Tag: downtown

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MPMF 3 day passes

MidPoint Music Festival is right around the corner (Sept. 25-27). The music festival showcases independent local, regional, national and international artists throughout Downtown and Over-the-Rhine. This will be the 7th year for the annual festival and should be better than ever with new/more venues and tons of great acts.

One of the new features of this year’s festival will be the Scion Streetcar route. The crossover vehicles will be made available to festival goers to travel between venues. This is also meant to introduce the Cincinnati Streetcar movement/proposal to a host of new people and get even more people excited about the project.

The best performances are sure to sell out, and quickly. Therefore, MPMF organizers recommend buying See It All 3 day passes in advance. The $29 See It All 3 day pass will allow festival attendees to access all 17 stages and concerts by all MidPoint bands. This is the best way to guarantee your access to the best shows by your favorites artists.

Band Lineup | Schedule | Venues | Volunteer

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Rachel Z Trio at the Blue Wisp

This Friday (Sept. 12th) Cincinnati’s legendary Blue Wisp Jazz Club will welcome the world renowned pianist Rachel Nicolazzo (aka Rachel Z) and her trio. Rachel Z will be joined by bassist Maeve Royce and drummer Bobbie Raye.

The Manhattan-born pianist started classical training at age seven and eventually attended and graduated from the New England Conservatory. She released her first album, Trust the Universe, in 1993 with Columbia Records. Since that time she has released eight more albums with the most recent being the trio album entitled – Dept. of Good and Evil Featuring Rachel Z.

In this album Rachel Z shares the spotlight with her trio mates, but explores wonderful rhythms and harmonies with her many improvisations. The flow is tremendous and the improve keeps you guessing. Be sure to check out these well known songs done to the smooth sounds of the Rachel Z Trio:  Soul Meets Body (Death Cab for Cutie), Ain’t No Sunshine (Bill Withers), Maps (The Yeah Yeah Yeahs), and King of Pain (Sting) to name a few.

Music starts at 8:30pm and will last around three hours until 11:30pm. There is a $12 cover to get through the doors for this top-notch performance. Drink prices are comparable to other bars/clubs around town and the Blue Wisp (GoogleMap) offers a variety of food offerings beyond the typical bar snacks.

Watch a live performance below, by the Rachel Z Trio, of the Dept. of Good and Evil track ESP (Miles Davis/Wayne Shorter).

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Downtown’s image improving

Downtown Cincinnati Inc. (DCI) has recently kicked off a $1 million marketing campaign aimed at improving the image of Downtown Cincinnati. It seems to be already that the affects of new restaurants, shops, bars/clubs, and increased activity all over Downtown are improving the neighborhood’s image.

In UrbanCincy’s monthly poll for August 2008 the question was posed: “How have your perceptions of Downtown changed over recent months?” The results were clear and the message is loud and clear that the perception of Downtown is in fact improving. Nearly 350 votes were cast, with roughly 46% of the repsondents selecting the ‘greatly improved’ option. Another 39% said that their perception, of Downtown, was ‘somewhat improved.’

I grouped the 5 selections into 3 categories for this chart

The efforts of political and community leaders have yielded great results thus far. Results that are starting to settle in with people across the region. There are those who still do not recognize the progress that has been made, and this is what DCI’s marketing campaign will need to touch on. Those of us who know Downtown, know that things have improved significantly over the past 5 years. Things look like they are poised to continue to get better, and with time, perceptions will continue to change.

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Arts & Entertainment News

VH1’s Top 20 Video Countdown coming to Cincinnati

Almost two months ago UrbanCincy asked everyone to help bring VH1’s Top 20 Video Countdown to Cincinnati. Well I have great news to relay – it is now being reported that VH1 will broadcast here in late September.

The two-hour program reaches an estimated 95 million households over three different time slots (6 hours of TV coverage). The Cincinnati Business Courier reports:

VH1’s Top 20 Video Countdown will tape from such local venues as the newly remodeled Fountain Square, The Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, the Backstage District, Findlay Market, Union Terminal, Camp Washington and Northside. The initial air date is targeted for Saturday, Sept. 13, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. The program is expected to repeat Sept. 14 and Sept. 16. The taping will occur to allow for a backstage interview with 3 Doors Down at Riverbend Music Center Sept. 6.

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Bacchanalian Society Wine Contest

On September 18th, the Bacchanalian Society is bringing their quarterly “wine contest” to Fountain Square. Not to be confused with a wine tasting, this contest is a great social experience. The idea is based around the “Rule of Three.” Essentially you form teams, of up to three people, and bring three bottles of wine. You submit two of those bottles for the contest. During the contest everyone tastes the wines and rates them. The teams whose wines receive the most votes wins.

What do they win…well wine of course. Remember how only 2 of the 3 bottles of wine were used for the contest? Well the remaining bottles are then split up and awarded to the Top 5 teams. The contest is a great social networking opportunity and offers a really fun way to help raise money for a good cause.

The quarterly get togethers are a fundraising tool for non-profits. In the past the Society has helped organizations such as the CAC, Enjoy the Arts, and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Cincinnati to name a few. This quarter’s money will go to the Fountain Square Management Group, which will then use the money to operate/program the Square.

Jim Murphy, President of Bacchanalian Society, described how this has grown from three local Cincinnatians to a small group of friends to now thousands of Cincinnatians taking part in the quarterly contests. There are also two additional chapters that have popped up in Denver and Nashville.

Murphy said that it has always been a dream of the Society to have one of their events on Fountain Square. He went on to say, “I’m ecstatic to be able to hold one of the preeminent social networking events in Cincinnati, on Fountain Square.” The September 18th event, on Fountain Square, is expected to be the biggest event for the Society as of yet. Some 1,200-1,300 people are expected to come out and enjoy the different wines.

The event starts at 7pm with glasses being distributed around 7:30pm. The winners will be announced around 9:30pm or so and then it will be on to the after party at BlackFinn (who is also providing food at FS).

Pre-Register for the event here