It’s a proud moment when a band can celebrate the release of its debut full-length album, but slightly more unusual to celebrate the same release again six months later. But, as any fan will tell you, Eat Sugar doesn’t do much by the book.  

Acclaimed visual artist Jay Bolotin — who lives in North Fairmount and has a Brighton studio — has been devoting time to a related but somewhat separate aspect of his artistic career. He’s finding new attention as a singer/songwriter, for both his past and present work.  

This year reclusive singer-songwriter Roger Klug's work has taken a variety of forms, including his phenomenal down-on-the-farm take on "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" for 'Ring,' the public radio fundraising Christmas CD. With renewed live activity via the Roger Klug Power Trio and Rant to Save Yourself, the stage seems set for a full-blown resurgence by the Power Pop wunderkind.  

If you remember The Cowslingers, you'll recall a carousing, careening group of Country-fried, Punkabilly ass kickers from Ohio's North Shore sporting a wicked sense of humor and a freewheeling allegiance to every genre they touched. When the Slingers called it a day after nine albums in as many years, three of them re-focused their Country and Punk roots into Whiskey Daredevils.  

Two years ago, regional Folk phenoms Daniel Martin Moore and Ben Sollee met at a Lexington show and began making small talk about music when the subject of Appalachian strip mining was broached. This mutual passion led to the collaborative album, 'Dear Companion.'  

Saturday's memorial show is a fitting tribute to 13-year-old Esme Kenney, whose promising life was cut way too short. The show features music from Kim Taylor, Karen Bergquist and Linford Detweiler of Over the Rhine, Ric Hordinski, The Hiders and The Chocolate Horse. Attendees will also be able to support a planned memorial sculpture at SCPA, Esme's school, in a silent auction featuring artwork by photographer Michael Wilson, woodcut artist Jay Bolotin and Esme's mother, Lisa Kenney.   

It wasn't so long ago that Michael Bond and Matt Dennewitz packed up their respective keyboards and guitars and headed for Chicago after plying Cincinnati fans with their eclectic vision of droning noisy Dance Punk. They still make regular pilgrimages back to Cincinnati, but don't take their presence for granted. It's just a matter of time before Coltrane Motion gets noticed in a major way and their indoor musical maelstroms make them a buzzy sensation on the coasts.  

Thanks to the weekend-friendly way Christmas falls this year, Saturday night looks like it might well take over alleged "biggest bar day of the year" (a.k.a. Thanksgiving Eve) honors. If you're a fan of original local music, a sure bet is the Northside Tavern, which a) has no cover charge and b) is hosting two of Cincinnati's best bands, Wussy and The Sundresses, for a night of sardonic wit and electrifying Indie Rock and Blues Punk.  

Ask Mark Sultan how he's doing, and small talk threatens to turn scatological. As The King Khan & BBQ Show cruise past Oregonian woodlands en route to its Portland date, the singer/guitarist responds with a bill of clean health and quickly reports that the highlight of his drive has been a deer adorned with "a Mohawk of shit."  

When Jon Spencer and Matt Verta-Ray began the process of writing their third Heavy Trash album, 'Midnight Soul Serenade,' they had no intention of detailing the tragedies and triumphs of love. But after recording and finishing 30 songs within and beyond their Blues/Rockabilly style and winnowing the tracks down to the set they wanted to comprise the record, they recognized an emerging theme.