Masterful Cincinnati Boogie Woogie piano stylist Ricky Nye is much loved in his hometown. In CityBeat's Best of Cincinnati issue this year, readers voted Nye "Best Local Musician," which he also won last year. And there's a pretty good chance he has more Cincinnati Entertainment Awards and CAMMY awards (the old Enquirer program) than any other musician in the area.

All year, Nye (who founded the internationally-flavored Blues and Boogie Summit concerts, which took a break in 2012 but may make a comeback soon) performs about four nights a week in area clubs, bars and restaurants, his ace chops and entertaining performances helping to woo Cincinnati into loving him. (He's also a super-nice guy, so that probably helps too.)

But Nye has also been working on earning love (and spreading the good word of Boogie Woogie Blues) elsewhere. Nye travels to Europe (which has a larger fan base for his particular brand of Blues) annually to perform numerous shows, particularly in France (this past fall, Nye also played a few shows in Switzerland along with his French itinerary). During one previous visit, Nye snatched up a trio of French musicians with whom to play and record, christening the group Ricky Nye and the Paris Blues Band.

Besides during Nye's visits overseas, the Paris Blues Band has also recorded albums with Nye, including 2008's superb Ville Du Bois, a self-titled release from 2011 and last year's Jump Steady, which came out at the same time as France's Fabrice Eulry & The Rolling Twisters' Twistin' At Ray's, which Nye co-produced in Cincy, and the annual Blues and Boogie Summit highlight compilation album recorded at the 13th annual event in 2011.  

This visit, the band will be performing to promote their latest recording, Singing in My Soul, by Oxford, Ohio, singer Lisa Biales and featuring Nye and the PBB on backing. The album is a mix of Blues, Gospel, Roots and Pop, featuring covers of songs by Mississippi John Hurt, Sippie Wallace, Peggy Lee, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and others. Click here to read more and to purchase the release.

For the past few years, Nye has been bringing his Paris Blues Band — Thibaut Chopin (upright bass), Simon Boyer (drums) and Anthony Stelmaszack (guitar). — to the Cincinnati area to do a handful of shows. Since last Friday, Ricky Nye and the Paris Blues Band (usually with Biales singing) have been touring the heck out of the region, playing Rabbit Hash, Ky., and Oxford, Ohio, and also doing an episode of Northern Kentucky radio station WNKU's "Studio 89," where the band played and was interviewed live on the air.

Tonight, the "tour" picks up at Chez Nora in Covington's Main Strasse district. Nye and the Paris Blues Band play at 7:30 p.m. and there is no admission charge. Tomorrow (Thursday), Nye and Co. head back to Oxford for a performance at the Oxford Community Arts Center (showtime is 8 p.m., tickets are $10 and it's BYOB), then set off for Worthington, Ohio, for a Friday show at Natalie's Coal Fired Pizza and Concert House.

Nye and his French pals close out the mini-tour on Saturday with a sold-out show at the Baker Hunt Art and Cultural Center in Covington, Ky.

Click here to find out more about Nye and his various projects and here for his official site.

Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld is asking Cincinnatians to take part in the Greater Cincinnati Day of Fasting today and put off lunch to help support the Freestore Foodbank. Sittenfeld’s office said in a press release that the event will allow participants to “experience a small measure of the hunger that is a part of many people’s daily lives.” There will be a ceremony for the event at noon in Fountain Square, where participants will be able to donate to the Freestore Foodbank.

March was another decent month for jobs in Cincinnati, with the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate dropping to 7.5 percent, down from a revised 7.9 percent in February and 8 percent in March 2012. Michael Jones, research director at the University of Cincinnati Economics Center, says most of the job growth is attributable to Cincinnati’s growing health care services, but manufacturing has also provided a local boon.

An anonymously posted video questions the legitimacy of some parking plan referendum petitions, but so far no formal challenges have been filed against the referendum effort. Even if somebody were to file a challenge, Hamilton County Board of Elections Chairman Tim Burke says it would required a lot — nearly 4,000 signatures — to halt a referendum: “Because they are so far over, there’s going to have to be more evidence by any petitioner that there are problems well beyond those five or six sights shown in the video.”

There is now a local effort to embrace the Cincinnati Preschool Promise, a private-public partnership that would get more local children in preschool. The current goal is to get 25 to 50 children in preschool in a pilot program this fall. Studies show preschool is one of the best investments that can be made for the economy in the long term. Local preschool services were recently cut as a consequence of federal sequestration, a series of across-the-board federal spending cuts that began March 1.

UC President Santa Ono is recommending the school freeze in-state tuition for the next school year — a measure the UC Board of Trustees will consider in June. Ono also said he will not take a salary increase or bonus for the next two years, and he is asking the school to sell the presidential condo and use the money to pay for scholarships.

While testifying to legislators reviewing his two-year budget request, State Treasurer Josh Mandel said his office has been targeted by cyberattacks, and the technology currently available to his department is not good enough to hold off the attacks.

Humana will hire 60 people for its customer service center in downtown.

Brain cells will control the power plants of the future.

In a press release, Mayor Mark Mallory proclaimed today Zips’ Cafe Day because the restaurant is finally adding bacon to its cheeseburger lineup.

Cincinnati’s seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate fell sharply in March, according to data released today by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS).

Michael Jones, research director at the University of Cincinnati Economics Center, says the numbers, while positive, were a slowdown from previous months. “The punchline is that growth is improving, but the rate of growth is slowing down,” he says. “But up is good.”

Cincinnati’s seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate dropped to 7.5 percent in March, down from a revised 7.9 percent in February and 8 percent in March 2012. The lower unemployment rate coincided with other positive factors: a larger civilian labor force, more people employed and less people unemployed.

Hamilton County’s seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate also dropped from 7.2 percent to 6.9 percent, and Greater Cincinnati’s rate dropped from 7.5 percent to 7.2 percent.

Jones attributes most of the drop to the region’s strong growth in health care services, but manufacturing has also played a role. “Our manufacturing has come back stronger than the nation,” he says.

In Ohio, the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate fell from 7.8 percent in February to 7.3 percent in March. The U.S. seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate also fell, from 8.1 percent to 7.6 percent.

But seasonally adjusted numbers for Ohio and the nation were widely considered weak, particularly in comparison to previous months.

Job numbers at the state and national levels are typically adjusted for seasonal factors, but local numbers are not.

Unemployment numbers are collected through a household survey. The unemployment rate measures the amount of people employed relative to the civilian labor force, which accounts for the amount of people looking for jobs and people employed. Since the numbers are obtained through surveys, they are often revised in later months.

On April 29, 1972, Kings Island opened its gates for the first time, welcoming guest from Cincinnati and across the country to its world of rides, games and overpriced snacks. The next year, America watched the country’s first family visit that very park — no, not the Nixons, the Bradys! In an episode filmed Aug. 20-24 1974 that first aired on Nov. 23, The Brady Bunch’s architect dad Mike pitched some expansion plans for the park and brought the whole gang along to enjoy attractions like Hanna-Barbera Land and The Racer.

Forty years later, the Bradys are at it again. Barry Williams (Greg Brady), Christopher Knight (Peter Brady) and Susan Olsen (Cindy Brady) will return to Kings Island May 19 for four live shows, autographs and photo ops.

Am I the only one who had no idea Cincinnati’s Golden Child, Nick Lachey, has ties to the Kardashian Klan?! Nick and Kim dated briefly in 2006 after he and Jessica Simpson split, and in a recent interview with Details, Nick reveals the shocking claim that Kim LIVES for the papz, who somehow showed up during a private date. Thank God he ended up with former MTV VJ, Vanessa Minnillo. They seem to have a relatively normal, happy relationship and I can say this with confidence because I regularly read her mommy/lifestyle blog even though I don’t have a baby or a life. :-/

Hey, check out this sloth and cat hanging out:

Now, I know I’m about to get tarred and feathered for dissing sloths, but watching this, I kept thinking sloth was about to hand-deliver cat to death’s door. Kristen Bell, please don’t hate me.

NBC will debut a new comedy May 23 that takes place (but is not actually filmed) in suburban Cincinnati. Save Me stars Anne Heche as a housewife who develops the ability to communicate with God after a near-death experience, and she lives in none other than "Indian Hills." As a lifelong Cincinnati resident, I find it impossible to say “Indian Hills” without an unsophisticated twang. It sounds like how us simple peasant folk would mistakenly identify the most affluent neighborhood in Cincinnati. Indian Heels. In fact, I could swear that when I got accepted into a certain all-girls private institution for high school and my parents tried to politely warn me that all my friends would be richer than me, they said, “You’ll probably meet a lot of girls who live in Indian Hills!”

A scathing email that the president of Delta Gamma at the University of Maryland sent to her sorority sisters has been making its rounds this week and, in case you missed it, here’s Michael Shannon’s dramatic reading of the text. Because if anyone can make this insane, delusional letter seem any crazier, it’s Nelson Van Alden. 

The video is NSFW, unless you happen to work as a Delta Gamma house mother.

Under Ohio law, petitions require signatures from both a supporter, who must reside in Cincinnati in the case of parking petitions, and a witness, who must be an Ohio resident and witness the act of someone signing the petition.

The video shows what seems to be parking petitions placed on business counters with limited supervision — potential evidence that some of the parking petitions were signed without a witness present.

Tim Burke, chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party and Hamilton County Board of Elections, says the Board of Elections is currently looking into what process needs to be followed as a result of the video.

Traditionally, Burke says, someone has to file a challenge, which would then be investigated by the board. At that point, the board would rely on subpoenas to get testimony from witnesses to determine whether their petitions were valid.

“Under oath, circulators are likely to tell us the truth,” Burke says. “Did you witness all the signatures on that parking petition? If he says no or she says no, ... then none of those signatures are valid.”

“The video is interesting, but it doesn’t prove anything,” he says. “Any challenger would have to link each one of those shots in the video to specific petitions that were signed by the circulator of the petition that was on those counters.”

Even if someone did bring a challenge, it would require nearly 4,000 invalid signatures to halt the parking plan referendum effort. Yesterday, the Board of Elections announced the referendum effort had gathered 12,446 valid signatures — considerably more than the 8,522 required.

“Because they are so far over, there’s going to have to be more evidence by any petitioner that there are problems well beyond those five or six sights shown in the video,” Burke says.

Circulators who mishandled the process would not face charges; instead, the signatures would simply be discarded, according to Burke.

City Solicitor John Curp says the city’s law department is taking “no side on whether there’s a vote,” and the city administration has not taken action based on the video.

Curp says he would like to confirm whether those are parking petitions and if the video is factual in its presentation.

“If those were parking petitions, that was certainly troubling,” he says. “I hope this gets worked out in a timely manner.”

The parking plan would lease the city’s parking assets to the Greater Cincinnati Port Authority to help balance the city’s operating budget deficits for the next two years and fund development projects around the city, including a downtown grocery store (“Parking Stimulus,” issue of Feb. 27).

Opponents say they’re concerned the plan will lead to higher parking rates and extended hours that will hurt the local economy. With 12,466 valid signatures, their referendum effort is expected to culminate in a vote this November.

City officials previously warned that without the parking plan the city will have to lay off cops and firefighters.

The full video is embedded below:

An amendment in the Ohio House budget bill last week would make it so universities have to decide between providing voting information to students or retaining millions of dollars in out-of-state tuition money. The amendment would make it so universities have to classify students as in-state — a classification that means lower tuition rates — when providing documents necessary for voting. Republicans claim the measure is “common sense” because anyone voting for Ohio’s elections should be an Ohio resident. But the amendment has provoked criticism from Democrats and universities alike, who say universities are being thrown into the middle of a voter suppression scheme.

An analysis from left-leaning Policy Matters Ohio found the tax plan currently working through the Republican-controlled Ohio legislature favors the wealthy. The analysis also claimed there’s little evidence the across-the-board tax cuts suggested would significantly help Ohio’s economy. The plan still needs to be approved by the Republican-controlled Ohio Senate and Republican Gov. John Kasich.

Council members are asking Cincinnati Police Chief James Craig to remain in Cincinnati instead of taking a job in Detroit, but City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. didn’t seem convinced that much can be done. Dohoney said Craig’s hometown is Detroit, a city that has suffered in recent years as the local economy has rapidly declined.

Democratic Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald is running for governor, and he will make Cincinnati one of his first stops for his campaign kick-off tour. FitzGerald is challenging Republican Gov. John Kasich in 2014, who has held the governor’s office since 2010. A recent poll found Kasich in a comfortable position with a nine-point lead on FitzGerald, but many respondents said they don’t know enough about FitzGerald to have an opinion on him.

Greater Cincinnati home sales hit a six-year high in March, with 2,190 homes sold. The strong housing market, which is recovering from a near collapse in 2008, is widely considered by economists to be a good sign for the overall economy.

But Ohio’s venture capital investments dropped to a two-year low, according to data from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association.

The Ohio EPA and Hamilton County Recycling and Solid Waste District are partnering up to provide a $250,000 grant to help purchase equipment to screen, clean and sort glass — an important part of the recycling industry.

Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld is asking Cincinnatians to forgo lunch on April 24 to take part in the Greater Cincinnati Day of Fasting. The event will let participants “experience a small measure of the hunger that is a part of many people’s daily lives,” according to a press release from Sittenfeld’s office. Participants are also being asked to donate money to the Freestore Foodbank. A ceremony for the event will be held on April 24 at noon in Fountain Square.

The U.S. Senate is moving toward approving bill that would allow states to better enforce and collect online sales taxes.

Mars One is calling all applicants for a mission to colonize Mars in 2023.

The sport of the future is here: combat juggling:

The budget bill currently working through the Republican-controlled Ohio legislature would cut taxes in a way that disproportionately favors the wealthy, according to a new analysis from Policy Matters Ohio, a left-leaning policy group.

The budget bill, which was passed the Republican-controlled Ohio House with a 61-35 vote on April 18, would cut state income taxes for all Ohioans by 7 percent. Policy Matters analyzed the result for each tax bracket: For the top 1 percent, the tax plan would cut $2,717 in taxes on average. For the middle 20 percent, it would amount to a $51 cut on average. For the bottom 20 percent, it would result in $3 on average.

The report explains the disproportionate gains are caused by the structure behind Ohio’s tax system: “Ohio has a graduated income tax, so people pay more on higher levels of earnings. Because of that, across-the-board tax cuts give much more money to the wealthiest Ohioans. This reinforces inequality and adds to the unfairness of the state and local tax system, which is weighted in favor of upper-income taxpayers when all state and local taxes are taken into account.”

Zach Schiller, research director at Policy Matters, says the Ohio House tax plan will also have little impact on Ohio’s economy.

“Since the 21-percent reduction in state income taxes approved in 2005, Ohio’s economy has underperformed the nation,” Schiller said in a statement. “There is little reason to believe that another round of income-tax cuts will produce a different result.”

Michael Dittoe, spokesperson for Speaker of the House William Batchelder and Ohio House Republicans, wrote in an email to CityBeat that there are still two months for the state government to finalize the details of the tax plan as it works through the Ohio legislature.

The budget bill still has to be approved by the Republican-controlled Ohio Senate. If changes are made to the Ohio House proposal, the Ohio Senate bill would have to be concurred by the Ohio House. It would then need to be signed by Republican Gov. John Kasich, who could line-item veto certain parts of the bill or veto the entire bill.

“It’s disappointing to see that Policy Matters Ohio would begrudge an income tax cut which will benefit all Ohioans,” Dittoe wrote in the email. “Of the seven citations in their report, ironically, five of them refer back to previous ‘studies’ issued by none other than Policy Matters Ohio. Before issuing a study of this magnitude, it may be wise for them to cite something other than themselves to make the report more credible.”

Policy Matter’s findings were gathered through the independent Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which plugs the numbers into its own model to gauge the impact of tax cuts on different income levels.

The resulting numbers do little to deflate concerns raised by Policy Matters about Kasich’s tax proposal, which was a much larger 20-percent across-the-board income tax cut. Policy Matters found Kasich’s tax plan also favored the wealthy, except the overall plan actually raised taxes on the state’s poorest because it included an expansion of the sales tax that the Ohio House rejected (“Smoke and Mirrors,” issue of Feb. 20).

A pair of interesting local package-tour concerts were announced today for Riverbend's summer season.

• On Saturday, July 6, Bob Dylan and his band are headlining the Americanarama Festival of Music when it comes to Riverbend Music Center. Dylan tours a lot, but making this jaunt extra special are the extra special guests — Wilco and My Morning Jacket. Other acts are to be added to round out the fest-like bill (show starts at 5:30 p.m.).

Tickets for Americanarama at Riverbend go on sale this Saturday at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster. Tickets range from $30-$80; between April 27-28, fans can buy lawn tickets for the show for just $20 (plus all those sketchy ticket fees).

Read more about the tour here.

• For local fans of modern Hip Hop, mark your calendars for Aug. 11. That's when the second annual Hip Hop tour, Under the Influence of Music, will be coming to Riverbend. The show is headlined by Wiz Khalifa and A$AP Rocky and will also feature B.o.B., Trinidad Jame$, Joey Bada$$, Pro Era and Berner and more. The Cincinnati stop is the last on the tour, which always makes for a fun time for the performers (and, thus, the audience).

Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster. Click here if you'd like to RSVP for a chance to buy tickets early. Citi card members get access to presale tickets beginning tomorrow at 10 a.m. Riverbend is offering $15 "Early Bird" tickets through April 28.  And here is some info on getting a jump on the public on-sale.

Here's an interview with the headliners about the tour.

The Democratic Party’s nominating committee announced who it’s supporting for City Council Friday: Greg Landsman, who heads the Strive Partnership and worked for former Gov. Ted Strickland; Shawn Butler, Mayor Mark Mallory’s director of community affairs; Michelle Dillingham, a community activist; and the six incumbents, which include Laure Quinlivan, Chris Seelbach, Yvette Simpson, P.G. Sittenfeld, Pam Thomas and Wendell Young. The nominations still have to be approved by the Cincinnati Democratic Committee.

Petitioners against the city’s parking plan are supposed to get their final tally on referendum today, but a new video shows at least some of the petitions may have been signed without a legitimate witness, which are needed to validate a signature. The Hamilton County Board of Elections announced Thursday that petitioners had met the necessary threshold of 8,522 signatures, but the video casts doubts on whether those signatures were legitimately gathered. The city wants to lease its parking assets to help balance the deficit for the next two years and fund development programs around the city (“Parking Stimulus,” issue of Feb. 27), but opponents worry higher parking rates and extended hours will harm the local economy. Here is the embedded video:

New polling from Quinnipiac University found a plurality of Ohio voters now support same-sex marriage rights — granting promising prospects to Freedom Ohio’s ballot initiative to legalize same-sex marriage in the state this year.

An audit on JobsOhio could take months, according to State Auditor Dave Yost’s office. Gov. John Kasich was initially resistant to a full audit, but Yost eventually won out, getting full access to JobsOhio’s financial records. JobsOhio is a privatized development agency that is meant to eventually replace the Ohio Department of Development.

In response to not getting a Democratic endorsement for his City Council campaign, Mike Moroski, who was fired from his job at Purcell Marian High School for supporting gay marriage, launched the Human Party.

Cincinnati received an “F” for business friendliness in the 2013 Thumbtack.com U.S. Small Business Friendliness Survey from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Embattled attorney Stan Chesley will no longer practice law in Ohio. Chesley, who has been criticized for alleged misconduct, was recently disbarred in Kentucky. He recently resigned from the University of Cincinnati Board of Trustees after being asked to in a letter from fellow board members.

Ohio gas prices are shooting back up.

PopSci has an infographic showing sharks should be much more scared of humans than humans should be afraid of sharks.

“Mandy Patinkin, holla.”

That was Claire Danes’ shout-out to her Homeland co-star when she won an Emmy in 2012 for her role on the show. Fans across Cincinnati will be able to holla at him too (not really, that’s rude) as he performs with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Friday-Sunday. Sure, many know him as Saul Berenson on Homeland or the iconic Inigo Montoya from Princess Bride, but he’s a man of the theater, too, and this weekend he joins the CSO onstage for the first time since 1991. Read our interview with Mandy Patinkin here.

Krohn Conservatory’s annual International Butterfly Show opens Saturday, highlighting the butterflies of Morocco. The conservatory will fill with 16,000 colorful butterflies, floral displays and a hummingbird garden through June 30. Krohn is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. every day; Admission is $4-$7.

Earth Day is technically April 22, but Cincinnati celebrates this Saturday at Sawyer Point. Enjoy live music, a fashion show of recycled materials and other family activities while learning how to get involved with green organizations and outdoor activities. The free event runs noon-5 p.m. Check out this week’s Green Issue for more information on native plant hikes, sustainable farms and outdoor classes, markets and events.

The Cincinnati Ballet promises one of the hottest parties of the year as they present Club B Saturday. The Cincinnati Masonic Center downtown will transform into a hoppin’ nightclub complete with cocktails, light bites and — of course — lots of dancing. There will also be a raffle with tons of great prizes. Tickets are a bit steep — $150 all-inclusive 7 p.m. admission; $50 tickets get you in after 10 p.m. — but the money goes to support this important local arts organization. Plus, how often can you say you’ve danced with a ballerina?

Saturday is Record Store Day and Greater Cincinnati is lucky to have four local stalwarts to choose from. Support our local music shops by picking up a new record as you enjoy live, in-store performances. Go here for details on how Everybody’s Records, Shake It Records, Mole’s Record Exchange and Phil’s Music & Memories are celebrating.

For more stuff to do this weekend, check out our To Do page or full calendar and Rick Pender’s Stage Door for weekend theater offerings.