Down On The Corner
• Take note of this coming Saturday, June 3. That's when the Louisville Music Industry Alliance holds its first Greater Louisville Music Expo, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It's essentially a business seminar workshops aimed at improving the business skills of Louisville-area musicians, so that they can improve their chances for success and all that goes with it. Read Victoria Moon's "Front & Center" column on Page 11 for complete details. It's free, free, free with a ticket available at WFPK, ear X-tacy, both Mom's and online in PDF format at http://www.localshow.com/~lmia/ticket.pdf.sit. However you can, get a ticket and attend if you wanna be a rock / rap / pop / country /bluegrass / polka (well, maybe not much polka) / whatever star and/or songwriter.
• Do you like free live music in a non-smoking setting you can take your children to on Sunday afternoon? Okay, here's one" on Sunday, June 11, we will tape the LMN television show "Mid-City Mix" at the Comedy Caravan in the Mid-City Mall, 1250 Bardstown Road. Acts scheduled to play are this month's cover story, slackshop, the sophisticated Walker & Kays and singer-songwriter Dan Gediman. Each act will play about thirty minutes, as ordered above, with breaks in between. You are invited to be part of the studio audience, so come on down.
"Mid-City Mix" airs on Insight Channel 70 Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. in the Louisville area.
• Speaking of public access, Pat Moore, he of Mooresongs.com and producer of "Louisville Latenite" on Insight Ch. 70, has departed from his usual music-oriented programming to run a series of shows centered around the NORML 2000 meeting recently held in Washington and including interviews with lots of significant folks who were there. Look for "Louisville Latenite" every Thursday at 11:30 p.m. on Ch. 70.
• Jamey Aebersold's Summer Jazz Workshops are coming up in July. Check Tim Roberts' "Jazzin'" column on page 9 for complete info.
• For those of you who just wait to travel to Hawaii to hear a little ukulele music, great news - there is now at Louisville Ukulele Association Unlimited (LUAU) where you can not only hear the uke played but buy one and learn how to play yourself. Really. As the meeting place is in a state of transition, you'll have to call "ukulele goddess" Mary Lou Dempler at 888-927-3370 for more information.
• The Louisville Youth Orchestra is sponsoring three summer orchestra opportunities for young string players with experience from beginning up to three years of training. Camp I runs July 24-28, Camp II, July 24-28 and Camp III, July 31- August 4. For information and registration, contact Meldy Welsh-Buchholz at 502-582-0135.
• Opera fans might be interested in a trip to Cincinnati for the Cincinnati Opera's production of Riichard Strauss' Salome. The Kentucky Opera Guild is arranging the whole trip; you just show up, ride and enjoy. Call the KO at 584-4500 for information and reservations.
• Our cover story band this month, slackshop, is getting good airplay for the project in the Triple-A markets around the country, thus generating that essential "buzz" publicists like to tout so much. I'm sure we'll be reporting more about these guys in the months ahead.
• If you missed the news just after Derby due to that really, really awful hangover, then you might not know that Pharaoh's closed as a bar before reopening as a non-alcoholic, "all-ages" nightclub.
• Our old friend Rusty Bladen from up in Indiana has embarked on a new tour with an old concert: a House Party Tour 2000, only this time, he will be recording material of his upcoming "Live" album during those partyies. Cool idea, huh?
• Acts and indie record labels have lost another outlet in Kentucky. Owensboro-based Disc Jockey Records has decided to stop handling consignments. Anyone with product in a Disc Jockey store should scoot over and pull it out, lest you lose your CDs.
Maybe Cary Stemle was right after all.
• Will Cary has recorded a two-song CD called "Annie's Melody," written and recorded for a junior high school friend, Ann Troutman, who was seriously injured in a car crash in September. He will be releasing the project at a show at the Comedy Caravan on June 5, with Nick Reifsteck & the Serotones and the Barbary Merchants also performing. Proceeds will benefit the Crusade for Children. Log on to www.anniesmelody.com for more information about this project.
• The Songwriters Guild of America will be presenting a Seminar for Professional Writers in Nashville on July 10-13. It's the usual courses for songwriter workshops: call 615-329-1782 for the line-up and costs.
• Shoeless Chaz Rowe has decided to radically scale back the Harvest Showcase this year, to one night and six or so bands that he will hand-pick. This means send him no more packages. He reason for cutting back: burn-out combined with overwork in other areas of his life. LMN readers might remember that he played the White House Easter Egg event for the second time this year; he is pursuing his children's music career and he has a "real" job with e-mazing.com. Phew.
Regardless of the outcome, thanks for doing all that work, Chaz, 'cause those of us who've done similar things know how much work is involved and the rest of the complaining masses just don't know what it takes to put it all together. We all appreciate your efforts for the past years.
• Joseph Lee Brown, 83, of Mount Washington, died May 14 in Bardstown. He was a musician.
• Lee C. Bybee, 80, died on May 25 in Louisville. He was a guitar and banjo player with the Willenbrinks Harvest Moonlighters Band and a member of the American Federation of Musicians, Rockford, Ill. local.
• Jonah Jones, 91, died in Manhattan on April 30. Jones was a well-known jazz trumpeter who was a native of Louisville. He was last in Louisville in February of 1999 as part of the U of L Jazz Week '99.
• Thomas F. McCullough, 64, died in Louisville on May 17. He was a member of the American Federation of Musicians, Local 11-637.