NAACP Mahem?

Nate has a very detailed description of an incident at last week's NAACP meeting were Justin Jeffre was allegedly physically thrown out of the meeting.

She's a Gypsy, the Acid Queen

I made the trek out to Northside last night to check out a new place, the Gypsy Hut, located at Spring Grove and Dane. My attraction to this particular night has to with the band playing, the High and Low, almost as much as checking out a new venue. The band is becoming one of my new favorites of the hour. They have a mix of styles that give them a sound I really enjoy.

The show was good, but the atmospheres of the night were much more of the star. When we got there at about 11:00 PM we took a self guided tour of the place, which takes about 45 seconds, ending up in the main room, which is off to the left as you walk in the main door. It's a good sized room. While there I scanned the crowd looking for people I know or at least recognize from around. I saw no one I knew. I did see this odd looking fellow with straight shoulder length black hair and black Buddy Hollyesque glasses. I had to confirm with my friend that this indeed the bass player for the Greenhornes and Raconteurs, Jack Lawrence. The guitarist/singer for the Greenhornes and a former member were slated to be the DJs after the show. I honestly don't know if I could recognize the rest of either the Greenhornes or the Raconteurs, even Jack White not in costume. Jack Lawrence stands out. If the rest of the Greenhornes were there, I didn't know.

The Gypsy Hut is a nice dive. Pretty good selection of beers, there was no cover, and an interesting crowd of Northside/local music regulars makes for fun night out. Parking wasn't too bad, but there is only street parking in what is the edge of an industrial part of town. I spent a few moments watching a couple of trains drive by in the near distance while sitting by the front window. We had one of the only two tables in the front room, which is the place to be situated for watching the interesting hairstyles (blue feathers???, clothing choices (mostly rock-chic), and drunken flirting (not with or by me).

One of my friends described the image he first thought of when told about the new club in Northside. The image of a classic Pizza Hut building propped up on one side with a giant chicken leg is what came to mind. That might be a great graphic for the place to use, assuming they avoid the inevitable lawsuit.

The Gypsy Hut is a strong addition to the Northside Bar scene. It is a little bit of a hike away from the main hub on Hamilton Ave, but it may be the tipping point to establish the neighborhood as a rising locale for nightlife in Cincinnati.

Mallory Marches Against Iraq War

Mayor Mark Mallory is in DC today at the anti-war rally. Here's the press release:

Mayor Mark Mallory is attending a peace march in Washington, DC today. In DC for the Winter Meeting of the US Conference of Mayors, Mallory met up and marched with Councilman David Crowley and a delegation of over 100 Cincinnatians. The Cincinnati delegation was organized by the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center, located in Over-the-Rhine. The group of citizens from all over the Cincinnati area traveled overnight on two buses to participate in the peace rally and march.



“I am here today with to support our troops and to stand up and say enough is enough. It is becoming increasingly clear that the situation in Iraq is not getting any better. I do not believe that putting more of our brave men and women in harms way is the best idea at this point,” Mayor Mallory said. “This war is draining resources from our cities around the country that we desperately need. We need those resources to keep our cities vibrant, healthy, and safe.”

It should be a who's who among national progressive politicos.

Top 10 Rejected Enquirer Niche Websites

Recently, the Enquirer launched a website called cincymoms.com, targeted at, you guessed it, Cincinnati moms.

10. cincythugs.com
9. cincyisbetterthannewport.com
8. cincypedophiles.edu
7. cincyCornholemoms.com
6. cincywestsideintellectuals.com
5. cincydrunkfratboys.net
4. cincyperverts.org
3. cincyfairweatherfans.com
2. cincypigcallers.net
1. cincyCornholedads.com

Smoking Ban Penalties Cover Smokers

Business Owners are not the only parties who can be sanctioned for violating the smoking ban, smokers can as well. The fines are much less, but $100 bucks for a second offense is still no bargain.

Here's Berding Looking Bad

The Enquirer Politics blog documents council infighting and nearly everything seems to involve Jeff Berding. Is Berding becoming Mr. Confrontation?

Sex Survey Battle - City Beat vs. Cin

City Beat has one.

CinWeekly has one.

Who Wins? Well, when it comes to sex, City Beat is going to come in first every time.

Best Of Cincinnati 2007 - Voting is Up

City Beat's Best Of Cincinnati 2007 is now accepting votes. Vote early and often! Don't forget your favorite Blog!

New Day to Day Enquirer Boss

Hollis Towns is the new executive editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Tom Callinan has moved upstairs to help manage the various Enquirer entities. Callinan has been in Cincinnati for 2 and a half years. He came from Kalamazoo (K-A-L-A-M-A I got a gal in Kalamazoo), MI. I don't see the Enquirer changing much, expect more of the same movement from news gathering entity to a press-release driven publication.

Cole Courting Westwood Concern

In what can be considered nothing but a total shock Cincinnati City Council Memember Laketa Cole spoke at Westwood Concern's January Meeting this week. I wonder if Mary Kuhl dared shake her hand?

Great Story from Greg Korte's Blog. It is good to see Greg on local politics again, especially this kind of a strange bedfellows occurrence.

Fountain Square Filling Up, But With Whom?

It is great news that Fountain Square has filled up the retail space with either signed leases or letters of intent. What we still don't know is who has signed on the dotted line.

Jan 30th Event!

For More hit the Ballet's Website.

Streetcar Reader Response

Yesterday's Enquirer had a series of letters discussing their weekend editorial about adding streetcars in Cincinnati. Interesting breakdown, there was only one outright anti-streetcar letter and it was from someone who lives in Sharonville. That's outside the City for the non-locals.

State of the Union

I didn't watch, listen, or read the State of the Union last night. Did anyone? Was it the usual BushCo drivel?

Ignorance

I applaud the attention the Southgate House got, but the reporter could have researched music venues in the area just a little bit more, instead of writing something like this:

"It only takes one visit to know that this isn't your typical music venue."

OK, what is a typical music venue? There are not that many to begin with in this city. None of them are typical, unless you want to count a typical bar with a typical cover band playing.

I don't like looking at a gift horse's mouth, but I'm irked. Was Kari Wethington consulted? Seriously, did they bother asking a fellow local reporter who likely goes to half of the shows at the Southgate house and other music venues around town? This type of problem is not uncommon to a majority of reporters, but this one is catching my wrath today.

No Courage On Mason City Council

In a sign that you can't question anti-Mexican bigotry in Warren Country, Mason City Council Caved into the 'Citizens for Legal Communities' demand to cleanse the City of Mason. They are going to study creating laws that are out of their jurisdiction, but Hell, if you can't quell your hate by oppressing others, why bother living?

'Minute Men' Take Root In Mason

'Citizens For Legal Communities' is not calling themselves a Minute Man group, but they might as well be with their level of bigotry. What is amusing, yet sad, is that the long line of idiots will likely chime in with their trite comments saying something to the affect "Why are you calling someone a bigot for wanting to enforce the law?" That is a diversion as is the effort to "enforce the law." Why are they picking this issue as a "legal" issue to focus on? That is the where the bigotry comes in. There is plenty of crime with real victims going on in this country. If 'Citizens For Legal Communities' wants to worry about law breakers, then they might help people more if they pushed on the government to solve white collar, fraud, and theft crimes.

Niche Enquirer

Ok, why does the tame, bland Enquirer have to target a publication to "Moms" when the rest of their publications pay tons of attention to mothers and children as it is? The problem with this site, it is not for Mothers, it is for Mothers who currently have young children. Where's the section for Mothers of 25 year olds? They are clearly moms too.

Traffic Is Flowing

As you can see, traffic in Mt. Lookout is flowing fine. Beechmont Ave is fine. When it turned into Linwood on to Delta it was ruffer, but very passable.

Yeah, It Snowed

It snowed in the Tristate and the world is coming to an end.