Take the Brady Quinn Marathon Test
SportsTime Ohio, the Tribe’s TV network, announced today that it will conduct a free, week-long exam to determine just how big of a loser I am. The exam will take the form of a Brady Quinn Marathon. Starting tonight, the station will air all of Notre Dame University’s 2006 football games, allowing fans to break…
Mountain Biking Season Opens: Places you should ride
The dirt’s drying up, the bike racks are coming out of storage, and thousands of mountain bikers across Northeast Ohio are getting ready to shred.(1) Last Saturday I made a trip out to Mohican Wilderness in Loudonville to ride the 5.5 mile cross-country loop. It’s easily one of the gnarliest (2) trails in the area.…
A sin: Cavs’ cheerleaders cavort with Richard Jefferson
I know you’re probably inundated with countless story ideas and BS on a daily basis. However I have some information that I think is worth investigating. All of the information I will share with you is true and further details are available if necessary. This past Saturday, 5/5/07, I saw three of the Cavaliers Dance…
Reader: Amish story was vulgar and most likely sucked
A call from a reader, regarding “Amish Girls Gone Wild,” March 14, 2007: Yes, I’m just a reader – actually, a former reader of the Scene magazine. I won’t be reading it no more. Your article in March was quite vulgar about the “Amish Girls Gone Wild.” It was pathetic. If you have nothing better…
This Just in… Concert Announcements
This week, 54 hot new shows. Kelly Clarkson at the Q. Tool in Youngstown. Styx joins the Def Leppard bill. Brooks & Dunn’s stadium-sized country jamboree. A sure-to-be-brazen Celtic rock bash featuring the Tossers and the Street Dogs (with former Dropkick Murphys singer Mike McColgan). The band that wrote “The Antichrist” meets the man who…
Scene Critic Earns National Honors
Scene food critic Elaine T. Cicora has earned a James Beard Foundation Award, widely regarded as the highest honor among culinary professionals. Her winning story, a profile of Cleveland-based author and chef Michael Ruhlman, appeared in the February 1, 2006 issue of Scene. The Beard Awards honor the top work of food journalists and chefs…
The New War: Keeping Vets from Smoking
Joe Richmond’s been a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars for 14 years. He’s been commander of Post 1500 in Willoughby for 11. Nobody knows better when it’s time to deploy a fish fry. He’s a smoker, too, as are many veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Back then, he says, you…
Ohio: A backwards state for emergency contraception
In 2005, a survey revealed that of 151 Ohio hospitals, only two would give out the morning-after pill to women who called in looking for it — even if they had a prescription. One in four even denied the drug for rape victims. For women, the results were surprising and appalling. “I knew it was…
Funnest Show Alert: Matt & Kim at the Grog Shop
Matt and Kim play the Grog Shop Tuesday, May 8, in what will surely be the week’s funnest show. Read more about it or check out the video for the ridiculously catchy “Yea Yeah” above. Show starts at 9, cover $8 (all ages). See you there. — D.X. Ferris
Mikey G’s Picks of the Week
This week’s top arts and entertainment picks around town, from the guy who’s paid to pick them: Monday: Don’t expect any of that whiny emo crap from Australian cock-rockers Jet. The band embraces and loses itself in the riff-heavy hedonism and misogyny of the Stones and AC/DC. The group’s second album, Shine On, pretty much…
Get Tussled in Oberlin
If you feel a need this weekend to shake your indie ass to Tussle’s dub-funk, you’ll have to drive to Oberlin. The hip San Francisco quartet is skipping Cleveland on its current tour — which is just fine. I mean, sure, Tussle is really good at what it does (simply check out 2006’s Telescope Mind…
Ted Diadiun: When Tickling Goes Too Far
Greetings, fair readers. It is I, Ted Diadiun. You may know me as the Ombudsman (“Bud” to members of the female species) for The Plain Dealer. But now it is with great pleasure that I come to patronize and humiliate you, readers of Scene, so that you may know the errors of your criticism. I…
More Troubles for Myers University
Don’t be surprised sometime next week if you hear that Myers University, Cleveland’s 150-year-old business college that counts John D. Rockefeller among its alumni, will close or be bought out. The school won’t talk, except to confirm that it is canceling next season’s sports on account that they suck (and are losing money). But according…
Come Tussle in Oberlin
If you feel a need this weekend to shake your indie ass to Tussle’s dub-funk, you’ll have to drive to Oberlin. The hip San Francisco quartet is skipping Cleveland on its current tour — which is just fine. I mean, sure, Tussle is really good at what it does (simply check out 2006’s Telescope Mind…
Benches — and Bleachers — Empty at the Jake
In the fourth inning of last night’s Indians-Blue Jays game, both benches cleared when Toronto catcher Jason Phillips jawed at Josh Barfield for a hard slide into home. But the near-brawl was only the warm-up act: In the middle of the fracas, a guy — it’s always a guy — rushed out for his 15…
Ta Smallz Preps a New Album
A couple months back, we told you the story of Ta Smallz, the Canton-bred dancer, model, rapper, and CEO who was tutored in the music biz by none other than the late Gerald Levert. Living large in Los Angeles, Smallz is gearing up for his next release — which, according to Ronee Shipley of Smallz’…
Talking White Patent Heels With Becky
The sun’s out, it’s the beginning of spring, the stores are all showcasing their light, fluffy summerwear: How hard could it possibly be to find quality mid-priced, high-heeled, white patent-leather sandals? Answer: Very. Turns out every shoe store has its own definition of “high quality” and “affordable.” So after my whole grueling quest, I’ve decided…
New Sushi in Old Hudson
Mr. Teriyaki . . . Indigo Luna . . . Asian-accented restaurants have come and gone inside the small space at 180 W. Streetsboro St. in Hudson’s Acme Plaza. But if anyone has the track record to succeed at selling sushi to suburbanites, it may well be Heinz Yee, second-generation chef-owner of the 30-year-old Mayfield…
Live from the Beachland: A los Straightjackets Slideshow
Sporting Mexican wrestler masks, Nashville’s los Straitjackets are literally one of rock’s most colorful bands. On Saturday, April 28, the quirky garage-rockers performed a benefit concert for the little ones at the Beachland Ballroom. A portion of the proceeds went to Arts Collinwood. Go here to see our latest slideshow from Action Photographer Wanda Santos-Bray.
From Springsteen to Axl: The Best of Novak Slideshow, Part II
Ace Scene photographer Walter Novak presents Part II of his Best of Novak Slideshows, featuring everyone from ACDC to the Rolling Stones. Click here to feast.
Our Secret Spy Dishes Dirt on Hollywood’s A-List at the Coachella Fest
At last weekend’s Coachella Festival — a three-day music binge in the middle of the California desert – a stellar lineup including Ghostface Killah and the Jesus and Mary Chain played host to a gaggle of A-list celebrities, who tended to draw more attention than the music itself. C-Notes had a spy on hand to…
The Onion Spolights (Fake) Former Akron Blogger
This week’s edition of The Onion features an op-ed by (fake) former Akronite Ben Tiedemann, who talks about his blog, Ben Tiedemann Tells All. Tiedemann’s fictitious, but the story’s true. — D.X. Ferris
PD Circulation Raises; Earth Falls Off its Axis
Editor and Publisher reports this week that the newspaper industry is continuing its long, slow, clockwise spin into the toilet. But E&P also reports that The Plain Dealer’s circulation actually increased in the last year. Maybe it’s the return of Connie Schultz. Maybe it’s the anticipation of not having to read Sam Fulwood anymore. Who…
Coffinberry Guitarist Talks About New Disc
Coffinberry have been one of the city’s brightest indie-rock bands for years now, though the new God Dam Dogs finally marks their full-length debut. (Read more about it in this week’s Scene). It’s a complete departure from their first proper EP, 2005’s From Now On Now, and while the discs kick an equal amount of…
Our Jaded Critic Praises a Lakewood Comedy Night
You have to be careful with local comedy nights. They have a tendency to draw people out of strange, dark corners or the world and put them on stage, where they definitely don’t belong. Personally, such public travesties make me squirm; I’m that guy who has to change the channel when some freak butchers Christina…
A Casting Call for a Supernatural Thriller
Midnight Sydnicate Films is looking for local actors for its upcoming film, The Dead Matter, a supernatural thriller. Read more about it here. The locally-based company is partnering with some Hollywood big-name production and effects talent, and it’s in talks with Doug Bradley (Pinhead from Hellraiser) and Andrew Divoff (Wishmaste/the dead Russian guy with the…
Cleveland Named Top 25 Arts Destination
It’s always celebration time when Cleveland makes a list that doesn’t include the words “pollution” or “junk food.” And even though we’re not familiar with AmericanStyle magazine, we applaud its decision to name our city among the Top 25 Arts Destinations in its latest issue. Actually, Cleveland checks in at No. 16 in the Mid-Sized…
Cleveland Mom Goes Pro on Good Morning America
Ceray Doss-Williams is smack dab in the middle of her 15 minutes of fame, thanks to motherhood and her boogie-down skills. The interim director of the Upward Bound Program at Cleveland State University is getting her taste of stardom as a finalist on Good Morning America’s Dancing with the Moms Challenge, a cheap rip-off of…
White Man Working
Set-asides: Culture of welfare for women and blacks? After reading “Lone Ranger” [April 11], I wondered how Bob Dean can be portrayed as a heroic figure. What are contract set-asides other than legalized discrimination against white males? Look at black culture, where working hard takes on the negative connotation of “acting white.” Members of such…
The Greencards
The Greencards are one Australian and two Brits, and their Viridian disc just hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Bluegrass Chart, a fact that many writers have turned into a big deal: Foreigners playing Americana! But there’s nothing strange about this group following in the footsteps of Emmylou, Iris DeMent, and Alison Krauss — the Greencards…
Capsule reviews of current area theater presentations.
Chevalier, Maurice & Me — The term “boulevardier,” describing an elegant man-about-town, has fallen out of use — probably thanks to the lack of such men as much as to the paucity of appropriate boulevards. But there are two such gentlemen now at Kalliope Stage in the singular person of Tony Sandler. Born in Belgium,…
Story Teller
When singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile was 12, she heard Elton John’s Tumbleweed Connection for the first time. John and writing partner Bernie Taupin’s 1971 concept album about America’s wild, wild West made a huge impact on the Seattle resident. “It’s written by two guys who grew up and lived in England,” she says. “The songs are…
Smooth Rebel
In 2002, Norah Jones gave Blue Note Come Away With Me, the longtime jazz label’s best-selling album — ever. Ten million discs sold. Her next, Feels Like Home, reached quadruple platinum, while Not Too Late, Jones’ latest, went double platinum after dropping in January. With her breathy voice, jazzy piano skills, and romantic ballads, Jones…
Bill Callahan
Of course Bill Callahan now crafts exquisite rural pop, crooning quixotic verse like “You are a true honeymoon child/Conceived on an island on the sun/Heels dug in white sand/Loved and adored from day one.” I mean, think about it: The dude actually dates indie-goddess No. 1 — Joanna Newsom. That’s reason enough for any musician…
Capsule reviews of current area art exhibitions.
NEW Shrinking Cities — Spaces is known for treating subjects other galleries won’t touch. Alas, here’s one even Spaces should have left alone: Focused on three European cities and Detroit, the show rests on the fact that 25 percent of cities are getting smaller. That’s an alarming figure and a potentially ripe theme, yet here…
Change of Habit
Nashville roots-rocker Jon “the Doctor” Roniger performs a set of acoustic songs from his two CDs at the Barking Spider tonight. On 2004’s Addicted, the former choirboy slams a pair of past vices: booze and cocaine. “The songs were written when I was drowning in a sea of self-destruction,” he says. “I went through many…
No Sleep for Brooklyn
“I really don’t like looking at the back of a record and seeing the word featuring a million times,” says Brooklyn rapper, producer, and Definitive Jux overlord El-P. Incidentally, his new album, I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, features cameos from members of the Mars Volta and TV on the Radio, as well as Chan Marshall…
Tori Amos
Tori Amos is the blue-chip stock of the female singer-songwriter boom of the ’90s: Investing in her art has only become more expensive (read demanding) over the years. With hooks disappearing, her albums have grown longer, while her lyrics have turned increasingly oblique. More memorable than 2005’s The Beekeeper, American Doll Posse sees Amos taking…
Crisis in Suburbia
Little Children (New Line) In the eyes of Hollywood, our American suburbs are so filled with perversion and treachery that it seems the government ought to crack down on something. Until then, we can count on movies like Little Children to keep us informed. Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson are good as a pair of…
Myth Maker
You’d think we were in the middle of a Michael Penn renaissance. Last month, the singer-songwriter released the career-spanning CD Palms & Runes, Tarot & Tea, oversaw an expanded reissue of his 2005 album Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947, and launched a solo tour, which comes to town tonight. Fact is, everything sorta just came together…
Brooklyn Nightmare
It’s an old, jaded world, and nobody is more jaded than the underground-rock freak. It’s unspeakably rare for a record to come along that — for a second or two, anyway — scares the shit outta him . . . or her (but almost always him). Nonetheless, back in 2002, the underground sucked in a…
Wax Tailor
With DJ Shadow gone hyphy, RJD2 gone pop, and Portishead in hibernation, trip-hop heads have been searching for something new. With the release of Wax Tailor’s Hope & Sorrow, however, that search is over. The French DJ/producer has an affinity for trip-hop’s touchstones: down-tempo grooves, cinematic soundscapes, and quirky retro-soundbites. But Tailor also puts a…
Rolling Paper
After starring in 20 years’ worth of video games, the Super Mario Brothers have been spread mighty thin. The mustachioed heroes’ latest outing, however, takes this concept to a literal extreme. Paradoxically, Super Paper Mario is like every Mario game you’ve ever played — and like nothing you’ve seen before. All the iconic Mario mainstays…
Hot Rods
This weekend, the Cleveland Metroparks’ Children’s Fishing Derbies prep kids for a lifetime of the-one-that-got-away stories. From 9 a.m. to noon, anglers aged 4 to 8 can cast away; from 1 to 4 p.m., 9- to 15-year-olds take over. Experts will be on hand to dispense both tips and live bait. The biggest fish nets…
Country Dust
The Dreadful Yawns’ recent history is as jumbled as the band’s Lakewood rehearsal space, a cavernous maze overrun with vintage gear, tattered furniture, and psychedelic light boxes. The place feels like the dusty storage room where the high-school custodian stashed broken desks and porn, only cooler. Four of the five Yawns, sitting around a pizza…
Fishbone
In the ’80s, Fishbone’s fusion of punk, ska, funk, and metal presaged at least three movements: the punk-funk of the Chili Peppers and Primus, the American ska revival of the mid-’90s, and rap-metal. Yet Fishbone has never recovered from the pair of mediocre albums it dropped following 1991’s The Reality of My Surroundings, the band’s…
Here are the week’s best releases from the pop-culture universe:
CD — The Stanley Brothers: The Definitive Collection (1947-1966): This three-disc box gathers 60 tracks by the bluegrass pioneers, including a couple of tunes that showed up on the massively popular O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack a few years back. Several unreleased songs bait collectors, but it’s banjo-fueled weepers like “The Lonesome River” and…
Dream Weaver
David Copperfield insists that his magic shows have nothing to do with fluffy bunnies, palmed aces, or any other pedestrian trick. Rather, the illusionist says he’s all about making dreams come true. “It is a very romantic thing,” he says. “I will take you to Hawaii. I will take you for a ride in your…
Regular Guy
Medina singer-songwriter Pete Nischt has signed a deal with New Jersey’s Regular Music. The label is owned by Ace Enders, formerly of Drive-Thru Records’ the Early November and currently performing as I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody’s Business. “My wife and I had been thinking about starting a label for a while, and when…
Coffinberry
Most scenes would trade all their horn-rimmed glasses and cable modems for a band like Coffinberry. Half a decade after the band launched, its full-length debut has finally arrived. And it barely sounds a thing like 2005’s From Now On Now EP. While that EP had overtones of New York indie pop, this disc is…
Our top DVD picks for the week of May 1:
Alpha Dog (Universal) An Officer and a Gentleman: Special Collector’s Edition (Paramount) The Best of the Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet (Shout) Beverly Hills 90210: The Second Season (Paramount) Clint Eastwood: Western Icon Collection (Universal) A Collection of 2006 Academy Award Nominated Short Films (Magnolia) Fletch: The Jane Doe Edition (Universal) Happily N’Ever After (Lionsgate)…
Cream, Sugar, Painting?
Jeffrey Paul “Meat” Gadbois’ paintings of sad-eyed, sleepy folk greet java fans as they place their orders at Café Marika. The Collinwood coffeehouse’s old-world vibe is the brainchild of Michael Feigenbaum, who wanted to bring a little Eastern Europe to Cleveland. “The idea of merging art with food is attractive to me,” he says. The…
Relient K
Even as pop-punk struggles through these post-Blink days — overwhelmed as it is with imitation and riffs stale enough for a Fox sitcom — faint rays of light shine forth. Leaving the redemptive symbolism to Sunday-morning preachers, Relient K — those prodigious Christian rockers from Canton — excel at creating hook-encased guitar that runs like…
David Bromberg
This is David Bromberg’s first studio album since 1990’s Sideman Serenade. A multi-instrumentalist, Bromberg sticks to an unaccompanied acoustic guitar for all but two a cappella tracks. The effect is the Bromberg album that Rick Rubin would have produced: simple, sparse, and self-assured. A collection of 16 blues and folk tunes — one original, several…
What’s Cooking?
Chefs talk up their culinary creations at tonight’s Corks and Courses, a monthly gathering at Bistro Joseph-Beth. Tonight’s menu is still being planned, but past dinners paired rack of lamb, roasted vegetable soup, and arugula-prosciutto-asparagus salad with red and white wines. Chefs and vino experts fill diners in on what’s filling up their bellies. Says…
Border Lines
Growing up, Mexican-American comic Al Madrigal never really knew his heritage. “My dad wanted to make me as white as he possibly could,” he says. “Now I find myself dark, living in Los Angeles with no Spanish speaking skills whatsoever.” Still, Madrigal says he’s coming to terms with his roots — but it’s kinda hard.…
Front Line Assembly
Like Skinny Puppy before it, Front Line Assembly emerged from Vancouver’s thriving industrial-rock scene in the ’80s. The group’s early releases reveled in sampler abuse, ominous vocals, and sonic terrorism via sequencers, synched to catchy rhythms. In fact, no sample has ever been safe from FLA’s studio dissection: horror movies, sci-fi flicks, heavy-metal riffs, political…
The Rick Ray Band
To question the levels at which Rick Ray sets his amps is to question Northeast Ohio’s greatest living practitioner of progressive-rock guitar. This is totally obvious after soaking up Nothing to Lose (which is, like, the dude’s 20th release since 1999). The jazzy runs peppering “Blue Print for Ruin” and the technically masterful licks heard…
Here’s the Deal
Just Euchre begins a new nine-week season tonight at Sullivan’s, and the league is looking for a few good card players. The old-school game is relatively easy to pick up: You and a partner square off against another two-member team. Only cards between nines and aces are used. Each player is dealt five. The remaining…
Western Union
In Seraphim Falls, Liam Neeson and his posse hunt a battered Pierce Brosnan in the months following the Civil War. The film offers few clues about the cause of their beef till the end — when the two stars square off in a desert showdown, and the line between protagonist and villain becomes blurred. Part…
Southern Culture on the Skids
For more than two decades now, Southern Culture on the Skids has been tweaking redneck trailer-park stereotypes. Still, singer and guitarist Rick Miller — an actual denizen of the sticks — delivers his parodies with love, whether he’s skewering the cuisine (“Banana Pudding,” “Carve That Possum”), fashion (“Nashville Toupee,” “Camel Walk”), or mores (“’69 El…
Asian Accents
If nothing else, recent stops at Wild Ginger (see left) have served as a reminder: Life’s too short to eat so-so food. Luckily, plenty of first-rate Asian alternatives abound. Here are our picks for spots offering well crafted, sparkling fare: For Chinese cuisine, it’s hard to beat Chinatown mainstays Bo Loong (3922 St. Clair Avenue,…
Get Moving
At today’s Walk & Rock, which kicks off at the Rock Hall, participants break a sweat for just about everybody under the sun. That’s the point of the Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio’s popular event, now in its fifth year. “Diversity means everything — gender, economic, physical,” says Peggy Zone Fisher, the center’s president. “It’s…
Make Some Old-School Noise!
Anonymous 4 closes the Cleveland Museum of Art’s VIVA! season tonight. The all-female, New York-based quartet will perform medieval chants and ancient hymns from last year’s Gloryland CD — which also includes 19th-century folk ballads and gospel songs that originated in the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee. The homespun vibe has led to gigs on…
Brian McKnight
Brian McKnight’s video for the single “What’s My Name,” from the 2006 album Ten, depicts the R&B singer as a one-man band. Multiples of McKnight are not only singing, but tickling the keys, teasing the bass, and smoothly tapping the drums on what is one of the vocalist’s signature slow jams. But as it turns…
Mild Ginger
A lot of thought went into Wild Ginger’s concept and design — that much is obvious from the moment you step through the doors of this “modern Chinese bistro” in Brooklyn. Carefully crafted to span the rift between fast-food utility and traditional sit-down formality, the pretty space contrasts an artful Asian vibe with all-American pragmatism.…
Mo’ Spidey!
Woo-hoo! Today’s Free Comic Book Day! And shops across the nation celebrate by handing out special gratis copies of Simpsons, Mickey Mouse, and Spider-Man comics, among many others. Sat., May 5, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
The Furnishing Touch
Lakewood artist Thomas Grafton Lee manipulates furniture as part of the Sculpture Center’s popular Windows to Sculpture series. It’s the series’ final exhibit of the season. The Cleveland State University grad combines metal and other mixed media for sociopolitical commentary. The message of “Suspended Dreams” may not be exactly clear, but the bed frame hanging…
Esham
Quick, name some Motor City MCs who repeatedly transgress the boundaries of good taste and common decency! Not a difficult question, exactly: That shower-cap-loving lunatic Bizarre as well as rapping rasslers Insane Clown Posse are some of the first who spring to mind — but don’t forget Eminem (who is practically Wayne Newton by comparison).…
Spider Bites
What is it with the third installments in superhero film franchises? For whatever reason — and, oh, let’s just call it the lack of fresh ideas commingled with the love of money — they always strike out on their third at-bat. It happened with Superman when Richard Pryor became a superfriend, hatching the ridiculous plot…
Try the Trumbo — We Hear It’s Fabulous!
Think of the Cleveland Play House’s weeklong FusionFest as a performing-arts buffet, featuring some of the area’s tastiest new work. On tap are special performances of the Play House political satire Lincolnesque, Daniel Beaty’s one-man play Emergence-See!, and Trumbo: Red, White, and Blacklisted, which stars The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’s Robert Vaughn. Dobama Theatre (which presents…
The Price of Heroes: $0
Bam! Pow! Yay! — today is Free Comic Book Day! Among the exclusive commemorative issues being handed out at shops around town are The Transformers/Beast Wars Special, Justice League Unlimited # 1, and a Star Wars/Conan Flip-Book. Sun., May 6, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
The Almost
With his sorta-solo debut, Aaron Gillespie has emerged as the Dave Grohl of Christian hardcore. Like Grohl’s first Foo Fighters album, the Almost’s new debut is 99 percent Gillespie (although he’s since put a working band together), and it has a surprising hard-pop accessibility, which is even more impressive in light of his underground past.…
Fighting Irish
The young men move about the muddied hillside engaging in a friendly afternoon game of that national pastime known as hurling. On their way home, they are accosted by a platoon of “Black and Tans,” the occupying soldiers sent from England to stamp out the crackling embers of Irish independence. The place is County Cork,…
Red All Over
Columbus indie-rockers Red Wanting Blue are a steady presence on the college-town live scene. Little surprise: Their laid-back mix of pop riffs and jam-band-lite noodling is an ideal backdrop for cheap beer and even cheaper hookups. The band’s latest album — The Warehouse Sessions, a live acoustic set — gives newbies a pretty good idea…
Saving Coach Harris
Case Western Reserve didn’t tell anyone about a private meeting it was holding last Thursday, but somehow word leaked out. When a human resources officer called the meeting to order, he found himself facing a roomful of athletic staff. They didn’t look happy. No, they definitely did not. The staff had just found out that…
Matt and Kim
Matt and Kim are just totally fun. Totally. Like a power-pop take on They Might Be Giants, with a (simulated) accordion and everything. They’re even from Brooklyn, where they’ve developed a loyal following at loft parties, basements, art galleries, and clubs. They accurately describe their live sets as having the vibe of “an onstage pizza…
Wedding Crashers
A reformist disciple of Dogme, that earth- and camcorder-shaking movement wherein waves are broken and celebration is cause for alarm, Danish director Susanne Bier makes what you’d call emotional disaster movies. Her Open Hearts and Brothers, melodramas at once feverishly pitched and finely tuned, deploy paralysis and war, respectively, to test their characters’ will to…
Dirt Devils
Soil’s new frontman, A.J. Cavalier, boasts a larger range of influences than his predecessor. He also doesn’t whine as much. On the Chicago band’s latest album, True Self, metallic crunch gives way to melodic momentum and the occasional dinosaur-sized stomp. “The Last Chance,” “Forever Dead,” and “Threw It Away” struggle with defeat, but they’re not…
Predator and Prey
William Wyland has the sort of pretty-boy features that make middle-aged gay men melt. Sometimes it works to the 26-year-old’s benefit. Sometimes it doesn’t. Take the wee hours of last June 21. Wyland, a Pennsylvania native, was in town visiting his sister when he and his buddy, Rafael Correa, decided to enjoy the summer’s eve…
The Rapture
With the hipster-ascendancy of Devendra and freak-folk a few years back, disco-punk’s indie cred totally plummeted (something suburban mall brats clear across the Midwest have yet to grasp, but they will — in a year or three). Anyway, passing from the age of coke to that of Hash didn’t bode well for those groups unwilling…
Short Takes
One thing that can be said for Snoop’s latest foray into the horror genre is that it doesn’t hold back. That’s good and bad: Horror fans should appreciate the no-holds-barred gore, but the overly broad raunchy humor might give Adam Sandler pause. It turns out that, much as Bill O’Reilly has long suspected, Snoop has…
Bring Your Glasses
Apparently size does matter — at least according to La Cachette Gallery’s latest exhibit, Small Is Beautiful. The display, which is subtitled “New Works in Small Format,” features dozens of tiny paintings by artists Maria Bertrán, Lisa Hannaford, Helene Renard, and Walter Sauermann. Mondays-Saturdays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Starts: May 3. Continues through May 20
The Babysitter Killer
It was perhaps the most boring stakeout ever, like trailing Mr. Rogers. Ted Lamborgine’s days started at sunrise with a cup of coffee at McDonald’s. Then he was off for a few laps around Parmatown Mall with the power-walking geriatrics. But mostly he just stayed home at his Parma Heights apartment. Sometimes at night, he…
Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.
If last week’s column on the Damnation of Adam Blessing has you jonesing for heavy psych-rock, check out Japan’s Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. DoAB is just the kind of early ’70s hard-rock outfit that the Acid Mothers look to for inspiration when churning out their screaming space-jams.
Keepin’ It Surreal
Sex is a vital part of any intimate relationship, whether you’re hetero, homo, bi, or omnisexual. But no matter how good you are at it or how often you do it, eventually you need to explore facets of the relationship more conducive to wearing clothes. It’s often how two people relate to each other when…
Pryor Commitment
You may remember comedian Mark Curry from his lead role in the ’90s sitcom Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper. But the Oakland native’s roots are a lot tougher than that show let on. Curry’s stand-up act owes a lot to Richard Pryor, who often took shots at the Man hassling black folks. “The police don’t pull…
Only in Ohio
When Republican leaders tapped Lou Blessing as chairman of the Ohio House Judiciary Committee, he probably believed he’d be spearheading thought-provoking discussions on eminent domain and how to launder a briefcase full of $20s from an insurance lobbyist. But this is Ohio, which means he recently found himself overseeing Bring a Stripper to the Legislature…
Mike Farley
Singer-songwriter Mike Farley currently hails from Tennessee, but he logged twelve years in Cleveland, and he still talks Browns at his blog, www.imissfootballseason.com — so surely you can give him a couple hours of your time. “My voice has been compared to that dude from the Jellyfish,” says Farley. “In current musical terms, the songs…
Tootsie Rolled
For those of us not invited to the first half of the 20th century, the almost mesmerizing attraction of singer Al Jolson to his thousands of fans seems an absolute enigma. It’s hard to watch the old film clips of “Jolie” in action and not be a bit creeped out by the blackface he often…
No Doze
Sleeping Beauty may be one of the world’s most beloved fairy tales, but its celebrated ballet version clocks in at more than two hours — way longer than most little ones’ attention spans. Still, Christine Meneer, artistic director of the Ballet Theatre of Ohio (which stages a production at the Akron Civic Theatre this weekend),…
