Cover Stories
Dating is tough for men, too
I’m a 43-year-old guy (although I prefer to think of myself as thirty-thirteen), I’m absolutely single, and when it comes to dating, I often think I don’t have a clue. Not. One. Clue. So, while looking for some advice recently online (does this constitute desperation?), I came across the website TopDatingTips.com, which conducted a survey…
I have a date!
I used to wear black. Head to toe in black. I hated Valentine’s Day. I still hate Valentine’s Day. But this year is different. I have a date for the first time in 33 years. It’s not that I didn’t date in 33 years, it’s just that I never held onto them long enough to…
All you need is serotonin
That we live in a culture in love with being in love, there can be no doubt. The vast majority of film and television plots, the lyrics to countless popular songs and the very existence of the PajamaGram revolve around this tricky, clichéd and often-abused four-letter word. Which is odd, because love’s causes — and…
Impossibility city
Upon walking through the glass double doors of Blue Mountain Coffee House on East Main Street, the men are given letters and the women numbers. Both groups are then asked to paste said letter or number to their chest for the purposes of identification. The dim lighting coupled with subtly suggestive R&B tunes should create…
You mix them, you mix them not
Whether you’re trying to get that person in the sack or out of your life, mixtapes are formats with feeling. Old-school: Hitting play-record on a Maxell blank. New-school: dragging and dropping into an iPod playlist. Do it right and your muse walks away with a sneak peek into your soul, and possibly your phone number.…
Real Life is No Cool
Within two or three songs, I can be pretty sure if a record is going to fall under the vague categories of “good” and “bad.” I’ve listened to Norwegian duo Lindstrøm & Christabelle’s debut album Real Life is No Cool in full a half dozen times, and I’m still none the wiser. The opening track…
Abstaining from the truth
I was in the sixth grade when my regularly scheduled Catholic elementary school curriculum was temporarily interrupted for a painfully awkward experience. For an hour a day, for five days in a row, my classmates and I were subjected to sex education. Or rather, “Family Life,” as it was more modestly called. By the end…
Theater: ‘Barrymore’ offers glimpse of America’s greatest actor
Barrymore A production by the Bunbury Theatre Co. Directed by Steve Woodring. Continues through Feb. 14 at the Henry Clay Building, 604 S. Third St. For information and tickets, go to www.bunburytheatre.com or call 585-5306. In 1920, when John Barrymore appeared on Broadway in his first Shakespearean role, Richard III, New York Times critic…
B-Sides: Music & Other Ephemera
Brett Eugene Ralph’s Kentucky Chrome Revue will celebrate the release of its new album March 5 at Nachbar (969 Charles St., 637-4377) with Black Nasty and Thomas A. Minor & the Picket Line. The record features guest appearances by Catherine Irwin, Jolie Holland, Will Oldham, Peter Searcy and many others. Tracklisting follows: “Kentucky Chrome,” “Happened…
Video TapeWorm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS: BLACK DYNAMITE 2009; $17.95-$34.95, R Michael Jai White leads an all-cool cast, baby, in this ’70s-style Blaxploitation action-spoof. He’s the titular super crime fighter. But when The Man goes too far and kills his brother, Black Dynamite goes into action to clean things up “all the way from the blood-soaked city…
Bar Belle: St. Valentine vs. St. Patrick
Love can make you green; too much beer can turn your nose red. And that’s about where the similarities of St. Valentine and St. Patrick stop. So who is the superior saint? Who dispenses the most joy? Who would you rather be sitting next to when your number is called? Here’s a brief look at…
The difference between knowin’ and readin’
Mississippi has always been a dynamic place — rich in history, steeped in tragedy and stifled by thick summer heat you can almost see rising off swamp water. Small wonder that, in the end of the 19th century, blues emerged as a voice for the downtrodden, oppressed folks of the Delta. More than 100 years…
Goodbye
John King won’t hesitate to tell you how he feels about the end of the Louisville Is For Lovers compilation series. “I feel like I have a little bit of postpartum depression for sure,” the producer says. “I’m 32. I’ve spent my entire adult life on this project. It’s just as popular as it’s ever…
Inbox — Feb. 10
St. Francis Cheers! So let me see if I have this straight. Of the 17 writers recognized by LEO in Literary LEO 2010 (Jan. 27 issue), five of them are students at St. Francis High School? Five. Of 17. Are high school students. At St. Francis High School. Let’s see, that makes reason number ……
Unlearning homophobia (Part 1)
Do you use birth control? No. Are you sexually active? Yes. (Pause) So why don’t you use birth control? Awkward! You’d think the gynecologist’s office would be a safe enough place to disclose the intricacies of my sexuality, but this situation proved to be more challenging than I expected. The doctor was basically a stranger,…
Plugged In
Readers are strongly encouraged to call ahead to verify these listings. To get your club, comedian, musical act or karaoke listed, please e-mail mherron@leoweekly.com with PLUGGED IN in the subject line. The deadline is NOON THURSDAY the week before publication. We do not accept listings via social networking sites. Wed. Feb. 10 BBC 4th Street:…
Staffpicks
Thursday, Feb. 11 Tortoise Headliners Music Hall 1386 Lexington Road • 584-8088 www.trts.com $15 (adv.)/$18 (door); 8 p.m. Bands like Tortoise not only seldom come around, they seldom stay around. Their at-times-sculpted/at-times-improvisational methods feel unique, not derivations of a current fix. SPIN called their 1996 classic, Millions Now Living Will Never Die, one of…
TV: Maggie Lawson on ‘Psych’
If one were to do a cursory Google search of Maggie Lawson, he would discover a litany of misinformation. Not least of which is the assertion that perhaps she and her “Psych” co-star James Roday are engaged. “Nooooo! We’re not! We are happily dating,” Lawson says with a laugh. “We are definitely together, but no…
We follow the yellow brick road to Arbor Ridge
The stars shine brighter out in Oldham County’s wide-open spaces, and our suburban neighbor’s country roads call for sharp eyes and a clean windshield to navigate at night. Get far enough away from the towns, and a GPS isn’t a bad idea, either. In other words, it took some looking to find our way to…
Death comes ripping
Thursday, Feb. 11 is I Love Mountains Day. If you haven’t told your boss that you’ll be going to Frankfort to protest mountaintop removal coal mining and will thus be unable to come to work, you should. You might also mention that, as our country seems to be transitioning pretty smoothly into a military police…
A new brand of offense
It starts with a little cat and mouse game out near the three-point line. Louisville center Samardo Samuels comes out to join guard Edgar Sosa for a little back-and-forth two-step called the “pick and roll.” It’s an age-old basketball offense designed, in this case, to spring Sosa or Samuels for an easy shot near the…
Bologna by any other name
A motivated batch of 75 local artists and gallery owners gathered on Jan. 17 at the Garner Furnish Studio on East Market to baggie up slices of bologna, which they then affixed to 5-by-7-inch pieces of cardboard. The slices of lunchmeat were then driven to the Speed Art Museum and submitted as official donations to…
Jerry’s kids
For progressive voters scanning the mayoral field there isn’t a consensus on which candidate might be their darling. Last week, after the “People’s Forum,” a mayoral candidate discussion hosted by 10 social-justice groups, many community activists in attendance admitted they were left flat and unimpressed. No candidate stood out, according to organizers, but grassroots advocates…
