Ruckus Roboticus gets National Exposure

Dayton's Ruckus Roboticus (usually heard at Therapy) recived some hi-viz national exposure this week on David Dye's World Cafe show (which you can hear on WYSO):
Right in there with Bob Mould and Mike Doughty as a feature artists. Wow! (thanx to Rev Cool/Round the Fringe for mentioning this).

For a bit more on this local artist getting some well-deserved attention, check out this Daytonlogy post on the CD release party last fall.

Cold, Snow, & some Downtown Reggae to Warm You UP

Something to warm up with: Yet more pix of the Third World Reggae Fest, Labor Day Weekend 2007, in beautiful, green, Dave Hall Plaza.


All kinds of things & folks.....

The Free Books folks: the political content gives this corner a bit of a Comfest feel.


Vendors
Dayton's own Seefari. This band plays Trolley Stop and J-Alans, so keep an eye out for them....
Just a very good comfortable vibe all-around. Yer humble host recommends this as one of the best events of the summer downtown.

For lots more pix, and larger, click here.

Dayton Development Coalition in the News Again

It looks like the Dayton Get Midwest brand is developing into a political story. And the recent editorial by the Dayton Development Coalition (DDC for short) chairman is a good example on how to obfuscate things.

"We are proud of the coalition's accomplishments over the years, achieved by working together with our partners. Support for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base has resulted in a growing bright spot for our economy. .... Focused, bipartisan and open advocacy has led to hundreds of millions of dollars for economic development in our region. These efforts have been lauded by Democrats and Republicans all over Ohio and in Washington, D.C., as a model for best practices."

The question isn’t so much the prioritization process or whether the DDC lobbys both Democrats and Republicans ("bipartisan...advocacy"), but how closely is the DDC associated with Republican candidates, not just Mike Turner.

To investigate lets use the concept of the “donor community”, as a way to identify clusters of campaign contributors with family and business relationships that all contribute to similar candidates. In a sense a donor community could be a “virtual PAC”, depending on how planned the giving is.

Running searches on FEC data available at this site, one can identify a donor community associated with the Dayton Development Coalition. The individuals listed on this graph are all management or staff of the DDC, or were when they made their campaign contributions:



One can see some obvious patterns. Some small donations which are probably not too relevant, but then a very large donation year in 2006, with substantial donations by DDC leadership to certain GOP candidates.

The top donors for 2002-2008. There are no donors from the DDC earlier than 2002.

(An interesting sidebar is the appearance of “M Gessel” as a smaller contributor. This individual actually has a Arlington VA address on his FEC disclosure form, so I suspect this is the DDCs Washington lobbyist.)





Taking a more detailed look at the top donor, and also running a search by surname, which picks up what is probably his wife (listed as housewife, and sharing the same address on the FEC disclosure form) contributing a large sum to Dewine in 2006.

Note how the loopholes in the campaign finance law permit large donations, such as the limit applying to primaries as well as general elections (was Turner or Dewine facing a primary fight in 2006?)


Then a look at the candidates, with 2006 again showing up as a very good year for contributions to GOP candidates from DDC management & staff.



..and the top recipients

…and nary a Democrat among them. I wonder what Sherrod Brown thinks when the DDC comes calling, when they were so generous with Mike Dewine. Maybe they should contribute to Brown a bit, to spread the wealth?

I am not sure this proves anything, except that some of the management of the DDC have been big, big GOP donors (though not so much yet in this campaign cycle). Note this isn’t the board of directors, the big corporate sponsors of DDC, and so forth but the CEO, Executive Director, titles like that.

So, yeah, the process is bipartisan, and the advocacy has to be (now that Democrats control Congress and are about to take the Presidency), but the political sympathy of the DDC leadership rests at the Federal level with the GOP, as evidenced by campaing contributions.

Finishing Fifth Street

The push is on to finally “finish” The Oregon, and by this is meant Fifth Street. Money is being committed to kick-start an arts district, with a mix of private (new galleries) and public (city funded rationalization of parking). Quite a bit on this at Dayton Most Metro and DaytonOS. Dayton Daily News arts critic Terry Lawson also had an article on the plan.

Fifth was always unsatisfying, never reaching its potential of being Dayton’s version of Cincinnati’s Ludlow Street in Clifton, Louisville’s Bardstown Road or Frankfort Avenue, or the Short North in Columbus.

Oh sure there were the nightclubs, some which are becoming the ground zero of Dayton’s active indy music scene (and hosting touring acts to some extent). There were the funky second hand stores and better restaurants. The hip hair salon and the tatoo parlor. And the one coffee shop over at Pacchia. And things like Sterling Studio.

But the street never really gelled for some reason, never quite reached the intensity of use one would expect. Given the hostility some of the Oregon district residents this semi-vacant state seemed to be preferred.

But the image for visitors and newcomers to Dayton was somewhat lame, of a place that couldn't really get it together.

To put it bluntly, Fifth was half-ass.

Here are some examples, things that should be addressed if Fifth Street is to reach its potential, things that that make yer humble host think "gee, what's the issue here?"

Porn Shops & Vacant Storefronts

Does this neighborhood really need three porn shops? Yes they are historic as a memory of Fifths skid row era,, but seriously where is the architectural value?

With their whitewashed facades and bright lighting they do light up the street at night, in a tawdry yet sad sort of way. And one seems to bill itself as gay, or, more accurately, as a straight persons idea of what gay is all about. No self-respecting gay person would go to this place.

And there is the one that seems to be colonizing the abandoned “Fifth Street Retail Store” next door (nice building, great arched windows, huge ceiling, but what a waste).


The Retail Store isn’t really a “storefront”, but that’s another problem: vacant stores.
These sad sacks are right at entrance to the district; the intersection of 5th and Brown. One wonders why these wouldn’t be good for something other than emptiness and what looks like a window blind covering the big storefront.

An the most prominent example is this Victorian to die for, looking like something lifted from San Francisco or Northern California and dropped onto Fifth. Vacant ever since I moved here, 20 years ago, probably more. Why?



Occupied, sort of.

Maybe one shouldn’t be too bent out of shape about these buildings. They are being used, but by office functions of various sorts. Meaning the generous storefronts are visually dead and not activating the street

And another example. A law office. No problem there for the upper floors, but couldn’t this excellent little corner store be used for something else? And note Bonnet’s next door. For years I thought this was another porno store as it looked so secretive…just a big green board and batten wall with discrete door, “Bonnets Books”(yeah, right, what kind of books?). Only recently did I find this was an innocent used book store

So some examples. As one can see this street still needs a lot of work to be really filled out by ground level uses that will activate the street and cause people to want to come here, aside from the nightlife, which is actually quite good.

Mother Dunbar's Moves

Tracking the moves of “Mother Dunbar”,(as she was called), and by default the moves of her son, Paul Lawrence Dunbar.

We already looked at the site of the birthplace and boyhood home. Now lets track where else Matilda and Paul lived.

These sites are all based on the city directory, and I was able to locate all but one, the one up in Riverdale, 818 N Linden, where the Dunbar’s lived for one year 1891-1892. This was the year that Dunbar published Oak and Ivy, his first poetry book.


First location from the Howard Street house was on Magnolia, which is today part of the Miami Valley Hospital complex

The Dunbars then moved to Sycamore Street just west of downtown, but then moved a year later to the neighborhood Dunbar would spend 15 years in, the area south of downtown between Ludlow and the river.

First location was 121 Short Wilkinson, then a series of moves on Washington Street,, then the move to Riverdale, and back to the neighborhood, on 140 W Ziegler. Dunbar was also a member of an early black church, the Eaker Street AME (later renamed Wayman Chapel).



The neighborhood today, mostly obliterated via freeway construction and commercial expansion:
The Zeigler Street house was where Dunbar was living when he published “Majors and Minors” and “Lyrics of Lowly Life”, the books that made his national reputation.


The Short Wilkinson house was Dunbars first home in this neighborhood.
The Washington Street houses: Dunbar was in high school while living here, where he met the Wrights. He was writing The Tatler newspaper while at 315 & 317 Washington, published by the Wrights.
Dunbar’s church: Eaker Street AME. This is a good before and after pix as you can see the back of Emmanuel church, and the commercial building down the street a bit, in both pix.
After 1897 Matilda and Paul disappear from the city directories. The biography at the NPS website says the Dunbars were moving around a lot, including Paul moving to Washington DC, and some time in Chicago, too. It seems there is a Chicago-Dayton connection with the Dunbars as Dunbar went to Chicago to work at the Worlds Columbia Exhibition, and that his half-brothers also moved to the Windy City around this time.

But Paul and Matilda did return to Dayton.

The Sycamore street house. This is an interesting location, as the Dunbars moved into this brick double on the south side of the street after their brief stay at Magnolia, and rented here briefly when they returned to Dayton in 1903..renting the adjoining half of the double, before they moved to West Dayton. Today the site is a plaza to the west of the Ponitz Center.



And the final move. The Dunbar house on what used to be Summit Street. The Dunbars moved here in 1903, and Paul died here in 1906, in the upper front corner bedroom. The second story room facing the street in front was Pails study and library.

Matilda kept Paul’s’ rooms intact, and when she passed in 1934 the state acquired the property in 1936 and opened it as a house museum in 1938. This was one of the first state historic sites related to black history in the entire US. A famous visitor to the site was (at that time) first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

For the National Park Service web page with more detail on Dunbar, click here.

For a digital collection of Dunbars’ works (from WSU) click here.

Places to Go_Things to See

The past few years are seeing some interesting things happening with arts of various sorts, beyond the mainstream Grandes Artes of Opera/Symphony/Ballet. Some selected things going down (by no means the only things) this and next weekend:

Dayton Live Art Network

One of the most suprising thing to surface in Dayton is performance art. There's been an annual performance art event for the past two years (last year it was at the Gym Club and had a guest performance artist from the UK).
Dayton Live Art Network is the presenter, and this years event is at the Victorian Baum Opera House in Miamiburg:

So head on out to the 'Burg for something pretty rare outside of larger art centers. The location is 15 S First, Date is tomorrow, 16 February, Doors open @ 6:30 and time is 7-9:30 PM. Tickets $10.00 in advance (at Pacchia coffehouse) or $15.00 at the door.

Encore Theatre

Next weekend Encore Theatre Company, who put on those cabarets at Gregorys Piano Bar, is doing a musical about the theft of the Stone of Scone, in the Mathle Theatre @ the Shuster. This is "Jacobs Pillow" (not to be confused with the dance event in New England), with this Dayton show being the US premier (the musical is from the UK). Encore is a hoot; I saw their version of Chess last year and really enjoyed it.

Rhythm in Shoes

Dayton has great dance things happeneing. Most citys have the ballet. Dayton goes beyond that. This city supports an excellent ballet company, but aslo DCDC and Rhythm and Shoes. This weekend, Feb 16 Saturday, at the Victoria, RiS has their winter concert. From the website:

The program will include new works including “Playground,” with choreography by Sharon Leahy, as well as an expansion of Gina Burgei’s “…so below,” which was first unveiled in February of 2007.

Leahy will also be reprising a work entitled “Streets of the Capitol” which was commissioned fifteen years ago by Jacob’s Pillow, the Flynn Theater and Cityfolk. “Streets” looks at the effects of civil war on a community. It was first created during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina but is no less relevant or powerful today.

Two other pieces on the program are “In a Minute,” from the 1999 Rhythm in Shoes collaboration with Crosspulse, and “Greatest Hits,” a live cartoon dance extravaganza to a musical crazy quilt of American traditional and popular tunes.

Dublin Pub

Next weekend DubPub is having the well-known NYC-based celtic rock band Seven Nations, with local band Father Son & Freinds as opener. Yer humble host is a fan of celtic and UK folk and folk rock, so this might be on the agenda (though the DubPub is really tight space for name acts like this)

C2 Gallery

The Front Street space is hosting a group show next weekend: The Four Horsemen. Now that Goloka is relocating to the Oregon C2 will be the only Front Street exhibition space



Local Live & Original Music

For indy/alternative rock the Oregon Express continues to satisfy. Saturday is their indy night, and SW-Ohio based Northwest Ordinance is having their CD release party this Saturday. You've just gotta love this bands name, history meets geography. Musically: garage/punk. Note that the excellent Lions Rampant are coming up from Cincy to help out.
And tonight a free show at Front Street (10 PM, Door E, BYOB), Deth to Valentines Day, sponsored by Dethfits clothing line.

...and a note to check out The Bhudda Den and Dayton Shows
<------over at the blog roll
for more info on local music, which is one of the strong suites of this town.

If you're not going out to listen to live orginal music by local artists you are missing out, so go!

Dunbar's Double?

Continuing speculation on the Dubar birthplace and childhood home.

Knowing that this was a double and the rough form based on the Sanborn description one can make an educated guess on what the house might have looked like. Kevin Moran, in his comments to the previous post, notes that the coding on the Sanborn indicates the house was wood.

It just so happens that the Lutzenberer collection has this image of two double houses just west of the downtown, on Maple Street just west of Wilkinson (now the Sinclair campus), which might be similar to the Dunbar house:

The one on the corner is wood, and has a 1 1/2 story rear addition, and a 1 story porch or shed addition at the very back. So perhaps the Dunbar birthplace looked like this, or a wood version of the one next door, which seems slightly smaller.

This neighborhood would have nearly as old as the Haymarket, being one of the first expansions of the city westward beyond the orignal town plat.