Happy Birthday
Dear Rhonda,
I just wanted to take a moment and commend you and the entire staff at Ace Weekly during this special anniversary. Hats off to all of you for your contribution to this community. [Ace: 1989-2001...and counting.]
Lexington needed a voice for alternative thought and it arrived twelve years ago in the guise of ACE Magazine. Much gratitude to Jennie Leavell for publishing the first issue. To Susan Saylor Yeary, Sue Harkins and Peggy Blythe for their roles in the growth of the paper. And to you, Rhonda, for taking on the Herculean task of bringing it back into local hands.
I'm pleased to see a new issue of ACE on the stands each week. First I check out the cover. Next I leaf through leisurely, looking at the ads and headlines and such. Finally, I read it in bits and pieces over the next few days. Some astrology here. A little real estate there. With some news, reviews, editorials and all the other stuff in between. I love your paper. It's always entertaining, always worth my time.
As an advertiser, I'm thankful to have ACE Weekly to use as a tool to inform clients and potential clients. It has a great readership which has grown steadily over the four years that I've advertised with you.
This past year has been delightful with ACE Weekly in the neighborhood. It's a tonic for me to pass your building each day. We have a nice little thing happening down here on the West End and I'm happy that you're here to help preserve it.
It has been a pleasure doing business with your staff over the years. Special thanks to Jim Shambhu and the art department. Their excellent graphic design compliments the paper's content perfectly. ACE Weekly is a strong addition to Lexington's culture and business. I look forward to many more years of successful collaboration with you and your staff.
Congratulations again!
Lori Rowland Houlihan
[proprietor, Isle of You]
Skewed Reviews
Congratulations to Rob Bricken for his best Film Flam column ever (May 10) [Anniversary edition - included letters] and hope there are more just like it to come. But I was a bit confused by his comment that he didn't have time to be funny. Since when has that stopped him?
Howard Stovall
Dear ACE Rob;
I moved to Lexington less than a year ago.
When I first read ACE weekly I didn't think much of it.
Then a few weeks ago I picked up a copy again to give it another try. The one column in the entire paper I really enjoyed was the Film Flam. For some reason I hadn't noticed it the first time I looked at the paper. As a matter of fact, I think the subsequent columns have had a little less of an edge since the first one I read (wish I could remember the date: for the movie about the little kid spies you pointed out the true US antics/blunders and provoked a kind of hazy trance ...), but still the only thing that makes the paper worth picking up, let alone reading.
Oops! Time for a Disclaimer: ACE has lots of great local talent in their cartoons. They also have value that subtracts from the otherwise sheer futility of the act of actually perusing the pages other than that containing Film Flam.
Thanks Rob! You're like a breath of fresh air in a putrid journalistic swamp of the ordinary homogenized media.
Missy Franklin
A new fan of Film Flam
Bachelor Bitterness from a Buckeye
Having grown up in Ky and spent a few years living in Lexington, I have become a fan of Ace. I applaud your efforts in relaying news that we normally don't get from the Herald and other local papers. Now living out of state, I'm not able to pick up Ace on a regular basis, but was excited to learn that you were online. Which leads me to my disgust. I think the Bachelor Auction is a fantastic idea, but why, oh why would you convince Patrick McClure that he should participate? Or maybe you didn't. From his remarks in the article "They Work Hard For The Money," it would seem that he has such an overwhelming and pompous attitude that he assumes he was doing you a favor by lending his body, mind and good looks to the event. In the future might I suggest that if he offers such a thing again, run don't walk, far, far, far, far, far away from such an offer
Sincerely,
Lisa Boyd
Letters Policy: Ace LOVES to publish our mail (250 words or less please); please include name and daytime phone. No photocopies. No bulk mail. First come, first served. We may edit for space and grammar; we will limit frequency; and, on popular issues, we may print one or two letters to represent a segment of public opinion. Private correspondence should be labeled “NOT FOR PUBLICATION.”
Mail: 486 West Second St , Lexington, Ky 40507
e-mail: editor@aceweekly.com
Report from the Front
In case you were one of the 23 people in town who did not have an opportunity to stop by our second annual "Taste of Ace" anniversary/birthday party last Friday, we're sorry we missed you.
Fabulous food, talented musicians, enigmatic chefs, glamorous guests and those zany Bluegrass Bachelors dispensing the cocktails.
We did our best to ensure that no one left dissatisified - which was no easy task, considering the trials and tribulations of getting this party off the ground: brushes with the law, a last minute change of venue, a sellout crowd, urinal scrubbing, clothing crises, a top secret VIP room, a carton of half and half from 1998, running out of gin and vodka within the first hour, a still unsolved theft of "Herbies," and more that we cannot immediately say, lest we break the court seal.
With all the madness, we have to thank certain people for their superhuman effort in making the second annual "Taste of Ace" a success.
Ten of the heaviest hitters in the local culinary scene jumped on the bandwagon as soon as they heard it was for a good cause. (We should point out that many additional chefs promised to keep the date open for next year, but couldn't participate this time out because of scheduling conflicts. We'll hold them to it.)
It was also an incredible opportunity for diners to mix with the chefs who are usually slaving behind a hot stove, dishing out Lexington's finest cuisine.
The bachelors were divine for serving the drinks (Ben Van Meter went above and beyond the call of duty when he singlehandedly carried a keg of KY Ale up a flight of stairs) and they definitely had more fun than they should have. As usual.
And, of course, thanks to Freakdaddy, The Painkillers and Joanna Binford for entertaining us with their tunes.
Anyone else catch the Gatewood Travolta?
Special thanks to our media friends at WDKY FOX 56, Z103, and the folks at WKYT's AfterNoon and WLEX's Let's Do Lunch.
And we especially want to express our appreciation to all our readers and guests who came and helped raise funds and awareness for a vital organization to our community, TARA (Thoroughbred Adoption & Retirement Association).
It wasn't exactly Studio 54 but, hey, that stuff's not legal anyway.
We'll see y'all again next year.
If we go to sleep right now, we just might be recovered in time for Derby 2002.
-Eloise Campbell, Project Director