top of page
  • Writer's pictureMichael Sales

A Great Place to Be From

Updated: Mar 23


Painting by Anika Savage

I grew up in Louisville Kentucky in the 1950s and 60s. It was a strong and highly segregated culture. (Jefferson Davis was married there.)


It was awash with musical crosscurrents. Harvey Fuqua, who founded The Moonglows was from there. PeeWee King, co-writer and performer of The Tennessee Waltz lived about a mile away from me. One set of Elvis' grandparents lived there. Kids tore up every blade of grass from their lawn the night before he performed at the Armory on November 25, 1956. Wilson Pickett is buried there. I saw the now-largely-unknown-outside-of-Louisville Sultans about 100 times from 1957 to 1965. The Symphony Orchestra had a national reputation for breaking avant-garde pieces, much to the delight of a particular component of the town's high society. You get the picture.


Needless to say, Louisville probably best known as the birthplace, home, and resting place of Muhammed Ali.



Who Are These People?!

Mitch McConnell is a very distant second.



Why Is This Man Smiling?!

Of course, the Kentucky Derby sort of epitomized a blue collar town that was best known for making great whiskey, cancer-producing cigarettes, and wanton gambling when I was there.



Find Michael!

I've always thought and wanted to write a song about this place where people worked all week, got really and truly drunk on Saturday, and repented with hosannahs and tears on Sunday.


It is a good place to be from.




19 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Appendix II: Politics in the Anthropocene

Pima Precinct Pathway Guide This appendix presents a way to get to a detailed map of specific precincts in Pima County AZ. This could be useful to an on-the-ground team that wants to become familiar w

Appendix I: Politics in the Anthropocene

AZ-6 Precincts in Pima County First pass at analyzing with Particular Attention to Ones Where Fewer than 50% of the Eligible Voters Participated

bottom of page