Kate's Queen City Notes

Blundering through Cincinnati, laughing all the way

Category Archives: Music


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Midpoint Music Festival 2013 in Review: Thursday

If you are a regular reader, you know I live in Cincinnati, Ohio. You also know that music is a passion of mine. Midpoint Music Festival is a three-day event in Cincinnati that features ~200 indie rock bands at venues that are walkable in downtown. A three day pass to the event is only 69 dollars. Past artists have included Grizzly Bear and Andrew Bird. This fest is tons of new music for a really low price; it’s my Christmas.

I’ve been to this fest for at least the last 7 years. Before I get into the specifics on the artists that I saw, a word about the over-all experience. This year’s line-up was the deepest and most eclectic that I’ve seen to date. I saw about 30 bands, and not a single one of them were bad. This is a first. At fests like this I usually find hits and misses. I am stunned to say there wasn’t a single miss for me this year. So, the booking this year, really couldn’t have been better. In addition, the sound at the venues excellent, with the exception of Main Event. The sound there was just terrible. With fourteen of the fifteen venues nailing it, I can’t complain. Perfection is tough to achieve. I am crossing my fingers that they weed that venue out for future years. The stand out was The Taft Ballroom. That might be the best sound that I’ve ever heard at this fest.

In years past, the show times ranged between 6pm and 1230am Thursday through Saturday. This year they spread the show times out a bit with day shows at Findlay Market Friday through Sunday and shows starting as early as 1pm on Saturday. I love that they are spreading the music out a bit. Practically, I can see twice the bands with this new arrangement. I loved that, and I hope they keep it up next year. I suspect this move wasn’t intentional. The Cincinnati Symphony opened their season across the street from the Washington Park venue on Saturday night. I think they had to bump the show times up so that the fest noise wouldn’t disrupt the symphony. I hope this happens again next year.

Now then, on to the music. Here’s what my agenda was for Thursday.

5:00 Cincy Brass at Washington Park
5:30 Sidwalk Chalk at MPMF Midway
7:15 Cody ChesnuTT at Washington Park
8:45 Shuggie Otis at Washington Park
8:30 Sohio at Mainstay
9:30 Crystal Bright & the Silver hands at Japp’s
9:30 Fort Shame at Motr
9:30 Kurt Vile at Grammer’s
10:45 N…erves Junior at MOTR
11:15 Dead Gaze at Below Zero
11:30 Baths at Comtemporary Arts Center
12:00 The Thermals at Taft
12:15 Dent May at Below Zero

I basically managed all of that list except Dent May, Dead Gaze, and Nerves Junior. Dead Gaze was late starting, so I had to abandon them to see Baths. I missed Dent May because The Thermals were so excellent, that I couldn’t pull myself away. Nerves Junior had to cancel because they were stuck in a traffic SNAFU due to an animal fat spill on I-71. Yeah, you read that right.

Cincy Brass sounded great, but I haven’t heard them perform poorly yet, so no surprises there. The only unfortunate bit for them was their time slot. Five o’clock on a Thursday just isn’t the best time to get good attendance. Sidewalk Chalk’s music isn’t really my bag, but they sounded great. The bonus was the tap solos that the keyboardists would take at regular intervals. Cody ChesnuTT is an engaging performer fun to watch and great to hear. The only puzzling thing here was the backing vocals. The band was nailing it with their instruments, but their backing vocals were off-key. That took a bit away from the experience, but just a bit. Shuggie Otis and his band were consummate pros. These guys were so tight. The horns were killer. Like Sidewalk Chalk, Shuggie’s music isn’t my bag, but I love a tight performance. I was not disappointed. I only stopped into Sohio for a couple tunes, because I needed to go back uptown for Shuggie. Crystal Bright has an incredible set of pipes. In the age of auto-tuning, live performances have the potential to be disappointing. Crystal’s voice is all real. Fort Shame sounded good, but they didn’t really grab me. Kurt Vile sounded great. Although, something felt empty after hearing Shuggie’s bright horns.

Baths were weird. Weird enough that they get more than a couple sentences. It’s hard to make electronic music compelling to watch live. I can’t get excited about seeing a couple of guys fiddling with tech for an hour. On top of that, I found the singer’s voice off-putting in person. I don’t know what magic happens in the studio (reverb maybe), but it didn’t translate to a live experience. The singer came out looking like he was running a marathon. His shorts were Richard-Simmons short. Musically they nailed it. I loved their albums and will continue to purchase them. I probably won’t pay to see them live again though. If there was a disappointment of the weekend this was it. Of all the bands I listened to in prep for this fest, Baths was my favorite find. And it was the live performance that I liked the least.

The Thermals get a paragraph too. These were my surprise band of the night. I’ve seen so many punk shows. I’ve been to so many Warped Tours before it was Van’s Warped Tour. I’m a little jaded with the punk live show narrative. Moshing. Crowd surfing. Screaming. And often, but not always poor musicianship. The Thermals… They were super tight. There wasn’t a false note. And they were intense in this sweet, earnest way. I wanted to rock with them and give them a hug. I had intended to leave this show a bit early to catch the end of Dent May, but I couldn’t tear myself away. They seemed so genuinely happy that people in Cincinnati would turn up to see them. The drummer ended the show by diving into the crowd. It was sweet, raucous fun.

Friday Recap will come soon!

Kim Deal of the Breeders. Their show wasn't until Saturday, so the review is pending. But I like the picture.

Kim Deal of the Breeders. Their show wasn’t until Saturday, so the review is pending. But I like the picture.


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A Break from Books: Bunbury Music Festival in Review

I’m taking a break from books for this post. Bunbury happened a little over a week ago. I went. I had the most rock and roll experience in recent memory. Here’s what happened.

I live within walking distance of the park in which Bunbury takes place. I have been to other music festivals, Lollapalooza and multiple Warped Tours. I jumped at the chance to attend a festival that wouldn’t require travel and lodging, even with a line-up that wasn’t wholly in line with my tastes.

Bunbury distinguished itself from other fests by supplying free water and misting stations as well as abundant beer booths-including craft beers, local food vendors, shady napping spots, porta johns, and cell charging stations. In addition, the organizers had the forethought to issue color coaded wrist bands that indicated both what type of pass you purchased, but also your over/under 21 status, allowing you to leave your id at home once you’ve picked up your wrist band.

Bunbury 2012 was so enjoyable that I purchased VIP tickets for Bunbury 2013 without a single band announced and zero information on the VIP amenities. The VIP three day pass was $295 as opposed to $90 for the standard three day pass, so it felt like a risky decision at the time. I was not disappointed.

Before I get into the specifics of the shows, the VIP tickets were well worth it. First, there was a generous area sectioned off in front of the main stage, enabling me to walk to the front of any of the headliner shows. In addition, there were intimate shows in the air-conditioned VIP tent, after which the band members chatted, took photos, and signed autographs. The drink specials in the VIP tent included dollar water and sodas, 2 dollar beers and malt beverages, and 3 dollar wine and mixed drinks as well as free Street Pops (yum!) and free food around dinner time. Considering beers outside the VIP tent were 6 or 7 dollars, I estimate that the VIP tix saved me 100 or 150 dollars in food and drink for the weekend. To top it all off, the musicans cycled in and out of the VIP area, Brent Dressner from The National for example. This is where I ran into one of the guys from CAKE, who complemented by tattoo. Oh, and Peeta from the Hunger Games movies was back there.

Now then, these are the bands that I saw, followed by my abbreviated highlights and, in some cases, lowlights.

Friday: The Features, American Authors, Delta Rae, Tegan and Sara, Sky Ferreira, Walk the Moon, DeVotchKa, fun.
My thoughts: stand out shows were Walk the Moon for being adorably proud to be playing to their home town and DeVotchKa for being one of the best performance bands ever. Random discovery: Tegan and Sara are tiny women. If there was such a thing as pocket lesbians, they would be it.

Seriously. They are tiny, tiny women.

Seriously. They are tiny, tiny women.

Saturday: Margaret Darling, Vacationer, Bears of Blue River, Taylor Alexander, Chairlift, Twenty One Pilots, Black Owls, We Are Scientists, CAKE, Atlas Genius, MGMT
My thoughts: Atlas Genius sounded excellent. Their show sounded almost exactly like their record; not a single note was missed plus loads of energy. Without question I will be getting tickets to see them when they come back in the fall. The Black Owls and CAKE sounded incredible. The guys in those bands appeared to be in their 40’s or 50’s and have the confidence and skills of seasoned professionals. Bears of Blue River get the award for sounding awful. They were a sloppy, out-of-tune mess. MGMT gets the award for being insufferable pricks for refusing to play “Kids”. Only Radiohead can get away with that crap.

Sunday: A Silent Film, Camera Obscura, Belle and Sebastian, Yo La Tengo, The National
My thoughts: A Silent Film was a wonderful surprise. They were great to watch and sounded like a pleasing combination of U2, “Where The Streets Have No Name” era, and Coldplay divided by Keane. Belle and Sebastian had adorable banter with the crowd. Yo La Tengo redeemed themselves for the abysmal performance they delivered the last time I saw them. Finally, The National melted my face off with rock and roll. Matt Berninger jumped off the stage for “Mr. November” and wandered through the crowd, all the while people patiently passed the microphone cord between them to enable Matt’s wandering. He walked right past me on his way back up to the stage. I have never seen a crowd simultaneously keyed-up and controlled. I was able to solve a longstanding mystery. How can he perform in a vest and button down shirt without melting? The answer is he sweats though all his layers of clothing. They finished with “Terrible Love” Matt wandered back into the crowd to dole out set lists, his half-finished bottle of wine, and improbably his microphone stand. I am curious to know who made it out of the gates with that last item.

Over-all, Bunbury was great. I was truly sad when it was over. I can’t wait until next year.

Matt Beringer sweat on me.

Matt Berninger sweat on me. That could be a command or a statement of fact.


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A Diversion: Midpoint Music Festival

I will be digressing from my reading adventures for this post. This past weekend was Midpoint Music Festival, and I did very little reading but so much indie rock listening. It’s difficult to narrow down what to say about the festival because it was so fun, but I think the theme of this entry would be that there is no where else that I would have rather been on this planet than in Cincinnati for this weekend surrounded by these amazing people.

Thursday started out strong. I saw Pomegranates, Here We Go Magic, and Andrew Bird at Washington Park. Andrew Bird completely blew my mind; I will see him any chance I get in the future. I headed to Best Coast at Grammer’s tent after; it was too loud. This is really saying something considering the venue is outside and enormous. I rounded out the night with Dirty Projectors and Stepdad; The Emery Theater couldn’t have been a better indie rock venue if it tried.

Friday I saw Grizzly Bear, Dinosaur Jr, Bad Veins, and The Antlers. All were great, but Dinosaur Jr was the stand out of the evening. They go on my must see whenever possible list.

Saturday was epic and mostly prompted this blog entry. I started the day by leading a volunteer event at a daycare in Over-the-Rhine. The event went well considering that the location was hard to find and parking was tough to come by. After we completed the work we went over to the Findlay Market Biergarten for some beers on the United Way. The weather could not have been more perfect for this event. It was mild and sunny; the sky was a brilliant blue spattered with white,  puffy clouds. One of the volunteers happens to live in my building and had a flat tire on his bicycle; I gave him a ride home.

I stopped at home to rest for just a bit and just as I was headed to the festival my partner returned with one of our friends from Columbus. We headed to Memorial Hall first for some free beer. (My partner and I had VIP passes to the festival and free beer, food, and Vitamin Water at Memorial Hall was one of the perks.) There a couple of serendipitous things happened. I met the director of Art Works and discussed possible future volunteer events; I met the person who is planning The Pride Festival next year. More explanation will be needed for you, dear reader, to understand the significance of that second event.

My friends and I think the Pride parade is boring. We have been working over this problem for a couple of years. One of my friends has an idea to fix this problem, offer prizes to parade participants for the most creative floats. The incentives don’t need to be extravagant. People will do surprising things for a little booze. I was tasked with infiltrating the Pride planning committee and getting our idea adopted.

Apparently, the man who plans MPMF also plans Pride. While outside Memorial Hall we stumbled upon him and shared our idea for the Pride Parade. He thought it was a stellar idea and gave us his card. So maybe next year at Pride I will see a little creativity instead of waves of people carrying Pride flags? Dare to dream.

After these chance meetings, we headed to The Seedy Seeds show at the 4EG stage at Midpoint Midway. The show was awesome. We danced our pants off, and I sweat my pants off. Other people can fix cars or cook; I sweat. It’s just what I do. There was a creeper guy there who kept trying to touch any thing with a rack or long hair, as one of the guys was dismayed to learn. As all women who have regularly been to dance clubs, we were skilled in defensive dancing. So, he didn’t diminish my experience. It helped that he seemed not in his right mind. He inspired my inner mom to chastise him as opposed to my typical lecherous asshole response which would have generated swift elbow blows to his ribs.

After picking up more friends at The Seedy Seeds we headed to Main Street and ran across the Framester Photo Booth Truck, so this had to happen.

From here we pinged back and forth between Motr, Mr Pitiful’s, The Know Theater, and Japps. The bands were unremarkable, but Saturday was more about hanging out with friends than it was listening to music. By 230am we were at Motr were hanging out with one of our friends and a couple of folks we had just met that night. One of our new friends lived two doors down from Motr, so we headed there. She had an amazing loft on Main Street. It had all the trimmings of a typical loft apartment, hard wood floors, open floor plan, exposed brick, high ceilings and exposed duct work.

We discovered an area of her apartment building that is typically locked was open. This required exploring. Apparently there is a part of the building that wasn’t rehabbed. My best guess is that it was left due to none of the windows having an accessible fire escape, and hence the rooms can’t be used as a dwelling due to fire code.

The area consisted of three rooms and a stairway to nowhere. There were loads of wall murals and other miscellaneous art work. It was also clearly someone’s spot to shoot up. In one of the rooms, there was a ladder to a trap door. Clearly we had to see where it went. It lead to the roof and a panoramic view of Over-the Rhine. It was so beautiful it took my breath away. I enjoyed great conversation with amazing people and that gorgeous view while sipping a little whiskey until 530 in the morning. It was a night where my heart was so full of happiness that it made me wonder how I got so lucky to have such an amazing life with such great people in it.

Views from the roof: