Cover Story
The Colonel’s setting sun
Don Decker didn’t want this story to be written. Not really. Not as much as he wanted an investigation into the practices of the Cordish Cos., which owns and operates Fourth Street Live. That’s what brought him into the LEO offices a few weeks ago, and he was frustrated when I told him over the…
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Slim waistline
The crux of the matter is, to be swift about things, that The Courier-Journal should immediately cease publication of its daily print newspaper. Everything about the collapse of print — or Print, as it were — is angling toward the daily paper as the first casualty. Put simply, overhead has become too high and ad…
Let them all vote?
When the 2009 session of the General Assembly opens Feb. 3, there will be a bill before the House Committee on Elections that would allow registered independents to vote in Kentucky primaries. This may not seem like a big deal at first glance, but it could dramatically alter elections across the commonwealth, particularly in its…
Mug Shots
Last week, my editor reminded me that it was my turn to shoot Mugs, but I’ve been so busy that quality writing time has diminished. Worse yet, things have been too hectic to drink beer the way I’d prefer, which is slowly and thoughtfully, nuzzling the hoppy nuances, caressing the malty curves and endeavoring to…
B-Sides
Secretary of ArtsUber-producer Quincy Jones has started a petition to ask President Obama to appoint a Secretary of Arts. The petition is online at www.petitiononline.com/esnyc/petition.html.I nominate Quincy. FrisbeeAaron Frisbee’s debut solo album gets a proper release show Jan. 24 at the Saints Sky Bar (131 Breckenridge Lane, 891-8883). Kristen Cothron and OK DeeJays are supporting.…
The Mountain
I’m on the record about Ohio: I don’t like going there, I don’t like to watch OSU play and I definitely don’t like 98 Degrees (Cincy natives, the lot). It’s nothing personal against Buckeyes; I just don’t feel like there’s a lot of native culture in our neighbor to the north. Imagine my surprise, then,…
A dog’s life
Sugar Welp, beloved daughter of a mutt mother and a Heinz 57 father, died Jan. 9 after a brief illness. She was 14 people-years old. An accomplished sleeper, eater and privates-sniffer, Sugar was also proficient at making her voice heard by some of our nation’s finest postal carriers. Her ashes were scattered in a private…
“In Madagascar”/“Bar Abbas Blues”
Backed by the No Neck Blues Band and members of Sunburned Hand of the Man, Charles Speer is making me regret I missed his Lisa’s performance not too long ago. Speer, née Dave Shuford, surrounds himself with well-oiled weapons: Progressive New York outfit No Neck has been around since 1992, and their telepathy shines on…
Fruit of their efforts
When Julie and Mike Kader bought the former Dollar General near the Sheppard Square housing complex in Smoketown three years ago, customers overwhelmingly made the same request: sell groceries. With only one supermarket in the area, Smoketown residents had few options for buying food. “We heard the community quite loudly,” Julie says. “They said we…
The Future’s in a (electronic) jam
Merging jam-band work aesthetics with electronica makes for one risky proposition. For even the most open-minded audience, there’s a fine line between top-notch trance and trance-induced coma. But if your muse points you toward that kind of music, maybe you can avoid the pitfalls, get people hopping on dance floors and outdoor-fest fields, even battle…
REVIEW: Noise: Fiction Inspired by Sonic Youth
(Edited by Peter Wild. Harper Perennial, 240 pgs., $13.99.) Can any rock group compare to Sonic Youth as underground icons? By most any standard (except lineup longevity), they make Velvet Underground seem like community pillars from the Rotary Club. It makes good sense that Sonic Youth’s ability to build charismatic, multi-faceted albums on a foundation…
For the Whole World to See
Death [deth]: n. Proto-punk trio from Detroit comprised of African-American brothers David, Bobby and Dannis Hackney, formed in 1971. Recorded by Funkadelic’s Don Davis and signed to Columbia Records, Death eventually broke up after Columbia wanted them to change their name. … For the Whole World to See is a compilation of their coveted 45s,…
Let’s work it out
A young woman dressed in stylish new workout gear saunters over to a row of exercise machines and waves hello to her friend, who is jogging on a treadmill. Casually, she steps to the side of the treadmill to chat. Unfortunately, her foot lands squarely on the conveyor belt. Like a cartoon character, her feet…
Open letter to Rep. John Yarmuth
Dear Rep. Yarmuth: There are times when the citizens of a free nation feel compelled to speak out and to petition their elected representatives to address a cause of grave concern. At such a time, we have chosen to write to you, not only because you represent us in the United States Congress, but because…
‘Pictures’ reminds that mainstream cinema is the same ol’ beast
1968. Can there be anything new to say about that evocative year? Mark Harris’s intelligent, addictive book, “Pictures at a Revolution,” proves there is. He examines five very different Best Picture nominees that encapsulated a moment of political strife and cultural flowering: “Bonnie and Clyde,” “In the Heat of the Night,” “The Graduate,” “Guess Who’s…
REVIEW: Outliers: The Story of Success
(By Malcolm Gladwell. Little, Brown & Co.; 320 pgs., $27.99.) Perhaps Malcolm Gladwell, acclaimed speaker, journalist and author of pop-sociology books “The Tipping Point” and “Blink,” is himself an outlier, the kind of person he describes in his new book as different from the representative sample. Gladwell’s theory here, explored in exhaustive detail, is that…
Video TapeWorm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS THE NIGHT JAMES BROWN SAVED BOSTON 2008; $14.95, UR On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, and cities throughout America erupted in violence. In many places, the National Guard patrolled the streets while homes and businesses burned. James Brown was scheduled to perform the next day…
Theater Review: Big performances shine in Pewee Valley
(The Little Colonel Players present Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons,” directed by David Goodlett. Continues through Jan. 25 in the Little Colonel Playhouse, 302 Mt. Mercy Drive. For tickets, call 588-1557.) Nestled in a quaint corner of Pewee Valley, the cozy Little Colonel Playhouse feels far from the downtown Louisville arts scene. Their tradition…
Nothing to fear
I want to name my two new (and by new I mean “possibly future”) Betta Splendens (Siamese Fighting Fish) Sodom and Gomorrah. Has a nice ring, no? And fitting, yes? The cities Sodom and Gomorrah were burned down because they were unkind, cruel and inhospitable; somewhat like Siamese Fighting Fish, which eat fish smaller than…
Mighty hopes sink in ‘Revolutionary Road’
(Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates, David Harbour and Michael Shannon. Directed by Sam Mendes. Rated R; 1:59. LEO Report Card: A-) Kate, Leo, Kathy Bates and sex in a car … that’s about where the similarities end between “Revolutionary Road” and “Titanic.” The iceberg in this film cannot be seen nor touched,…
Staffpicks
Jan 22-24 Comedian Louis CK Louis CK makes his second visit to Louisville within a year, performing at Improv at Fourth Street Live. Since his last visit, he’s taped a new HBO special, co-starred in three major motion pictures, gone through a divorce, shot a pilot for his second television series, and performed multiple shows…
Don’t dismiss little ol’ Jeff
It would be easy to dismiss the dining options in little ol’ Jeffersonville, especially when you look across the majestic Ohio River and see … Hooters. But there are some rich and varied dining choices over yonder, from the delicious and affordable Mai’s Thai to the old favorite Come Back Inn. I tried a couple…
Starving arts scene
Mayor Jerry Abramson recently proclaimed 2009 “the year of the visual arts” in Louisville, an unexpected statement given the city’s dire economic outlook recently prompted him to slash arts funding in rather dramatic fashion. In fairness, the mayor made this declaration at an event honoring the Louisville Visual Art Association’s 100th anniversary, a centennial celebration…
Inbox — Jan. 21, 2009
Correction A piece in the Dec. 17 LEO Weekly “Loserville” article incorrectly stated that Frolio’s Pizza was closed. Located at 3799 Poplar Level Road, Frolio’s has been in business 42 years and is going strong (call 456-1000). Stinging Hypocrisy I continue to be amazed at these self-righteous religious types who think their evangelical religion is…
Cut from the cloth
The nation was in peril. The president, guarded for his safety, took a secret route to Washington from his home in Illinois. The tall and slender new chief with a somber steadiness and eloquent manner moved into the White House with his wife and two children, ages 10 and 7. It was March 1861. Abraham…
Blueprints of Jazz Vol. 1
Drummer Mike Clark caught the attention of drummers when he played with Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters on Thrust. His hyper-syncopated funk set new standards. While his reputation as a funky drummer has remained solid in the three decades following, he has now released this more straight-ahead disc. It is the first in a new series offering…
Remembering an old friend: Café Mimosa
The best thing about a good restaurant is that it can become a friend. Café Mimosa, a Vietnamese restaurant/sushi bar that doubled as the Eggroll Machine, became just such a friend to me over the years. When the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s and I found myself unemployed, I walked out of my…
Forgotten Classics
(By Marshall McLuhan. First published in 1964.) What better time than the present to trot out this prescient study from nearly a half-century ago? Canadian Marshall McLuhan was the first intellectual to examine writing as a technology and the ways in which literacy, the printed word and printed books changed people’s behavior and ways of…
’Chop block
For Oh(io), Lambchop’s man-behind-the-curtain Kurt Wagner took his hands off the wheel and let someone else drive the bus, but the production yields a methodical pastiche of twinkling keys, subtle organ, plenty of space and even a touch of vintage soul. For his return trip to Louisville (his last a solo set supporting Yo La…
Get Guilty
Bottom line: Good but not excellent, familiar but not memorable. As the ringleader of New Pornographers, one would (rightly) expect a bit more from A.C. (or Allan Carl, as his mother calls him). Get Guilty is full of intricately layered, breathy Beach Boys harmonies, buoyant, bouncy melodies, la-la-las and a catchy-as-crack choruses that would make…
