Cover Story
Zipper Lips rides again
(N.B. Watch a video of writer Paul Curry discussing his interview with Neil Hamburger.) When I offered to write a 2,500-word article about Neil Hamburger, I was joking. The idea of dedicating so much ink to promote a performer who would only be doing one local show in a room with a maximum capacity of…
Static standstill
The lawyers representing Baptist Hospital East in a malpractice lawsuit filed by the family of Stephen Garrett — better known as Grammy-award winning hip-hop artist Static/Major — contend privacy laws protect the identity of a patient who shared a room with the musician the day he died. The plaintiff in the case is seeking information…
WEB EXCLUSIVE: ‘Cirque Dreams’ leaves you feeling mesmerized … and fat
I’ve never felt more unhealthy and out of shape in my life. There I was, belly full of the most sinful Mexican delights (8 pounds of chips, cheese dip, tacos, sour cream and Coronas), settling into my seat at Whitney Hall in the Kentucky Center, ready to be razzled and dazzled by the Broadway Across…
Review: Peace and good eats at Zen Tea House
If you’re accustomed to grabbing a cup of coffee and knocking it back without much serious thought, you might find an occasional switch to tea a transformative experience. Particularly if you choose to savor said cup in the contemplative environment of Zen Tea House in Clifton. Owned by longtime local restaurateur Huong “CoCo” Tran, Zen…
Inbox — March 4, 2009
LEO Love Letter When I heard about your new design on WFPL’s “State of Affairs,” my heart skipped a beat. I immediately put my errands on the backburner and drove to my nearest newsstand. I frantically dodged traffic to hold you in my arms. There you were, in all your glory. I stared in awe…
Next up: the sacrifice speech
My fellow Americans, during my campaign I called for a new era of personal responsibility. As your president, I am asking you to join me in restoring our country to greatness. It’s time to turn off the TV, roll up your sleeves and pitch in. (To be clear, don’t turn off the TV until I’m…
Rag Traveler
As if it hasn’t been already, I think this is where my trip gets tough. I have now officially been on the road for a little more than four months and have rolled just over 14,000 miles. That’s like driving across the United States three and a half times, coast to coast. Leaving the comforts…
Future Stars and Small Wonders
Bizzart’s fourth is his first with producer Innaspace, and I’m not quite sure whom to give more credit. Bizzart’s performance is equal parts Zack de la Rocha, El-P, Tunde Adebimpe and Saul Williams, if their disjointed, paranoid deliveries all meshed together in an oddly melodic gumbo one would not expect from a pre-school teacher. I…
Dark Was The Night
What would happen if you faced down an army of A-listers all mugging with the same game face? The roster on this AIDS charity album is stunning: The Decemberists, Yo La Tengo, My Morning Jacket, Arcade Fire, some slightly novel duets (e.g. Feist with Ben Gibbard), and inspired covers over two sprawling discs. Why is…
Art: Live! Tonight! Sold out!
Flyering, a tactile sport in my day, has been too quick to recede into the same sort of kitsch as vinyl — indie nerds blathering about having a physical thing, right there in their hands, or the warmer sound. Now that a physical flyer (henceforth interchangeable with “poster” for this article’s purposes) is likewise no…
Art: Two by two
From a world populated by mythical creatures, colorful birds and creeping flowers, Kathleen Lolley and Natasha Sud deliver snapshots of singular vision, so enticing we want to find the path to their magical scenes. The two friends, whose work inspires the other, exhibit their creative visions at the Makery this month. Many may be familiar…
B-Sides
Irish singer and violist Lisa Hannigan’s frequent collaborations with countryman Damien Rice take a backseat on her current U.S. tour, which stops at The 930 Listening Room (930 Mary St., 635-7053) on Thursday, March 12. Hannigan was on her way to Chicago when we bugged her. “It’s been a gentle learning curve,” she says. “Initially,…
Minority leader
A sepia-toned photograph of a woman seated in front of a barn hangs on one wall inside the office of Kentucky state Sen. Gerald Neal. A slave born in 1839, the woman is Margaret Dean, Neal’s great, great, great aunt, who reached the age of 103, outliving the institution of slavery into which she was…
Video TapeWorm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS: 42ND STREET PETE’S NIGHT OF PERVERTED PLEASURES 1970; $19.95, UR A terrific trio of all-but-lost late-’60s porn from the Golden Age. First, Swiss nymph Uschi Digard teaches a blonde spouse how to spice up her bedroom in “Marriage American Style.” Then the incomparable Rene Bond (as Mindy Brandt) discusses her lack…
Love Joan’s
They don’t build ’em like Joan Baez anymore. She introduced Bob Dylan to the world, marched with Cesar Chavez, protested Vietnam and shared a stage with Nelson Mandela. Her influence reverberates through decades of folk and rock musicians of every stripe, and although her life is a quieter version of what it used to be,…
Recently reviewed in LEO
Our Best Restaurant, 2835 Holmans Ln., Jeffersonville, (812) 288-8133, www.ourbestrestaurant.com. This family-owned business started as a single eatery in Smithfield, Ky., and has grown to a mini-chain of three. American, homestyle cooking in big portions for reasonable prices. (Reviewed 1/21/09; Rating: N/R) Perkfection Café & Bar, 359 Spring St., Jeffersonville, (812) 218-0600. Downtown Jeffersonville’s Perkfection…
Theater: 33rd Humana Fest offers a ‘wild mix’ of plays
Broadway and the West End, eat your hearts out. Each spring, the theater world turns its discerning eye to little ol’ Louisville for the first look at America’s best new plays. Over the next month, the 33rd Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre will showcase an appealing variety of theatrical styles and…
Jersey beats
Twenty years is a long time for any band to stick together without interruption, especially one that plays punk rock. New Jersey vets the Bouncing Souls have no intention of splitting up anytime soon. The band has gracefully risen from handing out samplers at skate parks, playing basements and backyards to touring worldwide and becoming…
Staffpicks
March 4-8 ‘Soldiers Circle’ Thrust Theatre, U of L 2314 S. Floyd St. 852-6814louisville.edu/a-s/ta$12/$8 (faculty, staff, students, seniors); 8 p.m. (3 p.m. matinee March 8) The best way to tell a story is through the people who live it. For “Soldiers Circle,” Russell Vandenbroucke, chair of theatre arts at U of L, spent a recent…
Hunter Moon
In a dream-memory, in the surgery tent after Perryville, I take a long, bitter pull from the surgeon’s bottle and am given my belt as a champing bit. Mercifully, I’m led in and out of fever and morphine slumber by the sound of the boys and their sisters outside around the fire, singing the loneliest…
The virgin lobbyist
Last Wednesday I found myself standing in a line, in front of a state representative, waiting for my turn to tell him in two sentences why I, being a lesbian, was a decent enough human to adopt or foster a child. Never imagined this one, not in my strangest of dreams. I had traveled to…
Mug Shots
How’s this for a college course listing? Once upon a time, beer was just beer, but no longer. Beginning with an overview of the brewing process and the history of beer, we’ll learn how to distinguish Pale Ale from Imperial Stout through words and samples. The class begins Wednesday, and much to my delight, I’m…
Industry Standard: Insider info for those who dine out
Since I got this writing gig, I’ve spent a lot of column inches imploring diners to support the local independent restaurant industry. I’ve asked this knowing that belts are tightening, budgets are shrinking and moths are flying out of rarely opened change purses all over the city. But what’s in it for you? What are…
Crazy undercover?
Michael Carneal arrived at his Paducah high school on the morning of Dec. 1, 1997, armed with five guns stolen from a neighbor’s garage. Upon entering the lobby, the 14-year-old pulled out a .22-caliber pistol and began firing into a group of students gathered for an informal prayer circle. The violent rampage lasted only about…
Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit
The eponymous follow-up to Isbell’s brilliant Sirens of the Ditch is probably not what most people expected. The intimacy and raw vulnerability that Isbell evoked with the music on his debut has evolved into a solid, more collaborative effort. Hence, he is crediting his back-up band on this one. However, Isbell still writes the lyrics;…
Open Arms
Augie Visocchi’s Detroit isn’t the one you see in turmoil on CNN. Nor is it the one Rolling Stone just called a dying city. Where outsiders see gutted buildings, Visocchi sees rugged beauty, a characterization so far from what’s splayed elsewhere that frustration oozes out of him when he talks about it. “It’s been a…
Film: ‘Watchmen’ hovers in the moral gray areas
(Starring Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Patrick Wilson. Directed by Zack Snyder. Rated R; 2:43. LEO Report Card: A) Making “Watchmen” into a film probably had about 10 times the pitfalls most comic book adaptations have. When the original 12-issue series was released in 1986,…
