Music

On Tuesday, January 29 2002, there was an article about WHAT IT TAKES TO PLEASE YOU, a tribute to Over The Rhine, in the Cincinnati Enquirer. You can read the article here and see the project’s pages here.

There is a PDF version of the article here.

"WHAT IT TAKES TO PLEASE YOU", a Tribute to Over the Rhine, has been released.

Thanks to the hard work of Drew Vogel and … well, JUST Drew Vogel, ALL orders placed prior to 11-Jan-02 at 9:30am for the Tribute CD have been shipped. Every single one.

The first copies were sent to the contributors on January 8th. If contributor had ordered additional copies (besides the free one you received for being part of the project), the additional copies were sent out on January 11 with the rest of the orders.

Everyone that pre-ordered: Thank you so much for your faith in this project. Your contribution enabled me to get this done, and I could not have done it without you.

To those that haven’t ordered yet: Now is the time! I’m fully stocked, well-prepared, and your order will be shipped the NEXT DAY (after funds clear, of course). Check the project page for ordering information.

Putting this project together has been an incredible task. The anticipation of people receiving it and actually hearing what I’ve been working on for so hard and so long is quite intoxicating.

Some day, I’ll have to tell the story of putting this project together. You’ll all enjoy it!

UPDATE 14-Jan-2002: All ordered received by 14-Jan-2002 at 6:30pm have been shipped!

Click Read More to see some pictures from the shipping process.

This project could have been a lunchbox. Or a wax museum. Or sets of limited-edition Grenada-issued commemorative stamps.

Linford and Karin holding the Tribute CD during their visit to our radio program.

Back in October of 1997, a fan named Joel Smith had jokingly proposed the suggestions above (among others) to elevate the band's status nationally. The audience was an internet newsgroup for fans of one of Cincinnati's more famous exports to pop music, Over the Rhine. The one we latched onto was the tribute CD.

The average tribute CD is generally a dark spot on progress and humanity for the latter part of the last millennium and can be a painful experience. Like Communism, it often seems to work better on paper. The challenge for us, obviously, was how to make this one work.

The best thing we had going for us was the songs themselves. What separates Over the Rhine songs from the majority of modern music is the raw honesty transmitted in the recordings, and especially in the live performances. If each contributor would be even half as honest as the band in recording their rendition, we figured we'd be on to something.

Why would we want to do this in the first place? What makes all these people think they could possibly redo a loved song into a version that still holds merit? We're not sure we know the answer to that, but as we explained to Karin and Linford of the band, perhaps it's that every singer or musician has a short list of songs he wishes he'd written. Maybe it's the melody, or maybe the lyric strikes a personal chord. Covering the song seems to make it your own, or even to continue telling the story. And then perhaps you can affect people anew.

(Generosity begins.) So a call was sent out, and contributions steadily poured in from across the country. 22 varied recordings and interpretations were donated from eleven states (Montana, where were you?!). And, strangely and happily enough, many of these works capture that same honesty that inspired us in the first place. "What It Takes to Please You", a lyric culled from Over The Rhine's 1994 work "Happy with Myself?", seemed a fitting title for the project. The pieces were slowly coming together.

(Generosity abounds.) Entrepreneurial Drew Vogel came along for the ride, and helped to push the train back on the tracks when it had derailed. Fellow newsgroup member Lindsey Harnish provided eloquent words. Renowned photographer Michael Wilson helped greatly with his amazing work. Talented individuals from local companies, such as Chris McLennan, Mary Watkins, Ted Halloran, Paul Bernheimer, and Ken Volz donated talent, energy, and resources to make this project a reality.

(Generosity flows.) All of the profits from this project will be donated to Greater Cincinnati Community Shares. In their own words, they are "a federation of hard-working, no-frills, nonprofit organizations which are having a positive impact on many of the toughest issues facing Greater Cincinnati."

The philosophy of the Community Shares organizations: "We believe it is not enough to provide charity. We work for positive and enduring change in the lives of individuals and in the community. The Community Shares organizations encourage individuals to take responsibility for their lives and for their community. We give people options that lead to self-sufficiency. Our organizations also work to bring about systemic changes in order to create more equal opportunity for all people."

Music that brings about change? In a roundabout way, it seems to happen all the time. Stranger things have happened, I guess.

Light a fire, listen, and enjoy.

All the best,
Bruce Lachey & Drew Vogel
Executive Producers

Linford and Karin holding the Tribute CD during their visit to our radio program.

An update on WHAT IT TAKES TO PLEASE YOU, the tribute to Over The Rhine is in order. It’s been some time since we slid past our projected release date of August 31, 2001.

Our current goal is to have the release READY for distribution by or very shortly after the December 8, 2001 Over The Rhine Taft Christmas show. We should know more about the odds of that happening in just a few days, and I will update you with any new information here.

Thanks for your patience and kind words of support and encouragement. This has been a long road, and we’re not quite there yet!

UPDATE: 11-24-2001: Today, Bruce picked up the songs to take for mastering. Hopefully, they’ll be mastered this weekend and we’ll be able to send them off to the duplicators early next week.

Tickets to the annual Over The Rhine Christmas show go on sale Saturday, November 10, 2001 at 10:00am on TicketMaster.

The annual Christmas show takes place at the Taft Theatre in Cincinnati, and represents a ‘homecoming’ of sorts for this Cincinnati-based band and their fans. This year’s show will be Friday, December 7 2001.

If you make it to the show, make sure you stop by and say Hello. We’ll be in the Orchestra Pit!

Andromeda is now active on this site. From the Other Options menu, select Andromeda to be taken to this customized MP3 jukebox. Once in this area of the site, you will find many local and regional artists represented. Please check out their music, and support them if you like what you hear.

My MP3 collection is not meant to be a comprehensive representation of what is available in the Cincinnati music scene; it is, instead, a collection of those artists that I like for one reason or the other. If you feel that I’ve missed an act that I should include, please let me know.