Bats and Horses... upcoming events!

So college basketball season is over, and Roommate is in mourning.  That UCONN-Butler game was awful, but the women's Texas A&M vs. Notre Dame game more than made up for it.


One door closes, and another door opens... the Louisville Bats baseball season starts this Thursday, April 7 with a series against Toledo.  I couldn't be more excited.  The weather has promised to be nice, and it's still my spring break.  Someone who doesn't know me very well (yet) asked me if I planned to be at opening day for the Bats... and he was genuinely taken aback by my response.  I didn't mean to rock the "are you crazy??" face.  But I guess I did.  I will be there with proverbial bells on, folks.  And I have no doubt, win or lose, it will be a highlight of my spring vacation.


In other sporting news...


Churchill has announced that its first day of Spring Meet will be under the lights.  April 30 at 6pm with an 11-card race.  Personally, I have somehow missed ALL of Churchill's under the lights programs, so I am super excited for this.  General admission for Downs After Dark is $10. The Downs have planned more After Dark events have been planned for June 17 & 24 and July 1.


In addition to the After Dark nights, Churchill has also released their programme for Friday night concerts in the paddock.  According to their website the line up looks like this:

• May 13: The Villebillies (eclectic rap, rock and other genres);

• May 20: Keller Williams (combines elements of bluegrass, folk, alternative rock and other genres);

• May 27: Dawn Landes and the Hounds (country/folk and indie-rock);

• June 3: Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons (indie-rock);

• June 10: Wax Fang (experimental psychedelic rock).

General admission for these race dates will be $3 until 7 p.m. but will increase to $10 after that time. Admission will be free on May 13.

Read more: Churchill Downs starting spring meet under lights, launching concert series | Business First 

Humana Fest 35: Sweet

This is the second year in a row that, thanks to the generosity of the folks at Actors Theater, I've been able to see every Humana Festival play (I still think we should earn merit badges for these sort of achievements).

Humana Festival is one of the great joys in my life.  And this year's generally stellar line-up has confirmed that this is truly the "most wonderful time of the year" in Louisville.  (I know I sometimes say that about Bats Season, but Bats Season lasts too long to really fit that moniker... it's just that in the dead of winter, when Bats Season feels synonymous with "temperate temperatures" and "sitting outside with a beer and good friends," Bats Season feels so darned magical.)  Any Louisvillager with a drop of theater-geek blood in them should feel uncommonly blessed to live in the city that is home to this amazing festival of New American Plays.

This year's festival has seemed a little less diverse than previous festivals.  It's leaned toward the narrative plays and has featured fewer abstract, experimental works.  No complaints here, I guess.  While some of my favorite plays from last year's Festival were the more abstract ones (METHOD GUN and FISSURES immediately come to mind), and at least one of my least favorites was a narrative (yeah... GROUND... hm), narrative plays tend to appeal to a wider audience.

But if there has been a fairly consistent common denominator among the Humana Festival plays this year, it might be this: sweetness.  The best of the plays have all featured tender, loving, sweet portrayals of complicated characters.

Most notably, EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM starred three characters (and only three characters) who were fleshed out by the playwright (A. Rey Pamatmat) with beautiful care and respect.  When I left that play, I told Roommate, "I think I just fell in love with a 16 year old gay nerd.  Is that wrong?" (I was speaking of Benji-- if you didn't fall in love with him, you most certainly wanted to adopt him, right?)

BOB, too, gave us characters-- centrally, Bob himself, but support characters, too-- worthy of our love.  Through Bob's rise and fall and rise and fall and rise again, actor Jeffrey Binder's deep connection to his character kept us invested and rooting for him, even during the ugly moments.  The four-person chorus, who played all the support characters, morphed themselves into (and out of) complex people in the blink of an eye-- so many of whom drew the audience's genuine care and concern.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the tragedy that draws Katha and Ryu into their "not-cult" in MAPLE AND VINE felt absolutely authentic, tragic but sweet.  ELEMENO PEA features the most abrasive characters of the Festival, but when it all comes to a head, the play is really about Devon (played by the delightful Cassie Beck who was the best thing about last Festival's CHERRY SISTERS) who has made very ordinary-- haven't we all done stupid sh*t for love?-- mistakes that are laid bare in the most sympathetic way.  And DEVIL AT NOON, while being the most experimental show of the Festival, still set forth some of the most authentically wrought and deeply relatable characters of all the plays (see my previous post).

The two Humana Fest plays that didn't really toot my horn still had "sweetness" at their core.  I wish I could say that the Fest was a clean sweep of awesomeness, but I can't.

I was so hyped up to see THE EDGE OF OUR BODIES, written and directed by Adam Rapp.  I'm a big fan of the HBO series IN TREATMENT, and Rapp wrote for the "Sunil" storyline this past season-- the best storyline of the season, and perhaps my favorite storyline of the series.  I expected complex beauty from him, and EDGE fell short.  I wanted to be invested in Bernadette, but despite the fact that I share her New England prep school/Ivy-bound background and got all her in-crowd jibes about Loomis Chaffee and whether or not Mount Holyoke is as "overrun by lesbians" as Smith College... I still felt absolutely left in the dark.  I have no idea what happened in that play.  None. When the crowd applauded at the "end," I felt embarrassed.  I thought, "Oh no, the crowd thinks the play is over because she's walking out that door...." But it was, indeed, over.  I LOVE plays that give me something to discuss.  But this play left me utterly perplexed.

And I wish the Apprentice show had left me perplexed.  Last year's HEIST was an apprentice show that melded site-specific theater with audience participation... my experience with HEIST was, in short, one my top five nights in Louisville.  THE END, the apprentice show this year, had moments of utter brilliance (I will never forget playwright Marco Ramirez's segment called THE ONE THEY CALL THE BLOOP), but overall THE END felt like a high school skit about the apocalypse.

But, my goodness, this year's Humana Festival was a treasure.  The best Humana Festival I've seen since I moved here in 2006.  Even the less-successful works were imbued with sweetness and respect and love.

Next Year's Actors Theater Line-up

I promise you, I have a big ol' Humana Festival 35 round-up in the cooker for you.  But this week has been a booger.  It's been the week before Spring Break (I am, right now, officially ON Spring Break... praise the relaxation gods), and I have been sick, sick, sick with an as-of-yet-undiagnosed maybe-strep-throat-maybe-upper-respiratory-infection.  

But this golden nugget landed in my email box tonight, and I am too jazzed to sit on it.  It's the 2011-12 Actors Theater line-up, and I'm super excited.  In play (pun intended for the 2011-12 season:

• Sense & Sensibility: Jon Jory's adaptation of Jane Austen's work
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: adapted by Laura Eason
• ReEntry by Emily Ackerman and KJ Sanchez
• The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity bu Kristoffer Diaz
• In The Next Room by Sarah Ruhl (personal opinion: am a HUGE fan of Sarah Ruhl)

stalk TALK: Web Series with Local ties

stalk TALK, a comedy web series helmed by Louisville's own Rachel Annette Helson, will debut online this Wednesday, March 30.

I'm excitedly anticipating this production.  Not only is some of it being shot in Louisville (including the scene in the photo here), but Rachel Helson is insanely accomplished and a Louisvillager that makes us proud.

(I have to admit, I kind of get the willies from what I've seen so far.  But I'm going to trust Helson and her cohorts to get this right.)

stalk TALK is about a support group for stalkers of B-list celebrities, including Chuck Norris, Lindsay Lohan (or just "LINDSAY" now, I guess), and Pee Wee Herman.  Helson is one of the stars; she's also the creator and one of the writers.  Helson, the youngest person ever to be nominated for a TONY award for producer, left the Louisville Collegiate School after her junior year when she was accepted into the Tisch School of the Arts (at NYU).  She's gone on to graduate from Tisch, write a children's book, and produce the Rocky Horror Picture Show (featuring Neil Patrick Harris) on Broadway (check out her website for more about Helson's impressive accomplishments).

stalk TALK premiers on Wednesday at www.stalktalk.tv. Wishing them the best of luck!  Tune in!

Slow and Bouncy... perfect!

Mama has gone and done the unthinkable.

That's right, this Sunday you'll find me at a sporting event playing a sport.

I'll just let that sink in for a moment...

... Well, maybe "sport" should be in quotation marks.  Through positive peer pressure, I've joined a National Kickball Association team.  League play starts this week, and it looks like there's still plenty of time to put a team together (although based on how hard our poor captain has worked to get us organized, named, paid for, and t-shirted, maybe not).  Go visit the fantastic website if you're interested.

I'll keep you posted on this developing story.  And I'll try not to embarrass y'all too much.

Go Cards! STILL in the Tourney!

Well, my brackets are busted.  How 'bout yours?

But before you hang up your tournament-watching hat after U of L's first round (I mean "second" round) loss, let's not forget that we DO still have a dog in this fight.

Going to U of L's women's basketball games this year has been a good live sports fix for me while I wait for Bats season to begin again (SOON!).  The tickets are seven bucks, it's possible to get a reasonably priced beer there (you have to hunt), and the women have not disappointed.

U of L's women take on Xavier on Tuesday at 710p in Cincinnati.  The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.  It's going to be a challenge; Xavier is a 2nd seed and have a killer 29-2 record for the season (we're a 7 seed and 21-12).  But we won some really powerful games this season, and when the women are on, they're on.

So GO CARDS! C-A-R-D-S!! (yeah, I hate that too... I just figured, why not?)

Wait, We Did What, Louisville?

Oh Louisville... you're so silly...


I'm a nerd for many things, but I'm primarily a pop culture nerd. So of course, the EW.com RSS feed is in my Google Readers.  I'm not a huge fan of Kathy Griffin, but a few episodes of her "My Life on the D-List" convinced me she's a real sweetheart sometimes AND that I desperately need an assistant.


Anyway, when EW reprinted Griffin's bio from the Playbill for her new Broadway show, I had a few chuckles.  Most of it is hilariously fictional:

Broadway: Speed-the-Plow (with Jeremy Piven, sushi-taster no. 4); Macbeth (Macbeth’s wisecracking red-headed sidekick); Les Miserables (Jean Valjean’s funny flame-haired henchwoman); The Iceman Cometh (Iceman’s sharp-tongued best friend); Neil LaBute’s I Hate You But I Won’t Say It Till It Can Do The Most Damage (dead whore); Cats (Fierce-y Tattletail MacHairBall); Sweeney Todd (Pie Eater No. 3); Chicago (Mrs. Cellophane); Your Arms Too Short to Box With God: A Soaring Celebration in Song and Dance (God’s fight promoter); Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark (head stuntwoman, fired).

The only non-jokey category appears to be this one:

Awards: Ms. Griffin has received two Emmy awards, having been nominated seven times. She has also received three Grammy nominations, the GLAAD Vanguard award, the Trevor Project’s Lifetime Honoree award, the Human Rights Campaign’s Ally for Equality award, a 2007 GAYVN award (aka gay porn), the key to Louisville, and the 2011 Tony Award (fingers crossed!)

Uh, did you catch that?  The key to Louisville??  (A little Googling, and I find out that this happened in 2006, and only five people showed up to the ceremony.)


I used to think that my biggest aspiration was to be a Kentucky Colonel.  Scratch that!  I need the key to the city.  Stat!  And what exactly does this key open...?  

Just Checking in...

So, it's bedtime for all good little Lous, but the world (and national) news has me so filled with sadness (and maybe a little fear) that I thought, "Geez, maybe I should find some tidbit of good news and post it on the blog before I go to bed."  I don't know who I thought I'd be helping.  You, reader?  Me?

And then I opened the Blogger dialogue window and just stared... and stared... and thought, "I've got nothing."

That's not true, of course.  There's lots of good going on in Louisville right now.  If we put on our blinders (lightly, gently, just enough to get us through the day but not enough to block it out) and look only in our backyards, there are good things galore.

The forecast for Thursday through Monday hovers around the 70 degree range.  In March.  That's spectacular news.  I had a fabulous weekend.  Saw Les Mis for the first time at the Kentucky Center's Broadway Across America on Friday.  Hit up the Hooley in the Highlands St. Pat's parade on a 66 degree Saturday.  Saw EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM at the Humana Festival on Sunday afternoon, my third Humana play this year and the third Humana play to hit it out of the park (read Erin Keane's review here).

Lady Gaga came to the YUM! Whale and put on a hell of a show, by all accounts, and then proved that she really is the coolest thing since Netflix Video on Demand by showing up at Connections and joining drag queen Vanessa DeMornay onstage (video here).  Both the men's and the women's UofL basketball teams made it into the Big Dance.  Sarah McLaughlin brought scores of fans to crazy weepy tears, if my twitter feed tells the truth.  And heck, someone out there genuinely enjoyed themselves seeing Michael Bolton on Sunday, right?  Right?

It was a good weekend in Louisville.  And I'm not saying that we should only pay attention to what's in our backyard.  Not even close.  The world is big, sad, scary, and a little crazy.  And you should probably cry and get angry and want to throw things.  (But don't throw things because that's not okay; it is okay to want to.)  I keep reading folks on Twitter who despair over the news from Japan and then long to hug their kids.  Well, I don't have kids.  So I'll write a few positive words, be grateful for my students-who-are-our-hope-for-the-future, long for better news tomorrow, and go to bed.  G'night, Louisvillagers.  Sleep peacefully.  Moon off.

Maple & Vine: Another Humana Hit

"Oh look," I said to Roommate as we passed the "Warning" sign as we entered the theater to see today's matinee of MAPLE & VINE.  "It says partial nudity."  This is one of our bazillion private jokes. I nudged him in the side and said: "Woo hoo!"

"Eh." He shrugged. "It probably means boy-butt.  It usually does." And that's his standard response.

We got seated in the Bingham Theater and continued the conversation.  I said: "Dude, the play is in the round.  It can't mean boy-butt.  You can't reasonably do boy-butt without doing boy-front.  And boy-front, my friend, ain't no partial nudity."

Yes you can.

When you have an awesome theater reviewer in town, as we do with Erin Keane, it's hard to say anything new or different that the critic didn't already mention.  (So, I bring you "boy-butt"-- if you can't go deeper, go lowbrow, I say.) So go look at Erin's review.  It's spot on, and I second everything she said.

I loved Maple & Vine.  I love when theater puts Big Ideas out there and puts those Big Ideas in really appealing, funny packages.  Unlike A DEVIL AT NOON, which ran a little long, Main & Vine felt perfectly-paced.  I wasn't ready to leave the people or the world when it was over.

The Big Idea of the play had to do with harried modern New Yorkers surrendering their iPads and sleep noise machines to join a "not-cult" of 1955 re-enactors.   For me the Big A-ha wasn't that the modern world makes some people too fraking busy to appreciate... anything; it was that the modern world makes some people who thrive on challenge and adversity terribly, terribly bored.

I can't remember a more elaborate moving set in the Bingham.  The number of set changes was staggering and led to a couple of snafoos.  One of those snafoos, however, yielded the best on-stage "save," I've ever seen by a performer.  When one of the set elevators actress gave Jeannine Servalles a bit of a ride, up and down, and then jolted her off of a piece of furniture-- during a particularly serious scene-- the audience howled with laughter.  And she said, "See, I'm so upset I'm levitating!"  Bravo, sister.  Well done.

On a serious note: as someone who has suffered through the same personal tragedy that leads main characters Katha and Ryu to abandon their hectic lives, I thought the emotional toll of such an event was very well-handled and authentic.  It made me root for them even more.

Go see it.  This is great theater, y'all.

Oh, and Moon Off.

Humana Fest 35: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

If you live in Louisville, which you probably do if you're reading this, I'd like you to take a moment.  Put down the mouse. Take your finger off the scroll pad.  I'd like you to reach up and pat yourself on the shoulder.  Good girl/boy/neutral/questioning.  Be proud of yourself.  You live in a city that hosts one of the premier theater events in the country.  Not only do you live in a city that hosts the Humana Festival of New American Plays, but this city has hosted the HECK out of this festival for thirty-five years.

I have theater-nerd friends in other cities who got all twitterpated and jealous when they found out I was moving to Louisville.  "Oooooohhh... Louisville... Actors Theater... How sexy are YOU?!"  


The answer is Damn Sexy.  And so are you.  You live in Louisville, the home of the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

Roommate and I hit DEVIL AT NOON by Anne Washburn last night, and hot damn, kids, the game is on!  I love, love, loved it... although I can't really say that I understood all of it.  Some seriously brilliant acting-- perhaps the most authentic-feeling characters I've seen on Actors' stage since last year's PHOENIX.  Authentic-feeling in a very... inauthentic (?) world.  You know that character Zooey Deshanel (et al) plays in every single movie?  The young, quirky waif who brings chaos and joy to a downtrodden (usually older) man by being crazy-- perhaps even dangerously so-- and living close to the edge?  (There's a name for it, by the way, The Manic Pixie Dream Girl.)  Rebecca Hart's character is ever more endearing and memorable because by every rights she should have come off as a MPDG and not a real human being.  Real, of course, being a relative term.  All six actors put on a heck of a performance, but she's the one I'll really remember.

It's long.  Very long.  Maybe a little too long?  And (you'll understand this when you see it), I wish they'd had live foley artists.  I mean, if you're going to do THAT many sound effects, you should show us what the art looks like.

But seriously: good stuff.  I'd see it again even.  Go see it yourself.

Moon off.

What is Louisville Missing?

This just happens to be my 500th post.  A better blogger would have something special planned for this post. We all know I'm not a "better blogger."  But I do want to thank you lovely, beautiful people who read this blog on a regular basis (hi, mom!).  Loueyville.com has shaped my life in Louisville.  It's allowed me to meet people I never would have met, to go to events I never would have gone to... starting this blog is really among the best decisions I've ever made.  Rock on, Loueyville.  I hope you have (at least) another 500 posts left in you.

So anyway...

Over the past couple of days the local Tweeters have been pontificating about the fact that Borders declared bankruptcy, and that we're about to lose two fairly popular (apparently not popular enough) stores.  On the chopping block are the Borders on Hurstborne and the one on 4th Street Live.

The "What do we need downtown?" question has been floating around for years, and with this two-story, high visibility corner storefront opening up, lots of people are dreaming big.  It seems inevitable that a chain store will occupy the Borders space, and many of my Twitter folks rightfully are wishing for a clothing store.  If we can get one great clothing store to anchor in the 4th Street Live space, perhaps more will follow downtown.  The first suggestions I saw were for an H&M, but when I mentioned on Twitter that Roommate wished for a Filene's Basement, I was flooded with RTs and responses.  Everybody loves their Filene's Basements.

We all know downtown needs a grocery store, and the almost universal wish is that Louisville finally gets its own Trader Joe's, but that's not the right space for it.  Parking would be a nightmare, and imagine trying to make a milk and cheese run at 9pm on a Saturday night?

There's also the possibility that they turn the space into another chain restaurant.  If they do, my hope is that it becomes something along the lines of Dave and Busters or Jillian's.  Yes, I know we had a Jillian's before I moved here-- on the outskirts of town.  But I can't help but think it would be infinitely more successful in the heart of tourist downtown.  It would be nice to give people something to do at 4th Street besides drinking... not that there's anything wrong with that, per se.

Ashlee Clark from the fantastic blog Ashlee Eats has a great post on the issue and a poll, so I'm not going to dwell too much more on this specific space.  But this specific discussion got me thinking about the bigger picture.

I've lived in Louisville for 4.5 years now: What is MY Louisville missing?  Above and beyond this one soon-to-be-vacated space... what does Louisville need?

If I'm sitting on the lap of the Great Santa Who Gives Things to Good Little Girls, my first wish is for a Cinema Brewhouse/Gastropub.  It seems like Louisvillagers have collectively decided that we'd like to emulate Austin as much as possible, right down to our "Keep Louisville Weird" campaign.  I have to admit, I've only been to Austin once, like, 15 years ago... and I was less than impressed.  That being said, when I think Austin, I think Alamo Drafthouse.  And when I think "Alamo Drafthouse," I think... heaven.  Once upon a time, there was a push for a Cinema brewpub out by the Mellwood Center.  I don't know what ever happened to that.  And I don't know why someone with a little restaurant/bar background hasn't started to Kickstarter.com the sh*t out of a Cinema Brewpub.  If we can collectively fund a vegan food truck-- way to go Morels!-- we can make this happen with the right people.

Next on the wishlist: besides a cinema pub (and Trader Joe's) the only other thing that would really raise the quality of my Louisville life on a weekly basis would be the opening of a really nice sports bar in the Highlands.  One that's not BWW or UK-themed.  We're talking lots of good beers, lots of big tvs, good pub grub.  Someplace Roommate can watch his college basketball-- multiple games on multiple tvs.  Someplace I can watch my Red Sox at the same time the Reds are playing.  Rumor had it a while back that someone was cooking up a Highlands sports bar, but that rumor has gone the way of the cinema brewpub out by Mellwood.  I have a dream, and that dream takes place in the old Barret Bar space.  Make it so, someone. Make it so.

Speaking of sports, well, y'all know how I feel about minor league hockey.  Or even NHL hockey. Somebody bring Louisville a team of mostly-white, dentally-challenged Canadians on skates please.  Please!

A while ago, Roommate & I had on our wishlist a wine bar in the Highlands, but honestly the Holy Grale has kind of filled that hole for me.  There is a wonderful little place in Salem, MA called the Gulu Gulu cafe that's a wine and beer bar/coffeeshop/charcuterie.  The have live music and movie marathons... in March, they're having a Dr. Who night every week (LOVE!).  We could use a really creative space like that.

When I travel to other cities and see the following chain stores, I get jealous:

• IKEA (duh)
• Trader Joe's/Jungle Jim's (of course)
• Crate and Barrel
• The Container Store
• Restoration Hardware
• Anthropologie

I can't think of a chain restaurant that we're missing... granted, Roommate is recovering from a heart attack, but I still wouldn't mind seeing a Fatburger or In N Out Burger in Louisville.   

What's YOUR Louisville missing, folks?  Email me, tweet me (@loueyville), or leave your wish in the comments. 

Bonnaroo 2011 Line-Up Announced

You know how Mama loves her Bonnaroo...

But I was initially a little lukewarm when they announced the line-up yesterday.  Roommate and I always debate about music festivals.  For me, the best music festivals feature a knock-me-on-my-ass-good headliner who I've wanted to see for SO LONG and a solid line-up beyond that.  Roommate prefers his festivals to feature lots of good new bands.  I want my Pearl Jam.  I want my Springsteen.

What I do not want, frankly, is Eminem.  Or Widespread Panic.  Or Lil Wayne.  Or any of the other "big names" featured at this year's Bonnaroo.  Sure I'm interested in seeing Arcade Fire, but meh.  Neil Young will be awesome, but why do we have to lump the legend in with, well, a whole bunch of other legends? I really get almost halfway down the list before I'm psyched.  My first "ooh, that's cool" outbursts came with Dr. John and then with Florence and the Machine.

Interestingly enough, two of the names I'm most excited about are favorites from previous Bonnaroos.  I can't WAIT to see Low Anthem again.  And I "discovered" Abigail Washburn (with the Sparrow Quartet, including our own Ben Sollee) a few years back at Bonnaroo.

I do like Mumford & Sons, and maybe by June I'll be as wackadoo crazy about them as 95% of my hippest friends.

And as I've admitted before...  I KNOW that My Morning Jacket are a local TREASURE.  I KNOW that.  But I cannot, cannot, cannot get over how annoying the "Yim Yames" thing is.  I just can't.  I've been trying for three or four years, and I... I will continue to try.  For the love of Louisville.  But seriously.... "Yim Yames." I know he's made of puppies and awesome, according to most of you, but seriously... "Yim Yames"?  Ugh.

Here's the full line up, which I have shamelessly cut and pasted from The Nashville Scene:

* Eminem
* Arcade Fire
* Widespread Panic
* The Black Keys
* Buffalo Springfield feat Richie Furay, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Rick Rosas, Joe Vitale
* My Morning Jacket
* Lil Wayne
* String Cheese Incident
* Robert Plant & Band of Joy
* Mumford & Sons
* The Strokes
* The Decemberists
* Ray Lamontagne
* Bassnectar
* Iron & Wine
* Girl Talk
* Primus
* Dr. John and The Original Meters performing Desitively Bonnaroo
* Alison Krauss and Union Station
* Pretty Lights
* Florence & the Machine
* Superjam ft. Dan Auerbach and Dr. John
* Explosions in the Sky
* STS9
* Gogol Bordello
* Beirut
* Big Boi
* Scissor Sisters
* Gregg Allman
* Ratatat
* Global Gypsy Punk Revue curated by Eugene Hütz
* Robyn
* Warren Haynes Band
* Deerhunter
* Opeth
* Atmosphere
* Old Crow Medicine Show
* Bootsy Collins & the Funk University
* Wiz Khalifa
* Matt & Kim
* Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
* The Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band
* Mavis Staples
* Béla Fleck & the Flecktones
* Chiddy Bang
* Javanotti
* Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers
* Loretta Lynn
* Cold War Kids
* The Walkmen
* Devotchka
* Wanda Jackson
* Neon Trees
* Portugal. The Man
* Sleigh Bells
* Amos Lee
* Best Coast
* Dãm-Funk
* The Sword
* The Drums
* The Black Angels
* School of Seven Bells
* J. Cole
* Nicole Atkins & the Black Sea
* Wavves
* !!!
* Junip
* Freelance Whales
* Justin Townes Earle
* Ryan Bingham
* Deer Tick
* Band of Skulls
* Sharon Van Etten
* Abigail Washburn
* Omar Souleyman
* Twin Shadow
* Kylesa
* Man Man
* The Low Anthem
* Alberta Cross
* Railroad Earth
* Jessica Lea Mayfield
* Smith Westerns
* The Head and the Heart
* Karen Elson
* Beats Antique
* 22-20s
* Phosphorescent
* Clare MaGuire
* Hayes Carll

Decemberists & Justin Townes Earle @ Iroquois Amph.

Roommate and I saw the Decemberists at Bonnaroo a few years back.  I think I only hit a bit of their show, but I liked what I saw.  And I enjoy what I hear on satellite radio.  And I'm very intrigued by Justin Townes Earle, especially after his big profile in Garden & Gun Magazine.  (Seriously people? Have you still NOT subscribed to Garden & Gun? Best magazine out there right now. It's been brilliant since issue #1.  And they love us here in Louisville.)

They're playing together at the Iroquois Amphitheater on April 26.  Tickets are $36 plus tax and fees.  As of last night there were still tickets available (we snagged two), but I have no doubt-- especially based on the Decemberists history-- that this show will sell out soon.

Beam & Dafoe: Two Classic Gentlemen

Have you seen this really beautiful Willem Dafoe Jim Beam ad?  Dafoe once said, "One of the pleasures of being an actor is quite simply taking a walk in someone else's shoes. And when I look at the roles that I've played, I'm kind of amazed at all the wonderful adventures I've had, and all of the different things I've learned."

Back when I lived in the East Village of NYC, I used to see Dafoe almost every day on my walk to the West Village to work (I imagine he was heading to work to, at the Wooster Group).  I never stopped him and played fangirl, but he (maybe because he) was always so damned pleasant.  A smile, a nod, a comment on the weather, a definite acknowledgement that we passed each other at the same time in the same place nearly every day.  I'm actually kind of impressed I didn't geek out over him at the time; I've always had a big crush.  I mean seriously, he was sexy Jesus.  And he's still pretty gosh darned sexy.

Jim Beam and Willem Dafoe?  I approve.

Save the Date: Feb 25-- Young Survivors Auction

In early January, I asked my readers to consider donating to my favorite local charity-- the Young Survivors Network.  

Only 5% of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer are under the age of 35.  So understandably, most local support organizations for breast cancer survivors cater to women more advanced in years.

The Young Survivors cater their groups and activities to women who were diagnosed at age 35 or younger.  This is their major fundraiser of the year.  The BEST thing about this fundraiser is that you know that ALL of the money raised goes to support women in Louisville and in Southern Indiana.  It doesn't get lumped into a big national pool.

The Young Survivors were a huge support to me when I was first diagnosed and during my treatment.  I no longer take part in events, but I feel passionately about giving back to this organization that helped me so much.

The auction is always fun, sophisticated, and populated by exciting, inspiring women.  And, unlike 90% of the silent auctions I attend, I usually walk away from this one with some pretty good deals!  It's $10 per person in the beautiful Frazier Museum.

Save the date.

R&G Are Dead: Stark raving sane

Rosencrantz: Do you think Death could possibly be a boat?

Guildenstern: No, no, no... death is not. Death isn't. Take my meaning? Death is the ultimate negative. Not-being. You can't not be on a boat.

Rosencrantz: I've frequently not been on boats.

Guildenstern: No, no... what you've been is not on boats.

I can't say why exactly, but Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead has been my favorite play since... college, maybe?  I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that in prior lifetimes, I've taught multi-month units in English classes on Hamlet and Hamlet-derivatives, including R&G are Dead. Two summers, I taught entire courses on Hamlet and Hamlet-derivatives. Some of my friends can quote Monty Python or Star Wars or Big Lebowski verbatim--   my uber-geekout of choice is R&G are Dead.  

Mostly it's because of lines like the ones above.  "You can't not 'be' on a boat."  Think about it.  I'll give you a minute...

... right?  I don't think I've gotten on a boat since my early 20's without thinking of that exchange.  

It doesn't hurt that the movie version is effing brilliant as well (though not as good as the play, even though Stoppard-- the playwright-- directed the movie).  Gary Oldman?  Tim Roth?  Richard Dreyfuss?  That's a hubba hubba cast of theatrical greatness.

But here's the thing: I've never seen the play performed on stage!  I know the darned thing backwards and forward.  It is hands down, my favorite play of all time.  But I've never seen an actual production.

... and that's why I was THRILLED to see that the Louisville Repertory Company is producing the play from Feb 3-13 at the Mex Theater in the Kentucky Center.   

... and that's why I was shocked when I saw the poster for the show.  Click on the link above.  No really, go do it. *eyes bulge out like in a cartoon*  Is this my favorite play?  "The Original Mash-up"??  "A Pirate, a Unicorn, and Hamlet walk into a bar..."  A jester with a clown nose?  I'm super happy to see that someone revised the text that goes along with the calendar.  I wish I'd saved the old text... the old description of the play made the play out to be a knee-slapping, side-splitting, screw-ball comedy.  What?

Listen, this is just me getting all English teacher nerdy and proprietary about my favorite play.  Yes, R&G are Dead is funny, but it's not a Three Stooges routine.  These guys aren't clowns.  It's an existentialist, absurdist tragicomedy... with really more emphasis on the tragic than the comic.  It's a sad freakin' play.  There's nothing clown-like about lines like:  "Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one. A moment. In childhood. When it first occurred to you that you don't go on forever. Must have been shattering. Stamped into one's memory. And yet, I can't remember it. It never occurred to me at all. We must be born with an intuition of mortality. Before we know the word for it. Before we know that there are words. Out we come, bloodied and squawling, with the knowledge that for all the points of the compass, theres only one direction. And time is its only measure. "

Just rips your heart out, doesn't it?  

All this is just to say... go see this play.  You might brush up on your Hamlet first; it really is much, much more impressive if you've got Hamlet fresh in your mind (Dagnabbit!  I was going to suggest you rent the Mel Gibson version because it's really quite good for what it is. That, of course, was filmed before (we knew) he was a misogynist anti-semite arsehole. Sigh.  Well, then, I recommend the Campbell Scott version.  The movie itself is kind of a shitshow, but Campbell Scott does a stunning Danish Prince.  Stunning. And it's Campbell Scott-- delicious!)

I'm trusting that the Louisville Repertory Company just put their poster design into the hands of someone who didn't "get" the play. I'm trusting that they don't plan to strip the tragic from the tragicomedy. I truly can't wait to see this.  It's February 3-13 at 8pm with a 2pm matinée on the 13th.  Tickets are $10-15.  Cheap indeed for having your mind blown by Stoppard's brilliance.

In Which I Get to Be "Roommate"...

So it's been a little quiet around these bloggy parts.  Sorry for that.  If you follow me on Twitter (@loueyville), you know that here at Casa Lou we've been dealing with a serious health crisis.  Specifically Roommate's health crisis.  More specifically, the heart attack that he had last Friday/Saturday.

Roommate has started a new blog, Heart Attack Colored Lens, to share information with his friends and family and to generally address what it means to be a 39 year-old heart attack survivor.  Knowing Roommate, when he gets bored with talking about his health, he'll probably start blogging about other stuff-- music, movies, the Louisville scene.  And in his blog, I get to be "Roommate."

I'm biased.  But I think you should plug his blog into your Google Reader.  Oooh.  That sounds nerdy-dirty.

I tell ya, Roommate is doing great-- super good spirits, good energy, chipper on all levels-- but sometimes I feel like I'm still recovering from his heart attack.  I fancy myself something of a "writer" (at least sometimes I do), but I find it hard to put this experience from my perspective into words.  I've lost people who are dear to me-- grandparents mostly.  And I've sat vigil by the hospital beds of those that I've loved.  But last weekend there were moments-- however brief, however marginally warranted-- when I thought Roommate might suddenly wink out of my life.  Forever.  And it was literally (I know we overuse the crap out of that word, but this time it is the perfect word) the worst feeling I've ever had.

I don't think I take Roommate for granted. We do a pretty good job of reminding each other how lucky we are to have each other. But what I DID take for granted is the idea that Roommate would always be here.  Maybe not always my housemate, my partner-in-crime, my favorite travel companion, my sounding board, and sometimes my foil... but always here. Those moments when I thought he could suddenly not be here... perhaps the worst moments of my life.

So, my PSA before I get back on the blogging horse and tell you about fun stuff happening in the 'Ville and other nonsense: In the almighty words of the great philosophers Bill & Ted-- Be Excellent To Each Other.

Party on, Roommate.

Wednesday Afternoon Randomness: OMG SNOW! Edition

[Insert hysterical snow talk here.]

This past Monday was "Blue Monday;" supposedly the third monday of January is the most depressing day of the year.  As it happened to coincide with a day off, I didn't feel the full thrust of the cosmic tug toward the dark side.  But I swear, there's something to it. Maybe it's Blue Monday a little late, or maybe it's just the oppressive GRAY that we've been experiencing in Louisville, but I'm more than a little out of sorts these days.  So what better time than a clearinghouse post of all the good things coming up here in town?

• You know one thing I love about Louisville in January? Consuming Louisville's "One Thing I Love About Louisville" series.

• Speaking of Michelle Jones: Next week Let Them Tweet Cake is taking a field trip to LVL1 to build our own mintiboosts.  If you're a nerdy chick, you need to be there.  Read this great article about LVL1 in the LEO.
  
• Got the blues? I do. So it's a good thing Actors Theatre is breaking out Ma Rainey's Black Bottom this week.  It runs through February 13.
  
• Feel like banging your head against a wall?  How about a just a little head-banging?  I can't believe how excited I am to see Broadway Across America's Rock of Ages next week.  It's at the Kentucky Center from January 25-30, and it sounds like it will be good, pure, goofy fun.
  
• There's another IdeaFestival sponsored adult spelling bee at Zanzabar next week on the 27th.
  
• According to the folks at the Visitor and Conventions Bureau, we'll be seeing some additions to the Urban Bourbon Trail in the near future.
  
• Speaking of bourbon: Baxter Station is now open on Mondays and features a special "Bourbon Flights & Bourbon Bites" menu.  Door prizes, visits with Master Distillers, and other special events.  This looks like it's poised to be a regular Monday night thing for yours truly!

What did I miss?  Here's hoping for snow days and blue skies and good friends and warm places for all of us... soon!  Get out there and do something fun. 

Walden's TKAM: The Perfect Play for Imperfect Times

You know I love me some Walden Theater.  So I'm super excited to see their production of the play version of one of my favorite books ever (probably one of yours too).


To Kill a Mockingbird had such an impact on me when I was a 7th grader that for more than a decade whenever a friend or family member was pregnant, I lobbied passionately that they name any boychild "Atticus." When I first met Roommate and we started dating, I found out that he hadn't read TKAM, I freaked out, bought him the book, and hovered over him til he read every last word.  (He loved it.)


It's the perfect book for imperfect times.


Times where we're publishing revisions of classic novels and sanitizing history.  (I'm told that the Walden production does not excise the n-word.)  Atticus says: "When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness' sake. But don't make a production of it. Children are children, but they can spot an evasion quicker than adults, an evasion simply muddles 'em."


Times when our government officials seem to care more about being "right" and getting their way than they do about doing what's right and finding common ground.  Atticus says:  "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."


Times when we're talking an awful lot about "civility," but not necessarily practicing it.  Again, the font of wisdom says, "It's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you."


For those of you who are unfamiliar with Walden Theater, it's one of the premier young adult theaters in the country and an absolute treasure for this city.  Read more about it at their website.  And we live in a time (honestly, was there ever NOT a time?) when young people seem to get way more bad press than they do good press. As someone who has devoted her life to working with young people, I rise up like an angry mama lion when I hear people patently shit-talking the kids.  So if you find yourself in the "goddamned kids these days" camp or worrying about the future of America, Walden is a good place to put your concerns to rest.  These are talented, creative, imaginative, devoted young people who will inspire your faith in "kids these days."  Once you see how hard they work, you'll quit your worrying.  (100% of Walden kids graduate from high school.  They go to school all day and devote hours and hours of their after school time to classes and rehearsals-- and still have to do their homework.  88% go on to higher education.)


I'll get off my soapbox now.  Support Walden.  Go see To Kill a Mockingbird.  Renew your faith in humanity.  

To Kill a Mockingbird

by Christopher Sergel, adapted from the book by Harper Lee
directed by Charlie Sexton 

Synopsis
After a black man is accused of a terrible crime, lawyer Atticus Finch and his intrepid daughter Scout have to navigate the color lines drawn in a sleepy Alabama town to defend the accused and protect the townspeople from themselves. The book, a sensitive, bold look into a small town during the civil rights era, just celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Dates: 2011

January 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29 @ 7:30pm
January 22, 29 @ 2:00pm

Venue
Walden Theatre, 1123 Payne Street


Ticket Information
Walden Theatre: (502) 589-0084 

Actors Apprentice/Inter Co: The Tens

Speaking of Actors...

This week, Actors' Apprentice/Intern Company is presenting The Tens, an evening of 10-minute plays.  Like sketch comedy, 10-minute plays are ideal for the reluctant theater-goer.  If you find you don't like something, hang in there... you'll have something new to consider in nine minutes.

I am always impressed by the Apprentices/Interns at Actors, so I'm putting this on my calendar, for sure.

It Takes A 'Ville @ Actors Theatre

The first few minutes of Second City's IT TAKES A 'VILLE are a little painful, you have to admit.  You've taken off your big bulky coat, and you're enjoying that lovely fleeting feeling of liberation from your clothing (it's almost like stripping naked in the summer-- take off your big, bearskin, down-of-a-thousand-geese coat and you feel all hanky-panky, woo-I'm-nekkid!, for just a little while).  You're all tucked into your nice little seat in the round where there really is no bad seat.  You've got your nice little glass of bourbon-- you know, because you're a Louisvillager.  You're done with reading the Playbill.  Maybe you're chatting up your theatre companion, and then...

Whammo!  These stinkin' out-of-towners from the Big City of Chicago take the stage and start maligning our fair city. What the hell do they know?  They don't live here; they don't know us.  Screw them, right?  Sonsabitches.

Because Louisville is like your mamma, right?  It's all fine and good for you to lay out your mamma when you're talking to your friends. Human nature. We talk smack about the people we love who drive us crazy... But if your FRIEND talks smack about your mamma?  Oh no.  No no no.

And that's what the first few minutes of IT TAKES A 'VILLE are like.  It's like listening to a friend talk smack about your mamma.  It stings. It makes you not like them.  It makes you want to punch these folks in the nose, in fact.  And then... it starts to be funny.

And it stays funny.

After just a couple of weeks of intensive research into our fair city, the Second City players have crafted a remarkably on-the-nose, mostly-scripted comedy. There are jokes that will stick with you (it's going to snow tonight, and the mere thought of Louisvillagers driving in the snow makes me snicker now).  And like most sketch comedy, if something isn't working for you, hang in there and the sketch will change soon.  The improv portions of the program were by far the most remarkable displays of talent.  There were a few big misses: my goodness, if they milked the joke about KY-IND relations one more time, I was going to have to stand up and shout: For the most part, we don't hate Indiana; we just don't ever want to have to go there!  Leave it alone already!


IT TAKES A 'VILLE is at Actors through February 6.  And you really should go.  You should go if only because this is your one chance to see it (I imagine).  No one's going to produce this script again-- the jokes are too "of the moment."  It was a ton of fun, and as I said, the talent is impressive.

Just brace yourself for that initial slap.  Hang in there.

Donations Needed for Breast Cancer Fundraiser Auction

Friends and dear readers,

If you read this blog with any regularity, you know that I'm a happy, healthy breast cancer survivor.  Likewise, if you read this blog, you'll know that I've gone on something of a "pink diet" (or really, "pink fast") in the past year or so.  When I was newly diagnosed and in treatment, I felt compelled to show up at every "pink" event, to walk in every "pink" walk, and to avail myself of all the fantastic free services offered in our city to cancer patients and survivors. But I always ended up getting crazy weepy at those events, listening to other breast cancer survivors tell their stories.  I'm also the kind of person who is deeply uncomfortable with the idea of being called "heroic" just because I survived cancer-- and a lot of survivor rhetoric lapses into that (the doctors were heroic; my friends and family were at times heroic; I just muddled through the best that I could).  Because I'm so shy, support groups and organizations made me snap over to social anxiety overload as soon as I walked into the door.

But when I was first diagnosed-- like the very day that I was diagnosed-- Norton Hospital put me in touch with Megan Schanie of the Young Survivors Group.  And she took me out to lunch and told me what to expect from surgery, chemo, fake boobs, the works.  And for the course of my treatment, the Young Survivors group was a fabulous source of support to me (right down to Megan's mother-in-law who fed me and took me to treatments when my own mom or Roommate couldn't be around).

And the Annual Young Survivors Auction is one "pink event" that I feel passionately about supporting.  First of all, it's a damned good time, and most years I come away with really good deals on silent auction goods.  Secondly, it supports a cause that truly helped me and truly helps a lot of young women.

So if you're a business owner or your make stuff or you have services you can offer to this group, I humbly ask that you donate something to the silent auction to be held at the Frazier Museum on February 25.  It doesn't matter how small your donation is.  Goods, services, gift certificates, experiences...  And I'll make it as easy on you as possible; I'm happy to come to you at your convenience and pick up the item.  These donations are tax deductible and a Young Survivors rep will provide you acknowledgment in writing of your donation.  Email me at lou [at] loueyville.com if you are interested or if you have any questions.

And for the rest of you, mark your calendars:  February 25 at the Frazier.  A good time and a great cause.

Thanks.  Y'all rock.
xo
Lou