LEO Weekly May 26, 2021

LOUISVILLE PUNK AND HARDCORE | PAGE 10

SLINT: SPIDERLAND | PAGE 19

LOUISVILLE LABELS IN 1991 | PAGE 23 LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 26, 2021

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ON THE COVER COVER BY LIZ PALMER

FOUNDER

John Yarmuth EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Aaron Yarmuth, ayarmuth@leoweekly.com PUBLISHER

Laura Snyder, lsnyder@redpinmedia.com OFFICE MANAGER

Elizabeth Knapp, eknapp@redpinmedia.com MANAGING EDITOR

Scott Recker, srecker@leoweekly.com A&E EDITOR

Erica Rucker, erucker@leoweekly.com

LOUISVILLE ECCENTRIC OBSERVER

Volume 31 | Number 24 974 BRECKENRIDGE LANE #170. LOUISVILLE KY 40207 PHONE (502) 895-9770 FAX (502) 895-9779

FAMILY FRIENDLY

STAFF WRITER

Danielle Grady, dgrady@leoweekly.com ART DIRECTOR

Talon Hampton, thampton@redpinmedia.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Lane Levitch, lane@redpinmedia.com CONTRIBUTING VISUAL ARTS EDITOR

Jo Anne Triplett, jtriplettart@yahoo.com CONTRIBUTORS

Duncan Barlow, Michael “Deuce” Birchak, Syd Bishop, Thommy Browne, Mike Bucayu, Adam Colvin, Trisha Cooper, Sean Cronan, Paul Curry, Sean Fawbush, Tim Furnish, Kayte Garcia, Sean Garrison, Chris Higdon, Tara Key, Josh Maddell, Norman “Buzz” Minnick, Liz Palmer, Scott Ritcher Writer Illustrations by Yoko Molotov ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Marsha Blacker, mblacker@leoweekly.com Lisa Dodson, ldodson@redpinmedia.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

Megan Campbell Smith: distribution@leoweekly.com

LEO Weekly is published weekly by LEO Weekly LLC. Copyright LEO Weekly LLC. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed herein are exclusively those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Publisher. LEO Weekly is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without the express permission of LEO Weekly LLC. LEO Weekly may be distributed only by authorized independent contractors or authorized distributors. Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO) is a trademark of LEO Weekly LLC.

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 26, 2021

VIEWS

EDITOR’S NOTE

LOOKING BACK TO MOVE FORWARD

DISTILLE RY

By Erica Rucker | erucker@leoweekly.com SOMETIMES looking back helps light the way forward. So this issue is a little bit of that.

How do you put Louisville punk and hardcore into 20 pages? You fucking don’t. You brush in broad strokes and hope that, in these few pages, people find fond memories, reconnect with folks they’ve lost or forgotten. You hope that people dig out their flyers and 7-inch records and take a walk down memory lane. For those of us who lived through the late-‘80s, early-‘90s punk scene, these were the best, strangest, hardest and most self-discoverin’ times in our lives.

I was 18 or 19, when I went to my first punk show — a late bloomer. It was a band that had several iterations but was best known as Evergreen. I can’t remember the other bands that night, but my sister and I left with stomachaches and couldn’t wait to go back to do it all over the next weekend. It was visceral. It’s where I began to find my tribe.

We chose “1991” because of the managing editor’s love of Slint’s Spiderland, which was released that year. It has remained a monster staple of punk music.

When he suggested we do an entire issue on that record for its 30-year anniversary, I threw up a minor wall — Louisville punk and hardcore was way more than that one record, and the members of the band were involved in so much more as well. If we missed that fact, we would have missed what makes local music such a special thing, especially in the early and mid ‘90s.

We would have missed what created Slint.

There was a moment in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s when something cosmic happened here, and we spent about a decade in a bubble of the best punk and hardcore scene in the country. Fight me, it was.

We were located in such a spot in the country where the punk and hardcore scenes in Chicago, D.C., NYC, Ohio, etc. all could travel to us, and we could go to them. Well, the bands could go to them; I was stuck in the canals of a baby writer’s brain, making zines and writing garbage poetry.

Bands from all over the country made their way through the small clubs of Louisville. Nirvana, Green Day, Bad Brains, Sonic Youth etc. all stopped in our little

town. The strangest thing, for many of the bands that would come through town, was that kids would wait outside while they played and swarm in large numbers to the local acts that were playing on the same bill.

I remember seeing Royal Trux play at Tewligans. They looked like they’d dropped in from another planet — top hats and heroin chic. They played to a room of about three, including myself and a couple of friends. We didn’t leave simply because it would be even more awkward for them. As soon as their set was finished and the local band set up, all the kids from the outside, from Taco Bell and wherever else, packed in the small backroom of the venue. I wish I’d remembered more about their set. In later years, I listened to them a lot.

The thing is — and this remains true — Louisville loves Louisville. We do. It’s a feature, not a bug. However, this era was an anomaly when bands and some venues struggle now to fill their rooms.

This issue of LEO is only a hint of what those days were like and mentions only a fraction of the music that was available. In the years since, the scene has changed by the nature of technology and the allotment of space. As well, some of the old guard (musicians, venue owners, fellow scene kids) have passed from this world into that of ancestry.

Louisville’s punk and hardcore scene was cobbled together of many pieces.

There were lots of hands involved in creating those moments that now drip of “nostalgia.” Likewise, there were a lot of hands that helped put this issue together — in true punk fashion. The thing is, in a post-COVID world, we will need that kind of energy again — the DIY, all-handson-deck ethos. It’s more than nostalgia, and I’m sure it is out there. I just hope that anyone reading this issue remembers that magic is made, and that even in our despair, anxiety and sorrow, we can capture the cosmos, if we want. We did then, as our country entered a war that many of us mourned, and can do it now to help inspire us while we fight against these new ones. •

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VIEWS

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VI

L B

IT WAS A FEELING but also an observalived in a town that existed within a city By tional ritual that was divorced of feeling— that existed within a state that was against the feelings came in little waves crashing everything we liked and everything we TH against a giant beach or stood for. I lyhuge waves crashing against liked being her a minuscule diorama of a surrounded offi There was a game beach. Playground sand. by enemies, my because it There was a game there, there, or somepla justified my or something like a game, and unquenchand the players seemed thing like a game, app able desire to have an instinctive and the and the players to do battle natural understanding of Th it. Above all, there was no with squares seemed to have con Gate. There were no leaders, and troll wa only those brave enough people too an instinctive and tha to get up there and face the stupid to natural understand- see how In possible disapproval.

Co myopic and I was there because I ing of it. Above res boring their could not find any responyea sible and adult direction lives were. I all, there was no sin for my life, since I feared, didn’t feel a sce Gate.

There were loathed and despised anyone bit of mercy. rin more normal than myself.

None. no leaders, only foc In other days, I would have My goal those brave enough —and I only sho robbed banks or perhaps gro gone into Vaudeville. had one is t to get up there and goal— was When I picked up a glass, foc to make I usually dropped it. face the possible being stuck If I walked out my door con disapproval. in this town at 2 a.m. and wandered the age something streets and alleys, within a bar those kids half-hour I would be recogin would regret just a little less when they nized by a group of kids, and they would No looked back. I had no hope for my own stop. Then, I’d squeeze into the back seat do future whatsoever, but those kids and command that we go of we played to? I believed. I to Dizzy Whizz, are was a believer. It was where I watched acc like having 1,500 them eat der little brothers and french Lo sisters, and I fries at while I loved them all. cou would Still do. • the babble Sean fro about Garrison peo early Delta is an artist, fro blues singmusician and Jef ers and obscure local legend.

Ra Japanese duelists. They He’s been Co would tell me about their a member of oth parents and their teachers and several local punk no their pets and their plans— it was a and hardcore bands, cit hell of a Paris. including Maurice, acc Kinghorse and I Have a Stan Baker and I would hang flyers for the Knife. hours and hours, walking for countless mu miles; Jolt Cola and Lemonheads fueling a strange, guilt-free monastic happiness. We me

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VIEWS

LOCAL DJ AND SCENE “KID” DEUCE DIGS BACK TO ‘80S/‘90S LOCAL MUSIC NETWORK

By Deuce Birchak | leo@leoweekly.com

THINKING BACK to the late-’80s earin the US.” We were ranked 58th, with I 269,063 Metro Louisville residents. Let ly-’90s local music scene that occurred g that sink in. The city was listed with here in Louisville, I had to go check some d 269,063 residents, but the county it was official numbers. I just had to make sure s, located in had my memory wasn’t 162,676 children playing tricks on me y We were wild, and young adults and making things desperate for appear larger than crazy, loud, boise entertainment and they really were. e terous and always adventure. The local The official numbers es music scenes did not confirm, this scene drawing attention disappoint. was something more Before the social than just significant. everywhere we networks of today, In 1990, Jefferson went. That meant us kids of the ’80s County had 162,676 d and ’90s had a huge residents under 18 we attracted the ir social network due years of age. And .I to a few factors: 1) since the local music attention of other a There were literally scene that I’m refercy. kids that weren’t thousands of us. 2) ring to is mainly needed a place focused on all-ages as — let’s call it — We al to meet up and hang shows, the under-18 nly group of residents social as we were. out. Malls were a mecca for the ’80s is the number I’ll be s We would approach and ’90s teenagers focused on. to socialize. From 12 Just a little them, or they k years old and up you context, that same n age group dipped to would approach us, could run into 1,200 to 1,500 random barely over 60,000 and inquire as to kids roaming the in the 2000 census. malls (Oxmoor, St. Now, these numbers what else we had Matthews Mall, do not include all s planned that night.

Jefferson Mall) in of the surrounding I on Friday areas that had easy Most nights it was droves and Saturday nights access to the wonderful music scene going to see some until closing time, d around 10 p.m., and Louisville offered of the local teen some kids had even at the time. You ll. later curfews. could easily double age bands play a Well, in the mid the census number from 1990 for the “show.” We would ’80s, teen clubs started popping up people who came in invite them to everywhere from from New Albany, nd Matthews to Jeffersonville, d. check it out and tell St. Hikes Point, from Radcliff, Oldham County and all the them where to find The South End to Shelbyville Road at other surrounding k it.

Hurstbourne. These non-metropolitan s, teen clubs were cities to give a more open from 8 p.m.-1 accurate depiction of a.m. depending on the locations. So, at the number of kids checking out the local 13 years old you had the ability to go out music scene. on a Friday night after dinner, around 6 This was before the city and county or 7, and then hang out and party with merged making us the “16th largest city

your friends all night. Once you add in the 24-hour restaurants, the Twig and Leaf, Denny’s and Steak ‘n Shakes around town, you had thousands of teens looking for a place to fit in every weekend.

It is no stretch of the imagination to say that I was an obnoxiously, hyperactive extrovert as a child.

I have always been completely fearless in social situations and loved to hop in and out of different social groups with complete freedom of movement and impunity. I ran around/skateboarded with a group of like-minded folks who had no issues navigating through all the different teenage social hierarchies.

We were wild, crazy, loud, boisterous and always drawing attention everywhere we went. That meant we attracted the attention of other kids that weren’t as — let’s call it — social as we were.

We would approach them, or they would approach us, and inquire as to what else we had planned that night. Most nights it was going to see some of the local teen age bands play a “show.” We would invite them to check it out and tell them where to find it. The shows could be anywhere from a basement to a local teen club or a random venue. Not to mention, many local bars had all-ages shows on Sundays.

Now that I’ve explained how the social networking of that time was established, let’s focus on why: talent, pure and simple. Louisville was overflowing with so much talent, it just needed places to exhibit. At the time, with its seemingly never-ending pool of musical talent, it would be one thing to promote entertainment for the simple fact of profits and entertainment for entertainment’s sake.

They have built entire industries out of

such things. But you want to get thousands of kids behind a musical scene? Mediocre just doesn’t cut it.

Each and every kid out there could have the drive to expand and help spread the news of their newfound pas-

sion for the local music scene.

We became an army of selfpromotion zealots, handing out zines and Kinko’s-made flyers to spread the awareness of our favorite groups. Whether it be a local show or regional act that was coming here for a tour, Bardstown Road was a mecca for telephone poles covered 1/2 inch deep in paper show flyers. To this day, you can still see the staples of generations past impaled into the treated lumber of said poles.

And then it became a lifestyle.

The idea that you could live in Louisville and surrounding areas, be a kid or teen in middle or high school, start socializing and going to homegrown music events was phenomenal. If you were drawn into the local music scene particularly, it was unsurpassed. Not by any means saying that the local music scene in Louisville has ever been less than amazing, but between the years of 1985 and 1995, its magnitude was something truly magical. Those of us lucky enough to experience it may never forget. I, for one, refuse to. • Deuce Birchak, known to most as simply Deuce or Deuce Leader, is a local DJ, MC and self-proclaimed scene “kid.” His experience in the local music scene is extensive and has bridged the gap in communities between punk, hardcore and hip hop.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 26, 2021

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NEWS & ANALYSIS

WHEN FLYERS DISAPPEARED FROM LOUISVILLE’S STREETS

By Danielle Grady | dgrady@leoweekly.com

FLYERS were what drew Billy Hardison to his first punk shows in the ‘80s, an East End kid taken in by handmade posters with letters cut from magazines, ransom note style. Then, in 1991, when he became the booking agent for Tewligans on Bardstown Road, where Nirvana is now, flyers were how he would attract crowds to his events: At 2 or 3 a.m., after a show, he would go to Kinko’s, now the site of Seviche, and work on a concept with his fellow booker David Gruneisen and graphic designer Tim Furnish. Then, he and Gruneisen would throw a stack into backpacks and race around town on mountain bikes, ripping off old flyers and replacing them with new ones with a few wacks of a staple hammer.

“It was always fun,” said Hardison, who now co-owns Headliners Music Hall, “There was no traffic at 3, 4 in the morning.”

For Hardison at the time, the flyers were a cheap form of advertising underground bands. To many, the flyers that promoted Louisville punk shows in the ‘80s and ‘90s, are works of high street art. But, sometime in the earlyto mid-‘90s, they mostly disappeared from Louisville’s telephone polls.

Sometime after Hardison left his job at Tewligans in 1993, the city of Louisville started enforcing an ordinance that doesn’t allow for flyers on polls. Promoters and bands were still able to post flyers in accommodating local businesses, but a small yet precious part of the local music scene had vanished. Stephen Driesler, a co-editor of the book “White Glove Test” that compiled 700 of these flyers, said it was more exciting to see one on a telephone pole than, say, while browsing records at ear X-tacy.

“You’d see a flyer, it wasn’t legible, but it would catch your eye from across the street, and you’d have to run across, like, oncoming traffic to get over there to even see what it said, you know, if it was something really exciting,” he said. “[You’d] maybe tear the flyer down, so you could have the information or just, like, make a note of it… just the randomness, you know, of the unexpected encounter on the street, I think definitely made it more appealing.”

And, when flyers left the streets, so did a slice of local art and history, in Driesler’s opinion.

“You go to a place like Cleveland or Portland, Oregon or something, you know, and telephone poles are absolutely coated in flyers, and they become so dense there it’s like an archeological dig,” he said. “It’s like 100 different flyers stapled on top of each other, and the pole doesn’t even feel like wood anymore. It just feels like it’s made out of paper, and they’ve just kind of fused together from all the years of rain and snow and whatnot. And the polls become these fantastic art objects in and of themselves, and, you know, I think anybody that looks at that and sees

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 26, 2021

that only as litter and ugliness ought to think a little bit more about, like, the possibilities of what can be considered beautiful.”

“White Glove Test” features flyers from 1978 all the way through 1994.

The earliest flyers of Louisville’s punk scene were made with collage techniques and stencils and spray paint, Driesler said.

Within them, you could catch glimpses of fine art traditions — echoes of Robert Rauschenberg’s pop art and Russian Constructivism. In the ‘90s, when artists started using computers to make the flyers, the designs became bolder, to the point where they could be read from across the street.

Hardison’s main goal when creating a flyer was to make it legible for the largest amount of people possible.

“In some ways, we destroyed the art of it, but we elevated the marketing of it,” he said.

His flyers consisted of black ink on 11-inch by 17 -inch Astrobrights paper, legible even from a car speeding 35 miles per hour down the road.

Hardison also thinks he had a hand in the city deciding to enforce its flyer ordinance — but because of his absence rather than his presence.

When Hardison and Gruneisen embarked on their late night flyer missions, they played what they called “judge, jury and executioner,” with flyers that were already

Flyers such as this one decorated telephone polls in the early ‘90s. | ART COURTES Y OF ‘WHITE GLOVE TEST.’

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7

NEWS & ANALYSIS

A flyer advertising a show at Tewligans, which Billy Hardison booked bands for in the early ‘90s.

there, taking them down if the duo thought inclined to host cover bands. That is, until there were too many promoting one event, grunge music broke into the mainstream, or if the flyer covered another that was playing on MTV and “alternative” comadvertising a difmercial radio ferent show. stations. These “meat market In 1993, There was another venues,” as Hardison and factor at play, too, Hardison called Grunieson them, started left Tewligans said Hardison. When booking original because they talent, leading to had a falling out he was at Tewligans, more flyers and with the owners. it was one of the plastered polls.

Hardison took a Tom Owen, step back from few venues in The a retired Louisthe scene: He was still bookHighlands that booked ville city council member who ing shows, but bands that played represented the mostly, he was Road busy workoriginals. Businesses Bardstown area at the time, ing a new job said that there at a bank. It like Toy Tiger and were several was during that Phoenix Hill Tavern times over the time, when he course of his and Grunieson were more inclined career when weren’t policing groups across the use of flyers, to host cover bands. the city decided that they seemed That is, until grunge to crack down to proliferate on flyers. The across Louisville. music broke into the impetus was There was another factor mainstream, playing on litter — concerns about paper at play, too, MTV and “alternative” ending up in the said Hardison. street — but also When he was at commercial radio because some Tewligans, it was flyers carried one of the few stations. images that Owen venues in The remembered Highlands that depicting “sexist” booked bands and “abusive” scenes. He could clearly that played originals. Businesses like Toy recall one flyer that depicted railroad Tiger and Phoenix Hill Tavern were more

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 26, 2021

Sometime after 1993, the city started enforcing an ordinance that didn’t allow for flyers on polls.

spikes piercing a woman’s tongue. The concern was one shared by him, neighborhood associations and LG&E, the owner of the polls.

“They were offensive,” he said about the flyers. “Not all of them, but some of them were offensive. So if you’re going to go after some, better go after all.”

Driesler agreed that some, but not most, flyers promoting shows used offensive language and provocative images.

But, he said there are hazards in elected officials deciding what images and language should be permitted in public.

Hardison said he doesn’t think that the flyer takedown had a long-term impact on the business side of Louisville’s music scene — maybe just three-months worth of course correction. When Hardison started promoting shows, flyers were one of the most accessible ways to do so. It was too expensive to buy ads in the Courier Journal, and the bands at his shows didn’t get radio play, so there wasn’t a point in promoting them there. Their other options were to call the Courier to get a free listing in its event calendar or to get coverage in a small magazine.

But, by the time flyers disappeared from telephone polls, new opportunities for advertising were starting to open up.

Radio became more accessible with the growing popularity of grunge, and the internet had started its journey to what it is now: probably the most effective way for bands to promote their shows.

LEO Weekly’s emergence played a part, too, said Hardison: It was cheaper to buy advertising here than in the Courier.

In today’s music world, bands can advertise their shows for free on their

social media pages. And some even create flyers — artistic ones — that they post, as well. But, at least prior to the pandemic, flyers were still an important part of Hardison’s promotional strategy for his businesses’ shows, because the more times someone sees an advertisement, the better, he said. Now that events are reemerging, Hardison is still trying to figure out whether flyers will be a part of his business plan in the near future.

Driesler said he would encourage people promoting shows today to make their own physical flyers: it’s fun, he said, you’ll probably get a positive response and perhaps most importantly, you can keep it as a keepsake afterward to remember the moment.

“The show is amazing when it’s happening, but our memories are fleeting,” he said. “As time goes by, it’s harder and harder to put yourself back in that night, back at that show, I think. But sometimes, I mean, obviously, there are recordings of shows and there are photos that people take at shows, and sometimes, those can be very evocative. But for me, an object like the flyer really is a way to sort of reconnect with what it felt like to be that age, and to be there, that afternoon, at that all-ages show or that night at that bar and see that band and whether it was super exciting or super boring. But, like, it’s all worth remembering.” •

PHOTO ESSAY

COMPOSED PRODUCTION: 1991 IN PICTURES

By Syd Bishop | leo@leoweekly.com

IN MANY WAYS, the Louisville of 30 years ago was much the same. A new generation had taken the reins of the city’s burgeoning punk and indie scene, carrying the torch during one of the most electric eras of artistic expression. Still, technology hadn’t developed to the point it has now, meaning that documenting the moment was a deliberate and for some, critical activity.

“There was a strong desire for the need to contribute, I think that’s why I started bringing a camera to shows,” said Chris Higdon of Falling Forward, Elliott, and Frontier(s).

A senior in high school, Higdon gravitated to venues like Audubon Skate Park, the Zodiac club and CD Graffiti’s, particularly drawn to hardcore acts like Endpoint.

At the same time, guitarist Tim Furnish of Parlour was performing and touring with his band Crain. Furnish lived at the Rocket House, a punk commune in Old Louisville.

Like Higdon, Furnish used his camera work to document the local scene, focusing more on the Louisville acts than anything else.

“Back then was the days of film. So you had 24 shots or 36 shots that you want to conserve or blow off,” said Furnish, adding, “And usually I try to be as conservative as possible with my film.”

Furnish and Higdon had to make every click of the camera work, given their limited amount of shots. That meant getting in close, or finding places on, or behind, the stage to capture the moment, all without risking their cameras.

Dodging dancing and stage dives, Higdon admits that when, “just starting, it was just ‘get the band in the frame and hope it’s in focus.’”

Fortunately, both Higdon and Furnish had access to dark rooms, which made their work easier. By relying on their connections, they were able to process their film for free, which is important since money was tight. While Higdon was just getting started with Falling Forward, Furnish tried to conserve his income for the costs that come with playing music. In 1991, that included touring, the release of the

Monkeywrench 7-inch, the first full Crain release. Later that year, the band recorded their seminal release Speed with Steve Albini, which was released in 1992.

With resources low, Higdon and Furnish alike developed a DIY mentality that has in many ways continued today.

For Higdon, that meant learning how to create zines, take pictures and anything else that complements being a punk on a budget. Still, the work was important and has had a long-lasting impact on both.

Furnish said, “It impacted my work in a way where I knew music was important to me, and one, I have to do everything I can to keep doing it. I was ingrained with that sense of it being essential, playing.”

Both Furnish and Higdon have continued to hone their talents, working both professionally and freelance as photographers and designers well into their careers. Higdon admits that his time as a documentarian and musician taught him that, “It’s OK to ask for help sometimes.” •

Crain. | PHOTO BY TIM FURNISH

PHOTO BY CHRIS HIGDON LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 26, 2021

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LOUISVILLE PUNK AND HARDCORE THROUGH THE CAMERA LENS PHOTOS SHARED WITH LEO FROM CHRIS HIGDON, KAYTE GARCIA, SEAN FAWBUSH, ADAM COLVIN AND MIKE BUCAYU

THIS PHOTO ESSAY is a collection of photos both by and collected by Chris Higdon, Mike Bucayu, Kayte Garcia and Sean Fawbush. We hope you can see the photos and feel the energy of the era. One of the most unique things about Louisville’s punk and hardcore scene is the level of documentation and paraphernalia. People were writing, snapping photos with film cameras, making zines, stickers, shirts, in addition to all the kids making great music.

Chris Higdon comprises one half of the Kreich-Higdon photography team. Before his life as a professional pho-

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tographer, Higdon was a hardcore kid with a good eye. He also played in several local hardcore bands. (See more of Higdon’s comments in the article by Syd Bishop.)

Kayte Garcia is a criminal defense attorney, Louisville ex-pat (for now) and former hardcore kid. She’s been collecting photos of the “good ole days” for a while and was generous enough to share from her collection. Some of the photos are by Garcia and some by friends of hers including Sean Fawbush, Trisha Cooper and Sean Cronan.

Adam Colvin is a local realtor and drummer. Colvin plays drums in Batwizard but formerly many other Louis-

ville bands including Sancred, Old Vikings and Fogbeef.

Mike Bucayu is punk/hardcore royalty and has been around the local punk and hardcore scene for more years than he’d like to count. He was the bassist of Kinghorse, has run Self Destruct records for these last 30 years, has owned a record shop and much more. These days, he can be found hiking and working on his YouTube Vlog: Base Camp Bucayu. •

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STAFF PICKS FRIDAY, MAY 28

Spalding Festival of Contemporary Writing Virtual | Search Facebook | Free (Registration Required) | 5:15 p.m.

Author Angela Jackson-Brown is the presenter in the penultimate day of Spalding U’s WRITING semiannual Festival of Contemporary Writing. This year the spring event is all virtual for this celebration of the written word as presented by students, alumni, faculty and guests. There’ll be sessions in the afternoon and evening — each with a mix of poetry and prose. Jackson-Brown will most likely read from her new novel “When Stars Rain Down,” which has drawn early acclaim. This is a tale of a small Georgia town in the 1930s. Relations that a young Black woman sees among family, neighbors and potential lovers are scalded by summer and circumstance — and beaten down by racial oppression. —T.E. Lyons

FRIDAY, MAY 28-29

Social Justice Fair

Jefferson Square Park | 301 S. Sixth St. | Search Facebook | Times vary On May 28, it will have been one year since thousands of protesters took to Louisville’s streets demandJUSTICE ing justice for Breonna Taylor. To commemorate the anniversary, the community is taking over Jefferson Square Park, or Injustice Square, again for two days of speakers, story-sharing, entertainment, presentations, food, yoga and prayer. “As we move forward, it is important that we stay vigilant, connected, and focused on a path forward that is intersectional, inclusive, and uniting,” write organizers of the event, which is being sponsored by the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression.

The event lasts from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.

—Danielle Grady

SATURDAY, MAY 29-30 FRIDAY, MAY 28

For The Record Presents Producing A Kind Generation

Fifteen Twelve | 1512 Portland Ave. | Search Eventbrite | $20 | 7 p.m.

The monthly concert series For The Record is featuring PAKG, aka Producing A Kind Generation, a genre-spanning indie band that seamlessly blends different musical MUSIC styles, creating something wholly original. The music addresses heavy subjects and gives you insight into their personal lives, which will make the pre-show Q&A that will also take place an enriching and solid conversation. —LEO

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Penny Lane at the Park

Big Four Station Park | 215 W. Chestnut St., Jeffersonville, Indiana | arotr.com | $10, kids 10 and under free | Noon – 9 p.m.

The music of the Fab Four is coming to the Big Four — Big Four Station Park, that is. If you’ve been missing live music festivals, this is your chance to enjoy the music of the Beatles before Abbey Road on the River in September. Featuring COME TOGETHER non-stop music by numerous bands on two stages, this festival is an affordable, free-spirited destination for any Day Tripper.

Come Together with fellow fans to Twist and Shout to the music and eat from local food trucks. (We cannot yet confirm whether or not there will be tangerine trees, marmalade skies or marshmallow pies, but we’ll keep you updated.) Maybe you Can’t Buy Me Love, but you can buy Beatles merch and browse art installations. Enjoy the good vibes and just Let It Be. –– Carolyn Brown

STAFF PICKS

SATURDAY, MAY 29

SATURDAY, MAY 29

Mellwood Art Center | 1860 Mellwood Ave. | Search Facebook | Free | 10:30 a.m.– 4:30 p.m.

The Odd Shop | 155 E. Main St., New Albany, Indiana | newalbanywickedwalk.com | $20 | 8:30 – 10:30 p.m.

Market On Mellwood 2021

Bacon cotton candy, raw-honey products, goat milk soap, LOCAL wreaths, keychains, tumblers, candles, an array of handcrafted woodworks… and much, much more.

If you want to get out and support local, family-run businesses, Market on Mellwood 2021 will be hard to top.

With food, drinks and kids’ activities, be prepared for a full day of indoor and outdoor shopping, including both regular tenants and non-tenants of the Center. Some of the vendors include Honey Bear Farms, Fly Girl Candles, Candace’s Crafting Creations, Love Lightly and many more. Danny Mac’s will be serving pizza, breadsticks, calzones and salads, among other food and beverage surprises. John the Ballon Guy will be offering face painting and temporary tattoos, balloon creations and cotton candy (including the aforementioned bacon flavor). All attendees are eligible (without purchase) to win a variety of prizes and gift cards. “It’s what sets our shopping day apart from other events in that we want to give back to the shoppers who support small and local businesses,” Mellwood tenants and owners of Barn Doors and More, told LEO. —LEO

New Albany Wicked Walk

The weather is warming up, but the Wicked Walk will send chills down your spine. This nighttime walking tour of New Albany, which loops around Mansion Row WICKED on Main Street, is a fascinating look at the town’s surprisingly spooky history.

You’ll learn about the beloved Victorian maid who reappeared more than a century after her death, the Civil War hospital turned restaurant and the three serial killers (yes, three!) who have called New Albany home. If you’re easily startled, fear not — there are no jump scares, and you probably won’t see any actual ghosts, though spirit-hunters are welcome.

These outdoor tours tend to get crowded; when I went a few weeks ago, there were about 35 of us, so mind your distance. Still, the Wicked Walk makes for a fun evening out, by yourself or with a date. You’ll want to give it a try — I’m dead serious. –– Carolyn Brown

TUESDAY, JUNE 1

Down To Fringe SATURDAY, MAY 29

The Love All Serve All In Unity Positive Hip Hop Music Festival

Chef Space | 1812 Muhammad Ali Boulevard | Search Facebook | Free | Noon – 9 p.m.

ALI 400 RADIO presents a hip-hop festival that’s about community, just as much UNITY as it is about music. In addition to over 20 live performances, the “sociopolitical charged block party” promises a spoken word/ poets corner, community resource hub, natural hair show, free kids zone, on-site job fair, vendors fair and economic empowerment hub. It all goes down at the food business accelerator, Chef Space. —LEO

Logan Street Market | 1001 Logan St. | Search Facebook $5 | 8 – 10 p.m.

Any event that brings together theater, music, comedy, burlesque and drag is an event we don’t wanna miss. Louisville Fringe is back for its second show after SHOWTIME COVID kicked our ass, with Down To Fringe, headlined by Ben Sollee and Scott T. Smith. “Every show is a Frankenstein of genres and disciplines, driven by the idea that serious theatre and experimental performance should stand shoulder to shoulder with burlesque, comedy and drag,” according to Fringe organizers. Zsa Zsa Gabortion hosts comedians Mandee McKelevey and June Dempsey, “biting satire in the ten minute play” Nub City USA! and “shadow puppet experiments” from Safety Circle. As Frankensteins go, that’s a good looking lineup. —LEO

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THROUGH JUNE 12

MONDAY, JUNE 14-23

Quappi Projects | 827 E. Market St. | quappiprojects.com | Free

St. Francis High School | 233 W. Broadway | kyshakespeare.com | $195 - $495 | Times Vary

‘Rogue Intensities’ By Lori Larusso Lori Larusso’s paintings and installations should ART come with a sign that says, “Things are not what they seem.” You might even chuckle.

Her explorations of class and gender explain “how both reflect and shape our culture,” she said. She does this by taking a magnifying glass to domestic life. This is her first solo show in Louisville. —Jo Anne Triplett

Kentucky Shakespeare’s Central Park season kicks off June 16. And the company’s popular summer camp is now accepting registrations for budding thesHAPPY CAMPER pians aged 5-18. The company’s education staff work with each age cohort to build the rich array of skills — communication, cooperation, movement, storytelling, design, creative analysis, etc. — that theater inspires and demands. (No prior experience is necessary in any of the age groups.) And all the campers will get to perform onstage at Central Park’s C. Douglas Ramey Amphitheatre during the summer. Enrollments are limited (and will certainly fill out). Details about each camp’s curriculum, pricing and COVID policies and practices) are detailed on the website. Scholarships are available (and the company welcomes scholarship donations). Email education@kyshakespeare.com for information. —Marty Rosen

‘Clowder’ by Lori Larusso. Acrylic on polymetal panels.

THROUGH JUNE 12

‘Rainbows And Moons Over Prospect Park, Brooklyn’ By Emily Church Galerie Hertz | 1253 S. Preston St. | galeriehertz.com | Free

One of the things the pandemic has reminded us of is to appreciate the beauty of nature.

Emily Church has known this all her life and has the paintings to prove it. The PAINT works on display at Galerie Hertz are from the vantage point of her house near Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York. Church is from Louisville and always felt connected to the Frederick Law Olmsted parks here. Prospect Park captured her heart when she found out it too was designed by Olmsted. —Jo Anne Triplet

‘Pink Was a Color’ by Emily Church. Oil on linen.

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Camp Shakespeare

MUSIC

LOUISVILLE MUSICIANS FROM MULTIPLE ERAS TALK ABOUT SLINT’S SPIDERLAND

By Scott Recker | leo@leoweekly.com IN THE SEVEN OR SO YEARS I’ve been in about it three decades later, is that most of us are still working on the puzzle. town, I’ve been impressed by how local Because of Spiderland’s prominence and musicians of all ages seem to have an influence, I spoke with Louisville musiencyclopedic knowledge of Louisville cians from multiple eras about the record. music history. People who were in grade school or not alive in the early ‘90s will Scott Ritcher, Sunspring (1990-1994), namedrop Louisville musicians from Metroschifter (1994-2005), owner of that era into causal conversations and in Slamdek Records: interviews. And the stories and perspecIn the late 1980s and early ’90s, groups tives from the people who were there are like my band Sunspring were still playing always evocative, painting a picture of a odd brands of punk rock and just beginmuch different scene than todays. One of the records that constantly gets brought up ning to experiment with dissonance and uncommon time signatures. Slint was is Slint’s Spiderland, which just passed its 30th birthday in March. The record, which showing us how much could actually be done. They were making the move is a grenade of creativity that put a mirror from the chaos of punk to something that up to human volatility, was released after combined art, forethought and control. It the band broke up, but, through the years, seemed so educated. They weren’t going it’s slow-burned its way into the ears of in a new direction, they were taking a big indie kids across the globe. step up. Appropriately, since they were Todd Brashear, Slint’s bassist on a couple years older, it seemed like they Spiderland, recently told LEO that it’s up were graduating. The band found entirely to the listeners to determine what qualities fuel the album’s lasting impact, but he said new uses for guitar harmonics and, in contrast to their Louisville contempohard work and having the right people in raries, they dared to sometimes play as the right place made it all possible: “Some quietly as they could. It wasn’t long before people get lucky and they’re amazing we were all stealing these new colors off right out of the gate, but we all played in a their palette. What was most shocking to lot of bands over the years. Britt [Walus when we were first met with Spiderland ford, drummer] and Dave [Pajo, guitarist] was the emotion. We thought of these were technically great musicians — still guys as brilliant are — but me and yet here Brian [McMahan, They were making technicians, they were unabashvocalist and guitarist] weren’t, still the move from the edly exposing a raw, fragile vulnerabilaren’t, but we had chaos of punk to ity. Our music was been around the about emotion, we block, and, I’d say, something that thought, but just as made the most of Slint had previously the skills that we combined art, shown us how much had. But, sometimes, forethought and more was possible there’s… I’m going musically and sonito use the word control. cally, now they were magic. You just showing us colors get the right set of we could paint with lyrically and emotionpeople together and sometimes something ally. In contrast to Tweez, Slint became accool might happen.” claimed and revered for a whole different Sonically and lyrically, Spiderland set of things they did on Spiderland: songs lives at the corner of multiple juxtaposithat are urgent and uneasy, yet methodical; tions: visceral yet technical, emotional yet lyrical performances that exhibit a bare, controlled, weird yet accessible, mysteriundefended innocence; rhythm patterns ous yet direct, and, of course, loud and you’ve never heard before, but quickly quiet. It’s undeniably an important and tap your foot with; control over the guitar singular record in rock history, but one of that can finesse it from being delicate and the reasons we’re probably still talking

Image from the cover of Spiderland.

barely audible to the teapot squeal of a hole in a dam that won’t burst.

Heather Fox, Juanita (1993-present): Back in those days in particular, we were very much about DIY and making noise and dressing up and having fun, so we were the opposite of highly-detailed, must-sound-a-perfect-way — I didn’t always tune my guitar and stuff like that.

I didn’t have my own gear for years — I’d just borrow other people’s shit. In style, we could not be further from each other… I think the reason [Spiderland] has had such an impact though, is because it’s a beautiful record, it’s an incredible record, it’s really intimate. And I think it really captures a certain — I believe the word angst is overused — but it definitely captures a certain uncomfortable quality about being that age. What it feels like to be in your late teens / early twenties.

Which, I’m glad I’m at the age I am now. I wouldn’t want to go back and be 20 years old.

John King (Operator of the label Louisville Is For Lovers (2000-present), musician in several bands): It is no small coincidence that Slint’s Spiderland was released the same year I announced to my mother that I had decided to be a musician and demanded a drum set immediately. I was just 14, but was already well rooted in

the local music scene. In those days local music was everywhere. I could walk from my house in Germantown down Preston Highway and see Sunspring, Erchint, and Ennui at Audubon Skate Park, or take the Eastern Parkway bus to Bardstown Road and see Rodan and Crain play matinee shows at Tewligans. Sometimes Jeremy DeVine’s grandmother would drive us to Lazer Blaze in the East End to bands like Evergreen. I could never figure out the nation’s infatuation with the Seattle music scene at that time because it seemed like Louisville was inventing new bands and musical genres on a daily basis. It was exciting to head out to a show to discover the newest sounds. But, with all that creativity, Spiderland was something no one had heard before. It didn’t seem to fit in the normal trajectory of musical evolution.

It seemed no matter what scene you were in, someone was talking about Spiderland.

It had the aggression of hardcore with the fragility of lo-fi folk, and the attitude of shoegaze. It was simultaneously a dozen different genres and none of them, and it was all ours. We knew it was an important album, and it didn’t come from New York, or L.A. or Seattle. It was Louisville through and through. And for me the best part was Britt Walford’s drumming. It doesn’t matter if he’s playing on a Will Oldham record, a Kim Deal album or a raucous Squirrel Bait record, you know LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 26, 2021

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it’s Britt. He has a distinctive style, which as a drummer I can say that isn’t easy to pull off, and nothing represents his full talent more than Spiderland. The way he is able to seamlessly move from loud to quiet, change tempo and make the most sparse sections of a song intriguing and full of emotion is nothing short of genius.

The entire 40 minute album is tied together by Britt’s beautifully-crafted beats culminating with the exquisite “Good Morning, Captain.” And, before the world knew what hit it, it was over.

Jamie Colvin (Kentucky Chrome Revue, 2009-present): I didn’t listen to Spiderland until a couple of years after it came out and I stole my older sister’s cassette tape. It took me a bit to get into it, but ‘Good Morning Captain’ was the song that hooked me in. Something about that bass line... Today, it’s complete and total nostalgia of those carefree lazy days and laying on the floor of your room listening to an album while staring at the ceiling and getting just utterly lost in it. It holds up and will never lose its appeal.

Scott Carney, Wax Fang (2005-present): I think that is the hallmark of a great piece of art — that it stands the test of time, that it continues to influence people across generations. And that album certainly has.

I first heard it in high school, probably when I saw the Larry Clark film ‘Kids.’

It wasn’t really my cup of tea at the time, and then I kind of circled back around as I was transitioning into college… It’s kind of this magical thing they created that hadn’t really been done in that way, shape or form before… It’s kind of a more artistic approach to music and it’s not necessarily music produced for the masses. That really resonated with me because, when I first started hearing those bands, it really kind of introduced me to the idea that rock music could be more than just a handful of power chords that you play for three minutes and you move on to the next song.

Nick Wilkerson, White Reaper (2014-present): They are just so singular. When I think of Louisville, I think of Slint. And vice versa, pretty much. It’s a weird thing, I don’t know how to explain it thoroughly… If I learned anything from listening to that record, or listening to Slint in general, I learned to be as you as possible, basically… The whole scene back then was just so cool. Their trajectory of being in punk bands before Slint — I feel like I did all of the same stuff growing

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up, playing shows, without even being aware of that. It’s cool there’s an example of some guys that thought the same way I did back then. I think it just captures the sense of growing up, the record.

Doug Campbell, The Sleeping Bag (2018-present), Melanchoir (2020-present): The very first time I heard Spiderland was not a life-changing moment. It took me years to form a full opinion on the album, and while I ruminated on it and continued making my own art, I was certainly becoming influenced by it more than any other favorite album of mine. As I would continue to pick out new things I had missed on repeated listens, I found myself more focused on creating thicker layers of detail in my own work. There is an indescribable quality to its plain presentation and production style, and how that’s contrasted by the ever-evolving passages of tightly-performed and forward-thinking music, and then (because maybe those two things aren’t enough, and traditionally sung vocals would be too predictable) there’s this seriously fucked up narrative running through a good deal of songs on the record. This story of sorts deals with themes of paranoia on “Don Aman,” child abandonment on “Washer” and the hair-raising horror of dying alone, full of regrets, on “Good Morning, Captain”... pay even closer attention and you will realize that this story creates a perfect loop as the very first lines of the first track make reference to the last track. When I first put all of that together, it didn’t just change the way I approached music, it changed my life.

Tallulah Lynch, Shark Sandwich (2020-present): Every time I listen to it, I find something new, which is weird because it seems so straightforward the first time you listen to it. It’s like, this is just a really relaxing, low-energy thing but there are a lot of layers to it, which is why people keep coming back to it… I think one of the reasons that I like that record so much is it changes with whatever head space I’m in. Anytime I listen to it, in whatever mood, it changes the whole perspective on the album, which is really great. Not a lot of music does that, for me at least. • Editor’s Note: To dive deeper into the history of Spiderland, check out Lance Bangs’ documentary “Breadcrumb Trail” or Scott Tennent’s 33 1/3 book on the record.

FREAKWATER: IRWIN TALKS DANCING UNDER WATER

By Erica Rucker | leo@leoweekly.com FREAKWATER seems an unlikely band to be popular in a town known for its hardcore and punk scene but with simple chord structures to their songs and the wide regional appeal of old country songs, band members Catherine Irwin, Janet Bean and David Gay managed to make it work.

LEO caught up with Irwin to discuss what is was like being in a beloved country band in a punk rock town.

“I think that like the reason that a lot of punk rock bands were into that music was partly the simple chord structure, for one thing,” said Irwin.

“Like, we could play this but I think that kind of nihilism of the lyrics and stuff is really appealing. I think it has a lot of similarity in the content, you know — there are a lot of country songs about really gloomy subjects, right?”

Irwin believes that the accessibility of playing simple songs made sense to their fans. It was easy, as she mentioned, to figure out how to play something from the Carter Family in a much greater way than perhaps trying to learn songs by progressive rock bands like Rush with more complicated songs.

Cover art for Freakwater’s “Dancing Under Water”

“The way that, especially the Carter [Family] put the songs across, it’s just like certain kinds of punk rock, in this incredibly sort of flat affect. They just, they don’t change their tone. They could be singing about a dead baby or singing about a flower, you know, and it’s just like almost the same delivery. It’s really fascinating to me.”

In 1991, Freakwater released Dancing Under Water, an album that Irwin remembers as if it didn’t really happen.

“I was thinking about it yesterday, cause you know, that record, it kind of like always sort of seemed like it never even happened because when we made the record, we were on this little tiny label in California called Amoeba,” said Irwin.

“It was the second record that we made for them. And the guy that was in charge of that label, he just put it out with the first record on the CD cause it was the beginning of CD times. And so, Catherine Irwin and Janet Bean of Freakwater

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the record never came out on vinyl, so it seemed kind of fake for that reason.”

“Janet’s husband Rick, that was his roommate at UK. He was a chemical engineer and lived in Los Angeles. And then, so he just started putting out people’s records and, uh, I guess he must have been in Louisville in Chicago or something like that and Janet gave him a tape that we recorded and he put on a record for us. So that was it. We didn’t work very hard to get that done. Yeah. We just got lucky.”

The re-issue of Dancing Under Water was released by Thrill Jockey in 1996.

Freakwater’s association with Thrill Jockey happened because of Janet Bean’s connections with her other band, Eleventh Dream Day. One of the tracks, called “Scratches on the Door” was written by Michael O’Bannon, a Louisville punk pioneer who passed away in 2016.

“I was thinking about what was Louisville-related about that record is that Michael O’Bannon wrote one of the songs on there,” said Irwin. “He wrote a song on there called “Scratches on the Door,” which is a really, incredibly, creepy song about the children who died in a fire because LG&E shut off their power.”

“It’s so very like him to have focused in on this little deep grim detail of the story.”

In 1989, six children perished in a fire in Louisville after having their electricity cut off and had been using candles for light and heat. O’Bannon’s song is an homage to this incident.

It is the frankness and honesty that Freakwater songs sometimes nest in, and their simplicity that made them work. It’s kept fans interested for over 30 years and counting. • Irwin is currently working with Tara Key of Antietam on a memorial project for Wink O’Bannon, a local musician who passed away in 2020.

ANTIETAM — EVERYWHERE OUTSIDE

By Tara Key, Josh Madell | leo@leoweekly.com ANTIETAM WAS FORMED IN LOUISVILLE in 1984. By the ’90s, they had moved to New York City. However, once a local band, always a local band. They released their album Everywhere Outside in 1991 after welcoming new member Josh Madell.

They talked about how the album came together.

Tara Key: Post-Burgoo, while deciding which zig or zag to follow, Tim and I waited for what was next. A call came from a NYC kid, now a bike messenger in San Francisco. Josh Madell, 20, was willing to come home and try out for our band. He had heard us and owned Burgoo and liked us. One December Sunday morning he pulled up at our corner, and we piled into his car, establishing a ritual that has gone on for over 30 years now, headed for the Music Building where we practice to this day. We jammed for literally 30 seconds and knew it was right.

Josh Madell: I left New York for college in ’88, and left college for rock and roll in ’89. I ended up in San Francisco because I wanted to try someplace

Antietam at the New Music Seminar in 1991. | PHOTO BY BRUCE WARREN.

new, but after a couple of years, my band seemed to be at a dead end, and I was sort of burned out on SF too. Ken Katkin told me that Antietam needed a drummer; he knew that I loved Burgoo, and I flew back to New York for a few days to see the parents and audition.

I quit my job, packed my apartment and headed east on Christmas day in my creamsicle-colored VW bus, my drums and everything I owned piled behind me, on the southern route across I-40 to avoid the Rockies and the winter snow. No such luck, I hit blizzards at every turn, the bus had no heat or defrost (literally none, it had been disconnected), and it was rough riding. I finally slid off the road and fell over outside of Amarillo, but the giant snowdrifts padded my fall, and I was rolling again in a few hours. On New Year’s Eve in North Little Rock the bus gave out, and I spent a couple of long, empty days waiting for a mechanic, and a part.

Days later, I limped into a friend’s place in D.C. and stole out of town on the Amtrak with just my drums and a knapsack; the Everywhere Outside sessions were already

booked, and I had a lot of songs to learn.

TK: So with Madell in, we practiced fiercely and five weeks later found ourselves recording Everywhere Outside at Water Music in Hoboken. We worked with John Siket, who would go on to helm many noteworthy sessions. John was probably the first engineer I tortured as I gained confidence (or arrogance) in the studio. There was a tightrope spirit to the sessions, with the ink still wet, that was turbo-charged and exhilarating. And listening to the tempos, it would seem we all had hearts that beat at a hummingbird’s pace. To finish, I kept John up 24+ hours straight: a 20-hour mixing session followed by him driving Josh and I Grand Prix-style, very late, to the mastering studio where, finally, I passed out in front of the monitors on the floor (quite professionally) while John and Josh mastered the record. •

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MUSIC Endpoint’s Duncan Barlow talks about how Endpoint came to be and what they wanted to do with their music.

THE BIRTH OF ENDPOINT

By Duncan Barlow (coordinated by Rob Pennington) | leo@leoweekly.com 1991 ONE COLD JANUARY NIGHT, we huddled around television sets at The Zodiac bar on Market Street, watching in disbelief as bombs began to streak the early morning skies in the gulf coast. What had begun as a night of friends playing music together, quickly turned into a night of discussion and tears. With those blurry moments, we knew we’d seen people die. That moment left an impression, and as Operation Desert Storm marched on, we began to see T-shirts and trading cards sold at stores celebrating the military effort, our conversations and cultural contexts began shifting.

In that same year, we would release our first full-length recording on vinyl. Endpoint’s debut LP, In a Time of Hate, suffered from many issues. First, we were asked to record with an engineer who expressed outward contempt for our music, then the label experienced countless delays. By the time In a Time of Hate saw its release, the songs felt dated and out of touch with who we were becoming as a band. Despite the frustrations we experienced with the record and the timing of its release, 1991 was an important year for the band. We were seeking new influences, becoming vocal in political discussions, having necessary conversations with our peers and our contemporaries about

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gender, class, sexual orientation, race and working to create a safe space. We continued to play the older songs, but we found the more we toured, the more people began requesting unreleased songs they’d heard on bootleg soundboard recordings. By the time 1992 rolled around, we’d developed a fulllength to be entitled Catharsis, which would contain the political, cultural and emotional veins that would run through the band’s final years. • duncan b.barlow is the author of A DOG BETWEEN US, THE CITY, AWAKE, OF FLESH AND FUR, and SUPER CELL ANEMIA. His fiction has appeared in The Denver Quarterly, The Collagist, Banango Street, The Apeiron Review, Calamari Press, and Meat for Tea. He is currently revising a novel, a memoir, and a collection of short stories. He is the publisher at Astrophil Press and the managing editor at South Dakota Review. Before teaching, barlow played in punk and indie bands, releasing over 25 records and touring North America and Europe. His latest record, COLONY COLLAPSE, is a dream pop LP.

BUSH LEAGUE — FETOR

By Norman “Buzz” Minnick | leo@leoweekly.com

were destroyed in a flood 10 years later.

NEVERMIND that 1991 experienced Nirvana’s I was working at Kinko’s and was able to sophomore LP, which launched grunge (and print the covers on pale green cardstock that we ultimately punk) into the mainstream and that folded in half and slipped into plastic sleeves.

Metallica would release an album our parents On the front would would listen to. We be a 19th century didn’t need any of woodcut of a that. We had our “bushman” dancing own music scene in beside the name 1991 that brought us BUSH LEAGUE Slint’s Spiderland, turned sideways Endpoint’s In a Time in bold safari text. of Hate, Kinghorse’s On the back would eponymous album, be printed the Oblong Box’s Pull lyrics to sides A My Finger, Crain’s and B, “Fetor” and Rocket, and Bush Band Photo of the Original Bush League: Mike Borich, “Dimension Red,” League’s Fetor.

Buzz Minnick, Rusty Sohm, and Dave Pajo respectively. The Nothing else insert would include a photo of the band: Mike mattered.

Borich, Buzz Minnick, Rusty Sohm and Dave Clubs like Tewligans, The Zodiac club, and Pajo, standing in Pajo’s driveway in front of Uncle Pleasant’s could host a line-up of local bands including those mentioned above as well Mike’s father’s Dodge Ramcharger. Chad Krauss, as Bodeco, Undermine, Erchint, or Sunspring who served as executive producer, surprised us and have to turn people away at the door because with a deep red vinyl as a tribute to the B-side, their maximum occupancy had been met. Green which Maximum Rocknroll called a roller coaster Day, 411, Endpoint and Christ on a Crutch would ride. I never knew whether this was a compliment play at Audubon Skate Park, but people really or insult. wanted to hear Endpoint; touring bands would “Fetor,” the slow, tortured song became a open for Kinghorse; and St. Francis High School trope among fans who would clamber toward would host a battle of the bands that featured the stage during live performances to share the Bush League, Indignant Few, Shutout and several mic. “Pouring into my room / Making me crawl others that could be heard from the Brown Hotel pissing me off… Beating into me like my ol’ / a block away.

Louisville Slugger baseball bat.” At six minutes The Louisville underground music scene was and 17 seconds, it was four times longer than the punching its fists through the soil and making standard hardcore fare. itself visible (and thunderously audible) to 1991 was not the beginning. And it was cereveryone. Of course, there were many remarkable tainly not the end. It was burgeoning. An explobands before 1991, and they were instrumental in sion that would in the succeeding years culminate the development of the explosion that took place in The Machine, a 10,000-square-foot laser tag that year — bands such as Babylon Dance Band, facility in St. Matthews, that would be packed The Endtables, Squirrel Bait, Maurice, Malignant with 1,500 teenagers to hear hardcore music and Growth, Solution Unknown, Brain Dead, Spot, make out in the many dark corners. And it would Cerebellum, and Big Deal. continue to grow. The next year Bush League I was asked to write not only about the music would open for Public Enemy and tour the southscene in 1991 but also my band’s first release, east with bands such Loppybogymi and Load.

Bush League’s Fetor. Ben Jones, the owner As I write this, I am looking at my copy of of Better Days Records, asked me if he could the Fetor 7-inch and notice that it is slightly release our 7-inch to kickstart his own label. It warped from years of neglect. And, in many was hard to say no to the man who since the early ways, even though I can’t play it, it matters more ’80s had turned me on to Herbie Hancock, Chaka after 30 years than I thought it would when it was Khan and Buzzcocks. released in 1991. • Bush League went into Mom’s Recording Studio to record with Howie Gano, who is largely Norman “Buzz” Minnick was the lead singer of credited with the “Louisville sound.” I still don’t Bush League. He is the author of three collections know exactly what that means. We recorded live, of poetry and has edited several anthologies. no overdubs, digital manipulation or any trickery.

He teaches literature and writing at Indiana We recorded straight to actual tape. However, University-Purdue University Indianapolis. nostalgia is not always gracious. Those tapes

MUSIC

SLAMDEK, KINKO’S AND LOUISVILLE LABELS IN 1991

By Scott Ritcher | leo@leoweekly.com I WAS 21 and running a Louisville record label called Slamdek in 1991. Some friends and I had named the label five years earlier by combining our initials. It wasn’t really going to be a record company, we just needed a label name to put on the cassette tape we were releasing by our synthesizer band Pink Aftershock.

That group scattered to varying interests and different parts of the country shortly after the release, but I carried the name Slamdek forward and used it to continue releasing cassette tapes of Louisville artists and my own music.

By 1991, Slamdek had started to feel like a real label and had issued releases by bands including Endpoint, Cerebellum, Spot, Sunspring, Crawdad, Crain and Jawbox (a rare non-Louisville release).

While releasing cassette tapes may seem very hip by today’s standards, I was using the tape format because it was practical and portable. Young people who listen to music are always on the go. Back then, everyone had a yellow Walkman, and every car had a tape deck.

Vinyl records were more serious and compact discs were more durable, but cassette tapes were an affordable way for me to produce and distribute the right number of copies of lots of releases simultaneously, rather than sinking a large sum of money into pressing hundreds of vinyl records of a single title. Slamdek operated very much as a supply-meets-demand label. If a release was selling well, I’d make more.

WE OWED IT ALL TO KINKO’S

Everything was assembled by hand. The cassette inserts came from Kinko’s where, while working on the inserts for Spot’s cassette in 1988, I had used a Macintosh computer for the first time, and where I eventually fell in love with the Xerox 5090 duplicator.

Kinko’s became one of the places to work. My girlfriend at the time, Carrie Osborne, worked there, as did many of our friends including Kim Sampson, Tim Furnish (Cerebellum), Buzz Minnick (Bush League), Michael Jarboe (Kill), Chris Higdon (Falling Forward), Aaron Ritman, Zach Frazier, and the list goes on. I eventually served my time on their payroll as well. In my 1996 book about the label, Slamdek A to Z, Kinko’s is mentioned more than 20 times.

Kinko’s was open 24 hours, and we could work there late, using all the scissors, tape, copiers and Macs without being bothered by the daytime squares who crowded the place making their church bulletins and corporate presentations. The Bardstown Road location, where Seviche is now, was popular, as was the UofL location, in an area that is unrecognizable today.

While I was using Kinko’s to produce cassette inserts, 7-inch sleeves and catalogs for Slamdek, on any given night I’d likely run into someone I knew – maybe Keith Allison, Jamie Miller or Derrick Snodgrass working on a zine, Duncan Barlow (Endpoint) assembling a writing project, someone from Dybbuk or Erchint making show flyers, or those who were creating the essentials for their

own labels.

The king of local labels, Mike Bucayu, relied on Kinko’s for Self Destruct Records, as did Ben Jones for Better Days Records; Jon Cook for Automatic Wreckords; Ed Lutz, Jason Hayden and Michael Jarboe for 3 Little Girls Recordings; Jeremy Saunders for Ghetto Defendant; Jason Noble, Greg King, Jeff Mueller and everyone around King G and the J Krew for their massive undertakings. There’s no way I could overstate the value of the copy shop or mention everyone locally who was able to do great creative work because of it.

DOUBLING DOWN ON MUSIC

People can often look back and identify the moments in their lives when they could have taken a different road.

I stood at one of those crossroads in 1991.

Early in the year, I had been accepted into a summer program called Beginning Film Production at New York University. I traveled up to the city for an open house with my sister Greta Ritcher, who you know from the bands Your Face, Drinking Woman and Sister Shannon. My class schedules came in the mail and everything was set.

I wasn’t sure that leaving Louisville to learn how to make films was the right way to go.

In a fit of indecision, I dropped out before classes started, and I didn’t move to New York for the summer.

Instead, I doubled down on music and Louisville, and seven releases came out on Slamdek in 1991.

MUSIC SEEMED TO BE WHERE I BELONGED

Slamdek’s second vinyl release came out in 1991, the Endpoint/Sunspring split 7-inch. That record marked the beginning of a lot of shared friendships and experiences with those two stylistically different bands. A posthumous, limitededition tape of recordings by Spot was released, as were a hilarious cassette by the 7 Seconds tribute band 7 More Seconds (with members of Endpoint, Sunspring and Crain), a CD and cassette by my brother Mark Ritcher’s group Hopscotch Army, and a videocassette by Slambang Vanilla featuring Joey Mudd (Cerebellum).

The summer of 1991 was also when my band Sunspring

— Jason Hayden, John Weiss and I — got laser focused and became like brothers. We recorded and released our nine-song Sun cassette on Slamdek and set off on our first tour. We played shows across middle America and shared stages with bands including Jawbox, 411, Helmet, Gauge, Billingsgate and Dazzling Killmen. We also recorded our Slinky 7-inch that would be released the following year.

LOUISVILLE ON LOUISVILLE

The Slamdek release that was the highlight of 1991 for me, though, came at the end of the year. It was a compilation called Merry Christmas. The cassette was a collection of Louisville bands performing songs by other Louisville artists, all recorded in the same studio with Howie Gano at the board, to create a unified sound. An entire chapter could be written about this release, and indeed, there is an entire chapter about it in “Slamdek A to Z.” On this collection, Dybbuk covered Maurice, Step Down played Anti-Youth, Rawhide performed “Happy Birthday,” Sunspring channeled Cerebellum, Push Back dusted off a lost Endpoint track, Hopscotch Army delivered a blistering rendition of David La Duke, Undermine paid tribute to Solution Unknown, Shovel covered Crawdad, and King G and the J Krew summoned an unforgettable, monumental medley that combined songs by Midnight Star and Slint.

I’M GLAD WE DID IT

When I think back on Louisville music in 1991, I see it as an explosive and transformative year. Of course, there were bands like Kinghorse and Slint who commanded their own domains and were plowing forward with what seemed to be supernatural force. But so many of us were in bands that were learning how to make music and book shows as we went along. There were young writers and photographers who were learning how to publish that creativity. There were label owners who were learning how to put out records as the releases were coming out. I was one of those.

I see now that I wasn’t so much running a record label as I was documenting an era of music in real time as it was being made. It’s really great that a lot of those time capsules are still in people’s music collections, on streaming services and in the archives of UofL. But for me, 1991 is the year I chose music as what I really wanted to do, and that decision has guided so much of my life in the 30 years since. • LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 26, 2021

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MUSIC

THE VENUES

By Paul Curry | leo@leoweekly.com

BY 1991, there had been two or three waves of great bands that most Louisvillians never heard of. The influence of the punk movement, circa 1977, had inspired a scene that rivaled much bigger cities in terms of creativity and passion, even if the city at large found it easy to ignore and/or prosecute for noise violations. Ten years later, the local scene was supporting two venues dedicated almost exclusively to original music and at least one other bar generously serving that crowd. Meanwhile, a host of very young bands had built an impressive all-age scene with shows popping up in the strangest places.

Between 1988 and 1991, a lot of the second generation of Louisville’s primary musical architects graduated high school and celebrated their 21st birthdays. Meanwhile, they transitioned from comprising high school punk and hardcore bands to playing for both the all-age crowd as well as the bar crowd.

In 1991, I was working at Tewligans (1047 Bardstown Road), generally regarded as the nexus of the scene at that time, but for all its reputation, it was hardly ever much more than a shithole bar. If you ask anyone who ever went there, they’ll tell you about legendary shows and a sewage problem. Soundwise, the back room was one of the most gloriously balanced rooms I’ve ever experienced, a long, wide corridor flanked by brick walls.

Tewligans had live music three to six nights a week. They hosted all-age shows on Saturday they catered to a far more diverse clientele. They would host and Sunday afternoons. There was a fairly constant police live music fairly often, but their stage was often used for presence. theatrical events, as well. The Rud had a full bar and a full lunch and dinner menu. Live music was a little further down Meanwhile, over on Preston Street, near Eastern Parkon the list of their interests. way, Uncle Pleasant’s was Speaking of diversification, catering to the same crowd, but The Rudyard Kipling (on one of the most reliable venues while Tewligans struggled to for the all-age scene was CD get their liquor license by hook Oak Street, just west of Graffiti’s/The Machine, better and crook and often fudged Fourth Street) was the known as Lazer Blaze (in the the rules when they were only Sears Building on Shelbyville allowed to serve beer, Uncle stalwart of the scene at Road). In the early ‘90s, the Pleasant’s had a full bar and family-friendly, St. Matthews a professional bartender. (Hi, that time, although they laser tag venue would regularly Dave!) Uncle Pleasant’s calencatered to a far more host all-age shows. I doubt dar offered evidence of owner anyone following new music in Mark Smalley’s love for music. diverse clientele.

Louisville at that time failed to He booked Harry Dean Stanton catch at least one show there. (with the Call) and Richard The all-age scene was a movable feast, for sure. By Thompson that year, and the Flaming Lips played their first 1991, Cafe Dog (on First Street just south of Broadway) was local show there. closed, but shows popped up at the VFW Post on Shelbyville The Rudyard Kipling (on Oak Street, just west of Fourth Road in St. Matthews, Swiss Hall (in Germantown), the Red Street) was the stalwart of the scene at that time, although

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 26, 2021

Tewligans. (Photo by Sean Fawbush, provided by Kayte Garcia)

Barn (on UofL campus) and at the Vogue (on Lexington Road in St. Matthews).

While all-age shows could pop up almost anywhere, the busiest venue for this crowd was the Zodiac (117 West Main St.). A few years later, it would reopen with a caged area in the back for people who wanted to drink, but the performance area was all ages. This was the proving ground for a lot of the kids who would go on to make bands that would tour the country.

And while they weren’t all-age shows, per se, there were legendary shows at the Kentucky Theater on Fourth Street, and house parties at one particular location on Highland Avenue in the Highlands would ordinarily present some world class entertainment, especially on Derby Day. The Homestead House (on East Chestnut Street) hosted more than a few stunning rock shows.

It was an incredibly fertile era. While Slint flipped the script from hardcore and punk to a more deliberate “postrock” style, their sparse schedule of performances in odd venues all around the county provided a new blueprint for a scene that persists today. •

MUSIC

LOUISVILLE/PUNK

PLAYLIST

LISTEN NOW

By Thommy Browne | leo@leoweekly.com

10 Louisville punk/hardcore songs from the early ’90’s that I love. In no particular order:

“GREATEST GIFT” — KINGHORSE Search YouTube

“WAY BACK” — ENDPOINT Search Spotify

“CRAWL OUT OF THE WATER” — CEREBELLUM Search Spotify

“34 PAGE BOOK” — ENNUI Search Spotify

It’s easy to miss important local news.

The WFPL Daily News Briefing is a quick and easy way to get the news you need in just minutes.

A PODCAST FROM

“STREET” — SUNSPRING Search Bandcamp

“EAR FUCK” — DYBBUK Search YouTube

“CAR CRASH DECISIONS” — CRAIN Search Spotify

“FEED” — EVERGREEN Search Bandcamp

“SUDDENLY” — LATHER Search Bandcamp

“THE GIVING TREE” — STEP DOWN Search Spotify

Thommy Browne is a dad, drummer, web developer and designer and has been active in the punk/hardcore scene in Louisville since the early ‘90s. You might have seen him play drums in Enkindel, By The Grace Of God, Black Cross or Miracle Drug (among many other bands). Follow him on IG @thommy.browne

Just like Heine Brothers’, the LEO has always been about our community. Local arts, restaurants, books, sports, theatre, film, music - the LEO covers it all, and goes deep into the stories and people of Louisville that no one else is able to. Plus, being named “The best place to pick up the LEO” year after year by the readers of the LEO has been a fun part of the journey.

Heine Brothers’

www.heinebroscoffee.com

If you'd like a LEO Weekly rack at your business, email distribution@leoweekly.com LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 26, 2021

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ETC.

34

35 40

52

53 57

68

77

69

80

81

82

85 90

86

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91

92

94 104

96

105

97

98 106

107

110

112

113

114

115

111

116

117

119

120

121

123

124

125

99 Book that’s the source of the line ‘‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’’ 100 Host of HBO’s ‘‘Real Time’’ 101 Año starter 102 Competes on a British cooking show 104 ‘‘Same here’’ 105 Lead-in to trumpet or drum 106 Legally foreclose 107 Tour de France stage 109 The 13th or 15th 113 Mobster’s undoing 114 Places to take breaks, for short?

115 Inoculation location 116 Cleaning solution

C O G I T O

A R E T H A

B I T E A T

S L O U S T H T E R

R E P T A T A

T H E A M A Y E R

T I E S S N O R E

P E T E A T T Y S U S S

Capital of Fiji Not dismissive of Earn Quaint contraction Rule for trick-or-treaters Improvised Wind down?

Janet Yellen’s former post, with ‘‘the’’ Site of offshore banks?

Life, briefly Garr of ‘‘Tootsie’’ Setting for a scene in the Sistine Chapel Major part of the night sky?

It’s broken off Olympic athlete category Lions and tigers and bears Raw footage?

Davidson of ‘‘S.N.L.’’ Stick in the refrigerator?

Sun follower?

Loving Last name in shoes Exam for some aspiring C.E.O.s Go down the ____ Little bit Ron who played Tarzan Boundaries Part of a Milky Way bar Joint: Prefix

T E R I

103

95

109

122

76

61

75

93

118

48

74

89

102

47

65

S L A L O M

88

46

73

84

108

60

M A D E D O

83

101

59

67

79

100

58

64

72

78

45 54

66 71

44

D O R I C

63

51

41

C H U M

62

22

U R S A

56

17

36

39

E T A P E

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15

26

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A D U L T M O V I E

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42

51 52 53 57 58 59 60 64 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 75 76 77 79 84 85 86 87 89 90 91 95 96 97

12

20

31 37

99

11

28

30

70

10

Z O O A N I M A L S

88

27

9

E R S I O F P L H E A G A U S S K E E D D E N G M A E T S T O P

85

33 34 35 41 42 43 45 46 47 48 50

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A R T H R O

70 73 74 75 78 80 81 82 83

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N O U G A T

64 65 66

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 22 25 26 31 32

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A M B I T S

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

DOWN Kind of column Venue for trill seekers?

TV reporter’s entourage Like snails’ trails Beginning that leads to a sum?

Singer with the 1968 hit ‘‘Think,’’ familiarly Nibble ‘‘Oh, no!’’

X Drink with the flavors Poppin’ Lemonade and Grabbin’ Grape Wyoming’s National ____ Refuge Spill clumsily ‘‘Bye!’’ Food-delivery route?

Piece of equipment for a biathlete Oscar ____ Bad thing to do in class Figure (out) Aesthete’s interest Complete Hilarious sort U.S. city whose name is composed of two state abbreviations Struck out Poorly Toothpaste option Solicit sales (for) Fishing bait Keeps the beat with one’s foot ‘‘Who ____ you?’’

Woman’s name meaning ‘‘goddess’’ Relations J.D. holder: Abbr.

What a shaken soda bottle will do when uncapped

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A C H E C H I L A K I C K R T W E I G A X L E T C E L L O O D E T O T F I N A B E S E P I D E S O A I M C D E N C H A L T A B Y O N E A R E A L R A R R Y T S M E

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S O G U P A V E R A N N T E O R M O T N U B A I E S D S A E M S I

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108 110 111 112

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ACROSS Computer file, informally Wound up on top?

Feels it the next day, say Things served in prison Shout at a Greek wedding Country singer McKenna ‘‘Whoa, settle down’’ More than half of humanity ____ state Mom’s comment to her child during prenatal bonding? [Frank Sinatra, 1954] Hot state Bishop’s hat They’re used mostly on corners What Mom is obligated to do as her due date approaches? [The Beatles, 1969] ‘‘____ the deal . . . ’’ Yes, in Yokohama Bran material Part of a drivetrain The Renaissance, for one Team ____ (late-night host’s following) Cancer fighter, for short Henley Royal ____ (annual July event) Mom’s reaction to her first mild contractions?

[John Cougar, 1982] Midwife’s advice to Mom in the delivery room?

[Salt-N-Pepa, 1987] Cause of wear and tear Wanna-bees, e.g.? ____ of Maine (toothpaste) Sport whose participants call ‘‘Pull!’’

Pet sound Tennis star with the highest career winning percentage in singles matches (89.97%) Stress test? ‘‘Whoa boy, settle down’’ Mom’s remark as contractions grow stronger?

[The Ramones, 1978] Org. that delivers Unenthusiastic Went sniggling Vaporize, say Empire Roughly Be crazy about Sappho’s ‘‘____ to Aphrodite’’ Mom’s reaction as delivery draws closer? [Usher, 2012] Child’s response to Mom’s actions? [Diana Ross, 1980] Briskly

2

B A K E S

1 4 8 13 18 19 20 21 23 24

No. 0523

1

E N E R O

BY BRAD WIEGMANN / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ

Actress in eight Bond films Like sea horses that give birth Beast with a humped shoulder Utah ski resort Cable news anchor Cabrera Prey for a formicivorous creature Simple life?

Nurse’s remark after Mom delivers the first twin?

[Britney Spears, 1998] Spanish archipelago, with ‘‘the’’ Touches Witty saying Doctor’s comment after Mom delivers the second twin? [The Who, 1965] Director DuVernay Quiet Settle down, say Pacific crop Something you might gloss over Mother’s Day delivery Apologetic remark during a breakup Hang it up Consult

M A H E R

MOTHER’S DAY CONCERT

90 92 93 94 95 98 99 103

A C T S

The New York Times Magazine Crossword

PHOTO BY RACHEL ROBINSON

ETC.

SAVAGE LOVE

By Dan Savage | mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage

BOTH BARRELS

Q: I need your advice. My partner of 27 years has been sleeping with my best friend. This has been going on for a year and a half. As far as I knew, we had a monogamous relationship, even if things had gotten stale between us in recent years. And my best friend is everything to me. I confide in him for a lot, including advice on my relationship. We spoke recently about how my partner wasn’t interested in sex. He looked me straight in the eye as said how his partner wasn’t interested in sex either. Little did I know that he was doing my partner. What is weird is that my friend isn’t even close to my partner’s “type.”

My friend, however, has turned into an absolute whore in recent years. His partner knows nothing about it. I feel so betrayed by them both. I am gutted. I also fear being alone. I am 56 years old.

The four of us did a lot together—Thanksgiving, Christmas, dinners, brunch, everything. I don’t see how we can continue now. What should I do?

Going Under Thanks To Extreme Deceit A: I don’t know what to tell you.

If you find what your partner and best friend did— over and over again—intolerable and unforgiveable, GUTTED, then don’t tolerate or forgive. Burn it all down. Dump your partner of nearly thirty years and cut your best friend out of your life. Then you get to decide if you’re gonna go quietly or if you’re gonna let people know why you ended both these relationships. And if you make your reasons public, GUTTED, which you have every right to do, the details will instantly get back your best friend’s partner—assuming you don’t tell him yourself—and your ex-best-friend’s relationship will most likely end. Which means when the dust settles… and new leases are signed… you and your best friend’s ex will be alone and your then-former partner and your then-former best friend will be free to go public with their relationship.

But you can’t stay with your partner just to prevent that outcome. You can’t stay in this relationship out of spite. Which is not to say you can’t stay in this relationship. You could stay… if you wanted to… and your partner wants to… but it’s going to be a very different relationship going forward.

You don’t say much about your relationship other than how long it’s gone on, GUTTED, that things went stale some years back, and how upset you were to discover this affair. But if there’s still good in this relationship and you have reasons to stay other than (or in addition to) not wanting to be alone, GUTTED, then get into couples counseling with your partner.

Things will never be the same, GUTTED, but you know what? It’s deeply irrational for us to expect things to stay the same as the decades grind on.

And having to pretend things are the same puts an avoidable—but not easily avoidable—strain on our long-term relationships. Because even as both

partners know things have changed, acknowledging that fact feels risky because it often involves renegotiating the terms of the relationship. (Like a monogamous commitment made decades ago.) And the longer you’re together, the higher the stakes can seem. So two people don’t talk about what has changed… even if both parties know things have changed… and some people decide to do what they need to in order to stay married (or partnered) and stay sane. (Where do people get that idea?) Ideally this going and doing—contingencies, allowances, carve outs—are discussed in advance and agreed to by both parties. But just as often as not, GUTTED, difficult conversations are avoided and affairs begin and then much more difficult conversations can’t be avoided once affairs are discovered.

Finding out you’ve been cheated can be deeply traumatic. I say “can,” GUTTED, because it’s not true in all cases; some people don’t give a shit who their partners are sleeping with after three decades together so long as they come home. It’s not that sex and faithfulness (which is not to be confused with monogamy) aren’t important. They are. They were obviously important to you. It’s just that other things—like a long history together or a deep-ifnot-passionate intimacy or both—can become more important over time and monogamy, flawlessly executed over decades and decades, is not the only way a person can demonstrate faithfulness to a partner.

Once you’re in couples counseling—assuming your partner is willing to go—I would encourage to squarely face questions like how important sex is to you as individual now and how important sex and sexual exclusivity are to you as couple now. Sexual passion and sexual exclusivity may have defined your relationship at the start and may have helped you cement your bond. But other things—valuable things like familiarity, intimacy, and security—may have overtaken them in importance. Just because your partner may not be interested in sex with you anymore or sex with you exclusively, GUTTED, doesn’t mean your partner isn’t interested in being your partner anymore. He may still love you and other things—perhaps more important things than sex—cement your bond now.

Or not. Your partner could want out and the affair was his way of blowing it all up.

But if he wants to stay in this relationship too, GUTTED, it would, again, be a different kind of partnership going forward. Perhaps a companionate one, perhaps one with a revived sexual connection.

There’s definitely a path forward if you both want to be together. It’s a steep and a rocky path, GUTTED, but it’s one countless other couples have walked together. But navigating it would require a huge effort from both of you, sincere contrition from him, and heroic powers of forgiveness from you.

As for your best friend, GUTTED, you should tell that guy to go fuck himself for all eternity.

P.S. You toss the word “whore” around like it’s a bad thing. It’s not. Deceit and betrayal are bad things. What your best friend did was a bad; what your partner did was bad. But whoring around— safely, ethically, consensually—is a good thing, GUTTED, and a lot of my readers and listeners are looking forward to getting out there and doing some safe, ethical, consensual whoring around once they’re vaccinated. You may find that a little whoring around yourself—whether you’re single soon or not—may be just what you need. And, yes, even recently single gay men in their mid-fifties can get their whore on. (Put “daddy” in your Instagram bio, GUTTED, and watch the DMs pour in.)

Q: I would like you to be the referee in a disagreement. I am going out with a lady who insists that tinglehole is two words, as in tingle hole. I, on the other hand, believe it is one word. Like an adjective describing a condition: tinglehole. Since this is your word, Dan, what do you say? Thank you in advance.

Words With Friends With Benefits P.S. There is some seriously freaky GGG shit riding on your answer.

A: A few years back you couldn’t watch thirty minutes of basic cable without seeing three ads marketing “tingling” lubes to straight couples. These lubes were touted like they were a revolutionary new way, as one KY ad put it, “to turn up the heat” on your sex life. Yeah, no. First of all, I remember seeing bottles of “hot lube” in sex shops and on the nightstands of my first boyfriends back when I came out in the 1980s. And the effect was, well, let’s just say that most bottles of hot lube were disposed nearly full. Because while hot lubes do make you hole tingle, it’s true, it’s not like they do the work.

A lousy lay with hot lube on his dick is still a lousy lay. And getting hot lube all over your hole doesn’t “enhance the experience,” per KY, it only makes more it difficult to move on from it; it’s impossible to fall asleep after sex—be it good or bad—when you’ve got a bad case of tinglehole.

P.S. It’s my word, I invented it, and I say it’s one word. Enjoy your freaky shit!

Q: Longtime reader, first-time writer, love your column. Your question from reader VIBEQ struck a chord with me because I (hetero, cis, basically vanilla, male-shaped person) had the same phobia about my female partners using vibrators. But I overcame it! And doing so was 100% to my benefit! I was a cripplingly shy, dorky, awkward teen and I had a lot of hang ups around sex—especially the irrational fear that no woman would ever find me satisfying compared to a vibrator. It really was a big hang up even after I became sexually active. But one day in college, my girlfriend asked me to use her vibrator on her while we were fooling around. My internal monologue went basically like this: “Oh no, I’m doing it wrong and now she wants the vibrator… hmm, this is almost like having a second cock… hey, my second cock is also basically a robot…”

And then bass line from the movie Terminator

kicked in. I went to town and I’ve never looked back. It was very empowering. Another benefit of losing my vibratorphobia was that it gives me a way to be intimate with my partner even when I’m stressed out and not feeling up for intercourse—in the middle of a pandemic, for instance. And I owe this all to a former partner having the guts to make the big ask. If VIBEQ takes the plunge he may find it more than worthwhile!

Good Vibes Thanks for sharing, GV! mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. www.savagelovecast.com

CLASSIFIED LISTINGS LEGAL NOTICE OF PUBLIC AUCTION TO OWNERS OF THE WITHIN DESCRIBED ESTATE AND ALL INTERESTED PARTIES: SSK Communities / Barrington Pointe Will expose at public sale to the highest bidder on June 17th 2021. At 10:00 am. Location of the sale will be 1321 Glengarry Drive. Mobile home only, 1983 Liberty, VIN: LL14602BFKDU, Located At: 1477 Glengarry Drive Fairdale. KY 40118.

REPOSSESSION SALE

These vehicles will be offered for sale to the highest bidder at the time, date and place stated below. Term of sale is cash only. Seller reserves the right to bid and purchase at said sale. Dealers welcome.

June 11th, 11:00 A.M.

2013 Buick Verano 2007 Chevrolet Trailblazer

1G4PRSSK1D4121324 1GNDS135072185252

DIXIE AUTO SALES

(502) 384-7766 (NEXT TO ZIP’S CAR WASH) 7779 DIXIE HWY., LOUISVILLE, KY 40258

Leo’s Towing & Recovery, 510 E Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202 (502)-7279503, has intention to obtain title of a 2005 Merz E320 gold VIN #WDBUF26J15A561383, Owner Holly Popham of Louisville KY Lien Holder: none Unless owner or lien holder objects in written form within 14 days after the last publication of this notice.

Leo’s Towing & Recovery, 510 E Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202 (502)-7279503, has intention to obtain title of a 2010 Cadi SRX VIN #3GYFNAEY1AS546553, Owner Jasmine Oliver of Louisville KY Lien Holder: none Unless owner or lien holder objects in written form within 14 days after the last publication of this notice.

Leo’s Towing & Recovery, 510 E Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202 (502)-7279503, has intention to obtain title of a 2006 Dodge Durango Blue VIN #1D4HB48N86F115197, Owner Tiffiney Frazier of Louisville KY Lien Holder: none Unless owner or lien holder objects in written form within 14 days after the last publication of this notice.

Leo’s Towing & Recovery, 510 E Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202 (502)-7279503, has intention to obtain title of a 2007 Lincoln MKX white VIN #2LMDU88C87BJ07731, Owner Raven ErvIn of Louisville KY Lien Holder: none Unless owner or lien holder objects in written form within 14 days after the last publication of this notice.

FOR SALE Drag Queens Want Glam? 1000 pieces MINT QVC jewelry. $1-20 each. May 22nd, 7am-2pm. 12407 Warner Drive 40026. ??'s: Gigi10410@outlook.com

1000 pieces MINT jewelry from QVC. $1-20 each. May 22nd, 7am-2pm, rain or shine. 12407 Warner Drive 40026. ??'s: Gigi10410@outlook.com LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 26, 2021

27

GET YOUR

Republic Bank Bus Stop • 10100 Brookridge Village Blvd Party Center - Fern Creek • 5623 Bardstown Rd Street Box @ Piccadilly Square • 5318 Bardstown Rd Jay “Lucky” Food Mart #1 • 5050 Billtown Rd Cox’s - J-Town • 3920 Ruckriegel Pkwy Bearno’s Pizza - Taylorsville • 10212 Taylorsville Rd Louisville Athletic Club - J-Town • 9565 Taylorsville Rd Cox’s - Patti Ln • 2803 Patti Ln

PICK-UP LOCATIONS

L.A. Fitness • 4620 Taylorsville Rd Habitat ReStore - Taylorsville • 4044 Taylorsville Rd

Third Street Dive • 442 S 3rd St

Feeders Supply - Hikes Point • 3079 Breckenridge Ln

Jeffersonville Public Library • 211 E Court Ave

Street Box @ Heine Bros • 3965 Taylorsville Rd

TAJ Louisville • 807 E Market St

Paul’s Fruit Market - Bon Air • 3704 Taylorsville Rd

Climb Nulu • 1000 E Market St

Jewish Community Center • 3600 Dutchmans Ln

Come Back Inn • 909 Swan St

Street Box @ Marathon Frankfort Ave • 3320 Frankfort Ave

Stopline Bar • 991 Logan St

Boone Shell • 2912 Brownsboro Rd

Logan Street Market • 1001 Logan St

Ntaba Coffee Haus • 2407 Brownsboro Rd

Metro Station Adult Store • 4948 Poplar Level Rd

Beverage World • 2332 Brownsboro Rd

Liquor Barn - Okolona • 3420 W Fern Valley Rd

Kremer’s Smoke Shoppe • 1839 Brownsboro Rd

ClassAct FCU - Fern Valley • 3620 Fern Valley Rd

Big Al’s Beeritaville • 1743, 1715 Mellwood Ave

Hi-View Discount Liquors & Wines • 7916 Fegenbush Ln

Mellwood Arts Center • 1860 Mellwood Ave

Happy Liquors • 7813 Beulah Church Rd #104

KingFish - River Rd Carry Out • 3021 River Rd

Bungalow Joe’s • 7813 Beulah Church Rd

Party Mart - Rudy Ln • 4808 Brownsboro Center

Full list at LEOWEEKLY.COM/DISTRIBUTION 28

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 26, 2021