Churchill Downs Chaplin Ken Boehm has performed a dozen weddings in the track`s winner`s circle over the years. Tuesday night he united in marriage Michael Sivo and Laura Surovi, minority owners of Kentucky Derby contender Mucho Macho Man, in the coveted space. `Now you can act like you`ve been here before if you`re fortunate to win on Saturday,†Boehm said, echoing a … [Read more...]
`Pay-Day Someday†was a judgment-day sermon by Dr. Robert G. Lee, a three-term president of the Southern Baptist Convention. In the sermon, Lee warned his listeners to get their houses in order or be prepared to pay the price. It is arguably one of the well-known sermons of the 20th century. `Pay-Day Someday†is also the philosophy employed by Ashley … [Read more...]
The weekend before last, four of us—my wife and I and another couple—set forth on a grand adventure to see the Louisiana Derby in New Orleans. My friends had bought a share in a racehorse that is pointed toward the Kentucky Derby (you can read all about it in the May issue of Kentucky Monthly), and we knew we must get to New Orleans to watch him run in the … [Read more...]
In an effort to stump me, thee Ken Kurtz of Lexington asked for a Kentucky connection to `Taj Mahal (and I don`t mean Hal Rogers)â€â€”a reference to the Rogers-funded Center for Rural Development in Somerset, which is snidely known locally as the TajmaHal. I assume Kurtz is referring to the mausoleum in Agra, India, built between 1632-1653 and visited by more than … [Read more...]
We were having an interesting discussion this morning here at Kentucky Monthly. It was sparked by feature on Texas Monthly`s Facebook page. The magazine asks readers about important events connected to places in the Lone Star State. I voiced that it was a grand idea and that we could do a similar feature without much trouble. Our enthusiastic staff asked me to compile a … [Read more...]
The other day, I was reading an item in American Profile Magazine that listed the 20 iconic authors and poets in American literature. It struck me that of the 20 listed only one, Harper Lee (`To Kill A Mockingbirdâ€), is living. The others all died in the 1960s or earlier. I couldn`t help but wonder, being that `To Kill A Mockingbird†was Harper Lee`s only published … [Read more...]
I was asked how I became a writer. The simple answer is that I have always written. As early as the fourth-grade I was sharing stories I had typed up on an old typewriter my dad had rescued from work. I am not sure if any of those stories were any good (none are in university or Smithsonian collections), but I sure enjoyed creating them and from that point forward couldn`t … [Read more...]
I am constantly striving to get more exercise, eat better, read more and worry less so I can`t really recall the last time I truly made a New Year`s resolution to do any of these things. I have, however, made plans, lists and set goals for myself at this time of year. Things like, `visit two states I`ve never been to before†and `walk the Appalachian Trail across … [Read more...]
I have long believed that Frank Capra's "It`s a Wonderful Life" (1946) rests at the center of the universe. Here is an example: Nick, the bartender who says to George Bailey `I don`t know you from Adam`s off ox,†was played by Sheldon Leonard, who in his later years produced "The Danny Thomas Show" (1953-64), "The Andy Griffith Show" (1960-68) and "The Dick Van Dyke … [Read more...]
