After seeing some Reds players light up cigars to celebrate their clinching first place in the National League Central the other night, five people called the state anti-smoking hot line.
Really?
I was (and am) in favor of the smoking ban. But good grief, folks. Get a life.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Westwood Civic Association Acting Politically?
Is John Sess, President of the Westwood Civic Association, using a meeting of the organization to benefit Republican Candidates? Kevin Osborne at CityBeat has an article which alleges the meeting, to occur on October 5th, has two GOP candidates on the attendee list, but no Democratic candidates. The event, as Kevin details, was not publicized as a candidate forum. The question is, where Democratic candidates offered a direct special invitation. Will the GOP candidates be allowed to speak? If they do, the event should be seen as a partisan event. Something that will not go over well with the WCA's mission or status.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Ignorance at the Enquirer on County Commisssion
If the Enquirer is going to endorse a candidate they might back up their basis for picking that candidate. Their basis for the Hamilton County Commission race was:
The say he has a "penchant" for "provocative" propasals. How about naming one of them? Just ONE of them. Selling the stadiums? Is that it? Didn't see that in the article. Was it background checks on Ice Cream truck vendors? Didn't see that mentioned. There's nothing else he's put out there. NOTHING. If there was something, the Eqnurier would have printed it.
Instead of providing an actual basis for who they are endorsing they go on the attack with a quote from their fake debates. The Enquirer held mini-debates in front of the Editorial Board. That "appears" to be the sole reason for their choice. Or rather I would wager this was their justification for opposing Jim Tarbell, someone who isn't a favorite of the Enquirer.
I accept the reality that the Enquirer is Republican, it is, and it has been for a hundred years or more, but I really don't like them phoning it in. If you just don't like Tarbell, say that is why you are picking Monzel. Don't make stuff up about Monzel and then conveniently leave out the details. If he has solutions for the County, what are they? He had no solutions for the City, but I guess his past performance of doing nothing on council isn't something they considered relevant or I guess it didn't "appear" to be relevant. Jim Tarbell's past performance "appears" to be something they are holding against him. I wonder what Jim did to piss them off? Fighting the power doesn't win many friends on Third Street. It would matter more if Third Street was more relevant.
If Monzel wins and signs on to Hartman's plan to cut funding for indigent health care, I guess being lied to won't be relevant either.
On Twitter I read some's question asking how they made their endorsement choices. Well, having their head in the sand is part of it. Something that needs to change. At some point the Enquirer needs to break the cycle of ignorance, but it wasn't this year.
"But Chris Monzel (R) appears to offer a clearer opportunity for forward-looking solutions and creative thinking at the county, which faces tough choices with a looming stadium fund deficit and other challenges."Appears? Might they cite something? They say he works at GE, but what good did that do him at City Hall?
The say he has a "penchant" for "provocative" propasals. How about naming one of them? Just ONE of them. Selling the stadiums? Is that it? Didn't see that in the article. Was it background checks on Ice Cream truck vendors? Didn't see that mentioned. There's nothing else he's put out there. NOTHING. If there was something, the Eqnurier would have printed it.
Instead of providing an actual basis for who they are endorsing they go on the attack with a quote from their fake debates. The Enquirer held mini-debates in front of the Editorial Board. That "appears" to be the sole reason for their choice. Or rather I would wager this was their justification for opposing Jim Tarbell, someone who isn't a favorite of the Enquirer.
I accept the reality that the Enquirer is Republican, it is, and it has been for a hundred years or more, but I really don't like them phoning it in. If you just don't like Tarbell, say that is why you are picking Monzel. Don't make stuff up about Monzel and then conveniently leave out the details. If he has solutions for the County, what are they? He had no solutions for the City, but I guess his past performance of doing nothing on council isn't something they considered relevant or I guess it didn't "appear" to be relevant. Jim Tarbell's past performance "appears" to be something they are holding against him. I wonder what Jim did to piss them off? Fighting the power doesn't win many friends on Third Street. It would matter more if Third Street was more relevant.
If Monzel wins and signs on to Hartman's plan to cut funding for indigent health care, I guess being lied to won't be relevant either.
On Twitter I read some's question asking how they made their endorsement choices. Well, having their head in the sand is part of it. Something that needs to change. At some point the Enquirer needs to break the cycle of ignorance, but it wasn't this year.
Friday, September 24, 2010
MidPoint Day One - Hot Smiles
Thursday nights at MidPoint are traditionally quiet nights. Most people have to work the next day. Most people are holding out until Friday & Saturday to really fill the venues. This year I'm happy to report that Thursday was hot, both literally and musically. If you didn't make it out, you missed out.
I hit Grammers first and that meant seeing a local favorite first: Wussy. Chuck and Lisa are steamy together and last night Chuck's distortion ripped through the opening song Rigor Mortis. The group was pumped and pushing the envelope a bit. Even as I poured through the PBR, the heat of the evening didn't end until the sun had long been set.
Male Bonding was good, but very rough. I wasn't blown away and maybe the fact that I was more interested in talking with several friends drove me from listening intently. Maybe it was the heat. Best Coast was much better and by this point the crowd had really swelled. So had the heat.
Let me say the Metro buses were great and are air conditioned, which came in handy. They were also the perfect spot to chat up others about what bands they were going to next. Some were on their way to see Shonen Knife, some You, You're Awesome and Holy F*ck, but a good sized number, along with myself wanted to see Van Dyke Parks.
My knowledge of Van Dyke Parks was limited to his MySpace page. His music was very different. Very-non-indie-rock, something that I want more of at MidPoint, which is one of the reasons I was pleased when I listened to their samples. The Group's picture was of a 65+ year old white haired man. I honestly thought this might be a bit of joke. Well, it turns out that I'm joker. Van Dyke Parks is famous. I mean Beach Boys famous. He's a well known composer arranger, most noted for working with Brian Wilson on his famed album Smile. He is the white haired man in the PR photo. He's also very aware of this fact and didn't hide it, joking often about it.
Parks played the Blue Wisp. Where else would he play? He fit in there like a musical king and musicians go to the Wisp to praise other musicians. The Blue Wisp was packed when we got there, and thankfully the fire marshal was not around. Clare and Reasons were still on stage and their music blew me away. I meant to put them on my list of picks, but for some reason I screwed up. If I believed in it, I would say fate led me to the Wisp early, but I don't, so I will just share my joy at their encore song "He Needs Me" which was written by Harry Nilsson. It is such a beautiful song and Clare and Reasons invited Van Dyke Parks up on stage to play with them for it. I was humming along to it very loudly. It only took me a few seconds to remember where it came from: Robert Altman's Popeye. I had always assumed that it was an old standard. Today I wanted to look it up, see who the composer was, so I didn't just reference the movie and appear ignorant. Well, it turns out the song, along with the rest of the score for movie, where original, by Harry Nilsson. I dug a little bit more, and as I was reading I ran across the golden ticket to a musical version of the "Rest of the Story". The music to Popeye was arranged by Van Dyke Parks. So, there it was. It all came back to something near a point. It was charming, it was cute. If had a girlfriend I would want her to sing this to me all the time. It maybe up staged Van Dyke Parks a bit to me. Maybe it was the amount of beer I had, anyway, I was really moved by it. In case you don't know the song, here's a snippet from the movie:
If that doesn't put a smile your face, not much will. Clare and the Reasons version was better on a thousand levels, but tall skinny girls are more gracefully challenged, and make for better movie stars.
Day two of MidPoint is almost ready to being, so get out and find your own smile tonight.
I hit Grammers first and that meant seeing a local favorite first: Wussy. Chuck and Lisa are steamy together and last night Chuck's distortion ripped through the opening song Rigor Mortis. The group was pumped and pushing the envelope a bit. Even as I poured through the PBR, the heat of the evening didn't end until the sun had long been set.
Male Bonding was good, but very rough. I wasn't blown away and maybe the fact that I was more interested in talking with several friends drove me from listening intently. Maybe it was the heat. Best Coast was much better and by this point the crowd had really swelled. So had the heat.
Let me say the Metro buses were great and are air conditioned, which came in handy. They were also the perfect spot to chat up others about what bands they were going to next. Some were on their way to see Shonen Knife, some You, You're Awesome and Holy F*ck, but a good sized number, along with myself wanted to see Van Dyke Parks.
My knowledge of Van Dyke Parks was limited to his MySpace page. His music was very different. Very-non-indie-rock, something that I want more of at MidPoint, which is one of the reasons I was pleased when I listened to their samples. The Group's picture was of a 65+ year old white haired man. I honestly thought this might be a bit of joke. Well, it turns out that I'm joker. Van Dyke Parks is famous. I mean Beach Boys famous. He's a well known composer arranger, most noted for working with Brian Wilson on his famed album Smile. He is the white haired man in the PR photo. He's also very aware of this fact and didn't hide it, joking often about it.
Parks played the Blue Wisp. Where else would he play? He fit in there like a musical king and musicians go to the Wisp to praise other musicians. The Blue Wisp was packed when we got there, and thankfully the fire marshal was not around. Clare and Reasons were still on stage and their music blew me away. I meant to put them on my list of picks, but for some reason I screwed up. If I believed in it, I would say fate led me to the Wisp early, but I don't, so I will just share my joy at their encore song "He Needs Me" which was written by Harry Nilsson. It is such a beautiful song and Clare and Reasons invited Van Dyke Parks up on stage to play with them for it. I was humming along to it very loudly. It only took me a few seconds to remember where it came from: Robert Altman's Popeye. I had always assumed that it was an old standard. Today I wanted to look it up, see who the composer was, so I didn't just reference the movie and appear ignorant. Well, it turns out the song, along with the rest of the score for movie, where original, by Harry Nilsson. I dug a little bit more, and as I was reading I ran across the golden ticket to a musical version of the "Rest of the Story". The music to Popeye was arranged by Van Dyke Parks. So, there it was. It all came back to something near a point. It was charming, it was cute. If had a girlfriend I would want her to sing this to me all the time. It maybe up staged Van Dyke Parks a bit to me. Maybe it was the amount of beer I had, anyway, I was really moved by it. In case you don't know the song, here's a snippet from the movie:
If that doesn't put a smile your face, not much will. Clare and the Reasons version was better on a thousand levels, but tall skinny girls are more gracefully challenged, and make for better movie stars.
Day two of MidPoint is almost ready to being, so get out and find your own smile tonight.
Willie Cunningham Wants Bigger Government!
Don't anyone tell the 'Tea Party,' but local Conservative radio talk show host and chronic suffer of Say-Anything-For-Ratings Syndrome, Bill Cunningham, has publicly endorsed a Deer Park Schools bond issue. Mr. Cunningham graduated from Deer Park High School. I will be waiting for his negative calls climb like Mt. Rumpke, defining him as a socialist for supporting public schools. I may be waiting in vain, but I will still wait.
What happens all too often with Conservative voters is they talk a big talk, but when it comes to cutting government, they only want to cut programs that affect others, not ones they care about. Good government is the honest answer to how to run a country, state, or city. We don't always succeed, but we need the government to be there and public schools are one of the most important ways governments keep society from imploding, outside of the pesky Rule of Law thing, but that's not a big topic for Willie.
What happens all too often with Conservative voters is they talk a big talk, but when it comes to cutting government, they only want to cut programs that affect others, not ones they care about. Good government is the honest answer to how to run a country, state, or city. We don't always succeed, but we need the government to be there and public schools are one of the most important ways governments keep society from imploding, outside of the pesky Rule of Law thing, but that's not a big topic for Willie.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Pre-MidPoint X-Mas, MOTR, and Rambling
So, it is a mere few hours before MidPoint starts and I am sitting in a coffeehouse on the hottest September 23rd in Cincinnati history. I am excited. I feel like it is Christmas morning and my parents are not up yet, meaning I only get to see what Santa brought me in my stocking. The piled up gifts under the tree will wait until my parents awake. You can't rush this. My older siblings are on duty to keep me occupied while we wait. My Dad was up late last night putting one of my gifts together, and I need to let him sleep.
I snuck a peek at that gift Dad had to assemble last night: MOTR Pub, the newest original music venue in Cincinnati. It's on Main Street where MidPoint began and lives where Cooper's once resided. Having a Hudy Amber as I stood by the stage, I felt wave of nostalgia flow over me. I remember seeing a for Algernon show there with a huge line-up that forced the keyboardist to set up in front of the stage. It was the best I've heard them play. I don't remember what year it was, maybe 2005 or 2006, but was a time before Main Street really died. It was dying, but had not gone cold. Well, what felt good last night was that it was clear to me that Main Street has risen from the ashes and along with the rest of Over-the-Rhine it will be a cultural beacon for Cincinnati this weekend.
I know those who have not been to Over-the-Rhine since the Main Street Brewery closed last century will make dumb jokes. I don't really care anymore. The jokes have been fewer and fewer the last couple of years, as OTR and Downtown have started to return to their rightful place as the center of culture for Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. They never stopped being the actual center of culture for the Cincinnati region, but those who live where chain restaurants and watching American Idol pass for culture are beginning to see how a vibrant urban care brings the most cultural value to a society. The tide has turned.
OTR will have a permanent up-tick from MOTR and with its success will help keep MidPoint and local original music going forward in Cincinnati.
Now it's time to tweak my Day One MidPoint schedule for the 11th time. If you are out tonight, say hi and buy me a beer!
I snuck a peek at that gift Dad had to assemble last night: MOTR Pub, the newest original music venue in Cincinnati. It's on Main Street where MidPoint began and lives where Cooper's once resided. Having a Hudy Amber as I stood by the stage, I felt wave of nostalgia flow over me. I remember seeing a for Algernon show there with a huge line-up that forced the keyboardist to set up in front of the stage. It was the best I've heard them play. I don't remember what year it was, maybe 2005 or 2006, but was a time before Main Street really died. It was dying, but had not gone cold. Well, what felt good last night was that it was clear to me that Main Street has risen from the ashes and along with the rest of Over-the-Rhine it will be a cultural beacon for Cincinnati this weekend.
I know those who have not been to Over-the-Rhine since the Main Street Brewery closed last century will make dumb jokes. I don't really care anymore. The jokes have been fewer and fewer the last couple of years, as OTR and Downtown have started to return to their rightful place as the center of culture for Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. They never stopped being the actual center of culture for the Cincinnati region, but those who live where chain restaurants and watching American Idol pass for culture are beginning to see how a vibrant urban care brings the most cultural value to a society. The tide has turned.
OTR will have a permanent up-tick from MOTR and with its success will help keep MidPoint and local original music going forward in Cincinnati.
Now it's time to tweak my Day One MidPoint schedule for the 11th time. If you are out tonight, say hi and buy me a beer!
More MidPoint Picks
Still not sure who to see at MidPoint this year? Well, Classicgrrl at Cincyvoices.com has her out of town must see bands as well as local picks.
UrbanCincy's Dave Rolfes has some advice on Midpoint, which includes info on the Fest extras and some band picks.
UrbanCincy's Dave Rolfes has some advice on Midpoint, which includes info on the Fest extras and some band picks.
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