Here’s a Funny Quote from Charles Ramsey
Charles Ramsey flew to New York City yesterday for national media appearances. The above photo, via Facebook, was taken at Hopkins International Airport. When asked to pose for the picture Ramsey allegedly said: “I couldn’t hug this many white women if I had Bill Gates’ money.” That’s Almost as memorable as the moment in Ramsey’s…
Marcia Fudge Likes Jesse Jackson Jr.’s Karaoke Skills
Jesse Jackson Jr. Rep. Marcia Fudge, a local Democrat, is coming to the aid of embattled ex-congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. To be clear, she wants it known that Jackson “was the highlight of our karaoke nights,” presumably up on the Hill. We can only imagine. Jackson faces sentencing following his pleading guilty earlier this year…
Impromptu Vigil Brings Seymour Community Together
ERIC SANDY/SCENE Angel Lozada leads the crowd in a prayer vigil May 8 on Seymour Avenue. ERIC SANDY/SCENE Lozada speaks to the crowd on Seymour Avenue. The police cordon on Seymour Avenue has widened, leaving the middle of the block desolate and closed-off to neighbors, activists, onlookers and media. Many are spending the days congregating…
St. Ignatius Alum Derek Dietrich to Make MLB Debut
Via the St. Ignatius High School alumni page, ’07 graduate Derek Dietrich has been called up by the Miami Marlins and will make his major league baseball debut this afternoon. The Marlins take on the San Diego Padres at 3:40 p.m. in the featured free game of the day on MLB.tv. Dietrich was traded to…
The Internet is Now Raising Money for Charles Ramsey
The Charles Ramsey narrative and its several spurs continue to grow more transfixing in the second 24-hour cycle since his heroic rescue and 911 call. Ramsey has become another instantly bona-fide internet sensation. Already circulating among the social-media-spheres is an addictive auto-tune remix of his initial interview and a reflection on the nature of poor,…
Charles Ramsey Has Been Songified
It was only a matter of time, wasn’t it? Though the Charles Ramsey auto-tuned creation “Dead Giveaway” isn’t quite as melodically inventive or catchy as, e.g., “Oh My Dayum,” it’s still pretty magnificent. And it’s gratifying to have the internet’s foremost auto-tuners bestow upon Ramsey this rarified distinction. We eat ribs with this dude!
Concert Review: Crystal Castles at House of Blues
Throughout the first half of the raucous 90-minute set Crystal Castles delivered last night in front a half-full House of Blues, the group appeared to be having technical difficulties. Given that everything about the band’s electronic music involves the use of high tech electronic gear, technical problems can really throw a wrench into the operation.…
The Long History of Ariel Castro, Cleveland Kidnapper and Monster
Amanda Berry was screaming into the fresh air, trying to claw her way out of the confines of 2207 Seymour Avenue. It was May 6 and countless lives were about to be irrevocably altered. Charles Ramsey heard her screaming for help. Charles Ramsey happened to be in the right place at the right time -…
McDonald’s Will Be in Touch with Charles Ramsey
We salute the courage of Ohio kidnap victims & respect their privacy. Way to go Charles Ramsey- we’ll be in touch.— McDonald’s Corp. (@McDonaldsCorp) May 7, 2013 They better give him a lifetime supply of whatever the hell he wants.
Rock Hall announces details regarding Rolling Stones exhibit
Ron Wood’s guitar Today the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum released more details regarding Rolling Stones: 50 Years of Satisfaction, the exhibition that’s set to open on Friday, May 24. The exhibit will take up over two floors of the museum and will include a fan-generated interactive exhibit (fans can begin submit…
Found Alive
Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, each missing since 2004 or before, were found alive at a home on Seymour Avenue, just off I-90. Ariel Castro, 52, the homeowner, was arrested in connection with the news. His brothers, Pedro Castro and Onil Casto, were also arrested. A search warrant was executed late Monday night…
Life in the Heart of the Water Belt: Semantics in Cleveland
Fresh water meets coal power on the shores of Avon Lake. The Atlantic’s Cities blog ushered in conversation about this “post-industrial” terminology that’s followed around locales like Cleveland, Buffalo, Milwaukee and others for years now. And much like the similarly contended “Rust Belt” dictum, the phrase is worth mulling over. How is Cleveland a post-industrial…
Concert Review: Justin Furstenfeld at Beachland Ballroom
When Blue October singer-guitarist Justin Furstenfeld decided to call his current tour “An Open Book,” he sure wasn’t kidding. Over the course of nearly two hours last night at the Beachland Ballroom, he delved into all the details from his past, confessing to cheating on his then-girlfriend with the woman who would become his wife…
MGMT at Cleveland Masonic Auditorium: Concert Review
ERIC SANDY/SCENE MGMT at Masonic Auditorium in Cleveland By the time the crowd managed to cough up a collective “meh,” the dude sitting in front of me had already completed at least 26 Sudoku puzzles. Onstage, something entirely distinct from a rousing concert was taking place. MGMT hauled their varying degrees of experimental pop into…
Weapons of Mass Creation announces line-up for this year’s festival
The Appleseed Cast Organizers for the fourth annual Weapons of Mass Creation festival have announced the line-up for the event that’s slated to take place the weekend of August 16-18 at Cleveland Public Theatre. While more acts will be announced closer to the date, headlining acts will include a good mix of indie rock acts…
Someone Smuggled Two Goldfish Into Perry Nuclear Plant
Perry Nuclear Plant There are plenty of questions – and little in the way of answers – now that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is investigating a case of smuggled goldfish over at Perry Nuclear Plant. Workers discovered the goldfish swimming in a juice pitcher earlier this week. Investigators will be digging through surveillance footage to…
Moving the Needle on Legalizing Herb in Ohio
Will state legislators embrace heady nugs? State Rep. Robert Hagan, a Youngstown Democrat, yesterday introduced two bills in the Statehouse that would legalize marijuana use in Ohio. One of Hagan’s proposals would give the green light to medical marijuana use for conditions like sickle-cell anemia, cancer and chronic pain of any ilk. A second proposal…
Cleveland Museum of Art announces Summer Solstice line-up
The Crystal Ark The Cleveland Museum of Art has just announced the line-up for the fifth annual Summer Solstice concert, which takes place at 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 22 at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Because the museum’s atrium is now completed (last year, it was still under construction), one of the concert’s two…
Ohio City B&B Owners to Open Restaurant
The owners of the popular Ohio City bed and breakfast J. Palen House are expanding their empire. In addition to adding more residential buildings to their growing inn business, they have acquired a commercial building on Whitman to transform into an eatery. “We’ve been trying to keep this from sneaking out,” says owner Diane Miller,…
Chicago Totally Copying Cleveland with Planned Bus Rapid Transit
Chicago’s Ashland Avenue will soon resemble Cleveland’s Euclid Corridor as it implements a bus rapid transit (BRT) system that looks a lot like the Health Line. In Chicago, the new line will span 16 miles of Ashland Ave. and will be built in phases. Cleveland’s Health Line covers 9.2 miles of Euclid from Public Square…
State Report Highlights Dangers of For-Profit Prison in Ohio
CCA Lake Erie Correctional Institution lies on the outskirts of Conneaut, Ohio. Nestled up against the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, the Lake Erie Correctional Institution strikes a concrete contrast against a springtime blue sky. Warden Brigham Sloan oversees the prison’s operations and its 1,798 inmates, all of which fall under the umbrella of the Corrections Corporation of…
Rally for Murdered Transgender Woman Demands Awareness
The transgender flag was flying high above City Hall Wednesday afternoon for a rally in support of Cemia “Ce Ce” Dove, the transgender woman brutally murdered and recovered in an Olmsted Township pond on April 17. Jacob Nash, the founder and president of a transgender homeless shelter, served as emcee. Various spokespeople for religious organizations,…
Epic Eats: D-Boned Ribs @ Bubba’s
It’s officially ribs season — you know, that time of year when cooking and eating indoors just seems like an awful idea. And with another Brown’s draft behind us, who better to feed us that barbecue than Brown’s legend Al “Bubba” Baker? For years, his Avon-based Bubba’s Q has been dishing up crowd-pleasing smoked meats…
Peabody’s Concert Club set to move by fall
After over a decade at its current location on Euclid Avenue near Cleveland State University, Peabody’s Concert Club will be on the move by the fall. The Plain Dealer has reported that the space which club owner Chris Zitterbart leases will be razed to make room for a new CSU health innovation center. The Rascal…
Mentor High School Gossip Makes Rounds Via Twitter
Third time’s the charm, as some are wont to say, but the future doesn’t bode well for @MentorCrushes3, a gossipy Twitter account accruing fans and enemies around Mentor High School. In between yawns, we happened to notice that some serious shit was brewing over in Mentor. Twitter had dismantled two accounts aimed at proliferating anonymous…
State Legislators Introduce Ohio’s ‘Right to Work’ Bill: UPDATE
Ohio Statehouse in Columbus UPDATE: Ohio Senate President Keith Faber announced Wednesday night that this right-to-work business isn’t going to get very far under his watch. He noted that the bills, proposed by two House Republicans, would serve little purpose aside from galvanizing Democrat fundraising. The trajectory of the two bills looks bleak, but their…
Adventures in Argyle
“Where the eff are we?” I question. “We’re outside of Elyria,” smartly replies my buddy. “I know THAT, but… what IS this place? Is this A place?” “I have no idea. There’s a burned out sign.” We both look up and scratch our heads at the nameless bar sign. Yes, it was just a sign…
Baseball’s Fiscal Cliff
Police in riot gear guard the dugouts, preparing for the worst with German shepherds at heel. This is Philadelphia in 1980, after all. It’s the bottom of the ninth. Two strikes. Two out. Bases loaded. Human rocket Willie Wilson of the Kansas City Royals hugs the plate, curiously dressed in full powder blue,…
Culinary Calendar
On Friday May 3, Pickwick and Frolic will launch the next chapter in its popular Murder Mystery Dinner Theater. Pickwick’s newest interactive adventure is titled “Toga Party Terror.” It’s all fun and games at this wild toga party until a twist turns the bash into a deadly competition – let’s just say that somebody is…
At Home
The day Boris Music dispenses his very first pint of beer at his forthcoming Ohio City brewery, he already will be the oldest brewing tradition in America, edging out Yuengling by four years. That’s because he’s officially part of the Laško family, a Slovenian brewery that dates back to 1825. “Do they have a good…
Mule’s Out for Summer
The “paradox of choice” is a cognitive fallacy that describes the inability to make a decision when faced with a plethora of options. To the novice drinker in Cleveland — a beer town — a cocktail menu goes one level deeper: It’s a plethora of options that you don’t even understand—a bunch of unfamiliar words…
Cleared for Take-off
He never wanted a passport, and he never wanted to leave America. As a young kid on the streets of Cleveland, rapper Jamaal Caine thought home was as good as it could get. That same kid is now about to board a plane for another trip to Europe and the lifestyle he never imagined as…
Southern in Solon
People will drive almost anywhere to eat great barbecue – even Solon. That’s where the low-and-slow gurus who ran Fat Casual ended up after a year and a half of road construction finally did in their Macedonia shop. For a little over two years, that odd, out-of-the-way restaurant with the peculiar name attracted anybody with…
Ghosts in the Machine
Brit prog rocker Steven Wilson thanks his parents for introducing him to the idea that all songs don’t have to be three-minute pop gems. While Wilson was growing up, his father brought home albums like Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. “No one called it progressive rock at the…
Success Story: Phoenix Coffee
Greek mythology tells a tale of the Phoenix, a bird that continues to find new life despite a fiery end. Cleveland’s own Phoenix Coffee is experiencing firsthand that story of continued revival. A recent split at the top has dramatically altered the company organization, leaving CEO and self-proclaimed “Super Barista” Sarah Wilson-Jones to re-create the…
An Open Book
Led by volatile singer-guitarist Justin Furstenfeld, Blue October has experienced extreme ups and downs since forming nearly 20 years ago. Furstenfeld chronicles that rollercoaster ride in Crazy Making — The Words and Lyrics of Justin Furstenfeld, a collection of annotated lyrics for the songs in the band’s discography. He’s currently touring in support of the…
Doc Robot Is Almost Ready For You
You probably remember Watson, the IBM supercomputer, from its stint on Jeopardy where it soundly whooped its human competition. The megamind is more than parlor tricks and trivia, however, and IBM has reached out to many industries and companies to see how this uber-smart “learning” computer that can interact and answer questions might be able…
Halcyon Ingenieux
The mostly windowless building imposes itself upon Franklin Boulevard in Ohio City, near the axis of West 28th Street and Fulton Road. Passing motorists might not immediately recognize the monolith for what it is. A stone etching reads: “THIS BUILDING IS DEDICATED AND CONSECRATED TO THE SPIRIT OF FREEMASONRY.” This is Halcyon Lodge No. 498,…
Movies Out
FRIDAY may 03 Blancanieves If you’re addicted to movies, stop what you’re doing and go see Blancanieves. This fabulous update of (and twist on) the Grimm Brothers’ Snow White fairytale is enchanting in every way. It’s a silent film, first off — say whaaa — and set in 1920s Seville. A little girl who never…
Gone
On Tuesday, March 12, 24-year-old Ronald Roberts of Akron saw fit to update his Facebook profile picture. In it, he’s wearing a red ball cap low on his forehead and sneering defiantly at the camera as he clutches a thick wad of cash. Three days earlier, he’d posted a similar picture — holding the same…
Movies In
MOVIES IN: WHODUNNITS Critics I respect have called Top of the Lake one of the best things on TV this year. It’s a seven-part miniseries co-produced by channels in Britain, Australia and the US. It aired in the states on the Sundance Channel through March and April and is now a “new arrival” on Netflix…
Savage Love
Dear Dan — I am a 23-year-old straight male. My ex-girlfriend and I started dating in high school, when we were both 17, and continued dating until I broke up with her the summer after our freshman year in college because things felt too serious. We continued to have sex, but I blocked out all…
We Get Mail
On: “Ed FitzGerald Officially Launches Campaign for Governor” The jury is still out on Ed as a visionary leader, which is what Ohio needs. I used to think he was a visionary and cared about citizens. Lately I fear he doesn’t know how to break out of the mindset established by the Dimora and Russo…
Love Puzzle
It’s too bad Consumer Reports doesn’t have a rating system for men, so women could compare features of prospective male romantic partners and see which models have been recommended. (No doubt men, gays and lesbians would appreciate a similar guide.) Alas, we are left with the guessing game that is love, which forms the centerpiece…
Band of the Week
N.O.I.R. Meet the Band: Vigatron (vocals), San Goodee (vocals) and Phatburner (vocals, production) The History: These three rappers have known each other for about a decade but only put this group together in the last couple of years after they all had relationships go south at the same time. “Phatburner had the idea that he…
Also On Stage This Week
West Side Story TrueNorth Theater It takes guts to stage West Side Story, especially with a huge young cast, since the demands of singing and dancing—let alone acting—are fairly monumental. Big challenges, however, never faze director Fred Sternfeld, who moves large masses of people with the decisive precision of Alaric the Visigoth. And Sternfeld is…
CD Review: The Amprays
ampray.com A side project for Rosavelt’s Kevin Grasha, who records here as “A.K. Strange,” The Amprays are a power-pop/alt-country act that simultaneously recall classic rockers like Tom Petty and college rockers such as R.E.M. While ballads such as “Fly Girl” and “Cold Sweat Goodbye” have a real tenderness to them, “4 Blank Walls” is a…
Top Pop Culture Picks for the Week
TOP PICK Silver Linings Playbook (Weinstein Company) While it came up a bit short at this year’s Oscars, where it was nominated for a total of eight awards, Silver Linings Playbook features great performances by its leads, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, who play a couple of crazies who have difficulty acknowledging their feelings for…
Pocket Sized
The Breakneck Gallery wants to put art in your wallet. Their Artist Trading Card show brings together some 280 works by 40 local artists that span ink, pencil, watercolor, and even metalwork. The infinite creativity has only one limitation imposed on it: All works are exactly 3.5″ by 2.5,” not including framing. The pocket-portable…
Also On View
78th Street Studios Shedding Light. This show uses art to examine domestic violence and relationship abuse. Area talents including Augusto Bordelois, Hilary Gent, Liz Maugans, Julie Morgan, Meghann Snow, and Douglas Max Utter contribute works in painting, sculpture, and mixed media. Through May 10 at 1300 West 78th St., Suite 200. For more information, call…
