Cincinnati’s Music and Event Management, Inc. is now producing the annual, early-fall MidPoint Music Festival. The event returns Sept. 23-25 under its new management. It will be MidPoint’s 16th-annual fest.
CityBeat, which will remain a main MidPoint sponsor and partner,
has owned and operated MPMF since 2008, when it was purchased from founders and local musicians Sean Rhiney and Bill Donabedian (Donabedian went on to create the Bunbury Music Festival). MidPoint began in 2001 and has featured thousands of new and cutting-edge artists from both the Greater Cincinnati music scene and around the world in venues scattered throughout Over-the-Rhine and downtown. Originally focused on unsigned artists, CityBeat added more established acts to the lineup when it took over the festival. In the past seven years, MidPoint has featured former-local-bands-gone-big like Heartless Bastards and The Afghan Whigs, as well as internationally renowned acts like Purity Ring, OK Go, Iron & Wine, The Head and the Heart, Andrew Bird, Grizzly Bear and many, many others.
Music and Event Management, Inc. (or MEMI) is owned by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and regularly produces concerts at its many area venues, including Riverbend, PNC Pavilion and Taft Theatre. MEMI is also responsible for music fests and events like the Ohio River Throwdown, Tall Stacks and Lumenocity. MEMI’s programming coordinator Rick McCarty says the plan is to make MidPoint bigger and better than ever.
“MEMI is very excited about the opportunity to use our booking, production and promotional resources to grow MidPoint,” McCarty says in the press release announcement.
More details are forthcoming. On April 13, information about the lineup, ticketing and local/regional artist submissions is scheduled to be announced. More info about the festival can be found at mpmf.com and facebook.com/midpointmusicfestival.
More Local Notes
• Several local musicians are teaming up Thursday for a concert at Bogart’s (2621 Vine St., Corryville, bogarts.com) to raise awareness about A Voice for the Innocent, a support system that assists those affected by sexual abuse (find more about the cause at avoicefortheinnocent.org). The show is being presented by Rectify Cincinnati, a group that is using local music events to draw attention to various similar outreach programs. Thursday’s 7 p.m. concert will feature a mix of Indie/AltRock, Folk, Funk and beyond, with performances by Founding Fathers, Go Go Buffalo, Colors in Mind, The Sleeping Kings, ForestFox, Expeditions, Android 86 and John Bobinger. Admission is $10.
• New self-described “
Psych Jazz Rock & Roll” band Mint Leopard has spent the past few months working on its debut full-length album. After offering a sneak peak of the album in the form of the urgent vintage-R&B-inspired track “Fall Off the Ledge (Into Love)” on its Soundcloud page as a free download (soundcloud.com/mint-leopard), the band announced it will be releasing the full album only after 10,000 people visit mintleopardmusic.com, enter their email address and hit the “I’m Ready” button. The early supporters will receive the album for free once the goal has been met. Do it now — “Fall Off the Ledge” and the band’s earlier singles suggest Mint Leopard is a band to watch, and “I’m ready” to hear what the group has come up with for the full-length.
• A new band with several veteran musicians is having a “coming-out house party” Saturday. The Lawson-Yeardley Project features longtime local songwriter Roger Yeardley, Jim Lawson and Donna Rose of The Moxie Band and multi-instrumentalist John Cole, who performs with Comet Bluegrass All-Stars. The new band’s sound is described as “blue-eyed Soul… with Blues, Jazz and R&B influences.” Saturday’s 8 p.m. concert at Lawson’s Fox Chapel Studios in Mount Washington is largely a private event, but a few spots are available for those interested. Visit balanceproductions.us to find out how to get a free ticket to the event, which will be recorded for a planned live EP.
CONTACT MIKE BREEN: [email protected]
