Cincy MidPoint Music Fest This Month

Happens Sept. 24-26 with 270 performers spread across 23 stages.

By Blurt Staff

Standing shoulder to shoulder, packed into a club so tightly it's hard to raise your beer, anxiously waiting to hear the next-big-thing before it becomes the next-big thing.

That's the vibe at Cincinnati's MidPoint Music Festival. Three days of creative expression and musical innovation, happening Sept. 24-26 throughout downtown Cincinnati, adjacent historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood and even across the Ohio River to the Southgate House in Newport, KY.

And one might go as far to say it's somewhat apropos to find such a festival in Cincinnati given its place in music history and its current day music scene.

Historically, Cincinnati lays claim to a critical role in the conception of rock 'n' roll as home of the fabled King Records, which released such classics of R&B, blues, country and funk as Wynonie Harris' "Good Rockin' Tonight," James Brown's "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," Hank Ballard & the Midnighters' "The Twist," Cowboy Copas' "Tennessee Waltz," Delmore Brothers' "Blues Stay Away From Me," and Little Willie John's "Fever." Another local label, Fraternity Records, introduced guitar-hero Lonnie Mack to the world. And among the city's most celebrated current residents is the great funk bassist Bootsy Collins.

Take this history and interweave it with a thriving music scene and you've got fertile ground for up-and-coming artists and music fans alike.

Starting Thursday night, the city transforms itself into a walk-able music fest, spanning 23 venues throughout downtown Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, entertaining the sounds of 270 indie-rock musical acts from around the world. And it is all extremely affordable - a three-day pass good for all shows is available for just $29.

MPMF.09, as the festival is sometimes called, features headliners like the Cincinnati-originated Heartless Bastards - a major 2009 music-industry success story - as well as two other local bands with growing national followings, Wussy and the Pomegranates.

Among the bigger acts coming to the city from elsewhere for the fest are Chairlift, The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker, Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, and Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, a pop quartet from Chicago.

And the long list of buzzed-about newcomers includes the do, a male-female duo from France and Finland; the New York/Malaysia group Shayna Zaid and the Catch; Chicago-based melodic rockers Brighton, MA; and Toronto's red-hot dance band God Made Me Funky.

Four independent record labels - Cincinnati's All Night Party, Indianapolis' Standard Recording Co., New York's ReThink Pop Music, and Chicago's DataWasLost - will host showcases, taking over specific clubs for an entire night of music by their acts.

"MidPoint is the flagship for the music town that is Cincinnati," says Dan McCabe, the festival's executive producer. "This is the type of congregation of artists from all over world that you'd expect from a town that has such a musical tradition."

In this, the festival's second year under McCabe's aegis, the number of acts has grown to 270 from 175. More than 1,000 performers worldwide contacted McCabe about appearing in Cincinnati - a 40 percent increase from the previous year. There are also newer and more varied venues; 23 stages will be operating each of the festival's nights.

One of the biggest will be an outdoor tent capable of holding 800 people outside Grammer's, a landmark 19th Century German restaurant in the Over the Rhine neighborhood recently reborn as a popular gathering spot for young urbanites. Headliners will play there each night, but since its shows will end at 11 p.m., attendees can afterward have time to see more up-and-coming acts at the more intimate clubs.

Other venues - like downtown's Washington Platform restaurant and Madonna's bar - will be smaller and have their own special allure. Many of the venues are within walking distance of each other, but MidPoint will be operating a fleet of 16 Toyota Scion XBs to give attendees rides between sites.

And for the first time, downtown's Contemporary Arts Center - designed by the visionary architect Zaha Hadid to international acclaim - will also host concerts, as well as MidPoint's Lite Brite Film Test. The latter will have programming from Ottawa's International Animation Festival and the International Film Festival Rotterdam. MidPoint pass holders also get free admission to museum exhibits.

"One of the fun things about MidPoint is to go into a crowded room and rub shoulder to shoulder with other music fans," McCabe says. "There's the kinetic energy of discovering new music together. MidPoint is fertile ground for being blown way by the best new music. With 23 stages each night, you're going to have that happen multiple times." While the venues are located, for the most part, within walking distance of each other, MidPoint's Scion Streetcars will mimick Cincinnati's proposed streetcar route in an effort to promote the initiative.

To purchase tickets and get more info, visit http://www.MPMF.com