Wednesday, January 2, 2013

2012 - The End of the Ohio Era; 2013 - A New Beginning


2012. In some ways this year began with prospects of stability. In the end there was quite a bit of transition that shaped not only this year but the direction I am going as well.

There are things I wish never would have happened this past year and other things I wish would have continued a while longer. In all, the year was good in most ways.

I started the year working with UTS getting more than 40 hours a week driving a van around Cincinnati. It didn’t interfere too much with the other aspects of my life that I love (these are the things I would work to afford to do...essentially paying jobs have been more like a fundraiser to live my life haha). I continued in my role at The 86 where I was able to book a couple punk shows for my friends in FBS which led to one of the better things to happen in 2012 - the band Crash Cap Hooligans.

Crash Cap Hooligans only lasted for 2 months. We practiced at Witler where house shows continued. As it turned out, the last house show was also the only planned shows for the band (we played one other show but it was unplanned and probably ill advised). There was never any real plan for the Hooligans other than to play a show with FBS at the house. There was some chaos from the start...the idea came from conversation at a show early in 2012 with Davie Slagle regarding music tastes we happened to share and a desire to do something. Davie recruited Irish Mike to do vocals and had someone lined up to play drums who couldn’t make the first practice so I talked to my friend, Russ Ott about playing with us and he came on board. I really enjoyed playing the music but the end of the band and the end of house shows came in May.

When I was no longer permitted to host shows (technically no longer permitted to do anything but exist) at 4114 Witler, I decided it was time for a change. Summer brought about a shortage of hours at work. I made a trip to Pittsburgh on my way to visit with family and started to really consider the idea of moving there but it would mean leaving something that I loved - The 86. I took some time to think about it, and attended the “last” Cornerstone festival in June. In July, I was contacted by a friend, Wendell about coming back to work with Walk of Joy. I decided to do so in August because it would provide me 40 hours a week and the arrangement gave me weekends off.

In October I finally was able to begin pursuing the idea of moving to Pittsburgh. I prayed about it and sought out advice from others. It felt like the right move so I finally decided to go for it. I found a job at Partners For Quality within 3 weeks of pursuing employment (much quicker than when I decided to move to Cincinnati) so I agreed to come to work with them and began transitioning my life to Pittsburgh...moving the weekend after Thankgiving and coming back to Cincinnati in December just to gather a few more belongings and to clean out 4114 Witler the best that I could.

4114 Witler was a good place with the original living arrangement. The plan when I first moved in was to have a community house there but those plans were disrupted by an uncooperative house mate who ended up being the upstairs neighbor once it got to be unbearable sharing the space with him and detrimental to the way of life I was hoping to achieve. It was able to continue to be used as I desired it to until an unfortunate series of events ended those things. As much as I enjoyed the shows, band practices, and hosting folks at the house, when all that ended I no longer cared to be in that house making it much easier to move.

The harder part of the move was leaving The 86. The family I found in those at The 86 will always be family. I wish I could have brought all that with me to Pittsburgh but for most of them, Cincinnati is their home while Cincinnati was not my home. I hope the best for them and the club and intend to stay involved as much as I can though I no longer live there.
In Pittsburgh, I am beginning my life here in community at the Greenway House with Dylan Rooke - a friend I met through booking shows in Cincinnati. So far, I have enjoyed living with him and the others at the house. I have found what seems to be a good church community at Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community in Pittsburgh’s Southside. I hope to eventually get back into booking/promoting shows like i did at Witler. I don’t know how soon that will happen. I have been given ideas of ways to go about this without the need for a space (at least to start) so I just need to become more familiar with the Pittsburgh music scene. The shows I’ve gone to so far have been pretty cool.

2013. I look forward to what this year will bring. I am excited for the new possibilities the new surroundings hold and the new friends I will be meeting throughout living this life in Pittsburgh. I hope there is a good alternative to the void left by Cornerstone either at the same location with Occupy Cornerstone or somewhere new. I hope to find my place to live the life I desire within God’s will and that my place is here in Pittsburgh amongst the established friends I have here and the new ones to come.