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11.13.2020, No. 30
“What if Santa gets the virus?” — Miles, my four-year-old
FIVE.
1. For an old magazine piece called “Inter-office Memo,” I’d pose a monthly question to contributors and staff. I’d love to know how you’d answer the one I asked in November 2014:
What’s something surprising you’re thankful for in Louisville?
Illustrator Carrie Neumayer mentioned living “within walking distance of at least eight different businesses that sell dessert” (including Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen for its “ridiculous” coconut meringue pie), copyeditor Jack Welch wrote about the “topographical and vegetative masterpiece” that is “oxygen-exuding” Cave Hill Cemetery, and contributing writer Arielle Christian had this to say:
“One day driving down Clay Street, I spot him: Pooh Bear. Stuffed plush stuffed between the metal plates of a ‘One Way’ sign. Look at Pooh! Directing traffic! So polite! After you, Pooh. After you. Clay became my way every day for Pooh. It’s the little things. He stayed for a few weeks, then vanished. Oh, bother.”
I shouted-out Marilyn at my Kroger deli counter for all the free samples of slicked turkey (and expensive-for-my-budget Bold Chipotle Boar’s Head chicken breast!). I haven’t been inside a Kroger since March, so this year my answer is Monument to the Joy of Living, which sculptor Dave Caudill completed in 1994 on the eastern side of the Crescent Hill Public Library. (Caudill was a staff artist for the library system in the 1970s.)
2. WDRB aired a piece about Michael Daniels, a Male High School grad who aspires to be an actor. He has been spending his afternoons, between shifts at Long John Silver’s and Cheddar’s, at the intersection of Westport Road and Hurstbourne Parkway, wearing a costume from the first act of Hamilton and belting out tunes from the Broadway juggernaut. An employee at a nearby White Castle said, “We’re in the bad times, and we need people like that. So I applaud that guy.” Yup, newsletter slow clap: 👏…👏 …👏👏…👏👏👏…👏 👏👏👏👏👏👏.
3. Based on the published journal entries and documentary of the same name, Letters to Daniel, by filmmakers Amy Leigh McCorkle and Melissa Goodman (from Shepherdsville and Mount Washington, respectively), is about two best friends heading to Hollywood when one is diagnosed with bipolar disorder. (The open letters McCorkle wrote to the actor Daniel Craig inspired the title.)
I asked McCorkle, who also runs the festival Conquering Disabilities With Film, to answer this question: If you could only watch one movie for the rest of your life, what would you pick?
“How about three? Titanic because it’s one of the greatest love stories. Pulp Fiction for the exquisite writing. And throw Clerks in there for Kevin Smith’s amazing indie spirit.”
Letters to Daniel is on DVD from Erudite Press and streaming on the Reel Women’s Network.
4. If 2020 were a song, what would it be? — by the DJs of ARTxFM (97.1-FM, WXOX)
“Milk,” Nirvana
“Lyrically, it’s got parasites and viruses and the left wing and the right wing. Musically, it goes from slow and dull before descending into chaos.” — Mark Wallis from the show “The Natural Order”
“Decline and Fall,” Bill Nelson
“This encapsulates what’s happening around me, and also what my own system is doing now that I’ve reached Senior Citizenhood.” — Creighton Beryl from “The Exploded View”
“Moya,” Godspeed You! Black Emperor
“It builds and builds until you can’t hardly take it anymore, then detonates into a supernova of sound. When it’s over you can breathe again…much like this election cycle.” — Clayton Ray from “Rough Draft”
“Comes to the Light,” Jill Scott
“This whole year was about revelations. Some of the worst things happening in the dark were revealed, and a lot of it hurt. We even had our own shadow selves revealed. We also saw a lot of love and light and compassion, and we needed to know that still existed. ’Tis the year of perfect vision!” — Tia Marie from “The Tia Maria Show” and “Soul Glow Radio”
“Unsatisfied,” the Replacements
“It captures much of the emptiness and dashed hopes a lot of people around the world have been feeling. Not to mention that the inability to be around people without being six feet apart, while shielding our smiles, has been very unsatisfying.” — Ben Helm from “At the Helm”
“House of Cards,” the Souljazz Orchestra
“The lyrics are about getting the comeuppance you have well earned:
‘Lies within lies within lies
Like so many Russian dolls
Can’t keep up the charade
See, the writing’s on the wall.
Might be livin’ in denial
Head buried in the sand
But they found the smokin’ gun
Still warm in your hand.’” — DJ Maully from “Arcade Automatic”
“Time After Time,” Cyndi Lauper
“The feeling of longing for something out of reach or in the past. Maybe we get to have that joy of being together and happy again, but it might take some time — time after time.” — Jakey T. Jackson from “The Gold Room”
“Stand for Something,” Utoptia
“In this crazy year, we all need to find a reason to believe.” — Alan Hall from “Music of Quality and Distinction”
“Redemption Song,” Bob Marley
“Tough times do not last forever and we, as ourselves and as a community, become stronger by enduring the struggle. The lesson is to pick up ourselves, and each other, to redeem our lives.” — DJ Roxy York
“World Leader Pretend” or “I Believe,” R.E.M.
“‘World Leader Pretend’ because, well…. ‘I Believe’ because you have to believe things are gonna get better!” — Elijah Humble from “Humble Offerings”
“Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive,” Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters
“To, um, accentuate the positive.” — Willie MacLean from “A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Country Club”
“Everybody Knows,” the Evens
“The groovy shout-chant: ‘Everybody knows you are a liar!’ It has been so satisfying to SCREAM along, trust me. But this song also has the line, ‘You’re fired from a job you never should have had.’” — Darrick Wood from “Inside a Question”
“I Like to Stay Home,” R. Stevie Moore
“When coronavirus hands you lemons….” — DJ Bones from “Hearing Control”
“The Guilt,” the Rakes
“The whole year felt like staying home with a bad hangover. ‘I just woke up. Everything was fucked.’ The good news is, hangovers eventually go away.” — DJ Nolen from “FIZZZ”
5. I finally wore pants — meaning not shorts! — and even my winter jacket this week. In a hidden coat pocket I found this battered word/metaphor, which I, um, borrowed years ago while playing Cards Against Humanity at Akasha Brewing Co.:
Trade ya for a growler of Space Cadet IPA?
Support for Louisville Magazine comes from the Norton Children’s Hospital Foundation and its annual Festival of Trees & Lights, which this year will show hundreds of its over-the-top Christmas trees, wreaths and greenery online. Bidding begins today.
Support also comes from KET, whose video essay Kentucky Seasons premieres Nov. 28. (Something for you to watch while eating turkey leftovers?) It’s airing as part of KET’s annual WinterPledge (Nov. 28-Dec. 6), which is offering several Kentucky Seasons thank-you gifts: a 150-page coffee-table book, notecards and DVDs and Blue-rays (with bonus footage…to watch while you finish those damn Thanksgiving leftovers?).
OH!
A little something from the LouMag archive.
With recent headlines about LMPD like these —
“‘An encyclopedia of police incompetence’: Breonna Taylor case exposes array of LMPD errors.” (C-J)
“Lawsuit: Officer involved in Breonna Taylor fatal shooting sexually assaulted several women.” (WDRB)
“Third LMPD officer indicted in Explorer sexual-abuse scandal.” (WFPL)
— is it safe to say that the days of showing the current police chief on the cover of our magazine with his dream car (a banana-yellow Porsche 911 Carrera 4S) are over?
That “Guys’ Guide to Louisville,” from August 2003, included a piece about LMPD officer Pam Oberhausen titled “She’s Got the Beat.” Oberhausen, who was nominated for Officer of the Year in 1999 and would go on to become a sergeant, drove a cruiser with two metallic decals — “Chicks rule” and “Don’t make me use my pepper spray, dork” — stuck to the safety-glass panel separating the front and back seats. “Sometimes, (my gender) doesn’t matter,” she said, “but sometimes it helps, in that people on a call think I will be more open to listen to them than a guy might be.”
Read past newsletters here.