Tickets for the 11th annual MidPoint Music Festival went on sale this morning. Click here to get yours before everyone else. 

Here's what MPMF producer Dan McCabe has to say about this year's event: "This is the fifth year CityBeat has operated Cincinnati's 11-year old MidPoint Music Festival. In each year we have pushed to expand the event with the help of our sponsors, the Over The Rhine neighborhood and music fans. MPMF is now a regional cultural event that shows off our city like no other. This September all eyes and ears will be on you Cincinnati! Now is your opportunity to participate. Get your pass while they last."

Perhaps the biggest news announced today was the addition of a new venue — a stage in the freshly remodeled Washington Park. The park venue is being called "MPMF.12's main stage," so expect many of the biggest acts to perform there. Fans can purchase advanced single-concert tickets for that main stage for the first time this year. The stage is open to fans of all ages.

The fest is also offering "Loyalty Presale All Music Access Passes" at a discount. Supplies are limited.

On June 6, the first lineup announcement will be issued. A "minimum of 20" of the 170 or so acts booked for the fest will be announced. (I've heard "rumors" about a couple; my only hint: "animals.")

Keep an eye on MPMF.com for the latest developments.

Get ready, MidPoint Music Festival fans. This Friday, the first 10 or so artists booked for 2013's MPMF — returning to the streets and venues of Over-the-Rhine and Downtown Sept. 26-28 — will be announced. And longtime MPMF sponsor Dewey's Pizza will  have the scoop.

Friday, those wanting the info first should head to facebook.com/DeweysPizza ("like" their page, not just for the yummy grub they serve but for the support they've given MPMF and local music over the years). Then, of course, check this here music blog for a recap and more details.

Also of interest to MPMF fanatics are the lineups for this year's "Indie Summer" concerts, every Friday on Fountain Square from May 31-Aug. 30. The performers for the MidPoint- and CityBeat-sponsored shows are expected within the week. Keep an eye on this blog for the full announcement as soon as we get the green light to post it. (The lineups for the other themed Fountain Square music nights — six per week — are due very soon as well.)

For artists wanting to be considered for a performance slot at MPMF.13, the time to submit is now, as the deadline is quickly approaching. Submissions will be accepted (visit mpmf.com for directions) until May 11 at 11:59 p.m.

Several weeks ago, two pricing tiers of "early bird" and "loyalty" MPMF tickets sold out almost immediately. Tickets for MPMF.13 go back on sale this Friday through cincyticket.com ($69 for a three-day pass or $169 for "VIP Experience" tickets).

The Northside Rock ‘n’ Roll Carnival and 4th of July Parade and Festival may be saddled with one of the most cumbersome titles imaginable. (Try to abbreviate it and even then it sounds like some kind of nonsensical engineering code: NRRC4JPF--holy shit!) But that’s simply because there’s so much going on that a simpler name wouldn’t capture the full scope of what’s in store.

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Archer’s paradox, according to Wikipedia, is the phenomenon whereby "in order to strike the center of the target with an arrow, the arrow must be pointed slightly to the side of the target." 

Archer’s Paradox, the band, according to the two members I spoke with on a hot Thursday — much the same.

“It started about a year ago. I disbanded from a band I was in earlier (with Mia Carruthers, of MTV’s Taking the Stage fame) and Stefan Wright (drummer) and I started making songs in my room by myself,” says project founder, Seth Huff, “and then Cam (Nawaz, synth and backup vocals) started coming over out of nowhere, and we started hanging out and he was like, ‘Hey, those songs are pretty good’, and here we are, a year later, with four other people, having fun.”

Originally conceived as a two-piece consisting of Huff and Nawaz performing live with recorded backing tracks, the duo realized that direction would be “the most boring thing in the world,” says Nawaz, “so we quickly moved past that. And we realized that we have numerous friends who are really good at playing instruments.”

The band was fleshed out with Wright on drums, guitarist Alex Solin, and bassist Mark Wilson.

Working with a five-song EP recorded solely on Huff’s MacBook Pro, Archer’s Paradox has a distinctly DIY vibe. Very calculated in their approach to publicity and performing, Archer’s Paradox only performed its first show this year at Rohs Street Café during the sixth The Heights Music Festival in Clifton.

“We’re all about the DIY thing. That’s kind of like our religion. If we had to pick a religion, it would be DIY,” says Huff, who writes all of Archer’s Paradox material.

More shows followed, and in “a stroke of luck”, as Nawaz says, Archer’s Paradox earned a slot at the inaugural Bunbury Music Festival, held at Sawyer Point today through Sunday. Nawaz details how, while informing friends via text of their latest project and upcoming show, Wright happened to text Ian Bolender, a former bandmate from another band (Ellison), who happened to be an employee of Nederlander Entertainment, which happened to be the company booking Bunbury Music Festival. Bolender responded within 15 minutes with the offer of having Archer’s Paradox play Bunbury.

“We make our own luck,” clarifies Nawaz. “We use every outlet of who we know and every resource to our absolute maximum potential.”

Huff agrees, relaying how other shows have fallen into place just as harmoniously. I point out that maybe instead of finding "luck," Archer’s Paradox has serendipity on their side.

“THAT’S our religion,” Huff jumps in, eagerly. “I take back that thing I said before.” We note the fact that the letters “DIY” are also in ‘serendipity’, and thusly, the band’s definition is fully confirmed.

“Work smart, not hard,” Huff continues. “Observing the way other bands do it, you can learn a lot and make a game plan from that. If you have decent music, you have a really good shot if you learn to use the machine that is the Internet.”

“We knew we didn’t want to take the ‘let’s get signed right away, let’s get distributed’ path before playing anything,” Nawaz chimes in, referencing internet-phenom bands without much substance to back up their product.

“You have to gain the respect of fans and then they’ll actually want to pay for the music,” says Huff.

At this year’s Bunbury Music Festival, Archer’s Paradox will have their biggest chance yet to do just that.

Archer’s Paradox opens up the Landor Stage at Bunbury on Sunday at noon. Listen to them here and check out this clip for the group's song "Patience."

Happy Memorial Day! The popular annual food-fest Taste of Cincinnati ends today (Monday), your last chance to hear some solid local music and eat some excellent local grub (at least until the next downtown street event). Today’s musical offerings kick off on a bittersweet note. At 1 p.m., the Katie Reider Spirit of Music Award will be given posthumously to longtime local bassist and music scene presence Chris Walker, who passed away last year after battling injuries sustained in a serious car accident in 2007.

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MidPoint News and Updates: Are you ready for some MidPoint! The MPMF.12 kick-off celebration takes place TONIGHT. The pre-party is in The Hanke Building on Main Street in Over-the-Rhine. Entrance is down Michael Bany Way, just across from the 12th and Main streets intersection. The party starts at 6 p.m. with a set of “MPMF mash-ups” by local DJ Ice Cold Tony. Always amazing local rockers 500 Miles to Memphis perform at 9 p.m. The kick-off shindig is free and open to everyone of drinking age (even if you think MPMF is “killing teh scene!”). There will also be free Vitaminwater and Eli’s BBQ; one lucky attendee will also go home with free VIP tickets to see The Afghan Whigs’ New Year’s Eve concert at Bogart’s.

Here's an early classic from 500 Miles to get your psyched:



The MidPoint Music Festival countdown is down to just one day. Yup, starts tomorrow. Here are our daily MidPoint Music Festival 2012 picks …

BIG SHOT
Chain and The Gang (Washington, DC)
Rock
Dinosaur Jr. (playing Friday on the Grammer's/Dewey's Pizza stage) isn’t the only MPMF band that was influencing today’s music-makers beginning in the ’80s. Ian Svenonius made his name with influential DC bands Nation of Ulysses and The Make-Up, wiry Punk Gospel group that he led with the possessed, wild-eyed intensity of a Southern Baptist preacher gene spliced with James Brown and Iggy Pop. His presentation of the “Gospel Yeh-Yeh” in clubs worldwide proved his reputation as one of Indie Rock’s greatest frontmen, night in and night out. Svenonius’ religious experience may never die; whenever a project ends, he simply finds new parishioners to help him spread the gospel and carry on.  
You'll Dig It If You Dig: Nation of Ulysses, The Make-Up, Weird War. (Mike Breen)

Chain and the Gang performs Saturday at midnight at MOTR Pub. Here's a video for the band's "Certain Kinds of Trash":



SLEEPER PICK
The Ridges (Athens, OH)
Orchestral Indie Folk
This Athens, Ohio-based Orchestral Indie Folk troupe has built a solid following in Cincinnati thanks to repeated show dates in town, including providing highlights at a few past MidPoint Music Festivals. So they're not exactly a "sleeper" (because I've seen them and they're great), not exactly a "Local Lock" (though their ties to Cincinnati run deep) and merely on the verge of being Big Shots. Regardless, you won't be disappointed should you add them to your MPMF.12 itinerary. The Ridges — who perform in different configurations, depending on which members are available (including string and horn players) — are currently prepping a full-length album (recorded here in Cincinnati), so fans may even get a few new songs
Dig: Soulful, acoustic Folk Rock that builds into emotive orchestral swells. (MB)

The Ridges perform at Know Theatre on the Biore Strip at 10:30 p.m. Thursday. Here's a special video the band made just for the occasion, shot on a rooftop in OTR:



LOCAL LOCK PICK
The Grey Academy (Cincinnati, OH)
Indie Rock
Cincy singer/songwriter Josh Hill first came to attention with his band Ellison, which introduced the region to a songwriter with impeccable chops for someone so fresh to the local music scene. The band’s wonderfully crafted Pop/Rock started earning Hill attention both locally and beyond, but in the midst of it all, the songwriter began writing different, darker songs that reflected his changing listening habits, which veered into the still catchy yet less calculated sounds of bands like Bloc Party, Interpol and The Killers. Hill has shown that his skills weren’t limited to Ellison’s instantly hooky style; with The Grey Academy, he brings the same sensibilities to a less predictable, more moody brand of Rock.  
Dig: Interpol, Smashing Pumpkins, Death Cab for Cutie. (MB)

The Grey Academy plays MidPoint Saturday, 8 p.m. at Main Event. Check out the band's "In Stride":



Click here for full MPMF details via the official MidPoint site.

Scribble Jam, the Midwest’s premier celebration of all things Hip Hop, is officially on hiatus for 2009. 

For those not in the know, the yearly fest, which usually straddled a weekend, was held at Annie’s Entertainment Complex on Kellogg Road in the East End and featured DJ competitions, MC battles, b-boys, graffiti artists, breakdancing and beatboxing. This would have been its 13th year of sticking a much-needed dose of Hip Hop culture into Cincinnati’s anemic carotid. So what happened?

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Friday, Apr 27 - MerleFest Festival Grounds

Every morning I wake and thank baby Jesus I am a biped, agile and have been blessed with a no mess ability to pee standing up. And in a steady torrent. Just about anywhere without attracting attention (well, there was that county deputy in Abington, Va., a while back who got a bit riled). Middle age is good.

Here's a tip for you campers. Your welcome to stay up as late as you want, but if it's 3 a.m. and your talking like your in your living room, don't complain at 6 a.m. if I'm banging pots like I'm in my kitchen.

Oh, and you've pitched your tent in poison ivy.

Thursday after an early evening catnap (middle age) to the sounds of Daily and Vincent (meh — great Stanley Brothers style harmonies, lay off the Cracker Barrel shtick), I made my way over to to the Dance Tent to catch some Blind Boy Chocolate and the Milk Sheiks. This Asheville, NC, street ensemble features five guys doing hokum string/jug band/blues music from the late 1920's and early ’30s. Guys in newsie caps, mutton chops, bowler hats with tattooed ears (ouch, that had to hurt), nose rings — yep, total 20-sumpthin freaks.

Calling out tunes by long (and soon to be) forgotten Blues and string players from the early part of the last century, Blind Chocolate plays hard-driving, bawdy, syncopated, all-acoustic string music. Lyrically rich in double entendres, liquor and murder. This ain't the square dance stuff my Uncle Blake played and my dad danced to in parlors across the Cumberland Plateau during the Great Depression; this is the music found in jukes and bars and back room drinkeries and the kids love it. Every 10 years or so, string music comes back into fashion, and that, my friends, is a good thing. John Hartford is clapping from his grave. It's comforting to witness people giving over to the coherent dissonance of barely tunable instruments, played together and with vehemence. Banjolin, steel guitar, washtub bass, washboard and tenor banjo, three guys trading vocals, four guys shouting in unison and giving call-backs. Dwight Hawkins (Blind Boy Chocolate?) plays saw, bones and the short scale tenor banjo in a style I've never seen before. And does it really well. The banjolin player, Nicholas Marshall (one of the Milk Sheiks?), occasionally picks up a thoroughly modern looking mandolin, temporarily breaking the temporal enchantment. After a lull at the top of their long set as people wondered in and grew accustom to being ass-to-elbow, the crowd was jumping and yelling, kids from 8 to 80 whirled and shimmied.

After a few cups of coffee this morning (Friday), I headed over to the Americana stage to check out another Asheville based band, The Honeycutters. North Carolina has a rich history of Alternativecountryrootsrockamericana bands. From The Backsliders to the Avett Brothers, this state churns ’em out and the natives support band after great band. The Honeycutters fit the Avett Brothers mold of instantly likable songs and gifted melodies. It's got to be hard, after playing clubs and bars, to get up early enough to hit the stage by 9:30 a.m. The Honeycutters brought their 'A' game and delivered an instantly familiar and pleasant set. Just what my psyche needed after listening all night to my campground neighbors. The mandolin player plays in well-worn territory while acoustic guitar player Peter James fills the space with sweet crosspicking and occasionally lays into his guitar in a fashion somewhat reminiscent of early Paul K. Lead singer Amanda Anne Platt's beautiful alto fills the air — add in some tasteful three part harmonies and you have a AAA Radio winner.

From the Americana tent, my soul freshly refilled, I headed back over to the Cabin Stage for a set by Blues historian, storyteller and performer Frutland Jackson (Fruit Land). Hailing from Chicago, Frutland covers seamlessly and flawlessly all styles of blues from delta to north Mississippi to Chicago to Piedmont, all the while telling in a remarkably engaging and non-professorial way what distinguishes one style from another. I've seen plenty of Blues player who like to lecture during performances, and mostly I feel like shouting, "Shut the fuck up and play!" but Frutland had me wanting to bum rush the stage in awe and anticipation that he may answer some questions I have about Depression-era singers and groups. First set I've seen in a lonnnnng while that ended to soon. Most of his songs were originals done in a specific style with a voice that ranged from guttural to heartfelt tremble (think Ledbetter doing "Goodnight Irene"). Outstanding!

Some of the many things to do at MerleFest besides running from one stage to another trying to catch acts is sitting around and playing music with other attendees. Along with an open mic area, there are three tents set up where you sit down and play — Old Timey, Bluegrass and Anything Goes. The Anything Goes tent is like a hippy camp-out with one bazillion guitars around a raging fire in the middle of the night, playing Casey Jones minus the alcohol and LSD. The stuff nightmares are made of, but if you've never done this kind of thing, there's no reason to be a jaded asshole like me — grab your guitar and jump in. Everyone is clean and welcoming.

I sat around the Old Timey Tent as it had the least guitar-to-other-instrument ratios. (By the way, aspiring musicians — learn guitar to impress the girls or boys; learn something else for a working job.) A couple of old timers were letting fly on some fiddle tunes. Quite nice. The guitar player was strumming a pre-1935 Martin D18. I know about these things, and they tickle me pink.

Time for lunch!

I sat down with Eshe & Tasha before their performance at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans on July 2, 2010 to discuss their musical journey over the years.

CB: It’s been a long time between albums 2006 through 2009. Why the break?
Eshe: We’ve been together for 15 years. We took a small break at one point and got back together in 1998-1999. When we got back into the studio it just happened organically.

CB: When Speech formed your group, it was as an alternative to gangsta rap. Music has changed a lot in the past 15 years. How do you feel about the current state of hip-hop and rap today?
Eshe: Well, in the beginning we just wanted to do good music that the family could listen to and was positive for the community and the world. It was just natural for us. We didn’t start out with an agenda. Today, I think there are a lot of good artists out there, but there isn’t balance in music. I have a daughter who is seven and I try to expose her to a broad view of music. There are a lot of great groups out there that are under the radar.

CB: What up-and-coming bands do you enjoying listening to or what is your current favorite?
Eshe: Great question! There are a lot of groups out that are under the radar.

CB: I know you talked on CNN today, and I’m trying to be better than Anderson Cooper.
Eshe and Tasha: [laughing]
Eshe: I like Janelle. She’s been on the Atlanta scene for some time now, but hasn’t had her big break. I like Janell!
Tasha: We love Janelle.

CB: You guys tour all over the world. What’s your favorite place?
Tasha: Australia! I love that place.
Eshe: We are going to be there in December to bring in the New Year over there. It’s so beautiful there.
Tasha: I love Australians. I could live there forever.
Eshe: I also love Japan, but I’m so glad I’m going to Australia in their summer and our winter. It’s going to be great.

CB: What’s been your most fulfilling career moment?
Eshe: Wow. [Long pause] I think for me it’s when we do shows and people come up to me and say “Don’t change” and “You inspire me.” and “I love the way you look because you inspire me.” I think it’s great when you can connect with people. I see babies at our shows all the way up to elders.

CB: Do you have any charities that you work with personally?
Eshe: I’ve taught dance at a number of locations. As a group, we have worked with UNICEF and homeless organizations across the country along with Feed the Hungry in Atlanta.

CB: What’s your favorite song to perform live?
Tasha: Mama’s Always On Stage. I’m not the best dancer in the world, but when you put that song on it makes you want to dance. You can dance as crazy as you want to and it doesn’t matter. When you see people come to the show, it gives them the freedom to dance any way they want.
Eshe: For me, I don’t really have a favorite because there are so many I like. I like Fishing For Religion, Mama’s, We Ran, and Bloody.

CB: I liked The World Is Changing. Is there a story behind that one?
Eshe: Have you seen the video? You’ve got to go out on youtube and see the video. In the video, we go through different eras. The 50’s, 80’s and the 90’s and show how the world is changing. Like rotary phones to cellular phones.
Tasha: Everything, even the style of dress.
Eshe: It’s simplistic, but shows the world is forever changing.
Tasha: It’s impossible to keep up with everything changing.
Eshe: It reminds you to appreciate the moment.

CB: What do you wish you knew 15 years ago that you know now?
Eshe: I wish I were more knowledgeable about the business aspect of the music business. At the time, I just wanted to sing. It’s 98% business, and the rest is the artistic part of it. I have balance now. At the end of the day, I understand the business, but I still like to perform.
Tasha: For me, it’s things in life. I wish that I would have known that things weren’t as easy as my mother created them to be when I was a kid. Parents shield you as a kid, but then when you get to high school and college you don’t know how to handle a situation. I wish I had been exposed to a little bit more so I would know how to make the right decisions and why it’s the right decision to make as an adult without looking for someone to give guidance.