Author: Damian
This Week in Live Music: December 2-8
Concert Listings, MusicGreetings fellow earthlings! Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful.
Let’s take a look at this week’s live music. Monday Silversun Pickups are at Bogart’s.
If you’re wondering “What’s Happening!!” on Tuesday, the answer is a big fat nothing… and that’s not a rip on Rerun and/or Shirley.
Wednesday, Farmer & Adele play a Country Western Christmas show with Mike Oberst of the Tillers at Southgate, Livingston Taylor (Sweet Baby James’ Baby Brother) plays the 20th Century Theater, and spoof hair band Steel Panther plays a “Big Hairy Xmas” show at Bogart’s.
If you’re a fan of live comedy, former Gary Burbank Show writer John Bunyan will be celebrating his birthday on Wednesday by closing out a Go Bananas Pro-Am show with a long set. John’s the funniest CPA I know (pretty low bar, I realize). Other folks on the bill are friends of his, including headliners like Gabe Kea, Mark Chalifoux and Tabari McCoy, so it should be a good time. Tickets are $5, show starts at 8.
Ben Levin plays BrewRiver on Thursday. Speaking of Ben, he’s got a fun new holiday tune out.
On Friday, the underwear-clad duo called The Skivvies plays a holiday show at Ludlow Garage. The dude is from Fairfield, where appearing in public in your underwear is de rigueur. You can read more about these “undie-rockers” in CityBeat.
Also, Aqueous is at Madison Live. Fully clothed. (You can listen to their new EP here.) And Ben Levin & the Heaters play Southgate’s Lounge.
Saturday, Dopapod is at the Madison Theater, Randy Steffen plays Camp Springs Tavern, and Pink Talking Fish (a fusion of Pink Floyd, Talking Heads and Phish) hits Ludlow Garage. Also, The Band of Helping Hands (Covington) will host a Blue Christmas toy drive/fundraiser show with G. Miles and the Band of Helping Hands house band along with Ricky Nye INC featuring Bekah Williams and Ben Levin.
Video of the Week
Local artist Wonky Tonk’s video for her song “Lessons” is directed by the lovely and talented Dave Morrison (Ass Ponys).
Happy Anniversary
CityBeat is celebrating 25 years as our fair city’s alt-weekly (actually alt-biweekly now), and the current issue features a grainy photo of list members John Fox and Dan Bockrath from back in the day. They’ve both moved on from CityBeat, but their boyish good looks haven’t changed a bit.
Hair Band Redemption
If you ever find yourself saying “whatever happened to Kip Winger, lead singer of the band Winger?” well, here’s your answer… and it may surprise you:
New Artist Spotlight
Danielle Durack is a youngster from Phoenix, AZ. She released her album Bashful way back in January, but I stumbled across it recently when Undertow added her to their roster of artists doing living room shows. Recommended if you like Phoebe Bridgers (and if you don’t like Phoebe, you may as well unsubscribe right now!).
The Reading List
This interview with Robbie Robertson of The Band from The Ringer is worth a read… although he should’ve given equal writing credits to every member of The Band. (Also, the new Scorsese/De Niro/Pacino flick isn’t even out yet and I’m already tired of hearing about it.)
Parting Tweet
This Week in Live Music: November 25-December 1
97X, Concert Listings, Music, podcastIt’s Turkey Week! (Or in my case, Tofurkey Week.)
I’m thankful for tasty tunes and good friends like you! Before we get to this week’s gigs, I must say Elvis Costello & The Imposters were stellar at the Taft last week. Lots of TWILM list members in attendance too…. on a school night! (7:30 show time, no opener… it’s a dream come true for folks of my vintage.)
OK, here’s the Turkey Week lineup:
On Tuesday, Cloud Nothings are at Woodward, with Leggy as the opener. That’s a nice double bill. Jackyl is at Bogart’s, in what feels like a standing monthly gig since 1991.
Wednesday, Dawg Yawp is at Woodward, with Ruby Vileos and Bendigo Fletcher. (Nice to see back-to-back concerts at Woodward… must be a slow week for wedding receptions.) Memorial Hall hosts “Abbey Road: a 50th Anniversary Beatles Celebration.” The complete Abbey Road album will be performed live by The Newbees with the Bee Strings and the Horn-Its.
The Tillers have a cool gig at Arnold’s on hump day too. Here’s the blurb from Arnold’s Facebook page:
We partnered up with Neltner Small Batch, Otto Printing and Mus-i-col Records to give offer a handmade, one-off, limited edition 7” vinyl record. The album is two live versions of the Tiller’s songs The Boatman’s Dance, Hickory Jack and Down at the Bottom. The records will also be pressed on transparent green vinyl to look just like a Jameson bottle. The awesome part? It’s free! That’s right, we are giving them all away. We have 250 total pressed on transparent hunter green vinyl to hand out and they will be first come first serve.
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Drink and Menu Specials run all day, The Tillers take the stage at 9. The Records will be available at 8pm.
Also on Wednesday, Ben Levin plays the lobby bar at the Phelps/downtown Marriott from 5:30-8:30.
Thursday is a day to take a break from the live music and spend time with family… even if they drive you nuts.
On Friday, Pomegranates play… holy crap, the Woodward. Three shows in one week! Sylmar and Grand Ace are also on the bill.
That same evening:
- Frontier Folk Nebraska have a record release party in Southgate’s Revival Room
- Joslyn & The Sweet Compression play Ludlow Garage
- Jordan Smart plays Camp Springs Tavern
- Static-X is at Riverfront Live (formerly Annie’s)
- the Trans-Siberian Orchestra has two shows at the Coliseum (presently Some-Bank Arena)
- Ben Levin performs at BrewRiver
- Freekbass plays FUNKsgiving in Southgate’s Sanctuary. That’ll shake you out of your tryptophan coma.
Saturday:
- The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band plays Southgate’s Sanctuary. Amen to that! Col. JD Wilkes (of Legendary Shack Shakers fame) opens up.
- Sierra Hull is at Memorial Hall
- Anna Stine plays Ludlow Garage
- Stolen Faces noodle a Grateful Dead tribute at Stanley’s
- Fretboard Brewing hosts an “Americana Gives Back” show starting at 5, with RootCellarXtract, Hickory Robot, Jeremy Francis and John Ford. Please bring a gift to donate to Toys for Tots.
Also on Saturday, Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant are at the Coliseum, which I mention merely because it gives me a convenient excuse to play this fantastic tune by the Young Fresh Fellows:
I saw the Young Fresh Fellows opening up for the Red Hot Chili Peppers at Bogart’s eons ago. Which gives me a handy excuse to do a callback to the Abbey Road mention earlier in this post:
Where was I? Oh, live gigs, right…
Sunday, the Ludlow Garage features Poco. The current lineup is sans Richie Furay, Jim Messina, Timothy B. Schmidt and Randy Meisner… but Rusty Young is playing.
The Aronoff Center features “It Was 50 Years Ago Today”… which is billed as “an All Star Tribute to the Beatles White Album – featuring Christopher Cross, Todd Rundgren, Micky Dolenz, Jason Scheff (Chicago) Joey Molland (Badfinger) – performing their greatest hits along with songs from the White Album.” Wow, Christopher Cross, Todd Rundgren and a Monkee together, whodathunkit? Of course, mentioning the White Album merits a shout-out to this:
And now you know how my brain works (or rather, doesn’t work).
Hot Ticket Alert
The lineup has been announced for The National’s Homecoming festival at Smale Park on May 8-9, 2020 and it’s very strong. I got tix for both days.
Video of the Week
The Drive-by Truckers’ new song mentions Cincinnati.
Kids these days (Part II)…
List member Lisa Collins, who works at Great American Insurance, mentioned to her 20-something niece Morgan that Jon Bon Jovi was playing Great American’s annual holiday party, and Morgan asked “What’s the difference between Bon Jovi and Jon Bon Jovi?”
(The one and only time I attended a Great American holiday party was eons ago when Carl Lindner Jr. was still around and apparently picking the entertainment, because the musical guest was… drumroll please… Wayne Newton!)
Shameless self-promotion
The most recent episode of the 97X Rumblings from the Big Bush podcast features an interview with Mark Griffin, a listener who so loved the station that he created 14 hours worth of playlists featuring songs that got airplay on 97X back in the mid-80s.
Have a happy week!
Episode 25: Mark Griffin, Superfan and Mixmaster
97X, Music, podcastMark Griffin tuned in to 97X as a teenager, and “the future of rock and roll” shaped his future. Listen to the podcast to learn how Mark ruled his high school art room with an iron fist… and why that iron fist never had a digital watch on its wrist. And learn why (and how) Mark painstakingly assembled 14 hours worth of song mixes from 97X circa 1985.
We reached out to Mark because he wrote a great post on his website about 97X and the profound impact it had on his life:
In his post, Mark reprints an article that Steven Rosen wrote about WOXY for the June 2, 1985 edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer. You can read that feature in Mark’s blog post linked above, but you should also check out the PDF version for the article as it originally appeared — right alongside ads for cigarettes and bras!
Kudos to Mark for creating such fabulous playlists culled from his 97X memories. All those mixes — 14 hours worth! — are also on his website:
In our podcast interview, Mark mentions mining the annual “97 Best of…” lists to create his mixes. Craig Froehle has compiled those lists for 1984-2009, as well as the Modern Rock 500 lists from 1989-2009, a 97X “A to X” list, and a 97X2K list from 2000. All those links are here: https://www.craigfroehle.com/p/97x.html
this Week in Live Music: November 18-24
Concert Listings, MusicHey kids, welcome to TWILM Version 2.0. Henceforth, in an effort to streamline this weekly hot mess, I’ll only tout shows where I’ve heard (or at least heard of) the band/artist. So instead of trying to cram 10 pounds into a five-pound bag, it’ll be more like eight pounds, six ounces.
Okey dokey, let’s get to the gigs. Frontier Folk Nebraska plays a free show in Southgate’s Lounge on Monday.
On Tuesday, Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus, OBE, is coming to the Taft. You may know him better as Elvis Costello, and he’ll be playing with his stellar band The Imposters. I’ll be in the nosebleeds with list member Barb Gardner, and the Cereal Killers will be in the audience as well.
That same evening, The Kyle Gass Company (yes, that’s KG from Tenacious D) will be at Top Cats.
Thursday, Dustbowl Revival is at Memorial Hall, Birds of Chicago are playing Ludlow Garage, Greyson Chance is at Top Cats, William Elliott Whitmore is at Southgate with Samantha Crain as the opener, and The Hu has a sold-out gig in the Taft Ballroom.
Friday is a busy evening:
- Houndmouth kicks off a two-night stand at Southgate House.
- Wussy plays a sold-out house show.
- Spyro Gyra is at Ludlow.
- Ben Levin plays the Symphony Hotel (near Music Hall).
- Beasts of Joy are at Bircus, along with something called Radiohead circus.
- Adam Lee will be at Camp Springs Tavern. List member Keith Neltner, the proprietor of aforementioned Tavern, is really big on Mr. Lee, who has performed there before. Based on Keith’s reco, I plan to go to that show.
On Saturday, Billy Strings has a sold-out show at Madison Theater. Houndmouth is back for more at Southgate, and the Ben Levin Trio plays the Wiedemann Taproom.
Sunday, Ricky Nye has a solo gig at Wiedemann at 5:30, and Bill Kirchen’s Honky Tonk Holiday will be tearing up Southgate later that evening.
Hot Ticket Alert
The National is doing another “Homecoming” festival in Smale Park in 2020! The lineup in 2018 was fantastic, and I’m looking forward to more stellar selections this time around. Presale starts Monday. “Layaway options available.”
Video of the Week
Nick Cave is brilliant… and an absolute badass. Here’s proof:
Tunes I’ve been digging lately
The new Vetiver album Up on High.
Kids these days…
My goddaughter Libby is a Junior at SLU, and her sorority had a “rock and roll” party. She wore a Van Halen t-shirt, even though she admitted that she doesn’t know a single Van Halen (or Van Hagar) song. (Nobody knows any Van Cherone songs. Facts.)
As if that weren’t bad enough, here’s more proof that kids just don’t have any appreciation for the previous generation of rockers:
“Tool” is so apt. Sad!
Have a great week!
This Week in Live Music: November 11-17
97X, Concert Listings, Music, podcastOh hello!
Let’s get to the gigs.
Monday, Incubus plays Taft with Le Butcherettes as the opening act. Jay Madera is at MOTR with Kaitlyn Peace & the Electric Generals.
On Tuesday, Ludlow Garage hosts Rising Appalachia, The Neighbourhood plays the Short Vine neighborhood at Bogart’s, and Ben Levin tickles the ivories at Arnold’s.
Wednesday marks the return of the band whose name sounds like an dark web site that sells cut-rate ED remedies: Bonerama!
They’re playing Riverfront Live, which used to be Annie’s. (If you’re keeping score at home, yes, that means Bonerama will be performing on Hump Day.)
That same evening, Chris Thile plays Memorial Hall, Marcia Griffiths plays Ludlow Garage, the Dallas Moore Band plays Southgate’s main room and Michael Nau is upstairs in the Revival Room.
On Thursday, The Marcus King Band is at Bogart’s, and Dylan LeBlanc and Night Moves play Southgate.
Friday, the Commonheart plays Taft’s Ballroom, The Rippingtons play Ludlow Garage, and Ambrosia is at Memorial Hall. Jesse Malin will NOT be playing Southgate, much to my dismay.
Saturday is quite busy:
- Daniel Martin Moore plays the final Parlor & Patio house concert of 2019 at the home of list members Dave and Jacqui.
- Gregory Alan Isakov is at Madison Theater
- Jake Book plays Camp Springs Tavern
- The David Bromberg Quintet is at Miami U-Hamilton
- Melody Guy and Steff Mahan play the Downtowne Listening Room
- Last but not least, the old Annie’s will still have a Bone… Thugs-N-Harmony
On Sunday, you can catch Hobo Johnson & the Lovemakers at Bogart’s, or see some NWF Wrestling at Bircus Brewing in Ludlow, KY.
Hot ticket alert
Shovels & Rope is playing Ludlow Garage on 4/8/20. Get tickets here.
Clarification Department
List member Rob Ervin, formerly of the Chris & Rob Late Night Talk Show on WAIF-FM, let us know that when Ben Folds stopped by their show lo those many years ago, he was playing a melodica (not a recorder as originally reported here), and it was Ben’s first interview west of the Appalachian Mountains.
Lipstick on a Pig Department
The Riverfront Coliseum has yet another corporate name. Doesn’t matter, it’s still a dump.
Heritage Bank better order 20 cases of this:
Video of the week
This clip was brought to my attention by list member Dave Tellmann… it’s smokin’ hot.
Shameless self-promotion
Speaking of Dave Tellmann, the latest episode of the 97X Rumblings from the Big Bush podcast that I co-host with Dave is live now, right here. It’s a two-parter with Kevin “Couche” Couch, who worked at 97X in the mid-90s and went on to host the National Lampoon Comedy Radio show on Sirius XM and produce the top rated morning radio show in L.A. He also had a neighbor in the apartment upstairs from his who was dead for two months before being discovered, but that’s a story for another day.
Live shot
I snagged the extra Wilco ticket from Dan “Reds above .500 in 2020!” Lewis. Birthday Boy Danny (his wife calls him a sexagenarian now… and he’s never been to see Bonerama!) had great seats about 8 rows from the stage, and it was an excellent show.
Episodes 23 and 24: Kevin Couche, the man of a thousand gigs
97X, podcastKevin Couch, a.k.a. Kevin Couche, was an Indiana kid who tuned in to 97X early and never looked back. He wound up working at the station, and later headed to Hollywood to work for the top ranked morning show, do interviews for other radio stations, host a comedy show on Sirius XM, do publicity for Death Row Records and a comedy club… the list is endless.
We had so much fun chatting with Kevin that we made it a two-parter. Check out both episodes as we talk to Couche about his 97X payroll windfall, the Dayton band Brainiac, his many gigs, plus-sized lingerie, Steve Baker, Robyn Hitchcock, Nerf Herder, the Rugburns, Hollywood Hamilton, Sirius XM Comedy, and his current gig in PR.
Show some heart for Brett Heartz
97XFormer 97X DJ Brett Heartz needs our help. About a year ago, he was diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), which is incurable. He’s currently on “the list” of folks who need kidney donors, and it could be years before a suitable donor is found.
In the interim, his wife Wendy has given up her management role for an hourly, overnight position so she can help with home dialysis, doctor appointments, treatments, etc. And the medical bills are mounting.
The GoFundMe is here, and I urge you to read the whole story.
Every donation helps.
This Week in Live Music: November 4-10
Concert Listings, MusicWelp, our Ragnar Relay from San Francisco to Napa was a bust; it was cancelled due to wildfires. Some may blame global climate change, but I know the real culprit is Michael Martin Murphey.
The cancellation actually worked out pretty well for our 12-person team. We got to skip the tired, sweaty, smelly, trying-to-sleep-in-a-van parts, and just did the fun tourist parts. On Friday, we did a 6-mile run from the beach at Golden Gate Park, along waterfront cliffs and across the Golden Gate Bridge. That was pretty cool.
You know what else is cool? Live music! Let’s get to the gigs.
Sunday, November 3rd, John Cusack will be at Taft for a screening of the movie Say Anything, followed by a live conversation. Not bad if you enjoy paying a minimum of $52.75 (plus fees) to watch a 30-year-old movie.
On Monday, 11/4, The Japanese House plays the Taft Ballroom, and list member John Sandman’s Tye Dye Band appears at The Lounge in Anderson. (If you’ve never been to The Lounge, it’s the Anderson Township equivalent of the cantina in the original Star Wars.) John was the captain of our Napa relay team and did a great job making lemonade out of the lemons we were handed.
John’s in the center of the photo above, in the tie-dye shirt and the unicorn headgear. If he wears that ensemble tomorrow at The Lounge, he’ll fit right in.
Tuesday, 11/5 is election day, so you need to rock the vote.
After the polls close, you can enjoy any of these gigs:
- Lucy Dacus plays Woodward, with Liza Anne as the opener (check out her fun cover song at the end of this post)
- Tool is at Riverfront Coliseum, with opener Killing Joke
- Icon for Hire plays Top Cats
- Madison Theater hosts An Evening with Billy Corgan
Wednesday, 11/6 has a crowded concert menu too:
- Joan Shelley plays Southgate
- Dream Theater is at Taft
- The California Honeydrops play Riverfront Live
- The Kingston Trio plays Memorial Hall. Perhaps the opening acts will be Mitch & Mickey, The Folksmen and The New Main Street Singers.
And last but not least, list member Mark Celsor’s new band Left of Center is at Urban Artifact on Wednesday. Here’s a blurb from Facebook event page:
Join us for the sweet taste of victory, or the haunting solemness of defeat, the day after this year’s election with the modern folk, labor and protest music stylings of Left of Center as they perform new and classic American folk songs.
On Thursday, November 7th, you can see Kung Fu at Ludlow Garage. [NOTE: This does not mean you’ll watch the movie Kung Fu Panda with an actual panda… although I’d pay $52.75 for that!) Ben Levin plays BrewRiver that evening, too.
Friday (11/8), Ricky Nye and Paul Ellis play Wiedemann’s taproom, Marcus Miller is at Ludlow Garage and Bogart’s hosts Yacht Rock Revue, which is absolutely nothing like this:
Saturday, 11/9 is a musical buffet of the non-Jimmy Buffett variety:
- Wilco will be at Taft. List member Joe Sampson and I saw Jay Bennett-era Wilco at Ripley’s in Clifton back in February of 1997. Killer show, complete with Cheap Trick and Replacements cover songs and a few Uncle Tupelo tunes (setlist is here). Hard to top that one.
- The Amy Helm Band plays Miami U-Middletown
- Katie Toupin (formerly of Houndmouth) is at MOTR
- Shemekia Copeland plays Memorial Hall
- Mayday! is at Top Cats
- Randy Steffen plays Camp Springs Tavern
- Ben Levin plays Overlook Kitchen & Bar at the Summit Hotel in Madisonville.
On Sunday, November 10th, the Outlaws will be at Ludlow Garage. List members Whit Gardner and Professor David Reid will be in attendance, and I may join them. Also, The Wood Brothers play Taft with Nicole Atkins, and Bogart’s has a quadruple bill of Newfound Glory, Hawthorne Heights, Free Throw and Jetty Bones, and King Buffalo will be at MOTR.
Hot ticket alert
Primo songwriter Jimmy Webb is playing a cool gig at Memorial Hall on Saturday, March 21st, 2020:
JIMMY WEBB: THE GLEN CAMPBELL YEARS highlights some of the 100+ recordings from the Webb/Campbell songbook, pulling the audience in with various accounts each night of the personal side of generational touchstones like “Honey Come Back,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman,” “Galveston” and more from decades of shared musical memories.
Hot ticket turned cold ticket alert
The Jesse Malin show at Southgate on 11/15 is no longer listed on Jesse’s website or the Southgate website. I was really, really, really looking forward to that gig because Jesse’s a fantastic performer and his new album Sunset Kids (produced by Lucinda Williams) is a gem. However, this is not the first time that a Jesse Malin show was scheduled at Southgate and then vanished. #FML
Shameless self-promotion
Check out the newest episode of the “97X Rumblings from the Big Bush” podcast, where Dave Tellmann and I chat with intern-turned-record label exec Aaron Borns. Episodes are on this website, and also available on Podbean, Spotify and iTunes.
I also try to update the song and video on the top of the 97Xbam.com home page every couple of weeks, and you’ll always find fresh news from the website Under The Radar in our RSS feed, including a “best songs of the week.”
Tip o’ the cap
Thanks to my cousin-in-law Mike Holmes for putting us on the guest list for the Spookfloaters sold-out show at Dead Low Brewing (near Riverbend) on 11/1. Their acoustic set was outstanding, and Dead Low has a nice layout which includes a big patio and an indoor stage. I’m looking forward to hearing more live music from local bands there.
Answers to our poll question: what’s your favorite hidden gem cover tune?
Dan “2020 Reds season ticket packages are on sale now” Lewis picked Dwight Yoakam covering the Rolling Stones:
Marc Allen got very specific, selecting Jason Isbell joining Widespread Panic for an incendiary live version of J.J. Cale’s “Ride Me High” back in 2016:
Bruce Frasure didn’t pick a cover, he was just glad to find a fellow Syd Straw fan, and mentioned this fantastic tune from her and some dude named Michael (who has been in the news of late).
Speaking of covers, here’s Lucy Dacus (at Woodward Theater this Tuesday) doing a rockin’ version of an Xmas evergreen:
Have a great week!
Episode 22: Aaron Borns, Record Biz Whiz Kid
97X, podcastAaron Borns started at 97X as a student intern (a.k.a. “co-producer”) for the Breakfast Club in 1993, then worked part-time shifts, answered the phones and worked with Julie Maxwell doing promotions. He wasn’t at the station long, but the lessons he learned there served him well during a 20-plus year career doing promotions and marketing at RCA Records. Dave and Damian talk to Aaron about his 97X days, his record label roles… and how he got a free car while he was at 97X.
