Hot eats late after a cool performance

So my new buddy Shawn over at Cincinnati Arts blog just updated (he gives credit to his intern for the html legwork) his Eating After the Show page. I have to tell you, I've been using this resource for a while now, ever since I found it about six months back.

It's got detailed listings of the hours of operation of the kitchens of various food-serving establishments in and around downtown. He even just added a new section for Clifton/University Heights.

The page is part of a number of pages on CincinnatiArts.com that are designed to help break the ice for the arts-uninitiated, including info on convenient eating after an evening performance, what to wear to certain types of arts events, etc.

They could probably go a step farther and add a page on parking, but that's a bitch to maintain so I understand if they don't - I'm sure it's hard enough keeping the restaurant list up-to-date. I bring up the parking only because I hear people bitch about parking downtown more than any other complaint - and honestly, parking downtown is a breeze, most people are just STUPID and don't pay attention (I'll save this for another rant another time).

Cincinnati Arts is part of a group of websites by Enjoy the Arts, a great organization that helps get people into the arts by providing various memberships that get you free and discount tickets to tons of cool stuff all over the area. It used to be just for students, but these days there's a membership level for every age group. I highly recommend getting one - you save a ton of money and find out about lots of cool sh*t you wouldn't normally hear about!
Read the full post and see all comments...

Another place, another TIME

While searching Google for some local arts info I ran across this article, and immediately started reading it without noticing the date it was published. It's a pretty interesting piece on the Cincinnati May Festival, but it's dated 1939. It was weird because before I noticed the date I kept thinking the writing was somehow odd, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

(See a picture of the cover after the jump.)


Read the full post and see all comments...

New Blog, New Links

A quick shout-out to Cincinnati Now, another new blog in the Cincy blogosphere. Looks like a great start, keep it up!

While looking at his page, I was inspired to re-categorize my CincyLinks and things suddenly got out of hand. So now I've got links to CincyMusic, CincyArts, CincyTheatre, CincyFilm, and even CincyFun. I'm glad I did this, because my CincyResources list was getting a little out of hand - but I didn't mean to waste most of my afternoon doing this! And it fills out my new 3-column layout quite nicely.

So, please, check out my links on either side, and let me know if you think of any I'm missing. ATTENTION: NERD ALERT! While going through my CincyFun links you might find some things that you wouldn't necessarily think of as 'fun,' like the Mercantile Library. Well I'm a big nerd, so they're on my list. Deal wit it!
Read the full post and see all comments...

Nixon in China

Ouch. That was painful. Thank goodness I got the tickets on a discount. We left after the first act. And we weren't the only ones - there was a steady stream of people exiting and going for their cars.

I heard from a friend who stayed for the whole thing and she wished that she had been with someone who wanted to leave because she would have left at the first intermission as well.

Who thought that opera was a good idea?
Read the full post and see all comments...

Best? of Shadowbox

So last night we saw the "Best of Shadowbox" at the Shadowbox Cabaret. If that's their best, they really need to do some work. I guess I just didn't drink enough to find all their re-re-recycled bits funny.

I know that the show is supposed to be a replay of all their funniest bits, but most of their actually humorous stuff is a re-hash of the same jokes, only slightly updated over the years. Like the perennial favorite, "guy telling a scary story with a flashlight under his face while other guy pantomimes." It was a funny bit the first three times you did it, because you kept changing the stories from show to show, but after a while the whole motif gets old and even your new "A material" sounds worn out.

And the music is done very well, but there's nothing special about it anymore. The fact that these guys have to do the same seven or eight songs every night for the run of the show really comes across - they're totally phoning it in, especially by the end of the night. A few years back I felt the music was one of the strongest points of a Shadowbox show, but now it feels like they're just going through the motions. They really do very little to put their own stamp on the pieces. I know Holiday Inn lounge acts with more passion.

It was nice to see a bunch of new faces in the cast, but most of them were completely under utilized. They better start mixing them in a lot more, since the veteran members are definitely losing their spirit.
Read the full post and see all comments...

Artworks Summer Program

Artworks' summer program is in full-swing. Most events are free and open to the public. Check out what this great organization offers to kids for much of the summer!
Read the full post and see all comments...

See you in Northside!

If you're wondering what to do to celebrate ID3/4, check out Northside's Rock n' Roll Carnival and the Fourth of July Parade and Festival. If you haven't been, it's probably the best parade in the area. It all kicks of tonight with the Carnival, and tomorrow with the parade. See you tonight!
Read the full post and see all comments...

Talkin' Fringe

I was talkin to a few friends about this year's Fringe the other day. We went to a ton of the shows, more than I was able to go to last year. In general it seemed much more together, more organized than last year. And the parties were great.

The quality of the shows was much better in general, but all in all there was nothing to write home about, except for Calculus: The Musical, which was spectacular. Everyone raved about iLove, which frankly bored me to tears. I think that everyone was just juiced up because two of the actors let their naughty bits hang out.

The one show that stands out in my mind as just awful was Extreme Puppet Theatre. Sad part is, I really think the performers behind it thought they were funny. It was downright painful to sit through.

What were your favorite and not-so-favorite Fringe moments?
Read the full post and see all comments...