A few weeks back we reported that online radio powerhouse WOXY was shuttering its studio after coming to the stark realization that advertising revenue and membership was not enough to sustain the station's operating costs. But now CityBeat is reporting…
CityBeat is live-blogging this weekend's MidPoint Music Festival in Over-The-Rhine. MidPoint, which began in 2002, is essentially an industry conference/band showcase designed for unsigned bands. This weekend's fest features over 300 artists from across the country, plus a few from…
Apologies for the scarcity of posts lately, the long holiday weekend combined with a recent move and new puppy have been occupying a lot of time.
Anywho, things haven’t been going exactly well in Cincinnati since I moved here over a year ago.
The city, which has been in a freefall since the 2001 riots, is barely hanging on by a pinky and there remains little incentive for anyone to come downtown after work. National chain restaurants are moving out and aren’t being replaced (downtown doesn’t even have a McDonald’s for crying out loud). The Main Street entertainment district continues to empty as bars either shut down for good or head for greener pastures across the river (or, in the case of Alchemize, to Northside). The Reds, up until recently, were in a pennant race yet had to offer half-price tickets and $1 hot dogs to get anybody to come to the game. Meanwhile suburbs like Mason and Westchester are growing like gangbusters. Some locals blame the construction on Fountain Square, but let’s be honest, is lowering a fountain to street level any kind of reason to come downtown?
And now WOXY is fading out.
Since I’ve lived in Southern Ohio for only 10 months, I’ve been holding off on writing about a Cincinnati band. But I can’t resist any longer. I’m no longer a Queen City greenhorne, so on one of my recent trips to Shake It Records, I succumbed and finally picked up a copy of Wussy’s 2005 release Funeral Dress.
Released this past December on the Shake It label, Funeral Dress isn’t an enormous departure from Chuck Cleaver’s other band, the Ass Ponys, it’s still off-kilter roots rock, but just a little less off-kilter. Maybe it’s the addition of drummer Dawn Burman or jack-of-all- intruments Mark Messerly, or maybe it’s splitting the vocal and songwriting duties with newcomer Lisa Walker, but whatever it is, it works just fine.