I was 8 when I saw my first opera on PBS  in our tiny living room.  I don’t remember the name but I do remember the finery of the costumes, the majesty of the set and those soaring voices in a language I didn’t understand.  I asked my mom if we would ever see it live.  She laughed, “Honey, opera is for rich people.”

Flash forward 12 years later and I sat in the back of a classroom at Morehead State looking at the score to Mozart’s The Magic Flute my mother’s words echoing in my mind.  My peers were engaged in a lively discussion regarding the piece and I sat frantically trying to write down every word feeling like a spy in a dark alley peering into a lighted window.

This past April I walked into the Fine Art’s Fund BOARDway Bound program these thoughts again flittered just behind my pupils; I was once more crashing the party.  Earlier that month, I had written in my journal all the reasons why I shouldn’t apply for the program: I wasn’t traveled enough, networked enough, rich enough, connected enough, skilled enough…simply not enough.  Who did I think I was doing something like this-me? On an art board?  I put down my pen, wrote a Letter of Intent, updated my resume, filled out the application and dashed off an email.  My justification: I simply wanted to learn something new.

The program consisted of 3 meetings with 8-12 hours of online work between each meeting.  We covered Board Member Responsibilities, Financial Management and Staff Responsibilities, and Fundraising and an Overview of Engagement.  The meetings were informative and focused on application of what we learned on the website.  We heard from various Directors from Clifton Cultural Arts Center, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, and The Carnegie. The idea behind this program is to put together a Board Bank or a collection of individuals who are interested in participating on an art board within the smaller arts organizations in Cincinnati and the surrounding communities.  The Fine Arts Fund appears to be taking more of a community development direction with this program and The Arts Ripple Effect - billed as a “Research-Based Strategy to Build Shared Responsibility for the Arts.”

I learned much from this program; how an art board functions, the mission of an art organization and the how that mission effects financial decision-making.  However, the best was a new defintion of art and how art fits into my own life.

What makes a person rich? seeing a mural on a wall; teaching a child the art of clowning; painting a street; hearing original, independent music on Fountain Square; or seeing an original, contemporary play.  That which makes an individual rich is what makes a community rich.

Last weekend I saw my first Cincinnati opera, La Boheme courtesy of tickets from Enjoy the Arts. 

Hey mom, I’m one of the rich people now.

BOARDway Bound Video

*All photos courtesy of Fine Arts Fund

I’m a geek, pure and simple. I work online, I love science fiction, I’m a huge fan of technology and I watch Dr. Who.

Purely by chance this afternoon I stumbled across this extremely silly video and felt the undeniable urge to share it with all of my fellow geeks here in Cincinnati. The Doctor Who Chicken Dance.  It works on another level as well: the Doctor has a fine tradition of broadcast and fans here in the Queen City. Just check out this archived article from Cincinnati Magazine back in 1987- The Magnetic Dr.Who.

I know it ends with Happy Easter, oh well. It’s still a hugely amusing piece of work. So, without further ado, The Doctor Who Chicken Dance

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC56XQ-8bx4

This one goes out to Yottaquest Fantasy Gaming, The Southwestern Ohio Gathering of Gamers, CincyCon, Sci-Fi City, The Sci-FiCincinnati Book Club, and all of my other fellow geeks in the Queen City!

-Loki, Founder and Publisher

I’m a huge fan of history. I’m also a huge fan of social media, it pays my bills. Today while goofing about on the Internet I discovered an excellent convergence of the two. It seems that WEBN has an extensive channel on YouTube,WEBNVideo.  With a little digging there are some historical gems like this one.

WEBN’s archive news coverage of The Who tragedy at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati on 12/03/79. Photo from the Cincinnati Enquirer.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo59MaZyiSE

-Loki, Founder and Publisher

One thing I miss when I think of New Orleans is the sound of brass bands. Imagine my surprise to find a brass band here in the Queen City recently! So here you go, a little musical interlude this Tuesday evening! Enjoy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TuVeLjXGIw

-Loki, CincyVoices Founder and Curator

Local, it’s what CincyVoices is supposed to be about. Those who know my work in New Orleans before coming up here know that I’m a huge believer in supporting the local creative and business ecosystems.  As a result I’ll be popping up here and there with “Hey, look at this!” sort of post. Today is one of those days.

Early in January, right after  we launched this blog, I wrote about a local filmmaker named E.E. Charlton-Trujillo that I had met at a garage sale in Northside a few months before. I did a quick bit about her efforts with Fallen and later did an audiocast interview with her about that same project. Well, she has a new one out there and its pretty high profile. A music video for Moby.

Now comes the part where I ask you for something. A moment of your time and a vote for a local creator. Why is your vote so important? I’ll allow the creator in question to answer that for herself. Here is a  video they just posted to YouTube on that exact subject:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpzkRNOIeNc

So go check out the video [link below] and vote. Even better, vote and then tell a few friends. Don’t you like the idea of the world seeing  the Queen City whenever this Moby Video plays?

So don’t wait go to The Moby WAIT FOR ME video.

• Then click VOTE.
• You can option out of creating an account and simply list your email.
• An email confirmation will be sent to you.
• You must click the confirmation for it to count.

No, we are not affiliated. I just like to support local creators. Yes, this is a graet thing to do and only takes a moment.

So what are you waiting for?

-Loki, CincyVoices Founder and Curator
Image via MyJon on Flickr / CC 2.0

Since I’m involved in the Southwest Ohio Gathering of Gamers (FB Page here)and I am a huge music fan, it seemed like a no brainer  to get reprint rights for this piece about the beloved WOXY by one of my personal favorite game designers – Monte Cook. If you don’t know who that it take a look at “Monte Who? ” I’d like to thank him now for his generosity in allowing me to reprint it here. So here you go, trust me- it’s a natural 20! – Loki

The shutdown of the Internet radio station woxy.com came as a shock. I saw the announcement on Facebook just as I was getting up from my computer to go out to dinner with Sue. It didn’t seem real to me until I tuned my Sonos to listen to woxy.com last night and got only sorrowful silence.

For the last couple of years, woxy.com has been my conduit to new music. I thought, for a moment, of listing the bands that I love discovered thanks to woxy.com, but it only took me a few moments to realize that to do so would be ridiculous. The list would be hundreds of bands long. Hundreds and hundreds. I listened to woxy.com virtually every day.

I can’t help but think that there will be a significant ripple effect here. I mean, not only did I and thousands of listeners like me get exposed to new music thanks to woxy.com, but then I–and I assume many others–spread the word ourselves. I know I mentioned many, many bands here with each blog post, and I likely sent out a hundred more recommendations for great bands I discovered there on Twitter.

Woxy.com was a fire hose of creativity and freshness putting out the flames of mediocrity. There’s a real danger of being fooled into believing that the only new music anymore is the corporate, manufactured music of pop. It’s like forgetting that there are other restaurants in the world besides McDonalds or Applebees.

But I’m a guy in my 40s, and there’s another–probably greater–danger for me. It’s all too easy for someone like me to give up on new music (perhaps in response to the first danger) and fill my iPod with 1000s of songs from when I was a teenager or in my twenties and just tune out. For me, this would mean a weird mix of British New Wave and a lot of prog rock that was already old when I was young. The lure of that comfortable nostalgia is strong. With just a few exceptions, the entire city of Milwaukee seems to have succumbed to that trap, for nearly every station, it seems, is Classic Rock or “All the Hits” (which is code for top 40 from the 70s and 80s).

But with woxy.com, I found a way to stay in touch with what’s happening creatively in music right now. Andrew Bird, Phoenix, Animal Collective, St. Vincent, Minus the Bear, Glasvegas, Band of Horses, Editors, DeVotchKa, the Answering Machine, the Jaguar Club, and hundreds more bands are out there making great music. And now I know about all of them, thanks to woxy.com. I can still listen to all of them. But now, how will I find out about tomorrow’s new music?

-Monte Cook, author and game designer

Bill Nguyen, previous owner of LaLa.com and Woxy.com, is asking for feedback regarding how to make Woxy viable.  If you have ideas, please sign up on the message boards and post your comments!  Now is the time to speak up!!!

There’s Business and there’s Woxy

Bill Nguyen: Digesting Feedback

Huffington Post: Woxy’s Failure Is Ours

Cincinnati Blog: Woxy.com Halting Broadcasts

I never thought that going to a farmer’s market was unusual.  Both of my parents were avid gardeners, and whatever we didn’t raise ourselves, we’d buy from local farm stands.  Suffice it to say that I am more than a little geeked about how much of a destination our beautiful little burg’s markets are becoming, thanks to how Cincinnati is fostering a healthy population of food lovers, and a burgeoning locavore culture.  The historic Over the Rhine district, just blocks from downtown, features Findlay Market, Ohio’s oldest continuously operated public market.  If you have never visited Findlay, I strongly recommend you check them out!

Some of my personal favorites:  Kroeger Meats (no affiliation with the supermarket chain), for the tastiest, most interesting sausages in town; Herbs and Spice and Everything Nice, because this fellow KNOWS his spices, and won’t hesitate to let you sniff the quality for yourself; Dojo Gelato for the always-necessary treat for you after a shopping trip well shopped; and the farmers with their myriad of local goods will be coming back soon, some as early as next month!  There are a few of the neighborhood farmer’s markets still churning along, including my own beloved Northside Farmer’s Market (Wednesdays from 4:30 to 7:30 – currently at North Presbyterian on Hamilton Ave.), where I can still get not only locally raised honey, but local fresh eggs, pasture-raised chicken, beef and pork, organic microgreens, even apples… just a few of the things available in the dead of winter. Here is a listing from CORV for the local providers from the 2009/2010 season.

I cannot tell you how excited I get every time I see a fine dining establishment sourcing goods from local farmers… meaning I jump up and down and do a little dance!  The farmer I buy my honey from (Richard Stewart at Carriage House Farm, from North Bend, Ohio) at the Northside market also supplies more than a few of the finer local restaurants, including Chalk and Jean-Ro Bistro.  This past summer, I hooked up a downtown bartender friend of mine with cucumbers and nasturtium flowers from my own home garden for his fancy specialty cocktails.  This is more than just a fad.  Chefs are proud to tell their customers where the food they serve is coming from, and more and more people are finding out just how wonderful that food can be when it hasn’t traveled across the country, or across the planet to get to their plate.  I encourage you to try to buy one foodstuff from a local producer every shopping cycle. You will be pleasantly surprised by the quality and you will be supporting your local economy more so than spending exclusively at a big-box chain retailer.

Dark Martha

http://www.consciousurbanliving.com/