Edited By Mike Breen

Photo By Doug Trapp

Apples in Stereo

· Now, I'm not the premier expert on Apples In Stereo or locals Readymaid (who played the Southgate House on Sept. 12). I haven't seen them before and I haven't bought any of their records (yet), so excuse me if I don't delve into the song titles. Keeping that in mind, I wouldn't call this show extraordinary or pitiful. But in a time when formula boy bands and teen-age Barbie dolls sell millions of records, it's comforting to know that these two groups kept a couple hundred Tristaters up till 1 a.m. on a Wednesday night.

There were a few hard-core Apples In Stereo fans in the clump of people huddled in front of the stage; they were the ones with intense, excited expressions. But there were more laid-back people who seemed happy to be sonically bathing in the music, a rock with cheerful but non-cheesy overtones. Likewise, the band didn't shake it much on stage. Lead singer Robert Schneider -- his voice, serrated like a small table saw -- took centerstage while the other four members mostly hung further back. If only they had more than one or two beats to build their songs on.

On the other hand, the best word to describe show openers Readymaid is probably "focused." While many bands walk through their similar-sounding songs, Readymaid musically shifted gears like an Indy driver. Quiet moments reminiscent of Radiohead changed into loud, raucous Rock. Plus lead singer Jason Snell was "into it." Meat Loaf's more intense moments came to mind. (Doug Trapp)

· One thing is certain: Sade is the coolest human being alive. She shimmied across the Riverbend stage on Sept. 8, exuding sexuality without breaking a sweat. She handled sultry ballads and my-man-done-me-wrong tunes effortlessly. Even her bows to the audience were classy and exotic.

More than that, though, her concert was a happening. The nearly sold-out crowd was about as evenly divided black-and-white as a Cincinnati public event has been lately. I spotted dozens of interracial couples. People chatted with each other, laughed, huddled under umbrellas together when the rain came, swayed back and forth to the music.

Not to make too big a deal of a concert, but the Sade show was remarkable because it seemed the antithesis of the summer's lingering bad feelings. It was a nice group hug for Cincinnati. I looked for Charlie Luken or Courtis Fuller in the crowd, but I didn't see them. They might have found a winning platform for their mayoral candidacies: All Sade, all the time. (John Fox)

· If the Sade show at Riverbend was an exercise in quiet elegance and peaceful grace, the Brian Jonestown Massacre show on Aug. 31 at the Southgate House could easily be called the antithesis. The show was a great Rock & Roll performance, a swaggering, garage-y burst of trippy, Rickenbacker-driven songs, punctuated by singer Anton Newcombe's constant berating of the crowd (to be fair, the audience was giving as good as it was getting). If you know much of the Massacre lore, you know that the antagonism is part of the BJM experience -- the band is notorious for onstage fighting with the crowd and each other. When the band played Sudsy Malone's a couple of years ago, the audience seemed to be disappointed at the band's laid-back approach and lack of controversy. At the Southgate show, they would be appeased.

The back-and-forth began to escalate towards the end of the show, with the chastising from the stage now taking more time than the actual songs. Ultimately, someone in the crowd apparently hurled a beer bottle at the stage, and all bets were off. Several members of the band jumped off stage and attacked offending audience members. The chaos cleared quickly, the show ended and fans buzzed excitedly on the floor of the venue. But once the smoke cleared, talk turned to the fight's authenticity. Was it a WWF-style brawl, set up by a band who knows what the people want? Or was it a genuine fit? Regardless, it was still one of the best Rock & Roll moments an area stage has seen in the past couple of years. (Mike Breen)

· I'm writing this "Outtake" as a musician, not the music editor of CityBeat. And I'm not "reviewing" my live show, but merely trying to capture a moment in time where Rock & Roll and other forms of entertainment are rightfully trivialized. Sept. 11 was supposed to be an exciting day for Rockets to Mars, the little Rock combo I play with. The album we had been working on for the past year was finally done and after delays from our label in Boston, Sept. 11 (Tuesdays are industry standard for CD release dates) seemed like a good time to get it out. What are the chances?

Photo By Doug Trapp

Readymaid

The shock of that Tuesday's events overshadowed everything, of course. By Wednesday, we all began thinking about our CD release party on Sept. 15 at the Southgate House. Should we do it? Should we change what we were going to do? Should we mention the tragedy on stage or in our e-mail announcements of the show? Should we be celebrating anything at this point? Will the CDs even be here (they were stuck in Boston due to the airport closings, but ultimately arrived Friday morning)? In the end we figured it best to not to give in. And, by Saturday night, we figured people might be ready to temporarily forget what was going on and be around friends and have a good time.

Our show was planned to be a big multi-media affair, with guests, surprises and video displays. We ultimately had to change a few things. We decided to alter a Middle Eastern-themed introduction, as to keep people from thinking we were trying to "push buttons." Also, the day of the performance, I reviewed some video clips that we had selected to show behind us during our performance. One tape was a montage of old Hollywood UFO footage, including images of the space crafts crashing into the Capitol building and the White House. Another, a clip from The Magic Christian film, showed buildings exploding and Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr "playing war." We quickly found replacement clips.

To be honest, the show itself was a lot of fun. People seemed in fairly good spirits, though much of the conversations around the venue were related to the attacks. The Southgate House also had put out patriotic stickers, something that would have been heartily mocked a mere week ago. We mentioned the events only briefly on stage, explaining that we understood what a rough week it was and that we meant no disrespect by not canceling. That notion received the warmest applause of the night. (MB)

E-mail Mike Breen

Truth Is A Whisper (September 13, 2001)
Short Takes (September 13, 2001)
Spill It (September 13, 2001)
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