Culture Maven’s Curriculum Vitae
As for the name — c d kaplan — it’s real. The lack of punctuation and capitalization is a literary affectation. Thank you e e cummings. Culture Maven is a self proclamation. Maven is a Yiddish word that roughly translates as “know it all.”
If only it were true. But that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Take the moniker for what it’s worth — shameless self aggrandizement.
Way back when — sometime in the early to mid 50’s — I was sitting in Bernie Rosenthal’s den. He’d just received some 78’s from Randy’s Record Shop in Gallatin, Tennessee. One of them was Johnny & Joe’s “Over The Mountain.” It struck a chord. I’ve been a slave to rock & roll since. (By the by, if you go to youtube.com, you can watch J & J lip sync the classic.) It’s way too late to stop now.
I was 4th grade spelling bee champ at Longfellow Elementary. In college — there were two, one in Virginia, one in Kentucky — I earned a B.S. in political science. I intended to attend grad school in something or another, perhaps Humanities. But went to a basketball game instead on the day of the Graduate Records exam. (My beloved Louisville Cards won on the home court of their then most heated rival at the time.)
So I took the Law Boards a few weeks later and studied to be a barrister.
I was with Legal Aid in the halcyon days of the early 70’s. We practiced law hard during the day, partied hard at night. The office softball team was aptly named Fear & Loathing in Louisville. We were the object of derision of most of the town’s legal community at the time. They all came to our Christmas party though.
After that, I practiced law privately in a haphazard manner for awhile, specializing in nothing really. Then spent a couple decades as a Juvenile Court prosecutor.
I’ve been writing — seriously??? — since 1990 when I was hit by a car while jogging. Having survived reasonably intact, I figured if I had something to say I’d better start saying it. (Actually I had a letter published in the 8/29/74 Rolling Stone. (About that softball team mentioned above.) But, as brilliant and succinct as that missive was, it doesn’t really count on a resume, does it?
For a good while now, I’ve been writing for LEO (Louisville Eccentric Observer). First it was music reviews. I’ve also done film reviews there. For a decade more or less, I wrote regular columns, one on sports, one on the passing scene called “The Culture Maven.” Sound familiar? Okay, maybe not.
I’ve also written feature stories in LEO about politicians, writers and sundry matters of import to the community where I live — Louisville, Kentucky. Now I’m the ‘zine’s sports blogger. There’s a link on the home page, or you can go here.
Several pieces have been published in Relix, a national music ‘zine, as well as in the Courier-Journal. I also perform editing and proof reading for hire, i.e. Have Pen, Will Travel. I published a 2008 Day Planner, which included daily historical factoids. Which are reasonably accurate, moderately pithy and hopefully entertaining. Didn’t sell a lot of copies, but it was way fun to do. So, hey, I got that goin’ for me.
I air weekly film reviews for the Louisville Public Media on WFPK 91.9. Tuesday mornings around 8:00 or so. Tune in. For several years I provided daily cybergalactic film reviews and looks back at historical factoids and obscure but significant birthdays at emazing.com. (Which research I used for the Day Planner mentioned above. As if you couldn’t guess.)
Outside of college and professional life, I’ve also majored in B S. Whodathunkit? Among my favorite things are University of Louisville Cardinal sports (But you already knew that, right?), New Orleans JazzFest, “The In-Laws” (the original with Alan Arkin and Peter Falk), the village of Bourdeilles, France, Santana’s “Samba Pa Ti,” “Body Heat,” Impellizzeri’s Pizza, Gaudi’s Casa Battilo in Barcelona, my smokin’ hot new Subaru WRX (Call it a mid life crisis car if you must.), Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin On” (the best album ever recorded), the Mississippi Delta, Oregon Ducks football (Love those uniforms!) and the sweet love of my life, Joanie the Film Babe.
After a life of listening to music, I started taking piano lessons a few years back. I’m not very good, but it sure is empowering.
