Month: October 2010

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Arts & Entertainment News

OTR Urban Kickball League kicks off tonight at Cutter Playground

The inaugural season of the Over-the-Rhine Urban Kickball League will kick-off tonight at  5:30pm.  Response to the league’s formation has been overwhelming.  In just under two weeks, approximately 150 people signed-up to participate, while three businesses signed on to support the league financially.

The OTR Urban Kickball League includes 12 teams that will take part in a round robin league lasting six weeks.  The champion will be determined by the highest point total (three points per win, one point per tie) at the end of the season in mid-November.  Each team is comprised of an approximately 50/50 breakdown between men and women.

Jennifer Kessler, UrbanCincy writer and creator of the league, says that the purpose of the league is two-fold.

“The kickball league is going to be a fun social activity, and it will also bring people out to an under-utilized part of the neighborhood, putting eyes on the street and integrating with the community,” she explained.

The games will be held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 5:30pm and 6:30pm at Cutter Playground at 14th and Sycamore Street.  The public is welcome to attend and watch the games which are expected to last less than an hour.  Kessler notes that following each game many of the league participants will be meeting to socialize at Neons Unplugged – one of the league’s sponsors.

“The OTR Kickball League gives Neons the opportunity to demonstrate our philosophy that a neighborhood bar can have a positive affect on the neighborhood as a whole even outside the confines of its own four walls,” explained Neons owner Michael Redmond.

In addition to Neon’s, the first-ever OTR Urban Kickball League was made possible through the support from Hoist and Hudepohl Amber Lager which will both be available for purchase at Neons throughout the season and beyond.

Redmond concluded by saying, “We hope that other bars, businesses and individuals will follow in supporting more grassroots neighborhood efforts like this one to help show that Over-the-Rhine is more than just viable, but even a desirable place to live, work and play.”

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Arts & Entertainment Business News

2010 Cincinnati Film Festival continues this week throughout city

The 2010 Cincinnati Film Festival got started this past weekend in multiple venues around the Cincinnati region. The festival originally started as the Oxford International Film Festival in 2007 with 530 entries from 41 different countries.  The remodeled 2010 version is showcasing more than 100 films from 14 different countries at 11 venues throughout the city.

The festival will continue throughout the week with a closing reception scheduled for the evening of Saturday, October 16.  A day-by-day schedule is available on the festival’s website with about eight different showings each day this week.

The festival is based at the Esquire Theatre, a classic movie theater in the heart of Clifton’s Gaslight District, with a lot of showings at UC’s Main Street Cinema also located Uptown.  One special night at the Main Street Cinema will be Tuesday as Watch This host’s a free showing of the 1974 classic Chinatown as part of their project to watch the AFI Top 100 this year.

Many of the featured films opened over the weekend, but most have one or two showings each during the week. The full list can be found online and includes many films making their regional, U.S., or even world premier. Tickets can be purchased online on a film-by-film basis or by purchasing daily passes for $20 each.

Categories
News Politics

Celebrate ‘National Coming Out Day’ today for a healthier urban community

Since 1988, individuals and organizations alike have been celebrating National Coming Out Day on October 11. The day is meant to serve as an opportunity and means of support for those in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities who are struggling to be open about their gender and sexual orientation. The day also serves as an opportunity to raise awareness of the LGBT community in the United States and throughout the world.

UrbanCincy is a proud ally of Cincinnati’s LGBT community and believes that all people should be treated fairly and equally. In September 2009, Greg Meckstroth wrote a guest editorial for UrbanCincy (partially reprinted below) about why strong gay communities are an important part of a healthy urban core. But beyond that, a strong LGBT community is important to a healthy society. Please support Cincinnati’s LGBT community and support National Coming Out Day today.

Having a strong gay community is a key part of having a strong urban core. When you look at cities in North America with vibrant cores, they tend to have successful, happy LGBT communities as well. This occurs because we gays are an urban bunch, often pioneering urban development, forming a niche in the city, and claiming a space of our own.

These ‘gayborhoods’ become identifiable with the LGBT community and a sense of pride is taken to ensure they are maintained. Chicago has their Boystown, San Francisco has The Castro, and New York has…well…Manhattan. These places are thriving urban neighborhoods, act as ethnic enclaves for their respective cities, and are a key part of a diverse, vibrant urban core.

If Cincinnati and other Ohio cities want to have diverse, active, and interesting urban cores, Ohioans must embrace the LGBT community and allow them to maintain or establish a successful niche.

Categories
Business Development News

Google updates aerial imagery of Cincinnati region

Google has updated its aerial imagery for several major cities throughout the United States including Portland, Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati.  The new imagery appears to have been taken over the summer.  Observers in the nation’s capital have been able to narrow it down to as precise as Sunday, August 29 between 1:00pm and 1:35pm.

Like many other cities around the country, the new aerial imagery for Cincinnati illustrates much of what has changed over recent years.  New construction projects are visibly taking place while others have been completed or are nearing completion in their aerials.  In addition to capturing the changing urban landscape in Cincinnati, the new imagery is also much crisper than previous versions.

Below is a sampling of 20 sites around the city that illustrate the aforementioned changes.  Enjoy!

Categories
Arts & Entertainment Business News

Hops on the Ohio to offer nation’s first two-state beer festival this weekend

A truly unique craft beer experience is on tap this Saturday from 12pm to 12am, and it is being put on by the same group that organized the wildly successful Cincy Winter Beerfest. The old L&N bridge, now known as the Purple People Bridge, will be the stage for the novel Hops On The Ohio concept, which offers beer lovers the nation’s first-ever two-state festival.

Over 200 different craft brews, including many special releases will be spanning the Ohio and Kentucky border from river bank to river bank, and attendees will have the rare opportunity to taste this wide selection in essentially one location. Most breweries and beers are only distributed in certain states and many of the beers at the festival may only be available in either Kentucky or Ohio, but not necessarily both, so here is your chance to have both state’s portfolios at your disposal.

That being said, there is one catch, legally the beer cannot cross state lines, or in this case the imaginary line on the bridge, and there will be “crossing guards” in place to kindly remind people of this fact.

All tickets are available for purchase online.  General admission tickets cost $35 in advance and $45 at the gate. This will get participants a five ounce tasting cup, 25 beer sample tickets, and exclusive access to the bridge, as the structure will be closed to the general public. There will be designated driver tickets for $10 that include two tickets for non-alcoholic beverages.

Additional ticket options include the “Hophead Combo” for $45 in advance ($60 at the gate) and in addition to regular ticket privileges, Hopheads get bumped to the front of the line for the exclusive release of Stone’s 10.10.10 Vertical Epic, as well as beer samples and entry to the Schlafly Beer Sellar-Bration, where there will be 47 different beers on tap from the St. Louis brewery. Schlafly Beer-Sellar-Bration tickets are also available individually for $15.

All proceeds, from the festival, will benefit the Big Joe Duskin Music Foundation and its mission to bring local professional musicians into area schools to perform and lead presentations about the impact and enjoyment of playing music. Organizers say that there food and live music will be available.

Hops on the Ohio will take place on Saturday, October 9 from noon until midnight on the Purple People Bridge (map).  Automobile parking will be available on both sides of the river.  Those unable to secure a designated driver are encouraged to take advantage of nearby taxi stands or utilize Metro bus service (plan your trip).