Brand Nubian
Lost in all the warm fuzzies that now abound about hip-hop’s late ’80s-early ’90s golden era is acknowledgment that it was also the brief musical heyday of the Five Percenters, a group of artists united by their adherence to a radical branch of the Nation of Islam. And none represented the philosophy more successfully than…
Spin Sister
Janel Roland isn’t just a DJ who studied classical voice, piano, and clarinet in college; she’s a doe-eyed chanteuse who can mix her velvety mezzo-soprano with deep-house music. “What’s deep to me may not be to another person,” explains Roland, 26. “I believe that my style of house is deep, because it has an introspective…
World Series of Metal
The 2004 World Series of Metal appropriately takes place in Cleveland, the setting of the Major League movies, a franchise that started impressively and ended with Major League III: Back to the Minors. The metal series launched in 1989 and has run annually since 1995, often as overloaded multi-day megabills featuring big-name acts like Megadeth,…
This Week’s Day-By-Day Picks
Thursday, August 26 Four Caskets Project, So Yeon Park’s exhibit at the Sculpture Center was inspired by her father, who passed away four years ago. “I went back to Korea for a memorial ceremony [a year later],” explains the Kansas resident. “And 9-11 happened the next day.” The work, a reflection on grief and healing,…
Burrito Deluxe
Garth Hudson is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame thanks to his membership in the Band. He did not write songs. He did not sing them. But before anyone accuses him of riding the coattails of better-known compatriots, thank about the first time you heard the Phantom of the Opera-style organ riffs that…
Radio Cure
Greg Kot didn’t set out to document the decline of the music industry. The Chicago Tribune music critic was preparing to write a book about Wilco, the erstwhile alt-country outfit that’s evolved into America’s best and most complex rock band, when a funny thing happened on the way to the story: In the summer of…
Mark Hummel
A surefire way to test the mettle of a musician is with the extended solo. The more “blow” choruses there are to fill, the clearer the read on a player’s resources — and limits. Blues-harmonica ace Mark Hummel is one of those who pass this test with flying colors. Well-versed in the work of the…
Raw Deal
FRI 8/27 The last thing Lora Lowry wants to do on a Friday night is cook. After a long workweek, her only ambition is to settle into a lounge chair at the weekly Sushi Party, with free food from Kimo’s Sushi Shop and deep-house and Brazilian mixes from DJ Misterbradleyp. The party brings back memories.…
R. Kelly
It’s an unspoken rule in American life that another man’s faith is not to be challenged, even that of an accused pedophile following the long R&B tradition of spiritual and sexual conflict. Yet unlike last year’s fascinating and frustrating Chocolate Factory, which appeared at the height of R. Kelly’s troubles without a whiff of premeditation,…
And We Were Thankful
SAT 8/28 How good were the Indians 50 years ago? Bob Feller (center) was the team’s No. 5 starter, and he finished the season with a 13-3 record. That’s how good the Indians were that year. “The general feeling was that we were going to cruise into that World Series [against the New York Giants]…
On Stage
Absurdity in the Streets — Charenton Theater lights up late summer evenings with three classic absurdist pieces (presented separately, one per night). While the production results are somewhat mixed, there are some spectacular moments when these comically pessimistic visions mesh insightfully with our seriously akimbo world. The Bald Soprano, by Eugène Ionesco, is a sweet…
Steve Earle
The revolution will not be televised, and it doesn’t ever get much airplay, except on FM stations with frequencies in the low 90s. Yet Steve Earle’s newest contribution to the political debate, The Revolution Starts . . . Now, could get plugged on radio, courtesy of a few right-wing talking heads. Just as Earle raised…
Wild Cards
SAT 8/28 George Morris studies his five-card hand as if he’s taking a multiple-choice test. To win the weekly Yu-Gi-Oh! Upper Deck Duelist Challenge Tournament, the 14-year-old plunks down his Blindly Loyal Goblin, with its 1,800 attack points. “Here’s my pump-spell [card]. So, what are you gonna do about it?” teases Morris, a Rocky River…
On View
Andrew Wyeth: The Helga Pictures — Andrew Wyeth created 240 images of his Pennsylvania neighbor Helga Testorf between 1971 and 1985. His obsessiveness resulted in work imbued with tension and emotion that smoldered between the observer and the observed, and bordered at times on the voyeuristic. Helga is depicted nude and clothed, reclining and standing,…
Valerie Carter Trio
Valerie Carter was a lovely folk-rock thrush of the ’70s, beloved of Lowell George, contemporary of Nicolette Larson and Karla Bonoff. Like Larson and Bonoff, but unlike fellow George disciple Bonnie Raitt, Carter never quite established herself as a solo artist. Perhaps she was ahead of her time. Rangy of voice and lovely of face,…
Hard Habits
MON 8/30 For the openly gay Kevin Joseph Kelly, playing Mother Superior is a natural fit for his wild theatrical streak. In the all-male musical Nunsense, A-Men!, Kelly is cast as the head of a convent of five wacky nuns from Hoboken. “At one point in the show, [Mother Superior] gets high on those poppers,”…
A New Chapter
Cleveland’s culinary image is getting a little more luster with the launch of the state’s sole chapter of Les Dames D’Escoffier International. Founded in New York City in 1973, the organization aims to bring together the world’s best female chefs, restaurateurs, caterers, culinary educators, food writers, and the like for mutual education, support, and philanthropic…
Lamb of God/Mastodon
On every score, 2004 has been a great year for metal. The summer saw the best Ozzfest lineup ever crush up to three generations of metalheads at once. Atreyu, Candiria, and Dillinger Escape Plan have released astonishing albums. And this week, two of metal’s best new bands are dropping new records. Virginia’s Lamb of God…
Constricted
It should go without saying that when one goes to see a movie about giant killer snakes, the main point of the whole endeavor is to watch people get eaten by giant killer snakes. Hardly rocket science, that. But while Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid does feature a decent handful of deaths, they’re…
Home Works
For many years, diners were where Middle America ate, on those rare occasions when Middle America wasn’t pulled up to her own family table, where she firmly believed she belonged. Not that diner food — the cheap, fast-food alternative of its day — was necessarily any great shakes. But it was inexpensive, casual enough for…
Ray Charles
Too bad Ray Charles isn’t around to hype this CD with its star-studded duets. It’s pretty good in places, forgettable in others, and likely to sell pretty well. Charles’s death on June 10 is probably all the promotion it needs, though. Besides, trophy performers like Charles contemporaries B.B. King and Willie Nelson turn in fairly…
The Agony of Adultery
In We Don’t Live Here Anymore, an overwrought domestic drama about a pair of entangled couples, Peter Krause plays philandering writer Hank Evans, struggling to produce as he propositions female students at the college where he teaches. Blithely pretentious, fretful only over his writing, Hank watches from a distance as his wife burns through an…
Usher Feels the Love
The following is an honest-to-God transcript of a teleconference that took place between regional journalists and superstar Usher Raymond on Wednesday, July 28. It has been edited for space, and the order of questions has been changed, but it is otherwise untouched. Operator: Thank you for joining us today for the Teleprint conference call with…
Jackie Warren
Having begun practicing piano at age five, Jackie Warren plays nearly as naturally as she breathes. Her abilities are as much a reflection of instinct as intellect, and because of this, her lyrical jazz is palatable to pointy heads and plebes alike. Near You is Warren’s first album after a decade and a half of…
Screenplay Zero
You know how fear is scary? Well, director E. Elias Merhige is into that, especially in his new serial-killer thriller Suspect Zero. Absent, however, is the dark-comic malevolence the director smartly cultivated in his successful and disquieting Shadow of the Vampire a few years ago, bullied and bulldozed out of the way by stock noirish…
Fully Stacked
The international headquarters of MusicStack.com might surprise the 30,000 daily visitors who rely on the site to locate hard-to-find recordings. There’s no cube farm, no time clock, no warehouse — just a spare bedroom equipped with a desk set that’s littered with paper piles, CD cases, and notes to self. Ground zero for Dave Stack’s…
Analog
Ray “Analog” Adornetto recently left Spittin Image, which was voted best rap act by Scene readers this year. Not only did he walk away from a hot property, but he left behind one of the area’s most promising young producers. Against the odds, he’s landed on his feet. Analog’s solo debut, Victims of Reality, pairs…
Jet Propelled
There’s a new movie called Hero. Don’t confuse it with that dusty Dustin Hoffman vehicle, nor with the epic Bollywood musical espionage extravaganza, Hero: Love Story of a Spy (though that’s worth a mind-altering look if you can find it). America and India aren’t directly involved here, but huge imperial issues nonetheless loom large, and…
Dream On
Greece is the word. And with the Summer Olympics hunkered down in Athens these days, it’s the only word you hear. Nothing but Achilles this and Aristotle that as sportscasters make reference to Sophocles and kalamata olives during epic badminton battles between Laos and the Federated States of Micronesia. Greece hasn’t hosted an event this…
The Soul of the New Machine
When Howard Dean screamed himself out of the presidential race, his supporters took solace in their mantra that the campaign wasn’t about the man, but the movement. Dean had shown that grassroots activism and the internet could transform a dark horse into a front-runner. Now was the time to apply that thinking to local elections.…
Don’t Fear the Darko
Some of the people who helped bring you such dank, morose amusements as The Crow, Dark City, and The Matrix have a new movie to offer. Like The Matrix, it features a dork who flies through the air. As in Dark City, we witness the protagonist’s world radically changing shape around him. And like The…
This Vote’s a-Rockin’
In one of the most heated election cycles in decades, Americans are focusing on the economy, the war in Iraq, and health care to determine their vote for President. How quaint. And so, like, West Wing. We’ve taken it upon ourselves to shed some light on what really matters when you punch your ballot: namely,…
The Porcelain Goddess
The front bell jangles at the Intensive Care Doll Hospital, and Eileen Green hustles to the door, wiping her hands on capri-length jeans as she goes. There stands Linda Loveland, clutching a long silver box so close to her chest, you’d think it were a child. At Green’s direction, she gingerly places the box atop…
Sarah McLachlan
There once was a time when Sarah McLachlan was an inescapable force in music. After the quasi-gothic folk pop of 1993’s Fumbling Towards Ecstasy and its haunting hit “Possession” made her an alt-rock fave in America, the regal Canadian presided over Lilith Fair like a mother hen and saturated light-rock radio with the three-Kleenex weepers…
That Sinking Feeling
Scott Lukouski and Michael Redman share a passion for the water and a need for speed. So when the two friends craved dueling speedboats, they went to National Marine, the Youngstown company whose website declares it “the nation’s largest performance boat dealer,” boasting 18 years in the business. Lukouski set his eyes on the $250,000…
Booming Metropolis
Electro-industrial stalwart State of Being has signed a distribution deal with Metropolis Records, the Philadelphia-based darkwave stronghold that’s home to Bauhaus, Covenant, and KMFDM. The group’s new disc, Haywire, will be distributed worldwide. “The honor comes from being approached — as opposed to approaching — these folks,” says drummer Randy Blaire. “Metropolis carries a lot…
GOP: Vice City
They’ve racked up more indictments than the Gotti family. They’ve been the target of more investigations, grand juries, and special prosecutors than the Teamsters and Bill Clinton combined. They’re the leaders of Ohio’s Republican Party, and they’re the roughest, rowdiest band of criminals and ne’er-do-wells our state has ever seen! Every time you turn around,…
Quantic
Quantic (Will Holland) is one of those Caucasians who has a natural affinity for melding rhythms from South America and Africa into modern Western genres like house and broken beat without sounding like a cultural imperialist. The respect he shows these styles is as evident as his finesse in incorporating them. On his suavely groovy…
Feeling the Pain
Feeling the Pain Time to tune out FMS: Your article on False Memory Syndrome [“The Lost Years,” August 4] was well-informed and did a fine job of representing the life of FMS families. It is an emotional subject for me, as my sister accused my father of abuse way back in ’87. Our story follows…
