Cover Story
Gonzofest ?literary contest winner: The Great American Smoker
This story is true (as best as it can be remembered by the author), and took place in Denver, Colorado, in October of 1995. — “I’ve got the cigars,” Larry announced through the phone line. “Because what’s the point of a hosting a smoker, if you don’t have fucking cigars?” “And we’re set up at…
After the ride: GonzoFest’s new home, library wing may be named after Hunter S. Thompson and his mother, Virginia
GonzoFest found a new home last Saturday at the Louisville Free Public Library’s downtown branch. Mayor Greg Fischer, while speaking at the event, spoke of the early, fundraising stages of a three-step plan to renovate and rename the North Wing of the library in honor of Hunter S. Thompson and his mother, Virginia. She had been a…
10 things to do under $5 this week in Louisville (4/17)
MONDAY GameKnights Kaiju Free | 7-11 p.m. Ever wonder if, like Jackie Chan in “Drunken Master,” you are actually better at games when drinking? Well you can test that theory at GameKnights, a night of beer, bourbon and board games. This weekly event, hosted by Squire, of Book & Music Exchange (Highlands), provides a choice…
New Louisville music festival Bourbon & Beyond gets Stevie Nicks, Eddie Vedder
The inaugural Bourbon & Beyond festival, which will take place at Champions Park Sept. 23-24, will feature Stevie Nicks, Eddie Vedder, Steve Miller Band, Band Of Horses, Buddy Guy, Nikki Lane and more. This new festival Bourbon & Beyond, from the company behind Louder Than Life, describes itself as an “all-in-one bourbon, food, and entertainment…
The impact and logistics of Shakespeare in the Park expanding beyond Central Park
I set out to write about the ambitious, fascinating mechanics and logistics of Shakespeare in the Parks tour, which takes a small ensemble to an incredible number of parks, public spaces and theaters across the Commonwealth. And along the way I ran into Male High School teacher Melanie Gosset, who pretty much perfectly encapsulated why…
In the United fiasco, just about everyone was wrong, not just the airline
It’s all ****ed up. The Courier-Journal’s Joe Gerth opined in his column that “United Airlines was just plain wrong.” The truth is, however, that just about everything about the incident and the events surrounding it are all wronged up. Everyone wants things to be binary — right or wrong. That is not how life works.…
5 Things To Do This Weekend in Louisville (4/14)
FRIDAY Louisville Anti-Racist Action Benefit Show The Cure Lounge $5-$10 suggested donation | 9 p.m. Fight racism with the power of rock at this benefit show for Louisville Anti-Racist Action, which exists to “help build, defend, educate and create an effective cultural resistance against fascism.” Bands include stoner/doom metal band Blind Scryer, metal band Boneclaw, punk-rock band Satellite…
The 2017 GonzoFest Art Competition Winners
Gonzo journalism spans the trenchant, “Hells Angels — The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs,” to the outrageously trenchant, “Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ‘72,” to the trenchantly outrageous, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” Again, this year, GonzoFest Louisville organizers asked you to come up with your best Gonzo art…
The 2017 GonzoFest Literary Contest Winners
Gonzo journalism spans the trenchant, “Hells Angels — The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs,” to the outrageously trenchant, “Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ‘72,” to the trenchantly outrageous, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” Again, this year, GonzoFest Louisville organizers asked you to come up with your best Gonzo art…
The ghosts of Virginia and Hunter S. Thompson roam ?the city library’s aisles
“Fiction is a bridge to the truth that journalism can’t reach. Facts are lies when they’re added up, and the only kind of journalism I can pay much attention to is something like ‘Down and Out in Paris and London’ [George Orwell] … But in order to write that kind of punch-out stuff you have…
Nonfiction and art contest: Gonzofest Louisville 2017, a peek behind the curtain
Gonzo journalism spans the trenchant, “Hells Angels — The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs,” to the outrageously trenchant, “Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ‘72,” to the trenchantly outrageous, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” Again, this year, GonzoFest Louisville organizers asked you to come up with your best Gonzo…
Gonzofest literary contest ?honorable mention: I’m an asshole, ?but that’s ok — ?I have social Anxiety
I was reading an article on some blog site the other day about how people like me are assholes. Or, rather, how we do very well on coming off as assholes without wanting to. On most days, this is something that I strive to achieve in my life. Becoming the major asshole with a secret…
GonzoFest Louisville 2017: Panels, discussions, ?a film and music… more!
This year’s GonzoFest Louisville on Saturday, April 15, has plenty to see and listen to, a celebration of all things Hunter S. Thompson. It will host two panel discussions at the Louisville Free Public Library’s Main branch downtown: The Literary Impact of Hunter S. Thompson, and Freedom of Speech/Media Literacy. Dr. Lee Remington Williams of…
Stories from Trump’s banned countries: Somalian immigrant, ‘We want to keep Louisville a welcoming place’
This is the second of seven stories LEO will publish about immigrants in Louisville who came from countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — that President Trump initially hit with bans. Documentary photographer Amira Karaoud said about her series of photographs and interviews: “The ban order and cut of government funding…
Thorns and Roses: The Worst, Best and Most Absurd
Former felons for Bevie | Rose We rarely agree with Gov. Matt Bevin, but here it goes: Good move renewing the process by which felons, who have served their sentences, can apply to restore their civil rights. We know Bevin’s Bible-compass logic about redemption led him to do this, but whatever… This will allow more…
LouiEvolve hip-hop festival returns for its second year
LouiEvolve returns for the second year this Saturday for a two-day celebration of all things hip-hop, with performances from emcees, DJs, slam poets and breakdancers at Tim Faulkner Gallery. This is like a real-life version of the show “The Get Down,” a warehouse party that showcases a broad array of the who’s who in the…
b-sides: Three more shows to catch this week
Son Volt Headliners – Saturday, April 15 Son Volt’s newest album, this year’s Notes of Blue, marks the band’s eighth record in 22 years, a time span that’s been spent writing sharp country-rock songs about forgotten pockets of America. Compared to 2013’s Honky Tonk, Notes of Blue is rougher around the edges, running distortion-fueled guitar…
A breakdown of the GonzoFest 2017 music lineup
For the seventh consecutive year, GonzoFest Louiville pays tribute to the iconic author and inventor of gonzo journalism, Hunter S. Thompson. In addition to a day-long showcase of fantastic local acts, at its core Gonzo Fest is about keeping gonzo alive, using music, art and poetry. The immersive writing style that Thompson developed inherently became…
Run, Baby, Run
My wife is the biggest Sheryl Crow fan that I know. She’s her No. 2, behind Dave Matthews. She’s listened to her albums so many times, pulling solace and inspiration when needed. She’s not weird about it — it’s just part of her. So you can imagine her excitement when I got an offer to…
Humana short plays, and a favorite Bunbury comedy
The final program of the Humana Festival of New American Plays, always a collection of short plays, is usually the theatrical of a mignardise — a tiny sweet confection that chefs might send along with the coffee at the end of a meal. That’s not always the case. As I’ve mentioned before, one of the…
Now is the time for a woman or minority to lead the Speed Art Museum
I still want a woman for president. Nationally, that’s not happening right now (insert sigh here). But locally, there is an opportunity for a female — or a minority or both — to be selected for one of the most prominent art positions in the state: director of the Speed Art Museum, the largest art…
‘Leak Your Own Nudes,’ Free Your Mind and the Rest Will Follow
“I’ve never had this many nudes in my phone,” Tamika Dozier said, as she flicked through photos that women and non-binary folks have sent her since she began #LYON — Leak Your Own Nudes — four months ago. Leading up to a recent #LYON art exhibit Dozier had organized, I chatted with her and others…
Mitch Burrow’s first time: ‘I was really drunk, so I don’t really remember’
Mitch Burrow has stories to tell. His narrative-based comedy meanders through a myriad of places, including: his childhood in a small, conservative town in Georgia, his lesbian sister and his time in the Marine Corps. Burrow’s sense of humor emerges from his everyday life, echoing his heroes including Brian Regan and Jim Norton. He filters…
Grind Burger Kitchen, not cheap, but worth it
We all love hamburgers, don’t we? During a thoroughly-satisfying lunch at Grind Burger Kitchen the other day, I found myself thinking existentially about the burger. What exactly is a hamburger, anyway? The Oxford American Dictionary gives us the basics: “A round patty of ground beef, fried or grilled and typically served on a bun or…
Turns out, you can grow up all over again
When I was a kid, I ate all kinds of stuff that wasn’t exactly healthful. I feasted on Twinkies, binged Pringles and crammed sugar-drenched Cheerios into my mouth with abandon. It’s a wonder I’m still alive. But that wasn’t the worst of it. There are food items I not only swore off, but actually began…
Savage Love: Hard Limits
Q: I’ve read your column for as long as I had access to the internet and was interested in sex, so here it goes: I’m a 27-year-old male with a 42-year-old girlfriend. We met at work; we were both going through divorce. At the beginning, holy moly! My dream girl in the bedroom. We’ve been…
I closed my eyes and fell asleep
I went to the park. On the way there, I saw a man on Taylor Boulevard, driving a Model T — it was that kind of a day. Heading through the gate on the road to the lookout I saw a woman riding a butterscotch horse, she was there on the road, and then dipped…
Bridget Bush wants to defund PBS, poor people to stop being poor
Bridget Bush is an attorney, and yet her personal blog on BLOGGER looks as 1995 as it is. Representative of her behind-the-times design, she pushes a tired argument about public media in her Courier-Journal op-ed, “Stop funding elitist, anti-capitalist NPR, PBS.” The piece also is emblematic of right-wing discussions of poverty. Let’s start with the…
