Fat Head’s Head Hunter IPA Wins Big at Festival
Friends in high places. One of Northeast Ohio’s great houses of brew just locked up a big prize at a national festival. North Olmsted’s Fat Heads took home the top prize for its Head Hunter IPA, a favorite here among the Scene staff. The laurels were handed out at the West Coast IPA Festival. This…
Video: Mike Polk on the Cleveland Indians
Yeah, we’re late to this, but with the Tribe dropping its 11th straight last night, now seems like an appropriate time to share Mike Polk’s version of the Wahoos’ “What If?” ad campaign.
Columbus Kid Passes Out After Four-Day Xbox Bender
Your correspondent, after the release of Final Fantasy VII in ’97. Dedication is probably one of those qualities parents want to hammer into their kids, but you’ve got to make sure little Jimmy or Jess are flowing that obsessive energy into the right channels. School work? Sure. Sports? Good stuff. Four day video game benders?…
On a Roll, Red the Steakhouse to Plant Flag Downtown
Brad Friedlander and his partners Jonathan Bennett and Peter Vauthy have been on an undeniable roll lately. After coasting along just fine with Moxie for eight years, they began to pick up speed in 2006, when they opened Red, the Steakhouse, one of the city’s best chophouses. Three years ago the team opened a Red…
Concert Review: Jane’s Addiction at Jacobs Pavilion
Joe Kleon Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica appeared to only be half to three quarters full for last night’s Jane’s Addiction concert. But that didn’t stop the band from putting on a terrific 90-minute show. While the theatrics have been scaled down since the arena rock days, the group still employs an ensemble of dancers and…
An interview with Strung Out, who play the Grog Shop on Wednesday
A veteran punk act whose history dates back to the early ’90s, Strung Out emerged at a time when punk still had a purpose. Some 20 years later, the band is going strong and for its current tour, which includes a stop at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Grog Shop, it’s playing 1996’s Suburban…
Concert Review: Lollapalooza at Grant Park in Chicago
Ever since becoming a destination festival in Chicago some seven years ago, Lollapalooza has steadily grown. The three-day festival, which just concluded yesterday, may well have outgrown its Grant Park location. Drawing close to 100,000 fans each day, it was bursting at the seams, making it difficult to navigate from one stage to the next.…
Waterloo Operation Light Switch Gathering Steam
Waterloo Road Two months ago, Scene food writer Doug Trattner told us about dining investor/entrepreneur Alan Glazen’s plan for swooping into the Waterloo Road strip of North Collinwood anchored by the Beachland Ballroom and simultaneously open five eateries run by high-profile Cleveland chefs like Michael Symon and Jonathon Sawyer. At the time, he put the…
Sequins and Glitter and Feathers — Oh My! Ohio Burlesque Fest Dazzles
Crystal Swarovski The Beachland Ballroom was packed to the walls Saturday night for the 2nd Annual Ohio Burlesque Festival. Nearly thirty performers from across the country — and Italy — took the stage during the three-and-a-half hour show, with acts ranging from Twiggy Stardust’s campy Batman routine, to Elizabeth Couteau’s coy girlie act, to Fantasie…
In the Doghouse
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, the third movie based on Jeff Kinney’s hit book series for preteens holds the same problem as the first two outings: Protagonist Greg Heffley (played once again by Zachary Gordon) isn’t very likable. He treats his best friend like crap, taking advantage of him to weasel his way…
Local Chris Hatton plays CD release show on Saturday at the Map Room
Famous for the novelty track “Facebook Licks My Balls,” local singer-songwriter Chris Hatton has grown what he describes as “inches and inches of facial hair” for Saturday’s CD release show at the Map Room. The show marks the release of his new album, aptly titled The Beard Album. It’s the first full-length solo album for…
An interview with Five Finger Death Punch, who play Jacobs Pavilion on Sunday
The Los Angeles/Las Vegas-based heavy metal act Five Finger Death Punch has quickly risen up the ranks since forming 2005. It’s now considered one of metal’s premiere acts and is currently headlining Metal Hammer’s Trespass America tour that comes to Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica at 5 p.m. Sunday. Guitarist Jason Hook recently spoke about the…
Concert Review: Big Time Rush at Blossom Music Center
Although the opening acts dragged a bit, headliners Big Time Rush did not disappoint with their performance last night at Blossom Music Center. With their most recent album Elevate an endless well of summery pop songs, their concert here came at a perfect time. The Nickelodeon-approved quartet showed off their various talents with acrobatics, choreography,…
Total Bummer
Less campy than the Arnold Schwarzenegger 1990 version of Total Recall, and thereby less fun, this remake of Philip K. Dick’s sci-fi story about a future where memory implants help folks escape their dismal realities often feels bloated and confused. And for good reason: Director Len Wiseman is responsible for the parade of mediocre Underworld…
Tremont Darkroom Opens to the Public
Tremont’s Aperture Photography & Variety Store, a gallery and specialty shop for old-school shutterbugs, is opening its darkroom doors to the public. Long known as a shrine to analog photography, the spot sells vintage cameras, develops film (remember film?), and exhibits everything from archival black-and-white prints to Polaroids. However, like most photo shops, its darkroom…
CD Review: Elvis Presley
Just in time for the 35th anniversary of the King's death comes this 21-song collection curated by fans. A quarter of a million Elvis lovers from across the globe voted on the album's contents, and it's pretty much what you'd expect: big hits (“Don't Be Cruel,” “Heartbreak Hotel”), movie songs (“Blue Hawaii,” “Viva Las Vegas”),…
Beasts of the Northern Wild
It’s the heat. Or something in the water. Or the heady cocktail of too much alcohol, too little clothing, and inhibitions floating away like midges in the Lake Erie breezes. Whatever the reasons, Cleveland’s summer bestiary is out in full force, flaunting their bad fashions, flashing daddy’s credit card, and generally annoying everyone within earshot.…
Review: The Cleveland Wine Festival
As a novice to grown-up drinking (I turned 21 this June) I was pleasantly surprised by the Cleveland Wine Festival held this past weekend. We wined and dined at the very scenic Voinovich Bicentennial Park on the end of E. 9th, sandwiched between the lake and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The miserable…
Nothin’ but a Good Time
About a year and a half ago, two veteran local hard rockers — Rikets guitarist Ken Obloy and singer Jonny Vegas of Erase the Grey and Burning Vegas — had just finished playing a show at RocBar with their bands. They started talking, and before they left the club they decided to form a new…
Soundcheck
S hortly after Rufus Wainwright completed work on 2010’s classically inspired All Days Are Night, his mother — folk icon Kate McGarrigle — passed away. Wainwright then teamed up with superstar producer Mark Ronson (the architect behind Amy Winehouse’s hit record) and began writing material for his new LP, Out of the Game, a collection…
CD Review: Various Artists
The only reason to hear this soundtrack to the remake of the 1976 movie about a 1960s girl group is for the last two songs recorded by Whitney Houston (who also stars in the film) before her death. She flies solo on the blah gospel cut “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” and duets with…
CD Review: Sugar
Bob Mould's other buzzsaw-guitar trio filled in between Hüsker Dü and his erratic solo career. The band's three records – the 1992 debut Copper Blue, the following year's Beaster EP, and the 1994 swan song LP – get the deluxe reissue treatment here. The three-CD Copper Blue (paired with Beaster) and double-disc File Under are…
On Stage This Week
Ohio Shakespeare Festival presents: The Merchant of VeniceNot even the Bard himself could have imagined a more evocative setting than the new Elizabethan stage at Akron’s Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens. Modeled after Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, the permanent playing area provides a natural backdrop for the Ohio Shakespeare Festival’s open-air performances — and…
Your Favorite Thing
Like Brussels sprouts or the Pittsburgh Steelers, The Sound of Music is one of those things you love or you hate — intensely and with little middle ground. For lovers of The Sound of Music, it’s all those indelible tunes composed by Richard Rodgers and all the cute, adorable kids. For haters of “The Sound…
Factory Faces
John Puglia was witness to what may have been the last great gasp of American manufacturing. His new show at Akron’s We Gallery — Pipefitters, Porn & P.B.R. — memorializes the mostly nameless blue-collar workers of the 1970s and 1980s in paintings and prints. These are the men behind the rubber of Rubber City. Now…
Screens
Total Recall: Mind-Bending Edition Just in time for the sorta-remake hitting theaters on Friday (see below), the original movie version of Philip K. Dick’s short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” finally makes its Blu-ray debut. Director Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 followup to RoboCop stars Arnold Schwarzenegger in one of his best movies (only…
On View This Week
Opus Gallery All Women All Art. Opus Gallery’s annual all-women art show gives female artists the opportunity to display their creations in all media. Gallery owner Margarita Shuster says she created the show 17 years ago to help correct women’s minority status in the creative world. “I read about women and art in the U.S.,…
FIlm Capsules
Neil Young Journeys Jonathan Demme’s third concert film starring Neil Young lives up to its title, inviting fans to sit back and enjoy the guided ride. It all starts with the singer-songwriter driving around his birth home of Omemee, Ontario, as he points out the local landmarks he remembers from his childhood. Then Young is…
New Classics
Change isn't taken lightly at the Velvet Tango Room, where time-tested recipes and techniques have been in play for a decade and a half. In recent years, the cocktail club has upgraded its interior, reengineered its ice, and became fully committed to making everything from ginger ale to vermouth on the premises. More recently, owner…
CD Review: Joss Stone
Joss Stone was only 15 when she recorded her first album The Soul Sessions, a collection of R&B covers that were originally released years before she was born. After a decade of self-penned songs and a stint with Mick Jagger's not-so-super supergroup SuperHeavy, Stone returns to the all-covers format on her sixth album, a sequel…
CD Review: Blur
This massive box – which includes all seven of the band's studio albums plus a bunch of unreleased tracks and other rarities – should settle once and for all which Britpop group from the '90s mattered most. Unlike Oasis, Blur didn't get blustier as they got bigger; they got artsier and smarter. And they were…
We Get Mail
Hands Off My Tomatoes, Man It’s time for the city to relinquish control of the market [“Going the Distance,” July 25, 2012]. The West Side Market is now 100 years old no thanks to the city of Cleveland in any way. Let the Tenant’s Association run things. They obviously know how to run things and…
Clubland
Terry Lee Goffee has taken his Johnny Cash tribute all over the country this summer. The singer, who counts Cash contemporary Marty Stuart as a fan, has been to upstate New York, out to Bakersfield, California, and back to his home in central Ohio. Yeah, you could say he’s “been everywhere.” “This time of year…
Local Band in Focus
Meet the Band: Singer and guitarist Powers is often joined onstage by Steven T. Winston (bassist), Mark Nanni (keyboardist), Mark Tiffault (drummer), and occasionally guests Colin Aberdeen (slide guitar and harmonica) and Jose Alvarez (guitar). The Gringo With a Guitar: Powers is a classically trained guitarist who found his calling in south-of-the-border blues. He graduated…
Concert Calendar
8/2 Jeff the Brotherhood After years of mixing it up in the Nashville indie-rock scene, brothers Jake and Jamin Orrall — nope, no one named Jeff here — finally made some noise with last year’s We Are the Champions. It’s about time. They had been making records since 2002 for their own label and were…
Savage Love
Dear Dan: I have a question regarding pornography usage and browser histories. As a matter of courtesy to my wife (and anyone else who may use our devices), I always clear the browser history on whatever device (computer/iPad) I may have used to view pornography. I have always just assumed that she doesn’t want to…
Hamburger History
Having never before eaten at Bearden's — which has been in existence longer than the state of Israel — I can guarantee that this review is 100-percent nostalgia-free. That's an important point, since vintage spots like this often get by on fond memories alone. And why not? Since 1948, the casual diner has been a…
CD Review: Hot Ham and Cheese
Give Robby Mitchell, Charlie, and Louie Styx points for sticking with their band's goofy name. You can also give them a couple more points because they’re a power trio that earned the right to open for both Wolfmother and Primus, an obvious influence. On their fourth record, Hot Ham and Cheese churn out lean groove-metal…
