It’s Sunday. What are you up to?

• Evansville’s mayor is not only running unopposed in Tuesday’s primary, but he’s got quite the warchest.
• Ever wonder what nasty things are floating around in the Ohio River and Pigeon Creek? Try a refridgerator.
• USI is planning to renovate the University Center and the old Rice Library. Designs should be to the board of trustees by the fall.
• Wesselman’s Park began construction on the new tennis clubhouse. The clubhouse will include office space, bathrooms, a kitchen and an open area for resting after a grueling 3 set match.

photo courtesy of carpeaqua

Hope you weren’t a fan of the bland chain-style BBQ that was served up at Smokey Bones on the east side. As of today, the restaurant is no longer open. The company that owns Smokey Bones Barbeque & Grill says it’s closing 56 of its restaurants, because they’re not profitable enough. That includes the one in Evansville as well as 6 others around the state.

I went there a few times, and was not a fan at all. I’d much rather eat good BBQ at Shylers, or make the trek over to Owensboro for Moonlite. I may be biased though, because I am not a fan of chain restaurants. Give me local flavor anyday.

Every Saturday night we like to round up the local crime stories from the previous few days and put a spotlight on the riff-raff of society. We call it Evansville 911.

• Teresa Perry, a local attorney, was arrested at her law office Friday after she allegedly sold drugs and delivered methamphetamine to a police informant. Didn’t we just have an attorney selling drugs?
• Remember Gordon Wayne Wright, who distributed flyers of his two ex-wives in the nude? He was arrested again for that act, but with new charges: distributing pornographic material to a minor.
• More meth arrests. This time in Boonville.

Spoiler Alert: Some plot points discussed.

It’s a rare occasion that I go see a movie in theaters anymore. The cost of an evening ticket is exorbitant and that is before the soda and popcorn. The fact is that I have a pretty nice home setup for watching movies. There are some movies, though, that need to be seen in a theater. Big action movies with awesome CGI and great sound need to be experienced more than seen. I think most comic book movies are of that ilk. With that in mind, I took Friday afternoon off and headed out to Stadium 16 on the West side of town and bought a ticket for the 3:20 showing of Spider-Man 3.

The second sequel to 2002’s Spider-Man, Spider-Man 3 starts off with Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) and romantic interest Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) in good spirits and with Parker planning to pop the question to Mary Jane. The city is even overjoyed with Spider-Man and his heroism. The happiness ends when Parker’s former best friend Harry Osborn tries to avenge his father’s death in a great action sequence between the two. Unfortunately, this scene was probably the highlight of the movie, and it was in the first thirty minutes.

Continue reading It’s Evansville Review: Spider-Man 3…

We here at It’s Evansville like to support things that are a little different and unique. We like unique music. We like artists that think outside of the box. We like food that goes beyond the standard chain food. We also like a group of girls who skate and slam into each other. That is certainly different, and we support it!

The Demolition City Roller Derby team is having a benefit show this weekend to help get the team off the ground and hopefully playing matches in the near future. The benefit will be at Lanhucks (321 E Columbia Evansville, IN 47711 812-424-0830) Sunday night at 8PM. The team will be there as well as several local bands such as Stationary Odyssey, eXesion and my personal favorite, The Pretentious Wankers. Besides listening to live music and roller derby chicks, Lanhucks will also have PBR for $1.50.

Cover is $3 at the door.

We interviewed the co-founder of the team, Molly Hartshorn, last month. You can read about it here.

Looking for something to do this weekend? Here’s a sampling of what’s going on each night.

Friday

• The Evansville Civic Theater is presenting Over The Tavern tonight. Curtain’s up at 8PM. Over The Tavern tells the story a A 12-year-old parochial student who discovers that questioning your faith is part of growing up, even when your tavern-owner parents would do anything to keep you from doing so.
• 1123 has a CD release party for several bands tonight: Synthetic Elements, Slick Nicolas and Noble Prize. The show starts at 7PM.
• If you’re looking for a relaxing time after the downtown Cruise-In, Matt Clark will be playing piano at The Jungle at 9PM.
• If you are looking to celebrate Cinco De Mayo early, Club Baja at Marina Pointe is having a party starting at 10PM.
• Fast Eddy’s has Gonzo’s Toybox at 10PM.
• Not downtown? Pieces of the Day is at O’Brians at 10PM.

Saturday

• Want to see some cars? There is a car show at Angel Mounds in Newburgh from 9AM - 4PM.
• If you’re looking for somewhere to watch the Kentucky Derby, Marigold Bar, Firefly and the Gerst Haus are all having Derby parties starting around 3 or 4PM.
• The Evansville Civic Theater is presenting Over The Tavern as well tonight at 8PM.
• It’s Cinco De Mayo! All the Mexican restaurants are having entertainment of some sort.
• If you want to see De La Hoya vs. Mayweather, Hobo Jungle and Jillians are both showing the fight starting at 8PM.
• If you’re wanting to celebrate Cinco De Mayo after a mexican feast, take your pick. Crawdaddy’s, the Duck Inn and Club Baja are all having some sort of festivity.
• • Fast Eddy’s has Gonzo’s Toybox at 10PM.
• Pieces of the Day is at O’Brians at 10PM.
• Lanhucks has Nocturnal 10:30.

• Mayor Weinzapfel met with several church representatives to announce that he is creating a new task force addressing the need for more affordable housing for low-income residents
• Two men were injured in a fight early this morning at a gas station. What a way to start the day.
• Evansville’s National Day of Prayer ceremony was held at the Four Freedoms Monument.
• Another day, another stabbing or shooting in Evansville.

photo courtesy of easylessons

The Indiana Bureau Of Motor Vehicles today announced the new license plate that will debut in 2008 and replace the Hayseed Green plate that has been donning the backs of our cars since 2003. The new plate design edged out my personal favorite, which featured a lighter, fading background image of the state’s flag by about 2500 votes. Along with the new design, the new plate features a modified county designator, a one- or two-digit number that identifies the county of origin, which includes a reflective sticker with both the traditional county designator number and county name.

I think this plate is a far cleaner and acceptable look than what we had before. Anything that involves cornfields, amber waves of grain or other sorts of midwestern stereotypes make me cringe. Will I get one? Of course not. I have a Purdue plate. Boiler up!

What do you think of the new plate?

It’s Evansville reader, and brother, Cody Williams, provided me with some photos of last night’s Brad Paisley concert. I haven’t had a chance to ask him how the show was since he’s still in bed and is possibly still drunk. If you went to the show, why don’t you tell us how it was in the comments?

Continue reading Brad Paisley Concert Pictures…

I always look forward to the third day of each month, because I know it’s time to scour Craigslist and find some gems for you, our readers. Craigslist is a centralized network of online community classifieds, job postings, personals and more started by a guy named Craig (on the right). Evansville has had its own Craigslist site for a few years now and one of it’s most useful features is missed connections.

Sometimes you are out at a local bar or restaurant, and catch the eye of something across the room. You might even pick up a conversation with the person and hit it off. Unfortunately, the night ends without you getting contact information: sometimes not even a name. That’s where craigslist comes in and It’s Evansville come in. To help you out, we’re going to periodically spot some of the missed connections that are posted locally, and hopefully help some poor guy or gal out in their attempts to find true love.

Sam’s Club Connection

If you are the hot hunk of beef that was checking out today (4/12) around 5 or 5:30 pm in the next to the last checkout lane, then I was the guy you kept turning around to check me out (at the same time that I was turning around to check you out) as I walked across the store. I was wearing jeans and the black chef’s coat and had a buzz haircut. I would very much like to meet you, as it was obvious that there was a definite sense of attraction. I am so kicking my self that I didn’t turn around and follow you out, but I was on somewhat of a tight schedule and had to get back to work. However, I did make a quick sweep of the parking lot and even went back in hoping that you came back in to find me. I am so sorry that I missed you…..please respond if you happen to read this.

Is it wrong that I’m trying to run through all the local restaurants to figure out what place puts their chefs in a black coat? I never knew such things went on at Sam’s Club. Usually when I’m in there it’s to pick up up beef…oh wait.

Did you wink at me in Batteries Plus?

I walked in to buy some “AAAA” Batteries last week, and as soon as I saw your gorgeous face you winked at me. Or so I thought. I’m bad about picking up on these things. Send me a message telling me what you were doing when I walked in so I know it’s really you.

They were probably winking because they know that only adult toys take AAAA batteries.

Boonville Walmart

We talked for just a few minutes the day the Garth Brooks box set came out. You came back in to talk to me, you will probably never know how much that meant. Thanks for that! Contact me if you remember that day, and if you would like to meet.

Nothing says love like Garth Brooks and Wal Mart.