WEB EXCLUSIVE: Metro has $97 million in rainy day fund
Mayor Jerry Abramson has been saying Louisville Metro government has $65 million in its “rainy day” fund, money he does not want to tap into during this economic crisis. But in fact, the city has more than $97 million it its emergency fund. After criticizing the mayor earlier this week for not giving Metro Council…
Industry Standard: Insider info for those who dine out
Before I joined the restaurant industry, I often felt awkward when I was being seated at a restaurant. Is it OK to request a specific table? Is it OK to ask for a four-top when there are only two of us? Would it be OK to ask to sit by the fireplace? Good news: It…
MATISYAHU
Hasidic rap-reggae spiritualist Matisyahu will spend the week tracking at Downtown Recording Studios (515 S. Fourth St., 583-9966) in advance of his Dec. 6 show at Headliners (1386 Lexington Road, 584-8088). John Siket, who produced Sonic Youth’s 1995 album Washing Machine, will engineer and produce, Downtown’s Nick Stevens says. If it’s a new release, it…
Yes men; King’s crossing; MTV @ the Hill
Thursday, Dec. 4Falling somewhere between The Beatles and Megadeth, King’s X has plied its hard-rock harmonies for nearly 20 years. Thursday these tough Texans return for a show at the Phoenix Hill Tavern (644 Baxter Ave., 589-4957). Music starts at 8 p.m. Orange Sky and Superunknown open. Friday, Dec. 5Chico Fellini is an experimental pop-rock…
A most wonderful bird is the turducken
If you’ve never heard of the wondrous holiday bird called turducken, you just haven’t been paying attention. If you’ve ever seen and actually tasted one, you fall into a much more exalted category, as this Cajun feast is so difficult to prepare that it’s almost as rare as the dodo bird. Purportedly the invention of…
Rag Traveler
I wrote an article in LEO Weekly two years ago called “Good Morning Idiot Central.” It was an opinion piece about how I believed the media was irresponsible and fear mongering, constantly offering stories that infused panic in all of us. Hopefully you read it. Since then, the news certainly hasn’t improved, and it seems…
Magnum Opus
DJ Joe Dubb is back with his latest mix, Magnum Opus, highlighting new hip-hop from Louisville and points beyond. Some familiar faces and voices return via Skyscraper Stereo’s party cut “Put Em Up” and T. McAfee’s “Monday Night,” both recently reviewed in these pages. Another Louisvillian shows promise in the mouthful of a title, “The…
Alegranza
El Guincho’s Pablo Díaz-Reixa should throw the next Derby Eve Bash. Top to bottom, Alegranza, named after an uninhabited island off the coasts of Spain and Africa, overflows with the influence of two magnetic cultures. Diaz-Reixa, a former athlete and member of the group Coconut, is a sampling nerd, but the kind of nerd whose…
An open letter to the Angry Ford Worker: (You know who you are)
I understand why you’re upset. You feel attacked. The protected position your union provided you is being publicly dissected. The source of your employment hangs in the precarious balance. You lack the power to determine your own fate. Recently, you and some of your fellow United Automobile Workers union members have lashed out, blaming corporate…
Guillotine day at the C-J
By the time you read this, we’ll probably have in hand the casualty report for the latest round of layoffs at The Courier-Journal. This time, the figurative bloodbath is part of Gannett’s sweeping 3,000-employee layoff, the most substantial hack at the newspaper industry in history. My fundamental antipathy to Gannett notwithstanding — from USA Today…
Staffpicks
Dec. 4-6 ‘Nutcracker in a Nutshell’ It’s been a long-standing tradition to take the kids to the ballet to see “The Nutcracker”; if MAGIC Inc. (which stands for Making Art Grow in Children) has its way, there may soon be a tradition of giving the kids a chance to perform in a production of the…
The man and his rooster
You have to like a man who finds humor in roosters. Kentucky’s famous urban folk artist Marvin Finn (1913-2007) is best known for his colorfully painted wood sculptures. He definitely had a thing for chickens. “I saw an old magazine with a running chicken in it and saved the picture,” he once said. “I made…
B-Sides
Starting up the Caravan When Hayes Carll takes the stage at Phoenix Hill Tavern (644 Baxter Ave.) on Dec. 9, the show will symbolize more than a celebration of Americana — it’s the return of a series that’s long been dormant. In 2002, the nonprofit organization Blue Sky Kentucky launched the Americana Caravan Series, but…
Chinese Democracy
First off, this album is a sad, sad jumble of everything bad that has happened in hard rock over the past 17 years. I originally wanted to end my review there, as it explains everything more fully than any “explanation” ever could. Axl Rose (the only original member at this point) has spent the better…
City seeing red
The first round of spending cuts to help fill the city’s $20 million budget hole will include eliminating street paving through June, closing libraries and community centers one day a week, drastically slashing arts funding, and reducing spending in the Neighborhoods Department by 11 percent. These are just a handful of Mayor Jerry Abramson’s proposed…
The day Lassie went to the moon
Reviewing recent box office totals, you might think that the last quarter of 2008 has been very good for dog movies. When I last visited the subject (Oct. 9), I failed to note that Disney’s “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” opened that week at No. 1, scoring $29 million in its first weekend. I wouldn’t have thought…
Church of the Advent talks about hell
Let’s talk about hell. Yeah, so we just lost half our readers. But we didn’t bring it up; the Rev. Timothy Mitchell at Church of the Advent put it in his sermon. Blame him. No one — except a pastor who wants to scare people onto the membership rolls — enjoys the subject. All of…
Bush league, by and by
By the time you finish reading this column, I will have seen Oliver Stone’s film “W.,” and I swear I’ll tell you honestly if my suspicion that it is irresponsible trash was well-founded or not. Right now, though, allow me to gamble. It’s getting hard to hear the foghorn of reality over the persistent engine…
Bringing down the ‘Horse’
The corporate-chic coffee shop in the Seelbach’s lobby is a hipster stronghold amid the hotel’s otherwise Gatsby vibe. Today, it offers the perfect backdrop for a conversation with Brooks Ritter, a man who might very well be the best singer/songwriter/barista in town. The affable, soft-spoken Ritter sits down behind a fresh cuppa after clocking out…
The Bar Belle
To be a true navigator of the bar scene, you gotta have friends. Loyal friends. Friends who know you better than your first cousin. Friends who know your first cousin. Even friends who may have slept with your first cousin. During mating rituals, they’re known as wingmen or your flock of seagirls. They help you…
Splatters
The Speed Art Museum has extended the exhibition “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” through Jan. 18 and lowered the admission price. In addition, they’ve hired Suzanne Weaver as the new curator of contemporary art. They’ve also been promised more than 100 pieces of early Kentucky furniture and artifacts. “Louisville Landmarks & Legends” is…
Reissues
For “Blue Monday” alone, New Order is one of the all-time great bands, but the fact that they were able to produce tons of great tunes and albums solidifies the legend even further. As part of their plan to eventually re-release deluxe editions of every album in the Warner’s catalog, Rhino has gotten their hands…
Aftertastes
Dakshin Indian Restaurant, Eastland Shopping Center, 4742 Bardstown Rd., 491-7412. This recent arrival ranks as a favorite among the region’s Indian community. The menu is said to include at least one dish from every Indian state, from Tamil Nadu and the Malabar Coast to Kashmir and the Himalayas. (Reviewed 10/1/08; Rating: 86) THE Colonnade,…
What a Week
A handful of atheists are outraged that state law requires the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security to acknowledge “Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth.” Apparently, a Bible-thumping state lawmaker slipped the line into a piece of 2006 legislation. On Tuesday, a group of 10 atheists from across Kentucky filed suit…
Bleak Friday
On this cold, pre-dawn morning, I am right where I’m supposed to be: waiting in line at the Okolona Circuit City along with more than 100 people in dire need of their latest, price-slashed fix of digital crack cocaine; a fix that, if the media coverage of Black Friday offers any indication, could drive these…
Good housekeeping
Growing up in a museum isn’t easy. Oh, on the surface it seems exciting, particularly if you read that book that spawned a thousand juvenile fantasies, “From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,” in which a brother and sister run away and hide out in New York’s Metropolitan Museum. But in that…
Water woes
In response to criticism likening the Louisville Water Co.’s latest rate hike to a hidden tax, a Metro Council committee on Monday demanded answers about the 5.5-percent increase. Water company officials appeased the council and spent an hour outlining reasons to raise rates. But because the city has little oversight over the company, the hearing…
Inbox — Dec. 3, 2008
East End Ignorance Attention Robin Garr: I feel compelled to comment on your subjective dining review (Nov. 12, LEO Weekly) regarding the closing of Seviche on Goose Creek Road. In addition to your quick reference to the owner’s reason behind closing the doors to the restaurant, it seems you felt the overwhelming self-indulgent…
808s and Heartbreak
I hated this album before I heard a note. Kanye does autotune? I wouldn’t piss on T-Pain if he was on fire, and now I have to listen to Kanye singing for an hour? It’s one of the albums of the year. Part of it is America’s voyeuristic celebrity culture that I accept and “feel”…
Heart On
It’s always a pleasure to hear what the Eagles of Death Metal are up to, as so few bands these days can properly bring the rock. To properly bring the rock, an artist must possess the swagger, the sexy, the riffs and, above all else, a sense of humor. Naturally, the EoDM’s third album has…
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. Mail to 640 S. Fourth St., Louisville, Ky. 40202, fax to 895-9779 or send e-mail to listings@leoweekly.com. No listings…
The Video Tapeworm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS THE DARK KNIGHT 2008; $28.95-$64.95, PG-13 This explosive follow-up to the excellent “Batman Begins” finds Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne now completely dominated by his Batman persona, while the city’s criminals — and cops — focus all their attentions on ridding themselves of his interference. But it takes a true maniac —…
