Most Popular
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An ancient Apollo statue landed in Cleveland and touched off an international outcry
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Joe Cimperman hopes to tear down his former hero, Dennis Kucinich
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Beat Down
Cleveland teachers swap stories of school violence.
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Everybody Hates Mike
The peril of coaching an icon.
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Secret Valentines Notes from C-Town Celebs
Our I-Team uncovered the private love letters of Cleveland's biggest names. You'll be shocked by what we discovered.
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$100 Bounty on That Kid (19)
Copley-Fairlawn finds a way to keep the impostors out.
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At Indie-Rock Singles Night in Cleveland, an event for hipsters lacks one key ingredient: Hipsters (14)
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Dennis Kucinich’s brave talk about working and fighting — from the safety of the officer’s tent (10)
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Beat Down (3)
Cleveland teachers swap stories of school violence.
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Sour Notes (434)
Underneath its glossy exterior, the Cleveland Orchestra has a dark side. His name is William Preucil.
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Crazy Talk
Miranda Lambert is a lot like any other girl with a soft spot for guns and setting exes on fire.
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The Bravery's New World
New-wave revivalists discover the power of three-chord guitar rock.
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Beer, BBQ, industry schmoozing: Rounding up SXSW 2008’s local delegates
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Keep on Truckin'
Jason Isbell finds life after the Drive-By Truckers.
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It took them 10 years, but the Sadies finally craft a country-rock classic
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A gentle proposal to Cleveland sports fans: Quit bitching and enjoy it
07:29AM 03/10/08 -
In Minnesota, smoking ban no match for local thespians. Why didn’t we think of that?!
07:01AM 03/10/08 -
Joyce Banjac may be Myers University's best hope
05:29AM 03/10/08 -
Akron mom embezzles $12,000 from PTA
05:21AM 03/10/08 -
Dispatch: Either Derek Anderson gets roster bonus in '09, or Quinn fans celebrate
02:49PM 03/07/08
What we are writing about
- Black Sabbath
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- classic rock
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Recent Articles By Mikael Wood
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Marnie Stern
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Fiery Furnaces
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Mice Parade
With Battery Collection and Trouble Books. Saturday, May 19, at the Lime Spider, Akron.
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Kings of Leon
With Snowden and the Features. Tuesday, May 22, at House of Blues.
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Xbxrx
With Silver Daggers, Clan of the Cave Bear, and Fire Horse Monarch. Friday, April 27, at the Beachland.
National Features
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Houston Press
"It Was Like an Armageddon Movie"
For days after Hurricane Rita, a Texas prison was hell on earth.
By Chris Vogel -
SF Weekly
The Candidate
Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.
By Matt Smith -
The Pitch
How Not To Be a Rap Star
First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.
By Nadia Pflaum -
Village Voice
Project Runaway
What becomes a gossip columnist most?
By Michael Musto
The danger in a project like the Decemberists' -- basically, the Portland band plays intellectual sea chanteys about topics both grim (unrequited love) and grimmer (murder-by-whale) -- is the inclination toward the half-assed. In a post-Elephant 6 era in which gear is as affordable as it's ever been, too many indie bands muck up their mediocre guitar-bass-drums setup with barely considered layers of strings-vibes-horns, hoping that we'll be wowed by the spectacle alone.
Thankfully, very little of Picaresque, the Decemberists' third full-length, sounds half-assed: Produced by Death Cab for Cutie guitarist Chris Walla, the album is rich with lovingly detailed melodies. Frontman Colin Meloy sings with grad-student warmth, and the band's sax solos and accordion wheeze feel homey and lived-in, not dashed-off and lazy. If the Decemberists don't rock as hard here as they have onstage over the past year or so, they've made up for it with an articulate, nuanced roll. Meloy's stories, too, usually merit the instrumental extravagance: In "Sixteen Military Wives," he removes himself from the 19th century to cast a skeptical eye toward modern times, and in "The Sporting Life," he performs an autopsy on team spirit over a jaunty gallop.
