• Gifted young violinist/vocalist Rosie Carson and her father, former Customs bassist and longtime show promoter Steve Carson, are presenting a benefit concert tonight at the Molly Malone's in Covington for Cancer Family Care of Cincinnati (cancerfamilycare.org), which assists family members dealing with the cancer diagnoses of loved ones.The event is being held in “loving memory” of Sue Carson, Rosie’s mother and Steve’s wife, who passed away from the disease. Tonight's benefit show starts at 7 p.m. and features The Graveblankets (with whom Rosie performs), Tickled Pink and The Rosie Carson Band, Rosie’s Bluegrass/Celtic hybrid that opened the sold-out Richard Thompson concert on April 11 at the 20th Century Theater. Admission is free but donations are encouraged.Here's a fan-shot live clip of the Rosie Carson Band in action, performing the Flying Burrito Brothers' version of the Southern Gospel tune, "Farther Along."• If you were to put together an all-star Funk supergroup culled from the history of the genre (dead or alive), there are a few “no-brainer” choices. Bootsy Collins would, of course, hold down the bass, George Clinton would be the bandleader, James Brown would sing and Bernie Worrell would command the keyboards. Worrell, a crucial member of the original Parliament-Funkadelic, may be less of a household name than those other artists, but he is also the one who has continued to make consistently challenging and enthralling new music.The classically trained pianist continues to be an in-demand sideman (he’s played and/or recorded with everyone from the Talking Heads to Cincinnati’s own Blues guitarist Kelly Richey over the past 30 years) and he’s currently heading up The Bernie Worrell Orchestra, which plays, for lack of a better word, “Big Band Funk,” groovin’, progressive, jazzy and with a tinge of the Psych Funk he helped invent. (Local DJ/Electronic artist Tobotius of Animal Crackers and Freekbot fame mentioned yesterday on his Facebook page that he will be sitting in with the ensemble on turntables.)Worrell’s nine-piece ensemble plays at The Blue Wisp Jazz Club tonight. Showtime is 8 p.m. and admission is $20.Here's a newer Bernie Worrell Orchestra song, "So Uptight (Move On)." Click here for even more live music happenings in Greater Cincinnati today.

On this day in 1943, chemist Albert Hofmann embarked on the first LSD "trip." As a Swiss chemist working in the lab of Sandoz pharmaceutical company in Switzerland five years earlier, Hofmann was the first to create the psychedelic drug. But the psychedelic aspect of wasn't discovered until April 19, 1943. On that day 69 years ago, Hofmann took .25 milligrams of ‪lysergic acid diethylamide‬ and not long after asked a coworker to take him home. He did, on a bike, and Hofmann kind of freaked out before he was able to reel in the anxiety and enjoy the "colors and plays of shapes that persisted … Kaleidoscopic, fantastic images surged in on me," as he later wrote. Today is known as "Bicycle Day" because of the historic trip. Fans of psychoactive drugs have celebrated today by indulging in the chemical. (I sprinkled eight microdots into my morning coffee today, for example.) Tomorrow, of course, is 4/20, the pot-smokers celebration of … an established excuse to smoke pot all day. Saturday (April 21) is Record Store Day. That's quite a three-day holiday for the counterculture!LSD has inspired a lot of music. It famously influenced The Beatles' mid-’60s musical expansion; their song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is widely considered an acid tribute, though John Lennon said it wasn't, the "L," "S" and "D" in the title merely a coincidence. The songs "She Said She Said" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" from Revolver were confirmed to be about the drug, though. The Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" was another huge LSD song, and bands like Pink Floyd and The Grateful Dead became forever associated with the drug thanks to their trippy sounds. There are, of course, as many songs about doing acid as their our Country tunes about lovin' America and drinking beer. More than anyone could ever listen to, in fact — from Syd Barrett's entire solo discography to some of today's top Dance music makers. WHOA! Does everyone else see that? Please tell me everyone else sees that.Here's a short film documenting (allegedly) Syd Barrett's first acid experience (NSFW, I suppose, but only for druggy silliness). Happy birthday, tripping balls!

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