Ever since he released his first Michael Stipe-produced album 'Little' in 1990, Vic Chesnutt has carved out one of the most unusual careers in the singer/songwriter pantheon. A paraplegic using a wheelchair since breaking his neck in a 1983 car accident, the Athens, Ga.-based Chesnutt might be physically confined but not creatively.  

When we at WWE! heard that the Cincinnati Tea Party was planning to spend the second half of this week participating in something called “We Surround Him,” we thought, “Good, if those assholes are busy doing weird shit to god they won’t bother the rest of us.”  

A recent trip to Wisconsin reaffirmed for me the exciting correctness of the Cincinnati Art Museum’s efforts to build collections in Folk/Outsider Art and Contemporary Crafts. This year, the museum has displayed work from two new collections — Chicago collector Robert Lewis’ Outsider Art and Cincinnati collectors of Contemporary Craft Nancy and David Wolf.  

Last week, Cincinnati Art Museum filled us in on the upcoming season and other subjects. We’ve already published the museum’s Fall schedule, so I’m going to bring up some of the other information they shared with us. While the recession has definitely had an impact, the museum continues to move forward.  

Local Country/Western band Mack West celebrates the release of its self-titled debut CD this Sunday at the Northside Tavern. The show — featuring an opening set from Bill Alletzhauser of The Hiders — starts at 8 p.m. Admission is $5, or $10 if you want a CD with your cover charge.  

On a recent family trip to England I tasted a number of wines that warrant some discussion. On the Delta flight over (which was an absolute clusterfuck that arrived more than six hours late and included an unscheduled maintenance stop in Atlanta), they offered a choice of two red wines, each of which was virtually undrinkable. This was particularly surprising to me in that highly-respected wine pro Andrea Immer Robinson serves as their high-profile Sommelier, supposedly testing every wine in flight to ensure that they show well at every altitude.   

For art-museum lovers, one of the best things about hot summers in Cincinnati is the proximity to nearby cities whose museums and public galleries have exhibitions. This makes shows in Dayton, Columbus, Louisville, Lexington and Indianapolis easily reachable. But before we set off on a two-hour drive to see another city’s work, let’s look at the shows local institutions have planned for the summer. Then we’ll hit the road.   

University of Cincinnati and good architecture have long gone together, both because of the College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning’s (DAAP) graduate and undergraduate programs and the “signature” architects who have designed new campus buildings. But one of the strongest connections between UC and architecture, especially in this age of sustainability, is Michael Reynolds, a 1969 DAAP graduate.  

He looked like a Tony, but when a regular came in and addressed our host as Bill, I realized my mistake. I asked the woman at the cash register and she informed us that Bill Fuerst bought Tony’s 8th Street Deli (326 E. Eighth St., Downtown, 513-564-9866) about three years ago and decided to keep the name.  

I almost died at Red River Gorge when I was 17. My friend, Michutzel Roberto Giglio, and I crashed through a guard rail on a rainy night. Our car plunged 65 feet to the bottom of a ravine, splitting the boulder on which it landed. On the way down, I yelled, “Lord Jesus, have mercy!”