The 5th annual Rock for Kosair at Phoenix Hill Tavern went down last Friday night, November 20. If you missed this once-a-year concert where some of Louisville’s most popular rock and metal acts performed to raise money to buy Christmas gifts for the children of Kosair Hospital, well you missed a memorable night.  100% of the proceeds from the event will benefit the Kosair kids and Kosair Charities.

Nova Red was one of the featured acts in the saloon.

THE RESULTS ARE IN!!!

With nearly 700 people in attendance, the event raised a whopping $4,470 off donations made at the door. An additional $549.90 was raised from the prize giveaways and the official Rock for Kosair T-shirt sales. This brings the total amount raised from the event to $5,019.90. Way to go to all who came out and supported this great cause! Together, we have enabled a few extra smiles to be had for the children and families of Kosair Hospital.

Dave Moody of Magnetic Flux autographs some of the official RFK memorabilia that was given away.

THOSE WHO DESERVE CREDIT

• Eddy Metal -  First and foremost, the man who started Rock For Kosair five years ago. Eddy works tirelessly in promoting this event and making sure that the event consistently delivers some of Louisville’s best rock and metal acts, and asks for nothing in return. Great job Eddy!

• Phoenix Hill Tavern -  Louisville’s most recognizable and popular live music venue really makes a difference every year by donating 100% of the cover-charge. Thanks to Kim Donze and everyone at PHT for their continued support of this worthy cause!

• Clay Cook with Dirty Cheese Productions -  This guy may have logged as many hours as myself and Eddy by giving Rock For Kosair an “image.” That’s right, Clay is the creative extraordinaire responsible for designing all the flyers, posters, T-shirts, and stage banners that were associated with the event. Great job Clay!

• 93.1 The Fox - Thanks to everyone at 93.1 The Fox who donated a bunch of radio ads, and especially Mudd for hanging out for almost the entire night and making sure the bands got a proper stage introduction. Mudd has been a long-time supporter of Louisville’s original music scene and he continues to prove it over and over again.
  Listen to our interview with Mudd on 93.1 The Fox by clicking the link below under the media links section.

• WLKY 32 TV – A special thanks to the morning news producers at WLKY for inviting us to go on air to publicize the event on live TV. Watch the live interview on WLKY by clicking the link below under the media links section.

• Big Al with Harleywood T-shirts - From the T-shirt sales alone, we raised $130. Thanks to Al for not only donating the actual T-shirts, but his time for producing them!

• All the sponsors -  A special thanks to all the additional sponsors who donated either their products or services to the event for the prize giveaways that raised $419.90. This includes: First Quality Music, Uncle Samms Jams, Professional Musicians Center, Game Force & Game Factor, ACME Ink Tattoos, and Dr. Bryan Fox at Mortenson Family Dental.

• All the performing bands - All the bands really rocked it out for the kids! A special thanks to BoneJinn for donating 100% of their own T-shirt and CD sales proceeds to the RFK fund. Another special thanks to the guys in Two Pump Chump for bringing a PA system and managing the sound in the taproom. Way to step-up guys!

• Sean with Hellawicked Productions -  Did I really just witness a show where pre-published set times were actually upheld? Yep! That’s because Sean was cracking the whip and keeping the bands on time according to the published stage schedule.  Good job dude!

Demi Demaree of Plan of Man and the VilleBillies performed in the saloon.

So, as you can see, not only did many people and organizations donate their time, talent, or service to Rock For Kosair, but a few went above the call and were happy to do so.

Chico with Magnetic Flux was impressive on the skins.

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT?

With every yin, there is a yang, and as much as I hate to publish this, there are a couple of guys who pulled a heinous and extremely selfish stunt on this benefit concert. Who and what you ask? Max and Mark Maxwell with Spanky Lee, who are also the owners of Mom’s Music. Just minutes before Spanky Lee was suppose to take the stage, I received a tip from an unidentified person that Spanky Lee would not be playing. Immediately I sent a text message to Max Maxwell to validate what I thought was just a bad rumor. Max’s response to me was “Mark and I booked another gig and we couldn’t cancel that gig. We also couldn’t put Spanky Lee together properly.” “Hmmm. I smell bullshit,” I immediately thought to myself.

As it turns out, the other “gig” was at a nearby casino bar. Really, Max and Mark Maxwell? Playing for a bunch of drunken degenerate gamblers was more important then helping raise money for the children of Kosair Hospital? Of which you agreed to play several months ago. Really? On top of that they apparently weren’t even going to give myself or Eddy any type of notification they were not playing.

If actions speak louder than words, then the Maxwell’s proved two things with this stunt: (1) that they are a bunch of disorganized idiots by double-booking themselves, and (2) they are a bunch of heart-less arrogant pricks because they had no intention of giving Eddy or myself any notification of that they wouldn’t be playing. Never mind the commitment they made to play the show. Never mind the children of Kosair Hospital whom all of this was for. Never mind the Spanky Lee fans that were at PHT looking forward to seeing them play.

It’s now overwhelmingly evident why Mom’s Music is apparently having a hard time keeping their doors open. Please do the Louisville music community a favor and just go out-of-business. To all musicians in Louisville, if you ever needed a good reason NOT to patronize Mom’s Music, let this be it. Enough said.

ROCK FOR KOSAIR MEDIA LINKS

• Click here to view a slideshow of photos from the show.

• Click here to listen to the interview on 93.1 The Fox with Mudd about the show.

• Click here to see the TV interview on 32 WLKY that was recorded with event founder Eddy Metal, and performing artists Sailor from 16 Bones and Bobby O from Magnetic Flux.
• Click here to view a story on MSNBC.com
• Click here to read and interview with Eddy Metal on Examiner.com

• Click here, to download the official Rock For Kosair 5 show flyer here.

scuttlebuttpress@yahoo.com

Classic Rock Magazine has nominated Kentucky’s own Black Stone Cherry for their Album of the Year award, respectively for BSC’s album “Folklore and Superstition” released in August 2008 on Roadrunner Records.

To vote, click here.

Click here to read the scuttlebutt September 2008 feature of Black Stone Cherry in Louisville Music News.

scuttlebuttpress@yahoo.com

Tantric’s Hugo Ferreira chats with scuttlebutt of Louisville Music News on their recent comeback album, The End Begins, and the current political landscape, from a career musician’s perspective.

Jason Ashcraft of Louisville Music News & Hugo Ferreira of Tantric

LMN : You guys have been on the road a while, doing a lot of touring?

Ferreira : Just a little bit…yes.

LMN : Tell me about the road life, man, what kind of good stories you got for all us Louisvillians?

Ferreira : I mean, really, it’s just been consistently like show after show. We’ve been on the road for about nine months straight and I think total, we’ve maybe had fourteen days off. They were never really consecutive. So, it’s definitely getting to the point where it’s, it’s you know…

LMN : You need a break?

Ferreira : It’s definitely starting to take it’s toll, but you know, we were fortunate enough to have a record that’s doing really well, so, whatever you got to do is whatever you got to do.

LMN : Yeah, I know how that goes. Tell me about, speaking about the record doing well, where’s it been in the charts?

Ferreira : Well, Down and Out topped out at #3 in the rock charts; mainstream and active rock and the record got on the list for The Grammys. We’re like on five different categories and possibly being nominated for a Grammy so that’s pretty exciting. Now we have a new single that’s coming out. It’s called “ Fall Down,” it’s actually – it wasn’t actually on the original record, so we just re-recorded it and it’s going to be added on. The single drops November 4 ^th, or people can go on www.myspace.com/tantric and they can listen and download the single.

LMN : Is there a new album in the works or anything along those lines?

Ferreira : I mean, I’m always writing and I probably have about 20 songs already written. So we haven’t sat down yet and really started working on it as a band just because of the fact that you know, we’re still ‘first-single’ into this CD and the single lasted so long. But, you know, I’m sure that there’s definitely not going to be that lull period between this and the next record as there was from 2004-2008.

LMN : How does Louisville still rank in all the places, cause I know you all go all over the country. So, is Louisville still kind of a cool place for you to come back to and play or…

Ferreira : Dude, I mean, I’ll tell you, I have a house in New York and I have a house here in Louisville and I, Louisville to me is still the greatest place on earth and I’m not just saying that to like kiss anybody’s ass out there. Every time we come here, it’s the feeling of home. I miss it a lot. I miss my dogs, I miss my friends and I think this is the best city in the whole world. Everybody, when I say “I’m from Louisville”, they’re like, “Oh, you’re a hick, so…”, I’m like “I’m glad, just keep on thinking that way, cause I don’t want you to come down here and ruin my f***ing city.

LMN : I do a lot of traveling myself and I have to agree with that. I was in New York a couple weeks ago and it’s a huge traffic jam, so…

Ferreira : Oh, gosh.

LMN : So, you come here and you still kind of got that big city vibe….

Ferreira : And I love being right down like three blocks away from Times Square so it’s just like I walk out of my apartment, it’s just like beep and it’s just everything and it’s just like people aren’t…or in Louisville, Louisville still kind of has that small town like friendship-wise, but it’s still big enough where you don’t have to see everybody, you know, there’s different places and it’s just and it’s an awesome place to live; I probably will never move out of here, I just live in New York also ’cause of work.

LMN : That’s cool. Uh, this is going to sound crazy, but I got to know. We’re four days away – yes, four days away…

Ferreira : From a new President?

LMN : Very important Presidential election.

Ferreira : Yeah.

LMN : How old are you?

Ferreira : I am 34. I mean 22 (laughing).

LMN : Still young. I’m 31, but this is going to be one of the most life changing decisions that you’ll make. Who do you endorse?

Ferreira : I totally endorse Obama. Like a hundred, million, kazillion percent. I mean, he’s such the obvious candidate on so many fronts. It’s time to get somebody young enough to be able to relate with what’s really going on in America; just inter-continentally and also somebody who’s hip to what’s happening. I mean I’m just scared of Republicans in general…

LMN : I don’t blame you. What are you scared of specifically by saying that?

Ferreira : They’re just so easy to pull the trigger on everything. I mean, whether it be war or you know, just there it always seems like there’s always a special interest that they protect and I think it’s a Democratic country and it should be about getting middle class people who work everyday with normal jobs, that aren’t rock stars or baseball players, a break so they’re not losing their homes and our economy doesn’t go to s**t, you know? It’s just crazy, I mean, it’s affecting a lot of Americans and I think we not only need to fix that problem in the U.S., but just fix our foreign policy with all these countries that are hating us and we’re hating them and you know, meanwhile, a lot of our friends, you know, peoples’ kids are going and dying for a war and we still don’t really know why the f**k we’re there, you know? … But ultimately, we just need to get rid of oil altogether and just develop, I mean, we can f***ing invent tons and tons of different things. You know, the technology that exists out there is amazing. You’re telling me you can’t find a different way to power an engine?

LMN : Well, it’s always been there, it’s just always been suppressed.

Ferreira : Of course it is…but I’ll tell you this also just out of respect for the other candidate. I do respect John McCain a lot, I mean, he’s obviously been a person that has dedicated his whole life to his country; and we definitely owe him a salute, I just don’t think that that necessarily qualifies you to, to be able to have the level head to run this place right now. See, there’s too much at stake, we need to have someone who’s really got it together – calm. Not bitter, you know? If I was a prisoner of war and somebody f**ked with me, I would just blow ‘em up, you know? So, you know…

LMN : Every musician I’ve talked to, they all seem to be kind of all going with Obama. A lot of them have told me about the whole touring aspect. It’s hard to make a living in this environment right now.

Ferreira : I mean on album sales, when we first came out, to sell a million records wasn’t an easy thing, but it was realistic. Now I think that where people would be selling 250,000 copies in a week, they’re selling 50,000 copies and it’s just all affected by everything. I mean, technology, yeah, the downloading yes, but…

LMN : This is why you’re on the road for nine months?

Ferreira : Yeah and it doesn’t help when you’re paying you know $5 a gallon for diesel in a tour bus that gets like 4 miles to the gallon.

LMN : My position has always been that the music industry really needs a guy like Obama that’s going to transition us to alternative energies.

Ferreira : That’s true.

LMN : And we just need to continue to proliferate it because if it stays on gas and oil the technologies….

Ferreira : We’re still going to have to buy them from all these crazy bastards, I mean we just need to help our planet stay healthy for our kids and our kids’ kids and not just live to screw everyone in the future, as long as I’m cool and I’m happy. But um, obviously there are tons of problems. You can ask anyone in America, and they’ll give you a different one. But our country needs some help and it has to start with good leadership.

LMN : Ok, back to Tantric. Last question I got here is there anything big on the horizon that you want to kind of announce to everybody here?

Ferreira : Well, like I said, our new single Fall Down comes out November 4 ^th . And for people who’ve already bought the record, we’re arranging for them to download that song for free since it’s not on the first printing. They can go to www.myspace.com/tantric

So that people who’ve already bought the record aren’t getting screwed out of a song. We have a new video that we’re making, um, and hopefully just you know, crossing our fingers that we get nominated for one of the five categories in The Grammys .

LMN : That would be cool. I don’t remember if any “rock” band from Louisville, and I probably should, but I remember of any “rock” band from Louisville has been nominated for a Grammy.

Ferreira : I mean, when I just got the news that we were actually being considered, that you know that we made the first cut, and especially for so many categories, I mean, I was just like “Yeah.” But, I do believe in my record and I know there’s a lot of crap out there and you know, why not? Why not us?

LMN : Absolutely. Well, I hope all of us get to see that become a reality. It wouldn’t surprise me or anyone I think, for that matter. So, good luck with that.

Ferreira : Thank you, and thank you Louisville for staying true and proud and supporting us and loving us. I’ll see you guys when I’m back home at the bar or something.

Interviewed by Jason Ashcraft