Victims’ Families Ask for Plea Deal in Sowell Case
Anthony Sowell, the Imperial Avenue man accused of brutally killing 11 women and burying them behind his Cleveland home, has been inside a courtroom since Friday. Both the state and defense attorneys are ramping up for the suspected serial killer’s long awaited trail, but in a surprise move, today the families of Sowell’s victims asked…
‘Mullet Robber’ Strikes Ohio Again (Updated)
Update: The Mullet Robber has struck again. Fox 8 reports he hit a bank in Columbus: “As soon as employees saw the man enter the bank, they knew immediately that it was the ‘Mullet Man,'” Harry Trombitas, a special agent with the FBI, told Reuters. “But by then it was too late.” This would be…
Rock Hall’s Summer in the City Concert Series Surprisingly Kicks Ass
Das Racist will make the Rock Hall a cool place to be this summer Sorry if we spit-sprayed Dr. Pepper all over you. We were just reading the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s first batch of artists lined up for their free annual Summer in the City concert series and were shocked…
New Film Documents Activists’ Fight with Forest City Over Atlantic Yards
No sleep till. Cleveland’s history is hog-tied to a number of companies, but one in particular has shaped and re-shaped the region over the course of the last century, a company that appropriately takes its corporate moniker from the 216’s shorthand: Forest City Enterprises. Long-steered by the Ratner family, the company, which started out as…
The Quality of Cleveland Life Report
Your guide to thriving in fabulous Cleveland. Native Tongues: City Hall photographer Donn Nottage was suspended after bitching about a co-worker on Facebook. City officials still trying to figure out what the hell he’s been taking pictures of. Fresh Fudge: Monster.com says Cleveland ranks 7th nationally for most available jobs, and that doesn’t even include…
Try Your Hand at Redistricting Ohio
Every ten years, the ruling political party sets about redrawing congressional districts, a detailed process that amounts to spreading a map of Ohio on a table and rolling over it with a pizza cutter. The point is to give your team the upper hand in upcoming elections. And although the cherished pastime probably won’t be…
President Obama Asks About LeBron James in Interview With Cleveland Reporter
President Obama sat down with Channel 5’s Leon Bibb to talk about the auto industry, jobs, unemployment, NASA, education and more as he begins a soft-launch re-election campaign by getting his message out in key states, like Ohio. The full interview is below, but what is not included is the exchange between President Obama and…
Cuyahoga County Saving Pennies at the Pump With New Stickers
As you probably know by now, Cuyahoga County is replacing its ubiquitous Frank Russo Weights & Measures stickers across Northeast Ohio. Bearing the smiling mug of the disgraced Auditor, the previous stickers — plastered on gas pumps and registers every year — served as constant county-financed campaigning for Russo as well as a tidy timeline…
Pic of the Day: Halted Demolition
Here’s a pic snapped by a loyal Scene reader ruin-porn-style of the (halted?) demolition of the old Tower City ramp up to Ontario, otherwise known as site of the maybe-never-to-be-built Phase II of Dan Gilbert’s casino. Beautiful in a way, but we also love the “Cleveland Scrap” scrawled across the dumpster.
Man Steals Underwear After Stealing Diapers
Underpants gnomes. The headline of this original post, courtesy of 19ActionNews, is, without a doubt, the best headline of 2011 thus far: “Man steals underwear, arrested while praying.” It doesn’t get much better than that. Journalism students need to print that sucker off and stick it above their laptops — it says so little, yet…
Ohio Congressional Members Can’t Explain State Budget
But it’s really not their fault. We’ll explain. When Ohio Governor John Kasich was in the glory days, back when his approval ratings climbed up above 40%, he explained that the Buckeye State was in dire straights: Ohio was facing an $8 billion budget shortfall. It would take deft maneuvering, wide-ranging cuts, and wise management…
Al-Qaeda Got Recipes For Cupcakes From Hudson’s Main Street Cupcakes Instead of Bomb Instructions
A cool story from late last week: British MI6 officers hacked into an al-Qaeda online magazine and substituted in cupcake recipes for the bomb recipes usually housed there. The Telegraph (via Crain’s Cleveland) reports: “When followers tried to download the 67-page colour magazine, instead of instructions about how to ‘Make a bomb in the Kitchen…
Pic of the Day: 100 Days of Cleveland
Cleveland artist Julia Kuo is on a mission to do 100 drawings of things she loves in Cleveland in 100 days. The site where you can find her work on the project is called… you guessed it: 100 Days in Cleveland. She’s currently on day 40. Here’s her Hot Sauce Williams drawing, chosen because we…
The Making of a Master Chef
Head to the Garage Bar tonight at 7 p.m. for a chance to hang out with Kyle Manning. Who, exactly, is Kyle Manning, you ask? Well, he is not a chef, but he’d like to be. The West Geauga High School grad has had the dream of becoming one since childhood. Recently that dream lead…
Cleveland City Hall Employee Suspended Over Facebook Posts About Co-Worker
Let the tale of Donn Nottage, chief photographer at Cleveland City Hall, be reminder #12,041 that you should be careful what you post on social media networks. According to the PD’s Michael McIntyre, Nottage had more than a few beefs with another worker (Steve Gusky) over at City Hall. Unable to find a more suitable…
Grady’s Fine Wines Just Got a Whole Lot Finer Thanks to New Ownership
For over 20 years, Grady’s Fine Wines (20253 Lake Rd., 440-333-3106) has been a Rocky River institution. Founded by Kevin Grady, and run for the last 14 years by Liz and Mary Lavigne, Grady’s has been a one-stop shop for wine, beer, cheese, meats and, above all, great service. New owner Manny Nieves may be…
The Native Clevelander Who Named His Son After Jim Tressel
One of the upsides of having a child is the right to name him/her whatever the hell you damn please. Saddling them with a name of life can be tricky, however, and for any number of reasons, whether you opt for a trendy name (meaning your daughter is just one of 170 Kirstens at her…
Two Arrested While ‘Planking’
Two men were arrested in Willoughby for trespassing as they were planking on rooftops. Planking, of course, is that pointless/popular “lying down game” where you lay face-down, with your arms at your side, on bizarre and challenging locations while someone else takes a picture of you. It’s been around for years, but because someone recently…
Thousands of Worms Die in Brunswick, WKYC is There
After a long weekend in New York unplugged from society, we returned in search of the big stories that we missed. It didn’t take long to discover that it wasn’t the Plain Dealer’s continuing investigations of Cleveland cops using excessive force or jury selection in the Anthony Sowell trial that captivated Cleveland’s attention this weekend,…
Concert Review: Josh Groban at Quicken Loans Arena
Don’t hate on him just because your mom likes him “I hope to win you over,” Josh Groban said to a nine-year-old girl who was at the singer’s Quicken Loans Arena concert on Saturday night with her mom. He told the girl this after she confessed that her favorite concert was the Jonas Brothers. Groban…
New Book Proves Goddard is a Nice Guy
Dick Goddard’s new book has just been released Dick Goddard is a Cleveland institution, and after 50 years on television, he goes to work every day on a street named for him: Dick Goddard Way. “Have you seen that section of South Marginal Road? It would make the Ho Chi Minh Trail look like the…
Ellis Cooley to Leave AMP 150 and Cleveland — But…
Popular chef Ellis Cooley is leaving AMP 150 and Cleveland. His last day on the job is June 10. The restaurant is in the process of hiring his replacement. In the meantime his more-than-capable executive sous chef Melissa Khoury will carry the torch. Cooley has accepted a position as food and beverage director for the…
Cleveland in Top Ten Cities for Singles
The data from the Census continues to spool out, producing endless new discoveries on our cities and our neighbors. Today’s news: Cleveland is filled with lots of singles. According to StlToday.com’s Census-data crunching, 39% of Cleveland’s population is single, which puts the Forest City at number ten on the list of cities filled with singles…
Shooting Thursday Night Downtown
Last night downtown was heated up with some flying bullets, and unfortunately by the time everything settled down, three people were taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds. Police reportedly have two suspects in custody. This looks like it could be the overture to another long summer of downtown discord on the weekend.
Clevelander Rory O’Malley a Favorite to Win Tony Award for Role in “The Book of Mormon”
30-year-old Rory O’Malley is one of the stars of “The Book of Mormon,” the raunchy, heartfelt, and hilarious Broadway musical from Southpark creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. O’Malley is also a Clevelander and a St. Ignatius grad. He is also nominated for a Tony for “Best Featured Actor in a Musical.” (The show racked…
Radar Shows a Midge Storm
One of the coolest things about the arrival of midges on the shores of Lake Erie is the sheer mass and magnitude of the little pterodactyls. Evidence: that green area on the radar of NewsNet5’s weather forecast last night isn’t precipitation, it’s the midges, dense and thick enough to be picked up by the fancy…
Pickled Eggs Now Available at Indians Games
In what is probably the most blog-worthy news of the day, the Tribe is now selling pickled eggs at the “Your Dad’s Beer” stand in the lower concourse of Jacobs Field. We’d say you have to give them credit for trying new things, but we’re not so sure in this case. The young lady working…
Map: Ohio 8th-Graders Know Science
The United States of Science via the Mother Nature Network: a nifty presentation of areas in which each state excels. “Burial place of Johnny Appleseed” for Indiana? That’s basically a participation ribbon in fifth grade. But go Ohio, where 8th graders are basically science wizards, which is good because the Buckeye State also leads the…
The Launch of the Launch House
The launch of Launch House, a new business incubator located in a former Shaker Heights auto dealership, attracted such a large crowd yesterday evening that cars were backed up on Lee Road for half a mile and police were directing traffic around the overflow parking lot. Inside the sprawling building, an age- and race-diverse crowd…
Hodge Podge a Finalist in “The Great Food Truck Race”
Cleveland’s Hodge Podge food truck and its brand of comfort food have made it to the finale of Food Network’s “The Great Food Truck Race,” according to rampant tweets and Face Book posts. Hodge Podge is the new venture of Dim and Den Sum owner Chris Hodgson. During the competition’s last stop in Miami this…
X Marks the Spot
The X-Men finally get their backstory in this terrific prequel/reboot directed by Matthew Vaughn, who reworked the superhero genre in last year’s exhilarating Kick-Ass. And it’s just what the series needed: a smart, fun, and thrilling movie that spends plenty of time getting to know the humans inside the mutants. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender…
The Midges are Back; Don’t Be a Joba
Midges, annoying little pieces of shit, Canadian Soldiers, or as Casey Blake famously referred to them after the infamous midge game at The Jake, “little pterodactyls,” — whatever you want to call them, they’re back. They’ll be around for a week or so, then die and be eaten by birds. There are only two options…
Come Watch Guys Eat Hot Dogs
A regional qualifier for a spot in the famous gastro-spectacle of the annual Nathan’s hot dog eating contest will be held at 12:30 today in Tower City. Come watch local boy, and former Scene cover subject, Scott “Beefcakes” Bickel try to take down some of the best competitive eaters in the world. We’ll be there…
Pic of the Day: LeBron’s Hairline in 2016
If we could read these words to you aloud over the magicwebs, we’d be using our best Conan “In the year 2000” voice. Early last week, a highly scientific study, complete with visuals and data, was published on LeBron’s receding hairline and the degrees to which he attempts to hide that hair loss with his…
Video: Ed FitzGerald’s Town Hall Meeting
Couldn’t make County Executive Ed FitzGerald’s recent town hall meeting in Shaker Hts.? Cuyahoga County was nice enough to load video of the full event — over an hour — onto the interwebs for you. Our favorite tidbit: Fitz was on Academic Challenge back in the day. Oh, and there’s plenty of actual discussion about…
Ohio Legislature Wants to Raise Alcohol Content In Beer: An Economic Analysis
Lando says high alc beer helped Cloud City’s economy bounce back. The latest bright idea out of Columbus (no sir, that’s not sarcasm, the irony is back in the holster on this one — this light in fact shines) is to raise the level of percent alcohol allowed in Ohio-produced beers. Right now, Buckeye breweries…
Video: Peyton Hillis’ Madden Cover Shoot
Time-lapse vid of Peyton Hillis’ Madden cover shoot in Times Square. (Via WFNY)
Free Childcare for Struggling Parents
Stella Moga Kennedy is a believer in the increasingly elusive American dream. That’s why the founder of Le Chaperon Rouge childcare centers has long offered free childcare for parents who are looking for work. It’s just never been quite this popular before. As she puts it: “Cleveland’s sports teams and economy are in the same…
Police Cutbacks Could Leave Downtown Unguarded By Day
Perhaps you’ve heard the one about how these are dark times for Ohio’s public employees? Now Cleveland Police may be supplying a new punch line. Eighty-one patrol officers were laid off this week, the indirect result of Governor John Kasich’s scalpel work with municipal budgets. Insiders say top brass have yet to work out how…
The Quality of Cleveland Life Report
Your guide to thriving in fabulous Cleveland. Great Moments in Flats History: No word yet on who will cut the ribbon for the Wolsteins’ Flats East Bank project. Front-runners include former ESPN broadcaster Gary Miller, who famously urinated out of a Flats club in ’97. Also in the running: an underage drunk girl leaning over…
Adventures in Latin Street Food — via Lakewood
I’d love to report that the road to all dining reviews includes a million thrilling food discoveries along the way. But the plain truth is that rare is the menu that is truly clever, creative and unique — if not in the world than at least Cleveland. Apart from the usual twists and tweaks, most…
Pile of 45,000 Tires Discovered After Fence Blows Down
There are neighborhood nuisances — a lawn that’s never cut, a house with too many parties, the fat guy who never wears a shirt when working in the yard, the lady who’s unnaturally obsessed with gnomes — and then there are Neighborhood Nuisances — like a pile of 45,000 discarded tires. WKSU reports on one…
CD Review: Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie claim inspiration for their seventh album from Brian Eno’s 1975 ambient opus Another Green World. But Eno’s space-age dreamsongs are a little more imaginative than Codes and Keys’ “Monday Morning” or “Portable Television.” The slight tinkering of Death Cab’s mounted effects rack comes closer to Eno’s work with U2. In other…
Home Movies
A Clockwork Orange: 40th Anniversary Edition (Warner) — Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 masterpiece remains one of the most brutal, disturbing, and difficult movies ever made. It celebrates its 40th anniversary with a Blu-ray book package loaded with retrospective goodies, including documentaries about star Malcolm McDowell and the mercurial director (coming off his mind-fucking classic 2001: A…
Local CD Review
The Commonwealth Souvenir (thecommonwealth-music.bandcamp.com) “Elephant,” the atmospheric first single from the Commonwealth’s debut EP, has already gotten plenty of local airplay. The song — an intoxicating mix of new-age guitars, clashing cymbals, and soaring vocals — is a great introduction to the indie rockers. There aren’t too many bands in Cleveland that sound like the…
For the Love of Pho
I’ve never eaten pho in Vietnam. But I’ve enjoyed enough of it in Cleveland, New York, Montreal, and other places to know that it is as close to being the perfect food as food can be. Built of noodles, beef, vegetables, and broth, the soup slays every major food group in a single slurp. There’s…
Giant Steps
The first time Red Giant guitarist Damien Perry met singer and guitarist Alex Perekrest more than 20 years ago, they talked about Stevie Ray Vaughan, who had just died in a helicopter crash. The Strongsville High School students realized they had so much in common that they started a band. At first, Perry and Perekrest…
Film Capsules
The Hangover Part II (R) Like in the first Hangover, the raunchier sequel starts with most of the damage already done. This time it’s Stu (Ed Helms) who’s getting married, and the “wolf pack” (Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, and Justin Bartha) heads to Thailand for the wedding. Then comes one crazy night in Bangkok that…
Back in Time
Jason White has always lived in the moment. When he led the popular Cleveland bar band the Janglers back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, he played power pop with a side of twang that was a tiny step ahead of Uncle Tupelo. When he moved to Nashville in the mid-’90s, he wrote and…
Mystery Mom
Jeanne sits next to her brother Simon in a hotel room in the Middle East. They’ve ended up there because of two letters written by their mother Nawal before she died. Jeanne, a mathematician, acts first, leaving Montreal, where their mother immigrated and they grew up, to travel back to Nawal’s homeland, where she, a…
CD Review: My Morning Jacket
After three epic albums of increasing depth and scope, My Morning Jacket scale back on Circuital, a quieter, almost reserved record that sounds more like a detour than a forward move. The band recorded its sixth album live in a church gym in their hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. And despite the let-loose titles of some…
Get Out!
Thursday | 02 Telling Tales Harvey Pekar Fête at Coventry’s Big Fun As a longtime Coventry resident and business owner, Steve Presser had a cordial but superficial relationship with American Splendor author Harvey Pekar. So when Pekar expressed interest in writing about him three years ago, Presser was stunned. “I was blown away that he…
CD Review: Ozzy Osbourne
By the time the original Black Sabbath ran out of gas in the late ’70s, Ozzy Osbourne had become a worn-out and washed-out rock & roll casualty. Nobody expected much from his debut solo album, 1980’s Blizzard of Ozz, let alone a sound that would define metal over the next decade. With hotshot guitarist Randy…
We Get Mail
A Smoker’s Freedom To think that your “freedom” as a smoker is more important than the person’s “freedom” next to you is just plan ignorant [“No One Is Paying Smoking Ban Fines,” at the Scene & Heard blog]. Don’t be stupid. There is no question that smoking will kill you and those around you. Be…
Local Band in Focus
Meet the Band: Sam Regas (guitars and vocals), Brad Berbari (guitars), Drew Watson (drums), and Matt McDonald (bass) They Never Travel Far Without a Little Big Star: These high-school juniors (three are from Canton, one lives in Cleveland) mix jangly power pop with Pavement-style indie rock. “We dressed up and played as Pavement for a…
Phishing for Relevance
Phish’s detractors point to Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995 as the day the group claimed the jam-band throne from the Grateful Dead. But try telling that to the gaggle of Phish fans who gathered 51 days earlier at Blossom for a triumphant date on their summer tour. And just try convincing the guy who made…
On Stage This Week
At Cleveland Public Theatre: A Critical Darling Returns Chris Seibert’s haunting, inventive tour de force Cut to Pieces returns to Cleveland Public Theatre this weekend for a limited engagement, with performances set for June 2 through 6 and June 9 through 11. Co-written by Seibert (who stars as the solo performer) and CPT’s executive artistic…
Stay In!
TOP PICK – VIDEO GAME Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Disney Interactive/TT) There aren’t too many things you can do on your couch with a controller that are as much fun as the Lego games. The latest, based on the adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow and his crew, doesn’t have the scope…
Riding Coach
One of the few truly iconic figures of American sport — the coach who restored Ohio State football to glory, who was expected to head the program for at least another decade — fell on his sword Monday in response to allegations of NCAA rule-breaking, and I can’t help but think there was a better…
Shakeup in Lockdown
Robert Shaw has been around the world, but he’s never found a friendlier place than Grafton. The sixtyish foundry worker is spouting his rural Lorain County gospel from his perch at the Deluxe Bar on Main Street. </p. “It’s kind of like Petticoat Junction, except we don’t have a water tower,” says the bearded, salt-and-pepper-haired…
On View This Week
Photography and Soundscapes: An Homage to Man Ray at MOCAA pair of new shows highlight the summer schedule at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The first, Delicious Fields, mines the talent of nine Ohio photogs in homage to Man Ray and his 1922 book of photography, Champs Delicieux. The book was capital “S” Surrealism, a…
Barely Legal
As if we needed another reason to attend this year’s Chef Jam, set for Sunday, June 12, at the Rock Hall … In addition to the top-notch food by 20 of Cleveland’s finest chefs, there will be an appearance by the Naked Cowboy, who will join local bands the Cream of the Crop All Stars…
At the Arthouse
Days of Heaven The Cedar Lee Theatre is excited about Terrence Malick’s epic new movie The Tree of Life, which opens on June 10. They should be: It’s the best film the elusive director has ever made (our review will be in next week’s paper). To get you ready for all that epicness, the Cedar…
Concert Calendar
The Human Abstract This L.A.-based progressive metal band has been through a flurry of lineup changes since forming in 2004. For starters, they’re now on their third singer. But all the upheaval has been for the best, since their new album, Digital Veil, is their strongest. The group mixes arena-friendly hooks (think Muse or Queen),…
