Concert Review: Juicy J at House of Blues
Justin Timberlake may try to convince us that being classy and wearing a suit and tie is the way to go, but if last night’s Juicy J show is any indication, there are still plenty of fans that want to get wild and ratchet. If you weren’t at the House of Blues last night, you…
Sarava Space at Shaker Square Has Been Spoken For
Since Sarava unexpectedly closed back in March, there has been no shortage of interest in the attractive Shaker Square space. After all the dust finally settled, it was a nearby neighbor that ultimately claimed the space. Zanzibar Soul Fusion will be moving from their current location on the Square, where they have been running for…
Loaded Gun Found in Luggage at Cleveland Hopkins; Man Arrested
A man was arrested at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport today after security found a loaded .380-caliber handgun in his carry-on luggage. Cleveland police reported that the now-confiscated gun contained five rounds, one of which was loaded in the chamber. The man, an Independence resident, has not been publicly identified. He was set to fly to…
Dish of the Day: Ma Po Tofu @ Szechuan Gourmet
We don’t often think of hot and spicy dishes as comfort food, but that’s precisely what ma po tofu is to the countless folks who call themselves fans of the Szechuan classic. And one of the best versions of the dish in Cleveland can be found at Szechuan Gourmet, a relatively new addition to the…
A Brief History of the Templar Motors Company
Last night, Lakewood city leaders decided against renaming a portion of Athens Avenue in honor of the Templar Motors company. Rather than legally change the name of the street to Templar Motor Way (a convoluted process that would leave more confusion than pride at the doorsteps of neighboring residents and businesses), City Council decided to…
Chef Jonathan Sawyer Hit by RTA Bus
Cleveland chef Jonathan Sawyer was hit by an RTA paratransit bus this morning on what appears to be Euclid Ave. He posted the photos on Instagram (pictured right). Here’s Sawyer’s tweet: Wow Just got hit by an #RTA bus in #CLe , not injured but shaken up. Drivers please check your side… instagram.com/p/ZnSw39Qfin/ — Jonathon…
Clevelander in the Spotlight on Fox’s MasterChef
Northeast Ohio’s culinary prowess once again will be in the national spotlight as Season 4 of Fox’s “MasterChef” premiers tomorrow night. The popular reality competition show features the best “home cooks” from around the country as they’re put through a series of challenges in hopes of being crowned the next MasterChef. Strongsville native and downtown…
Strongsville Seniors Re-enact Teachers Strike
Strongsville High School seniors might have looked pretty darn loony as they picketed Lunn Road this morning, were it not for the eight-week precedent set by their teachers. Celebrating “Senior Memory Day,” about 60 members of the seemingly forsaken Class of 2013 took to the streets before school began today to shout things like “Get…
Rock Hall hosts media preview of Rolling Stones exhibit
This morning, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum hosted a group of local reporters and gave them a tour of Rolling Stones: 50 Years of Satisfaction, the new exhibit that opens on Friday. New York-based curator Craig Inciardi led the group through the exhibit, which takes up the Rock Hall’s top two…
Brunswick Schools Canceling Classes Until Next Tuesday
Due to a rapidly spreading “Norovirus” — stomach flu supreme — the Brunswick school district is canceling all classes until next Tuesday. Friday and Monday were already scheduled days off for Memorial Day, but this shit is crazy. Evidently, absences have been piling up in recent days. Monday, class was called off at all 10…
NASA Is Going to Print Pizza
3-D printing, among the glitzier technologies making headlines these days, may give towers of pizza majesty like Angelo’s a run for their money. Well, not likely. But according to this gem published by The Cleveland Leader today, NASA is throwing money toward a 3-D printer capable of printing food. Like pizza and chocolate, for starters.…
The Handsome Family’s ‘Wilderness’: New Music Tuesday
So last week, New Music Tuesday focused on a really terrific album that actually just hit streets today. Let’s backtrack a bit now and look a sublime offering that was released last week. The Handsome Family boasts a pretty incredible catalog 20 years into the band’s career. This year’s offering, Wilderness, extends the band’s distortion…
Dish of the Day: Hullett Burger @ Parkview
One of the sweetest joints in town to check out some live blues is The Parkview Nite Club in Detroit Shoreway. But there’s so much more to take in here than the tunes. We dig the Parkview as much for the grub as we do the grooves. In addition to the rightly famous chipotle pork…
Elyria Mayor Using Tax Dollars to Promote Her Blog
Elyria Mayor Holly Brinda used tax dollars to pay for an advertisement in the Chronicle-Telegram to promote a blog on the city’s website of which she is the sole author. “For the rest of the story, read Elyria Mayor Holly Brinda’s new blog. www.cityofelyria.org. Factual, Real Time, Unbiased City News & Information,” reads the ad.…
More Red Light Cameras Coming to Cleveland
Even as state legislators dick around with a ban on red light cameras in Ohio, Cleveland City Council voted last night to double the amount of such things. Zack Reed, Joe Cimperman and Dona Brady dissented during the 15-3 vote. Cleveland garnered more than $6 million from the controversial devices last year. Each infraction -…
All Systems Go for Katz Club Diner
It’s been difficult to patiently wait all these months for Doug Katz to open the doors to his diner-car diner, but that wait finally is over. After a week of friends and family meals, the Katz Club Diner officially opens today, Tuesday May 21, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Katz says that while technically open,…
Deal Done on City Grill Space in Gordon Square
One of the most looked-at properties in Gordon Square finally has been spoken for. The long-running City Grill, which closed a few years back, has been purchased and will be renovated into a new restaurant. At the helm will be chef-owner Cory Hess. Located near the intersection of W. 65th and Detroit (6416 Detroit Ave.),…
On The Landscaping Talents of Cleveland’s Sheep
A tip of the hat to Michael McIntyre and his Tipoff column for the phrase “mandibular mowers” in reference to the quaint herd of sheep grazing and fertilizing mostly vacant lots along the East Shoreway. Yes, the 24 sheep and one protective llama are setting to work once again on the grassy plains of Cleveland.…
Attorney General Certifies Ohio Cannabis Rights Amendment
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine certified more than 1,000 “valid signatures” brought forth by the Ohio Rights Group with the intent to put a ballot measure before voters sometime in the future. That ballot measure would revolve around legalizing medical and therapeutic marijuana, as well as industrial hemp. The next step for the group is…
Civic Facebook Battle in West Jefferson
Down in West Jefferson, Ohio — about 25 minutes due West of Columbus — police chief Terry Ward has been ordered by city council and the mayor to take down a community Facebook page which reported daily crime activity, via the Columbus Dispatch. According to Ward, the page served as an effective tip generator and…
Concert Review: The Thermals at the Beachland Ballroom
At first glace, The Thermals don’t necessarily look like a band that will kick your ass. Bassist Kathy Foster comes off a bit like your neighbor (not to say that women can’t kick ass), while lead singer-guitarist Hutch Harris and drummer Westin Glass look like people you might see at your favorite indie coffee shop…
Nano Brew one of 12 Hottest Craft Beer Bars in the US
Tom Acitelli, author of the new book “The Audacity of Hops: The History of America’s Craft Beer Revolution,” has just published a listing of what he calls the hottest new beer bars across the land. Nano Brew, in Ohio City, ranks in at number five. “The brewpub plus beer garden opened late last summer, and…
Cleveland Police Interviewed About Seymour Avenue Rescue: Video
Espada Interviews conducted with Cleveland police officers were posted publicly this week. The video reveals the narrative that unraveled as officers arrived at 2207 Seymour Avenue May 6. The video, in which Detective Jennifer Ciaccia interviews Officer Anthony Espada, Officer Barbara Johnson and Officer Michael Tracy, is embedded below. Their stories recount the initial dispatch…
Seven Hills Councilman David Bentkowski Is Now Suing the Ohio Lottery Commission
David Bentkowski likes suing people. He thinks that his background as a lawyer makes him qualified to enter into legal disputes and his voracious appetite for accusing everyone in the world of fucking up his life makes him qualified to speak out loud, apparently believing that people think he’s anything other than a joke who…
Bay Village is Basically the Bike-to-School Capital of the USA
While other media organizations were sending crews to Cleveland to cover the news on Seymour Ave. last week, Bicycling magazine dispatched its Executive Editor David Howard “to see for himself if the buzz about Century Cycles’ Bike to School Challenge [was] for real.” In short, it was. According to Howard’s numbers, 1,316 total students rode…
Former Agora booker Buddy Maver to Speak at Space: ROCK Gallery
Rainbow Canyon Buddy Maver played in Cleveland bands like the Quantrells, Bocky & the Visions, Richie & the Fortunes, Charade and Rainbow Canyon throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s. Rainbow Canyon was even signed to a major label for a minute. Maver then booked the groups that played the Cleveland Agora from 1976-1982, the period that…
State Budget Bill Includes Restrictions on Student Voters
As the state budget heads toward the Republican-led Senate, a move to tie in-state tuition to in-state voting rights has stirred debate throughout Ohio. The way it stands now, if someone is 18 or older and has established residency in Ohio for 30 days prior to Election Day, they may register to vote by providing…
Pic: New Billboard for Sherwin Williams Building
That’s the new design that will start installation today on the side of the Sherwin Williams building, formerly known as “Witness Central.”It’s by GV Artwork and Design with The Adcom Group.
Flying Lotus at House of Blues: Concert Review
ERIC SANDY/SCENE FlyLo at House of Blues Betwixt screens casting prismatic visions from distant planets, a silhouetted man loomed over an impressive array of gear – his laptop, his keys, his drum machine, plenty more – and set the place on fire. Flying Lotus, one of the preeminent producers still skirting The Edge even as…
Angelo’s Pizza Donation Reaches Big Bucks
Yesterday, May 16, Angelo’s Pizzeria in Lakewood (13715 Madison Ave., 216-221-0440, angelosonline.com) donated 100 percent of its sales to Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight. That included dine-in, take-out and deliver sales. In addition, Angelo’s employees donated their personal hourly pay to help these individuals rebuild their lives. From the looks of the things,…
Culinary Calendar
On Thursday, May 16, Market Garden Brewery will host “Come Drink, Dine and Dish With The Dames.” Les Dames D’Escoffier is Cleveland’s association of female culinary professionals, and this night’s benefit will celebrate some of the women who helped make the West Side Market the landmark it is today. “The evening will begin with stories…
The Media Circus is Finally Leaving Town
Cleveland, Ohio, was the center of the universe last week. Media organizations from around the world descended upon northeast Ohio to tell the miraculous story of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight to their own private constituencies. Even Anderson Cooper made the trek, broadcasting for CNN live on Tuesday night. Crews representing Australia, France,…
Ferris Steak House underwhelms again
I knew my dogs would be eating more of my steak than I would the moment it was placed on the table. The flabby flank of beef – a weighty porterhouse – was as pale as the platter it was served upon. Absent was any measure of char that would bear witness that the meat…
Textbook Illustration
Growing up, even those least enthralled by the wonders of nature surely found some thrills in the illustrations of science text books. As models stared forward with bovine-calm faces, impossible x-ray cross-sections lay bare the workings of their organs, which were at once repellant for their gore, and fascinating for their bio-mechanical elegance. Arts…
Funny Foods
Mike Polk knows comedy. As one of the most popular comedians in the region, Polk is responsible for online comedy sketches that have garnered more than 2 million views. The question is: Does Polk know food? We met up at Luchita’s Mexican Restaurant on W. 117 Street to discuss food, drinks and romance in the…
Top Pop Culture Picks for the Week
TOP PICK Here Come The Mummies Cryptic (self-released) This decade-old mystery band (members wear mummy outfits when they take the stage) emphasizes the old school R&B side of its sound on this, its sixth studio release. Album opener, “You Know the Drill” is every bit as funky as anything by George Clinton and the smooth…
Boy Scout
John Kandah was a Cuyahoga County employee for many years, eventually landing a position as Chief Recorder under Lillian Greene. He says he was beyond the reach of the corruption that brought down a sizable portion of our local government, landed more than a few crooks in jail, and helped usher in a new, reformed…
Also On View This Week
The Cleveland Museum of Art Tantra in Buddhist Art. Twenty works spanning 900 years explore the material leavings of the spiritual endeavor of Tantra, a Buddhist practice which used meditation, severe yoga, and various esoteric diagrams to try to accelerate the achievement of enlightenment. Through September 15. The Last Days of Pompeii. Three hundred years…
Movies Out
THURSDAY may 16 The Kid With A Bike This little 2011 gem from France and the brothers Dardenne (The Son, L’Enfant) centers on a boy, Cyril, lately abandoned by his father. He’s living in a group home and generally cultivating his aptitude for bad behavior when a chance encounter lands him with the local hairdresser who…
Adventures in Argyle
Dear Mom, First of all, “Happy Belated Mother’s Day” and it really wasn’t necessary. I am coming from a good place and I really wouldn’t have minded. Honestly, I would have been totally cool with it. I mean, it’s not that I’m all for “abortions” or anything, and I think there were tons of other…
Movies In
Parks and Recreation is one of the best comedies on television right now. No arguments please. It’s addictive and uplifting and so rich in individually lovable characters that it inspires some legitimate life-assessment questions about relocating to central Indiana. Amy Pohler, as leading lady, is stronger by several exponents than 30 Rock’s Tina Fey, and…
We Get Mail
On: “Having His Cake and Eating It, Too; A For-Profit Charity Comes Under Scrutiny After Members Detail Shady Dealings” I would first like to thank you for writing this article. I was a member of the company for over a year. I was dedicated and loyal to this company. I served on the community service…
Band of the Week
C-Ro Del-Fresco Meet the Band: C-Ro (vocals, production) Sweet 16: When he was only 16, rapper C-Ro Del-Fresco joined the hip-hop group Three Kings with high hopes that the group would amount to something, but it never made it into the recording studio. “We couldn’t get anything done,” he says, “so I started recording on…
CD Review: Seafair
facebook.com/seafairtheband Originally a duo, Seafair expanded to a four-piece when singer-keyboardist Chayla Hope and guitarist Joshua Riehl recruited drummer Ryan Kelly and cellist Tara Hanish, both of whom had played in the terrific local act Unsparing Sea, to join them. The group then became even bigger when it added guitarist Mike Flaherty and violinist Andre…
Also On Stage This Week
There Is a Happiness That Morning Is Cleveland Public Theatre If you were told a play involved the aftereffects of a public sex act between two college profs, told in rhyming verse, and that the production is intellectually stimulating, rude and hilarious in equal parts, you might be tempted. And you’d be right. There Is…
Savage Love
Dear Dan — We’re a straight couple, and my boyfriend and I love playing with his butt. I love being able to ride him when he has a butt plug in, but it always falls out during sex. Is there something we can do? Do we need a different toy? Plug Leaves Us Guessing What…
Fantasy Land
If you like rough sex but without, um, the sex part, then you’re sure to be entranced by this one-act exploration by Philip Ridley into the psychosexual byways of a relationship. However, if you don’t come in with that attitude, it may be hard for you to catch up with this dense, florid, fantasy-drenched and…
Horrible Fest 2013
The first year that Russ “Romance” Murphy put together Horrible Fest, a multi-day underground music festival, he booked garage punks The Black Lips and the King Khan & BBQ Show. The two bands were complete unknowns but in the wake of their Horrible Fest appearances, they developed a local audience and have regularly returned to…
Great Black Hope
For a so-called fifty-fifty state, you’d think Democrats would have more luck running for statewide office in Ohio. Instead, it’s as though their campaigns have been game planned by the Washington Generals for the last quarter century. State Democrats’ electoral troubles are truly biblical – as in Matthew 22:14: many are called but few chosen.…
Ready for Showtime
If someone read off local rapper Referee’s attributes (he’s 6’3″, weighs over 300 pounds, has a great playoff beard and possesses “intangibles”), you’d assume that person was reading Mel Kiper’s draft preview for an NFL offensive line prospect. Scouts would drool. The Browns front office would undoubtedly be making its way to this player’s “pro…
Endless Options
Is there such a thing as “too big”? Well, when it comes to beer lists, World of Beer is certainly pushing the limits. The recently opened Lakewood saloon – a member of a large and growing national chain – boasts a bewildering 50 taps and 500 or so bottles. Flanking a never-ending string of tap…
A Swing Thing
Since he started performing with his backing band The Fly-Rite Boys some 25 years ago, singer-guitarist Big Sandy has continually attracted new young fans and introduced them to Western swing and rockabilly. Later this summer, Sandy, who’s currently in the midst of a 25th anniversary tour, will release an album of old tunes that he’s…
The Mint Julep
The word “julep” dates back more than 1,000 years to 10th-century Persia, where it originally was used to describe any medicine taken with sweetened water. This usage continued well into the 1700s (or, perhaps, 1964 when Mary Poppins came out) when it came to describe any alcohol taken with sweetened water. The Mint Julep is…
The Struggle on the Streets
Following the May 6 rescue of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, a series of emotions began percolating along stretches of Clark, Fulton, Denison and all points within and without. There was celebration. There was joy. Then: Confusion, guilt, anger, a flurry of intermittent pessimism and optimism, and willful concern. Community members gathered May…
