Kurtis’s Curse
When he was only 13, Kurtis Blow sneaked into his first disco at a Harlem nightclub. Pete “D.J.” Jones was working the turntables, and J.T. Hollywood was on the microphone. Captivated by the way Hollywood moved the crowd, Blow knew then that he had found his calling. While he admits that the disco ball hanging…
Name That ‘Tuning
Christopher Fortunato has an unenviable task this morning. An attorney for the city of Cleveland, he’s standing before a panel of skeptical judges, trying to defend a law that punishes only gays. “Tell me what’s rational about this statute,” demands Judge Patricia Blackmon. She’s hearing the appeal of Joseph Maistros, who, two years ago, propositioned…
To Hell With the Devil
“I’m a bad, bad person,” Marilyn Manson said proudly between songs. As part of Ozzfest, where it’s good to be bad, Manson’s statement was an appropriate summation of the daylong festival’s motif. He looked the part, too, his stringy black hair and emaciated torso giving him the look of a medieval demon. Manson, Black Sabbath,…
Scenes From a Drug War
From the beginning, Cleveland has not agreed with Ranford Washington. He arrived early one summer morning in 1999. His train, the No. 49 from New York, was over an hour late pulling into the depot downtown, so Washington wasted little time. He stepped off the Amtrak and headed straight to the public telephones. He made…
Sugar Ray
The last thing anyone needed in 1997 was another fun-loving frat party band from Southern California. But then dropped the bomb called Sugar Ray, a likable ska-punk troupe that turned out the inescapable hit “Fly.” Few were aware that photogenic frontman Mark McGrath and company cut their forgettable first album, Lemonade and Brownies, two years…
Depression Class
During the Depression, the only thing more popular than soup lines was self-improvement. The gospel of pluck, poise, and stick-to-itiveness was preached in handbills and on street corners. There were no decent jobs, but Americans had their holey shoes shined and their tattered ties straightened, in case any did come up. The gurus of the…
Matchbox Twenty
The day of reckoning approaches for Matchbox Twenty. Will these middling alt-pop rockers — superstars from day one, with their anonymous faces and anonymous white-bread sound — spiral downward and turn into has-beens Hootie & the Blowfish? Or will frontman Rob “Perhaps You Know Me From My Work With Santana” Thomas turn into someone like…
Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson — Miss Jackson, if you’re nasty — has moved on from the claustrophobic, S&M-inspired grooves found on 1997’s The Velvet Rope to more routine dirty talk on All for You. But sound architects Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the beatmasters who’ve guided her to superstardom, surround her in customary jams that come off…
Radiohead
Canonized for its first three albums, Britain’s Radiohead turned down the guitars on Kid A and Amnesiac to wield Rhodes keyboards, drum machines, and the electronic black magic of Pro Tools. The two records, which have been revered as much as they have been rebuked, deconstructed the experience of mainstream music. The albums, both of…
Utah Saints
Joining production forces in Leeds, England, just over a decade ago, the Utah Saints (Jez Willis and Tim Garbutt) became industry sample advocates for the burgeoning rave scene with their 1991 self-titled debut, an album that paired rock beats and soaring synths with blatant samples from the likes of the Eurythmics and Simple Minds. Grafting…
Owls
There’s a line from one of the Madeline books (there’s a lofty literary reference for you) that goes, “Gypsies never ever stay; they only come to go away.” That couplet could have been tattooed on every member of Joan of Arc, the recently dissolved dadaist noise-pop aggregation led by singer-guitarist Tim Kinsellas. Joan of Arc…
Gillian Welch
Cribbing its title from Blind Willie Johnson’s field classic “John the Revelator,” Gillian Welch’s Time (The Revelator) is a rustic rumination on life, death, and music. The album celebrates rock and roll through a series of tunes — “I Want to Sing That Rock and Roll” and “Elvis Presley Blues,” most obviously — and thoughts…
Smeller’s Market
It’s a recipe for olfactory delight: Take 200 acres of stinking garbage. Cover with topsoil and grass. Let simmer for 23 years. Uncover on a hot, muggy day, and stir. Can you say, “Holy %$#&,” boys and girls? Garfield Heights certainly can. The smell of springtime in New Jersey has been wafting across the city…
Freekbass
Back in the days when he was playing alongside George Clinton in Parliament/Funkadelic, Bootsy Collins set the standard for funk bassists everywhere. Collins, who wore ostentatious, glittery outfits (oversized sunglasses became his trademark), went on to have a semi-successful solo career after parting ways with Clinton. Cincinnati’s Freekbass (bassist Chris Sherman, formerly of Shag) clearly…
Money Men
There is only one reason Jon Favreau’s new film is called Made. Not too long ago, his old friend and co-star Vince Vaughn called him up and told him, in no uncertain terms, “You gotta write something that can get made.” It was less a demand than it was a plea. Five years ago, Vaughn…
Old Flames
Louise Lasser has worked in film and TV since 1965, but when the actress is asked for a bio, she keeps it brief. “I really only like to write down the things I loved doing,” she explains. Sure to be mentioned are her mid-1970s stint in the fictional town of Fernwood, Ohio, as the star…
Raving Over a Tired Rant
Back-alley abortions double the death So, I have just read a letter by a Louis H. Pumphrey [July 5] pertaining to the recent article “Abortion 101” [May 31]. Was Louis attempting to shed new light on the ol’ abortion debate? Because all I picked up from the letter is the same old tired ranting of…
Poetry Slammer
Daniel Thompson, Cuyahoga County’s poet laureate, realizes he could be sweeping floors Saturday night instead of doing a reading. But as he once told a judge who had assigned a fellow bard 300 community service hours: “This guy’s a poet — he shouldn’t be sweeping floors!” Instead, Thompson will be aboard the Coventry Magic Bus,…
Men Will Be Boys
Ernest Hemingway, who would have known, claimed American literature found its voice in Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass and Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. As yet, no one has figured out a way to turn Whitman’s rugged individualists into chorus boys. But there’s been no shortage of attempts to convert Huck and his…
Fly by Night
The most telling scene in Rush Hour 2 comes during the closing-credits montage of outtakes that have become the most enjoyable part of Jackie Chan’s Hollywood outings. Chris Tucker — the poor man’s Eddie Murphy, who now pockets more than the real thing per picture — and Chan have just pushed one of the film’s…
Tastes for Adventure
The service is indifferent, the menu is confusing, and the decor would be the envy of any 13-year-old baseball freak. But what quirky little Lozada’s Puerto Rican restaurant lacks in grace, it makes up for in color, verve, and authenticity. Founder and home-taught cook Santos Lozada Sr. opened his original Cleveland restaurant on Lorain Avenue…
The Slow and the Spacey
You know how wacky those free spirits are, right? Impulsive women likely to throw their clothes off and worship the sky at a moment’s notice, say what they feel, talk to animals, and generally act like unfettered id to some poor repressed chap who desperately needs unbuttoning. If you believe the movies, women matching this…
Seasonal Flurry
Chef Michael Symon recently unveiled some new warm-weather menu items at Lola (900 Literary Road; 216-771-5652), his bustling bistro in Tremont. Pick-of-the-season treats include a summery salad of assorted heirloom tomatoes, simply dressed with lemon-infused olive oil and a splash of aged balsamic vinegar, fanned around a wedge of creamy-tart goat cheese and topped with…
Japanese Bus Ride
The first thing you must know about Eureka, the new film from Japanese director Shinji Aoyama, is that it’s almost four hours long — three hours and 38 minutes, to be precise. With no intermission. Having said that, let me add that — despite its length, despite its deliberately measured pacing and avoidance of flashy…
Rollins Gets Nice
Ever-quotable punk icon Henry Rollins once said there were few things he hated more than U2. Now that the Irish group has “saved rock,” is it possible that ol’ Hank has changed his mind? “Oh, yeah, they saved rock with that fuckin’ corny lightweight pap record,” he says of the band’s critically lauded All That…
Radar Love
It’s eight o’clock in the morning, and Ron “Whitey” Hafner is slathering horseradish on kielbasa. He rose at 4 to make the pungent sandwiches, wrap them in foil, and drive to Bowling Green from his home near Toledo. The trunk of his Oldsmobile presents a makeshift picnic spread; Whitey sits on the bumper, eating one…
