Cover Stories
Keep Louisville Local: Ear to the ground
ear X-tacy owner John Timmons has plenty of supporters. Judging from the online response to last week’s YouTube plea for more business, he’s got plenty of critics, too. While the iconic local record store’s Facebook invite, titled “It’s Now Or Never,” prompted a torrent of well-wishes, a growing number of customers say they’re fed up,…
Keep Louisville Local: The NuLu Frontier
The inside of Muth’s Candies along East Market Street is like a museum, filled with antique plates, old candy boxes and aged photographs from a bygone era. Founded in 1921 by Rudy Muth, a World War I veteran who ran the business until his death in 1953, the store has been passed down to his…
Keep Louisville Local: Raising the bar
“Something’s happening,” says Lori Beck. “Something’s happening right now.” Sure, Beck, the 20-something co-owner of the Louisville Beer Store is talking about the buzz that has built her nascent business into a hotspot. But she’s also talking about a set of tastes and priorities that have galvanized both her city and generation. “There’s a whole…
Inbox — Nov. 24, 2010
ONE Love With Thanksgiving approaching, I am thankful for the things we so often take for granted: food on our tables, clothes on our backs and a roof over our heads. However, Thanksgiving is also a time to think about the less fortunate who don’t have these essentials. As a member of ONE, a grassroots…
The Taste Bud: Franco’s is a homestyle feast (with feet)
Deep down, I’ve always had issues with places like Cracker Barrel. It’s not a bad restaurant; it just seems a bit forced. In fact, it embodies the oxymoron “corporate home cooking,” a phrase that shouldn’t exist. On the other hand, Cracker Barrel does have that little IQ game you play with golf tees. Traveling with…
Jerry’s kids
While preparing for Thanksgiving Day, residents should note Louisville’s progress on the food justice front. There is movement in both the private sector and Metro government, where efforts to bring healthy foods to impoverished areas have been more successful than expected. Utilizing a $7.9 million federal grant to help eliminate “food deserts” by bringing fresh…
Keep Louisville Local: Pop art
Ultra Pop! • 1414 Bardstown Road • 479-1035 • www.ultra-pop.com If you’ve never wandered into the little shop near the happening corner of Bardstown Road and Eastern Parkway, the best way to describe it is an art/toy store that has oodles of funky collectibles, art books, cool clothing and gifts. Owner Paul LePree and his dog…
Moving to the margins
As newly emboldened House Republicans vow to block unemployment benefits amid a deepening national recession, a new report reveals that the number of Americans living in poverty in the suburbs has finally eclipsed the number of those experiencing poverty in the inner-city — and that the rate of suburban impoverishment is quickening with such alarming…
Broken Dreams Club
When the dully named Girls released the dully titled Album in 2009, the band incited a tidal wave of blog-driven praise. The waters are a lot calmer on their new EP, Broken Dreams Club. Central to the story has been enigmatic frontman Christopher Owens, whose biography includes a religious cult, desperate poverty, loss and excessive…
Video TapeWorm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS: BYLETH 1972; 16.95, R Our buds at www.SinisterCinema.com recently uncovered this all-but-unknown Italian horror flick starring Mark Damen and Claudia Gravy. Possessed by Byleth, the Demon of Incest, a man struggles to control impure urges toward his sister. Nicely Gothic, it features all those things you hope to find in an…
The Grape Escape: Dang! I Forgot Beaujolais Nouveau Day
The Beaujolais Nouveau is here — it arrived last Thursday! Frankly, the not-so-ancient tradition of celebrating the new Beaujolais wine of the current year’s harvest on the third Thursday of November is more about marketing and cash flow than about excellent wine. Here’s the simple genius of Beaujolais, a concept born of the optimistic years…
Open-source chocolate
Ladies and gentlemen, we are facing a looming worldwide calamity. This powder keg is a result of the depletion of a precious natural resource necessary to the survival of mankind. I am not talking about the end of oil or the hole in the ozone layer or the excruciating, slow-motion demise of poetry, privacy and…
Pickin’ it up
James White & Deer Creek, Hog Operation, Cast Iron Airplane and Fresh Cut Grass perform Sunday, Nov. 28, as part of the “Holiday Pick-Inn,” sponsored by Bluegrass Anonymous and Sullivan Banjo. The show happens at Holiday Inn (1325 S. Hurstbourne Pkwy., 426-2600). Joining Deer Creek is Kyle Ramey, a mandolin wunderkind who started picking the…
Locavore Lore: The triumphant return of the American chestnut
Last Thanksgiving was the most memorable yet. It wasn’t memorable because of the family and friends I spent it with or the delicious spread on the table. Last year was the year I mutilated my finger while making chestnut stuffing. For those of you who don’t know me, I do have all 10 digits intact…
Keep Louisville Local: Street cred
Street Moda • www.streetmoda.com While most teenagers work mall jobs and beg for an allowance to buy the finer gadgets in life, Matt Kubancik took another route. As a teen working retail at American Eagle, he bought the entire clearance rack once and resold the clothes on eBay, making an incredible profit, which planted the…
Theater: ‘Barefoot in the Park’ a charming and sweet affair
Barefoot in the Park Presented by Actors Theatre of Louisville. Directed by Marc Masterson. Continues through Dec. 18 in the Bingham Theatre, 316 W. Main St. For tickets or more information, call 584-1205 or visit www.actorstheatre.org. When you get a chance to see, hear or read any of Neil Simon’s work, it’s clear why he’s…
Front and center
Sometimes the planets align. Sometimes arenas get built in cities where not much else does. Sometimes you get offered the ticket you thought didn’t exist. Sometimes that ticket is in the front row. Sometime was last Tuesday night. I have been a Cards fan my entire life and have been attending games for nearly as…
Comedy: Eric Kimbrough is more funny than famous … for now
The Improv will host a special event Sunday night when local comedy giant Eric Kimbrough takes the stage as emcee for the second of his “Eric Kimbrough Comedy Extravaganza” shows, which will feature some of his favorite comedians from all over the country. The Alabama native came to Louisville almost 20 years ago for college…
Duettes
Gospel Music is the solo project of Black Kids bassist and one-time journalist Owen Holmes. On this five-song EP, he shares the mic with Vivian Girls’ Cassie Ramone, The Magnetic Fields’ Shirley Simms and Camera Obscura’s Traceyanne Campbell for a short and sweet collection characterized by unflinching humor. Playful and a little lo-fi, Holmes approaches…
One of Us
One of Us from Cincinnati’s Pomegranates features pleasantly contrasting funk bass, punk drums and delayed, ambient guitars. “’50s” reveals itself as a tight stab of new-wave rock strung together by repeated lyrical mantras on positive relationships, while “Skull Cakin’” is pure Ramones. Midway through, the band solidifies its knack for upbeat, personality driven rock and…
Keep Louisville Local: App for that
iAppFusion & iBroomCloset • www.iappfusion.com • www.ibroomcloset.com Who would Justin Bieber be without his freshly shampooed swoopy bangs? Let’s hope we never have to find out. It’s been said more than once that his ’do makes him look like a very cute lesbian, but what would you, your grandma or your dog look like with…
Keep Louisville Local: Comfy company
Comfy Cow • Westport Village • 425-4979 • www.thecomfycow.com Tim and Roy Koons-McGee opened The Comfy Cow on Dec. 1, 2009. As partners who were tired of the daily grind — Roy was in health care, Tim in construction — they decided to combine their passions to create a one-of-a-kind business that would allow them to…
S/T
Cock rock, as we know it (or knew it) in the 1980s, is dead. It yields nothing redeeming, intelligent or even remotely new. Jani Lane is not getting any younger. The thousands of bottles of Jack Daniels and pounds of coke snorted off the bellies of strippers everywhere have taken their toll. An era is…
Keep Louisville Local: Wet noses
Vines & Canines • www.vinesandcanines.com Marc De Michele knows all about the nose of a wine. As a 17-year wine industry veteran (and co-manager at Zanzabar), he’s worked as a wholesaler, importer and wine director at fine dining restaurants, educating staff and devising wine lists to complement the cuisine of various establishments. But he also…
The Astronaut (Part 1)
The jangle of an electric guitar — the hesitant first steps of a quest. A martial sequence of bombast from a full trio — the answer from the heavens. That’s the opening exchange for this 17-minute, standalone track. Scientists tell us that space is a vast, black gulf through which faint echoes of the Big…
If I fell
A few years ago, a couple of my friends started dating. It scared me because I thought I might get caught in the middle of an ugly situation if things went bad. I knew my best strategy was to steer clear, which I did, for the most part, as I recall, and things seemed to…
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. Nov.…
Art: Keep it local
’Tis the season. In keeping with the holiday spirit, here are some artistic local events to entice your creative gift-giving self. Black Friday need not be so “big box.” The Third Annual Artist Market at 21c Museum (700 W. Main St., 217-6300, www.21cmuseum.org) is Friday, Nov. 26, from noon-6 p.m. Artists include Hound Dog Press,…
Staffpicks
Wednesday, Nov. 24 Terry Riley’s ‘In C’ Land of Tomorrow (The LOT) 233 W. Broadway www.facebook.com/landoftomorrow Free (donations encouraged); 7 p.m. Completed in 1964, Terry Riley’s “In C” was a watershed moment for composers who cherished minimalism. Many of them credit Riley’s piece for ushering the genre toward the prominence it enjoys today. The…
Keep Louisville Local: Lingering aroma
Café 360 • 1582 Bardstown Road • 473-8694 • www.cafe-360.com And they said it wouldn’t last. The building at the northwest corner of Bardstown and Bonnycastle in the Highlands has been a lot of things in its 90 years, but in recent times, the space at 1582 Bardstown Road has hosted a spate of restaurants,…
Book: Public Radio personality delivers unique memoir
“In the course of writing this book, I’ve had conversations that made me weep and that made me want to holler from frustration. Many of the people I spoke with said disturbing things but had the courage to reassess themselves through the prism of their conflicting emotions.” That’s just not something you read in the…
This Alone Above All Else in Spite of Everything
British (though now residing in Toledo) soloist Mat Sweet engages you in a fair amount of gloom-trotting. Across the album, he adopts the archetype of a ghostly storyteller, opting for tense, cinematic displays (“The Giant Umbilical Cord That Connects Your Brain to the Centre”). At times emulating Trent Reznor’s quieter but no less ominous electronica,…
Unveiled
Neil Sheehan, the president of Standby Records, once told Billboard he signed Andy Six and his band Black Veil Brides because of their looks, sound and charisma, saying Six was a natural rock star. That wasn’t news to Six, whose real name is Andrew Dennis Beirsack. He always believed he was destined to make his…
