Baymiller Bridge R.I.P.
The pedestrian bridge over Central Parkway at Baymiller is slated for demolition this weekend. The bridge has connected Central and McMicken for decades.
This demolition was instigated by the citizens of the West End to curtail loitering and vice activity. Walking over the bridge there is plenty of evidence to these accusations. The discarded condoms, drug and alcohol containers and paraphernalia and general litter are all evidence of this behavior.
This demolition is shortsighted to the development of these areas, however, because a strong point for them is their pedestrian accessibility. Destroying this pedestrian conduit is, to a great degree, cutting off the nose to spite the face.
On the other hand, with the upcoming development of CityLink, it's demolition will probably be of greater benefit to the residents of Over the Rhine and CUF.
Some pics from the bridge.
Looking east from the bridge towards McMicken
Looking south over Central Parkway
Same view circa 1940 (Hamilton Co Library)

Springfield Civic Theatre, one of the oldest theater groups in the state, begins it's 77th season with "Into the Woods".
For many years the theatre was on Main Street.

That place was later (rightfully - although with many fond memories) demolished and the theater group moved to the Turner Studio Theater at the Clark State Performing Arts Center.
"Into the Woods" ushers in a new era of "less quantity and higher quality," board president, Ed Sisler said.

Noose Son story here.

Batman Theme Composer Dies

Batman by The Jam

Trumpeter and composer Neal Heft died at the age of 85. Hefti wrote numerous film scores and played with Woody Herman and worked with Count Basie but boomers probably know him best for his theme to the TV show, Batman.
It was, Hefti later said, the hardest piece of music he ever wrote.

LA Times story here.

Black Cemetery Vandalized
Black Cemetery, Clark County's oldest cemetery, was recently vandalized.
A $500 reward has been offered for the arrest of the culprits who desecrated this small and old cemetery.

WHIO story here.

The Trouble With Trees
The Fishwrap reports Spring Grove Cemetery an Arboretum has lost 300 trees this year due to drought and the havoc wreaked by the recent windstorm (Ike) on the weakened trees.

Spring Grove loses 300 trees this year
By Rebecca Goodman
Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum lost 300 trees this year - 151 of them on Sept. 14, when an unprecedented windstorm swept through Greater Cincinnati. The rest have slowly succumbed to thirst after last year's record-breaking heat and drought.
One of the trees damaged by the storm was named a national champion tree by the nonprofit conservation group American Forests.
At about 40 feet tall, the two-wing silverbell was the largest known specimen of its kind in the country.
It cannot be saved, but horticulturists at Spring Grove will attempt to propagate the tree, according to Whitney Huang, manager of horticulture at Spring Grove.
Also damaged in the storm were more than 50 monuments - about a dozen of which were shattered. Those that were merely toppled from their bases will be uprighted by cemetery workers. Those lost or damaged are the responsibility of the owners, according to Gary M. Freytag, president and CEO of Spring Grove.
The Davey Tree Expert Co. was hired to help clean up the debris at Spring Grove. Huang said she hopes the cleanup will be finished by year's end.
Some of the trees are being sold for lumber. Others are being chipped and will be used as mulch for the cemetery's flower beds, Freytag said. So far, $150,000 has been spent on the cleanup.
"That doesn't include our own people's time," Freytag said. "That's just outside services."
The winds "did a lot of damage in areas that are in the 100- to 150-year-old age," Freytag said. "There are areas of the cemetery where there's a big open space now and open sky because there used to be a canopy of trees and it just isn't there anymore."
Spring Grove had two national champion trees. The two-wing silverbell won't be removed while the cemetery tries to propagate it.
"It has three main trunks and two of them are just stubs, and one has just a little small branch on there that is still green," Huang said.
The other national champion - a little silverbell that stands about 15 feet - is unharmed.
Thirty-four species of trees were lost in the storm, Huang said. Most were red oaks, which tended to be tall. Their trunks snapped in the middle. Also gone are many maples and ash trees. The drought-damaged trees were mostly evergreens.
Huang estimated the cost of replacing the 151 trees lost in the windstorm at $60,000.
"We're not going to be able to replant all of this in a year or two," she said. "We want to bring back native species and shade trees because we lost a ton."

Fishwrap story was here.
Pictures I took shortly after the storm here.

WBC

When Bloggers Collide
Met up with Geebee and Djinn in Springfield this past weekend. Hit the Westcott House, Groeber's Lounge, O'Connor's Pub, Leonardo's, Schuler's and John's train set and patio where we caught up with John and Giles and got a chance to reacquaint ourselves with some of Mary's beautiful paintings.
Rollicking good time for a bunch of old geezers. It sounds like Portland's Mississippi district and Cincinnati's Northside neighborhood have a lot in common. I don't think I will be converting Djinn to libertarianism any time soon, nor will she be converting me to communism any time soon. My driver and I left the Portland commies stranded in suburbia with nothing but a bottle of orange juice and a New York Times due to Springfield's archaic blue laws. Hopefully they will make it back home and not have to resort to squatting in a foreclosed ranch in Greenlawn Village.

Buying an Election
In what is shaping up to be the first billion dollar presidential campaign, Obama has outspent McCain almost 2 to 1 overall. McCain has outspent Obama in Minnesota and Iowa.
Obama has outspent McCain 3 to 1 in Pennsylvania. Obama has outspent McCain 3 to 1 in Virginia. Obama has outspent McCain 3 to 1 in Florida. Obama has outspent McCain more than 8 to 1 in North Carolina. Obama has outspent McCain almost 9 to 1 in Indiana. Obama has only slightly outspent McCain in Ohio on TV spots, Obama's being largely positive to McCains being almost entirely negative.
Selling a candidate is like selling a can of beans. A can of beans is a can of beans. We all know the famous Bush dog who plots against his loyal master to reveal the "secret recipe". This piques our interest and while our first and only can of Bush beans might result in us spitting out the first mouthful, we have purchased a can. The first purchase is always done through advertising and salesmanship. Subsequent purchases require the product to be worth a crap. More and better advertising can lead us to purchase one product over another once.
The thing is, our choosing a president is something we only do once and then we have to put up with the goombah for four years. And we have to swallow - repeatedly.
Obama and Palin are clearly the exciting personalities of this race. Similarly, do you purchase Joe Camel, the Marlboro Man, the Virginia Slims chick, the White Owl chick (I'm really dating myself now...), or do you just roll up some dried weeds, stick 'em in your mouth, set 'em on fire and suck ?
Ultimately, they all make you gag.
My recommendation ?
Choose none of the above.

Queer as a Clockwork Orange
Shades of A Clockwork Orange in Urbana
Champaign County Municipal Court Judge Susan J. Fornof-Lippencott sentenced a guy to listen to classical music (Beethoven, Chopin, Bach, DeBussy) for 20 hours as an alternative to paying a $150 fine.
After 15 minutes, Mr Vactor opted to pay the fine.
This seems a lot like the "therapy" young Alex received in the book/movie A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.

As you may remember his treatment had unintended consequences and his penchant for classical music only heightened his appreciation for his lifestyle which included activities much worse than blaring obnoxious, vulgar and misogynistic music from his car.
I guess we can file this under "life imitates art".

Noose Son story here.

FATBURGER EST ARRIVE !
My crack team of roving reporters have just informed me the Fatburger at Madison and Brotherton in scenic Oakley is now open.

Subprime Crisis Explained

Northside just rules.
This weekend, starting Saturday, October 4 at 9:00 AM, folks can meet in Hoffner Park for a ride to Findlay Market and back.
At 1:00 PM, the Northside Branch Library will be showing The Blob and When Worlds Collide.
Later, beginning at 5:00 PM, The Spring Grove Cemetery (ok, technically not Northside) will host it's 4th Annual Lantern Lighting Ceremony. It's an afternoon of music and crafts, then, at dusk, people float little illuminated rafts out onto a pond. Hopefully the Cincinnati Klezmer Project will be there again this year.
On Sunday, from noon to 5:00 PM you can tour some cool Cincinnati homes at the Hidden Treasures of Northside House Tour.
"Peek inside to see what homeowner elbow grease, ingenuity and sweat equity can accomplish !"
10 houses in Northside ranging from large to small, majestic to cute, houses that have been well cared for for years and houses rescued from the wrecking ball. There will be shuttle buses to help people get around and your Passport will entitle you to discounts during the day at select Northside businesses.
At 7:30 PM The North Presbyterian Church hosts "Kick Up Your Heals", featuring Appalachian music by the Rabbit Hash String Band.
As usual, there is great music and food at The Comet, Northside Tavern, The Gypsy Hut, Gajah Wong West, Boswell, Alley, Melt, The Hideaway, Honey, Art Damage Lodge, Club Bronz, Blue Rock Tavern, Portofino's, NYPD Pizza.......
whew !

To find out more about what is going on in "Cincinnati's Most Eclectic Neighborhood", click, here or subscribe to Bits & Pieces.

Search the 2001 Google Index
www.google.com/search2001.html
Some of the old pages are there under View old version on the Internet Archive
But just the descriptions are pretty funny
Some results:

Strata 3D Pro v3.0 gains AltiVec support

Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan, through his Washington attorney, complained late Monday that Palm Beach officials had not notified him of details of a ...

During a keynote speech where Steve Jobs unveiled the online Apple Store, the then interim CEO lightheartedly threatened that Apple was "coming for Dell. ...

Scitex knows that printing processes evolve. The company makes high-end information systems geared for the image-heavy printing and graphic arts markets

Apple was not the only major player taking the podium at Seybold. Executives from Microsoft, Macromedia, Kodak, and Sun Microsystems participated in the ...

The Image Proof of Deposit Document Processing System (IPOD) brings the advantages of imaging technology to organisations that process machine readable....

30 Days of Night
I have new respect for Sarah Palin. The leadership, versatility and sheer tenacity of these Alaskans was awe inspiring.
This movie also explains why she wanted to be protected "from all kinds of witchcraft".video
OK, granted, most everybody got killed, at one point the monsters were all standing around a 50 gal tank of oil & nobody thought to shoot the barrel, they thought of using crucifixes because they had seen that used in movies but they had forgotten about McLelland's Directive - "shoot 'em in the head", nevermind that the monsters had super hearing but couldn't hear people yelling and hollering when they got in fights, nevermind they had super blood smelling powers but missed a roomful of sweating warmies in the attic....
Alaskan cheese probably looks like a spider web.
Still, the scenery was beautiful with the cloudy skies and the snowy hills offering a monochromatic study of textures.

Sherriff McLelland from Night of the Living Dead (1968)
"Well, there's no problem. If you have a gun, shoot 'em in the head. That's a sure way to kill 'em. If you don't, get yourself a club or a torch. Beat 'em or burn 'em. They go up pretty easy."

This weekend's Tours
This weekend in Cincinnati, there are a couple interesting tours available.
Downtown, there is the Downtown Tour of Living from noon to 5 PM.
The homes are apartments and condos and go from 4th to 14th streets.
In Northside Great Outdoors Weekends presents a Northside Tour of Death, What the Dead Can Tell Us at Wesleyan Cemetery from noon to 4 PM.
The gravesites of veterans of every war the U.S. has been involved in will be visited and tombstone symbolism will be discussed.
These tours offer a glimpse of where we came from, where we are today and where we are going.
heh, the graveyard......
Anyway, sounds fun.

The Wesleyan Cemetery tour has been cancelled due to wind damage from last week's storm

Wittenberg opens center for civic engagement
Wittenberg University opens The Center for Civic and Urban Engagement to help coordinate faculty and student service projects into four areas of engagement in Springfield: Renewing the Core and Creek; Strengthening After-School Programs, Preparing for Future Jobs, and Improving Housing Quality.
Springfield mayor, Warren Copeland, claims the program will help set the university apart from other liberal arts colleges by highlighting the advantage an urban setting provides for practical applications in majors from the sciences to social services to the arts.

Noose Son story here.

I can't believe Jeff Beck is still not in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. What the hell are they waiting for ? He is on the list of potential inductees for 2009.

• Jeff Beck


• Chic


• Wanda Jackson


• Little Anthony and the Imperials


• Metallica


• Run-D.M.C.


• The Stooges


• War


• Bobby Womack

Metallica ? ugh.....

Story here.

Pope condemns 'pagan' love of money, power
oh, this is good,
"Pope Benedict XVI condemned unbridled “pagan” passion for power, possessions and money as a modern-day plague Saturday as he led more than a quarter of a million Catholics in an outdoor Mass in Paris."
Perhaps he wants to go back to a kinder gentler time, like When King Philip the Fair pretty much bought and sold the papacy under Pope Clement V.
Or maybe he is thinking of getting back into the lucrative indulgence racket.
We have,
"The pope urged the faithful to “shun the worship of idols."
ah, but then,
"The late-morning Mass ended peacefully, with followers pressing for a chance to touch the pontiff’s robes"
uh, yeah-
About that.....
I don't know as this love of money and idols is so "pagan". Seems to be a pretty traditional Catholic pastime.

Story here.

All full up !

If you had any plans on getting interred in the Bushnell family mausoleum, forget it. The last grave has been filled.

Noose Son story here.

Science Debate
The front running presidential candidates are asked a set of questions bout their stance on science, technology, energy, environment and education.
The gist of their answers ?
Obama - throw money
McCain - incentives
For the most part, they agree on all the issues, it's just a matter of how to deal with them. The difference in their strategies is basically the same difference between Democrats and Republicans we are only too used to.
Still, after Bush's recent jog back to the middle ages, these guys seem refreshing.

Story here.

Spring Grove Cemetery 9/16/08
Headed over to Spring Grove Cemetery today to check out the havoc. The smashed monuments were much scarcer than I had feared. There were a good number of trees down but they were a minority. Just happened to be a bunch of big old ones. The crew have a real job on their hands. As of Tuesday afternoon they were still without power.
One uprooted tree right by the road revealed a marker it seems to have completely grown over. The name on it was Ike !
Well, ok not really.
 
As I was walking around the cemetery, standing under half felled trees, I started to realize how dangerous my adventure actually was. Well, nobody ever had a problem accusing me of stupidity.
There was a funeral coming in as I left. Death goes on.