The lineup for this year’s MidPoint Indie Summer concert series was recently announced. Along with a slew of solid local acts (including headliners who’ve garnered national attention, like Wussy, Buffalo Killers and Tweens), this year’s free Friday night concerts at downtown’s Fountain Square will feature more big name national acts than ever before.
Here’s the lineup so far (local artists are in bold):
May 29: Surfer Blood; The Yugos; Automagik; Harbour
June 5: The Mowgli’s; One Day Steady; Nevele; Beloved Youth
June 12: Kopecky; Broncho; Coconut Milk; Near Earth Objects
June 19: Buffalo Killers; Ohio Knife; Mad Anthony; Go Go Buffalo
June 26: Sloan; Mother Mother; Old City
July 3: Red Wanting Blue; Young Heirlooms; Motherfolk; Chris Salyer
July 10: Saint Motel
July 17: The Ting Tings; Brick + Mortar; Black Signal
July 24: Givers; Prim; Even Titles
July 31: The Whigs; Multimagic; Pop Goes the Evil; The Never Setting Suns
Aug. 7: Tweens; Leggy; Smut; Shark Week
Aug. 14: Judah & The Lion; Seabird; Matt Hires; Along the Shore
Aug. 21: San Fermin; Lemon Sky
Aug. 28: Wussy; Pike 27; The Perfect Children; JetLab
Sept. 4: The World is a Beautiful Place and I am No Longer Afraid to Die; Injecting Strangers; Moonbeau; Edison
The Indie Summer shows are sponsored by CityBeat’s MidPoint Music Festival (MPMF does not book artists for the Fountain Square events). MidPoint returns this September. The festival is currently accepting applications from artists interested in playing MPMF 2015. Submissions close on May 17. Visit mpmf.com for details. And keep an eye on the MidPoint site for early-bird ticket sales (starting soon) and more announcements.
Bob Cushing Shares ‘Troubadour Songs’
Veteran “one man band” Bob Cushing is one of Cincinnati’s hardest working solo performers, playing cover tunes and his own songs as well as hosting open mic nights all over the area (at least) five nights a week. A professional musician for more than 25 years, Cushing has also released several solid collections of original material.
Saturday at the Crow’s Nest (4544 W. Eighth St., Price Hill, cincycrowsnest.com), Cushing will celebrate his latest release, the six-track EP Troubadour Songs, with a 9 p.m. show.
For Troubadour Songs, Cushing enlisted some fellow high-quality, longtime local musicians for help in the studio. Longtime cohort Chris Goins produced and provided guitars and backing vocals, while Ricky Nye, Karen Addie, Kenny Cowden and others also appear on the release. Collectively they do a good job of bringing Cushing’s twangy, heartfelt songs to life.
Cushing’s sound is a mix of Heartland Rock and earthy Country (the true-blue stuff, not the modern Pop version) … or as he calls it on the opening title track, “Redneck Hippie Rock and Soul.” Cushing’s lyrics are consistently engaging, full of honesty and passion, with dashes of his trademark humor poking through. The title track is a good example of his lyrical strengths, as he offers a biographical encapsulation of his life in music, blending funny self-depreciation with an overriding sense of pride, hopefulness and appreciation of his ability to make a living doing what he loves (“Though I ain’t gettin’ rich, I can’t bitch and the battle’s been won/I’m still havin’ fun”).
Elsewhere, Nye’s piano and Addie’s fiddle provide a melancholy streak to “Ain’t My Town Anymore” as Cushing yearns for the salad days of playing music in Cincinnati (while still invoking a sense of stubborn resilience). The self-awareness continues on “I’m Movin’ On,” about appreciating a failed relationship, taking responsibility and looking ahead, and “Get Me to the Ocean,” a jaunty, accordion-laced tune about the desire to escape to his happy place. The album ends on a fairly fun note: “Smoker’s Blues” is a Blues burner about how society’s crackdown on smoking turns those who still light up into pariahs. After mourning the loss of freedom, the track ends with Cushing going into a coughing fit.
With a soundtrack that resembles a roadhouse Bruce Springsteen/Hank Williams Jr. jam session, Cushing turns Troubadour Songs into a no-filter snapshot of his current feelings about the life he’s lived and the life that’s still ahead of him. (bobcushing.com)
CONTACT MIKE BREEN: mbreen@citybeat.com
This article appears in Apr 22-28, 2015.