Cover Story
Zephyr Project: Where art meets commerce
On Man Bartlett’s desk on the second floor at Zephyr Gallery is a contraption that looks a bit like a guitar player’s distortion pedal, except there are two lights ever flashing — one red, one yellow. “I keep that there to remind me while I work,” he said. Bartlett is a New York artist who…
Staffpicks
Through Feb. 15 ‘Skin Deep’ Derby Dinner Playhouse 525 Marriott Drive Clarksville, Indiana derbydinner.com $36+; times vary There is so much good theater in this area — something for everyone. If you want one stop for dinner and a play, including pre-play dinner entertainment and a full bar, Derby Dinner Playhouse has got it. Their…
LEON: Coal-country Republicans respond to Obama’s emergency coal funding
Monday afternoon, the White House announced that President Obama is requesting $55 million in aid for the hard hit areas of Appalachia, particularly those affected by the shrinking number of coal jobs. The funds will go to promote job creation and training programs for the unemployed, and help diversify small, local economies. Kentucky is still…
LEON: Michael Moore announces plans for ‘most obnoxious theme park ever’
Controversial filmmaker and activist Michael Moore has announced plans to spearhead construction of the “most obnoxious theme park ever.” The park’s attractions will feature the highlights of Moore’s most prominent protests and controversies, including: Shoots and Ladders, a Middle Eastern sniper adventure Drones and Snowcones, a bystander’s perspective Sicko Food Court Bowling for Columbine Lanes…
LEON: NYC Mayor de Blasio to seek Gov. Christie’s advice on how to be a dick to public employees
New York City mayor, Bill de Blasio, has arranged to meet with New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, in the wake of the mayor’s recent feuds with the city’s police officers. According to a statement from the mayor’s office, the purpose of the meeting is for the mayor to better understand how to be a dick to…
An easy charm: Sarah Jaffe plays Clifton Center
When I spoke with Sarah Jaffe, her easy charm was immediately apparent. To simply call her affable is an understatement. This, coupled with a genuine sense of humility doesn’t only appear during conversation, but they both also live in her music. A veteran, with more than a decade of experience, Jaffe has an already extensive…
Shit talk and trucker walk: ?A Q&A with Kawehi
Kawehi (Ka-vay-hee) got her start as a singer-songwriter but felt limited by the format. When she recorded a version of Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” using a loop machine everything changed. LEO recently caught up with Kawehi and talked to her about her sound, trucker walk and shit talk. LEO: Tell me about your background and sound?…
b-side: Forecastle lineup
The first wave is in and while it’s not the heavy-hitting, almost universally-beloved lineup of last year, it’s a smart attack on different generations. There’s a lot to argue about and a lot to like, but here are our five favorite announcements so far. Modest Mouse A quality headliner that is the low-hanging fruit that…
Are you ready for the summer?
When was the last time you watched “Meatballs”? Bill Murray’s first movie, full of summer camp hijinks that consequently launched a thousand ripoffs across the next decade, has become known as much for its gags as it has its theme song. Performed by the North Star Camp Kids, it’s a battle cry more than a question.…
Plugged In (Feb. 4 – Feb. 10)
WED Feb 4th Brasserie Provence: Brian Curella Duo; 5 p.m. Diamond Pub (St. Matthews): John Hager; 10 p.m. Gerstle’s: Kimmet & Doug Headliners: Shovels & Rope, Caroline Rose; 8 p.m., $20 Jack Fry’s: Ray Johnson, Dave Wilson, Jenna Mattingly; 7 p.m. Jim Porters: Mixed Bag Wednesday From DJ’s to Country, Rock to Jazz, Comedy to…
8Up is stunning, but how about the food?
Even after many years of wisecracking about food, I have to doff my toque to Calvin Trillin, whose culinary scribblings in The New Yorker and elsewhere surely qualify him as the funniest food writer ever. So, upon my recent visit to 8UP, the self-described “Elevated Drinkery and Kitchen” atop the new downtown Hilton Garden Inn,…
Hall’s Cafeteria is throwback goodness
I’ve lived in Clifton for about eight years now, which means I’ve driven by Hall’s Cafeteria & Catering in Butchertown roughly 1.8 million times. Of course, I always wondered what it was like inside, and of course, I never stopped. And then a few weeks ago my Dad, out of the blue, said, “We should…
Video Tapeworm
This Week’s Twin Peeks NIGHTCRAWLER 2014; $22.98; R This made a big splash at the theaters, largely because of star Jake Gyllenhaal, who begins as an ordinary young man, desperately seeking not just employment but a career. That’s when he stumbles into the dark world of crime journalism. To succeed he must out-muscle and out-sleaze…
THEATER: ATL’s ‘Vanishing Point’: poetic script, magical acting
As a term of art, the “vanishing point” is an abstraction and an impossibility; it’s the illusory place where parallel lines seem to converge in the distance. But what if the vanishing point is something more than a visual abstraction? What if it’s a physical place? Or what if the vanishing point isn’t visual at…
Orchestra: Abrams and Chang present new symphony
Now here was a new sight at a Louisville Orchestra concert: bicycles tied up to handrails on the steps outside the Kentucky Center for the Arts. Much of the audience for classical music may be graying, but younger fans here (some obviously arriving by bicycle) are turning out in small, but rising numbers for an…
CULTURE: Vixens prep another classic show
Inside The Art Sanctuary, the Va Va Vixens are hard at work rehearsing for their sixth annual Valentine show, “Va Va Valentine: A Faerie’s Tale.” The air is charged, electric with the spark of excitement and nerves, seeing as the show is opening in a mere five days. Every year, we attempt to make it…
ART: KMAC’s ‘White Glove Test’
There was a time, before Facebook or Myspace, when flyers were the only means local bands had to advertise their shows. During the early ‘90s, the height of Louisville’s independent music scene, it seemed every telephone pole in the Highlands was plastered with these colorful paper and ink collages that were usually mass produced in…
ART: Priest’s ‘Underground Railroad’ covers vast territory
It has been said that the Holy Roman Empire was not holy, Roman or an empire. A similar statement can be made of the Underground Railroad, the clandestine network that succeeded in bringing an estimated 100,000 slaves to the North. The Underground Railroad (UGRR) is the inspiration for a body of work created by Mark…
Heroin hardball
In a perfect Commonwealth, politics wouldn’t matter in the legislative quest to address the growing heroin epidemic. But politics mattered last year, when high hopes for anti-heroin legislation were dashed as Republican hopes of winning control of the House and Democratic fears of losing it complicated the process. This year, the governor’s mansion is at…
Assault by applesauce
Here’s the scene: Saturday night and I’m climbing into the back of my SUV as my son has taken a fruit squeeze and shaken it all over the car — all over the damned car! It started when my husband was hit with a drop of applesauce and turned to see the child shaking the…
Modern American Junto
This week’s feature story is about IDEAS 40203 and their “Who’s Louisville?” project, designed to create “a community-based association promoting economic development and civic engagement … (by) redefining what a chamber of commerce can be and do in the 21st Century by focusing on creativity as the fuel of innovation and people as Louisville’s greatest…
Inbox – February 4, 2015
LEO Weekly welcomes letters that are brief (350 words max) and thoughtful. ?Ad hominem attacks will be ignored, and we need your name and a daytime phone number. Send snail mail to Inbox, ?607 W. Main St., Suite 001, Louisville, Ky. 40202. Fax to 895-9779 or email to leo@leoweekly.com. We may edit for length, grammar…
