Broadcast
With apologies to Brian Eno, consider Broadcast’s Hahasound, its Music for Films, Vol. 3. The U.K. electronica trio’s first soundtrack-worthy excursions (the mini-album singles compilation Work and Non-Work and 2000’s The Noise Made by People) possessed cool-cat sophistication, thanks to an affinity for Stereolab-esque tunes and spy-noir ripples that hung in the air like dainty…
Chug-a-Bug
SAT 8/16 Gene White’s Chocolate Chirp cookies have a not-so-secret ingredient: diced crickets. The nationally recognized “bug chef” will stop at BugFest Saturday with an assortment of insect-inspired delicacies, including cookies, spicy-bug salsa, and mealworm spice cake with bug-laced cream-cheese frosting. Between mouthfuls of beetles and bees, kids can test their insect trivia in Bug…
Lifesavas
As the first MCs signed to the vaunted California hip-hop label Quannum Projects since the mid-’90s, Portland’s Lifesavas have plenty to live up to. Although the imprint has built its legacy mostly via its world-renowned core of DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, and Latryx, its five-year support of this trio has proven wise. The Lifesavas owe an…
Good Ol’ Boys
FRI 8/15 Chad Brock is the newest member of the two-year-old Honky-Tonk Tailgate Party, but he’s quickly learned the rules of the road. “This is a hell-raiser tour,” says the 40-year-old country singer. “You can tell we’re having fun.” The Tailgate Party was launched in February 2001 by hitmakers Rhett Akins, Daryle Singletary, and Jeff…
Junior Senior
The incongruous Danish duo of Jesper Mortensen (“Junior”) and Jeppe Laursen (“Senior”) is bringing some fun back to music. Their debut album, D-D-Don’t Don’t Stop the Beat, is a boisterous testament to their humorous attitude. Clocking in at half an hour, it encompasses the energy and abandon of a street carnival in an intense, punchy…
Stupor Man
Clevelander Harvey Pekar, star of a long-running comic-book series that he writes and others illustrate, is reminded early in American Splendor that he’s no superhero. It’s Halloween, and the 11-year-old Harvey, played by a bent-over, sneering Daniel Tay, stands on a stoop, seeking treats from a woman who identifies a lineup of characters by their…
Jim Lauderdale/Donna the Buffalo
If you’ve listened to anything remotely resembling country music in the past 10 years, chances are you’ve heard Jim Lauderdale. The Nashville singer-songwriter has written with Harlan Howard, Kim Richey, and Robert Hunter, and had his songs recorded by Buddy Miller, Kelly Willis, Vince Gill, the Dixie Chicks, and George Strait. If his own eight…
Chop Till You Drop
The next time you’re enjoying a bath or a shower, take a moment to examine yourself. What you’re looking for is black, jagged, and commonly referred to as a “tribal tattoo” — accompanying symptoms may include vague memories of a jabbing sensation and near-suicidal depression or rage. Does your body have one? Is it bigger…
Survivalist
If any Clevelander stands the chance of breaking into the international reggae market, it’s Survivalist. The Jamaican-born sing-jay is young and charismatic, and he crafts a killer tune. The Art of Survival, his second full-length release, is one of Cleveland’s best reggae albums. Survivalist’s commanding vocal presence stands out front, most notably on the urgent…
Into the Sunset
Kevin Costner appeared in his first Western when he was 30 and looked to be in his early 20s. He was a slender, restless actor in Lawrence Kasdan’s Silverado, the 1985 film in which Costner played the blithe brother of a somber Scott Glenn — all giggles and gunshots, a noisemaker always one dawn away…
Dub Bomb!, Baby
Dub is not a genre! It is a state of mind, with funhouse-mirror eyeballs, a drop floor, a love of the unknown, and the knowledge that if a philosophical truth really does exist, it can be found in the mysterious, malleable ether. Dub has been the soundtrack of a righteous and adventurous future for as…
The Union
The Union might be broke, but they have carnal knowledge of your mom, so that’s gotta be worth a little dap from somebody. Known as Whyte Trash from 1995 to 2000, these white-boy rappers ride a blue-collar theme the way Ruff Ryders ride motorbikes. They don’t claim to be players, and they only sweat when…
About a Girls
Uptown Girls, with its ominously square title suggesting a feature-length Billy Joel video, arrives in theaters smelling a bit spoiled — and not only because annoyingly precocious Dakota Fanning plays a pampered 8-year-old going on 58. Everything about it, from after-school-special premise (girl teaches woman how to act like an adult, woman teaches girl how…
No Shelter
In a little more than a month of operation, the all-ages club Shelter was already showing signs of progress. “We were kicking butt,” says owner Doug Kirschner. “We had some pretty good shows, where the place was packed, and the kids were loving it. Parents were loving it. Parents were dropping their kids off and…
A Crack in the Law
Prince Phillip Hill’s autopsy report is written in a language that’s equal parts Latin and Mickey Spillane. The coroner’s notes mention arteriosclerosis and a tattoo of a woman on the right forearm. A subgaleal hemorrhage and a stab wound. Cutaneous and dark purple-red contusions. Multifocal portal triaditis and blunt impacts to head. Hill — “a…
Shred-heads
Deck. Wheels. Attitude. This is the stuff of Grind, a new comedy about skateboarding and its effects on the human psyche. Neither young dawgs nor old poops will be surprised that the movie is about friendship, competition, product-placement, and like, chasing one’s like, dreams. Yet Grind craftily sidesteps the same-old; where it could have been…
Warped Values
As the Goodtime III cruise ship motored past Tower City Amphitheater in the early afternoon, its patrons waved, Love Boat-style, to the mass of people on the shore. In response, several hundred middle fingers were extended toward the packed pleasure boat. “Fuck the Goodtimes,” bellowed Billy Boy, the spindly young frontman for Shaker Heights pop…
A Man Needs a Gun
Last year, Eugene Eibler tried to buy a firearm from a Parma Heights gun shop. The purchase was denied and a $315 deposit confiscated after a background check revealed a criminal conviction. A few weeks later, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms informed Eibler that he would have to forfeit two 12-gauge shotguns he…
Con Heir
The heist-film genre, especially in recent years, practices the most blatant brand of cinematic swindle. It’s built upon little more than pilfered plots and purloined characters, and the closer we inspect the goods, the more we discover that the diamonds are phony, the bills counterfeit, the treasure utterly worthless. Who can tell apart the litany…
Solomon Burke
In the last year, Solomon Burke won a Grammy and a W.C. Handy Award, sold more than 200,000 copies of his album Don’t Give Up on Me (recorded with Eric Clapton, Jools Holland, and Van Morrison), and opened for the Rolling Stones, Morrison, and the Counting Crowes. He also toured Europe several times and performed…
Honey, I Shrunk the City!
The Greater Cleveland Growth Association is the nation’s oldest and largest chamber of commerce, the region’s leading business group for 155 years. Dennis Eckart earns more than $373,000 annually as president and CEO of the nonprofit, whose mission is to “serve as the catalyst for economic growth and jobs creation in Northeast Ohio.” “Eckart has…
Grassy Noël
Wit is dead. Okay, maybe it’s not dead — but definitely on life support, with a gaggle of distant but healthy relatives (slapstick and farce among them) lurking nearby, ready to yank the plug. In a world in which Jimmy Kimmel and Carrot Top are considered funny, it’s understandable that many cast a fond eye…
Dead End America 2003
The old Grog Shop was one of the city’s more local-friendly clubs, and the newly relocated venue is wasting no time to demonstrate that the tradition will continue. From Friday through Sunday, Dead End America takes in 10 bands each night from all over Ohio. The three nights are loosely grouped by vibe. Rock Friday…
Letters to the Editor
For Shame No pity for Father McBride: I can’t believe anyone would have pity on an old priest who picked up a young boy for sex, took him across state lines, and gave him alcohol [“The Crime of Father McBride,” August 6]. I have been a Catholic my whole life, and never in my life…
Maalox, Please
Just the words “dinner theater” are enough to make many people cringe, as if eating a full meal in a theater (or watching a Broadway show in a restaurant) is somehow inherently vile. But why should that be? If a professional director and actors are hired, why should the onstage outcome always be unpalatable, just…
Sugar Ray and the Bluetones
While Memphis and Chicago can rightly boast of their connections to the blues, for the past few decades the East Coast has been a prolific breeding ground in itself. Players such as Duke Robillard and Jimmy Thacker, as well as legendary bands that include Roomful of Blues and the Nighthawks came up in the Boston-to-D.C.…
Marshall’s Amped
Doug Gray knows his fans are “married and buried” to the music. But the Marshall Tucker Band singer is also well aware that three decades of touring have been the fuel that drives its country-fried rock and roll. The band’s on the road again, this time promoting the upcoming Stompin’ Room Only album, a collection…
Outsider Looking In
In a recent issue of the New Yorker, music critic Alex Ross writes that “pop music is music stripped bare.” In the same way, Outsider art — the work of untrained amateurs — is art stripped bare. R.E.M. and the Talking Heads feature Outsider art on their album covers because it reflects what’s inside: raw…
Evanescence
Driven by singer Amy Lee’s crystal-shattering voice, the Arkansas quartet Evanescence sent a shot of adrenaline into rock radio with the Godzilla-sized riffs and distressed strings of their Daredevil soundtrack hit, “Bring Me to Life.” More specifically, Lee’s desperate wails and piano intro sounded like Tori Amos’s goth sister. But such a defiant musical stance…
This Week’s Day-By-Day Picks
Thursday, August 14 For every titillating moment (lesbian nuns!) in The Good Old Naughty Days — a compilation of 12 short porn films made in France between 1905 and 1930 — there’s an equally disturbing one (canine cunnilingus!). Still, it’s an intriguing peek into what turned our ancestors on; it’s also proof that money shots…
For Love of the Game
He knows there are people, too many, who do not like him. He has to know. They’ve told him to his face–the studio executives who slice and snip the scenes he loves the most and suffer his outbursts for it, the directors he’s pushed out of the way so he could take control of the…
Terror
Ask the swelling ranks of fans what draws them to see Terror, and they’ll probably tell you that the California-based band’s live shows are “exactly what hardcore is supposed to be.” Of course, old-school hardcore fans would probably disagree, claiming that today’s hardcore shows are little more than dunderheaded testosterone contests. Maybe they’ve got a…
Operation Recovery
It’s been nearly two years since September 11, 2001, and Mark Schaming thinks it’s time for the public to get a close-up look at the structural, personal, and aeronautical remains found at Ground Zero. “They should see the enormity of what exactly went on there,” says the director of exhibitions and public programs at the…
Decent Service
Shabby service is something we’ve all grown accustomed to. You know, the server who responds to a problem with a shrug and a stare, or the manager who would never think of adjusting a check — even after you’ve found his toupee in your tomato bisque. So that makes a recent experience at Decent Pizza…
Beres Hammond
What’s more irie than three reggae artists, all equally capable of headlining their own venues, joining together for one bang-for-your-buck concert? From the vintage sounds of the late ’60s to modern-day legends, Jamaica’s Wailing Souls, Marcia Griffiths, and Beres Hammond have held major hits on the top of the charts for more than 35 years.…
Kicking Cannes
SAT 8/16 The Lake Erie shoreline becomes the backdrop for Saturday’s first-ever Overlook Park Short Film Festival. Under a starry sky, 20 short films — by filmmakers from as far as Australia and Thailand — will be shown on a big screen. It’s the creation of the Overlook Park Drive Street Association, a bunch of…
Not So Satisfying
What with Snickers’ long-standing history as a gay-friendly venue and all, one hesitates to call the gorgeous outdoor patio a fairyland, but there you have it. Shadowed by the hulking skeletons of abandoned factories and guarded by a tall stockade fence (mind the triple row of barbed wire), the shaded brick patio at the end…
Roger Wallace
Here’s a switch — a singer from Tennessee who leaves the land of Jack Daniel’s, Graceland, and Dollywood to record country music. That’s Roger Wallace, who started his musical journey as a blues lover, and whose reason for migrating from Knoxville to Austin was to check out the city’s blues scene. Bringing along a borrowed…
Training Daze
FRI 8/15 To most people, Flats parking lots are where you dump your car and go party. To Pat Murphy and 50 of his closest friends, they are the party. Prior to the Browns’ preseason home opener against the Green Bay Packers Friday, Murphy and his Sherwin-Williams co-workers will break in the grill with burgers,…
Generation Clash
Belinda’s is the place where it all began for Sammy DeLeon. “It’s my home away from home” the 42-year-old timbalero/bandleader says of the Madison Avenue salsa spot, where giant inflatable macaws clutch bottles of Corona, and renderings of Puerto Rico dot the walls. Sammy DeLeon y Su Orquesta formed six years ago on the Belinda’s…
Guided by Voices
Guided by Voices frontman Bob Pollard spits out records with about the same nonchalance (and frequency) of ballclubbers heaving chaw. But if you believe his fans and adoring critics, every single release gleams with the fairy dust of his melodic genius — and the more unpolished the surrounding arrangements and production, the better to marvel…
Mmm-Mmm Good for You
SAT 8/16 Don’t go to Crown Point Ecology Center’s Taste of the Earth Festival looking for the usual carnival eats. There’s no funnel cake, cheese on a stick, or sausage sandwiches here. Instead, the fifth-annual fete — Saturday at Crown Point’s 130-acre farmstead — offers organic food harvested from the land. It’s all about the…
Scarlet Fever
The trip began that Tuesday morning in September in a midtown Manhattan hotel, where Tori Amos was staying before beginning her Strange Little Girls tour in Florida a few weeks later. Traveling the country, she kept a musical journal that turned into her latest album, her seventh — Scarlet’s Walk, considered by some to be…
