Thursday, January 13, 2000
He's cool enough without the gang
BY JIM KNIPPENBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Well for goodness sakes, would you look who keeps popping up in the cocktail lounge at Jeff Ruby's downtown steakhouse?
None other than Odeen Mays, former keyboardist and vocalist with Kool and the Gang (“Celebration”). Folks sipping martinis there have been hearing him for more than a month, sprinkled in among five other acts Ruby has been booking.
Most people had no idea who Mays was, but took a liking to him anyway. Don't believe us? Try getting a seat after 8 some night when he's there.
So now we hear that Ruby, knowing a good thing when he sees a full house, has made him a regular.
Yep, Ruby says. “It's true. The guy has been such a draw here that we signed a deal a few days ago. The way he does it is so right for us — sweet standards earlier, when people are eating, then he starts rocking with Kool and R&B stuff later, about 10.”
So then, Ruby says, come Feb. 1 Mays will play five nights a week, solo on piano Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, with a four-piece combo Fridays and Saturdays.
Yeah, but why Cincinnati? “He's from here and his family's here — partner and four daughters. The oldest is only 12 and he wants to be here when they're growing up. All the better for us, 'eh?”
WEDDING BELLS: Look whose wedding landed in a quarter-page story in the New York Times.
It's Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra bassist Boris Astafiev and Pamela Holmes, research associate at UC's College of Medicine.
They were married in December in Ridgefield, Conn., at Lounsbury House, an 1896 mansion surrounded by historic homes the Times says were “strung with Christmas lights. It looked as if the entire town were wearing jewelry.”
Right. So what posessed the Times to go all out covering two locals?
For one thing, her parents are prominent Manhattan psychologists Drs. Monica and Douglas Holmes. For another, people around New York know her as a fine pianist. For still another, Astafiev, a Julliard grad, is known as a fine bassist and arts activist deeply in to poetry and music.
Didn't hurt that they turned Ridgefield into a “town wearing jewelry.”
ON THE ROPES: Like the saying goes, teach 'em to grunt and slam bodies loudly enough and the world will beat a path to your door.
Witness Les Thatcher, owner of Main Event Pro Wrestling Camp, the Evendale school of hard knocks that teaches aspiring wrestlers how to take a hit without getting permanently creamed.
Last year, Thatcher was all over national TV: Banks Tarver, producer of MTV's Real Life was here several times for a 90-minute show that ran in August. ABC's 20/20 Downtown spent three days there in September for a mid-December segment.
Now this: MSNBC producer Alexis Claiborn arrived Tuesday and remains through today, working on a “how to become a pro wrestler” feature. Focus is on workouts, training exercises and the moves a pro needs to learn.
Thatcher says Claiborn will return Jan. 22 to shoot trainee B.J. Whitmer in his first match.
It set to air in late February or early March, Thatcher says.
Knip's Eye View appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Have an item to report? Call Jim Knippenberg at 768-8513; fax: 768-8330.
