It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - MPMF '13!

There are two weekends in Over the Rhine that are not to be missed. The first is Bockfest, the spring beer festival. The second is MidPoint Music Festival - a three day musical extravaganza that sends thousands of people running all over the 45202 to catch smaller, indie acts before they get big.

These events bring the city to life, and show the possibilities of what could be in store for our downtown with eventual repopulation. People stream from bar to bar, venue to venue. Armed with an all access three day pass, gangs of friends roam from show to show to try and uncover the best act of each night. We drink beer and dance our faces off. We tweet inappropriate things to make them show up on the big screen in the Grammar's parking lot. Then we go to bed and do it again. And again. It's an energy that is hard to explain, but absolutely intoxicating.

I'm lucky to have some great musical guru friends who do a lot of research and help tune me in to bands I might not recognize. The weekend before MidPoint I sit down with my computer and go through friends' recommendations, Spotify, and the funny, descriptive rundown of each band from CityBeat (Low Cut Connie sounds like The Black Keys and Ben Folds hit the road in a van that runs on bourbon and expired pork barbecue? I'M SO THERE) to develop a working schedule for the weekend.

This year MPMF put together an interactive schedule - you can go through the lineup and select bands you want to see, and it will save it into a printable/saveable/shareable format. Super fun - go check it out at live.mpmf.com - you can check out my picks for the weekend if you need inspiration. I tend to gravitate towards upbeat, danceable music that sounds like it would be a more fun live show over beautiful (slower) music. I've got a Spotify playlist with my anticipated bands for your listening pleasure as well.



Here are my tips for an epic MPMF weekend:

  • Use Twitter - the #mpmf hashtag not only allows you to search and see what bands are blowing up, at capacity/sold out, or lame, but you can also send tweets using the hashtag and they'll show up projected at venues around the festival. Pretty fun!
  • Check out the MidWay - Even if you're not feeling down to drop $70 on a three-day pass, you can still participate in MidPoint fun. 12th Street will be blocked off and have free bands and cool stuff in pop up trucks (collaborating with ArtWorks!), as well as food trucks and beer vendors. Also, Washington Park will be loud enough to project beyond the barrier they put up, if you don't mind not seeing the performances.
  • Ride your bike! There is, very sadly, no shuttle traveling around to venues this year - which sucks especially because there are some really good bands playing at out of the way (comparatively) venues like the Taft and Mainstay Rock Bar. If you have lights and access to a bike (or $15 to drop on a nightly rental), biking (on the street! going the correct way!) is a much better alternative to walking. 
  • Have some backup bands - If a show is super popular, you might not get in to the venue if you get there a little late. Also, despite your best efforts, after drinking a few beers, walking ALL THE WAY to a certain venue might seem like a daunting task. 
  • And above all - Go with the flow! Sometimes it rains. Sometimes the band you thought for sure you were going to see is already at capacity. The beauty of the pass is that you can go to ANY of the venues. Relax your expectations, and you will be guaranteed a great show and a fun experience no matter where you end up - which is the most fun part of all. 

T minus 3 days and counting! I'll see you out there!


The FunSaver Experiment

we're gonna party like it's 1999.
It's easy to forget how convenient and advanced technology is these days. In an attempt to test my willpower and try something new, I recently purchased a FunSaver camera (yep, one of those...) from my local CVS. I have fond memories of field trips and weeks at camp captured forever, red-eyed and sometimes blurry, by the hands of a fifth grader. Nostalgia clouded my brain, and you know I never turn down the opportunity to try something out of the ordinary.
It took my friends and I over 10 minutes to completely remember how to use the thing. Hint: the flash button is on the FRONT. The thrill of composing the shot, waiting for the right moment- even the clickity clack of the wheel as I pulled my thumb across to advance the film- sent waves of nostalgia washing over me. I was sure that, nearly 20 years later, my photography skills would be much improved.

this one actually turned out okay-ish.
So I stuck the thing in my purse for the better part of four weekends, carrying it with me every time I went out. Opening Day celebrations, warehouse parties, St. Patrick's Day... it even came along to Seattle for the final frame. I practically dragged the friend I was visiting to the closest Walgreens, breathlessly counting down the hours until the prints would be finished. And yes, I got doubles.

There's nothing earth-shattering about these pictures. A lot of goofy faces, with people that are important to me. Many shots didn't even turn out because I kept forgetting to use the flash. No filters, no share mechanism, and more money than I've spent on photography in quite a while - it certainly wasn't the picture experience I've been used to for the last several years..



Still, the physical experience of composing the frame, having no idea what the final result would be, and the looks of confusion and recognition on my friends' faces when I pulled out the camera was pretty priceless. I will stay digital with my photos from here on out, but the opportunity and experience was a little diversion from our hyper-tech, connected world.



Dee Cee Weekend!

I love and miss my DAAP friends - even the ones that live less than 10 minutes away! With everyone so busy in the Real World with Big Girl Jobs, sometimes you just have to stop and take time out to smell the cherry blossoms.

My girl Sarah (the one who lives 10 minutes away) and I drove out to visit Corrie in Washington DC, where she's working at an awesome design firm and living the dream!

Check it out!

 
this is Cincinnati.

this is Frederick, Maryland. They look very similar.


 awesome beer bottle cuff links at Eastern Market.


ladyfriends looking all beautiful and urban.

 great ad by Zipcar - when are you coming to Cincinnati?!


 we stopped to smell the cherry blossoms.


 and had fun photoshoots in the park (what?! we're designers!)


 and ate awesome local food.


It was a really fun weekend. I love and miss my friends!

You're a hipster. I'm a hipster. Let's be geeks instead.

Maybe it was all the chatter about Grammer's closing this week, but I feel suddenly deluged by the term "hipster." Don't know where it came from or how it became such a popular, deragatory term, but I'm tired of it. Don't believe the hype. We've all got a little hipster inside us (even Disney!)... at least I know I do. I don't know when it suddenly became popular to hate and label "hipsters", or why the subject draws so much contempt.

I've embraced my hipster-ness, for the most part. I listen to obscure bands, I live in a tiny apartment downtown and ride my bike everywhere, I love design and have a unique style... yeah. I'm pretty freakin' hipster, and okay with it.

 
okay, okay, not my usual hairstyle... but look at that freakin' hipster!(from 2007)


However, there is something divisive about being a true hipster, and it's something that often grinds my gears. I think the thing that people really, truly hate about this stereotype is the arrogant attitude, the presumptiousness and sense of indifference and irony that seems to go along with the label.

I'm cooler than you because my interests are SO obscure, SO unique. It's nothing more than another way to separate and divide, to stand out, and to be kind of an asshole about it.

However, at my core, I like to think of myself as more of a geek than a hipster. The biggest difference?

Geeks get excited.

Isn't that where the term "geeking out" came from? I love learning more about the world around me and sharing it with everyone I know. My Google Reader and sites like Fast Company and BoingBoing keep me up to date on everything from the hottest new tech concepts to the next hilarious viral video sweeping across the internet.

My enthusiasm travels off-line as well. If there is a chance for me to capture the joy of a small detail or moment as I'm going through life, I'm going to take notice and share it with the world, or at least my immediate circle of friends.

So, here's my proposal. This is 2011. The reign of the hipster is over. Let's get over ourselves, our obscure bands, our "cooler-than-thou" attitudes, and embrace our inner geeks. Let's get super excited about the little things, and open up to the people around us, instead of limiting and staying in our silly cliques of ironic hipness. Let's evolve...

Be an early adopter... you can say you did it before it went mainstream.