My Ben Folds Weekend!

Ben Folds played in Louisville last weekend and bk bought tickets a couple of months ago (because he's awesome) so we went. The show was great, not least in part because the Louisville Symphony -- the backup band for the evening -- is familiar with Folds's work with Shatner and did a really lovely, geeky tribute to the six Star Trek franchises. And because their conductor is so enthusiastic you just want to run down to the stage and high five him most of the time.

The weekend was also fabulous because we found some really fun geo-caches. One of them involved us driving to the top of a nine-story parking garage, dashing from corner to corner -- lining up various landmarks with various other landmarks -- and then driving down to the bottom and through the "chimes of freedom" to a lovely place where we logged our names and said thanks for the cache.

The weekend was also fabulous because bk and I had a picnic lunch across the street from the Louisville Metro Correctional Center and it was romantic and pretty (unless you're a man, it was pleasant and eco-friendly, then, damn it).

Finally, the weekend was fabulous because of the hotel. We stayed at 21c Museum Hotel (I should mention -- because we are poor people -- this was an extravagance). The hotel has a theme, which should be clear from perusing this photograph (there are at least 20 more penguins perched on the eaves of the building, and at least 20 more stationed at various locations throughout the hotel):





(bk and I have a wonderful series of photographs of the penguin that became enamored with bk and left to join the circus...) ...but, I digress.

The hotel's larger theme is art for art's sake. It's not confrontational, it doesn't make you angry, it makes you laugh. For the most part it makes you say, Oh, honey, look at that! bk took this photograph at the elevators and I wish I'd looked smarter or prettier or something. The letters of the words fall from the ceiling and if you step into the frame, the words pause at your silhouette. It's hard to tell from the pic.





The hotel's art makes it really special. Moments I remember include:

"Hey, she's moving!"
"Wasn't that penguin over there earlier?"
"Bill, wake up, come look at this!"