Tribe Merch Sales Up
Everyone’s got to have one. Here’s an interesting little tidbit coming from Joel Hammond over at Crain’s Cleveland Business: now that the Tribe have brushed off their skill set and settled into a competitive rhythm this season, the fans are interested in gearing up. The team shops report an increase in merch sales this season…
Hit Lakewood’s New Sweet Spot for Italian Gelato with American Flair
“Ice cream is my favorite food,” confesses Celeste Blau. “I decided if I was going eat it all day long I’d go with something that had half the fat.” That turned out to be gelato, aka Italian ice cream, which Blau made the centerpiece of her new Lakewood sweet shop. Opened on July 7 in…
Casey Anthony Jury Hung, in Cleveland Church Retrial
Maybe she’s in Columbus? If you say Casey Anthony three times fast, you might end up in hell. If you write it three times in your blog post, you’ll field web traffic from every idle soccer mom from here to Portland with a Google alert. So here we go: Caseyanthonycaseyanthonycaseyanthony. No worries, that wasn’t for…
A Great Christmas Ale Tale
We all owe a debt of gratitude to Patrick Conway, founder of Great Lakes Brewing Co., for many years and many pints of enjoyment. Those hardcore devotees of the Christmas Ale Brigade owe him a bit more, we’d think, for the sweet nectar that dominates the holiday season around Cleveland. The PD had a nice…
‘Jeopardy’ Contestant Thinks Cam Newton Went to Ohio State
Jeopardy contestants know a lot of random stuff, but not every category that pops up on the magical blue board is necessarily one of strength for them. Maybe you’re an expert on British lit, but not American lit; maybe you’re big into space trivia, but when it comes to America’s national parks, you could learn…
The Quality of Cleveland Life Report
Your guide to thriving in fabulous Cleveland. Always Low Property Values. Always: Fairlawn approves plan to protect integrity of neighborhood by installing electronic gates on streets near proposed Wal-Mart. City to wait till Wal-Mart opens to fetch best price on electronic gates. The New Cleveland Mob: Local flash mob hysteria stems from confusion over whether…
More Contempt for Med Mart’s Parent Company
Last week we detailed how Vornado Realty Trust has left cities around the country cursing at holes in the ground where multimillion-dollar developments should be [“Vornado’s Path”]. The bad news for us: Vornado is the parent company of MMPI, the developer behind Cleveland’s $465 million Med Mart and convention center, which recently launched its hole-in-the-ground…
Borders Could Shut Down by This Weekend (Updated)
Update: Borders will begin liquidating as early as Friday, closing some 399 stores nationally that employed 11,000 people after a deal for the book store chain fell apart. (Detroit Free Press has a good read.) *** It’s hard to think of a less tenable business model than selling hard-copy books at a brick-and-mortar store (with…
How to Deal With the Heat This Week
It’s going to be balmy this week. The kind of uncomfortable sweaty oven atmosphere that makes you want to curl up in the refrigerator. Weather folks say the heat index will regularly hover over 100 each afternoon this week, with actual temps in the 90s. To that we say: OK. It’s hot, we get it.…
Ohio Speaker Calls for Resignation of Ohio Rep Accused of DUI (Updated)
Update: Bob Mecklenborg officially quit yesterday afternoon, but his resignation pegged August 2 as his last day in office, which means Mecklenborg ensured he will get a full paycheck for the month of July. Nice work if you can get it. (Columbus Dispatch) *** After everyone’s favorite Mr. Family Values Ohio state rep Bob Mecklenborg…
Tom Ganley Sued for Sexual Harassment (Updated)
Update III: The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office on Friday dropped the charges against Tom Ganley. According to WOIO, Assistant County Prosecutor Blaise Thomas said, “After further investigating the case of State v Ganley and consulting with the victim, this office made a determination to dismiss the case. This decision represents the desire of the victim…
Lorain Burglary is Quintessentially Lorain-y
We occasionally poke fun at Lorain, Cleveland’s step brother to the west, and not without good reason. The blotters fill up weekly with some of the most deranged and stupid crimes you’re likely to come across. Take this story for instance, which is graded 100% Grade-A Lorain prime. Three teens were arrested after breaking into…
PBS Profiles Lincoln Electric, Cleveland Company That Hasn’t Laid Off a Single Employee Since WWII
Lincoln Electric is more than the gigundous wind turbine just off I-90. It’s a company that has thrived in tough economic times, instituted merit-based bonus profit-sharing policies that more companies should adopt, and hasn’t given one employee the layoff notice since WWII. PBS takes a deeper look. Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.
Concert Review: Amos Lee at Jacobs Pavilion
Lee: benchwarmer, folksinger Given the company Amos Lee keeps (Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Norah Jones, and John Prine are recent tourmates), it seems natural that his current tour would put him alongside Grammy winner and folk-rock legend Lucinda Williams. Saturday night at Jacobs Pavilion, the two shared a few favorites from early in their careers,…
Pic of the Day: Stripper Planking at Lido Lounge
We thought the whole point of planking was to lie face-down in unusual and difficult places. On one hand, the stage at the Lido Lounge with its stripper pole is unusual, we guess. On the other hand, this lovely performer is on completely flat ground. Whatever, it’s a stripper, she gets points. (Via Reddit)
New Black Keys Album Coming This Year
Spin caught up with The Black Keys, who may have ditched Akron for Nashville but who haven’t wandered far from Northeast Ohio’s heart. Dan and Pat have recorded their seventh album and are in the midst of mixing and mastering over the summer before the disc drops later this year. “It’s the fastest we’ve ever…
How Your Sound Wall Sausage Gets Made
Any mom, pop, Bob, Jane, or little Mary can take one glance at the sound walls bordering the highway and realize in just a few seconds that they are both useless and mighty expensive. As sound walls began popping up years ago, plenty of journalists cast a wary eye toward the concrete monstrosities, finding that…
Traffic Stop Finds Dead Man in Passenger Seat
When you’ve been arrested for a DUI and driving with a suspended license, and neither of those facts make the lede of the news story written about your traffic stop, you know something completely bizarre happened. Evidence, the first sentence of this news story: LIMA: Ohio troopers say when they did a traffic stop on…
In Final Prep for Opening, Noodlecat Serves Its First Diners
Dressed in a headband and a pair of geta, traditional Japanese wooden sandals, chef Jonathon Sawyer welcomed the first official diners into Noodlecat Thursday night. Following a few days of “friends and family” dinners, when the staff fine tunes food, drinks and service, the Japanese noodle bar opens for business on Tuesday, July 19. Sawyer,…
Pic of the Day: Med Mart Protesters
Per 19 Action News, who puts the Action in action, about 60 protesters gathered voice their displeasure with the lack of minority workforce on the Med Mart project. Currently only 19% of the employees are minorities. (Pic via 19 Action News’ Scott Taylor on Twitter)
Former Cavalier Lance Allred Publishes Second Book
Lance Allred is probably not one of the most well-known former Cleveland Cavaliers, but he’s among the most interesting. And he’s a Scene favorite. The brief NBAer, but mostly career D-Leaguer and sometime Euro roster filler, has been in the news more than your average career journeyman hoopster. He was the first legally deaf player…
Sam Mazzola Was Handcuffed and Masked When He Died (Updated)
Update II: Cops now say a 17-year-old boy was the one who handcuffed and masked Mazzola, though it was a consensual arrangement, of course. The teen then left and discovered Mazzola dead the next day. Authorities are still investigating whether anyone else came to the house that night.l (Morning Journal) Update: Yeah, the coroner now…
Browns’ Scott Fujita Speaks the Truth
There are plenty of reasons to like Browns linebacker Scott Fujita already, but he just gave you another one for good measure. It’s sad that it even needs to be said, but we’re happy Fujita’s saying it. And of course, it doesn’t just go for football players.Via his Twitter account:
Bear Essentials
Bucking the trend of so many maligned reboots and remakes, this subtle and charming animated movie is a delight for young and old fans. Pooh is once again hungry, and on his quest for honey in the Hundred Acre Woods he bumps into Eeyore, who’s lost his tail. Again. But their journey is put on…
Teens Try to Steal Painting From Taco Bell
This doesn’t top the police blotter item about a man stopping traffic because he had to fart, but it’s up there. From Westlake, via the Westshore Sun: Four Taco Bell customers took their appreciation for nacho art a bit too far on July 8 when workers there said they tried to steal a painting from…
Long Lines for $1 Jimmy John’s Subs
Jimmy John’s offered $1 subs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today. Would you ever have guessed that it would be a cluster? No, never. (Just like grown men and women would never dive or club a child in the head with their elbow for a free t-shirt at a ballgame that is XXXXL and…
Flash Mobs: Real Deal, or Inflated Hype?
The face of urban chaos? Come out on the patio, have yourself an Arnold Palmer, and let’s chat Flash Mobs. Say we’re in some far-tossed suburban hamlet, a Solon or Strongesville maybe, dinner’s cooking in the stainless steel and marble kitchen, and we’re just talking headlines, current events, while the kids wrestle Spot in the…
Map: 1887 Cleveland
Previously, The Big Map Blog shared an 1877 lithio map of Cleveland that was all sorts of fun to play with, zooming in on what the Forest City looked like over a century ago. Now, the site’s posted a zoomable map of Cleveland from 1887. What’s cool about this one is comparing it to the…
Cleveland Ranked One of Worst Dressed Cities
OK, well, Frank Russo’s housemate isn’t really helping our cause. Another list, another low spot for Cleveland. Usually these rankings are pounded out by HuffPo, or some Yahoo! contributor, or a wonky think-tank, but this time we’re talking about fashion, and the source is none other than sartorial expert GQ magazine. On its list of…
Cuyahoga County IT Department is a Mess
You expect waste from county government. You expect a lack of technological knowledge and expertise in the IT department of a county government. But the IT department for Cuyahoga County, according to a PD article, is almost unbelievably wasteful and awful and inept after years of colossally misguided decisions and leadership. Daniel Weaver, the former…
The Definition of ‘Repeat Offender’
Take the basics of this story, in which William Thigpen shoplifts from his local Sheetz and proceeds not to make a getaway, but instead head to the bathroom to enjoy the bounty of his score and duplicate them, and you’ll have the new story that has William Thigpen back in the news. The basics, as…
Ohio’s Favorite Netflix Rental
A cool infographic from Micah Mertes organizing the most popular movies rented through Netflix by state. Ohio, it seems, likes movies with Ohio in the title. As does New York, apparently. (Via Uproxx) (The rest of the local favorites info, incidentally, is now only viewable on your Netflix account if you have the DVD package,…
Music Section Giveaway: Memory Tapes Swag
This is the guy behind Memory Tapes We have a pretty cool prize pack for Memory Tapes, the one-man band formed by former Hail Social member Dayve Hawk. The electronic textures on his latest album, Player Piano, are kinda awesome. And we want to share them with you: Today’s swag giveaway includes a vinyl copy…
Conan Probably Ripped Off a Last Call Cleveland Sketch
At least it certainly looks that way. [Ed. note: As the AV club commenters have pointed out, it doesn’t seem like this was a sketch written by Conan or his writers but by Jon Dore, a comedian who was appearing on the show. Some have vouched that Dore has been doing this bit for years.]…
Harry Situation
The eighth and final Harry Potter movie is everything you hoped it would be: big, beautiful, thrilling, emotional, and a gratifying conclusion to a series that’s had more ups than downs over the past 10 years. It picks up where last year’s dark Deathly Hallows: Part One left off, leading to a rousing and violent…
Old Dude Finally Caught for Stealing Corvettes (Updated)
Grand Theft Auto was based on this guy Update: Daniel Ott, the geriatric version of Nic Cage’s character in Gone in 60 Seconds, was sentenced yesterday to 51 months in federal prison and saddled with a bill of $533,000 to pay restitution for the (at least) 14 sports cars he swiped, according to the ABJ.…
Pic of the Day: Dead Guy is the ‘I’ in O-H-I-O
No lie, a Buckeye-honking family set up their dead father in his casket and proceeded to make the O-H-I-O with him serving as the “I.” You may have been the “I” before, but this man is THE “I,” now and for eternity. Via OSU’s official site, Roy’s daughter explains: Long time fan who was always…
Concert Calendar
Kurt Vile & the Violators Shhh. Don’t make too much noise. You don’t want to rustle Kurt Vile, the Philadelphia singer-songwriter whose sleepy-time ruminations have a hard time rising above, well, almost anything else going on around him. On his latest — and best — album, Smoke Ring for My Halo, Vile burns through a…
Path of Destruction
The city of Boston has gone to great lengths to snazzy up its historic Downtown Crossing. A pedestrian-only shopping destination for more than 100 years, the intersection had long been flanked by premier department stores, including Filene’s, which opened there in 1912. Like many shopping areas throughout the country, Downtown Crossing has fallen prey in…
Peel Away
Interpol albums are a lot like monoliths: uniform and massive rock formations carved from a singular vision. The New York City band specializes in monuments of gloomy modern rock — like misfit sculptors Joy Division, the Cure, or Television — chiseling ominous overtures that are magnificently strange, forbidding, and complex. Last year’s self-titled release is…
Home Movies
Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III (Adult Swim) You gotta love the way Family Guy reworked the venerable sci-fi trilogy to fit in its own universe, but the Robot Chicken tributes/parodies are even better. The third outing takes a more ambitious, narrative approach to its hilarious stop-motion sketches, which span all six Star Wars movies.…
Pryor Convictions
It’s one of those special privileges that comes with being the boss of a cartel: the power the NCAA has to make a member institution name its own punishment before handing down the real sentence. As part of this exercise, Ohio State has offered to vacate wins from the 2010 football season and its 2010…
Film Capsules
Horrible Bosses (R) Jasons Bateman and Sudeikis, along with Charlie Day of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, play best friends with one thing in common: They hate their bosses. So when workplace misery reaches fever pitch, they decide to kill them. Jamie Foxx joins the mix as an unlikely hit man; Kevin Spacey, Colin Ferrell,…
Man With a Mission
Back in January, when Cake’s latest album, Showroom of Compassion, debuted at No. 1 with the lowest one-week sales of any chart-topper in the history of mankind, the band’s frontman simply laughed off the dubious honor. Two weeks later, a relatively unknown singer-songwriter from Philadelphia named Amos Lee debuted at the top of the chart…
Wild About Harry
After eight movies and 10 years, the Harry Potter saga comes to an end this week. When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two opens on Friday, the boy wizard will finally have his showdown with Lord Voldemort. In celebration, we’re taking a look back at all the movies. And who better to guide…
Love is a Laugh
Everyone from politicians to salesmen can become entranced with the sound of their own rap, and that usually leads directly to tedium for anyone forced to listen. This malady also can affect great playwrights, as has always been evident in Love’s Labours Lost, now being staged by the Ohio Shakespeare Festival. This rather insubstantial comedy…
Get Out!
Thursday | 14 Funny Stuff Matt Braunger Plays the Improv Matt Braunger wants you to know the man behind the funny stuff. “I don’t pander to the audience,” says the former MADtv trouper. “I want you to see who I am and my observations” — even if those observations include the belief that late-night taco…
On Stage This Week
Help shape a play with Page to Stage Time to Weigh In on Fat Camp How’s this for a deal? For as little as ten bucks, you can see a Broadway-bound musical and then tell the actors, producers, and assorted creative types exactly what you think — and they will thank you for it! That’s…
CD Review: Incubus
Incubus have always straddled the line between palatable and overwrought, often within the same song and often thanks (or no thanks) to Brandon Boyd, who sings better than Maynard James Keenan or Mike Patton, but tends to synthesize the worst characteristics of both. They put that dichotomy out there early on their seventh album, a…
Stay In!
TOP PICK – CD Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds reissues (EMI) Four Nick Cave albums from the ’90s – Let Love In, Murder Ballads, The Boatman’s Call, and No More Shall We Part (actually from 2001) – get the deluxe treatment, with an extra disc of videos and remastered surround sound. They’re all moody,…
Local Band in Focus
Meet the Band: Chris Wallis (guitar/vocals), Andrew Phillips (guitar/vocals), Mark Chesnes (bass/vocals), and Bob Vokac (drums) Rock the Folkin’ Megaphone! The Kent band marries blues with a little punk to form a classic rock sound “modernized for our era,” says Phillips. Throw in a megaphone and some sultry harmonica, and you’ve got some folksy rock…
We Get Mail
Another Take on Cropicana This place is overpriced, and the food is absolutely underwhelming [“Beach Buns,” June 22, 2011]. $9 for pulled pork, a bun, and cole slaw, really? Fish tacos are Van de Camp frozen fish with Velveeta; you call this reasonable? C’mon now! Get a clue, Trattner, and take off the rose-colored glasses.…
CD Review: Shoreway
(shoreway.bandcamp.com) Singer and guitarist Matthew Rolin was a member of the indie-rock bands Poor Sailor and Casual Encounters before forming Shoreway. And despite his aspirations to keep the project on the casual side, the band’s debut is a sharp-sounding affair. Just give it a minute: Three Years opens with the 52-second “Lights,” which recalls all…
Oh Boy!
“When I closed Flower, I said I’m never going back into the restaurant business — I’m done,” recalls chef Roberto Rodriguez, regarding the short-lived restaurant that replaced That Place on Bellflower. “I guess I couldn’t stay away from it.” Granted, the odds have only improved for Rodriguez, a chef whose résumé goes clear back to…
Hammer Time
Five years ago, singer and guitarist Dave Hammer and bassist Matthew DeRubertis met at the University of Akron, where they were both enrolled in a jazz guitar theory class. When the instructor asked if anyone had seen any good concerts recently, Hammer mentioned the Radiohead set he caught at Bonnaroo. “When I heard that, I…
Keep on Truckin’
When Colin Kinney rounded the corner at East Ninth and Walnut, he expected to find his favorite food truck, Dim and Den Sum. What he discovered, much to his surprise, was an alleyway teeming with eight food trucks and upwards of 1,600 people. “I was blown away,” says Kinney, who walked from his office on…
Mothballed Bals
Back in 1911, a pair of Cleveland artists founded a forum to promote the European “new art” of Modernism. After some early tribulations, that group — the Kokoon Arts Club — came to be regarded as the most vibrant cultural force in Cleveland throughout the 1920s. Though the Depression and war effort sapped arts patronage,…
On View This Week
Brownhoist Gallery honors Cleveland’s industrial past: Form, Function & the Factory The inaugural exhibition at Brownhoist Gallery, The Form of Cleveland, is a rare opportunity to experience “industrial archaeology” at its most poignant. After 107 years of operation, the Elwell Parker Electric Company was bought out, and its St. Clair factory was shuttered. Two Cleveland…
At the Arthouse
Enter the Dragon We love Melt Bar & Grilled. We love movies. So it doesn’t take a freakin’ rocket scientist to figure out that we doubly love Melt Bar & Grilled’s Late Shift movie series at the Capitol Theatre. The big cheeses at Melt offer an exclusive sandwich at both locations that’s somehow tied to…
CD Review: Ashton Shepherd
Ashton Shepherd is 24 years old, lives in Alabama, and sounds like she’d kick your ass for looking at her the wrong way. She’s a rugged country girl, and on her second album she lets you know she ain’t taking crap from anybody, even on the ballads. Like Miranda Lambert, Shepherd has a deep drawl…
CD Review: Colbie Caillat
Colbie Caillat is just so, well, bubbly. Taking a career cue from her breakthrough 2007 hit, the California girl comes by her sunny pop naturally. Her dad co-produced Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, quite possibly the quintessential L.A. pop album. But Caillat leaves all the relationship baggage and lines of coke behind, opting instead for breezy acoustic…
Burlesque Documentary on the Way, Festival Could Follow
Local burlesque performer Bella Sin insists Cleveland once was a hotbed of your grandfather’s brand of burlesque. Now she’s set on making us your nephew’s burlesque capital too. Sin is organizing a first-of-its-kind Ohio Burlesque Festival. She’s also churning out a burlesque documentary titled Rustbelt Bump and Grind. The film project germinated earlier this year…
