podcast

In the Bleak midwinter

Concert Listings, Music, podcast

The dreaded holiday hiatus from live music is inching closer. There are fewer gigs on the ol’ “This Week in Live Music” Koncert Keeper for the next couple of weeks, so let’s make this a double shot to get us thru 2021 (a.k.a. 2020 Part II). Yes, it’s the famous “year-end double issue” that publications like to roll out at this time of year… because “year-end double issue” sounds so much better than “we’re half-assing our way through the next couple of weeks.”

He can hardly bear to hear more Mariah Carey.

Before we get to this week’s fortnight’s gigs, let’s get a crowd ‘n venue review from Mr. Jason Isbell:

Very kind of Jason to say that about our fair burgh. Let’s hope his Icon plaudits attract the attention of other touring artists.

OK, on with the shows…

Tonight, Over the Rhine kicks off a three-night stand at Memorial Hall, Motherfolk and Sylmar play Bogart’s, Ekoostik Hookah plays the old Annie’s, Ben Levin is at Brewriver with special guest Johnny Burgin, and the Fleetwood Mac tribute (the band, not the mac & cheese dish at Keystone) is at Ludlow.

Saturday, Anderson East plays Bogart’s, Squirrel Nut Zippers are at Ludlow Garage, Phil Vassar & Sister Hazel are playing the Hard Rock Casino, Afroman celebrates “Merry Spliffmas” at the old Annie’s, and Ben Levin and Johnny Burgin will be on stage at Big Ash. The next morning, they’ll be playing the Hard Rock Casino.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (no relation to Voodoo Chile) plays the Taft on Tuesday.

Maddie Poppe has an Acoustic Christmas show at Ludlow on Thursday, and Ben Levin plays Shire’s Garden.

Santa Claus is coming to town very late next Friday. You’d better watch out.

Rick “Dr. Noah Drake from General Hospital” Springfield plays the Icon on Wednesday, December 29th.

Not a doctor. Played one on TV.

The Rumpke Mountain Boys kick off a two-night stand at the old Annie’s next Thursday, December 30th. That same evening, Ben Levin will be playing Dead Low Brewing.

Arlo McKinley is at the Madison Theater on New Year’s Eve, while Freekbass will be doing a Funkadelic-KISS mashup called FunKISSdelic at Ludlow Garage. Clutch (the band, not the part I had replaced on my 1976 Datsun B-210 back in ’87) plays the Icon, with Stoner (the band, not the guy in the 2nd balcony with the vape pen) and Native Howl.

Also on New Year’s Eve, this lil’ scamp celebrates another spin around the sun:

Wardrobe by Botany 500.

He plans to celebrate by drinking expired eggnog and staying up until the wee hours (9:45 p.m.).

If he’s feeling extra wacky, he might even have some fruitcake…

Listen Up!

KEXP will be counting down the top albums of the year (as voted on by listeners) today. List member “Rico” recommends this list of the year’s top 100 albums, courtesy of a Finnish music blogger. Luann “Miss Kitty” Gibbs of Inhailer Radio (and the calendar listings queen at the Cincinnati Enquirer) put together a lengthy Spotify playlist of her favorite songs (here), as did Matt “I don’t have a cool nickname like ‘Rico’ or ‘Miss Kitty'” Lacefield (here). Matt also does a music blog/online radio show thang at The Unfamiliar. (Both Luann and Matt have been guests on the 97X Rumblings from the Big Bush podcast… check it out if you have some free time over the holiday break.)

Album Cover of the Week

The person who did the egregious airbrushing work on this cover must’ve already been in “year-end double issue” mode.

Have a great week, and then another great week, and best wishes for a happy 2022!

Episode 73: Joe “Rock the” Voet, Model Citizen

97X, podcast

Joe Voet was a mild-mannered student in a small Midwestern college town, working at the Miami U. student radio station and listening to 97X… until one day Rictile turned him into Joe “Rock the” Voet, political correspondent. That led to a Breakfast Club co-producer role, with highs (meeting The Cure) and lows (reading the news on-air without any prep).

Joe claims he was the worst Breakfast Club co-producer ever, but we beg to differ. We talk to him about his 97X memories, and learn how he’s used his IT skills to build a mini-97X. We also learn that Damian sucks at geography.

Back in his Oxford days, Joe lived downstairs from 97X-er Kevin Couche, and across the street from Shiv… and near Matt Sledge and Mark Abuzzahab. Truly a “Cradle of DJs.”

Front row L to R: Joe Voet (seated), Shivvy, Kevin Couche, Mark Abuzzahab and Rictile.
Back row: women who prefer to remain anonymous, for reasons that should be obvious considering the folks in the front row.

The resemblance to the cast of Melrose Place is uncanny:

Here’s Joe today, from his home in… some country in Europe, maybe?

Spark VanBuren… sounds like an alias to us.

Joe sent us a few photos of his 97X swag…

I have found a couple threadbare shirts, which are in my “never to be worn again” shirt archive due to the sorry state they are now in….1 more wash and I fear disintegration.

I also found the Alternative Division gas can flask, which is by far my favorite flask.  I believe it was some sort of call in prize, but I cannot remember…I only know that it came from 97X.

Thanks for adding “fuel” to our 97X memories, Joe!

Episode 72: A Second Serving of Barb Abney

97X, podcast, woxy.com

Here’s more from our chat with 97X/woxy.com alum Barb Abney. In this episode, Barb discloses her 97X souvenirs, we try to solve the mystery of where 97X’s music library wound up, a secret prankster is revealed, and we get more scoop on Barb’s new podcast called “Tied to the Tracks.”

On Barb’s Tied to the Tracks podcast, she and co-host Augustus Watkins are joined by a different guest each episode and they dive deep into one of their guest’s favorite albums, song by song. Tied to the Tracks is available wherever you get your podcasts, including on Spotify, Apple Music and iHeart.

Barb’s come a long way since that fateful day when she interviewed for a job at 97X… here’s the outfit she wore that day:

If you miss hearing Barb on the air (don’t we all?), you can tune in to the morning show she co-hosts on KFAI-FM in Minneapolis (it’s on the interwebs).

We first interviewed Barb back in 2019, on Episode 18. Check it out here.

Episode 71: Talking Tracks with Barb Abney

97X, podcast, woxy.com

Barb Abney, who was on-air at 97X and woxy.com from 1994-2006, returns to talk about weird promotional giveaway items, why corporate radio still sucks… oh, and her great podcast “Tied to the Tracks.” Barb has some excellent podcasting pointers for Dave and Damian… which we will probably ignore.

On Barb’s Tied to the Tracks podcast, she and co-host Augustus Watkins are joined by a different guest each episode and they dive deep into one of their guest’s favorite albums, song by song. Tied to the Tracks is available wherever you get your podcasts, including on Spotify, Apple Music and iHeart.

In our interview, Barb also mentioned some of the more unusual promotional giveaway items from 97X. Here’s her “vintage” Blur condom:

And here are several more choice items from Barb’s swag collection:

Can’t finish your soda? Why not use your Squirrel Nut Zippers can cover…
We wonder if that phone number is still active…
Band-Aid dispenser from Stanford Prison Experiment… makes perfect sense.

Here’s a shot of the woxy.com crew: Shiv and Barb up front, Mike Taylor and Bryan J. in the back.

And here’s one of Barb’s handwritten playlist from the woxy.com era, along with her “DJ Princess” business card:

If you miss hearing Barb on the air (don’t we all?), you can tune in to the morning show she co-hosts on KFAI-FM in Minneapolis (it’s on the interwebs).

We first interviewed Barb back in 2019, on Episode 18. Check it out here.

Episode 70: Getting (un)familiar with Matt lacefield

97X, Music, podcast

Matt Lacefield played cutting-edge music on a Cincinnati radio station… but it wasn’t 97X. While Dave and Damian were on the air at 97X in the 90s, Matt was a DJ for Nightwaves, which aired overnights on WVXU-FM. So we were kindred spirits… and still are, because Matt loves discovering new music. He’s sharing his latest favorites via his blog/podcast called “The Unfamiliar.” We chat with Matt about his radio days and how he finds and shares the latest and greatest indie tunes.

97X served as a gateway to a life of music discovery for Matt, just as it did for so many other Tri-state teenagers. Here’s an excerpt from Matt’s blog:

My older brother, three years older and close enough in age to be an influence (for better or worse), also played a big role in my music obsession as a teen.  He was tuned in to U2, the Talking Heads, INXS, the Smiths, and so much more.  The walls of his bedroom were lined with racks of cassettes full of bands who were completely foreign to me.  Like the scent of a pie on the windowsill, the sounds coming from down the hall lured me in. I would sneak into his room, borrow cassettes, listen to them when he wasn’t home, and sneak them back. This exposed me to bands like R.E.M., Husker Du, the Minutemen, and the Replacements. In hindsight, this was the beginning of my love of digging for new music.  I had also heard him listening to a radio station that I had never heard of, WOXY – 97X FM, broadcasting from Oxford, Ohio, playing the same music that lined his walls. For me and so many others my age who lived in Southwest Ohio, discovering 97X was like striking gold. It provided a soundtrack to my life until it went off the air in 2010.

From the “About” page of Matt’s blog

Matt’s podcast is called The Unfamiliar, and you can listen to the first episode below.

https://the-unfamiliar.com/the-unfamiliar-episode-one-10-1-21/

Here are a couple of shots of Matt’s extensive music collection:

Episode 69: Jayne Sachs, Stellar Songstress

97X, Music, podcast

Jayne Sachs credits her discovery of 97X (thanks to her now-husband) with putting her on the singer/songwriter path. She’s been able to carve out a career in music, and has picked up plenty of accolades along the way, including winning 97Xposure in 1995 and garnering two first place wins (in different years and different categories) in The John Lennon Songwriting Contest. We talked to Jayne about her Xposure spoils, her performing career, record label interaction, and her current songwriting work in Nashville.

You can listen to Jayne’s latest songs on her songwriting website.

The Jayne Sachs Band won 97Xposure in 1995. Here’s a news story about that year’s finals, as it aired on Cincinnati’s WXIX-TV (Channel 19), with 97X’s Ali Castellini as the on-the-scene reporter and Jae Forman announcing the winning band on stage at Bogart’s:

Jayne has released several albums as a solo artist and with her band.

Here’s “I Recognize”, one of several songs from Jayne that got airplay on 97X:

Jayne Sachs – Back To You (2014) from Gary Mitchell on Vimeo.

The Jayne Sachs Band at WNKU’s Studio 89 in 2013.
Screen grab from our video interview with Jayne – her guitar is always nearby.

Episode 68: The Legacy of 97X

97X, podcast, woxy.com

This is a shorter episode, but it’s deep. The culmination of our conversation with 97X station owners Doug & Linda Balogh includes Doug’s “big thought” about the legacy of the station… and how the listeners and the station alums will always be a connected community. 97X Forever! 

In this episode, we reference a recent letter from Jen L., who grew up “in the cornfields of Crosby Township”… she had such kind words to say about the station, and we think her feelings reflect those of many listeners:

That was about the only good thing about where I lived: 97X came in crystal clear and was like an oasis among the fields of corn. The music you played opened my mind and heart to soundscapes so different than anything I’d ever known. You took me to places I was sure I’d never get to go. How lucky was I! 

I remember the summers in high school listening to 97X. I always had leftover notebooks at the end of the school year. So I ripped out all my biology and algebra notes, and used up the remaining pages keeping lists of songs I heard and liked on the radio. I filled pages and pages. I hung on every note, counted each song, waiting for you to backsell what you just played so I could write it down. (Gosh I wish I still had those lists!)

Whenever I could, I kept a Memorex 90 minute cassette in the player so I could spring from my bed in time to hit record/play and catch those songs and make mix tapes. And I waited all week for Saturday overnights when you’d play an album in its entirety. I struggled to stay awake til midnight just to hit record, then turned the volume low so I could sleep. In the morning I rewound to listen back, and was either happy or bummed to find out if the entire album fit on one side. I remember getting XTC “Apples and Oranges” that way, and The Indigo Girls and The Smithereens. Then later I would make my own album covers from a collage of pictures and patterns I’d find in magazines.…

Really I just wanted to let you know how much 97X meant to me in my teen years. You truly saved me. I can’t fully express how much you did. But I am here in large part because of this station. You gave me hope and an outlet. I heard you, and my spirit felt heard in return.

Jen L.
Why yes, that is MTV VJ Alan Hunter with station staffers.
97X alums at a station reunion.
More alums.
97X sticker on the wall at Canal Street Tavern in Dayton.
page from a 1996 radio industry publication

Episode 66: Doug & Linda’s 97X-cellent Adventure

97X, Music, podcast

Yes, we’ve interviewed 97X station owners Doug and Linda Balogh before (check out Episodes 56 and 57). But they are such founts of 97X knowledge and stories that we had to go back to the well. In this episode, Doug does a 97X role call, we talk about 97Xposure, the station’s charitable endeavors, a Riverbend-adjacent party, and one of Linda’s decidedly unglamorous yet crucial behind-the-scenes role on the prize patrol.

Doug cited 97Xposure as perhaps the finest example of what made the station unique. Every year, dozens if not hundreds of local/regional bands would submit their songs, and multiple 97X staffers would evaluate them to determine a Top 20, and eventually a final four to play in a “battle of the bands” style concert, with the winner getting recording equipment and free studio time.

Sorry for the fuzzy photo

The 97X Modern Rock Cookbook featured recipes from band members, station staffers and listeners, and proceeds went to local charities.

Features “Dave’s Succulent Seven-Layer Salad”…

Doug and Linda mentioned Julie Maxwell’s tireless work to bring the Modern Rock Cookbook to life.

Julie Maxwell, always cooking up fantastic promotions.

Here’s an aerial view of the house in California, Ohio (near Riverbend) that hosted a 97X event on the day of the Elvis Costello/Crash Test Dummies concert. Crash Test Dummies showed up… but Elvis didn’t enter the building.

Read more about the house in this Cincinnati Magazine article from 2019

Linda Balogh had to truck all the prizes to the Post Office. Mr. Zip has nothing on Mrs. 97X.

Episode 65: Mike Jacobs, Legendary Indie Record Promoter

97X, podcast

Mike Jacobs is a legendary independent record promoter who ran campaigns for alternative success stories like The Offspring, Rancid, Nine Inch Nails, Bush and No Doubt, among others. He also was CEO of MCA joint venture Way Cool Music from 1995-98, where he signed Blink-182, and was a lifelong friend of Rick Carroll, who started the pioneering modern rock radio station KROQ-FM in L.A. We chat with Rick about his time in the trenches, his memories of 97X and the modern rock format. 

97X station owners Linda and Doug Balogh, flanked by their kids Marty and Susan, when they were honored with the Rick Carroll Radio Innovator of the Year Award in 1998

Here are a couple of fun trade publication interviews with Mike Jacobs from 2011:

If you heard this album, Mike Jacobs made it happen.
What is the one truth that has held constant throughout your career?

Mike Jacobs: It’s only no until it’s yes. If you believe in a song or an act, stick with it. Always tell the truth: even if it’s something people don’t want to hear, they will respect you later.

From the “10 Questions with Mike Jacobs” profile in 2011.

Episode 64: Randy the Redneck

97X, podcast

“Randy the Redneck” – the name pretty much sums it up. He’s like a hillbilly Forrest Gump, and had the uncanny knack for showing up at pretty much every 97X event ever. Concerts at Bogart’s, B&B Riverboat Cruises, Rock & Bowls, Breakfast Club Home Invasions… somehow he even managed to attend an music industry convention with 97X program director Phil Manning. In short, if 97X was there, so was Randy.

Randy the Redneck (at right) helps a Speedo-clad Rictile cool off during a Breakfast Club Home Invasion live broadcast.

Randy first heard of (and listened to) 97X through his friend Kevin, who was also friends with 97X’s Brett Heartz. Randy started hanging out with Brett and going to shows with him, and also played in a band called The Urinal Biscuits that shared bills with bands featuring 97X employees and fans. The rest is history… and legend.

Modern day Randy… still a redneck, but an artsy one.