This is a label on a set of drawers in a restaurant.

10 points if you can tell me what it is. (The post tag should help)

50 points if you can tell me where it is. (It’s in Kentucky)

Although I was out of town last year, I know they jammed out at Midpoint Music Fest, and they are doing the same this year. They’ve released a couple of new singles recently, as well as a music video for Vision Vision from their Labrador EP.

I can’t pretend like I don’t enjoy a variety of ‘mainstream’ music, but I also dig crazy off the wall shit, especially when the artist can back it up live, which is most definitely the case with Loyal Divide.

Vision Vision

@LoyalDivide

All of a sudden we were met with a set of glass doors, on the other side of which was sweet, cool A/C. “Tickets please fellas,” called a lady at a narrow podium, slipping us pink wristbands after verification of our seats.

The next words out of her mouth really threw me for a loop. “Go ahead and help yourselves to some food, there’s stuff all along the concourse.”

To think I almost bought peanuts to bring in the stadium

I picked up my jaw off the floor and kept moving. I had been mentally preparing myself to spend loads of cash on food and beer, all the while sweating my ass off, and here I was in the A/C with free Montgomery Inn, La Rosa’s, and what’s more, 20 oz Moerlein OTR on draft for a reasonable (ballpark) price.

Club seats are the best of both worlds. Right along the first base line above the suites, the concourse has A/C while the seats are still outside. I’ve been in boxes before, they’re cool, but you’re a little detached from the actual ballgame experience (“Beer Here!”). In the club the seats are padded, and the nosebleeds above provide some shade, so you’re still on the luxury side of ballpark seating.

It is kinda crazy, I think half the people in this section were under 12.

This kid was either dancing or running up for more cinnamon breadsticks

Too bad they lost 1-0, but at least they got 2 outta 3 in the series.

Still a blast to be at a game.

And I got a new angle of QCS.

Oh yeah, and not only is there free food inside, but free icy pops being handed out in the aisles! Beer cooler anyone?

This was my first Reds game of the season….might be my last cause I won’t get to live this good at any others (unless I win tickets to the county box again like I did last year [which I just read they are not doing this year...BS!])

Besides Race St, work, and some casual social outings (like Monday night pick-up soccer) I don’t have much else going on. Desperate to stay in some sort of shape, I’ve been getting on my bike at least twice a week. Due to the nature of the above schedule I’m pretty much confined to night time rides (the fact that it’s a million degrees out doesn’t hurt either).

I already ride around with a backpack, and I’m thinking a little tripod might be in my future, because finding ledges and things to use as a stabilizer can be difficult, especially when I need a specific angle to try and shoot, say, a new skyscraper.

By that last sentence you’d think I was an actual photographer with something other than my little Point and Shoot. I’m not….

Really lovin’ this new Black Keys album…and I’m not sure what I like more about this video, the hot chicks, hilarious puppet, or the string of denial from the band that scrolls across the video.

Next Girl

www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_PrT25o8Vs

You see, we have one thing Columbus does not that is pretty irrefutable….hills. Not only are they great for running and biking, but they provide some pretty stellar views.

Someone call Duke and get that transformer out of there

Come July 4th those hills can give you a wide angled scene of dozens of fireworks shows, the likes of which I’ve only experienced on the top of a 34 story building in Chicago.

It will also give you a view of the fire that started across town (remember kids, booze and fireworks don’t mix well [actually they do, except that one time...])

If you live tucked into a hillside with a view of the basin, you are required to have a telescope. I looked into the one sitting on the top floor of our hosts’ house to find it aimed perfectly down Main St.

This is the point where I need a better camera, or at least a tripod. But I think you’ll get the idea.

As cool as fireworks are, it’s not really a party until someone brings out the sparklers.

A little puppy love also added to a great time.

Guard dog that knows what's really valuable...beer

To our hosts that evening, thank you very much, I know I had a blast, and everyone else sure looked like they were having fun as well! In fact I’m pretty sure the right phrase was on display in your house….

I remember being 15, on my bike, tooling around in the driveway for hours.

Wheelies, endos, bunny hops, hell just practicing track stands….

I’m a bit older now, and I don’t confine myself to the driveway anymore…instead I just pick spots in the city to play around.

Don’t get me wrong, I love going out and socializing, and bars can be fun on a weekend night….

….but I’m just as happy on two wheels.

After running home to change I started my journey by heading back up to OTR before sprinting down Race St to the river.

Over-The-Rhine fascinates me even more than it did 3 years ago when I moved here. Majestic Music Hall sitting right across from boarded up treasures labeled with the plight of the neighborhood.

Moving on….

It’s always a nice cruise down race (or walnut) from OTR to Downtown. Once you cross central parkway the lights time up, almost egging you on to pedal faster and hit the river without stopping. Although sometimes I loop around 5chw4r7z’s so I can get a view of QCS.

Being close to the river feels good. Sure, it’s not the cleanest body of water out there, but I did swim in it and live….so I like cruising down to Friendship Park and the Serpentine Wall. I guess the sun knew it was the reason I was out and about…it certainly caught my eye on the south shore….

When I’m that close I always ride over to NKY and back. Something about crossing state lines make any workout seem that much more badass.

Returning to the other side of the river I always face a dilemma: do I ride back through downtown, or torture myself on some hills in Mt. Adams?

Yeah, the hills normally win.

When it really started to get dark I kept my camera in my pocket and just rode. I put my headphones on to drown out the world and got lost in endless pedal strokes. It felt good to just zone out for a while and wear myself down.

The last rays of sun had set and the sky was growing darker by the minute as I cranked down Reading Rd. Living so close to Neon’s can be a great thing, and that night it seemed appropriate to just show up on my bike as opposed to going home and showering first. I ran into a couple of friends (oh neighborhood bar, how I love thee) and enjoyed a pint (or two) before we all remembered it was a school night.

A little break and a few beers can do great things though, and I wasn’t ready to pack it in yet. I know it’s closed, but frankly I just felt like going to hang on the Serpentine Wall…so I did.

One reason not to hang out there at night (besides the fact you will be asked to leave pretty quickly) are the crazy looking bugs that swarm the light poles.

With creepy bug pictures under my belt (was that really necessary, prolly not) and security in my ear, it was time to pack it in for the night. With a gentle ride up Eggleston I was home, completely content with my summer solstice ride.

The replies were “no, but we’re working on it.” Then voila, a few days later the emails are flying and the Rampage is a go.

So to everyone that put it together and was kind enough to invite me, thanks!

In case you didn’t read Bob or Maureen’s take on things, the concept is fast food sushi. All the ingredients are at the ready, waiting for rice and wrap to be passed down the line. Pick your fillings and sauces, pay, and walk away before you would normally get a glass of water at a sit down restaurant.

Here is my take:

For starters, the rice machine that spits out flat layers of sushi rice ready for a seawead (or apparently a soy) wrap at up to 1200 sheets an hour….that rocks….and I want one….

Also a mechanized plus to the sushi world, the cutter, insuring 10 evenly cut pieces every time.

In between those steps are all the fillings. Only two raw fish are available–tuna and salmon–and both are already marinated in some pretty tasty sauce. Everything else is hot…baked salmon, grilled steak, fried calamari, tempura chicken, etc… It’s most certainly a new twist on a traditional food form.

I went for a steak roll, dressed with their choice of toppings (except asparagus, I couldn’t bring myself to do that in sushi just yet). It was pretty tasty, but more of a novelty for me. I also did a raw salmon and tuna roll with my favorite accoutrements–avocado, green onion, and cream cheese, topped with tempura flakes and spicy mayo. I’m good at making healthy things bad for you….and it was delicious!

The sushi really was good, and I will certainly be going back. It’s not gonna be my number one spot…I like too many crazy fish options and weird stuff that Soho doesn’t have to make it my go to….but they are after a different segment of the market, and from what I saw/tasted they’re doing a great job at it. That’s what is cool about Soho, they are doing something different, something you can’t get at just any sushi joint.

As far as value, this place has it. Every roll is 10 pieces, which means two is plenty for me and anyone that wants to try a roll off my plate.

So to Zach and Stephan: great job fellas, and thanks for hosting our group. I can’t wait to come back.

The overall highlight for me? Being in great company at a fun/tasty new spot downtown on a stellar Tuesday night.

This soulful groove is the title track on the latest release from Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.

I Learned  The Hard Way

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cckkzRDBAo

@SharonLJones

Looks like a couple of downers to me. But click on the image to see ‘em smile. Happy Friday!

*                    *                    *

It’s nighttime, around 9:30, and I’m still up at Race St, work boots and all. My jeans are starting to have permanent sweat stains on them because it’s getting hot. I’m sitting on a chair that looks like it came from an elementary school (it probably did) watching some guys play chess in my garage. I finish my tallboy that I picked up next door and say my goodbyes to the crowd that has become an unexpected group of friends.

I drive home–all of seven blocks–relishing the A/C that’s pouring from my vents. As I do many nights, I pull in the apartment garage and sit in my car while I wait for the song that’s playing to end (have I mentioned how much I love music?).

I’m tired. The project is wearing on me. It’s tough to measure progress a day at a time.

I get out of my car and head upstairs. Normally I would shower and fall over on the couch, done for the day. For some reason though I change into shorts, grab my camera and leave my apartment. I need some thinking/outside time.

I walk down Court St towards the Greyhound station and the bridge that spans I-71–one of my favorites for many reasons. It’s an easy way to get from downtown to Mt. Adams. There is a wild juxtaposition between life at the bottom of the bridge and life at the top. It’s also relatively steep, which makes it a good running spot.

My mind wanders as I approached the steps that lead up to the bridge. A burst of light followed closely by that unmistakable fireworks BOOM snaps my head back to reality.

I grab my camera from my pocket and start shooting. At first I think it’s just someone firing off a few shells from their house, but the bursts keep coming.

I realize this is more than an amateur event, so I start climbing higher on the bridge.

I reach the top and the fireworks are exploding at what appears to be a little over head height.

It was all pretty cool as it’s not often I see exploding balls of light at eye level.

The Finale

The shows over, and my mood has done a 180. Not that I was even in a bad mood per se, just frustrated. But now I’m just happy and grinning–my worries about Race St are fading away like the smoke trail left from the show.

*                    *                    *

I don’t know why I do the things I do, but everything happens for a reason.

I don’t know why I sat around for half an hour drinking a beer at Race St. I don’t know why I left my apartment when I did, or why I walked over to that bridge instead of down to the river. The list of actions I’ve taken for which I have little to no explanation is endless. But somehow it all makes sense when I stumble across a random fireworks show in the middle of the city.

*                    *                    *

As I walk home, I start running through pictures in my head of what Race St looked like when I bought it a couple of months ago (a la yesterday’s post). Progress is much easier to measure in months, and that thought calms me down enough to hit the sack and prepare for another day of work.

Black and Blue

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oKQSAt4c4c

Animal

www.youtube.com/watch?v=niKT-kJfUz4

Yeah I’m still an animal.

@MiikeSnow

In said post I described how my enlarging buttocks put enough pressure on my wallet to start a hole in the right rear pocket.

I then rejoiced after losing weight and being able to wear those pants again.

The jeans were then retired, because they were TOO big (again, time for celebration).

I’m happy to say they have now been put back into rotation (not because I put weight back on either).

When I bought Race St a couple of months ago I needed a pair of jeans to wear that I didn’t care about…demolition jeans if you will. I immediately thought of the skinny jeans, and I pulled them back out of the closet. They fit loose enough that it gives me the flexibility I need to hop in and out of windows and the various other random things I do while trying to fix this place up.

And even though I have a tool belt, sometimes it’s just easier to use that back pocket.

Every once in a while I catch myself thinking about what led me to this point. I see those frayed pieces of cotton hanging from the back pocket and I see a little bit of myself in them. When I bought those jeans I thought I was the king of the world. I had a great girlfriend I thought I was going to marry and no long term aspirations to stay in Cincinnati–I was just here for a reasonably good job while she finished school. I would have laughed in your face if you told me I would be 25 and single, gutting and remodeling my own house across the street from Findlay Market.

Yet here I am, May 28 2010, working on my first home. The jeans are still with me, but I’m not sure much about me is the same as it was when I purchased them. I’ve managed to break a couple more hearts since then–trust me I’m not bragging–I’ve certainly put my own corazón through the ringer a few times. I feel like I’ve been waiting years to get back to who I was, or as a great song I love quotes “To say this is the way that I used to be.” What I’m realizing is that I probably won’t ever be the same guy again, not totally. You take the good with the bad right? I’m no longer a fresh-out-of-college naive kid…I’m a 3-years-out-of-college naive adult(?). I wouldn’t say I’ve lost the fun loving spark that I had back then…it’s just that the spark fires a little differently these days.

All this should be expected right? I wasn’t the same at person 21 that I was at 18, so why would I be the same person at 25 that I was at 22?

I guess from 18 to 21, you feel like you are supposed to grow up, but by 22 I felt grown. I was out on my own, living and breathing the “real” world….except I forgot that it doesn’t stop there. No, the changes in your life just get bigger as the choices become more important. That’s a lesson I suspect I will be learning for the rest of my life.

I know one day those parts of my life that feel like the tattered strands of back pocket will make sense–they’ll show themselves to be there for a reason–like making space for a necessary tool to move forward with my life.

[Editor's Note: Despite the tone this takes at the end, I couldn't be happier with the way things are going for me right now. It's not all crystal clear, but I'm rolling with it.]

Once again we met in front of Park+Vine at 12:30 on a bright Saturday afternoon. This year Reser had some shirts (rolled as bike tires) sitting on the check in table, and I had a little fun waiting for everyone to check in and pump up.

The OTR/Gateway Summer Celebration was taking place right up the block, and had I not been working on Race St I would have run the 5k and partied a bit before our food trek. Instead I caught a glimpse of the action as ~50 of us pulled away from P+V.

We cruised up Vine St through the heart of OTR (and past the park that will be my new backyard) on our way to Take The Cake in Northside. I’ve heard so many great things about TtC that I was a bit embarrassed I had never been there before.

My garage is on the other side of the park

The cruise to Northside was a good 5 miler, enough to work up a sweat, only to have it cooled by TtC’s awesome Gazpacho. Which then heated you back up with its spicy kick!

I may have purchased a brownie as well...

Not an official stop, but right next door was Cluxton Alley Coffee roasters. I’m not a coffee guy, but I poked my head in with a few other people to check it out.

Back on our rides we pedaled the longest single length of our journey, a 10 mile and at times not-so-flat (hey it’s Cincy) route over to Pleasant Ridge to Loving Cafe. The only repeat so far in the B+D series, they changed up from the veggie rolls and peanuts sauce we got last time (which was awesome) and went with fresh fruit and a salad, accompanied by two phenomenal homemade dressings.

With only six miles left to cover two stops, we took a short cruise over to Lucky John Slow Food where we filed through a buffet of pasta and vegan pizza awesomeness.

Seeking shade

After a nice boost of energy from all those carbs most people cruised (and some of us hauled ass) through Eden Park into Mt. Adams to The Rookwood. They served up some awesome chocolate on chocolate dessert and some “Yellow Bicycles” which were something, something, St. Germain and Proseco.

Each Bike+Dine has been a different experience for me, so I can’t say any one was better than the other. They have all been a blast though, and I can’t wait for the fall 2010 ride.

Turning+Sneezing....now that's talent

A little help from the popo in walnut hills

Cheers!

Seeing him in Vegas on NYE was pretty awesome as well.

Enjoy.

Maybe So, Maybe No

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpfcydeSGeo

Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBKx8PyE5qQ

@MayerHawthorne

I was out riding without music, which leaves my head a little clearer to think about stuff (namely, how the hell am I going to rebuild the interior of a house!!!). It was a good time for reflection…which I then started taking literally.

I cruised up into OTR from downtown, figuring the sun was right to get some shots of the detail on my new place.

Right up the street is Rookwood Pottery, who was hosting the first tapping of Christian Moerlein IPA.

At the end of Race St lies a pretty cool church, with an iconic hand pointed towards the sky.

I then rode back down to the riverfront to meet up with the Thursday Night Slow Ride, a member of which informed me they would be at The Banks in 5 minutes. I beat them there, and snapped some photos of Roebling Bridge during the painting.

This was right below the stairway from the bridge down to the street.

The Banks.

I found the group, and we actually rode through the painting tarps on the suspension bridge. It’s not the first time I’ve ridden across the bridge during construction.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky-jtmdzBxI

We then cruised from Covington to Newport, and then back to Fountain Square. Oh yeah, and we found the Girls Gone Wild bus down by the Levee.

I know it’s a shitty picture, but it’s true. Life. Happens. Here. At least my life.