Bluegrass Beacon: Addicted to compulsion
A colleague describes school officials who use force rather than choice to achieve racial diversity in schools as being “addicted to compulsion.” Reaction by Jefferson County Public Schools officials to the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that put a smack-down on the district’s racially based student-assignment plan reveals that an addiction to such compulsion exists…
Connected Diss: Voting your bliss
Wendell Berry is a state treasure and ought to be declared as such. Writing recently in The Courier-Journal, Berry eloquently explained why he chose not to vote in the May gubernatorial primary. Long story short, he didn’t think there was anyone to vote “for,” a sentiment that I would wager was shared by many Kentuckians.Shortly…
City Strobe
Parent org will keep overseeing workers’ unionA judicial panel of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has decided that its Louisville chapter should remain under the control of the parent organization as a police investigation into possible forgery, embezzlement and theft by its president proceeds. The investigation concerns former Local 2629 President…
A robot took his place
Fletcher and GOP chair Robertson dispatch robocalls mischaracterizing Democratic walkout in Frankfort. Like this pair has any room to talk about values Had Justice or God or any sort of unbiased spirit in which you endeavor to believe been on the side of Democrats after they walked out of the House of Representatives two weeks…
Rumor & Innuendo
Caddyshock. A rumor floating about the golf world concerns the biggest schmuck in the sport. And he’s not even a linkster. Steve Williams has used his lucrative role as Tiger’s club carrier to foster a major ’tude. Rumors are he’s leaving the golf messiah’s side. Williams denies it. But a source advises that indeed this…
Representin” : What”s love got to do with it?
Debate over partisan staffing gets way too personalWe, the media, all got the unsigned letter last week. It came from someone inside the Metro Council, typed but poorly constructed, outlining four jumping off points for investigations into a body seeming more worth investigating as each day passes and each new accusation ends up on TV.…
Sick over “Sicko”: The Humana memos on Michael Moore”s new documentary
In an item that ran in last week’s City Strobe section, LEO asked Humana employees who were sick over “Sicko” — Michael Moore’s new documentary that criticizes the American healthcare system for being more driven by profit than care and examines more egalitarian systems in other industrialized countries — to provide the newspaper with any…
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.Smoked Compromise…
Hoosiers gotta sing, gotta dance — something in the water?
Southern Indiana has a tradition of creating quality theater. The departments at Floyd Central and New Albany high schools are nationally recognized, and Clarksville Little Theater and Derby Dinner Playhouse consistently produce top-notch musicals. It seems Hoosiers crave the spotlight. This was evident last Saturday at the world premiere of “Mark Twain on the River,”…
How do you tune a joystick?
If video killed the radio star, ‘Video Games Live’ may herald a new world for symphony orchestras The Louisville Orchestra goes gaming: Image courtesy of videogameslive The Louisville Orchestra goes gaming — look for them to play tunes from Halo, Myst and even Donkey Kong. Gaming culture has come a long way since the early…
The Police: Still magic after all these years
PHOTOS BY STEPHEN COHEN, SIMOHEN-ART.COM police 1: ww.simohen-art.com When The Police last toured, they were arguably the biggest rock band in the world, and when the band went inactive soon after, they ended their career while they were on top. So, when a reunion tour was announced earlier this year, many people were thrilled,…
Mexican hat trick: tacos three ways
Taco Tico: Photo by Nicole Pullen Way back at the dawn of time (oh, all right, during the 1970s), back when most people in Louisville thought “nacho” was just a cool way of saying “righto” and even the cognoscenti pronounced “taco” as “tack-oh,” indeed even before the first Taco Bell rang the region’s chimes, there…
The Bar Belle
Nach your average Germantown barThe Bar Belle news desk has been quite cluttered lately, so it is time to clean house. Some new bars have popped up about town, and so far, I have been able to make it to only a few. If you’re a new bar, or you know of one, drop me…
48 Hour Film Project demands you to “just do it”
Local filmmakers hit the streets this weekend to shoot a film in two days Meg, John and Don: Photo by Tinsley Carter Megan Dillinger and John Carter rehearse with director Donald Mahoney for the final scene in last year’s 48 Hour Film Project entry “The Cold Burn.” It was Woody Allen who first said, “Ninety…
For Benoit, a hurricane of emotions adds weight to storied career
Sunday, July 22 Tab Benoit That he won last year’s B.B. King Award for Blues Entertainer of the Year speaks volumes about Cajun musician Tab Benoit, but to him, it’s merely the fruits of years of hard work. For more than a decade, the Louisiana product has paid his dues on the blues circuit with…
As Forecastle”s ship sails on, this year, it”s a Soul party
De La Soul Year after year, like a prepubescent kid eating lots of spinach, the Forecastle Festival just can’t stop growing. Every edition brings a different venue and one or more kinds of expansion among the Music/Arts/Activism smorgasbord. The Belvedere down by the Waterfront is home to this year’s fest, which is two days (Friday…
Booksmart: Book Events
July 23, 7 p.m.: Book Discussion — “Princess Sultana’s Circle” by Jean P. Sasson, Louisville Free Public Library, Westport Branch, 8100 Westport Rd., 394-0379. • July 23, 7 p.m.: Science Fiction/Fantasy Reading Group — Barnes & Noble, 801 S. Hurstbourne Pkwy., 426-0255. • July 24, 2:30 p.m.: Captain Underpants Book Party — will include stories,…
Booksmart: Poem
THE GOATBy Ellyn Lichvar The goat hollers out like a childstuck in a well. Screams fill the air in waves.He rests on the neighboring land,just out of my sight but I can imaginehe is white, he is a he.You hear it too and wade out belly deepinto the water to get nearer to the fenceto…
Booksmart: Book Reports
My Dreams Out in the StreetBy Kim Addonizio. Simon and Schuster; 258 pgs., $25. It rains in nearly every scene of Kim Addonizio’s scorching new novel. Reading it leaves you feeling as if you’ve been burnt at the stake with a blowtorch in the middle of a thunderstorm. This is the story of Rita…
Booksmart: Michael Ondaatje”s “Divisadero” looks back through a lens slivered
Michael Ondaatje Nietzsche, a lover of aphorisms and words, once said, “We have art so that we shall not be destroyed by the truth.” This quote is found at the beginning and toward the end of Michael Ondaatje’s latest novel, and it frames the story. Ondaatje is best known for his 1992 award-winning novel “The…
What Have You – New Dude book abides
I’m a Lebowski, You’re a Lebowski: I’m a Lebowski, You’re a Lebowski: Life, The Big Lebowski, and What-Have-You By Bill Green, Ben Peskoe, Will Russell and Scott Shuffitt. Bloomsbury Press; 256 pgs., .95. The foreword by Jeff Bridges is a big bonus here, but the real guts of this whole odyssey lives in the words…
CD Reviews 7-18-07
De NadaGreg Foresman(SELF-RELEASED) Former Hammerheads member Greg Foresman continues to embrace classic, blues-drenched rock on De Nada. Opener “Strike Up The Band” contains all the hot guitar licks, organ and soulful vocals you’d expect from bands of a similar style. Next up is “32-20 Blues,” one of the album’s two Robert Johnson covers. The pristine…
Aftertastes
RITE WAY BAR-B-CUE HOUSE, 1548 W. St. Catherine St., 584-9385. This West End barbecue joint has been a neighborhood landmark since the Johnson family founded it just after WWII. The tender ribs are some of the best in town, and the sauce is like no other — thin, spicy and tangy, with a distinct vinegar…
Video Tapeworm: Releases through Tuesday, July 24
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKSA BIT OF FRY & LAURIE: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION … EVERY BIT!2007; DVD $79.95, URFans of “V For Vendetta” and TV’s “House” — and that’s a lot of people! — will love this clever, savage Limey sketch-comedy series starring Stephen Fry (Natalie Portman’s gay boss from “V”) and Hugh “Dr. House” Laurie.…
Staff Picks
Staffpicks Now showing‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’ It’s becoming cliché to say, “The latest Harry Potter film is darker and more adult than the last,” but one can’t help but say it about “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” which opened last Wednesday to rave reviews and vast legions. Dark…
