On Aug. 30 of last year, local Country artist Dallas Moore and his band teamed up with longtime Willie Nelson guitarist Jody Payne (who grew up in Cincy) to celebrate the 61st anniversary of music icon Hank Williams’ historic recording sessions at Cincinnati’s Herzog recording facilities. The musicians gathered at the very spot Williams recorded (now the headquarters of the Cincinnati USA Music Heritage Foundation on Race St.) and hosted a live recording session/concert in front of a sold-out crowd. The show was recorded for the just-released live album, Hank to Thank: Live at Herzog Studio. Below is the music video for the album's first single "Crazy Again," which is already receiving airplay on Sirius/XM radio.

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With Forecastle and Lebowski Fest both celebrating their 8th anniversaries this weekend in Louisville, Ky, it’s hard to believe there’s room at the inn! But I found the Motel 6 just north of town, across the Ohio River in Jeffersonville, Ind., that did indeed have a vacancy for me. Almost immediately after checking in, I get a call from my old partner in crime, my once and future Bonnaroo buddy, photographer extraordinaire Keith Klenowski. He’s waiting for me at 5th and Main in downtown Louisville by the main entrance to this year’s Forecastle Festival.

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Just a few months after Jonathan Zeng was denied a music-teaching job at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy because of his sexual orientation, he is using his experience to help others.

Zeng is an award-winning performer and a music educator but he’s never ventured into song writing, until now. He’s currently working on an upcoming album titled Through These Doors about the discrimination he’s faced and he wants to influence others.

"During difficult times in my life, I have always turned to music. This time, for the first time, I was inspired to write and perform my own music. After personally experiencing discrimination, I hope that my music will help others who face similar situations,” said Zeng in a press release.

Combining his story with his professional knowledge in opera and musical theater to create an album that’s both emotionally driven and musically appealing.

His singles “Through These Doors” and “Now” are currently available on iTunes and other major music distribution sites, but audiences have to wait until October to get the full album.

Zeng is hosting a free launch party on Friday, Oct. 19 from 8-10 p.m. at the Below Zero Lounge in Over-The-Rhine. The party is open to the public and those attending will see Zeng perform his singles as well as unveil other album songs.

The MidPoint Music Festival returns to Over-the-Rhine (including inside the newly unveiled Washington Park, which hosts the main "Main Stage") Sept. 27-29. After weeks of speculation, we now we have the first lineup announcement for MPMF.12, which features, once again, top-line Indie artists — from new buzz groups and some current, critically-acclaimed favorites to a few true Alt music pioneers.

Longtime supporters Dewey's Pizza had the scoop on the announcement this morning. Visit them here on Facebook.

Below are the first 19 acts to be announced. About 150 to go! Stay tuned.

Grizzly Bear
The Dirty Projectors
Sleigh Bells
Dinosaur Jr.
Best Coast
Cloud Nothings
Imperial Teen
Willis Earl Beal
Frankie Rose
Tennis
Julia Holter
Laetitia Sadier
Craft Spells
Seapony
Lord Huron
The Black Belles
Zeus
The Growlers
J.C. Brooks & The Uptown Sound

Be sure to visit mpmf.com for all the latest updates and to score your tickets. VIP and “Early Bird” (read: discounted) all-access passes are available now through cincyticket.com here.

If you’d like some face time with the MPMF authorities, just head down to Fountain Square this Friday for the free MidPoint Indie Summer concert at 7 p.m. The event is a world tour of music, kicking off with local Ska/Reggae/Soul masters The Pinstripes, who join Malian artist Khaira Arby and Funk/Soul headliners The Dynamites.

An impressive and eclectic roster of local bands will transform an otherwise stark Loveland VFW hall into an artsy, flashy, sorta hippy-ish Rock ‘n’ Roll venue for this year’s third annual Adjust Your Eyes Music and Arts Festival, June 26 and 27. The two-day, two-stage, multimedia extravaganza, which is the brainchild of Grasshopper Juice labelmeister and Wonky Tonk/Chick Pimp band member Nick Mitchell, will feature not only upwards of 28 bands but also art by Jacklyn Howard and CincyStar Glass and stage lights and visualizations by Bunk News.

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Before its current successful run of reunion concerts across the globe, The Afghan Whigs played its final live show at a New York City club called Hush on Sept. 29, 1999. But that was a private concert. The Whigs last public appearance was Sept. 25, 1999, at Cincinnati's Bogart's with special guests Howlin' Maggie. (The set list featured a large chunk of final album 1965, as well as lots of dips into cover tunes and snippets, including opener "The Boys Are Back in Town," and dashes of "Superstition," "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," "Little Red Corvette," "People Get Ready," "Hot for Teacher," "All You Need is Love" and Madonna's "Express Yourself," among others.)

Today it was announced that The Afghan Whigs will return to the scene of the crime and perform their first hometown show in over a decade on Oct. 25 at Bogart's, one month and 13 years after that final concert. Tickets are $33.50 ($45.86 with fees). The fan pre-sale starts this morning at 10 a.m.; tickets go on sale to the general public this Friday at 10 a.m. Click here for info. (Check The Afghan Whigs' official site for a password to get in on the pre-sale.)

Though the neighborhood has changed a lot since The Whigs roamed the earth originally, the band returning to Corryville is fitting. While frontman Greg Dulli would eventually bring his band The Twilight Singers to Newport's Southgate House frequently, Bogart's was the Whigs hometown concert home. Before that, the group played many shows at long-since-shuttered Sudsy Malone's across the street from Bogart's, while it and Top Cat's just a few blocks up the street were the sites of a few epic "secret shows," warm-up gigs for tours where the band would perform under a pseudonym like The Havana Sugar Kings or Gato Negro. 

Update: The fan pre-sale password for Bogart's is uptownagain. Use it here starting at 10 a.m. today.

Update2: The pre-sale is now at noon today, according to the ticketing site.

Up-and-coming underground rapper Chris Webby performs tonight at downtown club Play. Doors open at 7 p.m. and tickets are $20 at the door. The show is open to all ages. Guests include GMB, Nynewest and hosts DJ Scholar and DJ Drowsy.

Webby is a Connecticut native (he has it tattooed on his chest; I'd move to Ohio if I were going to do that) who started rapping before high school and began to draw crowds at freestyle battles and with his popular mixtapes releases. Webby's built huge buzz in independent Hip Hop circles and has so far resisted signing a record deal. Click here to check out his mixtapes and other releases.

Webby recently tweeted that he's just recently boarded his plane to Cincy. "PLAY in Cincinnati is about to get real weird tonight," he added.



• Utah rockers The Used blast into Bogart's tonight. The 7:30 p.m. show is all ages and includes openers Stars In Stereo. Tickets are $25.

The Used's energized Post Hardcore style is sparked by vocalist Bert McCracken, whose stage antics are an unpredictable throwback to Rock & Roll's more dangerous frontmen (Iggy, etc.). The Used's latest album, Vulnerable, came out earlier this spring on Hopeless Records. The album hit No. 1 on the Top Independent Albums chart when released and made it to No. 8 on the Billboard 200.

Here's the video for The Used's single "I Come Alive."



• The song of legendary drummer Ginger Baker, Kofi, is bringing his Cream tribute band to Covington tonight for an 8 p.m., all-ages show at the Madison Theater. Kofi Baker formed Kofi Baker's Cream Experience after catching the Cream reunion in 2005 and deciding he'd like to pick up where the originals left off. In the Clapton role is Tony Spinner, a Rock/Blues singer and guitarist who was a member of Toto in the ’00s. Playing bass is another talented musician, Ric Fierabracci, who has performed with the likes of Chick Corea, Shakira and Yanni.

Kofi made his first live appearance when he was 6, playing with his pops on BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test in 1975. Here he is rocking with the Cream Experience in more recent years.



• MOTR Pub in Over-the-Rhine has a free show tonight headlined by Canadian Electro Pop group Parallels. Showtime is 10 p.m. and like-minded locals Skeleton Hands also perform.

Parallels has drawn comparisons to New Order and singer Holly Dodson has been likened to singer Kate Bush and Madonna. The band was formed in 2008 by Dodson and Cameron Findlay, the former drummers for popular electronicists Crystal Castles.

Parallels sophomore full-length, XII, is due out June 26. Here's a clip for the band's song "Ultralight."



Click her for more music events around town tonight.

Sitting in my high school government class, I didn’t think the guy quoting South Park was someone I’d hear about after graduation, but less than a year after he put his best foot forward, I hear Cal Scruby is now a boy genius.

On Sept. 19, Scruby released Boy Genius, which is his second Hip Hop mixtape in less than a year. In two weeks, Boy Genius is less than a thousand downloads from surpassing Best Foot Forward, which Scruby released last November.  

Over the 10 months since officially entering the music scene, Scruby has taken off. While making Boy Genius, Scruby studied at Ohio State University and played a few shows. His biggest shows included opening for J. Cole at May’s BuckeyeThon Benefit Concert at OSU. Recently, he opened for Machine Gun Kelley and performed at Ohio University’s 10Fest.

Along with live performances, Scruby and his team at LandSea Media produced enough videos to keep fans entertained while they worked on Boy Genius.  

The wait for the new music was worthwhile. I was instantly blown away at the quality of the music. It didn’t sound as if it was produced in a dorm room, but rather a professional studio. The audio was balanced and the vocals weren’t hidden under a blanket of bass.

As for the lyrics, Scruby uses a mix of wordplay and comedy in his songs, and it works. His tracks follow a life of love (or rather, lovemaking), success and partying. Although I find these themes to be a stereotype of rap, Scruby pulls off the stereotypical rap lifestyle with ease. 

Mixtape opener “Double Time” features Cincinnati’s own DJ ETrayn. He welcomes fans to the musical journey before the song begins. The start of this track is reminiscent of Dumbfoundead’s “Green.” This song makes me want to lean my driver’s seat back and drive with one hand on the steering wheel while doing 50 in a 25.

What seems to be a fan favorite is “Fux With Me.” Crowds at 10Fest wore shirts donned with "I Fux With Cal Scruby." The song isn’t my personal favorite, but I enjoy the tour of people who "fux" with Scruby and how he doesn’t let it slow him down.

My personal favorite is the bonus track “Midwest City,” which is a tribute to his hometown, that city where they sin two times. This closes the album and leaves me wanting to hear more from Scruby.

Even though high school is long gone, I can’t go somewhere without hearing about the guy who was super cereal about ManBearPig and now, he’s super cereal about his music.

Check out Scruby on Facebook and go here to download Boy Genius.

Local, acclaimed Indie rockers Wussy are gearing up to support its third release for Cincy imprint, Shake It Records. The self-titled affair will be released locally March 13 in conjunction with a release show at the Northside Tavern (the band also does a release show in Cleveland the following night). Wussy goes national on April 20.

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This coming Tuesday, RCA Records will release a new EP by Cincinnati AltPop quartet Walk The Moon. The Tightrope EP features the title track — WtM's current single from last year's self-titled LP — in its original form (check the music video here) and an acoustic version, plus new recordings of "Tete-A-Tete" and "Drunk in the Woods," album "B-side" "Anyway I Can" and a live version of the group covering the Talking Heads' hit "Burning Down the House."

Today, Walk The Moon leaked "Tete-A-Tete" via Twitter. Check it out below. Tonight in Minneapolis, the band starts its latest round of touring, which will take them all over the States and Europe through March.



UPDATE: Billboard magazine reported on Walk The Moon's Tightrope EP this afternoon. Click here to read it and listen to the EP's live version of the band's excellent "Burning Down the House" cover.