Things to do in Dayton | Restaurants, Theatre, Music and More
Feb Theme- Gifts of Love.
Tell us about the good, the bad and the indifferent gifts you’ve received in the name of love.
$5.00 at the door. Bring a story and bring a friend. Best story of the night wins $50 and a guaranteed spot at the next month’s Slam.
Doors open for seating at 6:30pm, stories start at 7pm. Storytellers are encouraged to prepare a 5-minute story relating to the theme and place their name in the hat. Tellers are drawn at random.
Explore how to pickle vegetables beyond the cucumber!
Join cancer survivors celebrating Bravery and Courage with a THE GREATEST SHOWMAN theme for the 17th annual Awear Affair Fashion Show and Luncheon to benefit the Noble Circle Project on Saturday, February 29th from 10am -2pm at the Ponitz Center at Sinclair Community College. This inspiring and fun event begins with raffle baskets and boutique shopping as more than 20 small business merchants offer a wonderful array of hand-crafted gifts, unique jewelry, home décor, clothing and accessories.
Lunch is served at noon and followed by a fashion show featuring clothing from Zig Zag Gallery, Pieces of Style, and Senses. All models are members of The Noble Circle Project who are intending to thrive beyond their cancer diagnoses.
Please come enjoy good food and entertainment while supporting the programs of Noble Circle for women living with cancer diagnoses.
Since 2004, the annual AWear Affair Fashion Show Luncheon has been held on the last Saturday in February. This highly anticipated event makes it possible for women diagnosed with cancer to participate in the New Sister Program and Project Sisterhood program at no charge. AWear Affair begins at 10:00 am with shopping at local vendors where attendees can explore and purchase items ranging from jewelry, to gourmet foods, to one-of-a-kind apparel and works of art. The luncheon, program, entertainment, and fashion show, – featuring Noble Circle Sisters modeling the newest fashions – begins at noon.
Pre-register for the AWear Affair Fashion Show & luncheon online. The event will be held in Building 12, the Ponitz Center at Sinclair Community College, 444 W. 3rd Street, Dayton, OH 45402.
About The Noble Circle Project
The Noble Circle Project was founded in 2003 by eight local women coping with their own cancer diagnosis. These courageous women learned how to navigate the treatment process, support each other, and seek out ways to take charge of their cancer journey. They were united in the belief they could use their personal experiences to help other women “thrive” beyond cancer.
The Noble Circle Project is committed to creating an intimate and caring community of women thriving beyond cancer by bringing hope, inspiration, empowerment and well-being through programs focusing on nutritional education, complementary energy techniques, and peer support. The next New Sister Program Retreat is scheduled for March 2020.
For more information visit www.noblecircle.org | (937) 674-5566 | [email protected]
Photo by Alex Kamanandi
Artist United interview with William Cunningham, artist and curator of The Orphanage Gallery, 73 N. Dutoit St., Dayton Ohio 45402
DAU—So, Bill, are you from Dayton?
WC—I am. I lived other places, like Atlanta back in the early 90s and I travel a lot, so I get to see many different things.
DAU—What do you like about Dayton?
WC—I’m kind of funny about Dayton. I know a lot about Dayton and its history. I used to run Gallery 257 back in the late 80s, it was located where Press Coffeehouse is now.
But Dayton frustrates me. The Dayton art community frustrates me. There is so much potential there and it languishes as it has no supporting infrastructure for artist cultural production.
DAU—Talk to me about that. What do you mean by infrastructure?
WC—Mostly, I mean exhibition space. There is not enough open exhibition space for the artists we have, and we have a tremendous number of artists here in Dayton. As artists, we need places to see lots of various styles of art. We don’t get to go see each other’s work as it evolves over time, unless you drop by another artist’s studio, which are usually not open. Most artists have to get a show for their work to be seen. It’s hard here to get shows.
There are few galleries that will show newer artist work or even established artist work for that matter. Let’s say an artist creates say 30-40 works, maybe 5 of those are actually show-able. Art is a process, and not everything you turn out is your best work, work that as an artist you would be willing to show. Sometimes you have something to say and it doesn’t come across in the first 20 attempts. Or in 20 works the language for the work is not developed enough to be understandable for the viewer. But if you could get those five-good works into a group show for example, you could start to build up to something in the form of a conversation based on the viewer feedback of the work.
DAU—So, if someone came to you and said “Bill, we want to foster the arts in Dayton, and we need some guidance.”
WC—I’d tell them 1) Set up an exhibition space that is open for emerging artists. A pop-up sort of thing. Something that turns over rapidly, once a week or once every two weeks. Just a wall with two works on it would work to increase visibility of an artist work. By alternating the space so there is something new every week, say 50 weeks a year this way there is always new energy in the art space. 2) Have a looser curatorial process, don’t try to control what hangs to much let other people sign-up to curate shows of other artist work. This really helps as one person should not be allowed dictate what is good or bad. 3) Don’t control the artists. Don’t put your finger on them and tell them what kind of art they have to show. But do guide them in matters like pricing. Every gallery is different every art space is also different over time pricing patterns will develop which provides a range which art sells well at that venue.
DAU—I’m hearing that you don’t like to be told what to do.
WC—Hell No! Anybody will tell you that. I’ve been called a renegade. I’ve been called worse than that. I speak my mind. I’m not going to say I like something if I don’t and there are a lot of things I don’t like. Some of the things I don’t like are based on my experience. Like, I’ve got a bias against juried art shows. I hate all juried shows.
DAU—Why is that?
WC—Most of the juried shows collect submission fees and then they give out a prize that’s worth a fraction of the money they collect. The rest goes to paying for the show usually in a space that is already paid for. It’s a cash machine that exploits the artists. It’s really nothing more than a cash grab scam that preys on artist. And the jurors are laughable in most cases. They get someone that’s high profile, not high profile in the art world, but someone that people recognize, or a person in the government to walk around and give out a prize to the winner based on what? And then the emerging artists have to explain to that person about the value of their art and what it’s about. Then the show just becomes a personality contest.
Some time ago, I had a work in an abstract show. The juror comes in, he’s all pompous and talking about “post-modern abstraction’ in this way that showed he has no idea what he was talking about. He walked around and talked down to all the artists. Then, he awarded the prize to landscape painting. A landscape, a plen air landscape at that, with a duck at a pond. A landscape painting won in an abstract show! Turned out the person who won was related to the juror, go figure.
Most jurors are friends of the curator—it’s a scam to make money as they oftentimes get paid as well. How does a young artist know which juried show is legit? At the galleries I run we will never do a juried show.
DAU—No juried shows ever?
WC—Well, there is an exception. We were in ArtFest in Beavercreek last year. That was a juried show done right. The judges were people who knew what they were about. Michael Roediger; Director and CEO of Dayton Art Institute, (3rd year as a judge), Lisa Seibert; with Dayton Local (4th year as a judge), and Amy Kollar Anderson; Internationally recognized artist, MCACD 2018 grant recipient. Samantha was one of the staff members for ArtFest. And, in my opinion, this show was fair in its judging.
The booth I worked with won Best Interactive. We showed Front Street artists and had a second half that gave away spun art t-shirts. I ran the gallery side, which also had a little gallery that was interactive. All the works inside were free, provided by artists in the area. It was a good event.
DAU—Samantha? You mean Samantha Mang?
WC—She’s part of ArtFest. She’s good people.
DAU—She’s co-curating the Artists United group show with you. Thank you for that. I really liked what happened at the Artists United gathering where you offered The Orphanage for a group show.
WC— You wanted a show. I have an art space. I like what Artists United is doing. It’s like what The Orphanage does in some ways. Artists United doesn’t charge a fee to be a member, right? The Orphanage has a zero-profit gallery model: $0 submission fees and $0 commission fees. Our mission is to provide a place for artist to show and sell work. Sales of any work from an artist help support the artist. Our rules are simple: the artist must be present at the show’s opening. The artist, especially emerging artists, needs to mingle with other artists and art patrons. See there’s the network thing we have in common. Artists need to meet people in the public places away from the art studio. How else are they going to sell art? The gallery is supported by the art community attending the shows. We don’t handle any sales of artists’ work: the artists sell their work. But last year, at the galleries, artists sold over 600 works. We don’t take a cut all of that money, it all went into the pockets of the artists.
Let’s say you’re an artist, and you have your work in a group show, like the Artist United show that is coming up. You meet people, maybe you sell some art. If people like your work, they’ll come to your studio. When you’ve built an audience, you can host an open studio event. People buy more art at events. Group shows at The Orphanage broaden the exposure for everybody involved. This Artist United show already has 45 artist signed on and I expect a few more before it opens.
One of pieces from Pseudo Bibliography of Imaginary Friends a series of work from a couple of years ago where Bill Cunningham mixed two forms of bad art vintage snapshots and public domain clipart to create a new work.
Also, when you have your work in a group show, like the upcoming Artists United show on March 6, you see the work of other artists. You get to talk to each other about art. I love to talk to other artists about art. When artists talk about art, they don’t put a value on it, like “Hey, that could win a prize at a juried show with that work.” No, they talk about the work. The process. What brush did you use to get that effect? What inspired this thing? These sorts of things. Which helps artists expand what they are already doing. As they gain new information, their work becomes better, even if they do not use the ideas they learned about. The conversations, the exposure to other artists still had an influence on them.
When artists participate in a group show they learn how a gallery operates. How to interact with the public. How to price their work. They watch what sells and what doesn’t. They look at how the show is put together—why did some works hang together? There are a lot of things that aren’t being taught. We have great art programs here. Sinclair has a strong art department, so does Wright State, so does the University of Dayton. The University of Dayton is the only one that teaches the business in some of its art classes.
The starving artist concept is a myth and based in propaganda. We need to stop selling it. Let’s stop charging $80,000 per year to teach kids how to copy some dead artists. We don’t need more academic art that says nothing. I want to look at art that says something. Art that says something I have never thought about before. Even if the work is reductive, I am looking at art. Folk art, unschooled art, raw talent with things to say. These are the works that end up in museums. Original thoughts. Fun art. Art should be fun. It should be interesting. It should have something to say.
Art schools should teach how to mount a show, how to preserve work, how to pack and ship something like a painting. How to pay the bills as an artist. Every artist has a market. How do you find yours? This is what The Orphanage is exploring. It’s an entirely new gallery model.
DAU—How did you come to start The Orphanage?
WC–We had the space, in between the studios the hallway was just wasted space. We decided to treat those walls as pop-up art space in the beginning. The early shows at The Orphanage were all new local painters who had never shown work before. Those early group shows let more artists gain the art showing skills and gallery skills I mentioned earlier. These shows let them meet each other and broaden their networks. People coming to the gallery got to see some stuff they’d never seen before. We showed some of the Front St artists who hadn’t shown before. We introduced them to each other and the public. Since opening Front St. has energy. People are coming to see what’s new each month. There was a time when first Friday had only 20 people walking around now some of the shows have almost 1000 people. It’s growing all the time.
Front St. used to be a factory, the space where The Orphanage is was the daycare center, so it seemed right, you know, to start showing new artists here. We do 12 shows a year, one a month. We’re open, technically open, not just unlocked, three days a month: First Friday, Saturday After First Friday and Third Sunday. Last year we sold 600 works, and that doesn’t include the Christmas gift show. Most of those 600 works sold during First Friday, and the rest for the most were Third Sunday. This year we have some big Saturday events in the works. I expect that day will pick up as well.
All in all, I would say around 450 plus works sold during those 11 First Fridays last year. This year, since January and February are slower, I can say the number of works sold has doubled from last year. The Gallery is actually two galleries The Orphanage and Us and Them. Us and Them also contributed to those numbers and sold about 150 works last year. Us and Them only shows new artist work. But look at those numbers and tell me people are not buying art in Dayton.
Photo by Alex Kamanandi
DAU—Those are impressive numbers. You’ve talked about The Orphanage, let’s talk about you for a bit. Tell me about your work.
WC– Me? I do a little of everything. I’ve done sculpture, painting, writing. I’m well known in stage magic and mentalism. I’ve been an artist all my life, I have been doing art all my life. I didn’t study art in school. I studied history, philosophy, psychology, anthropology and archeology, but I couldn’t walk away from art. I started buying and collecting art before I was 18. Art has always been there, in my life. Art makes me ask the question – why? Why spend your life thinking about whether you should do something or not? Art says, “why not?” So, do it. Art is all about doing stuff, as an artist. Doing, not talking about it.
DAU—Tell me some of your favorite artists.
WC–Peter Gallo, Mike Cockrill, Chris Martin, Thomas Nozkowski, Stanley Whitney. These are NY painters for the most part. I also like the work Sharon Butler, she writes a great blog called “Two Coats of Paint,” you should read that.
I like NY for art. The cost of living there is astronomical. That’s one thing about Dayton, you can live here. Of course, it effects your thinking. If your living in NY and have to make 8-12 grand a month to pay for your studio and living expenses, you don’t mess around. You work in your studio; you network and talk to people in the industry. Art is a business, there’s no way to take the money out of it and still eat.
But art is more than a way to make money: it’s a cultural commentary, its documentation, its ideas in action. That’s why I love The Little Gallery, which is a micro gallery movement that is free to use by anyone who likes art. The Little Gallery motto is make art, take art, leave art. I built these galleries with two other artisans, Greg Seitz and Cayman K. We’ve placed eight in the surrounding communities. These galleries are helping people by giving them an outlet for small works and getting people to collect art. All of the works at The Little Gallery are provided by artists for free.
DAU—Greg and Cayman K are artists here?
WC—Yeah, Greg Seitz is here in The Orphanage, Cayman K is across the way in The Front St complex. Anyway, the first Little Gallery is hanging outside The Orphanage on the building.
If you want art, it’s around and some of it can be found for free. A small work by a local artist you picked up at a Little Gallery is way better than going out and buying some formulaic painting that looks like something Picasso did, something that has been copied for 90 years. The work does not always need to be big to have importance and wall power. Some of the works I have seen in The Little Gallery have these traits.
DAU—But, just a bit of argument here. Sometimes people want something that is just pretty, and maybe matches their couch.
WC—No! If you start down that road, you’re done, and it will cost you more in the long run. Let’s say, you have a gorgeous oriental rug, you don’t put a crap coffee table on it. You get a better table. Don’t just put something pretty on your wall to fill a space. Put Art on your wall. Look at art, not pretty pictures. I am not saying art can’t be pretty. It can be pretty, but it shouldn’t be a pond and a duck pretty. It has to be authentic. It elevates you, having art around you makes you better, more thoughtful, more a part of the world. If you surround yourself with crap, all you’ll be able to see is crap. You won’t be able to see the difference. Treat yourself as something valuable, surround yourself with art.
85% of people think art is expensive. This way of thinking needs to be changed. There is work you can buy, here at The Orphanage gallery, at every show, that is not expensive. The sale of those works helps local, emerging artists. There is work you can take from The Little Gallery that is free and you’re welcome to take it just because you like it. People can have real art in their life. Speaking of which, Samantha Mang, who we spoke about earlier, just added a dozen of small salt paintings to the Little Gallery. Those are available right now, for you to just take if you like them.
DAU—Bill, how can people find you?
WC—I’m on Facebook Bill Montana Artist and the William Cunningham Page and Instagram @bllmontana
DAU–William Cunningham, Thanks for taking the time to talk with me. Thanks for the work you do for emerging artists and for hosting The Artists United group show, March 6 at The Orphanage.
Put together a team of four and join us for a 9-hole, 10-bar miniature golf outing to raise money for local kids & adults with disabilities!
We have 10 bars participating this year including Rip Rap Roadhouse, Little York Tavern, Submarine House – Vandalia, Wing’s Sports Bar & Grille, Irish Club, Bolts Sports Cafe, Spitfire, Oscar’s, Hinders and Tony’s Bada-Bing.
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The Dayton Beer Company is celebrating its 4th annual festival of barrel aged beers. Amazing beers from brewers all across the stage of Ohio, beers that have medaled at some of the countries top competitions like GABF, World Beer Cup, US Open, and more! These beers, often referred to Greatest Of All Times, are what makes this event so special. The event kicks off at noon at the downtown brewery. And yes, the Flyers game will be on the tv’s at 12:30pm.
Jurgen the stuffed goat has been the unofficial mascot for this event, but this year he has some competition. Goats Jill, Iris and Merle, will be making their first public appearance at 2pm Saturday at DBC. Goat owner Jennifer Dean told us “Pete had seen my posts about them and he asked if I would bring them!”
You can expect to see these guys out and about at the fest during the day in the beer garden!
Beer list is here!! A few more stragglers to come in but here is the current list:
1. DBC Midnight Dream Raspberry RIS 12% – Sagamore Rye
2. DBC Beast of Tadmor Doppelbock 8.3% – bourbon barrels
3. DBC Do you even Brut Bro Brut IPA 6% – Chardonnay
4. DBC Soggy Crumbs Gingerbread Ale 6.0% – bourbon barrels
5. DBC Combo #7 Mexican Amber Lager – Tequila Barrels
6. DBC Brown Street Ale 6% – bourbon barrels
7. DBC Pink Derby Delight Saison 6% – Chardonnay
8. Madtree Joon Kolsch 8.5% – Gin Barrels
9. Thirsty Dog Siberian Night with Coffee 12% – bourbon barrels
10. Thirsty Dog Imperial Porter with Coconut 7.2% – Rum barrels
11. Mother Stewart’s Winter Lager 8% – bourbon barrels
12. Mother Stewart’s Permafrost 7% – bourbon barrels
13. 50 West Death Valley Shootout RIS 11.4% – bourbon barrels
14. 50 West 10&2 Barleywine 11% – bourbon barrels
15. Streetside Cloud Maker Mixed Ferm Blonde 6.2% – red wine barrels
16. Streetside Warhead Mixed Ferm Blonde 5.9% – gin and red wine barrels
17. Yellow Springs Brewery Silent Dawn Belgian Quad 10% – white wine barrels
18. Grainworks Bagpipes of Bardstown Wee Heavy 11.1% – bourbon barrels
19. Land Grant Deep Search Baltic Porter 8.7% – bourbon barrels
20. Jackie Os Dark Apparition RIS 10.5% – bourbon barrels
21. Sounder Foeder Funk Wild Ale 4.8% – oak foeder
22. Brew kettle Maple Winter Warmer 10% – bourbon barrels
23. Warped Wing Whiskey Rebellion 11.2% – bourbon barrels
24. Toxic Brew Co Night Ender RIS 11.9% – bourbon barrels
25. Great Lakes Albert Clipper Porter 7.5% – bourbon barrels
26. Rhinegeist Ink RIS 12% – Rye barrels
27. Rhinegeist Perpetual Passion Sour 5.35% – foeder and barrels
28. Rhinegeist Double Oakes Mastodon Belgian Dark 14% – bourbon and red wine
29. Little Fish Brewing Maker of Things Flanders Red 8.5% – Oak Foeder
30. TBD
31. TBD
32.TBD
(937) 228-2337
ARKHOUSE Co., a quintessential small-town mercantile with modern flair, will open Saturday, Feb. 8, at 233 South Market Street in Troy. The new store will sell home goods, jewelry and accessories with uplifting, Christian messages. Beautiful gift wrap and stationery products will give shoppers a one-stop place to create a meaningful gift.
Owners Kevin and Jennifer Smith first opened the ARKHOUSE doors to customers as part of Ark & Echo, a collaborative storefront housing two businesses. The community has been tremendous supporters of ARKHOUSE since the store’s opening four years ago, and as the business has grown, the Smiths believe the time is right to open a storefront exclusively for ARKHOUSE Co.
“We have received amazing support from the local community at ArkHOUSE, and we are excited to invest in Troy again with this new stand-alone store,” said Kevin Smith, co-owner of ArkHOUSE Co. “There is so much growth in downtown Troy and along Market Street, and we are proud to be part of that in a new, bigger way while offering customers many of the same brands and products they’ve come to love.”
The new store will reflect Kevin and Jennifer’s classic American style in a space twice the size of the current location. ARKHOUSE Co. will collaborate with local makers and artists whenever possible, while also continuing to carry exclusive items like ARKHOUSE Co. candles and the MUDPIE Collection of home goods.
Kevin has designed the new retail space – which formerly housed United Way of Miami County – to embrace historic details like beautiful wooden floors uncovered during renovations. He’s complemented them with new elements like custom wood trim, moldings and furnishings that create a charming and modern experience for customers.
The Smith’s husband-and-wife team has a successful business history in Troy as the creators of the original branding and retail space design of Ark & Echo. Kevin and Jennifer also introduced the store’s popular Acts of Random Kindness (ARKs) program, where patrons received a discount for a “scout’s honor” pledge to spread ARKs to others.
“We’ve always known we wanted our business to help share kindness in the community,” said co-owner Jennifer Smith. “Our tagline is ‘In this house, we do kindness.’ It’s important to us that kindness is central to our business, and we’re excited to expand that belief and practice at the new store.”
Arkhouse Company(937) 214-1788
233 South Market Street
Troy, OH 45373
Tuesday- Friday 10am – 6pm
Saturday 10am – 4pm
The Dayton Foundation is inviting area nonprofit organizations to apply to host a Del Mar Encore Fellow, beginning in July 2020. The Request for Proposals, which can be found at The Dayton Foundation website, seeks initiatives that address a significant community issue and would benefit from the leadership of an experienced older adult professional – a Del Mar Encore Fellow. Up to three not-for-profit organizations will be selected as Host Organizations for the new Fellows. Proposals are due Thursday, March 19, 2020.
Nearly a dozen organizations have hosted Fellows since 2016, including the Dayton Metro Library, Learn to Earn Dayton and St. Mary Development Corporation. The Fellows’ projects have included work on increasing low-income seniors’ access to health care through technology; creating volunteer-led Homework Help programs at area library branches; and researching challenges to building a stable home healthcare workforce. Because the Fellows come with a lifetime of experience and skills, they bring a wealth of additional resources to the Host organizations.
“Having a Del Mar Encore Fellow on your team gives you access to a seasoned, but also objective, professional,” said Celine O’Neill, retired executive director of Brunner Literacy Center. “It is easy as an executive director to begin to see the world solely within your organizational context. A Del Mar Encore Fellow broadens that context and provides you with other points of view and ways of engaging reality, both within and outside your organization.”
Prospective Host Organizations are invited to attend an information session scheduled for Wednesday, February 19, 2020, 3:00-4:30 p.m. at The Dayton Foundation, 1401 S. Main Street, Suite 100, Dayton, OH 45409. For additional information or to RSVP for the information session, please contact Noreen Willhelm, Senior Fellow, at [email protected] or (937) 225-9949.
About the Del Mar Encore Fellows Initiative
The Del Mar Encore Fellows Initiative was launched in 2016, thanks to a $1 million gift from Del Mar Healthcare and its DMH-Fund of The Dayton Foundation. Since 2010, this fund has awarded more than $2.2 million in grants to Dayton-area nonprofit organizations that serve the needs of older adults.
Through this pilot program, skilled, older professionals serve as Fellows with social-purpose organizations to help advance a mission-focused initiative or project. The organizations and projects were selected based on community need, an ability to create systemic change, opportunities for collaborations and identified funding.
Each year, Victoria Theatre Association partners with Shango: Center for the Study of African American Art and Culture, and Willis “Bing” Davis, exhibit curator and director of EbonNia Gallery, to display an exhibit of art by local African-American artists inside the Schuster Center.
This year’s exhibit, at the Schuster Center February 8-April 5, titled 2020 Dayton Skyscrapers features the work of African-American visual artists from the Miami Valley. These artists have researched prominent African-American’s (living or deceased) who have made a mark in their field and are role models for the community. This year’s exhibiting artists are: ABNER COPE, SHON CURTIS, DWAYNE DANIEL, CLIFFORD DARRETT, GREGG DEGROAT, HORACE DOZIER, LOIS FORTSON KIRK, AL HARDEN, MORRIS HOWARD, JAMES PATE, FRANCES TURNER, ANDREA WALKER-CUMMINGS, and YVETTE WALKER DALTON.
The 2020 exhibit reflects the broad and diverse career fields of African-Americans in the Dayton and Miami Valley region. They are: DAVE CHAPPELLE, NORRIS COLE, MATILDA DUNBAR, NOZIPO GLENN, JULIA B. RAGLAND GREEN, DORIAN HAREWOOD, JOHN LEGEND, EDYTHE LEWIS, JOHNNY DILLARD LYTLE, JEFFREY MIMS, SYLVIA JEANNE PATE, TY A. STONE, MARY LOU TUCKER, DR. JOHN THOMAS WEBB, and MICHAEL L. WRIGHT.
The exhibit will be at the Schuster Center until April 5, 2020; at DP&L Headquarters April 6-May 4, 2020; and at EbonNia Gallery May 5-June 26, 2020.
At the Schuster Center February 8-April 5, 2020
MONDAY-FRIDAY 9 am-6 pm
SATURDAY 12 pm-4 pm
The VISUAL VOICES exhibit is closed during private events. Please call 937-228-7591 to confirm hours.
If your group would like a tour of the exhibit while it’s at the Schuster Center, please email [email protected] or call 937-228-7591, ext. 3034.
Steve Miller Band and Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives have announced plans for the AMERICANA TOUR – a 40-city summer tour that will start in Austin, TX on June 13th, immediately after Miller is inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame on June 11th. The tour will include a stop in Huber Heights, OH at Rose Music Center on Tuesday, June 30th. Gary Mule Deer will join Miller and Stuart as support.
Tickets for the Huber Heights show will go on sale to the public beginning at 11:00am on Friday, February 28th at www.Ticketmaster.com and www.Rosemusiccenter.com. Ticket prices include parking and are subject to applicable Ticketmaster fees. Dates, times and artists subject to change without notice. All events rain or shine.
“Touring with Marty and the Superlatives is inspirational,” said Miller. “This is undoubtedly one of the most talented touring combinations I’ve ever been involved in. We look forward to continuing working together to explore the roots of American Music. Adding the musical comedy of Gary Mule Deer to the show will be an unexpected treat for our fans. I’m delighted to be able to tour with these great artists and to bring the Steve Miller Band audience the best of the best.”
“Touring with the Steve Miller Band,” said Stuart, “has proved to be magical. It is indeed an honor to go across the nation with Steve and the Steve Miller Band.”
“Being a part of a tour with both Steve and Marty is as great as it gets!” said Gary Mule Deer.
The last 12 months was one for the record books for Miller and Stuart. Miller released his second volume box set of collected vinyl, as well as the acclaimed Welcome to the Vault box set. He performed live in over 50 cities, played “Fly Like an Eagle” with The Roots on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, did two nights at Jazz at Lincoln Center performing Cannonball Adderley and the Blues and had seven instruments on display at the record breaking Play It Loud exhibit at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Marty Stuart was a major contributor to Ken Burns’ latest brilliant PBS series, Ken Burns: Country Music, released a Deluxe Edition of his classic album The Pilgrim and continued his work with Marty Stuart’s Congress of Country Music in Philadelphia, Mississippi which celebrates the rich cultural heritage of country music through live musical performance and educational programming.
Join us at the Chocolate and Beer 5K/10K and celebrate with your friends and loved ones! Choose your distance and and shirt (vintage style short sleeve tee or super soft French terry hoodie). After the race, join stay for the post race celebration which includes a post race beverage and appetizers.
Registration (no additional fees!)
Every year RateBeer recognizes the best new brewers, best places for beer by region and country, best reviewers, best beers in the world, best beers by style and best 100 brewers in the world. This year Dayton’s own Branch & Bone was recognized by RateBeer for Best New Brewer in Ohio.
Branch & Bone was recognized as part of the RateBeer best awards 2019 for Best New Brewer in Ohio. RateBeer tabulated over 4.2 million reviews submitted by its global community, examining more than 640,000 beers by over 33,000 brewers and over 74,000 places around the world — bars, taprooms, brewpubs and more, from Brazil to the U.S. to China.
“It was a pleasant surprise and we are flattered to have been recognized in a field of our peers. It’s a major award” said Brett Smith, Brewer/Founder at Branch & Bone.
Helping bring new life into a historic neighborhood, Branch & Bone is a small 7-barrel brewery and taproom located in Dayton,Ohio that specializes in wild and mixed fermentation beers.
“2019 was our most competitive year to date, seeing continued growth in the number of brewers, beers and ratings added to the site. We couldn’t be prouder to recognize these breweries for this hard-earned honor,” said Joe Tucker, founder of RateBeer.
For more RateBeer Best competition information, including the 2019 lists of winners, visit www.RateBeer.com/RateBeerBest.
Branch & Bone Artisan Ales(937) 723-7608
905 Wayne Ave
Dayton, Ohio 45410
Founded in 2018, Branch & Bone Artisan Ales is an independently owned brewery located in the Historic South Park neighborhood of Dayton, OH. Constantly striving for perfection through experimentation, Branch & Bone Artisan Ales combines the ingredients of earth and the work of humankind to craft subtle, yet flavorful ales. Inspired by European traditions and modern American eccentrics, we brew a range of ales that will encourage exploration.
Sarah DeLappe’s outstanding 2017 Pulitzer Prize-nominated drama “The Wolves,” a contemporary, coming-of-age character study about a girls’ indoor soccer team, has received an excellent local premiere at Wright State University.
(left to right) Bridget Lorenz, Jessica Greenwald, Julie Deye, Margo Russ, Mady McCabe, Lauren Eifert, Caroline Utz, Tina Hohman, and Megan Ledford are the titular team in Wright State University’s local premiere of Sarah DeLappe’s “The Wolves,” continuing through Feb. 16 in the Festival Playhouse of the Creative Arts Center. (Photo by W. Stuart McDowell)
In this delightfully chatty and incredibly insightful one-act, nine nameless teenagers walking the delicate balance between giddy adolescence and confident womanhood gather for a series of unsupervised practice drills. Unsurprisingly, the topics on their bubbly, curious, information-overloaded minds are colorfully wide-ranging. Cambodia? Check. Abu Ghraib prison? Check. Feminine health? Check. Feminism? Check. Kids in cages? Check. Instagram? Check. Jude Law? Check. Game of Thrones? Check. As their conversations evolve into deeper explorations of betrayal, class, jealousy, miscommunication, and grief, DeLappe ultimately brings this team to a renewed sense of maturity. By the end, and in spite of great differences, there’s no question how vital they have become to one another. They have been forever changed as a family of sisters bonded by the higher goal of acceptance, connection, love, and mutual respect.
In this delightfully chatty and incredibly insightful one-act, nine nameless teenagers walking the delicate balance between giddy adolescence and confident womanhood gather for a series of unsupervised practice drills. Unsurprisingly, the topics on their bubbly, curious, information-overloaded minds are colorfully wide-ranging. Cambodia? Check. Abu Ghraib prison? Check. Feminine health? Check. Feminism? Check. Kids in cages? Check. Instagram? Check. Jude Law? Check. Game of Thrones? Check. As their conversations evolve into deeper explorations of betrayal, class, jealousy, miscommunication, and grief, DeLappe ultimately brings this team to a renewed sense of maturity. By the end, and in spite of great differences, there’s no question how vital they have become to one another. They have been forever changed as a family of sisters bonded by the higher goal of acceptance, connection, love, and mutual respect.
Mady McCabe (No. 00 – Goalie) in Wright State University’s local premiere of Sarah DeLappe’s “The Wolves,” continuing through Feb. 16 in the Festival Playhouse of the Creative Arts Center. (Contributed photo)
Breezily directed by Marya Spring Cordes with an astute awareness of peaks, valleys and subtleties within casually overlapping conversation (an equally significant attribute of her 2018 Human Race Theatre Company production of Brighton Beach Memoirs), The Wolves features wonderfully compatible actresses. The strong, believably athletic cast consists of quietly reserved and focused Mady McCabe (No. 00 – Goalie) endearingly sweet Megan Ledford (No. 2 – Defense), sensitive Julie Deye (No. 8 – Defense), snarky jokester Jessica Greenwald (No. 13 – Midfield), formidable Bridget Lorenz (No. 14 – Midfield), terrifically firm Tina Hohman (No. 25 – Defense and Team Captain), effective outsider Caroline Utz (No. 46 – Bench), poignant Sophie Kirk (Soccer Mom), and breakthrough performers Lauren Eifert (dynamic as the competitive, intimidating and foul-mouthed No. 7 – Striker) and Margo Russ (vibrant as the opinionated, commanding and current affairs-savvy No. 11 – Midfield).
In addition to providing scene changes fittingly set to tuneful female empowerment anthems from pop divas Beyoncé, Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato, Cordes assembles a top-notch production team. Carleigh Siebert’s eye-catching set, expertly co-lit by designers Matthew J. Benjamin and Gabe Reichert, supplies a huge, ascending AstroTurf design complete with large netting in front of the stage, heightening the action’s immediacy. Costumer Victoria Gifford appropriately ensures athletic uniformity. James Dunlap’s sound design is clear and crisp.
The cast of Wright State University’s local premiere of Sarah DeLappe’s “The Wolves,” continuing through Feb. 16 in the Festival Playhouse of the Creative Arts Center. (Contributed photo)
There’s a reason why The Wolves is one of the most popular plays in the country. Akin to Academy Award nominee Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird, Little Women), DeLappe has a unique, cross-generational gift for witty, whip-smart dialogue and creating relatable angst among women that is incredibly entertaining and palpable. So, make sure you catch this singular experience. These ladies are in it to win it.
The Wolves continues through Feb. 16 in the Festival Playhouse of the Creative Arts Center at Wright State University, 3640 Col. Glen Hwy., Dayton. Performances are 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday. The play is performed in 95 minutes without intermission. Tickets are $15-$25. For tickets or more information, call (937) 775-2500 or visit wright.edu/tdmp. Patrons are advised the play contains strong language.
R&B singer/songwriter Keith Sweat is teaming up with SILK and Ginuwine for one night only to perform at Rose Music Center on Saturday, June 6th.
Legend Keith Sweat is a Harlem, N.Y born songwriter/record producer/vocalist/actor/ radio personality, with a career that spans 30+ years of record breaking and trail blazing contributions to the Pop and R&B genre. He is coined the genius behind the “New Jack Swing” phenomenon of the late 1980’s. Keith Sweat’s timely transition to the R&B mecca of Atlanta in 1992 added “label impresario” to his roster of talents. Keith has dominated the Pop and R&B worlds with an indefinable presence. His debut and now classic album Make It Last Forever sold more than three million copies, producing four R&B hit singles, including “I Want Her,” which also landed at #5 on the Pop charts. The album stats also include a nomination for the 1989 Soul Train Best R&B/Urban Contemporary Song of the Year award. Keith Sweat has delivered five straight #1 albums, selling a worldwide total of 25 million records. His self-titled 1996 effort, Keith Sweat, gained quadruple platinum status. His critically acclaimed collaboration with fellow superstars Gerald Levert and Johnny Gill on the double platinum LSG, was launched a decade after he first landed in the music business.
He has thrived as one of Atlanta’s first record industry moguls, building his own recording studio and discovering new artists such as SILK and Kut Klose – signing both multi-platinum groups to his Keia Record label. Sweat has become one of Atlanta’s leading mentors for young talent, its principle purveyor of R&B music. The unflappable Sweat points to his consistency as the key to his success and achievement of a dozen top ten R&B singles including seven #1’s, four top five Pop singles and frequenting Billboards Top Charts.
After being named Favorite Male R&B/Soul Artist by the American Music Awards in 1997, Sweat celebrated his longevity with his 1998’s aptly titled album, Still in the Game. His 2008 album Just Me made waves on radio and at cash registers and endorsed his claims to remain “in the game”. Keith released his tenth studio album Ridin Solo in 2010. This multi-talented artist masters his craft and expounds upon various interests that keep him fresh in the public’s eye. The state of Georgia authenticated Keith Sweat’s extraordinary talent in the music business with a coveted induction into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
He has appeared on both the Martin show and the Wayans Brothers show, among others, and has starred in a handful of independent movies. Keith Sweat’s initiation into the reality show craze, Keith Sweat’s Platinum House, yielded #1 ranking on the Centric network – of which, he was Creator and Executive Producer.
In his third decade in the spotlight, Sweat has almost become a genre unto himself, his pleading ballads a mainstay of radio’s “Quiet Storm” format. As if in acknowledgement of that, Sweat hosts the #1 nighttime nationally syndicated radio show, “The Sweat Hotel”. The live call-in program boasts 3 million listeners exchanging dialogue with Keith about matters of the heart. Like the steady beat of his up-tempo hits and tantalizing ballads, Keith Sweat, remains relevant – voted #11 on the list of the 20 Greatest R&B/Soul cd’s of all time for his epic album Make It Last Forever by the Georgia Informer magazine. Keith Sweat garners an impressive fan base in the fickle genre of Pop R&B and continues to redefine boundaries.
Tickets for the Huber Heights show will go on sale to the public beginning at 11:00am on Friday, February 14th at www.Ticketmaster.com and www.Rosemusiccenter.com. Ticket prices include parking and are subject to applicable Ticketmaster fees. Dates, times and artists subject to change without notice. All events rain or shine.
Artists United Interview with Cayman K, a visual artist.
DAU—So Cayman K, are you from Dayton?
CK—I’ve been here a long time. My family lived in California. I was born in Las Vegas, but lived in California until I was about 7, I guess. We all migrated here, and now some of the family has moved on to Florida.
DAU—too cold here for that California blood?
CK—Maybe! I know I like hot weather.
DAU—and you mostly grew up here?
CK—Yeah, I went to Wayne High School. I went to Sinclair.
DAU–did you study art?
CK—yeah, and general education classes.
DAU—Since you’ve lived in Dayton a long time, tell me some things you like about it.
CK—The restaurants. Lucky’s, Lynn’s Bistro, Thai 9, the Trolley Stop.
DAU—and Wholly Grounds.
CK—and Wholly Grounds! I also like the culture of the city. Art in the City is a great event. And there’s gallery spaces, like Sideshow at The Yellow Cab, and The Orphanage. I think Dayton is so receptive to art. It’s a great city.
DAU—So when did you know you were an artist?
CK—I’ve always been an artist. I have always drawn and created stuff. I have this comic book I drew in pencil, its written in like my third-grade cursive—it’s not in great shape—but it’s about my dog. I made my dog a superhero. Then, I knew I wanted to be an artist.
DAU—And that was it?
CK—It wasn’t that linear. You know how it is, you go to those family dinners where everyone is asking you what you’re doing and how are your classes. You kind of say things, like “It’s good, A’s and B’s,” but what you really mean “I dropped that class because it was too hard.” Your family worries you won’t be able to make a living, so you tell them stuff to make them less worried.
DAU—And they worried about your being an artist?
CK—Yes, a little. I don’t mean they haven’t been supportive. They have. It’s just that being an artist didn’t seem like a workable job. Once I started selling stuff and making money, they got less worried.
DAU—Cayman K is the name you use for your artwork. How did having a “pen name,” come about.
CK—Cayman K comes from a position of whimsy, having fun for fun’s sake. People nowadays are pretty serious. My art is fun. My art is not political, or controversial—it’s spontaneous. I make it for its own sake. Like most of my work is devoid of background, just a cut-out. I made a character, a cowboy cactus. He’s just random.
I think the world is more divisive. People are willing to write people off. There’s a disconnect. Even if you don’t like each other, do we have to be so hyperbolic? My art isn’t part of that. It’s playful.
Spike the Gator
DAU—Talk to me more about your art.
CK— I found something that I am really liking doing. I’ve been making art out of salvage wood, inspired by folk art. I have a day job. I drive for a delivery service. I drive allover and see a lot of stuff. I see the signs that people put up in their yards, and their garden gnomes. When I go into my studio, I let my mind run over those things, I see them altered. I play with them. I create these characters that exist in one plane. I leave the interpretation of what they mean to other people. It nothing subversive.
DAU—It’s interesting to me that you say your art isn’t subversive, but you call it a “cut out.” In all the spy books, you know, a cut out is an operative that has no connection to either end of the message. That sounds subversive. And you have a pseudonym you use as an artist, which seems sort of like a spy with an alias. Also, you talk about Cayman K as separate from your everyday self, like an alter ego.
CK—Not a spy. He is different from me, I guess. I started Cayman K as an homage to my grandmother. She always supported me, and she died last year. I told you how I would tell my relatives stuff at holidays. I told my grandma I was going to be an artist, and I was going to have a studio and do really great work. I was just blowing smoke. I mean, I wanted— I want— that stuff. But I wasn’t doing anything to make it happen. My grandma believed me and believed in me. She always loved anything I did, even when I was just messing around. The name I use, it lets me work. It gives purpose and makes me less serious. It’s cathartic. I am really turning out the work now.
DAU—Do you see the contradiction in being more purposeful and less serious?
CK—Yes, but I am not talking about subject matter. Or maybe I am, but I am not talking about only subject matter. I mean, I was blowing smoke before, and now I am not. I was lazy about working, and I invested working with so much import that I couldn’t work. So, I am working more, I am turning out more work. But I am also less inhibited about how I work. I am not investing every piece with such import that it prevents me from finishing it. I work a lot and I am a lot more productive. There’s a style difference too, you can see it if you follow an idea from work 1 to work 20.
DAU—and now you have a studio.
CK.—I do. When I started working with salvage wood last year in March, I was just making it work. I had always fooled around with being creative. But the visual arts always appealed to me most. And the wood, it seemed like the right thing for me. So, I started with the salvage wood thing, making it work. I had a folding table and a jigsaw on the patio of my apartment. My early stuff was large, and the works were rough—it’s nearly impossible to make a small piece with a jig saw. But it was so appealing. I took some things to shows, sold some. People liked it; they liked the playfulness of the pieces. I like the playfulness.
DAU—And Cayman K lets you be playful?
CK—Cayman K is playful. He captures an element of my personality, the part of me that I showed my grandmother, maybe. I don’t let Cayman K take on serious stuff. He has a lightness that he needs to keep. I choose deliberately to avoid cultural controversy in my Cayman K work. I don’t make personal stuff under our name—my personal work is less considered and more intentional. Cayman K exists in a place of imagination, where I don’t take myself seriously. The world is in a shambles, but Cayman K picks up the pieces and makes art. He turns his salvage wood into characters like the giant gator. With Cayman K, I can recapture the state of being I felt when I drew my comic book in 3rd grade. It’s not sentimental, it doesn’t have any messages—it’s just a purely creative place.
DAU—Is that why you helped create The Little Gallery?
CK—Sort of. I got the idea from a guy in Wisconsin that I follow on Instagram. Dickie, that guy, shared how people were engaging in the art share. I thought it was interesting. I showed it to Bill Cunningham at The Orphanage Gallery. Bill contacted the guy. We had a lot of email exchanges. He sent us some art. We sent him some art. Bill, and Greg Steiz, in The Orphanage, and I built The Little Gallery. Actually, we built a couple of them. There’s the one outside The Orphanage, and there’s one in The Heights Café in Huber Heights. There’s like eight of them now.
DAU—You put work in The Little Gallery. Bill showed me one, a little purple sculptured head.
CK—I do put work in The Little Gallery, but that one isn’t mine. I took it from the Huber Heights gallery and brought it down. I think the idea of the art exchange is that the art should move around, so lots of people can look at it. It’s one of the things I liked about Artists United when I came to the gathering, the idea of exchanging work.
DAU—That’s one of the things that appealed to me too. It’s why I do what I do for Artists United. Your exchange with Dickie in Wisconsin is like what we did last summer. Artists in Dayton created 3 artworks, and a few artists worked on them. Then they traveled to Pittsburgh, where more people worked on them. They were supposed to go on to Brooklyn, but that event was moved, so it hasn’t happened yet. I’m excited that the collaborative works artists in Dayton and Pittsburgh made last summer will be on display in the group show at The Orphanage. Are you putting a work in the show?
CK—Yeah, I am. I think the show is going to be great. There are a lot of things going up—I think we’re up to almost 50 artists. There is going to be a range of stuff to see. There are so many points of view. You’ll see my work—it’s standout. I’m not saying it standout better, I‘m saying its standout bright. My work is bright. Really bright and quirky. It doesn’t have any message or anything, it’s just loud.
DAU—Another contradiction. Your work is the quiet shouting man.
CK—I guess so. I hadn’t really considered the contradictions before. I’m focused on the color, the fun. I take my inspiration from things I see. I’ve been inspired by anime, in terms of color, I mean. Although, I’ve done some of that pop-culture thing, you know making work with cartoons and things like that. It’s how I discovered how to talk to people. I would make these pop-culture works and show at festivals—set up a booth. People would come in and talk to me about the work. Cartoons get people to come in. Then, I got comfortable talking to people. It’s the driving force behind selling a lot of pieces, networking—talking to people face to face.
DAU—And you sell online?
CK– I’ve tried online sales, I still do some, but face to face is the best way I’ve found to sell art. Networking is vital for artists. Twenty five percent of my income comes from my art now, since March. I’ve been able to upgrade the studio. I added a band saw and a belt sander. I can make more work, better work because I have better tools. As an artist, there is so much to manage. You have to make the work, you have to manage yourself, and market yourself. There is no one more self-directed than an artist.
DAU—That isn’t the image most people have of artists.
CK—I know. People think we sit around and dream. We’re inspired to create, and then we create. You can’t be a working artist and fool around. As a creative person, you have to grow your art. You have to indulge your creativity, but that comes from work, not fooling around. I still fool around with other things–music a bit, and writing. I like writing, its more ethereal than visual art. But visual art is my creative place. Those other things are fun, and they contribute to my art. I think of things while I am fooling around. But, in my studio, I am working. And not just making art but selling.
DAU—So, Cayman K is an expression of your personality. He is the playfulness of your art, but he is also work.
CK—Yeah. I think he is.
DAU—And what does your family think now?
CK—I think they are relieved I have a direction. I am making money. They can see I’m serious. My fiancé is really supportive. There’s a barrier to people thinking you’re serious when you’re an artist. Having the person closest to you believe you are serious helps you see yourself as an artist.
DAU—And how can people get in touch with you?
CK—They can see my stuff at my Front St studio. I’ll have a piece in the Artists United Show at The Orphanage in March. I’m on Instagram @caymankart and Facebook Cayman K Art.
DAU—Cayman K, thank you for taking the time to talk with me. I think your grandmother would be proud.
I have been working to get photos from each of Dayton’s 66 neighborhoods for a show that opens April 2 at K12 Gallery and TEJAS (341 South Jefferson). The last neighborhood on my list was Mount Vernon. There I met Carmen Gooden, co-founder of of The Linda Vista, Inc. (1011 Linda Vista Avenue).
Carmen and a partner bought and refurbished an 11 unit apartment building. Carmen knew from her own history that childhood sexual abuse can lead to a life filled with bad choices. She filled her building with women who have suffered childhood sexual abuse and are homeless and are ready to make the changes required to get their lives back on track.
Each of the women and their children lives in a fully furnished apartment for up to 2 years. They work with a case worker to develop a self-sufficiency plan. Carmen says her program “replaces the negative, complacent mind-set that often accompanies a lifestyle of poverty and homelessness with a mind-set that supports success and self-sufficiency.”
Count me as a fan of Carmen and her work. You can expect more photos from Linda Vista.
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