Investigating Linndale’s Population
Linndale — you know Linndale, that three-foot span of I-71 noted as one of the most notorious speed traps in Ohio — fights a constant battle to exist. It seems every few years some politician takes up the public’s fight and tries to negotiate some bill that would restrict cities’ right to have a mayor…
Here’s What A Lady’s Kneecap Looked Like Last Night After Asdrubal Cabrera’s Homer Hit It
The second of Asdrubal Cabrera’s homers last night was initially ruled a single. Upon first view, the umps couldn’t tell if it cleared the short fence in right field of Fenway Park, and the ball ricocheted hard back into right, so it seemed like it had to have hit something very hard to send it…
Top Ten Stolen Cars in Ohio in 2010
If you’re rolling around in a 2000 Dodge Caravan, not only are you likely a diaper and soccer ball-toting mom or pop, the Ohio Insurance Institute says you’re also the No. 1 prime target for a car thief. For the third year in a row, the minivan was named the most-stolen vehicle in the Buckeye…
Watch Trailer for New NEO-Made Movie
It probably won’t be as all-around ass-kicking as The Avengers, but The Long, Slow Death of a Twenty-Something should appeal to the same target audience, especially since the movie seems to be about them. The film is a coming-of-age story about a group of twentysomething Ohioans whose first step into adulthood means putting down the…
Stephanie Robinette, “Breast-Feeding Mother,” Sprays Cops (Updated)
Careful, she’s armed. Update III: The final cost of the breast-milk-to-the-face escapades: two years probation and $200. (Fox8) *** Update II: The AP reports Stephanie Robinette pleaded guilty Friday to two charges: assault and obstruction of official business. Her lawyer says she’s super embarrassed, wants to get on with her life, and hopes to avoid…
Cleveland Ranked 18th Nationally for Green Jobs
Greater Cleveland is an immovable force when it comes to nudging the unemployment meter. But we’re making headway in the realm of those coveted “green” jobs they talk about on NPR. The Cleveland Metro area ranks 18th out of 100 U.S. cities in green-job generation, according to a recent report from the Brookings Institute, a…
Bright Eyes vs. Cold Cave
Bright Eyes It’s decision-making time for fans of indie-rock bands that are basically one-man solo projects on record: Both Bright Eyes and Cold Cave are in town tonight. In this corner we have Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst’s occasionally rootsy band, which gets all moody and digital on the recent The People’s Key. They play House…
Video: I’m a Stupid Cat
A song and video about cats from Mike Polk. Enjoy.
‘Slut Walk’ Cleveland Rally Aims to Stop Folks From Blaming Sex Assault Victims
Cleveland has joined a list of cities from around the globe that plan to host a rally in honor of women’s inalienable right to sluttiness. It’s called a Slut Walk, and the point of the August 27 endeavor, say organizers, is to “take back” the offensive word. Slut Walk demonstrations have been sparked the world…
The Quality of Cleveland Life Report
Your guide to thriving in fabulous Cleveland. Heaving on the Hocking: Princeton Review ranks Ohio University America’s No. 1 party school. Case Western Reserve ranked No. 1 for “watching webcams of OU parties from dorm rooms.” Doctoring the Books: MetroHealth System faces scrutiny for hiring expensive consultants, counters that “In our defense, we’re really not…
Trio of Cleveland Restaurants Notch Honors
Cleveland Food and Brews Another day, another example of national publications looking toward the shores of Lake Erie and remarking, “You do damn fine work there, folks.” And actually, today brings three delicious recognitions. 1. There are sports bars that trade in what most sports bars do but shouldn’t — the routine menu of fried…
Did You Know the Tommy Gun Was Born in Cleveland?
Neither did we ’til this morning when we clicked over to Cleveland.com, but it’s true. The Tommy Gun, or Thompson submachine gun, was the creation of General John Thompson, an army guy who developed a few other guns along the way, though none as powerful or infamous as the Tommy Gun. With WWI still in…
Pic of the Day: Berea Cops Sure Do love the Browns
Browns fever? Even the cops have it, as evidenced by this member of Berea’s finest working Browns training camp and sporting a set of brown and orange handcuffs. Of course, those would be more useful if he was working, say, Bengals training camp, but it’s nice to see the team spirit. (Via @ALaForce)
Onion A.V. Club Comes to Cleveland
The A.V. Club’s traveling Pop Pilgrims show, which visits worthy pop culture historical sites around the country, picked Cleveland as its final destination after the Forest City got a wave of support from fans. Pop Pilgrims’ first stop — there will be two more segments, one Wednesday, one Friday — was the A Christmas Story…
Prosecutor to Seek Appeal in Perk Plaza Shootings Case
It’s been almost two weeks since an appeals court reversed the guilty verdict against the alleged gunman in the 2009 Perk Plaza shootings. As news of the reversal circulated through the halls of Mansfield Correctional Institution, Joaquin Hicks was greeted with high-fives and back-slaps from other inmates, according to his aunt, Denise Taylor. They assumed…
Wright Brothers Replica Plane Crashes, Killing Two
Sad news for the birthplace of aviation this weekend. CNN reports that a replica of a 1910 Wright brothers plane crashed in Springfield, Ohio, over the weekend, killing both men aboard (Don Gum, 73; Mitchell Cary, 65). The replica of the Model B aircraft — the Model B came seven years after the Wright brothers…
Center Street Bridge Reopens, Finally
Rejoice, Cleveland, for today is a great day. The Center Street Swing Bridge, which connects the East and West banks of the Flats and which had been closed since July 19 of last year, is now open. $2.6 million was the pricetag to fix the bridge (originally built in 1904, reconstructed in 1989), according to…
Concert Review: Taylor Swift at the Q
Taylor Swift may play the grown-up and slightly jaded woman with a lot on her mind (and just as much to get off) on her latest album. But at a sold-out Quicken Loans Arena last night, she was still living out her teenage fantasies of princes, princesses, and fairy-tale dreams. Almost every song was its…
Dennis Kucinich Just Solved Everything
Dennis Kucinich, no stranger to a microphone during a tense debate, stood up during last night’s debt ceiling clusterbomb and in one minute solved all of America’s problems. [drops mic; high fives alien]
Chief Wahoo Decorates Building in Germany, But Why?
Chief Wahoo in Germany. Why exactly is there a neon Chief Wahoo sitting atop a building in Berlin? Art, of course. All with a deeper (though similar) meaning than the Cleveland Indians. The Wall Street Journal reports it’s the work of Cyprien Gaillard, an artist who took a 12-meter neon Cleveland Indians Chief Wahoo sign…
Jesse Owens’ Tree from Hitler in Cleveland
Flickr — ClevelandSGS NPR has a fascinating story about Jesse Owens, a tree, and Hitler — one that some Clevelanders may know, but one many others probably have no clue about. When Owens made his famous trip to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, he brought back four gold medals. But that wasn’t all. The German…
Cleveland Police Officer Arrested for Misuse of Police Database
WEWS, Cleveland Police As we mentioned yesterday, MetroHealth and the Cleveland Police Department are the two sweet spots for media investigations these days, and not without good reason. Staffers at each place make it hard for either to stay out of the news. Today, the PD’s Henry Gomez reported (via Twitter) that Patrolman Alex Parente…
MetroHealth Hires Consultant While Searching for Former CFO’s Replacement
When former MetroHealth CFO Sharon Kelley left her full-time position with the hospital, Metro had to abide by her contract, which called for it to pay her $440,000 salary plus benefits for at least six more months, plus an additional six months if she didn’t find a new job. In the meantime, Metro was in…
Canton Cop Already Under Scrutiny Now Under Investigation for Second Incident
Daniel Harless is the Canton cop who made a name, face, and vulgarity-laced tongue for himself when video of his berserk treatment of a suspect during a concealed carry arrest made the media rounds. (You can catch up on all the background to that incident here.) Now the Canton Repository reports that Harless is under…
Pic of the Day: Sorry, Fukudome, You Can’t Escape the Browns in Cleveland
Screenshot of All Bets Are Off on Sunday where Bruce Drennan and company are proving yet again why the network is on the verge of being sold. (Via @WFNYScott and @SamHammonds)
How the West Was Probed
Cowboys & Aliens has everything you could possibly want in an action movie: James Bond, Indiana Jones, and the director of Iron Man. And they all come together in the summer’s wildest adventure, an old-fashioned western that also happens to include people-snatchin’ aliens from outer space. Daniel Craig plays Jake Lonergan, a wanted man with…
The Story of a Clevelander Who Moved to L.A., Inherited the Phone Number of a Hollywood Star, and Started Leading a Hollywood Life
Bob Gray moved from Cleveland to L.A. a few months ago. Here on the shores of Lake Erie, he worked on national basketball broadcasts, reports L.A. Weekly, but with the Cavs in low demand across America after LeBron’s departure, so too was demand for his services. So out to California he went. Arriving there, Gray…
Canton City Council President Doesn’t Appreciate Out of Towners Complaining About Canton Cop
Also, he’s not a fan of concealed carry laws. Here’s what Canton City Council President Alan Schulman had to say after the video of a cop going crazy during a concealed carry arrest went “viral,” as the kids say.
Medina Man Triggers Stand off with Police Because of “Bad Day”
This explains all. Had a bad day? Brother, we’ve been there. The boss don’t understand. The old lady is dishing fresh grief. The kids are hooliganing around town again and the car won’t start. The remedy options are few: about all you can do is guzzle some High Life and head off to bed, try…
Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force Makes 25,000th Arrest
Alphonso Tate — lucky No. 25,000 Alphonso Tate — who was charged with rape, kidnapping, and five counts of gross sexual imposition — is lucky number 25,000 for the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force. While Tate’s arrest made a nice round historic number, we’re guessing the honor isn’t like being the 10,000th shopper at…
What to Do Tonight: Flogging Molly
Just add Guinness We usually prefer our Irish punk in a crowded bar, where throngs of fans simultaneously hoisting pints of Guinness is one of the most beautiful sights in the whole world. But we’re all for being outdoors in the summer, especially when the sun’s beating down on sweaty bodies jumping up and down…
Ted Strickland Thinks President Obama Will Win Ohio Because of Ted Strickland
Former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, who recently launched a new career in consulting, talked with The Plain Dealer about a range of political issues in an interview. While the heart of one of his bolder statements — that the climate in Ohio leans positively for President Obama — might have merit, we think there was…
Updates on STO Possibly Being for Sale (Updated)
Update: Following up on our reports from earlier this month that STO was for sale, Waiting For Next Year now reports that their sources say SportsTime Ohio will soon be sold to either Fox Sports Ohio or Time Warner Cable. A little more detail on the reasoning for STO hitting the open market: despite strong…
John Kasich Visited the Ohio State Fair
On tap for the governor’s wholesome state fair-y docket of activities: riding a carousel, looking at a cow made of butter, some fishing, eating some corn, and playing some games. About the corn, Kasich had this to say (via the Dayton Daily News): “It didn’t need any butter. It was so sweet.” As for the…
Concert Review: NKOTBSB at the Q
Cheese platter If you’re wondering what the homemade sign policy is at Quicken Loans Arena, I’ll tell you: It can’t be bigger than “the size of your body” or you’re going to have to walk it back to your car. This is important to know because I spent all day perfecting my giant Donnie Wahlberg…
Kind of Blue
If you’re skeptical of an all-star cast that includes Doogie Howser and Katy Perry, just let go. The Smurfs will take you on a fun but occasionally wobbly ride with the blue woodland creatures. When Clumsy’s clumsiness leads the gang – including Brainy (voiced by Fred Armisen), Grouchy (George Lopez), Smurfette (Perry), and new additions…
Just Say Yes
Michael Scott may have left the office building, but Steve Carell injects a similar clueless awkwardness into his role as Cal in this hexagon tale of love. As Cal faces divorce from his cheating wife (Julianne Moore), his life derails and he heads straight to the bottle. But smooth-talking ladies’ man Jacob (Ryan Gosling) comes…
21-Year-Old Found Tied-Up, Shot in Tremont Apartment (Updated)
Update: Police have identified the victim as Brandon Cartellone. *** Sad and strange news coming out of one of Cleveland’s trendiest blocks. Early this morning a 21-year-old white guy was found shot to death in a Tremont apartment. According to police, along with evidence of the homicide, authorities also found a hydroponic marijuana growing system…
MetroHealth Under More Scrutiny for Payroll Decisions
Controversies in Cuyahoga County have slowed considerably since the FBI swooped in and rounded up the corruption all-stars, and even more so after County Exec Ed FitzGerald took office. There are still a few strongholds of scandal in town though — big rocks with big bugs underneath, big reliable bugs. The Plain Dealer has latched…
Indians Get No-Hit By Angels
For the first time since Jim Abbott did it 18 years ago, the Indians have been no-hit. This time it was Ervin Santana and the Angels in an afternoon affair over at The Jake. Angels 3, Tribe 1. We were there for a few innings, but returned to the office before the game ended to…
Pic of the Day: Columbia Building Coming Down
It’s razing season in Cleveland, it seems. With a couple of smaller downtown buildings already down and the Cold Storage Building gone from the skyline, demolition continues. If you haven’t been down Prospect in downtown Cleveland in a little bit, you may have missed the progress on tearing down the Columbia Building, which as you…
Clevelander Kills Spider-Man
Cleveland Magazine has a nifty little comic book story that non-comic book story fans can appreciate: The man in charge of the Spider-Man story arc is a native-Clevelander. (If you knew this already, leave us alone — we just found out this week). And actually, Brian Michael Bendis has been in charge of the Ultimate…
Cleveland Gay Games Lawsuit Settled
A lawsuit brought by the Synergy Foundation against the city of Cleveland, the Federation of Gay Games, and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission has been settled before heading to trial. Synergy, if you’ll remember, was pegged to organize the 2014 Gay Games in Cleveland but was removed from that position after the FGG and the…
Matthew Bellamy, Man Who Wore LeBron Jersey to Indians Game, in Serious Condition After Attack
Matthew Bellamy, the Cleveland-area 30-year-old who gained nationwide attention after wearing a LeBron jersey to an Indians game just days after “The Decision,” is in serious condition at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Toledo after being attacked earlier this week. According to the Sandusky Register, Bellamy was with friends around 3 a.m. on Monday after…
Cuyahoga County Council Broadcasts Meetings Online, C. Ellen Connally Now in Favor of Idea
Cuyahoga County Council announced this week that it will stream its meetings online, catalog previous meetings so the public can search and watch those too, and will adopt a stronger social media presence. (You can find council at twitter.com/cuyahogacouncil; they are up to a staggering 54 followers at the moment.) Operating in a post-Dimora world…
Concert Review: The Decemberists at Jacobs Pavilion
“Smell it! Smell it!” Very few bands sound better onstage than in the studio, but the Decemberists are one of those bands, as they proved last night at their packed show at Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica. The Portland, Oregon, band dedicated last night’s set-closing song, “This Is Why We Fight” (from their new album The…
At the Arthouse
The Man Who Fell to Earth David Bowie is perfectly cast in Nicolas Roeg’s 1976 sci-fi parable about an alien who comes to our planet to get water for his own dying world. To raise the funds he needs to return home, Ziggy starts a tech company. Greedy businessmen have plans of their own. The…
The Reject Pile
Once every day, a “Special Plates Review Committee” sits down to ponder new requests for Ohio vanity license plates. The group of seven includes folks ranging from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles’ chief dealer of licensing to the department’s customer service assistants. If there isn’t a consensus, the offending plate is pushed up the…
Lakewood Chill
The recent heat wave has lots of us looking for a chance to chill out. Celeste Blau is no exception. “Ice cream is my favorite food,” she confesses. “I decided if I was going to eat it all day long, I’d go with something that had half the fat.” That turned out to be gelato…
On Stage This Week
Our summer of discontent: Richard III at Stan Hywet Hall Ohio Shakespeare Festival continues its tenth summer season at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens with The Tragedy of King Richard III. While rarely performed, the play is generally considered one of ol’ Will’s finest: an almost archetypal portrait of a bad guy as ugly within…
Glass Hearts
Glass is like honey,” says Chris Crimaldi. “You shape it, blow it, manipulate it.” Illuminated by the glow of his studio furnace, he gathers the molten glass onto the long, hollow pipe — sure enough, like honey on a dipper — then turns it. “It’s like a dance. You have to keep the pipe moving.…
CD Review: Vanessa Carlton
It’s been almost 10 years since Vanessa Carlton’s debut single, “A Thousand Miles,” topped a thousand different pop charts. Since then she’s struggled for another hit. Record-company shuffling and some head-scratching career moves (her last album, 2007’s Heroes & Thieves, was on hip-hop mogul Irv Gotti’s label) didn’t help. But through it all she’s pretty…
Burning Desires
Few people — let alone those in the cutthroat restaurant business, — get to take a second bite at the apple. But when Phil Davis opens the new Phil the Fire on August 8, he’ll become the exception. Ask Davis how long it’s been since he last served his trademark chicken and waffles, and he’ll…
CD Review: Tom Evanchuck
(tomevanchuck.com) When singer-songwriter Tom Evanchuck proclaimed he was going to bury his wife on last year’s debut, he sounded like a man from another era. He returns to the 21st century on his two new albums. The acoustic Fadin’ Glow is full of sweet songs about love, longing, and loss, but it lacks Tom’s rough…
CD Review: Eric Church
Eric Church’s pleasures are simple and his passions predictable, but that’s no complaint. The North Carolina native plays country music hopped up on loud guitars, blue-collar attitude, and sharp wit. He’s the rare Nashville singer-songwriter who does his outlaw antecedents proud. He laments the one that got away with “She got the rock and I’m…
Local Band in Focus
Meet the Band: Austin Stambaugh (vocals, guitar), Cole McDonald (guitar), Alex Buchanan (bass, keyboards), and Joe Maybaugh (drums) No, None of Them Are Shaun: Their friend Shawn suggested they name the band after him. The tribute didn’t stick, but the name did: They changed the spelling to reflect the hero from Shaun of the Dead.…
Home Movies
Source Code (Summit) Director Duncan Jones’ brain-blower is one of the best movies of the year, a tricky piece of time travel that also works as a heart-pumping thriller. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a confused Army helicopter pilot on a commuter train heading for Chicago. Before it arrives, a bomb tears through the aisles, killing everyone…
Get Out!
Thursday | 28 Dancing with the stars … and the moon Inlet Dance at Cain Park Cleveland’s passion for outdoor performance will be satisfied yet again with a free show by Inlet Dance Theatre on Thursday at Cain Park. Currently celebrating its 10th anniversary, the premier dance troupe will perform pieces that act as “snapshots…
Film Capsules
A Little Help (R) The Office’s Jenna Fischer plays dental hygienist Laura, a thirtysomething cutie mom whose husband dies after she gives him a blowjob (way to go, Pam!). But she’s not entirely on her own. She has a pain-in-the-ass sister pushing for a malpractice suit against the doctor who didn’t spot hubby’s heart condition,…
Stay In!
TOP PICK – TV ThunderCats (Cartoon Network) The kick-ass ’80s felines return with a brand-new series at 8 p.m. Friday. The hour-long premiere sets the stage with hero Lion-O starting his quest to reclaim the throne from the evil sorcerer Mumm-Ra. We know, it sounds silly as hell, especially when you throw in pals named…
Weekly Weird News
Bat Boy’s got nothing on Joyce McKinney. In Tabloid, veteran documentary filmmaker Errol Morris (The Fog of War, The Thin Blue Line) tests the old adage about truth being stranger than fiction. And no matter which version of the truth you believe, every fiber of the yarn Morris weaves is weird enough for a circus…
CD Review: Joss Stone
For her fifth album, Joss Stone severs ties from her past couple of records and trims the fat. She recorded the album in less than a week in Nashville with Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart. She started her own label. She even titled the 12-song project LP1. It’s not necessarily a back-to-basics move for the British singer…
Concert Calendar
Anvil After an unlikely comeback — the result of a 2008 documentary about their Spinal Tapian 30-year-struggle for a little respect — Anvil are rocking as hard as ever, with a new album and tour. Recorded in Dave Grohl’s studio, Juggernaut of Justice doesn’t deliver all the bells and whistles required for a mainstream hit.…
We Get Mail
In Need of a Higher Court Shuree Jefferson is doing the right thing by trying to get answers about what happened to her brother that night [“Shots in the Dark,” July 29, 2011]. I truly hope that she is able to take this case to a higher court, because it’s clear that the person who…
Fee Fallin’
You may have noticed that tickets to most club shows are costing a lot less lately. In fact, they’re actually closer to the advertised price of the ticket, now that Peabody’s, the Beachland, the Grog Shop, and Musica are using TicketWeb instead of Ticketmaster for their shows. You’re still paying for confusing, wallet-draining “services” that…
Sand Blasted
Like his neighbors, Ted Lyndall has A View, and the caps are well-earned on this one. You can’t glimpse it from Chapel Road Extension, a gravel street in Madison swallowed up in tree shade and officiously guarded with a “PRIVATE DRIVE” sign. But beyond Lyndall’s back porch, after an ample swath of backyard grass, Lake…
Hardcore Troubadour
It’s a testament to Steve Earle that his career is neither a quick nor easy one to characterize or break down into bite-size highlights. Different eras, stories, and personas shine their own lights on the Texas native — from the decade-long musical apprenticeship that ultimately produced his hit 1986 debut album Guitar Town (which reached…
Heartbreak Hotel
The show is titled Grand Hotel. But if you’re picturing a fancy marquee and a deferential doorman, you’re in the wrong theatrical hostelry. Although based on the 1932 MGM flick of the same name, this musical version is a different — and often mesmerizing — experience. As produced by Mercury Summer Stock, Grand Hotel is…
On View This Week
Cleveland Craft Masters Seventeen years of hard work and relationship-building have culminated in one soon-to-open exhibition for River Gallery owner and founder Ara Hamamjian. Cleveland Craft Masters brings together artisans with what he calls “Tom Cruise celebrity cachet” in the fields of ceramics, metal works, jewelry, sculpture, and glasswork. “It’s the most prestigious show I’ve…
Unreal McCoy
It’s not just every day that an active member of the Cleveland Browns writes a book — let alone a rookie whose NFL career might be most generously described as “promisingly mediocre.” Of course, there’s never been a Cleveland Browns quarterback like Colt McCoy, a young man raised at the intersection of two objects of…
Victoria Justice to Jam Up Our Weekly Shopping Trip
Does she come in any other size but fun? As if the Fun Size movie shoot wasn’t jamming up our lives enough with the road closings, detours, and nightly news updates taking valuable airtime away from one of Tom Meyer’s nosy investigations. Now star Victoria Justice will be jamming up our weekly Walmart visit. The…
