IS IT STILL A SHOUT-OUT WHEN IT’S ABOUT YOURSELF?
Scene and the late Free Times (the two papers merged last summer) are well represented in this year’s Excellence in Journalism Awards from Press Club of Cleveland. The nominees are: Staff writer Dan Harkins, for the Free Times cover stories “Tattered,” about foreclosures and the region’s torn social fabric, and “Art/Addiction,” about neon artist Dana…
Local Yiddishe Guy Blogs!
Bert Stratton a.k.a. Klezmer Guy, who leads local klezmer band Yiddishe Cup, has started a blog to offer his random thoughts on the vicissitudes of the musical life and his other life as the owner of rental properties. In his blog, he reflects on such things as his childhood clarinet — a Selmet Signet X…
Todd Rundgren Performing “Wizard” in Akron
Todd Rundgren will perform his 1973 album, A Wizard, a True Star, in its entirety for the first time ever in Akron on September 6. Even though Rundgren’s previous album, Something/Anything?, is a better record, Wizard has its fans. It’s a particularly crucial album in Rundgren’s long career because it’s one of his first truly…
‘There would be no Grog Shop without him’
Grog Shop co-founder Matt Mugridge died Thursday, May 7. He would have turned 42 on May 13. Well-liked and well-rounded, Mugridge played hockey at Saint Ignatius, then got the music bug at the University of Cincinnati. He lived and died as a larger-than-life, infectiously fun-loving presence on the Cleveland music scene. The talkative Mugridge was…
Money Where Your Mouth Is:: Girls Guns and Glory
Occasionally, C-Notes’ music hacks let a band toot their own horn. Band: Girls Guns and Glory Website: www.girlsgunsandglory.com Hometown: Boston, MA Sounds Like: “Ryan Adams, Dwight Yoakam, Chuck Berry. Americana, rock & country music!” Fun Fact: “All four members of Girls Guns and Glory have opted to forget their actual birth dates and instead have…
Money Where Your Mouth Is: Unsparing Sea
C-Notes music writers let a band explain why you need to see them tonight, even though it’s Wednesday. Today, we bring you the Unsparing Sea, Cleveland’s leading chamber-post-rock combo. Because welike them so much, there’s no way we can even pretend to be objective about ’em. Band: Unsparing Sea Web: www.unsparingsea.com, www.myspace.com/unsparingsea Hometown: Cleveland Sounds…
This Just In: Hip-Hop Skits Still Not Funny
Listening to Cam’ron’s skit-heavy new CD, Crime Pays, for review last night, it occurred to me that Cam may be one of the last rappers to actually fill CD space with skits. These jokey interludes were popular about 10 years ago with 13-year-old boys. Most hip-hoppers stopped doing them when they realized they weren’t funny.…
Arcade Fire Selling Pricey DVD
Hey, Arcade Fire fans! Your favorite Canadian collective is selling autographed copies of its new DVD, Mirror Noir, for $250 on its website. Yeah, that’s kinda pricey, seeing that a good chunk of people are eating cat food these days. But it does benefit Partners in Health, which helps poor people. So it all comes…
Green Day “21st Century Breakdown” Review
I take back whatever skeptical things I said about Green Day a couple weeks ago. 21st Century Breakdown is a great album. Here’s my review. —Michael Gallucci
Things To Read That Might Not Suck: Pile of Stuff Edition
No time for actual blogging today, so here’s a litany of stuff that is interesting that you can turn around and blog about yourself. — Brendan Haywood apparently thinks everyone still cares about his hard foul on LeBron last year in the playoffs. In his first blog post over at Yardbarker, Haywood says: A lot…
This Just In: Concert Announcements
This week, Jason Mraz and Brad Paisley head up our list of 33 new shows. But Lair of the Minotaur and EPMD at the Legends of Hip-Hop Tour are what really have us pumped. —D.X. Ferris CANCELEDZee Avi : Sun., June 7. Grog Shop. THIS JUST INBackseat Goodbye/Mansions/Breathe Electric/October Nites: Tue., June 16, 6 p.m.,…
Matt LaPorta Bobbleheads Coming to Akron
For the time being, Matt LaPorta is in Cleveland, even if he’s not really playing right now. He may be back in Columbus at some point. Who knows. One place he won’t be playing the rest of the year is in Akron, which is funny because Akron is having Matt LaPorta bobblehead night on July…
Get Your Vintage Austin Carr Cotton Club Can
I was scanning eBay for Cavs stuff and this caught my eye. It’s actually one of three versions available, including a can for Jim Cleamons and one for Jim Brewer. In case you’re curious, the cans have been emptied from the bottom, so there will be no delicious ginger ale from 1970 in your future.
The Kickdrums’ Logo Kind of Kicks Ass
I’ve known about The Kickdrums for a long while now, but never noticed or never saw their logo before the other day. That rocks. (Want to know more about The Kickdrums? Read Scene’s feature story on them from last year.)
The LeBron Leave-O-Meter is at an All-Time Low
So, by now you’ve probably read LeBron’s quote from the Outside the Lines segment where he says he’s very comfortable in Cleveland. It’s just the latest in a series of soundbites that everyone’s analyzing for any hint as to whether the King will stay in Cleveland after his contract is up or whether he’ll ditch…
STAY SICK, IT’S CHEAPER
An MSNBC report on people refusing medical treatment over the cost cites a local example: Even as rising unemployment strips people of health insurance, sending many to emergency departments for care, doctors on the front lines say the lingering recession is also prompting an unexpected outcome. More patients, they say, are refusing potentially costly procedures…
Sports in Space
Two basketballs will be making the trip aboard the Atlantis shuttle into space as astronauts do some work on the Hubble telescope. One ball is from the Harlem Globetrotters, and the other is a little more special. It’s a ball used in a game in 1909 between the University of Chicago and Indians. One of…
Cavs Fans Can Now Direct Their Hatred at Gregg Doyel
The title of Doyel’s opus on the Cavs: “Let’s be up front: Cavs can’t win NBA title.” There isn’t a word that Doyel uses that couldn’t be quoted here as evidence of his complete dismissal of the Cavs as a legitimate title contender. There’s just too many juicy options, it’s hard to pick just a…
Shows You Should See This Week
Fall Out Boy at Time Warner Cable Amphitheater at Tower City on Tuesday — Their latest album, Folie à Deux, loads up on the pop-punk tunefulness that made them a hit with both blogging tweens and their SUV-drivin’ moms. The record’s centerpiece, “What a Catch, Donnie,” is FOB’s best song since “Sugar, We’re Goin Down.”…
MESSIN’ WITH SASQUATCH FANS
Bigfoot enthusiasts live among us. They blend in well with their environments, raising families and holding down jobs and pursuing their dreams. Of course their dreams involve proving the existence of a 9-foot-tall North American wood ape, but otherwise they’re a lot like the rest of us. You might even know one and not realize…
Photo Show: The Dears and Eulogies at the Grog Shop, 5/10
The Dears and Eulogies played the Grog Shop on Saturday night. You can read Crystal Culler’s review here. You can look at Mark A. Pirri’s photos below.
Concert Review: Electric Six at the Grog Shop, 5/8
The Grog Shop turned into a house party on Friday night. And the charismatic disco/rock, Detroit based sextet Electric Six were more than eager to host the splendid soiree. There was beer guzzling and singalongs galore, and everyone was looking for a friend to throw their arms around. The night got rolling with tunes like…
Concert Review: The Dears with Eulogies at the Grog Shop, 5/9
The Eulogies opened for Great Northern at the Grog Shop on Saturday night. It should have been the other way around. The Los Angeles rockers played a strong set. But Great Northern’s slot wasn’t a total loss, thanks to Rachel Stolte’s see-through dress and three-inch heels. As everyone waited for the Dears to start their…
RECALL THE RECALL!
Last week, Akron Mayor for Life Don Plusquellic had his chief of staff, Dave Leiberth, puffing out his chest for the press and challenging those seeking the mayor’s head to be realistic: Plusquellic was born for this job, trumpeted Leiberth, and he would die doing it. Was the mayor worried about whether there’d be enough…
Pre-Concert Interview: The Dears
Murray Lightburn calls his music Neo-Blues, disassociates himself from Morrissey and indie music, doesn’t like Death Cab for Cutie, and, as of this interview, hadn’t heard much of the bands he’s touring with, the Great Northern and the Eulogies (they’re at the Grog Shop Saturday). “For a long time people would compare my singing voice…
Feel the Noize
So you sent your kid to the Paul Green School of Rock Music, thinking he might become the next Jimi Hendrix, Roger Waters or Bono, or at least Thom Yorke or J. Mascis. But suddenly — he’s Axl Rose! Brett Michaels! Dee Snider! Where did it all go wrong? Parents who hid the ’80s photos…
Behind “The Shot”
Hilarious. “Craig Ehlo has got this.”
Vegas Isn’t Too Bullish on the Browns
Over/Under win totals are out and Vegas has set the line on the Browns at 6.5. My money’s on the under. Only six teams have been set at a lower bar than the Browns’ 6.5. Other notables: Steelers: 11Ravens: 8.5Bengals: 5.5
FRIDAY MONKEY BLOGGING
WARNING: DANGEROUS LEVELS OF CUTENESS DETECTED, ENLARGE THE PHOTO AT OWN RISK. The newest baby monkey at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo weighs less than a pound, but he’s pretty hard to miss. The Francois’ langur infant — born on April 29 — has bright orange fur compared to the silky black coats of adult langurs. “This…
An Optimistic Update on Pronk’s Shoulder
From Will Carroll at Baseball Prospectus (subscription): The concern remains that the stamina and crepitus in Hafner’s shoulder won’t allow him to play all season without problems like this. The natural solution will be a strengthening-and-conditioning program. The Indians’ training staff is one of the best in the game, so if anyone can keep him…
EASY LIKE SUNDAY MORNING
Collinwood night club the Beachland is a cool place to hang out Sunday afternoons, too. After some up months and some down months, the Beachland Brunch has a widely varied crowd showing up steadily every Sunday. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Slovenian-concert-hall-turned-rock-bar honors its traditional roots and hip present. Chef Kim Homan has…
GO PLAY OUTSIDE
It was a week late, but the downtown branch of Cleveland Public Library finally got its nose out of a book long enough to open its reading garden on Wednesday — something that normally happens May 1. Granted, the place has a new executive director, Felton Thomas, and maybe he doesn’t know how many commuters…
“LET US NOT JUST CHASE THIS INTO THE CLOSET BUT BURY THEM IN THE GROUND”
Wednesday had the makings for some gratuitous head-butting across the cultural divide. Cleveland’s domestic partner registry kicked off at 8 a.m., and the climate was ripe for strife. Fans of the plan were heading one way, detractors the other. In the days leading up to the event, the Rev. C. Jay Matthews came out strong…
THE POLK EFFECT
Mike Polk’s “Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video” has gone beyond viral — it’s impacting the real world. From Positively Cleveland: Cleveland-area comedians recently made a viral video that fictitiously bills itself as $14 million project of the “Cleveland Tourism Board.” Although Positively Cleveland has created and distributed its fair share of videos highlighting Northeast Ohio’s…
Because You Always Wanted a Chris Jent Fathead Trading Card, Admit It
The Plain Dealer had a story the other day about Fathead’s first set of NBA tradeables. Since Dan Gilbert owns both Fathead and the Cavs, it’s no wonder that the Wine and Gold are the first team to be selected. You can now pre-order the set on Fathead.com, but unfortunately, the few pics they have…
Grandmas Love LeBron
Nike will be making a very limited-edition set of t-shirts just for the LeBron James Grandmother Fan Club, which is based in Akron. It’s just a poem on the back, written by one of the members of the Akron-based group. From the Beacon Journal story: ‘We are printing 200 shirts for the LeBron James Grandmothers…
The Greatest Mark Price T-Shirt Ever
Now available at the Waiting For Next Year swag shop, this homage to Mark Price, which is beyond 100%-Clevo with the Drew Carey reference, and beyond 100% dope.
Concert Review — The Killers at Time Warner Cable Amphitheater at Tower City, 5/6
Explosive — yes. When the biggest baddest light show and stage set (fake palm trees and all!) is matched with a truly empowering performance, the results can be truly spectacular, like they were at last night’s Killers concert at Time Warner Cable Amphitheater at Tower City. No matter if you got laid-off last week, your…
Luis Vizcaino Signed With Tribe, Probably
If you remember our discussion about Twitter and sports the other day, this will be an interesting nugget of news. Announced by his agent on Twitter, Vizcaino, who was DFA’ed and released by the Cubs, will be coming to the ever-continuing circus known as the Indians bullpen. Here’s his stats. (Hat tip to Let’s Go…
AKRON’S ICON OF DEATH
News from Akron in the New York Times: Robert and Carolyn Conley, two Akron schoolteachers, said they never thought much about the [All-America, a.k.a. Y] bridge until 2006, when their son, Kevin — who had been an A student, a wrestler, a practical joker and a compelling Macduff in a school production of “Macbeth” —…
Concert Review — The Greencards at the Beachland Tavern, 5/6
The Austin-based Greencards packed the Beachland Tavern last night with their mix of country, bluegrass and folk music. The band includes two Australians, a Brit and a recently added American guitarist. Fiddler Eamon McLoughlin exhibited a “Devil Went Down to Georgia” speed on his instrument. Raised by Irish parents, it’s easy to tag McLoughlin’s influence…
FEAR SELLS, BUT WHO’S BUYING?
Apparently Ohioans are becoming less prone to buying into the hand-wringing, head-clutching hysteria that serves as the meat and potatoes for television news. A Quinnipiac poll released today found that 72 percent of Ohio voters are “not too worried” or “not worried at all” that someone in their family will catch swine flu, and 67…
COME AN’ GIT IT!
In February, Senator Voinovich took a principled stand against the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, or federal stimulus bill: “I voted against this bill because it is weighed down by too much spending that is not stimulative and will not provide the jump-start our economy so desperately needs. Instead of funding federal responsibilities that are…
DOMESTIC AGENDA
If you’re in love, or think you are, and living with your significant other, then get your partner down to City Hall when the doors open at 8 a.m. Thursday, May 7 to get your names on the new Cleveland Domestic Partner Registry. “Large numbers are expected to turn out for the historic event,” according…
Money Where Your Mouth Is: Angie Stevens
In which the C-Notes’ music scribes quit yammerin’ on and let an artist explain why you should come see them hammerin’ on. Artist: Angie Stevens Website/Myspace: www.angiestevens.com / www.myspace.com/angiestevens Hometown: “Denver, CO (by way of Rapid City and Fargo)” Sounds like: “Kasey Chambers, Patty Griffin, Brandi Carlile.” Fun fact: “Angie is sponsored by Coors.” Playing:…
ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKIN’ IN
Could it be? Sam Miller and the Ratners of Forest City Enterprises are officially out of the inner circle? A lot has changed since Cleveland’s Uncle Sam had a tidy regular audience with ex-Mayor Mike White and former Plain Dealer publisher Alex Machaskee — back when the public coffers were an open check. White is…
The Lighter Side of the Keith Woolner Discussion
We’ve long since passed the point where mocking ignorant writers who continue to dismiss using advanced stats in baseball as stupid is even fun. But after this morning’s post on and Q&A with Keith Woolner, the Tribe’s Manager of Baseball Analysis and Research, I thought it would be a nice, light-hearted distraction to go back…
MORE ZOMBIES!
The dates for next year’s Cleveland Internation Film Festival have already been set (March 18-28, 2010). The announcement reminded us of a letter we got in response to coverage of this year’s fest: The Cleveland Film Festival for People who Wear their Sappy Hearts around their Necks like the Wu-Tang Clan has Bling: that is…
Keith Woolner Full Q&A: Part I (The Media, The Indians, Interacting with the Coaching Staff, and More)
Keith Woolner, the Indians’ Manager of Baseball Analysis and Research, was kind enough to spend an hour talking with me about any number of things recently — from his role in the organization, to thoughts on advanced metrics and the media, to a ton of other stuff. Here’s the first 30 minutes or so (coming…
Lighting up Cleveland Like Vegas
In case you weren’t downtown for the Cavs game yesterday, here’s a look at the Witness billboard lit up in honor of LeBron’s MVP triumph.
A CONSERVATIVE EULOGY
Behold the USS Republican. She was once a grand lady that sailed America’s ideological seas bearing dinner tables worthy of Norman Rockwell, lush thighs from whence butterscotch promises were released only after the proper nuptials were uttered and morals that were renewed with intent every Sunday morning. Amen, brother. But Ronald Reagan’s “morning in America”…
CD Review: Green Day
Five years after they revived the rock opera, reignited political rock and resurrected their career, Green Day return with another concept album that’s bigger, badder and bolder than American Idiot. Divided into three acts with recurring themes and musical motifs running throughout, 21st Century Breakdown is another indictment of rampant American idealism. But where Idiot…
CD Review: Heaven & Hell
Throw up those devil horns! The first album in almost 20 years by Dio-era Black Sabbath (Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice) doesn’t show any signs of aging. The guys still mess around with musical black magic (dig that horned beast on the cover!) and songs about evil, black Bibles, rock…
Back to the Future
I admit I flashed a Vulcan “live long and prosper” sign to the assembly at my graduation. I’ve looked up Gene Roddenberry’s lyrics to the Alexander Courage classic Star Trek TV theme song. And I’ve spent the decades since mostly jobless and dateless. Guess you could call me a hardcore fan. So trust me when…
POLITICS ISN’T BLACK AND WHITE
Last Saturday morning, county Dems huddled up by precinct inside the soon-to-be-spruced Music Hall in the Cleveland Convention Center to choose the second sheriff in nearly two generations that will maybe — who knows? — care about little things like, well, enforcing the law. With two candidates, whittled down from 13 — one tall and…
Reel Cleveland: Gary Hustwit Brings Objectified to Town
It’s been a long, strange trip for indie filmmaker Gary Hustwit. The guy started out working at the SoCal-based SST Records in the early ’80s back when the label had seminal acts like Sonic Youth, Black Flag and the Meat Puppets on its roster. From there, he got into book publishing, running his Incommunicado Press…
CD Review: Allen Toussaint
If you’ve ever heard a great song recorded in New Orleans sometime in the second half of the 20th century, chances are pretty good Allen Toussaint had something to do with it. He’s a songwriter, producer, arranger, pianist and (occasionally) singer, who’s worked with with Elvis Costello, Paul Simon, the Meters and many others. The…
Working Class Hero
French cinema’s current renaissance continues with The Secret of the Grain, a remarkable new film by writer-director Abdellatif Kechiche (2003’s Games of Love and Chance). Since both Grain and Chance swept the French Oscars, you could say Kechiche is batting a thousand these days. Novelistic in scope and densely textured, Keciche’s latest humanist triumph tells…
IF YOU LIVED HERE YOU’D BE HOME ALREADY.
Drive east out of downtown Cleveland, and it’s just a few minutes before you come to one of the city’s starkest divides between the haves and the have-nots, at the exit for the tony lakeshore enclave of Bratenahl and the cratered Glenville home of Superman. Turn left, and there are manicured mansions and not a…
CD Review: The Horrors
Clad in tight jeans and leather, scarves and dark shades, the Horrors look like they just walked out of Andy Warhol’s Factory and straight into the 21st century. OK, so maybe they made one detour to steal a few licks from the Damned circa 1977, but you get the idea. Primary Colours is a mix…
WILDER ANIMALS
With its grand edifice on the block and bill collectors knocking at the door, the Cleveland Play House faces adversity. Adversity, however, seems to be just the fertilizer to make artistic director Michael Bloom blossom, for he is doing his most masterly Elia Kazan pressure-cooker direction in a massive stage adaptation of Heaven’s My Destination,…
CD Review: St. Vincent
Annie Clark has a sweet, gentle voice and perfect bone structure. So you might shrug her off as another boring acoustic act trying to break into the Top 40. But the woman behind the nom de plume St. Vincent is not making simple tunes with throwaway choruses. She takes traditional beauty and smashes it to…
Natural Curls
Peggy Kwong-Gordon’s intertwining painted lines coil through a scale of 20 colors, feeling like visible music. Her narrow, thickly transparent casein (a milk-based paint) strokes based on studies of strands of her own wet hair, writhe in intimate rhythms as they slam quick songs across small and mid-size canvases, filling a couple of square feet…
CD Review: The Monks
With a paradoxical, anachronistic sound that was simultaneously 1966 and 1977 but not really either, the Monks’ 1966 sonic recipe was as follows: confrontational, psychotic-rant vocals atop harmonies resembling a maladjusted Gary Lewis & the Playboys; primal drums with Standells-esque organ and fuzz guitar, plus “electric banjo” and occasional blasts of pre-Hendrix feedback; and lyrics…
CD Review: Bob Dylan
Armed with a batch of new tunes (most co-written with Grateful Dead scribe Robert Hunter) and aided by the accordion work of Los Lobos frontman David Hidalgo, Bob Dylan and his touring “cowboy band” have fashioned another gem — a smoldering mix of Tex-Mex border music and 1950s Chicago blues. “Well, my ship is in…
Ram Tough
TOP PICK The Wrestler (Twentieth Century Fox) Mickey Rourke deservedly earned the best reviews of his long and troubled career as Randy “The Ram” Robinson, an ’80s wrestling star now grappling with his estranged daughter, stripper gal pal and aging body. Darren Aronofsky’s excellent film actually works better on the small screen, where guys like…
CD Review: A Camp
In the late ’90s, Cardigans vocalist Nina Persson took a break from the rigors of worldwide fame and teamed up with Atomic Swing frontman Niclas Frisk on a small side project christened A Camp. The duo shelved the concept for three years, eventually getting Sparklehouse’s Mark Linkous to produce the subsequent sessions on their self-titled…
THREE IS A MAGIC NUMBER
Critics rarely get to return to their favorite restaurants. Almost without exception, the only experience I have with a place is during the lead-up to a review. Once the story is filed, it’s off to the next place, and then the next, leaving little time for purely pleasurable dining. A prime example of this is…
STATMAN BEGINS
Unless you hang around the interwebs seeking out sabermetric info, are a loyal Baseball Prospectus reader or have glanced at the Indians’ front office list, you might not know the name Keith Woolner. His title: Manager of Baseball Analysis & Research. The casual fan is more likely to know fellow Baseball Prospectus alum, fivethirtyeight.com writer…
FILM CAPSULES
OPENING Gertrud (Denmark, 1964) A middle-aged woman rejects a string of suitors in her quest for true love in this Carl Theodor Dreyer film. Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. At 9:05 p.m. Friday, May 8, and 7 p.m. Sunday, May 10. Next Day Air This crime action-comedy directed by Benny Boom comes across like an…
Sugar, We’re Growing Up
Fall Out Boy are almost all grown up. Their fifth CD, Folie à Deux, sounds like an actual album, not just a collection of songs thrown together by a restless young band. The four members have settled into their various roles within their group. And tabloid magnet and occasional penis flasher Pete Wentz even became…
Bites: Blake’s Finally Revamped
It took more than a year, but the former Blake’s Seafood Grill in Chagrin Falls has reopened with a new moniker and menu. A play on the Hyde Park Restaurant Group’s name, Jekyll’s Kitchen (17 River St., 440.893.0797, jekyllskitchen.com) is the latest eatery to retool in an attempt to attract a wider range of customers…
Soundcheck: Bryan Kienlen
For 20 years, New Jersey’s Bouncing Souls have been a staple on the punk-rock circuit. In that time, the guys have played seven Warped Tours and logged 300,000 miles on the van they’ve dubbed the White Castle. Now, to celebrate their anniversary, they’re issuing a new single every month and have launched a cross-country tour…
Married With Issues
Words are funny things. For instance, if you Google “marital arts,” you come up with lots of techniques for combat — the search engine assuming that you misspelled martial arts. Of course, the two terms are in truth even closer than that. This is the core of 50 Words by Michael Weller, now concluding a…
Around Hear
Mushroomhead have been added to three regional stops of the Slayer/Marilyn Manson Rockstar Mayhem Festival in late July, including the July 31 stop at Blossom. By then, the band’s fifth album should be done. “A lot of people have said it sounds a little bit like the first record and Superbuick, with some Savior Sorrow…
Arts News: The Reach of Playhouse Square
Reuben Silver was to star with his wife Dorothy in Laughter in Three Languages, scheduled to open this week at Actors’ Summit, but Silver’s health forced the company to cancel the show and put another in its place. Silver has been battling complications from Parkinson’s disease, but he was still hoping to be able to…
Ever-changing Moods
If you ask the guys in Crystal Antlers, a six-piece band from Long Beach, how they determine their ever-changing set list on a particular night, you might be surprised to learn it isn’t always about how they’re feeling or what songs they like playing. Rather, it’s all about keeping things interesting — something you have…
Married With Issues
Words are funny things. For instance, if you Google “marital arts,” you come up with lots of techniques for combat — the search engine assuming that you misspelled martial arts. Of course, the two terms are in truth even closer than that. This is the core of 50 Words by Michael Weller, now concluding a…
CD Review: Ben Harper and Relentless7
For years, Ben Harper has dutifully played the role of laid-back, new-age hippie for glassy-eyed jam-band fans. His two-disc 2006 release, Both Sides of the Gun, was an ambitious song cycle that threw some grit into his usually refined mix. The Austin musicians who played on Gun return as the Relentless7 for White Lies for…
Gosh-Darn Funny
Cathy Ladman is a rare comedian who doesn’t need obscenities to be funny. Like Jerry Seinfeld, Ladman (also a New York Jew) finds humor in the quirks of everyday life. “Personal relationships are the things that fascinate me most, especially the parent-child relationship,” she says. “[Blue comedy] isn’t the kind of stuff that I find…
CD Review: Green Day
Five years after they revived the rock opera, reignited political rock and resurrected their career, Green Day return with another concept album that’s bigger, badder and bolder than American Idiot. Divided into three acts with recurring themes and musical motifs running throughout, 21st Century Breakdown is another indictment of rampant American idealism. But where Idiot…
