2009 is almost here, and that means it's time for my first ever Year in Review. You may ask yourself, what exactly am I reviewing from 2008? Well, honestly, I don't know at this point, so I'm just going to write, so just keep reading. Please...
Spring 2008
I began this site in either March or April, as a way to just write about things, namely music: the bands I love, and all the concerts and festivals I've seen.
Fast forward to Summer of 2008
There's this music festival in Cincinnati called MidPoint. It's a three day music festival held in downtown Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, that generally falls on the last weekend of September, dating back to 2002.
I remember reading the amazing guides that Mike Breen of CityBeat has put together for past MidPoint's, and I thought to myself, "Hey, I'd like to do something like that." As my love for the local music scene was already brewing at that point, I began to do my homework for my own version of a MidPoint guide.
Sometime during the summer of 2008, bands were starting to be confirmed for the festival, and I was trying to stay on top of things as the news came.
I'll be honest though...I thought my MidPoint guide sucked bad. The main difference between my site and the CityBeat guide, was that my site offered up links online to the bands that were playing the festival, making it much easier to find out about these bands and discover some music for your ears.
The Birth of My Interest in Music Writing
For as long as I can remember, I've always had a deep love for music. But it was my brother Adam (who created CincyPunk), who was kind of like the firestarter, which led to me wanting to be an online music writer, which has now become something I would like to pursue as a career.
See, since I've listened to a lot of music in my short time, I feel like I know a lot about the bands I listen to. And that makes me want to tell the whole world about the bands I love. I'm also the artsy type of person, so I've always been that expressive, creative type.
I also owe credit to the aforementioned Breen and CinWeekly's Rich Shivener. Between my brother and these two guys, I feel inspired to hopefully one day become an educated music writer. They're all very passionate about the music they love as well, but the passion isn't exactly a problem with me. I've got that.
Kind Words From Strangers
I can't even tell you all of the nice things I heard about my site from a number of people I had never even met. One of the best things about the music scene here in Cincinnati is that it is a close knit community and everyone is very supportive of each other. It's like everyone wants to help everyone succeed. I'm happy I got to experience this first hand. Thanks everybody for the kind words and support. And thank you Mike for hooking me up with that Media Pass for MidPoint.
What Else Besides MidPoint?
Well, there were an unknown number of shows I saw this year. I'll try to go through them by going backwards in time.
For the month of December, The Seedy Seeds were the Artist-in-Residency at the Southgate House. I caught a couple of these shows, which also featured amazing guest artists such as Deastro, Stick Figures, and You, You're Awesome.
There was also the Ten Out of Tenn Christmas Tour featuring ten amazing male and female singer/songwriter's from Tennessee, who all performed original and traditional holiday songs as one huge band.
I witnessed mind-blowing/numbing Indie Rock at the Southgate House from bands I didn't know much about, much less even had heard about. This show was on December 10 and the bands were Ra Ra Riot, So Many Dynamos and Princeton.
During the month of November, our very own The Tillers performed in the lounge as the Artist-in-Residency.
I also happened to catch a few shows at the Madison Theater. Gov't Mule with Back Door Slam. Amos Lee. David Ford and Newton Faulkner.
The last day of November brought a variety of bands to the Southgate House Ball Room. Manchester Orchestra (not as impressed as I thought I'd be), Dead Confederate (probably the heaviest band I currently like) and Kevin Devine (whose lyrics speak so much truth that he may even make you cry, but not in a bad way).
At the beginning of November we had the Johnny Cash tribute, which served as a superjam of the man in black's material, featuring a number of Cincinnati's best musicians. That same night, in the lounge, they had the One More Girl on a Stage Series featuring several of the area's best and sexiest female musicians, including my fav, Beth Harris of The Hiders.
In October, I caught bluegrass jamband rockers, Railroad Earth, with our very own Magnolia Mountain as the openers. I saw Railroad Earth at Bonnaroo in 2007, but wasn't so impressed. I tell you what - there's something about the Southgate House, it's just the best venue to see a show at. And Railroad Earth blew me away that night.
The Seedy Seeds had their CD release party for Count the Days at the Southgate House with reunited friends Cam Cochran and Chris Haubner as The Sheds.
One of the area's best garage rock bands, The Lions Rampant, opened up for the weird/strange/odd hillbillies, The Legendary Shack Shakers. Their frontman is very odd...
80-something year old country legend Charlie Louvin opened up for Alt. Country legends, The Old 97's.
Possibly the best show I saw all year long was on October 3 at the Taft Theatre. I had 3rd row seats to the Ryan Adams & the Cardinals show, supporting the release of his one-thousandth album, Cardinology. Okay, I'm joking. The man releases a lot of music.
And that brings us to the end of September. MidPoint. On Thursday I caught Seabird, Ryan Adcock, Daniel Martin Moore, Why? and Ruckus Roboticus. Friday was my favorite night, as I saw The Hiders, Jake Speed, AA Bondy and the Felice Brothers. And the final night was pretty good as well - 500 Miles to Memphis, Ha Ha Tonka, Backyard Tire Fire and Radio 4.
A couple days before MidPoint I caught Stars and Bell X-1 at the Southgate House.
The only two shows I saw at Riverbend during the summertime were Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers with former Blind Faith/Traffic founder, Steve Winwood, and the Dave Matthews Band with Tim Reynold's band opening.
In April, my brother put on the most successful of all the CincyPunk Festivals. Look for this show at the Southgate House again in 2009. The lineup is currently being designed and the dates are set for April 10 and 11.
Earlier in the year I caught Bob Weir & Ratdog at the Madison Theater.
I also caught both Josh Ritter and Will Hoge at the Southgate House earlier in the year.
The only disappointment (music wise) I have of 2008, is not being able to catch Band of Horses sold-out show at the Southgate House.
Stay tuned for more as my memory comes back to me...
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