Cover Story
Recession proof
James Hoover knew he was behind on payments, but seeing the sheriff in his driveway with foreclosure papers was still a shock. After all, he thought he had a deal with the bank. During the heady days of the housing bubble, a broker called Hoover promising huge savings if he refinanced his home loan.…
Readers’ Choice 2010 Online Ballot
LEO Weekly Readers’ Choice 2010: Online Ballot
Tin Can Trust
After speaking out against controversial immigration policies in Arizona, Los Lobos makes another aural statement. Touting an uninterrupted lineup for more than two decades, Los Lobos has put out their first original work in four years. Tin Can Trust is right in line with what they’re known for. True to form, they seduce with two…
Plugged In
Wed. Aug. 11 11th Frame: Karaoke with Allen; 9 p.m., free (R) BBC 4th Street: Open Mic with Ashley Burchett; 7 p.m., free, (R) The Bard’s Town: The Hump Day & Grind Karaoke Spectacular; 9 p.m. Bearno’s Highlands: Open Mic with Teneia Sanders; 8 p.m., free Bearno’s New Albany: Eight-Inch Elvis Acoustic; 8 p.m., free…
Ivory tower
Pianist Herbie Hancock has been in the forefront of jazz since the early 1960s, including his high-profile tenure as part of the legendary 1963-68 lineup of the Miles Davis Quintet. His solo recordings began a year earlier, and he was a much sought-after pianist for countless jazz recording sessions. Yet from early on, he has…
Eyes wide open
“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” —British Prime Minister Winston Churchill “Journalists aren’t supposed to praise things. It’s a violation of work rules almost as serious as buying drinks with our own…
Divine Magness
By the time she turned 16, Janiva Magness had lost both parents to suicide. She wound up living on the streets, then entered the foster care system. At 17, she was an unwed mother who gave up her baby for adoption. Her life pivoted sharply upon seeing Otis Rush at a Minneapolis nightclub. Rush, a…
The Suburbs
Over time, hype machines leak oil and lock up. On Arcade Fire’s third, you’ll decide whether you like this band forever, or were drunk on superlatives. Buoyed by a majestic live show, the band’s in-studio methods are no less impressive, but their grandeur would’ve dulled after Funeral if not for rock-solid arrangements and singularity of…
Full House Head
It’s no minor achievement that Endless Boogie’s new album, Full House Head, appears only two years after their official debut. Uninterested in the careerism of the rest of the indie music community, Endless Boogie had been jamming in their Lower East Side practice space for years before they were persuaded almost a decade ago to…
Disbelief
Even as a child growing up in a devoutly Christian home, Carlo Kellem was uncertain about the existence of God. Splitting his Sundays between church services with his Catholic mother and Baptist father only raised more questions. “It really tripped me out how different their churches were,” the 31-year-old says. “I knew something was wrong,…
My Old Kentucky Thunderdome
FANCY FARM, Ky. — In 10 minutes, campaign season in the Bluegrass State will officially begin as it always does: With cheers, jeers and the venting of barbecue-induced political rancor. In 10 minutes, these three elements will combine to form the crux of the 130th annual St. Jerome Fancy Farm Political Picnic, but for right…
The Taste Bud: Got lunch envy? Try Red’s Comfort Foods
There’s a reason Da Louisville Lip, the spicy polish sausage at Red’s Comfort Foods downtown, has its name. “He always had a little spice,” Red’s owner, Robert “Butch” Martin, said of the fiery sandwich’s inspiration, Muhammad Ali. Red’s sits on the corner of Muhammad Ali and Armory, across from the former Louisville Gardens, in what…
Inbox — Aug. 11, 2010
Demand Justice In response to “Papers, please” (LEO Weekly, Aug. 4): Kentucky Jobs with Justice stands in solidarity with the people in Arizona who are facing anti-immigrant attacks from those who prefer to divide our country instead of build our communities. While a federal judge has called some of the provisions of Senate Bill 1070…
Staffpicks
Wednesday, Aug. 11 Suzanne Westenhoefer The Improv Louisville Fourth Street Live www.improvlouisville.com $20; 8 p.m. “When I first came out in ’90, and started traveling in ’92, they were terrified, horrified and upset,” said Suzanne Westenhoefer, one of the first openly gay comedians, in an interview with me last time she came through town in…
III
I’ve seen you here before. Nope, I know I’ve seen you. What’s your name again? That’s right, I forgot. Sorry, the brain’s foggy. You weren’t wearing those jeans last time, though. Those have to be new. Do you have a moment? You do? Then sit down and relax. Let’s get acquainted. What do you do?…
Rational nation
I’m all for committed relationships, but personally I’m just not the marrying type. When same-sex marriage is (eventually) legalized on the federal level, I don’t know that I will be running to City Hall in my wedding dress, or white tux, or whatever it is I might choose to wear. What I have a problem…
Video TapeWorm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS: DARK AND STORMY NIGHT 2009; $14.95, UR A labor of love from some of our WonderFest buddies. Daniel Roebuck (as “8 O’Clock Farraday”) leads a wacky cast in an all-out spoof of the 1930’s dark-house thriller — complete with moving-eyed paintings and a gorilla on the loose (who else but Bob…
Book: Finding the missing years in Louisville
With most sports franchises, the “missing years” probably occurred sometime long ago in the misty past. But that’s not the case for baseball in Louisville, where the good old days are actually quite well known — and intertwined with the origins of the game itself. The birth of the National League? Happened right here in…
There Will Be No Miracles Here
Chris Higdon’s return to rock might not have the orchestral sweep of Elliott’s later material, but his voice remains compelling, a blueprint for fans in search of the well Chris Carrabba and Gerard Way drank from. Now that he and guitarist Matt Wieder (Mouthpiece, The Enkindels) are older and smarter, they’ve distilled their experience into…
Looking for Mr. Goodlunch
If dinner is about dressing up, hitting the town and unwinding at the end of a long day of work, lunch has more to do with packing as much enjoyment as we can into a breather from the toil. Two recent arrivals downtown do a worthy job of satisfying the crave. Dishing at Dish Dish…
Film: Why are lesbians always sleeping with men?
I first saw “Chasing Amy” as a closeted 16-year-old working one summer at a video store, combing the aisles when no one was around in search of anything kind of gay. At the time, I had no clue that “Amy” was part of a legacy of films and TV shows that depict a much despised…
Good old golden rule days
As the days grow shorter and cooler by degrees, so increaseth the glossy Sunday advertisements of painfully happy and fashionable children shilling for Levi’s, Nike and Trapper Keeper (which, along with the personal organizer, utterly failed in their tasks of making me organized — I’d like my money back, please). Something still happens to my…
The Grape Escape: Are you tasting your share?
Americans aren’t doing their part in the worldwide wine-consumption sweepstakes. According to the Wine Institute, a trade association of mostly larger California wine producers, the United States ranks fourth in international wine production. But when it comes to per capita wine consumption, we stand at a dismal 34th. For all the wine we make, only…
Theater: Monkey business
Admit it, when no one else is around to listen, you talk to your cat as if he’s a person, because even though he’s an asshole and never wants to cuddle, he won’t tell you your hopes and dreams are stupid. Performer Amanda Rountree, who is vegan and likes to use analogies, doesn’t have any…
Unlikely allies
A federal judge is expected to rule soon on a motion by a regional transit group to join a pending lawsuit that remains a major obstacle to the Ohio River Bridges Project. In its request to intervene, the Coalition for the Advancement of Regional Transportation claims the Federal Highway Administration violated the National Environmental Policy…
Book: Local author rummages through Hollywood’s sordid past
For four years, Andrew Schanie was the mind behind the Last Call Film Festival, an event tailor-made for Louisville’s drunkest film fans. To nobody’s surprise, it always did well at LEO’s Readers’ Choice Awards. Before that, he was known as a member of the bands Teen Pregnancy! and Bodyhammer. Now, Schanie also is a published…
Blood of the Earth
Hawkwind’s first studio album in five years is a mind-warp from the British psych titans, now working on their 41st year. And you don’t need LSD to enjoy it. There are no signs of wear and tear, or that the band, which counts Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister and Deep Purple’s Ginger Baker among its alums, has…
