Law & Hoarder
When Lorain County Republicans picked the man to replace longtime County Prosecutor Greg White, they chose a winner. For years, White was the party’s shining star, the lone Republican who could win in the blue-collar county. So when he was named U.S. Attorney in Cleveland, the GOP looked to finish his term with someone bearing…
Queens for a Day
Before rapper Azizah could turn eyes to Cleveland’s female MCs, she had to open her own. “When I got onstage, I had a problem with closing my eyes,” the twentysomething rhymer says, recalling her initial anxiety about performing. “Every time I go onstage, I’m nervous. I’m representing not only myself, but females, so I want…
March Blandness
You’ve read their work (okay, scanned the headlines) all season. But given Northeast Ohio’s fierce lineup of hackneyed columnists, it’s impossible to pick the worst. So, in the spirit of the season, we propose a tournament — with you, our wise and insightful readers, serving as judge and jury. E-mail your pick for the Worst…
Shock Treatment
Ever since the free-form art/music collective Speak in Tongues was silenced early last year, Cleveland’s been woefully lacking in the department of gritty, anything-goes spots that cater to the underground. But thanks to Ray Terry, frontman for Cleveland hardcore ragers Allergic to Whores, the void’s about to be filled. With help from his brother and…
Letters to the Editor
Management by intimidation: Thanks to Andrew Putz for his effort to shed light on the management problems at the Free Clinic [“Clinical Depression,” February 19]. I was disappointed that he was unable to either confirm or refute the rumors surrounding Marty Hiller’s (forced?) retirement. It is also unfortunate that the article is cast the way…
Minus the Bear
The way critics and record labels bandy about the “emo” designation these days, it wouldn’t surprise us to see Toad the Wet Sprocket’s inevitable comeback album saddled with the tag. So when we refer to Minus the Bear as emo, we’ll do it with one caveat: that anyone who disagrees (and those familiar with emo’s…
Deeper Discount Wages
One simple law governs the workplace: If you like your employer, chances are you’ll take the extra step, do work that honors you both. But if you distrust him, if you believe he sees you as a resource to be used and abused, you will work against him. Revenge, after all, is a basic human…
Edwin McCain
On his new album, The Austin Sessions, guitarist-vocalist Edwin McCain titles one song “I Want It All,” but in fact he’s not nearly so greedy. After a terrific run on Atlantic Records — including the albums Misguided Roses and Messenger, and the hits “I’ll Be” and “I Could Not Ask for More” — McCain was…
This Week’s Day-by-Day Picks
Thursday, March 20 It’s not every day you can stuff your face on Italian, Mexican, Thai, and good old-fashioned American food in one place. A Tasteful Affair, at the Crawford Auto and Aviation Museum tonight, not only gives you that option, it also offers an open bar featuring beers from the Great Lakes Brewing Company.…
Dave Brubeck Quartet
What can you say about pianist and composer Dave Brubeck that hasn’t already been said? At the ripe age of 82, he’s been at the forefront of so many movements in music, starting with the whole West Coast cool jazz approach, which would later stagnate in the hands of lesser artists. Steeped in the tradition…
Beasts in the Ground
Because local folks played in the dirt 2,000 years ago, scientists today can do the same. Researchers remain fascinated by the serpent and alligator mounds left behind in Adams and Licking counties. But don’t expect to find corpses or buried treasure there, says Brad Lepper, an Ohio Historical Society archaeologist. “When most people think of…
Holly Golightly
It took a while for British songstress Holly Golightly to sashay out of the shadow of modern garage-rock cult figure extraordinaire Billy Childish. Holly began in the early ’90s in one of Childish’s numerous side projects, Thee Headcoatees. Soon, Holly slipped out a few of her own singles, then albums, then more albums. Seems she’s…
Oscar’s Grouch
Can we talk? Helene Weinberg sure can. And the 40-year-old Cleveland comedienne doesn’t just talk the talk. As a fast-gabbing, out-of-breath Joan Rivers impersonator, Weinberg’s mouth runs a marathon at Oscar Night America, the annual fund-raiser for the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland, held this year at the Madstone Centrum Theater. Like the real-deal Rivers,…
Glass Harp
A number of places can boast of their special sounds or styles, but not many could match the volume of sheer rock-guitar talent emanating from Northeast Ohio in the ’60s and early ’70s. Glenn Schwartz was poised, in the minds of more than a few rock scribes of the day, to follow Hendrix and Clapton…
The King Is Dense
Lawrence Kasdan directs and co-writes Dreamcatcher, the latest addition to the Stephen King adaptation genre, currently at 74, including film and TV, and counting. Taking the Internet Movie Database as a source, this puts King handily ahead of Michael Crichton (23) and Bram Stoker (38), closing in on Dame Agatha Christie (77), still a lifetime…
Zwan
“Try, try, try,” Billy Corgan moaned, shortly before his Smashing Pumpkins turned to mush. If history is any indication, he was most likely imploring the Little Mermaid’s dad to turn him into a dolphin, but he might well have been talking to his future self: “Billy, when the Pumpkins break up and you form Zwan…
Hog Wild
He’s charming, yes. Humble and loyal. But who is Piglet really? As the modern world violently shifts beneath our feet, it’s time to reexamine this diminutive representative of the other white meat and all the archetypal denizens of classic children’s author A.A. Milne’s Hundred-Acre Wood. The release of Piglet’s BIG Movie provides the ideal opportunity.…
Kevin Saunderson
As a DJ, Kevin Saunderson’s notoriety possesses an exasperating duality. The younger generation of techno devotees know his name, and they know that alongside Derrick May and Juan Atkins, Saunderson practically invented the genre. What few of these self-styled acolytes know, however, is what Saunderson actually sounds like. Maybe that’s because Saunderson doesn’t tour that…
Brian Jonestown Massacre
Over the course of a decade-plus, seven albums, and more than 40 different members, the Brian Jonestown Massacre has done its part to keep garage rock rolling. Named after the legendary Rolling Stones guitarist, the San Francisco-based group specializes in druggy guitar/organ rave-ups that neatly channel the unsettled experimental blues spirit of their namesake into…
Fathers and Sons
It would be hyperbole to say that veteran Cleveland actor Reuben Silver has more talent in his index finger than most performers have in their whole bodies. Still, when he crooks that digit on the Jewish Community Center’s Halle Theatre stage in The Chosen, directing a person to come closer, it’s a bit surprising that…
Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth’s latest album is important not only for the band, but for all of black metal. As the first band from the genre to sign a major-label deal, they’ve been thrust into the role of standard-bearers. It’s a good thing, then, that Damnation and a Day is the major metal statement it is.…
Beans
We critics are so used to hearing music with obvious reference points that when we encounter albums without ’em, we’re flabbergasted. Take Tomorrow Right Now, the debut solo joint from this former member of the recently dissolved Antipop Consortium of genius hip-hoppers. It’ll require at least six listens to absorb Beans’ unique metaphors and sick…
In Arms‘ Way
George Bernard Shaw once complained to a critic about the poorly timed laughter and applause of theater audiences. He resented that the witty dramatizations of his progressive political ideals were interrupted by what he referred to as “incontinent hee-hawings.” Good thing Shaw never saw the age of cell phones and pagers. Whether or not the…
Stephen Malkmus
The reaction to Steve Malkmus’s eponymous 2001 debut was astonishingly consistent. “Whew,” sighed hardcore Pavement fans: Malkmus was a little poppier, a little more straightforward than any Pavement recording, but it still sounded like Pavement. Non-fans seemed likewise relieved: The wordplay made actual sense, and you could even hum along to a song or two,…
Willie Nelson
In 1960, a broke Willie Nelson left a steady gig at Houston’s Esquire Club for Nashville. Despite finding instant success as a hit songwriter for premier Nashville talents like Patsy Cline, Ray Price, and Billy Walker, a frustrated Nelson returned to Texas in 1973 having recorded 14 albums for three labels without achieving commercial success.…
Perfect Pairings
Corralling four dozen food fanatics into a classy restaurant’s wine dinner might sound like an event only four dozen food fanatics would want to hear about. But hey, we’re nowhere near as stodgy as you’d think. Sure, we dress well enough, know where to place our napkins, and generally refrain from gargling the grappa. But…
The Black Keys
Boasting grooves as viscous and greasy as the goop on its cover, the Black Keys’ sophomore effort, Thickfreakness, is vintage blues — a hell-raisin’ heartbreaker of an album that one-ups the duo’s masterful 2002 debut. The din is spearheaded by frontman Dan Auerbach, one of the most gifted guitarists this area has seen in some…
French Whines
The sewers of California may be awash in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, as West Coast restaurateurs are reportedly dumping their inventory of French wines; and in New York City, French restaurants may be closing from a paucity of business. But while rumors abound that local restaurants have stripped French imports from their menus (in protest of that country’s…
The Brazen Rogues
The Brazen Rogues’ Shamelessly Bold Scoundrels sounds like hell, just as it should: This is violent, vintage punk rock. “I miss the old scene,” declares singer-guitarist Vicks in “Getting Old Sucks,”a lament that’s practically a “Summer of ’69” for a generation that’s swapped mohawks for baby strollers. Working nostalgic themes, the Cleveland trio blasts out…
Rate the Rebels
Hit the deck, ultra-pretentious art-rock aficionados! The two biggest names in psychedelic weirdness hit town this week, guaranteeing street prices for hard drugs will skyrocket, along with clinical cases of paranoia and sightings of Jesus. But who’s truly worth your money? The high-concept orchestral rock of Godspeed You! Black Emperor or the bombed-out-of-your-gourd sleepwalking majesty…
Blame the Dead Guy
Here in flyover country, we tend not to attract the attention of the East Coast media elite. But Punch finally figured out a surefire way to get noticed by the country’s most prestigious publications: stop breathing. Exhibit A: The March 10 issue of The New Yorker, which contains a lengthy profile of Reuben Sturman: Clevelander,…
Sole Survivor
Every day is like a vacation for San Francisco rhymer Sole, a man who has broken free from rap’s major-label rat race and staked his claim in the underground. But indie route or otherwise, Sole’s working harder than ever. “I make music till my back is sore at night,” says Sole from Belgium, answering questions…
Hollow Man
One Saturday morning two years ago, Dennis Kucinich and George Forbes met at an East Side McDonald’s. Forbes bought coffee. Kucinich ordered hot water and lemon. Mike White was finally stepping aside, and Kucinich was toying with the idea of running for mayor. He wanted to know what Forbes thought of the idea. Forbes had…
Pitfall Punks
Don’t tell anyone, but Mike Davenport, bassist-vocalist for the Ataris, once had a backroom fling with a seductive game system that was not the recipient of his public devotion. “I was very heavily into Intellivision for a while. They had the better sports games by far,” he says over the phone from a sound-check in…
