Cover Story
Consider the kid
It is just about two hours into the annual Brown School talent show. Outside, unseasonably warm weather has slashed open the Louisville winter to the smells and gusts of springtime. And though it may be premature, the kids here — there are hundreds — bounce around with the glee that a sudden lifting of oppressive…
Lights, camera, film noir and Homies
‘The Constant World of Jennifer and Kevin McCoy’Though June21c Museum Hotel700 W. Main St.217-634621cmuseum.org It would be tempting to surrender 2009 to the economic depression and ride out the rest of the year holed up on the couch, but Mayor Jerry has christened 2009 the “Year of Visual Arts in Louisville,” which means now…
Gallopalooza: Behind the Scenes
Last week I snuck into the “horse barn” out at the Mellwood Arts & Entertainment Center to take a peak at the Gallopalooza horses that are being painted, adorned and sculpted. There were more than 30 horses in various stages of completion — scattered about the large open room. I caught up with artist Fred…
Common ground
Thursday never literally went away; they just needed a retrofit. The New Jersey group has moved from aural experimentation back to their gritty roots. Newest title Common Existence is a gale of post-hardcore discontent that combines massive instrumentation with images of life at its bleakest. Even with track titles “As He Climbed the Dark Mountain,”…
Art’s not dead, it’s just asleep
I’m hard pressed to say anything terribly insightful or helpful about: the economy, the state of the record industry, the ever shifting but hopefully not evaporating options for the creative minds in our communities who wish to make a living from their respective talents. If I had any real insight into these matters, I’d be…
I see dead people
Although we still don’t have an IKEA, Louisville can check “dead body art exhibit” off the list of things that make you a major metropolis. Similar exhibitions have been pit-stopping in major U.S. cities since the late ’90s, the closest to here being “Body Worlds,” which came to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry in…
Inbox — March 11, 2009
Clarification The story “The predators” (LEO Weekly, Feb. 25) stated that a Louisville woman filed a complaint with the Kentucky Attorney General’s office claiming discrimination in obtaining a housing loan, but that nothing came of the complaint. In fact, the attorney general’s office forwards all discrimination cases to the Kentucky Human Rights Commission due to…
Lights, camera, traction
It’s been more than a decade since filmmaker and Kentucky native Stu Pollard directed his seminal romantic comedy “Nice Guys Sleep Alone” here in the Bluegrass, and Pollard’s area code has since changed from 502 to 310 — Santa Monica, Calif., to be exact, which is about 16 miles due west of Los Angeles. That’s…
Rockwell
One of my first assignments was to review rapper Khia’s second album, Gangstress. It was the worst album I had ever heard, rife with horrible beats, lame rhymes and out-of-place profanity. Although listening to it was a terrible experience, I decided to keep the disc for future comparison; every time I’m assigned an album I…
Broke justice
The fate of Kentucky’s public defender system has looked pretty bleak lately. The Department of Public Advocacy is seriously short on cash, resulting in fewer attorneys juggling increasingly excessive caseloads. The situation is so dire that the commonwealth’s top public defender filed a lawsuit against the state last year, claiming his department does not have…
Chin up
“Last time I was in town visiting my dad, there were like 16 inches of snow and the city was shut down.” No matter the apocalyptic conditions indigenous to Louisville, another native, Torbitt Schwartz, co-founder of Brooklyn-based jazz/funk/electronic fusion outfit Chin Chin, hopes to cultivate a party atmosphere to make you forget about, well, everything.…
Pollution agency responds
As a Louisville native and nearly lifelong resident of this community, I take my position as executive director of the Metro Air Pollution Control District personally. Improving public health through environmental law and policy has been the main goal of my career to this point, and I am anxious to continue that work. That is…
Video TapeWorm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS CHRYSALIS 2007; $26.95, UR This French sci-fi thriller is first-rate (the French have a history of excellence in this area), from the futuristic look and feel of 2025 Paris, to the seductive technology that ultimately leads to violence and murder. But what we liked best about this cyberpunk hunt for a…
Staffpicks
Thursday, March 12Brown Shoe The Rudyard Kipling422 W. Oak St.www.rudyardkipling.com$5; 9 p.m. Ready for the indie rock? Brown Shoe, which hails from Sacramento, Calif., is one of those bands that throws all kinds of ingredients into the stew and lets it cook down to just whatever it wants to be. The band’s latest effort, Jackalope,…
Art: News Bits
March is National Arts Education Month — voice your support to keep arts in the schools. It has not been determined whether the Speed Art Museum will remain open during its renovation. The last scheduled exhibition is “Ed Hamilton’s Lincoln” ending Sept. 6. U of L has partnered with Louisville-area groups to form the Arts…
Fair labor
Before the Metro Council approved a plan last fall to expand Fourth Street Live, local union leader Joe Wise pleaded with the Democratic caucus to vote against it. But his plea was unsuccessful, and the council finalized the deal with the Cordish Cos. — the Baltimore-based developer behind the downtown entertainment district — and invested…
Clay now
The large bulldog stands on thick, stocky legs, its powerful jaws locked in a snarl. The title, “I Can Assure You My Bite is Worse,” seems a highly credible statement. This ceramic dog by Brian Somerville won the Best of Show in Sculpture Award at the “Best of Louisville Clay” exhibition at the Kentucky Museum…
Years of Refusal
“You’re making a fool of yourself, so get off the stage,” Morrissey sang in 1989, calling out aging rockers on their complacency and irrelevance. But as Moz himself approaches 50, he’s still making some of the most essential music of his career, as demonstrated on Years of Refusal. The album lacks You Are the Quarry’s…
Richy Rich?
In Maryland, fishermen must adhere to a size and number limit for Rockfish. Watermen there are trying to assure the survival of the species. President Obama could learn from those Marylanders. Instead of preserving and promoting the resurgence of a species, in this case the economic sector Fortune magazine refers to as “HENRYs” (high earners,…
In search of the elusive Philly cheesesteak
Living in Clifton, I find myself navigating lower Brownsboro Road on a regular basis. While I’ve tried most of the restaurants along that strip — and continue to sorely miss the delicious fare at the now-defunct Taste of Jamaica — a couple options have continued to catch my eye, yet until recently hadn’t convinced me…
All along the watchtower
Enough with “Watchmen” already? No. We’re just getting started. If you are a dutiful follower of pop culture criticism, you have no doubt heard about how “Watchmen” is the Holy Grail of graphic novels, how its writer, Alan Moore, is a high-functioning weirdo who has denounced any and all film treatments of his work, and…
Theater: Humana Fest withers, blossoms at once
AmerivilleWritten by UNIVERSES. Directed by Chay Yew. SlasherWritten by Allison Moore. Directed by Josh Hecht. (Selections from the Actors Theatre of Louisville 33rd Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays. Continues through April 11. Call 584-1205 or visit www.actorstheatre.org for more information.) Springtime in Louisville: lush canopies of green unfurl, Derby dresses dance on…
B-Sides: Music & Other Ephemera
Blue Note Records, a jazz institution, is celebrating its 70th birthday with a tour that combines talents from the genre’s rising stars. Under the direction of pianist Bill Charlap, the Blue Note 7 — Nicholas Payton on trumpet, Ravi Coltrane and Steve Wilson on saxophone, guitarist Peter Bernstein, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Lewis Nash…
Middle Cyclone
Case’s last album exemplified a singer/songwriter pushing her band forward in multiple directions. Now come 14 songs that often feel closer in, but with brave experiments. She still makes good on signature moves: frequent short songs, intimations of violence and that most powerful of smoky voices. Her latest nuances frequently score big. Rough-hewn albums aren’t…
Bar Belle blows
Hindsight is 20/20, they say. Next time I’ll have to remember that when I find myself crouched on my knees, blowing into a long, hard shaft of the metal sort, my air filling and expanding liquid glass that’s roughly 2,200 degrees. It doesn’t take much to twist my arm. All I knew was Glassworks was…
Editor’s Note
I’m writing to announce the last of what have been some dramatic changes to LEO Weekly. In the coming weeks you’ll notice a few more tweaks to the general design and layout, including a revamped City Strobe section, which will match the new look. We will also eliminate listings from the print edition of LEO…
No Line on the Horizon
U2 turned to old cohorts Eno and Lanois and practically made ’em auxiliary members. Imagine Achtung, Baby with more orchestral fill, Pop with fewer club-beat backgrounds but lots of multi-voiced mini-sermons. Despite embarrassing missteps, the rigmarole is regularly justified by high-quality songwriting that calls for dense arranging. Occasionally the insistent efforts of all this world-class…
Recently reviewed in LEO
Meridian Café, 112 Meridian Ave., 897-9703, www.themeridiancafe.com. With its cozy old-house atmosphere and prices that look right even during a recession, Meridian chef Mike Ross offers up excellent cooking and a creative breakfast-and-lunch menu. (Reviewed 2/4/09; Rating: 88) Maido Essential Japanese Cuisine & Sake Bar, 1758 Frankfort Ave., 894-8775, www.maidosakebar.com. This popular Clifton spot gains…
