Derby
Writer’s Son Presents Memoir at The Brown Hotel
Free Derby Week Event Will Air as Part of The Spoken Word Radio Series
(Louisville, KY, April 16, 2004) – On Thursday, April 29, Public
Radio South will host a live taping of an episode of The Spoken Word
at The Brown, A Camberley Hotel. As part of Derby week activities
the evening’s program will feature a reading from “Blood
Horses: Notes of a Sportswriter’s Son” by author John Jeremiah
Sullivan, son of veteran Courier-Journal sportswriter, Mike Sullivan.
A question-and-answer session will follow.
John Jeremiah Sullivan’s father spent three decades in the press
box covering the Derby for The Courier-Journal. When John asked his
father what he remembered best about his experiences at the Derby,
Mike’s answer came as a surprise. “I was at Secretariat’s
Derby, in 1973. That was … just beauty, you know?” After
his father’s death, Sullivan, a former Harper’s editor,
decided to learn more about the beautiful mystery and charm of horses
and the world’s most famous horse race, The Kentucky Derby. He
turned his quest into a smart and witty memoir.
For the April 29 event, the doors will open at 6:30 p.m., and the
taping will begin at 7 p.m. in the Gallery Ballroom of The Brown.
The reading and subsequent question-and-answer session will be recorded
for an upcoming broadcast of The Spoken Word public radio series that
will air at a later date on public radio stations around the Southeast,
including Louisville’s WFPL. Carmichael’s Bookstore will
have copies of the book for sale at the event. A cash bar will be
available.
Daren Wang, Executive Producer of Public Radio South and host of the
series, said, “The Brown Hotel, Mike Sullivan, WFPL, and the
Kentucky Derby – For The Spoken Word, it’s like wrapping
all the great Louisville traditions into one talk. And John Jeremiah
Sullivan’s book does a great job of capturing the spirit of his
father and the lasting power of these same traditions.”
For those unable to attend The Spoken Word taping, an additional book
signing will be held the following morning (April 30) at 11 a.m. outside
of J. Grahams Café, located on the first floor of The Brown.
Both events are open to the public, and admission is free. Call (502)
583-1234 for additional information. This Spoken Word event is sponsored
by Public Radio South; Carmichael’s Bookstore; WFPL; Farrar,
Straus & Giroux and The Brown, A Camberley Hotel.
Derby has always been a very special time at The Brown Hotel. Ever
since the hotel’s opening 80 years ago, celebrities and guests
have traveled from all over to stay at The Brown and attend the races.
There is even a legendary story of guests sneaking a winning horse
into a suite.
Brad Walker, General Manager of The Brown, said, “We consider
Derby week our time to shine at The Brown. As legendary jockey Eddie
Arcaro once said about The Brown… ‘it was the meeting place…
the place where you went to see people’. We like to think that
the qualities that have made The Brown special to so many Louisvillians
over the years are magnified during this special time.”
The hotel’s builder and first owner, James Graham Brown, was
an avid horseracing fan, owning many horses during his lifetime and
winning an estimated 800 races, although never winning the Kentucky
Derby. When Mr. Brown was not at his beloved hotel, he could often
be found at the racetrack.
Located at the corner of Fourth and Broadway, The Brown Hotel has
been a longstanding Louisville tradition for 80 years. For reservations
for dinner or an overnight stay, call 502-583-1234, or visit The Brown’s
Web site, www.brownhotel.com.
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