Table for One
In dear old Cleveburg, where a number of high-quality restaurants have gone toes-up with depressing regularity, it’s hard to imagine the intensity of hypercompetitive New York City dining. In Manhattan, a trendy eatery is often booked solid for weeks or even months in advance, leading desperate gastronomes to pull every VIP string or negotiating ploy…
George Thorogood & the Destroyers
Beauty may be only skin-deep, but bad goes straight to the bone — for George Thorogood, anyway. But the slide-guitar guru wasn’t exactly “Born to Be Bad.” Before he started playing the blues, Thorogood played minor-league baseball — and had it not been for a pivotal concert by John Hammond in 1970, he might never…
With Friends Like These . . .
For mobsters who’ve helped the feds, coming home for the holidays can be a dangerous proposition. It was the night before Thanksgiving, 1994, and Paul waded cautiously into the Cleveland night. He was to meet Mike Roman at the Flat Iron, a corner bar on the east bank of the Flats. A 26-year-old assistant manager,…
On Stage
Enchanted April — It’s hard to argue with the proposition that everyone needs to get away from the daily routine now and then, but it seems a rather slender thread from which to hang an entire play; kind of like mounting a theatrical performance in tribute to clean laundry or how good it is to…
The Donnas
The ambitions of overly rouged tots in beauty pageants are not always their own. Behind the plastic smiles and freakish poise of these living porcelain dolls are the unfulfilled goals of parents who stuff their kidlets into ruffles to overcompensate for their own pimply adolescence. The same analogy applies to Butch Walker’s producing style. A…
A Century of Bumbling
The Little Bar, around the corner from West Sixth Street on Frankfort Avenue, attracts a mixed throng of exotic dancers, lawyers, advertising types, aspiring executives, off-duty restaurant folk, and techno nerds. The place has an ambiance that goes back to better times, when the city smelled of soot and machine oil, and the bars of…
On View
NEW The Serenity of Harsh: Watercolors by A. Dale Harsh — A. Dale Harsh is an elder statesman among Chagrin Falls’ many watercolorists. This show of his recent work — landscapes, street scenes, and a handful of bright floral still-lifes — is not momentous, as subjects go. But anyone with an interest in the area…
Snoop Dogg
It’s likely to be too late by a few million tokes, 10 years, and one AWOL Dr. Dre for Snoop Dogg to create another authentic masterpiece. Besides, Tha Doggfather has already taken his unexpected shot at brilliance this year in the company of his old group, 213, whose fine debut rolled Snoop’s nasal voice in…
Pollution
Ohio is one of 11 states to house dumps exclusively used for construction and demolition waste. Of course, we’re the only state that places no pollution controls on them. We’re Ohio, dammit. It’s what we do. The problem: Said dumps are loaded with asbestos, arsenic-treated lumber, and gypsum board, which contains the ever-poisonous hydrogen sulfide.…
Charmed, I’m Sure
The first deep thinker who manages to pinpoint the exact reason why some good restaurants fail will go down in food history. Until then, one can only assume that restaurateurs Nick and Giovanna Kustala (owners of Willoughby’s popular Lure Bistro) have developed certain theories of their own to guide them in establishing their new crosstown…
Korn/Marilyn Manson
Aside from dangerous hairdos and declining sales, what really unites Korn and Marilyn Manson is that they were among the first hard-rock icons to embrace their wimp status. “Tell me I’m a pussy and you’re harder than me,” Jonathan Davis hissed on “Clown,” from Korn’s self-titled debut. Likewise, “Lunchbox,” from Manson’s first album, was an…
No Harm Intended
No Harm Intended Making the best of busted things: Your reporter claimed that, on Election Day, I was working “to prevent shenanigans by Republican challengers” [“Better Dead Than Red,” November 10]. My intent was actually to help people vote despite a broken and abused system, not merely to protect them from those willing to game…
Big Bones
No more waiting for Memorial Day to pig out on Famous Dave’s barbecued ribs: The Minneapolis-based chain, a perpetual crowd-pleaser at the Great American Rib Cook Off, has opened its first local outpost at 26410 Great Northern Plaza (440-777-0200) in North Olmsted. According to corporate legend, founder Dave Anderson spent a quarter-century scouting southern BBQ…
Massive Attack
On the surface, Massive Attack’s inaugural soundtrack effort, written for a Jet Li thriller scheduled to be released next April, sounds rather atypical. Orchestral strings swell and heave, only to be undercut by tense excursions into electronic rock. There is even a repeating motif, a melancholy suite that floats through “Everybody’s Got a Family,” “Everything…
Follow the Signs
When Michael McElroy auditioned for the role of Jim in Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, he knew that the Deaf West Theatre production of the musical would require some knowledge of sign language. He just didn’t know how much signing was required. “I thought I would only be signing a song,” he laughs.…
Ripe for a Reunion
Over the years, the Raspberries myth has raised as much disappointment as expectation. Several reunion attempts foundered over musical differences between lead vocalist Eric Carmen and lead guitarist Wally Bryson, but this summer, the two came together, along with bassist Dave Smalley and drummer Jim Bonfanti, agreeing to perform in conjunction with the launch of…
Mirrors
Like most of their contemporaries in Cleveland’s underground rock scene of the ’70s, the members of Mirrors floated in and out of other bands, couldn’t get gigs, and recorded rarely. While the Dead Boys got a major-label deal, Pere Ubu some cult fame, and Rocket From the Tombs and Electric Eels periodic hat tips in…
This Week’s Day-By-Day Picks
Thursday, November 25 What better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than being away from the family all day? That’s why we give thanks for Cleveland Metroparks’ Golfing Through Thanksgiving, where three courses are open from dawn to dusk. Of course, that means missing football, feasting, and falling asleep in front of the TV. But it also…
Surfing Safari
His friends aside, Colin John figures that most of the dinner crowd at Fat Fish Blue on a recent Friday night probably aren’t here for his band as much as for the crawdads and Corona. With more than a decade of bar gigs — from southern Ohio to New York to Memphis to London –…
Shock Cinema CD release
The members of Shock Cinema describe themselves as legendary; they also describe themselves as jackasses. Both are minor exaggerations, but we’d be remiss not to bring the glam-metal band’s one-night reunion to your attention. The Shockers are reforming to commemorate the release of their third disc, F’d. The technically new tunes were recorded in 2002,…
They Will Bring Us Horses and Lights
Despite the late-November chill, Linda Meredith felt warm and fuzzy inside when she saw the horse-drawn carriages round the corner. As the Clydedales, Percherons, and miniature horses clippity-clopped past her on Public Square last year, the Lorain librarian had a Miracle on 34th Street moment. “[The carriages] were lighted and decorated, and the horses were…
Book ‘Em
Hard to believe there was a time when rock stars just made music. These days, artists don’t merely release CDs — they release concert documentaries, “making-of” concert documentaries, “behind-the-making-of” concert documentaries. And if that’s not enough — and in our culture of celebrity, how could it be? — a slew of artist-penned biographies has recently…
Mix
Work off all the turkey and pumpkin pie at Mix. Abbasso’s weekly dance night draws one of the city’s more eclectic crowds — including artists, students, young professionals, DJs, musicians, writers, dancers, consultants, teachers, engineers, waiters, salesmen, models. Clad in gear from Adidas to Yves Saint Laurent, some drink Miller Lite and some drink martinis,…
But Do They Have Those Big-Ass Pretzels?
11/25-12/1 Danni Tennant has a sure-fire way to keep customers from flocking to the malls this holiday season: He slips some smooth jazz into the CD player and uncorks a bottle of Corte Vigna Merlot. “If they’re waiting for us to get [an order] together, I ask, ‘Could I offer you a glass of wine?'”…
Turkey Shoot III
Before giving thanks for the things that made us happy in 2004 (kittens, puppies, the continued decline of Ben Affleck’s career), we need to vent. This is the time for expunging our anger by recounting the most disappointing albums of the year. An annual tradition, it also spares us the indignity of whizzing on the…
WWJD? Blast ‘Em With Paint!
11/26-11/28 In L.A., it’s not unusual to find Drew Carey or Will Smith on the paintball field. But at Paintball Village, one of the most ardent teams is made up of priests. “Sometimes, I do a double take,” says Tim Sorge, co-owner of Swings-n-Things Family Fun Park. The ballpark — which is also popular with…
Cleveland Loses Its Rhythm
When the Rhythm Room’s doors close the night of Tuesday, November 30, they’ll close for good, ending the latest chapter in one of the city’s longer-running music venues. “We didn’t feel like doing it anymore,” says Bobby Hopkins, who runs the venue with his wife, Teri. “Over the last four years, we’ve lost the desire…
Black Christmas
11/26-12/23 Andrew May realizes that staging A Christmas Carol during the holiday season is as common as bloated bellies on Thanksgiving. But he offers a very good reason for theatergoers to see the Great Lakes Theater Festival production he’s directing and skip the others: “It’s the best Christmas Carol you’ll see,” he proclaims. “I’ve been…
DJ Dan
As can be seen with blues, jazz, and hip-hop, Americans ignore their musical heritage until the rest of the world has already canonized our greatest artists. When the Berlin organization Love Parade decided to visit San Francisco and throw one of its infamous dance parties this fall, it was a step toward proper recognition for…
Farewell to Welfare
MON 11/29 Jason DeParle realizes that no one wants to read a book about the welfare system. Although he’s fascinated by the Byzantine structures of policy and legislation, even he admits that it’s a snoozeworthy subject. So the New York Times senior writer and two-time Pulitzer finalist got to the heart of the story in…
The Dirtbombs
Fanatics of the Dirtbombs, or more specifically of singer-leader Mick Collins, always bellyache about how the neo-garage gravy train passed and Collins never got his ladleful. Sure, Collins started the Gories back in the late ’80s, originating the ’60s garage dumpster-diving that many have followed. Then there was his amazing Blacktop band, whose sole record…
Call Him Al
If you’ve ever gone line-dancing with a gaggle of amputees on hallucinogens and crank, you know something of the feeling engendered by viewing Alexander. This broad, bold, and ambitious film by Oliver Stone presents itself as a fairly straightforward endeavor, but its rhythms quickly go strange, while its participants hobble and flail about, remarkably out…
Les Paul and His Trio
It only figures that American pop music would owe so much to a self-taught whiz kid from the heartland. The multitrack recording process — taken for granted for a couple of generations — as well as the most important axe in the rock-and-roll universe arose from the pre-Depression-era curiosity of young Wisconsin native Lester Polfus.…
No Dicking Around
The most shocking thing about Kinsey, the first film from writer-director Bill Condon since 1998’s Gods and Monsters, is how shocking it actually is. Within the confines of a standard biopic (A Beautiful Dirty Mind, you might call it), Condon refuses to play it straight — which is only appropriate, since his subject was bisexual,…
Engine Down
The interlude since the release of Engine Down’s last record, 2002’s gorgeously blistering Demure, has been eventful, to say the least. In the last two years, the group has signed to mega-indie Lookout! Records, hit the road with huge bands such as Thursday and Sparta, and seen its side project, Denali, become super-popular and then…
Skip It
As the year stumbles toward its close and critics begin penning their best-and-worst compendiums, here’s a holiday contender fit for the all-time Naughty List. Based on the John Grisham novel Skipping Christmas — which, face it, is less a novel than an impulse item stacked on bookstore checkout counters — Christmas With the Kranks offers…
A Static Lullaby
Hey, remember the ’90s? That decade when every band that even so much as browsed the flannel racks at the local department store earned a post-Nirvana major-label deal? Flash forward 10 years, when a similar feeding frenzy is engulfing just about any band that boasts a frontman with a set of pipes able to produce…
Brave Ulysses
One of the saddest commentaries on human existence is the universality of righteous violence and the damage it wreaks on everyone it touches. Witness the wounded vets now coming back from the Iraq war, some hobbling on high-tech titanium peg legs, as they try to sweep together the shattered bits of their lives. Witness the…
Lars Frederiksen & the Bastards
Rancid side projects need no longer be feared. The Bastards contain exactly zero members of Blink-182. Instead, Rancid guitarist Lars Frederiksen has stolen former Forgotten guitarist Craig Leg and borrowed Forgotten/Slip singer Gordy. On Viking, his second solo effort, Frederiksen offers 17 tracks of variable-speed rock with gruff Motörhead vocals. The first several are fierce…
