Def and Blind Ambition
In an attempt to avoid mimicking new metal bands such as Korn and Limp Bizkit, the Deftones spent over a year in the studio, trying to come up with something different for their latest release. The band toiled through an endless cache of songs, most of which didn’t depart from the rap-metal formula of pairing…
The Queens of Club
The next Ivana Grump and Twiggy Morgan performance is Wednesday, July 12, at 10 p.m. at the Yorkville Café, 2196 Lee Road in Cleveland Heights. Admission is $3; call 216-371-8998.
Everclear
Art Alexakis has never hid his bitter childhood feelings. The Everclear frontman, in fact, has loaded his band’s albums with mopey and self-pitying songs about his irresponsible father, his troubled adolescence, and his general displeasure with the path that led to adulthood. How many more times are we going to have to hear about his…
Theater Killed the Radio Star
The Merry Wives of Windsor will be performed at 8 p.m. Friday, July 7, and Saturday, July 8, and at 3 p.m. Sunday, July 9, in the Corning Theatre of the Fine Arts Association, 38660 Mentor Avenue in Willoughby. Tickets are $10 and can be reserved by calling 440-951-6637.
Bebel Gilberto
A frequently ravishing blend of bossa nova and techno, Bebel Gilberto’s debut goes down like one of those sugarcane-and-rum drinks Brazilians concoct so expertly. Summery, sultry, and ultramodern, Tanto Tempo showcases a member of one of Brazil’s first families of music — Bebel Gilberto is the daughter of noted bossa nova figure João Gilberto and…
The Sick Sense
Is there a more bankrupt genre than the parody movie? So many movies nowadays are so painfully self-aware and referential anyway that there often isn’t much left to make fun of, which is especially the case for Kevin Williamson-penned films like Scream and its clones, clichéd teen slasher movies that were regarded as hip simply…
Colette
Singer-guitarist Colette Gschwind released her first record, Sometimes Patience, in 1994. A year later, she recorded this, its follow-up, with guitarist Dan Hayes, bassist Mark Malysa, drummer Brian Deutch, and keyboardist Andy Preynor, but it has taken her five years to get the product out. Produced by Gschwind and her bandmates Malysa and Hayes, Taste…
Cry Hard
Why is the film called Disney’s The Kid? Is it really possible that the studio was so concerned that someone might actually mistake the film for an update of the Chaplin classic that the brand name had to be formally incorporated in the title? Or was this an attempt to reinforce Disney’s squeaky-clean image, which…
Armand Van Helden
If Armand Van Helden, New York-via-Boston’s DJ maven of hip-hop and house, is such a complete and total American badass as he’d have everyone believe, why the hell did he release a song named “Koochy” that samples the soft ’80s synthboy Gary Numan and his phenomenal “Cars”? Van Helden also got to the top of…
Bad Day Sunshine
I never imagined the day would come when I would cringe to see Ralph Fiennes onscreen. Not only is he shamelessly good-looking, but he projects a haunting, all-enveloping intensity in each role he takes on. In Sunshine, however, the British actor portrays not one, but three different characters and does none of them well. His…
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Though their fans no doubt disagree, over the course of the 16 years they’ve been making records, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have really only connected with their singles. The four-minute format suits the quartet (now back to its early ’90s incarnation, which includes singer Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John…
Faith of the Father
So, when was the last time you shared a woman with your dad? No, not your mom — don’t be gross. You know, just some woman that you and your dad both dug, who perked you up a bit. It’s probably been awhile, huh? What? Never? Really? Well, that may be why Peter Greenaway gets…
Soundbites
Legal or not, raves have been going on for over a decade, but Hollywood has only recently started to pay attention. In addition to Groove, a film about the dance scene in San Francisco that’s making its way to theaters across the country (but doesn’t have a Cleveland screening as of yet), there’s Better Living…
Cop Land No More?
The houses are big, the lawns are well-kept, and the breeze rolling off Lake Erie keeps the neighborhood tranquil and cool. Standing at the private beach club at the end of the street and watching the sailboats that dot the blue water, one might confuse Landseer Road with a quiet street in Lakewood, Mentor, or…
Dori Caymmi
It’s very unusual for the masters of Brazilian popular music to appear in Northeast Ohio, but we get a chance to hear one of Brazil’s legends when Dori Caymmi appears at Nighttown with a combo he’s bringing from Los Angeles. Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1943, Caymmi is a member of one of Brazil’s…
Little Big Man
Jimmy Scott lives on a quiet side street in Euclid, just off Lake Shore Boulevard, that’s lined with shade trees and American flags. Despite the scarlet-painted brick exterior, his house blends in with the rest of the neighborhood, a street that exudes ordinariness. He and his younger brother Kenny, who are anything but ordinary, share…
Kottonmouth Kings
This Orange County rap-metal collective has a penchant for self-aggrandizing quasi-royalty and, of course, a proclivity for the spliff, ganja, weed, the herb, the kind bud, Mary Jane, hashish. This point cannot be overstated. Indeed, the Kottonmouth Kings’ sophomore offering, High Society, functions as a sort of pro-marijuana concept album. Splendid. Yet its 20 tracks…
Pasture and Present
In some circles, Walter Brentson might be regarded as a farming geek. The lanky 83-year-old, glasses in perpetual mid-slide down his nose, plowed his garden tract behind Miles Standish Elementary School four times before planting. He was worried about weeds springing up overnight, it’s been so rainy. Homemade surveying tool in shirt pocket, Brentson bandies…
Cheap Trick
It’s easy to take Cheap Trick for granted. The group has been around close to forever and apparently has a few more forevers ahead of it. Yet, throughout the years of ceaseless touring, Cheap Trick has soldiered on nearly beyond the point of getting its just due. Always a superb live band, Cheap Trick has…
Edge
Among those casting a wary eye toward George Forbes’s ascendant role with City Council is one group not accustomed to his brand of political juice: local providers of AIDS-prevention programs. The city is set to dole out $50,000 to the Forbes-led NAACP, on the heels of awarding Forbes’s law firm a contract to handle $635…
Letters to the Editor
There’s Hope for HoughIn response to “Hough Huff,” by Laura Putre, in the June 29 issue of Scene: I am a 17-year-old resident of Redell. My family has lived on this street since my mother was born. In this time, we have never really had any disputes with our neighbors. We’ve all basically gotten along.…
Business Smarts
Adolphe Braun was that rare case: an accomplished artist who got rich without compromising his standards. A new exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art called Image and Enterprise: The Photographs of Adolphe Braun demonstrates that the 19th-century Frenchman knew what his audience wanted, but didn’t merely cater to sentimentality and patriotism. At its best,…
Back From the Beach
Those who keep up with TV commercials will recall that, when one bites into a York Peppermint Patty, one is supposed to go into a state of suspended bliss: Eyes pop like vintage Don Knotts, reality stops, and ecstasy consumes the senses. However, candy is murder on the hips and rots the teeth; the ecstasy…
Hook, Line, and Sinker
Looks can be deceiving. Who, after all, would guess that, after driving through the wrought-iron gates and past the guardhouse of ultra-posh Bratenahl Place, parking the old jalopy in the tidy, tree-lined lot amid a flock of Rolls-Royces and BMWs, and tiptoeing down the impressive, crystal-chandelier-lined hallway of Building One, one would discover a youthful,…
Side Dish
Several hundred members of the Terrace Club at Jacobs Field had a very bad time during the June 24 doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers. Fans with tickets for the second game and reservations for the restaurant’s 5 p.m. seating arrived at the facility only to find that an hour-and-39-minute rain delay had pushed the day…
