<MUSIC>
WEDNESDAY, JULY 16
Carrolling on
No, he’s not the long-lost member of Hanson (although with his hair, he would fit in), and pop isn’t his genre. Jason Michael Carroll is a country music singer from Texas, whose latest single claims he can sleep when he’s dead. It certainly seems that way. This summer he has a demanding tour schedule, which includes tonight’s Fourth Street Live “Hot Country Nights” show.
He is also working on a new album, set for release in 2009. He has been to Louisville in the past, and is fond of our city, especially Coyote’s. “Alyssa Lies” and “Livin’ Our Love Song,” from his debut Waitin’ in the Country, hit radio stations in 2006, and the pride of hearing his tracks broadcast hasn’t waned.
“It is pretty cool to be having a conversation with someone and to hear one of our songs (on the radio),” he said. “I’ve never (sung) a song that I couldn’t feel … that couldn’t relate to me.” —Cassie Book
Fourth Street Live
www.4thstlive.com
Free; 7:30 p.m.
<HORROR>
Friday, July 18
Artist Bernie Wrightson
Should the Ohio River be expecting a visit from the Swamp Thing? I’m sure DC Comics provides retirement benefits for its senior characters, and I think the Ohio would be a lovely summer vacation spot for a friendly wetland creature like himself. In the meantime, horror artist Bernie Wrightson, co-creator of the Swamp Thing and notorious illustrator for many horror comics, magazines and books, will be visiting Louisville this weekend to chat about the finest of creepy characters and sign autographs. Deemed the “Master of Macabre,” Wrightson has illustrated various Stephen King novels, a version of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” Batman and Spider-Man, and has done production design for the films “Ghostbusters,” “Galaxy Quest” and George Romero’s “Land of the Dead.” His pen-and-ink drawings are delightfully gruesome and arguably historical in the realm of 2-D horror. Watch your toes around the Ohio, though, just in case. —Jane Mattingly
The Great Escape
2433 Bardstown Road
456-2216
Free; 4-7 p.m.
<BOOK>
Friday, July 18
Author Michel Marriott
When Michel Marriott was a reporter for The C-J, his life had several significant turns to take before he’d become a New York professor coming back on a book tour promoting an Afrofuturist novel. Carmichael’s is hosting a reading and signing of “The Skull Cage Key,” Marriott’s thriller of a future Harlem. One of the more fascinating aspects of Marriott’s turn toward fiction is in how he employs his deep understanding of where technology creates both shortcuts and short circuits in society. This former writer for the “Circuits” section of The New York Times places his noir-like plot amid the burnt-out cops, sex workers and designer drugs of one generation hence. Readers who’ve followed Walter Mosley from crime fiction to more adventurous literary terrain should be among those who find something of particular interest here. —T.E. Lyons
Carmichael’s Bookstore
2720 Frankfort Ave.
896-6950
Free; 7 p.m.
<MUSIC>
FRIDAY, JULY 18
The Apples in Stereo
You might recognize The Apples in Stereo’s music in catchy national TV ad campaigns for Samsung and Target. Or from their appearance at the 2006 Forecastle Festival. Or from “The Colbert Report,” which featured the band playing their ode to host Stephen Colbert, “Stephen, Stephen.” Our editor’s hoping for an encore.
On TV, The Apples’ psychedelic power pop seems toned-down. But on their newest, Electronic Projects for Musicians, they crank with enough energy to keep the kids who are coloring in that Target ad jostling in their sneakers. Can you feel it? they ask. Indeed. —Cassie Book
Headliners Music Hall
1386 Lexington Road
584-8088
$12; 8 p.m.
<MUSIC>
FRIDAY, JULY 18
Medeski, Martin & Wood
Leave it to Medeski, Martin & Wood to take the typical musicians’ “write-record-release-tour” cycle and give it a twist. The avant-groove trio comes to the Bomhard Theater at Kentucky Center as part of an experiment where a short tour serves as rehearsal (and shake-out) of newly written songs before they’re recorded. With the trio’s knack for improvisation, experiments in live surroundings don’t exactly turn their jazz instrumental style inside out. But it’s still a bold step to maintain freshness — and that’s been a steady credo for MMW, which is probably why their fanbase stretches from post-everything hipsters to the jamband crowd. Back around February was the first attempt at this rejiggered creative process, and the record that came about through that tour and those sessions is arriving soon. The Louisville show will help pave the way for what will soon be released under the title Radiolarian 2. —T.E. Lyons
Bomhard Theater
501 W. Main St.
562-0100
www.kentuckycenter.com
$25.50 (adv.), $28 (door); 9 p.m.
<FILM>
July 18-19, 23-24
‘The 48-Hour Film Project’
Hundreds of thousands of dollars later, a production company releases a film they have spent months, if not years, completing. But what if they don’t have such luxuries? A time- and money-consuming process, then, transforms into “The 48-Hour Film Project.”
“(The teams) are given a character, line of dialogue, prop and genre for their film and then set loose on the city for 48 hours,” says Sheila Berman, the Louisville producer for the project. “Imagine the fun, stress and humor involved in coming up with a plot, writing dialogue, planning the shot sequences, rehearsing, filming, editing and scoring a movie in 48 hours.”
The project kicks off at 21c Museum Hotel on Friday. Contestants will compete for awards like Audience Award Winner, Best Writing, Best Director, Best Cinematography and the coveted Best of Louisville. The BoL winner receives $500, along with glory and praise and a chance to win $5,000 in the nationwide contest, which pits winners from 70 cities against each other. All the films will make their international premiere at Village 8 Theaters July 23-24. —Caitlin Bowling
Village 8 Theatres
4014 Dutchmans Lane
894-8697
$7.50; 7 p.m.
<GEEKED>
July 19-20
WonderFest
Sci-fi and horror movie enthusiasts are once again invading the Fairgrounds this weekend for the nation’s largest sci-fi hobby show. The 19th annual WonderFest Model and Toy Expo will attract fans from around the world to geek out over relics inspired by classic films and TV shows like “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Star Trek” and “Battlestar Galactica.”
Artists and designers from the film and TV genre will also be on hand, giving lectures and demonstrations on how they constructed some of the more compelling scenery from their work. Rick Sternbach will discuss his famous illustrations from “Star Trek,” and Bernie Wrightson, mentioned previously on this page, will elaborate on his comic art and movie designs. Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, stars of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” will also be there to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking Stanley Kubrick film.
Aside from the guests, the focus of WonderFest is the models — more than 400 hobbyists from all over the world enter the “Amazing Model Contest” every year. Good luck to all; live long and prosper. —Aaron Frank
Kentucky Fair & Expo Center
(812) 284-9307
www.wonderfest.com
$20 (adults), $7 (kids); 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
<MUSIC>
WEDNESDAY, JULY 23
Amos Lee
A listen to Amos Lee’s songs will often send you into the embrace of simple joys. But you’ll also pick up on how he understands the many ways that journeys toward truth and warmth and justice run through hardships. His generally set-back style of soulful folk-pop, with blues often influencing the songwriting and jazz tweaking the performances, works for quiet strength. Lee’s fans (of which Louisville has many, and thus the regular appearances) often talk about his very natural, sensual touch — especially with vocals. This week’s appearance at Headliners promotes the Don Was-produced third album Last Days at the Lodge. You may not hear that all the world’s a sunny day when Lee takes a long and wide scan of situations (“Listen,” “Better Days”) — but those tracks stand well in their lyrical and tuneful honesty, and they bolster his moments of powerful intimacy (“Baby I Want You”). Whimsical singer-songwriter Priscilla Ahn is the opener. —T.E. Lyons
Headliners Music Hall
1386 Lexington Road
584-8088
$20 (adv.), $23 (door); 9 p.m.
<ART>
Through Aug. 31
‘Summer Show: New Work by Gallery Artists’
Cheryl Chapman and Julius Friedman were not listening when Sam Cooke sang, It’s summertime and the living is easy. The Chapman Friedman Gallery has pulled out all the stops for its summer exhibition of new works.
They have paintings by Dionisio Ceballos, Nana Lampton and Melissa Meyer, to name just a few. Also included are photographs by Robert Hill, sculpture by Michael Ransdell and garden sculpture by Charles Hansen and others. Even the owners got into the mix, with paintings by Chapman and photography by Friedman. — CONTACT _Con-419CB26F17 c s l Jo Anne Triplett
Chapman Friedman Gallery — Downtown
624 W. Main St.
584-7954
HYPERLINK “http://www.chapmanfriedmangallery.com”www.chapmanfriedmangallery.com
Chapman Friedman Gallery — Highlands
1835 Hampden Ct.
468-9393
HYPERLINK “http://www.chapmanfriedmangallery.com”www.chapmanfriedmangallery.com