Louisville KY: Recent Episodes
Louisville KY
When he began strategizing on how to campaign for Mayor of Louisville, his hometown, Craig Greenberg decided to really run. He’s mapped all 623 local precincts and plans to literally run through every one. On his website, he invites anyone to join him on these jogs.
At his campaign HQ in Butchertown, Greenberg shows up every day focused on his campaign, which may be one reason he’s the early favorite in the race. The field includes businesswoman Carla Dearing, activist Tim Findley, Circuit Court Clerk David Nicholson, funeral home operator Anthony Oxedine and Shameka Parrish-Wright, an activist. Greenberg is organized and energetic, enthusiastic about talking over his plan. Greenberg gave up a prestigious position with 21C Hotels to run for Mayor.
He’s also a Ballard High School graduate, as is my other guest, meteorologist Andy Weingarten. An admitted geek when it comes to weather, Andy was motivated to become a weatherman after witnessing the April 3, 1974 tornado as a teen. He learned the craft of weather prognostication in Oklahoma, and since the early 2000s was a fixture on local TV at WHAS and WAVE.
These days he’s no longer on the air, but keeps busy running a business, chasing four grandkids and bowling two nights a week. That’s right, he’s on my Monday night team at Ten Pin Lanes, where his average is significantly better than mine.
If you’re following the soap opera at the University, you can’t wait until the next episode to find out if Vince and Neeli will make up, or will Vince leave since he couldn’t get rid of Scott. And will Chris recover after an extortion threat from Dino? It’s high drama that keeps people talking, much the way it did when the key characters were named Rick, Bobby, Tom and James.
Meanwhile, there’s new life in the old Hopcat building in the Highlands, which could figure into a future book by local favorite David Domine. The author of “A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City” will be our next speaker at the Breakfast of Champions, Jan. 11 at the Louisville Thoroughbred Society.
Enjoy this episode of the city’s longest-running and most interesting podcast, brought to you by Hectare’s CBD, Salsarita’s Fresh Mexican Grill and eXp Realty.
The city’s longest-running and most interesting podcast is back with a show featuring two of the city’s most powerful women.
I caught Deborah Bilitski at a good time – as it was announced by Gov. Andy Beshear this week that $10 million is being budgeted toward the $50 million needed to expand the Park westward, in the space between 10th and 14th streets. She says the first clumps of dirt on the project will be turned in 2022, although the project will be well short of its fundraising goal. Bilitski first appeared on the show in July 2019, a short time after she took over from longtime director David Karem.
Although I’d never met Grace Simrall, I knew her name, but had no idea how big her job as the city’s Chief of Civic Innovation and Technology, which encompasses everything from crossing the Digital Divide to get Internet access to more people to making sure the traffic light timing is in sync. She met me at the Northfields Heine Bros., with a view of the new VA Hospital, finally under construction, in the background. We enjoyed an unusually warm day on the patio, the chill no problem for the native Chicagoan.
Everybody I know seems to have made it through Thanksgiving gathering without getting sick with COVID, so that’s one thing to be thankful for. I also froze away a night at Cardinal Stadium, where Coach Scott Satterfield lost not only the biggest game on his schedule in lopsided fashion, but the confidence of much of the fan base. Let’s give him one more year to turn things around. One of our favorite guests, Mary Ellen Wiederwohl, former director of Louisville Forward, announced that instead of running for Mayor she’s taken on a new job with an organization called Accelerator for America.
Also, there’s a new bar, Darling’s, on Bardstown Road, and a new restaurant, Backside on Whiskey Row, to replace the disaster that was The Hall on Washington. Next week, I’ll have an interview with Craig Greenberg, candidate for Mayor.
Thanks to our sponsors: Hectare’s CBD store in Nulu; Salsarita’s Fresh Mexican Grill and eXp Realty.
If you’ve been a resident of the ‘Ville for any time at all, the experience of reading David Domine’s “A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City” will bring to mind a number of recognizable sights, sounds and facts about my hometown, not the least of which is in the title. It references the obscure fact that Louisville is home to the only disco ball maker in the U.S. But that’s not all you learn as Domine’s reporting of a 2010 Old Louisville murder unfolds. In 2010, a body was found in an old mansion’s cellar. It happened to be a home Domine, the city’s unchallenged expert on Old Louisville lore, has considered buying.
The trial took place in 2013, and in our interview Domine tells me about the painstaking process of writing his first (he’s the author of more than a dozen books) true crime story, in which Old Louisville is a primary character. If you were here in 2013, you’ll recall news stories of the gruesome crime. Domine, a Bellarmine professor of languages and creative writing, is also your go-to for popular tours of Old Louisville.
He was among the Rusty Satellite Show’s first guests, (Show #25, Dec. 2013), and i n that interview mentioned the book project based on the case.
My meeting with Jamar Mack, founder of the organization KOBBE (Kentucky’s Original Black Bourbon Enthusiasts) was fascinating, as Mack explained how his idea for it came over a glass of bourbon with friends, the way all good ideas get started. On Dec. 11, KOBBE will host an event at Mint on Mellwood that will seem like heaven for bourbon lovers of any type called Bourbon & Benevolence, featuring rare bottles, new experiences, all to raise money for APRON Inc., the charity that assists restaurant workers.
Mack, born and raised here, says membership in KOBBE is invitation-only, and the current roster of 42 individuals includes prominent locals who are black, white and female.
We met at the building a First and Washington, which in 1996 was the site of the Business First newsroom on my first day as a reporter, so there was some nostalgia in my visit. It also house the Roots 101 African American Museum, one of the city’s top tourist attractions.
This was the week for the Breakfast of Champions with Metro Council president David James, and I have some interesting tidbits about the city from David’s presentation.
Thanks to my friends at Hectare’s CBD and Salsarita’s Fresh Mexican Grill, along with my own eXp Realty, for sponsoring the show. If you have ideas for future guests, call me at 502-439-6391.
It’s a memorable episode of the city’s longest-running and most interesting podcast, featuring Metro Council president David James, and former TV news personality Kelsey Starks.
When we last talked with James, he was full of energy and gearing up for the Mayor’s Race. Sadly, James succumbed to some health issues that caused him to drop out of the race. He’s since expressed his support for Craig Greenberg. But James has a full plate as the go-to for info on the city’s handling of its problems with violence and efforts to reform the police department. We met bright and early at City Hall. On Nov. 16, James will be the featured speaker at the Breakfast of Champions at the Louisville Thoroughbred Society. You can join us.
I’d always like Kelsey Starks during her days as a morning TV personality at WHAS-TV, and was sorry when she left the business five years ago for MommyVille. But she’s kept her toe in media, hosting a KET program for kids called NewsQuiz. She got my attention when she decided, as a way to boost her media coaching business, that she would start a show on Instagram Live with local TV personalities. She’s started with Terry Meiners and Lauren Jones, and the shows are entertaining and informative. We discovered we’re both intently watching “The Morning Show” on Apple TV and reading Katie Couric’s new book, as there’s always interest in TV and its stars.
I’ll miss Pizza Week as I’m going on a fun trip to New Orleans (for a wedding, of course). Last week I went to a place I’d not been before, the High Horse Bar on Story, where I saw Johnny Berry and the Outliers celebrate their new release.
Thanks to Hectare’s CBD, Salsarita’s Mexican Grill, and eXp Realty for sponsoring the show.
If you’re looking for some good news, an uplifting couple of stories, you’ve come to the right place. The Rusty Satellite Show features one of the city’s most beloved individuals, John King, and Chad Broskey, who has returned to his hometown to apply his talent management expertise to helping aspiring actors get work.
Until Memorial Day weekend, John King was living a good life, active in his church community and involved in some business ventures. But when some pain led him to get checked out by a doctor, the prognosis was grim. He spent a month in the hospital, and says he was told by doctors that the cancer he was living with had spread throughout his body. Faced with a reckoning with mortality, King underwent aggressive treatment. He also learned about the lives he’d touched in 59 years, and received an outpouring of support. After an event that drew 450 supporters at St. Raphael, he said it was like going to his own funeral, as you’ll hear in this inspiring interview that took place at Fante’s Coffee.
Chad Broskey wasn’t planning to come home. The YPAS graduate had moved to L.A. out of high school, found some success as an actor, and transitioned into a career in talent management. Then he got a call from Kathy Campbell, who wanted him to buy the Heyman Talent agency in Louisville. That was last November, and Broskey has a full roster of clients getting work from his spacious office in Butchertown. You’ll enjoy his story as well.
Personally, it’s been a heart-wrenching and retrospective week. Also on Wednesday, I attended the funeral visitation of my Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity brother Bob Leidgen, along with seven of my brothers. Bob died unexpectedly. He was a wonderful family man, businessman and had a lot of fun in his 62 years. But when someone you partied with passes away, you can’t help but think about mortality and how to make the most of the time we have on Earth.
There’s much more to talk about, including a new podcast series from the Courier-Journal focused on my high school, Iroquois, that I’m looking forward to hearing. It’s all on the most interesting podcast in the ‘Ville, the Rusty Satellite Show, sponsored by Hectare’s CBD, Salsarita’s and eXp Realty.
The Rusty Satellite shines on Portland this week, with my interview with the pastor of the Church of the Promise and the man behind the Portland Promise Center, Larry Stoess. We recorded our interview in his office, just in back of The Table restaurant, on Tuesday. Larry has a new book being released soon, Think Red, which examines how we might be different if everyone thought like Jesus. Stoess, raised in Oldham County, moved to Portland with his wife to start a ministry that has grown to include a restaurant and a new program for first-time home buyers. Listen in, and you’ll feel just a little bit better about good things happening in our community.
To borrow from the old SNL skit, Jessica Bledsoe and her husband decided last year to start living in a van (though not down by the river). The Bledsoes traveled extensively in the Western U.S., all the while working on their big project, PAVR. That’s a Google Marketplace Web app that helps busy people figure out how they’ve been spending their time. We met at her office in NuLu, just down the street from Hectare’s CBD store, where I was able to load up on some great new product.
While I’m truly focused on local news here on the Rusty Satellite, I was shocked to learn of the whole Jon Gruden fiasco. Little did I know that Gruden, who resigned as coach of my longtime favorite NFL team, the Raiders, was a homophobic, misogynistic bigot who represents what’s wrong with this country. And, surprise, many members of the far right are defending him over social media for horrific emails sent over an eight-year period. The truth is that you are what you write, no matter when you wrote it. The big local story is the announced resignation of John Yarmuth from Congress, setting up a contentious race for his seat in 2022. And Carla Dearing, a local businesswoman, announced that she’s joined the crowded race for Louisville mayor.
Some good news — Hillbilly Star, the new record from Johnny Berry & the Outliers, comes out tomorrow on SonaBlast Records, and there’s a release party at the High Horse Bar Oct. 29. The big event this weekend is, surprisingly, a matchup of undefeated college football teams — Georgia and . . . Kentucky.
The city’s longest running and most interesting podcast is sponsored by Salsarita’s Fresh Mexican Grill, Hectare’s Natural Wellness Solutions, and eXp Realty. Call Rick at 502-439-6391 with your comments or suggestions about the show.
Once you hear Piper Madison’s new album, “How Do I Love?”, you won’t believe she’s just 19 years old. But the Louisville native, who has been splitting time between her home here and Los Angeles since was 9, is the real deal. We met at Big Spring Country Club (her Mom Rhonda and publicist Debra Locker Griffin were also there) as Piper performed the title track from her single and even a new Rusty Satellite Show jingle. She’s playing the Blind Squirrel Friday night, and will be in demand at local venues very soon.
It was also a great experience to see the result of a multi-million dollar renovation of the space at Big Spring, where I got a tour from my bowling buddy and GM Rick Thurston.
For locals, there seems to be nothing better than walking around outside in good weather drinking beer and listening to good live music. And that’s what Pat MacDonald and the Belknap Neighborhood Association have planned for the weekend. It’s a celebration of getting back to normal and honoring some of the businesses that have survived, including the Dundee Tavern and Hammerhead’s. Dundee proprietor Alan Hincks joins Pat late in the interview, along with Caroline Knop.
It was sad to see that Jared Mathews shut down Street Grub and Hops in St. Matthews, site of the Rusty Satellite 400th episode party. Let’s hope the valuable real estate turns into something cool.
Pat MacDonald and Alan Hincks at the Dundee Tavern
There’s plenty of other stuff going on this weekend, another coming out party for those of you who have been inside too long. There’s the U of L football game against Virginia Saturday afternoon. The Garvin Gate Blue Festival goes all day Saturday. Paristown hosts a Teddy Abrams event.
On Sunday I’ll be hosting an eXp Realty Open House in Lake Forest at 2218 Highland Springs. Come on by and see this gorgeous home. Thanks also to Hactare’s CBD in NuLu and Salsarita’s Fresh Mexican Grill for sponsoring the show.
They’re both, at heart, beer guys. My two guests have this in common — they parlayed their love for beer into entrepreneurial businesses that others want to be a part of.
I met Sam Cruz at a hectic time — he and a small crew were prepping the kitchen at the new Against the Grain Sandwich Emporium, which opens Friday, and he was munching an Italian, and offered me one. I tried the roast beef and cheddar. I’m certain that on Friday, the sandwich business will be alive and well on 7th Street. Cruz/s company took over at a place that had been serving sandwiches there for five decades, as well as the music lounge downstairs formerly known as Jimmy Can’t Dance.
That place, where we did our interview, is now the Flamingo Lounge, and offer a variety of musical styles plus $5 Old Fashioneds during Happy Hour. Listening to our talk might get you mouth watering.
The challenges for an event company during a pandemic may sound epic, but Trevor Cravens says he’s on the other side, planning a big Oktoberfest weekend in Germantown and on the night before Halloween, the return of the city’s premier beerfest – the Tailspin Ale Fest. You’ll hear about the company’s other moves including the opening of a catering business and the purchase of a “Thirst Aid” ambulance, in our interview.
There’s no doubt the rebound in the economy is ON in Louisville. A big Utility Expo, on the heels of 160,000 screaming heave metal fans at Louder Than Life, signal that people are ready to get OUT. Plus, Decca Restaurant in NuLu just re-opened, along with a few other new restaurants. And finally the demolition of the old Sears building has begun, making way for the new TopGolf at Oxmoor. And I co-hosted the first Breakfast of Champions in 18 months this week at the fancy Louisville Thoroughbred Society.
I hope you enjoy the city’s longest-running and most interesting podcast, brought to you be Salsarita’s Fresh Mexican Grill, Hectare’s CBD and eXp Realty.
I should have known it was going to be a big week Saturday, when I watched the end of the U of L football game from the UPS Flight Deck at Cardinal Stadium. Headed for a near-certain overtime, the UCF QB threw a pick-6 that Card defender Jaylin Alderman plucked from the air and ran 66 yards for a season-turning victory.
For a moment, life’s clock turned backward, to the pre-COVID days, when the Cards were a Top 20 team and every game seemed to turn out well. Of course, I woke up and it was still 2021, the stadium was still only half-full and I’m still wearing a mask to most places. But things are looking up.
When I saw Julie Raque Adams in July at the pickleball site ribbon-cutting at Sawyer Park, I knew I had to get her on the show. What’s surprising is that she hasn’t been on before show #409. Julie, a Republican State Senator, does a remarkable job in Frankfort. And she’s running for re-election in 2022. So we had plenty to talk about, starting with the state’s handling of the COVID crisis. I think you’ll find her answers interesting.
Next Wednesday, we’ll all be at the Louisville Thoroughbred Society downtown to hear about the future from Dr. Nat Irvin, a delightful U of L professor who studies trends in society to peer into what’s ahead. He’ll bring his crystal ball to the event, which you can attend for just $25. Call me at 502-439-6391. Here at the Rusty show, you can hear a preview in my talk with Dr. Irvin.
Thanks to Salsarita’s Fresh Mexican Grill, Hectare’s CBD and eXp Realty for sponsoring the most interesting and longest-running podcast in the ‘Ville.
The Rusty Satellite Show’s short hiatus is over and I’m back with more of the most interesting people in the ‘Ville. We start with Kristin Walls, one of my favorite local meteorologists who was a guest on, believe it or not, show #30 back in 2014. She’s spent the last several years in Washington state, and recently returned and is on the air at Spectrum News 1.
Kristin and I spoke outdoors at the Spectrum complex on Linn Station Road, where I learned that her move back was to be closer to family in Ohio, and that the weather in Washington was so predictable she had time to start another show about….wine.
As you may know, my ventures into Indiana are pretty rare, but I’m excited about the new restaurant opening in downtown New Albany this week. The chef is Reed Johnson, a familiar name in local culinary circles, who has taken on Standard Plate & Pour as his latest project. Johnson’s been working at local restaurants for two decades, and has a lot of his old gang back together. He’s created an exciting menu of gastro pub fare you won’t find anywhere else.
On the homefront, there’s trouble in Cardinal Stadium, where it’s hard to say what’s worse — the team that Scott Satterfield has assembled that appears un-ready for ACC competition, or the fan experience that includes long concession stand lines, botched technology applications and even water fountains that don’t work. We’ll see if anybody shows up for Friday’s tilt with Central Florida, and if Vince Tyra’s promised improvements materialize.
Meanwhile, the Gaslight Festival is happening is J-town, with daily events leading up to the weekend’s street fair, with an expected crowd into the thousands walking around drinking, dancing and looking at all sorts of things to put in your yard. I’m still scratching my head as to why the NuLu Fest organizers canceled their event, given that it seems to be the only local event canceling due to COVID.
Please enjoy the longest-running and most interesting podcast in the ‘Ville, sponsored by Salsarita’s, Hectare’s CBD and ExP Realty.