Blondie
What exactly is the curse of Blondie? Some might say it’s “Heart of Glass,” their glamorous disco sidestep, which slammed the door on their punk roots. Others might postulate it’s Debbie Harry, whose kittenish sex appeal tended to overwhelm the band’s music. But as their new studio album demonstrates, perhaps Blondie’s greatest burden is their…
Savior Fare
4/13-4/25 Jesus is a blazing commodity these days: The Passion of the Christ is poised to be one of the top-five grossing films ever. Easter’s this week. And Jesus Christ Superstar returns to Playhouse Square on Tuesday. Yes, it’s a good time to be Lord. “All of the Bible guys are hot right now,” corrects…
16 Horsepower
Sixteen Horsepower harnesses a brooding, forbidding sound like the approaching clouds of a dark, Pentecostal storm promising to wash the sin from these lands, singer David Eugene Edwards’ parched tenor lording above the trad-country twang like a ministering wind of judgment. From their haunting, desolate electrified set pieces (think Joy Division if they grew up…
Dilated Peoples
When one of the most uncompromising rap acts on a major label starts making moves that could be interpreted as compromising — enlisting the ubiquitous, pop-savvy producer Kanye West, say, or getting some southern exposure via Houston’s Devin the Dude — it follows that some will say Dilated has become diluted. The truth, however, is…
Porn Again
It’s a measure of continual cultural desensitization that The Girl Next Door plays like a remake of 1983’s Risky Business, yet very little of it feels risky in the slightest. Twenty years on, the notion of a high school student getting involved in the sex-for-pay business seems almost cute, rather than dangerous. Sure, the morality…
John Vanderslice
These days, with the rapidly proliferating miracles of modern technology, it’s more or less child’s play to craft whatever exotic sounds you want to fill your records. With a little clever programming, practically anyone can add a lavish string section or countrified pedal steel to their latest techno-tinged skittery-skee masterpiece, complete with distorted tonalities galore.…
The Descendents
Decendents frontman Milo Aukerman, Ph.D., might be the smartest guy in rock. But more remarkable than his knack for biochemistry is his exceptional grasp on some elementary practices that elude many players who’ve been in the game 25-plus years. Lesson one from Dr. Milo: Don’t fix what ain’t broke. The Descendents’ first LP in nearly…
Earnest Goes to Camp
Fairy tales are odd little beasts, as they’re supposed to plunk us into fantastic worlds while also conveying some universal truths inherent under the surface of our big, boring, loud, violent, obnoxious world. But they’ve also become fodder for “re-envisioning,” which increasingly means “mucking up with excessive cheekiness.” Ella Enchanted falls into this campy category,…
N.E.R.D.
Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, a.k.a. the Neptunes, are nothing if not ambitious. Their production techniques rule pop radio, but they hunger for success that obliterates genre lines. Hence, N.E.R.D., in which Williams, Hugo, and cohort Shae attempt to reach the rock audience without alienating the R&B and hip-hop camps. Fly or Die doesn’t quite…
Messin’ With Texas
It is, to those of us born and raised in Texas, the Greatest Story Ever Told and Retold; who can forget the Alamo when it’s on every Texas history class final exam? At 5 a.m. on March 6, 1836, some 189 Texian soldiers and volunteers were slaughtered while trying to protect a former mission from…
15-60-75 / Pere Ubu
By the time we were hiding our stamped hand at the Phantasy in the late ’80s, 15-60-75 — or “the Numbers Band” as the grads called them — seemed like the blues-band hobby of scenester leftovers. So it was always hard to rationalize Pere Ubu leader David Thomas’s constant adoration of that group. His salute…
Prey to Pretense
The most notable thing about The United States of Leland, a youth-violence drama from writer-director Matthew Ryan Hoge, is its earnestness. This is a film that wants to be good. It wants to mean something, it wants to move you, and it wants to ask (if not answer) some pressing moral questions. Are people basically…
Fourth Down
More than anything else, Abram Elam misses the way his name sounded over the loudspeaker at Notre Dame football games. When he would run onto the field or make a tackle, the announcer, tucked high away in the press box, would bellow out A-bram E-lam like it was money, like it was really worth something.…
Surreal Deal
In 2000, we successfully weathered the non-disaster of Y2K, the Supreme Court appointed a seemingly middle-of-the-road President, and the world seemed in tune. But during that year, famed British playwright Caryl Churchill was tormented by visions of a world gone mad. The stunning and unforgettable play she wrote, Far Away, was not only eerily prescient,…
Grounded
John Kujda’s small plane looks like a wasp and rattles like a tractor with wings. He’s buzzing close to the ground, barely 20 feet up, but he’ll miss again if he doesn’t dive lower. So he throws the stick forward and pitches the nose down. He’s flying soooo slow, it looks as if he’ll sink…
Book Crook
If you’ve ever carved your initials into a tree, or been tempted to, you know the feeling. We humans share a desire to leave a mark of our existence behind. This is the impulse that drives a nebbishy Dutch librarian on a globe-trotting quest in Glen Berger’s Underneath the Lintel, now being produced by Cesear’s…
Selling Jesus
When Matt Minarik and his wife Sarah first walked into St. Stephen eight years ago, they found, to their delight, unpadded wooden kneelers on which to pray. To their left was a stained glass window so finely crafted, they could see the hairs on a Roman soldier’s arm. The Minariks live in Fairview Park. They…
On Stage
Five Guys Named Moe — This rousing musical revue is built upon a story line (by Clarke Peters) that’s scrawny as a Depression-era chicken. A fellow named No Max, having recently split with his gal, is lost in his blues and mired in whiskey when five zoot-suited gentlemen — named No Moe, Eat Moe, Big…
A Time for Pants
A Time for Pants Underwear stories aren’t for nations at war: Okay, Scene, the March 17 cover “Scandal in the Mayor’s Office” was funny, but this week’s article, “The Underwear Underground” [March 24] is ridiculous. Aren’t there any better stories in Cleveland? Kevin Hoffman’s story on “pop punkers and indie rockers” in only their underwear…
On View
Aerossault: The Artwork of Grant Smrekar — Grant Smrekar’s work is evidence that there’s more to graffiti than just gang tags and foul language. His often political pop art — full of American flags, helicopters, and what looks like Ché Guevara — poses timeless questions about politics and war; clearly, he wonders whether America’s overseas…
Dexter Romweber
Former Flat Duo Jets frontman Dexter Romweber is the Godfather of this generation’s guitar/drum renaissance. And Jack White, for one, is more than willing to pay tribute. “It’s nice of him to do so,” Romweber says. “I mean, we played a gig with the White Stripes about nine months ago, and he was telling me…
Needles and Grins
There’s a revolution of sorts brewing in the back of an indie record store in Akron. And it all started with a pair of knitting needles. Every Wednesday night at Square Records in Highland Square, 25 women, ranging in age from 20 to 40, convene for the Stitch ‘n’ Bitch knitting group. Part social circle,…
Jacob Be Good
Long after the taste of filet mignon has faded and the silvery bubbles of Dom Perignon have become a pleasant blur, what we tend to remember about an upscale restaurant is the service: the way we were pampered (or not) by the staff, and how special (or unappreciated) we felt by the time we said…
Himsa
Talk about an extreme makeover: In 1999, Himsa’s eponymous debut EP hit an unsuspecting hardcore underground via Revelation Records, and, well, not a whole hell of a lot changed. The Seattle band started as a lot of ex-hardcore kids do once their record collections and worldviews expand. As bassist Derek Harn said back then, “Let’s…
Drunk New Mexicans
Jennifer Sinyella noticed the cops as soon as she arrived in Kent. “The first week I was here, I was followed the whole week,” she says. “I didn’t know why.” She chalked it up to profiling. As a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe from Albuquerque, she’s familiar with suspicion. “It’s the same reason I’m…
The Irish Is Up
Alex Gleeson is the Ohio City real estate developer who’s been trying to launch The Old Angle Tavern for the past two years. Named in honor of the Irish neighborhood that developed on Cleveland’s near West Side during the late 1860s, Gleeson’s Angle is developing quite a history of its own. His intended location, inside…
Boxstep
Fusing slow-moving shoegazer pop with volatile art-rock arrangements, Pittsburgh’s Boxstep delivers a bipolar punch to the Midwest post-rock formula. Heavily influenced by Australia’s the Dirty Three, the band’s songs frequently rely on a rise-and-crash methodology — slowly building folk melodies that peak with a tempest of teeth-gnashing instrumentation (manifold guitars, drums, violin, accordion . .…
This Week’s Day-By-Day Picks
Thursday, April 8 There aren’t too many white boys who can sing soul music convincingly. Marc Broussard, a 22-year-old Louisiana native, can. And he does it the old-fashioned way — from the gut. He doesn’t sound like contemporary R&B vocalists (Usheresque breakdowns aren’t in his repertoire); rather, he comes off like the Midwest-based belters from…
Silver Anniversary
Terri Pontremoli remembers well how plans for the 25th Tri-C JazzFest were born. “I go back to a few years ago,” says the fest’s peppy managing director, “when David Sanborn and Joe Sample were backstage, talking about our silver anniversary and maybe doing a tribute to Horace Silver, and they said, ‘Oh my God, he’s…
The Weirdos
Unlike the late-’70s punk explosions in New York City or London, the fertile scene in Los Angeles bungled its recorded output. Sure, bands like X, Dead Kennedys, and Black Flag spring to mind, but those combos didn’t really get going until the door-knock of the Dynasty decade. The original sparks of that scene — innovative…
They Got Games
Jerry Stanziano puts more faith in copping a beer buzz than he does in betting his Tribe will go to the playoffs this year. The rebuilding Indians finished fourth in the lackluster AL Central last season, scoring fewer runs than they ever had at Jacobs Field. And upgrades to this year’s roster appear woefully minimal.…
Special Delivery
For those creative types facing indifferent audiences in half-filled dives while trying to make it big with their bands, day jobs are a necessary evil. The members of the hard-edged quintet Story of the Year are riding high on the radio charts with the song “Until the Day I Die,” but they were once no…
Ruben Studdard
Anyone who has access to a radio, TV, or the internet knows that Ruben Studdard was crowned 2003’s American Idol. After a first season of mediocre talent, judges emphasized they were looking for the “whole package” of voice, look, and personality. Clad in sporty homeboy gear emblazoned with “205” (the area code of his hometown…
North Stars
4/12-4/14 Nobody gets to be an overnight success overnight, but North Coast Central Casting’s Acting Lessons can help you on your way. “It takes dedication,” says acting coach Ray Szuch. “It’s not a hobby.” The twice-weekly workshops focus on two or three scenes from a film script; once a month, the performances are put on…
Hard Gore
Fantomas singer Mike Patton possesses the most versatile voice in all of music. The strain he must put on it as he shrieks, bellows, cackles, croons, and yelps must be unbelievable. (Don’t believe us? Check out Adult Themes for Voice, his 1996 solo album on Tzadik.) Surely Patton follows a special regimen to keep those…
90 Day Men
90 Day Men make great piano-centralized rock, colored with vocals reminiscent of Mike Patton’s Tomahawk coming down on a grandmother’s couch. The Chicago quartet resembles few bands, except for TV on the Radio, and only because both combine stark and dodgy originality with slightly unsettling introspection. Psyched out yet? Don’t be. The band’s latest, Panda…
Diamond Life
MON 4/12 If time indeed begins on opening day, as writer Thomas Boswell once mused, area baseball gluttons will be doubly blessed on Monday: The Lake County Captains’ home opener happens a mere four hours after the Tribe’s. The Indians’ Class-A affiliate boasted a 97-43 record in its inaugural season, winning the South Atlantic League…
The $500K #!*@%
Craig Callander’s business card pretty much says it all. “669: Helping You Hurt Yourself” it reads, an apt encapsulation of his on-air antagonism. As the anti-everything radio personality Sweet Ass Sassafrass, Callander is among the funniest and fiercest on Cleveland airwaves. 669, his twice-weekly show on WCSB-FM 88.3, is a mix of scabrous punk rock…
An Albatross
Rarely can one glean much from an eight-and-a-half minute CD, but such is the case with the latest from An Albatross. The Dwarves did it to the then-stale Ramones style in the early ’90s, bashing out fully formed tunes in under a minute, whole satisfying records in under 15. This Philadelphia band utilizes that brief,…
Making Funny
TUE 4/13 A guy and his wife walk into adjoining voting booths. As they punch their ballots, they steal glances over each other’s shoulders to see if they’re politically compatible after all these months of marriage. It sounds like a scene from an old Mad About You episode, but it’s actually a sketch recently played…
Detroit Bound
While the country follows the battle for the next American Idol, Ravenna’s Steven Thompson has moved a step closer to the title himself, edging out his brother to take top honors at the Akron Idol II competition at club Voodoo. Thompson went neck-and-neck with his brother Rick in the eight weekly rounds that led to…
