Spunky doesn”t give a damn: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A DOG-TRAINING CLASS
“If you act like you’ve got 15 minutes, it’ll take all day. If you act like you’ve got all day, it will take 15 minutes.” —Monty Roberts,aka the Horse Whisperer I am sitting in a lawn chair, one of those green kind that come in their own knapsack with the drawstring. You know the type;…
Staffpicks for 2-20-2008
FRIDAY, FEB. 22Doug does radio Doug Hoekstra splits his brain between short fiction and songwriting, but he says if he were forced to choose, “Music is my first love.” Hoekstra’s traveled steadily promoting his new record, Blooming Roses, as much as his 2006 book of short stories, “Bothering the Coffee Drinkers,” at times stopping midway…
Connected Diss: Clinton v. Obama — it”s the wrong question
I am still in recovery from the e-mail avalanche that ushered in Super Tuesday. Before it was over, my inbox looked like it had been used for a bad re-enactment of the Hatfields and McCoys. Passionate missives after angst-filled explanations from friends, relatives and people I’ve never heard of explaining why it is SO important…
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…
Summary of My Discontent: Summary of y”all are crazy
Two weeks ago, I asked readers to propose a new name for this column, which, like Uranus and Cheez Whiz, needed a moniker makeover. The response was rather amazing. I received more than 100 suggestions, most of which were good and many of which were downright brilliant. In fact, they were so good that brand…
What A Week
-2Gov. Beshear unveiled his blackjack plans, proposing 12 Kentucky casinos — including one in Louisville — that could generate $600 million. The proposal faces stiff opposition in the Senate, which responded by passing a bill to ban health insurance for gay partners of state workers and one to require women to get an ultrasound before…
¡ ASK A MEXICAN ! Special Spanish edición
Q Dear Mexican: Why do you suppose Mexico has such a hard time getting its act together? It has vast natural resources, good climate, natural ports, super-generous and good-looking neighbors, and plenty of laborers whom seem to be willing to do all sorts of crappy jobs. But instead of having a thriving economy and an embarrassment…
High on the mountaintop
Advocates descend on Frankfort to persuade lawmakers to help stop mountaintop removal mining in Eastern Kentucky. Is anyone listening?We’re standing outside the home of Todd and Barbara Bailey, a sprawling one-story perched on a slight hill just off Kentucky Route 7 in Hueysville, on a bitter-cold February afternoon. Todd is showing me a crack in…
Booze is back in two precincts
The latest installment of the wet-dry vote in West Louisville’s Shawnee neighborhood is setting up a legal battle that could potentially go to the Kentucky Supreme Court. In late January, Circuit Court Judge Martin McDonald dismissed the lawsuit filed by convenience storeowners, effectively enforcing last year’s 86-percent vote in favor of turning four Shawnee precincts…
Mug Shots: Gravityheads, unite
For some, gravity is the fundamental law, although gymnasts defy it on a daily basis. Astronauts do their work in its absence. When it comes to beer, gravity can mean either a process or a measurement. A gravity pour is when a beer is dispensed from an old-fashioned British keg called a “pin”…
Booksmart: Events for the book-smart
Send information about upcoming literary events to listings@leoweekly.com and include “book smart event” in the subject line. Deadlines are the second Wednesday of the month. Okolona Library Branch (7709 Preston Hwy., 245-7332) — Urban Fiction Book Discussion with Omar Tyree, Sister Souljah, Zane and Eric Jerome Dickey, Feb. 20, 6:30pm, free; African-American Genealogy…
Booksmart: Poem
A Fallen Maple by Ian Uriel Girdley My hand brushes across a branch fondling the ? leaves like? fingertips of ? lost lovers,? the tree leans ? over crying,?? later is broken ? up for fire. It still burns? under a griddle? as I pour maple? syrup over pancakes and ? contemplate…
Booksmart: Reviews
I Speak of the City: Poems of New YorkEdited by Stephen Wolf. Columbia University Press; 352 pgs., $24.95. Thomas Merton writes aphoristically that New York is Rich as a cake, common as a doughnut/Expensive as a fur and crazy as cocaine in his poem “Hymn of Not Much Praise for New York City,” included…
Booksmart: National Book Award winner, feminist writer at Conference
There’s a veritable army of cultural academics and artists in town this week for a literary conference that’s now in its 36th year. The public’s invited along and, considering the magnitude of variety among the covered topics, those who read widely or want to see where the status and direction of the humanities today might…
LEO’s Eat ‘N’ Blog: We bring the heat in icy February
It’s cold. Too darn cold. Ice-on-the-sidewalk, snow-on-the-roof bone-chattering cold, and I don’t like it one bit. April and its green leaves and balmy breezes can’t come too soon for me. In the meantime, when it comes time to warm the inner man, I look for something hot and spicy to sear my palate and warm…
Cable Boxing (LEO’s Weekly Television Rehash): “Breaking Bad” one toke over the line?
Breaking BadEpisode 4: “Cancer Man” AMC, Sundays, 10 p.m., aired Feb. 17. Starring Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, R.J. Mitte, Aaron Paul, Dean Norris and Betsy Brandt. Synopsis: The DEA suspects there’s a new drug kingpin operating in Albuquerque. Walt and Skyler reveal Walt’s diagnosis to the rest of the family. Jesse makes a surprise visit…
Comedy Preview: Look out below: Preachers” kids gone wild
There are two clichés among many that stand out when thinking of faith-based comedians and preachers’ kids. One is the religious (usually Christian) comedian who performs a full set then closes by telling the audience (usually teens) how salvation pulled them from the pits of hell, out-of-control sex, sharing needles with circus animals, etc. —…
Visual Arts Preview: “The Rape of Europa” debuts at Jewish Film Fest
What’s the most important art heist in history? The theft of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” comes to mind, or even the removal of 12 important works from the Gardner Museum in Boston. Not even close. Multiply those by a million to get the largest art robbery conducted by the Nazis during World War II.…
Aftertastes for 2-20-08
MERIDIAN CAFÉ, 112 Meridian Ave., 897-9703. This cozy St. Matthews lunch spot has always attracted crowds, but now they made a good thing even better by adding a bunch of appetizing breakfast dishes. Menu choices include “light breakfasts” like grilled banana walnut bread to “Meridian Classics” like pastrami hash. (Reviewed 1/9/08; Rating: N/A) LIMESTONE RESTAURANT,…
CD Reviews for 2-20-08
The Golden AgeAmerican Music Club(MERGE)For AMC’s ninth studio album, I expected Mark Eitzel & Co. to come out of the gate like a depressed, narcoleptic horse that bucks me when it kicks into high gear and drags me rocking toward the finish line with jagged guitar daggers and wailing vocals stressing Eitzel’s “the bar is…
B-Sides: MUSIC & OTHER EPHEMERA for 2-20-08
GuidesYou’re an independent band who wants to go out on the road, and you want to know where you can play.Buy the “Indie Venue Bible.” Pronto. Big Meteor Publishing probably earned its name making this sucker: The bible contains 26,000 live music venues in the United States and Canada, from your church halls, coffee shops,…
Sight Unsound: Shannon”s rites; Guv”nahs tear up the South
Saturday, Feb. 23Shannon Wright often seems to have one foot out the door of the music biz.Given her considerable composing and performing talents, that’s just one more reason you should check her out while you can. And it doesn’t hurt at all that her upcoming appearance is accompanied by a gathering of much of the…
Video Tapeworm: Releases through Tuesday, Feb. 26
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS30 DAYS OF NIGHT2007; DVD $28.95-$38.95, RWow! Simply the scariest damned thing we’ve seen in a coon’s age! Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston and Ben Foster star in this clever, splatter-happy comic-booker/vampire movie, set in a town in the frozen North where the sun doesn’t rise but once a month! Clever,…
