With the current incarnation of its lineup in place for over a year, Middle Class Mess visited the WYSO studios for a live set on Kaleidoscope. The band talked with host Juliet Fromholt about musical influences, recording and more.

Middle Class Mess will perform on August 25 at Hank's Pub in Dayton. 

A Republican state lawmaker who backed a failed attempt to overturn a county tax levy wants to make it tougher for counties to raise taxes.

Opponents of a sales tax increase on Montgomery County tried and failed to take a repeal to the ballot. So Rep. Niraj Antani says he’s proposing a bill requiring county commissioners get voter approval to raise taxes in the first place.

Kim Richey, who had previously visited the studio for the release of her 2007 Chinese Boxes album, returned to the WYSO studios for a live set on Excursions.  She talked with WYSO Music Director Niki Dakota about her latest album Edgeland, collaborating with other artists, and her Ohio roots.

I did not know it at the time but I began heading down the path to recording this interview with John Straley when I was in the third grade. I remember it like it happened yesterday. We had eaten lunch in the cafeteria at St. Augustin's School in Des Moines. Then I went out to play during recess with my best pal. His name was Jimmy Percival. We were over admiring the rose bushes blooming in front of the convent when an older kid, a fourth grader we didn't know came running over to us and starting beating up my buddy, Jimmy.

Even though the summer may be hot and humid and  seemingly endless, its stability is deceptive. Sometimes a cold front around August 10th is especially chilly, breaking the stagnation of the Dog Days.

Sometimes leaf miners lace the locust trees, creating patches of gray and brown in the tree line. Sometimes a few maples turn red and stand out like the hand of October from all the other trees of August.

Bird calls have changed during the past month, and the crickets and katydids are louder.