Fest & Farewell
It’s hard to know where and when the stage bug begins, but we do know that there has to be a place and an organizing force to allow those with a flair for playwriting, acting and directing, costuming, and set design to explore and nurture their gifts. For the 27th time, Dobama Theatre did just…
Deana Carter
On her memorably titled 1995 debut, Did I Shave My Legs for This?, Deana Carter burst into Nashville with unexpected yet mellifluous pop, attracting three million album-buyers as a maverick singer-songwriter testifying with gentle honesty about sex’s tender traps. In 2003, she left Nashville with a muffled plop. Her third album moved barely 85,000 copies…
On Stage
A Chorus Line — This elegant metaphor for the human journey takes place in a stark theatrical version of a Skinner box — an empty black space with mirrors on the back wall, where rewards and punishments are doled out by the frequently disembodied voice of the choreographer. He’s the reigning deity in this claustrophobic…
Brian McKnight
One of the smoothest of the smooth soul singers, Brian McKnight is easy to imagine inhabiting a different era; he has almost as much in common with Nat King Cole as with his Motown forebear Marvin Gaye, and he has struggled to reconcile his polish and studio craft with the grit and grime of today’s…
In Search of Lost Time
The midnight-black Nissan Xterra darts through Medina County farm country, a black speck in a sea of white snow. Behind the wheel is Matt Hendrickson, a skinny 34-year-old with a pointed nose and a well-manicured goatee. He’s lost. “It’s one of those things you have to find before you know how to get there,” he…
On View
Alicia Basinger: Shiver and Craze — This recent Cleveland Institute of Art graduate is the latest headliner in MOCA’s Emerging Artist Series, and she deserves the spotlight. A ceramist, Basinger makes clay seem like a brand-new medium by mixing it with previously unrelated elements. In “Timber,” her most physically impressive work, tall cylinders of wire…
New Order Jetstream Tour
The title isn’t entirely misleading: New Order’s Jetstream Tour does not feature New Order live in the flesh; rather, NO producer and UK electro godfather Arthur Baker (pictured) will spin favorite dance smashes from the seminal electronic band, in addition to cutting-edge remixes. Headlining a mob of European dance glitterati, DJ Princess Superstar (also pictured)…
Save Our Strippers!
She knows you won’t believe her, and she knows the starched shirts in Columbus won’t either, but Robyn wants you to hear it anyway: The strip club saved her life. “I found my independence,” she says, hands tucked nervously between her knees, as she sits in the champagne room at Diamond Men’s Club on the…
Sum Kinda Wonderful
Nearly every culture has its ritual of snacking. In Greece, it’s meze; in Spain, tapas; in the British Isles, afternoon tea. For the Chinese, it’s dim sum, those sweet and savory tidbits traditionally served at teahouses during the first half of the day. More than most restaurant meals, dim sum (the name roughly translates as…
Liquid Café’s 10th Birthday
Liquid Café turns 10 years old this weekend, and Thursday night won’t be just a party — it’ll be a circus. West Sixth’s first crunktastic nightspot is still a staple of the city’s blossoming entertainment district. This year’s birthday blowout will star stiltwalkers, sexy dancers, killer drink specials, birthday-cake surprises, and a set of live…
Who’s Lazy Now?
Who’s Lazy Now? At least those clerks show up every day: This is why Cleveland is such a damn mess [“The Bucks Stopped There,” June 8]. Here is a woman who has been unemployed for two years, who depended so much on her ex’s child support that she couldn’t pay her bills. There was a…
Bottle Blonde
The guests gabbed, the barbecue beckoned, and the South African wine flowed like — well, if not water, then at least like moderately priced wine — at the most recent installment of Budapest Blonde’s popular tasting series. The theatrically designed, plushly appointed, and oh-so-welcoming wine-and-martini bar in Independence (6901 Rockside Road, in the Rockside Corners…
Dwight Yoakam
Like Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Dolly Parton, Dwight Yoakam is one of country’s lifetime achievers whose long slide into quirky irrelevance has been stymied by a high-minded indie label, a support system initially invented by and for quirkier punk-rockers. And although the 48-year-old returns to home turf with this New West debut — call…
Noe Luck
For a wealthy guy who counts President Bush and Governor Taft among his friends, Tom Noe has the worst luck. Not only is he being hounded by investigators for suspicious campaign contributions and making $12 million in state money disappear, but he also has a habit of losing valuable coins. There are now 119 rare…
Into The Woods
“One trend that I just really can’t stand is when I turn on the radio and hear a band, and I honestly don’t know if it’s 1983 or it’s now,” says Sleater-Kinney guitarist-vocalist Carrie Brownstein on the phone from her Portland home. “Like, I have no idea whether this is a band that existed 20…
Guru
Depending on how you look at it, Guru is either the rare hip-hop icon with the courage to follow his convictions beyond the commercial spotlight, or a mainstream hero sliding into indie irrelevance. Version 7.0, the first release on his own label, 7 Grand, suggests the former, though not always for the reason you’d figure…
Gay for a Day
Seemingly overnight, Kimberley Locke has gone from American Idol to gay icon. Like Judy Garland, Cher, and the Divine Miss M. before her, Locke has been embraced by the not-so-straight set. “I think, because she didn’t win on Idol, her managers figured they had to target a certain niche, and they chose us,” says Ben…
Coming to America
Café Tacuba played in front of 170,000 people earlier this month in downtown Mexico City, perhaps the biggest hometown send-off to precede a monthlong American tour in music history. This unfathomably expansive mass of humanity sang along loudly, producing sound waves that must have caused window-rattling tremors in adjacent towns. During the ballads, fans raised…
Bebel Gilberto
Shortly after releasing Bebel Gilberto’s phenomenally successful Tanto Tempo in 2000, Six Degrees commissioned numerous producers to try their hands at remixing songs by this Brazilian royalty. In light of how much Gilberto’s bossa-nova-tinged sound had evolved by the time her self-titled 2004 effort was released, there’s little surprise that this second collection of dance-based…
This Week’s Day-By-Day Picks
Thursday, June 16 We have no idea why aging cuchi-cuchi girl Charo decided to come to Parma High School, of all places, but we’re pumped nonetheless. The ’70s talk-show staple — who was born María Rosario Martínez Molina Baeza (Charo rolls off the tongue a little smoother, doesn’t it?) — displayed little discernible talent during…
Hype Goggles
Like most rockers, most rock critics drink — sometimes to excess. Maybe it’s the pain of being misunderstood, of championing real music to uncaring masses. Or maybe they’re just lushes who like the easy hours of rock writing. Either way, beneath a lot of black-rimmed glasses lie bloodshot eyes, and under vintage T-shirts you’ll find…
Dropkick Murphys
The Dropkick Murphys aren’t exactly a band. With just one original member (bassist Ken Casey) and a cult that rivals Social Distortion’s, the Boston group is an institution. In recent memory, the Murphys’ original material has been spotty, their albums a mere formality to feed concerts that bring the brotherly vibe of a Southie barroom…
Mystery Achievement
After 13 books set in Cleveland, Slovenian private eye Milan Jacovich has become as much a part of the local landscape as pierogies and classic rock. The reason is no mystery to author Les Roberts. “This is one of the few cities where you can find a Slovenian neighborhood, a Lithuanian neighborhood, a Hungarian neighborhood,…
Rock Fest Rundown
She wore a tambourine on her wrist and a dress two sizes too small, and she looked pissed. “If you don’t like it, say you don’t like it. Don’t stand there all passive,” growled Lisa Kekaula, lead singer of the Bellrays, as she wiped the sweat from her gleaming brow. She was doing her damnedest…
Popa Chubby
Most guitar players would put a song like “Hey Joe” at least midway through their concert set. A well-traveled tune like this, with its built-in peaks and valleys, is a natural highlight. But for Popa Chubby, “Hey Joe” just kicks things off on his new live disc. It takes an axeman with no apparent identity…
Down to the River
6/16-9/4 As Jane Campbell plays her cards to bring casino gambling to Cleveland, David Grunenwald bets that a friendly hand of Texas Hold ‘Em will draw a full house this summer at the Nautica Charity Poker Festival. Here’s how it works: Players plunk down $15 an hour for a seat at the table. Bets range…
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Ted Leo looks like that guy with the best notes in every college class. His Cheshire-cat grin and slight frame seem sharp, but not dangerous. Wrong-o. This Washington, D.C. native and proud Irish-American has the punk chops, Celtic blood, and blue-eyed soul to write the kind of heart-palpitating rockers that have been MIA since Elvis…
Raspberries
Sparked by their 2004 reunion, this Raspberries compilation presents 20 tunes that continue to stick after more than 30 years. The third Raspberries collection in a decade and a half, its main selling point is the usual: remastering. Eric Carmen’s alluring androgynous voice, Wally Bryson’s powerhouse guitar, Jim Bonfanti’s determined drumming, and the dexterous bass…
Wild Wheels
6/18-6/19 Kellen Winslow should take notes when more than 200 motorcyclists from as far as Great Britain and South America compete for a $10,000 purse at this weekend’s Stuntfest. The sixth annual competition is hosted by the Starboyz daredevil cycle troupe, which will show off the very same tricks that sidelined the Browns’ tight end.…
Local Heroes
In addition to the Dropkick Murphys, the Offspring, and dozens of others, the Cleveland stop of the Warped Tour this July will feature sets by four regional acts, as part of the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands 9 competition. The local lineup includes rock band the Awkward Silence, punk group Drama Summer, pop-punk band…
Midnight
This comp from Midnight, a one-man metal machine, is so primitive and devolved, you can practically feel your brow thicken as it spins. Led by heavy-metal heathen Athenar (aka Boulder’s Jamie Walters), every song here is a primal ripper about killing or humping, recalling the bloody hedonism of ’80s greats like Venom and Tankard. Compiled…
Salt and Pepper’s
TUE 6/21 It’s fairly easy to pick out the Lonely Hearts’ influences; after all, their name is cribbed from the title of one of rock’s most heralded albums, made by music’s most revered foursome. “The Beatles, the Byrds, Neil Young,” rattles off frontman Will Holland when asked what he listened to growing up in Texas.…
Eric Johnson
None of the current reigning guitar deities can surpass Eric Johnson for sheer range. There seems to be no musical turf that the Austin-born phenom can’t dig into and hit pay dirt. Over more than two decades, Johnson’s monster chops have taken on most every genre and — when business didn’t get in the way…
Grill Seekers
6/16-7/2 When Porthouse Theatre opens its season on Thursday with The Spitfire Grill, the songs accompanying the musical will be decidedly different from the grandiloquent show tunes that typically play on the outdoor stage. “There’s no percussion in the band,” Artistic Director Terri Kent says of the bluegrass- and country-speckled songs. “There’s accordion and violin.…
Fantasia
At her very first American Idol audition, Fantasia Barrino stunned the judges into silence before they unanimously welcomed her to Hollywood. Emanating the countrified soul of Otis Redding and the raw sweetness of Tami Terrell, the single mom from High Point, North Carolina, sailed her way into the finale. When she belted out “I Believe,”…
Bat Cave-In
DC Comics has kept its superheroes locked in a fortress of solitude for almost a decade, forcing the likes of Superman and Batman to warm the bench while longtime rival Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and Blade galloped up and down the playing field. If you don’t count Catwoman, which is being most…
Nu:Tone
As Nu:Tone, Dan Gresham specializes in melodic, uplifting drum & bass tracks that have thrust him to the front of the thriving liquid drum & bass scene, alongside his Hospital Records labelmates London Electricity and High Contrast. In simple terms, it’s drum & bass for grown-ups — breezy, musical, and much more approachable for outsiders…
The Grapes of Mirth
An epileptic bulldog in the home of the world’s most famous wine critic. A snarling Boston terrier on the streets of Tuscany. A loping Labrador gobbling grapes in Burgundy. In every location of Mondovino — a rich, savory documentary exposing the globalization of the wine industry — there is a dog, a dog with personality,…
Clumsy Lovers
Well-scrubbed and enunciating clearly, the master entertainers in the Clumsy Lovers offer few concessions to the affected tastes of our time. Even the hook of authenticity, so fruitfully proffered by most bands with rootsy-folksy tendencies, is traded for Nashville-caliber professionalism by this Vancouver quintet. Armed with such uncool moves, the Clumsy Lovers could be regulars…
The Wiz
For all their exceptionality, there is also a numbing sameness to the movies of Hayao Miyazaki, the revered animator who has bewitched Japanese audiences since the late 1970s and bewildered American ones since 1999, when Princess Mononoke was among the first of his movies to receive significant stateside release. There is something to be said…
Supagroup
After five years, this New Orleans gang is attracting a bit of a buzz, along with a few other fringe pop-metalers, such as Diamond Nights and RPG. So each ought to have its major-label debut just as the next Darkness record comes out — which would undoubtedly fuel the inevitable claims that “rock is back.”…
Little Gems
Every year, Charenton Theatre comes up with a unique production or two in its brief season. This time around, it’s a perfectly symmetrical set of two one-acts: Each less than half an hour, each featuring four actors (male in one, female in the other), and each casting a satirical eye on women of a certain…
