You don't need to go to Churchill to have Derby fun

'Oh, there's a horse race?' 13 acts at the post for concerts

By Walter Tunis Contributing Music Writer,Compiled by Walter Tunis

It's all quite mad, really.

Balloon races, steamboat races, bed races, races with full glasses of wine in hand (The Run for the Rosé), golf tournaments, volleyball tournaments and something called the Battle of the Bounce, in which contestants spar with large, inflatable contraptions — all of that is squeezed into the furious days leading up to Saturday's Kentucky Derby.

Shoot, there's even a soap box derby that will invade Zorn Avenue before the real Derby — the big Derby — takes over Churchill Downs.

There will also be music. An avalanche of it, covering everything from blues and soul to country and metal to a personal favorite: a 30-plus member ”circus punk marching band“ from Chicago called Mucca Pazza.

Kind of makes you want to rethink that whole ”most exciting two minutes in sports“ tag that the Derby has long been saddled with. The positively freakish amount of music and fun in Louisville will take up much of the week ahead and will stretch far, far from the race track.

Here are details on 13 concerts that will keep Louisville rocking all during Kentucky Derby Week.

APRIL 28

Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials at Stevie Ray's Blues Bar, 230 East Main Street. 7:30 p.m., $12. (502) 582-9945. www.stevieraysbluesbar.com.

Guitarist Lil' Ed Williams, a frequent visitor to Louisville, has a slide-savvy sound that strongly echoes the great Elmore James. But his Blues Imperials loves to pump up a rootsy drive with hearty swing, as on the barnstormer tune Icicles in My Meatloaf, from the 2006 album Rattleshake.

APRIL 29

Morris Day and The Time at ­Waterfront Park, Great Lawn. 9 p.m. Free with Pegasus Pin ($6). (502) 584-3378.

Looks as if it's The Time's time again. Watching Day and company resurrect their 25-year-old R&B hit Jungle Love with new-generation pop-soul diva Rihanna was one of the few highlights of February's dull-as-dirt Grammy Awards show. Let's hope the Time machine is in similarly sharp working order.

APRIL 30

Jason Aldean at Fourth Street Live, 400 South Fourth Street. 6 p.m. Free. (502) 584-7170. www.4thstlive.com.

He headlined a New Year's Eve bash last year at Rupp Arena after opening there the previous winter for Rascal Flatts. Now the country voice behind the 2006 hit Why hits Derbytown. The 6 p.m. starting time is approximate. Aldean hits the stage after the live ESPN broadcast of the Derby post-­position draw is complete.

Mason Jennings, Brett Dennen and Scott Miller at Waterfront Park, Great Lawn. 8 p.m. Free with ­Pegasus pin ($6). (502) 584-3378.

A literary-minded Minneapolis writer, Jennings served up two fine Bob Dylan covers for the I'm Not There soundtrack. West Coast pop songsmith Dennen has had several tunes featured on TV in episodes of Grey's Anatomy and House. Miller, from Knoxville, fronts the band Commonwealth but will perform solo at the Downs.

MAY 1

Kellie Pickler at Churchill Downs, 700 Central Avenue. 1 p.m. $3 (track admission). 1-800-283-3729. www.churchilldowns.com.

Another recent Rupp visitor — she performed at the arena as show-opener for Brad Paisley and Rodney Atkins in late November — American Idol finalist Pickler brings the country-pop sound of I Wonder, Red High Heels and more to the infield of Churchill Downs.

Webb Wilder at Jim Porter's, 2345 Lexington Road. 8 p.m. $15. (502) 452-9531. www.jimporters.com.

You used to be able to catch the self-proclaimed ”Last of the Full Grown Men“ onstage in Lexington every few months or so, but not anymore. You need to journey to Louisville to catch the Southern roots-rocker.

Craig Morgan at Waterfront Park, Great Lawn. 9 p.m. Free with ­Pegasus Pin ($6). (502) 584-3378.

He's a Tennessee native and an Army veteran. But Morgan might be best known around Nashville as one of the guys who proved that indie country acts could craft hits. Initially signed to Atlantic and now affiliated with BNA, Morgan hit the top of the charts with two indie singles ­— That's What I Love About Sunday and Redneck Yacht Club — in 2005.

MAY 2

The B-52's, part of Derby Eve Jam at Waterfront Park, Great Lawn. 9 p.m. Free with Pegasus Pin ($6). (502) 584-3378.

Dubbed recently by The New York Times ”New Wave's most ­unapologetic loons,“ the veteran pop group tours with four of its five original members. Not ­surprisingly, Funplex, the band's first album of new material in 16 years, grooves to a still-youthful beat.

Goo Goo Dolls at Fourth Street Live, 400 South Fourth Street. 8 p.m. Free. (502) 584-7170. www.4thstlive.com.

Has it really been 20 years since the then-unknown Goos banged around such long-gone Lexington haunts as The Wrocklage? Has it really been a decade since John Rzeznik and Robby Takac shed the Dolls' garage-rock beginnings for platinum-selling pop? Here's your chance to see for free the Dolls' next move.

Sevendust at Phoenix Hill Tavern, 644 Baxter Avenue. 7 p.m. $20. (502) 636-0405. www.phoenixhill.com.

Fresh from an Australian tour with Ozzy Osbourne, metalhead fave Sevendust is welcoming back guitarist Clint Lowery this spring. The band's reunited original lineup headlines what Phoenix Hill promises to be ”the mother of all Derby Eve parties with a multiact bill. Sevendust will hit the stage sometime before dawn.

Peter Rowan at St. Francis of Assisi, 1960 Bardstown Road. 5:30 p.m. $25. (502) 456-6394.

Headlining this multiact Americana party is bluegrass-reggae-folk songsmith Rowan, possibility the only artist to have been in bands with Bill Monroe and Jerry Garcia. Nashville's Paul Burch and a pair of Louisville favorites — the roots-inclined Tim Krekel Orchestra and blues-jazz-gospel stylist Tyrone Cotton — complete the bill.

Mucca Pazza at Headliners ­Music Hall, 1386 Lexington Road, 10 p.m. $12. (502) 584-8088. www.headlinerslouisville.com.

Mucca Pazza is a Chicago-based ”circus punk marching band.“ Possessing Frank Zappa-like animation, the ensemble sports double accordions, guitar twang, Eastern intrigue, a ton of brass, collegiate-style uniforms and, so we're told, cheerleaders. Let's see your Derby party top that. Wax Fang and Parlour will open.

MAY 3

Five Finger Death Punch at ­Headliners Music Hall. 8 p.m. $15. (502) 584-8088. www.headlinerslouisville.com.

How can you not get a charge out of a band called Five Finger Death Punch, especially on Derby evening — the night of the year when hangovers are most likely to kick in before the sun goes down. The ­music is pure, belligerent metal, and the hefty lineup of opening acts will have you reaching for the Excedrin long before the Death Punch hits.