Confirmed: Cleveland Would Certainly Convert The Grinch
Thanks to the good minds at the Martin Prosperity Institute, we can rest assured that Cleveland wouldn’t stand for any Grinch bullshit. Yes, yes: We rank pretty high on the Grinch Conversion Index. To wit, Cleveland’s jolly as hell all year ’round and fully capable of talking down resident Grinches. Trenton, N.J., meanwhile, takes top…
Prepping For The Requisite Snowstorm Freakout
Ohmigawd! The forecast is as snowy as they come for this afternoon in Cleveland. Outside of last Friday’s pithy flurries, this will be our first *big* snowstorm of the year. While we’ve all been through this before, these sorts of hyped-up blizzards tend to send everyone into uncontrollable spasms – most unfortunately on Northeast Ohio’s…
Petitioning the State to Do Away With the ABV Cap
The right to petition the government seems like the most popular part of our Bill of Rights these days (except for that whole business about the arms and bears and all that). There’s an effort under way to get our fair state to kill the cap on the alcohol-by-volume ratio (ABV). Currently, the sale of…
Post-Holiday Blizzard And More: Wednesday Morning News
A very merry post-Christmas to all and to all a good morning, etc. – The holiday fun is showing no signs of letting up as a massive blizzard sets its sights on Cleveland. The Weather Channel has been kind enough to give this storm a Northeast Ohio twist: The network has dubbed it “Winter Storm…
A Very Broccoli Christmas: Concert Review
Broccoli Samurai, Dec. 23 Local jamtronica compatriots Broccoli Samurai held down the fort at Beachland Ballroom last night, throwing down a set of mind-altering melodies and esoteric washes. “A Very Broccoli Christmas” brought out the jam scene from all corners of Cleveland, reminding the community that they are in good company here in Northeast Ohio.…
Merry Christmas, You Scumbags
As we do every year, we leave you with The Pogues and “The Fairytale of New York” — the best Christmas song ever written — as we head into long Christmas weekend. (If you haven’t read the backstory to the tune before, do so right now. Yes, it was predictably messy.) Barring moments of surprising…
Cleveland Metal Holiday Food Drive sets new record
The numbers are in and the annual Cleveland Metal Holiday Food Drive that took place earlier this month has once again received a record donation. Sponsored by WJCU 88.7 FM and Auburn Records, the event featured a slew of local metal acts that played at the Beachland Ballroom on Dec. 8. Donations went to the…
Local musician issues ‘The Christmas Chicken’ song and book
Available at the Only Cleveland store in Tower City, local musician and author Eli Fletcher’s “Ruth: The Christmas Chicken” makes for a good last-minute gift for kids. It’s a CD/book that relates a story about a boy who lives in the “far off land called Ohio City.” One day, the kid buys a chicken and…
Try to Remember Where you Park Your Car While Christmas Shopping
We know — the traffic is bad, the parking lots packed, the lines long, the anxiety high, and you still don’t even know what you’re going to buy your girlfriend once you get OUT of the parking lot and into the mall. Helpful hint: take a moment to remember where you parked. Let’s make that…
Attacks on RTA Bus Drivers Continue With Shaker Heights Incident
The Number 40 bus was making its way through Shaker Heights yesterday afternoon when two teenagers attacked the 42-year-old bus driver. When the duo refused to pay the fare, they got off the bus and walked to the rear entrance. At that point, they approached the driver and began punching him before fleeing. 19 Action…
Hoppin’ Frog Christmas Ale Wins Blind Taste Test; Great Lakes Not Among Top Three Finishers
To all you Great Lakes Christmas Ale honks and aficionados, those that write songs about the brew and celebrate its arrival with unending Instagrams and Facebook posts and tweets, just know it’s not the best thing in the world. You know that, right? We love it too, but keep your Xmas spectrum in proper perspective.…
Browns Fan Pens Delightful Christmas Song
One Browns fan took it upon himself to record the community’s roller coaster of emotion via YouTube last week. The result? “The Cleveland Browns Christmas Song,” which you’ll no doubt be humming as the holiday and football seasons come to a close. With two games left on the clock, this guy – and the entire…
Cleveland Word of the Day: Sackmeister
Jeffrey Beall/Wikimedia Commons A hat tip to Browns reporter May Kay Cabot for the colorful headline referencing the Denver Broncos’ Von Miller. The proverbial sack specialist – last year’s NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year – is set to give the Browns’ O-line hell on Sunday. The Broncos are currently No. 2 in sacks for…
ABC Eastern Post Under Construction, Waterloo Plans Coming Together
Updates on two resto projects from Alan Glazen: Alan Glazen says, “ABC is under full construction now, and should be open in 60 days. The big surprise will be the big outdoor patio and full outdoor bar overlooking the new park and MOCA.” And on his new Waterloo development project, he says, “We took over…
Black Bear Reportedly Sighted in Wadsworth
Wadsworth police reported a black bear sighting in the southeast corner of the city this morning. The city’s animal warden also located and confirmed bear tracks in the area around Johnson and Silvercreek roads. Safety personnel warn area residents not to approach or aggravate the bear if sighted. Also, residents are warned not to create…
Morning Reading From Around Cleveland: Dec. 20
– The PD’s Robert Schoenberger takes a look at what Michigan’s right-to-work legislative battle would look like in Ohio. In summary, it would be taken to the public. (Cue acid flashbacks to the S.B. 5 days.) “Because of (a 2011) court ruling, a push to make Ohio right to work would almost certainly lead to…
Opening: This is 40
This Is 40 writer-director Judd Apatow’s semi-sequel to 2007’s Knocked Up centers on Debbie (Leslie Mann) and Pete (Paul Rudd), a couple struggling with their marriage. He’s a record exec trying to resuscitate the career of aging singer-songwriter Graham Parker, and she’s an entrepreneur hoping her boutique store will turn into a moneymaker. But they’re…
We Get Mail
Paging Mr. Comic Sans I would like to see Mr. Gilbert open the forth floor to charity gaming [“HorseScrooge: Can charity poker make a comeback?”] It can host Keno via VLT, Bingo, Bridge, and Backgammon. And penny-ante draw poker. It would be a place to play low budget games, but with a small seat fee…
Band of the Week
Meet the Band: Zion (vocals) and ALive (keyboards, production) Campfire Kids: The two met at church camp one summer over ten years ago. “We were bunk mates, and one night we were up talking, and he had Saul Williams’s The Seventh Octave, and I thought that was sweet, and the next thing you know, we…
CD Review: Free Medicine
This local rock band features a couple of members from the Sign-Offs, the now-defunct post-punk act that always seemed to be on the verge of breaking big. On their debut (the album comes on a pill-shaped USB drive), Free Medicine picks up where the Sign-Offs left off. The opening track, “ReEvolution” draws heavily from industrial…
It’s the End of the World as We Know It
Will the world end on 12/21/2012? Probably not. But that’s not going to stop local bands from playing a show like it’ll be their last one. And to keep things in the apocalyptic spirit, we asked iPhonic singer Joe Q, the JiMiller Band singer Jim Miller and Chemtrail X guitarist Ed Jackson to provide their…
Top Pop Culture Picks for the Week
TOP PICK Sleepwalk with Me (IFC Films) This adaptation of Mike Birbiglia’s book and one-man show makes a seamless transition to the silver screen. Birbiglia stars as Matt, a guy who, like Birbiglia, struggles with coping with his sleep disorder as he simultaneously hits the road in the attempt to jumpstart his stand-up career. DVD…
An Alternative Reality
The guys in Cloud Nine Collapse have plenty to keep them busy. They all have day jobs — some of them working in the service industry and others doing manual labor — so it’s a wonder they found the time to become one of the more active bands on the local circuit. Plus, they’ve had…
Opening: Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away
Like most Cirque du Soleil shows, the storyline isn’t anything remarkable. As the film begins, young Mia (Erica Linz) visits a small town circus and catches the eye of the Aerialist (Igor Zaripov), a muscular trapeze artist. Intrigued, she watches him perform but when he falls into a pit of swirling sand, she follows him…
Seasonal Disorder
For the past 13 years, prog rockers Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) have toured in support of the same album, 1996’s Christmas Eve and Other Stories. Granted, the theatrical shows have shifted to include bigger and better visuals, but the content hasn’t really changed. This year, however, the tour features the live debut of 2004’s The Lost…
Opening: The Guilt Trip
Nothing sounds as horrible to an adult man as spending an eight-day trip in a car with his obsessive mother. But that’s what inventor Andy Brewster (Seth Rogen) decides to do in a furtive attempt to reunite his single mother Joyce (Barbra Streisand) with her teenage love interest. During a majority of the drive, Joyce…
Savage Love
Dear Dan: This is a touchy and gross subject. I am a 17-year-old girl growing up in an adoptive family in Australia. I was sexually abused by my birth family, and I think it really fucked up my sexuality. The only thing that gets me off is the idea of people absolutely destroying their lives…
Beasts of Burden
In the world of Thomas Frontini’s paintings, the whale and the woodchuck are creatures of equal dignity. In “The Other Shore,” a sperm whale languishes on a dry outcropping of rock, imploring with a beady downcast eye and groaning mouth bisecting a third of its body. Its tragedy is that of the mighty fallen. In…
Commie Sympathizers
Some plays, by their very nature, are more fragile than others. And when that’s the case, it is critical that every element of the production be finely tuned, lest the castle of toothpicks tumble into a pile. 4000 Miles by Amy Herzog, now at Dobama Theatre, is just such a work. It features a script…
Secret Sauce
Tim Bando was 30 years old and working the front of the house at the long-gone Piccolo Mondo when he decided to switch to cooking. Not your typical career path, but Bando isn’t your typical chef. Before he landed his own place at Theory in Tremont back in the day, Bando worked alongside a Murderer’s…
Let’s Get Preppin’
The key: When you hit the grocery store, just buy a little bit more than what you actually need. Keep a running inventory of what you’ve got on hand. Don’t panic. Rice, beans, grain: Buy in bulk. Think 50-pound bags. Lift them in your basement for (creepy) exercise in your spare time. Sugar, salt, spices:…
How to Survive the End of the World in Northeast Ohio
At the first mention of Mayan prophecies, Kevin Knight bristles quickly. “That’s just ridiculous,” he says. The 48-year-old Avon Lake married father of two might just be the kind of fellow you’d think would go for doomsday predictions. But you’d only land on that errant assumption after discovering that Knight is a prepper – one…
Happy Cafe
I’m not sure why it’d taken so long to get to Felice Urban Café, especially since I’ve heard such resounding positive reports about its charming décor and sophisticated menu. I can already tell you it doesn’t disappoint on either front. Each visit, we dined in different areas of the restaurant. The first night, we enjoyed…
Balls Deep
Jeff Schaffer grew up in Warren and went to Western Reserve Academy in Hudson. He’s produced and written for Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, penned the screenplays for Bruno and The Dictator, and co-created The League with his wife Jackie, which wraps up its fourth season Thursday night on FX. Schaffer took a few minutes…
The Rye Stuff
It might not be The Avengers, but A Cleveland in the Rye, a locally produced mockumentary that began shooting here last week, portends to bring more attention to Cleveland, albeit on a much smaller, grassroots level. The film is about an inept filmmaker (Gina Snyder) who is documenting self-proclaimed “action lawyer” James Cleveland (Brian Spaeth)…
Trank Show
When writer-director Richard Trank, who runs the film division at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, was working on Walking with Destiny, his 2010 documentary about Winston Churchill, he came across some material on Churchill’s relationship to Jewish history and Zionism that would ultimately inspire his next movie, It Is No Dream: The Life…
