Copious Notes

Paul Newman in an iconic role as Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler.

The impetus for showing The Hustler now is, of course, showing the late Paul Newman in his prime.

In 1961, Jackie Gleason as Minnesota Fats was probably as big an attraction, but the movie was the story of Newman’s “Fast Eddie” Felson, a pool hustler who loses big in the beginning and struggles to get back at great personal expense. It shows at 1:30 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. Wednesday as part of the Kentucky Theatre’s Summer Classics Series. Admission is $4.

The story actually visits the Kentucky Derby as the setting for a key match for Eddie, though Louisville is not listed as a filming location. Most of the action takes place in New York City.

The Hustler is considered by many to be an American classic and Fast Eddie became an iconic American film character, though it took 25 years for Newman to win an Oscar for the part. He did that when he reprised the role in The Color of Money (1986), a  sequel that finds aging Eddie trying to nurture a talented-but-cocky young Hustler played by Tom Cruise. The Martin Scorsese film featured Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Cruise’s girfriend and a soundtrack highlight by some solid Eric Clapton tunes.

But the original remains the classic.

A race fan from Iowa, and hundreds of others, crowded onto the stair railings on the fifth and sixth levels of the Jockey Club Suites to watch Mine That Bird pull off the big upset in the 135th Kentucky Derby. Photos by Rich Copley | LexGo.

It’s safe to say thousands of people in Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby never actually see the race. The goal is not to be one of those people.

The view from the staircase at the Jockey Club Suites.

If you do not actually have a box with a full view of the track, some of the suites with their expansive porches offer the best views, or at least a pretty darned spectacular view. I found my perch on the Jockey Club Suites, taking an elevator to the fourth level and then taking the stairs up to the fifth. There were still some spots on the rail, though frankly, the one I got gave me a better view of the Twin Spires — literally — than the track.

Then I looked behind me.

There was a stair case on which people were starting to line up. There was also a cop on the rail, who didn’t seem to mind — the last thing you want is to choose a spot and have the police shoo you away two minutes from race time. So, I went up and took a place. You could glimpse the finish line and a full perspective on the first and second turns and the backstretch.

It was a nice perch to watch Mine That Bird race to a historic finish.

‘Twas a very cool Derby, and fun day. Just, next year, let’s hope for a sun as bright and yellow as the hat the woman next to me was wearing. Everytime I turned around, I thought the clouds had broken. Also, could my longshot come through? It’s been a while.

Ernesto and Brenda Turner of Louisville cheer on their horses in the ninth race. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.

Throughout Churchill Downs there there is dissonance to the sounds rising from the crowd, a steady rumble punctuated by an improvosational “Mint Julep!,” a drunken fan stumbling through, a request to, “take my picture.”

But every 50 minutes or so, the crowd unites in harmonmy: “Go!” “Come on!”

“We’re just trying to make some money out here,” Ernesto Turner says a few minutes before the start of the ninth race at Churchill Downs Saturday. “So far, we haven’t done so well.”

He has No. 9 in the race. His wife, Brenda, has No. 8, following a system she has used since she picked No. 8 in the 2006 Derby: Barbaro.

Alas, the system didn’t pay off this time, though it looked promising for a few seconds.

The Turner’s song turns to groans, while others sound dissonant cheers.

But if Brenda followed that No. 8 strategy to the Derby, she had a good day in the end.

Producer Marty Spears and host Steve Gorman, also the drummer for the Black Crowes, prepare for Gorman's broadcast from Churchill Downs. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.

Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman says, “I have a bizarre perspective on things because I spent the last 20 years in a rock band touring the world.”

Gorman, who moved to Hopkinsville when he was 10, brought that bizarre perspective to Kentucky’s signature event, Saturday. He got a $7.99 thrift-shop suit, just for the occasion.

A few years ago, Gorman started showing up as a guest on a friend’s show for Nashville’s sports radio outlet, WGFX-104.5 FM (The Zone).

“First it was 10 minutes, then it grew into 15, 20, and eventually a whole half hour,” Gorman said, leaning on the rail outside the media center overlooking Churchill Downs’ muddy track.

Steve Gorman, on the air in Louisville.

Eventually, he was offered his own show, which usually runs for two hours on Sunday nights. For Gorman, it’s a natural fit. With the Crowes, he is often the guy who does radio spots for the band. And he says Sports Center is regular viewing for the group, which rose to fame on hits such as Hard to Handle and Jealous Again and is still a going concern with an upcoming album and tour.

That said, Gorman claims no actual sports expertise.

“We start with sports, and then we try to veer off track as quickly as possible,” Gorman says. “I love being the dumbest guy in the room. If I’m the smartest guy in the room, we have a problem.”

Gorman co-hosts the show with his friend Brandon Gnetz, a graphic designer for Nashville’s Frist Center for Visual Arts.

Among the host’s favorite sports to discuss are European soccer and his Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers.

“I claim no objectivity,” Gorman said. “When Gonzaga beat Western Kentucky, as far as I was concerned, the NCAA Tournament was over. Bring on the NFL Draft.”

Though he grew up in Kentucky, Louisville always seemed much farther away than Nashville. Still, he is now happy to embrace the Bluegrass State’s longest standing sporting tradition.

“I’ve actually talked to a lot of people in the last month getting ready for this and learned a lot,” Gorman said.

Friday afternoon, he found himself in the winner’s circle mere feet from Kentucky Oaks winner Rachel Alexandra.

“These horses are amazing althletes,” Gorman said. “It’s really a great sport.”

Not that it couldn’t be greater.

Among suggestions Gorman had as he started his Saturday afternoon broadcast were fans getting a little bit more vigilant about rooting for their horses, New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox style.

“Think about two drunk guys, one in a Friesan Fire jersey and one in an I Want Revenge jersey,” Gorman said, “It would be great.”

He also has a theory about Derby hats: “It’s saying look at my hat, and don’t notice that my dress doesn’t fit. I should have gone with the size 8.”

And a lot of this came out before the second hour of his show, which he promised listeners would be done, “juleps in hand.”

Like Gorman said, he brings a different perspective.

Jockey Stewart Elliott gets a face full of mane as he guides Kentucky Derby hopeful West Side Bernie through a workout at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Saturday, April 25, 2009. Photo by Ed Reinke | AP.

I did not have to look far for my horse today in the Kentucky Derby. Not past post position one.

When it comes to picking ponies, I’ll read, I’ll look for things I like. But it’s really in the name for me, and here is the passage from Alicia Wincze’s notes from the backstretch column that made Bernie my man:

Owner George Hall said his wife Lori names all their horses and said that West Side Bernie “is all Broadway.”
“He’s by Bernstein so she immediately thought of Leonard Bernstein, who wrote West Side Story,” Hall said. “That’s how Bernie got his name. They’re putting on a revival of West Side Story now and we’re involved in that as a Fundraiser for the Hearing Center at New York University.”

I think Bernstein is the greatest American conductor ever and he wrote some great musicals too, so obviously I’m partial to the Hall’s tastes.

Bernie is 48-1 in the morning line, but hello, Giacomo, these artsy named longshots have come through for me before. I also like the story of first-time trainer Kelly Breen and the story of his stable-mate, Atomic Rain, who is somewhat the opposite of Bernie as his name sounds like some punk band playing a dive bar in the early 1980s.

So, that’s where I’ll put most of my modest bets.

It was a late night last night at the Barnstable-Brown Gala. Check out the slide show and video, and I’ll write again from the Downs.

If you miss the fact that the Kentucky Derby is on Saturday, maybe you just aren’t watching enough NBC and its universe of networks.

Real Housewives of New York City star Bethenny Frankel, daughter of Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, will be part of Bravo

This week, the Peacock is proving that while healthy advertising budgets are nice, nothing beats having a whole bunch of networks on which you can air tied-in programming. And that is why, as Sharon Thompson alerts us, Bravo will be live from Churchill Downs at the Oaks at 5 p.m. Friday. Ladies First: Bravo at the Kentucky Derby will look at Derby food, fashion and celebrities with Bob Costas, Access Hollywood’s Nancy O’Dell, The Real Housewives of New York City’s Bethenny Frankel (daughter of Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel), and Tiki Barber, who will be in the infield with the last two winners of Top Chef.

The 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. segment of the Today show — the portion of the show Saturday Night Live just loves — will also look at Derby fashion today, and Friday, it’s Derby cooking.

Meanwhile, financial network CNBC is looking at the monetary side  of the event with Run for the Roses: The Kentucky Derby and the Business of Horse Racing hosted by The Call’s Melissa Francis at 9 tonight, and repeating several times through Saturday.

With Paris Hilton on the guest list, you can bet the paparazzi will be out in force, and NBC’s own Access Hollywood will be in town for bashes like the Barnstable-Brown Gala and providing red carpet coverage at Churchill Downs with O’Dell and Barber during the Derby broadcast from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday.

Big-time sporting events have long had star musicians perform The Star-Spangled Banner with sometimes spectacular (Jennifer Hudson) and other times less-than-sterling (Roseanne) results.

LeAnn Rimes at the 2008 CMT Awards. AP Photo by Evan Agostini.

The Kentucky Derby, however, has avoided that trend, instead hanging its colorful hat on the annual sing along of My Old Kentucky Home, until this year.

LeAnn Rimes will deliver the first live, vocal rendition of the national anthem by a national recording artist on Derby Day in the event’s 135-year history. Rimes is best known as a country singer, though you could also identify her as an author, actor and inspirational artist.

“We believe LeAnn Rimes is the perfect performer to help us begin a 21st century Derby tradition — one
that has been a long-standing and well-accepted part of other major sporting events,” Kevin Flanery, senior vice president of Churchill Downs Incorporated, said in a news release.

According to the release from Churchill Downs, Rimes will sing the anthem shortly after 5 p.m. on Derby Day, May 2, and the performance will be broadcast by NBC. The Fort Knox Army Band, which has traditionally performed the anthem near the start of the day’s race card, will continue to do that, shortly after noon.

And, of course, we all need to be warming up for “The sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home . . . ”

• More Derby coverage from Kentucky.com.