Spent Sunday in Louisville, KY. Well, part of it. Went to see Bill Murray and his famous Blood Brothers band at the Palace. All this while my preferred NFL teams took a complete dump. I'm pretty certain the two events are related.
The show was fun, Bill was his usual quirky self. One expected that he might have reprised his role of the Lounge Lizard from the SNL heyday, but there was none of that. Never a man to be accused of anything approaching a vocal styling, he more than compensates with enthusiasm. Yet even the madcap presence of this master jester was not enough to stir the participation of the crowd. I was shocked that these people could not even be shamed into it. How can you not sing along to Like a Rolling Stone? Especially when being invited to do so. So what if you don't know all the words! I've seen Dylan twice in the past year and I don't think he even remembers them all. Come to think of it... Dylan did not perform the song at either of the shows I attended.
The greatest disappointment of this trip was in the choice of lodging. I had stayed at the Galt House when traveling to Louisville on business, many times and all of them were good stays. It had been sixteen years since I had last been there. The Galt House had provided many good memories, so I had looked forward to staying there for this show. The Palace is easy walking distance from the Galt. It seemed the perfect opportunity to revisit an old favorite.
I am not naive. I understand that things change. Everything changes. I've changed. It took me a couple of minutes to correctly recall the last year I had visited the Galt House, then at least another minute working out the math. Sixteen years did not seem like such a long time. How could it have changed so much in that time? The Galt House long had been an anchor of constancy in the Louisville downtown. No more.
The impressive staircase in the lobby of the west tower is still there, though it's splendor is now dulled. Gone is the bright red carpet, contrasted by deep, dark wood. The staircase still exists, but it is now relegated to dull, understated shades of brown. Warm lighting from brass sconces replaced by glaring LEDs. Once the path to the second-floor lounge, The English Room, it now leads to what is still called a lounge. Something horse themed, of course, but not The English Room. Also in shades of brown. As I wandered about what had once been familiar, I eventually noted a new plaque fixed upon a wall. The Galt House had been bought, now part of a larger hotel group.
As all this gradually soaked in, I started thinking more about the time that had lapsed. It had been sixteen years, but those were a very consequential sixteen years. For as disheartening as these changes may be, the changes to the Galt House in that span are insignificant in light of the broader changes in that time. It is not likely that I should be needing to visit Louisville again, so I will just remember the Galt House as it was.
I departed in the pre-dawn darkness and made for eastbound 64. This year the first frost and the first snowfall arrive on the same day. The calendar still says Autumn, but Winter arrives on a Monday. This called for a visit to some true constancy, a luncheon at Hall's on the River in Winchester. This place is still known as Holder's Tavern to most, where a tavern has been in continuous operation since 1781. Best Hot Brown in the Commonwealth, where one sits atop the Kentucky River, looking upon the site where Captain John Holder decided to set up a boatyard, a station and the tavern that would come to bear his name.
I don't believe that Holder's will ever be sold to an international hotel group. If I'm still kicking around in six years, I fully hope to join in the celebration of their 250th anniversary, where the river and rock formations will remain unchanged. I doubt that I will be disappointed. I'll probably have the Hot Brown.
Join us later in the week, when we will be talking about monsters. Next week will bring a most peculiar tale, about a man, a tackle box, and time travel.
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