Cover Story
Torn
Chandra Kharel opens her eyes to familiar bamboo walls and swings her feet onto the compact mud floor, as smooth as marble. It’s been 17 years since her family was forced to surrender to an indefinite exile and a meager existence. But today — Dec. 4, 2008 — could lead to the end. Kharel is…
Historic plea
With the sun glaring overhead, a three-story, beige brick building provides shade to a scant crowd in place for a press conference. It will be the roughly 120-year-old structure’s last use. With a lattice of chain link at its base and a bright yellow “NOTICE OF INTENT TO DEMOLISH” sign hanging above the front doors,…
The bully pulpit
After months of firing shots via press releases and sound bites, Steve Beshear and David Williams finally did so looking eye to eye. Kentucky Farm Bureau (KFB) held a gubernatorial candidate forum last week at their Louisville headquarters, a private affair where 32 board members quizzed the two men on a range of policy issues.…
Classic and tormented
The two horse heads flanking actor Roger Fristoe’s mantle are as far in appearance as they could be from the majestic, warm-blooded Thoroughbreds whose images populate Kentucky’s cultural landscape. The cold, severe metallic cages fit over an actor’s head and shoulders to create — along with oversized, physically treacherous aluminum hooves — a larger-than-life nightmare…
PUBLIC NOISE PRIVATE NOISE
Maybe tomorrow, a new romance, no more sorrow, but that’s the chance you gotta take if your lonely heart breaks. —Roy Orbison, “Only the Lonely” Songs help us process moments of importance, celebrating our collective experience and aspirations. We ask music to provide a living soundtrack: a good beat to dance to, stentorian marches to…
B-sides
In Progress: Recording with Ben Sollee Ben Sollee and I met at a pizza place in Louisville one night. I was doing cover songs to make some extra cash, and he was with his wife and son. We chatted for a bit, later realizing we had a handful of close mutual friends. From there, a…
Taste Bud
One of my favorite sayings is that the only thing better than chicken wings are free chicken wings. Since everyone knows there is no such thing as a free lunch, I try to set my sights on more reasonable and attainable goals. Like really cheap wings. Enter Mulligan’s Pub. This cozy place occupies the building…
What’s in a name?
Fans of Lifetime’s fashion reality competition show “Project Runway” were so convinced that season 9 contestant — and Madison, Ind. native — Gunnar Deatherage had a made-up name that the designer was compelled to post his birth certificate on Facebook. “I had to pull an Obama out of the bag,” said the edgy and elegant…
Inbox — July 27, 2011
Local Bread Regarding Joe Manning’s June 29 column: Let me begin by saying that I shop “local” fairly often and probably for many of the same reasons that Manning does. I rarely buy music online (even when it would be cost effective to do so), preferring to give my love (and money) as often as…
Video Tapeworm
THE HERCULOIDS: THE COMPLETE SERIES 1968; $39.95, UR The narrator intones, “Somewhere out in space live … ‘The Herculoids’! Zok, the laser-ray dragon! Igoo, the giant rock ape! Tundro, the tremendous! Gloop and Gleep, the formless, fearless wonders! With Zandor, their leader, and his wife, Tara, and son, Dorno, they team up to protect their…
Locavore lore
There are few things in life I’m as passionate about as cilantro. I love cilantro. A friend once told me he hopes I walk down the aisle one day with a bunch of cilantro. Another had a custom silver bracelet of a cilantro leaf made for my birthday. I may be more extreme than most…
Come Back Son
We’re told that it’s not polite to discuss religion in mixed company, but when a band in question’s liner notes state, “Jubalson exists because Jesus created music,” it’s silly to avoid the bearded, flowing robes-wearing inspiration in the room. We’re here to discuss the ideas and merits of music, so let’s not be afraid, and…
Middle of Everywhere
Hear that upright bass a-thumpin’? Washboard raspin’? Guitar strings pluckin’ in ragged time? Must mean a new album from Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three. Though similar to their 2010 release, Riverboat Soul, Middle of Everywhere (produced by Pokey) has a breezier sound, though it’s still steeped in tradition. Somehow it doesn’t grab my…
Death trumps debt
The following was written by Amy Boston Hurst about Doug Norman, a beloved local musician who died on June 30 at the age of 48. It is a poignant tribute and a frightening indictment of our health care system: Last night, I was trying to figure out how to help a friend go to a…
Postcards from the ledge
I’m sitting in the kitchenette of a Great Northern Railroad caboose-car-come-hotel room in Essex, Mont. Within arms reach are two framed color photographs of wolves and one of a bald eagle, the spirit animal of the United States of America (by the by, Ben Franklin voted for the turkey.) My lady and I are indulging…
Staffpicks
Through Aug. 13 ‘Face Time: Examining Authority’ Cressman Center for Visual Arts 100 E. Main St. • 852-0288 www.louisville.edu/art $15 (members), $25 (non); 7 p.m. In times long past, only the most powerful had pictures of themselves — only they could afford to commission a portrait. Now, in a nation where most people have endless…
The Incredible Honk
The familiar swonky trombone you hear consistently throughout jazz veteran Roswell Rudd’s new album has ventured far outside the studio. Rudd injects his instrument’s voice into cultures that don’t often see a trombone. A collective of diverse musicians and vocalists accompanied him on these travels, utilizing West African chants and traditional Western instruments. Rudd says…
Plugged In
Readers are strongly encouraged to call ahead to verify these listings. To get your musical act, comedian, open mic or karaoke listed, send e-mail to pberkowitz@leoweekly.com with PLUGGED IN in the subject line. The deadline is NOON THURSDAY the week before the show happens. We do not accept listings via social networking sites. WED JUL…
Girlyman fights against huge obstacles
Atlanta’s Girlyman is a multi-ethnic/gendered-bending band who perform, in their words, “leading edge three-part harmony folk-pop.” The quartet have fought through serious challenges over the past decade, including the dissolution of inter-band romantic relationships and last year’s diagnosis of singer/guitarist Doris Muramatsu’s leukemia. Having released five albums to date, the band is between releases, but…
Home, the Road, Family, and Friends
The name scared me. Who knows what to expect from a group who would choose “The American Freedom Machine” as their handle? The Harley-Davidson tagline lends itself to every “Easy Rider” cliché available, and at first listen, it’s impossible to gauge the level of sincerity from the players of this indie-country ensemble. Things start roughly,…
Are we doomed?
Chugging across the country in an SUV would seem anathema to most environmentalists, but this American-as-apple-pie pastime is exactly what sets the film “Yert” (Your Environmental Road Trip) apart from others in the eco-doc category. Louisvillians Julie and Ben Evans, along with producing partner Mark Dixon, spent one year crisscrossing the United States in search…
Show me the money: Market flux could leave Museum Plaza developers flustered, but it’s too soon to tell
If you’re new to town, you probably have no memory of the Kingfish restaurant on River Road near Sixth Street. If things had gone as planned, the site would now be awash with a fancy corkscrew high-rise, the corporate headquarters of the healthcare company Vencor. But you know how those things go. Vencor ran…
