While it’s a few months away, we thought we’d give you the opportunity to sign up for this year’s Franklin Pub Crawl. The crawl takes you and your four of your closest friends on a tour of the bars of Franklin Street. That includes Smitty’s Little Tavern, the Gerst Babarian Haus, Sportsmans Grille & Billiards, Club Royal, Hagadorns, Corner Bar and Leroy’s. At each stop on your crawl will be a team “challenge” that may win you some cool prizes at the end of the night. Wear your t-shirt, pay no cover at any of the seven bars.

The crawl is to benefit Katie’s Helping Hands, a group that works to provide assistance for lung cancer victim Katie McCutcheon. The event is Saturday July 14, but you need to sign up by Thursday July 5, 2007. The cost is $20 per team and you can register by visint the Franklin Pub Crawl Web site.

Nothing like drinking for a good cause.

If you were planning on doing much outdoors today, I might advise against it. At least 78 of Indiana’s 92 counties are under state advisories for pollution. This includes both Vanderburgh and Warrick Counties. If you do happen to go out, you’re most likely going to be breathing air with higher levels of particle pollution. For the uninformed, fine particulate matter is a mix of liquid droplets, dust, soot and other tiny particles too small to see and that can penetrate the lungs to enter the body and bloodstream. If you’re prone to heart or lung disease, it can lead to your early demise.

So what is causing all these environmental alerts so much this year? The Vanderburgh County Health Department says that a large, humid air mass over the region is most likely the cause for the elevated pollution levels for the area. It probably doesn’t help that it hasn’t rained in almost 3 weeks either.

You can help reduce the pollution levels by carpooling, combining errands to reduce travel, using public transportation and setting thermostats at a higher temperature to conserve electricity when alerts are issued.

Are you altering your life style in anyway because of the environmental issues?

photo courtesy of University of Michigan

When the LST 325 made it’s home in Evansville, events like this weekend’s D-Day re-enactment are what local officials had in mind for the boat. Hundreds of participants from around the midwest will be descending on Evansville to help commemorate the famous World War II battle. The re-enactment will take place in 4 different battles: two Saturday and two Sunday.

The first battle will start at 1 PM Saturday with the landing of the Allied troops from the Ohio River with Higgins boats and an amphibious tank. At 4 PM there will be a counterattack by the German defenders. The third battle starts at 1 PM on Sunday and will feature the Allies and Germans battling along lines of rocks, trees and bushes. The fourth and final battle takes place at 2 PM on Sunday.

In addition to the re-enacment, the History Channel will be live in attendance all weekend filming our ship for a new show called “Hero Ships.” The 13-part series will chronicle the history of the LSTs in one of its episodes.

photo courtesy of Historic Naval Ships Association

The summer movie season has already begun with massive movie releases like Pirates 3 and Spiderman 3, but let’s talk about what movies you are most looking forward to seeing this summer. Even though I am not a fan of the sequel culture that the mainstream movie experience has become, I can’t lie and say I’m not looking forward to Oceans 13.

Use this open thread to talk about the movies!

photo courtesy of nepenthes

This Friday evening the Evansville Parks Foundation is putting on it’s annual Evening on the River benefit from 6:30PM to 10:30PM. This year’s fundraiser is to benefit the Freedom Plaza Garden that is being rejuvenated in front of the Signature School. You can see our construction photos from last month by clicking here.

The evening will start with a progressive dinner starting at Casino Aztar and making its way down to the Evansville Museum. Along the way there will be carriage rides and a silent auction where you can purchase a Steinway Piano gift certificate, golf packages, sports tickets and more.

Tickets are available now for $50 by calling the Evansville Parks Department at (812) 435-6141.

We told you a few weeks ago that Republican candidate for Mayor of Evansville, David Nixon, had run into some issues with $10,000-$12,000 in unpaid child support. Nixon denies the allegation saying that he has paid his ex-wife through an outside agency, but refused to name the agency citing it as personal business.

In response to these allegation, Nicholas Hermann, the chair of the Vanderburgh County Republican Party says that Nixon’s candidacy can do damage to the party. It’s believed that the child support issue will overshadow Nixon’s policies and campaign promises. In addition, other republican candidates are worried they will feel the backlash that may erupt against Nixon.

Nixon has no plans to resign as he said in a letter to ABC25. He still believes he is a great candidate for Mayor.

What do you think? Should Nixon bow out of the race?

photo courtesy of Courier & Press

Looking to catch up on all that happened this week on It’s Evansville? Here’s some highlights.

• We reviewed East side favorite Shylers BBQ, but didn’t have that great of an experience.
• We had a lively Open Thread discussing the best bar in town.
• In Focus featured some downtown construction.
• We grabbed photos from the Otters Victory Parade in downtown Evansville.
• We published an interview with Stephen Horning of Namasté.

We’re taking Memorial Day off, but we’ll catch you up on everything Tuesday. Have a great holiday!

Bored? Here’s some lazy Saturday news.

• The Evansville Courier & Press has a new editor coming June 1.
• Tuesday is the day for lane closures on that Money Saving Bridge. Let’s start a first wreck pool.
• Keep Evansville Beautiful (KEB) is seeking nominations for the annual Business Landscape Excellent Awards program.

photo courtesy of BryonRealey

Looking for something to do this weekend? Here’s a few suggestions.

Friday

• There’s live music at the Focus Festival all day today down the Haynie’s Corner art district. Namasté hits the stage at 9PM.
• Wired has Displacement, Casket, Fighting Through, and Husband and Wife starting at 7PM.
• Akacia is playing at Cecil’s starting at 10PM.
• Anywhere But Here is at Club Baja at 10PM.
• Eddy’s has Never Been Caught at 10PM.
• There’s a hip-hop show featuring Cas One, Sinumatic and others at The Jungle starting at 10PM.

Saturday

• The Focus Festival continues with live music all day down at Haynie’s Corner.
• Pat Benetar is at Hoosier’s Lounge starting at 9PM if you want to take your parents to a show.
• Namasté is at Deerhead starting at 9PM.
• Akacia is playing at Cecil’s starting at 10PM.
• Mock Orange and Stationary Odyssey are playing the Duck Inn starting at 10PM.

One of the things many people notice about the Evansville music scene is that it is known for its cover bands. It seems like anytime you walk into a bar you’re going to be hearing the same cover of a Guns N Roses or Big & Rich song. Not all bands are doing cover songs, though. We caught up with Stephen Horning, the lead singer of Namasté. Namasté is a local band playing all original tunes.

How long has Namasté been together?

We’re coming up on our 9th year. We got together more out of necessity than anything. There aren’t that many musicians around the area that play the style of music we do. I was actually coming back from Boston where I had lived for quite a while. I was trying to figure out what to do with my musical abilities and I ran out of money. A buddy of mine had met a few of the guys from the band. They were, at the time, playing in a cover band around town. He introduced them to me the night I came back from Boston and we decided to start jamming together.

Did you start out playing original music or as a cover band?

The original intention was to play original music. We used covers to get to know each other since we all knew how to play the songs. We started writing songs immediately, and as soon as we had enough original material to play a show with, we started trying to get gigs.

Continue reading Interview: Stephen Horning of Namasté…