This summer, from August 2 to September 21, Cincinnati will be home to the first U.S. installation of Play Me, I’m Yours by Luke Jerram.

Jerram will install painted pianos throughout the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area – on streets, in public squares and parks, and at other fun locations – for anyone to discover and play. Like a creative blank canvas, the pianos will present unlimited opportunities for your inspiration and enjoyment.

From Play Me, I’m Yours, Cincy.

You can donate an unused piano, or sponsor a street piano. I’m not sure, but I think you may be able to help in painting them and getting them ready too.  Find out more at Play Me, I’m Yours Cincy, the artist’s website, and the project website.

Past coverage of Jungle Jim’s International Food Market.

Soapboxmedia – American Sign Museum from Chas! Pangburn on Vimeo.

The museum is currently in Phase 3 of its 4-phase move into a new, expanded, permanent home in Camp Washington.  They’re still raising money, which you can help out with by purchasing a paver or painting a panel!

See here for past coverage of the Sign Museum.

I noticed that the Nam June Paik robot sculpture was missing back in July. According to Jason Gargano at CityBeat: "…the CAC, which owns it, put it in storage when the owner of the Mercantile Building – which was leasing the space for it – asked for it to be removed when the lease was up."

I await the return of Metrobot, and look for him to reclaim his rightful place at 6th & Walnut as protector of the CAC.

First up is a long piece CityBeat did on the Vent Haven Ventriloquism Museum here in town, the only major public museum devoted to ventriloquism.

While it risks cliché to say this, the [Vent Haven] museum can legitimately be tagged a unique experience because of that. It regularly gets international attention. The New York Times last month did a major feature praising it (as well as another hard-to-see Greater Cincinnati museum, the American Sign Museum). National Public Radio has also featured it, and a Web site called Internationaltraveler.com listed it as one of the world’s 10 weirdest museums.

From Vent Haven Ventriloquism Museum

With a video!

It started with just a few people from theater, dance, music, museums, and the Fine Arts Fund staff, and grew to include hundreds of Cincinnati residents.

Even though the initial invitation didn’t say what the participants would be doing, hundreds of people signed on to show their enthusiasm for the arts. We successfully kept the secret for weeks because we all shared the goal of touching others in our community with the unexpectedness of the event.

It reminded me of the two other nonuments that I know of, perhaps the two best examples of them.  These are the two restaurants in the parking lot of Cincinnati Mills mall, which was featured in a Queen City Discovery post.  Here’s the one which was a former Roadhouse Steakhouse or something.

Photo by Queen City Discovery

Could turn it into condos I guess.

Segway Of Ohio conducts 90-minute tours around Eden Park on their unique two-wheeled transportation devices.  Have fun tooling around the park while learning from an experienced guide.

Much appreciation should go to the city Park Board.

Cincinnati Park Board Director Willie F. Carden Jr., whom I’ve noticed likes to innovate in order to make things better, gave Jenkins the go ahead to roam Segway-mounted through the city’s parks. He also provided a closet to put them in at Eden Park, with an electrical outlet to charge them. For free.

- CityBeat story

Below is the tour brochure, and a 4:35 long video.

Segway Tours Brochure

Dance breaks out on Fountain Square

Just after 12:30 p.m., as the song “Bop ‘Til You Drop” by the Nylons blared from the square’s loud speakers, a few people emerged from the lunchtime crowd and began dancing.

More joined in. Then more, until about 150 people – some wearing suits, some in T-shirts and jeans – were moving to the music in unison on the southern edge of the square.

Then as suddenly as it began, it was over. The song ended. The dancers dispersed. Fountain Square was back to normal.

Read the Enquirer article, and watch the video below.

After a successful 2008 PARK(ing) Day in Cincinnati, it hopes to be even bigger this year!  Mark you calendars.  On Friday, September 18, 2009, creative types from all over the region will descend upon downtown and OTR to reclaim some of the parts of our concrete jungle dedicated to the automobile — at least for a day.

San Francisco art collective REBAR first created “PARK(ing)” in 2005 to re-imagine the potential of the metered parking space. In 2006, it went global.

For details, check out the Cincinnati PARK(ing) Day blog, and follow @CincyPkgDay (Cincy Package Day?) on Twitter.