Five Things

On this week’s edition of Five Things, my guest is Marybeth Legler, a kindergarten teacher and nutritionist who lives in Louisville. She grew up in northern Indiana, near Fort Wayne, and when she came into the studio to talk about five significant objects that have defined her life, she was wearing one of them. She has some incredible tales to tell, and a unique way of looking at her life story.

On this week’s edition of Five Things, my guest is Louisville writer Anne Bogel. Her blog, Modern Mrs. Darcy (which I've read for years), covers a variety of topics: work, family, style, and her primary passion, books. She also hosts a podcast called “What Should I Read Next,” in which she helps readers find new books to enjoy. We talked about her favorite kinds of coffee -- and why it's challenging for her to find a new favorite, the importance of a good pair of walking shoes, and just how much she really loves Jane Austen.

On this week’s edition of Five Things, my guest is Matt Burns, the reigning world champion of competitive air guitar. When he’s not melting faces onstage, he’s a waiter in Staten Island, New York. He’s been in Louisville as part of the cast of "Airness," a play about air guitar at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Burns played the announcer for the various air guitar competitions that were depicted onstage, and then at the end of the show, he gave a special surprise performance that had the audience on their feet. This is a fun one.

This week’s guest on Five Things is writer Larry Muhammad, a former longtime reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal who now spends his time writing, directing and producing plays. He brought a stack of papers into the studio for our conversation about the objects that are important to him, and he surprised me by telling me about the meaning behind his frequently-used pen name, Cisco Montgomery.

This week’s guest on Five Things is Aldy Milliken, director of the KMAC Museum, formerly known as the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft. Milliken came to Louisville in 2012 from Stockholm, where he ran a gallery and championed contemporary art. He’s American, raised on the east coast, but he spent time on the west coast in Indonesia, and in Hungary before moving to Sweden.

This week’s guest on Louisville Public Media’s Five Things podcast is writer Dave Henry. He was one of the screenwriters for the film “Pleased to Meet Me,” which filmed in Louisville and premiered in 2013. He’s also the co-author of a book about Richard Pryor, which he wrote with his brother, musician Joe Henry.

This week’s edition of Five Things features guest Andy Beshear, a familiar name to many Kentuckians: he’s been the state attorney general since January 2016, and he’s the son of former Kentucky governor Steve Beshear.

It's our first LIVE show! Tracy Clayton, writer at BuzzFeed and co-host of the fabulous podcast Another Round, is also a proud Louisville native -- so we were thrilled to have her as our guest. We talked about the five things that are important to her, and I think they'll surprise you. Recorded on March 2, 2017, at the Green Building Gallery in Louisville.

This week's guest is musician Amy Helm. She’s a singer-songwriter based in Woodstock, New York, and she released her first solo album, “Didn’t It Rain,” in 2015. I remember hearing her sing with the band Ollabelle when I used to live in New York City — they were a gospel-ish collective that played around town, and I always loved her soulful voice. Later, I learned that she came by her musical abilities honestly: her father is the late Levon Helm, drummer for The Band. She was in Louisville last fall when she was touring with the Tedeschi Trucks Band, and I was able to get her into the studio to talk about her five things.

This week’s guest on Five Things knows about the limitations of time more than many of us: he’s a ballet dancer, a profession with an early expiration date. Fortunately for him — and for us here in Louisville — Robert Curran is continuing his career in the dance world in Derby City. Curran was a principal dancer with Australian Ballet for 16 years, until his retirement in 2011. He took the job of artistic and executive director at Louisville Ballet, where he handles not only the top administrative job but personally directs many of the productions.

This week’s guest on Five Things is Theo Edmonds, who moves effortlessly between rural and urban, just as he moves between creative and corporate. He’s an artist by training, with a law degree and extensive experience in health care administration. He was born and raised in Breathitt County, Kentucky, but he’s spent most of his life out of the state. His current venture is IDEAS xLab, which trains artists to work in the health care sector.

Activist and writer (and self-described "quirky older woman") Judi Jennings is our guest this week. She's the former Executive Director of the Kentucky Foundation for Women, and she's now figuring out what retirement looks like for her.

This week’s guest has been a hip-hop musician and a clothing store owner, he’s worked as a private security guard and he’s been a prison chaplain. These days, he’s probably best known here in Louisville for his artwork: comic-book inspired, but always his own vision.

Musician, artist and writer Jim White is our guest this week. Maybe you heard his song "Wordmule" during a pivotal scene on "Breaking Bad." Maybe you saw the 2003 BBC documentary about him, "Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus." Or maybe you have no idea who he is. Listen in to our conversation and you'll start to get a sense.

Kathleen Driskell is a poet and Associate Program Director of the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Spalding University in Louisville, KY. She's the author of five books of poetry, one of which is about the graves in the cemetery directly next door to her house, a renovated church.

We kick off our second season with Rep. John Yarmuth, who has been the congressman from Kentucky's third district for 10 years. He's a former speechwriter, a former Republican, and a former columnist/editor of an alternative newsweekly. This conversation was recorded before the Nov. 8 election, but we brought him back for a timely update, so listen through to the end for that.

A short update on our new season, which begins January 5!

Karina Barillas is the executive director of La Casita Center in Louisville, Kentucky, where she works with women and families, most of whom are Latin@ immigrants like herself. She first came to Louisville from Guatemala on a Fulbright scholarship, and though she's moved away more than once, she keeps coming back.

Our guest this week is singer-songwriter Darrell Scott, who's written country hits for the likes of the Dixie Chicks and Garth Brooks. These days, when he's not traveling around performing his own songs, he's at his farm outside of Nashville. His parents were both from Kentucky, and in his Five Things, we learn more about where Darrell came from. Turns out he's not the only creative one in his family.

This week's guest is Tori Murden McClure, currently the President of Spalding University in Louisville, KY. She is the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and the first woman to ski to the South Pole. And she can fix your car.