LEO Weekly Sept 1, 2021 by leoweekly

LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 1 IS CLARKSVILLE’S ADULT SUPERSTORE DONE FOR GOOD? | PAGE 7 INSIDE FOTOCRIME’S LATEST RECORD | PAGE 28

2 Music & Arts Festival Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 11th & 12th at Big Four® Bridge, Louisville BigFourArtsFestival.comKentucky 11th & 12th September 2021

LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 3 FOUNDER John Yarmuth PUBLISHER Laura Snyder, lsnyder@leoweekly.com CONTROLLER Elizabeth Knapp, eknapp@leoweekly.com MANAGING EDITOR Scott Recker, srecker@leoweekly.com A&E EDITOR Erica Rucker, erucker@leoweekly.com DIGITAL CONTENT EDITOR Danielle Grady, dgrady@leoweekly.com ART DIRECTOR Talon Hampton, thampton@leoweekly.com CONTRIBUTING VISUAL ARTS EDITOR Jo Anne Triplett, jtriplettart@yahoo.com CONTRIBUTORS Robin Garr, Dan Canon, Syd Bishop, Tyrel Kessinger, Phelix Crittenden, Sara Havens, Kevin Gibson, Krystal Moore, Felix Cornell, Dan Savage 974 BRECKENRIDGE LANE #170. LOUISVILLE KY 40207 PHONE (502) 895-9770 FAX (502) 895-9779 Volume 31 | Number 37 LOUISVILLE ECCENTRIC OBSERVER LEO Weekly is published weekly by LEO Weekly LLC. Copyright LEO Weekly LLC. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed herein are exclusively those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Publisher. LEO Weekly is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without the express permission of LEO Weekly LLC. LEO Weekly may be distributed only by authorized independent contractors or authorized distributors. Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO) is a trademark of LEO Weekly LLC. ON THE COVER Writer Illustrations by Yoko Molotov ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Marsha Blacker, mblacker@leoweekly.com Lisa Dodson, lisa@leoweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Megan Campbell Smith, distribution@leoweekly.com EUCLID MEDIA GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Andrew Zelman CHIEF OPERATING OFFICERS Chris Keating, Michael Wagner VP OF DIGITAL SERVICES Stacy www.euclidmediagroup.comVolhein BY TALON HAMPTON

purchasing an

“Other states have tried safe outdoor spaces and they failed,” said Gill, who runs Hip Hop Cares. “They failed horribly. And that had everything to do with leadership and planning. Other cities did it, and it worked well. People are thriving. It had everything to do with leadership and planning. So when it comes to will safe outdoor spaces work in Louisville, Kentucky, it has everything to do with leadership and planning.”

and unhealthy situations on our streets transition into more stable shelter and then put them onto a

Gill said in his video that safe outdoor spaces are not about ending homelessness.“Whatasafe outdoor space should be is exactly that, a space for people to be outdoors safely,” Gill said. “Some folks aren’t ready for that transition. And for those folks, we should be able to provide them with a space that they can not only be safe but they can thrive in. And then we can surround them with resources, and we can surround them with love and care, and all of the things needed to get from Point A to Point B.”

Council member Jecorey Arthur, who showed up in support of the Safe Outdoor Space at the city’s press conference announcing it, said that he considers it a temporary option for people who are houseless, as the city works on ﬁxing its housing shortage. “We need every safe temporary option possible,” he said, “whether that’s a shelter or this safe outdoor space. This is just simply another option for people to utilize as opposed to sleeping in a park or sleeping under the expressway. This is a safe spot for you to go to that you cannot be kicked out from.”Atthe same time, the Safe Outdoor Space has buildings on site to be developed into housing for the people living in the camp, said Arthur, making the space a temporary housing option with permanent solutions. The Safe Outdoor Space is part of a new city government strategy for addressing homelessness in Louisville.

“As a anotherFischersupportiveunhealthylivinghelpcity,compassionateourgoalistothosewhoareinunsafeandsituationsonourstreetstransitionintomorestableshelterandthenputthemontoapathtopermanent,housing,”saidMayorGreginastatement.“TheSafeOutdoorSpacewillprovideshelteroptionforindividualswho’verepeatedlydeclinedindoorshelterdespitetheencouragementfromouroutreachteams.”

4 LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 NEWS & ANALYSIS LOUISVILLE METRO TO CAMPGOVERNMENT-SANCTIONEDSTARTFORTHEHOUSELESS

By Danielle Grady | dgrady@leoweekly.com CITY OF LOUISVILLE is Old Louisville Oncehouseless.thepurchase are houseless city whogoalsionateSpace.Safealionestimatedandforchasehaslocation.ablepermanent,ingthethere.aroundsupportive,alsosite.andsharedshelter,ingworkTherecords.citywillonconstruct-semipermanentincludingbathroomsshowersattheResidentswillhaveaccesstowrap-servicesInthefuture,cityisconsider-constructingafford-housingontheMetroLouisvilleagreedtopur-theproperty$1.6million,itwillcostan$1.4mil-toturnitintofully-functioningOutdoor“Asacompas-city,ouristohelpthosearelivinginunsafe path said Mayor Greg Fischer in a statement.

property to turn into a “Safe Outdoor Space” for people who are

to permanent, supportive housing,”

“The Safe Outdoor Space will provide another shelter option for individuals who’ve repeatedly declined indoor shelter despite the thatGill,inlessgrassrootstoshelters.personaldon’toutsidefeelitemsthatstayforrespondentstopthananwoulddents55%wouldn’t.15.1%wereavailable,shelterantheyrespondents73%encampmentspeoplesurveyoutreachmentencourage-fromourteams.”OutofaUofLof111livingin—percentof53saidwouldstayatoutdoor,tentedifonewas11.3%neutralandsaidtheyJustoverof52respon-saidtheyratherstayatoutdoorshelteranormalone.Afewofthereasonsthatgavenotwantingtoatashelterwastheyhavehadstolen,theysafersleepingandtheyhaveenoughprivacyatInavideopostedFacebook,ahome-outreachleaderLouisville,Jeffsaidhehopesthecity’ssafe

will be allowed to set up tents at the site, which is located at 212 E. College St. and currently owned by the addiction recovery business JourneyPure, according to

outdoor space works — even though he has his reservations about the government’s ability to do it properly.

THE

Gill said that he hopes the city and the Louisville Coalition for the Homeless reach out to others for help in creating the Safe Outdoor Space.

Metro Louisville is also working on identifying transitional indoor housing (possibly in a hotel) and more permanent supportive housing options, as well as increasing funding for affordable housing.Metro Council and Fischer have proposed that affordable housing and homelessness will be a top priority for the city’s remaining $340 million in American Rescue Plan funds. Gill, with Hip Hop Cares, also said in his video that he fears the city will use the new Safe Outdoor Space as an excuse to clear other homeless camps in theThecity.city’s recent approach to homelessness has received criticism from advocates for including an effort to clear non-sanctioned homeless camps in Louisville. Metro Louisville resumed 21-day clearing notices for camps in July after stopping them during the pandemic. The city says it’s working with displaced camp residents to offer shelter and outreach services. It also chose to clear camps based on a standardized risk assessment. Arthur has introduced an ordinance that would codify risk assessments for camps before they are cleared. •

is complete, people who

Some national groups that advocate for people who are housless are hesitant about safe outdoor spaces. The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness says that “these environments may make it look and feel like the community is taking action to end homelessness on the surface — but, by themselves, they have little impact on reducing homelessness.”

ONLYFANS TRIES TO STOP A REVOLUTION THEN RETRACTS, BUT CREATORS HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY

• Phelix Crittenden.

By Phelix Crittenden | leo@leoweekly.com I’M SURE to most, all this sudden uproar surrounding the potential policy changes over at OnlyFans might seem like superficial fodder that only affects the sex workers that use the pay-per-view networking app to upload their adult content — but I can assure you that these issues are far from trivial. Regardless of which side of the sex work being more liberating or oppressive argument that your views lean toward, the fact remains that sex work is real work and should be protected as such. Now I completely agree that sex work is undeniably a more unconventional industry to try and create a sustainable lifestyle through, when compared to most typical “day jobs,” but it’s also indubitably one of the oldest professions in history. I mean, smallpox and white supremacy weren’t the only things the pilgrims brought to the “new land,” they also brought whoredom! A profession that, like many others over the course of the pandemic, had to discover new and innovative ways to engage their clientele, while navigating around our increasingly evolving list of restrictions. OnlyFans quickly and quietly became the ultimate asset for sex workers to combat these extensive limitations of quarantine, by providing them a platform to showcase their literal assets! All while paying taxes... such degenerates, I know,Whileright?the unprecedented success of OnlyFans is really hard to explain, especially when you take into consideration that this unorthodox business model isn’t unheard of (paywall sites like Chaturbate, Flirt 4 Free and Rent Boy have existed and created jobs for sex workers for years), there is still an alluring freedom and overwhelming sense of safety that OnlyFans provides its users. With the pandemic seeing a surge in domestic violence and hate crimes against femmes & transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) folx, who oftentimes find themselves turning to sex work not as a get rich quick scheme (like many who saw OnlyFans’ rise as a money grab), but for necessity or survival — the latter (safety) is extremely vital and reassuring. Thanks to its popularity, sex workers no longer have to conceal themselves in dark alleyways or seedy, smoke-filled clubs. Like most things in demand these days — OnlyFans makes sex, or the illusion of it, instantly available for patrons to devour the meticulouslycurated content at their own pace of consumption, from the comfort of their own homes. A virtually unanimous shockwave turned to horror from content creators, subscribers and casual observers alike, when news hit the interwebs on Aug. 20, that the polarizing pop culture phenomenon announced certain changes within their Acceptable Use Policy (tentatively set to be implemented on Oct. 1) would soon start prohibiting the posting of any new content that contained sexually-explicit conduct. OnlyFans, who had subsequently become a household name synonymous with sex, were now inadvertently trying rebrand themselves without it? It’s obvious you’ve made it in life when you get a shout-out from the queen herself, Beyoncé, but honestly who did they have to thank for that insurmountable brand recognition?Inthewords made famous by ‘80s rock/ pop band Starship “We built this city!”

OnlyFans built their success on the backs of sex workers. Sex workers that OnlyFans could quiescently have to turn their backs on inevitably. As many ridicule and take aim at OnlyFans as the culprit of their own seemingly impending doom, I implore folx to realize there’s a more sinister villain here lurking in the shadows — the patriarchy! You heard me correct “The Man” isn’t just trying to keep a couple of loose girls from showing their strawberry washing machines (my niece’s code word for her vagina) all over the World Wide Web. Like majority of the censorship tactics used today, this is absolutely and almost exclusively about establishing power, controlling money and enforcing politics.What’s in your wallet? I bet you’ve got at least one card or account from a major banking/processing company — these are the same powers who tried to force OnlyFans’ hand to enact these aforementioned changes. OnlyFans were left with very few options outside of complying. I guarantee they didn’t suddenly wake up deciding to forsake their loyal customers and their accompanying fan bases; that logic doesn’t even make sense. OnlyFans is on track to make over $5 billion just this year alone. Some banking/processing companies were refusing to process subscription payments as long as there was sexually explicit content being uploaded to the site. Literally holding sex workers hard (no pun intended) earned money over their heads. Fearing the risk of not being able to pay any of their creators, OnlyFans rightfully conceded. This is what we call an effective oligopoly — with a few massive companies everyone relies on calling the shots.Ifyou think this is just about pornography, think again. Can we talk about the irony of banks refusing to process payments for moral reasons — it’s disgusting. They’re pimping us out and it’s complete bullshit that a handful of companies have the power to decide what we the people can buy. They get to just simply play judge, jury and executioner since nearly every business today depends on digital payment processing. This is a patriarchal power play of weaponizing the stigmatization of sex work, in an attempt to dictate what other businesses can in fact even exist.

For the time being, OnlyFans has currently suspended any of the proposed changes, but moving forward it’s unclear how dependable of a platform they’ll continue to be. Can OnlyFans survive without sex workers? Not with these shady underhanded ploys that believe the best way to protect themselves against SEXploitation is to force sex work back underground and unregulated. Can sex workers survive without OnlyFans? Ab-so-fucking-lutely! That’s why I continue to encourage all sex workers to spread their content out on multiple apps, so that they can have a continuous stream of income! I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again — this is real work, so don’t hesitate to invest in yourselves like it’s your job, because it is! Build your own websites, get better cameras, pay off debts and collaborate with other creators. Save! Save! Save!

6 LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 VIEWS

This is a sexual revolution, take advantage of that! And while they can try to kill the revolutionary (OnlyFans), they can never kill the revolution (sex workers)! I’m not sure what came ﬁrst the chicken or the egg, but life itself can’t exist without sex. And sex will always sell! So as long as there’s someone willing to pay for it, sex workers will be there to fulﬁll the fantasy! Fight the power!

Theatair X was allowed to operate

ROSE: COMMUNITY LOVE IN WEST LOUISVILLE

under awaywasordinancepreviousClarksville’szoningbecauseitlocated500feetfromresidential(andotheroff-limits)areas.

Republican state Rep. Robert Goforth nally resigned from the Kentucky General Assembly last week as he continues to ght criminal charges for allegedly strangling his wife. Over a year ago, Goforth was arrested when his wife told authorities that he strangled her with an ethernet cable and attempted to “hog-tie” her over an argument about unlocking her phone. How he lasted this long without leaving his post is a testament to how partisan Kentucky politics has become. Where was the extreme pressure from his peers and his constituents to resign? Instead, he was somehow reelected to his House seat last November amid the allegations.

THE WORST, BEST & MOST ABSURD

ADULT SUPERSTORE DONE FOR GOOD?

meeting on Wednesday, the newly proposed adult business, Clarksville Ministries, has yet to receive a temporary license that it’s applied for from the Town of Clarksville — possibly preventing it from being grandfathered in if the changes are adopted.Theatair X’s current legal troubles started in 2018 when the Clarksville building commissioner performed an inspection of the property and found more than 20 “glory holes” between Theatair X’s peep show booths, according to legal documents. The battle ended in its license Clarksvillerevocation.Ministries is suing the Town of Clarksville for its failure to issue a license, as well as its proposed zoning changes, citing town law and constitutional violations. Clarksville Ministries — which, according to the lawsuit, has signed a purchase agreement on the Theatair X property — wants to open a retail sex shop and show movies at the location (similar to its former use under Midwest Entertainment Ventures). Clarksville Ministries has invested more than $100,000 into the business so far, according to a letter addressed to the Plan Commission.TheatairX was allowed to operate under Clarksville’s previous zoning ordinance because it was located 500 feet away from residential (and other off-limits) areas. The proposed zoning changes increase that distance to 750 feet, which would disqualify Theatair X because of its proximity to the Clarksville Lofts requirementthechange,zoningonofwithwhoadultizinganlawsuit.accordingdevelopment,totheScottBergthold,attorneyspecial-inregulationbusinesses,isworkingtheTownClarksvilleitsproposedordinancesaidthatnewdistanceisa

Kentucky’s Republicans continue to compare themselves and their unvaxxed constituents to people who are actually oppressed. In a now deleted tweet, U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie likened vaccine mandates at restaurants and events to the Holocaust. Then, at a “Freedom Rally” in Frankfort (also attended by Massie), gubernatorial candidate Mike Harmon compared “vaccine passports” to segregation in the 1950s. The di erence between these dweebs and the people they’re cozying up to: It’s their choice to be vaccinated or not. Jewish and Black people were (and are) targeted because of who they are inherently.

ROSE, THORN: FINALLY, CONSEQUENCES FOR ACTIONS

THORNS&ROSES

THORN: THE REPUBLICAN PERSECUTION COMPLEX

balancing act: An effort to mitigate the “negative effects” of adult businesses on their neighbors while also meeting the constituational requirement of providing a reasonable alternative. The changes to the zoning code would also push adult businesses to industrial zones. Bergthold said that there are areas of the town where an adult business could conceivably open should the changes pass Clarksville Town Council. Bergthold declined to comment on how the proposed changes would affect specific adult businesses, citing pending litigation.Clarksville Ministries could seemingly be grandfathered in if it was “lawfully established and operating” before any zoning changes are adopted. But, the business applied for a license on Aug. 13 and has yet to receive one. According to its lawsuit, filed on Aug. 26, the last communication that Clarksville Ministries received from the town about its application was on Aug. 19 when Clarksville’s building commissioner said he would address the application “in due course.” Clarksville’s current zoning laws say the town “shall” issue a temporary license “upon the filing of a completed application for an Adult Business License.”Inaddition to the alleged glory holes, Clarksville police have documented sexual acts being performed in Theatair X’s “large” movie theaters. In 2019, Clarksville police officers arrested and charged patrons for public indecency and public nudity inside Theatair X’s two theater rooms, according to Judge Vicki Carmichael’s recent order. A man and woman were allegedly seen having sex in the middle of the theater, and two other patrons were openly masturbating. But, Clarksville Ministries’ owner, Michael Sanchez, describes a different Theatair X than the one depicted in news reports and court documents. In a letter to the Clarksville Plan Commission, Sanchez touts Theatair X as “iconic” to the “local LGBTQ+ community” and a “center of LGBTQ+ acceptance for years,” employing many over the years. Sanchez herself is a “proud member of the LGBTQ+ community,” according to her letter. And, she says the city’s proposed changes would “prevent Clarksville’s LGBTQ+ community from having a safe place to shop that caters to their community.”Inasimilar vein, the letter objects to Bergthold’s involvement in the case. In 2016, some Dallas, Texas council members objected against the city working with Bergthold, citing a history of the lawyer working against LGBTQ+ causes. Bergthold said Sanchez’s letter contained false statements, adding that that he joined Clarksville’s case after the town had already revoked Theatair X’s license.Inthe past, the governments of Louisville and New Albany have worked with Bergthold on adult business regulations, according to the attorney •

The West Louisville Women’s Collaborative turns vacant properties into “artistic, peaceful spaces,” and their latest project sounds like a delight. The group purchased a dilapidated property in Chickasaw and plans to turn it into a neighborhood wellness center with therapy, massage and acupuncture services, as well as social workers at the ready. Just the announcement is giving us good vibes. The Collaborative already has a peace labyrinth next door to the Hale Avenue building with a pollinator garden and places to mediate.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 7 NEWS & ANALYSIS IS CLARKSVILLE’S

By Danielle Grady | dgrady@leoweekly A BILLBOARD above Interstate 65 in Clark County proclaims the adult superstore Theatair X to be “The Pride of Clarksville.”Thetown government doesn’t seem to think so: Last week, a Clark County Circuit Court judge afﬁrmed the Town of Clarksville’s suspension of the adult store’s license, saying the business was “willfully ignorant” of public sex acts that were occurring on its property and that there was ample evidence that the store had known its license was suspended and had still continued to operate. And now, the town has proposed zoning code changes that would not only kill a proposal to open a new adult business where the closed Theatair X is located — it ensurewouldthat no similarly salacious business could open on the atzoningconsidertownonoperating50everpropertyagainafteryearsofonethereandoff.WhiletheprepstothechangesitsPlanCommission

CONTROVERSY doesn’t always make sense and sometimes, it’s a fucking riot. This is deﬁnitely one of those moments. Last week, I wrote a blog: Meade County Students are Dressing Like Cats and We Support it. Look it up. But here’s the gist. The blog centers on the uproar seemingly started by a lone grandmother who has her knickers in a twist because there are cat furries at her grandchildren’s school. If you don’t know what a furry is, the Oxford dictionary calls it: “an enthusiast for animal characters with human characteristics, in particular a person who dresses up in costume as such a character or uses one as an avatar online.” So yes, Meade county apparently is having a bit of trouble getting its head around these cat furries in the high school. They are upset because the cat-passing kids are hissing and making scratching gestures at others. It’s just too goddamn weird for the land of John Deere and trucker hats. Truth be told, Meade County isn’t that removed from Louisville. It’s just up the road near Fort Knox, but clearly it doesn’t take long for our big city ways to just completely shock the piss out of old Granny and Grandpa Tobaccy. And, because adults over 30 seem to be really good at maintaining the bullshit of generations passed, this very 1990s-style controversy has spilled over into the internets and my LEO inbox. So, my intention today isn’t to complain about that or to really poke fun at Meade County (population about 28,600), that’s just low-hanging fruit and really not that fun. Sure, the behaviors and emails are funny, but they have truly pounced on this cat story and aren’t letting up so I want to acknowledge that. My intention, however, is to talk to the kids, especially the kids who can’t understand why the furries can wear tails but they can’t wear trucker hats. Kids, the reason is because overall dress codes are horseshit. The idea of a dress code is that what someone is wearing somehow impacts the ability of that student and all other surrounding students (and workers) in such a way as to be distracting. The distraction itself is actually being created by the people who support dress codes, because like most things, like a crazy hair color, it’s only shocking once. Then it’s barely noticeable. But the people who tell you that trucker hats are bad or that dressing like a kitty and even hissing is bad, are people who can’t understand life outside of the little boxes they were gifted at birth. Nothing can function outside of those lines, even though, and this may come as a shock, so much of life happens outside of those boxes and the blurring of the lines is how life becomes interesting. Dress codes mean nothing. The ability to work and learn is not hindered by a hat, nor a cat tail. Are there issues with allowing kids to wear any and everything? Maybe if those hats or cat tails cross into the territory of racism or sexism or one of the other -isms that are simply best avoided because we aren’t truly trying to be a society of assholes. On the other hand, the hedonist in me feels that expression should always be free from restriction but never free from consequences.And,kids,there’s the rub.

Consequences of expressing yourself do not constitute the argument that your freedom is being curtailed. If Meade County and all other school districts allow students to dress and express themselves through their clothing in ways that are non-harmful, the only distraction I can see is that a lot more kids might find themselves connecting to each other in new ways. Maybe teachers would have to calm a couple of chatty cats who discover that Jethro in the Garfield trucker hat also likes kitties. Now Cat and Hat meet. New friendships are formed. Instead of creating enemies, find common ground. Your argument about these dress codes is the same. If Meade County doesn’t allow hats then why do they allow cats? I think they should allow both. Just keep it clean, kiddos and make new friends. You probably have more in common than you think. THE CATS AND THE HATS, IN FRENCH: CHAT ET CHAPEAU...

• VIEWS

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 9 VIEWS THE MIDWESTERNIST LA AUTOPISTA DEL KROGER (WITH APOLOGIES TO JULIO CORTÁZAR)

AT FIRST, the man with the case of Bud Light and the half-gallon of milk had insisted on keeping track of the time, but the girl with the birthday cake didn’t care anymore. Anyone could look at their watch, but it was as if time was something that mattered only to outsiders, those who hadn’t made the blunder of trying to get groceries on a Sunday afternoon in Southern Indiana, and had to circle from the registers to the back of the store, having seen the enormity of the collection of customers clogging the main artery where transactions must be completed, just past the meat department, coming to a halt near the pastries, walking a few inches, then hours later a few more, not sure if a purchase had been finalized and the line was moving, or whether another exasperated shopper had simply given up, or whether the collective shuffling of feet had yielded a hopeful (but deceptive) little distance to travel, observing with some envy the toddler buckled into the front of the cart playing happily with her mother and buried in snack foods that she couldn’t open, then the tired-looking old man with the mask under his nose reading the same section of a Field & Stream magazine for the 13th time, and the woman with the pierced septum and the AC/DC tattoo looking around for attention of any kind, from anywhere. Word of the cause of the delay traveled from the front of the line, but by the time it reached the middle of the store it had morphed into something so unreliable that it no longer created a stir. An increasingly fantastic justification came every 30 minutes or so: Half the U-scans were broken, all of them were broken, there had been a COVID outbreak requiring a quarantine of all cashiers for at least 14 days, no one wanted to work, the president was requiring proof of vaccination to buy milk, the country had been invaded by Chinese or Cuban communists with an obsessively bureaucratic approach to food distribution, and so on. A clerk at the cheese counter halfshouted a story about a similar line that took five hours on a previous Sunday, but at first the story seemed too preposterous to believe, and by the time it became apparent that this wait would be even longer, everyone was too invested, too hungry,

worldneverdown,sunceilingrectanglesthetellshopperstodemoralizedtooleave.Thecouldthroughsmallglassinthethatthewasgoingbutnightcame,theremained flooded with a hideous brightness that thep.m.overaskingfromshiftedofcarryingtheyabandoned.theywasorder,thatreassurefewceilingcamecracklingandThreeeverythingtintedgreen.tonesacheerful,voicefromtheeveryminutestothemtherewassomeoneincharge,hadn’tbeenSostayed.ThemanthecaseBudLighthisweightsidetoside,overandifitwas8yet.Whenanswerwas finally “yes,” he was Hejustwouldthatcomprehendingdefeated,utterlynotyetalcoholsalesresumeinafewhours.couldnotreturn the box of beer to its shelf, of course; no one was so foolish as to step out of line and risk losing their spot, so he held onto it, carrying it like a dead infant at first, then scooting it along the floor with his feet a few inches at a time. In the morning they moved a little, enough to give them hope that by the afternoon they might reach an open register. By that time, the end of the line was no longer visible, so it would have been silly to leave just to start all over again, this time from the outside, where you could get mugged or die of heatstroke. And anyway, everyone in the line near the pastry section had consumed at least some of what they had intended to purchase, so it was quite impossible to leave now; they had to pay for what theyAfterate. the third day of enduring the flirtatious jabber of the Bud Light man with the woman with askingcartandupthethepierced-septum,theoldmaninmaskrolledhismagazineclimbedintheaftermutedlythemother of the toddler to give him a push if they had to move before morning. Each line segment had established an elaborate bartering system by then; a box of Cheerios was worth three Fruit Roll-ups, a can of condensed milk could get you as many as five granola bars, stock in peanut butter was going up but the value of fresh produce was rapidly depreciating. Some weeks later, the snack food surrounding the toddler had become a knoll of plastic wrappers. A lady with hip-length hair in an ankle-length denim skirt gave a disapproving look as the child, blushing with scurvy, tore into the whitening flesh of a seedless mandarin. That night, or perhaps some other night, the old man sleeping in the cart stopped moving, and then stiffened on top of a pile of disintegrating frozen dinners. The girl with the birthday cake, now wishing she had kept track of the time, delicately lifted the lid to the cake box to remove candied letters spelling “QUINCEAÑERA.” She bit the ‘I’ in half and used its remaining fragment to turn a number ‘15’ into ‘16’ without smudging the frosting too much. They hadn’t traveled more than ten feet by then, a fact everyone knew but didn’t speak aloud. No one wanted to face the possibility that the line would never move, or that they didn’t want it to move, that they might rather be standing there forever, fluorescent lights drying up the photoreceptors in their eyes, than to pay what they owed. • Dan Canon is a civil rights lawyer and law professor. “Midwesticism”is his short-documentary series about Midwesterners who are making the world a better place. Watch it at: patreon.com/dancanon. Word of the cause of the delay traveled from the front of the line, but by the time it reached the middle of the store it had morphed into something so unreliable that it no longer created a stir. An increasingly fantastic justifıcation came every 30 minutes or so: Half the U-scans were broken, all of them were broken, there had been a COVID outbreak requiring a quarantine of all cashiers for at least 14 days, no one wanted to work, the president was requiring proof of vaccination to buy milk, the country had been invaded by Chinese or Cuban communists with an bureaucraticobsessivelyapproach to foodanddistribution,soon.

By Dan Canon | leo@leoweekly.com

ALLOCATION IS NOT YOUR FRIEND

“When we get one,” Nordhoff deadpanned, “it’s an accident.”

IT’S A QUESTION that echoes through liquor stores, bars and restaurants throughout the state of Kentucky: “Do you have any Blanton’s?” Usually, the answer is a resounding, “No.” More and more bourbons, many of which used to be readily available at liquor stores everywhere, are joining the ranks of “rare,” and this is particularly true of Buffalo Trace Distillery products. The company’s W.L. Weller line, especially the 12-year expression, are nearing Blanton’s status, and even the relatively basic, screw-top Weller Special Reserve has become a commodity. So, the calls and questions persist.

Many retail stores who do get hard-to-ﬁnd whiskeys will do some allocation of their own, saving bottles for long-time, loyal customers, while others hold lotteries, often to raise funds for charity, like The Keg Liquors in southern Indiana traditionally has done. Sometimes, entering a lottery — and waiting in long lines — is the only way to get one’s hands on one of those coveted allocated bourbons.

“We get probably 20 requests a day” for the heavily-pursued Blanton’s Single Barrel, said Gordon Jackson, owner of Old Town Liquors in the Highlands. “And we get probably six or so bottles a month.”

MORE BRANDS AND BOTTLES ARE BECOMING ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND, AND THE TREND DOESN’T SHOW ANY SIGNS OF SLOWING DOWN By Kevin Gibson | leo@leoweekly.com

For example, the 2020 Van Winkle 15-year expression carried a suggested retail price of $119.99. Do a quick Google search, and the first bottles that pop up for sale are in the $2,500 range. You want a bottle of the once-common Eagle Rare 10-year? You’ll have to get lucky or pay a premium. Evan Williams’ formerly easyto-find Henry McKenna Bottled in Bond got tagged with a “bourbon of the year” designation in recent years, and bottles disappeared from store shelves. And the shortage shows no sign of slowing down — a recent news release from Buffalo Trace was telling. “The bourbon category continues to grow at a rapid rate,” Buffalo Trace Vice President of Marketing Sara Saunders said in the release, “and while we have been increasing production across our portfolio for the last several years, we are still catching up to consumer demand. While we are producing and shipping a record amount of product, we understand the frustration from fans that our brands aren’t easy to find or readily available. We take pride in the quality of our product above all else, and we believe that there is no substitute for aging. Unfortunately, this lengthens the lead time of getting product into consumers’ hands.”

The bourbon boom of the past 15 or so years has seen demand grow far faster than supply. Bourbon lovers speak wistfully of days when they could ﬁnd the elusive Pappy Van Winkle on liquor store shelves. If they ﬁnd one now, it’s undoubtedly going to be on the secondary market. Either way, the price is going to be many times Buffalo Trace’s recommended retail price.

WHERE’S BOURBON?THE

The phrase “allocated bourbons” comes up a lot these days, because bourbon fans understand that distilleries allocate certain quantities of their brands to various states. Often, those allocations are based on past sales. Meaning it’s possible for other states to get more bottles of a certain brand than Kentucky. And once the bottles get to the distribution level –tier two in the Prohibition-mandated three-tier system – they are then parsed out to businesses also usually based on past sales. And that can leave the smaller retailers and restaurants grasping at air.

10 LEOWEEKLY.COM //

Jerry Nordhoff is co-owner of Taste Fine Wines & Bourbons in the NuLu neighborhood. He religiously orders a case of Blanton’s every month. He routinely gets none. He said it’s been quite some time since he’s received any, and the last time he did, it was a single bottle, which he reserved to sell as one-ounce pours.

There are many factors coming together causing the market madness, making it tougher and tougher for a regular Jane or Joe to walk into their local liquor store and buy the bottle they used to routinely ﬁnd.

Oh, and customers these days have come to know the term “allocated” – at least well enough to throw it around. When a random customer calls or walks into Westport Wine & Whiskey and asks if there are any allocated bottles available, owner Chris Zaborowski typically responds, “What do you mean by allocated and what are you looking for? We have over 340 bourbons on the shelf. I cannot possibly list them for you.”

Buffalo Trace products are hot. It’s as simple as that. And, yes, there are plenty of hard-to-ﬁnd products that aren’t produced at the popular Frankfort distillery, most of which are released in limited quantities to begin with. A special release is a special release, from the Willett Family Estate releases that number only a few bottles, to brands like Blood Oath, which are coveted, but made in limited quantities.

The demand ﬁrst for Pappy, then for Blanton’s — with its unique bottle and collectible stopper — then its younger cousin Weller, seemingly created a long-term trickle-down. At this point, even the standard Buffalo Trace green-label bourbon, the stuff Kentuckians previously

Jason Brauner, the founder of Bourbons Bistro on Frankfort Avenue, is particularly frustrated with the idea that Kentucky is allocated certain brands at a lower rate than other states.

It’s frustrating for retailers just as it is consumers, especially those who just want a bottle of that tasty brown liquid they used to come by as easily as buying a jug of 2% milk.

People travel to Louisville, which bills itself as Bourbon City these days, expecting to ﬁnd cases upon cases of Blanton’s to be stacked in the liquor store around the corner from their hotel. Heck, they probably expect the bathroom faucet to have three valve handles marked “Hot,” “Cold” and “Buffalo Trace.” But they’re often disappointed — even a visit to the distillery and a tour doesn’t mean scoring a bottle of Blanton’s or Weller. While all of the bourbon is made on site, that doesn’t mean the gift shop manager can just run out to the warehouse and grab a case. Even the on-site shops are subject to allocation, to a degree. So how does this affect bourbon tourism? Consider this: According to numbers provided by Louisville Tourism, the economic impact of tourism to the city in 2007 was $2.1 billion; by 2019, that number had risen to $3.4 billion, with more than 19 million visitors. Analytics show that visiting friends and family was 44% of visitors’ reasons for coming to Louisville in 2007. In 2019, that had dropped to 14%, while “vacation or getaway” now accounts for 38% of visits to the “[That]city.tells us that our bourbon scene has in fact made a difference,” Stacey Yates, vice president of marketing communications for Louisville Tourism, said. She does agree that for tourists to land here and not have access to these allocated bourbons can be a negative, for the obvious reason that Kentucky is the epicenter of bourbon.

“The one I feel most sorry for is the spouse that’s sent on a mission and doesn’t have a clue,” Zaborowski said. “They come in and mispronounce them or have a list on their phone. They’ve been sent on an impossible quest. I understand they have to ask. It’s frustrating on our part, too — I wish I could give them a bottle.”

THE DISTILLERIES

“Me being on the ground ﬂoor for a long, long time,” Brauner said, “I can’t understand why you wouldn’t want to supply your back yard. It’s not only cutting our throats but in the long run you have to look at the impact on tourism. If you can’t make it special to come to Kentucky, why are we going to go there? It’s overly aggravating.”

“When visitors come to our state, they have the expectation they can get things they can’t get back home,” Yates said. “We have talked to the industry about this. But I don’t think it’s so off-putting that people will decide, ‘I’m not drinking bourbon anymore.’”

And then there are the so-called “taters,” who overpay and who also speculate that buying up cases of bourbons that, for instance, win an award or are tapped by a critic as “the next big thing” will turn a proﬁt.

THE ROLE BOURBONISMOF

Yates points to a “perfect storm” of culture that drives these conditions, from popular culture — think about all the whiskey that was consumed on the popular show “Mad Men,” for instance — to the culture of ﬂipping bottles for proﬁt. And there’s a huge secondary market for bourbon online. All of these factors help drain the supply to the general public while simultaneously driving up prices.

And this isn’t even about the so-called “unicorns” or “white whales” of the current bourbon craze, such as anything with the words “Van Winkle” on the label and anything from the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. We’re just talking about the bourbons that were originally meant to be stocked on shelves regularly.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 11

The obvious answer to not being able to get that bottle of Col. E.H. Taylor you crave is to ﬁnd something else you enjoy — something more readily available.

12 LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 could put on their cereal every morning because it was so ubiquitous, is even getting more difﬁcult to ﬁnd. This leaves retailers even more frustrated. As Zaborowski put it, “The core product for every Kentucky distillery should be sacrosanct.”Foritspart, Buffalo Trace in recent years embarked on a massive $1.2 billion expansion project in a quest to make more products to help meet the raging demand. Amy Preske, the public relations manager for the distillery, answered a few questions for LEO Weekly to help add some perspective.

There are almost countless up-and-coming brands worth trying, and there are timetested brands like Evan Williams, Knob Creek and Elijah Craig that have worthy products on the shelf. But for many, that’s a consolation prize. And there may be a deeper issue going on that is complicating things further, according to Brauner.

PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.

“Unfortunately, that’s too hard to predict,” Preske said. “Our bourbons age longer than most of our competitors, so while we have dramatically increased production every year, the bourbon category has become even more popular, drawing more fans to seek out all brands, not just ours. Added to that, brands like Eagle Rare are aged 10 years, Weller 12, and the youngest Van Winkle is 12 years, supply has not yet caught up to demand.”

About 16 years ago, Brauner opened the aforementioned Bourbons Bistro, an early entrant into Louisville’s bourbon culture. The restaurant has become known for its robust whiskey program, food-and-bourbon pairings and as a cultural center for bourbon enthusiasts. But Brauner makes no bones about his frustration over his sudden inability — after years of working in harmony with distilleries and distributors — to get certain bourbons which are integral to his business. One specialty for Brauner was barrel picks — one-off whiskeys that would ultimately be unique to his restaurant and his customers. He tells LEO Weekly that Bourbon on the shelf at Old Town Liquors.

NOW WHAT?

An example she points out is that, given that the longest-aged bourbon is produced at Buffalo Trace — the Pappy Van Winkle 23-year — the distillery literally is currently aging bourbon that won’t be released until 2044. This year’s stock of Eagle Rare, which is aged for 10 years, won’t reach maturity until around 2031. That doesn’t promise relief anytime soon. As for Blanton’s — which is believed to be aged between six and eight years on average — Buffalo Trace’s parent company, Sazerac, has an agreement with Age International that sends a large percentage of it to Asia. The details of that agreement, Preske said, are proprietary, so we don’t know just how much leaves the country.When asked if she can predict when the expansion might start to offer some relief for those folks who simply want a bottle of their favorite bourbon to sip at home, Preske said the company has no exact timeframe.

He also wonders aloud why distillery marketing teams make big media pushes on limited releases that the average consumer will never even see, let alone have a chance to buy at retail, such as with the recent announcement by Brown-Forman regarding the release of the highly-allocated Old Forester Birthday Bourbon. He doesn’t understand the rush to create a demand where there literally is almost no available supply — this only drives the fervor that much more, and to what end? “Help me understand – I understand brand-building –then let’s talk about the real world,” Zaborowski said. “You get to a point where you are shooting yourself in the foot. It’s one thing to create a demand for your everyday product that you can get hold of. But to make it a fact that your window dressing is driving the brand market now, I don’t understand.”

those opportunities are drying up as larger operations are getting more consideration from the distilleries. He said he was sent a note from “certain people” — he didn’t specify whom — saying that his restaurant’s sales were down in 2020, and that’s why they weren’t being allocated certain bourbons this year. The obvious point he makes is that it was impossible for a restaurant’s sales not to be down during a pandemic, because it was forced to close for weeks at a time. This ultimately gave alcohol retailers a leg up, since they weren’t forced to close. “That’s verbatim,” he says of the note. “That’s exactly what I was told. And what a shitty thing to do, especially during the hardest time of our career.”

Jackson, meanwhile, remembers routinely stocking Van Winkle 15 Year at Old Town a few years ago. He ordered 10 cases one year before Derby season — 12-bottle cases, no less — and his distributor called to ask if he wanted more. Those days are far in the rear-view mirror – Jackson literally speaks of the once-ubiquitous Weller 12 in the past tense these days: “Weller 12, it’s like an urban myth.” So, ﬁnd that new bourbon you love, then sit back, take a sip and wait. Heaven Hill, Buffalo Trace and Brown-Forman all are expanding production, and plenty more craft distilleries are releasing good products. Maybe one day, when we’re much older, production of those coveted brands will ﬁnally meet demand. •

While he won’t name distributors or distilleries when airing his frustrations, he said their decisions are affecting small businesses in Louisville. “As purveyors, our hands are tied from the distillery on down to the distributor. Sometimes they play good cop/bad cop with each other, but I think most of time it’s the distilleries making the decisions. It’s a guy sitting behind a desk. There’s no rhyme or reason why.” Zaborowski feels similar frustrations for his store on Westport Road. The single-barrel bottles were a staple of his business until recently. “Who was one of the ﬁrst stores who jumped on the single barrel bandwagon?” he said. “Us. Long before the regional chains were involved. We cannot get anything from certain suppliers anymore.”

LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 13

Jason Heiligenberg (Head Winemaker), Christian Huber, Ted Huber, Blake Huber, Jesse Williams (Head Distiller)

FROM GRAIN TO BOTTLE AT STARLIGHTHUBER’SDISTILLERY

14 LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 THE BOURBON BUZZCITY SPONSORED CONTENT

Starlight Distillery, located at Huber’s Orchard & Winery in Starlight, Indiana, has been producing brandies, ports and infusions for two decades and along the way, bourbon production became an addition to the lineup in 2013. Starlight Distillery’s signature bourbon, “Carl T”, carries on the namesake of the current ownerships’ grandfather and can be found at many regional retailers. Huber’s has been sustainably farming since 1843 and our consumers are able to book a tour and observe our operations from grain to bottle. Huber’s grows their own heirloom corn varietals that go into the production of their bourbon and consumers learn that everything is grown, milled, mashed, distilled, and bottled on Huber’s 700 acre estate.Starlight Distillery has a unique barrel portfolio which allows our distillers to create fascinating terroir-driven bourbons along with blends for nishing barrels. These projects o er our consumers unique and well-crafted bourbon selections year-round. One of our most unique projects aligns with Starlight Distillery’s priority of sustainability on the farm. Honeybees play an important role in pollinating our orchards. As a result, Huber’s has several hives located on our estate that assist in the pollination process and are now used to season our bourbon barrels. The result is our “Honey Finished” bourbon which is one of our most popular nishing barrels in the Starlight Distillery line up. If you haven’t been to Huber’s in a while, be sure to book a tour and learn more about the fabulous bourbon being produced by Huber’s Starlight Distillery!

Heirloom corn varietals grown on Huber’s 700 acre estate.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 15

Door Knocker Whiskey also launched an untraditional Kentucky liqueur called Sea Legs. Made from naturally extracted lime, lemon, and ginger, Sea Legs o ers a subtle fresh citrus note. With a light-to-medium body, the smooth liqueur has hints of vanilla spice and touches of oral and dark fruit. While traditional liqueurs are often used to contribute the nuance of a cocktail, Sea Legs has an untraditional balanced avor that is encouraged to serve over ice making it a ready-to-drink option. Sea Legs is an o cial sponsor of Louisville City FC.

www.sealegsliqueur.com || www.instagram.com/sealegsliqueur DOOR WHISKEYKNOCKER

16 LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 502-805-7450 www.pgjdogbar.cominfo.pgjdogbar@gmail.com 800 Baxter Ave Louisville, KY 40204 • All dogs must be up to date on vaccinations • All dogs must be spayed or neutered • All dogs must be over 4 months of age • Ages 21+ DISTILLERY BEST LOUISVILLE DISTILLERY VOTED SPONSORED CONTENT FIND YOUR SEA LEGS

Door Knocker Whiskey, bottled, distilled and matured at Three Boys Farm Distillery, is creating buzz around its three recently released small batch whiskies. A Kentucky Proud brand, Door Knocker Whiskey prides itself on respectfully and artfully adjusting proofs to reveal unique grain and barrel notes. Now available at select retail and restaurant locations, each whiskey is labeled by its barrel number. O ering distinct avors, they can be savored neat, over ice or in your favorite cocktail.

www.doorknockerwhiskey.com

Barrel XIII 52.2% ABV 105 Proof Barrel XIII is a smooth bourbon with a mash bill majority corn with two types of barley. Dried fruit notes paired with sweet to ee and light oak avors creates a mellow bourbon. Barrel XIII, aged in a #4 char barrel, has a long and balanced nish of light citrus and honey.

OPENING DOORS

Barrel IV & XII Blend 42.5% ABV 93 Proof Barrel IV & XII Blend is a robust American blend of two rye mash bill barrels. Combined, these two barrels create a full-bodied whiskey with a oneof-a-kind taste pro le a true whiskey a cionado will appreciate. With a light zest and an easy bite of rye, it presents a sweet oral wood taste to nish.

Door Knocker Whiskey Makes Its Entrance

Barrel VIII 54% ABV 108 Proof Barrel VII is a sophisticated bourbon with a mash bill majority of corn with malted wheat. Aged in a #4 char barrel, this bourbon rests close to cask strength and is richly avorful with sweet notes of butter and light smokey tobacco. It nishes with a nutty vanilla avor.

• www.instagram.com/doorknockerwhiskey

LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 17 light-to-mediumuntraditionalalsocallednatu-lemon,ersnote.liqueurspiceandtraditionalusednuancehasbalancedencouragedmakingoption.spon-FC.

Monk’s Road Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey® Gethsemane, Kentucky • 50% Alc/Vol. • Log Still Distillery ©2021 All Rights Reserved • Please Drink Responsibly Hard work, dedication to family, and respect for the craft have led us home along Monk’s Road. We invite you to join us for a first taste from the new Log Still Distillery. MONKSROAD.COM • LOGSTILLDISTILLERY.COM In stores throughout Kentucky LET THE JOURNEY BEGIN

LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 19 Over 200 AwesomeLouisville’svendorsbestfoodtrucksPopupbarsFREEParkingDogfriendly Saturday September 4, Waterfront Park Plaza @ 231 Witherspoon St, 10am - 6pm SPONSORED CONTENT FLEUR DE FLEA VINTAGE URBAN MARKET RETURNS

The Fleur de Flea Vintage Urban Market returns Labor day weekend on Saturday, Sept 4 on the Waterfront Plaza. This is their 5th year on the waterfront and this one is bigger and better than ever. With almost 200 vendors from all over the south set up your guaranteed to nd a treasure or two. Antiques, vintage, vinyl, collectables, midcentury, repurposed, old tools, vintage clothes and so much more. Most of the market takes place under 64 in a shady area. Enjoy beautiful views of the Ohio river, eat from one of Louisville’s nest food trucks, grab a cold beverage or local craft beer while you enjoy the day with us. Pet friendly too. Hours are 10-6. The event is FREE with plenty of parking nearby. Tip… park by Joes Crabshack all day for $3! If you are in town for the weekend please stop by the permanent 30,000 sq ft indoor warehouse at 947 E. Breckinridge Street. Hours are Thursday - Sat 11-6, Sunday 12-6. Something for everyone there. Over 100 vendors ll the massive Space. Pickers paradise. For more info go to their webpage at the eurde ea.com or call 502-533-2688. It’s going to be a great day of picking and grinning.

Vinyl • Antiques • Vintage • Collectables • Handmade • Repurposed • Midcentury Streetware • Plants • Succulents • Mums • Seasonal Vegetables • Fruits So much more LARGESTKENTUCKIANA’SOUTDOORURBANVINTAGEMARKET!

ReserveRussell’s10 Year

By Sara Havens | leo@leoweekly.com

WHETHER you’re new to the spirit or a seasoned drinker, bourbon can be daunting. You hear of the Pappys or the Birthday Bourbons or the limited-edition, one-of-a-kind releases that were aged in oceans, trains, caves or the International Space Station, and you wonder if you could ever be so lucky to own a bottle. The fact is: every bourbon is subjective. Just because it’s $2,000 doesn’t mean it’s the best. What you like is probably different than what I like, but even though I’ve been drinking it for more than a decade or two, it doesn’t mean I’m right and you’re wrong. Bourbon is quite simple, and it was designed that way. It was never meant to be an elite spirit that only kings and queens could enjoy. It was made for cowboys and housewives and teachers and preachers and writers and truck drivers — and everyone in-between. Sure, there are special bottles and older juice and commemorative collector’s editions, but none of that matters when you’re just looking for a damn ﬁne drink after a long-ass day.

This four-grain bourbon is one of my favorites from Louisville’s Rabbit Hole Distillery. Made with 70% corn, 10% malted wheat, 10% honey malted barley and 10% malted barley, the unique mash bill tastes a lot like a bowl of Honey Smacks cereal with just a slight squeeze of orange zest on top. It’s best drunk neat, and I’ll even allow one cube if you want it chilled. But if you really want to impress your guests, use this in an old fashioned — its robust ﬂavor is already a perfect match with the cocktail’s citrus notes, and its 95-proof kick will keep them coming back for more.

20 LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

Old Forester 100 $22.99 | 100 Proof | Old Forester Distilling If you live in Louisville, it’s pretty much guaranteed you have a bottle of Old Forester in the house, right next to a Derby glass or three. This is my go-to, everyday drinker, especially if I’m feeling like a stout old fashioned after a long day. Don’t mess with the Old Fo 86 Proof — for a few bucks more, you can get the 100, formerly known as Signature, and enjoy those rich caramel, toffee and vanilla notes that sometimes drown in lower-proof bourbons. From what I hear, these barrels are selected differently than the 86, so it’s not just a matter of adding more or less water. It’s tasty, it’s quality and it’s affordable.

Rabbit Hole Cavehill

$36.99 | 90 Proof | Wild Turkey Distillery

$59.99 | 95 Proof | Rabbit Hole Spirits

Here’s a list of seven bourbons you should be able to ﬁnd easily here in Louisville and beyond. These bottles won’t break the bank, and they’re some of my favorite everyday sippers. Quit chasing the unicorn, and just embrace the pony. You never know… that pony could grow up to be a Secretariat.

Elijah Craig $29.99 | 94 Proof | Heaven Hill Distillery People often walk right by old Elijah when they’re scanning the shelves for “something better.” But, little do they know, each bottle of this Heaven Hill small batch contains bourbon that’s been aged for 8 to 12 years, and that’s the sweet spot for most American whiskeys, in my opinion. You can’t go wrong bringing this one to a party or sharing with out-of-town friends. Hell, I introduced my brother to it years ago, and he can’t get enough of it in Texas. Elijah Craig recently came out with an affordable rye whiskey as well, so look for that one if you’re in the mood for making cocktails.

7 EASILY FINDABLE AND DAMN FINE UNDERBOURBONS$70

Age statements have gradually disappeared from some bourbon labels, but this beauty is holding steady to every single drop of its 10 years. Wild Turkey could charge double for this bottle, but I’m glad they don’t. It’s the most underrated bourbon out there, and I suspect that’s because fellow bourbon writers don’t want the masses to ﬁnd out about this gem. Some stores that offer barrel picks (Westport Whiskey & Wine, Liquor Barn, Evergreen, Total Wine, etc.) will have single-barrel versions of this, and I recommend grabbing those as well. Sip it, mix it or throw it in brownies — I don’t care as long as you have a bottle of this in your house for when I come to visit.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 21

OakedDoubleReserveWoodford

$63.99 | 90.4 Proof | Woodford Reserve Distillery Perhaps you know someone who is curious about bourbon but afraid to jump in head-first. This is the perfect gateway whiskey, especially if your newbie has a sweet tooth. It tastes exactly like you’re sucking on a Werther’s Original after consuming two campfire s’mores. It has some nice spice notes on the finish, so don’t think for a second that cowboys wouldn’t enjoy this as well. But, if we can get Aunt Kathy into this, we can have her drinking George T. Stagg in no time. Baby steps.

$61.99 | 104 Proof | Four Roses Distillery You can spend your weekends chasing bourbon unicorns to no avail, or you can just walk into any Kentucky liquor store and grab this bottle. That high-quality, highfalutin taste is damn near the same, and the juice is aged a minimum of six years and non-chill ﬁltered. This Four Roses expression tastes like a caramel bomb detonated inside the Fruit Roll-Up factory. If you’ve never tried it, trust me on this one.

$63.99 | 94.9 Proof | Bardstown Bourbon Co.

This is the prime example of a top-shelf bottle sold at a reasonable price point. Bardstown’s Fusion Series blends some of its own bourbon (now about 4 years old) with some longer-aged, sourced bourbons from undisclosed Kentucky distilleries for a tasty union of both old and new. It’s been interesting to sample these throughout the years as Bardstown’s distillate has aged, because the ﬂavors just keep getting deeper and richer with every release. This Fusion #5 features 56% of Bardstown’s rye bourbon, 14% of Bardstown’s four-grain bourbon and 30% of 11-year-old Kentucky rye bourbon.

Sara Havens once roamed the pages of LEO as The Bar Belle. And while she remains Louisville’s Lady of the Nightlife, she also has become a bourbon specialist, writing for spirits publications, leading tours and tastings and even winning competitions. Follow her at barbellelou.com or email shavens76@gmail.com.

Four SelectSmallRosesBatch

FusionCompanyBourbonBardstown#5

The Belvedere | 141 N. Sixth St. | louisvilleky.gov/government/city-events | Free | Times vary Louisville’s home to many cultures, but there’s only one event where you can experience them all at once — or almost all of them, at least — and that’s at WorldFest. This four-day festival, back after a year break, features a Global Village and three performance stages, representing the food, items and traditions of more than 20 countries. There will be more than 40 food vendors and nearly 100 booths. The Global Village Overlook Plaza will host a Stella Artois Biergarten with international and domestic beers. On Friday, the Muhammad Ali Center will host a naturalization ceremony, where 150 immigrants will become U.S. citizens. The event will look di erent under COVID, with the cancellation of the Parade of Nations. Vendors must provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test, masks are encouraged and hand sanitizer will be available throughout the event.

‘United We Stood: Memories of 9/11’ panel discussion

THURSDAY, SEPT. 2-6

22 LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 STAFF PICKS

Abbey Road on the River Big Four Station Park | Je ersonville, Indiana | arotr.com | Tickets start at $25 |

FRIDAY, SEPT. 3-6 WorldFest

—Erica Rucker

THURSDAY, SEPT. 9

Louisville Free Public Library | Main branch, 301 York St. | lfpl.org | Free | 6:30 p.m.

GROOVE

SUNDAY, SEPT. 5 Sam�ı�tyfour Literary Reading Flora Kitchenette | 1004 Barret Ave. | Search Eventbrite | Free | 1-3 p.m.

Times vary Abbey Road on the River kicks o this coming weekend for it’s four-day Beatles-mania festivities. A festival unlike any other, Abbey Road on the River promises the usual Beatles musical tribute bands but the festival will have other amusements including food. The weekend will be capped by a performance of the infamous hippie and rock out t Je erson Starship.

—Danielle Grady TOGETHER

Where were you on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001? Most of us were safely watching the attacks on the World Trade Center on a television. A few Louisvillians were in New York City watching in real time and lived to tell the tale. As part of the Louisville Photo Biennial, the Louisville Free Public Library is hosting an exhibition, “here is new york: the september 11 photographs,” from Sept. 9-Nov. 14. The 500 photographs, marking the 20th anniversary of the event, were taken that Tuesday and the days that followed. The panel discussion, followed by a reception, is on Sept. 9 at 6:30 p.m. Panelists are Elizabeth Kramer, former communications o cer who worked in the Peace Corps o ce in the World Trade Center, WHAS-11 photojournalist Pete Longton who covered Ground Zero, and Charles Traub, co-founder of the “here is new york” collection and exhibition. Melissa Swan is the moderator. —Jo Anne Triplett HISTORY

Cassie Premo Steele, Mollie Swayne and Dylan Hogan will be doing an in-person reading at vegan restaurant, Flora Kitchenette. The sam ftyfour describes themselves as “an emerging literary community only one year old, but in that time we have made strong ties and published incredible writing from around the world.” If you’re of the literary ilk, this event is for you. And free is always a great price. —Erica Rucker READ

LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 23 SUBSCRIBE NOW OUR MOST EXCITING SEASON EVER! Visit Louisvilleorchestra.org or call 502.587.8681 YUJA WANG PREMIERES ABRAMS CONCERTO A CONCERT FOR UNITY TEDDY TALKS SCHUBERT SCHUMANN & BRAHMS PINES OF ROME FESTIVAL OF LATIN AMERICAN MUSIC 1 FESTIVAL OF LATIN AMERICAN MUSIC 2 SHEHERAZADERECLAIMEDTREASURESFANTASTIQUE BROWN FOREMAN FOUNDATION: CLASSICS Discount subscriptions start at $120 for 5-concerts! Single tickets go on sale to the public on Monday, August 16 at 10AM.

Octoberfest! German American Club | 1840 Lincoln Ave. | Search Facebook | $5 | 2 p.m.-midnight

FRIDAY, SEPT. 10 Live On The Lawn: Erykah Badu The Great Lawn, Waterfront Park | 231 Witherspoon St. | liveonthelawnlou.com |

THATS MY SONG

LEO DRINK UP

FRIDAY SEPT. 10-11

The best beer-drinking season of the year is right around the corner, and even though Louisville temperatures in September can still be a scorching hellscape, the fall beers will be owing. One of the best places you can enjoy some of those seasonals is at Octoberfest!, taking place at the German American Club’s biergarten. While they have several events per year, this is a big one. Live music will take place all day, food will be served from 4-8 p.m. (items like schnitzel, bratwurst and sauerkraut balls will be available) and, of course, there will be plenty of high-quality beers for purchase. —

If you’re looking for a cat who will make you laugh until the end of time, you’ve come to the right place! Thunder is spayed, micro-chipped, up-to-date on vaccinations and ready to judge you. Meet Thunder at the East Campus, 1000 Lyndon Lane, or learn more at kyhumane.org/cats.

COLETTE

Introducing the graceful, loving Colette! This six-year-old Shorthair is looking for a new person as friendly as she is. Colette came to the Kentucky Humane Society when a rural shelter ran out of space for her and her litter of kittens. Being a new mom, Colette spent some time in a foster home until she was ready to go to her forever home. Her foster family says Colette was reserved but very sweet and quiet. She doesn’t seem to be a fan of other kitties but loves her humans! Sadly, despite efforts from Colette and her foster parents, her kittens passed away unexpectedly. Although we’re deeply saddened for Colette, we know that there is a home waiting for her that can give her all the love she deserves after going through so much. Her new family will need to be extra patient with sweet Colette as she adjusts to her new home. But we know whoever does adopt her will be very lucky to be her friend! Colette is spayed, microchipped, and up-to-date on her shots. Are you the one she’s been waiting for? Meet Colette at the Kentucky Humane Society’s East Campus, 1000 Lyndon Lane, or learn more at www.kyhumane.org/cats.

SALAM

Looking for a cat who’s equal parts beauty, brains and chonkness? Look no further than THUNDER! Thunder is a six-year-old mighty Shorthair mix who somehow manages to resemble an owl, a Tarsier and an actively rolling snow ball all at once. This almost 18 pound beauty found herself at the Kentucky Humane Society when she was transferred from an overcrowded shelter that didn’t have room for such a large and poised creature like herself. Now she’s ready to find a family of her very own who will worship her as the goddess she is! Thunder is full of cuddles, affection and blank stares that will have you questioning all of your life decisions.

24 LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

STAFF PICKS

Tickets start at $49.50 | 7 p.m. Her Royal Weirdness Erykah Badu (with special guest Thundercat) makes a stop in Louisville at the Great Lawn. Expect your vibes to elevate along with the strange, fragrant smoke sure to accompany this kind of transcendental experience. If you’ve never been to an Erykah Badu experience, only come with your highest vibrations and your best headwear. —Erica Rucker

SATURDAY, SEPT. 11

LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 25 WAXAHATCHEE HAYES CARLL SEPT 1 SEPT 16 SEPT 3 SEPT 7 SEPT 10 SEPT 20 THE SCHIZOPHONICS PHASEONE WITH BUNGALOW BETTY WITH MIND MAINTENANCE BIG THIEF COMING IN SEPTEMBER PRESENTS GROUPLOVE USA TOUR WITH JIQUI KATHLEEN EDWARDS SEPT 18 WITH BLACKSTARKIDS JXDN AMERICAN AQUARIUM SEPT 25 THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS! SEPT 2 SEPT 24 TICKETS AVAILABLE AT HEADLINERSLOUISVILLE.COM OR AT THE BOX OFFICE SCOTT MILLER 1386 LEXINGTON RD, LOUISVILLE, KY WITH REBECCA REGO SEPT 11 SEPT 27 K. FLAY OKKERVIL RIVER (SOLO) & DAMIEN JURADO WITH KATY KIRBY PARKER MILLSAP (AND HIS BAND) TELL ME ABOUT TOMORROW TOURSEPT 14 SON VOLT SEPT 19 SEPT 30 WARD DAVIS WITH CHARLES WESLEY GODWIN WITH MICK FLANNERY WITH JOHN R MILLER WITH H C MCENTIRE WITH ADEEM THE ARTIST STAFF PICKS THURSDAY, SEPT. 9-13 Melanin Pride Weekend Various locations | Search Eventbrite | Prices and times vary In its fth year, Melanin Pride Weekend will last ve days. This celebration of the LGBTQ community started as a game of kickball, and is now an all-weekend party. It kicks o on Sept. 9 with a Thirsty Thursday meetup at Long Shots Sports Cafe & Bar with hookah and vendors. Friday is an open mic night at Goodloes Bar and Grill. The next day, rapper Saucy Santana will be at The Palm Room, hosting a $500 walk contest. Sunday is the Melanin Pride Weekend focus-point: a day at George Rogers Clark Park with games, free snowcones and more. Wind down on Monday with Pride-Arita at Virtue. Admission is charged for all events, except for those on Sunday and Monday. You must register for Sunday’s day at the park. Visit eventbrite.com to reserve your spot.

PROUD

—LEO

GonzoFest High Horse Bar | 1032 Story Ave. | gonzofestlouisville.com | $10 in advance, $15 at the door | Noon - 4 a.m. He’s made us laugh from writing about having a head full of drugs while cruising through the desert, and he’s made us think, because he was one of the sharpest political minds of his generation. So, Hunter S. Thompson’s legacy as one of America’s most unique and wild writers deserves to be celebrated. And, for the last decade, GonzoFest has done just that. After a year o because of the pandemic, the usually annual festival — spearheaded by poet Ron Whitehead — will return. Although the event is centered on Hunter, its purpose is to also shine a light on local artists. The music stage will be headlined by The Jesse Lees, a soulful Otis Junior-led band that bends multiple genres. Other musicians that will perform are The Ass Haulers, High Helens, Ron Whitehead and Storm Generation, Blind Feline and Mythagoe. Writer, activist, public speaker, and poet Hannah Drake (whose work often appears in LEO), will headline the spoken word aspect of the event. Whitehead, New York City-based “The Mets Poet” Frank Messina, Hilton Airall, Frogg Corpse, PW Covington and Rhonda Mathies will also be doing spoken word. Hunter S. Thompson’s books, related literature and local visual art will be for sale. Food trucks will be on site. And, of course, the High Horse has a full bar.—Scott Recker

FESTIVAL

Ron Whitehead at a past GonzoFest. | PHOTO BY NIK VECHERY.

Noise’s last show before things shut down for the pandemic (a show where all her work sold out). So, this exhibition is a welcome return. “My work is inspired by nature and societal energies,” she said, “through which I explore relationships, commonalities and contradictions by the use and emphasis of color and line. I am not afraid to experiment on a piece. My paintings are not precious; I push my work for the sake of discovery.”

—Jo Anne Triplett ART SATURDAY, SEPT. 11

Plein Air Paint Out and reGeneration Fair

26 LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 @leoweekly STAFF PICKS THROUGH SEPT. 12 ‘Adaptations: New Work By Rita Cameron’ Surface Noise | 600 Baxter Ave. | facebook.com/surfacenoiserecords | Free Rita Cameron’spaintingsexhibitionpreviousofcolorfulwasSurface

Waterfront Botanical Gardens | 1435 Frankfort Ave. | waterfrontgardens.org | Free ($10 suggested donation) | 2-5 p.m. In art, the phrase “plein air” refers to painting outdoors to capture the natural light. Being outdoors is one of the activities we can do safely during the pandemic, so an event like Plein Air Paint Out, sponsored by Louisville Visual Art, ts in perfectly with social distancing. The artists will have from 8 a.m. until the reGeneration Fair opens to the public at 2 p.m. to create their art. The family-friendly reGeneration Fair is an environmental happening with booths on the environment, such as beekeeping, fossils and ladybugs, to name a few. Paintings from the Plein Air Paint Out will be for sale. Rain or shine. —Jo Anne Triplett PAINT ‘Untitled’ by Rita Cameron. Oil on board.xxx.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 27

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By Scott Recker | leo@leoweekly.com

OVER the last two decades, Ryan Patterson has shined in the art of self-progression and shifting sounds subtly, swirling the worlds of punk, hardcore, metal, dark sythnwave and industrial into something that never quite fits neatly into any of those categories, but tends to pluck the best aspects of each. The former leader of the longtime local band Coliseum has spent the last few years primarily focused on this solo project, Fotocrime, which combines the mysterious baritone of someone like Leonard Cohen with the cinematic synth and guitar underground rock of ‘80s Europe. His latest record, the recently-released Heart Of Crime, is a rich entry, with layered, emotionally-driven tones and biting, ambiguous lyrics. We caught up with Patterson before he kicks off his tour at Zanzabar on Sept. 3. On engineering the record himself, and making it mostly in isolation. Ryan Patterson: I realized it either wasn’t possible or it wasn’t the right time to go to Baltimore and record with J. Robbins, who I’ve done most of my music with. So, that was really nerve-racking because I have that sense of comfort with him and trust and he’s a world-class engineer and producer. So, I had quite a while of feeling very insecure and uncertain and I’ve never recorded something of this magnitude before, so I just kind of went along and was recording the songs with the idea that this could be the final take. This could be the final guitar part. Essentially, I was finalizing songs as I went along. That process was many months, and there was a lot of stuff going on — personally and nationally — so this was my only musical outlet and, really, my only major creative outlet through that time, so I just really became hyper-focused on it. As that went along, I was learning more and more, not just about recording, but recording myself, all of these processes…I was trying to figure out a way to make a digital home recording have a really rich sound. On the lyrical themes of album. I try to leave everything very open with Fotocrime and I really love writing lyrics and I love the freedom with that — you can write a song that’s a narrative, or you can write a song that’s surreal, or you can write a song that’s very personal, or very political. And I try not to get too on-thenose about things — sometimes there might be a relatively specific inspiration, or connection to my life, or connection to something that I am moved by or inspired by, but I also want everything to have a general openness and not get too specific, because, when you get too specific with songs, I tend to find myself feeling uncomfortable later on. The songs kind of range from general loose ideas about narratives or about personal loss. There’s a song, which I call ‘Police,’ which says police in three different languages, that’s in the middle of the record, and it’s kind of sarcastic and comedic, in my mind. And there’s a song called ‘Zoe Rising,’ which is sort of an homage to an actor and writer named Zoë Lund, who is a figure that I find inspiring. It goes all over the place. Obviously, each song has an importance to me, but I also like the general oneness with Fotocrime as a concept rather than specific — I wouldn’t want Fotocrime to be considered a political or personal thing. On what he sees as the major differences between Fotocrime and Coliseum. Ultimately, Fotocrime is me solo, where Coliseum was a band. It was my band and other people came and went, but we were always very much a band, especially in those later years. So, there’s a vote about things, and I might have been the primary songwriter and lyricist, but we all had to like the songs. I wrote a demo and gave it to them and they put their slant on it. And I loved that about it. That’s the best part about being in that band. I could have seen Coliseum… it was going in a similar direction to where Fotocrime has gone, but Coliseum also went through so many different changes over 12 years that, for me, that history is amazing. You really have a legacy and a worldwide following and fanbase, but it also becomes a ball and chain because those things you did are always with you. And there’s always that thing where someone says ‘Well, I liked this better than that.’ Someone has a perception of you from one record. I think when you start something when you’re a little older, you have a concept of, ‘I can start this as one thing and can be this one thing.’ That’s actually very freeing to me. I think Fotocrime can do anything. I think I could put out an electronic doom record as the next Fotocrime record and it would work, whereas if Coliseum put out an acoustic record, that might not work.

28 LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 MUSIC FOTOCRIME’S RICH AND LAYERED SOUND THRIVES ON HEART OF CRIME

If you'd like a LEO Weekly rack at your business, email distribution@leoweekly.com

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Vetter is happy to have listeners and he appreciates all those that show up for his music but, more importantly, for the cause. “Keep showing up,” Vetter said. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere right? We’re not in the streets this summer. We’re not protesting or yelling or getting shot at with rubber bullets. But we can still ﬁnd ways to show up. Check out Change Today, Change Tomorrow. Check out SURJ. Donate, get involved with community organizing, educate yourself, have hard conversations. Make art and music. Be joyful! Be gay. Do crime. If you see a nazi: punch him. I’m just joking. Well, half-joking.”

ﬁrst effort really being bold about politics and not just be a funky jam band. I’ve received a bit of backlash from personal friends, but to me it’s just going back to my roots. It’s punk, it’s ska, it’s soul, it’s funk. I think it’s our job as artists to ‘speak truth to power’ and to ‘cause good trouble.’”

LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 29 MUSIC SONIC BREAKDOWN

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

— Heine www.heinebroscoﬀBrothers’ee.com

BIG ATOMIC’S Shannon Vetter is, of course, passionate about his music, but he’s much more passionate about social justice and civil rights issues that plague both Louisville and America at large. To help combat this Vetter, like so many artists before, has combined the two things into a song, and he hopes “Justice Denied” will draw more attention to a very important matter.“Simply put, it’s a protest song,” Vetter said. “It’s about our time in the protests last summer when the city of Louisville rose up policeandpoliceonlyfordemandedandjusticeBreonnaTaylortoprotestviolencebemetwithviolence.In the first verse we sing ‘No thepolice.’beat/grippedinsurancehealthbutbydiseasenoprovocation,downbySowhathellwerewesupposed to do? We took it to theFromstreets.”itsopening sax riff until the fade of its closing crescendo, “Justice Denied” dives deep into ‘70s soul with its throbbing bass lines, punctuations of wah guitar and melodic horn section. But Vetter also brings a contemporary pop touch. It’s a mature song, both in regards to its production values and lyrical matter, but it still offers a hell of a head-bobbing bounce and a strong sing-along chorus thanks to Vetters’s smooth“Sonically,delivery.it has a funky dirge vibe. I wanted a sense of forlorn longing intermingled with wah pedals and sexy saxophones and it kind of bounces back and forth between clean and distorted. It really erupts with an instrumental bridge where the organ really takes us to church and the trumpet and drums make it sound almost warlike. I brought in a rough draft and the band really fleshed it out and made it their own.”The protests affect everyone, to varying degrees, but Vetter has a much more intense relationship with them, experiencing firsthand the trauma that can arise from them if they take a darker turn. “I wrote the song after my partner and I had been shot with pepper bullets,” Vetter said. “We both got pretty sick and we were scared and on edge for a while. But we knew it was our job to put our bodies between cops and Black bodies. So we kept going music:politicsexploretoalsoTheseback.”eventsledVettermoredeeplyhisowninhis“It’sour

BIG ATOMIC BREAKS DOWN ‘JUSTICE DENIED’ FROM BODY POLITIC EP (2021) By Tyrel Kessinger | leo@leoweekly.com

The Kr8vN8vs roster continues to dazzle, here with the newest single from emcee Q-Mystik. With “Still Mystik,” the emcee tackles his own nature, whether that’s in his perseverance or his bachelor status. There is inherent loneliness when Q raps that “I got myself out that jam man, you should understand if I’m distant,” which parallels the strengths of his convictions. Yes, he has overcome his obstacles and he did so on his own terms, but in the act of doing, he is left where he remains, alone, and in search of the perfect yin to his yang. The rapper continues by enumerating his grievances, from feeling ostracized for where he lives to the need to connect with his heart in it as an emcee. Q never minces words, using his ﬂow to establish the beat, but letting it coast to its natural conclusion once he’s said what he needed to say. As such, this is a promising glimpse into what might come next from the artist, which I’m looking forward to.

Few musicians are as gifted at chopping, screwing and mutating music into something so alien as Phvkkage. Here, the musician puts his own spin on the Tom Tom Club’s “Genius Of Love,” which you might otherwise recognize as the sample source for Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy.” Through Phvkkage’s deft production techniques, the track warbles and shifts to an almost nauseating degree, like a cassette tape left too long in the sun. From there, Phvkkage incorporates samples from “Let’s Hear It For The Boy” by Deniece Williams, a transition that is so clean that it seamlessly ties the two tracks together in a way that makes absolute sense, like the stations changing on a radio, but set to the same beats per measure. Phvkkage pokes fun at the premise of this pastiche in his elimination of anything “natural” that could possibly appear. This is scattered, wildly imaginative and engrossing, with the producer keeping you on your toes as to what might come next at every turn.

Link: https://phvkkage.bandcamp.com/track/lets-hear-it-for-natural-fun

ANDREW RINEHART FRIEND OF THE DEVIL (FEAT. BONNIE “PRINCE” BILLY)

30 LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 LISTEN TO THESE SIX LOCAL SONGS FROM AUGUST

SHI - 死 REHASH While I’m very aware of what the western scale has to offer, it would seem that Shi - 死 have dropped their tuning to H or lower. Jokes aside, this is exactly the kind of heavy, Sabbathinspired doom metal that has deﬁned the band’s career so far. “Rehash” builds up on the foundations that the band has previously established, evolving into a sleek, brutal sound found on their upcoming album Basement Wizard. The genre tropes are here, from weed references to enormous stacks of amps, but the delivery is just perfect, from the screamed vocals to the uptempo breakdown at the 3:30 mark. This is the kind of jam that you put on to fuck shit up, to get things done. Lyrically, the song serves as a meditation on selfmedication to escape pain, something that will resonate with many (raises hand).

Link: https://fotocrime.bandcamp.com/track/so-so-low

Link: https://oioband.bandcamp.com/album/cutting-sludge?from=hp

Link: https://open.spotify.com/album/7LhLTFacRPDT7CWBKaBHMZ

OIO self-identiﬁes as an “electro-pop project,” an appellation that is appropriate in this context. Predicated on a tight drum groove and throbbing bassline, “Cutting Sludge” has an ominous edge to it, primarily through the softly sung vocals and minor-key melody work. The production work here is slick, with sounds materializing only for brief sections before disappearing again. A plucked instrument helps establish a rigid melody that informs the overall tenor of the track. There are ﬂat notes in the vocal delivery that play into that overall sense of uncertainty in a haunting and clever way. This is a particularly driving song that has elements of chiptunes here, if only in the brisk nature in the interplay between the rhythm section and the melodic elements.

PHVKKAGE LET’S HEAR IT FOR NATURAL FUN

FOTOCRIME SO SO LOW In my mind, there is an intrinsic link between darkwave music and autumn weather. As such, the release of “So So Low” by Fotocrime serves as a harbinger of those cool, crisp nights that I so long for. Singer/songwriter Ryan Patterson is adept at creating brooding and melancholic aural soundscapes, from the imminently danceable ‘80s drum machine groove to the reverb-drenched guitar work. Patterson’s baroque drawl is the perfect complement to the music, with lyrics that attend to the grief and avoidance that remains familiar to many. In juxtaposing the melody work and bounce of the track against Patterson’s vocals, “So So Low” serves almost as an exorcism, a ritual to process and release the depression and anxiety presented in the wordplay. This is modern noir, best played in a smoky backroom at night, the scene only lit by a soft and disorienting neon glow.

Q-MYSTIK STILL MYSTIK

Link: https://shilouisville.bandcamp.com/track/rehash

OIO CUTTING SLUDGE

MUSIC

There is something comforting about “Friend of the Devil” as covered by Andrew Rinehart and Bonnie “Prince” Billy. Perhaps it’s in the familiarity of the composition or the acoustic nature of the instruments that transports you to porch or campﬁre jams with friends. Rinehart and Oldham both have a wonderful Kentucky drawl, which serves the song well. In comparison to the original Grateful Dead number, Rinehart leans into the country and western aspects of the tune, which sees a character trying and failing to avoid their own worst impulses. It’s there that this song truly shines, as a rumination on the inevitability of fucking up, and the acceptance of self that helps see you through to tomorrow. While this cover might have the star appeal to help push Rinehart’s work, it plays as a sincere and earnest meditation on ﬁnding your way through, however that manifests. Link: https://andrewrinehart.bandcamp.com/track/friend-of-the-devil

By Syd Bishop | leo@leoweekly.com

By Robin Garr | LouisvilleHotBytes.com IF YOU’VE NEVER wondered why so many Chinese restaurants use what appear to be very similar menus, you probably don’t get much Chinese takeout. The menus look alike, and the dishes are pretty much the same wherever you go.

RECOMMENDED PEKING CITY EXPRESS BREAKS THE CARRY-OUT MOLD, AND WE’RE GLAD Veggie tofu soup was a triumph of simplicity, aromatic and clear, built on a broth that signals a skilled chef at work.

Ma Po tofu, a classic dish of Chengdu in Sichuan, China, that has gone worldwide, gets the authentic treatment here with an appealing mix of hot chile peppers and numbing SIchuan pepper adding re. PHOTOS BY ROBIN GARR.

What’s that about? It took me a lot of digging, but the often-reliable Internet ﬁnally led me to the secret: Most of the menus come from a group of printers packed into a few blocks in New York’s Chinatown, using newspaper-size printing presses to run hundreds of thousands of similar Chinese menus for the whole country! This may help explain why most of Louisville’s 50 to 60 fast-food Chinese restaurant menus seem very much alike. So if you drive past Peking City Express on Dutchman’s Lane, don’t let the smallish venue and that giveaway “Express” in its name prompt you to expect just another fortune-cookie-cutter fast-food Chinese joint. This little place is a direct descendant of Peking City Bistro, one of the Ville’s top fancy-Chinese spots in the ‘00s. It’s perhaps able to serve 20 diners at capacity, and much of its business appears to be takeout and delivery. It’s worth sitting down, though. It still excels with both an authentic Chinese menu and a more standard ChineseAmerican bill of fare that still contains some surprises; it’s all elevated by the hand of an exceptional Chinese chef.

Peking City’s regular menu might remind you of the Chinese-restaurant standard, but it’s not nearly as voluminous with only about 60 items. Pricing is a bit above the Chinese-American standard, but not enough to rank it as a pricey establishment: Virtually every dish is $9.95 to a maximum of $12.95-$13.95.Wecamefor the authentic menu, though, and you should too. It’s available on request, and doing so seems to place you among the cognoscenti. It, too, offers about 60 items and is fully bilingual in Chinese and English. Seven appetizers are priced from $6.99 (for chili dumplings) to $13.99 (for ﬁve-

LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 31

FOOD & DRINK

SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 Middletown 12003 Shelbyville Rd. St. Matthews 323 Wallace 899-9670Ave. Happy Hour Mon – Thurs | 4:30 – 7pm Call for Reservations www.SimplyThaiKy.com Winning LEO Readers’ Choice Best Thai Restaurant since 2009. shopsassyfoxconsign.comfashionforwardwithoutspendingafortune New Hours Tue–Fri 11–5 pm Sat 10–4 pm 502.895.3711 150 Chenoweth Ln FOOD & DRINK spice sliced beef or chili sliced beef and tripe). A trio of soups includes familiar wonton ($5.99) and not-so-familiar fish ball soup ($6.99). At the other end of the soup price spectrum, four meal-size hot pot soups are $26.99 (for tofu clay pot) to $35.99 (for lamb hot pot). Three authentic Chinese duck entrees mark the top entree prices at $32.99 (for salty-water duck or tea-smoked duck) to $35.99 (for duck stuffed with sticky rice). The rest of the authentic menu is subdivided among seafood, meat, rice and noodle entrees, and vegetable main dishes, ranging in price from $9.99 (for Sichuan Dan Dan noodles or, wait for it, intestine vermicelli soup) to $18.99 (for fish with tofu and red pepper or spicy whole fish). Other than the intestine noodles and a couple of appetizers featuring chicken feet, most of the menu shouldn’t alarm even a slightly adventurous diner.We started with a bowl of veggie tofu soup ($7.99) from the authentic menu and a couple of spring rolls ($2.95 for two) from the regular menu. We were delighted with both.The spring rolls were shatteringly-crisp fried pastry, sizzling hot and admirably grease-free. They were small in circumference and tightly filled with shredded cabbage cooked soft and steaming in the fryer. A subtle anise whiff of five-spice added interest. Veggie tofu soup ($7.99) was a triumph of simplicity. The quality of the vegetable broth signaled a fine chef in the kitchen: It was very clear and refreshing, with tiny pale droplets of sesame oil on top, just enough to add a hint of aroma. Big rectangles of tofu swam in the broth with thin lengthwise zucchini slices, thin-sliced carrots and several whole baby bok choy that seemed to have been stir-fried in sesame oil before adding to the broth. This dish seemed designed to exhibit a mix of textures, tastes and colors in a work of culinary art. Salt pepper pork rib ($13.99), a traditional Sichuanese dish, was another artful creation. Chunks of firm but tender pork were cut across the bone into chunks about the size of large nuggets, then coated with a salty flourand-egg breading and fried into crunchy bites so good that it’s really hard to stop eating them. The salty meat is liberally mixed with tiny hot pepper slices charred black from the wok, an addition that added a delicious, fiery, smoky and complex flavor element to the tastyMapork.Potofu ($9.99), another classic Sichuanese dish that has gained worldwide fame, got the authentic treatment here. A tongue-tantalizing mix of hot chile peppers and numbing Sichuan peppercorns added fire to a glistening, cornstarch-thickened sauce. A ration of peas and carrots added a ChineseAmerican touch to an otherwise authentic presentation.Alargebowl of fresh white rice, just sticky enough for chopsticks, accompanied the Aentrees.delicious Chinese lunch for two was $37.02, plus a 25 percent tip calculated by the tableside charge system. • PEKING CITY EXPRESS CHINESE CUISINE 4000 Dutchmans Lane facebook.com/peking01891-0388

Smoky and complex, bits of bone-in pork rib are breaded and artfully spiced with bits of mouth-searing, smoky, and deeply alluring hot peppers.

By Krystal Moore and Felix Cornell | leo@leoweekly.com

Story by Harold Schechter & Eric Powell Art by Eric Powell Review by Felix Cornell The Great Escape If you’re at all familiar with the true crime genre, you’re probably aware of Ed Gein, which means you won’t be surprised when I say this is a strange, difﬁcult story to read. However, if you’re interested in true crime, I cannot recommend this book enough.

“Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?”

LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 33 PICK-UP LOCATIONS GET YOUR Full list at LEOWEEKLY.COM/DISTRIBUTIONBungalowJoe's• 7813 Beulah Church Rd Street Box @ Republic Bank Bus Stop • 10100 Brookridge Village Blvd Party Center - Fern Creek • 5623 Bardstown Rd Street Box @ Piccadilly Square • 5318 Bardstown Rd Jay "Lucky" Food Mart #1 • 5050 Billtown Rd Cox's - J-Town • 3920 Ruckriegel Pkwy Bearno's Pizza - Taylorsville • 10212 Taylorsville Rd Louisville Athletic Club - J-Town • 9565 Taylorsville Rd Cox's - Patti Ln • 2803 Patti Ln L.A. Fitness • 4620 Taylorsville Rd Habitat ReStore - Taylorsville • 4044 Taylorsville Rd Feeders Supply - Hikes Point • 3079 Breckenridge Ln Street Box @ Heine Bros • 3965 Taylorsville Rd Paul's Fruit Market - Bon Air • 3704 Taylorsville Rd *For new clients only. Not to be combined with any other offer. Up to 2 pets per household. Exp. 8/30/14. Cashier Code. 700.500 *For new clients only. Not to be combined with any other offer. Up to 2 pets per household. Exp. 8/30/14. Cashier *For new clients only. Not to be combined with any other offer. Up to 2 pets per household. Exp. 8/30/14. Cashier Code. 700.500 Wellness/Preventative care Dentistry • Surgery Grooming • Senior Pet Care GET A $25 FIRST EXAM!* *For new clients only. Not to be combined with any other offer. Up to 2 pets per household. Exp. 8/30/14. Cashier Code. 700.500 *For new clients only. Not to be combined with any other offer. Up to 2 pets per household. Exp. 8/30/14. Cashier Code. 700.500 VCA FAIRLEIGH ANIMAL HOSPITAL 1212 Bardstown Road • Louisville, KY 40204 502-451-6655 VCAfairleigh.com www.vcafairleigh.com@vcafairleighanimalhospital@vca_fairleigh ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD COMIC BOOK REVIEWS! “M.O.M. Mother of Madness” #1 Story by Emilia Clarke and Marguerite Bennett Art by Leila Leiz Review by Krystal Moore The Great Escape When I picked this book up off the shelf, I put it at the bottom of the week’s reading because, at 40 pages, it’s a long one, and I thought the title was a little goofy. However, once I started reading, I found out that the story and art work together so well, that time ﬂew. The art is by Leila Leiz, and the story is by Marguerite Bennett and Emilia Clarke. Yes, THAT Emilia Clarke who played Daenerys Targaryen in “Game of Thrones.” In a letter at the end of the book, she signs “Emilia X,” so I have a feeling she wasn’t going to use her famous name to sell comics, but what publisher would miss out on an opportunity like that? Not, Image Comics!

“Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?” is an in-depth dramatization of the life that inspired “Psycho.” For those unfamiliar with Gein, he was arrested at his Wisconsin farmhouse in 1957 for perhaps the most brutal murders to rock the American heartland. When police went to investigate the little, dilapidated homestead where he had lived alone since the death of his mother, what they discovered was a nightmare. Without going into the gruesome details, I can say that this book taught me what a “charnel house” is. Gein’s appalling actions turned a tiny Midwestern community upside down, and had farreaching effects on both the way people look at the psychology of killers, as well as popular culture. Between the well-researched use of primary sources and the rich, illustrative art, this original graphic novel is a visceral documentation of one man’s lonely, horrible life. “Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?” will most certainly join the ranks of classic true crime books like “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” and “Devil in the White City.”

This three-issue story begins with the main character Maya at an office party she clearly despises, hearing every eye-rolling conversation due to her super hearing. It seems Maya is much more than she seems. Her origin story is told and will be a familiar one to comic fans. Now, a single mother, she’s stumbled onto a ring of human traffickers. Her powers are brought on by her emotions and seeing marginalized people preyed upon brings out her motherly instincts. When that switch is turned on, she can give the Hulk a run for his money, but strength isn’t her only power. Different emotions bring on different talents. The art by Leila Leiz is gorgeous. Her colors alone tell us so much about where Maya’s head is — and thus her powers — that the storytelling is almost a bonus! Emilia Clarke says in her letter that going to so many comic conventions made her decide to find out what all the fuss was about. Comics are about cutting edge art and storytelling and I think she’s figured that out! Here’s hoping she continues to pair up with great writers and put out great stories.

Friday, Sept. 24 Biennial Keynote Event with Keith Carter Speed Art Museum, 6 p.m.

Artist Reception Paul Paletti Gallery, 2-5 p.m.

Opening Reception University of Louisville, Cressman Center 5-7 p.m.

Opening Reception Bourne-Schweitzer Gallery, 5:30-8 p.m.

Opening Reception Springﬁeld Opera House, 5-6:30 p.m.

Opening Reception Art Sanctuary, 6-9 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 5

Opening Reception Revelry Boutique Gallery 6-9 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 2 Reception Arts Alliance of Southern Indiana, 5:30-8 p.m.

Opening Reception B. Deemer Wheelhouse Art 6-8 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 11

Opening Reception The Root, 5-8:30 p.m.

Reception Chestnuts & Pearls, 5:30-8 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 3

Guided Art Tour 21c Museum Hotel, 5-6 p.m.

Opening Reception Jane Chancellor Moore Gallery 5-7 p.m.

Opening Reception PYRO Gallery 1-4 p.m.

Artist Reception and music Jeffersonville Township Library, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Artist Reception Halo ArtSeed, 5:30-8 p.m.

PHOTO BIENNIAL SCHEDULE

Guest Speaker Charles Traub Lexington Camera Club at Loudoun House, 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 23

Artist Reception Purdue University STEAM Gallery Student Show, 5-7 p.m.

Opening Reception Brick Street Art Studios, 5:30-8 p.m.

SEPTEMBER 2021

Opening Reception NoCo Arts Center, 6-8 p.m.

Opening Reception Chestnuts and Pearls, 2-4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 9

Guided Art Tour 21c Museum Hotel, 5-6 p.m.

Opening Reception Mary Anderson Center, 6-8 p.m.

Thursday, Sept. 2

Opening Reception Asia Institute Crane House 2-5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 12

Opening Reception University of Louisville Photo Archives, 5-7 Artistp.m.Talk

Closing Reception 5-9 p.m. and ﬁlm screening M&M Smith: For Posterity’s Sake Lexington Camera Club at Loudoun House, 7 p.m.

Unique Portraits Workshop Jennifer Dunn Studio Sunday, Sept. 26 Opening Reception Galerie Hertz, 1-4 p.m.

From Newsprint to Art Print Workshop Jennifer Dunn Studio, 1 p.m. Thursday, September 30 Guided Art Tour 21c Museum Hotel, 5-6 p.m.

Opening Reception/Panel Discussion Louisville Free Public Library, 6:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10

Opening Reception 5-9 pm and Virtual Talk by Juror Jahi Chikwendiu Lexington Camera Club at Loudoun House, 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18

34 LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Guided Art Tour 21c Museum Hotel, 5-6 p.m. Friday, September 17

Pinhole Camera Workshop/Photo Walk with John Gleason Paul Paletti Gallery 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Cyanotype Workshop with Kevin Rose Schultz BourneSchweitzer Gallery, 12-4 p.m.

Opening Reception Surface Noise, 6-9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25

Opening Reception PART Studio, 5-8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14 Ask a Curator Virtual Talk Filson Historical Society, 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 15

Opening Reception Juried Photographic Reception Ivy Tech, 5-8:30 p.m. OCTOBER 2021 Friday, Oct. 1 Reception Wayside Expressions Gallery, 5-8 p.m.

Opening Reception Kleinhelter Gallery, 5:30-8 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 7 Guided Art Tour 21c Museum Hotel, 5-6 p.m.

Halo ArtSeed, 5-8 p.m.

Artist Gallery Talk Andrew Cenci Louisville Visual Art, 1-2 p.m.

“Justice Flag” by Sam Upshaw being showed at KCAAH.

THE PHOTO BIENNIAL has been around since 1999. What was once a dream by former Artemesia owner Erin Devine was almost lost until Paul Paletti stepped in and took the helm. Now despite the setbacks of the pandemic, Paletti has found a way to steer the Biennial forward — with the cooperation of a lot of people and organizations. This year the Biennial ofﬁcially kicks off on September 9 and runs through November 6. Here is a list of events.

Guided Art Tour 21c Museum Hotel, 5-6 p.m. Opening Reception Portland Museum, 5-7 p.m.

Opening Reception Tim Faulkner Gallery, 6-9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16

Opening Reception Bellarmine, 5-7 p.m. Reception NoCo Arts Center, 6-8 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 9 Artist Talk at PYRO Gallery, 11 a.m.

Opening Reception ﬁfteenTWELVE Creative Compound, 6-9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8

Artist Opening Reception Moremen Gallery, 5-8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 16

Artist Reception Wildﬂower Ranch Inn, 2-5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 17 Reception Wayside Expressions Gallery, 2-4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21 Guided Art Tour 21c Museum Hotel, 5-6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22

DSLR Workshop Bourne-Schweitzer 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Artist Talk/Book Signing Downtown Arts Center City Gallery, 7-9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23 Free Portrait Session/Print Arts Alliance of Southern Indiana, 12-2 p.m. (or while supplies last)

Saturday, Oct. 23 Free Portrait Session with Richard McWherter at Arts Alliance of Southern Indiana, 12-2 p.m. (while supplies last)

WORKSHOPS Saturday, Sept. 18 Pinhole Workshop/Photo Walk with John Gleason at Paul Paletti Gallery 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Cyanotype Workshop with Kevin Rose Schultz at BourneSchweitzer Gallery, 12-4 p.m.

Artist Reception Sojourn Arts, 4-6 p.m. (brief remarks at 4:30 p.m.) Thursday, Oct. 28 Guided Art Tour 21c Museum Hotel, 5-6 p.m. Concurrent receptions at 21c Museum Hotel, Moremen Gallery, and KMAC Museum with River City Tintype Portrait Sessions at 21c, 5-9 p.m. Combined Appreciation Wrap Party ﬁfteenTWELVE Creative Compound, 6-9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29 Artist Reception Grand Gallery 5-7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30

Guided Art Tour 21c Museum Hotel, 5-6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 15

Thursday, Nov. 4 Guided Art Tour 21c Museum Hotel, 5-6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5 Opening Reception garner narrative First Friday, 6-9 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 6 Photography Workshop/Presentation by Daniel Dempster Mary Anderson Center Gallery, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.

Closing Reception The Root, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. Frankfort Field Trip with Festival Director Paul Paletti, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 31 Closing Reception Surface Noise, 6-9 p.m. NOVEMBER 2021

Artist Reception Clarksville Library, 2-4 pm FotoFocus Symposium, Cincinnati, OH, Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm Street, Cincinnati, OH, hours TBA Sunday, Oct. 10 FotoFocus Symposium, Cincinnati, OH, Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm Street, Cincinnati, OH, hours TBA Thursday, Oct. 14 Artist Talk Portland Museum, 5 p.m.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 35 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Poetry Reading Missy Brownson Jane Chancellor Moore Gallery, 12 p.m. Meet the Artist Edenside Gallery, 1-4 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 11 Guided Art Tour 21c Museum Hotel, 5-6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12 Closing Reception Art Sanctuary 5:30-7 p.m. Gallery Walk Headliners Music Hall, 6 p.m. DoorWay Concert Headliners Music Hall doors, 7 p.m. / show 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14 Closing Reception Brick Street Art Studios, 1 p.m.-4 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 16 Beginner DSLR Workshop with Kimara Wilhite at BourneSchweitzer Gallery, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Saturday, November 6 Photography Workshop with Daniel Dempster at Mary Anderson Center, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. “Chestnuts and Pearls” by Sharon and Jessica Bussert.

Saturday, Sept. 25 Unique Portraits Workshop with Jennifer Dunn at her studio, 1613 East Market in New Albany, 1-4 p.m.

“HOOSIER LIFELINES: ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL CHANGE ALONG THE MONON, 18472020” Through Oct. 16 Photographs and historical documents focus on how life and the environment along the decommissioned Monon Railroad has changed. Carnegie Center for Art & History 201 E. Spring St., New Albany, Indiana

The show, curated by Cathy Shannon of E&S Gallery, features all Black artists in different points of their careers, with the goal to push back against negative narratives of Black Cressmanpeople. Center for Visual Arts Hite Art Institute, UofL 100 E. Main St. Hours: By appointment only louisville.edu/art N. DEAN CHRISTENSEN: “SMILE” Through Sept. 5 References to social media, selﬁes and satire are all part of the paintings of Christensen. Galerie Hertz 1253 S. Preston St. Hours: Wednesdays-Saturdays, noon-6 p.m.; Sundays noon-4 p.m. galeriehertz.com “BEAUTIFUL DIFFERENCES” Through Sept. 18 The group show features works that celebrate individuality and embrace diversity. Gallery 104 104 E. Main St., La Grange, Kentucky Hours: Tuesdays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. gallery104.org “ELEGY” BY WENDI SMITH Sept. 3-Oct. 10 Smith’s latest show, postponed because of the shutdown, focuses on the themes of nature and ritual. garner narrative contemporary ﬁne art 642 E. Market St. Hours: Wednesdays-Sundays, 1-6 p.m. garnernarrative.com DAVID O. SCHUSTER Through Oct. 31 Solo show of new works by Schuster. Kentucky Fine Art Gallery Leslie H. Spetz Custom Picture Framing 2400-C Lime Kiln Lane Hours: Tuesdays-Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; “Re exions,” one of Rita Cameron’s oil on canvas paintings, on display at Surface Noise through Sept. 12.

By Jo Anne Triplett | leo@leoweekly.com

HERE’S a gallery roundup of arts shows to see in Louisville this month. Note: This list is a selection of current exhibitions.

Hours: Thursdays-Fridays, noon-5 p.m.; Saturdays 1-3 bourne-schweitzergallery.comp.m.

“WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A WOMEN?” Through Sept. 8 The show, curated by Bourne-Schweitzer Gallery’s new employee Gracie Koesters, attempts to answer the question presented by the exhibition Bourne-Schweitzertitle.

36 LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Gallery 137 E. Main St., New Albany, Indiana

Hours: Mondays-Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursdays, 12-8 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5 carnegiecenter.orgp.m. “WITNESS AND TESTIMONY” Through Sept. 3

WHAT TO SEE: GALLERY ROUNDUP

Celebrates the collection and lives of local contemporary glass collectors Adele and Leonard Leight. RALPH EUGENE MEATYARD: “THE UNFORESEEN WILDERNESS” Through Feb. 13 Meatyard’s photographs of Red River Gorge accompanied by Wendell Berry’s essays. Speed Art Museum 2035 S. Third St. Hours: Fridays, 1-8 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 10 a.m.-5 speedmuseum.orgp.m. “LOCAL COLOR” BY LYNN DUNBAR BAYUS Through Oct. 1 The artist’s latest works that captures the spirit of StonewareKentucky.& Co. 731 Brent St.

RITA CAMERON: “ADAPTATIONS” Through Sept. 12 Cameron’s previous exhibition of colorful paintings was Surface Noise’s last show before things shut down for the pandemic. This show features her new work. Surface Noise 600 Baxter Ave. Hours: Thursdays-Mondays, noon-6 p.m. Facebook.com/surfacenoiserecords

Hours: Wednesdays-Sundays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. kmacmuseum.org “BLACK & WHITE” Through Sept. 25

The gallery’s annual black and white exhibition with nearly 100 artists showing in all media. KORE Gallery 942 E. Kentucky St.

KMAC Museum 715 W. Main St.

Hours: Wednesdays-Saturdays, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sundays, noon-4 koreartgallery.comp.m.

SHOHEI KATAYAMA Through October The gallery is closed until Sept. 24 when it will reopen with a solo exhibition by Katayama. Moremen Gallery 710 W. Main St. Hours: Thursdays-Saturdays, noon-4 p.m. moremengallery.com “SPLENDOR, MYTH & RITUAL” Through Dec. 31

Sept. 24-Oct. 30 The gallery is closed until Sept. 24 when it will reopen with an exhibition by Bette Levy and Deborah Levine. Quappi Projects 827 E. Market St.

“HERE IS NEW YORK: THE SEPTEMBER 11 PHOTOGRAPHS’ Sept. 9-Nov. 14 The 500 photographs, marking the 20th anniversary of 9/11, were taken that Tuesday and the days that followed. Louisville Free Public Library Main branch, 301 York St.

Hours: Thursdays-Fridays, noon-4 p.m.; Saturdays, 11a.m.-3 p.m. quappiprojects.com “TRACES: WOMEN ARTISTS IN THE COLLECTION” Through Sept. 3 Group exhibition reﬂects on the past as well as the unrealized future. Schneider Hall Galleries Hite Art Institute, UofL 2300 S. First St. Walk Hours: Mondays-Fridays, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. louisville.edu/art

LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 37

Hours: Mondays-Thursdays, 9 a.m.-9 p.m.; Fridays-Saturdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sundays, 1-5 lfpl.orgp.m.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Louisville Photo Biennial show by Keith PaulCarter.Paletti Gallery 713 E. Market St. Hours: Mondays-Fridays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. paulpalettigallery.com “STAYING COZY DURING COVID: COMFORT DESIGNS BY SUZY HARRISON” Sept. Installation3-26 exploring isolation and comfort during the pandemic. PYRO Gallery 1006 E. Washington St. Hours: Fridays-Saturdays, noon-6 p.m.; Sundays 1-4 pyrogallery.comp.m. “EMPTINESS AND SUBSTANCE”

“COLLECTING – A LOVE STORY: GLASS FROM THE ADELE AND LEONARD LEIGHT COLLECTION” Through Nov. 7

Hours: Mondays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m.-3 Stonewareandco.comp.m.

Saturdays, 10 a.m.-2 lesliespetzcustomframing.comp.m.

“BEFORE IT FALLS APART” Through Nov. 7 Kiah Celeste creates sculptures from broken material. “A LAYERED APPROACH” Through Nov. 7 Features a series of sculptural paintings by James Benjamin Franklin. “MYSTICAL HEART” Through Nov. 7 New narrative paintings by Cynthia Norton. “SPECTRUM” Through Nov. 7 Using textiles and photography, Myra Greene examines concepts of race and the body.

38 LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 ETC. JIGSAW PUZZLE The New York Times Magazine Crossword BY CHRISTINA IVERSON AND JEFF CHEN / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ No. 0822 ACROSS 1 Part of a pie or the earth 6 Style that makes waves 10 Doe in a court case 14 Flubs 19 Keister 20 China holder? 21 Axe target 22 Some Madison Avenue workers 23 End of many a sports broadcast 24 Freestyles, perhaps 25 Barflies 26 Botch 27 ‘‘First, you’re going to want to dump out the box and ____’’ 31 Francis of old game shows 34 Bounded 35 Capital on a 126-mile-long canal that’s used as a skating rink in the winter 39 English breakfast, e.g. 40 ‘‘What’s most useful next is to ____’’ 45 College-app component 46 Role for “Ronny” Howard 48 Joshes 49 State flower of Utah 50 One of the B’s in BB&B 51 Field work of note in 1979 54 Rifle, in frontier lingo 57 ‘‘To connect things up you’ll have to ____” 63 Ones getting the crumbs? 66 Bonnie with five Top 40 hits in the 1990s 67 Euphoric feeling 71 Love to bits 72 More like a dive bar or certain bread 74 Beehives, but not hornets’ nests 75 Daredevil’s hashtag 76 Very in 78 One of the B’s in BB&B 79 Good name for an investor? 82 High-end Italian auto, informally 83 ‘‘As you go, make sure you exercise your ____’’ 88 At peace 89 Little bouquets 90 ‘‘ka-POW!’’ 93 ‘‘With patience and perseverance you’re sure to ____’’ 97 Course goal 100 Songs that can be trilling? 102 Castigates 103 Fairy-tale figure 105 Confer, as credibility 106 Gets wild and crazy 108 Legendary 109 Leave skid marks, maybe 111 N.F.L. standout 113 Homes for high fliers 114 Instruction to drivers leaving cars at a garage 115 ‘‘C’mon, slowpoke!’’ 116 Ends, as a mission 117 Mary Poppins, for one 118 Pick up on DOWN 1 O-line anchor 2 Feel regret 3 Trojans’ sch. 4 Distinctive part of a cookie cutter 5 ‘‘Tap tap tap .?.?. ‘‘ activity 6 Get into a lot 7 Jacob’s brother, in the Bible 8 Moved like waves or muscles 9 A certain degree 10 St. ____ University (Philadelphia school) 11 Rescue dog, for one 12 Response to the Little Red Hen 13 Language related to Manx 14 Egg, e.g. 15 Keats, for one 16 Sounds in a yoga studio 17 Government economic org., at any rate? 18 ____-Cat 28 Big suit 29 Derby, e.g. 30 Menial laborer, metaphorically 31 Loads 32 Take back, for short 33 Retreat 36 ‘‘Was it ____ I saw?’’ (classic palindrome) 37 Mists, e.g. 38 Feeling it after a marathon, say 41 Approves 42 Perspective 43 Achievement for Whoopi Goldberg, in brief 44 Like cioccolato or torta 47 Titus and Tiberius 50 Bosom buddies 52 Staple of skin care 53 Sought office 55 U.P.S. competitor 56 Steady, maybe 58 Wrath 59 Exercise program since the 1990s 60 Sharp, on a TV, informally 61 Peak sacred to the goddess Rhea 62 Noshed on 63 ‘‘You’ll ____ for this!’’ 64 Words with a ring to them? 65 Letter between foxtrot and hotel in the NATO alphabet 68 How people often scroll through social media 69 ‘‘That’s gotta hurt!’’ 70 ‘‘The Puzzle Palace’’ org. 72 More straight-faced 73 Creamy Italian dish 76 Word that becomes its own opposite by putting a ‘‘T’’ at the front 77 Singer whom M.L.K. Jr. called the ‘‘queen of American folk music’’ 80 Play again, as a TV special 81 Companion in Brittany 84 Brain diagnostics, for short 85 Used as a rendezvous point 86 Devote 87 Name suffix meaning ‘‘mountain’’ 90 Fir tree 91 ‘‘Is it still a date?’’ 92 Roman goddess of wisdom 94 Prefix with color or state 95 Sugar ending 96 W.W.II fighters 97 Apps made with jalapeños and cheese 98 ‘‘You agree?’’ (*nudge, nudge*) 99 Gathers some intel 101 Actor Brody 104 Singer Willie 106 Annoying 107 Grannies 110 Blood line 112 Temporal ____ CRUSTPERMJANEGOOFS TUSHYASIAODORADMEN RECAPRAPSSOTSMISDO PICKUPTHEPIECES ARLENELEAPTOTTAWA TEAGOOVERTHEEDGEREC OPIEKIDSSEGOBATH OLDBETSYNORMARAE PLAYWITHMATCHES PIGEONSRAITTELATION ADORESEEDIERUPDOS YOLOHOTBEDIRAALFA FREEDOMOFASSEMBLY POSIESSERENE BAMGETITTOGETHERPAR ARIASTEARSINTOGNOME LENDPARTIESDOWNEPIC ALLPROSWERVE AERIESPICTURENOSEIN MOVEITPERFECTABORTS NANNYMOMENTSSENSE 12345 6789 10 11 1213 1415161718 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 313233 34 35 363738 39 40 4142 4344 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 5253 54 5556 57 5859606162 636465 66 67 686970 71 72 73 74 75 7677 78 798081 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 909192 93 949596 979899 100 101 102 103104 105 106 107108 109 110 111112 113 114 115 116 117 118

Zooming way out for a second: It’s ﬂabbergasting that so many couples counselors think a marriage that isn’t monogamous—or one that has to become non-monogamous for both parties to remain happy in it—isn’t worth saving. The bias against non-monogamous relationships is so insidious that even people whose job it is to help couples that wanna stay together ﬁgure out how they can do that will urge couples to divorce, instead of exploring non-monogamy. Never mind suggesting non-monogamy to a couple that is clearly being failed by—not failing Okay,at—monogamy.nowlet’s talk about those Yourthreesomes…wifecame out as a lesbian, SHRINKS, she didn’t come out as bisexual, so it doesn’t follow that you’re in line to have a bunch of threesomes. Even if your wife had come out as bisexual, SHRINKS, that doesn’t mean you hit the pussy lottery and you’re going to be having a lot of threesomes now. Or any threesomes. Maybe you and the wife discussed this, and she wants to have sex with you despite being a lesbian—maybe she’s willing and/or able to grandfather in your dick (grandmother in your dick?) and is looking forward to having threesomes with you and a girlfriend to be named later—but if you haven’t heard that from your wife’s mouth, SHRINKS, you might wanna tamp down those expectations. And if you haven’t heard that from your wife and you’ve been excitedly telling every couples counselor you see about all the threesomes you’re looking forward to having now that your wife is a dyke, SHRINKS, it’s possible that all those couples counselors urged you to get divorced because your wife was sitting next to you on the couch blinking out distress signals.

Having A Realistic Discussion On Needs A: This is going to sound weird, HARDON, but you need to watch some gay porn with your boyfriend. (If you can safely view it where you happen to be living right now.) In gay porn you’ll also see a lot of tops “finishing themselves off.” The top fucks the bottom for a while—sometimes for a long while—and then the top pulls out and strokes himself until he comes. Sometimes you’ll see tops pull out, give their dicks a few pumps, and shove back in. Right now your boyfriend he has it in his head that he’s disappointing you when does what most guys in gay porn seem to enjoy doing—stroking themselves a little during sex, sometimes finishing themselves off at the end—and he’s got that in his head because you put it there, HARDON, or it was already there and you’ve been reinforcing it. Here’s how you can help: stop pathologizing the way his dick works. Tell him it’s fine: tell him the sex is still a success if he wants to stroke himself now and then during sex; tell him the sex is still a success if he wants to “finish himself off” at the end like all the gay porn stars and many women do; and tell him it’s fine if he wants to bail on vaginal intercourse for whatever reason— including going soft—and eat your pussy instead. Take the pressure off his dick and his dick is likelier to come through.

COUNSELED CULTURE

ETC.

2. Open relationships can be awesome! They can also suck! If you’re happy and the wife’s happy and her future girlfriends and/or your thirds are happy, that’s awesome. But if you and/or the wife are unhappy after opening the marriage up, SHRINKS, then you’ll either have to close it again or you’ll end up having to take the advice of all those shrinks and end it.

PUBLIC NOTICE: Cellco Partnership and its controlled a liates doing business as Verizon Wireless (Verizon Wireless) proposes to build a 43-foot pole Communications Structure. No lighting is anticipated. The Site location is in the vicinity of 311 W Southern Heights Ave, Louisville, Je erson County, KY, 40214, Lat: 38-11-21.3715, Long: -85-45-56.734. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Antenna Structure Registration (ASR, Form 854) ling number is A1197602.

LEGAL CLASSIFIED LISTINGS

Hello! I am a heterosexual man! My wife came out as a lesbian after thirty years of marriage. We have children together and we love each other. Therefore, we’ve decided not to divorce. We visited some therapists and they all coerced us to divorce, even though we really do not want that. We believe that an open relationship would satisfy both of us. I’ve always wanted a threesome anyway! We read some books about opening up a relationship and we feel like we could make an open marriage work. And we know there are others out there, so we know it’s possible! Divorce is not in our Myplan.questions are…

Q: I’m a 36-year-old woman from the UK who currently resides in the Middle East. I’ve been seeing a man my same age who is also from Western Europe. The relationship is rather new and we are still getting to know each other, but we have grown very close. However, he has only managed to come inside me once. He is a ﬁt and healthy man who exercises regularly and does not have any underlying health conditions. So why does he lose his erection every other time and have to ﬁnish himself off when he doesn’t? He said he doesn’t know why this keeps happening, but he thinks it might be because he is “too in his own head” to come when he’s inside me and often loses his erection because of it. I brought up the fact that we reside in the Middle East because, as an unmarried couple, it is impossible for us to seek professional help here. I have tried reassuring him and prolonging foreplay and we have an open dialogue over what we like sexually, all to no avail. Should I give it more time? Are there any toys we could use that would help? Should I advise him to seek professional help when he travels home for his holiday? I feel helpless when he gets more frustrated with every unsuccessful attempt.

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS – Interested persons may review the application (www.fcc. gov/asr/applications) by entering the ling number. Environmental concerns may be raised by ling a Request for Environmental Review (www.fcc.gov/asr/environmentalrequest) and online lings are strongly encouraged. The mailing address to le a paper copy is: FCC Requests for Environmental Review, Attn: Ramon Williams, 445 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20554. HISTORIC PROPERTIES EFFECTS – Public comments regarding potential e ects on historic properties may be submitted within 30 days from the date of this publication to: Trileaf Corp, Kelsie Smith, k.smith@trileaf.com, 1515 Des Peres Road, Suite 200, St. Louis, MO 63131, 314-997-611. a proclivity for fantasizing, I have started to resent the fact that we always follow his schedule. It’s understandable, as he works hard and shares custody with an ex, and is younger than I am. Intellectually, I know and accept that. I just need help reconciling myself to these limitations. I like the sex a lot. It’s what I want. Somehow This Resentment Is Not Good A: I think you need to ask yourself why you’re sabotaging a good thing here. There are limitations you’ve placed on this relationship (no strings, the sex you want) for what I assume are emotional reasons, STRING, and there are limitations he’s placed on this relationship (not when he’s parenting, not what he’s working) for purely logistical reasons. If your decade of celibacy and your aversion to possessive neediness were reactions to negative experiences you had with past sexual partners—with men who were controlling or abusive—then you might be reacting to the limitations your fuck buddy needs to set as if he were attempting to control you, like past sex partners may have. In reality, of course, it’s not him who’s controlling you here, but circumstances beyond his control. When you feel resentful of him, STRING, go look in a mirror and say, “My reaction, while understandable given my history and potentially helpful, isn’t entirely rational in this instance, it isn’t fair to him, and I’m not going to let it cheat me out of sex I enjoy with someone I like.” Repeat as necessary.

1. Is it normal for therapists to force a couple to divorce when the couple does not want that? 2. Can open relationships be awesome relationships? Shrinks Hereabouts Revel In Not Knowing Shit A: Hello! I am a gay man! My answers are… 1. Calm down. Only your wife can force you to get a divorce, SHRINKS, and you’re still married. Which means you haven’t been coerced into doing anything. And while I wouldn’t describe what you encountered as normal, SHRINKS, there are a lot of therapists and counselors out there who regard preserving and protecting monogamy—its practice by individual couples, its position as a sacrosanct norm—as their chief Nowresponsibility.Idon’tknow whereabouts you live, SHRINKS, but a married couple that sees more than one therapist or counselor in a big city like mine is gonna encounter at least one open to helping married couples negotiate the transition to non-monogamy. But there’s a really simple way for couples like you to make sure you’re not wasting your time on anti-open and/or sex-negative counselors, SHRINK, and that’s to ask the therapist or counselor what their positions are on open relationships before making your ﬁrst appointment.

Cellco Partnership and its controlled a liates doing business as Verizon Wireless (Verizon Wireless) proposes to build a 43-foot telecommunications structure at the approx. vicinity of 227 E Gray St., Louisville, Je erson County, KY, 40202. Public comments regarding potential e ects from this site on historic properties may be submitted within 30 days from the date of this publication to: Trileaf Corporation, Madyson, m.croyle@ trileaf.com, 1515 Des Peres Road, Suite 200, St. Louis, MO 63131, 314-997-6111.

Followmail@savagelove.netDanonTwitter www.savagelovecast.com@FakeDanSavage.

Q: After a decade of celibacy, I started a strictly sexual tryst with a much younger man. He is lovely. We both agreed on terms: no strings. This is the ﬁrst time I’ve ever had sex with a relative stranger for such an extended period. It has been two months. This is also the ﬁrst time I’ve been honest about what I wanted sexually. So, it’s a good thing. There is no possessive neediness, I have more freedom, etc. But because I have more time on my hands and

LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 39 SAVAGE LOVE By Dan Savage | mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavageROBINSONRACHELBYPHOTO

40 LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 CINEMASPEED SPEED MOGULSEPTEMBERCINEMA2021MOWGLI

Directed by Bassam Tariq Follows the story of a rapper Zed (Academy Award Nominee Riz Ahmed) who, on the cusp of his first world tour, is struck down by an illness that forces him to face his past, his family, and the uncertainty of his legacy. 3, 4, & 5 CLASSROOMBALANCHINE’S

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Directed by Connie Hochman A documentary traveling back to the glory years of George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet through the remembrances of his former dancers and their quest to fulfill the vision of a genius. 17, 18, & 19 Non-Member $12 Member $8 Unless otherwise noted Purchase tickets in advance at speedmuseum.org/cinema

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