Fight Breaks Out at McDonald’s Hiring Day
A big “X” marked many a calendar today, as McDonald’s held a national hiring day in hopes of corralling 50,000 new workers. According to reports this morning, numerous local locations in Empire of the Golden Arches reported lines out the door. Unfortunately, this afternoon a fight broke out at the McDonald’s at St. Clair Ave.…
The Quality of Cleveland Life Report
Your guide to thriving in fabulous Cleveland. The War on Tasty Treats: Cleveland officials acknowledge unprecedented popularity of food trucks; consider ban on bunnies and rainbows instead. Wahoo Smoke: Tribe skipper Manny Acta tweets about fine cigars he smokes each day; ownership requests budget-friendly switch to Skoal till club safely removed from playoff contention. Med…
The End of Phone Books?
Phone books, those dust-collecting doorstops dumped in apartment lobbies and on front porches everywhere, are facing a new challenge more formidable than smartphones: a local movement to wipe them out. Cleveland is starting a task force charged with finding ways to reduce the waste created by thousands of unwanted phone books, thanks to a resolution…
Nathan’s Hot Dog Qualifier Coming to Cleveland, Beefcakes Bickel Will Be There
Since last we heard from Cleveland’s preeminent competitive eater [“The Ballad of Beefcakes Bickel,” January 12, 2011], our hero has taken to shouldering the Sisyphean task of bringing home the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest world title. For Bickel, that means a tireless regimen of chugging water, chowing everything in sight, and performing ludicrous…
Your Guide to Summer Construction in Cleveland
Spring is around the corner(ish), and if the Tribe are playing at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario, that means ODOT’s orange barrels will be dotting Cleveland roadways really soon. Cleveland.com has a breakdown of all of ODOT’s projects — a handy guide to know just where your detours and delays will be and when…
Pic of the Day: Browns Receiver as Homeless Man (A Lame NFL Lockout Statement)
Here’s Cleveland Browns wide receiver Carlton Mitchell’s new Twitter profile picture. A couple of thoughts. 1) Let’s not get too worked up over this. Ultimately, it’s a harmless, semi-clever, fruitless statement. Whatever side of the NFL lockout debate you’re on, we can all agree guys like Carlton Mitchell, who doesn’t make much dough and whose…
Air Traffic Controller Caught Watching Movie on the Job
“Hey, do you have a copy of Madea Goes to Jail over there?” If a recent spate of incidents has led you to believe that all air traffic controllers are asleep on the job, rest easy — some of them are watching movies instead. The latest case of a controller treating his job like a…
Could Betty Sutton, Not Dennis Kucinich, Lose in GOP Redistricting?
As Ohioans search for hints and clues on how the GOP plan to redistrict Ohio, almost all the attention has been on Dennis! Kucinich. Gleaning from various reports, you’d think it is a foregone conclusion that Republicans will eliminate the Dennis! district. The Washington Post’s The Fix blog runs down the top ten reps most…
Dick Dugan, Longtime Plain Dealer Cartoonist, Passes Away at the Age of 85
Longtime Plain Dealer cartoonist Dick Dugan passed away Saturday at the age of 85. For a certain generation that grew up catching up on sports news in the morning paper, a cartoon by Dugan was usually the first glimpse at whether Cleveland teams won or lost the previous day. His sketches of Chief Wahoo and…
State Legislators Mount Legal Attack on JobsOhio
Getting tense over there. Two area state representatives are taking aim at one of Governor John Kasich’s pet projects. Dems Mike Skindell, a Lakewood state senator, and Dennis Murray, a Sandusky representative, have teamed with ProgressOhio.org in a lawsuit against JobsOhio, the public/private hybrid non-profit the governor cooked up to put more Ohioans in gainful…
Smoking Ban Enforcement Funding Cut
Catch me if you can, you strict bastard. The open secret in Cleveland — a town that loves to bend the rules into all types of contortions — is that there are some places where you can still smoke, even though you’re not supposed to be able to smoke. Wink wink. Nudge nudge. You know…
Peyton Hillis Advances to Madden Final vs. Mike Vick
Browns fans got the vote out and in staggering fashion. Bruiser, basher, and all-around badass Peyton Hillis beat Aaron Rodgers in the semifinals of the ESPN/EA Madden cover vote, netting 61% of the available 546,617 votes (as of last count). Up next: Michael Vick. (Who knows who PETA’s gonna back in this one: the admitted…
Transplanted Brit Brews UK-Style Cider with Ohio Apples
Richard Read may have released Lolo Romy as his company’s first hard cider product, but it’s the Griffin Original that started it all. Whereas Lolo Romy is a unique dessert-style cider, the Original is a true English-style pub cider. The product, the second from Read’s Griffin Cider Works, has just been released. “This is the…
Ohio Population Shifts Toward GOP
With Republicans set to put scalpel to map this year to redistrict the Buckeye State, more data from the 2010 Census continues to emerge that paints a cloudy picture for Democrats. Cleveland lost a chunk of residents in the last ten years, and it looks like Dennis! Kucinich will be without a district as the…
Pic of the Day: The Corpse Flower
This fine rain-forest specimen is know as the “corpse flower.” Why? Because it smells like “rotting flesh.” Yummy. Ohio State’s Joan Leonard has been trying to get one of these 8-foot-tall beauties to bloom for the last ten years, but hasn’t had success. She’s hoping that come May, her luck will turn and everyone will…
Concert Review: Rush at Quicken Loans Arena
We are not worthy. “Time Machine,” indeed. Rush’s sold-out show at Quicken Loans Arena Friday night coaxed out the loudest inner 16-year-old air-drummersand -guitarists Cleveland has ever seen. With a jam-packed time-warp set list and stunning visual display, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart really rocked the house. Energy and volume was equaled on…
Twitter Feed of the Day: @CLEPoops
We’ve long had a dream of chronicling public bathrooms around Cleveland. Chuckle if you want, but a comprehensive database of restrooms based on cleanliness, convenience, suitability, privacy, etc., would be a landmark and useful accomplishment and a monumental public service to the citizens of this city. How many times have you been out around town…
Ohio Hires Gaming Consultants
Team Kasich has gone ahead and hired the long-promised casino experts, the crew that will put a microscope to the state’s gaming industry and decide how best to proceed (to VLT? Or not to VLT? That’s the main question). Specifically, they’ve locked in with two firms, a gaming expert and financial expert. At $400 an…
When The Music’s Over
Anastasia Pantsios Moonlight Drive’s Bill Pettijohn, circa mid-1980’s Cleveland lost one of its most high-profile veteran musicians on April 8 when Bill Pettijohn succumbed to cancer. Pettijohn immersed himself in a Jim Morrison alter ego when he founded the Doors tribute band Moonlight Drive and hoped to star as the famed singer in film someday.…
Snowplow Chases Purse Snatcher, Purse Snatcher Calls 911 (Updated)
Update: Cody Bragg, a purse snatcher who called 911 on himself, was sentenced to nine years in prison for one count of felonious assault and three counts of robbery. (Fox 8) *** Vigilante justice, a dumb criminal, a snow plow, a bizarre 911 call — this story has it all. Here’s how it went down…
‘The Daily Show’ Interviews Dennis Kucinich
John Oliver sits down with Dennis Kucinich to find out just how Dennis! has been re-elected so many times. It’s a solid question, and one which Rob Frost, Oliver and other struggle to find a logical answer to. Other topics: peace!, vegans!, finding a new district! (Favorite part: the clever play on LeBron’s decision at…
‘Free Running’ Kids Merit All-Unit Response in Olmsted Falls
What’s considered a major police event in the hard-knock suburb of Olmsted Falls? The mean streets of the bucolic west-side city were hit with — gasp — what appeared to be a small group of teens who were “free running.” All units respond! We repeat, all units respond! Via the Sun Post-Herald’s police blotter: JUVENILE…
Baby Dee Opens Her Home for Concert
Dee rocks out on the air microphone. Cleveland transgendered torch singer Baby Dee will perform a rare concert at her home on May 12. Dee’s latest album, Regifted Light, was recorded in Dee’s home (the very same home where she’ll be performing) by superfan Andrew W.K. The house concert is open to only 30 people,…
Wing Man
The latest 3D CGI talking-animal movie is about a rare and pampered pet macaw named Blu from Minneapolis (voiced by The Social Network’s Jesse Eisensberg) who goes to Rio de Janeiro to breed with Jewel (Anne Hathaway) and save his species. But he ends up separated from his owner and stranded in the rain forest…
Shocking? Not Really
Director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson swore that 2000’s Scream 3 concluded the cleverly self-referential horror series, but, surprise, here’s another one for masked-slasher fans. On the 10th anniversary of the original’s massacre, Sidney (Neve Campbell) returns to her hometown as a bestselling memoirist. Horror-crazed local teens mount gore-movie fests and parties in tribute,…
Michael Symon Gets Yet Another TV Show
Michael Symon, who already appears on — take a deep breathe — “Iron Chef America,” “Cook Like an Iron Chef,” “Food Feuds,” and various other Food Network shows while running Lola, Lolita, B-Spot, and Roast, will get yet another gig. As ABC announces the cancellation of “One Life to Live” and “All My Children,” the…
Kasich: “Ohio Got a Bad Deal” On Casinos; Did We?
Feed me to your slot machine. Governor John Kasich is obviously an avid reader of the Scene. Yesterday, we dropped our cover story on the future of the state’s gaming industry. It just so happened the Republican top dog chose the same day to address reporters on the industry and his displeasure with what he…
Cleveland 6th Best City for Commuters
Sight seen in Cleveland only before Michael Stanley concerts. We haven’t taken a jaunt into the land of internet rankings in awhile, so this new list from Kiplinger comes at the perfect time. After all, how would you get through the week without knowing where Cleveland ranks nationally for commuters? 6th, it turns out, which…
Lin Mun Poo, Malaysian Hacker, Sneaks in Cleveland Fed’s Computers (Updated)
Update: Lin Mun Poo, everyone’s favorite pun-worthy hacker, pleaded guilty yesterday to account fraud stemming from his infiltration of Fed computers, according to Bloomberg. Poo’s left a mess of a trail from Malaysia to America, with dangling bits of evidence pointing to coiled layers of hacks and credit card fraud. *** A little corner of…
Thief Arrested After Leaving His Cell Phone at Crime Scene
Pro tip: If you’re going to rob someone, don’t leave behind your cell phone, especially if the phone has your picture on it.According to Cleveland Heights Patch, 21-year-old Carl Sanders should be more careful not to leave behind incriminating evidence in the future. Back in February, Sanders allegedly approached a car at a gas station…
Ohio Beer Sampler Finally Gets Green Light, Hits Stores Today
12 craft brewers in Ohio had a brilliant idea last year: let’s put together a sampler collaboration featuring some tasty booze. The final product was supposed to be ready for Cleveland Beer Week last October, but wasn’t. In January, we updated you on the cause of the delay: governmental roadblocks, of course. Deliciousness denied. According…
Cleveland: The Anti-Food Truck City
Dim and Den Sum, the most widely recognized of Cleveland’s food trucks, was in the news again in recent weeks, but not for anything coming out of its kitchen. Owner Chris Hodgson was vocal on Facebook, Twitter, and in media interviews about Cleveland’s patently ridiculous restrictions on food trucks. But how hard could it be,…
DUI Suspect Shows up to Court Drunk
If you’ve already been popped for driving drunk, there’s little you can do to make the situation worse. Getting nabbed for a second DUI before your court date is on the short list of things bound to complicate your already messy legal situation. Another: showing up to your court appearance drunk, which is frowned upon…
Joe Tait’s Last Cavs Game Tonight; Goodnight, Sir
Joe Tait will hang up his sweater tonight, broadcasting his final Cavs game before signing off for good. It’s sad day around these parts (the internet) as everyone tries to summon the words to describe just what Tait has meant to Cleveland for the past 40 odd years. We’ll point you in two directions. First,…
Good Samaritans Rescue Infant from I-90 Crash
We feature enough bizarre crime and cover enough degenerates in this space to make anyone believe the world is populated with nothing but lunatics, so here’s an uplifting tale from a sad situation instead. A serious accident shut down I-90 east yesterday. One of the cars involved in the wreck was carrying a 3-month-old and…
Guns and Bars Bill Moves Forward
By the time you read this post, the Ohio Senate may have already passed a piece of legislation that would shake up the state’s rules for conceal and carry holders. Like its complement bill in the House, Senate Bill 17 would let permit holders carry their weapons in places that sell alcohol as long as…
Golf-Loving City Hall Employees Object to Smoking Ban, But Just the Part Where You Can’t Smoke Cigars on Golf Courses
Joe Cimperman’s proposed outdoor smoking ban is ludicrous on a couple of levels, but the rancor coming from “City Hall higher-ups” doesn’t have anything to do with the most logical and fundamental problems of the prohibition. They are simply upset they won’t be able to smoke a cigar on the golf course. Via the PD:…
The Rock Hall’s List of Important Songs? There’s an App for That
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum has just released its first iPhone and iPad app. And surprisingly, it’s kinda cool. Based on the Rock Hall’s Songs That Shaped Rock & Roll exhibit, the app is an interactive list of the 600-plus songs that the Rock Hall deems pretty damn important (yes, there’s…
Street Fighting Season Begins in Lorain
The family that brawls together stays together. The weather last Sunday was beautiful, unspoiled blue skies and the temp a comfortable 80. It felt like a dry run for the (any day now) upcoming summer. And you know what good weather means, right? It means outdoor riot season! The prime time of year for beer-courageous…
18,500 Dead People on Ohio Voter Rolls
We’d let her vote. Remember last year when the Columbus Dispatch reported that as many as 5,800 dead people remained on Ohio voter rolls? (Or that 16 dead people were credited with voting in elections?) Turns out the number is much higher. Secretary of State Jon Husted says a new report shows almost 18,500 deceased…
Case Western Working on Awesome Robotic Wheelchairs
Motorized wheelchairs were a huge development in helping disabled/old folks get around. The problem? What if grandma pushes the gas a little too hard and careens off the stairs? Or into traffic? Or down a hill? Case Western Reserve University students are working on a solution: robotic wheelchairs which filter your requested movements and check…
Video: Beautiful Time Lapse of Cleveland
The video below is “36 Views of a Bridge,” a short film which debuted at the Ingenuity Festival last year. We just happened upon it for the first time. It’s beautiful. The Nest from Alexander Boxerbaum on Vimeo.
Shredded Feats
Neil Zaza clearly remembers the first guitar lesson he ever took. It was at a YMCA in Macedonia. “I learned ‘Smoke on the Water’ [and] ‘Sweet Home Alabama,'” he remembers. “From that point, I didn’t want to do anything else.” Zaza’s rep as a virtuoso axe man quickly escalated, and he formed the band Zaza…
High Times
You may be surprised to hear this, but no drugs were used during the making of the Black Angels’ Phosphene Dream, one of 2010’s druggiest albums. According to singer Alex Maas, the kaleidoscopic swirls of reverb-soaked guitar, the psychedelic haze hovering over the foggy production, and the deliberate drawl of his vocals are substance-free creations,…
A Worthy Argument
It’s half-past Cheerios time on a Saturday morning, and two high school students from Euclid are assuring a stranger that if U.S. forces stay in the Middle East one more minute, he will die. This is no fiery student-led anti-war protest. It’s the inaugural tournament of the Cleveland Urban Debate League. Five high schools and…
Bites: Cleveland Food Tours
When it kicks off its inaugural round on April 28, NEO Food Tours will use the power and draw of area restaurants to introduce diners to neighborhoods. “Restaurants have been absolutely vital to the success of Cleveland’s neighborhoods,” tour founder Todd Gauman says over beers at ABC Tavern. “The West Side Market has been in…
The Spirit of Rush
Have you been waiting to exhale and publicly pledge your allegiance to “The Holy Triumvirate,” as Jason Segel refers to the legendary band Rush in his movie I Love You, Man? You’re not alone. In fact, live in fear no more. It’s officially cool to like Rush — unless you’re the Rock and Roll Hall…
Dining by Daylight
They say you can’t fit a square peg into a round hole without a pretty big mallet. But that was the approach that chef Brian Okin took when he attempted to turn the former Juniper Grille on Carnegie Avenue into a dinner destination. Despite wonderful food, honest-to-goodness value, and a deeply passionate staff, Okin’s Verve…
CD Review: Ponytail
Ponytail are the weirdest jam band you’ll ever hear. They don’t hold any special reverence for the Grateful Dead or look like they stopped buying calendars in 1969. But they play six-minute songs with titles like “Flight of- Fancy” that gain both momentum and significance as they build. On their third album, the Baltimore art-punk…
On View This Week
Taxing Times Zygote’s 100×100 = relief Unless you work for the Revenuers, April 15 probably has never struck you as an especially festive occasion. This year, Liz Maugans and her staff at Zygote Press would like to alter your perceptions with a 15th-anniversary celebration they call 100 x 100. One hundred artists, alumni, allies, and…
CD Review: TV on the Radio
Nine Types of Light kinda sounds like TV on the Radio, with its swooning melodies, layered harmonies, and strange poetry. But their fourth album is brighter and more hopeful, setting aside the ominous tones typically twisted within the abrasive textures of their work. “Keep Your Heart” comes off like a lullaby, while “Killer Crane” glides…
At the Arthouse
The Grapes of WrathJohn Ford’s best movie, and one of the greatest American films ever made, doesn’t need to be seen on the big screen, but it certainly helps to take in all the gorgeous imagery. Henry Fonda is perfect as John Steinbeck’s Depression-era hero Tom Joad. Back in 1940, when the movie was made,…
CD Review: Paul Simon
Paul Simon has always been a restless artist, going all the way back to “Cecilia.” But his excursions over the past 15 years — including a Broadway musical and a collaboration with Brian Eno — were misguided and not very memorable. So Beautiful or So What, his first album in five years, skips any sort…
Meet the DJ
DJ Brent Still Life (29-year-old Clevelander Brent Rosplock) spins everything from drum ‘n’ bass and garage to house and downtempo. But lately he’s been playing a lot of dubstep, and it’s made his weekly Friday gigs at Touch one of the most popular in town. “It constantly changes,” he says. “But I usually [start with]…
Nasty Business
As you may have noticed, the Koch brothers’ corporatizing of America continues at a breakneck pace. Mega-entities like General Electric pay less in annual taxes than you or I, while their Fortune 500 brethren encourage state governments to strip “fat cat” public employees of their union rights. This situation leaves your average contemporary playwright with…
Musical Racetracks
According to law, everyone is sitting pretty. After successfully tag-teaming the push for statewide gambling through a voter referendum in 2009, Dan Gilbert’s Rock Gaming and industry giant Penn National Gaming Inc. split the spoils: the rights to develop casino projects in four Ohio metro areas. The market divide was clean: Penn stuck flags into…
On Stage This Week
Marigold Wars Part of the Cleveland Play House’s sixth annual FusionFest (April 13-23), Marigold Wars is an interactive meditation on the struggle to find reason, peace, and beauty amid the ravages of war. Created by Robin VanLear, the award-winning artistic director of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s annual Parade the Circle extravaganza, the show brings…
Film Capsules
Arthur (PG-13) — Russell Brand’s drunken, druggy past served him well in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek, where he basically played himself. So he was a natural choice for this remake of Dudley Moore’s 1981 hit about a drunken libertine forced to change his lifestyle to avoid losing an inheritance. A…
Get Out!
Thursday | 14 At the Improv Pablo Francisco Makes an Impression Celebrity impressionist Pablo Francisco lands at the Improv this weekend with an arsenal of characters ranging from the Governator to Keanu Reeves. The comedian launched his career in Arizona in the early ’90s, but you might recognize him from appearances on The Tonight Show,…
Drink of the Week
We’re up against patio season now, so it never hurts to sip on something springy till the temps finally tick up. The Scofflaw ($9) is one of those drinks. It also makes you say, “I could sit outside on a patio and drink this all day long.” Which is partially true, because it’s damn smooth,…
Concert Calendar
Rubber City Rumble II Rubber City Rumble II might sound like an event where one super-muscled guy will break a chair over another dude’s head, but this one-night music fest featuring old-school Akron and Kent bands packs a different kind of punch. We’re not quite sure what they’re duking it out for, but think of…
Home Movies
Tracy & Hepburn: The Definitive Collection (Warner) – Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn had such great chemistry onscreen for one simple reason: they were banging each other offscreen. This box compiles for the first time the nine movies they made together between 1942 and 1967, the year Tracy died. Some (like the romantic comedy Woman…
Stay In!
TOP PICK – VIDEO GAME Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (LucasArts) These games always score because they combine Legos and Star Wars — two of our all-time favorite obsessions. They snag bonus points because they’re so much fun to play. The third game in the series (for all major platforms) centers on The…
Between the Panels
What is it with superheroes these days? I’m not talking about the Batmans and the Iron Mans or any of the iconic caped crusaders we all grew up with. I’m talking about newfangled superheroes who come up with a semi-cool name, stitch together a costume, then proceed to get their asses kicked because they’re not…
We Get Mail
Own Your Body The right thing to do is to tell your sexual partners what your status is if you know it [“Brandon Shullick, HIV Positive, Arrested for Not Telling Sex Partners,” at the Scene & Heard blog]. But we must each be responsible for our own health. In health care, staff members are trained…
Local Band in Focus
Meet the Band: Joseph Rafidi (beats, keys, vocals) and Molly McKay (keys, bells, vocals) A History Lesson: This Cleveland/Youngstown group launched as a trio in late 2009 and released their debut single “Edible Confetti” last year. After co-founder Tony Moscorelli left, Rafidi and McKay reworked Cereal Banter as a mind-tripping duo. So Much Going On…
CD Review: Wallace Coleman
Singer and harp player Wallace Coleman first met Robert Lockwood Jr. in 1985. They became fast friends, with Coleman playing in the local bluesman’s band for a decade. Coleman recalls their friendship in “Robert Jr.,” the anchor to this 10-song set dedicated to his late pal. Blues in the Wind pays tribute to the Cleveland…
