Fired Up
When high-school football stars Shawn (Nicholas D’Agosto) and Nick (Eric Christian Olsen) get wind of an upcoming cheerleading clinic where they can meet some 300 young co-eds, they quickly weasel their way out of football training camp and convince head cheerleader Carly (Sarah Roemer) that they really want to be part of the cheer team.…
Six in Paris (France, 1965)
Six New Wave filmmakers contributed to this film, shown in a new 35mm print. Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. At 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, and 9:20 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20.
Madea Goes to Jail
Tyler Perry’s latest film makes use of an obvious gimmick, as the writer-director dresses in drag to portray the loud-mouthed old woman who won’t take no for an answer. And while a man in women’s clothes always guarantees a laugh, there’s also something about the ugly and overweight Madea that makes you like her despite…
Going Transmetropolitan
Some string quartets focus on a composer or a period, but the Barcelona-based Cuarteto Casals plays the full spectrum of quartet music – from Mozart to Brahms to Shostakovitch, spiked with works of Spanish composers who are relatively unknown elsewhere. Violinists Vera Martinez Mehner and Abel Tomas Realp, violist Jonathan Brown and cellist Arnau Tomas…
Unwrapped
Julie Ransom-Chaney chuckles at the 29 entries jockeying for space on the cover of a condom-filled matchbox that Planned Parenthood of Northeast Ohio will give away to college kids this fall. At tonight's Undercover Competition, the agency will take the wraps off the winning design in this year's condom-distribution campaign, which is centered on a…
Life And Dance
Ballet Hispanico Artistic Director Tina Ramirez, who brings her troupe to Cleveland this weekend for two performances at PlayhouseSquare, has performed many roles, onstage and off, in her long and critically acclaimed career. But the one one she's found most satisfying is teacher. "I started teaching at the same time I got tired of performing,"…
Sympathy For The Devil
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor William D. Mason recently changed his name in order to promote a friendlier image. He now goes by "the prosecutor formerly known as William D. Mason", a title that is represented by the middle- finger symbol. Actually, he goes by "Bill Mason" now. Receptionists answering the phones at the justice center have…
Particle Bored
Some people can’t wait for Watchmen. I’m wired about the enterprising youths doing live-action remakes of "Lint," the killer spoof of a bad black-and-white student art-film short from the TV show Family Guy. Those kids have emulated Seth McFarlane’s animation well, even though, unlike the sitcom, they don’t have a leading lady who changes her…
Local Reviews
Emeralds What Happened (No Fun) Earlier Emeralds albums, like 2008's Solar Bridge, revealed the trio to be heirs-apparent to dimension-surfing krautrock acts like Cluster, offering Brian Eno-esque ambience in a subtly psychedelic paste. What Happened builds from that trippy template, stirring in elements of noise and discord with face-melting results. "Alive in the Sea of…
Particle Bored
Some people can't wait for Watchmen. I'm wired about the enterprising youths doing live-action remakes of "Lint," the killer spoof of a bad black-and-white student art-film short from the TV show Family Guy. Those kids have emulated Seth McFarlane's animation well, even though, unlike the sitcom, they don't have a leading lady who changes her…
Culture Jamming: Balls Out
TOP PICK The Secret Policeman's Balls (Shout! Factory) Since 1976, Amnesty International has hosted benefit concerts starring everyone from English funnymen Monty Python to English rocker Peter Gabriel. This three-DVD box gathers five shows from '76 through '89 featuring many stellar performances, including an unplugged Pete Townshend and a pre-House Hugh Laurie. CD Bee Gees:…
Capsule Reviews
OPENING Casque D'Or (France, 1952) – A tragedy about a gangster's mistress living in Paris at the turn of the century. Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. At 9 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, and 7:35 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. The Clockmaker (France, 1973) – A lonely watchmaker must rethink his life when he learns his son…
Evolutionary Theory
Early on, Buckcherry were marketed as a revival of Sunset Strip titty-bar metal, while Papa Roach crawled onto the charts from somewhere in the middle of the nŸ-metal pack. But each band has evolved from its origins, surviving record-label upheaval, breakups and reformations, and now they're touring together, demonstrating the resilience of American hard rock.…
Still Got It
In sushi circles, Shinano is synonymous with seafood superiority. Back when most Clevelanders were first discovering the joys of a freshly prepared California roll, this East Side restaurant was dishing up traditional Japanese delicacies to sushi-savvy locals. For almost two decades, quality and authenticity were all that was needed to lure diners to Shinano's modest…
You’re Not In Camelot Anymore, Mr. Kennedy
Like so many other big decisions in Cleveland, something major happened behind closed doors. For months on end, the general consensus was trending toward putting the proposed convention center/medical mart complex on Forest City Enterprises' cramped plot behind Tower City. A study from the Greater Cleveland Partnership, housed conveniently at Tower City, came out in…
Motor City Mayhem
Maybe it's synchronicity at its most ironic, but it seems like a weird coincidence that the Stooges' Ron Asheton should shuffle off the mortal coil the same month as the release of the Von Bondies' third album of stripped-down Detroit rock and stroll, Love, Hate and Then There's You. After all, the parallel rise of…
Reel Cleveland
Tower City Cinemas hosts a benefit screening of Running the Sahara, a documentary about three ultra-marathon runners who whimsically decided to embark on an 111-day, 4,300 mile jaunt across the African desert. In the film, the runners wake up early to run and then rest during the heat of the day before running again into…
Tommy Keene, Lily Allen, Passenger Action, And Others Get Graded
Tommy Keene In the Late Bright (Second Motion) If good reviews were the coin of the realm, Tommy Keene could hire Donald Trump to be his cabana boy. Yet, for some unfathomable reason, radio has stayed away from Keene's compelling, melancholy power-pop, while critics continue to anoint every new album as the one that will…
Working Class Hero
D. Roof (Deontae Ruth) was in eighth grade when he started rapping. Lucky for him, he had an open-minded math teacher who took him seriously and encouraged him to develop his skills. "I used to beat on the desk and have fun on the side," says Ruth one afternoon while taking a break from his…
Around Hear
Commercial radio sucks, and since the Sirius-XM merger, satellite radio's only drawing card is The Howard Stern Show. Worry not, music fans: College radio is still here for you. WJCU 88.7 FM, a showcase for underground rock for 40 years, has some of the liveliest fundraising events in the business. Five hard-and-heavy bands will headline…
Graphic Detail
Isadora Duncan: A Graphic Biography By Sabrina Jones Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008 144 pp., hardcover, $18.95 The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA By Mark Schultz Farrar, Straus and Giroux 160 pp., paper, $14.95 Not too long ago, the term "graphic nonfiction" might have referred to how-to manuals, editorial cartoons…
Local Arts News
PlayhouseSquare Partners' annual Jump Back Ball – your opportunity to show financial love for performing arts downtown – is just around the corner. The annual party has sold out for the past five years, so if you come, you can count on finding nearly a thousand people – a who's who of socially and politically…
Local Foodie News
Attention all Cleveland-area restaurants interested in garnering some local, regional and national ink. Cleveland Food Rocks, a homegrown mission spearheaded by Crop Bistro's Steve Schimoler, aims to leverage the upcoming Rock Hall inductions into a citywide food and music promotion. "This is a chance for restaurants to band together for a little self-promotion while offering…
Maybe He Just Likes It
Sheriff Gerald "Nothin' to See Here" McFaul, for three decades the top cop in Cuyahoga County, is under the gun himself these days, with accusations of nepotism and work-time politicking by employees. And then a chance at PR redemption fell into his lap: The Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker human- rights group,…
Twin Powers
Filmed in 2006 and just now receiving a truncated U.S. theatrical release, John Boorman's (Deliverance, Excalibur) The Tiger's Tail jumbles together a slew of compelling themes (including identity theft and the global economic crisis) to precious little effect. Protagonist Liam O'Leary (the estimable Brendan Gleeson) feels like a retread of previous Boorman characters in films…
Punk Monk
Brad Warner has practiced Zen for more than 20 years. He's become an internationally noted teacher of the spiritual discipline, but it hasn't eliminated his problems. Staring down a divorce and pondering an affair, the punk-bassist-turned-Zen-teacher had the idea for his new book, Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip Through Death, Sex,…
Q&A With Cheney Larschied
Cavs dancer Cheney Larschied appears in Sports Illustrated's annual swimsuit issue, on newsstands and CNNSI.com right now. Cheney, 22, who hails from Lima, blogged about her photo shoot at CavFanatic.com. I had other things on my mind when I got her on the phone. When I manage to make it to a game, I usually…
Soviet Jazz
When Igor Butman talks about jazz in the Soviet Union in the late '70s, his enthusiasm is only partly due to the fact that he was a teenager then, just waking up to music. Born in St. Petersburg, which at the time was called Leningrad, Butman started playing classical clarinet in 1972, at the age…
Gunnin’ For No. 1
There's simply no way to describe the Cavs' season so far, other than to say it's been joyful and spectacular. At 40-11, the Wine and Gold are a full 13 games up on Detroit in the Central, have the third-best record in the entire league, the best home record, the game's most unbelievable player, the…
