Meet the new boss
New U of L coach Steve Kragthorpe has an advanced degree in football — and an impressive family tree Just in case he ever needed a regular job, Steve Kragthorpe took some time away from football to earn a master’s degree in business at Oregon State University. U of L football coach Steve Kragthorpe.: Photo…
City Strobe
Blown awake: Young Republicans with spunkWhen Hoosier Republican Glenn Murphy Jr. abruptly resigned from his posts as chairman of both the Clark County Republican Party and the Young Republican National Federation, bloggers nationwide dashed to their online thesauri for clever oral sex synonyms. That’s because Murphy apparently didn’t resign to take a new job (after…
Representin”: The lone voter
Why was Doug Hawkins the only council member to vote against MSD’s rate increase? Doug Hawkins has gotten more than 50 e-mails since last Thursday thanking him for voting against a proposal to increase sewer rates by the Metropolitan Sewer District. Some are from constituents of the 25th district, in southwestern Jefferson County, which the…
Winners and losers: International trade may be good for Kentucky, but at what cost?
Rocket Man: is a local company with ties to international trade. They make these backpacks for dispensing liquid at sporting events and the like. A deal is signed in Washington. A rural Honduran farmer travels to the city in search of new work. A steel worker in Philadelphia suddenly finds herself out of a job.…
An air of indifference
Casey Clements: stands in the courtyard of his company’s small office complex in Butchertown. Clements is one of many neighbors unhappy with a proposed increase in Swift’s toxic emissions. Neighbors are gaining strength in numbers in the latest battle with Swift and The Big Pig Stench. Will the outcry be loud enough to finally get…
Rumor & Innuendo
The next legacy QB? Seems there’s a new kid in town, a freshman at prep power Trinity. His family moved here from Oklahoma when his daddy transferred jobs. The kid plays QB. Apparently very well. After watching practice, one source swears the wunderkind’s the best frosh QB he’s ever seen. That includes you-know-who, the homie…
False Dichotomies: This dog needs a bath
Slowly, quietly, a Metro Council subcommittee is doing the work that could help fix the controversial and badly flawed dangerous dog ordinance. Surely you recall that beast, which passed under duress after a nine-hour meeting at the end of 2006. I’ve read it, and I plan to ask my boss for a hazardous duty bonus.…
Bluegrass Beacon – Partisans of freedom
One reader e-mailed recently to accuse me of heresy for claiming not to care who wins November’s gubernatorial election. “That makes you a loud clanging gong,” he determined. “Pick a team and get in the game.” Judging from the ensuing e-mail stream, my general disinterest in the outcome of the current campaign, which will soon…
Connected Diss: A meditation for the new school year
Summer vacation ended abruptly in the Monday pre-dawn hours as JCPS students rolled out of bed to start a new year of reading, writing and ’rithmatic. As the school year unfolds, there will be the usual shortages of teachers, textbooks and equipment. What there won’t be is a shortage of military recruiters roaming freely through…
Erosia
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. CorrectionIn…
Film – Stardust
Stardust 2 starsStarring Claire Danes, Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sienna Miller and Charlie Cox. Directed by Matthew Vaughn. Released by Paramount Pictures. Rated PG-13; 2:08. “Stardust” contains enough magic-driven action to rival Harry Potter, but the movie is about as magical as a Muggle. Matthew Vaughn (whose resume includes the 2004 British gangster…
Video Tapeworm: Releases through Tuesday, Aug. 21
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS:REEL TALENT: FIRST FILMS BY LEGENDARY DIRECTORS2006; DVD $19.95, URA wildly inventive and entertaining selection of 12 short films, all of them representing the earliest works of soon-to-be-famous directors. Offerings from George Lucas include “1:42:08 A Man and His Car,” “Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB” and “Freiheit”; while Robert Zemeckis sends us…
Baryshnikov: The once and future master sows seeds
Baryshnikov: Photo courtesy of Hell’s Kitchen Dance and the Baryshnikov Dance Foundation It was 1991 when Mikhail Baryshnikov last graced a Louisville stage, in a performance at the Kentucky Center with the White Oak Dance Project, the contemporary dance troupe he founded with choreographer Mark Morris. That collaboration had begun the previous year, and it…
Staffpicks
Aug. 16-18Brides Against Breast Cancer Bridezillas will turn out en masse this weekend at the Brides Against Breast Cancer Charity Wedding Gown Sale. Based in Portland, the national organization takes donations throughout the year from bridal shops, designers and individuals for its fundraising sale. The event offers brides-to-be a chance not only to snag a…
Kentucky taps into arts to carry domestic violence message
‘Once you know something, you can’t unknow it’It would be difficult to prove scientifically, but it seems that about 99 percent of domestic violence discussions include statistics. Assertions such as one out of every three women will be a domestic violence victim or that sexual abuse occurs every 2½ minutes casually work their way into…
CD Reviews 8-15
BalanceChamberflow(EP)It can get worse than Balance, a lethargic gnome lost in a jungle of mediocrity, but not much. All bluster and no balls, this record genuflects at the altar of post-grunge alt-rock popularized by Our Lady Peace and Nickelback. Hey, you like what you like, but the failure here is that ChamberFlow hasn’t managed to…
Ditch the elephant ear. There”s life outside the Fairgrounds
Wallace Roney Friday, Aug. 17Wallace Roney hadn’t a clue as to what the master thought, and perhaps that was just as well. He thinks back to mid-’80s NYC, when his career — no, his education — took the unexpected turn of all turns. Columbia Records picked seven trumpeters, him included, to help celebrate Miles Davis’…
The Bar Belle
Tip sheetAs familiar as I am with both sides of the bar, I find myself constantly surprised at people’s ignorance when it comes to tipping, and common bar etiquette in general. How do I get the bartender’s attention? Why is this drink so weak? Do I need to tip for a beer — all they…
Chef Dan seeks out the little donkey
salsarita burrito When a top chef takes a break from cooking for other people and ventures out to dine on someone else’s fare, what goodies is he likely to choose? Ethereally trendy foams and smears and other cutting-edge num-nums of molecular gastronomy?Well, maybe. But if you ask Chef Dan Thomas, sous chef at Big Spring…
Modest Mouse”s Musical Magical Trick …
Modest Mouse: Photo by Wendy Lynch Tuesday, Aug. 21Isaac Brock has been a formidable figure in alt-rock since the mid-’90s. His band Modest Mouse has not only survived long after transition to a major label — they’ve managed to hang on to their fundamental sound. If you’ve heard the band at all, you know how…
Aftertastes
JARFI’S @ MELLWOOD, 1860 Mellwood Ave., 259-9888. Jarfi’s Bistro is a well-traveled mainstay at the Kentucky Center downtown; and now Jarfi’s @ Mellwood (inside the Mellwood Arts Center) offers a simpler version of owner Jeff Jarfi’s culinary imagination. The casual lunch spot offers up salads, wraps, sandwiches and more, and plans to open for dinner…
Book Smart – Fiction
GILLEY SUIT (CAMOUFLAGE)By Sheri Wright If we try to describe him,we won’t knowthe color of his hair,if his eyes are brown or blue, no standout feature,scars or tattoos. The cashier sees onlythe ten dollar bill in his hand. No one holds the elevator for him. As a child, he fastened on bits of shadowfrom dark…
Book Smart – Listings
Aug. 16, 7 p.m.: Book Signing — “Discipline” by Paco Ahlgren, Borders, 4600 Shelbyville Rd., 893-0133. • Aug. 18, 2 p.m.: Book Signing — “Dark Thirst” by Sarah Reinke, Barnes & Noble, 4100 Summit Plaza Dr., 327-0410. • Aug. 18-19, 10 a.m.: Book Sale — New, used, antique and collectible books for sale at discounted…
Book Smart – Book Reports
I Am A Strange LoopBy Douglas Hofstadter. Basic Books; 412 pgs. $26.95. “Luminous beings are we,” Yoda tells young Luke Skywalker, “not this crude matter.” This belief, embraced by millions besides Yoda, has long been set aside by science — but now Douglas Hofstadter, deep-thinking hipster of “Gödel, Escher, Bach” fame, tugs at mind and…
Book Smart – Off to good start, by way of Guyana
The Guyanese Wanderer: StoriesBy Jan Carew. Sarabande Books; 107 pgs., $15.95. The first book of a new series in Kentucky literature isn’t set in the bluegrass. Instead, this short-story collection is informed by the reflections of an author who has traveled the world and partaken and contributed to many art forms. Jan Carew has also…
Film – Becoming Jane
Becoming Jane 2 starsStarring Anne Hathaway, Julie Walters, James McAvoy, Maggie Smith and Jessica Ashworth. Directed by Julian Jarrold. Released by Miramax Films. Rated PG; 1:52. It would be grossly misleading to claim extensive knowledge of the work of Jane Austen. At least until now. The much beloved English novelist has had her books adapted…
