MUSIC, NIGHTLIFE
A-to-Z Guide to Greater Cincinnati:
"Best Place to Live in North America"
Forget the tear gas and enjoy the music
BY LARRY NAGERThe Cincinnati Enquirer
Things like Marge Schott's mouth and the Jammin' On Main mini-riot last May - when 80 Cincinnati police officers in riot gear used tear gas to quash a rowdy, moshing crowd and clear the streets - give Cincinnati a national reputation for intolerance and repression.
But remember that equal-and-opposite-reaction stuff from high school physics? In spite of our buttoned-up image, there's a wide-open music scene here, where alternative rock, big-band jazz, country-rock, bluegrass and blues find ready audiences all over town.
It's a longstanding tradition in a river city whose rich musical history includes Mamie Smith, the first African-American woman to record a blues song (''Crazy Blues,'' 1920), and King Records, the label that recorded Godfather of Soul James Brown, bluegrass kings the Stanley Brothers, blues guitar giant Freddie King and dozens more. The newest batch of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees includes King founder Syd Nathan and P-Funk bassist Bootsy Collins, who recorded at King with the Godfather's JBs.
Today, Cincinnati bands on major labels include the Afghan Whigs, Ass Ponys, Blessid Union of Souls and Frazier River. Other groups, including Over The Rhine, Throneberry, the Wolverton Brothers and Lazy, are on indie labels.
University Village in Corryville is the place to find most of those sounds onstage, with Sudsy Malone's, 2626 Vine St. (751-2300), a combination bar/coin laundry, and Top Cat's, 2822 Vine (281-2005), the top alt-rock spots.
Jazz
For jazz, check out the Blue Wisp, 19 Garfield Place, downtown (721-9801). It's the area's longest-running jazz joint, with local, regional and national performers appearing regularly. One of the best times to go is the Wednesday night gig by the Blue Wisp Big Band.
Thanks to the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music, the area has a much higher concentration of fine jazz than you might expect. One of the best ways to hear it is the monthly Loft Society house-party concerts hosted by jazz fanatic Al ''Bug'' Williams (559-9220).
Funk
Funk remains a big local favorite with the band SHAG holding up the tradition of such local lights as Bootsy and the Deele, the band that first teamed L.A. Reid & amp; Babyface.
Acoustic folk and eccentric eclectics
Arnold's, 210 E. Eighth St., downtown (421-6234), remains the home of eccentric Cincinnati music from vintage New Orleans jazz to bluegrass to jug band. Meanwhile, the acoustic singer-songwriter trend has found a home at the Southgate House, 24 E. Third St., Newport. Magus Productions (779-9462) has booked a solid fall-winter schedule that gets loud with former Replacement Slim Dunlap and includes hard-country neo-Appalachian Gillian Welch.
''I'm trying to turn Southgate into that World Cafe format,'' Magus' John Madden says.
Where the bands are
SHAG can often be found funkifying at the Main St. entertainment district, a strip of clubs along Main between Central Parkway and Liberty Street. There's blues at Local 1207 and Jefferson Hall, the latter of which books such top names as Anson Funderburgh & the Rockets and the Duke Robillard Band; jazz at Kaldi's coffeehouse/bar; national rock acts at Sycamore Gardens. From trendy Yuppie watering holes to funky, laid-back spots, it's all here, a liquor mall with lots of live music for all tastes.
For national acts, there's a wide range of places. Sudsy Malone's is entry level, where just-signed ''baby bands'' share the stage with veteran alt-rockers like Memphis' Grifters. Across the street is 1,000-seat Bogart's, where everyone from Bonnie Raitt to Rancid has played.
The Garage at Caddy's Complex, 230 Pete Rose Way, downtown (721-3636), and Club Gotham, 1120 Walnut St., Over-the-Rhine (352-0770), also brings in young alt-rock acts.
When they outgrow those places, they head for the Taft and Music Hall. Really big ones wind up at Riverfront Coliseum or Riverbend. The latter, an 18,000-capacity amphitheater, is the area's busiest venue, with a 40-concert summer schedule that has ranged from Sinatra to Lollapalooza. But Garth Brooks just jump-started the coliseum with a five-night stand that sold out 80,000 tickets on one day.
So get out there and give a listen to one of the most varied music menus around. And don't worry. In 20 years of going out for music in Cincinnati, I've only been tear-gassed once.