Over the Rhine: 20th Anniversary Celebration – The Taft Theatre/Cincinnati 12.19-21-2008

click on the picture above to see more pictures.
friday, december 19th – reunion of the original over the rhine (karin bergquist, linford detweiler, brian kelley, ric hordinski)

there is so much to say about this band, this weekend, this show, their fans (my friends) that i know i won’t do justice to it all.

first of all, what a brilliant, wonderful, and rocking evening of music. i think many “lesser” bands, that hadn’t played together in over 12 years might have played it “safe” on this kind of “one-off” reunion gig.

OtR, did not play it safe. in fact, they stepped out.

they covered the bases with the tunes that were “expected” (ie: “required”) by long time fans, but surprised many with the inclusion of; “conjectures, daddy, i painted…, a gospel number.” in an evening of highlights, for me the standouts were; how does it feel (w/reprise), june, like a radio, and the incredible second set ending “if i’m drowning” with the classic one-by-one stage exits.

the band sounded excellent, it was hard to believe that they had not played together in front of an audience for well over a decade. there was a great vibe on stage, lots of smiling, laughing, great stories.

i’m not expecting for this to happen again anytime soon, but if it does, i sure as hell planning on being there.

SET ONE
Eyes Wide Open
How Does It Feel?
How Does It Feel? (Reprise)
Within Without (with Kim Taylor)
Like a Radio
Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
June (with Kim Taylor, Jake, Kenny Hutson, and Julie Lee)
Circle of Quiet (with Kim and Julie)
Daddy Untwisted (with Kim and Julie)

SET TWO
Paul and Virginia (L&K with Jake, Kenny, Mickey, Kim, and Julie)
Poughkeepsie (same minus Mickey)
Mary’s Waltz (L, K, Paul Patterson)
Silent Night (Duet) (L, K, Paul, Julie)
Faithfully Dangerous (with Jake)
A Gospel Number (with Jake, Kim, Juli)
All I Need Is Everything (with Jake, Kim, and Paul)
If I’m Drowning

ENCORE NUMBER ONE
My Love Is a Fever
I Painted My Name (with Kim and Julie)

ENCORE NUMBER TWO
Latter Days (L & K)
What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love, and Understanding? (with Jake)

* more about saturday night and sunday afternoon to come
saturday, december 20th

set one:
-born
-waste
-all i ever get
-white horse
-here it is
-world can wait
-message from jack
-if nothing else
-roll
-trumpet
-kiddin’

set two:
-ohio
-pro day
-bpd
-happy birthday to kim and kenny
-darlin’
-snow angel
-pull through
-northpole man
-tom
-when i go
++
-c&p
-changes come
++
-hush
-new redemption song

*the setlist shows bpd as the set opener and ohio as the second song, wonder if she just changed her mind?

great damn night of music.

and…Sunday, December 21, 2008
St. Elizabeth Church – Norwood, OH

I Want You to be My Love
Long Lost Brother
Suitcase
Anything At All
We’re Gonna Pull Through
Bothered
[Kim Taylor] Days Like This *
[Julie Lee w/Jake & Kenny] Does the Road Wind Uphill **
Paul and Virginia
Poughkeepsie
Goodbye Charles
[Q and A]
Hush Now
Jack’s Valentine
Cruel and Pretty

Karin Bergquist – vocals, guitar
Linford Detweiler – piano, guitar, vocals, bell
Kenny Hutson – guitar, dobro, mandolin, pedal steel
Jake Bradley – upright bass
Mickey Grimm – drums, percussion
Kim Taylor – vocals, guitar
Julie Lee – vocals, guitar
Nick Radina – congas

This show was the last of 3 concerts staged as part of Over the Rhine’s 20th Anniversary and Christmas celebration.

this was truly a wonderful weekend of music, friendship and fun.

my year in music [concerts 2008]

my year in music, 34 shows, 6 states…

02.10 – cat power @ the vic (chicago)
02.23 – over the rhine w/ben sollee @ the bomhard theatre (louisville)
03.07 – tift merritt @ ear x-tacy (louisville)
03.11 – grace potter and the nocturnals @ headliner’s (louisville)
03.14 – over the rhine @ the ryman
03.27 – cowboy junkies w/mary gauthier @ the clifton center (louisville)
04.17 – kathleen edwards @ headliner’s (louisville)
04.25 – over the rhine (w/julie lee) @ canal street tavern (dayton)
04.26 – over the rhine (w/julie lee) @ canal street tavern (dayton)
05.25 – over the rhine / ohio: in concert (cincinnati)
05.30 – over the rhine w/mary gauthier @ the variety playhouse (atlanta)
06.11 – alejandro escovedo (w/ben sollee) @ headliner’s (louisville)
06.13 – ellery @ the rudyard kipling (louisville)
06.14 – over the rhine @ the rapp granary (new harmony, IN)
07.05 – tom waits @ the fox theatre (atlanta)
07.18 – missy higgins @ ear x-tacy (louisville)
07.18 – missy higgins w/teneia sanders @ the phoenix hill tavern (louisville)
07.23 – over the rhine @ the fraze pavilion (dayton)
07.31 – wild sweet orange @ ear x-tacy (louisville)
09.13 – tift merritt @ the original highlands street fair (louisville)
10.04 – mieka pauley @ perkfection (jeffersonville, IN)
10.09 – eilen jewell @ the player’s pub (bloomington)
10.11 – over the rhine @ elk creek winery (owenton, KY)
10.12 – louisville songwriter’s showcase w/johnny berry, mickey clark, danny
flanigan, john gage, tim krekel, teneia sanders, leigh ann yost @ the
bomhard theatre (louisville)
10.12 – the watson twins @ the bomhard theatre (louisville)
10.21 – david byrne @ the palace theatre (louisville)
11.15 – john prine @ indiana university auditorium (bloomington)
11.23 – ralph stanley @ the CEA’s emery theatre (cincinnati)
12.11 – ben sollee, neva geoffrey, daniel martin moore @ the dame (lexington)
12.12 – over the rhine @ the bomhard theatre (louisville)
12.14 – grace potter @ the 20th century (cincinnati)
12.19 – over the rhine @ the taft theater (cincinnati)
12.20 – over the rhine @ the taft theater (cincinnati)
12.19 – over the rhine @ st. elizabeth’s (norwood/cincinnati)

top 5 non-OtR
07.05 – tom waits @ the fox theatre (atlanta)
10.21 – david byrne @ the palace theatre (louisville)
02.10 – cat power @ the vic (chicago)
11.15 – john prine @ indiana university auditorium (bloomington)
06.11 – alejandro escovedo (w/ben sollee) @ headliner’s (louisville)

top 3 OtR
12.19 – over the rhine @ the taft theater (cincinnati)
05.25 – over the rhine / ohio: in concert (cincinnati)
06.14 – over the rhine @ the rapp granary (new harmony, IN)

New Music/CD Releases – December 30, 2008

none, nada, zip, zilch.

and remember, whenever possible buy your music directly from the artist(s) or your local independent record store. both could become endangered without your support.

click here for a list of exclusives available @ indie stores and for a listing of stores

more soon…

just returned from an amazing weekend of friendship and music @ over the rhine’s three day 20th anniversay celebration in cincinnati. i hope to have the full, wonderful details up shortly…

WFPK Winter Fundraiser – From the Jayhawks: Gary Louris & Mark Olson

WFPK Winter Fundraiser – From the Jayhawks: Gary Louris & Mark Olson

91.9 WFPK is proud to present Gary Louris and Mark Olson at Phoenix Hill Tavern on Sunday, February 15th at 8pm. This is a rare opportunity to catch Jayhawks frontmen Gary Louris and Mark Olson as they reunite in Louisville for the first time in more than ten years to benefit 91.9 WFPK.

Louris and Olson last shared a Louisville stage at Phoenix Hill Tavern in 1995. It is fitting that the two return to Phoenix Hill’s Saloon stage in support of their new collaboration “Ready for the Flood”.

Tickets for An Evening with Gary Louris and Mark Olson go on sale Saturday, December 20th at 10am at http://www.ticketweb.com, and ear X-tacy. Tickets will be available here at 619 South Fourth Street and at Phoenix Hill Tavern beginning Monday, December 22nd. Tickets are $15.00 (plus applicable service fees when purchased at http://www.ticketweb.com or ear X-tacy). Patrons must be 21 years old to attend.

For more information on 91.9 WFPK, please visit http://www.wfpk.org . For information on this event or for artist interviews, please contact Billy Hardison at bhardison@louisvillepublicmedia.org or (502) 814-6518.

Neko Case – Middle Cyclone

1. This Tornado Loves You
2. The Next Time You Say Forever
3. People Got A Lotta Nerve
4. Polar Nettles
5. Vengeance Is Sleeping
6. Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth
7. Middle Cyclone
8. Fever
9. Magpie To The Morning
10. I’m An Animal
11. Prison Girls
12. Don’t Forget Me
13. The Pharaohs
14. Red Tide
15. Marais La Nuit

Neko Case: Middle Cyclone

Neko Case will follow up 2006’s “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood,” the best-selling album of her career, with “Middle Cyclone,” due March 3 via Anti-.

New Music/CD Releases – December 23, 2008

BILL’S PICK OF THE WEEK
Well, like last week, there isn’t one. Looks like a good week to go back and catch up on a release you may have missed earlier…

21 December Tuesday
Fear The State – Against The Ropes
Savage – Savage Island
Sterling Simms – Yours, Mine & The Truth
Stephanie Smith – Not Afraid
Various Artists – Slumdog Millionaire [Soundtrack]

and remember, whenever possible buy your music directly from the artist(s) or your local independent record store. both could become endangered without your support.

click here for a list of exclusives available @ indie stores and for a listing of stores

Grace Potter and The Nocturnals @ The 20th Century/Cincinnati (12.13.2008)

oh. my. god.

what a show this girl and her band puts on. they are excellent musicians, a consumate high energy rock & roll/blues band and more than anything else, they absolutely love what they do, and that fun just flows off the stage and into the crowd. amazing.

this was my second experience of grace, and it isn’t just a show, it is an experience. she spent most of the night behind her hammond b-3, coming out from behind it to play electric guitar on 4 or 5 numbers, but it didn’t matter where she was, she totally controlled the joint. and what a voice, in my opinion, there is no female doin’ the blues better than her right now.

on top of her originals, towards the end of the show they paid some respect to their obvious influence and kicked into a cover of “paint it black” that would make mick and the boys jealous in their heyday. in my opinion, the student surpassed the teacher. and they sent us home with another cover, a brilliant and rousing finale of zepplin’s “your time is gonna come,” doing plant, page, jones and bonham proud.

set list:
Watching you
(Feedback into)
Aint no time
Treat me right
Be my husband
Ah Mary
Mastermind
Apologies
Gate
Joey
Sweet Hands
Sugar
Paint it
Paris
Nothing But the Water
(Band ends)
Stop the Bus
Your time

the nocturnals are:
Grace Potter – Vocals, electric guitar, keyboards
Scott Tournet – lead guitar
Bryan Dondero – electric bass
Matt Burr – drums

go see this band if you get the opportunity.

pics are here

New Music/CD Releases – December 16, 2008

BILL’S PICK OF THE WEEK
Well, looking at the list below, There isn’t one. Looks like a good week to go back and catch up on a release you may have missed earlier…

16 December Tuesday
All-American Rejects – When The World Comes Down
Brooks & Dunn – Playlist
Dave Matthews Band – Live at Mile High Music Festival
Dave Matthews Band – Live Trax Vol. 13
The Dream – Love vs. Money
Fall Out Boy – Folie a Deux
Ghostface Killah – Ghostdeini The Great
Jamie Foxx – Intuition
Keyshia Cole – A Different Me
Piles – Da REAList
Saliva – Cinco Diablo
Soulja Boy – iSouljaboytellem

and remember, whenever possible buy your music directly from the artist(s) or your local independent record store. both could become endangered without your support.

click here for a list of exclusives available @ indie stores and for a listing of stores

Over the Rhine (w/Jim Bianco) @ The Bomhard Theatre (Louisville, KY), December 12, 2008

a beautiful show last night @ the bomhard theatre in the kentucky center for the performing arts. a theatre worthy of what happens on it’s stage, great sightlines throughout and amazing acoustically, and juicy worked it to perfection., the sound was pristine.

the band was in great spirits and having a lot of fun, coming off a successful west coast swing and getting in a week’s rest before yesterday’s shows here. the wonderful and lighthearted “WFPK live lunch” got the day started off right and the followed it up with a full-throttled gig @ the bomhard last night. the show had a great feel from the start, when a couple of songs in, karin announced that they were dedicating the “whole show” to patrick and sara (some local fans). as she said “they know why” and that was good enough for her, so i’ll leave it at that too.

also, since karin’s birthday is today, and in an effort to surprise her…between “northpole man” and “don’t wait for tom” on the setlist, linford snuck in a surprise happy birthday wish for karin, the band and audience sang happy birthday to her and i was privledged to take her cake out to her on stage to blow out the candles. (that stage, the lights, all the people, is a scary place)

the set was at times; quiet then rockin’, spiritual and bluesy, funny followed by emotional. they hit all of the bases, and hit it out of the park. by far, the best show OtR show i’ve seen this year…and i’ve seen a few really (really) good ones.

jim bianco, who opened on the recent west coast leg opened and did a nice job. nice music and a very funny guy…seemed he was “enjoying” being in the heart of “bourbon” country. a lot.

see additional pics @ bivester/concert photography