The summer musical events on Fountain Square are kicking off a little earlier this year. (Blame global warming?) Tonight, local Salsa band Tropicoso kicks off the Salsa on the Square series, which runs each Thursday through Aug. 30 at 7 p.m. As usual, dance instructors will be on hand for tips and pointers. And, like all of the PNC Music Series concerts this summer, it's free.
The rest of the PNC Music Series shows — including the Friday "MidPoint Indie Summer" concerts (which are especially strong this year) — begin the week after Memorial Day. Stay tuned for lineup announcements.
If it were legal, you could bring a tent and camp out at the Fountain this weekend, because Friday and Saturday also will feature some solid local tunes. Tomorrow (Friday) is "4EG Square," sponsored by the 4EG group that owns nine local clubs (The Pavilion, The Stand, Lackman, etc.). Local Indie sensations Bad Veins is set to perform at the 5-10 p.m. event before taking off for a West Coast tour beginning next Friday. (The band has a live performance on KEXP slated for May 22 at 12:30 p.m. EDT.) DJ Matt Joy will be spinning and there will lots of food and drink specials, plus the promise of 4EG swag.
Saturday on the Square you can sip wine and listen to live music from Jazz crews the Chris Comer Trio and Triage, plus Classic Rock/R&B headliners The Bluebirds. The Bella Vite Wine Tasting event offers 24 different wines to sample (at $1 a pop); tasters will then vote for their favorites. The event also runs 5-10 p.m.
Indie darling Annie Clark and her St. Vincent are at Bogart's tonight promoting their new album, Strange Mercy. Check out Jason Gargano's recent feature story on Clark from last week's CityBeat here. Opening the show is Austin-based Shearwater, Jonathan Meiburg's orchestral Indie project that is on tour in support of the new Animal Joy album on Sub Pop Records. (Read more here.) Showtime is 9 p.m. and tickets are $20.
Here's a recent live clip of Clark and Co. performing "Surgeon."
• Local Boogie Woogie piano master Ricky Nye has been taking his pals in the Paris Blues Band around the region for several performance dates. If you missed his show last week at the small room at Baker Hunt Arts & Cultural Center, you can catch the whole crew at Covington's Chez Nora tonight at 7:30 p.m. for free. Read Brian Baker's 2010 feature on the band ("The French Connection") here. And here's a clip for Ricky and his Paris bros from last year's visit.
• Former local singer with Uncle Six (and in other local projects) Noah Hunt returns to Greater Cincy tonight with the man who took him away from us, Blues/Rock guitar whiz Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Hunt has been singing with Shepherd's band since 1997. On Noah's website it says, "Noah and Kenny are like brothers, and continue to record and tour the world together." Local crew Grooveshire opens up tonight's show at Covington's Madison Theater at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25. Here's a clip from the KWS Band's "Never Lookin' Back" from the most recent album, How I Go.
• Indie trio The Spring Standards consists of three longtime friends who knock out harmonies as if they were related and have been singing together since birth. James Cleare, Heather Robb and James Smith formed the band in the Delaware Valley during their teens, but moved to Brooklyn to launch their career. The Standards’ 2008 debut, the EP No One Will Know, was produced by Rhett Miller of The Old 97’s; their debut full-length, Would Things be Different, was self-released in 2010. The band recently issued a superb “double EP,” Yellow/Gold, which features 12 engrossing tracks’ worth of the trio’s crafty Pop, which occasionally conjures the warm, fuzzy feelings of “AM Gold” Soft Rock from the ’70s, but also pumps things up to a more rocking level, such as on the Carsian tune "Here We Go" (check the clip below). The threesome performs tonight at MOTR Pub. Local Folk Pop act Shiny and the Spoon opens the free, 10 p.m. show.
• Freekbot, the local Electronic/Funk/Dance duo featuring local funkateer Chris Sherman (aka Freekbass) and award-winning turntablist/producer Tobe Donohue (Tobotius), has not played a ton of local shows, spending a lot of time on the road as a touring unit instead. But that changes starting tonight when the duo begins a Wednesday residency at MVP Bar & Grill in Silverton (formerly Play By Play). Each week, the musicians will be joined by a different artist to “give things a different flavor,” says Sherman. For tonight's inaugural event — dubbed “Full Spectrum Wednesdays” — Yusef Quotah from You, You’re Awesome and Brian Olive’s band sits in on keys. On May 23, longtime Jazz saxophonist Randy Villars (currently touring with Bootsy Collins) is the special guest. In June, Sherman says they’ll have a different DJ or band open the shows, as well.
Here's the twosome at work.
On this date in 1990, singer/songwriter Tom Waits won a lawsuit against Frito-Lay. Waits sued the company claiming they approached him about using one of his songs in a commercial; when he declined, they found a soundalike to sing a tune very similar to Waits' "Step Right Up." He was awarded almost $2.5 million and was one of the first artists to successfully sue a company for using a soundalike.
It was not the last time Waits would battle the advertising world. In 1993, he sued Levi's after they used a cover of his song "Heartattack and Vine" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Levi's pulled the commercial and ran a full page apology in Billboard. In 2006, he won a suit against Volkswagen-Audi, which, like Frito-Lay, originally approached Waits about using his version of "Innocent When You Dream" for a Spanish commercial. He — as always — declined and the company tried to run a cover version instead. Waits received an undisclosed settlement. In 2007, Waits also settled a suit with Adam Opel AG, a German car company, on similar "soundalike" charges.
Hey advertising world — yes, he has a beautiful singing voice (?!) but maybe it's time to look for artists who won't sue your pants off to use in your adverts? Just a thought …
Waits is steadfast in his refusal to have his music co-opted to sell product (he famously said, "If Michael Jackson wants to work for Pepsi, why doesn't he just get himself a suit and an office in their headquarters and be done with it"), but did do voice-over work for a dog food company once in the early ’80s.
Here's Waits on the ’70s talk show parody Fernwood Tonight singing "The Piano Has Been Drinking." Hey, that'd make a great commercial for Steinway Pale Ale. (If it existed …)
Born This Day: Musical movers and shakers sharing a May 8 birthday include the most legendary of legendary Blues musicians, Robert Johnson (1911); TV-turned-Pop-turned-Folk-Rock star Ricky Nelson (1940); the co-captain of cheesy ’70s Pop act Captain & Tennille ("Love Will Keep Us Together"), Toni Tennille (1940); former Glam Rock star ("Rock and Roll, Parts One and Two") Gary Glitter (1944); Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett (1945); singer with Funk kings Earth, Wind & Fire, Philip Bailey (1951); Talking Heads/Tom Tom Club drummer Chris Frantz (1951); Van Halen drummer Alex Van Halen (1953); Blur drummer Dave Rowntree (1964); Canadian singer/songwriter Martha Wainwright (1976); Blues Rock guitar phenom Joe Bonamassa (1977); and the man responsible for remarkable music videos for The White Stripes, Radiohead and The Chemical Brothers, French filmmaker Michel Gondry (1963).
Gondry won an Academy Award for co-writing the screenplay for Jim Carrey's second best movie (behind Mr. Popper's Penguins), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (which he also directed). Gondry has also directed flicks like The Green Hornet, Dave Chappelle's Block Party and Be Kind Rewind, but Gondry is the rare filmmaker whose shorter works seem to be equally (if not more) acclaimed.
Gondry has done extensive work in TV commercials — his "Drugstore" clip for Levi's is the most awarded commercial in history according to the Guinness World Records folks (though it never aired in the U.S. because the plot revolved around buying condoms. God forbid!).
But it's the field of music video that first brought Gondry to the film world's attention. In 2003, along with directors like Spike Jonze and Mark Romanek, he was part of a DVD series consisting of different volumes featuring one specific director's music video work. Here's a partial look at the "tracklisting," to get a sense of his rich music-videography: "The Hardest Button to Button," "Dead Leaves & the Dirty Ground" and "Fell in Love with a Girl" by The White Stripes; "Let Forever Be" and "Star Guitar" by The Chemical Brothers; "Army of Me," "Hyperballad," "Human Behavior" and "Bachelorette" by Bjork, "Deadweight" by Beck, "Around the World" by Daft Punk and "Everlong" by Foo Fighters.
Gondry's work features heavily in the current Contemporary Arts Center exhibit, Spectacle: The Music Video, a retrospective of the history and artistry of musical film clips. It's safe to say that, in the world of music video, he's like Scorsese (crossed with David Lynch and Salvador Dali).
Click below for a trio of lesser known clips from the director.
The Afghan Whigs' upcoming live reunion shows have generally been in Europe, largely at festivals, save a couple of U.S. shows (in New York City and at Lollapalooza in Chicago and All Tomorrow's Parties in Jersey). Today it was announced that the group's official first show back after 13 years will take place later this month, May 23, at the Bowery Ballroom in New York. Tickets go on sale this Friday in noon, if you're up for a roadtrip. Joseph Arthur opens the show.
It will be the first Afghan Whigs show since Sept. 29, 1999, when the Whigs played a private show at an NYC club called Hush.
If you can't make it to New York in 15 days, two weeks from tonight The Afghan Whigs will make their first public appearance together as a reunited group on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The band will be the musical guest on the program's May 22 episode.
Still no word on a Cincinnati date (Chicago's the closest so far). Keep your fingers crossed, local Whigs fans. Keep an eye on the band's official site for the latest Whigs updates. (I've been loving the "On This Date" in Whigs' history; today in 1990, FYI, the band played at Foufones Electroniques in Montreal.)
Fallon wasn't on yet when the Whigs were around previously, but here's a playlist of many of The Afghan Whigs' TV appearances over the years.
Local Jazz fans who keep an eye on the clubs for young players coming out of University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music no doubt remember trumpeter Brian Newman in the late ’90s/early ’00s. A Cleveland native, Newman ultimately landed in New York City after graduation and started working. He’s been there over a decade now.
Newman hit the NYC scene hard, earned a steady stream of gigs and met some key contacts. Putting together a band with some fellow CCM grads (including Alex Smith on organ, Paul Francis on drums, bassist Scott Ritchie and Steve Kortyka on tenor sax), Newman scored a sweet residency at the Plaza Hotel’s Oak Room. His shows have been a big draw, as Newman and crew do the “hip lounge lizard” thing with a healthy dose of humor thrown in. Turns out Newman is a pretty solid singer as well, lending his hearty vocals to standards like “It Had to Be You” and “That’s Life.” Along with a slew of other performing gigs, Newman also holds a residency at Duane Park, where one of those “contacts” — Newman’s girlfriend (now fiancé) Angie Pontani — came into play.
The first time lead singer of The Dukes Are Dead, Lucas Frazier, eagerly told me about his band, in between puffs of a hastily smoked cigarette while on a quick break from the coffee shop where we both worked, I’m pretty sure I said, “Aw! That’s so cute.”
Three years and a lot of hard work later, The Dukes Are Dead are far from cute. Stoic. Diligent. Loud. Confident. Any number of adjectives, but unequivocally, definitely, absolutely, not cute.
Oh sure, they’re an attractive bunch. All slender and tangle-y-long-haired fellows, TDAD are four young men with serious, hungry ambition and serious, twinkling eyes. Randy Proctor, the prodigious bassist for this band, is perhaps the most vivacious, and assertively business-like.
I sat down with the gentlemen of The Dukes Are Dead to discuss their current role as the musical accompaniment for The Know Theatre’s production of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, about the tumultuous and yes, bloody, life of the seventh president of the United States, running through May 12. (Read CityBeat's review here.)
“I was hanging out at MOTR one night,” says Proctor, his red curls all hip length and slightly mussed after a Saturday night performance of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, “getting really drunk, and Eric Vossmeyer, the production manager — he also does Fringe Festival — I overheard him talking about Fringe Festival and he says it nicer than the truth is, but, I was drunk, and kind of being cocky, and I guess I just felt like interrupting his conversation and telling him what he should do at one certain part of the production and this, this and this with the poster, and [I was like] ‘I’m in a band’, and I was being kind of cocky and he was like, ‘Oh, ok, thanks. Wait. You’re in a band? Why don’t I get your number?”
Proctor speaks quickly and efficiently, dropping anecdotes and inflection all over the place.
“And then I had no idea what he was talking about, and I called him up and we went to MOTR and he told me, ‘I like your ideas, but I’d like you to be in a musical with your band.’” Proctor relays. “I thought it was really wacky, and I was not too keen on it at first, actually, and then he just kind of described it to me, and then he told us he was going to pay us, which was cool, and then it just kind of won [us] one by one over to the idea of it. And then the wheels went into motion from there.”
Like Proctor said, TDAD was slightly hesitant at first to agree to being a part of the production.
“It was a lot of time. It was a lot of time that pretty much cancelled [us out of] being able to do anything [else],” says Luke Darling, lead guitarist for TDAD. “We were trying to do big things, and then this came up, so it was very cool, it seemed like a cool idea and like a lot of fun but that was the problem, was time. But we decided we did have time. We had enough.”
Rehearsals began a month and a half before production started, and TDAD quickly adjusted to the different setting and atmosphere.
“It was really fucking hard and stressful. They gave us all the sheet music, they gave us a CD, and basically we had to teach ourselves how to play these songs in, like, a week or two,” Frazier says matter-of-factly. He’s sitting one chair over from me, drinking a Moerlein, with Proctor, Darling and drummer Dave Reid sitting in the row directly behind us.
“Through this process, I think we all have learned tons of shit when it comes to playing music and understanding music. Like, I mean, just chords we’ve never played before, time signatures, key changes, all sorts of stuff that we’d never really attacked as The Dukes Are Dead, all of a sudden we were faced with,” says Frazier.
“And it wasn’t like, ‘Well I don’t like this, let’s just change it’, it was them telling us, ‘Play it like that.’ And they gave us this CD and this music, but then we get into this practice space and all of a sudden there’s all these lines and there’s these, like, times where we’re just playing the same thing over and over and filling the space, and having to get quiet and loud and everything’s fluctuating and changing and it’s just completely different from anything we have ever done before. And it has made us much better musicians, whether we like to admit it or not.”
The intensive rehearsal schedule is best explained by Proctor: “[At one point there were] two weekend days in a row, where we did twelve-hour days back to back, which means we worked a total of like fourteen days in a row [besides] the weekend. And we all have other jobs, too.”
But TDAD is nothing if not diligent and pervasive, and their smoking, blazing Rock and Blues-infused style made itself evident during rehearsal.
“I think that’s unavoidable,” says Darling. “We’re all particular tone snobs in our own way, to our own liking, and we were told to turn things down very far. Because it needed to be done. It’s a guitar-tech-nerd thing. I think tone’s the only reason it’s different.”
Proctor chimes in. “I think we got, three different times, formal requests to say, ‘take your volume down, you’re rocking a little bit too loud for the house.’ I’m proud of that. I think it’s cool that they had to tell us to turn it down.”
“It sucks to turn it down, but it makes sense,” says Frazier. “Because the music is not the most important thing. The vocals are.”
As lead vocalist for TDAD, Frazier has an especial appreciation for the way in which the story must be told.
“[The musical's actors] have to be heard above everything else, because they tell the story. The music is extremely important, but it’s still second to what they’re doing.”
Showmen of a different variety, TDAD performs emphatically, exuberantly at their own shows, with Frazier exuding a magnetism that is firmly in the realm of broody young lead singers. During BBAJ, TDAD is relegated to an elevated platform on the right side of the stage, mostly in dim lighting during the production. Learning to take a backseat was “so weird”, says Frazier. “When I’m on stage and I’m playing in a Dukes show, there’s that connection [with the audience]. [We know] we’re [all] having a good time. But this, they’re hardly ever looking at us, because we’re just playing the music. They’re performing. It’s very interesting to take a step back and really focus on what [I’m] doing. And increasing…”
“Dexterity,” inserts Darling.
“Right, exactly,” continues Frazier. “It’s just a chance to practice and focus and think more about it, because no one’s looking at you. It’s nice. It really is.”
With the spotlight off them in the musical arena, TDAD is eager to get back to their daily grind of performing, writing, recording and being a band.
“I think through this experience, it’s put us all in the mindset of [being] even more determined to do what it is we really want to do,” says Frazier. “Not that we’re not enjoying ourselves here, and we’re very grateful for the people around us, and this is a wonderful experience, but after this, it’s time to get back and hit it even harder than before.”
Proctor agrees.
“This production’s here because some other guy went out and wanted to make music and change the world that way. It’s our turn to do the same thing.”
The coming summer of 2012 holds a lot in store for the gentlemen of TDAD. They will be embarking on an extensive tour, in cities “as north as Chicago, as south as Nashville, as west as St. Louis, and as east as Washington, D.C., and a lot in between” Proctor notes.
“We want to let people know that we’re going to be taking this and then going on out and expect to see us doing some bigger things. More content is going to be on it’s way, and we’re only going to get bigger and stronger and more incredible as time goes on.”
The Dukes Are Dead will continue performing in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson through May 12, and their next show is on June 15 at MOTR Pub.
By now, thanks to Facebook mostly, most of you have heard that one third of the legendary Hip Hop trio Beastie Boys — Adam "MCA" Yauch — died this morning in New York City after a three-year battle with cancer. He was 47 years old and leaves behind a legacy to be proud of, with his crucial contributions to music, video and activism.
In an eerie coincidence, Northside club Mayday tonight has a scheduled dance party hosted by DJ Mowgli called "Run DMC vs. Beastie Boys," featuring music by both historic crews. The music starts at 10 p.m. and there's no cover. Something tells me there will be a little extra Beasties love from the DJ in light of today's events.
Below is the press release about Yauch's death from the Beastie Boys' longtime publicists at Nasty Little Man.
R.I.P. MCA.
Entertainment Weekly's website recently debuted a bizarre music video for Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider's cover of "Mack the Knife." The clip features Eric Nally, singer for internationally renowned, Cincy born-and-bred hard rockers Foxy Shazam, as a nerded-up emcee introducing Snider before a less-than-enthused small crowd. The song is from Snider's album of covers, Dee Does Broadway, which includes Broadway cameos from Bebe Neuwirth and Patti LuPone. The video clip also includes a cameo by modern Prog Rock legend Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater, Translatlantic). "Mack the Knife" is rendered fairly straightforward by Dee … at first. (You just knew he wasn't going to take it anymore.)
Snider is a Foxy fan, apparently. On a morning show in L.A. recently, he shouted-out the band to viewers, calling them "Queen meets The Darkness … so brilliant!
It's not the first Rock veteran to take notice of Foxy's talent. Nally co-wrote songs with Justin Hawkins of The Darkness, Meat Loaf and others for Meat Loaf's 2010 album Hang Cool Teddy Bear. Here's "California Isn't Big Enough (Hey There Girl)," which Nally and Hawkins wrote together. (Foxy and the since-reunited Darkness have been touring together a bunch lately, a match made in flamboyant Rock & Roll heaven.)
Tone House Music, the much-needed new music store in Northside, hosts the first of what is scheduled to be a really cool weekly happening at the shop. The "Cincinnati Songwriter Round" will be an every-Thursday event featuring some of the top singer/songwriters in the area performing intimate "in-the-round" shows together, trading off songs and stories. The music begins at 7 p.m. and admission is free. Tone House is "B.Y.O.B.," so if you wanna drink, swing by the pony keg beforehand.
The showcase is hosted this month by singer/songwriter/guitarist/engineer Andyman Hopkins. Tonight's inaugural "round" features writers "Easy" Tom Eby (of The EZ Tom Eby Experience) , Kristen Kreft (formerly of J. Dorsey Blues Band and currently fronting the group The Perfect Children) and Mark Utley, mainman in the colossally talented Americana group Magnolia Mountain.
Tone House Music was recently opened for business by local musician Tim Seiwert (drummer with for algernon and The Newbees). The store sells instruments and accessories (including picks, sticks and strings), something the hip, artsy neighborhood has been strangely lacking. Tone House also provides repairs, consignment sales, PA rental and lessons. And they even have an art gallery!
Seiwert began hosting live music in the store last month. Upcoming performances include experimental music act The Letdown (May 18) and an evening of acoustic Folk with Caleb Hawkins (May 19). Click here for the store's Facebook page and more details. The venue is located at 4040 Hamilton Ave.
Rise Against is the epitome of Punk Rock in this era. They are as far from the status quo from society as bands get, yet record for a major label. Part of the group's mission is to promote progressive issues, both socially and politically. Rise Against recently released its sixth album, Endgame, which features the hit single “Make It Stop” (the video for which was nominated for a MTV Video Music Award last year).
CityBeat spoke with bassist and original member Joe Prinicipe in anticipation for their upcoming show in Cincinnati. They discussed the bands writing process and how they incorporated their socially active direction in their music. Rise Against will be opening Riverbend's PNC Pavilion for the summer this Saturday. A Day to Remember and Title Fight also perform.
CityBeat: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. I know you are one of the original band members. You guys have been out on it for about 13 years from when you started. Where do you see yourself in 13 more years?
Joe Prinicipe: It’s hard to say with this business but I would say definitely still involved with writing music and performing. Rise Against has no intentions of breaking up. We would like to follow the same career paths as bands like Bad Religion and Social D that are going on 25 or 30 years and are still making relevant music. I hope that’s where I end up.
CB: I saw you last year with the Foo Fighters when you opened up in Columbus. I was wondering if there were any fun and crazy Foo Fighter stories on tour.
JP: It was pretty awesome when there were a group of protesters, I think we were in St. Louis, maybe it was Kansas City, and they were protesting the Foo Fighter show because they did that funny promo video where they were showering together. So this group came out, this very homophobic religious group. They were protesting and the Foo Fighters came out (before the show) dressed provocatively and they were out on a flat bed truck and performed and tried to play as loud as they could to overshadow, overpower the protestors. It totally worked and it was awesome.
CB: They seem fun to be around in general and don’t take it too seriously.
JP: Totally and they are all about enjoying what they have because being on the road and being away from your family is hard enough so you might as well make the most of it.
CB: Your music has been called protest music in the past by the Chicago Tribune and I just wanted to ask about your process to write lyrics around a cause. How do you choose a cause to support and then develop a song around it?
JP: (Singer/guitarist) Tim (McIlrath) writes all the lyrics and the process is very simple. He is just writing what he feels for that day. He writes from a personal perspective on life in general. That’s why our records are not just political, there are socially aware topics, there are environmental issues, there are songs about relationships and how hard it is to be away from our families when we are traveling. We always write music first and he will hear the tone that the music sets and he has a journal, and he will flip through the journal and see if something fits and if not he will write what he thinks will fit the music and that is how it has always been the last 12 years.
CB: Were you guys influenced at an early age or did something happen to you that kind of made you take your music toward this activism tone or did you have a kind of defining moment?
JP: No, it’s just seeing punk rock music. It’s just the nature of punk rock that seems formed as a reaction to the glam era of the 70’s. It’s just a reaction to that so it’s always been about that. It’s all we know. It was something that we didn’t even discuss. It was just kind of a given the direction of Rise Against was going to be that and we are kind of carrying that torch. Bands like Minor Threat and the Bad Brains were definitely singing for change whether it was singing against homophobia or social issues, but that’s kind of what the unspoken goal that the band has always had.
CB: What is the biggest way your music has been able to make a difference or make a change?
JP: I would say the effect that “Make it Stop” has had on young kids. Kids in high school trying to get through it all. We have gotten so many e-mails that the song is helping them through the hardest time of their life and that is incredibly rewarding. I would say “Make it Stop” stands out as that.
CB: Your new album came out last year in the spring. Do you have any new music in the works?
JP: No, we still have a whole year of touring on Endgame. I think I always have song ideas in the back of my head and so does Tim. It’s kind of an ongoing thing anyway. We won’t actually have anything, officially new until the end of 2013.
CB: Do you have any crazy Cincinnati stories from the past or any fond memories?
JP: Not really. Cincinnati is Bogart's, right?
CB: It’s Bogart's and this time you are at Riverbend which is outside.
JP: That’s right. The only thing I recall is from Zach our guitar player. His old band played Bogart's and someone was shot like 20 feet away from him. That’s really it.
CB: I think you are in a little safer place by the river this time. I have this new game and it’s a table game with quirky questions and people just give their first thoughts around it, so I have been experimenting with this a little and I have three questions from this game for you. The first question is what skill do you possess that most people don’t know about?
JP: Let’s see, nothing hidden, although I am a complete coffee snob and I have an espresso machine at my house and I take that very seriously. It has to be perfect. I have to time all my espresso shots as they come out of the machine. So I guess that.
CB: So you make the perfect espresso, that’s your hidden talent.
JP: Absolutely.
CB: What is under your bed?
JP: Actually nothing because my wife is a neat freak so nothing can be on the floor.
CB: If you are on the bus it is somebody else sleeping under the bed in the bunk.
JP: As far as the bus goes, our tour manager is usually in the bunk below me so I have him snoring …
CB: What song would you pick to sing karaoke?
JP: I’m really bad at karaoke, oddly enough.
CB: You don’t have to be good. I don’t think that’s the purpose of karaoke.
JP: That’s true. I don’t know maybe something from ’80s Pop like the Go-Gos or Duran Duran.
CB: What can the fans expect from the show in Cincinnati?
JP: Just high energy, just come and sing with us and have a good time. It is all about interacting with our fans and just everyone singing along. We are all there for the same reason. It is a good way to let off some steam from the week prior. Just come out and have a good time.