Cover Story
Six stories from the front lines: Social justice activists find ways to make a difference
The term social justice means different things to different people. For some, it represents a fight for economic equality, achievable only by changing government and redistributing wealth. Others view social justice as a relentless campaign to advance human potential by guaranteeing rights and parity for all. Yet at their core, social justice activists, or warriors,…
WFPK announces Waterfront Wednesday 2017 lineup
The lineup for this season of Waterfront Wednesday — a monthly, free concert series hosted by WFPK — has been announced. From April through September, on the last Wednesday of each month, the series takes place on the Big Four Lawn, starting at 6 p.m. and typically featuring three bands. April 26: Murder By Death,…
Vanessa Carlton talks new live albums and how her songwriting has changed
It’s been a long time since Vanessa Carlton got stuck inside everyone’s head with her No. 1 single “A Thousand Miles.” In the years since, Carlton has stepped back from the pop world and started focusing on more-personal material. Her last album, the ethereal Liberman, explored life, love and relationships in the sort of insightful…
10 things to do under $5 this week in Louisville (3/27)
MONDAY Mondo Video Night: ‘Pulp: A Film About Life, Death and Supermarkets’ Seidenfaden’s Cafe Free | 9 p.m. After binge-watching Pulp and Jarvis Cocker videos, the people of Mondo Video Night (the weekly “high brow, low brow, cult, doc and music” video series) decided to screen “Pulp: A Film About Life, Death and Supermarkets.” The…
Every LEO Presents video in one place: Watch performances by Quiet Hollers, 1200 and more local bands at LEO’s studio
Earlier this year, we started a video series called LEO Presents, where we asked local musicians to come to our studio to perform three songs, acoustically (although our version of acoustic is a little loose, basically meaning no electric guitars). We’re currently taking a break from filming, but below you can watch every session from…
5 Things To Do This Weekend in Louisville (3/24)
FRIDAY Twin Limb, Future Killer Zanzabar $12-$15 | 8 p.m. After time on the road, the atmospheric, psych-folk band Twin Limb is returning to Louisville for a show at Zanzabar on its newly-built stage. Accompanying them is fellow Louisville rock band Future Killer. It described its sound as “deconstructed human music.” SATURDAY NuLu 2nd Annual BockFest 600-700 blocks of…
Color Theory
As Modern celebrates pride with this issue, the concept of recreating the very first pride flag only seemed natural. The original flag had eight colors and was crafted by Gilbert Baker in San Francisco in 1978. The flag gave symbolism to each color and carefully tied it to the LGBTQ community. The flag, much like…
Six views of the civil rights fight vs. now
Social justice movements inspire and compel because they unite masses of people, if only for a brief while, with the promise of a different and better world. Who could fail to be inspired by the idea of a tired seamstress refusing to give up her seat on a segregated city bus, and the resulting movement…
Thorns & Roses: The Worst, Best and Most Absurd
Doesn’t play one on TV… | Rose For the second time, LEO Weekly’s founder, U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, has questioned President tRump’s mental state. “We have a president who’s up all night, who’s tweeting at all kinds of crazy hours, who’s making unsubstantiated claims that are really dangerous, who’s concerned himself with trivial matters like…
Cat Casual & the Holy Midnight’s dark, atmospheric debut record: A conversation with William Benton
William Benton is a musician who was born in Oklahoma and has been living in Louisville most of his adult life. He lives at the Cathouse, a multipurpose art space in the Smoketown neighborhood, and he has played with such seminal Louisville bands as Lucky Pineapple and Phantom Family Halo and currently fronts Cat Casual…
Three shows you shouldn’t miss this week
Margo Price Wednesday, March 29 Headliners Music Hall Like Sturgill Simpson or Tift Merritt, Margo Price is one of the best talents to emerge from the side of country music that’s not overly-slick bubblegum pop. The music and lyrics are rough around the edges, with her debut album Midwestern Farmer’s Daughter delivering sharp, impactful throwback…
Do not miss ‘Recent Alien Abductions’ ?and ‘A Doll House’
“It’s time for us to talk about the 25th episode of the ‘X-Files.’” So begins “Recent Alien Abductions,” by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas, which opened Sunday, as part of the Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival of New American Plays. It is an extraordinary play. Cortiñas has crafted arguably the most intricately-detailed script to appear on…
Rockerbuilt Studio, making music and… whatever
You wouldn’t be wrong if you thought Rockerbuilt is a band. But not right either. It’s an easy mistake to make. Rockerbuilt Studio is a new, five-person design company composed of people who are also musicians. Their day jobs consist of working creatively in their production workshop. You ask, they make. What makes Rockerbuilt a…
Darren Knight: ‘We would get a butt whoopin’ of Biblical proportions’
A little over a year ago Darren Knight was unemployed by day and performing local open-mic shows by night. Today, he’s headlining theaters across the country with “Darren Knight’s Southern Momma an ‘Em Comedy Tour.” The turnaround came when he posted a video to Facebook of a character he called Southern Momma, based on the…
We celebrate and highly recommend the joys of Tikka House
I’m pretty sure I have told you before that I love Indian food. Why do I love it? Let me count the ways: It brings bold, bright flavors that may be as fiery as the gates of hell, or as mild as a baby’s kiss, whichever way you like it. Indian fare draws on a…
Line Cooks — What do they do?
I attended culinary school in a night and weekend program that lasted most of three years, while still working full time at a bank job, where I had employer-assisted health insurance, paid sick days and vacation. Sometimes I look back and laugh at the fact I was putting myself in years of debt to be…
A collision of activism and fun
We all know I like to throw and/or attend a good party. Working in the bar and restaurant industry for 12 years now, my desire to curate a spectacular evening for guests, drenched in bourbon and laughter, is woven deeply through my barkeep DNA. And recently, on the trek back home from the Women’s March…
Study: 94 percent of world’s breweries are craft
A new study released last week by Lexington’s Alltech, which brews Kentucky Ale beers, and the Brewers Journal shows that of the 19,000-and-change breweries across the blue-green orb we call Earth, 94 percent of them are making “craft” beer. For those not in the know, in America, a “craft brewery” is loosely defined by the…
Ask Minda Honey: Get married sooner to save money?
In a relationship jam? Lemme unstuck your life: AskMindaHoney@leoweekly.com. Q: OK, so we’ve been engaged for about a year and decided to set the date. Weddings are expensive so we set the date for November 2018 so we can save. My cousin was engaged and had picked everything out and unfortunately their engagement is now…
Savage Love: Curious Minds
I recently spoke at Curious Minds Weekend in Toronto at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. Audience members submitted questions on cards before the show—anonymously—but the moderator, Lisan Jutras of the Globe and Mail, and I were having so much fun talking with each other that we didn’t get to many cards. So I’m going…
Social Justice Warriors — fighting to fight?
I was in the middle of writing a column about how the Catlettsburg, Kentucky, police department thought it would be a super cool and totally badass idea to amp up its police cruisers by adding large and imposing decals of The Punisher’s totenkopf to the hood of its cars. The fucking crux of the column…
Don’t deflate Meals on Wheels
There are basic needs we have in our quest for a basic human existence. We need love. We need food and water. We need shelter. These are the bare minimum of things that we need to have a good life. Certainly, we can exist with these items in varying measures, but they are essential to…
The best and worst of Frankfort
We knew the 2017 Kentucky State Legislative session was going to be crazy when Gov. Matt Bevin went toe to toe with union workers in the halls of the Capitol, accusing one of not being from Kentucky. Thankfully, the session is nearly over, ending dangerous meddling by the GOP majority. Well, sort of… There are…
