A New City Hall

Vermillion, South Dakota, home of The University of South Dakota and The National Music Museum opened the doors to it's new city hall designed by Owen Mamura on Monday.
The new city hall is actually a city hall, too, as opposed the old retrofitted power plant the administration used to occupy. "With the old city hall, you walked in and you had a staircase right in the front of you, and a door way immediately to your right and to your left. It didn’t really say much other than you’d arrived at somebody’s back entry", the city manager explained, "There is a sense of arrival when you enter the building, and we wanted to make it easy to identify where it is they would be able to receive the services they are seeking."
A 1938 Gibson electric upright bass at the national Music Museum.

Vermillion Plain Talk article here.

Before the bastards at Habitat for Humanity got their mitts on the property(:-)), this is what 2535/7 McMicken looked like.
Well, not all the time. This was early one February morning.
I used to walk down to a doughnut store on Central Parkway for coffee, a doughnut and a paper on Sunday mornings. They had a "No Smoking" section there. It was a stool with a sign over it that said "No Smoking Section" & had an arrow pointing straight down. After they closed, I would go to a corner pony keg I think was called the M&M. It was also the headquarters for Fudpucker Airlines. It was at the corner of McMicken and Marshall (M&M). The owners, an elderly couple, liked to engage people in discussions ranging from sports to politics and, a favorite of the gentleman, WWII aviation. Eventually, they retired and sold the store.
I took this picture one winter morning when everything had been coated with ice overnight and then the temperature started to rise and everything was foggy and noisy with the sound of the dripping, melting ice. My crappy little image made with a crappy little camera really doesn't do it justice but a lot of the image is just the memory, anyway.
It doesn't mean shit to a tree.

City Iron
A fairly new local blog (Jan '09) is the City Iron Blog. Not a biker blog (although the principals might be bikers) but a blog about the work of local artisan blacksmith, Sallquist at City Iron in (you knew it was coming) Northside.
Click here to see some of their super cool iron work.

Charlie Winburn's Dreaming
You could probably make a song to the tune of California Dreaming with that, but.....
The result of the Windbag's "Cincinnati Dream Neighborhood Recovery and Economic Plan" would be the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Maybe God Bless the Child would be a more appropriate song.
In his plan, every neighborhood has to hire a full time person to create a plan that will employ approximately 200 people and each neighborhood has to raise about $4,000,000 dollars to get a matching amount.
Sure, we can do that in Northside easy. It's only about $1,000 per adult.
He wants to get his matching money from the funds that are slated to be used for streetcar development. He really doesn't seem to understand how the financing works. Some of the money comes from TIF funds which can only be used locally. TIF funds from Hyde Park cannot be used in Clifton. Other funding is transit specific and some funding is specifically for the streetcar project (For a detailed breakdown of the funding check out Cincinnati Streetcar). The city's half of his 400 million dollar plan is, essentially, non existent. The other half is wishful thinking.
I think most of the neighborhoods would be hard pressed to find the funds to pay a full time employee let alone dig up 4 million dollars.
I have no idea how the neighborhoods would "create" 200 jobs.
The fact that the Windbag's plan would never work would mean the city would never have to give out any money so there would be a good bit of savings there. However as the quality of life continues to erode under his Cincinnati Dream Neighborhood Recovery and Economic Plan, the need for more police and emergency room care at the hospitals will only rise. I guess he can spend his imaginary money on those services.
The streetcar will provide a simple easy tool to "circulate" people about a few communities and create the opportunity for entrepreneurs to develop housing, offices, shops and such within the area. This will result in the creation of jobs. Similar projects have proven to work in many other cities. A side effect of development in the OTR area, specifically, will be a reduction in crime and a reduction in the costs the victims and taxpayers bear to deal with the crime. It will result in the ability of the city to redeploy police officers to other neighborhoods.
Some say Winburn is an agent of Satan. I think the boy is just clueless.

3D For the Interwebs ?
I have heard the promise since about 1990. At the 09 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco The Khronos Group announced their intent to develop a set of open APIs for development of 3D graphics for the internet. They said the action was in response to a request from Mozilla and that Google had expressed interest as well.
The Khronos Group lists about every computer/graphics/media/network type company in the world (except for Adobe & Microsoft, of course) as some kind of member of he organization. This includes that of the Safari browser developer, Apple.
Khronos has handled the development of SGI's OpenGL, created in 1992, since 2006. SGI, of course originally made the VRML viewer, Cosmo Player - got nowhere with it, handed it off to Computer Associates (for some reason) where it continued to go nowhere.
Probably the most successful attempt at web 3D is the perfectly awful Second Life. While there may be a practical application for 3D in your surfing experience, it won't be attractive with a slow delivery of lame graphics and overly complex controls. People like telephones & TVs. Computers and internet speeds have improved vastly since 1992 but the horsepower needed for lush graphics and complex worlds ain't really there. Add to that that most people just lazily use M$oft's Internet Explorer and M$oft will likely never adopt any kind of standard graphic format when they can make their own and use their monopoly status to flood the market with their product. Unlike any other browser in the world, M$oft has dragged it's heels in supporting PNG and, AFAIK, IE is the only browser in the world to have no support for SVG.
Good graphics are crucial to the success of web 3D and that means artists need good tools to create those graphics. Adobe pretty much has the market cornered on that and with their Flash products they really have no reason to support anything that comes out of Khronos. Even if they did, their track record with SVG and Atmosphere doesn't instill a lot of confidence.
Somehow, I think this will just wind up another pipe dream.

Yes
A new feature here at Blogging Isn't Cool is inspired by The Simultaneous Journal project and an old buddy sending me a (huge) scan of all his old concert ticket stubs. Coinciding with Mick Jones talking about his collection of memorabilia, I got to poking around in old dusty boxes of crap and, since I don't have an original thought to my name, decided I would get in on the act.
For the most part, all I have are ticket stubs and a few flyers from the 80s Jockey Club shows. I actually have a couple recordings. I will try to recount stuff as best I can.
March 25 1972, I saw Yes at Columbus, Ohio's Veteran's Memorial Auditorium.
Yes was a British progressive art rock kinda band that had had some success in England but really didn't get anywhere in the US til they released their album, Fragile. They boasted a blend of rock and classical music. Dunno about that. The band featured 2 virtuosos, Steve Howe on guitar and Rick Wakeman on keyboards. The rest of the band weren't slackers by any means, Chris Squire's bass being a hallmark of their sound.
I went with a group of buds and, while they all had tickets, I did not. I went halfway assuming I would be standing around outside for several hours. I did get a ticket & it was great. I sat very close to the stage right in front of Steve Howe !
Vet's Memorial was a nice facility. Smoking was not allowed whereas it was at most arenas where concerts usually took place. Smoking was allowed in the lounge, so going to the bathroom was kinda like going to the restroom at high school - it was like walking into a thick blue cloud.
On the back of the ticket stub I wrote Holy Smoke. That was the opening act. I have absolutely no idea who they were.

In an effort to crack down on terrorism, the London Police Dept has launched a campaign promoting citizen vigilance. Sounds ok, we oughtta know our neighbors for a number of reasons, but would we do this in Cincinnati ?
Most of us miss the fun of spying on the neighbors via examining their trash because we drive by at 25 mph, listening to obnoxious djs screaming and cackling about boobies and poopie. If you ride the bus or walk to work, trash day can be a ton-o-fun.
But now it's serious.

Your neighbor could be planning on blowing up local landmarks like the Cinti. Metal Blast building or Art Damage Lodge. International terrorists will be sure to leave their evidence out on the sidewalk on trash day and only you can report this to the police who refuse to get out of their cars.
I can't help but think the London police will set up "tip stations" like the ones used in the movie Fahrenheit 451. I also can't help but think the police will get inundated with reports from cranky old neighborhood gossips.
While I doubt any evidence found locally will lead to any international terrorists, it might lead to catching vandals like these goombahs from Amelia & New Richmond.

Time Trouble

For your Sunday comics enjoyment, here is the rare Time Trouble comic by Minneapolis based cartoonist, animator, musician and scholar - Richard Gatten.
Time_Trouble.pdf

Better Than Starbucks

A Sydney band in Stuttgart performing a song about Detroit. Who needs Starbucks ?

George Washington's Apron
On Saturday afternoon, March 21, 518 Masonic lodges across the state of Ohio will be having open houses allowing the general public to visit their often historic buildings and visit the haunts of generations of leaders of Ohio communities.
A couple Notables
In Cincinnati, the temple at 317 E 5th Street (adjacent to the Taft Theater) will be open. This building hosts the NC Harmony, McMillan, Kilwinning, Cincinnati-Lafayette and Caliburn lodges. The building was built in 1928.
In Clifton, at 218 Ludlow Avenue the Hanselmann and E.T. Carson lodges will be welcoming visitors to their building which, according to the HamCo Auditor's site, has been there forever.
Enoch T. Carson (1822-1899), from Cheviot, was a Hamilton County Chief Deputy Sheriff and Collector of the Port of Cincinnati. He served on several city and county boards and commissions, including Education, Parks, and Police.
Springfield's Masonic Temple, at 125 W. High Street, built in 1927, was just placed on the National Historic Register in December.
It hosts the Clark, Anthony St Andrew's and H.S. Kissel lodges.
Harry S.Kissel, of course, was the real estate financing pioneer, a founder of the National Board of Realtors and seminal developer of the Ridgewood area of Springfield.
This Noose Son article describes some of the details of the Springfield Temple.
While speculation about conspiracies, the deep, dark mysteries and secrets of the Freemasons are fun (loved National Treasure), the fact that our nation was founded on many of the tenets of Masonry is undeniable and the civic work of countless Masons has been an invaluable boon to our communities. March 21st gives everybody a chance to get a glimps of this heritage.
Probably shouldn't expect any super secret decoder glasses, tho.....
To find an open house near you, you can use this handy search tool.

Library Book Sale
Friday, March 20 & Saturday, March 21, the Northside Branch of the Cincinnati Public Library in conjunction with Friends of the Public Library will be having a book sale featuring, well, books.
They will be selling hardbacks and paperbacks of all genres of fiction and non-fiction including children's books. There will also be CDs, audio and video tapes, DVD's and books-on-tape
hrs:
Friday noon to 6 PM
Saturday 10 AM - 5 PM
4219 Hamilton Avenue
513-369-4449
limited parking in the rear

& While You're in the Hood...
Not in my Wedding Album opens at the Prairie Gallery, at 4035 Hamilton Avenue from 5:00 - 9:00 PM
For information 513-703-5729
In addition to Northside's bevy of culinary fare, St. Boniface School will be hosting a Fish Fry from 5:00 - 7:00 PM at 4305 Pitts Avenue.
For Information 513-541-1563
And on top of that, Saturday, March 21st, it's The Northside Tavern's 7th birthday !
They will be celebrating with Lovely Crash and the Guild of Calamitous Intent
along with the pre and post show dancefunk-a-licious stylings of DJ K Pool
Tunes commence at 10 PM

Just Say NO to Bike Lanes
Many misguided motorists believe bikes should not be on the road. They see bikes as toys and cyclists as recreationalists tying up their "serious" roadways. They believe they own the road because they pay fuel taxes.
By making bike specific lanes and paths this belief is reinforced and motorists see their tax dollars being squandered.
Roads are for transportation. Bicycles are a transportation tool. For the room cyclists take on the roadway and their impact on the roadway cyclists pay their fair share in income & property taxes to have a right to a share of the road.
Bike specific lanes will confuse the already challenged driver. When a cyclist makes a left turn, he must exit "his" lane and move to his proper place in the roadway. If motorists are convinced that the cyclist should stay in "his" lane he will not be looking for the slow cyclist anywhere else.
The idea of being in the right side of a center lane is a difficult notion for the average motorist to grasp already. Will he be able to comprehend a fast cyclist moving out of the bicycle lane to pass a slow cyclist (like me ?)
Making the poor motorist think more is dangerous as it will confuse him and cause him to make mistakes.
Bicycles should be part of the natural traffic pattern.
Councilman Greg Harris is proposing bike lanes on an easily traversable section of Spring Grove Avenue. AFAIK the real problems with cycling on that road are not going to be addressed. The proposal, while well intentioned, is not in the best interest of cyclists in the long term.
Restriping lanes to give the curb lane a few extra inches, keeping the curb lane clear of debris is all that is needed.

On March 19, 1901 sisters, Florence and Georgia Trader instituted a Library for the Blind in conjunction with the Cincinnati Library. It started with a collection of 100 books. There were about 400 blind people in Cincinnati. Now the library serves about 6,000 people annually in 33 counties with 400,000 books, recordings, audiobooks and the various tools to use them.
Well, they did.
That was just so 20th century, tho. In the HamCo library's bold vision for the Library of the 21st Century, they have decided to ditch the gimps & send everything up to Cleveland.
Joyce Rogers of the ACB sez that patrons of the Library of the Blind read at a rate 7 times greater than sighted patrons.
The American Council of the Blind of Ohio, Greater Cincinnati Chapter has invited the library's director, Kim Fender to address their rationale on 4/14 at the YWCA at 898 Walnut St. Oddly enough, they oppose the closing and question why we would send 400,000 items to Cleveland so they can send them back at a rate of 22,000 items a month.
This seems like one of those things Cincinnati should be heralding as a great asset and a sign of leadership nationally. Instead, we will shut it down and pay to mail materials all over the state.
Or you could just go to the Cleveland library yourself.
Since most blind people don't drive (all the screaming and honking is distracting) you will probably have to hoof it to the Clevo Library, so here's the Google walking directions.
1. Head north on Vine St toward E 9th St/OH-3/US-22
0.2 mi
2. Turn right at E Central Pkwy/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
0.8 mi
3. Slight left at Reading Rd/US-42
2.2 mi
4. Slight left to stay on Reading Rd/US-42
3.5 mi
5. Slight right to stay on Reading Rd/US-42
4.2 mi
6. Slight left to stay on Reading Rd/US-42
2.1 mi
7. Slight left to stay on Reading Rd/US-42
0.4 mi
8. Slight right to stay on Reading Rd/US-42
92 ft
9. Turn left to stay on Reading Rd/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
1.4 mi
10. Slight left at Cincinnati Columbus Rd/Lebanon Rd/E Lebanon Pike/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
7.9 mi
11. Slight right at State Route 42/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
6.7 mi
12. Slight left at S Broadway St/OH-48/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
0.6 mi
13. Turn left at Columbus Ave/US-42
Continue to follow US-42

6.7 mi
14. Slight right at N State Route 42/US-42
2.0 mi
15. Turn left at OH-73/E State Route 73
308 ft
16. Turn right at S Main St
0.4 mi
17. Turn left at North St
0.2 mi
18. Turn right at N 4th St
0.6 mi
19. Continue on Old Stage Rd
4.8 mi
20. Turn left at US-42/US Route 42
2.4 mi
21. Slight left at US-42/US Route 42 S
Continue to follow US-42
6.0 mi
22. Turn right at W Main St/US-35/US-42
0.6 mi
23. Turn left at N Columbus St/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
7.6 mi
24. Continue on E Xenia Ave
0.1 mi
25. Turn left at East St
0.1 mi
26. Turn right at US-42/US Route 42 E
4.1 mi
27. Turn right at Old Route 42 E/US-42
Continue to follow Old Route 42 E
1.1 mi
28. Continue on Old Columbus Cincinnati Rd/Old State Route 42
3.4 mi
29. Turn left toward Columbus Cincinnati Rd/US-42
390 ft
30. Turn right at Columbus Cincinnati Rd/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
4.1 mi
31. Turn left at Summerford Rd
5.5 mi
32. Turn right at London Plattsburg Rd
459 ft
33. Continue on Old Springfield Rd
331 ft
34. Turn left at Markley Rd
3.0 mi
35. Slight right at National Pike/US-40 SE
0.8 mi
36. Turn left at US-40 NW
0.8 mi
37. Turn left at National Pike/US-40 NW
1.8 mi
38. Turn left at Marysville-London Rd/OH-38/State Route 38 NW
1.6 mi
39. Turn left to stay on Marysville-London Rd/OH-38/State Route 38 NW
4.0 mi
40. Turn right at Arthur Bradley Rd
1.7 mi
41. Slight left at Lafayette-Plain City Rd
8.0 mi
42. Turn right at Perry Pike/West Ave
0.6 mi
43. Turn left at S Jefferson Ave/US-42
0.4 mi
44. Slight left to stay on S Jefferson Ave/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
15.3 mi
45. Slight left at US-42 S
0.2 mi
46. Turn left at London Rd
1.8 mi
47. Turn left at S Sandusky St
0.3 mi
48. Turn right at Wilmer St
0.2 mi
49. Turn left at S Henry St
0.3 mi
50. Turn right at US-36/E William St
Continue to follow US-36
1.0 mi
51. Turn left at Bowtown Rd
0.5 mi
52. Slight left at OH-521/State Route 521
4.8 mi
53. Turn left at N Old State Rd
2.6 mi
54. Continue on County Rd-24/Worthington-New Haven Rd
Continue to follow County Rd-24
12.9 mi
55. Slight left at US-42
0.4 mi
56. Turn right at Cardington Williamsport Rd/County Rd-110/Twp Rd 110
2.4 mi
57. Turn left at Cardington Williamsport Rd/Twp Rd 110
Continue to follow Cardington Williamsport Rd
2.5 mi
58. Slight right at US-42
19.3 mi
59. Turn right at E 1st St/OH-13/US-42
Continue to follow E 1st St/US-42
0.3 mi
60. Turn left at Hedges St/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
2.7 mi
61. Slight right at Ashland Rd/US-42
308 ft
62. Slight left to stay on Ashland Rd/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
7.3 mi
63. Slight left to stay on US-42
0.2 mi
64. Continue on Claremont Ave
2.5 mi
65. Turn right at W Washington St
0.6 mi
66. Turn left at Miller St
0.1 mi
67. Turn right at Cleveland Ave/County Rd-42B
1.6 mi
68. Turn left at US-42
6.0 mi
69. Slight left at State Route 42/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
9.7 mi
70. Turn right at Crawford Rd
0.1 mi
71. Crawford Rd turns left and becomes Lodi Rd
1.4 mi
72. Slight left at Greenwich Rd/Lafayette Rd/OH-421
Continue to follow OH-421
2.5 mi
73. Continue on Lafayette Rd/US-42
9.5 mi
74. Turn left at S Court St/OH-3/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
15.7 mi
75. Slight left at Pearl Rd/US-42
4.7 mi
76. Slight right to stay on Pearl Rd/US-42
Continue to follow Pearl Rd
4.9 mi
77. Slight right at W 25th St/OH-3/Pearl Rd/US-42
Continue to follow W 25th St/OH-3/US-42
1.8 mi
78. Slight right at Columbus Rd
0.9 mi
79. Turn right to stay on Columbus Rd
0.1 mi
80. Turn left at Old River Rd/Robert Lockwood Jr
0.1 mi
81. Turn right at W Superior Ave/Superior Hill
466 ft
82. Slight left at W Superior Ave/US-20/US-42/US-6
Continue to follow W Superior Ave/US-6
Destination will be on the left

The Springfield Arts Council has announced the Summer Arts Fair schedule of events to be held, free, in Veteran's (Cliff) Park. Productions by local mainstays, The Springfield Civic Theater and Springfield Symphony Orchestra will be joined by tribute bands and B-List pop stars.
Map

June 18
John Waite. The former Babys frontman who later fronted Bad English.

June 19
Parrots of the Caribbean, the Jimmy Buffett tribute thing.

June 20
Maureen McGovern

June 21
The Springfield Symphony Orchestra

June 24
The Eagles tribute band Hotel California

June 25
The Flying Karamazov Brothers juggling and comedy.

June 26
SignStage performs "Adventures of Dr. Doolittle" at 2 p.m.

June 26
Homegrown singer-songwriter Griffin House

June 27
Oleta Adams. The R&B singer and opening act, Down Deep.

July 2-5
Springfield Civic Theatre - The Music Man

July 7
The Jazz Ambassadors of the United States Army Field Band.

July 8
The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra will accompany silent comedy classics starring Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd.

July 9
The Yu Wei Chinese Dance Collection.

July 10
Phil Dirt and the Dozers

July 11
Irish Fest

July 12
Pic 'n' Fiddle Fest.

July 15
The Grateful Dead tribute band Dark Star Orchestra at 7 p.m.

July 16
Colin Hay

July 17-18
Beginning at 5 p.m., the Rhythm and Ribs Fest will be headlined by smooth sax player Warren Hill at 8 p.m. July 17, and the Urban Jazz Coalition at 8 p.m.July 18.

Wussy CD Release Party

Fri day 13 @ 7 PM, Wussy will be celebrating the release (pre-release) of their new CD, Wussy, at Shake It Records at 4156 Hamilton Ave.
Later, at 10, the band will appear across the street (if they don't get mowed down in the crosswalk) at the Northside Tavern, 4163 Hamilton Ave. There is no cover.
Official release date is April 20 but the CD will be available locally Mar 13.
To hear some tracks, check out the band's MySpace page.
And while you're in Northside on the dreaded Friday the 13th, NVISION will be hosting the opening of FRAMED FREAKS - ILLUSTRATIONS BY MATTHEW HAMBY at 4577 Hamilton Avenue (next to The Comet) from 6 - 10 PM.

Cemetery FUN !
As spring approaches it's time to start getting outdoors again. Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum hosts a year long schedule of events open to all warmies.
On their list of things to do are educational series' on gardening, bird watching, nature walks, "Twilight Tours" that allow you to explore the cem after dark and local history presentations. It is also the host to a couple 5k runs that raise funds for local charities.
Saturday offers both a pruning seminar and an "Owl Prowl".
While the cemetery began operations in 1845, people from older cemeteries were re-interred at Spring Grove. Many of the founders of Cincinnati are resting at Spring Grove including Israel Ludlow, whose farm sat just west of the cemetery along the north bank of the scenic Mill Creek. (actually, I think part of the cemetery might have been part of his farm.
Spring Grove is also a great place to ride a bike, free of the busy traffic that tends to intimidate a lot of folk in Cincinnati.
And, as always, a great place to stop before and after visiting the cemetery is Northside !

<enter Harlowe Wilcox mode>

Ali's Boutique
   4185 Hamilton Avenue
   513-591-2547
Art Damage Lodge
   4120 Hamilton Ave.
Banner and Ross Gallery
   3841 Spring Grove Ave.
   513-861-4333
   hrs: 8:30 AM - 8:00 PM Mon-Thurs, 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM Fri
The Blue Jay
   4154 Hamilton Ave.
   513-541-0847
   hrs: 8:00 AM - 3:30 PM Mon-Sat
Blue Rock Tavern
   4221 Hamilton Ave.
   hrs: 5:00 PM - 2:30 AM Mon-Fri, 6:00 PM - 2:30 AM Sat
Bonomi
   1677 Blue Rock Ave.
   513-541-7501
Boswell Alley
   1686 Blue Rock Ave.
   513-681-8100
   hrs: 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM Mon-Thurs, 11:00 AM - 11:00 PM Fri-Sat, Bar til 2:30 AM Mon-Sat
Bug House Video
   4170 Hamilton Avenue
   513-541-3700
   hrs: 4:00 PM - 10:00 PM Mon-Thurs, 4 - 11:00 PM Fri, noon - 11:00 PM Sat, noon - 9:00 PM Sun
Bullfishes
   4023 Hamilton Ave.
   513-79-4999
The C & D Cafe
   1714 Hanfield Ave
   513-541-9881
Club Bronz
   4029 Hamilton Ave.
   513-591-2100
Cluxton Alley Coffee Roasters
   4037 Hamilton Ave.
   513-698-2966
   hrs: Tues-Fri 9:00 Am - 2:30 PM, 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM Sat
The Comet
   4579 Hamilton Ave.
   513-541-8900
   hrs: 4:00 PM - 2:30 AM Sun-Sat
Gajah Wong West
   3937 Spring Grove Ave.
   513-591-3935
   hrs: 5:30 PM - 10:00 PM, bar open late
Ginger's Bar
   1701 Blue Rock Ave.
   hrs: til 2:30 AM
Designs by Dana
   4167 Hamilton Ave.
   513-681-8871
The Gypsy Hut
   4231 Spring Grove Ave.
   513-541-0999
   hrs: 8:00 PM - 2:30 AM
The Hideaway
   44163 Hamilton Ave.
   513-542-2444
   hrs: 11:00 AM - 2:30 PM Tues-Fri, 5:00 PM - 9:30 PM Tues-Thurs, 5:00 - 11:00 Fri-Sat, 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM Sun
Honey
   4034 Hamilton Ave.
   513-541-4300
   hrs: 11:30 AM - 9:00 PM Tues-Thurs, 11:30 AM - 10:PM Fri-Sat, 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM Sun
Junker's tavern
   4156 Langland Ave.
   513-541-5470
Marshiella's
   Hamilton Ave.
   11:30 AM - 2:00 PM Tues-Fri
Melt
   4165 Hamilton Ave.
   513-681-MELT
   hrs: 11:00 AM - 9:00 PM Mon-Thurs, 11:00 AM - 10 PM Fri-Sat
NYPD Pizza
   1566 Chase Ave.
   513-681-NYPD
   hrs: 11:00 AM - 11:00 PM Mon-Thurs, 11:00 AM midnight Fri-Sat
Northside Bar
   Hamilton Ave.
Northside Tavern
   4163 Hamilton Ave.
   513-541-3603
   hrs: 5:00v PM - 2:30 AM Mon-Fri, 8:30 PM - 2:30 AM Sat-Sun
NVISION
   4577 Hamilton Avenue
   513-542-4577
   hrs: 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM Wed-Sat
Park Chili
   4160 Hamilton Ave.
   513-541-9902
   hrs: 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM mon-Fri, 7:00 AM - 2:00 PM Sat, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM Sun
Portofino's
   1609 Chase Ave.
   513-542-5808
   hrs: 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM Mon-Sat
Prairie
   4035 Hamilton Ave.
   513 703-5729
The Serpent
   4042 Hamilton Ave.
   513-681-6969
   hrs: 9:00 PM - 2:30 AM
Sidewainder Coffee & Tea
   4181 Hamilton Ave.
   513-542-8321
   hrs: 7:00 AM - 9:00 PM Mon-Fri, 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM Sat-Sun
Slim's
   4046 Hamilton Ave.
   513-681-6500
   hrs: 5:30 PM - til he food's gone, 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM Sun
Taco Bell/KFC
   4147 Hamilton Ave.
   513-541-7861
Take the Cake
   4137 Hamilton Ave.
   513-241-2772
White Castle
   3940 Ludlow Ave.
   513-542-7291
   hrs: 24/7

Traffic Signal

yeah, it's another one of my year & a half later movie reviews.....
This movie was hailed as some kinda great depiction of the street life of the poor in India. Well, maybe - if the street people are all clean, healthy, intelligent, articulate, mentally stable people. It seemed more like a 80s feelgood movie. Maybe a Disneyworld version of Washington Parkland. The way everybody got along and loved the guy they paid protection money to was, I am sure, spot on.
As far as an enjoyable movie goes, it was fine. It's listed as a drama but has quite a bit of humor. The breezy character development kinda sucked any drama out of it. The photography & acting are fine. The writing and direction were a bit off. The movie dragged somewhat & was kinda disjointed.
Needless to say, my crush du jour is Nitu Chandra.
yow


Probably the worst thing about this movie was that I really wanted some Indian food afterwards but, even though there are 3 or 4 restaurants nearby in Clifton, it was late and they were all closed. I need to learn how to cook that stuff.....

Deconcentrate the Rich
The City of Cincinnati has decided to right wrong thinking of the past and, in an effort to deghettoize neighborhoods like Over the Rhine by deconcentrating the poor through the deconcentration social services.
Wish 'em luck. I agree with the concept but don't know as legislation is the way to go.
In our current financial/economic meltdown, a big reason we are in the mess we are in is because of a concentration of great deal of wealth in a few people's hands. When these few people screw up, vast assets and people and businesses are screwed up. The gummint has decided to fix the problem by throwing money at it, (as usual). The problem here is that even more sums of money are being put into the hands of the few who screwed up in the first place. In fact, even fewer as some of the institutions have used their bailout money to acquire other institutions thereby concentrating even more assets into the hands of even fewer screw ups.
While these large companies are not monopolies (yet), it seems that breaking them up might be a better plan. Many smaller financial institutions are doing just fine with smaller, more manageable stores of assets.
Breaking the larger companies up would broaden the brain pool of managers, create jobs and foster creativity and competition.
An argument for deconcentrating the poor is that people who have made bad life choices shouldn't be reinforcing their ideas on one another and that by assimilating them into "good" neighborhoods the better life choices of those people might rub off on them. If it is supposed to work for the poor, it probably oughtta work ok for the rich, too.

Springfield Ranked #2

Cincinnati is manly. Portland is miserable. Springfield was edged out of being the best location in the nation for private commercial development in areas with populations between 50,000 and 200,000 by Sioux City, Iowa.
Springfield's #2 status was bestowed by Site Selection Magazine (who doesn't read this ?) in their annual Governor's Cup Awards issue. Cincinnati ranked fourth for metro areas over 1 million. Dayton ranked first for metros under 1 million and over 200,000.
It's pretty clear SW Ohio sucks when it comes to corporate realty.

Noose Son story here.

Happy Birthday, Barbie !

What's In A Name ?
HamCo Comm, D. Pepper is asking, Should we rename The Banks ?
I think it's kind of pointless.
Losantville/Porkopolis/Cincinnati's neighborhoods take on names and identities of their own over the years. Here & there neighborhoods want to change their names and I am semi ok with that.
Winton Place recently changed it's name to Spring Grove Village because they, apparently, wanted to sound like a retirement community. Over the Rhine was called The Northern Liberties at one time.

Cool ! Grandma Lives in HELLTOWN !
Up here in scenic Ludlow Station/Cumminsville/Northside there is currently an art exhibit at the Prairie Gallery called Happy Valley or Helltown" - both of which were nicknames for Ludlow Station/Cumminsville/Northside over the years.
COASTers have suggested selling the naming rights. A typically dumb idea from people who would probably just as soon sell their parents to glue factories, but, on the other hand, if Larry Flynt bought the rights - THAT could be pretty outrageous !
There used to be a "Shantytown" down there at one time but that's probably not a good choice today (From a marketing standpoint).
Might as well let whoever moves into the Banks project or it's neighbors pick a name for themselves in 2069 or so as confuse people nowadays, tho.

Permanence or Success
Michael Earl Patton brings up an interesting idea involving public projects and their "permanence" over at the Arkham Beacon.
Streetcar advocates argue that rails in the roadway promote the idea of permanence to real estate developers, merchants and others. If you are old enough, you probably remember driving over the abandoned rails of the last streetcar systems. Then, again, even though the old streetcars are gone, many of the current bus routes are nearly the same as the old streetcar routes.
Patton goes on to discount the city's Skywalk system. It was designed to separate people from traffic, provide a shelter from the elements and to build a second story of retail and services in the same geographical footprint. Then, again, if you are old enough, you remember just going into buildings and walking up the stairs to businesses on upper floors. Another goal was to recreate and compete with the suburban mall experience downtown.
I tend to wince when I hear the streetcar argument of permanence. I think the real issue is how long does something have to work to be considered a success ? One generation ? Two ? A hundred ?
The real goal of the streetcar is to recreate/rejuvenate viable neighborhoods. If that is done and lasts 30 - 40 years but the streetcar is abandoned in 20 years, it is not too permanent but it will have been a success.
But even then, if we are talking about just the idea of permanence - if potential developers and residents actually perceive something as permanent, isn't that sufficient ?.

A funny bit from the Conan O'Brien Show. I saw it over at the HCGOP blog & I was going to post a comment there but I couldn't.
Why ?
dunno
I guess the HamCoGOP doesn't want to hear from me. Guess they don't give a shit what the public has to say.
Seems like every time I hear Republicans speak nowadays they seem to be talking to aliens from outer space. They seem completely out of touh with what's going on here on Earth. Maybe because they don't listen to people who don't vomit their script back at them.
During the last primary season, the GOP presidential hopefuls all wore their religion on their sleeves and boasted about their religiousness. They all claimed the economy was AOK. The only dissenter was Ron Paul who discussed the essence of Christian morality in our foreign policy and warned of the impending economic meltdown. The other Republicans laughed at him and dismissed his ideas.
I was just reading about the 1940 political conventions. The ones that gave us Roosevelt and Willkie. The conventions were full of back stabbing double crossing hard core political dealing. But nowadays we have completely staged, boring, flaccid dog & pony shows where anybody who doesn't toe the party line is persona non grata. Like Ron Paul.
I guess that is what Alex Triantafilou wants his blog to be. It just seems to go against the spirit of what the founding fathers were after.
The cover article over at The American Conservative this month is How Radio Wrecks the Right.
It talks about how conservative talk radio lures in some dumb rednecks but does nothing to promote and actually hurts serious critical intellectual conservative conversation. Apparently Rush Limbaugh sees himself as the heir to William Buckley's mantle?!??!?!?
Locally, of course the standard bearer for conservatism on the radio is a rhetoric spewing controversialist with the delivery of a carny barker outside the freakshow.
And the party wants to field a local candidate who, as a preacher, told people they could get rich if they came to his church.....
Certainly not the Christianity of my parents.
I guess that's just how they want it.

BTW, Firing Line episodes are available at Amazon for about $9 - $10 a pop.