Down On The Corner

By Paul Moffett

As we head for Derby, it seems that the flood of music coming through town has returned touring musicians to the city during the week prior, which has not always been the case of late. The Derby Eve music over the last few years has been noticeably reduced or completely absent, but this year, there are a number of bigger acts in town that night, including Third Eye Blind at 4^th Street, Jackyl at the Phoenix and Lucero plus Langhorne Slim & The Law at Headliners. It's not the level of Derby Eve jams of the Nineties but it's improving. We hope that visitors to Our Fair City get out into the neighborhoods where Louisville music happens all the time and sample some of what the city has on tap – including the locally brewed beer. If those folks only stayed downtown (and the track, of course), they would leave thinking that Louisville looks just like every other corporate downtown in the country and that would be a shame.

For those visitors, let me suggest these destinations: Frankfort Avenue our to St. Matthews, where the clubs are bunched together; the Baxter Avenue Irish section, where the clubs and restaurants are piled up like cordwood; of course, downtown away from 4^th Street Live! is also rewarding, particularly along Main Street. Other music-presenting clubs are scattered throughout the town; the calendar section of this paper will provide you with a choice of places you can direct a taxi to and safely, I might add.

Enjoy your stay and come back soon.

• As we are going to press, TV reports that Kenneth Ryan Anthony, whose stage name is R. Prophet, was arrested by Kentucky State troopers outside of Elizabethtown on Monday night for resisting arrest at a traffic safety checkpoint. The arrest required multiple instances of Taser use on Anthony by troopers, as he was violent, even attempting to kick out the windows of the police cruiser.

His experience should provide him with a clue to the degree of his fame: the troopers reported that he kept saying "I'm R. Prophet." They said they had no idea who "R. Prophet" was.

The Louisville native first achieved fame as a member of Nappy Roots and has left the group five years ago to begin a solo career.

• Louisville's The Whiskey Bent Valley Boys have been hired by Gatlinburg, Tennessee to perform on the streets during the summer, as part of a program called "Tunes and Tales." They will also have a short run at Dollywood . It seems that they have figured out how to do alright in the music business.

• The Americanarama Tour, which features Bob D ylan, My Morning Jacket, Wilco and Richard Thompson – RT Electric plus Ryan Bingham (for some dates) has already been declared "the show to see" for this summer. More acts will be announced later. Unfortunately for Louisville, the closest the tour will get will be the Klipsch Center at Noblesville on July 5 and Cincinatti's Riverbend Music Center on July 6. Tickets are going fast and some of the stops in the largest cities are already sold out.

• Wax Fang released a new song, "The Blonde Leading The Blonde," on April 30 on their Don't Panic Records imprint. The single follows Wax Fang's scoring of the 150th episode of Fox TV series "American Dad," which will air on May 5. The episode features several songs from Wax Fang's back catalog, a sneak peak of their forthcoming album, The Astronaut, as well as original music produced specifically for the show.

• Kentucky music's finest were honored at the 2013 Kentucky Music Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony held at Lexington Center's Bluegrass Ballroom on Friday evening, April 12, to a sold-out crowd. The event, sponsored by Rockcastle Regional Hospital & Respiratory Care Center and UK HealthCare, recognized the accomplishments of Exile, The Kentucky Headhunters, The Hilltoppers, Skeeter Davis, Old Joe Clark, Emory & Linda Martin, Halfway to Hazard, Josh Bleidt and Steven Curtis Chapman. To view additional photos from the event, or for more information on the 2013 Kentucky Music Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, please visit: www.kentuckymusicmuseum.com.

• YPAS grad Nicole Sherzinger was honored with the music gong at The Asia Awards 2013, at the London ceremony hosted by Olympics boss Lord Sebastian Coe, Sherzinger is pondering whether to return to her pop career or go on with her role on "The X-Factor" in Britain.