Cover Story
Ten years of Fairness
Diane Moten’s voice cracks and tears stream down her face as she recalls that cold January evening outside City Hall in 1999, as she waited to learn whether the Louisville Board of Alderman would pass the Fairness Ordinance. Almost eight years earlier, a co-worker at the daycare center where Moten worked asked why she never…
TanThai sets new standard in Thai food
Foodies, food lovers and food geeks who’ve been around town for a while will recall the happy shock that comes with the discovery of an ethnic spot that stands out from the pack: A new arrival with food preparation and style that hint at something special going on in the kitchen. So it was with…
Approaching the end zone?
The purpose here is to discuss Steve Kragthorpe. More exactly, Steve Kragthorpe’s situation and the downward momentum of his career at Louisville: how he replaced Bobby Petrino, how the team was immediately less good, how the fans became disgruntled, how that disenchantment has escalated to cacophony, and how those fans want him gone — yesterday,…
12345678 Catalogue
What’s there to say about Kraftwerk? Love ’em or hate ’em, you’re never in for any surprises. Catalogue is a box set that reflects on the career of the originators of an I-can-do-that-myself genre of electronica. You’ve got blipping computers, rapidly syncopated drum machines and ambient sound effects that make up the almost completely instrumental…
Unmap
One sure sign that the CD era is waning: the resurgence of 40-minute, nine-song indie LPs, a throwback to vinyl-era album sequencing. One sure sign that celebrating may be premature: the fact that even albums as lean as Unmap still contain filler, which feels that much more egregious under the circumstances. Because the band features Bon…
Theater: Le Petomane lets you pick the plot
(Le Petomane Theatre Ensemble presents “The Invisible Space Castle of Despair,” through Oct. 31 at The Rudyard Kipling, 422 W. Oak St. For tickets or more info, call 609-2520 or go to www.LePetomane.org.) In monetary terms, Le Petomane Theatre Ensemble’s new production, “The Invisible Space Castle of Despair,” is thrift-store theater. The company hasn’t…
The legacy of the bad guys
Audra Lorde was talking to the greedy — those concerned only with materialism — when she said, “Your silence will not keep you safe.” She was targeting the willfully ignorant and indifferent who busy themselves with small-minded pursuits and never truly engage or try to change the world as it lurches back and forth. Most…
The Life of the World to Come
The inspired and prolific John Darnielle leads his loose band (often it’s just voice and either acoustic guitar or piano) through a dozen songs titled after biblical verses. Throughout 15 years as the head Goat, Darnielle has always been ready to pick up a gimmick and run with it a bit. Here, he’s got a…
Video TapeWorm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS: ORPHAN 2009; $28.95-$35.95, R There’s nothing we like better than a good ol’ “bad widdle kid” story. Whether it be the “Midwich Cuckoos,” “The Others” or “Children of the Corn,” this is one genre that never fails to deliver. Case in point: This over-hyped tale of a seemingly innocent 9-year-old orphan…
Live at Longshot
While I can play a little guitar, I am not a musician by any stretch of the imagination. Songwriter, maybe. Musician, absolutely not. I am also not a particularly big fan of blues, save the classics. But I know good playing when I hear it. Dirty Church Revival are not good. They are exceptional, especially…
Bar Belle: Champagne is evil
“Evil is only good perverted.” —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Appearances can be deceiving, especially in the form of sweet, bubbly liquid served neat in a fancy glass. Some people call it champagne; I refer to it as Devil Jizz. Sure, it comes off all pretty and put-together. But like Britney Spears trying to hide her…
Inbox — Oct. 21, 2009
Blogs are Beneficial Regarding Phillip M. Bailey’s “Beware of blog” (LEO Weekly, Oct. 7): Ed Manassah’s dismissive comments regarding the blogosphere are unfortunate and, to borrow his own words, jaundiced. According to the former publisher of The Courier-Journal, you may not be seeing “reality” if you believe everything you read in the blog world because…
Portraits of Gnawa
The Gnawa are Moroccans, descendents of slaves who were among the earliest disciples of Islam. To this day they see themselves as a societal underclass, and over centuries, a highly percussive, repetitive music has grown around their ceremonial rituals and dances. A Louisville label helped bring out this CD/DVD overview of the music, with fairly…
Book: Essays for ‘Lunch’
Naked Lunch @ 50 Edited by Oliver Harris and Ian MacFadyen. Southern Illinois University Press; 312 pgs., $34.95. Fifty years later, it seems like this little first step of a time capsule by the self-proclaimed “mythologer of the future” still hasn’t found its intended destination. And who knows — perhaps it was meant for…
Regarding Henry
My near-idolatry of singer/songwriter/producer Joe Henry is well known to my friends, so it was with great pleasure I was able to interview, via e-mail, the producer of new classics by Allen Toussaint, Bettye LaVette, Elvis Costello and Solomon Burke. He’ll be in Louisville as part of photographer Michael Wilson’s exhibit “Whatever Happened to Martha”…
Heads I win, tails you lose
We live in an “either-or” world these days, and it’s hard to see how that’s doing us any good. If you self-identify as a “conservative” or “liberal,” many of those who differ will assume you adhere right down the line to a mega-laundry list of beliefs, and vice-versa. Such a scenario leaves no room for…
Internal combustion
In today’s society we live our lives out loud. Personal dramas spill out in memoirs and on reality television. Facebook shares our every feeling. “Wednesday morning. I’m still bushed. Lots o’ coffee today!” Twitter instantly broadcasts even the most mundane of our moves. “Grabbing a snack — Cheetos — then off to bed.” Because of…
Sunset/Sunrise
The neo-folk and organic techno movements have run their courses. Too many half-talented bozos have jumped on that bandwagon for the sound to survive. However, while that crowd continues to mine the late ’60s hippie-folk sound for oblique ambience and irony, there’s another, earlier era worth rediscovering by way of The Dutchess and the Duke.…
Plugged In Oct. 21-27
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 publication. We do not accept listings via social networking sites. Wed Oct 21…
Barron’s Encyclopedia
Pianist Kenny Barron returns to Louisville for his third public concert this decade. The other two: a solo performance at the Jazz Factory in November 2006, and a collaborative concert with the Turtle Island String Quartet at the Kentucky Center in November 2005. Since then, Barron has been designated a 2010 National Endowment for…
B-sides: Grupo Fantasma
Back in July, we spoke with Grupo Fantasma guitarist Adrian Quesada, and we’re finally getting around to running the interview, just in time for their show on Thursday at the Bomhard Theater (501 W. Main St., 562-0100) at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25. Thanks for waiting, Adrian: LEO: Grupo backed Prince, Talib Kweli and Marc…
The new checkbook
A group of people — mostly men, mostly white, hovering about middle age — have gathered around a slick placard bearing details of a new plan to gentrify a mostly industrial and forbidding neighborhood, 1,400 raw acres situated southwest of downtown. There are 53 people in the library of McFadden Elementary, a Park Hill neighborhood…
Film: It’s so hard to make no impact, man
(Documentary directed by Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein. Starring Colin and Michelle Beavan. UR; 1:30. Starts Friday at Village 8 Theatres. LEO Report Card: B+) Sometimes it takes one person going to extreme measures to inspire another to take a small step. Case in point: Writer Colin Beavan and his vow to go one…
