A Letter from Doug Johnson
To all, I’m writing you from St. Margarets hostel in Nazareth to tell you that I’m fine and unhurt. The president of my university insisted that all western teachers leave until things “calm down,” although I feel that our evacuation was unnecessary. I was abducted by about 15 young men with machine guns and pistols…
What a Week
OK, who sneezed on this rat?In a dramatic medical breakthrough, researchers at U of L used stem cells from human nasal passages to cure rats with spinal-cord injuries, giving hope for possible cures for multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, and other nerve disorders in humans. The boogers-for-brains research holds promise not only for people with spinal-cord-related disabilities,…
Rumor & Innuendo: Rumblings From the World of Sports
Was it me, or was something missing on NCAA Selection Sunday? Oh, yeah, the sun. And any mention of the University of Louisville Cardinals. Hmmmmm! That schedule thang. U of L played only one non-conference team that is dancing. Can you spell UK? And the Cards only beat one NCAA team — Marquette. Pitiful. Billy…
It’s Welch, without a surprise
To a tenderfoot, the jovial mood in Metro Council chambers before the March 1 interview session for those hoping to fill Democrat Ron Weston’s vacant 13th district seat would’ve seemed unusual. Considering the business of the day, one might think all the smiling was, well, weird. The sun was out and it felt like spring…
Foaming in the gloaming
Competition consumes the Capitol under the twilight of every session as lawmakers, lobbyists and stakeholders plot to muscle bills beyond the legislative bottleneck that paralyzes, then suffocates, measures great and small. It’s been a strangely quiet yet quirky session in the Senate. A string of illnesses, deaths and surgeries among senators and their parents seemed…
Lofty challenge
Clifton Lofts were controversial, but they need love now By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER After nearly four years of bitching about the Clifton Lofts condo project on Frankfort Avenue, it’s time for its neighbors to welcome the 42-unit development with open arms. The first residents are expected to move in later this month, but with only…
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. No…
Plain Brown Rapper
What would Thomas Jefferson do? What would Thomas Jefferson do? Sit around Heine Bros. like some urban dilettante and make an intellectual case against the establishment? Would he passionately call for campaign finance reform, perhaps going right home and mailing that $100 contribution to Sen. John McCain, one of his left-wing heroes? In other words,…
Spirituality: Has God been demoted?
By Mary Cartledghayes Way back in July I heard Karen Rontowski at Comedy Caravan. In her routine she mentioned growing up Methodist and went on to suggest that United Methodists are a bit squishy in their theology. She said, “I think they believe … umm … mmm … Take care!” As a United Methodist clergywoman,…
Culture Maven: Now on to the real issues …
Indy has the Final Four. Louisville has the Fateful Four. Political issues, that is. The former means little in this hoops post-season of our discontent. Because of that, many locals have been forced into actually thinking about governance. Tradition be damned. There is more on our minds than bracketology. The Final Four are yet to…
Bluegrass Politics: The Burkesville Bully
It’s fitting that Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, is the person standing in the way of efforts by an unusual alliance — the conservative Family Foundation and the progressive Fairness Alliance — to enact anti-bullying legislation. After all, Williams himself is often regarded as “The Bully from Burkesville,” and he’s more than lived up to…
Your Weekly Reeder: Making Louisville a real city again
This winter of discontent in The Ville has no end in sight, and I’m not just talking about University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino’s decision to let his team play in the NIT instead of just putting the fans out of their misery and ending it all. They shoot horses, don’t they? Whatever happens…
Doc Naismith’s best bets, and some OK Tourney News
If the Louisville Cardinals had to skip an NCAA basketball tournament, this was probably the one to miss. 2006 looks like a very big Blue Year. All four No. 1 seeds — Duke, Villanova, Connecticut and Memphis — wear blue. And Kentucky, too. How likely is the champ to be blue? Odds-on, according to LEO…
A season late, a basket short
U of L can retire its dancin’ shoes for another year Sometimes writing assignments go awry. Imagine it’s Good Friday, April 1865. You’re an aspiring theater critic for some Washington gazette. Your assignment is to review a romantic comedy, “My American Cousin,” at Ford Theater. Curtain’s up, a shot rings out, some guy jumps from…
Who would have ever thunk it?
Denny and Joe B. Hall are knocking ’em dead in the radio ratings department By Matt Willinger Some say it’s sports talk of a refreshingly different sort. Others say it only proves that in Kentucky, anything to do with the basketball fortunes of the Cats and the Cards will have an audience. But everybody has…
Maybe the NIT will start sucking a little less
In August of last year, it was announced that the four-year legal battle between the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association and the National Collegiate Athletic Association would end with Moby Dick gobbling Ahab: for about $56 million, the NCAA would become owner and operator of the National Invitation Tournament, the once-venerable college hoops tourney that has…
Beware those suffering Boobus Hoopus Americanus
Spotting this species is like obscenity…You’ll know it when you see it Good morning, students, and welcome to the Vitale Institute of Basketball Insanity. Today we are going to discuss the species known as the fan, identified in your textbooks under the generic name, Boobus Hoopus Americanus. In some areas of the country, individuals with…
Theater Review – Necessary Targets
Living in the USA affords us many luxuries and comforts and can insulate us from the realities of other regions. Certainly we do not comprehend the sheer terror of genocide. We will most likely never experience the all-consuming panic of being taken from our homes by force. Yet these evils exist in more parts of…
Theater Review – Six Years
As the stage darkens following the first scene of “Six Years,” one of the selections included in the 30th Anniversary Humana Festival of New American Plays, an audience member feels a most delicious (and sought-after, by the playwright) emotion: anticipation. The necessary elements are established in the central relationship: intensity, mystery, intimacy. The music and…
Theater Review – Act a Lady
Men in wigs, tiaras and silk dresses with bustles. If this makes you giggle, then sign up for “Act a Lady.” The gender-bender comedy is the opening selection of the 30th Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre. “Act a Lady” goes deeper than just men in drag. It rests on the…
Arts & Entertainment
Special Events Glassworks presents “Louisville Uncorked,” benefit for the Council on Mental Retardation featuring Chardonnay tasting by teams, March 15, 7-10pm, $10 donation, 815 W. Market St., 584-4510.••UofL Dance Academy presents “Theme and Variations,” ballet class work in a performance setting, March 17, 7pm, $6, $4 students & seniors, Margaret Comstock Hall, 852-6878.Sacred Celebration presents…
Community Listings
Special Events Hospice of Louisville presents annual “Care for the Dying Day” educational conference featuring keynote speaker Robert Arnold, March 15, $85 clinicians, $50 students, non-professional caregivers, Holiday Inn, 1325 S. Hurstbourne Pkwy., 719-8912 or www.hospiceinstitute.org.Fourth Street Live presents St. Baldrick’s Day, fundraiser in which people shave heads for childhood cancer research, March 19, 2pm,…
Staff Picks
March 16-26JCC’s ‘My Fair Lady’ “The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain.” Now, unless you’re a theater geek, you have no idea where you’ve heard that little rhyme (Dr. Suess?), but you’ve definitely heard it. Most likely it was Audrey Hepburn’s portrayal of Eliza Doolittle, the Cockney flower girl who gets a speech makeover…
Comedy/Karaoke
WEDMARCH 15 Akiko’sKaraokeBrewskees Karaoke w/ TriciaBrickyard Sports Bar Open Mic/DJ TerryComedy CaravanSeamus O’Brien and DC MaloneCreeker’s Bar & GrillKaraoke w/ Dirty DanGaslite Tavern Karaoke w/ LarinsoGood Times Pub Karaoke Jim Porter’sKaraokeJT’s Variety Club Karaoke, The Summit Bros.Mac’s HideawayKaraoke w/ Swift Ent.Main MenuKaraokeMonon Station KaraokeNew ViewKaraoke w/ JoePhoenix HillKaraoke w/ DJ Big KahunaR Place Pub Karaoke…
Plugged in
WED MARCH 15 Air Devil’s Inn: Serpent WisdomBluegrass Brewing Co.: Bluegrass Anonymous jam w/ Mike BucayuBrickyard Sports Bar: Big Rock ShowBulldog Café: Open Jam — CountryCactus Jack’s: Mike OwensCafé Lou Lou: Larry Abrams jazz trioClifton’s Pizza: Walker & Kays Coyote’s: Cross Canadian Ragweed, George ThorogoodDame: Rubberband, The Messengers, All-American Werewolves Dutch’s Tavern: Kimmet & DougExecutive…
Five Important Questions With Paradigm
The real, elemental art of jazz is basically in two things: flourish and improvisation. It is a form that requires a profound technical background that, ultimately, is not apparent to the listener. Part of such expertise is in making music that sounds easy. A painless analogy is the NBA: those guys drop 25-footers like layups,…
A b-b-b-bad weekend
Charting the stock of rock ’n’ roll singers whose voices are made for each other is a commission that will surely, if ever done, go unrewarded. There’s really no way to do it objectively, and that will trouble enough people to kill it in its infancy. However, there are universals: John and Paul, Bob and…
Video TapeWorm: Releases through March 21
BREASTS: A DOCUMENTARY1996; DVD $19.95, URJust what the title says: Twenty-two women, most of them topless, stare into the camera and yammer about how their “breasts have shaped their lives.” We dintgittit, but boobs are always fun to watch and there are some terrific bits scattered around including a “naughty” cartoon from the ’20s and…
Conscientious objection: Louisville documentarian explores Israelis who refuse to fight
It’s almost impossible to find a starting point for the discussion of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Do you start with, as some would prefer, the ancient Jewish kingdoms? Do you jump forward to the 1917 declaration by the British that they supported a Jewish homeland in territory occupied by millions of Arabs (Muslim and otherwise)?…
Nibbles
‘Snappy Madness,’ indeed During this year’s annual March Madness, Snappy Tomato pizza offers a special promotion that will result in more than 500 free pizzas to walk-in customers, as well as a catered pizza party for the NCAA men’s final game. During the course of the NCAA men’s basketball tourney, on all game days, the…
Aftertastes
Quality of Meal: 3 = Good; 4 = Very good; 5 = Extraordinary. Price Range: $ = $10 or less; $$ = $20 or less; $$$ = $30 or less; $$$$ = more than $30. (Per person for a meal without tip or tax.) HA = Wheelchair accessible. Descriptions are summaries of previously published dining…
Taste of Jamaica takes you to a ‘jerk-spiced heaven’
About three years ago, my best buddy Greg and I went to Jamaica. We didn’t get to take in as much of the local culture as we’d have liked, but we did get to sample a bit of Jamaican cuisine. During a stop on our way to Ocho Rios, we bought jerk chicken at a…
American Craft Council conference
Louisville has the right to brag; after all, we’ve been a category on “Jeopardy!†(A: Kaelin’s Restaurant claims to have invented this meat and dairy dish. Q: What is a cheeseburger?). The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft has given Louisville another reason for its head to swell: The American Craft Council, the premiere craft…
