Cover Story
Future of Kentucky charter schools to be decided Nov. 4
Every once in a while, voters can make proactive decisions with absolute certainty of what the consequences of an election will be. The 2014 race for the Kentucky Legislature is one of these definitive instances. By Kentucky’s Constitution, a governor’s veto of legislation can be overridden by a simple majority of both houses of the…
This locavore makes an exception for Noodles & Company
If you’ve been reading my gustatory musings for any time, you know that I bring a strong locavore sensibility to this work. I like to eat local food, and I prefer to dine at local restaurants. When I do business with a bank, grocer, optician, investment adviser, newspaper and, most definitely, restaurant, I like to…
Video Tapeworm
This Week’s Twin Peeks NIGHT BREED 1990; $24.99-71.98; R After the runaway success of “Hellraiser,” horror author and film director Clive Barker fought for control of this flick, leading to one very entertaining mess of a movie, a staple of ‘90s cable TV. It stars Craig “One Tree Hill” Sheffer and, oddly, director David Cronenberg:…
COMICS: Louisville artist Jay Leisten inks Wolverine’s death
How do you kill a seemingly immortal mutant with a healing factor? Wolverine has been the subject of illegal experimentation, mind-controlled by evil terrorist organizations and even sent to hell and back to be tormented by the devil, but no one has yet struck the final death blow. Until Louisville native Jay Leisten and his…
BOOK: Not just a novelty: Jones documents jug music
In late September, History Press issued “Louisville Jug Music: From Earl McDonald to the National Jubilee.” For fans of this music, this is something of a watershed moment: Despite more than one period of attention from mainstream audiences, documentation of jug band music has been sparse. The publication also is a huge milestone for author…
Tough Love
Jessie Ware’s second album seems to have an incredible amount of pressure behind it, being the work that could launch her from rapidly growing artist to pop superstardom. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t — but really, the album left me with more questions than answers. She seems to hit a logical balance between sugar…
Art Official Age
Like David Bowie or Björk, Prince has a talent for keeping his ear to the ground and presupposing new trends, feeling out with some accuracy what might come next. It’s a tough line to walk, though — one that could either be seen as derivative or pandering, and one that wants to stay fresh in…
Hell Can Wait
Not since the Gravediggaz has a hip-hop album seemed to give such little of a shit about religious humility. When Vince Staples raps that he’s probably going to hell anyway on the opener, “Fire,” you believe him. That the album is titled “Hell Can Wait” makes it seem like a supposition: This is a certainty…
Gol
Any musician can relate to the dread that comes with describing your own music, especially when asked that question by people outside of your genre. (I’m looking at you, the elderly.) While I usually pride myself on being able to not only properly gauge people to give them a description of my own music or…
Plugged In (October 22 – 28)
WED Oct 22nd Brasserie Provence: Brian Currella Duo, Todd Hildreth; 5 p.m. Clifton Center: Carolina Chocolate Drops; 7:30 p.m., $29 Diamond Pub (St. Matthews): Short Bus; 10 p.m. Gary’s on Spring: Walker & Kays; 6 p.m. Gerstle’s: Kimmet & Doug Haymarket Whiskey Bar: Pirate Night w/Drunk & Sailor Jim Porter’s: Mixed Bag Wednesday From DJ’s…
Always searching for the sound
Yonder Mountain String Band went more than four years before following up its 2009 album, “The Show,” with a four-song release, “EP 13,” last fall. According to banjo player Dave Johnston, releasing EPs with small groups of songs might well become the preferred way Yonder Mountain releases new music in the future. The three band…
New album, Maiden Radio and traditional songs: A Q&A with Joan Shelley
Joan Shelley is about to come back home after some touring for her latest album, “Electric Ursa,” which has received tremendous reviews from the likes of Pitchfork. At Zanzabar, on Friday, Oct. 24, she’ll be trading in her stripped-down road ensemble for her full band. But however and wherever you can find her — solo…
b-sides: Andy Matter
If you missed “Pacific Midwest,” the debut solo effort by ultra-talented Louisville multi-instrumentalist Andy Matter, then I recommend checking it out. When I reviewed the album earlier this year, Matter wasn’t so fond of my words, although I meant well. But we bonded over it, and I came away with a better picture of what…
Talking with ‘the world’s greatest bar band’
This Friday, NRBQ returns to Louisville, the hometown of founding members Terry Adams and the late Steve Ferguson. For newcomers, NRBQ stands for New Rhythm & Blues Quartet (originally Quintet). Adams was in grand form during a recent telephone interview, covering topics ranging from the formation of the band in 1967 to its current lineup…
Staffpicks
Wednesday, Oct. 22 ‘GMO OMG’ Dreamland 810 Market St. rainbowblossom.com $5; 6 p.m. doors; 7 p.m. screening Get your ticket for this powerful documentary at non-GMO sponsor Rainbow Blossom, free for Rainbow Reward members, only $5 for non-members. I can guarantee there’ll be no Frankenfoods served up during the snack and social hour starting at…
A little empathy from a post-primary D9 survivor
It was a freezing cold and gray Saturday morning in February 2014. I was trekking through the hills of Clifton Heights, trying not to fall and break my neck on the slick, ice-covered roads. Two months prior, I filed as a candidate to represent the Ninth District of the Louisville Metro Council. I still had…
KET debacle was a foreplay fail, but get in the mood unless you want to get…
The good news is, the election is almost here. The finish line looms. The emails for the dollars and the invites for the hollers from your friends and colleagues for “their candidates” will soon cease and we will have “chosen” representatives in the legislative or judicial branches who may or may not share our views…
Midterm elections for dummies
As a recovering political junkie (having seen the sausage made at the highest levels, I have pretty much accepted the futility and meaninglessness of the entire endeavor), I find it funny how little even fairly educated people seem to understand midterm elections. Even many so-called experts seem to fail to grasp the obvious reality that…
Rev. Cosby’s support for Judge McLaughlin called out on Twitter
Last month I saw a tweet from St. Stephen’s pastor, Kevin Cosby, to Judge Sandra McLaughlin, a poorly rated judge, seeking re-election: “@McLaughlinJUDGE it was great to have u n church today. U r one of the most outstanding public servants n r community. Thanks for all u do!” WFPL reports that McLaughlin was…
Beliefs I used to hold
In his remarkable book, “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” Nobel laureate and Princeton University psychologist Daniel Kahneman writes this rather mind-blowing statement: “A general limitation of the human mind is its imperfect ability to reconstruct past states of knowledge, or beliefs that have changed. Once you adopt a new view of the world (or any part…
A little possum play? Who’s misreading the DSCC pullout?
I hate political hope. Not Barack Obama’s version, but the kind that may bear expectations of a victory. While I have had the great fortune to have been part of political teams that realized those victories on a number of occasions, there have also been excruciating defeats of that optimism. It feels as though there…
Inbox – October 22, 2014
LEO Weekly welcomes letters that are brief (350 words max) and thoughtful. Ad hominem attacks will be ignored, and we need your name and a daytime phone number. Send snail mail to Inbox, 301 E. Main St., Suite 201, Louisville, KY 40202. Fax to 895-9779 or email to leo@leoweekly.com. We may edit for length, grammar…
Charter schools nourish the best and brightest who cannot afford private education
Campaign season is fully upon us. In our annual election ritual, some of our politicians have renewed their cry that they are “for education.” Really? Who is against education? But, nonetheless, they will wrap themselves in a comforting cloak that promises that if only we spend more money, then everyone would read, write and attend…
Charter schools don’t need an ad campaign, they need regulation
This time of year, while classroom teachers and administrators in public schools are busy welcoming students back to a new school year and figuring out how they’re going to cope with devastating financial constraints, advocates in the charter school industry are propping up their image with an extensive new public relations campaign, called “Truth About…
