Month: September 2007

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.

I stayed at the Cue for Cassavettes. The biggest controversy here was how to pronounce the band’s name. The consensus was that it would be like the film director. The band disagreed. After a quick Google search shows the spellings are different. An extra T in the band’s name.

Next was the Black Canary at New Stage. Soft music and the crowd was seated in the Theatre Space and very quiet.

The Newbees were next and they were nice. They gave out free CDs to half the crowd, which was the most packed I have ever seen Courtyard Cafe.

The night ended back again at Cue for Cari Clara.

The Tally so far has me seeing 16 bands. A couple of which I lasted a song.

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.

Next was one of my picks Kink Ador, from Nashville. I was impressed by this band, which gave off a clear Blondie vibe with their female lead singer/bassist.

As I stumbled back towards Main street I got my first slice of Pizza of the night. I caught a bit of Mike Fair and the Adventure Seekers and the Andy Shaw Band. I saw some of the The Teenage Prayers, another one of my picks. The crowd was ok, but looked small in venue.

I made my way over to Jardine and to my surprise they had a tent in the courtyard, with the sides. Think of it as a really small circus tent. I wondered inside and found the Industrial Jazz Group big band sound with trippy look and feel, complete with a dancer/cheerleader. I ended the night back at the Know with the Stud Muffins. As the pick of both CinWeekly and CityBeat I was hopping for a little more of a wow.

Ok, now for the tally. After day one I’ve seen 8 bands. My goal is to see over 20 by the end of the weekend, not counting the WPMF.

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.

It is great being here with almost no one know. That is the beauty of music.



Wow, some of the kids here are young. I know I’m getting old, but Jee-bus.

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.

UPDATE:It appears The Go are off the schedule, so after a little more research I’ll make another pick.

I saw Dracula at Playhouse on Saturday. It's tough to do a show after a really good movie version has been produced because expectations are high.

 I was a little confused b/c in the movie version, Mina is engaged to Harker and Lucy dies early on. In the play, Mina dies early and Harker is engaged to Lucy.

 Compared to the movie, the play was a little campier and not at all creepy. The actor playing Renfield, the resident madman, was great fun and all the peformers looked their parts.

 The show was sold out, so if you're interested, get your tickets soon. The show runs through October 5.