Grammys

April showers bring live music

Concert Listings, podcast

Welp, list member Dale Doyle didn’t win a Grammy today. Then again, I’m pretty sure he was the only list member who was nominated. And you know what they say:

Congrats, D2 on your stunning work.

And if you’re wondering who did get the Grammy for best package design, it was:

Other Grammy winners include… I have no idea. You think I’m going to watch an awards show? Well, other than this one:

But unless it’s the Bono Awards, I’d much rather see a live concert!

Body parts — and the lack thereof — will be on display Tuesday. The Flaming Lips play the Bobby Brady Icon Music Center, with Heartless Bastards as the opener.

Bobby needed ice cream to cool his flaming lips
Heart surgically removed. Bastard intact.

Wednesday, The Minks plays Southgate House. This show is highly recommended by list member Jim Siegert, who has attended a gazillion concerts (conservative estimate), so he really knows shows like no one else. Here’s what he said about The Minks:

I saw them twice at AmericanaFest last September, and they’re awesome. Check out their YT channel when you have a chance. https://youtube.com/c/TheMinksss

Tommy Castro & the Painkillers play the Taft on Thursday. [These are over-the-counter Painkillers (active ingredient: killer chops) so no prescription is required. Side effects may include head-bobbing, toe-tapping, rockin’ pneumonia and boogie-woogie flu.]

The weekend will bring a deluge of shows.

Friday:

  • alt-J and Portugal. The Man and Cherry Glazerr play Ovation (I think it’s called “The weird punctuation and spelling tour.”)
  • The Louisiana Swamp Stomp, featuring The Iguanas and Kevin Gordon, rolls into Southgate’s main room (Sanctuary).
  • Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience deals the tunes at the Hard Rock Casino.
  • Mike Farris and the Fortunate Few play Ludlow Garage.
  • Christian Nicholas Gough has a show in Southgate’s upstairs Revival Room, with Miranova and Closest Relative also on the bill. True story: my friend Art’s son Sam (who also is a member of the Cleveland Guardians roller derby team and a world-ranked pinball player) is playing bass with Miranova.

Saturday shows:

  • Jess Lamb headlines the Fountain Square Spring Music Series free show at… you guessed it… Fountain Square.
  • Baroness plays Southgate’s Revival Room.
  • Suzanne Santo plays the Taft Ballroom.
  • John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band plays Ludlow Garage (the Esquire Theater should do a matinee showing of Eddie and the Cruisers that day).

Next Sunday (April 10), Rise Against plays Ovation, and Ludlow Garage hosts Progject: The Ultimate Prog Rock Musical Experience. From the press bio:

ProgJect Features:

Michael Sadler (Saga) – Lead Vocals, Keys, Bass & Percussion
Ryo Okumoto (Spock’s Beard, Asia, Phil Collins, Chris Squire) – Keys & Vocals
Mike Keneally  (Frank Zappa, Dweezil Zappa, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, The Zappa Band) – Guitar
Matt Dorsey (Sound of Contact, In Continuum) – Bass, Pedals, Guitar, Keys & Vocals
Jonathan Mover (GTR, Marillion, Satriani, The Tubes) – Drums, Percussion & Vocals

With a two-plus hour set that includes “Squonk”, “Firth Of Fifth”, “Cinema Show”, “Siberian Khatru”, “Roundabout”, “Heart Of The Sunrise”, “From The Beginning”, “Karn Evil 9 – 1st Impression”, “21st Century Schizoid Man”, “Lark’s Tongues In Aspic”, “Xanadu”, “Solsbury Hill”, “Money”, “Living In The Past”, “Rendezvous 6:02” and more… ProgJect is going to drop your jaw and blow your mind.

Hmm, didn’t know the guy from Saga had it in him.

But Series-ously, Folks

We mentioned a Fountain Square Spring Music Series gig – the full series lineup is here on CincyMusic.com.

And speaking of music series, Parlor & Patio is back! List members Jacqui and Dave Killen will once again be hosting shows in their Ft. Thomas home. Huzzah!

Their first two announced shows:

  • Friday, May 13: Ritt & Wilder Deitz (tickets on sale here)
  • Saturday, June 18: Jesse Taylor

Funny Business

This Uproxx article by Steven Hyden, wherein he ranks all the Red Hot Chili Peppers albums, is filled with hilarious snark. An excerpt:

The album overall has the feel of a late-period U2 album. Which doesn’t sound like a compliment, though I am genuinely impressed that they could make a record this unhorny. In that respect, The Getaway is genuinely subversive, a Chili Peppers record without a cucumber in its trousers.

Speaking of trouser cucumbers, Jason Isbell cracked me up with his comment on a poorly worded Stereogum headline:

Shameless self-promotion

List member Dave Tellmann and I continue to crank out top-quality slapdash episodes of the “97X Rumblings from the Big Bush” podcast, garnering worldwide acclaim comments of “oh, that’s nice” from our spouses. (We’re currently #27 on the list of “Top Podcasts to Fold Laundry to.”) The most recent episodes are a two-parter (like a “very special episode” of Punky Brewster, only with less pigtails) with former station manager Jay Batista, who, along with Steve Stenken, helped flip the format of WOXY to modern rock. Part 1 of our chat with Jay is here, and Part Deux is here.

Album Cover of the Week

The unpicturesque field… the uncomfortable pose… the lack of a tight focus on the subject… but all is forgiven because the Cousin Eddie shoes match the fence.

Tucker Carlson Album Cover of the Week

Live music, no foolin’.

Concert Listings, Music

Another week, myriad opportunities to check out live music.

On Monday, Nektar is at Ludlow Garage. That’s a Brit prog rock band that’s been around since 1969. And the name is pronounced like “nectar”… although it’d be cooler if it were “Neck-Tar”… and it came from the instrument that was the ill-fated, banned-due-to-choking hazard follow-up to the Keytar.

Where was I? Oh, that’s right, gigs. Also on Monday, Relient K plays Bogart’s. (The “K” stands for Keytar!)

On Tuesday, Colin Hay (of Men at Work) comes all the way from the Land Down Under to the Peter Brady Icon Music Center, creating a magical marriage between vegemite sandwiches and pork chops & applesauce.

That same evening, Greta Van Zeppelin… I mean Led Fleet… I mean Greta Van Fleet, plays the Coliseum, creating a magical marriage of a band that reeks of the 70s and an arena that reeks of the 70s.

Also on Tuesday, Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia play Southgate.

Sylmar plays MOTR on Wednesday – it’s an 8 p.m. ticketed ($12 advance) show. And finger-style guitarist Yasmin Williams is at Ludlow Garage.

Thursday, Ludlow Garage has Church of Cash. It’s a tribute to Johnny Cash, not Kash Amburgy… although I’d be fine with either.

Friday is April Fools’ Day.

Celebrate with some Negative-Calorie Cookies and Tree Frog Beer… or just get sad that a formerly progressive radio station is now a parody of itself.

That evening, Johnnyswim plays the Ovation. The band features the marriage (literally) of Abner Ramirez and Amanda Sudano. Amanda is the daughter of Donna Summer, so she probably grew up around keytars.

Also on Friday:

  • Kishi Bashi is at the Madison Theater
  • The Wooks play Southgate’s Revival Room
  • Rumpke Mountain Boys kick off a two-night stand at the old Annie’s
  • EXTC plays Ludlow Garage. EXTC features Terry Chambers (drummer for XTC) plus Steve Tilling (vocals, guitar, ex-TC&I, the band of XTC’s Colin Moulding and Terry Chambers), Steve Hampton (guitar, vocals) and Matt Hughes (bass, vocals).

Saturday shows:

  • Shawn Colvin is at Memorial Hall, and she’ll be playing her brilliant 1989 debut Steady On acoustically, along with other favorites.
  • Buffalo Wabs & The Price Hill Hustle/The Harmed Brothers have a nice twin bill show at Southgate in the Revival Room.
  • Rumpke Mountain Boys are back at Annie’s.
  • The Ben Levin Blues Band plays Ghost Baby
  • The Yugos play a free show at MOTR.

On Sunday, list member Dale Doyle just might win a Grammy in the Best Recording Package for his artwork/design on Matt Berninger’s solo album Serpentine Prison.

They should’ve used a keytar image

Even though Dale’s work should be feted during the evening telecast, he’s not a teenage pop songstress (at least he wasn’t the last time we checked his…er, recording package…). So you’ll have to tune in to the afternoon event where more than three-quarters of the 86 winners will be announced. The live stream will start at 3:30 EDT and will be available on the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel as well as on the website live.grammy.com. 

After Dale picks up his hardware, Ben Levin has a 6:30 show at Schwartz’s Point, the cool jazz club in OTR. The building’s been around since about 1870, and a keytar has never darkened its doorway.

Motherfolk is at Top Cats — yes Top Cats — on Sunday.

R.I.P. Taylor Hawkins

New tunes

Here’s a fun new song from Lucius:

Grant-Lee Phillips always delivers:

Digging the new one from Soccer Mommy too:

Old tunes

Gospel great Sister Rosetta Tharpe, born on March 20th, 1915 in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, was as rockin’ as any rock star. Here she is just shredding on a 1965 gospel TV show:

https://youtu.be/cyrQJVxP6Ec?t=28

Album Cover of the Week

We heard that Bob was a fan of The Kinks. Or something like that.