EPA delivers strongest pimp-smack in history to Ohio company
Columbus-based American Electric Power learned a pricey lesson today: Don’t F*$K with New York. The company, which delivers electricity all over the South, Appalachia, and the Midwest, settled a case today with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its failure to operate coal-fired power plants with the proper pollution controls. When all is said and…
Amy Sedaris Does Akron: an interview
Actress, author, and comedian Amy Sedaris will be stopping by Akron’s Main Public Library on Wednesday, October 17. In honor of her visit, C-Notes jumped on the horn with the hilarious Sedaris – who’s Jerri Blank character was immortalized on Strangers With Candy – to discuss her book, I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence,…
This Just In: Concert Announcements, Hot Off Our Skillet of Love
This week, 21 new shows. Alt-rock also-rans Silverchair. Additional performances of High School Musical: The Musical. Movie star Juliette Lewis (Mallory Knox from Natural Born Killers) does her other thing with Juliette and the Licks. And the return of Barry Manilow. You always knew he’d be back. ….
Cleveland’s Best Public Transportation System Ever Is Flawed After All
A funny thing happened on my lunch break yesterday. I was walking along the riverfront, near the Settler’s Landing RTA station, when I came across a strange creature. A tourist—backpack, sneakers, glasses and all—stopped and asked me for directions. He didn’t really know where he was going. He just wanted to get on a train…
Mike G’s Perverted Pick of the Day
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and we can’t think of a better way of celebrating than with Film Threat’s Fifty Best Breasts in Movie History. You’ll find movie clips spotlighting everything from Jane Russell’s old-school globes to Scarlett Johansson’s awesome rack. Enjoy! — Michael Gallucci
And You Think Cleveland Schools Have Problems: A Hugging Epidemic in Chicago
If Cleveland schools think they’ve got it bad with gang violence and all, just look at Percy Julian Middle School in suburban Chicago. They’ve got a hugging problem. At the end of September, Principal Victoria Sharts sent out a notice to parents that she was banning this outrageous and inappropriate public display of affection. Sharts…
Mike’s Weekly Picks: Watch the tribe for free!
Lady Cahtterly plays at the Cinematheque Friday. This week’s top arts and entertainment picks around town, from the guy who’s paid to pick them: Monday: Sure, the Indians’ loss last night was crushing. But they have another chance to stomp the Yankees on their own turf at 7:30 tonight. The game will beam on a…
Deep Thoughts — Make That Burps — with CBS’s Dan Dierdorf
If watching Derek Anderson throw three interceptions yesterday wasn’t hard enough on your stomach, consider how CBS announcer Dan Dierdorf’s going to feel when his bosses review yesterday’s broadcast of the Browns’ 34-17 loss at New England. With our boys threatening to cover the 16-point spread in the game’s final seconds, play-by-play man Greg Gumbel…
When Caring is Over Your Head: A Dog Abuse Case in Stark County
On August 25, after receiving noise complaints from neighbors, Stark County Humane Society officers teamed with local cops to raid a barn in which three women were housing over 40 rescued stray dogs. The dogs were confiscated and the women in charge of Companion Animal Rescue Effort (CARE) — Belinda Rife, 53, Candy Martin, 55…
Symon Scores: It’s one down, five to go for new Iron Chef competition
Last night’s Tribe loss was a bummer for ball fans, including the 12,000 or so who gathered at the Jake to watch the game on the Jumbotron. But for the dozens of foodies who crammed around the small flat-screen at Lolita, the night was filled with culinary fireworks: Cleveland’s own hotshot chef Michael Symon survived…
Punk Rock, Parenting and Politics. A Conversation with Bad Religion’s Jay Bentley
Politico-punk vets Bad Religion visit the Agora Ballroom (5000 Euclid Ave., 216-881-6911) Thursday, October 11. Check out this week’s Scene for a show preview, and read on for part one of a bonus interview with bassist Jay Bentley. Matt Gorey — self-proclaimed biggest BR fan in Ohio — almost succeeded in summoning all of his…
Money Where Your Mouth Is: Lines Across Lines
The Scene Music Department are busy practicing for Scene’s Best Of awards and talent show, rehearsing their re-enactment of the dance from that iPod commercial. Rather than vividly describe Lines Across Lines’ mellow-yet-kinetic indie rock, we’ll let the band do it themselves. Band: Lines Across Lines Hometown: Cleveland Sounds like: “Layered, sometimes dancy, D.C- influenced…
Conspiracy Theory: Why is The Plain Dealer Being Mean to Kucinich?
MarketWatch carries a story today about alleged presidential aspirant Dennis Kucinich’s refusal to speak to The Plain Dealer. To Clevelanders, it’s not particularly surprising. The congressman has long been the quintessential pol who prefers photo ops and press conferences to pointed questions. He’s made a habit of bailing on debates with virtually all of his…
Party Tonight on Akron’s Highland Square
Sure, The Lime Spider and The Bucket Shop may have closed, but that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing left to do in Akron, as Highland Square will be hosting festivities and first-rate drinking opportunities this evening. First, pop into The Matinee, which will be celebrating its one-year anniversary and current reign as the best bar…
Victory Records Debate: Were We One-Sided, or Did We Sugar-Coat a Dickhead?
This week’s covers story, “Hollow Victory,” as well as its accompanying story, “Victory at All Costs,” appear to have caused quite a stir among Victory fans and haters alike. Various message boards dedicated to all things punk have been flooded with comments regarding the story, which examines how Victory Records owner Tony Brummel has tainted…
The Case of the Super Fart Spray in Brook Park
Some people will put anything on a hamburger – jalapenos, bleu cheese, mushrooms, French fries, you name it. We draw the line, however, at Super Fart Spray. That’s what Brook Park Police say Brian Horinger and Ismael Lebron added two weeks ago to the menu at the Rally’s on Snow Road. During lunch rush, the…
Nepotism Falls from Fashion at the Cleveland Orchestra
In February, we wrote a story about nepotism and the perceived unfairness of auditions in the Cleveland Orchestra [“Sour Notes,” February, 14], which drew 427 responses from musicians and fans around the world. At the time, members of the orchestra complained that concert master William Preucil was abusing his power. They claimed that Preucil used…
State Rep Shows Nudie Pic to High School Class
Students in the government class at Norwalk High School were expecting State Representative Matt Barrett to give them another boring presentation on how a bill becomes law. But thanks to Barrett’s teenage son, kids were instead treated to a graphic portrayal of how a girl becomes a woman. The freshman Amherst Democrat was all set…
Reader: LeBron Should Support the People Who Support Him
Omit my busy schedule and change of scenery, and I still find time once a month to check up on my favorite newspaper in my hometown of Cleveland. I’ve been a longtime fan of Pete Kotz and Scene Magazine, and the community and readership it begets. First things first: I freely admit to not being…
LeBron and His Hat, Stories from the John, and Other Playoff Observations
Finagled a press credential for last night’s Game 1, and made almost zero insightful observations related to the game of baseball. Thank God for real sportswriters. Here’s what I did observe: – Before he took batting practice, Alex Rodriquez, allegedly a different kind of dude this year, was lingering near the cage with Bobby Abreu,…
Thoughts on Cleveland from an Uppity New York Asshole
The following is a comment left in response to “We’d All Like to Flee to the Cleve,” a story we ran in C-Notes last April about a 30 Rock episode that took place in Cleveland. You will notice it’s signed by a guy calling himself the highly original “Mellow Yellow.” You will notice he’s from…
An Insightful Take on the Importance of Breasts
Doctors say it’s healthy to stare at breasts for 30 minutes a day [“Kept Abreast,” First Punch, October 3]. But that’s only if my wife doesn’t knock my head off. I don’t undestand the big deal. Our race would not be here if we had not been attracted to the oposite sex. So how/why should…
Silent Orchestra: Cleveland’s famed orchestra tries to quiet its critics
So, after approximately 47,657 comments were posted in response to Scene’s controversial February 14th story “Sour Notes” about unfair auditions, nepotism, and sexual harassment at the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra, orchestra leaders have decided finally to respond. How? By demanding orchestra members stop writing to us. Here’s their recent memo: Dear Colleague: In the wake of…
Free Gelato. Seriously.
There’s nothing we at C-Notes like better than La Gelateria gelato – unless of course, it’s free La Gelateria gelato. On Saturday afternoon from 2:30-5:30, vendors at the Legacy Village location will be scooping free mounds of the frozen Italian delicacy, in honor of the “end of summer.” Of course, we thought summer ended a…
Mother’s Keeper: A weird, sad family drama only gets sadder, weirder
Last week, Scene brought you the story of Joan Hall, a mentally ill mother of two who was convicted of shoplifting more than $1 million dollars in an elaborate buy-and-return scheme that crossed 28 state lines (“Mother’s Keeper,” Oct. 1). Daughter Lisa Hall, who’d spent her life caring for her mother, and who’s name was…
The Dirt on Dante: The former Lockkeepers space is open for business
After a one-month delay, chef Dante Boccuzzi’s long-anticipated restaurant, Dante, opened this past Saturday, Sept. 29, in Valley View, in the space that was formerly Lockkeepers. We haven’t had a chance to dine there yet, but we did stop in last night to take a gander at the menu, a small, chic, and eclectic lineup…
Money Where Your Mouth Is: What To Do Friday Night Edition
Rather than actually put pen to paper and describe Do Make Say Think and Pensive, the Scene Music Department spent all afternoon watching bootleg footage of the first night of the Van Halen tour on YouTube. So they’ll just directly reprint the bands’ words. Long story short: DMST are post-rock that rocks. And Pensive ……
Mike G’s Weekend Picks: In case you’re not watching the Tribe …
Shake your bon-bon Saturday at La Salsa Dance Contest and Celebration This weekend’s top arts and entertainment picks around town, from the guy who’s paid to pick them: Friday: Yes, we realize the Tribe plays tonight. But just in case you’re one of the seven people not watching the game, the Haunted Cleveland Ghost Tours…
Cleveland Opera: The Case of the Incredible Shrinking Opera Company
Remember those 50 Ways to Kill an Opera Company?. Well, it looks like they’re working. Jeff Sodowsky, the executive director of Opera Cleveland, who was on the job for less than a year, has been axed. In fact, his entire position was eliminated, according to the Plain Dealer. Also gone is Judith Ryder, a dedicated…
‘Next Iron Chef’ Sundays at Lolita
Hey, foodies, why should Tribe fans have all the fun? Round up a group of like-minded gourmets this Sunday, and head down to Lolita, where you can cheer on our own hometown hero, Michael Symon, as he battles to become The Next Iron Chef. The 6-show series debuts this Sunday, Oct. 7, at 9 p.m.,…
The Devil Wears Dress Slacks, and Eats at Tower Shitty
The enemy is in town. And they’re eating at Houlihan’s. This inteprid reporter was wandering around the near-empty Tower City, the Worst Mall in America, at 9:30 last night when he ran into none other than Yankee outfielder and Japanese demi-god Hideki Matsui, wearing a white dress shirt and slacks. The only establishment open was…
Cleveland’s Screaming: New Doc Looks at 80s Punk Scenes
A new version of Cleveland’s Screaming, a documentary about the 1980s Cleveland/Akron hardcore punk scenes, will premier 9:15 p.m. Saturday, October 6 at Cleveland Cinematheque (11141 East Blvd.). The flick was directed by Brad Warner, the Zero Defects bassist turned Zen monk and filmmaker. The film screened in Cleveland last year, at the Jigsaw Saloon…
More Cleveland Van Halen Tickets on Sale
The Wednesday October 10 Van Halen reunion show at the Q was sold out, but the good folks at LiveNation have just released a handful of seats, some primo ($149.50 VIP seating), some cheap ($75) . Visit www.LiveNation.com to get ‘em while they’re still available. Is the classic-rock relapse worth your hard-earned entertainment dollars? The…
Jake La Botz
It’s guys like Jake La Botz who make you realize how little you’ve done with your life. Over the years, La Botz has been a singer, guitarist, songwriter, tattoo artist, actor, newspaper obituary writer, and car thief. He’s also auditioned for Velvet Revolver. Meanwhile, I feel a sense of accomplishment if I manage to cook…
Snake Oil
Even atheists comprehend, on some level, why people might go to a place of worship. But almost everyone, including the religiously inclined, has a hard time stomaching the rural Pentecostal sects that handle venomous snakes as proof of their faith. Holy Ghosts, the Romulus Linney play now at the Beck Center, admirably takes on this…
Muy Caliente!
Salsa dancing can be as spicy as the condiment that shares its name. And at tonight’s Viva La Salsa Dance Contest and Celebration at the I-X Center, lots of folks will show off their sizzlin’ steps. “The music is so lively and catchy, you can’t help but move,” says event chairwoman Felicia Soto. “Plus, it’s…
DJ Krush
Hideaki Ishi’s successful career as DJ Krush never would’ve happened if it wasn’t for Wild Style. The 1982 film and subsequent tour changed his life. Ishi, then a teenager, quickly immersed himself in hip-hop culture, especially turntablism. “Back then there was no DJ scene in Japan, and my crappy VHS dub of the movie was…
Capsule reviews of current area theater presentations.
Arsenic and Old Lace — What are the odds that Arsenic and Old Lace, that old warhorse of a comedy about grandmotherly serial killers, could still be one of the funniest stage shows in recent memory? The chances are good if you go to the production at the Great Lakes Theater Festival. It’s almost unfailingly…
Gray Matters
Shakespeare’s political thriller Measure for Measure dwells in the dangerous space between tragedy and comedy. That murky gray area is precisely what drew Risa Brainin to the project. “It’s a play about the complexities of leadership — how not everything is black and white,” says Brainin, who directs the Great Lakes Theater Festival production opening…
Hollow Victory
This was it — the moment Hawthorne Heights had been waiting for. It was 2003 and the five Dayton natives were about to take the stage for a Victory Records showcase in Chicago. Over the previous two years, Hawthorne Heights had been living like most fledgling bands, working minimum-wage convenience-store jobs between grueling tours in…
Jupiter One
New York City’s Jupiter One bills itself as a “synth new-wave” band, but keyboards are just one color from a nü-wave rainbow that has big, bright bands of indie-rock guitar jangle, driving rhythms, and passionate vocals. Live, the co-ed quintet brings its melancholy jams to life by switching around violin, keys, and guitar. If you’ve…
Capsule reviews of current area art exhibitions.
NEW Beyond the Line — MOCA had its hands full installing these vast, intricate “hybrid constructions” by New Yorker Diana Cooper, who enjoys her first solo museum exhibition here. The effort was worthwhile, at least for us. Beneath all the colorful, elaborate trappings — Cooper’s imagination is staggering — is a conceptual foundation that’s clear…
A-Haunting We Will Go
Halloween comes a few weeks early at the weekly Haunted Cleveland Ghost Tours, which kick off a new season tonight. The guided trips take guests to some of the city’s spookiest spots. It all starts at the William G. Mather steamship — which caught fire, harbored deadly diseases, and hosted various other tragic events back…
Victory at All Costs
To understand how Victory has earned the ire of some of its best-selling bands, one need only look at its contracts. They’re not what you’d expect from a company that constantly touts its artist-friendly, “anti-corporate” ways. Victory, like most labels, offers a pretty straightforward cut of record royalties. For example, Hawthorne Heights was promised 11…
Harvest Rhythms
Harvest Rhythms will be Twist’s final Sunday barbecue of the season. Fill your belly on the front patio, then head inside, where the Tek-Know? collective will be serving up underground dance music you can really chow down on: Expect broken beats, drummin’ bass, helter-skelter rhythms, and top-notch techno from Random(seed), Zachariah, SNL (Stone and Leone),…
Fist Things First
Caligula: Imperial Edition (Penthouse) (Spoiler alert: Fisting!) One day back in the swingin’ ’70s, somebody mentioned how “absolute power corrupts absolutely,” and then Bob Guccione, Gore Vidal, Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, and Peter O’Toole said, “Let’s make a big-budget movie about that, with come shots. ” And Caligula was born. Actually, Penthouse publisher Guccione added…
‘Toon Up
Growing up, comedian Greg Morton was a huge fan of cartoons — particularly Warner Brothers’ Looney Tunes shorts starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and other woodland critters. Their smart-ass high jinks laid the foundation for Morton’s stand-up act. “Those cartoons were so good,” he says. “They didn’t talk down to kids. [The writers] basically wrote…
Helmet Head
“Oooof! Get ‘im! Get ‘im! Got ‘im! Niiiice!” It’s only a few minutes past noon on the first college-football Saturday of the fall, and validation is already coming from the dozen flat-panels mounted on the wall. “Men against boys,” purrs Phil Steele, their owner, as the day’s first ill-fated point spread melts away. “Men against…
Fraser & DeBolt
Fallout is hawking its highly anticipated reissue of Fraser & DeBolt’s 1971 debut to the freak-folk scene. According to the back cover, the Canadian duo is “sure to delight fans of . . . Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom.” But here’s the problem with that: Banhart and company, however experimental, are neo-hippies making lush stoner…
Price Is Righteous
TOP PICK — MGM Scream Legends Collection: Vincent Price (MGM) Halloween comes early on this five-DVD set featuring seven horror films from the ’60s and ’70s, starring the guy who rapped on Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” Three bonus documentaries give insight into the amiable actor, whose career spanned Broadway to Scooby-Doo. Best movies: The Abominable Dr.…
Sound System
Toronto’s Do Make Say Think plays post-rock instrumental music that encompasses a bunch of different music genres that have one thing in common: really funky time signatures. Rock, jazz, psychedelic, and electronic sounds drift in and out of the band’s new album, You, You’re a History in the Rust. Other musicians jam with the group…
Kept Abreast
Lorien Bourne has a jones for protest, be the topic racism or mega-farms. She’s also served vegetarian chow to the homeless. So you might say she’s not the kind who shrinks when exposed to injustice — even if it means exposing herself. Two years ago, she was walking in a Bowling Green park when she…
High on Fire
Stoner-metal stud Matt Pike and his current crew’s fourth album, Death Is This Communion, roils with squalling gale-force winds. Featuring Babylonian mythology seemingly lifted from D&D’s Monster Manual, the disc doesn’t contain a single track that immediately grabs you like “Anointing of Seer,” off 2005’s Blessed Black Wings. But it does feature the heaviest of…
Party Pooper
Billiards is one of the few sports that’s as taxing on a computer screen as it is in real life. It’s played in pubs, after all, and its legendary star was named “Fats.” Unfortunately, most virtual billiard games are behind the 8-ball in terms of quality, with poor physics and convoluted controls. What’s so hard…
Welcome to His World
On his latest album, After Hours, Raul Malo covers a bunch of country classics made famous by legends like Buck Owens and Hank Williams. Seeing that Malo — the velvet-voiced former frontman of the Mavericks — is capable of making even one of Toby Keith’s meathead tunes come off like the most graceful come-on ever,…
Go Tribe!
Click here to see our assessment of the Tribe.
Bruce Springsteen
Taking a cue from last year’s old-school hootenanny We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, Bruce Springsteen’s first album with the E Street Band since 2002’s The Rising keeps the mood mostly light. Magic includes zero songs about the fretting mothers of soldiers who are fighting in Iraq or the plight of migrant field workers. Instead,…
Our top DVD picks scheduled for release this week:
The Audrey Hepburn DVD Collection (Paramount) Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Collector’s Edition (Sony) Christmas Television Favorites (Warner Bros.) The Comedians of Comedy: Live at the Troubadour (Image) Criminal Minds: The Second Season (Paramount) Day Night Day Night (IFC) Entourage: Season Three, Part 2 (HBO) Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Fox) Flight of the Living…
Team Spirit
Stand-up comic Mark Reedy was born in Chicago, but moved to Cleveland a few years ago. He married a woman here, but has since divorced. Still, he really digs our town. “It’s a very embracing city,” he says. “Once they get something that they like, they hang in there with you. If LeBron James doesn’t…
Ranting on Raving
True fans dance all night — as long as the DJs don’t suck: I was in town on one of my regular trips to Cleveland and was happy at first to see a feature article on our often-overlooked electronic dance music community [“The Dwindling Tribe of Dance,” September 5]. But come on, where’s the other…
Pumice
Pumice (born Stefan Geoffrey Neville) has often been described as a “bedroom musician.” But Pebbles sounds as if it were recorded before Neville got out of bed. Only the most dedicated fans of lo-fi indie can navigate such hissfests. If that’s you, there’s plenty here that will clear the crust from your eyes. Pebbles stumbles…
Threepeat!
When Old Time Relijun frontman Arrington de Dionyso talks about his band’s new album, Catharsis in Crisis, you wouldn’t be remiss if you thought he was putting you on. After all, he says the new CD — which comes out today — wraps up a trilogy about “transcendent experiences, with science-fiction elements.” But Old Time…
Harried Potter
On last year’s Nothing but the Water, bluesy Vermont roots-rockers Grace Potter and the Nocturnals busted out of the jam-band scene with a set of songs that showed off the band’s instrumental chops without boring listeners with wayward noodling. Their new album, This Is Somewhere, is an even more assured statement of independence. “The stories…
Filling the Van Void
“There are probably a half-dozen Led Zeppelin books. There are a half-dozen AC/DC books. But there hasn’t been a biography of Van Halen written since 1984,” explains Ian Christe, author of Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga. “And a lot of juicy stuff has happened — not just the Hagar years, but Roth riding…
Watson 387
Watson 387 describes its sound as “crunkcore” and “scrap metal.” But we’ll call it damn fine midtempo metal. Named after a generic painkiller, Watson 387 is both arty and blue-collar on its debut EP. The band’s ferocity is impressive. Frontman Matt Allen rages about betrayal and adversity as if he’s determined to make the vein…
Pug Life
Amanda Kleps admits that her two pooches will probably feel a little silly at today’s Halloween Pug Party & Costume Contest. You would too if your owner dressed you up like The Wizard of Oz’s Dorothy — complete with ruffled dress and pigtails. “I even give them ruby slippers to wear,” laughs Kleps, founder of…
Perfectly Flawed
“Nobody wants to hear perfection, because nobody’s perfect,” declares Brandi Carlile over the phone, lying on her lawn in Ravensdale, Washington, just outside the Starbucks capital. “It’s something I’ve learned playing live shows. People want you to fuck up.” The country-fried singer-songwriter, who’s as obsessed with the Grand Ole Opry as she is Elton John,…
Arthur Alexander
“When the Beatles and the Rolling Stones got their first chance to record, one did ‘Anna’ and the other did ‘You Better Move On,'” Keith Richards once said, referring to the importance of Arthur Alexander. “That should tell you enough.” And if it doesn’t, you can also consult Dylan, Ry Cooder, and Robert Plant. They’ve…
Politically Wrecked
On their 2003 masterpiece, Hearts of Oak, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists shook the sheets with a bunch of rock and roll songs that were mostly about rock and roll. “Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?” — a tribute to 2-Tone heroes the Specials — alone packed more plugged-in reverence than many groups manage…
From Madvillain to Milli Vanilli
On the afternoon of August 15, the co-owner of the San Francisco club the Independent received a call from MF Doom’s agent. He said the underground rapper was too sick to make his scheduled performance that evening. Later, the agent called back: The masked MC was actually good-to-go. But when Doom took the stage at…
The Woovs
Barberton’s the Woovs are new to the regional scene, but they’re already miles ahead of the rest. Live Demo is rough around the edges, but it still paints a very clear picture: The band’s sound is a blend of soul, blues, and rock, pieced together with good songwriting. The Woovs are also skilled musicians. With…
Quack House
Despite the timbery-sounding nature of its name, today’s Wood Duck Festival at North Chagrin Reservation’s Nature Center pays tribute to a real live bird. So don’t go looking for intricately carved mallards at the third-annual outing. There will be plenty of breathing ones, however. “The event highlights the incredible fall colors found in Northeast Ohio,…
Revising the Rock
David Crosby and Graham Nash have been cock-teasing Cleveland for most of 2007. The duo was originally scheduled to appear at the Allen Theatre last March. But they had to cancel. While en route, Crosby ate a KFC Famous Bowl (chicken and biscuit, I believe) and was rushed to the ER for a colonoscopy. Just…
Roman Holiday
When it came to designing Bar Cento, the upcoming food-and-wine addendum to McNulty’s Bier Markt, chef Jonathon Sawyer says he found his inspiration in Roman enotecas, those small, inexpensive wine bars that dot the city’s landscape. A peek at the menu, scheduled to debut around October 16 (the savvy Sawyer declined to be pinned down…
Spin Cycle
Cleveland DJs Stone N Leone headline tonight’s Harvest Rhythms bash at Twist. While the club fires up the grill for its last free cookout of the year, Jay Stone and André Leone will spin vinyl-only versions of “jackin’ Chicago” house music by groovemasters like Leela James and the Sound Republic. But the old-school platters have…
Blues Out, Blue’s In
One of Ohio City’s signature clubs has closed, but a new bar has opened in time to offset the loss. 2527 closed its doors last week. The blues club was established in 2002 by Maribeth Barabas, whose bartending career includes a long stint at the storied Velvet Tango Room. 2527 started off with a jazz-heavy…
Café Quirky
Like a flower bed featuring only carnations, a dining scene composed solely of chains and upscale bistros is pretty and predictable, but bland. What’s needed is a wildflower or two, to add character to the landscape: Some quirky charm here, some oddball fun there, and suddenly you’ve got yourself a garden. This brings us to…
To Your Health
@cal head 1:To Your Health @cal deck:You don’t have to be in shape to join this 5K — but it helps. @cal body 1 no indent:Today’s fifth-annual Cornucopia Nature’s Bin Run/Walk at Lakewood Park is all about eating — and staying — healthy. And you’re never too young to start, says spokeswoman Mary Johnson. For…
Earlimart
For Earlimart’s fifth album, Mentor Tormentor, a worthy follow-up to 2004’s breakthrough Treble & Tremble, the Los Angeles group has been pared down to the core duo of Aaron Espinoza and Ariana Murray (as well as sundry sidemen). Although Espinoza’s breathy tenor still conjures Elliott Smith, Earlimart’s latest wavers between the atmospheric glimmer of Treble…
Wild Open Spaces
To some, Christopher Johnson McCandless, the 24-year-old Emory University graduate who starved to death in the Alaskan wilderness in 1992, will never be more than a spoiled bourgeois brat with half-cocked survivalist fantasies (and possibly suicidal tendencies), who ran away from home and got exactly what he deserved. To others, McCandless stirs up thoughts of…
Ink Tank
Tattoo artists and AIDS specialists work side by side at Voodoo Monkey’s Bod-Mod Tour this afternoon. The event is sponsored by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Community Center of Greater Cleveland, which will slash $10 off all tattoos and piercings . . . as long as you sign up for a free HIV test…
Maroon 5
Though he seems annoyingly aware of this fact, Maroon 5’s lithe frontman, Adam Levine, is one of the prettiest pop rockers to come along in eons. Oh, how Jared Leto must covet Levine’s milky complexion. But with his brassy sass and brave forays into the upper registers of his voice on the band’s criminally catchy…
Plain Jane
If you can’t get enough of the Mutually Supportive Sisterhood narrative, there’s every chance you’ll go for The Jane Austen Book Club. It’s a perfectly pleasant, perfectly undistinguished adaptation of a market-driven novel about six Sacramento lovelies, who try to mend their stalled or broken lives while massaging one another’s feet. Like most MSS stories…
Rub a Dub
On the surface, San Diego’s Slightly Stoopid appears to be one of those obnoxious joke bands — like the Barenaked Ladies. Just look at its name or the title of its latest album, Chronicitis. Truth is, the six-member group is a musically adroit crew that’s shared tours with groove pros like Ozomatli. While its mix…
Queen Latifah
It’s been almost 20 years since Queen Latifah recorded her first song, “Princess of the Posse,” an assertive rap with Jamaican inflections. She was the definitive strong-minded female rapper of the ’90s, and at the time it seemed unlikely that she’d be anything other than the Afrocentric feminist construct that she had cultivated — the…
Just Like a Woman
One of the enduring truths of actors is that costumes can have a transformative effect on their ability to play a given role. Countless thespians have admitted that they were floundering in search of a character until the costume showed up during rehearsals. Everything then fell into place. Given the right getup, a person can…
Art on Arrival
More than 30 galleries participate in this weekend’s Murray Hill Art Walk in Little Italy. Look for everything from paintings and photography to ceramics and sculpted glass. There’s even some hip fashion on display and for sale at Gina’s Gallery, which features work by various designers — including owner Gina Dudik, whose Duchess von Dudik…
