The Nati

This is an awesome idea... Exile On Main: take four venues, 12 bands, and charge 5 bucks..... what you end up with is a starter's guide to local original live music. I think the biggest problem most Cincinnatians have with the music scene is there's no clear place to start. This solves all that, it's cheap, all the bands only play about 45 minutes. So what you end up with is a nice sampling of local bands, and so maybe next week, you'll go out to a 500 Miles to Memphis show after you find out that you really enjoy them.

The event will be a standing event the first Friday of each month. The idea that it eventually grows to something like the Final Friday Gallery Hop. Good luck and hope many of you head out for the first round of the event tonight. Here is the lineup:

ALCHEMIZE
• 9:45 p.m. Slick 57 - "Just straight-ahead country-punk rock"
• 10:45 p.m. Pernicious Knifs - "Straight-up dirty rock 'n' roll"
• 11:45 p.m. 500 Miles to Memphis - "Punk rock meets rockabilly/country"
• 12:45 a.m. Cari Clara - "Similar to Radiohead, but with a little more pop melodies"

RBC
• 10:15 p.m. Turnbull ACs - "Pop-punk undertones, but with a more classic-rock sound"
• 11:45 p.m. Kentucky Struts - "They're like if Bob Dylan went into real heavy rock 'n' roll"
• 12:15 a.m. Buckra - "They're sort of funky-ish - little bit of rap, but rock 'n' roll."

COOPER'S ON MAIN
• 10:30 p.m. Campfire Crush - "They're definitely the weirdest band on the (bill)"
• 11:30 p.m. The Hiders - "Acountry band that went and took a bunch of acid"
• 12:30 a.m. The Stapletons - "Balls-to-the-wall rock 'n' roll"

COURTYARD CAFE
• 10:30 p.m. The Thirteens - "They're very country, but they're real rock 'n' roll too"
• 11:30 p.m. Straw Boss - "Straight-up hillbilly-bop"

The Mixed-Use project, Cincinnati Millorks near 'Center of Cincinnati Shopping Center' got a boost from council today, as they voted to allow the developer to request Tax Increment Financing (allows developers to use money generated by increased property value tax receipts to repay public improvement on projects - things like roads, sewers, etc). This is needed to allow the project to go forward. The next step is to define the TIF agreements and get council's approval on the specifics when they return in September.

Hopefully this project will break ground before the end of the year. It is to include a new movie theater, a jungle jim's and several hundred thousand sq. ft. of retail.

An interesting article in the Enquirer. I am honestly not sure what prompted it. There is some good news recently (Kaldi's Re-Opening), and the article announces the initiation of a monthly club live music event called, Exile on Main. But it's going to take a lot more than a new monthly event to turn things around down there. I really want it to be a lively enviornment. I want the street to be shut down on the weekends to allow open container and club to club traffic. I want the streets to be clean and well lit. I want security, security and more security. I was down there this month for two events, one at Harry's and one at Jefferson Hall... both great clubs and both events were very fun.... however, I can tell you that I didn't feel all the comfortable. That needs to change, because I am someone who is not put off by the city, so if I am feeling uncomfortable, I can tell you others are feeling downright petrified. If Cincinnati is serious about an enterainment district, they need to be serious about crime and safety.