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Singer, Songwriter, Poet, Pop Icon, Cult Comic Performer

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thumb_heywoodHeywood Banks has been making annual visits to Dayton area comedy clubs for over 20 years.  I have to admit the first time I saw him, I was not amused.  But I will tell you, the more I saw him the more he grew on me.  You can’t watch 7 shows a week and not end up with one of his goofy songs stuck in your head. Over time I realized that he’s an amazing musician, a clever writer and a real independent spirit.  When in you stand in the back of the showroom and watch him lead a couple hundred beer drinkers singing a verse of 18 Wheels on a Big Rig and counting in roman numerals, you know you’ve seen an unusual talent.

images-127In the early days Stuart would  appear on stage in character as Heywood Banks, nerdy glasses taped together, a hideous plaid jacket and often mismatched socks and 2 different shoes.  It didn’t matter- the audience adored him.  Just about every show there would be an audience member or two dressed up like him.  And the crowd would clamor to hear their favorite songs. Later with the syndication of the Bob & Tom morning show on local radio, his popularity grew.

heywoodbanksHis songs often inspired by simple every day things, like the  Garden Weasel, Toast and Wiper Blades, became the mainstay of his shows and eventually the shows were less clever wordplay and more like live concerts.  Heywood’s character evolved and the nerd disappeared and the more eclectic Stuart Mitchell came center stage.  Now with hundreds of songs, he has maintained the squeaky clean format, proving that clever can outsell dick jokes, even on the comedy club circuit.  And just like any live concert, the crowds line up after the show to buy his cd’s, books and t-shirts, in what has lovingly been nicknamed Hey- Mart.

If you still aren’t familiar with the singer/songwriter/comic/cult icon I’m describing, then check out this Youtube clip of one of his fastest spreading songs, paying homage to the religious statue on I75:

Heywood’s Big Butter Jesus on YouTube

Heywood’s next local live appearance will be at Wiley’s Comedy Club May 5-7.  For more info call the club at 224-JOKE.

10?’s with KT of Bombshell Bakeshop

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KT dreamt of long hours baking instead of long hours in a cubicle. Luckily, with help from her husband Sam’s business-savvy brain and her own uncanny sweet tooth, they established KT’s Kitchen in June 2008. She and Sam were met with open arms at local events where they began selling yummy sweets. Soon after, KT heard Ana Pascal in Stranger than Fiction say, “I figured if I was going to make the world a better place I would do it with cookies.” This phrase stuck with her and was ultimately the catalyst for a change she needed. She decided to take a huge risk. In June of 2009 she quit her job in social services to bake full time. One year later, they created Bombshell Bake Shop as a new identity to better achieve their future plans for world cookie domination! In the meantime, they are busy providing delicious treats to local cafés and health food stores.  She only uses quality ingredients, such as organic flours and sugars. All sweets are vegan, which means they are free of egg, dairy, or any animal derived ingredient; including honey. Since they use no animal products or hydrogenated oils the sweets are always naturally cholesterol free!

What is your favorite ingredient to cook with?
thumbs_img_1042Oh, this is easy…SUGAR!  I love sugar in all forms- cane sugar, sucanat, muscovado brown sugar, turbinado, molasses, brown sugar and the list goes on!  In my world there is nothing better than sugar.  I know a lot of people think sugar is “bad” but I think anything in moderation is alright.
As far as baking/cooking there are a million things you can do with sugar.  You can turn sugar into just about any consistency and make things edible you would not necessarily think are edible!  When the purple violets started to bloom in the spring my mom and I would go pick a bunch to candy.  We used to make them using egg whites but it is just as good to use water/sugar.  They are super pretty as decoration but I used to like to just eat them!

What ingredient do you dread?
I don’t necessarily dread anything in particular just for being an ingredient, but there are some ingredients I dread cleaning up after using!  When there is even the slightest bit of static while I carve up a big block of chocolate you better believe those little chocolate shaving go ALL over the place like the iron shards in a Wooly Willy magnetic face.  I also despise washing bowls after making frosting.  I try to pawn that job off on my husband Sam as much as possible!

What’s your favorite dish to make?
I love to make and decorate cupcakes.  After a lot of decorating practice and ugly mishaps, I put a significant amount of time into making each one look and taste like a little piece of delicious art.  I get bored easily, but there are so many possibilities and new ways to challenge myself with cupcakes.

As far as cooking is concerned I love this dish my Aunt Nancy taught me how to make when I was a teenager.  We call it goddess tofu because it is made with Annie’s Goddess Dressing.  This recipe has made many a tofu-haters change their tune.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Cut the tofu into thin slices and squeeze as much water out of each piece as possible with a clean kitchen towel or paper towels.  (The key to good tofu texture is squeezing all the water out.)

Dip each slice in tamari or lite soy sauce.

Dredge the slice through nutritional yeast.

Do that with every piece and place on a non-stick foil lined, baking sheet.

Smear about 1-2 Tablespoons of Annie’s Goddess Dressing or Trader Joe’s Goddess Dressing (they are basically the same) onto each slice.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until the slices start to look browned.

Flip over each slice and smear with more Goddess Dressing.

Bake for another 15 or so minutes or until the slices are browned and almost crispy.

Serve with basmati rice or I really like Trader Joe’s brown jasmine rice.
What’s your favorite pig out food?
Salty, crispy french fries and chocolate ice cream.  Yes, I like them together.  Don’t judge me.  J
What restaurant, other than your own do you like to dine at in the Miami Valley?
SamAndKatieThis is a tough question, Sam and I love to eat out and we love to pretend we are food critics!  We started an “eating out” budget when we were married almost 7 years ago and every month without fail we go over budget.  Currently, we have been pretty obsessed with Siam Pad Thai on Wilmington- we have yet to be disappointed by anything there and we have ordered pretty much everything!  Pasha at the Greene has some amazing hummus and I love Tank’s for a good “My Way” grilled cheese.
What’s your best advice for home bakers?
Play music while you bake.  Crank it up, maybe even dance a little.
Preheat your oven then wait at least 10 minutes before putting anything in it.
Don’t be afraid to mess up, you will.  You will also get over it.

Get an oven thermometer and pay attention to it.

Use fresh ingredients.  Don’t ever bake with baking powder that belonged to your grandmother.  My dad has a tin can of McCormick nutmeg from the 1970’s.  Unless you are saving it for nostalgic reasons it is time to throw that bad boy away.


If you could invite any 4 guests to a dinner party who would they be and why?
I think most people would take this opportunity to choose guests who may dazzle a reader with their desire for stimulating, intellectual conversation.  Or choose pertinent historical figures that changed the world as we know it.  I, on the other hand, am not going to do this.

Tina Fey– she cracks me up.

Zooey Deschanel– Not only is she a vegan foodie but I have a major girl crush on her.  I would ask her to serenade us after dinner.

Isa Moskowitz of the post punk kitchen- To have the chance to cook/bake for her would make my heart a flutter.

Burt Reynolds– there is no other reason than my love for Burt Reynolds is true and as deep as the ocean.

Who do you look up to in the industry and why?
I worked with youth in various social services settings for about 8 years before I quit my job to finish my master’s degree and bake full time.  Awhile back I mentioned to my husband that I wanted to figure out a way to start a bakery where I could implement the “counselor” part of me.  Low and behold Elin Ross from my hometown of Frederick, MD starts this non-profit bakery called Cakes for Cause www.cakesforcause.org. She has a ton of experience in social services and she is a pastry chef.  I have been following her and her business closely.  I think she is a pretty cool lady, baker, youth-advocate and business woman.  I admire her on many levels.  I would love to start something like this in Dayton, but only time will tell.

I also adore and admire Natalie Slater of Bake and Destroy.  She describes her blog as a “food blog equivalent to a punch in the throat” and I concur.  She encourages me to be more creative, take risks, challenge myself and bake on my own terms.
What do you do in the Dayton region on a day off?
On a nice day off, I love to play outside!  There are so many awesome outdoor activities to get into in Dayton.   I LOVE going to the metro parks.  Sam and I try our best to find dog friendly activities so our dog, Lola, can join us.  Sam plays volleyball at Setters and Kettering Rec.  I just watch him play because I am awful at competitive sports.  If I feel like being pampered I get my hair done at Cherry Lee’s and get a massage from Stephanie Suriano at Touch of Gratitude.  When the weather outside is frightful we go out to eat!

Share a kitchen disaster, lucky break or other interesting story:
I am a klutz to say the least.  I drop and spill things constantly.  I have dropped an entire bowl of frosting on the floor, knocked over a table full of cookies, spilled a bag of powdered sugar and most recently I broke a fluorescent light bulb over a bowl of cookie dough.  Don’t worry I did not try to salvage any of these major blunders!

An interesting story: In June 2008 we did our first event at the Yellow Springs Street Fair.  We had no clue what we were doing.  It was a well orchestrated disaster to say the least.  Our main goal was to use this venue to see what people thought about our treats.  Friends and family told me my baked goods were great but I needed strangers to give me an idea of whether I should pursue this further.  We were there for 2 hours before anyone bought anything.  I decided to put out a few samples of energy bars.  A lady grabbed one and said “it needs more sugar.”  For a moment I was heartbroken.  Then I realized she thought it was a cookie and in that case, of course it needed to be sweeter!  The main lesson I learned from that was everyone has different tastes when it comes to baked goods and food in general.  I cannot please everybody.  There will be plenty of people who try our treats and won’t like them.  That is ok with me.  It is not because they are crap.  It is because everybody has their own idea of what is good.  I will admit some of the stuff we made for that first street fair was awful.  I have grown as a baker since then and I never want to stop growing.  The day you stop challenging yourself, trying new things, and taking risks in the kitchen is the day you should just stop.

Bonus Question:  Tell us about Bombshell’s commitment to the community:

Every month we donate 10% of our sales to a cause we support.  When we decided to do this, we made a list of local causes and this month its AIDS Resource Center Ohio.   For almost 6 years I did groups on STD/STI and HIV/AIDS prevention.  The first couple years I had people from ARC as guest speakers.  The youth and I always enjoyed their presentations.  I believe ARC does amazing work in the community.  This is just a small way of saying thank you.

Where to find Bombshell Baked Goods:

Where to Buy Locally

Healthy Alternative
8258 North Main Street
Dayton, Ohio 45415

Healthy Alternative-Beavercreek
2235 N Fairfield Rd
Dayton, OH 45431

The Ohio Coffee Company
46 W. Fifth Street at Ludlow
Dayton, OH 45406

The Sidebar (formerly Pacchia)
410 E. 5th Street
Dayton, OH 45402

Meet the faces of Generation Dayton

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A program of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, Generation Dayton encourages talented young professionals who live and work in the Dayton region to meet, network, learn, grow and establish themselves as integral components in the future success of the region.  Each month we’ll introduce you to one of their members with a spotlight interview.  So meet our second:

From The Unemployment Line To The Red Carpet

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images-7Last December when the last truck rolled down the assembly line in Moraine, many of the plant workers assisted in a local documentary about the closing.  Local filmmakers Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert befriended a group of employees, following them in the last days of the plant and even taught some of them how to work cameras, which they snuck into work to document the last days on the assembly line.

Little did they know then, how that story would earn them a trip to Hollywood.  But this weekend, 4 of the former automakers will attend the 82nd Academy Awards in Los Angeles.  Paul “Popeye” Hurst, Kim Clay, Kate Geiger and Kathy Day will all head out to LA to celebrate the nomination of The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant, which is up in the documentary short category.

Last Truck Tuxedos

As part of the Cinderella story, Price Brothers donated tuxes to outfit both Clay and Popeye, while the women bought new dresses with funds raised by friends. A  donor “who would prefer to remain anonymous” (my guess- a major cable network) is footing the travel expenses for the foursome.

And while the trip is certainly a treat, all four of the former GM workers have said they ‘d rather be back at work.  None of the 4 have found full time jobs.

Filmmakers Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar, while too modest to admit it, were responsible for convincing HBO to lobby for making the trip to  the awards show possible for these subjects of the film.  It’s that rare sense of compassion these filmmakers have, that built the trust in their subjects in the first place, which made the film so moving and real.  Whether they come home with the coveted Oscar statue or not, the experience these former GM workers will have this weekend are sure to be once in a lifetime moments!

oscargoestoCan’t make the trip to LA to celebrate? Then join FilmDayton for an Oscar Watch party at Geez Pub & Grill on Far Hills Drive in Kettering.  Funds raised will support the local nonprofit who’s mission is to foster the growth of our regional film industry and audience.  The party begins at 7pm and a buffet of pizza, pasta, chicken wings and more are included in the $18 ticket price.  You can buy your tickets online or at the event.  There will be a silent auction for movie memorabilia, including a DVD copy of Last Truck, donated by Steve & Julia.

South Park Sculptor’s Work on Permanent Display at Airport

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stokerrailingLocal metal sculptor, Hamilton Dixon, recently unveiled his latest public railing installation in the new Boston Stoker Coffee shop, located in the lobby of the Dayton International Airport.

Dixon, creator of the Dayton Art Institute railing, explored a new dimension with this railing fabrication, producing an outcome that is both fluid and multi-dimensional. The railing itself runs 30 feet in length, and it swoops and bows at a variety of heights and depths, complete with hand-forged interior components that seem to reflect an “Earth meets Sky” theme.

According to Dixon, the inspiration for this design came primarily from Don Dean of Boston Stoker, who makes a point of celebrating the local artists community. “I appreciate the opportunity that Boston Stoker has given me to have my work seen by so many people arriving to and departing from the Dayton airport, “ said Dixon.

HamiltonsculptsThe forging process used by Dixon is similar to that of an old-world blacksmith.  He begins his process with sticks of mild steel bar, either squared or round, then places them in a forge until they are red-hot.  He then manually removes the heated stick, and with hammer and anvil, hand-forges the steel into its intended shape.  Each and every element of this one-of-a-kind railing was hand-forged by the artist.

Dixon has been sculpting steel as an art form for 20 years. He began working with metal as a welder on an offshore oilrig in the 1980’s. He then attended Turley Forge School in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he learned basic techniques in forging steel, and in 1991 he relocated to Dayton, were he lives with his family in the historic South Park neighborhood.

He has produced a wide range of public art, installed throughout the Miami Valley; Dayton Art Institute Rotunda, Serenity Pines (University of Dayton), Aids Resource Center Kuntz Building, Cooper Loft Lobby, Kettering Delco Park, as well as private installations around Dayton and throughout the U.S.  For additional information about the artist and his other installations in the Dayton area, go to www.hamiltondixon.com.

ham'sbracletTo celebrate this most recent installation, Dixon has produced a line of limited edition, commemorative bracelet, which is currently on display at the Airport Boston Stoker. Bracelet is made of pure, solid, sterling silver,
hand-hammered by artist himself, numbered and signed for $180.  Purchase inquiries can be made by calling the  artists’s studio 228-3555.

The railing at the Dayton International Airport is a permanent installation and can be seen anytime, preferably with a hot latte in hand.

Can you say, “Bike Friendly Dayton!”

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couteousmassIf you haven’t notice by now, cycling is a huge passion of mine, as is supporting the City of Dayton becoming a more bike friendly community.  I’m sure you’ve noticed the bike lane stripping, signage, events and construction going on around the city and are hopefully ready for more to come.  Most of these efforts are products of the BikeWalkDayton Team.

The BikeWalkDayton team is lead by Commissioner Nan Whaley and is comprised of City of Dayton Commission Staff, Police Dept., Planners, Engineers, and outside organizations such as Five Rivers MetroParks, Miami Conservancy District, and Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission.  Their mission is to create a more liveable, walkable and of course, bikeable city.

One current project of the team is creating a city wide bike map detailing trails, lanes, and on road suggested routes.  The map is still a work in progress but the BikeWalkDayton team is interested in soliciting your feedback and they asked the Outdoor Evangelist to help them do it.   Download the map here

If you care about the future of our community, want to be able to more safely walk and ride your bike to work and around Dayton then here is your chance to chime in.

Please take a moment to look over the map and consider a few of these questions.

  • Is it user friendly?
  • What other physical info is necessary (i.e. places of interest, cycling obstacles, etc.)?
  • What bike infrastructure should be shown?
  • What information is important to have on the reverse side of the map (rules of the road, traffic laws, bike shop locations, etc)?

After you are done commenting on the map, get your butt in the saddle and out on the streets of Dayton.  The more bikes on the road the safer it is!

Ride Well!

Photo Credit – Courteous Mass Facebook page

10 ?’s with Chef Jenn DiSanto

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6Sometimes you just get a feeling about people.  When I emailed Chef DiSanto to set up this interview she was in Atlanta, visiting with her ill father, yet took the time to send me a rather amusing email about how we could do the interview as she was driving home in the car with her little ones, but that it might be better to wait.  No problem, so we set it up at her Centerville kitchen and she asked me what my favorite foods were.  Of course anyone who knows me can answer this- CHOCOLATE!

I arrived on a snowy morning to her office at The Easy Way Out and Chef greeted me graciously and we headed back to her kitchen, which was spotless and well organized.   We made the usual getting to know you chit chat and in no time at all I was charmed.  And then she went to the cooler to pull out a batter she’d made so it could cook while we talked.  A molten chocolate lava cake-woo hoo-she knows how to please! Of course, as we got to question 2 and her dread of baking I felt pretty guilty- she’d done what she hated most, just to make a good impression on me!

A classically trained chef, she ran her own catering business in Connecticut, then moved to Europe and then came to Dayton about 3 years ago (you can read her official bio here).  She’s a guerrilla marketer, who started her current business by talking to total strangers about her passion and skill for making good food.  And having spent just a couple hours with her, it’s easy to see why she’s making such a big impression on folks, in such a short time in the region.

As we went through the questions over a spread of bleu cheese stuffed figs with balsamic vinaigrette, marinated mushrooms, shortbread cookies and chips with her own special salsa (which by the way was so flavorful and she’ll soon be selling it commercially),  it was so easy to feel Chef Jenn’s passion for food and cooking.  Right in the middle of a question, she’d sit in anticipation as I bit into a taste and wait and watch for my reaction.  She genuinely wanted me to get as much pleasure out of eating the food as she gets from cooking it. And I did!

She told me the story of how she ended up teaching at Dorothy Lane Market School of Cooking– she was ordering fish at the seafood counter, and as a true gourmet cook, wanted it whole- head and all.  A gentleman walked by, heard her talking and asked if she was a chef.  I have to believe he too was blown away by her enthusiasm for great, fresh ingredients because he turned out to be a DLM big wig and just a couple short weeks later she was teaching her first class.  Now she teaches 5 or 6 a month, and be warned, they sell out quickly. She teaches, caters events, prepares gourmet meals for you to purchase  and eventually, when her children are older, she’ll have a full service shop where you can pick out all your ingredients and she’ll whip them into a fabulous, mouth watering menu.

We laughed and talked so much, I felt guilty for taking up so much of her time.  But not so guilty I didn’t enjoy my chocolate cake!  Hope you get the warm feeling I got meeting Chef Jenn when you read this:

What is your favorite ingredient to cook with?
There are so many I love! Saffron, truffles, fresh morels, tomatoes, olives, smoked paprika, really, really good olive oil…so many more I love, but I’ll stop here. Oh, and fresh herbs!

What ingredient do you dread?
I don’t really dread an ingredient, so much but I don’t enjoy precise baking with complicated recipes. I will do it when I have to but I don’t love it. I do however love baking when it comes to breads and foccacias as they give you a little more freedom.

Chef Jenn plating up the bluecheese figs with balsamic vinagrette she made me.

Chef Jenn plating up some of the goodies she made for me during our interview.

What’s your favorite dish to make?
So many tapas dishes I could not begin to mention them all-it’s my favorite type of meal to cook and my favorite way to eat…small tastes of big flavors. If I had to pick a bigger dish I would say paella because it really is an art to me or osso bucco because I just love braised dishes. Braising is really all about creating a relationship with food. You combine flavors, it’s a slow cooking method that tenderizes the meat and it simmers and the smells flirt with you, building you up for the big taste finish.

What’s your favorite pig out food?
Is wine a food? Ok, I guess I would have to say pizza or really good chewy bread with great quality herb butter…and wines of course. I’m really into Spanish wines lately- I like really hearty full bodies reds with lots of tannins.
I’m not a wine snob I just like good wine!

What restaurant, other than your own do you like to dine at in the Miami Valley?
I love Meadowlark, Rue Dumaine, The Winds, El Meson to name a few. Oh yeah and Amelia’s Bistro in Bellbrook and Pasha Grille at The Greene.

What’s your best advice for home chefs?
Don’t get so caught up in a recipe-it is merely a guideline-at least in cooking! Relax, have fun and try new things. Also, always start with the best ingredients to end with a great dish. Also if you are making yourself crazy trying to impress a dinner guest, they they may not really be a friend…

If you could invite any 4 guests to a dinner party who would they be and why?
As you can see there is a theme here…I can’t limit my answers…
First would be my husband, Jim, 4 year old daughter Eva and 2 year old son Max…but my kids wouldn’t be picky eaters at this dinner party. I would also always love to have dinner with my mother and father and six sisters anytime-great food was always a way of life for us growing up. I would also love to have dinner with Julia Child, but what chef wouldn’t? I would also love to have dinner with Shirley O. Corriher (author and food scientist)- oh the stories she has and the knowledge she has is amazing to me. Plus she is so funny and down to earth.

Who do you look up to in the industry and why?
Again…so many and I truly believe that you can learn from anyone and everyone.  But here are a few:
Alice Waters for how she pioneered the importance of locally grown fresh food
Julia Child-again what chef- especially female chef-doesn’t look up to her?
Jose Andres who master the art of tapas beautifully everyday
and locally Chef Wiley form Meadowlark for running a great restaurant with great food and just being a great person.  Chef Anne Kearney from Rue Dumaine for being so incredibly talented, passionate and gracious all at the same time. Chef Carrie Walters the corporate chef at DLM for being so passionate about food and bringing it to life so beautifully in a more challenging type of food service-dishes that are not made to order.. Also any of the gang at DLM-The Mayne family (who own Dorothy Lane Market) is so passionate about food and this translates so beautifully through all of their employees to the customers- I love to shop there!

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Chef Jenn, Eva and Max

What do you do in the Miami Valley on a day off?
Spend time with my family. We absolutely love all the free parks in the Miami Valley. It’s one of the things that really made us love Dayton. After being in Europe where you pay for everything, even to pee, it’s amazing the abundance of open green space. We love to spend a day in Yellow Springs and at Young’s Jersey Dairy. The Boonshoft Museum has also been a wonderful place to explore with my kids.

Share a kitchen disaster, lucky break or other interesting story:

We all have a kitchen disaster story but I am pretty good about recovering, picking myself back up and laughing it off.  There was the time I catered for surprise birthday party for a client.  He said there would be about 50 people so we planned the menu to do tapas and then paella for the main meal.  Then a few days before the party, he called and said everyone was so exited about the concept of the party they all decided to rsvp so now the count was up to well over 100.  Ok-no problem, you have to be flexible in catering.  This was to be set outside but I only had an our after he got his wife out of the house to set up…the bar, the tables, the buffet tables for the tapas and burners foteh 5 large paella pans that I would be using.  He didn’t want to have a tent because his wife would obviously figure out something was happening.  Mission accomplished on time and the client was thrilled, but as I was cooking paella out of nowhere it started to rain.  One of my assistants very politely asked if we should postpone or move into the garage, but I was forming the perfect crust on the paella, so we held umbrellas over the paella to keep it protected, while I got completely soaked in my chef whites.  Just as the paella was ready, the rain stopped the guests came back outside and enjoyed the meal.  The guest had a blast, thoroughly enjoyed the party and I had a great laugh!

And of course as I left Chef Jenn’s kitchen that snowy day, she chased me out to the car with one more chocolate dessert for later.  And that reinforced that first feeling I had about her- this lady knows how to charm anyone, and she’s real!


Future of Mountain Biking in Dayton

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DSC_0353What are the first things that come to mind when you think of mountain biking?  Is it teenagers with their hair on fire, X Games extreme athletes in motocross protective padding, or another great way to exercise and enjoy the great outdoors?

Just five to ten years ago most people in the Dayton region would have said flaming haired, pot smoking teenagers and extreme athletes.  The culture has changed, for the better IMHO, so much that recreational activities like mountain biking are being included in regional master planning efforts by organizations such as Five Rivers MetroParks and incorporated into the strategy of the Greater Downtown Dayton Plan.

In September, 2007, Five Rivers MetroParks opened up MoMBA, which stands for MetroParks Mountain Biking Area.  This facility was envisioned as a sustainably designed trail system to attract a new user base to MetroParks and provide another way to connect people to nature, which is part of MetroParks’ mission.

According to my first hand observations, the facility has been a success.  Yes, there are a few teenagers on bmx bikes with no helmets occasionally taking to the trailhead but the typical rider at MoMBA by no means fits that stereotype.   On any given day you will see numerous cars in the parking lot, middle age professionals, college students, grey hairs on hybrid bikes, and families out riding the sweet single track.  One could speculate why this is, I would suggest the proximity to local neighborhoods, wide variety of difficulty levels and experiences, and mountain biking is just fun.

Last fall MetroParks held a series of meetings to discuss future plans to expand the core area and develop a more comprehensive masterplan that provides the necessary amenities and increased riding opportunities for all ages to truly create a destination level facility.  The link below details the plan and lists what each stage of the plan will entail.  Word on the street is that the purchase of an adjacent quarry property is in discussion as we speak.  The expansion of the facility would truly put MoMBAon the map and provide opportunities for advanced riders that cannot be found anywhere in the Midwest.  Check out the plans for yourself and keep an eye out for updates on the quarry.  http://www.metroparks.org/documents/recreation/2009-12-16_MoMBA_master_plan.pdf

Click here for more information about MoMBA.   MetroParks hosts numerous programs, events, demos, and group rides throughout the year so Get Out and Ride!

ColumbusUnderground.com

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DaytonMostMetro.com began in August 2006 as a grassroots site aimed at promoting the urban core of Dayton – from the perspective of those who actually live there (starting with me).  At the time, the Downtown Dayton Partnership had a very dated and boring website that only focused on the Central Business District (which has since been upgraded and now includes the Oregon District), and there didn’t seem to be a good site that people could find info on venues and events in the downtown area.

I got the idea for DMM when living part time in the German Village neighborhood of Columbus (their version of the residential part of the Oregon District).  In researching Columbus I stumbled upon ColumbusRetroMetro.com (now defunct) and was impressed with the interactive maps and a ton of good info that made it easy for an outsider to explore the urban core of Columbus.  I eventually met the founder Paul Bonneville and at that time we talked about possibly creating DaytonRetroMetro.com using his database and interface structure.  He was very busy with keeping up with his own site and city though and I soon made the decision to create my own site for Dayton, and DMM was born.  At that time, DMM was very similar to ColumbusRetroMetro with neighborhood sections, maps and blogs.

ColumbusUnderground-picture373A couple of years into it with a few guest contributors that came and went and the addition of an online forum for open free-flow conversation, I overhauled the site and with the help of a group of volunteers from updayton we transformed DMM into more of an online magazine.  Much of our focus remains on the urban core but the site no longer has geographic boundaries as we cover things happening all over the Dayton Region.  This time, it was another well established Columbus site that served as inspiration:  ColumbusUnderground.com.  This site was created by Walker Evans and has been around for nine years, growing into a true community site focused on all things Columbus.  If you want to learn more about our larger neighbor city to the east, I highly recommend ColumbusUnderground.com.  This is a great resource that definitely has a finger on the pulse of Columbus, and from the video below it looks like it continues to grow.

As for DMM – we too will continue to grow with more contributors and more stories about things happening everywhere in and around Dayton.  And if you have suggestions as to how to make our site better, we want to hear from you.  Just like ColumbusUnderground.com is to Columbus, we want DMM to be the community resource for the Dayton Region.

(Thanks to Seth from For The Love Of Dayton who posted the video link on a Esrati.com post featuring DMM)

This Dayton Life: A Tapestry of Stories

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The Neighborhood
By Zet Arcilla

You’ve been there for me
When I lost the woman I had
Dedicated my life to.
When I was in pain and sorrow
When I lost my hope
You’ve been there for me
When I said, “I do.”
When there’s no purpose in my living
You’ve been there for me.
When I went away
And stayed away so long
You’ve been there for me.
I returned to you,
My lovely city.
You’ve been there for me.

Beautiful, isn’t it?

This poem was written by Stivers School for the Arts student, Zet Arcilla, as part of a Rebuilding Together Dayton service project called This Dayton Life.

After my first DaytonMostMetro post, I was contacted by Caitlin Closser, AmeriCorps Outreach Coordinator with Rebuilding Together Dayton. I admit I was unfamiliar with the program, but one thing I love about Dayton is that it’s big enough to have programs like Rebuilding Together Dayton, but small enough that they don’t hesitate to connect with you.

nrd_westwoodRebuilding Together provides home repair services to local residents. The emphasis is on the elderly and disabled, but low-income homeowners might qualify as well. The services can be simple: installing a GFCI outlet to accommodate complex medical equipment in the home of a special needs baby. That might cost up to $100.00 per unit to install, and typically they are only installed around sinks- sources of water- so that’s about $300.00 for two in the kitchen and one in the bathroom, and it’s not complicated. But it is necessary. And for some families, $300.00 represents difficult situation.

Fred Dewinter
By Brett Bower and Jordan Thompson

Every person has his story. Some are more solemn than others, but all are stories, just the same. As Fred was speaking, we began to form an image of what his personality was like. He speaks with an unusual accent that is part southern and part urban, which we think is awesome. He’s humble and straightforward. Although he isn’t really the talkative type, he’s ready to tell his story.

Fred Dewinter has lived in Dayton for over 20 years, and he says that this city has been, for the most part, good to him. “I like Dayton a lot; it’s been good to me and my loved ones,” he stated. He said that he had seen a lot of changes over the last 18 years. Even though he didn’t elaborate, we understood a couple of the changes that he had implied, for example, many of Dayton’s jobs leaving. Then we asked him to name his favorite thing about Dayton. Fred told us that Daytonians are always willing to help out a person in need. We agreed with Fred when he said this, and we also feel that this is one of the most valued aspects about Dayton. …

westwood02Services might be extensive. They recently rebuilt a front porch and completed extensive roof repairs to a home that was damaged during Hurricane Ike. A complicated and expensive project that many of us would find daunting, even with insurance. For some, it’s truly an impossible situation.

That’s technically what Rebuilding Together Dayton does, but the real story here is in the lives that have changed because of the work, and Caitlin went to the creative writing class at Stivers to have students tell the stories of homeowners who have been helped by Rebuilding Together.

Margaret Harden
by Bryan Manger and Francesca Snyder

“I’ve never been one to conform . . . living in the city is absolutely refreshing,” Margaret Harden, who goes by “Charlie,” said about moving to Dayton from the suburbs. Charlie has lived in the Dayton area for 30 years and in the historic district of the city for 15. She has seen the neighborhood “evolve a lot” through her years there and has found it “interesting to watch.” Charlie’s home was chosen for the Christmas in April project. Seventy people, everyone from the Girl Scouts to the Air Force, from Miami Valley Hospital employees to interior designers, came around to help work on her two-story Victorian. “It was absolutely amazing . . . like lots of ants all over my house,” she said, her face lighting up at the memory. Since the project, she’s been “looking for a way to help, give something back”…

You have to wonder how these student’s lives will be enriched forever by this simple storytelling project- a direct and intimate understanding that “Everyone has a story, every story has value.” You are invited to share This Dayton Life and “an evening of storytelling” when the Stivers students present the homeowners with the completed This Dayton Life project:

The Homeowner’s Story
Everyone has a story, every story has value.

We brought together a group of Rebuilding Together Dayton’s past homeowners and a class of talented Creative Writing students from Stivers School for the Arts. The students conducted interviews then wrote stories about the people they met. The result of these meetings is a rich tapestry of living history from some of the cornerstones of Dayton’s neighborhoods.

Join us for an evening of storytelling as the students present these incredible stories to the homeowners for the first time.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 6:00 pm
First Baptist Church of Dayton

Homes tell stories. What’s yours?

Contact Rebuilding Together Dayton, to find out how you can participate.

Photos: Rebuilding Together Dayton. Used with permission.

Historic Holiday Home Tours

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It’s Christmas Time in the city!  Last week, Downtown Dayton had their annual Holiday Festival that included the popular tree lighting.  And over the next couple weekends, two three of Dayton’s most popular historic districts will be presenting their own holiday home tours.  If you have ever wanted to see some beautifully restored historic homes, there is no better time than around the holidays – and these tours give you an opportunity to see several.

sptourFirst up this coming Saturday December 5 is the 2009 Historic South Park Holiday Home Tour.  Eleven homes will dazzle and delight, including grand Queen Annes, quaint cottages, and majestic Victorians. Carolers in Victorian garb will fill you with memories of Decembers past.

This self- guided tour begins Saturday at 12N and ends at 7PM. (The ticket window will close at 5PM.) Cost is $10 in advance and $15 the day of the tour.  Admission price includes a sumptuous dessert buffet at the beginning of the tour. Plan to spend two hours enjoying the sights.

To reserve tickets, please visit www.historicsouthpark.org or call (937) 603-4893. (Tickets will not be mailed.) On Saturday, pick up your tickets and begin your tour from Hope Lutheran Church, 500 Hickory Street. (Turn west off Wayne Avenue onto Hickory. Enter through the church parking lot.) Park free at Hope and Emerson Academy across the street. A shuttle will be available to transport guests back to the parking lots from the most distant home.  Check out the WDTN Bucher’s Beat story with our good friends Bill & Amy, whose house is on the tour:

Next, Dayton’s Oldest Historic District would like to invite you to be part of its annual Holiday Candlelight Tour on December 7, 8, and 9.  A liveried guide will escort you as you tour beautifully decorated historic homes.  The last home on the tour will offer you Victorian Sweets, Champagne Punch and Coffee.  Four of the District’s finest restaurants are participating in a dinner/tour option.  They are: Jays Seafood; Thai 9; Coco’s Bistro and Pacchia.  Check out their website for more details.

Then the following weekend on December 11-13 head over to St. Anne’s Hill for “A Dickens of a Christmas in St. Anne’s Hill” with guided tours of some of Dayton’s most beautiful historic homes. The tours are led Dickens2009by guides costumed in period dress and feature live entertainment followed by a visit to the beautiful homes in the historic St. Anne’s Hill neighborhood, each decorated for the season.  The tours will conclude with a delicious old-fashioned dessert and a visit to the gift shop.

Tours begin every half hour, starting from 4:30-8:00 p.m. on Friday, December 11th; 1:30-8:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 12th; and 1:30-6:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 13th. Tours last approximately two to three hours, including entertainment, home tours, and dessert. Tickets this year are $18 each, and may now be ordered online at www.stanneshill.org. Due to the popularity of the event, the schedule of tours sells out quickly and advance tickets are required.

The 2009 tour will begin at the High Street Gallery, located at 48 High Street.  The tour will conclude with a tour of the popular Bossler Mansion, a landmark structure built in 1869.  This magnificent home is considered Dayton’s best example of Second Empire architecture.  Guests can snack on a classic dessert, browse Victoria’s Parlor Gift Shoppe, walk by the newly renovated Stivers School for the Arts, and enjoy a view of Downtown Dayton.

“A Dickens of a Christmas In St. Anne’s Hill” is the Miami Valley’s oldest continuously running historic home tour, having debuted in 1983.  Proceeds from the tour will benefit the St. Anne’s Hill Neighborhood Association, and are used to maintain the neighborhood’s historic character.

So which tour do you plan to take?  Of course, you can always do both!

Things To Do In Dayton (11/20 – 11/22)

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Dayton Featured EventsTime for this week’s installment of Things To Do In Dayton from our DMM Event Calendar…

On Friday 11/20 there are some great events happening – the closing reception for HORIZON at Space 11 (Excelsior building in the OD) and 3rd Friday Fling in the Springs in Downtown Yellow Springs are a couple of good bets.  Corpus Christi is showing at the Dayton Playhouse, and it has gotten RAVE reviews (as well as it share of protesters!).  And yes, even though Thanksgiving isn’t until next week, that doesn’t stop those crazy folks down in Springboro from starting the Christmas season early – check out the weekend kickoff of the Springboro Christmas Festival!

Next up on Saturday 11/21 – more art in YS at the The 2009 28th Annual Nature Arts and Crafts Show at Glen Helen.  Or you can go be a mall walker for a good cause at the Dayton Mall for the Give Thanks. Walk. which helps out St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.  And for you Bob & Tom fans – they’ll be in Downtown Dayton for the Bob & Tom Comedy All Stars show at the Victoria Theater.

Finally on Sunday 11/22 check out Dayton’s new hockey team – Dayton Gems Hockey vs Flint at Hara Arena.  And then some jazz action, with Jason Ricci & New Blood at Gilly’s and Jazz Jam w/Kenny Baccus On Organ at Jazz Central.  Or just head back down south of town and get more of your Springboro Christmas Festival!

These are just some featured events from the DMM Calendar – go over there for even more things happening this week and beyond. And if you have an event you’d like to promote or just want to help us become the number one event calendar in the Dayton Region then be sure to submit your events.

Cheers!

Dayton Homes Tell Stories: What’s Yours?

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Historic Dayton Home When Bill Pote and I sat down to discuss what insight I might be able to share with the Dayton MostMetro community, I immediately said, “Stories”.

I’m a Realtor. I am privy to the most intimate details of my client’s lives, and while I am forbidden from sharing some of those stories- Realtors work under strict confidentiality rules- I can share other stories.

Real estate tells stories, homes tell stories, land tells stories. It is said that Realtors don’t sell homes, the home sells itself. When we show a home to a buyer, they love it or hate it, but real estate agents cannot talk someone into, or “sell” someone on purchasing a home that they hate. It just doesn’t happen, and I believe that in many cases, it’s because of the story the home is telling the buyers.

When we walk into a home, we get a “feeling”, don’t we? We are responding to the life, and lives, shared within those walls. Was the home cared for? Was it abused? Was it neglected? Did a happy family live there and did they simply grow out of the home? Did a happy family live there until they were foreclosed upon? You can tell when you walk into a home how the home was treated, and that’s often what we respond to when we choose a home. We have a visceral reaction to the story the home is telling us.

I’m a Dayton native. My mother and father are proud Stivers alumni. Mom grew up in the Oregon District “before it was the Oregon District” as she likes to remind me. It was in the 40’s and 50’s and my great-grandmother owned a small neighborhood store, and my mom and grandmother Rose lived in an apartment over Grannie’s Store.

My dad tells the story of making his first visit to Mom’s apartment. Granny Rose had made some soup and offered Dad a bowl. When Dad looked into the bowl, he saw it was only half full. “Stingy” he thinks to himself, until he sat down at the table. The floor was so slanted, and thus the table, that the soup nearly spilled out of the bowl. “Stingy” quickly became “smart, and a good cook to boot!”

I had a client ask me to show them a property in the Oregon District, and by weird coincidence it was Grannie’s Store, made into a 2-unit, the store was now an apartment. I asked my client if he minded if I piggy-backed a brief showing for my mom. She met me there and we stood in her old block while she told me stories about throwing water balloons off the roof of Grannie’s first store. She stood in the middle of the street and showed me where her best neighborhood pal lived and how they both got grounded once for some infraction, and had an 8 o’clock curfew. She remembered how they stood “right here in the street and talked” until one minute before curfew, and took off running for their homes. “The people who lived in this home had wonderful parties! Oh look what they did to the Store! The meat locker was here… They’ve added a closet- that used to be stairs…” Story after story was contained in this home, in this block, in this neighborhood.

Today in the City of Dayton, there is a battle over real estate stories. As we demolish our homes, the stories go with them. The neighbors look at the now-vacant lot and shake their heads and remember the stories of the families who lived there. Happy and sad, life-altering stories are demolished along with the bricks and mortar. We cringe at shiny new infill housing. It’s not the same, is it? Where are stories that match the rest of the neighborhood? We have to make a leap of faith that the lot itself can be nurtured into new life and will someday have new stories tell, and that those stories will be an integral part of the future of Dayton, as the stories that came down along with the home, were an integral part of Dayton’s past.

Real estate tells stories. I’m a Realtor and I’m so honored to be given the chance to share some Dayton stories in this space, and my hope is that you will be enticed into sharing your stories with us.

WSU declares Nov 16th Innovation Day

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i_doicalloutInnovation is a new way of doing something that results in improved value or quality. It employs “out-of-the-box” thinking to generate positive changes in thinking, products, processes, organizations, and society. It makes creative thinking a useful reality.

Wright State University is embracing innovation  by declaring Mon, Nov 16th as the Day of Innovation.  They’ll start the day off with a news conference at 10:30am then invite both students and the community to join them, either in person or online, to spend the day defining issues that they will work on to help improve the Miami Valley.

Learn more at the website for the Day of Innovation.

Virtual Brainstorming Sessions
Monday, November 16, 2009
11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

We’ll pose questions, tackle problems, and toss around ideas and possible solutions for issues affecting our region. Get involved from your own desktop! Or join us on campus at one of the brainstorming kiosks available in the Student Union Atrium.

11 a.m.–1 p.m. Technology
1–2 p.m. Education
2–3 p.m. Health Care
3–4 p.m. Quality of Life

Student Union
Virtual Brainstorming Sessions will be held in the Student Union Atrium and online.

The Brainstorming will be followed up by a seminar with:

Peter Hancock
Expert on human-technology relations

November 16, 2009
7 p.m., Student Union Apollo Room,

Peter Handcock

An expert on the relationship between human beings and technology, Peter Hancock, D.Sc., Ph.D., heads the Minds in Technology/Machines in Thought (MIT²) laboratory at the University of Central Florida. Hancock studies how humans shape technology, and how technology shapes us. He poses that technology “is the gatekeeper that acts to decide who shall have and who shall have not…. Whatever we are to become is bound up not only in our biology but critically in our technology.” The possible future of this symbiosis is the subject of his latest book, Mind, Machine and Morality: Toward a Philosophy of Human-Technology Symbiosis.

Hancock is Provost Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Institute for Simulation and Training at the University of Central Florida. In 2009, he was named University Pegasus Professor, the highest award given by the university. Visit the Presidential Lecture Series page to learn more.

All events are FREE and open to the public.

Things To Do In Dayton (10/29 – 11/1)

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Dayton Featured EventsTime for this week’s installment of Things To Do In Dayton from our DMM Event Calendar…

First up, Thursday 10/29 you can laugh and make a difference at Wiley’s Comedy Club with the Comedy for a Cause: Breast Cancer Benefit! Or check out some live theater at one of our favorite venues – the Loft Theater – for a production of Man of La Mancha…And if live local music is your thing then you’d be remiss to miss a very special homecoming when Swearing at Motorists (with Smug Brothers) comes back from the dead for a one-night engagement at Canal Street.  Those of you who followed the music scene in Dayton “back in the day” know that this is a must-see show!

On Friday 10/30 get your Smashburger on with a side of local music when the winner of the Call for Dayton’s Best Rock Talent/Smashburger Hosts Local “Rock Your City” Band Competition plays a set at Dayton’s newest burger joint (yeah, strange – we know).  Or feed your hunger for scary movies with the ArtStreet Studio B Friday Film Series Screening of Psycho.  Or feed your thirst for live music at Gregory’s with John Derrickso for jazz or Pacchia with Sharon Lane & Danny Sauers for some bluesy folk.

And then – HALLOWEEN! <insert evil laugh> on Saturday 10/31 – start off in Greene County with the Howl-O-Ween Dog Pawty.  Check out Creative Soul of Dayton Exhibition in the OD before it ends – you won’t regret it.  And then the Halloween party of the region – HauntFest on Fifth 2009!  It is ONLY $5 to get in and it is the BEST people-watching event of the year!

Finally if you’re not completely beat on Sunday 11/1 – well, there are a bunch of things – just go check out our calendar for that day.  Or go watch football at one of the many sports bars in the region.

These are just some featured events from the DMM Calendar – go over there for even more things happening this week and beyond. And if you have an event you’d like to promote or just want to help us become the number one event calendar in the Dayton Region then be sure to submit your events.

Cheers!

Things To Do In Dayton (10/22 – 10/25)

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Dayton Featured EventsTime for this week’s installment of Things To Do In Dayton from our DMM Event Calendar…

First up, Thursday 10/22 you all have another chance to check out the Creative Soul of Dayton Reception at the Armory (Oregon District) – lots of diverse local art to see for free!

On Friday 10/23 if you’re a horror movie buff then you’re in luck because the Englewood Cinema is hosting Horrorama Dayton.  Continuing with the Halloween theme, the SMAG Dance Collective introduces SMAGMARE – a Halloween ballet at the Excelsior Building in the OD (also happening on Saturday).  Like Latin Jazz-Funk?  Then head over to Pacchia for Clave Sonic.

More Halloween fun Saturday 10/24 with Bow Wow Ween at The Greene (family-friendly).  For you beer lovers, check out the Miami Valley Beer Fest at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds (with Masquerage there last week, is this turning into party central?).   And for local music lovers check out New Vega, The Professors, The Satin Peaches at Canal Street Tavern (well, The Satin Peaches are from Detroit but whatever).

And yet more family-friendly Halloween action on Sunday 10/25 with Young’s Dairy Pick your own pumpkin and Cowvin’s Corny Maze. More ScreenPeace at the Little Art Theatre in Yellow Springs AND The Neon in Downtown Dayton.  And for all you crazy chocoholics (you know who you are), an event not to be missed – All You Can Eat Chocolate Party at the Bellbrook Chocolate Shoppe (in Centerville, not Bellbrook – yeah, we know – confusing)!

These are just some featured events from the DMM Calendar – go over there for even more things happening this week and beyond. And if you have an event you’d like to promote or just want to help us become the number one event calendar in the Dayton Region then be sure to submit your events.

Cheers!