Secret to a great Chinese banquet: Cook for me, chef!
Are you the kind of adventurous diner who has always wanted to experience an authentic Chinese banquet but have despaired after too many meals of sweet and sour pork, fried rice and the like at chopsticks houses and Asian buffets? Here’s good news: With a little advance planning, a willing spirit and a smile, you…
Ready to die
Time is running out for Marco Allen Chapman, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection Friday at the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville. If the execution is carried out as expected, the 36-year-old will become the first Kentucky inmate put to death in nearly a decade. It’s an outcome Chapman has welcomed since his…
Irish eyes; Williams, sister; Wax figures
Saturday, Nov. 22For the record, Al Barr’s not Irish, and he doesn’t live in Massachusetts. But he has brought a lot of pride and partying to music fans of both persuasions. For more than a decade, Boston’s Dropkick Murphys (named for a bit of local lore centering on alcohol rehab) have grown in stature from…
Video TapeWorm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS HANCOCK 2008; $24.95-$39.95, PG-13/UR Will Smith plays a homeless, alcoholic and amnesiac Superman who gets no respect because of all the property damage he racks up while saving the day. If they’d stuck with that super-antihero angle, this would have been a classic for the ages, but the filmmakers went in…
The Bar Belle
Spent last week perusing the watering holes of San Francisco, and I learned a few things about being hip without trying and what it truly feels like to stumble uphill. First observation: Just because there’s empty space on your wall does not mean you need to fill it with a TV. Less is more, unless…
Staffpicks
Thursday, Nov. 20Get slammedWe know you’ve got words. So let ’em fly. Kentucky Jobs With Justice and the Kentuckians For The Commonwealth are hosting a Post-Election Poetry Slam Thursday night. Both groups are uniting to present this first-ever, non-partisan poetry slam hosted by Afrykah WubSauda. So if you can “bring it” in verse to cover…
Dining: Aftertastes
Dakshin Indian Restaurant, Eastland Shopping Center, 4742 Bardstown Rd., 491-7412. This recent arrival ranks as a favorite among the region’s Indian community. The menu is said to include at least one dish from every Indian state, from Tamil Nadu and the Malabar Coast to Kashmir and the Himalayas. (Reviewed 10/1/08; Rating: 86) The Colonnade, Louisville…
Community Listings
LEO Weekly is happy to list events of community interest, but if you’re trying to sneak an ad in here, forget it. Items are published on a space-available basis. The deadline is WEDNESDAY at 4 p.m. Mail to 640 S. Fourth St., Louisville, Ky. 40202, fax to 895-9779 or send e-mail to listings@leoweekly.com. No listings…
Action springs from thought
For decades, the University of Louisville has been home to a masterpiece you’re probably familiar with — “The Thinker.” But chances are you are completely unaware of the remarkable history behind this hidden jewel, which the university has long failed to promote, meanwhile letting the iconic statue fall into disrepair. French sculptor Auguste Rodin created…
Book Smart: Book Reports
Between Here and April By Deborah Copaken Kogan. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill; 277 pgs., $23.95. Despite this novel’s Harlequin Romance-like title, it is anything but. In fact, those four words comprise the only phrase in the book that’s less than pitch-perfect. It’s worth pondering, though, why someone in the editing chain-of-command decided on such…
Inbox — Nov. 19, 2008
CYCLE OF VIOLENCE “Deadly delay,” Sarah Kelley’s cover story in the Nov. 5 LEO Weekly, aptly conveyed the heart-wrenching account of how one young woman’s life was stolen and her family’s life devastated forever as a result of domestic violence. I assure you the story of Rebecca Caldwell could be the story of your sister,…
B-Sides
I don’t know about you, but I haven’t fully recovered from that righteous White Lion show. Whew. Moving on … Get yer Yayas outMali native Yaya Diallo, who recently relocated to Louisville from the West African country, and his drum ensemble perform Friday at St. Francis of Assisi. Cover is $10 for adults, $5 for…
Weathering the storm
Standing in front of Louisville’s City Hall, more than 200 protestors endure the damp winter cold to denounce the passage of Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in California. Holding homemade signs that read “Prop 8 = Hate,” “Love is Love” and “Human Right, Not a Heterosexual Privilege,” the crowd echoes chants trumpeted…
Where did all the gumshoes go?
Andy Rooney said on “60 Minutes” Sunday that people still read newspapers to find out if what they saw on TV the night before is true. Maybe that’s the case for Andy’s generation. But, of course, he’s 89. In reality, many of us are ditching newspapers and turning off the television, instead seeking out news…
Book Smart: Carmichael’s Top 5 Staffpicks
1. Salmonella Men on Planet Porno by Yasutaka Tsutsui (fiction) — From a tree that inspires erotic dreams to an office worker who is suddenly thrust into the media spotlight, Tsutsui’s stories are a wonderfully wry, fantastical look at modern life. —Kate Hanratty 2. How Fiction Works by James Wood (essay collection) — Healthy, literate…
Book Smart: Feature
Spiral Jetta: A Road Trip Through the Land Art of the American WestBy Erin Hogan. University of Chicago Press; 190 pgs., $20. The Lost Art of Walking: The History, Science, and Literature of PedestrianismBy Geoff Nicholson. Riverhead; 288 pgs., $24.95. Given a choice, I would always rather walk than drive. Imagine my surprise when, after…
Heroes
Over the last 20 or 38 years, dozens or hundreds of features writers have explored the premise that comic books aren’t just for kids anymore. It started around 1970 when Rolling Stone ran a two-part cover story about Stan Lee and the relatively recent mainstream success of the Marvel Comics pantheon of superheroes. The 1980s…
Expecting
I’m going to be a mother. And I’m terrified. I’m not maternal. Nothing biological has ever ticked. I can’t even keep houseplants from dying. The prospect of having in my care a living, breathing child — one who needs to stay that way — is beyond overwhelming. But it’s going to happen. Despite taking precautions,…
Former Editor’s Note
In the late summer of 1990, I was driving through the mountains of northeast Tennessee when I saw it. Staple-gunned onto a telephone pole was a campaign flier featuring the most unlikely looking political candidate I had ever seen. His name was Blaine Birchfield, and he was straight out of central casting for a 1940s…
Book Smart: Forgotten Classics
Don’t Look Now By Daphne du Maurier. New York Review Books; 336 pgs., $15.95. Technically, this isn’t “the” classic — it’s just the latest selection of du Maurier’s short fiction. Every few years, a new collection is brought out. That’s not too much dust gathering on stories from more than a half-century ago, especially considering…
Louisville True Crime: Who Killed Timmy Jo?
Before he was found shot to death in west Louisville, 19-year-old Timothy Blair Jr. got off work at a local fast-food restaurant and went shopping for clothes at Wal-Mart. He wanted a new outfit to wear cruising that night. For Timothy, spending a spring Saturday night sitting at home was not an option. “Even if…
What a Week
-5.5You might want to consider cutting short that hot shower or eliminating your dog’s weekly dip in the tub: The Louisville Water Co. is raising its rates 5.5 percent. Although the average bill will only rise by about a buck a month, it’s poor timing considering the lousy state of the economy. Then again, it’s…
His own kind of genius
Daniel Johnston is midway through explaining a comic book shopping trip in Vienna when he lays out a polite request. “Is there anybody that can take me to a comic book store?” Johnston says by phone from Waller, Texas, where he lives with his parents. Family surrounds Johnston. His brother Dick is his manager. His…
Dream cast delivers ‘A Raisin in the Sun’
(Actors Theatre of Louisville presents Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun.” Directed by Israel Hicks. Continues through Dec. 13 in the Bingham Theatre. For tickets, call 584-1205 or visit www.actorstheatre.org.) This is the November to consider the historical effect of individual dreams, and 50 years after Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” made…
