Terrible Things' debut is a concept album shaped around a series of arsons in the bands' hometown of Coatesville, Pa. The trio maps out hooky, soaring AltRock that moves competently, peppering through interesting shifts and twists.  

Sports Illustrated is reporting that iconic Rock band The Who will perform at the Super Bowl halftime show in February. Now in the year 6 A.T. (“After Titty”), halftime organizers continue to distance themselves from the horrifying Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake tragedy of Super Bowl XXXVIII, when the world nearly ended because viewers got a sorta-peak of Janet Jackson’s boobage that was less provocative than a mammogram brochure.   

I’m sort of playing “navigation lady” with my friend Benj Clarke. We’re both on our cell phones with Benj trying to locate my secluded street in Westwood. It doesn’t take him long to figure out how to get here, but why would it? He was the circulation manager at CityBeat, so he knows Cincinnati’s streets pretty well. He also loves The Beatles, as do I, and I could always tell that music is where his heart is — that being a full time musician was his dream. That dream is now a reality.  

It all starts with the smell. Every year we blurredly get spun around like we’re playing a game of pin the tail on the donkey and stumble from summer into fall. It’s an emotional time.  

In honor of our Cool Issue and fall preview, we wanted to take a look at some local-music-centric things. As it turns out, a theme this year could be “The Comeback,” as several artists and a late ’90s/early ’00s festival return to not just bask in their former glory, but to also take the projects to a new level.  

Be warned: At least some of these CD reviews were written out longhand while I stared at beautiful Pickerel Lake while vacationing in northern Michigan. A good many of them were accompanied by a fairly well-stocked bar. For the Bob Pollard album, that was probably appropriate. I also check out new releases by Mike Stern, Mindy Smith and Peter Mulvey.  

First Aurore Press released 'Stories for Shorty,' recollections about Newport's infamous Jockey Club, which prompted a reunion show, which resulted in a live CD of the proceedings, 'A Jockey Club Reunion: Live at the Southgate House.' And now there's a "re-reunion" show to recognize the CD's release and to benefit "Handsome" Clem Carpenter, the Jockey Club's defacto "Master of Ceremonies" and a pioneering Punk radio broadcaster on WAIF.  

Good singer-songwriters make fans. Great singer-songwriters make friends. That's how Damien Jurado burst out of the Seattle scene and into the Indie spotlight a dozen years ago. Last year's 'Caught in the Trees' CD might well have been the best of Jurado's career so far, as he teamed with longtime friends to craft a noisier soundtrack that harkened back to his early days.