Burger Masters
Burger lovers fall into two categories: those who like them fat and meaty, full of juices, hot off the charcoal grill, and shouting of smoke and fire; and those who like their patties slim, poked and prodded on a sizzling griddle with a wide metal spatula, until they’re soft, sweet, and infused with the essence…
Full Count
Fans of Tod Browning’s Dracula are well aware of the 1931 film’s creaky dialogue and lack of soundtrack. It’s the mood, and Bela Lugosi’s performance as the titular count, that has enthralled generations of moviegoers. Purists may rage at Universal’s contemporization of the horror classic via a new score, which was commissioned a couple of…
C’mon Feel the Noise
For a man who claims that capitalism stole his virginity, Dennis Lyxzen laughs a lot. Even battling a cold — not to mention corporate hegemony, the commodification of art, consumerism, and Wal-Mart’s everyday low prices — the frontman of Swedish Marxist mods (International) Noise Conspiracy is remarkably amicable. And yet, to borrow a line from…
Dissent of a Man
Journalist John Nichols is high on American democracy. It was “born in dissent [from] wild, radical dialogue that challenged the corrupt, inefficient status quo,” he says. He points out that only one-third of the American colonists stood for revolution; another third supported England, and the final third just hoped to sit it out. The events…
Beaten Clubs
It was only fitting that a crashing sound ripped through the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum last Thursday. The clatter came during the ceremonial addition of Agora Ballroom memorabilia to the Western Reserve Historical Society. Standing beneath the ballroom’s trademark hot pink neon sign, flanked by photos of Stiv Bators exposing his cock and Ted Nugent acting…
Botched Job
After venting his spleen in theater and film for a quarter-century, it seems as if David Mamet would be ready to divulge something human about humanity. Sure, his fervid fans may point to his Pulitzer and leap about singing hosannas to frothing hucksters and sexual miscreants, but after all the cock-a-doodle-doo, what remains? In the…
Spears Through the Years
She could just as easily be the girl next door. Talking excitedly about her life, calling herself “dorky” when she stumbles over her words, prefacing many of her comments with “honestly,” and munching on a bag of potato chips, Britney Spears is surprisingly casual for a 19-year-old who’s sold 40 million albums, written two books,…
Condemned Property
Like the lovable baseball catcher in Bang the Drum Slowly, like John Wayne’s poignant gunfighter in The Shootist, like hundreds of doomed movie protagonists before him, the hero of Life as a House doesn’t have long to live. By the second reel, you may find yourself wishing his time on the planet were even shorter.…
The Prodigals
Not quite Riverdance and not quite the Dropkick Murphys, the Prodigals hoist a pint from the hallowed middle ground of Irish-crossover sensations. It’s shtick you’re probably familiar with: standard pop tunes gussied up with fiddles, accordions, jig-worthy rhythms, and artfully placed lyrical references to pints and football matches and dudes named “Paddy.” Chipper Irish accent?…
Fade to Black
It doesn’t take much probing beneath the thin surface to see Shallow Hal as an apologia of sorts from Bobby and Peter Farrelly. The brothers are known for making movies full of jokes about midgets, retarded people, albinos, the handicapped, and so on, but always with the caveat that the humor was never intended as…
Martin Sexton
Unlike other artists, who complain about kissing ass for radio play and lacking label support to push their latest release, Martin Sexton remains content to simply be plying his artistic trade. To Sexton, the music he creates isn’t so much a result of his songwriting as it is a channeling of communication that originates from…
Cain and Able
Joel and Ethan Coen’s periodic genuflections to classic Hollywood are inevitably accompanied by a knowing wink from one brother and a wry smile from the other. These devoted movie buffs’ versions of vintage gangster pictures (Miller’s Crossing) or the populist comedies of Frank Capra and Preston Sturges (The Hudsucker Proxy) are not full-blown parodies, by…
The Butthole Surfers
“We can’t talk about the mouse or the frozen head,” says Butthole Surfers frontman Gibby Haynes when speaking of his new employer, Disney subsidiary Hollywood Records. “Me and the chairman of the music group and Michael Eisner went to see the frozen head of Walt Disney under Anaheim Stadium last weekend. It was freaky. He’s…
Wide Awake in America
If you’re a college freshman, don’t read this. Just grab your newfound peers and go see Richard Linklater’s new movie, Waking Life, then head off to one of those ethereal late-night dining establishments for which you’ll desperately pine, once the real world gets hold of you. Discuss. For others, this project may amount to an…
Lenny Kravitz
Lenny Kravitz deserves a swift kick to the taco already. Though not incapable of a groovy rock tune (“Are You Gonna Go My Way”), the axe-wielding loverman’s career remains astonishingly derivative, as if he bought his entire persona at a garage sale. His most popular tunes are bonehead covers, note-by-note Zeppelin riff rip-offs, and cheese-pop…
Unfortunate Son
The call came in about 20 minutes after noon on a sunny June day. Cedric Johns and Michael Eddie, veteran Cleveland paramedics, had just completed a hospital run when dispatch crackled over the radio: “Unknown medalert at 3369 East 145th.” Minutes later, as Johns and Eddie sped toward the address, a second message came over…
D12
Critics and fans alike have tussled with the dichotomy that is Detroit rap urchin Eminem. Is he artist or thug? Shocker or realist? Bigot or satirist? It’s a creative conundrum perpetrated by Eminem’s corrupt alter ego, Slim Shady. Supporters feel justified in labeling Slim Shady’s violent rap narratives an artistic parody of our Jerry Springer-fueled…
Bad News Cavs
Lambert Collins is a good man. He’s spent 54 bucks for tickets, another $67,000 to fill the laps of his nephew and his girlfriend’s son with Cokes and popcorn — all for seats in the rafters. But his presence is spurred by familial duty, not pleasure. He clearly doesn’t want to be here. “I don’t…
Papa M
It’s not just an affinity for ballads about blowjobs that allies Leonard Cohen with Papa M. Give the former a lozenge or the latter a bronchial infection, and what you have is the same voice of whiskey and surrender spinning tales of the women who lead to both. If love is work, these are its…
Mr. Big Stuff
John Chiappetta enjoyed hors d’oeuvres with Rudy Giuliani and golf with Eastlake Mayor Dan DiLiberto. Congressman Steven LaTourette considered him a personal friend. He was a Cuyahoga Community College board member, on the executive committee of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party, an appointee to the party’s slate in the Electoral College. But sometimes, even the…
Marc Ribot
Three of the tunes on guitarist Marc Ribot’s exceptional new album are by Cleveland native Albert Ayler, a giant of free-jazz saxophone who died in a mysterious drowning in 1970. The Ayler material — keening, fitful, luminescent — is remarkable, particularly the title track and “Holy Holy Holy,” where Ribot picks at the strings, then…
Teaching Teachers
It isn’t easy finding teachers these days. Cleveland recruiters traveled all the way to India. Akron postponed summer programs because it didn’t have enough instructors. Lorain stole a new hire from a neighboring district and coaxed another from retirement. Youngstown was forced to hire teachers trained for grade school to fill high school positions. Ohio’s…
DJ Mike Metz
On Chair Dancing Vol. 1, local DJ Mike Metz rocks the house, both literally and figuratively. Not simply a homemade compendium of run-of-the-mill techno hits, Chair Dancing delivers a soul-stirring retrospective of old-school Chicago house and ’70s Philly funk that transcends local house. Metz delves into authentic, progressive deep house and soul jazz, which then…
Taylor’s Trail of Pain
A victim shares her side of the story: Well, what a lie about Carl having sex with me only two times [“Biggest Little Man in Elyria,” September 20]. It was way more like five times a day. [In the story, author Sarah Fenske wrote: “When he was 20, Carl Taylor was charged with “corrupting” a…
Old Foes
Dating back to the Church’s favorite best-seller, where we find the Archangel Michael duking it out with Satan for the fate of the world, titanic battles between worthy adversaries have been the cornerstones of thrilling storytelling. This week, that grand tradition continues in two local theaters. At the Jewish Community Center is Neil Simon’s The…
A New Tune
Natalie Merchant finished recording her third solo album, Motherland, on September 9, so by no means should anyone listen to the disc’s first song, “This House Is On Fire,” and think it has anything to do with hijacked airplanes, collapsed skyscrapers and the thousands buried beneath the rubble. The song is about the dispute over…
Falling for Kosta’s
Executive Chef Brandt Evans of Kosta’s (2179 West 11th Street, 216-622-0011) recently unveiled his fall menu, and its intense flavors and rustic ingredients are just the ticket for fueling brisk, late-autumn treks through the countryside. During a recent dinner visit, an appetizer of duck strudel ($7) — bits of rich duck confit paired with silken…
