A Bastion of Music

Jonathan Bastian has a voice familiar to fans of WFPL, Louisville’s NPR News affiliate. As the local host of “Morning Edition,” he eased us into the day; now, in an unexpected departure, he’s leading us into the night with a new album of electronic music … called Morning Edition.

His label, sonaBLAST! Records, calls it “10 tracks that balance both intense bass and blissful organic sounds.” Released under the artist name Bastion, Bastian says, “In Louisville, I realized that my identity was defined as a local NPR and PBS host. So when I started creating electronic music, I wanted to keep it private, as something I could do freely, openly, without worrying what people might think … Obviously ‘Bastion’ is a pretty transparent disguise, but it provided just the separation I needed.”

Q: How did you get from NPR to EDM?

Jonathan Bastian: Before I was a journalist, I was a musician. My best friend from high school started a successful Americana band called The Low Anthem, which I played in throughout high school and college. I also minored in music at college, studying a heavy dose of music theory and classical composition. But paths diverge and interests change. In my 20s, I wanted to write and work in public radio. Still, music lingered. It was this kind of unavoidable voice in the background, whispering, “I’m still here! You can’t get rid of me!” What I never expected, though, was that the music I would eventually make would be electronic.

It happened like this: for two years, I woke up at 4 a.m. to host “Morning Edition” on WFPL. It’s a demanding, fast-paced four-hour program, and coffee will only get you so far. At some point, I began to listen to electronic music on my drive to work to get the adrenalin flowing. It filled me with energy. So I went deeper into the many EDM genres, only to realize that the music was shockingly interesting, complex and diverse. Moreover, the possibilities of electronic music are endless. I knew I had to try and make this stuff. So last June I invested in a music software program called Ableton Live and stumbled down a long strange rabbit hole I’ve yet to emerge from.

Q: How did you put this album together? Who are some of the voices on it?

JB: I’m especially proud that there are no samples on this album. Everything you hear is original. I’m not averse to sampling, but it can be a crutch in electronic music. Producing your own raw material is an important battle. I worked with one female vocalist on two tracks. She asked to remain anonymous on the album, so that’s all I can say. Aside from those tracks, they’re all instrumental. The album was influenced by two of my favorite electronic producers: Deadmau5 and Wolfgang Gartner. I listen to these guys almost everyday and remain overwhelmed by the sheer creativity of their songs.

Q: Is this a new career path for you? Are you still in Louisville, or will you be hitting the road and hitting up festivals?

JB: While I don’t see myself jet-setting around like Avicii (although it does sound pretty sweet), I like the idea of it being an important, viable part of my life. I like the idea of playing regularly at certain venues where people care about the music ... maybe taking an occasional tour when the time is right. The music brings an important balance to my life.

I’ve taken a hiatus from public radio and TV, but I’m about to return to the airwaves in Louisville. What I love about public radio and television is the intellectual intensity of the work; it’s very cerebral. But there comes a point where I need to shut off that part of my brain and engage in something different. I’m finding electronic music provides that outlet for me. The beauty of this music is that you can make it alone, on your own time, with just a synthesizer and a laptop. The simplicity of the process, coupled with the limitless nature of electronic music, is very empowering.

C. 2015 The Voice-Tribune

The Women of Bourbon

Eve Theatre Company co-founder Susan McNeese Lynch has written a new production, “Bourbon Babes of the Bluegrass.” The Brown-Forman sponsored show about women in bourbon history runs March 5-8 at the Bard’s Town theatre. Optional tastings are offered, Thursday through Saturday, before each performance.

How is this one-hour production structured?
“Bourbon Babes of the Bluegrass” is a compilation of seven monologues that outline the lives of seven different women who figured prominently in the bourbon and whiskey business. The monologues are woven together with a series of short scenes and songs that we call “mixers.” The “mixers” focus more on the contemporary scene and feature recipes, cold remedies, funny stories and some unusual facts and figures. The show is designed to gently inform while entertaining.

How did you get the idea for this show?
As a co-founder of Eve Theatre Company, I am always on the lookout for a good story to tell. But believe it or not, the idea for “Bourbon Babes” came to me while I was at the Kentucky Derby last year, I still have the notes and ideas that I scribbled in my program. I was looking at the ads for bourbon and other distilled spirits, and many of them were clearly talking to women. I wondered why we didn’t have any bourbon heroines. I started asking around after that, and I was pointed toward several books including “Illegal Odyssey: 200 Years of Kentucky Moonshine,” by Betty Boles Ellison; “Kentucky Women: Two Centuries of Indomitable Spirit and Wisdom,” by Eugenia Potter and “Whiskey Women,” by Fred Minnick. All of these books helped, particularly in identifying who might be good subjects for a play.

Which women have been especially inspirational to you?
Each of these Kentucky women have important stories to tell, but my favorites tend toward the ones that operated a little out of the mainstream, like Maggie Bailey, who was a highly successful bootlegger in Eastern Kentucky; Carrie Nation, who carried out many a “Hatchetation” as she swung her temperance message through the Midwest; and Mary Murphy Dowling, who fought against Prohibition by moving her entire operation to Mexico. These were all strong and smart women who made a difference. The other women portrayed in the show are Mary Myers Beam, Elmer Lucille Allen, Catherine Spears Frye Carpenter and Marge Samuels.

Is the industry more gender-balanced today?
I am no expert, but I would have to say that the industry is definitely more gender-balanced today. For one thing, women consume more bourbon, and that makes them more interested in working in the industry. We have a growing number of female Master Distillers and Master Tasters, and this is all a good thing!

Tell me about how you set up the tastings, and how you recruited the masters.
We are so pleased to be able to offer pre-show bourbon tastings for each of our evening shows and even more pleased that we can offer the experienced tasting skills of Carla Carlton, the original Bourbon Babe blogger (who generously let us use the term “Bourbon Babes”) on Thursday; Susan Reigler, award-winning bourbon and travel writer, on Friday; and Marianne Butler, former Master Taster at Brown-Forman, who just recently took a leadership position with the Old Taylor distillery, on Saturday. Each of these experts selected their choices of three bourbons to taste, and the service will be provided by our host, The Bard’s Town.

September is Bourbon Heritage Month. Will you revive this production then?
We would love to! We are already scheduled to perform the show at the Bourbon Women Association’s Taste Affair at the Governor’s Mansion in June, and we have been approached about doing the show at various sites around the state. The show was designed to be pretty flexible so that we can take advantage of these kinds of opportunities.

c. 2015 The Voice-Tribune

Bubbleicious

Local indie-psych-pop practicioners Plastic Bubble have returned with their latest modern classic album, with a Will Oldham-starring video to help turn heads on. The band plays a release show on Friday at Haymarket Whiskey Bar. I asked visionary Matt Taylor to tell me the tale.

First, tell me about putting this album together – and how did you decide it needed two dozen or so of Louisville’s best musicians to come in and add cameos?

We started recording Big Day Parade less than a week after the release show for our debut album, Treble Treasure Chest (in 2012). The plan was to do this one as more of a band effort than the first one, as the debut began with me assembling recordings with a loose and shifting collection of friends, before a band name or identity was in place.

By the time we started recording Big Day Parade, the four of us that had played the most stuff on the first album – Jason Dudgeon, Elisa McCabe, John Kleemeier, and myself – had been playing live and had become a real band, rather than just a name for people to record under. We recorded this new album in multiple environments and with different recording setups … the overdubs on the bulk of the other material on the album were recorded in one of our homes, or at a friend’s home on a laptop. Almost everything was done digitally, but a few songs were built on top of things recorded on cassette 4-track. This material was more collaboratively written by the live line-up, and tended to be a little more developed from a performance angle before we started recording, rather than figuring out how to play the songs live after creating them as a studio band. But still, all along we knew we would have people outside the band make appearances on the recordings.

On the first album, I had a lot of fun just having people come over and play overdubs on things to put their personalities on it and give each song its own unique vibe. I’m a music nerd who gets into reading liner notes and seeing who plays on what, and I especially like it when I see a complicated combination of people contributing and interweaving on a project. Because we did so much recording at home and over a long period of time, it was natural to have friends just add an overdub here or there when they were over hanging out. Sometimes it was to have a community chorus kind of vibe, sometimes because we knew someone who could play an instrument we couldn’t, and sometimes just to put a touch of someone else’s energy on something.

Tell me about things you’ve learned in the journey from starting the band to where you’re at now.

While it doesn’t feel like we’ve learned any lessons or anything, it does seem like we are a very different band, or are coming at things from a different angle now compared to when we first started playing out as a band. I can’t speak for the others, but I feel like we are more confident now. It helped that people seemed pretty responsive, from the beginning.

I think we learned that we don’t have to be too serious, and that we can be ourselves. Not that we are overconfident and think that people will like whatever we do. I just feel like we don’t have to go out there trying to keep a straight face and be all “Louisville” about everything. I think we feel pretty free to quirk out. The people that like us probably like the lighter, silly side.

Maybe I personally have learned a few lessons; mostly to not ramble so damn much and getting my wannabe stand-up comedian on between songs. I’ve learned to shut my mouth and keep a little mystique. The main thing I’d like to learn is how to move and look human onstage. I love doing this so much, but I don’t think I look like I’m having much fun from my stiff presence onstage … when not making Nancy Kerrigan jokes, that is.

Hear examples at www.hopeforthetapedeck.bandcamp.com/album/big-day-parade.

C. 2015 The Voice-Tribube

A Cure for What Ales You

“Tailspin Ale Fest is even bigger and better than ever in our second year,” says Tisha Gainey, co-founder of the popular festival.

Last year’s Tailspin, a celebration of craft beer, attracted attendees from Louisville and beyond – as far as Florida, New York and Alaska. Gainey and co-founder Trevor Cravens have expanded, adding more to the popular mix of beer, food and music. Last year’s attempt at Bowman Field was actually too successful.

This year’s opening night, a VIP-only evening called “The Barrel Roll,” will take place Friday with The Pimps of Joytime, a soul and funk band from Brooklyn, NY. The founders saw the band perform at both the Forecastle Festival and Zanzabar, so “We were so happy when we were able to book them,” says Gainey. “It just made sense. Even if you don’t dance, they are so fun, you’ll wiggle a little.”

Barrel Roll is a night of all things from a barrel, she says. “Barrel-aged beers, bourbons, spirits and wine … We went beyond extremely limited barrel-aged beers and are showcasing some of the spirits or barrels in which these beers are aged.” Flat 12 Bierwerks will present their Pinko Russian Imperial Stout, aged in Willett bourbon barrels, “at a table with Willett bourbon that you can sample or have in a featured cocktail,” Gainey says. Copper & Kings will be pouring their brandy, while the Lexington brewery West 6th shares their Transy Brandy, a Belgian-style tripel aged in Copper & Kings barrels.

Food options are coming from the Ole Group (El Taco Luchador, Cena, etc.), who will offer bacon-wrapped goat cheese stuffed dates, empanadas, Korean BBQ wings and other deliriously delicious bar-appropriate items. On Saturday, the founders plan to increase the number of food trucks on-site from last year to give patrons more options and more chances to secure food before it all sells out.

Saturday is the big day, of course, and so the fest will be bigger in many ways on that day. “Where to start?” asks Gainey. “Last year, we had around 45 breweries and over 150 beers. We are up to 56 breweries now!” Mayor Greg Fischer will appear to bless the fest on Saturday.

Back in November, the LAGERS Homebrew Club held a competition to brew the first Official Tailspin Ale at Apocalypse Brew Works, whose owner Leah Dienes is a longstanding member and success story. That product, the Spit Fire Ale, will be available from title sponsor Liquor Barn, which is also donating money to the Dare to Care Food Bank on behalf of Tailspin. A raffle will also benefit the Bank.

More American music will be pumped out by the Whiskey Bent Valley Boys and the Solid Rock’it Boosters on Saturday. A Kentucky Heritage Section will feature brewers statewide. Gainey notes that they are also working with Uber, and ends on a more sober note.

“Please note that we want people to drink responsibly … Guests will be able to leave their vehicles until noon the following day.”

c. 2015 The Voice-Tribune

Off to Dreamland

What if? What would happen if we extended our thinking and kept trying new things? It’s a question that’s pushed Tim Barnes moving forward for decades.

Barnes grew up in Southern California, where he could have carried on his mom’s love of the surf. Instead, he moved to New York City, where he established a sterling reputation as a percussionist, playing along indie rock and avant-garde acts like Sonic Youth, John Zorn, Milford Graves, Jim O’Rourke and MV+EE. Now 47, Barnes has lived in Louisville for eight years, where he runs the music and visual arts space in NuLu called Dreamland.

It’s another chapter in a life spent trying to help introduce others to fresh sounds and ideas, a practice which goes back to a suburban high school existence where he felt different from the average kids who went along with the trends. Barnes says he’s merely another link in a chain going back to his mom and uncles, who first turned him on to new sounds. “I was ruined,” he laughs.

He went on to spend 15 years in Manhattan, where the “softening” of indie rock, as he calls it, led him further afield from even their mainstream. “It was wonderful, I had a great time and met some great people, got to play on some great records – but then when it hit ’97, ’98, it all turned towards electronic music and stuff, and then all those bands that I loved: Polvo, The Grifters, all those classic indie rock bands from that time – it stopped everything. No one was interested any more. There was the Chemical Brothers instead.”

Witnessing artists like Stereolab, Tortoise and the Rachel’s reinvent the independent music scene inspired Barnes, who had been playing in a band, Ditch Croaker, with a short-lived major label deal. “It was a weird time, but it was a cool time. ‘There’s a fresh canvas here’.”

He was working for a film editor who took his turn opening Barnes up to some of that freshness – ambient, industrial, darker tones from Throbbing Gristle, Zoviet France and other provocateurs. A visit to New York’s Vision Festival pushed him forward again. “I didn’t know what to expect, except that there would be a lot of free-jazz. [Influential bassist] William Parker curated the first couple of years. And there he was, standing behind a table, dishing out chicken and black-eyed peas and greens; you’d get a plate of it for, like, two bucks. You ate, and all the artists were selling their records – it was the first time I’d experienced that, in that kind of setting. Everyone was so nice … I was, like, ‘My people!’”

Barnes brings that warm, welcoming vibe to Dreamland, where the experience feels more like a visit to someone’s home than a sponsored, corporate business-driven nightclub. Due to their location, the venue starts and ends events early so as to not keep their neighbors up. Having toured around the world, it’s a different environment than the one he had previously mastered.

In Manhattan, “For some reason, I felt like I should do something else,” says Barnes. He transferred some energy into running and other healthy pursuits, “like… what’s the movie about the guy who runs across the country – ‘Run something’…?” Forrest Gump? “Yes, that’s it!” he says.

On his journey, Barnes says: “It has led me to this place where I’ve been able to connect with a lot of different people, but also have the sense of having a passion for – I hate always using the term ‘experimental music’ – ‘fringe’ or ‘extended thinking,’ not stopping at a certain point, but the constant ‘what-if?’ sort of thing.”

Having booked musicians in offbeat venues in Manhattan, setting up Dreamland shows wasn’t the hard part. The financial realities have kept him on his toes. For this second year, Barnes is planning more film screenings and lectures and hopes to include modern dance performances. Their next music showcase, this Saturday, celebrates a new compilation by a local electronic label. Barnes isn’t planning to slow down this year. “I just said ‘yes’ to my biggest (financial) risk to date,” he says. “I’m a little nervous. Because you never really know.”

c. 2015 The Voice-Tribune

Folk You Very Much

An Owensboro native, Dave Howard has been a leader in Louisville’s folk-and-more music scene for over a decade now, having played mandolin in The 23 String Band and Relic, worked at Music Go Round and now, in his latest and boldest undertaking, founding the Louisville Folk School, which hold classes inside Shine studio in NuLu. He schooled me on the project.

Q: How did you get this idea? Are you financing it all yourself?

A: The St. Louis Folk School hosted The 23 String Band for a concert and a workshop a couple of years ago, and my bandmates and I were all impressed by the way their Folk School engaged their community with education and performances in a wide variety of traditional American music. We later played at a Folk School in Brooklyn that was the epicenter of old-time and folk music for the area. Louisville didn’t have a home for this music, and it’s something I wanted the community to have.

My motivation for starting a Folk School here was primarily as a service for the community. This project can only thrive if it is done for the community – it must be supported by the people it is intended to serve. We are making something out of nothing. To say that anyone financed this project would be an exaggeration. I have invested many hours traveling to music conferences and folk schools around the country over the last year-and-a-half to study how this project might get off the ground, and what could make it successful, but I hesitate to say that I financed this.

When I started getting into bluegrass music, it was a bit of a challenge at first because I didn’t grow up listening to that type of music. There are dozens of tunes that are standards – many people that play bluegrass music appear to instinctively know all of these songs, and the non-verbal language that goes along with playing the music. If you have not had years of exposure to the music, it’s a challenge to learn to play in that style. The Folk School helps interested musicians jump that hurdle by letting people immerse themselves in different disciplines related to bluegrass, old-time, jug band and other folk genres.

Q: What are some classes you’re offering?

A: Each of our eight-week sessions will offer beginner classes in banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and guitar, as well as classes for non-beginners. I’m excited about the beginner classes because they will be bringing new people into our music community. Our ensemble classes are also proving to be incredibly fun! We have a jug band ensemble and a bluegrass band ensemble this session – both of which are having a blast learning to play tunes just as a band would. The bluegrass ensemble class is also learning how to jam in informal groups, which is a huge part of the bluegrass music community worldwide.

Many of the best traditional music instructors in Louisville are teaching at Louisville Folk School. We are really lucky to have such a solid group of instructors with many years of performance and instruction experience, almost all of whom I have studied under, and performed with, myself.

Q: How many bands are you in today? How many need schooling?

A: Zing! Ha ha! Relic is a bluegrass band that I’ve played in for the last 10 years. We perform a free show every Wednesday night at the Monkey Wrench. I’ve recently been playing bass guitar with Scott Carney and Heavy Friends, which has been a fun departure from my other projects. I have a progressive bluegrass band called Esteemed Colleagues that plays weddings, dances and private events. There are a couple other contra/square dance bands that I play with when they call me, and that’s always fun for me.

I am currently taking fiddle lessons as part of a Kentucky Arts Council Masters Apprenticeship Grant with Scott Moore, who is also the fiddle teacher at Louisville Folk School. Taking lessons is fun for me. We are all on a path toward improving ourselves as musicians, performers, writers and teachers. I wouldn’t tell anyone they need schooling in that respect, but I hope we will never stop learning.

c. 2015 The Voice-Tribune

Films Français

Quai de O’rsay

The University of Louisville brings the French Film Festival back for its 2015 series, beginning Feb. 5 and running through March 6, at the Floyd Theater on campus. For this year’s pick, the panel of 10 experts (from the French, film and digital media studies, and humanities departments, and others from the local French alliance group) has selected five films.

All of the full-length movies offer something very different from one another, promising that those with the broadest thoughts on film will be exposed to a plethora of promising portraits. Those with more specific tastes will find something to their liking, even if not all hit the same sweet spots. There is comedy, drama, animation and documentary.

The movies will show Thursdays at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., and 2 p.m. on Fridays. The 5 p.m. screenings will also include discussions after each screening with local experts on French film and other cultural hot topics. Tracy Heightchew is one of the driving forces behind programming series like this, through U of L’s Commonwealth Center for the Humanities and Society.

“This year, we picked some films that are pretty recent, and a couple classic films about France right after World War II,” she says. This year’s films include “Bande de filles” (aka “Girlhood”), “Ernest & Celestine,” “Quai de O’rsay” (aka “The French Minister”), “Le Joli Mai” (aka “The Lovely Month of May”) and “Tu seras mon fils” (aka “You Will Be My Son”).

“Le Joli Mai’ was directed by Chris Marker and released in 1963. The paleofuturist Marker is best known for his 1962 short “Le Jetee,” which later inspired the American movie “12 Monkeys.”


Bande de filles

For Heightchew, one important concern when selecting films for the festival was to ensure that at least one director involved was a woman. “Girlhood” director Celine Sciamma has also directed “Tomboy” and “Water Lillies.” The French title of “Girlhood” translates as “Band of Girls,” but as Heightchew notes, “That sounds like a girl gang … Even though there is violence, it’s not a ‘girl gang’ like we think of a girl gang.”

“It’s about a population of people we don’t normally see,” Heightchew says, “which is the sons and daughters of immigrants that live right outside of Paris, who have limited opportunities. You get to follow (a 16-year-old), and she’s this fabulous girl! Although actors in the film were just people on the street they picked out, it’s a beautiful movie.”

She adds, “I also like that the women are just chattering all the time: ‘chatter chatter chatter’ – and then men show up and … silence. That’s totally true!”

The French film fest also includes a wine country Shakespearean family drama, “Tu seras mon fils” (aka “You Will Be My Son”), is about “an old, crotchety man and his grapevines. He’s near the end of his life, and doesn’t think his son can take them over, so he decides another kid can do it.” It’s King Lear in France, or in modern terms, Empire on the big screen.

There’s also a political comedy, “Quai de O’rsay” (aka “The French Minister”). Heightchew calls the animated “Ernest & Celestine” “a beautiful, wonderful tale,” noting that “You can see it in English, dubbed by famous American actors – or you can watch it in French!”

It’s hard to see foreign cinema in Louisville these days, Heightchew says sadly. With Wild & Woolly Video soon joining The Vogue Theater in our memories, places like UofL’s Floyd Theater are needed now more than ever.

c. 2015 The Voice-Tribune

Kids of Steel

The Louisville Leopard Percussionists have made their name over two decades of teaching children about music and other life lessons, with a focus on kids 7-14 years old. But what happens to the kids after they age out? I asked Leopards instructor and assistant director Meg Samples to talk about the roots of their latest production, an album by smaller spin-off group Steel Leopards called Steel Believin’.

Q: What’s different about the Steels vs. the “regular” group?

A: The main Louisville Leopard Percussionists range from grades second through sixth. In Steel, we take any graduating members of LLP that are interested in learning another percussion instrument, steel pans, and create this overflow group. We were seeing a lot of kids that still wanted to play and create music after sixth grade, so we decided to venture out into steel pans. We have grades sixth through ninth represented, right now, in Steel Leopards.

Q: How much time do you spend working with them? Are they easier to teach than the younger Leopards, or is it a totally different approach?

A: The group rehearses once a week, on Sunday evenings, and all the members are incredibly self-sufficient when it comes to learning new pieces. We give them some basics on how and where to hit the pans, what mallets to use, and where all the notes are located. After that, they learn by ear, without sheet music, and we try to arrange all of our songs collectively. We, the instructors, ask things like, “Where do you want the song to go from here?” “Should someone play a solo here?” “How are we going to start this song?” and “How are we going to end it?” The Steel members already know so much from LLP about form, dynamics, scales, etc., that I really feel like it is easier for them to rehearse and learn new songs. This group runs itself. We, as instructors, are really there just to make sure no one loses an eye during the process.



Q: This is the first Steel Leopards album, right? Whose idea was it?

A: Yes, this is their first album as a group, and the Steel Leopards only began four years ago. The members of the group have been wanting to record the songs they have been playing for a while, but this past year in particular, we had a group that was really driven to perfect their songs and put them on one album to have forever.

Q: Do band members ever write their own songs?

A: Definitely. All of the kids were part of the larger group before joining up with the Steel Leopards. While in LLP, we really encourage them to write their own songs, whether that is collectively or individually, and we end up performing them throughout the year. On the Steel album, Steel Believin’, we don’t do any original recording, only covers and a few standards. But we hope to do some on future recordings.

Q: How did you select Kevin Ratterman as the producer of the album? How did the kids feel about working in his studio?

A: Kevin Ratterman selected us! He is probably the most wonderful person in this city, or at least in the top five. He heard the Leopards rehearse one day, and came to us offering to record any of our projects. We immediately thought of the Steel Leopards group. We were beyond excited to get to record at La La Land with Kevin behind the controls. If you haven’t been there, it is seriously magical. The kids had an amazing experience being in such a great recording studio with a professional, and it made us all feel like our hard work as a group had really paid off.

We did all the songs in one day, all live, with everyone playing together in Kevin’s main space. We have a great group; the kids were professional and did several takes of each tune. We listened and chose the best take of each, and that was about it. Way easier than a lot of recordings I’ve worked on.

c. 2015 The Voice-Tribune

DJ Kim Sorise Gets 8Up on it

DJ Kim Sorise presents “Cinematic Sleaze,” a weekly listening and dancing party Thursdays at the new 8Up Elevated Drinkery & Kitchen in the Hilton Garden Inn. Also an ARTxFM radio host and half of the Derby City Soul Club DJs, Sorise has fused groovy sounds for a decade in Louisville, making her a logical choice to direct the music program at the new nightspot.

Q: How did you get picked for the music director job? You’re well known and admired around Louisville, but I think your fans would have expected a shiny new hotel to go with something safer, right?
A: Well, they asked and I accepted. It was that simple… What I hope is folks who have followed my deejay career know that I am not afraid to take risks and try something new. I have done soul nights, rock and punk nights, cinematic, atmospheric and world beat gigs – so spinning “Cinematic Sleaze” at 8Up is just me playing music that I love. I am very happy that the management at 8Up believes in selecting folks who know their passion and let them follow it; I think that’s happening for all of the DJs there.

Q: How did you select the other DJs in the rotation?
A: I contacted the best DJs that I believed could make the most out of the space: Matt Anthony, Dwight Johnson, JP Source and Alex Bell. For me, building an atmosphere depends on both the music played and the space itself – meaning the music and space work off one another. Making a room sound good is wonderful, but making it feel good? Well, that is a whole different set of skills. When I went in for my initial meeting at 8Up, one of the first questions asked of me was “What music did I think would make the space feel its best?” A little personification can go a long way.

I do not see 8Up as a dance club; it’s an upscale lounge, therefore, the music needs to accentuate that mood. I saw the space as being soulful and classy, but not buttoned-up. There is also tremendous texture and drama in the space that inspires what I play there. For Matt, Dwight, Jon Paul, and Alex, each creates an interpretation of what sounds best and further enhances the mood they want to build. We each have a different approach to what we play, but they all blend very nicely.

Q: Do different styles or approaches work better on different nights? Or is there a less predictable pattern in a hotel?
A: Yes, I do appreciate a varied but still connected approach. I love that each of us have different but also allied followings; our nights sound creatively different and musically varied but there is a common thread that appeals to a wide range of patrons …

Deejaying on a weeknight, in comparison to a weekend, offers a different tone, and at times, a different clientele. During the week, Matt, Dwight (on third Thursdays) and I start earlier at 7:30 p.m. the crowds are generally a nice size, but more low key. It may be folks staying at the hotel, dining at the bar, business gatherings, etc. Weekends are currently busier – the bar is open later. JP Source, Alex Bell and Dwight (first Fridays) start at 9:30 p.m. and offer a livelier party, for lack of a better word. The music may be more upbeat, but reading the room and its patrons are of equal importance. Regardless, we are always prepared to bring a good time.

Q: How has the experience been so far? And were the holidays crazier, or slower?
A: It has been excellent! We have all had a very warm reception from the guests and staff. Everyone is super friendly and eager to have a great time and make 8Up a fabulous space for Louisville. The holidays were very busy – the Night Visions DJs spun on New Year’s Eve and sold out the place! Not too bad for only being open a couple months! All of us are beyond excited for the opening of the outdoor patio; it is beautiful and the view…fantastic! We are already working to create some exciting events overlooking the city.

Q: What will your 2015 sound like?
A: Amazing and always soulful.

To learn more, go to www.8uplouisville.com.

c. 2015 The Voice-Tribune

The Wrists Speak Out

After achieving success with his previous band, Natives, McKinley Moore and pals started a new psychedelic rock band, The Wrists. They play a record release show Haymarket Whiskey Bar on Friday, January 16. Moore caught me up on their antics.

What happened with Natives?
We got to do some great things: made a record I’m proud of, got invited to SXSW without applying, we were personally picked by Graham Lewis to open for Wire. It was some serious life goal type shit. But we went through some lineup changes and hadn’t managed to write a new song in a year. So creatively, it seemed to have run its course. And honestly, how long can you be in a band with three guitar players? That said, those guys are some of the best friends I have in the world. I guess that is why 3/5 of us decided to switch things around and start another band. I moved from guitar to bass. Jason Sparks is still playing guitar and Matt Filip switched from guitar/vocals to drums. About a week after the last Natives show, we got together with (guitarist) Colin Kellogg and it seemed to click pretty immediately.

The Wrists are releasing a new cassette tape. Haven’t you heard that vinyl might be making a comeback?
Gotta stay ahead of the curve! Vinyl is 100% back. Tapes are next! We wrote and recorded that record very quickly and wanted to release it in the same manner. And it just so happened that our friends JC Denison and Matt Dodds decided to start a cassette tape label, AuralgamiSOUNDS, and were willing to make us their first release (other than JC’s stuff he has been putting out under the same name for years). I know not everyone has a tape player these days, but cassette tapes are cheap, quick and a very good way to get people a digital download but still give them an object that they can hold in their hands. And I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. Jesse Lucas did such a great job with the artwork!

You’re playing with A7A and Cher Von. What do you like about each of them?
I have never seen two A7A shows that were the same, and I have never seen one that wasn’t amazing. It’s incredibly refreshing to see a show that consists of an entirely new composition. JC (Denison) is a musical force and I’m so glad to have him back in town. And there are so many of my favorite musicians performing with him that night: Dane Waters, Scott Carney, Drew Miller, Drew English, Cheyenne Mize… The list goes on, and it is ridiculous. I am sure they will be setting the bar absurdly high for us to follow. I just hope that we will be able to steal some of them for our own performance.

And I caught a set from Cher Von at Decca recently. I had never heard her before. She is the real deal. It’s like all the talent and ability that you see with TuneYards, except with the added bonus that I actually enjoy listening to it. I can’t wait to see her set.

How do you feel about the Louisville music scene at this moment in history?
Oh man, I couldn’t feel better. I’ve been inspired by all the growth I’ve seen among people in my age group … And I could probably talk to you for an hour about how great I think the young kids are right now. White Reaper are so good, and so are the Debauchees. I’m so happy that kids are picking up instruments and playing things that I love. There was definitely a minute where I thought every person in that generation was gonna grow up to be a DJ - no disrespect meant to DJ’s.

And I can’t talk about Louisville’s music scene without mentioning Cropped Out. I look forward to punk rock summer camp every year … Honestly, I probably would have moved by now if it weren’t for the music scene. There are definitely better places I could go to focus on being a glass artist. I have passed up several opportunities because I have found the idea of leaving my friends and this music scene behind incomprehensible. It really is a special place.

c. 2015 The Voice-Tribune

Give-A-Jam

Tim O'Brien

Clifton Center executive director John Harris joins me to discuss their annual benefit to end homelessness, which will be held on Dec. 18 at 6:30 p.m. Live music will come from Tim O’Brien, Appalatin, The Bibelhauser Brothers with Michael Cleveland and more, plus food from numerous leading chefs. Ticket sales go to the Coalition for the Homeless Louisville, whose executive director is Harris’ wife Natalie.

The Voice-Tribune: Why did you decide to raise funds for this cause in this way?

John Harris: It was pretty simple, really. My wife Natalie and I just realized we had a unique opportunity. Natalie’s organization was doing some really exciting work with their Rx:Housing project, and I was lucky enough to be in a position with the Clifton Center to be able to bring together the ingredients needed to pull off an event like the “Give-A-Jam” that could help. When the Clifton Center transformed itself in 2010, part of the vision was to serve the community in this way, so it was a natural outgrowth of our programming. The most important part, though, was that I had gotten to know some incredibly wonderful musicians and other partners of the Clifton Center who I knew would jump at the chance to do something positive for their town. Louisville is very lucky to have these folks here. I should also say that for years I’ve had a policy of never asking musicians to play for free. We really need to honor the work they do and respect their profession. But I now allow myself to break that rule once a year, and I always make sure to acknowledge that to all those generous people that participate.

V-T: How do you pick the artists and chefs who will be donating their talents?

HARRIS: It seems to be getting tougher and tougher! There are so many talented people that want to help, and we only have so much time to fit them in. But I tend to ask musicians who I’ve worked with before. Most have performed at the Clifton Center at one time or another, and all are really outstanding musicians. As always, that’s crucial for me. Even though it’s a benefit, we take quality very seriously at the Clifton Center, so we want everything we do to be of a very high level. We’re just incredibly fortunate to have so many great (and generous) musicians in town. As for the restaurants, we’re lucky to have lots of generous restaurant owners and great chefs in Louisville, as well. Some we ask because they are area restaurants we’ve worked with before for the Taste of Frankfort Avenue or one of the Coalition’s events, and some are simply restaurants we like a lot. We also try not to ask the same ones every year because we know it’s a big contribution they’re making. They’re buying all of the ingredients and using their staff’s time to prepare the soup, all while trying to run a successful restaurant. So we know it’s a big sacrifice for them, and we try to honor that sacrifice by not asking them over and over every year.

V-T: Do you think 20-somethings today have the same sense of activism, social justice and giving to causes as people did in the recent past?

HARRIS: I do. I think the mechanisms may have changed and the means of expression are very different, but I think young people are as aware, if not more aware, of the need and injustice that surrounds them than my generation was, or the generation before mine. I believe most people want to do good in this world. Often, it’s just a matter of figuring out how to express that desire to help. That’s what we want the “Give-A-Jam” to be: a mechanism for people that just want to perform a small act of charity that makes their town a better place and helps some people who really need it.

V-T: If someone buys a ticket, should they also buy you a Christmas present? Or are they good for another year?

HARRIS: You mean for me personally? A ticket purchase is definitely the best present for me. I already have plenty of beer.

Photo by Clarissa Peterson

c. 2014 The Voice-Tribune

Cabbage Patch Dad

The Rev. J. Tracy Holladay has led his organization, the Cabbage Patch Settlement House in the Old Louisville neighborhood, for 30 years. But its history goes back to a time long before his arrival, and the place promises to live on long after he leaves it. Its core mission – providing opportunities for at-risk children to succeed – is stronger and more necessary than any one person. Even a popular toy can’t get in the way of what they’re doing down there on 6th Street.

The first thing the normal Jane or John on that street needs to know is that, no, there is no connection between the Cabbage Patch Settlement House – a nonprofit instilling values, education and creativity in over one thousand children annually – and the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls. “We think the Cabbage Patch Kids are cute, but we share no connection,” they clarify on their website’s FAQ page.

The Cabbage Patch Settlement House was founded in 1910 by Louise Marshall, who stayed until she was in her early 90s, 70 years after creating it. The name came from the neighborhood, as many residents had cabbages in their gardens, and a book, Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch by Alice Hegan Rice, that was set there. It’s known as a settlement house from the 19th Century term used to indicate a place where new settlers to a community, especially an inner-city area, could find resources they needed.

Rev. Holladay took over shortly thereafter, having taken a circuitous route to get there from his native Florida. Born in 1951, the son of a military man, he says his childhood, spent mostly in Gainesville, wasn’t quite like “The Andy Griffith Show,” but allows that it was pretty close. It was “a very churched family, Baptist by tradition.” Church activities kept him busy throughout his childhood. In high school, he got involved with an organization called Young Life, an outreach ministry for students that Holladay says aims to make religion more fun for them. He later served as a director for the Louisville chapter during his time in the seminary, and a member of both boards suggested Holladay apply for the newly available executive director job.

Holladay decided to join the Naval Reserve during the Vietnam War. He took time getting through college (“I sometimes say ‘I squeezed those four years into 10’”), also working jobs throughout those years: a hospital corpsman in the Navy, the manager of a rental car agency (an outgrowth of teenage gas station work), selling real estate, selling advertising…

Between the many jobs and the religious training, Holladay was prepared to take the lead at the Cabbage Patch by his early 30s. “I’m still selling. I’m just selling at-risk kids these days!” he laughs.

“I didn’t come to seminary necessarily thinking I was going to do regular church stuff,” he continues. “I had been involved with some social ministry stuff through the church I grew up in, and had – as you can tell from those jobs – a business orientation. I was always pretty good with numbers.”

That skill comes in extra handy at the private Cabbage Patch, which prides itself on surviving without government funding. “Even when we were an even smaller entity – and this goes back to Ms. Marshall’s words – I think we were gutsy,” says Holladay. “And a little different. She decided, early on, to stay out of the traditional funding streams that most organizations like this (utilize).” In 1910, such funds, and places like the United Way, had yet to assert themselves as agents of such funds. As they did, the Cabbage Patch continued raising money without their assistance. “So I believe that meant she had to be fairly creative in fundraising. Of course, it didn’t hurt that she came from a well-to-do, prominent family and knew a lot of well-to-do people!”

Shortly after Holladay took over, a board member offered the idea of an amateur basketball event. Their “Street Ball Showdown” went on to raise a lot of money over almost two decades, helping to provide educational and recreational programs for their kids. Even during the recent recession, the organization’s financial savvy kept the lights on.

Rev. Holladay doesn’t get to spend much time working with the kids, but the organization includes perhaps one thousand volunteers, as well, who do everything from coaching to tutoring on a regular basis, or helping families during the holidays. But the mission has always come first for him. About the kids, he says, “I want them to believe that they can do more and accomplish more than perhaps they think they can. I think there’s a lot of untapped potential in … probably every person, but certainly children are this little gold mine of untapped potential.”

He says “it’s almost deprogramming” to take disadvantaged children and show them other ways of seeing the world. “Certainly, not every kid we serve is coming out of that environment, but there is something that’s different between – it’s clearly impactful, whether a kid feels loved or appreciated or has someone believe in them.”

They boast alumni including “an NFL Super Bowl Coach, a former city alderman, community leaders, teachers, coaches, firefighters, police officers, Cabbage Patch Program Directors, and leading executives.” A few current employees began going there as children.

“I think you have to let them try a lot of different things,” says Holladay. “The kid that comes and just hangs out in the gym all the time thinks he’s going to be the next Michael Jordan or whatever – we’ll be suggesting, ‘Hey, we’ve got this class on art. And we’ve got this leadership program. We’ve got camping. We’re taking a big bike trip somewhere.’ All kinds of stuff they might not have the chance to be exposed to otherwise.”

“And guess what? That might be the next great teacher, or performer, as opposed to the next great athlete. Ultimately, we want them to be successful, productive, well-adjusted adults that are contributing to the society as a whole. And have moral-slash-spiritual values, as well.”

c. 2014 Kentucky Monthly

Sisterhood of the Dazzling Stance

Novice Sister Fluffy has big breasts and a full beard.

It’s a Sunday night at Play, the club in Louisville’s Butchertown neighborhood that is home to some of Kentucky’s finest drag queens. But Fluffy is not a drag queen – the military vet also known as Kirk Murphy is an aspirant member of the Derby City Sisters, a group that bills themselves as “an order of radical fun-loving nuns dedicated to spreading joy and banishing stigmatic guilt.”

If the name hasn’t already given it away, Fluffy isn’t an actual nun, either. He’s part of the new Louisville mission house connected to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, whose network includes dozens of other houses internationally. The group began in San Francisco in 1979, quickly finding their calling as educators and activists as the AIDS epidemic began wreaking havoc.

The founding Sisters “went out into the streets to challenge the world,” according to their “Sistory”. The Derby City Sisters live in a somewhat more progressive world, where marriage equality continues to evolve. But many obstacles and prejudices remain.

“Ours is a ministry of presence,” says Ryan Phillips, 28 and the local founder also known as novice Sister Velveeta VonTease. “Just being there for someone when they need someone to talk to, to celebrate you for who you are.”

Phillips says the chalky clown white makeup the Sisters apply goes a long way towards putting those people at ease, especially after they’ve had a few drinks. People tell the Sisters all kinds of secrets, he says, things they won’t tell their families or even their partners.

This trust pays off when it comes to one of the core elements of the modern Sisters’ mission: sex education, still, including offering HIV/AIDS testing. “Unlike the church, we won’t tell you not to have sex – quite the opposite,” Phillips says. “We’ll tell you to have sex as often as possible, but just play safe … Our work is to spread joy and abolish guilt. Throw some glitter on you and throw that guilt away.”

The group was only a vague notion a year ago. Phillips had first discovered the concept as a teen, and after recent encounters on a “Drag Stars at Sea Cruise,” he sat down with some members and discussed how the organization worked. Phillips made a resolution at 12:01 a.m. on New Year’s Day this year to make it happen in Kentucky. “I felt that there was an incredible pulse happening in the city of Louisville, and that if something like this were to happen, for it to be successful, it had to happen right then and there.”

He invited a few friends. “I had no idea who would be involved, who would be interested,” Phillips says. 48 people came to the first meeting; six of them are still involved. Four nuns from Nashville and one from Portland came to help. “People in the bars instantly gravitated towards us. It was one of those moments when I was, like, ‘Yesss!,’” he laughs.



Soon, they were 15, then 25; now, they count 33 members. Some locals are aware of the group but confused about their mission. The simplest explanation is that they promote love. Also: acceptance, compassion, joy and other ideas that don’t come first to mind when one contemplates nuns (clowns, maybe, but also unlikely). Their members are Atheists, Buddhists, Catholics – a veritable alphabet soup united by the idea of destroying labels and divisiveness. That, and the greatest, safest sex you can find.

Sister Fluffy serves as “The Mistress of Pleasure,” putting together 1,500 “pleasure packs” of condoms, lube and breath mints each month. Tonight, he’s calling numbers for the monthly “Sister Bingo” night at Play. Kirk is somewhat shy in his everyday “boy” life, but Fluffy is more in your face. “I may have the biggest boobies in the order,” he laughs.

Murphy and his husband are both vets from Oklahoma. Getting involved with the Sisters has made them more outgoing, more open and more liberal. Husband Parker Coe Murphy acts as one of the guards for the Sisters when they are out doing their “bar missionary” work. Members begin as aspirants – those who are checking it out. Postulancy follows, as they begin applying their new faces and erasing their regular identity. They are more demure, silent as they observe the process. Novices go out in full dress, doing their work, including mandatory service projects. Then, and only then, can these men in dresses become a fully professed Sister.

It’s a year-long process, and it’s a lot of work. Phillips spends six to eight hours a day working on the group: organizing, promoting, networking and more. It takes an average of two hours for members to transform themselves into character. But even if they never help anyone else, they’ve helped each other. “I chose these people. I didn’t get to choose my own family. I spend more time with these folks than I do with my own family,” Sister Fluffy says. Their new names go toward spreading joy – it’s hard to get mad at anything named “Fluffy” – but also give them a chance to start over, with their new identity separate from those who might have been unkind to them in the past.

“More and more, Fluffy is coming out. I can’t take a picture now without putting my hand on my hip,” Murphy laughs.

Phillips says it’s a priority for the group to also work with groups outside of the LGBTQIA world – animal shelters and the homeless, for example – along with groups like the Louisville Youth Group, which provides support for LGBTQIA teens. Oh, and actual nuns? Nuns love the Sisters.

Louisville’s just the first stop, Phillips says, adding that they hope to expand to Lexington as soon as possible. Beyond that, he’s thinking about Cincinnati and Indianapolis. “There’s so many opportunities for this magic and this type of energy to have a presence in any city … We’re everywhere. They never thought they would see one in Louisville.”

c. 2014 Story Magazine

Dishes, Drinkers and Dreams: Vines, Barrels and Kegs Have a Master Plan

Daniel Huff and Brandon Schaefer are a classic team: dreamers, brothers from another mother, one part Mutt and Jeff and one part the Black Keys; well, at least if they work hard at it and get some things very right. These guys love beer, wine and bourbon, like lots of people. The difference is that they want to take their passion and turn it into a business, a business that will get them out of their bartending careers and transform Louisville’s food and drinks scene forever.

Inspired by the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Huff started Vines, Barrels and Kegs as a TV program to showcase people who make those three products. But then Huff “decided against going to network TV with the concept because – I mean, we had 700 views for our first show on YouTube. Which is more than a lot of people get from Hollywood on theirs. So we decided to start a website.”

They decided to make the site a social media hub, now based around alcohol, food and music. They want it to become a place to find anything you would want to know about these topics. Instead of Googling, or using Yelp or Beer Advocate, they want you to go to VBK instead. What’s so different and special about their site? Well, they say, theirs has videos.

“We’ve combined the use of YouTube, Facebook and Craigslist,” Huff says. All video, and very few words: “More people are more apt to open a link on other social media, or a text or an email … some people like to read, some people do video. More people look at a video than the constant barrage …”

“I mean, it hasn’t been done yet,” Schaefer interjects. “You can see your personality better if you’re on a video, obviously … Do you want to watch a movie or do you want to read a book, you know?” he laughs.

Schaefer says he recently used a video of Dan Aykroyd promoting the star’s vodka line to sell a pair of $9 shots to his customers at Diamond Pub & Billiards, instead of the cheaper well shots they would have otherwise purchased.

Members can set up their own pages where they follow their favorite chefs, liquor companies, and also add friends – like Facebook, but it’s not Facebook, it’s VBK. You can even sign up for VBK Mail. “You can have interactions on the website, so you don’t even have to go to your email,” Huff explains further.

As for the Craigslist approach, Huff says that comes in because of the video recipe- book section. If you’re making drinks at a party, he wants you to go to his site to see recipes being demonstrated.

The music portion hasn’t been fleshed out yet, but the founders say a big crossover audience goes to see bands play in bars. Music in their TV pilot was provided by their friends the Villebillies. “I’ve heard from several people that the music scene is almost like when Nirvana was in Seattle,” Huff says. He dreams of live-streaming events like a Garth Brooks concert or even the Country Music Awards on Vines, Barrels & Kegs.

Louisville’s role as a food and drinking hub is only getting bigger, says Huff, 38, who works at Big Shots Bar & Grill in Fern Creek. “It’s possibly becoming the foodie capital of the United States,” he declares, citing Bobby Flay as an example. “There’s more places to eat here than anywhere in the United States … So why not expose it in a city where basketball, horse racing, bourbon and food are all synonymous?”

See for yourself at vinesbarrelsandkegs.com.

c. The Voice-Tribune

Miguel Zenón: An American Music Master

Alto saxophonist/composer/educator Miguel Zenón, 38, is a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico. His ninth and latest album as a leader, Identities Are Changeable, was released this week, and the handsome, serious Zenón has become increasingly known to a wider audience as the NPR crowd begins to pay more attention. The album took three years, from when the concept was first planted in his head when a New Jersey university asked for a new creation, and further inspired by writer Juan Flores’ book The Diaspora Strikes Back, about the cross-cultural exchanges between the people of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean as they journey to and from the United States.

Grammy nominee Zenón interviewed numerous other Puerto Ricans and American-bred Puerto Rican offspring about their shared heritage and turned pieces of those interviews into audio clips peppered throughout his new compositions. “Tell me your name, where you were born and raised, and where your family is from,” he’s heard asking after his sax kicks off “De Donde Vienes,” (“Where Are You From?”) that also features percussive piano and drums suggesting a hectic island life.

For his quartet’s upcoming show at the Clifton Center, the live production is augmented by video projections of the people and the places documented on the album by Zenón. The subjects discuss issues of identity familiar to anyone whose family came to the United States from somewhere else, especially fairly recently: self-definitions, language issues, assimilation, etc. Then there’s the music; Zenón says he doesn’t define himself as a Puerto Rican musician first, and notes that when someone talks about “Latin Jazz” they are using one term to discuss many different cultures, from Cuban to Brazilian to Venezuelan and Puerto Rican and on and on. Those genres are really only united by not having begun in the U.S., but that’s true of most music.

In 2004, after six years living in New York, Zenón became a founding member of the SFJAZZ Collective in San Francisco, and today is the last original member left. In 2008, he won not just a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship but also a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (better known as “The Genius Grant”). The latter award him and other recipients a half-million dollars to do with as they so desired. The idea is that it will free them from the usual challenges of having to do this or that to make money, because their art or creative skill doesn’t otherwise pay those bills, not enough. And no one’s accused jazz musicians of being rich … well, hardly ever.

Zenón first came north to study sax at prestigious the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He then followed that up at the Manhattan School of Music, and has played with the Mingus Big Band, Charlie Haden, Ray Barretto, Guillermo Klein, Kenny Werner and many more on almost 60 other albums since 1998. He’s reached a level now where a New York Times new release round-up can bear a headline such as “Albums by Neil Young, Bette Midler and Miguel Zenón,” as though anyone on the street would know who he is. Times critic Nate Chinen called Identities Are Changeable “steeply ambitious,” adding “The writing is potent and self-assured, girded with polyrhythmic cross talk — multiple meters churning in irregular union — and given to steadily mounting drama.”

The complex big band arrangements, Zenón says, were inspired by what he’s learned from Klein, the Mingus band and John Hollenbeck, as well as his SFJazz collaborators. “All those sounds put a lot of ideas into my head,” he told Downbeat magazine in his current cover feature. The album is the second released by his own label, Miel Music (after several albums released by the Marsalis Music label; the first, Oye!!! Live in Puerto Rico, was released in 2013), and Zenon also continues to leads Caravana Cultural, a program that has presented nine series of free concerts across Puerto Rico. As he told Downbeat, “I’ve been very, very lucky. It’s been a lot of work, but I love to work.”

“This young musician and composer is at once reestablishing the artistic, cultural, and social tradition of jazz while creating an entirely new jazz language for the 21st century.” – MacArthur Foundation, 2008.

The Miguel Zenón Quartet
Friday, Nov. 7
Clifton Center
2117 Payne St.
cliftoncenter.org
$18; 8 p.m.

c. 2014 Clifton Center

Houndmouth: A local band’s crazy week of both great and terrible adventures

Photo by Julia Rickles.

This week began badly for Houndmouth. The Louisville quartet woke up after a gig in Springfield, Mo., where they had opened for the Drive-By Truckers. A thief had smashed into their van and stole its GPS, an iPad, a Blu-ray player and personal items, including clothing.

“They took my favorite yoga pants!” keyboardist/vocalist Katie Toupin laughs with a true yogi’s lightness. For a touring band, such thefts are terrible and extremely inconvenient, she notes. It’s happened to several of their friends’ bands. “Not to point fingers, but it seems like every single one has been in Missouri,” she notes. While the band’s gear survived, presumably too heavy to take, the thief went through dirty clothes and selected favorites, leaving some behind.


Katie Toupin checks out the damage.

At least the thief had good taste in clothes. Toupin and business partner Addie Mills are behind a new store, Bermuda Highway, which will open at 811 E. Market St. on Nov. 8, coinciding with the annual NuLu Holiday Open House shopping event. Their music-themed shop will focus mostly on men and women’s clothing, new and vintage.

“I don’t like stores where you have to go in and look through 8,000 vintage things to buy one thing that’s cool. So the vintage is just unique pieces that are all cool,” Toupin explains.

Vintage band T-shirts will be a specialty of Bermuda Highway, which took its name from an early My Morning Jacket song. “It’s my favorite My Morning Jacket song. It’s obviously a tribute to my friend Jim James,” says Toupin. “He’s been a big brother to our band from the very beginning. So I really loved the whole idea of it … And the line in that song, Don’t let your silly dreams / Fall in between the crack of the bed and the wall, is incredibly fitting for doing something kind of risky,” she laughs.

So she wasn’t inspired by the previous line, Your ass, it draws me in like a Bermuda highway?

“Your ass — yeah, it’s a clothing store, so it works either way!”


Bermuda Highway takes its name from an MMJ song.

James wasn’t the only two-decade music veteran who helped inspire them. Houndmouth met Jack White and his Third Man Records crew in July at the Newport Folk Festival. “I fell in love with them as people,” Toupin says, “and I really loved the idea of just carrying their products, mainly. Also, not to compete with other local record stores. I’m doing a niche sort of thing, so everybody’s winning here.”

While the Nashville-based Third Man’s roving record truck has popped up in front of NuLu neighbor Please & Thank You, what the two shops do will be very different, as Bermuda Highway will only carry all of Third Man’s records, as well as their offbeat knickknacks.

Keeping with White’s penchant for surprises and his celebration of objects, the owners will present an artist-curated section in the store. In December, Dr. Dog guitarist/vocalist Scott McMicken is “actually making these special records, and hand-making clothing and all kinds of things, art, for his section,” says Toupin.

But each month will be something different. “It’s this open format for them to have a presence — a direct, exclusive relationship with the fans out of the store.” Some bands will also play in-store sets.

Houndmouth’s week went on to include a day spent doing tasks like fixing their van’s windows, followed by their debut at Nashville’s legendary Ryman Auditorium — “a huge thrill,” says Toupin. On Halloween, they joined the Drive-By Truckers for a show in that band’s hometown, Athens, Ga. After tonight’s Charlotte performance, they’re done for 2014.

Bermuda Highway began taking shape this summer after Toupin decided to stay in Louisville instead of moving to Nashville. It seemed like a way for her to give back to the community that has given her so much, she says.

Toupin and Mills met at General Eccentric, where Mills worked with Toupin to pick out clothes for Houndmouth tours. While Mills will run Bermuda Highway during Toupin’s tour time, Houndmouth’s three-month break means fans should be able to see plenty of the musician at the store for now. And possibly her bandmates.

“The boys in the band just talk about how they want to steal clothes from me!”

C. 2014 Insider Louisville

Louisville’s loudest art gallery comes alive in Portland

The Tunesmiths

Portland Rock City ain’t no thugs and cheats / Tunesmiths breakin’ the wall west of Ninth Street.

“Portland Rock City, that’s what we’ve been calling it. Although I’m sure it’ll get a NuLu-esque name soon.” That’s how Bryce Gill, a driving force behind the music program at the Tim Faulkner Gallery, summarizes their approach to creating Louisville’s loudest art gallery.

“There is live music nearly every night of the week at the gallery,” Gill says. “Some are sporadically booked shows, and others are weekly open mics and rehearsals. Tim has been building his connections around town and with national touring artists since before their recent move.”

Faulkner opened his eponymous gallery in NuLu in 2009, as that neighborhood was still taking baby steps toward becoming the shopping and dining destination it is today. The art-first punk attitude of the artist and his gallery director, Margaret Archambault, inspired them to move to a larger space in Butchertown, a little bit off the map of the NuLu trolley hop free-wine crowd. Though that sprawling space became a hub for artists, musicians and other free spirits, not all of their neighbors were as excited by the noise generated there.

Faulkner and his crew jumped at the chance to occupy a 25,000-square-foot space (plus extended courtyard) offered at 1512 Portland Ave. as part of a larger plan to fill the neighborhood with some of the art and dining found in NuLu. The gallery also rents studio space to numerous artists and recently welcomed a small shop, McQuixote Books & Coffee, inside their single-story property.


The studio space at the Tim Faulkner Gallery

Gill and his band, the post blues-rock band The Tunesmiths, had been holding open practices every Wednesday night in Butchertown, and that continues in Portland. The band also books shows for other acts. “I’ll remember these years for the rest of my life,” he says. “To say the gallery helps my band is a massive understatement. The number of people that visit the gallery and hear about us grows every week.”

Additionally, the band now gets to rehearse on a big stage with a pro sound system. The concert hall is 10,000 square feet, with a capacity of 1,574 (such capacity is similar to the Brown Theatre). “I have not heard of any other bands in town with such an ideal rehearsal space for a rock band,” Gill says. “We started as a garage band, and now people have described our sound as more of an arena sound.”

Popular cellist/singer-songwriter Ben Sollee spent a few days there rehearsing before his recent WFPK Waterfront Wednesday set, even sleeping over. The Tunesmiths have started a monthly series for friendly traveling bands coming through on a Wednesday night. The next one is Nov. 12, headlined by Greg Martin of the Kentucky Headhunters, with a vinyl records and music gear expo added for extra oomph.

A Halloween show, “Bella Muerte – A Halloween Masquerade Ball,” has been booked with D’Arkestra, Billy Goat Strut Revue and Small Time Napoleon. The latter will be playing songs by Tom Waits that night.

Gill says he’s seeing locals, business owners, nonprofit workers and churchgoers dropping by on a regular basis, alongside the developers trying to figure out how to make their profits.

“I have seen the plans for all of the new developments, and I tell everyone they have no idea what’s coming in Portland!” he says. “The gallery is one of the first establishments in Portland that you can see a massive amount of progress and consistent activity. We were invited to play at the Portland Festival and several other upcoming events in the area. My band also helps local musicians find secure and affordable rehearsal spaces in the warehouse district.

“We help Tim anytime there is an opportunity,” Gill adds. The gallery is his home away from home. “Tim, Margaret and the whole TFG family are now a part of my life and my band’s entire operations. I couldn’t be happier with their progress and impact on the local music and art community. I feel very proud and excited to be a part of it. To see it firsthand and get to experience even half of the activities there is priceless.”

c. 2014 Insider Louisville

Leo Kottke – fingers on the pulse of the American guitar

“His contributions to guitar technique are staggering and are still not fully understood. His brilliant synthesis of vernacular tradition and classical intent has fostered a new tradition in guitar music.” That’s John Stropes, director of the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, describing why his institution was honoring Leo Kottke with an honorary doctorate in 2008.

“For a long time, the guitar has been my primary interest,” Kotte told Innerviews in 1999. “I see everything through the guitar. My day is almost always built around it. The guitar is almost always beside me, wherever I am.”

Though his career has been further bolstered by Grammy nominations and a place in the Guitar Player magazine Hall of Fame, Kottke has also survived severe physical problems and the losses of his closest peers.

Born in 1945, Kotte moved often throughout his childhood. A benefit of this path was his exposure to different music, including blues, folk and country styles. A firecracker took some of the hearing in his left ear, and his right ear also became permanently damaged during firing practice while in the Naval Reserve.

Upon discharge, Kottke hitchhiked for a while, because it was the 1960s. He landed in the Minneapolis area, where he released his first album of acoustic, finger-style, steel string American Primitivism guitar work, 12 String Blues (Live at the Scholar), in 1969, at the age of 24. Only 1,000 copies were made, and Kottke would re-record some of its songs for his third album, 1970’s Circle Round the Sun.

But his second album, 6- and 12-String Guitar, unveiled in December of 1969, would be the one to cement his reputation. The album was released by Takoma Records, the label founded by John Fahey, himself a legendary finger-style guitarist. Though it was Kottke’s breakthrough, going on to sell a half-million copies, it also established him as the master of a style that would later hurt him.

The album is also known for its armadillo-centric cover art, and Kottke’s note saying that he preferred arrangements without vocals because his singing voice “sounds like geese farts on a muggy day.” On a positive note, the album became a major influence on guitarist Michael Hedges, who would become a friend and tour mate to Kottke.

A Rolling Stone critic at the time wrote, “(His) music can invoke your most subliminal reflections or transmit you to the highest reaches of joy.” Kottke went on the road, winning over large crowds with his beautiful playing and surprisingly funny between-song monologues. His fourth album, 1971’s Mudlark, was his first for a major label. Capitol. It was also his first to add other musicians, including members of both L..A.’s freak scene and Nashville’s country music scene.

As he ventured into the early ‘70s, Kottke began adding vocals, feeling pressure from his label to become more of a James Taylor-style singer-songwriter. He would record seven albums for Capitol, leaving in 1975 for Chrysalis. He continued on a steady path there until 1983, when his career took an unplanned, surprising new direction.

Out of the spotlight for three years, Kottke dealt with tendonitis that he had suffered through years of vigorous guitar playing. Signed to the independent Private Music label,where his quasi-New Age style made more sense than on a major label (especially in the gross, grubby ‘80s), Kottke returned with 1986’s A Shout Toward Noon, displaying a more classical influence on his playing.

Fun fact: around this time, Kottke also scored the Troma movie Fat Guy Goes Nutzoid.

By the late ‘80s, he had returned to fighting form (like contemporaries Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Paul Simon – the ‘80s were not good for anyone). His next album won Kottke his first Grammy nomination.

In the ‘90s, he collaborated on and off his own albums with like-minded artists such as as Rickie Lee Jones, Lyle Lovett, Chet Atkins, Nanci Griffith and Van Dyke Parks. Michael Hedges and John Fahey both passed away around the turn of the century, and Kottke began a partnership with a younger musician and fan, bassist Mike Gordon of Phish. The title of Kottke’s 2004 album, his last solo to date, summed up his approach cleverly and succinctly: Try and Stop Me.

Leo Kottke
Wednesday, October 29
Clifton Center
2117 Payne St.
cliftoncenter.org
$29-$34; 7:30 p.m.

c. 2014 Clifton Center

The Carolina Chocolate Drops and their umbrella revolution

There was a moment after the biracial Barack Obama was elected to the presidency that the punditocracy declared the United States a “post-racial” society. Unfortunately, issues of racial disparity and strife continue to plague us (or do you still think of the Scottish TV host when you hear the word “Ferguson”?). In the world of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, though, the best of both worlds do coexist. The quartet plays a blend of old-time musical styles, with elements of jug bands and string bands, country and western, Celtic, blues, hot jazz and traditional African approaches all informing a self-described “folk” band whose membership recently included a beatboxer.

It’s also a new world for the Drops now, once again. After winning a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album for their first widely-distributed album, Genuine Negro Jig (on the acclaimed Nonesuch label), in 2010, founding members Rhiannon Giddens (vocals, banjo, fiddle, kazoo) and Dom Flemons (vocals, banjo, guitar, jug, harmonica, kazoo, snare drum, bones, quills) replaced fiddler Justin Robinson with the aforementioned beatboxer, Adam Matta, and Hubby Jenkins (vocals, guitar, mandolin, banjo, bones). A year later, they added cellist Layla McCalla. By the end of 2013, Flemons had left for a solo career, and Matta and McCalla were gone, too. Giddens and Jenkins now play with cellist Malcolm Parson and new multi-instrumentalist Rowan Corbett (guitar, bones, snare drum, cajon, djembe).

That type of evolution shouldn’t be very surprising for a group determined to live in the present, looking back only to hold on to the best elements available to make the best music possible. It’s an approach that has won them endless love from theaters worldwide like our Clifton Center, roots music festivals, public radio programs and venerable publications like the New York Times (their writer Brian Seibert called Giddens “ridiculously charismatic” in a recent review of a concert he described as “rollicking, revelatory”).

That review pointed out the band’s intent as a dance band, one trying to educate their audience to a new way of hearing and seeing the world without making it feel educational. The band’s reclamation of the banjo, in particular, has helped fuel new interest in mostly forgotten music like jug band music, and the band – who plays for two nights at the Clifton Center – has proven especially popular in Louisville, where that genre was created. Dom Flemons spoke to journalist Michael L. Jones for the new book Louisville Jug Music, noting that “A lot of the history around the Louisville jug bands has not been written down in a way that is easy for people to digest,” a situation alleviated by Jones’ contribution to that story.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops came together in Durham, North Carolina, almost a decade ago. They found their sound in the traditional music of the Piedmont region of the Carolinas, studying with elder master fiddler Joe Thompson. Their most recent studio album, Leaving Eden, was released by Nonesuch in 2012. It had a touch more of a country/folk edge to it, aided by producer Buddy Miller (known for his work with Emmylou Harris, Solomon Burke and on the Nashville TV series). It was a transitional period for Giddens and her men, and the latest line-up revision promises another new dimension when the band returns to the studio.

Upon the release of Leaving Eden, Giddens said it like this: “We want to remain true to the roots of how we started. We’re always going to have a string band on our records. But we don’t want to just do Piedmont style fiddle-banjo-guitar tunes; there’s more to our musical life than that. We grow in a healthy, slow way that reflects our true development as musicians and as a band.”

Flemons recently further clarified their mission in an interview with Durham’s Indy Week newspaper. “When we first started the Carolina Chocolate Drops, it was always a three-person collective. For it to be a collective, each individual has their own intentions, their own ways of doing their material and the way they decide to play it. The idea of it being a band lessens the purpose of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. It’s an umbrella. It should be a place where we help out musicians.”

Carolina Chocolate Drops with Birds of Chicago
Wednesday, Oct. 22 & Thursday, Oct. 23
Clifton Center
2117 Payne St.
cliftoncenter.org
$29; 7:30 p.m.

c. 2014 Clifton Center

Rahim AlHaj: One Iraqi Whose Sounds and Stories Can Change Lives

There’s really no good reason why Rahim AlHaj’s life shouldn’t become a Steven Spielberg movie. The musician, who visits Louisville this month, has carried his oud all over the world, from Baghdad to the western edge of the United States, with stops in between as a political prisoner, Grammy winner and educator.

Now a resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico, AlHaj’s journey continues with a visit to the Clifton Center for “Into the Garden: A Festival of Iraqi Culture,” taking place from October 6 – 10. Kentucky Refugee Ministries and the Louisville Free Public Library’s Iroquois branch join the Clifton Center in presenting several opportunities throughout the week for learning, playing and otherwise sharing through the joy of music, art, food and everything else Iraqis and Americans have in common.

“He is an inspiration,” American guitar innovator Bill Frisell said of AlHaj. The two collaborated on the 2010 album Little Earth, which also featured AlHaj performing alongside R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, American violinist Eyvind Kang, avant-garde accordionist Guy Klucevsek and Malian griot Yacouba Sissoko. But it took AlHaj, currently 46 years old, a very long time to get to that highlight.

33 years earlier and 7,000 miles away, young Rahim discovered the short-neck, lute-like oud and quickly realized his skill with it. By 14, he was headlining concerts. He practiced under the master Munir Bashir, taking his studies all the way to college at the Baghdad Conservatory of Fine Arts. However, the politically progressive and outspoken AlHaj made enemies by refusing to join Saddam Hussein’s ruling party, and further provoked the dictator by performing songs like “Why?” A total of two years of imprisonment, including consistent assaults by his jailors, followed over the next few years. After his release, AlHaj returned to his university.

He studied Arabic literature, mainly because his father – who had never been truly supportive of his music – had put pressure on him. As the Gulf War began, AlHaj decided the time had come to flee all of his oppressors and try to find freedom and peace, for himself and his music. His one true supporter, his beloved mother, sold everything to help him escape. He wouldn’t see her again until 2004.

He moved through Jordan and Syria first, and told NPR, “When I crossed the border between Iraq and Jordan, they took my instrument from me. And this is the saddest moment in my entire life…. I had a choice between leave my instrument or have life. I had to leave. And so I left Iraq and left my instrument.” AlHaj found love in Syria, and they wound up together in New Mexico at the turn of the century through a refugee resettlement program.

Having to learn English while looking for work, AlHaj was directed to a job – at a McDonald’s. That short-lived adventure was followed by an almost equally disastrous stint as a night watchman (where he was fired for playing his music while at work).

He was able to release his first album in 2002, and has since released seven more. Whether solo, in a trio or a symphony, AlHaj demands attention without having to resort to loudness or gimmicks. His playing is focused and prayer-like, though the man is more overtly joyful and exuberant in everyday life. He writes about freedom, home, loss, war and of course, love. He combines poetry and music in all of his compositions, one way or another.

And then there is also his politics. Asked if he continues to be an active voter, as a citizen since 2008, AlHaj replies, “Of course! I’ve spent most of my life fighting hard for justice. I still do that. It is our duty to make life better against the politicians who control everything and destroy our lives! I am a big fan of change, and a big fan of making peace and compassion for all.”

“I call my music ‘The Sound of Resistance,’” he continues. “I always take the story of children, women, the tragedies of the world, and turn it and make it music from it – to give women and children a voice, for the voiceless people … I believe that everybody has the ability to make change, to make a difference.”

Rahim AlHaj
Friday, Oct. 10
Clifton Center
2117 Payne St.
cliftoncenter.org
$10; 8 p.m.

c. 2014 Clifton Center

Teddy talks: New orchestra conductor is on a mission to bring music to the people

photo by Sam English

The front door is open at Teddy Abrams’ new NuLu home as another reporter walks up, ready to take a turn in the month-long charm offensive that is the Louisville Orchestra’s plan to win back the younger audience thought lost to them. At 27, Abrams has proven himself to be an intelligent, hard-working and driven conductor, composer and musician.

His offstage wardrobe includes neat, stylish jeans and sneakers, and he gets around on a bicycle. But this is not Portlandia; Abrams has been studying and working for more than half of his life, and his journey has taken him from San Francisco to Philadelphia, Budapest, Miami, Detroit and Louisville.

In addition to Whitney Hall, the orchestra recently performed a free Sunday concert at Iroquois Amphitheater, and Abrams has appeared everywhere from the Village Anchor and Decca to Churchill Downs and YPAS. At the latter, he spent 90 minutes rehearsing a three-minute section of one piece in minute detail, while also offering life lessons and making jokes to put the students at ease.

If he sounds like a politician running for office, that’s not far off. Abrams stresses the value of connecting person-to-person with audience members. He responds to every letter, email and tweet, and stays after events to shake hands.

The simplest things, like talking on stage before each piece, sharing its story or trying to help the audience connect to it emotionally, goes a long way, he says. “I always say, ‘Museums really hit on something,’ because there was a time when they didn’t have explanations for paintings. Somebody came up with that idea. It changes your entire way of looking at it.”


Abrams with YPAS students
photo by Frankie Steele

Abrams’ job includes trying things that are new or unexpected. Pianos in the front room of his house are connected to speakers, so if he’s practicing, passers-by will be able to hear the music outside on East Main Street. He just needs to remember to turn off the speakers when he’s done — like he has to remember to turn off the microphone pack on his back when he takes a bathroom break while filming for the new web series, Music Makes a City Now, chronicling his adventures at work, at home and around town.

“We have this opportunity at the start of the season — eyes are on the orchestra and on Louisville. We need to capitalize on that,” he says. Last year, Abrams sat in several times during a turnaround year that found the orchestra in the black once again, with some thanks going to film composer John Williams for spending a night at Whitney Hall. Indeed, Williams’ theme from E.T. was on the set list again last Sunday. It was a selection that, predictably, delighted both children and their parents.

The question Abrams gets most frequently is, of course, “How do you get young people to come back to the orchestra?”

“As if there’s a secret. There’s no secret.” This impasse leaves Abrams and the rest of the organization determined to take to the streets, online, to schools like YPAS and U of L, and even to young bands, whether they come from rock, jazz, bluegrass or other genres.

Abrams started improvising on piano at age 3, and his love for music kicked in when he joined the school band on clarinet at 8. His parents took him to the San Francisco Symphony once in the late ’90s, and he knew that night what he wanted to do with his life. Abrams wrote a passionate letter to conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, and by 11 was his student.

Abrams’ education included exposure to the great old Louisville Orchestra albums that helped make its name worldwide (composer John Adams was among many who sent Abrams a note congratulating him, saying, “This is a wonderful orchestra”).

“That’s a big deal. The brand is very important. And that’s something most orchestras of this size don’t have,” Abrams says. “We can’t just repeat what they did 40 years ago. The same ideas, same inspiration (are still needed) — but in a contemporary setting.”

Saturday’s performances include an orKIDStra performance of “Cirque de la Symphonie” at 11 a.m. and an all-ages performance at 8 p.m., both in Whitney Hall. Tickets are available at louisvilleorchestra.org.

c. 2014 Insider Louisville

Las Cafeteras’ smart party fuses tradition and 21st Century street sounds

Every 15 years or so, a rowdy bunch of Chicano musicians rises up on the east side of Los Angeles with a game-changing sound, a must-see live show and a political message embedded inside everything they do. In the early ‘80s, it was Los Lobos. In the late ‘90s, Ozomatli took the crown. Now, it’s Las Cafeteras’ turn.

“Even in L.A., where we’re from, man, our music is so different,” says Hector Flores, who sings, plays the guitar-like jarana and provides zapateado percussion. “So I can only imagine how people are going to take it once we hit these different markets,” he laughs. “Our take on it: we remix roots music, we do hip-hop and cumbia and ska, we do this mélange, man, this great buffet of sounds. It’s stuff you heard before you were born mixed in with melodies that you hear today.”

Their current tour – their longest to date, 31 shows in 13 states in 51 days – is taking the seven-piece band across the middle of the U.S., moving beyond the biggest cities into the heartland, south and northeast, expanding their worldview as they also take time out to teach others. In addition to their Clifton Center concert on Wednesday, September 24th at 7:30 p.m., the septet – which includes several community organizers – will also lead a gathering at Farnsley Middle School at 6 p.m. Tuesday evening, with an in-school performance happening earlier at Field Elementary School.

“Many of us grew up doing community and social justice work,” Flores says. “Youth development, anti-racism work … and so the music became a way for us to really talk about different cultures, different communities and peoples in a really empowering way.”

Formed in 2005, Las Cafeteras’ name was inspired by the Eastside Café, a community space where they first learned about the Zapatista movement in southern Mexico and the Son Jarocho music from Veracruz that fuels their sound today (they use the feminine “Cafeteras” to honor the struggles women have faced). But while such a venerable style – best known in America as the backbeat behind “La Bamba” – is where they begin, they update it to the current day with a fusion of acoustic and electric instruments, rapping and poetry, and percussion instruments like … well, their own feet. In addition to string instruments like a donkey jawbone, Las Cafeteras also utilizes the tap dance-like zapateado tradition to add percussion to their mix of Mexican, Spanish, African, Arabic, indigenous and American music.

Speaking of “La Bamba,” their 21st century update of that internationally beloved tune has helped them build a bridge to people otherwise unfamiliar with their cultural roots. “Everybody in the world knows ‘La Bamba,’ Flores says, noting friends’ encounters with the song as far away as Vietnam. “It’s such a universal song … but people don’t know it’s a 400-year-old Afro-Mexican song.”

He says Las Cafeteras are storytellers, and part of their message is that it’s important for all people to share their unique stories. It’s the best way for a melting pot nation to overcome their fears, work together and, sounding like a more swingin’ version of Howard Zinn, Flores says we need to “create a new history of the United States… one that’s much more inclusive.”

Their first full-length studio album, It’s Time, was released in 2012. “While the studio album is a great representation, this is definitely a band you have to experience live… and if you have a jarana or jawbone lying around, bring it,” wrote Jose Galvan of Los Angeles’ trendsetting public radio station KCRW.

“Our album is a history book,” says Flores. “Hopefully, 50 years from now people will listen to it and be, like, ‘This is what L.A. sounded like 50 years ago.’”

The band is working on their second album and hopes to see its release in 2015. “I think it’s going to take us to the next level,” Flores says. “The new sounds, I think, will be moving more from traditional to more who we are as L.A. immigrant kids. We’re creating this new immigrant sound in the United States – it wouldn’t happen anywhere else but here.”

Las Cafeteras
Wednesday, September 24
Clifton Center
2117 Payne St.
cliftoncenter.org
$10; 7:30 p.m.

c. 2014 Clifton Center