Earth, Wind, Fire… and Music

Those are the 4 basic elements, right?

And three of them are scheduled to appear at Riverbend tomorrow night.

I say “scheduled to appear” because they’re opening for Santana, and he collapsed on stage during a show at Pine Knob in Michigan a couple of days ago. Apparently he was “overtaken by heat exhaustion and dehydration.” I can relate – the power was out at our house Wednesday afternoon through Thursday morning. No A/C? In this heat?

I’ll bet the weather is better in Berlin. Oh, speaking of Berlin, they’re playing Timberwolf on Saturday, with A Flock of Seagulls (the band… the avian version can only be found at the original Coney Island in Brooklyn – they’re eating leftover hot dogs).

Other Saturday shows:

• Less than Jake, Bowling for Soup and Aquabats play the Ovation
• O.A.R. plays a concert at Great American Ball Park after the Reds 4:10 tilt vs. the Tampa Bay Rays. That show is sponsored by the Ohio Lottery, which seems fitting, as the Reds have as much chance of winning the game as you do of winning the lottery.
• Joshua Ray Walker and Joslyn & the Sweet Compression play RiversEDGE in Hamilton
• The Paradise Music Festival continues at Braxton Brewing in Covington

• Last but not least (at least in the “noises he can make” category) Michael Winslow brings his wacky sound effects comedy to Ludlow Garage. Steve Guttenberg sold separately.

On Tuesday, Riverbend will engage in an annual tradition that they cherish so much: whipping out the Rod.

Uh, Rod Stewart is playing at RB… with Cheap Trick as the opener.

Wednesday, mere inches away from the previous night’s Rod show, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Los Lobos and Gabe Dixon play PNC.

The Cult plays PNC on Thursday, with special guests Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Zola Jesus… or Jesus Motorcycle Cult for short.

Other Thursday shows:

• Scott Miller (of the late great V-Roys) plays a solo gig at Southgate
• Ruby Vileos will be doing the Roots Revival Series at Washington Park
• Ben Levin plays Shires’ Garden
• the Red NOT Chili Peppers and BLINK180True are at RiversEDGE

Please note the NOT… I do NOT want you to wind up like this dude:

The full story is here.

Next Friday, the Reds are out of town, but Great American Ball Park is hosting Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Poison and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts… so #1 Mötley Crüe fan Dän “Reds in 2023” Lëwis surely will be front and center.

Also next Friday, The Cult/Black Rebel Motorcycle Club/Zola Jesus show will be at Rose Music Center in scenic Huber Heights, OH.

Cereal Killers killed it at Big Ash Brewing

Great sets, awesome crowd – including several list members who cashed in their “first beer on d2” online offer. Next CK gig at Big Ash is on Sept. 10th. I’ll be out of town, so your first beer is on you… but don’t you dare miss this big show!

Mea Culpa

Your esteemed This Week in Live Music editor does exhaustive research* to compile this (nearly) weekly post. But occasionally he does miss a show or three, sometimes incurring the scorn and ridicule of list member “Rico” (he’s not in the mob, I hope) in the process. And let’s just say that Lee Greenwood is crying tears like the “Native American” in that “don’t litter” commercial from the 70s because I forgot to mention the b-list bands cashing fat checks for civic/corporate-underwritten gigs patriotic events that happened last weekend, including Gavin DeGraw at Red, White & Blue Ash; Spin Doctors at Taps, Tastes and Tunes in West Chester; and Smashmouth at Red, Rhythm & Boom. Mea maxima culpa to Smashmouth Superfan Dan “All Star” Lewis.

*lazily checking a couple of websites every few weeks

Summer means popsicles… and listicles

Uproxx offered up a list of the best albums of 2022 thus far… and they rank their favorite Replacements songs.

Shameless Self-promotion

In the latest episode of the “97X Rumblings from the Big Bush” podcast, Dave Tellmann and I talked to Garin Pirnia, author of this book:

Album Cover of the Week

Going with a brand new release:

On that cheery note… have a great week!