Aurelia, an American-Style Bistro, Now Open in Chagrin Falls
Update: Aurelia opened its doors last Friday in Chagrin Falls. Located in the former North Main Diner spot (16 North Main St.), Chef James Balchak is focusing on locally sourced foods with a tailored menu that features appetizers, four entrees and some desserts, each that will and have already rotated. Check out their site here. Aurelia…
Cleveland Axe Throwing Brings Lumberjack Sport to Northeast Ohio
The first rule of axe throwing is that you must have permission to enter the chained-off throwing range. Cleveland Axe Throwing manager Alan Thompson is quite serious about this rule, and about all of the rules, actually. As Thompson points out, the blades here are sharp, and the most common thing first-timers worry about is…
Singer-Guitarists Arielle and Eric Johnson Talk About Why They Enjoy Touring Together So Much
For years, singer-guitarist Eric Johnson has received requests from fans who wanted to hear him play his 1990 album, Ah Via Musicom, in its entirety. As a result, the bluesman recruited drummer Tommy Taylor and bassist Kyle Brock, both of whom play on the album, and he booked a tour that will feature a…
Kucinich Takes Gloves Off at City Club, Lays out Platform, Bashes Cordray on Gun Record
In 1977, shortly before he announced his candidacy for Cleveland mayor, a young Dennis Kucinich, then a municipal court clerk, addressed the City Club of Cleveland to oppose the sale of Muny Light to the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company (CEI). Leaning heavily on the words and wisdom of Cleveland Mayor Tom Johnson (1901-1910), Kucinich laid…
Ohio Law Enforcement Agencies Comply with ICE Detainer Requests
By Ben Orner Reporting for the Kent State-Ohio News Connection Collaboration Since President Donald Trump took office early last year, his administration has ramped up enforcement of America’s immigration laws. One part of that increase is a rise in detainer requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency that enforces immigration laws and…
Pentatonix to Play Blossom in September
Earlier today, the Grammy-winning multi-platinum vocal act Pentatonix announced the dates of a summer tour in support of its forthcoming album, PTX Presents: Top Pop, Vol. I. The album arrives next month, and the tour begins in July. The band will play Blossom on Sept. 13. A 24-hour Patreon presale begins at 10 a.m. on Monday.…
Celebrate National Pancake Day With a Free Short Stack at IHOP
Celebrate National Pancake Day with a free short stack of fluffy golden pancakes at IHOP until 7 p.m. tonight. Grab your pancakes for lunch or dinner and help IHOP raise money for local children’s hospitals and health organizations. Make a donation with your free short stack and help IHOP reach its goal of raising $5 million…
Watch Cleveland Heights Library’s Pet Hedgehog on New Quillcam
The Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library’s Lee Road branch now offers an inside look at the life of its new pet, Quilliam the hedgehog. Streaming live around the clock, a camera aims right at the animal’s cage, littered with toys, food, water and a variety of places for him to burrow. This full-grown African Pygmy…
Joan Baez to Bring Her Farewell Tour to the State Theatre in October
Yet another veteran artist has announced a final tour. Singer-songwriter and activist Joan Baez will embark on what she says will be her last year of touring in September. “I’m looking forward to being on the road with a beautiful new album of which I am truly proud,” says Baez in a press release announcing…
Cleveland Librarian Won ‘Jeopardy!’ Last Night, Netting $15K
It must have seemed like destiny to Maryann Penzvalto, a Cleveland-based librarian who made her debut on Jeopardy! last night. The Final Jeopardy category, Name the Novel, was right in her wheelhouse. Then came the clue: “I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless…
Proceeds from LeBron’s ‘Equality’ Kicks Will Go to African-American Museum, but There are Only 400 Pairs
Proceeds from the LeBron 15 “Equality” edition will go to the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History, LeBron James announced in an Instagram post yesterday. “Basketball is our vehicle, but equality is our mission,” the Cavs star wrote, in a corrective to the ‘shut up and dribble’ position advanced by Fox News’ Laura Ingraham earlier…
Powerhouse Pianist Yefim Bronfman With the Cleveland Orchestra and All the Rest of the Classical Music to Check Out This Week
Last week we recommended CIM Opera Theater’s production of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, which opens on Wednesday, February 28 at 7:30 pm in Kulas Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Since then, we’ve learned that the fourth performance of the show will be a matinee on Saturday, March 3 at 3:00 pm, intended for…
Blues Traveler’s John Popper to Play the Kent Stage in May
After having just completed a 30th anniversary tour with his band Blues Traveler, singer and harmonica player John Popper has just announced that he’ll return to the road this spring. He comes to the Kent Stage at 8 p.m. on May 8 for “an intimate solo show.” Tickets to the concert go on sale on…
Cavs Fan Shouts Slurs at Spurs Guard Patty Mills on National TV
Security officials at the Q are reportedly investigating a fan who yelled racial slurs at Spurs guard Patty Mills in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s Cavs game. Mills, who is of Australian descent, was shooting free throws when Twitter user Zandra Ashley captured a fan shouting derogatory remarks on the nationally televised (ABC) broadcast. “Jamaican…
Philadelphia Company Attempts to Poach LeBron Via I-480 Billboards
Think of this as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, except instead of a small-town grudge, it’s a major American city attempting to poach one of the world’s biggest athletes. Cleveland.com reports that Power Home Remodeling Group, a company based out of Chester, Penn., has taken over three billboards along the I-480 highway in an attempt…
Yours Truly Chagrin Falls to Begin Ambitious Expansion and Renovation Project
For the typically slow-moving Chagrin Falls dining scene, it’s shaping up to be one heck of a year. Already we’ve reported on news that Gamekeeper’s Taverne will become a new Hyde Park Restaurant Group concept, that Rick’s Café will reopen as Bell & Flower, and that the recently shuttered North Main Diner will adopt a…
EPA Report: Black and Poor Neighborhoods More Likely to Have High Air Pollution
Turns out scientists from the EPA’s National Center for Public Health back up what the environmental justice movement has been decrying for years: That “people who live, work, and play in America’s most polluted environments are commonly people of color and the poor.” Published Feb. 22 by the American Journal of Public Health, the study…
Half Moon Bakery Will Bring Empanadas and More to Clark-Fulton This Spring
Lyz Otero wants to make food that satisfies. Which is why she often catches herself watching customers when they first take a bite into a Half Moon Bakery empanada or sandwich. “Just seeing the look on people’s faces when they bite in,” Otero says, “there’s truth right there. I can tell if they think it’s…
Ohio Home Energy Assistance Again Targeted by White House
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The White House again is targeting a program that helps reduce energy costs for struggling Ohioans. President Donald Trump’s recently proposed 2019 budget calls for the end to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helped about 8 percent of Ohio households – more than 344,000 families – in Fiscal Year…
East Cleveland 3, Wrongfully Imprisoned for 20 Years, To Be Paid $4.5 Million by Cuyahoga County
Eugene Johnson, Derrick Wheatt and Laurese Glover — The so-called East Cleveland 3 — will receive $4.5 million from Cuyahoga County in a major settlement. The County has agreed to pay the three men who, for 20 years, were imprisoned for a murder they did not commit. The payment precludes the possibility of a much…
NOACA, Hyperloop Company Announce $1.2 Million for Cleveland to Chicago Study
The California-based Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) and the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) announced Monday that they had raised $1.2 million for a feasibility study which will assess the possibility of building a Hyperloop train, theoretically connecting Cleveland to Chicago in less than 30 minutes via underground vacuum-sealed tunnel. The study will take 6-9…
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit to Play Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica in July
Singer-songwriter Jason Isbell has said that while growing up in Northern Alabama, his “daycare” consisted of going to his grandparents’ house and learning to play various instruments. That experience helped shaped Isbell’s remarkable musical career. Isbell would eventually find success with Southern rockers Drive-By Truckers and has held his own after leaving the band ten…
Tickets for CMA’s Infinity Mirrors Exhibit Go on Sale in April, and They’re Not Easy to Get
Back in the 1960s, Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama staged polka-dot “Happenings” in the streets of New York. Those events helped establish her as a significant artist. In recent years, her “infinity mirror rooms” have become something of a sensation, and the Cleveland Museum of Art has just announced the details regarding tickets for Yayoi Kusama:…
Metallica’s WorldWired Tour Coming to Cleveland, Tickets On Sale Soon
Metallica announced North America dates for its WorldWired Tour, a 34-show swing beginning this fall in support of the band’s latest LP, Hardwired… to Self-Destruct, and Cleveland made the cut. James, Lars and company will stop by Quicken Loans Arena… in about a year, on Feb. 1, 2019. Tickets go on sale soon though —…
Comedian Jim Tews to Perform Tonight at Hilarities
A former Clevelander, comedian and writer Jim Tews, the man behind The New York Times’ best-selling Felines of New York, is a rising star in the comedy world. He made his standup television debut on Last Comic Standing and has been featured in an episode of Louie. He was one of 2011’s “New Faces” at…
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds Deliver an Animated and Engaging Performance at the Goodyear Theater
With no opening act and in pure rock ‘n’ roll fashion, former Oasis guitarist and songwriter Noel Gallagher made his entrance on the stage of Akron’s Goodyear Theater last night without the use of pyrotechnics or lasers. Gallagher calmly strutted out with his backing band, the High Flying Birds, as if he was just another singer, despite…
The Brit Folk/Punk Band Skinny Lister Gets Political on Its Latest Single
The members of the British folk/punk band Skinny Lister first met in London about ten years ago. Singer Lorna Thomas’ brother, singer-mandolin player Max Thomas, initially formed the band with singer-guitarist Dan Heptinstall; the two knew each other from playing folk clubs in Greenwich, an old naval town that’s just down the river from London.…
McDonald’s Manager Allegedly Shot at Cleveland Drive-Thru Customers
All they wanted was a McDonald’s smoothie, but Wednesday morning three women also got some bullets with their to-go order. According to a Cleveland police report, the women ordered the drink at a South Collinwood McDonald’s drive-thru around 2:30 a.m. When they went to pull away, the woman in the back cracked open a water…
Indie Rockers the Oh Hellos Embrace a Collaborative Spirit
There was a time when Tyler and Maggie Heath, the siblings behind the South Texas-based band the Oh Hellos, wanted their most recent EPs to be “just for fun.” But the pair began writing their follow-up to Dear Wormwood and Through the Deep, Dark Valley in autumn of 2016. And a lot of things didn’t…
Cleveland Tenants Organization’s Funding Dries up While Region Wrings Hands, Searches Heavens for Ways to Improve Tenant Services
In conjunction with the region’s collective reading of Matthew Desmond’s Evicted, the City Club of Cleveland hosted a forum Friday to discuss issues of housing inequality in Cuyahoga County. Mentioned on several occasions by the audience and the panelists was the recent loss of the Cleveland Tenants Organization. That organization, which had been serving predominantly low-income…
Ohio High School Removes Posters Depicting Body Silhouettes Meant to Represent Rivals
A Dayton high school has removed a series controversial posters from its hallways. The posters were designed to celebrate Belmont High School’s recent athletic victories and featured silhouettes of bodies surrounded by crime scene tape. Associated Press reports that the bodies were meant to represent rival high schools and also bore phrases like “Cap those…
Another Summit County Toddler Has Overdosed on Opiates
An Akron resident called 911 after finding his 2-year-old daughter unresponsive Wednesday morning, authorities reported. Suspecting the toddler had overdosed on an opiate substance found in the home, Akron first responders used Narcan to revive her. She was later taken to Akron Children’s Hospital, where she is stable. Lt. Rick Edwards told News 5 Cleveland that…
Rock Hall Puts New Items From Heart and Pearl Jam on Display
The Rock Hall held a press conference this morning to announce that is has recently put new items from Rock Hall Inductees Heart and Pearl Jam on display. The Rock Hall had the two new items from Heart — a Kramer American Series guitar played during the 1988 Bad Animals tour (the cave drawing-like character…
Cleveland’s Black Shield Police Union Has a New President
Sgt. Vincent Montague is the new president of the Black Shield, the African-American Cleveland police union, replacing Lynn Hampton. After a split 58-58 vote in December, Montague won after drawing the higher card from a deck in January in a tiebreaker. In 2013 Montague shot an unarmed man in the chest during an incident downtown…
Ohio Workers Rally to Defend American Dream This Weekend
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Hundreds, possibly thousands of Ohio workers will join others from around the country on Saturday for rallies they say are meant to defend the American dream. On the “Working People’s Day of Action,” they’re calling for equitable pay, affordable health care, quality schools and vibrant communities. Director of Cleveland Jobs with Justice…
GCC Lead Organizer James Pearlstein is Returning to D.C. this Summer
The Greater Cleveland Congregations’ lead organizer, James Pearlstein, will be returning to Washington D.C. this summer after nearly three years in Cleveland. Pearlstein was a prominent behind-the-scenes figure during the #NotAllIn campaign against the Q Deal. Pearlstein told Scene Thursday that he will remain in the employ of the D.C.-based Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), the…
Nerd Rapper MC Chris Coming to the Grog Shop in April
The Los Angeles-based nerd rapper/voice actor/improvisational comedian MC Chris, has just announced dates for a U.S. tour with special guests Bitforce. The tour comes to the Grog Shop on April 29. According the press release announcing the dates, “As a nerd rapper pioneer, being one of the first rappers to rap solely about Nerd Life,…
Capitol Theatre to Host Racial Equity and Inclusion Film Series
Recy Taylor, a woman who, as Oprah Winfrey put it in her Golden Globes speech, was “abducted by six armed white men, raped, and left blindfolded by the side of the road coming home from church,” is the subject of the documentary film The Rape of Recy Taylor. The movie has shown at film festivals and…
Comic Book Legend Stan Lee Pulls Out of Wizard World Cleveland
Spider-man creator Stan Lee won’t be coming to Wizard World Cleveland due to “unforeseen circumstances,” the conference announced on Twitter Tuesday. But the show must go on. The super hero-filled three-day event is still running from Friday, March 2, through Sunday, March 4, inside the Huntington Convention Center. All tickets purchased for autographs, photo ops and…
8 Concerts to Catch in Cleveland This Weekend
FRIDAY, FEB. 23 Archie and the Bunkers Record Release/Lords of the Highway/DJs Miriam Linna & Nick Knox Archie and the Bunkers, a local group featuring teenage brothers Emmett and Cullen O’Connor, formed five years and has gradually picked up steam ever since. It’s legitimately now become a national act and has released a number of…
Akron Couple Arrested After Attacking Former Roommate With Chainsaw
Living with others can be challenging. And in the case of three Akron residents, a dispute turned downright bloody. Marshal Wrenn Jr. was found laying on a couch covered in blood Tuesday night, following an attack by his former roommates, Akron authorities reported. The 52-year-old man told investigators that Willaim Mitchell and Aliyah Wiley assaulted…
The Authentic Audio Podcast With Special Guest Filmmaker Rob Montague
This episode features my conversation with filmmaker Rob Montague. Rob is a co-founder of the production company Late Morning Films and is in the process of creating a new documentary called: ‘SECRET IDENTITY: The Origin of SUPERMAN’ The film will examine the early days of author Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, the young dreamers…
Sexual Assault of Women with Disabilities Plaguing College Campuses
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Nearly one in three women with disabilities on college campuses has experienced sexual assault, according to a new report from the National Council on Disability (NCD), an independent federal agency. The report, “Not on the Radar,” also found colleges aren’t prepared to respond to cases of sexual assault against students with disabilities.…
Brian Windhorst on the Cavs and NBA — The A to Z Podcast With Andre Knott and Zac Jackson
[image-1] Andre and Zac are joined by ESPN NBA writer Brian Windhorst for an all-Akron podcast that includes plenty of discussion of LeBron’s present and future.
Here’s How Much Time Sharon Sobol Jordan Was Spending on Her Executive MBA While On the County’s Payroll
County Executive Armond Budish told departing Chief of Staff Sharon Sobol Jordan that he’d allow her time to get her MBA if she took the job three years ago. She did, and as Mark Naymik reported today, Budish wrote a letter of recommendation in September 2016 to Ohio State supporting Jordan’s application for the executive…
‘Game of Thrones’ Parody Comes to Playhouse Square Tonight
Composed by Jon and Al Kaplan — the same jokesters who delivered Silence! The Musical — the bloodthirsty Musical Thrones: A Parody of Ice and Fire takes aim at the popular HBO series Game of Thrones. Imagine: your favorite scenes of violence, sex and power struggles, all punctuated by singing, dancing and a bunch of…
Comedian Chad Daniels Performs Tonight Through Saturday at Hilarities
Babyfaced comic Chad Daniels likes to joke about how immature he was as a kid — and how immature he continues to be as an adult! He says that when his son became a teenager, his wife asked him what to do. He says he told her that they need to knock on their kid’s…
The Cleveland Institute of Music Does Hansel and Gretel Plus All the Other Classical Music Events to Hit This Week
The Cleveland Orchestra’s concerts this weekend will feature music by the celebrated French composer Maurice Ravel, who paid a visit to guest conduct the ensemble in January of 1928, when the Orchestra was still performing at Masonic Hall. It didn’t go well (read an account from the Orchestra’s archives here). This week’s concerts under the…
Futuristic Hyperloop Route Between Cleveland and Chicago Moves Forward
In a move that puts us one step closer to Star Trek levels of transportation speed, California based startup Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) has recently announced a feasibility study for a potential route that allows people to travel from Cleveland to Chicago in less than 30 minutes. The high speed train at the center of the…
Cinemark Theatres’ No Large Bag Policy Starts Tomorrow
Starting tomorrow, Cinemark Theatres locations across the country are cracking down on bag size. The company announced in a statement that in an effort to keep employees and guests safe, no bags larger than 12″ x 12″ x 6″ will be allowed. There are exceptions for diaper bags and medical equipment, of course. Following the…
Maggie Downey Joins City Girl Donuts as Pastry Chef, Erica Coffee Departs for Pastry Chef Gig at Sol
Some kitchen switcheroos to report in donut and confection land. First, Erica Coffee has departed City Girl Donuts, the Rocky River shop she helped set up with Barb Fazio as chef-partner, for a gig as the house pastry chef at Sol in Willoughby, where she was already working part time. “We will be doing some…
Imagine Dragons to Play Blossom in June
When Imagine Dragons played the Q back in 2015, the band made one heck of an entrance. As it emerged from behind a giant white curtain at the 90-minute show’s start, frontman Dan Reynolds sauntered up the catwalk to the center of the floor where seating was general admission. There, he slapped high fives with…
The Musicals of Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford Will Be Celebrated at the Cleveland Institute of Music
“We’ve never done this before, so I think it will be quite special.” Composer Nancy Ford is speaking about an intimate performance she and her longtime songwriting partner, lyricist Gretchen Cryer, will be experiencing in Cleveland. And the fact that this is something new for them is also something remarkable, because these two women, who…
Armond Budish Seeks Elimination of Special Perks a Day After Trying to Sneak Them by County Council
In response to an ongoing investigation into Cuyahoga County top administrators, including former Chief of Staff Sharon Sobol Jordan and Chief Information Officer Scot Rourke, County Executive Armond Budish has taken steps, he said, to maintain trust with county voters and “ensure that the integrity of all documents sought by the prosecutor is maintained.” One…
Armond Budish Places Two Employees Mentioned in Corruption Investigation Subpoenas on Administrative Leave
County executive Armond Budish announced today that he’s placed Scot Rourke and Emily McNeeley on administrative leave. Both employees were specifically mentioned in one of the two subpoenas Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office public corruption investigators served on his administration in recent weeks. McNeeley, who works in the county’s information technologies department, is married to Lisa…
Cain Park Announces Its First Concert of the 2018 Season
This summer marks the 80th anniversary of Cain Park, the municipally owned and operated summer performing arts park located in Cleveland Heights, and the venue’s concert season will kick off on June 16 with the Monkees Present the Mike and Micky Show. On their first ever tour as a duo, Monkees members Michael Nesmith and…
March For Our Lives Comes to Public Square to Demand Gun Control
Following yet another horrific school shooting, people all over the country are banding together March 24 to demand government action on gun control, including in Cleveland. The March for Our Lives rally kicks off at 10 a.m. on Public Square. The campaign posted the following on its Facebook page: “On March 24, we will March…
A Seemingly Innocent Murder-Mystery Game Goes Awry in ‘Game Night’
The script for Game Night, the new dark comedy that opens area-wide on Friday, reportedly dates back about five years. That’s when creator Mark Perez (Accepted) first pitched the concept to a studio. The project stalled until last year when co-directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (Vacation, Spider Man: Homecoming) were hauled in to…
Savage Love: Biphobias
I’m an 18-year-old female. I’m cisgender and bisexual. I’ve been in a monogamous relationship with my cisgender bisexual boyfriend for about a year. I’m currently struggling with a lot of internalized biphobia and other hang-ups about my boyfriend’s sexuality. I don’t know if I’m projecting my own issues onto him or if I’m just being bigoted towards…
Get Out: Everything You Should Be Doing This Week in Cleveland (Feb. 21-27)
WED 02/21 Cleveland Stories Dinner Parties Cleveland Stories Dinner Party is a weekly series that pairs fine food with storytelling. Through it, the folks at Music Box Supper Club hope to raise awareness of the mission of the Western Reserve Historical Society’s new Cleveland History Center. The goal of the Cleveland Stories Dinner Party is…
Band of the Week: Glass Traps
MEET THE BAND: Chuck Cieslik (guitar), Steve Crobar (drums), Matt Hallaran (guitar), Sarah Paul (voice), Sebastian Wagner (bass) IT STARTED WITH A PILE OF DEMOS: The band formed in 2015. Cieslik was in a band with Wagner. Hallaran and Crobar were in a different band with Wagner. When both groups broke up, Glass Traps formed.…
Comfort is at the Heart of Gunselman’s Tavern’s Latest Chapter After a Century of Old-Fashioned Barroom Lore
In the 1930s, Henry Gunselman worked as a whiskey salesman for the Weideman Co. When the owners of the Pastime Cafe in Fairview Park couldn’t settle up, they were forced to sign over their business. That colorful origin story may or may not be true, confesses owner Joseph McDonough, but that doesn’t change the fact…
The Tone of ‘Misery’ at Great Lakes Theater is a Mystery
Some years ago, I referred to Andrew May’s performance in the Great Lakes Theater production of Love’s Labours Lost as a “walking orgasm.” He invested his character Armado with such squirmy physical sexuality that you couldn’t take your eyes off him, and he was hilarious. So it’s wonderful news that May, who has pursued other…
Feed Frenzy
As with any toxic relationship, the possibility of a breakup sparks feelings of terror — and maybe a little bit of a relief. That’s the spot that Facebook has put the news business in. Last month, the social media behemoth announced it would once again alter its News Feed algorithm to show users even more…
Mediocre Time Travel Film ‘Curvature’ Requires a Full Script Overhaul
In Diego Hallivis’ Curvature,which premiered at the Filmquest Film Fest in Utah last year and opens Friday for an exclusive engagement at Tower City Cinemas, Helen (Lyndsy Fonseca) must break into a top-secret facility and travel back in time to prevent herself from committing a murder. The films co-stars Jim Gaffigan look-alike Glenn Morshower and…
