We Have New Music and A&E Blogs

Come see our new Spill It: A Music Blog here and our new A&E blog here. All archived posts and comments have been moved to the new sites. Please add new comments there, not here.

We Have a New Porkopolis Blog

Come see our new Porkopolis blog here. All archived posts and comments have been moved to the new site. Please add new comments there, not here.

New Zoo Venue

If your are heading to the Cincinnati Zoo tomorrow (Thursday) for the free, brilliant double-bill of World Cafe faves Kim Taylor and The Hiders (which we highly recommend doing), the concert has been moved indoors to the “Safari Gallery,” near the Nocturnal House and Manatee Springs exhibits (presumably because of the chance for rain).

The show is the last of a pretty cool “Tunes and Blooms” local music concert series that has so far featured psychodots, Faux Frenchmen, Jake Speed and the Freddies and the Comet Bluegrass AllStars. The music starts at 6 p.m. and admission is free after 5 p.m. Parking is not free (it’ll run ya $6.50, but if you’re lucky, you can often find parking on the streets surrounding the Zoo).

After the Zoo show (at which she will be joined by Pearlene‘s Andrew Higley on keyboards, french horn and saw — you have to see the saw bit to fully understand),  Taylor is off for another road-trek, this time opening for acclaimed singer/songwriter Grant Lee Phillips. If you have XM satellite radio, be sure to tune in for a Kim Taylor live session on XM Cafe soon; selected cuts from the session will air on The Loft channel as well.

Taylor hopes to return to the studio this fall, but she recently posted a great, unreleased version of Tom Waits’ “Chocolate Jesus” (from Waits’ Mule Variations album) on her MySpace page. The site also has a video clip of a live rendition of the song .

Meanwhile, Hiders head honcho Billy Alletzhauser has been posting various demos and home recordings (some of which sound better than many local real CDs I’ve heard) on his personal MySpace page. Alletzhauser says the roughs may be fleshed out for songs by either The Hiders or Ruby Vileos, the other successful local band he has a huge role in.

(photo: myspace.com/kimtaylor)

— Mike Breen

Developers, Not Residents, Get Help

The city of Cincinnati is once again looking out for business owners but not residents. Raise your hand if you’re surprised.

In a press release issued yesterday by the city of Cincinnati, developers are once again in line to get special treatment — as long as they pay for it — when it comes to building permits and inspections. There are no provisions outlined for complaints or opportunities for residents to challenge any aspect of the development process that might harm their community.

“Today the city of Cincinnati’s Department of Buildings and Inspections (B&I) unveiled its new ‘Optional Premium Services’ proposal before city council’s Economic Development Committee,” the release says. “These services, if approved by the full city council, are designed to better accommodate the often changing needs of development while providing customized services and ‘just-in-time’ permit approval and inspections services.”

Making development less cumbersome is a great idea, but without considering those who might be impacted by this rush to create a positive for developers and the city’s bank account, the balance of concern for everyone involved is once again lost to profitability. Government is supposed to protect all citizens, not just developers; and the forgotten population is once again the residents who are going to have to deal with the consequences of the mistakes created by the city’s new streamlined process.

Oinker of the Day 4.25

I’ve been accused of being a “bleeding heart” and I consider it a compliment because that indicates to me that my heart hasn’t turned to stone. Why is being a “bleeding heart” considered such a bad thing?

— Margo Pierce

Jack White Still Holding Greenhornes Rhythm Section Hostage

With James Brown gone, is Jack White the new hardest working man in show business? Or at least the most “quick and efficient.”

Billboard.com reports that White has begun work in Nashville on a new Raconteurs album with singer/songwriter Brendan Benson and the powerhouse rhythm section of Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler of Cincinnati’s Greenhornes. This comes not long after finishing up the new White Stripes album, Icky Thump, which is due out June 19 under a new deal with White’s Third Man Records and Warner Brothers Records. That deal is said to only be for the Stripes album, meaning The Racs are in need of a distributor after their previous label, V2, restructured dramatically.

That’s all well and good for Mr. White, but it never seems that the other members’ main projects get much consideration when it comes to the manic scheduling. Benson’s solo career is on hold (though he did post some new demos on his MySpace page), but the real issue is — we’re dying for a new Greenhornes album here! It’s coming up on a year since the ’Hornes have even played a live show. Give us our band back, Jack!

(photo: V2 Records)

— Mike Breen

Oh, The Secrets You Can Learn From Pollstar

Every now and then, I like to take a peak at Pollstar.com, the Web site for the biggest publication for concert industry news. If you put “Cincinnati” into the search, dates by touring artists coming to town are listed. And often these dates can precede the official announcement from local promoters. The premature listings are usually the result of managers or booking agents posting as they figure out an artist’s tour route. Here’s a few things I gleaned from a quick look at the site today (NOTE: These dates are subject to change … or not happen at all, so curb your enthusiasm slightly):

• Def Leppard? And Styx! And Foreigner?! Pinch me, I’m dreaming. The triple-threat (of crap) lineup stops at Riverbend on June 27. I’ve been waiting … for a bill like this. I don’t need no photograph, I’m going to be there. It will be the best of times. I’m so going to pour some sugar on … okay, stop me now.

• For the kiddies: Popular children’s music dude, Ralph’s World, comes back to the Zoo May 26 and 27. And, you knew it was inevitable — Disney’s incredulously popular High School Musical is going the Ice Capades route. “Disney’s High School Musical: The Ice Tour” is slated to play U.S. Bank Arena on Jan. 9 of next year (Santa, you’ve been warned).

Oinker of the Day 4.24

Do you consider yourself to be a spiritual person or a religious person? What’s the difference?

— Margo Pierce

Hip Hop Supporters Now Recommending Censorship?

Billboard.com is reporting that Russell Simmons, the founder of the Def Jam Rap/Hip Hop label, is on the “Rap is ruining society” bandwagon officially. Simmons and others from the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network released a statement about their recommendations for record companies and broadcasters. In part, the statement said, “HSAN is concerned about the growing public outrage concerning the use of the words ‘bitch,’ ‘ho,’ and ‘nigger.’ We recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete the misogynistic words ‘bitch’ and ‘ho’ and the racially offensive word ‘nigger.'”

The HSAN’s full statement is reprinted below the fold.

Though the word “voluntarily” is cleverly worked into the statement, do you think this is advocating censorship? Regardless, do you think it’s proper for a man who has made his fortune from Hip Hop, including the more “offensive” artists, to call for such action?

By targeting the companies they work for, the group avoids looking like they are trying to censor what artists are saying. Companies have the right to produce whatever they want and expect employees to behave by the standards they set. But with the prominence of independent labels in Hip Hop, and the rise of indies overall in the face of the restrictive major-label system, it seems like this is merely pushing the problem away from companies with stockholders to appease.

Local Boys Done Good (Again)

How about a little music this morning? Die-hard Indie fans worldwide likely already know about The National, a group of friends from Cincinnati who moved to Brooklyn to start the band in 1999. If the past few albums are any indication, the May 22 release of their new one, The Boxer (again on Beggars Banquet Records), should up their ever-growing profile even more (their last album, Alligator, was on many critic’s Top 10 lists for 2005). The band’s guitarist Bryce Dessner was recently in town curating the MusicNOW festival at Memorial Hall; he’ll be back in the area with his Nationalmates on June 15, performing at Oakley’s 20th Century Theater.

The following track is “Fake Empire,” the lead-off cut from The Boxer. It starts in trademark smoky, Leonard Cohen territory, but expands into a weird, slanted Art Rock freak-out as it progresses. Great stuff.

— Mike Breen