A & E

Wassup, Feb. 28: Goodbye Bill Buckley

William F. Buckley Jr. died yesterday at the age of 82. Best known as the founder of influential conservative magazine The National Review, Buckley wrote more than 50 books, including two last year: a political novel called The Rake and a history of the magazine called Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription. Then there were his many columns, which The New York Times surmised “would fill 45 more medium-sized books.”

Buckley wielded his vast vocabulary and piercing wit like a velvet-encased sledgehammer, and no matter what you thought of his conservative politics, it’s impossible to say that he wasn’t a man of eloquence and insight who conveyed his perceptions of the world through the written word with an acute passion.

And he wasn’t afraid to rankle his conservative buddies: A CityBeat colleague reminded me that “the world has lost its most persuasive proponent for the legalization of marijuana,” and linked to this Buckley essay from 2004.

Beyond his copious writing endeavors, I was always fascinated by his odd physical appearance — what’s up with the darting eyes and lizard-like tongue? — and studied, almost belabored speaking manner, which brought to mind a college professor going through some sort of mini-exorcism.

Buckley, who suffered from diabetes and emphysema, was apparently found slumped over at his desk yesterday, writing to the last.

Below is Buckley’s most recent appearance on The Charlie Rose Show, which he visited many times over the years.

And check this brief clip from Buckley’s famous late-’60s TV debates with Gore Vidal.

Artists Fling Paint for Obama

A local graphics designer and several musicians will help keep up with demand for Barack Obama yard signs by holding an "Artists for Obama" event today in Over-the-Rhine.

Among the people scheduled to attend are local music performers FreekBass and the Buffalo Killers.

Designer Angie Wilson is organzing the event. Participants are invited to create their own unique version of "Obama for President" yard signs that will be distributed throughout Greater Cincinnati.

Wassup, Feb. 27: Willie Pops Off, and Congrats to Cody

Boorish WLW mouthpiece Bill Cunningham is at it again. While channel surfing after last night's Democratic debate I heard CNN's Anderson Cooper say something about a “hack radio show host in Cincinnati.” I immediately knew who it must be. Yes, it appears Willie's antics have caused a minor national stir in the wake of his “warm-up act” prior to a John McCain rally here yesterday. Check the Porkopolis blog for more details.

In less divisive news, it was nice to see onetime alt-weekly blogger and Juno author Diablo Cody win the Oscar for best screenplay Sunday night. Legend has it that Cody's Pussy Ranch blog on the Minneapolis CityPages Web site caught the eye of a Hollywood executive who in turn contacted the fledging writer to ask if she would be interested in writing a screenplay. Uh, ya think? The rest is history.

Funnily enough, CityBeat published a review of Cody's 2005 memoir, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper a couple years back. The verdict? Mixed.

Now on to today's arts-related happenings:

• Sweeney Todd, Stephen Sondheim's dark tale about a vengeful, murderous barber, continues at the Aronoff Center for the Arts. Read Rick Pender's review here.

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime passionate advocate of environmental issues, visits Northern Kentucky University to deliver a speech entitled “Our Environmental Destiny.” $10. 7 p.m.

• The Cinema Carnegie series continues with a final screening of Satanic Yuppies, local filmmaker Mark Burchett's B-movie extravaganza. $8. 7:30 p.m. at The Carnegie in Covington. Read a preview here (scroll down).

• The Cincinnati Art Museum shows off Masterpiece Quilts from the Shelburne Museum, a collection of visually compelling quilts that date as far back the 1800s. Read Tamera Lenz Muente's review here.

— Jason Gargano

Elbow Room at ETC

Evidence indicates that Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati (ETC), which has operated in Over-the-Rhine for two decades, is about to grow the space it uses to offer "premiere theater." Representatives of the company, which specializes in offering works new to Cincinnati audiences, from local and regional to world premieres, spoke recently before a panel of local officials reviewing and prioritizing requests to the State of Ohio for capital funding.

Apparently ETC is looking to expand its operations on Vine Street, where it currently presents productions using a 200-seat theater built into an historic bank building. The theater acquired an adjacent building several years ago in which it now has offices, but operations are exceptionally cramped, with minimal space for audience amenities and rehearsals and no facility to construct scenery, which is created elsewhere and moved into the theater.

ETC has been the first theater in the nation to present plays while they were still running on Broadway. Productions include the Tony Award-winning Side Man, The Guys, Underneath the Lintel and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Dinner With Friends. It also offered the first regional productions of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Full Gallop, Violet, Copenhagen, Blue Orange, A Lesson Before Dying, The Women of Lockerbie, Stones In His Pocket, The Exonerated, Sight Unseen and the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, which was named the outstanding drama of 2005 by the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards.

ETC has a long-term relationship with Actors Equity Association and uses local and regional professional actors for its productions.

Oscar Hangover

Another Oscars ceremony is in the books, which means another bloated, overproduced collection of musical numbers and enough tediously canned half-hour chunks to anesthetize the most rabid of Hollywood devotees. Even Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová’s small, intimate song from Once came off overblown amid the unnecessary string accompaniment. Worse, it was cut short. The musical performers get the dreaded “wrap it up!” sign on the teleprompter, too?

But, as usual, moments of genuine interest — and even poignancy — were peppered throughout. I can’t help be get misty every time they pull out that montage of those who have left us over the past year. And that old-school, Hitchcock-era production designer dude the Academy bestowed with an honorary Oscar was great. Add to that a pretty solid batch of nominees and winners (No Country for Old Men might be the most deserving Best Picture winner since The Deer Hunter) and I can think of worse ways to spend a Sunday night.

In a bit of serendipity, the Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature, Alex Gibney’s powerfully illuminating Taxi to the Dark Side, opens at The Mariemont Theatre this week. Look for TT Stern-Enzi’s review in tomorrow’s issue and on our Web site, and look for my interview with Gibney in next week’s CityBeat.

Look for more Oscar notes — as well as a return of Wussup — tomorrow after I recover from two days of near non-stop writing and editing.

— Jason Gargano

Oscar Picks

It's time for everyone's favorite extravaganza of over-inflated self-importance. The Oscars are back, and looking over this year's list I have far fewer squabbles with the Academy's nominees than usual.

I also think the majority of the should-be winners will actually take home the Oscar. Of course, there’s always at least one head-scratcher. The biggest surprise would be if Daniel Day-Lewis is upset as Best Actor, an unlikely scenario that would cause me to choke on my Chivas (especially if George Clooney somehow pulls it out).

(Step off, Clooney: Daniel Day-Lewis should be a lock as Best Actor.)

Here are my predictions in the major categories:

Best Picture
Will win: No Country for Old Men
Should win: No Country for Old Men

Best Director
Will win: Joel/Ethan Coen
Should win: Joel/Ethan Coen

Best Actor
Will win: Daniel Day-Lewis
Should win: Daniel Day-Lewis

Best Actress
Will win: Ellen Page
Should win: Julie Christie

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Will win: Hal Holbrook
Should win: Hal Holbrook

Best Actress in Supporting Role
Will win: Cate Blanchett
Should win: Cate Blanchett

Best Original Screenplay
Will win: Diablo Cody
Should win: Diablo Cody

Best Adapted Screenplay
Will win: Paul Thomas Anderson
Should win: Joel/Ethan Coen

Best Animated Feature
Will win: Ratatouille
Should win: Persepolis

— Jason Gargano

Wassup, Feb. 22: Feralmade and LeWitt x 2

Northside's Feralmade hosts a benefit this weekend in an effort to keep the non-commerical, artist-run gallery a vital force. The three-day silent auction, dubbed Help Me Help You, kicks off tonight and has multimedia works by Ali Calis, Chris Gilebe and Chris Vorhees available for bidding and/or general perusal. The auction runs 7 p.m. tonight through 8 p.m. Sunday.

And Saturday night unveils Feralmade Music, the first installment in an apparent ongoing series of live local music shows sponsored by Christian Moerlein Lagers & Ales. (Hmm, does that mean free beer?) White Girls — a relatively new local Rock crew who sound like Wire after a case of Pabst — Voyageur and DJ John Doe will play beginning at 10 p.m. Not sure of the order, but all three are worth catching. $3 donation is recommended. Oh, and for those out of the loop, Feralmade is located about 30 feet from The Comet on Hamilton Avenue.

Stage Door, Feb. 22: Sweeney Todd and Oscar Songs

There are several good theater choices this weekend, especially the excellent touring production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at the Aronoff Center. You'll enjoy Stephen Sondheim's great score and wonderful lyrics presented by performers who not only act and sing but also serve as their own orchestra. It's another production by John Doyle, who staged another Sondheim classic, Company, in the same vein for the Cincinnati Playhouse in 2006. This Sweeney tour has a cast of performers who were in the Broadway production, so this one is a don't-miss for fans of musical theater. Read my review here. Tickets: 513-241-7469.

Here's something a bit less expensive: With the Oscars on Sunday evening, you might want to catch a cabaret celebration, 74 Years of Best Song Oscars. It's Saturday evening at Below Zero (1122 Walnut St., Over-the-Rhine), between 9 and 11 p.m. Admission is just $5 at the door. Performers include several local musical theater veterans — Joe Stollenwerk, Deanna Tully and Jon Vater; pianist Ted Baldwin will join them. They'll be singing a wide range of old favorites plus some contemporary hits and forgotten gems. And if that's not enough, there will be an Oscar Trivia Contest, no doubt led by Stollenwerk, who's also the author of Today in History: Musicals, a day-by-day compendium of fun facts about Broadway shows.

— Rick Pender

Wassup, Feb. 21: HD Wars and Race Movies

The high-definition DVD war is over. Well, at least until movie studios come up with some other high-tech, money-grubbing innovation. HD DVD has given up its battle with Blu-ray, a fierce, pernicious fight that found various movie studios picking sides and that divided consumers (aka tech geeks) everywhere.

I’m certainly no expert on the matter — I don’t own a player in either format. In fact, along with my regular old-school DVDs, I still watch those lumbering, two-sided LaserDiscs and — gasp! — VHS movies on occasion. Remember VHS, a format that seems destined to become the 8-track of the 21st century? I even have a few Beta movies collecting dust in my closet. For those not in the know (pretty much anyone under 30), Beta vs. VHS was the early-1980s videotape version of HD DVD vs. Blu-ray battle royale. (The year my dad gave my brother and me a Beta player was the greatest Christmas ever. Well, next to the year my step-dad gave us Atari. Long live Donkey Kong!)

The whole HD craze is kinda sad on a different level. In some ways it’s like the debate between vinyl records and CDs (and now MP3s). Who says cleaner and crisper is better? But that’s an argument for another post.

On to today’s events:

• The Underground Railroad Freedom Center presents local filmmaker Pam Thomas’ Midnight Ramble: Oscar Micheaux & the Story of Race Movies tonight at 6:30 p.m. The documentary investigates the early age (1910-1950) of black American film history from a black perspective. Thomas will be on hand for a post-screening Q&A that also University of Dayton Entertainment Law Professor Dennis Greene and William Mallory Sr., Ohio’s first African-American majority floor leader and father of current Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory. Read TT Stern-Enzi’s interview with Thomas here.

• Tonight is your final chance to catch Contemporary Dance Theater’s presentation of Pilobolus at the Aronoff Center for the Arts Downtown. Check Julie Mullins’ cover story for a comprehensive low-down on the adventurous, Connecticut-based dance company’s unique approach to a centuries old art form. The show begins at 7 p.m.

• Author Deborah Rodriguez signs and discusses her book Kabul Beauty School, the true story of a school she founded in the worn-torn Afghan city of Kabul. 7 p.m. at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Rookwood Commons.

• Take Me Out, Richard Greenberg’s tale of a baseball player who reveals to his teammates that he’s gay, continues at New Stage Collective. 8 p.m. tonight. Read Tom McElfresh’s review here.

— Jason Gargano

Blowing His Own Horn: Keith Buterbaugh

Two years ago, actor Keith Buterbaugh was in a production of a Stephen Sondheim musical directed by John Doyle. Buterbaugh, who majored in trumpet as an undergrad, is a versatile performer, a perfect choice for Doyle's now-familiar approach to certain musicals in which his cast members provide their own musical accompaniment.

In 2006, Buterbaugh was part of the ensemble of the Cincinnati Playhouse’s production of Company, which Doyle directed following the spectacular London-to-Broadway success of another Sondheim musical, Sweeney Todd. In Company, Buterbaugh played Harry, the long-suffering husband of Joanne (who harangues “The Ladies Who Lunch” in one of Company’s most memorable numbers) — in addition to the trumpet.

He’s still blowing his own horn in a Doyle-directed Sondheim revival, but now it’s the touring production of Sweeney Todd, and he’s the corrupt Judge Turpin, the vile jurist who exiled Sweeney to a penal colony in Australia so he could have his way with Sweeney’s wife. That touring production is onstage at the Aronoff Center this week and next. It’s well worth seeing, even if you’ve recently caught the Tim Burton-Johnny Depp film. Doyle’s interpretation is wholly different, and it offers the show’s full complement of music, much of which was eliminated to keep the cinematic version under two hours.

(See more on Doyle's two experiments with Sondheim in  my Curtain Call column here.)