NTDWL: Happy Towel Day!

Don't forget that this is Bring Your Towel To Work Day, geeks and ladygeeks, otherwise known as Towel Day!

Celebrate your love for the late, great, and hilarious sci-fi/fantasy author Douglas Adams by carrying a towel with you everywhere. I imagine it's a great way to pick up like-minded nerds in coffee shops and bars tonight.  "Hey, I couldn't help but notice your smoking hot beach towel.  I can't place the pattern.  Is that an Escher print or a representation of multiple Mandelbrot sets?" 

More information on at: http://www.towelday.org/

And although I am not as rabid a Douglas Adams fan as many of my geek brothers and sisters, I am fairly certain that without Douglas Adams there would be no Lou-the-writer. Thanks for all the fish, dude.

Let Them Tweet Cake

The lovely and talented Michelle, from Consuming Louisville, is once again hosting a "Let Them Tweet Cake" meet-up on June 2, at 6:30p, at Sweet Surrender.  This particular event is near and dear to my heart because it was at a Tweet Cake that I first met Michelle, was first really introduced to Twitter, and first heard the words "Fail Whale" (I was like, "Wha? A who whale?"). 

I can truly say that my social landscape was completely altered by that one Tweet Cake.  How will my life be changed by the next Tweet Cake?  Maybe I'll become a do-gooder like Michelle.  

According to Michelle's invite:  

As I mentioned the last time I updated you I'd like our gatherings to have slightly more structure. So consider this an open call for a speaker or presenter for our June meeting. Want to show off your iPad? Want to tell us all about a cool tool or technology that you think we'd find useful? Email me to volunteer to speak. We've made great progress on a potential service project for the women of Let Them Tweet Cake to get involved with. I can't wait to tell you about it. 

So if you're a ladygeek, you really ought to be there.  Here's the invite.  

Vote Early and Vote Often!

Just kidding about that second part.  But this is just a gentle reminder to get your Louisvillager buns down to the polling place to cast you ballot.  If you don't, the terrorists win!  xo Mama

Deja Dig: The Strange Feeling I've Liked Charlie Mars Before

There ought to be a "deja vu"-style term for something that you know you like even though you're pretty sure you haven't come across it before.

I got an email announcement from Charlie Mars's PR people saying that he was coming to the Zanzibar on June 2, and my gut response was: "Awesome! Charlie Mars! I love that guy! I love that his 'people' are emailing me!"

But after sitting on the email for a week and doing a pretty extensive Google sweep for Mars, I am relatively certain that I've actually never come across Charlie Mars before. Sure, he's dating Mary Louise Parker (good on ya, Charlie!) but despite the fact that I'm an admitted EW.com addict, I don't really follow gossip. Yes, he sang the National Anthem at one of my beloved Saints' games back in November-- maybe I saw that, but I think that was before I started watching every single game last season. He's from my neck of the woods-- Mississippi-- hence the Saints appearance. His bio gives me nothing to lead me to believe that I've seen him live before-- we like the same music, and that's a good indication that I'd like his music, but his bio doesn't mention opening up for any tours I've seen. And I think I'd remember-- he's stunningly handsome as evidenced by this mucho sexy music video starring Mars and Parker (no mistake, I'm sure, having "Nancy Botwin" star in a video whose refrain is "If you want to come over, come over and get high/ We'll listen to the Dark Side of the Moon.").

And yet, "deja vu"-- or maybe "deja dig." I was absolutely certain that I would like Charlie Mars. And I was right. His newest album, Like a bird, Like a plane, which I listened to in its entirety as I Google stalked him, is full of knee-wobblingly sensual tracks along the vein of David Gray. I'm betting that some people are throwing around comparisons to the likes of John Mayer and Jack Johnson, but the Oxford, Mississippi in this guy insures that there's more soul in one of Mars's tracks than whole albums by Mayer or Johnson.

Anyway, I'll keep trying to connect A & B-- figure out some reason, besides "deja dig," that I knew I'd like Charlie Mars. In the meantime, I'm excited to kill two birds with one stone on June 2: (a) check out Charlie Mars and (b) finally hit Zanzibar, which is quickly becoming one of the hottest spots to catch live music in the city. I think it's a lovely bit of cosmic convergence that this show happens on the first Wednesday of my summer vacation. Nicely done, universe.

Hope to see you there.

Charlie Mars fun fact: According to his bio, after a couple of albums Mars burned out and hit rehab. After which, a one-night casino win netted him enough money to buy studio time to record his major label debut.

Speaking of Local Artists: Hound Dog Press Moved

Someday when I am rich and famous, I will have Hound Dog Press create business cards for Loueyville.  This is not a passing whim.  I first mentioned this deep desire back in December 08.  And that was before I had the amazing John Wurth at Hatch create my lovely Loueyville acorn logo-- a logo that totally screams "Letterpress me!!."  (Okay, that sounds a little nightmareish, actually.)

Anyway, turns out Hound Dog Press recently moved from its Mellwood Center location.  Where did they go?  Where do you think they went?  Where all the cool kids are these days-- Market Street!    

I'm so excited to see so much happening in Nulu.  I love this city.  That is all.  

Whiskey Row Fundraiser Update

Sorry, I can't edit ye olde blogge from the Meatspace Workplace.

Yesterday I blogged about local photographer, Billy Grubbs, and his beautiful photo fundraiser for the preservation of Whiskey Row.  I was unclear, however, about what percent of the sales would go toward the actual cause.  So I wrote Mr. Grubbs, and the lovely man wrote me back:  

Thanks so much for blogging about my photo!  I am giving 100% percent of the profits to the cause, however, there are costs involved so it won't be every dollar they spend.  Depending on the size of print they order, about 55-75% of what they spend will go to fund the buildings.

Right on, Mr. Grubbs!  We like this very much.  

Okay, Loueyvillagers, add to your art collection secure in knowing that you're supporting a good cause thanks to an awesome local artist!

Whiskey Row Row: Fundraiser

I'm no art critic, but I honestly don't know how photographers make a living in this town.  There are SO many really lovely photographers who do such a good job making use of the web for self-promotion.  If I were to get married (don't be mean, peanut gallery-- no need to roll your eyes and say, "Yeah, right), I wouldn't even know where to begin-- there are SO many choices.

And speaking of art critics, I also leave stuff like historical preservation to the experts (although, fun fact about Mama: I once very seriously considered pursuing a Master's degree in Historic Preservation at Tulane).  Broken Sidewalk has that covered locally. 

That being said, I've been very concerned with this whole Iron Quarter/Whiskey Row flapdoodle.  Our Market/Main downtown area is just frigging blossoming these days.  It's terribly exciting.  Hey, I have a great idea-- let's tear down some historic structures!  

As I said, I'll leave the preservation talk to the experts.  Start here with Broken Sidewalk's coverage of Cobalt's move toward demolition.  

Sorry, right, what does that have to do with photography?  (Expect me to be all kinds of scattered until the end of May.)

Local photographer, Billy Grubbs, is offering prints of a gorgeous photo of Whiskey Row to help support the effort to turn these buildings into landmarks.  Prices start at $65.  Grubbs's work is really lovely-- kind of a retro, sepia sort of vibe.  But the picture of Whiskey Row is absolutely among my favorites on his website.

Buy some beautiful art and help save some beautiful buildings, Loueyvillagers!

(I was a little reticent to post this because his website didn't say actually what portion of the sales would go toward the preservation fund, but I did find an earlier fundraiser where Grubbs offered 100% of his photo shoot fee went toward Haitian charities.  So I feel pretty okay with sharing this.  I've emailed him to find out the exact % of the photo sales, and I'll update you when/if I hear back.)  

Lookee Here: Mama in a National Publication (sorta)

The author of this article told me she'd send me a copy of the magazine once it was published, but I never heard back from her.  Not a big deal.  Don't think I need it for my scrapbook.*  But check it out anyway:  Sarah Braley put together a pretty nice "On Site" article about the city for Meetings and Conventions Magazine (what? You thought it was gonna be Time or something?). 

I make a brief appearance as "The My Loueyville Blogger" recommending a night at Actor's Theater.

Rock on.

*that being said if you DO have a back issue of March's M&C Magazine, I wouldn't mind having a copy.  

Speaking of Docs with Local connections: Carbon Nation

Well, hello.  I just plum forgot about this email sitting in my inbox telling me that "Carbon Nation," associate produced by our "own" Gill Holland of Green Building (and much more) fame, is premiering locally tonight with two showings at the Louisville Science Center.  The event is a donate-what-you-will-for-tickets fundraiser to help raise money to market and promote the documentary. I'm looking forward to seeing it.

There are two showings tonight:  One at 7pm with a reception from 6p-7p and one at 9pm with a reception from 8p-9p.  The documentary will then move to the Village 8 from May 7-13.  More information on the documentary can be found here. I'll post a "real" post about it after I've seen it.

Louisville Orchestra Doc at Baxter

I love documentaries.  A good documentary can be more compellingly watchable than some of the best feature films. I just recently re-Tivo-ed "Murderball," and I can't wait to watch it again.  And of course, as part of the NOLA diaspora, I can't recommend "Trouble the Water" or Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke" highly enough.  (Actually, here's a little personal PSA:  If you live in America-- and I venture you do-- I think it's your personal responsibility to watch one or both of those films.)  (And another FYI aside: Lee is working on a sequel to "When the Levees" as we speak.) 

So I'm committing to go see "Music Makes A City: A Louisville Orchestra Story" when it hits the Baxter, either at the premiere on May 20 or during its week-long run May 21-27.  According to the CJ:  "The feature-length film tells the story of the Louisville Orchestra's project to commission new works from contemporary composers around the world. In 1953, the orchestra received a $400,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to commission 52 compositions a year for three years. The architect of the venture was Louisville Mayor Charles Farnsley."  

The film is co-directed and co-produced by Owsley Brown III, of the Brown-Forman Browns.  He lives in San Francisco but still owns local businesses.  (I'd never heard the name "Owsley" before to Louisville, but this city is just lousy with Owsleys.  And I'm sure I'm not alone in ALWAYS wanting to spell the name: O-W-L-S-E-Y-- Am I right?)

Young American Shakespeare Festival

You know how I love Walden Theater. Somehow their Young American Shakespeare Festival, which starts this weekend, just crept up on me.

Both My So-Called So-Called Life and When In Disgrace... , the two Walden plays I've seen and loved, were directed by Alec Volz, who is directing Henry V for the festival. I suppose I should check out the other directors' work, but I'm really curious to see Volz's take on this epic.

All of the plays are at the Victor Jory theater at Actors. Here's the schedule for the festival:

Henry V
directed by Alec Volz
May 6,8,10,13 @ 7:30 pm
May 15 @ 2:00 pm

Love's Labour's Lost
directed by Charlie Sexton
May 11,16 @ 7:30 pm
May 14 @ 8:00 pm
May 8,9 @ 2:00 pm

Timon of Athens
directed by J. Barrett Cooper
May 7,9,12,15 @ 7:30 pm
May 16 @ 2:00 pm

NDTWL: In Search Of Computer Advice

Gentle geeks,

I mean Gentle readers,

I was wondering if you could help Mama out with a conundrum.

Do you have a minute? You do? Thanks, you're the best.

Here's the skinny: I just realized today that I am not taking advantage of a fairly significant benefit offered by my Meatspace Workplace. Namely, once every three years the Workplace will loan its employees a rather significant sum of money at 0% interest rate for the express purpose of purchasing a new computer.

Don't get me wrong-- I love Clarabelle, my four year old Gateway laptop. But she has seen four years of very heavy use from a user who, let's face it folks, isn't particularly well-versed in computer maintenance and upkeep. She has her issues.

But I'll be honest; I kind of just want a new computer. And knowing that my Workplace will make it easy for me (the loan will be deducted from 24 paychecks), this "want" has become a "desperate yearning."

So help a sister out, geeks. I mean, "readers." I want a shiny new pretty, but I don't really know where to begin.

The ease of this loan program makes me think that I might want to rejoin the Apple cult. My first two computers back in the 90's were Macs, but I've had a fairly large number of PC's (desktop and laptop) since then.

But this begs the question: Do I want to be a Mac owner only because I want to be one of the "cool kids" or is it really the best choice for me?

Here's what you need to know about my computing life: I spend w-a-a-a-y-y-y-y too much time on the internet. But so it goes. I am not a gamer. I do nothing with design or graphic work (though I would like to at some point). I do watch a lot of my tv and movies on the interwebs through Netflix and Hulu and the like. I have a lot of pictures and music stored on my computer, but it doesn't have to be that way-- pure laziness dictates that. As it is my intention to get back to "real writing" sometime in the very near future, the second most important function of my future laptop (next to being an interwebs machine) will be word processing. I am organizationally challenged, so something with an intuitive filing system is super important.

Other things to consider: If it will be a gigantic pain in the tuchas to make the move from PC to Mac-- and I mean shuffling more than fifteen years of writing from one platform to another-- it ain't worth it to me. Also, the #1 benefit I see to getting a new computer (besides: "pretty, pretty, new!!") is finding one that is lighter than Clarabelle. She's kind of a bear.

I'm not saying money is NO object, but the 24 payments taken straight out of my paycheck lighten the burden significantly, so I'm able to shop beyond my usual means. That's why I could afford to make the move to the more expensive Mac-- as opposed to Clarabelle who was cheapo-- at this time.

Your thoughts? Advice? Please? Do I want to make the move to a Mac laptop? Which one? What's the Mac alternative that would best suit my needs?

Duke it out in the comments or email me at lou [at] loueyville.com. I'll be super grateful and may even name my next computer after you...

I thank you for your support. May the Fourth be with you.

G. Love!

I don't normally promote music events here all that much, mostly because Backseat Sandbar does that job way better than I ever can. But one of my favorite live bands is coming to Louisville at the end of the month, and this is one show I want to make sure I don't miss.

I'm talking about G. Love & Special Sauce coming to Headliners on May 29. Here's a link to the Backseat Sandbar announcement.

If I end up seeing G. Love that weekend, he earns the special honor of being the only band that I've seen in every city that I've lived in during my adult life. (NYC, Tampa, Baton Rouge, NOLA, and here... fyi)

Shameful admission: Mama has STILL never been to Headliners. Isn't that dreadful. Let's rectify that, Mr. Love, eh?