by Mike Breen
02.19.2013
88 days ago
The 16th annual Cincinnati music celebration begins airing locally this Saturday
The 2013 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards ceremony/party late last month at Covington’s Madison Theater was filmed on high-quality video and this Saturday, for the first time in the 16-year history of the CEAs, fans who want to relive the performances and presentations (or those who missed it altogether) will have a chance to watch the show on television. The show includes the short but very sweet live sets from Bad Veins’ Ben Davis, The Dopamines, Gold Shoes, Ricky Nye, Jess Lamb and Culture Queer, as well as an all-star presentation of songs from the Come Play the Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams at Herzog EP put together by the Cincinnati USA Music Heritage Foundation. Saturday at 9 p.m., thanks to the Intercommunity Cable Regulatory Commission, the full show will be aired on ICRC TV, available in select communities in the Cincinnati area via Time Warner Cable channel 4. The show will be rebroadcast on the same channel Monday at 8:30 p.m., March 1 at 10 p.m. and March 2 at noon. (Check here — in the column on the left — to see if the broadcast is available in your area.)For those in Cincinnati proper, you can watch the CEAs on Time Warner channel 24 on Feb. 27 and on March 6 at 9 a.m. A Northern Kentucky broadcast is also in the works, as is the ability to watch the program online. Stay tuned to this here music blog for the latest updates. If those air times don’t work for you, you can also purchase a copy on DVD. Simply email melissa@icrctv.com to inquire about delivery and prices. (Program reference number is 16534.) To relive the ceremony in photos and words, click here.
Plus news on The Cliftones, School of Rock Mason and two new local bands
0 Comments · Wednesday, January 16, 2013
The lineup for this year's Cincinnati Entertainment Awards (Jan. 27 at Covington's Madison Theater) will feature a broad genre mix of nominees.
by Mike Breen
06.05.2012
The Dopamines and Belle Histoire featured on longtime music mag's website
Ohio-born national music mag Alternative Press has been showing Cincinnati music some love the past two days. Yesterday, altpress.com premiered "Business Papers," a video by local Punk/Pop greats The Dopamines. The trio just released its new album, Vices, last weekend, but "Papers" was the Dopas' contribution to the The Thing That Ate Larry Livermore compilation. Another powerfully melodic gem from one of Cincy Punk's all-time finest. This morning, the AP site premiered the new clip from "Stay Awhile," taken from the I Can Tell EP released by great local Indie Pop ensemble Belle Histoire. BH's nationally-released debut full-length, Dreamers, is due July 17 from InVogue Records. (The band performs at the Bunbury Music Festival the weekend before the release date.)Check out The Dopamines' clip for "Business Papers" here and Belle Histoire's "Stay Awhile" — featuring footage filmed in Cincinnati — here. AP premiered Belle Histoire's clip for "Be Alright" earlier this year. Check it below.
by Mike Breen
06.01.2012
According to The Weather Channel, showers are tapering off and it'll be overcast today with a high of 63. Perfect "cool new jacket" weather (even if you did just pack it away after temps reached into the 90s). And a perfect night to enjoy the first MidPoint Indie Summer concert of 2012. The free, every-Friday series on Fountain Square kicks off with two of the Cincinnati area's finest Rock & Roll bands — Buffalo Killers and The Kickaways — as well as headliners (and popular MidPoint Music Festival alumni) The Bright Light Social Hour. According to CityBeat's Brian Baker, the Austin-based band "evokes the spirit of the ’70s with shards of Southern Garage Rock, Psychedelic Soul, electric R&B/Funk, Indie Pop and thunderously elemental Hard Rock, represented by acid-washed church and Farfisa organ, searing slide guitar and chunky riffage, Pop melodicism and a funky, slinky rhythm section, all in the service of songs that are compellingly contemporary and utterly appealing." They're also one of the best live acts in the country today. The Kickaways get things started at 7 p.m. Buffalo Killers are scheduled for 8:15 p.m. and Bright Light hits the stage at 9:30 p.m.This is a song The Who stole from Mose Allison. The Bright Light Social Hour are stealin' it back. • Two Hip Hop superstars are in town tonight for two separate shows. I would call them contemporary Rap legends, but younger folks probably call them "old school." Both are in the midst of comeback attempts. Gruff-voiced, ruff-rydin' DMX performs tonight at Inner Circle (the former Annie's) at 9 p.m. Tickets are $35-$55. For an extensive stretch, DMX was a bit like the Pete Doherty of American Hip Hop, making headlines with unusual arrests (animal cruelty, "identity falsification" and several traffic-related offenses among them). More recently, X has shown an interest in becoming a preacher and appeared on the VH1 celebreality series Couple Therapy, showing his thoughtfulness and willingness to become a better man. (He also had his own reality show in 2006, DMX: Soul of a Man.) None of this should overshadow the fact that DMX is one of the bigger selling Rap acts of our time. He had five straight albums debut at No. 1 and had his sixth, Year of the Dog … Again, just miss the top spot. DMX will give it another shot later this month — he's slated to drop his seventh album, Undisputed, on June 26. Here's one of his greatest greatest hits, "Party Up." (Fun fact: Former Cincinnati Red Michael Tucker used this tune as his "coming up to bat" music when he played for Cincy.) This is the "dirty" version, so it's probably NSFW for those without headphones.• Meanwhile, up in Corryville, rapstress Lil' Kim brings her "Return of the Queen" tour to Bogart's. Showtime is 10 p.m. and tickets are $27. Like X, Kim has also done some time in the pokey. She turned her jail stint into jail stint-ade, though, by working a reality show around her impending 2006 incarceration. Lil Kim: Countdown to Lockdown became the highest rated show premiere in BET history as 1.9 million fans tuned in for her special. Kim spent just over year in a detention center in Philly for allegedly lying about her role in a 2001 shooting outside of the Hot 97 studio in New York.Kim is one of the most successful and influential female Hip Hop artists of all time. She's currently trying to get her fifth album released (it's been delayed due to contractual issues). Earlier this spring, her collaborative track with Young Jeezy was leaked. (Listen to "Keys to the City" here.)I love it when Hip Hop artists sample Phil Collins, so here's Kim's video for "In the Air Tonight."• The legendary Jon Langford is in town tonight to open a local exhibition of his artwork and perform a free concert at Over-the-Rhine club MOTR Pub. The dynamic artist will be on hand for the opening of his Transmissions: Art and Words show at Over-the-Rhine’s Clay Street Press Gallery (1312 Clay St.) from 6-9 p.m. Then he'll perform with his band Skull Orchard at MOTR. Original opening act Matthew Friedberger (of Fiery Furnaces) cancelled. Lisa Walker and Chuck Cleaver from fantastic local band Wussy will open the show instead, starting around 10 p.m. Read CityBeat's interview with Langford here.• Modern Cincy Punk greats The Dopamines celebrate its new album release, Vices (due nationally on June 19), with a show at Mayday in Northside. Tickets are $9 at the door. Also performing: Pujol, Be My Doppelganger and Vacation. Showtime is 9 p.m. Dopamines fans who can't make it but are up for a road trip can head to Chicago for Night 2 of the record release partying at Wicker Park club Subterranean. Check out this great write-up in the Chicago Reader about the show, written by former local musician (Death in Graceland) Kevin Warwick. Here's a li'l Dopamines gem from the past to get you in the mood. Like DMX and Lil' Kim, the trio likes to curse like sailors. You've been NSFW'ed. Further warning: This song will be stuck in your head for days once you listen.
0 Comments · Wednesday, May 30, 2012
On May 23, The Afghan Whigs reunion
officially kicked off with a sold-out show at New York City’s Bowery
Ballroom. Leading up to the concert, the band released a new song — a
great cover of an old obscure Soul song called “See and Don’t See” by
Marie Queenie Lyons — as a free download through theafghanwhigs.com,
then performed the tune on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
0 Comments · Tuesday, April 5, 2011
The CincyPunk Fest has emerged as one of the most popular benefit concerts in the region, raising money for various charities since its inception a decade ago. For CincyPunk Fest 10, the event returns to Newport’s Southgate House this Saturday and Sunday under new management and with a lineup full of some of the top music-makers in Cincinnati. And, despite its name, the fest is again a showcase for much more than just Punk Rock.
Dec. 31 • Southgate House
0 Comments · Monday, December 27, 2010
This huge whole-house party features performances by some of the area's best rock bands, plus New Year's Eve fun with the Underbelly comedy troupe. All for $10. Go immerse yourself and have fun.
0 Comments · Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Acoustic Blues duo 46 Long, Punk journeymen I Fail, Roots/Folk collective The Midlife Crisis Ramblers, the Electro/Indie/Dance group Eat Sugar, and local dark wizards of Roots/Rock The Sundresses are all releasing albums this week. It's like a back-to-school special for kick-ass music.
Pop/Punk band could break wide with sophomore album
0 Comments · Monday, June 7, 2010
Since The Dopamines got serious about spreading their Pop/Punk message to the wider world, the Cincinnati trio has notched some impressive accomplishments, from CEA nominations to relentless out-of-town touring. Their excellent sophomore full-length album, 'Expect the Worst,' is slated to drop at the end of the month in both vinyl and CD formats, and local fans can grab a copy at Friday's release show at the Southgate House.