Cover Stories
10 concerts you shouldn’t miss in June
Justin Townes Earle Saturday, June 2 Headliners Music Hall A folk singer-songwriter with an affection for Memphis soul and the country blues, Justin Townes Earle crafts evocative songs that are serious and breezy. Shilpa Ray Thursday, June 7 Zanzabar A versatile musician who mixes jazz’s swagger, pop’s catchy sensibilities and punk’s impact, Shilpa Ray uses…
Subverting democracy: Four views on ?the state’s war on schools
You could hear the hooves thundering and trumpets blaring months before Gov. Matt Bevin and his pro-charter school, anti-public education calvary came charging into Louisville, with his remarks that our schools are an “unmitigated disaster” and his attacks on teachers as a group and even individually. By the time you read this, the Jefferson County…
The Alley Theater closing after 25 years
Throughout its quarter-century, The Alley Theater has managed to create wonderful pop culture mashups and cutting-edge drama — both with a serious sense of purpose. Among my top-10 theater experiences is its 2010 production of “Point Break Live!”, which required folks in the front rows to wear rain gear — because the surfing scenes involved…
Louder Than Life announces 2018 lineup
Louder Than Life has announced its 2018 lineup, which features Nine Inch Nails, Godsmack, Avenged Sevenfold, Ice Cube, Limp Bizkit, Deftones, Slash, Five Finger Death Punch, Shinedown, Primus, Billy Idol, GWAR and many more. The annual music festival has added a day this year, taking place from Sept. 28-30 at Champions Park. Now in its…
10 under $5 – What To Do This Week In Louisville (6/4)
MONDAY Indoor Farmer Market Couvillion Free | 4-7 p.m. Hensley Homegrown, the main farmer for Couvillion, is trying something a little different with this farmers market. Kathy Hensley will be set up inside the restaurant to sell beef, pork, chicken, eggs, herbs and, as she put it, “maybe strawberries if I have them still.” The…
5 places for frozen treats you may not know about
When the summer heat hits, nothing tastes better than a frozen treat (except maybe a beer). Everyone already knows about the deliciousness served up by Dairy Del, Dairy Kastle, The Comfy Cow and Steel City Pops. So LEO decided to dig a little deeper for spots you may not have heard of and that have…
5 Things To Do This Weekend In Louisville (6/1)
FRIDAY 2018 Germantown Schnitzelburg Blues Festival (June 1–2) Check’s Cafe Free | Times vary Take a trip to Germantown/Schnitzelburg for this blues festival hosted by the Kentuckiana Blues Society. Nearly 10 bands are playing over two days, including The Tyrone Cotton and Screamin’ John Project, Gough-Martin Blues Band and The Revelators. This year’s festival T-shirt…
Our six favorite local songs from May
Jordan Jetson — “My Shooter” Jetson gets on with his positive self on “My Shooter,” a good-times jam dedicated to love. Love songs aren’t anything new, a tradition as old as music, but it’s refreshing to hear someone sing the praises of a committed relationship, instead of the pitfalls of romance. When he raps, “Real…
Forecastle releases daily schedules
Forecastle has announced the stages and times for each act playing at this year’s festival, which includes headliners Modest Mouse, Chris Stapleton and Arcade Fire. A big change for this year’s event is that the WFPK Port Stage has an all-local lineup that was curated by Louisville Orchestra conductor Teddy Abrams. It means more Louisville…
A lawyer dies: Danny Alvarez’s meaningful career
Less than 24 hours after winning his primary election last week for Jefferson County District Court Judge, Danny Alvarez died. He was 43. National headlines described him as a “judicial candidate.” What we lost was more than a judicial candidate. A lot more. Of course, it’s impossible to capture everything about a person in a…
Thorns & Roses: The Worst, Best & Most Absurd
What was your excuse? | Thorn Only about one in four registered voters cast a ballot in last week’s primary. For some races, the primary was the general election. That means that a mere fraction of you anointed someone to make everyone’s laws… again. Certainly, not everyone who stayed home actually stayed home — childcare,…
Elizabethtown, we have an LGBTQ problem
Five days a week, I commute from my home in Louisville to my place of work in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. People constantly question the wisdom of my decision to commute — after all, E-town is a lovely city. It has a Target, liquor sales are at last legal, and Louisville is just a 45-minute drive, should…
Speedy Ortiz leans into? social issues on Twerp Verse
For their third LP, Speedy Ortiz had to go back to the drawing board after scrapping an album that just didn’t say the things that needed to be said in our present era. The resulting Twerp Verse brings a ferocious hammer, tackling #metoo, race, inclusion, isolation and, maybe most importantly, empowerment — all while continuing…
Justin Townes Earle on the reflective and evocative Kids In The Street
On “Champagne Corolla,” the opening track of Justin Townes Earle’s seventh album, Kids In The Street, he remembers a middle-class starter car that represented coming-to-age freedom. It’s not the flashiest way to make a point, but it’s definitely an evocative, relatable one. “It’s just that everyday car,” Earle said. “We have to remember when Conway…
Evan and Vanessa —?‘Sun Sun Sun’/’Sol Sol Sol’
[LEO’s biweekly Sonic Breakdown column deconstructs a single song from a Louisville musician or band.] Evan Blum and Vanessa Richmond want to change how you think and feel about children’s music, especially if you’re a parent, since the genre is generally shunned by adults. And their latest release “Sun Sun Sun” is a song that…
‘Fastest Clock’ Shocks… ‘Frost/Nixon’ Hits
Over the course of three seasons, Artistic Director Tony Prince has established Liminal Playhouse as an edgy, risk-taking company willing to bring to stage some of the most adventurous scripts in the modern repertoire. It’s a company that thrives on heady, thought-provoking topics and novel approaches to storytelling. With Philip Ridley’s “The Fastest Clock in…
New director, Carnegie Center must focus on ‘serving a more diverse audience’
Many of Louisville’s local museums and galleries have been undergoing change in recent months, so starting with the Carnegie Center for Art and History, we at LEO Weekly are presenting a peek behind the curtains of our local institutions of art. Eileen Yanoviak is the new director at the Carnegie Center (carnegiecenter.org) after the retirement…
Q&A with Kentucky Author on New Book: ‘Southernmost’
A community’s actions during a disaster rattle the conscience of a rural pastor. Tensions rise and lines are drawn within his parish, leading to a family abduction. Soon he is headed down to Key West, looking to reconcile with a brother who was shunned after coming out. These are the triggering events of “Southernmost,” the…
Comic Book Reviews: ‘Flash’ and ‘Star Wars Annual’
‘Flash’ No. 47 Writer Joshua Williamson, artist Howard Porter Reviewed by Meredith Harris, The Great Escape Louisville In a story that Flash fans and longtime DC fans alike have been waiting for, Flash War has officially begun! “Flash” No. 47 brings the rising tension of the Flashes, Wally West and his mentor Barry Allen to…
Couvillion is tres bon, I garontee
I really like Couvillion. I like the Cajun-country catfish dish and I like the new Germantown restaurant. I can hardly wait to tell you about this. But first: What the hell is a Couvillion and how do you even say it? OK, then. Couvillion (coo-vee-ohn) is a delicious Cajun fish stew made with a rich,…
A Yelp in the Wilderness
I answered the phone at work the other day, and a guy from Yelp was on the line. He gave off sort of a greasy vibe, if you know what I mean. When I answered the phone with our business’s name (Cooking at The Cottage), as we always do, his first sentence was “Hahahahaha! I…
A PBR of another color
Somewhere along the way, a few years ago, Pabst Blue Ribbon graduated from being the beer of papaws everywhere to being a cheap choice for hipsters who want to drink ironically amongst crowds of people paying $6 a pop for IPAs and imperial porters. That, of course, is the classic PBR lager. The brand dates…
Ask Minda Honey: He Says We’re Just Friends,? But He Doesn’t Act Like It
In a relationship or life jam? Lemme unstuck your life — send your questions to: AskMindaHoney@leoweekly.com or reach out to me on Facebook.com/AskMindaHoney Dear Minda, I’ve been involved with this guy for about a year now. From the outside looking in you would think we were dating (it felt like we were dating), but that…
Savage Love: What Works
Q: I am a 38-year-old gay man with a serious problem. My boyfriend of five years has developed a strange fascination. We’ve always watched porn together, but now he has been looking at straight porn and even lesbian porn (!!!) more and more often. More than once he has expressed an interest in having a…
West of Ninth: People, in their own words… (5/30)
“If my life was an album, the title would be ‘There and Back.’ I done been all the way to the extremes. I done been to the penitentiary. I’ve done been through all of the hardships, and, now, I’m back. I’m comfortable and back with my family, living life. I’m levelheaded. I have kids, now.…
Dems’ blue wave? Ha ha! Maybe bet on Trump 2020
Primaries over, now we can look forward to November’s blue wave! Blue wave, you say? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. What’s the matter with y… “Blue wave” ha ha…
Long odds on sports betting
In typical Kentucky fashion, it looks like we’re poised to pass on yet another state revenue opportunity. Sports betting was recently green lighted by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that a 1992 federal law is unconstitutional so states can allow sports betting. Legalizing and regulating gambling on professional and college sports is the right…
