Last Call: Scene Wants to Answer Your Questions About Cleveland
Got a question? Cleveland is a dynamic city — and Northeast Ohio a dynamic region. Lots of things move around here, sputtering and clanking and buzzing with growth. The sum of these parts is a city always in motion, always changing and redefining its past, present and future. With all of that hustle and bustle,…
Brelo Verdict Delay Continues; No Date Set Yet: UPDATE
Despite anonymous fliers distributed around town and a general sense of “Well, it’s gonna come any day now…”, all signs point to Judge John O’Donnell holding off a bit longer on delivering the verdict in the Michael Brelo trial. (On May 6, the judge said that he wouldn’t rule anytime before May 15. See below.)…
Lakeland Gallery Hosts Opening Reception and Awards for May Show Tonight
The Cleveland Museum of Art may have no interest in re-instating its legendary May Show, but Lakeland Gallery Coordinator Mary Urbas has taken up the charge in her own way. For the past five years, The Gallery at Lakeland has hosted their own version of the May Show, an annual, juried exhibition of local and…
‘Creative Fusion’ International Artist Debuts Work Saturday at Zygote Press
After spending the past few months living and working in Cleveland, the Cleveland Foundation’s current class of Creative Fusion international artists are preparing to showcase the results of their residencies with various local arts and cultural organizations. From 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Zygote Press hosts a reception for their resident artist, Mauricio Cristobal…
Cleveland International Piano Competition to Present Free Children’s Shows
Next month, the Cleveland International Piano Competition (CIPC) will present two free performances of Camille Saint-Saëns’ kid-friendly Carnival of the Animals. Described as “a musical depiction of animals engaging in their own high-spirited parade,” the show is hugely popular and has been featured in movies such as Disney’s Fantasia 2000 and Charlotte’s Web as well as…
The AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland Hosts Annual ArtCares Benefit This Weekend (Read On For a Chance at Free Tickets)
Every year, the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland hosts its annual ArtCares benefit fundraiser. This year’s version takes place at 7:30 p.m. this Saturday, May 16 at the Cleveland Masonic Auditorium. ArtCares 2015 honors this year’s ArtCares Icon, John Farina. Farina has been a committed, unwavering supporter in various roles, including as a member of…
‘Rooms to Let’ Housing Exhibition Returns to Slavic Village This Weekend
Following the housing crisis of 2008, Slavic Village was one of the most devastated areas in the country. In an effort to continue the conversation around vacancy and the current state of Cleveland’s historic neighborhoods, Slavic Village Development presents its second Rooms to Let: CLE (RTL), Saturday, May 16, and Sunday, May 17. The event…
Despite Opposition, Metroparks Intent on Demolishing Historic Structure
At last Thursday’s Cleveland Metroparks’ board meeting, ebullient Naturalist Foster Brown played a sampling of interviews from the “Your Parks, Your Stories” oral history project, in preparation for the Metroparks’ centennial in 2017. Among Brown’s featured snippets was a woman who explained how deeply touched she’d been by researching the history of Look About Lodge…
Classes May Be Over, but CSU’s Galleries Have Plenty More to Offer Before Summer
Classes may have ended for the academic year, but The Galleries at Cleveland State University have a few more exhibitions to present before they close for summer break. From 5 to 8 p.m. this Thursday, May 14, The Galleries at Cleveland State University host an opening reception for Phyllis Seltzer’s Italian Works, Travis Kinchy’s From…
SPACES Debuts Three New Exhibitions This Weekend
This weekend, from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, SPACES hosts a special reception to celebrate the opening of its latest exhibitions and projects. Chloe Bass’ Book of Everyday, Chapter One: you +me together chronicles a series of one-on-one interactions between Cleveland residents and the Brooklyn, NY-based artist. Bass invited the public to spend an…
ALO Joins Stellar Cast for The Ville Music Festival
ALO is a campfire band with a big rock ‘n’ roll sound. Their songs are indelible to their growing and devoted fan base, and their approach to performance seems rooted always in the present — like gathering with old friends around a crackling flame for another go ‘round. Caught up in the recording process for…
Indie Rockers Best Coast to Perform at Beachland in Sept.
Best Coast, the Southern Californian-based duo featuring Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno, has just released its latest studio album, the dreamy California Nights. The group has just announced a tour in support of the album and is slated to perform at 9 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 17, at the Beachland Ballroom. Tickets go on sale…
X Returns to Music Box Supper Club in July
Shortly after Music Box Supper Club opened last year, the L.A. punk band X held down a three-night residency at the club. The band, which includes original Exene Cervenka, John Doe, Billy Zoom and DJ Bonebrake, returns to the club on July 22. From the press releae issued by the club: “This event is a…
“Accidental” Shooting Kills Parma High School Student; Family Raising Money For Funeral
15-year-old Parma resident Jesse Hayes died on Monday. His family is raising money for funeral costs on gofundme.com (click image to visit page) A 15-year-old boy from Parma was shot in the face by his cousin this weekend and died on Monday, Warren Township police chief Don Bishop announced. The “accidental” shooting that killed Jesse…
Cuyahoga County Sheriff: Tamir Rice Shooting Investigation Not Done Yet
Cuyahoga County Sheriff Clifford Pinkney today provided a fairly useless update to the nearly six-month-long investigation into the shooting death of Tamir Rice in November 2014. “We have been tirelessly working on this investigation,” Pinkney said. “A majority of our work is complete.” He added that “a few more witnesses need to be interviewed” and more forensic…
No Sleep in the CLE with Justin Markert and Singer/Songwriter Megan Zurkey
Today on the No Sleep in the CLE podcast, Justin Markert sits down with singer/songwriter Megan Zurkey to talk about her new EP “Behind Your Eyes”. They talk about her roots as a classically trained singer, the difference between club shows and bar shows, as well as camaraderie of the Cleveland music community. Megan will…
Drawn & Quartered Returns for Seventh Incarnation on Friday
Once a year, four established drawing groups gather together for an evening of competitive live drawing in front of a public audience. These talented local artists battle against each other and the clock in a variety of oddly-themed contests. Now in its seventh incarnation, Drawn & Quartered takes place in a different venue each year.…
ARTneo Grows Toward Promising Future: Grand Opening Events All Week
For thirty years, ARTneo’s mission has centered around the preservation, research, documentation, exhibition and education of the most significant visual art and architecture of the region. Originally founded as the Cleveland Artists Foundation in 1984 by Cleveland-based artists, collectors and patrons, the organization’s mission originally focused on the Cleveland School, a group of local and…
Officers’ ‘Reverse Racism’ Lawsuit Will Force City To Release Five Years of Cleveland Police Shooting, Discipline Records
In November, nine of the 13 Cleveland police officers who shot Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams in 2012 filed a federal lawsuit against the city and department leaders alleging discrimination (see our reporting on that). The group — including eight white and one Hispanic officer — say they were treated harsher (extended gym duty and…
Comedian Mike Polk Jr. to Record Live Album at Mahall’s
If you’ve seen local comedian Mike Polk Jr., the man behind the Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video, the Factory of Sadness video (parts one and two), Last Call Cleveland comedy troupe and his very own show on Fox 8 (aptly called the Mike Polk Jr. Show), perform live, you know he really thrives on having…
Help These Firefighters Running the Cleveland Marathon in Full Gear Raise Money to Fight ALS
The fella to the right is Dave Kaszar. He’s a swell guy, a helluva soccer player, and a Parma Heights firefighter. Kaszar and two of his fellow firemen — Pat Mason and Brian Durante — will be running the Cleveland marathon on May 17 in full firefighter gear. Never mind that most folks can’t run 26.2 miles…
African-American Cultural Garden Breaks Ground. Finally.
Dedicated in 1977 and languishing ever since, the African-American Cultural Garden has finally broken ground on the first phase of construction. In a ceremony Monday afternoon, Frank Jackson, city councilmen, the Association of African-American Cultural Gardens’ president Carl Ewing and others thanked God and each other that their community’s hopes and dreams are finally being…
La Bamba Tortilleria is Growing, Expanding and Relocating
Since opening shop in Ohio City five years ago, La Bamba Tortilleria has done nothing but grow. The Cleveland-based, minority-owned business crafts fresh corn tortillas in what used to be called the Culinary Market Building, located behind the West Side Market. That building is in the process of being converted to the Palace of Fermentation,…
Ohio Man Decides to Go for a Naked Run Because He Was ‘Hot’
This weekend was certainly a doozy with temperatures creeping upwards of 85 degrees in Cleveland and even higher for our friends a few hours south. That’s probably why one Ohio man threw caution to the wind and took a naked, intoxicated jaunt around his neighborhood early Saturday morning before police arrested him for indecent exposure.…
Five Classical Music Events Not to Miss This Week
The Young Artists edition of the Cleveland International Piano Competition settles in for ten days of activities at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory this week. The events include inspirational recitals by international contest winners who have established careers on the world’s concert stages. Vassily Primakov will play a short recital at the opening ceremony on Tuesday, May…
Cavs Steal Victory But No One Can Enjoy It, Certainly Not Coach Blatt
Sometimes you wonder if the reason Cleveland can’t have nice things isn’t because Kelly Olynyk will break them, but because after years of misery we’re low on appreciation. The Cavaliers just gutted out a tough physical road win against the Chicago Bulls and don’t have to win another game at the United Center this year…
If You Love Jamaican Food, You’ll Dig International Restaurant
Based on a tip from a friend who spent half his life living and working in Jamaica, I finally made it to International Restaurant Shrimp and Fish, a place serving the most authentic Caribbean fare in town, according to him. To me, Jamaican food is one of the most exciting and satisfying cuisines out there,…
‘The Glass Menagerie’ Speaks Truths at TrueNorth Cultural Arts
Gas is pretty cheap these days (relatively speaking), which is why you should invest some of that bargain-priced petrol in a trip to Sheffield Village to catch the last weekend of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. It is an elegantly-tuned production of this iconic script, a memory play that hides brass knuckles inside Williams’…
Singer-guitarist Tim Barry Takes a Stripped Down Approach on his Latest Album
Ten years ago, singer-guitarist Tim Barry, who cut his musical teeth with the punk band Avail, began a solo career. He went in a different direction, playing stripped down acoustic music that marked a departure from the aggressive punk rock he played with Avail. For his latest album, last year’s Lost & Rootless, he took…
Browns Among NFL Teams Paid By Department of Defense for Patriotic Ceremonies
NJ.com published an interesting collection of data today, revealing that the U.S. Department of Defense has spent $5.4 million to fund patriotic ceremonies and various advertising contracts with 14 NFL teams. The Browns are listed among the records. In 2011 and 2012, the U.S. Department of Defense paid the Cleveland Browns $22,500 for Air Force…
Zocalo to Host Fourth Annual Tequila Fest this Weekend
Zocalo’s annual Tequila Fest turns four this year, and to celebrate event organizers are promising more tequila varieties and food than previous years. This year’s bash takes place at the Zocalo HQ (2071 East Fourth Street) where 50 different tequilas will be available for sampling, including Tequila Cazadores, Avion Tequila, and 1800 Tequila, among…
Hispanic Business Center Hosts First La Placita Market at West 25th and Clark
This past weekend, another local open-air market joined the ranks of Cleveland pop-up favorites. La Placita, organized by the Hispanic Business Center and a host of other organizations on the city’s near westside, put the spotlight on Cleveland’s Latino community and culture. “‘La Placita’ just means a small plaza, and so for a lot of…
Kansas Set Filled with Surprises for Longtime Fans
Fans of prog and ‘70s hard rock got a heavy dose of both at Friday night’s Kansas concert at Hard Rock Live where the band delivered a tightly executed 90-minute set that was diverse and filled with a number of surprises for longtime fans. You can see photos from the concert here. For this writer,…
Cavaliers play well but beaten on improbable 28’ bank shot
Two heavyweights traded punches like baseball cards with an almost careless disregard for their own bodies, and it was the Cavaliers that wound up in the spokes of a 99-96 loss. It’s a disappointing loss only salved by the fact that the Bulls beat the Cavs in just about every relevant category and still had…
Cavs Thoughts as Game 3 Gets Under Way in Chicago
The team that’s drawn first blood has pushed their advantage in each game, deciding the game largely in the first six minutes of the game. (Though the Cavs fought back to a tie in Game 1 the effort sapped their energy and neither LeBron nor Irving scored again.) The difference in each game was the…
Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic to Retire at the End of the Month, is Through With “the madness”
Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic will retire at the end of the month, he says, ending a decades-long tenure as the Rubber City’s top official. Citing ongoing coverage in the Akron Beacon-Journal regarding a feud between himself and councilman Bob Hoch, Plusquellic said in a letter to Akron residents that he is through “fighting the madness.” …
Scene Podcast: Brent Kirby On His New Band, His New Record, and More
This week, host Craig Lyndall was graced with the one and only Brent Kirby, who’s got a new band and a new album. They talked about that stuff, and more, including the record release show at the Music Box, Saturday, May 16. Kiss Me Deadly open at 9:30 p.m., and then Brent Kirby & His…
10 Concerts to Catch This Weekend
FRIDAY, MAY 8 George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic “Ain’t no party like a p-funk party because a p-funk party don’t stop.” So goes the rhyme that you’ll hear ad nauseam tonight when funkmeister George Clinton performs at House of Blues. Wild affairs that feature outlandish costumes, Clinton concerts are true spectacles. Clinton serves more as…
Convicted Lorain County Arsonist Accused of Sending Threats, White Powder to Summit County Prosecutor’s Office
Screencap of a Morning Journal video (link below) Drew Manns in the Lorain County Common Pleas Court An Elyria man currently in prison for setting fire to a Lorain County Community College building was indicted by a federal grand jury this week, accused of mailing threats and a “white powdery substance” to the Summit County…
Beachland Ballroom and Tavern to Host Benefit Screening of ‘Fire in the Heartland’
A documentary film about the brave young people who “stood up to speak their minds against social injustice in some of our nation’s most turbulent and transformative years,” Fire in the Heartland: Kent State, May 4th, and Student Protest in America screened five years ago at the 2010 Cleveland International Film Festival. The movie has…
Cleveland Police Charge Man in Connection with Eastside Quintuple Homicide: UPDATE
19-year-old James E. Henderson has been charged with aggravated murder and felonious assault in connection with the November 2014 quintuple homicide. Cleveland police announced his arrest earlier this week without identifying the suspect (see original story below). Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty interviewed Henderson and said that he will not seek the death penalty if…
Director Khashyar Darvich to Attend Local Premiere of Two Dalai Lama Documentaries
Khashyar Darvich, the producer-director of two new Dalai Lama documentary films (one of which is narrated by actor Harrison Ford) that are having their local red carpet film premiere at 6:45 p.m. on Monday, May 11, at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque, spent a long time working on the movies. Fifteen years to be…
Backstage Pass: An Interview with Country Singer Kelsea Ballerini
Is country singer Kelsea Ballerini the next Taylor Swift? Swift seems to think so. She’s given the up-and-coming artist a ringing endorsement. Ballerini appears to be living up to expectations too. “Love Me Like You Mean It,” the sassy single from her forthcoming album, The First Time, is getting major radio airplay and has become…
Xavier Rudd and the United Nations Bring Their Global Sound to Cleveland
Xavier Rudd, already known for being a pretty cheery guy, looked happier than ever as he performed with his seven-piece band last night at Beachland Ballroom. Touring in support of Nanna, Rudd’s first album as a bandleader, the group took a terrific crowd on an exciting romp through a lot of the new material. A…
‘Bada Bingo’ Event Tonight to Raise Support for Zygote Press
For more than two decades, Zygote Press has served the community as the region’s premier printmaking nonprofit organization. Being so great isn’t cheap, so they’re asking for support this Friday, May 8, at 7:30 p.m. Convivium33 Gallery will host the event, just blocks from Zygote Press. The Bada Bingo Spaghetti Dinner and Benefit includes an…
Modern Electric Premieres New Music Video for ‘Slow-Motion Jeans’
Local indie rockers the Modern Electric have just issued “Slow-Motion Jeans,” a split digital single with alt-country rockers Clem Snide. Clem Snide’s B-side track is a beautifully recorded acoustic cover of the group’s jittery indie pop song. We have the premiere of the music video here. “Slow-Motion Jeans” will be on the band’s forthcoming studio…
A Tragic Death Inspired Singer-songwriter Jonatha Brooke’s One-woman Play
Fifty-one-year-old singer-songwriter Jonatha Brooke has just entered a new phase in her long career. Next week, she brings her one-woman play, My Mother Has 4 Noses, to town for a series of performances. She describes the play, which has received acclaim since debuting in February of 2014 in New York, as a “hybrid” of music…
Northern Ohio Art Dealers Association Presents ARTExpo This Weekend
This weekend, the Northern Ohio Art Dealers Association (NOADA) presents its ARTExpo 2015 at the Transformer Station (1460 W. 29th St.). NOADA comprises some of the most renowned commercial fine art galleries in the region. At the ARTExpo, member organizations display and promote the work of the talented and accomplished artists they represent. It’s the…
New Directors of Cleveland Museums to Discuss New Directions
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland Botanical Garden and Western Reserve Historical Society form the cultural backbone of University Circle, as well as Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. For the first time in recent memory, all four of these organizations have new directors leading them into new eras. Thankfully, someone had…
Chuck Booms Fired From 92.3 The Fan
It wasn’t long before the Twitter rumors were confirmed by a source to Scene this morning. Chuck Booms, who did his show on 92.3 The Fan this morning, was indeed fired by the station. That’s all we got for now. When we hear more, we’ll update here. We reached out to Booms and 92.3 management…
Here’s the Domestic Violence-Tinged Cavs Video That Was Quickly Deleted
The video below was shown in-game last night and had more than a few fans and reporters rightly upset that the attempt at humor (a spoof on Dirty Dancing) displayed an uncanny tone-deaf ignorance of domestic violence. Because what’s funnier than a guy throwing his girlfriend? And what’s more hilarious than a guy getting a…
Take Advantage of the Tribe’s $13 Ticket, Free Drink Offer
Nobody like shelling out when we don’t have to, which is why we’ll certainly be taking advantage of the Tribe’s latest discount ticket offer. For 13 smackaroos, fans can get a standing room ticket to the Right Field bar, a drink (a 12 oz. domestic beer, soda, or bottled water), plus access to all of…
Backed Into a Corner, Cavs Respond and Beat Bulls to Turn Series Around
The Cavaliers came out with the Eye of the Honey Badger last night, dismantling the Bulls like an Ikea bookcase, only not with Allen wrenches but a sledgehammer. The joints collapsed beneath the weight of vicious takes by LeBron James and the sides fell in form the force of Shumpert’s 3-point attack. It was like…
Hot Pursuit: Have you heard the one about the messy period?
Regarding the new film Hot Pursuit, which rest assured is not good, let me first say that we should applaud studio comedies starring women that are also directed by women. It’s rare in Hollywood these days and it shouldn’t be. That said, we should by no means applaud Hot Pursuit. Reese Witherspoon is Cooper, an…
Religious Leaders Want Answers, Reform, from FirstEnergy
A group of regional religious leaders want to sit down with FirstEnergy leadership to discuss reform. In a letter to new FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones and the company’s board of directors, 38 undersigned pastors (in partnership with the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, Communities United for Responsible Energy, and Common Good Ohio), expressed concern at the way the…
Closing Reception for Two Steve Mastroianni Exhibits During Tremont ArtWalk on Friday
From 6 to 9 p.m. this Friday, May 8, Cleveland-based photographer Steven Mastroianni presents a closing reception for his Dark Silver parts I and II as part of May’s Tremont Art Walk. This is your final opportunity to see Dark Silver I: Portraits for the 8×10 and Dark Silver II: 12X. For each of these…
Cleveland Schools Athletics Commissioner to be Arraigned on Menacing, Assault Charges
Leonard Jackson, commissioner of interscholastic athletics at the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, will face menacing, assault and disorderly conduct charges tomorrow in Euclid Municipal Court. Former Cleveland Schools teacher Vito Federici says he was assaulted by Jackson in March 2014 at Euclid High School during a basketball tournament. According to Federici, Jackson grabbed and pushed him…
Scene Podcast: Dr. Jay Alberts, Director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Concussion Center
This week, host Craig Lyndall is joined by Dr. Jay Alberts, the director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Concussion Center. The Clinic is part of a national symposium being hosted in Cleveland in June on concussions (June 23-24 at the Global Center for Health and Innovation, Concussion: A National Challenge, hosted by the National Academy of…
Special BFA Show at CIA
There are plenty of exciting arts events around town this weekend (and we’ve got those covered for you online), but the place to be this weekend is Cleveland Institute of Art’s newly remodeled Joseph McCullough Center for the Visual Arts and the adjoining, newly constructed George Gund Building (11610 Euclid Ave.). From 5:30 to 8:30…
Why Board Game Cafes Are the Next Big Thing
What used to be a term of derision has morphed into a badge of distinction for those among us who proudly claim to be a geek. From T-shirts emblazed with comic book characters to the practice of donning more tech on one’s body than the Six Million Dollar Man, the era of the geek is…
Film Review of the Week: Welcome to Me
As the cliche goes, everyone loves to watch a car crash. That’s the philosophy at work in Welcome to Me, the new dark comedy starring Kristen Wiig as a woman with borderline personality disorder. The film, which opens Friday at the Capitol Theatre, thrives on your discomfort, as Alice Klieg (Wiig) gets herself into one…
Film Spotlight: The D Train
High school reunions can suck. Often, people who were popular have found that life has been much rougher in the wake of graduation. And people who weren’t popular often think they were cooler than they really were. That’s essentially the premise of The D Train, a sharp comedy written and directed by Jarrad Paul and…
Band of the Week: Welshly Arms
Meet the Band: Sam Getz (vocals, guitars), Jimmy Weaver (bass), Mikey Gould (drums), Brett Lindemann (keyboards) From Sideman to Frontman: Sam Getz was a session guy before joining singer-songwriter Kate Voegele for her 2006 tour. He spent four years on the road with her and then hooked up with indie rockers Stephen Kellogg & the…
The Freaks Are Out in Force in Shrek, the Musical at Gordon Square’s Brand New Near West Theatre
Sometimes, you feel good leaving a stage show after the curtain call because it was well acted, inventively staged and designed, or crisply directed. Or, you get a nice glow because the people involved in the production are so diverse and enthusiastic. But only rarely do you get a rush of all those feelings. Such…
On the Road with the Wheelie Kings of Cleveland
You hear them before you see them, the loud bursts of buzzing growing close like an angry swarm of bees heading your way — bzzzz. And then they come into view, a pack of 20, 30, 40 young men on dirt bikes and four wheelers whizzing by, winding through curious onlookers and cars on the…
Kent State to Open Center for Study of Gender & Sexuality
After filing a letter of resignation in protest from her post at the helm of Kent State University’s LGBT Studies program, professor Molly Merryman was asked to help form a new Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality at the school. She withdrew her resignation and set to work. The new center will be…
