Friday, May 17 Green Building 732 E. Market St. kftc.org Free; 4 p.m. The fifth annual Louisville Loves Mountains Festival, hosted by the now 30-year-old Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, takes place at the Green Building this year (due to rain). It provides Louisvillians with many of their favorite things all in one place: beer, food, [...]
Thursday, May 16 Zanzabar 2100 S. Preston St. zanzabarlouisville.ticketfly.com $10-$12; 9 p.m. With Transitions, the newest from Los Angeles’ El Ten Eleven, the band manages to create music both indebted to the complexity often found in instrumental indie music and unafraid to explore the lighter, breezier side of music. A duo comprised of Kristian Dunn [...]
Wednesday, May 15 Uncle Slayton’s 1017 E. Broadway uncleslaytons.com $8-$10; 8:30 p.m. Matthew Perryman Jones looked to the poets for his fourth album, last year’s luminous Land of the Living, summoning Federico García Lorca and Rumi as his muses. Artist Vincent van Gogh is there, too, his words to his brother found in the musing [...]
•Buy Local Fair Saturday, May 11 Louisville Water Tower 3005 River Road keeplouisvilleweird.com Free ($5 parking); 2-8 p.m. Louisville is lucky to have an impressive local arts scene and a thriving farm-fresh foods movement, two assets that will be celebrated Saturday at the fifth annual Buy Local Fair. Spearheaded by the Louisville Independent Business Association [...]
Friday, May 10 Uncle Slayton’s 1017 E. Broadway uncleslaytons.com $8; 9 p.m. Eric Brace and Peter Cooper have long earned their bread and butter as music journalists. But long before they turned to print, they were musicians, absorbing the sounds of classic country and folk. After teaming up to produce the Grammy-nominated tribute I Love: [...]
Tuesday, May 7 Diamond Pub 630 Barret Ave. diamondpubandbilliards.com $12; 8 p.m. Supergroups rarely stick around, much less tour or continue a heavily consistent output. Well, New Orleans’ own Goatwhore have never played by the rules, and more than over a decade into their career, they are still going strong. They return once again to [...]
Tuesday, May 7 Zanzabar 2100 S. Preston St. zanzabarlouisville.ticketfly.com $5-$7; 9 p.m. A combination of dissonant pop, shoegaze and a hint of Goth, Twin Tigers has been on the radar of fans and fellow musicians alike since their 2007 origins in Athens, Ga. Descendents of Joy Division and peers of acts like Tapes ‘n Tapes [...]
Friday, May 3 Headliners Music Hall 1386 Lexington Road headlinerslouisville.com $18-$21; 9 p.m. Hard-drinking and hard-living heartbreakers, Lucero have honed their sound as alt-country sweethearts with a punk-rock kick over the last eight albums and 15 years. Dedicated road warriors originally hailing from Memphis, the band tours the United States (and beyond) at least 300 [...]
Thursday, May 2 Jim Porter’s Good Time Emporium 2345 Lexington Road jimporters.com $10; 8 p.m. Before delving into music in 2008, Nora Jane Struthers taught English, and her love of storytelling has carried over into her new career. Her newest album, Carnival, is her sophomore effort, and this time she’s backed by the band the [...]
Tuesday, April 30 Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft 715 W. Main St. kentuckyarts.org $10-$30; 8 p.m. Derby season won’t even know what to do with this night of cabaret, costumes, ceramics and gender dynamics. This “Pre-Derby Formal” — cited as a darker alternative to the more typical society balls — encourages dressing up in [...]
Wednesday, April 24 Waterfront Park — Big Four Lawn wfpk.org Free, 6 p.m. After forming in early 2006, Ra Ra Riot experienced a quick climb to fame, attributed to their energetic performances and catchy demo. Offering a taste of baroque pop and, more recently, synth pop, the band has branched out beyond their native New [...]
Wednesday, April 24 Zanzabar 2100 S. Preston St. zanzabarlouisville.ticketfly.com $6-$8; 9 p.m. Zomes make music that can be both atmospheric and rhythmic, immersing the listener in an ambience wrought by repetition. Consider the source — Asa Osborne, formerly of the equally transcendent Lungfish. Initially a solo project, Osborne sometimes invites performers to help expand his [...]
•Zombie Run Sunday, April 21 Iroquois Park 1080 Amphitheater Road thezombierun.com $30+; 12:30 p.m. Spring is finally in the air! Ready to spend an afternoon with the undead? On Sunday, Iroquois Park will be the site of a unique recreation mash-up: runners on a 5k race will be interrupted by zombies … and you have [...]
Friday, April 19 Rudyard Kipling 422 Oak St. louisvillesyndicate.org $5; 7 p.m. Hunter S. Thompson’s 1970 article “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved” is credited for spawning many a Derby bash. The Louisville Artists Syndicate is hosting what they’re calling the “2nd annual officially unofficial Kentucky Derby Festival kickoff event.” Their goal is “to [...]
Friday, April 19 Brown Theatre 315 W. Broadway kentuckycenter.com $25-$27; 8 p.m. Josh Ritter’s songs are narrative poetry, complete with the gentle pluck of a guitar and an understated folk quality. Over the course of his 15-year career, Ritter has sung ballads and medleys, tributes to love and to life, each production intimate in its [...]
Friday, April 19 Headliners Music Hall 1386 Lexington Road headlinerslouisville.com $7-$10; 9 p.m. Headliners is hosting an evening of fine bluegrass music as Asheville, N.C., act Town Mountain and Louisvillians The 23 String Band perform. Touring in support of their fourth album, the 2012 release Leave the Bottle, Town Mountain embrace and build upon time-honored [...]
Friday, April 19 Nachbar 969 Charles St. facebook.com/nach.bar.1 Free, 10 p.m. The “D” is Detroit, hometown for this swinging little big band. RJ Spängler, drummer and co-founder, said, “The Planet D Nonet was built around my friends James O’Donnell (trumpet/vocals) and John ‘T-Bone’ Paxton (’bone/vocals) and our shared love of swing music, Sun Ra and [...]
