Passing Strange makes its local debut tonight at CMA
Spike Lee’s latest feature-length film, Passing Strangecomes to the Cleveland Museum of Art for showing tonight at 6:30 and at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 10. Here is our review of the film. Passing Strange (US, 2009) With his indie-rock outfit the Negro Problem, front man Stew put out several albums that reveled in his wry…
Reviews of the Cinematheque’s weekend films
The Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque is showing several great movies this weekend. Here are reviews of just two of them. Amreeka (US, Canada, 2009) Hoping to find a better life in the United States, single mom Muna (Nisreen Faour) flees Palestine with her teenage son Fadi (Melkar Muallem), and moves in with her sister’s…
Photos: The Parma Rose Bowl Parade
You might have seen this already somewhere — WTAM was there to cover the event, it got some play on the Channel 5 news I think, and it was on the front page of the Metro section of the PD on January 2 — but it’s worth putting up here because chances are good you…
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM HER FRIENDS
When Cheryl Stephens was sworn in last night as the newest member of Cleveland Heights City Council, it was clear from some of the faces in packed council chamber just how many friends and allies she’s acquired in her years of working in development for various branches of county and municipal government. (She currently works…
RIP Producer Willie Mitchell
R&B producer Willie Mitchell passed away this morning in his hometown of Memphis. He was 81. Mitchell was the guy behind most of Al Green’s classic ’70s recordings. It was his work on a string of timeless soul albums (like Let’s Stay Together and Call Me) that helped form the Memphis sound of subtle horns…
Tuesday Music News Roundup
Lady Gaga, Pink and other women who might be men are added to the Grammy lineup. Now that Lenny Kravitz has confirmed that yes, that Michael Jackson song that leaked yesterday is real, can he please go away again? Rihanna is dating a baseball player. When is she gonna get around to guys who don’t…
STORY SWAP
Do you have a story to tell? Join local writers and storytellers at Mac’s Backs tonight, January 5th at 7 p.m. to share original, true or invented tales, and get feedback in a small group setting. New presenters are always welcome, or you can grab a seat and just listen. See you at Mac’s Backs…
MORE APPLICANTS FOR COUNTY EXEC OPENING
Local bloggers have been busy collecting info on potential Cuyahoga County executive candidates. Two more names popped up this week: South Euclid Mayor Georgine Welo and a local businessman named Ken Lanci. Welo Welo, 51, is a Cleveland native and has been mayor of the East Side ‘burb since 2003. The Democrat began her political…
Mashup of the Day
Yeah, Nirvana and Lady Gaga are on my iPod. But not together … until now. This brilliant mashup of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” is the best thing we’ve heard in 2010. —Michael Gallucci
Catching Up On All the New Swag
Plenty of new swag emerged over the holiday break to keep you looking fresh for the next couple of months. First, I Love the Hype continues to produce original Cavs tees, this time playing off the old “Bo Knows” ad slogan. Here’s the “Mo Knows” tee, but they also have a “Bron Knows” version, although…
Moving From One of the Best Video Games of All Time to One of the Worst
Shaq Fu, baby! Probably one that Sega would like to have back.
This Just In: Concert Announcements
SOLD OUT The Avett Brothers/the Low Anthem: Sat., Feb. 27, 8 p.m., House of Blues. Harry Bacharach: Thu., Feb. 18, 7 p.m., $10. Nighttown. Flogging Molly/Frank Turner & the Architects: Fri., March 5, 8 p.m., House of Blues. THIS JUST IN 16Volt/Chemlab/Left Spine Down: Sun., May 16, 7 p.m., $10 ADV/$12 DOS. Peabody’s. Bryan Adams:…
New NBA Jam Coming to Wii… Any Way a Shaq and LeBron Pairing Doesn’t Dominate?
It was just about a year ago that Ball Don’t Lie launched a fantasy 2-on-2 tournament, NBA Jam style, with the best and brightest of the league’s players. Brilliant idea, really — everyone loved NBA Jam back in the day (I was partial to playing with Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton), and who wouldn’t want…
Back to the Grind Ticket Giveaway
We hear ya. We couldn’t get out of bed this morning either. And don’t even get us started on that damn drive into work this morning. But we have something to make your week a little better. We have a pair of tickets to Scene’s Bands to Watch in 2010 concert at the Beachland Ballroom…
Monday Music News Roundup
Soundgarden win the Does Anybody Really Give a Fuck We’re Reuniting? award for being the first out of the gate in 2010. Another unreleased Michael Jackson song hits the web. This one’s a duet with Lenny Kravitz, so it kinda sucks. Elton John is helping Eminem with his drug problem. Maybe he can help him…
Planet Mirth
TOP PICK LittleBigPlanet PSP (Sony) The PlayStation 3’s best game finally comes to the PSP, so you can take your cute little SackBoy wherever you go. The gameplay remains pretty much the same: Create and customize a tiny sock guy and guide him through 30 brand-new levels. And like the PS3 version, you can make…
STRIP PLEASES
It’s a tad jarring to see a 160-year-old Pennsylvania Dutch barn emblazoned with a racy red neon sign that reads “STRIP,” positioned just south of the traditional hex emblem. Had this structure appeared on a roadside it would be logical to assume that its main attraction was babes rather than beef. The curveballs don’t stop…
Film Capsules
Opening in Theaters La Danse — The Paris Opera Ballet (France/U.S., 2009) This documentary offers a behind-the-scenes look at the Paris Opera Ballet. Cleveland Museum of Art Lecture Hall. At 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 2, and 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 3. The Moon and Sixpence (U.S., 1942) An adaptation of a W. Somerset Maugham novel…
Up, Up and Away
The year wasn’t without its surprises. Paranormal Activity, the low-budget movie about the haunting of a condo-dwelling yuppie couple, relied on word of mouth rather than a six-figure marketing budget to bring in big box-office numbers. It came out of left field to defy all odds. As much as that might give hope to aspiring…
The Fame Game
It’s hard to write about the year in music without referring to the continuing decline of CD sales, which took another big hit, at least in part because there wasn’t anything that great that came out. When an album did sell, labels milked it for all it was worth. Lady Gaga’s The Fame soared up…
Woovs at the Door
The guys in the Woovs may be in their 20s, but they’re more influenced by ’70s artists like David Bowie and the Rolling Stones than bands they heard growing up in the ’90s. For their second release, No Entertaining in the City, the band expanded its lineup to give the songs a bigger sound. The…
Local CD Reviews
Cadence Delicate (self-released) cadencedelicate.com Kicking off with a string prelude, this Kent band’s debut is eclectic, alternating between System of a Down-inspired metal (“Para Os Obencados”), middle-eastern chants (“4:05 am”), straight-ahead jazz (“Flowers and Stones”) and pretentious prog-rock (“Karma Mosaic”). There’s even the classical-sounding, four-movement “Guitar Suite.” The band sounds most comfortable on lurching, complex…
THE TOP TEN LISTS: MUSIC
Chris Drabick 1. Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest (Warp) Answering pre-release pressure with aplomb, Jay-Z’s favorite indie rockers continue to bring the quiet storm with unassailable harmonies, suite-like tracks and sticky melodies. Veckatimest closed the indie-rock decade on a stunning high. 2. The Avett Brothers, I and Love and You (American) A major-label contract and the production…
People Who Died
Michael Jackson was only 50 when he died on June 25. Claude Lévi-Strauss was 100 when he passed on October 30. Jackson was undoubtedly the more famous of the two, a household name all over the planet. Anthropologist Lévi-Strauss’s name is known to a small fraction of the planet’s better-educated citizens, but few 20th-century thinkers…
THE TOP TEN LISTS: FILM
Charles Cassady Jr. 1. Sita Sings the Blues In this low-budget, high-imagination cartoon, writer-director Nina Paley wryly retells the Ramayana from the viewpoint of its heroine, the wronged wife of a mighty monarch. Commentary and flavor are added by musical numbers from 1920s jazz vocalist Annette Hanshaw, who “stars” in this posthumously. Paley also interweaves…
The Best of Times
Two steps forward, one step back — or maybe one step forward, two steps back. Cleveland’s homegrown visual-arts scene dances a dysfunctional tango with local galleries dipping and swooning in response to what is unavoidably a marginal market. Ability and enthusiasm are never in short supply, but the reality for local artists is that money…
NOT QUITE THE HALFTIME REPORT
New facilities for Great Lakes Theater Festival and Dobama, one of our most adventurous theaters closed its doors and local companies giving full productions of more than a dozen plays by local playwrights has meant plenty of intrigue this season. As the year is about to turn, we asked critics Keith Joseph and Christine Howey…
Arts District: Arts America
The last person with a Cleveland connection to take home honors from the international Tchaikovsky Competition was violinist Jennifer Koh in 1994, who was then studying at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. Held every four years, the contest has — especially in its early years — launched legendary careers: pianists Van Kliburn, Grigory Sokolov…
Bites: Relocating Ferris
“We’re not closing, we’re relocating,” stresses Bruce Ferris, third-generation owner of Ferris Steak House (8700 Detroit Ave., 216.281.1437, ferrissteak.com). At 69 years old, Ferris is easily one of Cleveland’s oldest restaurants, established in 1940 by Bruce’s grandparents, Adele and Ellis Ferris. For decades, the saloon-style eatery dished up quality steaks and chops in a relaxed…
