by Scott Ritcher, from CMJ New Music Monthly

Located on a plain adjacent to the Falls of the Ohio River, Louisville was named in 1780 in honor of King Louis XVI of France (hence the “Louie” pronunciation). Greater Louisville stands with a population of 952,700 and spreads across 375 square miles of four counties in Kentucky and southern Indiana.

Louisville’s music scene has always been a unique and inspiring element of the community’s culture. The Louisville Orchestra has a national reputation, but the fruitful and influential independent punk and rock scenes have – until recent years – seemingly remained as closely guarded secrets. The overshadowing of Louisville’s music is perhaps an unfortunate side-effect of the city’s notoriety from sporting icons such as the Kentucky Derby, the Louisville Slugger baseball bat, University of Louisville basketball, and our hometown hero, the Greatest of All Time, Muhammad Ali.

Over the past few years, the national successes of several local groups have begun putting America’s largest small town into the spotlight. Specifically, bands such as the Palace Brothers, Slint, the Rachel’s, Love Jones, Freakwater, Squirrel Bait, Joan Osborne, Rodan, and members of Gastr del Sol, Tortoise, and June of 44.

Louisville is home to several record labels including X-static (1534 Bardstown Rd., zip 40205/452-1799), 3 Little Girls (PO Box 6833, zip 40206/485-9717), and the hardcore champ, Initial Records (PO Box 17131, zip 40217/589-4391).

Louisville enjoys an uncommonly low cost of living coupled with unusually low crime and unemployment rates. Our central location puts us within six-hours’ drive from 80% of the total US population. Because of that, UPS operates a major hub here, which employs over 13,000 Louisvillians. Ford and General Electric are major employers. Louisville is home to the American Printing House for the Blind and the world headquarters of KFC, Humana, Brown & Williamson, and the Presbyterian USA church.

Our location in the Ohio Valley gives us the joy of unpredictable changes in the weather. Generally, though, the climate is not too hot nor too cold. There are trees everywhere and the streets get cleaned about once a month. Louisville has more public park acreage per capita than any other US city. This is an active, satisfied community that has no desire whatsoever to be “the next Seattle.”

The main strip where most things musical happen is along Bardstown Road in an area of town called the Highlands. An assortment of record stores, restaurants, clothiers, and guitar shops make this area perfect for an entire day of walking around, sightseeing.

Record stores are one of the things Louisville goes totally overboard on. Absolutely something for everyone. The daddy of locally-owned successes is the legendary ear X-tacy. Their two stores (1534 Bardstown Rd./452-1799, 12619 Shelbyville Rd./245-4980) total about 15,000 square feet of the most diverse and dense selection in town. They carry a hefty assortment in every imaginable genre, from classical to indie rock to cartoon music to desperate rock’n’roll. Since they’re open ’til midnight on weekends, it’s a great meeting place. Their bulletin boards and employees double as the city’s unofficial information source for show times and places.

Just up the street is Better Days (1591 Bardstown Rd./456-2394) whose selection is split into several rooms, each catering to specific musical tastes. The main room features mainstream and alternative new and used stuff, plus mucho used vinyl. Other rooms concentrate on everything from hardcore to hip hop.

Ground Zero (1223 Bardstown Rd./485-9717) is run by Edward Lutz who also heads the 3 Little Girls label. It’s a small but effective store that doesn’t bother with mainstream or alternative, but concentrates almost entirely on independent music. This store is the source for stuff from labels like Gravity or bands like Füxa. Bigger indies like Touch and Go, Dischord, and Victory are well represented. They also have used Levi’s and corduroys.

Blue Moon (1382 Bardstown Rd./485-9300) owner Mike Bucayu got his start in the record business years ago running the Self Destruct label (1601 Bainbridge Row Dr., zip 40207), who recently released a discography CD of Louisville ’80s punk legends Solution Unknown. At Blue Moon, you’ll find Mike steers away from punk and fills his store with a large, respectable mixture of bluegrass and classic country. The store’s name is from the song “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” by Bill Monroe, a Kentucky native and the father of bluegrass.

The ’70s-oriented Electric Ladyland (2325 Bardstown Rd./456-2394) has been a Louisville mainstay since some of their vintage vinyl was new. Their sign has a dayglow picture of Jimi Hendrix on it. They have racks upon racks of certifiably classic used LPs and CDs.

The Great Escape (2433 Bardstown Rd./456-2216) is also a local landmark. They offer several large rooms of collectible records, comic books, and trading cards. They have big ol’ posters and a spectrum of inexpensive used CDs, LPs, and cassettes. Naturally, since the people who operate all of the above stores are locals, they’re all incredibly nice and helpful.

Need new duds to impress River City folks? Think again; we can spot out-of-towners like Alaskans can spot people in shorts. There are countless places to shop for clothes, but I only have space to mention a few. Sasquatch (1019 Barret Ave./561-8485) is a genuine paradise. Used apparel with a ’60s and ’70s flavor, as well as awesome old furniture, collectibles, and a few records. Unique Thrift Store (617 Carter, off I-64 at 22nd St./772-9304) is not only the size of a warehouse, but is also an adventure in American culture. Good stuff. Clodhoppers (1561 Bardstown Rd./458-4044) sells fashionable new accoutrements for girls and young women. Innumerable fetching dresses, jumpers, skirts, and shoes. If I was a girl and had a job, I’d shop at Clodhoppers a lot. Avalon (1500 Bardstown Rd./459-8444) is the place for the hip and with-it crowd. Dr. Martens and all the stuff people in big cities wear. Home Skateshop (627 Baxter Ave./583-6040) is Louisville’s foremost purveyor of skateboards, and the center of the city’s skate culture, dude.

Enough! What about the food? The Derby City offers a veritable palette of tasty vittles for vegan, vegetarian, and carnivorous appetites. All of the following restaurants offer vegetarian items, and many have vegan options as well. The hometown favorite is Tumbleweed (main location: 1900 Mellwood Ave./895-8805) A visit to one of their dozen or so Tex-Mex restuarants is a requirement for your stay in the Gateway to the South. Also in that department is El Mundo (2345 Frankfort Ave./899-9930). They’ll fix the grub right in front of you and you can say “more cheese” if you want. Exceptionally nice folks. Lynn’s Paradise Cafe (984 Barret Ave./589-EGGS) is a lusciously decorated restaurant with a score of highly recommended dishes, including one called the Hummer! If you can even get a table, Ramsi’s Cafe on the World (1293 Bardstown Rd./451-0700) will deliver a meal worthy of planning another trip to Louisville. The Cubean Burrito, Roasted Vegetable Sandwich, and Bean Kingdom (a 21-bean soup) have your author drooling all over his Macintosh right now. Open ’til 2 AM on weekends. Sugar Doe Cafe (1605 Story Ave./584-8440) has the breakfast thing down to a science. Twig & Leaf (2122 Bardstown Rd./451-8944) is an authentic diner that’s packed with kids on weekends when they’re open 24 hours. Open Books Cafe inside all three locations of Hawley-Cooke Booksellers (Shelbyville Rd. Plaza/893-0133, Gardiner Lane Center/456-6660, Glenview Point/425-9100) have light, tasty meals you can munch on while exploring the city’s finest bookstores.

Perhaps the biggest misconception about Louisville is that because there are so many bands, it means we have dozens of thriving clubs with four-star shows every night. This is simply not the case. More often than not, the best shows end up in unusual places like community centers, rented halls, schools, restaurants, and movie theatres. However, there are a few good clubs that showcase live music. The all ages scene has traditionally attracted ridiculously monstrous numbers of kids. There is, ironically, no strictly all ages venue. A downtown bar/dance club, Sparks (104 W. Main/587-8566), has lately been hosting matinees for popular groups like Guilt, Elliott, Enkindel, and Eleven-11. A beautiful red carpet theatre, the Clifton Center (2117 Payne St./896-8480), has been the site of a few shows including Rachel’s, the Web, and the Metroschifter.

In the 21 & over department, there’s the Butchertown Pub (1335 Story Ave./583-2242), a clean, comfortable venue with a good sound system. Butchertown is an agreeable place to see a band, where you’ll be able to catch everyone from Crain to Cooler. Then there’s the multi-level, 2,000-capacity Thunderdome (426 Baxter Ave./583-3420) which sometimes has concerts for big-name alternative acts, and occasionally hosts local bands like By the Grace of God and Starbilly.

As a tourist, you might want to check out the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory (800 W. Main/585-5226), home of the world’s largest baseball bat (it’s 7 stories tall and leans on the outside of the building!), Kentucky Derby Museum (704 Central Ave. at Churchill Downs/637-7097), and the multi-million dollar Muhammad Ali Center (583-6770) is now being developed to open in 1998.

Of course, I could go on for hours about Louisville, but this forum unfortunately doesn’t allow it. Louisville is a beautiful city whose residents deliver on their reputation as friendly, hospitable people. Stop in sometime whenever you’re passing through.

The area code is 502.