What movie says ‘Ireland’ to you? Or St. Patty’s Day?

By Eric Robinette | Tuesday, March 16, 2010, 12:18 PM

Miami University Hamilton has its Taste of Ireland event happening on Wednesday, March 17 (of course) and one of the activities there will be a showing of a movie that depicts Irish culture.

Last year the movie was John Sayles’ The Secret of Roan Inish, about the legendary selkies - seals that can shed their skins to become human. This year it might be Evelyn, a Pierce Brosnan melodrama about a man’s fight against the Irish courts to be reunited with his children.

So what movie says Ireland most to you? One of the first movies that springs to my mind is John Ford’s The Quiet Man, starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, with Irish brogues running thick and fast.

So what movie would you watch to observe St. Patrick’s Day? What titles Irish-spring to mind?

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So where DO you go to party?

By Eric Robinette | Thursday, March 11, 2010, 12:19 PM

I recently wrote a couple of articles that had to do with the lack of places to go in Middletown/Hamilton.

One of these was a story about how musicians having to go out of town to get gigs. The other was a story about a new club opening in Middletown.

So that makes me want to ask you - if you believe that “there’s nothing to do around here,” as so many people seem to believe - where DO you go to party? What out of town bars/clubs/other establishments do you frequent?

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Kids meet a music-maker and ‘Peanuts’ fan

By Eric Robinette | Friday, March 5, 2010, 01:10 PM

I spent the morning at Miami University Hamilton where I met composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, who is being spotlighted at Saturday’s American Masters concert by the Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra.

Zwilich was in the thick of a Q&A session with some fourth- through sixth graders from St. James of the Valley School, Queen of Peace School and the John Scott Academy. Before she came on, Paul Stanbery, the musical director of the orchestra, asked the kids, “How many of you have a question for Ellen?”

A handful of hands rises.

“How many of you want a snack?” he asked.

Almost everyone does an impression of the Statue of Liberty.

“How many of you are going to ask a good question to get that snack?” Stanbery asked?

The hands stay up.

Read more about the Q&A with Zwilich tonight on the JournalNews Web site. For now, here is my interview with Zwilich.

Fun coincidence: the “Peanuts” strip that Zwilich refers to was published on my 20th birthday, Oct. 13, 1990. And as a lifelong “Peanuts” fan, I was delighted so many of the kids seemed to know the characters. Long may they run - unless maybe Lucy is holding the football.

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All this green beer stuff …

By Eric Robinette | Thursday, March 4, 2010, 10:29 AM

• reminds me of another kind of green liquid. My favorite moment in the movie The Fugitive is when we see the river being dyed green for the St. Patrick’s day festivities in Chicago. One of the cops says, “If they can dye the river green today, why can’t they dye it blue the other 364 days of the year?”

What’s your favorite sort of St. Patrick’s day revelry?

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Where do you go to see movies?

By Eric Robinette | Wednesday, March 3, 2010, 10:09 AM

The closing of the Showcase Cinemas at the Cincinnati Mall (formerly Cincinnati Mills and the Forest Fair Mall has caused quite a stir among the readers of our Web sites. Such a stir makes me wonder:

Where DO you go to see movies?

I’m particularly interested in whether you go the local theaters near you or if you drive to one of the bigger chains. For instance, I’ve heard a lot of people say that they will pass up the Danbarry in Middletown for the Rave in West Chester or the Showcase Cinemas in Springdale or near the Dayton Mall.

What about the Kerasotes in Hamilton? Do Hamiltonians go there or do you drive elsewhere too?

Before I turn the floor over to you, I would like to address the notion that movie theaters are going to die. That always comes up when a theater closes, and I never buy it.

Why not? Because they said newspapers would go away when the radio came along. Then they said radio would go away when TV came along. They’re saying everything will go away now that the Internet is in full force. Guess what? Hasn’t happened, and I don’t think it’s going to. These media will CHANGE, no doubt, but they’re not going to go away completely. After all, how can you argue that movie theaters are going away when Avatar has made $700 million and counting?

So where do you go to movies? Do you go to the local theaters? And do you believe movie theaters are on their way out?

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What’s the best place for sledding locally?

By Eric Robinette | Tuesday, February 16, 2010, 10:40 AM

Sometimes Mother Nature provides us with “Things to do,” so to speak, and she’s been doing so in spades for the past few weeks with all this snow! No shortage of sledding spots I’m sure!

So that brings to mind a question - what is the best place to go sledding in Butler and Warren counties? Perhaps with THIS much snow, the honest answer is “Anyplace with an incline.”

Offer your sledding suggestions via comments below.

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What about local ‘Grammys?’

By Eric Robinette | Monday, February 1, 2010, 11:27 AM

OK, so we had the Grammy Awards last night and Taylor Swift and Beyonce were the big winners.

So I wonder - if we had Grammy awards for local musicians and bands? Who would get Grammys then? Who is the Best Band? Best Vocalist? Best rock group/country group and so on?

Give out your “Grammys” via the comments below.

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Ever been to a public cooking class?

By Eric Robinette | Tuesday, January 26, 2010, 12:27 PM

Sometime in February, I was planning on writing a feature story about the cooking classes held at The Learning Kitchen in West Chester and/or at Jungle Jim’s in Fairfield. Does anyone know of any more besides these? And has anybody been to a public cooking class? I want to get a taste of what I’m in for, I guess you might say.

And for the record, I probably will not be cooking myself, as most of my culinary skills are of the microwave variety. And besides all that, it’s rather messy to cook and take notes at the same time.

Clue me in, if you could.

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La Comedia gets ‘Revenge’ on country critic

By Eric Robinette | Monday, January 25, 2010, 12:31 PM

Country music has never rung my bell. Just a few bars of “Achy Breaky Heart” are enough to give me an achy-shaky stomach.

So when I found out La Comedia Dinner Theatre was staging a show called Bubba’s Revenge, featuring several country music tunes, I shuddered a little at the prospect. And to top it all off, “Achy Breaky Heart” was in the show.

Still, La Comedia has a way of making subjects that aren’t normally to my liking appealing. They did it with High School Musical last year, and they’ve done it again with Bubba’s Revenge, which is ridiculously entertaining.

By ridiculously entertaining, I mean that the cast of this show is willing to go to almost any lengths for a laugh. I don’t want to give too many of the gags away, but suffice it to say some of the countrified shenanigans are positively shameless. Not every country show features a guy wearing a dress on stage.

The show is a sequel to Honky Tonk Angels, about three women who struck out on their own to realize their dreams of being country singers. In Bubba’s Revenge, the hand of fate plays a cruel trick on the trio, leading to the reopening of a bar called Honky Tonk Heaven that proudly serves O’Douls. Not to mention there’s also a seance that prompts the playing of the theme to Ghostbusters.

It’s that kind of show.

La Comedia’s shows almost always feature at least a few local faces, but Bubba’s Revenge has even more than usual. Leslie Jo Bissett of Carlisle directs the show and stars as Angela, one of the Honky Tonk Angels. Chris Beiser, who has directed many local shows over the years, has become a fixture at La Comedia, and in this show, he has the flamboyant, scene-stealing role of Little Jimmy Timmy, who often hogs the spootlight.

Tina Shatto plays Suellen Smith-Barney-Fife, another of the Angels, and she has directed shows for Middletown’s Summer Youth Theatre. Dustin Farris of Hamilton plays Cornell Crawford, Suellen’s beau, a retired professional wrestler prone to bursting into tears. Harold Skaggs of Carlisle plays the titular character, whose slovenly ways belie a fine stage presence. Rounding out the players is Jackie Snyder as the third Angel, Darlene, who spends most of her time, playing a ghost.

Yep - it’s that kind of show - but it’s a very funny one, and the performers are all in great voice - so much so that I didn’t even mind all that much when “Achy Breaky Heart” came on.

The show plays through Feb. 28. Here’s my feature story about it.

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Where in the world is the local music scene?

By Eric Robinette | Thursday, January 14, 2010, 11:40 AM

Recently when I wrote a story about a local band playing a New Year’s Eve event in Middletown, and he told me one reason this event happened was because there were no places in Middletown for local bands to play anymore, and most of them go to Cincinnati or Dayton.

And I wondered, is that really true? I know a number of places in Middletown where local bands played, like Barb’s Pub and Coconuts have closed, so there aren’t as many places as there used to be. But what about places outside Middletown, like Froggy Blues in Monroe or Mutt’s Brewery in Trenton?

And for that matter, what’s the scene like in the Hamilton area? I’m less familiar with the music scene there, having only started to cover that region recently.

I’m going to be writing a news story on this topic that will publish in February, but I thought I would use this blog as a place to start getting some comments and ideas. Is it true there are no places for local bands to play? If you want to see a local band play, where do you go?

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