Jackson emerges from hiding, meets Halle Berry
Mayor Jackson emerges from the Witness Protection Program to meet Halle Berry and some other presumably famous guy Halle Berry swooped into town a couple weeks ago for a VIP screening of her new movie, Perfect Stranger. At the Cinemark at Valley View theater, the Bedford native sauntered down a red carpet in front of…
New Sabbath at a Devil’s price
On Tuesday, April 3, all area Exchange stores will be selling the new Black Sabbath: The Dio Years for a mere $6.66. While supplies last, the Parma Heights store (6271 Pearl. Rd., 440-845-0828) will include a free tour shirt with purchase of the disc. The best-of album collects tracks from Sabbath mk. II, which featured…
Mike G’s Picks of the Week
Mat Kearney’s at the House of Blues on Friday. This week’s top arts and entertainment picks around town, from the guy who’s paid to pick them: Monday: Vietnam sounds a little like the era from which they grabbed their moniker. The Brooklyn group makes music that’s hazy, crazy, and totally druggy. Their new self-titled album…
Sammy III: Our hero finds a new colleague to steal from!
We Read America’s Worst Columnist, Sam Fulwood III, So You Don’t Have To… Headline: A wake-up shout for a troubled city Date: March 29, 2007 Topic: As reported two days earlier by City Hall reporter Susan Vinella, Sam writes that black members of Cleveland’s City Council are tired of being blamed for everything. He then…
An early tip on coming feasts
Springtime always brings a crop of food-related benefits. Here’s three to consider: The Greater Cleveland Chili Cook-Off from 6 to 9 p.m., April 17, at the Terrace Club at Jacob’s Field: This is the second year for the event, which benefits the Autism Society of Greater Cleveland. The draw, of course, is the chance to…
Mikey G’s Weekend Entertainment Picks
Neko Case This weekend’s top arts and entertainment picks around town, from the guy who’s paid to pick them: Friday: Of all Bob Marley’s kids who are making music, Stephen Marley sounds the most like his dad. He’s also the one who comes closest to Bob’s aesthetic ethos. His just-released debut album, Mind Control, is…
A moment with Badfish and Scotty Don’t
Badfish Money Where Your Mouth Is: Scene’s music writers are so busy salivating over the new Bjork album that they’re just turning the podium over to Tony Clifton, who plays in both Badfish and Scotty Don’t, and will be be rocking the House of Blues (308 Euclid Ave, 523-BLUE) tonight. Clifton thinks you should come…
Cleveland Heights: A self-reflection free zone
I work in Cleveland Heights in the Fire Department [“Paradise Lost,” March 21]. We have seen in just the past few years an increase in violence, drug overdoses, gang activity, and fires (from lack of upkeep of property and education on safety in the household). For us it is job security. It is sad, but…
Free-Music Thursday: Dropgun
Got a jones for some brass-knuckle bar-punk? Dropgun returns to the stage Friday, March 30 at Annabells (784 W. Market St., Akron, 330-535-1112). The band’s last LP was 2005’s solid-as-hell Devil Music, and the band has finally posted some new songs on its MySpace page. “We’ll probably keep doing that for a while,” guitarist Paul…
Don’t let the door hit you…
Sally Florkiewicz hopes to share her gift for ineptitude with the rest of the community Cuyahoga County Elections Board member Sally Florkiewicz has become the third member of the board to remove herself, following a swift kick in the ass by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. Last week Brunner ordered the four-member board to resign…
Cleveland Council pushes lead paint suit
Cleveland City Council has finally acknowledged the poisoning of thousands of children in its midst. But don’t get too excited—your leaders aren’t actually going to do anything about it. Monday night, Council passed a resolution—non-binding, of course—urging Mayor Frank Jackson to consider suing Sherwin-Williams and other companies that sold lead paint for decades after they…
Iron Maidens — the women’s rugby kind
The Iron Maidens, Cleveland’s female rugby team, showed why they were last year’s national rugby finalists by winning the first two games of their season against Akron and Rochester. Stormy conditions on Saturday made the game resemble a mud-wrestling match more than a sporting event. The ball was as slippery as a slimy sea creature,…
National media coverage of the Midwest
I love reading haughty East Coasters ruminate over the phenomenon that is the Midwest. So when the Columbia Journalism Review ran “Missing Middle” by NYC columnist Michael Massing, I knew I was in for some serious cringe time. Massing contemplates why the Midwest is so poorly covered in the national media. Aside from blaming its…
Christmas (Ale) in April
Head up, Christmas Ale fans: On Monday, April 9 at precisely 4 p.m., Great Lakes Brewing Company barkeeps will tap the final two kegs of last year’s Christmas Ale. The seasonal brew, rife with honey, spice, and everything nice, is generally only available from October through December. The timing of this final tapping is a…
Hot Hot Heat
This is why “This Is Why I’m Hot” is hot: because it’s hot. There are, of course, other reasons why the breakout single from MIMS, a Manhattan rapper who intends to restore glory to New York hip-hop, is hot. For example, it ascended to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 as well as topping iTunes’…
Leslie’s Gore
Nathan Baesel is a drug dealer. Not the bad kind, but rather a medical courier who works for his father, a pharmacist. He’s also a movie star — a job that doesn’t as yet pay his bills, though that should change once Hollywood gets a gander at Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon.…
All Starz
Back in the ’70s, Starz brought the heavy-metal thunder. The N.Y.C. band defined hair-rock before there was such a thing. Songs like “(She’s Just A) Fallen Angel” and “Cherry Baby” were FM faves when the airwaves still had some freedom. And the band regularly graced such decibel-loving magazines as Circus and Creem. Four of the…
Piano Man
Christopher O’Riley makes the jump from NPR to PBS — while still finding time to rock out a little. This month, the Cleveland pianist’s From the Top: Live from Carnegie Hall will make its debut on PBS (check your local listings for air dates). A fixture on public radio since 2000, the popular From the…
Culture Clash
Packed with female book-club members, a screening of Mira Nair’s The Namesake left no doubt about the film’s target audience. If anyone’s going to flock to this warm and likable tale, it’s going to be women — yet it seems a pity to confine the movie behind the bars of the “chick flick” label. Dividing…
Games? What Games?
The NCAA Women’s Final Four basketball games at the Q have been sold-out since last May. But there are still plenty of things to do leading up to Tuesday’s championship. The four-day blowout starts with a City Club luncheon this morning, where tennis legend Billie Jean King talks about her career (11:30 a.m. at Cleveland…
Lightning Bolt
Now that James Brown is dead, the title of hardest-working in show business should rightfully be bestowed upon the twin-headed beast that is Lightning Bolt. Messengers Brian Gibson and Brian Chippendale (bass and drums, respectively) have been hauling both ass and heavy amps around the globe since the 2003 release of Wonderful Rainbow. But even…
Family Affairs
Imagine living in a home where every question comes off as an interrogation, a kiss on the cheek is interpreted as a lifelong commitment, and virtually every minor event is loaded with cataclysmic import. Sound like a training camp for drama queens run by Donald Trump and Star Jones? It’s actually Noel Coward’s Hay Fever…
Land of the Lost
Forget all those versions of The Tempest you’ve seen that portray protagonist Prospero as a grizzled, bearded old man. In the Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of Shakespeares’s swan song (which opens tonight at Playhouse Square), director Andrew May goes straight to the source for a slightly younger take on one of the Bard’s most…
Joss Stone
The coming-of-age-young-urban-starlet is a wondrous thing to behold, isn’t it? Well, no, not usually — since in this day and age, we associate her with multiple piercings of the nether regions, embarrassingly out-of-it public appearances, and the urge to dry-hump everything in sight. Given all that, the coming-out party for 19-year-old British vocalist Joss Stone,…
Jon Dee Graham
Jon Dee Graham’s whiskey ‘n’ road-tar voice might be the best rasp this side of Tom Waits. On the soul-searcher “Swept Away,” when Graham growls about sitting on the back porch and smoking seven cigarettes, you start craving a nicotine patch. Graham’s gravelly croon carries plenty of weight, conveying a life that’s traveled rocky roads…
Fight Night, Round 2
It’s often been said in defense of some theatrical enterprise or another that while a production may not be genius, “It isn’t exactly chopped liver.” This begs the question: What exactly is chopped liver when it comes to a stage production? Well, we have found it. A huge, steaming pile of it. Legends! is a…
Funky Reggae Party
Of all of Bob Marley’s kids who are making music, Stephen Marley sounds the most like his dad. He’s also the one who comes closest to Bob’s aesthetic ethos. The 34-year-old singer spent the past decade playing guitar, producing, and remixing for a number of artists — including Erykah Badu and the Fugees. He was…
Papercuts
Rock journalism uses words such as “precious” and “twee” for bands like Papercuts. The San Francisco outfit — basically, songwriter Jason Robert Quever and whomever he gathers around him — specializes in naively tuneful and bittersweet psych-tinged folk-rock à la Belle & Sebastian, Donovan, and the Bee Gees (circa ’66, that is). And while the…
Widespread Panic
>In several issues of the now-defunct Arthur, ads announcing “The Black Crowes Love You” appeared — ads that, incidentally, were knockoffs of the first Jefferson Airplane ads from ’67. The Crowes weren’t pushing anything in particular; they just wanted a piece of the freak-folk pie — which made total sense. What’s the big diff between…
Capsule reviews of current area theater presentations.
The Rose Tattoo — No matter how good a mood playwright Tennessee Williams was ever in, he never doodled daisies in the margins of his manuscripts. His characters often suffer from dark torments such as mental instability, alcoholism, and other demons. But he set all that aside in The Rose Tattoo, a charmingly simple story…
Pushin’ Buttons
Five months after debuting his “squeeze rock” to a Barking Spider audience, New York accordionist Julz A returns tonight. And he’s pretty sure he likes Clevelanders more than he does the folks at Harlem’s famed Apollo Theatre, where he was booed off the stage in November. “Every time someone tells me I’m not good enough,”…
Height
Height is the kind of smart, free-thinking, serious student of hip-hop who was conspicuously absent from VH1’s The White Rapper Show. Winterize the Game positions him as the first standout of indie-rap’s third wave, a worthy student of iconoclastic rhymers like Grand Buffet (who makes several guest appearances) and Cex (who stayed fun when Anticon…
Neko Case
The bipolarity of Chicago alt-chanteuse Neko Case can be seen in her choice of tourmates; in one corner, iconic C ‘n’ W legends like Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard, and Charlie Louvin, and in the other, such fashionable indie-juggernauts as Matt Pond PA and Case’s sometimes-supergroup, the New Pornographers. Maybe it wouldn’t have been true before…
Capsule reviews of current area art exhibitions.
ONGOING Pedestal and Off the Wall — The two-part title is a sign: This sculpture exhibition, juried by Cleveland artist Don Harvey, boasts a sharply split personality. The meatier, stronger half boldly pushes all sorts of relevant buttons. The second half, by contrast, is pure goofiness — creative, technically accomplished froth. Guess which half Dietrich…
Dish Network
Eating food that’s good for you can be such a pain. At today’s Healthy Food: Healthy Eating program, doctors and nutritionists offer a plateful of advice. “Our lives have become full of demands and activities,” says Liz Cavin, a naturopathic doc who’ll fill you in on the connection between lifestyle and dietary habits. “We have…
Women Artists Night at the Winchester
If you need to kill some time between the Women’s Final Four and the Indigo Girls/ ThreeFiveHuman show, check out Women Artists Night at the Winchester. Singer-songwriter Jayne Sachs won the 2005 John Lennon National Songwriting Competition. And the show marks the return of Deb Hunseder (pictured), a former Ohioan who is both half of…
Shadows Fall
One of the most anticipated metal releases of 2006 will drop in early April 2007; it’s Shadows Fall’s debut, Threads of Life. A flagship band for Headbanger’s Ball: The Next Generation, Shadows Fall are proficient emulators of classic and modern metal. But the band has yet to establish their own sound. Set on making the…
My Name Is Mud
In the poem “In Just-,” e.e. cummings described the world as “mud-luscious” and “puddle-wonderful” — words so perfectly befitting MotorStorm’s gorgeously sloppy off-road hijinks, the game’s designers probably had them tacked up on a wall somewhere. And had Cummings paid $60 for MotorStorm, the verbally inventive (and upper-case averse) poet probably would have this to…
Picking Up the Pieces
The Oscar-nominated documentary Iraq in Fragments tells three stories about a country torn apart by war. In the first, an 11-year-old boy struggles with school, a cruel father figure, and his own desire to leave it all behind. The second segment chronicles a religious faction borne out of anti-U.S. sentiments. And the final act peers…
No-Neck Blues Band
Those who believe Slowhand is a blues masterpiece would dismiss Nine for Victor as awful noise — an insufferable fusion of atonal jazz, power tools, and bad drugs. But the disc isn’t really all that fucked up. To begin with, “Brain Soaked Hide” grooves like classic acid-rock — stoned greasers nicking tricks from Yoko Ono’s…
Vietnam
Vietnam give new meaning to the phrase I was in the shit. Here we have four bearded, longhair types from Brooklyn (sigh), who live in a commune (oh boy), subsisting on a diet of cigarettes (just guessing) and some ’70s rock rec — no, wait! That’s the problem. Vietnam thinks it’s ripping off Derek &…
Tomorrow’s Misery Today
Children of Men (Universal) Set in a tomorrow that looks like yesterday, Alfonso Cuarón’s wrenching adaptation of P.D. James’ novel feels more like documentary than fiction. In the movie’s world, women have gone barren, and immigrants are tossed into prison camps; it’s the proverbial nightmare to which we might actually wake up sooner than later.…
Glory Days
Photographer William Earle Williams memorializes fallen black troops in A Song for Unsung Heroes: African American Soldiers in the Civil War, now on view at the University of Akron’s Emily Davis Gallery. The 60-piece exhibit features contemporary pics of onetime training camps, as well as some solemn images of Louisiana’s Port Hudson, where 600 black…
Fascist Insect
“Fascist Insect” has a few connotations: It’s a reference to the Symbionese Liberation Army’s slogan, it’s a political metaphor for fear-mongering pricks, and it calls to mind the kind of bug that’ll mate with you — then rip your head off. All three are applicable to the new Cleveland band Fascist Insect, the latest in…
Sonic Boom
Sonic Boom is Pete Kember, co-founder of U.K. psych-drone legends Spacemen 3, as well as one of the biggest names in experimental electronic music, working under the additional guises Spectrum and E.A.R. (Experimental Audio Research). Although his last official release, E.A.R.’s Worn to a Shadow EP, is now two years old, Kember is perpetually creating…
Here are the week’s best releases from the pop-culture universe:
CD — Stax 50: A 50th Anniversary Celebration: Back when Motown was churning out one pop hit after another, the Memphis-based Stax label was producing a purer version of soul music. This terrific two-disc set features just about every legend on the label’s star-studded roster, including Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, and Booker T. &…
Batter Up!
There’s a bit of good luck following Baseball As America, which opens at the Great Lakes Science Center today. Every city that’s hosted the traveling exhibit — which was put together by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum five years ago — saw its team head to the playoffs in the fall: Chicago,…
Jailhouse Rock
The diamond was as big as a walnut, the yellow flames inside dancing like the embers of a campfire. According to legend, it had come from hell — slow-roasted at the center of the earth, born into light by some poor slave with a face of black dust, and secreted for over a century in…
Sean Price
Sean Price’s latest, Jesus Price Superstar, barely cracked the Billboard 200, but Price’s influence on hip-hop far exceeds his actual name recognition. In his native New York, he’s an underground legend, coming to prominence as a member of Brooklyn’s Originoo Gunn Clappaz. OGC is a key component of an eight-member, supergroup-type collective called Boot Camp…
Our top DVD picks for the week of March 27:
Bow (Tartan) Comeback Season (First Look) Curse of the Golden Flower (Sony) The Eden Formula (Westlake) The Addams Family: Volume 2 (MGM) Errol Flynn: The Signature Collection, Volume 2 (Warner Bros.) Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes, Volume 1 (Fox) Following Sean (New Video Group) Hacking Democracy (Docurama) Happy Feet (Warner Bros.) Little Dieter Needs to…
Sonic Youth
Casino Twilight Dogs, the third album by the Australian Youth Group, has a lot in common with mopey pop-rockers like Coldplay. Songs ride waves of big, sweeping choruses, while singer Toby Martin injects dashes of longing and melancholy into his warm vocals. But unlike the Snow Patrol brigade, Youth Group occasionally jingle-jangles its way across…
Fantasy Island
To get to paradise, you have to park on an unmarked gravel road in South Amherst, just up the street from Piggy’s grocery. From there you walk through prickers and mud until you see it in front of you — just don’t walk too far. It’s a 125-foot fall down the sheer rock face into…
Craig Ferguson
Cleveland insomniacs and second-shift workers will recognize Craig Ferguson as the host of CBS’s Late Late Show. Drew Carey fans will recall him as Drew and Mimi’s Scottish boss, the irrepressible Nigel Wick. A former drummer and bartender, the funnyman also writes well-received screenplays and novels — but mostly, he cracks wise. After a stint…
Short Takes
The Bridge In his ghoulish documentary, director Eric Steel examines the Golden Gate’s dubious honor as the world’s most popular suicide destination. Steel trained cameras on the bridge throughout 2004, watching for jumpers; 24 people obliged. In most cases, the director has the last pathetic snippet of the jumper’s life on tape: a tiny human…
Doll Parts
Little surprise that Fighting Naked, the debut album by Humanwine, sounds like a freak-filled cabaret show. The Boston group is led by Brian Viglione, the drumming half of the Kurt Weill-loving punk band the Dresden Dolls. Humanwine’s music veers closer to gypsy-flavored indie-rock, with theatrical pieces set around trash-can percussion and woozy waltzes. There’s nothing…
Scab 101
When reporters at Youngstown’s daily newspaper went on strike a while back, Punch was concerned. Though the strike lasted eight months and plenty of scabs crossed the picket line, nary a tale of strife came out of the old steel city. Punch waited and waited to hear something — a rock through a windshield, some…
American Hardcore DVD
In the early ’80s, hardcore punk blazed through the suburbs and slums of America, taking in kids who weren’t content with Boston, Pat Benatar, or even the Clash. Director Paul Rachman’s documentary American Hardcore attempts to capture the violent energy of those early days, when the new music sped up punk’s beat and deepened its…
Dirty Name, Dirtier Jokes
Carrie Callahan introduces a lineup of funny essayists, poets, and songwriters at tonight’s Chucklef*ck comedy showcase. She’ll also dress up like Miss America and perform a routine based on Glengarry Glen Ross’ famous expletive-filled chew-out scene. “There are lots of comedy nights in Cleveland where you see the same people work on the same acts…
Jesus Returns
When Apollo’s Fire performs Bach’s “St. John Passion” this weekend, expect it to sound a little different than it did the last time the orchestra played it seven years ago. “We’ve really evolved,” says director Jeannette Sorrell. “We’ve spent more time with the music, so we’ve become freer. We’re less tied to the page.” Bach’s…
Get Down Jakob
Amish boogie strikes a chord: I want to compliment you on a well-written and interesting feature [“Amish Girls Gone Wild,” March 14]. I grew up near a gas station/convenience store in rural Pennsylvania where the Amish would come to buy Mountain Dew and some Amish teens kept a stereo, semisecretly, in a shed behind the…
Terry Urban
When Windy City hip-hop titans Kanye West and Common teamed up in 2005 for the latter’s breakthrough album, Be, the much-hyped results were tight, tasteful, but dull. Maybe it’s the low-key nature of the mixtape, or maybe it just took a Clevelander to sort things out, but Terry Urban’s Chi-City Classics brings some much-needed looseness…
Home Brew
Pug Mahone’s claims it’s the only Lakewood bar that brews its own beer. Today, the pub rolls out its initial batches of Frankie’s Irish Red — which packs a mind-numbing 5.9-percent alcohol content. “I don’t want my Irish red to taste like any other Irish red,” says Rocky Fox, the bar’s owner. “This red is…
Great Scot!
Cinematics frontman Scott Rinning hasn’t had a day off since his Glasgow-based band arrived in the U.S. to promote its debut CD, A Strange Education. He finally has 24 hours to kill in New York, and he’s fighting a cold. Plus, he can’t find a working cell phone anywhere. Other than those temporary setbacks, the…
Idol’s Workshop
Taylor Hicks beat the ultimate odds when he won American Idol last year, but pleads the fifth when asked if he’s a gambling man, then reconsiders. “If you’re in a casino, you might as well, right?” wonders the “Silver Fox,” speaking via telephone from the Ameristar Casino in St. Louis, tonight’s stop on his first…
New Nuevo
Whether you’re talking ceviche, guacamole, or rum-glazed pork shoulder, Nuevo Latino cuisine — a sassy twist of tropical flavors, top-shelf ingredients, and modern American technique — remains one of the food world’s favorite trends. “The big, bold flavors and the Latin American ingredients just really appeal to me,” says Andy Himmel, owner of Boulevard Blue…
Shop Till You Drop
When you walk into the Warehouse District’s new high-end fashion boutique Style Lounge tonight, expect more than mere racks filled with the latest jeans, dresses, and shirts. Every Saturday, DJ Joey Fingaz provides a hip-hop and Top 40 soundtrack to complement your shopping spree. Meanwhile, co-owner Aja Lewis pours complimentary Heinekens, Coronas, and white wines.…
Fresh Classics
Classical music combos rarely talk smack. But Jon Nelson, trumpet player for the Meridian Arts Ensemble, refers to most of his group’s peers as “well-dressed polka bands.” Ouch. The N.Y.C.-based sextet has pushed the boundaries of brass and percussion music for more than 20 years. “Most brass groups ignore contemporary music altogether,” says Nelson. “I…
Cold, Dead Beef
Ever since Nas released Hip Hop Is Dead last year, everyone with a keyboard and fingers has parsed the phrase until it’s as limp as restaurant parsley: Was the title literal? Rhetorical? A little of both? Neither? Maybe, in true Zen warrior fashion, the answer to the question is whatever you want it to be.…
There’s the Rub
Warm and welcoming, Hudson’s Wine Bar at Solaire makes an ambitious addition to an area that is already becoming a destination for Summit County food fans. Don’t let the “wine bar” designation fool you: This second-floor boîte in the First & Main shopping district is really a small but elegantly appointed restaurant serving a generally…
Stair Master
Wanna give yourself a real workout today? Head to the Galleria, where the American Lung Association holds its annual Conquer the Tower Stair Climb. For those of you in the dark about just how much scaling that entails, that’s 37 floors! And more than 615 steps! (You can also opt for the half-climb, if 37…
Double Your Pleasure
You’ve got a few more days to check out Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Song and Dance at the Beck Center. The Tony-nominated musical — a collaboration between the performing arts center and Verb Ballets — features a pair of stories that have only a tenuous thematic connection. The first act is essentially a one-woman show about…
Dark Matter
The Black Angels are the Beach Boys’ archenemies — acolytes of the Velvets, with their own sonic blueprint for vibrations. Instead of bright, bustling melodies and resplendent harmonies, these Austin Angels build a hypnotic thrum of slowly shuddering distortion, buttressed by a primal beat. Although they’ve been tagged shoegazers, the Angels’ arid, sunbaked whirr differs…
Oh, the Humanity of a Heist
At various times over the last decade, David Fincher, Sam Mendes, and Michael Mann were attached to direct Scott Frank’s screenplay for The Lookout, about a brain-damaged high-school hockey stud who’s smooth-talked by distant acquaintances into robbing a small-town bank. That Frank himself — best known for straightening and sharpening the tangled lines of Elmore…
Spring in Your Step
Shake off the winter weight at today’s Jog Into Spring event in Independence. The fifth-annual outing includes a 5K run and a 1K walk. That’s quite a leap from the first year, when folks welcomed the season with a brief sprint. “I don’t think there is anything better than good physical fitness,” says Myles Roche,…
