What to Do This Weekend: Thirty Seconds to Mars
Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto is kind of a douche. He’s surly, confrontational and generally unpleasant. Maybe it’s just another role for the actor, best known for My So-Called Life, Fight Club and Requiem for a Dream. Maybe “asshole rock star” is his performance of a lifetime. None of that would matter much…
What to Do Tonight: Jesse Cook
Despite his Anglo-sounding moniker, Toronto-based acoustic guitarist Jesse Cook was born in Paris to Canadian parents. Raised in southern France, a young Cook took to the sultry 19th century world-fusion form known as flamenco. Gipsy Kings singer-to-be Nicolas Reyes was a neighbor. Cook expanded his palette in North American music schools, studying and absorbing classical,…
What to Do Tonight: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
When Scotty Morris thought about naming his new swing band back in 1989, he looked as far as the poster that blues guitar icon Albert Collins had signed for him: “To Scotty, the big bad voodoo daddy.” Big Bad Voodoo Daddy made their reputation playing in and around their California home base for five years…
What to Do Tonight: WPA
History buffs and old-timers know that WPA stands for the Works Progress Administration, the landmark New Deal-era agency that guided public-works construction, social-relief programs and arts projects. It’s this last category that relates most to the band that shares its name. This all-star Americana ensemble began as a partnership between former Toad the Wet Sprocket…
What to Do Tonight: Johnny Fiasco
Born and raised in Chicago, Johnny Fiasco began playing guitar and DJing at house parties thrown by his high-school friends in the mid-’80s. He eventually graduated to DJ residencies at now-legendary clubs like Smart Bar, the Shelter and Red Dog. Fiasco’s 1991 remix of DJ Chunkabud’s “Zig Zag” put him on the map, garnering heavy…
What to Do Tonight: Jason Marsalis
In The Godfather Part 2, Michael Corleone commiserates with brother Fredo about life in the shadow of a feted father. Imagine having not only a parent but also three brothers to “compete” with. That’s jazz vibes player and drummer Jason Marsalis’ predicament: Pianist-father Ellis is a New Orleans legend, brothers Wynton and Branford are superstars,…
What to Do Tonight: Candye Kane
Blues belter Candye Kane has fought many battles in her life. Growing up on the poor side of Los Angeles, she became a teenage mom and then a skin-mag pinup before turning to her true love of music. “The Toughest Girl Alive” (to borrow an album title) also has combated prejudices and perceptions (like sexism…
What to Do Tonight: Rooney
Rooney are ready for the next stage of their career. The L.A. band just released an EP, Wild One, and has a new album due next year. And they don’t plan to rest on their laurels. Named after the principal in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Rooney are best known for showing up on The O.C.…
What to Do Tonight: Over the Rhine
Over the Rhine have an uncanny way with emotion. They’re also pretty good at choosing the most appropriate sonic backdrop for delivery. The band’s tendency toward bleaker psychic explorations has largely disappeared over the past few albums, but it recently added jazzy Americana to its mix. Bluesy cabaret swagger plays alongside gospel nouveau and pop…
Free passes to Sherlock Holmes preview screening
Judging from the high octane trailer, director Guy Ritchie (Snatch, RocknRolla) has turned the Sherlock Holmes story into an action-adventure movie. Starring Robert Downey, Jr. as the deductive detective and Jude Law as his trusty sidekick Watson, Sherlock Holmes opens areawide on Christmas Day. You can see it before it opens, however. To receive free…
THE POP STOP
If the opening of a vintage store for pop-culture junkies marks the transition from up-and-coming neighborhood to must-visit shopping destination, then Collinwood’s Waterloo Road has arrived. Last month the already hipster-friendly strip (anchored by the Beachland Ballroom) welcomed Star Pop, which offers a variety of used and new cool stuff, including Star Wars action figures,…
SNOW BIZ: FREE TICKETS
Northeast Ohio knows there’s no business like Snow Business, which is the name of the North Coast Men’s Chorus’ 2009 Holiday program. It’s sure to be the opposite of stuffy, and I’ve got a pair of free tickets for each of their performances for to the first person who e-mails me to ask. 3 p.m.…
eBay Item of the Day: Game-Worn Hector Marinaro Jersey
Oh, Hector. Ye hero of the Crunch faithful. I think the first sporting event I ever went to in person was a Cleveland Force game. Since then I’ve always had a soft spot for indoor soccer in the Forest City (I don’t collect much, but I do have two Cleveland Force media guides and a…
FORECLOSURES WORSE AMID BANK APATHY, FED DELAYS
Federal lawmakers came to Cleveland this week for a grim analysis of how foreclosures continue to devastate the region. The lawmakers — part of a domestic policy congressional subcommittee — listened to a panel of local officials who shared stories of ongoing attempts to alleviate disaster for homeowners and neighborhoods. “I’m sad to say that…
Tuesday Music News Roundup
Rivers Cuomo will be up and rewriting that one old Weezer song for a new album in no time. Sorry seems to be the hardest word for guys who like to beat women. Billy Joel’s dumbass daughter swallows a bunch of harmless pills in dumbass attempt to kill herself. ABC gives Adam Lambert another opportunity…
JEFF JOHNSON’S SECOND CHANCE
Comeback politician Jeff Johnson has heard all the clichés about his “fall from grace” and his “crash-and-burn.” But the 51-year-old political veteran promises, “I’m not going to be a Greek tragedy.This isn’t going to be the end of the story.” The newest chapter in Johnson’s notable saga begins next month, when he’s sworn in as…
This Just In: Concert Announcements
Amongst the Darkest Days: Sat., Jan. 8. 7 p.m., $10. Pirate’s Cove. Amplexus/Ohio Sky/Asleep/Audible Thread: Sat., Feb. 13, 9 p.m., $10 ADV/four-pack general admission tickets $30 (LiveNation.com). House of Blues, Cambridge Room. Between the Trees/Action Item: Tue., Jan. 19, 6:30 p.m., $10. Peabody’s. The Bled: Tue., Jan. 12, 6:30 p.m., $8 ADV/$10 DOS. Pirate’s Cove.…
NYC Rock Hall Annex Closing
So maybe this was why Cleveland was never in serious danger of losing the Rock Hall — as was constantly threatened in the six or seven years between awarding it to Cleveland and the groundbreaking —and should have fought a little harder to hold the inductions here as a precondition for building it. It looks…
Cole Powered: CSU Turns to Junior Norris Cole to Build on Last Year’s Success
All it really took was the ring on Cleveland State basketball coach Gary Waters’ hand. Norris Cole, a senior at Dunbar High School at the time, heard the coach’s words when he visited Cole and his family in East Dayton in 2006, but the ring spoke louder. It silently told the story of Waters’ success…
Out Today: Chris Brown
Chris BrownGraffiti(Jive) Good luck listening to Brown’s third album if you know anything about his assault on Rihanna earlier this year. Brown’s image used to be that of a young R&B singer exploding with life and talent. Now he’s a portrait of rage — the sort of guy who beats his girlfriend during an argument.…
What to Do Tonight: Glorytellers
Geoff Farina is an indie-rock vet, having helmed jazzy, oblique post-rock trio Karate and intermittent lo-fi folk-pop duo the Secret Stars since the early ’90s. He’s also juggled a solo career, which launched around the time Secret Stars wound down. While his current band Glorytellers combines elements from all his prior endeavors, Farina has taken…
What to Do Tonight: Cross Canadian Ragweed
Cross Canadian Ragweed insist that their moniker derives from the names of the three principles — Grady Cross, Cody Canada and Randy Ragsdale — but surely it is no coincidence that the band’s name can be handily shortened to conjure up one of the most heralded of all American rock bands. CCR (the new one,…
American psychos populate the decidedly lame Transylmania
Arriving two months late and many dollars short for the easy-to-please Halloween juvenile demographic, this atrocious lowbrow spoof concerns a bunch of sex-drugs-party U.S. college students who attend a university in Romania (shot on location, evidently) so one nerdy horndog can hook up with the comely Transylvanian wench he’s met and masturbated to on the…
What to Do Tonight: The Queers
For a cultural landscape literally awash with misapplications of the term “irony,” a band like the Queers is a godsend. Of course, the irony involved in such a ridiculously uncouth and amiably homophobic band latching on, at least by nomenclature, to the queercore movement (alongside bands like former labelmates the Pansies) becomes almost laughably obvious…
What to Do Tonight: Sloan
Always under the mainstream radar in the U.S., veteran power-pop quartet Sloan lives a different existence in its native Canada, where the band has been lavished with awards and chart success for more than 15 years. Pop purists in the tradition of Big Star and the Raspberries, Sloan also share kinship with contemporary power-pop revivalists…
BROWN’S NEW DEBATING TECHNIQUE IS UNSTOPPABLE
Senator Sherrod Brown shocks obstructionist Republicans by agreeing with them. Of course they still said no. UPDATE: Subodh Chandra has created a new Facebook group called “No public option for us? Then NO HEALTHCARE FOR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.” Seems fair.
What to Do Tonight: Taussig Center Benefit
It’s the time of year when everyone’s holding a benefit, a fundraiser or a food collection. Can you stand one more? Three area bands join forces tonight for Cleveland’s Taussig Cancer Center. User Sets Mode+ features guitarist Derek Lashua and his singer/wife Mandy, who are best known around town for their old band Racemason. With…
What to Do Tonight: Rockwell 9
Most of the members of sketch-comedy ensemble Rockwell 9 are familiar to area comedy and improv fans from their work together, separately and with other troupes around town. The group — which includes Andy Craze, Tracy Cubbal, Kathie Dice, Marc Ehrenreich, Ron Fatica, Liz Huff, Andrew Jorgensen, Marjorie Preston and Matt Rosfelder — performs both…
What to Do Tonight: Ohio City Singers
Local singer-songwriter Chris Allen holds a house party around this time every year with his favorite musicians, who play and record original Christmas songs and favorite seasonal covers. Last year, he made the private party a public one, performing at clubs and even hosting a night of caroling to celebrate the release of Love and…
FORECLOSURE ACTIVISTS: WE CAN’T DO THIS ALONE
Congressman Kucinich is in town today for hearings on foreclosures. On Friday, ESOP, the Cleveland-based organization that’s been at the forefront of the crisis since long before Washington and the mainstream media even knew there was a problem, announced that it’s buckling under the strain of the banking industry’s indifference to people losing their homes:…
Armored is a good, old school action movie
In Armored, Ty (Columbus Short) is a decorated Iraq war veteran trying to take care of his younger brother (Andre Jamal Kinney). He works for as a guard for an armored car company, but his salary isn’t enough to pay the mortgage. Ty’s best friend Mike (Matt Dillon), also a guard, has a solution. On…
Cavs Michael Jackson Commerical Spoof: “The Sparkling Glove”
From the throwback Hardwood Classics game against the Suns:
Little Ashes makes its local debut tonight at CMA
A fictionalized account of what it would have been like when Salvador Dali, Federico Garcia Lorca and Luis Buñuel met for the first time, Little Ashes makes its local premiere tonight at 7 at the Cleveland Museum of Art. It screens again at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7. Here is our review of the film.…
What to Do This Weekend: R. Kelly
A few months after he was found not guilty of having sex with a 14-year-old girl (and peeing on her — let’s not forget that), R. Kelly was set to release his 10th album, 12 Play 4th Quarter. The record was pulled after some tracks leaked online. A year later, the reworked album — now…
What to Do Tonight: Molkie Cole
Back in the Mesozoic Era (or the 1970s, as it’s otherwise known), no local band had more sophisticated stage presence or diverse set list than Molkie Cole. The prog-pop quintet covered the Eastern seaboard, the Midwest and the Southeast with a relentless and organized fury, eventually notching close to 1,000 shows and opening for Meat…
What to Do Tonight: Justice Rocks!
Shares YP wants to connect young people with causes they can feel passionate about. Formed earlier this year, the group is an offshoot of Community Shares, which raises money for progressive social-justice causes. Combining entertaining, socializing and education, it hosts Justice Rocks! at the Beachland Tavern (15711 Waterloo Rd., 216.383.1124) tonight. Early Girl, Oldboy, Tastycakes…
What to Do Tonight: John Brown’s Body
This Boston band loads its latest album, Amplify, with songs that go beyond its reggae roots, borrowing from reggaeton, hip-hop and other genres without compromising its signature sound. They’ve been around for more than a decade but recently went through a considerable lineup change — bassist Scott Palmer died in 2006. At that time, the…
What to Do Tonight: DJ Ill-Esha
Vancouver’s DJ Ill-Esha has been singing and performing all her life, so when grunge exploded in the ’90s, it was only natural she wanted to be in a garage band. But she quickly discovered that the underground DJ scene was more receptive to her talents. “[I would] freestyle over my friends’ [DJ] sets,” she says.…
FORECLOSURES? YOU’VE COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE
Congressman Dennis Kucinich, chairman of the House Domestic Policy subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is bringing his subcommittee to Northeast Ohio Monday for a field hearing to get the feeling of the community on the impact of the foreclosure crisis. Jim Rokakis He couldn’t come to a better place — not just…
12/5: Snake Rock at the Breakfast Club
The musician known as Snake Rock (Chris Cremona), who used to front the Cleveland band of the same name, is returning from Las Vegas, where he now lives, to play his first Cleveland show since 1987. It will take place at 8 p.m. Saturday, December 5, at the Breakfast Club, formerly the Hi Fi Club…
Snake Rock Returns
The musician known as Snake Rock (Chris Cremona), who used to front the Cleveland band of the same name, is returning from Las Vegas, where he now lives, to play his first Cleveland show since 1987. It will take place at 8 p.m. Saturday, December 5, at the Breakfast Club, formerly the Hi Fi Club…
Do You Think She Mishears Apple Pie Too?
View more news videos at: http://www.nbcmiami.com/video. We knew from the start Miley Cyrus was up to no good. Party in the U.S.A., my ass. —Michael Gallucci View more news videos at: http://www.nbcmiami.com/video.
Check Out Nicholas Megalis’ New Video (Grab Your Hookah First)
Our pal Nicholas Megalis just made a video for his new song, “U Worship Everything Around U.” You can watch it above. Megalis made the video himself. “Animation provided by an Indian cartoon for kids from the ’80s,” he says. The song is from Megalis’ upcoming EP, which he calls “psychedelic shapeshifting genre-jumping strangeness.” We’ll…
Mickey Played Guitar …
Local authors Karen Laney and Eric Demattio (aka Weird and Gilly) recently celebrated the publication of a revised and updated version of their 2003 book Mick Ronson: The Spider With the Platinum Hair, on England’s Independent Music Press. They’ll be hosting a book-release party from 6-9 p.m. tomorrow at Blue Arrow Records & Books, where…
Reminder: We’re Giving Away Madonna Swag
If you haven’t entered our Madonna contest, you should. We’re giving away some pretty cool lithographs. Funny side note: We received an e-mail from some asshole who schooled us on lithographs, prints or whatever these things are. Whatever you want to call them, they’re cool. And we have 10 of them, and one would look…
CAMPAIGN FINANCING? OH THAT, DON’T WORRY, WE’LL GET TO IT
The PD reports that the Issue 6ers are at least pretending to take campaign finance reform seriously. Backers of the successful charter measure, which appeared on the ballot as Issue 6, met twice last month and are forming a panel to deal with campaign finance, a code of ethics and transitioning from three commissioners to…
Thursday Music News Roundup
Further proof that people have lousy fucking taste in music. Hear those crickets? Way more exciting than the Grammy nominations. Having some dude faux blow you on live TV doesn’t seem like such a great idea now, does it? Ron Wood pulls a Chris Brown. —Michael Gallucci
Video: Cavs Retro Introductions
Is it just me, or does Anderson Varejao look completely natural in his outfit? Could totally see him rocking that in the Warehouse District on a Saturday night.
Waters Continues to Lead the Way
It’s hard not to notice the dramatic turnaround that coach Gary Waters has had on Cleveland State. From mediocrity, he’s put together a strong run of 20-win seasons and playoff appearances, both in the NIT and NCAA tournament. Even as he’s lost stalwarts Cedrick Jackson and J’Nathan Bullock to graduation, and now fields a squad…
Kobe Tops LeBron in Some Polls
Two NBA polls this week; two polls where Kobe comes out on top of LeBron. First, Sporting News unveiled their Top 50 Players list, which was compiled by votes from a smorgasbord of “107 Hall of Famers, major award winners, executives, current players and coaches and other basketball experts.” Craig Ehlo is on the list…
What to Do Tonight: Holly Golightly
This Holly Golightly is no Audrey Hepburn looking for breakfast at Tiffany’s with a Japanese Mickey Rooney at her side. This British singer-songwriter loves American roots music, and her sidekick is Texas expat multi-instrumentalist Lawyer Dave. Golightly broke into the music biz in the early ’90s as part of Thee Headcoatees, an all-female band created…
A DICKENSIAN TALE FOR THE HOLIDAYS
RealNEO.us Frank Giglio once owned a house in Tremont. But the city of Cleveland’s building department determined, after a dozen years of code violations, that it was unfit to live in. So they evicted him and covered the windows and doors with plywood to keep him out. Two years later, they knocked it down. Now…
CALL&POST RESPONDS — AND NOT WITH AN APOLOGY
The Call & Post ends its silence on Aunt Je-Nina-gate. In another unsigned editorial, the paper is talking tough and calling bluffs: This newspaper stands by the front-page editorial and all of its ramifications. Brian Hall, the president of Industrial Transport, has called for a boycott of this newspaper by asking all churches and public…
A BRIDGE PLAN TOO FAR
One in four Cleveland households will see no benefit from the proposed new Innerbelt bridge because they don’t have cars. And, as research from some transportation advocates has found, the situation is even worse in the neighborhoods on either side of the proposed span. On the Tremont side, according to NEO CANDO (a census database…
MCCAIN: WHAT A JOKER
The cover of our October 29, 2008 issue featured an “Obama-ized” image of John McCain above the word “JOKE.” I heard later from the publisher that it cost us some business. Apparently an advertiser or two (I didn’t ask for specifics) was offended that we’d openly mocked a “war hero.” It wasn’t McCain’s military service…
PROCLAMATION: BENTKOWSKI’S BOOK IMMATURE, PERVERSE
The Bizarre Boy Mayor has taken his one-man circus on the road. Seven Hills Mayor David Bentkowski is promoting his book The Power of The Proclamation, in which he shares tales of goofy encounters with stars such as LL Cool J and Norah Jones. The 36-year-old mayor’s book is based on an ongoing stunt in…
Ripper Unplugs, Gets Xmas Spirit
Tim “Ripper” Owens will play his first acoustic show on Friday at Akron’s Tap House. He’ll perform as part of a duo with guitarist Scott Jones, his ex-bandmate from metal cover band US Metal. Owens says the set will include songs he wrote with his various groups, like Judas Priest’s “Lost and Found” and Beyond…
THIS JUST IN: CALL & POST HAS A POINT
From his blog at The Root, Jimi Izrael puts the Aunt Je-Nina scandal into an entirely different context: This tempest is the kind of black on black coonage white media loves — loves to see high-falootant Darkies argue over that which does not matter. Because in the meantime the third most undereducated city in America…
BANKS AND THE POWER OF BAD PRESS
Cleveland-based ESOP, a statewide community organization that advocates for homeowners facing possible foreclosure, continues to pressure big banks to be more responsive to people who need help making mortgage payments. The group — formally known as Empowering & Strengthening Ohio’s People — took its fight last week to executives with JP Morgan Chase. During a…
THIS BETTER BE ABOUT SYRUP
Last week, a front-page editorial cartoon in the Call & Post depicted Ohio state Senator Nina Turner as an Aunt Jemima caricature — saying “I be’s da new leader” — in response to her backing Issue 6, the controversial ballot measure that restructures Cuyahoga County government. The image accompanied an editorial — headlined “Frank Sinatra…
12/8: Glorytellers at the Beachland
Geoff Farina is an indie-rock vet, having helmed jazzy, oblique post-rock trio Karate and intermittent lo-fi folk-pop duo the Secret Stars since the early ’90s. He’s also juggled a solo career, which launched around the time Secret Stars wound down. While his current band Glorytellers combines elements from all his prior endeavors, Farina has taken…
12/8: Daedalus Quartet
Composer Fred Lerdahl’s third string quartet — commissioned for the Daedalus Quartet — receives its world-premiere tonight during a concert that’s part of the Cleveland Institute of Music’s chamber-music festival. Lerdahl is also a music theorist, best known for his work on how the brain perceives music. Lerdahl calls the string quartet “the most personal…
12/8: Cross Canadian Ragweed at HOB
Cross Canadian Ragweed insist that their moniker derives from the names of the three principles — Grady Cross, Cody Canada and Randy Ragsdale — but surely it is no coincidence that the band’s name can be handily shortened to conjure up one of the most heralded of all American rock bands. CCR (the new one,…
12/7: The Queers at Peabody’s
For a cultural landscape literally awash with misapplications of the term “irony,” a band like the Queers is a godsend. Of course, the irony involved in such a ridiculously uncouth and amiably homophobic band latching on, at least by nomenclature, to the queercore movement (alongside bands like former labelmates the Pansies) becomes almost laughably obvious…
12/7: The Capitol Steps at Ohio Theatre
Many PBS/NPR listeners are fans of the venerable Capitol Steps, the 28-year-old comedy ensemble that lightly satirizes Washington D.C. political customs and foibles, mostly in song parodies. Started by three Republican congressional staffers in 1981, the group now includes more than two dozen (bipartisan) performers who do shows all around the country. They’ve also performed…
12/6: Winter Lights Lantern Festival
Lights can create a festive mood during the long nights and dreary days of winter. Now in its 16th year, the Winter Lights Lantern Festival is the culmination of a series of lantern-making workshops at the Cleveland Museum of Art. A procession of dancers, puppeteers and professional artists carrying lanterns they’ve made leads a crowd…
12/6: Sloan at the Grog Shop
Always under the mainstream radar in the U.S., veteran power-pop quartet Sloan lives a different existence in its native Canada, where the band has been lavished with awards and chart success for more than 15 years. Pop purists in the tradition of Big Star and the Raspberries, Sloan also share kinship with contemporary power-pop revivalists…
12/6: R. Kelly at Palace Theatre
A few months after he was found not guilty of having sex with a 14-year-old girl (and peeing on her — let’s not forget that), R. Kelly was set to release his 10th album, 12 Play, 4th Quarter. The record was pulled after some tracks leaked online. A year later, the reworked album — now…
Bites: B-Spot Burgers Opens
Michael Symon may have earned his reputation crafting slash-and-burn grouper and beef-cheek pierogies. But his latest endeavor likely will appeal to his broadest audience yet. Opening last week at Eton Chagrin, B Spot (28699 Chagrin Blvd., 216.292.5567, bspotburgers.com) is designed less to impress than it is simply to please. Specializing in gourmet burgers, brats and…
Soundcheck: Lzzy Hale
Central Pennsylvania-based hard-rockers Halestorm released their self-titled debut earlier this year, but the band has been kicking around for about a decade. Singer-guitarist Lzzy Hale formed the group with her brother, drummer Arejaye Hale, when they were teenagers. Since then, they’ve toured relentlessly and spent most of this year supporting Shinedown and Staind. Lzzy Hale…
DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK
For a Michelin-starred chef, Dante Boccuzzi’s professional homecoming was less than ideal. After five years at Charlie Palmer’s Aureole, one of New York City’s premier restaurants, the Parma native packed up his knives and returned to stake his claim in Northeast Ohio. Joining forces with Frank Sinito, Boccuzzi took creative control of Lockkeepers in Valley…
Thrash and Burn
Perhaps you’ve already dismissed Underoath because they’re Christian metalcore. You don’t care for the sweet-and-sour vocals or the raging, unrepentant righteousness. You may have underestimated them because the Tampa sextet defies attempts to pin them to a board in a musical taxonomy. Whatever you might think, it’s worth witnessing them for yourself, because their explosive…
Do You See What I See?
TOP PICK Up (Walt Disney) One of the year’s (and decade’s) best films gets the deluxe package it deserves: a four-disc set that includes Blu-ray, DVD and digital versions of the movie. You’ll want to watch it in HD, where every detail — from rainbow-colored balloons to a glorious island vista — sparkles. Tons of…
Local CD Reviews
Michael Stanley and Friends Tis the Season: A Heartland Holiday Sampler (Line Level) linelevelmusic.com Just in time for his annual holiday concerts, Michael Stanley has assembled his various band members, past members and friends like Andy Pratt, Colin Dussault and folk rockers Hey Mavis (whose jaunty “Santa Knows” recalls the Waitresses’ classic “Christmas Wrapping”) to…
CD Review: Juvenile
Back in the day, Juvenile was one of the few artists recording for Cash Money who was worth a shit. He even gave Lil Wayne his first memorable appearance, in the cleaned-up version of “Back That Azz Up.” Juve has since moved on — at least in the physical sense. On his first album in…
TIME SERVED
Local black leaders say the perception persists: At each turn, the criminal justice system crashes down harder on blacks than it does whites. Drug arrests occur at a greater rate on the city’s predominantly black East Side; Ohio prisons maintain a disproportionately black population; even the lines to get into the downtown Cleveland justice center…
CD Review: The Bravery
The Bravery are good at marketing. They’re the kind of band that posts “leaks” of new tracks on its website, gives things away on Facebook and does album pre-orders of autographed merch. This has helped them spend a few years just under the radar — big enough to be on a major label and pack…
Vinyl Frontier
You wouldn’t guess from the black Beachland Ballroom T-shirt, featuring an illustration by Cleveland cartoonist Derf, but Vince Slusarz was a corporate bigwig not so long ago. For almost 25 years, Slusarz worked for Newbury-based Kinetico Incorporated, a plastics-manufacturing company. He liked his job as chief operations officer. But after the company was sold in…
CD Review: Kid Sister
“Ain’t nobody out there making shit/Quite like me, quite like this,” boasts Chicago MC Kid Sister on “Big N Bad” from her debut album, Ultraviolet. That’s debatable. Quite a few people make shit like this, and many more made it in hip-hop’s formative years: It’s known as party rap. For some genre purists, the oft-delayed…
CD Review: Bob Seger
Ten tunes from the vaults of Michigan rock icon Bob Seger reaffirm the strength of classic rock ‘n’ roll and testify to its key appeal: nostalgia. Such meat-and-potatoes music may have more staying power than Detroit, the city that made Seger, the Stooges and the Motown stable music icons. “Long Song Comin’,” a sharply political…
CD Review: Adam Lambert
During his run as an American Idol contestant, camp theatrics and gratuitous glam were important weapons in Adam Lambert’s arsenal: stratospheric vocal runs, flamboyant costumes, stage-lighting fusillades. This out-and-proud rocker’s weekly re-invigoration of the hoariest standards was nothing short of awe-inspiring. So it’s hardly shocking that For Your Entertainment plays like a gender-bent hit parade,…
CD Review: The Zombies
The Zombies’ 1968 psych-pop masterpiece Odessey & Oracle was a commercial flop that disillusioned and dissolved the band. Then, 18 months after the group disbanded, “Time of the Season” became a worldwide hit. It wasn’t until principal Zombies Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent reunited and toured in recent years that any of the dazzling Odessey…
Film Capsules
Opening British Television Advertising Awards (Britain, 2008) A showcase of almost 100 award-winning videos from the annual contest. Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3, and 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4. Crude (U.S., 2009) This documentary explores the lawsuit filed against Chevron by the Ecuadorian Amazon’s Cofán Indians. Cleveland Institute of…
Next Week on Got City Game
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No, No, No
Don’t go into Liverpool expecting a history of the Beatles or anything else fab, for that matter. This slow-moving look at a seaman on shore leave is a dreary, near-silent meditation on life, family and the big, empty world we live in. Not much is said or even happens in Liverpool. These are people of…
Around Hear: Vitium’s Debut
Vitium’s full-length debut, Oxygen Planet, is available now on Japan’s Goon Trax Records. The label is a subsidiary of Media Factory, the entertainment giant whose properties include Pokémon. Nick Smalc, the jazzy rap-rock band’s frontman, is a fan of the label. He contacted Goon Trax via its MySpace page. The label liked the band and…
Reel Cleveland: Indiana Jones Spoof
When Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala, the guys behind the Indiana Jones’ spoof Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, came to town to present their film two years ago, they did so before a packed audience at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque (11141 East Blvd., 216.421.7450, cia.edu/cinematheque). Now, they’re back at the Cinematheque…
Arts District: Zygote Press Holiday Sale
Printmakers have an easier time than most artists getting ready for the handmade sales that pop up all over town this time of year. Multiple originals are built into their work, so whether it’s cards, coasters or art prints, they’ve got inventory. The artists of Zygote Press (1410 E. 30th St.) set out to unload…
Father Knows Least
Everybody’s Fine belongs to the “Old Man Road Trip” movie tradition, in which a retiree, played by an aging A-list actor, embarks on a transformative journey. This season, it’s Robert De Niro in Everybody’s Fine, directed by Kirk Jones. The melancholy movie is based on Giuseppe Tornatore’s Stanno tutti bene, which starred Marcello Mastroianni as…
CLODS, DONKEYS, DOGS AND PIGS
Martin Luther, founder of the Protestant church, had a lot of interesting things to say about music. During a recent conversation about Apollo’s Fire’s upcoming program, Praetorius Christmas Vespers, music director Jeannette Sorrell recalled that the nailer of the 95 Theses once said, “Music is a precious gift of God. When I hear music, joy…
Blood Simple
Brothers Based on a 2004 Danish film about a man sent to war in Afghanistan (hundreds of our allies are from Denmark) and the burgeoning relationship between a troublesome brother back home and the soldier’s wife, Brothers is a simple tale. It’s a “coming home” drama which Hollywood has covered thoroughly since Vietnam — mixed…
ELF DESTRUCT
“I am a 33-year-old man applying for a job as an elf.” That’s a pretty amusing line, but it’s even funnier if the person saying it has the exact opposite demeanor from an elf. It’s Comedy 101: The odd juxtaposition gets laughs. And this is where The Santaland Diaries at Cleveland Public Theatre goes wrong…
Feliz Navidad
It has been a banner year for Los Straitjackets, the Lucha libre-masked crusaders of wordless surf-twang guitar rock. The quartet’s new album, The Further Adventures of Los Straitjackets, was released seven months ago to generally positive reviews — not only for the band’s raging guitar instrumentals but also for the evocative comic-book concept that houses…
Double Visions
The five EXHIBITS NOW ON view at SPACES cover a lot of ground, featuring artists working in installation, video and performance media. Much of the subject matter has to do with broad social and aesthetic situations, like Elizabeth Emery’s SPACELab exhibit “the nurse and the police officer” (encouraging audiences to examine their own racial and…
Hey, Hey, It’s the Easter Monkeys
When the Easter Monkeys formed in 1980, drummer Linda Hudson was only 17. So her recollections of the early days are a bit murky. “It’s a mystery to me,” she replies when asked how singer Chris Yarmock, bassist Charlie Ditteaux and guitarist Jim Jones came together to create the group. “The rest of the members…
