A few weeks ago, I posted a version of my email soliciting donations for Ride Cincinnati, a cycling event that raises funds for cancer research, education and care.
Here’s what I said back then:
And that’s never been more true.
More than 40 kind-hearted folks have supported my efforts. Family members. Friends from all walks of my life. College buddies. Radio pals. Ad agency colleagues. Former co-workers. Current co-workers. Friends of friends who have become friends. Neighbors. In-laws. Even a couple of outlaws (you know who you are!).
It all adds up. Thanks to their generosity, I’ve surpassed my fundraising goal.
That’s all well and good, but reaching my personal goal wasn’t the real goal. The goal is raising awareness of the great work that organizations like Cancer Care Advisors do. And yes, raising money to help the folks fighting cancer.
You’re giving money, yes. But you’re also giving hope. That’s priceless.
What goes around comes around… mile after mile.
Thanks!
(And if you haven’t donated yet and want to chip in to get me over $3,500, you can do so here.)
In the Robert Frost poem “The Mending Wall,” the narrator’s neighbor says “Good fences make good neighbors.”
But I say “Open porches make new friends” At least, that was the case this past Saturday as my daughter Leah and I attended a “Porchfest” event in the St. Anne’s Hill neighborhood of Dayton.
It’s a cool concept (especially for music lovers like my daughter and me): free music performances on different porches (and yards) all around the neighborhood.
Explore the neighborhood and support local music at this unique annual festival celebrating the richness and diversity of the Dayton music scene.
It’s not a new concept. The first one was in Ithaca, NY in 2007. But I’d never heard of it until my friend Dave mentioned it a few weeks ago.
Dayton Porchfest was founded in 2017, inspired by the original Porchfest started in 2007 in Ithaca, NY (www.porchfest.org) and Larchmere Porchfest in Cleveland (www.larchmereporchfest.org), which started in 2009. Today there are over 200 Porchfests throughout the United States and Canada. Dayton was the 94th.
They had musicians/bands slated for every hour, with several music genres represented.
Leah and I got there around 3 p.m. – we had just found a parking spot when the heavens opened and a summer downpour commenced. But that didn’t dampen our spirits (just our footwear). Once the rain let up, we caught up with my friend Dave and caught all or parts of several sets. Bluegrass. “folkedellic,” Indie rock, Americana, soul…
We would’ve had fun just exploring the neighborhood – but we never would’ve made the trek to Dayton and explored it without the lure of bands.
Good fences may make good neighbors, but I’ll pick “pickin'” on porches every time. Because nothing creates community quite like live music.
Editor’s note: Below is a slightly modified version of an email I sent out yesterday afternoon. Posting here in case any of my loyal readers (all three of them) weren’t on the distro list for the email… or in case anyone else stumbles across this post and decides to donate.
Writing is usually my happy place, but this is one I absolutely hate writing.
I hate it because I am asking you to donate to my Ride Cincinnati efforts when gas and grocery prices are taking a much bigger bite out of your wallet. Granted, raising funds for cancer research, education and care is a noble cause. But that’s of little solace when there’s “too much month at the end of the money” as the old country song goes.
I hate it because the reason behind the email is cancer, and cancer is pure evil. It has taken away people I love, and people you love. And other friends and family members are battling it right now.
And I dread it because it’s yet another painful reminder that my friend “LJ” is no longer with us. He was diagnosed with brain cancer in May of 2024. He fought the good fight. No one was braver. No one had a better attitude. But still, we lost him in November of last year.
I hate writing this, but I know in my heart I’ll wind up loving the outcome.
Because of your generosity – even in tough times.
Because it helps. Every damn dollar makes a difference.
Through our partnership with the Cincinnati Cancer Foundation (CCF), Ride Cincinnati fundraising supports local hospitals, nonprofits and community programs that are making a difference in the lives of cancer patients and their families.
And because it reminds me that life is beautiful, even when it’s way too short.
24 days from now, I’ll have had as many spins around this globe as LJ got (Lord willin’).
38 days from now, I’m going to spin my bike wheels for 30 miles (knees willin’), to pay tribute to LJ, and keep his memory alive, and to help other folks who are bravely battling cancer with his same strength and grace. What goes around, comes around.
Give if you can. No worries if you can’t. I still love you, and appreciate you.
Thanks!
LJ on the left, with his wife Patty, and our friends Sheila and Art, on a sunset cruise in Florida last fall. We knew it would probably be LJ’s last trip to the beach, a place he loved very much.
Another assignment for the holiday weekend, from Don’t Call It Art: “Get offline as much as possible. There’s so much input to be found in the real world outside of the internet. Go old school. Listen to radio shows. Browse the recently returned stacks at your local library. Buy weird old books at thrift shops. Visit a museum you’ve never been to. Find a good record store and chat up the clerks. Interact with real people in meatspace.”
That’s great homework (or rather outside-the-home work) for any weekend, not just holiday weekends.
Your smart phone is making you dumber. The apps are engineered to hook you in and drag you deeper down the well (or cesspool).
Get out. Tune in to what the real world has to offer. Rewire your brain. Find something different, something funky, something fun. And then, as Austin so eloquently puts it “interact with real people in meatspace.”
For the uninitiated:
Make the meatspace a meet space too. Do “social” instead of social media. Your life will feel so much richer for it.
The pixels and data centers and ones and zeros will get along just fine without you. And vice-versa.
If you’re in the Cincinnati area, here’s a reco for your assignment. On Tuesday I went to the inaugural “Lunch Club” at the Mercantile Library downtown.
I had no idea it was the first gathering until I got there and the host mentioned it. To be honest, I’m 50/50 on reading the Mercantile Library’s weekly emails (due to time constraints, not due to disinterest). But I happened to read the one promoting this event and signed up, despite my loner tendencies. That was mostly thanks to Austin Kleon’s encouragement. I met four fine folks, we had lively conversations, and I headed back to work energized.
That’s some pretty good meatspace activity, especially for a vegetarian.
I know you’re probably tired of hearing me yammer about some tiny “modern rock” radio station where I worked long, long ago.
Heck, that station has been off the air for 22 years.
It’s so old that it’s now considered “historical.”
Give it a rest already!
But here’s the thing. This past Saturday, the Butler County Historical Society had a 97X “Back to the Future of Rock & Roll” event.
More than one hundred people paid their hard-earned cash to hear more about the station from several folks who worked there: Steve “Bakerman” Baker, Dave Tellmann, Matt Sledge, former student co-producer Jen Dalton (now at Channel 12), and yours truly.
But the Q&A segment at the end was the best part of it, and helps explain why people would cough up cash to attend a history lecture. Because there weren’t that many questions, but there were plenty of testimonials from people in attendance.
“Such a big part of my life.”
“My husband came to Oxford from North Carolina for a job interview, and we moved because he heard 97X.”
“I met my husband at the 97X 10th anniversary concert.”
“The station changed my life.”
“The station saved my life.”
The station’s listenership was tiny. But its impact on those listeners was mighty. The connection was so much stronger than the weak signal. Because we gave listeners what they wanted (music they couldn’t hear anywhere else) and what all of us need (a sense of community).
It meant a lot then. It means even more now that it’s gone.
Here’s a photo of all the 97X alums who were there.
Jen Dalton was an unpaid college intern. The rest of us got a paycheck, but it was below-poverty wages. Yet I wouldn’t trade my time there for a million dollars. Not then, and not now. The people I met during my time there (co-workers and listeners alike) were solid gold.
We loved the music. We had fun playing it. We had free rein creatively – not just live, but also for commercials and promos and contests. And best of all, we knew we were sharing it with people who cared.
Good luck getting anything close to that from cookie cutter corporate radio stations.
It’s why Dave Tellmann and I keep publishing new episodes of our podcast about the station. (Listening links are here.)
I was listening to a different podcast this week where Erykah Badu was quoted as saying you experience two deaths: once when you pass away, and then later when your name is spoken for the last time.
It’s been 16 years and we’re still saying “97X” (with or without the Rainman “BAM!”).
This past Friday night, Milwaukee singer/songwriter Brett Newski played a free show in the lounge at the Southgate House in Newport, KY.
The music was great, but the crowd could best be described as “sparse.” However, there was a woman in the audience who knew the lyrics to every song Brett sang. She was mouthing along (not, it should be noted, singing along) to every tune. So much so that Brett commented on it from the stage – he was duly impressed.
After the show, that same woman and her husband talked to Brett at the merch booth, and the woman got a photo with him. Afterward, she was crying tears of joy. So of course, i had to put on my roving reporter hat and go up to the couple, and find out the backstory.
Actually, I just complimented her – said it was great to see someone so passionate about Brett’s music. But I did get the backstory – her husband likes discovering new artists, and makes mix CDs for his wife. A Brett Newski song was on one of them, and Meghan (with a “h”… I asked, as good reporters do) was hooked.
Great news for Meghan: Brett and his band will be back in town this summer, playing a house concert. My friend Jacqui (the OG Brett Newski superfan – she and her hubby Dave hosted him at her house for a concert, and now they offer him and his band free room and board and a complimentary breakfast whenever they roll through town) introduced me to the couple who will be hosting the summer show (all of us were at the Southgate show), and I passed along the ticket info to Meghan.
House concerts. Lounge shows. It’s not 20,000 plus at Madison Square Garden – but it doesn’t matter. Brett Newski played to an appreciative crowd (including people who turn their homes into concert venues and Quality Inns for him), and got to meet someone who truly loves his music. And Meghan got to meet the person who creates art that she adores. That sort of connection doesn’t fill anyone’s bank account, but it nourishes the soul.
On Sunday, a Philly band called Gladie played at the Northside Tavern.
The music was great, but the crowd could best be described as “sparse.”
However, there was an old man there who knew (most of) the lyrics to every song Gladie played, and was mouthing along (not singing along) right near the stage. And he got to talk to the band after the show and let them know how much he loves their music. You won’t find that at Madison Square Garden. And my ticket costs less than the service fees for most big shows.
Have you found your Newski? Your Gladie? It doesn’t have to be a musician. If there’s someone who creates art that nourishes your soul, let them know, and find a way to support them. Before you squander more sunsets…
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