Cover Story
What’s Wrong with “Right-to-Work”
The specter of so-called right-to-work laws, much to the dismay of working families, is sweeping the nation. The story of right-to-work pits Democrats against Republicans, management against workers and, historically, white supremacists against socialists. The term right-to-work (RTW) refers to a type of law that allows workers in a unionized facility to opt out of…
Listen to A Lion Named Roar’s new EP two weeks early
It’s been a busy year for A Lion Named Roar and things are only going to pick up in the foreseeable future. Their forthcoming EP, “Mano a Mano” — which you can stream below right now — will be released on April 28. And this isn’t going to be the only new music that you…
Buy the ticket, take the ride: Four LEO contributors recap GonzoFest
Michael: Though the brilliance and madness of Hunter S. Thompson deserves a lasting legacy, the commodification of Thompson as a hard-living creative rogue keeps brushing dangerously close to college dorm fare a la shirtless Jim Morrison and Bob Marley rising against the oppression of your RA’s newly-imposed hall curfew. It’s a common fate for the…
LEO Playlist 4/13
1) “Foreign Object” by The Mountain Goats, who play at Headliners on Tuesday, April 21. 2) “Coming Home” by The Misty Mountain String Band, who plays The Tim Faulkner Gallery on Friday, April 17. 3) “Family” by Chance The Rapper, who plays The Louisville Palace on Thursday, April 16. 4) “Devils Look Like Angels” by…
Daredevils and renegades: An extensive guide to local comic book stores
Comic books are all over popular culture these days, from television and film to music and fashion. And while it’s no secret that blockbuster movies like Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy and The Avengers made a killing, the craze has contributed a boost for the source material as well over the past few years, although the…
Old Forester with cinnamon, “pub-style” brunch and 90s hip-hop: Sunday funday at The Monkey Wrench
There’s something indescribably magical about a Sunday spent brunching amongst friends, sipping bubbly mimosas, reminiscing about the relaxing weekend that’s soon to come to an end. For bartenders, however, and the service industry in masses, there’s truly nothing like a Sunday following a brutally busy weekend slinging drinks, propelling booze into the mouth holes of…
Quantity with quality: ?Jonathan Glen Wood’s creative outburst
Jonathan Glen Wood is a burgeoning musical force that defies any boundaries set by genre or expectation. Wood has an extensive and ever-growing musical resume performing with acts like Sutherland/Wood, Old Baby, Jaye Jayle and Sexy Minotaur (which features local punk/indie legend Catherine Irwin). In addition to that, Wood has maintained a robust solo output,…
b-sides: Daikaiju
Daikaiju The Japanese word “kaiju” translates to “strange creature,” which couldn’t possibly compliment the sound of Daikaiju, surf metal legends from Alabama, any better. Continuing a tradition started by bands like Man-or-Astroman? or Servotron, Daikaiju doesn’t just put on a great show, they live that persona as monsters of surf metal. That their interview remains…
Dr. Dundiff: Frenemies With Benefits
With the release of “Frenemies With Benefits,” Dr. Dundiff proves why he is one of the premiere producers in town. A truly remarkable album that displays the good doctor’s talents behind the desk, this is a master’s class in how to engineer catchy beats with broken rhythms. The production skews to the sample heavy, beat…
Lydia Burrell: Safe
Describing Lydia Burrell is surprisingly difficult. They sound familiar and comfortable with a very bright indie sound, but singer-songwriter Alex Smith has an incredible ear for dynamics and melody that elevates the music in a professional way that always privileges form over function. Every note and sonic nuance seems deliberate, as if this isn’t just…
Phourist and the Photons: In Infinite Indigo
Phourist and the Photons, fronted by local songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Nick Hill, has worn a lot of musical hats in the band’s short life. Quirky tunes like “The Wave and the Powers That Be” might cast the trio (at the moment, at least) as an indie-pop band. But the new eight-song album, “In Infinite Indigo” (out…
Blind Tigers: Mosquito
For lo-fi garage rock with straightforward guitar hooks and barebones, heavy-handed drumming mixed with generally icy vocals, there’s a lot going on with “Mosquito,” the debut from Blind Tigers. The chugging guitars and the explosive drums set the pace of the entire album, which mostly works in their favor, sounding more cohesive than dull, for…
THEATER: A Flurry of Festivals: Humana and Finnigan
Some 30 years ago, a New York Times critic repeated what was then a pretty common assessment of Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival of New American Plays: that the typical play dealt with “four people sitting at a dinner table.” Though that was never completely true, such plays are still staples of modern drama…
Plugged In (Apr. 8 – Apr. 14)
WED April 8th Comstock Concert Hall: University Student Composers; 8 p.m. Diamond Pub (St. Matthews): Devereaux Trio Expo Five: Ryan Cabrera, Secondhand Serenade Gerstle’s Place: Kimmet & Doug; 9 p.m. Stevie Rays Blues Bar: Jenny and the Jets; 8:30 p.m. The Hideaway Saloon: The Pranksters; 10 p.m. Third Street Dive: The Living Deads, Nulydedz; 9…
Under African Skies
“Is it possible that my first exposure to world music was through The Lion King?” This is the thought I was toying with while watching the Broadway production that came to town recently. I remembered being obsessed with African music in my teens, but the first time I heard those tribal sounds, outside of a…
ART: The Price of Progress: Losing the Homeland
If it is true that home is where the heart is, then Robb Hill’s heart is in the land that surrounds Utica, Indiana. The documentary photographer, who has lived in the big cities of Chicago, Washington, D.C. and now Atlanta, is concerned by the changes currently happening to his rural childhood playground. “Nine years ago…
BOOK: Clash of the Titans:
It’s practically an aural dessert to be in conversation with Alexander McCall Smith. On the phone from Edinburgh, he serves up plummy, deep intonations with a whisper of burr. The listener should savor these by the spoonful — whether the prodigious author of worldwide best-sellers is describing his preferred vacations (exploring sailing routes among islands…
COMEDY: The Jamie Kennedy conflict
Jamie Kennedy is a very unique brand of pop culture icon. Like Anthony Michael Hall before him, he is the kind of zeitgeist figure that isn’t unilaterally maligned, and not universally loved. Kennedy is neither overrated nor underrated, he is exactly as famous as he should be, while the public remains exactly as indifferent as…
Video Tapeworm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEAKS JOE 90: THE COMPLETE SERIES 1968; $21.98; UR Never broadcast in America, this is the final chapter in Jerry Anderson’s amazing SuperMarionation career, and arguably his best. Set in “the future,” Joe McClaine is a bright young 9-year-old whose scientist-father invents BIG-RAT, a machine that transfers knowledge and expertise from one…
Con Huevos tienes buena comida
For months now, I’ve been watching the vacant little Clifton storefront where Sari Sari Filipino used to be with a joyous anticipation not unlike a kid waiting for Christmas. Or maybe Christmas with a touch of Cinco de Mayo thrown in. It all started when a little sign went up in the window last winter.…
A bourbon-soaked ?time machine
Louisville, Kentucky: the land of fast women, beautiful horses and a history so deeply rooted in distilling bourbon you can’t walk down Whiskey Row without catching a contact buzz. We Louisvillians are proud of our heritage, so much so that we’re offended when out-of-towners have the audacity to drink Tennessee whiskey in our city —…
Sharing is Caring
I received much discourse after the publishing of my last article, featuring a small excerpt from my autobiography, The Coronation, to be released in 2016. Much of the discussion I’ve had in the last week led me to this article, to discuss the importance of sharing your story. I begin this piece with words from…
Cassiodorus Festival 2015
And so we have arrived at that awkward time in Louisville between basketball and full-frontal Derby. Clearly, we need something exciting to celebrate during this gloomy expanse when there’s nothing much to do but pack our Cards lululemons into summer storage, break out our jorts and forlornly weep into our Mike’s Hard Lemonades. Might I…
The Right to Work… For Less
It is difficult to argue with the way the world should work in the Republican Party’s alternative universe. You don’t have to worry about protecting the environment, and eliminating food stamps will motivate the laziest among us to pursue a better life. You get to use catchy phrases like, “give a man a fish and…
Inbox (April 8, 2015)
Fake News Fun While it would be impossible to not put out a fake news issue on April Fools Day, there’s a lot to be said for the legendary singing mathematician, Tom Lehrer’s, oft-quoted remark that political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1973. In spite of your…
