Steven Hyden

HollyDaze

Concert Listings, Music

However you choose to celebrate the holiday season, please don’t spin any of those overplayed seasonal tunes within earshot of me. It’s not just Mariah, it’s also Andy Williams, Bobby Helms, Brenda Lee… basically the same 12-song rotation that’s been shoved down our earholes since November 1st.

There are good Christmas songs (R.I.P. Shane and Kirsty), but you’ll rarely hear them on iHeart/Cumulus radio stations or in the malls.

Thanks, my spleen feels vented now. On with the shows!

Tonight, Ben Levin plays Schwartz’s Point, and then he’s got his big Holiday Blues Revue on Thursday.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy plays a “Wild & Swingin’ Holiday Party” at the Taft Theatre on Wednesday.

On Saturday, it’s a Sophie’s Choice for the stoners:

  • Afroman’s “Merry Spliffmas” is at Annie’s
  • Hyryder (Grateful Dead tribute band) plays the Madison Theater

After those smokin’ Saturday shows, all is calm, all is bright… two adjectives that my school teachers never used to describe me.

Things pick up a bit after the fat guy heads back to the North Pole.

On Friday, December 29th, Sylmar and Bendigo Fletcher play the Woodward, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra trots out their usual holiday tuneage at the Coliseum.

Saturday, December 30th is a very busy night for concerts:

  • Jess Lamb & The Factory (featuring Siri Imani) plays MOTR
  • Rumpke Mountain Boys kick off a two-night stand at Annie’s
  • Root Cellar Extract plays Plain Folk Café in Goshen
  • Tickled Pink (Scott Covrett, Bob Nyswonger and Bam Powell) plays the Pub in Rookwood

On Sunday, December 31st:

  • The Rumpke Mountain Boys ring in the new year at Annie’s
  • Foxy Shazam plays the Foxy Carol Brady
  • Your favorite writer of a semi-coherent, sporadically-published list of Cincinnati-area concerts will celebrate his birthday… by attending the wedding of one of his wife’s co-workers.

Coney Island Baby

Did you hear the news that MEMI is draining the Coney Island Sunlite Pool for good, and building a concert venue in its stead?

Oh goody, a state-of-the-art venue to host those cutting-edge Lynyrd Skynyrd/Kid Rock double bills!

Best Coast, best advice

Bethany Cosentino from the band Best Coast put out a really good solo album this year… and not many people heard it. She talked to Stereogum about her disappointment. Money quote:

I just genuinely think the record I made is really fucking good, and I love it. And again, that’s what matters. I guess maybe at the heart of this message is: If you really love something, do it. Don’t give up. Don’t overthink it. Don’t say, “Well, I should just do the other thing that works already.” No. Do the think you wanna do. Make the thing you wanna make. You know what? If it doesn’t work out, that’s OK.

And the story has a bit of a happy ending, thanks to the dumpster fire that is whatever Twitter is called now.

Album worth a spin

I’m really digging the new release from a UK band called Witching Waves.

Read an interview with the band members here and check out the album below:

Matt & Dave

Cincy meets Indy when Matt Berninger chats with David Letterman.

Hot Ticket Alert

Alvvays plays Bogart’s on Friday, 4/19, and Jerry Harrison & Adrian Belew bring the Remain in Light tour to that same venue on Friday, July 26th. (The Bogart’s box office is open Mondays and Fridays from noon-5, and it opens two hours before showtime on the nights of a show — purchase your tickets there to save big on fees.)

Favorites of 2023

Steven Hyden of Uproxx has it right:

Before I share my list, I need to repeat my regular “year-end list” disclaimer. If you already know the drill, feel free to skip ahead.

1) Ranking albums is dumb … We all know this. Art isn’t a competition. I can’t really distinguish between my 13th favorite album and my 15th favorite. This is all talk. None of it really matters.

2) … but it’s kind of fun … Of course it is! Because it’s about sharing music recommendations. And I do mean share — make your own lists and show them to me, especially if you’re the sort inclined to complain about lists. Put yourself out there and let me complain about you, too!

3) … because it’s really about discovering an album or two (or possibly more!) that you might not have known about otherwise. Exactly!

Now, let’s rank!

Steven’s list is here. Other lists:

And this site compiles several “best of” lists into… you guessed it… a list!

If you care to share your 2023 favorites, post them in the comments.

Album Covers of the Week(s)

Slim and Rampal not only know how to rock, they also know how to rock a gorgeous robe!

Merry, Happy, etc.

Bah! Humbug!

Concert Listings, Music

December strikes another devastating blow to the hearts of Cincinnati music lovers, stealing Dan Hamilton of the Spookfloaters:

Kinda hard to go on with this silly little post now. But Dan loved music, and lived music. Next gig you go to, send some positive vibes to his family.

This Friday:

  • Ian Noe plays Southgate
  • Over The Rhine kicks off a three-day run at Memorial Hall (Sunday’s gig is a 4 p.m. matinee)
  • Ricky Nye plays a free gig at The Orbit Room near Findlay Market
  • Plush Machine and Fairmount Girls rock Northside Tavern
  • Herman’s Hermits/Peter Noone have an Xmas show at Ludlow Garage
  • The 1975 has a sold-out gig at the Marsha Brady
The 1971… “how about the flip side?”

Saturday night, it’s the Big Show… the Royal Crescent Mob reunion show at Madison Theater. It’s a fundraiser for the Tri-State Cancer Research Fund. Dan “Danny Crash” Reed (97X, WVXU Nightwaves, WNKU, WXPN) will be spinning some old school funk to open up the gig. Hat tip to Jon Calderas for a great interview with David Ellison on CincyMusic.com. Nice to see some coverage in CityBeat and Cincinnati.com as well. Hope to see you there!

Less hair now, but still just as cool.

Other Saturday shows:

  • Motherfolk plays “A very Motherfolk Christmas” at Bogart’s
  • Afro-Man’s “Merry Spliff-mas” is at the old Annie’s
  • Pam Tillis plays a holiday gig at Ludlow Garage
  • Hard Rock Casino hosts “A Boy Band Christmas” with members of 98 Degrees (but not Nick Lachey… weird), O-Town and All-4-One, plus Ryan Cabrera.

I will Alvvays love you…

After Saturday’s shows, we hit the Xmas lull… not much on the ol’ Koncert Keeper until late in the month. You’ll have to tide yourself over with this great live in-studio set from Alvvays:

Speaking o’ live, Ryan Adams brought his A-game for his 35-song set at the Jan Brady.

We can still have fun on Twitter

Ranking albums is dumb

Steven Hyden has it right in his Favorite Albums of 2022 piece:

If you care to share your faves of the year, you can do so here.

He “Ken” rock you!

List member Ken “Music is my hobby” Laube now has an air shift at Inhailer Radio. Tune in (online, on the app or WGUC HD-3) to his “Welcome to the Weekend” show Fridays from 3-7 p.m.

Album Cover of the Week

He can’t rock you:

I’m pretty sure rock hung up on him.

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