Artist Tracy Lee Stum on Louisville

Last weekend artist Tracy Lee Stum, well known for her 3D street and sidewalk chalk drawings, came to Louisville for the Champions 4 Her event. She created some really amazing art for the event and fell quite in love with Louisville while she was here.

I have to say I really had little knowledge of Louisville other than
it being the home of that great American tradition, the Kentucky Derby.
Upon arrival I quickly realized that I had landed in a most unique
place due mostly to the uncompromising hospitality and amiability of
the local populace. I’d been there 4 days and had yet to meet a grumpy
local! How charming! Louisville opened its arms to me and I couldn’t
have been more delighted.

My arrival was adeptly facilitated by Ashley Cecil,
a very lovely young woman with a passion for art and social activism,
who seems to be able to juggle an enormous amount of responsibilities
at one time. She quickly settled me in and proceeded to acquaint me
with Louisville’s burgeoning art community. The arts in Louisville are
incredible – it’s a shame that the rest of the country knows little of
this. I was impressed not only with the quality of public art, museums,
galleries, hotels and facilities, but also by the quantity. This place
is oozing art! Cutting edge and international – a bastion for the edgy
& hip.

Louisville: It’s Where the Geeks Are

I don’t mean to brag but we have an impressive number of geeks in Louisville and you know geeks, they love to gather. A few examples:

Social Media Club Louisville holds monthly get togethers to discuss the ins and outs of social media. Blogs, twitter, rss, social networking and all the other web 2.0 buzzwords you can think to throw into a conversation usually get discussed.

Let’s Tweetup Louisville loves Twitter (I almost said “Louisville loves the Twitter” but I was afraid you would think I was serious and make fun of me. I’m a sensitive soul and can’t deal with your mocking).

Of course the ultimate in Louisville geek gatherings is the twice yearly Louisville Geek Dinner. What do you know? The next Louisville Geek Dinner is Monday June 30, 2008. Well I know where I’ll be on Monday night.

Of course IdeaFestival may be the ultimate Louisville geek gathering. I’ll have to get back to you on that one after IdeaFest in September.

P.S. CNET’s Geek Gestalt recently made his way to town. He visited the Louisville Slugger factory. Not particularly geeky nor involving any gatherings but we’ll give him a pass because well, it’s Geek Gestalt and all.

ear X-tacy one of the coolest 17 music stores in the country

Our friends over at Backseat Sandbar pointed out that Paste (a music magazine that I’m not even remotely cool enough to read) made a list of the 17 coolest record stores in the country and Louisville’s own ear X-tacy is one of them.

Best Place to Find Cool Bumper Stickers for the Outside of Your Car, and CDs for the Inside – At
a time when indie record stores were dropping off the map, John Timmons
decided he needed to move into a building big enough to need its own
map. Ear X-tacy grew from the 500-square-foot store it was in 1985 into
the 10,000-square-foot music wonderland it is today. With countless
listening stations and riveting in-store performances, the shop puts a
high premium on musical discovery