Cover Story
United We Stand, Divided We Ball
What can you say about Louisville going to the NCAA Final Four, except it’s a total shock? The Cardinals are headed to New Orleans to play No. 1-ranked Kentucky and take a shot at winning the college basketball national championship. A stunning turn of events that proves everyone has been wrong about Louisville. Or maybe…
B-sides
Madame Machine’s parts What do you call a new machine featuring men and women who’ve played with Black Cross, Lucky Pineapple and Venus Trap? Madame Machine play a record release show at Third Street Dive Friday at 10 p.m. LEO asks bassist Salena Filichia about it. LEO: As “supergroups” go, is Madame Machine more Traveling…
Life Is Still Beautiful
Life heralds the return of The Foxery, a band of locals tinkering with the conventions of indie rock. Coming across like a seesawing collage of Child-era Manchester Orchestra and the distorted post-hardcore intensity of Slint, The Foxery bring heartfelt songs that get a huge boost from being formed around alternating soft-loud dynamics. “The Widower” allows…
Our Home Is a Deathbed
With a multidimensional approach to hardcore — from thrashing caustic punk to more emotional, swelling melodic moments — Xerxes craft a focused vision that gives Our Home a dense and unique vibe. None of the songs is over 3 minutes, but they cover plenty of ground. The bulk of their style can be summed up…
Theater: Only darkness lurks in ‘Death Tax’
‘Death Tax’ Written by Lucas Hnath. Directed by Ken Rus Schmoll. Continues through April 1 at Actors Theatre of Louisville as part of the Humana Festival of New American Plays. For tickets or more info, go to actorstheatre.org or call 584-1205. There are things to admire in the Actors Theatre production of Lucas Hnath’s “Death…
Song Town
Song Town is the result of a wedding singer thinking he can make a solo record. Halfway through, I’m not sure he’s taking himself all that seriously, which is fine, as most listeners had given up on that idea a couple songs earlier. Williams, of the infinitely fun Jefferson Tarc Bus band, here breaks every…
Art: New KMAC director brings a fresh outlook
He’s come to Louisville by way of Sweden. Aldy Milliken, an American with international sensibilities (he’s also lived in Budapest, Hungary and Indonesia), is the new executive director of the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft. An engaging man with 20 years of art and educational experience, including running a self-titled gallery, Milliken was selected…
The Taste Bud: Evolution of a bowling alley burger
At my high school, we enjoyed open-campus lunch periods — which means that in four years, I never ate at the school cafeteria. Not even once. Instead, I usually went to local convenience stores, where we would feast upon Cokes, chips and candy — the kind of nutrition perfectly suited to post-pubescent boys dealing with…
Staffpicks
March 28-June 29 U of L Photo Exhibit Ekstrom Library louisville.edu/library/ekstrom Free; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays Author and photographer Steven W. Plattner gets around. The former U of L photographic archives researcher has not only studied and written about photography extensively, he has traveled the country the past few years practicing his craft. A collection…
Don’t dream it’s over
You may remember I used to love that television show “Lost.” I was amused and delighted by the ways the writers convoluted the story in supposedly meaningful ways, reconfiguring archetypes and weaving a tapestry of Jungian connectivity that made it all seem … significant. I knew, of course, that it was manipulation, that it was…
Black Radio
Glasper has been living a double life. Simultaneously he’s one of jazz’s great young pianists, echoing Blue Note-era Herbie Hancock in inventing new wheels for familiar carts, while also furthering Herbie’s Headhunters and George Duke’s fusion of jazz and R&B. Glasper’s last album tipped its hat to this schizophrenia, with the first half embracing a…
Industry Standard: Insider info for those who dine out
I remember with pleasure and deep gratitude the first time I was paid a sincere compliment in a professional kitchen. As a recent culinary-school graduate, I was working a very busy pantry shift in a downtown restaurant on a “show night.” (A “show night” means there are one or more concerts, plays or sporting events…
Inbox — March 28, 2012
It’s Called Sarcasm I just finished Evan Hilbert’s March 14 “Get out of the way” article about John Calipari and this year’s Kentucky basketball team. Hilbert made it clear throughout his article that he doesn’t think Coach Calipari is a real or legitimate coach because his stable of phenomenal players are actually the ones who…
Natural Child: Northbound and up
The trio Natural Child is a force, known as much for their onstage banter as their pure rock attack. For this interview, they chose to speak with LEO via speakerphone, which was entertaining, though a challenge to properly document. Because we were never quite sure who was saying what, we assigned a number to each…
Bill Frisell changes his tune
“It’s hard to find a more fruitful meditation on American music than in the compositions of guitarist Bill Frisell. Mixing rock and country with jazz and blues, he’s found what connects them: improvisation and a sense of play. Unlike other pastichists, who tend to duck passion, Mr. Frisell plays up the pleasure in the music…
Theater: Fun dialogue and fine comedy in ‘Michael von Siebenburg’
‘Michael von Siebenburg Melts Through the Floorboards’ Written by Greg Kotis. Directed by Kip Fagan. Continues through April 15 at Actors Theatre of Louisville as part of the Humana Festival of New American Plays. For tickets or more info, go to actorstheatre.org or call 584-1205. Outside the walls of Constantinople: the clank and crunch of…
Culture: Podcasts you might be missing
Back in the 1980s, I kept spotting a book in libraries and bookstores. It caught my eye because the cover was so similar to that of “The Catcher in the Rye.” It was dark brown and small with no art on it at all, only the title. The book was “The Secret Diary of Adrian…
Plugged In
Readers are strongly encouraged to call ahead to verify these listings. To get your musical act or comedian listed, send email to pberkowitz@leoweekly.com with PLUGGED IN in the subject line. The deadline is FRIDAY at NOON the week before the show happens. We do not accept listings via social networking sites. Wed mar 28…
PUBLIC NOISE PRIVATE NOISE
So brave, and so bold Can we talk about collaboration? Specifically, the great duets and recorded pairings that yield an unexpected result? It may be a crossover (country with R&B, a mash-up punk anthem vs. a hip-hop track), but, more often, it’s about human connections. What made Hall & Oates the powerhouse they were, or…
Attack on Memory
The dream of the ’90s is alive on Attack on Memory. This gloriously refreshing rock was recorded in four days and is satisfying from start to finish. Songs like “Wasted Days” successfully use driving guitars and an emotive vocal style reminiscent of post-hardcore bands such as Drive Like Jehu. “Fall In” and “Stay Useless” have…
Let the Bluegrass Shake
When I see him, I’m going to walk up to Russ Smith and squeeze him. On Saturday, the University of Louisville Men’s Fighting Cardinal Basketball Team came back from an 11-point deficit to beat a Florida Gators squad that only appeared to have outplayed them in every meaningful regard. But the tote board clearly read…
Video TapeWorm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS: WAR HORSE 2011; $19.98-$45.98; PG-13 A labor of love for Steven Spielberg, based on the Tony Award-winning Broadway play about a young man and his horse, separated amid the horrors of WWI. Like “Lassie Come Home” and “Lad: A Dog,” this is, at heart, a tale of love, and of a…
Bruegger’s halts the bagel whine
It’s getting harder and harder to be a food snob around this town. Years ago, it was easy to complain about all the good things we couldn’t get to eat here. Real Mexican? Ethnic Chinese? Sushi? Thai? Back in the bad old days, Louisvillians who liked to complain about what they couldn’t have were in…
From here to Panem
It was only four years ago that Jennifer Lawrence made her film debut in a little-seen indie called “Garden Party.” Since then, the Louisville native has collected an Oscar nomination for her plainspoken performance as an Ozarks teenager in “Winter’s Bone” and donned blue body paint — and little else — to play Mystique in…
Girl on fire
‘The Hunger Games’ Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks. Directed by Gary Ross. Rated PG-13, 2:22. LEO Report Card: A- “The Hunger Games” $155 million weekend box office trounced expectations — Lionsgate initially projected about $100 million in domestic ticket sales — and set a few records while doing…
Dream game analysis
By the time this edition of LEO hits the stands, you will be attempting to sit peacefully over a burger at lunch to read this, the 54th or 89th or 150th dissection in print or online of The Game since Kentucky bested Baylor, setting up a Cats vs. Cards national semi-final. It will be but…
Take Me To Your Leader
House Speaker Greg Stumbo banged his gavel, temporarily adjourning the state House of Representatives so that the legislators could address a pressing matter: taking pictures with and collecting the autograph of Ernie Brown Jr., aka “Turtleman,” the toothless snapping turtle-catching star of the Animal Planet reality show “Call of the Wildman.” A sight like the…
