Suge Knight used to whoop an engineer's ass if he rewound the tapes too far during the recording sessions of 2Pac's 'All Eyez on Me.' Kind of extreme. And most likely not the most conducive working atmosphere for an engineer. One thing I tried to stress in my last column was the importance of knowing the other person's job and how it pertains to you. This month deals with the engineer-artist relationship.   

Cincinnati Reds history will be made when The Baseball Project (Steve Wynn, Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck and Linda Pitmon) makes its first appearance here at the Southgate House on Saturday. No, these venerable, veteran Alternative Rock musicians won't be announcing they're buying the Reds and changing their name to The Sex Pistols. Instead, they plan to use the local date to publicly debut their brand-new song "Pete Rose Way" off the upcoming 'Baseball Project Vol. 2' album.  

Sometimes musicians have to leave the Midwest to get better — they need more ideas than any one region can provide. That was the case with Jackie DeShannon, whose long career has included such hit recordings as the Bacharach/David composition "What the World Needs Now" and her own "Put a Little Love in Your Heart." The native of rural Hazel, Ky., cut her earliest singles at King Records in Cincinnati.  

The success of the Woodstock Festival 40 years ago prompted dreams of hundreds of other mythic Rock festivals throughout the United States. Including Cincinnati. As luck would have it, the city's first major outdoor Rock festival was scheduled for Sept. 6, 40 years ago this Sunday. Jim Tabrell, who organized it, joins other local musicians to recall the event and the times.  

When Polvo called it quits back in 1997, there was no long-simmering feud. It was just a matter of friends who decided to move on after a momentous seven-year run. Then in 2008, Polvo was contacted with a plea to reunite for one show. They did, and the guys managed to keep going, playing a number of festival dates and continuing to write new material.  

When Josh Dorsey defines his band, the J. Dorsey Blues Revival, the concepts of what it is and is not take on almost equal significance. "It's our interpretation," he says. "We want something that sounds new but that comes from an old place." Further clarification can be found on the debut Blues Revival CD, 'Get Right Church,' the subject of this Saturday's release party at the Southgate House.  

Billy Catfish (aka Lil' Billy Catfish or, more recently, Billy Catfish Orchestra) hasn't "re-made himself," as he will tell you, but he just spends less time wondering if you care about his views of Fruitarians (or if his jeans are designer enough for you or if he's saying all the correct things to say).   

Think global. Major labels are falling apart. Independent labels and artists are picking up that slack. This means that slowly but surely local artists in every city aren't seeing the worth in trying to get that "huge deal." Over the past few years, and even more so in the coming years, this is the change agent that gives each city the opportunity for its own sound and movement.   

Check out tracks by Mean Tambourines, Sinker, Shayna Zaid & the Catch, Instrument, Wussy, The Rosewood Thieves, Buckra, Mock Orange, The Wildbirds, The Trouble with Boys, Paper Airplane, Pomegranates, Mavis "SWAN" Poole, Bojibian, Terribly Empty Pockets, and Family Order  

A recent MTV.com report of the kick-off concert on Blink-182's summer-long reunion tour indicated that nothing has changed: The group indulged in obscene silliness, the set was a blast if not slightly off and, most importantly, the decade-old ennui still means rich hooks. "I don't think anybody was necessarily surprised," Mark Hoppus says of the band's return.  

If you've never been to DANCE_MF and/or have no idea what I'm talking about, you are probably an adult human with a respectable job or children who doesn't necessarily find a monthly need to get really close, drunk and dancey with a bunch of twenty- to thirtysomethings. But DMF is more than a party.   

Back in the late 1960s, the Ludlow Garage was at the heart of the day's Woodstock-heavy music world. A 40th anniversary tribute is scheduled Friday night at the Cincy Blues Fest, and a live two-CD/one-DVD set called 'Still Truckin' of live recordings is set for release — a must-have for music lovers of the period.   

"I've never had a reason not to be humble," says Dallas Taylor, lead singer of Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, shortly after pulling the band's tour van into a motel parking lot somewhere in Illinois. He, along with the other five members of the Birmingham-based Metalcore outfit, is still in the first half of a nationwide tour to promote the latest Maylene album, 'III,' which was released June 23 and has since placed 70th on Billboard's Top 100.   

For Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger, better known as The Fiery Furnaces (a New York-based, Illinois-bred, hyper-experimental Indie band) family-based music wasn't a career move but rather a lifestyle. The Friedbergers boasted not only a guitar-wielding, piano-playing mother, but their grandmother was also a choir director. For them, music ostensibly doesn't exist outside a filial context.  

Success doesn't come tracked any faster than that of The Airborne Toxic Event. Starting with an indie label last year, TATE was quickly attractive to the majors and, after several meetings, the Los Angeles quintet decided to cast its lot with Island Records. By the end of 2006, Rolling Stone named the group one of MySpace's Top 25 bands.