Cover Story
Hemp: Not pot, not a miracle crop
Last year Josh Hendrix harvested 5 acres of hemp on his farm in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, selling the fiber to be made into car dashboards and other products. This year, he hopes to earn even more money by selling his 10-acre crop to a company that extracts hemp oil to develop new drugs. While Colorado…
A Cut Above: A report from last weekend’s Super Barber Expo
Barbering has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My mother, grandfather, aunt and now sister have all worked in barbershops for at least a little while, so the idea of going to a barbering expo this past weekend, especially involving a super barber, was too good of an…
Photo Set: King Kong and Hoe Garden at Quonset Hut during Thunder over Louisville
For 15 or so years — no one seems to know with any certainty — Leslie Millar and her husband have thrown what is arguably one of the best Thunder over Louisville events in the city. Hidden in a hilltop clearing in the heart of Louisville’s Phoenix Hill neighborhood overlooking downtown sits what is known…
8 free things to do in Louisville this week (4/25)
Monday New Voices Young Playwrights Festival 2016 Actors Theatre 7 p.m. Every year Actors Theatre selects eight 10-minute plays from over 500 submissions by middle and high school students in Kentucky and Southern Indiana. Then, those lucky playwrights get to work with a professional director and have their work produced on the big stage. And…
Visually Speaking: This week’s art news and events (4/25)
[The above image of Eva Hesse is from the film showing at Speed Cinema.] Art news The Carnegie Center has added a new permanent gallery. The Morrison Gallery features 14 paintings by George W. Morrison. He lived in New Albany from 1843 to 1893 (carnegiecenter.org). Art events Julius Friedman is having a book signing for…
LEO Podcast #31: I Have A Knife
Sean Garrison and Evan Wallace of the band I Have A Knife stop by to talk with LEO contributor Syd Bishop.
I took my Catholic grandmother to a drag show – how her religious worldview evolved
On stage, a drag queen does a sultry walk down the runway, letting everyone take in her sparkling, sheer black gown. She’s lip-syncing “#1 Crush” by Garbage, and clips of Baz Luhrman’s “Romeo & Juliet” play on the wall behind her. Behind me I hear Marietta, my grandmother, say: “She’d look better if she lost…
5 things to do in Louisville this weekend (4/22)
FRIDAY Hardcore Benefit Concert for Alexandra Rhema Haymarket Whiskey Bar $7; 5 p.m., 21+ Alexandra Rhema has been an integral part of the Louisville hardcore/punk scene for years, bringing some of the best bands to our humble city. Rhema also suffers from severe endometriosis, and she needs our help paying for those pesky medical bills.…
Luchadors, Maynard James Keenan and hiding in plain sight: A review of Puscifer at the Louisville Palace
Nik: Last night got ruthlessly weird. Puscifer brought their “Money $hot” tour to the Louisville Palace with what could be argued as a gigantic performance art piece. The un-billed opener Luch-ifer started promptly at 7:30 p.m. and, without playing a single note, completely boggled my mind. Mostly because they aren’t a band. They are five…
The latest Hometown Hero … and LEO’s candidates
Louisville has spawned a lot of famous. And talented. And downright fantastic. The Hometown Heroes program celebrates that by papering the city’s skyline with their faces. We thought we would take the occasion of the latest Hometown Hero banner, which features mystery author Sue Grafton, to propose our own candidates. They include some you know…
Pick of destiny: A conversation with Kyle Gass
For more than 20 years, Kyle Gass has made some of the most lighthearted music out there. In 1994, Gass and actor Jack Black formed Tenacious D, which released numerous albums, starred in a television series and movie and won a Grammy for heavy metal. To say that Gass is accomplished is an understatement, although…
Catching up with Mutoid Man
When I caught up with the members of Mutoid Man — the metal(ish) trio of singer/guitarist Stephen Brodsky, drummer Ben Koller and bassist Nick Cageao — a few weeks ago, they were finishing up practice at Saint Vitus, a venue and bar in Brooklyn where they’re rehearsing and writing new material before business hours. “We’re…
Ted Tyro: Slow Country/Strong Woman
(Sea Speak) The first detail I noticed when I put on this new two-song cassette from Ted Tyro is an analog hissing sound that resonates throughout the entire duration of the tape. I’m no audio technician, but I’m guessing that this is present because it was recorded on a four-track, and, in a weird way, this…
Kaleidico: Zoetic B-Sides
(self-released) Defining what makes for a b-side is treacherous at best, as the obvious answer seems to be songs that are somehow lesser than the content they may otherwise have been attached to. That’s not the case here with this collection of b-sides from Kaleidico, but instead it documents the band in flux. The Zoetic…
Justin Paul Lewis: Every Little Thing
(sonaBLAST!) Soulful folk that seems to simultaneously look toward Motown and New Orleans-style jazz for elements of inspiration, Every Little Thing is a singer-songwriter record with some punch — a horn section that carries a lot of weight, a rhythm section that can be both subtle and biting, vocals that break through those textures. Clocking…
D.O.H. ?(Dollahz Ova Hoez): MegaDeph / R . O . T . C (Rapper of the Century)
(self-released) The rhyme scheme owes a lot to MF Doom with a slow, thick kind of southern drawl that privileges pop culture references above and beyond any sort of statement. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t casual misogyny here, but that as juxtaposed against a backdrop of cartoon imagery, it’s hard to take it seriously.…
‘Stupid F*#%ing Bird,’ an adventurous mix of literate smarts ?and irreverent vulgarities
The Associated Press Stylebook is explicit on the subject of expletives: “Do not use them, unless they are part of direct quotations and there is a compelling reason for them.” Writers are also instructed not to change “damn it” to “darn it,” to place offending language in a separate paragraph so that editors can easily…
Compassionate city celebrates with week of events
The newly opened art organization, 1619 FLUX, is showing a light art installation by Tiffany Carbonneau and Susanna Crum as well as an exhibition of work by emerging and established artists. The Muhammad Ali Center is offering $2 off admission all week. They and a week full of activities in the city are part of…
Alex Ortiz, ‘I had been performing my whole life and didn’t know it’
Alex Ortiz followed a twisted path to the stage. The Chicago native leaves audiences in stitches all over the world. His high-octane show uses impressions, characters and stories to paint his rich personal history as a veteran, a nurse and a firefighter against the canvas of his Puerto Rican upbringing. Ortiz spends most his year…
‘The Houseguest,’ a kaleidoscope of dazzling prose
‘The Houseguest’ by Kim Brooks (Counterpoint Press; 369 pgs., $26) One of the fundamental plots for all storytellers over the centuries: A stranger comes to town. Kim Brooks, who’s taught at the renowned Iowa Writers’ Workshop (and is an editor at Salon.com), is taking a swing at this plot with her first novel. However, this…
Enjoy Mexican without compromise at ?MexA Steak Tacos
When we survey the delectable array of Mexican, Tex-Mex and other south-of-the-border eateries that grace our town these days, it’s easy to forget that we haven’t always been so richly blessed. I’m sure I’m not the only Baby Boomer who can still remember when Mexican food in Louisville meant chili, with a canned tamale dropped…
On Deck: ?al fresco Louisville
It’s true that each time a new season rolls around, and the Earth changes its relationship with the sun, I have reason to believe that particular yearly division is the perfect time to celebrate. Be it the autumnal crunch of leaves and hordes of festivals that sprinkle throughout October or the dense humidity of a…
The Seafood Lady, ‘eat-it-twice-a-week’ good
Mid-priced seafood restaurants are few and far between in Louisville, a sad fact not lost on Nichelle Thurston when she moved here from Florida seven years ago. Frustrated with a dearth of good seafood dining choices, she had an epiphany: Give people like her what they wanted. Friends and family members had been paying her…
On kynect, Benefind…and Thunder
So, is he going to do it? Brit 1: What are you talking about? Is who going to do what? Brit 2: Is Gov. Matt Bevin going to pull the plug on Kynect and Medicaid expansion or is he going to welch out of it? B1: Well presumably he wants to deliver at least one…
I owe Monica Lewinsky an apology
Sexual politics were different in 1998. We didn’t seek immediately to publicly redress and condemn flagrant sexism and bullying like we do today, or attribute co-responsibility for a duo’s lack of judgment related to consensual sex. Any assignment of responsibility for a reckless sexual encounter to a male, let alone a beloved male public figure,…
No more student-athletes
As a lifelong UofL Cardinals fan and someone who loves college sports, I know this may sound shocking: I propose removing the word athlete from the term student-athlete. The time has long passed to divorce organized athletics from the institutions of higher learning, which serve as host subjects for a multi-billion dollar entertainment industry. Students…
Your Voice
On Hunter Thompson’s ‘Fear and Loathing in Louisville’ I can not respect any man who threatens to rape a woman.? —Cheryl Marie Held Great article Michael. I would wait every month for the Rolling Stone so that I could read his articles. He was a fascinating man with an exceptional mind. —Angela Snider McKinstry Mersmerizing…
