Todd Rundgren

Golden April Showers

Concert Listings, Music

First and foremost, Happy Wet Day to all who celebrate!

(If you know, you know. And if you don’t, you need to listen to Comedy Bang Bang.)

April is spraying us with a steady stream of solid gold shows. But not these kind:

Let’s get to the calendar!

Tomorrow night, it’s our pick for the best under-the-radar show of the month: John Moreland at Ludlow Garage. His new album Visitor is great… dude’s an amazing songwriter.

I’d attend but I’ll be busy losing money at Keeneland while getting soaked to the bone by thunderstorms. (Not exactly an idyllic vacation day, but it still beats working.)

Also tomorrow night, Brothers Osborne play the Mike Brady.

On Friday:

  • Owl City plays Bogart’s
  • Todd Lipscomb does the MOTR happy hour (5-7 p.m.)
  • Ludlow Garage hosts “Jump: America’s Van Halen Experience”
  • Aronoff has “Piano Men: The Music of Billy Joel & Elton John”

Speaking of Van Halen, if you’ve never played with this handy toy, you need to right now. (“I’ll wait…”)

And speaking of Piano Men, this performance is brilliant on so many levels:

Saturday evening is “Pick Your Time Machine” night:

  • Ovation has “Wish You Were Here – The Sights and Sounds of Pink Floyd”
  • Ludlow Garage hosts “Strangelove: The Depeche Mode Experience.”

Sunday? More time machine action… this time it’s “The Kings of Queen” at Memorial Hall.

Is it just me, or do the non-lead-singer members of the “Kings of Queen” band need to put a bit more effort into their promo photo attire?

It’s like Freddie Mercury stopped by a pawn shop and took a quick photo with the staff.

Things pick up a bit on Monday, when Suzanne Vega plays “Old Songs, New Songs and Other Songs” at Memorial Hall. I have a single ticket to that show, in the very last row of the balcony… I call it my Solitude Standing tribute.

Tuesday gigs:

  • Scott H. Biram plays Southgate with Dead Man String Band opening
  • Todd Lipscomb is at Arnold’s
  • Queensryche rocks Bogart’s

The Bygones play the Woodward Theater next Wednesday, April 17th.

Next Thursday (4/18):

  • Southgate has Wonder Women of Country featuring Kelly Willis, Melissa Caper and Brennen Leight
  • Memorial Hall hosts Live Dead & Brothers, a tribute to Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers (show description: Les Dudek from The Allman Brothers, original Grateful Dead pianist Tom Constanten, Berry Duane Oakley from The Allman Betts Band, Mark Karan from Bob Weir & Rat Dog, Scott Guberman from Phil Lesh & Friends, and Pete Lavezzoli from Oteil & Friends… skillfully recreate the magic of the Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers Band’s co-billed concerts during the period of 1969 to1973. Their performances capture the raw energy, improvisational prowess, and soul-stirring melodies that defined an era of musical innovation.)
  • Busta Rhymes hits the Jan Brady
  • “Bust a banjo” might happen at the bi-weekly Bluegrass Jam at Camp Springs Tavern

Next Friday (4/19), it’s the show I always dreamed of — the band Alvvays — at the less-than-dreamy venue of Bogart’s. I love the former so much that I’m willing to put up with the latter.

Other shows on Friday 4/19:

  • Carbon Leaf at Ludlow Garage
  • Ricky Nye Inc. plays the Southgate Lounge
  • Joe Satriani and Steve Vai shred at the Greg Brady
  • The old Annie’s hosts An Evening with the Sam Grisman Project
  • Big Something plays Madison Theater

Next Saturday is 4/20, dude.

Shows that evening include:

  • Los Honchos in the Southgate Lounge
  • Todd Lipscomb at Camp Springs Tavern
  • Spyro Gyra at Ludlow Garage
  • Christine Havrilla & Mama’s Black Sheep play the Downtowne Listening Room
  • Aronoff hosts Rain: a Tribute to the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour

The Skatalites play Ludlow Garage on Sunday, April 21st and The Ruen Brothers are at Southgate House.

On Monday, April 22nd, The Toasters celebrate 43 Years of Ska at Southgate. Speaking of toasters, it’s also Earth Day, and our planet might be toast unless we switch to clean energy.

Matthew Sweet plays Ludlow Garage on Tuesday, April 23rd.

Wednesday, April 24th is a busy concert evening:

  • Todd Rundgren is at the Carol Brady
  • The Robert Cray Band plays Memorial Hall
  • The Young Dubliners roll into Ludlow Garage

Friday, April 26th is a big day for all things Ohio:

  • Rob Harvilla, music writer for The Ringer (as well as Medina native, proud Ohio U. grad, and Columbus resident) comes to Knox Joseph Distilling in OTR (courtesy of the Mercantile Library) to discuss his book 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s with list member Jay Stowe. The book is a companion piece to Rob’s hilarious podcast of the same name. (Listen to the first 10 minutes of this episode for proof.) I’ll be there (starts at 6 p.m.), but I have to cut out early to make it to:
  • Dayton’s own Guided By Voices and Cincinnati’s own Wussy (full band) at the Madison Theater

Other shows that evening include Flock of Seagulls at Ludlow, and Todd Lipscomb with Michael Moeller at Wunderbar in Covington.

Ludlow Garage has Catalina Wine Mixer on Saturday, 4/27. And Howie Day plays there on Sunday, 4/28.

Damning with faint (yet accurate) praise

List member Michael “Rico” Carrico and his lovely bride Ashley recently attended the Josh Ritter show at Memorial Hall, and he said it was “thanks to being alerted by a reputable newsletter published by a questionable character.” Hey, I resemble that remark!

Making Hay while the sun shines

On Opening Day, I loaded up on free food and beer at my company’s lunch celebration during the parade, went to the Reds game courtesy of list member Dave “Deuce” Richmond, and then my lovely bride and I saw Colin Hay at Taft thanks to free tickets from list members Dave and Jacqui Killen. It was, as Jacqui called it, my own Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Someone who obviously didn’t scheme as well as Ferris was this person:

If it was a bro-country show, they definitely should’ve been fired.

Math is funky

Here’s your annual reminder to stay on the one, courtesy of Bootsy and list member Todd Butler:

Album Cover(s) of the Week(s)

Swingers and nannies… the perfect combo!

“Stay gold, Ponyboy!”

August and nothing after

Concert Listings, Concert review, Music

Well hello there, Stranger! How have you been? Vacay was great, thanks for asking. I know you didn’t miss me – even I didn’t miss me. But it’s not about missing me, it’s about not missing live gigs in the Cincinnati area. Let’s get at ‘er!

Tonight:

  • Ben Levin and Joe Tellmann will join other Pinetop Perkins Foundation Masterclass participants in backing Bob Margolin at the Lebanon Blues Festival. (Ben and Joe will also play with Bob on Saturday. The entire schedule is here.)
  • The Fabulous Thunderbirds roll into Ludlow Garage
  • Tab Benoit plays the Taft Theatre
  • Holy F*ck will be at Madison Live. I think they’re a gospel band.
  • The Actual F*ck plays Northside Tavern. I think they’re a hardcore band.
  • Ray Vietti & The Family Stoned will play a free gig at Carriage House Farm.

On Saturday you can see an Elvis Impersonator.

Wait, check that, I still have vacation brain… actually it’s Elvis Costello & the Imposters at Rose Music Center. Not to be outdone, Fraze Pavilion, the other Dayton area venue, has… Vanilla Ice.

Mr. Van Winkle, the erstwhile Ice, Vanilla, will be joined by a veritable Who’s Who of “Who’s That?” – All 4 One, Rob Base, Coolio, Tone Loc and Young MC. (Name two songs by any/all of those artist and win valuable prizes.)

Also on Saturday evening:

  • Ekoostik Hookah plays the old Annie’s
  • Ludlow Garage has Strangelove, the Depeche Mode Experience
  • Local artists Flying Underground (Brian Lovely) and Nick Kizirnis play MOTR
  • The Greg Brady hosts Dashboard Confessional and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness.
Greg Brady dashboard confessional
Ed McMahon in the wilderness

Daryl Hall and the Daryl’s House Band plays Timberwolf on Sunday, with special guest Todd Rundgren.

On Wednesday, RuPaul’s Drag Race is at the Mike Brady Center, and the Happy Together Tour comes to Fraze – The Turtles, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, The Association, The Buckinghams, The Vogues, and The Cowsills. Every orthopedic surgeon in the Dayton area should be handing out business cards at that show.

Thursday shows:

  • The Dead South and Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band play Annie’s.
  • Tower of Power and Lettuce (that’s two bands, it’s not the Smoothie/Salad combo at Jamba Juice) are at the Taft.
  • Whitehall plays Southgate
  • Mike Zito is at Ludlow Garage
  • The Casey Campbell Band does the free show at Washington Park from 7-9 p.m.
  • Last, and least, the Motor City Madman Ted Nugent plays the Rose Music Center.

Next Friday:

  • Steep Canyon Rangers are at Annie’s
  • Soul Pocket headlines the free show on Fountain Square
  • The Rose Music Center serves up the Smoothie/Salad combo twin bill of Tower of Power and Lettuce.
Add a shot of wheatgrass for just 50 cents.

Concert Shots

Lucy Dacus and Camp Cope put on a stellar outdoor show at the Burl in Lexington. List member Joe Sampson and I helped bring up the average age.

List members Dan Bockrath, Dave Tellmann and I thoroughly enjoyed the Adrian Belew gig at Ludlow Garage. We also had fun counting the # of old men wearing ponytails.

Classy Ken, your Clifton Concert Concierge

Speaking of the Ludlow Garage, if you purchase your tickets at their box office (open Wed-Sat 4-10 p.m.), you can avoid most of the dreaded TicketBastard fees. List member Ken Laube lives in Clifton, and I’m sure he’d be happy to walk up to Ludlow (quite frankly, he could use the exercise) and purchase the ducats for you.

Always at your service…

Recommended Reading

Pitchfork has a pretty cool interview with artist Steve Keene, best known for his Pavement album cover art.

… my wife and I were on the college radio station when she went to UVA. You’re surrounded by so much creativity—the other DJs are creative, but also the tens of thousands of albums from the past 40 years, all their funky, weird artwork, all their liner notes. It’s just so jam-packed, and 99 percent of them are forgotten. It was sort of this different idea about how, gosh, I’m gonna be forgotten too. So why don’t I have fun with this? And why don’t I make art feel like you’re going to a show, buying a T-shirt or a CD?

Steve Keene in the interview linked above

Album Cover of the Week

This week’s album cover is courtesy of list member Dave Green:

Sayeth Dave: You’d think this would’ve been a “blues” album, but that would be too cliché. My son picked this up for me for $6 since I am a casual jazz fan and previously 80’s Smurf collector (little known fact).

Absolutely Smurftastic, thanks for sharing, Dave!

Nothing to do with music… but funny

Have a great week!