Day 40: Cincinnati, OH
Welcome
Yesterday we played in Cincinnati, OH (io).
One of the things that makes Tristan such a valuable member of the tour party is his ability to execute a sandwich run. His love language is most deeply spoken when he is returning with a bulging brown paper bag and distributing small parcels of food around a hungry van. Yesterday he brought back a haul from Katzinger’s Delicatessen, a spot we remember fondly from our early days of touring, when we were just being introduced to the concept of a real American sandwich. I enjoyed half of a Mike and Rich Follow the Bubble - capicola, sopressata Italian salami, provolone, lettuce, roasted red pepper, artichoke hearts, and herbed oil served on a warm baguette, served with a pair of dill pickles fresh from the barrel.
Gabe drove us to Cincinnati, a relatively short drive at 90 minutes, and thankfully so because the route along I71 was unreasonably bumpy. We arrived to find that our venue was in a quiet neighbourhood, the streets lined with colourful and well-preserved historic buildings, but not many people out and about enjoying the shops and restaurants, perhaps because of the intense early afternoon heat. This neighbourhood carries an interesting name – Over-the-Rhine – which comes from its German immigrant past. The route that now carries Cincinnati’s central parkway across the top of the downtown was once the Miami and Erie Canal, a 441km water route from Cincinnati to Toledo, at the west end of Lake Erie. It was nicknamed The Rhine by the German workers who had settled north of this waterway – their neighbourhood being across the Rhine from downtown, where they all worked.
📸 Amy Knueven Brownlee
One of the more striking buildings on the street we were on was that of our venue, the Woodward Theatre, built in 1913 in the predominant Parisian 19th century architectural style known as Beaux-Arts. As is the case with so many of these old buildings it served many roles in its lifetime and was lucky to survive being torn down on more than a few occasions. On the purposeful and excellent website Cincinatti.com I found a great piece on the Woodward that included an approximate timeline created by Brian Powers, reference librarian at the The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.
1913-32: Woodward Theater
1933-34: Vacant
1935-41: Andy Schain Used Cars
1942-61: Kroger (grocery store)
1962-71: Atlas Furniture Co.
1972: S & M Unclaimed Freight & Warehouse
1973-74: Vacant
1975-76: Main Bar
1977-83: Wanda Bear's Inn
1984-88: Vacant
1989-2013: Antiques (used as storage and restoration space for Greg's Antiques until 1997, when the company opened a store there)
In 2014 the Woodward Theatre reopened as a music venue and it has been a pillar of the Cincinnati scene ever since. On entering we found a room that was small by theatre standards, with a high ceiling and rough, old wooden floorboards that one of the venue employees was attacking with a hammer and drill. There is a mezzanine that was added by Greg’s Antiques and runs around the edge of the room serving as a great viewing area for concert goers. A half-round stage sits over the original orchestra pit, and the old proscenium is painted gold and dotted with bright light bulbs.
We began loading in, taking our time to set up as we were running comfortably ahead of schedule. Liz and Jon took this opportunity to run an errand. Thanks to a tip-off from a blog reader named Lance (could be a pseudonym) they had found out about the octopus at Newport Aquarium, just across the other side of the Ohio River in Kentucky, a mere 5 minute cab ride from our venue. They raced off to chase down some marine life, returning just in time for soundcheck with grins on their faces and another great collection of photos of fish with expressive features.
After soundcheck we had some free time so I headed out for a walk to see some of this pretty neighbourhood which by this point in the day was starting to come to life. I ended up a few blocks west of the venue at Washington Park, a nice urban green space that was alive with a variety of activities. From the bushes came the sounds of a steel drum being softly played, while dogs passed by and used the grass facilities before continuing on their walks. There were children playing in the fountain area where spouts of water shot out of the ground like it does from a whale’s blow hole. There was a band rotunda in the centre of the park and at 6pm when I heard the sounds of Fusion Jazz Music coming from that direction I headed over to check it out. There was a nice crowd in place already and they were enjoying a Monday night drink and watching Spherical Agenda, a four piece of made up of the Midwest region's top musicians.
While I was enjoying a beverage and Jazz the rest of the team were at Pins Mechanical Company, a bar that is fully equipped with similar sounding ball games like foosball, pinball, duck pin, and ping pong. The real treat was in the basement where there was a selection of vintage arcade games that got Jon very excited. Asteroids Deluxe, Tron, and Missile Commander were the some of the games that helped to put everyone in the mood to play our second to last headline show of this tour.
Cincinnati didn’t give off the impression that they knew it was a Monday night. Disq were given a warm reception and played a scorching set in reply. Our set was a collection of OH—IOs with a few songs in between. If you don’t know what that means try typing OH in the comments and see what happens. We had a fantastic time playing to the five hundred people in this beautiful theatre and it was a perfect first outing in Cincinnati.
After the show Jon and Gabe were still not feeling satisfied and postponed their bedtime, returning to the Arcade for a late night round on these brilliant CRT gaming machines.
The Gas Station of The Year results are in and I think you’ll find the winner to be a bit of a surprise. This took me an unreasonable amount of time to make but seeing this data visualised was absolutely worth the lost sleep. Thanks to everyone who voted.
I’ll leave you with a fantastic submission for art corner, a photograph of wet glass, suitably hung in the bathroom of our hotel room, the Holiday Inn Riverfront, Covington.
