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Music Industry Veteran Danny Wimmer knows a little about producing music festivals, and he should… he has been at it since 1993 with big name events like Rock on the Range, the Aftershock Festival, Carolina Rebellion, Rock Allegiance, and others.
Evidence of his expertise can be seen with the huge crowds that he’s drawn to Louisville over the past half-decade with music festivals that may sound a little more familiar. Last year alone, Danny Wimmer Presents Bourbon & Beyond and Louder Than Life Festivals drew a combined 110,000 fans to Champions Park for four amazing days of music, food, and great times.
Later this month, both festivals return with back-to-back weekends jam packed with dozens of favorites and new acts ready to expose attendees to the upcoming crop of artists in their respective genres. Continue reading
Hundreds of bikes will roll into Louisville for the 6th Annual Kentucky Kick Down vintage motorcycle festival, held September 14-16, 2018. For the first time, the event will be held at Turners Louisville, a 13-acre historic riverfront complex located at 3125 River Road.
In addition to the bike show, the event will feature more local bands than ever before. The lineup includes the Falls City Drifters, Hot Wires, Vice Tricks, Riflemen, Relic, Voodoo Economics, The Feedback, and Johnny Berry and the Outliers.
Moto enthusiasts will enjoy the variety of vintage bikes on display, burn out pits, stunt shows, and mud drags. Other festival highlights will include the Miss Kentucky Kick Down Contest, a VIP area and the annual charity ride benefiting Home of the Innocents. Beginning at 10:00am on Saturday, September 15th, the route will wind through picturesque two-lane roads to the tiny riverside town of Westport in Oldham County before returning back to the city by 1:00pm.
Attendees can enjoy swimming, bowling, and other retailers and vendors. Local food trucks including La Chandeleur, Red Top Gourmet Hot Dogs, Germany’s #1 Food, Bourbon Bent Barbeque, and Three Girls and A Guy Fish Fry will also be available on site.
Admission is $5 per day, and parking is $10 per day. Kids 12 and under are free. Discounted weekend pricing is also available. On-site camping fees range from $65 for the baseball field to $100 for riverside. Continue reading
It’s time to celebrate emojis – those cute, sometimes annoying little images included in text messages, tweets, Facebook posts, Instagram pics, and everywhere else in today’s connect world.
World Emoji Day is celebrated on July 17, a date chosen because it is the date shown on the “calendar” emoji on most systems, including Apple iPhones and iPads, Android phones, Google services, Mozilla-based browsers, and EmojiOne. It is worth mentioning, however, that some holdouts like Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp aren’t on board with the July 17 emoji, opting to show a different date or a generic calendar page.
Growing out of old-school internet “emoticons” crafted from punctuation such as the :-) smile and ;-) wink, what we now know as emoji originated on mobile phones in Japan around 1999, before becoming increasingly popular worldwide nearly a decade later after being added to several major mobile operating systems. Emoji are now considered to be a large part of popular culture – in fact, in 2015, Oxford Dictionaries named the Face with Tears of Joy emoji the “‘Word’ of the Year.”
The minuscule pictograms are so popular that they even gave rise to the 2017 film, “The Emoji Movie,” featuring the voices of T. J. Miller, Anna Faris, Rob Riggle, Jennifer Coolidge, Christina Aguilera, Sofía Vergara, Patrick Stewart, and other big name stars.
The World Emoji Day website gives some background on the celebration and gives a few ideas of how you can mark the occasion, including tips on throwing an emoji-themed party.
So go ahead: text, tweet, and post your favorite emoji to everyone you know today using the hashtag #WorldEmojiDay. And don’t forget to vote for your favorite in the World Emoji Awards.
The WAVE 3 News Abbey Road on the River will return to the Big Four Station Park in Jeffersonville, Indiana on Memorial Day weekend, May 24-28, 2018. For the 17th year, the music festival will bring together 60 bands and 20,000 fans from around the world to enjoy five days of peace, love and rock-n-roll – all inspired by The Beatles.
Grammy-winning rock group America will perform their hits “A Horse with No Name,” “Ventura Highway,” and “Sister Golden Hair” and more on Saturday, May 26th. Like The Beatles, America found great success in working with producer George Martin and recording engineer Geoff Emerick, who were both extremely influential on the band’s sound during the 1970’s. The fathers of psychedelic rock Vanilla Fudge, “Ticket to Ride” and “You Keep Me Hanging On,” will also headline the event, with shows on both Friday, May 25th and Saturday, May 26th.
The Beatles’ audio engineer and four time Grammy-winner Geoff Emerick will give a presentation at 10:00am S aturday, May 26th, addressing the creative process of the band in the studio and how he achieved the sounds on their most famous and beloved songs. At the age of 19, Geoff Emerick became the Beatles’ chief audio engineer and is the man responsible for their distinctive sound on the Revolver, Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road albums, considered by many to be some of the greatest rock recordings of all time.
The 2018 festival will also present special concerts to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The White Album, which was mostly written in India while the band was studying meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The festival favorite LOVE Album show will return on Sunday, May 27th with a live concert performed note-for-note just as the compilation was arranged by the late Sir George Martin.
The WAVE 3 News Abbey Road on the River will feature more than 60 bands performing on eight indoor and outdoor stages. Festival attendees can also enjoy a playground area for children, a Beatles merchandise marketplace, interactive art installations, on-site food and bar services, and art and craft vendors. General admission tickets are just $20 if purchased in advance with the discount code “Wave 3 News.” More information can be found online at www.arotr.com.
The WAVE 3 News Abbey Road on the River is produced with support from Wave 3 News, Budweiser, Bud Light, Four Roses, Southern Indiana Tourism (SoIN), Crosley, Gretsch Guitars, Fidelity Investments, The City of Jeffersonville, Jeffersonville Parks and Recreation, Buckhead Mountain Grill, Louisville Magazine, Louisville.com, Clark Memorial Hospital, Koetter Construction, Octopus’s Garden, V.G. Reed Printing, 91.9 WFPK Relics, and WAKY 103.5.
Fans lined the street as the Kentucky Derby Festival’s oldest and inaugural event – the Republic Bank Pegasus Parade – marched down Broadway tonight. Themed “#ThrowbackThursday,” this year’s parade featured over 100 units, including 10 floats, 13 equestrian units, 5 inflatables, 8 marching bands, 2 push floats and 42 specialty units.
Check out the Louisville Dispatch photo gallery of the parade on Facebook.
“It was a great day for the Republic Bank Pegasus Parade!” said Mike Berry, KDF President and CEO. “Fans packed the sidewalks and streets to watch on Broadway. After 63 years, it’s amazing to see how it still brings the community together in celebration every spring.”
Former coaching rivals and basketball fan favorites Joe B. Hall and Denny Crum were the parade’s Co-Grand Marshals. The Louisville City FC 2017 USL Championship Team, along with the Kentucky Colonels served as Honorary Grand Marshals.
Other guests included: Brittany Cartwright and Jax Taylor of Bravo TV’s “Vanderpump Rules/Jax and Brittany Take Kentucky,” Monte Durham of “Say Yes To The Dress:Atlanta,” Montel Williams (actor, television and radio talk show host), Jason Smith of Food Network, Judah and the Lion, Miss Kentucky 2017 Molly Matney and Miss America 2018 Cara Mund.
Several of the units received awards for their participation. Norton Healthcare took home the Addison McGhee Grand Champion Award for best overall float; Shirley’s Way/Ride To Ride Out Cancer won the 2nd Place KDF Board Chair’s Award; Kentucky Proud received the 3rd Place KDF President’s Award; Grand Lodge of Kentucky, Free & Accepted Masons, won the Grand Marshal’s Award for best representation of the theme; Kosair Charities won the Queen’s Award for overall beauty, and Hwang’s Martial Arts won the KDF Parade Chairman’s Award for the most spirit. Louisville Parks & Recreation and Second Chance @ Life received Honorable Mention Awards. Continue reading
For fans who want to catch the high-horsepower action of the National Tractor Pull Championship, today is their last opportunity for the 2018 edition of the event, which is celebrating its 50th year in Freedom Hall this year. The finals will feature a variety of tractor sizes and stocks as well as 2-wheel drive Super Modified Trucks.
Visitors will be on the edge of their seats as they watch drivers use their trucks and tractors to drag the massive weighted sled down a dirt track. The sled (Bauer Built’s Iron Man) weight varies from class to class, but some of these vehicles are hauling more than 20 tons down the short 250 foot track.
Qualifying heats have been running since Wednesday for the finals tonight, which will feature such previous winners such Steve Bunnage from Golden Gate, IL as he tries to beat his Wednesday night result of 232.062 feet. The 2-wheel modified trucks will feature three lady drivers, including Bethany Nelson from Altamont, IL who won the heat last night by going 223.952 feet.
The Championship starts tonight at 7:00 PM with an early showing at noon and tickets are still available. As always with the Exposition Center, there’s a $8 per vehicle charge for parking. If you arrive early to get a good parking spot, the National Farm Machinery Show is open until 6:00 PM and admission is free.
Bourbon & Beyond, Louder Than Life Brings National Acts to Louisville’s Champions Park
Danny Wimmer Presents has announced the 2018 dates for its nationally acclaimed festivals held at Champions Park in Louisville, KY.
The 2nd annual Bourbon & Beyond is set for Saturday, September 22 and Sunday, September 23, 2018. The 5th annual Louder Than Life will be held the following weekend on Saturday, September 29 and Sunday, September 30, 2018.
To celebrate the success of Bourbon & Beyond’s inaugural year, Danny Wimmer Presents has announced a special Early Bird ticket sale now underway for Bourbon & Beyond 2018. A limited number of General Admission Weekend passes are available for $119.50 (matching 2017’s lowest price). Tickets can be purchased online here. Hotel and camping options are also available at www.BourbonAndBeyond.com.
Held on back-to-back weekends, the first-ever Bourbon & Beyond (September 23 & 24) and the fourth annual Louder Than Life (September 30 & October 1) drew a combined 110,000 fans to Champions Park over two consecutive weekends in 2017, with a large percentage of attendees coming from outside of Louisville. Continue reading
