Cover Story
War stories
On Aug. 31, 2010, President Barack Obama announced to the world, “The American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country.” This 18-minute, nationally televised speech officially marked the end of the war, an anti-climactic close to a…
Sex With An X
Banging out 12 songs in 13 days is fine when you’re young, spry and broke. The Vaselines did it 21 years later, when they’re older, less spry and presumably not as broke. The Glasgow duo of Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee update their loud fast rules by picking up where they left off from their…
Staffpicks
Sept. 8-9 Bats in the Playoffs Slugger Field 401 E. Main St. • 361-3100 www.batsbaseball.com $7; 6:05 p.m. This is it, baseball fans — summer is winding down, the International League regular season schedule has been played out, and now it all boils down to the playoffs. The good news is that the Louisville Bats…
Theater: ‘The Kite Runner’ flies high
The Kite Runner A production by Actors Theatre of Louisville. Directed by Marc Masterson. Continues through Sept. 25. Go to www.actorstheatre.org or call 584-1205 for information and tickets. Amir, the central figure in Matthew Spangler’s dramatic adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s novel “The Kite Runner,” is no hero. A child of wealth and privilege, he comes…
The kid stays in the picture
When the water pipes burst in Leann Deramus’ apartment, she didn’t expect her family to live ankle-deep in water for over a week. “Eventually, my landlord just put a fan in the room to try and dry it out,” says Deramus, 26. “They didn’t pull up the carpets or anything, and of course it got…
The Grape Escape: Yo, Bartender! Riesling me
When we call for a white wine by name, most of us reach out for familiar grape monikers like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio, or geographical handles such as Soave or Chablis. Today, let’s give a little more love to one of the world’s greatest white varietals, Riesling, a grape with its roots so…
Old Punch Card
Leading off his new solo album, the title track from The Sea & Cake frontman Sam Prekop finds the guitar player inhabited by a cyborg, hard at work in a laboratory creating human skin. Inserting a needle into a human eye to administer vitreous fluid, documenting his observations and faxing in the results. Or something.…
Majesty Shredding
The history of their record label now documented, Laura Ballance and Mac MacCaughan get back to what they do even better than accounting: rocking out. Mac is at his nasally, juvenile best on this pop magnum, while Ballance beats low end into submission and takes front seat on “Digging For Something.” It’s a carnival here,…
Inbox — Sept. 8, 2010
Unfair Fees I read with complete interest the recent article about the “business” of protecting copyrighted music to ensure the songwriters and artists get their fair take for their efforts (LEO Weekly, Aug. 18). I have dealt with these “overseeing” agencies in the past as the fitness director at a health club. They are relentless…
A man of no country
“The nights are sleepless and full of exotic dreams,” I told my cousins when only one week remained of my stay in Africa. After a long absence from my people — 23 years since I left Sudan in the storm of war — I recently returned to this mystical place. During my exile, I have…
‘Operation Iraqi Freedom is over’
I know this historic moment comes at a time of great uncertainty for many Americans. We’ve now been through nearly a decade of war. We’ve endured a long and painful recession. And sometimes in the midst of these storms the future that we’re trying to build for our nation — a future of lasting peace…
Theater: Pandora soars with ‘When Pigs Fly’
When Pigs Fly A production by Pandora Productions. Directed by Michael J. Drury. Continues through Sept. 12 at the Victor Jory Theatre at Actors Theatre, 316 W. Main St. Go to www.pandoraprods.org or call 216-5502 for information and tickets. Pandora Productions opens their 2010-2011 season with a show about following your dreams, no matter how…
Choose your own adventure
Based on the few real-life awkward situations bestowed upon me in the past week (which specifically regarded my sexuality), this exercise is meant to engage you, the reader, in an exploration of options. It merely requires that you have some familiarity with the idea of making choices and being awkward. For the purpose of this…
Comedy: Forever on the D-List
I wanted to ask Kathy Griffin if giving an interview to this silly little alt-weekly rag in Louisville affirmed her D-List status, but I couldn’t get a word in. She commandeered the 20-minute interview, asked me just as many questions as I asked her, and scolded me for not being able to come to her…
Taste of Mesopotamia at Dejlah Bistro
More than 7,500 years ago, historians say, early hunter-gatherers started moving in small bands down from the mountains north of the Persian Gulf to settle along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. They saved and planted seeds, domesticated farm animals, and eventually founded the world’s first cities, then its first empires, in Mesopotamia, the rich land…
O Zeta Zunis
Also subtitled: “Weird for the sake of being weird since 1992.” Longtime experimental outfit Trumans Water specialize in making the sonic equivalent of a grab bag. Reach in once, and you get “Greased Water,” which predates screamo by about a decade. Reach in again, and there’s “Bev Toxin,” a hybrid offspring of post-rock and Dead…
WFPKyle
One of Kyle Meredith’s first acts as music director of 91.9 WFPK has been diving into the AAA nonprofit station’s vast audio library with a critical ear, looking for what to throw out, what to leave in and what to add. “We’re just going through a lot of the library cuts, looking for songs that…
S/T
Brooklyn meets Manchester on this self-titled offering. By their own admission, the band wanted to sound like The Wake, one of the groups signed by ’80s Factory Records, the label responsible for creating the “Manchester Sound.” Throughout the album, all tell-tale signs appear: dual guitars, go-go drums and quasi-British vox over pointed synth parts. Close…
Smoke bomb
Bikers, country music fans and Southern-rock disciples will find much in common with the leanings of Atlanta’s Blackberry Smoke (pictured). Having reached No. 1 on the country charts, Smoke’s sophomore album, Little Piece of Dixie, is ballsy, bluesy Southern rock in the tradition of Lynyrd Skynrd and The Allman Brothers Band. They headline at the…
Video TapeWorm
THIS WEEK’S TWIN PEEKS: MANDINGO 1975; $14.95, R Oh, wow! Now on Blu-ray, this great drive-in shocker from back in the day. Ken Norton plays a noble slave sold into plantation life, where his new owner, Perry King, intends to turn him into a boxer. But Perry is busy siring “suckers” upon all the attractive…
Dance: Love, loss and sweet revenge
“A person’s body first has to learn to sing in silence.” That was former ballerina Gelsey Kirkland’s answer when Dance magazine asked her how a dancer could become more musical. She went on to relate the question to one of her famous roles. “But the extent to which this is done is defined by the…
Loop de Lou
When John Siegel sings, If this is a country, well it’s no place for me on “Misery in the Mountains,” it’s an observation he’s earned the right to make. Much of what’s here brewed for a minute, and it’s a small wonder we’re even listening. Displaced by Hurricane Katrina, the ex-Pocket Foxx guitarist (and onetime…
Jerry’s kids
Voters closely following the mayor’s race likely have noticed Democrat Greg Fischer’s evolving position on the $4.1 billion Ohio River Bridges Project. Initially, he fully endorsed the project in its entirety and suggested the community wait for a final financial recommendation before “burning a lot of mental calories” on the issue. After the bi-state authority…
Plugged In
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 the show happens. We do not accept listings via social networking sites. Wed. Sept.…
Self-made millionaire
When Corey Smith’s gross income reached $4 million last year, the Jefferson, Ga., songwriter became an object of amazement for industry pros wondering how he did it. It was only seven years ago that Smith was a moonlighting social studies teacher at North Gwinnett High School in Suwanee, an Atlanta suburb. Smith, 32, is quick…
The Taste Bud: Screw it, I’m havin’ thirds
A number of years ago, I accompanied my parents to a chain restaurant called PoFolks, where my father and I squared off in an all-out, take-no-prisoners, fried chicken-eating contest. That’s right: all-you-can-eat fried chicken. It’s a miracle our hearts didn’t take out restraining orders against us. I generally avoid buffets these days, but when my…
