Anthony Hayne, One of the Cleveland 5 Bridge Bombers, Pleads Guilty
Earlier this year, all eyes nationwide turned toward Cleveland after five self-professed anarchists were collared by the feds for allegedly plotting to send the Ohio 82 bridge sky high. In anarchist circles, blowing bridges is like a big anti-establishment middle finger, and this was meant to express the Occupy outrage the plotters found in that…
Torche, Ohio Sky Play Rock Hall Plaza Tonight
Ohio Sky It’s time for another edition of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s Summer in the City concert series outdoors on the Plaza in front of the museum. Tonight at 7 p.m. Cleveland quintet Ohio Sky will kick off an evening of free music that also features Florida-based sludge-rockers Torche as…
An Annotated Definitive History of Cleveland
You just turned 216, Cleveland. Happy Birthday. How does it feel? Slightly boozy? Like you’re driving the struggle bus? Like you should have heeded the life advice of the wizened Berenstain Bears when they laid out the dangers of having too much birthday? We’ve all been there. But you’re here now, alive and conveniently numbering…
The Quality of Cleveland Life Report
Your guide to living in fabulous Cleveland. Nickel and Dimed: Cleveland Heights offers weekend of free parking, but fails to adequately post signage telling patrons to keep their quarters in their pockets, because Cleveland Heights is a dick like that. Operation Metcalf Up the Middle: 51 agencies conduct a full-scale disaster drill in the Port…
Afghan Whigs Booked at Beachland Ballroom September 30
One of the most buzzed about reunions this year is that Cincinnati’s Afghan Whigs, who were much beloved in indie rock circles in the ’90s for their intense soul-inflected rock, driven by Greg Dulli’s alternately sardonic, melancholy, and desperate-sounding vocals. Initially signed to Sub Pop, they moved up to Elektra in the post-Nirvana era when…
Afternoon Brew: Man Gets Two DUIs in Three Hours, Stolen Pot Plants, Sushi Rock Closes for Now, and Weeden Inks Deal
Good afternoon, Cleveland. Here’s some stuff to read while you make sure all your pot plants are present and accounted for. — Today in rare but awful achievements: man gets two DUIs in three hours. (Fox 8) — If you’re pot plants are stolen, you don’t make a police report. Unless the thieves come back…
Jimmy Dimora Doesn’t Want to Go to Prison for 22 Years
And who could blame him? He’s a man accustomed to steaks and hookers, bourbon and tiki huts, and prison as a whole is not the ideal abode. Back in March, the jury handed down a cascade of guilty verdicts on the former commissioner and full-time scumbag; sentencing is scheduled for Monday down in Akron under…
Teens, Adults Arrested for Drugs, Alcohol at Electro-Foam Party
What’s an electro-foam party? Beats us, but it sounds dangerous. If the video below from the event is any indication, it’s a celebration of bros and neon where everyone pretends they’re having sex in a washing machine. According to NewsNet5, several hundred teens ages 16-19 gathered at the Grantwood Golf Course in Solon for one…
Chuck Berry to be This Year’s Rock Hall American Music Masters Honoree
Each fall, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum devotes a week to a series of educational programs honoring one of rock & roll’s pioneers and/or major influences in its American Music Masters series. This year, the 17th for the program which has honored the likes of Robert Johnson, Woody Guthrie, Janis Joplin,…
Concert Review: All Good Festival at Legend Valley
The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne You never have to worry about missing a performance at the 16th annual All Good Music Festival and Campout, which took place over the weekend at Legend Valley Concert Venue in Thornville, Ohio. The All Good organizers don’t schedule any conflicting shows, so when one performance ends, the next one…
Afternoon Brew: Slapping a Cop, Heroin is a Thing, ODOT Still Sucks, and an Old Building
Good afternoon, Cleveland. The engines that make up the Scene newsroom — two cans of Diet Coke and a a bottle of smoothie-flavored Tums — are churning out this week’s issue. That doesn’t mean stuff isn’t happening around Cleveland. Here’s a few things to read, selected with great care by picking the first stories we…
As ABC Team Takes Over Ontario Street, Viaduct Lounge to Go Events-Only
In the same week that that Alan Glazen, Randy Kelly, and Linda Syrek take possession of Ontario Street Café (2053 Ontario St., 216-861-6446) they will conclude normal restaurant service at Viaduct Lounge (2100 Superior Via., 216-556-8200). This Saturday, July 28th will be the last night of regular dinner service, explains Kelly. From then on, the…
Pic of the Day: Fausto Carmona Celebrates Three Birthdays
Some of you might have missed this over the weekend: Roberto Hernandez, the man formerly known as Fausto Carmona, finally got his visa issues with the US cleared up and returned to Cleveland where he will once again throw a baseball for the Indians. The problems started, of course, when folks found out that Carmona…
Concert Review: Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks at Quicken Loans Arena
Joe Kleon OK, we get it. Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks are both classic rockers. But their differences are more striking than their similarities, something that was certainly true last night at Quicken Loans Arena, the first stop of the summer installment of their “Heart and Soul” co-headlining tour. Even when they performed together during…
Clevelander Maura Rogers Brings Life Experience to New CD, Beachland Show Saturday
Maura Rogers is relatively new to the area music scene — she started to get her name out about six-seven years ago at open mics. A few years on the singer-songwriter circuit culminated in a 2010 solo album Get Up Girl. Soon after that, she began working with additional musicians, leading to the five-piece Maura…
Pat’s Fest Tomorrow Showcases Local Indie Scene
Go see Founding Fathers — and all their friends Want to get a crash course in Cleveland’s underground rock scene today? Head down to Pat’s in the Flats tomorrow for Pat’s Fest 2012. Instead of having to go to six or seven different shows at Now That’s Class or the Happy Dog to hear them…
Mike Uva Debuts New CD Tonight at Mahall’s
Mike Uva has been a quiet, steady presence on Cleveland’s indie rock scene since his days as guitarist with Machine Go Boom in the early-mid ’90s. He also ran the Collective Escalators, the label that released their music as well as records by bands like Coffinberry and Goodmorning Valentine. But he’s had his own career,…
County Workers Getting Paycuts
Ed FitzGerald’s ongoing reformulation of Cuyahoga County government has taken many forms, including evaluating just about every job description, employment record, paygrade, and checking for hookers and bags of cash in the closet. Gotta be thorough. Departments have been reshaped, folks have been laid off or fired, and now a host of folks in public…
Parma GOP Rally Features a Small Kerfuffle (Updated)
Update: We missed this last week, but there’s a whole conspiracy theory about the mano vs. mano handkerchief and water bottle throwdown that occurred at the GOP rally in Parma a few weeks ago. Cleveland.com delves into the mystery of whether these were actually two strangers who let their inner political fires bubble over into…
John Husted Wants a Peek at the Fed’s Immigration Database
Ohio Secretary of State John Husted is asking the federal government for access to some extremely sensitive information, according to the Plain Dealer. The fresh-faced GOPer wants a peek at the SAVE files, or Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlemen docs, which in plain old english means a list of immigration data on individuals in the…
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony to play Agora in October
This summer marks the 20th anniversary for Cleveland hip-hop act Bones Thugs-N-Harmony. To celebrate, the group’s five original members (Layzie Bone, Krayzie Bone, Wish Bone, Bizzy Bone, and Flesh-N-Bone) are getting together for a short tour that includes a few dates on the Rock the Bells hip-hop festival and a Saturday, October 6 show at…
Concert Review: Nicki Minaj at State Theatre
Singer/rapper Nicki Minaj throws one helluva party. Last night at the State Theatre, she played a 70-minute set that featured everything you’d expect (gyrating dancers, colorful visuals, costume changes) from one of hip-hop’s biggest stars. Credit the fact that Minaj, as she confessed mid-way through last night’s concert, cut her musical teeth playing dance clubs.…
He’s Bach: An interview with rocker Sebastian Bach, who plays Peabody’s on Tuesday
Since leaving Skid Row, the New Jersey metal band he played with in the late ’80s and early ’90s, singer Sebastian Bach has had no trouble finding work. He successfully transitioned from grungy rock clubs to Broadway, starring in musicals such as Jeckyll and Hyde and Jesus Christ Superstar. Now, in the wake of last…
4Chan Catches Mayfield Heights Burger King Employee Who Snapped Pictures of Himself Standing on Food (Updated)
Update: Three employees were fired in the aftermath of lettuce-gate 2012, and the Cuyahoga County Board of Health has cleared the restaurant. The scary part? In its inspection, they found it wasn’t only those two containers of lettuce that were affected. The non-scary part: they caught any of it before it was served. Via Mayfield…
Lakewood Coucilman Caught up in Hacking Kerfuffle
This evil hacker is currently sending your aunt an email from your account saying you actually don’t wear the Christmas sweater she knitted, bitch. Update: Whaddya know? Lakewood councilman Shawn Juris was telling the truth. You’ll remember that an email purportedly from Juris’ account was sent to the Lakewood Observer threatening to use the power…
Power Ranking: The Five Most Important People in Town Right Now
A Scene weekly feature ranking local newsmakers. 1. US Rep. Marcia Fudge The decision to limit early voting hours wasn’t a political decision, John Husted claims. Bro, get serious, the US Congresswoman counters as she stands up with other local pols against the Republican’s move. 2. Alan Cox and Chad Zumock WMMS afternoon crew torched…
Video: Machine Gun Kelly on The Tonight Show
Machine Gun Kelly and Ester Dean performed “Invincible” on Leno last night. Let’s go to the videotape. The action starts at the 38:17 mark.
Concert Review: Zappa Plays Zappa at House of Blues
Even though he’s best known by the general public for his seemingly silly, and occasionally, obscene songs, Frank Zappa was one of the most innovative musicians and greatest guitar players of the 20th century. Over the years, he acquired a cult following that remains fiercely loyal to him and his music. Last night at House…
Batshit Excellent
How do you top 2008’s The Dark Knight, not only the best superhero movie ever made but also the best movie of the millennium? Short answer: You don’t. But that doesn’t stop director Christopher Nolan from charging through The Dark Knight Rises with all the energy, menace, and heart that made the middle chapter of…
A ‘World’ for Us
This fall, the Cleveland area — Lakewood, specifically — will get its first taste of World of Beer, a chain of craft beer-driven taverns with 27 locations, largely in Florida. Currently, there is one Ohio location, in Columbus’ Brewery District, with another slated to open shortly in that city’s Easton Town Center. Partner Mark Pottschidt…
Screens
Beasts of the Southern Wild Six-year-old Hushpuppy (played by newcomer Quvenzhané Wallis) lives through a lot in this terrific indie fable from first-time director Benh Zeitlin: a hurricane, poverty, no mom, a drunken and occasionally abusive father, and massive prehistoric animals that roam the post-Katrina bayou that she, her dad, and a few of their…
Clubland
Maura Rogers is relatively new to the area scene — she started to get her name out about six or seven years ago at open mics. A few years on the singer-songwriter circuit culminated in a 2010 solo album Get Up Girl. Soon after , she began working with additional musicians, leading to the five-piece…
Soundcheck
Even before Nicki Minaj released her debut album at the end of 2010, she was already the hottest female MC on the planet for a couple of years. Armed with numerous guest verses and mixtapes, as well as a roller-coaster style that lands somewhere between here and Mars, Minaj slowly but surely worked her way…
Concert Calendar
Beach House Early on, Beach House drew a lot of comparisons to the gauzy psych-pop of Mazzy Star, but the Baltimore duo has since incorporated a great deal more complexity and depth into their ephemeral indie pop. On their 2010 breakthrough album, Teen Dream, Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand tapped into a lush ’60s-pop vibe…
This Dream’s a Keeper
If you like your Shakespeare with a touch of Monty Python and a dash of fairy dust, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Ohio Shakespeare Festival is definitely your honey bag. Filled to bursting with entrancing (and a couple flat-out hilarious) performances, and performed outdoors at Stan Hywet Hall, this is the essence of summer…
CD Review: Cosmo Jarvis
This British singer-songwriter caught a ton of buzz a couple of years ago with “Gay Pirates,” the catchiest song ever written about homosexual swashbucklers. His third album still packs plenty of whimsy, but Jarvis cuts a more conventional path this time, targeting – as the LP's title implies – more mainstream topics. The best songs…
On Stage This Week
The Cradle Will Rock: Corruption in Steeltown, U.S.A. Long-time home of free professional performances, Oberlin Summer Theater Festival serves up its first-ever musical this season: 1937’s The Cradle Will Rock. Marc Blitzstein’s legendary theater piece — originally directed by Orson Welles — paints an almost-operatic picture of corporate corruption and greed in “Steeltown, U.S.A.” The…
Just Tacos
It goes without saying that taquerias tend to be modest establishments — if you can call them "establishments" at all — characterized by steam tables, linoleum floors, and flickering fluorescent lights. Barrio, in stark contrast, exists in the former home of the once-posh 806 Wine and Martini Bar. It's an odd fit to be sure,…
CD Review: The Very Best
Three years ago, this group – a collaboration between Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya and British producers Radioclit, now down to one guy – became a blog favorite with its mix of traditional Afropop and old-school hip-hop. Their second album is more of the same, with more emphasis on the African music that drives the grooves.…
Film Capsules
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…
When You Gonna Play Something Good?
A breeze skips off the river, raking the near-fossilized trash and crumpled glossy club flyers littering the sidewalk on Old River Road. In terms of real estate, the street is a heap of dead bodies, the empty storefronts casualties of the East Bank’s abrupt nosedive years back. But tonight, muffled behind the doors of Earth…
Cheap Eats
KrAv Todd Barrey picked the perfect name for his newborn food truck: Kräv. It’s clever and a little bit foreign — just like his food. “We have sort of a Mediterranean feel: a little Italian, a little Greek, some Latin and Korean flair,” he says. Even the truck’s exterior, featuring views of the French Rivera,…
Culture Jamming
TOP PICK Jimi Plays Berkeley (Experience Hendrix/Legacy) This concert from 1970 has been around in various forms and stages over the years. It’s finally available in Blu-ray, boosting both the occasionally dark and grainy image and muddy sound. Needless to say, it’s never been in better shape. It helps that Hendrix (as well as Billy…
CD Review: Jeff the Brotherhood
Nashville siblings Jake and Jamin Orrall (sons of a Music City vet who worked on Taylor Swift’s debut) lay down a Black Keys-style low-fi stomp on their new album. And the comparison is no accident: Dan Auerbach co-produced Hypnotic Nights with the brothers. Fuzzy, scuzzy, and a throwback to Nuggets garage rock, songs like “Country…
We Get Mail
Jack Lemmon Approves It’s a high school year book photo (“Pic of the Day: Josh Mandel in Drag,” Scene & Heard blog, July 3). Really people? None of you have ever done something ridiculous as a joke? Some would argue that people who put down others may have the most skeletons in their closet. Anyone…
CD Review: Matisyahu
Even Matisyahu isn’t sure how he fits in these days. After inventing the “Hasidic Jewish reggae rap” genre (and, as far as we know, he’s the only guy to ever dabble in this mix), the Pennsylvania native eased into Jack Johnson-like breezy acoustic folk. His fourth album is all over the place as he grasps…
Art Beyond Ink
In a way, Sit Still or Die, a showcase of works by Cleveland-area tattoo artists, is business as usual at Breakneck Gallery. Owners Sean and Kristen Burns have been displaying body art for years, even before they opened shop. Along with their tattoos, even the couple’s wedding bands are products of the inkers’ arts. But…
On View This Week
The Gathering Place Recovery. Cleveland native and Boston resident Willard Traub displays the photography he took to keep his sense of agency during his ordeal with blood cancer. Silver gelatin images of caretakers, the changing seasons, and a steadfast dog are accompanied by brief reflections in prose and poetry. “I hope people go,” says Traub…
Man of Mayhem
Launched in 2008 by Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman, the Mayhem Festival is like the skate-punk fest’s hard-rockin’ cousin. Featuring a daylong blast of metal and heavy rock, Mayhem includes some crossover with Warped, but it’s mostly a louder affair. The tour actually evolved from Warped, which started to lean heavier in the mid-2000s. At…
CD Review: Baroness
Like fellow Georgia prog-metal behemoths Mastodon, Savannah’s Baroness get heavy and heady on their third album. They also bite off a little more than they can chew on Yellow & Green, a concept album of sorts, split into two separate works and filled with the tricky, twisty instrumental chops and complex songcraft that have gained…
Savage Love
Dear Dan: I am desperately in need of your help. After eight years of marriage, it turns out that the blowjobs I give are “good but not great” and are now getting “boring.” My husband is unable to tell me anything specific that he wants me to do, just that I should do something different…
