Cover Story
The 2016 winners of the LEO Readers’ Choice Awards
The waiting is over, and once again we bring you LEO Weekly’s Readers’ Choice awards, your selections for the best in the city. The votes are in, and you will find a few surprising results (best band is Kudmani, apparently a popular wedding band), and some annual swapping of first and second places. The results…
The Louisville Free Public Library now has a streaming service for local music: A Q&A with Communications Director Paul Burns
The Louisville Free Public Library is now in the streaming game with the Louisville Mix, an archive of local music available to the public, with a collection of albums from artists such as Twin Limb, 1200, Quiet Hollers, RMLLW2LLZ, Bodycocktail, Cher Von and more. We spoke with Communications Director Paul Burns to get the scoop…
10 things to do under $5 this week in Louisville (10/10)
MONDAY Flying Out Loud Sunergos Coffee (2122 S. Preston St.) Free | 6 p.m. For all of you coffee shop writers and poets out there, Sunergos Coffee (the Preston location) is giving you a chance to let it all out this week at its open mic, Flying Out Loud. Be sure to come early if you…
5 Things To Do This Weekend in Louisville (10/7)
FRIDAY Garvin Gate Blues Festival (Oct. 7–8) Oak Street and Garvin Place Free | Times vary What began as a jam session in a parking lot is now “one of the most prestigious blues festivals between Chicago and Mississippi.” Set in Old Louisville, with the largest collection of Victorian homes in the nation, this two-day arts-and-music festival…
LEO Podcast #39: Mural Art Program, with Jackie Pallesen and Ehren Reed from Louisville Visual Art
LEO’s contributing visual arts editor Jo Anne Triplett discusses the Mural Art Program with Jackie Pallesen and Ehren Reed from Louisville Visual Art. Suscribe to the LEO Podcast on iTunes, and follow us on Soundcloud and Twitter.
Our favorite fall beers from local breweries this season
Identifying an ideal fall seasonal is a challenge in a market saturated by Oktoberfest Märzen-style beers and pumpkin ales. The arrival of autumn evokes cool air, campfires, falling leaves and earthen tones, all of which are inspirations for finding the perfect pairing for the season. There are some truly exemplary options in the area. Some…
Overdue Process: The Louisville attorneys involved in Marriage Equality
It’s the kind of event that beckoned an entire nation to pause, a day cemented in a country’s history. We do not recall June 26, 2015, for a tragedy, terrorism or scandal – the happenings that all too often permeate our headlines and memories – but for the long-deserved inclusion finally afforded to countless Americans.…
The Right to Adopt
In an October 2015 article on dailytarheel.com, Lindsey Brunson and Nick Niedzwiadek wrote, “While same sex couples have gained the right to marry as part of June’s landmark Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, state laws can still leave gay couples open to discrimination.” Holning Lau, a UNC law professor who studies sexuality and…
Readers’ Choice Awards 2016: ARTS & MUSIC
Best Festival Forecastle Festival Whether you love, loath or don’t care about the bands playing Forecastle, it’s a tough event not to respect — the way it has developed into a premier national festival, bringing a major event downtown. And from featuring such reunions as Slint and The Replacements to booking such bumble-gum favorites as…
Readers’ Choice Awards 2016: ATTRACTIONS
Best Place to Have an Event/Party Mellwood Arts Center Mellwood Arts Center has three rooms to pick from, ranging from a smaller, more-intimate setting to one that can fit hundreds of people. It is the perfect place to have a wedding, considering Mellwood doesn’t charge extra if you bring in a caterer, and you are…
Readers’ Choice Awards 2016: DINING
Best Bakery Nord’s Bakery I didn’t know how good doughnuts could be until I went to Nords. It’s embarrassing to admit now, but until I was in my 20s, my only doughnut experience was with a certain chain store that has two Ks and sounds like “crispy creme.” Then one day I went to Nords,…
Readers’ Choice Awards 2016: DRINKS
Best Beer List HopCat A brand new entry into the Louisville beer scene, HopCat received no shortage of fanfare leading up to its summer debut, which no doubt helped its case in this category. Of course, 132 draft lines probably didn’t hurt. What we like about HopCat is that it highlights local brews on its…
Readers’ Choice Awards 2016: MEDIA
Best Local Blog Card Chronicle Card Chronicle, which proudly boasts that it is “Rick Pitino’s 6th Favorite Website,” is definitely my favorite website for Cards-related news. There are plenty of other UofL sports-related blogs out there, but they’re mostly filled with speculation. Card Chronicle is the perfect mix of fandom and facts. —Ethan Smith #2.…
Readers’ Choice Awards 2016: NIGHTLIFE
Best Bar RecBar A new kid on the block, Recbar opened in April, offering pub food, video games and an expansive bar list. With more than 40 arcade games and 10 pinball machines — priced at a quarter each — Recbar has the Ninja Turtles four-player side-scroller, Street Fighter, Crazy Taxi and many others, all…
Readers’ Choice Awards 2016: RETAIL
Best Adult/Erotic Store Cirilla’s For LEO’s last Valentine’s Day issue, I drove to every adult/erotic store in the city to ask: “How kinky is Louisville?” I didn’t know what to expect, but the people working at Cirilla’s couldn’t have been nicer. They know their trade, they don’t judge and they just want to help you…
Readers’ Choice Awards 2016: SERVICES
Best Barbershop Derby City Chop Shop I’ve tried getting my haircut at a chain before because it was convenient, and every time I’ve ended up coming home and shaving off all of my hair, because it just looked god-awful. Haircuts can either make or break your look, and Derby City Chop Shop knows that. The…
Readers’ Choice Awards 2016: OTHER
Best Community Role Model Dawne Gee Once upon a time, when I worked at a grocery store that starts with a K and sounds like ogre, Dawne Gee came through, and you would have thought she was everyone’s best friend. She talked to everyone like they were a long-lost relative, and everyone wanted to meet…
LEO’s Editors’ Choice
In the spirit of LEO Weekly’s Readers’ Choice awards, we introduce LEO’s Editors’ Choice awards for the best news stories and news-generating personalities. The ballots are in, and the winners, plucked from a vast landscape of whacky, important and otherworldly Kentucky and Louisville stories, show that we are Kentucky UnProud and ImPossibility City. Best News…
Thorns & Roses: The Worst & Best
Keeping it Trumpy [Thorn] Capping a loss in court to Attorney General Andy Beshear, Gov. Matt Bevin, our very own Trump-lite governor, sent him an angry text. “I would strongly suggest you get your house in order. Your office is becoming an increasing embarrassment to the commonwealth,” he wrote. If Bevin loses again in court,…
Zakir Hussain talks working with Mickey Hart and ‘the Ravi Shankar ?of tomorrow’
Zakir Hussain is widely recognized as the world’s foremost tabla player. Hussain — who returns to Louisville this week with sitar player Niladri Kumar — has collaborated with many prominent artists in different genres, including the late master of Indian classical music, Ravi Shankar. His work with percussionist Mickey Hart (of the Grateful Dead) spans…
Dick Valentine of Electric Six on a new record and the Detroit music scene
Dick Valentine is the frontman for Detroit funk-punk band Electric Six. Their first album, Fire, was released in 2003 to critical acclaim. Their 12th album in 13 years, Fresh Blood For Tired Vampyres, will be released on Friday, October 7. LEO: The new record seems to be a departure from your 2015 LP Bitch, Don’t…
Bringing fresh perspectives to ‘Macbeth’
In the mid-1970s, a few years after the Watergate scandal, the great English actor Ian McKellen played the title role in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of “Macbeth.” In an interview some 30 years later, McKellen recalled that, during rehearsals, he had suggested to the production’s director, Trevor Nunn, that Richard and Pat Nixon were…
Printmaking City, a wealth of local talent
Printmaking can befuddle non-artists, because it is largely an indirect process that produces a series of multiple prints. All are called originals, not copies. And to add to the confusion, there are numerous ways to create a print: etching, lithography, engraving, woodcut and screenprinting, just to name a few. Want to know more? You are…
Lewis Black — Trump is ‘a megalomaniac asshole’
Lewis Black is one of America’s best political satirists and most-beloved comedians. You’ve seen him in films including “Inside Out” and “Accepted,” on “The Daily Show” and in his hour-long specials. Black took a few minutes after the first presidential debate to discuss the election. If you want to hear more, he will be performing…
Brian Keene Is a Writer’s (Very Creepy) Writer
This weekend’s Imaginarium convention is probably not going to help you turn your campfire ghost story into a Stephen King-style bestseller in time for Halloween. But if you enjoy trying to fan your own creative sparks into roaring flames, these three days at the Crowne Plaza Louisville will offer all kinds of instruction and workshopping,…
Red Barn Kitchen is newer than dirt, and it’s good
Now and then, I crack that the Martinez family’s Olé Restaurant Group is “The Energizer Bunny of Louisville dining.” All together now, let’s say that again: I’ve just returned from my third review of an Olé Group eatery, and I’m delighted to award Red Barn Kitchen my “Recommended” gold star. But something about this restaurant…
Fall drinks trend basic
“That time of year thou mayst in me behold, when yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang, upon those boughs which shake against the cold, bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang,” William Shakespeare wrote in Sonnet 73, of the beloved seasonal equinox we call autumn. While Shakespeare spoke sadly and longingly…
Lamar Jackson is the dog’s bollocks, Bevin is a failed bell-maker, Roux was pish food
So, Lamar is still a shoe-in for the Heisman. Pretty exciting. I assume that’s someone you are proposing for your posh twats’ club? I thought it was called the Pendennis, not the Heisman. And sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but nobody called Lamar gets into the Pendennis, unless it’s to wash dishes.…
Will Toot for Funding
“Other people are talking about what’s going on here,” April Foster said during IdeaFestival’s panel on startups in the Midwest. “It should be us.” Foster, founder of Inked, which connects influencers and products and the web, should know. She graduated from Western Kentucky University, went into, and got out of, pharmaceutical sales and built what’s…
Even Bevin gets a best-of award
Yes, summer sucked. Even LEO Weekly, the normally flowery, sunshine-and-rainbows newspaper was dour about how bad the summer was in Louisville. But this is LEO’s Readers’ Choice issue, in which we celebrate our eccentric readers’ favorite parts of Louisville, and, to be fair, it wasn’t all bad. So while the election-from-hell rages on for the…
Your Voice
on erica rucker: the role of a safe negro No one will understand what you have written about, unless they have walked in your shoes or witnesses this first hand. Thank you for sharing your experience … — Gemma Fetalver I recognize you as a racist, as someone with a giant chip on your shoulder,…
