PicoBlog

Welcome to The Riverfront. Cincinnati sports are your passion, right? This city has a special relationship with its sports teams, though it’s often a heartbreaking one. You can get straight reporting on the Reds and Bengals and Bearcats and Musketeers and FC Cincinnati in plenty of other outlets. “The Riverfront” is where we go deeper, analyzing current events in Cincinnati sports from the fan’s perspective. Your perspective. My perspective. I’m Chad Dotson, but I’m guessing you already know that.

The Oklahoma City bombing took place on April 19, 1995, 29 years ago tomorrow. And in the years since, it’s been underrated as a modern-day American calamity. The attack killed 168 people, including several children, and was the deadliest act of domestic terrorism against the government in U.S. history. Timothy McVeigh, a war veteran with ties to the militia movement, was convicted of masterminding the bombing, which was seen as retribution against the government for the deadly end to the Waco siege in 1993.

I was three years old when Batman hit theaters in 1989. While I was too young to remember the hype around the movie, the shockwaves it sent through pop culture were still being felt while I was growing up. I had watched our copy of Tim Burton’s film so many times that I had all of the lines memorized by the time I hit kindergarten. Which is why I was so excited when Batman: The Animated Series was announced.

There was once a rooster who lived in a barnyard. Now, this was not your typical rooster. This rooster was a real ladies’ man. Not only did he make it with the hens, he made it with the ducks and the swans and the geese and the turkeys, basically anything with wings. The farmer noticed these goings-on and just shook his head. One day, the rooster was sitting with his back against a wall, his legs crossed, smoking a cigarette.

Just after midnight on Friday, August 4 — technically Saturday, August 5 — The Rose confidently strode on stage at the Vic Theatre in Chicago. The concert was part of Lollapalooza's series of Aftershows, which gave performers the opportunity to showcase their music in a more intimate setting. The previous evening, the four-man group had headlined at the festival's Bacardi stage. They had already performed at foreign Lollapaloozas in Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Sweden earlier this year.

Rugrats was a weird show but an indelible part of my childhood. The squiggly lines. Those distinct voices. Reptar! I know Rugrats is still around—there’s an reboot that includes some of the same voices for the children—but the version that I remember finished airing in…2004? Wait, can that be that right? It was still in its original run while I was in high school? But that’s how most children’s TV shows are: endless.

So there is a four-part series called The Runaway Princesses. It has a full-page ad in The New Yorker magazine, in which I had read, maybe a year and a half ago, an article about “the Fugitive Princesses of Dubai”, chronicling the repeated attempts by Sheikha Latifa and her older sister, Shamsa, to escape the strict control of their family. Their father is Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and reportedly worth about 18 billion dollars.

Longtime Como’s employee Pete, pictured in the restaurant at 18. He’s now 60. “What a great run he has had,” the pizza joint posted on its Facebook page. | Como’s Pizza/Facebook Two staple eateries in the west suburbs — both pizza joints — are no more. Perry’s Pizza Joynt, 39 North Ave. in Northlake, closed on April 5 after 44 years in business. And Como’s Pizza, 1903 W. Roosevelt Rd.

Perhaps known best for their 1976 smash “Car Wash,” Los Angeles natives Rose Royce were far from one hit wonders. Sprinkling elements of disco, funk, R & B, and soul throughout their catalog, they also crafted notable hits like "I'm Going Down," "Wishing on a Star," and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" with an incredibly talented lineup of musicians and Gwen Dickey on vocals. The group’s extensive catalog is begging for exploration in documentary, long-form article, and podcast form, but “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore” seems especially ripe for rediscovery due to the pioneering use of a drum machines as a focal point of their production.