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. Keep…
How green is the city’s fleet?
The trend toward green fleets is strong in American cities big and small. How does Louisville measure up? We can blame Lexington for a new pressure to get Louisville’s vehicle fleet on the right side of climate meltdown. Metro Government: just bought nine Ford Escape hybrids. This one just got its ‘wings’ — the fleur-de-lis…
Bluegrass Politics: Lessons from Alaska
A year ago in Alaska, the unthinkable happened: unpopular first-term Gov. Frank Murkowski (R) finished third in a three-way Republican primary, ending his re-election hopes. Throughout the campaign, the main argument of Murkowski’s opponents was that he could not win a fall race against the Democratic nominee. (In fact, the Republican nominee, Sarah Palin, won…
McKibben’s America
Bill McKibben is a writer, environmentalist and advocate for the human race against increasingly ominous (and self-imposed) odds. His way forward means getting local Bill McKibben will be in Louisville next week to discuss his latest book, “Deep Economy.†“The modern radio industry is utterly focused on you. It’s entirely set up around the idea…
City Strobe
Henry, Trouble still close personal friendsDemocratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Henry is no stranger to controversy. The former lieutenant governor to sex-scandal-plagued Paul Patton had to pay the federal government $162,000 in 2003 to settle a lawsuit claiming he’d fraudulently billed the government for Medicare and Medicaid payments while working at the University of Louisville. Now…
The case for idealism and 8664
Stanley Collyer The recent LEO interview with Mayor Abramson (Jan. 3) aptly illustrates how old habits are hard to break. He defends the new construction of Spaghetti Junction versus the 8664 solution based on some faulty premises. 1) Indiana does not wish to expand I-265 to three lanes.It is only logical to assume that the…
Rumor & Innuendo: The Electric Cardinal-Colored Snow-Flake Wauwatosa Missile Launch.
Like Lazarus before them, U of L’s improbable, unforeseeable resurrection continued last Saturday night. Nothing helps the faithful sleep better than dreams of smarmy Tom Crean, the smirk wiped from his face, stewing in his own bile. Card fans leapt joyously from their barcoloungers when Jerry Smith powerchorded string music, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A dance card…
This I Believe by Ellen Birkett Morris
Telling my own storyMy beliefs are inexorably tied to my circumstances. I was born three months early and weighed under three pounds. A mild case of cerebral palsy left me unable to walk until surgery at age five corrected the problem, but left me with a slight limp. As the last person picked for dodgeball,…
‘I Am My Own Wife’ an exercise in solipsism
Roger Fristoe portrays 34 characters in The Drama Studio’s “I Am My Own Wife.†Andy Warhol called his Sony tape recorder his “wife.” But what wisdom did his incessant recordings bring? He rarely listened to them, and most remain untranscribed, gathering dust in his museum archives. In “I Am My Own Wife,” Doug Wright’s Sony…
‘Frozen’ makes a slow thaw engaging
The three faces of “Frozen†— Jennifer Shank, Elaine Hackett and Joe Hatfield. It’s fascinating how the macabre mesmerizes the human mind, and how quickly the entertainment industry works to feed that intrigue. A new thriller TV series, book or movie seemingly crops up overnight. “Frozen,” written by Bryony Lavery, takes a less sensational, more…
Cuban, Russian, Ray connections mark Jazz Week
David “Fathead†Newman The Russians are coming. So is a Fathead, and a Cuban.University of Louisville’s Jazz Week is combining Latin and far-eastern musicians for not only its music students but for the general public, when it kicks off today and runs through Sunday.Legendary saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman, who is best known for his years…
How a Louisville architect helped Greyhound get up to speed
Easy and reasonably priced travel is a relatively new phenomenon. It used to be most people did not consider voyaging far beyond their own locality. Bus travel, especially Greyhound, changed that. In the midst of the Great Depression of the 1930s, Greyhound adopted the look of aerodynamic “speed” (in the style called Streamline Moderne) for…
Staffpicks
Staffpicks Thursday, Feb. 22 Vincent Harding lecture Bellarmine University’s Thomas Merton Center welcomes Vincent Harding to speak Thursday evening. Harding was an associate of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the first director of the Memorial Center named after the civil rights icon. He is currently a professor emeritus of Religion and Social…
Aftertastes
Liang’s Café, 3571 Springhurst Blvd., 425-0188. One of the city’s newest top Chinese spots, Liang’s is owned by Roland Wong, who for many years ran the front of the house at Emperor of China. A dozen regional North China dishes are integrated into the regular menu as “House Specialties,” which are listed on the menu…
Train keeps a-rollin’, Heumann does improv and Ryan gets personal
Dennis Sheridan first assembled the local group Follow the Train without imagining a full-time, unilaterally charging outfit. And, as the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. Last year, just a few months after the band’s Darla release A Breath of Sigh came out to fine notices, members started peeling away. Eventually, the…
Mountain of sound: Catching up with metal masters Mastodon
Grammy-nominated Mastodon takes on Headliners tonight. September 2006: Mastodon releases its third full-length album and major-label debut Blood Mountain. I selflessly volunteer to review it in this very newspaper, because, as faithful readers know, I am the closest thing LEO has to a metal dude, so I feel duty-bound to offer my critical assessments of…
Hot, hotter, hottest
A man like me who eats and drinks for a living really needs to be serious about exercise, and I’m not talking about namby-pamby exercises like golf or light jogging, where you barely break a sweat. No, to survive in the professional dining game, you need to work out until you’re breathing hard, dripping sweat,…
Arts & Entertainment Listings
Arts & Entertainment Special Events Blue Apple Players — annual benefit “Louisville Salutes Blue Apple on Broadway” skits and songs preformed by community leaders and local celebrities, Feb. 24, 7pm, $75, Brown Theatre, 315 W. Broadway, 587-7990. ••Aegis — presents Biennial Symposium on Art History & Culture, Feb. 24, 9:30 breakfast, 10am-5pm, 5pm gallery reception,…
Community Listings
Community Listings Special Events Special Olympics Bowling Night — a welcome-home party for Special Olympics bowler Robby Elzy, featuring $1 fish sandwiches, $1 cheese pizza, Feb. 21, 5:30-8pm, The Vernon, 1575 Story Ave., 584-8460. ••Bridal Experience — hosted by Brown Hotel, featuring cocktails, food tastings & bridal vendors, free/brides, $15/guests, Feb. 22, 5:30-8:30pm, Fourth &…
Video Tapeworm: Releases through Tuesday, Feb. 27
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS RONNIE BARKER: FUTTOCK’S END 1969; DVD $14.95, UR Forgive us this minor indulgence: We are hopeless fans of British “sound effect” comedies; probably the lowest form of humor ever invented. And this one, from half of PBS’ “The Two Ronnies,” is a terribly funny affair in the best Benny Hill mold.…
Mug Shots: Bulk up better beer lists
Of all the inexplicably deleterious burdens inflicted on beer by the multinational corporations that specialize in its degradation (they refer to the pillage as “marketing”), the very worst is relentlessly cheapening the conceptual essence of beer to sell more of it. Conversely, America’s wine industry learned long ago to tolerate Boone’s Farm while aggressively…
CD Review – The Bombay Connection
Perhaps the finest cure for seasonal ennui are collections of vintage music from hip Indian movies. I realize that the mix of twangy spy-movie guitars, Diddley drum beats and indigenous percussion and woodwinds is an acquired taste. It behooves one, however, to suppress any misgivings and immerse oneself wholesale into the proceedings. Of the first…
