Mock Up on Mu has its local premiere tonight at CMA
Avant garde filmmaker Craig Baldwin has been making collage films for about 30 years now. His latest, Mock Up on Mu, is a head trip and a half. It has its local premiere tonight at 7 at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Here’s our review. Mock Up on Mu (US, 2008) The “not untrue story”…
Wyclef Slams Auto-Tune Singers With an Auto-Tuned Song
Onetime Fugee Wyclef Jean’s new song performs a neat trick: It slams artists who use Auto-Tune while — you guessed it — employing T-Pain’s favorite studio crutch. “Mr. Autotune” is supposed to be a joke, with lyrics like “If you sing off-key, for a small fee I can make you a celebrity” and “I will…
Sunday is “Brady Quinn Day” at Cedar Point
Former Notre Dame star Brady Quinn hasn’t even won the starting quarterback job for the Browns yet and he’s already having a day in his honor. Sure, it’s not in Cleveland, it’s in Sandusky, but it’s still a “day” nonetheless. Cedar Point will hold “Brady Quinn Day” this coming Sunday, which will include a fan…
Nothing Like a Hot Dog at the Turn
There is really, really not much happening on the periphery of Cleveland sports right now — the area I pride myself on covering — besides idle chatter. Sure, the Tribe are poised to extract themselves from the AL Central cellar, but that’s about it, and analysis of that is best left to the professionals. Me?…
Here’s to Hoping the Tribe Finishes Today in Fourth Place
That, as you should know, is from the tremendously talented Rob Ullman. You should head over to his site now and check out all his work and maybe even pre-order his book. (Hat tip to Scott from WFNY.)
Drug-Loving Rocker Arrested for (Wait for It) Drugs
Shocking report from overseas: Pete Doherty has been arrested for shooting up on a plane. The British trouble-magnet (who used to front the Libertines before his drug abuse got him kicked out) has been laying kinda low lately. Even after releasing his first solo album a few months back — a perfect opportunity for major…
Just out on DVD, Gran Torino is vintage Clint Eastwood
It would be a shame if Clint Eastwood’s terrific performance as Walt Kowalski in Gran Torino is the last time he acts, as he’s said it’ll be. Eastwood channels his Dirty Harry /bad-ass cowboy past into the character of Walt, making him sneer racist remarks to the African-Americans and Asian-Americans who have moved into his…
Review: Black Eyed Peas’ “The E.N.D.”
The Black Eyed Peas’ new album comes out today, and we predict it’s gonna be super huge. Seriously — have you gone a day in the past two months without hearing “Boom Boom Pow”? A review will run in next week’s Scene. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peak. The Black Eyed PeasThe E.N.D.(Interscope) The…
6/12-14: Springsteen Fanfest at the Rock Hall
For those who didn’t get their fill of Bruce Springsteen at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s current exhibit, From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen, the Rock Hall’s got a feast that should sate even the most ravenous fan. Next weekend, it’s presenting the…
This Just In: Concert Announcements
This week, we have 51 hot new shows from everyone who’s anyone, in every kind of thing. Highlights include jazz great Terence Blanchard, R&B crooner Maxwell, a bongload of reggae, De La Soul’s best-of tour and Jamie Foxx’s arena-sized music show. Not to mention a smelting pot of metal, plenty of punk, Tito Puente Jr.…
This Moment in Black History and Child Bite Release New Music
Cleveland indie/punk-rock luminaries This Moment in Black History and Child Bite will release a split 7-inch EP on Friday at the Grog Shop. (A 7-inch is a little vinyl record, folks. We read that vinyl is the new hot thing, so you should totally go.) The TMIBH song is called “It’s Everything We Do.” It’s…
Money Where Your Mouth Is: Silent Fury
From time to time, we here at C-Notes let a band explain why you need to see them. Because taking us at our word wouldn’t be hardcore, dude. —D.X. Ferris Band: Silent Fury Website: silentfury.net Hometown: Syracuse, NY Sounds like: “Metallica put Hinder in a headlock and made them funnel.” Fun fact: “Lead singer has…
Drew Carey and the Seattle Sounders
This story was in the PD this weekend sometime, but I’m guessing some of you, well, most of you missed it because… it was in the PD this weekend. Drew Carey is a huge soccer fan. He was actually hired by a wire service to shoot the 2006 World Cup and came back from the…
Things to Read That Might Not Suck: Remember Andre Rison Edition
Just stuff. Nothing special. Be grateful though, you didn’t have to go looking for it. — Andre Rison apparently has a new book out — Wide Open — and in it, he, predictably, goes all Rison-y. Best receiver to ever play the game? Sure, Andre. Sure. (Sportress of Blogitude) — Searching for a picture for…
Thom Zimny bringing rare Springsteen footage to the Rock Hall
Film editor Thom Zimny first met Bruce Springsteen when he worked on Live in New York City, a half-hour HBO documentary (and later a DVD) that garnered Zimny an Emmy for his editing work. That was nine years ago. In Live in New York City’s wake, Zimny went on to win a Grammy for his…
The Prog Jake — Not Among the Most Vegetarian Friendly Ballparks
PeTA announced the top ten major league ballparks ranked by how friendly they are to vegetarians, and Cleveland is not on the list. I suppose that’s only news to those of us that eat meat, as if you depend on bountiful and varied vegi options to survive and you also happen to love going to…
Live Nation Selling Tickets Without Service Fees Again
Apparently, last week’s “No Service Fee Wednesday” was such a hit, Live Nation is doing it again this Wednesday. Starting at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday and running for the next 24 hours, music fans can snag tickets to Nautica, Blossom and Time Warner Cable Amphitheater concerts without Live Nation’s wallet-busting service fees getting in the way.…
Artie Lange Is Comin’ to Town
Artie Lange — the greatest Howard Stern sidekick ever — is comin’ to the Cleve on June 20. All tickets are $50. Lange is playing two shows: one scheduled for 7 p.m., one scheduled for 9:30. All due respect to Artie, we’ll be shocked if he arrives anywhere close to on-time for either. The tix…
Frank Gehry Out as Atlantic Yards Arena Architect
What with no Cavs basketball to pay attention to for the next couple of months, discussion about the Cavs among fans and faux media types will center around not only what Danny Ferry should do to upgrade the roster for next year, but what that, among many other bits of news, means to the prospects…
Chimaira to Play “Secret” Cleveland Show
Chimaira is playing a special limited-list-access show at the Grog Shop on Wednesday. MySpace music is sponsoring the metal massacre. Admission is limited to MySpace users who are notified via MySpace Music’s Secret Show profile. Doors at 8 p.m. —D.X. Ferris
Hot Cha Cha Finishing Album, Hitting the Road
Hard-rocking Cleveland quartet Hot Cha Cha is putting the final touches on their first full-length release, to be titled The World’s Hardest Working Telescope and the Violent Birth of Stars, at Exit Stencil studios in the Waterloo district. The follow-up to last year’s EP, Rifle I Knew You When You Were Just a Pistol, is…
Friends and Colleagues Pay Tribute to Roberto Ocasio
The Cleveland Museum of Art and Cleveland State University are hooking up to honor the life and music of a Cleveland musician whose influence goes on and on and on, despite his death in an auto accident in January 2004. From 6:30-9 p.m. on Friday, “A Tribute to Roberto Ocasio” takes place at the CSU…
Money Where Your Mouth Is: Love in October
From time to time, C-Notes lets the artists do their thing their way, man. Plus, you need to go to Pat’s in the Flats more. Band: Love in October Website: www.loveinoctober.com or www.myspace.com/loveinoctober Hometown: Chicago, IL Sounds like: “Sweet Swedish indie dance-rock playing from a phonograph record that your mother gave you for your 7th…
Springsteen Weekend
For those who didn’t get their fill of Bruce Springsteen at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s current exhibit, From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen, the Rock Hall’s got a feast that should sate even the most ravenous fan. Next weekend, it’s presenting the…
6/10: Chad Zumock and Ryan Dalton CD release party
Chad Zumock and Ryan Dalton celebrate the release of their first comedy CD on June 10, 8-11 p.m., at Brothers Lounge (11609 Detroit Rd.) It’s $8, and advance tickets are available here.
SLOTS, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE
They’re at it again. Unable to persuade Ohio voters to just lift the state constitution’s ban on gambling, backers of various gambling schemes have resorted to subterfuge to get their issues on the ballot and to try to get them passed (so far without luck on the latter). This year’s deceptively named issue (following in…
FRIDAY MONKEY BLOGGING: TAKIN’ WHAT THEY’RE GIBBON
With Cleveland’s weather slowly warming, a trio of monkeys have left their winter residence for their summer home at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Three Mueller’s gibbons can now be seen daily swinging from tree to tree on an island at the center of the Zoo’s Waterfowl Lake. If they’re not swinging from branches or ropes, the…
Polka Grammy is dead! Long live Polka!
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the parent organization of the Grammys, has announced the elimination of the polka Grammy, first presented in 1986. By the time the Grammys got around to honoring the ebullient dance music based on Eastern European folk tunes, it was already past its peak. It gained popularity in…
6/6-7: Northeast Ohio Polka Fest
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the parent organization of the Grammys, has announced the elimination of the polka Grammy, first presented in 1986. By the time the Grammys got around to honoring the ebullient dance music based on Eastern European folk tunes, it was already past its peak. It gained popularity in…
6/9: Bike Night at Hard Rock
On Tuesday, June 9, Hard Rock Cafe Cleveland and Cleveland’s Original Harley-Davidson Sales Company will host the Cleveland Police Athletic League’s Bike Night. During the event, guests can enter to win a 2009 Harley Davidson “Fat Bob” motorcycle and other prizes with proceeds benefiting the Cleveland Police Athletic League. Bike parking will be reserved in…
New Zooey Deschanel Movie Comes With Hispter-Approved Soundtrack
It’s no secret that I have a super-huge crush on actress Zooey Deschanel. Hell, I have the restraining order to prove it! I chased her all around Austin last year. I’ve sat through most of her movies — even the crappy ones. Thankfully, her latest, the romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer (which opens next…
Jazz Singer Kurt Elling Joins Dave Brubeck at PlayhouseSquare
Back in April, 88-year-old jazz piano legend Dave Brubeck was a little under the weather and, given his advanced age, was advised not to travel to Cleveland for his Tri-C JazzFest performance. He’s all better and the show, rescheduled for 8 p.m. tomorrow at PlayhouseSquare’s Allen Theatre, will go on. The opportunity to see this…
SOMETHING FOR COUNCIL TO THINK ABOUT OVER THE SUMMER
Amid the legislation-dumping that regularly occurs before every summer, Sharon Dumas, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson’s robotically unfazed finance director, slipped in casually to council’s finance committee meeting on Monday and coolly ran through the new reality: The shit is really about to hit the fan. Next year’s projected deficit is $63 million — $10 million…
Beat It
Dave Brewer has been known for more than 30 years as one of the area’s most dedicated percussion educators — holding classes, clinics, workshops and drum circles under the banner of “Creative Drumming.” Every year, he sponsors a “Rhythm Reunion,” where he invites all his students — past, present and prospective. He showcases his best…
THEY’LL BE WATCHING YOU
For half a decade city leaders have been rebuffed when they’ve brought up putting dashboard cameras in Cleveland’s police cruisers. Too expensive, they’ve been told. And don’t forget that liability risks could trump the evidentiary benefits. Yes, it’s frightening to even consider how dangerous it could be to hold officers accountable. But, alas, dash cams…
Long Weekend….
This blog is taking an early weekend break and will not return until Monday. Keep yourselves busy with the tremendous stuff posted below. Or go outside. Or read them outside. RIP Jack
REED BETWEEN THE LINES
Finally, at 6 p.m. tonight (Thursday), Cleveland Councilman Zack Reed will announce his decision on which of three ward races he’ll beat street for this year, now that his Mt. Pleasant Ward 3 is being carved to pulp in Council President Marty Sweeney’s redistricting shuffle. At Holy Trinity Baptist Church, at 131st Street off Union,…
New adidas NBA Team Shoes
Even if you’re not into sneakers, this pair has to look pretty cool. The NBA series from adidas will roll out later this year or early in 2010 and there’s some changes from previous installments. From Rich Lopez over at SN’s First Cuts: Unlike past adidas NBA Series installments which served as painful reminders to…
ANOTHER CONSERVATIVE MYTH SHATTERED
A new study confirms that medical bills are a key factor in most personal bankruptcies, and notes that the trend is on the rise. That’s not new, but this is: Medical insurance isn’t much help, either. About 78% of bankruptcy filers burdened by healthcare expenses were insured, according to the survey, to be published in…
Services Friday for Mutant Soldier Singer
<param name="movie"Kevin “Sku” Skizenta, a Sagamore Hills police officer and former frontman of Mutant Soldier, died Tuesday, June 2, succumbing to Leukemia. He had turned 40 the previous day. Skizenta was a husband and father of two. Calling hours will be Friday June 5, at Ferfolia Funeral Home (356 W. Aurora Road [Rt. 82]), from…
The Ballad of Ten Cent Beer Night
On the 35th anniversary of the disastrous, drunken promotion, a video and song to commemorate the occasion. I’m not saying the song is good. I’m saying it’s there to watch, if you want. It sounds like a Renaissance fair. (Hat tip to Big League Stew.)
Radio and Records shuts down
In a clear sign of the rapidly worsening landscape for commercial radio and the major record labels, the bible of their symbiotic relationship, Radio & Records, has ceased publication. The June 5 issue will be last. Record-label promotion staff and radio-station program directors lived and died by the trade publication, whose charts tracked the status…
The Lake Erie Crushers Home Opener Was Last Night
Traffic issues notwithstanding (it took at good hour to get from the freeway exit into the stadium parking lot), the Lake Erie Crushers’home opener on Tuesday night at All Pro Freight Stadium in Avon was a huge success, attended by a sold-out crowd and the local politicians who made it all happen. The unaffiliated, amateur…
Land of the Lost is a dirty rotten remake
Sid and Marty Kroft’s original Land of the Lost was by no means a shining moment in television history, but it was harmless enough fun for the Saturday morning kiddie audience of the ’70s. This big screen version, which opens area wide tomorrow, takes the basic premise of that series. While on an expedition, Marshall…
10-CENT BEER NIGHT: THIS TIME WILL BE DIFFERENT
On June 3, 1974, one of the most infamous events in sports history occurred at Cleveland Municipal Stadium when the Indians held 10-cent beer night, and predictably, all hell occurred. Today, Now That’s Class (11213 Detroit Ave.), will be celebrating the 35th anniversary of the infamous drunken evening with a 10-cent beer night of its…
Hat Trick Hats — The Fate of the Celebratory Hats in Columbus
Over the weekend, sometime between watching the Cavs lose and heckling Yankees fans with replica jerseys that their team doesn’t wear names on the backs of theirs, I was watching Sportscenter and wondered: What happens to all the hats thrown on the ice at hockey games for hat tricks? Well, a couple of days later,…
Cleveland Bar Celebrates 35th Anniversary of Ten Cent Beer Night with Ten Cent Beer
35 years ago today, on June 4, 1974, one of the most infamous events in sports history occurred at Cleveland Municipal Stadium when the Indians held ten cent beer night, and predictably, all hell occurred. Today, Now That’s Class (11213 Detroit Ave.), will be celebrating the 35th anniversary of the infamous drunken evening with a…
This Should Give LeBron and Co. Appropriate Motivation
Kevin Garnett supposedly has guaranteed that the Celtics win the title the next two years. Garnett expressed optimism in a recent conversation with team owner Wyc Grousbeck, who spoke yesterday at a corporate sponsorship event at the Boston Harbor Hotel. “I talked to [Garnett] and he guaranteed the championship in 2010 and in 2011,” Grousbeck…
NFL Illustrations
Make sure you head on over to Uni Watch for today’s main entry. It’s all about a new site, Illustrated NFL, which will cover just what you would expect from the name. The emphasis is on classic, gorgeous works of NFL times gone by — Pro! mag, posters, paintings, etc. — especially the work of…
Cain Park Hooks You Up With Really Good Concert Tickets
Apparently this is the week for concert-ticket deals. On the heels of yesterday’s Live Nation no-service-fee sale, Cain Park in Cleveland Heights has its own special offer on summer shows in its Evans Amphitheater. Tomorrow only you can call the box office at 216.371-3000 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., utter the magic words “first…
This Just In: Concert Announcements
C-Notes has 35 new shows for you this week. Emo: Copeland. Christian Metal: August Burns Red. Soldier from the 70s: Peter Frampton. ’80s Hair-Metal Hottie: Lita Ford. And much, much more … —D.X. Ferris Sikiru Adepoju & Afrika Heart Beat/Raquy & the Cavemen: Ballroom, Starwood Festival presents, Sat., July 18, 8 p.m., $15. Beachland. Amplexus/Sighlo/Shelflyfe/Drop…
Springsteen Pal Drops by HOF to Talk Bruce
Dave Marsh, veteran rock journalist (Creem, Rolling Stone) and semi-official First Friend of Bruce Springsteen, spoke at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last night in conjunction with the Rock Hall’s new exhibit, From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen. Marsh, a longtime friend of Springsteen manager…
Aerosmith to Play Entire “Toys” Album at Blossom
The bad news: Aerosmith’s new album isn’t done and won’t be done before (or any time shortly after) their summer tour. The good news: The tour won’t be just another best-of set. For the summer roadshow, the boys from Boston will be breaking out 1975’s Toys in the Attic album in its entirety. Toys is…
AS FATTY AS THEY WANNA BE
As the Ohio Highway Patrol’s green footprint is getting fainter, its law-enforcement union is fighting for troopers’ footprints to be as heavy as they’d like. In contract negotiations with the state, the National Troopers Coalition is pushing to nix a rule that allows for termination if troopers get too pudgy. You’d think they’d be trying…
Air Guitarists Rock HOB
The always-entertaining regional US Air Guitar competition came to town last night at House of Blues’ Cambridge Room. Pre-registration was slow (only four contestants signed up), but the contest heated up as promoters recruited a group of “wild cards” to round out the bill and bring the total number of contestants to 13. They didn’t…
SCENE: IN BED WITH CITY HALL FOR A SUSTAINABLE CLEVELAND
Envision a bed with the media on one side and earnest legislators on the other. What gloriously hubristic pillow talk there would be. But could this passionate embrace ever last? U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and PD columnist Connie Schultz are giving it a go and don’t even seem to hate each other yet. But, yeah:…
Performing Songwriter Mag Closes Shop
Another music mag has folded. Performing Songwriter, which started 16 years ago as a publication aimed at singer-songwriter types and their fans, recently published its June issue. It was just announced that this would be its last. Like all music magazines — the late Blender, Rolling Stone, etc. — Performing Songwriter struggled to maintain an…
Live Nation’s “No Service Fee Wednesday” Not Exactly Service Fee-Free
Before you rush to buy those Blink-182 or Toby Keith tickets as part of Live Nation’s “No Service Fee Wednesday” promotion, you might want to read this CNN story. Apparently, there are some service fees after all. Big surprise. Maybe they should have called it “No Service Fee, Except for This One Here and, Oh…
Harry Bacharach’s New Gig, Baby!
This week, singer/pianist Harry Bacharach, who holds down Mondays and Thursdays at the Velvet Tango Room in Ohio City, will be starting a series of Friday evening gigs from 5-8 p.m. on the patio at Nighttown in Cleveland Heights. Bacharach’s specialty is airy, spirited versions of pop classics by composers ranging from Cole Porter to…
Download a Classic WMMS Warren Zevon Show for Free
Head on over to the Internet Archive, like, right now, because a classic WMMS in-studio performance by Warren Zevon is up for grabs. The jam-band-fan-approved site recently posted nearly 100 free shows by Zevon (with approval from the late singer-songwriter’s family) recorded on the road between 1976 and 2001. That means you’re free to download…
Reunions! Reunions!
Local-band reunion concerts seem to come in waves, as if nostalgia kicks in after a certain amount of time. The reunion bug has now bitten a bunch of the poppy, harmony-driven alternative rock bands that flourished here in the early-mid 90s. A few months ago, World in a Room — the Smiths/R.E.M./U2-influenced group that once…
Wahoos Since Moved On… Jorge Julio
My friend and former colleague, the estimable Gus Garcia-Roberts, did a brief stint here at Scene that overlapped perfectly with the brief stint one Jorge Julio made with the Cleveland Indians. Now, there’s no earthly reason for anyone to care about that, except it seemed, from the very beginning of the 2008 campaign, that Gus…
Things to Read That Might Not Suck: True Link Dump Edition
Simply put: Here’s a bunch of stuff that doesn’t merit individual posts, but which is entertaining and worth your time nonetheless. — Deadspin’s podcast welcomed Joe Posnanski the other day. Listen to hear all about his crankiness and his forced apology to the city of Cleveland. (Deadspin) — Anyone who has taken in a drive-in…
More on the MVPuppets Trail — Nike Plans on Continuing the Spots Through the Finals
First, that shirt was captured during game six of TNT’s broadcast of the Eastern Conference Finals. Not sure whether you can file it under the Bills Super Bowl Champions t-shirt category yet or not. A quick survey around the interwebs shows it’s not for sale anywhere. Whether that means it might be in the future,…
CD Review: Iggy Pop
On Préliminaires, Iggy Pop sounds all of his sixtysome years, and it’s about damn time. Once a shoo-in for the burn-out side of the standard rock equation, Pop changed course throughout most of the past decade, choosing the reissue-and-rehash fade that makes the cliché seem accurate. With Préliminaires, Pop manages to sidestep the issue altogether.…
Around Hear: Revolution Recording Gets Rolling
A Lakewood storefront is home to a new studio and Internet radio station. After an amicable split with Lava Room Recording, Billy Morris has set up Revolution Recording in the basement of 11798 Detroit Ave. He and a small crew are running digital equipment in a space that’s set up for recording and jamming. “It’s…
CD Review: The Sounds
Indie new-wave kids across the world fell in love with the Sounds when the Swedish band released Living in America in 2002. On Crossing the Rubicon, they prove they still know how to make indie new-wave sound cool. The album’s opener, “No One Sleeps When I’m Awake,” starts with a sleepy guitar before rushing into…
TWO PACK
“Rap is a confessional form,” says Cleveland playwright Michael Oatman. “Tupac [Shakur] rhymed a lot about street life and the African-American condition, about his own life, how he came up. He took it to another level, talking about his sins and shortcomings.” Oatman, who is playwright in residence at Karamu House, explores the controversial rapper’s…
CD Review: Lionel Richie
In a pop culture where demeaning, over-sexualized images of women are often the norm, Lionel Richie’s world is an inviting one. Unabashedly sensitive, Richie’s tunes are populated by flesh-and-blood women who are treated with goddess-like reverence. On Just Go, Richie teams up with a variety of producers: Christopher “Tricky” Stewart (Mariah Carey, Usher), Stargate (Ne-Yo,…
Taking Sides
On the Other Side, a show of large-scale painting and wall-mounted sculpture now on display at the Cleveland State University Art Gallery, is a time-traveling exhibit of works, a few of which feel like they dug in their heels back during some fraught, neo-expressionist moment in the 1980s. That in itself isn’t a bad thing;…
Susannah Perlman
For the better part of six years, Susannah Perlman has been “schticking it to the man,” as she likes to put it, with her music and comedy show, Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad. Perlman serves as ringleader of sorts for the traveling sideshow, which started as an off-Broadway production and has turned into a touring…
TRUCE?
North Olmsted will never be mistaken for the South Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The West Side bedroom community does not possess a world-class assemblage of offbeat shops, galleries and restaurants. And nowhere within its borders will one stumble into a boozy nightlife scene like that of Pittsburgh’s East Carson Street, a sobriety-crushing strip of bars,…
Local CD Reviews
Scarcity of Tanks No Endowments (Textile/Total Life Society) Scarcity of Tanks’ frontman Matthew Wascovich hails from Cleveland, but to ears ringing from the noisy rock of Shellac, the Jesus Lizard and other Touch & Go-affiliated bands, the group’s jazzbo clang-and-din comes across as decidedly Chicago-like. Trolley-cable bass lines sproinnng, saxes squawk and spincter-tight drums combust,…
Bites: Tremont Trek Home Tour
It’s immediately clear upon arrival that the Hamptons lacks a certain level of panache. Built in the late 1960s, the four-building apartment complex is home to men and women of a certain age, most of whom winter well south of Cincinnati. But that is precisely where restaurateur Carl Quagliata opted to reopen his popular Italian…
Made in the U.S.A.
TOP PICK Pete Seeger: American Favorite Ballads (Smithsonian Folkways) The veteran folkie recently celebrated his 90th birthday. What better way to commemorate than with this terrific five-CD set, which includes more than 125 songs Seeger recorded in the ’50s and ’60s. You’ll recognize many of the tunes (“She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain,” “Goodnight, Irene,”…
Men Behaving Badly
After a brief surge in the ’70s (with films like Animal House, The Longest Yard and Slap Shot), the Guy Movie took a hit in the ’80s, as the Teen Movie and the Chick Flick vied for bucks at the theater. The past few years have seen a strong return of the Guy Movie, with…
Knitting at the Cedar Lee
As part of a project called Knitscape CedarLee, artists are knitting and crocheting sheaths for select trees in the neighborhood to mark the business district with a line of color and pattern — to knit, in the shape of the pieces, an identity for the city. Artist Carol Hummel crocheted a cover for a parking-meter…
Wait!
Dan Ciavarelli’s round, happy face greets me at the door of his Strongsville town home. He shakes my right hand with his left like you do when only one hand is free. He chuckles, asks about Scene sales job he’s seen advertised. He isn’t kidding. “Yeah, everyone’s cutting back,” the 53-year-old says, like he’s said…
sisterhood of the traveling bands
If last year’s Lottery League taught us anything about Cleveland’s music scene, it’s that it’s a close-knit community where hybridization can be successful. Maybe it has to do with Cleveland’s geographical location, well removed from cultural hubs like New York and Los Angeles, so trends are often thankfully ignored. It’s this environment that’s spawned Little…
Reel Cleveland: A Pet Rescue Doc
Tom McPhee’s award-winning documentary, An American Opera: The Greatest Pet Rescue Ever!, a film about what happened to the pets left behind when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, is on a tour that includes stops at more than 100 different cities (with plans to expand to Canada too). The movie includes interviews with rescuers and…
Capsule Reviews
Opening Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (US, 1970) Paul Newman and Robert Redford star as the infamous outlaws. Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. At 7:20 p.m. Saturday, June 6, and 8:50 p.m. Sunday, June 7. Enlighten Up Determined to prove that under the right circumstances, yoga can transform even the most jaded person, yoga…
Grecian Formula
There’s an episode of The Larry Sanders Show in which Phil, the head writer, sells a pilot for a sitcom about an indie band in Seattle. By the time the producers finish with the script, it has become a vehicle for Dave Chappelle, and it’s about a hip-hop group in Detroit. I thought about this…
Tightly Knit
It’s not unusual that a reunion album is marketed as a “return to the glory days.” But in the case of the new Meat Puppets CD Sewn Together, it’s high praise that also begs an important question. If you’re a grizzled cult band that’s slogged through a cartoonishly tumultuous 30-year career, what exactly qualifies as…
MOW RIGHT WOMAN, MOW RIGHT MAN
On an otherwise fair June afternoon when I was 12, my father beckoned to me from behind his huge and terrifying orange lawn mower. “It’s high time you start mowing the lawn,” he said. The mower was a 1955 Jacobsen Estate — a laughably polite misnomer. “Estate” evokes images of lawn parties, dainty cucumber sandwiches…
CD Review: Elvis Costello
The last time Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnett made an album together was 1986’s King of America, Costello’s last great record. Since then, Costello has settled into a sort of hipster sage, while Burnett’s become the curator of tasteful Americana, scoring with the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack and Robert Plant and Alison…
CD Review: Sunn0)))
Monoliths & Dimensions, the seventh studio album from Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley’s high-concept ensemble SunnO))), continues the band’s tradition of alienating meat-and-potato metalheads while winning over experimental-music enthusiasts. It benefits from composer Eyvind Kang’s adept and often subtle string and horn arrangements. But this isn’t SunnO))) with the San Francisco Symphony — this is…
CD Review: Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson and Eminem are both back this month, trying to be as scary as when they first appeared. Neither one succeeds. Eminen is reduced to TMZ-like punch lines and serial-killer pastiche, and Manson’s just repeating himself, musically and lyrically. His last album, 2007’s Eat Me, Drink Me, might have been a pitiable weepfest inspired…
CD Review: Grizzly Bear
When you buy a box of Jelly Bellys in assorted flavors, you better be prepared for a variety of tastes. Sure, you’ll get watermelon and lime, but you’re also going to taste an occasional popcorn-flavored bean. It’s the same thing with Veckatimest, Grizzly Bear’s third album, a mish-mosh of dramatic mood swings, with each song…
