MidPoint

For those looking for the best of Local Cincinnati Music at this year's Midpoint festival, here are my recommendations:

Straw Boss: Thursday 9:00 PM at Southgate House Lounge
The Seedy Seeds: Thursday 10:30 PM at Contemporary Arts Center
The Tillers: Thursday 11:30 PM at Madonna's Bar & Grill‎
The Lions Rampant: Friday 6:30 PM at Grammer's

Midpoint is a tremendously fun event. That being said, you might want to plan out your weekend before jumping into it, unless you want to play musical roulette with your ear drums.

For the hardcore music fan, nothing will surpass your own judgment. You need to log onto www.mpmf.com and listen to all of the group’s MySpace pages yourself. Yes, this will take about two days, but nothing is too good for you.

For more information about the Midpoint Music Festival, check out www.mpmf.com

For more information about the Midpoint Music Festival, check out www.mpmf.com

You never know who you are going to run into while standing watching Seabird at the opening of Midpoint.

For me it was the band Flow from Israel. After a little background info I was able to locate this article from Derf Magazine of all places. It appears they got a press release from the band touting the fact that they are the biggest English Language band in Israel. It appears they thought it was a joke, but after a wise rethink they did some research and wrote a very good article.

I don't know who I am going to see at Midpoint this year. I had planned to spend a few weekends reviewing all of the bands, listening to all of their MySpace pages, but alas no, I didn't get that done.

Instead I am going to Commando Midpoint and just jump in and see what happens. I will hit the pre-show tonight at Fountain Square to see Seabird tonight at 6PM, with my CityBeat program in hand and will pick out tonight’s shows.

Tonight I had half of my 10 out of town picks and I only got to see two of them. That bit of failure aside, I started out with Anton Mink at Ink Tank. All I could think about with this band is that they come across as an Indie version of No Doubt, with the lead singer even dressed in early Gwen Stefani chic. She played a cowbell for one song. No, I'm not going to say it, but I really, really want to say it.

I wasn't expecting much with tonight's line-up. Most of my picks were on Thursday or are on Saturday. I instead ending up seeing several local bands, which wasn't my plan.

I started with Western Civ. I wasn't that into them. Maybe it was just me or the odd sound Ink Tank presents as a music venue, because I didn't stay long.

I made to the newly redone Cue to see for algernon, the ever evolving group. At this point for algernon can best be described as the Newbees Plus 1.

CityBeat has great coverage of Midpoint, with a horde of reviewers. Check out the Spill It blog for the reviews. The CityBeat main site has tones of photos here.

Vanity Theft started out the night at the Know Theatre's Underground stage. They're from Dayton. They are an all girl band. Strike that, make them an all woman band. CityBeat has one of their sound alike bands as Sleater Kinney. I guess being all female adds something to that moniker.

Before Midpoint I had never heard of Superdrag. Call me a hack music fan. Call me a man with bad hearing. My ears are ringing a little bit, but I throughly enjoyed the Midpoint opening act. They had a very emotional sound that felt like EMO on steroids. They remind me a ruffer version of Weezer, but I am sure that would make their skin crawl.

The crowd could have been a little bigger for all the hoopla made about them. I guess I'm hearkening back to the slight fact that I have never heard of them before Midpoint, but I digress. The crowd was solid and were clear fans of the group.

On the Eve of the Festival there are only 5 open Midpoint slots on the showcase schedule. That isn't too bad for over 240 spaces. I know in years past, local groups filled in the slots. Some years some artists took up a second slot at a bigger venue, especially those who played at 9PM, when the crowds are the thinest.

It will be interesting hearing the stories of bands that just don't show up. When the van breaks down just North of Columbus and they don't have the bread to make it to the show...the song just writes itself.

I'm blogging this thanks to the Know's wifi. Here are random useless thoughts that makes blogging so worthy of scorn and disdain. I say this in preparation of the hours of angst I'll be which I'll be witnessing of the next three days.

With the rain that appears to have stopped I am able to sit in a nice semi-comfortable couch and watch a very different crowd hang out at the Know Theatre. I'm used to the Theatre crowd, which has a very quiet unique vibe, but consistent. The music crowd is also consistent, but in a way that screams individuality.

Per the MidPoint web page, due to the weather, the Kickoff Party for Midpoint is being moved to the Know Theatre, 1120 Jackson Street. Music starts at 5PM. I am going to assume admission is still free, so don't skin me alive if I am wrong.

Do you not know what a vibrant music scene Cincinnati possess? If you don't, then take the opportunity Midpoint gives you to see some of the best bands in Cincinnati. The best here measures up with anywhere in the country. Here are the 10 local bands I'd see and I do like to see when they are around town.

Hours and hours later and I still don't have a full handle on what bands I am going to end up seeing. It is a bit of game to pick the bands at the right times in the right venue.

Since you can't see everything, here are my picks of the Top bands that caught my eye. First are the top 10 from out of town. These are the acts not from the Cincinnati Area that you won't be able to see any given Saturday night.