Guest Post: Matt from Li'l Cheezers Explains!

Update: When this was originally posted, I titled it "Mike from Li'l Cheezers..." The man's name is Matt.  Geez Louise, Lou.  It was right there in the email.  My apologies to Matt.  Matt says this happens all the time, for some reason... 


A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about Li'l Cheezers, the new grilled cheese truck making the rounds in the city.  I'd watched the business develop via their Facebook & Twitter posts, and I was-- as many people were-- dismayed when I saw that they'd hit a red-tape wall regarding city ordinances.  I emailed the folks at Li'l Cheezers and asked them for the skinny.  But they were, understandably, too busy to be able to respond at the time.  Since then, Li'l Cheezers has pushed through the frustrating blocks and the truck is up and running and routinely selling out!  Fabulous news!  Now that the bureaucratic nightmare is mostly over, Matt Davis was nice enough to drop me a lengthy email with the Li'l Cheezers story.  With his permission, I reproduce the story here:

Basically (if basic is even possible) what happened was that 3 years ago an ordinance was passed to regulate pop up vendors on the side of the road selling swap meet Nikes and fake Persian rugs. They were also selling food and anything else they could to make money. By the addition of the word "food" in that vendor ordinance the regulating agencies took it upon themselves to police up all mobile food vendors that weren't compliant with the local vendor ordinances. Unknowingly infringing upon liberties given these mobile food vendors by the Health Department which is a state entity. Local trumped state for about 3 years and that was clearly not the way its supposed to work. Once that was realized by the Mayor's Policy Analyst he called the IPL and basically got the problem solved. The Inspections, Permits and Licenses division and more specifically the division of Alcohol and Beverage control are still charged with making sure we are permitted properly by the health department and we are doing everything we are supposed to be doing but we are no longer required to meet the requirements of the local ordinance regulating Stationary and Mobile Vendors and Peddlers as long as we are legal with the health department.

There were other concerns as well like the competition that we give to brick and mortar establishments but I will not apologize for having a different concept. Qdoba doesn't apologize to Taco Bell, and no one is crying about the unmanned Redbox movie rental cabinets across the street from the closed-down Blockbusters. I am sure they didn't have to have a meeting at the Mayor's office and they took jobs and industry from the community. And is that money local? It would seem to me that anything taking jobs away from the area ought to be pumping as much money back into the local community as possible.

Primarily I think food trucks got a bad rap because they are hard to regulate, they can move anywhere, and if you aren't paying attention they could potentially sell anything, and I recognize that as a problem. But ANY business can do that and the daily operational practices of a business are only as good as the owner and employees of said business. I am a 15 year EMS veteran both civilian and military, a homeowner, taxpayer, father, and husband. I bring an ethical standard to my business practices that are without question. I am not trying to sit in front of a restaurant and undercut your prices and steal business. I don't want to go where the food IS; I want to go where the food ISN'T like industrial parks, office parks, and construction sites. People might only get 30 minutes for lunch and that leaves 4 options: bring it from home, raid the vending machines, skip lunch or race to the closest fast food joint and slam your food on the way back to work. If an option is in the parking lot of an office or industrial park and it provides a quick and easy food option within walking distance, then it gives employees a chance to sit, converse, digest, and clock back in on time. Happy employees are much more productive employees and that's important especially in direct customer contact based services.

Beyond that, late night bar crowds are our bread and butter on the weekends. I am not hurting any local business by sitting near 3 or 4 bars with no 3am food options close by. If having a food truck there keeps one drunkard from making a run for the border then the contribution these trucks make are even more lucrative than sales tax revenue.

So it would seem that the problem is solved for now and we have been doing excellent. I am so thrilled with all the positive response from the concept, the food and the rally of support for our culinary contribution. Unlike EMS, now I see smiles on faces when we show up, I see people happy about our presence and I see people raving about the food. I couldn't ask for a better response with over 600 Facebook and Twitter followers in the first 2 weeks and the location offers rolling in. And the press.... I don't even know where it is all coming from. All over the internet, newspapers and word of mouth is amazing.

Thank you so much to Matt-- I don't know him personally, but I love his story, and his commitment to all things local and ethical.  Haven't tried Li'l Cheezers, but as soon as we get a spate of better weather, I will track down the truck-- cheese and bread are my two of my favorite food groups (if only he served bourbon... nirvana!).  You can find the Li'l Cheezers food truck by following them on Twitter (@lilcheezers).  Or just keep an eye out for the Spongebob-yellow truck!  Good luck, Mike!

Trailer for ANOTHER EARTH: Mapother Stars

Holy cow!  Well, y'all know I have a little celebrity crush on local actor William Mapother (Ethan from LOST, yeah yeah sure... but he's been grand in everything I've seen him in. Including GLEN GARRY GLENROSS at Actors.

Well, the official trailer for his award winning Sundance 2010 film, ANOTHER EARTH is out.  Back when I first mentioned this film, I said, "A Louisvillager AND sci fi?  Love!"

I had no idea.  This looks astonishing.  Wow.  Beautiful.  Now I really can't wait.

Speaking of Mapother.... And kids, if you follow me on Twitter (@loueyville), you already know this story... I totally let you folks down.  When Roommate and I saw BOB at Actors Theater, I sat RIGHT IN FRONT of the lovely Mr. Mapother.  And you know what I said to him?  Nothing.  I said nothing.  Have had a crush on the man for years, and I said nothing.  Because that's how I roll.  (See: the first paragraph of this post)

Keillor & Collins at the Kentucky Center

Garrison Keillor is a polarizing figure.  There are people I love and respect with every ounce of my being who think Keillor is odious. I, on the other hand, have a huge, massive, fan-girl crush on the man.  Love him, love him, love him. Eat him up with a spoon. Good gravy, when he announced he'll be retiring soon, I fell into a catatonic gloom.

When I first met Roommate (nine years ago this May!), we instantly bonded over our mutual love of the tv show Ed and of Prairie Home Companion. Together we've made two pilgrimages to St. Paul to see PHC live, and we saw PHC when it came to New Orleans.

One of the most memorable nights of my life was on New Year's Eve just after Katrina.  Roommate and I decided to splurge, and we bought tickets to Keillor's New Year's Eve dinner and show up in St. Paul.  Keillor, ever the good host, made his rounds during dinner to all the tables.  And when when he found out we were from New Orleans (and had met him briefly during his New Orleans show), he spent extra time with us.  It just felt so special.  And then the show itself? Brilliant and beautiful and moving and seriously one of the best ways I can think of to ring in the new year.  A new year after such a damned awful year.  And perhaps the best part of that night? Billy Collins.

On Thursday, Garrison Keillor will interview Billy Collins at the Kentucky Center.  Collins was our Poet Laureate from 2001-03 and is seriously the most accessible, enjoyable living American poet, in my most humble and perhaps limited opinion.  You don't like poetry, you say?  You'll like Collins.  He's charming and smart and funny, and while I have a super special place in my heart for 2004-06 Laureate Ted Kooser (what a nice guy... and if you were on his mailing list, you got a love poem every Valentine's Day... swoon),  Collins may be my favorite living Laureate.

I bought my tickets as soon as the event was announced.  Which turned out to be a good thing because the event has been so popular, they're now simulcasting it to other theaters.  So go.  Seriously.  Go.

BTW: Who is our current Laureate? Kay Ryan. Who wrote a poem that was on my fridge for years and which comforted me during the loss of some of the most important people in my life.  Read "Things Shouldn't Be So Hard" here on Keillor's "Writers' Almanac" web page.  

Lil Cheezers: Street Food in Louisville

I've been watching the Lil Cheezers food truck story unfold on Facebook and Twitter for a while now.  Watched their excitement grow as the gourmet grilled cheese truck came together and watched their frustration mount when they hit a permitting wall.  I even contacted them to get more of the saga, but they wrote me back a polite "we're awfully busy, get back to you soon."

I'm not entirely sure how the permitting ordeal played out, but on Facebook they were very complimentary of the folks in Mayor Fischer's office.  And they've been out, slinging their grilled cheeses, the past couple of weekends.

Food trucks and street food are wicked hip these days, and folks in Louisville seem to be clamoring for a more vibrant local street food scene.  Tonight the NYT article about late night street food "raves" in San Francisco is burning up local Twitter.  And I know that there's a new "street food restaurant" opening up in the rebuilt old Mimosa building on Bardstown.  A while back, a local entrepreneur held a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign to open Morels Food Truck, an all-vegan operation.  I know I've heard something about a Mexican food truck too...

I'm really not familiar with the idea of "street food."  I lived in NYC for five years, and the only things I ate out of vehicles were hot dogs, donuts, and ice cream.  But I'm more than willing to accept that there is a street food vacuum here in Louisville that's slowly being filled.  We wish Lil Cheezers all the best!

Lil Cheezers' menu looks delish and reasonable.  While all their specialty sandwiches are appealing, I'd be more than happy with a $5 grilled brie sandwich, straight up, no add-ins.

They'll be at Record Store Day (something not-Thunder) on Saturday the 16th at Ear X-tacy from 9am-10p.  Last gig they had, they sold out before their time was up, so I recommend going early!  Can't wait to try it out.

Louisville Little Bit 1: Jack Fry's

When did I get so shy? I remember being something of a brazen badass when I was a teenager.  But as an adult, I'm definitely socially... well, back in the day we used to say "socially retarded," so I am the less-repulsive synonym of that.

Last night, I volunteered at the Louisville Public Media pledge drive, and I didn't introduce myself to a soul there.  Just did the answering phones thing (which was monumentally painful for me; I am so phone adverse that the only reason I HAVE a phone is that Mama Lou won't email or text) and ducked out.  I did, however, feel compelled to chime in on one conversation.

A lovely Bellarmine freshman (so nice to see so many young people volunteering!) was saying that she and her friends wanted to get all dolled-up and go out someplace super fancy for a friend's birthday... on a freshman budget.  And when she said something about her male friends wanting to wear their seersucker suits, I said: "Jack Fry's."  She'd never heard of the place and wanted a description, so I said: "It looks like somewhere Sinatra would've hung out."  She picked up her phone and made a reservation right then.

And that made me remember an idea I had for this blog.

The only New Year's Resolution that I've mostly kept is that I wanted to try new (to me) restaurants more.  Because we live in the most awesome, restaurant-heavy neighborhood in the city, Roommate and I tend to get in ruts.  So the goal was to branch out.  Eschew the old faithfuls for new untrieds.  The problem is: so many of the restaurants we haven't tried aren't really in our budget.  What to do?

Well, there's no rule that says that in order to go to a new restaurant you have to really eat there.  Right? I'm not a (groan) foodie.  I'm not a food critic.  I don't have to taste a whole bunch of things to decide whether or not I like a place. The point is to soak up the atmosphere and maybe have a little bit of something.

So every once in a while I will post a Louisville Little Bit where I tell you about how to get in and out of a restaurant that might normally be a budget-buster for a modest amount of cash.

Louisville Little Bit 1: Jack Fry's

Jack Fry's is one of the closest restaurants to my house.  And I've only been there twice.  Well, three times now. I've known full well that Fry's has very reasonably priced burgers, and I've heard many times that their burgers are among the best in the city.... but for some reason, I've avoided the place because I'd held in my head their $34 steaks and $32 fish dishes.  It just screamed "special occasion" or "important night out" to me.

As I said, Jack Fry's looks like a place where Sinatra would've felt quite at home.  Live music most evenings. Dark. Old pictures on the wall.  Fry's was established in 1933, and it probably hasn't changed much since, even though it changed hands from the original owners to a long-time employee in 2003.

When you live in this neighborhood, Jack Fry's is synonymous with "good smells."  Walk by Fry's during dinner hour when you're hungry, and the smell of cooking food is almost unbearable.

A few months ago, I got a bug up my butt to have a really killer burger.  And after hemming and hawing for a while-- it was a very ordinary night, a Wednesday or a Thursday-- somehow Roommate and I decided on Jack Fry's.  This was shortly after Roommate's heart attack, and we figured that if he was going to splurge on something less-than-good for him, it might as well be fantastic.

And I'll never hem and haw over Jack Fry's again.  What a delightful-- and fairly reasonable-- special night!  Their burgers are all they're cracked up to be and under $10!  The service was exceptional.  When I heard that one of the specials of the day came with brussel sprouts (one of my favorites) and asked if I could sub the sprouts for the burger's fries, the waitress didn't bat an eyelash.

Manhattans (my cocktail of choice) are reasonably-priced and delicious.  There are a few bottles of wine under $30.  And when it comes to atmosphere, between the decor and the live jazz... Jack Fry's can make an ordinary Thursday night feel like a special occasion.

One of the things I like most about Jack Fry's is that it is as swanky as you want it to be.  I didn't feel uncomfortable at all in jeans and a sweater.  I'd feel right at home in a cocktail dress.

A cocktail at the bar along with a burger or an appetizer... a little bit of Jack Fry's and you can get out of there for under the cost of their $34 steak!

Show Public Radio Some Love!

I moved to Louisville nearly five years ago.  (Side note: I just realized that at this point I have lived in Casa Lou longer than I've lived in any one dwelling since I was a child.  Huh. Wild.) Since that time I have listened to only two radio stations in the city: WFPK and WFPL.**

Louisville's Public Radio is one of my top ten favorite things about this city. Hell, I lived in NYC for five years, and I don't think their public radio is anywhere near as good.  We're so damned lucky to have WFPL and WFPK (and I'm sure we're lucky to have WUOL; it's just not my thing).  Waterfront Wednesdays, the whole news team at WFPL, Laura Shine (who doesn't have a HUGE girl-crush on Laura Shine?), and of course all the usual great NPR stuff.  

The C-J recently did a good article about local public radio and the political scene.  Check it out here. 

Anyway, there is no way I could possibly pledge what I owe to Louisville Public Media, so I volunteered to answer phone during their fund drive.  You should too.  Or better yet, dig deep and pledge at 502-814-6565 or online. 

**That statement is 99.99% accurate.  Sometimes if Roommate and I are in the car and a Reds game is on, we'll listen to sports radio.  And sometimes if I can't sleep, I listen to Coast-to-Coast with George Noory because, shit, I want to believe!

Comedy/Tragedy Face: Actors Theater Late Seating

Today's blog about Actors Theater's April Late Seating is brought to you by the Comedy/Tragedy face. 


This Friday (April 15) is Late Seating at Actors.  Doors open at 10p. The show begins at 10:30p.  And get your tickets in advance because these shows often sell out.  (And this one likely will.)  Performers include music from Adventure, performances by Le Petomane and Johnny Dobring, and an audience-generated art project.  There will also be give-aways, a cash bar, and all kinds of other fun.  That's the happy, Comedy face part.


I've only made it to one Late Seating-- the one on the rooftop of the garage with the Pass back in Fall 2010, and it was one of my favorite nights in Louisville. I've also tried to go to two more, but they sold out.  I promised myself after the last sold-out show I missed that I would try to get to as many Late Seatings as possible...


So now the sad news (Tragedy face) from Actors' press release:  


For over 5 years and 20 successful performances, the Late Seating has showcased more than 80 local artists and entertained more than 3600 patrons. April's lineup marks the Late Seating's final program of the season and with this Actors Theatre today announced that the Late Seating Co-producers: Mike Brookes, Cathy Colliver, Matt Dobson, Paul Doyle and Emily Ruddock, will retire as creative and logistical curators of the series.... Late Seating will now enter a hiatus following the April 15^th performance. Actors will reconsider the series upon the arrival of its soon to be appointed Artistic Director. (emphasis mine)


Here's hoping Actors brings back Late Seating quick and in a hurry.  We wish Brookes, Colliver, Dobson, Doyle, and Ruddock the best and thank them for a great series.  And get those tickets early, kids.  Once word gets out that this could be the last Late Seating in a while, it's sure to sell out.

Bats and Horses... upcoming events!

So college basketball season is over, and Roommate is in mourning.  That UCONN-Butler game was awful, but the women's Texas A&M vs. Notre Dame game more than made up for it.


One door closes, and another door opens... the Louisville Bats baseball season starts this Thursday, April 7 with a series against Toledo.  I couldn't be more excited.  The weather has promised to be nice, and it's still my spring break.  Someone who doesn't know me very well (yet) asked me if I planned to be at opening day for the Bats... and he was genuinely taken aback by my response.  I didn't mean to rock the "are you crazy??" face.  But I guess I did.  I will be there with proverbial bells on, folks.  And I have no doubt, win or lose, it will be a highlight of my spring vacation.


In other sporting news...


Churchill has announced that its first day of Spring Meet will be under the lights.  April 30 at 6pm with an 11-card race.  Personally, I have somehow missed ALL of Churchill's under the lights programs, so I am super excited for this.  General admission for Downs After Dark is $10. The Downs have planned more After Dark events have been planned for June 17 & 24 and July 1.


In addition to the After Dark nights, Churchill has also released their programme for Friday night concerts in the paddock.  According to their website the line up looks like this:

• May 13: The Villebillies (eclectic rap, rock and other genres);

• May 20: Keller Williams (combines elements of bluegrass, folk, alternative rock and other genres);

• May 27: Dawn Landes and the Hounds (country/folk and indie-rock);

• June 3: Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons (indie-rock);

• June 10: Wax Fang (experimental psychedelic rock).

General admission for these race dates will be $3 until 7 p.m. but will increase to $10 after that time. Admission will be free on May 13.

Read more: Churchill Downs starting spring meet under lights, launching concert series | Business First 

Humana Fest 35: Sweet

This is the second year in a row that, thanks to the generosity of the folks at Actors Theater, I've been able to see every Humana Festival play (I still think we should earn merit badges for these sort of achievements).

Humana Festival is one of the great joys in my life.  And this year's generally stellar line-up has confirmed that this is truly the "most wonderful time of the year" in Louisville.  (I know I sometimes say that about Bats Season, but Bats Season lasts too long to really fit that moniker... it's just that in the dead of winter, when Bats Season feels synonymous with "temperate temperatures" and "sitting outside with a beer and good friends," Bats Season feels so darned magical.)  Any Louisvillager with a drop of theater-geek blood in them should feel uncommonly blessed to live in the city that is home to this amazing festival of New American Plays.

This year's festival has seemed a little less diverse than previous festivals.  It's leaned toward the narrative plays and has featured fewer abstract, experimental works.  No complaints here, I guess.  While some of my favorite plays from last year's Festival were the more abstract ones (METHOD GUN and FISSURES immediately come to mind), and at least one of my least favorites was a narrative (yeah... GROUND... hm), narrative plays tend to appeal to a wider audience.

But if there has been a fairly consistent common denominator among the Humana Festival plays this year, it might be this: sweetness.  The best of the plays have all featured tender, loving, sweet portrayals of complicated characters.

Most notably, EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM starred three characters (and only three characters) who were fleshed out by the playwright (A. Rey Pamatmat) with beautiful care and respect.  When I left that play, I told Roommate, "I think I just fell in love with a 16 year old gay nerd.  Is that wrong?" (I was speaking of Benji-- if you didn't fall in love with him, you most certainly wanted to adopt him, right?)

BOB, too, gave us characters-- centrally, Bob himself, but support characters, too-- worthy of our love.  Through Bob's rise and fall and rise and fall and rise again, actor Jeffrey Binder's deep connection to his character kept us invested and rooting for him, even during the ugly moments.  The four-person chorus, who played all the support characters, morphed themselves into (and out of) complex people in the blink of an eye-- so many of whom drew the audience's genuine care and concern.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the tragedy that draws Katha and Ryu into their "not-cult" in MAPLE AND VINE felt absolutely authentic, tragic but sweet.  ELEMENO PEA features the most abrasive characters of the Festival, but when it all comes to a head, the play is really about Devon (played by the delightful Cassie Beck who was the best thing about last Festival's CHERRY SISTERS) who has made very ordinary-- haven't we all done stupid sh*t for love?-- mistakes that are laid bare in the most sympathetic way.  And DEVIL AT NOON, while being the most experimental show of the Festival, still set forth some of the most authentically wrought and deeply relatable characters of all the plays (see my previous post).

The two Humana Fest plays that didn't really toot my horn still had "sweetness" at their core.  I wish I could say that the Fest was a clean sweep of awesomeness, but I can't.

I was so hyped up to see THE EDGE OF OUR BODIES, written and directed by Adam Rapp.  I'm a big fan of the HBO series IN TREATMENT, and Rapp wrote for the "Sunil" storyline this past season-- the best storyline of the season, and perhaps my favorite storyline of the series.  I expected complex beauty from him, and EDGE fell short.  I wanted to be invested in Bernadette, but despite the fact that I share her New England prep school/Ivy-bound background and got all her in-crowd jibes about Loomis Chaffee and whether or not Mount Holyoke is as "overrun by lesbians" as Smith College... I still felt absolutely left in the dark.  I have no idea what happened in that play.  None. When the crowd applauded at the "end," I felt embarrassed.  I thought, "Oh no, the crowd thinks the play is over because she's walking out that door...." But it was, indeed, over.  I LOVE plays that give me something to discuss.  But this play left me utterly perplexed.

And I wish the Apprentice show had left me perplexed.  Last year's HEIST was an apprentice show that melded site-specific theater with audience participation... my experience with HEIST was, in short, one my top five nights in Louisville.  THE END, the apprentice show this year, had moments of utter brilliance (I will never forget playwright Marco Ramirez's segment called THE ONE THEY CALL THE BLOOP), but overall THE END felt like a high school skit about the apocalypse.

But, my goodness, this year's Humana Festival was a treasure.  The best Humana Festival I've seen since I moved here in 2006.  Even the less-successful works were imbued with sweetness and respect and love.

Next Year's Actors Theater Line-up

I promise you, I have a big ol' Humana Festival 35 round-up in the cooker for you.  But this week has been a booger.  It's been the week before Spring Break (I am, right now, officially ON Spring Break... praise the relaxation gods), and I have been sick, sick, sick with an as-of-yet-undiagnosed maybe-strep-throat-maybe-upper-respiratory-infection.  

But this golden nugget landed in my email box tonight, and I am too jazzed to sit on it.  It's the 2011-12 Actors Theater line-up, and I'm super excited.  In play (pun intended for the 2011-12 season:

• Sense & Sensibility: Jon Jory's adaptation of Jane Austen's work
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: adapted by Laura Eason
• ReEntry by Emily Ackerman and KJ Sanchez
• The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity bu Kristoffer Diaz
• In The Next Room by Sarah Ruhl (personal opinion: am a HUGE fan of Sarah Ruhl)

stalk TALK: Web Series with Local ties

stalk TALK, a comedy web series helmed by Louisville's own Rachel Annette Helson, will debut online this Wednesday, March 30.

I'm excitedly anticipating this production.  Not only is some of it being shot in Louisville (including the scene in the photo here), but Rachel Helson is insanely accomplished and a Louisvillager that makes us proud.

(I have to admit, I kind of get the willies from what I've seen so far.  But I'm going to trust Helson and her cohorts to get this right.)

stalk TALK is about a support group for stalkers of B-list celebrities, including Chuck Norris, Lindsay Lohan (or just "LINDSAY" now, I guess), and Pee Wee Herman.  Helson is one of the stars; she's also the creator and one of the writers.  Helson, the youngest person ever to be nominated for a TONY award for producer, left the Louisville Collegiate School after her junior year when she was accepted into the Tisch School of the Arts (at NYU).  She's gone on to graduate from Tisch, write a children's book, and produce the Rocky Horror Picture Show (featuring Neil Patrick Harris) on Broadway (check out her website for more about Helson's impressive accomplishments).

stalk TALK premiers on Wednesday at www.stalktalk.tv. Wishing them the best of luck!  Tune in!

Slow and Bouncy... perfect!

Mama has gone and done the unthinkable.

That's right, this Sunday you'll find me at a sporting event playing a sport.

I'll just let that sink in for a moment...

... Well, maybe "sport" should be in quotation marks.  Through positive peer pressure, I've joined a National Kickball Association team.  League play starts this week, and it looks like there's still plenty of time to put a team together (although based on how hard our poor captain has worked to get us organized, named, paid for, and t-shirted, maybe not).  Go visit the fantastic website if you're interested.

I'll keep you posted on this developing story.  And I'll try not to embarrass y'all too much.

Go Cards! STILL in the Tourney!

Well, my brackets are busted.  How 'bout yours?

But before you hang up your tournament-watching hat after U of L's first round (I mean "second" round) loss, let's not forget that we DO still have a dog in this fight.

Going to U of L's women's basketball games this year has been a good live sports fix for me while I wait for Bats season to begin again (SOON!).  The tickets are seven bucks, it's possible to get a reasonably priced beer there (you have to hunt), and the women have not disappointed.

U of L's women take on Xavier on Tuesday at 710p in Cincinnati.  The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.  It's going to be a challenge; Xavier is a 2nd seed and have a killer 29-2 record for the season (we're a 7 seed and 21-12).  But we won some really powerful games this season, and when the women are on, they're on.

So GO CARDS! C-A-R-D-S!! (yeah, I hate that too... I just figured, why not?)

Wait, We Did What, Louisville?

Oh Louisville... you're so silly...


I'm a nerd for many things, but I'm primarily a pop culture nerd. So of course, the EW.com RSS feed is in my Google Readers.  I'm not a huge fan of Kathy Griffin, but a few episodes of her "My Life on the D-List" convinced me she's a real sweetheart sometimes AND that I desperately need an assistant.


Anyway, when EW reprinted Griffin's bio from the Playbill for her new Broadway show, I had a few chuckles.  Most of it is hilariously fictional:

Broadway: Speed-the-Plow (with Jeremy Piven, sushi-taster no. 4); Macbeth (Macbeth’s wisecracking red-headed sidekick); Les Miserables (Jean Valjean’s funny flame-haired henchwoman); The Iceman Cometh (Iceman’s sharp-tongued best friend); Neil LaBute’s I Hate You But I Won’t Say It Till It Can Do The Most Damage (dead whore); Cats (Fierce-y Tattletail MacHairBall); Sweeney Todd (Pie Eater No. 3); Chicago (Mrs. Cellophane); Your Arms Too Short to Box With God: A Soaring Celebration in Song and Dance (God’s fight promoter); Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark (head stuntwoman, fired).

The only non-jokey category appears to be this one:

Awards: Ms. Griffin has received two Emmy awards, having been nominated seven times. She has also received three Grammy nominations, the GLAAD Vanguard award, the Trevor Project’s Lifetime Honoree award, the Human Rights Campaign’s Ally for Equality award, a 2007 GAYVN award (aka gay porn), the key to Louisville, and the 2011 Tony Award (fingers crossed!)

Uh, did you catch that?  The key to Louisville??  (A little Googling, and I find out that this happened in 2006, and only five people showed up to the ceremony.)


I used to think that my biggest aspiration was to be a Kentucky Colonel.  Scratch that!  I need the key to the city.  Stat!  And what exactly does this key open...?  

Just Checking in...

So, it's bedtime for all good little Lous, but the world (and national) news has me so filled with sadness (and maybe a little fear) that I thought, "Geez, maybe I should find some tidbit of good news and post it on the blog before I go to bed."  I don't know who I thought I'd be helping.  You, reader?  Me?

And then I opened the Blogger dialogue window and just stared... and stared... and thought, "I've got nothing."

That's not true, of course.  There's lots of good going on in Louisville right now.  If we put on our blinders (lightly, gently, just enough to get us through the day but not enough to block it out) and look only in our backyards, there are good things galore.

The forecast for Thursday through Monday hovers around the 70 degree range.  In March.  That's spectacular news.  I had a fabulous weekend.  Saw Les Mis for the first time at the Kentucky Center's Broadway Across America on Friday.  Hit up the Hooley in the Highlands St. Pat's parade on a 66 degree Saturday.  Saw EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM at the Humana Festival on Sunday afternoon, my third Humana play this year and the third Humana play to hit it out of the park (read Erin Keane's review here).

Lady Gaga came to the YUM! Whale and put on a hell of a show, by all accounts, and then proved that she really is the coolest thing since Netflix Video on Demand by showing up at Connections and joining drag queen Vanessa DeMornay onstage (video here).  Both the men's and the women's UofL basketball teams made it into the Big Dance.  Sarah McLaughlin brought scores of fans to crazy weepy tears, if my twitter feed tells the truth.  And heck, someone out there genuinely enjoyed themselves seeing Michael Bolton on Sunday, right?  Right?

It was a good weekend in Louisville.  And I'm not saying that we should only pay attention to what's in our backyard.  Not even close.  The world is big, sad, scary, and a little crazy.  And you should probably cry and get angry and want to throw things.  (But don't throw things because that's not okay; it is okay to want to.)  I keep reading folks on Twitter who despair over the news from Japan and then long to hug their kids.  Well, I don't have kids.  So I'll write a few positive words, be grateful for my students-who-are-our-hope-for-the-future, long for better news tomorrow, and go to bed.  G'night, Louisvillagers.  Sleep peacefully.  Moon off.

Maple & Vine: Another Humana Hit

"Oh look," I said to Roommate as we passed the "Warning" sign as we entered the theater to see today's matinee of MAPLE & VINE.  "It says partial nudity."  This is one of our bazillion private jokes. I nudged him in the side and said: "Woo hoo!"

"Eh." He shrugged. "It probably means boy-butt.  It usually does." And that's his standard response.

We got seated in the Bingham Theater and continued the conversation.  I said: "Dude, the play is in the round.  It can't mean boy-butt.  You can't reasonably do boy-butt without doing boy-front.  And boy-front, my friend, ain't no partial nudity."

Yes you can.

When you have an awesome theater reviewer in town, as we do with Erin Keane, it's hard to say anything new or different that the critic didn't already mention.  (So, I bring you "boy-butt"-- if you can't go deeper, go lowbrow, I say.) So go look at Erin's review.  It's spot on, and I second everything she said.

I loved Maple & Vine.  I love when theater puts Big Ideas out there and puts those Big Ideas in really appealing, funny packages.  Unlike A DEVIL AT NOON, which ran a little long, Main & Vine felt perfectly-paced.  I wasn't ready to leave the people or the world when it was over.

The Big Idea of the play had to do with harried modern New Yorkers surrendering their iPads and sleep noise machines to join a "not-cult" of 1955 re-enactors.   For me the Big A-ha wasn't that the modern world makes some people too fraking busy to appreciate... anything; it was that the modern world makes some people who thrive on challenge and adversity terribly, terribly bored.

I can't remember a more elaborate moving set in the Bingham.  The number of set changes was staggering and led to a couple of snafoos.  One of those snafoos, however, yielded the best on-stage "save," I've ever seen by a performer.  When one of the set elevators actress gave Jeannine Servalles a bit of a ride, up and down, and then jolted her off of a piece of furniture-- during a particularly serious scene-- the audience howled with laughter.  And she said, "See, I'm so upset I'm levitating!"  Bravo, sister.  Well done.

On a serious note: as someone who has suffered through the same personal tragedy that leads main characters Katha and Ryu to abandon their hectic lives, I thought the emotional toll of such an event was very well-handled and authentic.  It made me root for them even more.

Go see it.  This is great theater, y'all.

Oh, and Moon Off.

Humana Fest 35: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

If you live in Louisville, which you probably do if you're reading this, I'd like you to take a moment.  Put down the mouse. Take your finger off the scroll pad.  I'd like you to reach up and pat yourself on the shoulder.  Good girl/boy/neutral/questioning.  Be proud of yourself.  You live in a city that hosts one of the premier theater events in the country.  Not only do you live in a city that hosts the Humana Festival of New American Plays, but this city has hosted the HECK out of this festival for thirty-five years.

I have theater-nerd friends in other cities who got all twitterpated and jealous when they found out I was moving to Louisville.  "Oooooohhh... Louisville... Actors Theater... How sexy are YOU?!"  


The answer is Damn Sexy.  And so are you.  You live in Louisville, the home of the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

Roommate and I hit DEVIL AT NOON by Anne Washburn last night, and hot damn, kids, the game is on!  I love, love, loved it... although I can't really say that I understood all of it.  Some seriously brilliant acting-- perhaps the most authentic-feeling characters I've seen on Actors' stage since last year's PHOENIX.  Authentic-feeling in a very... inauthentic (?) world.  You know that character Zooey Deshanel (et al) plays in every single movie?  The young, quirky waif who brings chaos and joy to a downtrodden (usually older) man by being crazy-- perhaps even dangerously so-- and living close to the edge?  (There's a name for it, by the way, The Manic Pixie Dream Girl.)  Rebecca Hart's character is ever more endearing and memorable because by every rights she should have come off as a MPDG and not a real human being.  Real, of course, being a relative term.  All six actors put on a heck of a performance, but she's the one I'll really remember.

It's long.  Very long.  Maybe a little too long?  And (you'll understand this when you see it), I wish they'd had live foley artists.  I mean, if you're going to do THAT many sound effects, you should show us what the art looks like.

But seriously: good stuff.  I'd see it again even.  Go see it yourself.

Moon off.

What is Louisville Missing?

This just happens to be my 500th post.  A better blogger would have something special planned for this post. We all know I'm not a "better blogger."  But I do want to thank you lovely, beautiful people who read this blog on a regular basis (hi, mom!).  Loueyville.com has shaped my life in Louisville.  It's allowed me to meet people I never would have met, to go to events I never would have gone to... starting this blog is really among the best decisions I've ever made.  Rock on, Loueyville.  I hope you have (at least) another 500 posts left in you.

So anyway...

Over the past couple of days the local Tweeters have been pontificating about the fact that Borders declared bankruptcy, and that we're about to lose two fairly popular (apparently not popular enough) stores.  On the chopping block are the Borders on Hurstborne and the one on 4th Street Live.

The "What do we need downtown?" question has been floating around for years, and with this two-story, high visibility corner storefront opening up, lots of people are dreaming big.  It seems inevitable that a chain store will occupy the Borders space, and many of my Twitter folks rightfully are wishing for a clothing store.  If we can get one great clothing store to anchor in the 4th Street Live space, perhaps more will follow downtown.  The first suggestions I saw were for an H&M, but when I mentioned on Twitter that Roommate wished for a Filene's Basement, I was flooded with RTs and responses.  Everybody loves their Filene's Basements.

We all know downtown needs a grocery store, and the almost universal wish is that Louisville finally gets its own Trader Joe's, but that's not the right space for it.  Parking would be a nightmare, and imagine trying to make a milk and cheese run at 9pm on a Saturday night?

There's also the possibility that they turn the space into another chain restaurant.  If they do, my hope is that it becomes something along the lines of Dave and Busters or Jillian's.  Yes, I know we had a Jillian's before I moved here-- on the outskirts of town.  But I can't help but think it would be infinitely more successful in the heart of tourist downtown.  It would be nice to give people something to do at 4th Street besides drinking... not that there's anything wrong with that, per se.

Ashlee Clark from the fantastic blog Ashlee Eats has a great post on the issue and a poll, so I'm not going to dwell too much more on this specific space.  But this specific discussion got me thinking about the bigger picture.

I've lived in Louisville for 4.5 years now: What is MY Louisville missing?  Above and beyond this one soon-to-be-vacated space... what does Louisville need?

If I'm sitting on the lap of the Great Santa Who Gives Things to Good Little Girls, my first wish is for a Cinema Brewhouse/Gastropub.  It seems like Louisvillagers have collectively decided that we'd like to emulate Austin as much as possible, right down to our "Keep Louisville Weird" campaign.  I have to admit, I've only been to Austin once, like, 15 years ago... and I was less than impressed.  That being said, when I think Austin, I think Alamo Drafthouse.  And when I think "Alamo Drafthouse," I think... heaven.  Once upon a time, there was a push for a Cinema brewpub out by the Mellwood Center.  I don't know what ever happened to that.  And I don't know why someone with a little restaurant/bar background hasn't started to Kickstarter.com the sh*t out of a Cinema Brewpub.  If we can collectively fund a vegan food truck-- way to go Morels!-- we can make this happen with the right people.

Next on the wishlist: besides a cinema pub (and Trader Joe's) the only other thing that would really raise the quality of my Louisville life on a weekly basis would be the opening of a really nice sports bar in the Highlands.  One that's not BWW or UK-themed.  We're talking lots of good beers, lots of big tvs, good pub grub.  Someplace Roommate can watch his college basketball-- multiple games on multiple tvs.  Someplace I can watch my Red Sox at the same time the Reds are playing.  Rumor had it a while back that someone was cooking up a Highlands sports bar, but that rumor has gone the way of the cinema brewpub out by Mellwood.  I have a dream, and that dream takes place in the old Barret Bar space.  Make it so, someone. Make it so.

Speaking of sports, well, y'all know how I feel about minor league hockey.  Or even NHL hockey. Somebody bring Louisville a team of mostly-white, dentally-challenged Canadians on skates please.  Please!

A while ago, Roommate & I had on our wishlist a wine bar in the Highlands, but honestly the Holy Grale has kind of filled that hole for me.  There is a wonderful little place in Salem, MA called the Gulu Gulu cafe that's a wine and beer bar/coffeeshop/charcuterie.  The have live music and movie marathons... in March, they're having a Dr. Who night every week (LOVE!).  We could use a really creative space like that.

When I travel to other cities and see the following chain stores, I get jealous:

• IKEA (duh)
• Trader Joe's/Jungle Jim's (of course)
• Crate and Barrel
• The Container Store
• Restoration Hardware
• Anthropologie

I can't think of a chain restaurant that we're missing... granted, Roommate is recovering from a heart attack, but I still wouldn't mind seeing a Fatburger or In N Out Burger in Louisville.   

What's YOUR Louisville missing, folks?  Email me, tweet me (@loueyville), or leave your wish in the comments. 

Bonnaroo 2011 Line-Up Announced

You know how Mama loves her Bonnaroo...

But I was initially a little lukewarm when they announced the line-up yesterday.  Roommate and I always debate about music festivals.  For me, the best music festivals feature a knock-me-on-my-ass-good headliner who I've wanted to see for SO LONG and a solid line-up beyond that.  Roommate prefers his festivals to feature lots of good new bands.  I want my Pearl Jam.  I want my Springsteen.

What I do not want, frankly, is Eminem.  Or Widespread Panic.  Or Lil Wayne.  Or any of the other "big names" featured at this year's Bonnaroo.  Sure I'm interested in seeing Arcade Fire, but meh.  Neil Young will be awesome, but why do we have to lump the legend in with, well, a whole bunch of other legends? I really get almost halfway down the list before I'm psyched.  My first "ooh, that's cool" outbursts came with Dr. John and then with Florence and the Machine.

Interestingly enough, two of the names I'm most excited about are favorites from previous Bonnaroos.  I can't WAIT to see Low Anthem again.  And I "discovered" Abigail Washburn (with the Sparrow Quartet, including our own Ben Sollee) a few years back at Bonnaroo.

I do like Mumford & Sons, and maybe by June I'll be as wackadoo crazy about them as 95% of my hippest friends.

And as I've admitted before...  I KNOW that My Morning Jacket are a local TREASURE.  I KNOW that.  But I cannot, cannot, cannot get over how annoying the "Yim Yames" thing is.  I just can't.  I've been trying for three or four years, and I... I will continue to try.  For the love of Louisville.  But seriously.... "Yim Yames." I know he's made of puppies and awesome, according to most of you, but seriously... "Yim Yames"?  Ugh.

Here's the full line up, which I have shamelessly cut and pasted from The Nashville Scene:

* Eminem
* Arcade Fire
* Widespread Panic
* The Black Keys
* Buffalo Springfield feat Richie Furay, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Rick Rosas, Joe Vitale
* My Morning Jacket
* Lil Wayne
* String Cheese Incident
* Robert Plant & Band of Joy
* Mumford & Sons
* The Strokes
* The Decemberists
* Ray Lamontagne
* Bassnectar
* Iron & Wine
* Girl Talk
* Primus
* Dr. John and The Original Meters performing Desitively Bonnaroo
* Alison Krauss and Union Station
* Pretty Lights
* Florence & the Machine
* Superjam ft. Dan Auerbach and Dr. John
* Explosions in the Sky
* STS9
* Gogol Bordello
* Beirut
* Big Boi
* Scissor Sisters
* Gregg Allman
* Ratatat
* Global Gypsy Punk Revue curated by Eugene Hütz
* Robyn
* Warren Haynes Band
* Deerhunter
* Opeth
* Atmosphere
* Old Crow Medicine Show
* Bootsy Collins & the Funk University
* Wiz Khalifa
* Matt & Kim
* Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
* The Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band
* Mavis Staples
* Béla Fleck & the Flecktones
* Chiddy Bang
* Javanotti
* Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers
* Loretta Lynn
* Cold War Kids
* The Walkmen
* Devotchka
* Wanda Jackson
* Neon Trees
* Portugal. The Man
* Sleigh Bells
* Amos Lee
* Best Coast
* Dãm-Funk
* The Sword
* The Drums
* The Black Angels
* School of Seven Bells
* J. Cole
* Nicole Atkins & the Black Sea
* Wavves
* !!!
* Junip
* Freelance Whales
* Justin Townes Earle
* Ryan Bingham
* Deer Tick
* Band of Skulls
* Sharon Van Etten
* Abigail Washburn
* Omar Souleyman
* Twin Shadow
* Kylesa
* Man Man
* The Low Anthem
* Alberta Cross
* Railroad Earth
* Jessica Lea Mayfield
* Smith Westerns
* The Head and the Heart
* Karen Elson
* Beats Antique
* 22-20s
* Phosphorescent
* Clare MaGuire
* Hayes Carll

Decemberists & Justin Townes Earle @ Iroquois Amph.

Roommate and I saw the Decemberists at Bonnaroo a few years back.  I think I only hit a bit of their show, but I liked what I saw.  And I enjoy what I hear on satellite radio.  And I'm very intrigued by Justin Townes Earle, especially after his big profile in Garden & Gun Magazine.  (Seriously people? Have you still NOT subscribed to Garden & Gun? Best magazine out there right now. It's been brilliant since issue #1.  And they love us here in Louisville.)

They're playing together at the Iroquois Amphitheater on April 26.  Tickets are $36 plus tax and fees.  As of last night there were still tickets available (we snagged two), but I have no doubt-- especially based on the Decemberists history-- that this show will sell out soon.

Beam & Dafoe: Two Classic Gentlemen

Have you seen this really beautiful Willem Dafoe Jim Beam ad?  Dafoe once said, "One of the pleasures of being an actor is quite simply taking a walk in someone else's shoes. And when I look at the roles that I've played, I'm kind of amazed at all the wonderful adventures I've had, and all of the different things I've learned."

Back when I lived in the East Village of NYC, I used to see Dafoe almost every day on my walk to the West Village to work (I imagine he was heading to work to, at the Wooster Group).  I never stopped him and played fangirl, but he (maybe because he) was always so damned pleasant.  A smile, a nod, a comment on the weather, a definite acknowledgement that we passed each other at the same time in the same place nearly every day.  I'm actually kind of impressed I didn't geek out over him at the time; I've always had a big crush.  I mean seriously, he was sexy Jesus.  And he's still pretty gosh darned sexy.

Jim Beam and Willem Dafoe?  I approve.