738. Futura, by Theatre [502] - and some discussion therewith

Theatre [502] is in the middle of their production of Jordan Harrison's play Futura at Actors Theatre in downtown Louisville.  It is directed by Theatre [502]'s Co-Artistic Director Amy Attaway.  Migael and I took in the performance last night in the Victor Jory Theater in the Actor's complex.  The setting is identified as taking place in a university lecture hall in the "near future."  As the play is performed in one Act, with scene changes executed by a darkening of the theater, the presumption, though odd, is that the entire play takes place somewhere on that same college campus.  The adjective "dystopian" has been used in all of the media hype for the play.  Dystopian is, I suppose, the opposite of utopian.  If you learned language as I did based on Latin, Greek, and other word-roots, you will recognise the "dys" which is bad, as opposed to "u" which is good.  The other root is "topia," from "topis" for place.  We get the word topography from the latter. So, if utopia is a good place, dystopia isn't.

Let's start at the end of the play, an uncomfortably small library in a secret room, with a teacher and a student beginning the process of learning to write all over.  "Put your name up in the right-hand corner of the paper" the teacher tells the student.  That's how we all learned, first to print, and later at the end of second grade, to cursively write on those ubiquitous writing tablets from kindergarten through fourth grade.  A chilling, indeed dystopian, place to end a play.  It is a great lament of the day that young students no longer learn to cursively write.  In fact, they typically learn to type, or, euphemistically - and there's that "u" for good spelled slightly differently - kids do not learn to type at all; they learn to use the keyboard.

Today's keyboard has all kinds of characters on it besides the 26 letters and 10 numbers of the Latin-based alphabet we use in the United States.  A few strokes away are symbols for Spanish, Portuguese, and other languages as well as signs for "libra" or "pound," a unit of money and weight in British-speaking places, or other signs not normally used in our Americised English.  And with the help of our computers, word-processors, iPads, and telephones, we can change the size and font of what we read and what we "write."  And all of this is safely stored away in some computer world, the "Cloud" perhaps, understood by some, but for most of us just "accepted" as being the way things are.

This play deals with the notion that all written forms and the means to create them have been put away - hidden away under the control of some "1984"-type business or entity or, perhaps, a college.  We never really know.

The play starts with that same teacher, a widowed college professor, giving a somewhat tortured lecture about type fonts.  Yes, type fonts.  Probably not the most exciting lecture for most, although I was totally involved.  As a reader and writer and student of words, languages, thoughts, and ideas, I found the subject totally engrossing.  To my surprise, Migael did too.  Anyone who has taken the time to read about the invention of the printing press, or the politics and intrigue which gave us the King James Version of the Bible, or any other histories of the beginning of the printed word, will find this part of the play familiar. 

The play takes a violent unexpected turn with the professor's kidnapping and the rest of the story revolves around her eventual escape, if one could call it that.  Three people are integral to the kidnapping - a bully, a character who first appears to be a street-thug, and - without giving too much away - another professor.  And at first it is difficult to know exactly what separates the protagonists from the antagonists, if one judges those roles by who comes out doing what is best for humanity.

The bully, whose use of variant forms of the "f" word is simply gratuitous - most modern plays have adopted this gratuity for some unexplained reason (there was some discussion of this by three of the patrons on the Main Street sidewalk after the play) - is quickly offed in another unexpected scene, lending credence to the street-thug's character.  And, as with all "bad" plots, there is the weak spot, in this case the same street-thug who, as it turns out, not only has a soft spot for the type-font lecturing professor - he was one of her former students we learn - but also for the written word itself, the anathema of the play, as he attempts to smuggle a book of poems for his own use.

The middle of the play is occupied by a great deal of dialogue between the two professors - and quite a bit of it went unheard by me, in part because because I do not hear well and in part because the acoustics for the play weren't the best.  On several occasions my date relayed some lines to me recognising that I did not hear them.  But the one I did hear during the professorial dialogue was paramount in understanding the play - a war between the format or platform for retaining information - whether electronically or in hard copy form.  I will return to this thought at the end of this essay because it remained on my mind through the course of the play and indeed well into the night.  But, I digress.

Let me speak here about the acting itself.  I hesitate to say I wasn't as impressed as I was expected to be but maybe that was appropriate given the subject matter.  The players seemed disconnected and distant.  One of the "hallmarks" of modern communication is the distance and disconnectedness [a new word, perhaps] of we the speakers.  We speak via chat boxes, email, text messaging, tweeting, and updating our Facebook statuses as if that is communication, as opposed to what they really are, simple electronic comments for which we may or may not receive a response, comments typically unadorned by accent, emphasis, or even bolding or italics; nor do we experience any body language or kinetics in these brief typwritten exchanges, the psychokinesiology involved in person-to-person communications.  So it is possible the acting was intentionally disconnected and distant.  I certainly felt that vibe.

Of the four actors, I have previously seen the work of three.  The rather stoic and emotionless type-font lecturing professor was well-portrayed by Laurene Scalf, a veteran of local theater.  Another veteran actor with many years to his credits was Tad Chitwood who is the other professor and boss, Edward Wexler, to the bully and street-thug characters.  I was back-and-forth on whether he was a good-guy or a bad-guy, but more on that later.  The unknown to me was the bully, acted by Betsy Huggins, a Marylander-turned-Louisvillian.  She has recently acted and performed at a variety of Louisville venues including Actors and the Walden Theatre's Young Playwrights Festival.  The final character, the street-thug - and in the final scene a student once again - was portrayed by Drew Cash, who I've seen here and there in various performances.  I'm intrigued that the playbook mentions he'll be performing later this year for a two month national tour of King Arthur and Hamlet.  As the seven regular readers of the Left Bank of the Ohio River near Milepost 606 are aware, things Arthurian and things Shakespearean are leit-motifs of my favored reading lists.  I hope to learn more about Drew's upcoming plans.

But, back to the play.  Another gunshot, this time from the stoic professor as aggressor and the boss-professor as victim effectively take the latter character out of the action of the play.  The street-thug turns in favor to his former professor and they make their escape arriving at the "zero-drive" destination, an unknown and underground bunker, a small dark room of books and writing accoutrements, things our escaping professor, and perhaps her reprised student, believe are keys for the future.  Eerily uncomfortable and dystopian indeed.

Let me return to the middle of the play and the discussion between the two professors, some lines of which went unheard.  I wrote above, Laurene, the type-font lecturer, makes the argument, in so many words, that books and libraries, the traditional repositories of the written word and the information relayed by those words, are necessary for the future, for future generations to know and understand all that has been written before them.  Professor Wexler argues, in turn, that much of what is recorded in books and then retained on library bookshelves is, for the most part, inaccessible to the great masses, and that the panacea for such is making all that is available in the electronic avenues which serve as the new and updated repositories of information.  And the argument is hinted that such a reliquary as a library has limited use, its "books gathering dust," whereas modern electronic media is more widely acquired and used by far greater numbers of people. 

"But the one I did hear during the professorial dialogue was paramount in understanding the play - a war between the format or platform for retaining information - whether electronically or in hard copy form." 

It was at this point I decided that Professor Wexler was not an antagonist but a protagonist, ultimately the only one in the play.  He is right - the wider accessibility of electronic media is better than all the libraries of the world sitting in quiet and staid possession of all the books on their shelves.  This is not easy for me to write or admit to - it is, in fact, quite a revelation, perhaps an epiphany for me.

In my house are many, many books.  I've estimated there are about 3000 books somewhere and perhaps another 1000 in the boxes of my garage.  I am a hoarder of books.  Most are political, historical, or theological in nature, as are the entries of this blog.  But there are also most of the texts I purchased in high school or college.  There are dozens of Bibles and interpretations of Bibles.  There are so many Penguin and Folder editions of Shakespeare's works such that I could probably provide every actor in a performance of As You Like It with their own copy of the play.  At the auction of my great-grandfather's possessions in 1979, I purchased all of his library materials.  When my high school was closed in 1981 and a number of books marked to be discarded, I salvaged them from the dump and allotted them an eternal home in my library.  There is presently the one overdue library book, an autobiography of Gore Vidal, part of the public treasury of the Louisville Free Public Library.  There are probably  six or eight books belonging to other others.  I know for a fact I presently have books belonging to Tony McAdam, Bobby Simpson, Ken Herndon, and one belonging to the late Ed Prichard.  And there are a number of books taken from the shelves of libraries due to changes in accepted language, books which may use words no longer deemed acceptaable by many.  While the word "fuck" is regularly acceptable, the words "colored" and "negro" are, for the most part, not.  This is an entirely different discussion so let's let that go for the moment.  Ironically, there is one book missing from my library, borrowed in 2005, and the culprit of its absence was Migael Dickerson, my date for the night.  If anyone comes across an errant copy of "Getting Life in Perspective" please reclaim it for me.  It was written in 1991 by Toby Johnson and is a very intersting read - almost utopian.  But, again, I digress.

Of all these books in my personal library, few if any have ever been perused by anyone other than me - the notable exception being the missing Getting Life in Perspective.  Professor Wexler's character points out the error of this misfortune.  Books aren't meant to be hoarded, or if so, such a hoard should be made available to anyone and everyone by the most efficient means possible.  His answer for that is an electronic-media warehouse of some sort.  Of course, that isn't possible with my collection of mostly non-fiction hardbound writngs.  I must endeavor to make my library more accessible, something that has never occurred to me before.  And, while a morbid thought, I think I need to specify in my Will some more specific disposition of this most valued part of my estate.  That, too, has never crossed my mind.

Thus, even if the acting wasn't up to my expectations and the acoustics less than desirable, the play's message was heard loud and clear.  For that I am grateful.

The play's run continues this weekend.

737 - the answers to 734's trivia

I've rarely posted a trivia game that didn't draw answers from at least two regular readers here along the Left Bank of the Ohio River near Milepost 606.  But the game offered at the end of post #734 had only one contestant, so, despite not fully answering all of the questions, and skipping the bonus in its entirety, the winner of the quiz is Michael Garton, known in some circles as Eli.

Here is the quiz, followed by his answers, followed by my answers -

1.  I mentioned "Fourth Street" above.  Where was that?  What was the name of the building where "Fourth Street" was housed? Michael offered the answer of Democratic HQ, then amended his answer with the Brennan Building, formerly the Vienna Restaurant, which is a correct answer.  Brennan was the name of a family of donors to the local Democratic Party in the early to mid 20th century.  Read up on the Vienna Restaurant, one of Louisville's finest dining establishments at one time.  The building was leveled to make way for the Cowger Garage at 4th and Market.  Also leveled in that project was The Decanter Lounge, around the corner from HQ, and a longtime local watering hole for local pols. 

2.  The 45th District, once in Jefferson County, is now in Fayette County.  Who was the last Jefferson County Democrat to serve as 45th District State Representative? Michael correctly answered Dottie Priddy, whose life and death are memorialized in an entry on the day of her death, June 30, 2008.  See http://ohioriver606.blogspot.com/2008/06/352-rest-in-peace-dottie-priddy.html

3.  I mentioned Fibber McGee's Tavern in Okolona.  For whom was it named and why does the answer have anything to do with the answer to Question #3? Michael's answer was incorrect.  Bill "Fibber" McGee was a tavern owner and politician in Okolona in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.  His last race for State Representative was against Dottie Priddy, which he lost.  He successfully ran for the State Senate, representing the 19th District, in the early 1980s.  See http://ohioriver606.blogspot.com/2007/03/58-precinct-conventions-ld-elections.html

4.  I mentioned Governor Brown and Lieutenant Governor Stovall, who were opponents in the 1979 race.  Who was Governor Brown's lieutenant governor running mate in 1979 and, as a bonus, what do the two of them - Brown and his running mate - have in common as far as subsequent races in Kentucky for lieutenant governor? Michael correctly identified Martha Layne Collins as Brown's running mate.  But he skipped the bonus question about Brown, Collins, and subsequent races for lieutenant governor.  The bonus answer is each of their sons unsuccessfully sought the office of lieutenant governor, Steve Collins in 1991 and John Y. Brown III in 2003.

5.  I mentioned that Governor Brown's Republican opponent was Louie B. Nunn.  Who was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor that year?   As a note, while this person lost that race, they presently serve in one of the most powerful positions of anyone in Kentucky. Michael's answer of Kentucky Congressman Harold "Hal" Rogers, Republican of the 5th District, is correct.  After losing the race in 1979, the next year Rogers won the congressional seat, and has held it ever since, running unopposed in six of his elections.  He is the longest serving Kentucky Republican elected to a federal office and is currently chair of the House Appropriations Committee, one of the most powerful positions in the federal government.

5.  This year's convention will be held at the State Fairgrounds, a name eschewed by state government officials.  What is the official name, according to the Commonwealth of Kentucky, for this Louisville venue?  Michael's answer is correct - the Kentucky Exposition Center.  It is a PR move to get away from the provincial sounding "Fairgrounds."  I spent the day today at the "Fairgrounds" and typically refer to the venue as the "Fairgrounds" because it is where we hold the Kentucky State Fair, which this year will be held August 16 through August 26.

P2. The second in a series of Prayers - September 5, 2010

PRAYERS FOR THE FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST 

SEPTEMBER 5, 2010

Reader:  We call upon Heaven in thanksgiving for what we have and with humility for what we seek, praying God of Grace, Hear Us.

We call upon Heaven seeking peace, desiring good and great things for all the people of the world and for the world itself, and asking for God’s blessing upon his church, and especial guidance for our new Bishop Terry White, praying God of Grace, Hear Us.

We call upon Heaven to address the needs of The Episcopal Church of the Sudan within our Anglican Communion, and the Department of Justice and Jubilee Ministries within the Diocese of Kentucky, and for Bardstown Road Presbyterian Church within the Highland Community Ministries, knowing the labor of these women and men of God are just and good, praying God of Grace, Hear Us.

We call upon Heaven giving thanks for our nation and its leaders.  We pray for President Obama and for all in positions of power, that you will grant to them wise counsel and adherence to your will, praying God of Grace, Hear Us.

We call upon Heaven to celebrate our national holiday, Labor Day, a day of rest for all who labor and work to fulfill the Kingdom of God here in our temporal home.  We also pray for that same day of rest for our world, the Earth.  We seek the understanding of the limits of resources our Earth can deliver, and acknowledge that we must give back, caring for this place as we would care for ourselves, praying God of Grace, Hear Us.  

We call upon Heaven for deliverance from all affliction, strife, and need.  We seek to feed the hungry, house the homeless, and provide for the needy, wherever and whoever they may be.  We pray for those travelling this holiday weekend that their journeys be safe and happy.  We pray for those in prisons and hospitals, and especially for our Armed Services throughout the world.  We pray for our Parish, our Rector Tim, our Deacon Eva, our Vestry, and all who labor for the needs of Advent Church.  We ask also for your healing hand upon [Advent names go here], praying God of Grace, Hear Us.

We call upon Heaven to accept into your Kingdom all those who have died, all Children of God, especially [Advent names go here], that in this final home we may all joyfully celebrate our fellowship as your Daughters and Sons forever, praying God of Grace, Hear Us.

Celebrant:  God of mercy and grace, hear these prayers of your people, judging them with reason and thoughtfulness, and grant to us our needs to better serve you and one another.  Amen.

P1. The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, July 19, 2009

PRAYERS FOR THE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, JULY 19, 2009


As God has called us to be his daughters and sons, we now call upon him with our needs and concerns, responding, By Your Grace, Hear Our Prayer.

1) We pray for our Advent Church family, for Bishop Ted, for Fr. Tim, for the Vestry, for the ministries for ourselves and those in need, seeking to answer God’s call to be his children; we pray for his guidance when we are deciding who it is we will serve, why it is we believe, and how it is that others know we are children of God; By Your Grace, Hear Our Prayer.

2) We pray for the church of all believers in the risen Christ, praying for and with our fellow Anglicans in the Church of Pakistan, our Episcopal family at Grace Church Hopkinsville, and our neighbors in the Highland Community Ministries at Highland Baptist Church; asking God to lead each of these bodies to the realization that whoever we are, in whatever place whether of power or poverty, we have all been called children of God; By Your Grace, Hear Our Prayer.

3) We pray for the leaders of the world, especially our president Barack, and all persons in positions of authority. We pray that through you, these leaders will be resolute in their duties of meeting the basic human needs of all people, of addressing abuses against the less-fortunate, of restoring and creating human and civil rights, and of ending despair wherever it is found, knowing they are called to serve all the children of God; By Your Grace, Hear Our Prayer.

4) We pray for our own families, our own trials, our own needs; we pray for our sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, wives and husbands and partners and friends, acknowledging your role as parent and provider and our role as worker and child. We pray for sustained health, clarity of mind, and determination of soul. We pray for your help in all these parts and parcels of our lives as children of God; By Your Grace, Hear Our Prayer.

5) We give praise and thanksgiving, for where we live, for who we know, for our forms of employment, retirement, entertainment, worship, and rest. We give thanks for the gifts of hospitality, education, comfort, and companionship. In our abundance, we also pray for those
in need, the sick of Advent Church, for [names go here], and for those other concerns we now address by word or in silence, [time goes here]; we pray as a family for a fulfillment of their health and needs; By Your Grace, Hear Our Prayer.

6) We also give thanks and offer prayers for those no longer among us, with whom we have shared our lives and hopes in this temporal place, especially remembering [Advent names go here], and all those, whoever they might be, whether by name or in silence, [time goes here]; we pray that all may one day be together as children of God; By Your Grace, Hear Our Prayer.

Conclusion of Prayers by Celebrant.
O God we pray with the innocence of our childhood, the knowledge of our present being, and the great hope of our future, that as a shepherd you guide us beside still waters, as a parent you protect us from harm and hurt, and by your goodness and mercy bring us together as one to share with Christ your son our eternity forever, Amen.

736. Prayers of the People

I've been reading prayers at church for many years.  I did so at my former church, Holy Family, and began doing so at my current church even before I was technically a member.  However, at Holy Family I was reading prayers prepared by others.  On a few occasions, I balked at what I was asked to read and took the liberty of emending the prayers from the lectern.  That is not the case at Advent, where I am reading prayers I have written.

Because this blog tends to be a repository of some of my writing I thought it would be appropriate to re-post the prayers over here.

In the Episcopal Church, the Prayers of the People are read each Sunday.  The Book of Common Prayer offers several "forms" to follow but also allows for some diversion away from these forms.  At Advent, there is a rotation of several prayer writers and readers.  We all follow the forms to a point but add our own writing talents and styles to the petitions.

It is my intention to post here on the blog all of the Prayers I have written over time.  They will be numbered with the letter P followed by a number.  I do not know how many I've written.  I'm still gathering them up.  Following this entry will be the first set, written for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, 2009.  As a note, tomorrow, or technically today since it is after midnight, is the Day of Pentecost for 2012.

735. Pandora Productions's Bare - a review

One line of Pandora Productions's mission is to "ignite and celebrate the unfailing hope and triumph of the human spirit."  That it does.

Tonight my friend Michael and I attended the closing performance of the rock-opera Bare, staged in the Bingham Theatre at Actors Theatre of Louisville on West Main Street.  The show's run began May 10th.  It was first performed at the Hudson Mainstage Theater in Hollywood, California on October 14, 2000.  Pandora's Producing Artistic Director, Michael Drury, brought the production to Louisville under the sponsorship of CaolSpa Rejuventation Center and Calobrace Plastic Surgery Center, and overall sponsorship from Michael Taggart Photography.

Let me get down some thoughts before I forget them, something which happens much more often that I usually admit.

First, I've never been to a Pandora play where a few tears were not shed.  This one was no exception.

Second, this was a musical and there were more than a few really great performances, all accompanied by a really great set of musicians.  (I will be adding more about the musicians later - when I get the info).

Third, an ensemble cast appeals to me, where several cast members have several important performances simultaneously.  You see the "simul" in simultaneously and the "sembl" in ensemble are etymological cousins meaning "together."  An ensemble cast acts several differing parts together.  Okay, I'm getting too technical.  Just let me say, I was in a high school play performed by an ensemble cast - a play which involved a group of high school seniors trying to find their place in the world.  That play was "Here and Now."  This play had some borrowings from that one.

Fourth, as a Shakespeare aficionado, I enjoyed the parallels between this play and the play within the play, Romeo and Juliet, from star-crossed lovers to the deaths of best friends at a young age.  It is a wonderful technique and the play made full use of the inventory.

Finally, poignantly, one scene in particular reminded me of my friend Rob and his single alliance with a particular young lady which led to her pregnancy, with the child born of that alliance delivered one week to the day after Rob's untimely death. 

I think I've covered the outline.  Let me go into a little detail.  The play concerns seniors at a Catholic boarding school in their final days as students together.  Keeping straight - no pun intended - who was in love with whom required a short-form score card, but once you understood, it all made sense.

There was the star, Peter - who in one reversal of roles, denies Christ, in the person of the priest/headmaster, instead of the other way around as presented in the Gospels concerning Jesus's last days before the Crucifixion.  Peter was played by Robbie Lewis in his fifth Pandora performance.  Robbie sings throughout the play and his singing ability is first-rate, top-shelf.  I told him as much in the rope-line following the performance.

Peter's love interest in the play is Jason, played by Jason Button, who is torn between feelings for Peter as well as another student, a female.  I feel bad here, because I am not sure who the woman was in that role.  I believe her to be Katie Nuss, but I could be wrong - it could have been Valerie Hopkins.  Again, my apologies.  Whichever it was, she was quite a singer.  In the play, while being chased by another boy, Matt, she was betrayed by Jason, but not before he left her pregnant with his child.  Jason loses his life to a drug overdose toward the very end of the play, leaving the cast mournful on their graduation day.  How many of us went through high school only to lose a friend to drugs, alcohol, or a car wreck on prom night?

Again, the female love interest (who I can't identify) had another would-be suitor in Matt, protrayed by Amos Dreisbach, who is a Theater Arts senior at the University of Louisville.  Amos is great in the role of the unrequited lover.  Amos, too, has a suitor in whom he has no interest (if I followed the story line correctly).  That was Nadia, played by Kate Holland.  Kate is a U of L graduate in Theater Arts.  She plays a forlorn and overweight girl who feels rejection at every turn.  Every one of these turns is played out in some stunning singing performances by Kate, the best of the cast.

I've covered the main "relationship" roles and their intracacies, but there were others in the play worth mentioning.  The play's "badboy" is Lucas, played by Neill Robertson.  One of my seven faithful readers may recall that I've previously identified Neill as the best "Jack Worthing" I've ever seen performed.  In this role, rather than the dapper and meticulous "Uncle Jack" Neill is a ne'er-do-well, a goth perhaps, and the local provider of drugs and alcohol, but one who is often seen in the play as off to the side and by himself.  In his featured role, he does a fantastic rap number from atop a picnic table, launching himself at the end into the stage below.  It was very good.

Two other women are important in the play, that of Peter's mother Claire - as a note, the older woman in my high school play "Here and Now" was Claire - in this play emphatically performed by Susan Lynch, although while performed emphatically, the role itself was a good definition of a lack of empathy.  Susan's appearance from a balcony off stage added to the Juliet leit-motif of the the play.  Finally, and importantly, there was the performance of Chantelle and Mary - yes, that Mary, Jesus's mother.  In one scene, Peter reports to Jason of a dream in which Mary, the ever-virgin mother of God, appears as a full-bodied black woman in a playboy bunny outfit of sorts accompanied by similarly attired angels-in-waiting.  Mary's message is simple - God loves you as you are.  In other words, also heard in the play, "God don't make no junk."  The Mary character is supremely played by Tymika Prince in her debut performance with Pandora.  Appropriately, Tymika dedicated this performance to her own mother.  A note here - as a Catholic kid (although I wasn't officially one until I was 18 and gave up that role at the age of 49), I have a strong love of and affection for Mary.  Mary is represented in every good woman, indeed in every woman and Tymika made a great representation of her tonight.  That may be hard for some to accept, but in the end, every boy loves his mom, and the one mom we all share is Mary, the mother of Jesus.  She is Everywoman.

I've overlooked a few characters - the priest and a few other kids in the school.  They had their parts and were well-performed.  Of particular, and perhaps where I should have began this review, is at the beginning.  The play begins during a mass for the Feast of the Epiphany.  The whole play is epiphanical in its message.  Beginning at Epiphany was a great foreshadowing, another leit-motif.

In closing, let me say a word about the closing.  It happened before I knew it had happened.  The entire story had, indeed, been told by that point - the epiphany revealed and experienced.  I just didn't know it was going to happen and be over with.  That, however, is what happens once an epiphany is made.  More often that not, the build-up to such a moment is far greater than whatever happens once the event has occurred.  Post-event is truly anti-climatic.  Life gets easier.

I had a really good time with this play - the performances mixed but mostly above average with a few of the singers, as noted, par excellence.  Congratulations to Mr. Drury and the cast and staff of Pandora Productions.  

734. State Democratic Party elections - an announcement and a trivia contest

As many of you know - probably all of you - I am involved with the Democratic Party not just as a registered voter but also as an internal Party official.  My involvement with the Democratic Party, other than as a voter, began in April 1980, when I announced my candidacy for Legislative District Vice Chair of the 45th District, which, at the time, covered areas from Jefferson Hill and Keys Ferry roads on the west, eastward over to McNeely Lake Park and Pennsylvania Run on the east, all generally south of the old Louisville City Limits line starting around Strawberry Lane and Southside Drive eastward over to the Outer Loop and what we used to call Old Shep, now known as Shepherdsville Road, and extending southward to the Jefferson-Bullitt County line.  I ran that year on a ticket with Carolyn Beauchamp, an advertising and public relations lady from Okolona.  We opposed the incumbent LD Chair Ed Louden and his Vice Chair candidate Betty Jo Monroe, who were also from Okolona, which was, generally, the center of the district.  At the time, I was 19 years old.

When LD Election Day arrived, we were hopeful for victory.  As the incumbent, Mr. Louden had chosen as the site for the LD election the old Fibber McGee's Tavern, which had just a few years earlier relocated from a block west of Preston on Pinecroft Drive to its still-current location at the corner of Preston and Pinecroft.  With the votes tallied, Carolyn and I were declared the winners and proceeded downtown to "Fourth Street" where the county-wide races were held for County Chair and Vice Chair.  In those days, we did not have an At-Large person for each LD as we do now. Back then, there were seven or eight At-Large positions.  Quite frankly, they were, by an unspoken agreement, somewhat reserved for some special interests which supported the Party apparatus with both personnel and greenbacks.  The At-Large folks were nominated at the meeting and chosen a month later.

Thus began what has been a life-long involvement for me with the inner workings of the Democratic Party at both the county and state level.  Later that summer, I attended the State Democratic Convention, held that year at the Capitol Plaza, a downtown Frankfort development built in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  As I have done at every State Democratic Convention then and since, I got myself nominated for a seat on the State Central Executive Committee.  That year I ran for the "Person Under 30" position - it is now the "Person Under 35" position - from the Fourth Congressional District where I was a resident.  As a note, my mother still lives in that residence, but her representative district in Congress has gone from the 4th to the 2nd and this year, finally, to the 3rd.  As a second note, she is proudly displaying a yardsign for my favorite member of Congress, John Yarmuth, who has come to be known, thanks to a creative writer ironically from Lexington, as Congressman Awesome.  But, I digress.

I lost that race to someone named Neil - who he was I don't really know.  What I did know was that he was supported by higher-ups than me, most especially the governor, at the time, John Young Brown, Jr.  Brown had been elected the previous year in a race where, in the Primary, I supported then-Lt. Governor Thelma Stovall, the first of the two female lieutenant governors, who served successive terms, from the Commonwealth.  Governor Brown's November opponent was former Governor Louie B. Nunn, who, while a Republican, always seemed to be very well-respected in my family's home.  I voted for Brown in the Fall race.

That loss at the state convention was the first of many I would go on to lose.  Every four years, I'd get myself nominated, either at the Congressional Caucus level in the morning sessions or at the State At-Large levels in the afternoon.  For two conventions in a row, Tom Barrow and I made our way to the microphone together, he to nominate me and me him.  Neither of us were ever elected.

My continued success at losing state races was not mirrored at the local level.  Due to a relocation, I found myself living in the 35th District, then generally a compact area from Broadway south to the Watterson and from the L&N RR east to Newburg Road.  In that district, over time I served in the appointed position of Secretary as well as the elected positions of At-Large and, eventually in 2000, Legislative District Chair.  That position is currently held by Colleen Younger.  In 2001, then-Party Chair Larry Clark appointed me as the Jefferson County Party's By-Laws chair and a group of us proceeded to rewrite and codify the local By-Laws, passing them by the committee in late 2001.  I held the By-Laws chair position for many years, even after my term on the Executive Committee expired in 2004, although I am no longer there.

It was 2004 when I finally won a seat on the State Committee at a convention held in Lexington.  With the help and encouragement of Aaron Horner, his former wife Mary Ellen Weiderwohl, and Dr. Ted Shlechter, a South Louisville political activist, and others, including Jerry Lundergan and Dale Emmons, I unseated one of the two sitting "committeemen" and took my own seat as Third Congressional District Committeeman, alongside the late Leonard Gray, a friend and mentor who lived in the Chickasaw neighborhood of Louisville's West End.

In 2008, after a contested race, I was seated as a State At-Large member on the State Central Committee.  I've enjoyed attending County Executive Committee meetings across the state, although generally not far from here along the Left Bank of the Ohio River near Milepost 606.  I've been to meetings in Jefferson, Bullitt, Shelby, Franklin, Oldham, Trimble, Grayson, Powell, Mason, Caldwell, and Fulton counties, among others.  My term as a State At-Large member comes to an end at the end of this month.

For several reasons, I've considered not running again in the committeeman position - at either the congressional level or the state level.  I've encouraged a few others to make the race and I am confident several will.  Among those who I think would make a good addition to the State Party are Charles Booker and Shawn Reilly, both of whom could run as either a committeeman or a committeeyouth.  I've also told Abby Woehrle she would be a good addition.  I know that my friends Allison Amon and Queenie Averette will seek re-election as committeewomen, so I am hopeful that should Abby run, she does so in the youth position.  My options to run are limited to two - either as a committeeman at the congressional level or in an At-Large position at the statewide level, something I've really enjoyed these last four years.

Much of my enjoyment has been as a member of the By-Laws Committee on the State Party.  I had served on this committee from 2004-2008 but was not reappointed until 2011 by the current Party Chair Dan Logsdon.  Our committee has been in the process of a meticulous study of the By-Laws, article-by-article, under the direction of By-Laws Chair George Mills, who has done a wonderful job of keeping interest alive in a process which is tedious for many.  I'm not one of those - I completely enjoy the work.

For that reason, I've decided to run again at the convention in two weeks.  I will be seeking my old post of Third Congressional District Committeeman, the post I held from 2004 to 2008.  To those of you who are eligible to vote in the Third Congressional District caucus on the morning of June 2nd, I am humbly asking for your support and vote.  While I am not confident of a win, I am confident that I could serve well, especially in the completion of the task of rewriting those sections of the State Party By-Laws in need of amendment.  If I lose, I may run in the afternoon session since it has been a tradition for me since 1980, 32 years ago.

Thanks for reading and let me know how you feel about my candidacy.

*****

Some political trivia for you.

1.  I mentioned "Fourth Street" above.  Where was that?  What was the name of the building where "Fourth Street" was housed?

2.  The 45th District, once in Jefferson County, is now in Fayette County.  Who was the last Jefferson County Democrat to serve as 45th District State Representative?

3.  I mentioned Fibber McGee's Tavern in Okolona.  For whom was it named and why does the answer have anything to do with the answer to Question #3?

4.  I mentioned Governor Brown and Lieutenant Governor Stovall, who were opponents in the 1979 race.  Who was Governor Brown's lieutenant governor running mate in 1979 and, as a bonus, what do the two of them - Brown and his running mate - have in common as far as subsequent races in Kentucky for lieutenant governor?

5.  I mentioned that Governor Brown's Republican opponent was Louie B. Nunn.  Who was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor that year?   As a note, while this person lost that race, they presently serve in one of the most powerful positions of anyone in Kentucky.

5.  This year's convention will be held at the State Fairgrounds, a name eschewed by state government officials.  What is the official name, according to the Commonwealth of Kentucky, for this Louisville venue? 

Post your answers in the Comments section below.

733 addendum - How did I do?

Not very well.  None of my Exacta Bets would have been cashed.  I did get half of the entry here and there, but not enough to write about.  Although, that is exactly what I am doing - writing about it, because that's what I do.


So, below will be my prediction and the actual winners.  My choices, if in the money, will be bolded.

Race 1 - My choices - Point Taken and Politicallycorrect.  The winning Exacta ticket was Atigun and Politicallycorrect.

Race 2 - My choices - Easy Vice and Hamiltonian.  The winning Exacta ticket was Big Ring and Vasten.

Race 3 - My choices - Windsurfer and Skyking.  The winning Exacta ticket was Skyking and Golden Ticket.

Race 4 - My choices - Southern Anthem and Vertiformer.  The winning Exacta ticket was Night Party and The Program.

Race 5 - My choices - Mile High Magic and Adena's Choice. The winning Exacta ticket was Macho Macho and Thelmal Cat.

Race 6 - My choices - Bridgetown and Great Mills.  The winning Exacta ticket was Great Attack and Bridgetown.

Race 7 - My choices - Shackleford and Will's Wildcat.  The winning Exacta ticket was Shackleford and Amazombie.

Race 8 - My choices - Annabel Lee and Marketing Mix.  The winning Exacta ticket was Hungry Island and Tapitsfly.

Race 9 - My choices - Musical Romance and Salty Strike.  The winning Exacta ticket was Groupie's Doll and Musical Romance.

Race 10 - My choices - Get Stormy and Slim Shadey.  The winning Exacta ticket was Little Mike and Slim Shadey.

Race 11 - My choices - (I offered two sets) - Union Rags and Creative Cause - and - I'll Have Another and El Padrino.  The winning Exacta ticket was I'll Have Another and Bodemeister.

Race 12 - My choices - Enclosure and Da Price.  The winning Exacta ticket was Bet The Power and Shrill.

Race 13 - My choices - the entry of Dynamical and Moon Traveler with Grand Contender.  The winning Exacta ticket was Mr. Ticket and Dynamical.

So, to recap, of the 29 horses I expected to be in the money, 8 of them were.  In baseball, I'd be batting .276, not all that shabby in my book.  And, this was my book.

Happy Derby and congratulations to I'll Have Another with jockey Mario Gutierrez aboard, pictured at the top, on their win in the 138th Kentucky Derby.

733. The 138th Kentucky Derby and twelve other races

Being a born-and-raised Kentuckian, I, like all Kentuckians - and especially those from Louisville and Lexington - have become something of an expert of horse racing, an affliction which happens every year around the First Saturday in May, a High Holy Day in Louisville, wherein will take place the 138th Kentucky Derby, the eleventh race on a card of thirteen.

Tomorrow - weather permitting - we've had some hellacious weather the last few days - 150,000 or so patrons of the Sport of Kings will descend upon Churchill Downs for an afternoon of fun, frolic, and figuring out a racing sheet. That's where this entry comes in. I've made my predictions - bets which I may make in each of tomorrow's races. My bet of choice is the Exacta Box, where you pick two horses, either one of which will finish first and the other one second. There are many other "exotic" type bets but this is my favorite. So, if you haven't decided on your bets tomorrow, print this post and carry it with you to the track. You just might come home winner. Or, maybe you won't - remember the people at Churchill Downs are capitalists and the idea is for you to leave with them having taken possessions of your money. I'm offering you a chance to at least have a few bucks for a tank of gas to get you back on the interstates and out of Louisville by sun-up on Sunday.

Race 1 - 1 1/16 miles for 3 year olds - #1 Point Taken and #5 Politicallycorrect.

Race 2 - 6 furlongs for 3 year olds and older - #5 Easy Vice and #6 Hamiltonian.

Race 3 - 1 1/16 miles for 3 year olds - #10 Windsurfer and #1 Skyking.

Race 4 - 1 1/16 miles for 3 year olds and up on the Turf - #1 Southern Anthem and #5 Vertiformer.

Race 5 - 7 furlongs for 3 year olds - #3 Mile High Magic and #13 Adena's Choice. There will no doubt be a number of Exacta Boxes honoring the Kentucky Wildcat Basketball 2012 NCAA Champions, boxing #5 Big Blue Nation with #7 Devoted Wildcat.

Race 6 - The Twin Spires Turf Sprint - 5 furlongs for 4 year olds and up - #4 Bridgetown and #10 Great Mills.

Race 7 - 7 furlongs for 4 year olds and up - #4 Shackleford and #8 Will's Wildcat.

Race 8 - The Churchill Distaff Turf - 1 mile for 4 year olds and up - this is one you can make some money on - #6 (and the longshot) Annabel Lee and #3 Marketing Mix.

Race 9 - 7 furlongs for 4 year olds and up - #8 Musical Romance and #4 Salty Strike.

Race 10 - 1 1/8 miles for 4 year olds and up on the Turf - #4 Get Stormy and #5 Slim Shadey.

Race 11 - The 138th Kentucky Derby, ran continously on the track at Churchill Downs every year since 1875 - I'm offering two bets here, the first for the conservative better (me) and the second for the less-conservative better - #4 Union Rags and #8 Creative Cause. This is a bet I've already made. The exotic for this race is #19 I'll Have Another and #16 El Padrino. I've made this one as well.

Race 12 - 6 1/2 furlongs - 3 year olds and up - #11 Enclosure and #5 Da Price

Race 13 - 1 mile for 3 year olds and up - there is an entry in this race where two horses are paired up and bet under one number. I always bet entries, so #1 and #1A Dynamical and Moon Traveler and #3 Grand Contender.

*****

I'll be out of town for the race and may end up at Keeneland in Fayette County, something I did last year. We'll check back on Sunday and see who took my advice and was a winner.

Happy Derby!

By the way, what is the name of the horse in the picture? This should be easy.

732. An eastward loop to Beech Ridge and back

A very good day for a road trip. Michael and I went southeast first to Mount Washington, then east to Taylorsville, stopping briefly at the Valley Cemetery. From there northeast through Mount Eden to an art show and book signing at the Moonlite Ridge Farm in southeastern Shelby County. Northward to and through Waddy for a history lesson on street names around Graefenburg and thence north to Beech Ridge Cemetery and the Peters/Perkins/Hockensmith cemetery on the Engstler farm literally on Beech Ridge and up the hill from Hatton. Turning back towards home along the Benson Pike, we trekked past Guist Creek Lake and into Shelbyville where we stopped at the funeral home owned by my cousin, Steve Collins. A conversation of politics, post offices, and the past covered an hour's time, before (finally) making our way back to Jefferson County. A nice little vacation.

730. Easter + 50 = Pentecost

My previous Sunday night plans fell through since a friend hasn't yet returned from the Republic of Texas. Maybe I'll do nothing. I almost did nothing last night, waiting for an expected call to do something which never came. My Texas friend did, at least, text to say not tonight. And there's always tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. I do feel considerably better today than I have the last few days. And I've seen, with the exceptions of a niece, uncle, and two aunts, the entirety of my Noble relations in the last six hours. That doesn't happen a lot. It has been a Happy Easter. The next "religious" festival is Pentecost, in fifty days. It is one of my favorites with the some of the most mystical words in Scripture telling the story, found in the first six verses of the second chapter of the Book of Acts. But, I am getting ahead of myself. Have a good night.

729. Briefly, the media on the lam(b) here at home

This from a Facebook entry of Curtis Morrison, a fellow blogger at louisvillecourant.com and who I should point out is a friend of mine who I'm not supporting in his race for the state senate, recently offered the following statement in a status update:

"I accidentally just heard Bill Lamb share his point of view on Trayvon Martin. If my TV is on fire in the street in the new few minutes, it has nothing to do with basketball."

The reference to fiery TVs is an allusion to the activities eighty-eight miles up the road in response to the home team winning the 2012 National Collegiate Athletics Association Basketball Championship. There is also the reference to the unfortunate and unanswered death of Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old from Florida, shot and killed by a local vigilante for a block watch group. And there is the reference to Bill Lamb, the general manager of WDRB-TV, a local television station, Channel 41 for us oldtimers who remember dials on the TV set to change the station, and which at one time was affiliated with the FOX network, and which used to start its day in the late afternoon with a clown named Presto. But, I digress.

Today's blog entry is my response to Curt's status update. Here it is:

Y'all should have all thrown your TVs out years ago even without Bill Lamb. But he helps my argument, no doubt. Being a Libra, though, I must offer that "on the other hand" argument. I've seen Mr. Lamb a few times and never agreed with him. But his editorials and 89.3 WFPL Louisville's news staff, along with Joe Sonka from LEO is about all that is left of the local news and editorial scene. The C-J is, like most larger newspapers, (not) enjoying a long slow death. Other local media offer talk shows with ideologues but little content. At least WDRB and Mr. Lamb are offering us something to think about, even if we constantly disagree. Louisville is no longer the news-town it was once. While most everyone who was around for the '37 flood is gone or going, there is little question that the C-J, WHAS, and WAVE played crucial roles in the lives of Louisvillians at that most unfortunate time. I'm old enough to remember Dick Gilbert in "Skywatch84" covering the tornado 38 years ago today. News outlets no longer want or seem to need to fill that role. So again, in that respect, there is something to be said for Mr. Lamb and his ill-reasoned editorials. And thanks be to God for WFPL and LEO.

Thoughts?

728. Morning thoughts - April

I woke up this morning to 64 degrees and the remnants of a dream from somewhere through the night of my baptism, 37 years ago this month, at the Thixton Lane Baptist Church, which, oddly enough, wasn't on Thixton Lane but was instead on Cedar Creek Road in very rural southern Jefferson County on the Bullitt County line. I haven't been there in 35 years and the building is no more. That was a pleasant time.

My brother and I had attended the church with our neighbors, the Shumate family. Glen "Butch" Shumate was a dear friend. The three of us baptised that April. Butch's parents are long since gone and I haven't seen him since 2004.

The building where we were baptised is also gone, replaced by a newer, bigger structure on the same property about a block away, and now actually facing Thixton Lane. There was once a ballfield on that corner where I played some as a young teenager. The vicinity still retains a bit of the ruralness which was presented well 37 years ago, but new homes and subdivisions are slowly filling up the once sparse landscape.

727. Of Vital Importance - a theater review

I'm politely shocked that there is only one mention - on March 15, 2007 - of Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest anywhere to be found on my blog. Rather like those precious cucumber sandwiches Aunt Augusta was expecting, there just isn't any, more than the one instance, of Earnest to be found - not even for ready money.

Oscar Wilde's play, The Importance of Being Earnest, was written in the town of Worthing, England in late summer of 1894. Its first performance was made on February 14th of the next year, a date which has a role in the play. It has long, long been one of my favorite plays and I have seen several performances of it over the years, the first I recall being in the Fine Arts Center at the University of Kentucky on Rose Street, just south of Euclid Avenue. I also have several copies of the play itself, and have committed to memory many of the lines, many of which set me on an uncontrollable laughter for minutes at a time. The play is a series of witty puns and wordplays mostly about the importance of the trivial versus the inanity of the serious. It follows the story of two mischievous friends, John "Jack" (and later Ernest John) Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff.

Earlier this evening, my friend Preston Bates and I took in the Savage Rose Classical Theater Company's performance of this favorite play of mine, staged at Walden Theater, housed in the former Saint Aloysius School on Payne Street in Louisville's Irish Hill neighborhood. Tonight was the closing show, a run which began on March 9th.

This production was played in three acts - in Algernon's home, then the garden at Jack Worthing's Manor House, and finally the interior rooms of the Manor House. The characters of the play, in addition to Algernon and Jack are Lane, who is Algernon's manservant; Algernon's aunt, Augusta, and her daughter Gwendolyn; Jack's ward, Cecily; Jack's butler, Merriman; Cecily tutor, Miss Prism; and the local rector, the Rev. Canon Chasuble. And a handbag, with handles, which had been inadvertently left at the Victoria Station cloak room of the Brighton Line. This performance was under the direction of Charlie Fields, director, and Melinda Crecelius, assistant director.

In tonight's performance, two portrayals easily stood out - that of Lady Bracknell - of course - and that of Jack Worthing, later Ernest Moncrieff.

Lady Bracknell was portrayed by J. Barrett Cooper. In all the performances I've seen of the play, Cooper's crossdressing to create Lady Bracknell is the most overwhelming I've ever encountered - truly Wagnerian. I've always had an image in my mind of what Lady Bracknell should look like and up until tonight I had not seen that character. That has changed. The Cooperian Lady Bracknell was truly Wagnerian, to say the least. Some of the pregnant pauses taken by the character were a little too pregnant and the effect was, ever so slightly, sometimes lost by a second or two. But the change in voice when Lady Bracknell recognises Miss Prism, or Prism or, as you would text it to indicate the boldness of the voice, PRISM, brought the character back to a full dramatization. Her stern looks and, what can I say, broad shoulders, brought Lady Bracknell to the stentorian life which Wilde's pen had truly created for her - a good performance.

Cecily Cardew, the ward of Jack Worthing, was portrayed in sweet and enchanting innocence by Julane Havens who has been seen over in Central Park in recent years. My seven faithful readers will recall that I am a faithful attendee at Shakespeare in the Park in the summer months. Ms. Havens was wonderful as the young ward and love-interest for Algernon. Her foil in the play is Gwendolyn Fairfax, Lady Bracknell's daughter. Gwendolyn was performed by Natalie Fields, a graduate of Walden School who went away to college for her drama degrees. She and Cooper's Lady Bracknell looked amazingly "related." Ms. Fields must somehow be "really" some kin to Mr. Cooper.

Cecily's love-item in the play, stated earlier, is one of the two main characters, Algernon Moncrieff, played by a personal acquaintance and Facebook friend, Mike Slaton. Mike has been on local stages for years and I have seen him in a variety of roles. His performance tonight as the idle but handsome Algernon was fun to watch, especially as he described and defended his bunburying activities. (One might ask some of the Yarmuth for Congress 2006 campaign crew to define "nobling" for you as it is related to "bunburying.")

Tony Prince is another long-time local actor this time portraying the Rev. Doctor Chasuble, the local rector, provider of unpublished sermons and adult christenings at the ring of a bell. His opposite-sex interest in the play is Miss Prism, played by Kelly Moore, reprising the same role she played a decade ago. She is appropriately deferant to Lady Bracknell when the details as to her unfortunate day "28 years ago" are bought to life.

The two "manservants" were played by Gerry Rose, as Lane in Algernon's household, and Monte Priddy, as Merriman in Jack's country residence. I am not familiar with Rose but will make the guess that his last name is somewhat responsible for the Rose name in the theater company. I don't know that - just venturing a guess. Monte Priddy has been acting in Louisville as long as I have been alive, many times at Central Park. I've seen him in more roles than I can remember. He is a Louisville drama treasure.

But for me, the Oscar easily goes to Neill Robertson and his portrayal of the central character, indeed the title character, of the play, Jack Worthing, who in the end discovers the vital importance of being earnest. Mr. Robertson is unfamiliar to me, and I would easily remember his striking facial features and beautiful curly gingerhead curls. (Baldies notice hair). Robertson played the role to the top of the game, responding to Algernon, Lady Bracknell, and all the characters with a variety of looks, some of fear, others of anger, and others of interest. His voices in the play were much on target. He reminded me of my friend Callaway Kosine in appearance and demeanor and tone of voice and I said as much to Preston who, he informed me, has yet to meet Callaway. But, I digress.
Robertson was absolutely delightful to watch in every way and I look forward to seeing him again. His was the worthiest Jack Worthing I've had the pleasure to watch.

It was a wonderful, wonderful night. We began a little early at the Garage Bar and ended with dinner at Ramsi's. Quite and pleasurable evening. Thanks, Preston.

For more information on the Savage Rose Theatre Company, visit their website at savagerose.org.

726. Capital Briefs

Reporting from the National Capital, somewhere along the Left Bank of the Potomac River, about Milepost 96 if memory serves me.

Attended church this morning at Saint Margaret's Episcopal, on Connecticut Avenue near Leroy Place. There were about 87 in attendance, a number which includes the 20 or so in the procession - a rector, assistant rector, three acolytes, and about 20 choir members. While my church has abandoned gold and silver during Lent in favor of wooden chalices and crosses, St. Margaret's hasn't. The homilist gave a left-of-center sermon related (mostly) to the Ten Commandments, which were the focus of the First Reading on the Third Sunday of Lent. She made a comparison of different types of laws and how laws should be made to unite rather than divide. Her sermon included support of same-sex marriages, but it was only one of many points she made. This was, as best I could tell, her first or second Sunday as the new rector.

After church I met a Kentucky-to-DC transplant, my friend Jessie Phelps. She relocated here at the beginning of the year to work in Congressman Yarmuth's office. We spent the afternoon walking from St. Margaret's south into Dupont Circle, then west along Massachusetts Avenue to 16th, and then again south to St. John's, the Hay-Adams House, and the White House. From there we walked the lower end of the National Mall, encircling Washington's Monument and the World War II monument. We then walked westward passed the Vietman War Memorial Wall to see Mr. Lincoln, sitting up high in his personal cathedral. I was mostly moved by the large number of people who were simply seated on the steps and approaches all around. I wanted to say to Lincoln and all his admirers, "I, too, am a Kentuckian" but resisted.

Eventually, Jessie and I crossed the bridge to Arlington, Virginia, where after a quick trip on the Metro, we parted ways. I had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.

725. 90,000

The population of Toowoomba, Australia is said to be 90,000. That is also the population statistic given for two countries, Grenada and Aruba. Lakewood, New Jersey is said to have the same number of residents. Los Angeles is said to have 90,000 homeless.

As of March 1, 2012, at 9:48 am, a visitor from Washington, DC become the blog's 90,000th visitor, pulling up entry #642 from August 9, 2010, which was largely a discussion from my trip to the New Madrid Bend of Kentucky and Reelfoot Lake area in Tennessee.

90,000 ! Woohoo! Keep reading.

724A - Answers to the quiz

No one played except Jim Holland who got a few right.


1. What is the US highway route number which serves as the name of a street from a point just outside, or northeast, of the Watterson Expressway?

US42

2. What is the Kentucky highway route number for this street which begins with a "real" name in the Highlands area but changes names to a three-digit highway route for its final two miles in the county?

KY155

3. What is the single streetname which is applied to roads carrying a US highway designation, a two-digit Kentucky highway designation, and a four-digit Kentucky highway designation, although no two at the same time, and for a while has no highway route designation at all, but did at one time?

BROWNSBORO ROAD, which is US42 from near the Watterson back toward downtown, KY22 from Seminary Drive eastward to Ballardsville Road, KY1694 north of Ballardsville Road (which is KY22 at that point), and nothing at all between Holiday Manor and Seminary Drive (but was KY22 before Seminary Drive was constructed).

The rest are "Identify the Intersection" questions. I will give you two highway routes - you tell me the streets forming their intersection.

4. US 31 and US 60

2nd and MAIN STREETS

5. US 42 and KY 3222

US42 and ROSE ISLAND ROAD. (Some Louisville highway maps from the 1950s and 1960s call US42 as LOUISVILLE-CINCINNATI HIGHWAY, which was the project name, but it was never officially adopted).

6. KY 146 and KY 2050

NEW LA GRANGE ROAD and LYNDON LANE

7. KY 1116 and KY 2053

ZONETON ROAD and THIXTON LANE, also known as Thixton Road).

8. KY 1142 and KY 1931

PALATKA ROAD and MANSLICK ROAD/SAINT ANDREWS CHURCH ROAD

9. KY 1230 and KY 1849

LOWER RIVER and MOORMAN ROADS

10. KY 1447 and KY 1932

WESTPORT ROAD and CHENOWETH LANE

11. KY 1531 and KY 1819

ROUTT and BRUSH RUN ROADS

12. KY 1703 and KY 2860

BAXTER AVENUE and GRINSTEAD DRIVE

13. KY 1747 and KY 2052

NEWBURG ROAD/BUECHEL BANK ROAD and SHEPHERDSVILLE ROAD, informally known as Old Shepherdsville Road.

14. KY 1865 and KY 2055

NEW CUT ROAD and W. MANSLICK ROAD, not to be confused with the intersection of W. Manslick Road and Old New Cut Road, about 2 miles away.

15. KY 1934 and KY 2054

CANE RUN ROAD/WILSON AVENUE and ALGONQUIN PARKWAY

More Difficult

16. KY 1851 and KY 2317

BARRACKS ROAD and HUTCHERSON DRIVE

Much More Difficult

17. What is the name of the road numbered as KY 2803 ?

ARTHUR STREET, alongside I-65 in the parts that it isn't KY61.

18. Where is the location of the road numbered as KY 6298 ?

This is the service road behind Cooper Memorial United Methodist Church at Commerce Crossings Drive and Preston Highway. It is technically called Cooper Church Drive.

Trick Questions

19. Which is higher - US 31 or KY 3077 ? Regular readers of the blog and/or my Facebook page should at least get part of this answer.
20. Where is US 31 and/or KY 3077 ? Regular readers of the blog and/or my Facebook page should at least get part of this answer.

US31 is the Clark Memorial Bridge. KY3077 is River Road below I-64. Therefore, US31 is higher as it runs "over" River Road at 2nd Street.


Thanks for playing.

724. Signs, signs, everywhere a sign - a test

Entry number 724 could have been about a number of things. It could have been something about my feelings on the demise of the casino bill in the General Assembly, but it isn't. It could have been something on the local Democratic Party reorganization that has, somehow, consumed me in recent days, but it isn't. It could have been about the numbers themselves, 7-2-4, which are significant to me in that my friend Rob died on July 24 and I mention him each year on that date, but it isn't. It could have been about my recent trip to Leitchfield with my friend Elizabeth Sawyer, and her discussion with the Grayson County Democratic Women's Club. I do want to write about that trip - there was a cave I noticed along the northern side of KY 920, the old Salt River Road from Leitchfield to Flaherty, as we took the road less travelled on the way down to the destination. It was aside a bridge over a creek in Grayson County and I have never noticed it before and want to see it again. But, it isn't. That is a story for another day.

So, today's entry will be a test, something we do every now and then here along the Left Bank of the Ohio River near Milepost 606. This one is specific to Jefferson County so it may be difficult to those readers outside of what is officially known as Louisville-Jefferson County Metro. The test isn't long, but it probably will prove difficult.

All of us who drive the streets and lanes of our county see a plethora of signs, most of which we summarily ignore as there are so many of them everyone and most of them serve some specific purpose not applicalbe to us at the time. The ones to really watch for are when you can and cannot park on the city's streets. It is useful to know the difference between a "No Parking" sign and a "No Stopping" sign. The latter prohibits parking entirely although one such sign is daily ignored by the LMPD who park their cars on 7th Street just south of Congress Alley in clear violation of the law. Complaints about this illegal parking, which prohibits drivers exitting Congress Alley - for the non-Louisvillians, it should be noted that Congress Alley at this point isn't an alley at all but a three-lane wide artery - westward from seeing cars headed northward on 7th, have gone unheeded by the LMPD's chief's office. I intend to speak to the new chief, Steve Conrad, about this as soon as I get a chance. But, I digress.

The signs that many of us ignore are those that tell us what route we are on, routes such as I-64, US60, or KY 1020. In Jefferson County, with only a few exceptions, we do not officially call streets by their route numbers, something more typical in other counties and especially rural counties. There are, to my knowledge, two excpetions to this rule - one road known by its US highway designation, and one known by its Kentucky highway designations. So, that is our little quiz for the day - identifying highway route intersections by their commonly known names. The first two questions I've already given, but will again below as #1 and #2. See how many you know, but don't cheat by using a map. Again, all answers are somewhere in Jefferson County.

To wit:

1. What is the US highway route number which serves as the name of a street from a point just outside, or northeast, of the Watterson Expressway?

2. What is the Kentucky highway route number for this street which begins with a "real" name in the Highlands area but changes names to a three-digit highway route for its final two miles in the county?

3. What is the single streetname which is applied to roads carrying a US highway designation, a two-digit Kentucky highway designation, and a four-digit Kentucky highway designation, although no two at the same time, and for a while has no highway route designation at all, but did at one time?

The rest are "Identify the Intersection" questions. I will give you two highway routes - you tell me the streets forming their intersection.

4. US 31 and US 60

5. US 42 and KY 3222

6. KY 146 and KY 2050

7. KY 1116 and KY 2053

8. KY 1142 and KY 1931

9. KY 1230 and KY 1849

10. KY 1447 and KY 1932

11. KY 1531 and KY 1819

12. KY 1703 and KY 2860

13. KY 1747 and KY 2052

14. KY 1865 and KY 2055

15. KY 1934 and KY 2054

More Difficult

16. KY 1851 and KY 2317

Much More Difficult

17. What is the name of the road numbered as KY 2803 ?

18. Where is the location of the road numbered as KY 6298 ?

Trick Questions

19. Which is higher - US 31 or KY 3077 ? Regular readers of the blog and/or my Facebook page should at least get part of this answer.

20. Where is US 31 and/or KY 3077 ? Regular readers of the blog and/or my Facebook page should at least get part of this answer.

List your answers in the Comments section of the blog. Thanks.

723. Once In A Blue Moon - presented by Le Petomane Theatre Ensemble - A Review

Ninety years ago, Pirandello's play Six Characters In Search of An Author made its way to Broadway to mixed reviews. While the play Once in A Blue Moon and Pirnadello's have nothing else in common, a thread could be drawn between the title of the latter and the formation of the former.

Last Friday, at the invitation of my friend Gil Reyes, Theatre 502's co-artisitic director, my date - Callaway Kosine - and I attended the opening night perfomance of Once in A Blue Moon, created, staged, and performed by the ensemble of Le Petomane, at the Rudyard Kipling on W. Oak Street. The play was a lot of fun, a little disjointed, but a nice story nonetheless. It seemed like six or seven vignettes in search of a common theme.

But, there was a common theme, that of the play's heroine, Ruby, and the loss of her voice and the journey to reclaim it. Through a series of scenes - a streetyard, a field, a diner, and some others I wasn't quite able to place, Ruby meets with adventures and antagonists in her effort to follow her heart and find her voice.

There were bits and pieces of familiar feelings - some spoken verse that sounded Elizabethan, some eerie dance from the 20th century, evocations of mystery in the form of a Coyote, and a Blue Moon which seemed to be the magical force keeping it all together. For those who follow me on Facebook, you know that I am strongly attached and attracted to the moon, a personal sort of lunacy.

There were doses of rhyme and rhythm, singing and dancing, and even sword fighting. I was intrigued by and completely enjoyed the music created by the playing of a propane tank. Listening, I envisioned in my head scenes from some Mithraic celebrations in one of Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogies - or maybe it was a scene from the Mists of Avalon, I forget which.

The ensemble is four actors, three of whom, Heather Burns, Tony Dingman, and Kyle Ware, played a variety of roles - too many to list and sometimes hard to distinguish, especially since I've waited a week to write my review - apologies extended. The fourth was Kristie Rolape in the lead as Ruby. One role played by Kyle Ware was that of narrator, in the character known as Fairy Thoughtfather. Dingman roles included Ruby's father, high school friend, truck driver acquaintance at the diner, and some slickster who looked remarkably like a young Frank Sinatra. For me, the star role wasn't the protagonist Ruby, however. It was Coyote Blue, as played by Heather Burns (who I know from somewhere but I can't quite place where). Her moves around the stage and through the audience as the Coyote, a non-speaking role, were mesmerizing, hynotic, and elegant, all at once. The Coyote character appears at different times throughout the play and the delivery was top-notch at all times. I found myself anticipating the Coyote's next appearance on the stage. The threesome also played a blue-haired stoner band in one scene which was a lot of fun. Dingman, as the trucker, is also a rapper - an interesting performance. In the diner scene is a dance number which was straight out of Stomp - a clogging in rhythm which provided a musical perfomance all its own - or maybe it was reminescent of the old Hayloft Hoedown, for those of you old enough to remember that local show which played for many years, on WHAS at first and finally on WLKY, in the golden days of television here along the Left Bank of the Ohio River near Milepost 606. But, I digress.

Like every good tale, the heroine succeeds in her mission; her voice is found and the show comes to a quick end - a little too quickly although the play ran a little over an hour and twenty minutes the opening night. Perhaps because of the bareness of the stage, or the venue itself, a very intimate space with dinner tables and chairs - and dinner and drinks all around. I've always enjoyed that sort of venue but it isn't for everyone. My friend Callaway seemed as equally pleased with the performance. And, the truth is I have been going to events at the Rudyard Kipling for almost thrity years. It is a great place for some sometimes less-than-serious fun.

After the play, the cast and most of the patrons retired down into the bar part of The Rud for some music from a band called Neulore - or something - at that point I was on my third glass of Pinot Noir and they sounded pretty good.

Two more showing for Once in A Blue Moon are offered - tonight (Friday the 17th) and tomorrow, both at 7:30 pm. While it wasn't polished theater, it was fun and engaging, and a little quirky. I give it a B+.

722. Jefferson County Democrats

The blog's last entry concerned the filing deadline for the local Democratic Executive Committee. As it turns out, it may or may not have been extended based on Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd's extension of the legislative filing date, on which the local filing date is based. Judge Shepherd extended those filing to Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 4:30 p.m.

Congressional filings were extended by the legislature last week to Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 4:00 p.m.

All other filing deadlines were yesterday at 4:00 p.m. So, while there exists the possibility that there will be more filings, we do know about the following filings for the local Democratic Party and Jefferson County's elective offices. Below is a listing of all of those. Incumbents are denoted by an (i). All of these Democrats should be applauded for taking these efforts toward election to partisan or elective offices.

LOUISVILLE-JEFFERSON COUNTY DEMOCRATIC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

10th Legislative District (LD) Chair - Russell Lloyd, Mark Suna
10th LD Vice Chair - Victoria Lloyd
10th LD At-Large -

28th LD Chair - Michael Bowman
28th LD Vice Chair - Julie Hardesty
28th LD At-Large - Richard Everett

29th LD Chair - Allsion Amon (i)
29th LD Vice Chair - Michael Amon, O'Dell Henderson
29th LD At-Large - Kathy Wright, O'Dell Henderson

30th LD Chair - Jim Stammerman (i)
30th LD Vice Chair -
30th LD At-Large -

31st LD Chair - Caroline Franklin
31st LD Vice Chair -
31st LD At-Large - Peggy Bass

32nd LD Chair - Jeff Barr (i)
32nd LD Vice Chair - Barbara Meyers (i)
32nd LD At-Large - Andy Reynolds, Daniel Grossberg

33rd LD Chair - Kim Greenwell
33rd LD Vice Chair - Jerry Ferguson
33rd LD At-Large - Marie Geary

34th LD Chair - Anne Lindauer (i), Bennett Knox
34th LD Vice Chair - Shawn Riley, Joanna Erny, Ron Sheffer
34th LD At-Large - Jeremy Morris

35th LD Chair - Colleen Younger
35th LD Vice Chair -
35th LD At-Large -

37th LD Chair - Jeff Donohue, Virginia Woodward
37th LD Vice Chair -
37th LD At-Large -

38th LD Chair - Marianne Butler (i)
38th LD Vice Chair - Bill Meeks (i)
38th LD At-Large - Tim Firkins (i)

40th LD Chair - Lauren Ingram, Dennis Horlander
40th LD Vice Chair - Gail Linville
40th LD At-Large - John Crawford

41st LD Chair - Lesa Dae (i), Gordon Stoudemire
41st LD Vice Chair -
41st LD At-Large -

42nd LD Chair - Reginald Meeks (i), Pamela Osborne
42nd LD Vice Chair -
42nd LD At-Large - Dave Seutholz

43rd LD Chair - Clarence Yancey (i)
43rd LD Vice Chair - Queenie Averette (i)
43rd LD At-Large - Carl Bensinger (i)

44th LD Chair - Nicole Candler
44th LD Vice Chair - Steve Fein
44th LD At-Large -

46th LD Chair - John Sommers (i)
46th LD Vice Chair - Caroline Sommers (i)
46th LD At-Large -

48th LD Chair - Michael Garton, Lawrence Winburn
48th LD Vice Chair -
48th LD At-Large - Amy Lowen

KENTUCKY GENERAL ASSEMBLY

10th House - Teena Hlabig, Mark Suna
28th House - Charles Miller (i)
29th House -
30th House - Thomas Burch (i)
31st House - Steve Riggs (i)
32nd House -
33rd House - Rick Hiles
34th House - Mary Lou Marzian (i)
35th House - Jim Wayne (i)
37th House - Jeff Donohue, Wade Hurt (i)
38th House - Denver Butler
40th House - Dennis Horlander (i)
41st House - Tom Riner (i)
42nd House - Reginald Meeks (i)
43rd House - Darryl Owens (i)
44th House - Joni Jenkins (i)
46th House - Larry Clark (i)
48th House -

19th Senate - Gary Demling, Duran Hall
33rd Senate - Gerald Neal (i)
35th Senate - Denise Harper-Angel (i), Curtis Morrison
37th Senate - Steve Bittenbender, Dan Johnson, Robert D. Walker

JEFFERSON COUNTY ELECTIVE OFFICES

Commonwealth's Attorney - Tom Van De Rostyne, Tom Wine, Carol Cobb, Steve Ryan

Circuit Court Clerk - David Nicholson (i)

B District Commissioner - Alex Clements (i)

C District Commissioenr - Steve Fein (i)

1st Metro Council District (MCD) - Special Election - Rosa Macklin, Janis Carter Miller, Steve Colston, Attica Woodson Scott (i), Ray Barker, James Ponder
2nd MCD - Barbara Shanklin (i), Yvonne Woods, Rose Robinson
4th MCD - David Tandy (i)
6th MCD - David James (i)
8th MCD - Tom Owen (i), Bryan Mathews, Mason Roberts
10th MCD - Jim King (i)
12th MCD - Rick Blackwell (i)
14th MCD - Earl Yocum, Mark Romines, Ray Pierce, Cindi Fowler, Tom Childers
16th MCD - Tim Martin
18th MCD - Teague Ridge
20th MCD - J. Joseph Cohen
22nd MCD - Robert Zoeller, Jr.
24th MCD - Madonna Flood (i)
26th MCD - Brent Ackerson (i) - my boss.

Shively City Council - Maria D. Johnson (i), Delbert Vance (i), Dale Dummitt (i), Ronnie Wathen (i), Kimberly Williams (i), Rose Mary Renn (i), Chester Burrell, Beverly Burton

Finally, while not a partisan office, I wish to acknowledge the filing for the Kentucky Court of Appeals by my longtime friend and former boss Circuit Court Judge Irv Maze.

Two other Democrats' names will appear on the Jefferson County ballot this fall. John Yarmuth (i) is a candidate for reelection as Third District Congressman. The other one isn't even a Kentuckian. His name is Barack Obama (i). I am supporting both of their bids for reelection.

These are some of the Democrats willing to make a difference in Jefferson County.

721. Louisville-Jefferson County Democratic Party Reorganization Filing Deadline

Every four years the Democratic Party, from top to bottom, reorganizes itself. It is a nationwide process in every precinct in every state and territory and culminates in the selection of a presidential candidate at the Party's quadrennial convention, this year slated to be held in Charlotte, North Carolina.

While the first election in the process will not be held until March 31st at 10:00 a.m., Jefferson County follows a protocol which calls for candidates for the Louisville-Jefferson County Democratic Executive Committee to register their interest as candidates by a given day and time and that day and time in 2012 is Tuesday, January 31st at 4:00 p.m. By that time, those persons interested in running must have filed the appropriate paperwork with the local headquarters, located at 640 Barret Avenue, just north of Broadway, down in the bottomland along Beargrass Creek.

Jefferson County has eighteen legislative districts (LDs) numbered 10, 28-35, 37-38, 40-44, 46, and 48. Each of those districts have offices to be filled through an election process which begins on March 31st and ends a week later at LD conventions held in the eighteen districts.

My interest in the process is personal in that those LD conventions will also elect a number of delegates to the state convention, presently scheduled to be held at the Kentucky State Fairgrounds in Louisville on June 2nd. I personally disagree with the decision to hold the event at the Fairgrounds and to my knowledge the State Central Executive Committee of which I am a member, never specifically voted upon that site. Also, given that there is an $8.00 entry fee for each car and most people will have to leave to eat lunch, an additional $16.00 is going to be incurred by every car entering the Fairgrounds for the event. This, of course, will help the state's bottom line, I suppose. But, I digress.

As stated in the previous paragraph, I am currently a member of the State Central Executive Committee, serving as a State-At-Large member since September 2008. From 2004-2008, I served as a Third Congressional District Committeemember. I have toyed with the idea of not seeking reelection but have not made that decision. But, should I run again, I will need the votes of those persons elected as state delegates at the April 7th elections, so my interest begins by alerting everyone I can that an election is at hand.

Internal Party elections can be infernal affairs. My uncle's race against Ernstine Roach and Mary Margaret Mulvihill in 1976 left bitter tastes in three different camps from the 35th District, where I later served as LD Chair, for many years. In fact, it wasn't until my race in 2000, with Mary Margaret as my running mate, that an effort was at least made to heal some of the wounds from 24 years earlier. The race between Stan Jakubowski and Irv Maze in the 46th LD race from 1980 was decided by mere thousandths of a vote - a very, very small fraction. The 2000 race in the 41st LD was only resolved by the addition of a local committee member under an action at the state level. Finally, four years ago I was challenged by an unnamed person to not file a candidate in a certain district simply because the incumbent was a good guy, which he admittedly was (and is). Like a kid told not to get in the cookie jar, I jumped right into that affair with an 19 year old college student who I knew from the 2006 campaigns of Jerry Abramson and John Yarmuth, someone I personally liked a lot, and felt would be a good addition to the Party. With little work, that particular candidate defeated the incumbent good guy, mostly because he could. (As a note, that didn't work out well as that same newly elected 19 year old LD chair later supported, in so many words, a libertarian candidate for Congress against Congressman Yarmuth and voluntarily resigned his seat. He is now a registered Republican and is active in the Ron Paul for President campaign. But, again, I digress.

If you are one of those people who want to be involved in the local Party, or if you are one of those people who constantly complain about the Party, to paraphrase Ephesians - Chapter 5, "no longer deceive us with empty words." Here is your chance to make a difference. While the election process is still two months away, one must file for office and that deadline is Tuesday at 4 p.m. For more information, call the Party headquarters at 502-582-1999 tomorrow, Monday, or Tuesday, or the State Party in Frankfort at 502-695-4828.

Happy Election Season.