Cover Story
2016 Derby Nightlife Guide: Stumble off the beaten path
I say this to the visitors and the hometown folks: There are beautiful surprises all over town if you stumble off the beaten path. You can find punk shows, pirate music, zombie rockabilly, drag queens and God knows what else. But more about that later. We don’t recommend you do anything to get arrested or…
Humans of the Derby: The faces of Kentucky’s signature event
Photos by Nik Vechery The best part of the Kentucky Derby isn’t the mint juleps or the gambling. It’s the people-watching. So for those of you who weren’t able to attend or were just too drunk to remember, LEO descended into the chaos that is the Derby to get a peek at the many workers…
Visually Speaking: This week’s art news and events (5/9)
Art news The Great Meadows Foundation has launched. The initial program, Artists Professional Development Grants, will provide visual artists in Kentucky with grants for travel outside the state, nationally and internationally. This program encourages artists to engage critically with the international art world and thereby to enrich the art environment we live in. Guidelines and…
8 free things to do in Louisville this week (5/9)
Monday Open Mic Comedy Night Silver Dollar 10 p.m. On Mondays, everybody could use a laugh, which is why the Silver Dollar is hosting free open-mic comedy night in its upstairs lounge. If you’re looking to bust a gut, or just test out your comedic chops, all you have to do is show up. Monday…
5 things to do in Louisville this weekend (5/6)
FRIDAY Oaks Churchill Downs Prices vary; 8 a.m. Everyone likes to say that Thurby is the new day for locals, but not everyone can get off work on a damn Thursday. So leave work a little early this Friday and stretch your legs out at the track, sip on some Kentucky bourbon and place a…
Listen: Stream the new Black Birds of Paradise album, ‘Terror Bird,’ a week early
‘Terror Bird’ — the newest from Black Birds of Paradise, which will be released on May 14 — builds, keeps and controls the sort of tension that feels similar to one of Cormac McCarthy’s page turners — mixing gloom and doom with thrill and excitement — and there are twists and turns that keep you…
LEO Podcast #32: Kentucky Derby Betting with Bill Doolittle
LEO contributor and author Bill Doolittle stopped by to talk about Nyquist, the underdogs and why this year’s Derby is great for gambling. Listen below or subscribe on iTunes.
Derby Guide 2016: If you are looking for a beer…
Monnik Beer Co. 1036 E. Burnett Ave., 742-6564 A craft brewery in an increasingly hip part of the city. Great beer equaled by its inventive selection of food. Donder fries? Fresh-cut fries with Flemish sweet and sour beef stew, onions and crème fraîche (… Hmmm. Apocalypse Brew Works 1612 Mellwood Ave., 495-4843 This is a…
Derby Guide 2016: If you are looking for a place to get a late bite to eat …
Burger Boy 1450 S. Brook St., 635-7410 This Louisville tradition is open 24 hours, scored health inspection grade of A and serves a great mix of diner favorites, including, of course, a pretty good burger. Ramsi’s Cafe on the World 1293 Bardstown Road, 451-0700 Our food critic called Ramsi’s “fun, funky and multi-ethnic,” and “along…
Derby Guide 2016: If you are looking for a place to drink and eat outside …
8UP Elevated Drinkery & Kitchen 350 W. Chestnut St., 631-4180 Oversize couches, designer drinks and panoramic views of the Louisville skyline from a rooftop. What more could you want in a bar on a steamy summer night? And if your allergies are bothering you, 8UP has dining inside with windows on the city. Louis’s The…
2016 Derby Guide: If you are looking for a bourbon bar…
The Silver Dollar 1761 Frankfort Ave., 259-9540 Housed in a beautiful former firehouse, the Silver Dollar hits consistently with its food and drink. It has one of the largest bourbon collections in the city. GQ included its list of the “Top 10 Best Whiskey Bars In The Nation.” Bourbons Bistro 2255 Frankfort Ave., 894-8838 It…
Derby Nightlife Guide: Where to go for bourbon, beer, a late night bite to eat and more…
If you are looking for a bourbon bar … The Silver Dollar 1761 Frankfort Ave., 259-9540 Housed in a beautiful former firehouse, the Silver Dollar hits consistently with its food and drink. It has one of the largest bourbon collections in the city. GQ included its list of the “Top 10 Best Whiskey Bars In…
Nightlife Guide: Dancing for the Derby
While the slow extinction of gentleman’s clubs in the downtown area may make some folk blue, Derby fans still have options when it comes to more adult-centric dance entertainment. Since a conglomeration of clubs lost a legal battle with metro government a few years back, stiffer city laws forbid actual nudity in the clubs, but…
Exaggerator to win — but he’s hardly a lock
In reality, all Kentucky Derby winners count the same. Whether your pick pays $7.80, as American Pharoah did in 2015, or a whopping $184.90 for Donerail in 1913, it all comes down to: “Yes, I had him!” or, “No, I didn’t.” You don’t get extra credit for a Triple Crown winner, or less for a…
When supervisors nap: an examination of staff misconduct in Kentucky’s juvenile justice system
This article was produced by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, a new, nonprofit newsroom from 89.3 WFPL News and Louisville Public Media. Read more at kycir.org. The teenager in custody was suicidal, which meant staffers at the Lincoln Village Juvenile Detention Center in Elizabethtown were tasked with near-constant surveillance. Yet, for more than an hour,…
Strip clubs, truckers and police: new partners fighting sex trafficking
Strip club operator Brian Franson said he welcomes Kentucky Derby-goers, but there is one group he doesn’t want coming through his doors — sex traffickers. “People assume we must be involved, but we’re not,” said Franson, area director of PT’s Showclub on Market Street. “In fact, we’re on the lookout for human trafficking.” Franson is…
New Roots, ‘building a movement’ of healthy food in the city
New Roots is a nonprofit organization working to help Louisville neighborhoods in so-called food deserts to gain access to fresh, healthy food. Starting with the belief that fresh water, clean air and healthy food are human rights, New Roots works with communities to create a local food system that is sustainable and accessible for consumers…
Watching in the dark: A Q&A with Murals
Jacob Weaver formed Murals nearly a decade ago while still in high school. The band’s debut album, Violet City Lantern, was released in February on Fire Talk Records. LEO: Violet City Lantern shares its name (as well as cover art) from the ‘Violet City’ inside Mammoth Cave and the ‘Violet City Lantern Tour’ about the…
b-side: Black God
The mighty Black God returns this week for a rare Derby-week performance with the legendary J Robbins of Jawbox/Burning Airlines. The band made some of the most compelling hardcore punk in town for the last six years. The project serves as an extension of Black Widows, a band started by singer Rob Pennington and Ryan…
The Fervor: Nightfall in the Kali Yuga
(Karate Body) Looser and bolder than some of their previous work, where the idea seems to use less to hit a heightened focus on straight-forward rock n roll attitude with hypnotic, driving rhythms and soaring vocals. That’s not to say it’s any less ambitious — there’s plenty of moving parts — but it seems like…
Pleasure Boys: Pleasure
(auralgamiSOUNDS) Self-described as an electro-psych outfit, the Pleasure Boys are all in on making a big noise and having fun while doing it. You can hear that gleeful discovery throughout the album, as the band push at the bounds of what a three-piece can produce. What the trio does so well is lock into a…
Otis Junior & ?Dr. Dundiff: 1Moment2Another
(Jakarta) One of the most unexpected treasures of 2016 is the collaboration between Otis Junior and Dr. Dundiff. In many ways, it’s the perfect marriage between the soulful joy of Otis Junior’s voice and the silky smooth production that Dr. Dundiff is known for. That the duo has already secured a record deal is a…
Les Disinfectantes: To a World Without Pain or Violence
(self-released) If anything, the music of Les Disinfectantes, the platform for Kodan Armada and Prideswallower alum Adam Rains, is an exercise in exorcism. Laid to its barest, To a World Without Pain or Suffering, the second from Rains under this name, is as much an exaltation of guitar as it is a purging of emotional…
‘Jockey Jim,’ a fascinating saga powerfully told
Early on in Larry Muhammad’s finely-crafted play about the legendary jockey Jimmy Winkfield, Winkfield (played with indefatigable energy by Gary Brice) tells us that he’s spent most of his life on the run. The Klan, he says, chased him out of Kentucky. The Commies chased him out of Russia. And the Nazis chased him out…
Mark & Bob: friends for laughs
Bob Batch and Mark Klein have been best friends since President Jimmy Carter was in office and they’ve been working together as comedians for nearly as long. “Every comic has someone they call when they need to laugh,” Klein said. “Bob is the guy I call when I need to laugh. He is one of…
A long time ago in a galaxy ?far, far away
George Lucas enthralled generations with a fantastical sci-fi journey filled with light sabers, Death Stars and a transient force known as… well, The Force. It was a spaghetti-Western driven by anti-heroes with names including Skywalker, Han and Obi Wan, who came together to fight a looming darkness. The original trilogy spanned a total 376 minutes…
We hunt for culinary trophies at La Chasse ?and found many
Sure, Louisville is named after a French king — Louis XVI, who later lost his head in the French Revolution — but this decision didn’t make us French. Consider the obvious: Louisville has had damn few French restaurants over 238 years of corporate identity. Save for the long-running Le Relais and the attractive Brasserie Provence,…
Bourbon and Beanie Babies
Unless you’re residing deep within the caverns of Mammoth Cave, living off the limestone water, you’re certainly aware of the spectacular boom — the generational renaissance that bourbon is experiencing at the moment in our state, nation and world. For the first time since the mid-1970s, bourbon is outselling vodka at a rapid incline, and,…
This week, our two contrary British chaps discuss the Kentucky Derby
Got a tip for the Derby? What, to win or to die? The nags not your cup of tea, then? Sport of kings, old chap. Exactly, and there hasn’t been a king for 60 years. And, funnily enough, I don’t get excited by the same things that excited my great granddad. He got excited by…
Waze up, Louisville! Goddamnit!
The random lane openings and closings on Jefferson Street in downtown Louisville during bridge construction aged me about three years — solid years my face, adrenal system and I will never get back. There is no doubt video exists of me having a “South Park” Cartman-style expletive fit when I spied the Jefferson Street lanes…
Curb your Bern
Bernie Sanders is never going to be president. America was ready for a black guy and now possibly a woman, but it sure isn’t ready for a 74-year-old Jewish socialist with a thick Brooklyn accent. I don’t mean to sound shallow, but America has repeatedly demonstrated it has an image of its presidents. It may…
Your Voice
on “Bevin is stealing from our children and grandchildren” Aaron, as usual you are so far off base, it’s not even funny … You think [universities] can’t find some fat to trim without raising tuition? Your dad and the other liberal tax-and-spend congressmen are the ones robbing not only our kids and grandkids, but also…
