Take Flight
Woo-hoo! Butterfly Magic returns to the zoo today! The exhibition, featuring thousands of colorful insects, remains one of summer’s true joys. Be sure to check it out early in the season, when hatching boxes filled with dozens of cocoons begin to flutter with activity. By September, many species — including the excellently named Blue Morpho…
Charlatans Then & Now
Three cheers for the steady bastards. Those not swayed by the swish of a passing skirt or the latest buzz. Anyone can be popular for a moment. (Does anyone know whether Jenny McCarthy is even alive?) What separates talent from luck is having more than one idea and the resilience to abide. Though it’s been…
Deluxe 360
Deluxe 360 is a new project featuring Joe Frietchen, the former bassist of Kidd Wicked, who ruled the city when the drinks were cheaper, your hair was bigger, and you could stay out later because you didn’t have kids. This special night will feature friends from the old days — Jaime St. James/Black N Blue…
Little Problem
There are certain rites of passage every girl must experience before she is grown. But in addition to dealing with acne, insecurity, intense friendships, raging infatuations, and peer-group infighting, there are also calm islands of reflection to which a young female can escape to find insights into her essence and place in the world. For…
Virginia Is for Sensitive Lovers
Permanent Me is one of a crop of new bands discovered on MySpace, but it has made its name the old-fashioned way: by relentless touring. The band releases its debut EP, Dear Virginia, on Tuesday, but it has been on the road all month getting the word out. Joe McCaffrey, guitarist for indie-rockers Nightmare of…
Dead Moon Rocking
“One-in-a-million will be the Stones,” writes Dead Moon patriarch Fred Cole from his Clackamas home just outside Portland, Oregon. “I thought if I could just be one-in-10,000 and stay alive playing originals, that would be plenty.” Cole is e-mailing, because he’s “so deaf that the phone is a nightmare.” It’s a by-product of a career…
Greg Joseph
A regular visitor to these parts, Clarks bassist Greg Joseph returns to town for his first solo tour in support of American Diary, his new LP. The lively disc recalls his other band, with surprising flourishes that include some electro percussion: Picture Bob Mould’s Modulate going Americana (in a good way). For this tour, however,…
Capsule reviews of current area theater presentations.
Custody of the Eyes — John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt, about a priest using his station in life to get into the pants of children, was given a powerful dramatic Broadway presentation last year. Now the Play House is chiming in with its world premiere of a play by Anthony Giardina that also obliquely refers to…
C’mon, Ride the Train
The defining moment at Day Out With Thomas comes when the titular blue engine first emerges through the foliage at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. His unflinching grin parts the sea of green, and his furnace blasts coal smoke into the stratosphere. A close second is the first glimpse of the glorious merchandise tent — a…
My Generation
My dad loves Pearl Jam. He told me this early one morning, months ago — out of the blue, 15 years after the release of its first album, Ten. Five years ago, his liberal, fledgling-music-critic son would have delighted in his new fancy for one of the sole bands of the past two decades to…
Regina Spektor
Regina Spektor’s tricky tongue and fading Russian accent separate her from the ever-expanding crowd of Tori Amos/ Fiona Apple wannabes who sport “funky” hats and own well-worn piano stools. Begin to Hope might be less histrionic than 2004’s Soviet Kitsch, but it’s still great fun to bear witness to this N.Y.C. songbird’s post-hip-hop Baldwin-pop and…
Capsule reviews of current area art exhibitions.
NEW Seven — Curator, painter, and local art maven Douglas Max Utter couldn’t have picked a better venue for this seven-artist show exploring the seven deadly sins. The gothic solemnity of Convivium — a former church — amplifies the art’s already strong call for personal reflection. Visually, however, Seven is a mixed bag, diminished on…
Flower Power
The highlight of the Cleveland Botanical Garden’s Spring Fling Weekend, which starts today, could very well be the Western Herb Society’s plant sale, where 2006’s Herb of the Year will be unveiled. Which herb trounced the competition? The practical oregano? The aromatic lemon verbena? The life-enhancing yarrow? Sorry, inferior herbs, but this year’s honor went…
Sound Advice
Michele K. De Frasia manages and books talent at Lakewood’s Phantasy complex, overseeing the Phantasy, Symposium, and Chamber. What are you listening to lately? The Cure, Alabama 3, John Lennon, The The. What Phantasy Club show was the most memorable? One of the most memorable ones was when Brian Brain performed at the Phantasy Nite…
Lawrence Arms
This Windy City trio likes to lambaste pop-culture targets — especially the Warped Tour world it gets lumped into. Blame the clipped bubblegum pop-punk drum sound and tempos the group has employed since its formation in ’99. But then the band members lay on slashing riffs and gruff vocals that separate them from the half-pipe…
This Time It’s Serious
Winter Passing(Fox) Try this, should you be inclined to rent this downer from writer-director Adam Rapp: Skip from chapter to chapter and see whether they all don’t begin with exactly the same image, accompanied by exactly the same sound. There is always someone (usually Zooey Deschanel as a would-be actress or Ed Harris as her…
Life Imitates Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art’s film series takes it outside at tonight’s CMA @ the Drive-In. The Memphis Drive-In hosts a showing of Peter Bogdanovich’s 1968 feature debut, Targets, a thriller starring Boris Karloff as an aging horror-movie actor making a guest appearance at a drive-in. Unfortunately for him, it’s also the last stop on…
Last Word
“That song about piña coladas.” — Laura S., Akron “How ’bout a Cleveland band song? ‘Funky Poodle’ (Wild Horses). And ‘The Hokey Pokey.'” — D., Country Allstars “I hate that frigging ‘Lady Hump’ song that is popular. By Black Eyed Peas or whatever. I remember when they used to write good music.” — J.C., Dead…
Built to Spill
You in Reverse, the sixth studio album from Boise’s Built to Spill, shouldn’t work — every track pushes or cracks the 4:30 mark. “Conventional Wisdom,” the first single, clocks in at over six minutes. Opener “Goin’ Against Your Mind” rolls on for nine. Guitars dominate. For every verse, there’s an electric counterpart, and the lyrics,…
Our top DVD picks for the week of May 16.
All You’ve Got (MTV) American Soldiers (Velocity) The Big Valley: Season One (Fox) Con Air: Unrated Extended Edition (Buena Vista) Crimson Tide: Unrated Extended Edition (Buena Vista) Doogal (Weinstein) Duma (Warner Bros.) Funny Games (Kino) Garçon Stupide (Picture This) Hill Street Blues: Season Two (Fox) My Mother’s Smile (New Yorker) New Police Story (Lions Gate)…
Crack Heads
Do you know who’s had the most consecutive No. 1 singles on the pop chart? If you answered Whitney Houston, then you’ve got what it takes to tackle the sort of brain busters Trivia Night host Ron Chandler slings at his audience every Tuesday at Tommy Rockers. “A lot of them are off-the-wall questions,” says…
Sound/Stage
MP3s “Passing Lane,” Rambler 454 (www.myspace.com/rambler 454) The members of this country-rock trio wear their influences on their sleeves (“the CD’s spinning Uncle Tupelo”), and it’s a good look for them. A nimble little ode to the open road that rumbles like an eight-cylinder shot of the Old 97s, this harmonica-driven ditty gets great mileage,…
Matmos
Raging rats in rattling cages? Surgical sound pollution? Bring it on, says San Francisco’s Matmos — it’s all grist for the mill of appropriated aural by-products. The electronic duo’s most collaborative, conceptual, and spirited full-length to date, The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast consists of 10 salutes to unknown or infamous…
The Brain Game
Mom always says that videogames rot your brain. Hell, some say that Grand Theft Auto trains kids to kill. So Nintendo’s claim that its new portable offering, Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!, actually makes players smarter has been received with a mix of curiosity, cynicism, and outright guffaws. What’s next –…
Holy in One
The Cleveland Catholic Diocese may have lost its longtime leader to retirement last week, but more than 125 golfers will hit the links in his name at the Bishop Pilla Golf Classic. The 16th annual tournament begins with a Pilla meet-and-greet and a practice session, followed by a shotgun start at Firestone Country Club’s north…
Hellooo, Cleveland!
Hey there, Cleveland. I know we haven’t been properly introduced; then again, I’m the type of guy everyone knows is in the house long before they actually meet him. See, I never learned an indoor voice. That, and I’m half deaf from rock concerts. I’m your new music editor, if you’ll have me. While I…
Shearwater
A side project culled from members of Okkervil River and Kingfisher, Shearwater has taken on a life of its own. On the group’s fifth platter, Shearwater’s become primarily the platform for songs by multi-instrumentalist and singer Jonathan Meiburg. This album is beguilingly not of its time, with mood-setting orchestral arrangements, low-key but subtly engrossing melodies.…
Here are the week’s best releases from the pop-culture universe:
CD — Yes, Virginia: One wrong move, and Boston-based cabaret-punk duo the Dresden Dolls could easily become a novelty. But on their second album (one of the year’s best), they manage to craft songs that are both gorgeous and complex (like the hauntingly elegant “Sing”). Yes, Virginia’s piano-driven pop is all about appearances and deception,…
Horsing Around
Even if you don’t know a saddle from a snaffle, HorseFest 2006 promises a day of equine action and enlightenment for all visitors. In addition to the many different kinds of horses that’ll be trotting around the grounds and several seminars on how to train your steed, experts will be on hand to explain Zen…
Wish Fulfilled
A year after local Pink Floyd tribute band Wish You Were Here drew more than 3,000 fans to Scene Pavilion (now Plain Dealer Pavilion), the group will headline Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls Friday, May 26, marking the first time in years that a local band (Nine Inch Nails notwithstanding) has headlined an arena-sized…
Mobb Deep and Mick Boogie
Interscope actually asked Mick Boogie, Cleveland’s hip-hop commissioner, to create this mixtape as a promotional tool for Blood Money, Mobb Deep’s G-Unit debut. That might have been a mistake, since More Money, More Murda ends up cutting to ribbons the album it’s supposed to be hyping. Through a series of live tracks, unreleased cuts, and…
Too Hot for Tower City
Mifuné is still getting phone calls and e-mails applauding its fashion statement. If you haven’t heard, the nine-piece ensemble was kicked off the stage at Tower City during a Tri-C JazzFest performance last month because mall management didn’t like their “distracting and inappropriate” shirts, which mocked the Bush administration. “It’s not the first time we…
Islands
When multi-instrumentalist Nick Diamonds and drummer J’aime Tambeur played with Montreal’s the Unicorns, they charmed listeners with lo-fi keyboards, rudimentary riffs, and frill-free hooks. Islands, their new group, proves the Unicorns’ minimalist approach stemmed from manpower limitations, rather than narrow vision. Opening with a nine-minute opus that includes lyrical and musical Unicorns references, Return to…
Plasma for Guns
Plasma for Guns professes to deliver a stripped-down approach that cuts to the core, but the trio’s artsy post-punk and indie rock is too imaginative for a style that conjures images of recycled garage schlock. Maximizing the group’s streamlined aesthetic, Youngblood features clanging guitars and propulsive drumming, producing danceable two-minute tracks that could become college-radio…
Mountain Music
Just when you thought all the fuss over Brokeback Mountain had finally ridden off into the sunset, San Francisco DJs Gabriel & Dresden recently unveiled a dance-club mix of the gay-cowboy movie’s theme song. It’ll be among the tracks they’ll spin tonight when they take over the turntables at Metropolis. The duo’s revamped version of…
The Perfect Crime
In 1963, writer Sebastian Junger’s mother was beckoned to the basement of her home by a member of a construction crew working there. He wanted to show her something on the washing machine; she was suspicious and didn’t go. A few months later, a housewife was raped and murdered a few blocks from her home…
Bullet for My Valentine
What too many decibel-destroying bands from nü metal, metalcore, and similar genres have forgotten is that metal doesn’t live by the sound and fury alone. A little melody with the mayhem goes a long way toward raising a band above the thrash-and-bash heap. The Welsh group Bullet for My Valentine understands this concept and neatly…
Tomatoes in Winter
If my calendar and calculator are to be trusted, nearly 1,000 professionally consumed meals have found their way beneath my ever-expanding waistband at this point in my tenure; and while I still inexplicably adore dining out, I’ve developed some pretty intense opinions about what makes for a good time. Here’s a rundown of my personal…
Grape Escape
Last time we checked, a plane ticket to Napa Valley would put us back several hundred dollars. A cheaper and no less tasty alternative is today’s Lake Erie Wine Society Spring Tasting. “It’s really just relaxing,” says Gary Casterline, director of the Lake Erie Wine Society, which hosts. “There is such a wide variety of…
New Sensation
Bands have replaced dead and disgruntled singers before. Hell, Van Halen has switched frontmen over the past 25 years more often than bassist Michael Anthony has changed his hairstyle. But only INXS looked for a new singer on a reality-TV series. “We didn’t want a singer with [an established] career,” says guitarist Tim Farriss. “We…
Unknown Hinson
Col. Sanders dressed as Dracula after a weeklong crack bender — this is a fairly close physical description of cult-country minstrel Unknown Hinson. Allegedly a 400-year-old vampire, Hinson moonlights as a hillbilly squid from northern Georgia. (He lends his voice to Cartoon Network’s adult swim franchise, Squidbillies. ) And he’s always an adventurous, groundbreaking country…
Little Dickens
Gin or vodka? Shaken or stirred? Olive or twist? Forget debating the meaning of life; for martini lovers, these are the real issues at hand. Given the import of its name, then, we’re happy to report that at Olivor Twist, the handsome martini bar and restaurant that opened last September in downtown Willoughby, the bartenders…
Walking on Their Hands
Forget playing Texas Hold ‘Em over a stogie and a can of Pabst. At the Amherst Poker Walk, you can play cards and get healthy at the same time. Here’s how it works: Participants collect poker chips at five stations along a 2.5-mile route. At the end of the course, each walker turns in his…
Shout Out From Uncle Tom
Get a pdf of Blackwell’s MySpace page.
Anti-Hero
Not to be confused with Oi!-style street punks Anti-Heroes, the Canadian quartet Anti-Hero plays goth-inflected hard rock with a punkish edge. Like a glam band on a tour of hell, Anti-Hero goes forward but never straight, with a dark, bruising, but surprisingly limber attack. Seductive frontwoman Rose Perry snarls like a latter-day Veruca Salt or…
Cracked Code
You know it’s hard out here for a screenwriter. You’ve got a surefire hit on your hands — an adaptation of the runaway best-seller The Da Vinci Code — and yet it’s all about talking and solving cryptic riddles, which isn’t exactly suited to the visual medium. It’s also a book that depends on revelation…
Bring the Noise
Danko Jones realizes he’s way out of tune with his fellow Canadian musicians. While the Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, et al. play chamber-pop music that requires about two dozen people onstage, Jones’ self-named trio makes a Thin Lizzy-style racket centered on his muscular guitar riffs. “That whole thing’s a trend,” he says. “It’ll die…
Hush
The Notre Dame College track team’s Mardi Gras party took place the first Saturday of November. Everyone was supposed to come in costume, but only the newbies ever did. In the Petersen dormitory, freshman basketball player Carl Wolfe was preparing for the night. The tall, cocky blond with the stringy physique of a marathoner had…
Laura Veirs and the Tortured Souls
If you’re as unfamiliar with Laura Veirs as the rest of America is, even after her last two albums became nearly unanimous critical sweethearts, download “Magnetize” and meet one of music’s best young writers. The fourth track from 2005’s Year of Meteors, “Magnetize” finds Veirs in top form, singing the praises of a potential paramour…
Shell Game
At this late date, it’s hard to tell one digitally rendered talking animal from another. Madagascar blends into Ice Age looks like A Shark’s Tale sounds like Shrek might as well be A Bug’s Life turns into Antz feels like Chicken Little could be Over the Hedge, which is really just Madagascar in the suburbs…
Burning Man
At Sizzle Sizzle tonight, Ted Batchelor will set himself on fire and take a swan dive off the Chagrin River waterfall. The pre-jump party is a mix-and-mingle featuring the Bainbridge daredevil, who became a local celeb for setting himself on fire and leaping 25 feet off the top of the falls every year from 1976…
Spam for Nigeria
My Nigerian Brother: Allow me to introduce myself. I am PRINCE LARRY, heir to the throne of Cleveland. For many years we lived blissfully in our small kingdom, raising our families in peace. The children played among quaint deserted factories. Our women basked in the day’s cooling embers, enjoying a bounty of boxed wine and…
Greg Brown
Greg Brown’s folk music, like his name, is simple yet colorful. With his resonant baritone, the Iowa native spins mesmerizing tales that rival the work of his better-known counterparts, Dave Alvin and John Prine. Like theirs, his richly detailed tunes feel vibrantly real. His comparatively low career profile may stem from his strong midwestern roots.…
Nouveau Noir
Calling Rian Johnson’s teen indie drama Brick a piece of stuntwork might seem tantamount to hitting it with a pie, but it’s a high-speed wheelie of a strangely daring variety. Try this thumbnail definition on for size: a high school noir, complete with a Dashiell Hammett-derived plot line and a fearless fidelity to antiquated gangster…
Happy Beginning
The Playhouse Square Partners want you to start your night at their Happiest Happy Hour, an annual spring party for local young professionals. The group — which has been around for 15 years and is made up of local arts supporters — has lined up live music, alcoholic drinks, and tasty appetizers, as well as…
Back Stabbers
When Jean Powell-Armstrong got the call from Philadelphia International Records, she thought it was a prank. The caller insisted that Jean’s late brother, William Powell, an original member of the O’Jays, was owed a fat chunk of change by the record label, which had released the group’s biggest hits, including “Back Stabbers” and “Love Train.”…
Flee the Seen
Flee the Seen’s debut full-length, Doubt Becomes the New Addiction, opens with the 45-second track “Celebrate the Static,” all air-raid guitars and aggravated-banshee wails. Shows often start with the same song, during which band members jerk their bodies around in a violent angular manner like possessed androids. Onstage, the intensity never wavers; the band’s constant…
Helluva Swing
For most of January 2005, Michael Keaton was on the road pimping White Noise, the psychological thriller in which he stared at TV screens and pretended to be scared of static. Little wonder, then, that Keaton spent most of that couch time selling not his big-studio comeback, but his tiny-budgeted throwback, Game 6, set in…
Think Globally, Dance Locally
Verb Ballets performs three new dance works set to scores by area composers at tonight’s concert at the Cleveland Play House. According to Millie Carlson, a local arts philanthropist and musician who ponied up the cash for the program, “Composers everywhere have a very hard time getting their music heard. Arts groups have miserable money…
Bugged
Spidey joke hit a nerve: Spider-Man has made me gay [First Punch, May 3]? Possibly. I saw that internet clip a couple years ago; that little jig he does is quite amusing. But there’s no solid evidence to support this claim. In neither Spider-Man nor Spider-Man 2 do you see Tobey Maguire’s spider-wang or spider-buttocks,…
The Twilight Singers
Any converted Afghan Whigs fans know that the singular charm of the Twilight Singers is the ability of the former Whigs frontman, Greg Dulli, to balance sleazy, balls-out bash with moments of soulful subtlety. The band’s name has always given a clue about its sound — existing in a state between libidinous and threatening. At…
Nocturnal Missions
Now that a few years’ worth of salve has been layered over the wounds of 9-11, more artistic interpretations of that day are finding their way into production. Flicks such as United 93 and Oliver Stone’s upcoming World Trade Center tackle the horrendous morning minute by minute, attempting to forge some understanding. Meanwhile, our dear…
