Your affable (and somewhat addled) co-hosts Dave and Damian have been trapped inside the Big Bush for many moons (and a few Moonpies) but we broke free to chat with Nils Illokken, Music Director and DJ for Inhailer Radio, about the upcoming Inhailer Indie 500. If you remember the 97X Modern Rock 500, Inhailer’s Indie 500 is an updated version of that annual Memorial Day Weekend countdown.
Back in 2023, Inhailer hosted the 40th anniversary Modern Rock 500, with 97X DJs from throughout the station’s rich history hosting the countdown of the top songs played during the 97X and woxy.com era (1983-2010).
You can listen to the archive of that broadcast here.
Last year, Inhailer launched the Indie 500, which added in songs from 2010 to the present… picking up the torch from 97X and WNKU’s annual “Top 89.”
And this year, the cool kids at Inhailer have added a new twist to put even more great tunes into the mix… and to extend the fun to more than a full week!
We chatted with Nils about the Indie 500, his background in broadcasting, how Inhailer got started, how he finds the artists that Inhailer plays, and much more.
You can find all 100+ episodes of the “97X Rumblings from the Big Bush” podcast on Podbean, as well as on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Podcast Addict, and most major podcasting platforms. Hear interviews with former 97X DJs and station staffers, listeners, bands that were played on the station, record label execs, advertisers, and more.
It’s pretty exciting stuff if I do say so myself… granted, I’m not exactly an impartial observer.
Let’s observe the bands who are coming to town over the next couple of weeks, shall we?
Tonight, Southgate has Rock’n Revival for the Cure, with a slew of local bands:
And Ark Band plays Ludlow Garage.
On Sunday, Ben Levin plays Schwartz’s Point, and Ludlow hosts Nektar… no relation to keytar.
On Wednesday, The Dollyrots play Southgate, with The Von Tramps at the opener, and Altan fiddles around at Ludlow Garage.
Thursday evening, Billy Strings kicks off a sold-out three-night run at the Greg Brady.
Greg Brady loved Strings!
That same evening, Kenny Wayne Shepherd will at the Taft, doing a 25th anniversary tour of his Trouble Is… album.
Friday, Billy Strings has a second helping of the Peter Brady.
Don’t Bogart your Billy Strings tickets.
That same day, Ben Levin plays happy hour at Element Eatery, The Huntertones and Doc Robinson play Woodward, and Vanessa Carlton is at Ludlow. Oh, and ’tis St. Paddy’s Day, too.
Next Saturday, Bogart’s hosts Rumours: A Fleetwood Mac tribute. And Billy Strings plays Night 3 at the Marsha Marsha Marsha Brady.
Marsha Brady thinks Billy Strings is hotter than Alice’s pot roast
And NRBQ rocks the Ludlow Garage.
Southgate House has an embarrassment of riches on Tuesday, March 21st:
The Casey Campbell Band and El Dorado play the main room
Adam Weiner (of Low Cut Connie) plays the Revival Room upstairs
On Wednesday, March 22nd, The Quebe Sisters are at Southgate, and Dead Letter Office (yes, an R.E.M. tribute band), plays Ludlow Garage.
On Thursday, 3/23:
Beth Harris and Freedom Nicole Moore play a freebie at the Listing Loon in Northside
Leo Sayer plays Ludlow Garage
Blake Shelton plays the Coliseum
On Friday, 3/24:
Whiskey Bent Valley Boys, Slippery Creek and Mike Oberst are at Southgate
Them Dirty Roses and The Josephines play the old Annie’s
Aronoff Center has The Blues is Alright tour:
Pokey Bear, second cousin of streetwise informant Huggy Bear on Starsky & Hutch
On Saturday, March 25th:
They Might Be Giants play a sold-out gig at Madison Theater.
Florence Dore plays Southgate (her backing band includes Will Rigby and Gene Holder of the dBs, and Son Volt’s Mark Spencer)
Aronoff has The Simon & Garfunkel Story (per the press release: “The show features huge projection photos, original film footage, and a full live band performing all of Simon & Garfunkels’s hits, including “Mrs. Robinson,” “Cecilia,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Homeward Bound,” and many more.” In other words, since Paul and Artie will never share a stage again, holograms will have to suffice.)
And if the fates cooperate and the stars align, your humble scribe will be in NYC that evening for this show:
On Sunday, 3/26, New Edition (which really should be called Old Edition at this point) will be at the Coliseum, with Keith Sweat, Guy and Tank. Note: “Guy” is a band and “Tank” is another band… in case you were expecting this:
Instant Karma
In our last missive, we mentioned that Dan “Reds: 2027 World Series Champs” Lewis loves Debbie Gibson… right after we listed some incorrect tickets-on-sale info. So who do you think pointed out our error almost immediately?
I’ll refrain from pointing out that we listed TTB, not DTB…
Dan is a superfan of both Dwight and The Mavericks, so the PNC gig is a dream date for him. (So is Debbie Gibson, btw.)
Like father, like son
Dan’s son Cullen also is a music superfan, and in a recent edition of his Substack newsletter he linked to this really cool “Music Map” site where you can type in the name of a band you like and it’ll suggest other bands you may enjoy.
Your own personal hit factory
HT to list member Todd Butler for the link.
Album Cover of the Week
This album came out yesterday. If your band’s name is “The Atomic Bitchwax” you are contractually obligated to play the Freak Valley Fest. It’s a combination as classic as peanut butter and jelly…. or Dan Lewis and Debbie Gibson.
It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly two decades since that fateful evening when Steve Baker said “goodbye to the future of rock and roll.” For current and former staffers and loyal listeners, it was like the death of a loved one. We reunited an all-star cast of folks who were at the station at the bittersweet end (Bakerman, Shiv, Barb, Mike Taylor, Sledge, Bryan J., Gentleman Jim Mercer) to share their memories of that time.
But we’re not just here to rue the day and mourn once again. There’s actually a future for “the future of rock and roll.” We’re getting the gang back together for one last heist Modern Rock 500 this May.
It’ll be just like old times. Maybe even better. It’s like getting a present from your old friends, in the present day. We can’t wait to share the music and the love with you!
Speaking of love, you gotta love the Bakerman’s “now and then” coda for the episode:
Author and college professor Robin James is a self-described “philosopher of popular music.” She grew up in West Chester, Ohio listening to 97X and is writing a book about the station and the community that formed around it. She’s also going to give a talk about the Modern Rock 500 at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame once we get through the pandemic phase. In this episode, Robin gives us an update on when the book will be published… and turns the tables by interviewing Dave and Damian for that book.
Robin James, the coolest college professor ever!
We first chatted with Robin a year ago, on Episode 34. If you missed that show, it’s well worth a listen.
On her blog, here’s how Robin summarizes the 97X book project:
The Future of Rock and Roll: 97X WOXY and the fight for true independence. (Under contract with UNC Press). This is a book about the philosophy behind former modern rock radio station 97X FM/woxy.com. The station and its programming was driven by the idea that true independence is possible only when practiced with and for other people. The book argues that this idea of independence is what we need to fight the 21st century corporate mainstream, which is driven by the false idea that real independence is being left to fend for yourself.
Here’s a link to the draft version of “What was the Modern Rock 500?” – the talk Robin will be giving at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The date for that presentation is still TBD due to pandemic restrictions, but we’ll let you know when it’s happening.
My dad didn’t like music, and I didn’t have older siblings, so the Modern Rock 500 was the curriculum I used to educate myself about cool music and its history.
Robin James
Rumblings from the Big Bush mailbag
Hey guys,
I’ve been a big fan of the show. For years I’ve enjoyed listening to a playlist created from an old Modern Rock 500, and every year I think, I should contact some of the old radio guys and see what would be on the list today. I always think of this leading up to Memorial Day weekend. It would be great if you could get some of the old crew together and make an updated list.
Keep up the good work! – Nick Frisch
That’s a great idea, Nick! Unfortunately, it’s also a rather daunting task, and we have our hands full with the podcast (and our day jobs). We tried to strong-arm longtime 97X PD Phil Manning into creating an updated MR500, but to no avail. If anyone has any suggestions, we’re all ears.
In the interim, the Cincinnati-based online radio station Inhailer recently counted down their Top 500 Albums of All Time, and you’ll find plenty of 97X artists on that list. Former woxy.com DJ Luann Gibbs (a.k.a. “Miss Kitty” – we chatted with her on Episode 43) does weekend shifts on Inhailer, and Taylor Fox, who was quite active on the 97X message boards, is the Program Director and hosts the morning show Tuesdays thru Thursdays, so the station is a kindred spirit of 97X/woxy.com. They play a great mix of music, including a healthy dose of local bands, and have specialty shows on weekends and in the evening. Check it out!
This post on The Cincy Vinyl Trail website also has a nice tribute to the Modern Rock 500.
Traditionally, Memorial Day weekend has always been the unofficial beginning of summer. Schools close, pools open, we honor fallen heroes and the Taste of Cincinnati takes center stage. Memorial Day weekend of years gone by also brought us the 500. No, not the Indy 500, that’s still running. To die-hard music fans, it was the 97X Modern Rock 500. The start of every summer the radio would be tuned to 97.7.
Memorial Day Weekend was a big deal back in the 97X days… it was Modern Rock 500 time!
I can still hear Bakerman’s great liners in my head… and of course the Indy 500 race car sounds… It was a big deal for listeners too – here’s Howard Cohen talking about the MR500 in his college days:
The Modern Rock 500 was an evolving canon defined not by critics, but by listeners and fans. As longtime employee and former Music Director Matt Shiv explains, every year, staff “looked at how long songs were on the People’s Choice Countdown (weekly request Top 10) and the year-end Best Of countdowns” to determine which new tracks should be added to the MR 500. According to Shiv, “it was never trying to be anything other than representing the songs that built WOXY and were favorites of our listeners.” Listener demand, not expert taste, was in the driver’s seat.
My dad didn’t like music, and I didn’t have older siblings, so the Modern Rock 500 was the curriculum I used to educate myself about cool music and its history.
Robin James, in the Belt Magazine article
If you’ve got some time to kill this weekend (hello lockdown), perhaps you’d like to “return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear” as the announcer used to say on the old The Lone Ranger TV show.
Can’t go wrong with that gif, amiright? Let’s get to the tunes.
Monday is a holiday for most folks… including touring bands, it appears. Also, please note that the Yola show originally slated for Tuesday in the Taft Ballroom has been rescheduled for Sunday, June 14 due to “unforeseen scheduling conflicts.”
On Tuesday, Cheryl Renee plays Bluesday Tuesday at Arnold’s and the Mynah Tones play the Comet.
On Wednesday, Grace Potter plays a nocturnal show (without the Nocturnals) at Taft Theater. Mipso is at the Woodward Theater, with Bridget Kearney (of Lake Street Dive) and Benjamin Lazar Davis (of Okkervil River) as openers. There are a couple of notable local gigs on Wednesday also:
Ben Levin plays the Phelps/Residence Inn downtown. List member Howard Cohen has informed me that it’s a Great Lakes Brewing Company Pint Night from 5-8, featuring Dortmunder Gold Lager, Conway’s Irish Ale, and the new beast in town, Bierwolf Dunkelweizen. A tasting flight is only $10. Ben plays starting at 5:30.
List member Mark Celsor’s band Left of Center is opening for the Blue Eyed Bettys at Urban Artifact. Mark doesn’t work for a beer company, but he will work for beer.
Thursday, 20th Century Theater hosts An Evening with Mike Gordon, he of Phish Phame. All those smelly hippies in Oakley should bring housing prices down at bit.
Sure they misspelled “hobby”… but it’s still phunny.
On Friday, Turkuaz plays Madison Theater, Shiny Old Soul is at Big Ash Brewing, Todd Lipscomb is at Arnold’s and Ben Levin plays BrewRiver.
Saturday shows:
Olivia Jean plays Southgate’s main room, and Ben Levin is in the Lounge
Noah Wotherspoon plays a gig at Band of Helping Hands in Covington
KY Myle is at Camp Springs Tavern
Fretboard hosts ‘Nati Dread Day, with the Quasi Kings as headliners.
On Sunday, The Comet Bluegrass All-Stars play… The Comet.
Action Photos
That’s list member Dale Doyle (the original D2!) on the right, hanging in Cali with Matt Berninger of The National (in a 97X t-shirt!). Dale is doing the artwork/design for Matt’s solo album. The story of how these two hooked up is pretty cool – you can read it on the website here.
The most recent episode of the “97X Rumblings from the Big Bush” podcast features Rob Ervin, who worked at 97X, co-hosted the Chris & Rob Late Night Talk Show on WAIF for years, and worked on the Gary Burbank Show for a decade-plus. You can listen on the website here, or catch all the episodes on Spotify, Apple Music or Podbean.
Oh, and if you enjoyed the annual 97X “Modern Rock 500” countdown back in the day, a listener crunched the data from each year of the countdown to create an overall “Top 500″… check it out here.
The annual Memorial Day Weekend “Modern Rock 500” was always a highlight of the 97X year. Listener James Brubaker decided to crunch the numbers year by year and create a Meta-list… a “Modern Rock 500 Top 500” as he calls it.
James (a.k.a. Dr. James Brubaker, Ph.D.) is originally from Dayton. He’s an author (book links on his website) and teaches at Southeast Missouri State University, where he also serves as editor of the University Press.
Here’s James’ original email to us:
Hi Dave and Damian, I’ve really been enjoying the podcast. I actually stumbled across it while doing some research for a project I was working on, and figured I’d share it with you guys. Here goes… I recently came across the archive of Modern Rock 500 lists on Craig Froehle’s website, and thought it would be fun to crunch some numbers and come up with a Modern Rock 500 Top 500. So, with the caveats that I had to do some data entry that might have some mistakes, and that Froehle’s site is missing lists for 94 and 98 (well, lists are there, but they appear to just be the 95 list repeated), here’s a ranking of the Modern Rock 500 Top 500:
Mark Griffin tuned in to 97X as a teenager, and “the future of rock and roll” shaped his future. Listen to the podcast to learn how Mark ruled his high school art room with an iron fist… and why that iron fist never had a digital watch on its wrist. And learn why (and how) Mark painstakingly assembled 14 hours worth of song mixes from 97X circa 1985.
We reached out to Mark because he wrote a great post on his website about 97X and the profound impact it had on his life:
In his post, Mark reprints an article that Steven Rosen wrote about WOXY for the June 2, 1985 edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer. You can read that feature in Mark’s blog post linked above, but you should also check out the PDF version for the article as it originally appeared — right alongside ads for cigarettes and bras!
Kudos to Mark for creating such fabulous playlists culled from his 97X memories. All those mixes — 14 hours worth! — are also on his website:
In our podcast interview, Mark mentions mining the annual “97 Best of…” lists to create his mixes. Craig Froehle has compiled those lists for 1984-2009, as well as the Modern Rock 500 lists from 1989-2009, a 97X “A to X” list, and a 97X2K list from 2000. All those links are here: https://www.craigfroehle.com/p/97x.html
Dave (“The Dick Clark of Modern Rock”) and Damian (“The Dick Sargent of Modern Rock”) chat about the Modern Rock 500 and artists/bands that stopped by the station. And you’ll find out why a Bel Canto moment lasts 60 minutes.
