Column #11: Ear X-tacy's troubles give one's awareness a jolt

I love mountains. I also love air, oxygen, kittens and other nice things. However, I've become aware that our community has a problem, people. There are so many gas-guzzling cars on our roads declaring their love of mountains through the poor man's canvas — the bumper sticker — and yet how many mountains are being saved by this declarative decoration?

Tip O'Neill famously asserted that "All politics is local," though, being a Bostonian, we only narrowly avoided having to quote "All politics is a local wicked pissa."

When I lived in Boston, people were very concerned with being aware that we shouldn't look at each other while riding the subway. When I lived in California, people were concerned with being aware that it's less fun to surf in a horribly polluted ocean.

Here in Louisville, I've been made very aware that mountaintop removal mining is a horrible practice. It has terrible consequences on jobs, health and our natural environment. It is happening just a few hours' drive away from here, though, and its impact has been felt here by good folks raising awareness that it's happening, over there. They raise our awareness with benefit concerts and with those stickers (which don't mention the issue of mountaintop removal, sadly leaving bored drivers uneducated on the issue).

Are you aware? If there's anything I've realized lately, it's that I need to be more aware. There's Haiti, of course. I'm aware of that situation. It's bad, folks.

This month, I'm aware that snow gets in the way of a lot of stuff. We have a lot of homeless people in this town, and in every town. A lot of children are not getting healthy, nutritious meals. Plus, there's Heidi Montag to worry about.

On a side note, I'd like to ask any well-meaning liberals who haven't yet removed their Kerry/Edwards '04 bumper stickers to stop reading right now, and go do so. Twenty percent of the Highlands, I'm talking to you. It was still kind of inspiring in '05, bittersweet in '06, pointless in '07, a huge wasted opportunity in '08, and today... well, I hate to use the "s" word, but doesn't advocating your support of John Edwards today make you feel kind of stupid? Hey, I used to like the guy, too, before I got to know him.

While we're in the Highlands, are you aware of the problems facing our beloved Ear X-tacy Records? If you haven't heard, store owner John Timmons held a press conference recently, in which he told our community that our iconic store has been losing money steadily and is in danger of closing.

I used to work there, and I later operated my own small, independent and unsuccessful business. Once, John and I had a nice chat about the difficulties of running a business. Sadly, it was at the Jazz Factory, another great local spot unable to survive.

John's announcement was sad, and it was very brave of him to come forward and speak honestly about their dilemma. One fact he mentioned was that the Facebook "Save Ear X-tacy!" page attracted 19,000 fans in three days, while the official store page has less than 5,000. Many of us love joining causes, on Facebook or at benefit concerts, but how many do more than that?

Most people are smarter than John and me and have never owned a business. Many of the killer expenses are unseen or unappreciated by customers. The money you pay for that cool indie record doesn't just cover the cost of getting it from the distributor. Some of your cash pays the LG&E bill, the water bill, the phone bill, insurance, workers' comp, employee paychecks — and more.

How many people who love the store will remember that they need to spend money there every single week? All 19,000 of them? I doubt that.

The people who are working to save mountains also have bills to pay. As John Timmons admitted, there are no easy solutions. I just hope that you're more aware of that now.

c. 2010 Velocity Weekly

The Ravenna Colt interview

Johnny Quaid joined his cousin, Jim Olliges, in 1998 on a musical project that would become the very popular and acclaimed My Morning Jacket. He stayed through three albums, providing guitar and engineering services. Quaid left in 2004, when he moved to California and began working as a carpenter. His new band, The Ravenna Colt, takes its name from a book written in 1902, The Art of Taming and Educating the Horse. In it, author Dennis Magner describes The Ravenna Colt, "a virtually untamable, yet not necessarily barbarous animal." Compared to his previous band, this one is more akin to his version of the country troubadour tradition. The Ravenna Colt will play a record release show at Zanzabar on February 19th, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $8.

Where did you grow up?
I was born in Louisville, Ky. I lived in Middletown until I was about 8. We moved to Simpsonville after that. After high school, I moved to Shelbyville to work on the family farm.

Is your family musical or artistic?
I have this one bearded cousin that is in a band with a funny name, something about a jacket or coat or something, I think he's got some potential, haha. My great-great-grandfather had a small orchestra and I believe they played parlor music. I had a great uncle that was a talented bluegrass guitar player. I have lots of aunts and cousins that are really talented in visual art, film and music. We're kind of like the Partridge Family without the bus.

What is your musical background / training?
I got started into music early on. Being slightly hyperactive - okay, maybe just wild - my mom thought it would be good to "channel" my energy and enrolled me in violin lessons in the suzuki program at 5 years old. I got on stage and felt right at home. I was the only kid in the class that showed up in jeans and cowboy boots. I stopped playing around 9 or 10 years old. I really wish now that I would have stuck with it, and I still hope to pick it up one of these days. I played piano for a year. At then at the age of 12, I was corrupted for life when a classmate at school started taking guitar lessons. From then on I was either at school, doing chores on the farm or locked in my room trying to learn the fastest Metallica riff I could manage. I took guitar lessons for about 5 years from a really great teacher, Greg Pullen. He really inspired me, and I would go as far as saying changed my life!

Who are your musical favorites/inspirations?
Ah, the dreaded influence question that we all despise, but secretly love to answer! I was inspired early on by what my mom listened to, we wore out her copy of Born in the USA and Thriller albums! My guitar heroes are Keith Richards and Angus Young, Slash, and all the other standard government issue rock guitar players. When it comes to songwriting, I am inspired by guys like Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, John Prine, Otis Redding and everything and everyone that I've ever heard. I love all styles and genres of music.

What bands/projects are you currently involved with? How did you get involved with them?
My project is called The Ravenna Colt. It's an outlet for my work as a songwriter. I've had the good fortune to have some really talented friends work on my album and join me on stage. I tracked some lead guitar work in the studio for local hometown heroes, The Debutantes. I also just did some production work for a string band called The Downtown County Band. I love working in the studio, it's a very special feeling to listen to a song come to life and grow into its own entity.

What do you hope to achieve with music?
Happiness. I can really feel my mood change after I have been working on music. I feel very alive when I'm performing and writing songs. I hope the listener feels that and shares that same sentiment. I would love to think that my kids or grandkids might be interested in my musical endeavors, but they'll probably think I'm a goofball playing ancient music!

Learn more at www.theravennacolt.com.



c. 2010 Velocity Weekly

Valentine's Day: LoveMaking

Handcraft something from the heart for your sweetie.

Artists Cara Anderson and Kenny Andreozzi are in love and are very crafty, so who better to help you make a special, unique gift for your sweetie this Valentine's Day?
Here's something you can do for around $10, with all supplies procured at the Gardiner Lane Shopping Center on Bardstown Road.

Supplies:
* Rubber eraser (99 cents at Preston Arts Center)
* X-Acto Knife ($1.99 at Preston Arts)
* Card stock ($1.50 forlarge sheet at Preston Arts)
* Red ink pad ($4.49 at Staples)

Instructions:
1) Draw your design on the eraser - the simpler the better. Make sure to draw letters backward!
2) Carve the design into the stamp using the knife to remove the negative space around your design.
3) Ink your finished stamp on the ink pad and stamp away.
4) Use your stamp to make a Valentine for your best guy or gal.
You can make as many stamps as there are sides to your eraser - up to six!

c. 2010 Velocity Weekly

Column #10: Jay and Conan inspire a musical-chairs fantasy

When it was announced that May 29th, 2009, would be Jay Leno’s last night as the host of “The Tonight Show”, I was thrilled. I would be getting married the next day, and I accepted the timing as a gift offering from NBC – nay, from all of TV and comedy – that they knew would make me very, very happy. As a comedy fan, and someone whose personality was influenced perhaps a touch too much by the influence of David Letterman, I don’t consider myself a mere passive observer. As a subject, of course I realize that there are more important things to worry about in life – but, for me, the biggest star who appeared on the Hope for Haiti telethon wasn’t George Clooney or Madonna, it was Jon Stewart.

Now that it’s hopefully over, I think it probably worked out about as well as it was ever going to. Don’t mistake that for an endorsement of Jay Leno; I saw him live 20 years ago, before he got “The Tonight Show,” and I’ve seen his TV show. He was never an inspiring, insightful or particularly memorable comic, but he wasn’t the bloated, transparently pandering RoboComic that he has since become. I live in reality, though, and it seems ridiculous now to think that Conan O’Brien could have tamed the wilder instincts of the younger, 12:30 a.m. Conan without losing what is essential to his comedy, while still appealing to the audience who found Leno and Johnny Carson so soothing and reassuring for so long. Conan could barely beat Craig Ferguson in the ratings. Apparently, the consensus is that brainy O’Brien appeals to a smaller, more focused audience who would rather watch the highbrow comedy of a bear pleasuring itself or a vomiting Muppet - instead of the lowbrow comedy of faux-everyman Leno mocking folks on the street for not knowing, offhand, who our 28th president was (Woodrow Wilson. I googled it).

While I am a realist, I am also a dreamer. I’m very complicated, folks. I hope that Leno will lose his audience soon, and move to China. So, since you’re asking, what would I do next? NBC has a stable of funny people under contract. Two of them have failed as talk show hosts already - Chevy Chase, obviously, and Richard Belzer of “Law and Order” had a talk show on Lifetime in the ‘80’s. Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Steve Carrell all seem qualified for the job but that won’t happen. “Community” star Joel McHale also hosts the clip show “The Soup”, is funny, handsome, likable and seems ideal.

I vote for Ellen DeGeneres, though. We now have 2 female news anchors (and a half-black president), but late night network comedy shows are still the land of the white men. Everyone loves her, and it would be progress. But what do I know? I also think that, in 2016, our next president should be Oprah – for the same reasons. Even more interesting would be if Rosie O’Donnell replaced Letterman, when he retired, and battled Ellen to be America's Sweetheart…

And Conan? Any 11 p.m. slot would put him against Jon Stewart, and could backfire. Fox affiliates would revolt over low ratings, and he’d be ruined. He’d reject midnight on Comedy Central – but would 10 p.m. be such a bad idea on cable, leading in to Stewart? Surely “South Park” can rerun 18 times per day instead of 20.

Instead of paying $45 million to be rid of him, NBC could have aired him on USA, the most popular cable channel, which they own – nightly at 10. The whole debacle is already reminiscent of when Mariah Carey was paid $49 million to leave Virgin, then came back bigger than ever on Island Records. Or when Wilco was paid to leave Reprise, then was paid again to sign with Nonesuch, who were owned by the same parent company, and came back bigger than ever.

c. 2010 Velocity Weekly