Really, WNCX listeners? Freddie Mercury?
I’ve been thinking about WNCX’s recent Greatest Voices in Rock poll. While I’m not surprised by the listener-generated Top 10 (Clevelanders love them some Roger Daltrey, Bob Seger and Stevie Nicks), I am a bit shocked to see Freddie Mercury perched at the top. Not that I have anything against Queen (except that they’re always…
The Great Metallica Debate — Round One
Next week, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum will induct Metallica, the former thrash titans who morphed into one of the world’s biggest rock bands. The band’s transformation from hellions into purveyors of popular arena-rock remains controversial among the metalheads who embraced the band in the first place, before breakthroughs like the…
Cellbound Release Debut Album
One casualty of the uncertainty surrounding when and whether or not the Jigsaw Saloon and Stage will re-open is local extreme-metal band Cellbound’s CD-release party. The sextet, known for the distinctive male-female vocals of Tom Herttna and Chris Emig, planned to celebrate the release with a show at the Parma Club April 18. The album,…
New Jersey Indie Heroes Cover Cleveland’s Electric Eels
Hoboken indie-rock stalwarts Yo Lo Tengo have just released a covers album called Fuckbook under the name Condo Fucks. Although most of the songs are by artists any moderately serious fan would likely know (the Beach Boys, the Kinks, the Troggs, Slade, the Small Faces), there’s one you’d have to be a serious underground junkie…
Photo Show: Eagles at the Q, 3/24
Scene’s Ashley Heeney lived in the fast lane at the Eagles’ concert at the Q last night. She brought along her camera.
Album Cover of the Year
I know it’s only March, but Dinosaur Jr’s new album has got to be cover of the year. —Michael Gallucci
Concert Review: Eagles at the Q, 3/24
Most classic rockers have a hard time putting their notorious pasts behind them. Not the Eagles. These guys have adapted to their lives of luxury quite easily. Dressed in matching black suits and skinny ties, they strutted onto the Quicken Loans Arena stage last night like they were prepping for a Forbes photo shoot. Opening…
DEATH SQUADS ARE SO ’80s
Congressman Dennis Kucinich has really put his nose in a hornet’s nest this time. Kucinich sent a letter last week to the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, asking for a probe of an alleged “executive assassination ring” under ex-President Bush. Journalist Seymour Hersh, who’s slated to finish his book on the…
Duane Kuiper says, “Good Morning, Cleveland”
Just so you know, a ghost from Cleveland sports past will greet you electronically each morning. In some cases, it’s very likely that person himself is available to greet you in person for the right price, but that’s a different story. I sent this image from the Cleveland Memory Project to the estimable Joe Posnanski…
Welcome to ’64 and Counting…
When someone new moves to the neighborhood, it’s customary for the you to bring them cookies or whatnot to welcome them. It’s just polite. So, it’s important to know that I like oatmeal raisin and Scene’s offices are on W. 9th. Actually, I suppose I should be the one welcoming you. Don’t expect cookies though.…
Welcome to C-NOTES
Welcome to C-Notes, Cleveland Scene’s new music blog. We’ve been waiting for quite some time to get this thing up and running — eight months, in fact, ever since the old Scene and The Free Times merged last summer. Now that we’re here, we plan to be here every day for you, with plenty of…
Hobson’s Choice (Britain, 1954)
David Lean’s comedy about a demanding bootmaker stars Charles Laughton and John Mills. Cleveland Museum of Art Lecture Hall. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 18.
Azur and Asmar (France/Belgium/Italy/Spain, 2006)
Michel Ocelot directs this fable set in medieval times somewhere in the Middle East. Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 20, and 9:20 p.m. Saturday, March 21.
Duplicity
Julia Roberts and Clive Owen play a pair of über-competitive corporate spies who fall in love (sort of) while attempting to pull a multi-million dollar scam. Or maybe they’re just scamming each other. It’s hard to tell who’s on the level in writer-director Tony Gilroy’s screwy follow-up to the Oscar-nominated Michael Clayton. Gilroy plays so…
Knowing
In this sci-fi thriller, a time capsule is unearthed containing a sheet of paper predicting every major disaster of the last 50 years. Three dates and locations remain, including one that portends the very end of the world. Can John Koestler (Nicholas Cage) find a way to avert destruction? Cage is in full over-the-top mode…
I Love You, Man
I Love You, Man isn’t a Judd Apatow production; it was directed by John Hamburg (Along Came Polly), who wrote the script with Larry Levin. But it pays homage to the formula, and stars Apatow alumni Paul Rudd and Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall). Rudd plays Peter Klaven, an L.A. realtor who has just proposed…
Super Capers
Evidently hoping to counter Watchmen with a PG comic-book-hero pastiche kid-safe enough to play at church camp, some cinemas are showing this lumpy, low-budget spoof about a wannabe caped crimefighter named Ed in a crude homemade costume, sentenced to rehab or something in a group home for underdeveloped superheroes, where he’s framed for a gold…
Male Call
MALE FRIENDSHIPS, the kind that include talking dirty and jamming to the heavy-metal music of one's youth, are an endangered species. That's the guiding philosophy of the Knocked Up school of romantic comedy, founded by Judd Apatow. Guys share their primary affections with their male friends, but at some point they must grow up, get…
The Jig Is Up
On Friday, February 27, employees of the Jigsaw Saloon and Stage in Parma were setting up for lunch when an electric company technician showed up. The bill was $8,000 overdue, he said. He was turning off the power; they should leave. They did. Rumors of the Jigsaw's demise had been flying around the music scene…
Capsule Reviews Of Current Releases
OPENING 1941 (U.S., 1979) – This Steven Spielberg farce is set in Los Angeles during World War II. Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. At 9:30 p.m. Friday, March 20, and 7 p.m. Saturday, March 21. Azur and Asmar (France/Belgium/Italy/Spain, 2006) – Michel Ocelot directs this fable set in medieval times somewhere in the Middle East.…
A Conspiracy Of Dunces
The 2007 nonfiction feature Strange Culture possibly attributes too much to an evil conspiracy instead of just the big-government bureaucratic idiocy inherent in the Patriot Act. But occasionally, it makes a scary case. It has at least as much of a case as the U.S. government thought it had with artist-activist Steve Kurtz, a SUNY-Buffalo…
Head Case
For roughly 60 years, the Danny Boy Farm Market presided over the intersection of Lorain and Columbia roads. What began as a diminutive farm stand blossomed, three generations later, into one of the area's most treasured landmarks. In the fall, families bought their pumpkins and apple cider there; in summer, their tomatoes and watermelon. When…
The Eclectic Company
Though it’s stacked with boxes of schedules and T-shirts, the back room of the Cleveland Film Society offices includes a timeline printed on the wall that covers the Cleveland International Film Festival’s 33 years. Some highlights: Robert Altman’s The Player opened the festival one year; the Harvey Pekar biopic American Splendor premiered on opening night…
White Lies, Bishop Allen And Others Get Graded
Handsome Furs Face Control (Sub Pop) In Wolf Parade, Dan Boeckner makes blurry indie-rock that twists and turns in so many directions, it's often difficult to grasp. In Handsome Furs, which he co-fronts with his wife Alexei Perry, he makes music that's slightly more accessible – synth-guided tunes that still sway to the artsy side…
The Eclectic Company
Though it's stacked with boxes of schedules and T-shirts, the back room of the Cleveland Film Society offices includes a timeline printed on the wall that covers the Cleveland International Film Festival's 33 years. Some highlights: Robert Altman's The Player opened the festival one year; the Harvey Pekar biopic American Splendor premiered on opening night…
March Madness
Although women have always had a presence in the hip-hop scene and rap music, they've found it hard to get a real toehold in a genre heavily based on boastful macho toughness. From Roxanne Shanté to MC Lyte to Missy Elliott, they've had to fight to make their voices heard. And local artists also face…
Boarding Pass, Please
Bandwagon time for Cleveland State. I'm allowed on because I said so. I'm also declaring myself arbiter for the mad masses who want to jump on too. Basically, everyone's welcome – the more the merrier. But there are some special cases that deserve specific consideration. ¥ You smoked crack with Kevin Mackey? YES ¥ You…
Culture Jamming: Milk Man
TOP PICK Milk (Universal Studios) Gus Van Zant's Oscar-winning biopic, about gay politician Harvey Milk, was one of 2008's best movies. The Blu-ray release includes plenty of background and behind-the-scenes info, as well as some deleted scenes. Best: Sean Penn's award-snagging performance as the slain activist – his deepest role. It's a long way from…
Local Dirt
COUNTY COMIX At last week's county commissioners meeting, Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones couldn't understand why the county had agreed to advertise at a Lake Erie Monsters hockey game for a county program that encourages African Americans to be foster parents. "I'll be honest, if you look around …" He was cut off with laughter from…
Valhalla, I Am Coming
With Cleveland State putting on some green March Madness slippers for the first time in my fandom life, I have a horse in the NCAA tournament. No, the school I attended did not make the 64-team-cut, nor are they even eligible to, because I graduated from Case. Case Western Reserve's men's basketball team plays in…
Local Reviews
Stupid Beautiful Heaven Stupid Beautiful Heaven (self-released) myspace.com/stupidbeautifulheaven Not sure what to make of squeaky-voiced Todd Thurman, a member of local alt-rockers Pale Hollow who also records as Stupid Beautiful Heaven. On the one hand, his simple, fragile songs like "Snow" and "Shakes the Clown" recall the work of indie icon Daniel Johnston. But Thurman…
Simple Twist Of Fate?
"Was it fate? Was it games of chance? Are we victims of the circumstances," asks DeVotchKa's founding frontman Nick Urata on "Blessings in Disguise" from the band's latest album, A Mad and Faithful Telling. He could be talking about his group, whose recent success was built over a decade. Currently on a mini-tour dubbed the…
Around Hear
You might not know his name, but if you're a classic rock fan, you've probably listened to Joe Vitale's work every day since the '70s. Vitale, a Canton-based drummer, recounts his 40-year career in a new book, Backstage Pass. The unusually low-key rock memoir – as told to wife Susie Vitale – presents the human…
Bad To The Bone
George Thorogood is punk-rock. "Yeah, right," you're thinking. How punk-rock can you be if your biggest hit, "Bad to the Bone," was used in the movie Problem Child? Seriously, though, go back and listen to the music, especially the early records on Rounder. Thorogood and his Destroyers whipped up a mix of blues, rock 'n'…
History By A TV Lite
Cruising the thespian highway, we can make out a variety of theatrical edifices. There is, for instance, the junk-food emporium, dealing in decomposing theater clichés. This category includes the gossiping big mamas and cancer-ridden Steel Magnolias heroines of beauty shops. It can also encompass the stale pretensions and affectations of Broadway high priests. Think of…
One Nation
For all you nascent radicals, The Nation is the great-great-granddaddy of left-leaning publications, billing itself as "America's biggest and leading political and cultural weekly. Telling the world since 1865." Yes. Well. Humility may be scarce, but opinions are not in this hefty-lefty reference book that is not only for true believers, but also for "liberal-minded,…
Downtown Breakdown
"BREAKDOWN," a 20-minute visual/musical composition that premiered at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall in New York on February 20, is a shotgun wedding uniting innovative montage and musique concr�te to a lambently responsive orchestral accompaniment. Experimental sound and video artist Kasumi (a professor at the Cleveland Institute of Art) joined forces with composer and Cleveland Institute…
The Year In Music
Alan Pierson, conductor and artistic director of the new-music ensemble Alarm Will Sound, was not thinking small when he conceived a piece called 1969. Charged with the cultural resonance of the year for which it's named, it's actually built around a planned meeting between avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen and the Beatles – which, thanks to…
Photo Shop
If you finish reading this review and don't have a clue what I was trying to say, I could claim I was being intentionally ambiguous in order to make you think for yourself. On the other hand, I might just be a lousy writer.Ê The same is true for plays that are freighted with multiple…
Big Willie, Big Trouble
Eric Wilson, known on the streets of Cleveland as "Big" or "Big Willie," is best known for starting the gunfight that killed 12-year-old Asteve'e "Cookie" Thomas in September 2007. But by the time Cookie was murdered, Wilson already had a long history of kidnapping young women from the West Side and transporting them to the…
Local Foodie News
So long, Irish; hello, Thai (and Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean …) Vieng's Asian Bistro (139 Crocker Park Blvd., 440.871.2888), which took over the Crocker Park spot vacated by Claddagh Irish Pub, aims to attract big crowds with its sweeping pan-Asian menu. Vieng's is the newest member of the Timothy Ly family of restaurants. The others…
Soul Power
When this concert was first booked, it was scheduled for the Beachland and Adele was just another face in the post-Amy Winehouse crowd of young British soul singers. But that was before she appeared on Saturday Night Live and won a pair of Grammys (for Best Female Pop Vocals and Best New Artist). So her…
Cleveland International Film Festival Capsules
An Alternative to Slitting Your Wrist (US, 2007) Not long after director Owen Lowery woke up in a psychiatric ward in 2006, following an aborted plan to kill himself by slicing off his hand, he found solace in the work of writer Richard Bach. "Anyone desperate enough for suicide should be desperate enough to go…
