Cover Story
Literary LEO 2013
It’s no surprise that LEO readers are a creative lot, and for the past two decades, we’ve counted on you to share your talents by submitting works to our annual Literary LEO contest. Once again, you did not disappoint, turning in hundreds of written and photographic works for consideration. In the following pages you’ll find…
Plugged In
Readers are strongly encouraged to call ahead to verify these listings. To get your musical act listed, send email to pberkowitz@leoweekly.com with PLUGGED IN in the subject line. The deadline is FRIDAY at NOON the week before the show happens. We do not accept listings via social networking sites. Wed JAN 23 Air Devils…
Video TapeWorm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS: DIE HARD 25TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION 2013; $40.98-$59.98; UR All four of Bruce Willis’ signature John McClane flicks (lacking only the latest, “A Good Day To Die Hard”) on Blu-ray in one cheap box, plus a feature-length look at the franchise, “Decoding Die Hard” — a total of 5 discs, and each…
Staffpicks
Wednesday, Jan. 23 Literary LEO Spalding University, Egan Center 901 S. Fourth St. Free; 6-9 p.m. Poetry and jazz go together like wine and cheese, and this evening you can experience all of the above (along with a variety of other writing styles and libations) at our annual Literary LEO event. Every year we ask…
Literary LEO 2013
Unable to Attend the Reunion, He Writes BY JEAN TUCKER That he eulogized his German professor with a mouth full of sugarless gum. That he unearthed a rare fossil from his asparagus bed. That he has cultivated double chins the…
Literary LEO 2013
The Tender Reed BY CHERYL BUTLER BRANDRETH Rose Ann wasn’t my real sister. She was my stepfather’s stepdaughter from his first marriage. We met when I was five. The day she was to arrive I rode my Big Wheel up and down the driveway in nervous anticipation. I practiced parking, backing up, and had just…
Literary LEO 2013
Alterations BY ROBERT SACHS Mrs. Michaels walked past the tailor shop almost every day: On the way to having her nails done, on the way to the coffee shop, the grocery, or just out for a walk. On this day she noticed a hand-written sign taped to the window of the shop. “Under New Management,”…
Literary LEO 2013
First Morning in London BY JEAN TUCKER In the bed-and-breakfast on Russell Square where morning seeps through the lace curtains like dishwater from the oatmeal pan, Madame Valentine stands glaring, hair upswept, arms crossed, and scolds me for carving away the pearly rim of fat from the slice of boiled ham draped next to the…
Taste Bud: McRib? McYUCK
I shouldn’t have opened my mouth. While watching football recently with my friend Butch, we saw a commercial for the McRib sandwich, that unholy abomination on bread that is rolled out every so often by corporate chain McDonald’s in its relentless effort to kill us all. I mentioned to Butch that I’d never eaten a…
What would Jesus do? Buy a gun, of course!
A group of 400 heavily armed Kentuckians rallied on the steps of the state capitol on Saturday, part of a nationwide “Guns Across America” day of action for Second Amendment advocates opposed to the Obama administration’s new gun control proposals. The rally began with a prayer by the Rev. Lee Watts — the self-proclaimed chaplain…
Culture: I see dead people
It’s time to take a hard look at yourself. I’m not talking about journaling your hopes and fears or scheduling an appointment with your therapist — I’m talking about the physical you. Your cells, blood, organs, muscles, bones and eyeballs. Those of us not in the medical field don’t really think about what is going…
Literary LEO 2013
The Pack BY L.E. ELDER Wind bit through the rags wrapped around Lorna’s thin frame and she shivered and burrowed deeper into Elisha’s warm body. Her head rested on his massive chest and Lorna tried to keep count of the heartbeats of the dog, her best and only friend. “Do you love me Elisha?” Lorna…
Where will we go for brunch now?
At least a few million megabytes of social media and a wastebasket full of old-media newsprint have surely been spilled over the recent startling and sudden demise of Lynn’s Paradise Cafe. I don’t see much point in adding more to that flood, other than to note that we may yet be hearing more about the…
Literary LEO 2013
Accidental Upgrade: Wish You Were Here BY JEAN TUCKER You should see the sleek leather recliners with fold-out video screen, the black-vested attendants plying the aisles with trays of steaming hand towels piled into pyramids Your mouth would water at the seared ahi-ahi appetizer and the rare roast beef cold plate with baby asparagus You’d…
Literary LEO 2013
For Cheap Lunch or Headstones BY KEN L. WALKER Heading back down south, I confront a limestone wall while eating a glazed donut and walking through the St. Michael Cemetery — the Rues, the Brüder Heinzmann, der Schwestern Klosterman, the aunts of my aunts. Not sure it matters you respond at all. Just don’t walk…
Art: Castle’s chairs
Wendell Castle became part of my artistic life when I saw his “Ghost Clock” at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., in the early 1990s. A trompe l’oeil masterpiece, it masquerades as a grandfather clock covered with a white cloth. Everything, including the drapery, is made from wood. I…
Palace brothers
Ishmael Butler is soft-spoken and friendly in conversation, but the music he’s making now might keep you up at night. When the first Shabazz Palaces EP was self-released in 2009, there was little information available about the group, yet word spread quickly in their native Seattle that their minimal, paranoid and futuristic-sounding hip-hop was something…
Literary LEO 2013
Re: The New, Knitting Me BY ROB DONALD Hey, Allison. Thanks for your email earlier. Sorry it took so long in responding. Also, sorry about last night. Lately I’ve been a little fed up with this town, and maybe myself. I need to make some changes. I probably need to get out of here, go…
WEB EXCLUSIVE: A chat with the Transvestite Witch of the South
If the roasts from the “Young, Dumb, and Full of Comedy” crew haven’t lambasted your childhood or your sense of morality enough yet, wait until the lights go down on this one. The target this time is Dorothy — yes, that Dorothy, the one with the cute puppy who likes to follow yellow brick roads…
Literary LEO 2013
Grace BY NETTIE FARRIS Intonation. Intone. Tone. Tone. Tone… She talks to herself. Out loud. Regardless of whether you can hear her, or not, you can see her lips moving — across the parking lot, at the back of the grocery line, in a balcony seat, waiting for La Boheme to begin. In addition, she…
Literary LEO 2013
Traffic Stop BY ROBERT L. PENICK Today you took your daughter to soccer practice. Now it is 11 p.m. and the bars are emptying out first shift factory workers and single mothers too tired to stay, too poor to pay the babysitter another hour. You cruise by The Crow’s Nest. A bickering couple in the…
Literary LEO 2013
Chairman of the Board BY R. DALLON ADAMS I’d choked out my bowels with dairy and bread and nothing was moving. I’d been camping out at the shelter waiting for the nuns to drop off the tax-exempt pizza. The body of Christ, twice-baked. If only the Sisters could leave a heathen with a little of…
Literary LEO 2013
NEWS FEED FOLLOWING A SNOW: A FOUND POEM BY BARB MCMAKIN Kentucky State Police arrested a former Larue County teacher, Leda Hambaugh. She is accused of having sex with students at her Hardin County home. For a complete list including preschool and business closings go to www.wave3.com *The name of the accused has been changed.
Literary LEO 2013
In The Last Moments Before I Die BY CHLOE FORSTING In the last moments before I die, I will not think about China. I have no reason to think about China during my waking life, either. It’s more or less irrelevant to my personal existence, although I can certainly see why many people in and…
Literary LEO 2013
When You Ask Me Why My Art Is Jagged BY JINN FULLER RENFRO Child, at times the integument gives? and I am no skin no fur nothing? but spine and ribs slicing light, air, dark matter while words fall? faster faster pooling in my clavicles spilling from the basin of my hips re-formed and if…
B-sides
D.O.H. Rises “I was always a chubby dude, so when ‘Boyz N the Hood’ came out, my brother and cousins called me Doughboy. A few years later, I was living a little less-than-legal lifestyle and I was greedy. My brother said, ‘You prefer dollars over hoes any day.’ I (wanted) to keep my nickname as…
Literary LEO 2013
Lair BY E. GAIL CHANDLER “Hey, guard.” Samson searched his cell for something to make noise, selected a canvas house shoe, and whopped it against the bars. A thud echoed down the walk. “Guard, I’m cold.” “You woke me up,” yelled someone a few cells away. Curses followed. Officer Martin appeared before his cell. “What’s…
Literary LEO 2013
Steel BY EVE FORBES As soon as I was out of elementary school, I was given more responsibility. I cooked dinner one night a week. It was nothing, a simple task. Then I had to weed the garden. Also easy, a form of meditation. The summer was slipping by, its green free days full of…
Inbox — Jan. 23, 2013
NBA is Superior The Dec. 12 column from Joe Manning was off the mark. He is asking us to continue to buy in financially and emotionally to the hopelessly corrupt and greedy system known as the NCAA/BCS that destroys the integrity of our institutions of higher learning. Our community would be much better served if…
Advice: Savage Love
Q: A friend of mine is a crossdresser considering transitioning. He came out to a female friend he had known for a long time, and she told her that she wanted her to come to her house fully dressed for some hot sex to “explore her bi-curiosity.” I told her to go for it, saying…
