“Walking out of the Barrelhouse to my car, I passed by a group of black and white urbanites; both female and male lounging on a stoop in a random doorway strumming a very old, beat up acoustic guitar. As sirens blew and dealers lurked on the corner, you could hear the group singing ‘No Woman No Cry’…”
I posted this on February 8, 2002 on Cincymusic.com. It has been my favorite moment in Cincinnati for the past 8 years.
Until last Thursday.
Roy W. Jones and a group of largely unknown artists held performances at Parkside Cafe (Walnut Hills-1026 East McMillin St) in the areas of poetry, visual art, and music. What made the moment was not just the talent this group of Cincinnatians brought to Walnut Hills, but what they did with that talent.
These artisans were black, white and mixed race. Varying in age, socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, and gender, they provided a true diverse, organic experience by using their arts to honestly bridge the chasms that so divide daily Cincinnati routines. I’ve never seen our city look or sound more gorgeous and it was completely awesome!!
Here are the artists who participated:
Paul Smith-Poetry
Lord Infinite-Poetry
Taz-Poetry
Mikhaila Henderson -Poetry
Lee Lavozier ‘Loe’ London -Poetry
Lauren McGee-Poetry
Robert Jones-Poetry
Ebony L. James-Poetry
Beau Alquizola-Music
Chico Futuracho-Music
Roy Jones-Visual
You can hear many of the poets at Creativa and Rhythm & Rhymes at Rhinos Live.
Roy was born and raised in urban Cincinnati in the 70’s within a bi-racial context. He graduated from the Cincinnati School for the Creative and Performing Arts and took many different disciplines including visual art, vocal music, dance, drama, and creative writing. He then attended University of Cincinnati for Computer Science. Roy toiled in the IT field including graphic design and, after a decade-long period, took back up the challenge of artistic expression.
His work will be at Parkside Café for the next couple of months and he is currently nominated for Local Visual Artist in CityBeat’s CityBeat’s Best of Cincinnati 2010.
Parkside Café has been open under Ken Kuley’s management for 2 years. The restaurant was a Frisch’s franchise before it became Parkside; Ken kept the name and the menu from the previous owners tweaking it and adding items. I’ve had the Greek Salad and the Grilled Vegetable Flat Bread both of which were well proportioned; the chips were hand sliced with just the right touch of seasoning. Breakfast is served all day. The place has a comfortable vibe and is conducive to reading or writing with free WiFi. Parkside Café can provide catering for off-site and on-site events and for this event he provided free vegetables and delicious meatballs.
I do have one caution note: don’t sit at the booths nearest East McMillan. You’ll eat lunch with a pair of eyeballs leering at you out the second story windows from the abandoned building across the street. I was not able to get a decent photo but WestEnder did and you can view it here ClarkStreetBlog. Does anybody know the story behind those things?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
This is great to know. I’ve been wanting to see Roy’s work for a very long time. And in the past couple of years, Parkside Cafe has been near the top of my lists of places to eat. Their abbreviated hours don’t always work so well with mine.
This is the time I’ll certainly make it work.
Does Parkside Cafe hold Final Friday hours?
Sorry for the (extremely) slow response.
No. Parkside doesn’t hold Final Friday hours. They’re in Eastern Walnut Hills, right near St. Ursula’s (do you remember where Popeye’s & Frisch’s are over there? Parkside IS the old Frisch’s). They are a Breakfast – Brunch – Lunch restaurant & close at 3p every day. My artwork is still up there & will be until the end of March as far as I understand it.
I invite critiques & comments. I actually do listen & enjoy them. I like to hear how & if my artwork impacts people.
This is exactly the type of thing we need more of, thanks for shining a light on their efforts!
” I had an amazing time mingling with the fellow artists, sorry general consensus; ART LIVES”
Thanks for commenting and reading Paul and Kathy!
Paul – my goal is to get out to Creativa at some point to hear your writing again!
Classic