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Thursday, June 11, 2009
Rivertown Breakdown helps clean up the Ohio, June 13
The Rivertown Breakdown, 8 p.m. Saturday, June 13, Southgate House, 24 E 3rd St., Newport, Ky. $15. (859) 431-2201.
So far, Jake Speed and the musicians who have participated in the seven previous versions of Rivertown Breakdown have raised $20,000 to help keep the Ohio River clean by donating the proceeds of the annual event to ORSANCO’s River Sweep, the annual clean up of all 981 miles of our Mighty Ohio River.
“That’s not a huge amount of money,” Speed said in a phone interview, “but if you keep it in perspective, that is a lot of rubber gloves.”
All of the entertainers will perform at least one river-themed song as a way of showing their support for Cincinnati’s greatest natural resource. Speed said he hops this year’s Rivertown Breakdown hopes to make the event a $25,000 lifetime contributor to ORSANCO’s River Sweep, currently scheduled for the morning of Saturday, June 20, an effort to clean up litter and debris from the entire 981 mile stretch of the Ohio River.
“We’ve also been working closely with the P.A. Denny to host educational tours of the river with children,” said Speed. “So some of the money has gone toward that, which makes sense to me because I’m a high school English teacher.”
The P.A. Denny is a 109-foot long three-deck paddle wheel boat that cruised the Kanawha River in the eastern United States for nearly three decades as a tour boat.
The Denny is now based in Cincinnati, Ohio operated by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission’s educational foundation. It is renamed the P.A. Denny River Education Center and is used as a floating classroom, with periodic excursions. The facility is designed to introduce fourth through 12th graders to science and ecology concepts. The P.A. Denny features labs and equipment for the students’ use during their four or five hour voyage.
There are 15 bands on the line-up this year, occupying all three floors of the Southgate house, and seven of them are new to the event, Speed said.
“So it’s not the same-old thing,” he said.
In fact, while the focus has been on what is considered “roots music,” Speed said he’s been convinced that jazz and hip hop are also forms of roots music and has booked IsWhat? and the Seedy Seeds this year.
Speed said the highlight of the evening for him is the grand finale when he calls up all the remaining musicians on stage for a giant jam session.
“I call out songs no one knows, but the great thing about roots music is that by the end of the first verse, they’ve all figure it out,” he said.
Also new this year is the addition of a drummer and electric guitar to the Freddies’ set.
“You know we’re an acoustic band. Hopefully we’ll get booed off the stage and it’ll be a big scandal,” he said, referring to Bob Dylan’s famous first electric sets.
Ballroom (Basement)
9:00-9:40- The Katie Laur Band - Bluegrass
9:55 - 10:35- Rumpke Mountain Boys - Newgrass
10:50 -11:30- IsWhat? - Jazz/Hip-Hop
11:40-12:20- Straw Boss - Rockabilly
12:35 - 1:15 - Jake Speed & the Freddies - Folk Blues
1:15 -2:00- All Star Jam
Parlour (Upstairs)
8:00 - 8:40 - 46 Long - Delta Blues/Harmonica Blues
8:50 - 9:30- Cincinnati Dancing Pigs - Jugband
9:40 - 10:20- Magnolia Mountain - Country Folk
10:30 - 11:10 - Seedy Seeds - Electronic Folk
11:20 - 12:00- Lagniappe - Cajun
Lounge (Ground Floor)
8:30-9:10 - The Tillers - Mountain Folk
9:20-10:00 - Cuz ‘n Jake - Hokum Blues
10:10 - 10:50- The Sidecars - Western Swing
11:00 - 11:40- Comet Bluegrass Allstars - Bluegrass
11:50 - 12:30- Kentucky Struts - Folk Rock
Photos: Top: Jake Speed and the Freddies at a recent Music Cafe, photo by Richard O Jones. Photo of last year’s Rivertown Breakdown musicians on the P.A. Denny, an educational vessel, by Nate Leopold.
Additional source: Information on the P.A. Denny from wikipedia.
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City of Sculpture gears up for a busy summer
With two new permanent installations in the works and an exhibition of temporary outdoor sculpture, the City of Sculpture committee is preparing for a busy summer.
The temporary exhibition will include 12 works of art by 10 different artists, said spokesperson Sue Samoviski, former City of Sculpture president.
The sculptures will line the north side of High Street in Hamilton, and some will be placed on the top of the river bank. Installation of the work is scheduled to take place by the end of June, Samoviski said.
Meanwhile, New York artist Eric David Laxman is putting the finishing touches on “A Conversation in Six Parts,” the work commissioned to fill the planter located in Journal Square.
Laxman will visit Hamilton in late June to supervise the pouring of concrete footings that will anchor the sculptures and to consult with landscapers to select the plants and rocks that will be a part of the overall design, the artist said in an e-mail.
Laxman said that he will arrive in Hamilton on July 8 for the installation. A dedication ceremony has yet to be scheduled.
By the end of the summer, “Family of Man IV” by Cynthia McKean will be in place in the green space on the west end of the High-Main Bridge.
“Family of Man IV” is contains the vision of four figures cut from a single plate of steel and painted bright red.
Samoviski said that the City of Sculpture organization is also busy consulting with seven artists who are participating in a project to place an original mobile in each of the Hamilton City Schools currently under construction.
“A couple of the artist have already sent us ideas and we’ll continue conversations over the summer,” she said. “The people making the decisions will be representatives from the school district, the architects and the City of Sculpture.”
The funding for some of the mobiles has yet to be determined, Samoviski said, because the money is coming from private sources and not from the construction budgets.”
“We have funding for two of them already, but there will be four schools opening in the fall,” she said. “Our hope is to find people to provide funding for the other two so that each of the schools will have an original work of art in their lobbies. The budgets are within the $3,000 to $5,000 range, so we think its doable.”
For more information on the City of Sculpture projects, call (513) 895-3934.
Rendering of “Family of Man IV” by Mike Dingledein; other photos courtesy Eric David Laxman
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Museum Center expands Friday hours for ‘Dinosaurs Unearthed’
“Dinosaurs Unearthed,” through Sept. 7, Cincinnati Museum Center, 1301 Western Ave., Cincinnati. Non-members: $15 adults, $10 children . Members: $10 adults; $7 children. (513) 281-7000.
Due to the success of late night Fridays this spring, Cincinnati Museum Center is extending hoursevery Friday through the entire run of “Dinosaurs Unearthed.” The exhibit will now be open until 9 p.m. on Fridays, with the last entry time being 8 p.m.
Visitors can also see the latest OMNIMAX film, “Dinosaurs Alive” , for the full dinosaur experience! OMNIMAX show times on Friday are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9 p.m.
Food service and gift shops will be open as well, but all other museums will close at the normal 5 p.m. time. Visitors are also encouraged to reserve tickets ahead of time to both the exhibit and the film. This can be done by calling (513) 287-7001 or online at www.cincymuseum.org.
Dinosaurs Unearthed features more than 20 life-sized roaring, moving dinosaurs, full skeletons, fossils, and reports on significant dinosaur discoveries. The exhibit also features new scientific findings that prove the existence of feathered dinosaurs. In fact,Dinosaurs Unearthed is the first exhibit in the world to feature a set of full-size, feather-covered dinosaurs.
The feathered dinosaurs in the exhibit bring to life the variety of new bird-like dinosaurs being discovered in northeastern China.
“A selection of feathered dinosaur models illustrates the diversity of new forms discovered in recent years,” said Glenn Storrs, PhD, Museum Center’s Withrow Farny curator of vertebrate paleontology.
“The feathered dinosaurs of China confirm the long-suspected evolution of modern birds from extinct dinosaurian ancestors,” Dr. Storrs said. “With each discovery, another evolutionary “missing link” is added to our understanding of the fossil record.”
In addition to the full-size feathered models, the exhibit has another component sure to please visitors. To makeDinosaurs Unearthedmore interactive, the exhibit features four animatronic dinosaurs visitors can actually control. Powered by smooth, tiny electronic motors, the full-sized Baryonyx, Allosaurus and more come to life with the push of a button and the flip of a switch. With electronics instead of hydraulics, these models capture some of the most life-like motions ever created.
Accompanying the exhibit is the Robert D. Lindner Family OMNIMAX(r) Theater’s newest film,Dinosaurs Alive. The film takes visitors on an immersive journey back to the early Triassic period all the way through the late Cretaceous, following the tiniest of dinosaurs to the largest creatures that walked the earth.
Source: Cincinnati Museum Center press release
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Mad Anthony Theatre Company revises 2009-10 season
Due to casting conflicts, the Mad Anthony Theatre company has canceled its production of “The Real Inspector Hound” and replaced it with “Four Beers” by David Van Vleck.
“Four Beers,” scheduled for Sept. 16-20, is about five middle aged men spend every Monday night at a local bar to watch the game of the week. Only this week, when they get there the game is not on and for the first time ever they have to make conversation with each other.
The rest of the season includes:
“Cinderella” by Fitz Patton, David Kisor and Joe McDonough, Dec. 9-13.
“Guest Artist” by Jeff Bridges, Feb. 17-21.
“Golf: The Musical”, May 19-23.
For more information, call the Fitton Center at (513) 863-8873.
Show description provided by Mad Anthony Theatre Company.
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Gallery 42 exhibition explores ‘The Painted Word,’ opening June 13
“The Painted Word: Kirsten Bowen and Hal Shunk,” reception with the artists 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, June 13, exhibition continues through July 25, Gallery 42 in Mason. Gallery hours: noon to 6 p.m. Thursday-Saturday or by appointment. (513) 234-7874.
While Kirsten Bowen (above) paints in words and Hal Shunk focuses on the shapes of letters, both artists explore elements of our everyday world and have elevated them in their art.
Kirsten Bowen’s goal as an artist is to “interpret a wide range of literary expression through visual art.” Her multi-dimensional work reveals many levels of communication. The literal content includes anything from lyrics, poetry, and prayer to schedules, ingredients and personal ads. The paintings could be categorized as abstract landscapes, bands of color or monochromatic The more subtle communication is conveyed through Kirsten’s “Venetian impasto” technique which gives the pieces their rich texture. Kirsten lives in Columbus, but shows her work throughout Ohio.
Hal Shunk is a professor of art at Wilmington College. His work communicates to the viewer using marks in abstract form. In this instance the “marks” are letters. Unlike Bowen’s work these letters are not to be read but to be enjoyed for what they are, “marks employing color, form, line and movement”. The art “often takes the look of alphabet soup”. Hal lives and works in Wilmington.
Also exhibiting work are artists, Gary Breitenstein, Maureen Holub and Jim Wagner.
Source: Gallery 42 press release; www.kirstenbowen.com. Paintings, top to bottom: “Royal Marks” by Hal Shunk; “Trilla” by Maureen Holub; “The Beginning of Love” by Gary Breitenstein.
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Win reserved front-row seats for Huey Lewis and the News, July 2
The Mason Parks & Recreation Foundation is raffling off two four-packs of front-and-center seats to see Huey Lewis and the News perform on July 3 at the Red, Rhythm and Boom festival in Mason.
In addition, the two winners will each receive a parking pass and four commemorative t-shirts.
One raffle ticket is $10, or three for $20. The drawing will be held July 2 at 4 pm. at the Mason Community Center. You need not be present to win. You will be notified by phone if you win and tickets must be picked up by noon on July 3 at the center.
To purchase a raffle ticket with a credit card, go to www.masonparksfoundation.org or send your check made payable to Mason Parks & Recreation Foundation to: Rachel Kopfler, Mason Parks & Recreation Foundation, 6000 Mason-Montgomery Road, Mason, OH 45040. Please include your contact information including a phone number. An order form to pay by check is on the Foundation’s website.
Purchasing a raffle tickets helps support the building of Common Ground, greater Cincinnati’s first “inclusive play experience,” a term used to describe non-traditional play areas. Children of varying abilities and disabilities will be able to play together side-by-side. Much more than a playground, Common Ground will be an experience for all children, including those with disabilities. Plans for the park, to be built off Snider Road and SR 42 on land owned by the City of Mason, call for equipment that is accessible and interesting to all children. For example, a swing that allows for a child in a wheelchair, a slide that can accommodate a child with braces, quiet area for autistic children, Braille for sight-impaired children and adults, and much more.
Source: Mason Parks & Recreation Foundation press release
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