The Quality of Cleveland Life Report
Your guide to living in fabulous Cleveland. Size XX!: Joe the Plumber violates campaign finance law by spending $634.66 of campaign cash on suits from Jos. A. Banks. Dennis! Kucinich never had that problem since he’s worn the same suit since age 12. He’s small. Get it? I’ll Give You My…: Free-lunch students will get…
One Man’s Mission to Drink in Every Lakewood Bar
For all you West Side louts who’ve been hit upside the head by the idea — on a bar stool, at happy hour, only to never to see it through the morning after — listen up: Someone is going to take the shot. Someone is going to drink in every bar in Lakewood. And we’re…
Teacher Layoff Decisions Come Down to a Coin Flip
NPR’s StateImpact Ohio, public radio’s ongoing look at the state’s public education system and the attending issues, has a troubling post about how the fine-print in some teacher union contracts dictates certain layoff decisions are made. If a school district is looking for heads to send rolling, and two teacher’s with the exact same amount…
Concert Review: Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour
Cirque du Soleil currently has two Las Vegas shows that center on music. One is Beatles Love, an abstract interpretation of the British band’s music. The other is Viva Elvis, a show with a more linear approach that attempts to tell the rock singer’s story. Beatles Love has been a huge success. Viva Elvis has…
“You Don’t Know Your Ass from a Fucking Hole in the Ground,” Erie County Pol Tells Reporter
Well, we kind of disagree. Here at Scene, we’re not adverse to a four-letter word in the appropriate context. Shit, we love it. But everything has its proper arena, and when you’re a politician talking to a reporter, regardless of how steamed you get, and especially if you’re leaving a voice mail, you need to…
Man Caught Masturbating in PetSmart Parking Lot
Sexy. Any day a public masturbator is caught is a good day for a couple of reasons: a pervy exhibitionist is yanked off the street, and we get to bust out all our favorite masturbation euphemisms while telling you all about it. This time we take the pants puppet show on a play date down…
T.J. Ward Got Into a Yelling Match in Los Angeles
TMZ has video of Browns safety T.J. Ward beefing with some other guy outside of a Los Angeles nightclub. There’s lots of “Hold me back, bro,” and pointed fingers, but not much action until security shows up and starts pepper-spraying people. William Green gives this scuffle two thumbs down for lack of knife action. Only…
New Cleveland Radio Station Auditioning Talent Saturday
Could this be you? Every time someone comes along promising to provide Clevelanders with a fresh new radio voice geared to this area, things seem to go awry. 107.3 had an uneven two-year run before new owners pulled the adult alternative format off the air and reverted to “smooth” (e.g. wallpaper) music late last year.…
Pic of the Day: The Guardians of the Guardians of Traffic
Those beautiful sculptures on the Hope Memorial Bridge didn’t just appear by magic one day. Real men — manly men if the picture below has anything to say about it — built them. We hope the minute this was snapped, they all broke out into song and dance. Just how our brains work.From the CSU…
Rock Hall Archives Launches Saturday Hours
In order to be more user-friendly for people who work regular jobs, the Rock Hall Library and Archives, located on the Tri-C Metro Campus at E. 30th and Woodland, now has Saturday hours from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Previously, the library, which opened its doors to the public in February, was open 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday…
Scenes From Summer in the City
Cloud Nothings Two Cleveland bands — Cloud Nothings and Herzog — kicked off the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s Summer in the City series Wednesday night. Both bands played sharp, high-octane sets in front of a packed crowd on the outdoor plaza on a perfect summer evening. Herzog’s pop-tinged rock was followed…
Concert Review: Vampire Weekend at House of Blues
Plenty of indie rock bands cultivate a nerdy look. But few take it as far as the guys in Vampire Weekend. With their button-down Oxford shirts (the ones that have buttons for the collars) and crisp blue jeans, these guys have a preppy look that’s just not rock ’n’ roll in any way. Even their…
Prehistoric Poop
Ice Age: Continental Drift, the fourth movie in this decade-old series could have just settled into a prehistoric groove like its predecessor. But the striking visual effects and quirky humor of this animated CGI offering keep things moving. The plot is far from groundbreaking: Papa mammoth Manny (voiced by Ray Romano) battles a crazy monkey…
Video: “The Girl You Know (Every Girl Ever)”
This is the new one from the local funnymen behind already-classics like “Parma State of Mind” and “Cleveland Ballin.” Alan Cox Show co-host and stand-up Chad Zummock and Miles Hivko are spot-on shortlisting the proclivities of the fairer sex. Check it out.
Mac (and Cheese) to Attack CSU Campus
Brothers Printing has been at its current location on Euclid Avenue since 1974, and has had a downtown presence since 1950. The owners recently renovated their two adjacent buildings near the campus of Cleveland State University to include new retail and residential. “We know downtown, we’re heavily invested in the area, and we believe in…
Clevelander Facing Off Against Serena Williams (Updated)
Go get ’em. Update: Local girl Gibbs lost yesterday to Serena Williams 6-2, 6-1 in the second round match-up, according to SI.com. Still, not a bad at all. ****** Out in sunny California, at the Bank of the West Classic tennis tournament, a Cleveland native is set to face-off against Serena Williams today. Nicole Gibbs,…
Concert Review: Warped Tour at Blossom Music Center
What the hell happened to the Warped Tour? It used to be that you could find at least one bona fide punk band on the annual touring festival. But not this year. The only true punk band we saw was Emily’s Army, a group of clean-cut young kids anchored by drummer Joey Armstrong (son of…
More Local Train Woes as Two Engines Crash in Akron
It’s been a bad week for Ohio’s choo choo method of transportation. Yesterday, a train down in Columbus derailed, producing this spectacular (and non-lethal) explosion. Now, in the early hours of this morning, two CSX trains went head-to-head down in Akron. No injuries were reported, according to 19ActionNews — also, no spectacular photo opportunities from…
Cleveland Council Rolls Back Admissions Tax
Chris Zitterbart, Larry Funderburk & Sean Watterson celebrate admissions tax rollback Today was a long day at City Hall for the owners of several of Cleveland’s most prominent live music venues — but it ended in victory, or at least a compromise they can live with. Cleveland City Council voted 19-0 to roll back the…
A Manny for All Seasons
Hospitality pro Manny Nieves is a reporter’s nightmare: a fast-talking, multi-tasking, non-linear thinker who knows way more about his subjects than you ever will. Whether it’s wine, food, or the restaurant biz, Nieves isn’t just knowledgeable; he’s a well-connected insider who counts celebrity chefs and California winemakers among his inner circle. So no surprise that…
Culture Jamming
TOP PICK Superman vs. the Elite (Warner) The latest entry in the cool DC Comics Premiere Movies animated home-video series is one of the best, a showdown between the Man of Steel and a group of new superheroes whose moral codes are a little less rigid than Supe’s. The story is based on a terrific…
CD Review: The English Beat
The English Beat were one of the very few ska bands worth giving a shit about … ever. The key to their success: songs. Instead of just layering horns on top of proto-reggae rhythms, Dave Wakeling and crew incorporated actual melodies into tracks like “Mirror in the Bathroom” and “Save It for Later.” This terrific…
Go Man, Go!
Since pulling free from a bout of Hodgkin’s lymphoma five years ago, Cleveland firefighter Mark Sahley has been looking to put himself through the most extreme physical challenges legally available to a thrill-seeking maniac. He found a perfect home in the Spartan Death Race held last month. The yearly Vermont event straps participants in for…
Film Capsules
Savages Sex. Drugs. Violence. How can you possibly go wrong? In Savages, director and co-writer Oliver Stone shows us some of the ways in which a good idea turns bad. A Mexican drug cartel becomes interested in an extremely powerful brand of chronic distributed by a pair of California potheads. When they refuse to go…
Cheap Eats
Streat Mobile Bistro When StrEat isn’t out cruising the streets of Cleveland, it just might be on a movie set. That’s because owner Izzy Schachner provides production catering for commercials, television shows, and movies shot in the Cleveland area. While Schachner missed out on catering The Avengers (he was offered the gig, but the truck…
We Get Mail
How About an Extended Warranty? I read your article on the [puppy] mills [June 21, 2010]. Ervin Raber says that the public would not be fooled into getting an unhealthy product, yet everyday they do even right here in Cleveland. One lady was on TV a while back. She had spent an inordinate amount of…
Local Band in Focus
Meet the Band: Matt Miller (vocals, guitar), Scott Drazdik (drums), and Nick Reinmann (bass). Kid Rock: Shred Rot formed in September 2010 after the trio met as students at the School of Rock. Seasoned by performances, they made it all the way to the finals of the 2011 Tri-C High School Rock Off. Music for…
CD Review: Taka Black
(takablack.com) It takes guts to sample a song like Foreigner’s “Cold As Ice” on your mixtape. True, Taka Black also takes cues from Rihanna and Adele on Pure Imagination, but that nod to classic rock shows where part of the rapper’s head is at. From “Best Man”‘s free-and-easy flow to the electronic beats of “The…
The Grand Wazoo
Six years ago, Dweezil Zappa put together Zappa Plays Zappa, a full band project that meticulously replicates his late father Frank’s intensely complex music. He listened to every one of his dad’s albums (no easy task, since he released almost 100 of them) and learned to play the songs just like Frank played them. “We…
In the Big Box
What if art was sold like radishes? And what if the produce market was a radical experiment in collaborative, hyper-local economics? Community Supported Art poses both questions, and hopes the answer is “Awesome.” The newly launched Lakewood program is modeled after Community Supported Agriculture — the popular purchasing plan that guarantees buyers a share of…
Savage Love
Dear Dan: I’m a smart, professional woman in my mid-30s who dates the same. I also happen to use a wheelchair; I was diagnosed shortly after my first birthday with a motor neuron disease. I have about as much physical strength as a quadriplegic but I have full sensation. (Boy howdy, do I!) I am…
On View This Week
Aperture Fanciful Fantastique: New Works and Other Edens. Opening Friday, July 13, during this month’s Tremont Art Walk, this two-artist show draws inspiration from the fantastic and ephemeral quality of curiosity cabinets. Adrienne Slane’s work imagines a renewed harmony between humanity and nature, represented by idealized depictions of humans, animals, and plants in collages that…
Screens
Adventure Time: The Complete First Season The history of kids’ TV shows that have drifted off into a stoner paradise goes all the way back to the late ’60s and early ’70s, when H.R. Pufnstuf was blowing Cocoa Puffs-addled minds on Saturday mornings. Through the years, characters from Scooby-Doo (and Shaggy, of course) to SpongeBob…
CD Review: Chris Brown
Brown has done little over the past year to dispel popular opinion that he’s one of the decade’s biggest douches. No surprise then that his fifth album aims for pure escapism, starting with the LP’s opening track “Turn Up the Music” (which is all about losing yourself on the dance floor) and running through the…
Soundcheck
Having cut his musical teeth with the freak folk band Feathers and stoner-rock icons Witch, King Tuff frontman Kyle Thomas has carved out a distinct musical niche as a melodic garage rocker. King Tuff’s two albums – 2008’s Was Dead and this year’s King Tuff – combine gritty guitars with sharp, retro-leaning melodies and androgynous…
Homecomings
Two Northeast Ohio musicians who have earned national and international reputations as virtuosos are returning home to play this week. Phil Keaggy, who emerged as the guitarist for Glass Harp in the early ’70s before enjoying a lengthy career in contemporary Christian music, will play at the Winchester at 9 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $25.…
CD Review: Serj Tankian
The System of a Down frontman’s third solo album places more emphasis on his band’s fractured metal and less on the artsy-fartsy stuff found on his other two records. The straightforward rock of “Cornucopia” and “Figure It Out” certainly make this the most accessible record Tankian has made since SOAD’s 2005 double play. It’s still…
Concert Calendar
Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend are in between albums now. But they’re prepping for their first appearance in almost two years at this weekend’s Pitchfork Festival in Chicago with a pair of smaller shows in Indianapolis and Cleveland this week. Their Cleveland show, at House of Blues, quickly sold out, but you can probably snag a…
CD Review: The Zac Brown Band
Ever since his 2008 hit “Chicken Fried,” Atlanta hell-raiser Zac Brown has led his Skynyrd-with-fiddles group down a path paved with country-radio riffs, smokey barroom tones, and a jam-band-style looseness. He’s referred to his third album as a “country-Southern-rock-bluegrass-reggae-jam record,” which is part of Uncaged’s problem. By not nailing down what kind of band he…
Thrift and Thumping
Stipe Miocic’s favorite place in the world is T.J. Maxx. The 6’4″, 245-pound mixed-martial-arts fighter is Cleveland-born, -bred, and -raised. And after climbing his way from the amateur circuit to the multi-million dollar international stage of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, collecting knockouts and paychecks along the way, he remains quaintly thrifty. “I got a pair…
Bad Hair Day
While little girls might dream of playing Annie and trill “Tomorrow” until all adults within earshot wince, it’s fair to say that their slightly older counterparts would love to play Elle Woods in Legally Blonde The Musical. What’s not to love about this singin’ and dancin’ role? Elle starts out as a bubbly, 1980s’ valley-girl…
CD Review: Dirty Projectors
The revolving-door Brooklyn band’s follow-up to 2010’s breakthrough Ascending Melody sharpens the focus, spearheading their downtown indie rock into more soulful territory. But ringleader David Longstreth still can’t walk a straight line: Songs like “About to Die” and “Gun Has No Trigger” open the door to hazy vocals, rolling percussive fills, and off-course handclaps that…
On Stage This Week
Mamma Mia! on Playhouse Square: ABBA Dabba Do No matter how you feel about ABBA , there’s no arguing with the success that’s met Mamma Mia! — that rousing, feel-good musical inspired by ABBA hits like “Dancing Queen,” “Money, Money,” and “Take a Chance on Me.” The global smash has been seen by more than…
