This coming Tuesday, RCA Records will release a new EP by Cincinnati AltPop quartet Walk The Moon. The Tightrope EP features the title track — WtM's current single from last year's self-titled LP — in its original form (check the music video here) and an acoustic version, plus new recordings of "Tete-A-Tete" and "Drunk in the Woods," album "B-side" "Anyway I Can" and a live version of the group covering the Talking Heads' hit "Burning Down the House."

Today, Walk The Moon leaked "Tete-A-Tete" via Twitter. Check it out below. Tonight in Minneapolis, the band starts its latest round of touring, which will take them all over the States and Europe through March.



UPDATE: Billboard magazine reported on Walk The Moon's Tightrope EP this afternoon. Click here to read it and listen to the EP's live version of the band's excellent "Burning Down the House" cover.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This year's 20th anniversary edition of Lollapalooza in Chicago's Grant Park was once again a live, breathing, three-day mixtape featuring star artists (Coldplay, Eminem, Foo Fighters), established performers, cult heroes and up-and-comers. Local writer Leyla Shokoohe attended her very first Lollapalooza this past weekend and agreed to write about the experience for CityBeat. Below is her report on Day 1 as well as video from some of the performances mentioned, mostly from Lollapalooza's YouTube page. Keep an eye on this space for Day 2 and 3 dispatches soon.

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The best music-related viral video this week has been footage of Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy doing the weather on Chicago "superstation" WGN (see below), which Pitchfork immediately awarded a 9.3 rating, calling it the best TV weather reporting since the members of Neu!'s infamous "Das ist snow!" Krautrock version on German national television in 1973. Though it appears to be a one-off, the station would nail down the 35-55-year-old hipster dad/music critic demographic if they'd offer him the position full time. We pray this was just a try-out/preview of the new Wilco News Network (WNN), with foreign correspondent Nels Cline and Glenn Kotche taking on the Jeanne Moos role. Perhaps local network news should take note — I would pay $1,000 to see Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker from local Indie Rock band Wussy anchor the evening newscast on Fox 19, even for just one night (heck, I'll pay $100 for 30 seconds).

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The MidPoint Music Festival returns to Over-the-Rhine (including inside the newly unveiled Washington Park, which hosts the main "Main Stage") Sept. 27-29. After weeks of speculation, we now we have the first lineup announcement for MPMF.12, which features, once again, top-line Indie artists — from new buzz groups and some current, critically-acclaimed favorites to a few true Alt music pioneers.

Longtime supporters Dewey's Pizza had the scoop on the announcement this morning. Visit them here on Facebook.

Below are the first 19 acts to be announced. About 150 to go! Stay tuned.

Grizzly Bear
The Dirty Projectors
Sleigh Bells
Dinosaur Jr.
Best Coast
Cloud Nothings
Imperial Teen
Willis Earl Beal
Frankie Rose
Tennis
Julia Holter
Laetitia Sadier
Craft Spells
Seapony
Lord Huron
The Black Belles
Zeus
The Growlers
J.C. Brooks & The Uptown Sound

Be sure to visit mpmf.com for all the latest updates and to score your tickets. VIP and “Early Bird” (read: discounted) all-access passes are available now through cincyticket.com here.

If you’d like some face time with the MPMF authorities, just head down to Fountain Square this Friday for the free MidPoint Indie Summer concert at 7 p.m. The event is a world tour of music, kicking off with local Ska/Reggae/Soul masters The Pinstripes, who join Malian artist Khaira Arby and Funk/Soul headliners The Dynamites.

Before its current successful run of reunion concerts across the globe, The Afghan Whigs played its final live show at a New York City club called Hush on Sept. 29, 1999. But that was a private concert. The Whigs last public appearance was Sept. 25, 1999, at Cincinnati's Bogart's with special guests Howlin' Maggie. (The set list featured a large chunk of final album 1965, as well as lots of dips into cover tunes and snippets, including opener "The Boys Are Back in Town," and dashes of "Superstition," "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," "Little Red Corvette," "People Get Ready," "Hot for Teacher," "All You Need is Love" and Madonna's "Express Yourself," among others.)

Today it was announced that The Afghan Whigs will return to the scene of the crime and perform their first hometown show in over a decade on Oct. 25 at Bogart's, one month and 13 years after that final concert. Tickets are $33.50 ($45.86 with fees). The fan pre-sale starts this morning at 10 a.m.; tickets go on sale to the general public this Friday at 10 a.m. Click here for info. (Check The Afghan Whigs' official site for a password to get in on the pre-sale.)

Though the neighborhood has changed a lot since The Whigs roamed the earth originally, the band returning to Corryville is fitting. While frontman Greg Dulli would eventually bring his band The Twilight Singers to Newport's Southgate House frequently, Bogart's was the Whigs hometown concert home. Before that, the group played many shows at long-since-shuttered Sudsy Malone's across the street from Bogart's, while it and Top Cat's just a few blocks up the street were the sites of a few epic "secret shows," warm-up gigs for tours where the band would perform under a pseudonym like The Havana Sugar Kings or Gato Negro. 

Update: The fan pre-sale password for Bogart's is uptownagain. Use it here starting at 10 a.m. today.

Update2: The pre-sale is now at noon today, according to the ticketing site.

Touring the country in a van is not for softies. It's a daunting proposition for even the heartiest, scrappiest bands (see Henry Rollins' melodramatic yet entertaining Get in the Van for proof). But for anyone with a rusty Econoline and a rag-tag group of fellow-minded musical miscreants, it's a sort of birthright that's there for the taking. It's also a definite American rite of passage.

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Revitalization group 3CDC's live music programming throughout the past few summers has helped turn Fountain Square into the heart of Cincinnati's increasingly active downtown area, drawing thousands to the Square every week to catch everything from Reggae and Salsa to Hip Hop and Indie Rock.

The group will be doing the same thing in Over-the-Rhine at the newly renovated Washington Park across from Music Hall. The Park officially opens tomorrow (July 6) with a 10 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony. The christening will be followed by tours of the park, then a free 5 p.m. World Choir Games "friendship concert" at the Bandstand.

Like with Fountain Square, Washington Park's weekly music series will showcase local musicians, with live performances on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Wednesday will be "Bandstand Bluegrass" night, featuring some of the best area Bluegrass artists. The shows begin July 11 and will run every week, starting at 7 p.m., until Sept. 5. On Fridays, the Park features "Friday Flow," a night of R&B and Soul that starts July 13 and runs each Friday through Sept. 5.

The lineups for Wednesdays and Fridays have yet to be announced, but more details have been made available about the every-Thursday Jazz in the Park series. Beginning July 12, the lineup has been curated by local Jazz pianist Chris Comer, who held a similar role on Fountain Square last year. The first Jazz in the Park concert is July 12 and features Comer and his quintet, plus special guest Napoleon Maddox from the progressive Jazz/Hip Hop group IsWhat?!

Jazz in the Park performances run 7-9 p.m. through Aug. 30. Other shows in the series include the P&G Big Band (July 19); The Cincy Brass (Aug. 2); Steve Schmidt (Aug. 9), Ricky Nye Inc. (Aug. 16); and the Dick Sorice-Dan Jackson Quintet (Aug. 23).

Along with many other special concerts — like Over the Rhine's (the band) free show July 22 and the rare joint performance featuring Cincinnati Pops, May Festival Chorus, Cincinnati Opera and Cincinnati Ballet — the Washington Park summer schedule is filled with other types of events, from community festivals to "dog programs" to movie nights and special "Curiosity Saturdays" for kids.

One of the coolest physical changes to Washington Park is the interactive Classical Music Walk of Fame, a project in conjunction with the American Classical Music Hall of Fame and InfoTrust which will enable visitors to use their smartphones and tablets to play various musical selections through the park's sound system or through the very cool "musical fountains," which will change appearance/flow/color depending on which music is selected.

Here's a quick overview of how the interactive Classical Music Walk of Fame will work.



To read about all of the things Washington Park has planned just this summer alone (remember, it will be a primary venue for the MidPoint Music Festival at the end of September) click here.

Bush was the peak of Alternative music success in the mid and late ’90s. After an eight year break, the band reformed with as fresh a sound as they ever have provided. From its first No. 1 album, Razorblade Suitcase, Bush was an unstoppable force until its split in 2002. In 2010, lead singer Gavin Rossdale put the band back together and Bush recently released its fifth studio album, The Sea of Memories. CityBeat caught up with Rossdale to preview the band’s concert with Chevelle and Filter this Friday at Riverbend's PNC Pavilion. We discussed the process of putting the band back together, the current tour. R.E.M.'s breakup and how his turbulent upbringing impacts his songwriting.

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An impressive and eclectic roster of local bands will transform an otherwise stark Loveland VFW hall into an artsy, flashy, sorta hippy-ish Rock ‘n’ Roll venue for this year’s third annual Adjust Your Eyes Music and Arts Festival, June 26 and 27. The two-day, two-stage, multimedia extravaganza, which is the brainchild of Grasshopper Juice labelmeister and Wonky Tonk/Chick Pimp band member Nick Mitchell, will feature not only upwards of 28 bands but also art by Jacklyn Howard and CincyStar Glass and stage lights and visualizations by Bunk News.

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"AAAANND welcome to 97.3 The Wolf!”

Um, what? I wouldn’t preset a Country station on my car stereo if my life depended on it. I flipped around frantically, trying to find The Sound instead of the bumpkin bonanza that was currently wreaking havoc on my speakers. Zilch. Gone. I later found out that The Sound, which enjoyed popularity in its early broadcasting stages but was forced last fall to move from 94.9 FM to 97.3 FM after its rankings plummeted, is now available only on HD radio due to continued low ratings.

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