June. Moon. (Spoon isn’t until September.)

Concert Listings, Music

Greetings and sun salutations!

I pulled a muscle just looking at this series.

Let’s get down to the gigs, Dawg!

TonightInhailer Radio celebrates their 5th anniversary at Madison Live:

Other gigs:

  • Mad Anthony returns to the Southgate House stage, in the Lounge
  • Clownvis Presley and Jimmy Psycho play Southgate’s main room
  • Lagniappe plays a free show at scenic Stanbery Park in even more scenic Mt. Washington
  • Ben Levin plays Wiedemann’s Brewing
  • The Hard Rock Casino has “Big Hair Friday” with Skid Row, Warrant and Winger

Saturday features the Sawyer Point Summer Concert Series kickoff concert:

Free admission

The Southgate House has a quadruple bill of local/regional bands: Bohemian Funk, Trippin’ Roots, The Electric Indigo, and Dead Humor.

Pup and Oceanator play Bogart’s on Sunday.

Pup in the Bogart’s men’s room…

And Ben Levin plays Schwartz’s Point.

On Tuesday, Kate Bollinger is at MOTR Pub, and the Lumineers play Riverbend…

Uh, that’s Lumineers, not Lumiere… but R.I.P. Jerry Orbach! The Lumineers latest album is quite good, and the opener is Caamp – that’s a strong double bill. Speaking of Camp, this one is sold out:

Wednesday is chock full o’ tunes:

  • Nick Lowe’s Quality Rock & Roll Revue starring Los Straitjackets, with Tommy McLain + CC Adcock is at Memorial Hall
  • Flogging Molly and The Interrupters play an outdoor gig at the Bobby Brady
  • The Band Camino rolls into Ovation
  • Jill Andrews plays Southgate’s main room
  • Bob Log III is in the Southgate Revival Room – his stage getup (and setup) are interesting:
  • Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters play Ludlow Garage. Remember when Billy Bob teamed up with Dwight Yoakam, Vic Chestnutt, Col. Bruch Hampton, Ian Moore, and Mickey Jones? That was fun!

On Thursday:

  • Kristin Hersh and Fred Abong (miss you, Throwing Muses!) play MOTR. Show’s at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20.
  • Flying Buffaloes and Red Clay Strays play RiversEDGE in Hamilton
  • Whiskey Bent Valley Boys do the Roots Revival Series at Washington Park
  • Ben Levin plays the rooftop bar at The Phelps
  • Chris Rock opens up a two-night stand at the Taft. They added a second show after “the slap heard ’round the world” — now Chris can afford a nicer meal:

Next Friday, June 10th, the Ben Levin 3 plays the Southgate Lounge, Motion City Soundtrack is at Bogart’s, and We Are Scientists headline the Fountain Square freebie.

Festivals galore!

Video of the Week

Buzz band Wet Leg gets the parody treatment with this send-up of “Chaise Longue”:

Album Cover of the Week

Vic Damone never could find a steady girlfriend… probably because he often wore a monogrammed shirt.

Long weekend, short list

Concert Listings, Concert review, Music

This week’s list of gigs is “more rock, less talk goofy memes”… Sorry, but the latest round of news makes it harder to be all fun and games.

Tonight:

  • Kitchen Dwellers and Neighbor play RiversEDGE in Hamilton
  • Smashing Pumpkins do an outdoor gig at the Ovation in Newport
  • Comedian Tom Segura kicks off a two-night stand at the Aronoff
  • Ben Levin plays Big Ash Brewing
  • Local bluesperson Erin Coburn plays a free gig on Fountain Square
  • Last but certainly not least, America’s AC/DC tribute, Thunderstruck, plays the Event Center at Little Miami Brewing in Milford

I’m thinking of starting a band that plays country versions of New York Dolls and Heartbreakers songs and calling it “Thunder’s Truck”…

UNITED KINGDOM – JANUARY 01: MUSIC MACHINE, CAMDEN PALACE Photo of Johnny THUNDERS, & The Heartbreakers L-R Walter Lure, Billy Rath, Jerry Nolan, Johnny Thunders (Photo by Erica Echenberg/Redferns)

Saturday:

  • Ray Lamontagne and Sierra Ferrell at the Brady
  • Ben Levin plays at an outdoor gig at Miami Whitewater Park from 7-9 p.m.
  • Kentucky Struts at Southgate
  • Veronica Grim, Alex Salcido (of The Harmed Brothers) and Hayden Kaye play Fountain Square

The rescheduled Haim show happens at the Marsha, Jan, and Cindy Brady on Sunday.

That same evening, Jeremy Pinnell, Wonky Tonk and Dead Man String Band are doing a free show on Fountain Square.

On Tuesday, New Found Glory plays Bogart’s, and the Woodward Theater will be screening Freakscene: The Story of Dinosaur Jr.

Bright Eyes and Alex G play the Greg Brady on Wednesday, June 1st, and Ben Levin plays Ghost Baby.

On Thursday:

  • Darrell Scott plays Memorial Hall with Ben Sollee as the opener
  • Joslyn & the Sweet Compression play Washington Park as part of their freebie Roots Revival Series (full list of shows is here)
  • Erin Coburn is “Rocking the Roebling” on the Schmidlapp Event Lawn by the Christian Moerlein Lager House in Smale Park
  • Marcy Playground swings (get it?) into Ludlow Garage

Next Friday, June 3rd, Inhailer Radio celebrates their 5th anniversary with a big gig at Madison Live:

Other gigs that same evening:

  • Mad Anthony returns to the Southgate House stage, in the Lounge
  • Clownvis Presley and Jimmy Psycho play Southgate’s main room
  • Lagniappe plays a free show at scenic Stanbery Park in even more scenic Mt. Washington
  • Ben Levin plays Wiedemann’s Brewing
  • The Hard Rock Casino becomes the Hair Rock Casino with Skid Row, Warrant and Winger upping the Aqua Net ante. (No ripped acid-washed jeans, no entry….)

Next Saturday, June 4th, the Sawyer Point Summer Concert Series kicks off with a real hootenanny:

Free admission

The Southgate House has a quadruple bill of local/regional bands: Bohemian Funk, Trippin’ Roots, The Electric Indigo, and Dead Humor.

Oh, and Mother Nature will revoke my tree-hugger card if I don’t mention Cincy VegFest at Burnet Woods (11 am-6pm)… yoga, plant-based food demos, and live music with headliner Wonky Tonk.

Concert reviews

List member/Cereal Killers guitarist/This Week in Live Music neighbor Matt weighs in on The Who’s gig:

List member/neighbor Barb loved Tears for Fears at Riverbend:

And my co-worker Bob, a.k.a. DJ Bob, who worked at Cooter’s decades ago, had this to say:

Freebie Outdoor Shows this summer

I’ll try to mention some notable gigs in my weekly list, but Cincinnati.com has a comprehensive list here.

And now, the sad stuff…

When satire becomes sad reality:

In the Bleak midwinter

Concert Listings, Music, podcast

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!

Episode 43: Luann Gibbs – Miss Kitty Forever!

97X, Music, podcast, woxy.com

Luann Gibbs started listening to 97.7 FM in Oxford in the pre-97X/Dr. Demento days of the late 70s. When 97X debuted in 1983, she became an avid listener. When the 97X message boards started, she was quite active on them (as “Miss Kitty”). Eventually, her college friend Mike Taylor recruited her to do on-air shifts at 97X/woxy.com. Luann’s been with the Cincinnati Enquirer for 15 years (she’s the queen of “Things to Do”), and also does weekend shifts at Inhailer Radio. We chat with her about college radio, internet radio, her message board “family” and her ongoing promotion of new music.

As we mention on the the podcast, Luann is our #1 hype person – her March 18th Cincinnati Enquirer article entitled “Top 10 ways to practice social distancing” featured a shout-out for Rumblings from the Big Bush:

You can peruse Luann’s most recent articles and lists for the Cincinnati Enquirer here.

Luann also does weekend DJ shifts for Inhailer Radio, which is carrying the 97X/woxy.com/WNKU (R.I.P. X 3) torch by promoting local and national indie music. Not only can you tune in online or on your smartphone, but Inhailer was recently added as WGUC’s HD3 channel.

“Miss Kitty” also posts a monthly collaborative playlist of cool new music (curated by 97X/WOXY fans) on Spotify. Here’s a link for the August edition.

Luann stays connected with her old 97X/woxy message board friends on the WOXY Forever! Facebook group. (You’ll also find links to the monthly playlists here.)