Bellwether Music Festival

This Week in Live Music: February 17-23

Concert Listings, Music, podcast

Before I tell you what’s cooking this coming week, I have to give a huge shout-out to all the list members who made the killer Cereal Killers gig at MadTree on Saturday afternoon: Dan, Joyce, Amy, Tim, Michelle, Mindy, Lisa, Phil… and at least three Daves!

He’s at MadTree!

In classic Cincinnati fashion, where three degrees of separation would set a new Tri-State record, my college buddy Tim Condron (who went to high school with Cereal Killer’s guitarist Matt Hueneman) was there with his wife, who, unbeknownst to us prior to the gig, works with the wife of my podcast partner Dave. What are the chances?

OK, better stop reminiscing before I turn into a Little River Band tribute band (name: Tiny Creek Ensemble). Let’s get to this week’s rather sparse lineup of gigs.

Tom Keifer, that fella from Cinderella (the hair band, not the Disney movie), plays Bogart’s on Tuesday.

Wednesday, Memorial Hall hosts the Americana duo Drew & Ellie Holcomb.

On Thursday, Brooklyn band Stuyedeyed plays MOTR with Oregon Space Trail and In The Pines. The Whiskey Wolves of the West play Southgate. American Authors and Magic Giant are at Bogart’s, and Ben Levin plays Smoke Justis.

There are a few gigs of note on Friday:

  • Twiddle plays Madison Theater
  • Motel Radio hits Southgate, in the Revival Room, with Calumet and Juno Dunes also on the bill.
  • All-American Rejects play Bogart’s
  • 20th Century Theater in Oakley hosts An Evening with Suzy Bogguss
  • “Steady Rollin'” Bob Margolin plays the first of back-to-back fundraisers for the Pinetop Perkins Foundation. He’ll be playing the Phone Booth Lounge (sounds cozy) in Kettering with Noah Wotherspoon, Lisa Biales, James Soiberg (longtime guitarist for Luther Allison) and Joe Tellmann (longtime son of podcast co-host Dave).
  • The Box Tops play Ludlow Garage. The current incarnation features original members Gary Talley and Bill Cunningham (not the bombastic talk radio host). R.I.P. Danny Smythe and the inimitable Alex Chilton.

Bob Margolin is back at it on Saturday (he comes by his “Steady Rollin'” moniker honestly). He’s hosting the 6th Annual Dayton Blues Society Youth Showcase. 22 youngsters from 10 states will be showcasing their blues chops, including local whippersnappers Erin Coburn, Ben Levin and Joe Tellmann, all of whom have learned from blues masters via the Pinetop Perkins Foundation’s annual summer camps in Clarksdale, MS. Great blues for a good cause.

Also on Saturday, local jam band Spookfloaters will be at Fretboard, playing a full set of Jerry Garcia Band tunes and another set of old favorites.

If that’s not trippy enough for you, Memorial Hall has the Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular that same evening.

And if that isn’t trippy enough for you, consider this: 80s pop starlet Tiffany is still a viable commodity… she’s hosting an “Ultimate 80s Party” at Kenwood Mall Bogart’s.

On Sunday, Kulick plays Southgate’s Revival Room.

Hot Ticket Alerts

Andrew Bird, Calexico and Iron & Wine will be at PNC Pavilion on Saturday, June 20th. Neko Case plays Memorial Hall on Sunday, June 28th. (Here’s hoping that she’s in a better mood than she was when she played Taft a few years back. THE most uncomfortable/disappointing fan experience I’ve ever had.) Dead & Co. waft into Riverbend on Monday, July 20th. And summer festival season is just around the corner. Tickets are on sale now for Bellwether in Waynesville:

And Forecastle in Louisville:

I find both festivals’ lineups a bit underwhelming, but maybe I’m just getting old.

The 1975? Is Patty Hearst in that band?

Speaking of which, Bunbury has a great lineup if you are a tween:

“Back in my day, a Marshmello went on a s’more!

Recommended Reading

This Esquire piece about Huey Lewis’ battle with hearing issues is an interesting read. Loved this excerpt:

Huey’s more of a risk-taker than his spot in the mainstream would suggest. He convinced his label to pay for an unknown Stevie Ray Vaughan to open for the Sports tour. (The fans weren’t ready for it: “He’d be burning it down, and the crowd would go, ‘Huuuey, Huuuey.’ It was the weirdest feeling, hating your audience.”)

Shameless Self-promotion

Shout-out to the Cereal Killers for the nice plug on their Facebook page about this website and the 97X podcast:

I’m blushing!

Since the Cereal Killers mentioned it, there IS a brand-new, piping-hot episode of the podcast available. Bryan Jay Miller (intern, sales, promotions, digital, woxy.com GM) is our guest. Tune in to find our where all the albums, posters and other 97X/woxy.com paraphernalia might be buried.

Album Cover of the Week

An album so white bread that it should come in a Wonder wrapper.

Videos

Have a great week!

Concert review: Guided By Voices at Bellwether

Concert review, Music

The Teacher Delivers An Indie Rock Master Class

Guided By Voices perform a blistering set at Bellwether Music Festival

Review: Dan Bockrath Photos: Gene Dow Photography

In the midst of their set, Guided By Voices leader Robert Pollard thanked the Bellwether Music Festival promoters for inviting them to perform a 75-minute show. With a wink and a nod, he then wryly boasted that the band frequently plays 3-hour plus shows on tour. (They played 54 songs in over two and half hours at their late June concert at the Woodward Theatre…and plan on performing a 100 song show at a sold out New Year’s Eve concert in New York City.)

Photo credit: Gene Dow Photography

Born, raised and currently living in nearby Dayton, Ohio, the former 4th grade school teacher and his band ripped through 29 songs in their allotted time.  At 61 years old, Pollard maintains the swagger to be one of the best rock and roll frontmen in the business. Confidently strutting the stage, he threw in several Daltryesque microphone swings and managed to sneak in one of his signature high kicks. He has slowed down a bit on the legendary beer chugging, but did take several dips into the cooler throughout the evening.

photo credit: Gene Dow Photography

The band opened with three hard charging songs from their fine 2019 double album Zeppelin Over China before tearing into crowd favorites Cut-Out Witch and Tractor Rape Chain.  Pollard then matter-of-factly announced that the band will be releasing their 3rd record in 2019 in the fall titled Sweating The Plague (the 24-track Warp And Woof was released in April).  They then performed the first single, the anthemic “Heavy Like The World”. You can listen to it here.

Sweating the Plague will be the ultra-prolific Guided By Voices 29th studio album. And Pollard seemed rather proud of his ability to make three records in one year as he wondered aloud why some other bands put out records once every seven years.

Back to the show.

Long-time fans were treated to many favorites from the GBV catalog, including Echos Myron, I Am a Tree, Chasing Heather Crazy, The Best of Jill Hives, My Kind of Soldier, Motor Away and Teenage FBI.  Doug Gillard was a beast as always on lead guitar and relative newcomer Bobby Bare, Jr. was windmilling his heart out on rhythm as the dual guitar attack, accompanied by bassist Mark Shue and drummer Kevin March, provided a face full of melodic rock and roll to charge up the relatively mellow sun-kissed crowd. (GBV were sandwiched between STRFKR and headliners Beach House, so many of the younger fans were a little thrown off by ol’ Bob and his band of misfits).

  • Gene Dow took this photo…
  • And this one…
  • Yep, Gene Dow again.

The band was just hitting their stride of greatest hits when they were told they only had three minutes left in their set. With that, Pollard broke into the opening of “Glad Girls” to send the fans off in style.

Setlist link: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/guided-by-voices/2019/ohio-renaissance-festival-grounds-waynesville-oh-639f9297.html