Southern Hospitality

Dear readers,

Our contact in Louisville Kentucky is none other than our good friend Adrian Grendier (The Man Responsible for Everything) who is meeting up with us one night to make music and then we are all going to the Kentucky Derby the next day due to his association with Budwieser company. The hotel we are staying in is right across the street from the manufacturer of the Louisville Slugger baseball bat and in case you miss that fact, there happens to be a forty foot statue of one leaning against it's exterior. The 21c Hotel is fantastic as it's owner Steve Wilson is a pretty big collector of modern art and basically decks out his hotel with his auspicious trophies. We are treated with fine accommodations at the hotel and then later on we learn he has kindly opened up the barn at his magnificent bison farm for us to record with Adrian.

When we first get out to the property, we are amazed by how large and beautiful his land is, and we share the stable with a beautiful pregnant mare and Steve's seven year old grandchild, Avery, who is quite eager to play his electric guitar with us.

Steve is ridiculously well dressed and manicured gentleman who informs us that his barn's foundation is a remnant of the civil war and survived the fires that consumed the original walls. Steve then provides catering for us and splits for parties surrounding the Derby. We are waiting on Adrian who's flight from Chicago is massively delayed due to storms so he has to drive five hours to make our date. By the time he arrives, we have an idea or two but choose to begin something fresh so Adrian plays a bit of guitar with Clark on bass/drums and me on Moog. The ideas start to take shape and then.... Adrian is forced to go on into town to the Budwieser parties he's obliged to attend. So Clark and I continue to work on the several parts we came up with plus vocal trial. The rain here is torrential and throughout the night, a river basically flows through the barn which Tammy the horse tender and a couple of children are kindly battling for us.

We wrap up around three to find ourselves rained in at the ranch so Clark sleeps in the barn while the rest of us stack up like sardines in the RV. Good thing we all get along...

The next day is Derby day, so outfits are in order. We find some exceptional vintage digs at a store called Nitty Gritty, settle into the hotel and make our way to the race. There's a fair bit of headache involved with finding parking for the RV so we basically parked miles away and somehow convinced this ice-cream man to stuff us into his van and get us close to the track.

The Derby is fun. We get the surreal experience of walking everywhere with Adrian who has to stop every second to sign autographs. We were taken to the paddocks to follow the horses in posed with jockeys etc. Such a change in situation. One minute we are hanging out with a guy like Guidry or Clarence and the next, we're rubbing elbows with tycoons and debutants in big hats in box seats at the Derby. Sometimes you win.

The race itself was great fun to watch and a couple of us won a little, but a very sad event was about to take place. Phillies are apparently quite a rarity on the track, finding it hard to keep up with the other sex. At the races end, the one mare to have competed since the eighties broke both front ankles and had to be put down. This made me very sad and I wondered about the ethics of entering mares into such competitions.
Steve's hotel was in full swing when we arrived with guests steadying themselves against sculptures and after we're fed, again complementarily, we are asked to play some music so Adrian, Clark and I do three songs which everyone is drunk enough to enjoy.

Writing from Columbus,
Nathan