City Strobe
Board will decide today whether to amend STAR programLast month’s meeting of the Metro Air Pollution Control Board wasn’t quite the snoozer that hyper-technical discussions of emissions policy tend to be. The People were allowed to offer thoughts on the second round of proposed amendments to the city’s flagship air quality control program, one of…
Connected Diss: Thunder air show sends the wrong signal
The thing I love most about Thunder Over Louisville is the annual opportunity it affords every man, woman, child and dog in the Metro to get a feel for what it must sound like to live in a country that has been invaded by the U.S. military. Don’t get me wrong, I love the fireworks…
Hose humpin’ and water dumpin’: LEO gets down and dirty with some Jefferson County firefighters
The writer’s helmet.: Photo by dave goldsmith To say it was hot would be an understatement. In fact, if Paris Hilton had been sitting next to me, she would have melted into a puddle of plastic and silicon long before uttering the words. We were experiencing firsthand what’s known as a flashover — an event…
God bless you, Mr. Vonnegut, And farewell
Kurt Vonnegut: Photo by Jason Yoder Truth always mattered to Kurt Vonnegut. “There’s only one rule I know of babies,†he wrote. “God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.†It was snowing the April morning that we heard Kurt Vonnegut died. Bits of snow blew through the open buds of our redbud tree like…
Rumor & Innuendo
Pigskin head games. Think football isn’t a mind game? Spotted at the U of L football complex: A garbage can covered with Cardinal heads and slogans such as, “1st in the 4th” and “Fast and Physical.” Cardinal football side note signifying nothing. Apparently Coach Kragthorpe met radio color commentator Craig Swabek for the first time…
‘Sort of Like Nowhere’
A new compilation from Noise Pollution Records documents Louisville’s first punk rock bands. Turns out, the label isn’t the only one on a nostalgia trip “The rock music scene in Louisville is like the nudist colony scene in Siberia — it’s inhabited only by fanatics.” —Chris Lee the Endtables: Photo by Bill Carner Albert Durig,…
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. Let…
Rodriguez schedules, Mofro sparks Thunder, Brother Ali gets revenge
Carrie Rodriguez Carrie Rodriguez, who’ll be at the Brown Theatre Tuesday, picks up the phone from Texas. The singer-fiddler is nearly out of breath from rushing around, and she’s musing aloud about whether her manager will ever put a break in the schedule. How many musicians would kill to have such problems? There are the…
First ‘Cut’ is deepest: Archie Borders’ film ‘Paper Cutâ
Archie Borders: Submitted photo Director Archie Borders, a former LEO film critic, on the set of “Paper Cut,†which was shot a few years ago and is now being released on DVD this summer. Erstwhile LEO film reviewer and upstart filmmaker Archie Borders left the old downtown offices eight or so years ago to concentrate…
Building on rich history, Farrar turns to the experimental
Son Volt: Photo by Josh Cheuse Son Volt comes to Headliners Music Hall on Friday April 20. Jay Farrar is as dependable as death and taxes. His voice, found on scores of Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt records plus his own solo work, is so distinct that even if you didn’t know the words, you…
Mono fills in the space between the notes
Mono: Photo by Drew Goren Mono comes to Headliners Music Hall on Wednesday April 18. Since forming in 2000, the Japanese band Mono has played in Louisville many times and has built a large, devoted audience here. The members travel constantly and have a close connection with their fans, a tough accomplishment since they operate…
Maestro Smith returns to deliver Mahler in a big way
Lawrence Leighton Smith: Submitted Photo Former Louisville Orchestra conductor Lawrence Leighton Smith returns for two special performances There’s more to Mahler than meets the ear. At least that’s what they say today.A century ago, Gustav Mahler stood as one of the world’s most famous conductors — with what many considered to be a side interest…
Staffpicks
<rat race> Thursday, April 19 Run for the Rodents Spalding University’s annual “Run for the Rodents” has been one of the early signs of Derby season since its inception in 1973, when Sister Julia Clare Fontaine conceived of it to alleviate anxiety for her science students during finals. This year’s theme is “Keep Spalding Weird,”…
The Oakroom foams, and your mouth is the big winner
Culinary foam: Photo by Robin Garr Culinary foam has been trendy for decades in the upper reaches of dining-as-theater, and lately the chefs at the Seelbach’s Oakroom are making their own “marks†with the technique. It’s probably good to not think too much about the vi “Culinary foam” — trendy for decades in the upper…
Mug Shots: Simple times called for Phoenix Kommon
Thunder Over Louisville, our annual celebration of steroidal fireworks, pirouetting jet aircraft and impossibly loud over-indulgence, is the sort of exuberant exercise at which Americans typically excel. Thunder’s popularity seems perfectly fitting given our proclivity for hyperbole, which in terms of ubiquitous marketing-driven culture, always must be expressed in escalating, superlative terms: bigger, better,…
Video TapeWorm: Releases through Tuesday, April 24
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS: THE ODD COUPLE: SEASON ONE 2006; DVD $42.95, UR A bit of phosphor-dot history with the exquisite team of Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, led by some of the best writers ever to grace The Tube, in a four-disc set from back in the day when “a TV season” lasted six…
Pandora production explores ‘the change’ with sensitivity
“Looking for Normalâ€: Submitted Photo The cast of “Looking for Normal†— standing (from l-r): Betty Zielinski, Trina Fischer and Fred Fischer. Seated (from l-r): Mike Slaton, Georgette Kleier, Bob Zielinski and Anna Francis. Gender reassignment at any age presents major challenges. When a person chooses to go forward with the surgery late in life,…
Aftertastes
Gumbo A Go-Go, 2109 Frankfort Ave., 896-4046, www.gumboagogo.com. This home-style Cajun eatery in Clifton has become a neighborhood mainstay and is slowly building its hearty, good and affordable fare. The new Voodoo Chicken — an offshoot of the popular Drunken Chicken — significantly ramps up the fiery Cajun spice. (Reviewed: 1/31; Rating: 85) Schuler’s Family…
Community Listings
Special Events Dream Factory — to hold volunteer recruitment fair, the group fulfills the dreams of critically and chronically ill children, April 18, 5pm, University Club, 2001 S. Brook St., 561-3001. ••Yearlings Club — hosts, in conjunction with UofL, 4th annual Black Faculty and Staff reception, April 19, 6pm, 4309 W Broadway, 852-3042. Filson’s Day…
Arts & Entertainment Listings
Derby Run for the Rodents — 35th annual race presented by Spalding University students, featuring parade, April 19, 11:15am, Ballroom, 824 S. Fourth St., 585-9911. Hats-A-Plenty — 22nd Annual Derby Fever Event, sponsored by the Friends of the Shawnee Library, April 19, 11:30am, Shawnee Golf Course Clubhouse, 460 Northwestern Pkwy., 574-1722. ••Hats & Hypnotiq Party…
