Pride and Glory
Edward Norton plays a straight-arrow detective whose investigation of a cop killing leads him back to the force. It’s hardly original, and the storytelling is sloppy and confusing, as the script by brothers Gavin and Gregory O’Connor is little more than a collection of tired clichés. As director, Gavin O’Connor apparently thinks all you need…
Rachel Getting Married
Rachel may indeed be getting married, but the real lead character is her recovering addict kid sister Kym (Anne Hathaway in a terrific performance that deserves a better vehicle), who gets a furlough from her stint in rehab to attend the festivities. Cue woozy high-def digital video camerawork, dizzying streams of Altman-esque overlapping dialogue and…
Trouble the Water
Cobbled together from home footage and TV coverage, this documentary about the devastating effect Hurricane Katrina had on New Orleans is difficult to watch and not just because of the destruction we see. The shaky footage provided by Kimberly Rivers Roberts and her husband Scott is essentially something you might see in a DIY film…
W.
If W. were the raucous satire its preview trailer suggested, it might be cathartic to watch. But director Oliver Stone and screenwriter Stanley Weiser (Wall Street) have taken Bush’s life — the stuff of low comedy — and painted it as tragedy. Weiser’s conception of Bush (played by Josh Brolin) relies heavily on caricature —…
High School Musical 3: Senior Year
The last year of high school is when most teens are confronted by difficult decisions and often become sexually active and experiment with drugs. Not in the world of High School Musical where boyfriends and girlfriends kiss each other on the cheek and nobody ever swears. This squeaky clean flick centers on Troy (Zac Efron),…
Your Complete Concert Calendar
THIS JUST IN Agent Orange: Wed., Nov. 19. Pirate's Cove. Les Black's Amazing Pink Holes: Fri., Dec. 26. 8 p.m., $15. Beachland Tavern. Chris Beard: Thu., Nov. 13. 7 p.m., $10. Beachland Ballroom. Beastie Boys/Sheryl Crow/Ben Harper/Norah Jones: Get Out the Vote Tour. Wed., October 29. 7 p.m., $35. Chevrolet Centre, Youngstown. Beastie Boys/Sheryl Crow/Ben…
Far Beyond Windows And Eggs
If a poet were to use the words "flower," "butterfly," "diamond" and "gold" as frankly and earnestly as those forms and materials were used by Peter Carl Fabergé, Louis Comfort Tiffany and Rene Lalique, he would be derided as shallow and cliché. No matter how careful the meter or witty the rhyme, those words remain…
Lt. Dunbar’s Favorite Team
They make all the right reasons to fuck it up You're gonna fuck it up — Against Me!, “Sink, Florida, Sink” One of my favorite literary peripheral characters is “Catch-22’s” Lt. Dunbar, Yossarian’s partner in fear and duty avoidance. The men are joined by a common desire to avoid dying in the…
Short Takes On Current Releases
Addicted to Love Anne Hathaway gives a terrific performance in Rachel Getting MarriedJust how righteous is the new film by Jonathan Demme? Not only is the titular bride-to-be (an excellent Rosemarie DeWitt) marrying an African American (Tunde Adebimpe), but her dad (Bill Irwin) is himself married to a black woman (Anna Deveare Smith). The wedding…
Choose Your Weapon
In the final round of last year's Haiku Death Match, champion (and Lakewood poet laureate) Jack McGuane delivered the final blow to second-place finisher Ray McNiece by asking, "Ray, what have you done today to earn the warmth of the sun and the smell of lilacs?" Later, in an interview with poet George Bilgere, who…
The Calling
People say we vote on an emotional level, that we gravitate toward candidates of our own ilk. I don't look like either John McCain or Barack Obama. I guess I look a bit like Sarah Palin, with my kid, husband, brown hair and Tina Fey glasses, but the resemblance stops there. Palin leans far to…
Four Dead From Ohio
While VP candidate Sarah Palin tries to identify supposed liberal, anti-American commun-ities within our borders (talkin' 'bout you, Cleveland Heights), other Americans continue to serve their country in Iraq. And whether you think that war is the most colossal, arrogant, mind-numbingly misbegotten blunder in our history or not, you have to acknowledge the people who…
Bill Mason’s Mean Machine
At 31 years old, Bill Mason was already a rising star in local legal circles, an assistant county prosecutor known for his aggressiveness in the courtroom. but he still had a thing or two to learn about politics. In 1991, Mason's boss, County Prosecutor John T. Corrigan, was bowing out after 34 years. His son…
Get Out!
Friday 10.24 KEYANA WILLIAMS Keyana Williams always gives in to her sexy alter ego when she's writing poetry. Her sultry work is gathered in her debut anthology, Sex Inspires My Best Poetry: The Urban, Erotic Poetry of Lady K, which she'll read tonight at, natch, Ambiance: The Store for Lovers. "When I'm inspired to write,…
Difficult Music
The five band members in Houseguest have earned their sea legs. Since the early 2000s, the group's style of irreverent geek rock and its notoriously merry live sets have made them captains of the Akron music scene. Spin Houseguest's third album – the just-released Welcome, All That's Difficult – and you'll hear a band braving…
Local Foodie News
Cleveland Restaurant Week, organized by Cleveland Independents, has been so successful in previous years that the promotion is returning for two weeks this year. During the weeks of November 2-7, and November 9-14, more than 40 independent restaurants will offer special three-course, prix fixe dinners for around $30. The entire list of participating restaurants can…
Ascap’ed
Once a destination party zone, the Flats is between identities right now, as preliminary work gets under way for a massive project that promises shiny new retail, office and residential spaces. The East Bank is the perfect place, Michael Tricarichi believes, to establish clubs before new condo residents and office workers start arriving en masse.…
Local Disc Review
The Promise Hero Wait for the Sun (TDR) myspace.com/thepromisehero The Promise Hero aren't a bunch of emo pussies; on their full-length debut, they're barely emo. Still, they are close. Singer Bobby Vaughn is certainly in touch with his feelings on tunes like "Why My So Jealous," though the infectious acoustic romp radiates more wit than…
Local Arts News
New York contemporary art collectors Dorothy and Herbert Vogel plan to give away 50 works to major institutions in each of the 50 states – a total of 2,500 pieces. In Ohio, they've chosen to make their donations to the Akron Art Museum. The gift includes works by American artists Lynda Benglis, Jene Highstein, Robert…
A Hopeless Wonder
Mop-topped folkie Brett Dennen deservedly stepped center stage in 2006 with So Much More. It was a lyrically and melodically poised sophomore set of understated gems that paid as much respect to Bob Dylan's poetic grace as it did to Jack Johnson's new-island aesthetic. His emotive voice – an androgynous blend of Nina Simone and…
Girl Talk, Jay Nash, Bloc Party And More Get Graded
Girl Talk Feed the Animals (Illegal Art) Gregg Gillis – a.k.a. Girl Talk – may DJ in live settings, but on disc he's a mash-up artist. Wanton RIAA-baiting aside, this Pittsburgh troublemaker's larger purpose seems to be playing U.N. diplomat for genre togetherness, sewing iconic swatches of R&B, hip-hop, pop and rock together into one…
Face To Vase
By depicting families, friends and themselves, artists in all media have generated a strange eternity of face-time. The art of portraiture is near the core of our modern understanding of ourselves. From the shocking freshness of Hellenistic funerary portraits through Rembrandt's dark sympathy, on into the egomaniacal present tense of technological culture inflected with individual…
Capsule Reviews Of Just About Everything
Appaloosa – A decent enough western in the old-school tradition, Appaloosa reunites Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen for the first time since 2005's A History of Violence. This time, Harris and Mortensen play hired Wild West lawmen instead of mobster adversaries. Their relaxed, easygoing camaraderie is the best thing in Appaloosa, giving it the timeless…
Around Hear: Rock Drums
Cleveland's hottest hip-hop producers aren't content with being known as Cleveland's hottest hip-hop producers. Or producers. The Kickdrums have expanded from a production team to a musical force on their debut album, the rock record Detached … At Ease. "We really wanted to push ourselves creatively and musically," says Alex "Fitty" Fitts, who made a…
Blue -collar Man
Anberlin singer Stephen Christian realized early on that there are two paths in life: One leads to sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll; the other, to salvation. Christian, a humanitarian, chose the latter. "I looked at those two roads, and the one that feels better is so temporal," he says via phone. "Sex, drugs, rock…
Verb Ballet Leads This Week’s Arts Picks
OHIO'S BALLETS Verb brings Dayton and Cincinnati companies to PlayhouseSquare, Friday, October 24 Any part of Verb Ballets' program at the Ohio Theatre on Friday night could serve as its centerpiece. But the company that Scene recognized as Northeast Ohio's "Most Collaborative Dance Company" seems also to be trying to tell us that too much…
John Tesh
John Tesh became a nationally known figure when he hosted the syndicated celebrity-driven Entertainment Tonight in the mid-'80s through the mid-'90s. However, Tesh, 56, was a sports reporter and a news anchor before taking on ET duties. He's also part of the new-age and Christian-contemporary scene as a keyboardist, guitarist, saxophonist and vocalist, and has…
The Line Is Still Busy
In the weeks leading up to a presidential election, it's natural to expect the air to be permeated with conflicting lunatic slanders and shameless hyperbole. But we don't expect the same calumnies to be applied in theatrical terms to a road company revival of a 33-year-old musical that once set theater geeks everywhere palpitating in…
Just A Poor Boy, His Story Seldom Told
I just wanted to thank you for your wonderful article about Kelly Pavlik in Scene ("The Hero," October 1). Though I'm now at school at Kent State, I was born and raised in Youngstown and still have tremendous pride for my little city. It was so refreshing to see Youngstown painted in a hopeful light…
Culture Jamming: Fright Night
TOP PICK Alfred Hitchcock Special Edition DVDs (Universal) Three of the director's best movies – Psycho, Vertigo and Rear Window – get first-class treatment on these two-disc sets, part of the Universal Legacy Series. Tons of bonus features – including commentaries, documentaries and episodes of Hitchcock's 1950s TV show – bolster the nerve-rattling films. We're…
Matthew Sweet Leads This Week’s Concert Picks
Sweet's Sunshine Matthew Sweet at the Beachland Ballroom, Saturday, October 25 Let's face it: If you're a Matthew Sweet fan, there's been plenty of cause for concern. First, his solo output can only be described as sporadic since his '90s buzz-bin days. Then there's the "supergroup" move with the Thorns, suggesting he needed to join…
The Accidental Artists
You can trace the rock 'n' roll circus back to London in the '60s, where the Rolling Stones staged a series of shows under a big tent. That's not exactly what locals Cobra Verde have in mind for the concert they're playing to celebrate the release of their new album, Haven't Slept All Year. The…
Isn’t This How Rocky Ended?
This time last week, Youngstown boxer Kelly "The Ghost" Pavlik, the WBC and WBO middleweight champion, was 34-0 as a pro ("The Hero," October 1). The streak is over. On Saturday, October 18, Pavlik resoundingly lost a non-title match to Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins. Hopkins, 43, is a future Hall of Famer, whose 10-year stint…
Win With Quinn In ’09!
Let us mark Sunday's abysmal loss to the Redskins as the official end to the 2008 Browns season and the beginning of 2009 training camp. This Year lasted just a smidge longer than the ill-conceived Geico Cavemen sitcom survived in prime time, and Next Year begins with 10 games still on the schedule. It's time…
Feeding The Machine
WHO GIVES: ¥ Frank Mahnic: Convicted in 1996 for giving false information to a grand jury. Contributions: $10,150. ¥ Carole Hoover: Ran a minority-owned company involved in an airport expansion project that never paid county taxes during Mike White's administration. Contributions: $9,500. ¥ Sam Miller: Forest City executive whose subsidiary, Sunrise Developments, bought contaminated land…
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner
Many readers of this column might never consider visiting La Brasa. In addition to residing in a sort of no man's land between Detroit Shoreway and Brooklyn, the place just isn't very inviting. Propped out on the sidewalk is a hastily scribbled sign announcing that the joint is open. That's important, because the accordion bars…
‘w.’ For Worst
Oliver Stone's W. arrives at a peculiar time in history. George W. Bush's approval rating is at 25 percent, the lowest of any president since Gallup began polling. Many Americans, fixated on the tanking economy and a contentious presidential election, have to be reminded that Bush is still president. Really, it can't be auspicious to…
Your Complete Northeast Ohio Dining Guide
Downtown 4th Street Bar & Grill 402 Euclid Ave., 216-298-4070. Noisy and fun-loving, this 100-seat restaurant is part of the Corner Alley complex, a high-energy hangout featuring 16 lanes of bowling and a fashionable martini bar. With cheese here, bacon there, and deep-fried goodness nearly everywhere, spa cuisine this is not. But thanks to zesty…
Topiary Man
A Man Named Pearl is about a guy who turns his backyard into a leafy art gallery. No more, no less. Pearl Fryar is a humble, 66-year-old, soft-spoken black man who sculpts topiaries on his 3-acre spread in the small, impoverished town of Bishopville, South Carolina. "He can tame trees like nobody's business," says one…
Beastie Boys
"I'm Mike D and I get respect / Your cash and your jewelry is what I expect," rapped the skinny Jewish kid who had turned his given name, Michael Diamond, into a hip-hop-friendly moniker compatible with his pals MCA (Adam Yauch) and Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz) in the trio of the "three bad brothers" known as…
Reform And Consent
An Ohio Supreme Court case filed by Bill Mason against a county judge suggested that the county prosecutor had no intention of addressing the disparity in drug cases. In May 2003, a year after Mason's meeting with the NAACP (see main story), Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Burt Griffin, a 30-year veteran of the bench,…
