Music Tonight: Fountain Square will be loaded with music today. At 5 p.m., the Cincinnati USA Music Heritage Foundation presents a tribute to “Train Kept A’ Rollin’,” a Cincinnati-recorded King Records single by Tiny Bradshaw that eventually became a standard for guitar-fueled Rock & Roll bands (ranking up there with “Louie, Louie” and “Smoke on the Water”) thanks to versions by The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin and scores of others.
Read Steve Rosen’s feature story on the song and today’s events at citybeat.com here. Be sure to scroll down to check out some of the more famous versions of the tune. —-
At 7 p.m., Fountain Square jazzes things up with resident Jazz band The Chris Comer Trio. The group features different guest artists each Monday for the Fountain Square Lounge shows. This week, Boogie Woogie/Blues piano hero Ricky Nye and Dan Barger (sax and flute master) sit in with Comer and Co. for the free performance.
Not so long ago it was a no-brainer — if you did not live in a major metropolitan area (preferably L.A., Nashville or New York) and you wanted to be a successful musical artist, then you had no choice but to leave your rinky-dink town in the dust for the big-city bright lights. Now, internet-enabled connectivity has made that way less of an issue.
Rising Indie Rock stars The Poison Control Center are just one of the examples of a band staying put in their non-music-hub hometown, yet still finding success and garnering attention nationwide. PCC — whose music is a swirling blend of Pixies, Pavement and My Bloody Valentine’s noisy squall — hails from Ames, Iowa, which has a population at around 60,000 residents. The band doesn’t just sit in their Iowa rehearsal studio, though; the band tours quite often, if fact. Tonight, PCC is at MOTR Pub for free show with local guests The Dandybeards.
Check out Brian Baker’s preview here and take a gander at the group’s just-released music video for “Dracula’s Casket” below. The song is from the group’s latest album, Stranger Ballet, on Afternoon Records (home to Cincy’s own Pomegranates).
Dracula's Casket by the Poison Control Center from TAPES FOR LIFE on Vimeo.
(Leave your suggestions/promote yourself or your favorites by telling everyone about your favorite music event recommendations for the day in the comments below.)
Momentous Happenings in Music History for July 25
On this day in 1981, Australian Snooze Pop band Air Supply’s “The One That You Love” went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart, the soft rockers only single to do so. Here’s a little something to help annoy your co-workers if you’re reading this from a cubicle. Crank it up! Although, I guess if you work in a dentist office, no one will even flinch.
Musical folks born on July 25 include Duke Ellington Band saxophonist Johnny Hodges (1906), Motown session drummer Benny Benjamin (1925), Rita Marley, singer and widow of musical icon Bob Marley (1946), and guitarist for influential Athens, Ga., Art Punk band Pylon, Randy Bewley (1955). And today is the 53rd birthday of Thurston Moore, Sonic Youth guitarist and probably the highest profile booster of experimental and avant garde music in contemporary culture. Raise a toast to Thurston and crank up the below video for “Death Valley ’69.”
R.I.P.: Eclectic Country music legend Charlie Rich, who had huge Pop crossover hits in the ’70s like “The Most Beautiful Girl” and “Behind Closed Doors,” died on this day in 1995 from a blood clot in his lung. Rich was on a driving trip to see his son perform in Florida when a serious coughing fit forced him to stop and see a doctor. Rich (who’d been given antibiotics) and his wife continued their trip and stopped driving for the night to get some rest at a motel. Rich died in his sleep that night.
