"Mayor's daughter arrested on drug charges."

Versailles is a city with fewer than 9,000 residents. Fred Siegelman appears to have been the all too familiar "mayor for life" type with at least three full terms before resigning in 2013. He appears to have been elected to city council in 2018. For all I know he was a competent mayor, seemingly theatrical, but that's hardly uncommon. All of the following is a matter of public record, albeit dated -- and be aware that this blog supports the legalization of marijuana.

MAYOR’S DAUGHTER ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES, at ABC 36 WTVQ

The daughter of a central Kentucky mayor was arrested in Lexington on drug charges Wednesday. Rachel Siegelman, 19, is the daughter of Versailles mayor Fred Siegelman.

Police say she was arrested just before noon for selling marijuana and LSD on UK’s Lexington campus. The arrest was part of a week-long sting UK police had set up.

Siegelman was in court via a live video stream from the Fayette County Jail Thursday. She pleaded not guilty, and was released on bail to her parents with the condition that she’d be under constant surveillance.

This Siegelman was not the first to be in trouble with the law–the mayor himself pleaded guilty to DUI charges in February.

Truth is stranger than fact: Back in 2012, the Reisz building was to become a senior living complex. Bob Caesar kneecapped it -- and Deaf Gahan DISAGREED with Cee-Saw.

Earlier today, it was noted hereabouts that Bob Caesar, a social climbing Faux Democrat, is among the bloc of five council votes favoring the expenditure of a whopping $8.5 million to reclaim with requisite posh the long dormant Reisz Furniture building for use as a luxury government center.

ON THE AVENUES: Histrionic preservation? $8.5 million to gift Jeff Gahan with a new city hall "want" is inexcusable and simply obscene in a time of societal need.

The others favoring financial profligacy are Matt Nash (5th district), Greg Phipps (3rd), Pat McLaughlin (4th), all Gahanocrats, and from across the aisle, David (Buildings Not People) Barksdale.

Memories are short, and it has been only six years since since the most hopeful Reisz resuscitation idea in decades passed through the Redevelopment Commission with glowing reviews.

The Sterling Group approached city council in 2012 with a plan to transform the degraded structure (and the adjacent property now occupied by Underground Station) into Legacy at Riverside, a 74-unit senior living complex for eligible low- to middle-income older folks.

Caesar promptly allied with former councilman Kevin Zurschmiede, the latter an actual Republican, to summarily derail Sterling's project, successfully floating a resolution that tarred Legacy at Riverside with the aporophobic brush usually reserved for public housing denunciations, although the proposed development had nothing whatever to do with NAHA.

At least in part as a result of Caesar's and Zurschmiede's hatchet job, the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority did not approve low-income tax credits for the Legacy at Riverside. At the time, a rising local political leader had this to say about it, and we turn to the newspaper's Daniel Suddeath for the rest of the story.

Mayor Jeff Gahan released a statement Friday expressing disappointment with IHCDA’s decision.

He said the Legacy at Riverside “would have given a dilapidated city block $12 million worth of development. The seniors that would reside there could have visited our downtown restaurants and shops, and contributed to the local economy in a big way.”

The administration estimated the property tax base would have risen from about $10,000 to $40,000 annually on the lot due to the Legacy at Riverside project.

However, Councilman Bob Caesar estimated the city would lose millions of dollars in property taxes over the life of the developments if they received credits when he voted in favor of the opposition resolution.

Louisville company LDG is proposing Summit Springs, which is not offered as an age-based development. The earnings ceiling would be 60 percent of the Area Median Income for residency at Summit Springs.

Attempts to reach LDG for comment on the status of Summit Springs were unsuccessful Friday.

Gahan said that at least a conversation has begun about housing in New Albany.

“Both public and private housing issues need to be a part of our public discussion,” he said.

See: Gahan's been stuck on the word "dilapidated" for six years.

I suppose Caesar is at least consistent in resolutely opposing affordable housing, seeing he has forever confused lower-income citizens with a lower class of citizenry.

But what the hell happened to Dear Leader?

Here he was, at the beginning of his reign, vanquishing Caesar's myopia with well-chosen comments about housing issues. Now he's demolishing public housing units and building statues to himself -- and almost none of it has been conducted publicly.

Shall we affirm the truth of the old saying, "absolute power corrupts absolutely"?

It's also instructive that during the very same IHCDA low-income tax credits award cycle, credits were denied to another project: "The proposed 104-unit Summit Springs project that would be located near the Interstate 265 interchange off State Street."

Welcome to Weird New Albany. Now that Summit Springs has been rendered into a partnership of sorts between its greed-headed developers and City Hall, and since it is being devoted to hotels and retail, not apartments, those bumps from 2012 are forgotten, and Caesar and Gahan can hold hands while praising the view from the Taco Bell by the strip mine.

Moreover, having chased away Sterling, these two political lovebirds can bond over Reisz as a paean to luxury governance.

A skin-in-the-game skin flick, as it were. There's something eternal about this ... and thoroughly nauseating, so make it "infernal" instead.

Following are some posts from the period in question.

---

Shambolic NA: Big ticket jewelry and lower-income tax credits. (February 25, 2012)

As the excerpts here illustrate, rental housing owner Kevin Zurschmiede voted both ways while wearing different hats, putting him into position to tie King Larry's all-time flip-flop record by abstaining the next time it comes up ... and the developer did not fail to notice it. The administration took no public position until after the state declined credits. Councilman Caesar, who has contributed no known plan for assisting downtown revitalization beyond opposing two-way streets, outsourcing Bicentennial projects to out of state mercenaries and enabling condos-for-the-wealthy-some-time-way-down-the-road, was able to blithely rationalize his contempt for the less well off by waving a mimeograph of the tax code.

Fiction is dead and buried in New Albany, because everyday life is so consistently entertaining ... and so enduringly futile in a political sense. Do any of these people have a better idea for how the Reisz Building might realistically be used any time soon? Is it that we just couldn't run the risk of poorer old people living that close to Mr. Bobo's champagne-sipping penthouse dwellers? Doesn't Sterling actually have the money to do what they propose, and some semblance of a track record that might hint at an ability to succeed in doing it? If the answer to the last two questions is yes, shouldn't we give them the parking garage, because that way, at least something might get built?

Legacy at Riverside not dead yet in New Albany; Mayor Gahan disappointed that low-income tax credits weren’t awarded for developments, by Braden Lammers (Hanson Compendium of Pop Ups and Roll Overs)

Councilman Kevin Zurschmiede voted in favor of that resolution while on the redevelopment commission, but sponsored the measure opposing the developments for the council.

“We did have support unanimously [from the redevelopment commission], and then to find out after the fact in the new year that we might not have support I guess we were a little confused and not sure what was going on,” (John VanMeeter director of development for The Sterling Group) said.

(Mayor Jeff Gahan) said the Legacy at Riverside “would have given a dilapidated city block $12 million worth of development. The seniors that would reside there could have visited our downtown restaurants and shops, and contributed to the local economy in a big way.”

The administration estimated the property tax base would have risen from about $10,000 to $40,000 annually on the lot due to the Legacy at Riverside project. However, Councilman Bob Caesar estimated the city would lose millions of dollars in property taxes over the life of the developments if they received credits when he voted in favor of the opposition resolution.

---

Speaking of the riverfront, let's check the class warfare front. (March 4, 2012)

Pictured above is the rear of what New Albanians long have referred to as the Reisz Furniture Building, which has been vacant for as long as most of us can remember, apart from being used by Schmitt Furniture as storage. Recently a proposal has been advanced by a Mishawaka-based firm (Sterling) to restore this long-term eyesore and replace rapidly decaying structures adjacent to it with new buildings, all for the purpose of creating affordable senior housing.

Largely at the behest of members Kevin Zurschmiede (R) and Bob Caesar (PD - Pretend Democrat), New Albany's city council rushed forward a resolution opposing affordable housing tax credits for this project, and these credits subsequently were denied by the state agency.

A half-block to the west, a sign has been erected to tout the "proper" use of governmental incentives to private developers.

For the River View development to proceed, it must be the beneficiary of -- yes, you guessed it -- various governmental subsidies and incentives, without which the utterly cashless Mainland Properties cannot so much as turn one single spade of downtown dirt.

What's more, while Zurschmiede, Caesar and four other council persons took the opportunity of their vote to rail publicly against the very possibility that the Reisz plan might someday, far in the future, be modified to permit differing uses of dwelling spaces than those originally specified in order for construction to be incentivized, not one of them has yet indicated a similar level of internal disturbance with the fact that Mainland has completely changed the nature and intent of its River View project, from enabling downtown condo ownership and residency from the outset, to pushing its ownership society to the very end, with intervening phases of retail, office and (gasp) apartment rentals all to occur first, whether they're needed or not.

Neither Zurschmiede nor Caesar have commented publicly as to what they feel might be a better way to rehab the long neglected Reisz building than the Sterling proposal. Concurrently, they both seem to approve subsidies to build something on the part of a development group with absolutely no money, rather than to incentivize another development group with money enough to a least complete plans without its open palm garishly extended.

If class warfare does not explain these attitudes, then what does?

---

Recalling how the human progress retardant helped keep the Reisz building dilapidated into 2013. (January 5, 2013)

Still wonderfully and delightfully decrepit, the old Reisz Furniture building and adjacent rotting structures greet the New Year. Remember last year, when there was a proposal afoot to rehab these spaces, and Councilman Bob Caesar took time from his busy schedule of Crutchfield-fluffing to sabotage it?

Looking for the best New Albany bicentennial legacy of all? Keep reading.

CeeSaw's in the news again as Redevelopment defies the CM's weighty IRS tome (August 15, 2012).

Meanwhile, the affordable seniors project involving the long dormant Reisz building -- you remember, the one Bob Caesar defeated by doing a dramatic council rain dance with an Internal Revenue tax concordance held aloft to catch rays of Mitt Romney's abstinent light -- made preliminary sense to Redevelopment, although without the presence of dual council/commission members who dashed away lest they learn something, and now can be expected to solemnly swear that they were cruelly the information they missed by leaving before the second act.

---

Speaking of the riverfront, let's check the class warfare front (March 4, 2012).

Neither Zurschmiede nor Caesar have commented publicly as to what they feel might be a better way to rehab the long neglected Reisz building than the Sterling proposal. Concurrently, they both seem to approve subsidies to build something on the part of a development group with absolutely no money, rather than to incentivize another development group with money enough to a least complete plans without its open palm garishly extended.

If class warfare does not explain these attitudes, then what does?

---

Shambolic NA: Big ticket jewelry and lower-income tax credits (February 25, 2012).

As the excerpts here illustrate, rental housing owner Kevin Zurschmiede voted both ways while wearing different hats, putting him into position to tie King Larry's all-time flip-flop record by abstaining the next time it comes up ... and the developer did not fail to notice it. The administration took no public position until after the state declined credits. Councilman Caesar, who has contributed no known plan for assisting downtown revitalization beyond opposing two-way streets, outsourcing Bicentennial projects to out of state mercenaries and enabling condos-for-the-wealthy-some-time-way-down-the-road, was able to blithely rationalize his contempt for the less well off by waving a mimeograph of the tax code.

THE BEER BEAT: I guess if NABC isn't celebrating its 30th birthday, then I will, with a look back at the 25th.

Photo by John Wurth.

Yesterday (July 22) was the 5th anniversary of the New Albanian Brewing Company's 25th anniversary, which means the business entity variously known as Sportstime Pizza, Rich O’s Public House, the New Albanian Brewing Company (later, adding Bank Street Brewhouse, now dubbed NABC Cafe & Brewhouse) has celebrated its 30th birthday.

Ladies and gentlemen, the inimitable Tony Beard.

The exact date of inception is lost, but some time in June, 1987 is my best guess. My own involvement lasted from from 1990 through 2015, and as Mayor Jeff Gahan pointed out at a mayoral debate in 2015, my career as a double naught capitalist provoked unprecedented misery for the city of New Albany.

"(Roger’s) never done anything in a positive manner to help the city of New Albany.”

Actually, during the opening phases of Rich O’s Public House during the early- to mid-1990s, with Oasis and Nirvana playing deafeningly in the background, we often pointed to Kentucky license plates in the parking lot as proof of things working out just as we had hoped. Gahan probably didn't notice, given the pressing and frenetic weight of adulation that customarily accompanies a career in veneer sales.

This morning I scrolled back through recent Facebook posts at the Pizzeria & Public House and Cafe & Brewhouse to see if mention had been made of the anniversary.

I saw none, but then again, details like this always were my "area" during the period of my immersion, perhaps because I've always been aware we were constructing a narrative, and I'd be the guy writing the history.

The scribe departs and history ends; Fukuyama would be proud. Ironically, the past week may finally prove to be a watershed in our efforts to come to a monetary agreement about the professional divorce, absent the rigors of litigation. I remain hopeful. For those readers unfamiliar with the saga, I catalogued my consciousness in March.

By early 2015, themes and threads gestating for several years had combined into something approximating a personal resolve to do something different with my life, and I decided to sell my share of both NABC corporations to my two longtime business partners. Why, exactly?

Enough of that. There always was a dollop of Fleetwood Mac amid the pizza and beer, and today's objective is to celebrate the curiously neglected anniversary.

To begin, a few resurrected Potable Curmudgeon blog links from 2012, helping to provide background on the bacchanal of the 25th observance.

July 23, 2012
“New independent businesses are coming in and that’s what’s moving New Albany forward. We’ve all grown together and it’s great" ... There was a nice description of our 25th anniversary celebration in the Monday morning C-J.

July 21, 2012
Sarah models the NABC 25th anniversary t-shirt.

July 19, 2012
Beers, pours and pricing for "25 Years of Beer & Loathing."

July 17, 2012
NABC beer lineup for 25 Years of Beer & Loathing ... Here is the NABC beer lineup for 25 Years of Beer & Loathing, this Sunday at the Riverfront Amphitheater in New Albany. All the following will be ready to drink at 10:00 a.m., when the day kicks off.

July 16, 2012
Sara Havens in LEO: "A salute to NABC" ... All this week there'll be reminders of our anniversary posted here, leading up to the 25 Years of Beer and Loathing bash on the riverfront next Sunday. First up is my old pal Sara "Bar Belle" Havens of the Louisville Eccentric Observer, who interviewed me last week.

July 15, 2012
New "Baylor on Beer" at LouisvilleBeer.com ... I reworked an older column from 2010 into this "Baylor on Beer" submission to LouisvilleBeer.com, proving that it's always okay to sample oneself, especially when the schedule is too busy to be original. Seeing as this is NABC's 25th anniversary week, the following helps to explain a few motivations of my own.

Then, in closing, my ON THE AVENUES column of June 21, 2012: "25 years of Beer & Loathing." While it's true that the five years since then have been tumultuous and filled with nuggets of history, the 25th anniversary party it itself worthy of remembrance, in addition to being an apt summary of the first quarter-century.

But first, allow me to repeat something previously written.

In a space this brief, it would be impossible to recount the many life lessons I learned while at NABC, though one springs to mind: When business life is good, the employees get the credit, and when there are problems, it’s all on the owners.

The rank and file, and the workers on the shop floor – cooks, servers, dishwashers and staff members – do the heavy lifting and define the atmosphere. They’re the face of the business, and its esprit de corps. The job of the owner is to organize and manage them so they can thrive, and in turn, so the entity can succeed.

Yes, naturally there are exceptions. Firing someone isn’t fun, though occasionally it must be done. Employees make mistakes, and so on. The point to me is that so many of them, the vast majority, have been top-flight individuals, both before and after working for NABC.

We’ve had our share of teachers, media professionals, artists and musicians working as part-timers, supplementing their income with shifts. With IU Southeast just down the street from the original Pizzeria & Public House locations, there have been hundreds of students receiving W2s as they worked their way through school.

Just think of the local multiplier effect in human terms, for more than 25 years.

What’s more, so many of them have gone on to solid careers. If we had an NABC Alumni Association, it would include doctors, writers, sailors, lawyers, real estate moguls, gardeners, bar and restaurant owners, chefs, entrepreneurs, brewers, entertainers and distillers.

I see many of them on social media, raising their families and living their dreams. I’m pleased as punch to have played a part, however brief, in their formative lives. Cheers to them. I'm serene and looking forward to a new challenge, which I hope will be gathering steam quite soon.

---

ON THE AVENUES: 25 Years of Beer & Loathing (June 21, 2012)

My pal TR called for a catch-up chat. It had been a week since my return from four months in Europe, and I was woefully depleted of gossip, so TR suggested lunch at a joint called Sportstime Pizza, apparently recently established somewhere near Grant Line Road. I couldn’t really form a mental picture of the place until he resorted to a past-tense directional comparison: “It’s where the Noble Roman’s used to be.”

It was 1987, and now, as thousands of years of human history pass by, I join the chorus of individuals always asking, “Where did the time go?”

I couldn’t tell you the answer, except to mischievously recall another friend’s longtime assertion that his eventual autobiography would bear the title, “What I Remember.” Not mine, which is slated to be called “Beer, Bile and Bolsheviks: A Fermentable Life," but there’s little time to write the book because the business I inadvertently stumbled into two decades ago still keeps me ridiculously busy amid a career of selling the idea of beer, a course that somehow took shape during gaps between bouts of drinking lots and lots of it.

Naturally, none of this could have taken place without the work, contributions and input of so many people, from co-owners Amy and Kate through all our employees, customers and folks far too numerous to count – past, present and future. At the risk of sounding trite, I’ll consciously echo Queen, who said it best.

I've taken my bows
And my curtain calls
You brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes with it
I thank you all

But it's been no bed of roses
No pleasure cruise
I consider it a challenge before the whole human race
And I ain't gonna lose

Unfortunately, as I’m channeling the late and lamented Freddie Mercury, the missus is assuming the voice of barrister’s mate Hilda Rumpole to remind me that any mention of “fortune” is utterly misplaced in my professional context. It’s true, although the value of enjoying one’s work and being paid to drink beer whilst performing it … that’s truly priceless.

---

The New Albanian Brewing Company will mark its first quarter-century of existence with a day-long picnic and concert at New Albany’s Riverfront Amphitheater on Sunday, July 22, 2012.

As most readers probably know, nowadays the original location near Grant Line Road is known as the NABC Pizzeria & Public House, incorporating Sportstime, Rich O’s Public House (1992) and the 2002 addition of craft brewing on site. NABC’s most recent progeny (2009) is NABC Bank Street Brewhouse, located in New Albany’s historic business district downtown.

“25 Years of Beer & Loathing” is what we’re calling the fete, and NABC’s 25th anniversary celebration will be a day-long musical, family-friendly event with food, activities and refreshments suitable for all ages. The venue is New Albany’s Riverfront Amphitheater, from 10:00 a.m. to sundown on Sunday, July 22. The Amphitheater is located by the Ohio River in downtown New Albany, with ample parking available by the levee at the foot of Pearl Street.

There is no cover charge for this event, and it’ll be cash 'n' carry for food, drinks and vending. Proceeds after expenses will be disbursed in the form of grants to Rauch Inc., the Isabel Jade Pickhardt Fund and New Albany First.

So that all of our current employees can participate in recalling 25 Years of Beer & Loathing, NABC’s Bank Street Brewhouse will be closed on Sunday, July 22, although the Build Your Own Bloody Mary Bar will be operating at the Riverfront Amphitheater from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (see below). Following in alphabetical order are details about what to expect.

Beer
NABC’s draft truck (Rosa L. Stumblebus) will be on hand with old favorites and special releases. We’ll be pouring all four of NABC’s 10th brewery anniversary beers: Bourbondaddy, Stumblebus, Turbo Hog and Scotch de Ainslie. There’ll also be a special 10th anniversary session ale called Get Off My Lawn. In addition, limited quantities of cask-conditioned Naughty Girl (double dry-hopped) and Oaked Choufftimus will be served while they last.

Build Your Own Bloody Mary Bar
A Bank Street Brewhouse staple at Sunday brunch, the bar will move to the waterfront, with Miss Sarah on hand to guide visitors through garnishes, sauces and fresh embellishments.

Charitable donations
Net monies after expenses will be used for grants to be given to Rauch Inc, the Isabel Jade Pickhardt Fund and NA1st. Our longtime friends at Rauch support people with disabilities through services designed to promote individual choices, growth and well being, while encouraging a community environment that acknowledges the value and contribution of all people. They’ll be helping NABC with the children’s area and site clean-up. The Isabel Jade Pickhardt Fund was set up to assist the daughter of the late Ryan Pickhardt, a local musician and keyboard player for the band Sativo Gumbo, with whom NABC has longstanding ties. NA1st is New Albany’s only grassroots independent business alliance, seeking to support and promote independent business owners and to educate community members about the importance of buying locally. On the 22nd, volunteers from NA1st will assist NABC in monitoring entrances and exits, and policing the grounds.

Children’s Area Activities
A duck pond, face painting, temporary tattoos, an art area and perhaps other activities will be available for the kids.

Food
Feast BBQ (116 W Main St) is roasting a pig, and will be offering these items: Pork sliders with pickles and onions; pork tacos with cilantro, lime, cotija, and crema; and smoked corn on the cob ... Shawn, TJ and Charlestown Pizza Company will be preparing chicken salad croissants, Asian slaw, pasta salad, fruit cups and other fare ... NABC is brewing root beer for the event, and of course there’ll be water and soft drinks.

Music schedule

10:00 a.m.: (house music)
12 Noon: Roz Tate
1:00 p.m.: Ben Traughber
2:00 p.m.: Five Foot Fish
3:00 p.m.: Beeler Attic
4:00 p.m.: Jed and the NoiseMakers
5:00 p.m.: Porch Possums
6:00 p.m.: Dust Radio
7:00 p.m.: Whiskey Riders
8:00 p.m.: Toledo Bend

Wine
River City Winery will be on hand to sell wines and Sangria.

We hope you'll be able to stop by and help us remember what we remember.

Musical addendum: Lots of local and regional music in 2012.

During the course of my year-end musical surveys, I've had very little to say about local and regional music and musicians, and yet it is clear that in 2012, I heard far more local music than usual close-up and live. It was an edifying experience, and I hope the keep the momentum rolling during 2013.

In fact, it may have been my most fallow year ever for attending shows held by nationally known acts: Adam Cohen/Rufus Wainwright at the Iroquois Amphitheater and Noel Gallagher/Snow Patrol at the Palace, and that was all.

What about Ben Sollee, nationally known instrumentalist and singer, live at the Carnegie Center in December? He may be getting bigger, but the venue was about as intimate as it gets, so he can count as local.

In May, there was RiverRoots in Madison, with many local and regional acts playing alongside the better known headliners like Bands of Heathens and Hayes Carll.

In July, there was our own NABC 25th anniversary "Beer & Loathing" party on the riverfront, with a great lineup of purely local talent: Roz Tate, Ben Traughber, Five Foot Fish, Beeler Attic, Jed and the NoiseMakers, Porch Possums, Dust Radio, Whiskey Riders and Toledo Bend.

In October, many of these same artists also played NABC's Fringe Fest in October, in addition to Artificially Flavored, Broke Bandit, Squeezebot, Temple of the Golden Dawn, Thunder Wrane and She Might Bite.

Also in October, and perhaps the most memorable sets I witnessed during the year, was the Heritage Festival in Cannelton, with the Troubadours of Divine Bliss and local favorite Jeremy Luecke, the latter a ridiculously skilled singer and songwriter.

There was a nostalgic get-together by Digby at the Indie Fest in September, and the many bands that played throughout the summer during the mayor's Live @ Five concert series. Andy "Thunder Wrane" Hunter played several times at Bank Street Brewhouse, and old friend John Woodard and the Rashers performed a wonderful evening set of Celtic music at Mt. St. Francis in August at a lakeside benefit for the Mary Anderson Center.

I'll close this recitation with a few links to Houndmouth, the front half of which I believe once was known as St. James Hotel (Fringe Fest 2011). Bluegill wrote about Houndmouth (and Toledo Bend) one year ago, on January 1, 2012.

"Get over it. Get used to it."

Given the overly familiar, often overbearing cast of characters, it's no surprise that some of the folks involved with the Bicentennial Commission are struggling when it comes to making traditional forms relevant in a modern world. Thankfully, a younger, more knowledgeable set is doing it just fine with an urgency and grace long missing from their better-known elders. It's theirs and similar names that will ultimately matter as we move into the post-historic now.

Paying attention to them? The sooner the better.

I've sent the year heeding Bluegill's advice. Here are the links.

"Penitentiary" music video.

"Houston Train" live video from SXSW.

"Krampus" at the Irish Exit.

ON THE AVENUES: The musical year 2012 (part two).

ON THE AVENUES: The musical year 2012 (part two).

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

Purportedly, this second segment of my annual review of music was supposed to be devoted to listings of classical, world music and jazz, as intended to illustrate the sublime well-roundedness of my artistic taste.

This time around, you’ll have to take my word for it, because no new ground was broken in the year recently passed. There was stasis. So it goes. It remains a matter of overt pride and personal enrichment for me that all types of music can be enthralling at any given time, in a certain place, and according to variable moods.

For example, at some undisclosed point each year on a Saturday, I switch on WUOL-90.5 and listen to an opera broadcast from the Met. It doesn’t even matter which opera it is, because I don’t know enough about the genre to be selective. If nothing else, it helps to keep the Marx Brothers satire alive.

Elsewhere, my favorite classical works – medieval music, Smetana, chamber works, Shostakovich – are revisited regularly. These come from my own CD collection, and also via WUOL, for which I am thankful, and need to get back to supporting with some real money in 2013.

My world travel schedule has taken a hiatus in recent years, but music from the remainder of the planet still features regularly on my play list. I browse Internet radio stations and YouTube, delve into the CD collection, and make pairings: Fado for a Port night, or Dengue Fever with Asian cuisine. In fact, the Cambodian-American band’s documentary, “Sleepwalking Through the Mekong,” was a 2012 milestone, and I regret coming to it so tardily.

And then there are my first true loves, jazz and swing, the prototypically American musical styles I literally was raised to appreciate. Alas, I have been profligate of late. In 2012, the death of Dave Brubeck probably served as the only reminder of jazz for many observers of the Lady Gaga cohort, and while sad, it’s not unexpected. Perhaps 2013 finally will be the year when I muster the necessary organization to wire the WCTU Reading Room at Bank Street Brewhouse for sound, and begin devoting certain nights entirely to jazz. Or samba. Perhaps Handel or Borodin.

After all, we need listenable diversity.

---

Last week I reviewed the list of my favorite pop/rock recordings of 2012. One release was purposefully omitted, because while influential in its limited time, I suspect it won’t stand the ultimate test of shelf life, in the sense of music worth returning to again and again. However, I might yet be wrong, and that’s why it’s time to talk a bit about Van Halen.

Early in 2012, there was much fanfare when the group announced a new album, the band’s first since 1984 (both the year and the title) with original singer David Lee Roth, and a tour to follow. I skipped the cash outlay for the tour date in Louisville and bought the CD instead. Interestingly, there was little truly “new” material therein. Rather, the songs were assembled largely from leftover, unused or discarded demos from the heyday of Van Halen during the Reagan Administration, newly recorded for the digital age.

For three weeks straight, I listened to Van Halen’s comeback CD. It made such a profound impression that when I started writing these musical columns in December, I couldn’t even remember the album’s title. Forced to scan the rack for a look see, it came back to me: “A Different Kind of Truth.”

The album isn’t entirely bad, although I’d be guilty of damning Van Halen with faint praise if I were to call it the “best” since the band’s last album with Sammy Hagar in 1993.

Gary Cherone, where have you gone?

There is formulaic filler, reminding the listener of why certain songs were omitted in the first place, but there also are moments of bliss and excellence, as when the lumbering leviathan belatedly gets rolling during Eddie Van Halen’s inspired, throwback solos on the song “Blood and Fire.” Thus was the air guitar duly enabled, back when we were sweaty and utterly shameless.

Eddie still has it, but David Lee’s voice isn’t at all the same, even if he’s crafty like a vaudevillian and adept at concealing vastly reduced range. Perhaps not unexpectedly, the single most noticeable absence is that of former band member Michael Anthony, ingloriously booted by the conspiratorial brothers to make room for Eddie’s son Wolfgang. “A Different Kind of Truth” proves definitively that Anthony’s backing vocals always were an integral part of the band’s sound. Without them, something vital is missing.

So, why will Van Halen still be a memorable presence for me whenever I think back on music in 2012, even if the new album was so-so, and in spite of missing them live? It’s precisely because it compelled me to return to the archive, and to listen again to those first five albums from the band’s original incarnation.

I liked the Van Hagar era, too, but indeed, there was a time when Roth prancing in spandex, screaming, and a grinning Eddie with his axe, shredding, meant quite a lot for the rock oeuvre as a whole. After finishing those five timeless albums, the new release seemed utterly irrelevant. And so collectively we age, gracefully or otherwise.

---

These intense musical dalliances and re-immersions are hallmarks of my year I music. It always happens. In 2012, there was Van Halen, the “pop” period of Genesis, wonderful recaps of King Crimson and Soft Machine, and two Blu-ray/CD purchases to close the year: Led Zeppelin’s “Celebration Day” (the 2007 London reunion show with Jason Bonham on drums) and “Hungarian Rhapsody” by Queen, a concert from 1986 in Budapest.

In the days of my youth … it never could be said that I was a Led Zeppelin fan. It may have been a cultural phenomenon, given that the pot smokers in my school milieu steered toward Zepp, while the drinkers listened to the Stones and the Who. Whatever the case, the band’s performance as elder statesmen is quite compelling. Listen to Robert Plant as a lion in winter, wisely reinterpreting his own rock singer legacy, not as a shouter, but as a craftsman.

To view the very epitome of the now-discredited stadium rock genre, rewind to 1986 and revel in the excess as Queen plays the soccer stadium in Budapest, with every movie camera in the entirety of Communist-era Hungary assembled to capture the rare spectacle of a Western concert behind the Iron Curtain.

The film, unreleased until now, is an essential gem, capturing the late, lamented Freddie Mercury and his band mates at their post-Live Aid pinnacle, with interspersed footage of Queen as bemused tourists that chills me to the bone, so redolent of the mood in Budapest just one year later, when I purchased a ticket for $7 and saw Genesis on the very same stage.

As much as seeing Genesis meant to me at the time, after seeing the Queen film these many years later, I’d have happily swapped Phil Collins for Mercury. He was a one-off. Then again, so are we all.

Radio, someone still loves you. But that’s a tale for another time.

ON THE AVENUES: The musical year 2012 (part one).

ON THE AVENUES: The musical year 2012 (part one). 

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

A reader asks: “When will the annual “year in music” list be published?”

The answer: Right after the annual irrelevance disclaimer.

Verily, as cultural markers go, few are as personalized as one’s choice of music. As such, the inescapable verdict of 2011 is repeated in 2012: My musical awareness sell-by date has long since expired. Taking into account multiple “best of 2012” collections of music perused on-line, my familiarity has extended to as few as one (often none) of every ten selections cited. In terms of chronology, I’ve effectively pole vaulted the shark. I’m an old fogey, and while the kids may well be alright, their musical tastes utterly elude me.

So be it, for I remain a happy musical warrior, and shall proceed into the good tuneful night not so much gently as with shoulders shrugging, expounding the freedom to dial back my consciousness to Bix Beiderbecke, Bela Bartok and even the Beach Boys as the mood strikes me. Music of all eras and genres plays constantly inside my cranium, and has done so for as long as I remember. When it ceases, it will mean I’m dying, so let’s keep the music playing, and begin with album releases in 2012.

Creaky Aging Veterans Division

Leonard Cohen … Old Ideas
Dr. John … Locked Down
Bob Dylan … Tempest
John Hiatt … Mystic Pinball
Ian Hunter & the Rant Band … When I’m President
Van Morrison … Born to Sing: No Plan B
Rush … Clockwork Angels
Neil Young and Crazy Horse … Psychedelic Pill

Taken as a whole, 2012 was an excellent year for superannuated farts not dissimilar to me and mine.

The pleasure in listening to Bob and Van these days derives in large measure from their rich and encyclopedic musical references; the Irishman’s dyspeptic insolence and the Minnesotan’s bloody apocalyptic story-telling reveal additional nuances with each listen.

The same can be said of Dr. John’s return to swampy, dark and mystical funk. Meanwhile, the septuagenarians Hunter (late of Mott the Hoople) and a whispering Cohen get philosophical, while John Hiatt simply cannot write a bad song.

For the continued existence of the two actual long-term rock bands here, I am grateful as well as suitably deafened. The technical mastery of Rush always astounds, while the tipsy grinding clatter of Neil and the boys reassures. Rock ‘n’ roll is dead; long live rock ‘n’ roll.

Honorable Mention: Slightly More Contemporary Stuff.

Alabama Shakes … Boys & Girls
Adam Cohen … Like A Man
Cribs … In the Belly of the Brazen Bull
Neon Trees … Picture Show
Jack White … Blunderbuss

As one constantly lamenting the decline of the rock music I was raised on, I’m not happy with myself for taking so long to “get” the Alabama Shakes. That woman has her some mean pipes, and the instruments are straight and soulful. Adam Cohen, while comparable in intent with his old man, has his own unique twist on lounge poetry, and his set at the Rufus Wainwright show at Iroquois last summer was exemplary.

As for the Cribs, a very English band, it’s arguably the poor “shameless” pub-going man’s version of Oasis, the latter as yet defunct as we all await the inevitable reunion payday.

Neon Trees makes the grade for (a) being an actual band with folks who play instruments, (b) having an ex-New Albanian (Elaine Bradley) as drummer, and (c) displaying a talent for songs that remain songs even when stripped of production embellishments.

Finally, while never a huge fan of White’s previous work, I’m coming to appreciate the way he micro-targets his apparently endless creative reservoir of weirded-out musicality to anything he does.

Closer: Numbers 5, 4, 3 and 2.

Keane … Strangelands
Maroon 5 … Overexposed
Muse … The 2nd Law
Scars on 45 (eponymous)

In 2012, Keane happily awakened from recent experiments in over-produced, gimmick-driven excess, recalling those Keane-like attributes which first brought the band to prominence: Great singing and playing, clever song craft, and resulting tunes that one can sing in showers and then whistle while walking the dog. Good for them, good for me, even if I don’t own a dog.

Is it a band, or is it Memorex? Maroon 5 seems to have entered just such a period as Keane has only now exited. Overexposed features guest writers, warmth-draining production and an entirely extraneous rap couplet (on Pay Phone) that has the same approximate dampening effect on an otherwise superior pop song as a kazoo solo might if tacked to the middle of Stairway to Heaven. Still, there’s a certain charm, along with songs that easily become ear worms.

Then there’s Muse, and I piously thank the Gods of ridiculous prog-rock extravagance (and maybe the ghost of Freddie Mercury, too) for a band that knows no shame when it comes to ludicrous pretension. But sometimes overreach is exactly what we need to cope with the daily routine. Highlights might well be a deceptive, genre-shifting, damned-near-ballad called “Madness,” and two album closing sound collages serving as appropriate soundtracks to the world’s suicidal preference for unsustainability.

Coming in at number two is my biggest surprise of the year, an eponymous debut album by the band Scars on 45. The group is Brit, with both male and female lead singers, conjuring a mood not unlike the early Buckingham/Nicks era of Fleetwood Mac, except that the overall tone is far less of Lindsey’s classic quirky songs than Christine McVie’s doleful contemplations, with American roots shadings aplenty. This is highly accomplished work, and I’ll be watching for “next.”

My Album of the Year for 2012: Bruce Springsteen … Wrecking Ball

In retrospect, after the Boss went out on the road stumping for Barack Obama during the waning days of the incumbent’s wonderfully successful re-election campaign, he must have intended all along that his release be remembered as the soundtrack for Obama’s crusade, at least among those white folks of a certain age, like me, who don’t habitually inhabit the wrong side of history.

That’s ironic, because as politically militant as I tend to be, the album took quite some time to bore its way into my consciousness. The songs and sentiments are simple and strong, and the mood is anthemic. It was a slow start, but by the time Labor Day rolled around, Wrecking Ball’s songs were constant companions: “Rocky Ground,” “Land of Hope and Dreams,” “Death to My Home Town,” and many others, taking their turns in heavy rotation.

In the end, the best music is what comes to define times in our lives, good or bad. When I think about a place I visited in 1985, or a night at the bar ten years later, music begins playing, unprompted, because the connections are indelible. In the future, it will be impossible for me to separate the sheer joy of watching the white-power theocratic fascists lose states (and face) in the 2012 election without these songs of Bruce’s on Wrecking Ball starting to play.

Next Thursday in part two, I’ll write about other personal musical trends during the past year.

2012: My year of books and reading.

It is a profound relief that cooler weather has brought with it heightened opportunities to read. The year’s completed book list is offered here, beginning with the most recent one (albeit an ermine still in progress), and including links to reviews and comments I’ve written about particular books at the blog during the preceding year. Works of fiction are marked with *.

*An Ermine in Czernopol, by Gregor von Rezzori

*Radetzky March, by Joseph Roth

*The Man Without Qualities (in two volumes), by Robert Musil

*Mirage, by Naguib Mahfouz

Trotsky, by Robert Service

Polish Cold War Neon: Cold War Typography and Design, by Ilona Karwińska

The Colossus of Maroussi, by Henry Miller

Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World, by Michael Lewis

The Dynamite Club: How a Bombing in Fin-de-Siecle Paris Ignited the Age of Modern Terror, by John Merriman

*The Tiger's Wife, by Téa Obreht

*Simple Stories, by Ingo Schulze

*Cosmos, by Witold Gombrowicz

In Search of Lost Meaning: The New Eastern Europe, by Adam Michnik

*The Accident, by Ismail Kadare

Manufacturing a Socialist Modernity: Housing in Czechoslovakia, 1945-1960, by Kimberly Elman Zarecor

Eight of the fifteen books are works of fiction, and Miller’s travelogue might as well be. This is an abnormally high percentage for me, although they surely do reflect my traditional Euro-bias. Seeing as it was an election year, much reading time was devoted to non-fiction magazine and newspaper pieces. Nate Silver’s prescient blog was a regular, and also Charles Pierce’s hilarious ruminations at Esquire.

The staples of my daily news absorption remain the New York Times; The Economist; NPR and BBC radio; and The Guardian. One salutary effect of the election campaign was to push me further to the left, during the course of which I rediscovered The Nation. During 2012, I selectively perused what little bits of sports writing are tolerable, such as blogs by Billy Reed, essays by various writers at Grantland, and Keith Olbermann’s periodic baseball coverage.

But we really need Olbermann back on the air, doing politics for the rest of us white guys who aren't fascists.

Apart from the physical books, and traditional paper subscriptions to the Sunday NYT and The Economist, what all these sources have in common is electronic access. On a couple of occasions this year, I visited the public library and sat, with an espresso, watching with fascination as the world morphs into something entirely new. There is considerable nostalgia therein, but also excitement in witnessing the transformation of a public space, one that will continue being public, and yet in altered form.

Here are some others books occupying space on a crowded bench, just beyond the on deck circle. They managed to elude my grasp in 2012, but there's always next year.

Better Off Without ‘Em: A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession, by Chuck Thompson

Memoirs of an Anti-Semite. A Novel in Five Stories, by Gregor von Rezzori
Red Plenty, by Francis Spufford

Goodbye, Darkness, by William Manchester

The Pursuit of Italy: A History of a Land, its Regions and their Peoples, by David Gilmour

Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane, by Andrew Graham-Dixon

Arguably: Essays, by Christopher Hitchens

Adam and Evelyn, by Ingo Schulze

Jerusalem: The Biography, by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Laura Warholic or, The Sexual Intellectual, by Alexander Theroux

Eleven progressives we lost in 2012.

And an eleventh, as noted in The Economist: Oscar Niemeyer.

The rich and famous gave him work, so he refused to be embarrassed by his palace-and-casino-building. But he was prouder of the 300 schools he designed in Brazil, all different, to surprise and inspire the poor with beauty.

The Nation's ten remembrances share a unifying theme of progressivism.

Remembering Ten We Lost in 2012, by Peter Rothberg (The Nation)

Lived History is designed to honor, remember and pay tribute to the dearly departed who have made significant contributions to bettering our world. Each week we feature a remembrance of a member of the progressive community, either prominent or obscure, whose remarkable accomplishments demand recognition. In the process, we hope to highlight and recover some of the more important but often un-noted periods of our history that demonstrate the progressive tradition in American life. Here are a few of the notable individuals we lost in 2012.

NABC's Naughty Claus is coming to New Albany on Thanksgiving week.

The label and poster for NABC's Naughty Claus are finished. For the first time this year, we'll be releasing Naughty Claus in 22-oz bomber bottles. According to the strange strategy behind seasonal beer releases these days (pumpkin ales began appearing in early August), we're told by wholesalers that it's a rather late release. But to me, it fits the calendar and weather here in New Albany, and this is more important.

Consequently, NABC's Naughty Claus 2012 local release weekend will be November 21 – 24.

Wednesday, November 21
Naughty Claus draft and bomber release, both at the Pizzeria & Public House and Bank Street Brewhouse.

Plaid Friday, November 23
Saturnalia MMXII begins at the Pizzeria & Public House, with Naughty Claus and a full roster of festive seasonal beers. For those just tuning in, Each year NABC pays tribute to the ancient pagan origins of the holiday season with Saturnalia, a collection of themed seasonals on draft at the Pizzeria & Public House.

Saturday, November 24
It's the Jingle Walk in downtown New Albany. There'll be a Naughty Claus sample station (and bomber sales) at Keg Liquors on Pearl Street, and a special day’s program at Bank Street Brewhouse (TBA).

There's a dedicated Facebook page, too: Naughty Claus.

Signs I'd like to have for the parade party tomorrow -- we're working on it.

Tears of joy cascade like rain as the newspaper takes a position on "horrirfying" Pence.

Well, not exactly; it's just a "Cheers and Jeers" piece, but still, it's always encouraging to see evidence of a pulse. Given its oft-stated proclivities in opposition to progress in such matters, perhaps the New Albany news desk can issue some variety of counterpoint, or go on strike.

A boy can dream. Thanks to Amy Huffman-Branham for this welcomed dose of reality.

SOUTHERN INDIANA — CHEERS

... Triple cheers and a little jump for joy to columnist Brian Howey for his column, “Cat and mouse with Pence on his moral agenda,” which appeared in the Monday, Sept. 24 edition of The News and Tribune.

I have been wondering when someone — anyone — would remind voters who Republican Indiana gubernatorial candidate Mike Pence is.

I certainly don’t blame Pence and his handlers for keeping the focus of his campaign on the economy and jobs in an effort to keep quiet on the candidate’s stance on social issues. Hoosiers who didn’t pay attention to Pence before he announced his run for the Governor’s Office might just fall for it.

But those who have been paying attention for the last decade know the Pence’s trademark is his far right stance on social issues. We’re not just talking about him tiptoeing into conservatism here, we’re talking an all-out assault on people who believe [and prefer] they have a right to make decisions for themselves when it comes to marriage, children and religion.

As Howey wrote, “In his 2011 campaign kickoff speech in Columbus, Pence said, ‘To restore our economy we must reaffirm our respect for the institutions and traditions that nurture the character of our people. As your governor, I will stand for the sanctity of life, traditional marriage and the importance of organized religion in everyday life. To build an even better Indiana, we must recognize every day that our present crisis is not just economic, but moral.’

When pressed by the Times of Northwest Indiana’s Dan Carden, Pence would only say, ‘I am who I am and I hold the views I hold, but if I have the privilege of being governor of the state of Indiana, we’re going to make job creation job one.’”

While I certainly can’t argue with making job creation job one, the prospect of what job number two might be under a Pence governorship is horrifying.

Hopefully Hoosier voters will take the time to read up on Pence’s career as a lawmaker before they head to the polls in November to see what he’s really about.

Fore! It's New Albany Historic Homes Tour time again.

We're big fans of this, the seventh-annual home tour, and we hope to see one or more of the eight homes on the eighth day of the ninth month in the year 2012, but for the life of me, I simply can't unravel the numerical pun in the title: "Time Four A Tour." Can anyone help me? I just know it's something clever. Meanwhile, we're looking forward to Saturday.

TIME FOUR A TOUR: Historic New Albany homes and buildings to be on display next week, by Daniel Suddeath (News and Biblical Concordance)

... “We kept this to be our hidden surprise,” Epler said. “It’s just where everybody gathers.”

But next Saturday, Sept. 8, Epler and Milburn want to let everybody in on the secret gem that is the cabin room, as well as the other features of their house. It will be one of eight buildings featured on the seventh-annual New Albany Historic Homes Tour.

A Taste for Art & History coming on Friday, September 7.

As a reminder, the Carnegie Center's 16th Annual fundraiser, "A Taste for Art & History," takes place on Friday, September 7, beginning at 6:30 p.m. There'll be the traditional adult beverage samplings, both inside and outside the building, with music and a silent auction. If Lloyd's Landing at Bank Street Brewhouse is approved next Tuesday, there may also be an impromptu after-party in the new outdoor space.

Yet another opportunity for NA's city council to get redistricting right.

Perhaps KanyeZ filched the microfiche of the rejected 2008 plan?

Redistricting likely to soon see New Albany council vote; Public hearing slated for Sept. 20, by Daniel Suddeath (N and T)

NEW ALBANY — After months of committee meetings, the New Albany City Council has slated a public hearing in September over a new redistricting plan.

Required to redraw the voting maps following a U.S. Census, the council must approve a redistricting ordinance by the end of the year. The topic has caused a mix of emotions in recent years, as a lawsuit was filed by residents against a prior council to lawfully redistrict, and the mere mention of redrawing the boundaries has sparked arguments and accusations.

Much of the debate centered around a 2008 redistricting committee that included plaintiffs in the case against the council. In part, the lawsuit was dropped due to the formation of the committee, though its redistricting plan was ultimately rejected by the council.

First time ever for a Hoosier winery: River City Winery wins "Wine of the Year" at The Indy Int'l Competition.

Congratulations to Gary, Melissa and the crew at River City Winery for making an award-winning, event-headlining Hoosier wine. Perhaps finally the area's wine drinkers will begin looking beyond the ratings pages to the "local" shelf, and cure themselves of the snobbishly mistaken notion that wine must come from elsewhere to be good. Follow the link, and join me in gloating.

Indiana Winery Wins Wine of the Year

Posted on 03 August 2012 by Gary Truitt

Nearly 2400 wines traveled to West Lafayette for one of the nation’s largest wine competitions, the 21st Indy International Wine Competition, August 1-3 at Purdue University.Wines from 41 states and 14 countries – as far away as France, Australia, Chile, and Ethiopia – were judged on appearance, aroma, taste, and aftertaste by 52 international judges. And for the first time in the event’s history, an Indiana winery – River City Winery of New Albany  has won Wine of the Year at The INDY, topping all 2400 competitors to be named “the best of the best” for their 2011 Vignoles.  “I am shocked and humbled to be awarded Wine of the Year,” said Gary Humphrey, owner and winemaker at River City Winery. “To have only been in business for three years, and to be recognized as the best wine, validates all of the hard work we have done!”

Both beginning: Independents Week and a 365-day journey.

Kate Caufield's 365 day journey starts today.

What journey? Well, I am going to attempt to make as many of my daily purchases, entertainment, food, groceries, etc for my family of four from independent, local businesses in New Albany, IN as I can for 365 days, and anyone that would like to follow along and encourage, comment, jeer, vex, pontificate, advise, admonish, make suggestions, or tease is welcome to share their thoughts.

She's blogging about it at New Albany 365.Not coincidentally, today also marks the start of Independents Week.

Independents Week is a time to recognize your community’s local independent businesses and the values they embody. It’s a celebration of their spirit of entrepreneurism and individuality, and an occasion to recognize their local contributions of time, talent, goods and services.

From AMIBA

Beer ecumenism at Art on the Parish Green.

It is likely that Art on the Parish Green is the only event you'll see in 2012 with sponsors including NABC, Rep. Ed Clere and Develop New Albany. You see, ecumenical thinking in the context of beer drinking is alive and well even when we disagree on every other point.

NABC has provided beer for Art on the Parish Green since its inception, as coordinated and usually vended by one of our longtime Grant Line employees, Tabbatha Elble. Good luck and healthy sales to St. Paul's this weekend.

Art on the Parish Green is this weekend in New Albany; Festival features fine arts, crafts, music and food, by Daniel Suddeath (N and T)

NEW ALBANY — Crafts, art work and food as well as musical entertainment and local beer and wine are on tap this weekend for the annual Art on the Parish Green festival.

This marks the sixth year for the event, which will be Saturday and Sunday on the lawn of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, located at 1015 E. Main St. in downtown New Albany.

Buy Local 1st Fair at the Water Tower on Sunday, May 20.

Completing NABC's trifecta of events on the third weekend in May, 2012, is the fourth edition of the Buy Local First Fair, a celebration of local artisans and businesses, on Sunday, May 20.

Kentuckiana craft brewers will be on hand, although at this precise moment, I'm unsure which ones will be pouring apart from NABC. Here's the lowdown.

Buy Local First Fair

Sponsors: Louisville Independent Business Alliance, Grasshoppers Distributing and the Louisville Visual Art Association

When: Sunday, May 20, 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Where: The Water Tower, 3005 River Road in Louisville KY

More information: rebecca(at)keeplouisvilleweird(dot)com

Description: The Buy Local First Fair, a celebration of locally owned/operated boutiques/shops, galleries, restaurants, breweries and much more. There will be farmers market booths, local art, handmade treasures, a variety of delicious food, live music, "Top Chef" competition, a kids area, craft beer and raffle. Please note: Pets are not allowed at the event.

Music, Food, Beer, and Justice: Louisville Loves Mountains returns on Friday, May 18.

 

At last year's Louisville Loves Mountains event, Wendell Berry gave a stirring talk.

Louisville Loves Mountains returns on Friday evening, May 18. A block-long stretch of Longest Avenue will be cordoned off from where it meets Bardstown Road, in front of Carmichael's Bookstore and Heine Brothers' Coffee. Craft beer will be provided by Against the Grain, BBC and NABC. Here's the rest of the story from the Louisville Loves Mountains event page at Facebook.

---

A popular community festival by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, Heine Brothers' Coffee, and Carmichael's Bookstore to raise awareness about mountain top removal mining..


MUSIC, FOOD, BEER, and JUSTICE!


4:00: Festival Start
4:30: Americana Community Center Drum & Dance Crew
5:00: Potluck Ramblers
5:45: Our Earth Now: Connect the Dots Presentation
6:00: KEYNOTE: Erik Reece, author of Lost Mountain
6:15: Bopper Minton from The Amazing Race (Current Season)
6:25: River City Drum Corps
6:40: Sugar Tree
7:15: Appalatin
8:00: Joan Shelley and the June Brides
9:00: The 23 String Band
10:00 Festival End


BEER BY New Albanian Brewing Company, Against The Grain, and Bluegrass Brewing Company (cash beer bar)


FOOD BY Ramsi's Cafe, Grind Gourmet Burgers, and Morel's


A percentage of sales from beer and food will go to support KFTC's work.


LIVE BLOGGING by Laura Marie Read


In the event of rain the festival will move to THE MONKEY WRENCH

NABC and a tale of three festivals on May 18, 19 and 20.

It’s that time of year again. Event calendars get crowded, feet begin hurting, sweat pours down in buckets, and livers cry out in primal agony. Summer festival season is here, and NABC has bookings all over the place. We incessantly bitch about it, but rest assured, we love every craft-beer-soaked-moment.

In metro Louisville, Derby Festival serves as one seasonal bookend, and lately, the outdoor events extend well into October. It’s usually the third weekend of May when festival solicitations really start to flow, and 2012 is no exception, so here’s a quick guide to where we’ll be serving NABC craft draft on the third weekend of the month, when (as usual) we'll be splitting squads, calling up the reserves, and trying to make beer available when and where we can.

Music, Food, Beer, and Justice: Louisville Loves Mountains returns on Friday, May 18

New name, same great weekend in Madison, Indiana: RiverRoots festival runs May-18-20, with Indiana craft beer.

NABC at the Buy Local 1st Fair at the Water Tower on Sunday, May 20.