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20something – Dayton’s First Rooftop Musical Theater Production

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20something Poster“20something:  The Songs of Kerrigan & Lowdermilk,” a new experiment in musical theater by Dayton, Ohio’s Encore Theater Company will make it’s American premiere on the roof of The Firefly Building in downtown Dayton, Ohio, September 10-12, 2009.

Facebook. Blogs. YouTube. Text Messages. This is the language of a new generation and no one captures what it means to be twenty-something in 2009 quite like exciting songwriters Kait Kerrigan & Brian Lowdermilk. In 20something, Kait and Brian’s powerful, edgy, funny, and honest songs are performed raw and uncut by some of the Dayton area’s most talented twenty-somethings.

The show is personal and dynamic.  Don’t expect to see the same show twice if you catch multiple performances.  The cast has no script to memorize, each performance is their own, and each performer has their own story, centered on insightful songs such as “Run Away With Me,” “Pretty Girl Blues,” and “How to Return Home.”

“It’s fascinating to me,” says director Corinne Derusha, “the cast has figured out a way to relate to everyone…whether you’re in your twenty-somethings, or just remembering them.”

Beth Ann Wipprecht, who portrays “27” (cast members refer to themselves by the age of their on-stage alter-ego) has described the creative process of 20something as “…one of the most artistically gratifying productions I’ve been a part of.”  Brandon Michael Fleming, “28”, states “I’ve been a fan of Kerrigan and Lowdermilk for four years and getting the opportunity to perform their work is very rewarding.  I hope the audience appreciates this new form of musical theater that’s being produced.”

Don’t miss this “reality” musical experience where every performance tells a whole new story and every song explores a new truth.

“20something” is directed by Corinne Derusha, with assistance by David Brush.  Musical direction is by Alex Horton. Cast members include Beth Ann Wipprecht, Brandon Michael Fleming, Katelyn Yeager, Madeline Casto, Tim Singleton, Valerie Reaper & Zachary Justus. The production opens September 10th for four performances on the rooftop terrace atop The Firefly Building at 123 Webster Street in downtown Dayton, Ohio. Tickets ($15, $10 & $5) are available through www.encoretheatercompany.com or by calling 1 (866) 967-8167.  Adult Content.  In conjunction with Dayton’s Urban Night’s event, Friday night’s 10pm performance will feature special $5 pricing for all guests aged 20-29.

Check it out on the DaytonMostMetro.com Event Calendar!

Downtown Dayton LGBT Film Festival

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lgbt_filmfestThe Downtown Dayton LGBT Film Festival (presented by the Downtown Priority Board) provides a space for voices to be heard that aren’t often represented in mainstream media.  The subjects range from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.  Generally, the festival highlights films that are made with smaller budgets.  These movies go relatively unnoticed beyond the LGBT community, but they’re strong pieces of work that merit being seen.

The Edge of Heaven, a selection from last year’s festival, went on to be named one of the “Top 10” films of the year by many critics.  Were The World Mine, last year’s opening night film, garnered a large following and won multiple awards around the world.  In 2007’s festival, the short film Freeheld went on to win an Academy Award.  This film was not screened anywhere else in the Dayton Region.

This year’s films include:

Friday September 25

Saturday September 26

Sunday September 27

This has become an annual tradition for both the Downtown Priority Board AND The Neon, and it brings people in from other cities like Cincinnati and Columbus.  As a priority board member I’m proud of our continued support for this film festival.

Check out this event on the DaytonMostMetro.com Event Calendar!

Warped Comedy Warblings of Tim Wilson

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images-11Don’t let Comedian Tim Wilson’s slow southern drawl fool you, his wit is razor sharp.   Wilson puts a humorous spin on everything from gun control to the government. He ranges from talking about the frustrations of trying to reason with a bank teller to taking on construction workers that never get anything done.  “I don’t do observational comedy. I do kind of opinionated, issue-type stuff,” Wilson says.  “I’m kind of a curmudgeon.”

His humor, and opinions, get a frequent airing on syndicated radio shows -like Bob and Tom, heard locally on WTUE.

Watch Tim sing First Baptist Bar & Grill on Bob & Tom

Wilson is best known for such ditties as “The Jeff Gordon Song,” “Chucky Cheese Hell” and “First Baptist Bar & Grill,” which he refers to as “my Freebird.” Since inking a deal with Capitol Records in 1998, he’s released more than a dozen albums, including “The Real Twang Thang,” “I Should’ve Married My Father-in-Law” and “Hillbilly Homeboy.”  “I’m meaner than the Blue Collar Comedy guys, and I have more opinions,” says Wilson. “I like to find someone in the audience who is young enough to be my kid or my niece and explain to them how America is really supposed to be.”

Somewhere in between comedy gigs, Wilson got serious and co-authored a book with fellow comedian Roger Keiss.   “Happy New Year, – ted: Theodore Bundy and the Columbus Stocking Stranglings.” The book theorizes that Bundy, a notorious serial killer, killed one of the Stocking Stranglings in 1978, after escaping from the Glenwood Springs, Colo., jail. It also theorizes that Bundy, rather than William Hance, killed two prostitutes in Columbus. Georgia, Wilson’s hometown.

So whether it’s laughs or history you’re after, you’ll get both at a Tim Wilson comedy show.  Catch  his latest “philosophies” on the everyday frustrations of the working man to The Dayton Funny Bone Sept 17th -20th at The Greene.

Arts Exhibit to Celebrate Dayton’s Legacy of Creativity

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creativesoulThe Armory building will become the latest exhibition space in the Oregon Arts District, when it hosts Creative Soul of Dayton, starting Friday, Oct 2nd.    “Our goal is for Creative Soul of Dayton to include a wide variety of works representing the many talented artists, including students, in our community,” says Susan Byrnes, director of UD’s ArtStreet and lead exhibit organizer. “We hope all Daytonians with an artistic spirit will participate.  “This project is being designed to display the highest quality of individual artistic achievement in the visual arts.”

Prior to the exhibit opening, prize juror Eva Buttacavoli will select winning works in a variety of categories.  Buttacavoli is an independent curator and art educator who recently moved to Dayton. Previously, she was the director of exhibitions and education at the Austin Museum of Art, where she was recognized for creating art experiences that connect to everyday life and  was awarded museum educator of the year in Texas in 2006.

Three artists will be awarded best of show, and each will receive a solo exhibit of his or her work in Link Gallery in the Oregon Arts District, a sponsor of Creative Soul of Dayton, as well as exhibition and professional development consultation from Buttacavoli.

Creative Soul of Dayton also will include artist talks and other fun, educational activities throughout the month, with details available closer to the exhibit opening. A group of faculty, staff and students from the University of Dayton, Wright State University, Central State University and Sinclair Community College ― along with local artists, gallery owners and community members ― are organizing the exhibition.

It will be on display on the third floor of the Armory Building, 201 E. Sixth St., on the corner of Sixth Street and Patterson Boulevard in downtown Dayton, from Friday, Oct 2, through Friday, Nov 6, 2009.  An opening reception for the exhibit will be held during the free monthly downtown arts hop, First Friday, from 5‐10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2, when award winners will be announced. A closing reception will be held from 5‐10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, during that month’s First Friday event.

Creative Soul of Dayton was inspired by the DaytonCREATE effort that began in March 2008, when “creative class” economist Richard Florida and his Creative Communities Leadership Project came to Dayton. DaytonCREATE includes five initiatives. One of them, This is Dayton, is aimed at building civic pride, and Creative Soul of Dayton is part of this initiative. For more on DaytonCREATE, see www.daytoncreate.org.

Droopy Drew Donisi: El Dago Diablo

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“Droopy” Drew Discusses Donnie Baker, Motor Boatin’ And Fun

Hailing from the deep south (somewhere around the Franklin, Ohio area), “Droopy” Drew Donisi takes the stage brandishing a guitar to play his own originally warped southern rock tinged tunes. Drew’s approach to comedy is open, engaging the audience with his sincere bouts of storytelling interspersed with original melodies.

“I don’t want to complain and I don’t want to get on stage and bitch about anything.” Drew said during a recent interview. “I just want to tell a story that I may have made up, but it’s going to be a funny ass story.”

Headlining at Wiley’s brings this local comedian full circle as he had originally started his comedic career performing open mic sessions there.

“I did the open mic thing there on Sunday nights, trying out new material and ideas that I had and that’s where I came up with all my songs.” Drew reflected. “You know those open mic nights were just having fun.”

Fun seems to be the watchword of Drew’s performances. He seems to be more concerned about giving the audience a brief respite from their daily concerns and allow them the just let loose, have fun and possibly sing along to one of his many original songs. Some of his could be seen as purely sophomoric, but again, they are purely just for fun. I asked him about the process of writing the songs, whether the melody comes first and the words are hung upon it or if the tune is written around the words…and where did he come up with the ideas for the songs?

            “Well, like that Motor Boatin’ song.” he said. “I saw somebody with big (globular mounds of flesh found on the chests of females)…I know you can’t write that in the article, but…and I was like, ‘Holy smokes!’ and I just started thinking that there are a lot of things that I like to do, but that is one of the things that I love to do, so I just made the whole song about things that I like to do, but the one thing I love to do is motor boatin’.”

And no, if you don’t know what motor boating is, I’m not going to tell you. That’s what the Internet is for. While this and some of Drew’s other songs are riddled with sexual innuendos, a lot of his material is extremely accessible by all audiences. His humor and prowess with the guitar even caught the eye of the Bob and Tom camp. Drew has opened for Donnie Baker on several occasion (the most recently being in Indianapolis in April) and has appeared on the Bob and Tom Show. I asked Drew to fill in the details on how he came to meet Donnie Baker.

“I featured for Dwight York at Wiley’s last year and Donnie came in and did two shows. Dwight moved down to feature and I moved down to opener.” he related, “which, as you know, when they bring somebody big in, the opener usually gets dropped. So Rob (Haney, owner of Wiley’s) kept me in the rotation. So, I hit it off with the band and Donnie was really easy to work with.”

            Drew’s direct approach and unpretentious acceptance of what he wants his comedy to convey has made him a favorite son of not only Wiley’s, but many other venues around the country. His good natured demeanor reflects in the honest answer that he gave me pertaining to what he wanted audiences to take away from his shows:

“All I’m trying to do when I’m doing my comedy is to give the audience the chance to forget about the crap outside the doors.” he said. “When they come in, it’s just stupid humor. It’s nothing that you have to think about. It’s nothing that you really have to know any politics. It’s just a good time out with your friends and a guy that will make you laugh.”

(Writer’s Note: Sadly, Drew passed away suddenly on March 10th, 2012. You will be missed by many “Droopy.”)

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUqCubmyMnU’]

The Dichotomy Of Comedy

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Mark Fradl Brings Clever Comedy To Wiley’s

            Throughout the history of mankind, smiling, laughter and humor have become noted as an integral part of our genetic makeup, as evidenced in the rudimentary, usually obscene, hieroglyphs of the Egyptians, the crudely drawn doggerel of the Greeks and Romans and on through to the laborious treatises written by philosophers, psychologists, psychiatrists and medical doctors over the ages. Although the impetus for laughter varies wildly from individual to individual, the reaction itself is one of the most universally accepted, yet least understood in the lexicon of human responses.

Plato examined the negative aspects of humor in his exposition entitled The Republic, and concluded that the inherent “psychopathic laughter” was indicative of one’s envy and malice against his fellow man or an egocentric method to secure one’s superiority through the brutal ridiculing of others shortcomings, circumstances or lower social status. Arthur Schopenhauer later developed his “theory of the absurd,” which, simply stated, says that laughter is the reaction to the realization that a person’s expectations have been been misdirected by an incongruous element that, in the final analysis, is absolutely ridiculous. Theorists and scholars have postulated wildly divergent theories as to the origin of laughter and humor, yet have been shown to be debatable at best.

The reason I am expounding on the theories of humor in this rather long winded intro is that it reminded me of a series of correspondences I began with comedian Mark Fradl sometime back in late 2007, a dialogue that has been maintained into the present. When I first corresponded with Fradle, a Dayton native who splits his time  between here and Austin, TX, he was just getting back into the comedy scene after taking a six year hiatus after becoming somewhat disillusioned with the world of comedy. Even after reemerging on stage around 2005, Fradl still remained somewhat nihilistic with regards to the direction mainstream comedy was heading in as well as the broad cross section of audiences who are less interested in clever comedy as they are in being entertained. One of the reoccurring themes of lie within the definition and decisive nature of a certain type of comedian.

“There’s the dark breed that want to connect with the audience…but only on their terms.  As I write that, I’m realizing that this is really where the difference lies between the good comics and the hacks; Are you trying to put yourself where they are or are you trying to bring them over to where you are?” Fradl went on, referencing some previous discussions that we had had on the topic. “So that goes back to something we ended on yesterday; The difference between trying to bring the crowd onto your way of thinking, or pandering down to meet their way of thinking. Are you making them say, ‘Yeah, that’s what I always say too!’ or are you making them say ‘Hey, I never looked at it that way – he’s right!’”

The universal appeal of comedy is almost as illusive as it is accepted. While on the one hand, almost everyone needs the release that laughter offers, while at the same time, what one person may find as patently offensive another may find absolutely hilarious.

            “Again it comes back to the unique nature of comedy. It has to have more universality than almost any other art form I can think of. Gore Vidal is a legend, yet most people have never read one of his books. Leonard Cohen or Tom Waits are never played on the radio and yet they’ve had immensely influential careers; but you really can’t be in a niche in comedy. The comic equivalent of Tom Waits or Leonard Cohen or Elvis Costello would die a miserable death in the average club. Even legends like Bill Hicks, Mitch Hedburg and Doug Stanhope were banned by more clubs than they worked, and only through years of persistence did they build their followings and move from clubs to theaters.”

At one point, Fradl was able to clarify, somewhat, was the nature of comedy for the masses with a rather apropos metaphor.

“Ranch dressing is bland, inoffensive (except to those who are offended by it’s inoffensiveness), and sells by the bucket load.  No one’s ever sold a bucket of Sesame Ginger Wasabi Vinaigrette.  You can’t get Roast Raspberry Chipotle dressing in a 64 ounce squeeze bottle.  Likewise, comedy has to appeal to the broadest possible market.  In most cities there are only one or two clubs, and those clubs survive only by attracting the largest cross section of the population – suburban couples, urban hipsters, a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, a bachelorette party, the trucker, the lawyer, the graphic artist, the cashier and the fry cook. Imagine coming up with anything that group can agree on.  Best to just put out the ranch dressing – a lot of people will love it, most will like it, and even those who hate it won’t be surprised to see it.  Welcome to comedy.”

As an example of the seemingly incongruous separation between brilliance and mass acceptance, Fradl related a personal experience he had.

“Bill Hicks is a legend of comedy, right up there with Lenny Bruce or young Woody Allen, but I don’t think most people know that when he was alive, his career was struggling. Even with numerous Letterman appearances and several HBO solo specials, he was having a hard time getting work because he wasn’t for everyone. I saw him live in 1992 in Cleveland and he ate it.” Fradl recollects that, “We were sitting in the second row in a room filled with 500 people just dying at his dark rantings, and I remember turning around at one point and seeing 495 faces staring at us, trying to figure out what the hell we thought was so funny.”

Comedy is the act of walking a thin tightrope in the dark, always at the mercy of the prevailing winds of public opinion and never really sure how far the fall might be, especially for a comedian who is just starting out or struggling to get ahead. Even road veterans are sometimes tripped up by the seemingly arbitrary change in social mores or the pressure of honing their material to appeal to the largest swath of the populace.

“But that argument misses an important point, one I’m only just now realizing as I think about this. Comedians are not weakened by this limitation, this need to create within a box. It is, in fact, our greatest asset, because it forces us to communicate our ideas with people who might not otherwise entertain such thoughts. This is our advantage over avant-garde performance artists, or fringe theater, or the protest singer touring the Unitarian Church basement circuit. The problem with deeply controversial art is that it never gets outside its own bubble.”

Fradl’s comedic appeal is one that is fast and intelligent while still being accessible to virtually every audience. It’s a hard course to chart, but one that Fradl has navigated through many times over. While Fradl has no problem with the the comedic form being used as simple, straightforward entertainment, it is just not the type of comedy that he is striving for. While mainstream comedy definitely has its place within the pantheon of comic legends, some of the clubs across the nation actually contribute to the dilution of the color of comedy, sometimes to the point where it becomes translucent. Clubs whose main audiences are drawn from a rather large, arbitrary swath of folks who may just be looking for some mild entertainment in between dinner and dancing at the club, people who may or may not even care about the actually artistic nature of comedy.

Over the course of years, I was easily able to discern a marked difference in the tone of Fradl’s recent emails and I wondered if current world events had changed people’s acceptance of comedy and, if so, were these changes good or bad.

“I’ll tell you one thing that has changed very much for me in the last five months is that my bit of cynicism about comedy has evaporated. In all the years of doing comedy, I’ve never seen people so appreciative and receptive to comedy.” Fradl went on to say, “Not to sound trite, but there’s this almost tangible need for relief. People have always come up after a show and told me they had a great time or they thought I was funny, but lately it’s been more about them expressing how much they needed to have this good time and how grateful they are to hear something that connects with them.”

On a parting note, Fradl imparted an insight into the misconception that plagues those of us that don’t live in one of the magical meccas of entertainment.

“A quick clarification of terms – when I’m talking about comedy here, I’m not talking about the stand up that happens at some experimental theater in Los Angeles or in a basement open mic in New York City.  I’m talking about the comedy that takes place in strip mall clubs and bar one-niters (Comedy Thursday Night!  Mechanical Bull Friday Night!) in the artistically unappreciated part of the country, which is to say most of it. A comic I worked with last week in Cleveland said ‘So, what do people do here in Cleveland?  I grew up in NYC and live in LA, I always figured everything in between was Kansas.’   Nice of him to bestow upon us his august insights.”

You can check out some of Fradl’s clips and commentaries on his website, www.markcomedy.com or follow his schedule to see when he will next be appearing at one of the many venues in around the country.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AycZYgE7v_Q’]

Progress of the Past – The Magic of the Ohio Renaissance Festival

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The Magic of the Ohio Renaissance Festival

I parked my car on a rolling hill and then descended into the year 1572. A journey that far back into the village of Willy-Nilly-on-the-Wash was neither as long nor as tiresome as I had expected. The hoots and hollers of youngsters banging about with wooden swords echoed and withdrew into the expectant day. The village was awakening and kitchen wenches scuttled and rushed, unintentionally dusting the ground with their long, gathered skirts as they readied for the day. A chandler called out for me to inspect his fine selection of candles and sundries. Another merchant hailed me to his perfumery, extolling the virtues of his soaps and scents, cataloging the ingredients and their attributes.

I roamed the village from gate to gallows. The festive atmosphere of this crossroads fair was an almost equalizing element for patrons and peasants alike. This was an especially eventful day as Queen Elizabeth was making a tour through the area, called a Progress. The Progress served three important functions. The Queen could walk among her constituents, exerting her authority among the nobles and peasants. It also saved the royal house an enormous amount because the villages and nobility paid all of the costs for the Queen’s extended visits. The third, less talked about reason was that it took the Queen away from the odorous conditions present in London during high summer.

The sound of lutes, flutes, gitterns and guitars resonated and vied for attention. Vendors called out, cajoling and extolling the passers by with the singular quality of their wares. An exotic, tattooed woman worked her muscles into a sinuous sweat turning the round-a-bout for some wide-eyed waifs. All around, there was movement, colour, and curiosity, but I was scheduled to meet up with some acquaintances from the past.

Sir Walter Raleigh was the first to respond to my invitation for an impromptu interview. He strode through the trail of dust created by the grooms leading a string of horses out to graze. As he parted the sunlit haze, I was struck by the shimmering similarities of his entrance to that of a man crossing through the mists of time. His embroidered doublet and brilliant breeches revealed a man of great social stature as the gold buttons of his vest caught the sun, throwing rich reflections onto the dirty faces of the coarsely dressed urchins as they ran past. We took a seat on the rough-hewn bench in front of the Rose and Crown and a bit of irony became evident; the man that brought tobacco back to England was a non-smoker.

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and Sir Francis Drake made their arrival a short time later, with bluster and a torrent of familiar, good-natured sniping. They went on for a time, reflecting on past conquests and jibing the others about their shortcomings. Sir Francis reminded Sir Walter that on one of his expeditions, he had to dump his ballast overboard and replace it with silver. Raleigh shot back that at least he hadn’t died of dysentery. The Earl of Leicester cheerfully chimed in that dysentery was such an awful way to go, but not nearly so much as having your head and body part ways under the executioner’s axe, such as Raleigh had. Drake came to Raleigh’s aid pointing out that at least they didn’t utilize the forces of gravity and a sturdy stairwell as a means to divorce their wife. The Earl became somewhat indignant and twirled the waxed ends of his curled mustache, stating that nothing had ever been proven in that particular case.

I had hoped to include Lettice Knolleys in on the conversation, but as she approached our group, the Queen’s retinue, replete with guards, the Privy Chamber, and a number of unofficial court patrons, suddenly appeared. I found it quite odd that Sir Walter Raleigh chanced a shy smile and a hidden wave to Bess Throckmorton, one of Elizabeth’s colloquial court attendants. The mild flirtations were bizarre because, in 15 and 72, Raleigh and Bess were barely in their early adulthood. It was not until far later that they would secretly marry, infuriating the Queen. In 1618, political intrigues between Spain and England conspired to lead Raleigh to the executioner. Bess, being the devoted wife, stored Raleigh’s head in a leather satchel for twenty-nine years until death finally claimed her.

My musings were quickly interrupted by the Queen’s shrill upbraiding of Lettice due to one of Lettice’s entourage imprudently clothing herself in the Queen’s colours. You could see Elizabeth’s thinly masked hatred for Lettice beaming through, entwined with the puerile satisfaction of being able to publicly humiliate her. Lettice bore the abuse, humbly bowing her acquiescence to Elizabeth. After Elizabeth’s guards parted a path for the Queen, Lettice and her maiden’s swept themselves away in a blush of indignation.

The Queen’s tirade put somewhat of a damper on the conversation and everyone soon parted ways; they to the past they chose to repeat, and I to the present that I am compelled to create. The one thing that I am left with, over and above the sights, sounds and experiences, are the people who comprise the crossroads festival. The amount of skill and research and devotion that they have endured to be able to take us all on this ubiquitous journey into the past is almost unfathomable and a debt not easily repaid. To them, huzzah!

Sir Francis Drake is played by Charley Brough, Sir Walter Raleigh is played by Dave Smith, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester  is played by Micheal Dean Conley, Lettice Knolley is played by Ame Ahner.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GXnwUKJabo’]

Renaissance Rescinded in Santa Clara: The Orphaned Arts District Of Dayton

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“The architecture of our future is not only unfinished; the scaffolding has hardly gone up”

~George Lamming

Standing amidst the broken plate glass shards on the northeast corner of North Main St. and Santa Clara Ave., you can look across the street and see the fading promise of a once vibrant art scene reduced to a few tattered awnings stretched over abandoned storefronts. What could have possibly happened to take a profitable, progressive and thriving arts community that was flourishing in the nineties disappear, leaving us with just panorama of mostly empty buildings and memories less than decade later?

The 1900 block of N. Main St. was developed in the 1800’s with an architectural integrity that spoke of affluence. Business and residential development flourished well into the 20th century, but was marred by a sudden decline starting in the 1960’s. The seventies brought yet another sharp decline that mirrored the steady change in demographics of nearby urban neighborhoods. Property owners and businesses became increasingly absentee and the area fell into disrepair.

In the early nineties, Joe Dierkers and the partnership that comprised The Third Realty Co. acquired most of the commercial buildings that was soon to become the heart of the Santa Clara arts district. They were unsure at first as to what direction the area should take, but that issue was soon resolved when Joe attended an event where Jeff Rutledge was a guest speaker. In the course of several conversations, the two agreed that the area was a perfect site to create a center for the artistic community. They modeled their vision on the greatly successful Short North arts and retail center that sits just north of downtown Columbus. The Color Purple Decorating Service, owned by James Hankins, was already located on Santa Clara Ave. when Jeff moved Rutledge Gallery from it’s Front Street location directly onto N. Main St., becoming an anchor for the area. The renaissance of the Santa Clara area began.

Jeff Rutledge remembers the area as it was when he first moved there. “At the time there were mostly empty buildings . Nothing bright or cheerful, no identity, no direction. I could envision what this area could be, though, having lived in Oakland and  Mendocino, California. and the north side of Chicago, seeing what urban gentrification and neighborhood revivals that were started by artists, musicians, and restaurants, and risk taking entrepreneurs could achieve.”

Other artisans and small retailer soon followed and within a short time, the district boasted over forty shops, giving birth to the Santa Clara United Business Association (SCUBA).

“The formation of SCUBA was grassroots…organic, democratic, and totally voluntary in our own self interest to gain influence with the city.” Jeff Rutledge reflected.

The area quickly became an unofficial arts district and in 1993, the City of Dayton designated the Santa Clara area as a “Town Center.” This program, now defunct, opened up city resources, as had been done for the Oregon District and the Belmont Business District in the past. The resources were earmarked for marketing, promotion and research for the burgeoning art district and hopes were high that the partnership between the district and the city would flourish as it had in the Oregon District.

Steve Nutt, who was the Dayton City Planner at the time and very active in the developing scene says “the ‘Town Center’ designation was made by a staff recommendation that was approved by the city commission. The ‘Town Center’ was made by geographical location and targeted those business districts. There was never really a contract made because there was no real entity to make an agreement with. It was more of a working agreement wherein the city worked with the business district…it was an informal partnership with the city and the business district.” Steve had left the area over a year before the ‘Town Center’ project finally shut down. He works as Director Strategic Development for CityWide Development now.

The ‘Town Center designation was comprised of several components that applied to every ‘Town Center’ locale; façade grants, incentives for new businesses, such as free rent for the first month or two and promotional and marketing funds. The money was made available to the districts on a first come, first serve basis and available through an application process. One of the first initiatives that were taken was to unify the district through the installation of matching storefront awnings and a linked lighting scheme. Neon lights were to be installed along the district giving the area it’s own distinctive flair. The first attempt at this ended somewhat anti-climatically. The bid was granted to a contractor who was apparently wholly unprepared for the task. Wiring insulation was sub-standard, causing a fire on one of the buildings and just outright inoperable on others.

Parking for the newly christened arts district and ‘Town Center’ was established when Joe Dierkers offered the city two houses that his partnership owned.

“I donated two buildings and the city tore them down to provide a parking lot.” he remembers, “They (the city) were supposed to acquire the, third (house) but that never materialized.”

Joe Dierkers kept the integrity of the area in the forefront with his ability to deal with potential tenants on an individual basis. He would scale the rent for those who planned to open an arts based business, knowing that they would be unable to pay a higher lease and also that another artisan establishment would add to the overall ambience of the area. He also turned away some prospective retailers that wanted to open businesses that did not fit in with the district’s sweeping vision. This business acumen paid off when in 1996, the area was at around 93% occupancy and, by Joe’s accounts, rose to 99% by 1999.

Things started to fray around the edges when a local branch of National City Bank decided to close its branch at the corner of Ridge Ave. and N. Main St.

Joe Dierkers says that “the businesses in the area felt like having a neighborhood bank was a stabilizing influence. We went to the City Council to oppose the closure, but we weren’t even allowed to voice our concerns or make our presentation. We felt that there was a lack of commitment from National City to the inner city.”

Around 1996, the local businesses began to feel as if the support from the city was being slowly withdrawn.

“The focus of the city’s efforts went elsewhere, which is not a criticism. There were times when there could have been some support, but there almost seemed to be an abandonment.” says Joe Dierkers. “The city made an effort in the beginning. They installed the awnings, lighting, parking lots and improved the sidewalks. They started a community based policing program. I even provided an office for them to use, rent-free. We had a community-based officer who really got to know the business owners and the neighborhoods. She got rid of the panhandlers, who were one of the main problems in the area at the time. A year later, they (the city) switched from supporting it to giving it lip service. The community officers were pulled off and placed elsewhere. I took back the office that I had let them use because nobody was ever there.” In an almost despondent tone, Joe finished by stating that, “In retrospect, the support probably went away much quicker then we realized, but at the time, it seemed like a slow distancing.”

Jeff Rutledge remembers the slow retreat of support as, “…ending very quietly and with no warning and no explanations, like a thief in the night. They didn’t want to admit that they were changing directions. It was rude and very unprofessional and sneaky. They didn’t want to talk or explain it to us. That was the killing blow and we lost momentum and morale. I don’t trust the city anymore.”

Jim McCarthy, the owner of ‘Q’ located at 1966 N. Main St. reflects that, “The City had a good thing going when they were encouraging small businesses to move into the district and made funding available to assist the businesses with signage, awnings, and other amenities that made for a more attractive, walk-able business district. But then all of that funding dried up…”

There were other issues that the area was dealing with besides the slow withdrawal of city support. The residential neighborhood itself was changing radically. There were more and more abandoned properties, absentee landlords and a pervasively negative element moving in. Violent crimes and crimes against the properties became more of a day to day issue for the local businesses. Our very own paper once resided in the corner building at Santa Clara Ave. and N. Main St., but were forced to move from the area do to the increase in criminal activity.

According to the current publisher of the Dayton City Paper, Kerry Farley, “The reason we left the district was pretty simple. Three incidents of theft… an office load of computers stolen each time in less than two years. Police quite simply told us it was the work of local crack addicts. (The) insurance company simply refused to allow us to continue filing these claims as, at some point, it becomes sheer irresponsibility on our part to continue staying there.”

Jim McCarthy explains that, “…the “usual suspects” of any area that is struggling with high poverty rates crept in; including prostitution, petty crime, vandalism, and drug trafficking.”

Jim Haskins, the owner of The Color Purple sums up the overall feeling with, “What ultimately caused the complete demise within the area was the crime and the decline of the residential neighborhoods.”

Currently, the ORION Solution Project is targeting the Santa Clara, Riverdale and Wolf Creek/Old Dayton View neighborhoods. The program is being met with well earned praise and support from the local communities. The ORION Solution has allocated more police officers to identified problem areas and initiated walking patrols for the officers. They are boarding and securing the abandoned properties and have developed youth mentoring and skill building programs. In deference to all that is being done by this project, one has to ask why the community based policing program initiated and effectively proven in the early days of the Santa Clara Arts District was abandoned. From all accounts, it was a program that worked and had the endorsement of the local businesses and neighbors.

There are other programs that various city offices and development groups are working on in adjacent neighborhoods. There was a recent survey and identification of historical properties in the Five Oaks area. There is the Great Miami Blvd. Connector which is proposed to create a business corridor along the lower section of N. Main St. Dayton Public Schools plans to invest 20M in a pre-kindergarten through eighth grade school at the site of the old Julienne High school, which has just been recently added to the National Historical Register. While all of these projects and plans are fantastic news, the spillover effect may not even be felt in the Santa Clara area.

Joe Dierkers related this story to me, which seems to sum up the propensity for the city to take up a project, only to abandon it in midstream in favor of a new project. There was a store owned by Mel Smith located on W. Fairview Ave. Business had been slow for Mel lately and Joe offered him a large storefront in the Santa Clara area. Mel’s Fine Furniture and Interior Design’s business picked up substantially. Shortly thereafter, the city, in an effort to bolster a shopping center development on N. Gettysburg, offered Mel certain incentives to move his established business there.

“They (the city) paid for the move and made him some type of deal concerning the rent, but he was unable to maintain his business in (that market) and soon went out of business. Now it seemed that the city was not just ignoring us, but working aggressively against us.”

With the recent coverage of Dayton being ranked 84th in America as a desirable place to live in the latest edition of Cities Ranked & Rated, there are a few questions that enter my mind. With the most outstanding ratings being in the “arts & culture” area, I wonder if the city is planning to capitalize on this fact. They could start an arts district, replete with galleries, restaurants, and unique boutiques. I know just the place.

 

The Aug Man Cometh

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Auggie Smith and the Subtle Dangers of Censorship

There are comedians who carpet bomb the audience in the statistical hope that most of their hurled bon mots and humorous bits land on target with an explosion and not a fizzle. Auggie Smith does not succumb to this temptation, instead relying on his rapid-fire delivery, spewed forth in a breathless scream of consciousness that leaves the audience no quarter. Aug is more of a consummate storyteller, weaving reality with the absurd so flawlessly as to draw the audience into a world of his own design. There are no “jokes” or “bits”, just an unpretentiously intelligent torrent of guttural humor and angst that rises and falls, peaking at precisely the right moments. The reaction from the audience range from apoplectic laughter to a shocked indignation, as if they had just received a Cheney scatter shot to the face. One walks away from the performance not remembering a single line verbatim, just a different viewpoint and an afterglow of a cathartic release.

His comedic fodder is comprised of broad political satire and a repertoire of staccato rants ranging from the oppressive fear being foisted on the American public to Barbie getting raw dogged by G.I. Joe while he suffers a ‘Nam flashback. He draws from the world at large, but he doesn’t feel the need to use the stage for his own political agenda.

“Personally, I may have particular views and vote for particular people and I don’t

care, you know, that I don’t expect people to have my political opinions when I’m on stage.” Auggie said during a recent phone interview. “I’m not trying to change minds, I’m trying to make people laugh.”

Freedom of speech is of paramount importance to Auggie, as it is the structure on which his craft is based, but also on a personal level that all people should be attuned to.

“Yeah, well, people’s view of what freedom of speech is completely messed up now.” he said. “Freedom of speech means that you might get your feelings hurt, and that’s exactly what it means. It doesn’t mean we don’t offend anybody. Freedom of speech is that people will be offended and that’s the point of it, and when you take that away, we’re, we’re done.”

The political and social sensitivity welling in this country and the ease in which people in general have the uncanny knack of finding offenses where none truly exist, seems to make the comedic landscape a minefield waiting for a big ol’ clown shoe to come along.

“Yeah, yeah….maybe they shouldn’t leave the house if they’re going to be offended by other people’s words. It’s probably best that you never come into contact with anybody else.” Auggie stated, somewhat perturbed. “That’s probably the best game plan for them…and what it is, is people have to be morally superior over others and they decide ‘Well, morally, I’m better than you so I can decide what you can and cannot say and what’s morally objectionable’ and here’s the thing; it doesn’t offend me. So is there something wrong with me? Am I a bad person for not being offended by that? You know, because that’s the way the logic has to go.”

It seems that the current political atmosphere is so devoid of humor that one is loath to joke about the powers that be for fear of risking a heated confrontation. It used to be that anyone could make a joke about Clinton’s indiscretions or Dan Quayle’s complete ineptitude, and there would be a laugh, regardless of any affiliations. Now it is like a simple satirical jest can get you labeled as being anti-American.

“The problem, you…you’re talking about a couple of different issues here. If you’re talking specifically about the current administration here, yeah. I think there are people who have forgotten that it is our job to be anti-establishment.” Auggie went on to state that, “It is the comedian’s job to, uh, comment on the government and it is a comedian’s job to have a problem with the powers that be. We’ve become so aligned with our various political parties, uh, that we do not see the humor in them anymore. That is true. Um, and the fact that this, this turf war that we have going between Democrats and Republicans, and so one political party has your best interest at heart, yeah, right, for Christ’s sake! Like they’re not just a collection of millionaires that are designed to further people’s political careers, and instead are… for you, the common man. That bothers me, that people are under that assumption.”

When Auggie Smith takes the stage, he is not there to entertain you; he is not there to tell you a couple of amusing little jokes. He shall rise to become your personal, self-proclaimed Sherpa, shepherding you through life’s mysterious and often frightening landscape. Give your life over to the Aug Man and he will guide and protect you from all of the sharks, senior citizen NASCAR drivers and violently voracious vending machines that besiege you on your chosen path. Praise be to Aug.

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Inspiration abounds from our Local Heroes

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On Sunday we took advantage of the opportunity to learn more about the Wright brothers at the Huffman Prairie Flying Field Interpretive Center, where guest blogger, MetroMark took us on a tour of the center and the field. It was a fascinating tour that ended with an extremely well done documentary about that Wright Brothers that was narrated by Martin Sheen and filmed in the Dayton area, highlighting the Wright Dunbar neighborhood.

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