La Dolce Vita Turns 25
This Wednesday, popular Little Italy landmark La Dolce Vita will celebrate its 25th year of slinging pasta. “It has been a very good 25 years and I would of never made it unless I was in such a great neighborhood,” says owner Terry Tarantino. Since opening in 1989, the restaurant has been a catalyst for…
Clevelander Joshua Sebo Talks About Playing Bass in ‘American Idiot’ Musical
When the musical American Idiot rolls into town this weekend for shows at Playhouse Square on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, it will be a homecoming concert of sorts for Clevelander Joshua Sebo. A Cleveland native who’s a graduate of Orange High School, Sebo, 24, plays bass in the house band. He’s come a long way…
Cuyahoga County Will Establish a Property Demolition Fund to Follow Through on Ed FitzGerald’s Promise
ERIC SANDY/SCENE Vacant properties dot neighborhoods across Cleveland. “Vacant and abandoned properties pose a threat to citizens’ safety, contribute to an environment that fosters crime, slow community development, depress neighboring property values, and accelerate residential flight.” That’s a notable line in the ordinance establishing the Cuyahoga County Property Demolition Fund. Council members are expected to…
Scene Dining Editor to Resume Weekly Radio Spot on Top-Rated Morning Show
For several years, Clevelanders awoke on Wednesday mornings to the dulcet sounds of Scene Dining Editor Douglas Trattner as he discussed the local dining scene with the morning crew from the Lanigan & Malone show. After a years-long sabbatical, Trattner will be resuming his weekly role with the current line-up of the WMJI Morning Show…
Limited Edition Ronnie James Dio Poster Goes to Parma Woman Who Lost Her Husband to Cancer
Bill Peters and Therese Ashie Produced by Wendy Dio, the wife/manager of metal singer Ronnie James Dio, This is Your Life, a new tribute album to the late singer includes contributions by bands such as Metallica, Motorhead, Scorpions, Anthrax and Judas Priest’s Rob Halford. Proceeds from the album go to Wendy’s Ronnie James Dio Stand…
Crumb & Spigot, a Neighborhood Tavern, to Open in Chagrin Falls
For years, Karen Gorman has been on the path to restaurant ownership, running a successful catering company and helping others open spots of their own. By late May, Gorman will open the doors to the Crumb & Spigot, a small neighborhood tavern on the edge of Chagrin Falls. “I always liked those crazy signs over…
Dance Pop Duo Karmin Delivers Short but Sweet Set at House of Blues
When shock rocker Marilyn Manson sang disparagingly about the “beautiful people,” he probably had people like Karmin singer Amy Renee Heidemann and multi-instrumentalist Nicholas Louis “Nick” Noonan in mind. They could pass as a real life Barbie and Ken. And yet their model-like looks didn’t keep the dance pop duo from leaving it all on…
The Cleveland Indians Have the Cheapest Beer Prices in the Majors
Business Insider compiled the cheapest beers available at every major league ballpark in 2014 and your Cleveland Indians, along with the Arizona Diamondbacks, have the most affordable brews around. The average cost for a beer, if you were wondering, is $6.09. The Tribe falls a full two dollars below that with a very Cleveland-friendly price…
50 Crazy White Guys with Machetes: Hardcore Crews Brawled in Lakewood Saturday
UPDATE: Above, courtesy of the Lakewood Police Department, is a mugshot of one of the arrested brawlers: Alexander Shepherd, 25, from Cincinnati, OH. Also, below,Via WTAM, here’s audio from a few frazzled Lakewood residents as they call 911 during the ruckus. Four people suffered stab wounds and 20 were arrested in a brawl on Detroit…
County Officials Announce Stricter Protocol in Fight Against Local Heroin Epidemic
ERIC SANDY/SCENE Ed FitzGerald, surrounded by county officials and safety leaders from various suburbs, announces a stricter approach to heroin investigations. Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald today announced a stricter approach to heroin investigations in the wake of an epidemic that is still taking a toll on the region. The gist: tighter networking among area…
20 Memories of League Park, Cleveland’s Original Ballpark
League Park, Cleveland’s original ballpark, boasted a lengthy resume of baseball accomplishments— it’s where the Indians won the 1920 World Series, where Babe Ruth hit his 500th home run in 1929, and where Cy Young threw the park’s first pitch back in 1891— before it was mostly demolished in the 1950s. It was also a…
Your Week, Planned: The Only Calendar You’ll Never Have to Flip
At sundown, the curious city of Cleveland takes on many forms. Open your door and pick a direction: You’ll find something wonderful or bizarre or stimulating anywhere you look. You’ll probably also find a drunk guy taking a leak behind that dumpster over there. But the fact remains that you could do something different each…
25 Photos from the Run or Dye 5K in Downtown Cleveland
A bunch of Clevelanders ran the Run or Dye 5K yesterday through the downtown to benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
Halftime: The Werks Crush Their First Show at Beachland and Line Up High Hopes For Tonight’s Second Dose
The Werks command a tight-knit fan base, particularly around these parts. They are fellow Ohioans, after all. Throughout the two-set show, each member locked in with one another and delivered scorching melodies or rhythms over every song. Guitarist Chris Houser reminded all the in the audience that, good lord, he can shred when he’s feelin’…
6 Spots for Picnicking around Cleveland
It’s picnic season, Cleveland. And if that statement alone doesn’t immediately excite you, think about the fun of breaking away to a local park to eat your lunch, instead of eating another lonely bite at your desk. Cleveland has loads of great outdoor lunching spots complete with beautiful scenery and non-urban fresh air. So, break…
9 Wild Cleveland Eats for the Adventurous Local Foodie
You don’t have to be Andrew Zimmern to eat wild and wacky foods. (And, besides, when it boils down to it, what we may think is extreme is actually a common dish in another culture.) Here is our list of ten eyebrow-raising dishes that are actually quite yummy. Bon appetit.
New “Brohio” T-Shirts Come with Section 117’s Indians Tickets
Cleveland Indians A new Brohio t-shirt design was recently released, featuring a proud-looking state of Ohio sporting aviator sunglasses, with “Brohio: The Broriginal” in a circle around it. (Hopefully Brohioans will continue to cram more puns into their future shirts.) Made famous by outfielder Nick Swisher, the shirts will now come free with all ticket-buyers…
Photos: The Latest Plans to Redesign Public Square
As Jeremy Paris, executive director of the Cleveland Group Plan Commission, told us last month, there’s more momentum than ever before to finally make the redesign of Public Square happen and to finish the project by 2016 (when Cleveland hopes to be hosting the Republican National Convention). Today, architects from James Corner Field (who designed…
Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley Will DJ a Set At Blue Arrow Records on Saturday
Kaplan and Hubley Record Store Day is Saturday, and amazing events will be unfolding around town all day. (For instance, The Toadies will be signing 20th-anniversary editions of Rubberneck on vinyl at Music Saves at 3 p.m., prior to playing the album in its entirety at Grog Shop. So that’s the level of cool we’re…
Scene Podcast: Public Square, the Sin Tax, and More
Hiya. It’s time for this week’s Scene podcast, which is available below. This installment: Host Craig Lyndall chats with staff writers Sam Allard and Eric Sandy about the NEOMG’s endorsement of the sin tax (really, guys?), the floating dock project down at Edgewater Marina and why the ODNR is mucking that up, this week’s feature…
Cleveland Punk Band 2 Bobs to Issue Limited Edition 7-inch for Record Store Day
2 Bobs, the old Cleveland punk band that featured Bob Richey and Bob Sablack, played around town semi-regularly in the ’80s but never attained the notoriety of other like-minded bands such as the Pink Holes and the Pagans. That’s not stopping Smog Veil Records from putting out a limited 2 Bobs release that features the…
Wadsworth Woman Discovers Bird Leg Inside Bag of Spinach
A Wadsworth woman made a fowl (chuckle chuckle) find this week when she discovered a dismembered bird leg inside a newly purchased bag of spinach. Rose Carducci told our friends over at Channel 5 that she bought groceries online from Buehler’s in Wadsworth on Monday, but that before she opened up her new bag of…
Brewery Trademark Battle: Thirsty Dog’s ‘Old Leghumper’ vs. Sleepy Dog’s ‘Leg Humper”
One of the signature beers from Akron’s Thirsty Dog Brewing Company is its delicious porter “Old Leghumper,” sold in bottles with a label design of a black lab looking up at legs of three women wearing skirts and high heels. That fantastic beer name was trademarked by the brewery more than 15 years ago. A…
Surprising No One, NEOMG Editorial Board Endorses Sin Tax
Sam Allard / Scene “Deciding whether to vote for Issue 7…should not be a difficult decision,” opines the Northeast Ohio Media Group’s editorial board in its Sin Tax endorsement Friday morning. “Nobody likes to pay taxes, but this is about as painless as any tax could be.” It’s not like the official thumbs up comes…
The Toadies to Play ‘Rubberneck’ in Its Entirety at Grog Shop Show
When indie rockers the Toadies formed in Forth Worth, Texas in the late ‘80s, there were a number of good alt-rock bands playing around town. “There was a good music scene,” says singer-guitarist Vaden Todd Lewis, who brings the group to the Grog Shop tomorrow night. “There wasn’t a good club scene. It was all…
10 Things Going on in Cleveland this Weekend (April 18 — 20)
This weekend, Cleveland’s getting big on comedy and concerts. Hop on over to catch The Werks’ crazy electronic show at Beachland, Stalley’s rap-filled set at Grog Shop or Marnie Stern’s interesting noise at Happy Dog (or, go see all three— we wouldn’t blame you). In between all the music, make some time for Chicago’s famous…
Cold-Pressed Juice Café Coming to Gordon Square
By mid-June, the Gordon Square neighborhood will have its very own juice café, courtesy of Jodi Rae Santosuosso. Daily Press (6604 Detroit Ave.), located across the street from Luxe, will specialize in nutrition-focused cold-pressed juices and blended smoothies that utilize local and organic ingredients. For the past 10 years, Santosuosso lived in California, where she…
Update: Father of Chardon Shooting Victim Found Dead, Two Years to the Day of Shooting
Update: The Geauga County Coroner reports the cause of death for Russell King Sr., the father of Chardon shooting victim Russell King Jr., is a heroin overdose. King was found dead in his home on the two year anniversary of his son’s death. The official cause of death was ruled “accidental acute intoxication by the…
#WahooWatch: Study Shows Indians Would Financially Benefit From Name/Logo Change
Sam Allard / Scene In a story this week in Quartz, the sleek online business arm of the Atlantic Media Company, reporter Jeff Yang explains a recent study which shows that Chief Wahoo is likely hurting the Cleveland Indians’ bottom line. Two marketing professors from Emory Univesity’s business school found that in the short term,…
This Week in Ohio Man: Beating the Gay Out, Getting Stuck at Bob Evans and Overdosing at McDonald’s
Ohio Man thinks punches cure homosexuality Ohio Man sure seems to keep himself busy. Every week we’ll parse through the headlines for Ohio Man’s best and worst as he continues his campaign to unseat Florida Man as the king of internet weirdness. This week: – Ohio Man sentenced to 2.5 years in jail after beating…
Playhouse Square Revival Leader Ray Shepardson Committed Suicide, Reports Say
Sad news came through Northeast Ohio Monday as we learned that Playhouse Square preservationist Ray Shepardson had passed away. Now, his death is under investigation after Aurora, Ill. police report that Shepardson had jumped to his death on Monday from a casino parking garage. The Chicago Tribune reports that on Monday, April 14, the 70-year-old…
Review of the Week: Under the Skin
Scarlett Johansson is a ruthless, dispassionate, oft-naked alien hunting down Scottish hitchhikers in Under the Skin, a low-speed sci-fi drama opening this Friday at the Cedar Lee Theatre. Director Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast, Birth) adapted the film from a novel of the same name by Michael Faber, and it’s a weird one. Until a certain…
The Romantics: An Internet Sensation, the Dance, Pop Duo Karmin Delivers its Full-Length Debut After a Long Label Battle
Given their different backgrounds, you wouldn’t expect Karmin’s Nicholas Louis “Nick” Noonan and Amy Renee Heidemann would have had enough in common to form a band. But the twosome, who started dating about four years before starting the dance pop group Karmin in 2010, distills those disparate influences on the new album, Pulses, a solid…
Babies and Break Ups: Singer-songwriter Bobby Bare Jr. Provides a Track-by-Track Analysis of his New Album, Undefeated
Alt-country singer-song writer Bobby Bare Jr. has been making music since 1974. He’s recorded and toured steadily over that 40-year period, but it’s been four years since his last studio album. Bare says “babies and breakups” as well as “complicated adult situations” led to the long gestation period. He was also working on a documentary…
Band of the Week: Cereal Banter
Meet the band: Joseph Joseph (drums, bass) & Molly Pamela (vocals, synthesizers, pedals) In the beginning: Joseph inititally didn’t play with his girlfiend Pamela when he started Cereal Banter in 2009. But he brought her into the group in 2011 to mix things up. “I thought she’d have a unqiue perspective since she’s an artist,”…
Regional Beat: C-Ro Del-Fresco
TeamFresco Presents: The Voice (Self-released) facebook.com/delfrescoworld This mixtape from local up- and-coming rapper C-Ro Del-Fresco starts strong with “True,” a song that allows Del-Fresco to show off his rapid-fire delivery. Featuring guest vocals from rapper Phaze Jackson, the song alternates between hip-hop and R&B. Other highlights include the carnivalesque “Let the Beat Ride” and the defiant…
Your Complete Guide to Cleveland Concerts (April 17 – 23)
thu 04/17 Bad Boys Jam: 9 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Black and Broke/The Lower Eastside Connection/Audio Engine: 8:30 p.m., $7. Beachland Tavern. Gavin DeGraw/Parachute/Rozzi Crane: $29.50-$50. Hard Rock Rocksino. Chris Hatton (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Hillbilly Idol/Spoon Too Soon: 8 p.m. Barking Spider Tavern. The Judi’s/Seafair/Hudson Hank: 9 p.m., $5. Happy Dog.…
Lame Game: Death is the Subject, but that’s Not the Only Deadly Thing in A Killing Game at Cleveland Public Theatre
Is life a game? Of course it is, and we’re not just talking about the Game of Life, which is jammed in the back of your closet next to Parcheesi and Yahtzee. No, in real life you’re given a game piece (your body) and invited to work your way through all the chutes and ladders…
Also on Stage
Gidion’s Knot This isn’t a play about a school shooting, but there certainly is some psychological carnage left in the wake of this flawed but fascinating piece by Johnna Adams. And None Too Fragile’s two-person cast, Alanna Romansky and Jen Klika, negotiate many twists and turns with emotional clarity. Set in an empty fifth-grade classroom,…
Men at Werk: Jamtronica’s Ohio Sons Return to Cleveland for Two-Night Stand
Each time they’ve lit up the stage at the Beachland Ballroom, the Werks have transformed the former Croatian social hall into an intergalactic dance party. But it’s been a hot minute since the electronic-heavy jam band has graced us with their sounds. “We’ve been pulling back from Ohio to play all across the country,” drummer…
The Young, Wired, and Restless: Cleveland’s Electronic Music Scene Gets a Makeover
Late one recent Sunday night, DJs ESO and Corey Grand fill the subterranean expanse of the B-Side Liquor Lounge and Arcade with a barrage of eclectic tracks. Deep bass lines roar beneath colorful synths and chopped-up vocals while kick drums and snappy, old school snares tap along. Tracks blend in and out of one another,…
Quick and Delicious: Hot or Mild Provides Fast, Affordable Indian Food with Little Fuss and All the Flavor
You might call Surendra Kumar an accidental restaurateur. His Indian restaurant, Hot or Mild in Mayfield Heights, was born less out of passion than practicality. For years, his family has operated the Indo-American Grocery on SOM Center Road, a popular resource for Indian home cooks. Then one day, the neighboring tenant packed up and left.…
A Cleveland Leather Party: Meet the Man Who Helps Bring 1,500 Leather Fans to Cleveland Every Year
What started as a leather theme night at a local gay bar 12 years ago has evolved into a weekend-long destination for gay men from around the country. The Cleveland Leather Annual Weekend (clawinfo.org) takes place at the Cleveland Sheraton Airport Hotel April 24 to 27. It’s three days of kink-filled parties, friendship, workshops and…
First Look: Beet Jar Juice Bar and Cleveland Tea Revival
One of the major perks to being an entrepreneur in Cleveland is the amount of relatively inexpensive real estate available. Over the years, residents have witnessed restaurants and shops pop up all over town, transforming once-empty spaces into thriving local ventures. Two of the most recent examples happen to be neighbors: Beet Jar Juice Bar…
Film Spotlight: Dom Hemingway
When he began work on the script that would become Dom Hemingway, writer-director Richard Shepard says he simply wanted to create an “unusual character.” “I wanted to make a crime movie that didn’t involve a crime,” he says of the film that opens on Friday at the Cedar Lee Theatre. “The crime actually happens 12…
Singer-songwriter Jessica Lea Mayfield Offers a Track-by-track Analysis of Her New Album
Kent-based singer-songwriter Jessica Lea Mayfield says it took nine months for her to record her new album, Make My Head Sing… The album, which comes out today, shows off her ability to play guitar as she plays lead on all 10 songs. On songs such as the dreamy opening number “Oblivious,” she evokes the dream…
