Down On The Corner

By Paul Moffett

• Bang a Drum Dept. Paul Turner is organizing a second drummers get-together, this one scheduled for Tuesday, July 12. at the Musician's Union. 1436 Bardstown Rd. For more informtion, contact Turner at Mom's Musician's General Store. Bring $2 to offset the cost of munchies.

• Scott Mullins, owner of Rollin' & Tumblin' Records. wrote to say that his Santa Is A Bluesman release picked up an ADDY Certifcate 0f Excellence for packaging. The ADDY is an award presented by the American Advertising Federation. He also has announced the release of the debut CD from the Rusty Spoon Blues Band, entitled Midnight Screams.

• Tab Records will be releasing some product on some local rap groups in July. according to a scribbled note faxed to LMN. Tab Records is located at 1137 Bardstown Road.

• Benson Records, home label of Larnelle Harris, has signed a distribution deal with Liberty Records. It should help both companies.

• We Used Our Trees for Books Dept. Umar Williams, poet extraordinaire, will have a book release party at the Rudyard Kipling on Tuesday, July 5. I recommend regular reading of "We Used Our Trees tor Toilet Paper." I already bought my copy, thank you.

• Yo, Beloved. Coyote Calhoun was ordained as a minister so he could marry Lynda Burton and David Burton, of Coyote's and the Free Spirit Band. Respectively. Congrats to the lovely couple by the way. The LMN staff was invited but had to decline. We had to stay in the office and get the July issue together.

• John Burgard called to say that Murphy's Law drummer Paul Woods had joined the band on Merv Griffith's riverboat in Metropolis, Illinois. Woods will be replaced by Mike Durlauf.

• The Louisville Youth Orchestra has announced the availability of audition slots for students through the age of 21. Call Executive Director Melody Welsh at 502-532-0135.

• Music Warehouse was rated by The Music Trades magazine as one of the 200 best retailers in the country. Pretty good, Ray Shipp. and congrats.

• Disc Jockey Records has opened a l2,000 square-foot store in the Shelbyville Road Plaza. next to Hawley-Cooke Booksellers. The store has some new electronic gadgets that will make fnding and buying recordings much more interesting.

• An IUS doctoral student, J. Devin McAuly, has devised a set of "adaptive oscillators" which allow drum machines to follow tempo and time changes made by human players. l don't know whether to cheer or not.

• Hillbilly Nation Celebration. Appalshop's WMMT-FM will beneft from the proceeds from the 4th Annual Hillbilly Nation Celebration, scheduled for July 16, at the Wise County Fairgrounds, Wise, Virginia. Playing will be Southern Culture on the Skids, the Metro Blues All-Stars, Kiya Heartwood and Stealin' Horses, Bad Branch and the Possum Hollers. Pass the … oops, let's just pass the stereotypes and check out the music.

• 40 Years is a Mighty Long Time Division. Owner Robert French sent word that the Louisville Academy of Music on Frankfort Ave. celebrated its 40th anniversary back in February. Way to keep going and going and going ...

• 80 Years is Not So Short, Neither Dept. That's how old the Belle of Louisville is. If you missed the celebration. it lasted eight days one week in June. (l always waited to use that expression!)

• And Not So Old, Either Dept. Another local treasure also celebrated number 80 this year: Pee Wee King, he of "Tennessee Waltz" fame, among others. Best to you. Mr. King.

• Local Albums and Local Radio Dept. Just like it used to be, a local radio station — in this case, WTFX The Fox — is putting to putting together an album of local rock bands. Sound familiar? Can you say 'Seattle Sound'? Do you remember Athens, Georgia? The next thing you know, somebody will be declaring Louisville the next, er, uh, well, anyway. it's in the press release. The last band preliminary will be on July 4 at Coyote's, starting at 8 p.m. Check the calendar for the line-up. Mom's Musician's Recording Studio will do the recording. ear X-tacy will be the exclusive record distributor and profits will benefit MERF.

• How Come I'm the Last to Know? Dept.

Kentucky Governor Brereton Jones recently named The Sammons Family of Prestonsburg the Goodwill Ambassadors of Gospel Music for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, according to an article in The Singing News, a gospel music publication. The Sammons Family has been in the business for over two decades and record on the Dawn label.

• ASCAP Awards Dept. The Louisville Orchestra picked up a top prize for contemporary-music programming from ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers The LO was named Best of Ensembles with annual Budgets between $3 and $10 million.

• Pat Kirtley of Bardstown, Ky., was picked as the nation's best guitar thumbpicker at an event in Mountain View, Arkansas May 11. Congrats, Pat

Club Notes, Belated and Otherwise.

• Cliffhanger's went belly-up a couple of weeks back. Promoter Elaine Ford was not too happy about that, as she had several shows in the club that she had to scramble to move. including the Killdozer show. In case anybody wants to know, the club's corporate name was Moregambals, Inc.

Key Changes

• Kenneth Taylor, proprietor of the Sheperdsville Country Music Show, passed away June 14. after a lengthy illness Louisville Music News sends condolences to his family.

• Garland Flaherty, longtime Louisville tavern owner, passed away on June 23. The staff of Louisville Music News and the Louisville Ares Songwriters' Cooperative sends condolences to his family. We had some good times at Flaherty's III.