December 2013
Features
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Fred Hersch
Raised in North Avondale, Fred Hersch transformed himself into one of the most ambitious, idiosyncratic, and prolific pianists in jazz. He is also gay, living with AIDS, and in 2005 nearly died from an intense bout of pneumonia. On the eve of his homecoming gig at The Blue Wisp, Hersch talks about his music, his mortality, and his dreams.
Meet the Man Who Fixed Live at the Apollo
For the December issue of Cincinnati Magazine, artist Brian Wolf and writer Rich Shivener offer a six-page comic on Chuck Seitz, the man who really made James Brown’s record Live at the Apollo a screaming success. Here you will find some notes and interview excerpts that didn’t make the comic.
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Frontlines
Speak Easy: Dianne Ashton
How Hanukkah turned Red, White, and Blue.
High Profile: 2013 U.S. Bridge King
John Altman doesn’t wear a crown. His kingdom is both virtual and physical, and in it he is widely known as a man of skill—a teenaged master of numbers and logic, proclaimed Bridge King by the American Contract Bridge League.
Dr. Know: December 2013
Bridge locks, Cincinnati oysters, and snow days for professionals
Brief History: Two Hearts Beat as One
Juanita Paul wasn’t a musician, she was a muse. For more than 60 years she inspired countless Cincinnati musicians. And when she died in September, she left countless broken hearts.
Columns
Letter from the Editor: December 2013
We’ve changed. Not dramatically, but the magazine you’re reading right now has gone through a transformation.
Game of Cronies
The lighting’s bad, the court is old, and the players aren’t exactly young. But we, the wall-bangers of Clinton County, lob on.
Dine
Rhinegeist Brewery
Like walking into a cathedral. That’s how Bryant Goulding recalls his first glimpse of what is now Rhinegeist brewery. Originally built as a Christian Moerlein bottling plant more than a century ago in Over-the-Rhine, it closed in 1919 due to Prohibition.
Puffins Bistro and Desserts
You’ll find an eclectic mix of European street food at Puffins Bistro and Desserts in Blue Ash. From which country specifically? We’re not quite sure.
Mark Bodenstein
On October 17, the former Nicholson’s executive chef opened a new incarnation of his much missed restaurant, Nuvo.
Brontë Bistro
A comfortable bookstore café gives itself a welcome revision
Try This: Campanello’s
A venerable downtown Italian joint makes comfort food you can’t refuse
Red Roost Tavern
With cuisine that is often skillfully prepared and service that is as naturally gracious as it is helpful, it’s a higher-than-usual-concept bistro stuck in a chain hotel environment, grappling with its ambitions.
Whirlybird Granola
Granola aficionado Christy White began her love affair with the stuff back in high school, when she found herself eating it multiple times a day.