NOTES goes bye bye

We're getting an extreme makeover: LEO's parent company Southcomm has designed us a new website, and to celebrate the change we're changing the name of the music blog. It'll be called "Bluegrass Catastrophe," a name that endorses both the state/area we love, and the glut of CDs, mp3s and other goodies bands bombard the music desk with.

Just kidding (Sort of).

Head on over to and kick the tires. —MH

Sativa Gumbo last show

From the band:

"So here it is, Sativ​a Gumbo​'​​s final​ show and 12 year anniv​ersar​y.​​ Sativ​a will take the stage​ for one last time on Octob​er 11, 2008 durin​g The New Alban​ian Brewi​ng Compa​ny'​​s Fring​e Fest.​​ The show will be takin​g place​ Satur​day night​ in downt​own New Alban​y durin​g the Harve​st Homec​oming​.​​ We would​ like to take this oppor​tunit​y to thank​ all of our frien​ds and famil​ies who have suppo​rted us thoug​h the years​. ​We hope you can come celeb​rate with us as this is our farew​ell.​​"

Fring​e Fest
415 Bank Stree​t
Downt​own New Alban​y IN.

Jim James injured at Iowa concert

My Morning Jacket member injured at Iowa concert

The Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Singer and guitarist Jim James of the Kentucky-based Southern-rock group My Morning Jacket has been released from the hospital after being injured in a fall during a concert at the University of Iowa.

A Cedar Rapids newspaper reported James slipped and fell about 30 minutes into the show Tuesday night. The Gazette says he apparently hit his head in the fall, which happened between songs.

The rest of the concert was canceled.

James was taken to University Hosptials. Hospital spokesman Tom Moore said Wednesday that James, who's real name is James Olliges Jr., was treated and released.

Louisville Leopard Percussionists in D.C.

Leopard Percussionists in Washington, DC

By T.E. Lyons

On a sunny Saturday in October, the hill at the center of the National Mall has the usual crowd: dog walkers, people throwing footballs, a pick-up softball game. Other than the line of tourists at the Washington Monument, it’s not too unlike Cherokee Park … once you accept that some of the nonchalant bike-riders are actually Secret Service.
If the agents are looking out for the unusual, they should certainly notice the ampitheater where the melody to “Play that Funky Music” is tapped out on a wave of marimbas. As they promised when they opened up for My Morning Jacket at the riverfront in August, The Louisville Leopard Percussionists succeeded in getting to Washington and to the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival.
Charlie Fishman, executive director of the Ellington festival (this year featuring acts such as Taj Mahal and McCoy Tyner) introduced the group and applauded the fundraising that got the Leopards to DC. A number of Leopard parents—some of whom drove here convoy-style for 13 hours behind the group’s two buses—joined in sighs of relief that the funding eventually came together. Elizabeth McDaniel, just before watching her son take a solo, said that an assist from Metro Council made sure the kids got on the buses.
The 200 jazz devotees and Leopards supporters who’d heard the first song were joined by dozens with each succeeding number. For third song “La Bamba”, the senior members of the 7- to 12-year-old percussionists turned their instruments over to beginners. Even 8-year-olds aren’t shy about taking a turn at soloing—as long as it amounts to thwacking with big sticks in both hands. The tiniest performers stand on milk crates, as a sweetly thin voice carries over to the nearby World War II Memorial with the announcement “Next will be ‘Wipeout’ featuring Brenna on the drumset.”
The Leopards close their 45-minute set with “Oye Como Va” (to honor Carlos Santana, whose Milagro Foundation has helped them along). Walking offstage, Leopard Kaylyn Tyree still can’t shake that she was playing in the shadow of the Washington Monument. Director Diane Downs has understated approval for the performance, and downplays her role in some regards—deferring to the four-dozen Louisville kids who held their own at a big music festival on a grand stage at the nation’s capital.

Crappy Nightmareville 7-inch release party tomorrow night

Tuesday, Oct. 7
7" Release Party
Crappy Nightmareville
w/ Sapat
9 p.m.
Underground Sounds

Ben Purdom on LEO Music ’Cast

Ben Purdom is celebrating the release of his debut album, Meets The Morning, due out Oct. 12. He performs weekly at The Monkey Wrench on Barret Avenue. More info on him and his shows is here.

Q&A: Royal Bangs

Knoxville, Tenn. natives Royal Bangs open for The Black Keys Tuesday, Oct. 7 at Coyote's at City Block. 9 p.m. $20. —MH

LEO: What do you look for in bangs? Hairspray does hurt the environment, you know.

RB: So does driving around in a huge van shooting a jet of white-hot classic American pollution juice behind us. Maybe we should try to convert our van to run on hairspray combustion instead. This Earf only respects you if you give it a run for its money; I say it's time the old gal started fighting back. I'll whoop a damn tree's ass.

LEO: How many lewd and lascivious acts are committed in the great Smoky Mountains each year?

RB: From Wikipedia:

"Ham" is the thigh and rump of pork, cut from the haunch of a pig or boar. Although it may be cooked and served fresh, most ham is cured in some fashion. Cuts referred to as Ham in the US are called Gammon in the UK and Ireland.

Ham can be dry-cured or wet-cured. A dry-cured ham has been rubbed in a mixture containing salt and a variety of other ingredients (most usually some proportion of sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite). This is followed by a period of drying and aging. Dry-cured hams may require a period of re-hydration prior to consumption. A wet-cured ham has been cured with a brine, either by immersion or injection. The division between wet and dry cure is not always hard-and-fast as some ham curing methods begin wet but are followed by dry aging.

Dry-cured varieties include Italian prosciutto crudo [pro.ʃ'ʃut:to 'kru:do] (prosciutto di Parma, prosciutto di San Daniele, prosciutto di Carpegna, prosciutto di Modena, prosciutto Toscano, prosciutto Veneto Berico-Euganeo, Valle d’Aosta Jambon de Bosses, prosciutto di Norcia) and the Spanish Jamon serrano and jamón ibérico. The United States has country ham (including Virginia ham), which might or might not be smoked. England has the York ham. Germany's Westphalian ham is usually smoked over juniper, in Belgium there is the smoked Ardennes ham, and from China there is the unsmoked Jinhua ham. In Bulgaria the specific Elenski but is produced. In Iran, the dry-cured Zard Kūh ham is produced.[citation needed]"

I don't know. How would YOU answer that question?

LEO: There's a mechanical bull at Coyote's. Have you ever ridden one?
RB: I cannot in good conscience support the exploitation of innocent robots. This is a real problem in America, one that our current leadership fails to address time and time again. I dream of a not too distant future, one in which every robot has the freedom to find its own way in the world. The next time you force some innocent robot to pull down a bag of Cheetos from the top shelf, soak and rinse your car, or fling your frat brothers from side to side in time to an Alan Jackson song in a crowded bar, think of the millions of baby robots whose dismal future you bring a little closer.

LEO: The end of "New Scissors" sounds like you murdered a Casio. Where did you bury it?
RB: I do not condone the murder of electronics any more than I support the enslavement of robots. I worked in gentle partnership with a computer to coax a pleasant mix of noises from its guts. I then allowed it to run around in the yard for an hour before asking it to check my Google Alerts for "Michael McDonald nip slip."

LEO: What are the possible implications of epileptics viewing www.royalbangs.com?
RB: In the words of our primary musical influence, Rocky IV's Ivan Drago, "if he is true champion, he will live; if he dies, he dies," or something. They should use our website as a training exercise, to become stronger.

Luke Asher and more at The Rud

Saturday, Oct. 4
Luke Asher
Ben Traughber
The Parade Schedule
Kitty Pride
The Rudyard Kipling
422 W. Oak St.
636-1311

Peak Summit

WINO!

On Nov. 4, Temporary Residence is releasing a double-CD from Wino, which broke up way the hell back in 1999. The two-hour, 36-song set, A Bottle of Pills With a Bullet Chaser, compiles the band's entire recorded history, and was thought to be lost in a fire at drummer Richard Vier's house.

Here's the track listing:

Disc 1:
Dutch Oven
Red Wings
Yam Hand
Dogs
Inspiration
Desperation
One-Eyed Willie
Glass Blower
A Minute Fifty-One
Burn Down The Brick Factory
*****
Attack Utopia
Eon
Fast Freddie
Make-Out Party

Disc 2:
Mountain River
Heaven
Winner Takes Nothing
Mensural
Johnny Deeper
Guns
What The Paper Said
Downtown
Truth Cigar
Spiked Heels And Leather
Blue Tree
Best Freind
Red Eye
Edward
Finish Line
Saturday
Searchin'
In The Light
Best Friend
Dead Bird Fight
My House

Whitehead & Co.'s new Southside CD

From Ron:

30 tracks
recorded one night all one take no rehearsal
recorded mixed mastered by Kevin Ratterman at his Funeral Home Studio
$20
available earX-tacy records Bardstown Road Louisville Kentucky
and at www.tappingmyownphone.com and www.southsideoutlaws.com

WE ARE THE STORM dedicated to Hunter S. Thompson & The Storm Generation

(note: all texts correct. the plant somehow reversed cd1 and cd2)
Disc 1
1. Joy & Sorrow
2. Home
3. Little Wing/Purple Haze/The Storm Generation Manifesto
4. Song For You
5. 4U (Flaming Hearts)
6. Raymond
7. I Walk These Hills
8. The Old Witch
9. If I Could Start Again
10. Worth Dyin For
11. Poncho and Lefty
12. Angel From Montgomery
13. It's A Shame
14. She Called Me The Storm

Disc 2
1. Joy & Sorrow II
2. Play That Funky Music White Boy
3. Sunshine of Your Love
4. What's Love Got To Do With It
5. Dead Flowers
6. White Rabbit
7. You Ain't Goin Nowhere
8. Blinded By Rainbows
9. All Along The Watchtower/What World We Have Born Ourselves Into
10. Champagne & Reefer
11. Epitaph
12. Punks Ain't Dead
13. My Old Kentucky Home
14. Mr. Bojangles
15. Knockin On Heaven's Door
16. Great Spirit

(c)(p) 2008 Ron Whitehead and SOUTHSIDE

SOUTHSIDE Members:

Scott Mertz (vocals/guitar/harmonica)
Sarah Elizabeth (vocals/guitar)
Andy Cook (percussion/drums/didgeridoo)
Kelly Render Wilkinson (vocals/guitar)
Lightnin' Luke Powers (electric guitar/vocals/harmonica)
Yoruba Kikiloma-Mason (vocals)
LIsa K (vocals/guitar)
Lee Troutman (guitar/vocals)
Tyrone Cotton (guitar/vocals)
Dustin Boeh (electric bass)
April Flynn (fiddle/violin)
Michael Dean Odin Pollock (electric guitar/vocals)
Rebekah Trigg (bellydancer)
Iris (bellydancer)
Rani Newman (vocals)
James Vaughn (cello)
Austin Oilfield (electric bass)
Ron Whitehead (vocals)

Honorary Members: Frank Messina, Joe Pasquale, Colin Shaddick, Olafur Gunnarsson

Filmmaker: Helina Berryman
Photographers: Jen Burks, Helina Berryman
Webmaster: Marcus Maraldo
Attorney: Kyle Anne Citrynell
Physician: Nanine Henderson
Red wine sponsors: Fetzer and Franzia
Tour bus driver: Lisa Sullivan
Graphic artist: Pip Pullen
Graphic designer and bus mechanic: Sarah Elizabeth
Baby on the way: Stone
Official seamstress: Rebekah Trigg
Official tattoo artist: Lisa K (All The Way)

Produced by Ron Whitehead

Keep Louisville Yarmuth

Thursday Oct. 2
Keep Louisville Yarmuth! lunchtime rally
The Genius File
The Ladybirds
Appearance by Rep. John Yarmuth
11:30 a.m. weather permitting
All events on outdoor patio.
Free; all ages
ear X-tacy
1534 Bardstown Road

My Darling Asleep

My Darling Asleep (CD Release)
Oct. 12
Brendan's
3921 Shelbyville Road
Free; 6 p.m.

Tour Diary: Paradigm

Days 5, 6 and 7: Crested Butte & Telluride

Crested Butte is a little town modeled directly in the style of those old spaghetti western towns with the swinging saloon doors. Prairies surround the town, of which has one main commercial road and a bunch of houses off to the side; in other words, out of the way of tourists and their cameras. To the northeast of the main strip is a gigantic mountain, a 'butte', which has a crest in it somewhere, hence the town is aptly named. The saloon-looking buildings along the main strip are all clothing stores and souvenir shops, which is boring enough, but they are prohibitively expensive to boot. Your parents might shop in these shops for the sake of novelty, but unless you like the idea of spending a couple grand to look like the narrator from "The Big Lebowski," you probably would not be interested.

Anyway, the people are a great, close knit group of people, who gave us free drinks and forgot to mention that when you are 7,000 feet above sea level, you don't need as much alcohol to get you drunk. I had a beer and a half, and the room was spinning. It amazed me how bars in this town stay in business.

After Crested Butte, we had a night in Telluride, Colo. Telluride is a town of around 2,000 people tucked away in the valley of a gigantic mountain range. It sits at 9,000 feet, and the highest peaks around it reach around 13,000 feet. You can take a gondola up to the main ski peak for free, which is fortunate for us, because everything else in this city is ungodly expensive.

I could blather on and on about the scenery in Colorado, as I imagine anyone who has been here could do. Paradigm has taken me to many parts of the country that I never thought I'd visit and I have loved playing with them for that, but I'll at least say this much: there are absolutely no places we have ever been as beautiful as Telluride and Crested Butte. There are red mountains covered with evergreen trees all over the place — you look up and it's all you see. At night, you can see every star in the sky. Quite different from Louisville.

In Telluride, we played at a place called the Bubble Lounge, which was an oxygen bar, meaning this: the bartender gives you a tube, of which one end goes into your nose and the other end goes into a beaker filled with scented oil. Pure oxygen bubbles through the oil, and you inhale it, breathing normally. It is supposed to relax you and cure high-altitude-sickness, but I was so concerned about getting my money's worth and not breathing any of the regular oxygen that I hyperventilated and started to feel dizzy, which made my altitude-induced headache worse. I am sure it works for normal people.

Anyway, the owners of the club were super-nice and put us up at their condo in Telluride. We leave for Denver tomorrow, have a show the next night, and then we pack it in for home the following day.


*******

Denver and Elsewhere


After Telluride, we headed back to Denver at a place called Quixote's. on our last day off on tour, we had the fortune to visit Red Rocks, a famous amphitheater cut out of, you guessed it, a bunch of red rocks. It's probably the prettiest stage I've ever seen. A friend of ours was the food manager there and comped us lunch, which was delicious(I have a little bit of a foodie streak in me, so I checked out the elk and shi'take mushroom crepes). The venue itself has a sort of mini-museum set up that lists every act that has played there. If you play, you get your name on a big wall with people like the Beatles, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bonnie Raitt, Phish, Medeski Martin & Wood, and many others. It's inspiring, especially since the people that are up on the wall are either people that have influenced us or people that have made it possible to make the music we play popular to a large audience. You look at that wall and want nothing more than your name on it.

Our last show in Denver, at a place called Quixote's, was strong musically even though we played to a nearly empty room. Sometimes shows are like that; you play your best when you don't care if what you are playing is going to work, and new ideas tend to pop out. Anyway, the bartender and the sound guy though we were great. The people from the halfway house, located across the street, thought we were okay.

Most of the car ride from Denver to Louisville went without a hitch, until around 12:30 in the morning; as John, Dave, and I sat at a gas station on the way home, we got a call from Brian saying that he and Myron got in a wreck and flipped their car two or three times on the highway. There was a little hospital in Sweet Springs, Missouri, about five minutes from where they wrecked. Brian and Myron were sent, via ambulance, to Sweet Springs, and Myron was then transferred to a university hospital in Columbia, about an hour out of the way. He got a nasty bump to the head and his injuries were thought to be serious. Thankfully, they turned out not to be. We picked Brian up, who was released first, and then picked up Myron in Columbia and got two hotel rooms in each respective town. The next day, we rented a car and visited the garage where the wrecked car was.

I couldn't believe anyone survived the accident when I saw the car, yet Myron and Brian walked away with mostly scrapes--no broken bones or concussions. Just as amazing was that most of the gear was still intact, and some of it seemed even completely untouched.

The remaining six hours that we covered today from Columbia to home were spent in mostly silence; maybe sporadic talk about the accident, but not much more. Which is fine. I've spent four or five years on this project and I've known mostly everyone in the band since we were at U of L together. I've grown inseparably close to the others and my life and career after undergrad has been more or less devoted to them. I can't imagine losing any one of them. At this point, we're all a little bewildered of last night's events, and we haven't so much as reacted because I don't think our situation has really sunk in. Tomorrow, some of us have to deal with insurance, tow fees and car rentals, and the loss of thousands of dollars worth of stuff. Tonight, everyone is home and alive, which is more than enough.

Muckrakers confirm string of appearances

Self-described "wussy rockers" The Muckrakers have confirmed a string of appearances to promote the release of their new album, The Concorde Fallacy, the follow-up to their Label X release Front of the Parade. Since Label X folded earlier this year, The Muckrakers have been moved on ovah to Toucan Cove and Universal. Muck it up:

Friday, Oct 10:
WFPK's "Live Lunch"
Noon, free, first come, first seated. Priority seating for station members.
4th Street Live; 8 p.m.

Saturday, Oct 11
Phoenix Hill Tavern
644 Baxter Ave.
7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct 14
Ear-X-Tacy In-Store
6 p.m.
Free; all ages

Frontier(s)

Frontier(s), the group fronted by former Elliott singer/guitarist Chris Higdon, has posted tracks from its recent recording session on its MySpace page. The tracks aren't even finished yet, but IndieRockReviews couldn't wait to tell you about it, having posted a review on its site. The band was also featured on Buzzgrinder. —MH

Ziggy Ziggy

Mr. John King, undisputed lover of Louisville, is at it again. The compilation master has managed to bring together artists from Louisville to reinterpret David Bowie’s “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.”
The compilation will be available for pre-order Oct. 1 at www.louisvilleisforlovers.com, and released Dec. 1 online and at ear X-tacy (1534 Bardstown Road, 452-1799). Select tracks will be streamed on www.37flood.com.

Here ’tis:
1. “Five Years,” Phantom Family Halo
2. “Soul Love,” The Slow Break
3. “Moonage Daydream,” The Gallery Singers
4. “Starman,” Six White Horses
5. “It Ain’t Easy,” Trophy Wives
6. “Lady Stardust,” Whistle Peak
7. “Star,” IamIs
8. “Hang On To Yourself,” Milky and the Stones from Earth
9. “Ziggy stardust,” Black Kerouac
10. “Suffragette City,” Wax Fang
11. “Rock ’n’ Roll Suicide,” Joe Manning
12. “All the Young Dudes,” The Crooked Old World
13. “Space Oddity,” Tamara Dearing
14. “Cracked Actor,” The Ladybirds

Past releases of the “Louisville is for Lovers” compilation and the “Louisville Babylon” series are available at ear X-tacy and at www.louisvilleisforlovers.com. —Kory Johnson

The Ladybirds, Six White Horses

Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008
9 p.m.
The Monkey Wrench
1025 Barret Ave.
(502) 582-2433

I'm a Lebowski, You're a Cake

From the dudes:

"The episode of "Ace of Cakes" featuring the delivery of the "Toe Cake" to Lebowski Fest in Louisville will air on the Food Network on Oct. 9 at 10 p.m. EST.

Tune in to watch head chef Duff Goldman deliver the White Russian flavored cake which consists of a giant severed toe, a giant White Russian and bowling pins atop an intricate rug which really tied the cake together.

According to Chef Duff, the cake took over 60 hours to make and once served was devoured in about three minutes.

Duff, who is himself a fan of The Big Lebowski, brought his band "So I Had To" to perform at the 7th Annual Lebowski Fest this past July.

The only known remaining piece of the cake is the bowling pin backdrop which is on display at the WHY Louisville store at 1609-1/2 Bardstown Road in Louisville.

Lucky Pineapple: Today on LEO Music ’Cast

Lucky Pineapple's new album, The Bubble Has Burst In Sky City, is a menagerie of unholy rhythms, unabashed partying and, yes, progressive composition. On the eve of the eve of the eve of their record release party, they talk bubbles. Listen here or here. —MH