As Jon Hartley Fox made his scheduled appearance at a Books by the Banks event at the Duke Energy Center Oct. 17, the many years the Dayton native had spent writing the just-published 'King of the Queen City: The Story of King Records' had finally paid off. This book was a daunting task.  

Sometimes musicians have to leave the Midwest to get better — they need more ideas than any one region can provide. That was the case with Jackie DeShannon, whose long career has included such hit recordings as the Bacharach/David composition "What the World Needs Now" and her own "Put a Little Love in Your Heart." The native of rural Hazel, Ky., cut her earliest singles at King Records in Cincinnati.  

Finally, a slice of Cincinnati music history gets enshrined. While there have been temporary exhibits in recent years on our music lore at the public library and the Contemporary Arts Center, there has never been a permanent historical display. There is one now — in the lobby of the new Bootsy's restaurant downtown.  

It won't exactly be the sort of historical marker you'll stumble upon while taking a stroll. It will be found at the end of a dreary industrial street in Evanston, fixed to a pole in front of a poop-brown abandoned warehouse overlooking cars whizzing by on I-71. But someone who comes upon it next week (or in years to come) will likely do a double-take reading what happened in that crumbling building where King Records became The King of Them All.   

On Nov. 23, CityBeat brought the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards to the Emery Theatre for what turned out to be the best show in the program's 12-year history. Bootsy Collins and a large band of James Brown cohorts tore the roof off right away with an opening tribute to the Godfather of Soul, part of a big celebration of Cincy's King Records' legacy.  

I once opened for Ralph Stanley somewhere north of Cincinnati in a pre-fabricated building with one of those signs out front where you can change the letters by hand. It said, "Tonite Ralph Stanley," and that was about all it needed to say. When Ralph and the Clinch Mountain Boys took the stage, there was an uproar. "Stone Walls and Steel Bars," somebody yelled. "Rabbit in a Log!" "Clinch Mountain Backstop!" Ralph looked flinty, with a chiseled face straight out of southeastern "Virginny" where he was born and still lives.  

A few weeks ago I read about a group of Cincinnati business executives and Chamber of Commerce types visiting Minneapolis to learn how that city markets itself to the world. These people made a similar trip last year to Charlotte, N.C. The idea is that Cincinnati needs to identify a unique characteristic, a selling point that sets us apart from other cities and regions, in order to attract visitors, conventioneers, new residents, new businesses and all the money they bring along.