The Cincinnati natives of hugely popular Brooklyn-based Indie Rock band The National have recorded a song for the upcoming soundtrack for the second season of HBO's critically-acclaimed series, Game of Thrones. The soundtrack is due June 19. The National is the only group featured; the rest of the soundtrack album is the instrumental score, written by Ramin Djawadi and recorded by the Czech Film Orchestra and Choir.

According to Spin, the band members took the words from Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin's 2000 novel, A Storm of Swords. Check it out below.

Tickets for the 11th annual MidPoint Music Festival went on sale this morning. Click here to get yours before everyone else. 

Here's what MPMF producer Dan McCabe has to say about this year's event: "This is the fifth year CityBeat has operated Cincinnati's 11-year old MidPoint Music Festival. In each year we have pushed to expand the event with the help of our sponsors, the Over The Rhine neighborhood and music fans. MPMF is now a regional cultural event that shows off our city like no other. This September all eyes and ears will be on you Cincinnati! Now is your opportunity to participate. Get your pass while they last."

Perhaps the biggest news announced today was the addition of a new venue — a stage in the freshly remodeled Washington Park. The park venue is being called "MPMF.12's main stage," so expect many of the biggest acts to perform there. Fans can purchase advanced single-concert tickets for that main stage for the first time this year. The stage is open to fans of all ages.

The fest is also offering "Loyalty Presale All Music Access Passes" at a discount. Supplies are limited.

On June 6, the first lineup announcement will be issued. A "minimum of 20" of the 170 or so acts booked for the fest will be announced. (I've heard "rumors" about a couple; my only hint: "animals.")

Keep an eye on MPMF.com for the latest developments.

On this date in 2006, Taylor Hicks won that year's American Idol karaoke contest, laying waste to runner-up Katharine McPhee. Soul Patrol!!!

McPhee would bounce back and is currently starring in the hit network TV show Smash. Hicks, of course, went on to superstardom, scoring major hits with songs like … oh, wait. What ever did happen to that guy? Best guess: manager of a suburban Applebee's somewhere?

Post-Idol, Hicks did score a role in the traveling production of Grease and his self-titled album went platinum, but Hicks was dropped from his label in 2008 and hasn't been heard from much since.

Last night, a fella named Phillip Phillips (no lie! that's his name!) won this year's American Idol, beating a lady named Jessica Sanchez. I must confess I've not watch one second of American Idol this year (or the year before, or the year before, etc.), but reading The New York Times story on him from today, it appears Phillips actually can play guitar pretty well and covered songs by Damien Rice and The Box Tops when he was allowed to chose his own material to perform.

Will Philly Phillips be a star, post-Idol? These things are hard to predict (ask Taylor Hicks), but it seems — from my admittedly peripheral view — that Phillips is more David Gray or Dave Matthews than Clay Aiken or Adam Lambert.

Born This Day: Musical movers and shakers sharing a May 24 birthday include creative Jazz saxman Archie Shepp (1937); American music icon Robert Allen Zimmerman, better known as Bob Dylan (1941); big-voiced and bigger-haired R&B diva Ms. Patti LaBelle (1944); producer and guitarist (with Stevie Nicks, Linda Ronstadt, Warren Zevon and others) Waddy Wachtel (1947); singer/songwriter and eldest daughter of Johnny Cash's, Rosanne Cash (1955); frontman for Soul/Funk group Cameo ("Word Up"), Larry Blackmon (1956); former keyboardist for Beastie Boys pals Luscious Jackson, Vivian Trimble (1963); bassist for Redd Kross and current member of old-school Punk supergroup OFF!, Steve McDonald (1967); guitarist for rockers The Black Crowes, Rich Robinson (1969); and singer/songwriter and Country artist Mike Reid (1947).

Born in Altoona, Penn., Reid attended Penn State, where he excelled on the football field. The tackle finished fifth in Heisman Trophy voting his senior year (1969) and earned a Bachelor's degree in music.

In the 1970 NFL draft, Reid was the Cincinnati Bengals' top first-round selection (seventh overall). Known for his pass-rushing, Reid was a dominant defensive player selected All-Pro at his position in 1972 and 1973 (both years he made the Pro Bowl, as well). In ’74, an injured Reid posted lower numbers and retired at the end of the season as the Bengals all-time leader in sacks with 49. (Remember, the Bengals had only been a team since 1968.)

During the off-season, Reid played piano with orchestras in Utah and Dallas, as well as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. With some help from Larry Gatlin, he was ready to go into music full-time after retiring from professional football. Focused on songwriter, Reid won his first Grammy in 1984 for writing Ronnie Milsap's "Stranger in My House." We would go on to write several songs that hit No. 1 on the Country charts, including "Walk On Faith," the only No. 1 he also performed.

Reid's songs were recorded by the likes of Etta James, Conway Twitty, Willie Nelson, Alabama, George Jones, Wynonna, Lee Greenwood, Kenny Rogers, Shelby Lynne, Shania Twain, Oak Ridge Boys, Collin Raye, Alabama and Tim McGraw over the years. But his "time capsule" tune has to be his 1992 hit with Bonnie Raitt, "I Can't Make You Love Me," his biggest Pop chart success.

Reid is a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. In honor of his 65th birthday, here's Reid's biggest song sung by himself, followed by a pretty chilling more recent version by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.

Rootsy local musician David Faul is no longer with the wonderfully-named duo project with fellow singer/songwriter Ian Mathieu, Terminal Union (my favorite Cincinnati-centric band name of all time … and there are a lot of good ones). The two artists are discontinuing their project, which had been recording, and pursuing the solo route for a while.

That's bad news in the sense that Faul and Mathieu meshed very well together in duo form. (And that name, just sitting there, wasted!) But it's good news because each artist is really good on their own. (And you can hear some of what they've done together so far here still.)

Mathieu has been impressing people in local venues since his teens. Tomorrow (Thursday) he'll be performing at and hosting the weekly Cincinnati Songwriter Round event at Tone House Music (4040 Hamilton Ave., Northside). Mathieu is filling in for usual host Andyman Hopkins. Music starts at 7 p.m. and it's a B.Y.O.B. kinda night, so bring yer own hooch. Mathieu will be joined "in the round" by singer/songwriters Mark Becknell, Doug Teets and Ben Knight.

Here's a clip of Mathieu performing recently at Plain Folk Cafe shot by the great local music website Cincy Groove.


Faul, oddly enough, is also hosting a songwriter's showcase/open mic/open jam this week. On Sunday, he'll perform at and run the open mic/jam at Plain Folk Cafe, the new Americana/Folk/Bluegrass hotspot in Pleasant Plain, Ohio. The jam is running from noon-4 p.m. and is quickly becoming a popular musicians' destination. Faul writes on his Facebook that the jam is open to all skill levels and those "with a flare for original, folk, acoustic, bluegrass, americana, roots music" should come on out. It's a laid-back affair and you can bring your own instrument or borrow one.

Faul's great original composition "Magnificent Sounds" recently got a bunch of attention when it was posted on the Dylan fan site Expecting Rain, where it drew enough hits to be in the Top 20 of most viewed posts for several days.

Faul says he wrote the song in tribute to two of his musical idols — Jazz great Miles Davis and late, brilliant singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt. He accomplishes this by blending spine-tingling Jazz trumpet licks, performed by fantastic local multi-instrumentalist Michael Mavridoglou, with a more folksy base.

The tune was intended for a Terminal Union album, but for now, it lives on in cyberspace. The track also features Mathieu on guitar, Jared Manker on bass and Brad Kelly on harmony vocals.

About the song, Faul writes on SoundCloud: "With the help of Michael Mavridoglou on trumpet we tried to blend elements of jazz and folk into one song creating a sound beyond genre characterization. I'm blessed to have heard the music of the great jazz masters and folk song-writers. I believe the love of all genres of music is what shapes our musical journey in the most profound and engaging ways."

What a great sentiment. And a great end result. Give it a listen below.

Eight years ago, guitarist/vocalist Justin Ringle relocated from his native Idaho to Portland, Ore., and very quickly shifted his stylistic allegiance from the aggressive Rock he had played at home to the gentler Folk sound that pervades the Northwest scene. Ringle formed Horse Feathers to pursue his newfound acoustic passion and garnered rabid fans and critical acclaim with his first three albums — 2006’s Plug Award-nominated Words Are Dead, 2008’s House With No Name and 2010’s Thistled Spring — with reviewers consistently pointing out the wonderful tension between the dark poignancy of Ringle’s lyrics and the expansive beauty of the music that surrounds them.

On the fourth Horse Feathers album, the just-released Cynic’s New Year, Ringle pushes his sound in a few fresh directions, incorporating 11 musicians and new instrumentation to create a dusty Chamber Pop atmosphere reminiscent of Eef Barzelay, Joe Pernice and Gomez (in its unplugged moments). At the same time, Ringle and his rotating crew don’t stray impossibly far from their established sonic profile, somewhere in the ballpark of Eddie Vedder playing an acoustic seance and collaborating with the ghost of Nick Drake. Regardless of Ringle’s choice of musical translation, his lyrics consistently strike a heartfelt chord as bruised confessional odes or reservedly optimistic lullabies that breathe and haunt and shimmer like friendly but far from happy manor ghosts.

For the current tour — which hits Northside's The Comet tonight for a free, 10 p.m. show with opener Matt Bauer — Ringle and this iteration of Horse Feathers will be operating as a quintet, so the stripped down personnel will offer streamlined arrangements of the new songs and more fleshed out versions of the older, sparser material. Either way, prepare yourself for an emotional journey.

Here's the video for Cynic's track "Where I'll Be."

Click here for more live music events tonight in Greater Cincinnati.

Following last week's announcement of the lineup for this year's MidPoint Indie Summer — free concerts every Friday on Fountain Square featuring an eclectic mix of local and nationally-touring Indie bands — kick-ass local promoters Self Diploma have unveiled who they have coming in for the Beats Summer Concert Series. Like Indie Summer, the Beats series features a blend of local and national acts. The concerts will feature some big names and hot up-and-comers in Hip Hop, Dance and Electronic music, including one of the best rising Hip Hop acts on the scene, The Cool Kids (Aug. 4).

Self Diploma has booked over 80 artists for the events, which kick off June 2. The concerts run through Aug. 25 and are open to all ages. Shows start at 6 p.m. and will be hosted by local DJ D-Lo.

Click here for updates and further announcements from Self Diploma. Here's the video press release for this summer's events, followed by the full sched.


June 2:
AER
YOUNG DUECE
ERIK '222' BARNUM
DJ SKILLZ
JOEY MACK
CALI KID DUBZ

June 9:
TIMEFLIES
DJ ETRAYN
DJ SCHU  
IAN J
CRISTINA TADDONIO
JOSEPH NEVELS

June 16:
DJ CLOCKWORK
SANTINO CORLEON
GOLD SHOES
O'MY'S
HODGIE STREET

June 23:
BASS SLANGAS
JOHNNY QUEST  
MARKY C
QUINCY
J.STRUCK

June 30:
DAVEY C
MILK & COOKIES
DJ SHOESHINE
DJ JOHNNY B
DJ LOCO

July 7:
CRIS CAB
D-WHY
DJ SCHOLAR
NAPALM
CAL SCRUBY
FAN'S CHOICE

July 14:
3LAU
DJ E-V
DJ PULLANO
MANIC FOCUS
DJ SB

July 21:
PIERCE FULTON
DJ PRISM
PHNM
DJ FISSION
DJ FURSUR

July 28:
LOGIC
TAYYIB ALI
DJ BANDCAMP
VINCENT VEGA
JAMES WADE
SPONGE STALLINGS

Aug. 4:
THE COOL KIDS
PUCK
DJ DROWSY
BAILEE MOORE
THOSE GUYS
FAN'S CHOICE

Aug. 11:
KREWELLA
CJ THE DJ
THE CHAOTIC GOOD
SH3LLZ
NEON MEDUSA

Aug. 18:
FIRECAT 451
BITFLIP
TRIP TURLINGTON
INFECTED ANGEL
DJ MOWGLI

Aug. 25:
MIKE STUD
HUEY MACK
DJ HAWK
TRADEMARK AARON
JOLA THE TRUNK BOY
CHANCE THE RAPPER

Tonight, the Venue Formerly Known As The Southgate House hosts its first big show. The Thompson House — as it's now called after a family dispute went to court and resulted in the longtime operators getting the boot and the owners of faux-strip club the Brass Ass taking over — opens its doors tonight to the public for a 7 p.m. concert headlined by modern Ska/Reggae revivalists The Aggrolites.

A recent Enquirer story about the "new" venue drew an avalanche of comments, the vast majority of which suggested that those who were fans of the Southgate House despise the look and direction of the Thompson House, with its purple decor and Rock star murals. Check out this pic from the Thompson House's website:

But the new venue's origins and the relative abruptness of the closing of the Southgate House is angering people more than the color scheme. The wall colors are just purple icing on the cake, so to speak.

The Thompson House has been developing a schedule that seems to be attempting to mimic the eclectic nature of the old Southgate House — a little Jazz, some open mic stuff, a Hard Rock band, some Metal, some Country. Often, the Southgate House's eclectic nature harvested a following whose tastes crossed over. And as diverse as the bookings were, rarely were there shows at the old club that made you go, "Why would they bring THAT show to the Southgate." For much of its run, whoever was booking the Southgate House seemed to have good and, more importantly, consistent taste in a wide-range of music. They wouldn't just book a random Country band; they'd book an interesting, great or unusual one.

The Thompson House bookings so far seem like they will be able to attract a varied audience. But can the people who, say, go to the Blue Wisp Jazz Club every couple of weeks and will probably enjoy the local Jazz lineup at the venue feel at home going to the same club as the younger music lovers who used to hang out at The Mad Hatter (or its current occupier, Bangarang's of Covington) to watch Hardcore and Death Metal bands? We'll see.

I have clubs that I like to go to more than others, but I have never gone to a concert because of where it was being held. And I've never not gone to see a concert at a venue I don't feel as comfortable. But I would be less inclined to frequent a venue if I have a bad experience and I'd be less likely to just roll the dice and take a chance on a show at a venue in which I don't feel comfortable.   

I understand the passion of the Southgate lovers who insist they'll never set foot in the Thompson House, but if a band comes to town that you'd like to see, or your favorite local artist is performing in the "Rock Star Lounge" some night, you'll be hurting those artists as much as the new owners. Over the years, I've had club owners or promoters be dicks to me and occasionally have reached the point of anger where I momentarily think, "Screw them, I'll never write about one of their shows again." But it passes quickly. I've never "blacklisted" a club or promoter, no matter how big of an a-hole their employees are, because I've always felt that it would be unfair to both the musicians that work with them and the music fans who would like to know about the concerts they're promoting.

Like I said, I can totally understand the urge to boycott — I haven't stepped inside Clifton movie theater The Esquire since they "banned" CityBeat and its film critic from the theater after we reported how the operators had censored a raunchy part of a film without permission and without informing the audience of the edit. It's just one of those "principled" stands we all take and whether they are "rational" or not is relative and personal. (I'll admit that not going to the Party Source for several years after a manager was a jerk to me there was a little silly … but it made me feel a little better.)

Perhaps the hope is that if all these people who say they'll never go to the Thompson House actually don't, the club won't survive. But, from the bookings so far, a big chunk of the Southgate House's old clientele would never have been interested in the Thompson House bookings anyway. And if the Thompson House fails, someone might just come in and turn it into a Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill.

Me? I'm leaving the door open. I won't be there tonight, though I am a fan of The Aggrolites (and local openers The Ohms and The Newport Secret 6 are excellent, as well). I just have other plans. But, out of sheer curiosity alone, I will step foot in the Thompson House. And when there's music there I want to check out, I'll step foot it in it again and again. I miss the old Southgate House as much as anyone and I really appreciate the efforts of the previous owners, but I'm not going to deprive myself of a good concert experience. I mean, I never stopped going to Bogart's, even when it was the source of some of the worst concert experiences I've ever had.

Although when the Thompson House starts hosting the "Thompson House-produced country (music) revue show, 'Through the Years,' " as the Enquirer reported, I'll probably pass. I'm loyal to Kings Island when it comes to cheesy musical revue numbers.

Tickets for tonight's show are $13. You can buy them here and pick them up at Will Call (or buy them at the door). Click here to see who else is performing at the Thompson House, as well as some of the specialty nights.