Louisvillager Alexandria Mills wins Miss World!

Last night, the 2010 Miss World was crowned in Sanya, China.  Congratulations to Louisville's own Miss World Alexandria Mills!

Mills recently graduated high school and would like to be a teacher (you go, Alexandria!).  The vegetarian gives a shout out to Derby City in her bio on the Miss World website.

Now, that's an awesome Louisvillager!

Ticket Giveaway: Cirque Dreams Holidaze

I'm so excited to be offering Loueyville's first ticket giveaway!

Up for grabs:  Two tickets to opening night (11/23) of Cirque Dreams Holidaze at the Louisville Palace Theater.

Sure, it's awfully early to be thinking about winter holiday type stuff... or so you'd think.  But the fact of the matter is, there are Christmas cards in Walgreens already and Actors Theater is premiering "A Christmas Story" on November 9th.

Cirque Dreams Holidaze is a musical, holiday extravaganza where ornaments come to life and perform astonishing feats of acrobatics and choreography.  The production, created and directed by Neil Goldberg, will be featured at the Palace Theater from Nov 23-28.  Tickets are on sale now.

To win tickets: Comment below and tell me about your favorite winter holiday "ornament."  What's the one thing you can't imagine leaving off your Christmas tree?  What is your favorite Hanukkah decoration?  What decoration do you drag out from the attic/basement/closet this time of year that most puts you into the holiday spirit?  On November 14, I will choose, at random, a winner from the comments.

UPDATE:  I now have FOUR tickets to give away.  So on November 14, I will choose winner #1 who can opt to take all 4 tickets (take the family!) or just take 2 (date night!).  If winner #1 just takes 2 tickets, I'll draw a second winner for the other pair of tickets.

Rally to Restore Sanity: A Loueyville Twitter Special Edition

For the first time ever, I am handing over the reins of my Twitter account to a guest tweeter.  This Saturday, Roommate will be attending the Stewart/Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity/Keep Fear Alive event in Washington, DC, and he will be tweeting live from the event.

Follow me (him) at @loueyville.  He'll be signing his tweets as /rm.  If I have anything to interject, I'll sign my tweets as /lou.

Roommate says, "Don't forget, my motto is 'We MUST keep fear ALIVE."

I have to say, I'm really looking forward to this.  Obviously, I think Roommate is a funny funny guy-- otherwise he wouldn't be my best friend of almost nine years-- and he's kind of a loose cannon.  I wish I could be there, but the live broadcast plus Roommate's commentary could make for a really excellent Saturday afternoon!

Are you going to be tweeting from the Rally to Restore Sanity/Keep Fear Alive?  Comment below.

Only Good News from Lexington I've Heard in Weeks

Hey Lexington!  I know y'all have had it rough lately what with all these silly elections and curb-stomping incidents and whatnot.  

But there's a light at the end of ye olde tunnel, my Lexfriends!

GROUPON is coming to Lexington!  Sign up now to make sure you get the first email deal!

And Louisvillagers who travel to Lexington on a regular basis, you should get on that mailing list too.  I'm signed on to Groupon lists for Louisville, Cincy, AND New Orleans.  Might have to add Lexington to that list for our occasional forays to Keeneland.

See Lexfriends, things will get better.

[glances as poll numbers]

Or not.

But at least you'll have Groupon.

My Big Fat Geek Louisville Idea

I know I've been awfully quiet lately.  But the past couple of weeks' bronchitis became this weekend's pneumonia.  So I have been crashed out for a couple of days.  When I was diagnosed, my first thought was, "Huh, I thought pneumonia would be so much worse!"  And around a half hour later, back at Casa Lou, I put my butt in our recliner (which is named "Fat Grandmaw"-- yes, I name everything), and I basically stayed here (yes, here, I'm cuddled on Fat Grandmaw as I type) for two and a half days.  Today I went to the Meatspace Workplace, and then came straight home to Fat Grandmaw.

But Louisville slows down for no one's pneumonia.  And here's something great that's going on.  Because I'm still blechy, and a wee bit blotto on painkillers, I'm gonna be a bit loose and liberal with the rundown.

The "Create Louisville: Your Big Idea" project was launched last month to collect Big Ideas for moving the city forward.  The Ideas were collected on a website, a joint effort of the Greater Louisville Project, the 2009 Bingham Fellows--DRIVE initiative, and WFPL 89.3.  The author of the Big Idea that wins the most votes will get the chance to pitch the idea to the next Louisville mayor.

To see the ideas and vote, go to www.MyBigVote.org.

From the press release: 

People throughout the region have been submitting nominations since Oct. 6, focusing on the three key areas The Greater Louisville Project has identified as crucial for Louisville’s success:  improving education attainment, growing 21st Century jobs, and enhancing Quality of Place. 

"We wanted to stimulate fresh thinking and broader citizen engagement, and we’ve gotten both” said Carolyn Gatz, director of The Greater Louisville Project.  “Now, voting for the best Big Idea is an opportunity for more people to add their voices and to let the new Mayor know what’s most important to them.”

The opportunity to vote will remain open at www.MyBigVote.org through November

Bardstown Bound on 10/23

I love Bardstown Bound.  Bardstown Road Aglow, the perfectly-timed-right-before-the-holidays version of Bardstown Bound, is one of my favorite nights of the year.  The smell of mulled cider.  The Christmas cookies. The excuse to Christmas shop with a drink in your hand.  But Bardstown Bound has its own merits-- the weather is warmer, crisp fall nights are perfect for walking, the trick-or-treaty stuff...

If you have no idea what I'm talking about....

A couple of nights a year, the boutiques up Bardstown (and down Baxter) stay open late-- sometimes as late as 10p or 11p-- and offer special sales, desserts or hors d'oeuvres, and sometimes some lovely wine or boozy drinks.  There's a free trolley (in this case from 2p-8p, which makes no sense to me... wouldn't later be better for those folks who over indulge on the boozy drinks?).  The Aglow version has gotten so popular in the last couple of years that sometimes there are lines to get into the more popular stores.

Here's an old Aglow review (sorta) from Loueyville.

And remember, ghosts and ghouls, this weekend is ALSO Ghostbusters at the Baxter Avenue Theater Midnight Saturday movie.  Sounds like a wicked (ha ha ha, pun not intended) good day!

The Man Who Should Be Columbus, Indiana's Favorite Son

A blue million years ago (ie. 2005-06) an LA-based Pop Culture blogger took note of my Katrina New Orleans blog and asked me to join her small stable of writers.  It was a fun (unpaid) gig.  Right up my alley.  And I enjoyed the national exposure.  Then one day the blog (Subcrawl.net) just... disappeared.  So sad.  Too bad.


Anyway, yesterday I was reveling in the news that our president not only shot a segment with my favorite uber-geeks, the Mythbusters, but also invited them to the White House.  And I remembered an article I wrote for Subcrawl... and dug it up in ye olde computer archives.  Seeing that it's (A) a Louisville-area-based article and (B) Subcrawl is long dead, I figure it's A-OK to reprint it here.  

An Open Letter to the Town of Columbus, Indiana:

As a frequent visitor to your beautiful and unique small town, I have been charmed by the astounding architecture—from the library designed by IM Pei and the bank building designed by Saarinen to the cozy Victorian homes downtown.  

I have sipped upon hot mochas at Jitters, gotten drunk on New Years Eve at the Eagles Lodge while watching a grown man prance about in an itsy-bitsy-teeny-weenie-yellow-polka-dot-bikini, and breakfasted on biscuits and gravy at the Moose (the half portion is large enough for a lumberjack).  It’s a great town, full of great people.

Columbus has enjoyed many honors in recent years.  It was named one of the “Ten Most Playful Towns” by Nick Jr. Magazine.  The National Trust named it a 2005 Distinctive Destination.  And the city is ranked sixth in the US for architectural innovation by the American Institute of Architects.  

It is in this spirit that I write to protest the fact that Columbus has failed in bestowing  sufficient honor upon its most illustrious native son.  

Yes, I recognize that Columbus has many “favorite sons” (alas, few daughters) to choose from including Chuck Taylor (of the Chucks sneakers fame) and Clessie Cummins (who created the Cummins diesel engine).

Yet, as a visitor enters the town the “Welcome to Columbus” sign is flanked by two “Home of…” designations.  Home of Tony Stewart, race-car driver extraordinaire.  Home of Don and Ross Barbour Original Members of The World Famous Four Freshmen, who are, according to their website “The Best Vocal Group of All Time!”  (Note that there have been TWENTY-TWO incarnations of the Four Freshmen since 1947).

It is with heartfelt love for your town that I urge you to consider bestowing the great honor of a “Home of” sign to Jamie Hyneman, the oddly sexy walrus-mustachioed co-host of Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters, and 1974 Columbus North High School Graduate.

Hailing from Indiana farm country, Jamie Hyneman is a not just a Mythbuster-- he's a multifaceted man: wilderness survival expert, boat captain, diver, linguist, animal wrangler, machinist, and chef. His career has been equally diverse: Jamie earned a degree in Russian languages and literature and ran a sailing/diving charter business in the Caribbean for several years before he moved over to the visual-effects industry.

I’m sure Tony and Don and Ross won’t mind sharing their roadside space with a genius of Hyneman’s stature.  I’m sure Hyneman would appreciate the nod (as long as you don’t put his high school picture on the sign). 

Kind regards, 

Lou

Rally to Keep Fear Alive with Sanity?

It is very possible that Loueyville.com will have its own roving reporter on the ground during the Stewart/Colbert "Rally to Restore Sanity"/ "Keep Fear Alive" event on October 30 in Washington, DC.

And it may very well be that I may hand over my Twitter account to said Roving Reporter so he can tweet to his heart's content from said rally.  A first for Loueyville.com.

Details forthcoming.

But RallyMAO.com is organizing satellite events in all 50 states.  And so far the only one listed for KY is a nebulous one in Lexington (warning: facebook page).

Is this the best we can do?  An aggregate rally for Cincy, Louisville, AND Lexington?

Do better Louisville.  Any news of a more local rally?  Let me know at lou (at) loueyville.com

STOMP: the name pretty much says it all

Back in 2006, STOMP celebrated its 5,000th show at the Orpheum Theater in the East Village in New York.  There are certain shows that have been around so long, you know they have to be good, no matter how looney the premise (ie. a percussion based dance/comedy troupe that stomps and bangs on stuff for a couple of hours).  SEE ALSO: Blue Man Group.

I was lucky enough to catch STOMP at the Orpheum back when the show was only on its double-digits-- very, very early in its run in 1994.  (Yes, I'm that old.)  Word-of-mouth from some theater-nerd friends... maybe even one of them was on the tech crew? I forget... drove me there on a date.  I don't remember the date's name, but his nickname was "Disney" because he had so much Disney crap in his dorm room.  Was he gay?  Well, if he was, he wasn't out.  It was a real date.  He smooched me.  But that's as far as it went.  I'm rather proud of my storied history full of one-and-done dates with guys who would later (not much later) come out of the closet.  I don't know if Disney did.  Or maybe he was just that rare straight guy who had a Minny Mouse obsession...

... Can you tell I have a fever?

Anyway, I was skeptical.  "People hitting stuff?" I said.  "That's theater?"

Yes.  Yes, it is folks.  And it's been totally inspiring fifteen years' worth of audiences all across the world.

Theater, spectacle, whatever you want to call it.  Dance?  Music?  Sure.  All of that.  But mostly it is just good, loud, high-energy, how-the-hell-did-they-do-that? kind of fun.  At least in 1994.

Disney and I danced around and banged on sh*t all the way to the subway and the entire subway back to Morningside Heights.  Trash cans, subway walls, Zippos, each other... cut me some slack, we were in our early 20's and theater nerds.

That that kind of physical, kinetic, sweaty energy didn't lead up to some kind of Love Connection between me & Disney that night leads me to only three possible conclusions: (a) Disney was gay, (b) the idea of making the beast-with-two-backs under a poster of the mouse-with-four-fingers didn't really light my fire, or (c) we were both just worn out from all the banging.

Go see STOMP at the Kentucky Center this weekend.  Friday at 8pm.  Saturday at 5p & 8pm.  Sunday at 3pm & 7pm.  There's an Arena-based traffic advisory for Saturdays shows.  You can check it out here.

Crafted In Kentuckiana Brew Fest

The Kentucky Restaurant Association is sponsoring a "Crafted In Kentuckiana" Brew Fest at Kingfish on Saturday from 3p-7p.  And believe me, if I can shake this horrible bout of bronchitis I'm suffering from... well, I can think of no better way to celebrate than with tastes of my favorite local brews.  It's $5 to get in, and then tickets are $1.  Tastes are 1 ticket and most pints are 3.

I noted that the C-J article lists Falls City Beer as among the featured brews, and I'm kind of glad to see that.  I caught a FacebookFeud (is that a real thing or did I just create a neologism?) about whether or not Falls City counts as a "local brew" even though it's "contract brewed."  "Contract brewed" means that the local brewers who created the beer contract the big batches out to a larger brewer.  One who is, in this case, outside of Kentuckiana.  The Falls City rep on FB insisted that while the juice is cooked up elsewhere, the heart of the business remains in LOUKy until they raise enough funds to do the brewing hereabouts.

That's good enough for me.  

Other beers featured:  Alltech's Kentucky Ale, Bluegrass Brewing Co., Browning's, Cumberland Brews, Fall's City Beer, Hofbrauhaus Newport and New Albanian Brewing Co. 

Didja know....?

.. that I have another blog?  I know!  I kind of forgot about it too.  I guess that's because I've spent the past year and a half reading the entire works of a single author, Elizabeth George.  Once upon a time, I used to be a book reviewer as well as a... whatever/Louisville/stuff blogger.

Check out the old blog, newly updated, here.

LATE NOTICE: Zappos Outlet $10 Sale!

Despite the fact that I am suffering from "the creeping cruds," as Big Mama Lou would call them (ie. a cold/sickness that starts one place and migrates throughout your body), I decided that I could hold off on a visit to the Zappos Outlet no longer.  It's getting to be closed-toed shoe/boot weather, and I am plum out of options on those, having run every pair of winter shoes-- save my Uggs-- into the ground over the past couple of years.

(Did you know, by the way, that if you google "Zappos Outlet Kentucky," mine is the first article that comes up?)

My visit today did not disappoint.  I got a pair of Tsonga boots, a pair of Clark's pumps, and a pair of J41 heels for around $75 with my $30 Living Social certificate.  Lou is ready for the winter.  (Well, no, I'm not, but my feets are!)

Since my last visit in late Spring, the outlet has changed their name to the 6pm.com Outlet, and they've added a kind of ragtag assortment of high-end clothes.

Today's sale was 50% off everything (as usual) and 60-70% off specially tagged stuff.

I was quite satisfied to maybe not make another Zappos run until the spring until this notice came through Facebook:

6pm.com Outlet ‎10-10-10 only!! All Sandals are $10 FINAL PRICE*! All Yellow, Green, and Grey tagged merchandise is $10 FINAL PRICE! All White Pants are $10 FINAL PRICE! *Please see store for details. Sandals must be open toed and open heeled. We will be open from 12p-6p.

OK Go is not just a band; it's a command.

The Indian Summer weather we've been having of late is perfect for at least one more outdoor concert.  The Discover Louisville Festival and ear x-tacy are sponsoring a free OK Go concert on October 12 at 6pm at the Grawemeyer Hall Oval on Third Street.  This nerd-tastic band's fabulously goofy and technically astounding music videos have often overshadowed their music.  But really, even if it weren't for the treadmills, the stop motion dancing, the Rube Goldberg machines, the trained dogs, the marching bands... it's still incredibly fun, catchy, bouncy stuff.

I'm so hoping they rope the U of L band into playing along.  And I hope I kick this stupid chest/head cold before Tuesday.

Happy long weekend, y'all!

HullabaLOU Doesn't Wanna Play Anymore

Jake from Ville Voice says that the news that Churchill isn't going to be hosting a HullabaLOU 2011 is "the most non shocking move ever," but frankly, while I'm not "shocked," I am a bit surprised.  

Maybe it's the teacher-lady in me, but I'm disappointed by the decision.  HullabaLOU was a kid in a science class who has a really great BIG IDEA, but as she's laying out her experiment, she got a lot (a LOT) of the little steps wrong. And when the experiment failed to give her the results she desired, instead of going back and correcting her mistakes, she just swept the whole rig off the lab counter and sulked.

Heat? Economy? Those are things you CAN'T control, and those two aspects of HullabaLOU's meh turnout were actually very LOW on the list of HullabaPROBLEMS.

Too high ticket prices.  The lack of family friendliness (partially due to the ticket prices, partially due to the fact that there was nothing for the kiddos to do).  The really pathetic local food offerings.  The perception (somewhat deserved) that the music line-up was for old fogies. The list goes on, and I covered most of it in my coverage of HullabaLOU. 

But seriously, CDE... all that stuff??  TOTALLY fixable.  You can't fix the weather or the economy (but you can make your tix economical).  But you could've boosted the profile and the attractiveness of HullabaLOU with no problem over the course of the year.  The bones of a good festival were there.  Heck the bones were already in place because of JazzFest at your sister venue.  HullabaLOU chose to ignore some of the important things that make New Orleans Jazz Fest work year after amazing year.  Reinventing the wheel-- almost never a good idea.

So, CDE, I'm disappointed in you.  Bummer that you thought that the best idea was to turn off your Bunsen burner and go home.