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Summer of homicide: A Q&A with Sgt. Emily McKinley, supervisor of the homicide squad
A confluence of badness hit Louisville this summer with the common theme of more. More heroin, made all the worse by a resurgence of HIV and hotshots laden with deadly fentanyl. More homicides, driven by heroin and rising gang warfare, now acknowledged publicly by city officials. More unusually wet and hot weather, perhaps caused by…
Listen to two LEO writers debate about foodie culture
Check out LEO food critic Robin Garr and writer Michael C. Powell as they sharpen the point on the good and bad of foodie culture on Bogans Heroes Podcast. Both Powell (“Curb Your Foodieism: How pretentiousness undercuts Louisville’s food scene”) and Garr (“This foodie likes Butchertown Grocery just fine”) recently wrote conflicting pieces about the issue of…
10 things to do under $5 this week in Louisville (9/19)
MONDAY Morrissey / The Smith Night Zanzabar $3 | 8 p.m. Singer/songwriter and celebrated anti-star, Morrissey, is coming to Louisville. But before he does, Zanzabar decided to throw a tribute night to both Morrissey and his former band, The Smiths. And you can feel good about departing with that $3 for the cover, because all…
Transgender on the job: Employers, customers and economics through the eyes of four transgender people in the Louisville workforce
Most people have horror stories from work. Customers who were rude, coworkers who became abrasive or offensive, or a boss who didn’t appreciate us. Maybe we even felt like we were pushed out of a job. Finding the right job with the right company is a big part of finding happiness. With a recent upswing…
Defining Five: Adam Dickison, Daniel Tilford, Alex Smith and J.C. Denison discuss songs that have had an impact on them
Defining Five is a series at Haymarket Whiskey Bar, where, each month, four people from the Louisville music community pick five songs that have moved, inspired or impacted them, and then they play them during a DJ set. After each event, LEO Weekly will publish an interview with all five to get some context as…
5 Things to do this Weekend in Louisville (9/16)
FRIDAY Ten-Tucky Festival The Bard’s Town $14-$18 | 7:30 p.m. The Ten-Tucky Festival is all about supporting local theater with 10 plays, of various genres, each lasting only 10 minutes and all written by Kentucky playwrights. It’s a great way to explore/binge on all that the Kentucky theater scene has to offer, and it’s stunning…
The Ark Park opens, the Foodport doesn’t and awful traffic: 7 LEO writers on what sucked this summer
The FoodPort fails The West Louisville FoodPort might not have set West End imaginations on fire — political sycophants aside, the local population might have preferred something a little more practical — but that doesn’t make its failure any less depressing in the summer of suck. The $35-million project, well into its third year of…
The Birth of A Nation Part 2
[Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series that began Aug. 31. To read the first part click here.] The Snake and Eggs The brain is a dog dish. There’s water sure, but it’s brackish, chaotic and gross; the useful stuff, the shit we need to safely navigate ourselves from day to day,…
Protest, even if I don’t agree
Last week, my husband was driving home from work. As he was driving through downtown New Albany, on one side of him was a police officer. On the other side was a car with “Black Lives Matter” written on the rear window. As they all moved along Spring Street, the cop crossed to the rear…
Colin Kaepernick is not deplorable
Suddenly, everything became deplorable. Donald Trump and his supporters are deplorable, Hillary Clinton’s comments were deplorable, Gov. Matt Bevin’s abuse of power is deplorable. UK football is, well — has been deplorable for a long time. But San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is not deplorable. What he is standing, or kneeling, for is not…
Summer of heroin: Chinese labs ?pump out death
A confluence of badness hit Louisville this summer with the common theme of more. More heroin, made all the worse by a resurgence of HIV and hotshots laden with deadly fentanyl. More homicides, driven by heroin and rising gang warfare, now acknowledged publicly by city officials. More unusually wet and hot weather, perhaps caused by climate change…
Summer of heartache: ode to Ali and friends
A confluence of badness hit Louisville this summer with the common theme of more. More heroin, made all the worse by a resurgence of HIV and hotshots laden with deadly fentanyl. More homicides, driven by heroin and rising gang warfare, now acknowledged publicly by city officials. More unusually wet and hot weather, perhaps caused by climate change…
Why this tomato season sucked
A confluence of badness hit Louisville this summer with the common theme of more. More heroin, made all the worse by a resurgence of HIV and hotshots laden with deadly fentanyl.More homicides, driven by heroin and rising gang warfare, now acknowledged publicly by city officials. More unusually wet and hot weather, perhaps caused by climate change…
Thorns & Roses: The Worst & Best (9/14)
what the bloody?! | Thorn Gov. Matt “Oblivious” Bevin told like-minded über-conservatives in Washington, D.C., that if Hillary Clinton is elected, the nation would face a possibly bloody recovery. “Whose blood will be shed? It may be that of those in this room,” Bevin said. “It might be that of our children and grandchildren. I…
The amazing, disappearing ?west louisville: The Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau’s visitors guide fails to include the neighborhood in its feature, “The Boroughs of the ‘Ville”
West Louisville apparently is not interesting enough to recommend to people who visit Louisville. The Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau’s visitors guide fails to include the neighborhood in its feature, “The Boroughs of the ‘Ville,” and on an accompanying map. Really? In an email responding to LEO’s questions, Stacey Yates, vice president of marketing communications,…
The Golden Age of Jug Bands
Before you go to the 12th annual National Jug Band Jubilee on Saturday, you should read this excerpt from Michael Jones’ book, “Louisville Jug Music: From Earl McDonald to the National Jubilee:” “What is probably the earliest published account of the Louisville Jug Band doesn’t actually mention the group by name. On October 20, 1914,…
The major label blues: A Q&A with ?JEFF The Brotherhood
JEFF the Brotherhood, a Nashville, two-piece, stoner-metal band, was founded by brothers Jake (singer/guitarist) and Jamin Orrall (drummer) in 2001. Their latest studio album, Zone, was released on Aug. 12. Jake Orrall spoke to LEO from his Nashville home before the start of their 20-stop international tour that begins in Lexington on Sept. 16, and…
The stories behind the songs on ‘We Have A Bevin Problem’
Since he smiles like a cartoon villain and views legislative legality with the scope of a dictator, it’s not surprising that an open call for songs protesting Gov. Matt Bevin, our state’s ambitious overlord, turned into the 43-song compilation We Have A Bevin Problem: A Kentucky Music Compilation, which was released June 22, featuring a…
Lydia Loveless talks about her piercing new record ‘Real’
Lydia Loveless’ determined style of communication pierces the prettifying veils of many well-meaning folk/Americana musicians. Right at the start of new album, Real, “Same to You” offers lyrical honesty and anger, but then slashing electric guitar hijacks the melodic dialogue. Over the course of these 10 tracks, Loveless is leaving behind some of her earlier…
To Brandy, Forever
One night in 1994, I was being driven around in a large green car through the streets of Leitchfield by my cousin, Brandy. She was four years older than me, but she had introduced me to her high school gang (I was in eighth grade at this point), and would bring me along while they…
Self-checkout hell
I love the new full-service, automated bank-teller machines. I can deposit checks, get quick cash and never have to speak to another human. It is bliss. Remember, though, when ATMs were in their infancy? They were intended to replace a bank teller, but banks were afraid customers would miss the personal interaction (this was before…
This foodie likes Butchertown Grocery just fine
So I clicked onto LEO Weekly online the other day, and hey, what’s this? Some guy is picking on Butchertown Grocery! And wait! It gets even worse! He’s hatin’ on foodies! This all seemed very wrong, and it called for a fact check. Just as quick as that, we took our friends Bill and Margaret…
Gary Owen, ‘Black America’s Favorite White Comedian’
It is unlikely you haven’t come across Gary Owen at some point in the last decade, unless you’ve been living in a drab, shadowy parallel universe with “11” and her band of “Stranger Things.” After high school, the Cincinnati native joined the Navy where he honed his craft for doing stand-up. Since then, he has…
Lee Pennington: Documentarian’s Return to Poetry
Introducing Lee Pennington at anything less than book-length is a challenge. Where does one start? And how does one keep focused on an individual skill, series of achievements or artistic pursuits? Do we look toward the enigmatic sculptures on Easter Island, as he sees them, in some of his most prominent documentary work? Perhaps it…
