Over the winter, rumors started circulating about a new rock club moving into the space formerly occupied by Miani’s and Sloopy’s. Well, the rumor is inching closer to reality. Marcy Mays, co-owner of Surly Girl Saloon and singer/guitarist in Scrawl, plans to open a venue in the North Campus building called Ace of Cups. Go “Like” it on Facebook to keep tabs on how things are progressing. For now, details are minimal (hence the “Drink, Music, Food” description), but if all goes according to plan, we’ll have more to announce in the near future.

If you’re like me, the first thought upon hearing this news is: The new Little Brother’s?

Hey, you know the drill because we’ve talked about it before and lots of folks are getting excited about it. But if you haven’t heard, the Columbus Music Co-op’s biggest shindig of the year happens tomorrow beginning at 3:00 in the parking lot beside Surly Girl Saloon. Not only is this a great free party with 11 bands, tons of beer, humongous hot dogs, and now, debuting for 2009 a couple of awesome summertime liquor concoctions, but it’s also all in the name of a great cause.

People have asked me in the past what happens with the money generated from CMC fundraising, and the answer is really simple: it’s been redistributed as cash right back into music community pockets to support working Columbus musicians with medical needs. We’re talking thousands of bucks going to directly assist your friends, your colleagues, your favorite artists. This is one way in which the CMC is making the city a viable place for people to make art.

Okay, enough lecturing and more with the pitch- besides the booze, additions to sweeten the deal for year number four include more tent coverage, big beer mugs to cut down on time in line, and a super sweet raffle selection (PBR bike, Anyway Records Collection, Wholly Craft stuff, What the Rock, man the list goes on…). So come hang out, drink a beer, say hi, pitch in. Amazing band line-up and set times are after the jump.

It all goes down July 11. Schedule:

Apocalypso………………………3:00 pm
Total Foxx……………………….3:45 pm
The American Jobs……………..4:30 pm
Winter Makes Sailors……………5:15 pm
Chuck and Lisa from Wussy…….6:00 pm
Rosehips…………………….6:45 pm
Deerhead………………………..7:30 pm
Moviola…………………………..8:15 pm
Guinea Worms……………………9:00 pm
Cheater Slicks……………………9:45 pm
Struck by Lightning…………….10:30 pm

Noel Sayre Memorial
Thursday August 7th, 8:00pm
Surly Girl Saloon, Back Room/Parlor

I was wondering if you could do me a little favor and get the word out about our get together for Noel this Thursday. We are asking people who have known Noel over the years to come on out and share a night with us. We’ll have some pictures and perhaps some music. We’ll be in the back room at Surly Girl.

We are also attempting to compile a CD of some of Noel’s various contributions to the Columbus music scene over the years. We hope to have those available Thursday for people to enjoy.

MP3: Half My Kingdom by Alina Simone

One of my favorite parts of SXSW this year was seeing Alina Simone. I’m super excited to be hosting her show here in Columbus tomorrow at the Surly Girl Saloon. Music starts promptly at 9PM and the show is free.

Joining the show will be dear friend Jerry DeCicca, known to most as the man behind The Black Swans. This is going to be a great night of music and I hope you can be there.

Alina was recently on NPR. And in The Other Paper.

MP3: Shake

The Black Swans‘ Jerry DeCicca is never hesitant to divulge his inspirations – Leonard Cohen, Townes Van Zandt, Bert Jansch – hell the guy’s writing a book on Dylan. But as far as songwriters go he’s much more concerned with carving his own slice into the American experience, much more concerned with creating his own classic American enigma like Blood on the Tracks through tireless dedication to craft and execution, rather than learning how to do so through stoned replays of his favorite records. His seclusion from modernity and wholly original voice are what sets him apart. It might just take decades to decode such a puzzle.

With Change! DeCicca no longer walks in darkness, it’s not exactly a blinding beacon of light but it could be the first rays of sun peering in between the curtains of an apartment that contained a long night of wallowing. Change! is achingly beautiful in every way, wounded but resilient. There is still longing and desperation (and still some sex on the brain – see “Slide on Down”), but hope slowly boils in the fold.

That hope is hard to find but it’s there as “Shake” is as upbeat a song as DeCicca’s bound to write, swelling to a sarcastic refrain of “Good times have come again,” and ending in howls – for the first time the Black Swans sound generally happy in this uncomfortable grace. The immediate warm and fuzzy moment of the album comes with “3 Broken Words,” sustained by a floating guitar melody that might conjure images of Malkmus lost in the outskirts of Mammoth Cave.

Throughout Change! one thing is constant — the band’s deliberate pacing, used to capture every nuance, every subtle crevice in DeCicca’s voice, every weeping string bowed on Noel Sayre’s violin. Listening to Change! is a humbling experience, not because of its molasses crawl or the dour magnification of human emotion, but by almost moving in reverse even the most mundane things we take for granted become grand and thrilling. Is it too early to call DeCicca one of America’s finest songwriters?

The Black Swans celebrate their album release Friday, October 26 at Surly Girl Saloon. Bird and Flower are opening.