This date in music history is a sad one, marking the "gone too soon" deaths of several young musicians with a lot ahead of them.

• Guitarist Paul Kossoff was the cofounder of British Rock band Free with singer Paul Rodgers and bassist Andy Fraser. The band's 1970 Fire and Water album spawned the band's best-known song, "All Right Now," but the band split by the end of that year. They reformed in 1972 and put out two more albums before calling it quits for good. Kossoff did solo work, played with many other artists and formed a band called Back Street Crawler. The guitarist was in poor health in the years after Free, reportedly due to drug problems and frustration over the demise of his most successful musical project. Kossoff died on a flight from L.A. to New York in 1976 from heart problems. His father spent the rest of his life campaigning against the perils of drug abuse, even doing a touring one-man show about his son. Kossoff's headstone contains the epitaph, "All Right Now."

Kossoff was 25.



• When the "Proto Grunge" band Green River broke up in 1988, the band split into two new groups. Mark Arm and Steve Turner formed the influential Mudhoney, while Bruce Fairweather, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard formed the glammy Rock band Mother Love Bone with young, enigmatic singer Andrew Wood. MLB signed with PolyGram and released an EP. Then, just days before its debut album was to be released, Wood was found passed out by his girlfriend. He had overdosed on heroin. Placed on life support, Wood died three days after being admitted to the hospital, on this date in 1990. (Ament and Gossard would solider on, finding a new singer — Eddie Vedder — and forming Pearl Jam.)

Wood was 24.



• Drummer Jeff Ward was a successful drummer from the Ministry camp, meaning he worked with bands like Revolting Cocks, Lard and, of course, Ministry. Ward also spent time playing drums with Nine Inch Nails. The drummer (who also worked with a band called Low Pop Suicide) committed suicide on this date in 1993 by locking himself in his garage with the car running.

Ward was 30. Here's a track from another Ministry side project, 1000 Homo DJs, featuring Ward on "cop vocals."

Click on for Born This Day featuring Bun B, Billy Sheehan, Ricky Wilson and Terry Hall:

Read More

• Bluegrass ensemble Hayseed Dixie began racking up fans upon its formation at the dawn of the 21st century thanks to its energized and entertaining live show and the contents of the band’s initial setlists and albums. Though all talented and experienced players, it was Hayseed Dixie’s novelty that initial drove attention its way. The group’s debut was a Bluegrass tribute to AC/DC, while subsequent albums have featured a wonderfully ridiculous array of the group’s Appalachian-spun Rock covers (they grass up everything from OutKast and Green Day to Neil Young and Motorhead). After wide exposure through musical- and comedy-world exposure, the Hayseeds began to introduce more and more original material (2008’s No Covers should be self-explanatory).

Hayseed’s members have individually gotten more busy with various interesting side projects while the main band takes a hiatus. As frontman John Wheeler works towards his more serious-minded debut solo album (scheduled for release early in this new year), banjoist Don Wayne Reno carries the Hayseed torch with his band Granny 4 Barrel, self-described as “Country music’s first and only shock Country Rock & Roll band.” If you thought Hayseed Dixie was outlandish, G4B takes it to the next level with their ridiculous outfits and a sound that retains Hayseed’s Rawkgrass attitude and turns the Rawk elements up to 11.

Granny 4 Barrel performs tonight at the Southgate House Revival as part of the opening for area visual artist Derek Toebbe’s “Urban Revival Art Show.” The event (which also includes DJ sets by the Devout Wax crew) is free and starts at 7 p.m.

Here's a sampling for G4B's crazy sound and stage show.



• Wildly entertaining (and wildly eclectic) ensemble The Duke of Uke & His Novelty Orchestra bring its self described "lyrical ukulele jazz-funk-motown popssical" sound back to Cincinnati tonight for a a free show tonight at MOTR Pub in Over-the-Rhine. Drawing comparisons to artists as diverse as Tom Waits, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Amy Winehouse, the B-52s, and Captain Beefheart, the Urbana, Ill.-based septet has been winning fans all over the region with their energized, swinging live shows, which blend smart lyrics, four-part harmonies and diverse instrumentation (ukulele, violin, tuba, saxophones, Latin percussion). Read more about The Duke and Co. in Reyan Ali's preview in this week's CityBeat here.

Here's The Duke of Uke & His Novelty Orchestra's official music video for "Jump Back," a track from their 2012 album April's Empire.



• There were moments over the past few years where it seemed like bassist Nick Oliveri was on the brink of imploding, stuck in that weird, almost dreamlike universe (inhabited by the likes of Courtney Love and Katt Williams) where an entertainer’s fans ultimately just accept that there’s a good chance the performer might die any day. Oliveri’s ornery streak has been consistent but it started out manageable — just some usual Rock & Roll debauchery. Then, in 2004, Oliveri was kicked out of Queens of the Stone Age after Queens frontman Josh Homme suspected he had been physically abusive to a girlfriend.

Luckily for Oliveri, he had a few side-projects to fall back on, touring with his group Mondo Generator (who comes to Newport’s Thompson House Saturday night), as a solo acoustic act and with veteran Punk sensations Dwarves. But it wasn't enough to keep him out of trouble (click here to read more about Oliveri's various ups-and-downs over the past year).

But Oliveri seems to have rebounded, even reportedly making amends with his old bandmate Homme. Mondo Generator has been perhaps the most consistent part of Oliveri’s life since 1997. Blending the Hard Rock of his previous projects with more Punk Rock chaos, Mondo has built a strong cult following for itself. But, with the way things are going as Oliveri continues to rebound, it’s anyone’s guess if Mondo will go back to “side project” status at some point.

Mondo Generator performs Saturday at the Thompson House with Saviours, Wino, Bearer of Bad News and Mangrenade. Showtime is 7 p.m. and tickets are $18.

Here's Mondo Generator performing "Four Corners" live.

Click here for even more live music options in Greater Cincinnati this weekend.

Tonight at the 20th Century Theatre in Oakley, two MidPoint Music Festival alumni team up for an 8 p.m. show, opened by Brooklyn duo and Secretly Canadian recording artists Exitmusic. Tickets are $17.

Welsh-bred, London-based AltRock trio The Joy Formidable were one of the big attractions at last year's MPMF, headlining the big tent stage at Grammer's. Like a lot of MPMFers, the band was on the brink of breaking through in the States and has since been doing pretty damn well — the band's current cross-country tour of America kicked off with four sold out shows (Cincy is the eighth stop on the jaunt). The trio is still doing dates in support of last year's debut LP, The Big Roar, which notched a No. 8 chart position on Billboard's Top Heatseekers charts. Here's a clip of the threesome performing its single "Whirring" at South By Southwest last year.



Another trio that played MidPoint (in 2010) holds down the middle slot tonight. Brooklyn's Post Punk/Noisegaze group A Place to Bury Strangers were also a highly anticipated band at the MidPoint at which they performed. Though their show didn't go exactly as planned (playing the Contemporary Arts Center, the band's light display and legendary volume kept knocking the power out during their set), the group still ended up putting on a stellar performance and didn't lose their cool. In this week's CityBeat, Reyan Ali talks to Oliver Ackermann, singer/guitarist for APTBS, about that CAC show and whether he thinks his band's violent, aggressive sound has helped him release any violence or aggression that may lurk within him. Check it out here. The band is currently working on its third full-length.

Check out the clip for "Keep Slipping Away" from APTBS's last album, 2009's Exploding Head:



• Even more MidPoint vets are playing together at downtown's Mainstay Rock Bar tonight. My absolute favorite show at last year's MPMF was a relatively small gathering at the Main Event club featuring tour-pals Vanity Theft (who originally hail from Springboro, Ohio) and Canada's Hunter Valentine. While some of the other MPMF shows might have had better sound or a dazzling light show, these two all-female groups put on a brilliant display of Rock & Roll, with an impassioned Punk drive, slanted Indie Rock riffs and some New Wave/Post Punk undertones. Both groups were funny, charming and incredibly fun to watch and rock out with, even though they were at the tail-end of a massive North American tour. If Sleater Kinney, The Buzzcocks and Blondie got together for a timewarped jam in 1979, it might have sounded like what you'll hear tonight at Mainstay. Like-minded Indy Pop Punk band Neon Love Life opens the show.

Showtime is 9 p.m. Cover is just $5. Here's Vanity Theft's video for the song "Trainwreck":

• I'd never heard of "Christian Crunk Rock" before I started reading about Atlanta's Family Force 5, but it is definitely now in my Top 10 list of all-time favorite favorite genre hybrids, just behind the Dance/Electronic/Emo mesh EmoDM but a few slots ahead of Doom Jazzcore. Like a good Christian band name, there's honesty in their moniker — there are five members, they are certainly a force in AltChristian music circles and the band contains three brothers. The Olds bros (Solomon Jerome, Jacob and Joshua) are the son of Jerome Olds, who was a popular Christian music performer in the ’80s.

FF5 transcended the Christian tag by experiencing success in the mainstream with their first full-length, Business Up Front/Party in the Back, and the group didn't do a lot of the things many Christian acts go through when trying to appeal to a wider chunk of the populace. There were no denials and vagueness about their religious beliefs, nor have they ever gone out of their way to specifically target a Christian audience that might want "The Message" a bit more prominent in FF5's music and at live shows. The band wears crazy, colorful outfits, makes songs about partying and having a good time and has a sound that's a blend of Hip Hop's Crunk stylings (as popularized by Lil Jon), Dance-demanding beats and an Emo-y vibe to the melodies and hooks. It's what EMF would be doing if they came out today.

Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on your opinion of Crunkcore, I suppose), tonight's show in Corryville is an acoustic one. The band's Rise Up! Acoustic Tour invades The 86 Club in Corryville, the youth-friendly club on Short Vine (where Top Cat's used to be) that has been presenting modern Christian acts (as well as others) for the past year. The all-ages show starts at 8:30 p.m. (SameState opens) and tickets are $15.

FF5 is premiering an uplifting documentary film on this tour, screening Isaac Deitz's Vital Sign short about FF5 bassist Joshua Olds' battle with kidney failure during a holiday tour in 2009 that almost killed him. Here's the trailer for the flick:



• Always excellent local Rock foursome Messerly and Ewing are playing tonight at The Avenue Lounge in Covington with a pair of cool special guests. New band Hello Mayday has begun kicking around the local club scene in recent months. The group features a quartet of veteran local players — Brian Halloran (formerly of Clabbergirl) joins ex-Crosley members Paul DeNu (also a Clabbergirl for a spell) and Vince and Joel Knueven in the band. The group is currently working on its first recordings with former Moth and The Virgins guitarist Bobby Gayol. Halloran says they hope to have an album this summer and a teaser EP this spring. Opening things up will be a solo acoustic set from singer/songwriter Kevin Nolan, former frontman for the awesome local group Saving Ray.

The show is free and starts at 10 p.m. Click the arrow below to hear M&E's "Living on Lies" from the recent full-length, Every Bitter Thing.


• Great French Jazz guitarist (and Woody Allen collaborator) Stephane Wremble is at the Blue Wisp Jazz Club downtown tonight for two shows — at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Admission is $15-$20 (and, don't forget, you can now have a great dinner at the Wisp, as well). Read more here. Here's some of Wremble's work on the score for Woody Allen's acclaimed Midnight in Paris:

Click here for even more live music events tonight.

On this day in 1970, a Cincinnati native (whose "celebrity" we do not celebrate locally, Nick Lachey-style) released one of the few albums we will gladly tell you to seek out and download illegally, should you need to hear it. Lie: The Love and Terror Cult, the "debut album" from singer/songwriter/cult leader/convicted murderer Charles Manson, was recorded on Sept. 11, 1967, and released just months before the murder trial of Manson and his "family." A year after the album was released, four Manson Family members (including Manson) were sentenced to death (in 1972, the sentences were reduced to life in prison after California abolished the death penalty in that state).

The album's original pressing reportedly only sold 300 copies, but subsequent reissues (proceeds from which were given to the families of Manson's victims) kept the notorious cult leader's weirdly experimental, psychedelic Folk Rock songs alive for future generations of musicians to cover. Guns N' Roses were the biggest band to ever cover one of Manson's songs. The convicted killer was an aspiring Rock Star who had schmoozed his way into the SoCal music scene of the late ’60s,  most notoriously befriending Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson (The Boys' reworked one of Manson's compositions on the 1969 album 20/20).

Other artists covering Manson over the years include Marilyn Manson (no relation) and wacky actor Crispin Glover.

Here's the song GNR recorded for its 1993 covers album The Spaghetti Incident?, "Look at Your Game, Girl."

Click on for Born This Day featuring Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and more …

Read More

Tonight in Northside, Mayday presents its monthly new local band showcase, "Unsung." This month's newcomers aren't entirely "new," but they are new to Cincinnati. The Brothers Devine, a quirky and eclectic AltRock two-piece (guitar/drums) featuring bros Andris and Erik Devine, recently moved to town from Milwaukee. The duo takes avowed influences like Green Day, System of a Down, Bad Religion, and the Goo Goo Dolls and concocts a wild-eyed blend of Punk, Indie Pop, Metal, Folk and whatever the hell else they feel like exploring at the time.

Tonight's Unsung show is free and kicks off at 9 p.m. Here's a playlist of the Devine's music to get your ready. Click here for more on the group.

• Fuzzy, Pumpkins-esque AltRock crew Silversun Pickups pulls into Corryville tonight for a show at Bogart's. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $30 at the door.

Click here to read a show preview from this week's CityBeat, then check out the band performing on WNYC's Soundcheck. Audio of the full appearance follows.

Click here for even more live music options in Greater Cincinnati tonight.

Since our Morning News and Stuff writer hates football and refused to comment on the Super Bowl (not even the Puppy Bowl!), I thought I'd take a minute to discuss yesterday's huge game. Well, the music heard during the TV broadcast, anyway.

While I'm not a huge Madonna fan (I love the idea of her more than her music), I thought her halftime show was excellent. Then I looked on the internets and it told me that I was stupid and it was actually horrible and, even worse, offensive! Things I learned: Madonna is, like, really old; she may have lip-synced during portions of the performance; and MIA said "Fuck you, America" with her middle finger. (Like Janet Jackson's boob, I wouldn't have even noticed had it not been overblown in cyberspace.)

Oh, and MIA, according to the AP report, also "appeared" to say a cuss word. (She didn't, clearly stopping her line, "I don't give a shit," at "Shhhh" — nice reporting AP!)

Read More

I may be imagining it (the eternal optimist that I am), but it seems like ever since the Southgate House locked its doors at the end of 2011, many in the local booking world stepped up their game instantly. Though it's only been just over a month, it certainly doesn't feel as if the Greater Cincinnati concert market has been gutted by the loss of that one great club. And with several spots slated to open later this year (new venues from the brains behind the Southgate and Mad Hatter, plus whatever happens to the actual Southgate House building), it only looks to be getting better.

More good news on that front came out at the start of this week. On Feb. 10, an unexpected, big-time venue entered the mix — or rather, increased its presence in it. Downtown’s gorgeous Taft Theatre already this year announced some concerts by more “mid-level” groups like Trampled By Turtles and JJ Grey & Mofro, cult faves and Southgate alumni. Now, the Taft and promoter Music & Events Management Inc. are opening a new venue-within-a-venue that will allow the Taft to book artists who have outgrown small clubs but aren't quite ready for the big room.

The Ballroom at the Taft — located in the theater’s lower level — was designed to be, according to the press release, “a showcase style club venue that will play host to a variety of live entertainment events spanning all types of styles and genres.”

Read More

Music Tonight: Guns N’ Roses finally makes its way back to Cincinnati, performing tonight at U.S. Bank Arena, the band's first appearance here in over 20 years. I believe Guns' last show in Cincy was when the Appetite for Destruction-era edition opened for Aerosmith at Riverbend in 1988. I remember because some friends and I meant to see them, but got stuck in traffic (I distinctly recall the cowbell of "Night Train" echoing across the Ohio River as we sat in standstill on the bridge leading to the venue).

Read More

Lollapalooza Day 2 dawned bright and early — I woke up a tad late, having burned the midnight oil too long the night before.

Rule No. 2 of Lollapalooza: Get enough sleep. Always. Especially if you’ll be walking every-the-heck-where.

I had been invited to an after-party Friday night, sponsored by Belvedere Vodka, at the W Chicago City Center downtown. I went in my sweaty Lolla regalia, and was rewarded with performances by Two Door Cinema Club and Fitz and the Tantrums.

Read More