Staffpicks

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 21
Margo & The Pricetags The New Vintage
2126 S. Preston St., 749-4050
newvintagelouisville.com
$8; 8 p.m.
A great singer can make a room that’s not even built for acoustics seem like you’re sitting behind the board at a studio, wearing headphones. It’s one of the great conquests of a live performance: having the ability to amplify your strengths, transcending studio projects, while wading in waters where the tide isn’t in your favor. Like Lucero and Lydia Loveless, Margo Price can do that. Of course, Margo & The Pricetags is more country traditionalist than those aforementioned acts — which theoretically makes it tougher to make that kind of noise — but she has a voice with total takeover power and a band that makes you feel like you just walked into a portal to 1960s Bakersfield.
—Scott Recker

JAN. 23-APRIL 4
‘Held from Beneath: An Exploration of Cultural Sustainability’ Carnegie Center for Art and History
201 E. Spring St., New Albany
812-944-7336
carnegiecenter.org
This is the year of the YES! Fest, a series of events that focus on the environment and sustainability through art. Organized by the Arts & Cultural Attractions Council, a group with over 100 local members, its goal is to “provide art and culture activities in the expected and unexpected – from art museums, to community parks, to recycling centers and landfills.” The first visual art event is the Carnegie Center’s “Held from Beneath: An Exploration of Cultural Sustainability.” The opening reception is Friday, Jan. 23 from 6-8 p.m. The additional exhibition programs are free and open to the public; check the website for details.
—Jo Anne Triplett

Saturday, Jan. 24
D.W. Giffith’s Birthday Oldham County History Center
106 N. Second Ave., La Grange
502-222-0826
oldhamcountyhistoricalsociety.org,
Free; 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
All the years I opened my Intro to Film class with “Birth of a Nation” (1915) and I never knew that famed filmmaker D.W. Griffith was born and buried in Oldham County. On Jan. 22, he would have been 140 years old, and to celebrate the father of American film, the Oldham County History Center is popping popcorn, serving birthday cake and showing Griffith’s movies, not just the epic silent film “Birth of a Nation,” which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, but also “Broken Blossoms” (1919), a counterpoint to “Birth” in which Griffith attempted to represent racial harmony, and his first sound film “Abraham Lincoln” (1930).
—Laura Snyder

Saturday, January 24
Gilbert Gottfried The Laughing Derby
laughingderby.com
$20; 7:15 & 9:30 p.m.
He squints. He screeches. Everyone knows Gilbert Gottfried. He has been an instantly recognizable voice in comedy for the better part of three decades. The often loud and occasionally offensive comedian has been a night club draw since the mid-’80s, with his hyper extreme twist on vaudevillian comedy. He often walks the fine lines between genius and irritating, as well as brash and bad taste. But if you were a kid at some point in the last 25 years, you will remember him as the voice of Iago from the Disney classic “Aladdin.” Gottfried will be in town this Saturday performing at The Laughing Derby. There are only two shows and tickets are going fast for this comedy legend. Be sure to check out our web exclusive interview with Gottfried at leoweekly.com.
—Brent Owen

TUESDAY, JAN. 27
Free Week Kick Off with
Cher Von, Shedding
Haymarket Whiskey Bar
331 E. Market St., 442-0523
haymarketwhiskeybar.com
Free; 5:30 p.m.
After work on Tuesdays in January, it’s easy to get the cold weather blues, say screw it, go home and binge on potato chips, cheap booze and Peaky Blinders, but Free Week offers a bright spot during a slow time on the local event calendar. Take full advantage and kick it off right with Cher Von and Shedding, two of the most boundary-pushing sonic artists in the city on Tuesday, Jan. 27 — which will be subsequently followed by free shows at different venues. (If you haven’t seen the lineup of Free Week yet, flip to the music section). It’s not only an insanely lucky way to spend happy hour, but it’s also a method of not letting the bitter outdoors make you a hostage.
—Scott Recker

THROUGH FEB. 1
‘Strains Familiar’ by Emily Schuhmann McGrath Gallery, Bellarmine University
2001 Newburg Rd., 272-8000
bellarmine.edu
Science can be an underutilized playground for artistic expression. The forms and functions of living things, from the depths of the ocean to the ones growing from the ground, can provide the inspiration to create compelling work and engage in new artistic conversations about symmetry and shape. In her new show, “Strains Familiar,” artist Emily Schuhmann takes her scientific studies, and the inspiration that they have provided, to craft work that tackles this very subject. Schuhmann, a Louisville native and enamelist, creates sculpture and drawings that is part science but all art. Filled with bright colors and a touch of whimsey, it’s this combination that allows her work to be familiar, yet still surprising.
—Chasson Higdon

THROUGH FEB. 22
‘COLOR ME WILD’ Gallery Janjobe
Mellwood Arts & Entertainment Center
1860 Mellwood Ave., 899-9293
galleryjanjobe.com
As I write this, the wind is howling and the temperature can best be described by using a mix of numbers and cuss words. So let’s think spring, flowers and sunshine – whatever will get us through January and February. To visually heat things up, artists use the yellows, oranges and reds on the warm side of the color wheel. The title of Gallery Janjobe’s latest exhibition, “COLOR ME WILD,” almost makes me giddy. They say they “have color and lots of it,” including Joy Lait’s glass and wire sculpture, Pamela Mattei’s scarves and Jana John’s ceramics. Perhaps we should think of an exhibition like this as a well-needed oasis of color in a gray winter desert.
—Jo Anne Triplett

THROUGH FEB. 27
‘Perceptions in Reality’ 849 Gallery, Kentucky School of Art
849 S. Third St., 618-4600
kentuckyschoolofart.org
The Kentucky School of Art at Spalding University does a great job of bringing nationally known artists to town to lecture, teach and exhibit. Their current visiting artist/teacher is Amy Weiskopf, an artist well known for her photorealistic still life paintings. In an interview on the “Painting Perceptions” blog, she stated that still life painting, “is … more intimate, more about looking inward than other genres. Still life was the anti-heroic and the least important genre. The intimate and anti-heroic appeals to me and is much more suited to my psyche.” Weiskopf is in the show “Perceptions in Reality” alongside KSA faculty Laurie Fader and Aaron Lubrick, and is presenting a lecture that’s open to the public on Thursday, Jan. 22 at 6 p.m.
—Jo Anne Triplett

This article appears in January 21, 2015.