MidPoint Wishlist

Just in case any of you MidPoint board members happen to be reading, I have some band requests for MidPoint 2009.

I don't want to come off as the type of person who "feels they know best" when it comes to music, simply because there is no right or wrong answer as to what bands or types of music are best or worst.

I've seen the lineup develop over the years, and although you can expect nearly all of the local bands to be there, it's the biggest names that can catch you off guard.

I think that if you look back over the years, Bob Pollard is a clearly a favorite here in Cincinnati, both with Guided By Voices and his solo projects.

It also seems to me, that indie music is also a favorite here, but then again, what city isn't it big in? Another one that seems to be popular in the city - folk, but not strictly folk - americana, alt. country, country rock, indie folk, folk rock, roots rock - call it whatever you want.

I don't really know where I'm going with that, so...

I spend a lot of time, looking over the hundred or so major music festival lineups every year, finding out about new bands. I waste my time, as some might say, reading about these bands - their history, CD and show reviews, interviews, articles and even listening to them, provided the sound on my laptop is working.

I've done this for years, using it as my #1 method in my quest to find the next great bands. Often times, I will just show up at a bar or club, not knowing anything about the band, and leave a fan who was just completely blown away by what he heard for the first time. Actually, this happened to me earlier in the week when I went to the Great Lake Swimmers show at the Southgate House.

After browsing a number of festival lineups, I have assembled sort of a dream MidPoint lineup. Obviously I won't be naming names like Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen or Phish. Way too big. The great thing is, even the artists that fall to the bottom of these lineups, are still amazing.

You could spend every day for a month, looking over SXSW's lineup from this past year, and it just might take you that long to read through the thousands of bands that play there.

Looking back at last year, the big names for MidPoint appeared to be Bob Pollard's Boston Spaceships, Mates of State, The Sadies, Backyard Tire Fire, The Felice Brothers, Ha Ha Tonka, Why?, Radio 4, Say Hi and AA Bondy. By seeing this lineup, you can kind of expect where the bar may fall this year, or you could just totally be caught off guard.

So without further ado, I have assembled my dream list of bands who I think aren't too big, but are small enough to play the festival. First off, I'm not saying any of these bands will be there or should be there, I just think they'd be good draws for the festival. Secondly, I think the festival is headed this direction. Not necessarily these bands in particular, but I think they're becoming the type of festival that has bands of this caliber as the main draws.

Passion Pit, Akron/Family, Deer Tick, Josh Ritter, David Ford, John Vanderslice, Ryan Bingham, Ben Sollee, Justin Townes Earle, Bon Iver, Lykke Li, Extra Golden, Deerhunter, Gaslight Anthem, Ra Ra Riot, Cloud Cult, Chairlift, Camera Obscura, Cage the Elephant, Dear and the Headlights, Blitzen Trapper, Those Darlins, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Portugal. the Man, The Knux, Delta Spirit, Friendly Fires, Manchester Orchestra, Hockey, Alberta Cross, Sam Roberts Band, Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam, Dan Dyer, Joe Pug, Kevin Devine, Rachel Goodrich, Sarah Siskind