Kentucky Derby 134: Tracking the surface debate is a waste of time
The hottest topic in horse racing this spring, and sure to be the red-hot yap leading up to the Kentucky Derby, is dirt tracks versus synthetic tracks — and the supposed wild difference in “form” of horses running on the two surfaces. Of the six traditional Kentucky Derby prep races, three have been run on…
Run From the Roses: The Perfect Derby Issue
The Perfect Derby Issue™Some of us are glass half-full types. Some of us are half-empty. That is, of course, a perfect segue into talking about the Kentucky Derby And All That It Entails: Illustrated by Joe Welsh (KDAATIE). If you’re half full and happy about it, LEO’s Perfect Derby Issue is probably not your cup…
No More False Dichotomies: Healthcare: commodity or basic human right?
In the fascinating and timely PBS Frontline program “Sick Around the World,” which aired last week, T.R. Reid, a foreign correspondent for The Wash-ington Post and an NPR commentator, asks the same simple question of each main source: How many personal bankruptcies in your country result from a health crisis? Each time, the person answering…
Guest Commentary: More insurance will not solve the healthcare crisis
ROSE ANN DEMORO AND ANN HURST Anyone wondering why healthcare is such a central focus of the presidential race might want to ask Edwina Grayson-Melton of Mt. Sterling, Ky. “My father was self-employed and died with lung cancer at the age of 52,” she says. “He had to liquidate all of his assets, what little…
Plain Brown Rapper: Congressman John Yarmuth, the man and his words
Words are important, damn important. The Apostle John put it this way in the very first verse of his Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1. So, The Rapper was not upset in 2006 when Anne Northup rightly requested copies of John…
Erosia (Letters from the Editor)
LEO welcomes letters that are brief (250 words max) and thoughtful. Ad hominem attacks will be ignored, and we need your name and a daytime phone number. Send snail mail to EROSIA, 640 S. Fourth St., Louisville, Ky. 40202. Fax to 895-9779 or e-mail to leo@leoweekly.com. We may edit for length, grammar and clarity.Yelp for…
What A Week: The City’s Weekly Zeitgeist Radar
+5Mayor Abramson opened the first 23-mile section of the Louisville Loop, giving townsfolk another way to get back to nature. The paved walking/biking route runs from the waterfront downtown west through Portland and Shawnee to the Farnsley-Moremen Landing and includes gorgeous canopied woods, wetlands and a river view. The 100-mile Loop will eventually encircle the…
Gannett Watch
Gannett, the company that owns USA Today, The Courier-Journal and 83 other American newspapers, as well as over 900 publications and 23 TV stations, continues to lose money like it’s as cool as advertorial replacing reporting. Operating revenue for March dropped 10.3 percent, while total revenue for the company was down by about $66 million.…
Staffpicks
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23The Whigs @ Waterfront Wednesday You might think that it’s too early for Waterfront Wednesdays to start up. But you’d be wrong, because there’s just too much Derby stuff going on at the end of the month, so the free concerts start up one week ahead of the usual calendar.You might also think…
As we lay dying: A look back at a (mostly) worthless legislative session
Imagine grown-ups running through the state Capitol, lobbing freeze-dried cow pies at one another, and you’ll begin to comprehend the magnitude of the travesty that was the 2008 regular session of the Kentucky General Assembly. Remind yourself that all the childish chicanery transpired at taxpayer expense (about $60,000 a day) and that the legislature adjourned…
Tough crowd: It”s the South End vs. the mayor on munitions storage. Too bad nobody will win
A “Mayor’s Community Conversation” is a flea market of government wares, a self-contained ecosystem designed to be wandered and accessed with maximum ease. It is intended to be understood as a service provided to you, the constituent, because the predominant philosophy here is that you matter. You may line up and speak directly with Mayor…
A troubling day in the neighborhood: A neighborly dispute escalates into intimidation, violence and claims of racism
Seeking tranquility for her family, Shekela Brasher moved to the 2200 block of Franklin Avenue, the narrow dead-end of a thoroughfare nestled in the Pleasure Ridge Park neighborhood, flanked by Dixie Highway and Cane Run Road, last July. “I was looking for a quiet place,” she said. Being a single black mother of three, Brasher,…
¡Ask A Mexican! Special Paperback Edition
QDear Mexican: Lately I’ve been hearing how punks and metalheads in Mexico are trying to beat up emos because it’s been said emos make Mexican culture look bad. As a metalhead, I support this because I don’t see the point in being emo since they are very sensitive and guys dress like girls, but I…
Representin” (A Column about the Metro Council): A bloody dilemma
What’s worse than a strip club in the neighborhood? A blood bank? Andrew Owen thinks it would be better to have a strip joint open across the street from his property on Fourth Street than a plasma center. For weeks, Owen, the son and business partner of Metro Councilman Tom Owen, D-8, has actively campaigned…
Butchertown pres stepping down
Jim Segrest bought his first home in Butchertown in 1967, the same year he helped found the maiden neighborhood association there. A firebrand by nature, he’s been the nabe’s chief proponent — and a burr in the heel of industries and officials content with keeping Butchertown the stinky, smoggy place of history — ever since.…
Aftertastes
TURKEY JOE’S, 2809 N. Hurstbourne Pkwy., 327-9464, www.turkeyjoes.com. Hot wings are the specialty here, and you can take your pick of chicken, turkey or boneless chicken. Buffalo-style “hot” wings were just as good as could be, crisp and sizzling. (Reviewed 2/20/08; Rating: 76) ROCKWALL BISTRO, 3426 Paoli Pike, Floyds Knobs, Ind., (812) 948-1705, www.rockwallbistro.com. Long…
Back Lot: Louisville”s “My True Self” premiere
“My True Self” is the first film by Louisville native Rohit Nahata, a Ballard High alumnus and California State film graduate. Filmed in and around Louisville (including the LEO office), his movie is both local and universal. The plot is anchored by the classic unanswerable questions: “What’s a good life?” and “Who am I?”…
Film Reviews: “88 Minutes” worth of crap
(Starring Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Neal McDonough and Benjamin McKenzie. Directed by Jon Avnet. Rated R; 1:48. LEO Report Card: D-)“Closure, man! Give ’em closure!” yells Al Pacino into the phone about 80 minutes into “88 Minutes.” The scene may not top the classic camp of Pacino as Satan in the “The Devil’s…
Film Shorties: Recently Reviewed in LEO
SNOW ANGELS (Starring Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, Amy Sedaris and Michael Angarano. Directed by David Gordon Green.) David Gordon Green’s film sadly lacks credibility. Maybe it’s because he chose to adapt somebody else’s work (Stewart O’Nan’s novel); maybe it’s just that the source material is somewhat hackneyed; or maybe it’s just hard to picture smoking-hot…
The Bar Belle
Judging juleps Last Thursday I was invited to be a judge at the fifth annual Four Roses Julep Recipe Contest at Sully’s. Ten bartenders from the city’s finest dining spots wooed and wowed us with their original spin on the popular Derbytime drink. What that meant for me was getting to sample (and sometimes finish)…
LEO Eats: The Yankees” loss is our … hey!
Slugger Field: We’re great fans of the Louisville Bats and thoroughly smitten by Slugger Field, but we’ve found ballpark food service consistently disappointing on Centerplate Inc.’s watch. Centerplate Inc., the South Carolina-based arena and ballpark catering company, has been getting a rough ride lately, with the New York Yankees dumping the company as Yankee Stadium…
Cable Boxing: The family that cons together …
The RichesSeason 2, Episode: Trust Never SleepsFX, Tuesdays at 10 p.m. Aired April 15. Starring Eddie Izzard, Minnie Driver, Shannon Marie Woodward, Todd Stashwick, Aidan Mitchell, Noel Fisher and Gregg Henry.Synopsis: Living the straight life continues to prove difficult for Dahlia, and Wayne receives a surprise visitor while at work. Mat: This episode is now…
Splatters: Art News Bits
The Louisville Visual Art Association has developed the Linda Schaaf Micro-Loan Program to assist visual artists in their professional and business development. Applications are available at LVAA, galerie hertz and Elizabeth’s Timeless Attire. For more information, contact Kay Grubola at kay@louisvillevisualart.org or 896-2146. Ali Shaw, the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft’s public relations and…
The art world steadies its pace — a Derby roundup
It’s that time of year again when the temperature goes up and down like a seismograph needle. You wonder if it’s ever going to stop raining and if your hair will ever return to its non-frizz form. Most people call it spring — here we call it Derby. Artists and galleries hear the sounds of…
Props: Theater News and Banter
Two chances to see short-attention-span theaterIf you’re in a hurry to learn about American history and the Bible, you’re in luck. Not one, but two “abridged” plays created by the Reduced Shakespeare Company are offered for your amusement and edification this week. Coincidence? I think not. First, Alley Theater presents “The Bible — The Complete…
Theater: “Doubt” takes hold and doesn”t let go
(Actors Theatre of Louisville presents “Doubt, a Parable,” through May 10. Written by John Patrick Shanley. Directed by Wendy C. Goldberg. For tickets or info, call 584-1205 or visit www.actorstheare.org.)“What do you do when you’re not sure?” Thus begins “Doubt, a Parable,” John Patrick Shanley’s psychologically riveting play currently running at Actors Theatre. What follows…
Music Reviews for 4-23-08
Elephant ShellTokyo Police Club(SADDLE CREEK) No one would accuse Canada’s Tokyo Police Club of overstaying its welcome. The band’s 2006 EP, A Lesson in Crime, packed eight songs into a Minor Threat-approved 16 minutes, and their debut long-player Elephant Shell is in and out in 28. As it happens, this actually works in the band’s…
B-Sides (Music & Other Ephemera): R.I.P. Danny Federici
A sad, “They’re breaking up that old gang of mine” moment came when the news hit, this past Thursday, that a member of the E Street Band had passed on. No rockstar-lifestyle-takes-its-toll car crash and nothing drug-related. It’s an everyday occurrence for a pale-complected man in his 50s to finally exhaust a years-long fight against…
Bonanza at Schnitzelburg, Sonic booms, Smith”s
Thursday, April 24Springtime means the famous fish house Mike Linnig’s (9308 Cane Run Road, 937-9888) is open for business, and to celebrate, the Linnig folks are kick off a three-week music festival that lasts until May 11.The event, cosponsored by Budweiser, Pepsi and WAKY 103.5-FM, takes place on the restaurant’s 40-acre swath along the Ohio.…
A Crow regains his footing
LEO: This album seems very dark — even by Counting Crows standards — what happened in the last five years that made you more miserable than ever?Adam Duritz: Oh, I lost my fuckin’ mind, that’s it … I lost my fuckin’ mind … that was a major problem in the delay. Yeah, and I apologize…
