This weekend: "New Albany to welcome Hoagy Carmichael for one final tour."

A press release from the Carnegie Center. Note also that hops and art both are available in abundance at NABC this weekend; more information can be found here: Publicanista! Lupulin Land Harvest Hopcoming and New Albanian Art Show edition.

A life-size bronze statue of Hoagy Carmichael at his Steinway Grand Piano will be visiting downtown New Albany, Indiana October 19-20, 2007 at the Speakeasy Jazz Club, 225 State Street, and Indiana University Southeast October 22-25. This visit is part of a statewide tour to re-engage Hoosiers’ knowledge of this creative composer and his enormous contributions to the landscape of American music. At the conclusion of the tour this fall, the statue will be dedicated and permanently installed at Indiana University in Bloomington, where Hoagy was born and received a law degree.

Accompanying the sculpture will be a display chronicling Carmichael’s life, kiosks, archives, and various items promoting his life and career. The sculptor/designer, Michael McAuley will also be on site to answer questions and present a lecture concerning the sculpture and Carmichael’s life.

He was one of America’s great songsmiths and the very first of the American singer-songwriters. Although playing piano from an early age, his passion for music truly ignited at the beginning of the America Jazz movement. He composed numerous songs, including Stardust and Georgia on My Mind – two of the most recorded songs in the history of music. In 1951 he won an Oscar for his song In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening. Later, Hoagy was given his own television show and gained 14 film credits with actors such as Kirk Douglas and Humphrey Bogart, among others. He was one of the first 10 songwriters inducted into the nation’s Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Sponsored by Caesars Foundation of Floyd County, local organizers of this Hoagy Tribute Tour include the Carnegie Center for Art & History, the Floyd County Historical Society, Develop New Albany, and the IU Alumni Association.

For more information, contact the Carnegie Center at 812-944-7336 or visit http://www.carnegiecenter.org/.