchfirstbrewing.com.

SATURDAY 19

Cheese 101 with Urban Stead Cheese Co. — Urban Stead Cheese Company will be visiting Turner Farm to walk guests through how cheeses are produced from “cow to curd.” They will also lead a cheese tasting. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. $35. Turner Farm, 7400 Given Road, Indian Hill, turnerfarm.org.

Robe Can Release at Streetside Brewing — Streetside is releasing everyone’s favorite red donut stout, Robe, crafted in collaboration with Holtman’s Donuts. The beer has hints of red velvet cake and cream cheese. The brewery will also have some Demogorgan on hand. 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Free admission. Streetside Brewery, 4003 Eastern Ave., Columbia Tusculum, streetsidebrewery.com. The Return of the Remus Revival at Butcher and Barrel — On the 67th anniversary of the death of bootlegger George Remus, Butcher and Barrel is celebrating with a themed party. Dress in Prohibition-era attire and attend a cocktail class and drink demo led by Molly Wellmann of Japp’s and Myrtle’s Punch House, with help from George Remus Bourbon brand ambassador Robin Carnes. After the demo, enjoy small bites and more George Remus cocktails from the bar, plus dancing. 7-11 p.m. $35. Butcher and Barrel, 700 Race St., Downtown, thebutcherandbarrel.com. Game Day Gathering — Leigh Barnhart Ochs shows sports lovers how to create the perfect spread for the Super Bowl. Menu items include hot muffuletta dip, meat lover’s chili, sheet pan loaded nachos, meatloaf sliders, Asian slaw, smoked almond dip, coconut-curry glazed popcorn and chewy Butterfinger cookies. 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. $55. The Cooking School at Jungle Jim’s, 5440 Dixie Highway, Fairfield, junglejims.com.

SUNDAY 20

Sausage University at Avril-Bleh — Join the team at Avril-Bleh to learn how to grind, blend and stuff your own sausages. Take home over 15 pounds of different varieties. You’ll also enjoy a lunch of sauerkraut and sausage. 10 a.m. $125. Avril-Bleh Meat Market, 33 E. Court St., Downtown, facebook.com/avrilbleh.

MONDAY 21

NSYC Ramen Pop-Up — Northside Yacht Club and Kiki College Hill partner for a ramen pop-up. The new line-up features two types of ramen: tantanmen with spicy minced pork, shitake mushrooms and green onion or vegan mapotofu ramen with spicy tofu, eggplant and green onion. 4-9 p.m. $11. Northside Yacht Club, 4227 Spring Grove Ave., Northside, northsideyachtclub. com.

TUESDAY 22

Casual Tavern Dining — In this hands-on class, you’ll learn how to make American cuisine. The menu includes fondue, chicken in mustard sauce with pancetta and herbs, creamed spinach and rustic lemon polenta cake with berries and cream. 6-8:30 p.m. $75. The Cooking School at Jungle Jim’s, 5440 Dixie Highway, Fairfield, junglejims.com.

WEDNESDAY 23

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Burns Night Celebration at Nicholson’s — Celebrate poet Robert Burns at Nicholson’s with this annual party. There will be Celtic music from the Lost Celts, a performance from the Cincinnati Highland dancers, poetry, bagpipers, a toast to the haggis and more. VIP tickets include a Scottish buffet and welcome cocktail. 7:3010:30 p.m. Free; $39.95 VIP. Nicholson’s, 625 Walnut St., Downtown, facebook.com/ nicholsonsgastropub.

Big Gay Brunch at Below Zero Lounge — Head to Below Zero before this Sunday’s Tea Dance for drink specials and a brunch buffet. Enjoy bloody marys, mimosas and pitchers of beer, a drag queen or two and music video and comedy clips played on request from VJ Fuel. Brunch reservations are highly recommended and can be made online. The Tea Dance will be held

at Mr. Pitiful’s at 1323 Main St., Over-the-Rhine starting at 4 p.m. Noon brunch. $15. Below Zero Lounge, 1120 Walnut St., Overthe-Rhine, facebook.com/ belowzerolounge.

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Team Fiona: Second Birthday Edition — For Fiona’s second birthday, Listermann is releasing a special second-birthday edition of Team Fiona beer along with a new variant. The beers are Team Fiona, a NE IPA (100 cases available), and Team Fiona: Key Lime Hippo Party (50 cases available). Both will be available on draft; no growler fills. A portion of proceeds will be donated to the Cincinnati Zoo. 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Free admission. Listermann Brewing Co., 1621 Dana Ave., Norwood, listermannbrewing.com.

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MUSIC

More Than a Tourist Cincinnati musician Adam Flaig absorbed new experiences and creative partnerships in Portugal to create his transformative solo album, ‘O Turista’ BY N I C K G R E V ER

found in every track. Just as the songs weren’t complete prior to recording, neither were the lyrics. “The record is the trip, where I start out just wanting to go somewhere else, not feeling super great,” Flaig says, “and I feel like the record takes me through my transition in Portugal.” Flaig’s time in Aveiro helped him do more than just make a new album. It also helped him learn more about himself as a person and a musician. “I was neglecting a lot of other things that I would need for my mental health,” Flaig says. “So Portugal gave me time to really look back and realize it’s OK to take your time, it’s OK to not be at a certain point or bury yourself to try to get an unobtainable result. I feel like my desire to be in the moment more… I feel way more comfortable being able to do that, whereas before I felt like I didn’t have the time.” And that’s the true accomplishment for Flaig. While O Turista is undoubtedly an artistic achievement that Flaig should be extremely proud of and marks the next steps in his musical journey, the personal growth is what will have the biggest impact on his life. “I don’t really need a lot to be happy, I just really need my friends and family in a room where I can play guitar,” Flaig says. “I think I needed a good chunk of time to get away from what I had already been doing and pounding my head against a wall.” For more on Adam Flaig, visit adamflaigmusic.com.

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afford the ticket at that time and have that one friend there who could be my anchor.” Flaig spent August through mid-October of 2018 in Portugal recording O Turista in close partnership with producer Jorge Pandeirada and percussionist Micael Lourenço (as well as myriad guest instrumentalists). He took the opportunity to soak in as much of what Portugal could offer his songs. “I really wanted to go over there with songs that weren’t done and go there with enough time to absorb some of where I was and some of the people that I was with,” he says. “I wanted to go somewhere new and have that influence available to me.” “Some of the songs were done and I had a certain idea of how I wanted them to go,” Flaig continues, “but if Jorge or Mica had an idea on how to do something, I would let that be the idea. Because if I made the decision, it’s like, ‘I could do this by myself at home but now that I’m here with you in a totally different country, if you have an idea on how to do something let’s do it your way, because I never would have thought of that.’ ” These ideas helped turn O Turista into a snapshot of Flaig’s trip. Full of intricate, thoughtful arrangements and layered with instrumentation, including many found in traditional Portuguese music, the album is 28 minutes of tracks grounded in American Folk, yet far surpassing the typical limitations of the genre. The fact that Pandeirada and Lourenço can play over 50 instruments between the two of them certainly helped with the variety

were asked to fill in as band members for fellow Cincinnati rockers Valley of the Sun for a European tour and it was on this trip that Adam Flaig Flaig made the connection that PHOTO: FILIPE CUNHA OF VIEWPOINT TOURS would eventually lead him to his fateful journey. Joining Valley of the Sun on the tour was Grrui Tiago, a native of Aveiro, Portugal, and he and Flaig quickly became friends. Tiago works for Portuguese production company Covil, which focuses on assisting artists with all elements of music production, and during the tour he began to speak to Flaig and Jones about the possibility of recording an album in Portugal. The logistics of all three Anthonies traveling to Portugal weren’t plausible, but for Flaig alone, things lined up just right. “I was in a headspace where I wanted to do something totally different; I wanted to go somewhere totally different,” Flaig says. “I needed a break. I was figuring out what I should do, where I should spend my time and energy after Mad Anthony. I wanted to be creative but I didn’t know what to do. “I thought it would be exciting and fun and just a good exercise to go somewhere where I didn’t speak the language or I didn’t know anybody. Just flip everything upside down. I ran the idea by Tiago and immediately he was like, ‘Yeah, totally, you can stay in my apartment.’ ” Flaig was provided an opportunity that he felt he couldn’t pass up — to travel to a new country and be given a place to stay and the opportunity to record an album in an environment far removed from anything the Queen City could offer. The prospect of dropping everything and leaving for two and a half months was difficult, but sometimes the best decisions are rash ones. “I bought the (plane) ticket and once I bought the ticket I was like, ‘OK, now I have to go.’ I’m realizing how lucky I am to be in the position to do that,” Flaig says. “It’s nice to have the time and be able to

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itting down with Adam Flaig to discuss his recently completed solo record, O Turista, it’s evident that the singer and guitarist was changed by the process of making the album. Namely, he’s really, really calm. That’s not to say that Flaig was previously a whirlwind of pent-up energy ready to be unleashed. But as of late he’s showing a new side of himself. It is truly amazing what deciding on a whim to spend two months in Portugal can do for one’s constitution. Flaig is best known in Cincinnati music circles as the guitarist for Mad Anthony, which announced an extensive hiatus last year. The trio’s high-energy fusion of Punk and Rock spawned two albums, two EPs and a yearlong song-a-week project known as Mad Anthology. Released late last year on most major digital platforms, O Turista is miles away from any of that, but Flaig’s solo work has roots in Mad Anthony. “I had a lot of songs that were 50, 85 percent complete because, to me, it was a therapeutic thing — escaping or releasing any sort of stress,” Flaig says. “I like the task of coming up with a song, but in my head — they weren’t for anyone else. They weren’t to play or perform for anyone, it was just for me, so the motive to actually complete songs wasn’t actually there.” Flaig did eventually explore performing his partially finished songs live to varying levels of success — he admits to humming some lyrics onstage that weren’t complete — but his focus shifted with one particular gig. Mad Anthony was scheduled to perform acoustically with their friends, the Michigan duo When Particles Collide, but scheduling conflicts wouldn’t allow the entire band to participate. After some coaxing from Mad Anthony guitarist and vocalist Ringo Jones, Flaig decided to perform the show solo and really make a go of it. “I feel like that was a turning point because I remember playing that show and really enjoying it and having songs prepared,” Flaig says. “It was one of those nights were everything worked out. It was a confidence booster and put things into perspective. I enjoyed the freedom of playing by yourself and only having a guitar, not needing a van full of gear. Everything about it is easier.” Shortly after that show, Flaig and Jones

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Multimagic Returns with New Song, Lineup BY M I K E B R EEN

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Too Much ‘Africa’

Last year when Weezer revived Toto’s dreadful ’80s hit “Africa” in response to a cheeky online fan campaign, it was worth a chuckle or two. But it’s been all downhill from there. Pitbull managed to make the song 100-times worse by incorporating it into his Aquaman soundtrack contribution, “Ocean to Ocean,” and now someone is torturing the Namib Desert with Toto in the name of art. Namibian artist Max Siedentopf has reportedly created a sound installation that features six speakers that will pump out “Africa” on an endless loop. The MP3 players run on solar batteries and the artist says he hopes the song will play for “years.” The good news: the speakers appear to be in a very remote part of the desert. The bad news: many forms of wildlife (including baboons, hyenas, reptiles and insects) could be subjected to the abuse.

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The pioneering Punk ’zine Maximum Rocknroll has announced that it will cease publication. Originally a radio show in San Francisco that began in 1977, the ’zine began its print run in 1982. The newsprint publication was well distributed and, thanks to its nonprofit status, was never beholden to advertising or other outside interests. The fiercely independent ’zine was highly critical of “the powers that be” and shunned (and sometimes shamed) major label acts, rebuffing corporate ad dollars in the process. Influential on both music and music journalism, MRR will continue online and other MRR projects are reportedly also in the works.

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Outside of what was on the radio at a certain moment in time, the Billboard charts can also offer peeks into other aspects of society, from dance crazes (“The Twist”) to anti-war movements (“Fortunate Son”). Billboard’s adjustment to include streaming numbers — including from YouTube — has added a new dimension to that historical value. For example, they’ll now have people someday wondering what the hell was going on when the once-obscure children’s song “Baby Shark” entered the zeitgeist. Credited to Pinkfong and originating with a 2016 South Korean educational music video, the song became such a popular meme — with social media users posting videos of themselves dancing along or otherwise engaging with it — that it recently entered Billboard’s Hot 100 at No. 32.

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After a nearly two-year hiatus, Cincinnati AltPop singer/songwriter Coran Stetter is bringing back his band Multimagic and debuting a new single this week. On Jan. 18, “Dreams” will be available on all major digital platforms. You can also visit citybeat. com this Friday for a listen. The music isn’t the only thing that’s new for Stetter’s Multimagic. In mid-December, an entire new lineup for the band was announced. Multimagic From 2014-2016, Multimagic was one of the PHOTO: PROVIDED most buzzed-about groups in Cincinnati, with highby former Columbus resident Brian Lucey, profile slots at local music festivals like who has a pair of Grammys and has MidPoint and Bunbury and a New Artist of worked on albums by Cage the Elephant, the Year nomination at the 2016 Cincinnati The Black Keys, The Shins, Ryan Bingham, Entertainment Awards. The group Dr. Dog and many others. disappeared briefly as Stetter dealt with To celebrate the new release (which feahealth issues and worked on launching tures “Indigo Road” and four other tracks), Inhailer, the online, local-music-friendly the band is playing Saturday, Jan. 19 at radio station he founded in 2017 (get more Bogart’s (2621 Vine St., Corryville, bogarts. info at inhailer.com). com). Joining the group for the 6:30 p.m. With “Dreams,” Stetter introduces the release party/show are fellow locals Vatics new-era lineup of Multimagic (the former and Columbus’ BareFuzz and Liberty members of the band went on to form Deep Down. Tickets are available for $10 in Electronic/AltPop group Passeport, which advance through bogarts.com. you can hear at passeportmusic.com). For more Saving Escape info, visit With Stetter still handling guitar and lead facebook.com/SavingEscapeBand. vocal duties, Multimagic now features Meg • Cincinnati Jazz trio On a Limb released Kekses on keyboards, Evan Brown (aka its eponymous debut album on Jan. 11 producer Smokeface) on drums, James on most major digital platforms. The Ruehlman on guitar and Zach Madden on group — featuring pianist Andrew Haug, bass. bassist Noah Simionides and drummer With its twinkling guitars, warm and Charlie Schefft — has described its sound dreamy atmospherics and jubilant melodic as “Umbrella Jazz,” a reflection of the hooks, Stetter says “Dreams” is a love song musicians’ broad musical tastes and tenabout rebounding and finding hope in a dency to interpret music by favorites from new relationship. “Everyone has fallen out Coltrane and Chopin to The Beatles and with someone before and sometimes it Sufjan Stevens. The group’s original comtakes someone else to remind you of your positions (largely written by Haug) also worth,” he says. reflect those influences and are driven by Keep tabs on Multimagic via the musicians’ telepathic improvisational multimagicband.com. skills. Together since 2016, On a Limb More Local Release Notes has performed throughout the Midwest, • When Saving Escape was announced including a 2017 appearance at the Dayton as one of the only Cincinnati bands Jazz Festival, where they played alongside performing at 2018’s Bunbury Music Brooklyn’s Glenn Zaleski Trio. Festival, the young Blues Rock group had In honor of the new album, this just one original song (“Indigo Road”) Thursday, Jan. 17, On a Limb plays The available online to check out in advance Greenwich (2442 Gilbert Ave., Walnut Hills, of the event. But fans will finally get a the-greenwich.com). The trio will play two handful of new originals this week as sets beginning at 7 p.m. There is no cover Saving Escape, which cites artists from charge. On a Limb CDs and download Led Zeppelin to Rival Sons as influences, cards will be available at the show. releases its debut EP, Old Soul. Find more on On a Limb at facebook. The EP (due this Friday, Jan. 18) was com/onalimbband and andrewhaugmusic. recorded in Columbus, Ohio with Joe com/on-a-limb. Viers, who has worked with artists like Contact Mike Breen: Lydia Loveless, Ekoostik Hookah and mbreen@citybeat.com Twenty One Pilots. Old Soul was mastered

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Shiny and the Spoon Ben Walz

Weakened Friends with Punch Drunk Tagalongs Wednesday • MOTR Pub

When Weakened Friends rolled through town almost exactly a year ago, they were riding high on the attention and acclaim being lavished on “Hate Mail,” the PortFINE BOURBONS • LOCAL BEERS land, Maine trio’s late 2017 single release CRAFT COCKTAILS • LIVE MUSIC that featured a potent guitar cameo from J. Mascis, iconic frontperson for Dinosaur Jr. Mascis was a fabulous guest for the fledgling band that began almost four years ago. But, as their gigs and radio show HAPPY HOUR 4PM-7PM WEEKDAYS appearances conclusively proved, Weakened Friends didn’t suffer in his absence. Guitarist/vocalist Sonia Sturino is Mascis’ POMPILIOS.COM | 859.581.3065 six-string doppelganger, shredding with 600 Washington Ave. Newport, KY equal abandon and aplomb, while her warbling/screamed vocals examine the passionate extremes of Björk and Kate Bush, if they’d been born late enough to be influenced by Emo and Pop/Punk. 2019 WINTER 2015 Since their last Cincinnati appearance, Weakened Friends toured relentlessly and returned to the studio to create their debut full-length album, Common Blah, a TH blazing extension of their first two EPs and 11:30am-5pm Hours: reinforcing evidence of every good thing 11:30am that’s - 6:00pm been written about them over the past three years. Once again, Sturino’s manic vocals and tightly unhinged guitar ministrations are anchored by the superhuman rhythm section of bassist Annie Guitars, Amps, Effects, Hoffman and drummer Cam Jones, who provide the perfect sturdy-yet-fluid founAdmission: $9 Dealer&Tables: Parts, Catalogs, more!$95 Free Parking dation for Sturino’s cyclonic presence. Admission: $9 • Dealer Tables: $100 • Free Parking “Hate Mail” shows up in the set list for Aladdin Temple Common Blah, but it’s merely one jewel among many: the fuzzed-out swagger 3850 Stelzer Rd. Columbus, Ohio The Makoy Center of “Peel”; the Veruca assault of “Blue In the Columbus area, take I-270 to the Easton Rd. exit, west the on Easton, 5462 N. Center St. • Hilliard, OH 43026 Again”; hyper-caffeinated intensity north on Stelzer (5 off minutes fromColumbus Columbus Airport and hotels) As with much of Weakened Cemetery Road Exit I-270 NW of “Younger.” Friends’ material to date, the songs on www.ohioguitarshows.com (740) 592-4614 www.ohioguitarshows.com (740) 592-4614 Common Blah are Sturino’s ruminations

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Sarah Shook & the Disarmers PHOTO: COW TOWNCHAD

about toxic relationships — the reasons people seek them, stay in them and allow themselves to be ruled by them, and the fortitude necessary to break the chains. There is both pain and liberating ecstasy in Sturino’s voice when she declares in the chorus of “Hate Mail,” “I hate everything you’re saying, get away from me/I hate everything we’re doing, it’s a waste for me.” Since Weakened Friends’ revelatory SXSW appearance in 2017, things have steamrolled along appropriately, from the acclaim for “Hate Mail” to a well-deserved Boston Music Award. The release of Common Blah this past October accentuated the band’s small but brilliant catalog and raised the bar for an already anticipated sophomore release. (Brian Baker)

Sarah Shook & the Disarmers with Heavy Hinges

Thursday • Southgate House Revival

Sarah Shook & the Disarmers represent a welcome shift in the ongoing evolution of Roots music, namely the blending of the contemporary scorch of Punk and the

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Umphrey’s McGee with Big Something

Friday and Saturday • Taft Theatre Umphrey’s McGee PHOTO: SHERVIN LAINEZ

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three-chords-and-the-truth interrogation lamp of traditional honest-to-God Country. Shook is a songwriter of unparalleled power, offering lyrics that detail unvarnished and unfiltered tales of failed relationships, the alcoholic reverie that precedes them and the hungover misery that follows, as well as other well-trodden subjects in the Country music canon. The quality that Shook and her top-notch band, the Disarmers, bring to this party is the brash ability to transform something obviously familiar into a bold new form that has had new life and energy breathed into it. A good part of that transformation comes through Shook herself. She’s a whirlwind of musical intensity, whether warbling a steel pedal weeper that shows her k.d. lang side or throwing down a stomp-and-holler hoedown that howls like Nikki Lane channeling Joan Jett and Janis Joplin, as respectively evidenced by the songs “The Way She Looked at You” and “Devil May Care,” which were featured on a 7-inch single released early last month. Shook was born in Rochester, New York and raised by a fundamentalist Christian family that lived a nomadic life; they relocated to North Carolina after numerous moves when Shook was 19. By then she had already taught herself piano and guitar. In 2010, she formed her first band, Sarah Shook and the Devil, and recorded the Seven EP, which was followed by a new band, Sarah Shook and the Dirty Hands. After the Dirty Hands’ dissolution in 2013, Shook assembled the Disarmers with her longtime guitarist Eric Peterson, Jason Hendrick on bass fiddle, Phil Sullivan on lap steel and Two Dollar Pistol drummer John Howie Jr. The band began touring in the Chapel Hill region and amassed a sizable fan base, eventually recording their debut album, Sidelong, in 2015. The regional/national buzz around Sidelong attracted the attention of prominent Roots music label Bloodshot, who signed Shook & the Disarmers in 2017 and immediately reissued their debut. The band’s

Umphrey’s McGee is the musical equivalent of the fable concerning five blind men describing an elephant based on the different parts of the animal that they’re each touching. If a group of people were told to pin a genre on the band based on a random snippet from a random song in Umphrey’s McGee’s extensive studio/live catalog, the end result could be as many answers as individuals involved in the exercise. Umphrey’s McGee shifts gears more than a NASCAR driver in the middle of the pack during a Winston Cup race; the band routinely incorporates and combines elements of Blues, Funk, Prog, Metal, Bluegrass, Jazz, Rock, Pop, Reggae, Electronica and Nepalese Throat Singing (that last one was just to see if you were still paying attention, although they might have actually done it somewhere along the line). With a sonic quilt that crazy, it’s hardly surprising that Umphrey’s McGee has been ecstatically embraced by the Jam community. The band’s open taping policy is evident by the nearly 3,000 shows posted at the free-exchange website archive.org, a quantity topped only by the Grateful Dead and moe. Since Umphrey’s McGee formed at the University of Notre Dame 22 years ago, the band has blithely ignored prevailing musical trends in favor of doing whatever the hell they feel like doing and attracted a huge and fiercely loyal audience in the process. Umphrey’s McGee released its 11th studio album, it’s not us, last January, and followed it with a remix version titled it’s not them and the companion album it’s you. Late last year, the band snuck another album out to the world without any advance notice; BeSides offered up seminal versions of songs found on it’s not us, along with various other bonus tracks, live renditions, demos and alternate arrangements. It’s all unearthed gold to the seasoned Umphrey’s McGee fan, who needs absolutely no convincing to line up for tickets when the band rolls into town. For the rest of you, do a little research, drink the Kool-Aid and find your Umphrey’s McGee bliss. (BB)

MUSIC EDITOR MIKE BREEN KNOWS MUSIC.

LISTINGS

CityBeat’s music listings are free. Send info to Mike Breen at mbreen@citybeat.com. Listings are subject to change. See CityBeat.com for full music listings and all club locations. H is CityBeat staff’s stamp of approval.

WEDNESDAY 16

SCHWARTZ’S POINT JAZZ & ACOUSTIC CLUB - Phil DeGreg. 8 p.m. Jazz. Cover.

THE GREENWICH - Marcelo Silveira & Judy Tsai. 8 p.m. Brazilian. $5.

KNOTTY PINE - Dallas Moore. 10 p.m. Country. Free.

MADISON THEATER - Greensky Bluegrass with Circles Around the Sun. 8 p.m. Progressive/Bluegrass/Country/Roots/Various. $27, $30 day of show. MANSION HILL TAVERN Losing Lucky. 8 p.m. Roots. Free. MARTY’S HOPS & VINES Mike Biere and Rick Boyer. 7 p.m. Acoustic. Free.

MOTR PUB - Weakened Friends with Punch Drunk Tagalongs. 9 p.m. Indie Rock. Free.

NORTHSIDE TAVERN Shiny Old Soul. 9 p.m. Rock/ Roots/Folk/Various. Free. SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (LOUNGE) - Ray Vietti with Maria Carrelli and Rob Ford. 9 p.m. Singer/ Songwriter. Free.

J A N . 1 6 - 2 2 , 2 0 19

STANLEY’S PUB - The Qtet. 10 p.m. Funk/Jam/Jazz Fusion. Free. THOMPSON HOUSE - Jack Russell’s Great White Acoustic Duo. 8 p.m. Acoustic Rock. $20.

URBAN ARTIFACT Lords of the Trident with Automaton and Siegelord. 9 p.m. Metal. $5.

FRIDAY 18

ARNOLD’S BAR AND GRILL - The Duo-Jetts. 8 p.m. Pop/Rock. Free.

BLIND LEMON - Warren Ulgh. 9 p.m. Acoustic. Free. BLUE NOTE HARRISON - Afroman. 7 p.m. Hip Hop/ Various. $15. BOGART’S - Save By the ’90s. 9 p.m. ’90s Pop/Rock/ Various. $10. BROMWELL’S HÄRTH LOUNGE - Dixie Karas with The Steve Schmidt Trio. 9 p.m. Jazz. Free.

THURSDAY 17

HILTON NETHERLAND PALM COURT - John Zappa Quartet. 9 p.m. Jazz. Free.

CAFFÈ VIVACE - The Transcendents. 7:30 p.m. Jazz.

JAG’S STEAK AND SEAFOOD - The Whammies. 9 p.m. ’80s Pop/Rock/Dance. $5.

BLIND LEMON - Kyle English. 7 p.m. Acoustic. Free.

C I T Y B E AT. C O M

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (SANCTUARY) - Sarah Shook & The Disarmers with Heavy Hinges. 8 p.m. Roots/Rock. $12, $15 day of show.

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (REVIVAL ROOM) - Swelltune Records: From Boston to Austin Winter 2019 Tour with Tammi Savoy & Chris Casello, Jittery Jack & Amy Griffin, Sean Mencher. 8 p.m. Rockabilly/Roots/Rock/Various. $8, $10 day of show.

Family. 10 p.m. Rock. Free.

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

THE GREENWICH - On a Limb (album release show). 7 p.m. Jazz. Free.

CAFFÈ VIVACE - Kathy Wade Trio. 8:30 p.m. Jazz. THE COMET - Drobakid with Maggy and Max Vignola. 10 p.m. Indie/Various. Free.

JIM AND JACK’S ON THE RIVER - Nick Netherton. 9 p.m. Country. Free.

HILTON NETHERLAND PALM COURT - Jim Smith Quartet. 6 p.m. Jazz. Free.

KNOTTY PINE - Bad Habit. 10 p.m. Rock. Cover.

MOLLY MALONE’S IRISH PUB (COVINGTON) - Missy Werner Band. 7:30 p.m. Bluegrass. Free.

LUDLOW GARAGE - Mark Chestnutt with Rayne Johnson. 8:30 p.m. Country. $35-$75.

MOTR PUB - Left Lane Cruiser with Bloody Royal

THE MAD FROG Dead Humor with The

Electric Indigo, Sovereign Being and Leopold The Ghost. 9 p.m. Rock/Funk/ Various. Cover.

STANLEY’S PUB - Resonator and The Bees Knees. 11 p.m. Rock/Blues/Funk/Jam. Cover.

MANSION HILL TAVERN - Jeff Bonta & the Tucker Boys. 9 p.m. Blues. Cover.

SYMPHONY HOTEL AND RESTAURANT - Ricky Nye and Bekah Williams. 7 p.m. Blues/Jazz. Free.

MARTY’S HOPS & VINES - The Mood Rings. 9 p.m. Various. Free.

MOTR PUB - Sungaze with Discount Nostalgia and Drew Joseph. 10 p.m. Indie Rock. Free.

NORTHSIDE TAVERN - Hillary Hahn and the Cupcakes, Honey Combs & Combo Slice and Mynah Tones. 10 p.m. Pop/Rock/ Roots/Various. Free. OCTAVE - Fux. 11 p.m. Jam/ Various PLAIN FOLK CAFE - Skirt and Boots. 7:30 p.m. Americana/Bluegrass/Folk. Free. RADISSON CINCINNATI RIVERFRONT - Basic Truth. 8 p.m. Funk/R&B/Soul. Free (in the Fifth Lounge). THE REDMOOR - Just Vince & The Fellas. 8:30 p.m. R&B/Pop/Dance/Various. $10.

RICK’S TAVERN - LDNL. 10 p.m. Pop/Dance/Various. Cover. SCHWARTZ’S POINT JAZZ & ACOUSTIC CLUB - Erwin Stuckey, Jonathan Smith and Alfred Beasley. 8:30 p.m. Jazz. Cover. SHORTY’S SUGARTIT KENTUCKY PUB - Saving Stimpy. 9:30 p.m. Rock/ Acoustic. Free. SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (LOUNGE) - Mark Gibson and Nicholas Clay. 9:30 p.m. Singer/Songwriter. Free. SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (REVIVAL ROOM) - Home Plate, FliT, Mister Mason and The Greada Treaty. 7:30 p.m. Pop Punk. $5. SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (SANCTUARY) Hollow Front, The World I Knew, Kienemy, Into The Skies , Nullity and Airways. 7 p.m. Metalcore. $10, $12 day of show.

TAFT THEATRE Umphrey’s McGee with Big Something. 7 p.m. Progressive/Rock/Jam/Various. $30-$39.50.

THOMPSON HOUSE Great Peacock with The Midwestern. 8 p.m. Rock/ Roots. $8.

URBAN ARTIFACT MCRNR, V-Twin Sin, Hot Diggity Daffodil and Raaaaalph. 9 p.m. Rock/ Punk/Metal/Various.

WASHINGTON PLATFORM SALOON & RESTAURANT - Brad Myers Trio. 9 p.m. Blues. $10 (food/drink minimum).

SATURDAY 19

ARNOLD’S BAR AND GRILL - The Cincy Brass. 8 p.m. Funk/Brass/ Pop/Rock/Soul/Dance/Various. Free. BLIND LEMON - Jake Walz. 9 p.m. Acoustic. Free.

BOGART’S - Saving Escape with Liberty Deep Down, BareFuzz and The Vatics. 6:30 p.m. Rock. $10. BROMWELL’S HÄRTH LOUNGE - Five Little Bears. 9 p.m. Jazz. Free. CAFFÈ VIVACE - Rusty Burge Quartet featuring Steve Allee. 8:30 p.m. Jazz

THE COMET - Frontier Folk Nebraska and The Dry Look. 10 p.m. Rock. Free. THE GREENWICH - The Spear Shakers. 9 p.m. Blues/Rock. $10. HILTON NETHERLAND PALM COURT - Max Gise Quartet. 9 p.m. Jazz. Free. JAG’S STEAK AND SEAFOOD - The Sly Band. 9 p.m. Pop/Dance/Rock/Various. $5. JIM AND JACK’S ON THE RIVER - Rodney Alan

Combs Band. 9 p.m. Country. Free. KNOTTY PINE - Bad Habit. 10 p.m. Rock. Cover. THE MAD FROG - DJ Dan with Gldnguys, Ron Mills and more. 9 p.m. Dance/DJ/ Various. $15.

Parade, National Barks and Peaceful Sorrow. 6:30 p.m. Rock. Cover.

URBAN ARTIFACT Kaitlyn Peace and the Electric Generals, Hello Luna and Abby Vice. 9 p.m. Rock/Various

MANSION HILL TAVERN Johnny Fink & the Intrusion. 9 p.m. Blues. Cover.

WASHINGTON PLATFORM SALOON & RESTAURANT FrenchAxe. 9 p.m. Jazz. $10 (food/drink minimum).

MARTY’S HOPS & VINES Concinnity Jazz. 9 p.m. Jazz. Free.

SUNDAY 20

MAURY’S TINY COVE & MAUR’S BAR - Ricky Nye. 7 p.m. Blues/Boogie Woogie. Free.

20TH CENTURY THEATER - Cherub with Mosie. 8 p.m. Electronic/ Pop/Dance/Various. $22, $24 day of show.

MOTR PUB - The Harlequins with Dana. 10 p.m. Rock. Free.

THE COMET - The Comet Bluegrass All-Stars. 7:30 p.m. Bluegrass. Free.

NORTHSIDE TAVERN Blue Eighty with Jennifer Grantham. 9:30 p.m. ’80sAlternative/New Wave. Free.

HILTON NETHERLAND PALM COURT - Mike Darrah Solo Piano Jazz Brunch. 10:30 a.m. Jazz. Free.

PARKERS BLUE ASH TAVERN - Encore Duo. 6 p.m. Acoustic Classic Rock. Free. PLAIN FOLK CAFE - The Briscoes. 7:30 p.m. Acoustic. Free.

THE REDMOOR - The McCartney Project. 7 p.m. Beatles/Wings/Paul McCartney tribute. $20-$25.

REDWINE & CO. - Nicholas Clay. 8 p.m. Acoustic. Free. RICK’S TAVERN - Queen City Blues Alliance Fundraiser featuring Brass Owl, The NS Crew and Keith Little. 9:30 p.m. Blues. $5. SCHWARTZ’S POINT JAZZ & ACOUSTIC CLUB - Pat Kelly Trio. 8:30 p.m. Jazz. Cover. SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (REVIVAL ROOM) - “Cincinnati Noir.” 10 p.m. Dance/Alt/DJ/Various. $5. STANLEY’S PUB - Electric Garden. 11 p.m. Funk/Jam. Cover.

TAFT THEATRE Umphrey’s McGee with Big Something. 7 p.m. Progressive/Rock/Jam/Various. $30-$39.50.

TOP CATS - The Exit Strategy, Smoke

H H

MOTR PUB - Ohmme with The Ophelias. 8 p.m. Indie Pop. Free.

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (LOUNGE) - Beverly Hills Supper Club with Luke Smith and the Foundation. 6 p.m. Roots/ Rock. Free.

SOUTHGATE HOUSE REVIVAL (SANCTUARY) - School of Rock Mason Tribute to R.E.M., The B52s and Ladies of the ’80s. 4 p.m. Alt/Rock/Pop/ Various. $6, $8 day of show. URBAN ARTIFACT - GoodnightGoodnight, Honorable Demons and Mr. Scientist. 9 p.m. Alt/Rock/Electronic/ Various.

MONDAY 21

MOTR PUB - Con Davison. 9 p.m. Indie Rock. Free.

NORTHSIDE TAVERN - The Qtet. 9:30 p.m. Funk/Jazz/ Rock/Fusion. Free. STANLEY’S PUB - Jazz Jam. 9 p.m. Jazz/Improv. Free.

TUESDAY 22

CAFFÈ VIVACE - Emily Grace Jordan & Steve Schmidt. 7:30 p.m. Jazz.

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