"The Louisville Orchestra opens its 80th Season with a FREE Concert at Iroquois Amphitheater."

It's a verbatim press release from the Louisville Orchestra, reminding me to get my performance calendar back into shape.

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The Louisville Orchestra opens its 80th Season with a FREE Concert at Iroquois Amphitheater

On Saturday, September 9, the Louisville Orchestra will perform a FREE concert led by Principal Pops Conductor, Bob Bernhardt. The concert will begin at 7PM at the Iroquois Amphitheater and will feature pieces and excerpts from the upcoming Classics, Coffee, and Pops concerts.

The program is as diverse as the LO’s 80th season and ranges from Beethoven to the Beatles. The Iroquois Amphitheater is a beautiful venue for this light and casual event.

• Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 7, Mvt. IV (Finale)
• Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 7, Mvt. II (Funeral March)
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5, Mvt. III (Waltz)
• Gioachino Rossini “Largo al factotum” from The Barber of Seville, Chad Sloan, baritone
• John Williams “Harry’s Wondrous World” from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
• Samuel Barber Adagio for Strings
• Leonard Bernstein Overture to West Side Story
• (arr. Maurice Peress)
• John Lennon/Paul McCartney Yesterday
• Teddy Abrams Unified Field, Mvt. IV
• Gustav Holst “Jupiter” from The Planets

This concert is free and fun for the whole family thanks to the generosity of Caldwell Tanks. Parking is $5.

Single tickets for the Louisville Orchestra’s 80th Season are now on sale! Call 502.584.7777 or click here for a schedule of concerts.

Multiple subscription options are also still available for discount ticket packages for the upcoming season. Call the LO Patron Services at 502.587.8681 or visit LouisvilleOrchestra.org. LO staff will be at the event to fulfill all subscription needs and answer any questions about upcoming concerts.

September Snapshot

9.9.17 | Season Preview | Iroquois Amphitheater | 7pm | More Info9.16.17 | Sgt. Pepper’s at the LO Pops | Kentucky Center | 8pm | Tickets | Info9.23.17 | Yuja Wang Plays Rachmaninoff | Kentucky Center | 8pm | Tickets | Info9.27.17 | Mostly Mozart | Kentucky Country Day School | 7:30pm | Tickets | Info9.28. 17 | Mostly Mozart | Ursuline Arts Center | 7:30pm | Tickets | Info9.30.17 | Mostly Mozart | Paul W. Ogle Center at IUS | 7:30pm | Tickets | Info

The Louisville Orchestra is sponsored by the Fund for the Arts, The Kentucky Arts Council, and the Association of the Louisville Orchestra.

Brown-Forman sponsors the 2017/18 Classics Series.

LG+E Sponsors the 2017/18 Pops Series and the Music Without Borders Series.

Hilliard Lyons sponsors the 2017/18 Coffee Series.

The Potable Curmudgeon: One lump or two?

At LouisvilleBeer.com, I find it easier than Fonzie to a-a-a-apologize. It's the curious case of Houndmouth at Houndmouth, and you can read the whole story at the beer site.

The Potable Curmudgeon: One lump or two?

As the venerated journalist David Brinkley once put it, “Everyone is entitled to my opinion.”

Well, that suits me.

I’m highly opinionated, and much of the verbiage comes barreling out of my subconscious via the written word. For me, writing is a compulsion of sorts, and it comes with a sincere hope that my words will be read.

What I write, I always sign. Anonymity is tantamount to cowardice. I win some and I lose some, and there also is an inescapable element of living and dying by the rhetorical sword, but at least it’s always me.

Give and take in the debate is common, but every now and then, there’ll be a complaint to the effect that someone, somewhere, has taken offense at my words.

I’m delighted with feedback, since it means someone actually was reading, and so I’m quite willing to discuss particulars, as long as we’re reasonably clear about parameters: All I ask is that the wrong words not be placed in my mouth, because I’m wholly capable of uttering foolishness without anyone else’s help.

Houndmouth slays Iroquois.

Last night at Iroquois Amphitheater afforded my first opportunity to experience the band Houndmouth in person.

Hyperbole aside: Wow.

To my ears, numerous musical strands come together in Houndmouth's music. It's baseball, hot dogs and apple pie American -- folk, country, roots and rock -- and you can spin a playlist wheel to guess exactly which element most influences a particular song, because the weaving is seamless, but I believe it's way more than that, because the most impressive thing about Houndmouth to me is an intangible.

In our everyday working lives, we discover very early that placing otherwise disparate individuals into a team setting only rarely produces transcendence. Probably we most often strive for a modicum of professionalism that permits chores to be accomplished and paychecks issued, but two or four or fifteen persons simply don't become one in spite of our efforts to make it seem so. We muddle in the foothills, and only dream of ascending the peak.

Chemistry? Once you have found it, never let it go.

Accordingly, speaking as a lifelong music fan who knows far less about music than he pretends to, seeing Houndmouth perform was a joy precisely because four band members functioned as one on stage. They picked up (and later switched) instruments, locked into a groove, and stayed right there, communicating effortlessly between themselves and with the crowd, musically wise beyond their ridiculously youthful years, but with all the pure joy of something brand new. Each member sings beautifully, and the harmonies alone were worth the price of admission.

My hunch is that in future years, I'll grin when viewing the ticket stub with the bargain basement price of $12 printed on it.

Meanwhile, I'm frightened to look at the Friday sales number at NABC's two establishments, because everyone I know seemed to be at Iroquois for last night's show. In addition, permit me to apologize for running out of beer after blowing through four kegs of Houndmouth (the ale) a full 45 minutes before the band even took the stage. We sent eight kegs to Louisville, but only four turned up on site at Iroquois.

If I would have been allowed to drive to the wholesaler's warehouse and get more beer, I'd have done so. In Indiana we could have done it, though not in Kentucky. Luckily, Houndmouth's music was so good that the perennial iniquities and frustrations of the three-tier beer distribution system rendered me only slightly homicidal afterward -- and that's quite a feat of seduction.

Houndmouth and Houndmouth, tonight at BSB.

The true identity of Working Title, the ale we previewed recently on the hand pull at Bank Street Brewhouse, now can be revealed: It is called Houndmouth, a hopped-up American Wheat Ale brewed in collaboration with the New Albany band of the same name. Houndmouth isn't just any other band, and the beer we've brewed together isn't just another wheat -- as those of you who've heard the music, and tasted the cask-conditioned version, will quickly attest.

Houndmouth

ABV: 4.5%
IBU: 28

Malts: 50% white wheat, 50% Irish stout malt and a touch of Weyermann Carabelge.

Hops: CTZ and Cascade (dry-hopped)

Yeast: House Ale

Houndmouth just returned stateside from the band's first-ever European dates, and if you're unfamiliar with the music, listen at YouTube and then buy the EP on Rough Trade Records. Tonight (March 2) at 9:00 p.m., the members of Houndmouth will be coming to Bank Street Brewhouse to hang out and taste the/our/their beer, and you are invited to do the same. It isn't a performance, just a sipping or three.

As noted earlier this week, Houndmouth will open the Iroquois Amphitheater's 2013 season with a headlining show on Friday, April 26, backed by Joe Pug and Ranger. It is my understanding that Houndmouth (ale) will be available for purchase on draft at the Houndmouth (band) show at Iroquois on April 26. Sounds like a fine Derby Festival interlude to me.

(Photo via Production Simple)

Houndmouth at Iroquois Amphitheater on Friday, April 26.

Roger says: You're damned straight I'm trying to get New Albany-brewed beer into Iroquois to accompany New Albany-made music. There may be something to add to this in the coming days, so as usual ... stay tuned.

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(text and photo via Production Simple)

Iroquois Amphitheater and 91.9 WFPK Present:

HOUNDMOUTH

Friday, April 26th at 8pm
Gates 6:30pm
Iroquois Amphitheater / All Ages
General Admission
Tickets $12 Advance / $15 Day of show

Houndmouth (Matt Myers, Katie Toupin, Shane Cody and Zak Appleby) formed in late 2011 in New Albany IN and released their self titled debut EP this past August on Rough Trade Records. Their brand of electrified folk-rock has earned them opening slots for the Drive By Truckers, Lucero, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals and Alabama Shakes to name a few, even scoring a slot at The Newport Folk Festival. 2013 has found them on the road in Europe and when they return stateside in March they embark on their first headliners tour across the states and their first hometown play kicks off Iroquois Amphitheater's 75th Anniversary Opening Weekend!

On sale 2/22 at 10am
Tickets may be purchased at
The Iroquois Amphitheater Box Office
(Monday- Friday 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM)
Ticketfly.com, or by calling 877-4-FLY-TIX

A compendium of NABC news.

From my "other" blog.

Ryan Rogers and Roger Baylor on the radio. Read below to find out when.

Haggis Laddie is back -- even if its primary reason for being (Celts on the River) is not.

"LIBA kicks off 'Independents Week' a little early with the Louisville Brewfest," coming June 22.

NABC Black & Blue Grass at Iroquois Amphitheater for Counting Crows concert, June 25.

Turbo Hog Malt Liquor: It's a long story, indeed.