<FESTIVAL>
Sept. 7-9
Corn Island Storytelling Festival
This venerable festival turns 32 this year, so happy birthday to the tellers of tall tales and flame keepers of folklore who make this event a historical — and often hysterical — tradition. This year’s collection of mysteries, legends and songs span hundreds of years and thousands of miles with yarn spinners from Kentucky and beyond including Toni Simmons (Texas), Willa Brigham (North Carolina) and Octavia Sexton (Kentucky). Other events include a ghost walk through downtown Louisville (Sept. 8) and a reading by author Roberta Simpson Brown, also known as “The Queen of Cold-Blooded Tales” (Sept. 9).
(Tickets for most events are available at the gate: $10 adults, $5 children 6-12, children under 6 free. All Louisville Free Public Library performances are free.) —Cindy Lamb
Various times/locations
245-0643
www.cornislandstorytellingfestival.org
<MUSIC>
Saturday, Sept. 9
LRS Fest
The biggest noise up front about this year’s LRS Fest is Hawthorne Heights. They came out of the gate as Dayton, Ohio’s contribution to screamo, but earlier this year they released an album with signs of intelligent progressive pop-life. They’ll probably fit well alongside Head Automatica among the acts on the main stage. The local stage has a well-chosen assortment of bands including Intheclear, 7 Day Sun and 2 Pump Chump. —T.E. Lyons
Waterfront Park
625-1220
$15 adv./$20; noon (music at 2 p.m.)
All ages
<EXTRAVAGANZA!>
Saturday, Sept. 9
Edison Extravaganza
What does Thomas Edison have to do with the Rolling Stones? Well, nothing really, but attendees of this year’s “Edison Extravaganza” will have a chance to bid on five sets of tickets for the Stones’ Sept. 29 concert at Churchill Downs, among other fine items. The 10th annual Extravaganza is an event built around auctions, which benefit the Thomas Edison House, held at the Mellwood Arts & Entertainment Center. In addition to Stones tickets, items such as jewelry, fine dining experiences and antiques will be up for bid. To distract you from bidding on everything in sight, there will be an Edison silent movie projection, as well as music from DJ Marshall Yancey. Hors d’oeuvres, desserts and libations will also be available. For an additional $20, patrons can enter a raffle drawing for $2,000 to be given at the end of the evening. —Nathan Thacher
Mellwood Arts & Entertainment Center
1860 Mellwood Ave.
585-5247
$50 adv., $60 door; 7 p.m.
<ART>
Sept. 9-14
Speed Art Museum events
There is plenty at the Speed Art Museum to keep you busy this week. On Saturday, the Museum Shop will have its annual clearance sale from 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. with the museum’s Alliance holding a Big Top Tent Sale from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. On Tuesday, Sept. 12, at 6 p.m., U of L professor Stow Chapman will talk about his 40-year architectural practice. An exhibit of his work is on display in U of L’s Schneider Hall Sept. 12-Nov. 15.
Colin Gardner, professor of Integrative Studies and Critical Theory at the University of California Santa Barbara, will speak on Sept. 14 at 6 p.m. His lecture, “Decentered Spectatorship: Constructing a Hybrid Scopic Space in Recent Art, Films and Video,” will discuss the experience of viewing art videos and films. —Jo Anne Triplett
Speed Art Museum
2035 S. Third St.
634-2700
www.speedmuseum.org
Free
<FESTIVAL>
Sept. 10-17
Gaslight Festival
With eight days and dozens of events to choose from, it’s hard to pick a single must-see attraction out of the orgy of entertainment that is Jeffersontown’s Gaslight Festival. So I’ll try my best to mention all that I can. The festival begins on Sunday with a new addition to this year’s billing, team and singles tournament bowling at King Pin Lanes starting at 1 p.m. The following day is the 21st annual golf scramble at the Persimmon Ridge Golf Course. On Tuesday it’s the 5K Run/Walk at 7 p.m. in front of City Hall (on Watterson Trail). The annual Parade will be on Thursday, and later that day is another new addition: live entertainment under the Pavilion by The Bella Blue Band at 8 p.m. Whew, that’s all I can handle right now. For more, go to www.jtownchamber.com. —Nathan Thacher
Watterson Trail at Taylorsville Road (most events)
267-1674
<BENEFIT>
Monday, Sept. 11
Patriot Game IV, Sept. 11 Memorial
Again this year, Louisville-area firefighters and police will remember fallen comrades in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by raising money for The Healing Place, a local homeless shelter and addiction recovery program. Members of Louisville Metro Police and Louisville Fire & Rescue will take to the basketball court in Patriot Game IV at Bellarmine University in this charity event. Expect a good contest — these guys have got game. There will also be a celebrity free-throw contest, three-point shooting exhibitions and more. Tickets are available at the Healing Place, 1030 W. Market St. in Louisville. —Kevin Gibson
Knights Hall
Bellarmine University
www.patriotgame.com
212-2425
$10; 6 p.m.
<MUSIC>
Sept. 11-16
National Quartet Convention
The biggest annual event in Southern gospel music, the National Quartet Convention, is coming to Louisville. Now in it’s 49th year, the six-day event at the Kentucky State Fair & Expo Center will feature nearly 70 of the bigger names in Southern gospel, such as the Florida Boys, the Dove Brothers Quartet, the Hoppers, the Dixie Melody Boys, the Crabb Family — making their final appearance, as they plan to disband next year — and more. Every day of the festival, the quartets will start singing as early as 9:30 a.m. and will croon until midnight. Also, there will be a featured Artist Spotlight Showcase in Freedom Hall on Thursday afternoon (Sept. 14), which will feature a tribute to legendary pianist Anthony Burger, who was originally scheduled to perform at the convention prior to his untimely death in February. This is music that’s far more powerful than you might think. —Kevin Gibson
Kentucky State Fair & Exposition Center
(919) 207-0472
www.natqc.com
<MUSIC>
Wednesday, Sept. 13
Maia Sharp
Somewhere in the thicket where thorny relationship songs are worked on by singer-songwriters and the Americana bunch, Maia Sharp’s made herself into a known brand name. She’s managed to get known by the Triple-A listening public as well as the strumming popsters and twangsters who depend on her songwriting for their radio hits. As a show of her ongoing prodigal talents, the woman’s started up her own label and set up her own tour to promote a new EP while she (and we) wait for the labels to give her next full album a release slot on the calendar. The mostly-acoustic EP, Eve and the Red Delicious, has plenty of bite — mostly sweet but with just a little bittersweet tang. Potential songwriters take note: Sharp is worth seeing just for her cooing and warbling, but her performances amount to a master class in hook-craft. —T.E. Lyons
Jim Porter’s
2345 Lexington Road
452-9532
$12 adv./$14 door; 8 p.m.
<ART>
Through Oct. 21
‘Palette de Deux: Chapman and Friedman Side by Side’
Marriage has its privileges, including spying on your artist spouse to see what he/she is creating. Such is the case with Cheryl Chapman and Julius Friedman. Chapman’s “Holon” paintings series intrigued Friedman, so he started photographing the process, concentrating on the colors on her palette. The resulting images he titled “Cheryl’s Paint Box.” The artists’ reception will be held on Friday from 5:30-7:30 p.m. —Jo Anne Triplett
Louisville Visual Art Association
3005 River Road
896-2146
www.louisvilleart.org
Free; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (Mon.-Fri.), 9 a.m.-3 p.m. (Sat.)