Signs of Summer (Past)

Posted on May 17, 2020 by Denny

This article first appeared on May 20, 2012. Recent memories and shared pictures reminded me of the places it features so I decided to repost it as close to its anniversary as possible. With concerts, museums, travel, and other story-generating activities currently non-existent, there will likely be more of this sort of reuse before the current summer slips into the past.

The fountain in front of Union Terminal, a.k.a., Cincinnati Museum Center, runs all summer and is turned off all winter. Therefore, one sure sign of summer in Cincinnati is the turning on of the fountain. That happened Friday at 10:30 AM. I had kind of hoped to see the stepped pools below the fountain go from bare concrete to a series of waterfalls right before our eyes but it wasn’t quite that dramatic. Whether the pools were primed in the interest of time or whether the standing water was simply left over from some secret testing I cannot say, but they started the day ready to overflow at the slightest provocation.

I still think bare concrete morphing to cascading waterfalls would have been cooler but watching the fountain go from zilch to a spurt to a full spray wasn’t bad.

All the kids, and there were plenty, were properly wowed and they also enjoyed the characters on hand to promote the ongoing A Day in Pompeii exhibit. I’ve seen the exhibit and it’s a duesy. University of Cincinnati Professor Steven Ellis, along with several UC students, has been instrumental in the current excavations in Pompeii and that was instrumental in making Cincinnati one of only four US cities hosting the exhibit. As you can see, security was tight.

The weather was obviously quite nice for the events at the fountain but Friday was just one of several consecutive near-perfect days. Perfect not only for fountains of water but for fountains — or taps — of root beer. I made it to three different root beer stands on three of those near-perfect days.

On Thursday it was the Jolly’s on the west side of Hamilton, Ohio. Back in 1938, Vinny Jolivette opened an A&W Root Beer franchise in Hamilton. He built this place in 1967 and, casting off the A&W identity, used the family name to inspire a new one for the restaurant. It’s west of the Great Miami River on Brookwood. Somewhere along the line, they added another on the east side of town on Erie. That one has a cooler sign but this one still makes its own root beer and that trumps the sign. The two remain officially connected (The car side signs carry both telephone numbers.) but are managed somewhat separately by two brothers. There is a third Jolly’s in Tiffin, Ohio, that was started, also as an A&W, in 1947 by Vinny’s brother, Roy, and it seems there was a fourth somewhere in Indiana (possibly Bloomington) but I know very little about it.

I stopped by The Root Beer Stand in Sharonville, Ohio, on Friday afternoon. It started life in 1957 as an A&W then went independent in 1982. It stopped using carhops in 1972. Originally built and operated by the Rideour family, it moved on to its second and current owners, Scott & Jackie Donley, in 1990. The Donleys have kept everything pretty much the same and that definitely includes making the root beer using water from their 280 foot well. Claims that “it’s something in the water” may very well be true here.

I got my Saturday root beer fix at the A&W in Union City, Ohio. Despite this being a place I frequented as a teenager, I know few details of its history. I do recall that is was owned by a fellow named Smith in the 1960s and that he operated a used car lot right next door. I have vivid memories of sipping root beer and drooling over a black 1956 Thunderbird that sat in that lot when I was about seventeen. At some point, it became Neil’s A&W Drive In and so it remains today. Curiously, this place doesn’t show up on the official A&W website nor does it have its own site but it does have a FaceBook page.

All three of these places make their own root beer using at least some of the original A&W equipment. Guess that stuff was made to last. All of them taste great and I’m guessing that the recipes are all the same or similar. The Root Beer Stand has its special water and both it and Jolly’s serve their brew in chilled glass mugs. I love ’em both and I do tend to dislike chains but “real” A&Ws (Not stuffed-into-a-corner-of-a-gas-station A&Ws.) are pretty cool and it’s hard to beat an ice-covered mug.

I’m guessing that some noticed the slightly red convertible in the center of the Root Beer Stand photo. That’s my 1963 Valiant and plans to drive it to Darke County and the A&W at the border led to the warm-up visits to Hamilton and Sharonville. The 200-mile round trip was the car’s longest outing since the cold drive home from Cambridge in early 2011. She done good. These pictures show her at Jolly’s and Neil’s.

I recently learned that the neighborhood Flipdaddy’s does brunch on Sundays so I walked over this morning to check it out. It was quite good. I’m always dismayed but rarely surprised to find myself alone on a restaurant’s patio. But, with the thermometer at 74 degrees, I was a little bit surprised today. Lots of people just don’t like any temperature I guess. To be fair, one couple and their home from college daughter did venture outside to eat. That was it. The restaurant was fairly busy inside but just one other outside table was ever used all the while I leisurely worked through my bacon & eggs and slowly sipped my Magic Hat dessert.

Home Learning

Posted on March 29, 2020 by Denny

Since 2009, depending on your definition of work, I have either always worked at home or never worked at home. But I’ve left home a whole bunch to eat, quite often to sleep, and a respectable number of times to learn something. Of course, I more often than not learn something every time I leave the house but right now I’m talking about those times I’ve headed out to a museum or lecture. At the moment, just like the bars and other music venues I wrote about on Wednesday, museums and lecture halls are closed.

The opening image is a screenshot of the Cincinnati Museum Center’s home page and its “Notice of Temporary Closure”. The Museum Center is a place I get to somewhat frequently for OMNIMAX® movies, the permanent exhibits, and world-class traveling exhibits. A traveling exhibit I was really looking forward to, Maya — The Exhibition, was set to open right when the COVID-19 related closures began. I’ve also attended several lectures there. In particular, I liked a series called Brown Bag Lectures. During the two-year-long renovation project, the lectures moved offsite and have yet to return although the building reopened at the end of 2018. Despite good intentions, I haven’t attended a single Brown Bag Lecture since the start of the renovations.

Sometime after the Holocaust and Humanity Center moved into the Museum Center, it began lectures of its own. The Holocaust Speakers Series only recently made it on to my radar and I had not yet attended one. I did, however, once attend a similar talk by the fellow, now deceased, that the HHC’s Coppel Speakers Bureau is named after. Like all other activities, the lectures were canceled when the building closed, but some lectures, like some musical performances, can be adapted to the internet. The HHC has done that with this series with the first “digital lecture” taking place last Wednesday. In the screenshot at left are HHC CEO Sarah Weiss and the presenter of that lecture, Ray Warren. I had expected to simply call up the website and watch a live feed but the lecture was delivered via Zoom which allows questions and other interactions. I’d not used Zoom previously and had to install the application but it was automated and quick.

Ray told the story of his parents who had survived the Holocaust separately then met and married after the war. His slide presentation was set up for use on a large screen in front of a real audience and there were a few glitches early on but problems were solved or worked around. Ray told us not only about his parents’ remarkable experiences but about his own experiences in discovering some aspects of their story. His slides included pictures of friends and family before and after the war. There was a picture of the earrings, now displayed at the HHC, that his mother managed to hide even during her time at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. They were the only connection she had with her pre-war life.

I only took one screenshot during the lecture and it was very near the end. Ray talked about how people made decisions before and during the Holocaust. He spoke not only of how but when. Don’t be late, he said. He mentioned some more recent events that deserved decisions. He mentioned the white supremacist gatherings in Charlottesville and elsewhere and he mentioned the much closer and more recent incident in the photo. Just over two weeks before the lecture and barely ten miles from my home, someone painted “The Jews killed Christ. They are the enemies of the whole human race.” Don’t be late.

My post on the opening of the Holocaust and Humanity Center is here. The one on hearing Werner Coppel is here. For the present, there will be digital lectures each Wednesday at 11:00. Register here.

Music Review
Viral Streaming
Various Artists

Posted on March 25, 2020 by Denny

This isn’t so much a review of music as a review — and preview — of a situation. For quite some time, the Internet has used the word “viral” as if it owned it. Widely and rapidly shared videos, jokes, and photos are said to have “gone viral”. Now the Internet is helping us deal with something that has gone viral the old fashioned way. The novel coronavirus that causes the disease known as COVID-19 is being widely and rapidly shared and we’re trying to make it stop.

We’re trying to make it stop by practicing social distancing. Some people at the World Health Organization want to use the more accurate “physical distancing” but “social distancing” seems to be pretty entrenched. Even before there were “stay-at-home” and “shelter-in-place” orders, bars and the dining areas of restaurants were closed and the income of people who make their living in them was suddenly interrupted. We are quasi-quarantined and semi-isolated, but thanks to the Internet, it’s a quarantine that is, in ways both good and bad, unlike any that’s come before.

One large group whose income has been interrupted is performing musicians. Major festivals and tours, including the Rolling Stones’ “No Filter Tour”, have been canceled or postponed. Some of the big-name stars have moved to fill a little of the vacuum with online concerts and performances. I understand Willie Nelson took part in an online concert last week. I learned of it too late to watch and sure am sorry. There’s an excerpt here. Neil Young has talked about a series of home shows and has one posted here. It’s unclear to me if that’s from a live stream or when there will be more. I stumbled on and surprised myself by enjoying a live feed from Brad Paisley. I’m sure there are others. I think the big-name home show I enjoyed the most is the one pictured at left. That’s Neil Diamond singing Sweet Caroline with some modified lyrics: “Hands. Washing hands. Reaching out. Don’t touch me, I won’t touch you.”

Of course, no one is really worried about Mick and Keith missing a few paychecks, and neither of the Neils was looking for a handout. Nor was Willie. He was, however, bringing attention to others on the feed who could use some help. A few rungs down the ladder from the Stones and Willie are a whole bunch of musicians that have managed to derive a livelihood from music. With the venues closed, the income is gone. Many are trying online “concerts” in hopes of pulling in some tips. Even on paying gigs, many would typically have a tip jar out. Now, though, the tips aren’t to augment what might be rather small payments from the venues. They’re the whole shebang.

During the last week, I’ve watched online performances by some Cincinnati musicians who happen to be in my line of sight. The opening picture is of Rob McAllister (Dead Man String Band) who did a show on Saturday. So did Ricky Nye, pictured at right. I watched Ricky live then caught Rob’s archived show on Sunday morning. On Sunday night I watched the folks in the other picture on the right, Serenity Fisher and Michael Ronstadt. These are all people I know so I sort of knew what to expect but there were surprises. Rob played a new only-heard-once song and Serenity broke out the bunny ears.

I also checked out some folks I’d never heard before. Ricky, Serenity, and Michael did their own streaming through their Facebook pages. Rob kicked off a series of live streams from CincyMusic. I took advantage of the series to catch three new-to-me artists. Kyla Mainous was on Monday night. Vusive and Matt Waters were on Tuesday. All three showed a lot of talent. Kyla and Matt are singer-songwriters that I’d welcome the chance to see in person. Vusive produces electronic music which happens to not be something I’m likely to go out of my way for although I appreciate the talent and effort involved.

I really enjoyed the “concerts” and I think the performers had a lot of fun too. Although I didn’t, many took advantage of Facebook’s comment support to request songs or just say hi. It gives the shows something of an intimate and interactive feel. I know there are lots of people in Cincinnati besides musicians whose income has suddenly disappeared and I know that’s true for cities everywhere. The interactive two-way aspect of this streaming means the help can go both ways. Music can be a tremendous benefit in dealing with tough times, and right now there’s a lot of music flowing through the Internet because it’s got nowhere else to go. Some can make music, and some can’t. Some can tip a little, and some can’t. Sometimes the helping hand drops a dollar in a hat and sometimes it strums a guitar.

ADDENDUM 25-Mar-2020 13:00: Not long after this was published, CincyMusic shared news of a ten act live stream planned for tonight starting at 7:30 in addition to the already scheduled stream at 6:00. Check them out here and here.

Trip Peek #92
Trip #144
SCA Conference 2017

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Denny

This picture is from my 2017 “trip” to the SCA Conference. I put trip in quotation marks since the conference was in Cincinnati and I spent every night at home in my own bed. The retired Holiday Inn sign is in front of the American Sign Museum where we had dinner after the first full day of the conference. That day was spent on a bus tour around the Cincinnati area, the next was filled with presentations, and the third with a bus tour north along the Dixie Highway.

Trip Peeks are short articles published when my world is too busy or too boring for a current events piece to be completed in time for the Sunday posting. In addition to a photo thumbnail from a completed road trip, each Peek includes a brief description of that photo plus links to the full-sized photo and the associated trip journal.

Burr on Tap

Posted on March 8, 2020 by Denny

For 2020, the Cincinnati Museum Center is holding a series of after-hour events under the heading Museum on Tap. The first, “Space Gallery Pub Crawl”, was in January and associated with the Apollo 11 exhibit then in place. The second, “Aaron Burr: American Bastard”, happened on Thursday, and I was there.

The “on tap” in the series’ name comes from the fact that adult beverages are available. While there are no actual taps dispensing draft beer, there is beer in cans and bottles along with wine and spirits. These beverages were offered at four different locations including two in the Public Landing area. One reason the cobblestone street was fairly empty when I arrived was that many attendees were standing in lines at the other two service locations I’d passed on the way. Event literature admits that the Public Landing of the 1850s is somewhat more modern than the Cincinnati Mr. Burr would have seen but it’s a better fit than, say, the Hall of Dinosaurs.

The museum’s gathering was set in 1807 and, while Burr was not present himself, several of his friends, acquaintances, and accomplices were. Pictured, from left to right, are boat builder Leonard Armstrong, Senator John Smith, Charlotte Chambers Ludlow (widow of Cincinnati founder Israel Ludlow), and Mayor James Findlay. Smith aided Burr in his schemes, Findlay hindered him, and Armstrong and Ludlow were attentive observers.

This being my first Museum on Tap experience, I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. I thought there might be some sort of presentation but that wasn’t the case this time. I can’t say whether or not that’s true of other events in the series. A handout supplied some background on Burr’s trial for treason and his relation with Cincinnatian John Smith. This was augmented by several posters that might have appeared on the streets of Cincinnati. Chatting with the folks in period dress added details. In conversation, Senator Smith put a modern twist on things by referring to reports of his wrongdoing as “fake news”. When I asked for a solo photo, there was no question of where he wanted to pose. He smugly stepped over to the poster with his name and the words “NOT GUILTY” while ignoring the question mark and the smaller print as only a practiced politician can.

I also spoke with Mayor Findlay, who was among those calling for Senator Smith to resign, and Mrs. Ludlow, who had met Burr only once and was clearly not impressed. Onboard the Queen of the West, Leonard Armstrong happily shared his knowledge of the flatboats he built for businessmen like Smith. From the forward deck, I could see the street becoming more crowded.

One thing happening on the street was artists from Music Resource Center performing original material. I briefly mentally questioned the presence of hip hop music in 1807 but quickly realized that the hip hop musical Hamilton is responsible for much of the current awareness of Alexander Hamilton and the man who shot him, Aaron Burr. In fact, singing karaoke versions of Hamilton tunes was one of the activities supported by the Music Resource Center but the signup sheet was still empty when I left. An area a little bit away from the landing was designated as dueling grounds and Nerf pistols were provided for anyone wanting to recreate the Hamilton-Burr encounter. Apparently, some did, as I found the pistols in various locations when I peeked in but I never caught an actual duel in progress.

Attendees could also increase their knowledge with trivia flip cards or a scavenger hunt-style bingo game and I saw quite a few people doing both. Questions on the flip cards were not Burr-specific but were generally focused on the early 1800s. Bingo game questions referred to various displays throughout the public landing area. I flipped a few cards but left the bingo competition to others. That’s why I still don’t know how much Hattie Calhoun paid to update her dress.

Festless in Cincinnati

Posted on March 1, 2020 by Denny

In last week’s post, I told of becoming a big fan and semi-regular attendee of the annual Bockfest parade. At the time, I had every intention of attending this year’s event but it didn’t work out that way. Despite predicted near-freezing temperatures, those intentions survived until the afternoon of the parade but no further. Predictions of partly cloudy and low chance of precipitation became completely cloud covered with light snow. Recalling my 2013 “I’m too old for this” decision, I gave the parade a miss.

I had, of course, planned on the parade being the subject of this week’s post. Fortunately, there had been an event earlier in the week which makes a very suitable substitute. Narrow Path Brewing, in nearby Loveland, held their own mini-Bockfest on Tuesday. There was no parade but there were genuine goats, imposing monks who may or may not have been genuine, and a genuine ceremonial tapping of a keg of bock beer.

I didn’t make it to Bock Hall or the adjacent tent of many breweries in Cincinnati, but I did get to sample three of the area’s bock offerings. The first was the Sonder Brewing‘s William Goat featured in last week’s post, and the second was Narrow Path Brewing’s Pathinator that I enjoyed on Tuesday. The third was Common Denominator at The Common Beer Company on Saturday. I met fellow road and beer enthuiast Perry Huntoon there, and his son snapped our picture when there was still a little Common Denominator left in my glass.

Scenes from when I actually made it to the big downtown bash can be found here: 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019.

Royal Competition

Posted on February 23, 2020 by Denny

I attended my first Bockfest Parade in 2010 and immediately regretted missing the preceding seventeen. My attendance hasn’t been perfect since then but it’s on the plus side: 6 of 10. My attendance at other Bockfest events has been perfect. I haven’t attended a single one and that includes the multiple Sausage Queen competitions that take place each year. One reason was the expectation of crowded spaces which I don’t enjoy nearly as much as I once did but location has also been a factor. To be honest, location could be problematic for a couple of reasons. One, of course, was distance. Most events happen downtown which means a bit of a drive plus dealing with parking. Secondly, many were in places I was unfamiliar with. I presumed that most of the attendees were folks who frequented the various places and the fact that I did not sort of added to the “crowded spaces” aspect. But this year the last of seven qualifying events took place just up the road in a place I’m fairly familiar with.

Sonder Brewing is the brewery closest to my home. It’s less than two crow-miles from my door and about two and a half if I stick to the roads. I arrived more than an hour ahead of the scheduled start of competition and the place was packed. I got a beer and hovered near the bar until a seat miraculously opened. My first beer was a porter. The second was the more appropriate William Goat bock pictured above. I can’t say whether or not the flouting of the “‑ator” bock naming convention was intentional but I can say it was quite good. I happily sipped my brew to the sounds of 99 Luftballon and Beer Barrel Polka — both in German. Then it was La Bamba and Livin’ On A Prayer in Spanish and English respectively.

The competition took place in the far corner. The acoustics were horrible so I had almost no idea of what was going on and the lighting and distance helped me make photos that matched the acoustics. I got no pictures of one of the three entrants and didn’t even learn her name. I was rooting for Ashli, who was assisted by an energetic dance team, only because I’d met her and some of her team before things got rolling. Rhonda also had a little help and both had sizable cheering sections.

Rhonda was the ultimate winner although I don’t know why or how. She will represent Sonder Brewing in the final competition for the 2020 Sausage Queen at Bockfest Hall next Saturday.

Treasures of the Spanish World

Posted on January 12, 2020 by Denny

When the Cincinnati Art Museum announced this upcoming exhibit near summer’s end, I was interested but not overly so. In fact, I didn’t put it on my Gotta-See-That list but on my I’ll-See-That-If-It’s-Convenient list. That was a mistake and I’m sure glad there was a day when taking in Treasures of the Spanish World was convenient and it didn’t end up on my Sorry-I-Missed-That list.

First off, it’s big. Its more than 200 objects fill several of the galleries I associate with temporary exhibits. And it’s not just big in terms of space but in time as well. The oldest items in the exhibit are from the middle of the third millennium BCE; The newest are from the twentieth century CE. Most items, including intricately decorated fabrics and ceramics, call for some up-close study. The pictured “books” are letters patent of nobility (cartas ejecutorias de hidalguia) that attest to “the holder’s gentility” and social position. They are wonderfully decorated and often contain images of the holder and/or grantor.

Numerous paintings, including quite a few portraits, are on display. These, showing a wide range of scale, are the work of Domenikos Theotokopoulos (a.k.a, El Greco).

At the beginning of a section named “Golden Age“, visitors are reminded that “In the 1500s Spain was the most powerful country in the western world”. The western world was getting a whole lot bigger in those days and Spain played a huge role in that. The large map, from which the clip of the Americas was taken, was created by Giovanni Vespucci in 1526 as a royal wedding gift. Giovanni inherited the job of maintaining Spain’s master nautical chart from his uncle, Amerigo.

Of course, Christianity was really big in both Old and New Spain. The large wooden relief sculpture was once part of an even larger piece in a Mexican Church. It dates from around 1600.

The exhibit is organized chronologically and physically divided into two parts. The second section is certainly interesting enough — there are a few Goyas among its several paintings — but I only have one photo from it. I seem to like my history with a side of art more than the other way round. “Advances of the Nineteenth Century” is a set of tiles recounting recent progress from the vantage point of 1903. The bicycle, locomotive, flush toilet, and sewing machine are clearly steps forward. Not so clear is whatever advance the bullfighting tile is touting.

This touring exhibit was made possible by a major renovation project at the Hispanic Society Museum & Library in New York City. That’s where the items in the exhibit normally appear and many of them have never been displayed elsewhere. The exhibit initially appeared in Madrid, Spain, and appeared in Mexico City and Albuquerque before reaching Cincinnati. There’s still time to see it but not much. This is being published when just one week of the fourteen-week run remains. As I said in the opening paragraph, I’m glad Treasures of the Spanish World avoided going on my Sorry-I-Missed-That list. I recommend you keep it off of yours, too, if you can.

BLINK II

Posted on October 13, 2019 by Denny

This is the second coming of BLINK. The first was in 2017 when I underestimated the crowd, arrived too late, and missed the parade entirely. That story is here. This year I arrived in plenty of time, again underestimated the crowd, and missed the parade mostly. Reinforcing the claim that I arrived in plenty of time are pictures, like the one at right, of parade entries in the staging area. I could have taken up a spot in the front row of spectators but chose to roam around rather than stand still for an extra hour or so.

When I did decide to settle down, I thought I’d found a spot near the start behind a single row of spectators that I could see over. That turned out to be something of an illusion, however. There was a row of cell phone wielders seated on the curb and a steady wall of passers-by who tended to pause for extended periods until “encouraged” to move by the folks whose view they were blocking. Even so, I managed a few only slightly blurry pictures, including one of a glowing snail I had caught unlit in the staging area, before my phone rang.

For something more than a day, I had been expecting (or at least hoping for) an important phone call. My fears that it would arrive at the worst possible moment were justified. The parade started moving around 7:20; The call came at 7:32. I simultaneously accepted the call (it really was important) and the fact that I would see no more of the parade. I paralleled the parade route one block away but the route itself was lined by a more or less impenetrable wall of spectators about six deep. The picture is of 3rd Street. Despite being crossed by the parade, plans called for the westbound 3rd and eastbound 2nd to be kept open. That was clearly easier said than done. The cars at the left of the picture are in curbside parking spaces; The rest are not. The car in the foreground is running with its lights on; The rest are not. They are effectively parked in the street with many drivers and passengers beside or on top of their vehicles.

I believe the giant ‘O’ is the one I could see above the parade route people wall. The big wheel is a permanent fixture on Cincinnati’s riverfront. I snapped the picture of the big dog as it headed off to a garage at the end of the parade. It’s another entry that I’d caught in an unlit state. I never did see the dragon in the opening photo in motion.

Even though I couldn’t actually see that parade, I went ahead with my plans to reach its endpoint because I wanted to see the nearby Roebling Bridge. It had been the subject of a lot of BLINK promotion but I wasn’t nearly as impressed as I thought I’d be.

I’d read the advice about picking your targets at BLINK, but I ignored it. I’d done no planning in 2017 and stumbled into something impressive every block or two. I expected to do the same as I headed back north from the riverfront. It didn’t happen. I wondered if my sense of awe was dulled by having seen the technology before. Or maybe my disappointment at missing out on the parade was spilling over into other areas. Both of those are probably at play but I decided there was more to it when I reached the lot in the third photo. In 2017, one of my favorite projections had been here. The brick wall had been the target of a King Records themed projection. This year the lot held the light source for shadow puppets.

I crossed the street and ducked into the Bay Horse Cafe for a Hudy and contemplation. I developed no insight but enjoyed the beer and stepped out with my attitude slightly adjusted and ready to enjoy whatever I encountered. A rather nice projection (Purpose and Play) at 8th and Walnut was followed by the lighted seesaws on Court Street. The seesaws were down by the river in 2017. I think they looked better in that location, but folks were definitely having a good time with them here. My favorite projection of the few I actually saw was Razzle Dazzle at the Ensemble Theater.

In Washington Park, I captured the giant bouncy house that is Dodecalis. It’s one of the few BLINK installations with an entry fee and the only one (AFAIK) that requires shoes to be removed. My car was nearby and I headed there undecided if my sense of being underwhelmed was justified but too exhausted from walking to really care.

On Friday, I was back. B & H Photo Video, where I’ve spent a little money over the years, sponsored several BLINK related walks led by professional photographers. I took advantage of one in the Findlay Market area led by Derek Hackett of ChopEmDown Films. That’s Derek at our first stop, a mural literally just completed by Logan Hicks.

I found the face-on-the-wall extra interesting because it is carved into the surface. It is the work of a Portuguese artist using the name Vhils. The many eyes and bright colors of the second mural make quite a contrast to the photo-like monochrome carving. A bit further on, we encountered Galo, the artist who did it, working on a standalone piece.

Even though BLINK officially opened Thursday, Galo wasn’t the only artist at work on Friday. Two of them were finishing projects almost side by side, and both Tatiana Suarez and Elle waved to members of our group as we watched them at work. It was immediately obvious that, in addition to having fantastic artistic talent and the ability to work on a very large scale, these people must be able to operate that lift with controls mounted on the platform.

We visited several more murals and I took bunches of pictures but I’m only going to include one more from Friday’s walk. It’s another work in process. It is the work of a group calling themselves the London Police and I found it extra interesting because of the subject. The face in the center of the mural belongs to Tatiana Suarez who we just saw painting the mural of the lady and the swan.

I returned to BLINK yet a third time on Saturday. There are installations on both sides of the river this year and my original plan had been to attend two nights so I could check out the displays in Kentucky. After Thursday’s mild disappointment, I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to go back, but Friday’s experience and seeing photos posted by others convinced me that I’d been the victim of bad luck, my own attitude, and a lack of planning. Saturday’s experience was more in line with my expectations. I parked in Covington, walked across the Roebling Bridge into Cincinnati, and checked out a few specific installations. They included an untitled work from Saya Woolfalk and the projections at the courthouse and the Contemporary Art Center.

Then I headed to the riverside and the giant rainbow that first appeared at Burning Man. The constantly changing LEDs make the thirty-foot arch much more than a rainbow. In the second photo, it frames one tower of the Roebling Bridge which I appreciated much more this time than I had on Thursday. The bridge is sometimes called the “singing bridge” because of the sounds made by tires on its grated deck. Recordings of some of the bridge’s sounds have been used to produce some slightly eerie but overall very pleasant music that is played through speakers in the park. My improved appreciation was no doubt aided by that music and the view of the bridge from water level.

There had been very few people on the bridge when I came north. It was now packed. It is closed to vehicles during the festival but both pedestrian walkways are open and filled. It had taken me several minutes to reach the point on the bridge where steps lead to the park. It took right at half an hour to reach the Kentucky shore from those steps. I probably spent a total of forty-five minutes shuffling over the bridge and overheard claims of an hour didn’t now seem as preposterous as they had when I first heard them on the Ohio side.

In Covington, a London Police mural is the base for an animated projection. I can’t help wondering who the model for the female figure was. Could it be mural artist Elle? I’m fairly confident that the model for the projection in the second picture is the world’s largest disco ball which people are dancing beneath just half a block away.

There is one day of BLINK remaining but I don’t anticipate another visit. It could happen though. Tonight that moon will be completely full.

Brewing Heritage Trail

Posted on September 15, 2019 by Denny

I wasn’t around when the first phase of Cincinnati’s Brewing Heritage Trail opened in April and checking it out has been on my to-do list ever since. Some nice weather finally lined up with some idle time this week, so off I went. There really isn’t an official beginning or end and the designated Hop On points are essentially just suggestions. Even so, I wasn’t feeling particularly rebellious and following the suggestion seemed easier than not so I did. This is the Hop On point at Findlay Market.

My first stop was physically on the trail but not part of it. I had thought of grabbing something to eat at the market but decided to skip ahead on the trail just a bit and have breakfast at Tucker’s, a Cincinnati institution since 1946. I’ve eaten here in the past but not since a 2015 fire that threatened to permanently close the place. And I’d never met Joe Tucker. Today I sat at the counter while Joe worked the grill and chatted easily with me and everyone else who walked in the door. A great way to start the day.

From Tucker’s, I backtracked just a little to begin following the trail in earnest at Vine and Elder. The current trail is a loop plus the beginnings of an extension on McMicken Avenue and the Elder Street connection to Findlay Market. Signs like this one identify segments of the trail as well as the turns. A map is part of the signage at the Hop On points. It is also available online and I referenced it a couple of times from my phone. Apparently an actual smartphone app was available at one time but it has been withdrawn while “we tweak a few items”.

The former Hudepohl Bottling Plant sits on McMicken at the end of Elder Street. Opposite the building is a display featuring a smiling Louis Hudepohl and lots of information about the company. Hudepohl was one of the few Cincinnati breweries to survive prohibition and was once one of the largest in the state. The main Hudepohl brewery was abandoned in the late 1980s but its 170-foot smokestack bearing the company name remained a Cincinnati landmark until its demolition in June of this year.

Just yards beyond the Hudepohl kiosk, I found something unrelated to the trail but too cool to ignore. It was the mural that first caught my eye but I soon realized that I was standing by a large — and slightly out of place — garden. When a voice invited me in, I stepped through the gate to meet Christina, the Flower Lady of OTR and a volunteer gardener. Started in 1980, the Over the Rhine People’s Garden was the first community garden in Cincinnati. It is filled with flowers, vegetables, and fruit and there there is a weekly free distribution. Food not taken is donated to a local food bank. I even found a small connection to the trail I was following. At least one volunteer does some home brewing and is growing hops for that purpose.

The trail is also marked with medallions pressed into the sidewalks. I’m sure I walked right past some of the smaller ones where they appear all by themselves without even noticing. Just past the green space and playground of Grant Park, this cluster at the corner of McMicken and Moore is pretty hard to miss.

The second Hop On point is just around the corner on Moore Street. It is next to one of the largest murals on the trail and includes multiple information displays. Among the many pieces of information presented is one regarding local per capita beer consumption. That statistic has been cited as one of the reasons that Cincinnati, despite having around forty breweries, was not known as a national distributor. There just wasn’t much left to distribute.

I slipped down the unfinished McMicken Street segment and even backtracked a bit to capture some of the numerous murals along the trail. The Crown Brewery is just one of several buildings in the Brewery District being spruced up to reflect their former lives.

This was once home to Kaufmann Brewery and is now home to Christian Moerlein. In between, it was the Husman Potato Chip factory. Besides containing a brewery and taproom, the building houses the Brewing Heritage Trail Tour Center. A wide variety of tours — both above and below ground — is available. Check them out here. I’d kind of been thinking about a cold brew in the taproom but hadn’t really considered the time. “It’s not yet noon and the taproom is hours away from opening,” I observed to myself dryly.

There were plenty more informative things to read and decorative things to admire. I even have evidence that I didn’t miss ALL of the solo medallions. Reading about history while standing where it actually occurred is always cool.

I finished the loop then the short extension back to the Hop On point at Findlay Market. I’m impressed. An incredible amount of Cincinnati’s brewing history can be learned in an hour’s time walking the trail. As much as I enjoyed the walking and reading, I must admit that two of the day’s highlights were not listed trail features. I really enjoyed talking with Joe and Christina. Both were familiar with and supportive of the trail even without an official connection. I also enjoyed speaking with John Donaldson who owns buildings near the Moore Street Hop On point and who paused to chat as I looked over the nearby signs. If only I could have chatted with a bartender over a cool pint inside the Moerlein taproom.

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