I know what you are thinking. We live in Indiana, amongst the corn fields and the steaming cow pies, and the beach is far from reachable on a weekly basis. Fear not, your weekly dose of Sand Volleyball is actually within reach, even on a school night at Pinheads.
I have cool friends doing cool things. One of those things involves the planning of the Indy Film Fest. And one of the perks of having those cool friends is tagging along to opening night of said film fest.
The theme of the 2015 festival is “Fearless Stories” and they are living up to that with a line-up of films that is anything but mediocre. Opening night featured “Sleeping With Other People” and did not disappoint. Never have I seen a film that so successfully combined witty banter, charming dialogue, heartfelt moments, and just the right amount of raunchy humor. Continue reading
Photo Courtesy of http://www.louieswinedive.com/indianapolis/
Mass Ave’s official tagline is “45 Degrees from Ordinary!”, but I’d also call it a diagonal river of booze. You can get margaritas at Bakersfield, beers at MacNivens, cocktails at The Libertine, and now, as of last month, Mass Ave rounded out its equal opportunity alcohol options with the addition of Louie’s Wine Dive. The term “dive” might be a stretch. The space is beautifully decorated with exposed brick walls, floor to ceiling shelves of wine, and large windows at the front of the place to watch all the activity of Mass Ave. When I went with a small group of friends, the restaurant was busy, but still cozy- a perfect date location, but also inclusive of some larger tables for groups. Our group was waited on promptly by a knowledgeable and attentive waitress. We learned that Louie’s is not exactly local- the wine restaurant hails from Kansas City, and the Indy location is the sixth in the nation, but I wouldn’t call it a chain.
I am an Indianapolis transplant. Though I attended college in Indiana, my first big city was Chicago. The only problem is that Chicago has a tendency to eat up young millennials like myself. High taxes and even higher rent drove me to the center of the Hoosier state and all of its fiscal benefits. But, like any decision such as this, there’s a sacrifice to be made.
In my case, that sacrifice was Chicago-style pizza. All other pizza is inferior. I’ve been ruined for all other pizzerias.
In our millennial age, perhaps no other activity has captured the weekend imagination of young adults more so than the “bar crawl.” Hardly a month goes by without one’s calendar getting pummeled with invites to various holiday binge-drinking events, where one may be expected to dress as anything from Santa Claus to an Irish stereotype, all the while walking from bar to bar in one of the city’s many nightlife districts. It’s all fun, but lately I’ve grown tired of the obnoxious, drunken shenanigans, the over-priced drinks, and their subsequent hangovers. But not wanting to rid my life of the practice entirely, I’ve begun looking for other applications of the “crawl.” So this past weekend I woke up early and began the city’s first inaugural Midtown Coffee Crawl. What followed was a morning of manic energy, fleeting mental clarity, and existential dread. I should at this point warn everyone to never do this. I mean bar crawls are dangerous and all, but at least you can sleep off a day of over-drinking.
Daredevil is a well-known name for Indy craft beer drinkers. Their Lift-Off IPA, which took second place in the Indy Star’s 2015 #MaltMadness craft beer competition, is in bars and tap rooms all over the state. They spent their first four years as a microbrewery in Shelbyville on the city’s southeast side. After their recent opening of the first newly constructed production brewery in Indianapolis since Prohibition, Daredevil will call Indianapolis their home.
Sometimes you run across those places that are just simple and tasty in life. You know, that place you stop off for takeout on your way home from work or run to between episodes on a Netflix binge, because damnit, you just don’t feel like cooking that night. This is how I felt about Indy Tacos.
Yesterday, June 21st, was the summer solstice, a.k.a. the longest day of the year. To celebrate the summer solstice and the beloved, ancient practice of Yoga, over 1,500 of Indianapolis’ yogis congregated on Monument Circle for the 3rd year of the city’s largest yoga event aptly named, Monumental Yoga.
Before heading to IndyFringe, we had some mixed feelings on theater. Call it judgmental, call it closed- minded, call it just plain idiocy, but a short snippet of our conversation before we headed to the IndyFringe Basile Theater last Friday night was, “I really respect theater and I wish I “got it” more, but a lot of times I just don’t think I understand it.”
We couldn’t be more thrilled to report how stupid that statement is after seeing Jason and (Medea) at IndyFringe. And we couldn’t be happier to say that we are officially theater-embracers, and owe our thanks for the mind-shift to the talented folks who make up the theater fabric of Indianapolis, especially at IndyFringe and the Wisdom Tooth Theatre Project.
Summer is in full swing, and there is plenty going on in our city. Too much in fact. Check out just a few of the great activities going in Indy this weekend.
Hozier with Dawes
Where: FBI Lawn at White River State Park
When: June 11th @ 8pm
Buy your tickets here.
