Cover Story
Farming is sexy (and coming to a backyard near you)
Early one Saturday morning in February, a new gardening initiative held its introductory meeting. I wanted desperately not to go. But, my wife coaxed me to the Clifton Unitarian Church where, to our surprise, foot traffic was already backing up the basement stairs. Feeling in no particular need of compost tips with old snow still…
Miranda mirage
“We now find ourselves in 2010 dealing with very complicated terrorism matters. Those are certainly the things that have occupied much of my time. And we think that with regard to that small sliver — only terrorism-related matters, not in any other way, just terrorism cases — that modernizing, clarifying, making more flexible the use…
The shame of our great city
One hundred years ago, the profession of “planning” was founded as a movement to end unsanitary and overcrowded housing in our nation’s cities. These new planning regulations eventually were passed in cities across the nation, including Louisville. Did it help? Along with improved medical care, life expectancy in the cities rose from 49 years of…
Latin
As hoarders of junk electronics, thrift store keyboards and a variety of circuit-bent thingamajigs, it makes sense that each successive Holy Fuck record gets better and better — each time they’ve got more stuff to play with. The Toronto group’s fluid membership swells and shrinks around the core duo of Brian Borcherdt and Graham Walsh,…
And the drama on the bus goes round and round
The school bus can be one of the scariest places on wheels for any young person considered “different.” Maybe it’s because the kids have been repressing their crazy sides all day and then must sit in an uncomfortable, confined space with peers whom they have not yet learned to respect. Or maybe it’s because the…
Mercury
Follow the Train, the semi-active, oft-fluctuating Louisville collective based around mastermind Dennis Sheridan, have always been a slippery proposition. Accordingly, it can be tough to get a bead on Mercury, the band’s long-gestating third LP. It’s steeped in dreamy textures, and several songs stretch to epic lengths too organic to be called psychedelia. After stumbling…
Staffpicks
Thursday, May 20 ‘Village Called Versailles’ Fern Creek High School 9115 Fern Creek Road • 485-8251 Free; 3 & 6 p.m. In the tendrils of southern Louisiana, just a toe outside of the New Orleans limits, stands the community of Saint Bernard Parish. The quaint city, also known as Versailles, hosts one of the largest…
Sons and Daughters, Houses and Homes
Have you ever wondered what manic depression put to music would sound like? No? That means you had a happy childhood, have a healthy psyche, and you probably shouldn’t be concerned with rock ’n’ roll in the first place. If you answered yes, The Foxery recorded an album for you. Sons and Daughters, Houses and…
The 100 mile-an-hour hurler
Aroldis Chapman stands tall on the mound. He sights his sign, plants his left foot (he’s a left-handed thrower), and twists back to begin his wind-up. It’s a nice and easy motion. No big leg kick. No exaggerated gyrations. As he twirls back toward home plate to deliver his pitch, Chapman doesn’t seem all that…
The dog pound
At 3520 Newburg Road, just past a winding off-ramp flanked by thickets of trees and roadside undergrowth, sits Louisville Metro Animal Services’ new adoption center, dubbed “The Puppy Palace” by those who’ve been tracking its troubled progress. With an architectural style that can best be described as “post-apocalyptic church,” the 10,000-square-foot temple is situated on…
Inbox — May 19, 2010
Correction A story in last week’s Election Issue incorrectly identified the hometown of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Daniel Mongiardo. He is from the Perry County town of Hazard. Read Again, Mister (Regarding Pawl Schwartz’s book review in the May 5 LEO Weekly): OK, mister, I’d like to see you write something better. First of all,…
High Violet
If Boxer detailed crushed ideals of young adulthood through a Raymond Carver lens, High Violet obliterates the fairytale of marriage, family and social standing with Poe-esque, vivid and intense hauntings. Matt Berninger’s voice demands attention as his characters fight through black dreams of swarms of bees, drowning and imagined attacks — both internal and external…
Guess who’s coming to Clifton?
When Michael O’Leary learned a faith-based drug and alcohol recovery group was looking to move its rehabilitation center for women into his Clifton neighborhood, he welcomed the idea. The 52-year-old grew up in the South End, but he and his partner moved into the diverse community more than a decade ago because it was so…
Ode to Jerry: Louisville at the crossroads
When I arrived in Louisville almost a decade and a half ago, I had a great feeling about the place. I still do (most of the time). Quite frankly, the people who complain the most about Louisville are Louisvillians who are not well traveled or the ones who romanticize the rest of the country. So,…
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Q&A with comedian Robert Kelly
Robert Kelly is one of the busiest comics on the circuit today. Hailing from Boston originally, Kelly cut his teeth in the ruthless comedy scene there before setting off on the road to spread his sometimes sick and twisted, but always clever, brand of humor all over the world. He has appeared on…
Simple Simon
The late BBC DJ John Peel only played two albums in their entirety on his show. One was Bob Dylan’s Desire, the other was The Cowardly Traveller Pays His Toll by Simon Joyner. Called the godfather of Omaha’s music scene, Joyner earned that title thanks to weekly performances at Kilgore’s coffee shop in midtown Omaha.…
Comedy: One man takes on ‘Lord of the Rings’
This saga begins: A long time ago (the late ’70s) in a galaxy far, far away (Canada) … when two epic trilogies met inside the mind of a single obsessed little boy named Charles Ross. It was here that The Force met The One Ring to Rule Them All. “‘Star Wars’ and ‘Lord of the…
What Is Lovecore?
The opening track, “My Penis in Sleep Mode,” kicks off like a glitch remix of a herd of elephants barreling down a plastic tube. For some reason, this is incredibly satisfying and engaging (really, I don’t know why), and sets the mood for this scattered IDM collage of twisted samples, beats and all-out confusing textures.…
Pacific tides
Soundscapes trapped inside Matt Cooper’s head have slowly been seeping out over the airwaves ever since the Trinity High School graduate relocated to the Pacific Northwest a decade ago. Settled in Portland’s fertile independent music scene, Cooper wiled away months on a four-track, creating expansive, keyboard-based instrumentals at his home studio, Watership Sounds. “The process…
Mug Shots: Beer fests abound
It reminds me of my infuriated basketball coach from yesteryear who said, “No pain, no gain,” even as I plotted an escape from practice to sacred refuge with friends and a cooler of long, cool ones. That’s because May is the time of year when my oversized feet and underachieving liver both start squealing in…
Plugged In
Readers are strongly encouraged to call ahead to verify these listings. To get your club, comedian, musical act or karaoke listed, please send e-mail to mherron@leoweekly.com with PLUGGED IN in the subject line. The deadline is NOON THURSDAY the week before the show happens. We do not accept listings via social networking sites. Wed. May…
DiFabio’s dishes up Italian comfort fare
Just about everybody in Louisville talks about how much we enjoy good old-fashioned Italian-American comfort food, pasta loaded with tomato sauce with garlic bread on the side and gulps of rustic red wine to wash it all down. It’s a funny thing, though: As much as we proclaim our love for spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna,…
The Grape Escape: A Chianti fiasco
What ever happened to the old Chianti bottles that came wrapped in wicker baskets? If you’re past a certain age, you’ll remember these well. Once the mainstay of modest Italian restaurants around the world, they served as handy candlesticks after the wine was gone. Actually, the bottle — called a “fiasco,” and there’s a story…
Crimson, White and Indigo: Philadelphia, July 7, 1989
Following the unexpected success of “Touch of Grey,” the Dead toured to larger audiences in their final eight years. Lacking the explosiveness of their late ’60s work, or their late ’70s post-“retirement” umph, they could still deliver on a good night. The title comes from a lyric in the emotional highlight of this concert, Jerry…
Film: ‘Music Makes a City’ celebrates the city and its orchestra’s improbable flight
“Music Makes a City” should be required viewing for mayoral hopefuls everywhere. The new documentary explores the founding of the Louisville Orchestra, with a spotlight on one of its champions, then-mayor Charles Farnsley. During his tenure, Farnsley manages to confirm the Confucian belief that the arts promote not only civic happiness but also prosperity. This…
Video TapeWorm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS: CLASS OF NUKE ’EM HIGH 1986; $19.95, UR One of Troma’s all-time best, now on Blu-Ray! The kids at Tromaville High start acting stranger than usual after a gang of punks sells them weed grown in the green glow of the nuclear power plant next door. Total mindless carnage and loopy…
Capturing the famous
While I am an art historian by trade, I’m a film historian by design. After years of self-directed study, including the viewing of an assortment of classic films, I have iconic portraits of actors in my head. Turns out many of those images were “Karshed.” “The Most Famous People in the World: Karsh 100” exhibition…
