Baby, You're A Firework (Giveaway)

The Fourth of July on a Wednesday? How is that gonna work out?

Independence Day is like Christmas - one of those holidays that bounce around the calendar, fixed to a date instead of a specific day of the week. Whereas the Memorial and Labor Day holidays are always good for a three-day-weekend, July 4th is a turn of the roulette wheel - you never know when the holiday is going to land.

Wednesday is my least favorite of the options.

Even a Tuesday or a Thursday are easy to squeeze out into four-day weekends. A Monday or Friday are golden (with the latter being my ultimate favorite). Saturday and Sunday both give way to federally observed days before or after.

Squeezing the holiday between the middle of the week does not bode well for celebrating.

Yes, Wednesday is full of woe.

Thankfully, you don't have to cash in this holiday and call it a crap shoot. The good guys and gals at Yelp are throwing a free shindig and everybody is invited.

Yelp's Independance Day Party is a celebration complete with free food and cocktails, live music and the good ol' Stars and Stripes, all unfolding at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

From 8 to 10 p.m., you can enjoy live music from five different bands and spinning tunes from Nxtlvl Artists.

There will be karaoke in the NURFC auditorium, a photo booth and caricature artists, and 20 food and bar sponsors to fill you up on Fourth of July vittles.

And the Freedom Center has a brand new exhibit on protest songs to get you in the mood - showcasing everything from slave spirituals to rock n' roll.

The event will conclude with an amazing firework display shooting off at nearby Sawyer Point.

BOOM.

To attend, you just have to RSVP here.

OR, you can enter to win one of five pairs of VIP passes for the event, allowing you to skirt around the hoi polloi and join the party an hour earlier at 7 p.m.

There are several ways to enter:

• Leave a comment below sharing your favorite 4th of July picnic item
• Share this blog post on your Facebook page and tell me you did so in the comments below
• Share this blog post on Twitter and tell me you did so in the comments below
• Subscribe to my blog's RSS feed and tell me you did so in the comments below

The contest closes at 3 p.m. Monday, July 2. Five winners will be randomly selected and will have 24 hours to email kate@katesrandommusings.com and share with me their email address.

Disclosure: The good people at Yelp have graciously provided me with a pair of VIP tickets.

The Fine Print

All entrants must be residents of the United States and 18 years of age or older to enter. No purchase necessary, void where prohibited by law. You must enter by Monday, July 2 3 p.m. EST. Entries must be posted in the comments of this post only. Your odds of winning are based on the number of entries. By entering, you provide me with the right to use your name in publicity materials and to use your email address to contact you, and to provide your name and address to my sponsors. I am not responsible for emails that bounce or lost mail. I reserve the right to disqualify any entry that contains defamatory or obscene language or otherwise does not abide by the rules. If the winner does not respond within 24 hours, I will pick another winner until one responds. 

See you there!


Kate's Random Musings by Kate the Great is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

I Shot An Uzi

I am not much of a "gun girl."

True story: My dad was shot in the face in a drive-by shooting over 40 years ago in Youngstown, Ohio. He has a tiny, one-inch scar on the right side of his face and some great street cred.

Needless to say, we don't keep firearms in the house.

But I've always been curious about guns. Not curious-excited, more like curious-intimidated. I know some people love guns - my old pal Jos slept with a shiny Glock 9mm next to his bed when he lived on Overton Street in Newport.

Sometimes he'd pull the gun out while we sat in his living room, listening to Tom Waits or Jacques Brel. I liked the music; I didn't like the gun waving.

Some people are raised around guns.

The rest of us aren't.

So when some of the folks at work talked about going to Target World in Sharonville, I decided to join them.

I'm a sucker for adventure and have long said I'll try almost anything once. In this case, it meant overcoming a personal fear and a family hesitation.

My male colleagues brought the firearms - a World War II era Nazi .22 Luger, a .45, a Glock 9 mm, and an Uzi.

After getting over the initial shock of rounds popping in the firing range, I creeped toward the bay and started with the Glock.

One of my colleagues then blew up a small balloon for me to aim toward. I popped it on my first try with the .22, and again with the Uzi (which was a single-shot version, as opposed to the fully automatic machine gun variety popular in Hollywood).

It turns out I have excellent aim.

The .22 was probably my "favorite" gun (ed note: that statement sounds like an oxymoron out of my mouth), followed by the Uzi and the .45.

The Glock was my least favorite firearm; my colleague calls it The Dragon because it has two streams of fire coming out of the barrel. The feature is supposed to help you keep the gun focused on the target as the round is fired.

But I digress.

Mama Grizzly, Who?

Several people warned me about the Uzi, saying my shoulder would be sore the next day. It certainly had a bit of kick back, but it wasn't nearly as forceful as I anticipated.

The handling of these weapons is serious business, and I had utmost respect for both the firearms and the people around me. I was always a bit nervous when I clicked off the safety and held the gun in my hands, but then I'd stare at the target, look through the scope, and forcefully pull the trigger.

My kick-ass colleague MP and me

The next morning, several folks in the office asked if I was in the market to buy a gun. I'll admit, they do provide a rush, but I'm not running out to get a Smith & Wesson.

I'll stick with my safety whistle... I know this displeases some of you.


Kate's Random Musings by Kate the Great is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

See Cincinnati and See Change

Have you seen Cincinnati lately?

The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber's latest C-Change group, Class 7, is hoping you See Cincinnati in a different light.

For those of us who grew up here, it's easy to take the Queen City for granted.

For the newcomers, it can be hard to comb through and discover some of the city's best treasures.

C-Change is hoping to blow the doors open on what makes Greater Cincinnati great, and they asked me to help them start this effort, see.cincinnati.com, which just went live today.

Click on the link above, and you'll be taken to a map that pinpoints me (on Walnut Street at the Aronoff Center), and Mister Redlegs, a.k.a. Bradley Barnes.

We were asked to share some of our favorite places and people in Cincinnati. From there, the C-Change team is going to choose some of our answers to find their favorite places and people.

And so on.


Cue the cheesy smile.

Each story will lead to another, creating a massive network of folks who love living, working and playing in Cincinnati.

It was fun reflecting on some of the things I love about Greater Cincinnati, and I can't wait to see how this project unfolds.

What do you love about the Queen City?


Kate's Random Musings by Kate the Great is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Queen City Sparkle

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

Confucius

A sign of yesteryear speaks of what's happening today.

One of the most romantic spaces in Cincinnati. I love the arbor of trees and light.

His name is Avtar and he's Downtown Cincinnati's one-man viral marketing machine.

I always neglect to remember Nada's outdoor patio when I dine in the evening. I love the lanterns and trees. So magical.

I noticed the metal grates off some of the windows at the Emery Theatre. So grateful for Tina and Tara and all the hard work they're putting into saving this treasure.

Germania, then Columbia, and now Germania again, I think. What's in a name, anyway? She's beautiful either way.



Kate's Random Musings by Kate the Great is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

A Way To Go (And Free Tickets)

June 25 update:
The winners of the World Choir Games tickets are as follows:

2 tickets to Opening Ceremony (x2) - July 4 at 7 p.m. - US Bank Arena

Toni 
Clara

2 tickets to Awards Ceremony - July 7 at 7:30 p.m. - US Bank Arena

B Shields

2 tickets to Awards Ceremony - July 8 at 10 a.m. - US Bank Arena

Kevin

2 tickets to Awards Ceremony (x2) - July 13 at 7:30 p.m. - US Bank Arena

Kevin
Clara

2 tickets to Closing Ceremony (x2) - July 14 at 7 p.m. - US Bank Arena

Donald
Anna

Thanks to all who entered; winners should email kate@katesrandommusings.com within the next 24 hours with a mailing address where I can send your tickets.


Congrats, and enjoy some great choral music!


Thanks to Metro for providing the tickets for the giveaway.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, the World Choir Games are bringing people into Cincinnati by the planeload.

On July 4, thousands of singers from 48 countries will converge upon the Queen City for ten days of chamber music, motets, gospel tunes, youth choirs, and your favorite pop renditions.

Some of these folks are formally trained singers who've never stepped outside of their native land. Others are local performers who are using the opportunity to sing before an audience for the first time ever.

Many choirs will bring along an entourage of conductors and chaperones, spouses and siblings, parents and grandparents.

It's sure to draw an interesting bunch of people, and that means Cincinnati's city center will be jamming.

We're talking about traffic, people. Lots and lots of traffic.

Thankfully, Cincinnati Metro is offering a few tools to help people get around easily.

For one, Metro is launching a special World Choir Games circulator that will link downtown hotels to performance sites. This is probably going to be one of the easiest ways for spectators, fans and other people to get around while the Games are in full swing.

Metro is also unveiling special shuttle routes that will take people to and from the Opening/Closing Ceremonies.

And Metro is also offering all World Choir Games participants a special pass good for free rides anywhere in Zone 1 (the city of Cincinnati, essentially) for the duration of the Games.

You can visit Metro's website to discover how easy it is to Go Metro during the WCG.

And now, for the giveaway.

The good folks at Metro have given me a few tickets to the World Choir Games to give away to my readers:

2 tickets to Opening Ceremony (x2) - July 4 at 7 p.m. - US Bank Arena

2 tickets to Awards Ceremony - July 7 at 7:30 p.m. - US Bank Arena

2 tickets to Awards Ceremony - July 8 at 10 a.m. - US Bank Arena

2 tickets to Awards Ceremony (x2) - July 13 at 7:30 p.m. - US Bank Arena

2 tickets to Closing Ceremony (x2) - July 14 at 7 p.m. - US Bank Arena

There are a few ways you can enter this contest:

• Tell me your favorite choral song in the comments section below
• Post a link to this blog post on your Facebook page and tell me you did so in the comments below
• "Like" Metro's Facebook page and tell me you did so in the comments below
• Tweet a link to this blog post on Twitter and tell me you did so in the comments below
• Subscribe to this blog's RSS feed and tell me you did so in the comments below

Make sure you leave a comment for each of the entry options possible; up to five entries possible per person. Contest will close on Monday, June 25 at 3 p.m.; winners will be posted that afternoon and will have 24 hours to respond via email to secure tickets.

The Fine Print

All entrants must be residents of the United States and 18 years of age or older to enter. No purchase necessary, void where prohibited by law. You must enter by Monday, June 25 3 p.m. EST. Entries must be posted in the comments of this post only. Your odds of winning are based on the number of entries. By entering, you provide me with the right to use your name in publicity materials and to use your email address to contact you, and to provide your name and address to my sponsors. I am not responsible for emails that bounce or lost mail. I reserve the right to disqualify any entry that contains defamatory or obscene language or otherwise does not abide by the rules. If the winner does not respond within 24 hours, I will pick another winner until one responds. 


Addendum: Cincinnati Metro/SORTA is one of my clients. They are not paying me or my employer to write this blog post. I love blogging about Metro because I'm car-free. And they're really nice folks.


Kate's Random Musings by Kate the Great is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

I've Been A Bad, Bad Blogger

The thing about getting a boyfriend - my life is an utter whirlwind.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

The past week alone has ushered a few fantastic things that you should try and check out if you can:

Showboat Majestic and Arsenic And Old Lace. Starring none other than Stephen Samuels as lead character Mortimer Brewster. If you've ever seen a Skyline Chili commercial, then you've seen Stephen.

This OtR resident is dear friend of mine (he cooks up a mean chicken breast), and I had no idea his theatrical talents have been featured on Friends, Saved By the Bell, Married With Children and Who's The Boss. You can check out this great thespian at Showboat Majestic through July 1. Tickets are about $20 per person.

Last week, we also had the pleasure of enjoying the Cincinnati Opera's Pagliacci and Gianni Schicchi. Much of the city's cultural community is buzzing about the company's next performance - Porgy and Bess takes the stage at Music Hall June 28 and 30, and July 6 and 8.

For tickets, ring the Cincinnati Opera Box office at 513-241-2742.

On Saturday, we headed to the Gateway Quarter for a late dinner. We've been hitting up Bakersfield almost once a week as of late (is there anything better than a few of their tacos and a pitcher of margaritas? At $22, that pitcher is one of the best deals in town), but we decided to cross the street and visit Senate for fancy franks (the all-beef variety) and truffle fries.

Senate is launching their Sunday brunch this coming weekend; if you intend on waiting it out for a table, I'd suggest killing time at 1215 Wine Bar and Coffee Lab. Their sparkling wine flight is a perfect treat for Sunday morning, and I can't get enough of their bread-and-oils plate (the truffle oil is especially delicious).

Tomorrow, I am heading to a shooting range with some fine folks from my office.

What? Me? Shooting guns? I know...

I'm going to try my hands at a .22, 9mm Glock, .45 Colt, and an Uzi. The guys have already told me to wear my cowboy boots, a pair of jeans, and a top that covers everything.

It turns out little bits of bullets go flying when you shoot, and the last thing you want is a hot piece of metal shooting down the front of your shirt.

Point made, and pictures to come.

And finally, this weekend brings with it a quick, one-night getaway for the sights and sounds of Big Money.

Luck be a lady on Friday night!


Kate's Random Musings by Kate the Great is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Liz, the Fresh Prince and Octomom

Today is all about royalty and old bags.

First up, a video that some might call a good summation of the Diamond Jubilee. Anglophiles and royal subjects might be a bit more defensive.

Watch with a G&T and a bit of good humor.




This second video is a riot. Cleverly edited, if you'd never seen British babysitter flick Mrs. Doubtfire before, you'd have no idea this movie is one of Robin Williams' comedies.




The Fresh Prince has a new version of Summertime. This clip is a preview; you can download the full version on iTunes on June 11.



Conan O'Brien takes a swipe at the reality television royalty Octomom, who has started stripping to promote her new baby making session sex tape.



Finally, Canadian SportCentre just might give Bob Herzog's Dance Party Friday a run for its money.

They're not old bags and they're not royalty, but they sure are dancing queens.




May your weekend kick ass and take names.


Kate's Random Musings by Kate the Great is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

The Dress

I've always been a ham for the cameras.

Local photographer Amy Elisabeth wanted to take some shots of my Lindsey Lusignolo gown, a blue bespoke piece I consigned for the annual Junior League gala.

I was just lucky to get to be the gal who posed in the dress.

Amy and Lindsey are two products of Bad Girl Ventures, the female-driven microlending effort that focuses on helping Cincinnati area startups. Founder Candace Klein is one of my dearest friends in the world, and I am happy to help any women going through that program.

And if that means putting on a couture gown and a pair of Manolo Blahniks, so be it.

Amy's photography is very high fashion (don't be surprised someday when you see her work in the likes of Vogue), and I was grateful she indulged my Danger High Voltage concept pictured above.

I've seen these wooden utility covers around Downtown Cincinnati for years and have long wanted someone to pose with one of them.

Amy had a variety of other ideas to execute, but the Music Hall concept was one of my favorites. Until this shoot, I had no idea how difficult it was for a model to execute a pose properly. When one is on the other end of the lens, it's easy to misunderstand the photographer's vision.

Camera in hand and beauty light blazing, Amy asked me to lean far down the steps at Music Hall - all while swinging my leg backward toward a forgotten shoe. I felt a bit like a contortionist, but the image is clear.

Cinderella does exist, if even for the sake of photography.

The Queen City is the real gem in these photos. Some of the other images capture Cincinnati's old beer brewing tradition; a few others celebrate the street I call home.

While I had to whip out the false eyelashes and blood red Chanel lip gloss for the shoot, my beloved city didn't have to do a thing.

Cincinnati always sparkles - and that's just the way I like her.


Kate's Random Musings by Kate the Great is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

The Brewery Tour

It's not every day you get to comb through the remnants of a brewery.

All of the railings featured beer barrel finials. 

For a couple years, I've volunteered during Bockfest as a tour guide - revealing some of the local lore tied to Over-the-Rhine's long tradition of brewing and gemutlichkeit.

The OtR Brewery District group has expanded its tour offerings for the summer, allowing people to see even more of the neighborhood's historic sites along Elm and McMicken streets.

 

I've seen a lot of the brewery sites around Vine Street, but I'd never seen the Clyffside and Jackson breweries. These buildings are magnificent and hint at how prolific Cincinnati's brewing industry was in the 1800s.

The tours run Saturday and Sundays through summer - departing from the Findlay Market biergarten at 1 pm.

See you there!


Kate's Random Musings by Kate the Great is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.