You're Entering a World of Pain

Getting to home base for Lebowski Fest was ridiculously easy. Just three minutes away from the airport, the Executive West hotel has hosted Lebowski Fest guests for the past three years, and is located adjacent to the Executive Bowl, where many of the weekend’s what-have-ya is held.
At the desk, Customer Service Supervisor Rene Sims presented me with a warm Kentucky smile and my official Lebowski-badge for the next three days -- a paper Richard Nixon mask, designed by graphic artist Billy Green , who also designs the annual Lebowski Fest posters and T-shirts. It’s an esoteric reference to the film, in which Jeff Lebowski, more commonly known as The Dude, lives in a sparse bachelor pad with one notable piece of festoonery, a photo of the ex-President pitching a bowling ball with that trademark grin on his face.
True, it’s a reference that few outsiders will understand, including the videographer I’m traveling with, who had a stricken look of ‘dear-God-why-am-I-here’ on his face. But for the thousands of fans either on their way to Louisville to pay homage to The Dude or already here, paper Nixon masks are just as acceptable as toast and jam.
 “We’ve definitely had some trippy times with these guys,” said Sims with a laugh, further piquing my interest in what is to come.
By ‘these guys,’ she meant the cult of Big Lebowski followers, most of which are expected to descend on Louisville tomorrow, but more specifically, she was referring to Will Russell and Scott Shuffitt, Lebowski Fest’s founders. The duo have headed-up the weekend-long festival for 5 years, staging the main event once a year in Kentucky (it’s their home town), and several ancillary fests, such as Lebowski Fest NYC and Lebowski Fest West, in L.A., where Big Lebowski star Jeff Bridges has been known to drop in. For now, it’s recuperating in the hotel room -- the Executive West is not bad, though its 1970s-era hallways have a little bit of a Brady vibe -- and reviewing the schedule of events, printed on the back of my Nixon mask.

tags: lebowskifest  

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