South Fountain Preservation
Springfield, Ohio

Visited The Champion City the other day. Besides chowing down bigtime on local favorites, I visited Memorial Hall & The South Fountain Historic District. I was in the area around the old Springfield High School & snapped a few pics. What's been done in this area is pretty amazing. It has taken some time but it looks a heckuva lot better than when I was living up there.

Later, stopped at Memorial Hall. While out front, a bum walked up & remarked on what a great old building it was. He wnt on to tell us he had lived in one of the upper floors for a couple years before the building was secured. He had tried sleeping in the entranceway but the police had rousted him. He identified himself as a homeless veteran. It seemed kinda weird that a veteran couldn't live in an abandoned Veteran's Memorial building. When I told him the guilding was slated to be demolished & replaced with a skating rink, the quiet little man let out a hearty laugh. The world had just gotten a little weirder for the social outcast.

Springfield Preservation Alliance

A special thanks to Photobucket for inexplicably rotating my images and allowing me to waste time attempting to de-rotate them
UPDATE: I guess Photobucket does de-rotate, but with the blinding speed of a Quadra 950 !

The Auburnairs 1982
or maybe it's Dec 11, 1982
or Dec 10 1983
Dunno, it's silly having an Auburnaires ticket anyway, since I saw 'em about a million times over the years. They played in the Corryville bars around Bogart's a lot, Dollar Bill's, Sudsy Mallone's, Daniel's & a couple places whose names I forget. None of them are around anymore. Without The Auburnaires, they just couldn't stay in business! They played a pretty straightforward R&B Rock n Roll. The lead guitarist, a Frogtowner, had been in another local band, The Customs. The Auburnaires were pretty fun even when he didn't show up. They released a few albums & finally dissolved. The bass player handled their graphics which graced the utility poles of Cincinnati for several years.
A show they played that was pretty cool was a double date with The Raisins at some bar out east of town. It was video taped. If anybody has a copy, feel free to send it.
Most of the band appeared in the movie, Fresh Horses (don't blink).
The Auburnaires will be playing New Years Eve at The Comet.

Budget Nonsense
In the county, the Sheriff doesn't want his budget cut. The Coroner, the Prosecutor & the Judges don't want their budgets cut.
In the city the Police & Fire don't want their budgets cut. The Health department & Recreation departments don't want their budgets cut.
Now we are looking at fees for waste collection. How much time and energy is it going to take to monitor the amount of each person's waste & charge them accordingly ?
How about the people from these various departments and elected county officials put their names on the line and try promoting some tax levies to cover their operations ?
It's easy to tell the city council & the county BOC to commit political suicide. Put your own reputation on the line and ask thee taxpayers for more cash.
I watched about 40 minutes of the Pleasant Ridge budget hearing the other night. Only one woman suggested higher user fees. The rest seemed to think their cause was willed by the lord & that it was just a matter of gathering a few dollars more as they rained from heaven.
-end of rant.....

North Side Bank & Trust Robbed

Click to enlarge

Cincinnati Police Department is looking for this man, described as white and in his early or late 30s. He is 5-foot-10 to 6 feet tall and 200 pounds.

Fishwrap story here.

Memorial Hall Site to be Home for New Skating Rink


The site of Springfield's Veterans Memorial Hall (b. 1915) will be the future home of an ice rink. The building will be demolished, there are plans to save and reuse the façade. Another site, The Metallic Casket Building, was rejected because a new building (big soulless box) was preferable to refitting an existing building.

Noose Son story here.

Interior shots of the facility today via Springfield Preservation Alliance on Flicker.

Outta the Gate Swinging
Somehow mixed metaphors just sound right when dealing with Chas Winburn.
Miss Jane reports in the Fishwrap that one of Councilman Windbag's ideas for reigning in the budget is to cut recycling pickup to once a month. This seems to be going in the wrong direction as Councilwoman Qualls has stated we are better of recycling more & using the landfill less. She has proposed the city buy everybody a newer bigger recycling bin with RFID chips. I have never really understood why I buy my own trash can but the city buys my recycling bin. OK, I do know why - It's to help promote recycling. So, maybe a current solution might be a mish mash of Councilmember's suggestions.
Instead of treating everybody to a new recycling bin, let people buy their own, with or without RFID chips & then cut garbage pickup to once a month while leaving recycling alone. That is - Instead of making recycling easier, make throwing away garbage harder. Toss in some composting promotion & we can cut government costs & put less of a bootprint on the planet's face at the same time.

Qualls' Proposal Page

I'm no sports fan so I gotta ask, Why would a school want a coach who would ditch his team before a season was over? It reminds me of adulterers who imagine their married lovers will be faithful to them.

Johnny Winter 1987
JW has had a checkered past involving drugs & alcohol. A brilliant electric guitarist, Winter could blow a show pretty easy. I had talked the guy up big time with Bunny Lamé, we went to a show & JW was a major let down. When this show came around it was the classic, c'mon, baby, it won't be like last time. I promise.....
She finally submitted to me and it was good.
Winter tore up at this show. He really really tore up. He kicked ass. Lamé finally understood why I evangelized the dude.
Me? I still don't understand the appeal of Lonnie Mack.

Jason & The Scorchers 1986
Went to this with Bunny Lamé. J&TS were a country, blues, rock, boogie band. They were popular with the college/MTV crowd. they were ok. They were fun.

George Thorogood - Gilly's 1980?
Tickets with pictures!
Tom drove to this show. For some reason I had no car. I had to ride my bike to Tom's house (which has been torn down for the Springfield Medical Center thingie) in the rain, so I took a change of clothes so as not to have to sit around in wet clothes all night. bah
Thorogood wasn't a household name & nobody expected that, with his twangy blues rock slide guitar, to become a household name. He was playing the bar circuit. Peach expected this would probably be our only chance to ever see the guy & I agreed. hence the bike ride on a rainy December evening.
Gilly's was a jazz bar. Maybe dancing occurred but not in front of the stage. They had tables set up all the way to the stage. This made for some awkwardness as Thorogood commenced to rockin' & the crowd started gettin off their duffs & shakin' their booties. Al & I were up front. The stage was only about knee high. After awhile we were made aware that some "too cool to move" biker lookin' guy was threatening to kill us if we didn't get out of his way. His old lady pleaded with us, telling us we really needed to think about our safety. We sat down on the edge of the stage. George Thorogood actually talked to us! He told us to get the hell off his stage. :D
Since he had christened us earlier (he held the head of his guitar to the heads of the folks in the front row) we figured we better do as he said. The mean man didn't bother us again because he was out cold by this time. When we left his old lady was desperately trying to wake him up.
When we got back to Tom's it had stopped raining - it was just cold. I didn't care, it had been a great show & I was still grooving on it, riding through the cold, dark, empty town to a solid boogie beat.

I Have No Life and I Must Go Out
yeah, I know it's dumb. Thought of it on the stairway. Ellison can sue me...

Friday Dec. 11
Holidays on Ludlow
6-9PM
Clifton Gaslight District
Telford Street and Ludlow Avenue
Carolers, giveaways, refreshments, Fairview Clifton German School Choir, free carriage rides and Santa Claus

Etchings and Screenprints by Chelsey Hughes
6-10PM
NVISION
4577 Hamilton Avenue
medical anomalies, human oddities and a fascination with the strange

Raymond Holiday
6-9PM
Thunder-Sky, Inc.
4573 Hamilton Avenue
Unique holiday gifts - limited-edition prints, original artwork, holiday cards, bumper stickers & T-shirts

Saturday December 12
Patterns, Patterns, Patterns Wrapping Paper
10AM-5PM
Happen inc.
4201 Hamilton Avenue
Learn about repetition, and make your own holiday wrapping paper

Northside Arts Holiday Art Sale
11AM - 5PM
Off the Avenue Studios
1546 Knowlton
Local artists selling paintings, pottery, photographs, ceramics, glass, jewelry

Brass Choir Concert
1PM
Robert J. Werner Recital Hall - UC

Made in Cincinnati
7-11PM
Fabricate
4012 Hamilton Avenue
Collaboration between Fabricate and UC DAAP Fashion Design Student Association

Christmas with the Cincinnati Boychoir
7:30-8:30PM
First United Church of Christ
5808 Glenview Avenue

Sunday December 13th
Chili Taste-Off
noon-4PM
Northside Tavern
4163 Hamilton Avenue
15 chilis, voting, happy hour pricing, Bengals vs. Vikings on big screen, games and giveaways and music by Brad Lark. Benefits Faces Without Places

Christmas at Vocal Arts Ensemble
5PM
St Boniface Church
1750 Chase Avenue

City Leadership
Watching the budget hearings/debates of the Cincinnati City Council and reading reports about such in the Enquirer, I am finding something missing.
At the last public hearing, some hot soccer mom chick was pointing out that by cutting a few jobs in the parks & recreation department, the city would lose many more volunteers (70?) who impact approximately 40,000 young residents a year. On the same issue, an old bat pointed out that volunteers are created from the people who engaged in the programs in their youth.
Kevin Flynn, who ran for council this past November, challenged people on council, city employees and citizens to not just argue for programs but to suggest ways to pay for them. He's right. But there's more.
The Fishwrap reported that the Police Department spent about $90,000 on replacing patches on police uniforms to make them look more professional (that price did not pay for the patches). I always thought they looked pretty professional, anyway.
Here's the thing, money is in a crunch. We can't just expect things to be normal when we are in the midst of a global economic downturn. Contrary o the belief of many cincinnati.com commenters, this recession is not the fault of Cincinnati City Council or the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners.
Look around and you will find any number of fund raisers for this and that. Several neighborhoods have Citizens on Patrol groups. Seems like a sewing bee of volunteers could have replaced the police officers patches for free. Did anybody from the Cinti Police administration or the City Council try to organize such a thing? Could the park board try to organize more volunteers to administer their nature education programs or will they just dump the programs because they can't afford the administrators?
I am not asking citizens to spearhead these efforts. I sure don't lead the way in this regard, but how about the people we elect and appoint as leaders try cooking up ways for people to volunteer time and talent? The economy has resulted in people being out of jobs. They have time to volunteer. They don't have cash to pay for increased fees. It's not business as usual People are getting divided over their civic wishlists. Our "leaders" need to pick up the ball & bring us together in a community effort to move the city forward. A better connection between city government and the citizenry will really pay off when the economy gets better.

Dayton Airport Gets Cheaper
While Cincinnatians have been using the Dayton Airport for years because of it's proximity & it's fares being incredibly lower than the Kentucky Airport, they just reduced boarding fees by a dollar.
Meanwhile, Delta has cut prices and service at the Kentucky Airport, but Dayton still beats KY's prices.
Is the relative convenience worth it? The only advantage for me is the bus fare to KY v the cab fare to Dayton.

News Son story here.

The Who 1975
This was a good show. The band was still intact with Moon on drums, Townshend's guitar playing was better (that had good & bad aspects) & Entwistle & Daltrey were solid. They were touring The Who by Numbers which was full of songs about weakness, self doubt & aging. criminy, they were only about 30. oh, wait, that was old back then.
Townshend had abandoned his trademark SGs & had a seemingly endless supply of gold Les Pauls with big numbers on them. Guitar smashing had become a special event.

photo by Mike Pinson
The opening act was a band called Law who were, essentially, a bar band (& not in a good way). Then Toots & the Maytals took the stage. ok, this was 1975. The American Who audience was and still is a pretty conservative lot. Why in hell a reggae act was put on the bill is a complete mystery. A few years later it would have made a lot more sense. I remember them doing a version of John Denver's Country Roads. They were not received well.

Cliff Radel's review

Tammy Wynette & George Jones
In all the craziness of punk & the total music snobbery of both punk & what is now called "Classic Rock", there was no room for country music. I kept my love of Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams & Tammy Wynette a closely guarded secret. In one blistering moment, on a lazy summer afternoon on Kenny's front porch, worlds collided as Pat the Punk, Al & I all confessed that we liked country music.
Al & I went to see Tammy Wynette & George Jones at Columbus Vet's Memorial Hall. The place was about half full. The audience was older, sober and dressed in denim & polyester. There were leisure suits, piped shirts, cowboy hats & red necks. We were terribly out of place. At one point a fat young guy, fresh off the farm, came over to talk to us. His date maintained her distance but watched the whole time. I wasn't interested in the kid. Al bullshitted with him. He would bullshit with anybody. Sometimes he even told the truth. The kid spouted some weird spastic drivel. On his departure, he told us not to let our meat loaf. I felt like I was the guy in the leather jacket in some 50s biker movie.
We waited. The show was late. Finally a guy came out on stage and told us George "no show" Jones was MIA. As the audience let out a disappointed moan, I started giggling hysterically.
Jones & Wynette had worked as a duo successfully for some time but due to his heavy drinking & failure to show up or to show up too drunk to perform, they parted company. Jones had just won 3 awards for his dopey, "He Stopped Loving Her Today" song, had been voted Singer of the year by 2 organizations & he had teamed up with Tammy again. Things were looking up for the guy. Somehow, I think I am happy he stiffed me. Tammy did a good show. She knew her audience & worked them well.
hey George! You owe me a song!

Deep Purple 1972
4th row in front of Ritchie Blackmore & the $%@! PA. yeesh
Not to mention a trip to Dayton in a Gremlin.
The band was touring Machine Head, the album that gave us Smoke on the Water. To think I had the opportunity to put an end to the madness before it began.....

Deep Purple in Copenhagen

Gruß von Krampus !

sigh.....
Trust those wild and crazy Austrians to come up with a super cool Xmas holiday tradition like Krampus. Krampus, is, of course, Saint Nick's sidekick demon who dealt with the kids on the list who fell into the "naughty" category.

Nick died on the 6th of December so it is only logical that on Dec 5 we beckon his demon pal & scare the shit out of kiddies by telling them this is their last chance to be good or the zombie Nick won't give 'em treats but his bud, Krampus, will haul their asses of & beat the crap out of 'em.



What? Me worry?
I am guessing this little celebration was cooked up by Austrian matriarchs who wanted a bit of peace from the rugrats in the run-up to Xmas. That the celebration would leave the kids to their nightmares & leave the adults to revel in Bacchanalian festivities for the rest of the night was probably added by the patriarchs. Anyway, the cards used to celebrate the holiday just make it that much loonier.

Go on, boy, do what you want - but next time you see me coming, man....
Krampus Nacht is celebrated in Austria & some U.S. cities like San Francisco & somewhere in Florida. Why it isn't celebrated in Cincinnati is both obvious & odd (Christianity is so weird).

Typical Krampus Nacht celebration

The Who, Richfield Coliseum 1979
This was the closest I ever came to Phish, Grateful Dead type fanaticism. The Who twice in one week. I drove the Grey Ghost up to Richfield in the rain. Prior to the trip, I did not realize there was a hole in the floor over by the brake pedal. ugh - wet gym shoe in northern Ohio in December.... We got a motel room. I forget who all went. Dan was there. After what had happened at the Cincinnati Who concert a couple days before, I told my mates not to tell the motel folks that we were going to the concert. As we checked in, the old lady at the desk sized us up & told us to have fun at the concert & to stay safe.
Daltrey later stated that the night after the Cincinnati stop, they played a good show in Indy(?). He said the tragedy of the event really sunk in the next day & their show in Richfield was kinda lame. He was right. It was good & professional but just not very inspired.

The Sun-Maid Girl Goes 3D !

The Sun Maid was created around 1915 & has graced the boxes of raisins that were in kids lunch boxes for generations. The Sun Maid, the Land-o-Lakes indian butter chick & the Chiquita lady were all early crushes. Betty Crocker & Aunt Jemima never quite did it for me. Mrs. Butterworth never even made it into our household. Peter Pansy? nevermind....
Anyway, all these characters are updated over the years, Chiquita has even used real women (ugh..) for their trademark. Sun Maid has decided to go the 3D animation route to promote the healthiness of old dried up grapes. The company has enlisted Synthespians for the animation chores. The new Sun Maid animations look a lot like Mainstram's -er- Rainmaker's Barbie movies.
It appears the new 3D chick is for TV advertising only as she is not on the box, so I don't think this thing is a "replacement". However people are in an uproar. Feminazis are up in arms because her breasts are more pronounced. I'll worry about that when Lara Croft starts hawkin' prunes.
As long as she keeps wearing the goofy red hat, she's ok by me.
You can see the :15 ad here.
Why the Sun-Maid clowns don't want this thing spread virally is beyond me.

PS: For cheap animated holiday viewing, don't miss Barbie in A Christmas Carol. (Hope the Sun Maid will start doing feature films!)

Grateful Dead - Cincinnati Gardens 1973
Jeff drove us down to Cincinnati in his stripped to the bone, unheated, windowless van. It was kinda strange climbing into a cold metal box in one town and getting out in another. My old brother-in-law said that was how he got to Viet Nam (although his stripped to the bone, unheated, windowless metal box actually flew).
For some reason the show started late. A crowd of hippies shuffled about for a couple hours. I bought a hit of acid from a crazed looking red headed hippie. Finally the Dead hit the stage. They played probably the shortest Dead set ever & upon exiting the stage, Bob Weir told us we would have to talk to management if we wanted more music. The lights went up and somebody told us to leave. Folks were not happy. Outside the building people were getting kinda ornery. We weren't sure what to expect from the Cincinnati crowd. We piled back into the cold metal box & sat in icy darkness for an hour or so.
When I got home, I walked into the downstairs hallway my dad & I had just wallpapered. The pattern was pink ribbon cascading vertically between vertical blue stripes. I was horrified to find the pattern sliding down the wall and onto the floor. I went to bed expecting to find plain beige wallpaper in the hallway the next morning and I had no idea how we were going to get the damn pattern back on.
Somehow, things worked out just fine.

The Who, Riverfront Coliseum 1979
This is hard to write because thinking about it always makes me mad.
Quadrophenia had hit the theaters. the Who had managed to maintain the loyalty of the old rockers and credibility with the new wave punk crowd. This was a really rally good concert.
Festival seating basically meant no seating. It cut costs & let the promoter make a little extra cash. It was ok. People would go to the concert venue early to get through the doors as soon as they opened & get the bestest seat in the house. Of course the bestest seats were already taken by friends of the management, promoters & radio station folks. Invariably, however there was always a crush just before the doors opened. I heard stories of people gliding through doors as they were swept off their feet and carried in by the force of people in front & behind them. This never happened to me because I was too tall at 6'2" but it happened to people as short as 6'.
Anyway, my friends & I went in several cars. Some folks had no tickets. I went with Al in his van with no heat. On the way down we listened to a tape of Who songs. When we parked we did a few shots & listened to The Who's cover of the Rolling Stones, "The Last Time". ooooohh, dramatic foreshadowing...
Police were stationed at the entries to the plaza & checked folks for their tickets. It was cold & windy up on the plaza. Folks were sitting around shivering & doing shots & getting high. We walked around & finally took our place in the line/cluster.
As the sun set, more and more people showed up. People started getting excited & the crowd started to compact near the doors. This is where it got weird. After awhile a real crush was going on. A crush like what one would normally get right before the doors opened - only we were still pretty far off from when the doors were supposed to open. As we looked at the time and thought about the crush getting worse, Al & I bailed. It wasn't easy going the opposite direction of everybody else but we eventually got out of the crush. We walked round a bit and marveled at all the doors available & how only a few were actually used. It was like the architect got it but the people in charge were operating as cheap as possible. Kinda kept with the strategy of not offering chairs.....
The doors opened, we got up towards the back of the cluster of people going in & were immediately met with a ton more people behind us and we found ourselves in another mad crush. People call it a stampede but we were shuffling in little baby steps going very slowly.
Once in the lobby we had to get thru a few turnstile that further bottlenecked the whole operation. Again, I marveled at all the turnstiles & how only a few were open. At one point a cop on the other side of the turnstiles volunteered to open another turnstile & take tickets. The manager type usher dude told him everything was fine and his help was not needed. I saw a kid lying on a table.
There was this short very pregnant girl in front of us. She had made a fake ticket with colored pencils. She asked us if we would hand the ticket taker her ticket with ours so he might not notice her lame-ass forgery. We declined. She handed the guy her ticket at the turnstile. A huge solid block of humanity was bearing down behind us. The usher examined her ticket for a minute and informed her it was not real. He told her to turn around and leave. Al shoved her through the turnstile and told her to run. He tore his ticket in half & shoved a half into the guy's chest. I followed in suit.
We entered the arena & as we headed down to the floor I heard someone say, "Man, there's, like, people dying to get in here, man"
Entering the floor, we encountered a couple guys talking to an usher. One of the guys was blue. They were asking the usher for help. No help was afforded. Al told the guy to take his friend to the bathroom and induce vomiting. Seemed reasonable to me.
The show was great. Apparently the band wasn't notified that 11 people had died trying to get in. I don't recall seeing anything out of the ordinary outside. Al & I got in the van & since our ears were shot we played no music nor listened to the radio. When I got home, there was a LARGE message by the phone saying to call SistahT IMMEDIATELY. The phone rang & scared the shit out of me. SistahT told me what had happened. I remembered the guy lying on the table. I told her the crush getting in had been worse than normal. My parents and sisters told me they were not worried about me. They assumed I had the common sense to recognize and get out of a bad scene. If I had been with someone besides Al, I dunno.
The next day I started hearing the news. On TV they played clips of the concert. Figures people have to die to get some concert footage on the tube.
CityKin has scans of the Fishwrap's coverage, here and here.
I used to feel sorry for the parents of the kids who died that night. I knew they missed their kids. When I got older I realised they were missing much more - the families & grandchildren they might have had.
Why did this happen? The building was designed right. Some motherfucker just wanted to save a little money. I don't know who was responsible, the building manager was busted for stealing water a few years later. typical, cheap, bullshit
People blamed drugs, booze, youth & RocknRoll but the next summer 7 people died trying to see the pope in Brazil.
There's a double disk bootleg of the concert called "Stampede". It is very poor quality. The kids recording it were oblivious to what had happened in the entryway. They talk a lot & get high (that part is kind of funny). They are excited and jiggle the hell out of the tape recorder, though.
The Fishwrap has a bunch of posts here from people remembering the show.

The Kinks 1984
The Kinks finally succumbed to the arena thing. Sad, but they handled it well. Dave Davies handled more of the load. Still, the Gardens seemed almost intimate after going to Riverfront Coliseum and other gigantor hell holes.

Iggy Pop 1980
Pop was touring the album Soldier which had an all star cast of musicians including Glen Matlock, Ivan Kral & David Bowie but I don't believe any of these guys were in the touring band. Matlock had toured with Pop before. It was a good rocking show, I don't recall any details, tho.
Pop was shirtless with his pants about as low as legally possible with the button undone. While crooning at the front of the stage, an arm came up and started pulling down his fly. Pop allowed this for a few seconds & then stopped it. After the show, my late friend Artie informed us in wide eyed amazement, "That was a GUY !".

Iggy explains his Dionysian influences to goonball Tom Snyder:

Going to White House Parties

With all the hullaballoo about the White House party crashers, I am reminded of a time when, even having an invitation, one might not get in.
Back in 1969 Richard Nixon's daughter Tricia had a tea party for her class at Finch College. Turned out one of her classmates had been none other than Grace Slick, the voice that launched a thousand trips. When Slick showed up with her guest, Abbie Hoffman, they were denied entry. Slick didn't launch any trips that night.



God forbid a druggie get into the white House under the Nixon administration.....

Terrorist ?
Folks are wrestling over whether Nidal Hasan is a terrorist or not. He seems to be a deeply disturbed man who has gotten all tangled up in his religion. Any religion can get abusive (or abused). Israel Regardie cautioned practitioners of magick to keep a firm grip & be ready to seek psychological counseling in their ventures into the mystic. Shame that isn't suggested for mainstream religions.
Anyway, as people try to compare Hasan's actions to folks like Tim McVeigh & even the Heaven's Gate group, I think a better comparison would be Matthew Murray, the guy who shot up a Christian Missionary school in Colorado. He was raised in an abusive religion that is arguably Christian. He was raised as a Gothardite. When the Method Men gave Bill Gothard the boot, a high ranking official in the church said that Gothard was definitely not teaching Methodistism & he wasn't sure if it was even Christianity that he was teaching.
While Murray rejected and turned on his old religion, Hasan turned on a rival religion, influenced by notions of his religions idea of Jihad. in the end, both guys lost it and just killed people. their insanity led them to objectify their victims along religious lines. It's not terrorism.

It's SHAW !

Shaw's land is outta town & he has rented an apartment inside tremont City's city limits. A mayor who doesn't want his real estate in city limits really inspires a lot of confidence. Maybe the council should annex his property....
Previously.....
Moose Son story here.

OG'd
What the Fuck is this shit ?
WCPO has changed their graphics. I would like to say it is a "retro" look as the garish gold 3D shit was very popular at one time, but nowadays it just looks pathetic. I am reminded of the satirical take on black exploitation movies, I'm Gonna get Ya Sucka! where the guy died of "overgolding". I was going to compare this to the graphics at The Onion where they go over the top on purpose, but even they have toned it down! Hell, Fox News isn't as crazy as this anymore.
Awhile ago, I posted that WCPO was laying off graphics folks & parent, Scripps, was consolidating graphics in Tampa. I am hopeful the decision to use this graphic theme was not made in Cincinnati. I have seen the work of area designers & have been privileged to work with a few. This area is teeming with talent. Apparently, Tampa is not. Or the head of Scripps just gave his teenage nephew with a warez copy of 3D Max a job.....
Beyond the garish hideousness is the impracticality & just doofynessness of the design.

In the 4-up / Hollywood squares kinda graphic, the announcers seem painfully aware that they look like douchebags.




The graphics dwarf the talent, they need to get the talent's head bigger. The title bar thingie is raised higher than need be to accomodate scrolling ticker crap. Don't see why they can't slide it down when there's nothing there. With all the other crap moving around, it wouldn't be any more distracting.




What the hell is this? Some 3D debris that was still flying around from the previous animation ? Just more flying shit. Digital monkey house design.....




The field photographers need to rethink how they are shooting & frame everything higher. Dunno if they can glob the new graphics into their viewfinder. Maybe stick some tape on it ?




the photographers need to rethink their canvas & maybe the talent should get a little bigger & move over to the side then frame the news scene to the side of the announcer. This would also move the title thingie away from the speaker's chin.
If the folks at WCPO want my help, I would be more than happy to oblige.

Would You Work on This Guy's iBook ?

Thinking different
The Consumerist has reported that Apple techs have refused to work on computers that have been exposed to excessive cigarette smoke. They claim it is a bio-hazard. It might be gross & the goop might actually damage the computer, but I doubt it is a bio-hazard. When I was a lad & started fooling around in radio at WYSO, WUSO & Bruce's Jolly Roger, I was instructed not to smoke around the electronics. At Jolly Roger it was more an issue that Bruce's parents would have killed us for smoking in his bedroom. Anyway, growing up in a house full of chain smokers I saw the yellowy brown residue everywhere, most notably on windows.
So, if you spend a lot of time tokin' up and zoning out on your iTunes Visualizer, I guess you can expect your Apple warranty to be voided. The kids at the genius bar putting on haz-mat suits might be worth it, tho.

Reasons to Ride the Bus

or not.....
Will the streetcar have newer music ?
oh well, it could be worse.

What To Do, What To Do
Because Cincinnati sucks.

Dunno how I missed this one -
The Horror Hound Weekend @ the Cincinnati Sheraton North all weekend.
Featuring Elvira

Friday:
Vermicomposting Workshop @ LaBoiteaux Woods off Hamilton Ave. from 7-9PM For info - 542-2909
Grand Opening of Fabricate 4012 Hamilton Ave. 7-11PM. For info 541-2394

Saturday:
Crafty Supermarket at the Northside Tavern 4163 Hamilton Ave. noon - 6.
Happen Inc. @4201 Hamilton Ave. hosts an all day (10-5) session you can make Thanksgiving decorations. For info - 751-2345
Gajah Wong,3937 Spring grove Ave. is saying goodbye but will be open from 11-6 selling out their Indonesian imports.
Cincinnati Unchained all day, all over town. Some of the cool sponsors are:

• Chicken Lays an Egg - 1608 Chase Ave
• College Hill Coffee Co. - 6128 Hamilton Ave.
• NVISION - 4577 Hamilton Ave.
• Melt - 4165 Hamilton Ave.
• The Mustard Seed Boutique - 311 Ludlow Ave.

Sunday:
St Boniface Homecoming 1-5 PM Turkey & Roast Beef dinners, games, a Christmas booth & gambling.
Northside Tour of Homes - 10 Homes will be open, BEFORE the Bengals play, for all to preview:
1638 Chase Ave. (2 family, $135,000) open from 12-2 pm,
Libby Hunter, Comey & Shepherd Realtors (513) 260-9632
1582 Glen Parker (2 BR 1.5 BA $112,000) open from 12-1 pm,
Libby Hunter, Comey & Shepherd Realtors (513) 260-9632
1569 Springlawn (2 BR 1.5 BA $114,900) open from 12-2 pm,
Emily Buzek Valentino, Sibcy Cline Realtors, (513) 602-7414
4360 Hamilton Ave. (5 BR 2.5 BA $499,900) open from 12-2 pm,
Patty Williams, Robinson Realtors, (513) 236-3586
4301 Beech Hill (3 BR 2 BA $155,000) open from 1-3 pm,
Grace Zobeck, Zobeck Realtors, (513) 615-2204
4226 Cherry (4 BR 2 BA $125,000) open from 1-3 pm,
Grace Zobeck, Zobeck Realtors, (513) 615-2204
4320 Hamilton Ave. (2-family $175,000) open from 1-3 pm,
Grace Zobeck, Zobeck Realtors, (513) 615-2204
4392 Hamilton Ave. (3 BR 2.5 BA $185,000) open from 12-2 pm,
Sheri Mapes, Coldwell Banker, (513) 253-7156
4396 Hamilton Ave. (2-family $155,900) open from 12-2 pm,
Sheri Mapes, Coldwell Banker, (513) 253-7156
4823 Doberrer (off Froome in Spring Grove Village – 3 BR 2 BA $118,000), open from 12-2 pm,
Carol Meadows, Keller Williams (513) 766-3879

Readmore
The Noose Son reports that both bookstores at the Springfield Upper Valley Mall are closing. One wonders if one might have been viable on it's own. The stores are typical mall fare, B. Dalton & Waldeenbooks. They offered pretty much the same products & nothing you couldn't buy online & have dropped off on your doorstep. Shopping for books online also gives you the chance to read reviews by other readers instead of pestering other shoppers at the store. The bookstores need to offer something extra.
The original Springfield bookstore was a place called Readmore. They had a large old store on the central block of a pretty much one block downtown. It was on the north east corner of Limestone & High. What I really remember was their magazine selection. They eventually branched out and had a series of stores throughout the city. This is where the store got interesting. Their book selection was paperbacks only. However they also carried, magazines, newspapers, school art supplies, springfield collectible memorabilia (clothing, plates, spoons, banners, postcards), comic books, pipes, cigarettes, chips, pop, beer, wine and, the best part - pizza & subs.
They had this tomato sauce that was heavy on pepper & lemon. They made subs (heavy on banana pepper) the usual way & then wrapped 'em in foil & cooked 'em in the pizza oven. ~drool~
It might seem like a strange combination of crap but the number of times you found yourself buying a combination of those things was amazing. Readmore was a major missing element for Springfield transplants. Return visits to the Champion city always involved a stop at Readmore. Folks, like me, who emigrated to Hamilton County also noticed another big difference. Porn.
In first amendment challenged Hamilton County one cannot get a pizza, 40 oz malt liquor & a copy of Juggs in one place. Frequently, it takes a couple stops and a trip out of the county or state. Even in Clark county the mall bookstores didn't have much of a porn selection.
Readmores are gone now. A quick interweb search gets some hits. They seem to be ghosts. I remember reading that the family that owned the stores had shelved their tomato sauce recipe. They closed their business more because the family wasn't interested than bad business tho that had declined, too. Thing is - maybe this is what bookstores need. Screw the coffee & pastry & poofy croissant sandwiches. Get down to the basics - porn, paperbacks, pizza & beer. Grab an audience that places like Joseph Beth quake in fear of.
As Amazon increases it's distribution centers they could start delivering pizzas & subs to those vicinities. Maybe this is what the public libraries need to think about to pay their way. I always thought pizza and video rental went hand in hand, but in the days of local video stores, it never seemed to catch on. I can't help but think that, if Drew's (SP ?) had adopted the Readmore business model, it might still be with us today.

Knowing When to Quit
HAHAHA ! No - not me. I'm the proverbial blind, 3 legged, Energizer jackalope from Hell !
Over at the Fishwrap, they have an article about the latest police fatality in Cincinnati. It's the first since 2007. Apparently, a young guy got pulled over in his car for a traffic violation and he hopped out of the car holding a firearm & took off on foot. After running into a dead end, a confrontation with police resulted with the guy being shot to death. This all took place around a busy intersection in a kind of suburban / industrial area. There wasn't any real good place to hide. The area is very accessible by car so zillions of police could have been on the scene in minutes. The kid had nowhere to go.
At last look, The Fishwrap had about 400 comments. The MAJORITY were deleted. The remaining comments were ignorant, lotsa race baiting & one fella even expressed that he was "doing the suburban happy dance". I like readers comments. I like that technology allows for more readers comments. I am not interested in the comments of pro op-ed columnists at the WSJ. I am interested in real working folks ideas. I am against censorship, but when the majority of comments on one article are censored and the remaining comments offer no value, isn't there a point where you just shut down the comments on a particular story ? Especially one where a young'n just died ? I am assuming his parents are reading. As I write this, the guy's name has not been released. Any parent whose son hasn't come home might be wondering.
yeah, I know, I just posted about letting "assholes" speak, but when you have, like, 300 snarky anonymous posts deleted & another 100 snarky anonymous posts left posted, it just becomes counter-productive.

Your Guide to Northside on the Interwebs
Can't find Cincinnati's Northside neighborhood on the web ? It's tough. Here's a short list.

From the official site
Northside
Northside Community Council
NBA
Northside House Tour
Farmers Market
Northside Arts

Northside Arts

Northside Greenspace

Northside Village Green

MoBo

Northside Celebrates July 4th

Northside Rock-n-Roll Carnival, Festival & Parade

CNCURC

FaceBook
Only in Northside
Northside Against Violent Crime
Farmers Market
Northside Arts
Northside is Awesome
Cincinnati Northside
ComeTo Northside
RocknRoll Carnival

MySpace
I ♥ Northside
Northside 3 & 4 of July
Northside Arts

Wikipedia

CAIN

Fishwrap

Northside Militia

P&G

Soapbox

And Northside's own social networking site.....
CincyNorthside

And then there's the churches, businesses and other organizations.....

Todd Rundgren Xavier Field House 1973

no image available

I went to this show with some chick from an art class, Vegasant's little brother & somebody else. We made the Frogtown - Porkopolis run on back roads. The art class chick drove her mom's lime green Buick or something like that.
The Xavier fieldhouse was like a slightly bigger, slightly nicer version of the Wittenberg Field House.
Sounded about the same.
Rundgren did 2 sets. First set was solo with recorded accompaniment, second with a band. I think it was Utopia. He was still playing a sensible SG. Vegasant's little brother was really getting into photography & you could still take cameras into concerts back then (Rundgren still allows cameras) and he damn near got in Rundgren's lap taking pictures during the solo set. I have nary a print, of course..... The second set was synthesizers & screaming guitar & trippy rock goodness.
I was sold.

1st Amendments & Such

I am pretty much a 1st amendment junkie. I tend to think that folks in first amendment related rackets tend to think similarly. This is one of the reasons I like blogs and don't like people who don't use them accordingly. Seems to me if you believe in the spirit of America, you would want to aspire to the tenets of the nation.
A couple issues came up recently, one being an atheist recruiting billboard in Cincinnati & the other being an ad in an NKU student paper.
Prior to hearing about the local billboard story, I was alerted to an article in The Daily beast about the movement to proselytize Atheism over at Chris's Commons.
Atheists, in my world, have fallen into 2 camps - people who have just "walked away" and people who have "angrily reacted & rejected". Most of the latter category have been Catholic while the bulk of the former have been Protestant or Jewish. When one hears about sexual abuse in the Catholic church, the motivations of the angry reaction & rejecter types gets kinda ominous. Apparently, there are 2 camps in the Atheist community in regards to the issue of proselytizing Atheism. I wonder how much these 2 camps represent my 2 camps? I certainly understand the folks like Richard Dawkins who go about debunking foolish myths that have been fairly proven wrong by science and I understand the anger towards people who perpetuate fairy tales, deny science and prattle on about scientists practicing their own heretic religion. The debate over the local Creation Theme Park -er- Museum being a prime example.
In the early 1800s, theocratic Muslim nations defended the actions of pirates in the Mediterranean Sea, plundering, killing and enslaving Christians, as perfectly justified in their society & religion and cited scripture in the Koran to back it up. Christian Europe was pretty much in the same mindset for centuries, too. We founded the USA as a secular nation, however, and we tend to condemn such beliefs and actions and promote free discussion instead.
So it was no surprise but disheartening to read, over at the Asylum, that religionists had intimidated the landowner who leased billboard space to the company who posted the Atheist billboard. I am very happy Lamar accommodated their customer with a new billboard. The only details are posted in a media release at Cincinnati Coalition of Reason website. What the threats were against the guy who hosted the billboard are not specified. They could have been threats of physical harm, boycotting or armies of protesters. Whatever, they got off easy with Lamar not identifying the people making the threats.
Meanwhile, down at NKU, the student newspaper accepted an ad for Resistance Records which specializes in White Supremacist music. First of all, if you don't think your beliefs and lifestyles are the best, what the hell are you doing ? Anyway, one of the great things about free speech is letting a person prove he is an asshole himself. Saves everybody else a lot of trouble. The Barbary Coast pirates felt they were superior. Running an ad is not an endorsement but publications do need to keep an eye on their advertisers to make sure they are not scamming the readers. Resistance is pretty daggone upfront about themselves. Would their ad have been better with some White Supremacist iconography ? Perhaps, but if they are denied the ability to publish their iconography, who would recognize it anyway ?
Sadly, some of the same people who would happily silence the White Supremacists condemn the folks trying to silence the Atheists. One guy at the Asylum condemned that blog for even mentioning the NKU story because it made people aware of the White Supremacist company.
One of the greatest things about the society proposed by the United States founders was the guarantee of the free, unfettered exchange of ideas and the inability of the government to impose or discriminate against faith. Keeping people unaware of ideas is tantamount to lying. For the most part, I applaud Lamar for their efforts in this case and I am disappointed by the NKU paper for stifling speech, especially in their quest for "diversity". Diversity as long as you agree with me is not diversity. Letting assholes speak is the best way to discredit them.

All I Want for Christmas

Oh, I so wanted one of these when I was a kid. Now it would be the perfect accompaniment when sitting in the dark in the glow of the TV set while eating burnt frozen pizzas & grape Faygo. Not that the 1940s era office chair I use now is bad, but.....
This thing would command so much more respect from the spiders, roaches & centipedes that run across my feet as I watch local access cable and plot out my New Era of Empire.
mmmm
Now, where's that yeoman Rand clone ?

Bicycle Improvements in Northside / Spring Grove Village

Or is it Clifton ?
Just got this from the folks at MoBo:

The City is considering two potential projects that would impact Northside cyclists. Before we move forward on either project, we need to know whether or not cyclists think they would be helpful. The City will not move forward unless they receive positive feedback from cyclists.
1. Bike Corral on Lingo Street: Proposal - The metered motor vehicle parking spot immediately before the stop sign on Lingo Street (facing Hamilton) would be converted to a bike “corral” that would hold 8-12 bicycles. Question – Would cyclists use this corral, or is it too far away from Hamilton? (A corral cannot be installed on Hamilton itself because of the peak-hour parking restrictions.)
2. Loop Detector Pavement Marking on Clifton Ave: Proposal – A bicycle pavement marking would be installed over the loop detector on Clifton Ave at the Spring Grove intersection (by the Kroger). The pavement marking shows cyclists where to position their bike in order to change the traffic signal to green. Question – Do cyclists have difficulty triggering this traffic signal when making a left turn onto Spring Grove
Please send feedback to Melissa McVay.

I actually suggested the Lingo bike coral awhile ago, after seeing an article about it on UrbanCincy, so, duh, I think it is a terrific idea. It would be right across the street from the Northside Tavern, adjacent to the parking lot run by the NBA. A good central location. Another good location might be down by the bank, on Palm, the street just north of Hoffner Park.
As far as the loop locator, I don't ride in the street in that area. Motorists through there are complete loons. Praise the NAACP/COA T for their patented campaign of fear & lies that got red light cameras banned. That area is ripe for monitoring/enforcement.
Thanks to UrbanCincy for locating the video.

Todays Censored Post
Today's censored post at cincinnati.com was in reference to a story about Jesse Jackson visiting the Queen of Death City.
I wrote:

Wayne Pacelle, Jesse Jackson & Sarah Palin - is Cincinnati suffering a "Plague of A$$h01e$" ?

A$$h01e$ means assholes. The Fishwrap's TOS bars "look like" words but it doesn't enforce the rule much. It even allows their use in usernames. Was it somebody in my list ?
whatever - they can only dream of having my readership.

Zombie Walk - Post Mortem

Cincinnati Zombie Walk is over til next year but it is well chronicled in video and pictures.
Also, Gordon Bombay has posted his take on Queen City Discovery.
I think my favorite part of this is that these images probably look a lot like what many people think downtown Cincinnati normally looks like. It's certainly the image of the average Enquirer reader.
Thanks to the organizers for dragging Cincinnati into the apocalypse.
When I get reanimated, I want to be in Cincinnati because, oh never mind.....

I have heard that Daytonistas prefer the soap opera of Cincinnati politics to their own for the sheer drama. Tremont City can't be far behind.
In a heated mayoral race, David Shaw was elected mayor 86-69. Now the town council has sued to have him removed from office for not being a resident. He is, actually a resident, for now, at least. Earlier in the year he had petitioned with the county to have his home property removed from the city. The county approved but there were some paperwork errors and the petition had to get sent through the Clark County bureaucratic maze again. The result is that Shaw was a resident when he got elected but he won't be in a couple weeks & he knew he wouldn't be eventually. or he has amnesia. Or maybe it's a dream. Or maybe there is an evil twin running around.
Could be one of the shorter lame duck administrations out there.

Full story at the Noose-Son here

New Blog in Town
Well, not a new blog but for Cincinnati it's kinda new. ok it's been here a few months..... ~I'm not paid to be timely~
Social Gumbo is dedicated to internet social media stuff. The author, a god from Asgard, Loki, is into connecting the corporeal through the electronic. He has lots of ideas for blogging and he doesn't limit himself to just text. Coming from a radio background he has an interest in audio.
I just recorded myself recently. I will stick to typing (and retyping).
Anyway, here's musings on his new digs in Porkopolis.

National Map Viewer

Fun, interesting, interactive map from your pals at USGS. Add layers for all sorts of geeky info.
nmviewogc.cr.usgs.gov/viewer.htm
Thanks toBrian Lawson
Blogging Isn't Cool is not responsible for time lost from work.

Divided Council ?
How do Cincinnati voters fix a divided city council ? Easy, they re-elect it's most divisive members and toss in the village idiot. When people say Cincinnati gets what it deserves because of the governments it elects, our new council is a shining example. Did voters think the Windbag was going to anoint us with cash ? Did they find Harris' honesty & pragmatism frightening? Why in the world were Cole & Ghiz returned to office? Those two would do better on a radio program.
Harris, Murray, Watson, Young or Zamary - heck my neighbor's yapping bitch, Chelsea were more qualified than Winburn & more likely to play well with others than Ghiz or Cole (especially Chelsea).
Well, don't blame me.

Voting
First time I voted was in my old high school. Ran into my last social studies teacher. He was all smiles. We hated each other when I was in his class.
The second time I voted was in a Catholic elementary school. The nuns all told me how good it was to see me again. I had never set foot in the building in my life. Rents razed me Prezbo.
First time I voted in Cincinnati was in some guy's house. He looked like Paul Reubens on a bender. He had everything set up in his lounge. It was all red with an aquarium motif. You signed in at the bar.
I lived less than a mile from my boss for a few years. I ran into him voting one time. I said, hi & told him I was going to go cancel out his ballot. He said, hunh ?
The accursed corporate parties in control of the HamCoBOE force me to vote over a mile away in another neighborhood rec center that is as far away as my own neighborhood's rec center. Couple elections back I was walking up the hill (the entire trip is uphill) in the rain feeling sorry for myself and a fella came up behind me. He was walking to Hamilton with a garbage bag full of clothes on his back & $5 in his pocket. I didn't feel so bad & I cast my vote for Ron Paul.
Why would anybody vote absentee ?

The Blogging Isn't Cool Voting Guide


Because I know my reader would likely have a panic attack without this.... Man, I had no idea I had so many posts about Charlie Winburn. I think this explains why the Fishwrap endorses the clown. He makes for easy copy !

Issue 2
Link
Link
Ohio Staves of HSUS

Issue 3
Link

Issue 7
Link

Issue 9
Video Report
Video Report
9 Makes Kids Cry
Populations
Changing Trends
Permanence or Success ?
Streetcar Arguments That Make Me Wonder
Streetcar Arguments That Make Me Wonder

Charlie Winburn
Can Charlie Be Trusted ?
Charlie Winburn's Dreaming