Meet CinSatanas, the Cincinnati nonprofit whose members clean highways, raise money for school lunches and embrace Satan as a symbol — not a deity.
BY CASE FENNER
Y O U R N E X T H O M E I S
Discover over 180 move-in ready homes across Greater Cincinnati today!
CINSATANAS UTILIZES SATANIC IMAGERY LIKE THE GOAT-HEADED BAPHOMET, INVERTED CROSSES AND PENTAGRAMS TO CRITIQUE AND OPPOSE WHAT THEY SEE AS THE IMPOSITION OF CHRISTIANITY IN SOCIETY. PHOTO PROVIDED | CINSATANAS.
COMMUNITY EDITOR
ARTS AND CULTURE REPORTER KANE MITTEN
GRAPHIC DESIGNER ERIN SENDELBACH
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
ETHAN BLOOMFIELD CASE FENNER
NATHAN GRANGER
CODY PELLE
DISTRIBUTION TEAM BRIAN DEES
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
LACY STARLING
EXECUTIVE
MEGHAN GOTH
SENIOR
MAGGY MCDONEL
By Nathan Granger and Kane Mitten
Despite Madison Theater announcing last month it was closing, the venue owner’s lawyer told CityBeat that’s not actually the case.
Attorney Dave Kruer said the venue is “not permanently closed,” but that operator Frank Hulefeld simply “can’t operate there anymore.”
The announcement cited “sudden termination of our lease” as the reason behind the abrupt closure.
Hulefeld has been managing the venue since 2021 and operates an LLC called Madison Theater Presents (the company itself has been operating the venue since 2024). Hulefeld formerly owned the Madhatter on Scott Boulevard in Covington. CityBeat has reached out to Hulefeld multiple times since the news broke, but he has not responded to comment or provided additional information.
The theater’s landlord is an LLC called ENC Properties, which owns three buildings on Madison, including the ones that make up the venue. ENC Properties has a Lillian Esther Johnson listed as its registered agent with the state of Kentucky. Johnson and her husband own a house in
CITYBEAT
Taylor Mill, according to Kenton County Property records.
CityBeat was not able to reach Johnson directly, but Kruer said she used to operate the venue herself.
Kruer said the goal was to have the venue “opened under a new operator within the next couple of weeks.”
Although he said some companies had been lined up, he was not at liberty to say which ones.
So, what happened?
Much is still unknown about the circumstances of the closure, but there is some information that’s publicly available. Hulefeld’s announcement mentions the revocation of the venue’s insurance policy after a patron fell on one of the venue’s interior stairways.
A lawsuit against ENC Properties and the theater managers was filed in Kenton County Circuit Court on Oct. 28, 2025, by Florence resident Sheryl Zollars. According to the text of Zollars’ complaint, Zollars fell and sustained injuries on a stairway inside the theater leading to the stage early November 2024.
The suit alleges that the venue should have been aware of any hazards in the building, and that it should have warned patrons accordingly.
“The dangerous conditions in
Defendants’ premises included, but were not limited to, the lack of a handrail and inadequate lighting for the stairway…,” reads the complaint. “The Defendants should have anticipated the incident on the stairway that caused Plaintiff’s injuries.”
The complaint goes on to allege the stairway’s conditions could have possibly violated building codes. The theater denied many of the allegations in its answer to the complaint.
Zollars’ lawyer, Scott Guenther, informed CityBeat that Zollars suffered a fracture in her right ankle and her upper tibia as a result of the fall. She spent nine days in the hospital and then two weeks in a rehab facility.
The court granted a default judgement in favor of Zollars in January. A hearing was held the same month, and the theater later filed a motion for discovery of evidence in February. A deposition of Zollars was initially scheduled for June 10, but this was later rescheduled. Evidence discovery in the case is ongoing.
Guenther did not know if his client’s case contributed to the rift between Madison Theater Presents and ENC; he knew as much as what he’d seen in the news, he said.
A lawyer representing Madison Theater Presents in that suit, Daniel Martell,
declined to comment altogether. Kruer could not discuss if the lawsuit played a role in the two entities’ separation.
There are three other lawsuits against ENC Properties and the theater in the Kenton County Court database, two of which are at least nine years old. The last one is a foreclosure case due to outstanding tax liens, filed on May 14 against one of ENC’s properties, but Kruer said that outstanding tax liens against ENC’s properties should be resolved in the near future. CityBeat has reached out to the city for more information.
A hearing related to an incident of crowd control at the theater took place in front of the city’s Alcohol Beverage Control Board earlier in June, but there’s no indication that incident relates to the theater’s closure. Kruer explicitly denied it played a role.
As for the venue’s future shows, Kruer said “we’re working on trying to get a transition in effect” and that more information would be released once things were finalized.
Anyone with any information about the case that led to the theater’s closure or the future of the shows scheduled at the venue can contact CityBeat at news@citybeat.com to speak to a reporter. Anonymous tips are welcome.
By Case Fenner
s Cincinnati Center City Development Corp., better known as 3CDC, faces mounting criticism over its role in a dispute involving downtown’s Piatt Park, the nonprofit used a city council committee meeting in June to spotlight its contributions to the neighborhoods it has helped redevelop.
Representatives from 3CDC, the real estate-focused nonprofit, presented to Cincinnati City Council’s Economic and Cultural Opportunities Committee. During the presentation, they highlighted a range of community investments and initiatives aimed at supporting residents and businesses in areas transformed through the organization’s redevelopment efforts.
“The work you guys do is one of the unsung hero parts of Cincinnati,” Council Member Seth Walsh told the representatives.
However, other community members thought that 3CDC’s work may be sung enough in City Hall. Stephan Pryor, a long-time state and local candidate for office and a member of the Hamilton County Democratic Central Committee, expressed concern at the nonprofit’s potential for expansion.
“Y’all keep letting 3CDC run everything,” Pryor told the council members during public comment. “It’s trash, it’s garbage and it’s wrong.”
The presentation’s main focus was on 3CDC’s Ambassador program, which seeks to hire community members in a catchall property management/social work/ first responder role. These ambassadors do everything from removing litter and graffiti, to weeding and shoveling snow to working with the Cincinnati Police Department and GeneroCity 513 outreach workers. Each ambassador is also First Aid trained and carries Narcan with them.
“The priority we have is to provide safe environments,” 3CDC’s COO and former Cincinnati City Manager Paula
Boggs Muething said. She described the ambassadors as utilizing their “community intuition” — an internal sense of how their neighborhood and communities function — to de-escalate potentially dangerous situations.
Prompted by the council members, David Vissman, 3CDC’s vice president of operations, also unveiled a bit of the organization’s plans for the future of their Piatt Park project.
“We’re working on community sessions that will be including them,” Vissman said, referring to groups like the Triiibe Foundation and Food Not Bombs; two of
the groups whose weekly mutual aid in the public park has caused controversies with 3CDC and the city in the past.
The issue started in April, when it was announced that the nonprofit was seeking a 39-year lease on Piatt Park, which lies in the company’s Downtown Cincinnati Improvement District, from the city. 3CDC argued that it needed to own the park to get state grants, while community organizers argued that the re-developers simply wanted to privatize the park. Things came to a head later in the month, when it was revealed that the mutual aid groups were the targets of emails between
3CDC and city staff dating back to October of 2025, and that the idea of dispersing the groups via permitting was discussed.
At a glance, this potential community session signals a willingness from 3CDC’s executives to listen to input from those that most often use the park; something that the mutual aid organizations and community organizers have asked for since the beginning.
Vissman predicted the meetings would take place next fall.
“It’ll be centered around: ‘What does everyone want Piatt to look like?’” he added.
By Kane Mitten
Caffè Vivace is here to stay. The popular Walnut Hills coffeehouse and late-night jazz club has renewed its lease until 2031.
Caffè Vivace owners Brent Gallaher and Vanessa Keeton worked with landlord Model Group to open the cafe in 2017 at 975 E. McMillan St. Eight years later, Caffè Vivace has become a cornerstone of Walnut Hills, thanks to its year-round live music programming and nationally recognized artistic excellence.
“This partnership has always been about more than just a space — it’s about creating something meaningful for the neighborhood,” said Gallaher. “We are incredibly grateful that Model Group believed in our vision early on, and we’re proud of what Caffè Vivace has become. We’re excited to continue building on that foundation together for years to come.”
Earlier this year, the venue earned a spot in DownBeat Magazine’s Best Jazz Venues Guide, which highlights premier destinations for live jazz worldwide.
Its programming is supported in part by Jazz Vivace, the cafe’s sister nonprofit dedicated to strengthening Cincinnati’s jazz community by supporting local and regional artists,
CAFFÈ VIVACE. PHOTO PROVIDED | CAFFÈ VIVACE
presenting internationally acclaimed performers and expanding access to live music and arts education.
Together, Caffè Vivace and Jazz Vivace have helped establish Walnut Hills as a destination for cultural experiences, creating opportunities for Cincinnatibased musicians to share the stage with respected jazz artists.
“Caffè Vivace has played an essential role in shaping the identity of Walnut Hills,” said Alex Zyndorf of The Model Group. “Their commitment to music, culture and community aligns directly with our mission, and we’re thrilled to extend this partnership through 2031.”
By CityBeat Staff
Apopular local country music festival has announced its star-studded lineup for this year’s festival.
The annual Voices of America Country Music Fest revealed its full schedule recently, with Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Blake Shelton and Jordan Davis headlining the four-day festival that takes place at Voice of America MetroPark in West Chester from Aug. 6 to 9.
Other big names making an appearance at the festival include LeAnn
Rimes, Scotty McCreery, Tyler Hubbard, Lee Brice, Dustin Lynch, Rodney Atkins, Ashley Cooke and Easton Corbin. Tyler Wogenstahl, president of Further Concepts and Investors and the founder of the Voices of America Country Music Festival, announced a new partnership with payment processor ZIP to give fans a new buynow, pay-later option.
“We want to make sure every fan is able to afford to come and enjoy what we have planned for our fourth year,” Wogenstahl said in a news release.
Tickets for the festival are on sale now at the festival’s official website.
By Kane Mitten
It finally happened. After years of receiving just about every other culinary award imaginable, Cincinnati restaurants are finally eligible for the best of the best: a Michelin star.
On the morning of June 18, the MICHELIN Guide announced the addition of Cincinnati to its Great Lakes edition, which is set to launch in 2027. For those unaware, a restaurant being included with one, two or three stars in the MICHELIN Guide is considered the ultimate award a restaurant can receive across the globe.
Initially, the guide was announced with six other cities — Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh — but not Cincinnati, prompting much confusion from the local culinary scene, given the fact that the Queen City had as many James Beard finalists as Chicago did this year.
According to a report in April from the Cincinnati Enquirer, the city’s tourism organization Visit Cincy was contacted by MICHELIN to join the guide but “missed” the email. That error has now been rectified, and our city is now eligible to receive the highest culinary honor on Earth.
Restaurant selections for the region will be unveiled at an official MICHELIN Guide American Great Lakes Ceremony in 2027, with the date and venue to be announced soon. This regional edition will showcase Cincinnati’s exceptional culinary talent alongside the six other cities included in the guide.
“Securing a spot in the newest
By CityBeat Staff
Baker Hunt Art and Cultural Center is welcoming back free, family-friendly outdoor concerts to its campus.
These concerts are free and open to the public.
In addition to live music, there will be other activities such as art exchanges, community-engaged art projects, art shows and more. Find more information and registration (not required but encouraged) at bakerhunt. org. Additional information and updates will be posted on Facebook and Instagram, @bakerhuntart.
Additional details include:
• Friendly, leashed dogs are welcome to attend.
• Outside alcohol is prohibited; however, food is allowed.
• Lawn chairs or picnic blankets are encouraged, as there will be a limited amount of chairs available.
• Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and snacks will be available for purchase.
The lineup includes:
June 26 | 6 p.m. | The Last Troubodour
Enjoy live music, an art show inspired by the Baker Hunt Beech Tree and an
art exchange where you can swap art supplies and books and activities for the kiddos.
July 24 | 7 p.m. | Henry & Company, with guest Stu Lax
Live music, a community art show inspired by and using playing cards (apply to the show on the website), a photography project involving the community called “People of Baker Hunt” ( a chance to get your photo taken and record your story) and activities for the kids.
Aug 7 | 6 p.m. | Two acts: Sarah Asher and Johnathon Cox
Live music by two separate acts, a community-engaged art project and an art show of summer camp students’ work and activities for the kids.
expansion of the MICHELIN Guide is a huge opportunity for our region,” said Julie Kirkpatrick, president & CEO of meetNKY and interim president & CEO of Visit Cincy. “National and international food critics have already begun tuning in to the unique culinary energy across our community, but this recognition officially solidifies the incredible momentum that has been building here for years. It proves that our food scene is fueled by an authenticity, passion and artistic brilliance that commands a global audience.”
According to Visit Cincy, Michelin’s inspectors are already in the field, and CityBeat can confirm multiple chefs shared with us that they’ve spotted what they suspected to be guide inspectors dining in their restaurants in recent weeks.
As previously mentioned, a restaurant receiving one, two or three Michelin stars certifies exceptional cuisine that’s rich in flavor, remarkably executed and infused with the personality of a talented chef.
Restaurants can also be included in the Bib Gourmand list: a designation given to select restaurants that offer good quality food for a good value, and which usually signify personal favorites of the guide’s inspectors when dining on their own time.
The MICHELIN Guide has been published since 1900 by Michelin — yes, the tire company — and maintains a list of the best restaurants on the planet.
Now that Cincinnati is eligible for the coveted awards, expect our burgeoning food scene to grow exponentially. Soon, the Queen City will become one of the world’s next great epicurean hotspots, just as we all knew it would be.
CinSatanas, the Cincinnati nonprofit whose members clean highways, raise money for school lunches and embrace Satan as a symbol — not a deity.
By Case Fenner
The Satanic Panic
In 1980, St. Martin’s Press published “Michelle Remembers”; a “memoir” of sorts, compiled from hypnotic recovered-memory therapy sessions held between Dr. Lawrence Pazder and Michelle Lewis, his patient and later wife. The book, which details a number of supposed satanic rituals Lewis was victim to between 1954 and 1955, was widely uncorroborated after its publication. Today, the book and the discredited therapy at its center are considered a strange relic in the world of pseudo-psychology — but in 1980, it struck a yet-untapped American cultural nerve, and the Satanic Panic began.
The Panic would go on to rage for nearly two decades, and thousands would fall victim to allegations of satanic allegiance. Such accusations led to investigations by both law enforcement officials and the public, which in turn fueled further worries of a growing diabolic force. Lives were ruined.
For instance: In 1983, teacher Ray Buckey and his grandmother Virginia McMartin were accused of leading and facilitating satanic rituals at their family preschool. According to archived notes from a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney’s deposition of one accuser,
allegations included a variety of claims, from, “Billy [the accuser’s child] was hurt by a lion. Billy was on his back. Ray let him pull the lion’s tail,” to, “Billy said Peggy [another McMartin teacher] killed the baby. Billy had to drink the babies [sic] blood.”
In a 1984 trial prosecuted by Los Angeles District Attorney Ira Reiner, Buckey, McMartin and five others were charged with 321 counts of child abuse based on those and similar claims. That trial resulted in a hung jury, as did a later 1990 trial; and all charges were dropped after the second deadlock. Pazder and Lewis met with the accusers during depositions, and Pazder acted as a consultant for the prosecution during the 1984 trial.
How the satanists came to town
Nearly 50 years have passed since the publication of “Michelle Remembers”, and while the systemic Satanic Panic has largely vanished, some of those that grew up in its heyday still see the familiar symptoms — like sectarian in-and-out grouping and superstitious conspiracies — that led to the widespread hysteria. In response to those symptoms, some have chosen to embrace satanic imagery in the name of progressive politics.
In the Queen City, some of our satanists are part of a new group called CinSatanas.
The organization has grown quickly. In February, a post was made on Cincinnati’s dedicated subreddit seeking interested parties to join a “Satanically Aligned Cincinnatian Community,” as the post’s title explains. The comments were largely supportive, with nearly 50 people showing interest, and more giving their best wishes for the group’s success. Some community members took issue with the group, however, like one who wrote in a lengthy comment, “As a Christian I will love you as God still loves you, but Satanists are being deceived.”
Later that month, the group hosted its inaugural gathering. According to CinSatanas’ founder Ashley Morningstar, that first meeting laid out the goals and aspirations of the group, and set up strategies to ensure its success. CityBeat first got into contact with Morningstar in March.
In April, the group was approved for state 501(c)(3) nonprofit status as a religious organization. That same month, they held elections to fill leadership positions in the organization. Twelve members were present.
“We’re figuring out how we’re going to function as a group — things like fiscal transparency, how we handle incidents when they come up and how we make sure we’re always doing the right things,” Morningstar said, describing the next
steps in the organization’s future.
What does it mean to be a satanist?
CinSatanas identifies as a “non-theistic Satanic community,” which means its members don’t believe in an actual devil but instead view Satan as a symbol.
“Satan is an adversarial figure,” Morningstar explained when they first spoke to CityBeat. For their group, Satan represents their opposition to what they see as a Christian hegemony on political and cultural power in the United States; perhaps best represented by the current federal administration and Ohio Senate Bill 34, which allows the Ten Commandments to be considered a “historical document” for the purposes of displaying it in a classroom. Another CinSatanas member pointed to LifeWise Academy — a controversial nonprofit that provides Bible-based education to public school students during school hours — as a sign of the rapidly decreasing separation between church and state, which they see as representing a threat to the country’s religious pluralism.
It’s not just about politics, though.
“Non-theistic satanism is a great way for those of us who aren’t religious, or don’t hold traditional religions, to still have that same kind of community,” said Mistress Vex, CinSatanas’ Stewardess of Souls — the group’s membership coordinator.
“In the few short months that we’ve been around, I’ve watched friendships form where they might not have otherwise,” Morningstar added.
Instead of a Hell-dwelling fallen angel, the members of CinSatanas revere the Seven Tenets, as set down by Lucien Greaves and other members of The Satanic Temple, the largest non-theistic satanic organization in the world. The Tenets include precepts like, “One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason,” and, “If one makes a mistake, one should do one’s best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.”
Perhaps the most central and timely Tenet is the third, which reads simply: “One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s will alone.” In the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision in 2022, satanic groups that follow the Seven Tenets have increasingly used their religious organization status to attempt to find loopholes in anti-abortion laws across the United States. The Satanic Temple has gone as far as to build three free reproductive telehealth clinics in New Mexico, Virginia and Maine; respectively named the Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic, the Right to Your Life Satanic Abortion Clinic, and the President’s Yuge Most Beautiful Tremendous Satanic Abortion Clinic.
Jex Blackmore, a reproductive health organizer and former leader of The Satanic Temple, has critiqued satanic approaches to abortion access as simplifying what is often a complex legal minefield for pregnant people.
Despite following the Seven Tenets, it should be noted that CinSatanas is not connected to The Satanic Temple, or any larger non-theistic satanic organization.
Asked to summarize their beliefs, Morningstar wrote, “We choose empathy over cruelty, truth over dogma and action over apathy.”
What does CinSatanas do?
If you’ve recently pulled off the interstate around St. Bernard, you’ve likely been on the Hellbound Highway. That’s what CinSatanas have taken to calling the
Exit 6 on-and-off ramps on Interstate 75, which they foster and keep clean under Ohio’s Adopt-a-Highway program. The roadway even features an official state sign bearing the group’s name.
While it may be the most eye-catching project, the highway clean up is only a part of CinSatanas’ series of programs going on around Cincinnati.
According to the Education Data Initiative’s 2025 study, Ohio had $287,702,200 in unpaid school lunch debt. While most Cincinnati Public Schools qualify for free-or-reduced lunch programs, other area schools across Southern Ohio have requested and received donations to help reduce the burden of the lunch debt crisis. “Lunches from Lucifer” is CinSatanas’ answer to that call, a project raising funds, “in line with our belief in food as a basic human right,” said Morningstar.
The group also runs “Lilith’s Lifeline”, named after the first wife of the Book of
Genesis’ Adam in Jewish mystic traditions; a figure that was later construed as a feminine demonic entity. The Lifeline seeks to fill the gap in feminine hygiene and sanitary products in area homeless shelters via donation drives. They also collect clothing for distribution at shelters.
In addition to these projects, CinSatanas also hosts regular member meetings and get-togethers, including a Beelzebub’s Bowling league, a Crafty Satanists art night and Belial’s Book Club.
Pride cometh
During this year’s Pride Month, CinSatanas members attended two Pride events in the Greater Cincinnati area, where they set up a booth and distributed informational fliers, bead bracelets and tiny 3D printed, rainbow-colored statues of the goat-headed figure of Baphomet.
“We gave out around 500 business cards,” Morningstar said, referring to the booth’s popularity at Hamilton Pride.
“We’ve been picking up some new members,” Mistress Vex agreed.
At Clermont County Pride, which CinSatanas invited CityBeat to attend, community members seemed excited by the group’s presence. Many wore the distinctive red and black pronoun pins the organization handed out. According to CinSatanas’ monthly newsletter, one event-goer told Morningstar, “I’m so glad you guys are here, we’ve never had a satanist group before.”
In an interview with CityBeat, Mistress Vex explained, “The biggest thing for me is being able to get out here and speak with other people in community, hearing other people’s concerns and being able to engage with the public.”
“Right now, with everything going on in the world, people need to look out for each other more, band together and help each other. I’m a big fan of anything that helps people do that,” she added.
By Nathan Granger
The live music scene in the Cincinnati area has been reeling over the past week following turmoil at one of the region’s oldest venues, the Madison Theater in Covington.
The operators of the theater announced unexpectedly last week that the venue would be closing. This turned out not to be entirely accurate – both the former operators of the venue and a representative of the venue’s owner later confirmed the theater was planning to reopen under new management. However, it did mean the shows that were scheduled for that weekend had to be moved.
“I found out Friday morning…,” said James “Sandwich Jones” Robertson, guitarist for Your Disease, one of the bands slated to play Covington Metal Fest at the theater before it got moved to Southgate House Revival in Newport. “I found out from a series of group chats.”
Sandwich estimated about 400 people turned out to the show in Newport, which was “pretty good,” he said, even if it was less than last year (possibly due to the sudden venue change).
Although existing information about the Madison Theater suggests it will remain a music venue, the suddenness of everything has stoked some anxiety among the DIY music scenes in the Cincinnati area, especially among the punk, hardcore and metal scenes, whose way of doing things at times puts them at odds with both mainstream cultural mores and the city.
Sandwich said the DIY scene in the Cincinnati area began seeing a resurgence around 2024, especially after several mainstays of the scene, such as Legends Bar & Venue and the Northside Yacht Club, either closed or reduced the number of live shows they were hosting. As a result, Sandwich said, trying to find reliable spaces to book shows became a game of “whack-a-mole.”
“There’s always been DIY venues,
but Legends was a safe haven for all of that stuff,” Sandwich said. “It was not the greatest venue in the world, but it was ours to some degree.”
Newer bands and younger bands, especially, “they can’t play at Bogart’s. They’re starting out, they’re newer, they’re a hometown band. There needs to be spaces that are not alcohol establishments for people to be able to be in a community and enjoy music,” said DSGN CLLCTV Founder Julia Green.
Green is the daughter of nationally renowned cartoonist Justin Green and founded DSGN CLLCTV (literally the words ‘design collective’ without vowels) originally as an alternative art gallery and display space. In time, however, the organization also began hosting punk and hardcore shows for local bands. The building is currently being renovated to bring it up to code, but Green said the goal was to reopen in the future. They’re still organizing shows at Heart of Northside.
The nature of punk, hardcore and metal inevitably lends itself to a DIY ethos because it’s difficult to find a mainstream venue that’s willing to host what to outsiders looks like aimless violence and noise.
“Yeah, the music can seem a little aggressive and scary,” said Chris Phelps Carrillo. “The aggressiveness is kind of the point.”
Phelps Carrillo said he had been involved in the DIY scene for about a year, booking and running shows around town, “especially for newer bands.”
“There is a method to the chaos,” Phelps Carrillo said. “On the outside people are just like, ‘no, this is just straight up assault…’ The side they don’t see is immediately after, those people will turn around and check on them to make sure they’re okay. If they get knocked down, they’ll make sure they pick them back up. They always take care of each other, because everyone has an understanding of what the scene’s about.”
“If you’re a jazz band, or you’re a pop
country act, you could probably get away with playing in the middle of a parking lot and a busy part of downtown Cincinnati,” Sandwich said. “And everybody would just be like, “Oh, that’s really nice, that’s great. We love that our city is so enriched with talent.’ But heavy music, if we even pretended to do that, it would be shut down.”
Green argued the loss of a DIY space erodes the region’s organic cultural reproduction, especially among youth, who may not have access to or the resources to break into mainstream spaces.
“It’s hard to find spots for these types of shows because when people hear kids…, moshing, any of that, they just are like ‘that’s a liability I don’t want,’” Green said. “Kids are stupid. They do stupid things, but they need a place to go.”
Phelps Carrillo talked about the closure of a DIY space earlier this year called The Abyss, located in an old warehouse on Spring Grove Avenue, which only managed to play a handful of shows before getting shut down.
The show that led to the shutdown occurred on Feb. 28, Phelps Carillo said, and was an anti-ICE show, aiming to raise money for families that had been displaced by immigration authorities. The venue, perhaps unfortunately for the show-goers, was right across the street from Cincinnati Fire Station 12.
“The fire department came in, and they were just like, ‘oh, we wanted to see what’s going on,’” Phelps Carillo said.
He added that the fire department went through the building and even seemed genuinely interested in the show before leaving. Then they came back with the cops, Phelps Carillo said. No one was arrested, but “they just opted to immediately get it shut down right off the bat,” Phelps Carillo said. “So, that ended up being the last show for there.”
A public records request for police communications didn’t yield anything, but CityBeat has also requested reports
from the fire department to corroborate Phelps Carillo’s story. We will update this story once we have the records.
Given this context, it’s easy to see why the news of Madison Theater made people in the scene uneasy. An event like Metal Fest was open to all ages, hosted a kind of music that would make polite company blush (or call the police), had comparatively cheap admission, and gave an opportunity for young and new bands to showcase their work and build a fan base.
There’s no evidence currently to suggest this will be the case, but the fear within the local music community is that with the former operators gone, a concert conglomerate like Live Nation would come to manage the theater. Live Nation is arguably the antithesis of the DIY attitude—corporate, distant, expensive, inaccessible. To put things into perspective, a ticket to Metal Fest this year was $20 and gave you access to multiple shows. General admission to a Live Nation venue like Bogart’s could easily run double that, depending on the performer.
Not everyone who spoke with CityBeat was pessimistic, though. John Hays, who’s now 40, has been in the scene for years and said DIY spaces getting shut down was part of the process. Hays is currently in a band called Emanating Peace.
“I’ve seen it happen so many times,” Hays said. “There’s a little bit of a lull, and maybe a couple shows miss out on coming through, but it always comes together.” He gave a view venues where shows and DIY spaces could still be found: Heart of Northside, Comet, Lambda, Swine City, where one of the acts that was slated to play at Madison Theater last week got moved to.
“This sort of the spirit of the whole thing…,” Hays said. “There’s always venues closing, and somebody else steps up, and you find somewhere else to be. The mouse trap doesn’t eliminate rodents.”
How Creekside Cigars is using unreasonable hospitality to reshape, redefine and call the cigar industry to a higher purpose in Cincinnati.
By Cody Pelle
Thanks for joining me on another trip into the heart of the Queen City. In the last article, we saw how Cincinnati’s creative scene is crushing it with the microseries, Coworking. Today, I want to get back to local business with one of my personal favorites. Creekside Cigars is a business that encapsulates everything that a local business should be. Communal, intentional and with all the hospitality needed to turn perfect strangers into lifelong friends.
The world of cigars is traditionally pretty stuffy. Plenty of three-piece suits and egos to match. That’s likely because cigars, as we know them today, took off just after the American Revolution as fashion statements made by social elites to convey power, affluence and masculinity. This history is wildly evident if you’ve ever paid a visit to a high-end tobacconist. It’s easy to be intimidated by the industry because of its ritzy outer shell, but luckily, the snobby aficionados are only the tip of the iceberg.
If you’ve spent any time in the world of cigars, you know it’s an industry steeped in tradition. Generations of families have labored long and hard to build what we
have today. Places like Creekside are moving the needle forward by constantly paying homage to the faces and places who have come before. This lineage traces all the way back to the true genesis of cigars in America at A. Fuente and Co.’s factory in Ybor City — just a hop, skip and a jump across the Sunshine State from where Dave Imber, one of the founding members of Creekside Cigars, would begin writing the industry’s next chapter two centuries later.
The best part about a trip to Creekside Cigars is the care that they put into every inch of the space. Cincinnati was built on these community-oriented spaces, and it’s a thrill to find that heart in a relatively young business. Hospitality like that doesn’t come naturally. It’s a distinct choice that takes time, the right people and good inspiration to achieve.
Imber found his inspiration at Rodriguez Cigars in Key West, Florida. The unassuming exterior of the shop makes it all the more impressive when you realize this humble abode houses some of the finest-made cigars this side of Havana. A younger Imber, relatively green to the world of cigars, stopped in for an evening stick just as they were closing up shop. Not only did they let him explore past closing
time, they also gave him an experience that would change his life as he knew it.
For the next three hours, Danny Difabio, owner of Rodriguez Cigars, poured his best rums, lit his best cigars and showed a hospitality he had never experienced to that point. As the two talked about life and lineage in their aging room, it became apparent that cigars were the perfect conversation elixir. Years later, when Imber moved to Cincinnati and set out to leave his own mark on the cigar world, he knew exactly how to go about it.
Some industries pride themselves on their hospitality, while others ignore that critical piece of the puzzle. Cigars have traditionally found themselves in the latter category. This is why the heart behind Creekside Cigars is so substantial.
What’s the secret? A passion for the often overlooked.
Success is in the details, and the team at Creekside personifies this sentiment.
In Will Guidara’s book “Unreasonable Hospitality: Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect,” he writes, “Intention means every decision, from the most obviously significant to the seemingly mundane, matters.”
Business loyalty is not simply given. It must be earned through this sort of
thoughtful care that separates the average businesses from the all-time greats. Intention is crystal clear at Creekside Cigar Co. From a team that goes far above and beyond to be helpful to a space that is strategically designed to facilitate good conversation, Cincinnatians should be proud to have this space in their own backyard.
Creekside’s tagline, “Smoke In Good Company,” is the perfect reflection of who they are and what they’re about. No pomp. No pretentiousness. Just good folks looking to give their community the best experience possible. Businesses like these are exactly what give Cincinnati a flavor all its own. We’re a proud collective, and spaces like Creekside Cigar Co. make that bond ever stronger. Their heart and passion for caring for the Cincinnati faithful make it plain to see that they are destined to stand the test of time right here in the Queen City Creekside Cigar Co., which is located at 1381 U.S. Route 22 in Maineville, is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m.–11:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m.–11 p.m. and Sunday from noon–9 p.m., according to the company’s website.
By Kane Mitten
ver wanted a pizza with Skyline Chili on it? The brand’s new flagship location launched in June at Fountain Square, with all the classic favorites you know and love alongside plenty of new additions exclusive to the new location.
The nearly 9,000-square-foot restaurant is Skyline Chili’s largest location to date, and will be open every day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. The newest Skyline sports 200 seats, including a 20-person bar and a dedicated carryout station on Sixth Street. On June 17, Skyline hosted a soft opening at the location featuring Mayor Aftab Pureval and Skyline Chili CEO Dick Williams.
“For generations, Fountain Square has been the gathering place for our city,” Williams said. “I remember writing a book report in third grade, cutting out little pictures of the fountain and researching all the little different aspects of the fountain. It’s been a part of our lives forever.”
While speaking with press, Williams stressed the cultural importance of Skyline’s food to people all across the region.
“First dates have led to marriages, those parents bring their kids in, and then they bring their grandkids in, and then that great grandkid, and feed them their first cheese coney … we’re very proud that we’re not just a restaurant, and we’re part of what makes Cincinnati unique,” he said.
Speaking of unique, this Skyline location has plenty of interesting dishes you won’t find anywhere else.
Of particular interest was the chili con queso, which is exactly what you’d think (Skyline Chili mixed with queso, tomatoes
and jalapeños, served with tortilla chips); the deep-fried crispy mac-and-cheese bites, served with a dipping sauce of chili; the breakfast options, like the “scrambler bowl” of sausage, eggs, bacon, cheese and chili; and the various pizzas that all have chili-related toppings in some form or fashion.
Of the four pizzas available, I tried the buffalo chicken and the Skyline Dip pizza. Both were good, but the Skyline pizza — which looks kinda like a normal cheese pizza but features cream cheese and chili underneath the cheese — had me going back for seconds and thirds.
In addition to the new menu items, this Skyline boasts a gigantic gift shop full of everything from sweatshirts to mugs to pool floaties. It’s complete with a photoop area featuring a giant chili kettle that was once in use for chili production but is now available for guests to sit and take a photo in. (Williams estimated that the kettle had likely produced over 6 million pounds of chili in its lifetime.)
For Williams, placing the brand’s flagship location at Fountain Square signifies an investment in the citizens of Cincinnati.
“People come to Fountain Square to celebrate victories, or before and after music festivals, or come here after shows at the Aronoff, or for live music, or even just to create memories,” he said.
“Opening this store makes a statement that we believe in downtown Cincinnati.
We believe in the businesses, the workers, the residents, the students, the tourists that come to town, all the people that bring energy into this city every day, and we believe that great cities are built when organizations like ours continue to invest.”
By Kane Mitten
he former Dutch’s space in Hyde Park has transformed into something wildly different.
Hi-Dive, the recently opened bar from restaurateur and chef extraordinaire Jared Bennett of Metropole, Maplewood, Royce and Karrikin Spirits fame, looks like someone plopped an Old West saloon inside your grandma’s living room.
“I felt like Dutch’s was a neighborhood spot, and I wanted to keep it that way,” the chef said of the former wine bar and restaurant. “But then I realized I wanted something different while keeping that neighborhood feel. That’s when we decided to go with a high-end dive bar, themed like a 1970s basement bar.”
Bennett and team should consider their mission accomplished: walk into Hi-Dive and it’s not hard to imagine the place being somewhere Kelso, Donna and Fez would’ve smoked inside of during an episode of “That ’70s Show.”
He took special care to shout out consultant Tiffany Wilcoxson, who collaborated with Bennett on the original vision for the bar and helped design the space.
“When people walk in, I want it to feel nostalgic without it being so over-thetop that it’s shoved down your throat. People should go, ‘hey, I remember that couch from my grandma’s,’ or ‘hey, my
grandfather used to collect beer cans like that.’ We want it to feel like home.”
Drinks at Hi-Dive are incredibly cheap, especially for the local area: Plenty of cheap beers are on hand, an espresso martini is just $6 and glasses of premium wine can be had for $8.
“We’re a neighborhood bar, right? The idea is not to have the prices so high that people can’t come in once or twice or even three times a week. We’re just trying to make a place where people don’t have to spend $20 on a craft cocktail … I wanted to create a place that was affordable.”
In keeping with the ’70s theme, he’s acquired several beers that are associated with or originated in the decade, like Stroh’s, Hamm’s and Miller High Life. And given Bennett’s 20-plus years of experience cooking in the Cincinnati area, there are plenty of food options on hand, but even those correspond with the decade. In tandem with light bar snacks, Bennett and crew will be serving a tonguein-cheek selection of “TV dinners” — which are gourmet options themed like the dinner trays of old.
“The menu for the TV dinners will kind of switch up whenever I feel like it. Right now, for example, we’re doing a riff on SpaghettiO’s. I have a pasta cutter and an extruder that makes that same kind of shape as SpaghettiO’s, grab some little meatballs, then we mix that with some tomato sauce and butter,” he said.
Of course, given the Queen City’s inclination to produce culinary popups, Bennett intends to “have different chefs come in and do their thing” inside the bar’s kitchen space for special onetime events very often. Currently, the bar shares a full-size kitchen with Bennett’s catering operation Jarrido’s.
Hi-Dive opened in early June, but has already seen an influx of customers despite the lack of advertising. Bennett said just minutes after opening, a couple happened to see him put out the ‘now open’ sign while they were driving and immediately pulled into the lot. So far, it’s been mostly neighborhood residents at the bar, which is exactly what the team is going for.
“We’re trying to be part of the community. We want to be a ‘third place’ where people can come and relax and get away from all the things going on in the world,” Bennett said. “I’m not trying to win any awards or anything. I just want to make something different from everyone else, and focus in on making a great neighborhood bar.”
Hi-Dive is open seven days a week at 3378 Erie Ave. in Hyde Park.
By Kane Mitten
Anew cafe rooted in Eritrean, Ethiopian and Mediterranean cultural traditions is now open in Lower Price Hill.
Owner Tez Yohannes opened Fùl Café’s doors for the first time on the morning of June 16 at 8 a.m. at 2115 W. Eighth St.
The café’s signature dish, the Fùl Fava Platter, features fava beans seasoned with herbs and spices, served with your choice of toppings and warm pita. The drink menu includes handcrafted coffees, teas and traditional beverages, including coffee brewed in an authentic Jebena, prepared fresh with ginger. Jebenas are handcrafted clay coffee pots used in Ethiopia and Eritrea to brew and serve the hot beverage.
“Opening Fùl Café is about creating a welcoming space where people from across the city can gather, share in our culture and traditions and experience something new,” Yohannes said.
He was able to open the café thanks to local nonprofit Community Matters, which partnered with Yohannes to provide technical assistance and support key aspects of the café’s build-out and equipment purchases.
“Fùl Café is a strong example of what can happen when local entrepreneurs have access to the resources and support they need to bring their ideas to life,” said Mary Delaney, executive director of Community Matters. “Investments like this contribute to a more vibrant community-led commercial corridor and strengthen the social infrastructure of the neighborhood.”
Fùl Café will be open 8 a.m.–3 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
By Ethan Bloomfield
ETHAN BLOOMFIELD IS THE VIDEOGRAPHER FOR CITYBEAT. PHOTO PROVIDED | ETHAN BLOOMFIELD
Hi! I’m Ethan Bloomfield, the videographer for CityBeat. I’m twenty four years old, living in Cincinnati with my girlfriend and my cat. Some of my favorite bands include the Mountain Goats, Slaughter Beach, Dog and Glocca Morra!
CityBeat recently launched a weekly video series on social media with two objectives: show off some of the Queen City’s music scene in a fun and unique way, and get our audience involved. Since then, I’ve made five videos and written the three articles below, and the feedback and suggestions have been great. I want to know what band YOU want to see next!
If you’ve got a suggestion for a band you think I should cover, leave a comment on my band highlight video (posted every Wednesday!) or email me at ebloomfield@ linknky.com."
The Silkies have wormed their way into my brain and won’t leave.
The Silkies’ overall vibe really strikes me: punchy, danceable and polished to a mirror finish. “Lies” and “Milkman,” two singles from last year, feel right at home alongside the likes of Djo or The Strokes. Joe Pruitt’s fuzzed-out vocals ooze cool atop effortless post-punk tracks like “IDK,” summoning the spirit of David Byrne or James Murphy (if a bit more frantic). The energy and precision of the music, from Jake Merritt’s drums to Michael Takahashi’s synths, make for timeless grooves that demand attention.
The Silkies do more than the postpunk hits, though. Earmilk, an online independent music publication, described them as “a trippy cocktail of garage, new wave, psych rock and alternative” — and that all comes together in a crisp, tight package that’s distinctly modern. David Byrne never yelped over an anthem like
“Digital Soo” (although the verses feel distinctly “Life During Wartime”-coded). They’ve only got five songs on streaming (with “Digital Soo” clocking in at 14,000 streams on Spotify), so consider this your opportunity to get in on the ground floor. Check them out!
Toothy Grin is a punk band. Oftentimes with punk bands, what you see is what you get.
Walking down Hamilton Avenue in Northside after lunch one day, I stopped to look at a pink poster taped to a pole with an image of what I could only call a “monster bong.”
“TOOTHY GRIN – TRIPPY STONER PUNK, VERY SHORT SET, DRONE DRONE DRONE,” it read. I was down for whatever.
I looked them up immediately when I got home, and found an album on Bandcamp with no more information. Their Instagram? Similarly sparse. All I had to go on was an album and a vibe, and like the poster’s aggressive tagline, the music boldly spoke for itself.
“The Early Stuff,” their lone album made up of recordings from February 2023 to March the next year, is only around thirty minutes of music. The ten-minute “Surfs Up” feels like the centerpiece of the record, but doesn’t overshadow the shorter tracks in its scope — It’s a relatively straightforward post-punk tune that just won’t quit.
The album as a whole, though, is anything but straightforward. The breezy “Take Me Now” gives way to a sludgefest on “Blueberry,” followed by, surprisingly, an organ on track four.
Crunchy production throughout lends a bit of connective tissue to an otherwise eclectic mix of songs and interludes. That isn’t to say that it doesn’t work — “Clueless (but better)” gives Teen Suicide with its hazy hopelessness, kicking off the droney final leg of the album. Where there were once birds chirping on the opener, the ending is a brief psych-drone fever dream.
Toothy Grin are playing shows around town if you’re in the know. From their Instagram, “our next show is in College Hill on July 3rd. Back yard burner with some heavy hitters. DM for address”.
You can find them @toothygrinband on Instagram. You know what to do.
Let me give you a little inside baseball about this series. I listen to lots of music before I decide to talk about a band (I know, what a burden).
For the record, this isn’t voted on — I just pick bands from community suggestions that I think are cool (so make sure to leave comments on our social media or email me).
I only have one criterion when I’m picking a band or artist for this series: I hear something that I think is subjectively cool or that I think more people should hear.
This week, that moment was near the end of Dravin and the Ravens’ 2024 album “Chasing Saturn.” I heard “Savior” and knew they were the right band to talk about. Every piece of the song oozed personality, and the surprise vibe-shift ending was so much fun. Remember when music was fun?
If you’re inclined to check the band out, you’re in luck: they’ve got an EP, an album and two new singles out.
The band describe themselves on Instagram as “Indie/Garage Rock” and their EP “Business as Usual” leans into the crunchy garage production, while some of “Chasing Saturn’s” biggest moments are slicker. But don’t let a cleaner tone fool
you: the garage attitude is all there. Their two new singles, “Hourglass” and “Mulder and Scully” feel like ’90s throwbacks with their prominent melodies and anthemic choruses. That isn’t to say they’re dated (although “Hourglass” is literally about time passing), they’re fun romps that leave me excited for their next project.
If you want to support the band, you can find them at @dravin_and_the_ravens on Instagram.
JULY 25 & 26 SATURDAY 11am-2:30pm 2:30PM-6:00pm
5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Present
Thursday, August 13, 2026 at CAC
Learn about the history of bourbon in Cincinnati, then create your own custom blend with the experts from Willow Run
CityBeat Best of Cincinnati 2026 Winner for Best Distillery!
Finish with a guided tour of our exhibit And then it was flowers presented by the artist Michael Stillion
Tickets start at $65
CAC Member Discount Available Call (513) 345 - 8422
More Info: cincycac.org/bourbon
