Settle in, this might be a long one.


Folks, hands down, my favorite venue in the general Cincinnati area is the Southgate House, just across the river in Newport. If you're FB friends or follow on twitter anyone in this area (or who's from this area), I'm sure you already have heard, but if not, here you go:


The closing of the Southgate House (at least its current location) is a major blow to the music scene. It's not just a favorite of locals, either: it's been ranked in national polls for the best music venues.

I'm not sure which show at the Southgate House was the first I attended -- I moved here in 1996, and for the first few years I lived here, I went to nearby (to my apartment) Bogart's. At that time, Bogart's was still booking some great bands (Porno for Pyros, for example, was my first show there), and it being in walking distance was a great incentive.

However, by the early 2000's I was hitting up SGH often. I didn't have a digital camera back then, so I don't have as much evidence of those shows as I do for later ones, and I don't have any ticket stubs to speak of either. Sad times.

I'm not the most eloquent when it comes to feelings, and SGH closing sure brings them up. I've seen performances by heroes and friends and heroes and friends and... yeah. So many.

And not only that, most, if not all, of the musical projects I've been involved with that have performed publicly have done so at least once at Southgate -- DJ Empirical, The Haywards, The Black Fives, Black Signal, Not Delicious, plus various one-offs for tribute shows and the like. Southgate House has supported local acts for years, and if they do continue elsewhere, I really hope they continue that. Plus, I've sung my fair share of karaoke songs in that parlour. :)

Shit, I've even dj'd a wedding there!

Anyway, While I've been writing this, I've been trying to remember some of the great bands I've seen there. Every time I think I've thought of all the biggest (as in, most important to me) ones, I think of more. Negativland, Ann Shenton, Buckethead, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Evolution Control Committee, Glue, Venetian Snares, John Waters, Mike Doughty, Cex, Hogscraper, Infinite Number of Sounds, Rasputina, Neil Hamburger, Grand Buffet, Sunn o))), Gil Mantera's Party Dream, Electric Six, Black Moth Super Rainbow, and on and on and on.

Anyway. I easily have about 1800 photos from there in my flickr stream. Here are some of them, and I'll put tons at the end of this post. Check them out, and then mark your calendar for 12/09/2011, which will be my last performance there, as a part of my band, Black Signal. We'll be releasing our first official music that night, a digital EP, in the same historic venue where we played our first show.

Be sure -- if they re-open somewhere else, I'll absolutely support them, especially if they continue to bring in excellent national acts and support excellent local acts. It definitely won't be the same, though.