The concerts coming to our area this month are radical, Dude! Almost as radical as this thrift store Tony Hawk display:
What could be more radical than a Handsome Dick? And tonight, Handsome Dick Manitoba sings Dictators songs and other punk classics in the Sanctuary at the Southgate House. Other totally tubular gigs include Chloe Kimes at Liberty Theater and Paul McDonald upstairs in the Southgate Revival Room.
On Friday night, I’m going to see MJ Lenderman — with Wild Pink as the opener! — at a small club show in Lexington, KY. For free!
My ticket is courtesy of list member Frank B., who snatched up a couple o’ tix before MJ blew up. Smart man (other than inviting his boorish neighbor to a show when he could sell his other ticket for $500)!
Shows closer to home on Friday night:
Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives are at Memorial Hall
Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country plays Taft
ekoostik hookah will be at the Liberty Theater
Twain and Esther Rose play Southgate
Bockfest also kicks off Friday. It’s the one time of year you can hang out with a goat and not get arrested.
On Saturday, Ace Frehley lands his spaceship at Belterra Casino in Florence, Indiana. Seems fitting.
That same evening, Armchair Boogie and The Montvales play the Liberty Theater, July For Kings plays MOTR, and Southgate House hosts the “Rockn’ Revival” fundraiser with a slew of local bands:
On Sunday:
Anthony Ray Wright has the afternoon gig at Rabbit Hash
Clem Snide plays Southgate’s Revival Room
The Steel Wheels roll into Ludlow Garage
The Turkeys play two sets at MOTR as part of Bockfest – 8 p.m. free show
On Tuesday, Marc Broussard plays Memorial Hall and the Taft Theatre has the “Experience Hendrix” Tour featuring Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Eric Johnson, Devon Allman and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram.
Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles will be at the Aronoff on Wednesday… or you can catch “The Fab Four (USA Meets The Beatles) next Friday (3/14) at the Taft.
Other, less derivative shows on Friday, March 14:
Town Mountain plays Memorial Hall
Frontier Folk Nebraska and Lee Bains play MOTR
Scotty Bratcher plays Liberty Theater with CFG & the Family
Kyle Eldridge and the Honky Tonk Wrangers are at Southgate
Agnostic Front rocks Madison Live
Simply Queen (a tribute to… you guessed it… Queen) at the Little Miami Brewing Events Center
Jeremy Short plays Southgate – kudos to Jeremy’s publicist, who penned these lines:
“With an orange mustache, golden voice and cherry red Gibson ES-335, Eastern Kentucky Space Funk artist Jeremy Short has quickly risen to the top shelf of must-hear players on the scene.”
When I grow up, I want to be a Space Funk artist.
Shows on Saturday, March 15:
Tower of Power plays the Hard Rock Casino
Them Coulee Boys are at the Liberty Theater
The Ark Band plays a Bob Marley tribute at Ludlow Garage
Sunday, March 16:
TopHouse plays Madison Theater with The Wildwoods
My Brother’s Keeper and The Foreign Landers are at Liberty Theater
Mike Farris plays Ludlow Garage… I loved him on M*A*S*H!
Oops, my bad, that was Mike Farrell
Monday, March 17 is some sort of holiday… Irish I could remember which one.
Todd Lipscomb plays Arnold’s on Tuesday, March 18.
Gigs on Wednesday, March 19:
The Dollyrots at Southgate
Dream Theater plays a sold-out show at the Marsha Brady
Bogart’s has one of the 27 Fleetwood Mac tribute bands
Thursday, March 20:
The Travelin’ McCourys play Ludlow Garage
Buckethead is at Bogart’s
Liberty Theater has a free Songwriters in the Round show with Adam Gillam and Ryan Brewer
The Brant Bjork Trio (no relation to Björk, unless someone stole their umlaut) and Moonbow (no relation to Moonbeau) play Southgate
We love it live!
Kim Deal’s show at the Woodward was fantastic. Horns! Strings! Backing vocalists!
The Cabin Fever Festival in Ludlow, KY is the best off-the-beaten-path festival going, and a great way to see local, regional and national artists in cool settings… like seeing the leader of Carriers in a funeral parlor!
Robyn Hitchcock at Southgate House this past Saturday was absolutely stellar! Two sets (one solo, one featuring vocals from his partner Emma Swift) with a fantastic set list.
My non-fandom of the Beatles is well-documented, but when Robyn strolled through the entire crowd during the encore, strumming his guitar and leading everyone in a singalong to “A Day in the Life” that was pretty damn cool! Great to see list members Dave Tellmann, El Blanco, and Ken “The Lobby Boy” Laube (Fridays 11a-3p on Inhailer) too.
Mailbag
We love the recent comment from Victor Garcia-Rivera about the 97X Rumblings from the Big Bush episodes where we interviewed Dan “Danny Crash” Reed. They were both in Chem-Dyne together. (The pod episodes: Part 1 and Part 2.)
Love the ‘mats story – very on-brand for them!
And here are the two Chem-Dyne songs Victor mentioned in his comment:
The Highwaymen later moved to Austin and became Loose Diamonds… I miss that band. Here’s a cool documentary about them.
Lead singer Troy Campbell gives a shoutout to 97X at the 2:40 mark.
Album Cover(s) of the Week(s)
I believe in America too. I miss it. I also believe that we’ll come back. We just need a plumber to get rid of the orange turd and the DOGE-faced boy that are messing up our system of checks and balances. If it doesn’t happen soon, I’ll be just like Dean Friedman: reading the news, drinking booze, and getting sadder by the minute.
[This would probably be a good time to mention that if you receive this post via an email, you can unsubscribe at any time.]
I hope your Wet Hot American Summer is going well so far.
Let’s take a look at the live gigs, shall we? Wait, hold the phone! I actually missed a gig last week. Ian Noe played at the Southgate House last night, and I forgot to mention it, which deeply disappointed list member Michael “Rico” Carrico. Because this is a family blog, I cannot repeat what he called me.
Sorry, Rico, I will try not to let you down again. Speaking of letdowns, The Chicks had to postpone their Riverbend show due to “strict doctors orders for vocal rest.”
My wife is a nurse, and she is always giving me “strict orders for vocal rest.” Because this is a family blog, I cannot repeat her exact orders.
Anyhoo, on with the shows…
Tonight:
The Jan Brady hosts An Evening with Jackson Browne
Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers play the Taft
Phil Vassar plays the old Annie’s
Soul Pocket does a free show on Fountain Square
Saturday:
Maren Morris plays the Cindy Brady, with Brent Cobb as the opener
Hannah Wicklund and Daniel Donato are at RiversEDGE in Hamilton
The Temptations and the Righteous Brothers play the Rose Music Center in Huber Heights
On Sunday, we want the funk! Annie’s hosts the One Nation Under a Groove Tour:
The Avett Brothers play Timberwolf — yes, Timberwolf — on Tuesday. Tickets are still available here. Blue ice cream sold separately.
On Wednesday, Mt. Joy is at the Peter Brady. Their new album is really good.
The other Hump Day show of note is ABBA: The Concert, at Rose Music Center.
Thursday is a huge day for gigs:
The Zombies (with founding members vocalist Colin Blunstone and keyboardist Rod Argent) are at Ludlow Garage
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy plays the Taft
The Queers, The Dwarves, The Raging Nathans and The Jasons are at Southgate
Béla Fleck & My Bluegrass Heart, Sam Bush, and The Jerry Douglas Band play Rose
The Turkeys play outdoors (weather permitting) at the Behringer-Crawford Museum in Devou Park
Ben Levin is at Shire’s Garden from 6-9 p.m.
Jordan Smart is doing the Roots Revival series at Washington Park from 7-9 p.m.
Next Friday, my homies Cereal Killers will be killin’ it at Big Ash Brewing.
I’ll be there for sure, and you should be too, if you know what’s good for you. First beer’s on me!
That same evening:
just up the hill in scenic Mt. Washington, The Sunburners (local steel drum band) will be playing a free show at Stanbery Park.
Ben Levin is at Wiedemann’s.
Lilly Hiatt (daughter of John and a fine artist in her own right) is the headliner for the free show at Fountain Square.
Go figure that four budget-friendly shows I’d like to see are on the same evening. When it rains, it pours… although I hope it doesn’t rain that evening.
The Morton Salt Girl probably has hypertension now.
Fun Fact Friday
Friday Dance Party… from the 80s
I promise to bust out some of these great dance moves at the Cereal Killers show next Friday:
