CincyVoices » Voices of Cincy

Oktoberfest Season Is Upon Us

nasman — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:39:05 +0000

Oktoberfest season has arrived with several weeks of none stop Oktoberfests. Oktoberfests mean celebrating Cincinnati’s German Heritage and beer. Lots of beer. Here is the list of Oktoberfest information I have for this year. Please let me know if I missed one. This list should help ensure you don’t miss a single Oktoberfest!

Germania Society of Cincinnati Oktoberfest

When: Friday, August 26^th 6pm – Midnight

Saturday, August 27^th 2pm – Midnight

Sunday, August 28^thNoon- 10pm

Website: http://www.germaniasociety.com/oktoberfest2011/oktoberfest11.html

This is a good one, one of the most authentic Oktoberfests around & very well attended. This will be Germania’s 41^st Annual Oktoberfest. Don’t expect the diversity of a craft beer festival, but one of the better beer selections for an Oktoberfest in the area.

Hamilton Liberty Home Association Oktoberfest

When: Friday, September 2^nd 6pm- 11pm

Saturday, September 3^rd 2pm – 11pm

Sunday, September 4^th1pm- 10pm

Website: http://www.libertyhome.net/oktoberfest_2011.html

Mainstrasse Village Oktoberfest

When: Friday, September 9^th 5pm – 11:30pm

Saturday, September 10^th Noon – 11:30pm

Sunday, September 11^th Noon- 9pm

Website: http://www.mainstrasse.org/2011/08/mainstrasse-33rd-oktoberfest/

Mainstrasse Village is celebrating the 33^rd Edition of their annual Oktoberfest.

St. Williams (Price Hill) Oktoberfest

When: Saturday, September 10^th Times TBA

Sunday, September 11^th Times TBA

Website: http://www.saintwilliam.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41&Itemid=57

No promises as to what this church-based Oktoberfest with have on tap. Check their website closer to event.

Annunciation (Clifton) Oktoberfest

When: Saturday, September 10^th 3pm-11:30pm

Sunday, September 11^th 1pm-9pm

Website: http://oktoberfestinclifton.com/

No promises as to what this church-based Oktoberfest with have on tap. Check their website closer to event.

Mt Adams Oktoberfest

When: Thursday, September 15^th 6pm – 10:00pm

Website: http://mtadamstoday.com/home/events/mt-adams-oktoberfest/

Introducing A Cincinnati Beer Geek

nasman — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:48:31 +0000

I must apologize for having been side tracked with a multitude of tasks, hence I am seriously delinquent in my first posting. My name is Chris Nascimento, and I am a beer geek.

I first encountered Cincy Voices founder Loki thru the world of shared social media acquaintances. Quickly I found myself engaging Loki in sporadic social media banter about anything from politics to iPhones, and became drawn to the CincyVoices blog. I finally met Loki in person by chance in the way many people in Cincinnati meet each other-over a tasty beer. Many great discussions about various topics ensued after this meeting, not limited to but including talk about beer and its importance in Cincinnati. From time to time, Loki and I discussed the idea of my doing a guest post in Cincy Voices. Instead this idea has evolved to my becoming a regular part of the Cincy Voices team, working in tandem with Josh Osborne.

Josh and were introduced via Loki via twitter, where we quickly found we shared a similar obsession with craft beer and homebrewing. Josh and I bring different perspectives to the format we are embarking on. I am a lifelong Cincinnati resident, while Josh and his new bride are recent Cincinnati imports. Josh brings to the table a much-needed objective outsiders view of Cincinnati and it’s beer scene. While Josh might be a bit newer to Cincinnati than I, this does nothing to dim his enthusiasm for Cincinnati and all things beer. His formidable writing skills, can only serve to help me improve my own ability to share with you my views on all things beer. You can check out some of Josh’s musings on his other blogs as well- A Boy and His Books and A Beer A Day.

By working with Josh, I will have the opportunity to see things from a valuable, fresh perspective I would have otherwise not have had the experience of enjoying. While Josh and I will also write individual pieces, I am very much looking forward to the banter back and forth over our joint projects and reviews. Josh and I are thoroughly committed to seeing our efforts through, no matter how many delicious beers we are forced to consume in the process. Hey, whatever it takes to do the job, um, “properly”.

What do I enjoy besides beer? Spending time with my wife and children, exploring urban Cincinnati, playing the occasional game of disc golf, enjoying Cincinnati’s live local music offerings, hiking in parks, indulging in my social media obsession, meeting new people, and travel. I am often found loitering in favorite neighborhood haunts in Northside or OTR, both with my family and on my own. Other pursuits I enjoy are reading, consuming excessive amounts of good coffee, and a watching an occasional movie. I’m not much of a television person, having found real life far more interesting than bad reality television. For more about me or my involvement with various beer organizations and events, check out my bio here.

It is an honor for me to have the opportunity to work with Josh. I am privileged to be part of the team of creative writers that make up Cincy Voices. I hope you enjoy what I share with you half as much as I am going to enjoy creating it.

Cincy Blues Fest Musicians Weigh in on Creativity.

Loki — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 21:32:09 +0000

Click To Enlarge

Today’s guest post comes to you from local artist and author D.S. Meyers (Twitter and facebook) . I was in Indianapolis covering GenCon an could not make the Blues Fest and he came to the rescue with this lovely bit of coverage. -Loki

There is something about talking to musicians. They are my cousins. As an artist and a writer, I’ve found that what flows in their veins, flows in mine. So my line of questioning would fall on their talent. As creative people, do they view their music as a craft? Or is it just intuitive? Do they read music and analyze it? Or do they pick up a tune and absorb it?

Full press credentials would allow me into any of any of the back stages. Access to any of the musicians was there. I could take pictures. I had a cart blanche in this adventure. One of the event coordinators is a friend of mine. And he promised to introduce me to the right people.

You have to meet Chuck Brisbin, I was told.

Chuck was working as manager of the Local Stage. It’s not hard to figure out which person he is. His presence dominates the Local Stage area. He is its gravity. Musicians, aficionados and friends are drawn to him like he is the soul center of the solar system. He greets them all with the gusto of someone who is living the moment.

“Bluesfest is the premier place, as far as I’m concerned,” he says when he gets a free moment for an introduction.

Cincy Bluesfest coordinates with the Blues Challenge- a competition held at Germania Park. Tons of acts perform there. Judges rate the musical acts on talent, instrumentation, content, and local originality.

“The top ten get tapped to play on the local stage here this weekend.”

Listening to Chuck, not even the Main Stage is more important.

“This is the premier stage to me. ‘Cause this is the music you can go out on the weekends and hear.”

I look out onto the grass area. The audience is enthralled by the Tempted Souls Band. More people are arriving. I see people unfolding their lawn chairs. Chuck tells me that the lawn area here will be packed by nightfall.

“You see all your friends here. You get to play. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

The camaraderie among blues musicians is of steel cable strength. Chuck stops me before I can follow up.

“Hold on a moment. I gotta’ go play. I’ll be right back.”

The band introduces him. He climbs the stage and brings a new layer to the Tempted Souls. I knew he was the stage manager. But I had no idea that he managed the stage from on stage… with a harmonica in his hands.

When he leaves the stage to thunderous applause, I have the chance to ask him one question:

“Do you view music as something you do by craft? Or would you say you do it by feel?”

“I definitely feel it. It doesn’t get any better… If it ain’t in your heart, it ain’t comin’ out of your throat. You gotta feel it.”

Under the arches is yet another stage, the Boogie Woogie Piano stage. On it, a musician is a frenzy of stride and ragtime. Fingers are deftly pounding back and forth on the keyboard, banging out the boogie sound. She is long auburn hair swaying before blurry fingers. Her bright green eyes peer into the falling dominos of piano keys. Deborrah Wyndham can hold an audience with her playing.

She eventually stepped down from the stage and I was introduced. Towards the back of the arch, she puts her things on a table as she explains her timeless sound. She does stride and ragtime by design. In other words, she has a habit of taking things she likes and putting them into her original arrangements. And example is her mesmerizing rendition of “Tea for Two” from the musical No No Nanette. And her rendition of Dizzy Fingers definitely lived up to the title.

I asked her what she likes about Bluesfest.

“As an artist, you’re solo. Bluesfest is one of the few chances to rub shoulders with other musicians.” She went on to say how interesting it was to get their perspectives. Blues musicians come from all over.

Of the musicians I talk to this evening, I really want to know how they view their music. Among artists, writers and musicians, many view their abilities in one of two ways. Either they view what they do as a craft- carefully putting their creativity into a process. These are often the artists who found their form through education.

Or, they view their talent as more intuitive. They learn things by feeling it. These are the artists who come to their performances through awareness. These are the people who can hear a tune and recreate it.

I asked Deborrah her view on music. She is a classically trained pianist. She’s played over 2,700 performances. She’s played everything from folk, Celtic, pop, alternative, jazz… Music is what she knows.

“Some musicians are trained to read and write music,” she says. “Some just pick up instruments and play.”

So, in Deborrah’s case, is it more craftsmanship than intuition?

“I feel like I’m more of an artist. My music is not written down.” The breeze flows under the arch. Among her items on the table, a small piece of paper begins to flutter. She catches it. It looks like her set list. “I’m a fly by night person. I don’t even have a piano. I have a keyboard so that I can try stuff out. I don’t want to play all the time on a keyboard. It just doesn’t sound the same as a piano.”

She goes on to tell me that classical music has helped her master the piano. And though she’s gotten to a level where she can be intuitive, it’s really a credit to her education.

“I think it helps to learn classical music first. It helps with the transition into other music.”

Behind the main stage, I find Eden Brent having a smoke with some of her bandmates. She has long brown hair and brown eyes that show a hint of mischievousness.

I begin to ask my craft versus intuition question. “So what is it that drives you-”

“Captain Cornbread drives me. Otherwise I’d never have gotten here,” she says with a sultry southern drawl. I meet Captain Cornbread, who’s in Eden’s band.

This is her second year playing up north here at the Cincy Bluesfest. She’s made the trip all the way up from Mississippi again. What is it about Bluesfest?

“It felt good last time I was here. There’s no better compliment than repeat business. I’m darn glad to see you all again… Even more glad you all wanted to see me again.”

She tells me about her roots in Mississippi. Where she’s from, there’s not even 40,000 people. In her county, Washington County, there’s not even 100,000. She talks about growing up on the river. She talks about how her grand dad was named “River Boat Captain of the Century.” I take that all to be part of her southern charm- not really realizing it is an important part of her creativity.

I ask her what she loves about Cincy Bluesfest. “Being here on the river.”

She takes another draw off her cigarette. “I’d always choose a place on the river. Right here, by the river… it just rolls by.” She says dreamily. “Just like blues music. It’s gorgeous to hear. I think blues was inspired by the river.”

But there are other things she loves about being back up here.

“Normally, we don’t hear anybody play but ourselves. But festivals are wonderful opportunities to hear others play. Especially Cincy Bluesfest. It’s almost if you could make your living room this big and you just have friends come over and play.”

By craft or by feel? “I’d have to say feel. I know great song writers in Memphis. These people who have studied it, perfected it- Tommy Polk, Colin Linden… It’s like building a chain. They do the building.

For Eden Brent, “it’s feeling how to do it much more than by rote. I’m so glad to let music be what it’s suppose to be- from my heart. The blues is so much like crying, you know?”

“When we’re born, we have our voices and our heartbeat. In blues, we have vocals and a drum beat.”

Tank Mansfield, MOTR, and Pop Surrealism

Loki — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:53:00 +0000

Click Flyer for Full Size

Friday night would be a good one to go to the MOTR Pub (1345 Main St.).

That evening Anthony “Tank” Mansfield will be opening his newest local art show- Exit Wounds and Scars. Live music, flowing drinks, and robots. I mean really now, how can you possibly argue with a show that has robots?

Loki managed to get Tank on the phone to talk about the show, his art, and *drumroll* his first art show in Chicago! Check it out!

[By the way, you've probably seen Tank in his secret identity as a play by play announcer for our own beloved Cincinnati Roller Girls...]

Just click the play button!

Gamble House: Community Voices Silenced

classicgrrl — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 18:44:13 +0000

Update: Cincinnati.com is now saying City Councilman Charles Winburn will motion for the City of Cincinnati to take the Gamble House by eminent domain. The article also reports Chris Bortz has stated he is against the motion.

The article includes a quote from Larry Harris, City of Cincinanti’s Urban Conservator: “One witness was Larry Harris, the city’s urban conservator. He sent an e-mail stating: “I am working with the City Solicitor’s office and the Director of City Planning and Buildings to cite Greenacres for violations of the Zoning code and Housing code.”

_________________________________________________________

Ye who has the most money wins and in this case that would be the Green Acres Foundation. I received the below notice in my Facebook inbox from Bob Prokop. The Westwood Community made it very clear the demolition of the house was not what it wanted - does enough money, power, and private ownership render the community’s voice silence and unnecessary?

This certainly did not happen in Indian Hill where Green Acres currently resides – is it possible or even likely for something like this to happen in Over-the-Rhine? This demolotion is happening without a COA, without a permit, and with police protection.

This is a strong case for why the Cincinnati community will deeply miss Building Cincinnati; his photos and comments here would have been greatly appreciated.

Dear Friend of the Gamble House,

It seems like our efforts to save the historic home of James Norris Gamble, inventor of Ivory Soap, and Cincinnati’s greatest philanthropist, aren’t going to be enough to achieve our goal of preservation. While hope isn’t entirely lost, it appears more clear each day how the journey is likely to end.

For the past few days, workmen have been removing the woodwork and architectural details from the house — both the pieces previously removed — and anything else the owners have decided to salvage — and are relocating them to storage in the barn. The neighbors have alerted city officials to the activity, aware that the owners have no valid permits to perform any work at the home.

Today, Tuesday, September 21, 2010, an army of construction equipment: front-loader, multiple dump trucks, etc. have been tearing up the landscape in order to re-route the utility lines away from the home and to one of the outbuildings. News crews from Local 12 (WKRC) and Channel 9 (WCPO), along with Cliff Radel of the Cincinnati Enquirer were on hand to cover the activity. Police officers were hired — apparently either by one of the contractors or the owners of the property — in order to provide security for the workmen, and perhaps act as traffic control since the work closed down Werk Road to a single lane.

If the Gamble House is demolished, without a permit — and without a COA (Certificate of Approval) from the Historic Conservation Board — what does that say about our city’s laws and its right to home rule? What kind of message are we sending for the future of historic preservation in Cincinnati? If we cannot protect the single most important piece of historic architecture in our city’s legacy, what historic structure can ever be considered safe?

If (more likely when) the home of Cincinnati’s Grand Old Man is demolished, it will be a tragic day for historic preservation in Cincinnati; it will leave an indelible stain on the soul of a once-grand city; and it will mark the event that the Greenacres Foundation will forever be remember by.

Please visit the group to see photos of today’s activity: http://www.savethegamblehouse.org

The Future of the Cincy Music Scene – John Yung

classicgrrl — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:45:04 +0000

Guest post by John Yung who graciously attended the ‘call to action’ at Play to Play in Silverton and was kind enough to summerize the event. During the next few weeks, readers will notice music posts to coincide with the Midpoint Music Festival. Thank you John!

On Thursday September 9^th, musicians, promoters, booking agents and others gathered at Play by Play in Silverton to express their concerns regarding the state of our local scene. Hosted by Geoff Weissenberger of Revolving Door Productions, Frank Morris, owner of Play By Play Cafe, Rome Ntukogu of Far-I-Rome Productions, Chris Schmidt the Sound Engineer for The Mad Frog, and Rick Always of Urban Pioneer Promotions, the meeting was described by Frank Morris as, “an open forum, is what we really want this to become.”

The intent of the meeting was to discuss ideas for saving the independent music scene in Cincinnati. The local scene has generated successful artists from Over The Rhine to Bad Veins and The Seedy Seeds but cooperation between artists, promoters and booking agents has been waning as bars and venues turn to cover bands or reduce the number of independent acts by having more alternative events during weekdays. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been a community,” said co-organizer Chris Schmidt, “and I hope everyone has a lot of opinions”. After the introductions, people had the chance to submit comments to the comment box and to meet other people in the scene and network.

After about an hour, the group reviewed the submitted questions. One of the main concerns brought up was about bringing in more people to shows. Frank Morris addressed this concern, “Work on doing the things before, getting your friends out to shows, getting limited shows…if you play so much that someone can see you whenever they want, it’s not going to help your draw.” Other concerns addressed included encouraging venues to book more acts and concerns about cover bands.

In summation, the questions addressed many of the concerns of the musicians and indentified the overall state of the scene. As co-organizer Rome Ntukogu put it, “Our Cincinnati scene is super cliquey. It’s like Northside bands don’t play in Clifton, Clifton bands don’t play in Northside, OTR bands don’t play in West Side, West Side bands don’t play in Newport. It’s ridiculous.”

The meeting resulted with the creation of a Facebook page called Cincinnati Music Scene, which will serve to continue the discussion as well as an outlet where musicians and venues can promote their shows and network with other members of the music community. In closing Frank Morris stated, “The best way to do it is to get on the forum and open it up to everything.”

Ink Tank – 44 Showcase Contemporary Art Center

classicgrrl — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:02:30 +0000

For those of you not familiar with Ink Tank, it is a non-profit located on 1411 Main Street (moved from 1311) whose tagline is “Changing Cincinnati one word at a time.” It began with the idea of social justice and racial integration and now serves in strong partnership with the Drop Inn Center. Open mic nights are the first Tuesday of every month and there are two writer’s groups; Writer’s Salon every other Thursday and Poetry Salon recently begun by Keith Wilson. Other progams include:

Men’s Drop Inn Recovery Program

Women’s First Step Recovery Program

Readvitalization Final Friday

Book Bank

Final Friday readings were held this past Final Friday and readings will be held again this Saturday, September 4 from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM at the Contemprary Art Center for their 44 Series. Here’s the Facebook invitation – Join Us!

Losing It – TWICE! 1 of 2

classicgrrl — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 17:24:13 +0000

I’ve lost weight. 162.5 lbs to be exact. Not all at once but in two major spasms of losing frenzies. When people learn this – and it is usually a shock – the first question out of their mouth is “How?”

I can tell what I did and the amount of time it took but where the motivation came from (and where it went) and why or how I stayed focused or disciplined is an enigma. However, folks ask so frequently I thought that maybe a blog post was in order.

Please understand I am not a professional, some of what I did was probably not healthy, and I am certainly not telling anyone else how to do it. I can only say what I learned, observed and what worked for me. Weight gain and loss is an incredibly personal journey, it involves way more than just scales and numbers. Some people are large from birth. I was not. I was not an overweight child – in fact, my mother recounted to me the story of my high school calling her when I was a freshman concerned that I was too thin. They thought I was anorexic. Given the amount of cakes and cookies I would put away at home, my mother promptly told them to take a flying leap off something short into something large; Mom was a nurse and she would certainly know if her daughter was anorexic or bulimic. What the school didn’t know is I fed a music fetish and would save lunch money by not eating; hording away to buy books and records because we were not rich enough to afford an allowance. That is why they never saw me in the cafeteria. That is why I am the proud owner of a small monument of useless vinyl.

Sometime after getting married, I sank into a very low depression and I started eating. It seems after marriage I was extremely unhappy; I just didn’t know it. I did what I was supposed to do – got married, found a real job after college (I’d been blessed with graduating in the middle of a recession) and moved into a small apartment. This was happily ever after except it really wasn’t; but, girls like me didn’t have dreams and ambitions and I was damn lucky to find a stable, wonderful man who was actually silly enough to love and marry me. I was diagnosed with depression – apparently, I had it all my life and I set about reading everything to learn about this new label. And I ate. And ate. And ate.

I ballooned to 225 and then snapped. I wished I had kept a journal and without it I truly do not know what the catalyst was for my about face. However, my now ex-husband had found an obesity study through Ohio State University and we paid the money for my enrollment. Placed on a half fast, meaning I had 3 protein shakes per day (created by one of their doctors) and a small meal for dinner the weight slowly melted away. After a cardiologist, an exercise physiologist, and a counselor evaluation, an exercise regime was created consisting of walking on a treadmill for 30 min then lifting. I did my arms one day and my legs the next and repeated this 5 times per week.

I threw myself into the workouts and counted the calories including the gum I chewed to keep from putting anything else in my mouth. I did have some tactics regarding food. The program taught us the relationship function between kidney and liver was essential to weight loss and drinking 8 glasses of water a day was imperative. We were to drink one 8 oz glass for every 25 lbs we wanted to lose on top of the 64 oz daily. I started out drinking a gallon of water per day and swiftly learned the more private bathrooms in our building. I paced it throughout the day with the bulk of it being drunk during work. I created spreadsheets of the foods I could eat including fruit, meat and breads regarding portion and caloric content. I limited myself on what went in my mouth. I designed a cheat day consisting of nothing but chocolate. We could eat all the vegetables we wanted without having to count calories. I stopped eating all pre-packaged foods and ate raw foods only. I cheated a bit on weekends but kept my portions low. I was on one thousand calories per day. What was to be for 3 months turned into 6; I was obsessed.

We met twice a week; miss two meetings and you were out of the program and out of the money paid for it. Most of my study mates dropped but I kept at it. I still have the BMI chart showing my progress of 12 weeks, then 24 weeks and then I ended up in the hospital because my gall bladder gave out. I’d dropped from 225 to 135. The obesity staff was shocked and I filled out all kinds of questionnaires and surveys. I felt very proud of myself not for losing the weight but for maintaining such a stranglehold over my own appetite. I was a disciplined, focused machine regimented by tape measures, scales, dumbbells, barbells, and timers. I visited a surgeon and discovered I had plantar fasciitis and now knew why my feet had burned all my life and that I could actually do something about it (stretching). I had more muscle tone at 31 then I did at 21 or even 16.

But after the year of losing the weight, shedding the depression, quitting the job after gall bladder surgery until I was tested and diagnosed with Meniere’s (a result of my surgery and another label)…something wasn’t permanent. I divorced shortly after moving to Cincinnati I was thankful and grateful I had lost the weight before because it made dating and attracting another mate much easier. However, it wasn’t right – something wasn’t fixed. I feared the weight and depression returning. I feared everything in those days.

Part 2 of ‘as the weight returns’ next week….

Voices of Cincy: Carried Away (Epiventures)

Loki — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:01:13 +0000

Welcome to the latest installment of Voices of Cincy, our ongoing series of guest posts by local writers and bloggers. This week’s guest is Courtney Tsitouris, the Cincy Food Blogger known as Epiventures!. -Loki

I guess this would be a good time to admit that I have no idea how I became a food blogger. To some people, my mother included, the idea of setting aside focused time to write about food every day seems odd, if not legitimately certifiable. Considering the vast array of art and politics and other interesting things to fill one’s day with, I can see where they’re coming from. I notice, for example, that my friends don’t feel compelled to stand on stools to snap photos of their dinner.

But as it turns out, Michael Ruhlman was right: “The best things in life happen when you get carried away.”

I was once content writing and posting recipes as a home cook but I soon found my interest in food expanding. It wasn’t long before I was signing up for culinary school and buttoning up in a white chef’s coat. One thing led to another and I suddenly found myself standing next to Jean-Robert de Cavel with a tape recorder doing an interview . And I can’t believe I’m saying this but recently I took it another step further and agreed to be an apprentice in an actual restaurant. With actual customers.

This is big.

Of course, I had to promise this restaurant that I would not set anything on fire. It’s a commitment I hope I can keep. It was not terribly long ago when my lovely gratin of shaved artichokes and roasted tomatoes caught on fire in the oven, prompting me to throw the dish on the floor and jump wildly on the rising flames. (That was the day I proved that I care more about my flooring than my feet. That was also the day I risked my life for artichokes. I hope never to do either again.)

I don’t know whether this time next year I’ll be home cooking a roast or working in a restaurant or catering a party but I’m charmed to have such delicious quandaries looming. I’m also perfectly content to write about whatever happens, namely because you’ve been such amazing sports and such inspiring guests and I get such a kick out of your tips andfeedback.

To thank you for your support and to prove to myself that I can indeed cook without nearly losing my life, I thought I’d redo that roasted artichoke and tomato gratin. The recipe comes from the ever-reliable Tom Colicchio [Not an affilliate link] and it’s quite simply one of my very favorite gratins –– so simple and pretty and perfect alongside almost any kind of grilled or roasted meat.

So to you I say this: may you find some shade in this heat, may your house waft with the savory scent of summer ingredients, and may you never, ever learn to leave well enough alone.

Artichoke and Tomato Gratin:

Recipe adapted from Tom Colicchio’s Think Like A Chef
Serves 4 as a side dish

Ingredients:

4 tomatoes, halved
3 cups thinly sliced onions
8 artichoke bottoms, halved and thinly sliced
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup Nicoise olives, pitted and finely chopped
4 anchovy fillets, finely chopped (optional)
2 tablespoons capers
1/4 cup finely chopped basil
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Sauté onions in 1 tablespoon of olive oil for 15 minutes (or up to 30 minutes for an even deeper flavor). Onions should be brown but not burned or papery. Add 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar to onions during last few minutes of cooking.
Slice tomato halves and artichokes to same thickness.
Spoon onions into medium baking dish in even layer. Arrange the artichokes and tomatoes over the onions in a tightly overlapping pattern.
Drizzle the gratin with 1 tablespoon olive oil and add salt and pepper. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. (Note: don’t do what I did the first time and use parchment paper. Unless, of course, you would like a little campfire in your kitchen.)

Reduce oven temperature to 350°F, uncover gratin and continue cooking until tomatoes are slightly dry, about 20-30 minutes.

Just before serving, mix 1/4 cup olive oil, olives, capers, anchovies (optional) basil and thyme leaves. Spoon mixture evenly over gratin and return to oven until heated through, ten minutes.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Courtney Tsitouris is a home cook, culinary student, graphic designer and the authorof epiventures.com, a blog about dining in and dining out in Cincinnati.

Voices of Cincy: Beautiful Mystery (Keith Banner)

thunderskyinc — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 16:40:14 +0000

Welcome to the latest installment of Voices of Cincy, our ongoing series of guest posts by local writers and bloggers. This week’s guest is Keith Banner, and O. Henry Award winner and the founder of both Visionaries & Voices, and Thunder-Sky, Inc. -Loki

Mr. Thunder-Sky

When people ask why Thunder-Sky, Inc. (a gallery/arts organization housed in Northside near the Comet) exists, I normally tell them to keep Raymond Thunder-Sky’s legacy alive, and to focus the spotlight on artists like him. But I also think that we did it so we could keep his name alive, as well collect the stories people remember about him. Every time I write a facebook or blog post about Thunder-Sky, Inc, or draft a letter about something, or answer the phone or whatever it’s like I am keeping his memory around through incantation. Keep saying his name and his spirit sort of flickers, like lightning inside a thunder-cloud. Shakespeare asked the question, “What’s in a name?” I guess the answer is everything.

Dressed in his construction hat and clown collar, his work-coat, boots and jeans, toting his huge tool-box of art-supplies, Raymond Thunder-Sky was always moving from one part of Cincinnati to the next, in search of inspiration and subject matter. From the late 70s till his death in 2004, he would set up makeshift easels in front of construction and demolition sites and then get to work. His drawings, always done in magic-marker on card-stock, are of buildings being torn down and replaced by industries and projects imagined by Raymond: Clown Suit Factories, Card Trick Amusement Parks, and Native American freeways. Raymond’s father, Richard Bright-Fire Thunder-Sky, was a chief of the Mohawk tribe, and his mother was a descendent of an Austrian Nobleman.

No one ever really understood what Raymond was up to, however, and he spent a huge part of his life cloaked in mystery. As we’ve gone about creating Thunder-Sky, Inc., we’ve heard all kinds of stories about encounters with Raymond from people across the area. One gentleman called me a few months back, after coming across the Thunder-Sky, Inc. website (www.thunderskyinc.org). He lives in North Carolina now, but back in the 80s, he said he used to ride the same Metro bus Raymond did. One day he said three boys were bothering Raymond – making fun of him, talking really loud about the construction-worker/clown-suit outfit he was wearing. In the middle of their taunts, Raymond stood up from his bus-seat and stared them right in the faces. The guy from North Carolina says that cold, flat stare shut the boys up instantly. Raymond’s face, he said, has stuck in his mind since then, as a sort of symbol of “standing up for yourself, letting people know you are not going to be messed with.”

Another story comes from a web-site Steve Kissing has set up to collect Raymond stories (www.raymondthundersky.com). A contributor to Cincinnati Magazine, as well as a VP at Barefoot advertising here in town, Steve is on the Thunder-Sky, Inc. board. Here’s the story submitted anonymously by someone who worked with Raymond:

“While in high school in 1974-1975 I worked in the kitchen of the Holiday Inn W.8th St. Cincinnati. Raymond also worked there as the pot & pan washer. The “Chief,” as he was known, loved to wash those pots & pans. This usually involved washing an entire day’s worth of cookware encrusted with dried up food. This is all that Raymond wanted to do, and he did it very well. We all understood that Raymond refused to do anything else in the kitchen except pots & pans. One evening, the night dishwasher called in sick, and the new asst. manager ‘forced’ Raymond to wash dishes. This was a very fast-paced job in this busy restaurant. Several hours into the shift, the Chief was covered with food. At that point, Raymond removed his clothing and ran them thru the dishwashing machine to clean them. Needless to say, he wasn’t told to wash dishes any more. Raymond was a very good artist with quite an imagination. He would walk around Downtown during the daytime before his shift at the “Inn” drawing pictures of buildings being torn down. He seemed to be somewhat upset about the destruction of historical buildings. Many of his mid seventies drawings were on the back of restaurant paper place mats.”

Both of these memories point to Raymond’s dedication to his art, and also his sense of who he was not just as an artist but as a person. He was complex, strong, and in charge of his own destiny. He was living his art every day of his life. Every week or so, we hear another story that illuminates his mystery, but in the end the beautiful mystery that he was will more-than-likely be his main legacy. Even though he made drawings that were direct and meticulous on the surface, and even though he walked about the city dressed as a clown, Raymond’s strange, elusive charm evokes responses that seem to place him in a pantheon of characters that catch us all off guard while also making us feel at home, like Pee Wee Herman, E.T., or Edward Scissorhands. Raymond created that character through sheer force of will, and performed in his own big-budget movie everyday of his life, riding the bus and walking from construction site to construction, drawing what he wanted to see.

In 1999 Bill Ross, a social-worker, artist and Thunder-Sky, Inc. cofounder, met Raymond when Raymond was placed on his caseload. For some reason (perhaps Raymond sensed that Bill was an artist too), Raymond chose to show his drawings to Bill in a meeting.

“The point of the meeting was to try to get him to take better care of himself and to try to convince him to let his caregivers take him to the doctor and help him try to live healthier,” Bill says. “This message never really sank in. Looking back he had his own agenda for me at this meeting. He wanted to make a connection with the world about his art. This mysterious and very private man choosing this time to share something so deeply personal with me inspired and truly touched me. I’ll never forget it.”

After that meeting, Bill introduced Raymond to me, and from that point on, Bill and I assisted with finding exhibition venues for Raymond and other self-taught artists with disabilities we had come across. Eventually in 2003 we were able to establish Visionaries & Voices (V&V), an art-studio/day-program for artists with developmental disabilities here in Cincinnati. V&V now helps many artists with developmental disabilities make art in two day-programs in the area (www.visionariesandvoices.com).

In 2004, Raymond Thunder-Sky passed away, leaving behind over 2,000 drawings, along with hundreds of tool-boxes, clown costumes, and construction paraphernalia he had picked up along his journeys throughout the city. After Raymond’s death, Bill and I got so focused and diligent with ensuring that V&V became a flourishing organization that Raymond’s archive, and legacy, got put on the backburner. Finally, last year (2009), we were able to establish Thunder-Sky, Inc., a gallery and arts organization dedicated to exhibiting and archiving Raymond’s work and maintaining his legacy through showcasing the works of other artists like him.

The inaugural exhibit, “Raymond Nation: Raymond Thunder-Sky’s Northside,” featured Raymond’s art, along with art made by local artists in tribute to him. The gallery space is located in Northside, the Cincinnati neighborhood that Raymond grew up in. In fact, an apartment he lived in as an adult is just one block down the street. The opening event was attended by over 300 people. At the opening reception, a video featuring Mr. Thunder-Sky was debuted. The video and other information about Raymond and the gallery can be accessed at www.thunderksyinc.org. Since the opening, we’ve curated three other exhibits featuring artists that make work reminiscent of Raymond’s art.

The latest exhibit, “World Domination: Antonio Adams & Tony Dotson” features the paintings and sculptures of Antonio Adams, another self-taught artist Bill and I came across doing our jobs as social workers. We introduced Antonio to Raymond in 2000. At this time, Antonio was a graduating high school student. He was depressed and isolated, making art in his bedroom without a social outlet for his art or feelings. When he met Raymond, something clicked, and as Antonio says, “He inspired me because he was a spiritual clown-artist and construction-artist. He was happy being that. He was very peaceful and he worked hard.”

Antonio’s brilliantly colored and intricately witty paintings and cat-sculptures are in collections across the United States. He is the artist-in-residence at Thunder-Sky, Inc., overseeing the studio we’ve established in the basement under the gallery space, Under-Sky, Inc., an art-making workshop that occurs every Saturday. Antonio’s two-person exhibit (along with outsider artist Tony Dotson) opens at Thunder-Sky, Inc. June 25, 2010 and will be on display through September 17, 2010.

Antonio references Raymond a lot in his work. Raymond became not just an inspiration to Antonio, but a sort of totem-spirit. In 2009, Antonio was able to create a mural memorializing Raymond. Antonio did this with help from artist Cedric Cox, and high school students from a program called Artworks, which employs students to do arts-related jobs in the summer. All of this mythologizing has culminated in the mural, which is on the side of the building that now houses one of V&V’s day-programs. It is an expansive, Technicolor tribute that places Raymond at the center of a demolition site, with a speech-bubble floating beside his head (mimicking the way Raymond narrated all of his drawings): “3841 Spring Grove Avenue is being town down to make way for the Raymond Thunder-Sky Construction Clown Amusement Park.”

Antonio says, “My mural and Thunder-Sky, Inc. are both fresh starts to know Raymond again.”

Back in 2004, during Raymond’s memorial, a Shriner’s clown chaplain read the “clown’s prayer” and placed a red nose on Raymond’s casket (making Raymond an honorary clown, which would have delighted him). One of the stanzas in the poem goes, “As I stumble through this life/help me to create more laughter than tears/dispense more cheer than gloom/spread more cheer than despair.”

Raymond’s art and life have helped to create a cultural revolution here in Cincinnati – two studios for artists with disabilities, a gallery that showcases unconventional self-taught artists, and a gorgeous mural that depicts his brave life. While we celebrate his legacy, we also continue to discover new and fascinating aspects of his life. We also want to deepen our understanding of his art by curating and exhibiting new artists that embellish what he was pursuing aesthetically. Raymond was and still is a natural resource.

Keith Banner, a social-worker for people with disabilities and a writer, lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. He cofounded both Visionaries & Voices, and Thunder-Sky, Inc. He teaches creative writing part-time at Miami University and has published two works of fiction, The Life I Lead, a novel, and The Smallest People Alive, a book of short stories. He has published numerous short stories and essays in magazines and journals, including American Folk Art Messenger, Washington Square, Kenyon Review, and Third Coast. He received an O. Henry prize for his short story, “The Smallest People Alive,” and an Ohio Arts Council individual artist fellowship for fiction. The Smallest People Alive was named one of the best books of the year by Publisher’s Weekly.