Cover Story
Maher’d and Feathered
He got fired by a network for suggesting that flying airplanes into buildings is less cowardly than lobbing rockets at another country from a safe distance. He landed at HBO, where they don’t even bleep out the bad words — and he has been known to use one or two. His studio audiences skew left,…
The Blouprint
In contemporary hip-hop, one has to ask oneself: Which is more important, the emcee or the beat? What defines “good” in 2009? Take, for example, local emcee JaLin Roze and his latest project, The Blouprint. Of the disc’s eight tracks, seven borrow instrumentals from Jay-Z hits. The eighth borrows Jay’s 22-2s concept from his debut…
Bar Belle: The big, bad Bloody Mary
I like ’em spicy. I like ’em juicy. I like ’em loaded with goodies, heavy on the Worcestershire and thick like a porter on a cold day. This time of year goes perfectly with the succulent beverage. And like gambling at a Catholic picnic counts as going to church, I firmly hold to the belief…
Face a Frowning World: An E.C. Ball Tribute Album
Estil Cortez Ball was a singer and fingerstyle guitar player from Rugby, Va. Before he passed in July 1978, he wrote countless folk ballads with his wife, Orna. Louisville native Nathan Salsburg mined this trove hoping to expose Ball’s gut-level gospel to a wider audience. He chose his weapons wisely: Backed largely by The Health…
Jerry’s kids
Now that the hectic holiday season has officially begun, let us take a moment to stop and think about what we as a city — Metro employees, political candidates and citizens alike — actually have to be grateful for, despite a troubling economy and generally tough times. Although it might not be obvious at first…
3
The tone of 3 is consistent to a fault, defined by its distinct lack of presence — melodies so abstruse they seem to disappear completely; backing tracks so muted and inscrutable that the vocals may as well be a cappella. This is what makes the pair’s surprising cover of Rush’s “Subdivisions” such a welcome addition…
Dance: Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker’ gets a $1 million facelift
The Louisville Ballet’s annual production of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” ballet gets a major re-imagining for this holiday season, with all-new sets and costumes. A fresh stage treatment by San Francisco choreographer Val Caniparoli is also promised for the show, which runs Dec. 5-20 in Whitney Hall. The new “Nutcracker” creation now takes the name “Brown-Forman…
Japanese Heavy Rock Hits
This constantly experimenting Japanese heavy rock outfit has logged more than 20 releases since 1996, gaining attention after 2001 with a series of reissues by Southern Lord. Presently, their kick-ass image — Asian take on goth-meets-metal, triumphant posings with huge, double-necked guitars — is heavier than the music. That’s not a complaint: Their sound is…
B-Sides: A lift up
Chairlift (www.chairliftmusic.com) became one of 2009’s breakout acts the newfangled way: an iPod commercial. Apple used “Bruises,” off Does You Inspire You, for a Nano ad, and the ’lift has risen ever since. Patrick Wimberly, 26, squeezed in a few minutes to talk jazz radio, producing, and how he’s not a songwriter. LEO: How…
Preview: Dave Rawlings
With Gillian Welch’s prowess well documented, it’s high time her compatriot Dave Rawlings stepped to the fore. A Friend of a Friend, Rawlings’s debut, is familiar ground if you’ve followed his backup chops on Welch’s material. Rawlings revisits Louisville Friday following his performance at The Big Surprise Tour back in August. Joe Manning opens. …
Extreme makeover
Michael Brooks lives and breathes the California neighborhood. The 53-year-old has resided there his entire life, and he now works in the west Louisville community as well. After earning a master’s degree in conflict management in the spring, he founded the California Community Mediation Center, which is dedicated to helping residents and businesses resolve disputes…
Plugged In: Dec. 2-8
Readers are strongly encouraged to call ahead to verify these listings. To get your club, comedian, musical act or karaoke listed, please send e-mail to mherron@leoweekly.com with PLUGGED IN in the subject line. The deadline is NOON THURSDAY the week before publication. We do not accept listings via social networking sites. •Wed Dec 2…
Video TapeWorm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS: HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE 2009; $16.95-$35.95, PG/PG-13 Director David Yates pretty much throws away the book and does his own thing in this, the fifth of seven planned HP movies. A shame, too, because some of the best — and most evil — characters of the whole series were…
Industry Standard: Insider info for those who dine out
You’re out to dinner at a favorite restaurant with five good friends when you spot a notice in tiny print at the bottom of the menu: “An automatic gratuity of 18 percent will be added to parties of six or more.” You might be tempted to take umbrage. Perhaps you pride yourself on tipping well.…
Inbox — Dec. 2, 2009
Don’t Douche A bit of unsolicited yet, nevertheless, very valuable advice to Stephen George and Jim Welp, and any other LEO writer who thinks it is cool to use the word douchey. 86 it. Ralph Koslik, Highlands Come Together In response to “On the front lines” (LEO Weekly, Nov. 18): Though our responses are varied,…
Preview: Second Story Man’s strange and beautiful turns
Second Story Man’s new album, Screaming Secrets, is a strange and beautiful beast. Equal parts punchy rock and harmonic sweetness, littered with violins, banjos and other interesting textures, it may be their breakout album. It took two years of intensive work to complete, and at their CD release show, they will re-create the album in…
‘Graveyard of Empires’
There is sense to be made of the situation in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, it seems to be elusive in President Obama’s White House. As we enter the ninth long year of the war there, the response to 9/11 has become a cluster bomb of waste, abuse, fraud, war crimes, increased tribal conflict, death, destruction, and the…
First Look: Two tasty new ethnic spots
Adding more options to Louisville’s growing ethnic-eats scene, two interesting restaurants have opened in recent weeks, offering dishes that your mother never made at home … unless your mother came from the Caribbean or Barcelona. Cocos Lokos (“Crazy Coconut”) has been open for a few weeks in the Hunnington Place shopping center near I-64 at…
Ghosts of coaches past
I wasn’t sad to see Billy Gillispie go. Frankly, I would have given him a lift to the airport. Not long after Gillispie was heralded as the next great thing for Kentucky basketball, he proved to be a spoiled brat with an inflated ego of rock star proportion. Rarely was Billy G the paragon of…
