Cover Story
A plea for trees: Louisville’s shrinking urban forest
Can Louisville protect its trees? It is a fair question, since the city loses more than 50,000 trees per year, including many large shade trees cut down around Bowman Field. And meanwhile, a proposed tree ordinance has languished in a Metro Council committee since December. If adopted into law, it would govern only trees on…
10 things to do under $5 this week in Louisville (4/24)
MONDAY New Voices Young Playwrights Festival 2017 (April 24–26) Actors Theatre $5 | 7 p.m. See the future of our local theater scene at this festival where the plays are produced entirely by young playwrights from Actors Theatre Education, which “provides an opportunity where young people of all backgrounds are invited to see plays and…
Best of the Web: A Q&A with artist Carlos Gamez de Francisco
Louisville has had its share of world famous artists throughout history. If you are not familiar with Carlos Gamez de Francisco (carlosgamezdefrancisco.com), it’s time to pay attention. I predict he will be as famous someday as Sam Gilliam, Enid Yandell and Ed Hamilton. LEO: What type of artist are you? Carlos Gamez de Francisco: I…
America’s tax code is complicated… for a reason!
Simplifying the tax code is one of the most exhausted cliches in political history — right behind, “If you have to balance a budget, the government should have to balance its budget.” But balancing your personal budget is not the same as the federal government balancing a multi-trillion-dollar economy. They’re not even similar! The idea…
5 Things To Do This Weekend in Louisville (4/21)
FRIDAY GRL Presents: Guitar SHEro — A Rock Band Guitar Competition Seidenfaden’s Cafe $5 | 8-11 p.m. Join Girls Rock Louisville for a “Rock Band” competition to test your video-game guitar skills against the best in town. Participants choose one warm-up song on easy setting, and then a second song from a preselected batch of songs…
Bernie Sanders calls for Democrat unity during Louisville visit
There is a rift in the Democratic party. On one side is the Hillary Clinton Machine, with it’s $1 million donors, voters frustrated by her loss in 2008, the politically rigid and those nostalgic for the ‘90s. On the other side is Bernie Sanders, with his donors who give $27 at a time and those…
Earth Day: Tree wishes, what city experts want for our trees
We asked Louisville’s tree experts to make tree wishes — three apiece — for our city’s urban forest: Paul E. Cappiello, executive director Yew Dell Botanical Gardens: Even more than planting tons of trees, my wish is that we all do a better job of taking care of the trees we have — regular watering,…
Oaks or air safety?: The Louisville Regional Airport Authority pushes to remove trees
As Michael Hayman stood beyond the fence line at Bowman Field, making his case for preserving trees around the airport, a single-engine airplane took off, drowning out his arguments. Minutes later, another puddle jumper took off, then another, and another. Finally, a jet roared its way into the air, louder than the previous aircraft. As…
Gov. Bevin’s wait to restore ex-felons civil rights
LEO gave Gov. Matt Bevin a rose last week for beginning to restore the civil rights of former felons, specifically returning their rights to vote and serve on a jury. But, really, Bevin deserved a rose with many thorns for having waited so long to restart the process and for creating such a large backlog.…
Thorns & Roses: The Worst, Best & Most Absurd
The smell of death? surrounds you | Absurd Aside from choosing a location that is not The West End, where public-private investment would yield the highest returns, Louisville City FC may regret selecting Butchertown for a new stadium. As LEO writer Creig Ewing said, “New song to add there should be Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘That Smell?’”…
Alex Smith breaks down songs from the new Howell Dawdy record
Howell Dawdy, Alex Smith’s satirical, rap alter ego who’s starting to expand to rock and country, has always reminded me of less-political Stephen Colbert. They share an approach that pairs witty, goofy humor with sharp, observational depth. The second Howell Dawdy record, I’m Done, is set to be released this Friday via a show at…
A breakdown of the bands playing the first Waterfront Wednesday 2017
WFPK Waterfront Wednesday is back April 26 for its first installment of 2017. Here is a quick breakdown of all three of the bands playing the free event, which takes place on the Big Four Lawn. Murder By Death [9 p.m.] The venerable, five-piece rock band that sounds like the soundtrack to a Cormac McCarthy…
How to spend Record Store Day in Louisville
Celebrate Record Store Day 2017 this Saturday, April 22, at your favorite local, independent record store. It’s a day dedicated to the unique culture of record stores with in-store parties and special releases made exclusively for the day. This year features releases from David Bowie, Danny Brown, The Cure, Lou Reed, Patti Smith and many…
A tribute to musician Edward Grimes
Edward Grimes made you feel welcome. His music was haunting and atmospheric, ranging from his work with his sister in the band Rachel’s, to the incomparable Seluah. Yet, despite his stature in the local music scene, he remained an approachable figure who went a long way to making many, myself included, feel like part of…
It’s all in the name: ‘The Last Party ?(being a sequel to the dirty sexy derby play)’
When Brian Walker’s “dirty sexy derby play” opened at the MeX Theater in 2008, it’s doubtful anyone would have predicted it would wind up becoming a near-staple on Louisville stages. The play has had at least four productions (that I know of) over less than a decade — from more than one theater company. That…
Mark Klein, comedy is like being a jockey at Churchill
Mark Klein calls himself a “stand-up monologist.” He spends a lot of time examining modern society, family and the tenuous process of aging. “I’m a middle-aged man in a youth-obsessed society,” he explains in one bit. “Well, you’re going to get old, too, girls and boys. You’re going to get old, and you’re going to…
Parlour, a cozy oasis for bridge walkers and all
Have you strolled, jogged or biked across the Big Four walking bridge yet? Who hasn’t? About 1,500,000 people enjoy the mile-long bridge between Louisville and Jeffersonville every year, according to the Waterfront Development Corp. Reopening the abandoned, rusting, 1895 railroad bridge as a linear public park has proven to be a great idea. And now,…
Reconsidering Oysters (and What to Drink with Them)
On the title page of her classic compendium of recipes and lore, “Consider the Oyster,” M.F.K. Fisher quoted Jonathan Swift: “He was a bold man that first eat an oyster.” Bold indeed. I will confess that it took me decades to summon the nerve to bite into the glistening, quivering mass of a raw oyster.…
Beer censorship, dirty underwear and festivals
Prepare for beer censorship. The Brewers Association plans to crack down on offensive beer labels, according to a report from the Craft Brewers Conference in Washington, D.C., last week. If you know anything at all about craft beer, you know brewers’ propensity for coming up with clever, if sometimes crass, names for beers, and then…
We serve all kinds
Working in the service industry during the week of our beloved Kentucky Derby is both the most outrageous, high-volume, stressful series of shifts of our lives, and the culmination of everything we work for behind the stick. Derby week in bars and restaurants will bulldoze many of us into submission and leave others bathing in…
More Than Drinks at the Bar
In a relationship or life jam? Lemme unstuck your life: AskMindaHoney@leoweekly.com. I was at Big Bar enjoying a brief burst of springtime weather recently with one of my faves, Big Bar’s manager, Drew Gillum. He introduced me to his bartender, who we will call A, who immediately laid a question on me: How do I…
Savage Love: Dick Monsters
Q: I’m a queer girl living with a male partner. This weekend, we found ourselves in an after-hours club, made some new friends, and ended up at a house with two other guys and a girl. Things were pretty playful with everyone except for one of the guys. We all wanted him gone, but he…
CJ Wankers, Bernie’s hipster muppets and a racist over a socialist?
In the national news again. International even. Who, your Mum? Be thankful she’s 5,000 miles away, or she’d put the heed on you for that. No, this fair state. And for once, it isn’t because of knuckle-dragging county clerks. Knuckle-draggers all the same. But do you know what the weirdest thing about United having passengers…
To dissent may be divine
“It depends on what the definition of is, is,” former President Clinton said in response to a question about his alleged acts with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. Perhaps, his charisma overcame then what now feels like exploitation and a grotesque power imbalance, but in terms of one of the best non-responsive responses to…
Soccer-specific Xbox: The city shouldn’t pay for Louisville City FC’s new stadium
The site selected for Louisville City FC’s new stadium would add to the collection of attractions by the river — the skate park, Slugger Field and KFC Yum! Center. It would also add to a growing collection of misguided city priorities — should we, the city, be persuaded to contribute money to the project. To…
LEOverse: Louisville poet, on spring rains and war
Louisville poet, on spring rains and war To mark Earth Day, LEO is taking over Your Voice to write about Madison Cawein, a Louisville poet in the early 1900s nicknamed the “Keats of Kentucky” for his lyrical poems about nature but also the ugliness of war. Both are relevant today. Cawein had worked in a…
