DougScout: The Movie Will Blow You Away Like the Wind - Support the Know Theatre!

Help the Know Theatre make this movie into the best Theatre humanly possible for one person to write, produce, direct, stage manage, sound design, make cosumtes, and act in.  Give them some money!!!!!

Ok, excuse the next part of the this blog post as I gratuitously play for getting a quote on the DougScout movie poster:

You'll pee your pants if you see this movie. You'll poop your pant if you don't
B. Griffin - Cincinnati Blog

State of the City Speech Tonight: What Will the Mayor's Message Be?

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory will give his State of the City Speech tonight (April 21st) at the Duke Center. This will be an opportunity for the Mayor to update the City on what the next step will be for the Streetcar Project, since State funding was removed for partisan political reasons by Ohio Governor John Kasich. I hope the takes advantage of that opportunity.  We need a plan to move forward.

With the City elections coming up later this year, I also wonder if the speech will contain other issues that will form a rally point for Democratic candidates, both incumbents and challengers. The Mayor is a lame duck, so he does not have the sway inside the city's political circles. There is a Federal election coming up in 2012 and no Democratic candidates have announced, so if the Mayor is looking to put his hat into the ring and face Steve Chabot, this would be a chance to preview himself to a wider audience.

Candidates for congress in 2012 need to be working towards that immediately, if they plan on winning. The only thing holding them back is redistricting, which will be controlled by Republicans. The issue facing us locally will be how much of Hamilton County will Republicans give to District 1 (Chabot) and how much do they give District 2 (Schmidt). Hamilton County is majority Dem right now, barely, so neither incumbent really wants more of the County in their district, unless you cut it up like Swiss cheese.

If Mayor Mallory doesn't run, who else is positioned to run?

MPMF Announced Indie Summer Series Initial Headliners

The Midpoint Music Festival has announced the initial headliners for the first portion of Indie Summer at Fountain Square.

June 3rd: You You’re Awesome with Javelin and Lydia Burrell
June 10th: Neon Indian with Oberhofer.
June 17th: Maps & Atlases
June 24th: Asobi Seksu with Prussia.
July 1st: Pomegranates
July 8th: Big Freedia

The remainder of the headliners and opening acts will be announced later in the year.

How Did you Ride Out the Storm?

The warning sirens echoing off buildings woke me up around 1:30 AM this morning and the sights out my window were quite alarming. Seeing rain drops pushed by the brutal wind like blowing snow in a winter blizzard was unsettling even to my usually calm nerves. Other than venturing out to close the hallway window in my building, I stayed in my condo and watched TV for about 20 minutes until things calmed back down.

I was able to get back to sleep rather easily, so my lost period of slumber hopefully won't affect me like those up all night. I predict the line at Coffee Emporium will be out the door this morning.

Damage I hope wasn't too bad for most people. There are reports of chairs been ripped of decks in OTR and many trees were toppled, including this one into a house in Mt. Lookout.

Pones Inc 3rd B-Day Bash April 23rd at the Avenue

Move your ass on down to the Avenue in Covington this Saturday April 23rd to celebrate Pones Inc's third year of existence with a Red Hot, Off the Chain Birthday Extravaganza.

Support local theatre with a modest suggested $3 donation at the door. Details:

• Launch of Pones Inc. NEW SWAG Line (including t-shirts & bumper stickers)
• Launch of Pones Inc. Donation Feature on Website
• Back to Back Local Bands and DJs
• Pizza and Cake
• Graffiti Wall
• Party Favors
• Videos and Projection
• Dance Party and
• Get your DRINK On

Saturday April 23rd 8pm -2am
The Avenue Lounge and Patio
411 Madison Ave.

The Remaining Joesph-Beth Bookstores to be Autioned

Joesph-Beth Booksellers is in bankruptcy and has closed four of its nine stores, but reportedly a financing plan was rejected forcing the remaining five stores to be sold at auction. This of course includes the store in Norwood near Hyde Park, which is a main stop for well know authors on book tours.

The impression I get from the article is that the auction would intend to keep the business going, but I don't see how that can be assumed. In an auction the buyer usually has pretty much no strings attached if they pay the price bid, but in this type of business auction, there may be other rules or requirements.

It will be a dark day for books if Joesph-Beth closes. There are so few book stores left and e-books are becoming so common that the future of retail book selling is not bright for small or even medium sized companies.  Book stores used to be a core pillar of American Intellectualism.  Now, Walmart sells more books than any other company.  They have a horrible selection and censor books at the drop of a hat.  Knowing what to read should not be left to the Walmarts nor to online popularity lists at Amazon.

A Cincinnati Police Officer Shot and Killed a Man in Northside

Details this morning are very limited but news reports indicate that a Cincinnati Police officer shot and killed a man early Monday morning around 3AM in Northside near Chase and Georgia Avenues.

A press conference is scheduled at 11AM.

WCPO is reporting that police were called to a location on Chase Avenune to "intervene" in some type of situation.

WLWT also reported what sounded like a rumor that the suspect may have been involved in a shooting from the prior night. I could not find any news reports of a shooting either on Sunday or Saturday.


More from the Enquirer.

Cincinnati Council Candidate to Appear at Glendale 'Tea Party' Event

The Glendale 'Tea Party' is holding a Tax Day Rally and are featuring Cincinnati Republican Council Candidate Catherine Smith Mills. Their website even includes a reference to here as "Cincinnati Council Conservative Candidate."

Why would a candidate for Cincinnati City Council make an appearance in Glendale, outside the City of Cincinnati. at a far right-wing political event? Is she looking for contributions from the likes of Finney and Mike Wilson. Too bad they are doing everything they can to hurt the City.

How can this win her votes in this election? Are there a significant number of citizens who would vote for a candidate who looks outside the City for Support and finds it in anti-Cincinnati groups?

If one wants to gain votes from the people of Cincinnati, it might help if you'd spend more time with them, and less time with those trying to undermine the city. I guess some might call that conventional wisdom. I'm sure a high-priced political consultant advised Ms. Smith Mills to head to the Suburbs to find money, but damn it looks bad. She's hanging out with a bunch of nutty crack pots. I guess she's writing off every moderate vote in the City.

I suggest that is she wants to appeal to suburbanite Republicans, she move to where she can actually represent them in public office.

DougScout Washing Cars, But the Know Still Needs Your Support

Support the Know Theatre or DougScout will wash your car!

Help The Governor: Tell Him What Is NOT Cool

In an effort to reach out across party lines, I will am making a 'sincere' effort to help Ohio Governor John Kasich Understand what is and what is not cool. He made it clear that he wants Ohio to be cool, so we can attract younger people to the state. (No this was not an Onion story) To make it easy, I thought I would point out a bunch of stuff that is NOT cool. These are random things, that I am sure he already knows, but just needs a little refresher.

Ok, so things that are NOT Cool:

• Lawn darts
• Driving a Hummer full of $4 dollar a gallon gas to the suburbs
• Milli Vanilli
• Zima
• MySpace
• Handguns
• Lawn Jockeys
• War
• Banning same-sex marriage
• American Idol
• FOX News
• Destroying the freedom for women to control their own bodies
• Canceling a high speed rail project that would create 16,000 jobs
• Making it more difficult to vote
• Cutting funding for the arts
• Pushing religion on others
• Being anti-urbanist
• Asphalt
• Cul-de-sacs
• Taking political revenge on Cites, like Cincinnati, for not voting for you
• Revoking a grant to build a Streetcar project that would develop the inner city
• Taking away the rights of Ohio citizens to collectively bargain
• Being anti-public transit, especially rail projects
• Mocking Portland, then praising Austin for basically the same reasons

So that's a start, what else can you share with the Governor to help him know what is NOT Cool.

Bunbury Musc Festival Coming to Sawyer Point in 2012

Soapbox's Sean Rhiney has an interview with Bill Donabedian, managing director of Fountain Square and co-founder of the Midpoint Music Festival (along with Rhiney), and they discuss Donabedian's plans to hold a music festival called Bunbury in July of 2012 along the Ohio River at Sawyer Point.

Plans are for a "Lollapaloza" or "Pitchfork" type of festival which would have a combination of the best of local music and national acts. Donabedian's ideal would be to have groups like "The National" and "Flaming Lips". I'd presume he'd include more locals along the lines of Bad Veins, the Seedy Seeds, and Wussy, but that's just my speculation.

I love the idea. I really hope it can give the right mix of national, regional, and local acts. I also am pleased that it doesn't appear to be conflicting with any other big local indie music event.  It does appear to be occurring during the World Choir games taking place in Cincinnati in 2012.  I don't know if that is intended or not.  With a large group of people already here, that is good, but there could be some logistical issues.

Bunbury would no matter what be a great way for Midpoint to market to music fans and get them to come to that event the following September.  Other music venues or events could also find opportunity getting their names known to fans and music acts by helping out (Southgate House, MOTR, Northside Tavern, Mayday, and Comet come to mind.)

I look forward to hearing more details on how the festival will work and who the team will be to get it done.

Smitherman Is Running, Supposedly

The Enquirer is reporting that local NAACP President Chris Smitherman is running for City Council. He said this before, so I will believe it when he is on the ballot.

We have a clear lack of independent candidates running, so adding more is a good thing, but Smitherman is an attention whore concerned only about himself. His one term on council was a worthless disaster and he managed to piss off so many people that he lost the next election. He wants attention and I expect the Enquirer will give him all he wants, as they do on a regular basis, while ignoring other news. Now they'll just ignore other candidates in favor of the three ring circus.

We don't need a political circus and that is all Smitherman does. He will makes some outlandish comments, make some implausible and divisive proposals and will not be criticized by the Enquirer.

Let's just hope this is yet another Smitherman ploy, that will fade away faster than the stench of rotten meat.

So Is Sheree Paolello Biased Or Just a Jerk?

WLWT news anchor Sheree Paolello made this open mic goof back on March 31st, mocking former Congressman Steve Driehaus:

So is she biased or just a jerk? I doubt she intentionally did this, but is it a sign of a political opinion that is lurking deep below the surface? On the other hand, she could be a jerk who likes to mock politicians. Either way, she's looks really petty and foolish, two things you don't want in a TV news anchor.

Via Kiesewetter.

Democratic Party Endorsements for Council Made Official

CityBeat's Kevin Osborne has the run down of Thursday's meeting of the Cincinnati Democratic Committee, where endorsements for Cincinnati City Council were made official. No surprises arose and the recommended slate was approved. The endorsements are:

Nicholas Hollan
Roxanne Qualls
Laure Quinlivan
Jason Riveiro
Chris Seelbach
Yvette Simpson
P.G. Sittenfeld
Cecil Thomas
Wendell Young

Happy Arnold's Bar and Grill Day!

Today in the City of Cincinnati it is officially Arnold's Bar and Grill Day! Head to Arnold's to celebrate 150 years of a history, drinks, and great food.

The Enquirer has a look back at Arnold's history through photos. Political events run deep at Arnold's.


If you are interested in more Cincinnati political history, check out Boss Cox's Cincinnati: Urban Politics in the Progressive Era (Urban Life and Urban Landscape Series)

Anniversary of Thomas Shooting and Riots Remembered

Today, April 7, 2011, marks the 10th anniversary of the shooting of Timothy Thomas by Stephen Roach, then a Cincinnati Police officer. Thomas was unarmed and fleeing from police when shot. This incident sparked the Riots which began on April 9th after a heated City Council Committee meeting.

Both the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Cincinnati Herald had multiple stories recently remembering what happened 10 years ago and looking forward to where we are now.

From the Enquirer:
Special Section Cincinnati Riots
Changes in policing
A different struggle

From the Herald:
City was in crisis during civil unrest of 2001
How far we’ve come since 2001
Looking back a decade—

I recall how vivid tension that filled the streets was back then. I remember walking Downtown during the day and I could sense the tension. It is a feeling that was likely all in my head since I was following the unfolding events very closely, but it was a feeling I can remember to this day. I don't know if it is because I live in Over-the-Rhine now or that we have changed, but that tension is gone. Many of those at the forefront of the protests have retreated from the public eye or just left town, so I don't know how much that has changed the feel of the city over the last 10 years.

I believe the City and its citizens have changed. That change has been positive. The police have a much improved attitude towards the public, particularly the black community. We have outlets for the citizens to voice their views. We still do have a significant separation between the communities, something we must still work on. Much of that separation is rooted in socio-economic differences, but much of it is culture. The cultures of our city still are very different and don't like to mix. We don't communicate outside of our own culture as often as we could or should. Since the animosity towards the city continues to fester in large sectors of the suburban and exurban areas, we can't afford to not have a wider community in the city working together. I hope we can improve the connections to that macro community for everyone.

Stop a DougScout From Crying: Donate to the Know Theatre Today

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Cincinnati Band Walk the Moon Featured on Carson Daily Show

Cincinnati Band Walk the Moon was at SXSW the year and got the notice of the Carson Daily Show, here's the segment:

Lead singer Nicholas Petricca appeared in a Cincinnati Fringe Festival show last year and made many connections. The music video highlighted in the Carson Daily show you can see Pones Inc., Cincinnati Fringe veterans, who helped out Walk the Moon in making the video.

Summer Will Bring Taste of Belgium to Gateway Quarter

Polly Campbell blogs some great news about a new Taste of Belgium cafe coming to the heart of the Gateway Quarter. A big congratulations goes out to owner Jean-Francois Flechet on this news. I look forward to having another dinning spot on Vine Street this Summer.

Anti-City Zealot Farts and the Enquirer Rushes in to Sniff

I think if anti-City extremist Chris Finney were to write a letter to Santa Claus containing nothing but the first 100 names in the Cincinnati Bell white pages, the Enquirer would write a story about it. If you promote EVERYTHING a political group does with a positive 'news' story then you have a bias. That bias is either for the group or a bias against the people or organizations that group is attacking.