Stuck on You
Nothing says “Land of the free, home of the brave” like a full-grown man dressed entirely in shiny adhesive, marching down the street. Which is why the highlight of this weekend’s Avon Heritage Duct Tape Festival will undoubtedly be tomorrow’s 10 a.m. parade. Avon is the headquarters of Duck brand tape and the self-proclaimed duct-tape…
Nils Lofgren
Nils Lofgren has made his bones as a sideman, lending six-string fire to Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen. If that’s not indication enough of his skills, there’s the rumor that the Rolling Stones considered him as a replacement for Mick Taylor. But Lofgren is a skilled songwriter as well. He experienced some success in the…
Encoder
Encoder is the latest dance-electro project from DJ Cable (of Chamber fame), UV programmer “Bruno,” and a host of dark royalty from Cleveland to Germany. Mixing dance-floor EBM, industrial, and rhythmic noise, Supernatural lives up to the title of the standout track “Dancefloormotherfuckers” — which appears in four versions, whipped into an orderly Teutonic frenzy…
O Canada!
The Stills’ Tim Fletcher insists that Canada has always had a vibrant music scene — we just didn’t know where to look for it. “There’s a misconception there was crap up here,” says the singer and guitarist of the Montreal quintet. Maybe so, but with the emergence of the Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, et…
What’s Tom Meyer Hiding?
May 26, 1540 hours. Channel 19 studios. Behind the giant glass walls is where Cleveland’s preeminent journalist spends his days. It’s where he rights the world’s wrongs. Where he takes down the powerful and lifts the weak. Where he kicks Carl Monday’s ass on Sundays — then calls on Mondays to rub it in. He’s…
Matisyahu
Looks are deceiving. Listen to the albums and you’ll hear classic reggae bounce and the toasting rap style of Jamaican dancehall, but glance at their covers and you’ll note that Matisyahu (born Matthew Miller) is a Hasidic Jew — right down to the broad-brimmed black hat and full beard. After initially rebelling against his Jewish…
Scumchrist
With members coming from some of Ohio and California’s best subterranean metal bands, Scumchrist offers a debut EP that proves metal acts don’t need mammoth studio budgets to make a killer record. Mixed by Billy Anderson (High on Fire, Mr. Bungle) and recorded by Don Depew (GBV, Cobra Verde), Fire in the Manger took a…
Mindless Fun
New York’s industrial-punk combo Mindless Self Indulgence leaps all over the place on its latest album, You’ll Rebel to Anything, but it’s the group’s most focused record yet. Maybe that’s because MSI has finally learned how to channel its frantic live shows in the studio. Or maybe it’s because singer Jimmy Urine doesn’t sound like…
A Life of the Mind!
If you read the news, you might believe that Case Western Reserve is in trouble, on the brink of losing its exclusive standing as Ohio’s “somewhat elite university.” Earlier this year, President Edward Hundert resigned, after digging a $40 million ditch in the school’s treasury. Case recently slashed $33.4 million from its budget and cut…
Ben Kweller
While a three-month span with just one scheduled gig (Hello, Cleveland!) might sound like a relaxing rock-star summer, anticipation can be an exhausting thing. Ben Kweller — who in his teens led Radish, America’s answer to Silverchair — finds these particular dog days lap at the levee of expectation. For starters, Kweller will be releasing…
Easy Being Green
There is something oxymoronic about the notion of “gourmet vegetarian” dining. Once you’ve nixed the foie gras, the Kobe beef, and the free-range chickens, all that’s left is the lettuce, right? Well, no — particularly if you’re dining at Parker’s New American Bistro in Ohio City, where chef de cuisine Andy Strizak lavishes each little…
Two Faces
Painter Todd Volkmer says that Mosaics and Martinis comes from his Ritalin-deprived lifestyle. The 15-piece exhibit is divided between geometric shapes and cartoon bar scenes. “It’s all about my ADD personality,” he laughs. “I just can’t stay on one thing for too long. So I stay on two.” On the Tribe’s opening day in April,…
Big Perv on Campus
It appears that Carl Wolfe, formerly Big Man on Campus at Notre Dame College, may soon become Little Cute Guy on Cell Block D. Last week, Wolfe was indicted on 21 felony charges related to his failure to understand that women aren’t into him [“Hush,” May 17]. He’s accused of assaulting at least five fellow…
Chimaira
Chimaira seemed like third-tier nü-metal, at best, on its 2001 debut album. Within two years, the Cleveland band had traded baggy jeans for bikers’ beards, long hair, and tattoos, and begun riffing in earnest; The Impossibility of Reason and 2005’s self-titled release were two of the strongest albums in the Roadrunner catalog. Drummer Kevin Talley,…
See Change
I wasn’t the only one who harbored mixed feelings toward Vue (49 Village Way), the upscale Hudson restaurant that opened a little more than a year ago. It was love at first sight for the luxurious appointments, the artful decor, and the polished service, but the high-priced menu — designed by then-Executive Chef Gregg Korney…
Treasure Aisles
Today’s Treasure Sale at the Cleveland Play House is more of an antiques show than a clearinghouse of stage props and costumes from various theater productions. Needless to say, we’re a little disappointed that we won’t be able to pick up some fake beards and 10-foot papier-mâché pillars at bargain prices. Still, the furniture, jewelry,…
Here Comes the Judge
Judge Lynn Toler emerged from her chambers looking as stern as a police interrogator. From the bench, she locked eyes with the ponytailed plaintiff, who was suing her wedding facility for botching the event. “You listen here,” Toler said, her eyes flashing. “You said your wedding was ruined, but the only way your wedding could…
The Lovely Feathers
When it comes to delivering a stylish brand of indie rock these days, the Lovely Feathers are not all that different from their Québécois peers (the Arcade Fire, Islands, the Stills). They’re quirky and charming, and they’ve perfected a pop-underground sound for the new millennium. Together since 2004, Richard Yanofsky (vocals-guitar), Mark Kupfert (vocals-guitar), Noah…
Tortilla Flat
There is no movie more overrated in recent history than Napoleon Dynamite; it’s to cinema what the Doors are to rock and roll, a thing blindly and inexplicably championed as though it were a religion above being blasphemed by nonbelievers. And every time someone tries to explain its appeal — the deadpan comedy that plays…
The Best Things in Life Are Free (for Dad)
You don’t have to spend a fortune on a Father’s Day gift for Dad today. In fact, a pair of Cleveland Metroparks events offer free fun. The zoo (3900 Wildlife Way; call 216-661-6500) lets dads in free from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (everyone else pays $9; it’s $4 for kids). They can take a…
Second Punch: What happens in Eastlake . . .
Lottery scam
Aquabats
Huntington Beach, California’s Aquabats are of the matching-costume school of late ’90s leftover retroids like Los Straitjackets, only these sillies prefer a Devo-gone-ska route that adds a less moldy flair to the “vintage leftovers” set. Speaking of genres in need of a spitshine, after too many decades of baked hippie defanging of reggae’s revolutionary swell,…
Hope Floats
Remember what a fun couple Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves were in Speed? Well, forget that. In The Lake House, Warner Bros.’ slow and heavy kickoff to the summer-romance season, Bullock and Reeves play the mopiest lovers to hit the big screen since Tony and Maria channeled Romeo and Juliet on the fire escapes of…
Fan-tastic!
Fan-tastic! Celebs from TV’s good ol’ days sign autographs. Most of Kathy Garver’s fans these days are 50-year-old men. “They say, ‘You were my first crush,'” laughs the 60-year-old Family Affair actress. “I always ask them, Well, what happened?” Garver is among the four dozen celebrities appearing at the International Sports & Entertainment Festival, an…
We read America’s worst columnist so you don’t have to.
Headline: Graduates ride on big shoulders. By Sam Fulwood III Date: June 13, 2006 Topic: Sam recycles his graduation speech to the kids at John Marshall High. International War Tribunal now debating whether to charge him with crimes against humanity. Difficulty: 0/10. Reprinting a graduation speech is the journalistic equivalent of forwarding e-mail. Sam Gets…
Lyrics Born
Although he has only a couple of solo albums to his name, Bay Area rapper Lyrics Born has played a significant role in hip-hop history. Merely by helping found Solesides (later known as Quannum Projects) — the label that introduced Blackalicious, DJ Shadow, and hip-hop journalist Jeff Chang — the former Tom Shimura would have…
Fahrenheit 2050
With ice caps melting, sea levels rising, and Poseidon sinking fast, this is no environment for any disaster movie — particularly a real one — to take our interest for granted. Thus An Inconvenient Truth, named for the superbad news of global climate change, isn’t just another lefty doc for the art-house set, but “by…
Wicked Good
The award-winning Swedish drama Evil plays a neat trick on its audience, turning the brutal bully of the opening scene into a perceptive hero by film’s end. We first meet Erik, a sullen teen living in the late ’50s, pulverizing the face of a schoolmate. He’s expelled for this reprehensible act and transferred to a…
Is the Free Times Mysogynist?
The following letter was sent by Free Times art critic Lyz Bly, announcing her resignation from the paper: Dear Friends and Colleagues: I am writing to let you know that I resigned my freelance post as art critic at the Free Times . . . As a feminist and someone who is very concerned about…
We Are Scientists
It will not surprise some that this spunky ’80s-nostalgia trio with a penchant for jagged guitar lines and jumpy rhythms hails from Brooklyn. If you tossed the Killers, Franz Ferdinand, and Bloc Party into a blender and added that dissipated vocal croon endemic to New York (the Strokes, the Walkmen), you could pour your own…
Smite Me
About 10 minutes into Michael Cuesta’s 12 and Holding, the following thought came to mind: Not afraid to put children in harm’s way. Twenty minutes later, not afraid was replaced with compelled. As he did in L.I.E. , which introduced child molestation into a fetid tale of adolescent obliteration, Cuesta trains his camera on damaged…
Heaven Sent
Channeling the Minutemen’s manic energy, Fugazi’s jagged edge, and Mission of Burma’s stop-start agility, Minneapolis’ the Plastic Constellations celebrate 25 years of post-punk influences on their new album, Crusades. The quartet has been making music for a little more than a decade, forming when the guys were only 14. Their youthful vitality fuels the songs…
Heaven Can Wait
Real-life calamities occasionally do have Hollywood endings. Alejandro Escovedo was already one of the most beloved underground artists of the last 30 years. His friendly, modest manner ultimately evoked the same qualities in his fans and friends. I first met the pioneer of ’70s San Francisco punk in 1979, when he and the Nuns relocated…
Gil Mantera’s Party Dream
You came all the way to Cleveland for the CMJ/Rock Hall Music Festival, bolstering your music-fan cred for another year. For the love of Pete, don’t throw it all away by returning home without being able to tell your friends you saw Gil Mantera’s Party Dream, chosen by the Village Voice as the band that…
Fresh Meat
When it comes to easy targets for theatrical satire, they don’t come much fatter than suburbia and its self-satisfied denizens. Making sport of guys in barbecue aprons and their brow-lifted spouses is about as challenging as shooting carp in a Jacuzzi. Still, a tight ensemble production or an incisive performance can turn even the most…
Cotton-Eye & the Spider
Cotton-Eye Joe’s Terry Richardson and Heather Gullstrand keep hectic schedules. When he’s not performing spirited jigs and reels in Irish pubs and festivals through Northeast Ohio, Richardson searches for open-mic nights where he can strum his guitar and banjo. Not to be outdone, Gullstrand accompanies him on viola and violin when she’s not playing with…
Vinyl Destination
At today’s Goldmine National Record Show, folks can pick up everything from R&B 45s from the ’50s to rare, promo-only copies of indie-rock discs released last month. The seventh-annual gathering of music geeks, hosted by Goldmine, a record-collectors’ magazine, features more than 40 exhibitors and vendors from across the country, unloading vinyl, CDs, and other…
Out of the Garage
Jack White has moved away, and so has his Raconteurs partner Brendan Benson. It’s been several years since the White Stripes capitalized on the garage-rock spirit that had been percolating in Detroit for more than a decade, and nobody around here expects to be a rock star anymore. Still, the man who started it all,…
Alternative Press 21st Anniversary Party
Cleveland’s Alternative Press magazine celebrates its 21st birthday at the Grog Shop, with full sets by dance-pop sensation Head Automatica (pictured), ’80s-rock revivalist Damone, power-poppers the Lashes, and rock up-and-comer the Honour Recital. But the real party takes downstairs, at the B-Side Liquor Lounge, where the rock journal of record for punk, emo, true alternative,…
Capsule reviews of current area theater presentations.
Fefu and Her Friends — “Man is not the enemy here, but a fellow victim,” feminist Betty Friedan once said. “The real enemy is women’s denigration of themselves.” That intramural battleground, where women try to work out their complex identities and relationships, is on display in this challenging but continually stimulating show. From the first…
Wing Commanders
Nearly 30 chefs will fire up their propane deep-fryers this afternoon for the inaugural Best Wings in Lakewood contest. And Shawn Juris will be among those finger-licking his way through the taste test of wings from area bars and restaurants. “It just wouldn’t make sense to have the Best Wings in Lakewood won by somebody…
The Man From Brazil
Jovino Santos Neto has devoted much his life to exploring the complexities of Brazilian sounds. The Rio de Janeiro flutist and keyboardist plays songs that skirt the line between traditional folk and modern jazz. “I always look for a personal voice that connects to a tradition that I am proud to be part of,” he…
My Generation
American Idol is over. Maybe I can talk to my parents again. “Hey, Mom. What are you doing?” “American Idol.” “I’ll call back.” It’s weird when your parents become part and parcel of America’s corporate-culture calculus. It’s kind of cute, watching them get obsessed over stuff they’ll forget about in six months. It’s also a…
Chalk Outline Party
Though it’ll be a show to remember, the term “highlight” might be little too bright to describe Chalk Outline Party (pictured), which will play at Rust Records’ CMJ/Rock Hall Music Fest showcase, where it’ll appear alongside some of the region’s finer talent, including emo standouts Between Home and Serenity and alt-rock favorite Blush. The Party’s…
Capsule reviews of current area art exhibitions.
NEW Black, White & Gray Series — Working within strict boundaries of color, size, and medium, Cleveland native Rich Garr depicts the abstract concept of balance as the blurred and often lonely space between stark ideological opposites. Solid patches of pure black and white generally occupy extremities in these poster-sized, vertical, acrylic-and-caulk paintings on canvas,…
Crue Cut
Damone singer Noelle LeBlanc can’t legally buy a drink, but she’s already a jaded veteran of the music industry. “I’ve always been skeptical of record companies,” says the 20-year-old leader of the Boston quartet. “It bums me out.” She has reason to be bummed. After From the Attic, its 2003 debut, stiffed, Damone (named after…
Here Come the Hotsteppers
Ireland’s smash dance troupe returns. Aislinn Ryan never thought she’d be headlining Riverdance. Growing up in New Zealand, she first saw the show on television. The dance extravaganza wasn’t yet a phenomenon, and to Ryan — a young gymnast studying Irish dancing — the dazzling show seemed impossibly far away, both geographically and artistically. “It’s…
Sound/Stage
SOUND Boatzz, “Mexican Bourgeois” (myspace.com/boatzz) This sounds like the Walkmen with more hip swerve. The quartet’s tale of life on the lam explores that late-’60s intersection of acid rock and garage, Hammond organ blaring over intermittent blasts of wah. “Outlaws turned to Mexican bourgeois,” they sing, as broad, colorful sonics shadow a slinky rhythm. Boatzz,…
Love Is All
This Swedish quintet’s debut (out in Europe for nearly a year) jettisons any remaining pretensions of ’80s DayGlo new-wave reinterpretations, rediscovering the perk that was the saving grace of the assymetrically coiffed. Songs like “Busy Doing Nothing” and “Aging Had Never Been His Friend” ring with chirpy guitars and blurty sax that recall Haircut 100…
Bring in the Trash
Valley of the Dolls Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (Fox) Behold The Godfather and Godfather Part II of drag-queen cinema — two movies that provide the gateway to a lifetime of wig addiction. The films couldn’t be more different in temperament — the 1967 original is mile-high Hollywood kitsch, while Russ Meyer’s in-name-only 1970…
Worth a Thousand Words
Brooklyn quintet the Picture layers its songs with atmospheric guitar riffs straight outta the mid-’90s U.K. Singer Robert Abel checks in with slow, buzzing vocals stacked high atop the sounds surrounding him. The melodies don’t so much push as crawl toward their destinations. It’s a combination that puts the Picture somewhere between continents and alt-rock…
And Then There Were Two
Young People’s experimental indie-rock sounds more spare than usual on its new album, All at Once. Since founding guitarist Jeff Rosenberg left the bicoastal trio a couple of years ago, singer Katie Eastburn has maintained the project with drummer Jarrett Silberman. The moodiness remains, however. The songs on All at Once create an atmospheric template…
Last Word
“My pick is Emrecan Cakir’s ‘Divine.'” — David Christopher (aka Deviant) “The feel-good anthem of the summer is ‘World Hold On’ (Children of the Sky). It delivers Caribbean-styled grooves that make me think of dancing on the beach, as well as a positive message of hope.” — Doug Burkhart, DJ and owner of Grand Poo-bas…
Katharine Whalen
The former Squirrel Nut Zippers vocalist trades in her cabaret for lounge on Dirty Little Secret, distancing herself from the old-fashioned jump blues and jazz swing of her old outfit. While Whalen’s wonderful voice would be winning in just about any band, David Sale’s rich, varied production transposes it into exotic mixes that sound like…
Brotherly Love
Gamers are so used to Mario that the fundamental weirdness of his exploits no longer raises an eyebrow: A dumpy Italian plumber journeys through a fairy-tale land, where turtles throw hammers, mushrooms bestow magic powers, and a kingly turtlebeast holds a princess captive. Where other videogame plots might have been scrawled in a spiral notebook…
Culture Club
Cleveland’s melting pot of 80 nationalities brims over at Shaker Square today with Mosaic, a celebration of ethnic food and music. “Diverse cultures are so prevalent in Cleveland,” says organizer Nicole Kaselak. “The mark they’ve left by this mix of ethnic traditions and heritage has turned the city into what it is today.” For devotees…
Motor City Laugh Man
Until recently, stand-up comedian John Heffron’s career was effortless. “Now I have to work at it,” he laughs. Since winning the second season of NBC’s Last Comic Standing, the Detroit native has breezed through gig after gig, capitalizing on his reality-TV title. Then came the quickly assembled third season of the show — which is…
Sound Advice
John Neely manages and books talent at the Grog Shop. What were a couple of the albums that first got you excited about music? My mom used to play the Rolling Stones’ Through the Past, Darkly and the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s . . . all the time when I was a little kid. When I…
Shadows Fall
Fallout From the War starts out much harder than its immediate predecessor, 2004’s highly regarded retro-thrash effort, The War Within. The riffs mostly grind where they once soared, and vocalist Brian Fair barks and roars (except on the last track), instead of going for the melodic choruses that make the Ozzfest kids jump. Sometimes, as…
Our top DVD picks for the week of June 13.
All Aboard! Rosie’s Family Cruise (HBO) Aquamarine (Fox) Beavis and Butt-head: The Mike Judge Collection, Volume 2 (Paramount) Before the Fall (Picture This) The Betty Grable Collection: Volume 1 (Fox) Cemetery Man (Anchor Bay) End of the Spear (Fox) Fatwa (Ventura) A Good Woman (Lions Gate) Green Street Hooligans (Warner Bros.) Guardian of the Realm…
Let’s Roll
The C-Land Freestylers Roller Skating Club plans to bring its A-game to today’s Roller Skating Jam. Club members will dazzle their counterparts from Detroit, Chicago, and Louisville with back turns and 360-degree aerial spins. “Cartwheels, flips, and fancy footwork — with all that skating, you can smell the smoke,” says club member Roxann Jackson. The…
Berry Good
Hope you like strawberries, because this weekend’s Kirtland Kiwanis Strawberry Festival is stuffed with ’em: Strawberry shortcakes, strawberry sundaes, and chocolate-covered strawberries are just some of the delicacies that will be served at the 46th annual outing. June 14-15, 6-11 p.m.; Fri., June 16, 5:30 p.m.-midnight; Sat., June 17, 11-midnight; Sun., June 18, 12-8 p.m.
Hidden Gems
One of the best things about music is the thrill of discovery, the excitement of finding a new favorite artist. That’s the beauty of something like the CMJ/Rock Hall Music Fest. It’s a musical carnival that comes town for only a few days every summer, but if you find the time to go, it’s almost…
Dave Douglas
Many performers find a niche where they excel (or simply sell), and there they stay. Others make a career of confounding the expectations of audiences and critics. Sometimes, it’s “renovating” for its own sake, or attempting to remain relevant (i.e., select Bowie and Madonna phases/reinventions) — but then, some have too much music within to…
The week’s best releases from the pop-culture universe.
DVD — Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic: The world’s cutest potty-mouthed comic talks about race, sex, and other hot-button issues in her hilariously raunchy stand-up film. Whether confronting her past (“I was raped by a doctor. Which is so bittersweet for a Jewish woman”) or appearance (“I don’t care if you think I’m racist. I…
Show Time
Mr. Show bassist Richard “Zorro” Zelinski is still getting used to having his secret identity revealed. But it’s certainly made his day job as head clerk of the Vermilion Post Office more interesting. “I’m kinda famous there, because working behind that counter is just like being on a stage,” he says. “But most of them…
Macho Women
Every Wednesday, the Grid celebrates women who love women with La Vie Lesbian. It comes complete with drag kings, exotic dancers, and enough masculine ladies to keep even the most dedicated L Word fan happy. As bartender Maya Simek declares, it’s an evening of “gender expression and androgyny,” designed to titillate — especially with performances…
Out of Detention
Detained Records made an auspicious debut in 2005 with albums by Hatecore Inc. and Mob Scene, then went into hiding for the first half of ’06. The break appears to be over: The Akron label is assembling a tribute to Dokken guitarist George Lynch. Due in August, the comp will feature Mob Scene’s interpretation of…
Dirty on Purpose
Dirty on Purpose hails from Brooklyn, New York, but its song “Lake Effect” epitomizes the pain you feel wiping a foot of snow off your car on a gray Monday morning in Cleveland. It’s five and a half minutes of cello, precisely placed piano notes, and lithe harmonies to wallow in while Lake Erie’s bitter…
