Like an agitated monkey, I’m about to fling some poop at you.
But you should be used to it by now – I do it every few weeks! If you can navigate around the verbal shite, you’ll find some cool concerts to check out.
Shows on tap for tonight:
Henhouse Prowlers and Moonshine Drive at the Liberty Theater in Lawrenceburg
William Elliott Whitmore and Dave Hause at the Woodward, with Micah Schnabel opening
The Screaming Orphans at Ludlow Garage
Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco is at the Coliseum
Saturday shows:
Sylmar does two sets at MOTR
Buffalo Nichols plays the Liberty Theater
Southgate hosts the Newport Music Roots Festival (doors 3 p.m.) – details below
Woodward Theater has “Play for L.A.” – a benefit for fire-impacted musicians. The lineup includes Rae Fisher, The Montvales, Jess Lamb, Siri Imani and more.
Mike Detmer and Adam Gilliam play the Lost Bridge Beverage Co. in North Bend
Christine Harvilla Duo with Colleen Clark plus Sami Riggs at the Boone County Courthouse
Annie’s hosts Grateful River III (a benefit for Down Syndrome) – details below
On Sunday, Ben Levin Blues Band is doing the Rabbit Hash Music Behind the Stove Series at 2 p.m., and the band Lawrence plays Bogart’s in the evening.
Woodward has An Evening with Yo La Tengo on Tuesday. I’ll be at that gig, along with several other list members. Because Georgia, James and Ira are badasses!
Shannon McNally plays Southgate on Wednesday.
Thursday gigs:
Shadowgrass in Southgate’s main room, and Jake Blocker in the Revival Room
“Sons of Cream” (Kofi Baker, Malcolm Bruce and Rob Johnson) play Ludlow Garage. (Maybe they should call themselves “Half & Half”?)
Liberty Theater has a Comedy Night featuring Adam Minnick
Concerts next Friday, March 28:
The Blind Boys of Alabama with Shemekia Copeland at Taft Theatre
Chicago Farmer & the Fieldnotes at Southgate
The Outlaws at Ludlow Garage
Cody Ikerd & the Sidewinders Album release show w/Joe Clark at Liberty Theater
Little Miami Brewing’s event center has “Night Moves: The Ultimate Bob Seger Experience”
Blue Note in Harrison hosts The Prince Experience (pancakes not included)
The slate on Saturday, March 29:
Liberty Theater has a Rebel Whiskey tasting (4 FREE tasting!) from 5-7, followed by the Lowdown Brass Band
Blackhawk at Ludlow Garage
Lily Rose at Bogart’s
Bumpin’ Uglies at Madison Theater
Willi Carlisle at Southgate in the Revival Room
Annie’s has the all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band Zepparella
Blue Note features “Midnight Blue” (Foreigner Tribute) with One Way to Rock (Sammy Hagar tribute)
Shows on Sunday, March 30:
The Star Devils play Rabbit Hash in the afternoon
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers are at Liberty Theater (I plan to go to that show)
JD Simo and Luther Dickinson (of North Mississippi Allstars) at Southgate
Ricky Nye will be tickling the ivories as only Ricky can on Monday, March 31 at Memorial Hall, and Taft has The Faint with Plack Blague.
Shows on April Fools’ Day:
The Surfrajettes with Black Widow at Madison Theater
Al Stewart & Livingston Taylor at Memorial Hall
The Righteous Brothers “Loving Feeling Farewell Tour” makes a stop at Taft. (If you’ve lost that loving feeling, see your urologist!)
Wednesday, April 2 is another WEENsday at The Columbia in the East End (4311 Eastern Ave.) and this month’s featured WEEN album is Chocolate and Cheese… so they’ll have some chocolate-covered cheese to share.
I plan to attend that event. You should too – The Columbia is a very cool space (with a vintage jukebox in the basement), and WEENsdays are free and you can BYOB!
Tunes & Blooms kicks off at the Cincinnati Zoo on Thursday, April 3. Moonshine Drive and Pickin’ Pear will be on the T&B stages. The full April lineup is here. That same evening, right down the street, you can catch The Seven Wonders (yes, yet another Fleetwood Mac tribute band) at Ludlow Garage.
The Liberty Theater in Lawrenceburg has a Record Fair April 4-5.
Shows on Friday 4/4 include Judah & the Lion* at Bogart’s and Eaglemania “The World’s Greatest Eagles Tribute”** at Ludlow Garage.
* If Bogart’s says their bathrooms are clean, they’re lion… er, lyin’.
**Pretty sure the world’s greatest Eagles Tribute is playing the Sphere in Las Vegas.
On Saturday, April 5:
The Young Dubliners play Ludlow Garage
John Waite is at the Taft
Queensrÿche plays Belterra Casino in Florence, Indiana
Patterson Hood is at the Whirling Tiger in Louisville, with Lydia Loveless as the opener
Sunday, April 6, Ludlow Garage has The Phil Collins Experience (warning: contains no Phil Collins).
We love it live!
MJ Lenderman and Wild Pink at the Green Lantern Bar in Lexington KY was off-the-charts amazing (set list is here). A Top 5 all-time show for me, thanks to list member Frank B.
“Once music and work and money all become the same thing, it gets hard to do it casually. But that was the reason I was able to do anything meaningful in the first place,” he admits. “You can see that through my whole life, just being able to go to a friend’s house and make something and not worry about what it is.”
Now hear this!
The new album from The Tubs is top-notch. Richard Thompson meets Hüsker Dü.
Speaking of Richard Thompson, Bandcamp has a great feature about his influence on younger artists. Sayeth Mary Timony:
“His tone is always amazing, but here’s the thing—most importantly—his songwriting is great. He’s kind of the total package, in that he does both songwriting and playing guitar very well.”
“She was vilified, humiliated at times, metaphorically crucified when alone and in her twenties. Everything she stood up for and against then, including racism in the music industry, has been proven to have been needed and right. She wasn’t just trying to look out for herself. She was the original truth sayer who wouldn’t go easy into the night. The original “difficult” woman who didn’t make it easy. Because easy wasn’t the right thing to do and it wasn’t the truth. Gone too soon. Nothing compares to you.
Irish comedian and actress Aisling Bea on Instagram
Kudos to Pink and Brandi Carlile for paying tribute to Sinéad that evening at their concert in Cincinnati. Without a doubt they each owe her a debt of gratitude for blazing the trail.
Today we lost Robbie Robertson, the bandleader of The Band, one of the all-time great groups.
Sorry to bring you down. Let’s try to brighten the mood by looking to the future…
Oops, that’s not gonna help. The first gig on Ye Olde Koncert Keeper is Ted Nugent. He’s playing the Rose Music Center tomorrow night.
Fear not, though, as there are several decent gigs tomorrow:
Ruby Vileos plays a free gig at Washington Park
Erin Coburn does the freebie at Smale
Yonder Mountain String Band, Railroad Earth, and Leftover Salmon play the Taft Theatre
Drivin’ n Cryin’ plays Ludlow
Fraze has a “Happy Together” gig (that’s more like it!) featuring The Turtles, Little Anthony, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, The Vogues, The Classics IV and The Cowsills.
On Friday:
Yonder Mountain String Band, Railroad Earth, and Leftover Salmon try to fumigate the Rose.
The Samples play Ludlow Garage
Here Come the Mummies are coming to the old Annie’s
The Beach Boys play the Hard Rock Casino
Kenny Roby (of 6 String Drag) plays the Southgate Lounge
Saturday, JD McPherson plays Southgate and Brett Dennan is at Ludlow Garage.
On Sunday, the ageless Willie Nelson headlines the Outlaw Music Festival at Riverbend, with John Fogerty, Gov’t Mule, Kathleen Edwards, Particle Kid, and Myron Elkins also on the bill.
Tuesday, Disturbed, Breaking Benjamin and Jinjer play Riverbend.
When I hear the name “Ghost” my mind immediately goes here:
But the band Ghost (a “GRAMMY-winning Swedish theatrical rock band” per the bio… I thought that was ABBA) has a sold-out show at Riverbend on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Rose hosts a tribute to Ghost ABBA, and Al Stewart plays Memorial Hall.
Next Thursday (8/17):
Asleep at the Wheel plays Memorial Hall
RiversEDGE in Hamiltucky has the Cordovas, Scotty Bratcher, Duane Betts and Palmetto Hotel
Edwin McCain is at Ludlow Garage
Steven Page (formerly of Barenaked Ladies) plays a freebie at Village Green Park in Fairfield
Dead Centric (yes, a GD cover band) for free at Evendale Pavilion
Jump: America’s Van Halen Experience at Ludlow Garage (free chaps to the first 50 attendees)
Next Saturday, 8/19:
Noah Wotherspoon and Eric Jerardi play a free gig at the Levitt Pavilion in downtown Dayton
Black Owls, Heavy Hinges, and The Tigerlilies play Southgate
Next Sunday, the Old 97s play Southgate, and the even older Jethro Tull wheezes into Rose.
The show of the summer is on Monday, August 21st: The Beths play the Woodward Theater.
They aren’t just New Zealand’s finest, they are one of the finest bands going. So you’d best be going to this show. Opening act is DISQ, so it’s a great twin bill.
On Tuesday, 8/22, Marcus King, Charley Crockett, and Molly Tuttle play the Mike Brady, and Jethro Tull fiddles flutes around at PNC.
(Our favorite Jethro… yet not in Jethro Tull or The BoDeans.)
Crackerjack Cracker
The Cracker gig at the old Annie’s a couple of weeks ago was really enjoyable. A very strong set list of Cracker, Camper and more. David Lowery + Johnny Hickman = music magic. List members Howard Cohen (Cereal Killers at Big Ash on 8/26!) and Todd Butler were in the house too, which added to the festive atmosphere.
