This week the media is abuzz with tributes to the Woodstock music festival to mark its 50th anniversary. Cincinnati has its own countercultural live music institution celebrating its 50 anniversary this year and, unlike Woodstock, there will be a concert in its honor. (OK, there are still concerts celebrating Woodstock at 50, but the major Woodstock 50 festival infamously fell apart.)
In September 1969, future Cincinnati restaurateur and politician Jim Tarbell opened the Ludlow Garage in Clifton, just weeks after Woodstock — the club reportedly even had parts of the Woodstock sound system for its PA. Though short-lived (it closed in early 1971), the Ludlow Garage hosted a who’s who of Rock & Roll titans from that crucial era, including Santana, Iggy and the Stooges, The Kinks, Captain Beefheart, Grand Funk Railroad, MC5, The Allman Brothers (who recorded a live album at the venue) and Alice Cooper, who claimed that he wrote his iconic hit “Eighteen” backstage at the Garage after a show.
The space on Ludlow Avenue was reopened as a music venue in 2015. Now under new management, it is currently undergoing renovation and is slated to reopen at the end of August. Dweezil Zappa is scheduled to perform at the new Ludlow Garage (performing his father’s Hot Rats album and more) on Sept. 19, the official 50th anniversary of the venue (Grand Funk Railroad played the first show there that night). Visit ludlowgaragecincinnati.com for more on the Garage’s 2019 incarnation.
On Saturday, Aug. 17, several local acts will join together for a free concert at Seasongood Pavilion in Eden Park to celebrate the Ludlow Garage legacy. Cincinnati music heroes Rob Fetters, Sonny Moorman, Sandy Nassan, The Bluebirds, Jeffrey Seeman, Haymarket Riot, Robin Lacy & DeZydeco and The Warsaw Falcons will be joined by two nationally acclaimed artists who played the Garage during its heyday.
Headlining the concert are Tracy Nelson — who performed at the club when she fronted the Blues Rock band Mother Earth — and Rick Derringer, who played with Johnny Winter at the venue and whose Ohio ties run deep. Derringer got his start in Southwest Ohio with The McCoys — who had a huge hit with “Hang On Sloopy” (co-opted by Ohio State University as a rally song) before going on to work with Steely Dan, “Weird Al” Yankovic and many others. Derringer also had a Top 40 hit in 1973 with his classic “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo.”
Saturday’s tribute show is free and runs from noon until 9 p.m. Find more info at the Facebook event page.
This article appears in Aug 7-14, 2019.