Will the voters take the bait? The library tax haggle gets weird
BY CARY STEMLE and RICK REDDING main branch: Photo by Ben Schneider Outside the main branch of the Louisville Free Public Library. The woman, who looked for all the world like an erstwhile Highlands Volvo driver, just guessing, peered at Mark Hebert incredulously. He’s not very smart, is he? She referred to Metro Councilman Hal…
Guest Commentary by BY U.S. REP. JOHN YARMUTH, KY-3
John Yarmuth Article 1, section 1, Constitution of the United States of America: “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.”Establishing the Congress was the first priority of our Founding Fathers, who understood the importance of protecting…
Connected Diss: Orange, pink, black and blue
Used to be a time when October would roll around and I’d start mumbling about the over-the-top Halloween marketing, too commercialized, all that candy isn’t good for the kids, yada yada. But over the last few years, the Halloween shelf share has dropped, replaced by a spreading ooze of Pepto-pink merchandise whose purchase we are…
Erosia
LEO welcomes letters that are brief (250 words max) and thoughtful. Ad hominem attacks will be ignored, and we need your name and a daytime phone number. Send snail mail to EROSIA, 640 S. Fourth St., Louisville, Ky. 40202. Fax to 895-9779 or e-mail to leo@leoweekly.com. We may edit for length, grammar and clarity.Look to…
Missing the connection
New report details the disconnect between housing and public transportation, and between the public and public transportation, in Louisville Model America: Dreema Jackson relies solely on public transit to navigate the city. Her commutes are long, because there’s nowhere to work where she lives. Dreema Jackson needed a car when she was a teacher in…
City Strobe
Hawkins: End services for illegalsLouisville, we have a problem. Maybe. But just in case, Metro Councilman Doug Hawkins, R-25, has presented a nonbinding resolution that would eventually lead to illegal immigrants being denied some public services. Political action against illegal immigrants is hitting closer to home as the federal government continues to tread water on…
Rumor & Innuendo
Credit where it’s due. It’s easy to make fun here with a keyboard, broadband connection, potty mouth, willing editor and readership salivating for nasty gossip about hated rivals. Like all humans, often I get it wrong. So it has been with Rich Brooks. The guy appeared an easy target. But Brooks has built a solid,…
Welp”s Louisville: Iraq64
Listen up: Here’s my plan to 86-64 in a totally awesome way. Even though 8664 (www.8664.org) has the second-best regional transportation idea going (for the best, see www.cartky.org), and even though it has a cool brand identity that GLI ad-weenies can only dream of, the 8664 idea is still considered fringe by many people, including…
A pair to spare: Fletcher and McConnell appear together in public…
or Another meaningless stop on the road to gubernatorial doom I wonder why I came here. I am sitting on a bus with three local TV news cameramen, a photographer, a radio guy and a couple print journalists, waiting for Gov. Ernie Fletcher and Sen. Mitch McConnell to arrive on the governor’s private plane for…
A fair advantage: Fair trade as hipster label vs. fair trade as a way of life
Yody Moran: has come to Louisville to see her work at its natural end: in a store dedicated in part to paying people like her a fair price for their work. Yody Moran deftly worked two skeins into a tiny finger puppet shaped like a lion last Wednesday night, before a small group of onlookers…
Booksmart: Listings
Events for the book-smartAll events are free unless noted otherwise. Send information about upcoming literary events to listings@leoweekly.com and include “book smart event” in the subject line. Deadlines are the second Wednesday of the month. Oct. 17, 10 a.m.: Book Discussion — “The March” by E.L. Doctorow. Louisville Free Public Library, Jeffersontown Branch, 10635 Watterson…
Booksmart Challenge: ‘Some Poets’ by Caroline Ennis
some poetsBy Caroline Ennis some poets use fabric softener to paint their walls.they eat silhouettes and digest them as sounds,building them like cells into words. some poets have pupils like bathtub drains;the world is nothing but a sudsy whirlpool gurgling downtheir optic nerves. some poets ride around in nature like it’s a vehicle.they say pine…
Booksmart: Pairing poetry and the artistry of letterpress printing
Karen Weeks and Jessica Farquhar: pair the literary and visual arts at Moxie Letterpress, housed in the Butchertown Market. The pairing happened at a baby shower in July. Karen Weeks, an artist and founder of Moxie Letterpress, met Jessica Farquhar. The two discussed children; Weeks is pregnant and Farquhar has a toddler. They chatted about…
Booksmart: Book Reports
Dark Thirst Dark ThirstBy Sara Reinke. Zebra; 320 pgs., $3.99. Romance novelists are now very serious about sinking their teeth into vampire storylines. Kentuckian Teresa Medeiros is just one writer who took a hiatus from more traditional historical subjects to earn bestselling results with “The Vampire Who Loved Me.” Sara Reinke, president-elect of Louisville Romance…
Aftertastes
SPEAKEASY, 225 State St., New Albany, Ind., (812) 981-0981, www.speakeasyjazz.us. The Speakeasy was modeled after Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London, and it’s already being hailed as a winning addition to local dining-and-music venues. The bistro-style fare and New Orleans-inspired menu aren’t quite yet at the same level as the excellent music, though. (Reviewed 8/29,…
Mug Shots: Lupulus eroticus
Contrary to persistent rumors, probably spread by the same uninformed people who insist that Bock beer is the result of brewing vats being cleaned once a year in springtime, beer is not “made” from hops. Beer is “made” from grain, most often barley, and sometimes with wheat, oats or rye added to the grist.…
Maido: Not just another sushi bar
Maido Essential Japanese: Photo by Nicole Pullen Maido Essential Japanese is Louisville’s only example of “izakaya” dining, a combination of pub, sake bar and eatery. Pictured are owners Jim and Toki Masubuchi Huie. Here’s a dining critic’s dilemma: I live in Crescent Hill, so I drive past Maido Essential Japanese often. Every time I do,…
Film: This is England
This is England 3 starsStarring Thomas Turgoose, Andrew Shim, Vicky McClure, Stephen Graham, Jo Hartley and Joseph Gilgun. Directed by Shane Meadows. Released by IFC. UR; 1:38. The British arts scene can best be imagined as a gloom factory churning out dour social realists. To wit: director Shane Meadows. He made his name in the…
Film: Michael Clayton
Michael Clayton 4 starsStarring George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack and Pamela Gray. Directed by Tony Gilroy. Released by Warner Bros. Rated R; 2:00. Tony Gilroy’s “Michael Clayton” is one of my favorite films of the year. Gilroy has already made a mark this year by writing “The Bourne Ultimatum,” but “Michael…
Video TapeWorm: Releases through Tuesday, Oct. 23
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY1968; DVD $26.95-$28.95, URA Special Edition widescreen release (DVD, HD and Blu-Ray) of one of the least understood films of all time. An epic tale of Man as an insignificant animal, manipulated in its infancy by extra-dimensional intelligence to become sentient, and our eons-long search to end our lonely…
CD Reviews 10-17-07
DylanesqueBryan Ferry(VIRGIN) While some folks might consider Bryan Ferry’s biggest blunder of 2007 to be his ill-stated comment about how much he admired Hitler’s influence on fashion, I prefer that to this collection of Bob Dylan songs, surprisingly not recorded for Starbucks. Comments about Hitler’s coats might also miss the point, but at least they…
Staffpicks
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 17Rich Fabec Band At the core of Rich Fabec’s material lies his desire to modernize blues. The singer, who can be found wielding a Les Paul guitar with his band at Stevie Ray’s tonight, chooses power chords over bar chords, which is only one small but critical sign that the Anna, Ill., product…
Derek Webb challenges Christianity”s flock
Derek Webb Impressions of Derek Webb aren’t easy to form. The Christian singer-songwriter from Nashville, who has sold more than a million albums while regularly giving them away free at his concerts, wouldn’t call himself an iconoclast. But he is on a mission to change perceptions about humanity and the world we live in.He has…
Nada Surf survives popularity, aims to rewrite legacy
Nada Surf: Photo by Autumn Dewilde Being pigeonholed is never fun, especially when it labels a good band as something else, something closer to a novelty artist. While some artists may reject it wholeheartedly, to Nada Surf, it’s just a Wednesday. “I was watching the television and saw one of those ‘Best of the ’90s’…
Burning Spear, The Creek won”t rise for now, Heart of gold
Thursday, Oct. 18 Michael Franti: Photo by Megan Gentile Even the most stiff and jaundiced of audience dorks will be slinky and jumping when Michael Franti and his band Spearhead are having a good night. The stage is all set for that to happen at the Brown Theatre (315 W. Broadway, 584-7777) Thursday. The all-ages…
Theater: Derby Dinner production is dexterous in the dark
‘Wait Until Dark’Starring Janet Essenpreis, Caroline Ford, Jon Huffman, Emily Martin, David Myers, Tony D. Owens, J.R. Stuart and Matt Wallace. Produced and directed by Bekki Jo Schneider from the original drama by Frederick Knott. Presented by Derby Dinner Playhouse. Continues through Nov. 11; 525 Marriott Drive, Clarksville. For tickets, call (812) 288-8281 or visit…
Theater: “Gin Game” shows glimpses of a winning hand
‘The Gin Game’Starring Mary Ann Johnson and Marvin Perryman. Directed by Debra Rice Endris. Presented by The Drama Studio. Continues Oct. 20 at St. Genesius Theatre, 128 E. Bell Ave., Clarksville. For tickets, call (812) 284-0280 or visit www.thedramastudio.net. “The Gin Game,” which opened at Actors Theatre’s first Humana Fest in 1976, has an illustrious…
