Beans and Mice?
Scott Taylor: Crushing small restaurants for fun and fame. Thinking of taking your date to Luchita’s on Shaker Square tonight? Then you should know about a new special on the menu: mouse poop con queso! Action 19 investigator Scott Taylor, known for his courageous battles to shut down small, family-owned, ethnic restaurants, found health department…
This Just In… Concert Announcements
The Police are coming to the Q This week, Scene has more new concerts than J.D.’s got Salinger. The Police’s long-anticipated reunion tour comes to the Q. Top-shelf hip-hop from Nas. Hot dance tunes from NYC’s Baby Dayliner. Punky-trad Celtic music par excellence from Black 47. Premium screamo from From Autumn to Ashes. Melodic sissy…
Black on Black Criminals
Received via voicemail: Hi. I was calling concerning the article…that you wrote on Black on Black Crime. I was just calling to tell you what a great job that you did on this article, and I’m happy that you were able to expose a lot of our black leaders — who we are looking up…
Fear at the Orchestra
I read your piece on Preucil [“Sour Notes,” February 14]. I do understand why the orch members couldn’t go on record as to who they are. There is that air over there as of late that if somebody talks to the press, it’s thought of as betrayal. I do know that people do fear for…
Greg Brinda Bumped
Greg Brinda When Craig Karmazin, owner of Good Karma Broadcasting (but better known as the son of Viacom president Mel Karmazin), scooped up both of Cleveland’s sports-radio stations, he spent an afternoon talking to listeners. Most wanted to know, in the words of one caller, “if there was some other way Greg Brinda could be…
The Prince of DUIs
It’s been a long road since Jess Brown earned his first DUI conviction in 1977. Little did he know that simply driving home from the bar would earn him the dubious distinction of a state record. Today, Brown was convicted of another two DUI charges in Summit County. He now has 20 DUI convictions to…
Catholics, Blacks, Jews No Longer Scary
Not scary. The latest Gallup indicates that Americans no longer consider Catholics, blacks or Jews very scary. The poll asked the question: “If your party nominated a well-qualified candidate for White House ’08 who was ______, would you vote for that person?” More than 90 percent said they’d vote for a Jew or a black…
Investing in Iraq
Iraqi Dinars are literally cheaper than toilet paper Who would have thought that investing in Iraqi currency wouldn’t be the safest place to put the kids’ college fund. A recent consumer alert from the Cleveland Better Business Bureau cautions against buying Iraqi Dinars from the Chicago-based company United World Exchange, citing cases nationwide in which…
Kucinich: Captain Opportunism
Denny was stridently anti-abortion — until he wanted to be the Sweetheart of the Left. Unsurprisingly, Clevelanders aren’t the only ones tiring of Dennis Kucinich’s presidential campaign. Markos Moulitsas Z�niga, the lefty blogger behind the Daily Kos, recently unsheathed his disdain for the alleged congressman. He notes that Captain Opportunism used to be stridently anti-abortion…
The Oscars, Cleveland-Style
Scene staffers Becky Meiser and Meredith Pangrace tried desperately to play celebrity for a night. It’s a sad, sad tale. Being fans of alcohol and celebrity culture, Scene art director Meredith Pangrace and I were super-excited to attend Cleveland’s “only officially licensed” Oscar Night Party. According to the pre-event buildup, there was to be a…
Mikey G’s Entertainment Picks of the Week
My Chemical Romance is at the Wolstein tonight This week’s top arts and entertainment picks around town, from the guy who’s paid to pick them: Monday: Word around the Scene office is that My Chemical Romance is for girls. Teenage girls to be specific. If that’s the case, sign me up for a subscription to…
A Question of Romance
Q: My husband and I will be coming into town from Columbus for our anniversary. Do you have any recommendations for a romantic dinner? Someone suggested Johnny’s Bar… your thoughts? Amanda Columbus A: I think the Johnny’s Bar suggestion is a good one. The cuisine at this Fulton Road spot is mainly upscale-Italian, with an…
Handicapping White Rapper Finale
VH1’s White Rapper Show reaches its season finale tonight with a final showdown between vanilla rappers John Brown and $hamrock. Our money’s on $hamrock, a fairly fly white guy from Atlanta, and easily the least clueless of the show’s dubiously selected contestants. But what do we know? To better handicap the contest for you, we…
LeBron: No Longer a National Sweetheart?
The national sporting press appears to be losing its affection for LeBron. Earlier this week, ESPN’s Bill Simmons wondered if the Cavs star is about to become the next Britney Spears — the celeb who flares early, then burns out just as swiftly. To hear Simmons tell it, LeBron is regressing, losing his drive, but…
Mikey G Don’t Know Shit
Mick Boogie As fun as disturbing sex from some guy (girl?) named Nuri sounds — and really, it sounds delicious — the smart money for Saturday night is on the Touch Supper Club’s “I got five on it” party, part of the club’s new monthly “classic hip-hop extravaganza.” Mixmasters Mick Boogie and Terry Urban will…
Judge Rules, Channel 5 Jumps
Judge David Matia believes the First Amendment is way overrated It’s a sad day in journalism when a judge orders a local TV station not to run a news report. It’s an even sadder day when the station actually listens. WEWS reported yesterday that Cuyahoga County Judge David Matia had issued a restraining order blocking…
A New Era of EPA Stonewalling
Chris Korleski: The new guy covering up pollution in Ohio It was an exciting day when Governor Ted Strickland announced a change at the helm of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. Since the agency’s beginnings in the Days of the Burning River, it’s motto has been, “It’s not pollution until your kid’s head start glowing.”…
Cleveland Represents at South By Southwest
This Moment in Black History The annual South By Southwest Music Festival (SXSW) takes place in Austin from March 14-18. It’s basically five days of jamming, networking, schmoozing, partying, puking and druggin’. Hundreds of bands come from around the planet — some famous, some not so famous, some corporate, some indie. And in addition to…
They Should Check the Gun
Voicemail received in response to “Caught on Tape,” February 21: “I’m calling, first of all I’m a black man, and ‘nigger’ was used, very stupidly by stupid people, but that’s immaterial. What should be checked out is the guy bought this gun from a person. Did they find out where the gun come from? Did…
‘I’m really kinda appalled’
Voicemail received in response to “Caught on Tape,” February 21: “I just read your article, and I’m really kinda appalled by the way that you wrote it, because it’s almost skewed that it’s her fault — Elizabeth’s fault. I’m actually at a capital murder case now, when my cousin was continually threatened, and in the…
Mikey G’s Weekend Entertainment Picks
This weekend’s top arts and entertainment picks around town, from the guy who’s paid to pick them: Friday: There aren’t too many old-school toys that deliver like Silly Putty. Can you shape Lincoln Logs into a ball and bounce it off the wall? No, you can’t. The artists behind the new Silly Putty exhibit found…
Scene: Racist Hypocrites
What, pray tell, does this sentence mean: ” No one envisioned that the civil-rights leaders of the era . . . behaved as callously as any redneck when it came time to back up their promise”? [“Black on Black Crime,” February 21] Oh, so “rednecks” — whites, in other words — can blithely be characterized…
You Massacred the Cop
I’d like to comment on the article that you wrote regarding the cop who allegedly threatened his supposed ex-girlfriend and son [“Caught on Tape,” February 21]. I find it humorous, yet disgusting, that reporters can massacre people’s lives in the media. Seriously, have you done any research on these two people, especially on that girl’s…
My Snowman Can Kick Your Snowman’s Ass
Walter Novak: Action Rock Photographer found The Mother of All Snowmen (is that an oxymoron?) near Clague and Lorain in Fairview Park
‘All Politicians are Pieces of Shit’
This week’s cover story, “Black on Black Crime,” describes how Cleveland’s black leaders have allowed construction contractors to scam the city’s minority set-aside program for years. The story has already provoked some impassioned responses. Here’s an excerpt from an anonymous voicemail we received today: “I read you article with some interest… concerning Michael White, Nate…
PD Sports Editor Responds
In case anyone cares, which is highly unlikely, here is The Plain Dealer’s response to my recent bitching about its Cavs’ coverage: Not every story in the sports section is going to be hard news. We offer a mixture of game stories, commentaries, news and features. Sometimes, like the day before the Indians even take…
Downtown Shopping Explosion
We at Scene are super-excited about all the new boutiques opening up downtown, specifically on West 9th Street. On February 1st, the very hip Style Lounge (1273 W. 9th St.) opened its doors. The downtown boutique sells designer jeans and clingy, exotic going-out shirts from showrooms in Vegas, LA, NY, and Chicago. On Friday night,…
Let the People’s Court Decide
Marilyn Milian: Providing TV justice for the daytime viewer The next time one of those Judge Judy-type shows asks to hash out your lawsuit on TV, do it. Dave Nilo is glad he did. Last May, the booking agent for Soundsations/Wizard of Ahs sued As Is band rep Frank Aledia in small-claims court. Nilo claimed…
Jorma Kaukonen: Virtuoso At-Large
Jorma Kaukonen is at the House of Blues March 1 Cleveland nightlife can be totally schizophrenic. Some weeks it seems like all the cool bands are gigging anywhere but here. And then there’s weeks when our concert calendar resembles that of San Francisco or Boston. Luckily, the week of March 1 to is packed full…
The Hollywood Blondes… from Youngstown
Youngstown punkers the Hollywood Blondes are neither blonde nor from Hollywood Money Where Your Mouth Is: Where Scene music writers stop trying to think of a synonym for “resplendent” and let a band talk itself up. Band: The Hollywood Blondes Hometown: Cleveland /Youngstown Sounds like: “Screeching Weasel / Ramones / Queers-type pop punk to entertain…
Farewell to the Town Fryer
We spent Mardi Gras on wobbly chairs in a crowded barroom, tossing back Shiners, sucking on crawdads, dismembering crabs, and listening to John Prine on the jukebox. Somewhere between the time we discovered Shiner bottles could double as crab mallets, and the guys in the Hazmat suits walked in (best not to ask), we lifted…
Introducing Tilt 360
Money Where Your Mouth Is: Where Scene’s music writers take a break from their screenplay to let bands speak for themselves. Even if they suspect they’ll regret it later. Band: Tilt 360 Hometown: Youngstown Sounds like: “Helmet, Quicksand, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Pantera, Incubus, Chevelle.” Fun fact: “Kelly ‘The Ghost’ Pavlik, the #1 middleweight…
Joe P. Tone’s Letter to Himself
This is not a picture of Sasha Pavlovic or Jason Kidd. But since both those guys are ugly, we decided to put this lady’s picture up instead. I finally got angry enough to write a letter to The Plain Dealer today. Since it references gambling and strippers, they’ll never run it, for fear of running…
Fangboner Speaks for Itself
Fangboner bring the sexy back with their hot rock shades. Money Where Your Mouth Is: Where’s Scene’s music writers shut up about Pet Sounds and let the band speak for itself. Band: Fangboner Hometown: Olmstead Falls Sounds like: “80s cock-rock mixed with pop-punk sense of humor, the bastard children of Poison and Guttermouth.” Fun fact:…
Summit County’s 10-year War
The first time Scene caught up with Jack Eldridge, he was stuck in the middle of an eight-year-old legal battle with Summit County. In 1997, Eldridge, along with six others, sued Summit County for wrongfully firing them. The workers claimed that corrupt officials terminated their jobs for trumped up reasons. They won their case exactly…
The Yuppie Tour of Cleveland
This weekend, a barrel of friends came to visit me for our annual Drunk Fest Reunion. Given that all are yuppies — two lawyers, a writer, an actress, a neuroscientist — I knew they would appreciate a more, um, enlightened tour of the town. So just in case you’re planning to entertain some overeducated visitors…
Whiplash, the Cowboy Monkey
When the World’s Toughest Rodeo comes to town Saturday, you can expect to see the usual cowboys, bulls, and rodeo clowns kicking up dust at the Q. But we’re gonna be there for one thing and one thing only: Whiplash, the Cowboy Monkey. Because there’s nothing funnier than a tiny primate dressed in Brokeback Mountain…
Dreamgirls Review Didn’t Capture the Humanity
After reading the review for Dreamgirls [Dream Works, December 20], I came away feeling as if the writer of the article didn’t exactly see the film as I or millions other saw it. For openers, I didn’t feel that she lent enough credit to Eddie Murphy’s performance in this film. The audience was able to…
Midnight Movie
After establishing his musical group as one of the world’s top providers of Halloween and haunted-house music, Midnight Syndicate founder Edward Douglas is set to take the next step into scary media. He’ll direct a remake of the horror-suspense film The Dead Matter — a tale of vampires, the occult, and the afterlife. “It’s horror…
Scott Smith
If times get tough for singer-songwriter Scott Smith, he can always move to Hawaii and impersonate Jack Johnson. Just like the surfing bard, Smith plays acoustic guitar-driven soft rock while crooning in a breathy, mush-mouthed delivery. Hell, he’s even influenced by the same black artists (Bob Marley and Ben Harper) that Johnson whitebreads into boring…
Chief of Shaft
Comedian Doug Stanhope plans to run for president next year. But that doesn’t mean he needs to pay attention to State of the Union Addresses. “I’d be better off going to the bar and reading the sound bites in the paper the next day,” he says. Stanhope’s agenda includes ending wars in Iraq, issues with…
The Holmes Brothers
The power of gospel music comes from the depths of the soul — far beneath lyrics and sound — and can even move those who never make the morning service. But that same righteous fire can also power secular music: blues, R&B, rock and roll, country, etc. Based in New York, the Holmes Brothers –…
Emeralds
Why name your disc Bullshit Boring Drone Band? Because Emeralds consists of three dudes who know they’re exploring the same sound that a zillion other bands are: the extended, free-form drone (think the Firestarter soundtrack, Eno’s Ambient series, or the modulating hum of your refrigerator . . . only really fuckin’ loud). But Emeralds itself…
All That Jazz
Grammy-nominated pianist Jim McNeely headlines this weekend’s Lakeland Jazz Festival. It’s the 35th-annual outing of the local favorite, and McNeely says he’s looking forward to it. “I was playing downtown Cleveland in the early ’70s, and it was pretty funky and depressing,” recalls McNeely, a Chicago native who now lives in New York. “It’s something…
The Mighty Diamonds
Together since 1969, the Mighty Diamonds — Bunny, Tabby, and Judge — have traditionally eschewed the rough-and-tumble trends of Jamaican dancehall, focusing instead on sweet harmonies reminiscent of the soft Philly Soul of the Delfonics and O’Jays. Their honeyed vocals stand at odds with their militant lyrics on such cuts as “Back Weh Mafia.” But…
Ancient Chinese Secret
On a frigid evening like this one, as wind-driven snow skitters across the vacant lots and huddles in the doorways of abandoned storefronts, the stretch of Rockwell Avenue near East 21st looks even more ghostly than usual. Unpeopled and unplowed, it seems less a part of downtown and more a post-apocalyptic playground for yellowed memories.…
The Dead Zone
Death Defying Acts, the Fine Art Association’s 11th-annual one-act festival, opens tonight. This year’s lineup includes three one-act comedies: Woody Allen’s Central Park West, David Mamet’s An Interview, and Elaine May’s Hotline. True to its name, the show includes such mortality-shuffling characters as a suicide counselor and a manic-depressive writer. There’s also a meeting at…
Primordial Undermind
Eric Arn of the Austrian group Primordial Undermind has been on a musical mission for nearly 20 years. Relocating to different cities every few years, Arn has always been helped by a revolving cast of musicians to achieve moments of psychedelic clarity. From acid-soaked guitar manhandling to breezy acoustic drones, those whom he has worked…
A Bitter End
Mellow milk chocolate has the taste, and astringent dark chocolate boasts the health bennies. Can’t someone hook these two up? Joel Fink can. The candymaker and self-avowed chocolate addict, owner of Lyndhurst’s Fantasy Candies (5456 Mayfield Road, 440-461-4511), has been on a three-year quest to find a bittersweet chocolate as mellow and voluptuous as its…
Valentine’s Day Redux
Even though Valentine’s Day was more than a week ago, Baycrafters Art Gallery keeps the party going at tonight’s Wine and Chocolate Tasting. That’s because organizer Mary Sullivan refers to February as the “month of love.” The event was conceived for couples, she says, but she won’t be surprised if ladies make the program “a…
Ramsey Lewis
Born in Chicago, Ramsey Lewis started classical piano lessons at age four, only hearing the occasional jazz title from his father’s record collection. But when he was 15, a fellow church musician asked Lewis to join a jazz band, and he got hooked. At age 21, Lewis formed his own trio with Eldee Young and…
Ho-Hum Hymn
Morally irreproachable and flat as a pancake, Michael Apted’s Amazing Grace is set among bickering House of Commoners in late-18th-century London, but the movie belongs squarely to the blooming subgenre of Whites Saving Dark-Skinned Victims of Empire. Or at least it would be, were Apted able to bring a little drama to the party. Just…
Death Fish
Akira owner Anna Saito had one rule before she added wild fugu to tonight’s Taste of Japan menu: Her chef must take the first bite of the potentially fatal fish before serving it to customers. “If the chef doesn’t clean it just right, he’s dead,” says Saito. “I take the second piece… if he hasn’t…
Insane Clown Posse
Of course, you remember when colorful pro wrestlers like Koko B-Ware and the Honky Tonk Man invaded our homes every Saturday morning, ingraining their lame catch-phrases into our brains? Well, the relative safety of old-school WWF is conspicuously absent from Juggalo Championship Wrestling, an über-violent wrestling league founded by none other than the Insane Clown…
Fly Me to the Moon
In 2003, Mark and Michael Polish made Northfork, though just barely. The brothers, also responsible for the art-house fave Twin Falls Idaho, about conjoined twins who fall for the same woman, lost funding just before shooting began and had to beg for money to finish their reverie about lost souls wandering a flatland netherworld. In…
New Leaf
Carbon Leaf comes from the same Virginia granola-rock scene that spawned Dave Matthews. On its latest album, Love Loss Hope Repeat, it mines similar jam-band-lite territory, mixing acoustic guitars, hooky tunes, and a neo-hippie vibe. Producer Peter Collins, who’s worked with Bon Jovi and Jewel, gives the album a luster that sparks the usually laid-back…
Toots Hibbert
Toots Hibbert was once christened “Jamaica’s Otis Redding” — a flattering title for sure, but it doesn’t begin to describe the immense contribution he’s made to Jamaican music. His group, Toots and the Maytals, are an amalgamation of American soul, jump-up Baptist revival, and raw mento (the 1950s Jamaican equivalent of calypso music from Trinidad).…
17+6-5+1-3+7=23!
The Number 23 grips hold of one stupid idea and runs so far with it, in so many directions, to such little purpose, that it nearly won me over from sheer berserkoid effort. In a nutshell, this nutso movie observes what happens to a man (Jim Carrey) under the impression that every damn thing that’s…
Murder, He Wrote
Even though Sean Chercover’s debut novel is about a Chicago private investigator, the former Windy City PI says Big City, Bad Blood is far from autobiographical. “We don’t share the same opinions,” he says. Protagonist Ray Dudgeon isn’t exactly a guy you’d like to hang out with. He’s cynical, stressed, and idealistic to a fault.…
Black on Black Crime
The runway was a huge job, the biggest that Howard Bradley’s little Glenville company ever tackled. This wasn’t just lending a hand to build a parking garage. This time, $9.4 million and 16,000 feet of runway at Hopkins Airport were on the line. The contract was worth more than twice Bradley Construction’s annual sales. And…
The Bill Frisell Trio
Most folks who come to jazz via rock and roll find their way through the electric guitar. But while the guitar dominates rock, it was a latecomer to jazz. And as a solo instrument, it continues to take a backseat to horns and reeds. That said, the history of the guitar in jazz is peppered…
Yes, She Can Can
The lives of most Broadway dancers consist of blisters, bunions, and enduring anonymity — a fate noted with compassion in the brilliant musical A Chorus Line. Paid to perform in machinelike unison, dancers are drilled to submerge their own personalities for the greater showbiz good. This faceless existence was underscored in the recent two-night stand…
Seasons Change
In the Cannes hit Climates, Nuri Bilge Ceylan gets his Ingmar Bergman on in a film about isolation and relationship dysfunction. The Turkish film director stars as a self-centered college professor who’s going through the motions with his girlfriend, played by the director’s real-life wife. She’s a younger member of a TV crew who has…
Congo, Ohio
Ohio House Republicans went on a retreat recently, and while attendees won’t say what animals they sacrificed — we’re guessing bunnies and Sunday-school students — lawmakers have identified their top priority: the estate tax. Ohio’s “death tax,” as they call it — payable by cash, credit, or Pabst tallboys — affects estates of more than…
Waterson:Carthy
While Dave Van Ronk, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and Lightnin’ Hopkins galvanized the formative days of the epochal ’60s folk scene on this side of the Atlantic, Great Britain had — I mean has — Martin Carthy. A distinctive, earthy singer, dedicated folklorist, fine guitarist, mentor, and songwriter, Carthy was crucial to the development of the…
Capsule reviews of current area theater presentations.
Beehive — It’s the mission of Larry Gallagher’s musical revue to relive the musical changes of the ’60s by revisiting the female singers and girl groups that were prominent in those comatose-turned-tumultuous years. Featuring a cast of six energetic young women, the production is endearingly hardworking but quite uneven, right down to a highly questionable…
Cut and Paste
At today’s Paste, Glue, Scissors, and You! program, the Maltz Museum tries to get kids hooked on the hobby of taking old photos and artifacts and gluing them into a book. The four-week course begins this afternoon with the basics. A month from now, kids should have a scrapbook that looks something like the museum’s…
Oldstock
Seventy or so bodies writhe about in a giggling pile of limbs on the carpet. They circle a glowing blue orb, courtesy of Spencer Gifts. Kaleidoscopes and vibrating massage toys are passed around. A hulking figure in a tie-dyed robe and a black mask and hood is directing traffic. If your parents were at the…
ModQUAD
Freewheeling from random noise to spiraling jazz, ModQUAD plays jam music that’ll get your butt moving. The four players weave a big, fat sound that’s further swollen by a Fender Rhodes, an organ, and an upright bass. It’s experimental jam music for people who don’t like jam music. And based on the reactions of sweaty…
Capsule reviews of current area art exhibitions.
NEW Bodily Landscape — It’s hard to say exactly what Virginia artist Tai Hwa Goh is trying to express with this wan, highly conceptual installation, but it might have something to do with identity. Not that it isn’t beautiful in its way. Four columns of translucent Korean paper hang from the ceiling a few feet…
As the Crow Flies
Pinback frontman Rob Crow has recorded with a number of bands with excellent monikers — like Goblin Cock, Heavy Vegetable, and Thingy. But he’s at his best when he goes the solo route, like on the new Living Well. Many of the songs clock in at less than two minutes, and Crow pretty much plays…
Caught on Tape
On December 22, Emanuele Stevens and his family gathered for their annual Christmas baking session. As he helped his son frost tree-shaped cookies, his sister Elizabeth called. She would not be coming, she sobbed into the receiver. She was on her way to the Parma police station. Her ex-boyfriend, Andrew Kolcinko, had been calling again,…
The Surrogate Band
Visiting Cleveland for the first time, Michigan Pink Floyd tribute The Surrogate Band will put on a marathon two-hour-plus show, covering ground from Piper to The Wall. The five-man, two-woman group plays Floyd classics you’d expect, such as “Comfortably Numb” and “Wish You Were Here,” in addition to dusty psychedelic-era nuggets like “Matilda Mother” and…
Channel Surfing
So you’ve beaten Zelda and can hurl a 90 mph fastball in Wii Sports without shattering your 50-inch plasma. Now what? It’s time to explore the rest of the “channels” — some of them included with your Wii, and most free to download. Like cable TV, Nintendo’s offerings range from CNN-worthy usefulness to stuff we’d…
Flower Power
The Cleveland Botanical Garden’s Orchid Mania: At Home With Orchids features more than 200 colorful displays. And designers (both interior and floral) will be on hand to show visitors how they can achieve the same results at home, albeit on a smaller scale. “You don’t need a greenhouse,” says Cynthia Druckenbrod, the venue’s director of…
Letters to the Editor
May the Force Be With Him The Dem-pire strikes back: Perhaps Pete Kotz should spend more time editing Scene than writing embarrassingly unfunny pieces about Dennis Kucinich [“$6 Million Chihuahua,” February 7]. Kucinich has been reelected five times, and his consistently intelligent standards reflect the recent Democratic electoral win and Bush’s all-time-low poll ratings. Scene,…
John Mellencamp
Universal revived the Republic logo — last seen in the ’30s and ’40s for a series of B-movie westerns — for Mellencamp’s new album, and it ain’t a bad match. Like the cowboy heroes of yesteryear, Mellencamp still believes that hard-working, honest people can eventually triumph over the forces of evil. He paints a realistic…
Chick Flick
Shut Up & Sing (Genius) It’s a shame that one of 2006’s best documentaries is being released without extras; it would have been nice, for instance, to hear feisty Natalie Maines talk with directors Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck about her reaction to the film, in which the Dixie Chicks come off less like First…
That’s the Golden Ticket!
Kids still freaked out by Johnny Depp’s performance as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s creepy candy man will find some solace in Steve Tipton’s relatively sober take. The touring production of Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka comes to Playhouse Square today for a pair of shows, in which the Ohio native leads a group of Oompa…
American Idiots
To date, it has sold 14 million copies worldwide. It was nominated for seven Grammys and took home one: best rock album of 2005. It picked up seven MTV Video Music Awards. Kerrang! readers voted the title track “The Greatest Rock Video Ever.” There’s a movie in development. The band behind it appeared with U2…
Jill Scott
Let’s get the public-service announcement out of the way first: This is not the new Jill Scott album. Instead, it’s a stopgap compilation, and unhappiness with Collaborations is likely to center around that distinction. Whether Collaborations, a collection of Scott’s duets from over the years, is actually performing a public service is another question. In…
Here are the week’s best releases from the pop-culture universe:
BOOK — He’s a Rebel: Phil Spector, Rock & Roll’s Legendary Producer: Just in time for Spector’s murder trial next month comes this perceptive bio, which was originally published in 1989. It’s been updated to include the alleged shooting of a B-movie actress in 2003 — a tabloid-worthy event that rocketed the reclusive producer from…
Princess Superstar
Since her death a decade ago, Princess Diana’s legacy has swelled. Diana: A Celebration, which opens today at the Western Reserve Historical Society, pays tribute to Charles’ ex with an exhibit that includes more than 150 items. “This puts her life into context,” says John Norman, president of Arts & Exhibitions International, which organized the…
Jello Breaks the Mold
They say there’s always room for Jello, don’t they? Well, with Bush’s popularity now in the shitter, it’s as good a time as any to check in with Jello Biafra, the hardcore-singing pundit whose political criticism stuffs fireworks up the cheeks of liberals and conservatives alike. After answering a magazine ad in 1978, Biafra became…
Lucinda Williams
Generally regarded as a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter who crafts sweet-and-spicy country-rock, Lucinda Williams here offers a collection of bleak blues ballads spawned by both the recent death of her mother and the southerner’s tumultuous romantic life. One side is full of sarcastic and slow garage-rock tunes like “Wrap My Head Around That,” where Williams sounds like…
Our top DVD picks for the week of February 20:
Apartment Zero (Anchor Bay) Babel (Paramount) The Bros. (Lions Gate) Crooked (Lions Gate) Crossover (Sony) Curious George: Zoo Night and Other Animal Stories (Universal) Dark Castle Horror Collection (Warner Bros.) Flushed Away (Paramount) For Your Consideration (Warner Bros.) Gandhi: 25th Anniversary Collector’s Edition (Sony) A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (First Look) Keeping Mum (ThinkFilm)…
French Connection
Canada’s Malajube has quite a bit in common with its fellow guitar-wielding countrymen. They all make busy pop records that would take at least a dozen people to recreate onstage. Their guitars buzz and howl under layers of other instruments. And their song arrangements don’t have a clear beginning or end. The big difference with…
Less Phish, More Coldplay
It’s been more than a decade since the guys in Guster graduated from the school of college rock. In 1994, the Boston trio wrote their debut album Parachute in their dorm rooms at Tufts University. With its unplugged dueling guitars, luminous two-part harmonies, and bongo-led percussion, the disc became a cult classic among fellow collegians,…
The Boredoms
Vice is a vapid hipster-shitrag, and its imprint has dropped some equally insipid turds (that new Vietnam disc). But some stale adage about credit should be inserted here, because the Vice media empire also reissues Boredoms music. Forget about Captain Beefheart and Right Said Fred — the Boredoms are the strangest and most important avant-pop…
New Car Smell
Cleveland Auto Show president Gary Adams likens the annual favorite, which is parked at the I-X Center for the next week, to the world’s largest car lot. “When I was a kid, we went into town to see all the dealerships and the new models,” he says. “That’s exactly what this is — but on…
Let’s See PLAY-DOH Do That
Silly Putty is so versatile. The stretchy, old-school classic can be used to cast body parts, pick up cat hair, or transfer washed-out images from the Sunday comics. At Parish Hall’s new Silly Putty exhibit, which opens tonight, the silicone-plastic blob demonstrates another use: forming a playable putt-putt course. Ten local artists (including Jason Byers,…
Expatriate Games
If critical acclaim were money, Richard Thompson could be vacationing in Bali with Mick Jagger. Though commercial success has eluded him for 40 years, only a few of his peers have remained as vital. The British guitarist’s supple fretwork — never flashy and always in service of the song — is esteemed on a level…
Omar Souleyman
Omar Souleyman may not be a household name in Cleveland, but he’s a pretty big deal in his native Syria. Since 1994, Souleyman has released some 500 cassettes, most of which can be purchased in just about any Syrian music shop. Highway to Hassake — compiled from said tapes by filmmaker and sound recorder Mark…
Goode Time
If life was at all stable and predictable, dancer-choreographer Joe Goode would probably be out of a job. For one thing, he’d have much less incentive to create and perform new dances, since change is a major source of his inspiration. The San Francisco-based Joe Goode Performance Group makes its first visit to Cleveland tonight,…
Hop to It
At tonight’s Beer School session at the Great Lakes Brewing Company, drinking’s not only condoned — it’s a requirement! Lesson one: Ice-cold isn’t always recommended. “It can alter the taste of the beer,” says spokeswoman Kami Dolney. “This is an opportunity for people to experiment and really taste the difference.” To prove it, students will…
