Cover Story
Louisville Photo Biennial 2017 photos you need to see in person
[Wondering where to see the Louisville Photo Biennial? Click here to see the full schedule.] Think of the photographs on these pages as an enticement. The 21 images, approximately 1/100th of the works on display, are your introduction to this year’s Louisville Photo Biennial, or LPB. With 53 venues, 60 exhibitions and up to 2,000 photographs…
Photos from both days of Bourbon & Beyond
[all photos by Nik Vechery] Bourbon & Beyond — the first-year sibling festival of Louder Than Life — slide into Louisville’s always-growing event calendar as both a celebration of the city’s native spirit and two days of radio rock heroes. Headliners Steve Nicks, Eddie Vedder and Steve Miller led a list of names that ran…
A Tale of Two Festivals: Moving between Bourbon & Beyond and Cropped Out
River Road is one of Louisville’s stranger corridors. While backdropped by the natural beauty of a waterfront, this two-lane direct shot out of downtown serves as a home for scrapyards, boat dealers, retirement communities and motorists who like to injure bicyclists by driving too fast — apropos to a half century of development that saw…
10 things to do under $5 this week in Louisville (9/25)
MONDAY Seinfeld Trivia The Butchertown Social Free | 7:30-9:30 p.m. Do you find yourself asking such questions as: “Is Elaine Benes your dream girl?” or if “you’re the George of your friend group?” If so, then join this Seinfeld Trivia night and “prove to your friends how neurotic you really are!” There will be drink…
A Q&A with Ceramic Artist Alex Adams
“I am a little obsessive about throwing well-balanced objects that look great and work well to serve a function.” Spoken like a true artist. Alex Adams (aaclay.com) is a community-driven ceramicist who founded AA Clay Studio & Gallery. LEO: What type of artist are you? Alex Adams: I am a ceramic artist. I make pottery…
5 Things To Do This Weekend in Louisville (9/22)
FRIDAY Film Screening: ‘Brain Matters’ & ‘Unicorn Crossing’ KMAC Museum Free | 7 p.m. Support local filmmaking at this double feature of “Brain Matters” and “Unicorn Crossing,” two short films by Louisville filmmaker Tyler McDaniel. “Brain Matters” is an “absurdist adventure film about a feeble shopkeeper who unlocks a strange book and accidentally sets loose…
Where to see the 2017 Louisville Photo Biennial
Where to see the 2017 Louisville Photo Biennial 1619 FLUX: ART + ACTIVISM 1619flux.org “Witnesses”—Sept. 22-Dec. 22 21C MUSEUM HOTEL 21cmuseumhotels.com/louisville “Pop Stars! Popular Culture and Contemporary Art”—Through March 31 “The Village” by Adi Nes—Sept. 22-Dec. 31 “Object(s) of Desire”—Sept. 22-Dec. 31 849 GALLERY (KENTUCKY COLLEGE OF ART + DESIGN AT SPALDING UNIVERSITY) kycad.spalding.edu “Not If…
Kentucky’s economic surge, but at what price?
In July, I wrote an op-ed for The Courier-Journal about the tentative economic surge here in Kentucky — that is, the 10,000 jobs and $6.8 billion in capital investments that have been pledged so far by Amazon, Braidy, Toyota and other private-sector employers since the beginning of this year. I rattled off a long list…
Thorns & Roses: The Worst, Best & Most Absurd
Snakes in the bluegrass | Thorn Save Our Pensions is running online ads urging lawmakers to fix the worst pension system in the country — our state’s. Sounds good, right? But The Lexington Herald-Leader reported it actually is run by a trio whose other group helped reelect U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell. It includes uber-conservative blogger…
‘Bulleit Bites the Dust’
Anyone who knows Hollis Bulleit knows she was the brand ambassador for her family’s barrel-aged boon of a business. Her flawless 1920s, flapper style and signature smile helped build the Bulleit Bourbon brand and earned her the well-deserved title of “The First Lady of Bourbon.” It was also no secret that “The First Lady of…
Bourbon & Beyond: Nikki Lane talks about bourbon, ‘Highway Queen’ and beyond
Bourbon and Beyond is going to be multifaceted celebration of food, bourbon and music. In the same way, Nikki Lane, who will play the festival Sunday afternoon, doesn’t fit into one tiny box, either. On the road, she’s a kick-ass alt-country troubadour who packs rock clubs across the country. And when she’s home in Nashville,…
6 bands to see before 6 p.m. at Bourbon & Beyond
Eddie Vedder and Stevie Nicks are headlining the inaugural Bourbon & Beyond festival, but the two-day festival in Champions Park has quite a bit else up its sleeve. Fantastic Negrito Saturday | 12:35 p.m. | Barrel Stage Blending blues, funk and rock, Fantastic Negrito has the heart of an activist and a Prince-like versatility, resulting…
Bourbon & Beyond: Band Of Horses went back to the beginning? on their latest record
Band Of Horses singer/guitarist Ben Bridwell can promise at least one thing to people who come to see the group in concert this summer: Expect the unexpected. “One thing that I do like about this band is, I don’t know that we’ve ever played the same set list twice,” Bridwell said in a recent phone…
Greta Kline on how honest songwriting affects relationships
Greta Kline began home recording and releasing albums as a young teenager on Bandcamp and gained a loyal following due to her unedited, honest and sometimes embarrassing diary-esque songs. To date, Kline has released over 50 albums, mostly under the monikers Frankie Cosmos and Ingrid Superstar. We caught up with Kline before Frankie Cosmos performs…
Sonic Breakdown: 1200 — ‘Secular’
[Editor’s Note: Sonic Breakdown is LEO’s new music column that deconstructs a single song from a Louisville band.] Jecorey Arthur, also known as 1200, makes no bones about what he does. “I rap about self-consciousness, political issues, racism and death,” the hip-hop artist, activist and music educator said. And that is perfectly encapsulated in his…
‘Dracula,’ ‘Coyote Ugly’… two wonderful horrors
The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes famously wrote that in the state of nature, the life of humans is “nasty, brutish and short.” If Hobbes had gotten the chance to see Lynn Siefert’s play, “Coyote Ugly,” now running at The Alley Theater in a production directed by J. Barrett Cooper, he might have described it as…
Comic Book Reviews: ‘Henry & Glenn Forever & Ever’ and ‘Mister Miracle’
‘Henry & Glenn Forever & Ever: The Completely Ridiculous Edition’ Writers and Artists: Tom Neely and friends Reviewed by Kyle Thompson, The Great Escape Why doesn’t glue stick to the bottle? Why is “abbreviation” such a long word? What if Henry Rollins and Glenn Danzig were lovers bickering over the monotony of married life?…
Book Preivew: A Soldier-Author’s Mental Health Struggle
Carolyn Furdek has had her share of stresses — and then some. She’s been an accomplished soldier and athlete, but she’s been staggered by misunderstood mental health issues. These have mandated life changes, and caused her to search far and wide for the means to stay healthy. After suffering and observing indignities to fight back…
Bodega mi Sueño, Ngon Appétit — worlds of delicious
Well, here we are again — another week that finds me torn between two new spots that feature cheap, delicious world cuisine. Bodega mi Sueño near Bashford Manor dishes out mouthwatering Cuban fare in oversize portions in the casual setting of a traditional bodega. Ngon Appétit in Clifton Heights offers a short but tasty list…
Don’t be that guy — token nightmare-patrons
I was out to dinner with a group of friends recently at a lovely local Louisville restaurant, and when the server brought the check over, a friend at my table intercepted his delivery and said aloud, “oh, no, you can keep that!” expecting an uproar of laughter. All he got, however, was an awkward chuckle…
Craft beer terms you need to know… or not
It wasn’t that long ago that IBUs were all that mattered. International Bitterness Units were all the rage as IPAs ascended to the top of the craft beer mountain, and the higher IBU count, the better — if you wanted to prove yourself as the top “hophead” in your beer peer group. Bitterness was king,…
Savage Love: Dicks Deluxe
Q: My relationship with my husband is bad. We have been together for twelve years, and we were married for eight years before getting divorced last year. We have small kids. We reconciled four months after the divorce, despite the affair I had. I have a history of self-sabotage, but in my relationship with him,…
Teacher and musician Jecorey Arthur on why arts education matters
Ms. Debra Burnell was my band director at Pleasure Ridge Park High School from 2006 to 2010. My senior year she encouraged me to become a music teacher. Dr. Greg Byrne was my college percussion professor at the UofL from 2010 to 2015 for my undergraduate and graduate studies. My senior year he encouraged me…
Amazon’s imprimatur
When Amazon wunderkind Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million, it was arguably the newspaper’s salvation. Could Bezos do the same for Louisville? Amazon’s announcement that it is searching for a city for a second headquarters hooked many Louisvillians who think it’s just what we need to obtain human and capital…
Vietnam… now!
More than anything, as we stand on the cliff of another Asian conflict, another on the Korean peninsula, the lessons of the Vietnam War and the experiences of those who fought must be remembered. With an outrageous potential increase in the military budget and escalating toxic rhetoric from North Korea paired with similar talk from…
Interpretive political dance
Gov. Bevin, you know we appreciate good satire at LEO, but the fact is: Nobody majors in interpretive dance. And while we’re talking facts, it’s ironic that you demean dancers, using them as an example of worthless college graduates who can’t get jobs. According to the Kentucky Center for Education and Workforce Statistics, 61 percent…
