Wednesday, Jan. 26
Literary LEO Party
Monkey Wrench
1025 Barret Ave. • 582-2433
Free; 7 p.m.
We have celebrated the area’s literary talents since the early days of our publication — that’s right, Literary LEO goes as far back as The Backstreet Boys, people. This issue features the winners of the annual contest, and tonight, we’ve invited them to share excerpts from their pieces at the Monkey Wrench. Take a gander through the LEO, and then come out and celebrate the very best in local poetry, short stories, photography and “something different.” Also, this will be one of your last chances to get in on the LEO Sex Survey. Who said January wasn’t sexy? —Sara Havens
Thursday, Jan. 27
Cincinnati Reds Caravan
Louisville Slugger Field
Free; 6-8:30 p.m.
The Cincinnati Reds Winter Caravan is a baseball tradition almost as old as Old Man Winter. Every January, the Reds load up a couple vanfulls of players and front-office bigwigs to barnstorm the cities near Cincinnati for a little Hot Stove League baseball talk. And there’ll certainly be plenty to talk about when the caravan rolls into Louisville Slugger Field Thursday for a meet-and-greet with local Reds and Louisville Bats fans — such as Cincinnati’s 2010 National League Central championship. Key to the Reds’ recent success is a recharged farm system that has marched such hot prospects as Jay Bruce, Adam Dunn and Joey Votto through Louisville to the big leagues. Last year, it was Cuban fireballer Aroldis Chapman. The big question for the 2011 caravaners: “Who’s next?” —Bill Doolittle
Jan. 27-28
Beverly Fishman
Kentucky School of Art • 618-4600
The Kentucky School of Art continues to bring national artists to Louisville. This time, we are getting a bonus. Beverly Fishman is both a visual artist and an art educator, so KSA has planned two programs to highlight her specialties. Both are free and open to the public. As head of the painting department at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Fishman knows a thing or two about art students. An Art Educator Round Table is Thursday from 4-6 p.m. at Spalding University’s Egan Learning Center. Her artist side will come out at her talk and reception on Friday from 6-8 p.m. at Actors Theatre.
KSA also is showing “Basement Paintings” by Neil Callander through Jan. 31 at its campus at 845 S. Third St. —Jo Anne Triplett
Friday, Jan. 28
Loretta Lynn
Palace Theatre
625 S. Fourth St. • 583-4555
$38-$58; 8 p.m.
Quite a while back, my parents went to see John Denver in concert. Shortly thereafter, he died. My parents also saw Tammy Wynette. Shortly thereafter, she died. Now they’re threatening to get tickets for Lynn’s concert. I love you, but no, Mom, the Coalminer’s Daughter is not yours to take. She’s ours. I know she’s been in the music business 50 years, but once you do an album with Jack White, you no longer belong in a museum. She’s won Grammys in this century. She was the 2004 AMA Artist of the Year. You can go, Mom and Dad, but you’ll have to listen from the alley behind Fourth Street. The rest of us will be inside, listening to the First Lady of Country Music show us how it’s done. —Michael Sohan
Friday, Jan. 28
Jake Shimabukuro
Kentucky Center
501 W. Main St. • 562-0100
$22.50-$27.50; 8 p.m.
Jake Shimabukuro (pronounced she-ma-boo-koo-row) is using a backing band on his latest album, Peace Love Ukulele, so it’s true that no ukulele player is an island. It’s also true that when he throws himself into an instrumental break, he makes you forget six strings are even relevant, when four will do nicely. The album debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s World Albums Chart in large part due to the 33-year-old Hawaiian’s ability to fuse contemporary pop with this traditional instrument, and by following the examples set by non-musicians Bill Cosby and Bruce Lee. The former entertained with only his words and a mic; the latter treated creativity as a form of human expression. Shimabukuro’s mindset borrows from both. Part of LEO Weekly’s A Little Off Center Series. —Mat Herron
Jan. 28-29
Choreographers’ Showcase
Louisville Ballet
315 E. Main St. • 584-7777
$20; 2 & 8 p.m.
The Louisville Ballet has permitted its choreographers to run wild with creativity. This year’s Choreographers’ Showcase debuts 10 new dances created and danced by members of the Ballet. Expect to see dance in ballet and modern set to classical music as well as pop and Latin. This is as brand new as dance gets. What’s even more exciting is how these new ballets are presented. Normally the Louisville Ballet performs at the Kentucky Center, where the audience is, logically, removed from the stage. This Showcase is performed up close and personal at the Ballet’s studio space (seating is limited). Contact the Kentucky Center for tickets. —Jo Anne Triplett
Jan. 28-Feb.5
‘Brontë’
The Rudyard Kipling
422 W. Oak St. • 636-1311
$15; 7:30 p.m.
Oh, those Brontë sisters. They never got to go anywhere, get much of a real education or get laid, but they managed to concoct some of the fieriest literature of all time. Did Charlotte, Emily and Anne just sit around in their gloomy old Yorkshire house and come up with brilliant and slightly creepy ideas? I guess if you’re living in a time when women aren’t even allowed to go to the library, what else are you going to do? Kicking off Finnigan Productions’ seventh season, “Brontë” portrays the lives of these talented spinster sisters and the rest of their woeful family, merging fact and fiction, reality and fantasy. Written by UK playwright Polly Teale, who also has adapted “Jane Eyre” for the stage, the play is under the direction of Louisville native and Finnigan company member Natalie Fields. —Jane Mattingly
Saturday, Jan. 29
Guy Mendes & Ben Sollee
Carmichael’s Bookstore
2720 Frankfort Ave. • 896-6950
Free; 4 p.m.
Photography is just one of Guy Mendes’ significant contributions to the arts. Witness his several Emmys. And look at his idea for a collection of portraiture: He offers them up in text as well as pictures. Over a long career, Mendes has been inspired by many characters, and his views of many notables are collected in the new book “40/40: 40 Years, 40 Portraits.” Among the honored subjects are some of our local heroes: Wendell Berry, Ed McClanahan, Ashley Judd. Also among the 40 is Ben Sollee — and he’s also going to appear at the Carmichael’s book signing on Saturday afternoon. A complimentary brace of tunes from Sollee’s cello, and the beauty of lives captured on the page by an appreciative man of vision — sounds like a great way to warm up the chill of midwinter. —T.E. Lyons
Saturday, Jan. 29
Keep Louisville Symphonic
Ballard High School
6000 Brownboro Road
www.lomusicians.org
Free; 8 p.m.
Former Louisville Orchestra music director Uri Segal is in town Saturday night to conduct players from the symphony in a special “Keep Louisville Symphonic” concert at Ballard High. The free event, which includes such popular works as Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 5, From the New World,” Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino” overture, and Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto No. 1,” is aimed at forging a community groundswell of support for a rebirth of the orchestra in Louisville. Mark Kaplan, a renowned soloist and Segal’s fellow faculty member at Indiana University, will perform the Mendelssohn violin concerto. —Bill Doolittle
Jan. 29-30
‘Gospel According to Harry Potter’
Highland Baptist Church
1101 Cherokee Road • 451-3735
Free; 7 p.m.
This might stir the cauldron for those who still think the Harry Potter series is of the devil and should be banned because it promotes witchcraft. Highland Baptist Church is hosting a weekend event that examines undercurrents in the popular novels that could be parallels of biblical themes. Professor of religious studies Edward Shirley, who teaches a course called “Christian Themes in Harry Potter” at St. Edward’s University, will be visiting from Texas and conducting lectures that explore the religious (though not exclusively Christian) themes that he argues are present in these texts. There will be community-wide lectures on Saturday and Sunday at 7 p.m., and Shirley will lead worship services at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sunday, followed by a Harry Potter roundtable lunchtime discussion. —Jane Mattingly
Sunday, Jan. 30
10 Years of Kentucky Homefront
Clifton Center
2117 Payne St. • 896-8480
$10; 4 p.m.
The 10th anniversary of Kentucky Homefront’s musical radio hour takes on special meaning because the program’s most recognizable voice is fighting to stay out of the hospital gown. John Gage’s continued health issues were addressed with a benefit show last November that raised more than $10,000 for his treatment, so while he’s on the mend, the show’s throwing a party. Naturally, the live music lineup relies heavily on singer-songwriters Homefront has come to emphasize: Danny Flanigan, John Mann, Carter Wood, J.D. Shelburne, Alan Rhody, Johnny Berry and Steve Cooley (The Galoots, Hog Operation) are a few, but the celebration doubles as a tribute to Ken and Sheila Pyle, owners of Old Louisville’s alt-rock-theater-whatever headquarters Rudyard Kipling, interviewed by nu-grass pioneer Sam Bush. —Mat Herron
Tuesday, Feb. 1
‘Ride The Divide’
Baxter Avenue Theatres
1250 Bardstown Road • 459-2288
$15; 7 p.m.
The Tour Divide is a 2,700-mile contest that begins in snowy Banff, Canada, traverses the Rockies, and cuts south through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. The race concludes at the U.S.-Mexico border and, we should add, is performed entirely on mountain bike. The participants compete without the aid of follow vehicles or support teams. In the race’s history, 100 riders have attempted the rigorous course, with only 40 crossing the finish line. “Ride the Divide” documents a recent Tour that saw 15 hopefuls peddling out of Alberta, including its first female rider. Most won’t complete the journey, which is said to be the world’s toughest race. “Ride the Divide” is successful in showing why. In trying to keep pace, the filmmakers encounter bears, broken spirits and a wide-open swath of natural America that viewers may have thought no longer existed. Tuesday’s screening benefits the Kentucky Mountain Bike Association. —J. Christian Walsh
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