One of Cincinnati's all-time great turntablists, Tobotius (aka Tobe Donohue, member of DMC award-winning collective Animal Crackers), is preparing to release a solo album this February titled I, Tobot, but website The Untz posted the first leak from the record yesterday (click here for a free download). The track, "The Blox," is a collaboration with local Funk master, bassist Freekbass (aka Chris Sherman); the two local musicians have been working the national club circuit together as Freekbot. (They also collaborated on a modern "fight song" for Notre Dame's Fighting Irish called "We Are ND"; click here to view.) Check the hyped-up Tobotius/Freekbass track (fueled by a flurry of chaotic samples and scratches) below.

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The best music-related viral video this week has been footage of Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy doing the weather on Chicago "superstation" WGN (see below), which Pitchfork immediately awarded a 9.3 rating, calling it the best TV weather reporting since the members of Neu!'s infamous "Das ist snow!" Krautrock version on German national television in 1973. Though it appears to be a one-off, the station would nail down the 35-55-year-old hipster dad/music critic demographic if they'd offer him the position full time. We pray this was just a try-out/preview of the new Wilco News Network (WNN), with foreign correspondent Nels Cline and Glenn Kotche taking on the Jeanne Moos role. Perhaps local network news should take note — I would pay $1,000 to see Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker from local Indie Rock band Wussy anchor the evening newscast on Fox 19, even for just one night (heck, I'll pay $100 for 30 seconds).

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As people were busy contemplating the chance of the original Guns N’ Roses reteaming for their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction early next year, news came down that a Cincinnati Entertainment Awards "Hall of Fame" band (and one beloved, influential and respected worldwide) will definitely be reuniting in 2012. The Afghan Whigs will play their first show in 13 years on May 27, 2012, in London for the All Tomorrow's Parties festival offshoot, I'll Be Your Mirror. The band will also perform a headlining show at I'll Be Your Mirror USA 2012, playing the fest Sept. 22 in Asbury Park, NJ. Tickets go on sale in early January. On the downside (for Ohio Rock fans), the Whigs replace Guided By Voices at the September show; according to the IBYM release, GBV has broken up (again) and canceled all 2012 dates (despite being on track to release an album of new material early next year). Check out the full press release below. UPDATE: GBV, according to their publicists, have NOT broken up (again); they have merely canceled a few shows.

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Eclectic, eccentric rockers Foxy Shazam will release its new album on Jan. 24 of next year through its new deal with the resuscitated IRS Records imprint (distributed via EMI). Eric Nally, wild frontman for the Cincinnati band (which is currently touring the U.K. with The Darkness), talks more about the album — titled The Church of Rock and Roll — in an insane new YouTube video (see below, along with the tracklisting and a clip of the album's first single, "I Like It"). The group will rev up for more touring (not that they are ever really off the road for too long in the first place) behind the album in January, including a tentative Cincinnati-area date Jan. 20 (details pending).

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Soulful Austin-via-Cincinnati rockers The Heartless Bastards have issued the first single from Arrow, their new album (and first with their current lineup) due Feb. 14 from the band's new label home, Brooklyn-based indie Partisan Records. The track is available for free from the group's website (in exchange for your email address), but you can also give it a spin below. The band also unveiled the new album's cover (pictured) and several tour dates. The Bastards bring their tour to "Cincinnati" (as the press release says) on Feb. 17 for a show at Covington's Madison Theater.

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Last night, this year's Grammy nominations were announced. Apparently. I flipped to the 10 p.m. "announcement" — CBS's The GRAMMY Nominations Concert Live!! — a few times but didn't hear one word about who was nominated. Although the all-star rendition of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five's Hip Hop classic (host LL Cool J called it "the greatest Hip Hop song of all time") was cool to see, the tributes to Nick Ashford and Jerry Leiber (with their songwriting-duo partners Valerie Simpson and Mike Stoller) was a nice touch and the closing Lady Gaga/Sugarland collaboration was at least interesting. Thanks to ye olde internets, I was finally able to see who was nominated this year and, I have to say, once again the list of nominees is more surprising than what we've come to expect from the Grammys. In past years, Paul Simon's latest album, So Beautiful or So What, would have scored nominations in almost every category it was eligible. But this year, it was completely snubbed. 

Below are a few random observations about the nominations this year. Click here to view the full list of nominees (or here for a PDF file download). The 54th Grammys ceremony is Feb. 12, airing on CBS. 

• Cincinnati native Fred Hersch (pictured) scored two nominations this year. (Click here for Brian Baker's interview with Hersch for CityBeat from earlier this year when he came to town for a two-night stand at the Blue Wisp.) The well-known and respected Jazz pianist (who grew up in North Avondale and attended Walnut Hills High School) is up for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for his Alone at the Vanguard, as well as "Best Improvised Jazz Solo" (which may just be my favorite category, at least in spirit) for his solo on that album's track "Work." 

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One of the most notable music venues in the region, Newport's historic Southgate House, has announced it will close its doors for good after a Dec. 31 show headlined by locally-based/internationally-acclaimed Punk band The Dopamines. A press release sent out Monday night (and a posting on the club's web site) announced that "after more than thirty years in continuous operation as a music and arts venue," the Southgate House will be shut down, though no reason was given.

Details on future plans were also vague; the release says owner Ross Raleigh is hoping to "relocate" the venue in 2012 and that more information would be available soon. The full press release — and an update — are below.

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Last night at Covington's Madison Theater, the 15th annual Cincinnati Entertainment Awards ceremony once again brought together people from all facets of the Greater Cincinnati music scene and gave them one hell of a party. Along with offering one of the best people-watching experiences of the year, the packed crowd in attendance was treated to great "mini-sets" (usualy about three tunes) from local bands Pomegranates (who also played the event's after-party at the nearby Mad Hatter), Young Heirlooms, Los Honchos, Two Headed Dog and Wussy, who closed the night out with songs from their recently released fourth album, Strawberry.

"Thanks for voting for us," Wussy's guitarist/vocalist Chuck Cleaver deadpanned as they began.

While Strawberry is among the (if not the) best albums released in 2011 so far, it missed the cut-off to be nominated for a 2011 CEA. (To be in the running, albums had to have been released between early Oct. 2010 and Oct. 2011.) Maybe (probably) next year, Wussy!

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Cincinnati-spawned rockers Heartless Bastards relocated to Austin, Texas, a few years back, but in our minds they'll always be Cincinnati's. The band seemed to share that view. After the group performed on David Letterman's show after the move, singer/songwriter/guitarist/fearless leader Erika Wennerstrom corrected the talk-show host when he referred to band as being from Austin.

So I got a little misty-eyed when I received a series of press releases yesterday announcing some major news in Heartless Bastardsland. The words "Cincinnati" and "Ohio" were nowhere to be found in the press releases. I guess they are officially, as their press corps now designates them, an "Austin, Texas-based band." (Sniff, sniff.)

But local Bastards fans and friends hold no grudges and should be incredibly proud of the band's impressive success. And those fans will be thrilled to hear that the group's fourth album, titled Arrow, is due to be released on Valentine's Day, 2012, the first project from the HBs' new record deal.

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The proceeds from the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards (coming up this Sunday at Covington's Madison Theater) have been donated to various music-affiliated charities over the years. For the 2011 edition, money from the show will again be given to the Cincinnati USA Music Heritage Foundation. The non-profit organization has spent the past few years shining the spotlight on Cincinnati’s rich, often-overlooked musical past, reiterating the Queen City’s vital role in the development of so much popular music. CUSAMHF launches its inaugural membership drive with this year’s CEAs. VIP tickets for the CEA ceremony this year are $50 (click here to purchase) and include membership in the CUSAMHF’s Funky Drummer Society, named for the beat of James Brown’s “The Funky Drummer,” one of the most used drum samples in music history.

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