Doc Thompson: Oh How The Mighty Have Fallen!

Ho-lay schadenfreude, mang.

My guess is a $50/show gig after Eric Deters at 1160am isn't going to pay his mortgage (or Medifast). So don't be surprised if the next time you hear Doc Thompson's voice he'll be asking if you prefer Extra Crispy or The Colonel's Original Recipe.

Early on in the brief tenure of Doc Tampon, I thought to myself this guy's never been burned -- I mean, everyone knows you can't chisel the fryers if you let them cool off past a certain point. But no, Thompson kept sniffing Glen Beck's jock:

www.jobswithkfc.com

TGI Friday's new Prog Rock soundtrack

"...in the twentieth century, that's all there is: jazz and rock-and-roll. The rest is term papers and advertising.”

-David Hickey from 1997's Air Guitar

It's the twenty-first century, jazz and rock & roll have been destroyed by Disney and hipsters, and this blog post is an example of all we have left: Hickey's terrifying prediction of term papers about advertising.

On June 6, 2011 I whined about the music of Iggy Pop being used to sell Chrysler sedans. Tonight I saw something even more disturbing: a TGI Friday's commercial set to the music of...Primus. Specifically, "John The Fisherman", from 1990's Frizzle Fry:

The album version of the song wasn't used in the commercial (said commercial has yet to appear on Youtube), but rather some cheesy rerecording by LA studio musicians. Again, how did the marketing people arrive at the use of this 22 year-old song? After months of research, did they find that John the Fisherman, and John the Fisherman alone, called the average Discovery Channel viewer to action?

[...]

Let me take this moment to thank Mark D_____ for introducing me to this band in the fall of 1992.

Western-Southern: Move the Arch St. Houses to The Banks!

The internet is percolating with rumors regarding Western-Southern's tower plans at Third & Broadway, currently site of the old orange parking garage with the spinning clock. Some claim that the company is planning a new office tower for the site taller than Queen City Square.

But if a new tower is built in place of the old orange garage, no doubt Western-Southern will want the land currently occupied by a trio of old town homes on Arch St. At present, those homes are not serving as residences -- in fact they were used as construction offices while Queen City Square was erected on the next block.

Instead of demolishing the houses, Western-Southern should move them to The Banks. They are hidden at present but could be given new life on the riverfront as homes, bars, or retail. And while they're at it, they need to find a new home for the spinning clock.

11,725

Tila Tequila's "Cincinnati" Song

Two or three years ago Tila Tequila channeled Dr. Rockso...and somehow all this commotion has something to do with our fair city:

I like all the boys and the girls that come to playI-I like eating birthday cake's and party everydayI like all the boys and the girls that come to playI-I like eating birthday cake's and party everyday
I'm choppin' it up on the way to the bathroomCh-choppin' ut up on the way to the ba-bathCh-choppin' it up on the way to the bathroomCh-choppin' it up on the way to the ba-bath
Cincinnati comin' backCincinnati comin' backCincinnati comin' backCome baby come uhCincinnati comin' backCincinnati comin' backCincinnati comin' backCome baby come uh
Some famous wanker walked up to meHe says do you like publicitySo I spit my tea up in his faceGet your bloody hands off my birthday cakeI dont know what you came here to doI'm waiting in the q tryin' to get to the uSo I can chop it up on the 1's and 2's1's and 2's1's and 2's
I'm choppin' it up on the way to the bathroomCh-choppin' ut up on the way to the ba-bathCh-choppin' it up on the way to the bathroomCh-choppin' it up on the way to the ba-bath
Cincinnati comin' back Cincinnati comin' backCincinnati comin' backCome baby come uhCincinnati comin' backCincinnati comin' backCincinnati comin' backCome baby come uh
Choppin' it upChoppin' it upChoppin' it upChoppin' it up
I like all the boys and the girls that come to playI like all the boys and the girls that come to playI like all the boys and the girls that come to playI like all the boys and the girls that come to play
Cincinnati comin' backCincinnati comin' backCincinnati comin' backCome baby come uhCincinnati comin' backCincinnati comin' backCincinnati comin' backCome baby come uh
Cincinnati comin' backCincinnati comin' backCincinnati comin' backCome baby come uh

The circumstances surrounding this recording are murky. I first learned of this track in November 2010, while scanning this thread. I spent a minute just now researching the matter, but found nothing new. Apparently "Cincinnati" didn't appear on either of Ms. Tequila's albums, nor was it ever released as a single. It is not available on iTunes, and I'm suspicious that the various scammy-looking sites that promise an MP3 download will mess up my computer. So it appears we're stuck with this "leaked" version, at least until a Tila Tequila box set is released just in time for Christmas 2019.

11,550

Is Meg White campaigning for Mitt Romney?

Walk with me, Suzy Lee:

Cincinnati Enquirer mistakes downtown Marietta for downtown Cincinnati!

On January 22, The Cincinnati Enquirer featured the 1937 Flood in its Forum section. On the back page, it ran this photo of "Downtown":

[Click Here for a larger version of this image]

Wondering what part of downtown we're looking at here? I was too -- the bridge is similar but not shaped quite like our old C&O Bridge. About two minutes of image searching for "Ohio River Bridge" on Google revealed the answer: it's the Williamstown-Marietta Bridge, 165 miles east of Cincinnati. What makes this mistake all the more inexcusable is that all of our bridges are visible from The Enquirer's offices.

Photos of Calhoun St. and McMillan St. in 2003

I took these photos of Calhoun St. and McMillan St. in 2003, right before everything was demolished. Work just began this week on University Square at the Loop (I can't remember what the project was originally called), about seven years behind schedule.

Model in a shop window:

More:

Prime Time (Vine & Calhoun):

Vine & McMillan, looking west:

Vine at Calhoun, looking south:

McMillan at Moerlein looking west (Pomodori's and the new Adriatico's are to the right of this frame):

Calhoun St. looking south near Hartshorn:

Inn the Wood & 227 Tavern:

Looking east from Hartshorn (the white cinder block building at right was Shirley's Laundromat, demolished in 2010 for the new Adriatico's):

Arby's and Hardee's opposite Calhoun Hall (Taco Bell was just to the right of this frame):

South side of Calhoun, east of Hartshorn:

Hardee's:

UPA under construction:

Digging UPA parking garage -- Wendy's and row houses are on south side of Calhoun St.:

More:

More:

More:

Swift Hall:

All 3 Sisters:

All 3 Sisters:

More:

Empire Theater emergency demolition (now a parking lot):

Former Empire Theater:

Old Riverfront Stadium skywalk:

Great American Ballpark before construction of the Reds Hall of Fame:

Ford factory renovation in Walnut Hills:

Freedom Center construction:

Wiedeman Hill in Newport:

10,820

Public Transportation is Communist!

The Morning After actually published this:

Streetcar is a Communist Idea

'Throughout this nation’s great history, we have fought many evil forces. The Axis powers in he 40′s, The USSR during the Cold War, The terrorists as of late. In Cincinnati, there is a new battle of good vs evil. That is why I am shocked that many in Cincinnati want to emulate the USSR and build a communist streetcar system.

Do not let this monstrosity be built. Our forefathers wouldn’t let it happen.

Clive Johnson

Franklin

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/letters/2011/05/09/streetcar-is-a-communist-idea/

Is this letter a joke? If so, some readers certainly didn't interpret it as such, since the UAW did successfully fight SORTA's 1979 and 1980 ballot issues by calling buses "communist".

And Reagan certainly thought public transportation was a joke:

I remember seeing this exact clip on the nightly news as a kid. The absence of such propaganda in the 20 years since George H.W. Bush left office is part of the reason why our country's young adults don't care so much about cars. But those naive conceptions of "communism" still motivate those who laugh at mention of our old subway and cheered the scrapping of our original streetcar system.