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Rivertown Breakdown helps clean up the Ohio, June 13
The Rivertown Breakdown, 8 p.m. Saturday, June 13, Southgate House, 24 E 3rd St., Newport, Ky. $15. (859) 431-2201.
So far, Jake Speed and the musicians who have participated in the seven previous versions of Rivertown Breakdown have raised $20,000 to help keep the Ohio River clean by donating the proceeds of the annual event to ORSANCO’s River Sweep, the annual clean up of all 981 miles of our Mighty Ohio River.
“That’s not a huge amount of money,” Speed said in a phone interview, “but if you keep it in perspective, that is a lot of rubber gloves.”
All of the entertainers will perform at least one river-themed song as a way of showing their support for Cincinnati’s greatest natural resource. Speed said he hops this year’s Rivertown Breakdown hopes to make the event a $25,000 lifetime contributor to ORSANCO’s River Sweep, currently scheduled for the morning of Saturday, June 20, an effort to clean up litter and debris from the entire 981 mile stretch of the Ohio River.
“We’ve also been working closely with the P.A. Denny to host educational tours of the river with children,” said Speed. “So some of the money has gone toward that, which makes sense to me because I’m a high school English teacher.”
The P.A. Denny is a 109-foot long three-deck paddle wheel boat that cruised the Kanawha River in the eastern United States for nearly three decades as a tour boat.
The Denny is now based in Cincinnati, Ohio operated by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission’s educational foundation. It is renamed the P.A. Denny River Education Center and is used as a floating classroom, with periodic excursions. The facility is designed to introduce fourth through 12th graders to science and ecology concepts. The P.A. Denny features labs and equipment for the students’ use during their four or five hour voyage.
There are 15 bands on the line-up this year, occupying all three floors of the Southgate house, and seven of them are new to the event, Speed said.
“So it’s not the same-old thing,” he said.
In fact, while the focus has been on what is considered “roots music,” Speed said he’s been convinced that jazz and hip hop are also forms of roots music and has booked IsWhat? and the Seedy Seeds this year.
Speed said the highlight of the evening for him is the grand finale when he calls up all the remaining musicians on stage for a giant jam session.
“I call out songs no one knows, but the great thing about roots music is that by the end of the first verse, they’ve all figure it out,” he said.
Also new this year is the addition of a drummer and electric guitar to the Freddies’ set.
“You know we’re an acoustic band. Hopefully we’ll get booed off the stage and it’ll be a big scandal,” he said, referring to Bob Dylan’s famous first electric sets.
Ballroom (Basement)
9:00-9:40- The Katie Laur Band - Bluegrass
9:55 - 10:35- Rumpke Mountain Boys - Newgrass
10:50 -11:30- IsWhat? - Jazz/Hip-Hop
11:40-12:20- Straw Boss - Rockabilly
12:35 - 1:15 - Jake Speed & the Freddies - Folk Blues
1:15 -2:00- All Star Jam
Parlour (Upstairs)
8:00 - 8:40 - 46 Long - Delta Blues/Harmonica Blues
8:50 - 9:30- Cincinnati Dancing Pigs - Jugband
9:40 - 10:20- Magnolia Mountain - Country Folk
10:30 - 11:10 - Seedy Seeds - Electronic Folk
11:20 - 12:00- Lagniappe - Cajun
Lounge (Ground Floor)
8:30-9:10 - The Tillers - Mountain Folk
9:20-10:00 - Cuz ‘n Jake - Hokum Blues
10:10 - 10:50- The Sidecars - Western Swing
11:00 - 11:40- Comet Bluegrass Allstars - Bluegrass
11:50 - 12:30- Kentucky Struts - Folk Rock
Photos: Top: Jake Speed and the Freddies at a recent Music Cafe, photo by Richard O Jones. Photo of last year’s Rivertown Breakdown musicians on the P.A. Denny, an educational vessel, by Nate Leopold.
Additional source: Information on the P.A. Denny from wikipedia.
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