The Rolling Stones 1972
This was the only outdoor Rolling Stones concert I went to where it didn't rain. They were touring Exile on Main Street. The Stones played Akron one day and Indianapolis the next. My friend's dad had business in Cleveland so he was able to give us a ride up the day before the Akron show and bring us back the day after. We planned on camping at the Mogadore reservoir. Problem was I had summer school & couldn't go up the day before. I finally found some guys who were going & I made plans to go with them and meet the other guys there.
haha
Imagine my surprise when I found the other guys were going to the Indy show. My parents were the greatest parents in the world that day. They dropped their plans of sitting around reading magazines, watching TV & drinking Martinis & drove my scrawny butt up to Akron.
My friends & I had made plans to meet at the edge of the stage after the show. We met up ok. They had been standing in the middle of the Akron Rubber Bowl all day with neither water nor shade & were semi incoherent. Whenever we got together incoherency was pretty much normal so I didn't think anything of it til I watched one of my buds drink about half of Lake Erie from a water faucet.
Then we had to get to a state park around midnight with no car. It took about 3 rides hitch hiking and one left us out in the middle of nowhere for about an hour. yay. We finally got to the campsite & attacked the poundcake Mrs Hall had made for us.
That was a really kick ass tour for the Stones. It is documented on numerous bootlegs & the movie, Cocksucker Blues. Mick Taylor was playing lead back then, Nicky Hopkins on piano.....
The band finished up with Jumpin' Jack Flash & Street Fighting Man. The entire field of fans went nuts. There was really nothing else they could do.

The Who 1982 in Louisville
I hadn't been in Cincinnati a year yet when this show happened. It was one of the first times I realized how weird the locals are. They all had this attitude of, "I will see the band if they come here to play. If they won't play here, fuck 'em". Coming from a smaller town that nobody came to, it was a pretty weird attitude to me.
Anyway, I got my girlfriend to borrow her dad's car. The janitor at her church had never been to a "rock show", so the 3 of us piled into the big brown LTD station wagon & headed south to Louisville.
The Who rocked - good show as usual.
Girlfriend drove back & I crashed in the back as I had been up since about 5 AM. They woke me up to change tires when she had a blowout. I changed it in a dreamlike trance - very strange.

Todd Rundgren & Utopia 1976
I vaguely remember this show. Or have just seen Rundgren so many times it all runs together.
Pop songs, synthesizers, screaming guitars. check.

United Breaks Guitars

I guess there's a story here. Of course if Mr Carroll played an SG, I am sure the baggage handlers would have been downright reverential.
Or maybe not...

Pizza Strips
Pizza is good. generally speaking.....
These things are, apparently a Rhode Island exclusive, kinda like Cincinnati chili & Goetta around here. The glaring difference is that Goetta & 5-ways are edible. OK, not everybody agrees on that. The picture above looks reasonable enough. Lemme tell ya, looks can be deceiving.
First of all, you buy these things at gas stations. They are not in the cooler waiting to be microwaved. they are up at the cashier station in cellophane wrappers in canisters next to the Slim Jims and fobs & stuff. You don't cook 'em, you just open up the wrapper & chow down. There is no cheese on these things, no discernible spices. In fact the red stuff on top that looks (from a distance) like tomato sauce might very well be paint. Think 5 year old latex house paint.
I love bread, but no saving graces there. It is thick, tough tasteless cardboard substitute.
Now I like some nasty shit. Those pink snowball (?) Hostess things, LaChoy Chow Mein, Jeno's pizza rolls.....
I have no idea how a taste for Pizza Strips are even acquired. It is the worst regional comfort food I have ever found in the U.S. They are so bad, Family Guy doesn't even make fun of 'em. Or maybe that's what the writers snack on, who knows ?
If you have the taste & the craving, or if you just want to ruin somebody's party (these things are, apparently, a party staple in R.I.) you can buy 'em online, just click on the image above.

Are You an Addict ?
Is addictive behavior affecting your lifestyle ?
Do you avoid going places because you cannot smoke there ?
Do you avoid going places because you cannot drink there ?
Do you avoid going places because you cannot park a car there ?

Which Hell On Earth is Cincinnati ?
While perusing the comments on the Cincinnati Enquirer's comments section, I was surprised to find that the town is some kind of Hell on Earth. Apparently, I was unaware because I am a dumbass liberal with blinders on. So I was wondering. Which post apocalyptic movie captures the terror & horror of this abominable hell hole.
A Boy and His Dog springs to mind primarily because Newport on the Levee reminds me of the weird underground town where Jason Robards lives while the desperate surface world represents Cincinnati to a T.
Mad Max, Beyond Thunderdome kinda gets the desperate psychotic nature of the town.
Army of Darkness might work, but then AoD is always appropriate.
When talking about Over the Rhine, Escape From New York seems to come up a lot.
People keep saying the city is dead, so maybe Day of the Dead ?
Resident Evil seems to capture the essence of a hellish environment created by liberal intellectuals that needs to be solved by militant neocons.....
I can't decide, so you get to. Take the poll in the top right and choose The Hell on Earth That is Cincinnati.

Maybe She Should Wear a Burkha

BarBe Q at KT's Barbecue
Maybe what the residents of Reading really want BarBe Q to wear is a burkha. The American Taliban strikes again. This stinks of CCV loonies to me.
Folks, IT'S NOT REAL !!.
I imagine these folks would go around castrating statues if they had the chance. Do they freak out when walking through a department store and see people dressing naked mannequins ?
criminyy, it's not a sex doll like in Lars & the Real Girl. Maybe if BarBe was a missionary.......

Fishwrap Story here.

Ventura !

Eric Clapton 1974
Ticket says 3 PM but there were 2 shows at Ohio State's St John's Arena that day. We got tickets to the late show & went early to stand around the doors and listen to the early show. That worked ok for short periods of time but eventually some dumbass would come up and try rushing or even forcing his way in and the guys working the doors would wind up closing the doors which was really nothing they wanted to do since it was the 4th of July in Ohio and that meant it was hotternhell & muggy as all get out.
I don't remember a lot about the show. It was a long hot day. I bought a Eric Clapton t-shirt that had Clapton's head & Robin Trower's hands & Strat on it. whatever

The Bears 1987
The Bears were a local band made up of The Raisins & Adrian Belew, who, I guess, was from the NKY area. He had a name with the art rock snobs from playing with the likes of King Crimson & Laurie Anderson. The Raisins were basically a kinda crazy pop band with a lead guitarist, Rob Fetters, whose lead was hardly pop. It was bound to be an interesting show. It was actually really good. I believe it was their debut show. There was a lot of excitement and energy. The two guitarists were going at it and it was really quite dynamic.
Well, I'm weird, I guess. A lot of the Raisin fans hated it because it wasn't the Raisins. The Belew fans about died. They were walking out because it was POP music. Belew had sold out. Piss on 'em. Belew had said in interviews this wasn't the last thing he was ever going to do.
I liked it.

Northside Independence Day -er- Weekend Festivities

ok, here's the line up:
    Friday
Katie Laur 6PM
The Turkeys 7PM
The Seedy Seeds 8PM
Aerial Arts Performance 8:40PM
The Chauncers 8:55PM
Pickled Brothers Sideshow 9:50PM
Incendium Arts Fire Troupe 10:20PM
Culture Queer 10:40PM
Wussy 11:35PM
Man Halen 12:30AM
PLUS
Fire Arts by Incendium
Aerial Dance Performance
MC Brian Dilsizian
    Saturday
THE PARADE 12PM
Dance With Me, LLC 3PM
Greg Morris Group 4:20PM
Aerial Arts Performance 5:20
MIll Poetic 5:40PM
Josh Dorsey Blues Revival 7PM
Seedy Seeds 8:10PM
Vaudeville 8:50PM
Happy Chichester 9:10PM
Dragshow by The 3 Illusionists 10PM
Lab Partners 10:45PM
Dantes Gypsy Circus 11:10PM
Lions Rampant 11:30PM
Fists Of Love 12:30PM
PLUS

Educational art activities for kids hosted by HAPPEN INC.

"Taste of Northside" featuring Northside restaurants

Local Artists

More info here.

Northside Holiday Events by Metro
If you are planning on attending the Northside 3rd & 4th of July festivities via bus, you are in luck. The 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 27, 39 routes all service the neighborhood. The bad news is, you're not gonna be able to close the place down & Saturday's Holiday service will be limited to just the 17, 18, 19, 27 & most of those routes shut down really early.
UPDATE: Metro, in their weirdness will run a holiday schedule on Friday and, on the holiday, run regular Saturday schedules. Check the actual schedules to see what's going on Saturday & what I listed for Saturday is what to expect on Friday.
Sorry for any inconvenience

Schedules are in PDF format:
16 last bus Friday around 10:30, no holiday service Saturday
17 last bus Friday around midnite, around midnite on Saturday
18 last bus Friday around 9, around 7 on Saturday
19 last bus Friday around 10, around 6 on Saturday
20 last bus Friday around 10, no holiday service Saturday
27 last bus Friday around midnite, around 11 on Saturday
39 last bus Friday around 9, no holiday service Saturday

Looking for Some Fireworks ?

zzzzzzzzzz.......
Incendium Arts will be providing the fireworks again this year at the Northside Rock and Roll Carnival on Friday, July 3rd.
Carnival starts at 6 PM, IA starts at 10:20, the madness resumes on Saturday at noon.

The Rolling Stones Clevo Muni Stadium 1978
As usual, it rained. Dunno how many times I stood in the rain watching this band. Kansas (ack !) and Peter Tosh (yay !) opened. A motorcyclist rode around on a cable.
We piled a bunch of people into Phil's van & drove up to his grandfather's house in a neighborhood that had been extremely Polish in years past. The idea was to have granpa drive us to the stadium so we would not have to fool with parking & traffic. yeah, we'll dump that on the old guy. I had met him before & he was pretty cool. He was a WWI vet and a retired pharmacist. When we walked into his house he screamed at us in German & English & I must have understood him or my survivor instincts kicked in 'cause I closed the door the last guy in had not closed and apologized. One of the other guys commented, "The old guy went crazy and started yelling at us in tongues & shit & Quim started leaping into action. I didn't know what was going to happen !"
The party outside the stadium prior to the doors opening was pretty cool. Dunno if it was a Cleveland thing. Kinda like in 30 Rock where everyone in Cleveland is just super nice, I dunno.
My patch of friends was, of course, cheering & dancing to Peter Tosh and sitting around getting stoned while Kansas played which seemed to be the opposite of how 90% of the rest of the crowd handled the day.
The Stones were touring the album, Some Girls. The title track of that album earned some controversy. It was a parody of a macho guy rambling on about stereotypes of women based on ethnicity. Jesse Jackson was appalled at the description of black girls but seemed to have no problem with the other dozen or so stereotypes. hm

Who Killed the Davey Moore Statue ?

Bob Dylan could probably add a few more verses to his song about Davey Moore discussing the lack of funding for a statue to memorialize the world feather-weight boxing champion. Was it the economy ? Politics ? Shifting Demographics ?
The statue is slated to stand across the street from the old Springfield (South) High School on Limestons St. just south of the central business district. That's his old high school. There is a park named in his honor on South Yellow Springs Street, the street he grew up on.
The statue project isn't really dead, the donations to fund it have just kinda come to a standstill, causing some concern.
The Center City Association Sculpture Advisory Committee say they need $37k to complete the $92k needed to complete the project. they are confident it is just a matter of time, tho.
Meanwhile his widow & family wait.

Noose Son Story here.

The Electric Light Orchestra 1975 - Dayton Hara Arena
The Electric Light Orchestra was still touring the album, Eldorado. Two of my old buds spent the better part of their first decade in England and listened to the pop music their older sibs played. Some of the popular 60s british bands didn't translate well to the US. One of these bands was The Move. The first I heard of the Move was when they reformed as ELO and was pretty much under the leadership of Roy Wood. Wood was getting weirder and weirder and left the band to the much more commercially minded Jeff Lynne. He took the concept & ran with it with Bev Bevan pounding out the drums.
This band had a couple cellists, a violinist, electric bass, guitar, drums and people switching on & off keyboards. Lynne played a gold Les Paul.
This was a pretty good show although Lynne looked pretty wrecked. A friend claimed he was discreetly flipping off the audience. I missed that. He was great at classic rock-n-roll guitar & the string section (yeah I know a guitar is a string instrument) was into rocking out as much as their more traditional RnR bandmates.
It was hot.

A Holiday in the Sun

Want to do something different on your next vacation ? Howzabout hunting pirates off the coast of Somalia ?
Russian ocean liner companies are offering cruises for the aspiring buccaneer for £3500/day. An extra £5 gets you an AK-47 (ammo is £7 per 1000 rounds).
The ships sail reeeeeally slow close to the shores of Somalia to lure the unsuspecting pirates out where tourists can mow 'em down with their machine guns.
I love it. Law enforcement as a tourist attraction for the rich. We could probably do this in Cincinnati now that we are home to the country's most dangerous neighborhood. Of course, it's not really law enforcement, it's murder that nobody is going to condemn. If it catches on, tho, we might be able to wage wars this way. Instead of drafting and paying for the poor, we can have rich people pay us to fight. Of course, the first boatload of tourist/murderers that get slaughtered might put a damper on things.

AnaNova story here.
You will have to read it, tho, the animated chick is still AWOL.

The Kid Is Not My Son
I had fairly forgotten that the late Michael Jackson owned the rights to The Beatles catalog of songs. Apparently Jackson & Sony owned and/or administered the rights of a host of other people's compositions as well. With Jackson's sudden death & his massive debt, the ownership of these compositions is up in the air now. Fortunately, it's not just simple ownership, there are trusts & licensing & partnerships involved. The compositions were also used as collateral for loans. The roaches will be coming out of the woodwork for claims to Jackson's estate and money oriented financial types will be slavering to get their meathooks onto those songs. The bragging rights at the club would be outrageous.
Jackson was never high on my list of musicians but I think I like the idea of a real musician owning this intellectual property more than just some investor type.
Regardless, we will probably be hearing about his estate & wild claims to it for some years to come.
As anybody who has lost a parent knows, a simple uncontested estate can result in weird shit popping up for years. With a popular, wealthy, eccentric person like Jackson, the sky is the limit. This could bring out more weird-ohs than Howard Hughes ever did.

Reuters story here.

Friday Font Humour

or - Hitler's Subtitle Guy Gets a Cheap Font CD

2009 Clark County Fair Queen Candidates

Clark County Fair Queen contestants released. Well, their names. It's not like they were imprisoned or held captive by the County Commisioners or anything.
Or were they ?
Once again no zombie women were nominated. Clark County's stubborn prejudice against Nosferatu is still firmly in place.

Noose Son story here

Farrah Fawcett RIP

Over the Rhine
The Most Dangerous Neighborhood in the USA

Danger lurks EVERYWHERE.
In case you were wondering what the most dangerous neighborhood in the USA looked like, I offer a few galleries of the awful community. Be forewarned, the blood, carnage and overall inhumanity might e a bit much for the more timid reader.
Cincy Images
Grasscat
Queen City Discovery (at night !)
Sometimes blind number crunching just doesn't get i.....

Ohio Works to Stave Off Radical HSUS Agenda
Governor Strickland has proposed a 13-member Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board that would set standards for the care of livestock on farms. This appears to be in response o the Washington DC based animal rights group, HSUS (mistakenly referred to as an animal welfare group in the linked article below) passing a ballot initiative in California, recently, that fairly destroyed their smaller animal husbandry industry. Ohio has a huge industry in pork and eggs. The proposals from HSUS would jack prices up and make egg production less safe for consumers. This is of no concern to the organization that promotes vegetarianism. Ohio knew it was on the radical groups radar along with the states of Washington, Illinois and Massachusetts.
HSUS claims that the creation of this proposed Ohio board, to be run by professionals and people who generally know what they are doing, would "force" them to run a ballot campaign fueled with misinformation and a budget of 10 -100 million dollars to deceive the public into deciding "how things should be done".
There are people engaged in less than stellar practices in all industries, animal husbandry is no exception. A state standards board sounds like a good idea, but maybe a bit redundant. The Ohio Department of Agriculture already has standards for animal care. More inspectors to weed out the abusive farmers would be in order but that's unlikely with the current budget (A budget that would be worsened by the legislation HSUS seeks).
Ohio doesn't need out of state extremists coming into our state and forcing their radical agenda down our throats. Ohio doesn't need higher food prices or the loss of jobs in a major industry or the increased chances of contaminated foods.
Support Strickland's idea or not, be aware of the alternative liberal out of state radicals have in store for us.

AP story here

Pink Floyd 1977
Pink Floyd with Donovan opening at the horrible metal cavern called Riverfront Coliseum (at the time) in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Queen of Heaven, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World, The Love of My Life took me to this concert in her mom's green Buick. We spent an early summer evening on Fountain Square watching hapless lonely Porktowners mill about after a day's work at their mundane jobs. None of them knew the bliss of love that I was drowning in.
Walked down to the Coliseum & took our seats in outer Slobovia. The bands were teeny tiny. I listened to Sunshine Superman from the bathroom. Pink Floyd had balloon animals and transistor radios.
Everything was solid and professional. It was a good concert. I had fairly lost interest in Pink Floyd after Dark Side of the Moon. This tour was promoting Animals. They played their old stuff but it had a slickness to it that sort of.....
It didn't sound like Ummagumma.
This was also about the time the punk movement was really taking off, tho & the poster bands for everything wrong in pop music were soon to be Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac.
FWIW, the aforementioned lass is also living in Cincinnati now, I guess, so she can more easily torment me and generally make my life miserable.
Ornery old bat...

Luther Allison 1977
Luther Allison at the Crying Cowboy Saloon in Springfield, Ohio.
wow
The Crying Cowboy was pretty much a bluegrass haunt. I remember some band from Yellow Springs being almost a house band there. The Dry Creek Fire Squad ?
Anyway, Allison's electric big city blues was quite a diversion from the Cowboy's usual music. One of his shticks was to walk through the bar and play out on the sidewalk out front. Dunno where he got his cords.....
I believe he had a trio or maybe another guitar player. Allison rocked out with soaring, screaming electric guitar. It was a great show. So good, in fact, he moved to Europe shortly thereafter. Springfield seems to have that affect on people.....
I had heard Allison in concert before, but I had not actually gone to the show. My pals & I dropped acid & stood around the Wittenberg Union & listened outside while he played in the dining room. It had rained earlier & the wind blew out the clouds to reveal a big moon that reflected in the shiny wet streets & sidewalks. Mr Allison must have noticed us through the window because I am pretty sure he was playing just for us.

Patti Smith 1979
Patti Smith at the Columbus Agora. The venue on High Street is now called the Newport Club.
We didn't have tickets to this show & were under the impression it was sold out, but we went anyway. It was weird. the show was general admission, of course, they did have tickets for sale & the goofballs actually let in the people buying tickets at the door before the advance ticket holders went in who had been standing in line for good seats for hours. I had seen Smith at the old Bogart's some time before & she seemed particularly wasted. At this show she was happy, energetic and exuberant.
chicks.....
The most memorable part of this concert was when my friend shouted out, "My generation !" & the band immediately launched into the song. :-)

Strawberry Fields Limited

Violence in Haiti

Student demonstrators attacked and burned a U.N. police vehicle in the Haitian capital on Wednesday, adding to security concerns ahead of this weekend's scheduled Senate elections.
The student protests, now in their fourth week, are part of a general uptick in violence leading into Sunday's scheduled second-round elections for 11 vacant Senate seats. At least two people have been killed in clashes between political parties elsewhere in Haiti.

Well, rioting ain't too productive but I can see why these folks are pissed.

The student demonstrations began in late May against the elimination of medical school classes but quickly grew into protests against the 9,000-member U.N. force that has been in Haiti since 2004, and in support of increasing Haiti's minimum wage from $2 to $5 a day.
The salary increase has been approved by the legislature but is opposed by business owners, especially owners of factories that produce garments for sale in the United States and elsewhere. An agreement is expected to be announced by President Rene Preval this week.

About the last thing to eliminate in Haiti is modern medical training. As far as a more than doubling of the minimum wage - well, put that way, it's big money, but how about $5 per hour ? While the legislature has passed the minimum wage hike, people believe the president will cave to the business owners and veto the measure.
I think that what really pisses me off about this is that we are so proud to have eliminated slavery in the US but we are apparently fairly dependent on it anyway. Somewhere, somebody is making out. Dunno if it is the Haitian business owners or if the American business owners are squeezing them as well. Regardless, we in the USA are supporting what is tantamount to slavery when buying these products. Big products tend to be textile/garment products frequently sold at big stores like JC Penney, Wal-Mart, Kmart & the like. Apparently, the Disney company likes to use these plants in Haiti.
I cannot find an up to date listing of American companies engaged in these crap practices. This article is over 10 years old (when the minimum wage was less than $2/day) from Third World Traveller:
www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Caribbean/US_Haiti_Connection.html
Third World is kinda funny. Port-au-Prince is a 2 hour flight from Miami.
What's frustrating is that so many Americans are dependent on the cheapest products because they have lost their jobs to the third world countries. Then, equally frustrating is that the people in these countries cannot earn enough to possibly rise out of their current poverty.
And what REALLY burns me up is that we support this shit and I don't even know if I am guilty of being a part of that.
We should have been allies with this country 200 years ago.

"Make good money - 5 dollars a day
Make any more and I'd move away"

Taiwan News story here

Janet Sanderson, Ambassador to Haiti

Robin Trower 1974
This concert was at the late Palace Theatre in downtown Dayton. It had a low stage, the walls were blue and decorated with white cameos of ancient greek looking stuff. Trower had left Procol Harum and had started a power trio. It wasn't much of a trio, tho. Trower probably could have just used prerecorded bass and drum loops and just wailed on his Strat all night.

Cincinnati's New Logo

Cincinnati recently unveiled it's new logo designed by LPK for a cool $75k paid by Macy's.
I don't terribly dislike it. I like the colors - city blue, a light blue & green. It screams water, earth, air, clarity & transparency. The shape, however, is pretty uninspirational. A torus with a wedge knocked out of it.
What bothers me is it's functionality. It looks great on white but the vignetted edges & goofy highlights & shadows are gonna be hell to reproduce on other colors, patterns & images.

It won't photocopy or fax well.

You can't just stick it on a photo.

Simple outlining still has issues with the vignetted edges.
It does appear to have a shape and a 3Dness to it. this has potential, especially with the transparency thing going on.

Static

Animated
poorly
The shape still needs masking & stuff for the soft edges. Hopefully LPK has supplied masks, grayscales & hell, even a 3d model (for $75k) so the city can get the widest range of uses out of this thing.

Fishwrap story here.

When Bike Lanes Go Bad
The person who reads this blog knows I am no fan of bike lanes. With the release of the 2009 Cincinnati Bike Route Guide and it's routing of cyclists away from the Northside business district (because why would a cyclist want to go somewhere to do business ?) and up Crawford Avenue (because there is so much to do on Crawford Avenue), I wasn't surprised to see the city not only painting but carving bike lanes into the road. I guess this is to let people know these lanes are permanent. Too bad because I think they will tend to confuse not only the already confused motorists but these cockamamie lanes will even confuse the cyclists. I am sure they were planned by motorist engineers.
In this first pic, we see a fairly normal looking bike lane. It is very narrow but it widens a bit up ahead. (Which is kinda weird)

At least it was over on the right side of the lane. Further on the bike lane goes out into the middle of the road.

Maybe this part was designed by an east side cyclist.....
Still, in other places, the bike lane lurches from side to side...


Curves are handled oddly. In one curve the bike lane goes extremely wide.

Yet in another bend it cuts the corner pretty hard.

One part of the lane goes off crawford completely & seems to want to head over onto Bercliff.

At Spring lawn cyclusts are offered the options of careening into a stop sign or heading up the middle of the east bound lane.

It looks like somebody may have opted for the stop sign already.
there appear to be special markings for recumbent cyclists which I don't understand.

Then again I don't understand why a person would ride such a low profiled vehicle in a busy city street. maybe that's why recumbents are routed up a dead end.

While this might just be the tragic result of hop head surveyors on acid, I think we can get along fine without bike lanes. I doubt a painted line would have had any influence on the asshole that pulled up next to me the other day & whose passenger tried shoving me over, anyway.

The Detroit Cobras

Gypsy Hut TONITE
www.myspace.com/thegypsyhut

Things That Make You go, hmmm
How come we don't elect presidents with sons ? For the last 17 years it has been all girls.
Obama - 2 daughters
Bush - 2 daughters
Clinton - 1 daughter
The last president we had with sons was George Bush.

Leon Russell 1974
I can't believe this guy is still alive.
He played an electric piano that was turned up too loud and was distorted beyond listenability.

What's going on in Northside this weekend, you ask ?
well,
Friday, June 12 8:30 AM - 4:30 OM Banner and Ross Gallery prsents Wild Life: Animal, Landscape, Skin at 3841 Spring Grove Avenue
Friday, June 12, 5 - 10 PM NVISION hosts the opening of Ring Mosaics at 4577 Hamilton Avenue
Friday, June 12, 9:30 PM Maker will perform at The Gypsy Hut at 4231 Spring grove Avenue
Friday, June 12 10 PM Permacrush will play at The Comet at 4163 Hamilton Avenue
Friday, June 12 10 PM Noctaluca will play at The Northside Tavern at 4163 Hamilton Avenue
Saturday, June 13, 9 - 10:30 AM The Cincinnati Family Enrichment Center hosts a Plant Swap at 4244 Hamilton Avenue
Saturday, June 13, 10 AM - 6 PM Prairie Gallery presents Camera Obscura
Saturday, June 13, 11 AM to 5 PM Northside Arts presents the Sidewalk Spring Arts Fair
Saturday, June 13, 2 PM NVISION hosts Ring Mosaics at 4577 Hamilton Avenue
Saturday, June 13, 3 - 9 PM Squealin' With Pride in Hoffner Park
Saturday, June 13 10 PM No Horses will play at The Comet at 4163 Hamilton Avenue
Saturday, June 13, 10 PM GLUE will perform at The Gypsy Hut at 4231 Spring grove Avenue
Saturday, June 13 10 PM the Buffalo Killers will play at The Northside Tavern at 4163 Hamilton Avenue
Sunday, June 14, 1 - 7 PM Squealin' With Pride in Hoffner Park with parade from Burnett woods down Ludlow to Hoffner Park.
Sunday, June 14, 11 AM The Cincinnati Preservation Association presents a Northside/Cumminsville Walking Tour. $10 Meets at Sidewinder Coffee and Tea, 4181 Hamilton Avenue
Sunday, June 14, 2 PM NVISION hosts Ring Mosaics at 4577 Hamilton Avenue
Sunday, June 14 7:30 PM The Comet Bluegrass All Stars will play at The Comet at 4163 Hamilton Avenue
Sunday, June 14 9 PM Tribella will play at The Blue Rock Tavern at 4163 Hamilton Avenue
Sunday, June 14, 9 PM Teeth Collection will perform at The Gypsy Hut at 4231 Spring grove Avenue
Sunday, June 14 10 PM The Rattlesnakin' Daddies will play at The Northside Tavern at 4163 Hamilton Avenue

and, of course, there's plenty of grub & hooch

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

The Enquirer's Censors
Now that the Fishwrap's censors have taken to routinely censoring my comments, I feel I must vindicate myself lest people think I am some foul mouthed yob.
As people who never ride the bus or go into downtown Cincinnati were ranting about the horrors of the bus & downtown, I felt it was time to shine a light on the media blackout of what actually happens on the buses in downtown Cincinnati.
My censored post:

When the buses get back to the garage at the end of a shift, all the blood is drained and distributed to the vampires that reside in the old subway tunnels.
The bodies are carted off and dumped into the Mill Creek.
The Metro drivers are not paid anymore due to budget restraints. They are required to fight other passengers and loot the corpses on the bus. To help in this they have been surgically altered with steel teeth, embedded razor claws and prosthetic chainsaws.

In case you were wondering, the vampires aren't the old Bram Stoker types - shunning garlic and crosses and stuff. They are the product of experiments in post nuclear survival that were done back during the cold war. They are more technically blood drinking radioactive mutants I guess.
Folks, white flight is a myth. the "lost tribe of Porkopolis" is either living underground or being murdered on the streets and buses of Cincinnati by NSA operatives working in league with Skull & Bones, the Rothschilds and the Illuminati (known locally as the Board of Directors of the Mercantile Library).
The streetcar plan is simply a new technology to drain the train (so to speak) through gutters alongside the tracks.
Folks, the truth must be told and the blackout by the Cincinnati.com admins who stalk the darkened hallways of the Fishwrap IT department gleaning horrible knowledge from the dark secrets their servers whisper to them will not, CAN NOT pull the wool over your eyes ! That is something only YOU can do.
While the one eyed, brain-eating, reptilian Venusians running the HamCoBOE may have thwarted my plans for a council seat, I pledge to bring Cincinnati out of the abyss and into the eternal light of true horror in my new Era of Empire one way or another !
∃ ∀ ∈ ⊕

Friday Guitar Fun

yeah, I know it doesn't fit - sosumi.
Led Boots.

Wittenberg to Offer Free Tuition for Vets
Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio Will be offering free tuition to 50 veterans enlisted since 9/11/2001. In the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, the VA provided tuition for vets at public universities and colleges. Private schools can receive matching funds up to 50% of total costs and Wittenberg has offered to cover that for 50 vets beginning in the 09-10 school year.

Details here.
Noose Son story here.

Northside Farmers Market

Someday I will learn how to format for YouTube...
well, well, DCI has all sorts of videos to promote their square.....
How precious
Now they have "Market Sqyare"
sheesh
I'll make my own damn video.....
Monsoons aside, the Northside Farmers Market will be held in Hoffner Park this summer (& go the way of the gypsy again in the fall probably) beginning June 3. The first musical guest will be Magnolia Mountain. Happen Inc. will be providing creative kids activities.
the current vendors list looks like this:
Back Acres Farm
Pattycakes3@verizon.net
937-378-4379
-meat, eggs, cheese, ice cream, veggies

Back Yard Orchard
Dennis
-appples and peaches and sometimes pears

Blue Oven Bakery
Mark Frommeyer
-Local all the way to the grain bread – lots of verity

Marvin Barbian
The Barbian Farm
-sells tomatoes, green beans, peaches, plums, pears , summer squash

Bohemian Beads
Janell Nelson
-Handmade Jewelry & Clothing

Janice Young
-Cluxton Alley Coffee Roaster

Creative Fiber Arts
-Fabric covered vases

Donnas Ziu
Donnas Delights
-baked goods

Dylan Tennison
Sprout and Shout and Sprout
-RAIN BARRELS

Eco Garden Memorial Inc.
Luke Ebner
-local produce

Teresa Young
Flowers Forever
-flowers , fruit, veggies

Graydon Stroud
Five Star Foodies
-packaged vegan entrees

Gypsey Attack Pepper Sauce
Adam Sievering
-Hot sauce

Grounded Touch
Jim Vices
-Chair Massages at the market!

Leroy E. Allgeier
-Blackberries

Douglas Weber, Betsy Hennika
Mud Foot Farm
-produce, eggs, hand made glass art

Martin Hill Farms
Mike Collins
-Produce & CSA

Northside Guerilla Farmer
Marica Bernstein
-A service to teach people how to garden- from seed to table.

Natures Gifts
Jane Staubitz

Melanie Wolf
Olive Branch
-tropical houseplants, veggies, lemonade, desserts

Frances Kroner
Porch Pops
-gourmet ice pops

Jim Lowenburg/Karen Mandell
Running Creek Farm LLC
-local produce, pesticide-free produce and flowers

Raw Kraut
-locally made fermented caned foods

Rising Sun Farms
Tom Cail
-pasteurized pork, eggs, honey

Shadow Breads
Gary Skitt
-Loaf Bread, Sliced Bread, Pastry’s

Sweet Miss Confections
Melissa Loggins
-Biscotti, chocolate mretzels, seasonal fruit pies, mini fruit breads

ThaouArt
Peggy Schuning
-hand painted pots

Taste of Belgium
Jean Francois Flechet
-Belgian waffles, savory crepes!

Diantha Decker & John Rebush
Village Green Community Gardens
-plant starters

Ande Schewe
Wind Dance Farm
-produce, veggies, herbs, wildcraft, soaps

Jeniffer Stancati
j.stanacati@gmail.com
-handmade crafts

So, I got this neighbor... He lives in a rental that actually has a garage and short driveway. Out in front of his house there is only on street parking on one side. In front of my house and continuing west there is on street parking on both sides of the street. This guy has so many cars, his driveway is usually full. Dunno if he uses the garage for a car. The parking spaces across from his apartment are always full and he leaves his other cars littered on both sides of the street from my house up a few doors.
When I started to realize all these cars were owned by one asshole, my first thought was, "How the hell can he afford the insurance ?"
duh
He, of course, doesn't use them all. They sit on the street and get dusty. The street is a hill, so debris piles up on the tires. Every so often, I or one of he neighbors calls the city and he gets tagged, ticketed, towed. The cars don't all run of course, so when he gets red tagged, he has to spend a few hours coaxing the car back to life so he can drive it around the block and park it on the other side of the street.
Over the past couple years every utility in town has been digging up the street for one reason or another. The city puts up NO PARKING signs and the guy doesn't notice. Last year the WaterWorks towed him twice. Once they towed 2 cars at once. The guy had them towed back later in the evening. I watched as he directed the tow truck driver to deposit the dead beater to a spot immediately under a NO PARKING sign which the driver pointed out to the asshole, who, apparently, still had not noticed it's existence.
In the winter, the snow plows can't get anywhere near the curb, so the neighbors blessed with hosting his herd of crap all get to shovel an additional 6-7 feet of snow to get to the plowed street.
So this guy continues to live some 10th century nomadic goat herder lifestyle, investing in cars that only depreciate in value, hemorrhaging rent on an apartment that will never be his, pissing off the neighbors and devaluing the neighborhood, keeping the local tow truck business going and developing God only knows what kind of relationship with the guys at the impound lot.
If the dumbass would bail on the cars for awhile, he could save some money, buy a house in the country with a big garage or barn (which would actually appreciate in value) and then he could re-embark on his life dream of living in a junkyard without annoying everybody around him. Til then, he will just keep getting nickled and dimed on towing fees and tickets, etc..
His beautiful gray coupe across the street just got a ticket. It is street sweeping day and now there will be a lovely pocket of debris where his car sits.

Cheetah Chrome Explains How to Play Sonic Reducer
altho, I think I would use an old SG instead.

Memorial Day 1968

Since I can't run for political office on any kind of military experience, I guess I will have to rely on my juvenile paramilitary experience in the Boy Scouts.
At our next to last troop meeting, the scoutmaster walked out of the room and went and sat in the darkened dining room in the church basement. He smoked cigarettes and mumbled something to the effect o, "fuck it, let 'em do what they want, let it all go to hell, fuck it".
So, yeah, that's where I got my leadership training.

Internet Security
President Obama is talking about making an interwebs secuity czar. Why a country like the USA has "czars" is kinda weird, but, whatever.
When I was a lad I got involved with radio through an outreach kinda thing conducted by Antioch College's WYSO. This required getting an FCC license. Part of the education to getting the license was explaining the importance of maintaining the security of the transmitter and protecting it from foreign misuse. This notion was reinforced after reading Che Guevara's seminal work, Guerilla Warfare where he states that one of the first things you do when capturing a town is to capture the radio station. You can cut down on the fighting a lot if you tell people the fighting is over & the revolutionaries have won. Sucker punch a DJ v a firefight with the local constabulary.
As soon as I saw the internet with email and vast stores of just non-sensitive personal data, I saw a need for security. With the networks carrying vast sums of cash, very sensitive data and all the news and information that radio & television broadcasters carry, security is even more important. In fact, it is important on a national security level. While a "czar" might be a step in the right direction, I think a licensing procedure for the administrators of these systems and servers would also help in requiring a bit of responsibility by the individual to the state/citizenry.
While the FCC is hardly my favorite entity due to their capitulation to big businesses that they are supposed to be regulating, they actually have a valid role to play as, essentially, traffic cops. They (are supposed to) make sure that the airwaves are not infiltrated with the lies and propaganda of our enemies. While the interwebs are a bit different since the average shmoe can access sites all over the world, it is important to keep our guys on the up and up and our transmissions legitimate.
I don't know how a licensing system could be worked out. A radio is pretty much a radio, a TV is a TV but computer networks vary quite a bit and a server isn't just a server.
While the president of the USA & leader of the free world tends to think top down, I think a better step towards national cyber security would start at the bottom. Maybe it's because I am a bottom feeder.

Environmental Justice
Cincinnati councliman, Dave Crowley has been working on an Environmental Justice Ordinance for the city for a few years now. It addresses the fact that poor people and frequently minorities are frequently adversely affected by industrial pollution more so than wealthy people. While Christian Moerlein used to live across the street from his plant (yuck !), the trend in later years was to move residential property away from manufacturing facilities. It was more pleasant and healthier. Eventually we fairly legally mandated the separations between residential, retail and manufacturing through zoning laws. Some stuff was grandfathered, wealth brings choices - the fact is poorer people and frequently minorities are still frequently adversely affected by industrial pollution.
So I get it. I agree with the idea in principle but the implementation puts an added burden on the business that wants to move to the community or expand within the community that will likely lead businesses to throw up their hands and just not bother with investing in the city regardless of wether their facility might have a negative impact on residents or not. This will result in the un-alleviation of poverty and the impoverished frequently engage in lifestyles that negatively affect their health anyway.
My problem is not with the intent of this ordinance but in it's implementation that requires the prospective business to invest in supplementary documentation and then wait for an additional review by some shadowy board that is estimated to take another 2-3 months & result in a thumbs up or down.
The process needs to be as upfront and business friendly as possible so decisions can be made quickly, efficiently and economically. The prospective business needs to know the rules up front. Adding a layer to the approval process internally is fine but adding another process for the business is a bad idea.
Government is understandably slow by nature but time is money for businesses and we need economic growth and jobs in this town.

An article at Cincy, the Magazine for Business Professionals called "A Streetcar named Perspire" has some quotes from the nattering naybobs opposed to this project that bother me. I am used to ignorant, uninformed people making pointless statements but in this case I was troubled by who was saying what.

The Rev. Dock Foster, pastor of Unity Baptist Church in East Walnut Hills, is president of the Baptist Ministers Conference of Cincinnati, which voted to oppose the streetcar initiative. He looks around his and other predominantly black neighborhoods of Evanston, Avondale and Bond Hill and sees unemployment in the teens, poverty and despair. Pumping money into a streetcar that doesn’t run through any of those neighborhoods is an affront to him when he sees the need for direct investment in those neighborhoods to create jobs and alleviate suffering.
“A streetcar at this time is the wrong time,” Foster says. “We have so much poverty.”
Asked if the city can’t simultaneously build streetcar and work on neighborhood problems, Foster says, “Let’s see them working on the problems. We’re like the people in Missouri. Show me.”

and

Bishop Stephen Scott, a Unity Baptist Church member, says the streetcar plan ignores the neighborhoods. “They want the front door to look good and then you walk inside the house and it’s a mess,” he says.

Perhaps he had some solutions and they just weren't quoted. The neighborhoods they cite, of course, are not the same as the ones where the streetcar routes are planned for and likely would not be a great investment in their neighborhoods.
Big problems holding back growth in those neighborhoods is crime and the government can only react to crime.
Alleged Men of God, however, are supposed to lead people to not engage in crime, to be frugal and to focus and dedicate themselves to a Godly life, to prosper, be a good family member, a community member and to work towards building the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth and all that other nice Calvinistic stuff these guys are supposed to be dedicated to.
The attitude of "I want a piece, too !!" doesn't seem too terribly Christlike, either.
What kind of neighbors are these guys ?
In the WCPO documentary, Visions of Vine, The Baptist Minister's Conference was one of the land owners called out for maintaining blighted, unkempt property in OTR - the neighborhood they, apparently, don't want to see improved.
When kids in a neighborhood see this kind of thing it makes an impression on them. It shows them the owners don't care about them, their neighborhood or environment.
Maybe it's this lack of character and integrity that turns community members away and towards more tribal lifestyles.

Prosit and Gemutlichkeit
the Brewing Heritage in Zinzinnati
or "Foam, Sweet, Foam…."

The College Hill Historical Society will present a multi-media presentation by Jim Bruckman, College Hill resident and great-grandson of a Cincinnati Brewer.
Free! All are Welcome!
Due to the large settlement of Germans in the 1800's, lager beer became the drink of choice in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. In 1890 there were over two hundred drinking places on Vine Street alone. The National average for Americans in drinking beer was 16 gallons per year. In Cincinnati the average per year was 40 gallons! Saloons offered free lunches and the "Schnitzelbank Song." Carrie Nation visited Cincinnati in 1901, and then Prohibition in 1918.
Find out how the Bruckmann Brewery legally survived Prohibition and Flourished.
Wednesday, May 27, 7 p.m.
Twin Towers
5343 Hamilton Avenue
Wilson Art Gallery

Building Brighter Futures
or
Frank Lloyd Wright Meets Habitat for Humanity
While inspiration might only get about 1% of the credit, it's certainly worth giving some attention to.
A group of high school kids in Springfield has taken on a project to design a home for Habitat for Humanity. The host for the design project will be The Westcott House where the kids will meet for about a month and, hopefully be inspired by Wright's architecture.
The Westcott House was designed by Wright a little over 100 years ago for an automobile manufacturer and has been recently restored as a museum/event/meeting place. This is the second time they have hosted this project.
While Wright is well known for his residential work with wealthy clients, commercial buildings and museums, he also designed a "Common Man's" series of homes he dubbed, Usonian. These were smaller homes designed for efficiency, practicality, maximizing the use of space and fitting into the existing environment. This concept is probably a bit more in line with a Habitat home. Teenagers utter lack of practicality notwithstanding, here's hoping for a successful project !

Noose Son story here.

Warsaw Falcons 1983
My dad's favorite pickle was the Warsaw Falcon Polish Dill. Frankly, I didn't like 'em but they had a cool falcon crest kinda thing on the lid. He was tickled pink to know there was a band in Cincinnati that had appropriated the name.
David Rhodes Brown pulled this band together in 1982 after playing in various bands and solo for nearly 20 years. they played rockabilly, rocked out country classics (Walking After Midnight was a personal fave) and rocking rural blues. They played the local and regional venues for years, relocated to Nashville, returned with Bobby Keys in tow and eventually disintegrated with Brown continuing to play alone and with various bands in the midwest.
Brown routinely tore up on his Silvertone with the Falcons at Animations qnd Dollar Bill's and other bars around Cincinnati & NKY. While playing at Bogart's might have seemed a little more professional, it was usually just louder.

Wesleyan Cemetery Memorial Day Ceremony
Remember that church downtown over on Catherine Street ? Had that little graveyard ? Methodist ? It was over by where the soap company's offices are nowadays.
Wonder whatever happened to it.....
Well, in the 1840s the Wesleyan Chapel's graveyard was pretty much full up. A Methodist church group needed to expand the capacity for more burials but were landlocked in the rapidly growing city. They decided to buy a large area of land outside any city that would never wind up being landlocked again. They bought 25 acres just west of the little village of Cumminsville & re-interred everybody up there.
As funerals back then usually involved the bereaved walking behind a horse drawn hearse to the cemetery, I can only imagine the congregation was overjoyed with the decision.
The caretaker of the church graveyard moved up to the new cemetery and moved into a house built for him there. He had a fine reputation and the new cemetery had a sterling reputation. After he died, subsequent caretakers weren't so dedicated. By the early 20th century the place was described as "indifferently kept".
In the 1930s the city wanted to use eminent domain to build a road through the cemetery that would extend Beekman through the cemetery to Colerain and Kirby, pretty much bisecting the cemetery.
DOH !

As the city had annexed Cumminsville and other areas around the cemetery, they had never annexed the cemetery. The road didn't go through.
This was rectified in the early 50s when the city, for safety reasons, annexed the property. They claimed the city could not respond to emergency calls at funerals and Veteran's and Memorial Day ceremonies. It is more likely the Republicans just wanted to add the Caretaker's one vote to their ranks.
Meanwhile interments and ceremonies became fewer and farther between. What events did start taking place there were more likely angry confrontations between the families of the interred and the managers and caretakers. Poor maintenance, poor records, missing graves, allegations of reselling graves and such happened over and over. The last caretaker was charged with embezzlement of funds & tossed in jail. This left Cincinnati and Hamilton County playing a game of hot potato with the cemetery as neither wanted the responsibility of caring for, hopefully, the final resting places of a large number of Cincinnati's original citizens and veterans of every American military venture including the Revolution. yeah, fuck your service and sacrifice - we don't wannna cut the grass.
Friends of Wesleyan Cemetery handled the duties voluntarily till the state told the city to take care of the cemetery. The city estimated that caring for the cemetery would cost about $250k/yr. An average residential lot in Cincinnati is about 1/8 acre. Who pays $70 to get their lawn mowed ?
But I digress.
Burials have slowed to a trickle if not curtailed. The city wanted to have the property to protect the citizens attending services there but now there were none.
Until now.
The College Hill/Northside Kiwanis had their first Memorial Day ceremony in decades at Wesleyan in 2007 and have continued on with it. Monday's ceremony will begin at 1:00 PM. The Kiwanis are trying to get the Governor to speak.
It's great to see new life at the Cemetery.
Thanks College Hill/Northside Kiwanis and Friends of Wesleyan Cemetery for your work.

Grave of Dr Richard Alison, Revolutionary War Veteran and past Surgeon General of the United States of America

Wesleyan Cemetery semi official website

Taste of Cincinnati
This year at Taste of Cincinnat, UDF will have a booth. They will be selling beer, chips, cigarettes and $5 money orders that they will not accept. Their booth will be immediately recognizable, painted with their bright purple orange and red colors and surrounded by loitering panhandlers and teenagers.
Taste of Cincinnati is May 23-25 on 5th street between Race and Broadway.
As always, YOU WILL DIE if you go downtown.

Please note: Pets, (unless used for handicap assistance), bikes, skateboards, rollerblades, poles and sticks are prohibited in the event site during operating hours. No coolers, bottles, cans, alcoholic beverages or weapons can be brought into the event site.

What kind of town discriminates against flag waving, boozing skateboarders with shotguns ?

Campaign Diary
Day 5
OK, this isn't going well. BOE sez my patchwork signature forms aren't a problem but the fact I didn't get their blessing to pass out the forms was. Like I need to kiss their butt so I can represent you, my fellow citizens, in the bold New Era of Empire. heck, they want money too. What a racket......

Deceptive HSUS ?

Since the video has been removed from, not only YouTube but the TB station's archives, here's the transcript:

Where Humane Society Donations Really Go
ATLANTA -- A Channel 2 investigation is looking into millions of dollars in donations given to the Humane Society of the United States.
A national consumer organization says the society solicits pet-lovers for money, but little to none of that money ever goes to help local shelters.
Critics tell Channel 2 Action News reporter Amanda Rosseter that this isn’t just consumers misunderstanding who they are giving in to – but an organization actively misleading donors to get money.
“They do their marketing very well, that's for sure,” said Trey Burley of PAWS Atlanta.
Critics say the national organization takes advantage of people who think they are giving to local shelters. DeKalb's "PAWS" shelter says there is no regular funding help from the $100 million HSUS budget.
“I think that some of the folks who donate to the national organization may be under the false pretense that that money is going to a local cause,” said Burley.
While the HSUS does work to stop puppy mills, it also gets media coverage and donations doing it; but the puppies then go to local shelters who have to pay and care for them.
“They may initialize the resources for a rescue, but again the animals go to a shelter somewhere in the country,” said Richard Rice, VP of the Atlanta Humane Society.
Critics say HSUS also takes advantage of high-profile events. After hurricane Katrina, HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle promised on national TV to reunite pets with their owners—and raised $34 million for the cause; but public disclosures of where that money went add up to less than $7 million.
The Louisiana attorney general launched an 18-month-long investigation, and it then ended it when HSUS offered to build the state a new shelter.
The HSUS annual report for 2007 showed $120 million in revenue, including $5.4 million just from online donors.
Then there's $112 million in expenses -- most of which appears to have gone to legislation for animal rights bills. The list includes raccoons, mice, wild horses, burros and primates.
The center for consumer freedom says all worthy causes, but HSUS shouldn't mislead to get money.
So where does all the money go?
“It goes to lobbying, it goes to political contributions, it does go to pay huge staff salaries and benefits," said David Marposko with Center for Consumer Freedom.
Channel 2 Action News went to a local HSUS meeting to find out. The two hour discussion was about activist plans and lobbying. The Georgia director for the HSUS agrees that’s mostly what she does.
“I think that in all of our literature, it is very explicit as to what our campaigns are and what we are doing,” said Cheryl McAuliffe, Georgia Director for HSUS. “We help where we can and focus on our programs, which are national and international.”
McAuliffe said there are just too many local shelters to help.
“I always tell people, contribute to your local shelter first,” said McAuliffe.
When asked how much her budget is for the state of Georgia, McAuliffe said she didn’t have a budget and neither did the other states. McAuliffe said all money is controlled from headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Who is that Juggler in the Mural ?

Gus Sun

The mural being painted on the back of the old Regent Theater on Limestone street on the south side of Downtown Springfield with the acrobats and the prominent juggler memorializes Vaudeville promoter Gus Sun who had his offices adjacent to the theater.
Sun worked with the likes of Bpb Hope, the Marx Brothers, the Ritz Brothers, W.C. Fields, Al Jolson, Will Rogers, George Burns, Bert Lahr, Sophie Tucker and Edgar Bergen. He booked entertainers touring through 273 theaters across the country in the 20s and 30s. Inthe 40s and 50s, with the end of Vaudeville (and the rise of movies and later TV) he managed bookings in county and state fairs. His home base was in the Champion City, Springfield, Ohio where he opened the city's first theater in 1904.
The faces at the lower part of the mural are of the Chakeres Bros who operated the old movie theaters of Springfield til 1992 and whose family still maintains a chain of theaters.

Read the Noose Son story here.
More from SpringfieldLive here.

Heartless Bastards
One Day Only
Mountain - $1.99
For one day only, May 14, The Heartless Bastards latest album, The Mountain, is available for download from Amazon for $1.99.
Go here.

Reasons to Live in Ohio

Circumhorizontal Arcs
From NASAs Astronomy Picture of the Day, a picture of a circumhorizontal arc over Ohio. If everything is in alignment the sunlight refracting through ice crystals create this effect.
HA - In one day I am introduced to the words circumhorizontal arc and Hivevaginaphobia.

Campaign Diary
Day 1
How the hell do these guys get signatures on their ballot petitions ? Seems like everybody I approach either runs away screaming or threatens to kick my ass.
Hope the BOE is ok with my forms being all taped back together. They look like something that came out of the office of Dr. Frankenstein.

We Need More Police

In an example of "the best government money can buy", senators, flush with insurance lobby money & gifts, get a good laugh at police hauling citizens out of their coffee klatsch -er- Senate Hearing.
Their solution to skyrocketing health care costs ?
More police.

The Audacity of Despair

OK, with a Qualls on city council and a Quinlivan in the running, I figure why not throw in a Quimbob as well. Rox and Laure and I could form a triumvirate of Qs.
Dunno if they will be hip to my platform, tho.
I promise to eliminate taxes and services. I will eliminate the police and fire departments and delegate their chores to Shadow Hare and his Allegiance of heroes. I will secede Cincinnati from Hamilton County. I will charge non Cincinnatians the cost of bottled water for their water. I will initiate a New Era of Empire for the Queen City nd we will raise an army and conquer and enslave Norwood then seize the Cincinnati Mall for use as a prison. I will liquidate the city pension fund and use it to pump beer through the Tyler Davidson Fountain.
I am firmly pro abortion. Every female in Cincinnati will be required to have an abortion before she can graduate from high school.
I am pro capital punishment. We will commence to hanging criminals and people I just don't like from the bridges over the Ohio River. oh - did I mention seizing the bridges from Kentucky and charging tolls to EVERYBODY who crosses them ? yeah, part of the New Era of Empire thing.
Street cars ? PFAH ! I will have mass transit hovercrafts gliding through the city !
Gay marriage ? I will give you gay marriage and long drawn out bitter gay divorce as well !
Stand with me my faithful reader and prepare for a new dawn of fire and rancor !
-heh- You now know more about my policies than this guy's.......

Happy Mother's Day Everybody !

Clifton House Tour
Sunday May 10, 2009, 1-5pm
Every third year on Mother’s Day, a group of Clifton homeowners open their doors to greater Cincinnati and say, “Come on in and have a look around!” This year there will be homes from the 1800s to the 1950s highlighting several different styles, including Victorian, American Foursquare, Tudor, and a Frank Lloyd Wright. The event has drawn people from all over Cincinnati, and has been a great way to spend part of Mother’s Day.
Throughout the tour’s history, the gracious owners of 62 Clifton homes have shared this special Sunday with their neighbors.
Tour tickets will be available in advance at:

• Columbia Savings Bank
• Esquire Theatre
• Ludlow Wines
• Olive's
• Skyline Chili
• U.S. Bank
• Keller’s IGA

Tickets can also be purchased the day of the tour at CCAC, Annunciation, and the shuttle stop outside Graeter’s. Parking will be available at the Clifton Business Lot, Annunciation, and Fairview-Clifton Elementary School on Clifton Avenue. Ticket prices are $15 in advance and $20 on the day of the tour.
A shuttle will be available from each parking location to shorten your walking time and improve your chances of a leisurely viewing of all the homes.
For more information about the tour, call 513-861-2000.

And after the tour, head on down the hill for some excellent vittles & hooch in the Happy Valley of Northside.

Poco 1973
Wittenberg University got some good shows for their students once in awhile. Some years were leaner than others. My mates & I managed to sneak into the old Wittenberg Field House on more than one occasion. Oddly enough, even though we all worked in the Union dining room at some point in high school, we weren't ever able to sneak in there. Go figure.

It was guitarist Richie Furay's birthday
I wasn't a big fan of the country rock kinda sorta band. I only knew a couple Buffalo Springfield songs.
I remember it being a fun concert, tho, there was Rock-n-Roll to be had that evening.

Official Tartan for Ohio ?
State Sen. David Goodman, R-New Albany, has introduced a bill (SB 127) to make a plaid known as the Ohio Tartan the state’s official tartan.
This will be added to Ohio's many other "officials" including a bird (cardinal), rock song (Hang on Sloopy), insect (ladybug), animal (white tail deer), drink (tomato juice), reptile (black racer snake).........
The actual tartan, a garish red white and blue, was approved by the Scottish Tartan Society and registered with the Court of Lord Lyons in 1984.
LINK
I say, " 'BOUT TIME !!"
But, hey, I'm just a Scottish German redneck Buckeye.......
Dunno when kilts will be available.

Noose Son story here.

Is Rush on the Pills Again ?
Or is he just getting paid ?
If your extremist left wing movement that supported terrorist activities wanted to infiltrate an extremist right wing movement that also supports terrorist activities who would you call to mediate ? A pill popping blowhard talk radio celebrity ? Why not ?


Apparently Limbaugh has decided the United States should go vegan and domestic animals should be exterminated. Apparently he thinks horses don't deserve death with dignity. Apparently he knows more about farming than farmers. Well, at least he doesn't have an inferiority complex.
Your local Humane Society struggles to provide aid to abandoned, abused and diseased animals. HSUS does not. HSUS is not affiliated with your local Humane Society and does not even offer it support. Similarly, these national mega-churches do not support your local churches or communities. The people who run these national organizations have agendas and hope to dupe good people with their messages while surreptitiously working against the common man's back.
HSUS is targeting the animal agriculture business nationwide and currently it's sights are set on the midwest. It knows the farming community is onto their agendas. It knows the more liberal urban population will be easily duped by their message. Their ploy now is to dupe religious organizations in the bible belt states.
They have no problem lying to you or your pastor. They have a boatload of money and, since they don't want to give it to animal welfare organizations, they can pay off shills like Limbaugh.

New Blog in Town
Cincinnati Councilwoman and ex-Mayor, Roxanne Qualls, has taken to blogging - maybe. The people who make one blog post and call it a day are legion and, to date, she still has only one post.
It's very important for politicians to explain their views, philosophies and plans with the public while in office and not just go around making campaign promises. County Commisioner David Pepper's blog is a great example of a governer getting the word out and soliciting input from the citizenry in a conversational manner. Unfortunately Councilwoman Qualls, in her one post, has disabled comments ala Hamilton County GOP chair Alex M. Triantafilou's blog. This kinda kills the dialogue aspect and throws a lot of the great communication aspects of social software out the window. While a lot of the responses a blogger gets are "You go, man!" or "You're a fucking idiot !", community issues can be complex and plans to deal with them frequently raise questions. While I praise Commissioner Pepper for giving dialogue a chance, the guy has answered almost none of my questions. I guess that's the price I pay for being an idiot.
Quall's issues on zoning, homelessness and transportation are complex and nerdy. Explaining the transportation issues in particular begs for graphics.
Mr Crowley's Water District plans, Urban Farming Initiative and Environmental Justice plans are all worthy of detailed explanation and analysis.
Mr Bortz's take on the ins and outs of real estate development and the role that government should play would be a wonderful topic for him to take to the people through a blog.
I urge all city and county leaders to follow Mr Pepper's example and get the word out !

The Crown of Creation
More cool shit from NASA's Astrology Picture of the Day.

The Joker of Cincinnati
"I do not spend a lot of time reviewing the material I post here." -J. H aap 2009
Watching the last Batman movie, The Dark Knight, I kept thinking how much the pathological Joker reminded me of local blogger -er- media activist and soon to be failed mayoral candidate Jason H aap. For some time, Blogging Isn't Cool has referred to his blog as The Arkham Beacon in a nod to the Arkham Asylum, home of any number of cartoon sociopaths. The Beacon tends to publish hysterical urban myth, muckraking, obfuscation, character assassination and Sillyman press releases.
Heath Ledger's Academy Award winning performance of the mad criminal with Christopher Nolan's screenplay could have easily been inspired from merely reading The Beacon for a few weeks. H aap's single minded desires to tear down institutions and men could be mighty fearsome if not for their general ineffectiveness. His mad obsessions to destroy Jeff Berding, Phil Heimlich and Chris Bortz, his slavish devotion to Chris Smitherman all seem like the deranged pursuits of the melodramatic comic book clown prince. Within hours of the media frenzy surrounding a Real Life Super Hero, The Shadow Hare in Cincinnati, the Dean of Cincinnati, in true Joker fashion, issued the masked crime-fighter a challenge to a duel ! Oh, woe be to him who challenges the world view of the Erisite.
In keeping with The Joker of Gotham, The Joker of Cincinnati sees his villainy as heroism, his madness as reason and his defeats as victories. I can only imagine The Beacon's triumvirate meetings at their top secret lair resemble the meetings of The Joker, The Riddler and The Penguin (Romero, Gorshin & Meredith).
While one can easily find himself emotionally and intellectually charged by a comic book, one must always remind ones self that it is only a comic book. The real world is full of real people with real needs that require an array of often complex solutions. A Joker with a self centered world view and a penchant for tossing out golden apples is not likely going to offer any real help. But it can make for a wild read !

For an analysis of The Joker's madness try Periginatioanimae

Optional Viewing

Happy Free Comic Book Day
Free Comic Book Day and National Bike Month happening at the same time ?
Clearly a recipe for disaster as angry cyclists combat surly skateboarders in front of tiny comic book shops. It could be worse than a Star Trek convention being scheduled across the street from a Dr Who convention.
Marvel Comics will be distributing an Avengers and Wolverine comic for free and DC will be offering a Green Lantern comic, Blackest Night #0. Oddly enough there's movie projects involving all these characters percolating and the Wolverine movie is already out.
Other offerings

• Archie Comics: Archie Presents: The Mighty Archie Art Players
• BOOM! Studios: Disney/Pixar’s Cars
• Bongo Comics: 2009 Free For All
• Dark Horse Comics: Star Wars: Clone Wars
• IDW Publishing: Transformers Animated/G.I. Joe
• Image Comics: Savage Dragon #148
• Oni Press: Resurrection #0
• Viz Media: Shonen Jump Presents: Ultimo

Individual stores may have other offerings.
It might be a good idea to lobby your favorite comic book store for a bike rack.