Cover Stories
The green zeitgeist radar
Although Louisville’s tap water has been dubbed “Best Tasting” by the American Waterworks Association, that refreshing, metallic tang you detect every time you take a good swig of Ohio River aqua has earned our fair city a new distinction: We are now among 25 American cities whose tap water contains unsafe levels of carcinogenic hexavalent…
Green giants
Ellen McGeeney is a partner at Grasshoppers Distribution, a local-food distributor seeking to bridge the gap between supermarkets and community supported agriculture, or CSAs. Last year alone, Grasshoppers paid $350,000 to local farmers. Prior to putting her love of local food to work at Grasshoppers last July, she was a stay-at-home mom, and before that,…
Nature and the bottom line
Charles Darwin was a consummate scientist, meticulous and rigorous. He spent nearly 20 years sifting his research, honing his analysis and polishing his prose before publishing his groundbreaking work, “On the Origin of Species,” in November 1859. Darwin’s slim volume was what we would call a “game-changer”; a revolutionary work that fundamentally altered the way…
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 pberkowitz@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 APR…
Road warriors Low take control
The Minnesota-based trio Low, coming to Headliners on Friday, is enjoying some of their best reviews ever with their newest album. The simplicity of the disc’s title, C’mon, is in keeping with a band that is vaunted for its less-is-more approach. Husband and wife Alan Sparhawk (guitar) and Mimi Parker (percussion) generate a rich listening…
Video TapeWorm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS: BOB DYLAN: DON’T LOOK BACK 1967; $39.95, PG The legendary, groundbreaking film odyssey of Bob Dylan’s English tour in the spring of 1965, now in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. An amazingly intimate film of a man notorious for his guarded nature, and a fly-on-the-wall view of an artist at the peak…
Save the date!
Here’s another bumper sticker I never got around to making: When the rapture comes, can I drive your Chevy Suburban? It’s too bad I never printed them up. I probably could have made enough money to build that fallout shelter and stock it with beer, a solar-powered deep-freezer, and a couple of steaks. Yes, folks,…
Cornel West ‘worries about’ Al Sharpton. Should you?
As I prepare to leave the University of Louisville until 2012, I’m finishing up one of the most enjoyable instructional years I’ve had in recent memory. This semester, I’ve been lucky enough to have a great group of students and a good combination of class offerings (Black Political Thought and The Obama Phenomenon). Political Thought…
The Taste Bud: For the love of beans
My grandparents met young in the hills of Kentucky — Green County, to be exact — during the Great Depression. My late grandfather used to joke that he met my grandmother while waiting for the relief truck to bring much-needed provisions to the people of Green County. “I liked her best,” he always said of…
Some Days Are Better Than Others Soundtrack
Eluvium mastermind Matthew Cooper dials his signature sound way down on this film score, which is saying something, since Cooper wasn’t exactly known for heavy dynamics to begin with. Here, he downshifts his compositional M.O. from “subtle” to “barely perceptible,” crafting an effective soundtrack that demands attentive listening — even on songs that aren’t “songs”…
Staffpicks
Thursday, April 21 Mint Julep Contest O’Shea’s Irish Pub 956 Baxter Ave. Free; 5-7 p.m. It’s spring, and mint is in the air. We can officially order mint juleps without eye-rolls from bartenders or strange looks from out-of-towners. Besides the manhattan, the mint julep is my favorite drink, which is why I’m honored to be…
In and Out of Youth and Lightness
Louisville’s Young Widows summon a pummeling — if not particularly tuneful — menace on their third full-length. Most of the album’s nine tracks follow a similar sonic blueprint — grimy guitars smeared across lumbering rhythms, vocals intoned through what sounds like clenched teeth. In other words, the band aims for a specific mood — in…
Uh Huh Her worth a road trip to Newport
Consider Uh Huh Her the Joan Jett of today. After being dropped from their label more than a year ago, the duo — Camila Grey, former member of Mellowdrone, and Leisha Hailey, former member of The Murmurs and star of “The L Word” (Alice Pieszecki) — didn’t stop the music. Instead, they forged ahead and…
Inbox — April 20, 2011
Wrong Building The article on Third Street Dive was very interesting but contains a double history error (LEO Weekly, April 6). You state the storefront “used to be Bensinger’s Department Store,” which is wrong on two levels. There never was a Bensinger’s Department Store in Louisville. There was, however, a Bensinger’s Furniture. It started in…
Theater: Finnigan’s Festival features f-ed up fun
Finnigan’s Festival of Funky Fresh Fun A night of 10-minute plays by Finnigan Productions. Directed by Tad Chitwood, Jeremy Sapp, Amelia Pantalos, Becky LeCron, George R. Bailey, Michael Drury, Ben Unwin, Amy Lewis, Kathi E.B. Ellis and Brian Walker. Continues through April 23 at The Rudyard Kipling, 422 W. Oak St. For reservations, call 636-1311.…
Comedy: Young, dumb and blazing a comedy trail
A local bar has emerged as the watering hole for Louisville’s most talented artists of all mediums — sort of our own twisted take on Oxford’s Eagle and Child, where people like C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien regularly met for cocktails and conversation. It’s a place you’ve driven by a thousand times and perhaps never…
Comedy: Cleveland rocks Louisville
Originally from the Ohio city from which he takes his name, Cleveland Jackson came to Louisville — Middletown, more accurately — with his mother as a teenager. After graduating from Eastern High School, Cleveland tried his hand at being a U.S. paratrooper and a strip club DJ before finally finding his footing as a comedian.…
Don’t think twice — Highland Morning’s all right
Breakfast places come and go. Some last for just an eye-blink; some earn landmark status; some hang around long after they should have hung up the spatula. Bardstown Road’s latest addition to the fast-breaking genre, Highland Morning, crept in quietly. After a bustling grand opening, last week the café had settled into a relaxed pace…
Armed and ready
The truth is, most fans come to the ballpark to see the hitters hit. About all they ask from their hometown pitchers is to get the opponents out with as little damage as possible — so the batters can get back up to bat. Fans cheer mightily when a hitter whacks one over the fence,…
W.A.R. (We Are Renegades)
Talib Kweli says he makes music for his own satisfaction, not his fans’. He capitulated and made his last record, Gutter Rainbows, specifically with his listeners’ desires in mind, to excellent results. Pharoahe Monch has never had that conflict, as each album he’s released has fulfilled both his muse and his audience’s demands. While never…
Man bites blog
In a Dec. 21, 2010, post appearing on the political news website Page One Kentucky, moderator and de facto editor Jacob Payne criticized state Rep. Rick Nelson, D-87, for filing legislation that would require anonymous bloggers and commenters to register with the state or face stiff fines “Requiring us to disclose the identifies (sic) of…
Culture: Podcasts you might be missing
Late one Saturday night some six years ago, I was driving home from a party in Hoosierland and I did something I never, ever do: I went past my exit on I-64. It was not because I was tipsy and had spaced out or lost my way. It was because I was having what NPR…
You Can Walk Across It on the Grass
A practice room somewhere, late Saturday afternoon. Three guys with guitar, bass and drums triangulate toward the center of the room. You and your girlfriend, the bass player’s sister, sit on a dirty couch in the corner and drink beer. She always talks about how awesome his band is, but you came because the beer’s…
