Monday, December 29, 2014

12/31 Are We Not Them: a DEVO New Year's at Zanzabar

on New Year's Eve Zanzabar is throwing a Are We Not Them: a DEVO New Year's  with members of Wax Fang, The Deloreans, and Lucky Pineapple. $10
After midnight I hear some of the players will be heading across town to play ye another NYE party, at Haymarket Whiskey Bar a their No Cover New Year's (meaning no admission but maybe meaning you do not need clothes either).

Thursday, December 25, 2014

12/26 Re-gift After X-mas dance party at Zanzabar

Merry Holidays! Join us tomorrow night with DJs John King, Ed Edward Lutz, Trevor Bowles, and Jon Wettig at Zanzabar for the Re-grift After X-mas Dance Party. Just $3 or FREE if you bring in a wrapped gift, and leave with a new gift of your very own! Tired of getting tube socks? or wonder why you don't get tube socks for Xmas? Now is your chance to turn unwanted or unwarranted gifts into something extra special (maybe)!

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Holiday Events Calendar

Tis' the season for special & imaginative local music events! here is a list of some of the Christmas & New Years events that have caught our attention:

12/19
1200, Jalin Roze, Skyscraper Stereo, & Bird Zoo December 19th @ Headliners.  tickets $12 ADV/$15 DOOR. Special VIP tix are available for $20 which includes a ticket, a copy of the new 1200 album, and T-shirt.
order: 1200@unitedlegionofdoom.com
 

  
Toy Drive Vinyl Night at Zanzabar with Jalin Roze, Sam Sneed, Arron Chadwell. $5 or FREE with a donated toy gift.
 

 12/26
 Zanzabar Re-Gift After Xmas Get Down with DJs John King, Jon Wettig, Ed Lutz, Trevor Bowles on December 26th $3 or FREE if you bring a wrapped gift you don't want (and get another in exchange) at Zanzabar.



A Very Louisville Christmas Part 2 with Andrew Rinehart, New Mother Nature, and Dane Waters @ New Vintage on December 26th. $7.





12/31


Are We Not Them: a DEVO New Year's at Zanzabar with members of Wax Fang, The Deloreans, and Lucky Pineapple. $10



And last but not least:
No Cover New Year's at Haymarket Whiskey Bar with Lady Pyramid and Black Birds of Paradise. 

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Editorial: $20 Art Show


Tonight, December 13th, will be the 13th or 14th annual $20 Art Show. this year's will be hosted at Copper & Kings in Butchertown. A little while back the LEO magazine asked me to write up a history of the show which I will share with you here:

          Mike Ratterman (sculptor/Funeral Director) and Mike McCoy (multimedia artist/recluse) were living on the second floor in an old warehouse in Smoketown and in the late 90s began putting on art shows there of their work and the work of their friends. they called the place The 953 Gallery after the address, 953 South Clay street. in 1999 I had a glass and photography exhibit at Gallerie Hertz that Ratterman attended so he tracked me down and asked if i'd like to have a show at 953. I didn't know either Mikes at that point but I did a show with them and by the following year I was living there. By this point Ratterman had moved upstairs to the top floor with me and his cousin Kevin Ratterman and McCoy took over the second floor. 
    As apposed to the second floor that was mostly concrete and steel, the top floor was all wood with 30 foot ceilings and looked like the belly of a clipper ship. It was mostly one large room, with smaller rooms off to the side that we used as bedrooms, and Kevin turned one into a recording studio. By now Mike R. and I were planing shows monthly along with our friend Leticia (Letty) Quesenberry the painter.  we also incorporated live music (with the help of Kevin) to the events and they had grown into large 400-500 person parties. But the art was getting attention and the LEO and Currier Journal were reviewing the work.
         One thing that was very noticeable was that every show  had a dedicated audience that supported us by coming to every event, helping clean up, etc. but were not in an economic position to buy the artwork. I thought this was outrageous that our biggest supporters couldn't afford the work, and that owning artwork was (and still is) mostly for a privileged few in our society. So I came up with an idea to have our artists design quality work that could be sold for $20 each (the house didn't take a cut), and have the show right before Christmas, so folks could buy presents, and also the artists would have some extra cash for the holidays. 
      The first event I believe had mike, Letty, me, Mike McCoy, Albertus Gorman, and some others in the show. All our shows back then started at 9pm, but for the $20 art show we had people showing up 4 or 5 hours early in order to ensure they got some work. they were buying it before we could hang them. I think 90% of the work had sold before 9pm, so we decided pretty quickly to make it an annual event. I think we did it 2 more years, adding Scott Scarsboro, Shane Hull, and others. Most of us made the same work we normally do, just at a smaller size. I was doing my acid etch glass panels, but at 5" x 9" instead of 5' x 9'. Scarsboro made little robots that ran around and lit up and made noise. Shane made tiny dollhouse sized tables with little plates of food on them. Ratterman took giant polished rocks hanging from wires from the rafters and people cut them down for $20 each, I still see them hanging in trees and off of porches in people's yards. It was a good time. 
    After a few years Mike R joined the family business and moved out and the recording studio was doing well and expanded into the entire 3rd floor so it was time for me to move on as well. I found an old barber shop on main street to live and work out of and that was that for the 953 gallery. That winter I walked by Scott Scarboro's newly opened Cinderblock Gallery on Main st and saw he was doing the Annual $20 art show. At first i was offended that he had done this without asking us, but I was young and easily offended back then. The truth is it should keep going. Every art gallery should have an art show every year where anyone can afford the work. the Art world should not be just for a select group who can afford high prices, it should be for anyone who appreciates it and would like art in their lives. It would be nice to see every gallery in NULU do an annual December $20 art collective, like how the Louisville Photo Bi-annual is done. Anyway, I guess the $20 Art Show is in it's 14th or 15th year. Scott isn't doing it anymore, although he did a great job, I don't know who is putting it on at this point, but Mike R and I have both gotten calls and emails asking us about it. I'm glad it's still going on, It would be nice though if Mike, Letty, and I were invited to be a part of it some how, regardless I hope it continues and more galleries incorporate it into their Christmas  fold. 

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Best Of: Louisville Summer Events (includes FREE downloads!)

Now that the temperature has dropped and the end of the year is drawing closer, we thought it was a good time to reflect on some of our favorite summer LOUISVILLE shows!
--please notice we said Some, as there were many great shows this year (We decided to highlight ones we had downloads for..) & please feel free to leave a comment with some of your favorite shows from Summer 2014.

NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS AT THE PALACE 6/16


Seeing Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds was a dream come true for this boy, especially since Cave finally shaved that mustache. I like a good Mustache, but it just made Cave look like the bad kind of creep, and not the kind he pulls off so well. This summer saw many great national & international acts in Louisville including several during the same week.. which may have been why People were giving away tickets at the last moment on the street for this show. weekday shows are hard to fill, especially when you can only pick one. I'd like to see these bigger acts Like Nick Cave, Broken Bells, & Elvis Costello play on a weekend,  and preferably not on the same weekend. Cave didn't play Deanna (my no.1 fav song of his), but he did play the Ship Song, which would be my second pick. And He was backed by Warren Ellis, which was also a dream come true.

SUMMER CASSINGLES SERIES VOL.1 w/ Citizens United, 1200, 2Strikes & Basement Up  AT NEW VINTAGE 6/25


Summer Cassingle Vol. II: Deloreans, Black Birds of Paradise, Plastic Bubble, Coins AT NEW VINTAGE 7/4
 Local summer shows are great, and Summer Series are better, and ones the include free music are tops! This summer LOUISVILLE IS FOR LOVERS and GUESTROOM RECORDS hosted 15 bands in a 3 part series at New Vintage, with a free Cassingle at each event. and for a holiday gift, all 3 volumes of the SUMMER CASSINGLE SERIES are available for FREE download here: www.louisvilleisforlovers.com/downloads  

Forecastle 7/18- 7/20






Forecastle 2014 had plenty of great national acts (would have liked to see more local bands though) including The Replacements (surprisingly backed by Billy Joe Armstrong), Outkast, & Slint, to name a few. Seeing Oukast was definitely on the Bucket List,  although I thought last years solo performance from Big Boi may have been better (and he pulled it off with a broken leg no less).
I was a little disappointed in SPOON, but in retrospect they sounded exactly like their records so I don't know what I was expecting.. Especially since I was a little disappointed in Jack White adding so many extra instruments to the White Stripes songs he covered, when back in the day he proved all he needed was a single girl backing him to slay an audience.  But I will say, that even though I wasn't overly impressed by the show, he definitely made up for it at the very end with this 7  minute slaughter of 7 Nation Army. It may have been the best 7 minutes of the entire fest.

Summer Cassingle Series Vol.3: Jaye Jayle, The Gallery Singers, eremy*JIrvin, Lydia Burrell & Twin Limb AT NEW VINTAGE 7/25
This last Summer Cassingle Series was a great way to button up the summer with killer performances by The Gallery Singers, eremy+JIrvin, Jaye Jayle, Lydia Burrell & Twin Limb! download this & all 3 volumes of the SUMMER CASSINGLE SERIES for FREE here: www.louisvilleisforlovers.com/downloads  

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

SAW art show at CRAFT(s) Gallery

"SAW-Contemporary Artists Explore The Tool As Canvas" is a group art show of work made from saw blades and may be exactly what you may need this holiday season. Artists include Lisa Simon, Jim Doiron, Brad White, John King, Scott Scarboro, and more.

The opening is from 6-10 this Friday at CRAFT{s} at 572 South 4th street with a special performance of Brigid Kaelin  playing a singing saw.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

12/6 Music Makes a City @ Fulkner


On Dec. 6 at the new Fulkner gallery at 1512 Portland ave will be MUSIC MAKES A CITY featuring Teddy Abrams (Louisville Orchestra/Abrams Chamber Orchestra), Tiny Elephant, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, and 1200 (who has a new album, find it here), as well as others. 7 pm FREE