Cover Story
Improv in the city
In Memory of Ryan Kemp Oct. 22, 1984 – Oct. 9, 2015 During the course of writing this article, Louisville’s improv scene lost a dear family member. Ryan Kemp, who was interviewed for this article, was a dedicated member of Project Improv and Improv Anonymous. He was also widely known as one of the Louisville…
Visually Speaking: this week’s art news and events
[The above image is “Family of Miners” by Milton Rogovin at UofL’s Hite Art Institute.] Art news The Fund for the Arts has hired its first impact officer. Kat Abner will develop a framework and set of tools to measure outcomes as well as track, communicate and increase the impact of the arts across the…
LEO Podcast #9: Johnny Azari
Delta blues musician and comedian Johnny Azari swung by the LEO office to talk with editor-at-large Scott Recker about being on the road for seven months, his recent comedy stand in Chicago and a near death experience in New Orleans. The LEO Podcast is weekly, with a new interview released every Friday, until we end…
5 things to do in Louisville this weekend
Friday Waxahatchee The New Vintage $15; 9 p.m. There are always a few bands that have some steam behind them and are headed for a venue size upgrade, and in the near future, that will probably be Waxahatchee, but, see them tonight at The New Vintage, a room that is ideal for an up-close and…
A Q&A with artist Susanna Crum on the opening of Calliope Arts
[The above image is “Breaking the Loop (The Loop)” by Susanna Crum.] Printmakers Susanna Crum and Rudy Salgado Jr. are the owners of the brand new Calliope Arts Printmaking Studio and Gallery (calliope-arts.com). It is something they have been thinking about and planning for since their college days. LEO: You recently opened Calliope Arts as…
Inside Zombie City: We tagged along with the people behind Louisville’s most theatrical and immersive haunt
In a dark room, with the sounds of screams echoing off the wall, there is a crazy man in a cage, who wants to talk to you. He claims to be a doctor. He claims to be a scientist. He tries to warn you, and tell you the truth about Paragon Corporation, and what they…
Defining Five: Sam Sneed, Jonathan Glen Wood, Twin Limb and Jalin Roze discuss songs that have had an impact on them
Defining Five is a series that kicked off at Haymarket Whiskey Bar last night, where, each month, four people/groups from the Louisville music community pick five songs that have moved, inspired or impacted them and then play them during a DJ set. The day after each event, LEO Weekly will publish an interview with all…
The Bradens and Joe Hill inspire Media Workers United founding convention
Journalists, communication specialists and educators from all over the United States, as well as from Canada and Australia, converged on Louisville this past weekend to listen to one another, gather information and codify “The Louisville Statement on Media Workers’ Rights.” While the focus was primarily on the issues digital media workers face trying to organize…
Without limits: a conversation with Shadwick Wilde of Quiet Hollers
Shadwick Wilde is a Louisville-based singer/songwriter and frontman of Quiet Hollers. The group began gaining recognition in 2013 with their first album “I Am the Morning” and will be self-releasing a self-titled sophomore album on Oct. 23. Before the pre-album release party at Headliners Music Hall on Saturday Oct. 17, LEO caught up with Wilde…
Waxahatchee
Waxahatchee —Katie Crutchfield’s DIY, low-fi alt-folk project turned full-blown hook-friendly indie-punk band — has covered a lot of ground in a short period of time. In 2012, she released ‘American Weekend,’ a minimalistic singer/songwriter confessional with an interestingly gritty quality due to it being recorded in a bedroom. Then came “Cerulean Salt” in 2013, which…
The day Josh Tillman came to my studio
Josh Tillman walked in the WFPK studio like the shaggier version of Johnny Cash, dressed all in black, still getting himself together, since he had only been awake for a bit over an hour. I myself had a sleepless night and was trying to combat the cobwebs with espresso, though I couldn’t tell if my shaky…
Plugged In
WED Oct 14th 8Up: High Sounds with DJ Matt Anthony; 7:30 p.m. Alley Theater: Evil Dead – The Musical; 7:30 p.m. Baxters 942: Full Contact Karaoke; 10 p.m. Bearno’s (Highlands): Ryan Conroy; 8 p.m. Brownies (All Locations): Karaoke with French Kiss Prod.; 8 p.m. Clifton Center: Loudon Wainwright III, Joan Shelley; 7 p.m. El Nopal…
‘Luna Gale’ filled with flawed characters, superb actors
Hardly a single theatergoer will come to Rebecca Gilman’s 2014 play “Luna Gale” without preconceptions. In its simplest, driest form, a plot synopsis sounds like something pulled from, say, a news story, a courtroom docket, a made-for-TV movie — or maybe just a conversation among acquaintances of the folks involved: A social worker determines that…
Poundstone coming to The Kentucky Center to see her best friends
Paula Poundstone is a walking legend of comedy. Hailing from the Boston comedy scene of the late ’70s and early ’80s, Poundstone is a stalwart of the Golden Age of Stand-up. After dropping out of high school, Poundstone started performing at open mics and has gone on to be an absolute icon in the industry,…
Victorian neighborhood stages tales of terror
This weekend the Society of the Unseen Hand will transform the visitors center in Central Park into the headquarters for their Victorian-era ghost hunting society. Society founder Damon Aldridge will welcome guests into the headquarters, which features displays of their various ghost hunting apparatuses. Aldridge will introduce visitors to a medium who will serve as…
LGBT Film Fest seeks diversity behind and in front of the camera
There was a time not too long ago when LGBT+ characters in film were rare, and you could pretty much forget about seeing those characters on TV. While those days are thankfully behind us, Travis Myles of Louisville’s LGBT Film Festival still thinks it’s important to showcase films outside of Hollywood’s mainstream in order to…
Video Tapeworm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS SHORT SKIN 2014; $21.98; UR Right up front: One of the funniest, most painful and relatable movies about sex we’ve ever seen. Italian teen virgin Edoardo (Matteo Creatini, who is clearly a star in the making) suffers from the little-known condition of phimosis: his foreskin is simply too tight, causing excruciatingly…
Time flies, things change and 211 Clover Lane stays flawless
Sooner or later, every restaurant critic — or every restaurant critic who’s paying attention, anyway — confronts a dilemma: With so many restaurants and so little time, it’s hard to get back to those reliable old favorites. Your heart wants to go back and indulge in the comfortable places that you love. Your brain —…
Not just chili – bourbon chili
I love chili, and every year when fall rolls around, I feel like I want to do three things: make chili, eat chili and write about chili. Not necessarily in that order. Back in June or July, however, I saw a sign outside of Rush Inn at 1801 Brownsboro Road, which is just a few…
The book, the SI headline and Ms. Representation
When you pen the headline “Louisville Created and Continues to Nurture Dangerous Culture for Women” (as Sports Illustrated did this past Friday), it might be a good idea to gird your loins for the reaction of women who live here, work here and love here and who will look you straight in the eye, smile,…
In times of the goddess
My thoughts have been scattered for the last week. I’m weary — anxious about death and dying. This year has been heavy with the grief of others and my own. Maybe it’s the age; I’m a fair piece into the middle years, and it is the time of life that you prepare for people to start leaving…
Of whores and hoops
Four months ago in this space, I blasted political consultant Jacob Conway, who, while attempting to collect an alleged debt from primary candidate Daniel Grossberg, said, “You are why people don’t like Jews.” In my ongoing struggle to be less surly, I restrained my fairest foul against Conway, a former escort. I was thinking, “You…
Your Voice
on “‘Cardinal rule’ of journalism” Sigh. As a “journalist,” or even just an opinion writer, you should know better than to immediately kill the messenger, in the many forms that a messenger may take. How do you think this information, questionable as it may be for now, makes it into the public realm? I didn’t…
