Pictures of Naked Ladies and Chickens!
PETA, the famed advertising agency known for promoting nutritious eating, was at the KFC on Carnegie last week to support the consumption of fried, breaded chicken. Now that’s a message we can all get behind. PETA’s unique form of advertising consists of ladies getting naked and saying interesting stuff. But since our reporters are morons,…
Nightowls of Coventry
Nightowls of Coventry, local filmmaker Laura Paglin’s movie about Cleveland Heights’ hipster mecca, is being released on DVD on February 15. The film — a nostalgic comedy set in a Coventry deli, circa 1973 — made its debut in a rough cut at the Cleveland International Film Festival in 2003. In 2005, it opened at…
Another Offended Euclid Reader
I just have to say that the article about Euclid really upset me [“New Black City,” November 8]. I have been away at college and haven’t had a chance to respond. I feel like the article focused way too much on negative aspects, and only interviewed people who had real issues with the city. I…
Loser’s Payoff
Sherrod Brown discovers its way easier to campaign than bet on the Browns, er, Buckeyes If you’re still mourning last night’s Buckeyes fiasco, take comfort in the fact that your elected leaders feel your pain. This afternoon, Senator Sherrod Brown is scheduled to atone for Jim Tressel being badly out-coached by, um, attempting 55 push-ups…
Concerts: This Just In…
Jamie Foxx plays the Wolstein February 9 There are 54 — count ’em: 54 — new shows to report this week. The two biggest are piano man Billy Joel at the Q, and singer-actor-comedian Jamie Foxx, who’ll do a little of all three at CSU’s Wolstein Center. Former hair-metal hearthrob Kip Winger brings a scaled-down…
The Puppy Scam
Wire us $1,600, and this dog could be yours. Cynthia Alvarez’s first mistake when she was shopping for a dog might have been going to worldpupz.com. This breaks the No. 1 rule of smart shopping: Don’t buy anything from someone who changes their S’s to Z’s, unless it’s an ounce of crack or a pimp-cup.…
Grease: The Reality Show
Ashley Spencer Being from California, I always thought humming showtunes — perhaps a tasteful selection from My Fair Lady — was on par with other ultra-masculine endeavors, like, say, grilling up a nice salmon fillet or driving a stick shift. My Cleveland brethren claim this is untrue, so I was nervous about watching last night’s…
Fat Dogs
Oh, the pampered life of a dog: free massages, constant declarations of love, and the advent of gourmet chocolate chip biscuits. It seems, however, that this last category has had adverse consequences. Recently, the director of the Center for Veterinary Medicine declared that there has never before been so many obese dogs in America. The…
Ted Ginn’s MySpace
It’s game day, which means most of you are sitting at your desks, trolling for ways to pass the time until kickoff. If you’re bored, check out the MySpace page for Ted Ginn, Jr. In the grand tradition of strangers thinking famous people actually care what they think, Ginn’s message board is full of well-wishers.…
The Cleveland Guardians
Some people say the Cleveland Browns need a new head coach. Others say we need linemen that can block, a quarterback that throws to our players and quiet receivers who can catch the ball. Also some guys that can cover receivers and tackle runners. And someone that can kick a field goal. When you stop…
Boycott the Rock Hall
I’m sure you’ve heard it before, and maybe the mainstream is too blind to see it. Cleveland is still a storefront for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. I’d like to see that image shattered once and for all. “Home of Rock and Roll?” Hell Yes. I grew up there, and was a…
Rock Hall Announces 2007 Inductees
You’re officially old, Gen-Xers. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation announced its 2007 inductees today. The exceptionally cool list includes some of the acts that Generation X once listened to to feel young and rebellious. As voted by 600 voters of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation and key members of…
The Edge isn’t Going Straight
Since it’s been making the rounds at practically every sports and gay on thje West Side this past weekend, we’d like to pitch one scandalous bar rumor in the trash bin. After a check with a couple of our impeccably reliable sources, we are delighted to report to you that Kevin — a bartender at…
Poor, Poor Prisonshake
If you’re a rocker, then you know: Certain towns have earned reputations as tough-ass places to play, and Cleveland is one of ’em. Rock fans ’round here open their mouths when they don’t dig your band’s shtick — even when the band is one of their own. The year was 1989. The location: The Phantasy…
The New King of Sports Talk
Craig Karmazin came to Cleveland radio in November, launching the ESPN affiliate 1540-AM WWGK. Within a month, he bought his only competition in town: Sports Talk 850 WKNR. At this rate, he’ll own the Browns by June. Karmazin, the 31-year-old son of Sirius satellite radio boss Mel Karmazin, says both stations will continue their sports-talk…
The Godfather of Soul’s Widow
While we enjoyed our colleague Justin Farrar’s video tribute to James Brown last week, it’s nothing compared to this moving requiem by the Godfather of Soul’s batshit-crazy widow. — Michael Gallucci
Hynde Getting Vegan in Akron?
Chrissie Hynde hopes to provide nourishment for the two vegans in Akron Word on the Akron streets is that hometown hero Chrissie Hynde is currently hunting for a commercial space to open a vegan restaurant, possibly in the Highland Square area. (This has been confirmed by my friend’s mom — who knows everything about Akron.)…
Offensive Lineman
Ross Verba’s motto: If you’re gonna go debt, go big. Add another epithet to Ross Verba’s name: deadbeat. The former Browns linemen was arrested in Wisconsin last week on a warrant for allegedly passing bad checks in Las Vegas. Verba faces two felony counts of theft for writing bad checks at a casino — one…
Charitable Chow
If the sheer number of events is any measure, Northeast Ohioans love eating for a good cause. That could explain why hardly a week goes by without one chef-driven “benefit dinner” or another landing on our desk. An upcoming event in Kent — the Chefs Dream Dinner — supports Big Brothers Big Sisters of Portage…
The PD’s Golden Girls Marathon
John Campanelli: God forbid you ever have to party with this man. Leave it to the stiffs at The Plain Dealer to turn a road trip to Arizona — with stops in Vegas and LA — into an adventure rivaling a Golden Girls marathon. In case you’ve cancelled your subscription, a quick update: Last week,…
Sammy Proves Cleveland Is Cleve-Lame!
Fulwood Watch: We Read America’s Worst Columnist So You Don’t Have To Headline: Injecting humor into Clevelanders Date: January 4, 2007 Topic: Smarting from last month’s botched attempt to explain humor, Sam challenged Cleveland to prove it knows funny better than he does. After returning from vacation on Monday, he cuts and pastes 14 reader…
Naked Ladies & Chicken
Some scalding hot chicks stripped naked for an important cause last week, bearing all outside a KFC restaurant on Carnegie Avenue. The women were apparently representatives of an advertising agency called PETA, which had been hired to increase the sales of KFC’s tasty Buffalo Snacker. The display attracted plenty of local media, although most of…
Teacher, Can We Rock Now?
Bet you can’t guess who’s the brainchild behind all those headbanger shows at clubs like Lakewood’s Hi-Fi Lounge and Parma’s Jigsaw Saloon. Here’s a hint: By day, she works side-by-side with priests and nuns. Jennifer Adams is a twentysomething science teacher for the eighth-grade class at Metro Catholic Parish School on West 54th Street. But…
Modell in the Hall of Fame?
As the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s selection committee gets ready to elect its 2007 inductees next month, rumors have already started circulating that Art Modell may be among the honored, according to Examiner.com. While this may make Clevelanders wince in agony, one man is championing such sacrilege: Ravens fan Jim Wallace. “Why does Modell…
In Defense of Hipster Bowling
What’s worth it? A $150 pair of jeans? A $40 steak? A $20 lap dance? A $4 cuppa joe? Maybe, or maybe not, depending on your personal perspective. Thankfully, Americans still get to freely choose where they squander their hard-earned bucks, and one gal’s dream vacation may be another man’s pair of tickets to the…
Love Your Local Flavors
Chicken fingers and hamburgers? Hell, you can get those anywhere. But when it comes to an authentic taste of the town, nothing beats a locally owned restaurant. Whether it’s cabbage rolls at Sokolowski’s University Inn, smoked walleye croquettes at Lola , or blue-egg ravioli at Carrie Cerino’s, the real flavors of Cleveland are found in…
Laugh Your Arse Off, Twice
Jim Gaffigan, the comedian best known for his role as the victim of “meow”-ing Vermont State Troopers in the movie Super Troopers, just added a second show to his lineup on February 10 at the Lakewood Civic Auditorium. Shows start at 5 and 8 p.m., and tickets are $34.75 a pop. But if you’d rather…
Bowling for Cheaper Prices
This weekend, my friend Becky and I decided to check out the new, swanky downtown bowling hotspot, Corner Alley. From the rave reviews it’s been getting, we imagined a hipster paradise, full of apple martinis and chic retro bowling shoes. But before we left, we decided to check out the prices online. (Yes, we’re cheap.…
Connie Schultz Returns
As Sherrod Brown gets ready to be sworn in as our U.S. Senator tomorrow, his Pulitzer Prize-winning wife Connie Schultz is preparing to get back to work as well. Schultz will be returning to The Plain Dealer on January 22. And what will be the topic of her first column, you may be wondering? “I…
The First Buzz Band of 2007: Shiny Toy Guns
Shiny Toy Guns We’re only three days into the new year and 2007 has already generated a buzz band. Los Angeles’ Shiny Toy Guns released their debut album, We Are Pilots, late last year. But they’re just now loading up. The synth-pop quartet is sorta like the Killers — but with a girl co-singer and…
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings Photo Gallery
On December 30, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings took the stage at the Beachland Ballroom, making the packed audience shake its collective tail feather — hard. After opening the set with a brief tribute to fallen funk legend James Brown, the New York outfit busted a hard funk groove reminiscent of the JBs, Brown’s legendary…
Memorial for Boom Goldberg
A memorial for legendary WMMS DJ Len “Boom” Goldberg will be held Wednesday, January 3. Visitation will run from 6 to 7 p.m., followed by a service, at Faulhaver Funeral Home, 7915 Broadview Road, Broadview Heights. His former radio station has posted a tribute web page. Goldberg was found dead in his Cleveland home Wednesday,…
New Suckage Barometer for Cleveland!
A federal report reveals that Cleveland will slide into oblivion if we’re ever faced with a widespread emergency. The Associated Press said we’re among the bottom six U.S. cities when it comes to crisis communications, then rubbed it in by pointing out that Columbus ranks among the top six. Yeah yeah, we get it. Fat,…
Football, Beer, and Tuxes (Optional)!
OSU-Florida: It’s gonna be huge. No really. If you didn’t have the good fortune to bum a ride to Arizona with college kids in order to “cover” the BCS championship game for the town daily, Playhouse Square has lined up an alternate means to get your drunk on and see the game up close and…
World’s First Chicken Paprikash Wine Tasting
If you’re like us, fine art puts you in the mind for fine wine, or whatever cheap crap you got handy. But if you’re quite a bit different from us, fine art also makes you think of Chicken Paprikash. And you’re in luck. The Studio of 5 Rings — downtown’s only art gallery/winery — will…
Here are the week’s best releases from the pop-culture universe:
TV — Starveillance: The latest show from the creator of Celebrity Deathmatch is another celeb-based claymation series. The weekly program (premiering at 10:30 p.m. Friday on E!) goes behind the scenes with tabloid bait like Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, and the Desperate Housewives cast, reimagining some of their most notable moments. Can’t wait to see…
DJ Stout XTC
A hearty, masculine stout beer and the lovey-dovey club drug Ecstasy. Caution and danger: These two ingredients should never be part of the same stew under any circumstances. Unless, of course, the porcelain bus is destined to be your party vehicle for the entire night, and nothing will stop it otherwise. But Stout XTC, well,…
Mortal Combat
Set in 1942 and ’43, and shot in 1969, Jean-Pierre Melville’s Army of Shadows follows a small group of French resistance fighters in their desperate struggle to survive the Nazis. The movie, too, has been in hiding — at least in the United States, where, amazingly, it went unreleased for 37 years. Rialto Pictures, whose…
Godo to Be King
Growing up in a small Pennsylvania coal-mining town, Shawn Klush saw his future in a spangled white jumpsuit. “Music has always been a love of mine,” says the star of tonight’s Elvis Birthday Tribute at Playhouse Square. “Then my mom and dad made me that costume.” Things haven’t been the same since. As one of…
Meet the Conspirators
Butterflies? Yes. If a man this broad, this stoic, this experienced, can feel butterflies doing something he’d done many times before, then yes, the sergeant’s stomach fluttered a bit as he drove toward the gyro shop. It was an April evening, 2004. With square shoulders and the cropped hair of a ’50s linebacker, Donald Michalosky…
Bent Left
Bent Left’s liberal-leaning moniker seems apt, given the group’s self-proclaimed goal of “doing our best to change the world.” But the Kansas City quintet grew into its name’s political implications. Formed in 2002, when its members were still in their early teens, Bent Left originally offered a sophomoric explanation. “When we were in high school,…
Capsule reviews of current area art exhibitions.
New All That Glows Is Glorious — Move over, leg lamps: Here come window displays that are brighter, louder, and more outrageous. Just as Christmas lights are coming down, Cleveland artist Dana Depew has filled Brandt Gallery with a quirky “site-specific illuminated installation” made up of delightfully hideous chandeliers. Intellectual footholds may be scarce, but…
Clowning Around
You don’t have to wait till summer to enjoy a county fair. The Kids Carnival brings the fair to the Lakewood Library tonight. The annual favorite (part of the library’s Saturday Night Variety series for families) features face-painting clowns, ball-tossing jugglers, and gravity-defying balloons. Plus, there are games and a performance by local singer-songwriter Tracy…
Cloud of Suspicion
From the beginning, the shooting of 15-year-old Brandon McCloud was obscured by politics. The emotionally troubled teenager was a punk by any reckoning. His modus operandi involved holding up pizza delivery guys with a knife. It was not a long-term play. His crime spree, such as it was, ended September 1, 2005, when police burst…
Various Artists
Dreamgirls might feature Beyoncé and American Idol diva Jennifer Hudson, but the rehabilitation of Eddie Murphy’s music career is the real story. Infamous for such novelties as “Boogie in Your Butt,” as well as a slew of painful stabs at serious R&B, Murphy plays the role of troubled soul singer James “Thunder” Early in this…
Weird and Wonderful
Robert Wilonsky and Jordan Harper recap their top DVDs of 2006: Eraserhead (Absurda/Subversive) — Finally available on DVD, David Lynch’s debut film is as captivating and frustrating as it ever was. The print looks great in its own weird way, and the feature-length doc shows Lynch speaking more clearly about his art than his normally…
A Fairy Tale for Adults
It took stop-motion animator Christiane Cegavske all of 13 years to make her debut movie, Blood Tea and Red String. The wordless fable tells the story of the peasant-like Creatures Who Dwell Under the Oak, whose cherished fertility goddess is stolen one night by the White Mice — fancy-dressed rodents who play cards, quarrel, and…
Dearly Departed
Grace’s blond hair is still dripping wet from the shower. She’s sitting at her computer in her dorm room at Hiram College, looking out her window at the frosted February ground, listening to punk music and answering some dumb MySpace questionnaire. “Last thing you ate: pop tarts; What time did you wake up today? 7…
Various Artists
Filled with invigorating takes on classic rock warhorses, 2002’s Sucking the 70’s just might be the best tribute compilation ever produced. And while its sequel, Sucking the 70’s, Back in the Saddle Again, returns many of the same stoner-rock all-stars, Empire Strikes Back it ain’t. Like the first Sucking, the comp is thankfully short on…
A Legendary Outing
Despite Link’s green tunic and Peter Pan hat, he remains Nintendo’s most respected badass. In the long-awaited Twilight Princess for the Wii, the elf hero begins yet another quest to save the world with his trademark bombs and boomerangs. Minor déjà vu aside, Twilight Princess becomes nothing short of an adventure masterpiece, filled with heartbreaking…
A Year of Art
The Pop Shop Gallery and Studio welcomes the new year with 52 Weeks 52 Works, an exhibit inspired by a calendar. Local graphic design company Academy Graphic Communication’s 2007 calendar features a new color photo of Ohio artwork each week and compiles paintings, sculptures, and photography. Artists like Todd Leech and Brooke Figer will attend…
Here’s Your Reparations
Payback for a racist rant: This letter is in response to the article by Denise Grollmus [“Race Revelations,” December 20]. I’ll just call you “Kristi,” since I don’t know your real name. I can’t say how hurt and appalled I was at the racist rant in your blog. I agree with you about reparations. How…
Dozen Dead Roses and Dead in London
Dozen Dead Roses and Dead in London (pictured) play sleazy gutter-glam with arena-sized guitar hooks. Dead in London’s melodies are a little cleaner, but not by much. Caution: London’s “Ohio for Killers” — available online at MySpace.com/DeadInLondonRock — is the kind of anthemic, fist-pumping sing-along that’ll stick in your head for at least a week.
The Bruce Is Loose
The Cleveland-based Stone Pony Band pays tribute to a pair of New Jersey rockers at House of Blues tonight. The group performs some Southside Johnny songs in its set, but the bulk of its show comes from Bruce Springsteen’s vast catalog. “We’re not trying to be Bruce or Southside,” says frontman Kelly Derrick. “There are…
Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before
Chris Porter says there’s only one drawback to being a contestant on NBC’s reality show Last Comic Standing: By the time the series ends, everyone knows all your jokes. “People don’t want to hear them again,” says the Kansas City native, who appeared on the program’s fourth season last year. “They think they do, but…
Invest in Leg Lamps
After a strong fourth-quarter showing, Cleveland’s leading growth industry for 2006 was . . . Christmas Story crap. It all started with the yellow colonial on West 11th in Tremont, the refurbished house used in filming the 1983 holiday classic. Since Thanksgiving, more than 22,000 visitors have taken the $5 tour. They forked over plenty…
Reuben Wilson
After several albums for the Blue Note and Groove Merchant labels in the ’60s and ’70s, soul-jazz organist Reuben Wilson retired. But a ’90s interest in old-school grooves — sparked by such groups as Brand New Heavies and Medeski Martin & Wood — inspired his return. Movin’ On finds the 71-year-old Wilson not only looking…
Behind the Mask
Willis Bing Davis pays tribute to his African heritage in On the Shoulders of Ancestors: The Art of Willis Bing Davis. The Dayton resident takes traditional African masks and builds ceramic, sculpted, and painted pieces around them. Mondays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun., Dec. 31, 1-5 p.m. Starts: Nov. 25. Continues through Jan. 14
Fight Clubs
The palatial new Lakewood Family YMCA begins its popular seven-week Aikido/Taihojutsu martial-arts series tonight. In the Aikido program, classmates treat each other like opponents in need of a little discipline rather than enemies looking for a major ass-kicking. The more aggressive Taihojutsu class allows students to throw, grapple, and strike opponents with hands, feet, knees,…
Allman Joy
Back in 1973, Gregg Allman titled his first solo album Laid Back, and that’s exactly how he sounds over the phone from his home outside Savannah, Georgia. “We got this offshore thing going on,” he says. “I built this house on this little bayou with a western view. It’s a beautiful place. You can’t hear…
Rich Guzzi
You’re having trouble quitting smoking. It’s going around. Comedian-hypnotist Rich Guzzi can help. His Psycho Hypnosis show will be at Pickwick & Frolic’s Hilarities East Fourth Street Theater all week long, with two special shows: Sunday, January 8, he’ll conduct a stop-smoking seminar, putting the whammy on your nic jones. And things will get racy…
Glass Master
Local artist Rene Culler twists and folds glass into an array of warped shapes in Trial by Fire: A Meditation on Beauty, now on view at the Beck Center. The colorful works may take the form of something functional — say, a bowl — but they’re so delicate and colorful that you’d never want to…
On the Road Again
The 31st annual Ohio RV Supershow celebrates the subculture of people who travel the country in homes on wheels. Dozens of dealers roll into the I-X Center this weekend to show off and sell their latest rides and accessories. Billed as the nation’s largest indoor RV show, the event also revs up RV-related seminars and…
Long and Winding Road
H.J. DeBoe loves rock and roll. But he’s no collector nerd, rock-star wannabe, or big fish in a little pond harboring delusions of grandeur; he’s just a thoroughly devoted fan and musician. Talk with him for a few minutes, and the very cadence of his speech betrays a lifetime of rock immersion: simultaneously intelligent, blunt,…
Flying Canyon
Singer-songwriter Cayce Lindner sports a thick gray beard, calls Northern California home, and plucks an acoustic guitar. This means most music writers are gonna describe his new project, Flying Canyon, as a symptom of this whole freak-folk, indie-hippie fad. And while Glenn Donaldson’s production — transforming doom-metal grooves into woodland dirges — does lend a…
Where There’s Smoke…
As long as Rich Guzzi is around, Ohio doesn’t need its new no-smoking law. The L.A. comic is in the middle of a 100-city campaign to hypnotize 100,000 smokers into kicking the habit. And for the cost of a carton of cigarettes, Guzzi insists he can put anyone under his spell at his Hilarities appearances…
Out of Time
In Spaces’ Time Flies exhibit, local artist Jean Alexander Frater explores the concept of progression through gaps, shifts, and destination points. The exhibition — part of the gallery’s SpaceLab series — is set up like a timeline. Paintings are connected by fragments of other works. For example, a hanging canvas is linked to smaller pieces…
Thank You, Godfather
In his 1989 masterpiece Do the Right Thing, Spike Lee managed to examine the whole of black thought regarding the race question. You had the stuttering savant Smiley, Sweet Dick Willie and his street-corner sages, the drunken but wise Mayor, and Buggin’ Out, the hotheaded intellectual with the ultimately fatal propensity for fighting symbolic battles…
Noel Ellis
While the bland and monotonous dancehall movement spread across Jamaica in the early ’80s, Jamaican immigrants abroad began issuing far more tasteful reggae records than producers back home. The recent reissue of Noel Ellis’ self-titled showcase from ’83 serves as proof. Recording in Toronto, both Ellis, son of legendary singer Alton, and producer Jerry Brown…
Psychic Thriller
Psychometry guru Ernesto claims he can tell your future by fondling your timepiece. “Some people believe, some people come for entertainment purposes,” says Ernesto. “But when I’m done, everybody’s mouth drops.” The 27-year-old fortune teller first discovered his psychic connection to see visions by holding anything metallic nearly two decades ago. By 18, he was…
This Really Old House
Before the iPod and Xbox 360 made life bearable, Ohioans pretty much spent their time surviving. When they weren’t busy foraging for food and trying to keep warm, they were working. At the Massillon Museum’s Objects of Domesticity: 1800 to 1840 exhibit, you can get an idea of just how fuss-free people were back in…
Is He Really So Strange?
Anyone who has a passing familiarity with comic books will recognize the character Bizarro. Superman’s imperfect doppelgänger has gone through many changes over the years, but as originally envisioned, Bizarro was a sympathetic character — a villain, sure, but one whose many mishaps made him far more human than the Man of Steel. In short,…
Ray Cash
Cleveland’s Ray Cash made his major-label splash in ’06, but he wasn’t the only local success story. The Kickdrums (producers Matt “Tilla” Pentilla and Alex “Fitty” Fitts) continued their ascent to the industry’s upper echelon. And on this mixtape, the team gives Cash a valuable assist. Most of Clangin’ features the Kickdrums’ productions left off…
Cereal Killer
Even DJ Capt’n Krunch laughs at her stage name, which she cribbed from the breakfast cereal. But the native Brit is all business when she spins tunes from her 40,000-song catalog at Muggs. As the host of Friday Night Karaoke and a Saturday-night dance party, Krunch caters to requests — from Top 40 and Motown…
Fine Lines
Adolph Gottlieb was one of the founders of abstract expressionism in this country. The Allen Memorial Art Museum’s Adolph Gottlieb: Early Prints features etchings and sketches the artist created in New York between 1933 and 1946. Like his later, more famous work — see “The Rape of Persephone,” a painting in the museum’s permanent collection…
Amps Unplugged
Amps to 11, the band Scene readers voted Best Hard Rock act of 2005, has broken up. “The original guitarist and drummer quit, and with all respect to the guys who replaced them, it was never really the same,” says guitarist Aaron Dowell. “The band meant too much to us to just go through the…
KC
Akron rhymer KC is a barrel-chested hustler, rhymer, beatmaker, and would-be actor. And his Doomsday (Return of the Real) serves as a primer for 330 hip-hop — loaded with up-and-coming producers including A-Hubb, Truescribe, MAPS, and Field One, as well as KC himself. Most of them work with keyboards, and all their tracks are dark…
No Better Mouse Trap
Director Seth Gordon sticks close to the source material for the Cleveland Play House’s production of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, which opens tonight. The classic Depression-era tale about a pair of drifters kicking around the Dust Bowl often loses some of its grit onstage. Gordon says following Steinbeck’s “very linear and character-based” novel…
Project/Object with Ike Willis
If any rock musician’s body of work deserves to be approached like the oeuvre of a classical composer, it’s the dense and often labyrinthine music of satirist and guitar genius Frank Zappa. Though the deceased maestro’s heir, Dweezil — along with a number of high-powered Zappa alumni, including stunt guitarist Steve Vai and drummer Terry…
Czech, Please
The clock on the wall at Marta’s is 20 minutes behind the time. The restaurant itself? More like 20 years. This is not a complaint. Trendiness has never been necessarily synonymous with tastiness, and a heaping helping of old-fashioned goodness can be just what’s called for to ease the post-holiday blues. Still, the fact is…
The Has-Been Hustle
Up till about five years ago, Hollywood castoffs were relegated to gin-soaked obscurity once their stars waned. But today’s unwanted actors and actresses simply join a reality show. Some of them eat sheep testicles or share a house with Mini-Me, but the lucky ones land a relatively embarrassment-free gig on Dancing With the Stars. Those…
Obie Trice
Members of Eminem’s D12 crew are crawling all over Cleveland this week (see the feature story on Bizarre). In fact, it was Bizarre, that crazy dude with a shower cap, who introduced rapper Obie Trice to Eminem. After several underground hits, including “Dope Jobs Homeless” and “The Well Known Asshole,” Trice signed to Shayde Records…
Eat & Run
Fires, deaths, divorces, and plain ol’ rotten luck matched economics, sociology, and politics when it came to causes of restaurant failure in 2006. Maybe the biggest surprise was that new ones kept opening. Here are the highlights: Downtown arrivals were highlighted by Peruvian Machu Picchu, intimate Muse in the Ritz-Carlton, long-awaited Lola, which finally launched…
Meet the Barkers
Louie the Labrador leads a pack of canines and their owners at today’s Hound Hike. There’s only one rule for dogs attending the Geauga Park District event: Keep ’em on a leash. “Sometimes they want to sniff each other,” says naturalist Dottie Mathiott, Louie’s owner. “But for the most part, they go along for the…
Wish You Were Here
Cleveland’s own Wish You Were Here might be the greatest of all Pink Floyd tribute bands. It began covering Floyd full time in the mid-’90s, but its roots run even deeper, when bassist and vocalist Eroc Sosinski began performing a ‘Pink Floyd Revue’ with former guitarist and vocalist Jim Tigue back in 1987. Since then,…
The Hype Starts Here
History repeats itself: 11 years ago, Universal had the holiday season’s strongest movie –a downbeat sci-fi flick freely adapted from a well-known source by a name director. With a bare minimum of advance screenings and a shocking absence of hype, the studio dumped it. This year, they’ve done it again. The 1995 castoff was 12…
It’s Gay Billiard Time
Gay pool fans rack up the balls tonight for the second half of the weekly Shooters Pool League. Teams representing local gay nightclubs chalk up their cues every Monday night till a champ is crowned in early April. “The vast majority of the league is just your average pool players who miss as many shots…
Murali Coryell
Whether by example or by DNA, Murali Coryell definitely picked up his trailblazing spirit from his celebrated dad. Guitarist Larry Coryell crossbred his formidable jazz technique with ’60s rock and blues years before critics started tossing around the now-dreaded fusion label. Murali possesses the sort of chops one would expect of a master player’s offspring,…
In the Playroom
Little Children, a second excursion into middle-class unease by Todd Field after his intelligent but overrated In the Bedroom, opens with a slow pan around a living room whose shelves are crowded with cheap china figurines of . . . little children. Twisted into insidious grins, their blood-red lips ooze a comic horror that will…
Unplugged
Fed up with waiting in line to buy that new Nintendo Wii? Check out tonight’s Winter Chillin: Games People Played program, which is all about the old-school joys of shuffleboard, Twister, and bingo. “I didn’t really know about a lot of the games my grandma and parents talked about until we did this event last…
The Elvis Birthday Tribute Tour 2007
“Before Elvis, there was nothing,” said John Lennon in regard to Presley’s tremendous cultural impact. Both man and legend, Presley inspires devotion so intense, Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s pompadoured despot, is reputedly envious. Now many singers make a living professionally “recreating” Elvis. Matt Lewis wows ’em in Vegas — in fact, none other than sexy…
Scents and Sensibility
A multimillion-dollar adaptation of a best-selling German novel, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer relates the life of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw), born in 18th-century Paris with a uniquely puissant sense of smell. He begins life as an orphan, sold into servitude to a brutal tanner, but in Toucan Sam fashion follows his nose into…
Towers of Strength
Leena Nevalainen-Smith’s Soulful Silence exhibit at Loganberry Annex Gallery caps off four years of work inspired by September 11. The Finnish-born artist was riding in a Manhattan subway when the first plane hit the World Trade Center in 2001. Leaving the train, Nevalainen-Smith heard fighter jets roaring above and saw bystanders making shirts into makeshift…
