Taste of Cincinnati
It’s just about my favorite time of the year: live outdoor music in downtown Cincinnati, which is mostly built around the areas along Fifth Street like the historical Fountain Square. It’s so great to just be outside whether it’s day or night, admiring the views of all of the buildings, while a wide array of bands seem to provide the soundtrack to life in Cincinnati, Ohio.
But this weekend it’s not just about the music, because the annual largest culinary festival in the country returns in the Taste of Cincinnati. Menu items from over forty different restaurants will be on hand, including Cincinnati must-have’s like Graeter’s, Montgomery Inn and LaRosa’s. We all have to eat to survive, and the food at the Taste is relatively inexpensive for the portions you’ll get. My taste buds are salivating as we speak, as I’ve got my eye on some items like the Shrimp Alfredo from Indigo’s, the crab cakes from Washington Platform, the infamous baked potato soup from the Courtyard Cafe, and my favorite adult beverages like ice cold Bud Light Lime and the bourbon slushie.
As far as music goes at the Taste this year, you’ll find five stages spread along Fifth Street, which will feature not just some of the area’s best bands, but also some bigger names from around the region and country. Local music critic, Daniele Pfarr, recently wrote an excellent piece for the Cincinnati Enquirer on the Taste, which you can find here.
Some of my musical picks include American Bang, Mia Carruthers and the Retros, Bad Veins, The Seedy Seeds, The Tillers, The Lions Rampant, The Guitars, The Minor Leagues, You, You’re Awesome, The Pinstripes, WNKU’s Mr. Rhythm Man and the Rhythm Man Dancers, Kelly Thomas and the Fabulous Pickups, The Turkeys, Frontier Folk Nebraska and of course the Spirit of Katie Reider Award Presentation, which will be given to the fabulous Kelly Thomas.
Indie Summer
One week from tonight, PNC MidPoint’s Indie Summer Concert Series on Fountain Square kicks off with a headlining performance from Scotland’s Camera Obscura at 10 pm, along with openers the Trouble with Boys (remember that young teenage punk-pop foursome from MidPoint last year!?), Paper Airplane and Love Language. It’s easily the best lineup they’ve put together so far, and mad props to all those involved with booking these bands. Did I mention that it’s also free? Yeah. Doesn’t get better than that. To check out the rest of the Indie Summer lineup, click here.