When the Flower Dies
After 9-11, local playwright Sarah Morton thought she’d never be able to create again. “I was very paralyzed,” she recalls. “I couldn’t come to grips with art being as important as it used to be.” Eventually, she found solace in writing Night Bloomers, which opens tonight at the Cleveland Play House. The play takes place…
Scott Walker
Scott Walker has stalked the music industry like a specter for four decades. The iconic founder of American-bred ’60s British chart-toppers the Walker Brothers, and author of a clutch of hard-to-decipher solo albums in the late ’60s and early ’70s, Walker slipped out of sight for much of the ’80s and ’90s. It’s been 11…
A Night at the Bar
The Bottom’s Up, a shot-and-beer joint in Lakewood, isn’t the most romantic place for an illicit rendezvous. But that’s exactly where the two girls found themselves, waiting for him to show. Nichole Habbershon, a skeletal woman with a Best Cuts perm, and her friend Stephanie Schultz, a stout blonde not old enough to drink, had…
Chris Trapper
By all accounts, Chris Trapper should be a household name. The singer-songwriter moved to Boston during the early ’90s and quickly established himself as a lone folkie with a guitar case full of idiosyncratic characters. Trapper’s songs have appeared in film and TV soundtracks as well as on Great Big Sea’s Sea of No Cares…
Cheating Hearts
When she finds out longtime husband Bernard (Gérard Depardieu) has been cheating on her, Catherine (Fanny Ardant) hires a prostitute to unwittingly seduce him in Nathalie, a twisty erotic drama about sex, trust, and relationships. At first, Catherine pries information about the illicit trysts from the title character (Emmanuelle Bérart), who’s more than happy to…
Pink
Six years after “There You Go,” her breakthrough hit, Alecia “Pink” Moore doesn’t seem any closer to deciding what her sound is. Or what it isn’t: For the two albums following 2000’s R&B-leaning Can’t Take Me Home, Pink hooked up with collaborators like Rancid’s Tim Armstrong and Linda Perry of 4 Non Blondes, crafting a…
Sisterly Love
Chi Omega sits atop a steep, sled-friendly hill near the Kent State campus, slightly removed from the other sororities. Inside, a private chef prepares dinner for girls in rolled-up sweats. Some are eating handfuls of cereal from the box, while others update online profiles, Kelly Clarkson bouncing from their iPods. It’s a safe, cozy world,…
Mary Bridget Davies
When Mary Bridget Davies hit the Hanna Theatre stage as the “singing” Joplin of Randal Myler’s play Love, Janis earlier this year, skeptics in the audience (read: Joplin fans old and devoted enough to have absorbed her catalog on a cellular level) held their collective breath. It took but a few notes from Davies’ powerful…
Romancing the Bow
When the Modern King of Waltz isn’t busy leading orchestras in performances that encourage audiences to dance in the aisles, he’s making sweet, sweet love to his violin. “The sound, the shape!” exclaims André Rieu. “It has the shape of a female body. It is great to feel your instrument under your chin, to feel…
The Jack Fords
Their name might refer to the former Toledo mayor or perhaps People magazine’s “Sexiest News Anchor” in 1999. One thing is certain: The Jack Fords know how to bring it. They’ve built a solid following; their sound is a raw, rollicking blend of classic rock, ’70s AM, and juicy roots music — the kind of…
Things Fall Apart
From a distance, the Villages of Central looks like a postcard for the American dream. Rows of two-story houses in soothing grays and blues line East 46th Street like a scene out of Edward Scissorhands, with cozy porches, flowers, and trimmed front yards. It’s a tidy, working-class oasis in the poorest neighborhood in the city,…
Commie Chic
A 1999 trip to Moscow inspired artist Arabella Proffer’s latest exhibit, which depicts fashionably dressed Russians standing around a drab Red Square. The untitled show, on display at Art in the Village, features 24 paintings that envision the former Soviet Union as a trendsetter. “I was so used to it being poor and Communist,” says…
Mike Christopher
Akron singer-songwriter Mike Christopher could be anointed as a buzzworthy Christian artist if not for marijuana references like “Just gettin’ high waiting for Jesus” (in “Friend in Jesus”). While he may be a complex man, his music certainly isn’t. He plays predominantly acoustic coffeehouse alternative. He can write beautiful minimalist blues like the atypical “Your…
Die! Bold, Die!
As expected, the premiere for new electronic voting machines made Tuesday’s primary more confusing than trying to introduce Xbox to an old-folks home. There were problems printing the ballots, memory cards were lost, and some polling places were offline for hours as workers struggled to get the Diebold machines up and running. So 61-year-old Marc…
Life in the Kinda Fast Lane
Without Don Felder’s electric axe, the Eagles were just a bunch of acoustic-guitar-strumming pansies. He’s the guy who gave their peaceful, easy feeling its edge, writing the music for and playing the blistering guitar solo that caps “Hotel California,” among others. Expect Felder to perform the band’s more rockin’ songs at tonight’s Rock and Roll…
Aces to Jack’s
Three trips to Jack’s Deli in University Heights, and we still never got around to ordering the blintzes — not the regular ones and not even the deep-fried dessert variety. Ditto for the Fresser’s Delight, a yummy-sounding pileup of homemade potato pancakes and hot corned beef. Same goes for the beet borscht, the “chicken in…
Misery Mongers Inc.
The courts are full of fellow travelers: As the former director of Fathers & Mothers for Equal Rights, I can attest to the fact that your story on the Stafford brothers [“Monsters of Misery Court,” April 26] was just the tip of the iceberg. The family-court system is a legal brothel in Cuyahoga County, and…
He Knows His Fat Jokes
With his portly frame, geeky glasses, and toothy grin, comedian Greg Morton looks like a cartoon. So it’s fitting that he used to be an animator at Hanna-Barbera. “I wanted to be the cartoon, instead of drawing them,” he says of his career switch. Morton’s onstage voices include characters from Star Wars and The Lord…
Lord of the Ring
It’s been 20 years since Lorin Maazel last stood before the Cleveland Orchestra. The two-decade drought ends this weekend when the conductor returns to perform The Ring Without Words, his own all-orchestral arrangement of Wagner’s mammoth, four-opera “Ring” cycle. Orchestra members who played under Maazel when he was music director from 1972 to 1982 can…
Mom’s Day Your Way
If your mom birthed a brood of CEOs, by all means treat her to a Mother’s Day blowout this Sunday at a chichi dining room. On the other hand, if Mom’s kids work for a living, here are some suggestions for casual spots that won’t bust the budget: Downtown, Waterstreet Grill (1265 West Ninth Street)…
Worth the Wait
It was one of those twists of fate so cruel as to seem almost unfathomable. Here was Anthony Hamilton, who’d spent nearly a decade in the music business on the outside looking in. He’d survived one unreleased album, one album that might as well never have come out, and the difficult anonymity of a sideman…
High Beams
For a band that hasn’t released a full album yet, the Headlights sure keep busy. The Illinois quartet has been on the road for a couple months now, touring in support of its four-song EP, The Enemies (which came out in November), as well as a split single recorded with the Most Serene Republic (released…
Shooting Stars
As a manager at a local Ticketron office from 1974 to ’91, Ilona Simon snapped photos of Frank Sinatra and other music legends who blew through town. Now she’s paying tribute to them with the photo exhibit Star Struck, on display at her martini bar, Budapest Blonde. “I was privy to the bands and backstage,”…
Inside the Lines
Art School Confidential is very much like every movie pilfered from the Saturday Night Live playbook, stretching the slight giggles of a four-minute sketch into two-hour yawns. It’s based on a four-page excerpt from Eightball, a 14-year-old comic book written and drawn by Dan Clowes, who wrote the screenplay for Terry Zwigoff’s movie. The original…
A Welcome Catastrophe
Grow or die. Change or stagnate. Evolve or dissolve. It’s a mantra you often hear from musicians, particularly those with some mileage on their career odometers. Too often, though, it’s a convenient escape clause for bands bored with their own sounds and ideas, with each other — sometimes even with their fans. But on rare…
Rhythm Wranglers
On the second Sunday of every month, Dave Brewer pools as many wannabe drummers as he can for an hour-long Drum Circle. As participants pound away, the Canton native enhances the session with mini-history lessons on the Caribbean and African roots behind each rhythmic riff and handclap. But he’s not trying to make you find…
A Matter of Style
Jonzei singer Portia Connell welcomes a challenge — except when it means finding a new guitarist or drummer for her Columbus band. “When I was doing auditions, I had these cats that were either mediocre players with a hip look, or they were killer players with no look,” she recalls. “There were so many times…
That Stinking Feeling
Our anemic movie industry recycles so relentlessly that even our complaining about such plasticized repackaging comes off as a recycled product, offered primarily to draw the line between concerned aging cinephiles and the target consumers who don’t care a whit. Still, we’ve become a culture not merely tantalized by but doped on never-ending resurrections of…
Word Rumble
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately with Frank Kogan’s Real Punks Don’t Wear Black, the best collection of music writing not by Lester Bangs that I’ve ever read (even if he does include all these long-ass unreadable screeds he wrote when he was 12). My favorite idea within the book is the “Superword.”…
Big Bad Mamas
The zoo celebrates Mother’s Day today with a tribute to moms of all shapes, sizes, and species. In addition to activities geared toward human moms and their families, zoo mommies will show you how they roll. Andee the warthog, Inge the black rhino, and a trio of giraffes — Bridgit, Lindi, and Nova — will…
Coheed and Cambria
Coheed and Cambria’s latest — warning: take a deep breath — Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness, is the latest chapter in a prog-rock space opera that’s spanned three albums and several comic books. There’s no way to capsulize this Dune-sized epic, but know this: It’s…
Passion Play
We’ve come a long way since 1938, when Father Flanagan uttered his famous line, “There is no such thing as a bad boy” in the film Boys Town. Spencer Tracy’s Catholic priest was referring to the scruffy but lovable delinquents he was trying to help, but these days, such words from the mouth of a…
CSI: Tower City
While the following story is based on real events, any resemblance of characters to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental. “Thank God it is Friday,” Tower City Security Officer Bob thinks, sipping coffee from his TGIF mug, staring at the bank of monitors in Tower City’s central security bunker. “Ah, the Fresh Clean Air™,”…
Paradise City
When singer Ben Tegel talks about the Vacation, the hard-rock band he leads with Steve, his guitar-playing brother, he uses the word “punk” a lot. “I got into a lot of punk music in high school,” he says. “Even the classic rock bands I like have that punk attitude.” If anything, the loud-lovin’ Los Angeles…
Minus the Bear
Minus the Bear is in tricky territory. The Seattle quintet of ex-hardcore and math-metal allstars is building momentum with its sophomore album, Menos el Oso, but has also signaled its intent to ascend the slippery slope of “maturity.” The Bear is refining its sound by dialing up the pop sheen and cutting back on the…
Youth Hostile
Does this idea for a play get on your last nerve? A couple of rich-kid college dropouts and drug dabblers, circa 1982, loll around a grubby New York apartment, whining about their lot in life and trying to think of something to fill the rest of their day. Just the thought of watching twentyish mopes…
Rock School
The only thing harder for bands than becoming million-selling stars is watching the popularity fade. Eddie Money knows this harsh reality, and he offers some simple advice. “When you have your time in the sun, really appreciate it and absorb it, and have a great time,” he says. Money’s career-fade was sudden. He had a…
Return to Perfection
Monday marks the 25th anniversary of Len Barker’s perfect game against the Toronto Blue Jays. A mere 7,200 fans showed up at the old stadium to see the Big Donkey hurl his furious fastball and super slider en route to only the ninth perfect game in big-league history. One reason for the low turnout: It…
Nine Shocks Terror
Tony Erba, bassist and founding member of hardcore stalwart Nine Shocks Terror, could be called a trailblazer; he’s resided within the Cleveland music scene for decades, proclaiming himself Parma’s “Greatest Natural Resource” for nearly as long. Driving down memory lane with Erba is bittersweet — we rarely hear the names Variety Theatre or Speak in…
Capsule reviews of current area theater presentations.
Dark Room — The conventional image we have of playwrights and poets is of lonely souls slaving away in a poorly lit basement. Well, you’ve got the location and the illumination right, but everything else about the Dark Room project is much cheerier. Sponsored by the Cleveland Theater Collective, it’s a once-a-month workshop/cabaret for writers…
Band of the Month
It’s a late Wednesday night at Akron’s Lime Spider. Sonic Youth is squealing over the radio and $1.50 PBR drafts are pouring off the bar to regulars. Joey Beltram, singer-songwriter for local indie rocker Goodmorning Valentine, sits at a table for four, rolling a cigarette and eyeing his two bandmates — bassist Elizabeth Allen and…
Mad Dog Day Afternoon
It’s taken Mike “Mad Dog” Adams 30 years to slow down. For the 50-year-old songwriting comedian, that means cutting his performance schedule to 150 shows a year. “It takes a little more out of me each year,” says Adams, who earned his nickname in high school because of his fondness for MD 20/20. “I’ve played…
Film School
So Film School may not be mind-blowingly fresh. At times, singer Krayg Burton may sound like the love child of Robert Smith and Thurston Moore. But when the mood strikes them, they kick and scream onstage like an ADD kid in the candy aisle. And moody they do seem to be. From shoegazing to psych-pop,…
Capsule reviews of current area art exhibitions.
NEW Brush & Lens: The Feininger Family Legacy — Late photography legend Andreas Feininger was born 100 years ago this year; his father, Lyonel, a comparably gifted printmaker and Bauhaus advocate, died 50 years ago. Contessa Gallery honors this 100/50 convergence with a stunning and rare opportunity to view their work side by side and…
Desert Isle Discs
After his punk band, GC5, broke up, singer-guitarist Doug McKean worked with Roger Hoover & the Whiskeyhounds, Tim Easton, and Rosavelt. Now heading his own group, he celebrates Heels Up, a new album of roots rock and soul with a rock-and-roll spirit. 1. Townes Van Zandt, Live at the Old Quarter. “No one writes lyrics…
Wild, Wild Life
It’s two celebrations for the price of one at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo today. Plant Conservation Day happens from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., including discussions about invasive vegetation found in your backyard, a Q&A session with experts, and a plant sale. From 11 a.m. till 3 p.m., get in on some International Migratory Bird…
Morticia’s Chair
The CD-release party for Beautiful Monsters from Morticia’s Chair kicks off the Winchester’s Happy Hour Concert Series, a lineup of Tuesday shows that will start at 7 p.m. sharp, so you can get home (somewhat) early and make it to work in the morning with minimal impairment. And this show’s worth a groggy morning. An…
Beauty at Buchenwald
Fateless (THINKFilm) I’ve no patience for the Holocaust docudrama — didn’t even see Schindler’s List till years after its 1993 release, to my parents’ everlasting shame. And so it was I avoided Lajos Koltai’s acclaimed adaptation of Imre Kertész’ Nobel Prize-winning autobiographic novel; are we not already gorged on the grim concentration-camp movies that fall…
Mountain Climbing
Cleveland melodic rock band View From Everest has signed a three-album deal with Rust Records, the local subsidiary of Universal Records. Rust has just issued View’s Contagious LP and has another on the books for this year. “They fill a void at the label for a solid [adult album alternative] roots artist,” says Rust Executive…
Hot Salsa
Keep your earrings and bracelets at home — attitude is the accessory of choice at tonight’s Ultra Modä: The Latino Fashion Show. The Club Modä event, part of Cleveland’s Fashion Week festivities, features risqué apparel and plenty of other south-of-the-border delights. “It’s what makes you smile,” in the words of artistic director Joanna Glonek. Among…
Jon Auer
Half the songwriting team at the core of Seattle’s long-running Posies, Jon Auer believes in the power of pop so deeply that he awoke one day to discover he’d become a member of his favorite band, Big Star. Unfortunately, Big Star’s heyday had passed by the time Auer joined up: Last year’s In Space was…
Our top DVD picks for the week of May 9.
The Barbie Diaries Gift Set (Family Home Entertainment) Battle in Heaven (Tartan) The Best of Rocky and Bullwinkle: Volume 1 (Sony Wonder) Big Momma’s House 2 (Fox) Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist: Season One (Paramount) The Facts of Life: The Complete First and Second Seasons (Sony) Grandma’s Boy: Unrated Edition (Fox) If Only (Sony) Late Spring…
Tara Jane O’Neil
Tara Jane O’Neil is tired. The well-traveled singer-guitarist-violinist saw the sunrise this morning — or would have, if she hadn’t been locked away in a Portland, Oregon apartment mixing her next record of supple cinematic rock. “There’s a couple songs,” she says, “that I think definitely tie together the stuff I’ve been trying to do…
The Lighter Side of Pimping
Comedian Katt Williams looks like the slickest pimp on the block: With his permed hair and mack-daddy outfits, the Dayton-bred comic seems better suited for street corners than stages. He’s best known for his role on MTV’s Nick Cannon Presents Wild ‘N Out, but anyone lucky enough to catch a music video on the network…
Mark Pickerel & His Praying Hands
Those who remember the glory days of grunge might recall Mark Pickerel as the drummer for Screaming Trees. He’s traded (in part) his drum kit for guitar and lead microphone, and signed with Bloodshot, one of the primo outfits for alt-Americana. But any assumptions that he’s “gone country” are swept away on first listen. True,…
Beat Down
If you’ve gazed at a record player and imagined you could scratch as well as the next guy, you’re not alone. Guitars, drums, bass — all these instruments appear to require real skill or at least blisters. But who can’t drop a needle? The problem is, cutting beats and transplanting samples isn’t that easy. It…
Captured! by Robots
Are you into funky metal-influenced garage-punk played by sadistic cyborgs who would just as soon slit your belly open as play Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration”? Wanna get married by a Universal Life Church minister who’s usually wrapped in chains, because for the last 10 years he’s been a prisoner of the aforementioned robots? Seriously.…
The Harder They Fall
Tonight’s Thursday Night Fights, dubbed Rise of the Machine, features five bouts of boxing, culminating in George “The Terminator” Linberger defending his title in the main event. The undercard includes undefeated pugilists like Dannon “the Cannon” Svab and Durrell Richardson. Thu., May 11, 7:30 p.m.
Grandaddy
No one did modern anxiety and ennui like Grandaddy. Just Like the Fambly Cat, the California band’s swan song, recaptures the melancholic magic of Grandaddy’s 2000 masterpiece, The Sophtware Slump: in short, punchy rockers and six-minute space-pop epics. Together they offer an unflinching yet musically uplifting tour of the soulless office parks, faceless subdivisions, and…
The week’s best releases from the pop-culture universe:
DVD — The Nashville Sound: Not only did this 1969 documentary serve as inspiration for Robert Altman’s Nashville, it also captured a semihistoric event: the 44th anniversary of the Grand Ole Opry. The concert venue hosted a who’s who of country-music stars, including Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, and Dolly Parton. It’s a time capsule of…
People Under the Stairs
It sounds like the sweet sunshine of a backyard barbecue. Grab a cold beverage, pass the Philly blunt, and cue a set of laid-back, old-school rap overtures — that’s the mad aesthetic of People Under the Stairs. Rest assured that Double K and Thes One aren’t horror-film misfits. These West Coast cravens are low-fi kings…
