FREE MAR.2.2022
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LOUISVILLE ECCENTRIC OBSERVER
Volume 31 | Number 49 974 BRECKENRIDGE LANE #170. LOUISVILLE KY 40207 PHONE (502) 895-9770
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ON THE COVER April 4th - 10th, 2022
The Hope Buss INADEQUATE MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES AT THE JAIL | PAGE 8
WE RETURN TO VIETNAM KITCHEN | PAGE 23
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www.tacoweeklouisville.com
PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.
The Nonprofit That Will Lead The City’s Safe Outdoor Space For The Homeless Community
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Robin Garr, Dan Canon, Kevin Gibson, Tyrel Kessinger, Melissa Gaddie, Elizabeth Kramer, Jared Bennett, Dan Savage
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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.
LEOWEEKLY.COM // MARCH 2, 2022
VIEWS
EDITOR’S NOTE
INJUSTICE ANYWHERE... By Erica Rucker | erucker@leoweekly.com I HAD something else in mind for this week, but the lens has shifted a bit, and I feel it is necessary and right to zoom out and look at the world. With Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, I was reminded of meeting my first Ukrainian people when I was 19. Their stories of leaving behind their lives and most of their belongings due to the Chernobyl disaster seemed so distant and unusual from my own experience until I remembered the year that I, too, had to leave most of my belongings and my poodle behind as my mother moved us to a new residence. My Ukrainian friends had to pack a small suitcase, not more than 25 pounds, and make their way through decontamination and on to an unknown fate in a nation willing to accept them. The backdrop of the stories are different, mine was parental and theirs was the now infamous nuclear disaster, but the commonality of having to abandon a life you’ve spent cultivating and forming relationships are just as devastating. Most of us don’t know what it means to leave behind everything we know or to be pushed away with war on your doorstep. I was a child with scars that many children bear and the only war in my life was between the adults who were supposed to protect me. What happened in Chernobyl and what is happening in Ukraine are quite
different and yet, new scars are being created. Scars that will carry over for many years and affect generations of people. A few years ago, I interviewed a Syrian family for LEO. Again, this was a family who was displaced by a conflict that they had no part in creating, but because of the machinations of others for greed, territory or religious control, they were forced to abandon their home, friends and family. As we talked, they asked me, “Can you help?” I had no answer but to say, “I wish,” because truly, I do wish to help. I’ve always wanted to write something that could change one heart or one mind. I think many of us come to this job wanting to have some influence and voice in the world around us. Now with the gears of war turning in the Ukraine and conflict still happening in Syria and other parts of the world, the desire to help is big, a weight more than any one of us can bear alone, but collectively, we can.
Those who have been in the streets protesting around the world, despite the risks of contracting COVID or their own risks of oppression, have set the tone for the rest of us who care about those in the Ukraine being attacked. As well, those of us who recognize the interrelationships of struggle are shaken even more because all of these conflicts speak loudly to those similar in our own nation, with many of our neighbors — Black, Asian, Latin or other BiPOC — still looking over their shoulders as violence and oppression continues to follow here at home. As loud as we are about Ukraine and Russia, we have to be as loud still about Syria, about Palestine, about the Uyghurs… about ourselves. Why? Because none of these issues are isolated and none of us are free until all of us are free. So as Louisville’s eyes and hearts join the world in standing beside Ukraine… As we lit up our bridge in support, we must
keep a space alive and lit for those who need us everywhere, including here. Martin Luther King, Jr. told us many things but right now, these words are speaking ,as loud as ever: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” And when someone asks, “Can you help?” The answer is yes. If you are in the streets, yelling in protests and waving the flags of the Ukrainian people, you are helping. If you marched and ran from tear gas and flash bangs in the streets of Louisville during the 2020 protests against police violence, you helped. The will of the people is bourne when we join each other and let those demands be known. Ukraine, we’re with you, and by being with you, we are also with ourselves. Strength in numbers. For direct support of those in the Ukraine, there are many organizations accepting donations. Here are a few. World Central Kitchen: WKC.org Razom: razomforukraine.org Voices of Children: voices.org.ua/en •
LEOWEEKLY.COM // MARCH 2, 2022
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VIEWS
THE MIDWESTERNIST
AN EXCEPT FROM ‘PLEADING OUT: HOW PLEA BARGAINING CREATES A PERMANENT CRIMINAL CLASS’ By Dan Canon | leo@leoweekly.com Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from Dan Canon’s new book,”Pleading Out: How Plea Bargaining Creates a Permanent Criminal Class.” which is out on March 8. There are also three events for the book: an online event on at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 8 via Left Bank Books; an in-person event at the main location of the Louisville Free Public Library at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 10; and an in-person events at Pints & Union at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 12. Search Facebook for details. IF YOU’VE spent time in the seedier parts of the internet, you might have heard of “Rule 34.” Rule 34 is shorthand for the idea that if you can imagine something, someone has created pornography that features that thing, be it an object, a historical figure, an abstract concept, rabies, houseplants, the Indy 500: anything. There ought to be a similar rule for the American criminal justice system. In writing this book, I discovered that anything bad I could think of, no matter how frightening or outlandish, is something that has already happened. “Let’s see,” I thought one night after my third cup of coffee, “I wonder if anyone has ever been arrested for a law that doesn’t exist.” Yep. “Wild! Wonder if anyone has agreed to be physically castrated as part of a plea deal.” Sure enough. “Holy cats! Well, I wonder if a cop ever framed all the Black people in an entire town. . . .” In a system like ours, such horror stories are easy to come by. They are generated everywhere, all the time. As an American lawyer, I have a backstage pass to the blood, guts and gore of it all. I’ve seen cops lock people up for years without trial, just to get them to plead guilty to something. I’ve seen innocent people pressed into pleading guilty by overworked defense attorneys. I’ve seen defendants describe details of things they couldn’t possibly have done to judges who knew they were lying but
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let them go to prison for it anyway. I’ve seen good people get thrown in cages for the most minor mistakes imaginable, cages that they never really get out of, even after they serve their time. If you don’t have a law license, you probably don’t get to see the inner workings of the bizarre contraption that doles out what we loosely refer to as “justice.” Paradoxically, if you are in the courthouse every day, you probably don’t think much about the injustices you see because you see so many of them. Shortly after law school, most lawyers learn to accept the haphazard tinkering we do with the rights and liberties of our fellow citizens. And once we learn to accept those realities — even those that would repulse most nonlawyers — it isn’t that hard to normalize them or even to believe that justice couldn’t possibly be dispensed in any other way. In other words, the horror stories don’t look horrible to us. They look quite ordinary. Among these everyday monstrosities is the practice of plea bargaining. It’s a quotidian injustice that most of the public doesn’t know or care much about. Legal professionals, on the other hand, are steeped in it. For as long as any of us can remember, we have been taught that plea bargaining is the way to manage crime, so we don’t question it. Some judges and lawyers, unable to imagine any reality other than our current one, believe that this is the only way our system has ever functioned. The common refrain heard from legal professionals is that a reduction in plea bargaining would “crash the system”— that is, any change would create a vast swamp of cases from which the criminal courts might never escape. As someone who has had the honor of representing defendants at just about
every stage of criminal proceedings, I myself long believed that plea bargaining was a natural, necessary, and beneficial part of our justice system. But time, research, and years of speaking for people trying to undo the guilty pleas they entered have all changed my mind. This book will argue that despite its nearly universal acceptance in the United States, the practice of plea bargaining is not natural, necessary, or beneficial. In fact, no other country on Earth relies on plea bargaining to the extent that the United States does, and it’s no coincidence that so many legal systems function much better than ours. Some U.S. jurisdictions have also experimented with ending plea bargaining, with surprising results. This book will look at those examples to expose plea bargaining for what it really is: a means to perpetuate centuries-old class conflict, a tool for satisfying the insatiable appetite of the prison-industrial complex, and a chief enabler of the ills that plague our criminal justice system today. • Dan Canon is a civil rights lawyer and law professor. His book “Pleading Out: How Plea Bargaining Creates a Permanent Criminal Class” is available for preorder wherever you get your books.
FOR A BETTER US YMCA OF GREATER LOUISVILLE The YMCA of Greater Louisville is the leading nonprofit committed to strengthening community by connecting all people to their potential, purpose, and each other. We focus on improving health and well-being, empowering young people, and inspiring action in our local communities. By bringing together people from different backgrounds, perspectives, and generations, we ensure that we all have access to the opportunities, relationships, and resources necessary to learn, grow, and thrive. We believe that everyone benefits when we all have the resources to be our best selves. For more than 169 years, the YMCA of Greater Louisville has striven to meet the ever-changing needs of our community through our mission to build a healthy spirit, mind, and body for all. What We Do All YMCA programs and services are focused on our primary areas of impact that help people achieve their goals and strengthen community.
The Y supports HEALTHY LIVING People of all ages, interests, and skill levels can find fitness classes, family activities, and group interests they need to lead active, vibrant lives. The Y brings families and communities closer together, encourages better health and fosters connections through fitness, sports, fun, and shared interests. As a result, millions of youth, adults, and families are receiving the support, guidance, and resources needed to reach their health goals. We offer Kids’ Club childcare while you work out, group fitness classes both in and out of the water, in addition to state-of-the-art wellness floors. Personal training and healthy living coaches are on-site to help members achieve their wellness goals. The Y supports YOUTH DEVELOPMENT All children deserve the opportunity to discover who they really are and what they can achieve. That’s why, through
SCHOOL-AGE CHILD CARE
The Y supports SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Through community programs, local outreach, and global engagement, we provide support and inspire action in our communities. Everyone in our community deserves to have care and respect. That can mean developing skills and emotional balance through education and training, welcoming and connecting diverse populations through global services, preventing chronic disease, and building healthier communities through collaborations with policymakers. Education
is fundamental to a strong community and the Y is a committed advocate for academic and career success for all families, especially those in under-served communities. To strengthen our community, YMCA Safe Place Services is providing help, hope, and healing to teens and families in crisis. YMCA Safe Place Services seeks to strengthen families by breaking cycles of violence, abuse and turmoil and giving children and families the resources they need for a better future. From youth mentoring and family mediation services to street outreach initiatives and trauma-informed care, YMCA Safe Place Services is redefining how our community addresses the needs of at-risk youth. The Y serves people of all ages, backgrounds, abilities, and incomes. The Y offers financial assistance through a sliding fee scale designed to fit each individual’s financial situation. Visit one our 10 convenient branch locations in Southern Indiana and the Louisville Area.
SWIM LESSONS
YMCA BLACK ACHIEVERS
save lives by giving people of all ages a life-long skill through certified instruction that emphasizes the importance of safety, confidence, and endurance in the water.
provides a safe, enriching environment where kids in elementary and middle school can learn, grow and thrive during the critical hours before and after school.
Non profit ad_Leo weekly_Feb 22.indd 1
the Y, millions of youth today are cultivating the values, skills, and relationships that lead to positive behaviors, better health, and academic achievement. Y Programs such as youth sports, swim lessons, summer day camp, and before- and-after school care give children the space and guidance to thrive. The Y exposes children to new opportunities to build confidence, self-esteem, and life-saving skills. Other programs for youth include YMCA Black Achievers, Love Notes, and Safety Around Water.
motivates teens in grades 8 -12 during the academic school-year to strive for their full potential and work hard to reach their higher education and career goals.
HEALTH, WELL-BEING & FITNESS
SAFE PLACE SERVICES SHELTER
programs provide the activity and motivation to help individuals and families learn healthy choices while growing stronger in spirit, mind, and body.
offers free, temporary residential shelter to homeless and vulnerable youth, ages 12-17, as well as provides mediation and other resources for the youth and their families. PM LEOWEEKLY.COM //2/25/2022 MARCH12:53:15 2, 2022
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THE HISTORY OF BOCK FEST AND GOAT RACING IN LOUISVILLE By Kevin Gibson | leo@leoweekly.com
WHEN THE BEER starts pouring and the goats start running in NuLu on March 26, NuLu Bock & Wurst Fest will be a fun family event — and it will hearken back to the mid-1800s, when German immigrants began arriving in Louisville, bringing their brewing traditions with them. The full story is a lot to unpack, so let’s start with the beer. While German brewers brought lager brewing to Louisville — often typified by pale yellow, crisp beers — another style of lager made the trip as well: bock beer. Bock in those days was made with dark malts and fermented for months in underground tunnels over the winter, rather than lighter malts fermented for a few weeks. The result was a thick, hearty beer with about double the alcohol content as a typical lager. The beers would be barreled over the winter, and then released in March to coincide with Lent. The thick, rich beer would provide nutrition during Lenten fasting, and it was also sort of a de facto welcoming of spring. As “bock” was a German reference to a goat, signs in tavern windows all over the city would bear likenesses of goats in announcing the coming of Bock Day. There’s also a legendary back story of how bock beer came to be. In a March 21, 1914, Courier Journal article, the story took on this form: “It is legend that Jan Primus, or John First, whose name has come down to present times as ‘Gambrinus,’ had a vagabond serving man who ran away from his master and carried with him two stone bottles of beer with which to refresh himself on his travels. He drank the first bottle of beer and then buried the other until he required it. But he wandered far and it was not until hunger drove him homeward that he came on the place where he had buried the bottle of beer. “It had had several months in which to ripen, or ‘lager,’ and the serf was delighted and surprised to learn that it had greatly improved in quality and flavor, and being a wise knave, he saw his chance to make favor with his master and escape the punishment which he rightly anticipated. “Accordingly, the runaway took the bottle of lagered beer to his master and was not disappointed at the pleasure that the king found in the discovery. The result was that Gambrinus had his castle brewer put away a lot of beer every winter to ripen, and thus he became the patron saint of the ancient and honorable Guild of Brewers.” Is it true? Probably not, but what the heck. Of course, local breweries will be creating their own bock beer for the festival, in keeping with this tradition. But rather than having a Bock Day celebration for families, as with Bock & Wurst Fest, Louisvillians then celebrated in a different way: by getting sloshed. From the middle to late 1800s up until close to Prohibition, Bock Day was sort of like Oaks Day in modern times — people anticipated it for weeks, took off work and celebrated, typically drinking bock most of the day and into the evening. Hey, they’d been waiting all winter for this treat, right? A 1903 description of Bock beer in the C-J described it as having a “particularly grateful sweetness that is highly appreciated by the beer drinker.” Additionally, a 1910 C-J story noted that Bock typically packed 7-8% alcohol, which
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was enough to “make an excessive indulgence a trifle dangerous to those who are not accustomed to malt beverages.” That the standard lager of that time was closer to 4% ABV meant that not everyone was on their best behavior in Louisville when Bock Day rolled around. In researching my book “Louisville Beer: Derby City History on Draft,” I found quite a few fun anecdotes by way of The Courier Journal archives via the Louisville Free Public Library. On March 18, 1894, Henry Caldwell and Mary Smith apparently enjoyed several bock beers, according to a police account, and decided to make a living, breathing bock beer sign to celebrate their enthusiasm for Bock Day. However, as they couldn’t find a goat, they instead stole a pig and apparently tried to paint the poor animal into a sign near the corner of Ninth and Walnut streets. “The beast objected loudly,” according to the report, and the noise disturbed church services that were happening nearby, so Louisville Police was summoned. “Officers McPeak and Hessian arrested all three. The pig was sent to the West End pound, and the man and woman to the station house. They told different stories about how they came into possession of the pig.” On March 30, 1891, “Babe” Field stabbed Hugh Walker in the stomach in a drunken fight over a game; several people were stabbed that day as fights broke out around downtown, including Stephen Jones, a brick mason who was stabbed in the chest near the corner of Wenzel and Main. April 11, 1892, one Bock Day headline read, “Fannie Dillon Buries Hatchet in the Side of Kate East’s Head.” Yes, the two had been drinking bock beer all day. From death threats to mudball fights to thrown chairs to broken windows, over the decades there was plenty of rowdy bock-inspired behavior around Louisville. Bock beer popularity declined after Prohibition, and while local breweries still brewed it, Bock Day disappeared as an annual holiday. But what about those goat races? Well, that’s not a Bock Day tradition, but rather a storied Main Street tradition. The well-known Nanny Goat Strut and Billy Goat Strut alleys have those names for a simple reason. Before there was organized horse racing in Louisville — Churchill Downs opened in 1875 — there was goat racing along Main Street. Those alleys got their name as a result, or at least that’s the legend. But according to a 1958 Courier Journal accounts, the alleys as we know them today didn’t exist until around 1910, and it was much later that they were given their official names. The alleys apparently originated in an area that as early as 1831 had been known as “Preston’s Enlargement.” Alleys around downtown generally were given colloquial names by local residents, and both Billy Goat Strut and Nanny Goat Strut were simply referred to that way by locals
An old sign for bock beer from Frank Fehr Brewing Co. | PHOTO BY KEVIN GIBSON.
in the beginning. The Louisville Free Public Library gathered these names, and in the late 1950s, the city officially named the various alleys and erected signs. Another interesting note: In 1975, a group of residents who had alley addresses petitioned what then was known as the Louisville Board of Aldermen to change the names of these alleys, saying it was “degrading” for them to live at an “alley” address. One thought was to rename them as “courts” or “ways.” Billy Goat Strut Alley’s name was not changed in part because by that time only one person lived directly on the alley, at the 816 address between Shelby and Campbell. Lucky for us, as the names are quick conversation starters today. NuLu Bock & Wurst Fest, which started in 2015, marries the bock tradition to this goat racing legacy, and adds Kentucky Proud sausages made by local chefs. So, when you grab a bock on March 26 and pick the goat you want to win, you’re carrying on two Louisville traditions at once. The festival is 1-6 p.m. that day, and you can bet NuLu is going to party like it’s 1899. Well, without all the mayhem. •
LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA PRESENTS
THE COLOR, PASSION, AND RHYTHMIC ENERGY OF LATIN MUSIC EXPLODES WITH BRILLIANT WORKS. New works and a First Edition commission celebrate the trailblazing spirit of the Louisville Orchestra, featuring the exciting young timba band, PEOPLE OF EARTH. Prepare for dazzling concerts showcasing the variety and sophistication of music of Latin American composers and those inspired by these vibrant cultures.
WORLD PREMIERE PERFORMANCES FESTIVAL OF LATIN AMERICAN MUSIC 1 Teddy Abrams, conductor 4 MAR 11AM 5 MAR 8PM Kentucky Center
Heitor VILLA-LOBOS: Alvarada na floresta tropical (“Dawn in a Tropical Forest”) Dafnis PRIETO: Tentación (“Temptation”) WORLD PREMIERES Angélica NEGRÓN: Fractal Isles Leonard BERNSTEIN: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
CONCIERTO DE ARANJUEZ
FESTIVAL OF LATIN AMERICAN MUSIC 2 Teddy Abrams, conductor 11 MAR 11AM 12 MAR 8PM Kentucky Center
Aaron COPLAND: El Salón México Gabriela Lena FRANK: Concertiňo Cusqueňo Jose Pablo MONCAYO: Cumbres (”Summits” ) Clarice ASSAD: Nhanderu Arturo MARQUEZ: Danzón No. 2 George GERSHWIN: Cuban Overture
Kalena Bovell, conductor Stephen Mattingly, guitar 24, 25, 26 MAR Check website for locations and times
Georges BIZET: Suite No. 1 from Carmen Joaquin RODRIGO: Concierto de Aranjuez Alberto GINASTERA: Variaciones concertantes
502-587-8681
For more information on these concerts, visit LouisvilleOrchestra.org/concerts. Season tickets still on sale! Covid protocols apply
LEOWEEKLY.COM // MARCH 2, 2022
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NEWS & ANALYSIS
EXPERTS: INADEQUATE MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES, POLICIES CONTRIBUTE TO LOUISVILLE JAIL SUICIDES This story was produced by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit newsroom by Louisville Public Media. For more, visit KyCIR.org. If you’re thinking about suicide, are worried about a friend or loved one or would like emotional support, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-2738255 or 1-888-628-9454 for Spanish speakers.
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Of the six people who have died in Louisville’s jail since November, three reportedly died by suicide. | PHOTO BY CAROLYN BROWN
THE DEATHS
In early December last year, Stephanie Dunbar got in two fights in two separate dorms. The 48-year old woman was moved to a singleperson cell where she took her own life. A few weeks later, corrections officers found 41-year old Garry Wetherill attempting suicide. Wetherill was taken to the University of Louisville hospital where he was taken off life support and died Jan. 1. A jail officer found Lesley Starnes, 36, attempting suicide shortly after midnight on Feb. 6. Starnes was taken to UofL Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Three others have died from other causes since November: Kenneth Hall, 59; Rickitta Smith, 34; and Keith Smith, 66. The cause of death has not been announced, but corrections officers said they administered Narcan on Smith, usually a response to an apparent overdose. Eight people died by suicide in the custody of Louisville’s jail between 2009 and 2019, with half in 2015 alone, according to data compiled by Reuters. Bureau of Justice Statistics data show suicides in local jails nationwide have been increas-
THE WORST, BEST & MOST ABSURD THORN: THIS IS LIFE OR DEATH There’s something often missing from the debate about whether Quintez Brown should have been bailed out of jail after being charged with shooting at mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg. Metro Corrections is saying that three of the six deaths at the jail since November have been suicides. All indicators point to Brown having serious mental heath issues. To keep him in jail may very well have been a death sentence. Throughout this whole situation, we’ve avoided the loss of a life. Let’s keep it that way.
By Jared Bennett | Kentucky Center For Investigative Reporting
THREE of the six people who died in the Louisville jail over the past four months died by their own hands. These numbers point to a crisis at the jail, one that jail records suggest has the potential to get even worse: Louisville Metro Department of Corrections staff have taken preventative measures to stop suicidal acts at least three times since the latest death on Feb. 6, according to incident reports obtained by KyCIR. The frequency of incidents, inadequate mental health services and policies experts find lacking suggest the Louisville jail is not a safe place for someone suffering from a mental health crisis. Jasmine Heiss, the project director of the Vera Institute of Justice’s In Our Backyards initiative which focuses on mass incarceration at the local level, said correctional facilities are constitutionally mandated to provide adequate mental health and medical care. The Department of Justice investigates civil rights violations in jails, and the FBI is investigating one of the six recent deaths in Louisville. “Very often people act as the constitutional rights of incarcerated people evaporate at the jailhouse door, and that should not be the case,” said Heiss.
THORNS & ROSES
ing, to 355 in 2019, the most recent data available. Heiss says the increase of suicidal behaviors in jails over the past two years could be indicators of a larger mental health issues across society writ large. “People have been struggling during the pandemic, mentally and emotionally,” Heiss said. “Our criminal justice system is so often just showing the symptoms of larger social issues and public health issues, so it makes sense that this would be echoed and magnified there.” Mayor Greg Fischer announced new steps last week to address the conditions at the jail, including the hiring of two new public services assistant chiefs for jail oversight and consultant Gary Raney, a retired Idaho sheriff and jail death expert who will review the recent suicides, policies and procedures at the jail. “While suicides in jails are sadly common, every death is a tragedy, and we must work to ensure we are taking all appropriate measures to combat them,” Fischer said in a press release. Fischer said the jail is working with its healthcare contractor Wellpath to review its suicide assessment
ABSURD: BREAKING BAD IN NEW ME—, ER, ALBANY An IUS professor has allegedly pulled a Walter White. Police discovered a “very large psilocybin mushroom grow operation” inside her home, including 295 pounds of psilocybin-infused liquid, over three and a half pounds of actual psilocybin mushrooms, six grams of LSD paper and more. Instead of being motivated by cancer, however, fine arts teacher Anne Allen told police she had a different medical condition that necessitated the use of her “oyster mushrooms:” The munchies. THORN: THE RUSH TO UNMASK As COVID cases dip, Republican lawmakers, like Louisville council member Anthony Piagentini, are clamoring to rip the masks from school children’s faces… now! Hey, we all want the pandemic to be over. But, the CDC and Kentucky’s health commissioner have come out with their guidance: Masks can be abandoned once community COVID levels hit green. So, sit down, zip your lips and you can raise your hand once we get there. ROSE: FOR TRYING Kentucky Democrats introduced two marijuana legalization bills two weeks ago.
NEWS & ANALYSIS
and prevention measures, as well as conducting one-on-one reviews with people held in single cells and increasing contact with new arrivals. Louisville Metro Department of Corrections assistant director Steve Durham said the jail isn’t commenting further on the recent deaths while Fischer’s review is underway, and Durham didn’t respond to questions about jail policies. Daniel Johnson, president of FOP Lodge 77, the jail staff’s union, said correctional officers are overwhelmed. With more than 150 staff vacancies, they’re unable to keep an eye out for all the signs of an impending mental health crisis, he said. Two Incident reports dating Feb. 6, the same day Starnes died, and Feb. 7, indicate there was no mental health staff on the premises, leaving jail staff to deal with someone in a crisis without the help of a trained professional. Wellpath’s contract requires the company to provide a mental health director on-site Monday through Friday, with psychiatric nurses and social workers on site all week for a combined total of 316 hours per week. But jail officials and corrections
officers say Wellpath is facing staffing problems of its own, and the jail is often without a mental health professional on site in case of emergencies. “After 5 p.m., there is nobody. On the weekends, there is nobody,” Johnson said. The contract states that incarcerated people can replace paid staff for certain jobs, including suicide watch, and Johnson says this is a common practice at the jail. A Wellpath spokesperson didn’t respond to questions about its staffing levels or suicide prevention measures. Jails across the country are shifting towards private medical providers, according to Reuters. The news organization surveyed every jail that holds at least 750 people and found those with private medical providers had average death rates 18 to 58% higher than jails where public agencies provide healthcare. “When there is a profit incentive built into the contracts, there sometimes can be a disincentive to promptly respond to things that may be more costly, or burdensome, ” said Heiss of the Vera Institute of Justice. Anasseril E. Daniel, a psychiatrist and
former director of psychiatric services at the Missouri Department of Corrections, says that most suicides can be prevented if jails implement policies that identify mental health concerns before a crisis arrives. Daniel says the frequency of suicides and attempts in Louisville’s jail suggests a problem with the screening process. LMDC’s suicide prevention and intervention policy states that new arrivals will be screened for mental health including suicidal behavior when they are first booked. A more effective policy, according to Daniel, would use screening tools specifically designed to detect suicidal behavior, rather than including this measure as part of a more general screening policy. Daniel says the National Commission of Correctional Health Care standard that many jails use as the basis for their policies requires using a questionnaire designed specifically to capture subtle signs of someone who may be at risk of suicide. Jail policy also dictates that people meet with a mental health professional within 14 days if they are flagged for mental health concerns, though Durham
more beer?
roger, roger.
said people make follow up appointments sooner as necessary. Two weeks is far too long, Daniel said, and people should meet with a licensed mental health professional within 72 hours. About a quarter of suicides in jails occur within 24 hours of confinement, and half occur within the first two weeks, according to BJS data. Two people who died by suicide recently in the Louisville jail had been there for less than two weeks. “We are losing valuable time to identify the at risk individual,” Daniel said. Once someone is identified the jail can take appropriate steps such as placing someone under constant observation and regular contact with mental health staff. “All of this points to the global issue of whether this jail is taking suicide prevention as a major issue,” Daniel said. “There must be a paradigm shift in the administration, and beyond that of course allocation of resources, finding appropriate mental health professionals to do the screening, monitoring and evaluation.” Roberto Roldan contributed to this report. •
tailspin ale fest louisville’s winter warmer
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LEOWEEKLY.COM // MARCH 2, 2022
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Stachelle Bussey in front of a bus owned by The Hope Buss, which is designed as a mobile pantry. | PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.
Breaking Barriers
The City’s Ambitious New Safe Outdoor Space For The Homeless Community Will Be Led By The Scrappy Nonprofit, The Hope Buss By Josh Wood | jwood@leoweekly.com WHEN THE HOPE BUSS began operations in 2018, it started off small: providing rides to grocery stores to people who lived in Louisville’s vast food deserts and could not otherwise get to supermarkets. Over the years, the small nonprofit’s operations expanded, from rides to the polls on Election Day to a food pantry that delivers boxes of groceries to families in need
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and an emergency assistance program to help people in dire need of money for things like their utility bills, car repair or legal fees. But now, The Hope Buss is poised to take on responsibilities of a much larger proportion: The running of the city’s safe outdoor space — which will house up to 50 homeless people living in ice fishing tents on city-owned land on the
eastern edge of Old Louisville — and overseeing the program’s $1.5 million budget. “Systemically, this project wasn’t set up for somebody like us to have it,” says Stachelle Bussey, the 34-year-old Black reverend who founded and runs the nonprofit. “You can just tell. And so we’ve had to jump through a lot of different hoops to convince people that we could do the work.”
Bussey, who grew up poor in Louisville’s mostly Black West End, started her nonprofit after seeing the glaring disparities around her and wanting to give people the help they need, not the help that others outside of their neighborhoods might think they need. It is those disparities — the lack of grocery stores, the lack of housing, just how the streetscapes of Louisville look different when you cross from East to West — that pushed The Hope Buss’s progression from grocery store runs to running a program on behalf a city whose police force Bussey marched against during the 2020 Breonna Taylor protests. The Hope Village, as the safe outdoor space program will be called, will be a staffed and monitored encampment that will host homeless people on a referral basis. The site had been scheduled to open on or before March 1, but, according to the city, it is on track to open in mid-March. Modeled after a program in Denver, the idea is for The Hope Village to act as a hub with wraparound services that can help those living on the street transition into stable housing and get connected to help with things like substance abuse counseling and mental and physical health care. The idea is also to engage in harm reduction by meeting people where they are
Hope Buss Co-founder Angel L. Todd. | PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.
at, understanding that there are root causes that keep people living on the street. “We hear stories all the time: People get in an apartment and they still pitch their tent in the living room. So it’s very much like a mentality and working with folks past that. Just giving somebody an apartment is not the answer,” says Angel Todd, The Hope Buss’ director of operations. “We have to have those wraparound services, we have to work with them to introduce them or reintroduce them to what it looks like to be in a home, to be in these four wall kind of situations.”
HOPE IS GRITTY
A few years back, Bussey was a social worker in Louisville for the state. It was horrible, and she’s blocked out when exactly she was a social worker, she tells me one February morning while wearing a camo “Hope Dealer” baseball cap in the basement of the Shawnee church that The Hope Buss is headquartered out of. During her time as a social worker, “My eyes were just widened at the way that white people got services and help
and Black people got the book thrown at them,” she says. “I saw disparities and gaps in the way that people were receiving services or help. I sat in on meetings and I watched poverty be criminalized. I just knew it wasn’t the work for me.” Bussey says as a social worker, she’d see things differently than some of her colleagues. To her, when she’d see a single mother with five kids, with some sleeping on the couch or a mattress on the floor of the living room, she wouldn’t see a mother who couldn’t take care of her kids, she’d see somebody who was being resilient. She also started to see what she labels “toxic charity” — charity that doesn’t take into account what people on the ground actually need. That kind of charity that might make those giving feel good about themselves, but it does not move the needle for those in need. “I think a lot of the time, people at the top don’t talk to people at the bottom, so then it’s like, ‘Let’s just create services that we think people need,’” she says. “Well, that’s toxic charity, because it’s not an exchange, it’s not a communal exchange.” She gives an example: “If I look at Antwone and think LEOWEEKLY.COM // MARCH 2, 2022
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Angel L. Todd and Stachelle Bussey. | PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON. Inside the bus. | PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.
that Antwone’s shirt is wrinkled and he needs an iron and I say, ‘You know what? I’m going to give Antwone an iron.’ And Antwone’s like, ‘What I really need is electricity, I have an iron.’” I ask her about the slogan on her hat, Hope Dealer. To her, hope is not always something warm and fuzzy. “I really emphasize to people that we don’t need to romanticize hope. Because most of the time hope is dressed up as this cute thing. But it’s not. It’s gritty sometimes,” she says. “It’s not cute all the time. Hope is making the decision whether I’m going to take all these pills and take my life or I can find the one thing to live for. Like somebody makes that decision when they wake up. Hope is like finding the one thing and then when you know somebody.”
BORN IN THE PROTESTS
Bussey heard about Breonna Taylor’s death in a botched March 2020 LMPD raid before it became big news. Ju’Niyah Palmer, Taylor’s sister, had been a student of Bussey’s at Central High School, where Bussey is an assistant band director. And Taylor’s death was being talked about in her circles, despite initially slipping below the radar of the news cycle. When spontaneous mass protests broke out on May 28, 2020 after audio of a 911 call made by Taylor’s distraught boyfriend was released by the Courier Journal, Bussey knew she had to participate. So she headed to Sixth and Jefferson, to the small downtown park tucked between the city government’s centers of power. “Typically that space, for Black people, is like D-Day,” she says. “We don’t go down there. It’s the courthouse. It’s the jail. Our uncles. Our cousins. We don’t do gown there. You know, it’s like that space is typically the point of no return.” Bussey quickly became a staple at the protests and a leader.
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It was in the protests that Bussey saw glimmers of what society could and should be: Those who needed food were given food. Those who needed shelter were given shelter. There was music. Everybody worked together for the common good. “What a display of what we could actually be,” she says. “This community, this city.” And to her, being out in the streets fighting for change lined up perfectly with her Christian theology. “I think Jesus was a radical,” she says. “He did everything to upset systems that kept people oppressed. That’s what Jesus was, right?” At a Jan. 18 press conference where the city announced that The Hope Buss has been selected to run the safe outdoor space, Bussey talked about a Louisville transformed by the protests. “After 2020, none of us can ever be the same,” she said. “I marched in the streets with people who I made a pledge to: That whenever I got to the table, nothing would ever be the same. This is about equity, and I think this is the beginning of our city making equitable decisions” To Louisville’s former chief of community building Vincent James, the protests had a “tremendous” impact on how city government acted and thought. During the protests, James acted as a liaison between the city and protesters. It was a careful balance, with both sides distrustful of the other, but it was a result of those contacts and building trust with the protest community that “our city did not burn down when it very well could have,” he says. The meetings also brought James back in regular contact with Bussey, who had been a musician at Elim Baptist Church, where he is a pastor. Overall, he says, his contacts with protesters and groups like Bussey’s raised voices and concerns from the streets to the highest levels of power in Louisville. “Typically, that’s not the group that the city would reach out to. So I think by raising their voices, the city became
aware of what the needs were in this group that typically was not the usual suspects that we wind up partnering with or working with in the community,” he says. “There’s a whole group of folks that now we have an opportunity to engage, that hadn’t had a voice before, but now when they raised their voice, we heard loud and clear.” The selection of The Hope Buss to run the safe outdoor space shows James that the city is able to partner with smaller, community-based nonprofits and help them develop the strength and resources they need to take on larger projects. “The city has the ability to be able to work with small community-based organizations to help them build capacity to help them take on these larger-scale projects that they’re well suited for,” he says. “She didn’t have the infrastructure for it. But working with the city, building that out, it helped her be prepared in a way that she could really be able to impact change.”
HOPE VILLAGE OPERATIONS
The Hope Village was originally scheduled to open on or before March 1, but it is currently slated to open by mid-March according to Susan Buchino, the city’s director of homeless services. She says supply chain and logistical issues have been responsible for the delay. Once it is opened, Hope Village will begin taking in residents on a referral basis and will house up to 50 individuals in heavy-duty ice fishing tents.The Hope Buss will position mobile showers and portable toilets at the site. They also hope to turn a carport into a community pavilion where residents can get together and receive visitors. The city has talked about eventually renovating a vacant building on the 212 E. College St. property and using it as transitional housing, a project that they anticipate will cost $7.5 million. At its outset though, the site will be home to non-permanent structures.
Hope Buss staff and volunteers organize donations in a food pantry in the basement of the West End church the nonprofit is headquartered out of. | PHOTO BY JOSH WOOD.
Without any structures up yet and still resembling an empty lot, driving past the site on Feb. 27 it was hard to envision what the supervised encampment would look like when operational. But once it’s up and running, The Hope Buss hopes the site will act as a stepping stone for those experiencing homelessness, empowering residents while also connecting them with the services they need. Those living at Hope Village will also have an opportunity to do some of the necessary jobs there like food service and custodial duties. (Todd, the operations director, said she did not have an exact figure for how much that they would be paid, but said that it would be “a fairly decent wage.”) Income is a key part of helping residents transition into stable housing, but stable income can often be hard to obtain for those who are homeless. “This is what that stepping stone looks like,” said Todd. “Compensation for folks who don’t have any kind of income or are in that transition is very important. They’ll help with food, cleanliness, all of that.” The Hope Village will operate on a referral model, with homeless outreach organizations recommending potential
residents, who will then be reviewed by an advisory council. Todd said that two of the seats on the council will be reserved for Hope Village residents, making them a part of the running of their community. While new residents will have to be referred, Bussey says the doors of The Hope Village will be open to give other kinds of help to those who might need it. “People will be able to walk up and like if they need a shower, they can take a shower, or use the bathroom or get a meal. But as far as living in there, it’ll be referrals-based only,” says Bussey. The Hope Village represents a roughly $3 million investment by the city — $1.6 million for the purchase of the property and an estimated operation budget of $1.5 million. The funds are coming from the city’s allotted federal American Rescue Plan COVID-relief money. However, The Hope Buss was not simply handed $1.5 million to get the safe outdoor space project up and running; Rather, it is being run an a reimbursement model, with The Hope Buss having to spend first and then wait to be paid back, a process that could take between 30 and 90 days according to Todd, the operations director.
The Hope Buss is planning on hiring additional staff to help run The Hope Village, but there is the feeling that it will be a lean operation by necessity. In the basement of the Shawnee church The Hope Buss works out of, some shelves in a room used to store food pantry donations were labeled “THV” (as in, The Hope Village) and are being piled with foodstuffs and other supplies to be used in the safe outdoor space. Asked how the organization would get by while having to front the money for the operation of The Hope Village, Bussey says “by the grace of God.” (Todd, the operations director, said that some partners of The Hope Buss said they can front money if needed; Bussey said she was not allowed to talk about that.) The Hope Buss’ partnership with the city of Louisville — which will provide advisory, logistical and financial support — will take some of the financial burden off of the non-profit. “We’ve really partnered with The Hope Buss to learn their vision and then supporting them in putting that together,” says Buchino, the city’s director of homeless services. LEOWEEKLY.COM // MARCH 2, 2022
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PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.
There are some things, like plumbing and electricity work, where the city has relationships with contractors and can get the work done quicker. And with funding running on a reimbursement model, the city is taking over payment for some of the bigger ticket items, freeing up resources for The Hope Buss. For example, the city purchased the 50 ice fishing tents, which cost $310 a piece. According to Bussey, Hope Village will handle its own security, and she does not want the village to interact with LMPD. “We want to explore other options for safety,” she says. The Hope Village is located in LMPD’s 4th Division, which is set to begin a 911 diversion pilot program that would see some emergency calls routed to trained crisis interventionists and could see in-person responses from a non-police crisis intervention unit. Bussey said she hopes to work with that program, which the city says will be operational in mid-March. Bussey said The Hope Village’s own security personnel will be trauma-informed and will patrol the area. If a new resident arrived with a knife, she says they’d likely just hold it in storage for them until the resident left. “It’s hard out here on the streets,” she says. Bussey hopes that by doing the work she’s doing, she’s chipping away at the poverty that plagues Louisville — poverty that she sees as driving Louisville’s violence in the city’s back-to-back deadliest years. “Wherever you find poverty you’re going to find violence. People think it’s the other way around, but it’s not,” she says.
DENVER AN INSPIRATION
A safe outdoor space program in Denver that has been operational since 2020 has served as an inspiration to Louisville and has offered advice and logistical support to city officials and Hope Buss team members. The Colorado Village Collaborative is currently providing shelter to 136 people at three sites in Denver. A fourth
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site is set to open in the coming months and will bring their capacity to 200. “What really struck me was… you could drive by these spaces and not know they were there,” says Buchino, the city’s homeless services director, who recently visited two of the Colorado Village Collaborative safe outdoor spaces. “It didn’t add chaos to the neighborhood. And the residents of the safe spaces were very grateful to be there.” Speaking to LEO, Cuica Montoya, safe outdoor space program director at the Colorado Village Collaborative, said that the Denver safe outdoor spaces gained their initial support during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as “a temporary solution for stay-at-home orders for people who didn’t have a home to stay at home at.” The Denver sites utilize the same sturdy ice fishing tents that the Hope Village will, but other aspects are different. For one, the project got off the ground with private sector seed money. And while they get city government funding now after a little initial reluctance, the group has been using private land for its programs after running into complications in using city-owned land. While people may fear that a safe outdoor space means moving an underpass-style homeless encampment to their neighborhood, Montoya says that is not the case. “There’s a lot of fear-based feelings around folks that are experiencing homelessness, and I think that a lot of that fear is based in kind of unmanaged, unsanctioned encampments,” she said. “[A safe outdoor space] isn’t unmanaged, unsanctioned encampments; It’s a managed site that is staffed 24/7 that has connection points and resources for folks to solve their housing crisis.”
REMOVING BARRIERS
When the gates of the Hope Village finally open to residents, it will not be the first time that The Hope Buss shelters the homeless. In February of 2021, severe cold was putting the lives of those living on the street in Louisville at risk. For The Hope
Buss, the start of the year was typically a quiet period, a time to reevaluate and restock for the busy year ahead. But Bussey felt a call to action; She decided to open up a pop-up shelter at Unity Church where The Hope Buss had offices at the time. She didn’t waste time trying to get any permits, she just opened the church’s doors to those who needed shelter. “I said, ‘I don’t care, give me a fine,’” she says. “I don’t know rules, man. I specialize in people, not politics. I don’t got time to play semantics when lives are on the line.” At the church, which is across the street from the planned Hope Village on the edge of Old Louisville, the number of people sheltered grew from about five on the first day to more than 70 the next, according to Bussey. Ultimately, “hundreds” cycled through over the course of the two weeks it was operational. The Hope Buss didn’t have cots, so they padded the floors of the church with carpets and blankets. They provided coffee, pop, snacks and cigarettes. They showed movies. They tried to treat people like they would want to be treated. The shelter — the only experience The Hope Buss has had yet at running a housing program for homeless people — largely operated without a hitch. It was also an example of Bussey’s do first, ask forgiveness later attitude. “I don’t really see boundaries,” she says. “People see all these titles — like the mayor. And I’m like: ‘Can’t we just knock on the door?’” The Hope Village is part of that barrier-breaking mission to change the world around her. “A lot of our systems, especially in the city, teach us to do this: Dance around the barrier — not remove it. People will coach you through working around the barriers. I don’t understand that,” she says. “Like… if there’s a door and the door is the barrier, it seems to me that I would want to take it off the hinges. But people wouldn’t do that. People would teach me how to squeeze through the door, people will teach me how to take the glass out. No — I’m not doing that.” •
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STAFF PICKS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2-5
‘80s Week
Falls City Brewing Co. | 901 E. Liberty St. | Search Facebook | No cover | Times vary Falls City Brewing Co. is throwing it back to the ‘80s all week with four nights of events: ‘80s trivia on Wednesday, ‘80s moves on Thursday, a themed silent disco on TIMELESS Friday and ‘80s cover band Vinyl Richie on Saturday. And, because it’s Falls City, there will also be beer releases and merch drops. —LEO
FRIDAY, MARCH 4-5
2022 Southern Crossing Pottery Festival
TEN20 Craft Brewery | 1020 E. Washington St. | sxpf.org | Prices vary | Times vary Ceramics are in the spotlight in the annual Southern Crossings Pottery CERAMICS Festival (SXPF). The event, started in 2017, highlights local contemporary studio pottery as well as being a fundraiser to help feed the hungry. First Pick Friday is on March 4 from 5-9 p.m. Tickets are $10 and let buyers purchase the work of the 12 potters prior to the public. Included is a complimentary signature TEN20 Brew drink, hors d’oeuvres, live entertainment and a cash bar. The free Pottery Market is on Saturday, March 5 from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. This year’s Empty Bowls Fundraiser will be on both dates of the festival. To donate, buy a handmade ceramic bowl, with the proceeds going to the organization Change Today, Change Tomorrow. Bowls start at $20. Masks are required. —Jo Anne Triplett
By David Kenton Kring. Ceramic.
SATURDAY, MARCH 5-6
LM Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival (Second Weekend) SATURDAY, MARCH 5
LM Sugarbush | 321 N. Garrison Hollow Road, Salem, Indiana | lmsugarbush.com | Free | 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Louisville Executive Aviation | 2700 Gast Blvd. | tailspinalefest.com | $50 | 3 p.m.
This delicious festival will return for its second weekend on Saturday and Sunday, and there’ll be plenty of food, craft vendors, games for kids and live music. LM SWEET Sugarbush recommends that guests wear sturdy and/or waterproof shoes. — Carolyn Brown
Tailspin Ale Fest
Spring is right around the corner, and that means outdoor events are going to be everywhere in Louisville. A staple of this time of year, Tailspin Ale Fest, HAVE A DRINK is back for a Saturday afternoon featuring more than 250 beers from local and nationwide breweries. There will also be featured bars such as the Bourbon Barrel Beer Bar and Cider & Sour Bar, as well as a silent disco, a cigar bar, live music and free bottled water. —Scott Recker
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STAFF PICKS
SATURDAY, MARCH 5-6
LEO WEEKLY - A LITTLE OFF CENTER
IMPACT! Wrestling Live
Old Forester’s Paristown Hall | 724 Brent St. | kentuckyperforminarts.org | $27.50+ 7:30 – 10:30 p.m. Mickie James, Moose and other wrestling stars are coming to Louisville for a two-night spectacle at Paristown Hall: “Sacrifice” on Saturday and “Louisville Slugfest” BRAWL on Sunday. The event will also be streamed live or taped for a different platform each night, so you might end up being part of the show, too. —Carolyn Brown
MARCH 4 THE KENTUCKY CENTER
KENTUCKYPERFORMINGARTS.ORG
FRIDAY, MARCH 11-12
Tuba Atonement
Play Louisville | 1101 E. Washington St. | louisville.playdancebar.com | $17 | 7:30 p.m. Performer May O’Nays wrote Tuba Atonement to let the audience in on what it is like to grow up queer in the country. This show has it all — drag, tubas, gravy and SHOW childhood traumas. No worries, there are plenty of laughs and heart behind the show. This is an hour of theater that you don’t want to miss. Your ticket purchase also gets you into the bar for the night. —LEO
BETTER MUSIC IS OUT THERE Let’s explore it together. D OW N LOA D T H E A P P Listen to 91.9 WFPK Independent, 90.5 WUOL Classical and 89.3 WFPL News live from your mobile device. LouisvillePublicMedia.org/app LEOWEEKLY.COM // MARCH 2, 2022
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STAFF PICKS
FRIDAY, MARCH 11
Wombo With White Woolly And Turbo Nut The Whirling Tiger | 1335 Story Ave. | Search Facebook | $15 | 9 p.m.
Feathers and Friends
The Hyatt Regency 320 W Jefferson St
Wombo is embarking on its longest tour yet. The Louisville MUSIC three-piece is hitting 18 shows across the country, including several at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. See the band off with a show at The Whirling Tiger, where they’re playing with fellow local groups White Woolly and Turbo Nut. —LEO
Sydney Chadwick of Wombo. | PHOTO BY NIK VECHERY
SATURDAY, MARCH 12
St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Bardstown Road | Search Facebook | Free | 3 p.m.
OPEN BAR
LIVE BAND PLATED DINNER
&
SILENT AUCTION
Tickets may be purchased at one.bidpal.net/feathersandfriends2022 or scan the QR Code
LEOWEEKLY.COM // MARCH 2, 2022
After a two-year hiatus, the St. Patrick’s Day WEAR GREEN Parade on Bardstown Road is making its return. One of Louisville’s signature winter’salmost-about-to-end events, the parade runs down Bardstown road, with the sidewalks and the bars packed with people. The parade starts at Broadway and Baxter, and ends at Windsor Place. —Scott Recker
STAFF PICKS
THROUGH MARCH 26
‘A�ter Italy, From Landscape To Abstraction’
Celebrate International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month
Galerie Hertz | 1253 S. Preston St. | galeriehertz.com | Free
Gallerist Billy Hertz loves Italy. He lived and painted in the Umbria region for years. Upon viewing the painting of Laurie Fader, he said he “teared up. [I] know EXHIBITION these locations; it was like being there all over again.” The exhibition features her interpretations of Italy, from the representational to the abstract. It’s quite a transition, but they all speak Italian. Masks and proof of vaccination are required to enter the gallery. —Jo Anne Triplett
PHOTO BY SUMON YUSUF
SHINING A LIGHT
ANNUAL PHOTO EXHIBITION ‘Afternoon Shadows’ by Laurie Fader. Oil on canvas.
FRIDAY, MARCH 4-APRIL 2
‘What You Shout Into The Woods Echoes Back’ Moremen Gallery | 710 W. Main St., Suite 201 | moremengallery.com | Free In painter Vian Sora’s latest solo show, she illustrates a similarity between Berlin, Germany and Baghdad, ART Iraq. During a residency in Berlin last year, she had the chance to learn about the city’s rebirth after World War II. “As an Iraqi born artist,” she said, “my first-hand experience of war, political upheaval, migration and subsequent geographic and cultural displacement has deeply affected my life and my art. Since leaving Iraq, my works expressively address these issues.” The opening reception, with Sora in attendance, is Friday, March 4 from 5-8 p.m. —Jo Anne Triplett
OPENING MARCH 5
Shining a Light is an annual photography contest and exhibition created by the Muhammad Ali Center to highlight important human rights issues for women on a global scale around the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal #5: Gender Equality. This year’s theme is centered around clean water and sanitation. We received over 800 powerful submissions from 55 countries. Shining a Light will be on display March 5-August 7, 2022, and is included in the museum’s regular admission price. We invite you to celebrate Women’s History Month with this compelling exhibit.
For more information, please visit alicenter.org. ‘Harvest’ by Vian Sora. Oil on linen.
144 N. 6th Street | Louisville, KY 40202
LEOWEEKLY.COM // MARCH 2, 2022
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MUSIC
LOUISVILLE PHILHARMONIA RETURNS TO THE STAGE By Carolyn Brown | cbrown@leoweekly.com
The Louisville Philharmonia is also called the Musicians’ Orchestra.
AFTER two years without shows, the Louisville Philharmonia will return to the stage next month. The Louisville Philharmonia, also called “The Musicians’ Orchestra,” is an entirely volunteer-run orchestra made of part-time and full-time musicians. It had its last “real” concert in December 2019. Like nearly every other performing arts group, the group went dark during the peak of the pandemic. But on Friday, March 11, the Philharmonia will return to the sanctuary of Beargrass Christian Church (4100 Shelbyville Road) for their Winter Concert, a free, no-ticketrequired event that will spotlight three works of famed Czech composer Antonín Dvořák: “Carnival Overture,” “Symphony No. 6 in D major” and several pieces from “Legends.” The concert will also (albeit unintentionally) mark the group’s 10-year anniversary. Shelley Chapman, who plays French horn with the Philharmonia and also serves as their press manager, told LEO that one of the works on offer also subtly parallels the pandemic. The Philharmonia didn’t choose the piece for that reason, but it happens to be a lucky coincidence. Dvořák’s “Carnival Overture,” she said, was written to “celebrate life, and I think that that’s sort of apropos for the last two years that we’ve had.” She described the last two years as being
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somewhat “in the Twilight Zone,” due to the uncertainty about when the group would be able to reconvene. The Philharmonia had considered having a Christmas concert last year, but they decided against it because their roster includes members who range in age from high schoolers to seniors, and some members are immunocompromised. They felt it was safer to refrain from an event with “so many moving parts.” Now, though, the musicians are very much looking forward to “getting back together safely.” Still, even over two years of difficulty, the Philharmonia’s numbers have stayed strong: when the group was established in 2012, they had 30 members; now, they have a roster of 150-180 volunteer musicians, Chapman estimates. In fact, they’re even accepting new members who play string instruments. A good number of the Philharmonia’s new instruments come from funds donated by patrons. Chapman told LEO that ever since the group first played concerts in 2012, many of its patrons have said that the Philharmonia’s events were their own first ever experiences with live classical music. That’s no surprise, though — in fact, it’s their philosophy. “We’re not competing with the Louisville Orchestra,” she said. “We really want to be a connection and draw people in because it’s
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY THE LOUISVILLE PHILHARMONIA
affordable; to bring their children [and] not feel like it’s a stuffy kind of environment, [to feel] that they’re welcome. If they clap between movements, [it] doesn’t matter. “It’s sort of a bridge to say, ‘Hey, you can come and enjoy this, and maybe you’ll want to go and hear the Louisville Orchestra, or maybe you’ll want to go to the ballet.’” Many of the musicians are not full-time performers; they’re also teachers, engineers, doctors, etc. The principal clarinet player, Tony Smith, is an ophthalmologist. Chapman told LEO that it’s a lot of hard work for all of the Philharmonia members to put on shows since many of them have full-time jobs (although Chapman herself is a recent retiree), but putting on in-person shows is undoubtedly a labor of love. “It’s not good to sit in a room with nobody listening all the time,” she said. “So many of us love to play and want to continue playing. It’s a way to give back to the community in the way that we are able to with the gifts that our members have.” After the Winter Concert, their next show will be a collaboration with the Louisville Chorus at Christ Church United Methodist Church in St. Matthews on April 24. Daniel Spurlock, who is also the “conducting member” of the Philharmonia, has been the
music director of the Chorus for 31 years and is a former assistant director of the Louisville Orchestra. (Note: because this concert is not solely a Philharmonia event, it’s not free; tickets cost $23 general admission, $20 for seniors, and $5 for students.) Beyond that, they’re planning to return to the Iroquois Amphitheater this summer for another annual pops concert, which is always a big draw. One of Chapman’s favorite parts of those shows is when the orchestra plays Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” — but the cannons are replaced by the audience popping paper bags. Fun shows like those typically get around 1,500 people — and it helps, of course, that the show will be outdoors. With that show and the others this season, the Philharmonia is slated to get back to a semi-normal performing life. As Chapman said, “I think that’s what we’re looking forward to: to really getting together with everybody again and continu[ing] our mission.” •
BRESLIN PARK MAY 20-22 2022 THREE DAYS OF LOCAL MUSIC
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MUSIC
SONIC BREAKDOWN AARON WEST AND JEROEN DIEPENMAAT BRING ‘BROADCAST INTERRUPTED’ WITH PLENTY OF FEELING
1386 LEXINGTON RD, LOUISVILLE, KY
By Tyrel Kessinger | leo@leoweekly.com
COMING IN MARCH PRESENTS JOHNNY BERRY & THE OUTLIERS AND
March 4
THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION WITH SENORA MAY
TY SEGALL SOLO
March 7
ST. MACTRICK’S DAY SHOW
TYLER LANCE WALKER GILL
ARLO MCKINLEY
March 5
BACK 2 MAC’S
WITH CHARLES MOOTHART
THE REGRETTES
march 17
CAPTURED: THE ULTIMATE JOURNEY TRIBUTE
WITH ROB MAUPIN JR BAND
March 19
TERRY HARPER PRESENTS
HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS
March 24
MOOD RING ENGAGEMENT WITH HAMMER'S ROCK
March 11
March 25
BENDIGO FLETCHER
YVES TUMOR
WITH BOA BOYS AND
March 12
ROUTINE CAFFEINE
THE REVEREND PEYTON’S BIG DAMN BAND
March 13
LIVE! 2022
March 26
THE MOTH STORYSLAM
TOPIC – AWARDS
WITH BEE TAYLOR
March 29
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!
ALL THEM WITCHES
March 15
22
WITH THE SWELL FELLAS
TICKETS AVAILABLE AT HEADLINERSLOUISVILLE.COM OR AT THE BOX OFFICE LEOWEEKLY.COM // MARCH 2, 2022
WHEN Aaron West makes music he likes to digital files so I can recall them at a later concentrate more on the feeling of it rather date. It might be years before I use a particuthan any particular notions of orthodox lar sound or I may never use it. The sounds songwriting. And with “Broadcast Interruptare usually processed through a series of ed,” he and co-songwriter Jeroen Diepentechniques and most of the time don’t even maat have delivered a song with plenty of resemble the original sound. The outcome is feel. usually dark and melancholy probably in an attempt to contrast my sunny disposition.” “When listening back to it, the sounds take me back to One of the most a specific time remarkable things and place where about “Broadcast things felt magical, Interrupted” is the looked beautiful journey it took to and contained come to fruition. It an indescribwas a creation that able energy. I’m took place across sure that feeling two continents, is a product of with West being nostalgia conjurfrom Kentucky and ing up a yearning his songwriting for the Old World. partner living in Anyway, this Deventer, a city in album ended up the Netherlands. being about sev“During one of eral things to me. I my extended stays “Broadcast Inuterrupted” comes with plenty of feel the underlying in Deventer, I had feeling. concept this album booked some solo contains is that shows and was on of creating connections. The connections the search for some antiquated music equipmade with the people and places involved in ment that I often use to use in my composimaking this album are vast and span a long tions. Things like cassette players or reel to period of time.” reel recorders, which is how I met Jeroen If drifting through the shapeless void of Diepenmaat. A mutual friend who knew that time and space had a soundtrack, there’s a Jeroen was also an avant-garde musician good chance it would have “Broadcast Inter- introduced us, and he let me borrow a reel rupted” on it. It’s a darkly ethereal collage of to reel recorder, which was instrumental to sound that is both eerily peaceful and sonimy shows in Deventer. I kept in touch and a cally daunting. The song doesn’t overplay its year later was back in Deventer and Jeroen hand by adding too many layers, yet it finds and I decided it was a good time to collaboa way for each one to evolve and collaborate rate and we recorded ‘Broadcast Interrupted’ with the others. While the song begins in a which was then released by Nazlo Records soft wash of ether, it ends in a dense wall of out of Moscow, Russia on cassette and sound that seems as if it’s trying to absorb digital.” • everything in its path. “I always come from a spot of no expectations when it comes to musical compositions,” says West. “I typically find and catalog sounds in the form of tapes and
FOOD & DRINK
RECOMMENDED
VIETNAM KITCHEN STAYED OPEN, AND WE ARE SO HAPPY By Robin Garr | leo@leoweekly.com THE RUMORS started more than four years ago, and they spread quickly: “Vietnam Kitchen is going to close! The owner wants to retire! Next time they close for vacation, they won’t open again!” The fear was real. Vietnam Kitchen – VK, as its fans abbreviate it – is the longest-standing Vietnamese restaurant still open in Louisville. It was founded in 1993 by Vietnamese immigrant Alex Lam and his family. Lam and VK’s servers stayed quiet for a long time, fending off worried questions with a smile. But rumors spread, and in March of 2021, after a year of pandemic challenges, the other shoe dropped. The restaurant went up for sale, and with no sign of a buyer, the mourning was intense. People headed for the South End for one last visit, or two, or three. But VK still didn’t close, save for long, mysterious vacations now and then. Then, in the first week of 2022, good news dropped in the HotBytes forum: “I spoke to the owner… Their son (Phillip Lam) has decided to take over the business.
The Banh Xeo crepe is available with either shrimp or tofu. Either way, it’s a delicious egg-free omelet folded over steaming bean sprouts and onions in a filling, tasty app. | PHOTOS BY ROBIN GARR.
They are up and running again full steam.” That was corroborated by articles in the Courier Journal and other outlets. I dropped in for lunch the other day and found the mood, the menu and the food essentially unchanged. Meet the new Vietnam Kitchen, very much like the old Vietnam Kitchen, and that’s great news. Even the menu appears unchanged. More than 100 dishes are subdivided into finegrained categories denoted by a letter-andnumber system that makes it easy to order, say, “C3” rather than “Hu Tieu Hay Mi Bo Kho” when we crave “Lemon grass beef stew with rice noodles and carrots and your choice of beef or chicken.” Appetizers are A dishes, while pho, soups and noodle dishes are Bs. Rice noodle soups are Cs, egg noodle soups are Ds, vermicelli noodle soups are Js. Stir-fried noodles are K, and that’s where you’ll find the beloved K8. And so it goes, all the way up to N for clay pot dishes and V for some 25 vegetarian dishes. Spicy fare is marked with one to three asterisks. Main-dish pricing, with few
Vietnam Kitchen regulars order most dishes by menu number, and K8 or its meatless sibling VK8 are longtime favorites. Marked ***, it’s one of the spicier dishes on the menu, and that’s a good thing. LEOWEEKLY.COM // MARCH 2, 2022
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FOOD & DRINK
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Fresh veggie egg rolls are stuffed with tofu, thin noodles, green onion and carrot in a shattering crisp shell. The spicy dipping sauce alongside adds an attention-getting zing.
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Over here, Conrad! No - right here. Just a little to the left...oh, goodness. Okay, Conrad, if you just sit right there... Perfect! An adopter can see you now! Just don't go wandering off... aaaaand we've lost him. Well, that was fun while it lasted. Since Conrad isn't here to introduce himself, we'll have to tell you about this dorky Hound ourselves! Conrad is barely a year old but still has the mentality of a giant 61 pound puppy. He came to the Kentucky Humane Society when a rural shelter ran out of room for this big doofus. Conrad has met other dogs while at the shelter and does great with playful dogs who want to chase him and wrestle. He would love to meet any potential canine pals to make sure they like him and can be best friends. Conrad is a bit independent and he's definitely uncoordinated. He likely won't be a CONRAD "velcro" dog but he will definitely want to play with his people and continue his training. He's been working on his manners while at the shelter so a family who can continue teaching him new things and reinforcing good habits is exactly what we want for Mr. Conrad. After all, he is a young dog and his energy and zest for life is just like a puppy! He acts as if he's experiencing everything for the first time. His favorite hobbies include chasing leaves in the wind, playing with a flirt pole (basically a giant cat wand toy) and eating snow. If you've been looking for a "big head no thoughts" kind of dog, Conrad is right up your alley! He is neutered, micro-chipped and up-to-date on his shots. All he's missing is a home! Visit Conrad at the Kentucky Humane Society’s Main Campus, 241 Steedly Drive, or learn more at www.kyhumane.org/dogs. Meet our big, sweet lady Kitty! Kitty is a six-year-old solid black cat who weighs nearly 15 pounds and is looking for a family to call her own. This gorgeous girl came to the Kentucky Humane Society when the young child in her former home became allergic to her. Now Kitty is looking for an allergy-free family! Kitty is the perfect balance between playful and laidback. She loves to cuddle and sit in her people's laps but she also loves her toys and playing! In her former home, she did not live with other animals so we're unsure how she feels about them. Kitty can be a little shy when you first meet her but give her some time and she will be your best friend before you know it. She would love a quiet home where she can spend her days lounging in the sun and watching movies with her person. Could you be the one Kitty has been waiting for? If so, come meet her today! Kitty is spayed, micro-chipped and up-to-date on all vaccinations. Visit Kitty at the Kentucky Humane Society’s Main Campus, 241 Steedly Drive, or learn more at www.kyhumane.org/cats.
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LEOWEEKLY.COM // MARCH 2, 2022
exceptions, falls in a close range between $10 and $15. A half-dozen lunch plates including main dish, soup or egg roll are $9.10. We came at noon and found the long, narrow room nearly full of happy customers. The tables are closely spaced for social distancing, but with our backs to our neighbors, the servers all carefully masked, and omicron on a downward trend, that didn’t feel too worrisome. I ordered Vietnamese iced coffee with sweet condensed milk ($3.60) and got the whole kit, drip-brewed into a glass at my table for me to pour into a larger glass over ice. The dairy component helps ease the fire of spicy dishes, and its good bittersweet flavor made it a treat through the meal. Two vegetarian fried tofu egg rolls (VA1 Cha gio rau Cai, $3) made a taste-bud tantalizing start. Rolled in shattering crisp deepfried pastry cylinders, they were packed with thin cellophane noodles, tofu, green onions and shredded carrots. A thin, gently spicy dipping sauce boosted the flavor. A Vietnamese crepe (VA17 Banh xeo chay, $9.25) was a larger starter, big enough to be a light entree. It looks like a giant omelet folded over sizzling ingredients, but dairy – save for condensed milk in a can – is rare in Vietnamese. This egg look-alike is fashioned from rice flour and coconut milk, tinted yellow with turmeric. Puffed up and browned in the wok, it makes a great wrapper for crisp bean sprouts, tender grilled onions and cubes of soft tofu. It’s also available as A17 Banh Xeo ($9.50) with shrimp taking over from the tofu.
Pho, the iconic Vietnamese meal-size soup, is always a good choice at any Vietnamese restaurant, and VK does it well. The basic standard, B1 Pho tai ($11.95), came in a large aluminum bowl containing nearly a quart of soup. About 10 slices of very thinly sliced beef were immersed in a thin but rich, beefy broth with rings of white onion, cilantro and green onions and tender vermicelli noodles at the bottom. The traditional add-ins — a plate full of bean sprouts, anisescented Thai basil, a lime wedge and three or four slices of fresh jalapeño — came along to add as you like it. Of course we had to have *** VK8 Hu tieu sate chay ($13.15). In this format with tofu or as ***K8 Hu tieu sate ($13.35) with beef, chicken, or pork, it’s a spicy rice noodle soup dish. It’s a clear, rich broth flavored with saté sauce, a delicious Vietnamese flavoring made with chile oil, lemongrass and garlic. It comes loaded with broccoli florets and your meat choice or fried tofu cubes speckled with fiery redpepper flakes. A memorable lunch for two was $43.41 plus a $10 tip. Knowing that Vietnam Kitchen is here to stay: priceless. •
VIETNAM KITCHEN 5339 Mitscher Ave. Iroquois Manor 363-7535 vietnamkitchen.net
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
WHAT TO SEE: MARCH GALLERY
ROUNDUP
BY JO ANNE TRIPLETT | leo@leoweekly.com
A GALLERY ROUNDUP of art shows to see in Louisville this month. Note: This list is a selection of current exhibitions.
“WHAT LIES BENEATH”
Through March Group show that’s part of the Louisville Photo Biennial.
“STILL, LIFE! MOURNING, MEANING, MENDING”
Through December The show focuses on dealing with loss during the pandemic. 21c Louisville 700 W. Main St. Hours: Mondays-Sundays, 9 a.m.-9 p.m. 21cmuseumhotels.com
“INTER-BE”
Through April 9 Sculpture by Mike Ratterman. Bourne-Schweitzer Gallery 137 E. Main St., New Albany, Indiana Hours: Thursdays-Fridays, noon-5 p.m.; Saturdays, 1-3 p.m. bourne-schweitzergallery.com
“PENNY SISTO AT 80”
Through April 9 An exhibition of recent works by the New Albany fiber artist. Carnegie Center for Art & History 201 E. Spring St., New Albany, Indiana Hours: Mondays-Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursdays, noon-8 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. carnegiecenter.org
“2022 SILVER KEY AND HONORABLE MENTION EXHIBITION”
Through March 11 Scholastic Art Awards presented by the Alli-
ance for Young Artists & Writers for students in grades 7-12. Cressman Center for Visual Arts 100 E. Main St. Hours: Thursdays, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Fridays, 1-6 p.m. louisville.edu
“MIDDLE OF SOMEWHERE’ Through March 31 Featuring work by Josh Chang.
fifteenTWELVE Creative Compound 1512 Portland Ave. Hours: Mondays-Fridays, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. fifteen-twelve.com
“FORGOTTEN FOUNDATIONS: LOUISVILLE’S LOST ARCHITECTURE”
Through Sept. 23 Exhibition of photographs and architectural records of destroyed historic architecture in downtown Louisville. The Filson Historical Society 1310 S. Third St. Hours: Mondays-Fridays, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. filsonhistorical.org
“WEST OF NINTH: RACE, RECKONING, AND RECONCILIATION” Through September Photographs, artifacts and wall panels featuring stories from the nine neighborhoods in West Louisville. Organized by Walt and Shae Smith of West of Ninth. Part of the Louisville Photo Biennial. Frazier History Museum
829 W. Main St. Hours: Mondays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sundays, noon-5 p.m. fraziermuseum.org
“AFTER ITALY, FROM LANDSCAPE TO ABSTRACTION” Through March 26 Paintings by Laurie Fader.
Galerie Hertz 1253 S. Preston St. Hours: Thursdays-Saturdays, 12-5 p.m.; most Sundays, 12-4 p.m. galeriehertz.com
“Reasons to Try, Reasons to Tremble” by Jess Robinson at PYRO Gallery in March.
“CRAFTING THE VERNACULAR”
Moremen Gallery 710 W. Main St., Suite 201 Hours: Thursdays-Saturdays, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. moremengallery.com
KMAC Museum 715 W. Main St. Hours: Wednesdays-Sundays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. kmacmuseum.org
“EDWARD R. WHITE, RETURNING HOME: A LIFE’S RETROSPECTIVE
Through April 3 Group show of glass artists.
“NATIVE REFLECTIONS: VISUAL ART BY AMERICAN INDIANS OF KENTUCKY”
Through March Touring exhibition of contemporary art organized by the Kentucky Arts Council, the Kentucky Native American Heritage Commission and the Kentucky Heritage Council. Louisville Metro Hall 527 W. Jefferson St. Hours: Mondays-Fridays, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. louisvilleky.gov
“IN SEARCH OF FAITH”
March 11-April 23 Work by Joe McGee in the newly expanded Center. Mary Anderson Center, Mount St. Francis Center for Spirituality 101 St. Anthony Dr., Mount St. Francis, Indiana Hours: Mondays & Wednesdays, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.; Fridays, 4-7 p.m. mountsaintfrancis.org
“WHAT YOU SHOUT INTO THE WOODS ECHOES BACK”
March 4-April 2 Exhibition of work by Vian Sora that she started during a residency in Berlin, Germany.
Through April 8 Photographs of the Portland neighborhood by Edward Renard “Nardie” White. Portland Museum 2308 Portland Ave. Hours: Wednesdays-Fridays, 12-5 p.m.; Saturdays, 12-4 p.m. portlandky.org
“REASONS TO TRY, REASONS TO TREMBLE” March 4-27 Ceramics by Jess Robinson.
PYRO Gallery 1006 E. Washington St. Hours: Fridays-Saturdays, noon-6 p.m.; Sundays 1-4 p.m. pyrogallery.com
“SHINING IN THE WIND”
Sheila Fox in her first solo show. Revelry Boutique + Gallery 742 W. Market St. Hours: Tuesdays-Saturdays, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sundays-Mondays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. revelrygallery.com
“SANFORD BIGGERS: CODESWITCH”
March 18-June 26 First survey of quilt-based works, inspired by African American quilters, produced by the American interdisciplinary artist. Speed Art Museum 2035 S. Third St. Hours: Fridays, 1-8 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. speedmuseum.org
“WHY DO ANYTHING” Through March 12 New work by John Paul Kesling.
WheelHouse Art 2650 Frankfort Ave. Hours: Tuesdays-Fridays, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. wheelhouse.art
March 11-April 16 Features paintings by Matthew McDole and photographs by Ryan Tassi. Quappi Projects 827 E. Market St. Hours: Thursdays-Fridays, noon-4 p.m.; Saturdays, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. quappiprojects.com
“A JOURNEY OF ELEGANCE” Through March 6 Portraits of Black women by Louisvillian
LEOWEEKLY.COM // MARCH 2, 2022
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
PANDORA PRODUCTIONS DELVES INTO THE GO-GO’S MUSIC, FANCIFUL LOVE STORIES IN ELIZABETHAN-STYLED POETRY By Elizabeth Kramer | leo@leoweekly.com to prevent these prophecies from happening and ON STAGE, members of Pandora Productions’ along the way, of course, all of the prophecies large cast for the musical “Head Over Heels” happen because they take the journey,” Drury warm up. Some physically stretch while others run harmonies from snippets of songs by The Go- says. “It’s really a story of love and acceptance.” Go’s with musical director On Broadway, the sets John Austin Clark, as and costumes were elabohe stands at a keyboard rate and mirrored Elizabehind a long model of a bethan styles. So, creating Manhattan skyscape. the world of Arcadia and its characters’ adventures At one point, costume designer Donna on the Henry Clay Theatre Lawrence-Downs comes stage where the company from backstage to show performs was a challenge director Michael Drury for Drury. her work for one charDrury decided to make acter. At her side stands some changes, which an actor dressed in a red involved juggling Pandora T-shirt declaring “Totally Productions’ large cast, Julie Evans as Queen Gynecia and Josh Tubular” with a ZebraO’Brien as King Basilius. |PHOTO PROVIDED BY PANDORA big dance numbers, and patterned jacket — a various several set pieces. 1980’s concoction. Instead of having the characters in an Elizabethan Arcadia and traveling to Bohemia, Drury sets the Not all musicals are the same, says Drury, story in the 1980s, which simplifies the costumes, as he talks about directing many of them over his 22 years as Pandora Productions’ producing and places the story in New York City and artistic director. That also goes for the subgenre Central Park, which designer Robbie Steiner’s set of jukebox musicals — and especially “Head pieces reflect. Over Heels.” “I don’t like to do what somebody else has done,” Drury said. “That’s not why I create art. I The musical, which opened on Broadway in create art to make something different.” 2018, makes its Louisville premiere at Pandora Drury and Pandora Productions are no strangProductions when it opens on Friday, March 4. ers to pivoting. The pandemic has required the Jeff Whitty (“Avenue Q”) wrote the musical’s company to experiment to reach audiences. Last book, which was adapted by James Magruder, season, the company broadcast virtual producwho works frequently in adapting and translating tions and ended with in-person performances. classic literature. This season, it has held in-person performances, Featuring music by the ‘80s all-women group which require mask coverings for attendees, and The Go-Go’s, the stage requires different scenes, and the dialogue is Elizabethan English — yes, adopted a policy requiring proof of vaccination or the language of Shakespeare. It also is written in a negative test within 72 hours. the rhythm of iambic pentameter, which the Bard As COVID-19 cases and the positivity rate often used. What, pray tell? continue to decrease in Jefferson County, Drury hopes “Head Over Heels” marks an essential As Drury explains, The Go-Go’s infectious music infuses the story, which is based on a 16th pivot for Pandora Productions and the greater arts century romance “The Countess of Pembroke’s community. Arcadia” by English poet and scholar Sir Philip “I’m hoping that ‘Head Over Heels’ launches Sidney. There is a king of Arcadia who, with his a new feeling and comfort about coming back to wife, have two daughters. But life is upended the theater,” he says. “That’s my hope, not just when a new oracle, who is non-binary, comes to for us, but for everybody in the arts which I think town and declares four prophesies regarding his have suffered.” daughters and him and his wife. The prophesies “Head Over Heels” runs at Pandora Proinvolve the union of the daughters and others ductions March 4-20. For details, visit www. with unexpected lovers and set the characters on pandoraprods.org. • a journey. The characters and their relationships represent a range of expressions in their sexual Elizabeth Kramer is on Twitter @arts_bureau and on identities, which include fluid identities. Facebook at Elizabeth Kramer – Arts Writer. “All of these people are on a journey to try LEOWEEKLY.COM // MARCH 2, 2022
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
COMEDIAN KOUNTRY WAYNE BRINGS HIS ‘STRAIGHT OUT THE MUD’ TOUR TO LOUISVILLE MARCH 5
GET YOUR
By Erica Rucker | erucker@leoweekly.com COMEDIAN KOUNTRY WAYNE (Wayne Colley) got his start on Facebook, making short videos about life’s inconvenient and unfortunate moments, like catching a girlfriend’s friend naked in their house. The skits Colley created, many featuring him in these situations with his thick Georgia drawl and funny expressions, were shared heavily and made him recognizable, bringing him to the attention of other celebrities who he’s since befriended. The 34-year old from Waynesboro, Georgia, is coming to the Louisville Palace this Saturday, March 5, for his “Straight Out the Mud” tour. LEO caught up with Colley to discuss his career, tour and how regular experiences like dating, pregnancy scares, etc. become part of his show. Colley is the father of 10 kids (ages 16 to 1 years old). LEO: Tell us about growing up in small-town Georgia and how you found your way to the comedy stage. Kountry Wayne Colley: Well, as a child, I was always making people laugh real easy. I got older, I was trying to do the music, but I put up a video one day, [inaudible] it’s funny and people liked that more than my music. So I was like, ‘Hey, this must be the way.’ My dad was a standup comedian and his family was big and loud and always funny. Did you have a similar experience? Oh yeah. My whole family, they were always drunk. Your videos deal with so many real life situations, some every day, and others more risque. How did you choose those topics? I kind of listened to the people.
That’s why I always went on what my and other Black families... I just go off what I’ve seen, heard and, I just, I put it back to the people. Have you had any negative backlash? Yeah, at first, when I first started, people would say, how can you believe in Jesus and put out this kind of content, about the infidelity, etc. People when they realized I didn’t care, or respond, ‘cause I don’t care what people said. I talk about what’s on my heart. Whatever don’t kill you, ain’t gonna kill you. You’re writing a book? Oh yeah. The book comes out 2023. So, it’s about my life, my craft and how I came up from poverty, have another (inaudible), women, my experiences and the way I think. It’s just my life story, how I came up and stuff like that. And me growing up in a small town, making it out and with my tactics and my beliefs and just spreading it to the world.
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So you’re the father of nine kids? Did you come from a big family? 10. Yeah, my dad had a lot of kids and, you know, I had a bunch of cousins and all that. When my kids link up, it’s like a party around here. What can people expect from the show? The unexpected. I’m going to make people laugh so goddern hard. They all know that I’m speaking the truth. The truth will set you free, but the truth might hurt. I’m going to tell you the truth. It’s the skits, times 10. I can’t show everything, but I can tell it on stage. • Comedian Kountry Wayne performs at the Louisville Palace at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 5. Tickets start at $35.50.
TICKETS - KENTUCKYPERFORMINGARTS.ORG LEOWEEKLY.COM // MARCH 2, 2022
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
UPCOMING
PRE-BOCK FEST EVENTS MEET THE GOATS AT TAJ - SAT, MAR 5 3-6PM BABY GOAT YOGA AT AGAINST THE GRAIN WITH ZENTENSITY YOGA - SAT, MAR 19 12PM BOCK FEST PADDOCK PARTY AT GARAGE BAR - SAT, MAR 19 3-6PM BOCK FEST EVE PARTY AT NULU MARKETPLACE - THUR, MAR 24 - SAT, MAR 26
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LEOWEEKLY.COM // MARCH 2, 2022
WINNER OF ARTS-LOUISVILLE AWARD, ERICA DENISE TALKS ACTORS THEATRE AND WINNING THE AWARD By Melissa Gaddie | leo@leoweekly.com ERICA DENISE is a dynamo of activity. She is a singer, actor, motivational speaker, former coordinator of fine Arts at Louisville Central community Center (LCCC) and is now at Actors Theatre of Louisville as their director of learning and creative engagement. Denise’s passion for working with Louisville youth to express themselves through the arts led her to create an evening summer camp that engaged 52 kids, and led to her role at LCCC developing a youth repertory group and teaching kids that there are many jobs in theater arts that can be pursued. All this work culminated in her being honored by Arts-Louisville with the Barbara Cullen Theatre Educator Award at their ceremony Feb. 26. I spoke with Denise about some exciting things on the horizon at Actors and about receiving the award.
for play writers and words on the page — you could tell stories through dance, you could tell stories through song, you can tell stories through instrumentation, and so we’re going to have all of those different elements involved. They will start in October, and it’ll go through March and every day, or maybe not every day I’m still working through it, maybe two days a week after school they will come. They will come and get training in these different disciplines while they’re working on their own projects. So if you’re in the dance portion of the after-school program, you’ll be creating choreography and telling your story through dance. If you’re in the acting portion of that you can still write your play or whatever or tell your story through that. If you’re in the music portion of it, you can write your song and tell your story through song. And then Erica Denise. | PHOTO PROVIDED BY ERICA DENISE in March, it will culminate LEO: What are some of the plans that you have or what with a production of all of are some things that you’d like to do that you this new work that the students have produced. haven’t been able to do yet at Actors, or that you have been planning? Have you always wanted to be able to make your living as a singer and actor? Erica Denise: We are revamping the New You know what? I didn’t know it was possiVoices Festival. It’s been around for about 15 years. It was a huge, very popular program for ble, and so I always had it on the back burner as a Actors Theatre. And it started as a residency in hobby. It was — I’m not gonna say it was a secret the schools. They would take teaching artists and passion because people did know that I wanted to go into the school and teach playwriting, and sing and wanted to perform. That was no secret, then, after the residency was over, they would but I did not really say that I wanted to pursue it have the students submit 10-minute plays, and professionally. Because one, I didn’t think that it got so big to where they were getting about it was possible. Two, I just never thought I mea800 submissions every year. So, they would sured up and would be good enough. And I used choose 10 of them, and then it was it turned into to, really — what’s the word I’m looking for — a competition. They would choose 10 of them, honor the fact that I had imposter syndrome. No produce those shows every year, at the New more. I’m like, there’s no honor in saying that. Voices Festival, and they would fully produce the When I was notified that I was getting this award, show using the apprentices that Actors Theatre the Barbara Cullen Award, and I looked at all of would have. One thing that didn’t sit right with the amazing things that she did, I’m like, well, us [Denise and Robert Barry Fleming, execusomebody wants to honor me in that way, with all tive artistic director] was the whole competition of the things that she’s done. I had to look back thing. How do you judge work like that and say, and say, ‘You know what you absolutely deserve ‘Well, you can’t be produced because of whatever to be here. You’re not an imposter and you’re reason?’ We’re taking that competition element going to stop saying that.’ It really wasn’t until I out. We’re going to, instead of have it be just like was notified that I was getting this award that I a two or five week residency, we’re going to have was like, I’m no longer saying that anymore. • it be a year long program after school, where we’re going to — because New Voices isn’t just
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BY CHASE DITTRICH AND JEFF CHEN | EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ
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The New York Times Magazine Crossword
PHOTO BY RACHEL ROBINSON
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SAVAGE LOVE
CLASSIFIED LISTINGS LEGAL
By Dan Savage | mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage
PARADISE FOUND
Q: I’m a 34-year-old straight cis male. About eighteen months ago I met a lovely human that I’m crazy about. When we started dating, she said she needed us to be poly and I agreed. It was a first for both of us! I’d always been interested—my parents are queer and have been poly my whole life—so it wasn’t a new concept to me. Early on, we went on some random dates, made out with some other people, but took it slow because we wanted to build a foundation of trust and love first. Now we’re there. She recently started dating a close friend of ours. In theory, I’m good with it. I adore him and he cares about us as a couple. There’s lots of communication happening in all directions. We’ve even tossed around the idea of some threesomes or foursomes. I can’t wait for the day when I am truly stoked for this, and we can all play and love on each other. But I don’t want to “overcome the jealousy” or “deal with it.” I want being poly to be something that makes life amazing! But I am still being restricted by silly feelings put in my head via some nefarious patriarchal capitalist hack. Any advice for moving on as quickly as possible into a polyamorous paradise? I want to feel a queerer and a little less mainstream! Seeking Polyamorous Effortless Wonders A: My husband has been with his boyfriend for five years; there are times when I see them together and I am not just happy for them, SPEW, but made happy by them. (I’m straining to avoid the term “compersion” here, or “the other c-word,” as it’s known at our house.) But there are times when I feel jealous… and if I’m still experiencing jealousy after 20+ years in an open relationship… and still feeling experiencing jealousy after 30+ years being pretty fucking queer… I don’t think jealousy is something you need to completely overcome before opening your relationship or that that being “queerer” cures. And it’s important to distinguish between different kinds of jealousy. There’s the healthy kind of jealousy (someone is being neglected or taken for granted, and their feelings and needs to be considered), there’s the unhealthy
kind of jealousy (someone is controlling and manipulative, which is a red flag for abuse), and then there’s sexy and energizing kind of jealousy (seeing your partner through another’s eyes and recognizing— or being reminded—of your partner’s desirability). Instead of trying to expunge all feelings of jealousy from your emotional repertoire before opening your relationship (which no one does before entering into closed relationships), you need to ask yourself what kind of jealousy you’re feeling at a particular moment. If it’s the healthy kind, ask for you what you need; if it’s the unhealthy kind, get your ass into therapy; if it’s the sexy and energizing kind, enjoy the ride. And finally… It’s good that you’re taking your time, because rushing things is a good way to fuck this up. But paradoxically, SPEW, if you wait until you’re no longer experiencing any jealousy—or no longer have conflicted feelings about this—you’ll never get there. Q: I’m a 36-year-old cis gay man who came out a decade ago and found widespread acceptance from friends and family, but I fear my unique situation now might change that. Last summer, my husband died unexpectedly, leaving me widowed and trying to pick up the pieces. I couldn’t sleep much for a while and went online to chat. I wound up meeting this great guy who lives across the country. He’s a sexy leather daddy, and I’ve traveled to stay with him on two occasions and had some of the hottest sex I’ve ever had. Plus, I really like him! He’s funny, smart, deep. Here’s my dilemma: He’s married to another man, and I also have feelings for the husband. I plan to move there soon to see where this goes and start the next chapter of my life. (I will be getting my own apartment, at least at first.) It’s still early, but I feel like I could fall in love with both these men. How do I pursue this and start over somewhere new while making this all understandable to the straights in my life? Is there a way to explain this to my mom and the rest of my family without freaking them out? I know it shouldn’t matter, and I’ll follow my heart either way, but I’d hate to lose this close
connection with my family if they get weirded out by my dating life. No More Mr. Heteronormative A: I’m so sorry for your loss, NMMH, and I’m so glad you were able to find the support you needed online—and it’s nice to be reminded that people don’t just go online to share conspiracy theories and post revenge porn. People find connection online, they find support, and sometimes they find new love in the form of a sexy leather daddy. As for what to tell your family about your relationship… For now, NMMH, nothing. Just like you’re getting your own apartment after you move because you want to wait and see where this relationship goes before moving in with these guys, you’re going to want to see where this relationship goes before you tell your family about these guys. This isn’t about hiding things from your family, NHHM, but about waiting to roll out your new relationship if and/ or when it gets serious. You most likely didn’t introduce mom to your late husband after your second date; similarly, there’s no need to introduce mom to these guys after seeing them on only two occasions. And in my experience—in my own highly personal and highly relevant experience— it’s often easier for the families of gay men to accept that we’re open or poly than it is for the families of straight people. Our families have some practice letting go of expectations and prejudices. And while it’s possible your family’s made it clear their acceptance was conditioned upon you marrying and settling down and behaving “heteronormatively,” it’s also possible you’re projecting. You want them to think you’re “one of the good ones,” i.e., one of the monogamous ones, while they couldn’t care less. But even if they do care and would prefer to see you monogamously married again, they will embrace your new relationship if you make it clear you will accept nothing less from them.
This is a Formal Written notice to inform the owners of the following vehicles will be sold on or after March 28, 2022 This is your final notice to claim the vehicle and or all property in said vehicle. Edmond Wood your 1997 Lincoln Town Car with the license plate number 955LPM and the VIN: 1LNLM81W7VY726266. Megan Hancock your 1999 Toyota Corolla with the plate number 190YPG and the VIN: 1NXBR12E7XZ147217. Lindsey Gatlin your 2006 Chrysler PT with the plate CT0299 and the VIN: 3A4FY58BX6T375051. Shawn Whitman your 1999 Pontiac Grand with the plate VML399 and the VIN: 1G2NE52E9XM812756. THIS IS YOUR FINAL NOTICE. REPOSSESSION SALE These vehicles will be offered for sale to the highest bidder at the time, date and place stated below. Term of sale is cash only. Seller reserves the right to bid and purchase at said sale. Dealers welcome. March 24TH, 2022 2010 CHEVROLET EQUINOX 2CNALFEWXA6296421 DIXIE AUTO SALES (502) 384-7766 (NEXT TO ZIP’S CAR WASH) 7779 DIXIE HWY., LOUISVILLE, KY 40258 REPOSSESSION SALE These vehicles will be offered for sale to the highest bidder at the time, date and place stated below. Term of sale is cash only. Seller reserves the right to bid and purchase at said sale. Dealers welcome. March 9th, 2022 2006 GMC Envoy 1GKDT13S962236210 DIXIE AUTO SALES (502) 384-7766 (NEXT TO ZIP’S CAR WASH) 7779 DIXIE HWY., LOUISVILLE, KY 40258 NOTICE OF PUBLIC AUCTION TO OWNERS OF THE WITHIN DESCRIBED ESTATE AND ALL INTERESTED PARTIES: FLAGSHIP COMMUNITIES / BARRINGTON POINTE. Will expose at sale to the highest Bidder on MARCH 17, 2022 @ 10am. Location of the sale will be 1321 Glengarry Drive Fairdale, KY 40118. Mobile home only, 2015 Tru MH Ali. VIN: CW030086TN. Located at 1537 Glengarry Drive Fairdale, KY 40118. Notice is hereby given by Nate’s Automotive 400 E. Breckinridge St, Louisville, KY 40203 502-408-7743. Owner has 14 days to respond to obtain title to following: 1993 Ford 1FTHE24Y3PHB62281. Owned by Bobbie Colbert 429 No. 42nd, Lou,KY 40212.
mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan Savage on Twitter @ FakeDanSavage. The Savage Lovecast, books, merch and more are all at www.savage.love. LEOWEEKLY.COM // MARCH 2, 2022
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