War Is Hell
When Reese Witherspoon’s Lauren finds herself dating Chris Pine’s smooth-talking CIA agent FDR as well as his partner-in-espionage Tuck (Tom Hardy), she naturally recognizes their respective appeal and elegantly dissects it: FDR has “tiny hands” and Tuck is “British.” Yes, This Means War is that dumb. Worse, it thinks you are too. When the two…
That Lake Erie Windfarm Probably Isn’t Going to Happen
Visions of Lake Erie churning with wind turbines anytime soon appear to be blowing out of port. The developer of the planned five-turbine pilot project had hoped to get Governor Kasich’s support for proposals to help finance construction. But that isn’t going to happen. The problem: The developer, Lake Erie Energy Development — that’s LEEDCo.…
The Quality of Cleveland Life Report
Your guide to living in fabulous Cleveland. No Vacancy: Summit County Sheriff announces ban on mentally ill patients at his jail. Bold move also frees up plans to transform jail’s psychiatric unit into tastefully appointed bed & breakfast. Frank Talk on Schools: Mayor Jackson’s overhaul plan for Cleveland schools gets mixed reviews from state school…
Ohio Bill Would Put Dog Owners on a Short Leash
When Rufus the pit bull takes a bite out of your neighbor, Rufus has just eaten his last meal. It’s all part of Ohio’s endearingly Old Testament take on animal aggressiveness, though it pertains to only pit bulls. But a new bill that has already shot through the state legislature could now test Governor Kasich’s…
Ohio Colleges Ranked High for Student Loan Debt
A report released last week by the merry folks over at the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys has much to say about the long-term financial implications of student loans — most notably that borrowing thousands of dollars to fund your Natty Light habit for four years is every bit as wise as maxing out…
Ray Jr.’s Busy Week Includes New Record Deal and Mixtape
It’s a good time to be a Cleveland rapper. First, Diddy says to Machine Gun Kelly, “Yo, make a record on my label.” And now Ray Jr. has been signed to Def Jam Records. The Unofficial Mayor of Cleveland, as he’s known to fans, will release his debut album on the legendary hip-hop label sometime…
New Restaurant Coming from Chef Eric Wells
Cleveland chef Eric Wells plans to open a new East-Side restaurant on April 2. “I’m finally stepping out and away from corporate America,” chuckles the long-time employee at Progressive’s corporate headquarters in Mayfield Village. “I’m heading out on my own.” Of course, Wells is no newbie entrepreneur. A 2004 grad of Loretta Paganini’s International Culinary…
Valentine’s Day, St. Procop’s, 1936
We’ll take any excuse we can get to go rummaging through the Cleveland Memory Project. Valentine’s Day? Sure, they’ve got something in their archives for that. Here’s a cute little snapshot from St. Procop’s in 1936. All together now: awwww. Guys: that kid’s got more game than you. Just admit it.
Obama Opens Campaign Headquarters in Chillicothe, Focuses on Ohio
If political pull had a street address. Small as it seems sitting down there below Ohio’s waistline, Chillicothe just might be the political center of the upcoming presidential election, or at least that’s the nut graf of a recent Daily piece on the city. The story suggests the Maybury-doubletake is a barometer for Main Street…
Original GNR Reuniting at Rock Hall Induction Ceremony
The original lineup of Guns N’ Roses will appear at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s induction ceremony in Cleveland on April 14, says keyboardist Dizzy Reed, who we should point out is not an original member. According to an interview in Billboard, the five original members of the band — singer Axl Rose,…
An Ohio Couple Has Operated a Private “Mile-High Club” Plane Business for Two Decades
What more romantic story do you want on Valentine’s Day than this tale of an older Ohio couple from Cincinnati that has operated a romantic plane ride visit business for two decades? Yes, by “romantic plane ride business” we mean flying couples up in the air in a small plane with the understanding that, behind…
Dennis! Says He Never Planned to Leave Us
Will Dennis! still be flashing that sign on March 6? Yesterday, the 9th district congressional candidates — incumbents Dennis! Kucinich and Marcy Kaptur, and political newcomer Graham Veysey — sat down for the taping of an hour-long debate, moderated by Bob Conklin, that will air on Time Warner’s NEON channel (23) at 3 p.m. and…
The History of Branding Cleveland
We had a friend in from New York a few months ago who, after seeing the varied, unconnected, super-PR-ish slogans that Cleveland and its assorted tourist and visitor bureaus use, decried them all stupid. He had a point. Cle-Plus? Be the plus? Be the Cleve? HappyinCle? Schlock. And worse than that, ineffectual schlock. They mean…
Frank Russo Testifies About Jimmy Dimora’s Four Priorities in Life
The warm-up acts have all come and gone. In the hallowed halls of the federal courthouse in Akron, we now welcome the main act to the stage in the Jimmy Dimora trial. Yes, Frank Russo took the stand this morning, and this is what we’ve all been waiting for. Russo, who is staring down the…
Watch Mr. Gnome Rock the TurnStyle
Our favorite Cleveland band Mr. Gnome recently shot a session for Through the TurnStyle. They performed the song “Outsiders” from their excellent album Madness in Miniature. In addition to the kick-ass song, the duo fill you in on their history, talk about influences (Billie Holiday, Pink Floyd), recall living out of their van, and drink…
U of Akron Student Convicted in Deadly Street Fight Gets New Trial
Headed back to court. A former University of Akron student who received a felony conviction for his role in a boozy street fight in Kent that ended in homicide will get a new trial, according to a ruling handed down today by the state appeals court. Newsnet5 says the higher robes decided the trial judge…
John Glenn Talks on the 50th Anniversary of His Earth-Orbiting Mission
Video of a NY Times interview with John Glenn, who is now 90 years old. 50 years ago this weekend, he made the historic earth-orbiting mission.
After Being Caught Shoplifting, Man Named Russo Claims He’s the Son of a Judge
If you happen to share a last name with but are not related to any of the impossibly Irish folks in powerful positions around town, that doesn’t mean you can throw around their names when you get in trouble hoping that some sucker will think that you are really the son of Judge Russo. Maybe…
Young Jimi Hendrix Liked to Draw College Football Players
Sometimes it takes an outsider to remind you just how cool your own backyard is. Take the Rock Hall, which Clevelanders like to poo-poo but out-of-towners tend to celebrate. “There probably shouldn’t be a rock hall at all,” we’ve heard them say, “But if there’s going to be one, it’s pretty damn cool that it’s…
Ted Williams, Homeless Golden Voice Guy, Back to Work
“Free mac ‘n cheese right?” Now behold how we stretch that last minute of the famed 15 into overtime: Ted Williams was the Columbus homeless man who mounted the heights of internet sensationdom thanks to a viral video of his honey-sweet vocal chords in action. The whole thing was an easy mark for those of…
Envelopes Full of Cash Help Jimmy Dimora Deal With Grief
Seen here during happier, beardier times. If the father of someone you know dies, sending flowers is a nice thing to do. In lieu of flowers, a donation to one of their the deceased’s favorite charities might be in order. For the grieving, you might take them a casserole or a veggie plate. When Jimmy…
YSU Student Hospitalized After Fraternity Hazing
Probably not as fun or candle-lit as it looks in the movies. Now, the closest thing to a social organization we belonged to in college was a String Cheese tape trading collective, but we hear most pledges come out the other end of fraternity hazing at worst with an unwanted tattoo or a horrifying revulsion…
Blood Battle Pits Red Cross Against Local Union (Updated)
“I was right when I heard sugar cookies, right?” Update:The Red Cross has gone ahead and pulled the plug on next week’s blood drive due to the impending strike. Newsnet5 reports the details. The drive was an annual event held at Executive Caterer at Landerhaven on Valentine’s Day. *** The American Red Cross needs blood…
Criminal/Hero of the Day
“I will engage in fisticuffs with you, good sir, just don’t expect me to put down my beer.” We don’t like to celebrate criminals. They are, after all, criminals. Ne’er-do-wells are ne’er-do-wells, nothing to trumpet. However, when you read a sentence like this one from an Akron Beacon Journal story, you can’t help but give…
Scene’s Draft Expert Breaks Down the NFL Draft
“Dude, that Fedorski guy is good.” You’ve probably heard me on the radio in recent years saying something with an inordinate amount of bluster and confidence about the Browns and thought why, given my zero years on an NFL or college beat, you should consider me a “draft expert.” Well thanks to the many hours…
Safe Not So Sound
Denzel Washington can look menacing without saying a single word. He did it in Training Day, and he’s at it again in Safe House, though the end results aren’t nearly as textured or deep. Washington plays Tobin Frost, a former CIA agent who’s accused of trading national secrets. Ryan Reynolds is Matt Weston, a baby-faced…
Safe Not So Sound
Denzel Washington can look menacing without saying a single word. He did it in Training Day, and he’s at it again in Safe House, though the end results aren’t nearly as textured or deep. Washington plays Tobin Frost, a former CIA agent who’s accused of trading national secrets. Ryan Reynolds is Matt Weston, a baby-faced…
Governor Kasich’s State of the State Address Elicits Widespread Mockery
Perhaps Governor John Kasich moved his second State of the State address from its traditional Statehouse location to an elementary school in Steubenville hoping to keep the media spotlight off him. If so, he failed. On Tuesday he delivered yet another loopy, disjointed and totally improvised speech packed with what Huffington Post described the next…
Today We Learned About Black Death
You learn something new on the internet every day. Usually it’s about cats, which is perfectly fine with us. Sometimes it’s more important stuff, like an engaging debate of what exact date Ice Cube’s “Good Day” was. If at all possible, some click-whoring outfit will combine cats, “Good Day,” and Ron Swanson, and all our…
HuffPo Clowns Kasich for State of the State Speech
“So I thought that Parkinson’s bit went over pretty well. Have to use it again at the 11 show.” As you probably heard, earlier this week Governor John Kasich gave what was supposed to be a very serious update on how Ohio has fared over the last year, what your front-of-the-classroom-social-studies-types might know as a…
Deagan’s Kitchen to Reopen Tomorrow Following a Freshen-Up
“Before we opened the restaurant, we ran out of money to do the bathrooms,” explains Deagan’s owner Dan Deagan. “So we decided to close for a few days to redo them. Then we had 10 other projects that needed doing.” Deagan waited for what is typically the slowest week of the year to schedule the…
Here’s Drew Carey Dancing Onstage During a Machine Gun Kelly Show
MGK’s Sunset strip show last night featured two special Clevo guests: Layzie Bone and Drew Carey. He brought them both onstage, commented on how The Price is Right host brought some really hot girls to the show, then launched into “Cleveland” while Drew Carey jumped around in the background. We’re not even sure that this…
Pic of the Day: A Flats T-Shirt We Love
Who says the flats are dead? Courtesy of @ClevelandFrowns.
Rock Hall Adds More Groups to Induction Ceremony
The two guys who don’t look like Elvis Costello will now be in the Rock Hall too The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has decided to right some wrongs by adding a handful of backing groups to the induction ceremony that will be held in Cleveland on April 14. The Blue Caps, the Comets,…
Dimora Not Ohio’s Only Party-Boy Commissioner
“I’m all about sex, drugs & rock ‘n’ roll.” Cuyahoga may have its ongoing political corruption trials. But politics is just as much fun at the other end of the state. Last spring, Cincinnati state representative Bob Mecklenborg was arrested for a little escape that found him driving erratically near an Indiana casino town with…
Help Show Cleveland Off: CNN at Visible Voice Tomorrow
Cleveland is in the national spotlight, and this time, it’s not because of a restaurant or the foreclosure crisis. CNN will be interviewing the staff of Tremont’s Visible Voice Books tomorrow afternoon and everyone’s invited. Be there from 2 to 4 p.m. to smile for the cameras, listen to some music, and support Cleveland. Back…
Rock Clubs Unite to Fight Admissions Tax
The flap last fall about Cleveland’s extraordinarily high 8 percent admissions tax on tickets and its impact on the city’s smallish live music venues has moved into action mode. Thirteen clubs formed the Cleveland Music Club Coalition in September to get the ear of city council. In October, four West Side councilmen introduced an ordinance…
Michael Ruhlman Would Like to Talk to You About Fat for a Second
The renowned food writer and perfectly coiffed Clevelander had a new post on his site today. It was about fat. And stupid people. Mainly about stupid people. Here’s how “The Hidden Hazards of Lettuce” starts: I know what it was that set me off today. A random article, out of the blue, I shouldn’t even…
On Stage This Week
The Mysterious Affair at Styles: Agatha Christie on Tour Now through March 7, a Great Lakes Theater touring company will be performing free, one-hour adaptations of Agatha Christie’s first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in 21 schools, libraries, and community centers across the region. The world premiere was written by Cleveland actor and playwright…
On View This Week
At the Tremont Art Walk: A Family Affair Steven B. Smith, Tremont’s assemblage artist, poet, and “fotographer,” brings his family album to Mastroianni Arts. Sacred Pulp: Two Dead Smiths + Two Live Smiths distinguishes itself as an exhibition both elaborate and personal. The four Smiths in question are the artist, his wife Lady K, his…
Coming Attractions
There’s nothing in the world less interesting than somebody else’s orgasm. And if you believe that, I have a mint-condition, fully automatic, self-stimulating Orgasmatron I can sell you for a song. No, the truth is this: We all respond — for good or ill — to stories dealing with people-on-people sex. And our current era…
At the Arthouse
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 Back in the late ’60s and early ’70s, a Swedish documentary crew gathered its cameras and pasty-looking reporters to get the scoop on the Black Power movement happening in the United States. The footage was originally shot for a TV show to be aired in Sweden, but instead it sat…
Flame On
>When filmmaker Sam Dunn — Canada’s long-haired answer to Ken Burns — declared the future of death metal rests in the hands of the Swedish band In Flames in last year’s documentary Metal Evolution, it was hardly news to the group’s fans. With more than 20 years of punishing riffs beneath, between, and behind them,…
Joint Revival
Frank & Pauly’s, which for a dozen years operated in the BP Building on Public Square, closed its doors about six years ago. But the restaurant, launched by Wayne Koury in 1993 and beloved for its family-style portions of Italian-American specialties, has gotten a new lease on life: Frank & Pauly’s fans can dig in…
Savage Love
Dear Dan: I’m an 18-year-old male who is weird in the way of a bit of crossdressing and pegging. My girlfriend endorses these interests, and I love her for that. Recently, a hot 22-year-old gay guy told me he was interested. I tried to tell him I was in a relationship, but we kissed. It…
Home Movies
Project Nim (Lionsgate) I was genuinely concerned about digestive problems when Curious George ate that puzzle piece. I was all for the ape revolution in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. And I don’t think there’s anything funnier in the world than monkeys doing things people normally do, like playing the drums or driving…
Concert Calendar
Blind Pilot Blind Pilot have come a long way since 2008, when drummer Ryan Dobrowski and singer-guitarist Israel Nebeker hooked up mini-trailers to their bicycles and headed out on a West Coast tour. Since then, they’ve released two albums and added four more members. What started as a small spark between two friends has become…
We Get Mail
Remembering Beefcakes Kyle Swenson and Scene were good to Scott Bickel [“A Farewell to Beefcakes,” January 18, 2012]. He was an amazing man, a good friend, and a champion to us all. Thank you for believing in Scotty, and thank you, Scott Bickel, for being the incredible guy you were. The Pursuit of Happiness Is…
Get Out!
Thursday | 9 Texas Chainsaw Musicalat Blank Canvas Theatre Bloody Good Fun Local actor and sketch comedian Patrick Ciamacco had long yearned for a theater company to call his own: one where the process would be collaborative (“like painters sharing a blank canvas”) and productions would be accessible (“none of that avant-garde stuff”). His wishes…
Bring on the Nasty
We know our annual reader poll on sex and romance isn’t particularly scientific, but we worry about you all the same, dearest Clevelander. This year, we’ve asked you another round of probing questions about your private lives, and you’ve provided your usual outpouring of disgusting and troublesome responses. Indeed, you folks are the reason the…
Tool of the Trade
While it wasn’t technically Valentine’s Day, the evening was intended as a romantic night out. For starters, it was the rare occasion when the wife and I were dining out just for fun — in fact, we didn’t even know where we’d end up. The plan was to head to Little Italy and tuck into…
Film Capsules
Pariah Writer-director Dee Rees’ Pariah is a deceptive little film. A butch African American teen comes out (or attempts to, at least) to her disbelieving parents who have spent a lifetime trying to girlie her up and bury their heads in the sand. Its lead character Alike (played with unnerving stillness by Adepero Oduye) could…
Invitation to the Dance
Director Wim Wenders was not at all interested in dance before a girlfriend dragged him to see Cafe Müller and Le Sacre du Printemps by German avant-garde choreographer Pina Bausch. Expecting to be terribly bored, Wenders was instead so transfixed, he decided to showcase Pina’s work in a documentary. Pina, the 3D film that resulted,…
CD Review: The Fray
You can’t say the Fray aren’t committed to their cause, whatever that may be. Whether the Denver quartet is lifting the spirits of down-in-the-dumps fans or guiding viewers through another tear-stained episode of Grey’s Anatomy, they’ve done it with an unshakeable belief in the healing qualities of their faceless but catchy piano pop. Their third…
Lust Listings
Sweetheart Specials Aphrodisiacs and Champagne Soiree at Touch Supper Club, 2710 Lorain Ave., Ohio City. Offered all day Saturday, February 11, and 5 to 11 p.m. Tuesday, February 14. For the cost of $70, a daring couple’s dinner includes four courses (soup, salad, entree, and dessert), all containing ingredients rumored to be aphrodisiacs. Champagne pairings…
Stay In!
TOP PICK Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby’s Romance Comics (Fantagraphics) Joe Simon and Jack Kirby are best known for creating Captain America, but in the late ’40s through the end of the ’50s they helped pioneer romance comics. Most of the 21 stories in this great new book collection haven’t been compiled…
Lakes Effect
One of Cleveland’s best indie-pop bands, Bears, has spent much of the time since its last album in 2008 away from music. Charlie McArthur and Craig Ramsey, who play everything you hear on their records, started doing things many guys in their twenties do: McArthur moved to Chicago for grad school; Ramsey bought a house…
CD Review: Sharon Van Etten
Sharon Van Etten boasts an elegant, powerful, and strangely ethereal voice that imbues her music with grandeur — practically demands a spotlight all its own. The music on her third album, Tramp, wanders from atmospheric chamber-folk that reimagines Laurel Canyon singer-songwriters for the post-Radiohead generation (“Joke or a Lie”) to lush, harmony-enriched rustic ambles (“We…
CD Review: Of Montreal
Kevin Barnes is so damn freaky. After a dozen years and almost as many albums, he led his carnivalesque indie-pop group deep into funky R&B territory on 2010’s False Priest, even enlisting Janelle Monáe and Beyoncé’s little sister for help. On their 11th album, Paralytic Stalks, Of Montreal slip and slide in a number of…
