Need More Goat Bell

New Stage Collective extends it's production of Edward Albee’s 'The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?' through May 27. Get out and see it while you still can! Get your tickets at www.newstagecollective.com.

Portune Working For Rail Transit

Joe Wessels' column this weekend brought news of Todd Portune's efforts in favor of light-rail for the East side. Fitting street cars is interesting, but one that I think easily makes sense. Use light rail to bring people in from the outlying areas, and have them hop on a streetcar to go into CBD/OTR/Pill-Hill to work.

Another interesting point in the column is that Todd is making overtures about a high-speed rail line between Dayton and Cincinnati. Most thinking about the census likely would agree that eventually, Dayton will be included in a combined Cincinnati Metro area. When it will happen is a bigger issue, since it affects much more than broadcast revenues, namely federal funding. Whether high speed rail would be a before or after effect of the Cincinnati-Dayton-NKY-SW Indiana metro area creation is the type of issue we pay politicians like Todd Portune to figure out. Connecting Downtown Dayton to the senior Downtown Cincinnati makes for a great conduit of people that not only would affect commuting, but day/weekend trips would become be a fun/easy activity for Dayton residents.

Rocking on the Square

On the Myfountainsquare.com website, a very promising summer line up of programming is scheduled, including an interesting one called "Rock the Square" which seems to be set for most every Friday. Many of those events are tied to larger local festivals/events taking place on that Friday. One of the first one's is slated to be themed for the Cincinnati Fringe Festival.

What is missing is a line-up of acts. It is very hard to book that far ahead, but when it comes to music you have to consider you music fan likes to know who they are going to see well ahead of the day of the event. If anyone has an idea of any acts playing "Rock the Square," please let me know. I got a quick response from the folks at CinWeekly, so we might get someone with first hand knowledge to chime in.

Tragic

The Enquirer is reporting that a Flying Pig Marathon runner collapsed at the finish line and later died. The coroner reportedly stated the deceased was a 45 year old man who had a history of hypertension and was allegedly not taking proper care of himself.

Warped Sense of Party Loyalty

There can be little question that Jeff Berding and David Crowley are not working together to help each other get reelected. Berding's negative efforts are most clear in the CityBeat Blog post:

Later, Jeff Berding — Crowley’s Democratic colleague on council — was quoted in a newspaper column criticizing Crowley. Berding stated: “Can you believe it? This is the guy who wants to tell the generals how to run the war in Iraq, but in this case he says we’re in no position to judge, that we shouldn’t stand up for the family of a slain police officer.” Also, Berding added, “It shows a warped value system.”

Berding is acting like he's a Republican and is doing so on purpose, showing no respect for the party that just recently endorsed him. Saying David Crowley has a warped value system is not only wrong, it is a nasty thing to say. Berding seems to think his only way to win is to campaign on the same issues and stances as Chris Monzel. He will need to have lots of money to win a second term, something he likley can do.

Rise of Gen X

As a card carrying member of Generation X, I feel no sympathy for companies who are squeezing the workforce they currently have down to a stone dried turnip, and now worrying about not having enough people to fill the jobs of the soon to be retiring Boomers that GenX has been carrying on our backs for a while now. If the retiring Boomers are going to have their stock portfolios appreciate a little slower because corporations are going to be paying people more wages over the next decade plus, then I say "cry me a river." With the cost of health care rising, the amount companies are paying for not increasing, GenX is once again left to clean up the generational mess being left by the Boomers. This is just the beginning.

More HB Goodness

I missed last night's Erika Wennerstrtom solo act at Southgate, but Mike Breen reports on the first official Heartless Bastards music video for All This Time.

I've not yet found the new video online, but here's a youtube.com live video from March of 2007.