Oh What a Night Out: Jersey Boys at the Kentucky Center

After totally loving Broadway Across America's production of Legally Blonde: The Musical this summer-- which was absolutely delightful-- I'm just plain ol' looking forward to Jersey Boys, starting July 28 and continuing through August 15.  Before Legally Blonde, I wouldn't have said so.  In fact, I might have even said I'd rather skip Jersey Boys.  But I was proven so wrong about Legally Blonde...

And Jersey Boys is incredibly well-reviewed.  It won the 2006 Tony for Best Musical, and let's face it, even if you're not a huge fan of the Four Seasons' music, the original bands' vocal talents were such that if the musical even adequately replicates them, you're in for a night of musical virtuosity.  And its success has spawned all sorts of band/musician centered musical bios-- imitation, flattery, and so on.

And who doesn't love a night out in downtown Louisville during the summer?  This past weekend, Roommate and I availed ourselves of one of my Groupons for White Oak and had a lovely dinner then headed to Fourth Street Live for the free Peter Searcy/Blues Travelers concert.  It wasn't one of the better nights for White Oak-- service was slow (so much so that we missed Peter Searcy) and they were out of a couple of key items (bacon?).  But the food was excellent, and it was a nice change to have a leisurely meal at a somewhat upscale place, knowing we weren't going to go broke.  (Tip: order the cheese plate-- the Kenny's Farmhouse Horseradish White Cheddar is amazing)

And while I generally avoid Fourth Street Live, I have to admit that the free concerts are a lot of fun.  The sound system sucks unless you're directly in front of the stage-- and if you're on the second floor, often the concert is competing with the bars' cranked-up music (really? Is this necessary?).  But we finagled a clear balcony view of the Blues Travelers and availed ourselves of the pretty generous $3 well-drinks and enjoyed a cheap, fun evening out.

A Broadway show at the Kentucky Center is considerably more expensive.  Tickets start at $40.  But if Jersey Boys is your sort of thing, it'll be money well spent.  Tickets are available at http://www.kentuckycenter.org/.  I'll keep you posted if I spy any discounts or deals.

Happy Mardi Gras! Late Monday Night Rant

Just a quickie post to say Happy Mardi Gras to y'all. This is my fourth Mardi Gras away from "home" and, truth be told, it gets easier every year. Although this year with the Saints' win... there were some touch-and-go moments to be sure.

And no, Loueyvillagers, I don't see any disconnect between me being on the cheerleading squad for Louisville and still feeling like NOLA is "home." NOT that I am comparing being a Katrina refugee and being a political refugee, but Salman Rushdie wrote an incredible book about the idea of diaspora, called Imaginary Homelands, and in it he posits that leaving "home" under any sort of duress gives you a very fluid idea of home and belonging-- in both a good and bad way. (Gosh, I need to reread that book. I haven't read it since Katrina. I wrote a pretty intense graduate school paper about it and am just now recalling how much I loved it. Even though I had no frame of reference on "diaspora" at the time.)

And happy snow day to just about everyone else in the education community here in Louisville. There are, at cursory glance, two schools in the city that are not canceled/delayed and I work at one of them. I know I have zero reason to gripe-- we've had more snow days this year than I can ever remember having, even when I was a wee lass in school. But it's awful hard to sit here tonight knowing I have to wake up before the crack o' dawn when most of my education kin are sleeping in. More than anything else, I know the chirren will be pissy tomorrow. And I don't feel like putting up with pissy chirren. Especially because I'm a bit pissy myself.

So, what's new Louisville (whoa-oh-oh-oh!)?

• On the increasingly baffling Hullabalou front, the festival added Sara Evans and Huey Lewis and the News (or as my grandma used to think they were called "Huey Lewis in the Nude) to the line-up. And somehow, in the Bluegrass State, they're having a tough time filling their Bluegrass stage.
  
  
• And oh, sweet baby king cake Breesus, poor Zach from Louisville.com has been getting his ass KICKED for daring to cast dispersions on Richard Marx. Kicked by the entire Marx fan club. Kicked possibly by Marx himself. Read the comments!
  
  
• If you don't live in a cave then you know what I mean when I say the whole "Save Ear X-tacy" news conference has me a bit... meh... Truth be told, I go there maybe 4 times a year. And I have only bought two cds there-- after I saw the movie "Once" at Baxter, I rushed right over and bought the soundtrack and a cd by the Frames. Let it be known, however, I buy way less music, I'd imagine, than most people my age. I am just not a big music consumer. I have, however, bought two pocketbooks and TONS of Christmas tchotchkes there. I guess I just wish there'd been more ideas bandied about (and granted, maybe lots of ideas have been bandied about and we're just not privy to them). Like how's about charging a little entrance fee for those great in-store appearances? I'd gladly pay $5 to see a band I liked, especially if the entrance fee meant maybe it wouldn't be so crushingly oppressive in there when good bands showed up. I hope they stick around, even if they have to move or downsize.
  
  
• I wasn't here for 4th Street Live's big Mardi Gras bash (I shudder as I type that), but it featured the band EVE 6. It makes me wonder whether someone at Cordish confused "L.A." with "La." Really? There was NO touring Louisiana band you could have gotten for the bash? No Gulf Coast/Swamp Rock/Jazz Funk band you could have tempted to come up here and put on a REAL Mardi Gras experience? Shit (pardon my Cajun), down in NOLA we've even come to accept that KC and the Sunshine Band is honorary Mardi Gras quality due to the sheer number of times they've ridden in Mardi Gras Krewes. EVE 6? Don't think so. Next year, Cordish, please try to get a real New Orleans band-- preferably a brass band like the Soul Rebels. If not, at least a NOLA rock band like Better than Ezra (who have played 4th Street before).
  

Well, so much for the quickie post. But this Lou has to go to bed because she-- unlike the rest of Louisville's academia-- has to work tomorrow. All day. No delay.