The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 30

10 THE COURIER-JOURNAL, FRIDAY, JULY 1, 1983 A BLOCKFUL OF BANDS Emergency relief is the goal of non-stop concerts designed to benefit injured, ill musicians JULY 2, 3, and 4 SATURDAY, SUNDAY, MONDAY 1:00 p.m. 10:00 p.m. Riverfront PlazaBelvedere ADMISSION FREE FILIPINO, IRISH, JEWISH and LATIN AMERICAN Weekend Co-sponsors are First National Bank Of Louisville and Pepsi-Cola General Bottlers, Louisville. UNITED STATES NAVY BAND CONCERT Sunday, July 3, at 8:00 P.M. Co-sponsored by General Electric and the Heritage Corporation THE 113TH UNITED STATES ARMY BAND, CONCERT Monday, July 4 at 8:30 P.M.

Followed by Fireworks IRISH DAYTIME ENTERTAINMENT Sponsored by The Bank of Louisville "Don't forget to buy your Heritage Weekend Pin for $1 .00, proceeds go to benefit the Weekends." Publisher Al Smith is nominated president of NPR Kentucky newspaper publisher Al Smith has been nominated for the presidency of the financially troubled National Public Radio. The 55-year-old publisher, who makes his headquarters at the London Sentinel Echo, was nominated by O. Leonard Press, executive director of KET. "I think Al has the qualifications. I've talked with him and he is interested," Press said yesterday.

"He came to Kentucky with nothing. He's built his newspapers (which also include the Russelville News Democrat and the Logan Leader) into a very successful operation so he knows about business and he also knows about journalism, which are the two things that NPR needs most right now." He also has been host of 'Comment on Kentucky' (a KET current-affairs program) for the last nine years and he's been Involved with many projects in public broadcasting, Press said. NPR is in the midst of coping with a $9.1 million deficit that its president Frank Mankiewicz left when he was forced to resign early last month. "I'm interested in saving National Public Radio as a valuable resource, but I would only be interested in the job depending upon the outcome of the financial structure they design to save it," Smith said. NPR sources confirmed that the nomination has been received and will be considered by a search committee.

Smith would have to be recommended by that committee and voted in by the full NPR board, which hopes to have its new president in place by Oct. 1. cert to outgross last year's, despite the formidable competition of the Hall Oates concert at Freedom Hall Sunday night "We also could have a couple of very special surprise guests show later in the evening," Maxwell said. The lineup at City Lights will be the Wulfe Brothers, Mr. Charlie, The Catch, Spectrum, Bob Brickley, Jubilation, Serious Circus and City Lites.

Playing at the Zanzibar will be Willie Dee and Mr. Melody, The Payne Brothers, Sam Stockard, Cosmo Friends, The Yellow Pages, Redwing and Ralph Tiffany. The Beat Exchange will have Jil Thorp and the Beat Boys, Mike McGrath, Poor Girls, Will Cary and the Nightcrawlers, Phase, and As Is. Bogies, which used to be Trixies, will celebrate its grand opening with Fantasy, Tight Squeeze, Aura, the Full Moon Band, Justus, Cato Watts and the Bottom Line Band. Stage II's lineup will be the Jonathan Marlatte Band, Riversyde, the DeBow Brothel's, Sherry Edwards, Moviola, the McNicol Brothers, Lon-nie Mack and The Marlins.

The Great Midwestern, which has been closed for several years, will be reopened just for Sunday night. The bar's Washington Street entrance will be closed, and patrons will enter through the adjacent Stage II. The Great Midwestern's lineup includes Doc and Smitty, Mickey Clark, George Chappel and the Flat- land Picker (formerly Cowboy George)r, the Cumberlands, the Pat Thomas Band, Mike Lunsford and the Whiskey River Band, and New Horizon. Maxwell said he expects about a dozen more groups will perform. patrons at 5 p.m.

One $5 entrance fee, paid at a booth in the street or at any of the bars, will grant admission to all six bars. Patrons will receive a stamp on the hand. This will allow them to leave the bars during the night and return at no additional charge. There will be plenty of food available. Mr.

Thompson's Barbeque and various other food and soft-drink vendors will be set up on the street. MERF has arranged for trash cleanup afterwards and for police and other security. A potpourri of musical genres will be represented by the participating bands. There's the danceable, Top 40 sound of the McNicol Brothers, the reggae of Jil Thorp and the Beat Boys, the country of Mickey Clark, the Bluegrass of the Cumberlands, the rock 'n' roll of Redwing and the rhythm 'n blues of the Bottom Line Band. Equipment for the bands will be furnished by Mom's Music Store, the Doo Wop Shop, Sound n' Music, Far Out Music, Music Warehouse and the City Lites Band.

Volunteers from those businesses will be on band to correct sound problems. And the stages will be set up so that one band can follow another without major equipment changes. Maxwell expects this year's con By MICHAEL QUINLAN Courlar-Journal Staff Writer Marvin Maxwell, owner of Mom's Music Store and founder of the Musicians Emergency Relief Fund sat behind his desk writing out a list of bands scheduled to appear at this Sunday's MERF concert. The office walls were covered with memorabilia gathered from 25 years in the music business. There were records he cut with his bands, Soul Inc.

and Elysian Field, during the '60s, concert posters, newspaper clippings and countless photographs of friends from other local bands. A rack on one wall held more than a dozen walking canes. The canes, gifts from friends, are a daily reminder that Maxwell's drumming career has been interrupted. Maxwell's characteristic smile vanished when he described the auto accident two years ago that left his face full of broken bones and his ankle crushed. "I was laid up for quite some time," said Maxwell.

"In order to help me get back on my feet financially, several friends performed a benefit concert for me at Stage II and City Lights." "With the money left over after my recovery, I set up a fund to help other musicians who might find themselves in a position similar to my own." The bulk of that extra money went 2s i Louisville Aria Chamber ot Commerce, Inc. 300 W.Liberty Street 502-582-2421 LOUISVILLE SUMMER OF '83 to a couple of fellow musicians, one who needed throat surgery and another who was dying of leukemia. When Maxwell's fund ran dry, he and several friends formed MERF, a non-profit organization set up to benefit local musicians in times of distress. "MERF is not a soup-line benefit for those out of work," said Maxwell. "It was designed to help musicians who cannot work because of an injury or Illness." "We don't propose to take the place of hospitalization insurance.

But in times of crisis, when finances are tight, we can put food on the table and keep the landlord happy." Last year's MERF concert on Main Street grossed $14,000. Those proceeds have helped among others a musician with cancer, a guitarist with a back injury and several victims of auto accidents. For the second year in a row MERF has received permission from the city of Louisville to set up a traffic barricade on Main Street between First and Second streets. Six bars on that block will play host to 40 or 50 bands between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Sunday. Each band will play one hour. The street will be opened up for if Mil i. 4 5 RESTAURANTS 1 friday night dinner specials downtown and oxmoor ORCHID ROOM Roast loin of pork with dressing, whipped potatoes, choice of vegetable. 4.55 Spinach salad with freshly sliced mushrooms, crisp bacon, coarse chopped egg, homemade croutons and orange sections, topped with warm bacon dressing.

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