Finally, Some Pro Business Legislation Out of Columbus

"A new state law that cuts start-up costs for micro-breweries and makes it easier for a growing number of craft distilleries and brewers to sell to the public will trigger growth and expansion in the emerging industry, promote tourism, create jobs and generate tax revenues, state and industry officials say."
"The law allows small breweries to serve samples and to sell their brews from tasting rooms without buying a $3,900 special permit, and it also allows more small-batch distilleries to open in Ohio and to offer samples of their craft spirits from their own tasting rooms. The legislation known as House Bill 243 sailed through both the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate with unanimous support and was signed into law by Gov. John Kasich in late December. It is scheduled to take effect March 22."

Still, as Eric Zamonski of Oakwood notes, it is not far enough. Ohio's unwieldy fees & regulations have Ohio ranked 32nd nationally for breweries per capita.

Noose Son story here

Made in Ohio

After some false starts, the NSX is slated to be resurrected right here in Ohio around 2015.
Noose Son story here.

Dan, Sheree the CMHA is not "Cincinnati's". It is Hamilton County's. If it was Cincinnati's, it would not have folks from Green Township on the board.
sorry, WLWT didn't have the video online.

Problems With the Popular Dead
While most of us are aware of the problems of heavy traffic at the Pere Lachaise cemetery with throngs of people visiting the graves of famous people like Jim Morrison, cemeteries like that or Cincinnati's Spring Grove Cemetery are pretty much set up for a good bit of traffic.
Smaller cemeteries, like Clark County, Ohio's Myers Cemetery in Pike Twp. aren't set up for heavy traffic. After the interment of Clark County Deputy Suzanne Hopper, their gravel roads haven't been able to hold up to the heavy traffic of mourners. They sought relief from the Clark County Sheriff's department and Sheriff Gene Kelly with the Clark County Engineer's office responded providing 4 truckloads of gravel that had been swept off public streets to resurface the roads in the cemetery incurring no capital costs to taxpayers.

Hey, Gingrich, SHUT UP !

	Iowa	New Hampshire
Romney	24.6%	39.3%
Paul	21.4%	22.9%
Santorum	24.5%	9.4%
Gingrich	13.3%	9.4%
Huntsman	0.6%	16.9%
Perry	10.3%	0.7%

Blogger formatting is weird.....

THE EDGE OF REALITY

Can you imagine Elvis teaming up with Roky Erickson?
Anyway, I think this song is the new anthem of this blog. This is pretty much the way we dress & light the place at Blogging Isn't Cool HQ, already, so….

Library Censorship
A reader found a library in Salem, Missouri blocked her access to sites concerning astrology, occultism & Wicca on their public computers. When she asked for permission to access the sites, the librarian told her she could allow specific sites (no blanket access to specific search terms) and that she would also be obligated to inform the police of the reader's actions.
I can get blocking some content to minors, like stuff about drinking blood & maybe sex magic, but astrology & ancient religions ?
heck, the library probably has dusty old books on these subjects sitting around that they don't even know about.
The real scary part about this is the notion that the librarian felt compelled to inform the police about somebody accessing sites about faith, spirituality & history.

The Hill blogpost here.

Bold Political Prediction #1
After extensive study, the Blogging Isn't Cool staff concludes that Jim Berns will defeat Sandra Queen Noble for the Libertarian nomination for Ohio's 1st Congressional district in March.
Stay tuned.

See and hear the candidates !
Noble

Berns

COA T Endorsed Councilman Proposes Redundant Government Spending
COA T's junior mule on Cincinnati City Council has proposed the city solicitor provide ethics training for council members. The solicitor already does this but what the heck…
Smitherman claims such training is common in the "professional" world. No matter that city council positions are considered part time (& pay 180% of Cincinnatians median wage). But, just as every initiative COA T proposes, his legislation is aimed at increasing spending & making government more expensive and a greater burden on the taxpayer.

Fishwrap article here

Blurry Camel-Back Cricket Moon

Top Chef Meets Carl's Jr.

yeah, I know it's old but it's the only one in the series with an actual foodie.
and chicks with scars are hot….

Fun in the 2nd Century
After inspecting the wall at Carlisle, as Severus returned to the nearest guest house not only as victor over die Caledonians but also having established a permanent peace treaty, he wondered what omen would present itself. Just then, a black soldier, who was a well-known buffoon and regarded himself as a bit of a joker, came up to him with a wreath of cypress. When Severus, thoroughly disturbed at being presented with a funeral garland and by someone of the colour associated with death, angrily ordered him to be removed from his sight, the man jocularly remarked, "You have been everything. You have conquered everything, now may the conqueror be a god." When Severus subsequently reached town, and wanted to perform a sacrifice, owing to a mistake on the part of a local soothsayer, he was first taken to the temple of the goddess of war, and then supplied with sacrificial animals that were black. He abandoned the sacrifice in disgust and retired to the local imperial residence, only to find himself, through the negligence of the temple attendants, pursued right to the door by the herd of black cows.

Historia Augusta Severus XXII. 4-7

Kid Monzel
Profile in Bankruptcy

When Chris Monzel ran for a county commission seat, he claimed the county budget could be met by finding efficiencies in the county's spending.
Since then he has suggested one time fixes of selling assets at fire sale prices which has state & county auditors raising their eyebrows. He has added new bureaucracy instead of streamlining bureaucracy. He has stomped his feet and resisted offers from the city of Cincinnati to cut costs at MSD. He has threatened lawsuits & raised MSD rates.
The guy has nothing. He offers no vision, no leadership and no ideas.

What's Inside a Blog ?
Stateside Associates named The Cincinnati Enquirer's "Politics Extra Blog" the best local political blog for Cincinnati. But is it really a blog? Or is it more like the old newspaper "Extra" as it's name implies?
Wikipedia points out:

Although not a must, most good quality blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via GUI widgets on the blogs and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites.

So, technically, it's a blog, I guess, but the lack of dialogue with the authors seriously detracts from it being any kind of "best" blog bigtime. In my book, the dialogue is the most important part. The Enquirer's political blog is one of it's worst blogs along those lines. When the author just tosses out posts in an attempt to stir up the locals, it is just tantamount to Erisean trolling - not good blogging at all. Campbell & Kiesewetter respond to posters, dunno about the sports or arts guys.
Furthermore, the free exchange of thought is hampered as cincinnati.com limits participation to people who are signed up with a 3rd party service that many people don't use for political discourse.
The Cincinnati Enquirer has been able to publish "extras" forever but has opted not to. As it contracts out printing to Columbus printers, that ability will be completely gone. I certainly use the cincinnati.com Politics Extra "blog" feature for information that I post & comment on here but I routinely interact with commenters here. It's a "best practices" kinda thing. For a great example of "blog" interaction along political lines, The Cincinnati Asylum, The Daily Bellwether or, to a lesser degree, Cincinnati Blog are great examples. The Cincinnati Enquirer is still the best news source in town but their political blogging sucks big hairy wet ones.

Channel 9 Meltdown

In John Kiesewetter's blogpost, Did you see the Ch 9 News meltdown?, he mentions WCPO's Ignite system. Since the guys at cincinnati.com are hyperlink challenged, here's what he was talking about, Grass Valley Ignite.
These systems are pretty intense, you can get your mitts on some low end stuff, sans robotics, at Media Bridges if you want a taste.

Modern Mall Mayhem

As the spectre of bestial savagery & violence permeates the malls like the piped in music, law enforcement & mall security are rising to the occasion to keep the places safe for consumers.
The Interstate 675 Organized Retail Crime Group (I675ORCG) is compiling data and talking with mall security around the nation to find ways of battling the growing problem.
Are the retailers themselves to blame?

"I don’t quite understand why retailers do it this way because it does create a very dangerous environment when you get so many people lined up to purchase a pair of shoes," Miami Twp. Police Maj. John DiPietro said.

Or is it the manufacturers?
DiPietro has created Power Point presentations for the I675ORCG.
Havoc hankering juveniles use high tech communication devices and state of the art satellite technology to pinpoint exact times and locations for their surreptitious attacks. Highly trained mall security specialists have had some success banning the teen terrorists outright.
But how safe are the parking lots ?

Noose Son story here

Multilingual Signage

Some folks on Cincinnati city council want to put multilingual signage in the downtown area. A big question is - what other languages should we post? Spanish is becoming more popular around here. The current mayor has been courting China relentlessly. The city has a strong German heritage. On top of that, Cincinnati has sister cities in Zimbabwe, Japan, Ukraine, France & Taiwan. To accommodate all those languages, we're gonna need some big-ass signs.
A better idea would be to license Alien Technology® like what John Carpenter used in the hit movie, They Live so we can just put up one sign & then distribute Alien Technology® sunglasses to the foreign devils.
With any luck they can do color nowadays.

COA T's witch hunt of Cincinnati councilwoman Laure Quinlivan has netted them a cool $10,000. That is, they have drained the city's coffers of $10,000. The altruism of these guys cannot be exaggerated. What's ironic about COA T's hatred of Quinlivan is that councilwoman Quinlivan has done more to encourage entrepreneurship & create jobs than COA T's mule, councilman Charlie Winburn, who even has his own custom made "jobs committee".
What will this award mean to city services? If another tragedy occurs due to a fire station brownout, it will most assuredly be on Mark Miller's bloody hands.

Timelines

As the dreaded PhaseBuch rolls out it's new Timeline feature that pretty much nobody likes, Google has decided to kill it's very nice Timeline feature. Beloved by students, teachers, sports fans & history geeks, it apparently had no value for the Google overlords.
The world has gone mad.

2011 Reading List
What I read last year
or - why this blog sucks....

• Over the Rhine When beer Was King
• Secret Agent 666
• Romania An Illustrated history
• Pirates of the Barbary
• Vamp - The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara
• The Rise and Fall of Downtown
• Ridgewood in the Country Club District
• Proposals for Downtown Cincinnati
• The Constitutional Origins of the American Revolution
• Johnny Comet
• Hypatia of Alexandria
• Reckless Endangerment
• Edmund Burke: A Genius Reconsidered
• The Teaching of the 12
• The Civil War in Kentucky
• The Last Frontier - The Roman Invasion of Scotland

Top 7 Days of the Week
1. - Friday
A kind of cathartic release day. It's really no different from any of the other weekdays but, it kinda is.
2. - Saturday
A whole day to yourself, except, of course, you've put a ton of things off all wek to do on the weekend so it's probably going to be filled with more work than what you did all week.
3. - Sunday
A whole day to do all the crap you didn't do Saturday.
4. - Wednesday
Hump day & I still think it's spelled funny.
5. - Monday
A fresh start to the work week.
6. - Tuesday
Has a fresh youngish, invigorated feel week after week after week….
7. - Thursday
It's almost Friday.

~This one is for the stockholders~

Nimbys & Numbers
CMHA wanted to spend $640,000 to renovate a uilding on Cincinnati's west side. The building has 12 units. They moved the current residents out & now the usual loudmouths are promoting the demolition of the building saying too much subsidized housing is concentrated in their community.
Nevermind this:

it [Westwood] now has about 1,100 subsidized housing units, or about 6 percent of all it's housing units. That’s less than subsidized housing’s 11.5 percent share city-wide

My question is, why does it cost so much & why move the residents around like cattle? That cost comes out to $53,000 per unit. Habitat for Humanity could build a whole house for that much. People routinely renovate their homes without moving out of them.

The Fishwrap's not very in depth article here

The Bacon's take here

The Metrics of '11

Looking over the blog stats…..
Repeat visitors (masochists) are up 60% from 10, 300% since 09.
Total visitors (bored office workers & students) are up 23% from 10 & 320% from 09.
In a blog primarily about Cincinnati & SW Ohio, the main cities to hit here are:

• Cincinnati
• Richmond
• Houston
• Mumbai
• São Paulo
• Jakarta

Dayton comes in at #40 behind Waipahu & right ahead of Wroclaw.
Top search terms:

• Krampus
• Grace Slick
• 7 of 9
• bridge design
• Ashley Bulgari

Most of the hits from the middle east are looking for porn.
An image search for "women castrating" somehow leads to a post about a mannequin named Barbe Que that stands in front of a barbecue joint. freaks….
Still one of the top pages: Top 10 Robo-Cyborg Chicks. Guess I should do more lists. I could be the next Forbes!
The vast majority of people get here by clicking "next blog".
IOS, at 0.8%, is right behind Linux, at 1% of hits.
Top browser is now Chrome, followed by Firefox, IE then Safari. Opera coming in with 1.6%.
Didn't sell any Ault Park crap although my Cincinnati Iconography page is the top exit link from here.
Basically, the more crap you throw, the more crap sticks. Still, I think I'll raise advertising rates. Nobody should mind.

Keeping Up With the Quimbys

Guitar by Howard Roberts
Shirley Quimby was a model featured in (poorly printed) men's magazines and the occasional album cover in the late 50s & early 60s - the pre-Twiggy days.

The Auburnaires - 12/30 MOTR

Iconic Cincinnati band, the Auburnaires will reassemble Friday, Dec. 30 at MOTR, 1345 Main St in triangular OTR with Los Honchos.

In Heaven, Underground

I really want to see this movie. I really want to visit this cemetery. Weißensee Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery, was established in Berlin in 1880. After the Nazi pogrom of Jews came the commie occupation of Berlin. While interments continued the Jewish population dwindled & the commies did not care for the place. After 1990 efforts were made to clean the place up. After 50-60 years of neglect it had become a veritable forest.

Weißensee Cemetery

Save the Chapel

Looking for a charity to unload some filthy lucre onto before year's end? Look no further, the mother of all causes is soliciting donations now.
Save the Evans City, PA Chapel is the work of Night of the Living Dead fans & production staff member Gary R. Streiner to save the little chapel you can see in the opening segment of the seminal zombie epic.
Wouldn't this be a cool place to get married or hold a Brit milah?

Post Gazette story here

Evans City

Images of the cemetery then & now

Rating Cincinnati
Lonely Planet ranked Cincinnati #3 in their Top 10 Amerucan Vacation Destinations.
Mercer recently ranked Baghdad 221 out of 221 in their Quality of Living Report, safety being a huge factor. Recently a string of bombings in schools & shopping areas in Baghdad killed about 75 people & injured over 100.
Which reminds me of failed mayoral candidate Brad Wenstrup, who was actually stationed in Iraq, saying that he felt safer in Iraq than in Cincinnati.
Are people simply interested in visiting Cincinnati for the challenge?

Hell Town
Local noose media guys screwing up Cincinnati neighborhoods is pretty common, so I wasn't too surprised when an article about renovated homes titled From Helltown to City Home wasn't about Hell Town at all but Over the Rhine.
Granted, they are doing some nice stuff in OTR, but as we all know, Hell Town aka Ludlow Station aka Cumminsville is Northside. Read the history here if you don't believe me.
Of course there's some nice stuff going on in Northside homes, too, which is why they have a tour of homes every other year with the next one scheduled for October 2012. Maybe the Fishwrap can run the article they shelved in 2010 (not that the author works there anymore).

Adding to the Community Conversation
From the Cincinnati Enquirer's Letters to the Editor preface:

The Enquirer receives dozens of letters to the editor each week and because of space limitations, only a fraction of them can appear in print. Here online, we are able to post all of the letters we receive that add to the community conversation.

I sent a letter in online to counter a fairly paranoid letter from a guy out in exotic Butler County concerning government corruption and the Cincinnati Streetcar.
Ed claimed a Federal grant from a government with no money should send up some red flags & that investigative media types should be looking into just who owns the properties along the streetcar route. He asks:

"Could there be holding companies that have purchased a lot of property, who are the owners of the holding companies and just by chance what political groups received election funds along the way?

Not sure how paranoid conspiracy mongering "adds to the community conversation" but my answer apparently didn't. Since Zuckerberg doesn't think I'm a human being, I could not reply directly.
Anyway, you, dear intrepid reader, must remember my post from awhile ago discussing ownership along the route.

Directly on the route there are about 500 properties owned by about 400 entities. Expanding out a block and adding cross streets you can probably add close to 1,000 more properties. Expand further & get even more.

This was the point I made in my letter and added that rehabbing these properties would mean jobs for the lagging housing industry. But, apparently my letter did not "adds to the community conversation".
Vaguely interestingly, a week later the Enquiring folks run an article on The Streetcar's Number 1 Supporter, John Schneider - who owns property along the route. Are they trying to fan the flames of conspiracy & self serving greed?
heaven forbid.

A Christmas Story

Illustrators. They're everywhere. You can't throw a stick without hitting one. It's like a zombie invasion.
The Springfield Center for the Arts at Wittenberg University (SCFTAAWU) is showcasing works of Vernon Grant who, besides inventing the snap, crackle, pop guys, did 26 Collier's covers.
Meanwhile, The Dayton Art Institute is showing works of Norm Rockwell who did a gazillion covers for Saturday Evening Post.

More from the Noose Son here.

Deep Yule Toughts

People have celebrated the winter solstice with fire & light for thousands of years. Over that time, light, other than daylight has been at or below eye level and has been a warm yellowy orange. In less than the past 100 years, however, light has shifted to the ceiling & taken on a cold, yellowy blue/green hue. Has this change in direction, intensity & temperature changed our perception of one another? Has it changed our overall moods?

Pupi Campo
Pupi Campo of Cuba, died in Las Vegas last week. He was a bandleader who appeared on TV & in films and performed in Vegas for years. He is credited with being one of the first Latinos to appear on U.S. TV.
So what's this got to do with SW Ohio?
Campo had been married to Betty Clooney, sister of Rosemary Clooney with whom she started her singing career & subsequently the aunt of George Clooney who you may remember from the Rosanne show.

Disappearing Food

Nothing calamitous, just annoying to depressing. One of my Christmastime indulgnces is Nabisco Whatsworth crackers & a tube (midget longhorn ?) of Colby cheese. It's been getting harder to find the crackers & this year… well, it ain't gonna happen. WalMart can't locate them within 100 miles. Amazon has me on a alert list. Kroger, Meijer, Remke - no go.
I recently had to resort to Amazon for Knorr/Lipton instant Red Beans & Rice. hey, I'm a single guy…..
Campbell's soups has discontinued chili beef, pepper pot & now it looks like bean with bacon is on the way out. I read somewhere Campbell's was focussing on novelty kids' soups & discontinuing the soups with "high end ingredients". Tripe & beans?
Hellshire Farms has a hot smoked sausage that goes great in Cajun type dishes. The 4th of July is Jambalaya Day in Quimbob house. Problem is, almost nobody carries that variety of Hillshire's line. I have to go across town, stock up & freeze the stuff so I can have it for summer. Years ago, you could buy the crap all over town.
Then there's the disappearance of canned corned beef.
Don't even get me started on Arriba salsa & Stouffer's Welsh rarebit....
sigh, I fear Porkopolis is becoming a convenience food desert.

FWIW, you can buy Pepper Pot t-shirts on ebay.

Cincinnati Park Board Goes Insane

not in Cincinnati...
It is now illegal to sunbathe in Cincinnati parks.
You can't make this stuff up.

Fishwrap story here

UPDATE:The park has explained to Fishwrap editors that the latest rule only applies to lying on benches as such action hogs the whole bench. Will sitting in the middle of a bench and sprawling across it be a violation? Will fat people be required to sit at one end and only have 1 butt cheek on the bench?
The park bored ensures us this rule, made in friggin' December, has nothing to do with the Occupiers.

We Make Movies So We Are Better

Captain America
Hollywood knows better than those douche bag comic book geeks. Heck, just look at how they dress & the cars they drive. Compare Cannes to ComiCon. Where would you rather be seen?
Captain America is just another crappy movie purloining the name & look of a tried and true but not good enough for Hollywood comic book. Of course there was plenty of room for endless Hollywood cliches…..
Tony Stark's dad was an ok addition, but after that - phooey.

Whoever said Northside aka, "Land Between the Cemeteries", wasn't creepy?

Support Your Local Animal Welfare Organization

The HSUS has NO affiliation with your local humane society. To support local, donate local. In Cincinnati, see the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) but don't get it confused with the SCPA (School for Creative and Performing Arts).
ugh, it's so complicated…..

A Study in Contrasts

The West Chester Police Department is continuing to investigate the punk rock concert that resulted in a brawl at a local dance studio Dec. 1.
Police anticipate charges being filed from the fight that resulted in several minor injuries.

story

No charges in Crosstown Shootout brawl
Deters says teams will deal with situation better than criminal justice system.

story
gotta love it

Springfield Arcade History

Springfield Arcade Hotel Lobby
UrbanUp, a sister site to Abandoned, offers up a history of the Springfield Arcade complete with a bunch of shots of the hotel interior from, I am guessing, about the time the place was demolished in 1988. The article mainly focusses on it's last decade as various attempts were made to both rescue it & destroy it and the egos & visions of various powers came into play. Ultimately, like much of Springfield's downtown before it, it fell to the wrecking ball.
Read the article here
More pictures can be found at the Springfield History site

Documenting the Southgate House

A short documentary of the Southgate House, Newport, KY. produced by Sara Mahle.
HT, City Beat

How Important are Tax Rates ?
Interesting look at tax rates over the last century & whether they impact economic growth.
I swear it's got more to do with lifestyle products than taxes. We need a new product.

The city of Cincinnati ants to know what you think of their efforts to make a more bike friendly city.
Take the survey

Before there was the Northside Map of Awesomeness, there was the interactive Northside Business Locator Map
Just sayin'…..

State Auditor Yost, "uh, not so fast, Chrissy, Todd....."
State Auditor cautions county on Drake Sale

Another Saturday Night ?
Not in alluring Northside !
Starting Friday night in swank Clifton, Holidays in Clifton will be celebrated from 6-9PM with carriage rides, Santa & stuff around the Ludlow Avenue business district.
But I was talking about Saturday in Northside……
Did I mention the Northside Map of Awesomeness ?
Create crafts for kids & families all day long at Happen Inc. They will be working on fixing grub for Santa (my dad always told me Santa preferred beer & chips over cookies & milk).
Starting at 10AM at North Presbo, the Cincinnati Holiday Art Show features locally made arts & crafts til 4PM
Northside Second Saturday runs from 6-10PM with specials from any number of Northside businesses:
Fabricate hosts the opening reception of Natural Logic
There will be new works by Emily Moorhead 6-10PM
NVISION slashes prices 20% on handmade items
Take the Cake will serve dinner til 9PM
The Painted Fish is open late - 3:30 AM
The Vocal Arts Ensemble at St. Boniface present Christmas carols 7:30PM
Revenge Pinata, ShadowRaptr, Majestic Man, Mr. Brown’s Mysterious Sounds will play at Northside Tavern
2 Headed Dog, The Pariahs perform at The Comet
Boozing My Religion at Mayday
There will be music on the 2nd floor of the Hoffner Lodge from 6:30 PM featuring April 8, Laura Linville , Lisak and Rowe & The Hypnotic Jerks
Then, on Sunday, back up to Clifton with Second Sunday Family Showtime at CCAC with a performance of The Gift of the Magi
yup it's all happening on Metro Route 17!

How Ignorant are the Occupiers ?

While I agree with some of the OWS complaints about crony capitalism & such, I don't like their strategies much & this latest move is so totally fucked up I can't think straight.
Using the image of Guy Fawkes is deranged. Guy Fawkes is not venerated every November 5, he is vilified. The man spent most of his life killing fellow Christians and fighting against religious freedom & tolerance. He represented a church that many saw as autocratic, monolithic, greedy & corrupt and not respecting the needs of the people. Fawkes' solution? Oppress the blasphemers - kill, them, imprison them, torture them.
His final act was a Timothy McVeigh-like terrorist bombing that could have killed hundreds including innocents & his own fellow Catholics. Fawkes, unlike McVeigh, however, was a fuck up & his attempt at mass murder failed.
Is this really who they want to be the face of their movement?
Apparently people have bypassed legitimate makers of the masks so as to screw the rat bastards at Warner Brothers but doesn't this also screw the creatives that might be getting merchandise royalties, like Alan Moore? And should they really be buying from Chinese bootleggers who ignore intellectual property rights? To say nothing of the way laborers in China are treated - the ones who strike & cite Karl Marx as their social guide…
The image at the top of this article is particularly offensive. It was run on a City Beat article. Painting the image of this villain with the stars & stripes of the American flag is disgusting. The US stands for freedom of religion and, while it has been a rocky road, Fawkes was determinedly opposed to such concepts. Were he alive today, he would probably be terrorizing the US.
Occupiers, you really need to rethink this one. Murderous religious terrorists in America do not represent anywhere near 99%

Going to the Chapel
Cincinnati City manager Milton Dohoney has suggested a $4.4 million upgrade to city Hall to create a place to be rented out to the public for receptions, weddings & the like in an effort to raise revenue.
Seems like an odd business for the government to be in. Seems pretty competitive, too.
Music Hall has, besides the main auditorium rooms for 30 to 1,300 people. The Museum Center (owned by the county) is a pretty cool place for such events. Well, I'm a history geek. Parks & their lodges can already be used - dunno how the money is split between the city & parks departments, tho. The city could probably invest less into Wesleyan cemetery & maybe put a chapelish kind of facility in there for under $4.4 million.
Seems like letting all those people into city hall would freak out the Homeland Security types, too. How about remodeling a section of the convention center to make it kind of "special"?
Or even better - how about sprucing up a part of the subway? Transit center? The old SCPA?

Fishwrap story here

This guy is having too much fun.
If you were wondering what to get your favorite blogger for Christmas or the solstice gift giving holiday of your choice, look no further.

Scenic Clifton Mill for the Holidays

Clifton Mill in Clifton, OH (just east of Yellow Springs) is one of the oldest operating mills in Ohio and has for some decades now celebrated the holidays with their Annual light Display. Unfortunately, on 12/6 the flooding Little Miami River, that drives the mills wheel, rushed over it's banks & creamed some of this year's display. Operators canceled events for Tuesday night & hope to be back up & running ASAP. The owners are on the prowl for every strand of lights they can get their mitts on. Dunno if you should stand guard in your front yard or not…



Besides the 3,500,000 lights decorating the mill & old covered bridge, the mill also offers a Santa Claus museum & workshop, a miniature village & hot dogs, soup, cornbread, hot chocolate, cookies, pie & popcorn.

Noose Son story here

Hubert Sumlin - Blue Shadows

The Trollope Bazaar
The Fishwrap's "Our History" section, about the only thing worth reading over there has an article aboutThe Trollope Bazaar built by Frances Trollope in 1829, it was later demolished in 1881.
They don't mention it's use as the OMI building which CityKin brought up in this article which included
this pic, that I cannot display.
I cobbled together this model awhile ago but the proportions are off or my people are too big or or or
.
No idea about color either. I am guessing the OCAS guys know what they were doing. I need to hunt down that model. not that I know where mine is anymore..
:-)

Over 1,400 - Gone

When the Fishwrap announced it would require a FaceBook account to make comments on their site, they received over 1,400 comments, almost unanimously condemning the action.
They are now gone.
Complaints covered fear of reprisal, not wanting a FaceBook account & not wanting to use FaceBook for that purpose.
The Fishwrap said it wanted o do away with the ugliness.
ummmm…..
Is our health falling apart?
Dinkels deny assault claim
Driver killed in rollover crash on I-471
Woman used car as weapon
Homeowner held burglar at gunpoint
Murderer pleads for mercy
Mini crime spree in Colerain
Water, sewer rates shooting up
Priest at council event faced sex allegation
Moody's warns county on bonds
yeah, happiness & sunshine from the people who don't want
"ugliness". Perhaps ugliness begets ugliness?

Oakley Square Finished - Finally
After almost 2 years, a streetscape facelift in sultry Oakley is finally complete. Last year, this time, business owners asked the city to suspend work so they could actually do some business during the holiday season. This completion came just in time.
But why does it take so daggone long? It took about 4 years to widen a little over a mile of Hamilton Avenue in lofty College Hill. Fortunately there were no small businesses in that area because they generally don't have the finances to go without revenue for very long. Replacing the Ludlow Viaduct in 1991 shuttered a few stores in bucolic Northside. We will need to get the city's butt in gear if we expect to build a streetcar line and not shutter every existing business along the route.

WKRC story here

Gruss von Krampus !

Yes, it's that time again
KRAMPUSNACHT




yup, on St Nicholas eve, we make way for the fat man's demon, Krampus to scare the crap out of little kiddies all around the world. He seduces young women, tosses kids into streams & ruins the young men.

My kind of guy
While some people will dwell on Christopher Columbus landing in Haiti (that worked out well), true patriots will be out tormenting the wee mags, extracting revenge for the tantrums, barfing, pooping & sacrificed debauchery.


sigh, gotta love this guy

Weird Worship

Nationally & locally there's been some shake ups in the rituals of the Catholic Church. English translations led to the humorous Fishwrap headline about Mass Confusion and a local priest hammering down on the blasphemy of holding hands while praying seem kinda odd to a guy raised Presbo. But I do remember attending services at Catholic churches and the local Temple and, especially because they weren't all conducted in English, I was frantically playing catch up as people stood, sat, kneeled at seemingly inexplicable times.
Serendipitously, I received a DVD from Shlockbluster, The Rites of Magick.
While I thought I was going to sit down to watch The Rite with Anthony Hopkins, I was actually sitting down to watch The Rites of Magick with Poke Runyon. Not a special effects laden horror melodrama but a documentary / sales pitch from the Order of the Temple of Astarte located in sunny Pasaadena, CA. While initially impressed that Hollywood was quoting Hermes Trismegistus I quicly realized I had the wrong movie.
The movie shows some of the rites & rituals of a neo-Pagan group that follows Phoenician religion & the magickal traditions of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn as well as some Indian stuff previously pioneered by "Uncle" Al Crowley.
It shows a Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, an Enochian Watchtower Opening, a Solstice ceremony & a service that bypasses those pesky language translation issues by having no words. I was aware of all this kinda stuff but had never seen the rituals performed, especially with large groups of people. While these small groups don't have the hierarchy & orthodoxy of large religious groups so how "authentic" their rituals are is surely up to debate. Still, it gives one an idea of what those people do & dispels a lot of hysterical misunderstandings. Dunno about the glittery masks, tho…..
The solstice ceremony particularly interested me as it was a re-enactment in the round of seasonal changes with the seasons portrayed by people & the narrative in English. I hate the rhymy verse stuff but I guess it makes the words easier to remember, whatever. The thing is we have seen, at least through National Geographic, the same type of ritual performed by American Indians & primitive African groups where we cannot understand the language, the dress is totally foreign & the mythology is a complete mystery. In this case, it's a bunch of white anglo-saxon Americans speaking English and it's all pretty clear - the symbolism & mythology all being European in origin. I don't know why we quit this practice in our western civilized world. Maybe Pat knows.
Anyhoo, for a different perspective, here is a humorous review of the movie by a guy who also thought he was going to sit down to a horror movie.

Ohio GOP Eats it's own

Following on the heels of ousting committee members to pass legislation later overturned by the voters, the "true" Republican elite attempts to purge their ranks some more, this time targeting the head of the Ohio party.
How far off can total extinction be?

Fishwrap -er- USA Today story here

In the KYPost article Final suspect arrested in connection with Springfield Twp. homicide, it states:

Police deployed stop sticks at the intersection of Hamilton and Crawford, hoping to end the pursuit.

But, Crawford doesn't intersect with Hamilton…..
Map

MAPS !

About 40 years in the making, Kentucky unveils the most detailed state mapping in the US.
Take that Northwest ordinance.

UK story here

Berns to Challenge Chabot

Jim Berns, a Libertarian from College Hill, Cincinnati has filed petitions to run for the first congressional seat currently held by the anti American, pro corporatist, anti freedom of speech, anti innovation, pro war, anti-choice, COA T endorsed Republican career politician zombie, Steve "combover" Chabot.
As public dissatisfaction with the corporate beholden Democratic and Republican parties grows, it will be interesting to see if voters actually look at 3rd party candidates or just continue to vote for the same old pieces of shit over and over expecting better results.

WXIX story here

Thanks Chris. Thanks Todd. Now I can get that case of beer I've had my eye on.

Worst Drivers in the Tristate ?
Living in a border community, especially a 3-way border community, rivalries arise. A common one is, who is the worst goram state for driving? The debates are endless but Car Insurance Comparison has given us the answer.
Kentucky
By a landslide. At #7, they are in the top 10 worst states in the country. Contrasted against Ohio, which at #41 is the top 10 best states for drivers. Indiana is somewhere in the middle because, as we all know, Indiana is average average average…..
Of course, if you look at their numbers, the rankers don't even follow their own numbers, so Ohio & Indiana might be in an eternal quibble, but manoman, Kentucky, where people stop at the end of entrance ramps because it's always easier to merge into 60MPH traffic from a dead stop? No question. Stick to horses, guys.

Whither the Southgate House ?

The closing of the Southgate House is kinda sad, the fact the people behind it intend to continue on in a new location is good news, not specifying a new location doesn't fill my heart with confidence.
While it's great to have the big union entertainment like the Reds, Bengals, Ballet, Symphony & Opera and the BOC passing through the Aronoff & GestapoBend are great, it's the smaller places that offer innovative & creative types a venue that really mark a community as a cultural leader.
Last year marked the 25th anniversary of the avant-garde arts organization Art Damage. They celebrated with an eviction notice. A number of small theater groups like ETC & Know seem to be going strong but the music scene of 1980s Cincinnati are sorely missed. Not the actual local acts so much as the venues & promoters that graced Bogart's & The Jockey Club. Bogart's has turned into….. - nothing good. The demise of The Jockey seemed to have helped spawn The Southgate House.
Sill, The Southgate House ballroom just wasn't really big enough to host a lot of acts. Hope those guys can find a good new location that's a bit bigger so they can thrive & keep the Cincinnati region on the radar of upcoming bands well into the future.
UPDATE: the Fishwrap unravels a sordid tale of family intrigue
HT to Cincinnati Blog & Each Note Secure

OTR - Highest Income Inequality Tract in America
I have read the McClatchy article, Highest income-inequality tract in America is gentrifying twice & I don't get it. It's a little weirder than Stadium tax rebate favors wealthy, which is, duh, just a fact.
FWIW, the wealth distribution should be a little smoother in OTR in time. Middle class people will follow the wealthy but pretty much nobody follows the poor. In fact, the poor have been leaving OTR for years. While the article points out the neighborhood is predominantly poor they don't do much to point out it is predominantly vacant. Anyway, I guess the Liberals© have to wail about something.

Cyber Monday
Black Friday
Buy My Stuff !


Cincinnati Iconography.

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Wondering what the new year has in store for you?

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SOPA is Bad

Anonymous Commenting

The Porkopolis Fishwrap has announced it will "end anonymous commenting" by forcing would be commenters to register with FaceBook.
Anybody who follows the comments knows who the regulars are & what to expect from them. I imagine it can be pretty shocking for someone who isn't used to the wholesale sociopathy that is SW Ohio to read the comments on an article about their kids or local school or charity. That's ok. They probably wouldn't have returned to the mosh pit anyway.
UPDATE: yeesh around 1,400 comments - 98% negative.
Anyhoo, if you don't want to participate in an online dialogue on local current issues the FishBook way there's lots of other choices.
For example:

• Building Cincinnati
• Cincinnati Beacon
• Cincinnati Blog
• The Cincinnati Monocle
• Cincinnati Black Blog
• Cincy Streetcar
• City Kin
• City Beat
• C.O.A. .T.
• The Daily Bellwether
• Fuck Yeah, Cincinnati
• Look Everybody - A Blog!
• Losantville
• The Over the Rhine Blog
• 5chw4r7z
• Urban Cincy
• Visualingual
• And for a more comprehensive list:
   Cincy Bloggers

Springfield Navistar Plant Adds Production
Springfield's Navistar plant will absorb production from the recently closed Union City, Indiana plant. No new jibs but the recently recalled employees can be a little more confident in their jobs. Employment at the plant has gone from a low of 300 people to now looking at 1,000.

Noose Son story here.

Derek & the Dominoes Music Hall 11/26/70

Earlier in '70 there was the Midsummer Rock thing at the baseball stadium with Iggy Pop, Traffic, Alice Cooper, Mountain, Grand Funk, 10 Years After.....
WTF happened?

Black Friday is for Wusses
On Friday, 11/25, people will be up at the crack of dawn, armed with big bank credit cards, camping out at mall, shopping center & big box chain stores in a sort of bizzaro world anti-OWS movement.
And What are you going to get? Sure, maybe it's cheaper but it's still just the same old uninspired Chinese gizmos & gadgets…..
Don't worry, Blogging isn't Cool has a solution (as usual)SHOP NORTHSIDE
Sleep in. Go out & have a leisurely breakfast in a bright warm dining room full of friendly folks at Take the Cake, Park Chili, The Blue Jay, Sidewinder, White Castle….
Beats the hell out of Slim Jims & cold coffee in the stark pale glow of a neon sign while sitting on cold damp pavement as the bitter November winds howl through your bones.
Then let the shopping commence. Wouldn't dad love a 75lb fryer from Restaurant Equipment Outlet? And installation is a snap with the help from the crack crew Bill's assembled at Ace Hardware. Show mom how much you love her with a ♥ MOM ♥ tattoo from Skincraft. Your sister who lost her job & is getting evicted January 1? Check out the survival gear at Northside Surplus. Your 17 yr old niece who just got her 6th drivers license suspension? How about a Metro Card from Ohio Check Cashers or a refurbed bike from MoBo Bicycke Co-Op? Your creepy alcoholic chain smoking uncle? How about a nice shiny headstone from Schott Monument? Got an animal lover in the family? Maybe they'd be interested in something from Whitman Taxidermy. Or how about a new website for grandma & grandpa from Ella Net?
Don't let your sugar levels drop while you shop! Refresh yourself at Melt, Ko-Sho Japanese Restaurant, The Painted Fish or Picnic and Pantry, to name a few.
And when the shopping orgy is over, kick back at the Northside Tavern, Junkers Tavern, The C&D, scarf down a burrito at The Comet or grab a pie at The Don's Pizza Lounge.
Seriously, camping out on private property can be unpleasant.These guys will not pepper spray you if you shop at their stores.

• Ace Hardware
• Artisan Custom Tailoring
• Autobahn Craftwerks
• The Blue Jay Restaurant
• Bonomini Bakery
• Building Value
• The C&D
• Cappozolo Typesetting
• The Chameleon Club
• Chicken Lays ann Egg
• City Iron
• Cluxton Alley Coffee Roasters
• The Comet
• Darou Salam
• The Don's Pizza Lounge
• Ella Net
• Fabricate
• Family Dollar
• Ginger's Bar
• HazelGlas
• Honey
• Junkers Tavern
• Ko-Sho Japanese Restaurant
• Mayday
• Melt
• Midwest Furniture
• MoBo Bicycke Co-Op
• NYPD Pizza
• Northside Bar
• North Side Bank and Trust
• Northside Tavern
• Northside Surplus
• NVISION
• OMS Photography
• Ohio Check Cashers
• The Painted Fish
• Park Chili
• Picnic and Pantry
• Prairie
• RPK Design
• Restaurant Equipment Outlet
• Schaeper's Pharmacy
• Schott Monument
• Sidewinder Coffee & Teas
• Shake It Records
• Skincraft
• Stephanie's Hair Options
• Stonecraft
• Take the Cake
• Taylor Jameson Hair Salon
• Thunder Sky Inc.
• Tri State Appliance
• UDF
• White Castle
• Whitman Taxidermy
• Wireless Technologies

Ralph Nader Meets Pat Buchanan

2 political minds that might strike a person as nemeses, actually have a lot in common in this exchange on C-Span's Book TV as they discuss Buchanan's latest book which I previously covered. Nader is infinitely more intelligent (and mature) than James Edwards of The Political Cesspool.
I'm gonna have to read this book I guess.

Kennedy Assassination on WLW

And, to get an idea of what was going on that day @ 5AM

Listening to these broadcasts is really strange. I remember a bunch of this stuff going on but I never put it all into one time period. I also distinctly recall JFK being shot in the late morning on a sunny day. wrongo…..
As my old boss, Hank, once said, "Memory is a dangerous thing".

CGI on WCPO ?

Or is this just old video? Where the hell did all those people come from?

The Munsters
again…..

Great, NBC wants to do a remake of The Munsters using the writer for the fairly lame show, Pushing Daisies.
Why?
The Munsters idea wasn't s good as the cast with 3 pros, Yvonne DeCarlo, Fred Gwynne & Al Lewis. Gwynne & Lewis had been in Car 54 prior to the Munsters.

What possible team can the TV network assemble to pull a 1 hour show off? And who in the hell is going to replace this chick?

Ohio - Smoking Capitol of the North
A recent survey concluded that about 26% of Ohioans smoke, putting it in line with Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri and other southern states. No northern state comes close. And, yet, we have public smoking bans in effect almost everywhere. Should we really be persecuting such a large minority of the state's population? Is it the conservative thing to do? Where is our smaller, less intrusive, business friendly state government on fixing this?

Noose Son story here

Zombie Lake

A low budget movie from 1980 about a French town full of slow moving, bloodless, nudists who can't shoot worth a damn and wind up getting terrorized by a squad of Nazi amphibi-zombies.
Really it oughtta be called something like Swamp Nazis or Lake of the Living Dead or something as this semi-organized squad of undead Nazi soldiers can move, have some reason & don't eat people. They are more like really sloppy, green vampires.
Who live in a lake.
The whole walking around at the bottom of the lake in uniform thing is kinda cool. Probably the best part. Well, that and the gratuitous nudity…..
One quibble - back in WWII, when the French resistance fighters slaughter the soldiers & throw their carcasses into the lake, one Frenchie steals a dead soldier's boots. Subsequently, as they shamble-march (no shamble-goose-stepping) through the streets of the town, nobody is barefoot.

Happy Friday !

Graham Bond Holy Magick
Bond, a Brit, got into mysticism around 1970 and, having deep roots in American music, made a couple albums that married R&B, gospel, Soul, Psychedelia & Golden Dawn mysticism emphasizing Kaballah into a weird & wonderful mess.
No clue where the video came from.

Ohio & The Movies
A new website that has received a lot of web press is devoted to promoting Ohio & Ohioans that have been on TV & in the movies. Music videos, I guess, don't count. Actually a lot doesn't seem to count. Dean Martin, Jonathan Winters, the Gish girls, John Holmes, Theda Bara, Doris Day, Mike Douglas, Ron Jeremy, Paul Newman, Martin Mull, Jerry Springer & Roy Fucking Rogers don't count. Light of Day, Vamps, Howard the Duck, Ferndale 2 Night, Airborne, Traffic, Harper Valley PTA, 6 episodes of Route 66, (5 in Clevo), Stranger Than Paradise, Cornhole, Thankskilling, The Dead Next Door…..
forget it.
heck, a Wiki search
or IMDB comes up with all sorts of stuff.
oh well, HDDs are like Doritos, we'll just make more.

Enon Firm to Expand - Create 50 Jobs
State Support a PITA
seepex Inc., a manufacturer of fluid pumping equipment, is embarking on it's 4th expansion in 15 years.

We manufacture and export world class product, we do not export jobs," said Kamran Mirza, seepex director of business development.

Seepex has seen an 18% annual growth over the last few years. One of the industries seepex sells to is the gas industry so coveted by the Kasich administration. But they say the state has not held up it's end of the bargain regarding aid for jobs. The business friendly administration keeps coming up with more and more hurdles & reversals. The owner, Mike Dillon, says he will only take some state incentives to purchase some equipment.

Springfield Noose Son story here

For more on natural gas extraction, see Gasland

Talking Fare Boxes !!

I love the way the announcer gets all excited about the "things to come". I am sure someone will want the voice to speak foreign languages. I'm fine with English but I think a Jamaican or Irish accent might be nice. The little LCD monitor will be hard for visually impaired folks. Some high contrast signage on the thing would be handy.
Accepting $2 bills is TOTALLY AWESOME!! I can't believe they left that out of the video.
It'd still be nice to just use a debit or credit card but I guess that would require a PIN keypad & a signature screen thing. Of course, just scanning a chip implanted in your forehead would be the best way to go, but…..

More from Metro.

Futility

I'm with Renee.
UPDATE: In the original airing of this piece the announcer, Renee Montagne, could not help but dissolve into laughter over PETA's antics. It has since been re-recorded. PETA's looniness is still silly.
My title takes on a bit of a new meaning, tho. :-)

Statesmanship and Zombism

The Chiller Television movie, Remains that takes place in Reno Nevada but was filmed in it's lookalike counterpart, Norwich Conneticut will have it's debut theatrical showing there in December.

"I’m interested to see if I survived the cut," Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom said of his non-speaking cameo part. "I wasn’t allowed to speak. It was the perfect setting for a public official."

Norwich Bulletin story here.

HOME
Buddy Gray was murdered 15 years ago, November 15, 1996. Whether you agree with his goals or strategies doesn't matter. He did care & have some kind of vision for the homeless. In 2010, His Drop Inn Center cared for 2,200 men and women. It provided homeless people with 55,000 bed nights.
Interestingly (to me) is that 5,000 new housing units are slated to be built in Cincinnati next year while at the same time Building Cincinnati reports that there are currently 5,373 abandoned/vacated buildings in the city, up 14.1% over last year.
There's something seriously wrong with this picture.

Fishwrap story on Gray

While seemingly everywhere before the last election, the Enquirer was quoting Chris Finney on a daily basis. With the defeat of his latest ballot initiative, he even hung out at his opponents victory party to get a little more free press. So when the Daily Fishwrap wrote an article about Cincinnati's first gay councilman, who got his start repealing Finney's anti-gay ordinance, Article XII, his quotes were uncharacteristically absent.
Instead, all we got was the perv, Burress of Sharonville (City of Progress), telling us the reason for population decline in Cincinnati is due to rampant faggery.
yeah, God Hates Fags.

Job Killing Monopolies

The Listing Loon

While it sounds like some kind of reaL estate company, the Listing Loon is will be a craft beer & wine store slated to open in February '12 @ 4124 Hamilton Avenue in Northside, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.. The building has been home recently to the Cumminsville branch post office, Art Damage Lodge & Feldenkrais Within. The Feldenkrais Method is dedicated to a full & more dynamic life & fittingly, that group is moving up the street to breathe new life into the old Charles Miller Funeral Home.
With the addition of American Can apartment dwellers, the store will have a good number of potential customers in walking distance - handy since there's not a lot of parking nearby.

SoapBox story here

Waughtel Hopper Named Deputy of the Year

Clark County Deputy Suzanne Waughtel Hopper was named Clark County Deputy of the year 11/10/11. Waughtel Hopper, 40 & mother of 2, was senselessly murdered by Michael Ferryman a fuck up in Enon Beach Trailer Park 1/1/11. Another officer was wounded and the gunman was killed.

Noose Son article here

What happened here

Monster - 1970

Steppenwolf
rough ending but you get the idea.....

Midnight Meat Train

This is what Cincinnatians should expect when the streetcar line is built.