CINCINNATIBRANDINGGiving companies an upper hand in customer relations

Taking it BACK

Pg. 8

Pg. 3

Pg. 4

The News Record

TacosRockLa Mexicana and Bakersfi eld offer foodies unique options

A$AP Rocky is resurrecting hip-hop for a new generation

FOR THERECORD

VOL. 1 • ISSUE NO. 3JANUARY 23-29, 2013

Speaking in roots

2

POETRY CORNER

Conversations between animals and vegetation, and other poemsjakE gREiCO

We Speak In RootsThe anchors are the conversationsbetween animalsand vegetationit’s what you saidto what you thoughtit’s what my mouthsews in your earsit’s what your tongueblooms in my brainthat root us into our skin.It’s what the wind singsto autumn leavesit’s how the snowgreets blades of grassthat root our skin into the Earth.It’s what the beating of our heartswhispers to our restless bonesit’s how our brain says goodbyeto our vacant cheststhat roots our skin into the sky.

Our Blood Dries In Old AirOur function is to cause a crazeTo say the words about this placeA picture for the blindWho can’t make up their darkened mindsIs that warmth from the sun?Are my hands by a machine?Our function is to count the starsTo think of May and live in March A calendar of old airThat at some point we’ve all shared

Are your loose words in my lungs?Is your oxygen my late-night prayers?Our function is to make our cellsManufacture sleeping pills A dream we are prescribedThat fills our heads while our blood driesAre our brains just architects?Building dots that we connect?

When You’re Not Around I Look UpIf we both look at the moonat the same exact timewill our faces be reflectedas our eyes nowstaring craters?If so, then I will blink twiceon Sunday evening whenthe moon is big and white.I’ll wink at you on Thursday morningwhen half the moon is tucked away and only my rightcrater-eye is showing.But if my big moon eyesare forced to turn awaythen I’ll close mybrown eyes too.

kaTiE gRiffiTh

UntitledDissatisfaction: the canvas of constant repetition.Sometimes human lifeis so tragic.The souls of those stingy peopleshall beensnared by forces beyondcontrol.Tomorrow’s sadness is a combination ofassumptions and falsities.Some have no need for anythingin this world.They long for what isunattainable.And through that longing comesself-destruction.Skin stretched from reachingit tears and wrinklesit bleeds and seeps on theimpressionable.Living in such a body isignoble.Neglect the soul anddeceive once.Forget the power of mind anddeceive twice.Center both around one beingand your actions insignificant.Something beyond our poweris present. So stingy be not.

A$AP Rocky resurrects hip-hop

3

HIP-HOP COLUMNIST

CHRISTIAN WARNER | CONTRIBUTOR

In 2011, the rap culture was introduced to A$AP Rocky, a hip-hop artist with potential to transcend the game.

With subject matter revolving around women, fashion, money and marijuana, A$AP Rocky’s content doesn’t stray too far from mainstream hip-hop, but his skill makes him stand out among all the rest.

Rakim Mayers is A$AP Rocky, and his debut album “LiveLoveA$AP” was highly anticipated and long awaited. It solidifi ed his spot in hip-hop as a talented rising star.

But 2012 came and went and the Harlem native made no appearances on the radio waves due to numerous release date delays for “LongLiveA$AP.” Fans began to grow impatient with the wait. This put the 24-year-old rapper in a not so ideal position. It also put more pressure on him to perform.

When it fi nally came out, “Long. Live. A$AP” passed the test with 100 percent and erased any doubt surrounding him.

16 tracks for a debut album is a very tall order for a rookie, but A$AP proves himself with every song.

The fi rst half of the album gives off a teen angst rebellion feel. The title track begins with A$AP yelling and bragging — mainly about how he didn’t have “a pot to piss in” but now has a “kitchen full of dishes.”

A$AP wastes no time and lets listeners know what he’s all about with highly energetic songs like “Goldie” and “PMW (All I Really Need),” which he sprinkles with playful boasts.

While “LongLiveA$AP” contains club bangers such as “F*ckin’ Problems” featuring Kendrick Lamar, Drake and 2 Chainz, A$AP slows the tempo down to stylishly appeal to the opposite sex in the song “Fashion Killa.”

If that’s not enough, A$AP shows his philosophical side in “Phoenix.” The song illustrates the emcee questioning his life, future and the attention he is receiving, but it seems at this point he’s got it all under control.

A$AP Rocky completely refi ned his lyricism on “LongLiveASAP.” The only downside to the album is the repeated use of misogyny — something that should not be tolerated, but is unfortunately a common theme in this genre of music.

Based on this album’s impressive content, it can’t be overlooked. It is safe to say that the ’90s style of hip-hop and rap is making a comeback — and it does not seem to be going anywhere.

Some think that true hip-hop is a dying art. The non-believers should tune into A$AP and recognize the resurrection of what hip-hop once was.

ROBERT GAUTHIER | LOS ANGELES TIMES

LONG LIVE HIP-HOP The mercurial rapper Rakim Mayers, better known as A$SAP Rocky performs at the Hollywood Palladium Oct. 26, 2012.

Some think rap is a dying art, ‘LongLiveA$AP’ proves them wrong

Rakim Mayers is A$AP Rocky, and his debut album “LiveLoveA$AP” was highly anticipated and long awaited. It solidifi ed his spot in hip-hop as a talented rising star.

But 2012 came and went and the Harlem native made no appearances on the radio waves due to numerous release date delays for “LongLiveA$AP.” Fans began to grow impatient with the wait. This put the 24-year-old rapper in a not so ideal position. It also put more pressure

When it fi nally came out, “Long. Live. A$AP” passed the test with 100 percent and erased any doubt surrounding

16 tracks for a debut album is a very tall order for a rookie, but A$AP proves himself with every song.

The fi rst half of the album gives off a teen angst rebellion feel. The title track begins with A$AP yelling and bragging — mainly about how he didn’t have “a pot to piss in” but now has a “kitchen full of dishes.”

A$AP wastes no time and lets listeners know what he’s all about with highly energetic songs like “Goldie” and “PMW (All I Really Need),” which he sprinkles with

While “LongLiveA$AP” contains club bangers such as “F*ckin’ Problems” featuring Kendrick Lamar, Drake and 2 Chainz, A$AP slows the tempo down to stylishly appeal to the opposite sex in the song “Fashion Killa.”

If that’s not enough, A$AP shows his philosophical side in “Phoenix.” The song illustrates the emcee questioning his life, future and the attention he is receiving, but it seems at this point he’s got it all under control.

A$AP Rocky completely refi ned his lyricism on “LongLiveASAP.” The only downside to the album is the repeated use of misogyny — something that should not be tolerated, but is unfortunately a common theme in this

4

MEGAN MUDMAN AND AMY UNTCH | CONTRIBUTORS

Of the hundreds of startup accelerators around the country, The Brandery in Cincinnati is working to make new companies grow faster

and more profi table through branding that reaches consumers and clients.

With more than 50 mentors at The Brandery to donate time and advice, the accelerator helps startup businesses get over the hump from obscurity to brand recognition throughout the greater Cincinnati area.

Mike Bott, 31, general manager at The Brandery, reveals what really goes on — for the startup companies and the employees at The Brandery.

Q: What is The Brandery?A: The Brandery is a startup accelerator. We focus

on bringing high-tech startups from wherever they are, through a 14 to 16-week program to a place where hopefully they are going to be able [to] venture back through with, whether it’s through institutional investors, venture capitalists, angel investors — any of those sources of funding.

The companies have ranged from an idea on a napkin…other people have had a product out there with revenue coming in. Really we tried to just move them along the path [of] building their business much, much faster.

We always say what they get done [in] three plus months here is roughly what would normally take two to three years to get done otherwise. That’s heavily mentor driven, so each company is assigned a bunch of mentors that are going to help them through the process.

We give them $20,000 in startup capital, [which] largely covers living expenses, food, hardware they are going to need, some trips for fundraising and for client meetings [and] things like that.

It includes both a demo day, which is kind of the deadline they are working towards, where this year we had 500-plus people, many of whom were investors. It was at Great American Ballpark and the idea is to get your company, or get the companies that go through the program, exposure to potential investors, so we had 11 companies this year.

There are startup accelerators all over the country — between 300 to 400 — depending upon the source. What we really focus on is the strengths of the Cincinnati community. We do not have necessarily the development talent that New York or San Francisco has, but we do have a few things.

DAAP obviously is a huge resource from a design perspective, so design is one of the tenants we have, callout quite frequently as one of our strengths, and then

obviously branding and marketing. P&G invented brand management.

You can’t throw a rock without hitting a marketer around here. But really we think those two things — those two buckets, marketing and branding… — two of the biggest needs startups have… and then user acquisition is obviously important. That comes though marketing pretty clearly and then the branding piece kind of helps in both regards…it helps you make decisions.

Q: What’s a typical day like here?A: So the program itself…it was 14

weeks last year. We may extend it a couple weeks this year. Basically each week has a focus area, so the fi rst week is how to get the most out of The Brandery. You meet with alums who have gone though the program; we will talk to you about how you leverage your mentors; we will talk to you about how you leverage your agency partners.

Each of our startups is paired up with a creative agency in town, so LPK, Landor, Resource, RockFish, Possible — you can see the 12 listed on our website — they give basically $21,000 in free work, so the fi rst week is very focused on maybe two hours a day tops, in diff erent ways, so there will be a BBQ and that’s where they will talk to some of the alumnus.

The next week we go from there on we have two to three speakers a week, maybe an hour to two hours every time there is a speaker, and the end of the second week

is talking about branding and the importance of understanding your target consumer.

Subsequent weeks are putting together your product road map, building your

program pro-form fi nancial statements, building out your business model,

fundraising 101 — kind of foundational things when building your business.

For the most part, we only ask for maybe six hours a week of their time. We want

them to focus on building their business and working enough. I am

here as a resource; the other founders in the Brandery are here as resources; the alums have been great as serving as

resources to the companies coming through, but really they need to build their business.

We don’t want to clog up all their time. We introduce them to the mentors — they can meet

with their mentors every week, every other week, maybe it’s just basically just once a month — a touch point. It depends what they need at a particular time, but kind of give them the guidance where they need it. I’ll meet with each of the companies at least 30 minutes every week,

that sort of thing. There is a little bit of structure, not too much.

Q: Why was The Brandery Started?A: The three primary founders — J.B. Kropp, Dave

Knox, Robert W. McDonald — had seen the startup accelerators pop up around the country and they worked with them in various capacities, or some of the companies that had come out — the startup accelerators like techstart, which is based in Boulder — now they have locations in New York, Boston, Seattle — all around the country.

They said, “Why can’t Cincinnati have something like this?” There’s not really a tech startup community, but there could be, there should be. If we have the assets to help start with the two most important parts of building a business, let’s dig in to see if we have the right data here, so that’s when they dug in.

What does Cincinnati bring to the table that maybe Sans Francisco

doesn’t bring to the table? So that was design, branding, marketing, then access to big players like P&G, Kroger, Macys, Dunnhumby…and obviously the agencies in town.

So we’ve had few companies that are more b-to-b companies or if their client could be a brand or an agency, but otherwise we feel like there is a lot of consumer understanding in this town. We call ourselves a consumer Internet startup accelerator. We feel like leveraging the strengths of the Cincinnati community. We could get something going, running off the ground.

Really the reason we focused on the tech startup space is because that’s what we believe we can build in three or four months. We don’t take healthcare companies; we don’t necessary take darnel good companies; we might consider someone if they already have their product ready to go. We don’t want a supply chain to something that keeps them from getting somewhere they need to go.

That’s the nice thing about technology startups is the various entry are extremely low.

Q: What are the current challenges you are facing?A: For us, I look at our companies as our product so

I’m always thinking, “How can we help them in their quest to becoming better companies or grow faster or be more competitive?”

There is always a need for talent. A number of them are hiring — that’s looking for great design help, great development help, and then obviously the business help. Those are kind of the three buckets of the people we are looking for.

Sometimes someone can wear multiple hats, sometimes it’s three to four people to check those boxes. They are always looking for the right people because it’s a diff erent culture. Someone who works at P&G may not work

Branding Cincinnati one stART & DESIGN SPOTLIGHT

that are going to help them through the process. We give them $20,000 in startup capital,

[which] largely covers living expenses, food, hardware they are going to need, some trips for fundraising and for client meetings [and] things like that.

It includes both a demo day,

were investors. It was at Great

or get the companies that go through the program, exposure to potential investors, so we had 11 companies this

There are startup accelerators all over the country — between 300 to 400 — depending upon the source. What we really focus on is the strengths

time there is a speaker, and the end of the second week is talking about branding and the importance of

understanding your target consumer. Subsequent weeks are putting together

your product road map, building your program pro-form fi nancial statements,

building out your business model, fundraising 101 — kind of foundational things when building your business.

ask for maybe six hours a week of their time. We want

them to focus on building their business and working enough. I am

here as a resource; the other founders in the Brandery are here as resources; the alums have been great as serving as

resources to the companies coming through, but really they need to build their business.

We don’t want to clog up all their time.

Each of our startups is paired up with a creative agency in town ... they give basically $21,000 in free work.

— Mike BottGeneral Manager,

The Brandery

5

at startups; someone who is comfortable at an agency may not be able to cut it in when it comes to the life of a startup.

The other thing is just funding — we are always looking — the companies are always looking for a little more investment. Ultimately they need someone who will take that gamble on them so that will amp up, take them from two to three people, two to three founders to teams of six to eight people to whatever they need to hit their next milestone, to grow to the next level.

Q: What is the most rewarding part of the Job?

A: I feel like I’m helping people bring their ideas to life, bring their dreams to life.

Q: In your opinion, why is design important to business?

A: Design is important to business because it’s fundamental. If you think about [a company] like Apple, [it has] been tremendously successful because [its] products are easy to use and you don’t have to be a 20-year-old, tech savvy individual to be able to pick up an Apple product and make it work.

I think a big part of it is the ease of use. If you think about it in terms of friction, like the things you are going to more naturally do are frictionless, and I think great design helps aid in that removing friction from whatever the scenario is. If you think about all our companies are trying to solve a problem in some way.

There is already friction in their lives and if this is the solution that makes it easy to solve the problem, I think that speaks a lot to whether something has a great user experience, user interface, and kind of look and feel. Is it something that is pleasant to engage with, or an expense reporting system that looks like it was designed by bank executive?

Q: What does design mean to you?

A: Design as a consumer comes down to what I [am]

experiencing, whether I am engaging with the product or company, and if I was to tell someone what it was like — it’s not just feature benefi ts, it’s how I used the product how I receive the product obviously design can extend anywhere into like the engineering of the product and how it feels as a sensorial experience.

Q: Why should non-designers care about design?

A: Because it matters. It can be the diff erence maker. Design makes the feature, just a list of features not quite as important. You could have them same features as someone else but if you have the more well-designed predict, you are going to have a better chance of being a successful business. I think a lot of the times, if there isn’t a design-focused approach to building something, you’re going to not be as good as a product or have as much potential as you would otherwise.

Q: How is The Brandery aff ecting the surrounding community?

A: Hopefully we are inspiring people to peruse their dreams. I only lived in Cincinnati for a little more [than] two, two and a half years, [but] I think my perception still holds as a Cincinnatian. Most people are doing something for someone else as apposed to building their own thing, working on their own thing. There is a big agency culture, even if you work at a place like P&G, you’re helping. [If] you’re an employee at someone else’s business, you can take a certain amount of responsibly and ownership, but

fundamentally you are a small cog in a giant machine. Hopefully we are

inspiring people to take those ideas and run with them, because if you are passionate about something, I think the output is always going to be something much, much higher,

and if we are doing that then I think we’re a success so far.

Applications for The Brandery’s next class

open up in March. The class will start in

mid-June or early July. For more information, visit brandery.org.

artup business at a time

if this is the solution that makes it easy to solve the problem, I think that speaks a lot to whether something has a great user experience, user interface, and kind of look and feel. Is it something that is pleasant to engage with, or an expense reporting system that looks like it was designed by bank

Q: What does design mean

A: Design as a consumer comes down to what I [am]

amount of responsibly and ownership, but fundamentally you are a small cog in

a giant machine. Hopefully we are inspiring people to take those ideas and run with them, because if you are passionate about something, I think the output is always going to be something much, much higher,

and if we are doing that then I think we’re a success so far.

Applications for The Brandery’s next class

open up in March. The class will start in

mid-June or early July. For more information, visit brandery.org.

MIKE BOTT

Dancing professor

6

CCM SPOTLIGHT

NATALYA DAOUD | STAFF REPORTER

After a draining shift of teaching at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, one radiology associate professor must fi nish teaching classes and still fi nd time to pursue her passion — classical ballet.

“I enjoy the artistry in it and I think — especially now that I’ve taken a lot of classes — I think I appreciate how diffi cult it is to make it look effortless and beautiful,” said Cincinnati Conservatory of Music (CCM) preparatory ballet student Kyuran Ann Choe.

Choe’s mother put her into ballet at age 5, but she stopped at age 9 when she moved from one part of Boston to another. She picked up ballet again in college, but quit again to pursue a career in radiology.

“The specialty of radiology was something that I was interested in and so I did my residency in it,” Choe said.

Now, she works as a radiologist professor during the day and goes to CCM adult ballet classes in the evening.

“I went back to it because it was an activity I really enjoyed,” Choe said.

Even with her hectic schedule as a radiology associate professor, Choe manages to squeeze in time for her dance class. She starts her day at 7 a.m., fi nishes work at 5 p.m. and then heads to CCM for her 5:30 p.m. ballet class, and then fi nishes at 7 p.m. or 8 p.m.

“It can be especially [diffi cult] since sometimes after I get home from ballet class in the evening I still have work to do, so it can be challenging. It’s also challenging when I’m also doing costumes for them,” Choe said. “So I’m going to work and I go to class and I get home and I sew.”

Choe, like many of the other students, does not have time to practice outside of class, and therefore takes full advantage of her class.

Samuel St. John, a fi fth-year PHD candidate at the school of chemical engineering, is not only a colleague of Choe but dances with her as well.

“I think if you’re confi dent with managing your time, you can plan around

either your school time or your dance time so it’s never been a problem,” St. John said.

No matter what her schedule is like, Choe still has the passion to improve her dancing skills even at a later age.

“You know, you may not have as much stamina as you get older, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t enjoy doing it,” Choe said.

Choe takes the level 7 class which consists of a broad range of educated individuals in the highest level of preparatory ballet at CCM.

“It’s sort of nice to fi nd a place to dance where there are a group of people that have sort of, I guess, have a similar educational background and we sort of enjoy and talk about the same things and it makes it a warm and an excepting environment,” St. John said.

St. John feels students can connect with Choe easier than other professors because of her unexpected moonlight hobby.

“She can work with the students professionally in the professional setting and then when she’s with a student in sort of a nonprofessional setting, it’s much more like friendship,” St. John said.

Students who work with Choe in the classroom — and outside the classroom — have had a lot of success.

“One of the students that came through, I can’t remember the last name, she graduated last year and she decided to go into radiology after she met Ann. Now she’s doing her residency at UCLA in radiology and she’s doing really well,” St. John said.

In addition to mentoring and teaching, Choe takes classes with some of the best CCM professors in the city, which actually taught her a lot about her full-time profession.

“One of the things that I have to do when I look at studies is I have to understand visual patterns in terms of what’s normal and what’s abnormal,” Choe said. “The one thing about learning choreography is that all of a sudden you’re not looking at the patterns, you’re in the middle of the pattern and that was something neat for me to learn.”

UC radiology professor balances arduous teaching schedule, ballet

7

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Eat with your gut

...Or with your eyes

8

DISHING ON DINING

SHELBY NATION | CONTRIBUTOR

Covington, Ky. might be unknown territory to some, but in the search for authentic Mexican food it is essential to cross the river.

Nestled among the many stores on Monmouth Street is La Mexicana.

This is not a restaurant that conforms its beloved Mexican food to the palate of uncultured Americans. La Mexicana’s menu offers beef tongue, tripe, goat and cow brain tacos.

Skeptics of such unheard varieties of meat should take a leap of faith and let their mouth venture into these Mexican delicacies.

I sat down, the waiter placed chips — still sizzling from the fryer — and salsa on the table. The salsa offered subtle heat from jalapenos, chunks of white onion and fresh cilantro.

Salsa and mole sauce are the combined heart of Mexican food, and it is enough to give insight on the meal to come.

Looking over the menu, there is a wide assortment of options. From Sopes (a traditional Mexican dish) to Tortas (a type of Mexican sandwich) and gorditas, to classic dishes such as enchiladas and burritos.

The most intriguing meal on the menu is the tacos. La Mexicana provides patrons with 22 different fillings

to choose from. After seeing Birria tacos — made with Mexican stew

of goat — I decided on one taco, but with 21 options still available it was hard to pick the others.

The waiter shared his favorites, which made the final decision an Al pastor and a Huitlacoche taco.

Huitlacoche, pronounced “weet-la-ko-chee,” is known as the Mexican truffle. It is a fungus that grows on corn, taking over the plant causing smut disease and eventually killing the plant. The mushrooms growing on the corn are extremely valuable. They were popular among the Aztecs and Native Americans. In Mexico, they use these mushrooms in stews, quesadillas and tacos.

Most of the tacos are priced at $2.49, but a few options such as the beef tongue, cow brains and Birria are $.25 or so more.

The tacos were served with fresh cilantro and chopped onion spewed across the tops with limes on the side.

The Huitlacoche taco was a black mush with corn kernels seeded among it. It was earthy like a mushroom with the sweetness of corn — it was divine.

The highlight of the meal had to be the Birria, stewed to perfection. The tender meat had the perfect balance between acidity, sweetness and spice.

If you’re looking for a culinary adventure — or the best tacos in town — La Mexicana is definitely the place to go.

SARAH MULLINS | CONTRIBUTOR

Inspired by the city of Bakersfield, Calif. and the mixture of pop and country music out of Nashville in the ’50s and ’60s Bakersfield OTR is anything but the normal Cincinnati pub.

Located in Over-the-Rhine, Bakersfield is only one of the up and coming restaurants in the area.

On Vine Street, just a block away from the recently renovated Washington Park, it is a great place to meet up with friends and get lunch or a Mason Jar margarita on the weekend.

The drinks are complimented well by a bowl of chips and spicy guacamole. The

restaurant’s main focus is on tacos, tequila, and whiskey but includes a full bar with many types of wines, liquors, and beers on tap. The Pabst Blue Ribbon and other draft beers are even served in a fun boot shaped glasses.

The menu contains a variety of tacos, salads and tortas. But it is the tacos that stand out the most. The Cochinita Pibil was the most appealing, and had an amazing mix of flavor and spice.

On the weekend during lunch there is a family-like atmosphere. Parents and their kids come to enjoy a taco while a group of 20-something men in Bengals or Reds attire enjoy some beer. TV’s on the walls continuously play country western movies such as “Once Upon a

Time in the West” as well as classic country and folk music playing in the background.

During the later hours the restaurant shifts to mostly a young adult crowd.

The location and late hours of Bakersfield OTR makes it fantastic for a night of bar hopping in OTR.

Bakersfield OTR is open Monday through Thursday from 4 p.m. to midnight, from noon to 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, and noon to 10 p.m. on Sunday.

If you know of a great place to eat that might offer something different, let us know by emailing newsrecord.living@gmail.com.

La Mexicana offers a culinary adventure

Bakersfield’s fancy atomosphere is the bomb

KEITH BOWERS | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

TACO DELIGHT Tacos are the dish of choice at Bakersfield in Over-the-Rhine.

SHELBI NATION | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

EXOTIC EATS La Mexicana nestled on Monmouth Street in Covington, Ky.