Pre-Show Interview: Don Jamieson
Comedian Don Jamieson usually plays the Improv when he comes to town. But in the wake of his success as co-host of That Metal Show — a VH1 talk show in which he and fellow comedians Jim Florentine and Eddie Trunk interview celebs and pontificate about all things metal — he’ll be performing at Peabody’s…
IT’S THAT SIMPLE
John Farina, writing in Spangle on why he and his partner will register for Cleveland’s domestic partner registry: I met Adam Tully online in the summer of 2006. I stumbled across him in what was a personally trying year. Among other things, I had found out I was HIV-positive in the spring. Along comes Adam.…
Statman Begins: Keith Woolner and the Indians
Unless you hang around the interwebs seeking out sabermetric info, are a loyal Baseball Prospectus reader or have glanced at the Indians’ front office list, you might not know the name Keith Woolner. His title: Manager of Baseball Analysis & Research. The casual fan is more likely to know fellow Baseball Prospectus alum, fivethirtyeight.com writer…
Calling All Air Shredders!
Registration is now open for the annual U.S. Air Guitar competition, which comes to House of Blues on June 3. The winner gets a chance to go on to the national contest in August (the city hasn’t been announced yet). But anyone hoping for a chance to compete on the national stage is going have…
Concert Review: The Sounds at the Grog Shop, 5/5
It’s 10 minutes after midnight and most people are in bed. But at the Grog Shop, the Sounds are just starting their set. Wearing a leather jacket, shredded tights, black shorts, gold chains and high heels, singer Maja Ivarsson struts and sings, causing the frenzied crowd to lurch even closer to the stage. With her…
LeBron’s Gift to His Teammates: Flip MinoHD’s
That LeBron sure is a generous guy. Remember when he gave headphones to all his All Star teammates? Well, he was in a similar spirit yesterday as he accepted to the MVP trophy at St. Vincent St. Mary in Akron, surrounded by his family, teammates, and coaches. Those guys that line up with him in…
Media Commentator — Zydrunas Ilgauskas
This little hilarious nugget was at the bottom of a story by the Beacon Journal’s George Thomas the other day: For the media, keeping coverage fresh has been a bit of a challenge with the layoff, so much so that even Ilgauskas noticed. A reporter asked him if he was tired of them. ”Are you…
LeBron Zoom VI MVP’s Will Make an Appearance Tonight
From CNBC’s Darren Rovell, LeBron, in all his MVP glory, will be debuting this sweet kicks tonight in the opening game of round two against the Hawks. The shoes will cost $150 once they hit stores, but in the meantime, if you’re not looking to spend that much, you can grab a “Witness MVP” t-shirt…
The Complete 2009 Indians At-Bat Music Guide
The Indians media relations guru Bart Swain must love me. One minute I’m e-mailing about Keith Woolner and the next minute I’m sending him questions about the music all the guys use when they’re up at the plate. Anyway, there’s a lengthy piece and a lengthy Q&A from Keith Woolner, the Indians Manager of Baseball…
The Worst Band in the World Returns
I know I’m not alone when I say I hate Creed. But I really hate Creed. Especially their asshole singer, Scott Stapp. Last week, the band officially announced their reunion. It’s news many of us have been fearing ever since that asshole Stapp left the group five years ago. There are many reasons I hate…
Jane Scott Celebrates 125th Birthday
A gaggle of family, old friends and ex-colleagues gathered at the Agora’s Town Fryer restaurant Saturday to celebrate the 90th birthday of rock-journalism icon Jane Scott, once dubbed “the world’s oldest teenager.” Scott, who worked at The Plain Dealer for 50 years prior to her 2002 retirement, started out as most women reporters did in…
Tuesday Ticket Giveaway: Kings of Leon
We got two pairs of tickets to Kings of Leon’s concert at Time Warner Cable Amphitheater at Tower City on Wednesday, May 13. All you have to do is send your name, phone number and e-mail address to freetickets@clevescene.com. We’ll be picking a random winner at noon on Friday, May 8.
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!
A week after Clear Channel Communications gave the axe to Cleveland veterans Brian & Joe, the radio leviathan has outsourced the Mix 106.5 FM morning show. Monday morning marked return of the syndicated Valentine in the Morning Show. Beaming across the country from Los Angeles, Valentine — formerly heard on CC sister station 96.5 Kiss…
Sports Guy on Media Access, Featuring LeBron James
We know exactly what LeBron wants us to know. He scripts the story. Someone else writes it using his words. You could see that in all the MVP pieces from yesterday. I wasn’t there but I imagine if I was and I had to write a column or a story on the occasion, it would…
Unless That’s a Henna Tat, I Think Pryor is Tied to the Bucks
(Hat tip to Bucknuts.)
You Can Never Have Too Many Umps… No, Actually, You Can
In case you didn’t watch the Tribe game on STO last night, there’s a picture of the two clowns seated behind home plate dressed in umpire uniforms. They called strikes, outs, foul tips, etc. for the duration of the game and even got Manning to notice, although Underwood seemed to be more excited about it.…
“I’m Calling it The Jake”
So, it seems to me that Progressive Field really hasn’t caught on with the fans. I know there was a strong sentiment after the name change to keep calling it The Jake or Jacob’s Field, and hell, most of us still do that by mistake even when it’s not a conscious effort. Anyway, that brings…
Concert Review: Gojira at Peabody’s, 5/4
Four days into their first North American headlining tour, Gojira — one of the oldest, most stable French eco-prog-death metal bands (yes, there’s more than one) — blew the mortar out of the bricks at Peabody’s last night. Supporting The Way of All Flesh, the Duplantier brothers (singer and guitarist Joe and drummer Mario), along…
Nicholas Megalis Gives Props to the 216
One of my favorite young Cleveland singer-songwriters, Nicholas Megalis, just unveiled his latest song, “Godblessohio.” Even though Megalis, who recently turned 20, splits his time between NYC and Cleveland these days, the two-minute song pays total tribute to our city. “216 reasons to live,” he sings over a walking acoustic riff spiced with occasional cymbal…
Mushroomhead: (The) Skinny on New Album, New Look
We caught up with Mushroomhead last week. The local art-metal kings talked about their upcoming dates opening for the Slayer/Marilyn Manson tour, where they’ll be filling in for Bullet for My Valentine. And we got an update on the new album from mainman Skinny and guitarist Gravy. Wednesday, you can visit clevescene.com — or, hell,…
POLITICS ISN’T ALWAYS BLACK AND WHITE, BUT SOMETIMES YOU GOTTA WONDER
There’s a new sheriff in town. Nobody be alarmed. Last Saturday morning, county Dems huddled up by precinct inside the soon-to-be-spruced Cleveland Public Hall to choose the second sheriff in nearly two generations that will maybe — who knows? — care about little things like, well, enforcing the law. With two candidates whittled down from…
This Just In: Concert Announcements
There are 35 new shows this week — from Aeorplane to Zappa: blues legend BB King, surf legends the Beach Boys, alternative sorta-legends the Gin Blossoms and certified metal legend Ronnie James Dio returns to the Sabbath ranks in Heaven & Hell — loooookooouuuut! —D.X. Ferris SOLD OUTKate Voegele/Angel Taylor/Matt Hires: Cambridge Room, Wed., May…
WORST. COMMERCIAL. EHHH-VER.
“The Ganley Man” was just creepy. This is a crime against music. If Harry Belafonte beat him to death with coconuts and stuffed his corpse into a steel drum, no court in the land would convict.
Ben Harper Wants His Ball
During a recent interview, singer-guitarist Ben Harper talked up his new album, White Lies for Dark Times, his first with his new backing band, the Relentless7. Over the course of our chat, he fondly recalled when he performed the national anthem at Game 3 of the 2007 NBA Finals. “It sure was an honor,” he…
A. Gully’s New Video
Lots of videos today, I know. Words are good, and those will come later this week, but words aren’t nearly as cool as Gully’s new video, reppin’ Cleveland while slapping “Witness” on just about everything you can think of, including his car.
“On The Shoulders of the King” T-Shirt
New apparel alert for you Cavs fans out there. GV Art, the guy behind all the really cool Etch a Sketch creations, has a new Cavs t-shirt on sale. Check it out at the GVArtwork.com site. On the front: “Going Into Battle.” On the back: “On the Shoulders of the King.”
Cavs Barbershop with ESPN Part II
Chris Broussard with ESPN The Mag stops by the barbershop again to talk Cavs basketball. For some reason it’s not letting me embed it here, so head on over to the video on ESPN.com and check it out. Check out Part I from back in January below.
Ben Harper Wants His Ball
During a recent interview, singer-guitarist Ben Harper talked up his new album, White Lies for Dark Times, his first with his new backing band, the Relentless7. Over the course of our chat, he fondly recalled when he performed the national anthem at Game 3 of the 2007 NBA Finals. “It sure was an honor,” he…
Nike “Wolverine” Air Force Ones Nod to LeBron
If you didn’t catch this story in the PD the other day, local kicks savant Van Monroe has designed an extremely limited edition set of Nike Air Force ones for the new Wolverine movie. You’ll notice in the picture that he’s included “Witness” on the right one and has Wolverine mimicking LeBron’s pre-game chalk routine…
“MY DOG HAD SEX, IT DIDN’T MAKE HIM A MAN!”
Via Earl Pike of the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland, “Keith Deltano, America’s New Abstinence Clown”:
LeBron James Comic Book
You might already be familiar with artist Joel Kimmel as the illustrator behind Portraits in the Paint, a collection of NBA illustrations. Unless you’re regularly checking his blog (or Carolyn’s And One blog over at Cleveland.com, which is where I found this), you wouldn’t know that he also recently did a LeBron James comic book.…
Free Shows at the Beachland
The Beachland is promoting a handful of upcoming shows as “recession-proof” — admission is free! The first is Friday’s show with the Steve Johnson Band, an Americana/folk/bluegrass quartet from Jamestown, New York, which features three former members of regional festival regulars Big Leg Emma, who broke up last fall. It’s at 9 p.m. in the…
Huntington Park Continues to Draw Rave Reviews
This time from Ballpark Digest. Is it a good thing when one of the chapter on the park is entitled: Is this the perfect ballpark? Let’s go to the analysis: Indeed, there are a lot of cool things at Huntington Park, which comes as close to perfection as we’ve seen in any ballpark. With an…
Just a Sipp
Tribe GM Mark Shapiro was in the booth for a half inning the other night during the last game against the Red Sox. Underwood and Manning started asking him about Tony Sipp and his early dominance after being called up. Shapiro said that as he and manager Eric Wedge were discussing the roster as spring…
On Projecting and Promoting LaPorta
With Pronkster hitting the DL for an as of yet unknown period of time, some fans are already clamoring for the Tribe to call up Matt LaPorta, who has been absolutely mashing the ball down in Columbus. The first thing you need to know has to do with service time. Paul from The Diatribe covered…
Russell Branyan Just Wanted (Sniffle) a (Sniffle) Chance
Don’t look now, but not only are the Seattle Mariners off to a hot start, but so is failed Indian experiment and Exhibit A for the “All or Nothing” swing Russell Branyan. Branyan is batting .333 with 4 HR and an OPS of 1.029 in 57 at-bats so far in 2009. Small sample size be…
Bob Uecker, Twitter, Miller Lite and Frosted Flakes
Bob Uecker, legendary broadcaster and actor, recently discussed Twitter during a game with his partner. If you guessed that he has no idea what it is, you’d be correct. If you also guessed that his real on-air persona is more like his Major League persona than one might suspect, you’d also be correct. Take a…
RIPPER WATCH
If you didn’t win the passes to Tim “Ripper” Owens’ exclusive listening party, worry not. He has added a second public session for Sunday, May 3. The Play My Game debut bash takes place 9:15 p.m. Sunday, at the Akron Scorchers, 491 E. Waterloo Rd., 330-785-3500. — D.X. Ferris
Whole Lotta Shakin’ at Nighttown
Roots of American Music (ROAM) was conceived in 1999 by local musician and Fairmount School of Music founder/executive director Kevin Richards to tap into the talents of area musicians to use music to teach about American culture and history. The nonprofit group works with schools that frequently don’t have the resources for the residency programs…
WHAT ELSE ARE YOU GOING TO DO, PLAY OUTSIDE? YEAH RIGHT
It’s springtime, when a young geek’s fancy turns to thoughts of … Free Comic Book Day! Local participants: Carol & John’s Comic Book Shop, 17448 Lorain Ave., ClevelandB & L Comics, 5591 Ridge Rd., ParmaNorth Coast Nostalgia, 5853 Ridge Rd., ParmaA & A Comics, 5021 Turney Rd., Garfield Heights York Comics & Cards, 7390 York…
Jazzfest Changes
If you were looking forward to tomorrow night’s Tri-C JazzFest concert at PlayhouseSquare’s Allen Theatre with the Dave Brubeck Quartet and jazz singer Kurt Elling — hold onto that excitement and your ticket. Legendary pianist Brubeck, whose landmark album Time Out was the first jazz record to sell a million copies, is a bit under…
New Chip Tha Ripper
Cleveland rapper Chip Tha Ripper just unveiled “No, I Said I LIKED You.” The cut is part of producer 88-Keys’ debut album, The Death of Adam. Take a listen: In other Chip news, his new mixtape, The Cleveland Show, will be hosted by local faves Mick Boogie and Terry Urban. Cleveland represent! —Michael Gallucci
Scene Video: Owner of Harbor Inn Talks About Why the Bar Should Be Popular With Athletes
In case you missed it, earlier this week, Branson Wright from Cleveland.com sat down with the owner of XO Prime Steaks for a hard-hitting interview about why athletes love going there. We don’t hang out much at XO (okay, we never hang out there, but for good reason), so we can’t say whether athletes have…
Calling All Wannabe Rockers With $10,000 Laying Around
Do you have close to $10,000 floating around in your pocket and a lifelong dream to be a rock star — never mind that you have no musical talent and it’s your day job as a doctor/lawyer/accountant/overpaid head of a bailed-out bank that left you with money to burn? You’ll be happy to know that…
NYC Band Explains Lost
I love Lost. I’d probably love it even more if I knew what the hell was going on. New York rockers Previously on Lost apparently have figured it out. They just released “Lost in 2 Minutes,” which sums up all five seasons of the mind-fucking show in, yep, two minutes. Take a listen below. Now…
“Our Economy’s Based on LeBron James”
If you know and love the first hastily made Cleveland tourism video from Mike Polk, you’re gonna love the second. As good as the first was, this was one is better. Infinitely. This time LeBron makes an appearance.
Pre-Concert Interview: Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
Even if you tried, you couldn’t script something as colorful as the story of folk singer Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Born in Brooklyn, his father was a doctor who had hoped Elliott would follow in his footsteps. “I never wanted to be a doctor,” says Elliott, who plays the Kent Stage on Saturday. “That’s the one…
D’Qwell Jackson’s Autograph Contest
D’Qwell Jackson’s blog over at Yard Barker can be entertaining at times. He’s got the personality to pull it off — anyone who listened to his interview on ESPN 850 with Rizzo when he ran into his neighbor’s mailbox while conducting the interview knows that. Anyway, he loves movies and has a little contest going.…
For Any Cleveland Barons Fans
Ebbets Field Flannels, a tremendous purveyor of vintage jerseys, is going through somewhat of a business transition and a whole bunch of their stuff is on sale this week. Head over to their site to check out the full collection, but if you just want to see the Cleveland related stuff, well, that Cleveland Barons…
Mo “The Hitman” Williams T-Shirt
I meant to put this up awhile ago, so this might be completely old news to some of you. ESPN 850’s Kenny Roda was talking about this t-shirt a couple of months ago after Mo’s love affair of all things gangster led to “The Hitman” nickname. Get the tee from Velocity for only $20, and…
Luis Tiant Doc Screening on ESPN in August
Luis Tiant is probably best known for his time in Boston, but Tiant of course started his career in Cleveland, playing for the Tribe from 1964 to 1969. He also had what was arguably the best season of his career as a Wahoo in 1968, going 21-9, with a 1.60 ERA, a 186 ERA+, a…
TAKIN’ THE HIGH ROAD
Everybody knows that marijuana has long roots that stretch straight to hell. Just ask Daddy Reagan: It’s WEED, not grass. Yes, it’s a fiery danger to us all. That’s why alcohol and cigarettes are the legal elixirs, people — the good drugs, taxed to the hilt and available at a corner near you. Don’t even…
Kiss Get Animated
First, Andrew W.K. gets his own show on Cartoon Network. Now, Kiss is getting animated for a cameo in this weekend’s Nickelodeon special, The Fairly Oddparents: Wishology. We don’t want to give too much away, but Kiss members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley appear in the three-part show, which airs at 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday…
Quickie Contest: Tim “Ripper” Owens Listening Party
We’ve got one pair of passes to an exclusive listening party for Play My Game, the solo debut by Tim “Ripper” Owens, the Beyond Fear frontman who replaced Rob Halford in Judas Priest. Owens, a local, will host the party in Akron on Sunday, May 3, from 6-9 p.m. (Because it’s an invite-only thing, we…
ADD SOME VARIETY
Buildings like the Capitol Theater on Detroit Avenue are giving neighborhoods something to brag about again. And as the Northeast Shores Development Corp. tries to turn around others, like the old LaSalle on East 185th in North Collinwood, the Westown Community Development Corp. is closer. The group will soon buy the decrepit Variety Theater at…
Pre-Concert Interview: Jeremy Jay
Singer-songwriter Jeremy Jay plays the Beachland Tavern tomorrow night. His publicist sent out an e-mail blast that read: “If you haven’t checked [Jay’s] Jonathan Richman-like melodies out live yet, you should. He’s the best.” On that recommendation, I downloaded the new album, Slow Dance, and gave it a whirl and found out, yep, the guy…
Concert Review — Silverstein at House of Blues, 4/29
Last night, House of Blues was packed with teenagers in jeans two sizes too small. Everyone smelled like Pabst Blue Ribbon. The music hadn’t started yet, and things were relatively tame. And then it started: the screaming. Letting out a series of throaty howls, Nick Moore, lead singer of Before Their Eyes, tore through “The…
NEXT UP ON THE SCAM AGENDA
Roldo takes on the Opportunity Corridor: Opportunity Corridor is a road that will slice through an East Side Cleveland poverty area to quickly route drivers through and past it. The lucky drivers won’t have to even glance at the unseemly sights. From the highway to University Circle in no time. Convenience has a pricy price…
FAN MAIL FROM HAGAN (NOT THAT HAGAN) (UPDATED)
This displeased reader named Hagan seems to be responding to this column, and this article, both of which, in an astonishing coincidence, involve another man named Hagan. from Matt Hagan to flewis@clevescene.comdate Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 4:54 PMsubject You know what is a crime? Libel. Tim Hagan has been convicted (indicted, accused) of what?…
CLEAR CHANNEL “SECOND WAVE” DROWNS AT LEAST FOUR
Two weeks after a national meeting that mandated a “second wave” of cutbacks, Clear Channel has slashed drive-time lineups from WTAM 1100 AM and WMVX 106.5 FM. WTAM’s Mike Trivisonno is now flying solo. Mike Trivisonno Show wingmen Paul Rado (top right in picture) and Marty “Big Daddy” Allen (top left) were cut Monday. Both…
HOW CAN YOU RUN WHEN YOU’RE DRUNK?
All I could think about was May 4. The tear gas. The rubber bullets. The police. The angry students. The Kent State shootings happened 18 years before I was born, but as I watched the Saturday night riot on College Avenue, May 4 was all I could think about. But Saturday’s riot wasn’t fueled by…
Country Comfort
TOP PICK No Country for Old Men: Collector’s Edition (Walt Disney) One of the best movies of the decade gets the deluxe treatment in this three-disc set that includes more than five hours of extras, including behind-the-scenes features and a Q&A with the Coen brothers. There’s also a digital copy, so you can put it…
ODD COUPLINGS
In one of those serendipitous flukes that drive critics to ecstasy, two of our most vivid specimens of a vanishing breed of meshugana entrepreneur-directors, Greg Cesear and Fred Sternfeld, have lifted a metaphorical curtain on two of their most improbable — and thus archetypal — productions. “Metaphorical” is the key word, for neither Cesear nor…
HOW CAN YOU RUN WHEN YOU’RE DRUNK?
All I could think about was May 4. The tear gas. The rubber bullets. The police. The angry students. The Kent State shootings happened 18 years before I was born, but as I watched the Saturday-night riot on College Avenue, May 4 was all I could think about. But Saturday’s riot wasn’t fueled by politics…
Local Arts News
Zygote Press (1410 E. 30th St., 216.621.2900, zygotepress.com) has a slew of summer classes in medieval techniques for making images and books, and it’s time now to sign up. When obsolete technology falls into the hands of artists, they figure out new ways to use it — like a class in monoprinting on the Vandercook…
MIND YOUR BANNERS
Cleveland has always been an interesting labor town. There were the days before World War II when a very young Bill Presser rode down Euclid Avenue, heaving bricks through the windows of store owners who hadn’t thought they needed the services of (or hadn’t made payoffs to) the glass workers union. There was Alan Friedman,…
Birds, Bees and Beyond
Brave, burgeoning life pokes up everywhere amid the tentative perceptual delights of late April. Why not in Shaheen Modern and Contemporary Gallery’s downtown space, perched across from the east end of Cleveland’s hyacinth-tinted Veteran’s Memorial Bridge? We left with our hearts tired is the second exhibit of Miami-based Craig Kucia’s brilliantly colored, Easter-basket-like paintings at Shaheen…
BLOOD AND CHICKEN TRAX
Bree Bodnar, founder and proprietor of Green Panda Press, has been writing and performing her work around Northeast Ohio for years. But her most visible project has been promoting other poets via festivals and her Green Panda Press, which cranks out a steady stream of poetry, bound by hand using whatever recycled materials are on…
Local CD Reviews
Chimaira The Infection (Ferret) chimaira.com Listening to Chimaira records is like watching Ultimate Fighting champions in the gym. They sweat blood, and they hoist around amazingly heavy stuff. The Cleveland metal champs’ fifth album is a heart-bursting workout — from Andols Herrick’s trigger-happy percussion to Rob Arnold’s grip-and-rip solo on “On Broken Glass” and Mark…
THE ALBINO PACHYDERM LUMBERS OFF
Five years ago, in a two-part analysis saluting the long overdue departure of Peter Hackett as the Cleveland Play House’s chief, I painfully reckoned up the myriad failings of his decade-long regime, along with those of the equally ruinous eight-year administration of his predecessor, Josephine Abady. In doing so, however, I strove to lay the…
Capsule Reviews of Current Releases
Cherry Blossoms (Germany/France, 2008) Winner of the audience award when it showed recently at the Cleveland International Film Festival, Doris Dörrie’s film is a touching story about Trudi (Hannelore Elsner) and Rudi (Elmar Wepper), an elderly Bavarian couple who try to reconnect with their children. They first visit two of their kids, now grown up,…
Get Out! Skye Captains
It’s fitting that Mastodon’s new album, Crack the Skye, is their most spacious. On 2004’s Moby-Dick-inspired Leviathan, they covered the sea; on 2006’s Blood Mountain, they went by land. As its title implies, Crack the Skye is all about the big blue atmosphere above us. Of course, it isn’t just about that, since no Mastodon…
Song Sung Blue
Sita Sings the Blues, an innovative and marvelous animated feature by Nina Paley, snagged tons of buzz when it premiered last year. Word spread that it was a shoo-in for an Academy Award nomination; maybe it even had a chance of toppling eventual winner Wall-E. Then it hit a snag: Turns out that the movie’s…
Around Hear: Beyond Infinity
Infinite Number of Sounds has ceased to exist as a band but lives on as a label. The electronic-based group has been a perennial contender for both Free Times and Scene music awards. The band’s third and final album, The Island of Misfit Noise, is available now at infinitenumberofsounds.com. Mixing ambient electronica and organic horn…
She’s a Beauty
Cristina Scabbia is one of two vocalists for Italian metal band Lacuna Coil, but you’d be forgiven for thinking she’s the band’s leader: The music press tends to concentrate on her at the expense of her less photogenic male bandmates. Fortunately, she says, “It’s a press problem, not a band problem. It’s a band. It’s…
CD Review: Depeche Mode
Four years after the blah Playing the Angel, Depeche Mode returns to the gloomy playground that en-couraged its best work. Sounds of the Universe sounds like vintage Depeche Mode — cold, soulless and robotic — but without the hooks. There are plenty of moody ruminations and nifty sonic textures, yet there aren’t many actual songs.…
Sugar Man
Rodriguez Concert Review “I’m honored and pleased and privileged to be here,” said Sixto Rodriguez at the beginning of his hour-long set at the Beachland Ballroom on Friday night. Rodriguez, the 66-year-old Detroit-based singer-songwriter whose career has gotten a second look thanks to a pair of reissues on the indie Light in the Attic label,…
CD Review: Tinted Windows
Though the members of Tinted Windows have crossed paths over the years, it wasn’t until recently that the group — singer Taylor Hanson (of “Mmm Bop” fame), ex-Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, bassist Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne, Ivy) and Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos — decided to band together and craft songs that…
WELCOME TO SLUMBERLAND
In Brooklyn, the epicenter of all things hip these days, the new-old thing of ’09 is noise-pop, re-championed by a fresh batch of the borough’s most huggable punks. First it was the Vivian Girls, then Crystal Stilts and now we get the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, an affable gang of distortion-loving pop tarts…
CD Review: Camera Obscura
Tracyanne Campbell, singer and songwriter for Glasgow’s Camera Obscura, has overcome a couple of identity crises to put her band on an impressive winning streak. The group began under the daunting wing and influence of Belle & Sebastian, working with Stuart Murdoch and reflecting the B & S sound more than a little. Camera Obscura…
Making Some Noise
When Now That’s Class owner Paul Shlach moved from New York to Cleveland several years ago, he had the chance to do what he couldn’t do in New York: He got to open his own rock club. Taking over a former gay bar (you can still see the homoerotic murals on the club’s walls, and…
CD Review: Jane’s Addiction
Now that Jane’s Addiction has reunited for real (without original bassist Eric Avery, there is no Jane’s), it’s box-set time. A Cabinet of Curiosities gathers many of the band’s demos (some of which padded out CD singles — remember those? — back in the early ’90s), a compilation track or two (covering Sly and the…
Space Invaders
If you’re a fan of retro kitsch, you might get a little thrill when they hand you a pair of plastic 3D glasses at the movie theater. But today’s feature — unfortunately! — isn’t Bwana Devil or House of Wax, but Battle for Terra, a computer-animated science-fiction film enhanced with 3D effects. Originally called just…
CD Review: 1990s
1990s’ sophomore effort owes more to the ’70s and ’80s than it does to the decade of slacker posturing and grunge-fueled angst. The 12 tracks on Kicks are an uplifting mix of swaggering garage-rock, jangle-pop and the neon-clad guitar-pop of the Reagan era. Singer Jackie McKeown has no problem attacking a wide range of tones.…
Reel Cleveland: Hi-Def and High Culture
This week, the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque (11141 East Blvd., 216.421.7450) kicks off a short series dedicated to Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer. While Dreyer is often acknowledged as a groundbreaking filmmaker, 35mm prints of his films are hard to come by. The Cinematheque, however, has procured archival copies of three of his films…
CD Review: Micachu & the Shapes
Micachu & the Shapes are the sort of band music bloggers dream about. The trio’s attributes serve as perfect fuel for the hype machine. There’s a frontwoman with an idiosyncratic vocal approach, homemade instruments, a wardrobe that looks like it was swiped from a ’90s Lollapalooza dressing room and a famed producer (electro mastermind Matthew…
ONE PART TRAINING, TWO PARTS GUTS
If you still avoid any kind of cooking duties at home, that’s just sad. And claiming that your mother wouldn’t let you near the kitchen, much less teach you anything, is no excuse. There are loads of options, most of them inexpensive (and some free), for anyone willing to take knife in hand and learn…
CD Review: Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals’ ninth studio outing, Dark Days/Light Years, may be their weirdest trip yet. The hour-long album begins with what sounds like some sort of chaotic dinner party before the pulsing beat and face-melting psychedelia of “Crazy Naked Girls” takes over. “Moped Eyes” sounds a bit like an ultra-smooth ’70s yacht-rocker, complete with nonsensical…
Bites: Taste of Coventry
People from all over the region flock to the annual summer street fairs in Cleveland Heights’ Coventry Village; although low-key and neighborly, they’re not just for the neighbors. People come for the food, crafts, wares, performances, book-signings and kids activities, and even to register to vote. But they’re expensive to organize (police presence, sound equipment…
CD Review: Eddi Reader
Eddi Reader has been performing in some capacity since the 1980s, and Love Is the Way reverberates with the sort of confidence and talent that only a seasoned vet could muster. Her songs are a relaxed take on folk-pop, full of dusty, slow-paced waltzes, delicate balladry and shuffling piano ditties meant for romanticized venues like…
HELLO? HELLO? HELLO?
LAST Friday, I checked my voicemail and had this message from a friend: “Hey, we’re thinking about going downtown for the game. Call me back.” Perfect. I had nothing much going on, and it was a beautiful Friday night to watch a baseball game. Game-time temperature would be in the 80s, Fausto Carmona was on…
The Perfect Prescription
I was about 14 when I first went crazy. Sitting in the bedroom of my parents’ G.I. Bill house, a bolt of noxious energy exploded around me and the air turned grainy, like reality was suddenly an ugly, 16-mm film. Terrified, I saw the universe beyond my small room as endless and black, occupied only…
ON THE COATTAILS OF GENIUSES
Bumping Into Geniuses: My Life Inside the Rock and Roll Business By Danny Goldberg Gotham Books, 2008 For nearly four decades, Danny Goldberg has had a seat in the back rooms of the music business, where deals are brokered and stars are made. In his memoir Bumping Into Geniuses, the trajectory of his own career…
WANTED: BASTARDS
Are you a bastard? Scene seeks an actor for a new short video series, “Ask a Bastard.” Must be able to deliver long lines, laced with both big words and obscenities, with confidence and a pleasing sneer. (Think Denis Leary, Lewis Black, Chris Rock, Patton Oswald.) To audition, send an mpeg of yourself reading the…
