MusicNOW is aptly named. Founded and still nurtured by local native Bryce Dessner, the festival has consistently delivered an eclectic mix of “contemporary music” since springing to life in 2006.  

Since it’s such a huge, kick-ass music festival that spotlights the newest and best of the local, original music scene from several genres, we thought we’d give you a little heads up on next week’s Clifton Heights Music Festival so you can make plans early.   

Composer Philip Glass turned 75 on Jan. 31. The party continues this weekend in Cincinnati, starting with the wildly innovative, Grammy Award-winning sextet eighth blackbird’s appearance at MusicNOW on Thursday. Glass himself will join 8bb during the first half of the performance.   

Oliver Ackermann has a Cincinnati story he enjoys sharing: Back when his band, A Place To Bury Strangers, played the Contemporary Arts Center during the 2010 MidPoint Music Festival, Ackermann’s Shoegaze/Noise Rock band wreaked chaos on the Sixth Street space’s electrical system.    

 Honestly, if you saw the name Borgore typeset in one of those dripping entrails fonts, wouldn’t you expect a downtuned Death Metal corpsefest? Don’t let the name fool you; Borgore is one of the Dubstep scene’s leading lights. There’s no dance floor at a Borgore gig; there’s the front door and the pit. Get in it.  

Long before Hank Williams Jr. was banned from Monday Night Football, Kanye interrupted Taylor Swift and the Dixie Chicks ticked off the entire Republican party, one musician has continually spoken out against the unfair, the unquestioned and the un-American. That man is Charlie Daniels.  

It’s been three years since my introduction to The Pinstripes, interviewing the band in the cramped rehearsal space they dubbed “The Good Stuff.” We discussed their love of Ska, Reggae, Dub, Soul and all points between and beyond, as well as their recordings to that point (Higher Ground and The Decay) while downing a few lightly chilled Pabst Blue Ribbons.   

It seems like in the past, Cincinnati had a reputation for being the kind of place you could move away from for a decade knowing that when you returned, the gas station, grocery store and drinking establishments would be there waiting for you, exactly as you left them.    

Many of us found it unusual that Pop star Chris Brown was all over the Grammys, considering charges he beat girlfriend Rihanna on Grammys weekend in 2009. But it probably didn’t inspire bloodlust.  

Mike Oliva and I agree — Batman is cool, but The Joker is simply badass, with his dark sense of humor and creepy, wide smile. There’s something intriguing about his slick, sarcastic ways, and, hell, there’s no forgetting that horrific laugh.