WEDNESDAY, OCT. 17
Rich Fabec Band
At the core of Rich Fabec’s material lies his desire to modernize blues. The singer, who can be found wielding a Les Paul guitar with his band at Stevie Ray’s tonight, chooses power chords over bar chords, which is only one small but critical sign that the Anna, Ill., product is less concerned with preserving tradition than he is with building upon it. He also prefers thumbpicking over flatpicking. “Blues has to stay alive to progress,” Fabec says, and throws in an uncomfortable (but necessary and deserved) jab at the “Strat-and-hat” practitioners he calls “Stevie Ray Vaughan-a-bes.” He adds: “I’m grateful for what Muddy Waters did, but you have to add your own stamp. … One of the things we try to do is build on that and take it further.” He also prefers to venture outside the woman-done-me-wrong motifs found in many a blues tune, to which he says: “There’s a lot more going on in the world that you can write about other than just that.” —Mat Herron
Stevie Ray’s Blues Bar
230 E. Main St.
582-9945
www.stevieraysbluesbar.com
$7; 9 p.m.
Oct. 17-21
Tim (Wilson) and Tim (Kidd)
Were you there in 1992? May 15, Skid Row, Freedom Hall, some kid stage dives with Sebastian Bach. “That was me, baby,” says Tim Kidd, a Louisville native and pro comedian who makes his long-awaited debut in his hometown comedy club this week (with Tim Wilson, who’s not from here but lives here now). Kidd lives in Atlanta but has fond memories of home. “This is where I became a man,” he tells LEO via e-mail. “All of my oldest, fondest memories happened all over this town, from the Belvedere and the old LRS bridge (remember when it used to be lit up?) to Cherokee Park and the Chow Wagon. Ain’t no party like an Infield party. … This city has so much to offer, but the best thing about it is something you can’t describe, the feeling, the art and the creative people. … I’d say 90 percent of my comedy material came from my growing up here. … This place never ceases to make me smile.” —Cary Stemle
Comedy Caravan
1250 Bardstown Road
www.comedycaravan.com
Thursday, Oct. 18
LOOK at Louisville Art Party
It’s time to take another look at LOOK. The art gallery organization is throwing a party, and we’re invited. The new 2007/2008 LOOK Gallery Guide will be available to remind everyone of the great art venues we have around town. And every art party should have art, so there will be an art sale as well as the unveiling of Ben Bridwell's new sculpture. Every party also should have music and food, supplied here by Nora, Ben & Eli, Seth Freeman, Jarfi’s Bistro, Havana Beverages and a cash bar. The Gallery Guide can be picked up at area hotels, the Greater Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau and at LOOK member galleries after the party. —Jo Anne Triplett
Mellwood Arts & Entertainment Center
1860 Mellwood Ave.
895-3650
www.looklouisvilleart.com
Free; 6-9 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 20
‘Start Up’
The Germans are coming — danke to Specific Gravity Ensemble, the Louisville theater company that will play host to the one-night-only performance of German Theater Abroad’s multi-media play “Start Up.” While GTA is mostly known for performing in New York (fulfilling its mission to promote German theater in other countries), its associate company, Road Theater USA, ventures into flyover country. In “Start Up,” a band of young Germans, played by three German actors, make their way across America to find their fortune. Two American actors play the people they meet in launching their start-up. The cross-country tour of this farce, by German playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig, takes the ensemble from New York through 24 cities over seven weeks. In the process, two Austrian video artists are documenting the trip and incorporating filmed montages into the play.
Daniel Brunet, Road Theater’s associate director/associate producer, said the company chose Louisville in large part because it is “a hotbed for new plays,” given the presence of Actors Theatre’s Humana Fest.
Specific Gravity artistic director Rand Harmon decided to help the company present the production when Road Theater members were here in June scouting locations. Harmon says both companies share the same artistic goal: to produce unconventional new work that addresses contemporary life. The performance takes place at the former home of Mom’s Music, so seating is limited. —Elizabeth Kramer
Original Mom’s Music building
2920 Frankfort Ave.
384-2743
www.specificgravityensemble.com
www.roadtheater.org
$15, $12 students; 8 p.m.
SATURDAY, OCT. 20
Matt White
Your press bio says almost all of your girlfriends think your songs are about them. How do your respond to them when they confront you? — “I tell them that it’s not really based on them. They all like to take the credit for it, which is … well, it is what it is.”
What are the advantages of playing on the streets and parks of New York? — “It’s kind of my home, and I feel comfortable there, and built my craft there. I don’t even know if any people would call it craft, my guitar playing. That’s where I fleshed it out.”
Mets or Yankees? — “Yankees.”
But aren’t they gonna fire Joe Torre? — “Nah, they’re not.”
“Best Days” is featured in “Shrek the Third.” If you were an animated character, which one would you be and why? — “I probably would’ve been Shrek, because he looks like he has the most fun. I definitely identify with him a little bit.” —Mat Herron
Phoenix Hill Tavern
644 Baxter Ave.
589-4957
www.phoenixhill.com
$10 (adv.), $12 (door); 8 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 20
Fundraiser For Rwandans
In 1986, artist Lily Yeh began working with the people of a ravaged North Philadelphia neighborhood to create an art park out on an abandoned lot. That effort produced a park with mosaic sculptures, murals and gardens, and inspired Yeh to build on the experience and establish The Village of Arts and Humanities in 1989. In 2004, Yeh formed Barefoot Artists Inc., an organization that uses art to empower impoverished communities throughout the world. On Saturday at the downtown YMCA, Yeh holds an afternoon workshop based on her experiences related to Barefoot Artists’ Rwanda Healing Project in Rugerero, Rwanda. In the evening, there will be a fundraising event, with proceeds going to the project in Rwanda.
The organization is working with survivors of the 1994 genocide to create a sustainable village where art helps people take on environmental deprivation, poverty, poor health care and lack of education. The project also has linked the Rwandan children with American pen pals, including many in Louisville. Through this exchange, the children of Rugerero created drawings that reflect their lives. Many of these drawings will be displayed during the evening event hosted by Harry Pickens, which includes performances by the River City Drum Corps and dancers from the U of L African Student Union, and a speech by King Kigeli Ndahindurwa V, the last king of Rwanda who now lives in exile in the United States. —Elizabeth Kramer
YMCA of Greater Louisville, Chestnut Street Branch
930 W Chestnut St.
295-5155
www.barefootartists.org
$25; 2:30-4:30 p.m. (workshop)
Free; 7 p.m. (fundraiser)
Tuesday, Oct. 23
LeRoy Neiman at Cobalt Artworks
The 37th Ryder Cup won’t be in Louisville until next year, but we already know the official Ryder Cup artist — sports artist LeRoy Neiman. The revolving yearlong exhibition, “LeRoy Neiman — Five Decades,” is being shown at Cobalt Artworks, the new gallery formed to display the Ryder Cup art as well as other Neiman works.
“LeRoy’s Louisville” is the first and current portion of the “Five Decades” show. It features Neiman’s take on such Louisville events as the 1997 Kentucky Derby, the 2000 PGA Championship and the 2005 opening of the Muhammad Ali Center. Neiman’s work through the years has featured Ali prominently.
The artist will be in town for the official opening of Cobalt Artworks with a public “meet and greet” and art signing at the gallery. Cobalt Gallery is open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday and is part of the First Friday Gallery Trolley Hops. —Jo Anne Triplett
Cobalt Artworks
614 W. Main St.
584-0020
www.cobaltartworks.com
Free; 11:30 a.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 23
Black Crowes
This is a time of great anticipation and vitality for Black Crowes fans. After a half-decade of side-projects, the group’s shown two major signs of new life. First, guiding lights Chris and Rich Robinson put on a semi-acoustic tour that amounted to a workshop in reinvigorating their sound (as captured in the recently released CD Brothers of a Feather: Live at the Roxy). Second, the Crowes have re-entered the studio and are preparing something new for 2008. The whole group is coming to the Louisville Palace to show off the state of their art right now. Of course you already know the hits — their music was made for classic-rock radio right from the start. But what comes next for this Aerosmith-with-Southern-flair?
Buffalo Killers, the psychedelia-and-blues combo from Cincinnati, makes for a strong opening act. —T.E. Lyons
Louisville Palace
625 S. Fourth St.
583-4555
$40-$42; 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 23
‘Alive Day Memories’ documentary
“Alive Day Memories,” an HBO doc released to DVD on Tuesday, makes you look long and hard at the bloody business of war. The title refers to what some soldiers call their second birthday: the day they were almost killed but made it out. One of those soldiers is Dexter Pitts, a thoughtful, gentle Radcliff, Ky., native who narrowly escaped an encounter with a roadside bomb and is now struggling with PTSD.
Since they’re our soldiers, it’s our civic responsibility — hell, our human responsibility — to start thinking about the longterm consequences of the war, as ugly as they might be. “Alive Day Memories,” featuring interviews by James Gandolfini (“The Sopranos”), uses both official military footage and insurgent video to reconstruct the fateful, traumatic moments that changed the lives of these soldiers forever. It’s definitely worth seeing if you missed it on HBO. —Alan Abbott
www.hbo.com
