Jammin' on the Currents
If you're up for a little something different this weekend, check out the latest project by the Converging Currents Composers Workshop. The group's event will feature a "floating concert" at the lake at Miami Whitewater Forest on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Local musicians (as well as audience members) will row out to the middle of the lake for a performance of various selections from the local composers.
The CCCW was formed in 1999 by Paul Hogan (who also leads Ray's Music Exchange) and Michael Barnhart. The two invite artists from CCM (as well as from elsewhere) to participate, and their first projects have been at Baba Budan's coffeehouse and an in-the-round performance at Old St. George Church in Clifton, featuring several ensembles. (They tried the lake concert idea last year but were rained out).
"Michael Barnhart and I started the group in an effort to bring new music -- computer, percussion, improvised, or any other progressive medium -- to a wider audience," Hogan says. "There is a lot of great work going on in CCM, but unfortunately it is often secluded behind the walls of the building. We were determined to bring it out from behind the walls and into unique settings"
Hogan says the idea for the lake concert was concocted because of music's "strong tie to nature."
"With composers of this past century opening music up to all sound, nature took on a new role," he says. "As composers in the new century, outdoor concerts are very appropriate. (Computer composer) Mara Helmuth's piece is based on the sounds of the loon, a bird capable of making many interesting calls from its throat. Could there be a better place to hear a piece like this?"
For the future, Hogan and Co. have been kicking around the idea of doing performances at Burnet Woods, the Cincinnati Zoo and a CCM parking lot, but no firm plans are in place yet.
The lake show will take place rain or shine this year. Other participants include Allen Otte, Patrick Hernly, Tony Franklin, Nick Mavridoglou, Matthew Hawkins, Michael Mavridoglou, Robert Simonds, Matt Reynolds and Brad Grey. For more info, you can e-mail Hogan at cccw@fuse.net.
Jammin' on the River
97X (97.7 FM), WNKU (89.7 FM) and the Greater Cincinnati Earth Coalition will present a day of music and family fun for the Earth Day 2000 celebration on Saturday along the river at Sawyer Point.
While raising awareness of ecological concerns, the day will feature music from local bands Big In Iowa, Baghdad Jones, Rockets to Mars and Dayton's Clyde Bailey Band. Closing out the day's events will be Cleveland's Cobra Verde, Boston's Splashdown and an acoustic set from the legendary Bob Mould, of Hüsker Dü, Sugar and WWF fame (he's a "script consultant" for the wrastlin' federation these days). The event is free and music starts at 2 p.m.
Jammin' in the Woods
Also on Saturday, local Folk label Blue Jordan Records will present its second annual Spring Songs Festival at the Heritage Village Museum in Sharon Woods Park. The show will feature most of the label's incredibly strong roster, including David Wolfenberger, Wild Carrot, Gwendolyn Speaks and Katie Reider. Blue Jordan founder/recording artist Janet Pressley also hopes to perform, if her latest project -- a new baby -- isn't "released" by then.
The show -- which starts at noon -- also features crafts, food and guided tours of the 19th-century houses in the Village. Admission is free with park admission ($5 for adults). For more info, check the label site at bluejordan.com.
Jammin' on Main Street
The lineup for the illustrious Pepsi Jammin' On Main concert has been announced. The event is packed with local bands as usual this year. The Brand, The Shams, Lube, Oil and Filter, Dallas Moore, The Simpletons, The Websters, Thistle, Shades of Blue, Ric Hickey and the Loose Wrecks, Tracy Walker, Freekbass, Iswhat?!, Black Magic Rhythm Allstars, Face, The Ass Ponys, Oval Opus, Jason Allen Phelps and a dual reunion of The Raisins and psychodots, will flesh out two days of music and ... Pepsi. National acts on the bill include Vertical Horizon, Indigo Girls, BR5-49 and the mighty Kool and the Gang.
The two-day event runs Friday and Saturday, May 12 and 13. An event guide will run in the May 4 edition of this here paper, CityBeat.
Rumors, Lies and General Misunderstandings
· A post-Melvins concert show featuring a reunion of the rockin' duo Little Billy Catfish and the Soda Pops will go down this Friday at Top Cat's (the other bands on the bill are The Shams and Black Trans-Am). Mr. Catfish says that the one-off Soda Pops gig will be recorded for an upcoming live release from the local Cattleprod label.
· Local all-original rockers D.C. Project will be blasting away down on the Riverfront as they perform as part of the "Party in the Park" series this Wednesday. The show, at the P&G Pavilion, starts at 5:30 p.m. and will cost you absolutely nothing.
