Before He Was Fab by Jim Kirkpatrick

After visiting the very cozy town of Benton Illinois, I wanted to read Jim Kirkpatrick's book, "Before He Was Fab" about George Harrison's brief visit to the small town.

Kirkpatrick's book is a nice, easy to read volume discussing George's visit and his interactions with the locals.  George's sister, Louise lived in town, and George visited her briefly.

At that time, the Beatles were huge in England, but they were mostly unheard of in the US.  It was really the only time that one of the Beatles would be able to come to America and visit without being mobbed.

It seems that George had a nice, casual visit to the local record shop, he jammed with a local band, and he bought one of his legendary guitars while he was in Illinois!

I really enjoyed reading about George palling around with locals.  George's supportive sister, Louise, is also a lot of fun.  She tries to promote her brother and his music.

Thumbs up for books about the Beatles that are a bit more regional and different.  Jim Kirkpatrick's book is a perfect book by a local who interviewed anyone he could associated with George's visit to Benton.  Well done Jim!

See my previous entry on the Franklin County Jail in Benton Illinois for more information on the area:

http://kentuckytravels.blogspot.com/2013/10/franklin-county-jail-benton-illinois.html

William Howard Taft National Historic Site- Cincinnati Ohio

I am on a big Presidents kick right now!  Luckily, there are a lot of great sites relating to the former leaders of the US that are very accessible.

This nice home, one lived in by President #27, is nicely preserved and full of relics relating to Taft.  I personally enjoy seeing the old political cartoons, and campaign buttons.

The house is managed by the National Park Services!  I think a lot of people aren't exactly aware of how great it is that some many great landmarks are managed by the NPS.  For the very low price of $NOTHING! you can take a guided tour, see a nice film, and walk around the grounds!

At the Taft House, we were allowed to walk around the home (inside and outside) after our guided tour pretty much on our own!  This allowed for more photo ops.  The house was not crowded, so we were able to go back and get better pictures than we might have gotten on the tour.

To be honest, I didn't know a lot about Taft before my visit.  I learned that he is the only person to serve as President and Chief Justice!

Check out my photos, and check out the house the next time you are in Cincinnati!

Historical Footnotes of Lebanon Ohio by John Zimkus

Before I leave the Lebanon area, I did want to mention a couple of books.

I picked up "Historical Footnotes of Lebanon Ohio by John J. Zimkus at the Golden Lamb.  They have nice signed copies for sale at the front!  AND, the author himself spends a lot of time hanging out at the hotel on weekend evenings!  Unfortunately, I was unable to chat with him during our last visit.

The book is directly about the town of Lebanon- but since the Golden Lamb is a HUGE part of the town's history, the Inn is a major part of this book.  Legends like Charles Dickens and Ronald Reagan make appearances!

Each story is contained in 2 pages, making this a very easy read, especially for those folks with short attention spans.  I like the cartoon style drawings too!

Tennessee River Bridge of Florence, Sheffield and Tuscumbia, Ala

This card from several decades ago notes-

Magnificent $1,500,000 Tennessee River Bridge at Muscle Shoals, Florence, Sheffield and Tuscumbia, Ala.

Kentucky Lions Eye Center in Louisville

I just wanted to give a brief mention to the Rounsavall Eye Clinic in Louisville!

This is a great place.  While visiting a loved one at a Louisville hospital, my mom's glasses pretty much fell apart.

We saw this place and asked if they might be able to help.  We were in and out in about 5 minutes, they fixed my mom's glasses, and they refused to take any money from us.

http://www.louisvilleeye.org/

WHY Louisville

I just discovered WHY Louisville!  This place is great.  It kind of reminded me of "Big Fun" in Cleveland (one of my old hang outs) mixed with the Hatch Show Print in Nashville.

We stopped by the store near downtown and we were blown away!  First off, the store is just a fun place to look around.  They have action figures lined up on a mantle above some of the items for sale.  Other museum pieces can be found along the walls.  Personally, I was impressed (and jealous) by the fact that they had a Billy Baloney doll from Pee Wee's Playhouse.

These guys sell all sorts of cool exclusive local items, almost all relating to Kentucky and Louisville specifically.  They do some screen printing and have produced some great t-shirts, postcards and posters.  I couldn't leave without picking up some of their very unique postcards and a shirt showing a Louisville skyline with the Loch Ness Monster subtly hanging out in the Ohio River.

They also have some cool pin back buttons.  I added a Lincoln to my collection.

There are a couple more locations that I have to visit soon!  Obviously, this is a "Must See" on your lext trip through town!

http://whylouisville.com/

Greg "The Hammer" Valentine

I saw this billboard while driving through Louisville the other day.  I don't know why, but I thought it was funny.  Part of me thought back to me younger days, when I loved wrestling, and Valentine was a huge villain.

I also wondered if Valentine has ever appeared on a billboard like this before.

When I was a kid, I loved going to the Sports Center in Owensboro to see Wrestling.