Cover Story
The Emperor’s New Clothes: Ex-trustee Steve Wilson says UofL President Ramsey is naked!
Hans Christian Andersen is credited for having written “The Emperor’s New Clothes” in 1837. As the story goes, a vain Emperor hires two weavers who promise him the finest, best suit of clothes from a fabric invisible to anyone who is unfit for his position or “hopelessly stupid.” The Emperor’s ministers cannot see the clothes…
A Q&A with comedian Greg Morton
It was the early 1980s in Toronto when a college professor showed young Greg Morton an article about the stand-up boom that was happening in New York City at the time, and, in that article, young Morton read about a hot club at the epicenter of the stand-up commotion called Catch a Rising Star. The…
Visually Speaking: This week’s art news and events (3/28)
[The above image of Mark Anthony Mulligan is from the film “Peacelands” showing at Swanson Contemporary. Photo credit: James Calvert] Art news The Carnegie Center’s “Stock the Shelves Art Book Drive” is April 1-30. They are seeking new or gently used art-related coffee table books and art-related hardback books for children. Book donors may drop books…
8 free things to do in Louisville this week (3/28)
Monday Free Play Mondays Hilltop Tavern 5 p.m. Hilltop has the cure for your Monday blues: free arcade games! With two consoles, hundreds of games and no quarters required you can finally beat that final boss in Alien vs. Predator without breaking the bank. Tuesday Fat Roux’s Day Roux (Louisville) 7–11 p.m. It may not…
The New York Times writes about Louisville’s NCAA grumpiness
A New York Times reporter spent time in Louisville to see how we feel about hosting the NCAA tournament while our own beloved team sits on the sidelines. Marc Tracy, in an article published Friday, “Louisville Is a Grumpy N.C.A.A. Host as Its Team Sits One Out,” wrote: “Though the Cardinals would not have been…
LEO Podcast #27: Marc Tracy, New York Times College Sports Writer, on covering the Sweet 16 in Louisville and post-season bans
New York Times College Sports Writer Marc Tracy swung by the LEO Office to talk about writing his article “Louisville Is a Grumpy N.C.A.A. Host as Its Team Sits One Out,” as well as post-season bans, Damion Lee and how this year’s March Madness is playing out.
5 things to do in Louisville this weekend (3/25)
Bluegrass Bizarre Bazaar The Cure Lounge $8; 9 p.m. If this week has driven you to the edge of sanity, then you’ll be in good company at this event, a night of drag, burlesque, sideshow and fire performances with troupes from all over Kentuckiana. It’s a variety show unlike anything else in Louisville. SATURDAY Nowhere…
A Q&A with artist Debbie Shannon
[The above image is “Absinthe Agate” by Debbie Shannon.] “How do you make that?” is a phrase Debbie Shannon (dshannon@iglou.com) hears regularly. As an artist who creates marbled paper, she is drawn to the mystery, history and wonder of it as much as anyone else. LEO: What type of artist are you? Debbie Shannon: I’m…
Former UofL guard Russ Smith breaks NBA D-League single-game scoring record with 65 points
Former UofL guard Russ Smith — and current member of the NBA D-League team Delaware 87ers — scored 65 points on Wednesday night, breaking the single-game scoring record, during a 140-129 loss to the Canton Charge. Smith went 24-42 from the field, with 32 points coming from layups. Check out his shot chart via ESPN:…
UofL Trustee Robert Hughes replies to Steve Wilson: ‘Avoid fairy tales that are hurtful’
UofL Trustee Robert Hughes has gone on the attack, expressing his dislike for former Trustee Steve Wilson’s satiric look at President James Ramsey’s battle with the Board of Trustees. The reaction was to Wilson’s piece, which was published exclusively in LEO on Wednesday, as was a counterpoint commentary from Hughes. After reading Wilson’s piece, Hughes attacked him…
Trustee Robert Hughes defends UofL President James Ramsey, dissenters hurt university
As a former chairman of the Board of Trustees at the University of Louisville, I deeply regret the embarrassment that the actions of a handful of trustees have brought upon the University and to the community at large. Among the highest responsibilities of individuals who serve on boards of directors is to advance the best…
Hundreds gather to decry citywide problems, ?JCPS declines to appear
Hundreds of local church congregation members gathered last week, March 15, to demand commitments from Louisville officials on four key issues: An increase in TARC services to the Riverport Industrial Park. Consistent funding of the Louisville Affordable Housing Trust Fund in the 2016-17 city budget. For state Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R, D-26, to co-sponsor…
b-sides
Basia Bulat Canadian folk singer-songwriter Basia Bulat creates the sort of powerful and smart songs that build and fall, making it unsurprising that early in her recording career she worked with Arcade Fire’s producer. With both a broad range of vocals and arrangements, there’s a directness and urgency paired with the sort of hooks and…
Rural, romantic and reverent: ?A conversation with Anderson East
Mention the term “singer-songwriter” and most listeners imagine a James Taylor or Joni Mitchell type: someone mostly using acoustic instrumentation to whisper personal or romantic ruminations. Hooks are always welcome. But horns? Nah. Pushing the raspy edge of your voice? Only to mix things up mid-set, and maybe again to cap the encore. Still, the…
Everything is a community: A conversation with Gogol Bordello
It’s impossible to talk to Eugene Hütz of Gogol Bordello and not have an overwhelming sense of joy, just as it is when you listen to the music, which blends traditional gypsy folk, cabaret and punk into a dynamic package. Over the course of 17 years and 8 albums, the band has continued to make…
‘Wellesley Girl’: memorable acting, delightful script
Former Massachusetts congressman and Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill once memorably proclaimed that, “All politics is local.” In Brendan Pelsue’s new play, “Wellesley Girl,” the maxim has become a literal truth. In the year 2465, a human-induced environmental catastrophe has destroyed the world’s water supplies and killed off most of the world’s population. Four…
‘Ancient religions, modern munitions’: ?Farrow’s fully loaded exhibit
Bullets and their projectile delivery system, the gun, are rarely used as art media. As a subject, yes, like the slaughter in Francisco Goya’s “The Third of May 1808” or “Weapons of Color” by former Louisvillian Brent Estabrook. It’s a rare artist who would want to create work with objects that have such a (loaded)…
David Waite — back from New York and L.A.
Who’s David Waite? Well, he’s a Kentucky born funny-man who started doing comedy in Cincinnati well over a decade ago, and being from just down the road, he was no stranger to Louisville stages as a young comic. But soon, his career picked up steam, and he began headlining clubs all over the country. He…
The end of an error
The Video TapeWorm, the “World’s Largest Smelling Guide to Video™” and a homegrown LEO fixture for the past 20 years, has finally ended. Our long national nightmare is over. But before we go, I’d like to tell you about a Louisville you may not remember. Afterwards, you can decide if that was a good idea.…
We go full carnivore, almost, at Le Moo
For more than 60 years, tens of thousands of Louisville folks have made it their custom to stop off at KT‘s for an adult beverage — or several — and maybe a quick bite on their way home from work. It opened as the Old Kentucky Tavern back in the 1950s, evolved into KT‘s in…
Spring things
The vernal equinox, or Northward equinox, is the equinox on Earth when the sun appears to leave the Southern Hemisphere and cross the celestial equator, a seasonal transition also known as the first day of spring. For many, March 20, 2016, was a day of purging the dust and clutter collected over the catacombs of…
Quest for ire
In case you missed it, Neanderthals are hot — or at least a hot topic these days ever since scientists determined that we — you and I — have a traceable smidgen of Neanderthal DNA from a time when Neanderthals and humanoids got jiggy with it. Trump makes more sense now. Does he not? For…
Is America in decline?
With his campaign in the throes of its death rattle, a frustrated Marco Rubio recently lamented that modern media covers politics largely as entertainment. The ill-fated Rubio is correct, but there are greater machinations at play here that signal a more troubling reality. Media doesn’t cover politics just as entertainment: Everything is now entertainment, because…
Mitch, you old dog
Whoever said old dogs can’t learn new tricks never met Mitch McConnell. The Senate majority leader may be getting up there in years, but he is now a man of principle. After seven years of your everyday political-obstruction tricks, he has now added the politically principled trick to his repertoire. Make no mistake about it…
Your Voice
On “Red bird down” Mr. Yarmuth: I find it incomprehensible that you and many others continue to mourn the U of L basketball team’s post-season ban. While heretical in this state to admit, this is just a case of non-participation in NCAA games . . . that’s about it! At a time when our state’s…
