Love Is in the Air
Kent artist Teresa Bosko Carlin mines a childhood obsession with flowers and butterflies in her latest display, The Love Show, a pre-Valentine’s Day pick now on view at North Water Street Gallery. “Both my grandmothers had beautiful gardens,” she says. The exhibit features dozens of wire coat hangers draped in a rainbow of tulle to…
Flogging Molly
Anglo-Irish punk legends the Pogues are touring the United States this spring with frontman Shane MacGowan in tow for the first time in years. The tour’s not scheduled to visit Cleveland, so local fans of Celtic-accented rock may be saving up their shillings to make the trip to New York or Boston. Still, they shouldn’t…
Idle Curiosity
That Curious George existed at all — much less as a franchise, an icon enduring some 65 years — was a result of “happy circumstance,” wrote Houghton Mifflin publisher Anita Silvey with some understatement in 1991, upon the 50th-anniversary publication of The Complete Adventures of Curious George. Silvey and critic Leonard Marcus recall the tales…
Drink Dirty
Elizabeth Norton is embarrassed to say what she orders at the Mussel Beach & Cheap Sex Party on Thursday nights. “I can’t tell you,” she says. “The name is too raunchy. In fact, I can’t even pronounce it.” Right. Does Grass-Stained Knees ring a bell? It’s one of the $3 “sex shots” served with $3.79…
Matt Pond PA
Matt Pond PA is the chamber-pop group that New Hampshire native Matt Pond formed in the late ’90s while living in Philadelphia. If that seems admirably straightforward, it’s typical of the singer-songwriter’s career. Since 2000, Pond and his changing lineup have released five albums, culminating last fall in Several Arrows Later, a disc that’s generally…
Frankly Unforgettable
Have you ever tried to revisit a cliché and experience it as if you’ve never heard it before? Take the well-worn phrase “spur of the moment.” Once you get past the fact that you’ve heard it a billion times, the power and freshness of the actual imagery appear in high-def clarity. So it is with…
Ebony and Ivory
In Sorrows & Rejoices, an exiled poet returns to South Africa to die. There, the two women who loved him — one white, one black — share memories, regrets, and feelings. Most of all, however, they share hope for the future of their country. It’s a post-apartheid tale (presented by Ensemble Theatre and making its…
Valentine’s Day Party
For more than 60 years, it’s been one of the few universal truths: If you want to set the mood for a romantic night, put on some Frank Sinatra tunes, and knees will buckle. Dakota Horvath has been performing since he was five, and now he has one professional goal: to perform the songs of…
Being Green
For most of us, our myths and memories of childhood are a bubbling brew of joys (the last day of the school year, finding a full-size Snickers in the Halloween bag) and terrors (boogeymen in the closet, the first day of the school year) that stay with us our whole lives. And no matter how…
Immigrant Song
If Coming to America isn’t the biggest production mounted by Kalliope Stage in the three seasons it’s been around, it’s certainly the busiest. More than 60 songs — by Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, and other songwriting giants — are packed into the two-hour show about Ellis Island immigrants. The vaudeville-style musical — created by New…
Help Wanted
It’s 7 p.m., and I’m standing near the hostess at Stir Crazy in Legacy Village, checking my cell for text messages. This takes little time, as I have no messages. The hostess, a teenager with oversized buttons pinned to her T-shirt, is busy adding names to the waiting list. She asks for the third time…
Phat Phunktion
Phat Phunktion, pardon the alliteration, really is phunky. Some compare the jammin’ Wisconsin octet to Earth, Wind and Fire — and that’s not a bad thing. When’s the last time a horn section made you want to — no, need to — dance? Expect mostly original songs, with a few covers of funk faves for…
Capsule reviews of current area theater presentations.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof — Not only does this Tennessee Williams classic feature perhaps the best character names in American theater — Maggie the Cat, Big Daddy, and Brick — it also echoes the rage of today’s Brokeback Mountain in its view of homosexual desire crippled by the surrounding stultifying culture. Director Martin…
The Big Uneasy
Nina Domingue’s New Orleans-set Mo Pas Connin, or Torment has become more resonant in the year since it premiered as part of Cleveland Public Theatre’s Big [Box] series. Hurricane Katrina, of course, added a great deal of poignancy to Domingue’s one-woman show, in which she portrays nine different characters. But there was also some self-discovery…
Spreading the Word
From Cleveburg to C-bus: Someone I work with in Cleveland sent me your article [“Discarded Heroes,” January 18]. This was a great story about these guys, and it brought the story of the war closer to me than any other article I have read. Like my colleague in Cleveland, I am sending it to my…
Matchbook Romance
Having seen some of their pop-punk elders wither on the Warped Tour while playing afternoon sets for yawning kids who weren’t alive when the oldsters released their first albums, next-generation emo groups have decided to graduate from the genre before its shelf life expires. Good Charlotte, Sum 41, and Yellowcard hit musical puberty on their…
Clay’s the Thing
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (DreamWorks) Not since Finding Nemo has there been a movie so easy to recommend for all ages and tastes. But despite having crafted a near-perfect film, directors Nick Park and Steve Box second-guess themselves constantly on their audio commentary, as well as revealing which parts of the…
Will Power
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Cleveland Opera presents the date-night story of Roméo et Juliette, Shakespeare’s classic tale of star-crossed lovers, their feuding families, and Romeo’s wisecracking sidekick Stephano. Wait a minute . . . Even if we did spend most of the time during our college Shakespeare courses battling hangovers, we’re certain there…
Northern Lights
Five years ago, the hottest new band was Sigur Rós, a group that comes from Iceland, one of the coldest and least populated countries on earth. If Sigur Rós had been a typical rock act — or even if it’d been as atypical as Björk, the only other Icelander to win as much international acclaim…
Beth Orton
This singer-songwriter from London got her start singing on tracks by mid-’90s electronic-music mavens like William Orbit and the Chemical Brothers. They provided her with fleshed-out musical settings before her songwriting had evolved to the point where she could provide her own; in return, she gave her collaborators’ work an element of humanity. Since Trailer…
X-Man Reunited
Maybe it’s because we’re hung up on our past more than ever — riding a wave of giddy, nonstop nostalgia and absorbing anything that will help recapture the bliss of the good ol’ days — but Capcom’s Mega Man X Collection feels more fun than ever. The follow-up to last year’s wildly popular Mega Man…
Speed Zone
Only 24 hours before Valentine’s Day, and nobody’s asked you on a date? The matchmakers at progressivedaters.com come to the rescue with tonight’s Valentine’s Charity Progressive Date. They’re pairing up singles for 30 speed dates apiece. After each three-minute meeting, lonely hearts mark a scorecard with the names of the potential partners they’d like to…
Stoned Free
Inspiration strikes High on Fire in strange settings. Singer-guitarist Matt Pike conceives most of his literate, theologically informed lyrics in dingy dive bars. “He’ll say, ‘Dude, what do you think about this?’, and he’ll give me a cocktail napkin with a bunch of shit scribbled on it,” says drummer Des Kensel. “I’ll say, ‘What the…
The Sword
Lately, labels not known for heavy music (Drag City, Matador, and now Kemado) have been releasing albums by long-haired knuckle-draggers: Pearls and Brass, Early Man, and the Sword, respectively. And Age of Winters is a capable attempt to seize the throne of heaviosity from High on Fire and/or Mastodon. It’s not “metal for people who…
Capsule reviews of current area art exhibitions.
NEW Curve Series: Jon Pylypchuk — To call this show disappointing is to compliment it backhandedly, for disappointed is precisely how Canadian-born Jon Pylypchuk wants viewers to feel upon encountering his bitterly satirical take on life. The title of this one-room installation suggests anger instantly: “You Asked Me to Come See Your Routine — You…
A Boy’s Life
Emmett Till was the face of the civil rights movement. His grotesquely mashed visage — made that way by two redneck Mississippians — remains the era’s most brutal image. The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till tells the tragic story: In 1955, Till, a 14-year-old from Chicago, was visiting family in Mississippi when he whistled…
Man in Black Imitators Club
Forget Deliverance, Reservoir Dogs, or The Man — the single most excruciating scene in American cinematic history appears in Ghost World, the 2001 indie flick about elitist post-high-school hipster chicks grappling with the inevitable chumpness of the world around them and (occasionally) banging Steve Buscemi. For those who’ve seen it, the excruciating part can be…
The Minus 5
After 11 years leading the Young Fresh Fellows and another dozen putting out Minus 5 CDs with assorted all-star rosters, Scott McCaughey pretends he’s finally “All Worn Out,” opening the so-called Gun Album (for the firearms on the cover and spine) by declaring “this rifle called Goodbye is all I can shoulder anymore,” and ending…
Our top DVD picks for the week of February 7
Bambi II (Disney) The Batman: The Complete First Season (Warner Bros.) The Best of the Electric Company (Shout!) The Best of Youth (Miramax) The Cary Grant Box Set (Sony) Cote D’Azur (Strand) Daltry Calhoun (Miramax) Doom: Unrated Extended Edition (Universal) Elizabethtown (Paramount) Eros (Warner Bros.) Grounded for Life: Season 1 (Anchor Bay) Just Like Heaven…
Mood Food
The Valentine’s Day menu at Great Lakes Brewing Company has us salivating. It’s also got us all worked up, if you know what we mean. Tonight’s theme is Aphrodisiacs, and, thankfully, Great Lakes has spared us the river snails and skink flesh that got people all hot and heavy back in the day. Instead, caviar,…
Punk Postmortem
The “new” New York rock scene, riddled with talentless art fags like the French Kicks, died on January 3. It was four years old. The cause was the release of the Strokes’ shitty excuse for an album, First Impressions of Earth, along with the depletion of Julian Casablancas’ trust fund. Just four years ago, the…
The Devin Townsend Band
Heavy-metal mastermind Devin Townsend is better known for his other band, Strapping Young Lad, than for this eponymous group, in which the prolific multi-instrumentalist and producer showcases his songwriting skills. Musically, Synchestra is all over the map, ranging from the folksy acoustic “Let It Roll” to Steve Vai’s Middle Eastern guitar solo in “Triumph” to…
Here are the week’s best releases from the pop-culture universe:
DVD — Saturday Night Live: The Best of Alec Baldwin: This 90-minute compilation of Baldwin’s SNL appearances — he’s hosted a near-record dozen times — would be a keeper even if “Canteen Boy Goes Camping” weren’t included. Fortunately, the sketch anchors the set, so you can relive Baldwin’s come-ons to Adam Sandler’s clueless Boy Scout…
Lively Up Your Belly
More than a decade after the Parkview threw its first Reggae Brunch, Bob Marley fans now line up outside the door for the annual tribute to the late music legend. “It’s grown like a flash fire,” says Norm Plonski, the bar’s owner. “Winter’s outside, and we’re inside enjoying reggae music.” The Marley minifest usually takes…
Sound Advice
Bill Gruber is program and music director at WAPS-FM 91.3 the Summit, Akron’s member-supported, commercial-free radio station. What have you been listening to lately? I always hate to answer this. I’m the musical Kiss of Death. Everything musical that I take a personal interest in is inevitably relegated to the lowest levels of Dante’s concentric…
Roses Never Fade
Roses Never Fade is the gloomy new ambient project from Integrity visionary Dwid. In his long and varied career, he’s never sounded like this: Instead of screaming to the heavens in his trademark raspy bellow, he whispers, moans, and laments. Imagine a mixtape of unplugged cuts from Alice in Chains’ Jar of Flies and scores…
Ghosts in Tow Trucks
Rule No. 1: “People can’t hear you, but dogs can.” So Nick tiptoes into the backyard of a West Side house, ducking under the lit kitchen window. The only sound is the snow crunching under his boots. He finds his target — a green Bonneville, tucked behind the white two-story. As he creeps closer, a…
Lord of the Sings
Sixteen-year-old Kaitlyn Lusk makes like Gollum and hogs the spotlight this weekend when she sings The Lord of the Rings Symphony with the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus. The State College, Pennsylvania, high school junior joins Oscar-winning Rings composer Howard Shore onstage for a concert of music from the blockbuster movie trilogy. “I am the front…
Money Where Your Mouth Is
Band: Ryan Humbert (www.ryanhumbert.com; www.myspace.com/ryanhumbertband) Hometown: North Canton Sounds like: “Sometimes like a ridiculously loud rock band in the vein of Elvis Costello or Steve Earle. During acoustic shows, a little on the lines of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. For this acoustic performance, we’ll be joined by the four-piece Nothing to Lose Gospel Choir.”…
Mr. Gnome
On its debut release, Cleveland’s Mr. Gnome introduces itself to the scene with strength. Composed of Nicole Barille on vocals and guitar and Sam Meister on drums, the duo creates a dynamic five-track disc that is an extremely satisfying listen. Though it is firmly rooted in rock, Meister’s drumming flashes occasional hip-hop flourishes, and he…
The Odd Couple
Ken Blackwell has long gay-bashed for God, contending that homos resort to acts beneath even farm animals — such as same-sex sex and really good interior-decorating. So it’s curious that he recently tapped Summit County Republican chairman Alex Arshinkoff to co-chair his gubernatorial campaign. Arshinkoff has a history of frequenting leather clubs and propositioning young…
Knockin’ Paws
The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo’s Animal Attractions features food, booze, and TMI about the mating habits of many of the zoo’s residents. Appropriately enough, the annual event tied to Valentine’s Day will teach visitors how gorillas, frogs, and armadillos get busy. And just to show you they’re serious, no kids are allowed. Have fun, says special…
Last Word
“I think Switched’s new songs need to be played on 92.3, 100.7, and 88.3. We have a Cleveland native writing great stuff — why won’t they play it? New disc is great. First three songs are hits, far beyond any radio rock around.” — Matt Demko, Cleveland “Vegas should be on 92.3 — or at…
He Loves N.Y.
Michael Symon, Cleveland’s nationally celebrated chef-owner of Lola and Lolita, last week revealed his plans to open a Greek restaurant in Manhattan. “How cool is it that New York had to come to Cleveland for a concept?” Symon burbled with characteristic glee. Scheduled for a March debut, Parea (Greek for “a group of friends”) will…
Rent Check
Everybody’s favorite award-winning feel-good AIDS musical, Rent, returns to Playhouse Square. And if you know the grim but uplifting story only from the recent less than stellar movie version, do yourself a favor and see it onstage, where all that singing and dancing around a potentially gloomy subject comes alive. Feb. 7-10, 7:30 p.m.; Sat.,…
Blush and Rust
Rust Records has signed Blush, giving the band a second shot at national prominence. The Canton band formed in 2001, signed to Surfdog Records the following year, recorded an album with Incubus producer Jim Wirt, headlined Tony Hawk’s Birdhouse Skateboard Tour, and ultimately got lost in the shuffle. Its debut disc found the young group…
Phat Tuesday
Nine o’clock on a Saturday night, and except for the homeless dude camped out on the steam grate at 12th and Superior, the downtown sidewalks are as empty as a lawyer’s conscience. We’re headed to the Mardi Gras Lounge & Grill to check out the evening’s offerings, and it’s hard to work up much enthusiasm.…
Loose Dog
Mel, a six-month-old Lhasa Apso, will be too wrapped up in his Dog Yoga class this afternoon to chew on an old rawhide bone at home. Not that he has a choice. His owner, Colette Barry, is a licensed massage therapist who runs the monthly session in her Westlake office. “I’m crazy about my little…
Striking Distance
Masha Hamilton spent a decade as a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times. She reported from the Middle East and the Soviet Union during some of their most tumultuous periods. And in 2004, she went to Afghanistan on assignment. “Like most journalists, I believe in the story,” she says. “But…
The Queers
As long as teenage boys are afraid to hit on teenage girls, pop-punk lives on, leaving in its wake a bloody trail of sing-along choruses about big-breasted obstacles. For this, no band deserves to have the finger pointed at them more than the Queers. Formed in 1982, the group has been leading the way in…
Hacked
It is often written of Harrison Ford that he’s the most profitable movie star in history, to the tune of some $3.8 billion in box-office receipts worldwide. Of course, once one subtracts from that total the first three Star Wars movies, the Indiana Jones trilogy, and two outings as C.I.A. agent Jack Ryan, not to…
Playing Doctor
The Children’s Museum of Cleveland unveils two new parts of its popular hands-on Bridges to Our Community exhibit today. One is a replica of a hospital, complete with a doctor’s office. The other is a family house, where kids can try on business suits, cook breakfast, and take public transportation to their jobs. Because it’s…
Rhymes From the Underground
Hip-hop trio Grayskul is tight with the Def Jux and Rhymesayers crews. Mr. Lif, Aesop Rock, and Atmosphere are all pals and collaborators. Little surprise then that Grayskul’s debut album, Deadlivers, combines the deep, murky sounds of underground heroes Cannibal Ox with RZA-like stabs of slasher-movie shrieks. It’s dark, complicated material that’s often punctuated by…
Robert Pollard
While it would’ve been much more interesting to see this indie slack king reinvented as a crooner of torch songs, on his new album, From a Compound Eye, Robert Pollard is the same Dayton guy we know and love. There are 26 new tracks, none more fetching than the first — a slow-build, harmonica-driven beauty,…
Dead Funny
Let’s get right to the point: If you enjoy seeing naked girls meet a hideously graphic demise, there’s a scene in Final Destination 3 that will wear out the pause and rewind buttons on your DVD remote a few months from now. Mega-stereotype cheerleader bimbos Ashley (Chelan Simmons) and Ashlyn (Crystal Lowe) are the type…
The Flamenco Kid
The Paco Peña Flamenco Dance Company has inspired a new devotion to an ancient dance by strumming, stomping, and clapping its way from Cordoba’s cafés to concert halls throughout the world. “He takes you from an intimate moment with his guitar to the dances,” says Cleveland Museum of Art artistic director Massoud Saidpour. “The resulting…
Travelin’ Band
Local instrumental jam band Rare Blend gets elaborate on its fourth album, Stops Along the Way. Not satisfied with merely writing and performing songs that jump from rock to jazz to world music and back again, the quartet composed 13 tracks that tie into one another. “There’s a story in the songs about making different…
Lucy Kaplansky
We’d all understand if Lucy Kaplansky begged out of this show, but she’s intent on honoring her commitment. Kaplansky and the rest of the Minnesota-based Red House Records family were shocked by the sudden death of Bob Feldman, the label’s founder and president, on January 11. The tour started less than a week after Feldman’s…
Kitty Litter
This is not George Lazenby making his doomed run at James Bond, or even Mel Gibson presuming to play Hamlet. This is serious heresy, combined with a touch of felonious assault. It has evidently not occurred to Steve Martin that, just as there is only one Eiffel Tower, there is but one Inspector Clouseau. The…
