Cover Story
Only in Vicco
Tucked away in a holler of the Appalachian Mountains in eastern Kentucky, you’ll drive right past the tiny town of Vicco — population 334 — if you blink. Its downtown strip less than half of a football field long, Vicco was once a thriving little coal town before the industry began its decline in the…
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Vodka Yonic
BY KIM GREEN @aviatrixkim Half-moon light paints a scattering of stilted village huts in blurred lines of quicksilver and shadow. I sit cross-legged in a deserted market stall, drinking a can of Angkor beer with a tough Cambodian broad and social entrepreneur named Chantha Nguon. I initially met Nguon when I interviewed her for a…
Taste Bud: Return of the oyster
The first time I ever had an oyster shooter was in early 1990, at a going-away party when I left a job as a reporter at a local daily newspaper. My co-workers and I descended upon Hooters, wherein my former boss talked me into having an oyster for the first time. This “Hooter Shooter,” as…
Video TapeWorm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS: GRUDGE MATCH 2014; $22.98; PG-13 Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone … do we really need to go on? OK, these two vets play former boxers who left a lot of unfinished business in the ring when one retired suddenly 30 years ago. Now, obnoxious promoter Kevin Hart decides to make…
The Satanist
While metal is often theatrical in nature, there are some, such as Behemoth architect Nergal, for whom it isn’t an act. The depths of his convictions invade The Satanist with a morbid atmosphere that rings authentic in horrifying glory. This record sees Behemoth returning to their black metal origins, while also progressing and crafting more…
Staffpicks
April 2-5 Used book and media sale Red Barn U of L, Belknap Campus uoflhsc.com Free; 9 a.m.-7 p.m. (9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat.) The best thing about buying used books is that you can take chances. Dropping a buck to purchase a paperback from an author you know little about is easy. Dropping $22 at…
Okkervil River: Austin, cities and limits
“You’re not the first to ask me this question, like, ‘Are you trying to grab for some brass ring?’ or ‘trying to be more respectable?’” says Okkervil River frontman Will Sheff. “The truth is, the record was finished before we signed with ATO. It was a pretty organic process.” ATO is the RCA-affiliated label started…
Puis-je partager vos biscuits?
Recently, I shared a story of growing up poor and learning to see my way out of poverty. When I wrote the piece, I was working with Dress for Success on a fundraiser. One of our tasks as members of the planning committee was to secure donations for the event, specifically hats for the auctions.…
Comedy: A lonely childhood in cars with Geoff Tate
Is it late at night? Are your hands stained a Cheeto orange? Are you dreading the drug test for work you’re going to have to take tomorrow? Geoff Tate is your kind of guy. The Cincinnati native, who now lives in Los Angeles, has a very Midwest perspective with a touch of West Coast flavor…
Raven Town Witch
A weird vibe permeates the entirety of Witch, an all-encompassing, sinister veneer that indicts the listener as somehow complicit in whatever it is they’ve done wrong. Make no mistake: Everything about this record is right, but there’s a creeping sleaze threaded throughout the whole thing, like two many beers in a seedy, smoke-filled bar. This…
Theater: The real magic of theater
Actors Theatre of Louisville Artistic Director Les Waters was a frequently seen welcoming presence at this year’s Humana Festival of New American Plays. His bearded, wizard-like countenance hovered in lobbies as he checked the mood of the audiences. Inside the theaters, where in past years Apprentice Company actors often greeted audiences (and urged them to…
Pocket Full of Ohms
One-third of Frankfort’s Basement Up, Allen Poe’s Ohms is beautifully produced, from blog favorite “Gina” (featuring Von Pea) to “Grand Entrance” (with Sheisty Khrist and DJ Calcutta). Poe plays to his strengths and is starting the year off right; a son of ’90s true school hip-hop, his beat selections show a strong ear, and Ohms…
Inbox — April 2, 2014
Stuck on TARC It is in the nature of repression to come up with fanciful ideas to block out the truth. The bigger the problem, the bigger the fantasy must be. I am referring, of course, to the state of the public transportation system in Louisville. I have been to Third World countries where the…
Advice: Savage Love
Q: My boyfriend of three months, “Marcus,” told me last week that he is a trans man. He has performed oral sex on me and fingered me, but he never let me reciprocate and told me he didn’t want to have penis-in-vagina sex yet because that was a large commitment. We go to college in…
B-sides
What he knows Composer, arranger, educator, radio host, Grammy nominee: John La Barbera is all of these. After teaching at the University of Louisville for 23 years, La Barbera retires at the end of the semester. For him, though, “retirement” means preparing another album, teaching private students and traveling with wife Marie and his Big…
Somewhere Else
Lydia Loveless created a buzz three years ago with the release of Indestructible Machine, an album rooted in cow-punk grit. But this time around, she’s sporting a sound closer to the Pretenders than Jason and the Scorchers. Somewhere Else is about desire, of looking, longing and waiting — for an old lover in “Really Wanna…
The long and short of it
Three days after a one-night crime streak downtown sent six people to the hospital and resulted in almost three dozen calls to the police department, Louisville Metro Council held a special Public Safety Committee meeting to talk about what had happened. The entirety of the situation seems unthinkable — a grandfather beaten on the Big…
Up to 11
TMI? I’m a little ashamed to say I hadn’t really heard a Bob Dylan record until I was in my mid-20s. I remember the day I fell in love with Highway 61 Revisited — I was lying on the dirty shag carpet of my attic apartment, staring up at a rotting pinecone trapped in a…
Plugged In
Readers are strongly encouraged to call ahead to verify these listings. To get your musical act listed, send email to pberkowitz@leoweekly.com with PLUGGED IN in the subject line. The deadline is FRIDAY at NOON the week before the show happens. We do not accept listings via social networking sites. Wed APR 2 Air Devils Inn:…
Book: Riding out tonight to case the Promised Land
Confession: I did not love Bruce Springsteen until I turned thirty and set my own home on fire,? walked away from the ashes and looked my declining self in the face. Like love,? Bruce is wasted on the young.? —Erin Keane, “The Dream and What Follows” Erin Keane loves a project. The WFPL arts reporter knows…
Locavore Lore: New dining experiences are ‘popping up’
One big drawback to my voracious appetite, beyond having little to show in quality worldly possessions and battling the possibility of an expanding waistline, is that I actually get bored sometimes with our local food scene. Sometimes I will have an irrational feeling that I’ve eaten everything in the city. Not surprisingly, I usually fail…
Industry Standard: Insider info for those who dine out
In a full-service restaurant, the front (service team) and back (cooking, prep, warewashing and janitorial team) of the house have to work together in concert. As two teams, we rise and fall together like a chamber orchestra, like a synchronized flight demo team. If everything’s going well, we look like heroes. But if even one…
Another fine, messy session
In Ronnie Ellis we trust. Almost a month ago, the political guru told KET’s statewide audience about a spectacular distraction at the Capitol. “People who are not in the legislature or watching it closely may not realize how everything is being influenced by the thought of this election,” he said. At stake is control of…
Take Me To Your Leader
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 10.5pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; vertical-align: middle;”>Last week on the long-abandoned site at 18th and Broadway in the West End, <span style="font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Sabon-Bold; color: black; letter-spacing: -.2pt;”>Mayor Greg Fischer<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Sabon-Roman; color: black; letter-spacing: -.2pt;”> announced what he accurately described as “the worst kept…
