Down On The Corner

By Paul Moffett

• It has been demonstrated that listening to music that you like releases the pleasure chemical dopamine in the brain, just like eating, having sex or taking certain illicit drugs. In an article in the journal Nature Neuroscience, authors Robert Zatorre and Valorie Salimpoor describe a study in which individuals brains were scanned while listening to instrumental music of various styles. The scans showed that the participants brains released more dopamine in a region of the brain called the striatum when listening to favorite pieces of music than with listen to other, non-favorite pieces. The participants chose a wide range of music, from classical and jazz to punk, tangos and even bagpipe music.

So, when you’re feeling blue and down, go listen to some music you like and you’ll feel better. Wonderful, eh?

• ThinkIndie, the digital download service used by ear X-tacy, will cease operations on February 15. According to general manager Rebecca Cornwell, this will not negatively impact ear X-tacy, as the operation was not a source of profits for the store. The store will focus more on presenting concerts and other experiences unavailable to customers elsewhere.

• Some festivals are just too good to die, or at least, that’s the story concerning the latest incarnation of Initial Records’s Krazy Fest, which was held for several years back in the Nineties in Louisville before Initial Records bit the dust. The newest version, Krazy Fest 2011, is being put together by Andy Tinsley, with help from Skull Alley owner Jamie Prott. It’s set for May 20-22, 2011 at Expo 5, though no bands have been announced. For up-to-date info, check their Facebook page or their website, www.krazy-fest.com

• The Louisville punk/hardcore site www.louisvillehardcore.com/, which documents the punk and hardcore scene in Louisville, has updated and upgraded their history section with improvements in the database backend as well as the wiki app handling it all. If you have any interest in that period of Louisville music, it’s the place to go – there’s some interesting reading there.

• Louisville homegirl Joan Osborne and guitarist/keyboardist/producer Jack Petruzzelli have collaborated on a new production, “Love and Hate,” which will premiere at Lincoln Center’s Allen Room on February 4 as part of the American Songbook” series. The theatrical song cycle was co-written and co-produced by the pair and features a multi-media experience that combines music, dance and film. Osborne will perform with her band plus a string sextet and dancers. Go to http://loveandhatemusic.com/ for audio samples and details. Event information is at http://new.lincolncenter.org/live/index.php/as-2011-joan-osborne
For more info: http://broadwayworld.com/

Some Odds and Ends:

Sarah McLachlin and Friends will be at the Palace on March 13. Tickets are $39.50, $49.50 and $65. The “Friends” are Butterfly Boucher and Melissa McClelland.

Over the Rhine will play a free show at ear X-tacy Records on February 18 at 6 p.m.

Jeff Beck will be at the Palace on April 26. Tickets are $49.50, $39.50, $29.50.

A very few copies of the Babylon Dance Band’s single”Someday” are available from Drag City here for $5.

CODAS

Gilsdorf, Dorothy S., 95, died in Louisville on December 28, 2010. She was a vocalist her performed in the first Kentucky Opera production; sang as a soloist at Temple B-Roth Shaloom, Highland Presbyerian Church and 4th Ave. Methodist Church.

Marlin, Morris Wayne “Sleepy,” 95, of Jeffersonville, IN, died January 20, 2011 He was born August 7, 1915 in Carmi, IL, took up the fiddle at age 12 and won his first fiddlers’ contest at age 18. He was an international champion fiddler, winning 17 championships in the US and Canada during his 52-year career. He performed on WHAS radio and the TV show “Hayloft Hoedown” from 1950-1962, as well as on many national network television shows, including “The Arthur Godfrey Show,” “Renfro Valley Barndance,” “Your Town with Faye Emerson,” “The Dave Garroway Show,” “WLS National Barndance” and Garry Moore’s “To Tell the Truth” show. He continued performing with his six sons and daughter until he retired in 1988.

Meek, Robert Arthur "Bob", 61, died in Louisville on January 12, 2011. He was a cofounder of the Ohio Valley Shape Note Singers.