Cover Story
No way out
On May 17, 2008, Geoff Lawson married his college sweetheart. He promised to love Amy in sickness and in health; they traded rings and swore a lifetime of affection. The couple settled into a Louisville apartment for their own slice of Happily Ever After. But four months after the wedding — the night before Louisville’s…
Posse Comitatus
It’s been tumultuous, and, at times, it has felt like the oppressive weight of rancorous stupidity might finally squeeze what remains of our collective rationality and humanity into a sticky, lifeless puddle on the kitchen floor. At the very least, we can all take a sigh of relief and know that the uncertainty and frenzied…
Plugged In
Readers are strongly encouraged to call ahead to verify these listings. To get your club, comedian, musical act or karaoke listed, please send e-mail to mherron@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. Nov.…
Turf broad
Yes she will, and no you shouldn’t. Those aren’t song lyrics. It’s sage advice (maybe) to take to the track Saturday, when Zenyatta tries for her 20th victory in 20 starts in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (6:45 p.m., ABC). The race winds up the Breeders’ Cup’s 14-event racing spectacular Friday and Saturday at Churchill…
Black Tuesday
Two things will be different when Black Mountain returns to Headliners Tuesday as part of the Dropout Boogie tour: 1) There won’t be a blizzard, and 2) Black Mountain will be pushing a short, tighter album. Many independent rock bands don’t necessarily play rock music, so when its self-titled debut landed in 2005, Black Mountain’s…
Industry Standard: Insider info for those who dine out
“Why are Louisvillians so utterly opposed to waiting for a table?” A manager at an ultra-hot Louisville eatery recently posed this question on our local foodie forum, LouisvilleHotBytes.com. I love it when a column topic plops directly into my lap. The comments that followed were, well, illuminating to say the least. They ranged across a…
Onrushing Cloud
David Grubbs probably runs in terror anytime someone mentions that he was in Squirrel Bait; his songwriting sure as hell orbits far, far away from punk. Here he teams up with drummer Andrea Belfi (Rhys Chatham, Mike Watt) and Stefano Pilia, the guitarist of 3/4HadBeenEliminated known for his electro-acoustic work. As the title of the…
‘Kaleidoscope Heart’
Sara Bareilles’ kiss off to her record company “Love Song” on her breakthrough Little Voice had the opposite effect, launching the singer to prominence and putting her on the road for the next three years. After fighting inevitable burnout, she penned Kaleidoscope Heart, a record she admits was difficult to bring to life — like…
Art: Motel mystery
WHO IS VERONICA HAYDEN, AND WHY IS SHE ON THE RUN? WHY DID HER CREEP-TASTIC HUSBAND, VICTOR, SUDDENLY GO MISSING, SHORTLY BEFORE VERONICA VANISHED? WHAT’S UP WITH ALL OF THE EXTRA WALLS IN THE LOBBY AT 21C? AND, UM, WHY THE ALL CAPS? You never know what you’re going to find these days when you…
Staffpicks
Nov. 3-7 ‘Burn the Floor’ Kentucky Center 501 W. Main St. • 584-7777 $22.50-$66.50; various times It’s bullshit that Audrina Partridge (of “The Hills”) got booted off “Dancing with the Stars” before Sarah Palin Jr. The daughter of the crazy politician can’t dance and doesn’t even care to try — as long as she gets…
Red zones
For many national economists, the first indication of Main Street’s recovery came in September when existing home sales figures jumped 10 percent. Yet economic recovery eludes Louisville, where homeownership has been declining in the last decade. Figures from the Greater Louisville Association of Realtors show that sales of new homes fell 11 percent from August…
Film: ‘Howl’ gets facts straight; its poetry, not so much
Howl Starring Jon Hamm, James Franco, David Strathairn, Alan Alda and Jeff Daniels. Directed by Robert Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. UR; 1:30. Starts Friday at Village 8 Theatres. LEO Report Card: B For a poem that was an anthem for a generation of rebellion and a seed for future cultural outbursts like the hippies, even…
Double down in Germantown at Eiderdown and Danny Mac’s
Edelweiss, Edelweiss, Every morning you greet me … No, wait, dammit! Rewind! I meant “Eiderdown,” sorry. Edelweiss is an Alpine flower, small and white. Eiderdown is soft, warm down from the breast feathers of the female eider duck, which famously plucks down from her chest to line her nest and keep her eggs and infant…
Handsome Death
Handsome Death is the solo debut of Douglas Lucas, the Elizabethtown singer-songwriter who founded and toured with The North, whose song, “New Fixation” appeared on ESPN sports network in 2005. Recorded in Nashville with Wallflowers drummer Fred Eltringham, Lucas’ solo set is a slick, AAA-friendly presentation that harbors elements of alt-country, straightforward pop and youthful,…
Wingspan
Soprano and tenor saxophonist Michael Tracy and pianist Davide Logiri’s musical collaborations began four years ago while Tracy was teaching in London. On this collection of standards and new work, these kindred spirits rope in a cast of jazz all-stars in any town, much less Louisville: guitar wizard Craig Wagner, bassist Doug Elmore and drummer…
Inbox — Nov. 3, 2010
No Show In response to Pam Swisher’s, “Louisville wins best (gay) city” (LEO Weekly, Oct. 20): It is unacceptable that Jefferson County Public Schools failed to respond to the invitation to participate in the anti-bullying forum hosted by the Louisville Youth Group. Those in attendance were informed there was no JCPS representative present. Neither were…
The dehumanization of government
During the last four years, I have spent significant time with members of Congress. In fact, when Congress was in session, one member was my roommate in Washington. I can say without equivocation that average Americans run our government. Congress is not filled with elites (anyone who has watched C-SPAN knows what I mean). It…
Film: Ringmaster
“Circus,” a six-part documentary series that spends a year with the Big Apple Circus, debuts Wednesday night on PBS. The films profile a host of compelling characters, from a dangerously imbalanced stagehand to a once homeless, middle-aged clown about to make his circus debut. Jeff Dupre, an Emmy Award-winning producer and Louisville native, spoke with…
Video TapeWorm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS: ANTICHRIST 2009; $39.95, UR There has long been disagreement between gore-geeks regarding which is better: “high horror” or “low horror” (think “Suspiria” and “Friday the 13th” respectively). But all agree that this movie is beyond classification, a gruesome and wildly extravagant experiment from Lars von Trier (“Europa”) that perfectly captures the…
The Story of an Artist
Limited to 1,000 copies, this six-LP/CD box set compiles 131 cassette recordings made by freak folk and lo-fi music’s unlikely hero between 1980 and 1983 in West Virginia, before moving to Austin. What you hear is what you get. Daniel Johnston’s personal troubles and childlike lyricism peek through varying waterfalls of tape hiss. He’s developed…
Small Craft on a Milk Sea
For ambient wizard Brian Eno, the journey matters. He’s spent a career going to great lengths to push limits of sound and fashion altogether new ones, as if he’s constantly rewiring his brain and documenting what cerebral waves ricochet inside the gray matter. Sought by music’s richest barons (U2, their derivative Coldplay, and Talking Head…
Bar Belle: Gut wrenching
On any given night, bars across the city play host to throngs of patrons looking to unwind, swap gossip or spit, entertain and socialize. Pubs are the cornerstones of great neighborhoods — from Bud’s Tavern in Shively to Norm’s in Okolona to the Nachbar in Germantown. When I moved here 11 years ago, it was…
How to Live on Nothing
Writer and former guitarist and frontman of the gritty, ’90s heavy group Chokebore sheds any tag of aggression on his solo outing How To Live On Nothing. Balthazar has been refining his tactics for years on previous solo EPs primarily in Europe. In long form, shades of Andrew Bird — a similarity that might hit…
Sane in the membrane
WASHINGTON — The rally is over, and I nearly crash into her: a young woman in her early 20s, wearing a headband and feverishly hula-hooping on the National Mall like it’s Bonnaroo and Phish is farting out a four-hour guitar solo. The mood in this diverse crowd of 250,000 is very jam festival, particularly the…
