Blind Pig’s Cinco de Mayo Run Draws Ire of Latino Community
For the fifth year in a row, the Blind Pig and race coordinator Hermes Cleveland have organized a sort of “Cinco de Drinko” — a three-mile mosey in honor of Cinco de Mayo. Participants are invited to bounce around the Warehouse District, checking in at pre-determined stops and getting a checkcard stamped along the way.…
Colt McCoy is Still a Brown Despite Waves of Rumored Reports
Seen here not holding a clipboard When the Browns selected quarterback Brandon Weeden in last week’s NFL draft, the move appeared to relegate Colt McCoy to the team’s towering scrap pile of failed signal callers, which they occasionally burn to keep the lights on at their Berea practice facility. The code red started the morning…
Rover Show Member Dominic Dieter Tells Father to Have Someone “Screw His Daughter Straight”
Listeners to the WMMS program Rover’s Morning Glory rarely find themselves torn between the Buzzard and NPR. Theirs, after all, is a brand of entertainment epitomized by the station’s thought-provoking “Hot Chicks on Toilets” web feature and by Morning Glory crew member Dominic Dieter, he of the backwards ballcap and intermittent brain activity. So it…
Thyme2 Opens in Medina
Chef John Kolar of Thyme2 Chef John Kolar recently opened Thyme2 in Medina. The new dining spot replaces the original Thyme which Kolar closed in late winter. “We just outgrew the space,” Kolar says of the converted Red Barn that served him well for five years. “I always knew it wasn’t my final resting place.…
Occupy Cleveland Releases Official Statement on Anarchist Wannabe Bridge Bombers
Amen. This afternoon, the official arm of Occupy Cleveland sent along a statement on the botched bombing carried out by a crew associated with the movement. The statement was signed by Messrs Jacob Wagner and Peter Schanz. While the group arrested Monday evening by the FBI were associated with Occupy Cleveland they were in no…
Get to Know Your Cleveland Anarchist Wannabe Bridge Bombers
By now you’ve been updated about the arrest of five men who planned to blow up the State Route 82 Bridge. The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s office have released the names of those involved, and if you track the alleged bombers’ online footprints, you see these guys self-identify with the Occupy Movement. (Before you start…
Five ‘Anarchists’ Arrested for Trying to Blow Up a Bridge in Brecksville (Updated)
WEWS Update III: The mugshots of the five fellas are over at Patch, if you’re into shaggy looking dudes. *** Update II: The affidavit can be found here. In it, you can read all about the anarchists’ love of The Anarchist Cookbook, their designs on targeting the Justice Center, the Veterans Memorial Bridge, and the…
Stick-Up Artist on Bike Hits Case Western
“Money or your life, cat.” Case Western Reserve students have been held at gunpoint twice in the last week, a hard reminder that although University Circle is grabbing headlines for it’s neighborhood renaissance, the area is still an island amid some of the toughest stretches of town. Newsnet 5 has the details on both stick-ups.…
OU Palmer Fest Fire Ruled Arson, Officials Say
Palmer Fest By now you’ve likely read the reports on what happened this weekend at Ohio University, where students clashed with Athens police after the annual shit-show Palmer Fest was interrupted by a house fire. Now state investigators say the spark that ignited the unfortunate public disturbance was intentionally lit. After the fire was initially…
All Good Zombies Drink PBR With a Straw
More coverage from the Zombie Walk in Lakewood over at Patch. Rick Uldricks
Cleveland Ranks Low on List of Fashionable Cities
We just spotted these guys at the Champps in Lyndhurst. Just when we were finally mustering the brass to go outdoors in those white skinny Levi’s we bought last spring, here comes some coastal fashion maven with a statistical analysis about the lack of high style among Clevelanders. It’s hopeless at this point. Forever khaki’d.…
The Akron Family Whose Phone Number Was 867-5309 Back When “Jenny” Came Out
A fun piece of local history from the ABJ today: the paper caught up with the Shambargers, a family who lived in West Akron during the early 80s and whose phone number would be blasted out forever and ever across America by Tommy Tutone. Yes, the Shambargers’ phone number was 867-5309. Charles Shambarger, the dad,…
Dear Abby: Cleveland Sports Are Driving My Son to Beat the Dog
Think the day-in and day-out beatdowns of being a Cleveland sports fan don’t have real consequences? Check out this letter from “A Good Dad in Cleveland” to Dear Abby. See, his son loves sports, but he also beats the dog. Seems he has problems dealing with disappointment, and the dog is on the butt-end of…
Delay More Than Worth It as BottleHouse Brewery Primed to Open in Heights
When Cleveland Heights residents Brian Benchek and Dave Schubert first landed the space that would ultimately become the BottleHouse Brewery (2050 Lee Rd., 216-214-2120), it had been vacant for a decade. Formerly a cold-storage facility for Zagara’s Grocery, the 6,200-square-foot building had a date with a wrecking ball. “When we first got here, we wouldn’t…
Pic of the Day: Browns Draft Recap
The Browns QB jersey got another addition this weekend. We’re not even going to talk about John Hughes. (Via Rick Uldricks)
Food Bloggers Asked to Review Food Without Eating
MedWish International experienced a bit of backlash this week when they invited local food bloggers to review their big fundraising party but to do it while “refraining from eating and drinking.” Reviewing food without eating it would be the trickiest of tasks for the most seasoned of critics, but the tackiness of the move is…
Video: Ohio Man Pranks Girlfriend, Probably Gets Dumped
This is probably a good lesson in getting dumped. 25-year-old George Daoud from Dayton punked his girlfriend, and now the Internet has crowned him with the dubious honor of being the “World’s Worst Boyfriend.” Pretty ballsy, ‘ask us.
Joe, He of Blocked Toilets and Congressional Aspirations, says Obama’s Parents were Commies
“You know, everyone says I look just like that guy from The Shield.” Just in case you needed another data point on the terminal idiocy of Joe the Plumber, the man and his limp noodle of a congressional campaign, we submit the following: “Imagine being the child of a mixed-race marriage – especially in the…
If You Missed It in Person, HBO Airs the Rock Hall Inductions Next Week
If you didn’t score a ticket to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Induction Ceremony in Cleveland a couple weeks ago, and still want to see what everyone was talking about the next day, clear your calendar next weekend. HBO will air the ceremony from 9 to 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 5. Shrewd…
Three Things to Make Your Weekend Even More Awesome
Jiro — seen here making sushi, not dreaming about it Jiro Dreams of Sushi — Documentary about an 85-year-old guy who operates the best sushi joint on the planet — which is located in a Tokyo subway station, so book your flight now! — opens at the Capitol Theatre today. Director David Gelb will host…
Concert Review: Tortoise at the ‘Sco
The ‘Sco seemed like a strange place for Tortoise to play a concert last night, located in a basement on the hippie-rich Oberlin College campus. The post-rock instrumental pioneers crammed their way onto the tiny stage last night and performed in front of what could very well be the next generation of Tortoise fans. Many…
Booty Call
The Pirates! Band of Misfits, the latest movie by Aardman – the British animation studio responsible for Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run – is another stop-motion bit of whimsy that puts more effort in its finicky craft than the mediocre story. A group of 19th century pirates support their inept captain (voiced by Hugh…
Family of Geese Shut Down I-71 Near Cincinnati
“No geese were hurt, no humans were hurt.” That’s the happy end to this story. When geese and their baby geese try to walk across the highway, shit comes to a stop, 911 is called, and the cops show up to close off the highway until they can usher the geese into the woods.
Jim Brown Says Jim Brown Things
Hall of Fame Browns running back Jim Brown might be the best football player to ever play the game. Off the field, he’s more of a mixed bag, though. A mixed bag of misogyny, violence, arrests, and a mouth that won’t stop. Case in point: Jim Brown Running His Mouth, Part 763, courtesy of his…
Coors Family Coming to Tribe Game Friday to Pimp the Banquet Beer
Breaking banquet-beer news this morning coming from The 330: The Coors family is on a cross-country tour to pimp Coors Original, which 99% of Americans assume hasn’t been made since 1987. It sits in the shadows of Miller High Life, the champagne of beers, and a string of other old-timey brews that have kept hold…
Peter B. Lewis’ Cash Funding Massachusetts Medical Marijuana Charge
Back in 2010, the NYT wrote about rich folks who used to donate boatloads of cash to Democrats but who don’t funnel their cash toward politics any longer. Peter B. Lewis was included in the piece. Here’s the snippet: The attention of Mr. Lewis, chairman of Progressive Insurance, also appears to be elsewhere this year.…
Yes, Cleveland Looks Fabulous in “The Avengers”
The biggest cheer at last night’s advance screening of The Avengers came at the end of the movie. But the night’s second-biggest cheer came about 45 minutes into the movie, when Cleveland made its first appearance, as Terminal Tower and parts of Euclid Avenue (playing movie roles, of course, and not places that have anything…
A New Fine Dining Breastaurant to Open Near Downtown Casino
Welcome to America, enjoy your cheesy fries. The moneybackers behind the new Cleveland Horseshoe Casino no doubt want you to think their target customer market is all those twenty and thirtysomething young professionals with stylish duds, the right credentials, and cash to piss, because we all know that demographic really actually totally does exist outside…
Local TV Stations Don’t React Well When You Turn the Tables and Try to Film Them
Students in a broadcast journalism class at Kent State visited the four local TV stations in Cleveland (3, 5, 8, and 19) with one goal: to access the political ad data that each organization must make available to the public. This week, the FCC will vote on whether stations must put these numbers — what…
The Curse of Chief Wahoo
“I’m here for my grandchildren — for their self-esteem,” says Marjorie Villafane, a Sioux from North Dakota who has lived in Cleveland for more than 40 years and has participated in the annual Opening Day protest of Chief Wahoo for the last 20. “I’m here so my grandchildren can be proud of their heritage. People…
The Dork Side
If we weren’t already home from work anyway, we’d be pushing to make Free Comic Book Day a holiday. Who else hands you a bunch of free stuff for no other reason than to give you a taste, besides maybe drug dealers and Baskin-Robbins? The 11th annual Free Comic Book Day takes place on Saturday,…
Home Movies
Contraband (Universal) Who decided it would be a cool idea to make Mark Wahlberg an action star? In his best movies — his breakthrough role as a super-dick porn star in Boogie Nights, a surprisingly solid turn as the desk jockey who takes care of some final business in The Departed — he tunes down…
Killing Time
Nyland the ODS’ life kinda sucks right now. The 32-year-old Cleveland rapper can’t find a good job because the 14 months of time he did for a burglary a few years ago jams him up every time he fills out an application. He had to drop out of college because he didn’t have the money.…
Raw Deal
The 85-year-old subject of Jiro Dreams of Sushi claims he comes up with his award-winning dishes late at night, in bed and in the privacy of his subconscious thoughts. Whether or not that’s true isn’t the point. Jiro Ono —- the owner of a 10-seat diner-like restaurant buried in a Tokyo subway station — is…
CD Review: Torche
Torche were almost metal once upon a time. These days, they’re almost the Foo Fighters. If “Kicking,” the first single from Harmonicraft, doesn’t make you want to jump up and down grinning like a six-year-old in a candy factory, we can’t be friends. The Miami band knows how to write hook-studded guitar pop with just…
CD Review: Jack White
Jack White has been so busy over the past decade — releasing albums with the White Stripes, Raconteurs, and the Dead Weather, and producing everyone from Loretta Lynn to Insane Clown Posse — it’s hard to believe that he’s just now getting around to his first solo album. And like pretty much everything else he’s…
We Get Mail
Dragonfly’s Last Flight In response to “Doors Shut on Dragonfly and Garage Bar,” at the Scene & Heard blog: This is an extremely sad and difficult time for everyone involved with Dragonfly and Garage Bar. I want to thank all of our supporters, past, present, and future. Without you, we would not have been as…
Local Band in Focus
Meet the Band: Ben Hendricks (guitar, vocals), Andy Hendricks (drums), Corey Willis (guitar, keyboards), and Scott Moses (bass). Brotherly Love: In 2004, brothers Ben and Andy Hendricks’ individual high-school bands came to an end, which opened up an opportunity to play together for the first time. “Everyone always said we should start a band together…
Culture Jamming
TOP PICK Ridge Racer Unbounded (Namco Bandai) This flashy reboot of the video game series (for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) revs up in a whole new direction, emphasizing the cool-ass wrecks that dominate so many race games these days. The racing element is still there, make no mistake – as is a kinda-blah…
Film Capsules
The RavenThere are moments in director James McTeigue’s The Raven — his attempt to enlist Edgar Allan Poe as a detective in 19th-century Baltimore to help police solve a string of murders in which the crime scenes pay homage to Poe’s stories — where the whole production comes undone. The movie takes advantage of the…
On View This Week
Sculpture Center Sarah Paul, better known as faux but fabulous pageant queen Little Miss Cleveland, pens her latest love letter to the post-post industrial city of her life. It all starts with a 7:30 p.m. live performance during the show’s Friday, April 27 opening, which runs from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Also on display is…
Gomez Addams
(gomezaddams.bandcamp.com) Teacher by day, rocker by night, Gomez Addams is a one-man band full of reverb-drenched pop jams. Though he keeps his identity a secret, the Clevelander isn’t afraid to share an honest glimpse into his daily routine — or even into his daydreams — in songs like “Teacher.” The psych-rock is pure fun in…
Mountain Majesty
Though its name suggests otherwise, Kilimanjaro Express, Terri Tufts’ painting and photography exhibition at Mastroianni Arts, was not born on Africa’s highest mountain. It took shape on a more modest slope closer to home: Brandywine Ski Resort’s “Shredder” hill. In 2009, Tufts wiped out on the blue diamond and broke both her legs, laying her…
On Stage This Week
At Cesear’s Forum: Controversy Time! Wy”We knew going in that this show could be controversial,” says Greg Cesear, founder and artistic director of Cesear’s Forum. “It’s dense, it’s intellectual, but that’s okay. We always try to do things that have merit, but that foster thinking too.” Cesear is talking about the company’s latest production, a…
At the Arthouse
The Living Nickelodeon Ever looked back on how people lived 100 years ago and said, “Man, I wish I was around to watch movies like they did back then”? Here’s your chance. Rick Altman, a film professor from Iowa, comes to town this weekend to re-create a night at the movies, circa early 1900s, with…
Miserable Pukes
No matter how civilized we think we are, the slightest upset in our routine can turn most of us into savages. Or, even worse, snotty name-calling children. In God of Carnage at Dobama Theatre, the thin candy shell of civility we all rely upon is dissolved by two sets of parents who have met to…
West 25th St. Shuffle
The odd, ugly, and sad drama surrounding Dragonfly and Garage Bar has ended in the most favorable way possible: Both Ohio City spaces, which closed early this month over disputes between owner and landlord, should be occupied by their next tenants for years to come. Chef Mike Nowak, along with his wife Karrie, will open…
Savage Love
Dear Dan: Is it possible for a hookup to turn into a relationship? Hoping One Person Enters A hookup is a relationship, HOPE. And yes, a short-term hookup can turn into a long-term relationship, but not if you’re treating your hookups like shit or you’re willing to let the people you hook up with treat…
CD Review: Brendan Benson
Long before he became Jack White’s right-hand man in the Raconteurs, Brendan Benson was turning out chewy nuggets of ’70s-era power pop with dashes of alt-rock bite. The Michigan-bred singer-songwriter’s fifth solo album doesn’t break any new ground or even stray into unfamiliar territory. Instead, it’s a dependable if somewhat forgettable slice of melodic and…
Outstanding in His Field
Like many diners, I have come to know Ben Bebenroth through his popular Plated Landscape dinners, which he’s been hosting for a half-dozen years. Set amid the bucolic splendor of a countryside farm, these idyllic feasts serve up an experience impossible to duplicate in a traditional restaurant setting. Fueled by kinship, boozy cocktails, wholesome foods,…
Concert Calendar
Cowboy Junkies Cowboy Junkies are remembered by most people for their 1988 cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane,” which later showed up in Natural Born Killers. Frankly, it’s too good for the likes of Mickey and Mallory Knox and the carnage it bookended in the movie. And it’s unfair to sum up the Canadian…
Cheap Eats
Without a doubt, breakfast is the best meal of the day. And not just for all the reasons doctors have been telling us about since bacon was invented. Breakfast also has the best selection of noms. Bonbon Pastry & Cafe serves all the usual suspects all day long: omelets, pancakes, and French toast, as well…
