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1.) Our oceans are acidifying — even if the nightly news hasn’t told you yet. As humanity continues to fill the atmosphere with harmful gases, the planet is becoming less hospitable to life as we know it. The vast oceans absorb much of the carbon dioxide we have produced, from the Industrial Revolution through the…
Following their muse: Xerxes drops their sophomore album
There are bands that crumble under the weight of their own imperative, whose constituency bristles at every perceived conspiracy to their vision, losing sight, of course, of that very vision that is lost when not shared. And then there is Xerxes. Despite a lineup change that at least superficially seems to have dramatically altered their…
Dreamland continues its adventurous jazz programming
Dreamland has developed a reputation for its bold programming, providing a home for musically inquisitive artists and audiences. On Thursday, Oct. 16, New York-based Tarana and hometown heroes D’Arkestra provide two differing styles of provocative music. Tarana has evolved over the years, always anchored by drummer Ravish Momin; the band now is a duo, with…
A Q&A with one-man folk force Shakey Graves
Known for his suitcase drum kit, raw and rootsy guitar playing, and the sort of energetic performances that have made him steadily become one of the most talked-about members of the neo-folk scene, Alejandro Rose-Garcia — better known by his moniker Shakey Graves — is a raucous one-man front-porch-style wrecking crew. He is also a…
Art Adams, Rockabilly Hall of Fame inductee, comes to Third Street Dive
Nearly 50 years after recording his first songs, Art Adams is finally reaping the rewards of his passion for rockabilly music. At one point, after leaving behind the music business to work and raise a family, he never imagined that there would be an underground market seeking out his recordings and clamoring for his return…
A Louisville love letter: 2014 Edition
The second edition of the Louisville Music Awards happened a couple weeks ago, and like the first time around, I was asked to host. It’s insane being in front of a room packed with that much talent. I still remember being the kid who would make a pilgrimage from Mt. Washington to the Highlands every…
The 23 String Band
Growing up on a steady diet of country and bluegrass seems part of the culture in Kentucky — at least it was certainly part of mine. While my tastes for country are very particular, there is something uniquely special to bluegrass, a genre that blends rootsy Americana with an almost jazz-like sensibility that allows for…
Plugged In (Oct. 15 – Oct. 21)
WED Oct 15th Brasserie Provence: Brian Curella Duo; 5 p.m. Clifton Center: Red Tail Ring, Maiden Radio; 7:30 p.m., $10 Diamond Pub (Concert Hall): Saving Abel, Gravel Switch; 7 p.m., $12-15 Diamond Pub (St. Matthews): Chad and Karsten; 10 p.m. Gary’s on Spring: Walker & Kays Al Fresco; 6 p.m. Gerstle’s: Kimmet & Doug Headliners…
Inbox – October 15, 2014
LEO Weekly welcomes letters that are brief (350 words max) and thoughtful. Ad hominem attacks will be ignored, and we need your name and a daytime phone number. Send snail mail to Inbox, 301 E. Main St., Suite 201, Louisville, KY 40202. Fax to 895-9779 or email to leo@leoweekly.com. We may edit for length, grammar…
Staffpicks
Wednesday, Oct. 15 Philippe de Montebello Kentucky Center 501 W. Main St., 584-7777 kentuckycenter.org $20 events before 8 p.m., $110 all events Philippe de Montebello is a museum director’s director, for no other reason than longevity (31 years at New York’s MoMA). His retirement in 2008 certainly didn’t stop his interest in culture; he’s in…
More reasons to ditch Mitch
With a straight face, Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell told KET’s statewide audience, “Secretary Grimes’ whole campaign has been designed to deceive people into thinking she’s someone she isn’t.” I had to laugh at the irony of the chameleon-aire seeking to soil his challenger with his own DNA during Monday night’s hourlong debate. It’s Mitch’s…
Why you should vote and why it may not matter
Voting time is here again. Dutifully, many of us will go to the polls and cast our ballots … and it may not matter. All my adult life, I have made the case that voting is an essential activity for any engaged citizen. I fervently argue that voting should never, ever be ignored in that…
Put down that Oreo
Having a baby does very peculiar things to a woman’s body. Joints become loose, flab appears in places where it seems impossible and aches show up at the most inopportune moments. You create and cherish an amazing little bundle of human, but your body hits the skids. Not that I was ever in perfect shape…
Everyone’s a little bit racist
So the only Grimes-McConnell Senate debate was last night, and the only thing more frustrating than watching that circus is attempting to concoct an interesting analysis worth reading. Here’s my analysis: It wasn’t for you. That statement is accurate for 90 percent of voters, which means even fewer KET viewers. Fewer than 10 percent of…
Video Tapeworm
This Week’s Twin Peeks SILENT WITNESS: SEASON 1 1996; $29.98-34.98; UR For our money, this long-running forensic cop show is the best on the tube. Amanda Burton, famous in Britain for her role as Commander Blake in the popular “The Commander” TV movies, is Dr. Sam Ryan, a pathologist teaching at Cambridge who assists the…
‘Ritual & Residue: The Art of Drink’
On my way to the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft to see “Ritual & Residue: The Art of Drink,” I heard “Raise Your Glass” by Pink on the radio. How fitting and perfectly timed — a rowdy song about the joys of communal drinking. It continued playing in my head, becoming the exhibition’s soundtrack…
‘The Last Five Years’
“The Last Five Years,” which premiered last week at Actors Theatre of Louisville as part of the Brown-Forman Series, is a breakup narrative with a twist. As a promotional blurb sums it up, the narratives move in opposite directions. The guy in this doomed relationship is a brilliant novelist named Jamie (Jed Resnick) who tells…
Revisiting the legendary slider
I remember my parents taking me to the drive-in movies when I was a kid, and stopping to get White Castle hamburgers to take with us. I didn’t like the onions, so I would get on my knees in the back seat, use the rear windowsill as a table, and scrape the onions off the…
The ordinary becomes extraordinary at Corbett’s
Who’s up for a steak dinner? A juicy, sizzling chunk of cow flesh, pink and rare, with all the trimmings? The “steak” part of this equation is fairly easy to fill. Start talking about “all the trimmings,” though, and things get complicated. Head for an executive-style steak house, and you can get a slab…
LEON: McConnell accuses Obamacare of sexually violating hospitals
During Monday’s Senate candidate debate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell leveled a new accusation against Obamacare. Citing reductions in Medicare reimbursements to hospitals, McConnell said, “Our hospitals are being rimracked by these Medicare reimbursement reductions.” It is unclear at this point where and when the alleged act took place. According to a dictionary definition, “rimrack” is…
LEON: McConnell ‘not a smoker’ but credits second-hand smoke for his position on tobacco
In the most extensive and wide-ranging media interview of his 30-year congressional career, U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell expanded on his recent comment to the Cincinnati Enquirer editorial board that he is “not a scientist,” and therefore cannot form an opinion about climate change. “I need to add that I also have no opinion on many…
