Here’s Dennis Kucinich’s Farewell Speech
Tomorrow is Dennis!’s last day in Congress. Today he gave his farewell speech. He called for new politics and shorter lecterns.
Portside Distillery Running Dry
Well they’ve run out of rum at Portside Distillery, for the moment. Maybe it was the huge holiday demand or the excitement of opening the first distillery in Cleveland since Prohibition or maybe their batches just need to get bigger to keep up with demand. Either way, it’s a problem that I’m sure they’re glad…
Rep. Steve LaTourette on the Fiscal Cliff Vote
“Steve LaTourette unbound has been one of the fascinating subplots of the fiscal cliff fight.” That’s The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza on one local congressman’s take on the fiscal cliff nonsense and eventual vote(s). As 2012 came to a close, LaTourette said that Republican senators at the helm “must have been drunk” during whatever oversight…
Morning Reading For Your Return To ‘Society’
It’s back to work today – and if it weren’t for the bludgeoning headache you’re sporting or the flecks of glitter in your pants, no one would even guess that we’d just collectively rung in the new year. Give a look-see to some of 2013’s first headlines: – Following Monday’s housecleaning over at Browns HQ,…
Concert Review and Slideshow: Third Eye Blind at House of Blues
San Franciscoʼs Third Eye Blind are proof you don’t need anything more than below average musicianship and a few catchy hits to survive far past your prime. Last night’s sold out show at House of Blues was the first of only four shows on this short tour. Here’s to hoping the last three are much…
Mayor Frank Jackson Requests Outside Agency For Police Investigation
What began as a deadly police shooting and a super-sized shit sandwich for the mayor’s administration is now a deadly police shooting investigation and a chorus of “uhm,” “ah” and “erm, you see…” The shit sandwich is still very much on the city’s plate, as well. Following his rather ineffectual response to the deadly shooting…
Cleveland Would Like to Remind You Not to Shoot Guns Into the Air to Celebrate the New Year
Snow is on everyone’s mind here in Northeast Ohio. You can tell by that shrill scream that came from Clevo’s collective maw earlier this week when the white stuff finally descended on the streets. The Cleveland Department of Public Safety would like to remind you that snow is not the only thing falling from the…
More Than 100 Invacare Employees Laid Off From Elyria Plant
Over concerns regarding quality and design control, Invacare laid off 143 employees from its Taylor Street plant and headquarters in Elyria Thursday. Those concerns, tied up in an agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, accompany dismal forecasts in wheelchair production and other outlets. Invacare manufactures in-home and long-term care products. “While we regret…
Friday Morning Reading: Dec. 28
– Per a Thursday afternoon news conference, Mayor Frank Jackson will seek independent reviews of all future instances of deadly force by the police department. The concept stems from a Nov. 29 shooting that results in the deaths of two people. – Dig the list of the most searched terms on Wikipedia to catch a…
MTV Posts Machine Gun Kelly Blooper Reel
We’re still not sure if this is a preview of an upcoming EP or an outtakes reel, but MTV recently posted Machine Gun Kelly blathering incoherently on camera. The clips come from the rapper’s work on The DUB Magazine Project, which “bring[s] its readers a glimpse into the lives of the hottest celebrities and cars…
Thief Caught Because of Footprints in the Snow
We have our first “footprints in the snow” dumb criminal story of the year! Huzzah! It’s the official beginning of winter ’round these parts. As we’ve dutifully chronicled in the past, we love nothing more than a criminal who is tracked down by the dogged authorities because they left their traces via footprints in the…
Suspicious Neighbor Spies Cult Gathering in Strongsville, Calls Police
Strongsville police followed up on a disturbing report of a cult-like gathering Dec. 23. An overly suspicious neighbor called the police, according to Strongsville Patch, after noticing nearly a dozen people wandering around in ghostly black robes. “She said they regularly host meetings and she believes they are involved in some kind of cult,” Patch’s…
Thursday Morning Reading From Around Cleveland: Dec. 27
– FOX 8 has the details on reports of a gunman opening fire this morning at a hotel in Orange Village. The man has been tracked down and arrested, according to the network. [UPDATE, via Donna Miller:] The man had attempted to rob a 50-year-old woman following breakfast this morning. When the woman resisted and…
Concert Review and Slideshow: Trans-Siberian Orchestra at Quicken Loans Arena
There’s no denying Trans-Siberian Orchestra — the prog rock group that has toured behind elaborate holiday concerts for over a decade now — puts on a stunning visual display. Yesterday at the first of two shows the group played at Quicken Loans Arena, the band delivered a bit of everything. It arrived on stage with…
13 Dishes We Can’t Wait to Have Again
Being the kind of person who, having eaten, basically can’t wait to eat again anyway, I immediately recognized my only real challenge in revisiting last year’s tour-de-tongue of Cleveland’s culinary scene was limiting myself to 13 choices. The swath of tasty delights is extensive, but I weeded out any dish that included a seasonal component…
Laid Bare
Nudity is something the art-going public has never quite sorted out. Even professional artists will sometimes titter to diffuse tension when they find themselves with other adults in a gallery filled with images of the human form. So it is fortunate that Loren Naji has opened up a space in his self-named gallery with the…
13 Reasons 2012 Was Cleveland’s Best Year Ever
2011 was the year Cleveland didn’t suck. We said so ourselves last January with a short list of reasons why the city might be getting close to turning that corner that always seems to linger just out of reach somewhere on the distant horizon. “Not sucking” was a pretty monumental achievement for the Forest City…
Five Under $10
Yes, we know, Happy Dog, Happy Dog, Happy Dog. We love us some hot dogs, 50 toppings, and tater tots, too. By all means, Happy Dog is a must-have cheap eat in Detroit Shoreway. But there are plenty of other joints slinging budget-friendly bites in the neighborhood, which has solidified its place as a one…
A Sequel Worth Seeing
You probably know Mang S. Keo’s food even if you don’t know his name. He and his wife, Eng H. Liev, operated Pnomh Penh at its original location on Madison Avenue in Lakewood before moving the critically acclaimed restaurant to West 131st St. and Lorain in the early 90s. They took nine years off from…
13 Predictions for Cleveland in 2013
In the year 2000 (and 13), what will Cleveland look like? Will the resurgence of construction and momentum continue forward? Will Michael Symon open 13 new restaurants and launch 13 new TV shows? Will we all be living in cardboard boxes and congregating around a fire fed by shards of wood torn from an empty…
The 13 Best Films of 2012
Cleveland moviegoers will probably remember 2012 as the year of Marvel’s Avengers, which clobbered its competition at the box office and gave downtown a moment in Hollywood’s bright spotlight. But the last year offered plenty of other highlights, from the best Bond in years to another example of why Ben Affleck’s talents behind the camera…
We Get Mail
A few weeks ago, Scene ran its annual holiday and gift guide. Regrettably, the gift guide was annotated and not nearly kind enough to many of the local businesses that keep Cleveland stocked up on goodies. Steve Presser of Big Fun wrote in to correct our mistake, and though it arrived after press deadline for…
Band of the Week
Meet the Band: Ken “Koly” Kolgate (vocals, production), Jim “Jimothy” Krumhansl (vocals, guitars, engineering, production), Ryan Brewer (vocals, bass, production), Shane D. Spohn (vocals, drums, production) High Stakes: The original line up of the band formed in 2009 after Kolgate and Krumhansl met through mutual friends; they later brought in Brewer. After firing a member…
CD Review: Shred Rot
shredrot.com With lyrics that make you want to shield the ears of any close-by babes, you’d never picture the band as the young, seemingly innocent, high school trio they are. Shred Rot’s full-length debut showcases Matt Miller’s raspy vocals (think Buckcherry’s Josh Todd), while drummer Scott Drazdik and bassist Nick Reinman play with a force…
13 Bands to Watch in 2013
Last year, several Cleveland-area acts made a splash on the national stage. Machine Gun Kelly teamed up with several A-list hip-hop celebs on his major label debut and subsequently traipsed across the country and globe, playing arenas in some cities. The Cloud Nothings played in front of a national TV audience on Late Night with…
Wreck the Halls
Shortly after forming in 1998, local metal band Chimaira would sign a deal with Roadrunner Records that would effectively launch the group’s career. It achieved national and international fame as albums such as 2003’s The Impossibility of Reason and 2005’s Chimaira were every bit as heavy as anything by Slayer or Metallica. The group was…
Deffer Jams
It takes a minute for This Moment in Black History bassist Lawrence Daniel Caswell to remember exactly how the locally based post-punk band decided to call its new album Higher Deffer. But once he does, the dreadlocked bassist has to laugh. “I think we came up with that just sitting around joking,” he says one…
Opening: Jack Reacher
Tom Cruise stars as Jack Reacher, a renegade private investigator of sorts who sets out to find out if his old army acquaintance really shot the innocent people he’s accused of shooting. While Reacher portends to be a Jason Bourne, what with his ability to live off-the-grid and fearlessly take on bad guys who are…
Savage Love
Dear Dan: I just started an intense relationship with a guy who has a boyfriend. This guy and I love each other. However, he is uncomfortable with me meeting his boyfriend. I’ve asked if it’s okay that we’re fucking, and he said they’re in an open relationship so it’s okay. I asked if it’s okay…
Opening: Django Unchained
Overly long and excessively violent, Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained isn’t as great of a movie as some critics make it out to be. And yet, Christoph Waltz’s performance is so terrific, it practically redeems a film. Waltz plays Dr. King Schultz, a crafty bounty hunter who frees the slave Django (Jamie Foxx) and then proceeds…
13 Awards for Theatrical Achievement in 2012
It is absolutely ridiculous to give awards for the “best” creative endeavors, such as theater. Frankly, it is impossible to compare different productions and performances, since they are all so variegated in their scope, intent and execution. Therefore, anyone who attempts to grant such awards is no doubt an idiot and also deeply immoral. That…
Opening: Les Miserables
Based on the popular musical, director Tom Hooper’s film centers on Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), an ex-convict who was imprisoned for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread. After he becomes a model citizen and adopts an orphaned child, Jean still must face the wrath of Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe), who vows to put…
