A bridge to bike-friendly
How Chips Cronen, the cyclist who died on the Second Street Bridge earlier this month, will help change the way you think about road riding — for the better Flowers placed: Photo by Ben Schneider Flowers placed near where cyclist George “Chips” Cronen was killed on the Second Street Bridge earlier this month had begun…
City Strobe
Is there a second way to fund the Library plan?If you pay more than middling attention to the news of the day in Louisville Metro, you know there is an effort afoot to pump serious funding to the Louisville Free Public Library system. The Metro Council, whose role in this initiative is now purely administrative,…
Rumor & Innuendo
Chaos in the zebra pen. OK, refs at the next level don’t wear stripes anymore. But you know what I’m talkin’ ’bout. NBA. FBI. Tim Donaghy. Bettin’ on ball games. David Stern’s nightmare. Privately, pro ballers have been complaining more vehemently by the season about how unfair officiating has been, how it changes the outcome…
Welp”s Louisville: The neurotic gardener vs. the whitefly
Like many people who eat, my wife Mary and I enjoy growing some of our own food. Not only does it provide victuals for our family, but it also supplies comic entertainment for the neighborhood’s woodland creatures, who enjoy kidnapping our vegetables and leaving hostage demands spelled out in acorns by the compost. Our garden…
Guest Commentary: In the rural poverty fight, showing up is a first step
by Dee DavisThis commentary aired on National Public Radio on July 17, the day before Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards visited rural Kentucky as part of an eight-state tour focusing on poverty. My corner of rural America is the Kentucky coalfields. When Bobby Kennedy came in ’68, I was a high school Republican, but rushed…
Message to the People: Defying the odds, even at 40
I turned 40 a few weeks ago. If I listened to the small-minded folk who think even turning 30 is a death-knell, I’d go jump off a tall building somewhere. As for me, I’m not tired, worried or done. I’m just getting started!My 40th birthday fell on Friday, July 13th. How appropriate. I’ve spent much…
WITH ITS DELIBERATE STRUCTURE, SOUND CHANGES OUR BIOLOGY
Music has become so diverse through centuries of development that it’s difficult to explain in simple terms exactly what it is. Styles as seemingly unassociated as baroque, chant, soul, klezmer, soundscapes, death metal and mbaquanga all qualify as music. So while there are many elements that differentiate music from other noises, the primary one is…
HERE COME THE COMETS: After 12 years, VHS or Beta revels on the edge of dance and rock
BY ADAM DAY VHS or Beta: Photo by Piper Ferguson With Bring on the Comets, VHS or Beta -— from left, Mark Palgy, Chea Beckley, Mark Guidry and Craig Pfunder (not pictured, Mike McGill) -— have shucked their limitations. In a recent interview with Pitchforkmedia.com, TV On the Radio’s Dave Sitek hit on the primal…
Music Issue 2007: That sound you hear is innovation (pt 5)
Your Black Star JEREMY JOHNSONSinger, guitarist: Your Black StarYou’re a devout Cubs fan. Why?I was actually born into it, as I would imagine most Cubs fans are. My whole family is from the North Side (of Chicago), and it’s just a fact of life I suppose … I try to get to Wrigley at least…
Music Issue 2007: That sound you hear is innovation (pt 4)
MATT BREENSinger: EmanuelAhem: Matt Breen Straight outta western Ky.: Kentucky Prophet.: Photo by Dana Kingsbury Do we know you? The 22-year-old has been singing/screaming his lungs out for Emanuel for almost 10 years.Road warriors: You’ve gotta respect the band’s work ethic. The eight-month break that Emanuel took to write Black Earth Tiger (the follow-up to…
Music Issue 2007: That sound you hear is innovation (pt 3)
SARAH TEEPLESinger: The LadybirdsWhen did you start singing? Sarah Teeple: Photo by James Gammons Sarah Teeple of The LadyBirds says rock could use a little less self-indulgent whining, and a lot more F-U-N. I’ve been singing ever since I was a really young: a little dancing, babbling toddler, all ready to entertain my family and…
Music Issue 2007: That sound you hear is innovation (pt 2)
WAX FANG Wax Fang “You can go ahead and just omit all the logical answers,” Wax Fang drummer Kevin Ratterman says as he, guitarist Scott Carney and bassist Jake Heustis crack up over a string of jokes and well-timed tomfoolery in the kitchen of their rehearsal space/studio. They’re neck deep in the recording of their…
Music Issue 2007: That sound you hear is innovation
My very first show was at Tewligan’s Tavern, probably spring of 1991 or 1992. Four bands played: Bush League, Indignant Few, Sunspring and Cinderblock. I knew nothing about punk rock or local music. I went because my friends did. I don’t like walking into a situation without some sort of clue, some context, some shred…
Erosia
LEO welcomes letters that are brief (250 words max) and thoughtful. Ad hominem attacks will be ignored, and we need your name and a daytime phone number. Send snail mail to EROSIA, 640 S. Fourth St., Louisville, Ky. 40202. Fax to 895-9779 or e-mail to leo@leoweekly.com. We may edit for length, grammar and clarity. Hold…
Film Review: Hairspray
Even if you’re not a John Waters fan — and why wouldn’t you be? — I can’t recommend the new “Hairspray” enough. It should be required viewing in American schools for its ability to entertain while educating about the importance of vigilance for our civil rights. (“Schoolhouse Rock” never really cut it for me.) Waters…
Film Review: I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry
What a great weekend. My significant other and I headed to Canada to make things legal, and on the way home we got to see the new Adam Sandler flick!* “Good gosh,” Nick said after we’d seen it, “Sandler has jumped a dozen sharks!” Nick can be cute like that. He’s a very…
Staffpicks
Wednesday, July 25The Avett Brothers The latest installment of Waterfront Wednesday brings three familiar acts: The Avett Brothers, who bend traditional bluegrass, folk and pop to their will and reform it into their own catchy concoction; Willy Mason, who, having been raised by his folk singer father and mother, was predestined to be a musician;…
Video TapeWorm: Releases through Tuesday, July 31
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH1957; DVD $24.95, URA two-disc 50th Anniversary Edition of stop-motion master Ray Harryhausen’s most original and underrated creations. A spaceship returns from Venus, crashing off the Italian coast (for no other reason than Ray wanted to visit Italy), disgorging a jelly-like egg. The egg hatches into an “Ymir”…
“Beyond Therapy” helps Bunbury christen new home But production needs more sessions
Bunbury: photo by Craig Schneider Actors (from l-r) Rita Hight, Todd Haley, Matt Orme, Robert McFarland and Katherine Mapother rehearse a scene just before the opening performance of “Beyond Therapy.” Homelessness is a pretty standard tale of many small theater companies. Few even dare to dream they can find and then actually afford a home…
Who”s yer daddy?
Big Oil: Castmembers (l-r) Shaun Kenney, Leah Roberts, Tad Chitwood, Erin Crites and Ben Owens bring Finnigan Productions’ controversial “My Daddy’s Name is Big Oil” to life on the Actors Theatre stage. Brian Walker, the Louisville playwright and founder of Finnigan Productions, is hell-bent on provoking audiences with socially relevant works. His last work, “Great…
Asian adventures, New Albany style
The Onion: Photo by Nicole Pullen The Onion Restaurant and Tea House has built quite a following since it opened in New Albany a few years back. First-timers should come prepared to do some reading; the regular and special menus are extensive and include Japanese, It’s been a great pleasure, in recent years, to see…
Mug Shots: Rushing a Czech growler, 1989
It was the summer of 1989, and our exact whereabouts in the verdant Bohemian countryside to the southeast of Prague were unknown to me, but it was a lazy, sunny, aimless afternoon — and I was on protracted holiday.My hosts, the aunt and uncle of a dear friend back home, were puttering around their weekend…
Aftertastes
FRANKFORT AVENUE BEER DEPOT & SMOKEHOUSE, 3204 Frankfort Ave., 895-3223. Not only are the ribs here possibly the best I’ve tasted yet, but even the side dishes bespeak the presence of a very serious cook. Gentle smoke flavor and a complex, spicy dry rub came together to complement the toothsome rib meat. (Reviewed 5/30; Rating:…
