Beautiful Losers in Cincinnati.

(warning..vanity post)

I had a great time yesterday night at the opening party for the Beautiful Losers show in at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in downtown Cincinnati.

Cincy has a bad rep nationwide as this right-wing haven, but by experience with this city is that it has alot of space for "alternative" things and bohemians/freethinkers....

...and this CAC opening sort of proves it. The place had DJs, live performers, and was just packed w. folks. The show itself was pretty edgy...showcasing skate & surf culure, zines, etc...."street culture"....and is running concurrently with "Crimes & Misdemeanors", which showcases the New York avant of the late 70s/80s..The Guerilla Girls, ACT-UP, Haring, Wojornowicz, Kostabi, Hans Hacke....very political content....

Heres a link to the Beautiful Losers show:
http://www.contemporaryartscenter.org/exhibitions/BeautifulLosers.html

& Crimes & Misemeanors
http://www.contemporaryartscenter.org/exhibitions/crimes.html

:hi:

....u from Cincinnati?

;-)

Its just such a neat town.

Dayton is SO damn boring.

I'm in your neck of the woods, but grew up in Clermont County (just east of Cincinnati). Frankly, while Cincinnati does seem to generate more than its share of stick-up-the-ass wingnuts, younger people from that area always have craved a less right-wing alternative. I know -- I grew up down there in the Reagan era and had to find them on my own.

What's important is to provide younger people with cultural alternatives. I do have to credit Dick Rosenthal with making the effort -- he finances grants to playwrights every year, and supports Playhouse In The Park and other local drama outlets.

I mean, any area that produced Bootsy Collins can't be all bad, can it?

Hah..its ALL suburban isnt it?

I go to Cincy for things like the CAC, good bookstores, just that urban vibe.

Cincy is really underrated.

But Dayton does have some good live music venues.

Never seen a good show in D-Town other than at Canal. (Springfielder here)

....Canal Street is hands down one of the best venues ive been too...a real muscians room.

But ive seen good shows at the Night Owl, and at Gillys, and some of the Cityfolk shows.

Otherwise Dayton is extremely sucky. Even the public radio (WYSO) is going down the tubes.

As long as you're not talking about the "Beer-and-Brawl" (McGuffey's House of Draft). :P

WYSO wasn't so bad last time I was in town (Christmastime), though it wasn't up to the levels I remember.

..McGuffys, Sloopys....gag.

WYSO used to be a good community radio station, but got this NPR lobotomy, and they play alot more canned shows, and have got rid of most of their blues/jazz programming and local celtic show and womens music show.

Cincy has this really funky community station...WAIF.

is shot. They fired Vick Mickunas, if you remember him -- he was about all that was left, after they canned all the local jazz and blues shows. Apparently, he wouldn't 'get with the program' on fundraising. If you remember Vick, you know he never got with the program on fundraising, but he knew his audience and apparently collected whatever pledges were expected of his airshift.

Anyway, sadly WOXY (the modern rock station in Oxford) also has been sold. They intend to continue to broadcast via Internet radio, but when they're gone, that will be the death of independent commercial radio in SW Ohio.

But for someone who grew up in the shadow of Cincinnati, Dayton still looks good to me. It could always be worse, in other words.

Vick was pretty damn good. I think Rev Cool is still on on Fridays and does his usual excellent job. And Fred Bartenstien & his bluegrass show (which is an improvement over the right wing puke they used to have).....But these are rareties. I really miss Bill Flynt and that celtic show...that was some excellent radio.

WOXY was a great station. I still listen to it, and am trying to pick up on the coprporate lobotomy...as of now it still sounds OK....maybe a bit more of a "rock" sound.

I lived in Cincinnati for 15 months in the late 90s and was very unhappy there. I wish I had the internet then so I could have hooked up with some cool people.

As it was, I only made one friend, and she ended up coming to join us out in California.

(interesting paintings BTW).

Actually, for the region, Louisville is probably the most laid back/tolerant place. Also alot of appreciation of local artists.

Cincy, tho, is alot better than Dayton.

...i moved to Ohio from Calfornia (Sacramento).

It was pretty much of cultural shock. I felt i moved back to the 1950s.

Oddly enogh Sacto has sort of this "southern" vibe to to it. Hard to put a finger on it.....More like Lex or Lou than like around here.

and I felt like I went back to the 50s. The 1650s!

There were some things I liked about it though. We lived in the gaslamp district in Clifton in this beautiful old brick house. I'm sure there are cool people there, it was just hard to find them. I worked as a secretary for Federated Department Stores downtown, and I still have nightmares about that place.

I liked N. Kentucky, we were going to move there before we threw in the towel and went back to California. There's a club there called Southwick House (I think) where we saw Guided by Voices that was one of the best venues I've been to. Maybe I was just drunk though.

...there are some other areas too, in town. Hyde Park, Mnt Adams, Corryville, and downtown itself. And the "Northside", near Crazy Ladies.

Interesting about your opinion of Northern Kentucky. You are thinking of the Southgate House, I think, which is a good music venue, true.

I would say Newport & esp. Covington would be worth moving too..but the suburbs further away from the river are EXTREMLEY conservative.

Covington actually made some headlines recently by passing a gay rights ordnance, without much opposition.

But this area is just no comparison to San Francisco, which is probably unique in the USA, and even the world. No comparison there, at all.

and my youngest brother were in a movie called "Beautiful Losers"...