LEO Weekly July 28 2021

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THE PANDEMIC ISOLATED INCARCERATED PEOPLE — KENTUCKY AND SECURUS CASHED IN | PAGE 7 STIMULUS MONEY STARTS TO ROLL INTO INDIE VENUES, BUT NOT FOR EVERYONE| PAGE 17 LEOWEEKLY.COM // JULY 28, 2021

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Rocky

Rocky the Rockstar is on the lookout for a cool new family to add to his fan club.

This one-year-old American Pit Bull Terrier is the perfect mix of sweet, smart and a little sassy! Rocky came to the Kentucky Humane Society when his owner’s work schedule no longer allowed time to care for a dog properly. 57-pound Rocky loves to play and show off and is very active! He has worked very hard to master behaviors such as sit and down. He is eager to continue learning and thrives with a patient human by his side. He has had successful playgroups with multiple dogs, but we recommend bringing your doggo for a meet and greet due to Rocky’s energy level.

He has lived with teenager’s and would do best with older kids due to his jumpy nature. His previous owner says Rocky is mostly house-trained and just wants to feel loved. Could that be with you? Rocky is neutered, micro-chipped and up-to-date on his shots! If you are interested in meeting him, you must submit an online adoption application located at www.kyhumane.org/dog-app.

Once we have received your adoption application, our behavior team will follow up and provide you with more information. You can also email behaviorteam@kyhumane.org for more info.

LOUISVILLE ECCENTRIC OBSERVER

Volume 31 | Number 33 974 BRECKENRIDGE LANE #170. LOUISVILLE KY 40207 PHONE (502) 895-9770 FAX (502) 895-9779

FREE JULY.28.2021

Monkey

Looking to adopt the sweetest kitty ever? Meet Monkey! Monkey is a ten-year-old torbie beauty who found herself at the Kentucky Humane Society when her owner was diagnosed with late stage cancer and could no longer care for her. Monkey has had a rough couple months and is now ready for a fresh start in a loving home.

The first thing you’ll notice about Monkey, other than her big green eyes and gorgeous coloring, is that she is tiny! This gorgeous lady weighs just 5 pounds! She is one of the loveliest kitties ever and her former family describes her as a very affectionate and needy cat who just wants to be with her people.

Monkey coexisted well with a dog for many months but began getting into spats with the dog after her owner’s cancer diagnosis. Because of this, she may do best in a home without dogs or with very laidback dogs who will ignore her. She has not lived with a kitty before so we’re unsure how she feels about them. Could you be the one to give this wonderful senior the happy ending she deserves? If so, please come meet her at the Kentucky Humane Society’s East Campus, 1000 Lyndon Lane or learn more at kyhumane.org/cats! Monkey is spayed, microchipped, up-to-date on vaccinations and ready to go home with you!

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EDITOR’S NOTE

END TRAFFIC STOPS NOW

By Erica Rucker | erucker@leoweekly.com IN 2018, Tae-Ahn Lea was pulled from his car and frisked by LMPD. There has been no clear reason given as to why this young man’s person was invaded by LMPD, including from LMPD who just can’t quite recall why they did this. They can’t recall, but Detective Gabriel Hellard claimed in an interview with their Professional Standards Unit that Lea had been “passive aggressive” and “had an attitude.”

Recently, the Courier Journal reported Hellard said that he just couldn’t remember why he and partner Kevin Crawford removed the young man from his car.

Hellard said of his colleague who has since resigned, “I can’t speak to exactly why he got him out of the car.”

There is truly so much to unpack in these statements, but the main point is, LMPD was, is and continues to act in ways that are unprofessional and do not protect the very basic human rights of the citizens in this city.

For a teenager to not “have an attitude” is an anomaly. All teens have bad attitudes, but for white officers — truthfully for many white people — the response of a young, Black person to any demand is perceived as having a poor attitude. Even if that Black person is smiling and speaking softly.

After 400 years of living and existing in the same space, white people still haven’t

learned nor understood that Black people communicate in a visceral way. We emote with our face and our bodies. We experience fear and all of the other emotions of being human. Most people of the global majority do. But, so do white people. This assessment of Black attitudes is simply a convenient excuse to justify the continued abuse of Black citizens. It’s one of the easy white exits from responsibility.

This young man borrowed his mother’s car to get a slushie. He did what any normal teen would be doing, and the nation that wants him to uphold the supposed values and standards of decorum of America continues to ignore those same imagined values and standards in regards to his life and ability to live and move freely about his hometown.

That the police can’t remember why this event happened is enough to tell us that this event didn’t need to happen. It simply was another day when cops forgot the servant part of their role as public officers and abused their authority to hurt another Black person. It’s really fucking tiring. The excuses, the lies and the repetition of these same stories from LMPD is really, really growing old. Point blank LMPD, we just don’t believe anything you say anymore, and that’s on you.

As a citizen of this country and a child

born and raised in Louisville, I simply can’t recall why the current iteration of LMPD is necessary.

To me, it seems that unless a vehicle is driving recklessly — which can be recorded on the dash cam — there is almost zero reason to do a traffic stop. Much of the work of officers — particularly these issues that result in zero bodily harm to others — is completely useless.

As an easy first step to changing the way police work, we should end traffic stops.

They are almost all useless. Traffic stops affect more than the driver that’s pulled over. They back up traffic and cause lost work and travel time for many others. They are an economic hole for citizens and only work to boost the police budget, which is magnanimously boosted yearly by our tax dollars.

As we look at the state of policing in our nation —down to the aggressive language surrounding “policing” or law “enforcement”—we should be evaluating what it is that this organization should truly be doing and when they should be doing it.

We live in a society with many specialty fields that are better suited to deal with issues that we’ve deemed criminal when they are simply inconvenient or inconsequential.

It is time for America to look at what we

criminalize, who we criminalize and why.

We need to make sure that this is corrected and addressed by any elected official from the White House to school boards. In all of these areas, behaviors that we’ve grown accustomed to suppressing, that aren’t indicative of anything dangerous or harmful, especially a “bad attitude,” need to be ignored. Just fucking move on.

Address poverty, economic disparity.

Protect the basic human needs and rights of citizens, and, while all crime won’t magically disappear, the improvement in the basic living situations of many citizens who are apt to fall into behaviors we perceive as criminal, would result in crime being reduced immensely.

But I digress, we’re part of a nation that fails to learn simple lessons and shoots ourselves in the foot on a regular basis. Look at our response to something as simple as a vaccine.

LMPD can’t be reformed. No police department can. We need a massive change but first the end of needless enforcement. We need public safety that protects people like Lea from officers like Hellard and Crawford. •

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JULY 28, 2021

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WRITE SOME SHIT

UNDERSTANDING THE STAGES OF WHITE TEARS

By Hannah L. Drake | leo@leoweekly.com IN YET another episode of White Women Are Always Allowed To Be The Victim, I was scrolling on Twitter and discovered an incident between Abigail Elphick, a white woman that assaulted Ijeoma Ukenta, a Black woman, in a Victoria’s Secret at the Short Hills Mall in New Jersey. Many online have dubbed Abigail “Victoria’s Secret Karen,” however, I won’t be referring to Abigail as Karen. While I have used the term in the past, I realize these women are becoming memes and the butt of jokes, and the harm they have caused historically and currently is secondary. However, women like Abigail are treacherous women. As stated in my blog, Karen Is You, “Just looking at Karen, she seems harmless. She is often very unassuming and is non-threatening in appearance. Still, women like Karen have not only supported racism but have instituted and upheld racism throughout history. While the Karen memes are sweeping across the internet and becoming a part of our lexicon, it is important to note women like Karen are dangerous women.” We have seen the impact on Black lives when a white woman cries wolf.

While Abigail claimed through her offoff-off-Broadway performance that she was having a mental breakdown, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Abigail. Abigail realizes that her antics are being filmed, and in the age of social media, she understands these incidents inevitably go viral, and many white people lose their employment.

Abigail is concerned about herself, so she must begin the performance to paint herself as the victim. She inherently understands that she will be seen as the victim, and the Black woman will be seen as the aggressor. She understands that she will not have to face scrutiny, judgment, embarrassment and potential job loss if she can pull this performance off.

Abigail is very strategic, and people must understand there is a method to her performance. As you read this blog, know that none of her actions are random, and the incidents are always rooted in racism. Hopefully, after reading this blog, you will recognize it when the next viral video comes along.

The following are the steps to understanding the stages of white tears:

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Entitlement: These incidents will always start with entitlement, and many white people feel they are entitled strictly based on being white. For instance, a Black person can be moving into a home in a well-off community, and a white person feels they do not belong there. White people are entitled to live in beautiful neighborhoods with all the amenities, not Black people. Who does this Black person think they are? A Black person is shopping, and a white person feels how dare they be in this store, surely they can’t afford anything in this store like I can.

A Black person walks down the sidewalk, and a white person decides Black people do not belong here; this is my community. All of this comes from a sense of entitlement.

This is my space; this is my community; it is my right to be here, not yours; it is my right to cut the line in front of you, or how dare you do not move when I say move, etc.

Inconvenienced: The inconvenience is connected to the entitlement. For instance, when I wrote my blog, Do Not Move Off The Sidewalk, a Black woman told me that a white woman attempted to cut her in line, and she held her space and told her that she was not moving. The white woman needed to wait. The white woman insisted what she needed was going to take just a few minutes.

But what does that have to do with the Black woman? She should wait just like anyone else. But because she feels entitled, she is not going to be inconvenienced by waiting in line. It’s as if she thinks, “Why do I have to wait in line when I can just cut in front of the Black woman? Why doesn’t she understand that I am entitled to go first? Why do I have to be inconvenienced because some Negro is ahead of me?” This sense of being inconvenienced has deadly consequences for Black people. We have seen this with the murders of Aidan Ellison and Jordan Davis, two young Black men that white men killed because they claimed they were playing their music too loud. How dare they? People need to understand it was not the music. The real issue was, a Black person was in the space, had the right to be in the space, and was not listening to a white man who felt entitled and inconvenienced and felt that a Black man needed to submit to his perceived authority by turning his music down.

Perceived Authority/ Policing: White people, feel it is their job to “police” Black people in spaces. Strictly based on being white many feel they have the authority to determine who belongs in spaces. This perceived authority is historical. In “Slave Patrols: An Early Form of American Policing,” Chelsea Hansen writes, “The process of how one became a patroller differed throughout the colonies. Some governments ordered local militias to select patrollers from their rosters of white men in the region within a certain age range. In many areas, patrols were made up of lower-class and wealthy landowning white men alike.

Other areas pulled names from lists of local landowners. Interestingly, in 18th century South Carolina, landowning white women were included in the potential list of names.

If they were called to duty, they were given the option to identify a male substitute to patrol in their place. The American South relied almost exclusively on slave labor and white Southerners lived in near constant fear of slave rebellions disrupting this economic status quo. As a result, these patrols were one of the earliest and most prolific forms of early policing in the South. The responsibility of patrols was straightforward — to control the movements and behaviors of enslaved populations.” According to historian Gary Potter, slave patrols served three main functions. “(1) to chase down, apprehend, and return to their owners, runaway slaves; (2) to provide a form of organized terror to deter slave revolts; and, (3) to maintain a form of discipline for slave-workers who were subject to summary justice, outside the law.” Throughout history, white people have felt empowered to police Black people as an extension of the police department.

Racist Incident: Then starts the racist incident. A white person will say the n-word or some other racist phrase. Listen to me, you do not wake up on a Tuesday and have never been racist in your life and decide today is the day you will call a Black person the n-word. When a white person has an episode like Abigail and the hundreds of other videos we have seen, they simply reveal their true nature.

Assault: While this is not always the

case, often, these incidents become physical.

As we have seen historically and presently, white people have murdered Black people and largely have gotten away with it. They also think I can assault a Black person and they cannot do anything because I can just call the police and the police will believe me. They understand they can assault or even murder a Black person and simply claim they felt threatened, and the chances of them getting away with it are enormous.

We saw this with the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. Ahmaud was murdered on Feb. 3, 2020. Travis and Gregory McMichael were not arrested until May 7, 2020, after the video of Arbery’s death went viral. When you watch the video (approx. 2:14 mark) after the murder, the police state they aren’t going to put Travis in handcuffs and then say, “Why would he be in cuffs?” Ummm, because he murdered someone. But Gregory knows he could ask that question because, as a white person, he understands physical violence towards a Black person is largely okay in a white society.

Awareness: A white person becomes aware that they are being recorded and similar to Abigail, they understand what can happen to them in the age of social media and want to avoid the consequences of their racist behavior. Understand that Black people often have no recourse except for the recording. What you see happening across this nation is not new; it is just that technology has caught up with the racist incidents.

Many white people would never believe a Black girl was just sitting on the sidewalk and a white man came and choked her for not wearing a mask in public. Many white people would not believe that Black people were just barbecuing in a park and a white woman felt the need to call 911. These incidents seem so outrageous that Black people understand they must be caught on camera, and white people should know by now if you do something racist, chances are it will be filmed.

Performance aka White Tears: After being caught on camera now, it is time for the performance. Here comes the screaming, crying and theatrics. Women like Abigail understand that the world falls at its knees when a white woman cries, and

VIEWS

she understands that she can weaponize her tears so that people viewing the incident will feel sorry for her. Her goal in crying is to get bystanders on her side. In the incident with Abigail, we see her constantly looking around for others that will see her as a victim and support her actions.

Victimhood: Abigail falls to the ground screaming, understanding she can make herself look diminutive and meek while the big, bad Black woman is towering above her, making her fearful. Then she claims, “Don’t film me while I am having a mental breakdown,” all while looking around so others can “see her having a mental breakdown.” She knows if she uses those words, people will feel sorry for her, and it becomes the big, bad Black woman terrorizing the white woman in the throes of a mental breakdown. She must do everything she can to paint herself as the victim.

Police Call: These incidents often end with the white person calling 911. They understand because their job is to police Black people in spaces, they are doing their duty, and they know the police will show up to defend their racism. They know the police will immediately respond to a white woman in crisis because a Black person is involved. The job of the police is to protect and serve white people.

Also, please understand this going back to step 3 — the police and the white person having the racist incident, caught on camera, are working in tandem. In the video, you can see the police are telling the Black woman to move as they coddle the white woman who was the aggressor. The police essentially step in to defend the white person.

Lying: To add to the performance, the white person will start lying because they understand how the policing system works for Black people. Any white person who claims they do not know how Black people are policed in America is lying because they know all they have to do is tell 911, “I feel threatened,” “He’s scaring me,” “He is a big

tall Black guy.” And they know the police are going to show up to “rescue them.” They weaponize their tears and whiteness with no regard for how their lie will be detrimental for the Black person.

Fake Apology/Claim: Usually, this follows after the incident has gone viral.

Rarely if ever does a white person caught in these incidents simply say, “I was racist and messed up.” They will always have an excuse, “I didn’t take my medicine,” “I didn’t have my coffee that day,” “I was having a mental breakdown,” “I was drinking.” And they offer an apology with an asterisk.

They never apologize for being racist.

They are apologizing because they got caught. This plays right into the White Tears because they know White America will step in and graciously accept an apology on behalf of Black people. “Oh, we know you didn’t mean it, Abigail.

On behalf of Black people everywhere, as white people, we accept your apology.”

Now, the person who committed the offense is absolved, and life can continue as normal.

@leoweekly

Wash, rinse, repeat.

This tactic works all the time and very rarely changes.

Did I feel sorry for Abigail? NOT ONE BIT! White Tears do not move me. I add them to my coffee every single morning. I can spot women like Abigail a mile away because I understand the stages of White Tears. I was hardly impressed with her mediocre high school musical theatrics. In the police report, it states, “Miss Elphick seemed to acknowledge that she was wrong, saying she was concerned about losing her job and apartment if the video posted online.” That was always her concern, not any mental breakdown. She was focused on herself because she attacked a Black woman. I knew what it was the minute she was fighting to conjure up some tears. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Abigail.

She is an entitled white woman that knows how to play her role in America. Period. •

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JULY 28, 2021

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NEWS & ANALYSIS

THE PANDEMIC ISOLATED INCARCERATED PEOPLE. KENTUCKY AND SECURUS CASHED IN

By Jared Bennett | leo@leoweekly.com

THORNS & ROSES THE WORST, BEST & MOST ABSURD ROSE: FAUCI STATES THE OBVIOUS Tell us something we don’t know, Dr. Fauci. At a Senate hearing last week, the White House’s chief health advisor, Anthony Fauci, told Rand Paul that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about when the Senator tried to accuse the National Insitutes of Health of funding a study in Wuhan that led to the pandemic. Here, let’s read Fauci’s delicious response in full, complete with a sassy head shake, “Sen. Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly, and I would like to say that officially. You do not know what you are talking about.” In another scientific own (albeit not a pointed one), Gov. Andy Beshear said on Monday during a coronavirus briefing, that the state is seeing high reinfection rates for those who had COVID. Paul’s been preaching for months that natural COVID immunity is just as good as getting vaccinated. Once again, he doesn’t know what he is talking about.

Image from Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting.

This story was produced by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit newsroom by Louisville Public Media. For more, visit KyCIR. org.

FOR OVER 460 days, as the pandemic shut down visitation across the state, incarcerated people and their loved ones relied on the prison system’s costly phone calls and emails.

The Kentucky Department of Corrections and Securus Technologies reaped big rewards.

Records show the Department of Corrections made at least $3.2 million last year off phone calls that cost the loved ones of incarcerated people up to 25 cents per minute.

That’s the state’s share of the revenue brought in by Securus, which is one of the largest prison telecom firms in North America and holds the contract for all 14 of Kentucky’s prisons. A Securus spokesperson refused to provide its total revenue for that state contract, but a KyCIR analysis found they took in anywhere from $2.9 million to $6.4 million on phone calls alone.

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And the company’s profits nationwide indicate the pandemic was a windfall: Financial records obtained

by KyCIR show Securus’ revenue increased by almost 10% to $767 million in 2020, amid business shutdowns and rampant unemployment accompanying the coronavirus pandemic.

Kentucky took advantage of this windfall last summer while negotiating a new contract with Securus. They already received $3 million a year from the proceeds of prison phone calls. But the new contract raised their guaranteed minimum to $3.5 million, plus a 40 to 50% share of revenue on new tablets and video calls.

Securus’ services were more necessary than ever, yet the company still hasn’t delivered on long-promised video calls, leaving prison staff to set up Zoom calls when the pandemic struck. And users regularly encounter tech issues with phone calls, interviews with 10 family members and incarcerated people show.

The Department of Corrections didn’t respond to a request for an interview. Securus’ manager of communications Jade Trombetta responded to an interview request with a brief emailed statement. “Securus is proud to provide communications services to the Kentucky Department of Corrections. Our products keep incarcerated Kentuckians connected with their loved ones, help reduce recidivism, and promote public safety,” the statement said.

But advocates and family members say the DOC and Securus’ products extracted more money from vulnerable people at a time when they needed it most.

THORN: WHAT HAPPENED TO TA’NEASHA CHAPPELL? Ta’Neasha Chappell, a 23-year-old mother from Louisville, died in an Indiana jail on July 16. According to attorneys representing her family, Chappell called her relatives from the Jackson County institution, begging them to get her out before something happened to her. The jail houses very few Black women. On July 15, Chappell had a fever and was vomiting. Nearly 24 hours later, she was found unresponsive and taken to a hospital where she died. The Indiana State Police are conducting an autospy, but we want more than that. Any video of Chappell in custody should be released to the public. And, an investigation into conditions at the jail, run by the Jackson County Sheriff ’s Office, is necessary.

ABSURD: TAKE A STAND A mixed bag of information seems to be the standard fare for the COVID crisis we still face. Beshear suggests that kids wear masks in school but doesn’t issue an order. We get it, Andy is tired, but so are we. Parents want their children back in school and we’d rather that our kids go in masks than catch COVID. Beshear should take a cue from Delta, which spreads very quickly and really seems to like infecting children. Just mandate the masks, and while he’s at it, use those state funds as leverage to encourage teachers to be vaccinated. Democrats need to stop playing nice with stupidity.

ROSE: SHOUTOUT LEE KEIFER Big props to Lee Keifer who became the first U.S. woman to medal in Olympic Individual Foil (fencing). Keifer was born in Ohio but raised here in the bluegrass and we definitely want to take the chance to shout her out. She’s won four NCAA championships and 10 Pan-American championships.

She’s a bad MF and we are proud of her historic win. This was her third Olympics.

NEWS & ANALYSIS

“This is people’s lifeline to their loved ones, and they could just charge anything, because people will pay what they have to pay to communicate with their loved ones,” says Diana Elswick, who has spent $900 since March communicating with a friend at the Kentucky State Reformatory. “It’s like they’ve got an IV into the bank account of anybody who has got someone incarcerated in the state.”

THE COST OF STAYING IN TOUCH

Gov. Andy Beshear suspended visitation at Kentucky prisons on March 11, 2020 in an effort to prevent COVID-19’s spread in the overcrowded facilities. It would eventually spread in every state prison, leading to over 9,000 cases and 53 deaths of workers or incarcerated people.

Before the pandemic, Mekayla Breland would drive over three hours from Newport to the Green River Correctional Complex to visit her fiancé, who asked not be named to avoid retribution in the prison. She says she didn’t hear from him for the first two weeks of the pandemic.

“There was no notification,” Breland said. “Everything went through my head. I didn’t know if he was alive.”

After that, phone calls became more important — and, without in-person visits to look forward to, more frequent. Data provided by the DOC shows that people spent over 633,000 more minutes on Securus phones in 2020 than in 2019, an increase of almost 2% even as the prison population dropped by 16%.

Some of those calls were free, as Securus and the Department of Corrections quickly announced one free 15-minute call per week.

Even with the free calls, Securus still collected anywhere between $2.9 and $6.2 million from Kentucky users in 2020, according to a KyCIR analysis based on call volume and Securus’ lowest prepaid call rates to most expensive. The analysis assumed widespread use of the free calls, but it’s still likely an understatement, since it’s based on per-minute call rates, and does not include other costs associated with Securus’ products.

Though the pricing is set in Securus’ contract, call prices can be unpredictable.

KyCIR reviewed bills from calls to the Lee Adjustment Center that show the price of a 15-minute call to an out-of-state number increased by 48 cents between May 2020 and April 2021.

DOC and Securus representatives both said the price hasn’t changed. But Securus noted tax rates “can fluctuate.”

The company passes regulatory fees and

taxes on to consumers.

Even though the Federal Communications Commission caps most calls at 21 cents per minute, that doesn’t include these passed-through fees, and Securus calls regularly cost nearly 40% more than that cap.

There are also flat fees: speaking to a live customer service representative, for example, costs $5.95. Adding money to a prepaid account costs $3 per transaction, and users can only load $50 at a time.

Securus acknowledged at the start of the pandemic that staying in touch with incarcerated people was an especially heavy financial burden.

Last March, Securus petitioned the FCC to waive its regulatory fees so that they could lower the cost of phone calls for its customers.

“While in-person visitation is limited or prohibited, many inmates and their friends and families — many of whom are low-income and/or may be experiencing increased financial pressures due to lost income caused by COVID-19 — will increasingly rely on [phone calls] as a means of communications,” Securus said in its petition.

When the FCC denied Securus’ request, it argued that Securus could lower its rates any time, and had no obligation to pass regulatory fees onto its customers. They didn’t lower rates in Kentucky.

Breland uses a third-party app and has to change phone numbers often to keep down the cost of staying in touch with her fiancé.

She lost her job as a mental health case manager in February. She found a lowerpaying job at a factory and took a second job waiting tables.

Breland says the money from her second job — about $150 to $200 a week — goes right to her Securus account.

“Dating somebody who’s incarcerated is a financial burden, but you love who you love and you have to make sacrifices,” Breland said.

Research by advocacy groups has found that 1 in 3 people with an incarcerated family member go into debt to pay for phone

Mekayla Breland speaks to her fiancé in the Green River Correctional Complex.

calls or visits.

About 22% of incarcerated people in Kentucky are Black, though they make up less than 9% of the state’s population.

“The impact of COVID-19 on the outside community was disproportionate on Black, brown and cash-poor communities,” said Bianca Tylek, the founder and executive director of Worth Rises, an advocacy group that has challenged the prison phone industry. “And so when you think about those who are most dependent on prison telecom, disproportionately cash-poor communities, disproportionately Black and brown communities, also being those that are most negatively financially impacted by the pandemic? You can only imagine that that 1 in 3 number is now much higher.

“The pandemic was the biggest blessing that [Securus] could have asked for,” Tylek said.

A PANDEMIC TURNAROUND

Securus entered the pandemic promising reform after years of pressure from advocates and families of incarcerated people to reduce or eliminate prison telecom costs.

The Dallas-based company holds individual contracts in 22 local jails in Kentucky in addition to the state prison system. It’s owned by private equity firm Platinum Equity, placing it under the leadership of chairman Tom Gores, owner of the Detroit

Pistons NBA team.

Documents obtained from the Alabama Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities such as Securus in that state, show the pandemic benefited nearly every business venture of Securus’ parent company, Aventiv Technology — including electronic monitoring services called Satellite Tracking of People, or STOP, used in Kentucky.

The use of these services also increased during the pandemic, as jurisdictions released more people on parole to reduce the population of crowded correctional facilities, and their electronic monitoring revenue increased company-wide by almost $4 million in 2020.

That overall revenue increased to $767 million in 2020, and net cash flow from its business operations increased five-fold, to $133.4 million. Securus’ spokesperson said revenue increases “reflect new installations, expanded offerings, and improved product performance.”

‘YOU’D THINK THEY WOULD TRY’ TO KEEP PRICES LOW

Other jurisdictions are rethinking the practice of charging for phone calls from prison. The Louisville Metro Council passed a budget last month that weans Metro Corrections off its portion of the revenue from phone calls. Connecticut recently became LEOWEEKLY.COM // JULY 28, 2021

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PICK-UP LOCATIONS Third Street Dive • 442 S 3rd St

Boone Shell • 2912 Brownsboro Rd

Jeffersonville Public Library • 211 E Court Ave

Ntaba Coffee Haus • 2407 Brownsboro Rd

TAJ Louisville • 807 E Market St

Beverage World • 2332 Brownsboro Rd

Climb Nulu • 1000 E Market St

Kremer’s Smoke Shoppe • 1839 Brownsboro Rd

Come Back Inn • 909 Swan St

Big Al’s Beeritaville • 1743, 1715 Mellwood Ave

Stopline Bar • 991 Logan St

Mellwood Arts Center • 1860 Mellwood Ave

Logan Street Market • 1001 Logan St

KingFish - River Rd Carry Out • 3021 River Rd

Metro Station Adult Store • 4948 Poplar Level Rd

Party Mart - Rudy Ln • 4808 Brownsboro Center

Liquor Barn - Okolona • 3420 W Fern Valley Rd

Shiraz - Holiday Manor • 2226 Holiday Manor Center #1

ClassAct FCU - Fern Valley • 3620 Fern Valley Rd

Crossroads IGA • 13124 W Highway 42

Hi-View Discount Liquors & Wines • 7916 Fegenbush Ln

Party Center - Prospect • 9521 US-42

Happy Liquors • 7813 Beulah Church Rd #104

Captains Quarter’s • 5700 Captains Quarters Rd

Bungalow Joe’s • 7813 Beulah Church Rd

Fitness 19 • 2400 Lime Kiln Ln

Republic Bank Bus Stop • 10100 Brookridge Village Blvd

Bungalow Joe’s • 7813 Beulah Church Rd

Party Center - Fern Creek • 5623 Bardstown Rd

Street Box @ Republic Bank Bus Stop • 10100 Brookridge Village Blvd

Street Box @ Piccadilly Square • 5318 Bardstown Rd

Party Center - Fern Creek • 5623 Bardstown Rd

Jay “Lucky” Food Mart #1 • 5050 Billtown Rd

Street Box @ Piccadilly Square • 5318 Bardstown Rd

Cox’s - J-Town • 3920 Ruckriegel Pkwy

Jay “Lucky” Food Mart #1 • 5050 Billtown Rd

Bearno’s Pizza - Taylorsville • 10212 Taylorsville Rd

Cox’s - J-Town • 3920 Ruckriegel Pkwy

Louisville Athletic Club - J-Town • 9565 Taylorsville Rd

Bearno’s Pizza - Taylorsville • 10212 Taylorsville Rd

Cox’s - Patti Ln • 2803 Patti Ln

Louisville Athletic Club - J-Town • 9565 Taylorsville Rd

L.A. Fitness • 4620 Taylorsville Rd

Cox’s - Patti Ln • 2803 Patti Ln

Habitat ReStore - Taylorsville • 4044 Taylorsville Rd

L.A. Fitness • 4620 Taylorsville Rd

Feeders Supply - Hikes Point • 3079 Breckenridge Ln

Habitat ReStore - Taylorsville • 4044 Taylorsville Rd

Street Box @ Heine Bros • 3965 Taylorsville Rd

Feeders Supply - Hikes Point • 3079 Breckenridge Ln

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

Street Box @ Heine Bros • 3965 Taylorsville Rd

Jewish Community Center • 3600 Dutchmans Ln

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

Street Box @ Marathon Frankfort Ave • 3320 Frankfort Ave

Full list at LEOWEEKLY.COM/DISTRIBUTION 8

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JULY 28, 2021

NEWS & ANALYSIS

the first state in the country to ban fees for phone calls from prison.

Legislation has been introduced in Congress several years in a row to curb the costs of phone calls for incarcerated people. U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, a Democrat from Illinois, has sought unsuccessfully to pass a federal law prohibiting correctional facilities from taking a cut of phone call revenue.

The prison phone contract has brought some scrutiny in Kentucky recently.

Securus and its competitors testified before an interim committee on jail and criminal justice reform last fall. State Sen. Whitney Westerfield, a Republican from Crofton who chaired the committee, said he has a problem with the state profiting off this industry — but the short legislative session and likely pushback from local jailers and county governments prevented him from proposing a new law.

“To charge enough to pay a 50% commission and still be profitable as a vendor and still compete nationally for business, that probably means the margins are higher than it ought to be,” Westerfield said.

But the Kentucky Department of Corrections has not publicly expressed any similar concerns. In fact, the agency committed to a new, six-year contract with Securus last July, even as the company has failed to meet its contract terms in past years.

The new contract includes a promise from Securus to offer video calls. The service would have been popular last year, and lucrative: a 25-minute video call in Kentucky will cost $5, according to the company’s new contract, and the state will keep half.

But a review of previous contracts shows Securus has been promising video calling since 2013. Two years later, the DOC enacted financial penalties if Securus didn’t set up video calls. But they didn’t act on it.

A DOC spokesperson said the agency was “in the process” of enforcing that policy in 2016, but “departmental administration changes” and contract issues delayed the implementation of video calls further.

The prisons did offer some free video calls during the pandemic, but the calls were held over Zoom, usually in a prison staffer’s office, according to multiple people who have participated in such calls over the past year.

“It’s really awkward because there’s one or two people just sitting in there, and you can’t really talk about anything or put your information out there,” said Kyle Thompson, who made two video calls over the course of the pandemic from the Kentucky State Reformatory in Oldham County.

The new contract also brings a big benefit for the Department of Corrections: the new, $4.1 million up-front payment in addition to a larger guaranteed revenue of $3.5 million a year.

The DOC said at a recent legislative hearing that the money goes into a restricted fund for repairs and maintenance at DOC facilities.

That was a surprise to Thompson, who makes phone calls from a crowded hallway, sandwiched between the washing and dryer machines and bathrooms.

“I’m in a building that was built in the 1930s,” said Thompson, who is serving a sentence of life without parole. “You’d think if they were paying for repairs they would try to repair the leaks. They’d try to get rid of the mold, at least.”

Thompson said there’s no air conditioning in that room, and he had to quickly end a call in June when he began to suffer symptoms of heat exhaustion.

The calls end automatically at 30 minutes.

“It’s very dehumanizing when it comes to someone like your mother or your father when you can’t talk about the things that you need to talk about and you’re constantly pressured to have a certain amount of time,” Thompson said. “We don’t always have the money to call back so a lot of times you’ll forget things or they will be delayed because of that.”

His mother, Valerie Prater, says she spends about $1,200 a year staying in contact with him. That includes emails that cost 44 cents a piece, plus another 44 cents to share a family photo.

Prater is unemployed, and her husband is retired.

“At times I’ve charged my credit cards to be able to talk to him,” Prater said. “I’ve not bought something just so I can load money on the phone to be able to communicate with him because I can’t imagine what would happen if Kyle couldn’t talk to me.”

Neither Thompson nor his mother knew that the Kentucky Department of Corrections takes a cut of the money they spend.

“With the Department of Corrections, I mean they already make really massive amounts of money,” Thompson said. “You’d think that they would try and keep everyone peaceful and keep the prison calm, and that they would try to charge as small an amount of money as they can.” • Contact Jared Bennett at 502.814.6543 or jbennett@kycir.org.

KEEP LOUISVILLE THEATER WEIRD

THE FRINGE FESTIVAL

RETURNS

By Marty Rosen | leo@leoweekly.com

IN 1947, Edinburgh Festival Fringe began with a concept that still remains today — bring alternative theater that may get traditionally left behind to small venues.

That festival in Scotland has become the world’s largest art festival, but its influence has spread all over the globe, including to Louisville. The Louisville Fringe Festival, which started in 2018 and shares the same ethos as the originator, takes place this year at neighboring businesses Mile Wide Beer Co. and Planet of the Tapes on Wednesday, Aug. 4-8. There are numerous performers, locations and moving parts at Louisville Fringe — a full schedule of which you can find below — but in this article, theater critic Marty Rosen wrote four mini features about three of the performers and one venue

who will be featured at this year’s Fringe, to give you some insight into the type of performances to expect.

KATHERINE MARTIN

For at least 2,500 years — from Sophocles to Spiderman — masks have been a powerful storytelling tool. In ancient Athens, every character on the stage was masked. Contemporary pop culture — especially in the comic book multiverses that draw enormous crowds to movie screens — still cloaks its heroes and villains in masks or mask-like makeup inspired by the stock characters of 16th century commedia dell’arte.

And yet, on most contemporary theater

stages, masked performance is vanishingly rare. That’s because the theatrical aesthetics of our time are dominated by the notion that great acting is defined by looking “natural” or “believable” on stage — an objective that requires a naked face.

But Katherine Martin, whose masked piece “Barbara” plays next week as part of the Louisville Fringe Festival, thinks differently.

“As an actor your body is your main tool,” Martin said in a phone interview. “I like the emphasis on the body. When you put a mask on you become an abstraction, and I like the exaggerated life of physicality when you’re behind a mask. It’s a heightened storytelling technique. There’s a freedom that comes from telling a story with your

Camera Lucida: Roxell Karr with camera, Jon Silpayamanant with cello. | PHOTO BY RACHEL MINER.

body — but to execute it well you have to be very precise.”

A decade or so ago, Martin studied pantomime at the legendary American Mime Theatre in New York City — an experience that inspired her to go deeper into the world of physical and masked performance. Over the last several years, I’ve seen her onstage work with some of the most interesting companies in the city, including The Liminal Playhouse and Theatre [502]. In 2018, at the first Louisville Fringe Festival, Martin was memorable in the title role in Baby Horse Theatre’s superb and unsettling “Robothello,” a remarkable sci-fi update of Shakespeare’s play about the Moor of Venice.

These days Martin and Megan Adair, who joins her onstage in “Barbara,” are also LEOWEEKLY.COM // JULY 28, 2021

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Ambo Dance Theatre. | PHOTO BY JON CHERRY.

affiliated with the accomplished puppetry ensemble Mary Shelley Electric Company, which is producing this Fringe production.

Over the last year, of course, masks and masking have become political flashpoints (though as far as I know, there have been no reported cases of superheroes refusing to wear their masks).

But Martin took the pandemic year as an opportunity to study (via long-distance classes) and think deeply about the art of mask-making and masked performance. One of those — at The Movement Theater Studio in New York, French actor Jacques Lecoq’s ideas about the rhetoric of masks and the art and craft of physical acting — was the genesis for “Barbara,” a short piece that, in Martin’s summary, sounds simple enough: A woman walks down a street and finds a box.

She opens it up.

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // JULY 28, 2021

But underlying the simplicity of the premise is the mysterious irony that, for Martin, a mask is not about concealment, but about revelation.

Martin said, “It’s a simple thing that happens to anybody. You’re walking down the street. You find something. You look up. And what happens is that the mask is all about looking out at the audience — and sharing.

The mask is all about looking out at the audience to share your change of emotion as you’re taking in the environment and the objects around you. So, it’s a constant ping pong, and it is about sharing because the mask is fixed, but the body can still change.

And it’s amazing that you will see the mask transport — the mask will start to move as the body changes the emotions that are supporting it.”

It sounds like stage magic to me.

“Barbara,” produced by the Mary Shelley Electric Company, is slated to run at Planet of the Tapes on Thursday, Aug. 5 (during a 9 p.m. slot) and Friday, Aug. 6 (during a 10 p.m. slot).

KEITH MCGILL

For Keith McGill, whose career is a multi-dimensional tangle that includes stand-up comedy, acting, playwriting and more, art is sometimes the only way to express what cannot be expressed.

In a five month period in 2016, he lost four members of his family: his mother, his brother, an uncle and a nephew.

This was an experience that McGill knew he had to talk about — but he couldn’t figure out how.

Perhaps, he said, he was too close to it

at the time, but he couldn’t comprehend the right medium. When he tried to fit it into his crafts — stand-up, and theatre — he couldn’t find a path. But he persisted and started writing, and as he shared the work with people, he kept getting challenged.

“It’s an accountability thing,” he said in an interview. “People kept saying, ‘You have to finish this and share it with people.’”

Five years later, he’s starting that step at this year’s Fringe Festival with part of a new work called “Laundry on New Year’s Day.” It’s a personal story, said McGill. But it’s also more than that.

“There are so many factors that contribute to the death of Black people,” said McGill. “There’s a healthcare crisis that played into the way my mother died. She was misdiagnosed.” And, by the time she was correctly diagnosed, McGill said, the

Steven Michael Carr, host of the upcoming story telling show “Tales from the Jukebox,” performing at the July Down To Fringe. | PHOTO BY JON CHERRY.

might be a perfect mission stateonly treatment option was a chemotherapy ment for the Fringe Festival, regime she couldn’t tolerate.

“What’s great about being in the The facts and details of all these deaths, Fringe is that whatever you do is said McGill, are part of a complex pattern the right thing to do.” that is rooted in the structure of health care, McGill is slotted in at Mile Wide Beer in male psychology, in economic inequity Co. on Friday, Aug. 6 at 7 p.m. and faith-based certainties that aren’t so certain.

The title of his work-in-progress is drawn from an old tradition. “There’s a superstiJON SILPAYAMANANT AND tion,” said McGill, “that says that if you do ROXELL KARR laundry on New Year’s Day, you will wash For nearly a decade, Roxell Karr and Jon someone out of the family.”

Silpayamanant, founders of Camera Lucida, For McGill, that became a sort of tragichave teamed up on comic cosmic punchmulti-media projects line that summed up The facts and details of that integrate (or the spring of 2016. perhaps it would be all these deaths, said better to say dis-inteAnd five years later, he’s starting to grate) music (improMcGill, are part of a find his way. vised, composed and “This is sort of complex pattern that essentially experinew for me,” he said. mental), video (fresh is rooted the struc“I’ve done storytelland repurposed) and ing. But this feels like dance/performance ture of health care, in it’s not storytelling.” art (live, captured In form and style, male psychology, in on video, or both) to he said, it’s more post-modern, economic inequity and create akin to the works of, one-of-a-kind works say, David Sedaris faith-based certainties that trample across or Mike Birbiglia. any cultural, chronoBut, in performance, that aren’t so certain. logical or aesthetic he said, it feels like boundary you might a fusion of monoimagine. logue and theater: “It’s me telling the story, For the Fringe, they’ve created a piece but I’m also playing the characters. I’m called “Sorceress!” that sounds… well… me, then for 10 seconds, I’m my mother just plain trippy. or my brother. And I become an amalgam Silpayamanant, a cellist, is a musician of all these people. So I feel like it’s part of eclectic tastes who can be heard around acting, part monologue, part stand-up, town in a variety of experimental and world part-part-part-part-part-part.” music contexts. Karr studied at the IUPUI Then McGill goes on to articulate what Herron School of Art + Design. And the two

Keith McGill. | PHOTO BY JON CHERRY.

of them seem to share a common interest in using technology to make new things out of basic elements: light and sound. The name of their ensemble, Camera Lucida, comes from an early 19th century (or perhaps earlier) technology — an optical prism that allows an artist to see both the subject of an artwork and the work itself simultaneously.

For “Sorceress!” the artists are using contemporary tech to mine the past in new ways and tell stories in ways that are both hypermodern and steeped in ancient tradition.

Basically, what they’ve done is first rove through the world of century-old, public domain silent movies collecting striking scenes, then they wove them into a sci-fi storyline that Karr finds hard to describe: “We’re trying to recreate the spirit of the Flash Gordon movies. That’s not exactly right, but is as close as I can get.”

In summary, the work relates the tale of an alien sorceress who has depleted the life force of her native planet — and decides to come to earth to take over.

Before the pandemic, said Karr, he and Silpayamanant had been working with another band on a project rooted in the ancient art of shadow puppetry, which originated in Southeast Asia a couple of thousand years ago and remains popular in Thailand and across Southeast Asia.

When events put that on hold, that project paused, and this idea emerged. There are, of course, no puppets at hand in this project (maybe we’ll get to see those in the future), but there will be plenty of light and shadow.

And just as when those ancient films were new, there will be live musical accom-

paniment. A hundred years ago, you would have seen those movies in big theaters, accompanied by someone improvising dramatic accompaniments at a pipe organ.

In this case, the accompanists will be Silpayamanant on cello and “various electronic contraptions” and Karr on “electronic stuff.”

They’ll be improvising based on themes composed by Silpayamanant, but you can be sure that each of the two scheduled performances — both at Planet of the Tapes, Thursday, Aug. 5 in a 10 p.m. slot, and Friday, Aug. 6 in a 7 p.m. slot.

VENUE: PLANET OF THE TAPES

In some years, the Louisville Fringe Festival has felt a bit like an adventure in geocaching or a theatrical version of Pokémon GO: part of the fun was finding your befuddled way across neighborhoods and then rushing back and forth from one ad hoc performance space to another in hopes of not missing anything.

This year’s event is as convenient as can be. According to Google Maps, the two venues – Mile Wide Beer Co. and Planet of the Tapes – are exactly 72 feet apart from one another (though in the spirit of the Fringe, the advance calendar notes that an event is slated to take place in an undisclosed “mystery location”).

Based on the schedule, it appears you’ll find longer form works (including some new plays incubated in the influential Derby City Playwrights project) at Mile Wide, and a deliciously busy schedule of shorter pieces LEOWEEKLY.COM // JULY 28, 2021

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at Planet of the Tapes.

Mile Wide, which opened in 2016, is a familiar fixture on the Louisville scene, of course.

But Planet of the Tapes?

It opened July 1, 2020. So don’t blame yourself if you missed it. But now is a good time to get acquainted.

In the middle of a pandemic, co-owners Chris Vititoe and Jim Bob Brown had the audacity to open an intimate comedy club that features table service, excellent cocktails with a punny, retro-cultural, movie-nerd slant that celebrates the ‘80s and early ‘90s.

“The VHS thing is an aesthetic,” said Vititoe in an interview. “It’s something we grew up with that makes it feel like a home.

We have VHS tapes all over the place.

They’re on the stage, the baseboards, the bathrooms. It’s a look that we gravitate towards.”

Planet of the Tapes even offers an idiosyncratic collection of DVDs (no VHS, sorry) for rent. Said Vititoe, “I was a big fan of Wild and Wooly Video, and when they left I really hoped someone would pick up the baton, so we’re doing that to a smaller extent with a small, curated collection.”

Not the new releases, Vititoe said, “but the good stuff — the movies that are sort of weird and that you haven’t thought about for a while.”

“Good stuff that is weird” might be Vititoe’s mission statement — and is one of the reasons Planet of the Tapes is hosting Fringe events. “I like outsider art,” said Vititoe. “Our space has a stage, but it’s not a cavernous place — it’s an intimate spot, a good place to see somebody tell a story or stage a dance routine, so the Fringe is right up our alley.”

Vititoe and Brown wanted a smallish, comfortable space that wouldn’t feel cramped — so the room’s seating capacity is 50, and the seats are within about 25 feet of the stage. “We’re not snooty, said Vititoe, “but we wanted people to feel that they were having a special experience.”

Hosting the Fringe, said Vititoe, is consistent with his own adventurous sense of programming and the excitement of joys of discovery. “I try to book people that I am excited to see. Period. I don’t care about credits or whether a performer is a newcomer or established. This is a place I want to grow to the point where people trust us that we don’t put on anything bad, and that we’re going to put on a a smooth, professionally produced show.”

“Comedy is a kind of magic,” Vititoe said. “It can snap you out of the worst mood ever.” •

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // JULY 28, 2021

“Wild Eggs takes pride in providing our guests with LEO Weekly as they enjoy their breakfast, brunch, or lunch.

Whether they are dining alone and appreciate some quiet time to read or grabbing LEO Weekly on their way out the door, we know that it always flies off our racks!”

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Wild Eggs

1211 Herr Lane, Suite 290 Louisville, Kentucky 40222 www.WildEggs.com If you'd like a LEO Weekly rack at your business, email distribution@leoweekly.com LEOWEEKLY.COM // JULY 28, 2021

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STAFF PICKS THURSDAY, JULY 29

Queer Entrepreneurship Meetup

Story Louisville | 900 E. Main St. Suite 200 | Search Eventbrite | Free | 5 p.m.

FRIDAY, JULY 30

Terrapin Flyer

Headliners Music Hall | 1386 Lexington Road | headlinerslouisville.com | $15 | 9 p.m.

The Grateful Dead has had an invaluable influence on improv and experimentation in rock — for decades they’ve been a guiding light for psychedelic guitar music.

TRIBUTE Terrapin Flyer — a leading Grateful Dead tribute band — is performing at Headliners this weekend, a concert that aims to be a pre-celebration of Jerry Garcia’s birthday (Aug. 1). The long, strange trip continues. —LEO

The business world has long disregarded equality, treating many marginalized groups unfairly, and LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs have suffered because of that. This NETWORK event’s goal is to create a community of LGBTQ+ businesses owners that can share ideas and knowledge, network and support one another. Starting and running a business is scary and volatile, but having a support system can ease the burden. —LEO

FRIDAY, JULY 30-AUG. 1 FRIDAY, JULY 30-31

Summer SLAYcation

Malice Manor | 640 Providence Way, Clarksville, Indiana | malicemanorhauntedhouse.com | $25-$60 | 8-11 p.m.

By now, you’ve heard of the Christmas in July concept, but the people at Malice Manor are upping the ante with a haunted house in July. Self-described as “Southern IndiSLAY ana’s Scariest Haunted House,” Malice Manor is giving horror fans an early Halloween fix with an indoor, 10,000 square foot venue is ambitious with its design. So, don’t wait until October, pay people to scare you senseless this weekend. —LEO

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // JULY 28, 2021

Sundance Short Film Tour

Speed Cinema | 2035 S. Third St. | speedmuseum.org/cinema | $12 for non-members, $8 for members | Times vary Sundance is bringing this 92-minute selection of its festival short films to the Speed Cinema. Sundance is the place to go for showcasing short films and other indepenFILM dent theatrical works. Often experimental, the short films feature stories that break the mold of tradition. See this special presentation of some of the best examples of film’s risk-takers at the Speed Cinema this weekend. —LEO

STAFF PICKS

FRIDAY, JULY 30-31

SATURDAY, JULY 31

Planet of the Tapes | 640 Barret Avenue | planetofthetapes.biz/events | $15 | 8 p.m.

1535 Lytle St. | Search Eventbrite | $15 | 10:30 p.m.

Sean Keller’s Episode I-IX: A One Man Show Actor, Writer and Comedian Sean Keller will perSTAR WARS form a one-man adaptation of the Star Wars saga.

Not only will Keller cover the entire Star Wars universe with his performance, he will be aided in this endeavor by a soundtrack of Star Wars music that he recorded himself. These variations of the original music will certainly be as unique as his performance. Warning parents, this show is not for kids but nerds, geeks and Star Wars adult fans… you are most definitely welcome.

Planet of the Tapes includes table service so you don’t have to stand in long bar lines. —LEO

FRIDAY, JULY 30 – AUG. 2

Wizard of Oz

Iroquois Amphitheater | 1080 Amphitheater Road | iroquoisamphitheater.com | $25 – $85 | Times vary Act Louisville Productions will be presenting the Wizard Of Oz at Iroquois Amphitheater.

This classic tale is the first show as part of the Arts at the OVER THE RAINBOW Amphitheater initiative at Iroquois. The show’s producer, Randy Blevins told WLKY that he wants the group to show that theater is for everyone.

Blevins hopes that the group will become a training ground for young theater professionals. This production held auditions in the community and hopes that this will encourage more people to explore their love for theater. —LEO

BioGlitz Presents : Enter the Portal We’re going to go ahead and guess it’s been awhile since you’ve been covered in glitter on a dance floor in an old industrial warehouse. If not, we have questions. But, GLITTER here’s your opportunity. The glitter company BioGlitz is featuring a lineup of DJs — SLIM THICC, Zenpod, Magic Domdi, LB3 and Angel004 — for a late night rager down in Portland. There will be spots inside and out to dance, a Glitz booth to cover yourself in glitter and plenty of opportunities to show off your weird and rusty moves. —LEO

SATURDAY, JULY 31

Kyle Eldridge & the Kentucky Cowhands with Heather Summers

The Flamingo Lounge | 119 S. Seventh St. | Search Facebook | $10 | 8 p.m.

The newly-opened Flamingo Lounge has moved into the space where Jimmy Can’t Dance use to be. The club will be featuring local and touring acts of various FLAMINGO genres. The band, Kyle Eldridge & the Kentucky Cowhand will perform their vintage country and western fare with the vocal musings of guest singer Heather Summers, who works as a food and outdoor activist. Like the band, Summers will bring her repertoire of “old-time music” to the stage. The show kicks off at 8 p.m. —Erica Rucker

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JULY 28, 2021

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MUSIC

STAFF PICKS

THROUGH AUG. 7

‘You Got Your Secret On’

Quappi Projects | 827 E. Market St. | quappiprojects.com | Free The 13 artists in this group exhibition focused on nature and what it personally means to them. It came ART together after co-curator Aaron Michael Skolnick, an artist in the show, and gallerist John Brooks had conversations that revealed their lifelong appreciation and awe of the natural world. “Nature is meditation, it is god, or a god at least for me,” Skolnick said. “Precious moments not forgotten or unfelt.”—Jo Anne Triplett ‘Oceanfront Property (Fire Island)’ by Stephen Truax.

Gouache on paper.

THROUGH SEPT. 5

‘Smile’ By N. Dean Christensen

Galerie Hertz | 1253 S. Preston St. | galeriehertz.com | Free N. Dean Christensen made quite a splash in our local art scene in 2016. The then 23-yearold artist had his first solo exhibition, “The Millennial Man: Me, My LANDSCAPES Selfie and I,” at Galerie Hertz. It was clear a new figurative painter, with insights into contemporary life, had arrived. After four years of living in Brooklyn, Christensen returned to Louisville to wait out the coronavirus. The result is “Smile,” his pandemic show. What characterizes Christensen’s art — social media commentary, selfies and satire — continues, plus he’s added references to famous artists like David Hockney and Jeff Koons.

The exhibition is scheduled for another showing at New York’s Gallery at Empire Stores later this year.

‘Spring on Cullum Street’ by Carol Brenner Tobe. Oil on canvas.

—Jo Anne Triplett

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SHOW REVIEW: PRAYER LINE DIDN’T GIVE A FUCK, BUT I DID

By Syd Bishop | leo@leoweekly.com

I THOUGHT I was ready. I hadn’t been to a show since the day before the shutdown, in that halcyon time when the pandemic was a problem for someone else, somewhere else. With the shutdown came the doomscrolling, watching the uptick in reported cases, deaths rising every day thanks in no small part to the clowns at the helm when this all started. So into my hole I went, mostly hunkered down and isolated from the comfort of anything but a virtual community. The last show I attended was Om, the tremendous doom metal band.

On July 17 at Headliners Music Hall, I ventured out to see Prayer Line, my first foray into leaving my little hobbit hole. Again, I wasn’t ready.

At least in the context of this one show, everything was on schedule. The first act up was Tyler Lance Walker Gill, followed closely by the thunderous Stagecoach Inferno. While I hope that this trend of the show starting on time is something that continues, it was unfortunately to the detriment of my time on that Saturday. After putting my kiddos to bed, I arrived around 9 p.m. … just in time to hear the final two songs from Stagecoach Inferno. Before I move on, I have to say that literally every person I talked to said that Tyler Lance Walker Gill was incredible and that he should never be slept on. I’ll remember that.

Stagecoach Inferno was what they are: loud and technically proficient. At this point in my life, I’ve seen enough of that to get the gist. Nothing here nor there to add. They are perfectly competent and riled the crowd up. Lots of jean jackets on display. By all measures, folks seemed to be into it.

Prayer Line took the stage not too long after. I appreciate their music, although it’s not a genre that’s close to my heart. As a critic, I write from a very Harold Bloom

Prayer Line.

perspective. Bloom believed that criticism should only apply to the text and not the context of any given piece of literature.

In most ways, I think Bloom is a fucking idiot (you cannot critique “Mein Kampf” sans context), but in terms of music, it’s an excellent approach. It lets you view things on your terms. Such was and is my case with Prayer Line.

What I heard was a metal band without any of the pretensions that I have when I make music. I heard catchy guitar harmonies and vocal patterns that, surprisingly, reminded me of David Byrne or Mark Mothersbaugh belting it out to early-Mötley Crüe, all while singing about B-horror movies.

I saw a band crush it, get silly and just in general act like a heel (look it up, wrestling virgins). It was a good time and almost made up for the crippling anxiety attack that overtook me, as I realized that germs still exist, and I was near them.

Still, as I write this a few days after, I have some of those sick-as-hell guitar leads in my head. I still hear bassist/vocalist Jake Hellman’s raunchy sneer while he sings about how bad a dude he is and how little of a fuck he cares about it. In the moment that he’s performing those lines, I believe him.

Prayer Line are the villains in an ‘80s movie, the no-goodnik punks out to challenge the normals. I’m here for that, even if going in public still gives me the creeps. •

MUSIC

STIMULUS MONEY FINALLY ROLLS INTO INDIE MUSIC VENUES, WHILE SOME STILL WAIT

By Scott Recker | leo@leoweekly.com

SEVEN MONTHS after the U.S. Congress passed the Save Our Stages Act — which put more than $16 billion into a grant fund for independent venues — Headliners Music Hall has finally received stimulus money. The venue’s owners Billy Hardison and Joe Argabrite said they received their portion shortly after July 4 weekend, and while they’re extremely happy that the funds came through, they are also worried about the other small stages that are still waiting.

Hardison, who is also Kentucky’s precinct captain for the National Independent Venue Association, the organization that lobbied the federal government for the Save Our Stages Act, said that some people are still having problems with the application and approval system set up by the Small Business Administration, who are responsible for distributing the grant money.

“Every couple of days, it’s someone reaching out, and we are able connect them with someone at NIVA that can escalate them to the SBA, or I can give them some advice myself on how to fix it,” Hardison said. “We’re going to keep on pushing.”

Argabrite said that it’s important that the venues continue to look out for one another, because they all form an ecosystem that needs to remain healthy, in order for each of them to individually thrive.

“The independent venues across the country are a network, or a hive, if you will, and all of our individual survivals are somewhat tied to the overall survival of the independent venues across the entire country, so even though we are in a better position, there’s still a guard up for the rest of these people to get funded and survive,” Argabrite said. “Even though we have a huge sign of relief right now for this grant money, it’s not over. We are still an easy target when it comes to this thing, because we are in the business of mass gatherings.”

CAUGHT IN THE SYSTEM

At this point, many of the venues that applied for the grant money have received it, some were declined, but others remain in limbo with technical problems. Poorcastle — a small, multi-day music festival featuring all local bands — falls under under

Wax Fang at Headliners Music Hall | PHOTO BY NIK VECHERY.

the latter. Co-founder Shaina Wagner said that Poorcastle, which is 501(c3) nonprofit, applied for the grant right when the application portal opened up earlier this year, but, after months of trying, they’ve only gotten through about half of the process. The system still isn’t recognizing the organization’s tax identification number, so Wagner said they’ve been sent back and forth between the SBA and the IRS, without clear answers or a path forward from either.

“Our biggest concern is that we know that there is an amount, that basically the cap is going to be reached and dispersed, before our problem can be worked out,” Wagner said.

To add to Poorcastle’s struggle, a lot of their equipment in storage was stolen at the end of last year, so they not only need money to move forward, but also to replace a lot of costly items.

“It’s not a huge festival like Forecastle or

anything like that, but the expenses are still there, and we know that every other business is struggling just as much, if not more, as we are, so asking for sponsorship, we know we can’t rely on it as much as we have in the past,” Wagner said.

FINDING THE WAY FORWARD

The SBA’s original deadline to distribute the grant money was June 9, but only 90 venues across the country received money by that date. Shortly thereafter the SBA received a letter from Congress asking for answers. Since, hundreds of venues have seen grants roll in, although on a bit of an unpredictable time table.

The nonprofit Art Sanctuary received its portion on Friday, July 23. Lisa Frye, the nonprofit’s president, said that the company is currently being very careful with the money and making sure to follow the rules

after recently watching an hour and a half webinar on how to properly spend the grant.

“We’ve never had a grant like this before, so we’re getting it into a new business account so we can keep track of it really well, because it’s extremely scary all of the rules and stipulations that they have,” Frye said.

Art Sanctuaury, like many of the venues LEO has spoken with, will use the money to cover all of the expenses that built up during the last year and a half, and then to also plan for the future. They will use the funds to cover expenses, buy a new projector and then save the rest. With the Delta variant making everyone a bit nervous, Frye said that this provides some security.

“This is a little bit of a safety net,” Frye said. “So, I’m just taking a little bit of a breath right now and taking a moment and being as grateful as I can.” •

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JULY 28, 2021

17

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— Heine Brothers’

www.heinebroscoffee.com

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // JULY 28, 2021

FOOD & DRINK

RECOMMENDED

FACES FEATURES CREATIVE FOOD AND DRINK

By Robin Garr | LouisvilleHotBytes.com WHEN CHEF ERIC MORRIS opens a restaurant, I pay attention. I loved his Hull & Highwater and Gospel Bird eateries in New Albany, and I loved his citizen journalism and photography during the Breonna Taylor demonstrations (#SayHerName), although that’s another story.

So when Morris opened his eclectic, new spot Faces Bar/Bistro in Louisville’s Highlands last year, I was eager to check it out.

But why did it take me more than a year to get there? Blame Covid-19. Morris planned to open in March 2020, but the pandemic shoved that back to early June with takeout and limited seating. Then the menu seemed to change every couple of weeks as Morris sought the perfect bill of fare. Then, earlier this month, a menu that looked like the real thing, incorporating a concise mix of old favorites and … pizza!

Yep, Faces is a pizzeria now, and more.

We dropped in for lunch on a Saturday and found everything just as good as I had hoped, and the brick-and-wood setting with imposing semicircular bar fitting the eclectic mood of the Bardstown/Baxter food-anddrink strip. Suiting the restaurant’s name,

the walls are decorated with pictures of, yes, faces, from a youthful Muhammad Ali to a wild-haired Einstein, his face brightened with colorful pastel squares.

Morris’ latest menu offers plenty of pizza, but that’s not all. A half-dozen appetizers are priced from $5 (for Nashville hot corn dogs) to $12 (for vegetarian empanadas).

Five sandwiches range in price from $12 (for spicy fried chicken) to $15 (for braised pork belly).

The pizza menu offers an oversize slice ($5 with cheese) plus nearly two dozen toppings (25 cents for veggies, 50 cents for meat). 18-inch signature pies are $15 (for a cheese pie) and, on the higher end, $25 (for the pork belly “Stelly Belly” with Korean gochujang sauce, kimchi drizzle and more) and $26 (for a vegan supreme with plant-based cheese and meat). There’s also a cheese-and-tomato calzone for $10.

Throughout the evolution of Faces, as often as the menu has changed, you could just about count on veggie empanadas and a few fried chicken sandwich options that recall Morris’ stint at Gospel Bird. Naturally

Honey dip chicken comes encased in a crunchy breaded and fried cloak that is a thing of beauty. | PHOTOS BY ROBIN GARR.

Veggie empanadas at Faces make a great starter with their deep-fried, umami-rich goodness.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JULY 28, 2021

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FOOD & DRINK

A slice of pizza at Faces approaches the size of a whole pan pizza at some places. I ordered this one with an odd mix of kalamata olives and shishito peppers, oops.

we had to try both, and some pizza too.

The veggie empanadas ($12) make a great starter, with five, two-bite deep-fried pastry pockets lined up in a row for easy sharing. They showed consistent attention to detail that you’ll find throughout Morris’ cooking. They were perfectly fried, crisp and sizzling on the outside, fresh and steaming within. The dark, umami-laced filling contained bits of carrot, potato black beans and more. They were prettily plated in a row with a tiny bibb lettuce salad topped with quick-pickled red onion on one end.

A caesar salad (included as an optional side with sandwiches, $4 as an extra or $8 in a larger portion), was simple but fresh and well-made, with strips of crisp romaine lightly coated with creamy, house-made

20

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JULY 28, 2021

caesar dressing; grated parmesan; and a variation on croutons, crispy dough bites that reminded me of artisan beer nuts, if such a thing exists.

We took a close look at the Yardbird ($14), which had been Gospel Bird’s signature fried-chicken sandwich, but the words “ghost pepper cheese” put Mary off. The honey dip chicken ($12) offered a piquant but less fiery alternative, particularly with its habanero honey component served in a cup on the side at someone’s — not mentioning any names — request. It’s a large sandwich, a big chunk of fried-chicken breast on a big, attractive, tall-domed bun, and all the parts were tasty. The bun had been grilled on the cut sides until well browned, the base then painted with a layer of sweet white-cheddar

pimento cheese — a nice touch. The fried coating was very crisp and delicious with a gentle kick of cayenne, fried dark goldenbrown and puffy. Four, thick dill pickles that appeared to be habagardils from Pop’s Pepper Patch dressed the top of the bun, and the habanero honey was delicious, spicy not fiery, a good mix of hot and sweet with a smoky back note.

After all that food, I thought a slice ($4 plus 25 cents each for two toppings) would be enough for me; and this giant slice turned out to be a full quarter of an 18-inch pie. The crust got my attention: crisp and thin, with edges showing the large yeast-bubble holes that signal artisan bread. Thick, flavorful tomato sauce and melted mozzarella were both applied with a discreet hand, not dol-

loped on; finished with snipped fresh basil.

The toppings were good too, although next time I might order something more traditional than shishito peppers and kalamata olives.

A filling lunch for two came to $30.21, plus an $8 tip. •

FACES BAR/BISTRO 1604 Bardstown Road 742-6403 facesbarbistro.com

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

FILMMAKER SHANE WOODSON’S ‘8 DAYS TO HELL’ PREMIERES IN LOUISVILLE THIS WEEKEND

By Erica Rucker | erucker@leoweekly.com

ACTOR AND DIRECTOR SHANE WOODSON grew up in Louisville but, like many talented locals, he packed up his dream and moved west to pursue his career. This week, he returns to Louisville to premiere his latest film, “8 Days to Hell.” The film stars Eric Roberts, Woodson, Tori London and Jennifer Day. It follows several killers as their lives and crimes cross paths.

LEO caught up with Woodson to discuss the film and what it is like being a son of the ‘ville in the acting profession.

LEO Weekly: Tell me about the film.

Shane Woodson: I produced it, directed it, play one of the main roles in it. And, I’ve always loved horror films since I was a kid. Grew up, and read pretty much all of Stephen King’s novels. And I love ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ not a Stephen King one, but Romero and ‘The Shining’ and ‘The Standoff,’ all of those things. So my first movie ever was ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ at a drive-in movie theater.

I was with a friend of mine, a couple of artists out in Los Angeles and one of my best friends, Don Herrion... he’s a painter, and we’d always talked about making a horror film together. So he was exhibiting his paintings. He did a whole series on the Wolf Man and Bela Lugosi’s Dracula. We just started talking, ‘Hey, you know what, let’s do it.’ So we gave ourselves 30 days to write as many fresh stories as possible. And then we took the best eight stories and I said, ‘Well, let’s make this a horror anthology, but let’s make each story uniquely connect to the next until we have a narrative feature and it’ll be, you know, it’ll be interesting that way.’

Tell me about growing up in Louisville.

Oh, absolutely. My father was, uh, he passed away unfortunately, but he was a writer his whole life. He worked at the Courier for a while. He contributed to different magazines around town. And so I was influenced, directly and indirectly, by him. I never thought I would write something, but ended up doing it. And he helped me. He said, ‘Look, you want to have a really good outline. Don’t tell anybody what you’re going to do ‘cause then you’ll talk your ideas out.’

He gave me some great advice, but

Shane Woodson.

growing up in Louisville… what a unique, eclectic, very artsy town this is. I always love coming back here. I always think about Louisville when I’m away, and to me, it’s like a racehorse coming back to pasture. I’ve always thought of it that way. It’s like you can come back to care and recharge and be around some good energy and get your mojo back.

I went to the Brown school initially and then I graduated from Atherton and they had a really good theater program there. I wanted to be a racetrack announcer as a kid.

And then when I got into the theater class that the rest was history for me, I loved it.

What’s it like working with Eric Roberts?

He was super excited and we really hit it off on set. He’s like, “I love you, man.

You’re a rebel filmmaker.’

He did a great job and he didn’t want to leave set. He was like, ‘Man, this is, this is fun. You guys are moving lightning fast.’

We got a ton of coverage and he just had a really good time. And I shot his stuff first up because, you know, I’m not worried about any of my coverage.

What’s next after this film?

I’ve got several things. A sequel to ‘8

Days to Hell’ is in the works. We might keep the title ‘8 Days to Hell,’ and then it could be a street or a house.

We’re figuring that out right now, or it might be a ‘9 Days to Hell.’

The title is still in the works, but the stories are there.

What I really want to do more than anything… there’s a children’s story my dad wrote that I would love to bring to the screen because it’s such a special, sweet, enchanting, inspirational and fresh story. There’s never been anything like it. • “8 Days to Hell” premieres at Village 8 Theatres this Saturday July 31 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $8.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JULY 28, 2021

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107 World’s oldest alcoholic beverage 108 Pulitzer-winning playwright from Independence, Kan. 109 Seriously annoys, with ‘‘off’’ 110 Tora ____, Afghanistan 111 Not overlooked 112 Defendant’s plea, for short 113 Determination 114 Fork point 115 Storied caldron stirrers 117 Spanish ‘‘that’’ 118 Admit (to)

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Join with rings Smudge Vaper’s purchase Neighborhood where you might get kimchi, for short 67 Goddess of the dawn 68 Obama chief of staff Emanuel 70 Campaign pros 71 ____ Gilbert, co-developer of a Covid-19 vaccine 72 Smile with one’s eyes, per a modern coinage 74 Long past 76 Some fencing swords 78 Something to play fetch with 79 ‘‘Well, golly!’’

80 Biting 81 Spongy toys 82 Resets to zero, as a scale 83 ____:// 84 John Winston ____ Lennon 86 Professor ’iggins 90 Eaglelike?

93 Appetizers filled with potatoes and peas 97 One of the Jacksons 99 Word following English or green 101 Kind of wonder?

103 Cred 105 Campaign (for) 106 Itself: Lat.

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D R U G

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DOWN What the doctor ordered Where Johnny Cash shot a man, in song Bruins legend Phil, to fans ‘‘Cut it out!’’

Pronounced with authority Twitter handle starter Davis of ‘‘Thelma & Louise’’ Icelandic saga Chicken ____ (discontinued fast-food snack) Dramatic accusation at a dentist’s office?

Stickers City council representative: Abbr.

Onetime White House inits.

Lunchtime liaison Bands you might listen to in the car?

Salt’s musical partner Where ‘‘khop jai’’ means ‘‘thank you’’ God who ‘‘loosens the limbs and weakens the mind,’’ per Hesiod Call at home Not gross Île be there? ____ paneer (dish with puréed spinach) Way in ‘‘The Adventures of Milo and ____’’ (1989 film) Cyber Monday offerings She might take care of a kid on a sick day Rock star who wrote the poetry collection ‘‘The American Night’’ Contradict ‘‘Mon ____!’’

36-Down’s anagrammatic nickname ‘‘Gay’’ city in a Cole Porter song Hallmark.com purchase Opposite of ‘‘takes off’’ Something to leave to beavers?

Precipitous Grammy-nominated D.J. Steve Thomas ____ Edison

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ACROSS Art of riding and training a horse ‘‘Mea culpa’’ Campania’s capital Put in other words Bob Marley’s ‘‘____ You Be Loved’’ Mark in the World Golf Hall of Fame Lacking self-assurance Onus for a magician’s disappearing act?

Study of how gels gel?

All together Little, to a Scot ¥ç Fizzle (out) Miscellaneous task Irish writer Behan Increased, with ‘‘up’’ Actress Polo Pablo Neruda’s ‘‘____ to Wine’’ They’ll put you head and shoulders above everyone else Constellation almost above the North Pole Autobiography subtitled ‘‘The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban’’ Red card ____ Khan, prime minister of Pakistan beginning in 2018 Sports broadcast feature Angry Wisconsin sports fans?

Fire sign?

Like n, where n = 2k (and ‘‘k’’ is a whole number) Unagi, at a sushi bar President Bartlet of ‘‘The West Wing’’ Singer Astley Total-itarian?

Law enforcement, slangily Tajikistan, e.g., once: Abbr. ‘‘How was ____ know?’’

Loll Many a marble bust Getting ‘‘Amscray!’’ under control?

Like yoga instructors Greet the day One of the Earps – Bathroom-cabinet item Certain bridge positions McEachern a.k.a. the ‘‘Voice of Poker’’ Cake topper

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BY ASHISH VENGSARKAR / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ

96 Wealthiest professional sports org.

98 Abrogates 100 Party animal?

102 Reveals 104 Reply to an oversharer 105 One in a hundred: Abbr.

106 Parrot 110 Power of a cowboy’s shoe?

116 Odysseus’ wife whispers sweet nothings?

119 Bliss 120 With wisdom 121 In a sense, colloquially 122 Activity for some pen pals 123 Port on the Black Sea 124 Colorful food fish 125 Giveaways during some pledge drives

I P S O

The New York Times Magazine Crossword

PHOTO BY RACHEL ROBINSON

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SAVAGE LOVE

By Dan Savage | mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage

CRABS

Q: I’m a gay male in my forties and I’ve been married to my husband for nine years.

There was some mild infidelity on his part (exchanging photos and flirting via text with another guy) early in our relationship. I confronted him at the time, and he lied to me. I decided to let it go, as it was early in the relationship. Fast forward a few years and he gets crabs and gives them to me. He told me it was most likely from the volunteer work he does in a homeless shelter. I let it go again. Fast forward another couple years and I’m feeling insecure and look on his iPad, and find confirmation that he was sleeping with the guy he’d exchanged photos and flirty texts with early in our relationship. This sent me into a severe depression. All my concerns over the years were confirmed, and further sleuthing revealed there was another guy he was fucking around with as well. He admitted to all of this only after I showed him the proof.

I chose to forgive and forget. The pain was too much to deal with and I just wanted to move on and get back to our lives. At the time we talked about having an open relationship and I told him I was cool with that, but I wasn’t cool sharing my life with someone who lies to me so easily. We mutually decided that opening the relationship wasn’t a great idea and never really discussed it again. I’m happy I decided to move past this because the last four years have been great. We never fight, our sex life is good, we have a wonderful home and social life. I hadn’t felt the need to sleuth on his devices in years. I felt secure in our relationship. Then two weeks ago I discovered he has crabs (again) after he gave them to me (again). He says he has no idea how he got them. This has obviously brought his history of lying and cheating back to the forefront and I’m questioning so many things. I feel like the only way I’ll ever get the truth is if I find proof and fuck that. I’m not going back to scouring his phone and devices. If I’m staying, I’m staying. But should I stay? Are all past infidelities moot at this point because we’ve put them behind us? Can this new case of crabs be viewed in isolation? Can people get genital area crab infestations during a non-sensual massage? Or am I the idiot whose husband has been fucking around on him the whole time we’ve been

together?

Scratching Head And Meat

A: Whether or not you stay depends on what you’re willing to tolerate, SHAM. You were willing to tolerate being married to a guy who had cheated on you in the distant past.

Can you tolerate being married to a guy who has most likely cheated on you in the recent past and—given his track record—will probably cheat on you again in the future?

Answer that question, SHAM, and you’ll know what to do.

As for the new case of crabs, SHAM, sure, it’s possible your husband got them during a non-sensual massage—if the place wasn’t clean, if they reuse towels and sheets without washing them, if they don’t disinfect the massage table. I don’t know why anyone would wanna get a massage at a filthy place like that, but maybe your husband isn’t so choosy.

But I gotta say… it seems far likelier that your husband, a man who lied to your face the last time he got crabs, is lying to you again. Crabs—pubic lice—are almost always transmitted during pubes-to-pubes contact, e.g., someone who has crabs grinds their crotch against the crotch of someone who doesn’t have crabs and then they both have crabs. That doesn’t necessarily mean your husband had sex with a body worker.

He may have gotten one of those full-bodycontact massages that involve the masseuse stripping off and rubbing his body all over his client’s body—and while I think that kind of massage qualifies as sensual, your husband may feel (and rationalize) differently.

So let’s go ahead assume the worst: Your husband never stopped cheating on you. Which means your husband is the same person he’s always been. Maybe he’s one of those guys who really wants to be monogamous and feels terrible every time he fucks around behind your back. Or maybe he’s one of those selfish jerks who doesn’t want an honest open relationship because that would mean giving you the same freedom. Whatever it is, SHAM, he’s unlikely to change. So, what do you do?

Leaving him means giving up everything about your marriage that you enjoy—the good sex life a decade in, the generally lowconflict intimacy, the home you’ve made together, the social life you share. But if

staying makes you feel like an idiot, SHAM, your anger (justified) and resentment (ditto) will eventually ruin what you enjoy about your marriage.

To be clear, SHAM, I don’t think staying means you’re an idiot. But you’ll have to make peace with who your husband is if you decide to stay. Not for his sake, for yours.

Make peace with it again, I should say, as I don’t think you stopped scouring his iPad and phone for evidence because you didn’t think he was cheating on you. You stopped because you didn’t want to know if he was.

If you do stay, SHAM, you might let your husband continue to think he’s risking his marriage when he cheats. That won’t stop him—it hasn’t up to now, right?—but your husband will be less likely to seize every opportunity that comes his way if he thinks he’s risking his marriage. If you don’t hand a DADT card and/or tell him you’ve made peace with his cheating, SHAM, he’ll redouble his efforts to be discreet and continue to be careful to use condoms with other guys so as to avoid exposing you to a more serious STI. (I say “continue to be careful” because if he’s been cheating on you all this time and only brought crabs home, SHAM, then he was probably being careful, i.e., using condoms, with other guys.)

For the record, SHAM, I don’t think this solution is ideal—making peace with who your husband is but not telling him— because I’m a fan of ethical non-monogamy.

But you’re never gonna get ethical nonmonogamy out of your husband. You’re gonna keep getting what you’ve been getting all along. If that’s unacceptable, if you can’t live with that, you should definitely leave.

If you can live with that, if you can resume ignoring what you kinda knew all along, you might be able to stay.

Good luck.

might have some advice and/or resources for us. I want to make sure that the experience is as satisfying for him as it can be.

Sensitive Personal Issues Need Exploration

Q: If the condom breaks, who do you think should pay for Plan B? Settle This Argument

The following will be sold at Tony’s Wrecker Service, 3311 Collins Ln. 426-4100 to recover towing- storage fees on Aug. 11th 2021, 8 a.m. Titles not warranted. Seller reserves the right to bid. 15 Audi A4 VIN# WAUBFAFL0FN034186 Owner Santander Consumer USA; 18 Chev 1500 VIN#3GCUKREC9EG205113 Owner Sedgwick; and 07 GMC Sierra VIN# 1GTEK29029Z262660 Owner Auto Club Ins.

A: The government.

I am on the cusp of starting a sexual relationship with a newly paraplegic man.

(We’re both in our late 20s and cis het if that matters.) He hasn’t had any sexual partners since his injury, so he hasn’t had much opportunity to experiment with what works for him now. He’s told me he has no sensation below his belly button. I’m not sure if he’s been able to achieve an erection since becoming paraplegic, but he said he hasn’t been able to orgasm since it happened. I’m hoping that you (or your experts or readers)

Reading the blog post “Keeping the Romance Alive After a Spinal Cord Injury” at Spinalcord.com. There are some great insights, SPINE, and lots of useful links.

My advice: you wanna have a satisfying sexual experience with this guy—his first since his injury—and that’s great. But you’re more likely to have a positive experience if you don’t make it all about his dick. While you shouldn’t ignore his dick, SPINE, you need to go into this encounter—you both need to go into this encounter—believing you can have a rewarding and successful sexual experience even if he can’t get hard or climax. It’s going to take him some time figure out what works for him now—what he needs to get hard, what he needs to get off—and in the meantime, SPINE, his tongue works, his arms work, his hands work. And non-PIV sex—or any other kind of sex in the absence of one or more erections—isn’t some sad consolation prize.

They’re satisfying sexual experiences for everybody involved and, just as importantly, they’re things he can excel at, right now, erection or no erection. If you want him to come out of his first sexual experience after his injury feeling more confident about his body and his abilities, center mutual pleasure, not his cock. mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. www.savagelovecast.com

CLASSIFIED LISTINGS LEGAL

Leo’s Towing & Recovery, 510 E Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202 (502)-727-9503, has intention to obtain title of a 2009 White ford Escape VIN # 1FMCU03759KC38966, Owner Ronnie Brock of Hoskinston KY 40844 Lien Holder: None Unless owner or lienholder 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)-727-9503, has intention to obtain title of a 2004 Toyota Matrix Silver VIN #2T1KY32E44C169087, Owner Aaron Terry of Louisville KY 40207 Lien Holder: None Unless owner orlienholder objects in written form within 14 days after the last publication of this notice.

IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, SCIOTO COUNTY, OHIO, GENERAL DIVISION COMPLAINT TO QUIET TITLE. Case No. 21CIH063. To Whom it may concern, Earl Tong is taking possession of property at 6527 Harding Ave., Portsmouth OH 45662, previously owned by Arnold Pennington and Kevin Chandler. To anyone with any claim to property, contact the Clerk of Courts or Probate Court at Scioto County Courthouse.

PD T: July 7, 2021

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