2011 Bockfest Kicks off on March 4th!!

Bockfest starts tomorrow night! Get all of the information at www.bockfest.com.

What you need to do during Bockfest:

1. Go to the Bockfest Parade on Friday night.  It starts at 5:30 PM at Arnold's and goes up Main Street and left on Liberty.  This is a can't miss event with lots of goat leggings sightings
2. the Beer Blessing: Once the parade reaches Bockfest Hall, their will be a blessing by a real live priest, usually with holy water, something different for us non-Catholics.  Don't worry, this isn't for the religious only, just don't tell anyone you are not a Christian, they might make your chug a beer.
3. Visit Bockfest Hall: I'd go Friday and/or Saturday night when things are rowdiest.  Jake Speed plays on Friday night and the Sausage Queen finals are Saturday with the Kentucky Struts playing after.
4. Eat lots of food: Bock beer is stronger than most beer, so drinking 3 large beers is not like drink 3 large Bud Lights.  This stuff will take its toll.  That is why you need lots of food to keep you closer to being sober, than not.  If you smell food, I'd go find the line and buy something!
5. Check out some interesting places like the Know Theatre for special Bockfest events.
6. Check out some of the unique events and tours (if you can get tour tickets), check out www.bockfest.com for more.  

MPMF: Midpoint Website Redo and Showcase Submissions Open

Check out their new website at MPMF.com. Bands, you better act now and submit your media packet to Sonic Bids, so you can find out if you have what it takes for MidPoint. Go to the website for all of the details. You have until May 16th, but why avoid the rush?

Cincinnati Bengals Burned By Cincinnati Commandos' Ad

A Republican is Lying About Union Protestors

Yes, this is a 'water is wet' type of story, but the Enquirer is reporting it, so it must be pretty egregious. Lie about the purpose of Senate Bill Five, you don't get noticed. Lie about taking a crap, you get noticed.

How Will the Cincinnati Media Tackle the 10th Anniversary of the Riots?

We are less than two months away from the 10 year anniversary of the Riots that followed the police shooting of Timothy Thomas. It is the time for the local media to be planning how they are going to commemorate that event, if at all. I think I found one such plan from WCPO with this Twitter account: @TEN_YEARS_LATER. A quick search on WCPO's website turns up this test post, which indicates that a least a story is in the works, if not more.

I'm not looking forward to looking back on the Riots. Other than living in Cincinnati at the time and from my ninth story office watching a couple dozen kids cause some minor vandlism Downtown, I didn't experience them. I followed the news coverage of the riots like a hawk, and it was terrible. It showed a lack of understanding and of experience in coverage of the rioters point of view. No journalist had any remembered ability to get inside the story as it was happening over multiple days.  Instead the press was driven off by small incidents of rock or bottle throwing or were held back by the police from entering  most of Over-the-Rhine, which was the center of most of the violence.

There were several good pieces that ran well after the riots, but the importance of the early and first draft of history type reporting is critical. In the case of April 2001, our local media failed to know what was going on. They couldn't or wouldn't get into the scene and cover it. They stood by the sidelines and bought the hype and what little they could get from police scanners or the handful of contacts on scene as the only story. That was not good journalism.  With the vast reduction of news gathering resources of today's media, I don't believe they could do any better now.  Citizen journalists can't make-up the difference and provide objective reporting that is comprehensive, serving every part of the public.

The City and it's citizens overall ability to deal with those types of situations, like both the shooting and the riots after, can better be handled with a local media that can engage all segments of the population. 10 years ago, one segment was vastly undeserved.  I don't think it has measurably improved.

Make Cincinnati Weird is Still Really Weird and We Like It

A new team has relaunched the local blog Make Cincinnati Weird. They've put out a new mission statement which reads:

This Blog was created by Gerard Sychay. Recently, a group of Cincinnati weirdos have joined forces to carry on the mission Gerard began. The goal is to document the quirky, offbeat, and… well… weird goodness of Cincinnati. The single guiding principle, is that diversity breeds strength.

Jake Gerth, Kevin Feldman, Rebecca Nebert, Latria Roberts, Josh Laichas, Chris Grunden, Kara Driscoll, and Hannah Gerth have joined forces to embrace Cincinnati’s weirdness and support the road less traveled. Welcome to our journey…

As the most normal person in the entire world, I can't relate to this website in any way, but I applaud their effort to shed some light on Cincinnati and show a side of it that I will never know.

(Yes, I am joking...it really is just a bunch of weirdos)

Looks Like a Northside Bar Needs to Close

When someone is murdered at your bar, it moves to the top of the list to be closed. It is time to close Club 360.