The Only Arrest Involving Rollerblades You’ll Read About Today
The police blotter item from Cleveland.com immediately below raises one and only one question: What 23-year-old man owns rollerblades? WESTLAKE DRUG POSSESSION, CLAGUE ROAD: A Fairview Park, 23, man wiped out while rollerblading on the Interstate 90 overpass just after 6 a.m. Aug. 21. Investigators found he was carrying marijuana and a pipe and hypothesized…
Pic of the Day: RTA Needs an Editor
“Just put those apostrophes anywhere, RTA.” Via Kadmos on Reddit.
Above the Law
The Depression-era period piece Lawless centers on the bootlegging Bondurant brothers and their run-ins with an overly zealous lawman played by Guy Pearce. The ultra-violent movie features another standout performance by The Dark Knight Rises’ Tom Hardy, who plays the soft-spoken but fierce patriarch of the Bondurant clan. Lawless is so masterfully directed by John…
Plain Dealer Newsroom Anxious After Drastic Changes At New Orleans Paper (Updated)
Update: The Plain Dealer’s parent company will also cut two of its other papers down to the 3-day publishing model. Tick, tick, tick… (NY Times) — Grzegorek *** Today the media world is churning itself into an anxious mess over the fate of the New Orleans daily newspaper, The Times-Picayune. One of the oldest and…
Norwalk Teacher Caught With Student in Parked Car, Put on Leave; Police Investigate (Updated)
Teach. Update: Fitting news update given the feature story in last week’s issue of Scene… Alexa Nasonti, a 25-year-old former teacher at Norwalk High School who was fingered for sleeping with a student, finally gave in a pleaded guilty. She’s looking at a max of five years in the slammer for the felony, but the…
New Cleveland Music Nonprofit Launches with Ian Hunter Benefit September 26
Steve Popovich Last year, the Cleveland music scene lost a couple of its most historically significant players: Steve Popovich, founder of Cleveland International Records and all-around Cleveland music cheerleader, and former Plain Dealer rock reporter Jane Scott. Popovich had been a constant presence at the Beachland Ballroom, and his sudden and unexpected passing started Beachland…
Psst … The Cedar Lee Theatre Needs Your Help
The Cedar Lee Theatre really wants to show Cure for Pain: The Mark Sandman Story. But they can’t, until so many people reserve tickets for the one-night screening. So if you’re at all interested in seeing this documentary about the late frontman for the Massachusetts alt-rock group Morphine, do the Cedar Lee a solid and…
Man Arrested With Gun at ‘Dark Knight’ Showing in Westlake (Updated)
Update II: Scott Smith will be on house arrest with an electronic ankle bracelet until his September 24 court date. In the meantime, he’ll undergo a psychiatric evaluation. (AP) *** Update: Scott Smith’s attorney says his client brought the guns, ammo, and knives to the theater for protection because he was concerned about someone else…
What To Do This Week: Get Out!
Clevelanders know better than to let gray skies dampen the fun. Here are three picks for weekday entertainment: Monday August 27Navy Week Begins: The Navy’s Blue Angels flying team is always a highlight for patrons at the annual Cleveland National Air Show, which takes place Labor Day weekend at Burke Lakefront Airport. This year it…
An interview with the Front Bottoms, who play tonight at Now That’s Class
New Jersey’s the Front Bottoms are still getting some good mileage out of last year’s self-titled release, a collection of nerdy indie pop tunes with undeniable charm. The band plays a few more stateside shows, then heads to Europe before coming back to the States for a series of dates that extend into November. Singer-guitarist…
What to Do This Weekend: Get Out!
AllGoSigns This weekend’s shaping up to be a beauty. Don’t let the usual errands, chores, or studies keep you from having a little al fresco fun. Here are three good bets: Friday, August 24:Roar Along the Shore: Last year, Danielle DeBoe — proprietress of Ohio City boutique Room Service and the recently closed Dredgers Union…
Concert Review: The Heavy at House of Blues
When the Heavy finished their hour-long set last night at the House of Blues without playing their sole hit, “How You Like Me Now,” singer Kelvin Swaby taunted the audience. “Do you feel shortchanged,” he said as he returned for the encore that predictably would include the catchy single. It was really the most memorable…
Rock Hall Panel Revisits WMMS’s Past and Speculates About Radio’s Future
David Helton’s Buzzard People who weren’t around or who were too young to remember Cleveland in the ’70s and ’80s might wonder why anyone would make a fuss over a mundane “guyzone” station like WMMS, with its bland commercial hard rock and its focus on sports and hot babes — appealing to a specific group…
Columbus Middle Schools Plagued by Inappropriate Sexy-Time and Oblivious Teachers
“Ah, just don’t read what I inscribed in the bottom of the apple, okay kid?” This double-shot of news out of Columbus dovetails nicely with our cover story this week, a deep-sea excavation into Ohio’s troubling proliferation of teacher-student sex scandals. According to the Dispatch, a pair of teachers from a Columbus middle school are…
MTV Wants to Make Your Pain in the Ass Pet Even More Intolerable
The Greater Cleveland Film Commission just posted a casting call for humans who have a dog, cat, monkey, or whatever that’s become a colossal pain in the balls. MTV’s True Life reality show is hunting for people in Northeast Ohio who have out of control pets. And they want to make these pets TV stars,…
Singer-songwriter John Legend discusses the coming presidential election
During the last presidential election campaign, neo-soul singer-songwriter John Legend worked hard to make sure Barack Obama got the gig. Now that the next presidential election is only a few months away, Legend is back campaigning for Obama. He’s spending the day in Toledo and then heading down I-75 to hit Lima, Dayton, Cincinnati, and…
And the Winner of the Free Collinwood Restaurant is…
It was an offer too good to refuse: As part of his ambitious neighborhood development project Operation Light Switch, Alan Glazen was offering up an existing Collinwood restaurant for zero down and zero rent for six months. “I don’t want to start my project by closing down one of the few things there,” Glazen explained…
Jennifer Summers, Childcare Charity Worker, Pleads Guilty to Stealing $20,000
We’re starting to sniff out a theme here in the police blotter. Seems the new thing to do for the desperate and depraved is to steal from kids’ organizations. Earlier this week, we had the wife of a Parma Heights cop allegedly pocketing funds from a traveling soccer team. Now, another woman has pleaded guilty…
Rib Cage Brings Real BBQ to the Heights
Cleveland Heights is just two days away from landing a bona fide barbecue joint. This Friday evening, The Rib Cage (2214 Lee Rd., 216-321-RIBS) will open in the Cedar-Lee District, in a space that has housed a long line of short-lived eateries. Most recently, the address belonged to Club Sober. Robert Hill, owner of the…
CD Review: Bloc Party
On their first album in four years, the London quartet still finds reasons to work in those cool '80s and '90s bands they're influenced by. So you'll hear some Cure in “So He Begins to Lie,” Joy Division-style minor-chord brooding in “3X3,” and Blur's jagged rhythm stutters in “Octopus.” You'll also hear bigger and more…
Savage Love
Dear Dan: I am a college-age gay male. Last year, I dated two guys. The first — let’s call him Mitt — I dated for five months. He broke up with me, and it hurt as much as breakups do, but I got over it. A few months later, I dated another guy — let’s…
Clubland
JC Koszewski has been a concert promoter for about nine years, usually putting on shows by Mushroomhead and other local metal acts. Because he felt that “any festival that uses the Cleveland name only offers false promises,” he set out to create a concert that would “unite all the local musicians.” “I wanted to have…
Screens
A Separation Last year’s best movie comes to home video this week — the perfect medium for Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s excellent divorce drama. But don’t let the words “divorce drama” deceive you; A Separation aims way bigger than it lets on. Simin (Leila Hatami) wants to leave Iran so that her preteen daughter can…
Forbidden Love
All across Northeast Ohio this week and next, bells will be ringing for a fresh, bright, promising school year — new notebooks and pencils and shiny red apples. And a new batch of prospective victims for teachers. It will happen. While some student sets his/her sights on the blackboard to catch a first glimpse of…
Concert Calendar
8/23 John Brown’s Body The eight white guys in the New England-based reggae group John Brown's Body refer to their music as “future roots music.” Which apparently means they spike their island sounds with some electronic and hip-hop elements. Not very original, but at least they get a groove going. It's been three years since…
CD Review: The Darkness
It's been seven years since British goofballs the Darkness released an album. Not that it matters, since they've always sounded stuck in 1979 anyway. Their Spinal Tap schtick wears thin after a few songs, but you should still check out Justin Hawkins' falsetto-screeched “every man, woman, and child wants to suck my cock” from “Every…
Reddstone Reboot
If Reddstone offers any clues as to how the service will be at Town Hall, Fabio Salerno’s as-yet-unopened Ohio City restaurant, then future diners should be very well taken care of. Over the course of two dinner visits, the almost exclusively female staff worked the busy brick-paved patio like a single-minded entity. Eager, perky, and…
Film Capsules
Hit & Run Annie (Kristen Bell) plays a dumpy-town college professor who’s totally content living there with boyfriend Charlie (Dax Shepard). But when her boss lines up a job interview for her in Los Angeles, the opportunity seems too good to pass up. The only problem: Charlie is in the witness-protection program and isn’t supposed…
We Get Mail
Surprise! Jon [Hill] is so good at what he does, I can say without reservation his basses are the best out there today — and I have been playing for a little while, so I know whereof I speak [ “Axe Man,” on the Scene cover, August 15, 2012]. Plus, he is the only person…
Local Band in Focus
Meet the Band: Carol Schumacher-Yachanin (bass, vocals), John Kalman (guitar, vocals), Stanton Thatcher (drums), and John Neely (guitar). Supergroup: All four members of Founding Fathers are seasoned local musicians: Thatcher and Neely played in Tokyo Storm Warning; Kalman was in Roue and is currently a member of Terminal Lovers. Schumacher-Yachanin has done time in several…
A Working Girl’s Revenge
Aside from the fact that she’s under the spell of a dominatrix who is making her service throbbing members of the U.S. military, Tesla is just your average Cleveland girl: street smart, tender-hearted and dreading going to work on Monday morning. Her boss is the evil Marc Androse, a “Gordon Ramsey wannabe” who thinks that…
CD Review: Way of Life
(myspace.com/wayoflifecleve) Now that bro-rockers like Nickelback and Creed have fallen out of favor with an industry that would rather give its top Grammys to bands like Arcade Fire, only groups that are super-passionate about generic-sounding hard rock want to play that type of music anymore. Like Cleveland’s Way of Life, who aren’t bad by any…
Sweet Stuff
When singer-guitarist Lou Ragland performs this week at the Beachland Ballroom with Hot Chocolate, the Cleveland soul and funk band that he led in the early ’70s (not to be confused with the British group that had a hit with “You Sexy Thing”), it will mark the first time he’s played with the group in…
CD Review: Owl City
Adam Young opens his bedroom project to collaborators on the latest Owl City album, but it's mostly the same whispery quasi-spiritual stuff that made “Fireflies” a massive hit. Despite help from pros like Blink-182's Mark Hoppus filling out the sound, The Midsummer Station doesn't pack the hooks found on Young's last two albums. One exception:…
CD Review: Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffitti
Reformed low-fi indie rocker Ariel Pink expands the musical palette he used on 2010's Before Today for another wild trip through his genre-jumbled mind. He's still a weirdo, exploring the sonic spaces between garage and psych rock, and combining '60s organ with Bowie-like space oddities. Proof: Mature Themes' first single is a cover of an…
Tempest in an Irish Teapot
The Boys From the County Hell, a raucous Irish party band, are perennial favorites at The Harp, the expansive pub at West 44th and Detroit on the western edge of Ohio City. But mention the band’s name to nearby residents, and it’s like lighting a fuse. The group’s performances on The Harp’s outdoor patio this…
Resurrection
By conventional measures of mall health, Euclid Square Mall is on the critical list. One of its two anchor stores, Kaufmann’s, withdrew in the late 1990s. Smaller stores followed, and its last remaining national retailer is a Dillard’s outlet. Google the shopping center, in fact, and you’re apt to be directed to deadmalls.com, a slightly…
CD Review: Yeasayer
After the weirdly exciting, and kinda surprising, pop detour of 2010’s Odd Blood, the Brooklyn-based Yeasayer make a slight return to their more experimental, psych-pop roots on their third album. But they haven’t completely abandoned the playful, accessible hooks and tribal thumps that made Odd Blood’s “Ambling Alp” and “O.N.E.” so irresistible. Songs like “Fingers…
On View This Week
Breakneck Gallery Where’s My Jetpack? 2. Breakneck’s reliable roster of pop-addled artists — including Josh Usami, Eric Kaplan, and CHOD — memorialize what tomorrow looked like yesterday. (That’s CHOD’s “Space Cadet,” left.) This retro-futurist show reimagines technologies from classical science fiction that failed to pan out, and reflects on how the unimagined digital age changed…
Fowl Play
It’s no secret that everything is not what it seems. But sometimes, we need a reminder. Take the rude children’s ditty “Milk, Milk, Lemonade,” in which the kids aren’t really chanting about beverages. They’re commenting about the fluids that emanate from, eww, girls. A wacky play bearing the same name, MilkMilkLemonade by Joshua Conkel, is…
The People’s Party
Dante Boccuzzi, Karen Small, Steve Schimoler, and countless other Cleveland chefs learned about the West Side Market's Centennial Gala the same way everybody else did: namely, by reading about it in Scene and The Plain Dealer. The bash, to be held on Saturday, November 3, is a star-studded event that features as much out-of-town talent…
Soundcheck
Former Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra has had a prolific career ever since the legendary punk band dissolved in 1986 (the group has since reformed without Biafra). After the original Dead Kennedys split up, Biafra immediately started making solo records and collaborating with a wide range of artists. A spokesperson of sorts for the far…
