Bill Thompson

It’s less than a month before the Bunbury Festival kicks off July 13 for its three-day run on the riverfront in downtown Cincinnati.

Creator Bill Donabedian, one of the co-founders of the MidPoint Music Festival years ago, has no intention of starting small, then trying to build for the future. There are more than 100 acts scheduled on the event’s six stages (see Set Times under the Music & More button on the website to plan your viewing schedule).

Sonny Landreth returns to his roots on his latest album, “Elemental Journey.” But it might surprise some people that before he became a guitar star, Landreth put in a lengthy stint as a trumpet player.

To see or not to see the Beach Boys, that is the question.

The band’s 50th anniversary tour plays Riverbend Tuesday amid some of the most conflicting publicity in years.

A recent spate of stories centers on the somewhat shaky rapprochement of Brian Wilson, the fragile creative genius behind the band’s legendary music, and his cousin, singer Mike Love, who has kept the flame alive while Wilson battled demons and band lost original members Dennis and Carl Wilson, Brian’s brothers.

Five songs into Wednesday night’s Dawes show, Taylor Goldsmith asked how many in the crowd of about 300 had seen the band before. Maybe a third or so whooped and hollered in response.

“This is for the first-timers,” the band’s frontman said before the Los Angeles  foursome tore into an incendiary version of “When My Time Comes” from its first album, “North Hills,” at the Taft Theatre Ballroom.

The time had come to dial up the intensity. 

Hundreds of people gathered in Deep Gap, N.C., Sunday to say goodbye to Doc Watson, one of the true giants of American music who died May 29 at the age of 89. 

The best way to honor the kindly gentleman, who lost his sight as a baby, is to have a musician explain the impact that he had on generations of players.

WNKU’s Pam Temple, who plays with husband Spencer Funk in Wild Carrot, wrote this gracious tribute.

Who knew that San Francisco’s Summer of Love in 1967 had a counterpart in Detroit of all places?

Director Tony D’Annunzio’s documentary “Louder Than Love” tells the little known story of the Grande (Gran-dee) Ballroom, which was the home base of the MC5 and other Motown rockers such as the Stooges and Alice Cooper. But it is the fascinating footage of British bands such as Cream, the Who and Pink Floyd that give the project more than a regional appeal.

Scott Miller did two things here for the first time Friday night. 

He played Molly Malone’s in Covington and he played with violinist Rayna Gellert. The evening went so well that chances are good there will be a repeat performance.

Scott Miller has performed in Greater Cincinnati in many configurations: with the V-Roys, as the leader of the Commonwealth and as a solo act.

He will try something new Friday night when he plays Molly Malone’s in Covington with Rayna Gellert, a fiddle and viola player who also adds harmony vocals.

Bill Kirchen gave a masters class in music history at Molly Malone’s in Covington Tuesday night. The difference between his presentation and a college lecture was the fact that he was thoroughly entertaining as well as enlightening.

Kirchen, the “Titan of the Telecaster,” is in his mid 60s but retains the impish gleam that he must have had at Ann Arbor (Mich.) High School where he went to class with Iggy Pop. He plays with such joy that it’s immediately obvious why his band is called Too Much Fun.

The musical month of May literally starts with Too Much Fun and looks like it might continue for 31 days.

Guitar slinger extraordinaire Bill Kirchen and Too Much Fun, fresh off the season finale of WNKU-FM’s Studio 89 finale Monday night, wind up a three-night area stand Tuesday at Molly Malone’s in Covington after playing Dayton’s Canal Street Tavern Sunday.