One Good Cover Deserves Another

The Cincinnati Art Museum (CAM) has found an interesting way to promote its current exhibition, Borrowed Time: The Photograph as Music Album Cover, which features famed or especially creative album sleeves from various records from the past four decades. What better way to celebrate the lost artform of the “album cover” than with a concert filled with … cover songs. Like the popular trend of tributing a particular artist with a night loaded with local bands tackling their favorite tracks from the performer live, “Borrowed Time: The Concert” presents several area acts playing the songs featured within the albums on display in the exhibit. The event takes place Friday on the Ballroom stage of Newport’s Southgate House.

With such a plethora of styles represented in the exhibition, an equally eclectic collection of local acts has been assembled for the concert and the “crossover” possibilities are promising. Some of the more interesting band/cover teamings at this moment (cover selections are subject to change) include Indie faves Ruby Vileos taking on Led Zeppelin, eccentric Electro Rock duo Le TechnoPUSS13s covering Bob Dylan and dynamic Punk/Alt crew The Minni-Thins handling something from the Beastie Boys’ discography. Other artists participating include Sweet Impala (covering Buffalo Tom), Thunderpants (Bullet Boys), the “new” guise of greatmodern, Lavender Drags (Lucinda Williams), Len’s Lounge (Joe Henry), ufofingertwin (Miles Davis), Mack West (Mark Knopfler), Go To Hell (Over the Rhine), Kendall Bruns (Alan Parsons) and Sohio and The Hiders, who will each offer renditions of Bruce Springsteen songs.

The music kicks off at 9 p.m. sharp Friday. The $10 cover will also nab you a ticket to Borrowed Time, which will be on view at CAM through Jan. 29 (tickets are $8). CAM concludes its ongoing workshops/gallery talks associated with the exhibit on Jan. 25 with a 6 p.m. “participatory workshop” exploring the relationship between music and photography.

(cincinnatiartmuseum.org; southgatehouse.com)

“All Back …” Turns 1
The DJ-night-with-a-twist “All Back to Mine” celebrates its first anniversary Jan. 11 at The Comet in Northside. Co-hosted by longtime local musician and management/PR specialist Paul Moran and DJ Philly Phil, the bi-monthly event (running every second and fourth Wednesday of each month) draws on the local music scene for a special guest “DJ-who’s-not-a-DJ” each night. Past participants have included Dana Hamblen of Culture Queer and The Fairmount Girls, Pat Hennessy of The Tigerlilies and The Fairmount Girls, The Wolverton Brothers’ Tim Schwallie, The Greenhornes’ Craig Fox, Ric Hickey and former Sluggo/Mimis/SHAG guitarist Chris Donnelly. Between the hosts’ record collections and the recordings the guests bring, the night can offer an incredibly diverse playlist. Moran says you can expect to hear everything “from Funkadelic to The Fall and from Nilsson to Notorious B.I.G.”

To usher in their second year on Jan. 11, Moran and Phil welcome guest spinster Brian Olive. Olive is probably best known locally for his long run with The Greenhornes, though, after leaving that band in 2002, he has spent much time in Detroit and on the road, playing sax and electric piano with internationally-renowned critical darlings Soledad Brothers (Olive has also played piano with The Detroit Cobras and jammed on sax nightly with Spiritualized when the Soledad Bros. toured with them). Music kicks off at 10 p.m.

More Local Notes
· Cleveland-based music promotion/education organization Undercurrents (which hosts an annual unsigned band showcase/conference) is coming to Greater Cincinnati. The first Cincy-area event for the group takes place on Thursday at Covington’s Mad Hatter, kicking off with a 7 p.m. seminar on songwriting (musicians are encouraged to bring their recordings in for a demo-listening session). Following the panel discussion/workshop, locals Another Tragedy and regional bands 650north and De-Hydrated showcase their talents. For more on this and other upcoming events, go to undercurrents.com.

· Long-running local Blues crew Them Bones celebrates its seventh anniversary this week. The party to commemorate the milestone goes down at TB’s gig Saturday at Mansion Hill Tavern in Newport, where the band also hosts a weekly Blues jam session every Sunday. On Saturday the music starts at 10 p.m. (thembonesband.com)

This article appears in Jan 4-10, 2006.