Where to find cheap beer, hookers, and gay cowboys two-stepping in Austin: I’m contributing to Gridskipper again

If I may be so bold as to quote a blog post I wrote last month about the relaunch of Gridskipper, the site on which I got my start travel writing:

Writing for Gridskipper was one of my favorite gigs; I’m yet to find another travel publication that will let me cover where to score crack, day laborers and tuna tartar.

Last week I returned to Gridskipper as a contributor (which was unexpected when I wished its new editor, Gabe Ulla, well last month). In my first piece back I reviewed venues where attendees at South By Southwest (SXSW) can find cheap booze, tasty tacos, fine wine, straight cowboys doing the two-step, gay cowboys doing the two-step, delicious kebabs, and hookers–so pretty much all of life’s essentials:

Gridskipper: After hours at Austin’s SXSW

Writing and researching the piece (somehow I missed the gay two-stepping cowboys when I was in Austin lat October), was a blast–it’s good to be back contributing regularly to Gridskipper again.

February 2010 posts for UpTake, Louisville.com, and Examiner

Check below the jump for my UpTake, Louisville.com, and Examiner articles from February 2010.

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I talk bourbon with Woodford Reserve’s master distiller, Chris Morris, for BlackBook

BlackBook just published my interview with Chris Morris, Woodford Reserve’s master distiller:

Industry Insiders: Chris Morris, Master Distiller

Chris’s enthusiasm about bourbon is contagious (of course, it helps that we were talking about a type of whiskey and not, say, a type of cleaning solution). We spoke for about 40 minutes; some parts of our conversation that pertained to Louisville will appear soon on Louisville.com too.

I’ve been on a bourbon kick since I moved to Kentucky 14 months ago (interesting how that worked out). Louisville has a great bar scene and it seems as if every one of them offers a specialty bourbon drink. My preference, however, is pretty easy to make: bourbon on the rocks. And Woodford Reserve, which I first tasted on a distillery tour on the Bourbon Trail last year, has become my favorite bourbon. (Check out photos from my trip on the Bourbon Trail on Flickr.)

One thing I love about Louisville is how dedicated it is to its local variety of whiskey. During Christmas time, my dad when to the liquor store down the street to replenish my dwindling stock of booze. While checking out, the clerk gave him a hard time for buying Scotch and Irish whiskey but not bourbon.

‘So, who do you write for these days?’

I’ve been asked that question a few times recently (and not just by my parents, who I think might be happy if I enrolled in the Bloomingdale’s executive training program).

For blogs, I have regular gigs writing about travel for UpTake and Examiner.com and I contribute to BlackBook, usually about travel and culture. And, there’s that Louisville.com editor-in-chief thing. I also manage the web presence of the Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (I reckoned I should put my blogging and social media power to a good use, beyond giving advice on where to go and what to drink). And, for fun, there’s my new Tumblr blog. I’ll get all meta too and mention this site, which is now eight years old.

[Update March 8, 2010: I'm contributing to Gridskipper again too.]

In print, I contribute to Air Canada’s in-flight magazine, enRoute.

My latest article for Air Canada’s enRoute: The world’s wildest ski jumps

Just in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, my article on futuristic ski jumps with a sidebar on alpine dining in British Columbia appeared in the February issue of Air Canada’s in-flight magazine, enRoute. (The art that accompanies my article is stunning.)

Download a .pdf of my articles here.

You also can read the articles on enRoute’s website:

• The World’s Wildest Ski Jumps: Futuristic facilities make competitors fly
• Haute Cuisine: Alpine dining in British Columbia

These ski jumps that are architectural marvels seem to be part of a larger movement of combining function and beauty. It’s too bad this trend didn’t get to Whistler in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics–its ski jumps appear lacking compared to the new ones being built in Europe.

And researching the alpine dining piece just solidified my longstanding desire to spend more time in British Columbia.