A pair of interesting local package-tour concerts were announced today for Riverbend's summer season. • On Saturday, July 6, Bob Dylan and his band are headlining the Americanarama Festival of Music when it comes to Riverbend Music Center. Dylan tours a lot, but making this jaunt extra special are the extra special guests — Wilco and My Morning Jacket. Other acts are to be added to round out the fest-like bill (show starts at 5:30 p.m.). Tickets for Americanarama at Riverbend go on sale this Saturday at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster. Tickets range from $30-$80; between April 27-28, fans can buy lawn tickets for the show for just $20 (plus all those sketchy ticket fees). Read more about the tour here.• For local fans of modern Hip Hop, mark your calendars for Aug. 11. That's when the second annual Hip Hop tour, Under the Influence of Music, will be coming to Riverbend. The show is headlined by Wiz Khalifa and A$AP Rocky and will also feature B.o.B., Trinidad Jame$, Joey Bada$$, Pro Era and Berner and more. The Cincinnati stop is the last on the tour, which always makes for a fun time for the performers (and, thus, the audience).Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster. Click here if you'd like to RSVP for a chance to buy tickets early. Citi card members get access to presale tickets beginning tomorrow at 10 a.m. Riverbend is offering $15 "Early Bird" tickets through April 28.  And here is some info on getting a jump on the public on-sale. Here's an interview with the headliners about the tour.

On this date in 1988, Bob Dylan kicked off his current tour. That's right — when Dylan picks up his touring schedule on June 30 in the U.K., he will be entering the 24th YEAR of his "Never Ending Tour." The "Never Ending Tour" was a nickname that first popped up during an interview for Q Magazine with writer Adrian Deevoy. Deevoy asked Dylan about touring and how he seems to go from one trek to the next without much of a break. "Oh, it's all the same tour," Dylan replied. The interviewer asked, "It's the Never Ending Tour?" to which Dylan said, dismissively, "Yeah, yeah."  The tour that started on this day 24 years ago in Concord, Calif., (with Neil Young sitting in on guitar!) was originally called the Innerstate 88 tour. Now, as a sort of ongoing joke, fans and writers refer to all of his touring under the "Never Ending" umbrella. Crotchety Dylan reportedly doesn't like the tag. He wrote in the liner notes to World Gone Wrong that, while there WAS a Never Ending Tour, it did end — in 1991 when guitarist G. E. Smith left the band. In 2009, Dylan told Rolling Stone, "Critics should know there is no such thing as forever. Does anybody call Henry Ford a Never Ending Car Builder? Anybody ever say that Duke Ellington was on a Never Ending Bandstand Tour? These days, people are lucky to have a job. Any job. So critics might be uncomfortable with my working so much. Anybody with a trade can work as long as they want. A carpenter, an electrician. They don't necessarily need to retire."Chill, Bob! I think "Never Ending Tour" is rarely if ever used in a derogatory term (except maybe by Dylan's pencil mustache wrangler).That June 7 date was far from the first time Dylan and Young played together. Check out the audio from a jam between the two geniuses from 1975.Born This Day: Musical movers and shakers sharing a June 7 birthday include Steubenville, Ohio favorite son Dean Martin (1917); Welsh sex god Tom Jones (1940); Cincinnati native and one of the more powerful men in the music biz, L.A. Reid (1956); lead singer and guitarist for "College Rock" superstars Violent Femmes, Gordon Gano (1963); Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro (1967); and all-time American music great, Prince (1958). Prince Nelson Rogers is 54 today and he's one person you would not be blowing smoke ass-ward by saying he looks to be in his early 30s. Prince is not only responsible for some of the best songs of the past 50 years; he's also released at least three instant-classic albums — Purple Rain, 1999 and the masterwork Sign o' the Times (which is in my personal Top 10 all-time greatest albums). Tomorrow night at Mayday in Northside you can celebrate the Artist Formerly Known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince's birthday. The club is hosting a Prince dance party — DJs playing all Prince, all night long. For free. Sounds like heaven.Here is one of the many stand-out tracks from Sign, the rocking and righteous "The Cross." 11 The Cross - LoveSexy Tour  Dortmund 1988 by samsarax

Rootsy local musician David Faul is no longer with the wonderfully-named duo project with fellow singer/songwriter Ian Mathieu, Terminal Union (my favorite Cincinnati-centric band name of all time … and there are a lot of good ones). The two artists are discontinuing their project, which had been recording, and pursuing the solo route for a while. That's bad news in the sense that Faul and Mathieu meshed very well together in duo form. (And that name, just sitting there, wasted!) But it's good news because each artist is really good on their own. (And you can hear some of what they've done together so far here still.)Mathieu has been impressing people in local venues since his teens. Tomorrow (Thursday) he'll be performing at and hosting the weekly Cincinnati Songwriter Round event at Tone House Music (4040 Hamilton Ave., Northside). Mathieu is filling in for usual host Andyman Hopkins. Music starts at 7 p.m. and it's a B.Y.O.B. kinda night, so bring yer own hooch. Mathieu will be joined "in the round" by singer/songwriters Mark Becknell, Doug Teets and Ben Knight. Here's a clip of Mathieu performing recently at Plain Folk Cafe shot by the great local music website Cincy Groove.Faul, oddly enough, is also hosting a songwriter's showcase/open mic/open jam this week. On Sunday, he'll perform at and run the open mic/jam at Plain Folk Cafe, the new Americana/Folk/Bluegrass hotspot in Pleasant Plain, Ohio. The jam is running from noon-4 p.m. and is quickly becoming a popular musicians' destination. Faul writes on his Facebook that the jam is open to all skill levels and those "with a flare for original, folk, acoustic, bluegrass, americana, roots music" should come on out. It's a laid-back affair and you can bring your own instrument or borrow one.Faul's great original composition "Magnificent Sounds" recently got a bunch of attention when it was posted on the Dylan fan site Expecting Rain, where it drew enough hits to be in the Top 20 of most viewed posts for several days.Faul says he wrote the song in tribute to two of his musical idols — Jazz great Miles Davis and late, brilliant singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt. He accomplishes this by blending spine-tingling Jazz trumpet licks, performed by fantastic local multi-instrumentalist Michael Mavridoglou, with a more folksy base. The tune was intended for a Terminal Union album, but for now, it lives on in cyberspace. The track also features Mathieu on guitar, Jared Manker on bass and Brad Kelly on harmony vocals.About the song, Faul writes on SoundCloud: "With the help of Michael Mavridoglou on trumpet we tried to blend elements of jazz and folk into one song creating a sound beyond genre characterization. I'm blessed to have heard the music of the great jazz masters and folk song-writers. I believe the love of all genres of music is what shapes our musical journey in the most profound and engaging ways." What a great sentiment. And a great end result. Give it a listen below.

Today is the 46th anniversary of one of the most memorable "heckles" in entertainment history. And the response was pretty classic, too.In July of 1965, Bob Dylan shocked the audience at the Newport Folk Festival (where he was virtually a god after performing the previous two years) by performing "electric" and with his full band. Those who wanted to hear solo, acoustic Dylan booed as the group launched into "Maggie's Farm," though some in the audience cheered the bold move. He finished the set with a solo, acoustic encore. Lore has it that the boos were from those upset Dylan was playing electric, though his organist Al Kooper said it was because the sound sucked. Still, Dylan would deal with such polarized reactions for the next year or so as he continued to rock electrically (the sound couldn't have been bad everywhere, right?) for part of his sets. On May 17, 1966, Dylan played the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England. As documented on bootlegs, film and the official release, The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert, which came out in 1998 (the "Royal Albert Hall" referring to the common misconception that the notorious show was in London), one disapproving fan shouted "Judas!" Dylan responded to the reference to the New Testament tale of Jesus betrayer Judas Iscariot by saying, "I don't believe you, you're a liar." The strange yet perfect response may have been a come-back to the "Judas" yelp, but some believe he was responding to another less audible heckle: "I'm never listening to you again, ever!" Which makes more sense. Sorta.The young man who shouted the heckle broke his silence after three decades and did a few interviews, calling the moment "embarrassing" for himself. The man, Keith Butler, was also interviewed right after the concert, footage of which popped up in the Eat the Document documentary. The then 21-year-old told an interviewer, "Any pop group could produce better rubbish than that! It was a bloody disgrace! He's a traitor!" Video of the "Judas" moment was discovered and featured in the biographical documentary film, No Direction Home. Go to the 56-second mark of the clip to hear it.Born This Day: Musical movers and shakers sharing a May 17 birthday include original bass singer for The Spinners, Pervis Jackson (1938); eclectic Blues legend Taj Mahal (1942); drummer for Prog heroes King Crimson and Yes, Bill Bruford (1949); Irish New Age goddess Enya (1961); keyboardist/songwriter for Phish, Page McConnell (1963); hunky New Kids of the Block star Jordan Knight (1970); former Stoner Rock pioneer with Kyuss turned Hard Rock star with Queens of the Stone Age, Josh Homme (1973); original vocalist for Florida Metalcore band Underoath and current frontman for "Southern Metal" crew Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, Dallas Taylor (1980); and Nine Inch Nails founder Trent Reznor (1965).Reznor — an Ohio native — was awarded the ASCAP Golden Note Award last month for his work in music over the past 25 years. Presumably not including his time with the early ’80s Cleveland Synth Pop acts Exotic Birds (which opened for Culture Club!) and Slam Bamboo, which sounds nearly identical to Howard Jones. Pretty fun stuff, actually. The haircuts … not so much.

On this day in 1973, the musical act Richard Nixon dubbed "young America at its best" performed at The White House. At Nixon's request, Adult Contemporary superstars The Carpenters performed for the Pres and visiting German Chancellor Willy Brandt. Laugh now, but that will seem cutting edge after the fourth or fifth time The Osmonds play Mitt Romney's White House. Meanwhile, at the Obama White House, Bob Dylan will be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, later this spring, along with Madeleine Albright, John Glenn, Toni Morrison, basketball coach Pat Summitt and several other honorees. Born This Day: Musical movers and shakers sharing a May Day birthday include vocalist (best known for her rendition of "God Bless America") Kate Smith (1907); Country/Pop crossover star ("Young Love") Sonny James (1929); the Charlie Parker and/or Jimi Hendrix of Blues Harmonica, Little Walter Jacobs (1930); Jazz singer/pianist Shirley Horn (1934); singer/songwriter Judy Collins (1939); the singer forever tied to Ghostbusters, Ray Parker, Jr. (1954); half of Wang Chung, Nick Feldman (1955); Country star Tim McGraw (1967); original bassist for The Smashing Pumpkins, D'arcy Wretzky (1968); late Garage Punk artist Jay Reatard (1980); and singer Rita Coolidge (1945).Along with her hits with versions of Jackie Wilson's "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" and Boz Scaggs' "We're All Alone," Coolidge was something of an artistic muse in the ’70s. Leon Russell wrote "The Detla Lady" about her, she was married to Kris Kristofferson for seven years and Willie Nelson's refers to her in "Devil in a Sleepin' Bag" ("Just got back from New York City/Kris and Rita done it all/Bought perfection there for all the world to see/Lord, I heard an angel singing in that Philharmonic Hall/Rita Coolidge, Rita Coolidge, cleft for me"). Coolidge continues to record and tour. She formed a group with her sister and niece called Walela, which performed in a traditional Native American style (Coolidge is part Cherokee). Check out Rita's Facebook page to see what she's up to lately.Here is Coolidge and Kristofferson on the U.K. show The Old Grey White Test in 1972.

Music Tonight: Hip Hop up-and-comer Big Sean brings the tour behind his debut album, Finally Famous, to Covington's Madison Theater for an all-ages, 8 p.m. concert with guests Shawn Chrystopher and Cyhi the Prynce. Admission is $25. As legend has it, the Detroit MC got his big break in old-school fashion — when Kanye West was doing an interview on a local radio station, Sean showed up and talked the star into letting him rap as a "showcase." Reluctant at first, West reportedly started getting into the young MC's wordplay and within two years he signed Big Sean to his G.O.O.D. Music label/management company. During those two years, Sean garnered attention from the industry outside of Kanye with several mixtapes. Sean's Finally Famous album finally came out in June of this year, showing off a heady guest list that includes West, Lupe Fiasco, Pharrell Williams, Chris Brown, Chiddy Bang and Wiz Khalifa. It debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard album chart. Big Sean has said he's working on his next album during his current tour; he says the plan is to release it next year during the summer. Below, check out Sean's single "Dance (A$$)" and a (largely NSFW) sampling of the innumerable videos of booty-shakin' choreography across the web inspired by the track. I'm grabbing my hotpants and heading to Bogart's right now.

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Music Saturday: There's a clinic on modern Psych Rock music at the Southgate House as three disparate practitioners team up for a  9:30 p.m., all-ages show. Headliners The Black Angels touch on the Velvet Underground brand of psychedelia, with droning hypnotics, as well as later artists like Spacemen 3 and Jesus and Mary Chain. D.C.'s Dead Meadow have been working their brand of hard-rocking trippiness for the past 13 years, while L.A.'s Spindrift make soundtracks for desert vision quests, influenced by the likes of The Doors, Hawkwind and Electronic music pioneer, Bruce Haack. The band's cinematic sound has been used to soundtrack several film projects (including the Tarantino-produced Hell Ride), and, this spring, the group released Classic Soundtracks Volume 1, featuring 14 themes from various scores, which were made into short films by various directors, touching on everything from Bollywood to film noir (the films, music videos and trailers from the project have been screened to a national audience on the IFC network). Check out a few examples from Spindrift's soundtracks project below. Tickets for tonight's show are $18 at the door.

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