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    <td width="765" height="631" class="normal"><p class="h1">Out and About  Staff Picks</p>
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          <td height="35" valign="top"><p class="cutline"><span class="h5">Best Growth of the Arts: Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati</span></p>
            Photo Courtesy ETC/GBBN Architects</td>
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      <p><span class="h5">Best Growth of the Arts: <br />
      </span>For more than two decades, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati has made the best of an often difficult location in Over-the-Rhine; for years, the intersection of 12th and Vine was a notorious spot for drug purchases and other bad behavior. But no more. Now their longtime address is ground zero in the burgeoning Gateway Quarter with convenient nearby parking garage and pleasant shopping. ETC is making the most of the good vibe with the purchase of an adjacent building that will double the size of their complex. The theater itself will remain an intimate 200 seats, but by 2010 there will be more customer amenities and facilities that will mean better technical productions and probably longer runs for ETC’s signature premieres of shows new to local audiences. 1127 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-421-3555.</p>
      <p><span class="h5">Best First-Date Drink Environment: </span><br />
        Orchids at Palm Court downtown is a huge step from the depressing Holiday Inn bar where lonely travelers share sad stories about how they ended up at a Holiday Inn bar. The high-ceilinged Art Deco space is like a fancy 1940s movie scene, with dim lighting, well-dressed patrons and beautiful painting and sculptures. Spending $30 on a couple rounds of drinks here is an investment in a well-functioning union. Hilton Netherland Plaza Hotel, 441 Vine St., Downtown, 513-421-9100.</p>
      <p><span class="h5">Best Whiskey Value:</span><br />
        The Gypsy Hut is one place where you can show up sober but be drunk before the drunk people start to annoy you. Watch as the bartenders fill your plastic cup of ice with whiskey until there’s virtually no room for cola to top it off. For $3 it’s the most cost-efficient way to feel comfortable around a bunch of people whose jackets and ball caps match their shoes. They’ll even add a lime to your faux cocktail without judging you. 4231 Spring Grove Ave., Northside, 513-541-0999.</p>
      <p><span class="h5">Best Friendly Bartender: </span><br />
        Vicky Walton makes one hell of a hot Bloody Mary at Boswell Alley, and she also makes her customers feel right at home. Between singing in a band, karaoke and two jobs, she remains pleasant, professional and funny. 1686 Blue Rock St., Northside, 513-681-8100.</p>
      <p><span class="h5">Best Bar to Get Away From Vegans: </span><br />
        The Lodge Bar attracts the old Main Street dance-club crowd and has enough dead animal heads on the wall to make you think you’re on an African safari hunting with hand grenades. If the thought of eating meat turns your stomach, the thought of staring into the eyes of a dead moose while you get down probably isn’t too appealing. Just go dance in the woods then, hippie. 35 E. Seventh St., Downtown, 513-721-9400.</p>
      <p><span class="h5">Best Bar to Ride a Fake Animal: </span><br />
        Cadillac Ranch might be a little kitschy — with hubcaps, guitars and fake-country music signs decorating the walls — but where else in the city can you watch your most-daring (wasted) friend saddle up the mechanical bull and get rocked? If you’re not up for it, there’s plenty of space to watch strangers give their body to the mercy of the staff member behind the control switch. Lots of space, numerous bars, full menu and the potential for serious injury — it’s like really being in Texas! 38 Fountain Square Plaza (Sixth &amp; Walnut Sts.), Downtown, 513-621-6200.</p>
      <p><span class="h5">Best Reunion: </span><br />
        One of the bitterest moments to hit the local music community this past year was the serious car accident involving bassist Chris Walker. As a result, one of the sweetest musical moments to happen was the Homunculus reunion performance at the sold-out Friends For Chris Walker Benefit in December. It had been more than three years since the crew had taken the stage together, and fans were eager to hear and to support the beloved Walker. <a href="http://www.myspace.com/friendsforchriswalker">www.myspace.com/friendsforchriswalker</a></p>
      <p><span class="h5">Best In-Studio Performance: </span><br />
        After playing the Madison Theater, Aussie Xavier Rudd held forth in front of an intimate live studio audience at WNKU’s “Studio 89” in June. He answered quizzical questions with surreal stories, signed everyone’s goods with sincerity and played a Reggae-riffic rendition of “Famine” by Toots and the Maytals. Look for the return of “Studio 89” soon with performances planned by The Seedy Seeds and Jason Wilber (John Prine’s guitarist since 1996). <a href="http://www.wnku.org">www.wnku.org</a></p>
      <p><span class="h5">Best Endearingly Shabby Nightlife Wonderland: </span><br />
        The Gypsy Hut is like an elaborate lo-fi labyrinth filled with unexpected nooks and crannies and featuring a personality and spirit all its own. It also hosts some of the best original music in town, from national acts like Vampire Weekend to old-school local post-Punk legends BPA. 4231 Spring Grove Ave., Northside, 513-541-0999.</p>
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          <td height="35" valign="top"><p class="h5">Best Combination of Accordion and Banjo: The Seedy Seeds</p>
            Photo Courtesy The Seedy Seeds</td>
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      <span class="h5">Best Combination of Accordion and Banjo:</span><br />
A cute nerdy girl and a guy with a funny beard walk into a bar. The bartender asks, “What are you freaks doing with that accordion and banjo?” The Seedy Seeds respond, “We’re playing music that’s totally sweet. Heck yes!” Last year was good to Mike Ingram and Margaret Weiner of The Seedy Seeds, who found positive responses to their catchy Indie-Pop-meets-dancy-keyboard sound from Northside Tavern to National Public Radio. The band started as a means for Ingram and Weiner to practice a bunch of instruments they didn’t really know how to play, and the result is a mix of Postal Service-esque keyboard beats with amazingly-fitting banjo leads and accordion-fueled choruses. Their back-and-forth vocals are as charming as they are lovely. Last fall The Seedy Seeds won Cincinnati Entertainment Awards for Best New Artist and Best Experimental/Electronic Band and also the heart of CityBeat Copy Editor Danny Cross, who doesn’t usually like the way music makes him feel.<br />
<p><span class="h5">Best Channeling of British Post-Punk Minimalists Wire: </span><br />
  The BRINK New Music Showcase at the Southgate House in November was another stellar night of fresh, locally created sounds. The highlight was White Girls, a quartet of dudes who proceeded to ignite the Parlour with a raucous set of spare, Wire-influenced rockers.</p>
<p><span class="h5">Best Fake Music News Story to Emanate from Cincinnati:</span> <br />
  Ian Astbury of The Cult told the audience at Bogart’s in November that the band would be back in Cincinnati soon … opening for the reunited Led Zeppelin! News agencies picked up on the story that so far has proven false.</p>
<p><span class="h5">Best Theatrical Discovery Zone: </span><br />
  The Cincinnati Fringe Festival marks its fifth anniversary in June, rather remarkable for a local event that is, well, “fringe.” In fact, the Fringe is becoming more established every year, with more acts and dimensions. That doesn’t mean the edgy theater and art event is going establishment, just that more people are discovering how much fun it can be. A musical about calculus? That was last year’s hit. The year before it was a play involving a bus ride. Who knows what might capture everyone’s fancy this year? <a href="http://www.cincyfringe.com">www.cincyfringe.com</a></p>
<p><span class="h5">Best Distraction: </span><br />
  Every time you walk into the performing space used by New Stage Collective, you find the seats arranged in a different configuration. It’s great to have your own space, but this room — once Jekyll &amp; Hyde’s Pool Hall — has more poles to obstruct views than nearby Music Hall. But here’s the good news: Even when the show sprawls the length of the room, as it did for the sold-out run of Caroline, or Change in October, the theater is so good you almost don’t notice that you have to bob and weave to see everything. 1140 Main St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-621-3700.</p>
<p><span class="h5">Best Dialogue: </span><br />
  A group of progressive thinkers led by Cincinnati activists Terry and Jodi Grundy get together for civic kibitzing  and conversation about the arts on the first Monday of each month at Milton’s, The Prospect Hill Tavern. They call it Café Society. Put on your thinking cap and stop by for some interesting opinions. 301 Milton St., Mount Auburn/Liberty Hill, 513-784-9938.</p>
<p><span class="h5">Best Bar Food for Thought (and Entertainment): </span><br />
  Know Theatre of Cincinnati has one cool spot in OTR, but it’s not just for theater. Keep your eye on the schedule for the Underground, the hip downstairs bar where you might find a singer-songwriter after hours or a poet on a Sunday afternoon. There’s lots of clever programming to complement the edgy theater upstairs. 1122 Jackson St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-300-KNOW.</p>
<p><span class="h5">Best Place to Get It Together: </span><br />
  Just stepping in the door at Zen &amp; Now takes the weight of the world off your shoulders. The coffee is amazing, there’s a full sandwich/panini menu and the sweet treats are delicious. If you’re looking for some company, they host occasional free comedy shows featuring local comedians. 4453 Bridgetown Road, Bridgetown, 513-598-8999.</p>
<p><span class="h5">Best Kept Secret in MainStrasse: </span><br />
  701 Bar is a hidden little spot just off the main strip of Covington’s MainStrasse Village. It’s designed around feeling at home, with a cozy fireplace, an immaculate stone bar and cheap drinks. Next time you’re in MainStrasse, search it out — you’ll be happy you did. 701 Bakewell St., Covington, 859-431-7900.</p>
<p><span class="h5">Best Boogie Nights: </span><br />
  Ain’t nothing better to be doing on the first Friday of any month than shakin’ yo ass at Clique’s “Move On Up” night. DJ Iceburg &amp; Optik spin out so many sizzling Soul and frisky Funk 45s the only thing to do is let loose and grind out the week’s grit. 6-8 W. Pike St., Covington, 859-491-0081.</p>
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    <td height="35" valign="top"><p class="h5">Best Addition to the Local Arts Scene: Raphaela Platow </p>
      Photo By: Joe Lamb</td>
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<span class="h5">Best Addition to the Local Arts Scene:</span><br />
Coming to the Contemporary Arts Center from Brandeis University’s Rose Art Museum, where she was a proponent of internationalism and working with artists, new Director and Chief Curator Raphaela Platow seems ready to reinvigorate and energize an institution that’s had trouble deciding how best to use its award-winning Zaha Hadid-designed building. She wants to bring new activities — including Monday lunchtime programs — into the too-often-empty first-floor lobby and have all manner of programming in the basement theater. And she strives to become less reliant on traveling group shows for the galleries, instead seeking out artists who will plan new, cutting-edge, mixed-media work for the building’s unusual spaces. This year will see her first choices. 44 E. Sixth St., Downtown, 513-345-8400.<br />
<p><span class="h5">Best Smokers’ Secrets:</span> <br />
  Around town, several low-traffic clubs (mostly long-standing neighborhood joints) have thumbed their noses at authority and ignored the Ohio smoking band. Some even take up a collection in case a fine is levied. What bars? That’s our little secret, all you nicotine-hating vigilantes.</p>
<p><span class="h5">Best Dog Bar: </span><br />
  If you’re the kind of person who takes your dog for a walk but can’t pass up the prospect of a couple cold ones while you’re out, well, you might want to start going to 12-step meetings. But if you just enjoy the company of your canine while you knock back a few, there are relatively few bars at which you’ll be welcome. If Fido smokes, you gotta try the B-List. Bless you Kentucky and your reasonable smoking laws. For dogs. 343 Division St., Bellevue, 859-261-7033.</p>
<p><span class="h5">Best New Tricks for an Old Dog: </span><br />
  Covington’s Carnegie Library has been around for more than a century, and it’s had several lives during that stretch. The building, now known as the Carnegie Center Visual + Performing Arts Center, has been beautifully renovated, and its new management — Executive Director Guy La Jeunesse and Theater and Facility Manager Manager Josh Steele — are breathing new life into it. Theatrical productions, films, music, dance — they’re trying to see what works. And a lot of it does. 1028 Scott St., Covington, 859-491-2030.</p>
<p><span class="h5">Best Evidence of an Award Deserved: </span><br />
  In 2004 the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park was recognized with the “Regional Theatre” Tony Award for its outstanding work. It’s a nice honor, but as far as New Yorkers are concerned it’s not the real thing. So it was satisfying when the Playhouse picked up a “real” Tony in June 2007 for its production of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, transplanted to Broadway and named the Best Musical Revival of the 2006-07 New York season. <a href="http://www.cincyplay.com">www.cincyplay.com</a></p>
<p><span class="h5">Best Theatrical Conversation: </span><br />
  You don’t have to hang out in the vicinity of a red carpet to talk with actors. If you see any of Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s Sunday matinees, all you have to do is linger in the theater after the curtain call. The actors return to stage to answer questions and have some dialogue with audience members about the performance they’ve just watched. 719 Race St., Downtown, 513-381-BARD.</p>
<p><span class="h5">Best Literary Host: </span><br />
  In addition to having probably the best magazine selections in the city, Joseph-Beth Booksellers is unquestionably our greatest resource for touring authors. Jo-Beth is a welcome sight in a rapidly evolving age that seems intent on marginalizing the book culture. 2692 Madison Road, Norwood, 513-396-8960.</p>
<p><span class="h5">Best High School Marching Band: </span><br />
  Roger Bacon High School’s marching band struts across football fields in crazy formations and even has one of those animated dudes (drum major) carrying a fancy stick thingy (baton) and dancing around. The former all-boys school is 21st century female friendly now, and the entire corps is into the performance, which often combines cool pop dance moves with the traditional marching band performance styles. 4320 Vine St., St. Bernard, 513-641-1300.</p>
<p><span class="h5">Best Post-Graduate Marching Band: </span><br />
  What were people thinking as they left work that Thursday afternoon in July and saw an offbeat musical circus marching about Fountain Square and the streets of downtown, tooting their horns and banging their sticks? Mucca Pazza is a 30-piece circus punk marching band out of Chicago that was in town to perform at the Lite Brite Indie Pop &amp; Film Test. Eventually, the circus freaks found their way back to the Fountain Square stage and returned to the regularly scheduled program. <a href="http://www.litebritetest.com">www.litebritetest.com</a></p>
<p><span class="h5">Best ‘Burning Man’ Imitation: </span><br />
  Scorched Nuts, the regional version of the Nevada celebration of all things countercultural, was held last summer for the first time in College Corner, about 45 minutes north of Cincinnati. Minds were blown, and they’ll be back: Look for this year’s festival June 19-22. <a href="http://www.scorchednuts.org">www.scorchednuts.org</a></p>
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    <td height="35" valign="top"><p class="h5">Best Bar to Watch UC Alums Act Like Fools: Fries Café</p>
      Photo By: Joe Lamb</td>
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<span class="h5">Best Bar to Watch UC Alums Act Like Fools:</span><br />
If you like drinking and observing others acting like buffoons while watching sports, Fries Café is the spot for you. No botched play or UC loss goes unscathed. Perhaps no one got the memo that Oscar Robertson and Jack Twyman’s eligibility has expired. If you want to know why your girlfriend hates watching sports, this is where you’ll find the visual evidence. 3247 Jefferson Ave., Clifton, 513-281-9002.<br />
<p><span class="h5">Best Saturday Night Downtown:</span> <br />
  Watching Jake Speed and the Freddies perform at Arnold’s is probably a lot like being a rich person in the late 1800s (minus the segregation and poorly-insulated windows). Jake’s songwriting is straight out of the pre-automobile rivertown songbook, with odes to riding the ferry to meet a lover and gallivanting around First Street before stadiums and highways replaced the community. There’s a tinge of contemporary social commentary in many of his songs that blends surprisingly well with the utopian Folk sound. A typical set will include Jake’s numerous stories and one-liner jokes that leave The Freddies shaking their heads in embarrassment. You’ll be charmed, and the back patio at Arnold’s is the perfect setting. 210 E. Eighth St., Downtown, 513-421-6234.</p>
<p><span class="h5">Best Pychedelic Rock Concert by the CSO:</span> <br />
  Under Paavo Jarvi, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has become an inspiring and beautiful interpreter of adventurously modernist 20th and 21st Century music, as anyone who saw its recent performance of Arvo Part’s “Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten” followed by Britten’s own “Violin Concerto No. 1” (with soloist Janine Jansen) can attest. But it hit its 2007-08 season peak (so far) in February when guest conductor John Adams led the orchestra in a breathtaking performance of his own “The Dharma at Big Sur,” featuring Leila Josefowicz’s wailing, stinging, raga-like electric violin rising above the gently minimalist melodic and rhythmic underpinnings. It was a natural high that lasted for days. Adams also conducted a solemn, reflective “On the Transmigration of Souls,” his Pulitzer Prize-winning remembrance of 9/11 for chorus and orchestra. The CSO is getting to be must-see music. 1241 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-621-1919.</p>
<p><span class="h5">Best Local Opener: </span><br />
  Shop talk has it that the Black Crowes sought out our Buffalo Killers after receiving their demo at an industry party. Having been in that industry for a few years, Chris Robinson and crew know a good thing when they see one. In addition to a mutual professional appreciation, the bands have a bond on a personal level that was made clear when Robinson told the Taft Theatre crowd in October that Cincinnati has a band that was keeping the faith and should never have to buy a drink or meal or pay a bill at a head shop in this town. We exalted our hometown heroes and their guests as they ripped through a bluesy, gritty night of Rock &amp; Roll. <a href="http://www.buffalokillers.com">www.buffalokillers.com</a></p>
<p><span class="h5">Best New Beer Representin’ the Nati:</span> <br />
  Change is good, and a lot of it has been happening in Over-the-Rhine. The OTR Brewery District is a delicious part of that change, bringing historical flavor to the present. Last spring, the handcrafted Moerlein OTR Ale was tapped in honor of beers brewed in Over-the-Rhine’s Brewery District during the glory years. Cheers! <a href="http://www.otrbrewerydistrict.org">www.otrbrewerydistrict.org</a></p>
<p><span class="h5">Best Upscale Renovation:</span><br /> 
  It’s been known as DV8 and alchemize, but the current establishment at 1122 Walnut St., Below Zero Lounge, has found a chic formula that customers like: a vodka bar with inventive martinis, classy décor and occasional entertainment — especially a New York-style piano cabaret offering on Sunday evenings organized by music theater denizen Terry LaBolt, who knows how to make a grand piano work. 1122 Walnut St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-421-9376.</p>
<p><span class="h5">Best Heart Attack in Ball Form:</span> <br />
  We’d like to do a Supersize Me experiment with Arlin’s, but our doctor keeps saying we have to fill out an “against medical advice” form. But for beer drinkers who love fried food, the neighborhood hangout is better than any five-star restaurant. They’ll seemingly fry anything — the fried Macaroni and Cheese balls put a greasy twist on a kids’ cuisine classic. Just don’t expect much respect if you’re under 30. The bartenders just hate you damn kids and your iPods and your Web mail… 307 Ludlow Ave., Clifton, 513-751-6566.</p>
<p><span class="h5">Best Next Best Thing to Smoking in a Restaurant in Ohio: </span><br />
  Andy’s Mediterranean Grille still has their trademark hookahs and despite the smoking ban you don’t have to huddle around a bonfire in a back alley to smoke ’em. 906 Nassau St., Walnut Hills, 513-281-9791.</p></td>
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