What to Do Tonight: Hoots & Hellmouth
Philadelphia roots rockers Hoots & Hellmouth mine the same sorta folk territory as the Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons. The quartet’s latest album, Salt, is filled with acoustic guitars, mandolin, banjo, and the sense that things were a whole lot better before they moved so damn fast. They play the Beachland Ballroom at 8:30…
The Quality of Cleveland Life Report
Your guide to living in fabulous Cleveland. Grandpa’s New Hobby: One man dies in meth-lab fire at Ashtabula nursing home, prompting administrators to consider weekly rummy parties in place of popular amphetamine socials. The Guy Can Do It All: Lawsuit breaks out over bidding on construction contracts at Browns Stadium; NFL draft guru Mel Kiper…
Dennis Kucinich Loses Primary Battle to Marcy Kaptur
Cleveland Memory Project In solemn ceremonies held today in Scene’s offices, the exclamation point button from an office keyboard was retired and raised to the rafters in honor of Dennis Kucinich. In last night’s Democratic primary for the 9th district, Kucinich went down in his battle against Marcy Kaptur. This was not shocking. She’ now…
State Senator Nina Turner Proposes “Men’s Health” Bill
“Want me looking in your bedroom?” Democratic state Senator Nina Turner of Cleveland is fast becoming the queen of semi-satirical legislation that points out the absurdity of proposed Republican legislation. Last fall, in response to a proposed Republican bill that would have required anyone receiving public assistance — including the unemployment they’ve paid for —…
Life Lessons From the Police Blotter: After a School Shooting, Leave the Paintball Guns at Home
I love America. Pretty much every news outlet with a pulse has commented in some way on how after last week’s tragic school shooting in Chardon, police have been hotfotting around Northeast Ohio on reports of potential copycat violence. Luckily, the threats have all been empty pranks. Unfortunately, because no one can quite combine unoriginality…
Goodbye, Ohio Media Watch… For Now
The anonymous author behind Ohio Media Watch — the seven-year-old blog that covered the ins and outs of the Northeast Ohio radio/TV market and broke plenty of juicy stories well before the media big boys — is signing off. For now at least. On February 29, the “Primary Editorial Voice,” as he/she refers to themselves,…
Northeast Ohio, You are Not Rocking the Vote
You are making Diddy sad. How can you do that to Diddy? With all this hiked-up rhetoric we’re hearing about how Ohio is the only Super Tuesday contest that matters in the Romney-Santorum race, you would assume Ohioans are turning up at the polls. On a more local level, we’ve got the election that will…
Meth Lab in Nursing Home Causes Fire
Florida, you will have to step your game up today. Reports this morning from Ashtabula say a fatal fire at the Parkhaven Nursing Home was caused by a clandestine meth lab located in a room on the second floor of the facility. Yes, you read that right: a meth lab in a nursing home. Parkhaven’s…
Battlefield Ohio: Vegas is Taking Your Bets on Tomorrow’s Primary
If you spend enough time glued to sports and/or being a degenerate gambler (the two aren’t mutually exclusive), you learn one thing about life: Vegas always wins, baby. That’s not supposed to be some lame, creaking toupee-topped cliché were trying to stuff down your gob, we mean that literally — that the world is essentially…
Quicken Loans and Cavs Lead the Way as Limbaugh Bleeds Advertisers
Me and My Big Mouth! Rush Limbaugh is not known for being the most restrained and circumspect of radio talkers. But he seems to have finally crossed the line of no return last week. He spent several days lobbing relentless personal attacks on Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke, who had prepared testimony for Congress on…
Republican presidential candidates determined to call every voter in Ohio — over and over
“Hi! It’s me again! Don’t hang up!” With the primary election looming tomorrow, voters across Ohio reported receiving repeated robocalls over the weekend from the Republican presidential contenders — especially Mitt Romney, who seems to have zeroed in on Cuyahoga County. A besieged voter in Glenville reported getting five calls in 24 hours Sunday from…
Marcy Kaptur Ad Compares Kucinich to LeBron, Art Modell; Doesn’t Make Much Sense
The battle between Marcy Kaptur and Dennis Kucinich has jumped straight into little brother and sister, “Mommmmm!!! Look what Marcy did!” territory, which isn’t all that productive, but hey, at least it’s occasionally entertaining. For instance, Kaptur’s new ad which compares Kucinich and his flirtations with moving away from Cleveland — to Seattle, to Zimbabwe,…
Small Ohio Town Prepares to Turn Off the Lights for Good
Interesting story from the L.A. Times about Uniopolis, Ohio, a small town besieged by money problems that will be turning off the lights — figuratively and literally — very soon. Consider it a worst-case scenario in a state where budget cuts have come from the bankrolls of small cities. This small village of low-slung houses…
Fire Food & Drink to Host Melting Pot Dinner
“We’ve done an Indian dinner, we’ve done the Turkish dinner, we’re doing an Israeli dinner,” explains Doug Katz, “but we’ve never really done a melting pot America dinner.” Playing off the centennial theme surrounding the West Side Market, Katz says that for the Cleveland Melting Pot Dinner on Monday, March 12, 2012, he and his…
Clevelanders Take Fewest Number of Vacation Days, According to Specious Rankings
Clevelanders have a rep as blue-collar, hard-nosed, and hard workers. That is, when there is work to do. Otherwise you can find us at the corner bar sipping $1 High Life. But when we have jobs, you can count on us to show up. Probably on time. Hopefully sober. Sick days are for wussies and…
East and West Side Chef Events to Raise Money For Chardon Families
“So many chefs have contacted us about helping the families of the victims in Chardon that we thought it made sense to have two events,” explains Brian Okin, founder of Dinner in the Dark and chef at Fountain. In an effort to raise as much money as possible by accommodating as many diners as possible,…
RIP Melvin Rose
Melvin Rose, Rose Iron Works’ founder and maestro, died last week at the age of 92. Despite a prolonged illness, he was working up until just a few days before his death. The PD’s obituary is here. Below, a captivating video made after the Cleveland Arts Prize bestowed upon Rose the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award…
Monday Morning Pick-Me-Up: Radiohead Coming to Blossom
Here’s some good news to get your week started: Radiohead are coming to Cleveland. The band just released some new dates on its current tour, and there’s a June 6 stop at Blossom Music Center on there. We don’t have details on ticket prices or when tickets will go on sale or anything like that…
Kansas “Church” Group Gives Chardon More Grief
The Chardon High School tragedy is still acutely painful for the families and friends of the victims and for the community as a whole. The first funeral, for Daniel Parmertor, will be held tomorrow morning and funerals are no time to be worrying about extraneous nonsense. Unfortunately for Chardon, they’ve had to worry. Earlier this…
Channel 19 Dimora Trial Puppets Get Nod from Wall Street Journal
The Real Jimmy Dimora: Not a Simulation! With cameras banned from the corruption trial of former commissioner Jimmy Dimora in Akron, channel 19 WOIO came up with an offbeat work-around: it commissioned a troupe of 25 puppets, designed by local puppeteer Kirk Maynard, to re-enact scenes from the trial. It features a Dimora puppet with…
Dimora Jurors Deliberating, Apparently Enjoying It
“Whaddayouguysalwayslaughingatmefor?” Ummmm, any way you look at it, this probably isn’t a good thing for Jimmy Dimora. The former Cuyahoga County commissioner’s trial is now in the final stage, following seven weeks of testimony and a last minute motion for a mistrial on the part of defense attorneys. That request was swatted by Judge Sara…
What You Should Do This Weekend: Ralph Stanley
Bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley turned 85 last week. But you wouldn’t know it by watching and listening to him perform. He’s still a lightning-fast banjo player, and his sweet, high tenor hasn’t lost much of its force over the years. His career stretches all the way back to 1946, when he formed the first of…
Battlefield Ohio: Romney Pulls Closer to Santorum
Now in the home stretch, as the contestants jockey around for the support of Ohio’s GOP voters, the match-up is getting a little more interesting. Over the last couple weeks, we’ve seen former Senator Rick Santorum track ahead of fellow hopeful Mitt Romney. Now, the latest polling shows Romney’s been able to hack down his…
Reasons to Like Kyrie Irving Even More Than You Already Do
The latest issue of SI comes with a fresh story on Kyrie Irving. You thought you liked the former Duke standout and prohibitive Rookie of the Year favorite before? There’s even more reason to once you delve into the Sports Illustrated piece. No groundbreaking news here, but among our favorite tidbits: The Cavaliers will take…
Tree of Strife
Dr. Seuss traditionalists might have a few problems with the new adaptation of The Lorax. For starters, the movie adds an entire romantic subplot between Ted (Zac Efron) and Audrey (Taylor Swift) that might muddle the original message found in Seuss’ fable of consumerism and ecological destruction. Still, there’s plenty to like in Dr. Seuss’…
Pro-Fracking Group’s Study Says . . . Fracking is Great for Ohio
This guy knows fracking is good for Ohio. You can trust this guy. In whole to-frack-or-not-to-frack debate that’s gripped Ohio, a new report is being tossed around on the economic impact that could flood the state if Columbus doesn’t slam the breaks on the controversial shale drilling technique. The report is full of a lot…
New WCPN Show: Iraq You Like a Hurricane
They’re German, so technically fair game. If you tune in to local radio for its plentiful Eagles rock blocks and Browns draft debate, feel free to resume your regularly scheduled mind rot. But if you’re craving the latest international discourse on predator drones? You’ve got a new friend starting tonight.
Chump of the Week: Anthony Harris, Wannabe School Shooter
Chump: n. One who is not sensitive to large-scale tragedy. Obviously, in light of what happened in Chardon this week, now is not the time to take school threats lightly. We’ve already seen authorities come down hard on a number of area a-holes who promised to copycat the carnage that ended three young lives. Now,…
OSHA Inspector Arrested for Trying to Blackmail Stripclub (Updated)
Update: If you’ve forgotten about Joseph Schwarz, the OSHA official who was arrested in late summer 2011 for attempting to extort Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club, scan down below for a full recap of the sleazy events. If you’re simply looking for the end result of his attempt at siphoning some of those dollar bills from…
Your Weekly Mr. Gnome Wrap-Up
It’s no surprise that we love us some Mr. Gnome here at Scene. We especially love their latest album, Madness in Miniature. And we’re way excited that they have a new two-song, 7-inch EP titled Softly Mad coming on March 20. You can hear the first cut from it — a moody number called “The…
Ohio Supreme Court Rules Against Cuyahoga County in Copier Case
The property records fiasco in Cuyahoga County — detailed for the health of everyone’s funny bone in deposition testimony that featured a debate on the definition of “photocopy,” and more extensively in Scene’s cover story on the issue — has come to an end. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled 7-0 today that Cuyahoga County must…
Shok Paris Heading for Greece Right Now
What are you doing this weekend? It’s probably not as exciting as what the members of Cleveland heavy metal legends Shok Paris are doing. This Friday night, they will be headlining the first night of the two-day Up the Hammers VII festival in Athens — the Greek one, not the one in Southern Ohio where…
Hodge’s Reveals Major Staff Additions
Adam Bostwick, former co-executive chef of Melange, has been hired as chef de cuisine of Hodge’s, the soon-to-open restaurant operated by food truck pioneer Chris Hodgson and restaurateur Scott Kuhn. “Adam is a young, driven chef and I’ve always been a fan of his food,” says Hodgson. “When I found out what happened at Melange…
Local Band in Focus
Meet the Band: Khaled Tabbara (vocals, guitar, keyboard), Murad Ghazi Shorrab (bass, vocals), Billy LaGuardia (drums, percussion), Bernadette Lim (keyboard, vocals), and Jesse Martin (lead guitar). Hittin’ the Road: Using a DIY approach to booking and networking, these Youngstown indie rockers have performed 400-plus shows in more than 25 states over the past few years.…
At the Arthouse
Sleeping Beauty Emily Browning (who also starred in last year’s wildly underrated Sucker Punch) plays a college student who makes ends meet by taking off her clothes. First-time director Julia Leigh plays a lot of psychosexual games here, tweaking the old-school fairy tale with surreal touches and plenty of flesh. If nothing else, it’s a…
Symon in South Beach
On a steamy Friday night in South Beach, Cleveland chef Michael Symon secured an unprecedented three-peat at the sold-out Amstel Light Burger Bash, part of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. After winning the coveted People’s Choice Award two years in a row, Symon appeared genuinely elated upon hearing his name called once again…
CD Review: Chiddy Bang
The Philadelphia hip-hop duo Chiddy Bang were blessed by indie-rock music bloggers a couple of years ago for one simple reason: They sampled artists that indie-rock music bloggers spend a lot of time writing about, like MGMT, Radiohead, and Sufjan Stevens. Their long-delayed debut album, following a pair of EPs and a series of mixtapes,…
Cashed Out
The twentysomething guy wearing blue Nike basketball shorts and Apple earbuds and fiddling with a stack of poker chips on a recent Monday night is one of Liberation United Church of Christ’s most valued donors. But they don’t know his name, and he probably doesn’t know theirs either. The Lakewood church is running a three-day…
CD Review: Fanfarlo
The dolorous sway and subdued tempos of Fanfarlo’s 2009 debut, Reservoir, too often deposited the London-based chamber-pop group in the bastard neighborhood frequented by bands like Coldplay. They avoid all that on Rooms Filled With Light, with more buoyant melodies and less overweening grandiosity. While it’s every bit as baroque as their debut, the album’s…
Film Capsules
Act of Valor United States Navy SEAL teams are many things: tough, focused, and cool under pressure. What they would freely admit they are not are Hollywood actors. Perhaps that’s why co-directors Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh appear in a brief prologue not so much to disclose their employment by the U.S. Navy, but to…
The Horror of It All
You think the 47 times you’ve watched The Godfather is impressive? Kevin Boycik has seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show more than 2,000 times, give or take a few dozen, depending on whether you separate the midnight screenings from the home-video viewings from the rehearsal sessions. This weekend, 38-year-old Boycik will celebrate his 25th anniversary…
CD Review: Anne E. DeChant
Without some finesse, hopeful music can come off as cloying. Anne E. DeChant doesn’t always avoid the trouble spot on her sixth album. The woman who lost her trailer to a twister in the finger-plucked country-folk tune “Home to Me” is tired of your condescending tone: “That tin and vinyl siding ain’t much of a…
On Stage This Week
Back by Popular Demand: Darwinii: The Comeuppance of Man One of the best stage shows of 2011 returns this week to Cleveland Public Theatre: Darwinii: The Comeuppance of Man. Conceived and written by Glen Berger and his sole actor, Brett Keyser, the one-man show is funny, fast-paced, and intellectually rich. The plot, such as it…
Get Out!
Friday | 02 Too Big to Ignore Get Schooled by Ralphie May I just want to say that it is an honor and a privilege to be coming to Kent,” comic Ralphie May tells us during a recent phone call. “To walk in the footsteps of those brave student protestors [from May 4, 1970] is…
Concert Calendar
Galactic A synthesis of Washington, D.C.’s go-go scene and New Orleans’ rich musical history, Galactic have always been a fascinating work in progress. They shifted from their jam and funk roots in the mid-’00s after their original singer retired. Then they toured with a rotating cast of hip-hop MCs, leading to 2010’s Ya-Ka-May, which featured…
Krayzie and the City
One of the young year’s most ambitious mixtapes just hit the streets: Cleveland Is the City, Ohio Is the State features 34 tracks by Buckeye state rappers and producers — and half of them hail from Cleveland. Hosted by DJ E-V, the mix was put together by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony’s Krayzie Bone and local hip-hop renaissance…
On View This Week
Nerd Works in Cleveland Heights: A Stupid Movie Inspires Art No one’s gonna really be free until nerd persecution ends!” So cries Gilbert in the 1984 raunch-com Revenge of the Nerds. The call to arms has now been immortalized in reclaimed roadside signage by Dana Depew in his exhibition, Nerd Works. The show, co-hosted by…
The Old Guard of Ohio City
At roughly 40 years of age, Heck’s Café is a graybearded granddaddy on Cleveland’s dining scene. The Ohio City chestnut has managed to survive fires, multiple ownership changes, and even a mass employee walkout over the years. Yet against all odds, little ever seems to change inside the doors of the charming Victorian brick building.…
For Discriminating Tastes
A Nazi concentration camp commandant is amorously kissing the buttocks of a male African-American prisoner. At the same moment in 1939, on the other side of the Atlantic, Gone With the Wind, the iconic film that romanticizes slavery, is premiering in Atlanta. That’s a potently dramatic duo. And if genuine surprises and startling juxtapositions were…
Home Movies
Hugo (Paramount) Two of last year’s best films celebrated the movies themselves, and specifically their pioneering days. The Artist is a spot-on homage in silent black and white. Martin Scorsese’s terrific family fantasy is a different kind of tribute: a wide-eyed view of the world seen from the eyes of a boy who lives inside…
Savage Love
Dear Dan: I had a threesome with my husband and another woman because I am GGG and that’s always been a fantasy of his. I laid out my ground rules, and they were violated. (I said I was uncomfortable with his P in her V, and I ended up watching them fuck.) I didn’t stop…
Culture Jamming
TOP PICK Woody Allen Blu-rays (Twentieth Century Fox) Woody Allen’s two best movies – 1977’s Annie Hall and 1979’s Manhattan – finally make their Blu-ray debuts. There are no extras to speak of on either disc (Allen’s not a fan of that kinda stuff), but who needs them when the movies are so funny and…
CD Review: Nneka
It’s not at all surprising that the Roots backed Nneka at one of her first U.S. gigs a couple of years ago. The 31-year-old Nigerian-German singer excels at the type of neo-soul that the Roots and pals like Erykah Badu have been championing for years. On her second stateside album, Nneka embraces another influence: late…
The Dork Side
Iwas a member of Geek Nation long before I got a Planet of the Apes Treehouse playset for Christmas. I’m pretty sure I was a member before I owned my first comic book, a tattered copy of Turok: Son of Stone, the cover of which featured the Indian hero aiming a big-ass bow and arrow…
