¡ ASK A MEXICAN !
Q Dear Mexican: At a weekly Doors tribute band gig, I’ve noticed the majority of the crowd is Mexican. I swear, sometimes it seems like the crowd missed the exit to the Lupillo Rivera show or a Maná concert. Never realized Jim Morrison was the equal of Morrissey and Charles Bronson among other Mexican güero icons.…
Ballz: Sports Commentary & Analysis: Does anyone remember the good old days?
I went to a rather average game between longtime rivals New Albany and Jeffersonville high schools earlier this month. That description is astonishing, really, given that both schools have more often than not been competitive with the best teams statewide. Not long ago — in the 1990s, before Indiana switched from single-class basketball to four…
Welp”s Louisville: Keep them yanks, hippies and homos on the run
SKYHOOK minutesMinutes of the Society to Keep Yankees and Homos Out of Kentucky Jan. 16, 2008 meeting Meeting called to order at 7 p.m. by Chairman Beshear. Previous meeting minutes approved. Chairman’s report: It’s been another great year for SKYHOOK. We’ve got the yankees, hippies and homos on the run. By calling for education cuts…
Imaginary Conversations for 1-23-08
Scene: Former U.S. Rep. Anne Northup is getting her hair done at a fancy East End boutique. The woman seated next to her — Ms. Republican Everyvoter — can’t quite believe her luck. Ms. R.E.: Anne! Annie Northrup! You are MY HERO. I love you.Anne Northup: Well, thank you, thank you. It’s North-up, by the…
ACLU names new director
After an extensive three-month search, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky has named Michael Aldridge, currently Development Director at Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, as its new executive director. Aldridge, a graduate of U of L’s Brandeis Law School and board member of the Fairness Campaign, has worked at KFTC’s London, Ky., office as its…
A changing environment: College environmental education programs will likely weather budget cuts
It was not so long ago, and it still remains the case in many states, that whenever budgets need to be tightened, environmental education gets squeezed out. But Teddie Phillipson, the director of the year-old Center for Environmental Education at the University of Louisville, said a growing respect for environmental education, backed by resources, means…
Why not let the people vote on gambling?
The desire to have a statewide referendum on casino gambling should be viewed, essentially, as a tourism and economic-development issue that will give our economically-troubled commonwealth an important new source of jobs, taxes and revenue, and a leg up to our signature industry, horse racing and breeding. Alas, the ministers, politicians, lawmakers and other social…
WHAT A WEEK: THE CITY”S WEEKLY ZEITGEIST RADAR for 1-23-08
+5It’s sweet to see the hometown on top in anything green, and that’s what happened when recyclers ECO-CELL listed Louisville #1 in the United States in cell-phone recycling at North American zoos. The Louisville Zoo recycled 3,051 cell phones in ’07, earning kudos from green groups and gorillas. -8What do you do when your representatives…
Feeling Gravity”s Pull
With ‘Elevator Plays’ and other work, Specific Gravity Ensemble invokes a ‘sense of place’ and challenges our notions of theater PHOTOS BY MARTY PEARL (martypearl.com) It is 5:30 on a dreary Sunday evening, and Rand Harmon is eager to get down to the business of rehearsing for “Elevator Plays 2: Beyond the Norm.” The Starks…
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. Great…
On Media: Local TV targets high school sports
If there’s a demographic less likely to watch local TV news than high school students, it might be “homes without televisions.” To the young, the idea of watching local TV is just so old-school media. Ask a teenager to name a TV news personality, and you’re likely to hear Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert. If…
Plain Brown Rapper: Casinos are a bad bet for Kentucky
I’m against casino gambling, as I pontificated over a decade ago (LEO, “Casinos: Unlucky for Kentucky”). Habitual gamblers throw good money after bad, quarters that could have been better spent on bread, milk, gas and laundry — sucked into that smiling One Arm Bandit’s gaping Black Hole of Greed.Casino gambling is a tax on the…
Cable Boxing by Mat Herron & Sara Havens: “One Tree Hill” is one big … thrill?
One Tree HillEpisode: “My Way Home Is Through You” WB Network, Tuesdays, 9 p.m., aired Jan. 15. Starring Chad Michael Murray, Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton, James Lafferty and Bethany Joy Galeotti. Written by John A. Norris. Directed by David Jackson. Synopsis: Lucas’ editor wonders about the timing of his recent inspiration. Brooke and Peyton make…
“Topdog/Underdog” deals some powerful cards
(Actors Theatre presents “Topdog/Underdog” by Suzan-Lori Parks. Directed by Will MacAdams. Continues through Feb. 3. For tickets, call 584-1205 or visit www.actorstheatre.org.) Gestalt psychotherapist Fritz Perls coined the term “topdog/underdog” to describe a self-manipulation game. The perfectionist topdog is the voice of authority. The cunning underdog agrees with the topdog, but sabotages him. Both aspects…
Staffpicks for 1-23-08
Jan. 23-27‘Leopards Take Manhattan’ The Louisville Leopards Percussionists boasts some 50 elementary-school-age students playing a variety of jazz standards. If images of dull school recitals come to mind, think again. I saw them perform for the Kentucky Homefront radio show, and they had the place hoppin’. The Leopards resurrect a technique popular in the 1970s…
Forecastle”s helping hand
Jimmy Levan built a career on defying gravity.His path to worldwide recognition as a professional BMX rider began as a teenager in Louisville in the early 1980s, when he’d practice religiously on wooden ramps in his backyard.Levan started racing professionally in 1983, and over the last 22 years, every maniacal jump, every inconceivable contortion of…
B-Sides: MUSIC & OTHER EPHEMERA: People of the tune
Taletha King thought she’d abandoned the flute. The retired belly dancer now teaches out of several studios, and didn’t know whether her flautist skill would be relegated to that of a hobby.Whoops. King now uses her instrument for the classic Egyptian and Turkish stylings of Ahel El Nagam. That’s Arabic for “People of the Tune”;…
Cohn walks past “Memphis,” Bareilles” Voice bigger
Thursday, Jan. 24If you’ve seen the Rhapsody commercial where a skinny white guy prances out of the shower past a comely young woman playing her piano, you’ve heard Sara Bareilles, and her leadoff single, “Love Song,” off her Epic Records debut, Little Voice.Bareilles, a former waitress from Eureka, Calif., who signed with Epic in 2005,…
CD Reviews for 1-23-08
Moment of ForeverWillie Nelson(LOST HIGHWAY)A journalist once made the observation that, over the years, Willie Nelson has had four wives but only one drummer. Truly, it is to Nelson’s credit as a bandleader that the core of his performing “family” has changed little over the last several decades. And accordingly, there is a certain consistency…
Video TapeWorm: Releases through Tuesday, Jan. 29
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS:AUTOMATONS2006; DVD $24.95, URA unique and wonderfully entertaining ode to 1,000 similar sci-fi movies that somehow remains fresh and original. Angus “Phantasm” Scrimm’s video diary instructs stunning post-apocalyptic warrior-girl Christine Spencer in the history of a generations-old war that has left the Earth devastated and populated largely by robots. Shot in beautiful…
Film Reviews for 1-23-08
‘There Will Be Blood’ is good but not great(Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Mary Elizabeth Barrett, Paul Dano, Dillon Freasier and Christine Olejniczak. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Rated R; 2:38. LEO Report Card: B+) Wait a few days after you see Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” and only two images remain: a stark vision…
Film – Back Lot: Can”t we all just get along?
This past Christmas season two giants were fighting tooth-and-nail to win your high-definition loyalty. First, we have Sony’s Blu-ray, and second, we have Toshiba’s HD-DVD. Both promise to herald a new era of home theater, and both offer an incredible look and sound. Both format’s discs cost $20-$35, and each player will play your…
Urbane renewal in the heart of St. Matthews
With a history that dates to 1779 and bragging rights as one of Louisville’s first suburbs, St. Matthews owns a long-standing reputation as a quiet, family-oriented community, a safe and frankly conservative kind of place to bring up the kids. Indeed, the community signaled its social conservatism way back in 1850, on the fateful day…
Mug Shots: Ben Franklin was a beer man
You already knew that Benjamin Franklin was a writer, inventor, businessman, statesman, patriot and all-purpose wit, but did you know that the Colonial era’s Renaissance Man somehow found time to drink beer, too? In his writings, Franklin referred to various types of my favorite fermented beverage, concluding that it was a healthy drink if…
Aftertastes for 1-23-08
CORBETT’S “AN AMERICAN PLACE,” 5050 Norton Healthcare Blvd., 327-5058. Based on a pre-opening dinner, Corbett’s will be the hot spot of the year. Owner/chef Dean Corbett takes everything he has done at Equus and kicks it up several notches in a dining room, staff, bill of fare and beverage program that accepts nothing less than…
