Cover Story
Loserville 2008
A STAFF REPORT Welcome to our first Loserville Awards. Here you’ll find 50 ruminations on the past year of screw-ups, hack-jobs, short-fallers and people who’ve generally blown their public trust — and, incidentally, entered our lives in a sort of sideways, wholly unpleasant way. We criticize because we care, so if you find yourself on…
WEB-ONLY: Market inefficiencies
To Whom It May Concern: Included in this envelope is a personal check for the amount $79.11 to cover my cellular phone account expenses from June 6 to July 5. You may notice, however, that the included bill indicates that I owe $112.34. The aforementioned account balance of $79.11, which I am paying today, was…
Book Smart: Book Report 2
(By Karen Salyer McElmurray. Sarabande; 269 pgs., $15.95.) The second installment of the Linda Bruckheimer Series in Kentucky Literature doesn’t spend too much time in Kentucky. (Come to think of it, neither did last year’s inaugural volume.) But you wouldn’t want to miss out on some beautiful dancing among the subplots, which twirl through…
Community Listings
LEO Weekly is happy to list events of community interest, but if you’re trying to sneak an ad in here, forget it. Items are published on a space-available basis. The deadline is WEDNESDAY at 4 p.m. Send e-mail to listings@leoweekly.com. No listings taken over the phone. Please include a daytime phone number. Timely events must…
Book Smart: Feature
The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For (By Alison Bechdel. Houghton Mifflin; 384 pgs., $25.) Two years ago, Alison Bechdel unexpectedly rose to fame with her graphic memoir “Fun Home.” Each square inch of that outrageously addictive book showed the kind of meticulous attention to detail that ought to make most memoirists want to…
Silent note
I went on a day hike once in New Mexico with my older brother and sister. It was a pretty day, and the terrain, to a kid who had never been west of St. Louis, was otherworldly. As we walked through a labyrinth of bizarre prehistoric rock formations and scrambled over huge boulders, we talked…
Book Smart: Carmichael’s Top 5 Staffpicks
1) The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British by Sarah Lyall (nonfiction) — It’s not a travel book, and it’s not comprehensive. It has a wealth of information, research and incisive observation about living in Britain and how it’s different from here. I never thought dentistry, PM Question Time or the lack of…
The Video Tapeworm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS DEATH RACE 2008; $29.95-$39.95, R/UR Obviously inspired by Roger Corman’s seminal “Death Race 2000,” a cross-country car race where drivers get points for killing pedestrians, this Jason Statham outing is pretty much the same thing, except set within the walls of a near-future prison. Joan Allen is the sexy warden who…
Who are you?
When I was in college, I was introduced to a theory that the early success of the Beatles was due, in no small part, to the fact that their songs were loaded with pronouns. Because they weren’t limited by the appearance of proper names (like Richie Valens’ hit “Donna,” for instance), Beatles songs like “She…
Inbox — Dec. 17, 2008
Eat Small I read with interest Kathryn Green’s response to Robin Garr’s dining review about the closing of Seviche off of Westport Road (LEO Weekly, Dec. 3). It seemed she didn’t like his “generalization about our city’s population pockets.” I would like to remind her that the shoe fits on the other foot. I get…
B-Sides
Newgrass revival The Bluegrass Hotel, a Victorian mansion in Cherokee Park, was a home to the newgrass movement in the 1970s. This updated twist on bluegrass was led by artists like Sam Bush, J.D. Crowe, Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice, among others. This Saturday, some of those luminaries were on hand to announce the Bluegrass…
To save face, General Motors should save Saturn
If you ever commit a serious crime, one that you perpetrate with others, if you are caught and urged to rat out your friends, remember this: He who makes the first deal gets the best deal. That’s why Wall Street and big banking got $700 billion without so much as a stipulation attached, but Congress…
Staffpicks
Wednesday, Dec. 17 Bon Iver, part II Bon Iver’s back to try again for a wintertime show. Justin Vernon’s indie acoustic band was bogged down by the weather and didn’t play as scheduled in March. Since then, the world has discovered the many charms of his almost-one-man-band debut disc. For Emma, Forever Ago came…
Book Smart: Forgotten Classics
The Ant and the Peacock: Altruism and Sexual Selection From Darwin to Today (By Helena Cronin. First published 1991.) Helena Cronin, who studied philosophy before she became a researcher in zoology at the University of Oxford, was a pioneer in that ever-expanding body of scientists who write compellingly for an unscientific audience. The ant…
Aftertastes
The Colonnade, Louisville Antique Mall, 834 E. Broadway, 749-3105. “The tradition continues,” its proprietors say, but with some differences: The “new” Colonnade is more upscale, a marked difference from the old show in the Starks Building basement. The menu includes traditional Kentucky dishes such as the Louisville Hot Brown and Benedictine. (Reviewed 10/7/08; Rating: 78)…
Acoustic vortex; Born again; Cause and effect
Friday, Dec. 19“Oh, the noise!” Wasn’t that the part of Christmas the Grinch hated most? As usual, the week leading up to the holiday is a bit thin with concerts, but some musicians offer relief from the typical, commercialized seasonal blare. The return of California acoustic guitarist and singer John McCormick sets up the perfect…
Book Smart: Book Report 1
(By Lisa Westmoreland-Doherty. Schiffer Publishing; 128 pgs., $14.99.) I pride myself on knowing about Louisville’s historical architecture and districts, but this book held some surprises for me. The 19th century is well represented here: Old Louisville is the nation’s largest Victorian neighborhood. We have the second largest concentration of buildings with cast-iron façades (behind…
Eats potpourri: tuna, tacos and more
It’s holiday season, and I’m sitting over here making my list of a handful of restaurant and food reports that have piled up on my desk in recent weeks. There’s no naughtiness in my report: It’s all nice — and tasty, too. For this week’s excursion, let’s have a quick look at Bombay Grill, yet…
Bad Santa
“OK Punky, it’s time!” I kneel down beside my 4-year-old daughter, who is freshly scrubbed, beribboned and dressed in her holiday best. “Do you remember what you’re asking for?” “A pink horse and a Peekaboo Barbie shop,” my daughter recites solemnly, “and a house for my princess dolls.” We’ve been discussing Punky’s annual rendezvous with…
Endorsement: The shave
Farrell Stephens was terrified the first time he shaved a man’s face with a straight razor. Taking a blade to the face of a complete stranger can be rattling, in part because it’s so essential not to be rattled. “It’s almost like a Zen thing: You completely focus, you don’t pay attention to anything around,…
Congested concept
When you drop a stunning bit of information on Tyler Allen, his face falls into this weird contortion: It’s sort of a smile, with his lips bending slightly outward to reveal a straight line of teeth, and he nods emphatically in about three-word intervals, although the overall expression remains measured, restrained, like he’s alternately about…
“Milk” goes beyond the martyr
(Starring Sean Penn, Allison Pill, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch and James Franco. Directed by Gus Van Sant. Rated R; 2:08. LEO Report Card: A) The success of “Milk” proves that when the necessary ingredients come together, the right film will be made. Scripts based on the life of San Francisco politician Harvey Milk bounced around…
The Bar Belle
All right, people. I don’t put my liver on the line all year long for nothing. Here’s my Christmas list. Send gifts to: LEO Weekly (Attn: Bar Belle), 640 S. Fourth St., Louisville, KY, 40202. • Free City Scoot for a year • No hangovers for a year • Bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 15-Year…
It pays to aide
For weeks Mayor Jerry Abramson has scrambled to fill the city’s $20 million deficit, urging the Metro Council to voluntarily participate in four furlough days to help the city save some much-needed cash. A handful of council members refused, arguing their staffers should not be asked to sacrifice in such tough economic times. In response,…
WEB EXCLUSIVE: New metro ethics ordinance closer to passage
After a healthy debate that forged key compromises and amendments, the Metro Council’s Rules, Ethics and Appointments Committee voted unanimously today for a new ethics ordinance that will come before the council this Thursday. “I think it’s a very strong, transparent ordinance that will hold people accountable for their transactions and activities,” says Councilman Ken…
