LAVA House
For six-and-a-half years, the Louisville Assembly of Vanguard Art lived in a warehouse on Shelby Parkway that burned to ashes last month. Here, a photo essay What do you even say? For a generation of young Louisville creators — artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, punks, closet revolutionaries, wayward journeyfolks, innovators — the mothership has burned…
On Media: Sitting out non-competes
If you think you’re good enough at your job to earn a higher salary and better working conditions at a competitor’s business, in most walks of life, it’s not that hard to do. Risky, maybe, but in most cases you won’t end up in court. If you’re a local TV reporter, however, you better check…
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. CorrectionsIn…
About those bridge tolls …This idea should be a nonstarter
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s release last week of a study outlining plans for tolling all or some of the city’s bridges across the Ohio River — to finance part of the $4.1-billion Ohio River Bridges Project — should present a clear picture of a toll system for the bridges. Instead, it raises more questions. Nobody…
Ballz (sports commentary and analysis): The Cards give us hope once more
Forgive old-time Cardinal fans if it all seemed a flashback. Old-timers meaning those who not only know about Peck Hickman but saw him coach. This was Ed Kallay time one more once.Not Ed Kallay, the former U of L radio play-by-play announcer, but Uncle Ed Kallay in the Magic Forest with sidekicks Tom Foolery and…
Dogged challenge
A year ago, foes of the new dangerous dog ordinance filed suit on constitutional grounds. The case may be decided soon In late 2005, after dogs had recently killed two people in Louisville, the call to action was predictably amplified. The Metro already had a law that specifically described what constitutes a dangerous dog —…
Ideas man: To Lee Todd, state”s ills are mere problems waiting to be solved
University of Kentucky President Lee Todd wears two hats, that of a fiscal realist, and of a proud alum who wants to see his alma mater succeed. Now that Gov. Steve Beshear and the General Assembly must wrestle a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall that so far includes big cuts to universities’ budgets, Todd’s wearing another cap,…
¡ ask a mexican ! Special sexy edition
Q Dear Mexican: After working with Mexicans for years, I have noticed that Mexican men have a double standard when it comes to homosexuality. Why is it that the “giver” is not regarded as being just as equally gay as the “receiver”? —El VaqueroA Dear Cowboy Gabacho: I think all heterosexual societies condemn the catcher…
Welp”s Louisville: At last, a president who doesn”t resemble my uncle
It looks like we’re finally going to elect a president who doesn’t reflect my privileged status, and I am psyched! As a straight, white, middle-class male, doors have pretty much always swung right open for me. And I’m not going to lie to you, it’s been sweet. I never have problems getting served in restaurants,…
What a Week: The City’s Zeitgeist Radar
-2In yet another whiny speech about how broke the Commonwealth is, Governor C. Montgomery Beshear proposed an “austere” budget that’ll put such a hurt on us that we’ll be dying (some literally, others illiterately) to vote for casino gambling and toll bridges. To make up the current $580ish-million budget shortfall, higher education, roads and social…
Celebrating African-American History Month
February is often considered a dull month — cold, dreary and gloomy. But it’s only as dull as you let it be — a quick search of events in and around Louisville Metro turned up dozens of African-American History Month-related activities. Here’s a sample of events this month that’ll keep you off the couch. •Presentation…
Cable Boxing by Mat Herron & Sara Havens: Little “Lost” and searching for razors
LostEpisode: “The Beginning of the End”ABC, Thursdays, 9 p.m., aired Jan. 31. Starring Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia, Evangeline Lilly, Terry O’Quinn, Josh Holloway and Dominic Monaghan. Synopsis: Feeling that their rescue is close at hand, the survivors don’t know whether to believe Charlie’s final message that the people claiming to liberate them are not who…
“The Clean House” needs a good scrub
(Actors Theatre presents Sarah Ruhl’s “The Clean House” through Feb. 23. Directed by Jon Jory. For tickets or more info, call 584-1205 or visit www.actorstheatre.org.) Some people actually enjoy cleaning. Others pay depressed strangers to clean their houses. In either case, the dirt wins. This seems to be the message of playwright Sarah Ruhl’s “The…
Staffpicks for 2-6-08
Friday, Feb. 8InKY Reading Series This monthly event has brought literature from the page to the stage, says director Erin Keane, for four solid years now. “We’re proud to be part of such a vibrant and diverse art scene. Louisville has been a wonderful host and home to InKY — we wouldn’t want to be…
Varsovia”s roundtable, Slim and Michaelson
Thursday, Feb. 7Varsovia (formerly the Poor Richards) is an increasingly popular rock ’n’ roll act based primarily in Lexington. As the group continues to catch fire, it is preparing to show its fresh ideas and classic sensibilities.LEO: What were your influences, musical or otherwise, growing up?Cedric Warner Sparkman: My whole family was musical, and my…
Ben Sollee”s Learning curve
If Stax Records had started in Nashville in the 1940s, as opposed to Memphis in the 1960s, then its flagship artist might very well have been Lexington-born singer/songwriter Ben Sollee.Of course he’d have to tack on another half-century to his mere 23 years, but his rootsy approach feels like he already has. “I grew up…
Unoriginals be warned: Ultra Pulverize takes no prisoners
Blame it on Glamor. With a capital G.Glamor Hornsby is an ex-Nintendo champion who, along with pal Bobby Jewell, aka Ultra Pulverize, was a member of the U.S. National Video Game Team. Jewell and Hornsby shared a common love for gaming, but Glamor took his role more seriously than Jewell, who fancied himself a be-all,…
B-Sides (music & other ephemera): Manning up
Joe Manning is satisfied with his new album, Clever Bird, and if you know him, you know how satisfying it is to hear him say that.“It is, exactly, what came out, I’m very happy to report,” Manning says of his follow-up to Chapel of the Bear. “I wanted to make a record with a band…
CD Reviews for 2-6-08
Old GrowthDead Meadow(MATADOR)D.C.-to-L.A. transplants Dead Meadow begin 2008 with their fifth studio album, and third for Matador, Old Growth. Even though I cannot fathom the reasoning behind putting more than two minutes of static at the end of the first track (or the blatant Led Zeppelin “Four Sticks” intro rip-off on “Down Here”), Old Growth…
Video Tapeworm: Releases through Tuesday, Feb. 12
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS:IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON2007; DVD $19.95, PGIn the history of mankind, only 12 people have ever set foot on another world. The surviving members of that fraternity (minus recluse Neil Armstrong) gather for this intimate and personal account of that singular honor. Epic in scope, yet as fragile as your…
The Back Lot (film news & ruminations): Over “Tone”
Please tell me I’m not the only one who wasn’t swept off her feet while watching “Atonement,” which received seven Academy Award nominations last month. Did I miss something? Has my heart grown as cold, fierce and bitter as the winter winds? I hope not. But lately the circles in which I run have applauded…
Something fishy this way comes
Last week in this space we celebrated Carnival, wrapping up the season of winter revelry with a gumbo party, tasty libations and all manner of Mardi Gras beads. Today it’s Ash Wednesday, the music has stopped, and the repentant Lenten season is here. Even in this secular era when only the most devout observe Lent…
Mug Shots: Oysters and stout go hand-in-hand
Dry, roasty stout pairs well with subtle, fresh oysters. Let me tell you why.My wife and I once spent a leisurely winter week roaming the venerable hills, freshwater lakes and craggy shoreline along Ireland’s western coast, savoring striking natural beauty — majestic Cliffs of Moher, rocky Burren badlands and the primeval tableau of Connemara —…
Aftertastes
Tacos La Rosita, 113 Grant Line Plaza, New Albany, (812) 948-7967, www.LaRositaGrill.com. La Rosita owners Israel and Lidia Landin opened this second New Albany location in late 2007. Along with the familiar Mexican fare, the menu is vegetarian-friendly, offering seven interesting meat-free options, including a veggie taco. (Reviewed 1/9/08; Rating: N/A) Meridian Café, 112 Meridian…
Marcel” exhibit examines the man, myth and alter ego
If you feel a little lost when it comes to understanding the conceptual art of the last two centuries, here is a rare chance to find your way — an exhibition by its primary inventor, Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968). The Speed Art Museum’s current exhibit, “Marcel | Marcel,” features two copies of the artist’s limited portable…
“New Year Baby” chronicles family”s tragic story
First-time director Socheata Poeuv wants 100 million people to see her film and understand the story of her family’s exodus from the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia. She wants them to leave moved and appreciative, equipped with a new outlook on life as tempered by human heroism. It takes two minutes of listening to Poeuv’s…
CD Review for 2-6: Prizzy
S/TPrizzy Prizzy Please(LET’S PRETEND) With Secretly Canadian’s catalog shifting into a more folky, psychedelic gear (Black Mountain, Bon Iver, Evangelicals) lately, it’s nice to hear Prizzy Prizzy Please show the other side of Bloomington’s staggering-for-its-size musical identity: the side that punks you out. P3’s nine-song offering shows hints of DC and southern-Cali punk imagination: fast…
