When ‘Lakefront Development’ Isn’t Lakefront Development
ERIK DROST/FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS Cleveland City Council pushed along the latest oddly piecemeal “lakefront development” plan earlier this week, paving the way for all sorts of residential digs and commercial office space to be tucked into weird segments of the waterfront along downtown’s northern edge. One of the areas flagged for development, is “a grassy…
Former Tribe Pitcher Throws the Greatest Eephus Pitch, Somehow Doesn’t Get Strike Call
If you missed it today, here’s Kaz Tadano, former Indians minor leaguer and unfortunate subject of some tabloidy headlines when he was in the Tribe farm system, who threw an amazing eephus pitch against the Hanshin Tigers and somehow didn’t get the ump to pull the trigger on the strike call. Amazing.
Cleveland Kennel Offers Up Free Adoptions this Week
If you’re ready to take home a new best friend, head to the Cleveland Kennel now through June 7 and your animal adoption fee will be waived. In honor of Ohio Animal Week, the folks at the Cleveland Kennel and the Cleveland Animal Control Volunteers will nix the $61 adoption fee for all adoptable pets,…
Lorde to Play Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica in September
New Zealand songstress Lorde has just announced the dates for her fall tour. It begins on Sept. 5 at Philadelphia’s Mann Center and then concludes at Austin City Limits Festival in October. In January, Lorde walked away with “Song of the Year” and “Best Pop Solo Performance” awards at the 2014 Grammy Awards and took…
More Cuyahoga County Corruption Revelations from Ameritrust Lawsuit
Geis Cos. Cuyahoga County filed a lawsuit Monday alleging that the acquisition of the Ameritrust Complex was ass-deep in corruption from the proverbial get-go, and no one in Cleveland is surprised. Vince Russo (son of corrupt former County Auditor Frank) and Anatomy Nightclub, among others, have been named as defendants. This shit is always really…
Happy Dog Launches New Lecture Series
For the past couple of years, the Happy Dog has hosted informal lecture series that feature local experts talking about a variety of different topics. A literary reading certainly goes over better with gourmet hot dogs and craft beers. Just last month, we stopped at the club/restaurant to hear Oberlin professor Wendy Hyman give a…
The Lawrence Arms Stoke Grog Shop with High Energy Show
ERIC SANDY/SCENE The Lawrence Arms, lost in the relative darkness of the Grog. I don’t go to punk shows too often, but each time I do I’m drawn back into what seems to be a tight-knit community emblazoned with passion and dedication to the music. That’s pretty much what I got last night when The…
Nelsonville Music Festival as Utopic Springtime Community
JACOB DESMIT Kurt Vile and his hair rock out at NMF. “Seriously, festivals are not always this good!” Josiah Johnson of The Head and the Heart joyously told the crowd of several thousand on the third night of the Nelsonville Music Festival. The sun was setting and as we all seemed to take a simultaneous…
New Playhouse Square Comedy “Dawg Pounded” to Offer Therapy and Hope for Frustrated Browns Fans
Do you happily don orange and brown every Sunday in the fall only to spend the rest of the day wallowing in shame and drinking watered-down canned beer? Do you have recurring nightmares that Johnny Football has packed his bags and taken his talents elsewhere? If you answered yes to these questions, you’re likely a…
CHART: Here’s How Much Money You Need to Earn to Buy a Home in Cleveland
The cost of living in the U.S. varies substantially, with some East Coasters needing a base salary of $79,000 annually to purchase a median-priced home, and some West Coasters needing almost double that. But have you ever wondered how much you, dear Clevelander, need to make each year to buy your own place? Not all…
ICYMI: Father of Four Drowned this Weekend Saving Girl at Huntington Beach
A Medina man drowned Saturday evening after pushing a young girl to safety in the waters of Bay Village’s Huntington Beach. Peter Radke, 43, was a father of four and attending a birthday party with his kids. He went missing around 6 p.m. after swimming out to assist the girl. He pushed her from rough…
Young Cleveland Rappers Release First Single from Forthcoming Album
Many boy bands actually feature singers who are really men. Not 4X To Play, a local R&B/hip-hop quartet. Eight-year-old Nono and 9-year-old Lolo front the group. They make their debut this week with “Be My Friend,” a song about wanting to befriend a stranger at school “just so we can have some fun.” With references…
Watch the SportsCenter Feature On 10-Cent Beer Night
This week marks the 40th anniversary of the “10-Cent Beer Night” fiasco that ended with a drunken riot on the Municipal Stadium field in a game against the Texas Rangers. To mark the occasion, ESPN put together this fantastic segment, hosted by by Bob Golic. Check it out:
‘Dear Mother Maya’: Basheer Jones Reflects On The Life And Work Of His Inspiration, Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou, left, passed away last week at the age of 86. Basheer Jones, right, reflects on what she means to him. Legendary poet, author and memoirist Maya Angelou passed away late last week at the age of 86. Scene asked local poet, musician, speaker and activist Basheer Jones to reflect on the life and…
15 Cleveland Beach Pictures that Don’t Look Like They’re from Cleveland
Not many folks think of Cleveland as a beach town, but, truth is, we’ve got some pretty killer spots that offer up some pretty picturesque scenery. Here’s a collection of Cleveland beach photos we’ve put together that look a heck of a lot like other U.S. beaches we’ve frequented in the south and on the…
Straightforward Approach Works Well for Singer-songwriter Jack Johnson
Nothing too fancy. That’s the best way to describe singer-songwriter Jack Johnson’s approach. The guy’s sparse, often-acoustic songs have lullaby-like qualities to them (and they were even used in the soundtrack to the kids’ flick 2006 Curious George). Despite their seeming simplicity, the songs have caught on with a generation of young listeners that often…
One Cleveland Patrolman, Five Supervisors Indicted in Infamous Police Chase and Shooting Case
Today, the Cuyahoga County Grand Jury voted to indict Patrolman Michael Brelo on two counts of voluntary manslaughter for the killing of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams in November 2012. Sgts. Randy Daley, Patricia Coleman, Jason Edens and Michael Donegan and Lt. Paul Wilson were also charged with dereliction of duty. Read the full statement…
Cleveland’s Brewnuts Named Among Best Donut Shops in the Country
Photo via Brewnuts, Facebook We’ve known for a while that Cleveland’s only craft beer-based donut shop is something special and now, it seems, others are recognizing that too. Yesterday, Brewnuts was named on USA Today’s list of 10 best donut shops in the country, alongside other major donut players in L.A., Chicago, and Minneapolis. “We…
Comedian Eddie Izzard Brings Ambitious ‘Force Majeure’ Show to Palace Theatre
There might not be a comic currently working the circuit who has more international appeal than Eddie Izzard. The history-obsessed Brit is currently on a tour that will take him to some 25 countries. He’s in the midst of playing 51 shows in 32 cities in 63 days and performs tonight at the Palace Theatre.…
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Opens 2014 Inductee Exhibit
HBO’s special on the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions airs tomorrow at 8 p.m. ET and that same day the Rock Hall will also open an exhibit dedicated to the new crop of inductees. Held at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, New York on April 10, this year’s ceremony featured appearances by…
Guitarist Carlos Santana Still at the Top of His Game
Joe Kleon Professional athletes often need time to warm up. While a team might stumble a bit in the first half of a game, it can often get it together in the second half. Sixty-six-year-old blues guitarist Carlos Santana, however, needed no time to turn it on last night at Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica. Right…
Cleveland Artist Dana Depew’s Thoughts on Frank Jackson’s Commitment to Cleveland Art, or Lack Thereof
Fabulous local artist Dana Depew posted this picture and little note on his Facebook page this morning and the combination of the visual with the latest round of nonsense involving the Cleveland arts scene and Loren Naji is too perfect to not bring to a larger audience. Thanks to Dana for letting us do that.…
10 Greater Cleveland All-Day Breakfast Joints You Should Try
A craving for breakfast food can strike at any moment, oftentimes inconveniently after the morning has long passed. If you find yourself in the mood for a mid-afternoon omelet, we’ve got you covered with these 10 Cleveland-area breakfast spots who serve all day.
10 Things Going on in Cleveland this Weekend (May 30 – June 1)
Lots of events hitting Cleveland over the next few days. We won’t keep you from planning out your weekend. Enjoy, folks.
Rapper Future Plays High Energy Show at House of Blues
Honest, the chart-topping album from Atlanta-bred rapper Future, features a host of guest stars, though none seem to overpower Future’s hard edge. His unique flow — sometimes short and choppy, other times slow and melodic — separates him from a lot of other rappers in the game right now. He lived up to the hype…
Shaker Heights QB Wanted to Land a Helicopter on Wade Oval for His Prom Entrance
That's right, private flight… Money stacked to the highest height! 💯🙌😍 pic.twitter.com/YeZyO8fs7R— Brian Jones (@Undefined_Jones) May 26, 2014 Brian “Photoshoot fresh” Jones, the quarterback for the Shaker Heights football team who will be taking his talents to John Carroll University next fall, and then “wherever the money takes [him]” thereafter, intended to arrive at his…
Pristine Vocal Harmonies Distinguish the Head and the Heart’s Music
Plenty of musicians attend open mic sessions. Few end up forming national acts. The Head and the Heart is the exception. Band members first met years ago at an open mic night at a Seattle pub. They formed a group and then recruited drummer Tyler Williams, a friend of singer-guitarist Jonathan Russell’s who was living…
SB 310 as Election-Year Referendum on Kasich’s Supposed Centrism
Update: This story was originally published Tuesday, May 29. SB 310 was passed by the Ohio House and Senate on Wednesday and now awaits Gov. Kasich’s approval or veto. *** Ohio’s renewable energy standards, approved in 2008 to much fanfare on both sides of the proverbial aisle, are set for a proposed two-year freeze, per…
Notes from the Second Bust at Loren Naji’s Studio Gallery
Just four short weeks after having a gallery event shut down and becoming the talk of the Cleveland arts community, Loren Naji was at the center of the battle between artists and the city of Cleveland again after a Friday evening event was shut down by the fire department over occupancy issues. Around 6 p.m.,…
Trey Anastasio Band Brought Musical Heat to House of Blues
ERIC SANDY/SCENE The announcement that Trey Anastasio would be bringing his solo band to Cleveland and Cincinnati right before Summer Camp Music Festival came as a terrific surprise. Unsurprisingly, though, the shows sold out in the blink of an eye. (This is how it goes: Trey Anastasio along with Phish bandmates Mike Gordon, Page McConnell…
Local Rapper Generating Buzz for New Single
Local rapper Mookie Motonio, who’s slated to perform on Saturday at the Umoja Day Parade and Festival that takes place from noon to 7:30 p.m. at Voinovich Park and on Thursday, June 5 at Epic Lounge, is generating rave reviews for his new single, “No I in Love,” a sultry R&B tune featuring P rnb…
Grandpa M Spits the Illest Rap About LeBron James
Grandpa M, noted Cleveland rapper extraordinaire, is joined by J Money and Young Scoob in an awesome new song about LeBron James. Throughout the rap, M explains how badly Cleveland wants LeBron back (ain’t no smack). Check it out:
Heroin Likely at Root of 2013 Akron Quadruple Homicide
Sam Allard / Scene Remains of the Vigil at Akron Kimlyn Circle Hosing Development (April, 2013) “Escalating events during a robbery” were likely what led to a quadruple homicide in Akron’s Kimlyn Circle housing development in April, 2013, police officers told jurors in the capital murder trial of Derrick Brantley, the accused shooter. Brantley and…
CPD’s New Environmental Crimes Unit Will Seek to Curb Dumping Problem
Sam Allard / Scene Tire dump site in Mount Pleasant Wednesday morning, Cleveland City Council’s safety committee approved an ordinance which will authorize the Director of Public Safety — our pal, the dour former Police Chief Michael McGrath — to spend as much as $50,000 on equipment for the Cleveland Police Department’s new Environmental Crimes…
Arthur Chu Pens Nerd Analysis of Santa Barbara Shootings
JEOPARDY PRODUCTIONS INC. Trebek and Chu Broadview Heights resident Arthur Chu, now known internationally for his Jeopardy! game theory prowess, has joined the mostly inane horde of responses to last week’s Santa Barbara shootings. His piece at The Daily Beast is worth reading, if only because he goes long on the embedded nature of video…
Skrillex Pumps Up the Volume in Engaging Performance at Jacobs Pavilion
In the ’70s, funk icon George Clinton toured with a giant “Mothership” prop that would land on the stage. He created an entire mythology surrounding the thing, and it was indicative of the excess associated with the period. It also allowed the creative Clinton appear as if he was some kind of alien invader, sent…
Film Review of the Week: Cold in July
Writer-director Jim Mickle (Mulberry Street, Stake Land) likes to read Joe Lansdale novels. But after he read Lansdale’s Cold in July, he knew he had the source material for his next movie. Cold in July opens on Friday at the Capitol Theatre. “Honestly, when I went in I wasn’t looking at it to see if…
Black Mac is Back: Ensemble Theatre Reimagines Orson Welles’ Famous African-American Interpretation of a Classic in Voodoo Macbeth
Entertainment in the first half of the 20th century was marked by way too much blackface (Al Jolson, etc.) and not enough black faces. But that changed for one galvanizing moment in 1936 when an all-black version of Macbeth was performed in New York City to tumultuous acclaim. That moment is being reimagined now at…
Film Spotlight: Chinese Puzzle
Chinese Puzzle, opening this weekend at the Cedar Lee Theatre, is a frantic, novelistic film about people on the precipice of 40 and the anxiety their age occasions when family life has fallen into disarray. Xavier (Roman Duris), a writer in Paris who has enjoyed some early literary acclaim, is working on what appears to…
Band of the Week: Gentlemen of Leisure
Meet the band: Dylan Su (drums), Joe Parker (bass), Matt DelBrocco (guitar), David Resnik (guitar), Twon Mueller (vocals) A New York State of Mind: David Resnik lived in New York and started Gentlemen of Leisure there in 2006 with his friend Twon Mueller. The band broke up in 2008 and Resnik moved to England for…
Melody Makers: The Menzingers Polish Up their Punk Rock Anthems on their New Album Rented World
For many punk bands getting a spot on the Warped Tour is a dream come true. But for the Menzingers singer-guitarist Tom May, the dream was more of a nightmare when his pop-punk band finally landed on the tour. “It was an interesting experience because when we were younger, we would go to Warped Tour,”…
Funk Orchestra: Brooklyn’s Nine-Piece Turkuaz Will Get You Dancing with their Latest Album
Like kaleidoscopic sardines they crammed themselves onto the tiny Beachland Tavern stage and fired up a marathon set of dirty, dirty funk. Each musician was decked out in a solid-color jumpsuit. Singer/guitarist Dave Brandwein wore baby blue. And as he threw down slick six-string melodies alongside the rest of the band’s multifaceted groove machine, he…
Family Guy: Contentment Inspired the Tunes on Jack Johnson’s Latest Album From Here to Now to You
Singer-songwriter Jack Johnson says he always tries to write about “what was really happening in my life.” If that’s the case, then life must be pretty good for the singer-songwriter. The songs on last year’s From Here to Now to You have a real tenderness to them as Johnson sings about his love for his…
B-Boy Original: Lessons on the Importance of Hip-Hop Culture in the City
Daisun Santana owns CityBreaks Studio in the heart of Clark-Fulton (3327 W. 32nd St., citybreakscle.com). His building, covered in colorful graffiti, speaks a profound message about the ability of art to help build and sustain neighborhoods. Santana is the one guy in Cleveland really carrying the breakdancing mantle these days, so he’s got plenty of…
A Match Made in Mentor: Adventurous Choices and Reliable Bistro Fare at Match Works Tavern
Piccolo Mondo, that legendary Warehouse District restaurant from the ’90s, turned out a bumper crop of talented chefs who all went on to do great things. Among them were Michael Symon, Ali Barker, Michael Longo and Tom Quick. After his seven-year tenure as executive chef of that wildly popular eatery, Quick fled downtown for bucolic…
Five Great Ohio Wineries to Visit
#466422411 / gettyimages.com When it comes to states that are producing great American wine, Ohio might not spring to mind the way that places like California, Oregon and Washington do. Yet, as the push to buy local continues to gain momentum, it only makes sense to sample some of what our region’s vineyards have to…
The 40 Essential Cleveland Restaurants
“Where do we eat?” That’s a very simple question that often warrants a very complicated answer. Well, that depends on who we’re with, what part of town we find ourselves in, how much cash we feel like burning through, and maybe even how hungover we happen to feel. But more often than not, we will…
Little Barrie Lives Up to Supergroup Billing on New Album
Little Barrie: Shadow (Tummy Touch) littlebarrie.com The supergroup is a thing of the past. But don’t tell that to Little Barrie, a British band consisting of singer-guitarist Barrie Cadogan, bassist Lewis Wharton and drummer Virgil Howe. Howe is the son of guitarist Steve Howe of the legendary progressive rock band, Yes, while frontman Cadogan has…
Moe.’s New Album Defies Genre
moe. – No Guts, No Glory (Sugar Hill) moe.com The guys in this veteran jam band originally set out to make an acoustic album. Boy, did they ever veer off course. After hooking up with producer David Aron (U2, Snoop Dogg, Prince), they completely scrapped the acoustic project and started over. The resulting album has…
Neil Young’s New Album is a Difficult Listen
Neil Young: A Letter Home (Warner Bros.) neilyoung.com Given that singer-guitarist Neil Young and singer-guitarist Jack White are two of rock’s most eccentric characters, a collaboration between the two of them was bound to happen. And said collaboration was bound to be weird. Young recorded this collection of covers with White on a refurbished 1947…
Also on Stage
Ancestra The battle for women’s rights, on all fronts, is compelling subject matter for documentaries, speeches and any number of Rachel Maddow shows. It also can be fertile ground for theater, but only when the politics are woven into a story and not a screed. This is the juncture where the world premiere of Ancestra,…
Councilman Polensek Sounds Off on Lakefront Development: “I’m Tired of Complacency”
Cleveland Ward 8 Councilman Mike Polensek wouldn’t or couldn’t go into detail about the potential acquisition of the Euclid Beach Mobile Home Park, embedded within the east side Cleveland Metroparks properties, but he confirmed that there has been discussions between CMP and “some nonprofit organizations” about purchasing that land. Scene delved into the dynamics and…
Spoons Stolen from Garfield Monument, Fireball Found Nearby
#56874357 / gettyimages.com The NEOMG’s Adam Ferrise reports that the Garfield Monument at Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland Heights has been burglarized. The visible casket of President Andrew Garfield remains intact, but several commemorative spoons are missing! Cigarette butts and a bottle of Fireball whiskey were located nearby by responding police and have been sent to the crackerjack Cleveland…
