Enjoy a fun night of local based Blues and Roots Rock with all proceeds benefitting the ongoing renovations of the Sorg Opera House. Fred Gillespie and the Swamp Bees, with special guests Ashley Baumgarten, Chuck Evans, and Randy Smith present a lively, take-no-prisoners mix of powerful musicianship, strong original material, blues, R&B and classic rock in a tight three-piece format featuring blazing lead guitar and strong vocals.
Archives for August 2021
RESPECT and SWAN SONG at The Neon
This weekend marks the opening of a film we’ve been anticipating for a while. Many critics already agree that Jennifer Hudson will get an Oscar nomination for playing Aretha Franklin in RESPECT – opening Thursday night. In addition, we’ve got a surprise! Starting Friday, for three shows only, we have an indie treat – Udo Kier in SWAN SONG (just wait until you see the trailer). ANNETTE and NINE DAYS will stick around for one more week…then we’ll open a film that we’re very excited about – CODA. Tickets for our Aug. 19 preview screening of this highly anticipated, award-winning film are on sale now!
In regards to NINE DAYS, we’ve had several patrons rave that it is incredible. Richard, a long-time NEON fan, wrote “you want to make some room in your schedule for a viewing. This is an unbelievable piece of filmmaking.” We hope you’ll take his advice.
It’s been two weeks since we launched our Projecting Our Future fundraising campaign…and we’re getting closer to our goal! It’s hard to believe that it’s been 9 years since we switched from 35mm to digital projection, but our digital projectors are already out of warranty and parts are no longer being made for them. Our initial goal is to raise $85,000…and the fantastic news is that the Jack W. and Sally D. Eichelberger Foundation of the Dayton Foundation has already committed a lead gift of $50,000 to the campaign! Many thanks to them as well as to those of you who have reached out about contributing to our campaign. To learn more about “Projecting Our Future” and how you can be a part of it, please visit THIS SITE. Additional thanks to WDTN & Mark Alan as well as Dayton Daily News for helping us spread the word.
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2nd Street Market Adds Sunday Hours
Five Rivers MetroParks’ 2nd Street Market, located at 600 E. Second Street will add Sunday Hours starting this week. The indoor/outdoor market will add Sunday hours from 11am -3pm to the Saturday 8am – 3pm schedule.
Still not comfortable being amongst the crowds? You can also support the market merchants with online sales and other buying options. View a list of vendors you can shop from now.
Free parking, including ADA-accessible parking, is available near the 2nd Street Market building on the street and in a paved lot. Free, paved overflow parking is available in the nearby lot for The Steam Plant, 617 E. Third St. Because the outdoor farmers market has relocated to the north side of the building, only accessible parking is allowed in that area.
A reminder- pets are not permitted indoors or outdoors with the exception of service animals.
Workshop To Present a Slam-Worthy Story
Modeled after The Moth storytelling events, the open mic event welcomes storytellers of all ages and experience levels to share a story from the stage. Story Slam stories are 1st person true stories told live and are all centered on monthly theme.
Slam tellers all join together on stage as winner is announced.
The August 17th workshop, led by Story Slam producer Bryan Suddith, who is a 4 time Moth winning storyteller. It will cover the basics of crafting a 5 minute personal story for the Story Slam stage. The 90 minute class will give you the tools to create a story, practice and a chance to take the stage with confidence under the lights. Register online to confirm your spot for just $10. Each registration also comes with a ticket to a Story Slam event during the upcoming year.
Story Slam happens on the 3rd Tuesday of each month and they’ll kick off the season on Sept 21st. A theme is announced for each month and stories should relate to that theme. Past themes have included Nature, Missed Connections, Swipe Left, In Control, and Creeped Out. Admission is just $5 plus a 2 item minimum in the showroom.
Dayton’s Caffeine-Conscious Coffee Startup Hits DLM Shelves
It has come full circle for Kait Brown, a Dayton coffee startup founder who is celebrating her company’s first major retail account — on the shelves of the local grocery store where she got her very first job as a teenage barista.
In the two years since Kait pitched caffeine-conscious coffee company Savorista at Launch Dayton partner Parallax’s monthly Early Risers pitch event, the company has won the University of Dayton’s Flyer Pitch competition, been accepted into the Entrepreneurs’ Center’s ESP portfolio, rebranded, and landed on the shelves of Dorothy Lane Market.
“We couldn’t be more excited, given that Dorothy Lane Market is the specialty, gourmet store in the region,” Kait said. “It was definitely our first choice when we thought about where we wanted to see Savorista.”
Kait’s decaf journey began many years ago. She was living in Chicago, working a corporate gig. Her then-boyfriend had just moved to town to make a go of it when her father was diagnosed with cancer. She realized her caffeinated coffee habit was magnifying her stress and restless nights.
So she set out to find good decaf — a journey that ultimately took her around the world, meeting with coffee farmers and natural decaffeinaters, and Savorista was born. Today, the company offers a variety of decaf and half-caf coffees in whole bean or various grinds, including some limited-edition flavors.
These days you can also find Savorista’s craft decaf and half-caf coffees at Butter Cafe on Brown Street and at Wholly Grounds on Wayne Ave.
“It’s kind of cool — we’ve got girl power over here, and Butter Cafe and Wholly Grounds are also female-owned, so there’s this team of powerful, ambitious women paving the way for caffeine-conscious coffee,” Savorista’s Dayton Sales Rep Kiki Huddleston reflected.
This summer, Savorista hit its next milestone — the launch of its new line of single-serve pour-over coffees, available in both decaf and half-caf flavors.
“There’s this broader interest among coffee lovers to be conscious about their caffeine intake,” Kait said. “Sometimes they want a cup of decaf at night, sometimes they want to be able to drink more coffee throughout the day. Coffee is often seen as an energy drink, a way to do more, push harder, but that often leads to burnout. We’re really trying to help people think about how they can enjoy coffee in a different way, take a moment for themselves, to savor the journey of life while they’re getting things done.”
The launch of the single-serve pour-overs gives Savorista’s customers another way to be caffeine-conscious by offering the option to make, say, a quick cup of half-caf coffee in the afternoon, instead of needing to make a whole pot.
There’s also growth opportunities in grocery and hospitality sectors, Kait said — restaurants are starting to seek strong offerings for customers that don’t drink caffeine at all.
But don’t worry, she adds — Savorista coffee lovers will always be able to order their coffee online, even as the company expands retail locations. The company was founded digital-first, a platform that helped them steadily grow, even amid a global pandemic.
“Launching digital-first allowed us to reach caffeine-conscious coffee lovers where they were,” Kait said. “People are thoughtful about coffee everywhere, but they’re not the majority. We knew we needed to be able to reach people wherever they were.”
And as the company grows this summer, so, too, will Kait’s family. She and her now-husband, Daniel Fernandes— that same boyfriend who moved to Chicago, and then traveled the world with her in search of great decaf — are welcoming their first little one.
“The nice thing is that, I’m already running a coffee company that’s thoughtful about caffeine, so I’ve had great decaf and half-caf at an arms’ length,” she said with a laugh. “But yes, I’ll be figuring out how to be a mom and an entrepreneur, and I’m not sure how to do that yet.”
Want to try Savorista coffee for yourself? Order online at savorista.com, or snag a bag at your local Dorothy Lane Market.
Baxter Takes On Turner in Congress Run
Baxter Stapleton, 32, filmmaker and Centerville native, announces at Centerville High School he is entering the race against Mike Turner for US Congress in the Ohio 10th Congressional District. “Politics tends to divide us but purpose tends to unite us. My purpose is to serve everyone in our incredible district,” Baxter said.
Baxter is an international speaker, activist, and Webby and MTV Video Music Award winning filmmaker having worked with clients like Apple and Disney. He grew up in Centerville attending Centerville City Schools and was inducted into the Centerville Education Hall of Fame in 2007. He attended Cedarville University where he was elected Class President majoring in Political Science and studied under Mike DeWine before DeWine returned to elected office. While at Cedarville he attended leadership training at the Air Force Academy. He then transferred to Wright State majoring in Urban Affairs and NonProfit Management.
A turning point came in 2007 when Baxter won a Kids Voting essay contest to attend the Dayton Region Fly In sponsored by the Dayton Development Coalition. He traveled to Washington with a delegation of leaders from our area and had a greater understanding of how the federal government can better serve our region. “It was during the Fly In that the dream to serve our district in Washington began and I started preparing myself for this moment,” Baxter said. “Our world is rapidly changing and if we do not accelerate to transform then we will lose as a region,” Baxter shared. “We cannot renew our minds to solve the big problems we’re facing in a new way if we keep carrying with us a lot of old trash.”
One of Baxter’s dreams was to show his films on the big screen at the Neon Movie Theater in downtown Dayton. He realized that dream for his 30th birthday in 2018. Today he officially launched his campaign to realize his next dream representing the Miami Valley in Washington.
His official campaign kick off is Wed, August 11th:
Artist Opportunity Grants Now Accepting Applications
The Artist Opportunity Grant Program is intended to provide financial assistance to Montgomery County artists to further their careers through professional development opportunities and through opportunities associated with new works. This program is made possible by funding from the Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District (MCACD) and is administered by Culture Works. The MCACD is providing $40,000 for the 2021-2022 cycle, and grants will range from $500 to $3,000.
The project or opportunity for which an applicant seeks funding must take place between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022. If the grant is to complete a project already in progress, it must culminate with a completed work in 2022. Projects anticipated to not be completed by December 31, 2022 will not be considered. Click here to read the full 2021-2022 Artist Opportunity Grant Guidelines.
PROGRAM GOALS
Artist Opportunity Grants help advance the careers of individual artists by supporting expenses related to specific, unique opportunities that have the potential to significantly impact an artist’s work and professional development. The purpose of these grants is to empower artists at critical stages in their creative lives. The goal is to assist artists in Montgomery County in furthering and innovating their work, to elevate the quality and raise the profile of individual artistic work in the region, and to help artists achieve their artistic and career goals through the pursuit of new works or professional/career development opportunities in the field, thereby making them competitive in the creative marketplace. Grants are intended to fund an artist’s vision or voice, regardless of the level of his or her artistic career point (emerging, mid-career, mature) or genre.
2021-2022 TIMELINE
Monday, August 9, 2021 – Application opens.
Tuesday, August 31, 2021, noon – Virtual Artist Opportunity Grant Info Session for first-time applicants via Zoom. Register to attend here.
Friday, October 8, 2021 – Deadline to apply, 11:59pm EST
Mid-November 2021 – Virtual public panel meeting. Applicants will receive notification of their initial award status following the meeting. The panel’s funding recommendations must then receive final approval by the MCACD board.
January 2022 – Funding distributed to grantees.
December 31, 2022 – Projects must be completed.
New Middletown Beer Festival
What makes this event NOT average? Well this beer festival starts out in a beer garden with 10 breweries, live music by Tin Penny, and food trucks, and then morphs into a pub crawl throughout downtown Middletown to experience more amazing limited releases and special tappings in our local pubs and bars.
Shinedown with special guest Pop Evil at Fraze
Multi-platinum, record-breaking band Shinedown – Brent Smith [vocals], Zach Myers [guitar], Eric Bass [bass, production], and Barry Kerch [drums] – has sold more than 10 million albums and 10 million singles worldwide, earned 13 platinum and gold singles, 5 platinum and gold albums, 15 #1 Active Rock hits, and amassed more than 1.5 billion total streams. Each of Shinedown’s 25 charting singles on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Songs Chart has reached the Top 5 – an unparalleled achievement – and they hold the record for most Rock Airplay Top 10s ever.
Local Youth Theater Workshop Performances
The play — cleverly titled by the child collaborators PLAGIARISM IS FUN!: A MUSICAL (which is NOT a musical!), directed by D2D’s Philip Drennen — will be performed by said group of kids and their friends at the Brightside: August 10th & 11th, at 7pm both nights.
Bee Active 5k Fun Run
Come join us in a run, jog, or walk and help us support Behavioral Mental Health for children. With the added stress of COVID on our children, we can all do our part to help them get the support they need to… BEE Happy!
Harry Connick Jr. at The Rose
Harry Connick Jr. continues to establish himself as a best-selling musician, singer, composer, and a legendary live performer with millions of recordings sold around the world. Long regarded as one of America’s finest vocalists and pianists, Connick has exemplified excellence across multiple platforms in the entertainment world – in music, film, television, and Broadway.
2021 Midsummer Masquerade
The Midsummer Masquerade will happen once again at the Shipwreck Stage at the Ohio Renaissance Festival!
This year’s entertainment:
Robert the Barrrd
Stixen Stones
Troupe Roja
DJ Dr. Martin
DJ Splinter
Jameson’s Folly
Holly Berry – Bearded Queen
and of course the PB and J Circus as your hosts!
Dayton 66 Neighborhoods Photography Exhibit Now On Display
When I retired I picked up a camera, learned how to use it, and became a volunteer photographer. My first project was taking photos of animals for the Humane Society. I enjoyed that so much that I started doing projects for other nonprofits. As I was doing these volunteer projects, and finding other places of interest with my camera, I felt like I was finally getting to know the area where I had lived all these years. I decided to share photos of what I was discovering on a facebook page called “Dayton at Work and Play.”
Greek Festival in Grafton Hill
At the start of 2019 I made a New Year’s Resolution to take and post at least one photo on my facebook page from each of Dayton’s 66 neighborhoods.
After fifteen tornadoes hit Old North Dayton I photographed volunteers from all over the area helping in the cleanup efforts. A few months later, I again photographed people from all over the region as they gathered together in reaction to the mass shooting in the Oregon District. Then I started to rethink this project. I decided I didn’t want to go into a new neighborhood and take photos of buildings or some interesting landscape. I just wanted to take photos of people from all 66 neighborhoods, people from every corner of Dayton.
Volunteers working in Old North Dayton
The reaction to this project idea was wonderful. Mayor Whaley and her husband Sam posed for me one Saturday morning and then introduced me to the leaders of some of the Neighborhood Associations. Bryan Taulbee and others on the city’s staff helped me understand when and where all of the city recreation activities were happening. City planning division manager Tony Kroeger helped me understand the exact boundaries of the neighborhoods. People invited me to block parties, to neighborhood events, and into their homes and their businesses. It was great.
Playtime Nursery School in Residence Park
I remember driving around Dayton’s Pineview neighborhood and seeing a man watering his lawn. I stopped and told him about my project. He said he’d grown up on this block and then left to go to college. After college he lived in Chicago and then New York. He had recently moved back to Dayton.
Shoes for the Shoeless Event at Mt Enon Church
“I like being around the people I grew up with, and I like the size of Dayton” he told me. “In Chicago or New York you couldn’t get the whole community to come together the way Dayton did after the two tragedies we had this summer. This project of yours seems timely, Bill. Having an exhibition of photos of people from all corners of Dayton is a good thing for us to do now. I would be glad to have my photo up in your exhibition.”
Choir rehearsal at College Hill Community Church
The exhibition was being organized by Rebecca Sargent, then the Program Director at K12 Gallery. The photos were printed, the promotional materials were prepared and everything was ready for an opening April 2, 2020. Like many things that were planned in 2020, it never happened. I’m glad the Dayton Metro Library has decided to exhibit these photos now.
Those 66 photos are now on display through September 25 in the Dayton room of the Dayton Metro Library.
Back To School Tax Free Weekend Starts Tomorrow
Ohio will have a sales tax holiday from Friday, August 6, 2021 at 12:00 a.m. to Sunday, August 8, 2021 at 11:59 p.m.
During the holiday, the following items are exempt from sales and use tax:
An item of clothing priced at $75 or less;
An item of school supplies priced at $20 or less;
An item of school instructional material priced at $20 or less.
No. If a clothing item is more than $75, sales tax is due for the entire price.
The exemptions do not apply to clothing accessories, including briefcases, handbags, cosmetics, handkerchiefs, watches, sunglasses or jewelry. Protective equipment and sporting equipment are also not included. The sales tax exemption does apply to online orders purchased during the tax-free weekend.
DAI Now Open Thursday – Sunday
Beginning August 5, the Dayton Art Institute (DAI) will expand its hours to include Thursdays, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The museum is also open on Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m.–5 p.m., and Sundays, noon–5 p.m.
“The community has asked us for additional weekday hours, as well as evening hours, and today I’m pleased to announce that we will now be open on Thursdays,” DAI Director & CEO Michael R. Roediger said. “This provides guests with more opportunities to enjoy our current Special Exhibition, Changing Times: Art of the 1960s, as well as new Focus Exhibitions and our recently reopened Lange Family Experiencenter.”
The DAI will open two new Focus Exhibitions in conjunction with the expanded hours: Photography through Time, on view July 30–October 24, and Spotlight on Africa: Gifts from Dianne Komminsk, on view August 7–November 4.
Photography through Time explores the range of photographic processes and techniques within the Dayton Art Institute’s extensive photography collection. From early photographic processes to contemporary artworks, the exhibition will include examples of daguerreotype, cyanotype, albumen, gelatin silver, chromogenic, photogravure and inkjet photographs. Photography through Timepresents a rare opportunity to see these works. Supporting Sponsors for the exhibition are Norma Landis & Rick Hoffman.
A business leader and philanthropist, Dianne Komminsk (1944–2019) of New Bremen, Ohio, was a passionate collector of art. She collected contemporary art and antiquities, but her greatest interest was in the rich aesthetic qualities of art from Africa. Spotlight on Africa: Gifts from Dianne Komminsk will feature some of the more than 300 objects she has gifted the DAI during her lifetime and through her estate. Komminsk’s extraordinary collection of African art includes work from across the continent and, when combined with the museum’s holdings, helps strengthen a world-class collection of the art of Africa for the Dayton Art Institute. Supporting Sponsor for the exhibition is PNC, with additional support from Patty & Jerry Tatar.
Other exhibitions currently on view at the DAI include The Roaring (and the Quiet) 1920s, Bukang Y. Kim: Journey to the East and All by Myself: Japanese Creative Prints.
The DAI also recently reopened The Lange Family Experiencenter, the museum’s interactive gallery for all ages. The Lange Family Experiencenter currently features the exhibition ABCs of Art, a playful exploration of the artistic alphabet special to artists, makers and people who enjoy looking at art. An artistic alphabet can include media—or materials—and techniques, style and meaning, or visual elements such as color, line and shape. This “hands-off, brains-on” exhibition exposes learners of all ages to new art concepts and a dynamic variety of artworks from the DAI collection.
“The exhibitions we currently have are wonderfully diverse. They feature great variety, from ancient and traditional works of Africa to contemporary art made right here in Ohio. Even for our members who come to the DAI regularly, there is a lot of newly installed art to see and enjoy,” DAI Chief Curator & Director of Education Jerry N. Smith said.
In addition, the DAI’s popular Bob Ross Auto Group Jazz & Beyond series returns on August 12 with Soul Express, and informal performances on the museum’s historic Skinner pipe organ have resumed on the first and third Saturday of each month at 2 p.m. The DAI’s first in-person education program since early 2020, the Language of Art, will be held on August 14. Visit the DAI’s website for a full list of exhibitions, events and programs.
On Friday, Saturday & Sunday, August 6-8, when the DAI will hold a special catalogue sale, featuring discounted catalogues from the museum’s permanent collection and past exhibitions, including some vintage exhibition catalogues from the 1950s & 1960s! Pictured above are just a few of the catalogues available, and everything will be priced at $4 or less. The sale takes place in the Leo Bistro area – look for the sign in the Rotunda.
General admission to the DAI, which includes access to the collection galleries, all exhibitions and The Lange Family Experiencenter, is: $15 adults; $10 seniors (60+), active military and groups (10 or more); $5 students (18+ w/ID) and youth (ages 7–17); free for children (ages 6 & younger). Admission is also free for museum members.
For more about planning a visit to the Dayton Art Institute, including the latest information about COVID-19 safety protocols, please visitwww.daytonartinstitute.org or call 937-223-4ART (4278). Connect with the Dayton Art Institute on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram andYouTube for additional information, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, and exclusive offers.
