Anthony Hartke was really into music even in grade school. He discovered 97X around 6th grade and stuck with the station throughout its existence. (He even tuned in to woxy.com when he was deployed overseas in the Army back in 2005-2006.) When woxy.com sold off vinyl LPs from the original 97X music library, Anthony picked up several albums that still contained an old school “grid” on the cover for 97X DJs to mark the date and time that they played a track. We talk to Anthony about his love for the station, and Dave explains what the heck “ultracore” meant.
Here are the 97X artifact albums that Anthony picked up at Shake It Records in Northside:
Story behind my acquisition: sometime after the terrestrial station went off the air, the station sold off old vinyl since everything was going CD or digital. Maybe it was to raise funds? I don’t remember. Anyway, the sales all went thru Shake It Records. I was at UC at the time and stopped in and found a milk crate of them in the basement of the store and pulled out a few. Looking back, I wish I would have bought the entire milk crate!
Anthony Hartke
The albums that 97X DJs played in the studio contained a grid that listed the suggested tracks to play, and spaces for the jocks to write down the date/time that they played a particular tune, to help the station avoid playing the same song or artist too frequently.
At some point, the vinyl grid on the album was replaced by an index card in a old-school “recipe box.” The intent was still the same: to ensure variety instead of repetition.
On the one album, there is a hand-written date of 5/17/1989 … it’s really cool to think that some of the DJs you have had on your podcast would have touched these exact albums back when I was listening to the station as a kid. And seeing the handwritten notes like “Ultracore” are just awesome. “That’s Entertainment” by the Jam is a quintessential 97x song in my head; I remember hearing it on the radio as a kid and it was probably from this exact album.
Anthony Hartke
I remember the 2004 shut down vividly and getting really emotional. No one understood it. No one understood why a 21 year old guy would cry over a radio station. But it was really like losing a friend…
When WOXY shut down March 23rd, 2010 (9 days after my 27th birthday) I was devastated again. Painful to this day thinking back on it (tearing up thinking about it now), but I’ll be forever grateful to 97X/WOXY for all that it gave me.
Anthony Hartke
Thanks to YOU for listening, Anthony. It was passionate music lovers like you that made our time at 97X/woxy.com so rewarding, and it’s why we do our “Rumblings from the Big Bush” podcast.
(Anthony reached out to us via email at 97Xwoxy@gmail.com. We welcome your notes as well.)
The dreaded holiday hiatus from live music is inching closer. There are fewer gigs on the ol’ “This Week in Live Music” Koncert Keeper for the next couple of weeks, so let’s make this a double shot to get us thru 2021 (a.k.a. 2020 Part II). Yes, it’s the famous “year-end double issue” that publications like to roll out at this time of year… because “year-end double issue” sounds so much better than “we’re half-assing our way through the next couple of weeks.”
He can hardly bear to hear more Mariah Carey.
Before we get to this week’s fortnight’s gigs, let’s get a crowd ‘n venue review from Mr. Jason Isbell:
Very kind of Jason to say that about our fair burgh. Let’s hope his Icon plaudits attract the attention of other touring artists.
OK, on with the shows…
Tonight, Over the Rhine kicks off a three-night stand at Memorial Hall, Motherfolk and Sylmar play Bogart’s, Ekoostik Hookah plays the old Annie’s, Ben Levin is at Brewriver with special guest Johnny Burgin, and the Fleetwood Mac tribute (the band, not the mac & cheese dish at Keystone) is at Ludlow.
Saturday, Anderson East plays Bogart’s, Squirrel Nut Zippers are at Ludlow Garage, Phil Vassar & Sister Hazel are playing the Hard Rock Casino, Afroman celebrates “Merry Spliffmas” at the old Annie’s, and Ben Levin and Johnny Burgin will be on stage at Big Ash. The next morning, they’ll be playing the Hard Rock Casino.
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (no relation to Voodoo Chile) plays the Taft on Tuesday.
Maddie Poppe has an Acoustic Christmas show at Ludlow on Thursday, and Ben Levin plays Shire’s Garden.
Santa Claus is coming to town very late next Friday. You’d better watch out.
Rick “Dr. Noah Drake from General Hospital” Springfield plays the Icon on Wednesday, December 29th.
Not a doctor. Played one on TV.
The Rumpke Mountain Boys kick off a two-night stand at the old Annie’s next Thursday, December 30th. That same evening, Ben Levin will be playing Dead Low Brewing.
Arlo McKinley is at the Madison Theater on New Year’s Eve, while Freekbass will be doing a Funkadelic-KISS mashup called FunKISSdelic at Ludlow Garage. Clutch (the band, not the part I had replaced on my 1976 Datsun B-210 back in ’87) plays the Icon, with Stoner (the band, not the guy in the 2nd balcony with the vape pen) and Native Howl.
Also on New Year’s Eve, this lil’ scamp celebrates another spin around the sun:
Wardrobe by Botany 500.
He plans to celebrate by drinking expired eggnog and staying up until the wee hours (9:45 p.m.).
If he’s feeling extra wacky, he might even have some fruitcake…
Listen Up!
KEXP will be counting down the top albums of the year (as voted on by listeners) today. List member “Rico” recommends this list of the year’s top 100 albums, courtesy of a Finnish music blogger. Luann “Miss Kitty” Gibbs of Inhailer Radio (and the calendar listings queen at the Cincinnati Enquirer) put together a lengthy Spotify playlist of her favorite songs (here), as did Matt “I don’t have a cool nickname like ‘Rico’ or ‘Miss Kitty'” Lacefield (here). Matt also does a music blog/online radio show thang at The Unfamiliar. (Both Luann and Matt have been guests on the 97X Rumblings from the Big Bush podcast… check it out if you have some free time over the holiday break.)
Album Cover of the Week
The person who did the egregious airbrushing work on this cover must’ve already been in “year-end double issue” mode.
Have a great week, and then another great week, and best wishes for a happy 2022!
Joe Voet was a mild-mannered student in a small Midwestern college town, working at the Miami U. student radio station and listening to 97X… until one day Rictile turned him into Joe “Rock the” Voet, political correspondent. That led to a Breakfast Club co-producer role, with highs (meeting The Cure) and lows (reading the news on-air without any prep).
Joe claims he was the worst Breakfast Club co-producer ever, but we beg to differ. We talk to him about his 97X memories, and learn how he’s used his IT skills to build a mini-97X. We also learn that Damian sucks at geography.
Back in his Oxford days, Joe lived downstairs from 97X-er Kevin Couche, and across the street from Shiv… and near Matt Sledge and Mark Abuzzahab. Truly a “Cradle of DJs.”
Front row L to R: Joe Voet (seated), Shivvy, Kevin Couche, Mark Abuzzahab and Rictile. Back row: women who prefer to remain anonymous, for reasons that should be obvious considering the folks in the front row.
The resemblance to the cast of Melrose Place is uncanny:
Here’s Joe today, from his home in… some country in Europe, maybe?
Spark VanBuren… sounds like an alias to us.
Joe sent us a few photos of his 97X swag…
I have found a couple threadbare shirts, which are in my “never to be worn again” shirt archive due to the sorry state they are now in….1 more wash and I fear disintegration.
I also found the Alternative Division gas can flask, which is by far my favorite flask. I believe it was some sort of call in prize, but I cannot remember…I only know that it came from 97X.
Thanks for adding “fuel” to our 97X memories, Joe!
Before we get into this week’s gigs, I’m providing a holiday shopping public service announcement for those with teenage daughters (and for list members who are “still 16” like Amanda Woodly – more on her later): Tickets for Olivia Rodrigo’s April 22nd show and the Haim show on May 19th go on sale today at 10 a.m. (Both shows are indoor gigs at Icon, which is punching well above its weight… time for Ovation to up its game.) If you’d like to “try before you buy” on Olivia Rodrigo, check out her Austin City Limits appearance (her band is all-female, which is pretty cool)… and of course stick around for the Phoebe Bridgers portion of the show.
OK, on with the shows…
It’s Friday, and Jason is in town!
Wait, my bad, I meant Jason Isbell.
Jason Isbell’s superb band, the 400 Unit, is named after a hospital psych ward. So maybe Jason Vorhees will be here in spirit? I know I’ll be at tonight’s show at the Icon (in the flesh… but wearing pants for a change), along with about half the folks on the “This Week in Live Music” mailing list. (The other half will be at Saturday’s show.) Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives open up both shows. A good time will be had by all.
The jaunty ascot… who wore it best?
Tony the Tiger
Marty Stuart
Thurston Howell III
Other shows this evening include Multimagic at the Woodward, and An Olde English Christmas With Herman’s Hermits Starring Peter Noone at Ludlow Garage. I hope they do the theme song from the 80’s Olde English TV commercial – that song rocks!
On Saturday, it’s a Jason sequel…
Meaning it’s Night II for Jason Isbell/Marty Stuart at Icon. (Don’t forget to get a Marty Stuart ascot at the merch booth!)
Meanwhile, Them Dirty Roses are at the old Annie’s, with The Josephines as the opener. Our ol’ pal Rob Fetters wraps up another round of his “Fetters is Cheap” free livestreams – accessible via his website. And Emaline will sing the Christmas classics at Ludlow Garage.
Ludlow can keep the (Christmas) lights on, because on Sunday you can enjoy Christmas with the Celts at that venue. If you prefer goth garb to kilts, you can check out Evanescence and Halestorm at the Coliseum. If you’d rather boogie-woogie in the morning, Ben Levin’s playing the Hard Rock brunch, with special guest Lil’ Jimmy Reed. Now that’s a winning combination!
Ben’s got a solo gig at Arnold’s on Thursday, but other than that, the rest of the week is kinda light on gigs. I blame the supply chain. Everyone else is doing it!
But then next Friday the scene really heats up… all the way up to 98 Degrees! They’re playing the Hard Rock Casino – sounds like a classic lose/lose proposition to me.
If you’d rather see a better band with local connections — and much less boy band baggage — Over the Rhine kicks off a three night stand of their annual holiday show next Friday at Memorial Hall.
If you’d rather see and hear a facsimile of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham instead of real-life Karin and Linford, head to Ludlow Garage for Rumours: A Fleetwood Mac Tribute.
Sorry Linford, but Lindsey’s hair is better. Actually, it WAS better.
Or you can shop local and hit the Motherfolk Christmas show at Bogart’s, with Sylmar as the opener.
Favorite albums of 2021
Today’s the last day to vote for your Top Ten of this year on KEXP’s website.
But there’s plenty of time to add your faves to the TWILM list here. Grammy-nominated artist Dale Doyle (the original D2) chose these slabs o’ wax:
Black Keys – Delta Kream
Julien Baker – Little Oblivions
Wolf Alice – Blue Weekend
Slowthai- Tyron
Weezer – OK Human
Leon Bridges – Gold-Diggers Sound
Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee
Fleet Foxes – Shore
Taylor Swift – Evermore
Low – Hey What
Lucy Dacus – Home Video
Kanye West – Donda (Just kidding)
While list member Amanda Woodly decided to chide me for my document choice (“this should be an Excel file”) before listing her top tunes o’ the year:
Snailmail- Valentine
Japanese Breakfast- Jubilee
Lucy Dacus- Home Video
Olivia Rodrigo- Sour (I’m still 16)
Doja Cat- Planet Her
Julien Baker – Little Oblivions
Tyler, The Creator- Call Me If You Get Lost
Kacey Musgraves- Star Crossed (Cincinnati’s newest #goodwife)
I wish I could put the new St Vincent album here, but…
Sorry to let you down, Amanda. I like to think outside the box, and Excel is nothing but boxes.
Friday Funnies
We mocked the GMC holiday commercial last week, so this week it’s time for some Lexus holiday commercial fun:
Tico the Parrot is a dead ringer singer for Axl Rose:
He does a pretty good Bon Scott too:
Tweet of the Week
Cover of the Week
Courtesy of list member Michael “Rico” Carrico who said “Covering Mr Waits. Phoebe at her best.” (We agree wholeheartedly!)
Album Cover of the Week
It’s the Holiday Houseguest from Hell. Crazy Otto is back in town. Looks like he flew Allegiant. And he brought sheet music.
IF you’re not too busy buying expensive new vehicles for your significant other and yourself… like this totally relatable and not-at-all-unrealistic GMC commercial:
https://youtu.be/DQTVh5EF_tc
… then perhaps you can rustle up enough cash to see a concert or two in December. Oh, and save some coinage for a show next spring too…
Waxahatchee will be playing the Woodward Theater on Wednesday, April 13th of 2022. Tickets go on sale TODAY at 10 a.m.
Her most recent album was one of the best of 2020 (sez me… and pretty much everyone else), so you don’t want to miss this gig. Unless your wife’s due date is a couple of days before the show (Hi Rico!).
OK, now let’s get to this week’s list of gigs, shall we?
Max Weinberg’s Jukebox (that’s a band, not an eBay listing for a Seeburg Select-O-Matic that was once owned by the E Street Band drummer) is playing at Ludlow Garage tonight. Max lets the audience pick the tunes the band will play from a list of 300+ songs. Perhaps it’ll turn out better than this:
Tomorrow night
Jess Lamb & the Factory play Findlay Market at 5 p.m.
Shakey Graves is at Bogart’s, with This Week in Live Music favorite S.G. Goodman as the opener.
But the really big Saturday show is at Fretboard Brewing: local jam band Spookfloaters (featuring my wife’s cousin Mike on guitar and vocals) will be playing from 8-11 p.m. I’ll be there (look for the old guy NOT doing the twisty-floppy dancing), along with list members Dan and Anne Robinson, Whit and Barb Gardner, and Pat “Print’s not Dead Yet” Latham. What about my lovely bride, you ask? Well, even though Mike is her first cousin, she won’t be attending because she has a “Girls Night Out” (if you’re keeping score at home, this will be the 8th one this week). Blood may be thicker than water, but apparently it’s thinner than margaritas.
Or cousins…
Sunday is a church day. It’s also a Chvrches night – they’re playing the Ovation, with Donna Missal as the opener.
On Tuesday, Jesse Dayton plays Southgate, and David Benoit does a Christmas tribute to Charlie Brown at Ludlow Garage.
Southgate will be rockin’ on Wednesday, with a triple bill of The Queers, the Dollyrots and Tiger Sex. (Note: Tiger Sex is a band, not a cologne.)
Speaking of pungent aromas, Hot Tuna will be at Ludlow Garage on Thursday, with Steve Kimock & Friends opening the show. That gig is damn near sold out. But plenty of tickets are still available for guitar whiz Tommy Emmanuel and acoustic picker Andy McKee at Taft.
Next Friday, December 10th, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit kick off a two-night stand at the Icon, with Marty Stuart & the Fabulous Superlatives as the opener. I’ll be there, along with list members Chris Lecky, Whit and Barb Gardner… and yes, my lovely bride too (shh, don’t tell Cousin Mike).
If you can’t make the Isbell show next Friday, you can enjoy an Olde English Christmas…
Wait, I meant an Olde English Christmas with Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone. That’s at Ludlow Garage. Not sure which one will bring your more enjoyment.
Also on tap next Friday: The Ben Levin Trio will be playing Lucious Q, with legendary bluesman Lil’ Jimmy Reed, and Multimagic will be at Woodward, with JV Golf and Bershy.
That’s about it for shows in the week ahead. Let’s dip into the ol’ mailbag…
(Artist’s rendition. The actual mailbag is dang near empty… I blame DeJoy.)
List member Janet Welling picked up the sweet Maker’s Mark vinyl designed by list member Keith Neltner:
Sharon McCafferty chimed in after we featured a Devo video recently:
Funny about Devo. My father-in-law is a big fan. He’s known to sport an energy dome at weddings and the band has to play “Whip it.” He wants Jarrod to join him in going to see them in New York – on a Wednesday. Alas practicality prevails.
He might have just earned the title of coolest father-in-law ever!
And Chris Lecky provided a couple of quick concert recaps:
I saw Dylan for the millionth time, not one of my favs. Setlist wasn’t great and no Charlie Sexton sucks. Dave Chappelle at the arena was an odd one. Hoping for stand up but got Bones Thugs and Harmony performing.
Sorry you got Bone-d, Chris. See you at Isbell!
The Reading List
This piece from Washington Post pop music critic Chris Richards was great… and the headline (The Beatles are overrated. That’s our fault, not theirs.) is sure to garner some extra clicks. Here’s the money quote (bold emphasis mine):
When McCartney foresees his bandmates “very old,” we need not mourn the 21st-century Beatles reunion album that nobody gets to hear. The music these four managed to record between 1962 and 1970 is enough to sustain a lifetime of enjoyment, easy. But there’s also an entire world of new music being made at this very moment, and it’s already passing us by. Yes, we have to make room for the past and the present to coexist in our listening lives — but if we’re more excited about spending eight hours fly-on-the-walling with the Beatles than opening our ears to what this world currently sounds like, imagine what we’ll be grieving another 50 years from now.
Hear, hear, Chris, I couldn’t agree more!
And this Substack piece from Damon Krukowski (drummer for Galaxie 500 back in the day, and now in a duo called Damon and Naomi) about how pop stars are squeezing out indie bands at vinyl plants is quite interesting.
I didn’t mention Ed Sheeran or Adele or god forbid Taylor Swift in my testimony – you never know who’s a rabid fan – but vinyl production problems for records that won’t be stocked at Target is a perfect example of what is happening across industries in this moment of corporate oligarchy. There’s nowhere to hide from those intent on market domination – they won’t leave our small scale businesses alone, even though what we represent in dollar amounts is too little for them to really care.
Nine thousand LPs are nothing to Ed Sheeran. But they are a means to survival for independent artists like me.
Reminder: share your favorite albums of 2021
List member Mighty Joe Sampson got the ball rolling with his faves:
Snailmail- Valentine
Japanese Breakfast- Jubilee
MMJ- self titled
The War on Drugs: I Don’t Live Here Anymore
Lana Del Rey- Blue Bannisters
The Hold Steady- Open Door Policy
Lucy Dacus- Home Video
That’s a Magnificent Seven from Mighty Joe. You can add yours via this link.
Tweet of the Week
Album Cover of the Week
Uh, you could give away a dozen kids and still have a gaggle, Eddie. (At least now we know who George Jetson’s real father is.)
