Like an agitated monkey, I’m about to fling some poop at you.
But you should be used to it by now – I do it every few weeks! If you can navigate around the verbal shite, you’ll find some cool concerts to check out.
Shows on tap for tonight:
Henhouse Prowlers and Moonshine Drive at the Liberty Theater in Lawrenceburg
William Elliott Whitmore and Dave Hause at the Woodward, with Micah Schnabel opening
The Screaming Orphans at Ludlow Garage
Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco is at the Coliseum
Saturday shows:
Sylmar does two sets at MOTR
Buffalo Nichols plays the Liberty Theater
Southgate hosts the Newport Music Roots Festival (doors 3 p.m.) – details below
Woodward Theater has “Play for L.A.” – a benefit for fire-impacted musicians. The lineup includes Rae Fisher, The Montvales, Jess Lamb, Siri Imani and more.
Mike Detmer and Adam Gilliam play the Lost Bridge Beverage Co. in North Bend
Christine Harvilla Duo with Colleen Clark plus Sami Riggs at the Boone County Courthouse
Annie’s hosts Grateful River III (a benefit for Down Syndrome) – details below
On Sunday, Ben Levin Blues Band is doing the Rabbit Hash Music Behind the Stove Series at 2 p.m., and the band Lawrence plays Bogart’s in the evening.
Woodward has An Evening with Yo La Tengo on Tuesday. I’ll be at that gig, along with several other list members. Because Georgia, James and Ira are badasses!
Shannon McNally plays Southgate on Wednesday.
Thursday gigs:
Shadowgrass in Southgate’s main room, and Jake Blocker in the Revival Room
“Sons of Cream” (Kofi Baker, Malcolm Bruce and Rob Johnson) play Ludlow Garage. (Maybe they should call themselves “Half & Half”?)
Liberty Theater has a Comedy Night featuring Adam Minnick
Concerts next Friday, March 28:
The Blind Boys of Alabama with Shemekia Copeland at Taft Theatre
Chicago Farmer & the Fieldnotes at Southgate
The Outlaws at Ludlow Garage
Cody Ikerd & the Sidewinders Album release show w/Joe Clark at Liberty Theater
Little Miami Brewing’s event center has “Night Moves: The Ultimate Bob Seger Experience”
Blue Note in Harrison hosts The Prince Experience (pancakes not included)
The slate on Saturday, March 29:
Liberty Theater has a Rebel Whiskey tasting (4 FREE tasting!) from 5-7, followed by the Lowdown Brass Band
Blackhawk at Ludlow Garage
Lily Rose at Bogart’s
Bumpin’ Uglies at Madison Theater
Willi Carlisle at Southgate in the Revival Room
Annie’s has the all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band Zepparella
Blue Note features “Midnight Blue” (Foreigner Tribute) with One Way to Rock (Sammy Hagar tribute)
Shows on Sunday, March 30:
The Star Devils play Rabbit Hash in the afternoon
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers are at Liberty Theater (I plan to go to that show)
JD Simo and Luther Dickinson (of North Mississippi Allstars) at Southgate
Ricky Nye will be tickling the ivories as only Ricky can on Monday, March 31 at Memorial Hall, and Taft has The Faint with Plack Blague.
Shows on April Fools’ Day:
The Surfrajettes with Black Widow at Madison Theater
Al Stewart & Livingston Taylor at Memorial Hall
The Righteous Brothers “Loving Feeling Farewell Tour” makes a stop at Taft. (If you’ve lost that loving feeling, see your urologist!)
Wednesday, April 2 is another WEENsday at The Columbia in the East End (4311 Eastern Ave.) and this month’s featured WEEN album is Chocolate and Cheese… so they’ll have some chocolate-covered cheese to share.
I plan to attend that event. You should too – The Columbia is a very cool space (with a vintage jukebox in the basement), and WEENsdays are free and you can BYOB!
Tunes & Blooms kicks off at the Cincinnati Zoo on Thursday, April 3. Moonshine Drive and Pickin’ Pear will be on the T&B stages. The full April lineup is here. That same evening, right down the street, you can catch The Seven Wonders (yes, yet another Fleetwood Mac tribute band) at Ludlow Garage.
The Liberty Theater in Lawrenceburg has a Record Fair April 4-5.
Shows on Friday 4/4 include Judah & the Lion* at Bogart’s and Eaglemania “The World’s Greatest Eagles Tribute”** at Ludlow Garage.
* If Bogart’s says their bathrooms are clean, they’re lion… er, lyin’.
**Pretty sure the world’s greatest Eagles Tribute is playing the Sphere in Las Vegas.
On Saturday, April 5:
The Young Dubliners play Ludlow Garage
John Waite is at the Taft
Queensrÿche plays Belterra Casino in Florence, Indiana
Patterson Hood is at the Whirling Tiger in Louisville, with Lydia Loveless as the opener
Sunday, April 6, Ludlow Garage has The Phil Collins Experience (warning: contains no Phil Collins).
We love it live!
MJ Lenderman and Wild Pink at the Green Lantern Bar in Lexington KY was off-the-charts amazing (set list is here). A Top 5 all-time show for me, thanks to list member Frank B.
“Once music and work and money all become the same thing, it gets hard to do it casually. But that was the reason I was able to do anything meaningful in the first place,” he admits. “You can see that through my whole life, just being able to go to a friend’s house and make something and not worry about what it is.”
Now hear this!
The new album from The Tubs is top-notch. Richard Thompson meets Hüsker Dü.
Speaking of Richard Thompson, Bandcamp has a great feature about his influence on younger artists. Sayeth Mary Timony:
“His tone is always amazing, but here’s the thing—most importantly—his songwriting is great. He’s kind of the total package, in that he does both songwriting and playing guitar very well.”
Happy New Year, my friend! May your 2025 be rockin’!
I hope your resolutions are holding up well, too.
It’s not exactly a monster lineup of concerts, but let’s check the ol’ calendar to see what’s brewing the the live lab.
Tomorrow night, Memorial Hall has Queen Of The Queen City, The Musical Times of Mamie Smith. The band will be Ben Levin, Candice Ivory, Noah Wotherspoon, and Brandon Pettiford. And the Woodward Theater screens Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story.
On Wednesday, Hillary Hahn (the NKY singer-songwriter, not Hilary Hahn, the violinist) plays Arnold’s, and The Gilmour Project: Wish You Were Here is at Memorial Hall. The Gilmour Project is:
Pete Lavezzoli (drums with Black JGB, Oteil & Friends), and Hilary Hahn plays Arnold’s
Jeff Pevar (lead guitar with CSN, David Crosby/CPR, Joe Cocker, Ray Charles, Bette Midler, Phil Lesh & Friends, Ricki Lee Jones, Marc Cohn)
Berry Oakley (bass & vocals with Allman Betts Band, North Mississippi All-Stars, Blue Floyd & The Doors)
Mark Karan (guitar & vocals with Bob Weir, RatDog, The Other Ones, Dave Mason)
Scott Guberman (keyboard & vocals with Phil Lesh & Friends, Keystone Revisited)
The Gilmour Project isn’t: David Gilmour.
Thursday, The Daniel Wayne Band (more on them later) plays MOTR. And if you’re into pro wrasslin’, Lori’s Roadhouse in West Chester has something big… er, little, in store.
Shows this Friday:
Peter Mulvey plays Southgate
Ernie Johnson from Detroit is at the Liberty Theater in Lawrenceburg, IN
Ludlow Garage has The Ultimate Doors
Ludlow Theater rolls out the red(s) carpet for the Bronson Arroyo Band
On Saturday:
Pelican and Knife the Symphony play the Woodward
Southgate House hosts Blind Mouse (a Radiohead tribute band)
Annie’s has the KISS tribute band Strutter
I wonder if, when Strutter hits the stage, they say “you wanted a reasonable facsimile of the best, you got a reasonable facsimile of the best”…
A week from tomorrow — on MLK Jr. Day, no less — it’s inauguration day for, as Jeff Tiedrich calls him:
Next Tuesday (1/21), local singer/songwriter/all-around-great-guy Todd Lipscomb plays Arnold’s.
Liberty Theater has a free Songwriters in the Round show next Thursday (1/23) featuring Harley Day and James Reed.
Shows on Friday, Jan. 24:
Webb Wilder and Bucket play Southgate
Mosant is at MOTR
Papadosio kicks off a two-night stand at the Madison Theater
Meshell Ndegeocello plays Ludlow Garage
Little Miami Brewing Co. hosts The Eagles Project
The Blue Note in Harrison has Captain Fantastic (Elton John tribute) with 52nd Street (yes, a Billy Joel tribute band)
On Saturday, Jan. 25:
Memorial Hall has “On a Winter’s Night” with singer/songwriters Cliff Eberhardt, John Gorka, Lucy Kaplansky, and Patty Larkin
Magnolia Boulevard plays the Liberty Theater, with Pure Grain also on the bill
The Montvales play the Woodward, with The Harmed Brothers and Rae Fisher
Papadosio is papa-doing it again at Madison Theater
Adeem the Artist plays Southgate
JD Legends in Franklin, OH has Thunderstruck (America’s AC/DC)
The Aronoff hosts The Elvis Tribute Artist Spectacular
Noah Wotherspoon plays the Rabbit Hash “Music Behind the Stove” series on Sunday, Jan. 26 (2 p.m. show start) and Tinfoil Hat Cowboys play two sets that evening at MOTR.
The Faux Frenchmen play Memorial Hall on Monday, Jan. 27. Here’s my favorite faux Frenchman:
Memorial Hall has “All You Need is Love: An All-Star Tribute to the Beatles” on Tuesday, Jan. 28.
Kasim Sulton – Vocals, Bass, Guitar (Meatloaf, Todd Rundgren’s Utopia, Blue Oyster Cult, Hall & Oates, Cheap Trick, Cyndi Lauper, Patty Smyth, Joan Jett)
Steve Kimock – Guitar, Bass (Zero, Oteil & Friends, Jazz Is Dead, The Other Ones, RatDog, Rhythm Devils, Phil Lesh & Friends, Kingfish, Heart of Gold Band)
Prairie Prince – Drums (The Tubes, Journey, Todd Rundgren, Blue Floyd, Jefferson Starship, Phil Lesh & Friends, XTC, George Harrison, Chris Isaak)
Bobby Lee Rodgers – Vocals, Guitar, Banjo, Sitar Simulation (Jazz is Dead, The Codetalkers with Col. Bruce Hampton, Vassar Clements, Warren Haynes, Widespread Panic, George Porter Jr.)
Mark Rashotte – Guitar (Jake Clemons, Creed, Photograph)
Andy Forgie – Vocals, Theatrics (Creed, Photograph)
Narrated by Michael Des Barres (The Mistakes, Power Station, Detective, Silverhead)
Not part of the band: Pete Best.
Go to church on WEENsdays
Here’s a pretty cool monthly event going on down on Eastern Avenue (where it’s still called “Eastern Avenue” not the hoity toity “Riverside Drive” section). My friend Eric’s wife Laura runs The Columbia, an old church that’s been converted into a performance space.
I’ve visited the venue, it has great acoustics, a cool vibe, and a vintage jukebox in the basement.
And it’s available for audio and video recording (Ruby Vileos, The Hiders, and Daniel Wayne Band all have test driven it), rehearsal space, private shows, social gatherings, and more.
I’m not the biggest Hozier fan in the world, but he and his band and backup singers did justice to one of the best Xmas songs ever.
Wurster has Slim musical knowledge
Jon Wurster (drummer for Mountain Goats and Bob Mould, formerly with Superchunk) is a great follow on Instagram. His #mynewworstfriend posts are consistently hilarious (see below for a prime example). But he also is a student of the the scene, and his tribute to the late great replacement Replacement Slim Dunlap was fantastic:
List member Joe Sampson and I will always fondly remember talking to Slim at the old Southgate House. The liquor store named Cabooze figured prominently in the conversation.
Jon Wurster also played on this tune (as did Wilco’s John Stirratt):
Winter weather is the Wurst
From the aforementioned Jon Wurster Instagram, where folks can submit weird and wacky photos/images to claim the daily title of his new worst friend.
