Latest / Brian Thomas / Greg Hand - Stand Up To History - What they didn't teach you in high school

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Greg Hand - Stand Up To History - What they didn't teach you in high school · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: Seven h six here at fifty five KRC DE talk station.
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  Speaker 1: I hope you're having a very happy Tuesday. Put a
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  Speaker 1: smile on your face. In this segment, we're gonna hear
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  Speaker 1: from Tom's Alastauski at the bottom of this hour matters
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  Speaker 1: Political and we'll get the inside scoop at bright Bart
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  Speaker 1: News in an hour, follow by the Daniel Davis Deep
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  Speaker 1: Dive at eight thirty. Typical Tuesday, but a special guest
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  Speaker 1: here in the fifty five KRC Morning Show. Kind of
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  Speaker 1: hoping it's not gonna be the only time he appears here.
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  Speaker 1: Greg Hand you may know him because he's the proprietor
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  Speaker 1: of the Cincinnati Curiosities blog. Find it where you find
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  Speaker 1: your blogs. Joe's put a link up on my blog
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  Speaker 1: page fifty five cars dot com to get his website.
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  Speaker 1: He writes about one thousand words every week, which he
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  Speaker 1: posts on Tuesday, all about a whole bunch of different
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  Speaker 1: topics like, for example, most recently, an escaped Oriole brought
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  Speaker 1: Cincinnati to distraught women and national attention. That's his most
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  Speaker 1: recent post. Retired from the University of Cincinnati, is the
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  Speaker 1: head of Public Relations office for employed with the university.
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  Speaker 1: He was the editor of the Western Hills Press, May
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  Speaker 1: at Rest in peace. In addition to the blog, he
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  Speaker 1: contributes regularly to CINCINNTI Magazine, presenting entertaining history, chats and
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  Speaker 1: bars and saloons. You heard that correctly, through a program
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  Speaker 1: program called stand Up History. Also the author of US
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  Speaker 1: Cincinnati Curiosities, which I've got a copy of in my hand,
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  Speaker 1: Healing Powers of the Whamsley Madstone, Nocturnal Exploits of Old
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  Speaker 1: Man Dead, Mazappa's Naked Ride, and more Right, that's why
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  Speaker 1: it's called Cincinnati Curiosities. We'll get a word or two
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  Speaker 1: about that. And then Tarbell Palooza another book that he
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  Speaker 1: kindly gave me a copy of, So great stuff. It's
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  Speaker 1: all Cincinnati bass and with a comedic twist. Greg Hann,
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  Speaker 1: Good to have you in studio. Always a pleasure. So
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  Speaker 1: e've been how long? Even if this is stand up
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  Speaker 1: comedy that relates to Cincinnati history.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know. The thing is, people in Cincinnati love
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  Speaker 2: the history of this town. Oh yeah, and for good reason.
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  Speaker 2: This town, I keep telling people, is the city that
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  Speaker 2: just keeps on giving. Every time I find something weird,
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  Speaker 2: I find something weirder, and people are aware of this,
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  Speaker 2: but they are put off by traditional methods of learning.
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  Speaker 2: They don't want to get books, they don't want to
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  Speaker 2: sit down and take classes or be serious. But they'll
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  Speaker 2: go to bars and after a couple of drinks, you
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  Speaker 2: get somebody to stand up and talk about, for instance,
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  Speaker 2: seventeen weird real estate stories in Cincinnati, and they get
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  Speaker 2: very appreciative after that second drink.
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  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we all know that social liver could help
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  Speaker 1: some multiple social situations. Especially at a comedy club. You
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  Speaker 1: got to get that InterVoice of reluctance and kind of
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  Speaker 1: shut up and so you can participate. Do you interact
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  Speaker 1: with the audience? I mean, oh yeah, yeah. Do you
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  Speaker 1: engage in the Socratic method?
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  Speaker 2: It's very informal. This really started with in the bars
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  Speaker 2: because of my partner in founding this, Molly Wellman, who
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  Speaker 2: has owned a variety of watering holes in Cincinnati. She's
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  Speaker 2: she's well known for that, and she just presents so
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  Speaker 2: so wonderfully and everybody just kind of joins in, and
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  Speaker 2: so we get a lot of cat calling and uh
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  Speaker 2: and uh, you know, and it never gets out of hand,
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  Speaker 2: but it's fun.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I don't want to necessarily presume what I'm what
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  Speaker 1: I'm thinking, but considering the venues are typically bars. Although
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  Speaker 1: I know you perform at the Art Museum and the
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  Speaker 1: u SEE Lifelong Learning Institute and you're doing an event
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  Speaker 1: at Union Terminal as well, you're focusing on bars. I'm
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  Speaker 1: suggesting though, that maybe there's a little bit of blue
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  Speaker 1: humor in this.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. The way the way that we
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  Speaker 2: put it. When people call us and want to book
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  Speaker 2: us for something, they always go, now, how adult is this? Yes,
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  Speaker 2: and our response is usually it's irreverent obscene.
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  Speaker 1: I can definitely relate to that, and I'm someone who
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  Speaker 1: definitely appreciates a certain level of irreverence without question. So,
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  Speaker 1: in terms of upcoming events, what are you got going
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  Speaker 1: on that we can want my listeners to know about,
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  Speaker 1: because it sounds like something that we're all going to
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  Speaker 1: want to show up at at some point.
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  Speaker 2: Wednesday, January twenty first, we have a monthly residency on
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  Speaker 2: the third Wednesdays of each month at Meuse Cafe in Westwood.
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  Speaker 2: That's always a fun occasion. And then the next night, Thursday,
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  Speaker 2: January twenty second, we will be at the Museum Center,
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  Speaker 2: and that one is in a rather large auditorium, so
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  Speaker 2: we could have as many as two hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 2: people in attendance at that one that one's got myself,
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  Speaker 2: Molly will be there in Dean Regis, who is technically
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  Speaker 2: an astronomer, but we let him in because astronomy involves
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  Speaker 2: the space time continuum and that's close enough to history.
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  Speaker 1: Will he be speaking on matters involving the flux capacitor
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  Speaker 1: in generating one point twenty one gigilyottes.
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  Speaker 2: He Dean has done some amazing things, takedowns of astrology
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  Speaker 2: and an explanation of why Galileo's middle finger is preserved
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  Speaker 2: in a museum in Italy and that sort of thing.
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  Speaker 2: I quite often get into the history of prostitution in Cincinnati, although.
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  Speaker 1: They mostly across the River.
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  Speaker 2: No, this is the big misunderstanding that people have their
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  Speaker 2: memories are entirely too short. Between around eighteen seventy five
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  Speaker 2: and the First World War, Cincinnati had a large red
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  Speaker 2: light district in the West end, pretty much from Fifth
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  Speaker 2: Street up to Seventh Street, from Central Avenue out to
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  Speaker 2: Mound Street. There were as many as seventy houses of
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  Speaker 2: prostitution in this red light district, with perhaps six hundred
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  Speaker 2: to seven hundred what we'd call working girls and this is.
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  Speaker 3: The demand was that high. This was this was This
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  Speaker 3: was the way people thought at the time is if
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  Speaker 3: you did not have this, it wasn't legal. But if
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  Speaker 3: you did not have this accessible.
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  Speaker 2: Out let four hormonally overcharged men, they were going to
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  Speaker 2: be running around the city raping respectable women. And so
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  Speaker 2: so that was the solution was, well, we're going we're
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  Speaker 2: going to endure this stuff, but we're going to shove
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  Speaker 2: it off into the corner here.
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  Speaker 1: So it will sacrifice Victorian principles in the name of
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  Speaker 1: practical reality.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. But the thing about Kentucky is and I addressed
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  Speaker 2: in a blog post last week, is in the nineteen
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  Speaker 2: twenties we got a totally different city here. Before nineteen twenty,
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  Speaker 2: this was one of the weirdest places on the planet,
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  Speaker 2: and after nineteen twenty it totally changed.
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  Speaker 1: Well, is that is a consequence of the Boss Cox
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  Speaker 1: administration exactly.
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  Speaker 2: There were four factors that really led to this. One
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  Speaker 2: was a brand new city government when the Charter Rights
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  Speaker 2: came in, restructured city government brought in the city manager
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  Speaker 2: form of government. The other was prohibition absolutely a major
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  Speaker 2: factor in changing the city because it basically wiped out
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  Speaker 2: one of the city's largest industries overnight.
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  Speaker 1: Which apparently was alcohol but also a prostitution because it
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  Speaker 1: might I parley into you. Is that how the mob
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  Speaker 1: and prostitution and gambling and liquor all ended up in
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  Speaker 1: northern Kentucky because the mobs came in and take it open.
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  Speaker 2: For Cincinnati by nineteen thirty five was known as the
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  Speaker 2: best run city in America, and they got that way
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  Speaker 2: by shoving all the vice that used to be a
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  Speaker 2: money maker for Boss Cox across the river. And so
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  Speaker 2: you really don't see northern Kentucky getting this reputation until
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  Speaker 2: after city government changed in Cincinnati.
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  Speaker 1: So it's not in my backyard, but as long as
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  Speaker 1: it's close enough that I can get there easily and conveniently,
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  Speaker 1: it's aokay for northern Kentucky.
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  Speaker 2: There you go to get the crime.
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  Speaker 1: Element in Wow, we're going to learn about some of
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  Speaker 1: different some additional parallels nineteen twenty six versus well twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty six, and sadly some of the things haven't really
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  Speaker 1: changed since County You're nineteen twenty six and twenty twenty six.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to continue with comedian and historian Greg hand Station.
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  Speaker 1: It's seven eighteen. If if you have PERCD talk stations,
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  Speaker 1: see I'm laughing because I'm sitting in studio with a
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  Speaker 1: comedian and historian of unusual Cincinnati related matters. Greg Hand
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  Speaker 1: got a great background doing this stand up comedy related
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  Speaker 1: to Cincinnati history, and he's got some assistance with some
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  Speaker 1: of these, like Molly Wellman, for example. He mentioned Dean
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  Speaker 1: Riguz and I understand Michael Parina is also going to
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  Speaker 1: be helping you out at this stand up history at
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  Speaker 1: Union Terminal event Thursday, the twenty second. Tickets are available
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  Speaker 1: at starts at six pm. Get your tickets. Jo just
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  Speaker 1: put a look up at the blog page fifty five
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  Speaker 1: krcy dot com. I was laughing because you're always working
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  Speaker 1: on news stories. You mentioned doing Cincinnati curiosities. He put
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  Speaker 1: a thousand words out every Thursday or Tuesday on things
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  Speaker 1: of this nature. We're going to be reading about rats
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  Speaker 1: as well as garbage collection.
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  Speaker 2: Oh my god.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: People remember Cincinnati as poor Koppolis. We love our pigs.
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  Speaker 2: We get the flying pigs all over the place. What
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  Speaker 2: people don't remember about Cincinnati is the City of Cincinnati
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  Speaker 2: did not institute garbage collection well until after the Civil War.
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  Speaker 1: That's because we had the canal.
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  Speaker 2: It's because we had the pigs.
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  Speaker 1: I was going to say, they throw it in the canal.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you would just you would just throw stuff out
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  Speaker 2: and the pigs. Pigs took care of it. And this
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  Speaker 2: is remember from eighteen thirty until nineteen ten, Cincinnati was
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  Speaker 2: one of the ten largest cities in the United States.
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  Speaker 2: So after the Civil War we were the sixth largest
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  Speaker 2: city in the United States and had no organized garbage collection.
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  Speaker 1: Holy cow, we did have the second police department in
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  Speaker 1: the entire Uited of States, so we had to wait
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  Speaker 1: around for garbage collection. All right. You mentioned the whole
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  Speaker 1: Boss Cox period, and I think a lot of my
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  Speaker 1: listeners are familiar with the level of corruption that existed
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  Speaker 1: under those old Boss regimes. The Charter Right Party kicked
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  Speaker 1: in in nineteen twenty six and this led to a
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  Speaker 1: period of reform where again led to the eradication of
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  Speaker 1: prostitution and crime, and they sent it over to Northern Kentucky,
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  Speaker 1: who apparently the mob was happy to embrace the change.
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  Speaker 1: So cities cleaned up under the Charter Rights and we
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  Speaker 1: enjoyed this very successful, respected historically period of time. You
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  Speaker 1: said we were one of the best governing cities, and
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  Speaker 1: everyone said it, how long did that period of time last?
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  Speaker 1: Because it seems somewhere we went off the rails there.
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  Speaker 2: The Charter Committee and the Charter form of government basically
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  Speaker 2: came in in the early nineteen nineteen twenties, and by
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  Speaker 2: the mid thirties it was multiple, multiple national publications pointed
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  Speaker 2: to Cincinnati and said, this is it. This is the
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  Speaker 2: best governed city in America. There were some key factors
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  Speaker 2: that went into that form of government. One was a
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  Speaker 2: form of voting called proportional representation.
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  Speaker 1: Did you hear that? Yes, those words have come up
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  Speaker 1: recently in history.
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  Speaker 2: Which is a little complicated to describe it. Basically, it
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  Speaker 2: ensured minority voices and so it ensured that council would
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  Speaker 2: be filled with people represented different points of view. In
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  Speaker 2: the nineteen fifties, an alliance of the Democratic Party locally
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  Speaker 2: and the Unions locally worked to remove proportional representation and
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  Speaker 2: set the scene for a one party government again.
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  Speaker 1: Which means each council members expected to represent every single
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  Speaker 1: of the fifty two neighborhoods in the city, whereas before
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  Speaker 1: I guess there was some sort of gerrymandard or.
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  Speaker 2: Slic no in proportional representation. It was intentionally citywide, each
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  Speaker 2: in each in each councilmanic seat. Prior to proportional representation,
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  Speaker 2: city council had more than forty people. We had at
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  Speaker 2: that time twenty some odd wards in the city, and
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  Speaker 2: council was made up of two representatives from each ward.
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  Speaker 2: In that arrangement, under Boss Cox, who controlled the Republican
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  Speaker 2: and the Democratic party in the city, the Republicans had
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  Speaker 2: something like thirty five out of the forty seats. After
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  Speaker 2: proportional representation came in, Charter rarely had more than five seats. Oh, really,
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  Speaker 2: Republicans were consistently represented on council, as were Democrats.
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  Speaker 1: Well, the parallels that you draw between nineteen twenty six
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  Speaker 1: and twenty twenty six. I was laughing about the condition
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  Speaker 1: of the roads back in nineteen twenty twenty six. Apparently
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  Speaker 1: nothing has changed there. Also, you mentioned the rapid transit loop,
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  Speaker 1: which we know is the street car today. Is that
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  Speaker 1: the project that was being built the subway system that
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  Speaker 1: never did get built. What's the backstory on that one.
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  Speaker 2: So the Charter Committee came in with this new form
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  Speaker 2: of government totally on the message of we are going
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  Speaker 2: to disassemble what's left of the Cox machine. And one
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  Speaker 2: of the elements of the Cox machine that was still
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  Speaker 2: in place was the rapid transit loop that we referred
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  Speaker 2: to as the Cincinnati Subway. And so suddenly out of
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  Speaker 2: City Hall came these reports that said, oh, this was
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  Speaker 2: poorly designed, it couldn't possibly be used, its cost overrun
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  Speaker 2: going through the roof. All of this was totally made up.
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  Speaker 2: It was fake news. It was an attempt by the
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  Speaker 2: Charter government to accuse the Cox government of creating this
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  Speaker 2: boondoggle that could never be completed, and so they shut
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  Speaker 2: it down. And if they had allowed it to go forward,
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  Speaker 2: in fact, it was designed very well and it was
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  Speaker 2: under budget or not under budget.
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  Speaker 1: But on Budge, Wow, the parallels to be drawn. I'm thinking, like, well,
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  Speaker 1: evil Orange Man did that, so we're not going to
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  Speaker 1: do it, even though on paper and Carl it looks
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  Speaker 1: like it really will work. Make up some propaganda say
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  Speaker 1: it's it's connected with Boss Cox, who we all collectively
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  Speaker 1: agrees evil Erico. Anything he's responsible for is in and
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  Speaker 1: of itself evil, So just let's forget it.
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  Speaker 2: It's one of the lessons of history is that the
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  Speaker 2: flavor of politics changes, but it's always with us.
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  Speaker 1: Greg hann great conversation, man, what are you doing the
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  Speaker 1: nineteen twenty six twenty versus twenty twenty six presentation? Is
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  Speaker 1: that upcoming?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? It takes a while. A thousand words translates into
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  Speaker 2: about a seven minute presentation. And most of our most
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  Speaker 2: of our sets at our shows are in the twenty
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  Speaker 2: to twenty five minutes. Oh so a snippet, and and
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  Speaker 2: so I've I've When I get a topic like that,
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  Speaker 2: I have to get a little more to fill in
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  Speaker 2: my slot.
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  Speaker 1: Sure, and well, you will find him and them around town.
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  Speaker 1: Sin Saint Curiosity's blog. You gotta follow it. Joe Strucker's
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  Speaker 1: put a link up if you have carc dot com.
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  Speaker 1: Whereas I would say Peter Bronson covers more perhaps well
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  Speaker 1: known or more less comedic, elements of what happens are
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: throughout his Cincinnati history. You're finding the really crazy stuff
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  Speaker 1: and I'll encourage my listeners. Joe put a link up
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  Speaker 1: to Cincinnati Curiosity's your book again, Healing Powers of the
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Whamsley Madstone, Nocturnal Exploits of Old Man Dead, Mazeppa's Naked Ride,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: and more. Sounds bizarre and I'm sure we're going to
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  Speaker 1: find the bizarre, but it's historically true. Greg Han. Real
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  Speaker 1: pleasure having you in here, man, and maybe we can
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  Speaker 1: do this again.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you. I'd love to keep up the fun.
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  Speaker 1: We all need fun these days, and I appreciate your
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  Speaker 1: using history as a vehicle to get us all smiling.
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  Speaker 1: Seven twenty six. Right now, if you have krc DE
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: talk station, real quick words, my friend, the fasten pro
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: best roofers around