Brain Work
6/8-6/9 Hiromi doesn’t like to be pigeonholed. Brain, the new album from the 24-year-old Japanese pianist, jumps from jazz to classical to pop to free-form improvisation. “I have no argument with what people want to call me,” she says. “I’m just playing music that comes out of me. I have many influences in many areas.”…
Grant Lee Phillips
After seven years as the namesake of the acclaimed college rock band Grant Lee Buffalo, Grant-Lee Phillips is now three albums into a solo career, and his latest, Virginia Creeper, is once again chock-full of literate folk rock that has fans singing along with the chorus — even if they don’t quite catch all the…
Radio-Free Haiti
Some people seem to have been born under an urgent, righteous star. Haitian radio pioneer and human-rights activist Jean Dominique was one, and The Agronomist, a documentary from director Jonathan Demme, captures both his energized essence and the incredible breadth of his influence in his native country. It is an inspiring, moving film, a tribute…
Longwave
There’s nothing wrong with Longwave. Maybe that’s why it’s been so hard for the Brooklyn band to muster much passion. If the Strokes and the Rapture are to New York City’s hipster rock scene what Oasis and Blur were to Britpop, Longwave seems destined to play the part of Mansun: Just fine. On the other…
Harry Goes Scary
As much of the civilized world now knows, the latest Harry Potter director is Alfonso Cuarón, best known for Y Tu Mamá También, the explicit movie about teen sexual awakening. Thus, it may come as little surprise that his Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban begins with the teenage wizard-in-training hiding under the bedsheets,…
The Sights
The White Stripes and the Von Bondies might get all the hype, but the Sights are Detroit’s most potent rock band, bar none. The power trio combines the best elements of British mod (Small Faces, Yardbirds, Kinks, the Jam), ’60s soul and R&B, and the heavy yet melodic stylings of early ’70s hard-rock groups like…
What, No Mobsters?
War puts a lot of stress on people. Consider the devilish decisions the rich in this country now face, with the cash from wartime tax cuts festering in their bank accounts. Should they invest in Viacom or Microsoft? Or should they just shovel more money into campaign coffers so they can get their payback the…
Kim Richey
Zanesville native Kim Richey has made a name for herself in Nashville, penning tunes for such Music City big shots as Trisha Yearwood, Brooks & Dunn, and the Dixie Chicks. Her own records, however, have found more critical kudos than commercial success. She only lasted for one studio album on the artist-friendly Lost Highway Records,…
On Stage
Carousel — One look at the small Kalliope performing space, and you’d wonder why anyone would try to mount a show requiring 25 cast members, some involved crowd scenes, and a couple of ballet sequences here. But director Paul F. Gurgol manages to shuttle everyone in and out while giving his singers room to massage…
Jolie Holland
ANTI- is the side label that Epitaph Records has used to sign more established acts. Problem is, most of the bigger names they’ve landed are a bit past their prime. So, as Tom Waits and Nick Cave age gracefully, ANTI- went out and found this young, pretty female version of the troubled troubadour. On her…
The 15th Minute
Sherry from Florida thinks that she and Fredo LaPonza are exactly the same person, and she simply does not understand how he doesn’t see it. They are so perfect together that they should get married right now. Immediately. But first, Jane from New York wants Fredo to fly out for a Sleepless in Seattle-style meet-up.…
On View
Aging in America, The Years Ahead — Being old doesn’t necessarily mean living on the fringes of society, as this multimedia show proves. Ed Kashi’s black-and-white photographs demonstrate, for example, that the Marlboro Man has nothing on the 75-year-old cowboys competing at the National Senior Pro Rodeo. A leather-jacketed senior biker chick gives meaning to…
Velvet Revolver
Velvet Revolver looks like a can’t-miss combo, with most of Guns n’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion lineup and Scott Weiland, the singer of Stone Temple Pilots; it’s the last great arena-rock band backing the singer of the last reliably solid radio-rock group. But there’s a reason you don’t own a Slash’s Snakepit album or Weiland’s…
Nobody’s Boy
When 13-year-old Gregory Scruggs Jr. was convicted of murdering his father in November 2001, psychologists recommended against sending him to juvenile prison. Testimony revealed that the boy had suffered severe physical abuse at the hands of his father — until one afternoon in June. When Greg Scruggs Sr. heard that his son had been watching…
Arabian Bites
We recently pulled up a chair at two of the newest additions to Cleveland’s Middle Eastern dining scene. What we found wasn’t quite impressive enough to usher in an era of world peace. But from baba ghanoush to semolina cake, it made for some memorable nights on the town. TV Dinner Okay, so it freaked…
Sonic Youth
During the ’80s, Sonic Youth’s output ranked among the most electrifying in rock history. It was both arty and visceral, noisy yet oddly accessible. Few groups maintain such creative vigor for two decades, which suggests carrying on that long isn’t wise. This explains why, in 2004, Sonic Youth comes off as an alt-rock Rolling Stones.…
Old Faithful
If the summer movie season is our annual time for escapism, last summer’s audiences escaped most often with the likes of The Hulk, Terminator 3, and The Matrix Reloaded. Those titles, respectively, ended with a homeless and penniless hero, the end of life on earth as we know it, and our messianic figure sent into…
Delish-atessen
Sometimes, the best little eateries are the ones that fly just below the radar, beloved by a crew of regulars, but pretty much invisible to the rest of us. That’s certainly the case with Lakewood’s Tina’s Deli, a neat-as-a-pin delicatessen at 13411 Detroit Avenue. We’ve probably passed the place a hundred times since it opened…
Bad Religion
Though Bad Religion’s never discovered a sense of humor, and its lengthy discography is remarkably inconsistent, the band’s 1981 debut, How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, remains one of the early L.A. punk scene’s unsung classics. Years later in ’88, when most everyone had forgotten about the band, Bad Religion rejuvenated its career with the…
Physician, Heel Thyself
In the Plain Dealer ad featuring him, Dr. Gary Gottlieb appeared solemn, even a little sad. Below him was a line that read, “Gone. A real physician, with real patients, who is really leaving Ohio.” The ad, paid for by the Ohio State Medical Association, warned that “frivolous lawsuits are driving up insurance rates by…
Hair of the Dog
“That was the best concert I’ve seen in my life,” plus-sized Candlemass frontman Messiah Marcolin announced as he took the Odeon stage at the first Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles Six Pack Weekend last June. Clad in his trademark black and red monk’s robes and looking like an extra from the Name of the Rose…
!!!
On Louden Up Now, !!! lets the audience in on a li’l secret: “You can learn a lot by taking your pants off.” Lest the song in question — “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Karazzee” — be taken as a metaphor for the consequences of unsafe sex, the next line sours the…
Football for All
Football for All If you can’t stand the heat, go back to the kitchen: Unbelievable! That is the only word I can think of to describe the ignorance with which Rebecca Meiser penned “Leather & Laces” [May 19]. As a player, I was offended. As a woman, I was disgusted by the Rush Limbaugh-style attack…
Dark Horse
To use the word “sophisticated” when talking about the sloppy Montreal pop outfit the Unicorns seems somehow inappropriate. There’s nothing that sounds calculated or mature about the band at first listen. Rather, the group’s sophomore release, Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone, is a flailing collection of absurd lyrical refrains, low-fidelity guitar and…
Various Artists
There are two principles to consider when the chance to buy a stoner-rock compilation arises. The first is that stoner-rock bands tend to have relatively few great tunes in ’em; their albums are usually front-loaded with power and almost always falter down the stretch. The second is that any band, regardless of genre, is gonna…
Queer Gibes for Straight Guys
David MacLean thinks those old sodomy laws were the silliest felonies ever put on the books — especially in handcuff-happy Texas. “We can get it up the butt [there] now,” cracks MacLean, a gay comedian from Toronto, who’s headlining the second annual Laugh Out Proud Comedy Show, which kicks off a month-long series of Cleveland…
The Backdoor’s Open
It’s a sucker’s bet if ever there was one. “Your odds are 1 in 10,000 in rock and roll,” says Paul Nickels, drummer for the ’70s punks the Backdoor Men. “At some certain point you hit the wall, you have babies at home, your wife is glaring at you every time you go out to…
The Stagedoor Johnnies
Only once in a generation do two guys making Muppet noises over button-box music make it from open-mic night to the airwaves. And They Might Be Giants are still pretty big. Cleveland’s Stagedoor Johnnies are making some inroads, though. The Johnnies — guitarist Jef Etters and drummer Aaron McBride — write and perform with comedy…
This Week’s Day-By-Day Picks
Thursday, June 3 Brooklyn’s Oxford Collapse picked an appropriate name for itself. The songs on the trio’s art-rock debut, Some Wilderness, are brainy, studied, and collegiate, yet they still manage to fall apart before the end. Prompted by rhythm-heavy post-punk ancestors Gang of Four, Mission of Burma, and Wire, Oxford Collapse throws choppy guitar riffs,…
Where the Boys Aren’t
Legendary producer Pete Rock has undoubtedly moved a few hip-hop fans to tears during his career. But it’s probably never happened quite the way it did with the girls of Northern State. Already overwhelmed to meet one of their idols, the New York rap trio was sent over the edge when Rock began singing the…
God Squad
In the late ’80s, as Death of Samantha, Prisonshake, and others were getting all post-post-punk by reinventing classic rock, the God Squad was still covering the Sex Pistols. They were the perennial openers for “bigger” bands on the scene, like the kid brother who keeps watch at the garage door while big brother and his…
Charlotte’s Web
John Balicanta, Lola Ray’s singer and guitarist, just received a FedEx package containing the final cut of his band’s very first video, “Automatic Girl.” He’s beaming. “We just watched it and cried. I wasn’t expecting much, but it fits the song. It’s pretty exciting.” It’s been like that lately for Balicanta and his three bandmates.…
Burned Rubber
Akron’s explosive blues duo the Black Keys have wrapped work on their next LP. The Rubber Factory, recorded in downtown Akron’s disused General Tire factory, is slated for a September 7 release on Fat Possum/Epitaph. “It sounds great,” says singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach, who calls the album “more experimental than the last,” 2003’s Thickfreakness. “I think…
Sparx of Life
6/4-9/18 Susie Frazier Mueller’s jaw dropped the first time she saw Ground Effects Crew. “These guys do things with their bodies that you and I could only dream of doing,” she says about the break-dancing troupe, one of 15 acts chosen to perform at Sparx in the City, which kicks off Friday. For 16 straight…
Bobby Conn
Realizing that Armageddon had not come to pass with the new millennium, as he had prophesied in 1998’s apocalyptic space opera Rise Up!, Bobby Conn — Chicago’s self-identified Antichrist — found himself artistically adrift in 2000. He considered writing his own album-length requiem, but that seemed rash. So Conn tried to make the best of…
Foray o’ Fish
6/5-6/6 A monsoon could sweep over the Lake Erie Boating & Fishing Fest, and kids would still want to jump on board the Holiday and fish for perch and walleye. “They’re all bundled up,” says Reno “Jay” Reda, outdoor-skills specialist for the Ohio Division of Wildlife. “They’re all wet. Their lips are turning blue. It…
We Regazzi
Not only has We Ragazzi written an ode to Chicago (“I’m Gonna Be Fine”), but it’s also been influenced by the city’s music. Perhaps because the band is two-thirds female, its soul-weary, punk-tinged blues-rock is not soaked in Strokes-like testosterone. Singer-guitarist Anthony Ronaldo is heavy on the high notes, complemented by Colleen Burke’s off-kilter keyboard…
House Rules
6/8-6/9 Surprise by Design host Robert Verdi loves outlet stores. “I grew up in New Jersey, and I was obsessed with them,” he explains. “My parents let me live in the wild of the malls. It’s like Vegas: I’m on the hunt to win. I love finding the greatest shoe from last season for $99.”…
Remembering Never
Recent advances in the field of metalcore have made the term obsolete, applicable to too many disparate styles. Music ranging from concussive hardcore to technical metal increasingly relies on the same stylistic elements — dissonant guitar squonks, double-bass-kick chugs, and angular momentum pivots. Remembering Never riffs and roars with the best of them, but metal…
