Constellations Ticket Contest
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What to Do Tonight: Josh Hoge
“Come to my show so I can buy more furniture and lights and shit” On the surface, Josh Hoge’s Nashville roots tag him as a sensitive singer-songwriter or an up-and-coming country buck. But glance over Hoge’s debut album from 2008, Everything She Was, and you’ll spot co-writing credits with R&B superstar Ne-Yo and One Republic’s…
What to Do Tonight: Earth, Wind & Fire
That’s an awesome hat Wind is sporting Earth, Wind & Fire, the pop-soul group drummer Maurice White and his bass-playing brother Verdine founded in Los Angeles in 1970, will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 17, joining Bob Crewe, Jackie DeShannon, and Diane Warren. Membership in this virtual museum is fitting…
Out Today: Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
Ariel Pink’s Haunted GraffitiBefore Today(4AD) L.A. weirdo Ariel Pink’s most beloved work can be found on 2004’s The Doldrums, which was released on Animal Collective’s label. That should tell you something about Pink and his equally freaked-out collaborators. Like Animal Collective, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti make music that’s part stoned epiphanies, part Brain Wilson-style mad…
What to Do Tonight: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart/Surfer Blood
Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Another human centipede fail On last year’s self-titled debut album, NYC indie-poppers the Pains of Being Pure at Heart sing about being young, in love, and desperate for a good time. The obvious reference points for their jangle-powered buzz are ’80s bands that played around in a similar place:…
What to Do Tonight: Wish You Were Here
“How much more shit can we cram onstage?” Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon is getting a lot of attention lately. The Flaming Lips performed the entire record in the studio and onstage, some guy recreated the whole thing using only sounds from a Nintendo video-game system, and a few folks in London used…
What to Do Tonight: Basia
Last names are for losers The cool, cosmopolitan Basia made her initial solo mark in 1987 with Time and Tide, a suave album that cemented the singer’s alliance with keyboardist Danny White and yielded a hit in the title track. Basia Trzetrzelewska and White met in Matt Bianco, a group from the early ’80s. Millions…
What to Do Tonight: Sugarland
Sweet! Country superstars in every sense of the word, Sugarland (singer Jennifer Nettles and guitarist Kristian Bush) have scored three platinum albums in five years. It all started with 2004’s “Baby Girl,” and they’ve been burning up the charts ever since with a string of hits, including “Stay,” “It Happens,” and “Already Gone.” With her…
What to Do Tonight: Cadillac Sky
Guess which dude didn’t read the e-mail about not shaving The Nashville-based bluegrass band Cadillac Sky recorded its latest, and most electric, album, Letters in the Deep, at the Akron home studio of the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach over four days last September. “The spirit moved and we caught the wave,” says Bryan Simpson, the…
What to Do Tonight: Dying Fetus
Surprisingly, they’re a smooth-jazz trio Dying Fetus have been around forever. The Maryland death-metal band formed in 1991 as a typically gore-besotted group. But by 2000 they had morphed into a fearsome and politically engaged band. Albums like Destroy the Opposition and last year’s Descend Into Depravity bring powerful social critique to a genre most…
What to Do Tonight: Whitey Morgan & the 78’s
“What’ca doin’ ’round these parts?” Though they hail from Flint, Michigan, Whitey Morgan and his band are closer to the old-fashioned heart of Nashville than most of what passes for country music these days. Their hardheaded honky-tonk twang is pure outlaw, channeling a rebellious spirit that’s as true to their name-checked predecessors (Johnny Cash, Merle…
What to Do This Weekend: Springsteen Weekend
Bossy The Rock Hall’s From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen exhibit opened last spring, but it’s so popular it’s been extended through the end of 2010. Last year’s Springsteen Weekend was a hit too, so it’s happening again this weekend. Festivities include special screenings of Bruuuuce’s appearances…
What to Do Tonight: Sam Bush
Free ride When he was a fiddle-playing teen, Sam Bush met bluegrass legend Bill Monroe and tried to show off his blossoming mandolin skills to the icon, who advised, “Stick to the fiddle.” Bush ignored him and went on to become the Father of Newgrass. Bush first picked up the mandolin when he was 11,…
What to Do Tonight: Morningbell
Human centipede fail Florida indie-rockers Morningbell first made some buzz with 2007’s Through the Belly of the Sea, which was billed as the world’s first “Choose Your Own Adventure” album and included a lyric-book story with navigational prompts. Unfortunately, the gimmick obscured the music made by the band, which had been plugging away with a…
The “Say Nice Things About Cleveland” Campaign
Say nice things about Cleveland? Um, the sky is really blue? George Witherspoon’s heard enough badmouthing of Cleveland — and he’s fighting back, one trinket at a time. The Cleveland Heights native is handing out buttons that read “Say Nice Things About Cleveland.”“I just had the thought that I don’t want to sit around and…
Michael Troy Watson: The 10th District’s Don Quixote
“I was targeted for destruction by the Jews.” As the June 24 filing deadline approaches, 120 candidates have already pulled petitions for the 11 newly created county council seats. Perhaps no campaign is more quixotic than that of Michael Troy Watson, one of 12 candidates for the 10th district, which includes Cleveland Heights, East Cleveland,…
More Fun From John Boehner’s “America Speaking Out” Project
“Don’t dismiss that Lady Gaga dismemberment idea without listening first.” Last week, House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio unveiled a brilliant idea that has gone tragically and predictably awry: an interactive website sponsored by Republican congressional leadership called AmericaSpeakingOut.com. It encourages everyone — that would be you — to post ideas for a “new…
LeBron Plays HORSE With Larry King, Tells Him Cleveland Has the Edge
CNN posted a short — very short — excerpt of the interview LeBron completed this morning with Larry King, which will air in its entirety Friday evening. (And will be watched live by approximately 1042 senior citizens. The rest of us will watch on the interwebs Saturday morning.) Here it is, the tantalizing first public…
Criminals of the Day: Pair Drug, Tattoo Unsuspecting 16-Year-Old
One bad decision or one bad memory? And not in the repressed, haunting memory kind of way either. Though who’s to guess at the victim’s fragile mental state going forward. No, this victim will have a permanent physical reminder of the crime. This tale begins as all innocent tales of summer nights do — with…
Nighttown Adds Third Basia Show
Stop the presses! Nighttown has added another CD-release show by Basia. Both shows happening on Sunday are sold out, so the Polish world-music diva will play a third concert next Monday, June 7. The new show starts at 7; tickets are $40. The venue expects the Monday concert to sell out too. So call 216-795-0550…
Wanna Buy a Live Nation Concert Ticket? Do It Now
You can see Paramore this summer without paying $347.89 in service fees It’s about time somebody did this. Live Nation just announced No Service Fee June, eliminating — for an entire month! — all those crappy and pesky service fees they attach to tickets for shows at Live Nation-owned amphitheaters. Venues include Nautica Pavillion, Time…
A Few More Cleveland Concert Announcements
Bon Jovi are coming to Cleveland on Air Jon Stop the presses! These late-breaking additions are coming to town in the near future: Amplexus: Fri., July 2. 9 p.m., $10 four-pack of general admission tickets $30 (LiveNation.com). House of Blues. Bon Jovi/Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes: Mon, July 12. 8 p.m., $30-$175 (LiveNation.com). Blossom.…
Afternoon Brew: Foreclosures, Lightning, Graduation Tests, and Gerald McFaul Faces Arraignment
Built to withstand storms/ insufferable stallings by Ohio Republicans. Good afternoon, Cleveland. Here’s some stuff to read while you write a letter on a discarded receipt from the porch of your cardboard house explaining to Republicans that you’d like them to address the foreclosure crisis before fall. — While attempts to deal with Ohio’s record…
Guy Gets Slapped By 23 Women For LeBron
The In LeBron We Trust guy is at it again, this time sacrificing his left cheek to show how much he wants LeBron to stay in Cleveland. There will be a lengthy analysis of all this groveling for LeBron in Cleveland and Akron, of which this is a prime if funny example, tomorrow. Until then,…
We’re Number 59! Cleveland Ranks Low in “Quality of Life” Survey
This sign would surely change Portfolio’s mind. Cleveland, already the “most miserable” city in America according to Forbes, gets knocked again in rankings put out last week by Portfolio. In the rankings for “Quality of Life” among big cities, Cleveland falls 59th out of 67. So it’s time to freak out, pack up a U-Haul,…
Reader: Your Food Critic is a Meanie
Bac: Go see for yourself? Wow — I’ve been reading Douglas Trattner’s restaurant reviews for quite some time, and even for the worst places he’s always pretty fair and level-headed. This is not so much a review as a hate piece [“Far East Meets Near West,” May 12, 2010]. There seems to be quite a…
This Just In: Cleveland Concert Announcements
This week’s concert announcements are so sucky, we’re showing you this cute kitty to make up for them Dave Alvin & the Guilty Women: Thu., Sept. 9. Beachland. DGAF/Mars/the DRP: Thu., July 1. 7 p.m., $10 ADV/$12 DOS. Peabody’s. Dragonette/Dan Black: Sun., Aug. 8, 9 p.m., $10. Grog Shop. Epica/Scar Symmetry/Blackguard: Wed., Nov. 24. 7…
Reader: “Is This What We Have to Get Used to Now — Women’s Bodies Being Dumped on the Streets?”
Damian Guevara’s story “What’s Next? Cleveland Police dig their way out of another PR nightmare” [May 12, 2010] was right on, addressing many of the Cleveland police department’s irresponsible oversights and abuses of power. As a professor of women’s studies, I can attest to the fact that many women (across race, class, and generation) living…
Pastor in South Carolina Delivers Sermon on LeBron — Yes, That’s Where We Are Now
LeBron mania has invaded not just sports coverage, regular news coverage, casual conversations with your grandma, and the thoughts and actions of civic leaders across the country — it has officially invaded the sanctified walls of churches in South Carolina. There is apparently no end or limit to the Jamesian hysteria. Here’s video of Reverend…
A Swingin’ Anniversary
Um, swing on in! You could drive right by the House of Swing and never notice this modest storefront. But inside is a repository of jazz history — the memorabilia covering the walls and the 15,000-album collection that belonged to the late Lou Kallie, who started the club 33 years ago. Kallie died in 1995,…
Coming Soon: Sleepytime Music!
Greg Slawson’s music is kinda like that Pianist Greg Slawson, who led classical/jazz quartet Kassaba from 2002 to 2008 with his wife and fellow Cleveland Institute of Music grad Candice Lee, released a CD earlier this year called Waterflow: Music for Relaxation. The new-age style mood music, which incorporated sounds of nature, was intended for…
WTF Is This Band Doing Opening for Drake?
As the curtains rose to reveal the opening act at House of Blues last night, a strange band took the stage. The audience, anxiously awaiting the arrival of hip-hop artist Drake, didn’t know quite what to think when four white pop-rockers — with wild hair, black leather jackets, tight black pants, and sunglasses — walked…
Trent Reznor Is Giving Away Free Music Again
You cracked the rumors. You watched the video. And on Tuesday you can download the music. Like he did with the past couple of Nine Inch Nails albums, Trent Reznor is making his new band’s EP a free download on June 1. How to Destroy Angels’ six-song self-titled debut EP will be available as a…
Concert Review: Drake at House of Blues
“Last name Ever, first name Greatest …” Aubrey Drake Graham and LeBron James’ rise to fame seem to parallel each other. Both have experienced a great amount of success at a young age. And both have a big summer ahead of them, as Drake waits to see how his debut album is received and LeBron…
64 and Counting Will Return June 1st
Safety first, kids. The merriment and wonder that is this (recently sporadic) sports blog will be on a brief hiatus until Tuesday, June 1. In the meantime, always remember the grill doesn’t need as much lighter fluid as you think it does, unless you like big flames, in which case just go ahead and douse…
Scene & Heard Is On Vacation Until June 1st
Safety first, kids. The merriment and wonder that is Scene & Heard will be on a brief hiatus until Tuesday, June 1. In the meantime, always remember the grill doesn’t need as much lighter fluid as you think it does, unless you like big flames, in which case just go ahead and douse the mothereffer…
Afternoon Brew: Exploding Toilets, Dandelions, Some Reality Show, and Fire Bombs
This shit’s gonna explode. Good afternoon, Cleveland. Here’s some stuff to read while you check for bombs in your toilet. — A quartet of hilarious hoodlums planted a homemade bomb in a port-o-potty out in Huron. Go ahead and insert your own joke about poop and bombs here. (AP) — This report says Crystal Bowersox…
Thursday Ticket Giveaway: The Constellations
We have a pair of tickets to the Contellations’ show at the Beachland Ballroom on June 12. They’re opening for Eli “Paperboy” Reed. We also have a vinyl copy of the Constellations’ new album, Southern Gothic. Check out the clip above for “Perfect Day.” Be careful if you’re watching at work — there are naked…
It’s Official: LeBron Leaving Akron
This LeBron could totally kick LeBron’s ass. The fancy, misleading headline above and the corresponding picture here probably are good hints that we’re not talking about LeBron James the basketball player. In fact, we’re talking about LeBron the jaguar, who is leaving the cozy confines of the Akron Zoo for a new home in Florida.…
Sex in the City 2 suggests its time to pull the plug on the series
Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) reunite for a scattershot follow-up to the 2008 blockbuster that even diehard S&TC fans may find lacking. Except for a big, fat gay wedding sequence (replete with a delicious Liza Minnelli cameo), laughs are in perilously short supply. And writer-director Michael…
Drew Carey Talking To Cleveland City Council Today
The Indians won’t save Cleveland, Drew. This morning none other than Drew “Hollywood” Carey and his cohort from Reason.tv are sitting down with Cleveland City Council to present their libertarian schemes for how to save the city. Carey and Nick Gillispie have been hard at work on a series of mini-documentaries entitled Reason Saves Cleveland…
Download Swell Season Cover
“Anyone remember where we parked the van?” After you read our interview with the Swell Season’s Glen Hansard, head on over to Levi’s Pioneer Sessions to download the group’s cool cover of Candi Staton’s “Young Hearts Run Free.” Staton is one of the ’70s greatest soul singers. She’s also one of the most unrecognized and…
Concert Review: Besnard Lakes at Beachland Ballroom
“Who turned out the lights?” When a studio-powered band like Montreal psychedelic shoegazers Besnard Lakes perform live, there’s concern that removing the layers of production will rob the music of its magic or the band won’t have the charisma to sell it onstage. When frontman Jace Lasek, with his gangly frame and unruly shock of…
Rep. Steve LaTourette Directs “Pinhead” and “Weenie” Comments At Fox News
The Latourette video, where he went after Fox News for a segment on a GOP-backed bill, is featured at the end of this segment on Keith Olbermann’s show. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy (Via Cleveland.com)
Morning Brew: Good Schools, Bad Fathers, Animal Abuse and Sexy Pictures
What to do when you run out of Benadryl. Good morning, Cleveland. Here’s some stuff to peruse while you make sure your spouse isn’t pouring Jameson into your toddler’s sippy cup. — Early nominee for Father of the Year: Guy gives 2-year-old stepdaughter enough booze that she registers a 0.25% BAC upon arriving at hospital.…
You Don’t Know Jack
Alex Gibney’s LATEST documentary chronicles the rise and fall of the Republican Party via lobbyist Jack Abramoff, “the man who bought Washington.” More coherent than Michael Moore’s recent films, Casino Jack and the United States of Money is such a thorough exploration of corruption and greed, you might as well call Gibney our top government…
SUMMER GUIDE: LISTEN UP!
It doesn’t matter what kind of music you listen to — summer 2010 has something for you. Here are ten records we’re looking forward to the most… Jack Johnson To the Sea (June 1) It just isn’t summer without the cool acoustic breeze of Hawaiian singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, who leads us straight To the Sea…
Letters
SPORTS FLUBS AND TICKET STUBS Given your mention of the year 1964, I thought you would find it interesting that I attended that championship game with my father [“A Grumpy Old Man, A Grumpy Young Man, and a Ticket Stub From 1964,” at ’64 and Counting, the clevescene.com sports blog]. The seats cost $10 each.…
SUMMER GUIDE: A FISTFUL OF FESTIVALS
Rockin’ on the River May 21-Sept. 3 Falls River Square, Cuyahoga Falls 330-730-7591 rockinontheriver.com Led Zeppelin, Queen, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Journey, Jimmy Buffett, and even Aerosmith are congregating in Cuyahoga Falls this summer to blast crowds with their big hits. Well, it’s actually their cover-band counterparts (ZOSO, Almost Queen, Blue Moon Swamp, Frontiers, Fins to…
Rest Never Sleeps
When Exit Stencil Records’ Ryan Weitzel suggested that the Dreadful Yawns come out of hibernation to play a show, he thought it would be a good opportunity for one of the label’s best bands to revisit its 2007 album Rest. Steeped in Byrds-like harmonies and Flying Burrito Brothers-inspired alt-country, the disc marked the arrival of…
SUMMER GUIDE: YOUR CONCERT SCENE
JUNE Almost Queen (Queen tribute)/Jackie: Fri., June 18, free admission. Rockin’ on the River. Backstreet Boys: Sat., June 19, 8 p.m., $35-$65. Nautica Pavilion. Bamboozle Roadshow, featuring Boys Like Girls, All Tiem Low, Third Eye Blind, Good Charlotte, and others: Fri., June 18, 1 p.m. Time Warner Cable Amphitheater at Tower City. Blue Moon Swamp…
Stay In!
TOP PICK Iron Man: Armored Adventures — The Complete First Season (Marvel Animation/Method/Genius/Vivendi) Much better than the dumb-ass movie currently raking in millions at the multiplex, this animated series’ first season is now available on DVD. There are 26 episodes here, and they get better as they go along — especially as secrets unfold and…
Sand Trap
Movies based on video games have a history of overall suckiness. It doesn’t matter how good or bad the game is; watching flesh-and-blood actors play out the pixilated adventures onscreen just isn’t the same as sitting in your beanbag chair with a controller in your hands and a bag of Cheetos by your side. Prince…
Northeast Ohio Music Releases
Call Me Constant In Here Is the Center, In Here It Is Clear (self-released) myspace.com/callmeconstant Together for a decade, Call Me Constant wield an armory of musical weapons on their debut EP. The quartet brandishes a ferocious style of alt-pop in “A Russian Winter,” which features scorching guitar licks as axe slingers Stephen Mlinarcik and…
Joy Ride
Once upon a time there was a boy. The boy played in an Irish band called the Frames, who had a few fans but weren’t even close to U2 on the Successful Irish Bands list. The boy made a movie with an unknown Czech girl. The movie became a surprise hit — bigger than the…
DVD Giveaways!
Email FreeTickets@clevescene.com for your chance to win these DVD’s: Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle. As the…
NO-HIT WONDERS
It’s not easy to catalog the latest addition to the moe. canon, the just-released Smash Hits Volume 1. Since the band has never actually had a hit, the title is more than a little misleading. “We put it to a vote for songs that we think encapsulate a first-time listener’s grab to moe.,” explains drummer…
Photo Gallery: Scene’s Tasteful Affair
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Global Soul
Diane Birch is kinda like an American version of Amy Winehouse. But without the crack addiction. Or skankiness. Or the tendency to wander city streets at 3 in the morning in a bathrobe. But she sings an awful lot like Winehouse, with soulful ache and occasional celebration that reach all the way back to ’60s…
Musical Chairs
Back in June of 2006, the newly elected Cuyahoga County Democratic Central Committee gathered at Euclid High School to select its party chair. County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, who had been chairman since January 1994, presided over the meeting in his typically jovial, back-slapping manner. He spiced up the agenda with wisecracks about food — an…
Exit Sandman
Sometimes giants must sleep before we can understand their size and scope. Massachusetts power trio Morphine was a colossus in the ’90s. But it was a band that languished too soon when frontman Mark Sandman tragically died onstage from a heart attack in 1999. Under the moniker “Members of Morphine and Jeremy Lyons,” original bandmates…
Livewire
Besnard Lakes It should come as no surprise that Besnard Lakes singer and guitarist Jace Lasek made his bones as a producer. Even a cursory listen to the group’s three albums reveals a frontman who’s obsessed with layering, tone, and atmosphere. The Montreal quartet’s songs transport listeners to strange and distance realms, echoing My Bloody…
Playback
Bettye LaVette Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook (Anti-) Bettye LaVette is a marvelously transgressive soul singer whose interpretations cast new light on material you might think is too familiar. On her 2005 comeback album I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise, she applied her grainy, strangulated voice to contemporary female singer-songwriters; two years later she…
Eat Out!
Northeast Ohio’s summers may not be getting any longer, but our crop of restaurant patios continues to grow every year. Not long ago, you could count on two hands the number of eateries boasting alfresco seating. These days, not only are there literally dozens of open-air options, but the quality of them keeps getting better. Here’s…
Going Nowhere
If you weld togethera broken Zippo lighter, a rusted spring, and a broken doll’s head, you create a junk sculpture that might mean something to someone. But when you do the rough equivalent of that in a play, you’d better have a tighter focus on your materials and objective. In convergence-continuum’s Dark Ride, now at…
Ladies’ Night
When the big-screen Sex and the City came out two years ago, industry powerbrokers seemed genuinely puzzled at how such a femme-centric movie based on an old cable TV series could have grossed $57 million its opening weekend. Of course, when dealing with the fairer sex — and what it thinks women want — Hollywood…
SUMMER GUIDE: SEQUELS, SUPERHEROES, AND SISTERHOOD
Hollywood is still reeling from 2009’s screenwriters strike and the global recession — calamities that not even $2.7 billion in worldwide Avatar receipts could remedy. Production companies and studios were shuttered; jobs and budgets were slashed. But there’s an upside to the belt-tightening: Summer — traditionally the season of testosterone-heavy blockbusters — is leaner and…
Reel Cleveland
For the past seven years, Dave Filipi, film and video curator at Columbus’ Wexner Center for the Arts, has hosted a program of archival baseball footage at the Cleveland Museum of Art (11150 East Blvd., 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org/film). This year’s program, Dave Filipi Presents Rare Films From the Baseball Hall of Fame, screens at 6:30 p.m.…
