The Nati

As I mentioned previously... my friends Brent and Janet are getting married tonight, so I won't be out to see the festivities. But I'll still send out some recommendations, and encourage everyone not attending Brent and Janet's wedding to head out and catch some bands!

9 PM:
Kitty Rose @ Arnold's - Hopland, CA - Acoustic Country
Tim Lee @ Mr. Pitiful's - Knoxville, TN - Roots Rock

10 PM:
The Baghdaddios @ Alchemize - NYC - Laid back Punk Rock
Culture Queer @ Club Dream - Cincy - Radiohead-ish
The Turnbull AC's @ The Exchange - Cincy - Roots Rock...love this band.
Fundamentals @ RBC - St. Louis - G. Love style acoustic hip hop.

11 PM: Local Hour - Check out one (or more) of these great local bands:
the virgins @ Alchemize
the woos @ Japp's
Fizzgig @ J-Hall
The Swarthy Band @ Jekyll and Hyde's 3rd floor. - My Pick
Staggering Statistics @ Neon's
The Defrost Star @ Viper Room

Midnight:
The Wrenfields @ Arnold's - Detroit - Americana/Bluegrass
FLUTTR EFFECT @ Club Dream - Boston - For something completely different... go check it out.
STAMPEAD @ The Exchange - LA - Roots Rock west coast style.

1 AM: Two Great shows completely different to choose from:
Dorsey @ Neon's - Indy - Roots Rock
GITOGITO HUSTLER @ Alchemize - Kyoto Japan - these shows are as different as they could be... one is roots, the other is 4 female group of punk rockers from Japan. Take your pick!

My great friends Brent and Janet are getting married Saturday evening, and I am super excited about the wedding and reading in their wedding... should be awesome, and there aren't two people more perfect for each other.

So Friday night I went to their rehearsal and then we went to the Reds game for the 'rehearsal dinner', and then looped over to Hofbrahaus for a couple drinks. I did make it out to see the Freddies at Arnold's... they were awesome as always, and the crew from Christian Moerlein were in the house. It was pretty clear the guys had done plenty over the course of the night to 'support' their brand...

Hope everyone was able to make it out to see a few bands!

Here are my 'picks' for tonight, I've chosen mostly out of town bands, but there are tons of great local bands playing that I didn't pick, mostly because I get the chance to see them all the time. But if you don't get out to see live music much here are some others I'd suggest: Len's Lounge, Greg Mahan, The Thirteens, Robin Lacy, Abiyah, and Katie Reider (though she techincally is from Columbus now, not Cincinnati).

Hope you all head out to some shows whether they be the shows below or others. And while you are out, if you're going to have a beer, make it Christian Moerlein. Not only is it great beer, but Greg Hardman and the gang are huge supporters of Cincinnati, Live Music, and making this town a great place to live... so return some of the love and buy a CM!

Check out Kari Wethington's MPMF Blog at CinWeekly too!

9 PM:
Longfellow @ Arnold's - Piano driven laid back way to start the night.
ellery @ Neon' Upstairs - Acoustic Duo with mostly female vocals.

10 PM:
Wussy @ Club Dream - Locals and have a brand new awesome CD

11 PM:
Kentucky Struts @ Blue Wisp - Locals playing up some great roots music.
Mark Pires @ Harry's Upstairs - 11:40 - Just interested by the 'magic' show listed in his bio.
X-Rated Cowboys @Mr. Pitiful's - Hard rockin straight up rock and roll.

Midnight:
Bucktown Kickback @ Arnold's - Roots Rock from Columbus
The Stapletons @ Mr. Pitiful's - Roots Rock - played 'Last Blast' - Great local band

And Andy played a great set off the balcony of the CAC today at lunch. Pretty cool seeing them 'hanging off the edge' of the building.

The show kicks off tonight with a CD release party tonight at McFadden's featuring live music by Fizzgig, Jason and the Argonauts, and The Virgins. Show kicks off at 7:30 PM and is free, so come out and get the party started.

And LilyPad - Free Wireless is up at the CAC for MidPoint, and will (fingers crossed) be live on Main St tomorrow in time for MidPoint... so bring your laptop down to the CAC or to Main St and enjoy free wireless thanks to Project LilyPad!

Now I must say, taxes going down is normally a good thing. But Chabot's proposal to give everyone a $500 tax credit for gas is insane. Do gas prices suck? Very much. But the bottom line is you have oil companies making record profits in the same year there are record gas prices. Perhaps we need a cap on oil company profits. But that seems a bit too socialist. But it seems more inline than having the government sending out checks to people for driving cars.

Perhaps the problem is CONSUMPTION. So incenting people to have cars and drive them is not going to solve the supply/demand that drives price. A better solution would be tax credits for those NOT using gas. How about credits for taking the bus (make it finicially important to use mass transit). Or using other means like carpooling, vanpooling or riding bikes. We can take the opportunity to actually shift behavior, and lessen dependency on gas. This plan is just awful.

I came home after the beautiful day at Paul Brown to watch the 4 PM games, and turn on ESPN's NFL Tonight. I've been watching Berman and Tom Jackson on NFL Tonight for years. I've always known that Tom Jackson is from Cincinnati, so that was not the surprise on Sunday night. However, here is what Mr. Jackson said in response to Berman's comment that 'the Bengals look like an impressive 2-0'..... "I don't care who they've played, the Bengals are for real. You know Cincinnati is my HOMETOWN"

Welcome to the Who Dey Bandwagon Mr. Jackson, glad to have you back on our side!

Most of 5th St in the central business district is now shrouded in fence and cheesecloth. There was no time wasted post Oktoberfest in erecting fences and beginning construction on the square. It now matches the scene one block over where Government Square bus depot is going through a similar year long renovation.

The Enquirer today had an article that in my opinion was unnecessarily negative. I don't typically understand the point of interviews with random people on the street. Does it really matter that someone that typically has lunch on fountain square was 'surprised' to see the square shut off? Perhaps it does, but it seems pointless to me. If no one knew that this was occurring doesn't that make the guilty party people like the Enquirer? How else would Joe Public know but by reading the newspaper and watching the news.

Anyway, they did comment briefly on Rock Bottom's lawyers flying in from Colorado for discussions of 'financial concessions' for the construction. This infuriates me to no end. Comments of 'not being involved' in the process is flat out ignorant. Let me give a brief overview of what a community based business is about in a compare contrast of two downtown bars/restaurants. Rock Bottom ( on the square, corporate based out of Colorado), and McFaddens (7th St, locally owned).

Rock Bottom sits directly on the square and is the business probably most adversely affected in the short term, and most positively affected in the long term by Fountain Square.

12 months ago 3CDC held a half dozen public input sessions on the square design. The downtown info session held at McFaddens (likely not directly affected), why didn't Rock Bottom look to facilitate that?

6 months ago 3CDC held a YP focused session about Fountain Square, the Banks and OTR. Where was this event held? McFadden's. Again, not directly affected by the construction.

1 month ago, a Mayoral Forum was held at CET. Who sponsored the food at the event and the post event party? McFadden's. In case you're wondering the current Mayor is the one who publicly supported Fountain Square overhaul, and was ring leader in getting it through council.

1 week ago, McFadden's held a 'watch party' the evening of the Mayoral primary. Again, showing focus and interest in the local community (not to mention bringing in 100 people to buy beers on a Tuesday night).

I could go on. The point being, businesses who are involved in the community thrive. McFadden's is always crowded. Crowded for lunch, crowded for happy hour, crowded late night. Why? They have active grass-roots based involvement and marketing. They know their target audience and how to get them out. Rock Bottom on the other hand sits around for a year as plans are circulated, discussed in public, bebated at council and when passed they say "But what about my business?" You run a business, this is not charity. Be involved, let your concerns known upfront, then if you are ignored you have a place to complain. I haven't even mentioned the disgust with someone complaining about a $40 million upgrade done on their doorstep with $0 from them. I am guessing that once construction is done and business is booming they'll expect to keep the same rent they are paying now. If they end up filing a law suit, it will be the last time I step foot in Rock Bottom.

And I'm not anti-Rock Bottom. I probably go to lunch or evening meetings there twice a month.

Bengals Line was at Game Day last night. Guests in person and on the phone included David Pollack, Marvin Lewis and Shane Graham (who just happened to show up at the bar). In addition, Jeff Ruby also 'stopped in' and joined the fun. There was also a Bob Huggins sighting. It was a great time, and if you've never been to Game Day you should stop down next week for Bengals Line, where WLW broadcasts their Monday Night talk show live.