Guest Post: Christine explains Cyclocross

Christine is a nonprofit professional for Apple Patch living in Louisville. She had been biking for a little over a year and runs a the all women's cycling team Fleur de Lis. You will be able to find her this fall racing her bike and passing out beer hand-ups.

Cyclo What?????

I never thought I would be so excited to see Fall. Don’t get me wrong, I have always enjoyed the changing of the seasons, the crispness in the air, and getting to wear my fabulous boot collection, but I am a summer time kind of gal. This year, however, I have a countdown calendar to September 15, the opening day of Cyclocross season in the Louisville area. OH, BTW, my name is Christine, and I am addicted to Cyclocross (CX).

What is Cyclocross you ask? It is a crazy cycling event that involves a course mainly on dirt and grass but sometimes, for fun, the course designers or Mother Nature, throw in some sand, gravel, steps, water, snow, and pavement (just to name a few). The course designers also like to add in elements that make you dismount your bike, lift or shoulder your bike, and run over or up the obstacle. Keep in mind you always want to keep forward motion going. Oh and you have to CRAZY to do it. I have declared myself crazy several times while riding.

So why do I do it? Because it is FUN. It is also one of the most crowd-friendly of the cycling sports. Since it is a looped course that is usually less than 2 miles long, spectators can walk to almost all of it and see all the action. Heckling of the racers is strongly encouraged, and prizes are even given out sometimes to the best hecklers. There are also hand-outs from the spectators to the racers. As you race by, a friendly spectator might have a beer or bourbon shot ready for you; in some cases they might even have a $. All of this is encouraged, and makes it so worth each peddle stroke. If you would like a sample of all this fun you can check it out here, http://www.ovcx.com/, click on videos in the bottom right.

Louisville is one of the best places to get into Cyclocross. We are one of the few cities that has a dedicated cyclocross park that is open for all to try. Eva Bandman Cyclocross Park is located on River Rd next to Nugent Sand and is beautiful.

Something else that has us super excited this season is Louisville is going to be home of the 2013 World Championship of Cyclocross. Yes I said WORLD. This is huge! This is the first time that this race has ever been outside of Europe; we will play host to the fastest men and women of the sport and all of their fans. When else would you get the chance to check something like this out? If you want more information on Worlds you can go to http://www.louisville2013.com. If you are interested in getting more involved and volunteering hit me up, Christine.vaughan (at) gmail (dot) com.

So now that you know how much fun Cyclocross is, come out and cheer-- or heck, grab a bike and try it out. Who knows you might find a little bit of crazy in you and enjoy it as much as I do.

A Green BEAN Discount for YOU!

I've subscribed to a small veg & fruit box from Green BEAN Delivery ever since they offered up a Groupon a while back. What I love about Grean BEAN Delivery is that you're allowed to customize your box. I am an adventurous eater, but I'm not a really adventurous cook. I wouldn't know what to do with 2 large acorn squashes, frankly (although I'd eat 'em if you made 'em for me).

But Green BEAn has turned me on to certain things. I've been a lifelong lover of Brussel sprouts, but Mama Lou always made the frozen kind. I had no idea what I was missing in fresh Brussel sprouts! It's like a whole different vegetable. Amazing!

Customer service has also been great. A few weeks back I got cabbage instead of the squash I'd ordered. I tweeted about it, and they automatically credited me for a couple bucks. And the cabbage turned out to be delish.

Did I mention, this fabulous bin gets delivered right to your door? You don't have to go pick it up. You don't have to be home. It's always well-packed and my bins have weathered hours out in this summer heat with nary a problem.

So I'm super excited to be able to offer y'all a discount if you're a NEW SUBSCRIBER (and sorry, it is for new subscribers only... I can't use it either!).  You can receive $15 off your first order (so that means you could get a gigantic small fruit & veg bin for just $20) by entering 15LOUEYml as a promo code.

This is an honest endorsement. Yes, Green BEAN emailed to ask if I'd like to offer a discount on the blog, but otherwise this is just me saying "Yay, I love this service!"

This coupon code is good for only ONE WEEK. So get on it quick!!

The Color Run: Louisville 7/29

Lately, I've been trying to get healthier. Eat better, exercise more. I'm still working on finding the best combination for me. 

But, I'll be honest with you: I think I can say for certain that there is one thing that will never fall into my fitness regime wheelhouse.  And that's running. 

I just don't get it. 

But, shoo... y'all seem to love the running, folks.  So here's a very cool running event. It's called the Color Run, and it's a 5k. At each 1k mark, volunteers toss colored powder on you, so by the end of the run, you're rainbow-y lovely. The route is along the waterfront, so you're guaranteed good scenery too. 

Better still: the Color Run is donating part of its proceeds to the Louisville Sports Commission and The Jefferson Street Mission.  

If you sign up by midnight tonight and enter the promo code KYCOLOR, you can get $10 off. 

I'll high-five my Wii Fit trainer in solidarity with you. (He says I'm "doing great!")

Louisville, Not Kentucky-- We have a Podcast, People!

For better part of a year, Linda Golden of LJ Golden-- Just Exploring blog fame-- has been chatting me up about starting a podcast. And for the better part of a year, I've been enthusiastically "HELL YES"-ing her to death.

I love this woman to pieces (and if you keep track of my personal life, I love her so much that, last March, I married her to Awesome Louisvillager, WFPL's Gabe Bullard). And Linda is responsible for some of the best conversations and adventures I have, on a regular basis.

So Linda and I are super happy to announce our new podcast, "Louisville, Not Kentucky"-- episode 1 is now online and is 25 minutes of silliness, cheap booze, Louisville culture, and upcoming events.

In this episode, we discuss: LaBoy LeFemme drag show at The Connection, swimming at Lakeside Pool (courtesy of Awesome Louisvillager Brigid Kaelin), sweet tea lemonade booze, Costumes & Cocktails at Actors Theatre, our first viewing of BIG BROTHER season 14 featuring Louisville's own Wil Heuser, the fact that Linda has never seen ROMANCING THE STONE (WHAT??) and much much more.

The learning curve with this whole podcasting thing has been a little steep, and last Friday we spent SIX hours whittling down 35 minutes of tape to the lean, mean 25 minutes we have now. Next time hopefully it will go faster, but whoa, did we have a lot of fun. I honestly think a (highly-edited) documentary of the two of us cackling like crazy ladies would be even more entertaining than the podcast itself (I say highly-edited because those moments of cackling were interspersed with looooong moments of us staring slack-jawed at Audacity wondering what to do next).

We couldn't have done this without a little help from our friends. Thanks to Gabe Bullard for the crash course in recording and editing. Loads of love to Kyle Ware-- aka The Guy-- for creating our adorable logo. And sending mad love to Ms. Hazel Miller who, in 1982, recorded the song "Look What We Can Do," which we used as our intro music. No joke, when Linda and I realized that the last 8 seconds of this song was the PERFECT theme music, I thought I was going to explode from pure joy. I challenge you to listen to the whole two-minute song, and NOT want to clap/dance/jiggle/your-expression-of-glee-of-choice.  I, personally, think that Linda and I need to take a bio picture for the podcast of the two of us jumping in the air and pumping our fists, inspired by the last 8 seconds of that song.

Right now the plan is to have a new episode every two weeks. Once we get better/faster at editing, it may be more often.

Spread the word, people. This is basically MY LOUEYVILLE in a podcast. Do you have ideas about events and institutions we should cover? Want to provide us with a beverage for our "What are we drinking?" segment?  Want to be our sugar daddy/mama? Tweet us at @LouNotKY or email me at lou [at] loueyville.com.

So proud. Go listen, kids. Link to the podcast here: http://louisvillenotky.tumblr.com/

Paper Party at the Nach Bar

I am so proud of the work I have done with The Louisville Paper, the monthly indie newspaper that sprang up last summer, in part, to fill the void created in arts and neighborhood reporting when our local daily gave a slew of reporters the boot. Matt Dobson & Stephanie Brothers have worked tirelessly to create a stylish, well-written, and increasingly indispensable addition to the Louisville media landscape. This August, the Paper turns one, and that calls for a party! (And apparently a really awesome .gif!!)


From the invite:
Join Creative Director Matt Dobson and Editor Stephanie Brothers, along with The Paper contributors and supporters, on Saturday, August 4 at Nachbar (969 Charles St. 40204) for The Paper's First Birthday Party! The party kicks off at 5 p.m., and is FREE and open to the public.

• Grind, Louisville's premier gourmet burger food truck, will be on site during the event.
• Desserts will be provided by Jamie's 14k Cupcakes.
• Local bands Tropical Trash and Discount Guns will provide the evening's musical entertainment.
• Guests will walk away with grab bags as well as have the chance to win one of several prizes from our wonderful sponsors. Prizes from: Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Root Cellar, City Scoot, Derby City Chop Shop, Foxhollow Farm, The Grind Truck, and Heine Bros. Coffee!

Seriously, how many birthday parties are this awesome? You get the gifts and don't even have to send a thank-you card to Aunt Linda for that ugly sweater.

I love these people and this publication. Good people doing good work. And I'm honored to be frequently featured alongside some of Louisville's best writers. (And sure, it doesn't hurt that I met The Guy on my first assignment from the Paper.) You can check out almost all of my Paper articles here.

Hope you can join us!

Alex Wright & Butch Rice @ North End 7/20

Sadly, it's been a little while since I've had a chance to see Alex Wright play a gig. I hope he hasn't revoked my status as President of the Alex Wright Fan Club of North America.

Little did I know, though, that the North End Cafe-- one of the most consistently good restaurants in town-- has launched a new late-night music series, the brainchild of local musician/music-writer Hunter Embry.

This Friday night (doors at 11p, music at 1130p), two of my favorite local singer-songwriters, Alex Wright and Butch Rice, will take the stage along with special guests Danny Flanigan and Chris Fuller.

Note this is the HIGHLANDS location (woo hoo!); lots of y'all still default to the Frankfort location when you think of North End (I know I do).

Mama may need to take a disco nap on Friday afternoon, but I'm going to try not to miss this.

Garden & Gun Made in the South-- ENTER!

My love for the magazine Garden & Gun is pretty well-established on this blog, so I'll save you the sales pitch ("Yes, it really is my favorite magazine. No, it's not just about gardens and guns."). But if you have yet to check it out, flip through a copy at your local bookstore-- if the photography alone doesn't hook you...

Last year's Garden & Gun "Made in the South" awards featured a Louisville furniture-maker named Jason Cohen. The magazine is accepting entries for the 2012 "Made in the South" awards through August 1st.

According to their website, eligible entries are: "any Southern artisan or business with a product that will be available through January 2013. Products must be made in the South and fall under one of the following categories: food, outdoors, style & design, or home."

Information on how to apply can be found here. Let's keep the creative Louisville torch burning!

What local businesses and artisans would you like to see featured in Garden & Gun? Leave suggestions in the comments below. Maybe collectively, we could give them all a little nudge!

Here is the 2012 "Made in the South" spread.

Costumes & Cocktails at Actors Theatre

Disclaimer: I am a member of the Actors Theatre Generation One Board. I am one of the Social Chairs (a little funny if you know me and know that I am not exactly a social butterfly), and I manage the GOBoard Twitter feed. You'll be hearing a lot from me about the GOBoard's activities. We're pushing hard to recruit new members this season. If you're young (we don't really have a cut-off age, but 45 or younger is the unofficial "young" -- woo hoo!) and you support Actors Theatre, we'd love to have you!

Have you ever wanted to poke around in Actors Theatre's Costume Shop? Here's your chance to go behind-the-scenes and see where the fashion magic happens at the theatre.

Join the GOBoard for cocktails, music, and food (provided by great local restaurants including the Silver Dollar and Mayan Cafe) on July 28 from 7pm -11pm for Costumes & Cocktails in Actors' Costume Shop. [enter at 315 W. Market Street, next to Kinko's]

The theme of the event is "Through the Decades"-- come dressed in costume or snag some duds from the costume trunk. Costumes & Cocktails is one of only two public events offered by the GOBoard each season, so come hang out with our fantastic group of young professionals who love and support Actors Theatre and want to share their passion for the arts with you.

The first 50 people get a free drink ticket with their $10 admission. YPAL members receive a free drink ticket as well. That means if you're a YPAL member AND you are among the first 50 people at the event, you get TWO tickets.

Our DJ for the evening is Jason Clark, who has rocked Lebowski Fests past. And of course we'll have a photo booth on hand to capture you and your friends in all of your crazy costume glory.

A little bit about the GOBoard (I'll be doing a full post on the benefits of joining next week) from the website:

The GOBoard is a vibrant group of young adults who are engaged with Actors Theatre. GOBoard members participate in fund raising opportunities on the theatre’s behalf. The GOBoard membership structure provides multiple opportunities to gain entry level experience working with a nonprofit board with other engaged, like minded young professionals while actively supporting and impacting a whole new generation of theatre artists and leaders. Membership has Benefits: The annual $50 membership fee entitles you to ... Discounted Season Tickets to the Brown-Forman Mainstage Series, discounted performances of Holiday Shows, discounted Actors Theatre swag, access to unique behind-the-scenes special events, social gatherings, meetings and drink discounts at Intermezzo.

For more information or to join, click the website link above.  Questions? Email me: Lou [at] Loueyville.com. 

Guest Post: BIG BROTHER Keeps Louisville Weird

Wil Heuser NOT Alex Porter...
though they both have good hair

Every once in a while I stumble across some Louisville news that I want to share but know that I can't do justice to. This time it was the inclusion of a Louisville comedian on this season of BIG BROTHER. 


The good news is this time I knew exactly who to ask for help. My friend, Alex Porter, is a BIG BROTHER junkie! Enjoy Alex's guest post and tune in to BIG BROTHER's premiere on Thursday!! 

We are in the thick of the Summer television season, when the broadcast networks replace their quality programming with the cheaply produced guilty pleasures of shows such as Hell’s Kitchen, The Bachelorette, and Wipeout!

Since 2000, one of the biggest Summer hits has been the trashtastic BIG BROTHER on CBS. Each season a group of “HouseGuests” are chosen to live together in a camera filled house and avoid “eviction” to be the last guest standing to win $500,000 dollars. We the viewers get to indulge in our voyeuristic side and watch all of the crazy action and competition each week.

I make no excuses, I love this show. It is my guilty pleasure and I’m not the only one. Last season, it was one of the top five most watched TV shows in Louisville during August.

I respect the CBS executives for having no shame in producing the trashiest reality show on TV, but this year we have an additional reason to tune in.

The latest season premieres on Thursday, July 12th at 9 p.m. This past week CBS gave us details on the house guests (Which you can see here) and one of them is a Louisville resident who happens to be quite the character.

Wil Heuser is a marketing consultant from Louisville but more importantly, he has appeared briefly on American Idol and has released several music videos including one where he dresses up in catholic school girl clothing similar to classic Britney Spears. See here. 

He has also produced several skit comedy videos on YouTube that are extremely over the top, brash and ridiculous.

So being the BIG BROTHER fan that I am, I watched a couple of Wil’s videos and as expected, they are pretty far out and crazy. My first reaction was “Oh my God, this guy is crazy. Why does he have to be from Louisville?”

But after thinking about it for a while, that is a pathetic reaction.

I think it’s awesome that he is from Louisville!

Here is somebody who is out there doing exactly what he wants to do and doesn’t give a crap about what anybody else thinks. We should all support that kind of attitude, even if we don’t necessarily care for the performance or product.

One one Louisville’s slogans that has really gained traction is “Keep Louisville Weird” and that’s something we should be proud of. I think Wil helps us stay weird. Even if it is somewhat of a back handed compliment.

Of course once BIG BROTHER gets underway Wil could end up being one of the biggest jerks to ever be on the show, but I doubt that happens.

So when this season gets started, I urge everybody to put their reservations aside, join me and watch BIG BROTHER in all its trashy glory to follow Wil’s progress.

I’ll be watching.

Side Note: This season also includes Joe Arvin, a chef from Lexington KY. So maybe we can make this a good natured Louisville versus Lexington competition?


Alex Porter is a Media Research Analyst in the Louisville area. A pop culture junkie, he is always keeping up with the latest trends in TV and media. He also enjoys spending time with his wife Kayla, their shih tzu Kyle, and endless cups of coffee. You can follow Alex on Twitter at @alexporter82 and read his blog at alexinlouisville.wordpress.com.

New Feature: Non-Profit of the Month

One of the many things I love about Louisvillagers is their willingness to come together and share ideas. The idea for Non-Profit of the Month sprang from a conversation I had during a lunch with the lovely and talented Robyn Sekula in late May. So next time you see her, thank her.

Each month for the foreseeable future, My Loueyville will feature an ad and promoted content from a non-profit that I believe in and want to celebrate.  On the website, you'll see a prominent ad and throughout the month, the blog will feature guest posts, contests, and/or special posts related to that non-profit.

I'm so excited that our first Non-Profit of the Month is Theatre [502]. I love these people, and I admire what they're doing for the Louisville theatre scene.  Keep your eyes out over the next couple of days for a post about why I asked Theatre [502] to be my first Non-Profit of the month. We'll also have guest posts from people involved in their upcoming play, Gruesome Playground Injuries, and ticket giveaways for that show.

Do you work for or have a favorite LOCAL non-profit that you'd like to nominate for Non-Profit of the Month? Send me a brief email (this isn't an essay contest) at lou@loueyville.com telling me why your non-profit should be featured and giving me a couple of ideas of blog posts I could write about that non-profit over the course of the month.

I'm really excited about this series, and I'm so happy to have Theatre [502] on board!

{LOL, I just Googled NPOTM (Non-Profit of the Month) to make sure it wasn't dirty or anything-- you have to do that these days!!-- and it's already the acronym for a fairly popular blog called Nail Polish of the Month. I guess we can share.}

Forge Presents: Artists are Startups

This event sounds so fantastic. I have this friend who is a pretty talented writer but doesn't have a lick of business sense in that crazy creative noggin of hers. I'm totally dragging my friend to this event. My friend could really use a good talking to about how writing can be a business and how my friend should think of her talent as a product that should be paid for. My friend is going to get so much out of this event. And it looks like Falls City is a sponsor, and that's her favorite beer, so maybe that will help convince my friend to go.

What? 

I have friends.

I have friends who are writers and have no business sense and love Falls City Beer.

Lots of them.

I'm not talking about me here. Not everything is about me.

Forge presents "Artists are Startups" featuring Ashley Capps, founder of Bonnaroo, with music by Alanna Fugate and art by Sloan Showalter, Leia Facewalker, and Shawn Khily. Thursday July 12 at the Butchertown Pub Studios from 530p-730p.

Happy Louiversary, Lou!

Me & Flat Stanley by the river.  (flatstanleylouisville.blogspot.com)

Six years ago today, a very sad and bedraggled Lou & a less sad and less bedraggled Roommate arrived in Louisville with their moving truck and two cars. It was a day very much like today-- hot, hot.

Neighbor 1 from across the street, an able-bodied dude, immediately offered an extra hand with the heavy furniture.

Neighbor 2 from next door, a delightful older woman who has since moved-- we miss her every day, came by later with a cheese pizza and a six-pack of beer in a cooler with ice "in case we didn't have a fridge yet."

By nightfall, Neighbor 3 from three doors down showed up with a fistful of takeout menus, just in case we didn't feel like cooking as we settled in.

The next day, Neighbor 4 from two doors down, came by with a gigantic houseplant.

I had planned on spending the rest of my life in New Orleans, but Katrina and my subsequent job loss made it too hard to stay. I was not happy about leaving-- I was miserable. But the school here in Louisville that recruited me and wined me and dined me and gave me all kinds of reasons to move to this town that I knew NOTHING about, promised me that I'd find a good and welcoming home here.

Honestly, it took a couple of years-- a couple of years and the creation of this blog and the discovery of our local Twitter community-- before I really found a HOME here. But find a home I did. And now I am one of Louisville's most passionate cheerleaders.

But those first few days, when my neighbors drifted over and welcomed us were a good indication of what was to come. Lots of people scoff at the idea of Louisville as Compassionate City, but I am a believer.

This is the city where my neighbors welcomed us in a way that we would normally chalk up to a "Leave it to Beaver"-style fiction. This is the city that, when a tree crushed my house during the Hurricane Ike wind storm, sent even more of my neighbors over to my house to help me clear out the rubble and be safe. This is also the place where, when I was diagnosed with cancer and had no family and VERY few friends nearby to care for me, my students and their families, my colleagues, and near-strangers stepped up and filled the void.

I love Louisville for so many reasons. But reason #1 will always be the people. I love my Louisvillagers.

I still miss New Orleans. But Louisville is my hometown now. My job search 6 years ago could have landed me any number of places (the city that ended up in second place was Washington, DC). I am so, so very lucky that it landed me here.

Thanks, Louisville.  Love you.  Hope to keep finding ways to give back because you have given me so much.