Cover Story
Home economics: The labor struggle of domestic workers
Affluent and middle-class American families hire some 2.5 million employees to work in their homes. Behind closed doors, these domestic workers — who cook, clean, run errands and provide care for young, elderly, ill and disabled family members — provide a great deal of the necessary, invaluable social labor in the U.S. Yet domestic labor…
A Q&A with Adam Watson, Industrial Hemp Program Coordinator with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, to discuss their pilot project
This weekend at Kentucky Farm Fest, there will be the usual celebration of all things Kentucky agriculture, with the addition of a new crop — hemp. Kentucky’s hemp pilot project is harvesting their first year’s yield of hemp and will be at Farm Fest to discuss the potential of hemp and the 1,700 acres of…
Concert Review: Le Butcherettes/Melvins (Mercury Ballroom, 7/6/15)
This was Le Butcherettes’ first Louisville show, which I’m sure left an impression on those who didn’t know how insane Teri Gender Bender is on stage. It’s in her name to dismantle gender norms and expectations — that’s why she crab dances across the stage and moves like she’s playing a sadistic game of charades.…
Festival for the rest of us: An oral history of Poorcastle
An institution now for the last several years, Poorcastle has taken on a life of its own. It goes without saying that the event exists in contrast to Forecastle, the yearly festival now held at the Waterfront Park, which has grown from a grassroots, Louisville-centric weekend of music, to a money-making business loaded with big-name,…
b-side
Jim Lauderdale has worn quite a few hats within the world of roots music, from slick honky tonk to deep bluegrass to the borderlines of rock ‘n’ roll, keeping his sound on the move and his output insanely high. He makes his way to Headliners this Friday, July 10, with opener Misty Mountain String Band,…
Plugged In (July 8 – July 14)
WED July 8th 8Up: DJ Matt Anthony; 7:30 p.m. Baxter 942: Full Contact Karaoke; 10 p.m. Bearno’s (Bardstown): Petar Mandic; 7 p.m. Brownies The Shed: Karaoke; 10 p.m. El Nopal (Crestwood): Nick Nichols; 7 p.m. Gerstle’s Place: Kimmet & Doug; 9 p.m. Goodwood Brewing: Open Mic Night; 7 p.m. Hideaway Saloon: The Pranksters; 10 p.m.,…
Some days are better than others
I don’t remember my dreams too often, which is why it caught me off guard when I awoke one morning a few weeks ago with it still lingering. I opened my eyes, looked at my wife and said, “I’ve been hanging with Bono all night.” Dreams are weird, even more so when they’re premonitions. Fast forward…
Weisberg’s trompe l’oeil at JCC’s Patio Gallery
I’ve been hoodwinked, played, punked. I was at the Patio Gallery to see the paintings of luscious desserts by Frank F. Weisberg, but first I decided to make a stop at the drinking fountain. My brain wasn’t fast enough to question why there was water inside the gallery — I was just thirsty. I was…
Comedian Ryan Singer on growing up
Most of us can only hope to grow up to have careers like Ryan Singer, where people are using descriptors like “buzzed about” or “electrifying” or “brilliant.” Most of us would kill to have someone like Marc Maron name drop you in a major magazine as one of his favorite comedians working today, and implying…
A summer spectacle with a provocative message
One of the risks of seeing “The Stephen Foster Story” is the possibility that you might contract a serious case of costume envy. The play — with a script by Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist Paul Green — has been a mainstay of American summer theater since 1959. And for 51 summers the costumes have been designed…
Video Tapeworm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS THE HOWLING II: YOUR SISTER IS A WEREWOLF 1985; $17.89-24.97; R Joe “Gremlins” Dante created the original “Howling,” a legendary sexy-shocker featuring some of the greatest werewolf transformations ever imagined, with help from Rick Baker and Rob Bottin. It famously culminated in Dee Wallace’s snarling lycanthro-morph on live national TV; a…
New urbanism, same old Chinese in Norton Commons
There we were, Mary and I, sitting and chatting as we waited for our apps in the comfortably cozy confines of Tea Station Chinese Bistro. We sipped Tsing Tao beers and gazed out at the main drag of Norton Commons, the new subdivision with the old-time look, trying to figure out why this village somehow…
An unlikely BLT experience
They didn’t have to use the thick, ultra-flavorful bacon. But they did. They didn’t have to use the freshly-sliced, half-inch thick hunk of tomato. But they did that too. Let me start from the beginning: A few months back, my cousin Denny, who makes deliveries for Pepsi, told me about his favorite bacon lettuce and…
Healthy, pretty and witty
We interrupt this malaise, complicated by a violent crime spree, to note our unbridled glee as we ride twin tidal waves for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” the “inalienable rights” embodied in our Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution. With two landmark decisions in late June, the U.S. Supreme Court has secured for…
Be angry. Do Something.
As I start writing, there is a black church burning to the ground — in South Carolina no less. This is the seventh one in as many days. By the time this is published I suspect there will be more. America is again besieged by its racist past and doing little to put the spectre…
‘Trumping’ prejudice
This week’s feature story is an important look into the under-reported plight of domestic workers. They are the caregivers for children, elderly and sick, as well as caretakers of homes and daily chores that are often looked-down upon as remedial, low-skill tasks, undeserving of dignity and respect; often, so too are the workers. The reality…
Inbox – July 8, 2015
W.W.G.J.D. I guess the question begs to be asked. What if Jesus was gay? Would one billion plus believers go back to Roman paganism and nature loving druids, or would they embrace the ultra conservative ‘off with their heads’ Islamic fundamentalists? Many of those screaming the loudest about gay marriage have abandoned the primary tenets…
