Hats Off to Larry

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Denny

Guitarist Larry Goshorn “retired” this week. Of course, musicians don’t retire the way some folks do. A guy who retires from Ford will probably never build another car and a retired assassin can be perfectly happy not killing anyone ever again. But no one believes that, just because a musician does his last concert and stops actively looking for gigs in clubs and bars, they quit being a musician. Following Wednesday’s “farewell” concert, Larry may not be as prevalent on the local music scene as he has been but neither will he vanish completely.

Larry, along with brothers Dan and Tim, has been a big part of Cincinnati’s music for pretty much as long as I’ve been here. I moved to the big city in the fall of 1965 and evolved from visitor to resident over the next couple years. I don’t know when I first became aware of the Sacred Mushroom or even when the Sacred Mushroom first came into existence but I do remember Sunday afternoons in Eden park with the Mushroom in the band shell and nights in a dump called the Mug Club with the Mushroom on stage. Dan Goshorn did most of the singing but Larry also sang a bit along with doing all the lead guitar work. I fondly recall a couple of break time conversations with Larry at the Mug Club. I don’t recall their content; Only that they happened. No reason for Larry to remember them at all.

The Sacred Mushroom was a different sort of band. There was, of course, the Mushroom House and a life style that said “we are musicians, dammit” but their music was different, too. There were other good bands in Cincinnati including several that, like the Sacred Mushroom, did a mix of covers and originals. But the Mushroom’s covers were from guys like Willie Dixon and Paul Butterfield and their bluesy originals (actually Larry Goshorn originals) were not exactly formula top 40.

The peak and the crash were not far apart. In October of 1968, they opened for Big Brother and the Holding Company. I was there in the last row of the last balcony with a ticket I’d bought at the last minute. Their one and only album was released the following summer but the band was already disintegrating. It was kind of like the Beatles and Let It Be minus the long string of million selling albums in front of it.

Larry didn’t stop playing, of course. I may have even seen him a time or two before he went off to help put Pure Prairie League on the charts but I really don’t remember. My memories of his days with PPL are pretty spotty, too. Even though I liked several of their tunes, I never became a big fan. I saw them perform just once.

Larry didn’t write the song that put Pure Prairie League on the charts. That song, Amie, was written and recorded by Craig Fuller before he left to deal with draft obligations. What Larry did do, after replacing Craig, was ~~sing~~ play (see Tom Sheridan’s informative reply below) Amie in a couple of hundred concerts that got the song enough airplay to make it a hit. He then went on to write a number of the band’s songs including my favorite, Two Lane Highway. As much as I like the song, I don’t dare dwell on the lyrics. Just like Springsteen’s Born in the USA is not (despite what some politicians apparently believe) exactly glorifying the country, Two Lane Highway is not an ode to back roads. I never thought to ask but was there when a friend did and learned that Larry wrote the song in the back of a GMC motor home as the band rolled through a Pennsylvania night and he really did want to “get off this two lane highway”. He’s got a front row spot in the picture at right.

The Pure Prairie League story is a convoluted one and quite a few web pages offer up pieces and variations of it. Today, a four piece group with a couple of original members keeps the name alive. The official Pure Prairie League website makes no mention of Larry at all. A careful scan turned up one tiny uncaptioned picture that has Larry in it but that’s all. The closest the site’s text comes to mentioning him is in an almost comical reference to the “departing Gorshorn [sic] brothers”. Along with ignoring his contributions, they’ve forgotten how to spell his name. Larry’s younger brother, Tim, had joined him in the group around 1977 and they did leave together around 1978. Tim later rejoined for a second stint.

Between PPL and the 1994 opening of a certain bar on Main Street, I have no personal knowledge of Larry’s activities. I heard ads for The Goshorn Brothers Band on radio and I may have even had a beer or two somewhere they were playing but I wasn’t paying attention. When I saw Larry and Tim at what I believe was the opening night for Tommy’s on Main, I was reminded of how much I enjoyed his playing and I’ve not lost sight of him since.

I probably irritated some folks when I said I was never a big fan of PPL. I liked them well enough and I certainly appreciated their talent but they weren’t one of my top tier groups. That tier was filled with the Moody Blues, the E Street Band, Yes, and others. I liked PPL the same way I liked the Eagles and there are more similarities between the two than my level of fandom. Of course, they sound somewhat alike but there was another connection that maybe only I cared about. PPL had sucked up Larry Goshorn; The Eagles had sucked up Joe Walsh. I was much more a fan of the James Gang and Sacred Mushroom than of the Eagles and Pure Prairie League. On one of those very first nights at Tommy’s, I mentioned to Larry that I had thought of his time with PPL as a “day job”. He smiled and said, “Me too.” I don’t know if he meant it the same way I did or if he even meant it at all.

The Tommy’s gig started as an “acoustic” duo then one night ex-PPL drummer Billy Hinds showed up with a snare drum. From there, it wasn’t long until a five piece Goshorn Brothers Band had taken up residency at Tommy’s. Billy was behind a full drum kit with Michael Baney and Steve Schmidt taking care of bass and keyboards. Other top notch musicians would sit in or perform their own shows. Wonderful music poured out of Tommy’s for the next couple of years with GBB typically playing three nights a week and me being there for at least one of those nights more often than not. Tommy’s eventually closed but the Goshorn Brothers rolled on. The lineup wasn’t particularity solid so you were never quite sure who would be backing up the brothers on a band date but you knew they would be good. The two Goshorns could probably make anybody sound good but it’s a plain fact that they attract the best. Many different combinations have appeared as the Goshorn Brothers Band over the years and every one that I’ve heard sounded great.

I have no pictures from Tommy’s. Those at left are from the 2007 and 2008 Summer of Love Reunions. A big part of celebrating the Cincinnati music scene of four decades ago was the current Goshorn Brothers Band playing the role and the songs of the Sacred Mushroom. Both years, Mushroom bassist Joe Stewart (in the first picture) was coaxed into performing a couple of those tunes with his old bandmate.

The photo at the top of this post is from Wednesday’s concert as are the two at right. The evening began with a Larry and Tim acoustic set and ended with the brothers fronting a hard hitting five piece. The time between was filled by the same group minus Larry. Larry broke his ankle early in the year and Tim has been performing without him in a quartet sometimes called Whistle Pig and sometimes called Friends of Lee. Members are Lee Everitt on keys, Bam Powell on drums (no, his head doesn’t really look like a cymbal), and Mike Fletcher on bass. This was the group that filled in the middle and by definition became the Goshorn Brothers Band when Larry joined them.

The music was great and the event well attended. The only surprises were things that didn’t happen. I had expected some comments or jokes about retirement and there was absolutely nothing of the sort from the stage. I had also expected something like an all star jam but, despite there being a number of well known and talented musicians in the house, nothing of that sort happened either. I really shouldn’t have been surprised though. The “we’ll never see Larry again” shock of the first announcement had become a more realistic “we’re going to see Larry less”. The shift was made official with an “or is it?” appearing on posters and tickets. It was a great show and it brought a lot of old (in every sense of the word) friends together. But I think we were all rather relieved to realize that Larry is only mostly retired.

Veteran’s Day Eve Concert

Posted on November 11, 2012 by Denny

I thought I might turn up a parade or two when I went looking for Veteran’s Day events but I found not a one anywhere nearby. What I did find was a concert in a building that seems almost made for the occasional and that I’ve been curious about for some time. On the afternoon before Veteran’s Day, I headed downtown for the Veterans Salute at the Hamilton County Memorial Building.

The building, commonly called simply Memorial Hall, was erected in 1908 as something of a joint venture between the county and the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). It was designed by noted architect Samuel Hannaford. Hannaford designed many buildings in Cincinnati including the nearby Music Hall which tends to overshadow Memorial Hall. Even when the building is noticed, it is easy to miss the six Clement J. Barnhorn statues high above the entrance. Representing each of the nations’s conflicts at the time of construction, they are a soldier from the Revolution with a frontiersman from the Indian conflicts here, a sailor from the War of 1812 here, an artilleryman from the Mexican-American War here, and an infantryman from the Civil War with a “Rough Rider” sort of fellow from the Spanish-American War here.

The doors opened in time for me to do a little exploring before the concert and that’s just what I did. Although most of the artifacts from the building’s GAR days are gone, many pictures remain. The wreath in the first photo is believed to have been at Lincoln’s funeral. There is lots of marble in the building. The marble arches in the second photo are entrances to the somewhat circular auditorium. After the concert, a pair of fellows from American Legacy Tours led a tour of the building which included the area above and behind the stage. Many of the men who constructed the building were craftsmen from the surrounding area and many of those were Civil War veterans. As the guides pointed out, it would be almost impossible to recreate this building, with extensive hand work like the GAR motto on the proscenium arch, today. Plus a much wider building would be required to hold the additional statues out front.

At the start of the concert, I had one miss and a near miss. I was in the balcony so as to get a clear view of the stage and that turned out to be a not so good spot to photograph the Xavier University Honor Guard as they brought in the US and Ohio flags. It did turn out to be a good spot to photograph the Cincinnati Boychoir but I almost blew that. I had not studied the program and expected them to perform at least a few songs. I stood in my spot as they sang the national anthem intending to get a picture from a better location later. Fortunately I grabbed this not so great shot during The Star Spangled Banner since that would be all they sang. It was beautiful.

The actual concert was in the capable hands of the Queen City Concert Band with a short speech from retired USAF Captain and all around Cincinnati arts benefactor Otto M Budig, Jr, in the middle. Beginning with the ultra-appropriate Battle Hymn of the Republic, the band performed marches and hymns and a few things in between. I particularly liked the collection of mid-nineteenth century tunes called American Civil War Fantasy and The Armed Forces Salute medley gave veterans an opportunity to stand and be applauded and maybe do a little singing.

John Philip Sousa is among the many musicians who have performed in this building during its long life. A couple of his marches were played here today with Stars and Stripes Forever as the stirring finale. US flags, given to attendees on entry, were waving throughout.

The concert, presented by the Cincinnati Memorial Hall Society, was free. So was the punch and cookie reception provided by Fantasy in Frosting, portraits of veterans by Christopher Lowry, and the previously mentioned tour by American Legacy Tours.

The Hamilton County Memorial Building houses the American Classical Music Hall of Fame but its modest exhibits were removed today to make room for cookies and cookie eaters. However, just across the street in Washington Park, the associated American Classical Music Walk of Fame is always available. Engraved bricks identify inductees.

Music Review
Prelude
Ronstadt Generations

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Denny

I’ve intended to review Prelude, the latest from Ronstadt Generations, ever since it came out in July. But almost immediately, a Route 66 road trip got in the way then the quick appearance and disappearance of a related opportunity caused me to push it way to the side. It took doing a review of a newer album to remind me that this was on deck.

Technically, Ronstadt Generations is Michael J. Ronstadt and his two sons, Michael G. and Petie, but there are so many musicians in their world that it seems the trio rarely performs or records entirely alone. This recording benefits from some fellows that the Ronstadts often perform with in their home town of Tuscon, Arizona. When they aren’t touring, the Ronstadts perform each Monday at the Chicago Bar. They have taken to referring to the informal group that has been accompanying them and holding down the stage during their absences as Los Tucsonenses. Los Tucsonenses turn Ronstadt Generations into a full band and really flesh out Prelude.

At some point in that Route 66 trip, I realized that there was a good chance the return leg would put me near Tucson on a Monday. This was the fleeting opportunity I referred to in the opening paragraph. I was excited at the possibility of seeing Ronstadt Generations y Los Tucsonenses performing together. The excitement peaked when my Monday in Tuscon looked certain and faded when I learned that the Ronstadts would be touring in Ireland while I was in Arizona. I did go to the Chicago Bar and saw members of Los Tusconenses with other vocalists and under another name. The fact that they were great took the edge off of my disappointment at missing the Ronstadts but it didn’t eliminate it. I think that maybe it was almost seeing Ronstadt Generations y Los Tucsonenses that made me forget about reviewing Prelude for so long.

The Ronstadt Generations website features the slogan “History Through Music”. Packaging for their first CD, Lulo, tells us that “Ronstadt Generations exists to explore the music traditions of a family through time by keeping alive what was and exploring what is to come.” Those sentiments are evident in Prelude. “What was” is addressed by several tunes from the last century and the one (at least) before that. The source of two songs, both sung in Spanish by Michael J, is “Traditional”. A total of seven tracks are covers. “What is to come” gets essentially equal attention with six tunes penned by the Ronstadts.

All three sing, play multiple instruments, and write. Each contributed songs to Prelude. Perhaps in the interest of fairness, each writer has two tunes on the CD. Their writing styles do differ. Songs from Michael G, the classically trained cellist, contain a touch of complexity with slightly cryptic lyrics. Michael J’s songs tell stories and are usually fairly straightforward in doing it. They, and their writer, might seem pretty much at home around an Arizona campfire. Petie’s stuff is somewhere in the middle.

As part of the core trio, Michael G’s cello does set Ronstadt Generations somewhat apart. Sometimes it’s in front leading the song but it also floats in the background adding depth and smoothness. On this CD, the always impressive guitar work of Petie and Michael J gets some help from Johnny Blommer and the saxophone of Alex Flores adds that something extra to several tracks. Bassist Sam Eagon and drummer Aaron Emery provide a firm foundation for everybody else though Emery’s tasteful fills frequently shine through.

Each Ronsadt takes the vocal lead on songs they’ve written and each sounds good. But a real “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts” element kicks in when the three voices are joined. This happens a bunch but might happen a little more readily on the covers than on songs whose “owner” is present. The harmonies on Stephen Stills’ For What It’s Worth are impressive; Those on Stills’ Find The Cost of Freedom even more so. Here the voices are accompanied only by Pitz Quattrone’s didgeridoo. Beautiful.

Find The Cost of Freedom fades seamlessly into Joe Glazer’s The Mill was Made of Marble which flows directly into Petie Ronstadt’s Like a River for a CD ending medley that showcases everything that makes this recording so listenable; Nicely layered voices and instruments on ear catching songs old and new. The three Ronstadts are accomplished solo artists. Together, they form a polished “family band”. Prelude is a nice example of what they can do with a little help from their friends.

Music Review
Modern Vintage
The Newbees

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Denny

Modern Vintage is the name of the latest Newbees’ CD. This post is ostensibly a review of that CD but there’s some concert/venue/band/radio in the mix, too.

Over the last few years, WNKU has pretty much replaced another local NPR station in my heart and in my ears. I made it official a while back by donating a few bucks and becoming a “member”. Among other things, that put me on a mailing list that includes invitations to be part of the studio audience for their Monday night broadcast-live Studio 89 concerts. I finally got around to asking for a seat for the fourth concert of the current series. I made the cut.

The performers at that October 8 concert would be the Newbees. I’d heard of the band but didn’t really know much about them. Before sending in my request, I spent a little time on the internet learning that this was a group I’d almost certainly like. Online videos include things like the quintet doing a bunch of Beatles tunes backed by a high school orchestra plus plenty of performances of original material. This was not your run of the mill garage band.

The setting for the Studio 89 concerts is inside a room called the Griffin Hall Digitorium. I believe digitorium translates to “really cool and intimate state-of-the-art place for concerts”. Counting the attendees would have been easy but I never got around to it. I was part of the group occupying three rows of theater style seats facing the stage. Each row has maybe 10-15 seats. Between the seats and the stage are some tables where host Pam Temple and a few VIPs sit. That space is also home to video cameras and other gear. I have no idea how or when the multi-camera video is used.

And now, at last, some words about the CD. It makes me smile.

A Modern Vintage CD release party had been planned for Saturday, October 6, during the grand opening weekend of a new/relocated venue, Southgate House Revival. Last minute construction issues caused that to be cancelled on Friday so the Studio 89 appearance was something of an introduction for the CD and very much a disappointment reducer for the band. The five core members were psyched and ready and so were the half dozen (3 horns, 3 strings) backing musicians. I’d heard one cut on the radio and a couple on the internet but I heard more of the CD’s songs for the first time as they were broadcast live from the Digitorium. They sounded great and, with a CD obtained after the concert, I could later verify that they sounded “just like the record”.

The CD’s title is a good one. I said that it makes me smile and part of the reason is the music’s “vintage” aspects. It’s more of a vintage feel than a vintage sound. The songs are new. The sound is “modern”. Some of the tunes do remind me a bit of stuff that came from my AM radio “when I wore a younger man’s clothes”. They’re not the same songs. They’re not knockoffs of those songs. They don’t even sound quite like the songs from my youth. But they do feel like them.

All five Newbees write. Visit the Bio page of their website and you’ll see them distinguished by their primary instruments; two guitars, bass, drums, keys. Then they are all tagged with “Vocals” and “Songwriter”. The packaging doesn’t identify who wrote individual songs on the CD but there is no doubt that everyone contributed. It really does seem like a musical team.

Tracks range from dance-able rockers like Up All Night and Don’t Knock It (‘Til You Try It) to sway-able stuff like Nevermore and Goodbye Sun. Some are really “sticky”. In the last week, I’ve frequently heard Medicine Show, Nobody to Blame, and others playing inside my head. Though some pretty serious topics appear (Medicine Show immediately comes to mind), the entire CD has a fun feel. I’ve often said that nothing helps me like music more than knowing the folks producing it are having fun. I saw the Newbees having fun on stage and I can hear them having fun on this CD. That is, of course, another reason it makes me smile.

It is almost impossible to write about the Newbees without bringing in the Beatles. Over the years, the group has put a lot of time and energy into faithfully reproducing Beatle tunes and they’ve impressed crowds at nostalgia fueled events like Abbey Road on the River. They even included some Beatles in the off the air conclusion of the Studio 89 concert. This aspect of the band was in my mind as I listened to Modern Vintage for the first time. I guess I was actually listening for the Beatles but I didn’t quite hear them. I heard songs the the Beatles could have done and some that I told myself could have fit on this or that specific album. I did not hear copies or knockoffs. By the second or third listening I was hearing the Eagles, Leon Russell, Paul Simon, and probably every other musician who, along with the Beatles, influenced the members of the Newbees. I’m pretty sure that Find, the CD’s final cut, could have been covered by Peter, Paul & Mary. The Newbees are indeed a great Beatles cover/tribute band but they are so very much more.

Things came together at Southgate House Revival and the “Rescheduled Album Release Shindig” is, according to the Newbees site, set for November 21 though it’s not yet shown on the Southgate House Revival site. Hope they catch up soon so I can order my ticket.

UPDATE: 27-Oct-2012 – The Southgate House Revival site did catch up and tickets are available here. However, just as I was about to place my order, an email arrived telling me that Cincinnati legend Larry Goshorn would be playing a retirement gig that same night. I’d love to catch the Southgate party but Larry’s “farewell” wins this conflict. Good luck, Newbees, with the CD release. I know I’ll see you in the future.

MPMF Lite

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Denny

Some consider Cincinnati’s Mid Point Music Festival second only to Austin’s South by Southwest and some concede even that grudgingly The eleventh coming of MPMF has just concluded and it was only the third I’ve attended at all. I think I was there the first year and again for the second or third but I’m not at all certain. Whichever ones they were, I know they were pretty early on and know that I’ve spent many years since feeling guilty about not going. Sometimes I was out of town or had another legitimate reason but mostly I was just too lazy. The effort that I shied away from was not the driving downtown or the hiking between venues; It was the effort of determining which venues to hike between.

This year is typical. There are 180 bands playing at 16 venues over 3 days. Unlike most music festivals, MPMF doesn’t book the world’s most well known bands to get you to attend. It books lesser known but highly talented bands to get them and you some exposure to each other. Unless you are an industry pro, you’re not likely to be familiar with many of those 180 bands. You can either show up and hope you stumble upon a couple of performers that you like or you can spend time planning your visit in hopes of not missing your next big favorite. Or you can do what I’ve been doing and dodge the whole thing.

Maybe the feelings of guilt finally caught up with me or maybe it was the addition of the recently redone Washington Park as a venue or maybe it was actually recognizing the performer who would be headlining one of the Washington Park shows. It was probably all the above and more that prompted me to at least dip a toe — or ear — back into the Midpoint Music Festival. I decided to attend one night of the three day festival and partake of only the Washington Park offerings. The photo at the top of this post is of Washington Park a couple of hours before the official opening of the festival. That is the glorious Cincinnati Music Hall in the background. At what I believe was the first concert at Washington Park in July, the bands had played from the permanent stage where I stood to take the picture at left. Yes, the music has started but the crowd is almost non-existent. The opening crowd at festivals, especially those with sixteen stages, is often like that and rain & rumors of rain didn’t help. As it turned out, not a drop fell on Washington park during the entire concert.

The group that opened the show and is playing to a lot of grass in the previous picture was the Bonesetters from Indianapolis. The crowd was significantly larger, though far from large, by the end of their set. With a good performance of very solid original material, they deserved more but, being both new and semi-local, the exposure was still no doubt good for them. Next up was the even more local but well established Pomegranates. I’d heard of them but don’t believe I’d ever heard them and know I’d not seen them. From the white clothes and dyed hair to the Fender Mustangs, there is plenty of formula and gimmickry here but it’s backed with solid music, lots of energy, and impressive vocals. The next band, Brooklyn’s Here We Go Magic, seems to basically be a group of talented musicians delivering singer-songwriter Luke Temple’s well crafted tunes. They sounded good and I liked the material but there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of energy or conviction coming from the stage. It appears that band personnel may vary from time to time so maybe there’s a killer …Magic lineup out there somewhere.

That headliner I recognized was Andrew Bird. I surprised myself by recognizing the names — not necessarily the sounds — of at least eight performers. Eight of one-eighty! I doubt many attendees would brag about a 4% recognition rate but this old man is doing exactly that.

It was full on dark when Bird took the stage and, while that didn’t help me get crisp photos, it did show just what those overhead spirals were there for. Spinning slowly and lit by frequently changing colored spot lights, they were a nice visual backing for Bird’s music. I had heard a few recorded tunes so was aware of Bird’s whistling ability but did not realize just how good it was or how much he used it. Where another musician might blow into a harmonica for a little non-verbal music, Bird just purses his lips and blows into the microphone. It might seem like a gimmick for a few seconds but it quickly becomes just another instrument in the mix. That mix includes a bassist, guitarist, and a drummer that plays keyboards. And then there’s Bird. Seemingly equally proficient on guitar and violin, he usually plays one or the other but sometimes uses both in the same song. In the close up, he’s playing a glockenspiel while holding a violin which he will pick or bow then lay down to play the guitar hanging at his side.

Music Hall’s circular stained glass window sure looks good hanging above Andrew Bird’s lighted spirals and there was a nearly full moon floating behind me. I truly enjoyed my one venue return to MPMF. I’m sure Thursday is the least crowded of the festival’s three nights and the threat of rain may have also played a role. The crowd at Washington Park grew steadily as the first three bands performed then took a big jump as Bird’s slot approached but it never reached the shoulder to shoulder mass that I feared and the promoters hoped for. I hope it was enough and I hope to be back next year. Sorry I’ve been away so long.

Not all of the entertainment in Washington Park was musical. Among the food vendors was new-to-me Island Noodles. I happened to be Brad’s first customer of the day which meant I had to wait awhile for dinner but I got a great show and absolutely fresh food in return. Although it’s hard to beat a huge flame, it was also fun to watch the veggies get chopped into the big wok. Before I even finished paying for my noodles, the next customer was beside me and business picked up from there. This is good eating.

This particular operation is based in Florida. That’s where Brad lives but he is originally from Toledo and has spent the summer staying with his parents and working festivals around the state. Events included July’s Bunbury Festival which was also in Cincinnati. As he cooked, we chatted, and Brad said he wished he had learned more about Cincinnati when he was growing up near the other edge of Ohio. “This”, he says, “is the friendliest city I’ve ever been in.” That’s nice to hear. I think so, too.

I was in Indianapolis last week and in my trip journal I raved about a bar-b-que joint named Squealers. It deserved the raves but it reminded me of two things. One, I hadn’t eaten in my favorite ribs joint in quite some time and, two, I had a gift card that would let me do it for for free or close to free. I made use of that card on Wednesday. If I am ever convicted of a capital crime in a country that honors the last-meal-for-a-condemned-man convention, this is what I want; Montgomery Inn ribs, shrimp, and Saratoga chips. Being warned about stirring the sweet plum sauce and hot mustard is as reliable as death and taxes. I kidded the waitress about it and she shrugged. “You don’t know what they do to us if we don’t tell you”, she said.

RoadDog Day Afternoon

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Denny

I get to be part of somebody’s road trip again. Don Hatch is a roadie whose nickname and online handle is “RoadDog” and that is the source of my not particularly clever title. He stopped in Cincinnati today on his way back from relatives in North Carolina to his home in Illinois. Unlike Fred Zander, whose road trip I got to be part of last month, Don has been to Cincinnati before and even visited the American Sign Museum in its original location. In spite of that, or more likely because of it, seeing the new and improved set up was high on his list of goals for the visit.

To save time and make sure we didn’t miss the four hour (noon-4:00) Sunday window, we met at the museum. We arrived a little after 1:00 and roamed the museum on our own for awhile then hooked up with about a dozen others for the 2:00 tour. This was my first “official” tour of the museum in the new location. Museum founder Tod Swormstedt did his normal excellent job job while RoadDog took notes.

I experienced another first by going inside Neonworks, the independent sign shop that occupies some of the museum’s space. The shop can be seen from the museum proper through large windows but is usually idle on weekends. Today craftsman Tom Wartman showed up near the end of the tour and we were allowed into the shop for an up-close look and a little demonstration. As we watched, Tom sealed and filled then brought to life a length of neon text.

Another of Don’s Cincinnati goals was grabbing some chili but, as I’ve noted before, all the independent chili parlors are closed on Sundays. The two big chains, Skyline and Gold Star, have plenty of stores open and both turn out some very fine Cincinnati chili but I talked Don into waiting until Monday for his chili fix and trying out a ‘burger joint today. Probably the currently best-known Cincinnati ‘burger joint is Terry’s Turf Club and that’s where Fred and I went. However, Don has experienced — and loved — Terry’s in the past so I led Don to someplace “new”. That “new” is in quotes because, while Zip’s Cafe may be new to Don, but it has been turning out award-winning “Zip Burgers since 1926.

For dessert, we did exactly what Fred and I had done and ate delicious ice cream at one of the 98-year-old marble tables at the Aglamesis Brothers shop on Madison Road. Most people who think of Cincinnati ice cream think of Graeter’s and I don’t want to demean it in anyway. Like Skyline and Gold Star chili, it is an excellent product and I’m proud to live near its source. All three brands are Cincinnati to the bone, if any of them had bones, but they can now be found in other cities in the region. Camp Washington and Blue Ash Chili (which is in tomorrow’s plans) are among a number of independent one-location Cincinnati-only chili dispensaries. Aglamesis does have two stores but all of their ice cream is made on Madison Road. Fred actually had Graeter’s on his list when he arrived but I steered him to Aglamesis. I was happy to learn that he did get to sample their product in Columbus, Ohio, and sent this picture to prove it.

We wrapped up the day at Washington Park. The park, which originally opened in 1855, had become a somewhat scary place in recent years but an extensive makeover has just been completed. The ribbon cutting was July 6 and tonight a sort of grand reopening celebration took place with a free concert featuring Jake Speed & the Freddies and Over the Rhine. You can’t get much more Cincinnati than that.

The reverse road trip continues tomorrow with stops planned for Blue Ash Chili, Pompilio’s, and Mansion Hill Tavern.

The World is Singing in Cincy

Posted on July 8, 2012 by Denny

The Seventh World Choir Games are happening in Cincinnati right now. Austria, South Korea, Germany, and China have previously hosted the biennial event but this year it’s our turn. The opening ceremony was Wednesday, competition started Thursday, and I got a small taste of the event on Friday. I could have prepared for my visit a little better but I had a great time anyway.

There are ticketed events, which include the big opening and closing ceremonies, and there are free events. The competition is divided into Open and Champions. The Champions participants are selected by a panel while any choir that meets certain requirements can enter the Open competition. Tickets can be (or at least could have been) purchased for specific events and there are daily Competition Flex Passes available. A Flex Pass will get you into any of the competitions “as seating is available”. Part of my poor planning included deciding on Friday that I was going on Friday. For some reason I thought I had to get my Flex Pass at the Aronoff Theater ticket office which opened at 10:00 or exactly the same time as the day’s first concerts. I had picked a Folklore Champions Competition to attend first. By the time I got my pass and walked to the venue (and discovered that I could have bought my pass there), the choirs and been performing to a packed house for half an hour. The doors opened briefly between each performance, a few people exited, and their replacements were allowed in. I evaluated my chances of getting in before it was over and they weren’t all that good. I slipped away and sought out the shuttle running between the venues. The shuttle stop was near where the choirs entered and exited. A group from the Czech Republic came by then some stragglers from a group that had apparently included some “down on the farm” material in their performance. One trustworthy member had been entrusted with an abundance of their props.

I rode the shuttle to Fountain Square where a free Global Village concert was in progress. That’s a choir from China on stage in the picture. In addition to the full slate of scheduled activities, impromptu musical outbursts can occur just about anywhere at anytime. The energetic group performing in front of the Rock Bottom Brewery is the Bel Canto Children’s Chorus from Red Hill, Pennsylvania.

Bombay Cambridge School Choir, India

EDTChoir,
Norway

Vocal Point, Galesville, WI, USA

Vox Juventutis, Poland

Hunter Singers, Australia

Morten Boerup Choir, Denmark

In the afternoon, I easily made it inside for a Popular Choral Music Open Competition at the Aronoff. The theater’s size might be partly responsible for the large number of unfilled seats but I’m sure that the perceived quality has much more to do with it. These may not be the hand-picked cream-of-the-crop choirs of the Champions Competition but they’re pretty darned good. I thought that all six choirs I heard were very good, four were great, and that outfit from Poland was something above excellent.

I have, of course, absolutely no qualifications for offering anything close to a real evaluation of these groups. I can’t even make an untrained comparison between the Open and Champions Competition since the Popular Choral Music Open Competition was the only competition of either sort I actually saw. It started at 1:00 and ended about 3:15. I wandered back to Fountain Square and even popped into Rock Bottom Brewery for a cold one. Yes, I had just been sitting in air conditioned comfort for a couple of hours but at 100+ it doesn’t take long to get hot. As I sipped, I did something I should have done much earlier and looked a little more thoughtfully at the schedule. A Champions Competition was slated for 3:30 just a few blocks from the Aronoff. Had I headed there when the Popular Choral Music thing ended, I could have at least been in line when the doors opened. I walked on over but the line that existed at 4:15 was clearly enough the keep the event filled and then some.

The official temperature in downtown Cincinnati was a record breaking 104 Fahrenheit. As I walked back to Fountain Square, I snapped a couple of pictures of the kiosk at the bus plaza. It showed a solid 104 and I got a picture of that. Then, just as I was lowering the camera, a 105 appeared and I grabbed another shot. On the next cycle it was back to 104. Maybe it was just showing off for the camera. I have evidence of a 105 reading but, to be honest, I couldn’t tell the difference.

Temperature has certainly been a big story around here lately. Keeping residents and visitors safe is a real concern that Cincinnati is taking seriously. Although a big reopening celebration is a couple of weeks away, there was a ribbon cutting and dedication at the totally reworked Washington Park and its several fountains were clearly appreciated. The park is near Music Hall and the School for Creative & Performing Arts which are both being used for the Choir Games. Some large misters are operating on Fountain Square and, of course, there is always the Tyler-Davidson Fountain itself.

Maybe it was the heat that kept me from thinking clearly and organizing my day better. The Games are here through next week so maybe I’ll try again. Haphazard bouncing around was certainly enjoyable but actually hearing at least one Champions Choir seems like a worthwhile goal.

Oddly enough, the World Choir Games were not the reason I first marked July 6 on my calendar. I marked it when I heard that a favorite musician would be visiting Cincinnati and playing on the square. This isn’t him. This is a favorite musician but he doesn’t have to visit Cincinnati; He lives here. This is 86 year old Philip Paul. Remember Tiny Bradshaw’s Train Kept a Rollin’ or Hank Ballard’s The Twist or Freddie King’s Hideaway? All those recordings and a whole lot more had Philip Paul’s drums on them. He was pretty much the session drummer for King Records during their heyday. He still performs on weekends at the Cricket Lounge. When I realized that hanging around to see that out-of-towner would keep me in the area and that actually seeing him would keep me from the late Choir events, it seemed a perfect time to see the Phillip Paul Trio again. It’s good jazz from a rock ‘n’ roll and blues legend who happens to be a really nice guy, too.

This is the guy I’d marked my calendar for and was hanging around to see. Patrick Sweany is originally from Ohio but now lives in Nashville, Tennessee. In a way, I think the move may have been good for Cincinnati fans. Patrick occasionally returns to the Alliance, Ohio, area to visit family and play a few gigs in the ‘hood. Since Cincinnati is along one of the possible routes, we get to see him now and then, too. His music is a little bit blues, a little bit roots, a little bit soul, and a little bit rock ‘n’ roll.

Strangers may have been fooled by the perfectly combed hair and the shades that you can only buy in Nashville and then only with a prescription from your manager but us regulars know what happens when the music starts. And it looks like those great tunes and nothing-held-back performances may be winning over some new Cincinnati fans, too.

Roads, Women, and Cars

Posted on June 10, 2012 by Denny

I’d have probably been overpowered if they had all been present at the same time, but, over the course of the weekend, I managed a “road meet”, an all-female concert, and a gathering of killer cars. The photo at the right is of the “road geeks” who participated in the “road meet” which was in Dayton, Ohio.

“Road geeks” are different from “roadies”. “Roadies” are attracted to old roads and the culture around them. “Road geeks” are attracted to newer roads and to their design and construction. Neither definition is perfect and the groups certainly overlap. I’m a mainstream “roadie” and a fringe “road geek”. Most in the picture tend to be the other way ’round.

The difference is illustrated by a couple of events from Saturday. One of the participants is planning a drive to and from California in the near future. It was one of the things we chatted about over lunch. He mentioned that the return trip would be more leisurely and relaxed since they would be covering only 500-600 miles instead of the 700-800 of some of the westbound days. My target range is something like 150-200 miles a day. The other event was the “clinching” of a road. “Clinching” means traveling the full length of a road. I’ve clinched a few; Route 66, Lincoln Highway, US-62. I-675 is a quarter-circle expressway on the southeast edge of Dayton that the whole group “clinched” on Saturday. I believe that’s the first interstate I’ve ever “clinched” and am certain it’s the first I’ve done intentionally.

For the most part, though, the differences are a matter of degree and both “roadies” and “road geeks” are very friendly people who enjoy roads and each other. There are certainly some “roadies” who would cringe at the thought of looking over the recently reworked I-70 & I-75 interchange from a park bench but I’ve now seen members of both groups roaming around the former Dixie Highway & National Road intersection with cameras clicking. The sign being photographed is the “Crossroads of America” sign. The title has no shortage of claimants but both of these intersections are legitimate contenders. The DH and the NR, clearly major highways of their day, morphed into US-25 and US-40 respectively. I-75 is the interstate era successor to US-25 and I-70 is the successor to US-40.

From Dayton I headed over to Oxford, Ohio, for another show at the Big Song Music House. This one featured “The Georgia Songbird”, EG Kight. As she has for the other shows I’ve attended here, Lisa Biales, who owns Big Song Music House with her husband Marc, opened with a few tunes. Then EG took the stage and, in the intimate setting that seemed to fit her perfectly, entertained us with both music and conversation that triggered many smiles and several chuckles. Of course, smiles were not restricted to the time between tunes. EGs humor frequently shows up in her songs, too.

Lisa is close friends with both acts, Ricky Nye and Ronstadt Generations, that I’ve seen here in the past and she joined each of them a few times during their performances. EG and Lisa are certainly friends and EG produced and contributed to Lisa’s most recent CD, Just Like Honey, but it’s probably the musical similarities that makes their performing together something special. Both have powerful and clear voices, they both know their way around a guitar, and both are capable of delivering both real and lyrical winks. Lisa joined EG several times, both with and without her guitar, and the two powerful voices combined to produce some pow-pow-powerful harmonies.

I took an overnight break before heading out to my third event of the weekend, the 35th Ault Park Concours d’Elegance in Cincinnati. In years past, I’ve parked as close as I could (which never seemed to be very close) and trudged up the hills to the Concours. This year a friend and I took advantage of the free offsite parking and shuttle. Not a bit of trudging and the fact that the shuttle buses were air-conditioned was deeply appreciated after we had walked all over the grounds and were heading back to the car.

There were plenty of “normal” concours vehicles like Duesenburgs, and Hudsons and brass era cars such as the 1914 Packard above, but the title of this year’s event was A Century of American Power so there were also some cars on display that you might not immediately think of when you hear Concours d’Elegance. Prominent among these were 1960s & ’70s muscle cars and dragsters from the same period.

Prime examples of Detroit muscle are the 427 CI 425 HP V8 in a 1964 Ford Galaxy and the 426 CI 425 HP (for insurance purposes) V8 in a 1963 Dodge Polara. That’s Cincinnati muscle in the third picture. The 44 CI 26.5 HP I4 in a 1951 Crosley Hotshot might not seem like a symbol of …American Power but it was a Hotshot that won, through handicapping, the first Sebring Endurance Race in 1950.

This picture might make you think that texting while driving was encouraged back when the alphabet was smaller but it is actually the push-button transmission controls in a 1958 Edsel Citation.

This is something of a bonus. Carey Murdock is another singer-songwriter I learned of through Josh Hisle. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee. I came close to connecting with him there last Christmas but missed and actually met him for the first time tonight as we both walked across the street to Mansion Hill Tavern. Carey had prearranged a stop at Mansion Hill as a “featured guest” which essentially means a half hour slot at a regularly scheduled blues jam with lots of musicians waiting to form groups and get some stage time. This is obviously not the best showcase situation but Carey handled it well and the crowd seemed to like him. I definitely did.

Music Review
Just Like Honey
Lisa Biales

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Denny

Just Like Honey CD cover I read somewhere that Alannah Myles recorded her 1989 hit Black Velvet in a hot un-air-conditioned room to make it feel, and therefore sound, like “Mississippi in the middle of a dry spell”. The result was something that could be described in a single word and which fit that word, sultry, in every dimension. Lisa Biales didn’t forego climate control to record Just Like Honey but she did get some help from the south and she did nail SULTRY — dead center and in capital letters.

The title track comes from Nashville song writers Cameron-Beck-Kahan.There are a couple Biales originals, a couple from the CD’s producer, EG Kight, and a Biales-Kight collaboration. Most of the remaining material comes from some of Biales’ musical influences and that was a conscience decision by her and Kight.

If you ask Lisa to name her influences, you best not be in a hurry. The list of female singers she admires and draws from is a long one and includes many who are no strangers to sultry themselves. She doesn’t get to all of them here but she does cover some biggies. There are tunes by Memphis Minnie, Bonnie Raitt, and Candye Kane plus songs written by others but firmly associated with the likes of Ma Rainey, Etta James, and Odetta. And by “cover” I don’t mean “copy”. I mean celebrate and interpret.

A goodly chunk of that “help from the south” I mentioned comes, of course, from Kight, a.k.a, “The Georgia Songbird”. There’s a big dose from Paul Hornsby and his Muscaline Recording Studios in Macon, Georgia, and Capricorn veterans Tommy Talton, Marshall Coats, and Bill Stewart (guitar, bass, drums) contribute their share, too. In fact Talton, supplies a song, Watch Out Baby Don’t Cry, that quickly became a favorite of mine. Talton, Coats, and Stewart form the core group for this CD but others, including Hornsby on keys and Ken Wynn on guitar, show up here and there.

So we have some highly talented musicians, an accomplished producer and engineer, some original material, some material “borrowed” from the best, and maybe even a little of that “slow southern style”. That’s a mighty fine foundation for Lisa’s clear and powerful… and sultry… vocals. Just Like Honey is the name of the CD and of a song that’s on it. It’s also a pretty good description.

The CD is here and Lisa’s website here.

I’ve mentioned a few of Lisa’s live performances in this blog including a couple in April where she and Ronstadt Generations traded “guest appearances”. Ronstadt Generations have just launched a Kickstarter project looking for help with their second studio CD. Check it out here.

Parisians at Play

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Denny

Though far removed from their natural habitat, these Parisians appear to be well acclimated and enjoying themselves. And so is everybody else. Local boogie woogie master Ricky Nye makes at least one trip to France each year and, for the last three years, these fellows have been returning the favor. Using the name Ricky Nye and the Paris Blues Band, they do a few shows in and around Cincinnati and I’ve managed to catch one of them on each of the visits. The first two years, it was at Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, where they performed Friday night. This year I missed the Rabbit Hash show but saw the group on Saturday at the Big Song Music House. This is the remarkable venue that Marc & Lisa Biales have created near Oxford, Ohio, and which I visited for the first time just about a month ago.

The Paris Blues Band, which doesn’t really exist without Ricky, consists of Simon Boyer on drums, Thibaut Chopin on bass, and Anthony Stelmaszack on guitar. Chopin and Stelmaszack both sing and, as you can see, both play harmonica. Ever hear twin harmonica powered locomotives steam across a stage? Killer!

The excellent Ville Du Bois, recorded in Paris, is the group’s only studio offering to date. (Wrong! See note below.)
I apologize for being unfamiliar with a collection of live recordings that is also available. They are doing quite a bit of recording while in the States and that includes some with Biales. The songs they recorded together were used as openers for both sets and violinist Doug Hamilton even joined in for a couple of tunes. There will definitely be a new Ricky Nye and the Paris Blues Band studio CD available before too long and I’m sure those tracks with Lisa will appear somewhere somehow someday.

It’s a good thing when Ricky pushes himself back from the piano in a move that looks a little like something Jerry Lee Lewis might do. It’s an unintentional signal that some extra hot keyboard action is about to take place and it’s kind of rare. Maybe it was the band or maybe it was the acoustic (rather than electronic) piano but there were three or four of those moments tonight and one that ended with Ricky standing as he joyously worked the keys. Fortunately for those seated just a few feet away, he stopped short of sending the bench sailing as Jerry Lee often does. There’s a little better view of the 1930ish Wurlitzer Butterfly Baby Grand here.

I left my camera in the car until intermission so all of the preceding pictures are from the second set. But it was during the first set that Lisa surprised everyone, including Thibaut, by filling in on bass while he played harmonica. In another “If you want a picture really bad, I’ve got a really bad picture” moment, I tried capturing that with my phone.

CORRECTION: I somehow missed a second studio CD but Ricky very politely filled me in. The CD is here and the cover actually looks familiar though some track samples don’t. It shows up at CDBaby with a search for Paris Blues Band though not with a search for Ricky Nye. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it but I’m still sorry and embarrassed.

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