Monday, July 31, 2006

No Locals at Jazz Fest?

I was working the Cincy Blues Fest this weekend, so I did not at the Jazz Fest, now called the Macy's Music Festival, but were locals missing from the event?

We had a ton of stuff going on along the river, so that may have kept people away from the concert at PBS, but is that was is keeping people away?

The Cincy Blues Fest did great, and was filled with mostly local people, so I don't know why Macy's didn't get the locals in.

I must say that if anyone is upset that 20,000 people came to town and were the majority at the concert, then I think they need to rethink their priorities. The region, and the City, did great. Music Fusion demonstrated that we are a vibrant city with a rich cultural, largely musical, tradition.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Help WAIF

On Monday July 31st from 5:30 -8:00 p.m. at Simone’s in Walnut Hills, the Urbanists will host a discussion about the future of WAIF (88.3) community radio. WAIF could be a huge asset to everyone in Cincinnati’s urban core, connecting us to each other and the key issues of the day. Your input is critical to maximizing the possibilities of WAIF, so please come out and get connected to others committed to building inclusive relationships in Cincinnati through community radio..

Simone’s will offer free appetizers, with a cash bar. The program will start at 6 pm.

Friday, July 28, 2006

FBI: Aggressively Fighting Terrorism!

Well, not so much.

The Death of Covington

I will be the first to JOKE about "the death of Covington." The closing of Jillian's doesn't make or break Covington, nor MainStrass, since Jillian's wasn't even really part of that part of town anyway. It is a surprise to most, I would guess. It is newsworthy.

This will not inspire anyone else to start writing or venting about the death of Covington, and that is funny. If this was in Downtown Cincinnati, we would read and hear about the troubles of the area, not the troubles of the business itself.

Gutter Republicans

Sleazy ultra conservatives never cease to amaze me. This guy was willing to make stuff up about his political opponent. That is called a lie, where I come from. That would a violation of one of 10 Commandments. Funny, this guy represents a group who wants the 10 Commandments put in our schools. Ironic?

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Eminent Domain Loses in Norwood

Huge news on the property rights front, but bad news for Norwood. Will the green field with three houses remain empty?

Will the City survive this financially? Will Norwood consider being annexed by the City of Cincinnati?

Snark is Unbecoming for a Newspaper

Gee, based on this tiny article, you would think they were reporting bad news!

Mayor's YP Kitchen Cabinet Announcement

Mayor Mallory is going to hold a news conference this morning to announce his YP Kitchen Cabinet. He is holding the news conference from in front of the P&G. Without saying a word, Mallory's choice of location signals to me that this is going to be all talk and no action. The image of P&G as your center piece for YPs is not going to broaden your reach of getting professionals to the city. P&G doesn't represent a vibrant city, instead they represent the old guard, who are keeping the city treading water.

I will be interested in hearing about this news conference. Who was there, who did the mayor trout out as the show piece? Will this get any press?

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Enough of Ignorant Old Men, Already

What Mr. Bob Stuhlreyer needs to do before he bashes works of art is to SEE THEM!

His ignorance is quite apparent:
As one example, recently The Enquirer promoted a stage production at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival called "The Catholic Girl's Guide to Losing Your Virginity." Catholic girl. I suppose a "Baptist Girl's Guide" or a "Muslim Girl's Guide" would not have been so catchy - or so appealing to foes of Catholicism.
I saw this play, and to call it "anti-catholic" is not only wrong it is insulting. I don't know how much time he has on his hands, but he might do more than labeling a play something because it has "Catholic" in its title.

The funniest thing about his attach is looking back as I watched each sold out audience line up to see the Fringe Show. It was filled with Catholics. Every female Catholic who I talked after seeing the show LOVED IT! Guess what, Bob, a Catholic wrote it! Hell, I didn't get half of the references in the play because it was filled with a witty satire of Catholic dogma, put forth in an fair and positive manner.

Maybe Mr. Stuhlreyer should stop complaining and get to real issue, he is pissed that there's not a Catholic Guy's Guide to Losing Your Virginity. Well, Bob, start writing.

Poll: Lucas 50 to Davis 41

Ken Lucas is smiling at this poll, while Geoff Davis is dismissing it.

This is yet another sign of a weakness for Republicans. It is going to take a whole lot of money for the GOP to hold on to the House. They can do it, but it sure as hell going to cost a bunch at it will be the sleaziest attack campaign, top to bottom, we have seen in a while. I don't mean just this district, I am thinking nationally.

There She Is, Ms. Grandstanding?

Is councilwoman Leslie Ghiz seeking the crown as the top Grandstander? The crown was previously held by former councilmembers Chris Smitherman and Alicia Reece.

With a murder happening right outside City Hall, I think that the Mayor having a high profile body guard is not much of an issue. Where the money comes to pay for that bodyguard is as minor an issue as which work center gets charged with copy expenses.

Lets get a Banks deal, reduce crime, orientate the new City Manager, and get the City's Economic Development arm back.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Looking for logic in all the wrong places

In an amazing show of small mindedness, Larry Gross returns to defend his judgment that Downtown sucks because businesses sometimes close, his lumping of everything into a blender, and his ignorance of the huge development going in downtown—even bringing up a bakery that has been closed for going on 2 years. Somehow he thinks that this all ties into a nice bow to fit what I think is his disdain for change and success in the city.
Larry is living in the past, as he laments for the old institutions from his younger days. If you want things to be consistent, that is why people go to places like Camp Washington Chile. But, wait, does Larry boycott the "new" Camp Washington Chile? It just isn't the same for purists. For some reason, I think Larry sees the turnover of businesses as a sign of the apocalypse. Where was Larry when Fat Fish Blue, the I-Max, Empire, the Bamboo Club, the Bear Factory, and UpStarCrow closed in Newport? Oh, right in his original 2004 article he was writing this:
"Fuck it!" Roger says, yelling into the receiver. "Let's just go to Newport on the Levee."

"Now you're talking."
, but I am sure he thanks Zeus that most of those locations opened up again as something else, but his laments of those changes were lost in cyberspace. It just can't be the case that he didn't pay attention to the change in Newport. It is not like he paid attention to the changes of locations he complained where now gone: The Cavern closed to become alchemize and will rise again for Midpoint, Moose is now Cooper's, Have a Nice Day is Exchange, Manna's is Gondola Pizza, and oh yea, Nick & Tony's is now McFadden's, probably the most successful of all. Sorry that Busken's can't get its act together, but I don't fret that, when I instead can look forward to the new restaurants going in on Fountain Square. Is this a trend? Who knows? As long as you think its going to sucks, then to you, its going to suck, no matter what. If you want same thing over and over again, I think you may want to move out to the suburbs, where consistency is not only the norm, it is the desired above everything but the mundane.

This is how capitalism works, Larry. I don't know if you cried your eyes out when Pogue's closed down or if you cried more when Lazarus went bye-bye and moved a couple of blocks over, but thus is life. In your attempt to give us an "I told you so," you have instead provided the rest of us with an example of not doing your research.

A Pot, a Kettle, and a Can of Black Paint Walk Into an Editor's Office

It appears that the editorial page of the Enquirer is thinking that if they point the fingers at all of the other media outlets and include themselves in the finger pointing ever so slightly, they can retain the high ground of ethics in the modern world of media.

I shall point out them that their newspaper does plenty of harm to the intellectual discourse in the Cincinnati area. As a commenter pointed out, to which I agree, that with this editorial I would expect to see Peter Bronson looking for work.

I might also expect to see far fewer anti-city diatribes, and more fair news articles.

I mean we get a great a tiny story about Midpoint in today's paper, but when we get bad news about the city (as opposed to the Suburbs), its front page news.

3 Man Cage Match

What better way to get a plan for a new jail settled, than to lock the three county commissioners into a jail cell for a few weeks.

Make Si Leis be their jailer 24/7, including having to cook for them, and we could sell tickets and actually pay for the jail that way.

Monday, July 24, 2006

TV Movie?

Is this article a pitch for a TV movie of the week? The plot points and the drama is there. The only thing that sucked was that the writer had to drag in blogs into a talk radio discussion. Sure, Oba had a blog for a while, but didn't dive into blogging like his talk radio obsession.

Election Mess

How do you trust an election process with Ken Blackwell monitoring his own election for the top Ohio job?

More on Cincy's YPs

Brendan at spacetropic discusses the Mayor's YP Cabinet and how YP groups could improve.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Will the RNC Bail Out Ken Blackwell?

The Columbus Dispatch has a poll out today on the governor's race that has Ted Strickland leading Ken Blackwell 47% to 27%. 20 points is not impossible to overcome, but it will take money. Lots of money. More money then Ken Blackwell can raise on his own. He is going to need the help of the national party. He may get it, but he may not.

Also in the article is a second poll where Mike Dewine is trailing Sherrod Brown 45% to 37%. Mike is going to need quite a bit of money as well. The RNC is going to value keeping a sitting Republican in the Senate, over trying to hold on to a governor's seat they could still loose even if they give Blackwell a billion dollars.

It is still early, mistakes can be made, circumstances can change, but if Blackwell hasn't cut Strickland's lead significantly by mid September, then its going to be very difficult for him to win. Look for Blackwell to go negative soon, ala DeWine.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Enquirer Business Section Clarifies

In a story today about the moving of Chad Munitz from the City's Economic Development Director to EVP at 3CDC, we get the truth about the Fountain Square Delay:
It announced last week that a planned early-September reopening of Fountain Square, in the midst of a $43 million renovation, had been pushed back five weeks until mid-October. Roughly $50 million of additional private development is already under way in buildings around the square.
Good reporting!

On Chad Munitz, I know nothing about him, but his new position indicates he is going to be a key person at 3CDC. If there are development deals already in the works, lets hope he can land them, especially ones for Vine Street.

Friday, July 21, 2006

MidPoint Schedule Out

Via Citybeat's updated blog we get the word that Midpoint's Schedule is out. I say great! The list of bands has been out for a while, but now we'll get to know where to go. Small problem: Alchemize, J Hall, and Jekyll & Hyde's are listed as venues. Am I missing something, or didn't we just go through a little thing on this blog about these clubs all closing? Granted, Jefferson Hall moved to Newport, and Alchemize is moving most likely to Covington with a new name. Does this mean that the former locations of the three will be opened up as venues for the event by the festival or other private groups? Or will new bars be opening in those spots under new management?

Logically I would guess that each of the three locations will be open as temporary as bars, and each former operator may even have leeway to open them as a full bars just for that weekend. Anyway, the locations work great. Only thing missing is more food on Main Street. The line at Lucy Blue is going to be a mile long.