There’s so much Rusty Satellite guest news to get to this week. And you’ve just got to listen, if you want to know what’s going on and what’s cool, to this week’s Rusty Satellite Show and EatDrinkTalk podcasts.
For EatDrinkTalk, I went to Portland, which is not a thriving locale for restaurants. But there is one unique business open for lunch with really good food. The Table, serves a wide variety of folks, some of whom volunteer their time in exchange for a good meal. And the food is outstanding. The Table was even featured on Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives TV show. I talked with manager Tara Mattingly about it. Plus, Steve Coomes has an interview with one of my favorite personalities in town, the guy behind the bar at the Haymarket Whiskey Bar, Matthew Landan. Listen Here:
On Rusty, you’ll hear some actual news. First, Mindy Peterson talks about why we don’t know an exact date that the tolling on the new East End Bridge (plus the Kennedy and Lincoln) will start, but we do know the East End one will open Dec. 18. And why all my ideas for beating the tolls (hiding my license plate?) won’t work. Plus, the city has a new event planned for New Year’s. Lucy Dalton talks about Lou Year’s Eve, which will close Main Street from 2-Midnight and showcase the city’s arts. Listen to that one here:
I’m not sure why, but plenty of former Rusty Satellite guests made their way into the news this week.
Let’s start with Tom Jurich, who apparently got tired of hearing about the Yum! Center’s financial problems and the blame directed at him for negotiating such a good deal for the university, so good that the Metro Council wants to renegotiate it. Well, Jurich announced on a radio show that he’s ready to take his basketballers and go home, to a new on-campus arena. I’m certain this is a mere tactic Jurich thought up to deflect criticism, and that he has no plans to leave Yum.
But he did say that he never really wanted to go downtown. And for those of you who followed this story when I was writing about it 10 years ago, you know that it wasn’t ever going to make money. Back then, the controversy was over the site, and it was clear that building it on the Water Company block, now the construction site for the Omni Hotel, would have been a lot less expensive.
And all the projections offered by the Arena Authority’s Jim Host made it clear to most of us that the place, as designed and imagined, would never be a financial success. There just weren’t enough big concerts and events to keep Yum! busy all those nights. So now the bills have come due for the city. And some officials are criticizing the main tenant, which has a great financial deal there and has a contract that makes it nearly impossible for some other tenants, like, for instance, an NBA team to share the space. Which is not going to happen.
What is going to happen, on Saturday, is that Lamar Jackson will be the first Cardinal to win the Heisman Trophy. The TV coverage is at 8 Saturday on ESPN. While I haven’t been able to get Lamar on the Rusty show, this is big news for everyone involved at U of L, including the world’s greatest media guy, Kenny Klein, who has been on the show. In that business, having one of your players win the Heisman is a career accomplishment.
All the talk last Saturday when I went to watch WKU win the C-USA football championship in Bowling Green concerned Louisville’s own, and Rusty guest, Jeff Brohm. This week, the former Trinity High and U of L QB accepted a big raise ($20 million over six years) to try and install his great offense at Purdue. He was making $800K at Western, and the idea that he would stay another year wasn’t likely, even for hopeful fans like me.
One guy who is staying in his current job is Louisville Orchestra conductor Teddy Abrams, who signed a new 3-year deal that keeps him here through 2020, when he’ll be 32.
Abrams was, in fact, one of the acts announced by J.K. McKnight’s group organizing next summer’s Forecastle Festival, the 15th such year of a musical party that attracts guests from all over the world. Forecastle announced its initial lineup of bands, including LCD Soundsystem and Weezer.
One of my favorite interviews this year was just a few weeks ago with cable-TV show shot Lyle Janes, who talked about doing cable access TV for 18 years. Well, via Facebook, I read that Lyle’s run is coming to an end, along with the whole concept of local cable TV access programming. Lyle published a letter from Chad Collins at Spectrum. In part, it said “Our company has chosen to sell off the few local origination channels we had to a company out of NY. We no longer have the ability to offer local long format programming.”
Speaking of endings, Tracy Beale came on the show in August to talk about her media venture, Tab’s View, an online newspaper, of sorts, with features. She hired a staff, plastered her face on billboards around town, and well, couldn’t sell any advertising, apparently. She told Insider Louisville that she was losing thousands of dollars a month, so she suspended Tab’s View and let go seven staffers.
Wil Heuser, on the other hand, is just getting started with an online media operation focused on comedy. It’s called The Loup, and features Bar Belle Sara Havens and Tara Bassett. Heuser’s stuff is funny, especially this year’s “Real Housewives of Louisville” parody.
Finally, if you’ve ever been involved with Faith, Joy and Love, you won’t forget it. I went by the Yascone sisters’ newest property, the Frankfort Coach House on Frankfort Avenue, for a party featuring food from Chef Shawn Ward of Ward 426, Ballotin Chocolate Whiskey and champagne from Paul Tuell and Jeff Stum, and singers from the Louisville Youth Choir.
Before that, it was the always-popular Jeffersontown Chamber Holiday Party at the Brown Hotel, where Mayor Bill Dieruf made the rounds.
Post note: Go to RustySatelliteShow.com and search any of the names in this post to listen to them on the podcast. Except Lamar, of course.
