Update: ‘My Friend Dahmer,’ a Film Based on Local Cartoonist Derf’s Graphic Novel, to Receive a Theatrical Release in the Fall
Update: My Friend Dahmer, the film based on the book by local graphic novelist and cartoonist John “Derf” Backderf, made such a splash at the Tribeca festival that Variety magazine now reports it will receive a theatrical release in the fall. “It’s a serious and audacious attempt to dramatize the inner life of a sick puppy when…
Case of Euclid Jail Supervisor Who Allegedly Misused Police Database to Find Ex-Wife’s Boyfriend Referred to Prosecutor’s Office
Update: Steven Key, a former supervisor at the Euclid Jail, which is run by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department, has been under investigation for months now for allegedly misusing a police database to look up the license plate of his ex-wife’s boyfriend to find his address. After doing so, he repeatedly visited the man’s house.…
The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork Talk Beatles, the 60s and More Ahead of Wizard World
The term “selfie” didn’t exist in 1966, but the Beatles were closing the curtain on their career of concerts and decided to bring cameras on stage to document their final live performance (not counting the unannounced rooftop performance at Apple Headquarters in 1969). Holding cameras at arm’s length, they snapped historic photos of themselves and…
BAYarts Hosts Special Openings This Weekend — And Zygote Press Follows Up with Annual 4U
With two very special exhibitions opening simultaneously, it is sure to be a big night at BAYarts this Friday. These new exhibitions include BAYarts’ Annual Juried Exhibition in the Sullivan Family Gallery and Liz Maugans: The City Pool & People at the Church in the Diane Boldman Education Gallery. Maugans has a busy weekend herself,…
Bar Symon Coming to Cleveland Hopkins Airport
Bar Symon closed in Avon Lake seven years ago, but it will reopen this spring at Cleveland Hopkins Airport. It is going into the former Panini’s Bar & Grill space in Concourse C. With locations at Pittsburgh International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport, the Cleveland spot makes the third in the bunch. The restaurants…
Henry Gomez to BuzzFeed, and Other Personnel Changes at Cleveland.com
Cleveland.com’s Chief Politics Writer Henry Gomez has taken a position with BuzzFeed. Business Insider reported Tuesday afternoon that Gomez will be covering the Republican Party in the age of Trump for the digital publication, and will be doing so not from Washington D.C. or New York City, but from good old Ohio. Gomez consummated the…
Rancid and Dropkick Murphys to Bring Co-Headlining Tour to Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica
Rancid and Dropkick Murphys hail from opposite sides of the country, yet they’ll spend the summer sharing a bill. Earlier today, the bands announced the details of their co-headlining From Boston To Berkeley Tour. The jaunt comes to Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica on July 30. The two bands share a long history. Some 20 years ago, Rancid’s Lars Frederiksen came across a…
Josh Mandel Shared an Unsubstantiated, Three-Year Old Story About Abuse Allegations at an Ohio Mosque
Ohio treasurer Josh Mandel tweeted the above story out last Thursday. “Ohio Mosque chains kids to walls & beats them for not reading Quran,” he said. “We must protect women & kids from these people.” The subject of the tweet probably wouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who follows Mandel on social media. Indeed,…
Gray House Pies to Open Bakery Café on Larchmere
Joe Schlott launched Gray House Pies as a second career by peddling pies from his front porch to hungry parishioners as they left a nearby church and passed by his old gray farmhouse. After five years of farmers market appearances and improvised commercial kitchens, Schlott opened the original Gray House Pies in Fairview Park in…
Wok n Roll to Take Over Food Ops at Side Quest
Since the Side Quest opened in Lakewood two and a half years ago, it has absolutely crushed it when it comes to providing a fun space for nerds, geeks and the people who love them to gather to drink, play board games and socialize. It has struggled, however, to provide a consistent food experience for…
Pink Martini, a French Opera Cinderella and Four More Classical Music Events to Hit This Week
Cinderella loses her glass slipper in French grand opera style this week as Oberlin Opera Theater produces Jules Massenet’s opera Cendrillon. Jonathon Field directs the show and Christopher Larkin conducts the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra at Hall Auditorium, with 8:00 pm curtain times on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, March 8, 10, and 11, and on Sunday,…
Cleveland Novelist Dan Chaon to Read from New Novel at Brews and Prose Tonight
Local writer Dan Chaon’s third novel, Ill Will was published today by Ballantine. Chaon will read from the book publicly for the first time at this evening’s Brews and Prose event at Market Garden Brewery. Chaon’s novel, which the Washington Post has praised as “exceptionally unnerving” and the “scariest book of the year,” was intended to…
Go Media Spotlights Its Hometown with Upcoming Open House
While they’re highly respected for their design work throughout the country, you may not be familiar with the Cleveland-based advertising and graphic design company Go Media. But know this: Their work has most certainly impacted your everyday life through ad campaigns with well-known celebrities and corporations. Or maybe you’ve attended their annual Weapons of Mass…
Woman Sentenced to One Year in Prison After Killing Puppy
Judge Joseph Russo sentenced 19-year-old Deanna Caraballo to one year in prison for animal cruelty. Last fall, she slammed an eight-week-old puppy named Smokey to the ground, killing it. The animal cruelty charges landed Caraballo with a felony conviction, thanks only to the advocates and legislators who worked to pass Goddard’s Law. Under that law,…
Adrian Belew Talks About His Decades Long Career and His Friendship with the Late David Bowie
Now known as a guitar hero, Adrian Belew got his start as a drummer and singer with a teen band that played what he describes as “all the early ’60s music.” He didn’t consider switching instruments until he caught mono and had to stay home. To kill the boredom, he taught himself to play guitar.…
Brit Rockers Alt-J Coming to Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica
When British indie rockers alt-J first began playing together over a decade ago, band members practiced in the school dorms and had to keep things so quiet, they weren’t even able to use drums. The band has moved up to bigger stages — two years ago, it played to a capacity crowd at Playhouse Square…
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur Seeks Eyewitness Reports of Trump Associates and Russian Ambassador at RNC
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur today visited Cleveland, the site of the 2016 Republican National Convention, to urge all residents, political leaders, cab drivers, restaurant operators, passersby and visitors of any stripe who may have been in the presence of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak or any advisers to President Donald Trump at the…
Nu-Metal Icons Korn Returning to Blossom in August
When the hard rock act Korn emerged in the early 1990s, critics coined the term nu-metal to describe its sound, an amalgam of hip-hop and metal. While the genre’s popularity rose and fell, Korn never completely fell out of fashion. The veteran band came through town last summer in advance of The Serenity of Suffering,…
Quicken Loans Arena Negotiators Donated to Armond Budish’s Campaign
County Executive Armond Budish scampered to the offices of Cleveland.com last Thursday, accompanied by high-powered attorney Fred Nance and County Law Director Robert Triozzi. The trio’s mission: Assure the reporters and editors at Cleveland.com that the selection of Nance as negotiator and of his firm, Squire Patton Boggs, as bond counsel in the Q renovation…
NBC Nightly News Covers Growing Heroin Epidemic in Ohio with a Family Destroyed By Addiction: VIDEO
There’s no shortage of data points in the quest to accurately convey the magnitude of Ohio’s heroin overdose epidemic. A recent CDC report, for example, states that, on average, nine people fatally overdosed on heroin in Ohio every day in 2015. The problem continues to get worse. Just last month, here in Cuyahoga County, the…
Chow Chow to Close Shop in Lakewood to Merge with Parkview Nite Club
It’s been a year and a half since Joseph Zegarac opened the popular Southern-styled shop Chow Chow Kitchen in Lakewood, and almost since the beginning the young chef was wondering where it all might lead. Expansion was the obvious choice, given the shop’s almost nonexistent dining room. But where? And with whom? “After 6 months…
Fahrenheit Launches Brunch Service Starting Sunday
Chef/owner Rocco Whalen has wanted to bring brunch to Cleveland’s Fahrenheit for years, and this Sunday, he and his crew at the esteemed Tremont establishment will unleash the eggs, bacon (of course!), Bloody Marys and oh yes, the Jumbo Cap’N Crunch Pancakes. “This is a service period I’ve been dying to do in Cleveland for a long time,”…
Video: A Chat With George Dickey, Owner of Dickey’s Lanes on West 25th
Behind the Sign, an irregular and mesmerizing interview/video series made by the mysterious Cleveland SGS collective that tells the backstories to some of the oldest family businesses in Cleveland, debuted the fifth installment this week and it just so happens to center on one of our favorite places in the whole city. Here’s George Dickey, owner…
Public Square Opens to Buses with New, Ugly Safety Features
Bright and early Monday morning, RTA buses began traveling through Public Square for the first time in two years. After months of negotiations between the City of Cleveland, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Mayor Frank Jackson relented at last and agreed to open Superior Avenue through the…
Rapper Travis Scott to Perform at Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica in May
On tour to support last year’s Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, rapper Travis Scott has just announced he’ll bring his summer tour to Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica on May 21. A huge success, the album debuted at the top of the charts when it dropped last year and has gotten close to one billion…
Swastika Carved Into Door of Lorain Synagogue
“We will rise and gas you bitch.” Those were the words that accompanied a swastika carved into the doorframe of the Agudath B’nai Israel Synagogue in Lorain earlier this month. A day care worker at the organization discovered the message after arriving to work one morning. Police say they have no suspects, according to the…
Patti Smith Reflects on Her Debut, Which She’ll Perform in Its Entirety at the State Theatre
Cultural critic Antonio Gramsci uses the term “organic intellectual” to describe people who “direct the ideas and aspirations of their class even though they hold no formal status or employment as ‘intellectuals.’” Rock singer Patti Smith embodies this notion. Smith arrived on the rock scene with a bang — her 1975 debut Horses established her…
Cavs Book Final Guest, Andrew Bogut, Checking How Mainsail Sets
Two deep blasts from the ship’s horn punctuate the early spring air like an exclamation point signaling imminent departure. After grueling months in the regular season’s dry dock, the S.S. Cavs Repeat neared launch, amply provisioned and finally fully staffed. The championship banner furling in the breeze wants company and that’s the kind of desire…
‘I Never Met Him Anywhere Outside of Cleveland’: Trump Advisers Spoke with Russian Ambassador During RNC
Carter Page, an apparent one-time adviser to President Donald Trump (during the election campaign), spoke with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the Republican National Convention last summer. It’s unclear what precisely came of those conversations, but they’re now forming the backbone of a serious push for an inquiry into the administration’s communications with Russian politicians prior to…
60 Opiate Overdose Deaths in Cuyahoga County in February, More Than Any Other Single Month
[image-1] At least 60 people fatally overdosed on heroin or fentanyl in Cuyahoga County last month, the most opiate-related deaths in a single month here. Already, at least 109 people have overdosed and died in Cuyahoga County this year. That’s compared to 55 overdose deaths in January and February of 2016. As we’ve reported many…
In Pittsburgh, City Leaders Reject Public Financing for Heinz Field Upgrades
All over the country — but not in Cleveland — city leaders are finally getting wise to the pilfering schemes of billionaire sports owners. In Pittsburgh, for instance, just this week, the city’s Sports and Exhibition Authority rejected the idea of public financing for enhancements at Heinz Field, home of the Steelers. The enhancements, which…
Donald Trump Wants to Cut Great Lakes Federal Funding By 97 Percent
Early reports of President Donald Trump’s U.S. EPA budgetary plan show that the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative annual funding could be slashed from $300 million to around $10 million. That’s a 97-percent decrease in federal funding for resources for the world’s largest group of freshwater lakes. Rob Davis at The Oregonian has been reporting on the…
After Complaints, Cleveland Establishes Programs to Assist Non-English Speaking Residents
This week, Mayor Frank Jackson joined Global Cleveland President Joe Cimperman in announcing a sweeping update to the city’s language accessibility program, largely that there now exists one. Thanks to at least a year of planning and work, documents and city news and phone communications will be available across a spectrum of languages, including Spanish,…
Cleveland International Film Festival Releases the Schedule for This Year’s Event
Earlier today, the folks at the Cleveland International Film Festival announced their schedule for this year’s event, which takes place from March 29 to April 9 at Tower City Cinemas. The festival will also include select neighborhood screening locations. In all, CIFF will showcase 202 feature films and 216 short films from 71 countries. Tickets go…
Popular Seafood-in-a-Bag Concept Coming to Coventry Road
Ever since Winking Lizard closed its doors on Coventry last summer after nearly 20 years, there has been a flurry of activity inside the space. But all of it has been concealed by craft paper, leaving passersby few clues as to what would replace the wing-and-beer joint. The name – Seafood Shake – conjured images…
Loganberry Books Shelves Men’s Books Backwards as a ‘Metaphor of Silencing the Male Voice’
Wednesday night, Harriett Logan and her crew at Loganberry Books purposefully shelved all of the works written by men backwards. That’s right, in honor of Women’s History Month, the Shaker Heights secondhand bookstore switched around 10,000 books of general fiction and poetry penned by male authors so that their spines faced inward. The process took two hours.…
5 Concerts to Catch This Weekend
FRIDAY, MARCH 3 Coup de Grace CD Release/Jeff Klemm & the Letters/The Brothers Band Over the years, Coup de Grace singer Nick Reese has played with several local acts and often filled in with others when needed. But all the while, he and drummer Tig have consistently worked together, originally in the George Harrison Ford…
Ruth’s Chris Steak House to Open in 200 Public Square Building on March 13
[image-1]The wait is almost over for fans of Ruth’s Chris Steak House and its signature 500-degree sizzling plates. The company announced its plans to take over the former Frank & Pauly’s space on the lower level of the 200 Public Square Building way back in the summer of 2015. Diners can now look forward to…
Local Rockers the Ohio Weather Band Win Contest to Open for Bon Jovi
Earlier this year, classic rockers Bon Jovi announced an opening act contest designed to give bands the chance to open for the band when it plays on March 19 at the Q. Thousands of bands uploaded audition videos. To pick the winner for each tour date, the folks at Live Nation chose 10 finalists, and Bon…
Hall & Oates/Tears for Fears to Play the Q in May
Earlier today, Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Daryl Hall & John Oates announced that they’ll partner with ’80s rockers Tears For Fears for a 29-city North American tour. The summer arena tour will also feature a special acoustic performance by opening act Allen Stone. The jaunt includes a May 20 stop at Quicken Loans…
No One Will Ever Touch LeBron in this Statistical Category
LeBron James’ on-court achievements during the month of February were enough to net him NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month Honors. He has been so named 34 times, the most by any player since the designation was first handed out, during the 1979-1980 season. The Golden State Warriors’ Kevin Durant, with 14 Player of…
Indie Rockers Dinosaur Jr Still Possess a Sense of Purpose
Amherst, Mass.-based indie rockers Dinosaur Jr. have managed to survive not by succumbing to adaptive evolution but by creating a lush musical habitat all their own, playing a primal yet genre-defining combination of brash hardcore and moody, emotion-driven ballad rock. Grunge’s evolutionary tree includes close relatives Nirvana, Sonic Youth and the Pixies. While these other…
Contemporary Youth Orchestra to Perform the Music From ‘Pee-wee’s Big Holiday’
The founding Music Director of the Contemporary Youth Orchestra and the tour conductor for the rock group Styx, Liza Grossman got a heavy dose of all things orchestral while growing up in Detroit, where her parents regularly threw fundraising parties to try to keep the Motor City’s orchestra alive. Grossman, who’ll lead CYO as it…
Record Number of Concealed Carry Permits Issued in Ohio Last Year
[image-1]Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced this week that a record number of concealed carry permits had been issued or renewed last year. All told, the state has 158,982 permits in its database, according to recent figures. That’s just under 2 percent of the state’s adult population, which, of course, does not account for the number of…
Terrelle Pryor, Kevin Durant and Holy Crap! 2007 Was 10 Years Ago? — The A to Z Podcast With Andre Knott and Zac Jackson
Andre and Zac discuss the start of the NFL Scouting Combine, what Kevin Durant’s injury might and might not mean to the rest of the NBA season, wonder if the Cavs are Cleveland’s most talented team ever and look back 10 years ago to what really out of nowhere became one of Cleveland’s most magical…
New ‘Cleveland Eats’ Culinary Festival to Take Place Downtown this Fall
Come fall, Cleveland will have a new food-themed fest to call its own. The two-day Cleveland Eats Culinary Festival, organized by the Hospitality Management Center of Excellence at Cuyahoga Community College, will take place Friday and Saturday Sept. 15-16, on Mall B above the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland. Plans for the new event came…
The Summit 91.3 FM to Release Local Music Compilation
Akron-based the Summit 91.3 FM regularly puts local bands into rotation and features a streaming channel solely devoted to local music, so it makes sense the station would show its support for the local scene with the new sampler, The 330 Volume 2. The 21-song disc features tracks from several acts with local roots, including…
New Sports Website Launching in Cleveland
A new sports website is coming to Cleveland. It’s called The Athletic, and according to an introduction letter by basketball writer Jason Lloyd — lately of the Akron Beacon-Journal — it’ll seek to give readers high-quality sports journalism at an affordable price. “We’re taking the sports section out of the newspaper and in the process…
Scottish Rockers Franz Ferdinand to Play House of Blues in May
Part of the post-punk revival of the ‘00s, Scottish rockers Franz Ferdinand delivered a monster hit back in 2004 with the single “Take Me Out,” a rollicking, Strokes-like anthem. Now, the band has just revealed plans for a rare North American tour that includes festival appearances at Hangout Music Festival in May and Governors Ball…
Sterling Jewelers Denies Company Fostered Atmosphere of Sexual Harassment and Discrimination
In the wake of the Washington Post’s extensive story, sourced from arbitration documents, that detailed an allegedly pervasive culture of sexual harassment at Sterling Jewelers (parent company to Kay, Jared, etc.), the company released a statement disputing the “distorted and inaccurate media reports.” The statement is below in full. Our original post on the extensive,…
Cuyahoga County Council Exposes Q Deal as a Sham, Then Shrugs Shoulders
“I guess our hands are tied,” said County Councilwoman Nan Baker, at the tail end of a three-hour county council meeting Tuesday afternoon that probed, on a microbial level, the financial arrangements of the proposed Quicken Loans Arena renovation deal. “I’m disappointed, in a way, that we couldn’t have negotiated a true public-private partnership. The…
New ‘Southern-Style BBQ’ Joint Heading to Ohio City
[image-1]A barbecue joint will soon join the quickly burgeoning bar, restaurant and entertainment scene along Lorain Avenue in Ohio City. Next up for the strip that includes Platform Beer, The Grocery OHC, Herb’n Twine, the Plum, Jack Flaps, Ohio City Provisions (and the forthcoming Forest City Shuffleboard and Xinji Noodle Bar) is Ohio City BBQ.…
Heights Arts’ New Exhibition Explores the Uncertainty of Our Times
At a time when our country’s social and political future is perhaps at its most uncertain, the latest group exhibition at Heights Arts is perfectly timed to explore and express our shared hopes and anxieties. Public Conscience Through Graphics and Illustration showcases local artists with a shared graphic influence and a mutual interest in contemporary…
Op-Ed: “Cleveland – We Can Do Better”
Like many, I believe that we live in the finest city in the country. We have long been acclaimed as “the best location in the nation” and more recently have earned the title of “Believeland.” But as Senator Robert F. Kennedy declared in his short-lived run for the presidency in 1968, “We can do better.”…
Savage Love: Come Now
Dear Dan, Fortyish, straight, white dude here. I have this weird (possibly misogynistic) belief that, when it comes to sex, I can’t win. Actually, I think men in general can’t win. Thoughtful, well-meaning men at least. It comes down to this: During sex, if the man doesn’t come, it’s the man’s fault, because he clearly…
Kids Comic Con at Lake Erie Ink Bigger Than Ever
Last year’s Kids Comic Con at Lake Erie Ink brought nearly 100 talented young artists and writers to Cleveland Heights, from as far away as Toledo and western Pennsylvania. Following up on previous success, this year’s fifth annual Kids Comic Con is back and bigger than ever, with giveaways, door prizes, workshops led by comics…
Band Of The Week: Promise Hero
MEET THE BAND: Bobby Vaughn (vocals, guitars) HONOR ROLL STUDENTS: Early in 2006, singer Bobby Vaughn and guitarist Daniel Weiss, both of whom played together in high school in the indie rock band Honor Roll, started the Promise Hero. The group issued its self-titled album that same year and picked up some momentum by opening…
In the Push to Carve Up Northeast Ohio With Natural Gas Pipelines, Property Owners Are Winning So Far, But the Fight’s Not Over
A small dozer trundles around the frame of Vic Giaconia’s new home in Guilford Township, Ohio. Morning rain left a thick layer of mud on this late February day, and Giaconia arrives to look over the property, praising the construction work and snapping photos of the progress. Contractors set the first beam just last week.…
Hugh Jackman Plays Wolverine For One Last Time in the Somber ‘Logan’
Based on the Marvel Comics series Old Man Logan, Logan, the latest film in the X-Men series which opens this Friday, begins in media res when thugs carjack Logan’s limo. As the guys attempt to change a flat tire, Logan (Hugh Jackman) awakens in the back seat and confronts them. While Logan might be reduced…
A Family is White, Then Black, and Then Completely Different in ‘Barbecue’ at Cleveland Public Theatre
Even though last Sunday’s Oscar ceremony displayed a record number of wins by black stars, along with a nod to black screenwriters (with Moonlight winning Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay), there are still diversity issues in Hollywood. And that’s why it’s good timing for Barbecue, now at Cleveland Public Theatre. This play, which starts…
Bar Cento Welcomes Thomas Schrenk As Its New Executive Chef
Thomas Schrenk has reserved a sunny booth at the front of the restaurant for our lunchtime meeting. It’s one of the best seats in the house to admire the bustling Market District outside, a sight Schrenk missed after three years at the Glenmoor Country Club in Canton. Set on returning to the innovative restaurant scene…
Northeast Ohio Gets Up Close With Still-Life Mastery of George Mauersberger
With two solo exhibitions opening this weekend, evidence of the greatness of Cleveland-based artist George Mauersberger has never been more obvious. One of the region’s most talented still-life artists, Mauersberger’s depictions of everyday objects transcend realism. Mauersberger has a way of utilizing his materials to add personality and a life-like quality to his subjects. Mauersberger’s…
A Pared-Down Menu of Street Food-Inspired Dishes Sets Thai Thai Apart in a Crowded Landscape
It can be a challenge to stand out in the very crowded ethnic restaurant market of Lakewood, let alone Cleveland. When it comes to Thai food alone there are three separate options within a single half-mile stretch of Madison Avenue. Open just under a year, Thai Thai has indeed managed not only to stand out…
