Cover Story
Surviving Cuts at Jefferson Community & Technical College
No more layoffs. No more classes eliminated. Jefferson Community & Technical College may have reached stability some seven months after laying off 95 faculty and staff members, for a total of 170 across the Kentucky Community And Technical College System. Stability. For now. “If enrollment falls another 20 percent, or we get cut significantly, we…
This Week In Louisville History: Muhammad Ali makes his pro debut at Freedom Hall
On Oct. 29, 1960, Louisville boxing legend Muhammad Ali (known as Cassius Clay, until his name change in 1964) made his professional debut at Freedom Hall in Louisville, winning a six-round match by unanimous decision against professional boxer and police chief of Fayetteville, West Virginia, Tunney Hunsaker. Also born in Kentucky (in 1930 in Caldwell County),…
10 Things To Do under $5 this Week in Louisville (10/24)
TUESDAY Defining Five Haymarket Whiskey Bar Free | 7 p.m. Every month, Haymarket Whiskey Bar hosts Defining Five, an event during which five local musicians choose five songs that define them as artists. To get a feel for this unique event, check out LEO’s coverage of the last Defining Five here. PechaKucha Night Muhammad Ali…
A Q&A with artist Keith Auerbach
“I feel very fortunate to be a part of our artists’ community,” said photographer Keith Auerbach (auerbachphoto.com). “I love the creative process and am fascinated when other artists, writers, musicians, poets and playwrights talk about what they are thinking and feeling when being creative.” It’s only fitting we get to read his thoughts and feeling about…
World War II, Basement Walkers and The Tigress: Behind the scenes with the Frazier Museum’s theatrical interpreters
I’m sitting next to Al Capone in a speak easy. Well, it’s a wax figure of Al Capone, in an erstwhile speakeasy upstairs at the Frazier Museum. It’s a sunny fall afternoon, and I’m surrounded by retirees, all of whom seem pretty thrilled to watch a historical figure come to life. That figure is Kathryn Kelly,…
5 Things To Do This Weekend in Louisville (10/21)
FRIDAY UofL Red vs. White Scrimmage KFC Yum! Center $10 | 7 p.m. UofL fans may still be dreaming of a Heisman trophy, but right around the corner is a basketball season that may hold a shot at another national title. And you can get a early look at this promising team at this year’s…
Dean Ween talks about his new solo record, ‘The Deaner Album’
Alt-rock kids of the ‘90s and festival-obsessed millennials will know Dean Ween as being half of the creative force behind what I would consider to be one of the most musically-progressive bands of its generation, Ween, which went on indefinite hiatus in 2012, but returned to touring in 2015 through the present. Now, he’s stepping…
Gov. Bevin needs to stop tweeting his propaganda
No no, Gov. Matt “#KYTRUMP” Bevin. You do not get to say whatever you want without being challenged — in this case, a tweeted quote, without context, to justify why you are jeopardizing the healthcare of 440,000 Kentuckians. https://twitter.com/GovMattBevin/status/788485591822438400 Just because you put it on the internet, doesn’t make it credible. Bevin wants the federal…
Thorns & Roses: The worst and best (10/19)
We could eat the poor! [thorn] 440,000. That is the number of people who would lose Medicaid coverage if the federal government rejects Gov. Matt “I don’t care” Bevin’s plan to restructure healthcare for the poor. U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, who founded LEO, said Bevin had better get ready for failure, but it will cost the state dearly.…
On Amiri King: Our readers and trolls commented, we reply
LEO Weekly will not support violence against women. Against minorities. Against anyone. Those are the rules. Pretty simple, you would think. Did we mention anything to do with Donald Trump? No. Because revoking Amiri King’s first place in the Readers’ Choice Awards for Best Comedian and Twitter Feed is not about whether we like Trump.…
A local comedian’s response to the Amiri King controversy
As a semi-retired comic, I thought it was my duty to weigh in on this Amiri King controversy. If you’re not familiar with what has gone down in the last few days, please allow me to catch you up. Amiri King is, by all accounts, a successful Facebook and social media comedian. While his appeal…
Dirty towns and false kings: Kelsey Waldon talks about her new record, ‘I’ve Got A Way’
Kelsey Waldon, a Western Kentucky native and Nashville transplant, plays the sort of throwback honky tonk that’s attached to another era, but she captures the sort of directness that carries the same kind of believability and subtle intensity as the musicians she reminds you of. It probably has more to do with the lyrics than…
Esperanza Spalding breaks new ground on ‘Emily’s D+Evolution’
Esperanza Spalding — a prodigiously-talented young jazz bassist, who, at 31, has already won four Grammy Awards — has stepped away from jazz without totally abandoning it, as evidenced by her new album, Emily’s D+Evolution. Before she plays the Bomhard Theater on Friday night, Spalding spoke with LEO by phone. LEO: How has your jazz…
The Louisville Orchestra performs an Antonin Dvorak masterpiece
Americans have always had a love affair with Antonin Dvorak, the Czech composer who lived and worked in the United States for five years in the 1890s. That is when he created several “American” works, including A Symphony from the New World — of which we New Worlders are particularly proud. Dvorak was a man…
‘A Raisin In The Sun,’ strong impact lingers
In 1959, when Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” opened a pre-Broadway run in Philadelphia (with a historic cast that included Ruby Dee, Louis Gossett, Jr. and Sidney Poitier), a critic wrote, “We do not know if Miss Hansberry has written a timeless play, but she has certainly written a timely one.” More than…
‘The Last Coloring Book,’ unbound by convention
The adult-coloring book is a bona fide, if curious, fad. That leaves it open to inspired reinterpretation, such as “The Last Coloring Book,” by Jimmy Angelina and Wyatt Doyle. “Whether someone actually chooses to pick up a box of crayons and go at it, that’s up to them,” said Angelina. “Whatever they do with it,…
April Macie, violence is OK, but sex is dirty?
There are very few people in the world who are all at once hilarious and beautiful and can cuss like a sailor. April Macie is one of those people. She is a straightforward stand-up for whom nothing is sacred — her private life, her family, her bedroom — it’s all out there in the open…
‘Malafemmena,’ delightful, ?dark-shaded mini-fables
“Malafemmena” by Louisa Ermelino (Sarabande; 164 pgs., $15.95) How does the cavalcade of personal experience become building blocks of literary short stories? Start with any full life’s moments of import — traumas, achievements, milestones that have been given social relevance, confrontational encounters and unique and transformative trials — and cut away their mooring in the…
Safari Grill: friendly folks and good African eats
How big is Africa? Africa is so big that you could fit the U.S., China, India, Japan and most of the countries of Europe neatly within its borders and still have plenty of nooks and crannies left for more. You’ve probably seen the colorful map that shows this; it’s all over the internet. How big…
Where to drink on election night
The 2016 Presidential election has undoubtedly driven many of us to the bars and bottles. As it’s the most visceral and social media-driven campaign of our lifetimes, we cannot get away from the daily happenings of America’s pending nuptials. From political arguments among colleagues and friends to the ever-present statuses and shares from that one…
LEO’s new relationship advice column, Ask Minda Honey
Welcome to the first installment of LEO Weekly’s new relationship advice column. I’m Minda. I’ve spent the last eight years out West squandering my youth on the wrong men. Now, that I’m a ripe old 30-something, I’ve returned to my beloved hometown to give out some real talk on relationships. Except, we’re not going to…
The world is going to end — two brits agree with each other
Brit 1: Funny, ain’t it? Brit 2: What is? Trump’s total and utter meltdown? Won’t be as funny as watching him on election night, after he’s made Barry Goldwater look like a winner. Well, that and the whole shit-storm kicked up by our editor pulling the Readers’ Choice award from some alleged comedian living in…
Bouncing Forward
A marriage counselor was the first person to turn me onto the concept of people being “at capacity.” Maybe it manifests itself as walking out of a room during an argument because one knows one will react negatively if one stays, or maybe it’s a spouse or parent who leaves a marriage, or abandons a…
Deplorable vs. expletive
It’s almost over. Unfortunately, the final presidential debate Wednesday and the next two weeks will only drive America’s standards for decency further into the ground. This new low-level of language, and political contempt we have for one another, has been dragged beyond the red-and-blue divide, and into the mainstream of social behavior. After the barrage…
Your Voice
On erica rucker: not me…but you Hot damn! I’m a clueless cunt, too! —Wanda L. Trigg Ms. Rucker’s article … is the best written by a human being for human rights ever. Ms. Rucker is a true American hero. —Yusuf Bilal on uncovered Yeah, let’s pay attention to every word that comes out of [Donald]…
