Wow, it’s almost the Fall.

(Sorry, wrong The Fall.)

Fall (season, not band) means it’s time to sip on your Pumpkin Spice latte. Or dip your Pumpkin Spice Oreos into Pumpkin Spice Almond Milk. Or have a bowl of Pumpkin Spice Frosted Flakes. Or spread some Pumpkin Spice cream cheese on your Pumpkin Spice bagel. Or snack on some Pumpkin Spice pretzel crisps, or Pumpkin Spice graham cracker Goldfish, or a Pumpkin Pie Pop-Tart.

Or better yet, just put on some Pumpkin Old Spice deodorant, and get thee to a Fall gig or three.

You’ll be falling for Fall shows so much that your friends will start calling you Mrs. Fletcher.

Tonight, the Front Bottoms “10 Years of Back on Top” tour is at the Ovation in Newport. And Peach Pit plays Bogart’s* the Madison Theater… although it’d be more on-brand if they played the Peach Pit After Dark in Beverly Hills.

It’s worth noting that Steve was ahead of the curve on non-alcoholic “functional” beverages. They later helped him fight flying sharks.

*Note: several recent and upcoming shows have been moved from Bogart’s to the Madison Theater. Apparently, Bogart’s had some “unforeseen venue maintenance” – which probably means all those years of having hideous restrooms are coming back to haunt them.

On Thursday:

• The Avett Brothers play Ovation, with Heartless Bastards – great double bill!
• Leo Kottke is at Ludlow Garage
• Southgate hosts the monthly “Crooner Circus” songwriter showcase

Friday shows:

• Melissa Etheridge and the Indigo Girls play PNC Pavilion
• John PayCheck (son of Johnny) and Wes Shipp are in the Southgate Sanctuary
• Eric McM and Sharp Toys play “a doom-folk nightmare carnival” free show in the Southgate Lounge
• Mosant, Harlow, and Happy Tuesday are at MOTR
• GWAR is at the Madison Theater… bumping TUSK: the classic Fleetwood Mac Tribute… and breaking the Cincinnati area’s streak of having a Fleetwood Mac tribute band every month.

We’re at that age where rock stars are at that age

Billy Joel cancelled his Paul Brown Stadium gig with Rod Stewart that was originally slated for Saturday. And the X & Los Lobos “99 Years of Rock ‘N Roll” show at the Rose in Dayton on Sunday has been cancelled. In fact, that entire tour has been scrapped. Major bummer, as I was really looking forward to that gig.

But there still are a few shows on tap for the weekend.

Saturday:

• Inhaler (a.k.a. the band that Bono’s son is in, not Inhailer Radio) plays Bogart’s The Madison Theater (you definitely didn’t want to inhale when you were in Bogart’s bathrooms)
• Sungaze, Leggy, and Laveda are at MOTR

Sunday:

• Mat Kearney is at the Taft
• Walter Trout plays Ludlow Garage
• Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds play MOTR with Motorbike

On Monday, The Damned plays Bogart’s Madison Theater (Bogart’s bathrooms were damned… and the toilets and urinals were dammed).

Papa Roach and Rise Against are at PNC on Tuesday.

Next Wednesday, 9/24, Kaleo plays the Taft with Stephen Day and Júníus Meyvant. Meanwhile, your humble scribe will be in Detroit, to see The Tubs at Third Man Records.

The Whispering Beard Festival kicks off on Thursday, September 25. Tickets.

Also on Thursday, the always-entertaining Low Cut Connie plays the Woodward, and Liberty Theater has a Songwriters in the Round free show with G.W. Garner and Ben Turner.

Shows on Friday, 9/26:

• Dwight Yoakam and The Mavericks (great double bill!) play PNC
• The Gibson Brothers play the Liberty Theater
• Whispering Beard keeps on beardin’ with beardos
• The AmpFibians (surf rock) play Southgate’s Lounge (tickets are $2 – a low-dough show!)
• Ludlow Garage has “Live from Laurel Canyon” – billed as “an evening of live music and narrated stories of some of the most influential songwriters who lived in Laurel Canyon in the mid 1960’s and 70’s.” (not scheduled to appear: some of the most influential songwriters who lived in Laurel Canyon in the mid 1960’s and 70’s)
• The Talk low festival (similar to the old MusicNow festival) kicks off and runs through Monday, 9/29. Full lineup is here.

On Saturday, 9/27, the Filthy Heathens play the Liberty Theater. “Filthy heathen” was what Aunt Esther loved to call Fred G. Sanford.

Other 9/27 shows are of the tribute variety:

• Signs of Life: The American Pink Floyd at RiversEDGE (free!)
• The Redmoor double dips their Macca with The Ultimate Beatles & Wings Experience (unless it’s just a Beatles tribute band and a sale on Buffalo wings).

On Sunday, 9/28, Matt Hecker and Joe’s Truck Stop play the Southgate, and Lene Lovich is at Ludlow Garage.

Monday, 9/29 features the show you’ve been waiting for all month – if you’ve been waiting for the legendary double bill of BabyTron and ShittyBoyz. They are playing Bogart’s The Madison Theater. (When you think of ShittyBoyz restrooms, you naturally think of Bogart’s.)

Septuneber (yes, it’s still a thing!) wraps up on Tuesday, 9/30 with:

• Garbage and Starcrawler at the Ovation (indoor show)
• Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Nicholas Kristof will discuss his new book Chasing Hope: A Reporter’s Life at the Aronoff. Tickets. (BTW, balcony seats are $5, Loge is $10, and Orchestra level is $15.)

We love it live!

James McMurtry and his band were superb, as always, at the Woodward. List members Geoff S. and Kevin S. (no relation) were in the house.

The next night I was back at the Woodward for Momma and Villagerrr. Taylor from Inhailer was there, of course. He goes to more shows than I do!

Noted local photographer Jon Calderas was there too, and offered me tickets to the Weird Al/Puddles Pity Party show last night…

… where I ran into list members David and Amy G. Weird Al put on a great show, too!

My house concert worlds are colliding

Craig Finn (who played my house in 2018) interviewed Chuck and Lisa of Wussy (who have played my house several times) for his That’s How I Remember It podcast. The episode is great, and it’s here. It also features Lisa’s shout-out for 97X:

You can never step into the same River Roots Festival twice

Because you’ve changed. And the River Roots Festival organizers have cancelled the headliners.

My guess is that “a changing entertainment landscape” = “we’d have a mountain o’ debt because tickets aren’t selling.” Speaking of “a changing entertainment landscape” I hope the Bogart’s bathrooms are OK.

Maybe Big in Iowa will finally live up to their name

Dave Tellmann shared this AmericanaUK (not an oxymoron, I suppose) article about Big in Iowa in their “More People Should Really Know About” series.

“So why are a band defunct for over 25 years worth seeking out? Because they were good. They released four albums that should be in any self-respecting collection of Americana…”

Shameless self-promotion

Speaking o’ Dave Tellmann (“the Gene Rayburn of modern rock” – shown below), he and I chatted with longtime 97X listener and “Rumblings from the Big Bush” superfan Jayson (not Jason) Alexander on our latest episode. Check it out and get some bonus content here.

Kids these days…

They have talent! List member Anne Robinson shared this clip of a local 16-year-old guitar virtuoso, playing live in the new Cincinnati Public Radio studio recording space.

Town Hall invaded by robot!

I hope he comes to a Cincinnati City Council meeting next. See the amazing footage here!

Album Cover(s) of the Week(s)

In honor of Roktoberfest…

Oh Käpt’n, my Käpt’n!

The Vokal Produktion on this album is wunderbar! And the cover model is the Teutonic Olivia Newton Johann.