FROM THE EDITOR
Bob Rouse
Editor
101 Prosperous Place, Suite 350
Lexington, KY 40509 USA
+1.859.264.6548
[email protected]
YOU’RE NO DOUBT FAMILIAR with “Tighten Up,” the No. 1 hit
song from 1968 by Archie Bell & the Drells. Or maybe you’re
not familiar. It’s possible you weren’t alive in 1968. Heck, it’s
possible your parents weren’t alive in 1968. So I’ll catch you up.
“Tighten Up” is an early funk tune that begins with Archie,
in spoken words, introducing himself and the band, stating
they’re from Houston, Texas. Then he gives a brief, self-con-
fident assessment of the group: “We don’t only sing, but we
dance just as good as we want.”*
Archie then says they invented a new dance named—wait
for it—the Tighten Up, and the rest of the song is the music
they “tighten up with.”
We dance just as good as we want. I’ve always liked that line.
It speaks of talent held in check only by the prudence of Mr.
Bell and his associates. I’d like to think we all have limitless
talent in some area, and we regulate the amount of expertise
deployed at any given time.
Here in the Courier office, we might say, “We don’t only
write, but we edit just as good as we want.” And that’s true.
Any good editor has to be judicious with the red ink; too much
criticism can demoralize a writer. (Remember that.)
What about you? What talent do you possess in spades? (An
example: “I don’t only drive, but I parallel park just as good as
I want.”)
Go ahead and fill in the blanks: “I don’t only _____, but I _____
just as good as I want.” And then tweet it to us, @NTAnews,
with the hashtag #ArchieBell. (Or if you don’t use Twitter just
as good as you want, email me: [email protected].)
It’s time to tighten up this letter. The July issue has home-
state hooks for me. Gabe Webb shares his experiences in
Louisville in this month’s City Spotlight, starting on page
29. And my roundup of South Central states (pages 34–37)
includes a peek at Bardstown, Kentucky. Both stories mention
bourbon. We can’t help it.
On pages 24–26, Gabe also gives us a preview to San Antonio,
our host city for Travel Exchange this coming December.
Pat Henderson covers his beloved Pacific Northwest on
pages 38–41. And our newest regular contributor, Kendall
Fletcher, gives a heartfelt shout-out to the city of Detroit fol-
lowing her Tourism Cares project work there (page 19).
More singing and dancing: Bob Hofmann of Broadway
Inbound gives us a front-row seat to the trends that are shap-
ing group experiences at New York City theaters.
There’s more in these pages, of course, but I don’t want to
give away the entire plot. Courier not only informs, you know,
but it surprises just as good as it wants.
Read on,
July Courier Destination Index
Alaska 50 San Antonio 24–26
British Columbia 38 South Carolina 23
Germany 42 South Dakota 51
India 43 Switzerland 42
Kentucky 29–32, 36 Tennessee 34–35
Malta 22 Vermont 50
Michigan 23 Washington 39
The Netherlands 22 West Virginia 37
New Jersey 51 Wisconsin 23
Oregon 40–41
4
July 2017
On the cover:
Visitors to Switzerland can
enjoy the scenery from trails
and rails. For more about
Swiss tours, turn to page 42.
Photo: swiss-image.ch/
Matthias Pfammatter
* This line has often been misunderstood to be “… we dance just as good
as we walk.” But Archie Bell himself set the, um, record straight: “We
dance just as good as we want. Hell, we dance a lot better than we walk.”