Cover Story
‘Get over it’
Standing before a crowded room full of health care advocates in the state capitol, Gov. Steve Beshear did not underplay the importance of his message, which he said would “change the course of Kentucky’s history.” In the May 9 press conference, Beshear officially announced he would move to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care…
Advice: Savage Love
Q: I’m a 21-year-old female. When we were both 14, my first boyfriend took advantage of me. I wanted to explore my sexuality a little, but things went further then I wanted. One day, we were kissing with him on top of me. We were both fully clothed, and he started rubbing up against me.…
Bar Belle: Is the Bambi Walk merely urban legend?
I’ve attempted many things in my life — sustaining a weeklong cleansing, sticking to a budget, stopping a ground ball at third base, giving up cheese, and going to church — to no avail. I usually cave in to old habits, peer pressure or any opportunity for free beer. I figure there will be time…
Los Momentos
On her sixth studio album, the “studio” was Julieta Venegas’ home. Momentos is a bare-boned display of an enlightened soul, starting with the vague outline of Venegas sketched on the album sleeve. “Hoy” opens a new “day,” like a fresh page in her eclectic catalog, and is renewed by an unofficial children’s choir. But other…
Book: Falling under the spell of Anne Boleyn
‘The Creation of Anne Boleyn: A New Look at England’s Most Notorious Queen’ By Susan Bordo. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 368 pgs., $27. When Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, left her rooms within the Tower of London to be executed on May 19, 1536, few could have imagined that her impending death would be not the…
Palimpsest
Everybody knows that times are tough. Nobody has any money, and the cost of living is climbing. The unions are getting busted, and the middle class is disappearing. This creates a significant problem on the municipal level. Our elected officials face a real challenge, trying to bring jobs to the city. I keep hearing about…
Staffpicks
Wednesday, May 22 Vandaveer Uncle Slayton’s 1017 E. Broadway uncleslaytons.com $10-$12; 8:30 p.m. Vandaveer is a band that’s from all over the place, with leader Mark Charles Heidinger being born in Ohio, raised in Kentucky, and settled for the time being in Washington, D.C. But for all its roaming and a revolving cast of characters…
Art: Louisville’s eleven
If you are looking to become more familiar with local artists, the group show “RHQRDWBWTHR” at Zephyr Gallery is a great place to start. The title for the show itself is an amalgam of the artists’ initials and features works by 11 artists who currently show with the gallery. In the lower level, Brenda Wirth’s…
Making a run for it
Each new season, Billy Hamilton faces a brand new challenge. But it always boils down to one thing for the Louisville Bats young base-stealing star: If he gets on, he’s gone. Two years ago at Class A Dayton, Hamilton was stealing so many bases that observers projected it might just be possible for Hamilton to…
The poetry of Mitch McConnell
To many, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell is a cynical opportunist, lining his pockets (and those of his corporate cronies) with millions of dollars while showing utter disregard for his poor, unemployed and unhealthy constituents suffering back home. To others, he’s simply a hardworking senator, tenaciously opposed to economic justice, gun safety, peace, a sustainable environment,…
Nightmare Ending
Eluvium is Matthew Robert Cooper, a former Louisvillian whose music leans toward the meditative reflection of drone and ambient. Upon first listen to Nightmare, Cooper’s eighth full-length release, the obvious comparison is likeminded acts Stars of the Lid or Fennesz, purveyors of modern drone. There exists throughout Nightmare a comforting calm, made evident by the…
Sitar plays Indian music to our taste buds
“Sitar.” Sounds like “guitar,” and sort of acts like one, too. This oversize Indian guitar-equivalent that the Beatles loved plays eerie, sinuous music that can’t be duplicated on a keyboard because it slides into the spaces between the keys. When you think about it, Indian food is kind of like that, too. The sitar is…
B-sides
Bourbon Street Mark Hamilton has played in many Louisville bands. But it took a trip to New Orleans for the guitarist to find the inspiration to start a band of his own. The Billy Goat Strut Revue was founded in 2011 to play the “antique jazz” of the 1920s and ’30s, with the players’ respective…
Inbox — May 22, 2013
Spaghetti Monster Regarding the “Just another theory” news story (LEO Weekly, May 15): Provocative, even inflammatory, this story is frightening. LACES appear to want to bamboozle the school system into teaching bizarre doctrines to students incognito, and in some cases, to undermine the separation of church and state. I do think these people believe they…
The Staves’ family values
Twenty-something sisters Emily, Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor have been performing together for many years, though their first record was only released in 2010. Now the trio from Watford, England, on the road promoting their first full-length album, Dead & Born & Grown, is happy to be returning to the United States. “I don’t know if…
She
Few promising careers have been as mismanaged as Alice Smith’s. The eclectic singer released the excellent For Lovers, Dreamers, & Me on the independent BBE label to heavy buzz, only to be gobbled up weeks later by Sony, who pulled the record from shelves for a months-too-late reissue, thoroughly confusing a marketplace and stymieing her…
Me Vs. Music
How I got this way, pt. 7 … condensed I’ve been writing these columns for almost two years now. Writing about music started as a desire to surround myself with famous people. It ultimately became “Me vs. Music.” I’ve struggled at times to draw a connection between music and life, but I insist that is…
A dedicated flock
Ginger casts a sideways stare at the strange people gathered around her cage. A red-tailed hawk, Ginger has a white band of feathers on her neck that distinguishes her. She also has a compromised wing that doesn’t snug to her body properly and prevents her from flying, the result of a shotgun wound she suffered…
Mind Revolution
I can’t figure out if L.M.H. sampled Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones or Ed Schultz, as they all kind of sound like McGruff the Crime Dog. All three make my head hurt, and that someone made a conspiracy-rap album in 2013 sampling this nonsensical rant as a cosign to their nonsensical raps makes listening to Taylor…
Cancer, Interrupted
I owe a debt of gratitude to Angelina Jolie, which is unexpected given my cynical self typically scoffs at rich Hollywood types with whom I can’t relate. But as it turns out, I do have one thing in common with arguably the world’s most attractive human — we both are genetically flawed. The average woman…
Video TapeWorm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS: BEETLEJUICE: THE COMPLETE SERIES 2013; $69.98-$99.98; PG While the 1988 feature film starring Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis was a major hoot, this animated series was just as good, surviving for four seasons, 1989-1991. Only two characters from the film made it to cartoonland (or “Neitherworld,” as it’s called…
Culture: Go for the juggler
Nathan Biggs-Penton has been juggling for the past six years, but now he is in the biggest juggling act of his life. Biggs-Penton, 17, a junior at the Youth Performing Arts School (YPAS), has been noticed internationally for his skills. Earlier this year, he auditioned for the École Nationale de Cirque (Nation Circus School) in…
Plugged In
Readers are strongly encouraged to call ahead to verify these listings. To get your musical act 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 MAY 22 Air Devils Inn:…
Book: Fresh memories and old notes
‘Life After Life’ By Jill McCorkle. Algonquin Books; 352 pgs., $24.95. Told from multiple points of view, Jill McCorkle’s “Life After Life” braids together the lives, dreams and memories of a small town in North Carolina. The story centers on Pine Haven Retirement Center, but as we all know, generations don’t live in isolation, and…
