Down to Earth in Cincinnati

Our last post was about our show in Louisville, KY. We woke up in a house that a member of Call Me Bronco was calling home. Got ready for the day and headed to Cincinnati, OH but not before hitting a couple of the museums Louisville had to offer. Not too much happened between us waking up and getting to Cincinnati besides us being tourists for a couple hours and checking out the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory as well as the Science and History Museum there.

The first order of business once we got to Cincinnati was to eat. Our contact there had pointed us in the direction of an Irish Pub was also have a bluegrass jam that night. Andy had visited Ireland last year and when we walked into this pub, the name of which I can't recall at the moment, she said was exactly how Ireland was. A group of musicians were huddled in the corner of the place in a circle and seemed to be playing for themselves regardless of how many people acknowledged their presence by clapping after each song. We were told that many famous musicians had come in here to play the weekly bluegrass jam. We all ate some great food and had a drink or two by the time our contact had met us.

After this very enjoyable experience we set out to the Listing Loon, the venue we were scheduled to play that night. The Listing Loon was a quaint little place that served crafts beers and had a full liqueur bar. We had arrived early so we ventured around this seemingly art/entertainment district. It almost was like this street was locals hung out. There were at least two other venues within walking distance, a cute little coffee house and an amazing record store which was filled with vinyl from wall to wall on two floors. Once we had our fill and it was about time to head back to the venue to start setting up. By this time their shift change had occurred. We then loaded in, set up shop and waited. Not soon after the opening act came in. Again I wish I could remember the name of the act but it was a folk punk duo featuring a guitar, tenor banjo and mandolin with dual vocals. We were pleasantly surprised since we knew we were playing with someone but didn't know who. The brought in a bit of a crowd and we were thankful that the crowd stayed to see us play.

All in all our night in Cincinnati was a pleasure. We played for a small but very engaging crowd, ended up staying a night with an awesome music lover then one of the members in the opening acts the next night and met some really cool musicians. We would definitely make a point to go back in the future. The next day we were headed to Michigan to play the Phoenix Cafe in Hazel Park.

As a side note I really feel bad we can't remember the names of people or places at the time of writing this but as the names come I'll update this post. Thanks!