Holy Batman, Chewie!
Laura Putre can be reached at lputre@clevescene.com.
Inside Out
Charles Yannopoulos can be reached at cyannopoulos@clevescene.com.
The Surreal Thing
Keith A. Joseph can be reached at kjoseph@clevescene.com.
Side Dish
Tips are encouraged. Contact Elaine T. Cicora at ecicora@clevescene.com.
Spice Would Be Nice
Elaine T. Cicora can be reached at ecicora@clevescene.com.
Tender Lovin’ Catfights
TLC knows how to start a fire, in more ways than one. While its latest release, FanMail, has already sold over 5 million copies and was recently nominated for six Grammy Awards, all is not well with the group. Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes — you know, the one who set her then-boyfriend Andre Rison’s house…
Ex-Con Artists
What would you say if two men approached you on the street and asked if they could drill a hole in your head and record your thoughts? This is the kind of situation that Jim Coyle and Mal Sharpe inflicted on innocent pedestrians as they walked around San Francisco in the early 1960s with a…
Black Caesar
On his first solo album, last year’s Venni, Vetti, Vecci, rapper Ja Rule (Jeff Atkins) boasts about riding through the ‘hood with his thugs in tow, raising a ruckus because he’s a “nigga for life.” In the video for the album’s single, the hit “Holla Holla,” Atkins rolls into Rio de Janeiro in a lowrider…
The Kennedys
The Kennedys Evolver (Zoe) It’s pretty obvious that Maura and Pete Kennedy are disciples of John, Paul, George, and Ringo. They’re also followers of the Book of Byrds. So, it’s with tongues placed firmly in cheek that they bill their new album, Evolver, as “a new kind of music from the Kennedys.” Truth is, there’s…
Give Chi a Chance
Feng shui is a) the scary red Pokémon, b) a vegetarian noodle dish, c) a popular Asian rap musician, d) the art of home arrangement that commands us to keep the toilet lid down. If you answered “d,” you know your yin from your yang. Feng shui (pronounced “fung shway”), the 5,000-year-old Chinese art of…
The Robbie McIntosh Band
The Robbie McIntosh Band Emotional Bends (Compass) Guitarist Robbie McIntosh possesses an enviable if somewhat schizophrenic résumé. His two big gigs seem to be polar opposites of each other — first as guitar foil to Chrissie Hynde in the Pretenders, then as the last in a long line of guitarists who played in former Beatle…
Big Apple Corps
Imagine a land where classical music makes teenage girls go gaga. Where Bach and Brahms rule. Where life transformation begins. That land is New York City, those girls make up the Girls Choir of Harlem, and while they may be shaken up about Ricky’s bon-bon or feverish over 98 Degrees, they’ve also been moved by…
Kurt Rosenwinkel
Kurt Rosenwinkel The Enemies of Energy (Verve) A great deal of thought and ingenuity went into the making of this CD. All of the tunes, except keyboardist Scott Kinsey’s “Point of View,” which evolves without a break into guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel’s “Christmas Song,” were written by Rosenwinkel, a long-time member of Paul Motian’s Electric Bebop…
The Prozac, Please
Some people really are crazy, but then, “crazy” is a relative term. Does it apply to someone who feels he might spin off into outer space and never be able to get back down to Earth? Or is it only crazy when you have to cling to the nearest table or chair to keep from…
The Baby Namboos
The Baby Namboos Ancoats 2 Zambia (Palm Pictures) You can’t talk about the Baby Namboos’ debut LP, Ancoats 2 Zambia, without making a reference to lead man Mark Porter’s familial ties to Tricky. The famous former Massive Attack pioneer turned solo trip-hop star makes noticeable vocal appearances on three tracks, and more or less pushed…
Better Daze
The 1995 film Friday is best remembered as the film that brought actor Chris Tucker to audiences’ attention. A modest hit, it would seem an odd choice for a sequel, but Ice Cube — who co-wrote the original with DJ Pooh, as well as produced and starred — is back with more of the same…
Zen Mafia
Zen Mafia California (RCA) The main problem with California, the debut disc from Zen Mafia, is that you’re not quite sure if it’s a novelty item or a serious studio venture. For Southern California musicians Victor Murgatroyd and Chris Johnson, this haphazard project came together when the two shared their home-brewed version of a Lynyrd…
Doubt at South
Jacqueline Marino can be reached at jmarino@clevescene.com.
Soundbites
Send local music info and cylinder records to jniesel@clevescene.com.
The Messenger
Mark Naymik can be reached at mnaymik@clevescene.com.
The Edge
Get down! The Rock Hall board is being cut in half, from a cumbersome 60 to a more manageable group with better fund-raising potential. “We need to get more creative in terms of endowments and licensing,” says Board Chairman Lee Howley, citing a need for more library, archival, and meeting space (though avoiding any mention…
