Cover Story
Unlimited
Joseph Cornell Jr. liked to think inside the box. One of four children born to middle-class Dutch parents, he was painfully shy and rarely left Flushing, N.Y., where he lived for most of his life. Behind closed doors, junior’s creativity thrived. He dabbled in abstract filmmaking, but his forte lay in collecting souvenirs, old print…
Sleeping with the enemy: Freeway Ricky Ross
On Thursday, my community partner LeBron Seay and I are bringing former drug trafficker “Freeway” Ricky Ross to speak in Louisville. Since announcing this, we have been peppered with “Why would you invite a guy like that? What’s the point?” We’re sleeping with the veritable “enemy.” Well, I say this: Have you looked at our…
Film: Derby City rides again
If you build it, they will come. Provided there’s ample parking. And the weather cooperates. And there’s nothing decent on TV. So goes the lament of film fest organizers everywhere. Although these galas are something we generally claim to enjoy — some would even call them a key strand of a city’s cultural fiber —…
Plugged In
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 the show happens. We do not accept listings via social networking sites. Wed. Feb.…
Profanation (Preparation for a Coming Darkness)
Evidence that somebody, at some point, was listening to generic, thin-toned grunge rock and thought: “This music would be perfect, if only it had some abrupt, airy, metal guitar solos and vocals delivered by a Decepticon.” In addition to this insanity, Praxis delivers a cut combining frat-rock with angry Jamaican rapping, aimlessly improvised instrumentals, a…
Staffpicks
Thursday, Feb. 17 The Real Rick Ross Comstock Auditorium, School of Music University of Louisville • 852-5985 Free; 4 p.m. For years, hip-hop artists and Hollywood directors have mimicked a version of former drug trafficker “Freeway” Ricky Ross’ life, but the biography isn’t fiction. Growing up in Los Angeles as a gifted athlete, Ross eventually…
Book: Are you a zombie, a spaceship or a wasteland?
Zombie Spaceship Wasteland By Patton Oswalt. Scribner; 195 pgs., $24. Patton Oswalt is probably best known as the voice of Remy the rat in “Ratatouille,” or perhaps for his role as Spence on “The King of Queens,” but he is beloved by nerds, geeks and fanboys the world over as a hilarious and nerd-friendly stand-up…
Culture: Podcasts You Might Be Missing
First of all, a shout-out to the many readers who have written in, phoned or stopped me in the street to enlighten me about podcasts I might be missing. It’s so swell to know you care! Seriously, it is. The main thing I’m hearing is that I need to bring more “authentic” podcasts to the…
The Taste Bud: Chicago Gyros is worth a second look
I drive by Chicago Gyros nearly every day. I know exactly where it is, tucked away at 2317 Brownsboro Road across from the McDonald’s and Dirty Kroger, and yet I rarely stop. It’s as if my eyes simply stopped seeing it one day. “That’s the issue I have been having,” says owner Tom Hufstetler. “Anytime…
Arise, Great Warrior
On The Fervor’s latest, Arise, Great Warrior, the drama is more subdued than the title might suggest. From the opening track’s first couple of somber minutes to the point where it eventually kicks into overdrive, dynamics are vast but contained. Husband-and-wife duo Natalie and Ben Felker remains at the forefront, with the former’s laconic vocals…
Sixth & Jefferson
Problems surrounding a jobs-for-youth summer program are piling up for Councilwoman Judy Green, D-1, who now is being asked to resign in a complaint filed with the Metro Ethics Commission. Later this month, the panel will meet to determine whether it should hold a hearing or dismiss charges based on four grievances filed by Ray…
The Magic Place
“The Magic Place was a tree on our farm,” says Louisiana-raised Brooklynite Julianna Barwick. “It was in the back pasture. It was one tree that grew up, down and around. You had to crawl in, and once you were inside, it was like there were different rooms, and you could actually lie in the branches.”…
Natural Ones
Don’t get the wrong impression from the band name; there’s nothing “darling” about Those Darlins, the three-fourths-female garage-pop quartet from Murfreesboro, Tenn. Still in the infancy of their music career (their countrified, self-titled debut came out in 2009), the Darlins — vocalist/guitarist Jessi Darlin, bassist Kelley Darlin and baritone ukulele player Nikki Darlin — have…
Video TapeWorm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS: ALIEN VS. NINJA 2010; $24.95, UR From the people who brought you “Tokyo Gore Police” comes this simply hilarious, blood-drenched horro-comedy about a clan of ninjas in feudal Japan who battle savage, man-eating alien creatures to save Earth from destruction. Possibly the best movie of its type since “Army of Darkness”…
Theater: ‘Romantic Fools’ delights, but teases
Romantic Fools A production by Bunbury Theatre. Directed by John Campbell Finnegan. Continues through Feb. 27 at the Henry Clay Building, 604 S. Third St. For tickets or more information, call 585-5306 or visit www.bunburytheatre.org. A first date might be compared with a game of Twister. The rules seem simple enough and the game looks…
People Problems
It’s been five years since we’ve heard a peep from Austin-based pop outfit Oh No Oh My. They don’t call, they don’t write, and next thing you know, they’ve made a new, less cute record. Their self-titled debut garnered positive comparisons with The Shins and Simon & Garfunkel; People Problems is the band’s effort to…
Lose yourself
Since Valentine’s Day has come and gone, it’s time for my annual joke about making a New Year’s resolution to stop procrastinating. Ha ha, that one never gets old. On the other hand, considering my birthday is in the middle of February, I might argue that my “new year” is just beginning. There are many…
Date Night in the Garden of Eden
Two by two, couples filed into Petersburg, Ky.’s Creation Museum for “Date Night,” a Feb. 11 event billed as “a special evening (featuring) an inspiring message about love and the biblical view of marriage from Creation Museum founder Ken Ham,” according to the museum’s website. What better place to spend a romantic Valentine’s weekend evening…
Inbox — Feb. 16, 2011
Love Hurts OK, we get it — it’s the Me Millennium. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory has found it necessary to recalibrate its narcissism scale, and the American Psychiatric Association has decided to drop the diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder from the latest edition of their “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.” Nonetheless, the…
Super Coliseum
As part of the fourth annual Record Store Day on April 16, Coliseum and Superchunk will release a split 7-inch of Misfits covers, with Superchunk taking on “Horror Business” and Coliseum contributing a version of “Bullet.” Two members of Superchunk — Mac MacCaughan and Laura Ballance — founded Merge, the influential Chapel Hill record label…
The Grape Escape: Wine from the South … of France
If you think about French wine, you’re likely thinking of Burgundy or Bordeaux, the regions that produce the most historic, sought-after and typically expensive French wines. If you’re a little more into wine, you’ll likely know about the wines of the Rhone Valley, Alsace, Champagne and the Loire Valley. Beyond that, for all but the…
I wish you warmth
It’s 83 degrees outside. A perfect summer day. You are in your backyard sipping lemonade and soaking up the sun. An Atlantic Monthly in your hands tastefully conceals the Entertainment Weekly you’ve hidden inside, which includes a vaguely critical feature about TV shows that exploit sexy young stars. To prove its point, it includes dozens…
Sahel Folk
Although Sahel Folk is Sidi Touré’s debut for Chicago-based Thrill Jockey records, the Mali-born singer and guitarist is no stranger to the international music scene. In 1976, a young Touré joined the Songhai Stars, one of Mali’s famed “regional orchestras” that frequently toured the western Sahel (the transitional zone between the Sahara Desert and the…
J. Harrod’s — comfy dining in Prospect
Local historians argue to this day about whether the Harrods Creek community (“Harrod’s” Creek before the U.S. Postal Service deleted the nation’s apostrophes) takes its name from Capt. William Harrod, one of Louisville’s first settlers in 1779, or James Harrod, the pioneer explorer who founded a fort at what is now Harrodsburg, Ky., in 1774.…
No Witch
Perhaps someday, The Cave Singers will look back on this period and see it as schizophrenic wilderness years, lost and hungry for its definitive sound. They’ve released three albums in a little over three years, with this supposedly an effort to expand their sound. Problem is, despite added choral voices and a few treats toward…
