Reviews of the Cinematheque’s weekend films
The Cinematheque is showing several great films this weekend. Here are capsule reviews of just two of them. Forbidden Lies (Australia, 2007) Not long after her memoir Honor Bound becomes an international best-seller, author Norma Khouri has to account for some of the discrepancies in her book about the “honor killing” of her Jordanian friend.…
7/10: Kid Rock at Blossom
Despite a deck heavily stacked against him, often by his own hand, Kid Rock has managed to become one of the most iconic artists of the 20th century’s last gasp, and one of the only members of rap-rock’s first graduating class to put out a record with real staying power. That record, of course, was…
7/10-12: Cain Park Arts Festival
In the essay he wrote for her book Open Spaces, author/speechwriter John P. Avalon describes Cathie Bleck’s scratchboard art: “There is a timeless quality to her work: It is the magical realism of myth, a loving look at nature. These are the stories of animal spirits and striving young souls struggling to find their way…
7/10: Meredith Hahn / Tremont Art Walk
The innocence of Meredith Hahn’s drawings is often undercut by something dark and brooding, or at least something cold, like a tree with no leaves. Hahn works as a product developer for a children’s arts and crafts company, Creativity for Kids, and the whimsy that implies also comes through. Her own projects have included a…
7/10: Jimmy Webb at the Beachland
You might not really know who Jimmy Webb is, but you surely have heard the songs he’s penned over the years for artists like Frank Sinatra, Isaac Hayes, Donna Summer and Glen Campbell, who scored a major hit with his “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.” This Oklahoma-born songwriter is considered one of the…
7/10: Gallery U at Asterisk
Artist and Gallery U Haul driver Patsy Kline suffers from ocular migraines, which can be triggered by her surroundings, behavior, food and other factors. That got her to thinking about how the city makes her and others feel. So for five years she’s been collecting sounds, images, videos, oral histories, objects and visual art about…
7/10: The Music Man at Cassidy Theatre
After playing in John Phillip Sousa’s band, Meredith Willson wrote other musicals and plenty of songs, including the University of Iowa’s fight song. But he remains best known for his first musical, a story that tells of “Trouble in River City,” in which a con man comes to town selling musical instruments and band uniforms,…
7/10: 78th Street Studios
The collection of galleries and other businesses known as West 78th Street Studios continues to gather steam as artists and curators pool their efforts for another eclectic open house. Kenneth Paul Lesko Gallery opens a new show featuring a selection from the gallery’s extensive collection, which includes Cleveland School painters. Bill Scheele continues to show…
7/10-12: Screaming Tiki Supercon & Superman house opening
Sci-fi/fantasy royalty appear at this weekend’s Screaming Tiki Supercon — a comics, toys and pop culture convention — which will honor Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, creators of Superman, Cleveland’s greatest contribution to the genre. All weekend, the inaugural event will examine Superman, his Rustbelt roots and his myriad interpretations. One highlight will be the…
Dance documentary has its local premiere tonight at CMA
A five-decade marriage between two dancers is the subject of Carmen & Geoffrey, which has its local premiere tonight at 7 at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Lecture Hall. Here’s our review of the film. Carmen & Geoffrey (US, 2005) Dancers/choreographers/actors Carmen de Lavallade and Geoffrey Holder first met in 1954 on a production of…
7/9: Donald Malloy at Nighttown
On his impressive debut, Spirituality, this Cleveland-born, Oberlin-educated trumpeter (now a graduate student at Rutgers in New Jersey) blends the musical traditions of the African Yoruba religion with the creativity of jazz. Other musicians have attempted this in the past, with mixed results (legendary Puerto Rican trumpeter Jerry Gonzales is one success story that comes…
7/8: Heights poets laureate at Joseph Beth
The Cleveland Heights poet laureate program confers what’s probably the most official such title in the region. Cleveland Heights City Council makes the appointment every other April. This year, it picked Gail Bellamy (pictured) to write and present poetry for public events. Heights Arts has taken the program further, publishing an anthology of poems by…
7/8: Summertime Blues at CMA
Scene art critic Douglas Max Utter will lead a tour through parts of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s east wing, focusing on the use of the color blue, as part of a blue-themed evening aimed at young professionals. Utter says he plans to begin with Picasso, whose famous “blue” period is represented at CMA by…
7/8: Wild Wednesdays at the Zoo
Cuyahoga County (and Hinckley Township) residents pay taxes to support the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo (3900 Wildlife Way, 216.661.6500). In return, they get free admission every Monday. Over the summer, the zoo is giving a little incentive to residents of surrounding counties to stop by: Starting today, it’s offering “Wild Wednesday” half-price admission to residents of…
7/8: Slam U Finalists
If it were a football team, the announcer in the press box might say something like, “These guys are tight. They’ve been playing together for a long time. They know what to expect of each other and what they are capable of.” That’s the way it is for PlayhouseSquare’s Slam U finalists — Cleveland’s National…
Free Tickets to Starship Troopers
Win a pass to see Cedar Lee’s Cult Film Series presentation of Starship Troopers starring Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Neil Patrick Harris, and, of course, Rue McClanahan. Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall, Showgirls) directed this cult classic, and you can chose between two screenings, one at 9:30 p.m. and one at midnight on…
CINDY SHEEHAN NO FAN OF OBAMA’S EITHER
When mechanic Casey Sheehan died at 24, in a rain of Bagdad bullets and RPGs on April 4, 2004, his mother Cindy came a little bit more alive. “After Casey died, I started to really investigate things more fully and I came to the conclusion that part of Casey’s death can be attributed to my…
Rockin’ Like Dokken on the Docks
Last year, Springfield and Lakemore Township, two little towns on opposite banks of Summit County’s Springfield Lake, joined forces to present Rock the Docks — a powerboat-racing event sanctioned by the American Powerboat Racing Association — which they turned into a full-blown music festival. Now, Rock the Docks is back for a second year this…
Keeping Up With Lance Allred
Lance Allred is a bit of a sentimental favorite around these parts. Not only did he get his first break in the NBA with the Cavaliers two seasons ago, but he’s written a fantastic autobiography covering his youth growing up in a fundamental polygamous Mormon compound, to his deafness, to his struggles at Utah under…
eBay Item of the Day: Shin-Soo Choo WBC Korea Jersey
In a lost season of unspeakable ineptitude and countless injuries, failures, and head-scratchers, Shin-Soo Choo is a bright spot for the lowly Cleveland Indians. His bobblehead, while striking in its own way, probably isn’t much of a collector’s item — especially since it looks more like Delonte West than Choo. Maybe you want a jersey,…
BIKE PARKING BY THE NUMBERS
There are any number of ways to measure the popularity of bicycle commuting, most of which involve surveys, like the Census. But Jim Sheehan has another way: the rate of use for Ohio City Bicycle Co-Op’s secure bike parking service, which is offered at major events in town. Volunteers from OCBC and Cleveland Bikes staff…
Game Film: Cleveland Browns vs. Detroit Lions in the 1952 NFL Championship
In 1952, the Cleveland Browns went 8-4, good for first place in the NFL’s American Division. The Detroit Lions went 9-3, good for first place in the NFL’s National Division. And thusly, the two teams met in the championship game. The Browns lost that game 17-7. Above is the first of a three-part series of…
Michael Jackson Tribute Coming to HOB
Here’s our take on tribute bands: Unless an artist is dead, there shouldn’t be a tribute band dedicated to them. Elvis Presley = OKThe Beatles = OK (half of them are dead)Dave Matthews Band = Not OK (that dude who died last year doesn’t count)Radiohead = Not OK (Computer) Got it? So while we’ve always…
Rock Hall Remembers Michael Jackson
While hordes descend on Los Angeles today for the official Michael Jackson memorial event at the Staples Center that will feature a dazzling list of celebrities (including Stevie Wonder, Brooke Shields, Berry Gordy, Kobe Bryant, Mariah Carrey, Martin Luther King III and — uh — John Mayer), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and…
Concert Review: Dear Hunter/mewithouYou at Grog Shop, 7/6
“The first few times we played in Cleveland, it was Hecklesville, USA,” mewithoutYou’s leading man proclaimed halfway through their set last night. Six or seven years later, a lot has changed for Aaron Weiss and his bandmates. The Philadelphia-based band played to a sold-out Grog Shop last night. It was the kind of audience where…
LeBron’s Summer Business: Attending the Exclusive Allen & Co. Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho
It’s okay if you’ve never heard of the Allen & Co. conference before. Unless you’re a media hound or have a couple billion dollars lying around, there’s no reason you would know. Also, it’s more than just a little bit secretive, according to the LA Times story: “Like “Fight Club,” the first rule of the…
This Just In: Concert Announcements
This week, we have 47 new shows. Chickenfoot — that’s half of Van Hagar, Joe Satriani and Chad Smith — play the Rock Hall for free. Alice in Chains return (and they sound good). Mewithoutyou bring the positive vibes to Musica. And U.K. dub star Rusko chills down the B-Side Liquor Lounge. Pitbull’s coming to…
7/9-12: Jo Koy at the Improv
“My ting ting!” At Cleveland Improv:
Oh-So Tangentially Related — “19” Exhibit at Asterisk Gallery
If you’ve ever been down to Tremont to drink (or eat, or walk around, or whatever), you’ve undoubtedly stumbled by the Asterisk Gallery. Might have been when you were drunk and looking for food while walking in one direction, or while you were drunk and walking in search of ice cream in the other. Well,…
Possible Shaq Nicknames Gracing Some Shirts
At last week’s introductory press conference, Shaq was asked whether he had picked out a new nickname for the upcoming season on the shores of Lake Erie. Many good suggestions have been bandied about on the internet — The Big Witness, The Big Buckeye, The Big Blizzard, etc. — but the big man hadn’t settled…
Five Warped Picks
Now in its 15th year, the Vans Warped Tour has come a long way since its inception as a punk-rock showcase. With more bands and styles than ever, the traveling festival hits Cleveland’s Time-Warner Cable Amphitheater at Tower City on Thursday. This year, more than 69 groups are scheduled to perform, beginning at noon. To…
eBay Item of the Day: CC’s Smoking Steak Sauce
A1 just not cutting it for you? No one really likes Heinz 57 anymore, do they? Can’t afford steak but want steak sauce to pour on french fries? Intent on destroying the experience of a steak by dousing it in a sauce at all? Have we got just the thing for you. CC’s Smokin’ Steak…
Road Trip Concert Review: Rothbury Festival, Part 2
Who better to launch the grand finale at this year’s Rothbury Festival in Michigan than the Dead, playing their only show this summer? Primed for action by the String Cheese Incident the previous night, jam-band fans and Deadheads were more than ready when the surviving members of the Grateful Dead took the stage 30 minutes…
Things I Did Not Know: Brett Tomko’s Father Named the Cavs and the Team Could Have Been Called the “Towers”
Maybe I’m the only one who didn’t know this. Maybe you’re as surprised as I was. Read on… There I was, in the middle of an innocuous story about Brett Tomko’s painting hobby when I learned that his father was responsible for naming the Cavaliers and more. Tomko started drawing when he was 5. He’s…
Money Where Your Mouth Is: Carley Tanchon
This is the part where C-Notes lets a musician explain why you need to spend Tuesday night with them. This week: onetime Clevelander Carley Tanchon, who’s back in town for a show. Artist: Carley Tanchon Website: www.carleytanchon.com or www.myspace.com/carleytanchon Hometown: Cleveland, OH (currently lives in Nashville) Sounds Lke: Sheryl Crow, Joni Mitchell, Mindy Smith Fun…
Classic: Shaq Holding Gary Coleman
(Hat tip to NESW Sports)
Loud and Bobnoxious Cult Movies: Special
Michael Rappaport is a good character actor who usually appears in supporting roles. In Special, out now on DVD from Magnet films, he gets a rare chance to take the lead and makes the most of it. Rappaport plays the appropriately named Les, a lonely parking enforcement officer with low self esteem. He can’t bring…
7/8: Eugene Onegin/Opera in High-Def Series
Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin is based on a novel by Russian romantic poet Alexander Pushkin. It’s the story of frustrated love, jealousy, murder and living long enough to regret it all. Opera de Paris’ 2008 production — featuring a cast of Russian singers and the Bolshoi Orchestra — screens as part of Cedar-Lee Theater’s (2163…
7/8: Fiery Furnaces at the Grog Shop
Back-to-basics albums are risky. Often, the band isn’t returning to its roots at all, but someone else’s under the guise of maturity, or peeling back from a disaster to scrounge up some buzz, or just taking sheer laziness to the bank. But sometimes these faux-roots moves are good. The Fiery Furnaces, an unpredictable duo who…
7/8: Man Man at the Rock Hall
They look like Pocahontas on her wedding day, dressed in head-to-toe white, faces covered in tribal make-up. But that’s just the go-to costumes for Man Man, who cite everything from Charles Barkley’s elbows to Aztec pajama rituals as influences for their anything-goes style. Their onstage rituals are just as unpredictable and wildly fascinating: percussion breaks…
SWEENEY GAINS A CHALLENGER
Perennial (losing) candidate Norbert Dennerl, once a Cleveland councilman back when greasers were an urban threat, pulled petitions a few months back to run in the Democratic primaries against Mayor Frank Jackson and Council president Marty Sweeney in West Park’s freshly gerrymandered Ward 19. He couldn’t raise the 3,000 signatures needed to give Jackson a…
Road Trip Concert Review: Rothbury Festival
While the Rothbury Music Festival’s inaugural 2008 lineup — which included the likes of Dave Matthews and John Mayer plus a couple of newer artists — made for a music-finding quest, this year’s fest (in Rothbury, Michigan) has a more jam-band vibe, with the Grateful Dead and the String Cheese Incident at the top of…
7/7: Ingrid Newkirk of PETA speaks
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals president and co-founder Ingrid Newkirk is just as provocative as her organization’s publicity stunts. She once told USA Today, “We are not here to gather members, to please, to placate, to make friends. We’re here to hold the radical line.” She’s not above wishing economic downfall on businesses…
7/7: Josh Ritter at the Beachland
Over the course of five records and an endless road of performances, singer-songwriter Josh Ritter has arrived at the future he once sounded so unsure of. His uncertainty has turned into confidence, and that confidence resulted in 2007’s The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, his most ambitious and wildly varied artistic statement. He sounds more…
7/5: Cage at the Grog Shop
Chris Palko has been through hell and back. Professionally known as Cage, the rapper’s troubled upbringing has long been a popular topic: his father’s heroin addiction, an abusive stepfather, his own drug use and violent behavior, stints in the psych ward and several suicide attempts — it’s the kind of story that sounds like a…
7/5: Guy Forsyth at the Beachland
There’s a story in Guy Forsyth’s bio that’s so outlandish, it must be true. After learning to play as a teenager, the guitarist began tuning with his feet — a trick he picked up from a friend who lost both arms in an accident. The tale fits with Forsyth’s career, which began with the raucously…
7/5: Project/Object at the Beachland
Want to see how another Frank Zappa tribute group honors the legend? Here’s your chance, just two days after Zappa Plays Zappa — Dweezil Zappa’s exacting homage to his late father’s astonishing catalog — comes to town. The longstanding and much acclaimed (or greatly maligned, depending on fence position) Project/Object show began long before Ike…
7/6: mewithoutYou at the Grog Shop
MewithoutYou’s sophomore album, 2004’s Catch for Us the Foxes, came as a blistering surprise. The band ditched its screamy hardcore roots in favor of a fractured, experimental sound that was equal parts Nation of Ulysses and Modest Mouse. Even more surprising was that this was just the start of the band’s metamorphosis. Brother, Sister from…
7/6: Subhumans at Now That’s Class
Only a British punk band would be crass enough to call themselves Subhumans when they’re actually one of the most intelligent and musically thoughtful groups to emerge in the wake of punk’s supposed demise. It doesn’t really matter if the moniker is ironic or snot-nosed rabble-rousing; it stands in contrast to and perfectly encapsulates the…
SHAQ PRESS CONFERENCE TOO FOCUSED ON BASKETBALL
Cleveland welcomed rapper-actor Shaquille O’Neal at a press conference in Independence today. It marked his first official appearance as a member of the Cavaliers, a local professional sports team that plays basketball, a sport that’s popular in Europe and select American cities. The conference was a disappointing production with practically no theatre to it. No…
Notes on the Shaq Press Conference From a Music Fan and Football Snob
Cleveland welcomed rapper-actor Shaquille O’Neal at a press conference in Independence today. It marked his first official appearance as a member of the Cavaliers, a local professional sports team that plays basketball, a sport that’s popular in Europe and select American cities. The conference was a disappointing production with practically no theatre to it. No…
New Clevo Sports Designs From Pennant Race Gear
I wasn’t going to blog at all today. I was just going to slip out early while no one was looking at start the weekend early, but then Ryan from Pennant Race Gear emailed me to let me know that the rest of their summer collection was out and I should have a look. Of…
Concert review: Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Grog Shop, July 1
Conor Oberst is a man of many names. Most recognized as the driving force behind Bright Eyes, he has been recording and performing since he was 13. In recent years though, he has left his Bright Eyes moniker behind to tour with the Mystic Valley Band and Monsters of Folk. The latter is a collaboration…
It’s All Good
Some 13 years ago, Tim Walther founded the All Good Festival with aspirations of attracting 10,000 people to the three-day concert festival. He met those goals about six years ago and has since exceeded them, moving the festival to a spacious, 20,000-capacity West Virginia mountaintop seven years ago. “I had goals for myself, like I…
7/4: Chagrin Valley Hunter Jumper Classic
Like me, you may have never fulfilled your childhood dream of owning a horse. But from July 4-6 and July 8-12, you can spend a lot of time enjoying the animal’s beauty and grace at the annual Chagrin Valley Hunter Jumper Classic at the Cleveland Metroparks Polo Field (3841 Chagrin River Rd., Moreland Hills). Expert…
7/4: Independence Day Activities
Just because a lot of cities have cut out fireworks because of the crappy economy (the spectacular display hosted by Euclid is the saddest casualty), it doesn’t mean you can’t plan a festive Independence Day. Cleveland’s display was rescued from the brink of extinction (yet again): They’ll be fired off from the mouth of the…
Woody Allen returns to New York for Whatever Works
Let’s just say that as an actor, Larry David is a great comedy writer. His declamatory line readings on Curb Your Enthusiasm make you appreciate how well Jason Alexander channeled David’s neuroses on Seinfeld. Yet David is a surprisingly serviceable Woody Allen surrogate in Whatever Works, which opens Friday areawide. It finds Allen on New…
THE BRITT IS COMING
Cleveland Council clerk Pat Britt, the county’s Democratic Party vice-chairwoman, officially took the reins of chairman Jimmy Dimora’s donkey at noon on Wednesday. Don’t expect a quicker clip; it’s clearly the same machine, just a fresher face. Dimora has that whole federal probe thing to remove from his ass, as well as his now-hyper-scrutinized duties…
7/3 & 4: Chris Allen and the Guilty Hearts
If you’re looking for something to do over July 4th weekend, you could do much worse than check out one of Cleveland’s finer roots-rock songwriters, Chris Allen, with his band the Guilty Hearts. According to Allen’s website, they will be playing their final full-band shows of the year at the Happy Dog (5801 Detroit Ave.,…
Chris Allen: Last full-band shows of the year this weekend
If you’re looking for something to do over July 4th weekend, you could do much worse than check out one of Cleveland’s finer roots-rock songwriters, Chris Allen, with his band the Guilty Hearts. According to Allen’s website, they will be playing their final full-band shows of the year at the Happy Dog (5801 Detroit Ave.,…
7/3: Andy Pratt at Wincester
You gotta wonder what drives a guy like Andy Pratt. The Boston-bred singer was at the top of his game in the ’70s, when “Avenging Annie” was all over FM radio. After bombing with a pair of tours, Pratt found Jesus and relocated to the Netherlands, where he worked as a minister and recorded religious…
7/3: Gratefulfest at Nelson Ledges
Next month marks the 14th anniversary of Jerry Garcia’s death. The 10th annual Gratefulfest — happening this weekend at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park (12001 Nelson Ledge Rd., Nelson, 440.548.2716) — pays tribute to Garcia and the Grateful Dead with a ton of homegrown and national performers. Headliners Dark Star Orchestra will play full sets on…
Some Cavs Uniform Number History
Shaquille O’Neal will be wearing No. 33 for the Cavs next season. He chose this number, presumably, because he’s a huge fan of Rolling Rock. Or because it’s the number he wore during high school and while dominating the paint in college for LSU. Either way, it’s the first time the Big Witness will be…
7/3: Baroque Performance Institute
The baroque era was a great time of musical patronage all over Europe. It was especially good for Henry Purcell and George Frideric Handel, both of whom boasted kings and queens among their patrons. Both were Londoners too — Purcell was born there, Handel immigrated. Purcell’s birth in 1659 and Handel’s death in 1759 bookended…
According to SI, LeBron is Third Highest Earning Athlete in America
Sports Illustrated just released their new version of “The Fortunate 50” — the 50 highest earning athletes in America. Again, LeBron placed third on the list bringing in a grand total of $42,410581 ($14,410,581 in salary and $28,000,000 in endorsement money.) Tiger Woods tops the list with $99,737,626 in earnings last year, followed by Phil…
7/2: The Odd Couple at Porthouse
The Odd Couple is more or less based on the premise: What if two guys were married to each other and bickered like a husband and wife who’ve been together way too long? Neil Simon’s popular play seems destined to be among the most durable pieces of American theater of the 20th century. Rohn Thomas…
7/3: The 19 Show at Asterisk Gallery
When he was younger, Asterisk Gallery owner Dana DePew was fascinated with former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar. He can’t fully explain why, but he says it might have had something to do with Kosar’s unorthodox playing style. The QB’s jersey number, 19, inspires Asterisk’s latest show, which returns for its fifth outing on Friday. The…
Michelle Pfeiffer miscast in Cheri
After devouring Colette’s 1920 Chéri, André Gide sent the authoress a breathless note. “What intelligence, what mastery, what understanding of those least admitted secrets of the flesh!” Proust was also a fan. If you have not read the novel or its sequel, The Last of Chéri, and saw only the new Stephen Frears adaptation, which…
Caspule Reviews
Opening Carmen & Geoffrey (US, 2005) Dancers/choreographers/actors Carmen de Lavallade and Geoffrey Holder first met in 1954 on a production of Truman Capote’s House of Flowers. Already established members of the dance community, they became fast friends and ultimately married. Directed by Linda Atkinson and Nick Doob, this documentary explores their relationship by utilizing a…
CD Review: Rob Thomas
Rob Thomas (Atlantic) With his caesar haircut and perma-frown, former Matchbox Twenty singer Rob Thomas takes himself pretty seriously. Too seriously, to be honest. The guy’s got a voice that just cracks with heartache, especially when he’s singing about being lonely at 3 a.m., and this, his second solo album, is another collection of dour…
Dino Might
While it’s been three years since Ice Age: The Meltdown, that shouldn’t hurt the box-office returns for Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. (The four-year gap between the first Ice Age and Meltdown didn’t make the latter any less of a smash hit.) Released in 3D (as well as conventional 2D), the family-friendly animated film…
CD Review: Killswitch Engage
Self-titled albums often indicate that bands have run out of ideas or are just too burned out from writing, pre-production and recording to think of a pertinent title. But who cares about album titles? Killswitch’s latest attempt could have been called Scream, Sing and Scold Some More, and we all would have still bought it.…
ORGANIC-ASMIC
Tree huggers are often depicted as patchouli-scented fruitcakes who seek to advance their own political views at the expense of others. Shana Trepal may be a tree hugger, but her ideology is one that most of us painlessly can support. Like best-selling author Michael Pollan, Trepal believes we should “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly…
CD Review: Dear Landlord
Don’t let the Bob Dylan song reference in this band’s name fool you: Dear Landlord is a gruff pop-punk band that owes more to the snotty bounce of Screeching Weasel than the folky strum of Woody Guthrie. On first listen, the four-piece recalls the Midwest punk of Off With Their Heads and Banner Pilot, but…
Dining Bites: East Fourth Getting a New Joint Thanks to Zack Bruell
Zack Bruell has confirmed that he is in the process of opening what will be his fourth Cleveland restaurant. Appropriately enough, it will be on East Fourth Street. If all goes as planned, the chef-owner of Parallax, L’Albatros and Table 45 will add a new Italian eatery to his portfolio by late fall. “I’ve got…
CD Review: Patterson Hood
It’s a miracle that Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs) is finally seeing the light of day. Originally conceptualized by Drive-By Truckers frontman Patterson Hood in 1994 and predominantly recorded a decade later, the album is technically a precursor to DBT classics like Southern Rock Opera. But there’s nothing second-rate about Hood’s second collection of…
Master Blaster
From his early days as co-founder of the retro roots-rock band the Blasters to his solo career that yielded albums like Ashgrove (named for the legendary Los Angeles folk club that he haunted as a teen) and the aptly titled covers disc Public Domain, Dave Alvin’s music has long been fueled by the past. But…
Soundcheck: David Miller
Simon Cowell didn’t invent American Idol (“credit” goes to television producer Simon Fuller) or how to be smug (that was right-wing comic Dennis Miller). However, Cowell did come up with Il Divo (Italian for celebrity), which is a “popera” (pop and opera) act that’s managed to sell a few truckloads of albums. The group includes…
CD Review: Moby
The weeping strings on the orchestrated “Division” immediately make it clear that Moby isn’t targeting nightclubs with his ninth disc, Wait For Me. After last year’s dance fest, Last Night, the mellow vibes on Wait are a pleasant change of pace. The new record shares the mood of earlier efforts like 1995’s Everything Is Wrong…
Street Smart Stuff
It’s a Saturday night at the B-side Liquor Lounge, and DJ K-Nyce, a member of the Varsity Squad, has the party going full force. This isn’t your typical club night but more like an amazing house party. The Varsity Squad creates a musical journey that mixes ’90s neo-soul, R&B and rap over house beats to…
Around Hear: New Projects From Honeypot
The rhymers, producers and players in Honeypot have a slew of new projects in the works. The musical rap project Soul Colossal opens for Illogic at Musica (51 E. Market St., Akron) on Thursday, July 2. Soul Colossal features MCs Chaka and Gator rhyming over beats by Corey Farrow, who created the tracks with his…
Left of Center
Anyone listening to Carley Tanchon’s debut CD Peridot for the first time could be forgiven for thinking it’s the work of a much older, more seasoned musician. Her sophisticated songwriting has a strong sense of structure but it’s full of off-center touches that make the songs distinctive. And there’s an expansiveness and reflective depth to…
Gangster, Gangster
Johnny Depp doesn’t really look much like John Dillinger, the notorious 1930s bank robber. Dillinger was weasely, with a permanent half-scowl/half-smirk that suggested he was way better than anyone else in the room. Plus, he didn’t have Depp’s heavenly high cheekbones. Still, in Public Enemies, Depp plays Dillinger as such a charming and chivalrous guy…
Arts District: More on Rub’s Departure From the CMA
“People come and go so quickly here,” said Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, responding to the departure of Glinda, the good witch, leaving her alone with the tittering munchkins of Munchkinland. A person might marvel like that over the departure of Timothy Rub from the Cleveland Museum of Art after serving as the…
Quarterly Buzz Report
Ah, summer. Time for barbecues, beaches, baseball and, if you’re a music fan, making Top 10 lists of the best albums released during the first half of the year. In April, we looked at the best albums that came out the first three months of 2009. Here’s how the second quarter of ’09 stacks up.…
MOTHER’S MYSTERIES
Families are screwed up in all kinds of little ways — and in some big ways too. But it takes a skilled playwright to gradually reveal how family members interact with each other without resorting to literal descriptions of various personality defects. Joel Drake Johnson is just such a writer and his two-hour excursion —…
Thanks a lot, Jimmy
Jimmy Dimora breathes deep as he steps into the hallway outside Cleveland council chambers. He wipes some sweat from the sideburns that flank his thick beard and clicks the giant timeworn door closed, his fat lineman’s build dwarfed by the old architecture of City Hall. He and commissioner Tim Hagan just got done telling council…
Album Leaves
Autism is one of those disorders that seems to characterize an era. The etiology of the disease is poorly understood, its diagnosis imprecise, its treatment frequently conjectural. But one thing is sure: Autism is common. According to the Autism Society of America’s website, one in 150 children suffers it, while those in the United States…
HIS WEIGHT IN STONES?
Shaquille O’Neal will be wearing No. 33 for the Cavs next season. He chose this number, presumably, because he’s a huge fan of Rolling Rock. Or because it’s the number he wore during high school and while dominating the paint in college for LSU. Either way, it’s the first time the Big Witness will be…
Selling Out
TOP PICK The Who Sell Out: Deluxe Edition (Geffen/UME) The Who’s 1967 concept album gets super-sized on this two-CD set that includes more than 25 bonus songs. Released the same year as other rock milestones (like Sgt. Pepper and Are You Experienced?), The Who Sell Out plays like a pirate-radio broadcast, complete with commercials. Songs…
GEEKED
The Cleveland Orchestra’s new assistant principal trumpeter Lyle Steelman was inaugurated at warp speed during his first concert with the ensemble in May, a program of movie music. Steelman generally likes movie music, but one piece on that program put him in the spotlight. “I’m a pretty hardcore Trekkie,” says Steelman. “I don’t speak Klingon…
CD Review: The Jayhawks
When the Jayhawks eased into the public consciousness with 1989’s Blue Earth, their sound was so timeless it was like hearing their 10th album instead of their second — and little wonder. The Jayhawks forged their rootsy Americana pop sound from Bob Dylan’s folk authenticity, Gram Parsons’ country, Neil Young’s rough-hewn guitar rock and the…
Little Shop of Weeds
In his recent book on directing musicals, Arthur Laurents, the brutally frank librettist of Gypsy and West Side Story, divided the practitioners of theater into those who have the musical in the bone and those who don’t. He equated the later to a toxic gardener mutilating the delicate buds needed to cultivate a musical garden.…
CD Review: Otis Taylor
There’s certainly nothing novel about an album filled with love songs, and the concept isn’t made any more revolutionary by putting it in a blues setting. But Otis Taylor is no mere blues practitioner, and these are no mere love songs. Taylor twists lyrical and musical forms on Pentatonic Wars, from prepubescent interracial love (“I’m…
Loud and Bobnoxious Cult Movies: American Swing
Using archival footage and interviews, American Swing tells the story of how a nondescript, slightly overweight Jewish guy from New York named Larry Levenson became an unlikely sexual icon by opening America’s first heterosexual swinger’s club, Plato’s Retreat. For about a decade starting in the mid-’70s, Plato’s was a popular destination for sexually adventurous couples…
June 25: When Michael Jackson Was No. 1 on Google, and Christian Eyenga Was No. 2
So, in what was clearly the biggest news of this week, and will most likely go down as one of the most remembered stories of the entire year, the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, passed away at the age of 50. Obviously, in terms of the kind of worldwide awareness that drives virtual discussion, that’s…
