This Sunday's ear X-tacy benefit concert dubbed "ear X-travaganza" is now officially a sold out show. Slated for December 26th at Headliners Music Hall, the lineup features several Louisville and Kentucky-based musicians, and not surprisingly headlined by Jim James and Patrick Hallahan from My Morning Jacket, avid ear X-tacy supporters. Also joining onstage is Ben Sollee, Scott Carney from Wax Fang, Cabin, and L.A. based The Watson Twins, officially. Unofficially, hopefully the music won't stop there, as there is the potential for a few unannounced performances and/or random onstage concoctions by other guest artists who are also supportive of ear X-tacy. There is a lot of potential for this type of show.
It'd be nice to see a few bands from Kentucky's harder rock and/or alternative scenes be given the opportunity to perform to diversify the lineup. Of course you can't put virtually every artist who feels an obligation to play on stage in one night, but the potential is there to allow the opportunity in the form of ad-hoc acoustic performances in between main sets.
It's really sad to see one of our landmark music establishments, who was recently ranked #4 in Rolling Stone Magazine's Best Record Stores in the USA, struggle like this, and for owner John Timmons having to resort to essentially begging for business. This goes without saying, but ear X-tacy has been a pillar to this city's original music scene for many years, fostering and nurturing countless original bands across all genres of Louisville's music scene. John Timmons and staff have created an opportunity for every musician in the city to be heard. And while you can't deny the power that iTunes and other digital media outlets provide, you can't exactly sit and here and say that Louisville's music scene can continue to thrive and grow without ear X-tacy either, because it can't. This also goes without saying, but Louisville musicians will never get the individual support from the larger corporate record stores that ear X-tacy provides. If Louisville loses ear X-tacy, then we lose an iconic symbol of our city's originality. Period.
ear X-travaganza
Jim James & Patrick Hallahan / Ben Sollee / Cabin / Scott Carney / The Watson Twins / others TBA
Sunday, December 26
Headliners Music Hall
1386 Lexington Rd.
7 pm$20 (SOLD OUT)
Check back here at Louisville.com after the show for some post-show video footage along with a recap of the night.
** Jason Ashcraft is a freelance music writer who focuses on Kentucky's original music scene. Visit his blog at LouisvilleScuttlebutt.com
