Down On The Corner

By Paul Moffett

• All you fans of Days of the New, get your money out - it's finally time to buy the very long-awaited new CD from Days of the New. This one will be DOTN Green, as opposed to the first one, which was DOTN Orange. The official release date is August 31 and there'll be an in-store on September 4 at ear X-tacy Records. The new record is even more acoustic and art/ poetry. Anyway, it starts off with the sound of horses galloping up. The first single off the album, "Enemy," has climbed Billboard's Modern Rock Chart, arriving at #5 at the time of this writing. A hometown in-store performance is scheduled for 6 p.m., September 4 at ear X-tacy Records.

Videos for the project are also being shot in Louisville. The video producer has credits ranging from Soundgarden to Nine Inch Nails. Louisville videographer Teresa Carpenter also picked up some work (and credit) on the project.

• While Distillery Sound Studios are essentially Travis Meeks' playrooms, occasionally other acts get in to record. While Smashmouth was in town recently, they scheduled themselves in for a session, with DOTN engineer Todd Smith pushing the sliders. Word gets around after albums sell a lot.

• Distillery Sound is not the only studio drawing bigger acts to record. Melody Hill Studios recently hosted a session by the Dixie Chicks, with noted producers Peter Asher (Bonnie Raitt, Cher, Billy Joel) and Nathan Kunkel (Lyle Lovett) overseeing the session. The group cut a version of the Supreme's 1966 hit "You Can't Hurry Love" for the Runaway Bride soundtrack. Ask Melody Hill owner/engineer Vince Emmett to relate his story about Asher's "special request."

• Songwriter Earl Meyers dropped a line to promote Rachel Coogle's new CD, Blowing Kisses in the Wind, released on Music Man Records. Earl, a former board member of the defunct Louisville Area Songwriters' Cooperative, has a tune on the CD. Other former LASC writers with songs on the project are Charlie Walls, Mike Boehnlein and Bill Ferguson. According to Music Man Records' Charlie Walls, the CD is getting airplay in 38 states and on four stations in Europe.

• Elton John's drummer, Nigel Olson, will be presenting a clinic at Mom's Musician's General Store, 1710 E. 10th in Jeffersonville on September 22, at 7 p.m. For information and tickets, call either Mom's store: 812-283-4403 or 502-897-3304.

• Cheap Bio Pics Dept. So you say you and your band mates just can't scrape together the money for a professional photographer to take your bio pic? Is that why the photo you're using is a blurry snapshot your cousin took and half the members of the band have changed? Then here's a real opportunity for you to make your band look more professional: Louisville Music News and Mom's Musician's General Store in Jeffersonville have teamed up to offer performer bio pics shot by LMN's cover photographer Ralph Sidway for $40 (cheap). That, plus an opportunity to have a bio piece written by LMN staffer Victoria Moon for $20.

The details: the photo shoots will happen on September 11, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. at Mom's in Jeffersonville, where a full stage will be available. Each band gets 30 minutes (so don't dawdle) to set up and have the photos taken. What you have to do: 1.) call Mom's at 283-3304 and register for a session; 2.) make dang sure you and your band members show up on time and 3.) bring $60. How's that for a deal? As the late-night TV ad guys say, CALL NOW!

• Hit songwriter Alan Rhody will present a songwriting workshop at Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church on September 18, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The workshop costs $40, which includes admission to Rhody's show that same night at the Twice Told Coffeehouse. Rhody's hits include "I'll Be True To You" (Oak Ridge Boys), "Trainwreck of Emotion," (Lorrie Morgan) and "Wild-Eyed Dream" (Ricky Van Shelton). Contact Alan at 615-298-4286 for information and registration.

• The Louisville Ballet will be auditioning young dancers for the Civic Company, the LB's dance group for younger dancers, on September 16, 5:30 - 7 p.m. Civic Company members are often cast in large productions and occasionally serve as understudies for professional dance members. For more information, please call 583-3150.

• Auditions for over 100 children's roles in the annual Louisville Ballet production of The Nutcracker will be on Sunday, September 26 at the Louisville Ballet Center, 315 E. Main. For information, call 583-3150.

• While we're discussing the Louisville Ballet, take note that the Bingham Amphitheatre Lawn Party, an annual cocktail event for LB benefactors, will take place on September 12, beginning at 5 p.m. at the Bingham family estate in Glenview. To get your invitation, just donate $150 or more to the Louisville Ballet Guild. Where do you send the check? Call Staci Roark at 502-583-3150 ext. 53 for all the help you need.

• Ray Yates of Flying Hands Production Music Library dropped a line to report that he has the Library up and running following a move into a new space at Falk Audio, 6303 Fern Valley Pass. Yates and former partner Brian Curella amicably went their separate ways in January, with Curella retaining the Flying Hands School of Music at 1500 Bardstown Road.

Yates reports that the first half of 1999 shattered all previous records, with sales of the company's production CDs topping 1200 copies per month for the first time. The Library's newest CD, Heartland, shipped on August 6. For more information about the company, log onto their website at www.flyinghands.com.

• Ray Yates also sent along a letter he received from radio station WROS in Jacksonville,. Fla., requesting product from Christian recording artists. For information, contact Michelle Miller, Music Director at 904-353-1050.

• The Kentucky Arts Council is sponsoring "Setting the Stage," a series of workshops for performing artists and not-for-profit presenters focusing on the nuts and bolts of the business side of performance, at the Kentucky Center for the Arts on Thursday, September 9, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The $10 cost includes lunch.

Jeri Goldstein, author of How to Be Your Own Booking Agent, a definitive and useful guide for musicians, will present two workshops on the art of negotiation and performance contracts.

For more information, call the Council at toll-free at 888-833-2787 or at 502-564-3757.

• Frederic Chopin fans, take note: Indiana University is sponsoring an interdisciplinary celebration of the composer's life and music on the 150^th anniversary of his death from September 17 to October 31 at the IU School of Music. For information, log on to http://www.indiana.edu/~reeiweb/chopin.html. For a schedule of events at the School of Music, log on to http://www.indiana.edu

Codas

• Peter Scott Gearhart, 68, died on August 26 in Louisville. He was a musician and owner of Meadow Creek Music.