The Musical Box

There is a curious Lexington-Louisville connection that links much of the music around the region this Halloween weekend. Could it be that an artistic alliance exists between the supposed rivaling cities? Now that’s scary.

Here are a few fine examples of where Lexington and Louisville link up in shows that will happen here, there and in your own living room. Seriously.

wax fang. photo by chris higdon.

+ How does Nashville figure into this weekend’s Lexington-Louisville connection? Pretty highly when you consider Music City’s The Features, whose massive pop sound has been a staple of local clubs for years, will share the bill with Louisville’s Wax Fang on Saturday at The Dame, 367 East Main. Sure, The Features have a fine new album called Some Kind of Salvation to showcase. But Wax Fang has long been darlings of The Dame, not to mention one of the final bands to play its now demolished West Main location. As such, the trio has forged as solid a Lexington fanbase as any Derby City rock troupe. On Saturday, Wax Fang (vocalist/guitarist Scott Carney, bassist Jacob Heustis and drummer Kevin Ratterman) will be celebrating the re-release of its recent La La Land album. Gentleman Auction House will open (9 p.m., $8). Call (859) 231-7263.

Fans of The Features should note the band will also be playing a free in-store performance at CD Central, 377 S. Limestone, on Saturday. Showtime is 3 p.m. Call (859) 233-3472.

arlo guthrie

+ Over the past two years, folk great Arlo Guthrie has teamed twice with the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra and conductor/director John Nardolillo. The 2006 concert was a means to record Guthrie in an orchestral setting. The second was designed to promote the resulting album of the first performance - a regal-sounding, George Massenburg-produced effort called In Times Like These. The latter concert also helped ready Guthrie and the orchestra for a Thanksgiving weekend concert at Carnegie Hall. Guthrie is back on Kentucky soil on Saturday but will instead be playing the Louisville Palace, 627 4^th St., with the Louisville Orchestra. Nardolillo, who has been the singer’s orchestral collaborator for over a decade, will again serve as conductor. (8 p.m., $25-$70). Call (502) 361-3100 or TicketMaster at (859) 281-6644.

my morning jacket on austin city limits.

+ Consider yourself lucky if you were able to catch My Morning Jacket’s August homecoming concert at Louisville’s Waterfront Park. That may be the last we will be seeing of the band in terms of a performance for the next few months. Why? Well, just as leader/singer Jim James was winding up the last few licks to Off the Record, roughly a half hour into an Iowa City concert on Oct. 7, he walked offstage - literally. James accidentally took a tumble, resulting in “traumatic injuries to his torso” (according to a statement on MMJ’s website). That meant canceling a benefit show in Chicago for Barack Obama’s campaign. A European tour that was to have begun this week in Dublin has also been called off to give James more recuperation time. Rolling Stone magazine reports, though, the Louisville band is still on to play Madison Square Garden on New Year’s Eve. So what are fans of the band to do? Well, as far at this weekend goes, stay at home. On Saturday, KET1 will debut a concert by James and company on Austin City Limits. The hour-long broadcast, which airs at 11 p.m., was taped in Texas only nine days after the Louisville concert in August. This will be MMJ’s second appearance on Austin City Limits.