All-American Rejects are All-American Douchebags
Axl Rose never made it to town to join his Guns N’ Roses bandmates for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last week. But Cleveland still met its rock-star asshat quota, thanks to a visit to House of Blues by the All-American Rejects. The lack of fun started when Scene photographer Joe…
Working the Obama Phone Bank for Chili Peppers Tickets
After more than a week of celebrations leading up to last Saturday’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductions at Public Hall, the Red Hot Chili Peppers offered an unofficial closing ceremony Sunday with a free matinee performance at House of Blues. The catch: Those hoping to see the show were required to log time…
The Quality of Cleveland Life Report
Your guide to living in fabulous Cleveland. Church Bells Ring Again: Bishop Richard Lennon says he will not fight the Vatican’s order to reopen 12 churches he had closed in recent years. Lennon gave no timetable for reopening the churches, though it could happen as soon as he remembers where he put the damned keys.Professor…
Kicked Out of Browns Stadium? Might Need to Take a Test to Get Back In
When Joe Browns Fan yells things his mother didn’t teach him at visiting Steelers fans, or starts a fight after having one too many pops in the Muni Lot before the game, he might be arrested or escorted from the stadium, free to sober up and try again next week. At least that’s how the…
Axl Says “I’m Sorry” to Cleveland
Like the dickhead who punches his wife in the face in the heat of an argument and comes back a day or two later with a half-assed apology, Axl Rose has written an “I’m sorry” letter to Cleveland and the Guns N’ Roses fans he disappointed by skipping last week’s Rock and Roll Hall of…
Bishop Lennon Relents to Vatican Wishes, 12 Closed Churches to Reopen
Flattering screengrab here. Where there was cautious optimism that anything would happen after the Vatican overturned Bishop Lennon’s decision and ordered 12 (not 13, as had been reported) Catholic churches to reopen, there is now cautious optimism that something may happen soon after Lennon today relented to the missive from Rome. Lennon decided not to…
Look! Up for Auction! It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s the Check That Bought Superman!
Update: The $412 check ($130 for Superman) sold at auction for $160,000 to an unnamed buyer. Scene’s scientific research shows a 38,734-percent increase in value is a lot of value. (AP) — Grzegorek *** Remember last October when we told you that somebody found the $130 check DC used to purchase the rights to Superman…
Gender Pay Differences in Kasich’s Statehouse
There was a thing recently when everyone got worked up over data that showed that women in the Obama Whitehouse are paid 18% less than men (based on median salary data.) The Washington Beacon, which did the research, didn’t publish the numbers. Averaging, instead of using the median, might show different trends, but who knows.…
United States Zoological Association President Thinks Zanesville Exotic Animal Owner Was Murdered in a Conspiracy
Terry Thompson was the Zanesville man who unleashed his private collection of exotic animals on the city before taking his own life, causing a living nightmare for residents and authorities that played out over the airwaves all across the nation. That’s not how Joe Schreibvogel, president of the United States Zoological Association, sees it. He…
Opening Chef at Hodge’s Leaves on Good Terms
Adam Bostwick, chef de cuisine of the recently opened Hodge’s Restaurant, has resigned his young post just a few weeks in. There are no hard feelings on either end, stresses Bostwick. “The opportunity was amazing, but I really want my own thing and I’ve really been striving for it for a long time,” notes the…
Malpractice Suits Drop in Ohio
“Sorry buddy, no case here.” Ohioans aren’t successfully suing their doctors at quite the same clip, according the figures released recently from the state. But this by no means indicates medical professionals are getting tidier on the job, just that Ohio’s astringent tort-reform law is having the intended effect – making it more difficult for…
The Browns Will Draft Somebody Next Week
There are a bunch of guys the Browns will consider drafting next week. They will actually draft a few of those guys. Others, they will not. Sources have told us as much. The interminable space between the end of the NFL regular season and the draft is time for interminable draft talk in Cleveland. With…
Man Ditches Blind Date With Bill; Police Actually Waste Time Investigating, Filing Charges
At this crime scene, the victim’s boyfriend neglected to pick up limes from the store. Props go out to the Westlake Police Department for proving itself the last protector of all that is upright and moral in this cardboard-flimsy social arrangement we call polite society. Why, you ask? They really went the extra step championing…
Concert Review: Red Hot Chili Peppers at House of Blues
Twelve hours after the Red Hot Chili Peppers left the stage after their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the band treated a packed House of Blues to a brief matinee set in support of President Obama’s reelection campaign. The concert was free to volunteers and VIPs involved in the campaign and…
Concert Review: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
GNR backstage; photo by Joe Kleon Rod Stewart was a no-show — he had the flu. Axl Rose was also a no-show — he had assholitis. But the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s induction ceremony for the class of 2012 at Public Hall last night was still one of the foundation’s best outings in…
Joe Eszterhas to Mel Gibson: “You hate Jews.”
Cleveland native and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas completed a script for “The Maccabees,” a “Jewish Braveheart,” as Mel Gibson called it. Problem is, Joe hasn’t heard back from Mel about the film and Joe thinks that in the heat of Gibson’s anti-Semitic problems, he latched on to the project to defray the backlash while having no…
Sokolowski’s Hosts Pierogi Dance Party Tonight
You’d expect to find pierogies at Sokolowski’s University Inn. But you’d probably expect them to be accompanied by polkas not cutting-edge electronic dance music. But that’s what two young DJs, who called themselves Xhausen and Sputnik, have been bringing to the venerable Tremont restaurant., which has been dishing up traditional eastern European food since 1923.…
Strongsville Residents Need to Learn When It’s Appropriate to Call the Cops and When It’s Not
Dear suburban residents: There are legitimate reasons to call the cops. Theft, assault, robbery, someone driving in the fast lane while talking on a cell phone and going 50 mph. All good reasons. Not good reasons: geese. Via Strongsville Patch: A passerby complained that someone had arranged carts around some geese and their babies in…
Video: Pacers Player Punches Cavs Mascot, Sends Him to the Hospital
Here’s the video from the incident a couple nights ago when Pacers’ player David West jacked Moondog in the face — playfully, we assume — but did some real damage, sending the human inside to the hospital with an eye injury.Even from the cheap-seats view, you can tell the punch landed squarely enough that the…
Rock Hall Releasing Some “Obstructed View” Tix to Tomorrow Night’s Show
Because we’ve yet to post a picture of Donovan in our Rock Hall coverage. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame just found a few extra tickets for tomorrow night’s big bash at Public Hall. But buyer beware. As the Rock Hall clearly points out, “These seats have partially obstructed views of the stage.” Which…
Friday Morning Music Giveaway
Electric Touch, a five-piece British-American band, will open for Hot Chelle Rae at House of Blues on Wednesday, April 18. We have a signed poster by the band up for grabs this morning. All you have to do is leave a comment here that has to do with electricity. We don’t care what it is.…
Cleve’s Food Scene Gets a Nod in Rolling Stone
Cleveland’s food scene gets a nod in Rolling Stone, as part of an April 6 story by Elizabeth Weinstein on the Rock Hall Inductions. While the focus is the economic impact of the event, local restaurants, including Crop Bistro and the Greenhouse Tavern, get a little ink. The piece leads off with these bon mots:…
Our Rock Hall Coverage Continues With Crappy Art
Just to keep you pumped for this weekend’s big Rock Hall show happening at Public Hall this weekend (not to mention the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ gig at House of Blues on Saturday), we point you toward some of the most awesomely bad pictures of Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis ever drawn. Head on over…
Video: Rock Hall Inductee, The Faces
Something else to get you in the mood for this weekend, from a great band who are actually showing up. Before Rod Stewart went all hot Rod, and before Ron Wood joined the Rolling Stones, they could smash it up on stage with the best.
New Burger Bar Coming to Warehouse District
Fadi Daoud closed his Mediterranean-themed restaurant Zdara in the Warehouse District around New Year’s Eve, stating it wasn’t the right fit for the neighborhood. He has settled upon another concept that he thinks will succeed: burgers. Daoud, also owner of Heck’s Café in Ohio City, will open BRGR 9 (1382 W. 9th St.) in the…
Chump of the Week: Jay Ward, McDonald’s Drive-Thru Stickup Man
The suspect. These are tough times indeed, when a guy can’t even find the couch change for the dollar menu at the Golden Arches. Tougher still, when said guy brainstorms a solution: go back with a gun and demand that Big Mac. On Wednesday morning around 2AM, Jay Ward allegedly put in an order at…
Rock Hall Releases More Info About This Weekend’s Big Show
Mickey is pulling an Axl when the Faces are inducted this weekend We’re now a couple of days away from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Induction Ceremony at Public Hall. We have all the coverage you need right here. The Rock Hall just announced a few new details about Saturday night’s big event.…
Axl Rose Says He Won’t Attend Rock Hall Ceremony, Declines Induction
Well, Axl Rose won’t be here this weekend. The lead singer of Guns N’ Roses sent an open letter to the L.A. Times via his publicist (reprinted in full below) announcing that he won’t attend the ceremony and doesn’t want to be inducted. It goes on for awhile — jabs at his fellow GNR members…
Cleveland Club DJs Team Up for Mixtape
Super Pimp, with DJ Donkis one over on the left. For all you cool kids and habituates of clubland, today is the release date for a mix cooked up by none other than the DJs twisting the nobs at downtown hotspots. The package is called West 6th Mix Volume Two and it features all the…
CD Review: Alabama Shakes
The first thing you notice about Alabama Shakes is Brittany Howard’s voice: a soulful wail that splits the difference between Janis Joplin and the southern gospel at the root of so many of the band’s songs. But a couple of minutes into their debut album, you begin to realize that the entire group comes together…
The Gem on Euclid
Ask Zack Bruell what the secret to his success is and he may just answer “Lemon.” In fact, spy on him while he’s working the expo station — that final, critical link between kitchen and guest — and you’ll see him reach for a small squeeze bottle. His last move, after pronouncing each plate picture-perfect,…
Mental Blocking
Something lies under every surface in Jennifer Omaitz’s series of oil paintings presented in Above Ground, Beneath the Surface, her new show currently on display at 1point618 Gallery. Blocky shapes — even ideas — are layered atop one another so deeply that you’ll never be sure you’ve found the bottom. “I was layering surfaces of…
Film Capsules
The Kid With a Bike When it becomes clear to 11-year-old Cyril (Thomas Doret) that his dad left him in a group home and isn’t coming back, all he has left is his bike and a kind hairdresser named Samantha (Cécile de France) who agrees to foster him on weekends. If his barely bottled hurt…
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. Through June 3 at One South High St. in Akron; call 330-376-9185 or go to akronartmusuem.org. The Art Gallery at Cleveland State University: The 41st Annual Student…
Slash Test Dummies
If its geek pedigree isn’t enough to tip you off that The Cabin in the Woods isn’t your typical slasher movie, it should become clear within the first few minutes that co-writers Drew Goddard (who also directs) and Joss Whedon have something else in mind for their pre-apocalyptic twist on The Evil Dead. In some…
At the Arthouse
The Flowers of War Christian Bale does his best work with directors who are actually good at their jobs — think Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige and Batman movies, not McG’s awful Terminator update. Bale is paired with China’s Yimou Zhang (Raise the Red Lantern, House of Flying Daggers) in this historical tale of an American…
CD Review: The Jezabels
On their debut, this Australian quartet wraps modern-day indie rock in blankets of noise that stretch all the way back to the early ’80s. It’s hard to peg where singer Hayley Mary grabs her inspiration, since the band doesn’t really stay in one place for long; if we had to nail down an entry point,…
Over Easy
At least for now, visitors to Carnegie Kitchen shouldn’t notice any drastic changes in the downtown breakfast and lunch spot. This, despite the fact that the 15-month-old restaurant just changed hands. Owners Jeff Uniatowski and Codino Samarellis sold the business last week to Jim Douglas, owner of Best Friends in Mentor and Geneva. “This wasn’t…
We Get Mail
Celebrating a Green Leader I can’t think of a more qualified person to serve as sustainability chief than Jenita McGowan [“Buying the Farm: Cleveland Wants Us Eating Local by 2019. But Is It Doing Enough to Make That Happen?” March 21]. Jenita embraced sustainability as a way of life way before the rest of us…
CD Review: Black Dice
Since coming together in 1997, Black Dice have passed through three phases: hardcore noise mongers, cosmic tribalists, and, most recently, underground vets unleashing damaged electronic music. The garish and screechy Mr. Impossible serves as a violent rebuke of the hypnotic sounds that characterize their most beloved work. Many songs crackle, zap, and squelch like brown-acid…
Local Band in Focus
Meet the Band: Brandon “Chic” Dagger (vocals), Eric D. Becker (guitar), Dean Lannigan (bass), and Tim Calzone (drums). Long Time Coming: The Plain Dealers’ origins date back to the late ’80s, when Dagger and Becker used to skateboard and play in the punk band the TKOs. “We were screw-ups at the time, so we never…
Concert Calendar
Lucero Lucero frontman Ben Nichols has an aggressive punk energy that could incite even the most upstanding citizen to break a law or two. He also has a soulful rasp that could break hearts from a mile away. Along the way, his ever-expanding band matches him step for swaggering step. Lucero’s just-released Women & Work…
CD Review: Stalemate
(facebook.com/stalemateohio) It’s not all that hard to find three guys in Cleveland rocking out on a bunch of songs about loss and life. What distinguishes Stalemate from the pack is the variety of sounds they try out on their latest album. Well-versed in rock, pop, and a little punk, the group throws them all out…
Rock Steady
It’s a beacon that calls visitors to Cleveland from across the globe, and it’s in the midst of sponsoring a two-week induction extravaganza that will bring the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, and at least parts of Guns N’ Roses to town this week. Haters will have their quibbles — sure, only about 5,000…
Savage Love
Dear Dan: My fiancé and I have been together for six years. We’re both 27. About a year ago, he admitted to me that he is bi — which surprised me. I told him that I was bi-curious. We have had talks about meeting with other couples. I am very insecure. I have been with…
The Class of 2012
Beastie Boys These three N.Y.C. smartasses are more than just the Rock Hall’s annual nod to hip-hop; in a way, Mike D, MCA, and Ad-Rock exemplify what the best music of the past 25 years has been about: part punk, part rap, kinda funky, and all-around game for trying anything to get that perfect beat.…
On Stage This Week
The Vibrator Play at the Play House: What’s the Buzz, Ladies? If the notion of a night of theater based on a moment in medical history sounds about as, um, stimulating as a cold shower, you clearly haven’t heard the buzz about In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play. Turns out, the details of…
Let the Bar Wars Begin
The Rock Hall’s inductee history is riddled with inconsistency and hints of genre bias. How else to explain the institution’s forever indifference to prog rock (Rush have sold some 40 million albums worldwide, yet Geddy Lee can’t get in without a ticket) or its late embrace of metal (it took until 2006 to induct Black…
Thorn in the U.S.A.
Bruce Springsteen has been down this road before. The characters on Wrecking Ball — his 17th album, his third consecutive No. 1 debut, and the only LP to merit a five-star review in Rolling Stone since Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy — are broken, beaten down, and hopeless to the point of giving…
Where’s the Party
With the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s induction circus coming to town, the question on everyone’s lips — particularly anyone without tickets to the sold-out concert at Public Hall on Saturday — is Where do I go for the best rubbernecking? It would have been a much simpler question to answer when Swingo’s Celebrity…
Rock Your A** Off
The music world descends upon Cleveland — Rock Capital USA — this weekend. Here’s everything you need to know going into Rock Hall induction weekend. * Stability and growth are the Rock Hall’s twin priorities * A Generation X all-star team gets the nod this year, along with three long-overlooked greats * The debate continues…
Why Does Cleveland Rock Anyway?
The question really isn’t Why do we deserve the Rock Hall? There are plenty of conventional answers for that. The legacy is undeniable. From the groundbreaking music store Record Rendezvous to DJ Alan Freed to WMMS, Cleveland not only birthed rock & roll — it has enthusiastically responded to it throughout the ages in a…
The Cleveland Music Timeline
1938 Leo Mintz opens Record Rendezvous, one of the country’s first record shops July 1951 Alan Freed gets job at WJW radio, starts “The Moondog Rock & Roll House Party,” sponsored by Mintz March 21, 1952 The first rock concert, the Moondog Coronation Ball, ends after one song by Paul Williams when 20,000 show up…
The Dork Side
Like every other sun-deprived nerd on the planet, I’m counting down the days until The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises give my 2012 some meaning. But there’s another reason this summer will go down in history as one of the all-time best: In July, Topps will release Mars Attacks Heritage, a 50th anniversary reissue…
Drink Up
We’ve been graced with some extra-warm evenings this spring, and the Grapevine Cosmo ($5) is a great way to start one of them off — especially when this Middleburg Heights pub and eatery throws open the glass double doors to let the breezes waft in. Although the spot is known for its wide selection of…
Culture Jamming
TOP PICK The Adventures of Tintin Season Two (Shout! Factory) So much better than Steven Spielberg’s recent big-screen CGI adaptation, the 1990s TV show about a young reporter and his Indiana Jones-like adventures is more in the spirit of the original classic French comics. All 13 episodes from the second season are collected on this…
Home Movies
A Streetcar Named Desire: The Original Restored Version (Warner) Back in 1951, the Legion of Decency had a few problems with A Streetcar Named Desire — especially the simmering sexuality between Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh, who plays a sex-starved drunk who comes on to her sister’s husband. So three minutes were cut from director…
Bummer: John Frusciante Won’t Play with Chili Peppers at Rock Hall Induction
While everyone is busy knocking around speculation about whether or not Slash and Axl will play nice for this weekend’s Rock Hall Induction Ceremony, it looks like an equally significant reunion has already been 86’d as a possibility – John Frusciante won’t be playing with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. For a special brand of…
