PD to Cleveland Clinic: Screw ethics. We want in on the deal.
The Cleveland Clinic has seen more than its share of ethical troubles of late. Stories keep popping up about pesky conflicts of interest, mainly involving the hospital and its doctors having a financial stake in the medical procedures they recommend. First it was Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove, who was also director of a Cincinnati company…
Carey fears Clevelanders would murder him for wearing Dodger blue. He’s right.***
Drew Carey: officially a bigger pimp than Terrence Howard. It’s good to know that some Cleveland celebrities don’t move to LA, and develop a severe form of amnesia when it comes time to remembering their roots (yeah, we’re talking to you, Terrence). That’s why we adore Drew Carey. This morning on Regis and Kelly, which…
Beer and Bunny Food: They go together Laverne and Shirley or something
According to wine geeks, nothing goes particularly well with salad. Fortunately, suds fans are more forgiving, as indicated by the upcoming Brewmaster’s Dinner at Great Lakes Brewing Company. The August 14 event – which includes a five-course dinner and brewery tour — is a meat-free marvel matching the brewery’s handcrafted beers with all sorts of…
Election worker gets new trial; Ohio Supreme Court investigated for illegal possession of logic
Jacquie Maiden, Cleveland’s 2006 Scapegoat of the Year. We’ve been following the story of Jacquie Maiden since last April, when we told you this gentle, easygoing preacher’s wife was having a little trouble at the office. More than a little, actually: out of nowhere, the former Board of Elections worker found herself indicted for rigging…
Threats of Litigation and More Venomous Words from Our Biggest Fan
My Dear Marxist: Can’t you commies read? I told you not to post that letter. You see, we have the freedom of speech in this country. The flip side of that is that we have the freedom to speek without being heard. You damned communists kill me. (Well, knowing that I am a soldier, I…
This Just In: The very latest concert announcements
Charlie Murphy kicks you in the chest at the Imrov this September. Thirty-three new shows this week. Four great funny men: Andrew “Dice” Clay, Paul Mooney, Robert Klein, and Chapelle Show funny man (and Eddie’s brother) Charlie Murphy. One funny woman: Lisa Lampanelli, who’ll be in the next Larry the Cable guy movie. Piano queen…
Judge Cicconetti Needs to Respect All Laws — Including Immigration Statutes
Such hypocrisy from Judge Cicconetti of Painesville. So he doesn’t care about the status (legal or otherwise) of the Hispanics who appear before his bench [“The Superior Americans,” July 18]. I do, and so do many other Americans who respect the laws of our country. In fact, I thought judges were sworn to uphold those…
Don’t Bag on the Mayor of Seven Hills
Your tart disdain for Seven Hills Mayor David Bentkowski [First Punch, second item, August 1] may have been exaggerated. So what if he recommends that his constituents assert that their town is “awesome?” Few people on the sunny side of forty would say “awe-inspiring” instead. And so what if he yearns to be master of…
Case of the Mondays: A five-part series, five parts too long
For the four old ladies who still read Cleveland’s Incredibly Shrinking Daily Newspaper™, the worst day of the week is Monday. Most reporters have weekends off, save for the poor sap chained to the police scanner and praying for continued static. So almost all the stories in Monday’s paper were written a few days, sometimes…
To get the convention center right, Cleveland has to beat the Right
In the debate over whether to raise taxes for $450 million convention center and Medical Mart – a medical showroom expected to solve the world’s ills by 2010 – County Commissioners heard from eager businessmen, hopeful citizens, outraged libertarians, and skeptical politicians. They did not, however, hear from any strippers. They probably should have. Because…
Mikey G’s Weekly Picks: Those Plans You Lied About Having? They’re Right Here
The Forecast: twangy with a chance of cow-punk. This week’s top arts and entertainment picks around town, from the guy who’s paid to pick them: Monday: The Forecast are the most curious band on screamo-purveyor Victory Records’ roster. The Illinois quartet’s alt-country twang and rootsy songs have little in common with its labelmates’ larynx-scraping and…
Public Advisory: Never Cross a Cleveland Bridge Again
My colleague, Mr. Jared Klaus, has dogged The Plain Dealer for running an alarmist story today on the danger posed by Ohio’s bridges. While he offers wise counsel on alternatives to plunging to an agonizing death in a swirling river, dismissing The PD’s fears is short sighted. Consider how a Cleveland bridge is made: Step…
The happiest hours in town are at Lolita
Lolita chef Michael Symon Happy? We were feeling downright giddy after just three chilly sips of our high-octane Margarita Martini during a weekday Happy Hour stop at Lolita in Tremont. A seamless blend of Skyy Vodka, Cuervo tequila, triple sec, Gran Gala, sour mix, and a dash of cranberry juice, the not-too-sweet, $5 ’tini has…
The Chocolate Emporium: Where calorie counters can cool off
Last night, as the temperature dipped into the 90s and half of Cleveland Heights found themselves without electricity, there seemed only one way to cool off: ice cream. But normal ice cream has, like, tons of fat and stuff, which is not advisable when one plans to spend the rest of the weekend in a…
Straight Outta Compound Fest 3: Like Lollapalooza, but with no Daft Punk
Couldn’t afford the $1.7 mil it costs for a 3-day pass to Lollapalooza this weekend? No worries: Straight Outta Compound Fest 3, an all-day shmorgasborg of Cleveland underground talent, goes off this Saturday, and will leave money left over for copious beer. While Blonde Redhead and Pearl Jam will be absent from the line-up, Compoud’s…
No Wonder He Was Sad: Browns’ Ryan Tucker suspended for steroids
“Mr. Trainer, the needle goes right here. In the butt-ocks.” Some news to turn your shorts Brown and Orange: Ryan Tucker will sit the first four games of the regular season for violating the NFL’s steroid policy . He’ll be allowed to practice and play in the preseason, but won’t suit up for a game…
Sheryl Crow in Cleveland: Still sexy after all these years
Sure, Sheryl Crow’s show at the Plain Dealer Pavilion this week wasn’t exactly sold-out. And yes, it is strange when a rock star you listened to on your Walkman when you were 14 sings lyrics like “I’m gonna soak up the sun.” But there are still many reasons to love this lady: 1. At age…
Former WKYC reporter breaks down on Inside Edition
Northeast Ohio’s TV-news viewers may remember Amy Hasten as the perky, pixie weather babe on WKYC-TV 3 throughout most of the ‘90s. But on Wednesday night, they saw a skeletal shell of the now-Amy Murphy melt down on the syndicated gossip-fest, Inside Edition, where she talked about the March 11 suicide of her boyfriend, comedian…
Trade LeBron! Only Gilbert Arenas has the scoop on shark attacks
Proof positive for why the Cavs should trade LeBron, straight up, for Wizards goof-ball Gilbert Arenas: Apparently Gil has the scoop on all those alleged “shark attacks.” (Scroll down to “There Are No Such Thing as Shark Attacks”). According to Arenas’s fool-proof science, there has only been one real shark attack in the history of…
When it comes to bridge collapses, the Plain Dealer scares. C-Notes saves lives.
The author, en route to work. The front page of today’s Plain Dealer boasts a feature that everyone who has ever crossed a bridge, might ever cross a bridge in the future, or is currently in the process of crossing a bridge should read. No, wait! If you’re currently crossing a bridge, get the hell…
Mikey G.’s Weekend Picks: Cooked to order every Friday
“Spider-Pig, Spider-Pig …” Complete the verse tonight in Valley View. This weekend’s top arts and entertainment picks around town, from the guy who’s paid to pick them: Friday: Have we told you how much we love The Simpsons Movie? Especially the part where Homer and his pet pig riff on Spider-Man. Tonight, fans have a…
ESPN to Browns: Seriously, why do you bother?
Scientifically speaking, Brady Quinn’s Hall of Fame prospects are “totally fucked.” Why? Because he’s a Brown, says ESPN.com. Sometimes we wonder if the Browns shouldn’t just pack it in, maybe drop down to the Arena League or see if they can annex the Loser Palace By The Lake into Canada and make a run at…
Hate Mail of the Week: Your Story on Mexicans Sucked, Commie Fagboy
Idiot, What part of “ILLEGAL Immigrants” don’t you understand [“The Superior Americans,” July 18]? They broke the law in coming here, and commie fags like you want to mollycoddle them! If they are so great, then why is Mexico a SHIT HOLE? After all, if they are so orderly, law abiding and industrious, then –…
West 6th Shootout: Blame it on Greed
Everyone wants to blame the people who are attracted to these types of bars instead of blaming the management for these places [“West 6th Shootout,” First Punch, July 11]. Any bar that has to open its doors to people who are legally not allowed to drink is an embarrassment to the ethics of running a…
Who are the Barenaked Ladies that you Speak of?
As an avid eBay memorabiliac and ardent member of Corky’s Junior Juice League, I am writing to profess my distaste with David Imburgia’s Nightwatch in the June 13 issue of your otherwise fine publication. If Mr. Imburgia cannot have an opinion that is satiable for everyone, then I suggest he cease his tenure at your…
Roue Returns: Cleveland indie rockers to open for Blonde Redhead
Roué’s hiatus ends Saturday August 4, with an opening set at Blonde Redhead’s House of Blues (308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-BLUE) show. Roué is one of two or three bands that qualify as the city’s arguably hottest indie-rock group. And like any band worth its salt, the frenetic, emotionally amped outfit has its issues. But it’s…
We’re No. 1! Ohio gas cheapest in country
So apparently there’s one more way – besides our superior corruption and more lovably losing sports franchises – that Cleveland tops Chicago: We have cheaper gas. In fact, we have the cheapest in the country. The average price for a gallon of gas here $2.65. In Chicago, that same gallon will run you about $3.29,…
Slayer in Cleveland: Louder Than Hell. Seriously.
Last night’s Slayer/Marilyn Manson show killed. Or, rather, Slayer killed. Like half the audience, your duly delegated Scene representative didn’t stick around for Manson. If you’ve seen Slayer before, they were as good as they always were — in fact, they were more revved up than usual. Maybe it was the lingering energy from the…
Action Rock Slideshow: Live from the Scene Music Fesvial
“Stay classy, Cleveland.” Whew. That was close. Last time we heard from Action Rock Photographer Walter Novak, he was frolicking the shores of Lake Erie like some kind of Frisbee-throwing hippie. We thought he’d gone soft. What’s next? we trembled. He starts eating green stuff? But alas, Mr. Novak, returning to his Rock and Roll…
Waaaa! You Dogged my Ex-Wife’s Book!
In response to your lazy review of my ex’s new spectacular, metaphsically motivated and empowering new book [Culture Jamming, August 1, last item]: Once youv’e read one review, you’ve read them all. Read between the lines, between the sheets, beneath your dismissive prejudice. Every picture tells a story, even yours. Michael Des Barres N. Hollywood,…
Reader: I’d Support the Tax If I Could Trust Hagan and Dimora
The new county sales tax is only 1/4% ($250 on every $100,000), so why am I and droves of petitioners out to stop it? Because I have no confidence that the money will be used for what Hagan and Dimora say it will be used for. The tax passed on Thursday goes into the GENERAL…
Air Guitar Championship: Is Cleveland guy’s name sufficiently rocking?
No shirt, no guitar, no problem — as long as you’ve got a kick-ass stage name. The nation’s best phantom shredders will take the stage in a couple weeks for the U.S. Air Guitar Championship, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed for Cleveland champ Garth “Chuck Mung” Donald. Mung’s one of 15 regional winners who’ll…
Playmate Arrested: Sad day for men who were 14 in 1989
Former Playboy Playmate of the Month Jennifer Jackson was arrested Tuesday after causing a raucous with her really upstanding-looking husband, James Thompson. Thompson has been voted Mug Shot of the Month by Westlake Police Department. Oh how the mighty have fallen. And by mighty, I mean hot. — Joe P. Tone
Warped Tour Week, Part IV: Can local bands survive the curse of the local stage?
Five Northern Ohio bands will play the Ernie Ball Local Heroes side stage at the Vans Warped Tour on Thursday, August 2. And now that you’re here, you’re one click away from learning about Another Found Self, This Awkward Silence, Plague the City, Bleeding a Memory, and Between Thieves. Ernie Ball, a guitar-string company, picks…
Superior Americans: Yet another letter from an adoring fan
“The Superior Americans,” July 18, 2007 We get loads of fawning fan mail here at Scene. Most of it you can barely read, due the excessive lip-stick stains and water damage (tears of joy can really wilt some paper). When we can read one, we like to contact the author to confirm that he or…
Under-fire Funnies
Click here to download a PDF file of Derf’s take on Cleveland’s state of decline.
Mickey Avalon
Mickey Avalon makes the Insane Clown Posse look like Public Enemy. Tattooed, shirtless, and made up like a sex doll, he’s a nice Jewish kid turned junkie, truck-stop hustler, and rapper. The L.A. dreg would have made a great dirty New Yorker, back when “punk” referred to both music and part-time prostitutes. Artistically and spiritually,…
Trick Play
The concept behind All-Pro Football 2K8 is simply wonderful: Imagine a fantasy football league where you draft from a pool not of this season’s top players, but of the greatest NFL players of all time: Joe Montana, John Elway, Dick Butkus, Jerry Rice, Marcus Allen, Mike Ditka, and more than 200 other legends. And though…
Making an Impression
Who knew Impressionism was so popular in these here parts of the country? The Massillon Museum’s Midwestern Visions of Impressionism documents nearly three dozen painters from Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, who did most of their work during the first quarter of the 20th century. The exhibit — which gathers more than 70 paintings by artists…
Badlands
Thirty miles east of Cleveland, past crumbling warehouses and rotting industrial shells, lies a thousand-acre plot of raised dirt overlooking Lake Erie. Below the man-made bluffs, white-capped waves splash gently against rock jetties, whose edges protrude like the chins of stubborn men. The water here is a brilliant, hypnotizing blue. Sitting on the shore, you…
Chippendales
The Chippendales male revue has been a reliable brand for exotic dancers since the ’80s, but worry not: They rotate their guys mercilessly, and the dancers still look like they were released from a genetic-engineering tank earlier this week, sent directly to dance classes, coated in baby oil, and delivered fresh to the stage. Eight…
Our top DVD picks scheduled for release this week:
The Archie Show: The Complete Series (Genius) Babylon 5: The Lost Tales (Warner Bros.) The Best of the Kids in the Hall: Volume 2 (A&E) Bloodlines (THINKfilm) Creature (MGM) A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash (Docurama) Dallas: The Complete Seventh Season (Warner Bros.) Film Noir Classic Collection: Vol. 4 (Warner Bros.) Firehouse Dog (Fox) Hawaii…
Party Animals
Lions, tigers, and . . . partyers? That’s exactly what’s on tap at tonight’s Twilight at the Zoo bash. The 14th-annual party at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo features more than a dozen bands performing everything from folk and country to rock and reggae, under the stars and next to the elephants. “It’s a one-of-a-kind setting,”…
The 411 on the 911
Slo-mo police force just a symptom: Your piece on the slow response by Cleveland Police to 911 calls about the West Sixth Street melee [First Punch, July 11] is symptomatic of the ineptitude that has helped to cripple the city since the days cops drove ugly pea-soup-colored cars. And in the aftermath of the shooting,…
Prince
Stevie. The Stones. Sir Paul. They’re no longer geniuses, but they keep making music. Since 1995’s The Gold Experience, Prince has been in the same boat. This doesn’t mean Planet Earth sucks, however. One of the best axemen of his generation, Prince cranks through a Coldplay/U2 riff on “Guitar,” an ode to loving his instrument…
Here are the week’s best releases from the pop-culture universe:
DVD — The Film Noir Classic Collection Volume 4: Private dicks, dirty rats, and plenty of no-good dames are up to some bad, bad things in this five-disc set, which features 10 flicks from the ’40s and ’50s. Crime pics like Act of Violence, Crime Wave, and They Live by Night are particularly bleak offerings…
Tiger Beatdown
Don’t expect an underdog to rise from the bottom tier and claim this weekend’s Bridgestone Invitational. This is Tiger’s game. More than 70 golfers from the PGA American, European, and Asian tours will be on board, but Tiger Woods always saves a special can of whoop-ass for this annual tourney: He’s won the event five…
Civil Wars
From Regina Brett to Cleveland Heights’ We Support Civility campaign, everyone’s developing plans to rekindle kindness in our humble Sadr City by the Lake. But for our money, nothing beats a return to old-fashioned manners. By extending our gentility, we can rebirth the days when children safely walked the streets, and we shot each other…
Stephen Stills
Rarities unearthed from rock’s classic era are often more fascinating for their mythical backstories than actual sounds. Just Roll Tape, however, fascinates for both reasons. When a 23-year-old Stephen Stills entered New York’s Elektra Studios on April 26, 1968, he had just left influential folk-rockers Buffalo Springfield, but had yet to form Crosby, Stills &…
Welcome to the Neighborhood
Cleveland joins more than 11,000 U.S. and Canadian cities at the 24th-annual National Night Out program to help wipe out violent crime. Organizer Matt Peskin says it’s all about looking out for your neighbors. “You don’t have to love them,” he says. “But if you know who they are, you can keep an eye on…
Hooray for Hippies
The Rock Hall pays tribute to the Summer of Love in the Monterey International Pop Festival exhibit. Curator Craig Inciardi says there’d be no Woodstock, Lollapalooza, or Coachella without the original hippie fest. “It was a watershed event that changed the course of rock and roll,†he says. The display features tons of memorabilia from…
Warped Tour Guide
The Vans Warped Tour, that all-day extravaganza of punkish rock, extreme sports, and alternative youth branding, turns lucky 13 this summer. In celebration, the multistage, all-day affair has grown even larger. The band lineup alone features something like 55-plus names. And then there are all the vendors and attractions, like the Guitar Hero II tent…
Boris With Michio Kurihara
For years only noise freaks and fans of avant metal worshiped Boris. But the band broke in the States last year when Southern Lord re-released Pink, an epic double LP. The Japanese power trio is one of those rare “metal” bands that can hop genres with each new release, pushing the group further and further…
Dancing With a Star
Three months after finishing in fifth place on Dancing With the Stars, International Latin-dance champ Karina Smirnoff shows you how to bust similar sexy moves at Viva Dance! Studio today. The 29-year-old Ukraine native may also reveal how she transformed onetime country-music star Billy Ray Cyrus from a klutzy mullet-farmer into a bona fide dancing…
In Loving Memory
Allegro starts off as a pretty conventional love story between an ambitious pianist and a woman he meets after he locks himself out of his apartment. But within 20 minutes, director Christoffer Boe’s terrific film takes a wide turn. The woman leaves the brilliant but emotionally detached musician during a recital. Soon after, their Copenhagen…
Wall of Fuzz for the Masses
High-profile attention is fast becoming status quo for the Silversun Pickups. In 2007, the wall-of-fuzz rockers appeared on Late Show With David Letterman and Carson Daly’s late-night gig, where they played a weeklong stint as the house band. In addition to the video for “Lazy Eye” landing in MTV’s heavy rotation, the Pickups’ label secured…
Baby Grandmothers
The popular history of ’60s acid rock focuses almost exclusively on Yanks and Brits. But CD reissues over the past 10 years prove that psychedelia originally laid its Day-Glo eggs throughout the entire planet, spawning everything from krautrock and Brazilian Tropicalia to the Japanese underground and Italian prog. Featuring such bearded heads as Pärson Sound,…
Black Masses
At Touch’s weekly Satanic Sundays, DJs Throat Yogurt and Feima spin black metal, goth, industrial, and some “very odd recordings that I’m not so sure were ever meant to be played publicly,” says organizer Eric Freeman. It’s all about helping people get in touch with their dark sides, he says. “Satan has nothing to do…
From Caterpillar to Butterfly
Most bands never evolve beyond the larval stage. They forever regurgitate that one move all the critics initially raved about. Special is the act that survives the chrysalis to emerge as a new entity: the Flaming Lips’ transformation from psychedelic freaks to symphonic pop composers, Radiohead’s leap from dyspeptic guitar rock to cinematic sound sculptures.…
Sappy Bell
Sappy Bell is one of Cleveland’s hardest-working bands. The quintet’s elbow grease has resulted in video play on MTV and Much Music. Its debut, The Nightmare Chronicles, will have you questioning why the band hasn’t torn up WMMS yet. Maybe the band lacks the loot for payola, because Sappy Bell has enough nü-metal tendencies to…
Today’s Forecast: Rockin’
The Forecast holds the distinction of being the most curious band on screamo-purveyor Victory Records’ roster. The Peoria, Illinois-based quartet’s alt-country twang and rootsy songs have little in common with its labelmates’ larynx-scraping and heart-puncturing confessionals. Still, there’s some serious genre restlessness on its latest album, In the Shadow of Two Gunmen. While cuts like…
About Last Night
All I needed was a friend to lend a guiding hand But you turned into a lover and Mother what a lover, you wore me out All you did was wreck my bed And in the morning kick me in the head — Rod Stewart, “Maggie May” It’s the morning after the first-annual Scene Music…
Play Havoc
Most of the attention during Cleveland’s recent hip-hop revival has been focused on artists aiming squarely for the mainstream. The trio Play Havoc, however, presents an old-fashioned aesthetic on its sophomore disc, a collection of old and new singles connected by the turntable work of DJ Sleepyhead. Sleepyhead’s dexterous scratching, combined with Play Havoc’s serious-but-playful…
Face Off
Local artist Baila Litton isn’t very flattering to her subjects in the new multimedia display Herstories: Volume II. Laugh lines rip deep fissures into women’s faces, crow’s feet form dried-up tributaries, and wrinkles spread into intricate road maps. The exhibit opens today at the 1point618 Gallery. “Some of these works are quite disturbing,” says managing…
The Other Side
As nightlife on the East Bank of the Flats sputters out, the West Bank prepares for the future, eyeballing one of Cleveland’s great underdeveloped resources: the waterfront. Cyrus (2000 Sycamore Street, in the Powerhouse complex) hosts live music on its riverside patio. The restaurant’s summer season will climax Friday, August 3, with an outdoor concert…
Rising Up
Four years ago, Andy Himmel’s world fell down around his ears — literally — when the roof caved in on the building he was transforming into Boulevard Blue. As anyone who has dropped by that Larchmere Boulevard institution lately can attest, Himmel recovered from the setback handily. And the 27-year-old entrepreneur launches his second restaurant,…
Pride and Joy
There aren’t too many stage productions that rival The Lion King’s majestic scope and ambition. The Tony-hogging musical — which opens tonight at Playhouse Square — is based on Disney’s animated movie, but looks nothing at all like it. Masks, puppets, and groundbreaking choreography set the tone for a terrific work that’s wowed both highfalutin…
The Aquarium
Dischord, the classic hardcore/indie label from Washington, D.C., has recently become a home for coed duos, including Soccer Team, the Evens, and the Aquarium. But that’s where the bands’ similarities end. With swirling drones reminiscent of Man or Astroman?, the Aquarium’s electric keyboards emit vintage garage-psych vibrations. At the same time, there’s a ragged, lo-fi…
Fast Times
Like all chefs, Gregg Korney has a vision — one that propels him toward zesty, high-octane taste sensations assembled from global pantries. Sometimes, his quest leads him toward the Mediterranean, with its Parmesan, porcini, and basil; other times, it turns him toward Latin America, with its passel of fiery peppers; and most often, it orients…
Silly Love Songs
Comedian Professor Milo Tremley started life as James Lee Reeves, a Los Angeles history major who wanted to be Elvis when he grew up. “I was determined to be a success in the music business,” he says. “I absolutely failed at it.” Broke and deep in debt, he relocated to Nashville and started writing funny…
The Dennis Dunaway Project
Few rock and roll tunes pile-drive listeners like “Return of the Spiders.” The song, a hastily recorded Bo Diddley groove, pads out Alice Cooper’s sophomore LP, 1969’s Easy Action, a flop for a band that had yet to cultivate its commercial potential. Like the New Yardbirds, however, Alice Cooper had tapped a new energy, a…
A Star Is Bourne Again
The Bourne Ultimatum opens in Russia as the amnesiac superspy Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) does what he does best: elude capture, crack skulls, brood. Lickety-split he’s en route to Paris, nursing his wounds and breaking out with a bad case of those itchy-scratchy hallucinations known as Hollywood Flashback Syndrome. Choice and painful bits from The…
What Are They Sipping?
There are plenty of artists who maintain that they make kids’ music the entire family can enjoy. Former Del Fuego Dan Zanes, They Might Be Giants, and Jason and the Scorchers frontman Jason Ringenberg all released records in the past couple years that claim to kick out the jams for little ones and grown-ups alike.…
Matisyahu
Matisyahu is a reggae-singing Hasidic Jew from Brooklyn who got his first big break appearing with Phish at Bonnaroo several years back. As you’d expect, most critics dismissed the bearded dude as a passing novelty. But what they don’t understand is that this 28-year-old (born Paul Miller) has the chops necessary for a pop-music career.…
Let There Be Light Laughter
It’s impossible to write about David Wain’s The Ten without making passing reference to Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Dekalog and Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life. The former, originally made for Polish TV 20 years ago and first shown in the United States in 2000, offered a modern-day take on the Ten Commandments, interpreting each within the…
Let’s Roll
Speed walkers, rollerbladers, and bicyclists shut down traffic at today’s Walk + Roll event. Every Sunday this month, a 2.2-mile stretch of Martin Luther King Boulevard will be blocked off to cars and trucks. “A friend of mine had seen something like it in Central Park and said, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we did…
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is back. On 2005’s Howl, the California outfit ditched its leather-clad garage stomp for rootsy folk rock dedicated to the Dylans of Americana. Howl is great, but to quote a song off BRMC’s 2000 debut, “Whatever Happened to My Rock ‘n’ Roll?” With drummer and percussionist Nick Jago back on point…
Man Hungry
Most of us are drawn to the perennial “whore with a heart of gold” character, probably because we see a lot of ourselves in her. Sure, she’s seedy, needy, and a little common, but she means well and, darn it, she deserves a chunk of good luck, doesn’t she? The title character of Sweet Charity,…
Morning Glory
The country’s top athletes try to break the 11-year-old Cleveland Triathlon record this morning. They start with a plunge into Lake Erie. After the 1.5-mile swim, they’ll bike a 24-mile loop course on the Shoreway near Burke Lakefront Airport. It all culminates in a 10K run through downtown Cleveland to the finish line at the…
Manchester Orchestra
In just two years, Atlanta’s Manchester Orchestra has grown from Andy Hull’s studio study into a full-blown buzz band, touring nonstop with such bands as Brand New, Saves the Day, and mewithoutyou. After his songwriting impressed those around him, Hull spent senior year of high school splitting time between the studio and home-schooling. He eventually…
Capsule reviews of current area theater presentations.
Always, Patsy Cline — You’d think a play about an iconic singer who died in a plane crash at 30 would present a chance to take a profound emotional journey. But Ted Swindley, author of Always, Patsy Cline, turns this show’s namesake into a walking jukebox. Still, even such a wretchedly written show can’t torpedo…
Twenty-Four Hour Party People
Yes, this weekend’s Lazy Daisy Fest at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park features “all Dead — all day and all night,” says spokesman Evan Kelley. But unlike the venue’s other hippie bashes, the fourth-annual 24-hour Lazy Daisy blowout is a more family-friendly gathering. “It’s smaller and more local,” says Kelley. “It’s much more intimate. And since…
Stan Ridgway
How dry was Wall of Voodoo? Mummify the Talking Heads, then grind them up. Put the powder in neon tubes, and let them bake in a desert sunset. Serve with spaghetti-western sauce on the side. In 1982 WOV’s second album, Call of the West, birthed its only hit, “Mexican Radio.” Amid radio squawks and nervous…
Capsule reviews of current area art exhibitions.
New In the Realm of the Gods — Art, about a mother, who is in heaven, Krisztina Lazar be the name of thy creator: If Lazar’s bold, highly accomplished paintings here could pray, this is what they’d utter, for they mostly pay homage, in lavish detail, to the Eternal Feminine — the female essence uniting…
Cowabunga!
Today’s Krusty’s Summer Sauce Camp at Whiskey Island is all about drinking lots of beer and listening to summertime tunes. The daylong bash — which celebrates its 16th anniversary — was named after The Simpsons’ cranky clown, but its mind-set is more Homer. “We’re a party band,” says Terry Bobb, drummer for the Ark Band,…
Thanks, D.C.
When it comes to dysfunction, Washington, D.C.’s public schools are among the rare few that give Cleveland’s a run for their money. The dismal district has exhausted six superintendents in the past decade and routinely counts itself among the worst systems in the country. Perhaps that’s why they’re so eager to hire our flunkies. First,…
Rasputina
What you need to know about Rasputina: It’s two hot girls — the bohemian kind of hot girls, which means that their freewheeling minds are just as alluring as their lacy corsets — who play baroque vocal pop on cellos, backed by some cat with a beard. Or in their words: “Rasputina is mystikally cellorific.”…
Fuzz Busters
Hot Fuzz (Universal) The second feature from writer-director Edgar Wright and writer-star Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) has been available on home video for decades: Hot Fuzz is, after all, a witty and wisecracking montage of clips from some hundred-plus A-list and bargain-bin action films, chief among them Lethal Weapon, Bad Boys, Point Break,…
Color Us Impressed
The Artists Archives of the Western Reserve hosts their first-ever alfresco art-making event as painters and sculptors hit the streets for this weekend’s Color Me Cleveland celebration. “You’ll witness artists working in a plein-air environment, taking impressions of spaces and people throughout the city,” says organizer Andrew Schlauch. “They will be recording facets of Cleveland…
