Darius Goes West: Behind the scenes
Darius Goes West If you haven’t already seen the stand-out documentary, “Darius Goes West: The Roll of His Life” at the Cleveland International Film Festival, go now. Today. Immediately. (It’s playing at 4:15 p.m. at Tower City). The movie tells the story of Darius Weems, a hilarious, sweet-faced, 15-year-old who was born with Duchenne Muscular…
Kucinich is a hypocrite
Dennis Kucinich says he’s insulted. The local congressman and long-shot presidential candidate says it’s “an insult to the voters, and the height of cynicism for candidates to refuse to take the public stage and subject themselves to public scrutiny.” The congressman’s fuming because prominent Nevada Democrats, and several presidential candidates, have forced the cancellation of…
Fulwood Watch: Tales of Sam’s TV
We Read America’s Worst Columnist, Sam Fulwood III, So You Don’t Have To Headline: Old TV triumphs in Madness month Date: March 20, 2007 Topic: After Sam’s last column, in which he took a county judge to task for acquitting a racist cop, PD editors were concerned. They feared Sam was dangerously close to becoming…
Mikey G’s Entertainment Picks of the Week
Photos and paintings created by music’s legends are on display at the Debonné Winery This week’s top arts and entertainment picks around town, from the guy who’s paid to pick them: Tuesday: Air guitar is so 1995. Every Tuesday, the Rusty Barrel in Westlake holds a Guitar Hero Challenge, in which budding guitarists strap on…
This Just In… Concert Announcements
Kings of Leon play the House of Blues May 22 This week, 37 new shows, including the full lineup of August’s Vans Warped Tour. Thursday, March 22 Michael Glabicki (of Rusted Root)/MiG (Ayesa, from RockStar: INXS)/Julian Velard/Sindust: 7:30 p.m., $10 (all ages). Hard Rock Caf Cleveland, 230 Huron Rd., 216-830-7625. Friday, March 23 Edotkom/Rime Royal/Garbs…
Dennis Kucinich is not a loser
Kucinich, pictured with former presidential candidate John Kerry It seems like there are a lot of people in the media who want to pick on Dennis Kucinich [“The $6 Million Chihuahua,” February 7]. But the facts remain: He was right about the Iraq War and voted accordingly when it was not popular. He’s an intelligent,…
Amish parties aren’t pretty
You have “hit” only a tip of the ice berg [“Amish Girls Gone Wild,” March 14]. Attend a party during the summer in the forest. When the cops arrive kids are running everywhere, even up trees. The elders and parents dont approve, yet they do nothing. If these kids were not Amish they would all…
Ashley Spencer in the Grease finals
Ashley Spencer Word is that local actress Ashley Spencer is one of two finalists on NBC’s reality show, Grease: You’re the one That I Want, which will cast the lead roles in a new Broadway rendition of Grease. I say “word is” because when the show aired last night, I was busy watching the Outdoor…
Donnie Iris is still cool. No, really.
Donnie Iris, the once and forever King of Cool, rocked the House of Blues (308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-BLUE) Saturday night. Iris is the Michael Stanley of Pittsburgh — not much of a national name, but album-rock conissuers including Alice Cooper recognize him as a true great. Even though he’s a ‘Burgher, Cleveland loved him first,…
Concert review: Daughtry rocks the Grog
While Bo Bice is likely stalking members of 38 Special, Chris Daughtry brings the rock. You can count me among the 1 percent of the world who could care less about American Idol, though I have to admit that once in a while a contestant catches my attention. At least those working to bring the…
Akron bans church benevolence
Last Thursday, the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless held its annual meeting at the Franklin Circle Church. Aside from handing out its usual advocacy awards, the group also decided to give out its first Roadblock of the Year award ever. The lucky honoree: The City of Akron. Spokesman Brian Davis says Akron earned its…
Falconheart! hits Cleveland!
This press release hit my inbox this morning. It’s so hot it literally fried my hard drive: March 12, 2006, Cleveland — The Ultimate Energy Tour is landing at the HOB Cambridge Room on March 22nd to spread their message of Positivity through Rock and Roll to the eager masses. Falconheart! is Northeast Ohio’s Premier…
Zwack Party Photo Gallery
Fun things happen when Hungarian heirs and heiresses come to town, offering free liquor. Just don’t ask the Hiltons of Hungary if they know Borat [“Shots for America,” March 14]. Walter Novak: Action Rock Photographer presents his latest photo gallery of Zwack’s coming out party at the Grog Shop.
Ricardo Teamor: Back in Business
Ricardo Teamor, the henchman of former Mayor Mike White who recently finished a sentence for bribing former City Councilman Joe Jones, is back on the job. He’s been hired as “manager of special projects” Irwin Industries, a California company that provides construction, maintenance, and energy services to industrial outfits. The company also happens to be…
Lupe Fiasco Show Rescheduled
The Monday, March 19 House of Blues show by Grammy-nominated rapper Lupe Fiasco has been rescheduled to Monday, March 26, 2007. Tickets for the original show will be honored. Tide yourself over with the video for “Daydreamin’,” a poignant track feature soul singer Jill Scott. — D.X. Ferris
Tips for the Waiter
We get an earful from diners about restaurant service shortfalls. Here are a few wait-staff actions that seem to spawn perennial gripes. 1. Getting too chummy with the customers, which includes stuff like leaning on the table, pulling up a chair, complaining about working conditions, and addressing diners as “you guys.” 2. Touching the rims…
Farewell, Marcus Sims
Earlier this week, Cleveland’s dean of party boys, Marcus Sims, fired off the “saddest” missive he’s ever written on his e-newsletter, Jet Set Go. In a nutshell, the management at the View (618 Prospect Ave., 216-664-1815) canned him as its marketing director. “I won’t go into detail what the deal is,” Sims wrote. “It’s all…
Kathleen Cochrane’s Cat Fight
Like they say in the movies, never do a scene with kids; child stars will always upstage you. In the case of WJW-TV 8 gumshoe Kathleen Cochrane, the self-admitted “dog person” should stay clear of a supporting cast of feline. It only leads to catfights. Literally. During the 10 p.m. news on Tuesday, Cochrane was…
Big Leg Emma’s Brush with Death
Big Leg Emma Despite rumors that Big Leg Emma was going to cancel its April 7 show at Wilbert’s, a deadly bus scare won’t keep the folk-rockers from backing out of their Cleveland concert. The Jamestown, New York, sextet was traveling in their tour bus on their way to a March 10 gig in Richmond,…
Knocked the f%�
Obviously inspired by the above video, Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko dropped Cleveland’s Ray Austin without even breaking a sweat in last weekend’s heavyweight title bout, denying Cleveland its first sports championship since a guy named Jim won the World Tire-Changing Title back in ’88. You can watch the fight’s second and final round here; pay attention…
Mutant Love-Children & Fistfights with Sabbath
Gluttons feature Ringworm vocalist the Human Furnace, who moonlights as a demon. Money Where Your Mouth Is Scene’s music writers are busy debating the authenticity of explicit Lindsay Lohan pics, so they’ll just let the Gluttons speak for themselves. Name: Gluttons Hometown: Cleveland Sounds like: “The mutant love-child of the Misfits and Zeke, in a…
Mr. Gnome’s Feelings of Post-Coital Bliss
Money Where Your Mouth Is Scene’s music writers are so obsessed with Mr. Gnome singer-guitarist Nicole Barille that they’re just turning the blog over to her, to let her explain why you need to see the band. Band: Mr. Gnome Hometown: Cleveland Sounds like: “Trip-hop atmospheres, and indie rock guitars that while eerie are out-of-this-world…
Jesus Comes to the Warehouse District
Shari and Alex Ennis, serving the sinners of downtown Pastor Alex Ennes believes he’s been sent to Cleveland on a mission from God. Ennes, an Arkansas native, and his wife, Shari, from Westlake, have come to the Poorest City in America to plant a church in the hopes that the word of Jesus can help…
This Just In… Concert Announcements
Insane Clown Posse 30 new shows this week, including the Vans Warped Tour, the return of Genesis, perky songstress Erin McKeown, and juggalo kings the Insane Clown Posse. You heard about ’em here first. Adult/Mammal: Thu., May 10. Grog Shop. Anthony B./Natural Black/Fantan Mojah: Thu., April 12, 9 p.m., $12 ADV/$15 DOS. Grog Shop. Barefoot:…
Top 10 Blarney Rock for St. Paddy’s Day
Introducing a 10-pack of assorted Irish music to get you revved up for St. Patick’s Day, in order of ascending Celticness. (U2’s “Gloria” isn’t their most Irish tune, but man, what a riff. And check out Bono’s mullet!): House of Pain, “Jump Around.” This rap classic came from the unlikely hood of L.A. — bar…
Amish Girls Gone Wild
It’s Friday night at Twister’s. Tina launches the evening with a tallboy of Sparks. Customers eyeball her white bonnet and shin-grazing dress as she sips from her can of malt liquor and caffeine. She’s used to the gawking. Impolite scrutiny comes with being Amish. “Everyone stares at you,” she says. “It’s not very fun, but…
Bird
They didn’t achieve the success of U2 (or even the Psychedelic Furs and Echo & the Bunnymen), but there was a time in the ’80s when the Chameleons UK were mentioned in the same breath as all those groups. Meanwhile, long before the Smiths, Stone Roses, and Oasis, the Chameleons (and the intricate, atmospheric guitar-pop…
Dust Bunnies
When stand-up comics refer to one of their ilk who has left the audience damp-cheeked with tears of laughter, they say “She killed.” And most of us have been swept away on giggling jags so intense, we thought we would die. This small truth, taken to its logically absurd extreme, results in the famous Monty…
Fakin’ Cajun
Five years after he died of lung cancer, the spirit of Scott “Texas” Gann lives on. His accordion is still around too. When Mo’ Mojo Mama performs at the Barking Spider tonight, check out Jen Maurer’s squeezebox. It’s the very same one Gann played when he fronted the Akron-based zydeco group. “When Texas was alive,…
Shots for America
Sándor Zwack, heir to Hungary’s largest liquor fortune, is trying hard to endear himself to a local bartender. “Cleveland is a great city, full of hardworking people, just like Hungary,” he says in a burly accent. “It reminds me of our country.” The bartender nods seriously, absorbing Sándor’s worldly insight, then asks, “Do you know…
Ellen Allien
In a scene overrun with geeky guys obsessing over Kompakt Records’ catalog numbers and Richie Hawtin’s digital interface, Ellen Allien is almost too good to be true. She’s a talented techno producer, a deft, risk-taking DJ, a savvy record-label boss — and quite easy on the eyes, to boot. The Berlin Renaissance woman runs BPitch…
Capsule reviews of current area theater presentations.
Red Light Winter — Adam Rapp’s play is a squalid little exploration of the back alleys of young, unrequited love. Even though the script careens wildly from lean and painfully pointed dialogue to lumbering passages, the three performers and director Sean McConaha manage to fashion an evening of theater that sticks with you, even if…
Fire and Ice
Despite its title, Smucker’s Stars on Ice’s latest production, Double Exposure: The Many Lives of Figure Skaters, doesn’t really uncover any dirt. Tonight’s show essentially skates through a bunch of Olympic champions’ dreams, while a pop soundtrack and flashing lights fill the Q. “We let everyone in on who we are off the ice,” says…
Letters to the Editor
The Color of Trickle-down Illusions only go so far: Many congratulations for your very pointed article [“Black on Black Crime,” February 21]. I speak as a black contractor who was not included in the system. For many years I have watched our community deteriorate because of greed by our so-called leaders. We have started to…
Holly Golightly
Holly Golightly has released 15 discs and too many singles and EPs to keep track of (2001’s double album, Singles Round Up, collects a bunch of them). What’s more, the Brit has collaborated with almost as many people as Willie Nelson, including the White Stripes on “It’s True That We Love One Another” from their…
Capsule reviews of current area art exhibitions.
Apart: From Europa to Paradise Lost — The volatile passion for which Eastern Europe is famous is fully evident in these six large paintings by Clevelander Andrzej Siwkiewicz, a native of Poland. Pretty representation is the last thing on Siwkiewicz’s mind as he surrenders to process-as-art mentality and attempts to encapsulate dark, inchoate feelings of…
Fresh Poets’ Society
Tonight’s Slam U semifinals at Playhouse Square pit poetry-spewing teens against one another. For the past two months, local kids have been boning up on their rhymes at workshops and practice slams. They take the stage in front of a crowd tonight, reciting original hip-hop-inspired poems. Judges and audience members vote for the best. When…
Dann of Action
When Scene sat down with Marc Dann shortly after he slapped around Auditor Betty Montgomery to become Ohio’s attorney general, he’d eased off the Molotov-cocktail attacks on the Republican cartel in favor of guarded euphemisms [“Imagine . . .” December 13, 2006]. No matter how much we wanted to trust him, we still found ourselves…
Fu Manchu
If you don’t like Fu Manchu, you don’t like rock and roll. The California stoner-rawk dudes kick out the jams like it’s ’76 all over again, laying down fat, fuzzy basslines that make Wolfmother look like a pack of emo brats. And ‘NCX listeners take note: Their version of “Moving in Stereo” is what the…
Franchise Player
Casino Royale (Sony) James Bond gets a stirring shake-up in the best — yeah, Goldfinger fans, the best — film in the series’ 44-year history. Daniel Craig’s 007 has more going on above the neck and below the waist than even Sean Connery’s. He’s a genuinely compelling character — a bruised, fallible, cold-blooded bastard whose…
Class Act
When stand-up comic John Wesley Austin was 15, he nodded off in class. He told his teacher he was up late the night before, checking out a comedy club. If you’re so funny, said his instructor, you can perform your act for the class. “I did 25 minutes,” recalls Austin. “I slept as much as…
Good Man Down
On the bulletin board of room 826 in MetroHealth’s brain-injury ward, there’s a candid snapshot of the man who occupies the room — a reminder of what he used to look like and a pixilated goal for the future. The guy in the picture is 218 pounds of fun. He has round jowls, a floppy…
St. Patrick’s Day 2007
Still don’t know what to do for St. Paddy’s day, the biggest drinking day (not to mention night) of the year? Visit www.Clevescene.com/blogs for a list of Northeast Ohio’s hottest St. Pat’s bashes. Or you could just make your way to House of Blues for Friday night’s Saw Doctors show and stay there. Saturday, the…
Our top DVD picks for the week of March 13
American Cousins (BFS) Appetite for Deconstruction: A Punk Rockumentary (MVD) Barbie Fairytopia: Magic of the Rainbow (Universal) Bloody Reunion (Tartan) Blood Trails (Lions Gate) The Ed Wood Collection: A Salute to Incompetence (Passport) Favela Rising (Netflix) Fires on the Plain: The Criterion Collection (Criterion) The Gene Autry 100th Anniversary Collection (Passport) Ghost: Special Collector’s Edition…
There Go the Brides
In Aeschylus’ classical Greek play The Suppliant Women, 50 brides-to-be run away from their arranged grooms. In Charles L. Mee’s Big Love — a contemporary update staged by the Cleveland Play House and Case Western Reserve University students — contemporary issues like date rape and abuse also figure into the action. Wednesdays-Fridays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays,…
Computer Dorks
The brave new digital world has thrown the very act of music-making into flux. But while advances in software yield increasingly more intricate soundscapes, the skilled hands of artists like Photek, Four Tet, and Girl Talk have infused their meticulously complex compositions with a surprising warmth and crispness. Like the aforementioned musicians, the Portland trio…
The Stooges
The Weirdness ain’t punk-classic like Fun House, but let’s be fair — nothing the recently reunited Stooges can do will ever match their early ’70s peak. This band does rock, however. Axeman Ron Asheton is not only a funky-ass rhythm freak, but the dude’s piercing feedback-screech on “Greedy Awful People” and “She Took My Money”…
Concrete Jungle Gym
Whether it’s slaying dragons in Zelda, zapping aliens in Halo, or inserting foot A into ass B in Virtua Fighter, the best games are the ones that offer some level of wish fulfillment. Grand Theft Auto added “Help yourself to a car” and “Drive it on the sidewalk” to the list, and its popularity spawned…
In Their Own Words
Visible Voice Books marks its first-month anniversary tonight with the start of a new poetry-reading series, The Lights Are On Upstairs, but It’s Nobody’s Poem. Local poets Mark S. Kuhar, Josh Gage, and Joanne Cornelius will recite cool pieces, while owner David Ferrante pours hot java. He hopes to make it a weekly gathering, if…
Green Beer: It’s Magically Delicious
Blimey, lads, St. Patrick’s Day is upon us again — that one time of the year when making fun of our Irish friends is perfectly acceptable (such as using dumb-ass phrases like “blimey”). This time around, however, we thought it more interesting if the Irish just made fun of themselves — particularly U2, but Bono…
LCD Soundsystem
James Murphy rescues intelligent dance music from the oblique, humorless IDM crowd, forging a canny, self-conscious blend of new-wave nostalgia, skittering breaks, and wry wit. (He did, after all, almost write for Seinfeld.) Murphy’s second full-length is more luxurious than his debut, apparently the result of spending even more time crafting his slacker-operatic paeans. He…
Here are the week’s best releases from the pop-culture universe
VIDEOGAME — Lost Planet: Extreme Condition: The premise of this Xbox 360 game is simple — you’re stranded on a world that’s covered in snow and populated by giant bug-like monsters. You gotta blast your way free. But with big-ass weapons (like the Vital Suits that keep you warm and pack a punch) and one…
Fit for a President
Former presidential chef Walter Scheib dishes up a succulent dinner and equally juicy gossip at tonight’s Direct From the White House event. While guests nosh on a five-course meal at the Carousel Dinner Theatre, Scheib (who cooked for Bill Clinton and George W. Bush) will talk about his new book, The White House Chef. The…
Breaking the Seal
The most enduring albums and films allow you to identify with strong central characters. In both media, the narrators can gain public empathy by showing they’re fallible in ways that are defiant without being standoffishly defensive. Recent releases by the Athens, Georgia quintet Of Montreal and Portland, Oregon’s the Shins show songwriters submerged in exploring…
Son Volt
From the opening track of Son Volt’s latest release, one wonders again where Jay Farrar went wrong. Though nothing on the record sounds particularly out of place (even the brassy horns on “The Picture”), everything on it leaves a bad taste in the mouth — like Listerine after a bad kiss. It’s less guitar-heavy than…
Size Matters
Fans of classical chamber music have many reasons to be grateful for Concertante. Comprised of six virtuoso string players, rather than the usual three or four, Concertante has access to a whole body of music most smaller ensembles are forced to overlook. What’s more, it regularly commissions and performs brand new works. Best of all,…
Meta-riffic!
In the behind-the-scenes stage comedy Legends, Joan Collins and Linda Evans play a pair of bitchy, high-maintenance, fading Hollywood stars. Just like in real life! “People love dirt,” says Tonye Patano, who also stars in the touring production, which begins an 11-day run at Playhouse Square tonight. “They’re more interested in feuds than in these…
Suicidal Tendencies
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus didn’t start out as a band that wanted to change the world — and, hey, maybe it isn’t one, but the band is certainly doing its best to make it look that way. The Florida quintet — who, like many of their peers, mix punk, pop, metal, and screamo for chart…
Field Music
Two-thirds of the outfit Field Music, brothers Peter and David Brewis deliver their second album of shimmering ditties, stitching together Beach Boys harmonies, string sections, and XTC-style pop into a sound that occasionally feels more like a collection of great hooks than a solid batch of proper songs. Representing thin, bookish white people who know…
Drive You Crazy
ACLU Ohio attorney Carrie Davis gives the lowdown tonight on the new Real ID law, which registers drivers’ licenses into a national-identity data bank. “If you think getting your license is a pain in the ass now, this is going to make it a five-hour deal,” says Chris Link, the ACLU’s executive director. The new…
Bad to the ‘Bone
The spotlight rarely shines on the poor trombone. It always sits in the back of the orchestra. And even though it occasionally snags a prominent part within large symphonic pieces, it’s rarely awarded a lengthy solo. The Oberlin Trombone Choir, which is made up of nearly two dozen trombonists from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music,…
Accept Australia
Australian grindcore label No Escape has signed a worldwide deal for the next two releases from Accept Death: the band’s second album and a split CD with Dutch sludge-beasts Skullhog. Tentatively titled All Evil, the album is due midyear. Accept Death is the most abrasive of drummer Corey Bing’s six underground-metal projects, which also include…
Tivol
Like all true punks — from the Troggs to the Butthole Surfers — Finland’s Tivol can bust but a single groove: the classic Bo Diddley’s chug-a-lug. I mean, sure, the quartet can really groove, slowing the thing down, or turn frighteningly manic, speeding it up to breakneck pace. But Weather Report, this band clearly is…
Mat Dreams
Nearly 1,300 wrestlers hit the mats today for the fourth-annual Ohio Grade School State Wrestling Championships at the Wolstein Center. First, grapplers in 33 divisions square off in various elimination rounds. Then at 4:30 p.m., the top two wrestlers in each age and weight group throw down for trophies and bragging rights. Sun., March 18,…
Family Affair
The Great Lakes Theater Festival’s Hay Fever sounds like something from a reality show: Mom’s a drama queen, Dad’s a jackass, and their kids are way out of control. Amazingly, the stinging comedy was written in 1925 by Noel Coward. “It’s about the shift of values,” says director Charles Fee. Hay Fever revolves around a…
My Dad Is Dead
Mark Edwards understands the crushing pessimism that warms the hearts of Clevelanders like a hobo’s trash-can fire. He grew up here and put the hometown gloom to good use throughout the mid-’80s. My Dad Is Dead, Edwards’ one-man band of drum machines, layered guitars, and monotone vocals, evoked a million Joy Division comparisons back then.…
Land of Buried Treasure
The very thought of a concept album can bring chills — the bad kind. Big ideas translate into big letdowns. Land of Buried Treasure overcomes that curse, creating a disc that takes the listener on a frightening dance while breaking new ground in avant-garde noise. Recorded in a 72-hour marathon set up by Self Destruct…
Bitch Is Back
Singer-songwriter Bitch doesn’t regret her stage name. Yet there are times she gets exasperated trying to explain her moniker to strangers. “I get sick of being at parties and getting, ‘Your name is what?’” she says. Bitch, who’s never revealed her real name to fans or the media, recently released her first solo album, Make…
Beer on St. Patrick’s Day? Go Figure!
Pretty much every bar worth its neon signs is doing something special for St. Patrick’s Day today. But the Great Lakes Brewing Company’s daylong party is one of our favorites. Starting at 10:30 this morning, the brewery offers traditional Irish dishes, plenty of suds (it’s got Conway’s and Wolfhound Dry on tap), and nonstop live…
The Saw Doctors
The Saw Doctors are sometimes compared to U2. This is based on the fact that 1) they’re Irish and 2) they’re not the Chieftains. But in reality, the Saw Doctors — possessing the unbridled determination of a veteran bar band from the west of Ireland — are as folk-rock as any band who was ever…
Germ Free Adolescents
From 1987 to 1991, the Germ Free Adolescents slunk from Kent to Cleveland like the undead bastard children of the Cure and A Flock of Seagulls. Borrowing the band’s title from an X-Ray Spex album, a rotating lineup of gloomy guys adopted names like Dave Despair and Stic Catholic and played gothy post-punk for local…
Beer on St. Patrick’s Day? Go Figure!
Pretty much every bar worth its neon signs is doing something special for St. Patrick’s Day today. But the Great Lakes Brewing Company’s daylong party is one of our favorites. Starting at 10:30 this morning, the brewery offers traditional Irish dishes, plenty of suds (it’s got Conway’s and Wolfhound Dry on tap), and nonstop live…
Experience the Great Outdoors — Indoors!
No matter how you connect with nature, the Cleveland Sport, Travel & Outdoor Show has something for you. The 70th-annual outing — which kicks off today at the I-X Center — features the latest hunting, boating, and fishing accessories. There are even RVs and other sporting vehicles on display that’ll get you to the action.…
Leo Kottke
Since his 1969 debut, Leo Kottke has developed into an intricate and fluid acoustic guitarist. He has also become an informal philosopher and teller of tales. On and off stage, Kottke rambles like an eccentric uncle, telling stories about “Ally Oop,” sleeping on submarines, and giant ukulele players. He is focused, however. The typical Kottke…
Public Policy
No reasonable person visits an Irish-American pub expecting great eats. That’s our long-standing maxim, based on years of research — and we’re standing by it, recent visits to the Gateway stalwart Flannery’s Pub notwithstanding. This, despite the pub’s 2005 takeover by an East Fourth Street developer. Since then, operations overseer Trifecta Management Group (which also…
Pancakes on St. Paddy’s Day
The Sandusky Lions Club insists it hasn’t mixed up the holidays. Its annual Pancake Breakfast and Easter Egg Hunt takes place today… on St. Patrick’s Day. The all-you-can-eat blowout always coincides with the Lions’ district convention, which is held in mid-March every year. While visitors nosh on pancakes, sausage, and juice, a rep from the…
One for the Road
Ann Hampton Callaway wrote and sang the theme song for The Nanny. But don’t hold that against her. She was also nominated for a Tony award (for Swing!), Barbra Streisand is a huge fan, and she’s a favorite among Manhattan clubgoers. On her new album, Blues in the Night, Callaway sings a bunch of originals…
Ratatat
Who would’ve thought combining hip-hop/ IDM beats with florid prog-rock guitar would woo the hipster elite? But believe it or not, guitarist Mike Stroud (Ben Kweller, Dashboard Confessional) and programmer and keyboardist Evan Mast (aka E*Vax) appear on your Urban Outfitters soundtracks right alongside the Rapture and Hot Chip. The Brooklyn duo’s 2004 debut is…
Paddy’s Picks
Here are some spots to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, where the food does more than just sop up the beer: Great Lakes Brewing Company (2516 Market Avenue, 216-771-4404). Hours: 10:30 a.m.-1 a.m. Eat: Special menu, featuring Stilton cheese soup, Brewmaster’s Pie, and vegetarian Green Pub Pizza. Drink: 10 craft-brewed beers on tap, including Conway’s Irish…
Local Hero
There are plenty of movies about quirky New Zealand pals, Vietnamese orphans, and angry lesbians at the 31st-annual Cleveland International Film Festival. But only Hero Tomorrow centers on a pot-smoking comic-book artist who brings his creation to life. Filmmaker Ted Sikora put the movie together using local actors and locations, relying on the city itself…
Lupe Fiasco
Lupe Fiasco earned three Grammy nominations for rapping about skateboards, flowers, and economic warfare. The Chicago rhymer is just what the microphone doctor ordered for everyone who’s lamenting the state of modern hip-hop. Fiasco’s major-label debut, Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor, blends together the best parts of De La Soul, the Coup, and A Tribe…
What a Difference a Day Makes
The space-time continuum smacks the shit out of Sandra Bullock in Premonition, the latest in nonlinear nonsense — but the fun really gets going when she starts to smack back. As Linda Hanson, humdrum mom of Anywhere, U.S.A., Bullock sets things up by doing her thing, effortlessly establishing the girl next door (and sending her…
Green Day
Before you head out to the bar this afternoon and spend the next 12 hours downing green beer and singing rousing choruses of Pogues songs with other drunks, why not celebrate another type of green by playing a few rounds of golf in the fresh air? The seven Cleveland Metroparks golf courses just opened for…
30 Seconds to Mars
From supporting actor to rock and roll leading man, Jared Leto has twisted the braids of fame better than most starlets who’ve dared jump from movies to music. His band 30 Seconds to Mars (founded with drumming brother Shannon) is currently busy polishing the platinum status of its sophomore disc, 2005’s A Beautiful Lie. The…
Flapper Flapdoodle
Have you ever been buttonholed at a party by a loud and loquacious fellow who fancies himself a comedian, belching stale jokes in your face while he elbows you in the ribs? If so, you probably can appreciate the essence of Thoroughly Modern Millie, the airheaded musical now at the Carousel Dinner Theatre. Based on…
The Cinematheque’s Greatest Hits
The Cleveland Cinematheque isn’t taking any chances with the film festival monopolizing local moviegoers for the next couple weeks. Its All-Request Weekend is a thank-you to fans who don’t want to sit through a 45-minute documentary at Tower City about Missouri manure farmers. Two favorites are on tap: The Good Old Naughty Days — a…
