Down On The Corner

By Paul Moffett

• Luthier Jim Steilberg has opened a new store in Buechel, at 4029 Bardstown Road. Friends will be glad to see that he has gotten more accessible. He'll be doing his repair and guitar building, plus teaching and selling guitars. Drop in and see him.

• Vince Emmett has been doing a bit of work at Alpha Studios in Elizabethtown. Emmett is in town during a break from touring with Shaking Family.

Emmett also noted that he and Shaking Family have signed a publishing agreement with Sam Rammage of EMI Publishing in Nashville.

• David La Duke's track "Hey There, Who Am I?" has been picked to appear on the Album Network's Unsigned Bands CD #13, due out in July and to be distributed at the New Music Seminar. This same track also got picked to appear on Paradise Promotions Best Unsigned Acts Promotional CD due out in September 1990. Both CDs will get distributed to radio stations, A&R personnel, publishers and other music industry figures:

• Blazing blues guitar wizard Duke Robillard has decided to join the Fabulous Thunderbirds, according to an item in Louisville's Courier-Journal.

• There's a new musical event going on in ML Washington. The Mt. Washington Jamboree started Friday, June 8. For more information, call Bill Duke at (502) 231-2847.

• Nancy Harris called up to say that Music by Sam Harris, the booking agency she runs with her husband Sam Harris, has been renamed Harris Entertainment. By the by, Sam himself, with help from some other union musicians, is handling the booking for the Union's August showcase at the Derby Dinner Playhouse, not Harris Entertainment, as I erroneously reported in last month's column.

• The Cherokee Blues Club was hopping on a recent Wednesday. A five band bash to benefit the Home of the Innocents brought in blues players from all over the city, plus Anson Funderburgh, of Anson and the Rockets. Funderburgh, who was in town for a concert at the Phoenix Hill Tavern on the previous Monday, was taking a busman's holiday. CBC owner Jeff Crowder related that Funderburgh and Rockets' band member Sam Myers had stopped by for the jam on Tuesday.

• Clifton's Pizza Company on Frankfort Avenue is rapidly getting a reputation for being the hangout of choice for acoustic players. Mark Rosenthal is filling in for Susanne Wood on Wednesdays. Susie is off to Europe for a month, after leaving her day job at Humana.

• Yet another open stage has begun. This one is on Wednesdays at Tewligan's, with Robert Gruber hosting. The show starts at 1• p.m..

In the Studios. . .

• Jeff Crowder also mentioned that he was involved in producing an EP with Curtis Marlatt, of Curtis and the Kicks. The recording, featuring three of Marlatt's tunes, plus a couple of covers, is tentatively scheduled for release by the end of July. Recording is going on at Artists' Recording Service. Bob Hunter and Wink are engineering.

• Mark Smalley, owner of Uncle Pleasant's, is also taking the big independent record plunge. He has been aiding Steve Ferguson with Fergie's latest project, being done at Mom's Recording Studio, with Howie Gano engineering. A live tape of Ferguson is also due out soon.

• Marvin Maxwell of Mom's Musician's General Store and Recording Studio has also moved into the record business with Mom's Records. The first release is the new Spanky Lee CD and tape. Maxwell reports that he is getting airplay on WLRS and a station in Cincinnati and is working on QMF and DJX. A review of the recording is elsewhere in the paper. Friends of Maxwell will be tickled to know that the name chosen for the publishing company is "Dat Ta Da Publishing." That's certainly a better name than some of Marvin's other favorite expressions.

• Down in E-town, Alpha Recording has a new studio manager, Mark Goodman. With twenty-one years of engineering experience, mainly from jingle work in Memphis, plus a stint as a studio owner in Calgary, Canada, Goodman is pleased with the quality of Alpha's sound that has been achieved. Upon his arrival in March, he did a complete rewire job to eliminate hiss and noise, added third-octave EQ, additional monitoring capabilities and tuned the room.

The studio's client base is primarily Christian music, but Goodman encourages anyone looking for a clean, quality sound at a very reasonable price to give him a call. Alpha is located at 129 Howell Drive, Elizabethtown, KY 42701, phone (502) 765-7899.

• Over at Falk Recording, Tim Haertel notes that the crew has been doing a lot of on-location work, including a session with the Loving Stones, a contemporary Christian group; Charla Drybrugh, Rev. Dan Thrower, Tim Jones, Rick Conway and Keith Garrett cut demos. Several rock bands, including Wall to Wall and Undermine also cut demos.

• Karen Le Van was at Falk's with Prince Phillip Mitchell, who produced a song she co-wrote with Danny Arena at the Great Smokies Song Chase last year. Phillip liked the tune so much that he's thinking about putting it on his next album.

• Sam Meyers Formal Wear cut a jingle at Falk's with J. C. Reedy from the Youth Performing Arts School. That's certainly a good way to encourage young performers.