Pools of Potential
An artist’s first solo show need not be epic in scope to be impressive. A case in point is the exhibit now on view at Shaheen Modern and Contemporary Art. It’s called The Days Are Spent . . . and features just a dozen paintings. Craig Kucia is the artist, and since his is not…
From Rice-a-Roni to Pheasant
Presently, we have two Cleveland revivals of musicals that premiered in 1973. Both shows are about breaking the emotional and sexual chains that bind us. One is for those who love elegant cuisine and the other is an exhilarating junk-food high. For those who harbor a secret desire to crash the counterculture, a live performance…
Drink, Eat, and Repeat
The bartender was notably patient. “No, we don’t take reservations,” he told the caller. “We don’t serve dinner. This is a bar, you know, not a restaurant.” Methinks the fellow seriously underestimates the grub that comes out of the Lava Lounge’s tiny kitchen. Admittedly, feeding the hungry masses is not the sole raison d’être for…
First Time’s a Charm
First-time restaurateur John Kouvas must have charm to spare. Just look at the lineup of culinary talent he has pulled together for his new dining room, Opus 21 (One American Way, 330-856-2121) in — of all places — Warren, Ohio, on the golf course of the Avalon Lakes Country Club. First off, there’s Doug Katz,…
Brian’s Song
As dysfunctional as he is talented, former Beach Boy Brian Wilson might sport an outdated ’60s look — he’s got dewy eyes, is appealingly chubby-looking, and fashions his hair after Prince Valiant. But that’s simply because he, more than most other seminal rockers, is the perpetual child, stuck in that perpetually adolescent and singular decade.…
Ax Marks the Sport
The next voyageur canoe paddles are Saturday, July 22, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. and Sunday, July 23, from noon-5 p.m. See “Sports & Recreation” for details.
Like Rolling Stoners
Calling from Leeds, England, a town that will forever be associated with the Who’s live album from 1970, singer-guitarist Josh Homme of the Queens of the Stone Age has two problems: He’s getting soaked by what sounds like a downpour, and he desperately wants — no, needs — a cigarette. “I’m cigarette-free and needing one…
Head Hunters
Pezamania is open to the public Saturday, July 22, from 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Independence, 6001 Rockside Road. Admission is $10; $5 after 10:30. Call 216-283-5993 or visit www.pezamania.com.
Mary J. Blige
It may seem like an overstatement, but Mary J. Blige could be the best female soul singer since Aretha Franklin. There’s a smoothness about her voice that puts all her contemporaries and imitators to shame. Of course, it helps that she also chooses to wrap that big, bad, beautiful voice of hers around some prime…
I See Dull People!
Rather than asking if this senseless and expensive new film from wunderkind entertainer Robert Zemeckis is devoid of merit (it is) or “worth seeing” (it isn’t), we should instead take the movie’s title — What Lies Beneath — as a direct question. Indeed, what does lie beneath? Possible answers include a glaringly improbable shift of…
The White Stripes
Simplicity was the objective of Piet Mondrian, Theo Van Doesburg, and Bart Van Der Leck when, in Amsterdam in 1917, they started the course of a movement that became known as De Stijl (“the style”). All straight lines and right angles, primary colors and simple shapes, the movement bled over into every facet of life…
Precious Junkies
Director Alison Maclean, from Canada by way of New Zealand, turns her camera on the American landscape — or, more accurately, the underbelly of the American landscape — in Jesus’ Son, an uneven but often effective adaptation of Denis Johnson’s autobiographical book. Billy Crudup stars as a thoroughly marginalized character known to his friends as…
The Allman Brothers
The history of the Allman Brothers Band reads like the script from a soap opera. Early success was soon followed by the deaths of two of its founding members in eerily similar motorcycle accidents. Drug and alcohol abuse infiltrated their ranks, which caused subpar performances and friction among its members, and led to periods of…
Young Guns
Apart from mass cultural annihilation, beatniks, Hee Haw, and some dumbass sports, most pop-culture trends are not homegrown, but imported to America after prolonged cultivation overseas. Consider the flatus called “grunge” — our first wholly indigenous punk movement — erupting from the bowels of Seattle a mere decade ago. It required only din, oppressive Boeing…
Tattoo the Earth Tour
The problem with today’s package tours, specifically Ozzfest 2000 and the Vans Warped Tour, is that the novelty of melding different styles has simply worn off. So if you’re a steadfast metal fan who wants to continuously mosh, there’s no better headbanging bargain than the inaugural Tattoo the Earth Tour. Featuring a slew of Ozzfest…
Mister Toxic’s Neighborhood
It was about 10 p.m., long after dinners had been cooked and eaten, and children were gathered into bed. Inside the North East Chemical Corp. plant in Ohio City, a worker was adding 1,200 gallons of powdered acid to a tank of hazardous waste when a chemical reaction sparked and ignited. Within minutes, a cacophony…
Soundbites
Punk rock isn’t about standing in line for Green Day autographs or yelling “Show us your tits!” but you wouldn’t know it from attending the Warped Tour, which stopped at Nautica on July 13. Since its inception six years ago, the Warped Tour has evolved into such a corporate event (it’s officially called the Vans…
Leaning Green
At a sheriff’s sale four months ago, Dennis and Hugh O’Donnell bought the unsightly house with the rotted roof at the corner of Madison Avenue and West 58th Street, thinking the old eyesore had great potential. The father-and-son team planned to fix the roof, install a heating system, and build an additional bathroom, among other…
Bahamadia
There’s an old-school celebration ringing throughout Bahamadia’s BB Queen that’s both liberating and repressing. The opening turntable blitz from DJ Revolution on “BB Queen’s Intro” is a refreshing throwback to the days when hip-hop was on the verge of breaking beyond the singles forum. The frantic cutting and scratching also promise something grand in the…
Heeeee’s Back
Heeeee’s back. It’s been only a couple of weeks since Judge Robert Ferreri was reinstated to Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court by the Ohio Supreme Court, but the abrasive judge — suspended since June 1999 for a raft of impolitic remarks he made about the court, a fellow judge, and court personnel, as well as for…
Amon Tobin
Jam bands such as Phish and Dave Matthews have a new kind of competition in Amon Tobin, a Brazilian native who samples, jazzes, and swings like no one else. Jam master Tobin may be more self-sufficient than Moby. He’s also at least as creative, and he doesn’t depend on vocals, guitar dramatics, or other rock…
Knob Appeal
Grand visions don’t always need lots of surface area. If a thousand angels can fit on the head of a pin, just think how many can cram, Ellis Island-style, onto a stub of wood. “A lot of people dream they’re living in mansions,” says Hudson knob painter Susan Terkel. “I dream I’m living in a…
William Parker & the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra
For years, William Parker has been an important free jazz bassist and leader. He’s recorded with a variety of musicians and can be counted on for consistently inspired performances. The ensembles Parker employs on this two-CD set vary from selection to selection, but they are larger than the normal free jazz quartets and quintets, containing…
Dream Weaver
In the course of two hours, Neil Gaiman speaks 10,000 words (or damned near, when transcribed), and it seems a shame to waste a single one, since there is not an uh or y’know among them. Even the most eloquent writer gets lost in thought every now and then…uh…y’know? But not Gaiman, who speaks like…
Canis
Hellish Made Clique’s song “Friends and Foes,” a boisterous rap number that cites Shakespeare in its refrain, was downloaded enough times to register the local rap group within the Top 10 on an MP3 chart that appeared in a recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine. Undoubtedly inspired by registering two notches above an Eminem song…
Copping an Attitude
Live — and learn — in the city you serve: The nerve of all these city employees — who knew the law when they applied for the police department, water department, and fire department — forming a movement to live outside of Cleveland [“Cop Land No More?”, July 6]. Like Mike Polensek said, If you…
