RTA Sued by Patent-Wielding Canadian Troll
The Regional Transit Authority appears set to join a host of other municipal transit organizations in forking over a giant fare to a man in Canada who’s suing over RTA’s use of a notification system that maybe kinda not really infringes on his patents. A lawsuit was filed February 28 in U.S. District Court on…
Concert Review: The Black Keys at The Q
It’s still hard to believe that the guys in the video above are the same two dudes from Akron in this one. Slightly bigger these days. The Black Keys’ arena tour swung through Cleveland last night, almost ten years to the day, as Dan Auerbach pointed out, that the duo played their first gig at…
Robert Griffin III Glad He’s Not Heading to Cleveland, Says Redskins GM, Says Redskins Fan
Colt’s got better hair anyway . . . you feel us on that one, right? Robert Griffin III, the quarterback prospect that single-handedly powered the rusty engine of hope sitting inside most Brown’s fans, is going to the Washington Redskins. We know — you already knew this. But this week down in Texas, RGIII was…
What to Do Tonight: Hollis Brown
Like Deer Tick, Dawes, and other new-generation roots rockers, New York quintet Hollis Brown wraps the warm sounds of 1970s Laurel Canyon in blankets of stinging guitars and tossed-off breeziness. Their new EP Nothing & the Famous No One sounds like a looser version of the Band’s Americana. They open for Caveman at the Beachland…
Woman Has Bad St. Pat’s RTA Ride, Complains; Voilà, Journalism
“Come on, there’s room for everyone on the train. Squeeze tight.” Not sure how your St. Pat’s went (ours was great, thank you for asking), but it probably was cake compared to this lady’s day. Not that anything actually happened to Cindy Teague, if we break down the account the 52-year-old Newbury resident gave the…
This Grandpa Got More Action on St. Patrick’s Day Than You Did
St. Patrick’s Day really brings out the best in people. This was filmed outside Harry Buffalo downtown on Saturday. We’re impressed with how his knees hold up during the grinding. You go, gramps.
Pic of the Day: Kid Flicks Off Camera for Mugshot (Updated)
Update: Mitchell Peterman realizes the cold truth of the web: a funny mug shot never fades. From today’s Akron Beacon Journal: “I haven’t even seen them. I don’t even want to look at them,” Peterman said. “It’s something I wish I wouldn’t have done, something I wish I could undo. So, I’m just going to…
MGK’s First Official EP Comes Out Today
The first record under MGK’s deal with Diddy’s record company comes out today. The Half Naked & Almost Famous EP is now available in all the usual places where you buy music these days. The five-song EP — released on the 19XX/Bad Boy/Interscope label — features “Wild Boy,” the Cleveland rapper’s hit collaboration with Waka…
Marcia Fudge and Plain Dealer Editor Debra Adams Simmons Aren’t BFFs, In Case You Were Wondering
Having endured a couple of very public conflict-of-interest cases, the Plain Dealer newsroom is understandably prickly about any situation that calls a reporter or editor’s objectivity into question. Browns beat writer Tony Grossi was yanked off the detail after accidentally tweeting his very strong disdain for Browns owner Randy Lerner, and Connie Schultz resigned after…
Rock Hall Announces Presenters for Cleveland Induction Bash
It was either this or a picture of the Red Hot Chili Peppers with socks on their dicks You’ve probably heard by now that the Rock and Roll of Fame’s Induction Ceremonies return to Cleveland on April 14. They’ve finally announced the list of presenters: Beastie Boys will be inducted by Chuck D Donovan will…
Afghan Shooter Robert Bales Previously Defrauded Ohio Couple
Ohio-born Bales. When news hit Ohio that one of the state’s native sons was the U.S. soldier behind the alleged massacre of 16 Afghan civilians on March 11 — a piece of extremism that’s pretty much dropped the 11-year war effort to an all-time, My Lai low — grief and shock were among the grab…
Stop the Presses: Republican & Democrat Do Something Together to Address Actual Problem!
“Honestly — we’ve declared a truce!” This morning, area politicians, media and interested citizens descended on a quiet side street off Union Avenue in Cleveland’s Slavic Village neighborhood to hear two northeast Ohio congresspeople from opposite parties announce they were actually going to do something to help citizens with a real problem they face; foreclosure…
Monday Non-Shocker: Ohio Gets a D on the Political Corruption Report Card
Ohio was getting an A until this douche came along It’s not exactly breaking news that iWatch News released today: Ohio gets a D when it comes to statewide political corruption. In an article titled “Grading the nation: How accountable is your state?,” all 50 of the nation’s states are broken down by letter grades…
That Is Not a Legal Parking Spot
Seriously, Cleveland police? Just a ticket? Parking on a sidewalk is the same in your book as an expired parking meter? Anyway, one of the many post St. Patrick’s Day sights around town. Photo courtesy of Danielle DeBoe.
Mike Trivisonno Thinks Cleveland Sports Talk Stations Suck
Last Thursday’s installment of the Triv show featured Cleveland’s most perfectly coiffed-voice venting about the status of sports talk radio. Specifically, WKNR and 92.3 The Fan. “They’re so stupid it’s unbelievable.” That’s how it starts. It rolls along for another ten solid minutes with shots at Tony Rizzo — “They still sell $50 commercials, Rizzo…
Jim Renacci Hung Out With a Bunch of Lobbyists
Jim Renacci is fond of lobbing the “Washington insider” label at Betty Sutton, his opponent in the race for all the crown jewels and combination gas stations/Taco Bells in the Ohio 16th. It’s one of those completely empty phrases that sounds good in a TV commercial when the candidate is standing in front of an…
Officials Expect St. Patrick’s Day Parade to be a Clusterf*&*
Alright, we’d party with this dude. Combine unseasonably warm weather and a Saturday St. Patrick’s Day, and you have an equation for a shitshow. Parade officials predict 400,000 revelers will make their way downtown tomorrow. Police expect at least over 300,000 to wander toward the parade. Parade officials tout the number as a sign of…
Former Ottawa County Sheriff Shocked to Learn He Can’t Spend Taxpayer Money on Himself
Ignorance is happiness. “This shopping list is just incredible. The taxpayers’ belts are already tight — they shouldn’t have to pay for his belt too.” — Ohio Auditor Dave Yost The fine folks of Cuyahoga County know a thing or two about public officials scheming, scamming, and being generally unworthy of our trust. Former Sheriff…
Chump of the Week: Jamie Bradshaw, Lake County Serial Panty Thief
Man, the things you find when you Google image search ‘panty thief.’ Sometimes it’s just too hard to keep the inner panty thief at bay, even after 17 years of cold sobriety. That, or Jamie V. Bradshaw just was able to indulge his inner creep on the sly for almost 20 years without getting caught.…
Beer Truck Driver Arrested for . . . Drunk Driving
This isn’t the truck, but this is sweet. Hauling all that beer around day and night, a man gets tempted. That’s the understandable takeaway from a story coming out of Solon. In fact, just writing up this post has us craving an ice . . . cold . . . beer . . . For…
It’s National Egg Cream Day!
Growing up, the only place I ever encountered the soda fountain drink called Egg Cream was in children’s books written decades earlier — usually ones about kids growing up in New York in the early 20th century. The drink, a concoction of milk, seltzer and chocolate syrup originating in the late 1800s, had fallen out…
Carlos Baerga Throws Support Behind Rick Santorum
Although our own primary match-up is in the rear view mirror, the GOP candidates are still blasting away at one another on the national stage. Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are trying to gobble up as many delegates as possible (with Newt Gingrich snatching whatever falls off the table) before the Republican convention. Things are…
Closed Churches Play the Waiting Game After Vatican Decision
It’s been a week since the Vatican rocked local Catholics with news that it had overturned the closing of 13 churches across Northeast Ohio, a response to Bishop Richard Lennon’s recent “Slim Down for the Rapture!” initiative. But in keeping with its centuries-old tradition of taking forever to do virtually nothing, the Church has yet…
Man Arrested While on Toilet
Meet Nicholas Ross. The 23-year-old was arrested Tuesday night by Sandusky police on a slew of charges. The Sandusky Register has the whole story, but the interesting nugget is simply this: he was arrested while sitting on the can. Officers entered a bathroom in the home and found Ross sitting on the toilet. They ordered…
Program for Uninsured in Cuyahoga County Finally Launches
The region’s poor and sick may get a small dose of good news in the coming week. After years of planning and delays, a project designed to speed up access to health care for the uninsured in Cuyahoga County is finally set to launch. Beginning March 19, Cuyahoga Health Access Partnership — CHAP for short…
Cleveland’s Little Fish label to present Rising Tide showcases
Wanyama: starting to make a name locally Long-time Cleveland record label/distributor Little Fish is launching a series of showcases called Rising Tide for newer area bands on the verge of making a splash. The first event, dubbed Rising Tide Spring Kickoff, takes place at 7 p.m. Friday March 24 at Peabody’s. It will feature Wanyama,…
Thanks to Browns’ Free Agent Frostee Rucker, Cleveland Finally Has a Kardashian Konnection
Word is leaking out of Berea that the Browns have finally inked an actual free agent, the Bengal’s wonderfully named Frostee Rucker. (Not to gloat, but our sometimes sports expert P. Rogie proved his perspicacious worth yesterday by calling that shot — we’ve decided to up his pay from a six pack of Labatts to…
A Café With Connections
It’s been eight years since Mickey DeAngelo worked in a commercial kitchen. The former executive chef of Vaccaro’s Trattoria in Akron, DeAngelo says that he was waiting for the perfect opportunity to get back into the restaurant game. Nexus Cafe and Coffeehouse, he says, is that opportunity. Opening April 2 in the Caddyshack Lounge’s former…
CD Review: Ohio Sky
(ohioskymusic.com) Unlike so many of their peers, the Cleveland stoner-metal band Ohio Sky stick to taut arrangements and sharp songwriting on their debut album. The group keeps a tight rein on its psych influences, focusing more on billowing textures than extensive breaks. Guitarist Vince DiFranco’s reverberating tenor sounds remarkably crisp and confident. Highlights include the…
At the Arthouse
Surviving Life (Theory and Practice) The Cinematheque kicks off its “Features of Jan Svankmajer” series with the Czech director’s latest movie, which is billed as a psychoanalytical comedy. But don’t read too much into that. Like so much of his work since the ’60s — when he was making surreal shorts — Surviving Life (Theory…
Savage Love
Dear Dan: Thank you for your advocacy of monogamishness. When I fell in love with my gloriously kinky and GGG wife several years ago, we were honest about our sexual desires, and we negotiated an arrangement that works for us. Your column gave us the tools we needed to talk with other potentially kinky folks.…
Film Capsules
John Carter With characters and a story based on a 95-year-old Edgar Rice Burroughs novel and inspiration borrowed from Star Wars, Gladiator, and Avatar, among others, John Carter is a big, loud, and overlong sci-fi epic that aims for genre mythos but settles for super-caffeinated 3D spectacle. The title character (played by Friday Night Lights’…
Cheese Stands Alone
Every mystery ever written hangs by a slender thread, since if you know the identity of “whodunit,” your interest in the piece disappears. Amazingly, the secret at the heart of Agatha Christie’s suspenseful play The Mousetrap has been kept under wraps since 1952. That’s how long the show has been running in London’s West End.…
CD Review: Big Brother and the Holding Company Featuring Janis Joplin
Before Janis Joplin joined Big Brother and the Holding Company in 1966, they were a sloppy and barely competent boogie-blues band dabbling in hippie aesthetics. Not much changed once Joplin came onboard, except they had a powerhouse singer who packed more charisma than the four other guys combined. This 70-minute live set from their hometown…
Get Out!
Thursday | 15 Greg Owen at the Improv He’s Working It Out What brings a “theater” comic like Gary Owen — a screen actor, a regular on Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, and the guy Ebony magazine recently proclaimed Black America’s Favorite White Comic — to the Cleveland Improv? “The check,” he tells us by…
On View This Week
Akron Art Museum: Stranger in Paradise. The late Rev. Howard Finster is one of America’s most recognizable outsider artists, even creating album covers for R.E.M. and Talking Heads. Like a William Blake of the pop-art era, his oeuvre juxtaposes religiously laden illustrations arising from his vivid visionary experiences with more worldly subjects. The result is…
When the Party’s Over
It’s been a year and a half since Brian Taubman first learned how to commodify your miserable decisions. In 2010 he launched the Ohio OVI Blog — that’s ohiooviblog.com — as a clearinghouse of wisdom on how to deal with getting popped for driving drunk or, better yet, avoiding getting popped in the first place.…
CD Review: The Decembrists
Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy’s songs are wrapped in such twisted dark scenarios, they make Morrissey’s outlook on life seem positively utopian. But he makes it all go down easily, thanks to clever twists of phrase, strong melodic hooks, and a musical palette that includes everything from pop, country, and folk to sea shanties and alt-rock.…
A FOODIE’S FEAST
There’s not a bar, club, pub, or down-and-dirty dive where the suds won’t be flowing on March 17 — all the more so since the beer-drinker’s ultimate bash falls on a Saturday. But if you’re craving more than green beer, here are a couple spots to keep in mind. — Elaine T. CicoraHodges: Barring any…
Home Movies
Melancholia (Magnolia) Writer-director Lars von Trier’s movies can be as frustrating as they are rewarding. His best film in nearly a decade makes you work, but the story grabs you from the start: Kirsten Dunst plays a bride whose big day is ruined when a planet shows up in the sky soaring toward Earth (don’t…
Year-round Irish haunts do it up like no other on St. Paddy’s Day
The region’s year-round Irish haunts do it up like no other on St. Paddy’s Day. Here’s your guide to the action: Barley House As well known for the eye candy as the souped-up pub grub, the Barley House is sure to host one of the livelier crowds this St. Patrick’s Day. The Barley Girls —…
Art Review
Growing up in Cuba, Augusto Bordelois used to create art by mixing pine sap, kerosene, and pigments to make paint. He had to: The real stuff was only available in state-run schools or on the black market, and it cost a fortune anyway. Like many artists given the chance by the Cuban government to exhibit…
Get to Know Yourself!
For one day of the year — or two if you’ve found a really good party — every one of us is an honorary Irishman. But if you’re going to pass yourself off as authentic Cleveland Irish, you’d better get to know a few of the key mileposts that mark your heritage. Read up, drink…
Concert Calendar
The Wonder Years What began as a college pastime has become a full-time career for Pennsylvania pop-punks the Wonder Years. Their 2010 album The Upsides was powered by punchy but angsty music that recalled OG emo bands like Promise Ring and the Get Up Kids. But if the Wonder Years are frustrated with their lives,…
Sound Off!
St. Patrick’s Day isn’t just about drinking till you puke and cramming your face with corned beef and cabbage. It’s also about … well, yes, that is what it’s all about. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have some music to go along with all that drinking and eating. Here now is your rambling guide…
Old School
The balance of the universe was rocked in a potentially catastrophic way a couple of months ago when Jonah Hill’s name turned up among the nominees for a Best Actor Oscar. Beside throwing into question 85 years of Oscar history, the nod also implied that Hill’s thespian tank contained more than the two modes he’s…
Your St. Patrick’s Day Primer
St. Patrick’s Day is upon us, and while the basics of celebrating the holiday properly are pretty obvious, that doesn’t mean you couldn’t use some pointers on how to make this the most St. Paddiest St. Paddy’s Day ever. We dialed up our resident experts to help us roadmap a better trip through the sweaty…
Local Band in Focus
Meet the Artist: A few years ago, Guitar Hero inspired Willoughby native Chris Black to pick up the bass and join a rock band. He started rapping on the side, eventually learning to play piano and guitar, and how to produce his recordings. Found Sound: Black says last year’s Against All Odds, his third record,…
Culture Jamming
TOP PICK Pink Floyd: The Wall Experience Edition (Capitol) The last of the deluxe Floyd packages (at least for now) spotlights Roger Waters’ 1979 epic story of rock-star alienation and detachment. You can shell out more than $100 for a seven-disc version or go with this more reasonably priced three-CD set, which includes a remaster…
Occupy Some &%*#@ Manners
You may recall that Occupy Cleveland took a turn for the corporate in December when it rented office space in the City Club building. But the group — a local offshoot of the nationwide backlash against corporate America — didn’t offer up a very convincing impression of a good corporate citizen. The office, intended mainly…
The Word Guy
It’s not often that a lyricist — a guy whose only role in a group is to write words to go along with the music somebody else composes — is given full band status. Hell, not even the Grateful Dead — who had, like, a couple hundred different people drift through the band over three…
Cracking the Bucknut
“When you are born and raised in Columbus, you were born a Buckeye fan, no matter what,” the caller says over the line, his voice pocketed in static. “Now, the reason why we see it so big up this way, and even the whole state, is because it’s The Ohio State University. There is no…
We Get Mail
The Shooting of Dan Ficker Anytime there is an incident involving alleged police wrongdoing, the police close ranks around the officers involved [“Out of Bounds,” February 15]. It is horrific what happened to Dan Ficker that day. I am mortified that we live in a country where an off-duty cop has license to cross jurisdictional…
Harvest Time
Sitting in the lounge area of the new Crop Bistro, I felt a little like an audience member at Cirque du Soleil: There was so much going on, I didn’t know where to look. There was the dazzling room, of course, with its jaw-dropping architecture and theatrical open kitchen. A pro athlete sits just over…
On Stage This Week
Seeing Red: Art’s Agony and EcstasyArt, artists, and the act of creation get their due in Red, a 2010 Tony Award-winner by playwright John Logan. Opening this week at Cleveland Play House, the provocative drama takes its cue from an episode in the life of temperamental mid-century artist Mark Rothko. Rothko accepted a fabulously lucrative…
The Dork Side
You won’t find anything too flashy at this weekend’s Cleveland Comic, Card & Nostalgia Festival happening at the American Legion Hall in Fairview Park. Lou Ferrigno won’t be signing autographs. The Batmobile won’t be there. And you won’t see any barely clothed folks dressed up like naughty ninja schoolgirls or Voltron walking around the place.…
CD Review: Shooter Jennings
At first it’s a bit surprising to hear that Shooter Jennings refers to his fifth album as his most personal. After all, the son of the late outlaw-country legend Waylon Jennings prides himself on being another splintered branch on the family tree (just to show he means business, he even titled his debut LP Put…
