Robbie Fulks
The “Twang Zone” isn’t what it used to be, and to paraphrase Field Marshall Martha, that’s a good and a bad thing. Nashville has come a long way from the era that sired rebels Willie, Waylon, and Guy Clark — it’s even more a superficial slick-hit factory than before. Merle Haggard, once the hero of…
R.I.A.
You’d think a group called Real Industry Assassins would take an approach counter to the chart-topping rap acts of the last decade. But the all-white Cleveland posse’s debut takes the adage “If you can’t beat em’, join em'” for another 12 spins. Battleground features abundant braggadocio, misogyny, marijuana joints, and fixations on violence. But R.I.A.’s…
Plant 666
Linda Milford’s Barberton house is as much a memorial to the dead as it is a home to the living. The family room’s paneled walls are covered with poems about ascending to heaven, accompanied by photos of Linda’s late husband, Fred. The pictures show him flashing playful smiles, his jaw lined with an Amish-style beard.…
Cursive
Formed in 1995, Cursive has become one of indie rock’s understated forces. Like its peers in Oneida, the Omaha collective is ambitious and sardonic, and like its influences (Superchunk, Fugazi), it’s intellectually fractured. The group’s incessant touring has included shows on three different continents as well as performances on the Cure’s 2004 Curiosa tour. Blender,…
Pasta Perfect
Now it’s official: The day of the Italian pasta parlor, decked out in red-checked tablecloths and candles in Chianti bottles, is finally gone. Maybe Michaelangelo’s doesn’t get credit for starting the revolution, but as Little Italy’s newest ristorante, this chic salon could be the genre’s standard-bearer for smart, contemporary design. The modern ambiance is all…
Breaking the Bank
In early 2004, two businessmen from New Jersey flew to Cincinnati to make a sales presentation to the equipment arm of Cleveland-based National City Bank. It was an internet phone system called the “matrix box,” and it was revolutionizing phone service for thousands of small businesses. Their company, NorVergence, wanted the bank to buy the…
Desa
Green Day earned its right to play arena rock by, well, filling arenas. Although the members of Desa, its fellow one-time punks from San Francisco, have skipped that detail, this club-capacity band does have a coliseum-scale album that sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Due September 17, Arrive Alive surges with post-emo lilt, mathy counter-riffing, and…
Pizza Juice
What wine goes well with pizza? sounds like the setup to a wine-snob joke. But for wine broker Joe Zaucha, it’s no laughing matter. “I saw the numbers,” says the University of Akron grad. “Just about everyone eats pizza. And I thought, ‘Boy, wouldn’t it be something to tie into that market and offer something…
Sex and Our City
Creators of the Hollywood comedy The Oh in Ohio caused a flap in 2004 when they filmed scenes inside Cleveland Heights High School. It seems the filmmakers neglected to tell school officials that the movie chronicled a woman’s quest for an orgasm, which, in schoolmarm vernacular, would make the theme like totally inappropriate. The Oh…
Don Caballero
One of the pioneering acts of the ’90s math-rock sound, this instrumental Pittsburgh quartet has played for 15 years in a variety of lineups, always anchored by drummer Damon Che. To call him indie rock’s greatest drummer wouldn’t be a stretch. With a mixture of jazzy counter-rhythms, tightly syncopated fills, and thundering backbeat, Che is…
Insight, Indeed
Vast legions embrace the thing as gospel. Skeptics dismiss it as ecstatic nonsense. In any event, James Redfield’s peculiar novel The Celestine Prophecy has been a bulwark of New Age metaphysics since it hit the bestseller lists back in 1993. By recent estimates, there are 14 million copies in print, and it has been translated…
Jest Kidding
At last it can be said: I never thought I would say these words, but after reading the drivel that everyone sent in regarding Joe Tone’s Tom Meyer article [“What’s Tom Meyer Hiding?,” June 14], obviously aghast at Mr. Tone’s “lack of research,” I can only imagine what tragic event marred their ability to see…
The Moaners
When singer-guitarist Melissa Swingle was leading the rootsy country combo Trailer Bride, her dyspeptic drawl had a dark, gothic quality that made for an affecting sound, like Flannery O’Connor set to music. But with her new duo, the Moaners, Swingle may have found an even better vehicle for her dispirited croon. The band’s loping, fuzz-drenched…
Fool’s Gold
The fact that 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was such a hit had much to do with viewers’ prelaunch expectations, which were approximately none. Who could have been blamed for thinking a Gore Verbinski-directed, Jerry Bruckheimer-produced movie based on a theme-park ride would proffer anything remotely approaching the (pardon)…
We Should Trust You?
From: Your pal Pete Re: Stop acting like an asshole When you decided to blow up Iraq, I was with you. Yes, I am a moron. Thanks for asking. It wasn’t long after September 11. We’d already blown up Afghanistan, but that was like punching out a Starbucks barista. I believe we can all agree…
Counting Crows
Remember “One Headlight,” the Wallflowers hit that propelled Jakob Dylan to temporary amphitheater fame? For those 20,000-seat gigs in ’97, Dylan and company were joined by co-headliners the Counting Crows, the San Francisco band that hit it big in 1994 by combining Adam Duritz’s plaintive vocals and heartfelt poetry with his backing band’s mix of…
Way Down in the Hole
Countless are the creative souls who have struggled with mental illness, as are the novels and films dedicated to them. Again and again, we’ve encountered artists both inspired and undermined by their madness, whose torment and tumult produce works of beauty and depth. So can a documentary about a singer-songwriter and visual artist who perennially…
Jail Bird
Give Elsebeth Baumgartner credit for her tenacity. While she awaits trial in Cuyahoga County for charges of intimidating a judge — for which she could spend the rest of her life in prison — Baumgartner’s taking a little 45-day vacation in the Erie County slammer [“The Pest,” May 3]. Judge Richard Neper handed down the…
Blackpool Lights
Hailing from Kansas City, Missouri, Blackpool Lights formed out of the ashes of the Get Up Kids’ 2005 breakup. The group members channel an earnest, rollicking sound that’s not all that different from guitarist Jim Suptic’s previous band; but Suptic isn’t quick to ride on his bandmates’ coattails either. Suptic, Thom Hoskins (guitar-vocals), Billy Brimblecom…
No Fun
“Kill your babies” — William Faulkner’s emotionally startling advice for storytellers –is intended to warn writers away from falling in love with pet phrases, scenes, or characters. It’s so easy to adore the little darlings one creates, but these are often the elements that drag down a potentially successful work. So it is with Ain’t…
GWAR Heroes
“I’ll be anybody you want me to be,” says Dave Brockie, laughing. “I’ll answer questions as Gary Cooper if you want. How about that?” Brockie, a good-humored ex-art student from Virginia, is probably more comfortable with a mask on than otherwise. After all, he’s best known as Oderus Urungus, a horned alien who’s been swinging…
Dresden Dolls
In the three years since Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione released their debut disc, the Dresden Dolls have evaded trend-hoppers and quietly surrounded themselves with loyal fans. And though the venues are getting bigger, their larger-than-life performances generally remain the same: What you hear and feel is power and intensity; what you see is economy…
Capsule reviews of current area theater presentations.
Griller — When it comes to easy targets for satire, they don’t come much fatter than suburbia and its self-satisfied denizens. This nine-character dark comedy by playwright Eric Bogosian features one role that meanders slowly from eccentric and crotchety to truly horrifying, making this a suburban nightmare that will get under your skin and stay…
Public Square Soapbox: A Biker’s Beef
It was suggested that I write a letter to your magazine about the police harassment in a town called North Ridgeville, Ohio, located in Lorain County. The police are mostly young guys that have no ties to the city and seem to want to make a name for themselves. They are all arrogant little pups.…
Synthetik
Saturdays, Warehouse District-bound partygoers looking for a different brand of sonic bacchanal can head down to the Spy Bar basement for Synthetik, the club’s newly minted weekly drum & bass party. The racing breakbeats and subterranean bass waves are a perfect fit for the dark, cozy confines of Spy’s underground lounge. A rotating lineup of…
Capsule reviews of current area art exhibitions.
NEW Form and Sounds — Musical expertise isn’t required to appreciate these visceral new paintings by Clevelander John Howitt, though a basic understanding helps. An ardent fan of jazz and classical music, Howitt translates profound musical principles and gestures into a comparably abstract visual language based on contrasting shapes, textures, and colors. Looking at these…
Under Their Thumb
Skirted dancers pivot and lunge in unison as hard-wired sounds ricochet from a large ensemble of musicians clad in nylon jackets and shirts splashed with primary colors. The club’s sound system groans under the strain. Konono No. 1 is led by a squat, dark-skinned man clad in a shocking-pink shirt and black suspenders. He holds…
Clevelandclowns.com Comedy Open Stage
Tuesdays, Wilbert’s downtown blues bar and eatery opens its stage for a comedy open-mic, welcoming local clowns, comedians, comediennes, and funny-mobs. Presented by Clevelandclowns.com, the night has become a testing ground for stand-up, sketch, improv, musical comedy, and anything else that might get a laugh (except jazz flute, which is always good for a chuckle,…
Here are the week’s best releases from the pop-culture universe:
CD — Gram Parsons: Complete Reprise Sessions: There wouldn’t be a Wilco or a Ryan Adams without Parsons, who died of a drug overdose in 1973. The country-rock pioneer was a member of both the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Byrds, but his two solo records stand as his most inspired work. This three-disc set…
My Generation
A North Carolina kid who loved music, I grew up drawn to modern country. It fascinated me how a singer with an accent like my own (or that of Mom and Dad) could get things so pure and simple, dissecting a broken heart with the kind of precision that has everyone within earshot memorizing the…
Lostprophets
Two years ago Ian Watkins, frontman of the Welsh screamo group Lostprophets, told USA Today that he and his bandmates would “finally start to write some classic songs” for their third album, Liberation Transmission, the follow-up to 2004’s American breakthrough Start Something. So did Watkins make good on his promise? Depends on who’s defining “classic.”…
Bond in a Bikini
The Matador (Weinstein) Richard Shepard’s spec script, sent to Pierce Brosnan’s production company out of desperation, wound up as 2005’s best buddy pic — damned if I can recall a funnier movie from last year, except the one with the middle-aged virgin. Brosnan, not afraid to don cheerleading skirts and black bikini briefs, is a…
Rock School
Going solo is no panacea. Being the focal point of the band gives lead singers an inflated self-worth that can lead to poor decision-making. Ask Glen Phillips, singer-guitarist and chief songwriter for Toad the Wet Sprocket. The reality hit home during the past year, as he started to reach out to a folk audience and…
India.Arie
India.Arie has always sounded a little too much like the musical equivalent of Oprah. The singer-songwriter’s music (best exemplified by her debut, Acoustic Soul) has always centered on overly positive, Afrocentric songs that embrace love, life, and the challenges of womanhood. Her first two albums were innovative experiments with a fresh folk style of R&B…
Pong 360
When Rockstar Games, the company behind the infamous Grand Theft Auto series, announced that it would be making a title for Xbox 360, gamers naturally envisioned a game featuring next-gen hookers. But then Rockstar revealed that the game was actually going to be an elaborate Ping-Pong sim, and fanboys the world over responded with a…
Band of the Month
It’s been about a year since Kent supergroup Beaten Awake formed with four local musicians raised in the wake of this college town’s great ’90s boom of bands such as Party of Helicopters, the Man I Fell in Love With, Harriet the Spy, and Six Parts Seven. Looking for new inspiration, friends Joel McAdams, Jon…
Mike Johnson
Anger, it’s said, is depression turned outward. We already knew Mike Johnson was musically a melancholy sort, as his previous, sepia-tinged solo records spoke of betrayal, decay, and mortality, with subdued brushstrokes of acoustic guitar, wistful strings, and the singer’s resigned baritone. But on Gone Out of Your Mind, Johnson puts aside the gentle instrumentation…
Our top DVD picks for the week of July 5.
Charlie’s Angels: The Complete Third Season (Sony) Cyberteam in Akihabara: Complete Collection (ADV) Eastern Horror Double Feature: Satan’s Slave and Corpse Master (Brentwood) King of the Cage: The Superstars of KOTC (Brentwood) The Kinks: The Live Broadcasts (Classic Rock Legends) The Legend of Prince Valiant: The Complete Series, Volume One (Brentwood) Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing…
Desert Isle Discs
Hard-touring blues and roots rocker Patrick Sweany just released his third album, C’mon C’mere. He keeps up a steady residency between the Zephyr Pub and the Lime Spider. 1. Jimmy Witherspoon, Spoon’s Best. “Unbelievably great singer coming out of the Kansas City blues-shouter tradition (think Joe Turner, Jimmy Rushing). Most thrilling phrasing I’ve ever heard.”…
Freshkills
The Freshkills mostly recall the Volcano Suns, and they may end up just as forgotten as those late-’80s clown princes of pound, since these five Austin residents have little regard for any current movement. No bedroom-laptop simpering, emo hair gel, or trust-fund metal here. Only rolling, wave-crashing drums, a dark sense of lyrical humor, and…
Samson’s Strength
In the early to mid-’90s, singer-guitarist John Samson led the strident pop-punk act Propagandhi, penning songs with such politicized titles as “Apparently I’m a P.C. Fascist (Because I Care About Both Human and Non-Human Animals)” and “I Was a Pre-Teen McCarthyist.” Although the songs were short on subtlety, they left no doubt that they were…
Guster
Last I saw Guster, it was backing up Peter Frampton on “Do You Feel Like We Do” at the Jammy Awards in New York. The quartet, whose adventures have led it from Boston to Brooklyn, then embarked on a 31-date Campus Consciousness Tour. Last year the bandmates recorded their fifth album in Nashville, under the…
Get Froggy Wit’ It
The space that housed the Backstreet Café in Mentor has been remodeled into the Funky Frog, giving Lake County a much-needed midsized concert venue. Partner Leonard Merriman says that opening far away from Cleveland’s rock clubs wasn’t a hard decision. “It is more economical for people out east,” says Merriman, a former Neil ZaZa roadie…
Dissolute
The latest effort from Cleveland math-metal trio Dissolute employs enough odd time signatures to send another generation of headbangers back to Calculating Infinity. But unlike the legion of Dillinger Escape Plan imitators ubiquitous in heavy music, Dissolute is a collective of competent songwriters, not show-offs. The band’s blend of jackhammer guitars, distorted bass lines, and…
