Drinking Jocktails at Breeders’ Cup for BlackBook

Earlier this month BlackBook dispatched me to cover both the Jocktails party, part of the run-up to the 2011 Breeders’ Cup, and preview Downs After Dark, the sole night race of Churchill Downs 2011 fall meet:

“Two Breeders Cup-Inspired Jocktails to Down During Friday Night’s Downs After Dark Horse Race”

I didn’t follow the new wagering strategy I laid out in the article. As I failed to cash a single ticket though, perhaps I should have. Or perhaps I should stop wagering (down $467.17 for the year) and just roll up $20 bills and smoke them.

I brave the Paula Deen Buffet for Louisville Magazine

Weary of reviews of the same kinds of restaurants—exposed brick! farm to table! artisan cheeses!—Louisville Magazine dispatched me to check out the Paula Deen Buffet in Southern Indiana’s Horseshoe Casino. My article about the experience ran in the November issue:

• Download a .pdf of the article here
• Read the article on Louisville.com here

I was really hoping that the food would be decent. Alas, apparently it doesn’t matter whose name is attached to it: a downmarket casino buffet is a downmarket casino buffet. None of the other diners seemed to mine though (well, except for my daughter who passed on one of her favorite meals, mac n’ cheese, to instead lick ketchup off of her fingers).

In which I make my society-page debut (with another woman)

Press passes are sexy.

Marriage tip: If your society-page debut is with another woman, inform your wife of the situation ahead of time.

At Churchill Downs for the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Position Draw Luncheon, Louisville.com turf writer Jessie Oswald and I got photographed for The Voice-Tribune. Don’t just admire the photo here though; select the link to encourage the Louisville weekly to run photos of me more often:

The Voice-Tribune—Breeders’ Cup Position Draw Luncheon

That this photo leads off the Voice-Tribune’s gallery is evidence that the pics are ranked in order of subject attractiveness.

Photo: Voice-Tribune/Bill Wine

107.7 SFR’s Classic Rock Showdown finale: I be the judge

REO Speedwagon's Kevin Cronin (left) is not one of the "music industry professionals" judging 107.7 SFR's Classic Rock Showdown finale this Saturday. But I am.

As part of my ongoing quest to attain local celebrity status, I’ll be judging 107.7 SFR’s Classic Rock Showdown finale this Saturday. Music starts at 8 p.m. at Third Base Tavern in Jeffersonville, Ind. (134 Spring St.).

Come out and be the Paula to my Simon. I’ll be the guy drinking like it’s free, because, for me, it is.

Four bands will play 35-minute sets each. I’m judging based on

• performance (technical)
• stage presence
• station fit
• crowd response
• girth

2011 is my second time judging the finale; last year was a blast, despite some concerns about how the second-place band’s groupies would respond to a second-place finish. You don’t want to irk a rock cover band’s groupies.

I shoot Groupon trouble with WAVE 3′s Troubleshooter

Alas the video is no longer online, but last week Louisville’s NBC affiliate, WAVE 3, featured me in a segment on Groupon:

Groupon gone wrong highlights growing problem

The vendor wronged me, so I called WAVE 3′s Troubleshooter and trouble got shot.