Concerts: This Just In…
30 Seconds to Mars takes on the Agora March 19 New this week: 37 hot shows… Staind frontman Aaron Lewis unplugs for a solo tour. Hair-metal faves Girlschool return. The Blood Brothers bring their spazzed-out screamo to the Agora. And that dreamy guy from My So-Called Life brings his ab-fab band, 30 Seconds to Mars,…
A Slur Against Puerto Ricans
As I was reading your story [“The City That Never Works,” January 10]. It kind of bothered me that throughout the story you mention that the guy who stole from Christina was Puerto Rican. How did you know he was Puerto Rican? Did he call her and say that he was? Because as the story…
Boycott the Toxic Mall
This is terrible [“Tomb With a View,” January 10]. Apparently the government is not doing what they are supposed to be doing to protect people. Why aren’t people boycotting these stores? Maybe if sales dropped, the thing will shut down. This is a scary discrace. Colleen Loftus Lakewood
How Not to Organize a Protest
As last week’s protest revealed, if you’re gonna protest cruelty to animals, it’s always best to bring some naked ladies On a blistery cold Thursday afternoon last week, 18 people stood freezing outside the Lerner Research Center in anticipation of yet another PETA protest — this one against the Cleveland Clinic for allowing a dog…
More Wrongly Convicted Murderers?
In 1988, Anthony Michael Green was convicted of a rape he didn’t commit. It would be 13 years before DNA evidence would finally exonerate Green. As soon as he was set free, he filed a lawsuit against the City of Cleveland. Green demanded that they do an audit of the city police laboratory. The feds…
W0man Sues Preacher for Rape
A year ago, Premsuda Jantarapet, a 42-year-old Thai woman living in Parma, accused Rev. Richard Manning of raping her several times, then threatening to have her deported if she squealed. Manning, Parma Baptist Church’s pastor, denied raping her but admitted sleeping with her — despite the very inconvenient fact that he’d been married for almost…
The Woes of the White Rapper
Johnny La Rock got no time for race in his rap Scene contributor Fast Eddie Fleisher, also known by the nom de rap Johnny La Rock, weighs in on the whole white rapper thing, as seen on VH1, and recently discussed in this very blog: As a fan of hip-hop and a “white rapper” myself,…
Hudson’s $1,500 Martini
We’ve gotten used to seeing 12-buck cocktails on local menus, but the $1,500 martini at Vue in Hudson is in a class all its own. While the very thought of such a thing could knock regular folks off their Natty Lite for the next two weeks, there’s more to this top-shelf ‘tini than merely Stoli…
The Return of Dada
Cleveland’s resurrected improv-comedy troupe, Something Dada, chose a fitting theme song for last week’s inaugural performance in its new digs. As the house lights dimmed, the audience heard the strains of “Movin’ On Up” from the ’70s sitcom, The Jeffersons. Like George and Weezie, the 10-member cast has relocated to the East Side. The comics…
Guide to a Weekend in Washington
Our correspondent was ridiculed by a hot Russian waitress (see example above) for not ordering Russian vodka Took a road trip to our nation’s capital this weekend in an effort to reduce the unexplained surplus in my checking account. As a service to you, dear reader, I have produced this Zagat Guide to a Weekend…
Top Entertainment Picks for This Week
Stomp comes to Akron This week’s top arts and entertainment picks around town, from the guy who’s paid to pick them: Monday: The Cleveland Cinematheque screens Sunset Boulevard, one of the best movies ever made. Part noir, part black comedy, all scathing hatred for the Hollywood machine. Tuesday: Reggae singer Pato Banton plays Wilbert’s. Back…
Korn: The New Worst Song Ever
Time was when Korn offered cutting-edge shit — raucous, down-tuned, grinding songs like “Blind.” If properly marketed, “A.D.I.D.A.S” could have been as been as big as Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Follow the Leader, their 1998 LP, could be rap-metal’s high-water mark. Even the subsequent studio albums have had their moments. Now Korn’s just sad.…
Homo Police Blotter for the Week
Homo Police The Homo Police Blotter for the week of January 21, 2007: Homo Police arrested Jim Simpson, 24, of North Royalton at Border’s Book Store, after shoppers alerted security that he was in the self-help aisle, leafing through a copy of a Suze Orman book. Simpson claimed he was merely seeking financial advice from…
Smoking the Rats
It’s nice to know that if smokers have to take the fall, the anti-smokers can go right down with us. This week, the Ohio Department of Health released the details of its SmokeFree Workplace Act, which will have go before the General Assembly. The beauty of this bill is not that it calls for fines…
Kucinich Hearts Bush
If you tuned into the State of the Union last week, you may have seen an elf trying to borrow the President’s spotlight. Dennis Kucinich — who’s made his name as a lapdog barking at the president’s heels — made sure he was stationed near the entrance when President Bush emerged to take the podium,…
Presenting the Lake Erie Monsters
About 600 hockey fans turned out for a news conference this afternoon to hear Cavs owner Dan Gilbert announce that the new Lake Erie Monsters hockey team would call Quicken Loans Arena their home this fall. “Hockey’s a great sport,” says Gilbert. “It’s great to see it come alive again. We’re not only going to…
Sam Sets New Low for Originality!
We Read Fulwood So You Don’t Have To… Headline: Who really cares about black teens? Date: January 25, 2007 Topic: Someone at The Plain Dealer did some actual work this week, and it wasn’t Sam. Luckily for Fulwood, he’s shameless when it comes to ripping off his colleagues. This time, it’s Rachell Dissell’s Sunday stories…
The Rodney Dangerfield of Politics
Recently, Plain Dealer correspondent Sabrina Heaton reported that Rep. Dennis Kucinich had been named chairman of the new House Government Reform and Oversight subcommittee on domestic policy. This new subcommittee will, apparently, investigate domestic issues like electric utilities, nuclear power plants, water safety, health care, media concentration, and government treatment of American Indians. After 10…
Special Moments at the Zoo
Remember when the monkeys threw poop at you at the zoo? Or how about the time two zebras started getting it on while you were trying to enjoy your hot dog? Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is gathering your memories to help celebrate its 125th anniversary this year. Throughout 2007, the zoo is accepting submissions — photos,…
Wining & Dining at D’Vine
For people who like discussing wine, downtown’s D’Vine Wine Bar is now hosting bi-monthly tasting events. For only $20, winophiles can blind-test wines from different regions of the world, while snacking on fancy cheese and breads. Door prizes are awarded for those who identify the wines correctly. Unfortunately, C-Notes mistakenly won this week, for which…
Tequila and Wine Tasting
The weather may be cold, but nothing delivers a toasty punch better than tequila. See for yourself next Wednesday, January 31 at One Walnut, when chef-owner Marlin Kaplan hosts a Tequila and Wine Tasting, complete with a lineup of Brazilian and Spanish-style appetizers. The fiesta runs from 6 to 9 p.m., and features seven tequilas,…
Kucinich: The Minstrel Show
Local embarrassment/vanity presidential aspirant Dennis Kucinich may have hit a new low with his American Idol take on singing a Negro spiritual. The cringe-worthy moment happened when the creepy elf, flanked by Jesse Jackson, started singing “Sixteen Tons” during a speech to the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Think of it as the political version of the white…
Smoking Ban Unconstitutional
We’re pretty sure Wesley Snipes would be pissed about the smoking ban One of my favorite sci-fi guy flicks is Demolition Man starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. It is an action packed movie where both good guy/cop Stallone and bad guy/criminal Snipes find themselves in a future in which all of man’s favorite vices,…
Uncle Tom’s Last Stand
Last week, new Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner revealed that Ken Blackwell went out with an $80,000 bang. Apparently, Blackwell felt his staff had done such an excellent job helping him supress the vote that he signed off on severences packages for 19 of his staffers, including mouthpiece Carlo LoParo. The $80,000 sum doesn’t include…
Battle of the Bands Tonight
Bif Naked will be judging tonight’s affair. Something to do tonight: Bif Naked, Johnny Rotten, dudes from the Cult, Atreyu, and Anthrax judge battle of the bands at Rock Hall. Bodog Music’s Battle of the Bands visits the Rock Hall tonight. The event will be filmed for an upcoming reality series. Even if the bands…
Guilty Pleasure: The White Rapper Show
100 Proof: “Half man, half liquor.” VH1’s The White Rapper Show has been airing for the past couple weeks, and it looked like the perfect show to avoid. One, white guys can rap — see gajillion-selling Eminem, or read the remarkably insightful celebration of Caucasian rhyming “Whitey on the Mic,” which declared the white rapper…
Cougar: In Their Own Words
Scene’s much-mourned Money Where Your Mouth Is column — in which the music geeks shut up and let the bands talk for themselves — makes a spectacular return with Wisconsin’s Cougar. Band: Cougar Hometown: Madison, WI Sounds like: “Four Tet, Fugazi and Nick Drake playing rock-paper-scissors. Also sounds like: Emergency Rock. Also a condition of:…
The Best & Worst of 2006
Former Beacon writer Chuck Klosterman has been declared no longer cool by the Washington Post. As January comes to an end, so do the best and worst of 2006 lists and all the dubious predictions for 2007. Here are a few of our more recent favorites: 1. CNNMoney.com listed Fiji Water’s ad campaign as the…
Last King of Scotland
Van Wiler: Now that’s acting! Movie Reviews by The Douchebag Sitting Behind You: Last King of Scotland First of all, somebody needs to explain why this movie is called Last King of Scotland. I was, like, totally pumped for some Braveheart ass-kicking, maybe some chicks with hot accents. Hell, I wore my damn kilt to…
Confronting the Mayor
Frank Jackson: Doing his best to hide in the closet. With one of the highest rates of childhood lead poisoning in the country, Cleveland is struggling to repair thousands of older homes laden with toxic paint [“The Poison Kids” Aug. 16, 2006]. Last winter a Rhode Island jury ruled that paint companies like Sherwin-Williams should…
The Worst Song Ever
Had to sit through “Detroit Rock City” on ‘NCX again. Again. You’d think Kiss only had two songs. What’s it gonna take to get “Strutter” and “Cold Gin” into rotation? Here’s a theory as to why classic-rock radio never dives deep into the Kiss katalog: There’s some dark, sick, twisted stuff in there. Not metal,…
Roasting the King
Cedric the Entertainer is coming to Cleveland for the LeBron roast On Sunday, January 28, LeBron James will be exchanging his throne for the hot seat at his very own Roast. Comedians Cedric the Entertainer, Paul Rodriguez, Ralphie May and Mo’Nique, as well as fellow Cav and team jester Damon Jones, will all share the…
“They Raped Me.”
At around noon on June 5 of last year, Beatrice walked past the boarded-up houses and chain-link fences of West 48th Street and arrived at her tidy two-story home. The sweltering heat aggravated her asthma and made the short walk from the bus stop feel like a death march. She eased her matronly girth into…
Shiny Toy Guns
The video for “Le Disko” is a goth-industrial creepshow, but don’t let that fool you — Shiny Toy Guns are as playful as their name. “Don’t Cry Out,” the opening cut on We Are Pilots, is pure Pet Shop Boys disco-revival bliss, except that half the vocals are by sexy/smirky Carah Faye (remember, “dorks +…
Painted in a Corner
Of all the possible venues for racial discrimination, the least likely might seem to be a museum. After all, the world of art itself is such a fertile area for disagreements and disputes, it would seem to suck out all the oxygen needed for race-based political gamesmanship. Then again, maybe not. Based on an actual…
Reichstag Follies
There’s something ironic about turning a movie satire about Broadway into an actual Broadway play. But somehow, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick managed to pull it off. Mel Brooks’ 1968 comedy The Producers turned out to be perfectly suited onstage. The touring production comes to Akron this weekend without the big-name stars but with all…
Revenge of the Husband
Something is all wrong here. This is a courtroom gallery: two rows of ugly orange seats lining the back of a downtown courtroom. It’s supposed to be empty. No one wants to watch a simple little trial for menacing. There are capital murder trials to witness, aren’t there? Who wants to see this? Everyone, apparently.…
I Got Five on It
The last Saturday of every month, DJs Mick Boogie and Terry Urban give you the chance to relive the best house party you went to in 1996 with I Got Five on It. Representing the League Crew, the certified mixologists spin choice old-school hip-hop, dusting off classic cuts from Big Daddy Kane, Biggie Smalls, 3rd…
Capsule reviews of current area theater presentations.
Fat Pig — Written by Neil LaBute, who owns a burgeoning theatrical franchise specializing in callous and misogynistic characters, this play centers on a Rubenesque young woman named Helen, who is played by the lovely but definitely not anorexic Jenna Messina. The audience must deal not only with Helen’s issues, as she pursues a romantic…
A Grape Cause
At tonight’s Red & White wine-tasting in Akron, you can try everything from dry cabernets to sweet chardonnays. Seventeen local wineries offer their finest vintages at the Arthritis Foundation’s 10th-annual benefit, which attracts more than 750 people to the John S. Knight Center each year. “We even give you a wine glass that you can…
In the Shadow of City View
With years of pain comes small relief: Bravo to your amazing job on “Tomb With a View” [January 10]. You are now officially The Man in my book. I am gathering copies to give to all my family members who live within smelling range of City View (a.k.a. “Cancer Vortex”), as I have since 1991.…
Bitch & the Exciting Conclusion
Bitch is an evocative name, but she sounds pretty tender on her first proper solo record, Make This/Break This. The dreadlocked, six-foot singer-violinist last graced the city as half of Bitch & Animal, a bubbly grrrl-power duo signed to Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records. Bitch remains unplugged on this affair, but it’s a more melancholy…
Capsule reviews of current area art exhibitions.
NEWThe Great Grid — Right-brain people are more likely than left-lobers to appreciate these giant new paintings by renowned Clevelander Patricia Zinsmeister Parker. The show’s geometrical title notwithstanding, Parker’s brand of abstraction appeals primarily on visceral levels, forgoing intellectual depth to overwhelm the senses with shape, color, and sheer size. Standing before “Heads and Tails,”…
Sideways
If there’s a theme to be found among the contrasting works in MOCA’s Side by Side, it’s that art comes in all shapes and sizes. Ten local artists — including Laurie Addis, Thomas Frontini, and Erik Neff — contribute paintings, sculptures, and photographs to the show. A video installation about a women’s rugby team shares…
Talking Trash
The good people of the Ohio EPA apparently believe they have too much work, so they’re dumping it on you. According to a proposed change in the agency’s laws, it will no longer deal with “nuisance odors” unless the stank is causing health problems or property damage. And how exactly does one prove that a…
The Shins
While waiting more than three years for the Shins’ follow-up to Chutes Too Narrow, watching “New Slang” blow up, another indie-pop outfit by the name of Animal Collective released two modern classics: Sung Tongs and Feels, the most glorious and far-out pop music since “Good Vibrations” dropped in ’66. Even though critics had originally tagged…
Classic Coke
Cocaine Cowboys (Magnolia) Slam! Bang! Pow! Snort! This tawdry and giddy documentary tells the story of Miami’s transformation from a place where old people go to die to a place with so much drug money that the Mercedes dealers were constantly out of stock, where the hit men would rather throw a gun away than…
Positive Thinking
Reggae singer Pato Banton’s résumé includes gigs with Peter Gabriel, the English Beat, and Sting. He even scored a college radio hit with a cover of the Police’s “Spirits in the Material World” in the early ’90s. Seven years ago, he retreated from recording and touring to form a music program for disadvantaged kids in…
Warped in a Jar
There’s a punk party this Friday over at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It’s opening night for the new exhibit Warped: 12 Years of Music, Mayhem, and More, and a bunch of bands — including Bad Religion and Pennywise — will be rocking out. The country’s longest-running festival tour, Warped has ridden California…
Pretty Ricky
Valentine’s Day is almost here, which means it’s time for the sophomore album from Pretty Ricky. The leadoff single, “On the Hotline,” finds the Miami foursome in full grind, fantasizing about flying a MySpace conquest back to the bachelor pad, where she’s ordered to “Take them granny panties off/And put a thong on.” Ah, romance.…
Dr. Feelgood
For most of us, the closest we get to practicing medicine is telling a depressed co-worker, “Somebody’s got a case of the Mondays.” But that doesn’t stop us from living vicariously through TV doctors. Now, with Trauma Center: Second Opinion, you can take your surgical dreams one step further. Thanks to the Wii’ s revolutionary…
Singing Cowboy
Singer-songwriter Robert Grevey’s cowboy adventures inspired the songs on his debut CD, Humongous. The Cleveland native — who performs at the Barking Spider tonight — spent three years working on a Wyoming dude ranch. “It’s the open space, the time to think, the inspiration in the hills,” says the 29-year-old. “Driving the open road was…
Filth Pop?
Cradle of Filth has been polarizing metalheads for 15 years. While the British band’s fan base goes rabid for its symphonically pomptastic black/thrash song-suites, others just loathe the group. Hardcore black-metal fans resent them for getting lumped in with their hermetic and surly genre, accurately claiming that no band with such an obvious sense of…
Macromantics
The Lady Sovereign of Oz? Maybe. But delve deeper into Macromantics’ debut and you’ll discover an MC sporting a more sophisticated flow, broader vocab, and grittier production. All of which means that it’s hard to imagine Jay-Z courting this Aussie white girl for Def Jam. Just as well — one Lady Sov is quite enough.…
Our top DVD picks for the week of January 23
Brokeback Mountain: 2-Disc Collector’s Edition (Universal) Cowboy del Amor (Genius) Crooks (Lightyear) Fiddler on the Roof (MGM) The 2006 FIFA World Cup Film: The Grand Finale (Sony) Ghost Encounters: The Queen Mary (Anthem) The Guardian (Buena Vista) Hopeless Pictures: Season One (Genius) Jesus Camp (Magnolia) John Pinette: I’m Starvin’ (Image) Kounterfeit (Lions Gate) Last Night…
New Kids in Town
After years of catering to graying rock fans, whose idea of new music is the latest Bob Dylan album, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is opening its doors to a bunch of young punks. Warped: 12 Years of Music, Mayhem, and More (which opens today) chronicles the first dozen years of the annual…
Down for the Count
“When we first started the band, we got ridiculed by President Bush, and we had a war going on,” says Body Count guitarist and co-founder Ernie Cunningham. “Once again, we have another President Bush, and another war. It was time, everything’s come full circle.” Releasing Murder 4 Hire, the band’s first disc of studio material…
Kristin Hersh
Sexually inquisitive college girls have Ani DiFranco. Metaphysically minded faerie fetishists have Tori Amos. And aging Gen-X hipsters have Kristin Hersh. And of the three, she’s the most underrated and vital. On Learn to Sing Like a Star — her 21st release in the 21 years since founding Throwing Muses — she’s still one of…
The Music Men
PARK CITY, Utah –On the first Saturday of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, I rolled out of bed and hustled up Main Street for the 8:30 screening of Tamara Jenkins’ The Savages, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney as adult siblings caring for an irascible elderly parent. Only I went to the wrong theater…
Border Crossings
There are some fascinating images on view in Legal Aliens, a multimedia exhibit focusing on immigration now showing at Spaces. A dozen international artists contribute films, photos, and audio collages to the show, which explores the concept of national identity — whether it’s in the voices of 50 people from various countries singing traditional songs…
Rock Docs Are Go!
The digital age has become a major curse to the major labels: Album sales fell 4 percent in 2005, 4.6 percent in 2006. But for rock and rolling indie entrepreneurs with access to editing gear, digital cameras, and life-rights, a brand-new art form has descended upon the industry’s carcass — the cult-band rockumentary. Low-budget rock…
Sneakers
In the mid-’70s, North Carolina’s Sneakers established themselves as perhaps the first “lo-fi” indie-pop band, filtering the British Invasion and folk-rock through a nervy DIY framework. In retrospect, the lineup reads like a supergroup. There’s Chris Stamey and current Cleveland resident Will Rigby, both of whom would later establish the dB’s, one of power pop’s…
Sympathy for the Devil
PARK CITY, Utah — Ten days of terse texting among professional narcissists working on little or no sleep in one of the last cold spots left on Al Gore’s inconvenient Earth: Welcome to Sundance ’07, where wounding homefront melodrama Grace Is Gone sells and it hardly pays to be nice. Indeed, only the most well-insulated…
Self Love
This weekend’s Big [Box] offering at Cleveland Public Theatre features a pair of multimedia performances that focus on the creators’ personal lives. First up: Lisa Lock’s Without Feathers combines dance and video in a surrealistic piece that attempts to grasp the artist’s “sense of self.” Amy Notley’s Sucking the Life, on the other hand, starts…
Who Split Marilyn?
Who Killed Marilyn, Scene readers’ Best New Band of 2006, has split, leaving frontman Chris Marinin with the group’s name while the rest of the players form a new band. “It was pretty much a mutual thing,” says keyboardist Steve Tolodzieski. “[Marinin] wanted to move in a new direction that we didn’t necessarily want to…
Lost State of Franklin
Quarter to Lonely plays like the work of three good ol’ boys and a gal who spend their weekends spinning Johnny Cash and watching A Fistful of Dollars. Plunking and twanging, guitarist Rob Franklin Muzick lays down a locomotive lick on the opener, “Clint Eastwood,” while singer J. Scott Franklin lionizes Dirty Harry. Like the…
Here are the week’s best releases from the pop-culture universe:
DVD — There Was a Crooked Man . . . : This 1970 western — about a new prison inmate who clashes with a tough warden — is a gritty, funny poke at conventional westerns. It’s also included in Amazon’s DVD Decision 2006 series, in which customers pick 10 classics to debut in the format.…
The Joy of Sax
Expect to see many glassy-eyed and reverential fans at tonight’s performance by the Rascher Saxophone Quartet. “I wouldn’t say they’re a cult exactly, but they have a following who subscribe to their philosophy,” says composer Mathew Rosenblum, who wrote “Mobius Loop,” one of the group’s most popular pieces. Founded by the late German American classicist…
Augustana
Here’s how San Diego’s Augustana describes itself on the band’s MySpace page: “We drink, we smoke, we quit, we start again, we lie a lot, we dance, we cheat, we’re sorry, we’re faithful, we have kids, we have girlfriends, we’re single, we’re married, we’re lost, we’re alone, we’re finally happy, we’re finally home.” That says…
The Six Parts Seven
Instrumental rock has long been the genre’s redheaded stepchild. Radio ignores it, and many people start squirming in their seats if a singer doesn’t start whining and growling into their ears. And you know what? Kent’s Six Parts Seven doesn’t give a damn about your need for lyrics and vocalization. These gentle souls have issued…
Bust a Move
Former Cash Explosion host Leilani Barrett teaches beginners some old-school popping and locking at tonight’s Hip-Hop Dance Class for Adults at Playhouse Square. “He warms you up first,” says Linda Jackson, Playhouse Square’s dance manager. “So nobody gets hurt.” Barrett shows students a series of basic steps tonight, but by the time the weekly course…
I Want to Hold Your Handyman
This weekend’s RemodelOhio Show is getting a makeover. Where past events targeted handymen, now they’re reaching out to the fairer sex, which increasingly makes the decisions when it comes to home improvement. “For too long, we had the image of a Do-It-Yourself show,” says Professional Remodelers of Ohio’s Brenda Callaghan. “And that’s just not the…
Asobi Seksu
In Japanese, “Asobi Seksu” apparently means “playful sex.” Lead singer Yuki Chikudate is a fetching Japanese American girl from New York who sings — sometimes in Japanese — in a breathy style not too far from Blonde Redhead. And even with Chikudate trading Kazu Makino’s shrieky orgasms for J-pop chirpiness, the band is successfully provocative.…
Goat’s Gruff
In the land of Subway, Starbucks, and Bob Evans, even a modest homegrown eatery like Kent’s Wild Goats Café commands a large and loyal following. Faint praise? Perhaps. But settled inside a former Friendly’s, this locally owned breakfast-and-lunch spot has successfully duked it out with better-known chain-linked competitors for more than three years. On the…
In Tune
From heartfelt spirituals to big-band compositions by Duke Ellington, anthems of freedom and joy are on tap at today’s Black Heritage Concert at the Cleveland Institute of Music. The 16th-annual show features singers, performers, and orchestra conductors — all local and all African American. “This is our contribution to focusing on the community’s artists,” says…
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
It’s not often that you get to see Sunset Blvd. — one of the greatest movies ever made — on the big screen. Tonight, the Cinematheque shows Billy Wilder’s 1950 masterpiece, a scathing look at Hollywood’s industry and lifestyle. Part black comedy, part film noir, the film begins with the corpse of a screenwriter (played…
Winter Jam 2007
Celebrating its 14th season, Winter Jam is your shot to see the best Christian musicians without breaking the bank. The ringleader of Winter Jam 2007 is Steven Curtis Chapman — not the dude who assassinated Lennon (that’s Mark David Chapman), but a true legend of the contemporary Christian singer-songwriter genre. Chapman’s orchestral-infused pop-rock sound has…
Road Trip
Staffers at Ohio City’s modern-Mex Momocho (1835 Fulton Road, 216-694-2122) will be tackling the Three R’s — rest, research, and remodeling — during a hiatus between January 28 and February 5. During that time, key staffers, including owner Eric Williams, chef Nolan Konkoski, and bar manager Molly Smith, will be checking out Mexican and southwestern…
Playing It Safe
Playground World usually teems with tumblin’ tots who frolic on the venue’s indoor slides and swings. Today, they’ll also get a few tips at Kids’ Health & Safety Day. “We get so many kids in here, and I wanted to do something fun and informative to get the word out about being safe and healthy,”…
Spring in Their Step
GroundWorks Dancetheater makes its annual pilgrimage to the Cleveland Botanical Garden this weekend to dance among the flora. This year’s program includes two pieces by troupe leader David Shimotakahara and the premiere of a collaboration between dancer Amy Miller and guitarist James Marron. It’s like a little bit of springtime in the middle of winter.…
Zs
The tag “brutal prog” dropped out of style around the same time as retro-electro legwarmers, but pay no mind. It has always evoked, perfectly, the jams busted by such indie jazzbos as the Flying Luttenbachers, Hella, and, Orthrelm — intense virtuosos filtering their well-educated chops through grating skronk, hardcore aggression, mind-bending time changes, and extreme…
Ace Up His Sleeve
It’s new-school genre junk food: Take a Tarantino wannabe with Sundance credentials, add a large, famous-enough cast and a showbiz backdrop, season the violence with references to Sergio Leone and Takeshi Kitano, serve cool, and garnish with a cynicism beyond irony. Smokin’ Aces is writer-director Joe Carnahan’s third and most elaborate feature, following his 1999…
Porn in the U.K.
A mail-order gaffe leads to an onslaught of porn in No Sex Please, We’re British, now playing at the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre. In the 1971 stage comedy, a newlywed couple moves into an apartment above the bank where hubby Peter works. To help furnish the flat, wife Frances purchases some glassware from a mail-order…
Temple of Doom
In 1978, more than 900 cult members drank cyanide-spiked Kool-Aid at the behest of their leader, Jim Jones. Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple chronicles the events that led to the largest mass suicide in modern history. This incisive documentary compiles lots of previously unseen footage, interviews with survivors, and vintage newsreel clips…
The Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue
Since their birth somewhere along the chitlin’ circuit (back in the ’40s), R&B revues have traditionally spotlighted rising blues stars, anchored by solid headliners. And the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue is no exception. Well-known in these parts, Bay Area guitarslinger Tommy Castro continues to build up his rep as an R&B/blues-rock powerhouse, badass vocalist,…
Breaking Down
Let’s applaud, on principle, Anthony Minghella’s return to small-scale storytelling. Breaking and Entering marks his first original screenplay since the oddball romantic comedy Truly, Madly, Deeply (1991) and a retreat from the jumbo period pieces of his Miramax-to-the-max phase. Overrated as they are, The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Cold Mountain hold up…
Music of the Heart
For her latest album, Over the Mountain, Across the Valley, and Back to the Stars, Brooklyn singer-songwriter Jennifer O’Connor turned to a rocky romance for inspiration. “I went through a breakup, and that’s what I wrote about,” she says. “It came from a real difficult time in my life.” The songs — like “Dirty City…
Minority Report
It’s Wednesday, so the American Civil Liberties Union is pissed again. This time their target is Michigan voters, who approved a bill in November to eliminate statewide programs that create an equal playing field for women and minorities in schools and the workplace. At tonight’s Forgetting Equality: The Elimination of Affirmative Action program, Michigan ACLU…
Brian Ffar and Daniel Mnookin
From the city that built house music come two DJ/producers peddling techno of an extremely high caliber while still honoring the pioneering spirit of Chicago’s ’80s house innovators. Brian Ffar, who runs Siteholder Records with Daniel Mnookin and Billy Dalessandro, has been releasing tracks since 2004 and webcasting the Red Line Sessions (www.protonradio.com) since 2003.…
Old Man’s Still Got It
Maurice Russell, a septuagenarian actor facing the end of his career and life, gazes raptly at the present that fate has given him: the company of a sullen but strangely desirable teenage girl. At first, his appraising looks give her the creeps, but something about his courtliness piques her curiosity — not to mention her…
Dirt Devils
Tonight’s Freestyle Motocross competition at the Q is all about big tricks and long airtime. Eight-time champ Geoff Aaron defends his title against 13 other dust-kicking, gravity-defying cyclists. Expect to see audience-pleasing stunts like the Superman Seat Grab (in which a rider stretches his legs behind the bike and holds on with one hand) and…
Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival
God the Father may be a bitter old teetotaler, but your pal and mine, Jesus the Risen Savior, has always been a big fan of cheap beer. Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival is a CB-radio-tootin’, hair-greasin’, good-timey duo of guitar and drums. These Parma boys, Brother Ed and Brother Ant, preach the good news about the…
Dimbulb
If love doesn’t make the world go ’round, as humorist Franklin P. Jones once observed, it sure makes the ride worthwhile. That’s the reason most of us are so easily hooked by love stories. Even guys who profess to be unemotional can be set a-blubbering under the right man-love circumstances — go ahead, rent the…
Let’s Get Metaphysical
Witches and warlocks will be looking for love tonight at the inaugural Goddess Blessed Singles’ Night. “A lot of my clientele are single and looking for like-minded individuals,” says Kathy Curran, owner of the Goddess Blessed bookstore in Lakewood. “They came up with the idea of having an event where they could mingle. Of course,…
