CincyFringe Buzz: Must See Radio Star

We are just over a week away from the start of the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, so it is time to start planning your schedule. I'll be giving some must-see shows I am recommending throughout the week. Please note that I haven't seen any of the shows in the festival. I've completed a vast three year research project that combined buzz, reputation of the producers/actors, and coffee to come upw with a short list of shows I am not going to miss. This means my knowledge should not be questioned and all theatre goers should head my advice.  Or they could just see every show.

Today's show is Radio Star by Tanya O'Debra of NYC. Radio Star was voted Best of Fringe at the 2011 San Francisco Fringe Festival.
The Schedule:
Friday June 1 @ 7:15 pm
Saturday June 2 @ 8:45 pm
Tuesday June 5 @ 9:15 pm
Wednesday June 6 @ 7:15 pm
Friday June 8 @ 7:15 pm
at Hanke 2.

Bunbury Video: Vote For Your Pick

Here's my choice for the Bunbury Music Festival video:


Go Here to vote for your pick on what video the festival will use to promote the event.

CityBeat News Editor Kevin Osborne No Longer Working for Alt Weekly

Based on this week's masthead and his Facebook Page, Kevin Osborne is no longer working for CityBeat. A request for comment on the reasons for Kevin leaving the paper from CityBeat has yet to be answered.

The long running Porkopolis news/political column, authored by Osborne, was missing from this week's edition of the newspaper. In its place is apparently "The Alternative" written by TT Stern-Enzi. The article implies that this is a reborn column or project for Stern-Enzi and I can only surmise that this is the replacement for Porkopolis.

CityBeat was sold back in March to SouthComm of Nashville, Tennessee. Earlier this year significant staffing changes where made at the paper, including a new Managing editor.

I will update this story if new information arises.

Where's the News?

Sorry of the lack of blogging over the last week.  I've not been inspired to write much.  Is it the lack of news happening or my lack of finding anything interesting to say about the news that is going on?  I am approaching my 10 year blogging anniversary.  Yes, 10 years.  The fire has been burning low.  My taste for politics has not been what it once was.  I can throw a rhetorical bomb, but it doesn't have the same meaning or value it once had.

I was thinking of ways to celebrate my 10 years of blogging about Cincinnati.  I wanted to go through the past and find the posts I am most proud of or brought me the most infamy. Some of it is so long ago and the meanings are so far in the past that except for the few long time readers, it would not make much sense.

This is a big election year and I should normally be gearing up to write about it, but it is a national election.  The local races, with few exceptions, are not competitive.  The county races will be interesting, but so much of what happens in November will depend on the Presidential race.  This will, in my opinion, be a coat-tail election year.  That makes it a little difficult to write about.

I will try.  The frequency of posts may not change much, but I hope to make up for it in quality.  I also hope to make sure people know about more things going on around town.  Any attention I can give to events and groups, the better.

Delusions of Grandeur Continue to Flow From Smitherman Like a River

Today's article from the Enquirer's Jane Prendergast on Cincinnati Council Member Chris Smitherman was an interest read. I say that because my blog (and myself) were quoted and I represented the face of Criticism of Smitherman. I take that as a compliment. I try to give voice to issues and topics that don't get lots of press. Criticism of Chris Smitherman does not get much media attention. I am glad it got some today.

The other more entertaining portion of the article comes from a direct quote from Smitherman himself:

“I will become the mayor one day,” he says, though he won’t run in 2013 when Mallory leaves.

I don't know what planet Smitherman is living on, but it appears to be akin more of an alternative-reality than anything resembling the actual Earth, where the rest of us reside. Smitherman at best has a niche voter base that he segments more each time he opens his mouth in public. Unless he plans a cultural revolution to drive out everyone in the City who disagrees with him, then I don't see him winning an election for Mayor against nearly any other remotely credible candidate.

Those of us in the political opinion world would love to see him run someday, just to watch him lose in the primary. How a man who wants nothing more than the destruction of the urban core could think he could be mayor is beyond my comprehension. I guess that's why I can't see it as anything other than a delusion of grandeur. One thing I don't doubt about Smitherman: he has a high opinion of himself. That doesn't translate to anything unless you can make stuff happen. The only stuff he can make happen is gettting in the newspaper by making outlandish comments. Negative press attention in the end might earn you a day old bag of doughnuts, but little else.

Wendell Young Sums Up Smitherman's 'Meeting'

Cincinnati City Council Member Wendell Young summed up the problem with fellow Council Member Chris Smitherman's special council meeting held last night. From the Enquirer Article:

“It is wonderful that we care,” he said, but it’s wrong to imply that this is the first time council and others have been interested in this topic.

Additionally in the Enquirer Blog post about the meeting, Young's comments were described as this:

People were deluded, he said, into thinking they would hear something new tonight.

This meeting was nothing but a show. It was a stunt to gain attention and make people believe that Smitherman and Winburn are doing something for black people. It was also a political tactic. The most brilliant aspect was to use the "black on black crime" terminology in the media. This gives Winburn something to appeal to the conservative, mostly White voters, that Republicans rely on for votes. Both Winburn and Smitherman have built narrowly defined voting blocks. Winburn's has more of a Coalition than Smitherman, so he needs to appeal to multiple angles of this issue.

No matter what, they got their media attention (yes including me). That gives them a slight boost to their reelection efforts. Each have to continue to walk the tight-rope of appealing to both Republicans and the Black Community.  Neither one will ever be able to totally rely on Republican votes alone, so they must play this game and it is sickening.

Quimbob over at Blogging Isn't Cool has more on the 'Meeting.'

Bunbury Music Festival Announces Set Times and Stages

The Bunbury Music Festival has announced the set times and stages for the three day event in July.

The five stages to cover the Sawyer Point & Yeatman's cove area are listed as:
Yeatman's Lawn
Serpentine Wall
L&N Bridge
Sawyer Lawn
Acoustic
Amphitheater