Heartless Bastards at Southgate House

Saturday night some friends dragged me to to the Southgate house to see the Heartless Bastards. I say dragged in that I wasn't really up for seeing the Bastards again, but Southgate is such a great venue and I knew I'd see tons of friends at the show. Well, I wasn't disappointed, in that everywhere I turned I saw someone I knew. That was pretty cool. But the show...

It's not that I don't like the Bastards, but I guess I never really got into them. Though I seem to be in the minority, and that's what I don't understand. Everyone I know from Cincy seems to be huge fans, and I think I have some theories, but I'm not sure. My first idea is that guys like them because they think that Erika is hot (she doesn't do it for me), and her ballsy vocals project a strong, confident exterior, which is also a reason I think women like her.

Unfortunately that's exactly the reason I don't care for her singing that much. On the first album (and in every show I've seen) Erica seems to be belting out her lyrics with such force that it seems to narrow her range into almost a monotone sound. Many of my friends not familiar with the Bastards have remarked that they thought it was a guy singing when they first heard the album. I just wish she was more dynamic. It almost sounds like she's already tired from a week of singing shows and is at the end of the night, struggling to push out her parts - even on the album.

For these reasons I never bought the first album - got a rip from a friend. I tried really hard to get into them, since EVERYONE I knew was and I kept being dragged to their shows. So then the second album came out and I thought that her vocal range expanded and that she intoned a great deal more. But she never really brought that articulation to any of their stage shows. This Saturday she was a bit more dynamic, but as soon as she got to songs from the first album (which made up all of the end of the show and encore), she slipped right back into her monotone roar.

And my other bitch is that the show was $15. For someone who has seen them for years for free, it's hard to pay that much. It was a decent show, I saw a ton of friends, but I enjoyed Pearline (who opened for them and I hadn't seen in a while) much, much more.

And there was some other group called White Girls in the first opening slot - notice I didn't say band. They sucked so bad, and even though I like punk - which is what I thought they were trying to go for - I couldn't take them for much more than a few songs. I turned around to say that we should go outside for a bit and my friends had already left (about halfway through the first song) and were sitting on the porch.
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Great theatre - for free!

The University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music has announced its 2007-2008 Studio Series, which are free productions theater and opera. CityBeat's A&E Blog picked up on this the other day, I'm just passing it along.

The theater in which these shows are performed is small and intimate and even though the performers are students these kids are some of the best. And this year they're doing TWO Sondheim shows!
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Regatta destroys OTR?

The good folks over at Cincinnati Downtown Parents pointed out that this weekend's Rubber Duck Regatta will help raise money that will be funding the demolition of two historic OTR buildings so they can build a parking lot for semi trailers.

(Pics of the buildings after the jump.)

I never go to RiverFest anyway (too crowded), and have never participated in the Regatta. But I wanted to spread the word in case you're thinking of sponsoring one of those cute little ducks this weekend. I'm not saying they're satan's waterfowl, but I just wanted you to know where your money's potentially going. I think this is an important issue and the Freestore needs to be made aware of how you stand on it.
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BSM: YawnFest 2007

Hurry and sign up for BOLD FUSION 2007, the Chamber's annual YP summit where our "best and brightest" can sit around and hear from speakers about how they're the best and brightest and the answer to all the city's ills, and then leave to drink at some yuppie watering hole, never to do a damn thing to make an actual change in the city.

Ok, so I exaggerate, but with the lofty ideas talked about at past Bold Fusions, you'd think that the participants would be out in the streets, fired up and ready to take real action. Instead I've seen too many of them breaking their own arms patting themselves on the back while talking about what they already do to help the city, without really being interested in anyone else's efforts or working together.

This year's keynote speaker is Carol Coletta is the host of the syndicated public radio show Smart City, so the event is showing some promise. But I'm not sure I like the sound of this:

"At this year's event, YOU, the rest of our YP community, and our local leadership will create the future of Cincinnati USA with the launch of Agenda 360, a comprehensive community action plan to align our region and its leaders on a common set of strategies for our city's evolution."

At first glance, this sounds all well and good, but a second reading uncovers a (thinly veiled) attempt to not really get input from local YPs, but to sell them on the Chamber's preconceived plan (with a few variables to make it seem customized). Sorry to be so skeptical, but I've been to too many of these kinds of events and seen the Chamber pull this sh*t before. Hopefully they can prove me wrong, but I will keep breathing regularly just in case.

If the Chamber put as much work into actual community action as they do into developing marketing language to sell the status quo... but I digress. Congrats! Although not all the way pegged, the Chamber has got BullSh*tMeter's needle jumping.
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Nixon in China

Ouch. That was painful. Thank goodness I got the tickets on a discount. We left after the first act. And we weren't the only ones - there was a steady stream of people exiting and going for their cars.

I heard from a friend who stayed for the whole thing and she wished that she had been with someone who wanted to leave because she would have left at the first intermission as well.

Who thought that opera was a good idea?
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Artworks Summer Program

Artworks' summer program is in full-swing. Most events are free and open to the public. Check out what this great organization offers to kids for much of the summer!
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See you in Northside!

If you're wondering what to do to celebrate ID3/4, check out Northside's Rock n' Roll Carnival and the Fourth of July Parade and Festival. If you haven't been, it's probably the best parade in the area. It all kicks of tonight with the Carnival, and tomorrow with the parade. See you tonight!
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Bastards on the street

Really cool little event: Heartless Bastards played a free concert tonight during Final Friday. Apparently it was to celebrate their music video. Weird part was, they never showed the video, at least not on the street. Lightborne - who I guess sponsored the event because they did the video - was having a party, but you had to have a pass to get in. So they might have shown the video inside, but I wouldn't know because I was not one of the ordained hipsters allowed inside. I'm fine with that, as I wanted to spend more time hitting the Pendleton and the other galleries, and I would have been completely sucked in by the free food and beer.
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