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News

35 center city businesses extending business hours with "Lite the Nite"

Thirty-five businesses throughout Downtown and Over-the-Rhine will be extending their dining and shopping hours, and offering some special promotions as part of the first “Lite the Nite” retail event that is meant to highlight the diverse collection of shops, restaurants and services located throughout Cincinnati’s center city.

The Cincinnati Historic Midtown Merchants Association teamed up with Mayor Mallory on this effort that will bring extended hours to the participating stores on Friday, September 25. The “Lite the Nite” event will going on during the same time as Midpoint Music Festival so there should be tons of live music and festivities sprinkled all over Downtown and Over-the-Rhine. MPMF runs through this Saturday, September 26.

All stores will be open until 9pm or later, with many staying open late into the night. View a full map of the participating stores below with their extended hours and locations.


View “Lite the Nite” in a larger map

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

MPMF Is Here

By this point, everyone is aware that the 9th annual MidPoint Music Festival hits downtown Cincy this Thursday, September 24 through Saturday, September 26. Instead of giving you something you could get elsewhere, we thought we’d provide you links to a few pages that may help narrow down the 270 bands there are to choose from.

When was the last time you had 270 choices as to how to spend three evenings? Well, since 270 is a lot to choose from, we give you the MPMF homepage at CityBeat as a jumping off point. Check out the CityBeat homepage and go through the bands alphabetically; stop and listen to a few bands there but make sure to explore some on MySpace. If you do nothing else, our recommendation is that you pay special attention to the DIG lines in the description as CityBeat does their best job to point you in the right direction.

Still too much work? There are some recommendations out there, including some from our friends at EachNoteSecure here, here, here, and my very own preview here. There will be a ton more MPMF news posted in the coming days, so make sure you keep an eye on their homepage.

As you can tell there is a ton to choose from and the $29 wristband is quite a deal for three nights of music. What does $29 get you? The wristband allows you to jump in any one of the sixteen Scion Streetcars to get around town all weekend. It also allows you to go from venue to venue as many times as you want without additional charge. Truly at a cost of less than $10 a night, the wristband provides flexibility and value that are well worth the price if you plan on going all weekend or even just two of the three nights. However, there are plenty of other options including paying at the door of each venue or even free shows on Fountain Square each night over the course of the weekend. (Fountain Square shows feature bands that are playing throughout the rest of the weekend and are a true steal!)

Texts to 4632 from Cincinnati Bell Wireless accounts, and tweets using the #MPMF hash tag on Twitter or messages posted on the site will be displayed on Web-enabled monitors in festival venues, on a projection of the site on the facade of Grammer’s and on the Fountain Square video board. If you want to get a steady stream of updates be sure to follow @MidPointMusic, @MetromixCincy, and @CincyBlog on Twitter to get festival updates throughout the weekend.

Looking forward to seeing you around town this weekend. Enjoy the music! We are all lucky and better off to have it all right here in front of us for the taking!

Photo by Flickr user thadd…read his blog here.

Categories
News

Sen. Brown announces $700k for Ohio Hub

United States Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has announced the passage of $2.75 million in federal funds for transportation and infrastructure projects in Ohio. $700,000 of that money will be going towards improving the capacity of passenger and freight trains – a critical component of the Midwest Regional Rail System that officials says will integrate the region’s air, highway, and local transit networks along 3,000-mile interstate rail network with more than 45 proposed passenger stations.

Senator Brown said that, “investing in Ohio’s transportation infrastructure is critical to ensuring the long-term economic competitiveness of our state. These funds will help communities make necessary improvements to buildings, roads, and public transportation.”

Also within the bill, the Cincinnati Freestore Foodbank, Inc. will receive $500,000 for renovation and improvement work at their 110,000 square-foot food distribution facility. Senator Brown’s office states that these improvements will allow the center to increase capacity and food handling efficiency, while also creating a suitable space to the organization’s Nonprofit Training Center.

Categories
News

Boss Finney: Sorry Kids

Cartoon by Nick Sweeney
Categories
News

Katie Laur Tribute Concert – 9/24

On Thursday, September 24 Cincinnatians will be able to pay tribute to Cincy’s Queen of Bluegrass, Katie Laur, at concert to be held at the Madison Theater in Covington. The concert will celebrate Laur’s life and musical career.

Katie Laur spent the majority of her life doing what she loved – music. Over this time she performed with a slew of other musicians and at live gigs all across the larger region, and hosted a radio program on WNKU 89.7. She eventually released three albums with the Katie Laur Band and received the Ohio Arts Council’s prestigious Ohio Heritage Music Fellowship in 2008.

The concert will begin at 7:30pm (doors open at 7pm) and will feature some of the region’s top Bluegrass artists (full list below), and will feature nationally-syndicated radio personality Gary Burbank as the event emcee. Tickets can be purchased online for $10 and will also be available at the door (map). For more information, contact concert organizers Ed Cunningham, edcunningham@fuse.net, 513-225-6040; or Liz Wu of Play it Forward, playitforwardcincy@gmail.com, 513-254-5033.

7:30 – 8:10 | Magnolia Mountain
8:20 – 9:10 | The Turkeys
9:20 – 10:00 | Ma Crow and Friends
10:10 – 10:45 | Comet Bluegrass All-Stars
11:00 – 12:00 | Jazz and Bluegrass with Katie Laur

Madison Theater photograph by Flickr user stopthegears.