T
here’s no need to shush anyone at the Main Public Library during the 2010 MidPoint Music Festival. The library, right in the heart of the festival’s downtown action, is hoping to keep MPMF fans busy during the daytime hours with free live music and music-related art shows and documentary films.
MPMF artists will perform just outside the Main Library (800 Vine St.) on the brick-terraced plaza at 12 noon and at 4 p.m. each day. Sept. 23 features Magnolia Mountain and The Bears of Blue River, Sept. 24 has The Young Republic with Adrien & the Fine Print and Sept. 25 has Say It With a Smile and The Trouble With Boys. Performances are free and appropriate for all ages.
The exhibition Where the Kids Are Goin’ Tonite features music photography by local artists John Curley, David Garza and Michael Wilson and will be on display in the library’s first floor atrium. Curley, known for his work in The Afghan Whigs and
Ultrasuede Studios, was a Cincinnati Enquirer photographer for several years. Garza is the author of iLove/Where the Kids Are Goin’ Tonite , a 2005 photography book of Cincinnati musicians. And Wilson is nationally known for photos that have graced album covers by Lyle Lovett, B.B. King, Waylon Jennings, Randy Newman, Emmylou Harris, Bill Frisell, David Byrne and others.
The exhibition opens Sept. 15 with a public reception at 5-7 p.m. hosted by Mr. Rhythm Man of WNKU (89.7 FM). Curley, Garza and Wilson will be on hand to talk about their work, and there will be giveaways, including a chance to win MPMF wristbands. Where the Kids Are Goin’ Tonite will be on view at the library through Oct. 8.
Finally, on Sept. 25, the library’s Real to Reel Documentary Series will present free screenings of films highlighting Cincinnati’s musical history.
The day kicks off at 1:30 p.m. with Midsummer Rock, a local TV documentary of the 1970 Cincinnati Summer Pop Festival featuring some of the first filmed performances of Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop and Grand Funk Railroad. At 3 p.m. Philip Paul: Keeping the Beat honors the career of the former house drummer at King Records, who still plays weekly at age 85. Next at 3:30 p.m. take a closer look at The Historic Southgate House, one of the region’s storied music halls (and an MPMF.10 venue). And finally at 4 p.m. follow one of Cincinnati’s best-known bands on their 1993 European tour in Ladies and Gentlemen: The Afghan Whigs.
The filmmakers will be on hand to introduce each work in the library’s tower room.
