And the Winners Are...

If you've been following iList Paducah lately, and this blog, and my Facebook, our MySpace and my Twitter, and I'm sure you have, you know that we've had 20 free tickets to give away to this darling Little Black Dress event at Harrah's Metropolis, Friday, May 15. All you had to do was email me, and your name would go into a drawing today.

By the way, the event is open to men, too, not just women. So fellers, get yer-selves all gussied up and plan to go. It will be a great event, and who doesn't like gals in little black dresses? Besides, it's a fundraiser for American Cancer Society. So win, win, win all the way around.

I've printed out all the emails I've received, and now I'll randomly and blindly selecting 20 of them.

OK, here goes...and the winners are:

1. Jay Chuppe (Oh, good! A guy, right off the bat!)
2. Tammy Tankersley
3. Amanda Puryear
4. Tish Gray
5. Erin Mount
6. Sherry Hack
7. Astarre Gudino
8. Kelly Council
9. Lisa Guill (Oh yay! She's an iDate)
10. Jody Suhrheinrich
11. Virgina Shidal
12. Mary Smither
13. Bonnie Kirby
14. Candice Neckel
15. Linda Carroll
16. Karen Brown
17. Susan Ybarzabal
18. Stephanie Edwards
19. Heather Barnhill
20. Michelle Campbell

Congratulations, everyone! I'll be in touch via email with details on how to pick up your ticket!

Yep, We're Speed Dating!

It's tough out there in the dating world! I'm pretty much an expert on the subject, having spent 26 years doing it until getting married at the tender age of 41. I mean, 26 years. That's like a CAREER in DATING.

Anyway, I'm very excited about an event that iList Paducah is hosting with Harrah's Metropolis. We're calling it Breaking the Ice: Singles Mixer & Speed Dating. And it's going to be totally super cute!

It starts, as all good dates do, with cocktails at 7:30 p.m. at the Riverfront Event Center, and then the speed dating part starts at 8 p.m. Speed dating is optional, but if you do it, you might win free stuff like a $100 gift certificate to The Range Steakhouse and tickets (with meet and greet passes) to an upcoming Harrah's concert.

And check out the best part:


Our extremely hot Breaking the Ice hosts for the evening: radio's Mitch Myers and the lovely Laura K! (Thanks, Brian Steffen, for the gorgeous photo!)

If you're single and 21 or older, please have a look at how it all works, and fill out the questionnaire! Then plan to come and enjoy a neat, new event and a super easy way to meet other super cute single people!

See you there!

This Week's New iList Paducah Sponsors

Right on, new iList Paducah sponsors, including WKCTC's á la carte Culinary Series! Don't miss Mother's Day Brunch on Sunday, May 10, at Max's Courtyard, with catering by A Pampered Palate's Laura Duff! Find out what she's serving and call 534.3086 for reservations!


We've also got Jason Kraus of ADS Security. Nikki can most definitely attest to Jason's fantastic security work! He'll protect your home, office and anything else of value. Call him at 217.9150 or send him an email.


Looking for a phat Downtown apartment? Chad Beyer's got one for rent at 401 Broadway! Call him at 559.5718 and get ready to move it. It's GORGEOUS!

Many thanks to our new sponsors!

Evan Bright Blogs and Tweets Green Trial

The trial of Steven Green opened at the Federal Courthouse on 5th and Broadway in Paducah on Monday. And there in the media pool, sitting among seasoned reporters from the Associated Press, Reuters, Time, the Louisville Courier-Journal, the French Press Agency and others — was our own young Evan Bright of the Tilghman Bell student newspaper.

That's right. The Paducah Tilghman High School senior has an as-long-as-it-takes hall pass to cover the trial. And he's off to an excellent start.


Evan has created the first and, so far only, blog dedicated to the trial in which Green is charged with raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing her family in March 2006. He'll likely be found guilty — clearly, he did it — but according to Evan's first day's recap, it sounds like the defense is hoping for a less-than-death-penalty sentence for Green.


Young Evan is not only blogging about the trial, he's doing live tweets on Twitter, giving followers brief blurbs on who's testifying to what. Twitter is super easy and free. Just sign up at twitter.com, then click Follow under the creepy Steven Green photo on Evan's Twitter page. You don't even have to tweet yourself if all you want to do is follow Evan. (I'm on it, too. Which is how I found out about Evan's blog.)

Anyway, I'm telling you, this young man — Evan, not the bad guy — is going to be winning awards. His first two blog posts are extremely good — and how can you not love this kind of initiative at this age?

Evan is the son of Paula and Steve Bright and the grandson of Jane and Irv Bright.

Bright, indeed.

Follow along. It will be great fun to see where all this leads for Evan Bright.

It's a Good Day for Chicken Noodle Soup

Nikki posted this week's Kirchhoff's menu on iList Paducah yesterday. Here it is again, but you can always find it on our site. Just look in the middle and scroll down a bit. Now if we could just get 'em to deliver....

Wine Socks

I've been meaning to link to this funny little story from Patience Renzulli. Go here to read it all.

Patience was one of my iList Paducah table guests at the Carson Center's Vintner's Luncheon the other Friday. I invited her mainly because she doesn't drink. And I was hoping to sit next to her and swipe all her wine when the wine servers weren't looking. Unfortunately, Nikki sat next to her, so I didn't get any of Patience's wine except for maybe one glass. But I made up for it with more wine later, but that's all really beside the point.

The point is: Patience often has trouble keeping track of all of her clothes. Which I could understand if she hadn't given up drinking. Nonetheless, she posted this very funny story on her blog about substituting stockings with hairy support socks while getting dressed the morning of the lunch.

Patience, you could wear a hairy support body stocking and still look smashing!

One Night Only; Many Photos

Super cute Josh Comley, shown here with his super cute girlfriend Andrea Ivey, sent me quite a few photos from the One Night Only art shindig that he and John Romang threw the other weekend. The photos are so good that I decided to just post them all. They were taken by a fella named Drew Swim. I don't think I've met Drew Swim, but I'm sure if I did, I would ask him if he, you know, swims. Because I'm so original like that. Anyway, here are his fun photos. He should really be named Drew Photographs.



That series, by the way, of the four faces is now in our house. Love it! John Romang painted it.

A Closer Look

I love Iris Shreve Garrott. She's funny and super smart, and she caught on to this technology stuff way before most of the rest of us.

She's a wonderful photographer, too, always finding neat angles at local events, like the one above from last week's Quilt Show.

And this very funny one:


Too cute. See the rest of Iris' photos here!

Happy Continuing Anniversary!

This past Wednesday marked our second anniversary over here at iList Paducah. That's Nikki D. May and me in a super-cute photo by Brian Steffen, our favorite bartographer. Nikki and I love working on the site and are always amazed by the number of events we receive from folks each day. Keep 'em coming, and check out our recap of this past year!

We've received lots of nice anniversary emails and Facebook messages, so look for those in our Fan Mail section on our home page this Wednesday! iList Paducah is your Invitation to Everything! Thank you for making our first two years such a great success!

Gorgeously Green

I always love it when one of our iList Paducah iDates of the Week pops up in the Paducah Sun. That's the gorgeous Jennifer Villarrrrrreal, modeling an energy-efficient light bulb as part of an Adam Shull story on environmentally friendly spring cleaning.

Adam is always great to mention the Recycle Now organization, which accepts recycling at 1830 North 8th St. on Wednesdays (9 a.m.-1 p.m.), Thursdays (noon-6 p.m.), Fridays (7 a.m.-1 p.m.) and Saturdays (9 a.m.-1 p.m.).

Super cute!

Nice Guys DO Finish First

So Doe's Eat Place now has a basketball team. That's dreamy Nick Wright there, #5, doing that rim job thing very tall basketball players do. He's about 8'10" and played ball in college. Doe's owner Paul Signa is lucky #7.


Cute, huh? For the game, our guys had to switch their shirts inside out, from grey to blue. (I tried not to peek.) That's Nick again, above.


I didn't catch this little fella's name. I don't think he works at Doe's, but he's a very good player. Some members of the opposing team (in gray) played very unsportsmanly, elbowing our guys in the backs...


...including my husband — the handsome bald one in the middle group, blue shirt, to the right. The ref must have agreed — one of the opposing players was ejected from the game. The player responded by calling the ref a boy part slang term combined with "head." Then there was a loud discussion as we were leaving. Not sure if fisticuffs followed, but it was VERY exciting, to say the least.

Our boys won 50-39, proving that yes, sometimes nice guys do finish first.

They play at the SportsPlex each Wednesday at 8 p.m. Everyone's welcome to come. Robyn Shapiro, DJLJ and I made up this week's cheering section. There's wireless, so I'm thinking of doing live blogging or live twittering next time.

Lovely Lacy

I'm a big fan of young Lacy Williams. She was our first lesbian iDate of the Week, and it was an amazing thing to see how much our Web traffic jumped simply by our adding the L-word. I should start typing "lesbian" into every other calendar listing. We'd probably bring down Paducah's Internets.

Anyway, lovely Lacy has a photography show this evening, 6:30-9:30 p.m., at Roots & Spirit, 618 Madison St., between 6th and 7th. It's co-sponsored by the Paducah Arts Alliance.

I'd love to be there, but I'm in Nashville for this stupid thing this really awesome race, which I'm woefully unready for. And I'm just a little cranky about it.

And by the way — what is Root and Spirits? It's just around the corner from us, but I haven't investigated. It sounds like a liquor store. Is it? Is it? Because bring in a mani/pedi place, and I'd never have to leave the five-block radius of our house.

Next Up: Pretty Woman!

Pretty Woman is the next in our Chick Flicks series at Maiden Alley Cinema. Doors open at 6 p.m., Tuesday, May 19, with festive drinks sponsored by Absolut Vodka, an amazing food spread, goodie bags, music from DJUK and more fun surprises. Plus, enter to win a $400 basket of goodies from Al's Ratt-n-Roll and a $300 Zoom Whitening from Dr. Scott Bridges of Paducah Dental Care. They're an iList Paducah sponsor — LOVE THEM!

It's $30, for a good cause: Maiden Alley Cinema and Merryman House Domestic Crisis Center. If you won't do it for them, do it for Vivian. RSVP to Landee!

They're Pretty in Pink

Last night's Chick Flick, Pretty in Pink, brought out the 1986 in all of us!


DJLJ and DJ Urban Kobbb got the tunes just right....


Maiden Alley Cinema Executive Director Landee Bryant got the refreshments just right...


Artist Deb Lyons revived this from her closet...


....a rockin' jacket she made, circa 1982...

And everyone looked, well, Pretty in Pink!







Watch Landee's Chick Flicks blog, iList Paducah and this blog for details about our big Pretty Woman bash on Tuesday, May 19. That's one you won't want to miss!

New iList Paducah Sponsors!

Buy local! The Downtown Farmers' Market is now open — Monday-Saturday, 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.! Woo-Hoo! So stop by and stock up. Always good to support our local growers!


What? Mother's Day again? Yep, Sunday, May 10 — and don't forget about us Stepmoms, too! Take us to brunch at Green Turtle Bay! And shower us with gifts. We like gifts. 800.498.0428.


THIS is my favorite festival of the year — mainly because it happens right outside our front door. The LowerTown Art & Music Festival is filled with just that — art and music — and great food, drinkys and just a lot of really cool people. It's May 23-24. Be sure to stop by our iList Paducah booth! We're one of the event's sponsors!


We also have this today on iList Paducah: Helene Davis and five other folks have some gorgeous fabrics for sale this week...


Our friends at di Fratellis?


They're doing $1 drafts with any appetizer purchase, every night! 211 Broadway, 442.7054.


Got some down-payment money? Now's most definitely the time to buy!


And Laura Petrie's got the property to sell! (Including this unit!) Laura's with Sirk & Co., and she absolutely ROCKS. Give her a call, 217.2170, or send her an email and you'll be a homeowner in no time!

Many thanks to our new sponsors! You can see them all at ilistpaducah.com!

Easter Sarah!

Congratulations to the gorgeously lovely Sarah Bynum! On Monday, Sarah started her new job as director of development for Easter Seals West Kentucky! She'll be coordinating fundraising efforts and fostering donor relations — all to help children and adults with different abilities and special needs.

Prior to Easter Seals, Sarah rocked the concrete as marketing director for Federal Materials. And before that, she played a key role in hunky Billy Harper's run for governor. She shares her enthusiasm and smarts as a board member for several non-profits, including Market House Theatre and ChildWatch.

If you would like to learn more about Easter Seals — or if you simply want to inundate her with donations — send her an email!

Did You Open Your iList Email Today?

We sent out a super cute email on behalf of Harrah's Metropolis for the Little Black Dress Party, Friday, May 15, at the Event Center. It's a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, and while it's somewhat directed toward women, turns out that men are absolutely welcome to come. So, a-hem, if I were a man looking to meet gorgeous women, I would get my very well-dressed self over to this party.

And, in equally great news, we have 20 free tickets to give away. Just email me and your name will go in a drawing. We'll announce and notify the winners Wednesday, April 29.

All the details are here.

Think Pink!

We've been getting lots of RSVPs today for our next Chick Flick, Pretty in Pink, Tuesday night, April 21. One of the best parts of being married to DJ Urban Kobbb is that I can hear him in the next room putting together all sorts of great '80s music for us to enjoy during the pre-flick pink libations.

Doors open at Maiden Alley Cinema at 6 p.m. for said libations and a cupcake buffet, with the movie starting at 7 p.m.

Wanna come? Bring a $15 check or cash — it benefits the cinema and Merryman House Domestic Crisis Center. And email Landee so we know how many libations to buy.

See you there!

My Wine and More Wine Weekend

Raise your glass if you partied like a rock star this weekend! Woo-Hoo! There was absolutely no shortage of great events in Paducah over the past few days. I was able to wind — geeze, make that wine — my way through quite a few of them.


The Carson Center's Wine Tasting & Auction, was, as usual, fantastic. Above, that's me, Robyn Shapiro, lucky David Boggs, iDate of the Week Lisa Guill and Jill Chambers. We spent quite a bit of time in this very location — arm's length from the bar — before making our way to the fabulous food purveyors…



...auction items…


...and the very handsome Anton Pestun of Robert Mondovi Winery — isn't he darling? More on him in a minute.


Look how cute everyone was:





These are all Bill Fox photos. See all of them here!

I was especially excited about the Vintner's Luncheon the next day. The whole idea of sanctioned and tax-deductible wine for lunch — I mean, come on! Why aren't we doing this more often?

Here's Anton, telling us about the wines....


And a few of the gals at the iList Paducah table, enjoying the wines...


My beautiful mother-in-law Pat Brockenborough...


Isn't she the best?

The Vintner's Luncheon was in the beautiful Myre River Room at the Carson Center. Within seconds of walking through the s door, lovely volunteers were there to fill your glass. Multiple times. The catering was done by Artisan Kitchen and absolutely perfect.

Debbie Wattier (we call her our Godmother of iList Paducah because she helped inspire the idea for our Web site) did a fantastic job of welcoming everyone. The above photos also belong to the fabulous Bill Fox. See more of them here.

OK, back to Anton. When we found out that he is, indeed, single, we organized an impromptu post-Vintner's Luncheon iDate of the Week group interview. Several of us convened at Robyn's new second floor office above her René Advertising headquarters on Kentucky Avenue, right across from the Carson Center, with Anton and, because we just hadn't had quite enough, a few additional bottles of wine.


Anton was a great sport, and I don't want to give too much away about the interview, but here's the famous toast that he gave at the lunch:

"To the finer things in life, may we enjoy them all in moderation with a few glorious exceptions among family and friends."

Friday would most definitely fall under that exceptions category!

Look for our fun interview with him on iList Paducah this Wednesday.

Congratulations, Carson Center! Well done! And thanks, Bill Fox, for the photos!

Feasting for St. Nick's

Saturday night, ours was one of 11 host homes for the Feast for St. Nick's fundraiser. St. Nicholas Clinic volunteers prepared a lovely meal that each host home served — our job as hosts was to simply provide hors d'oeuvres, drinks and help sell a few tickets.


Sorry for the dark photo, but that's the lovely clinic director Anita Wyatt on the right, talking with David Denton (to her right) and Eddie and Carol Ann Narozniak. We also had Pat and Jim Brockenborough, Angie and Keith Wilke, Robyn and Lily Shapiro and my friend Stacy Stahl, who helped me with everything.

It was a really nice event, and for such a great cause. St. Nicholas Clinic offers health care services to the working poor who simply cannot afford health insurance. The clinic is in need of more space, so staff members and the board of directors are embarking on some fundraising events, including this one.

If you'd like to open your home for next year, send an email to Anita. And be sure to visit the thrift store, 1905 Kentucky Ave., Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Pity the Fool: One Night Only!

My weekend rock star partying ways concluded with...


One Night Only — and pity the fool who missed that one. Get it? Pity the fool? That's Mr. T above, for those who don't share the same passion for Rocky movies as I do. (Rocky III, by the way.)


John (right) and fellow artist Joshua Comley put together an amazing show. This was my favorite piece:


And my favorite DJ, DJ Urban Kobbb, celebrating his one-year anniversary as a DJ. More on that this Wednesday on iList Paducah:


You can bet that Joshua and John were happy when THIS arrived:


Who knew you need a liquor license to serve, um, liquor?


Hottie iDates of the Week Lacy Williams and Niaz Khadem, and the rest of us, hit the dance floor.


And beautiful gals Jaime Blanton, Shannon Stuhl and Andrea Ivey added even more gorgeousness to the party.

If you missed the event but want to any remaining pieces of art — they sold a ton — send an email to Joshua or John.

Whew.

Tonight at the Picture Show...

I've been meaning to plug this movie, but with all the wine flowing over there at the Carson Center, I've been a little distracted! Maiden Alley Cinema, the West Kentucky Community and Technical College Clemens Fine Arts Center and...


...the Paducah School of Art are sponsoring the Southern Circuits Independent Film Series. They've shown a few really great films already, and tonight they're screening A Man Named Pearl, a documentary by producer/director Scott Galloway. Scott will be on hand, actually, to meet with folks and do a fun Q&A session afterward. The movie sounds really interesting. It's about a self-taught topiary artist named Pearl Fryar. Folks come from all over the place to see his work at his home in Lee County, S.C.

The movie is tonight, 7 p.m., at Maiden Alley Cinema. $5. Hope to see you there!

And the Winner Are...

Congratulations to christinajade, winner of the two free tix to the Vintner's Luncheon tomorrow (see post below) at the Carson Center, compliments of our friends at WKMS! Wine on, christinajade!


Congrats, too, to Melissa Pearson, winner of a free drink at di Fratelli, compliments of iList Paducah. Melissa was one of many readers who picked their top three iDate of the Week cuties for this quarter. We'll do that throughout the year and then feature the top vote-getters at the end of 2009! Super cute!

Two Free Tix to Vintner's Luncheon!

Guess what I have! Two, count 'em two, FREE TICKETS to the Vintner's Luncheon this Friday, April 17, at the Carson Center. (The tix are selling for $45 apiece, so FREE is awfully darn good.) The tix are courtesy of our friends at WKMS!

Doors open at 11:30 a.m. — it's in the gorgeous Myre River Room, with Robert Mondavi wines, catering by Artisan Kitchen, music by Captain Greg Menke and a silent auction and art display!

Want 'em? Then use the comments link below to tell us your all-time favorite Carson Center show. Your name will go in a random drawing, and I'll announce the winner tomorrow (Thursday)! Be sure to include your email address so that I can reach you. Or, if you prefer, just email me directly.

Remember, when you purchase tix to the Wine Tasting and Auction the night before — or extra tickets to the luncheon — mention iList Paducah and you'll get a really nice free gift!

Cheers!

Support St. Nicholas Clinic!

For folks who have jobs, but just don't make enough money to cover basic living expenses AND big bills when they or their family members get sick, St. Nicholas Family Clinic comes to the rescue, offering healthcare free of charge.

I love this clinic and am a huge fan of its visionary director, Anita Wyatt. Anita signed up as one of our early iList Paducah sponsors, recognizing the value of keeping the St. Nicholas Clinic visible and just a click away.

Therefore, I've eagerly volunteered our home as one of several host homes for the Feast for St. Nick, this Saturday, April 18. Starting at 7 p.m., I'll be serving a lovely meal to all those folks who've signed up to dine at our home. Lucky for everyone, I don't have to cook — someone else has that covered. I will, however, cover cocktail hour with Mondavi wines and other drinkys. It's $75, with all the funds going to St. Nick's.

Tickets are still available! For more details, along with a list of other host homes, check out our event page.

FREE WINE STUFF!

One of my very favorite Paducah events is coming up this Thursday, April 16. It's the Carson Center's Wine Tasting and Auction, with the first of many, many wine corks popping at 5 p.m. Robert Mondavi is the featured wine — and, in fact, there's a special Grand Tasting where we'll enjoy some of Mondavi's very best vintages! Mondavi's lovely Anton Pestun will be on hand to sip us through them.

The event features fantastic food from all sorts of local restaurants and an amazing collection of auction items. It's totally fun, super cute people will be there — and it's just not often enough that we can drink wine all night and deduct the whole thing a portion of it from our taxes.

So call up the fine folks over there at the Carson Center for your tickets: 443.9932, x240 or 241. Mention iList Paducah and you'll receive one these lovely gifts, absolutely free:


Plus, new this year is the Vintner's Luncheon on Friday, April 17. Doors open at 11:30 a.m., with a lovely lunch by Artisan Kitchen with more fab wine from Mondavi. Mention iList Paducah when you order tix for that and you'll receive one of these lovely gifts, absolutely free:


iList Paducah will be representin' at both events! Hope to see you there!

"Oh, beer, scotch, juice box, whatever..."

Pretty in Pink is the next movie in our Chick Flicks series at Maiden Alley Cinema — and when it comes to '80s teen angst movies, it's totally one of my favorites.

First, there's Andrew McCarthy, who back in the day just couldn't be cuter. (That's him on the left, all you young people who have no clue what I'm talking about.) Second, Molly Ringwald's character, Andie, drives around in my favorite car ever, a Karmann Ghia. (That's her in the middle.) And third, you know, there's Andrew McCarthy. Jon Cryer (right) is also in it, playing Andie's guy BFF who has a huge crush on her while she, of course, pines away for Andrew McCarthy, as we all did.

This movie is SUCH an '80s classic, with Andie's great fashion sense, music from INXS, Echo & the Bunnymen and one of my college faves, The Psychedlic Furs. And I especially love this movie because Annie Potts is in it. She's a Stephens College grad. And THOSE gals rock.

So be sure to come. Doors open at 6 p.m., with fun drinks and hors d'oeuvres. The movie starts at 7 p.m.

It's $15, for a good cause — raising money for MAC and the Merryman House. Email Landee if you plan to come so we know how much beer, scotch, juice boxes and whatever to have on hand. (That's from one of Jon Cryer's lines.)

And go ahead and send your $15 check, made out to Maiden Alley Cinema, to Landee at 112 Maiden Alley, Paducah, Ky. 42001. That way, when you arrive you can breeze right in and over to the bar. By the way, it's not just for chicks only. Dudes are always welcome, too!

See you there!

Todd Duff, Tonight!

Todd Duff, the super, super cute owner of IVS Inc., is tonight's featured EntreForum speaker. Details here! And for more info about EntrePaducah, which runs the EntreForum series, check out our Q&A with Concierge Terry Reeves!

Lunch?

Also available, along with all sorts of fabulous local events, on iList Paducah!

Speaking of Faves, Who's Yours?

UPDATE: Thanks, everyone, for voting! You'll see the results at the end of the year when we publish faves from each quarter! The randomly drawn winner of a complimentary drinky at di Fratelli is......Michelle Pearson! Yay Michelle!


In our most recent iDate of the Week column, we recap all the cuties from this first quarter. And we're asking YOU to pick your top three favorites.

We'll do that each quarter, and we'll feature them all again at the end of the year!

So have a look here and email me your top three. Your name, then, will go into a drawing for a free drinky at di Fratelli mixed by this favorite iDate from last year!

Two Faves

I'm loving this week's cover of Current. Entertainment reporter Adam Shull has a great story on One Night Only, a big bash set for Saturday, April 18, featuring the art of hotties John Romang and Joshua Comley.

This is going to be a GREAT party, starting at 6 p.m., in the ballroom of Serenitea, 121 North 5th. Sun subscribers can read the story online. We have details here, and we'll do a big story this Wednesday on iList Paducah, too. And, yay! Brian Steffen actually got a credit for his photo, above! Very nice.


Also in this issue, the beautiful Laura K. shares her iPod Top 10! Who knew she'd be a James Taylor fan? Brian took her gorgeous photo, too.

New iList Paducah Sponsors!

We're thrilled, thrilled, thrilled to have Harrah's Metropolis Casino and Hotel on board as our newest iList Paducah sponsor. The marketing and PR folks there ROCK — Nikki, Laura K and I have been meeting with them to brainstorm lots of fun upcoming events, including this one:


Isn't this darling? It's for Harrah's Little Black Dress party, Friday, May 15, to benefit the American Cancer Society and breast cancer research. It's for gals-in-black-dresses only, with a fantastic wine tasting by Starview Winery.

So get your gal pals, LBDs and tickets now! The $20 general admission includes a commemorative wine glass, three sampling tickets and hors d'oeuvres. The VIP table of 10 tickets include FOUR bottles of wine (now we're talking!), 10 commemorative wine glasses, 10 fashionable “Save the TaTas” shirts and first-rate, black-tie table service. Those are $50 per person and oh lá lá — that's the way to go in my book.


This weekend, iList Paducah sponsor Green Turtle Bay Resort has its annual In-Water Boat Show. Be sure to stop by — here's a sneak preview of what you'll see!

A Little Laura Twice a Month

When Laura K offers free advice, I'm all ears — or in this case, all eyes.

Sign up for her free twice monthly e-newsletter, offering "marketing ideas, best practices for successful use of social media, tips on publicity, PR and promotions" and more. Just go to laurakstyle.blogspot.com and click the "Get email updates" tab on the right hand side.

Click the image above to get a better view of the fab Laura K, herself!

Looking for Heroes

Thanks to the beautiful Sarah Bynum for the photo above, taken at the April 1 Child Watch Wall of Heroes Dedication. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and the Child Watch staff, located at 1118 Jefferson St., works tirelessly to end child abuse and to help victims find healing and support.

That's Western Baptist Hospital Pediatric Section Chief Dr. Kayla Mason, Child Watch Board Vice President Rod Devore, Chamber Chair Susan Guess, McCracken County Judge-Executive Van Newberry and City of Paducah Public Information Officer Pam Spencer breaking ground for the Wall of Heroes Memorial. (Dr. Mason and Cathy Elliott, marketing director for McDonald’s and Ronald McDonald House Charities, were recognized. County Attorney Dan Boaz was the featured speaker.)

The Chamber's Leadership Paducah rockin' Class 22 selected Child Watch as its 2009 graduation project and came up with the idea for the Wall of Heroes, which will extend the length of the Child Watch facility. Rick Coltharp of Ray Black & Son helped with the wall's design, with bricks donated by Midwest Block and Brick and the wall built by Varble Masonry.

Here's a neato ad that Darlene Mazzone's Paducah Life team put together:


To support the project — and the organization — you can purchase different brick plates of color at $25, $50, $100 and $1,000. The plates will be engraved and include a certificate suitable for framing as a personal keepsake.

Super, super cute! And a great Leadership Paducah project.

The class isn't stopping there, though. They've got a Texas Hold ’Em Tournament on Thursday, April 23, at the Carson Center, as well as a Middle School Dance on Saturday, May 2, at the Sportsplex — proceeds, of course, go to Child Watch.

Download the PDF to purchase bricks, or just call Child Watch, 443.1440.

Guest Bartenders at The Pasta House!

Enjoy wine tasting at The Pasta House each Thursday, 5-8 p.m., and you'll be served by a local celebrity! Owner Bob Hoppmann has invited several good folks to guest bartend so they can "experience the excitement and entertainment of running a bar shift."

It's just $5 for the wine tasting — appetizers are half-priced — and all proceeds in April and May go to the St. Nicholas Family Clinic!

Here's the schedule:

April 8: AJ of Electric 96.9
April 16: Chip Wynn, Chip Wynn Motors
April 23: Ben Dallas, Ya Ya's Island
April 30: Karla Lawrence, Artisan Kitchen

For the past six months, the Thursday wine tastings have attrached a very good-looking and professional crowd. The guest bartender program started with Shane "Bear on the Air" Parker and Allen Dossey from Purple Toad Winery in Lone Oak.

The Pasta House is located at 451 Jordan Dr., next to the Cinemark Theatre. For more info, call Bob, 575.1997!

What's Cookin' at Kirchhoff's?

Whoops, I meant to post this earlier today. You can always find Kirchhoff's weekly menu on iList Paducah, though! Look in the middle and scroll down a bit. You'll see it!

Shopping for a Good Cause

Here's a good excuse to go shopping! Benefits Starfish Orphan Ministry!

Susan Edwards Video on stltoday.com!

I should have mentioned in my blog post a bit below about the St. Louis Post-Dispatch feature on Paducah: There's an entire video on iList Paducah sponsor Susan Edwards of Wildhair Studios! The video is by Tom Ulenbrock and it's absolutely as darling as Susan Edwards, herself. Watch it here! Congrats, Susan, and thanks for making Paducah look so fun!

Fla-Twittery

I'm continually excited by the number of people jumping on the Facebook and Twitter trains. Both sites are a great way to keep up with friends and colleagues, share updates on neato things people are doing and promote a few events here and there. I also love these sites because they make me laugh.

This morning, for example, I was very flattered to see that the gorgeous Darlene Dreyer, executive director of the Paducah Symphony Orchestra, is now following me on Twitter. This gave me a good chuckle because the only other folks she's following (at this point, anyway — she's just getting started) include Jimmy Fallon, Ellen DeGeneres, Dave Matthews, John Mayer, Time magazine and my friend Alex Metzger of iSurf Paducah. So Alex and I are in awfully good company with all these celebrities!


Alex and I are following her back, of course, so we'll be among the first to know hot Symphony news and other things Darlene finds interesting.

Speaking of which, that's another thing I love about both Facebook and Twitter — when folks link to good info. Like this link from my friend and mentor Betsy Brill on how to manage multiple social media presences. Because once you're on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, MySpace, Flickr and the rest, things can definitely get out of hand.

But that's part of the fun. So if you're not on 'em, join 'em. It's free and fun and we can all get out of hand together.

Paducah Featured in St. Louis Post-Dispatch!

Thanks to Johanna Rhodes for alerting us to a great story on Paducah in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Purchase a copy at Etcetera Coffeehouse, 320 North 6th St., or read it online!

Could You Say No to Tammi Halvorson?

Most folks know this is the gorgeous and lovely Tammi Halvorson. Along with owning and running several Taco John's and Popeyes franchises — and being one of our early iList Paducah sponsors — Tammi is the chair of the Charity League of Paducah and she does lots of other great things for our community. And she's just totally nice and friendly and I'm always nervous around her because look at what she does in her spare time:


Yep. She's a Mrs. Kentucky. Oh lá lá. And a great mom of four, including little Patrick who's been diagnosed with severe autism.

So when she asked us to sponsor this:


...well, I mean, could you say no to Tammi Halvorson?

iList Paducah is pleased to be an official sponsor of the 3rd Annual FEAT on the Street 5K Run/Walk. The race is set for 9 a.m., Saturday, April 25, at Noble Park, benefiting the Western Kentucky chapter of FEAT, which stands for Families for Effective Autism Treatment — Tammi is one of the group's co-founders — and goSoccer, a soccer team for athletes with a physical or mental disability. Rehab Associates Foundation is organizing the race.

We did a little story about Tammi and last year's race here.

To sign up, download the registration form. And to join us as sponsors on the back of the T-shirts, call Amy Peal, 744.3701, or just send her an email.

I'm bummed that I can't be there. I'm running the Nashville Country Music Half Marathon that morning. But I'll be wearing the FEAT T-shirt!

April 18: One Night Only

Great photo of John Romang and Joshua Comley, shot by the very talented photog and di Fratelli mixologist Brian Steffen. There's another great photo over there at the fabulous Laura K Style.

The photos are part of the promotion for One Night Only, an underground art show that, actually, will be above ground in the Serenitea Ballroom, 121 North 5th St. The event is 6-10 p.m., Saturday, April 18 — but you can bet the festivities will go way beyond midnight. Especially when there's free food, booze and music by Tony Foo Yong and DJ Urban Kobbb. And really cute people.

Here's the official poster, with shout-outs to these fantastic sponsors: Roof Brothers, Kirchhoff's, Occasions Unlimited, ZebraGraphics, Serenitea, the Canvas Room and iList Paducah!


The guys are selling around 100 pieces at Paducah prices — so plan to stop by and be ready for a good time!

Lily's Locks of Love

Y'all know I love me some Lily Jean Shapiro, aka the up-and-coming DJLJ. Her mom and dad, Robyn and Bob Shapiro, are incredible Paducah community leaders — instrumental in the creation of Maiden Alley Cinema, and Robyn does a ton of stuff for the Chamber, the Carson Center and other great groups. So it's no surprise that Lily naturally wants to do good things for other people...

It was Locks of Love day at Paducah Middle School, and Lily joined several other great kids in donating their hair.


Including loping off 10 inches of her gorgeous long brown hair:


Locks of Love donates hairpieces to financially disadvantaged kids suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.


Voilá — Lily with her way shorter, and just as cute hair, for a very good cause. Thanks to Robyn (who admits to tearing up during the process) and to DJUK (one of Lily's biggest fans) for the photos! I wish I could have been there. I would have teared up, too! Rock on, MzLily!

Welcome Back, Kristin Gregory!

So word at the Chamber PIP breakfast this morning is that the beautifully talented Kristin Gregory is headed back our way! She's the new executive director of the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce!

Kristin did a fantastic job as public information officer for the City of Paducah. She went to Louisville for awhile — and we missed her desperately. But now she's back! It's great news for us as we'll get to see her more often and, if we're lucky, we'll get to hear her sing. She has a fantastic voice.

And, by the way, another beautifully talented gal, Laura K, landed the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce events coordinator gig. So look for yet more great things coming from the Chamber.

Both Chambers!

Congrats Kristin and Laura K!

I Got This, FREE, from the Carson Center

Isn't this great? It's a very elegant Mayfair and Jackson wine decanter that I can't wait to christen with a bottle of Robert Mondavi wine.

If you call up the Carson Center, 443.9932, ext. 240 or 241, and purchase tix to the Wine Tasting and Auction on April 16 ($75) or the Vintner's Luncheon on April 17 ($45) or, as I did, do BOTH, you can get one of these FREE when you mention iList Paducah. Or you can get other cool stuff.

The scoop is here — the wine comes separately...like when you bid on bottles during the Thursday evening auction!

Speaking of Boys: Look Familiar?

Yep, it's one of our very favorite iDates of the Week! He moved to the San Francisco Bay Area a few months ago and, just as he did here, Keith is redefining the social scene, only this time with Snuggies.

His first-annual Snuggie Pub Crawl made big news on the San Francisco Chronicle's Web site, and he stars in this video.

Our loss is most definitely San Francisco's gain. Always ready with a party theme or smiley face sticker, Keith, we miss your festive, creative spirit!

Photo by Liz Hafalia of the Chron.

Where The Boys Were

OK, for all the single women in Paducah wondering where all the good men are, here's a big hint: Maiden Alley Cinema's Guys Night Out. Last night MAC showed The Big Lebowski, and the lobby and theatre were PACKED! Photog Keith Ford has these and other fun photos on his Flickr page.

It helped, of course, that Executive Director Landee Bryant was serving up PBRs:


And White Russians:


And chips, salsa and pizza puffs:


The fellas got in the spirit BIG TIME:


So much so that Landee ran out of booze and had to go on a liquor run after the movie started. When she returned 10 minutes later, they called an intermission so that the fellas could head back out to the lobby for refills...


...causing one famous deejay to swear off libations for two weeks.


Congratulations to Jeff Alford (right) and the MAC team. Jeff's law firm laid down serious coin to sponsor the whole she-bang, which raised some nice bank for MAC.

Check the Maiden Alley Cinema Web site for future Guys Nights Out events! Women are certainly welcome to come, too!