Bowling Green Based Houchen Industries' "Crossroads IGA" Now Open In Smiths Grove, Ky.

Shell fuel pumps in front of Crossroad IGA    I've always liked Bowling Green based Houchens Industires, Inc. http://www.houchensindustries.com/ and the story behind their incredible financial success through the years who now have their world-wide headquarters located down on Church Street in the old Fruit of the Loom building or "The Derby" as they used to call it around here.According to their website, Houchens have experienced...

Read More

Paul Stanley's "Face The Music, A Life Exposed" Grips Your Attention With A Stranglehold

     I wrote about the mega, super rock group, "Kiss,"  in an earlier blog of mine. It was about my first and only Kiss concert that I ever attended in December of 1978 at The Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tenn., when I was 16 years-old. http://acriticfromthesouth.blogspot.com/2011/01/all-way-to-see-kiss-at-mid-south.html  I went by myself because none of my other friends wanted to go with me.  I heard recently...

Read More

YouTube's "Southern Women Channel" Brings It Down Home With The "Sh%t Southern Women Say" Video Series

If you're looking for some good Southern fun and want to see some good looking, funny, smart Southern women, check out the "Southern Women Channel" on https://www.youtube.com/user/SouthernWomenChannel.YouTube.The first episode of the series has gone viral with over five millions views since it first came out only a couple of years ago. There have been four episodes made so far and a new one that just came out recently called, "The Dixie Download."...

Read More

Kiss' Paul Stanley Brings People Out Of The Woodwork From Bowling Green and Southcentral Kentucky At His Book Signing

When I first heard the news from D93 Rock DJ Tommy Starr on Facebook that Kiss' front-man Paul Stanley was coming to Bowling Green for a book signing of his new autobiography, "Paul Stanley: Face The Music, A Life Exposed," I was a little skeptical at first.  I don't think I quite believed it.  "The Paul Stanley from Kiss is coming to good ole little Bowling Green? No way!" I thought.  So I put it on the back burner on my mind because...

Read More

The New "Mariah's" Restaurant in Downtown Bowling Green, Ky., Is A Smash Hit!

     Downtown Bowling Green is changing and it's now the place to be these days.It's not the same place it used to be for years and years since I moved here in the late 80's. However, anybody who decides to go downtown nowadays can get a sense and feel of the "new vibe" as soon as you approached the new gigantic parking structure next to the Bowling Green "Hot Rods" minor league baseball ballpark.  I have been seeing the progress...

Read More

"What? Say That Again," We Said. "The Slippery Noodle Inn-Indiana's Oldest Bar," She Said.

     I was staying at the Crown Plaza Union Station Hotel in downtown Indianapolis for my company's annual meeting early last month.  After our meeting that afternoon, me and a couple of my co-workers ventured outside to explore the downtown area of Indianapolis.  One of the guys wanted to buy a pack a cigarettes.  So we walked over to this little liquor store located in the vicinity and after my co-worker made his purchased,...

Read More

Kiss and The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame and Museum-Let's Hope For A Peaceful Induction

Okay, who's ready for the Kiss-(Gene has not said much) Paul, Peter, Ace and Rock & Hall of Fame finger pointing and taking jabs at each other in the press to be over with? My God, I hope they don't get up there tomorrow night and slug it out. Hopefully, they will act like true gentlemen and be respectful to each other while being inducted. Keep your fingers crossed, Rock and Roll lovers. However, you should at least pay one visit to the Rock...

Read More

Please Join Me On Facebook And Kill Lots Of Time Like I Do

    Galen A. Smith Sr., and his wife, Patty You can now join my new Facebook page "A Critic From The South" at https://www.facebook.com/acriticfromthesouth   You'll get to read the latest news, inside information and some personal commentaries about my blog. Please check it out and "Like" new page! Than...

Read More

Find What You're Looking For At Cave City's "Lost & Forgotten Treasures"

     If you're in the market for a Case knife, a mattress set or primitives, then "Lost & Forgotten Treasures," located at 601 South Dixie Hwy in Cave City, Ky., just may be place for you.  Owner Mark Coats is a honest, fair and friendly man and he will make you a good deal on any mattress set that he has available and any other item in the store.  I've personally known Mark for a while and he has always treated me right...

Read More

BG's Sleeper Agent's "About Last Night" Finally Out Today On RCA Records

      I was never a band dad where I pushed my son to be a musician or be in a rock band.  I thought that when he finished his college degree at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green in 2010 that he would get a job somewhere as a graphic artist because that's what he studied.  However, Tony Smith of Bowling Green's sensational indie rock/pop band, Sleeper Agent, who just happens to be my son found his own career path...

Read More

The Devil Made Him Do It? Pastor Exposes Himself To 15 year-old Girl

     This recent particular Bowling Green (Ky) Daily News police story posted below reminds me of the time when I was a senior at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) in Oxford, Miss., in the Spring of 1987 and I was working at the JD Williams Library as a student worker in the Acquisitions Department for a locally known gay man. But I wasn't gay, I was married and I still am heterosexual and married after 28 years. However, I...

Read More

Sinkhole at The National Corvette Museum In Bowling Green, Ky., That Causes Floor To Collapse Becomes A Global News Phenomenal

     I am amazed how the story of a floor collapse underneath the Big Yellow Dome at Bowling Green's National Corvette Museum that swallowed eight Corvettes in Bowling Green early this morning has become world-wide news phenomenal.      The story has spread like wild fire thanks to social media and other news media outlets like cable television news and radio.  I have even posted and retweeted things about it on...

Read More

Krystal Restaurants Are Still Going Strong In The South Since "The Great Depression" In the 1930's

    I was visiting our local Krystal in Bowling Green recently and I noticed some literature about the history of their restaurant that they were handing out to their customers.    Immediately, when I started reading it, I thought back to my childhood days of growing up in East Memphis, Tenn.., and my first experience of eating at the Krystal located on Popular Avenue across from East High School in the 1960's.  It was probably...

Read More