Brews and ‘Dos
8/19-8/25 At Heather Hoty’s salon, she cuts the hair and pours the beers. The Reagle Beagle, a “hair saloon for men,” pairs a full-scale styling center with a beer-and-wine tavern. But, Hoty warns, “I don’t want anyone coming in here getting smashed.” While a customer waits his turn, he can check out the indoor putting…
The Corrs, with Sophie B. Hawkins
Blessed with the type of genes for which many people selectively breed, the members of the comely Corrs clan — singer Andrea, drummer Caroline, violinist Sharon, and guitarist/keyboardist Jim — are probably the longest-lasting Irish musical ambassadors to America besides U2. Specializing in sparkling adult-pop tunes occasionally peppered with tin whistles and other stylistic quirks…
Yes, You Can
A good friend likes to say that there’s only one kind of great pop song — the song that someone had to create, as though the writer and performer had no choice. The song can be corny or cynical, upbeat or downhearted; it doesn’t matter. All that counts is that the person performing the song…
Mohican Blues Festival, with Joe Bonamassa, Anthony Gomes, Mem Shannon, and others
Launched in 1999, the Mohican Blues Festival has raised its profile from local band showcase to regional attraction of note. The fifth edition — there wasn’t one in 2001 — features national talent atop the card and a considerably diverse look at the contemporary blues spectrum. Returning to the Mohican, this time as headliner, is…
Shark Bait
For reviewers, it can be very tempting to want in on the ground floor of a phenomenon, to say they were there first when some low-budget feature with a nifty premise made its festival debut, only to be picked up by a big studio and become a national phenomenon. Whether they’ll admit it or not,…
Patti LaBelle
Patti LaBelle’s comeback album is titled Timeless Journey, but her career has been a longer, stranger trip than casual fans probably realize. Not only did her musical debut (in 1960, with future Supreme Cindy Birdsong, in the Ordettes) predate the emergence of the Beatles, but the woman who would one day become an MOR icon…
Blindness of Strangers
It’s a real credit to Intimate Strangers director Patrice Leconte that even though his film features a couple of ridiculous contrivances to get the plot going, the overall film still feels very true. Leconte has a gift for depicting the quirks of odd relationships; his last film, Man on the Train, speculated upon what would…
Nightwish, with Lullacry
When the word “symphonic” is used to describe a metal band, it’s pretty much shorthand for “sucks worse than having fire ants chew your face off.” There was Metallica’s regrettable pairing with the San Francisco Symphony, which rivals Taylor Dane’s Greatest Hits as one of the most unnecessary albums ever. Kiss didn’t fare much better…
Paddled Senseless
Summer movies don’t get much sillier or more empty-headed than Without a Paddle, and that includes Catwoman and King Arthur. What we have here is a low-wattage buddy flick proposing that a trio of boyhood friends, now 30 years old, can shed the last vestiges of their adolescence by traipsing off into the Oregon woods…
Jane Bunnett & the Spirits of Havana
Jane Bunnett & the Spirits of Havana have been touring since June, baring their highly sophisticated, worldly, and profoundly Latin soul to audiences all across North America. Bunnett has built her career on bridging worlds, releasing a spate of albums that celebrate the complex rhythms of Cuba, a country she has incorporated into both mind-set…
Scarred for Life
On the morning of August 3, Scott Hall gazed out a window on the 22nd floor of the Cleveland Courthouse. From that height, he had a good view of Browns Stadium and the mass of people waiting in line for American Idol auditions, hoping to win the new contest. Hall won a contest once. But…
Absurd’s the Word
Whoever had the nerve to name Charenton’s outdoor tour of free theater Absurdity in the Streets — and imagined that such a title would stand out in the context of our daily lives — is either fiendishly ironic or desperately clueless. It’s clear to anyone who’s been paying attention that the last thing we need…
The Drive-By Truckers
The Drive-By Truckers make no apologies for the South. It’s a region steeped in legend, a region of big men and even bigger myths. On The Dirty South, their third album about southern men coming to terms with their pasts, the Truckers survey some of the fables of the reconstruction. Following the Lynyrd Skynyrd/Neil Young/George…
Feed the Machine
Once upon a time, Bonnie Warner was blissfully ignorant. She was 21, and she found Dean Warner handsome and hard-working. Vows of eternal devotion evolved into three kids and 25 years. But when you’re young and marry for looks, you’re bound to find trouble. There was arguing, accusations of violence, an escalation of distrust and…
On Stage
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) — Covering (sort of) 37 of Shakespeare’s plays in about two hours, this free-for-all careens wildly from a hip-hop Othello to Titus Andronicus performed as a cooking show. Anachronisms abound, but the centerpiece is Shakespeare’s body of work, represented at the start by a gigantic volume sitting on…
Yes, with Dream Theater
Yes is on its 35th anniversary tour, but the smart money says it won’t be playing anything released after its 10th anniversary, at best. And cries of “‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’!” from the lawn will be few and far between. Yes fans want a disciplined oldies show, and that’s what they get. The group’s…
Water Into DeWine
Word out of Congress on Great Lakes restoration efforts these days is pretty negative. A congressional investigation last year ruled that the government’s plan to protect the lakes is, in Capitol Hill jargon, a fucking mess. Senator Mike DeWine’s bill authorizing a $6 billion cleanup reads like a punch line among congressmen. So the National…
On View
NEW The Reverend and Michaelangelo — Reverend Albert Wagner has been painting for 30 years, ever since a leak in his radiator led him to an epiphany by the side of the road. With no formal training, he has created a massive body of work that has received national attention. His images, made of whatever…
Mark Lanegan
The sixth solo record from Mark Lanegan, the dusky-voiced former singer of the Screaming Trees, sounds ripped from the darkest recesses of the human psyche. Murky psychedelic rock songs down a few rounds of bitter whiskey on “Head” and “Sideways in Reverse,” while the Grim Reaper stops by for a nightcap on the Velvet Underground-sighing…
Letters to the Editor
Coe’s Low Blow Some words got no reason: I found David Allan Coe’s letter [August 4] appalling, repulsive, and repugnant. His defense only makes him look like a fool. He states that he did not write any songs titled “My Wife Ran Off With a Nigger” or “Nigger Hatin’ Me,” but then says he did…
Artificial Flavors May Be Added
Probably the best way for a serious foodie to approach the dining scene at Legacy Village (25001 Cedar Road, Lyndhurst) is the way a savvy traveler sums up Disney World: It’s interesting, it’s unusual, and — with an entire world of real destinations beckoning from outside its bounds — one trip is usually enough. That’s…
Mase
On his first release following a five-year break for the ministry, P. Diddy’s old sidekick has created something even his marketing-savvy mentor never accomplished. Welcome Back is the perfect Wal-Mart version of a state-of-the-art hip-pop album, with every ode to floss and sugary, recycled hook intact, but minus all those annoying bleeps. If that sounds…
Tickle Me, Emo
From The Tonight Show to Saturday Night Live, TV viewers in the ’80s couldn’t get away from Emo Philips. In his signature singsongy drone, he fidgeted his way through cracks about nursing a beer with his nipple, getting his unit caught in his fly, and being called a “pervert” by his girlfriend. “That’s a big…
Mohawks and Mullets
Phil Anselmo has nodded off in mid-conversation. It’s been a long day. At just past 7 in the evening on a Sahara-hot Tuesday in Columbus, Ozzfest is in its 10th hour. More than 15 bands have taken to the metal caravan’s two stages already. It’s been only about half an hour since Anselmo led his…
The Twilight Singers
Greg Dulli has one of this era’s great voices. But whether he’s powering the defunct alt-cult favorites Afghan Whigs or the ever-shifting Twilight Singers collective, his low, long sighs tend to sound like they’re rehashing the same song. So the covers album She Loves You is just what the doctor ordered. Dulli’s backing band includes…
Growing Up Fast
In a few moments, Claudia Villafan will become a woman. But right now, she can barely see three feet in front of her face. She is trapped in the dark stairwell of a German cultural center on Cleveland’s West Side, sweating in her heavy, billowing white dress, as her friends argue about how to make…
Six Strings and Shy
Buddy Miller doesn’t want to talk to us. It’s not personal, and he’s too polite to admit it, but Miller doesn’t like chatting on the phone. He’s uncomfortable speaking about himself. But here we are. Ten years ago, few outside of a small community of musicians had heard of the guitarist-producer-singer-songwriter. Now that he has…
Badly Drawn Boy
Consider the sad fate of the typical cult artist. He puts out one consistently enjoyable disc after another, earning positive reviews on each occasion. Unfortunately, his work is too modest to attract monster sales, and after a while, even critics tire of saying the same nice things about him. When journalists finally turn their attention…
This Week’s Day-By-Day Picks
Thursday, August 19 Unlike other summertime music festivals, University Circle’s 3rd Thursdays summer-concert series offers listeners two chances to check out some alfresco tunes today. Lunch and after-work audiences are encouraged to bring blankets and lawn chairs, score some eats (Hot Sauce Williams, Uptown Grille, Rascal House, and others will set up shop at Wade…
The Dirt on Dirty
The thin red line between genius and spectacular craziness is one that musicians of every genre stumble across all the time. But almost no one has engaged in as much high-stakes, high-profile lunacy as The Artist Formerly (and Sometimes Currently) Known as Ol’ Dirty Bastard. A founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan — along with…
No Blindfold
Last summer, No Blindfold became one of the first local bands in years to enter rotation on a big-time Cleveland radio station. Up in the Sky, the band’s full-length debut, makes it easy to hear why 92.3 Xtreme Radio got behind the group: With big, Black Angus riffs, throbbing electronics, and growling vocals that forever…
As the Word Turns
You wouldn’t think the life of a professional Scrabble player would be all that demanding. You just put a few letters together and hope for the best, right? But the four competitors at the center of Word Wars, a documentary showing on the Discovery Times Channel this week, spend every waking hour thinking about anagrams,…
The Bond That Bonds
Timeless Guitars is a vintage-music store filled with vintage musicians. Decades-old Fender amps are stacked like Legos beneath guitars shaped like machine guns and brightly colored Flying-Vs. “I get a lot of my gear here,” says guitarist Tom Pervanje, surveying the Parma storefront as if he were a kid fixing to raid the cookie jar.…
Seven
First the good news: Cleveland modern-rock commandos Seven are patriotic. They dedicate “American Hero” to “the soldiers who are kicking ass and taking names,” laying down a rallying chorus: “American hero/Leading the pack/American hero/Got our back.” So we know their heart’s in the right place. But is nü metal really worth fighting for? New Machine…
Independents’ Day
SUN 8/22 In the martial arts world, Johnny Wu is considered a kung fu master. Off the mat, he’s the brains behind the Cleveland IndieClub. The group of independent-movie buffs meets once a month to get feedback and swap war stories about being in front of and behind the camera. As a bonus, Wu invites…
Quasi-Reformed
Two former members of the popular garage-rock band Quazimodo have reunited to form the Cold Cold Hearts. Singer-guitarist Frank Vazzano started the new group with drummer Jerry Hentsch, New Salem Witch Hunters guitarist Tom Fallon, and former Revelers bassist Rick Brom. “I didn’t sit back and plan to form a band,” says Vazzano, who also…
Buggin’ Out
SAT 8/21 Nora Sindelar guarantees that you won’t turn as green as the “insect vomit” she’ll dare you to eat at Saturday’s Forest Fear Factor. The woodsy take on the TV reality show challenges the brave-hearted at seven stations of slimy stunts, including one where you’re defied to pet a four-and-a-half-foot black rat snake named…
Oneida, with Lives of the Saints
Witnessing Oneida live, you half expect those onomatopoetic POW!s and BIFF!s that you used to see on Batman appear over the heads of audience members. As visceral as an abattoir, this Brooklyn band’s scouring power could smooth out Keith Richards’s wrinkles. Over six albums, Oneida has forged some of the most ruggedly handsome psych-garage rock…
They’re Kinda Like…
THU 8/19 The Damnwells’ frontman, Alex Dezen (second from left), isn’t big on descriptions. In fact, he’d rather have listeners decide for themselves what the Brooklyn-based quartet sounds like than rely on some rock critic’s assessment. “It’s no offense to me if people want to compare us to other bands, but our influences are all…
Uncle Kracker, with Kenny Chesney and Rascal Flatts
“I can’t explain how my career went at all,” says Uncle Kracker, one of few artists to cross genres successfully. “I’ve been hip-hop. I’ve been contemporary, and now I’m regarded by a lot of people as country. I don’t get too hung up on all of it.” Nor should he. After all, Uncle Kracker (né…
