Concert Review: Coheed and Cambria at House of Blues
When you think about it, the idea of a band like Coheed and Cambria performing a random collection of its songs is a bit strange. Since the music is conceptual and based on the storywriting of frontman Claudio Sanchez, only performing a certain set (instead of performing an album from front to back) is like…
The Weekly Beef: You Angry?
By Travis Raymond I served my country and its president for five years in the army, but had never laid eyes on the commander-in-chief in person. When I learned that President Obama would be coming to Cleveland State, I obtained a ticket to see him. The line to hear the President speak stretched for more…
The Quality of Cleveland Life Report
Your guide to living in fabulous Cleveland. Architects at Ralph Tyler Companies in Cleveland propose putting a geodesic dome over Browns stadium that would shelter fans from rain and snow but allow light and outside temperature to come in, thus continuing the city’s proud heritage of solving problems halfway. Cavs rookie Dion Waiters struggles in…
Strongsville High School Teacher Custodian Caught with Gun, Kill-List (Updated)
Update: Although it was initially reported the school employee was a teacher (see below), the Strongsville high threat seems to have come from a custodian. Stay tuned for more information. Teacher ***** It’s not hard to believe teaching high school is a tough gig. Not only are you under-paid and -appreciated by society at-large, but…
The Taco Test for Iron Stomachs
Eat Fast, Name Your Own Taco So you think you have what it takes to win a taco eating contest? Find out this Friday, when Barrio in Tremont will be posting up its new food truck in the parking lot and letting a lucky few test their stomach’s capacity. “Winner takes all in the first…
RTA Rider Throws Coffee in Driver’s Face
RTA again? RTA again. But this time, everyone’s favorite uppercutting public transportation isn’t to blame. Monday morning, a man in his twenties got on the No. 48 bus, according to Cleveland.com. And he failed to pay, which is a no-no. The driver, who’d been with RTA since 1995, stopped the freeloader when he attempted to…
Concert Review: All Time Low at House of Blues
What is it about pop punk shows that makes fans so excited? Last night at House of Blues, All Time Low had the sold out crowd cheering for everything: the band’s old work and its new work. Fans came obviously prepared and sang along word for word with the opening song “The Reckless and the…
Mitchell’s own Wonka Factory in Ohio City
There are connoisseurs of wine, cheese, cigars, brandy and all sorts of specialty items. As a self-proclaimed ice cream connoisseur, I can honestly say that in Northeast Ohio we have masters in our midst: Mike Mitchell and his brother Pete, who will be opening their version of the Willie Wonka Factory in the old Moda…
Vinnie Pestano Was a Joke on ‘How I Met Your Mother Last Night’
First and last time Vinnie Pestano will be mentioned on a prime-time show. Click here to see the clip.
Concert Review: Holly Golightly at the Beachland Tavern
At the start of last night’s hour-long show at the Beachland Tavern, singer-guitarist Holly Golightly said that she and the Brokeoffs (her one man backing “band” Lawyer Dave) were happy to be back in Cleveland. “It’s so nice to be here compared to some of the places we played,” she said. (She would later go…
Apollo’s Fire at Fairmount Presbyterian Church
Roger Mastroianni Jeannette Sorell The inaugural concert of the new Apollo’s Fire season opened with a fanfare — two horn players on opposite sides of the stage introducing the ensemble with a regal flourish that set the tone for an evening notable mostly for fine duet and solo work. The program was an accessible trio…
Concert Review and Slideshow: Todd Rundgren at the Agora Theatre
With nearly four decades of concerts in Cleveland under his guitar strap, Todd Rundgren continued his ongoing and very public love affair with Cleveland last night at the Agora Theatre for the first of two shows. Judging by the reaction of the crowd, one thing was clear: Cleveland continues to love Rundgren as much as…
Side Dish: Beautiful Accent Comes to Uptown
We got a sneak peek last night at Accent, Scott and Brenda Kim’s sleek, sophisticated, multicultural restaurant in the new Uptown district near University Circle. Set to open October 29, the 192-seat space is all done up in a palate of black, red, and white, with stunning back-lit walls and ceiling, polished concrete floors, and…
Teen Arrested for Stealing RTA Bus
This would have been the biggest RTA news this morning except for that whole thing about an RTA driver uppercutting an unruly female passenger into oblivion and viral fame. Let it be noted that RTA is not having its best week ever. And let it be noted that the RTA slugfest is overshadowing the fact…
Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall
William Preucil Composer Stephen Paulus was beaming when he took the stage at Severance Hall last night, reflecting both the audience’s reaction to his newest work, Violin Concerto No. 3, and a fine world premiere of the piece by Cleveland Orchestra concertmaster William Preucil. Paulus and Preucil have collaborated on a dozen of the composer’s…
Rocket from the Tombs issues new live album
The current line-up of Rocket from the Tombs, the punk band that formed in Cleveland in the ’70s and has since reunited, only features two original members. But the group, which plays the Beachland Ballroom tonight, stays true to the punk band’s spirit. You can hear just how good these guys are on a new…
Rumor: Nashville Med Mart Dead; Cleveland the Winner… of Something (Updated)
It’ll look better later, we promise. Update IV: All those whispers we’ve been hearing for the last eight months that the Nashville Med Mart project was done, all met with responses from down south that we were crazy and the Nashville project would forge on, collect tenants, and become an actual thing? One of us…
Video: This Machine Gun Kelly Parody is Pretty Good
Sick of all the MGK press forever and ever spinning around the webs, especially this, the week his album dropped? How about a well-produced parody video with a song called “Frappuccino”? Is that more your speed? If so, it’s below, so you can watch it and stuff.
Side Dish: 100 Years of West Side Market History
Cleveland food writers Marilou Suszko and Laura Taxel spent the past four years documenting the 100-year history of the West Side Market. Their 250-page book — Cleveland’s West Side Market: 100 Years and Still Cooking — came out this week, and tells the market’s myriad stories through well-researched text, historic and contemporary photos, and hundreds…
Columbus Pizza Delivery Guy Says He Was Fired for Cracking on OSU
We all know adherents of the OSU football faith can be touchy, but would a joke against the school really cost a pizza shop employee his job? That’s the story coming up from Columbus today. Although differing accounts of the event are going head-to-head, the discernible fact here is that some Bucknuttery has gone down…
Concert Review: Lagwagon at the Grog Shop
The last time Lagwagon performed at the Grog Shop was so long ago, it was at the venue’s old location. After all that time, Lagwagon made its return to Cleveland to find a crowd that was more than eager for their performance. The band, which has recently released a box set of their first five…
28,613 Dead Fish in the Rocky River (Updated)
Update III: What killed 28,613 fish in the Rocky River awhile back? Investigators finally know: it was cyanide. No, some Russian mob syndicate didn’t have a vendetta against thousands of rainbow trout and small-mouth bass. That would be ridiculous, but cool. No, this was the careless and lazy work of a couple of septuagenarians: 79-year-old…
Cloud Nothings post new video, head out on tour
Cleveland indie rockers Cloud Nothings have just posted a video for “Fall In,” the latest single from their new album Attack on Memory. In the artfully filmed black and white video, the band plays next to several synchronized dancers who strike a variety of poses. Director John Ryan Manning has said he intended the video…
Rock Hall announces Bobby Keys appearance
Sax man Bobby Keys has names like Joe Cocker, Dr. John, Harry Nilsson and the Rolling Stones on his resume. In fact, he wrote about his musical exploits in the well-received autobiography Every Night’s a Saturday Night. He’s in town on Wednesday with a terrific band that includes the Georgia Satellites Dan Baird and Black…
Side Dish: Press Wine Bar Coming to Tremont
“I’m excited but I am definitely a little nervous,” says Rachael Spieth, the new executive chef for the soon-to-open Press Wine Bar in Tremont. But, she says, after spending the better part of the past eight years as top toque at the popular Three Birds/Georgetown in Lakewood, she’s eager for a change. “I started there…
Raw Power
Even though the proto-punk act Rocket from the Tombs only played around town for about a year before dissolving and then essentially spawning Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys, the band left a huge impression. That’s something that Rocket bassist Craig Bell says he’s constantly reminded of when he meets fans. “The band really means…
Still Fired Up
Founded in 1968, Poco was a forerunner to the whole country-rock movement. In fact, its debut, Pickin’ up the Pieces, is often considered one of the movement’s defining albums. Since that time, the band has undergone countless lineup changes, and now singer-guitarist Rusty Young is the sole original member still involved with the group. He…
Savage Love
Dear Dan I recently discovered that my boyfriend of seven months and I have opposing viewpoints on the whole “life begins at conception” issue. He’s not a crazy zealot, but he is strongly against abortion. And while he won’t go so far as to say abortion should be banned, he does believe in the whole…
Opening This Weekend: Here Comes the Boom
OK, so we get that funnyman Kevin James can be annoying. But he turns on the charm in Here Comes the Boom, the new comedy in which he plays jaded high school teacher Scott Voss. Voss isn’t much of an activist but when the school principal announces plans to scrap the music department and downsize…
We Do, We Do
“I think that gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman.” Not all of us are as confused about same-sex marriage as that clumsy 2003 quote by candidate for governor Arnold Schwarzenegger might indicate. In the entirely non-confused Standing on Ceremony, now at Cleveland Public Theatre, nine short plays by…
On View This Week
NEW OPENINGS Bonfoey Gallery:Persistent Image. Stephen Pentak displays a series of landscape oil paintings on panel and paper. The images of grassy plains shadowed by mountains are informed by tradition, but also visually playful, often doubling the spare trees with their own reflections on water. An opening reception will be held Friday, Oct. 12 from…
On Stage This Week
The Screwtape Letters The 1942 book The Screwtape Letters, an epistolary novel on the nature of good and evil by the famous writer and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis, has a special place in the popular culture. References to the book show up in a U2 video (Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me), the…
The Black Box
After years of wandering and rentals, The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland finally has a permanent home in University Circle. It has already reshaped the neighborhood — or at the very least, its walkability, via the enigmatic, five-sided, highly reflective new building. The $27.2 million facility was designed by world-renowned British-Iranian architect Farshid Moussavi. Encased…
CD Review: The Script
The Irish alternative rock group The Script didn’t get too imaginative when titling its third studio album. And the same criticism could be directed toward the album itself. Album opener “Good Ol’ Days” is a rowdy rock tune that finds the guys really struggling to rap over some fairly solid vocal harmonies. They also struggle…
The Dredge Report
Last week Cuyahoga County residents received glossy postcards in the mail asking approval of a levy that would increase taxes collected by the city-county port authority by some 400 percent. The card failed to mention that suburban tax dollars will be siphoned off to shore up a city government that has failed miserably in vision,…
CD Review: The Wallflowers
The songs on this, the Wallflowers’ sixth studio album (and first in seven years), fall into essentially two categories. Tracks such as “Misfits and Lovers” and “First One in the Car” sound like the Wallflowers of the past but not as good, since the songs aren’t nearly as memorable. The other set of songs sounds…
Culinary Calendar
Thursday, October 11 Recipes from Chefs’ Home Kitchens Ever wondered what Jonathon Sawyer cooks at home, or what Eric Williams whips up for his family and friends? So did Cleveland writer and longtime foodie Maria Isabella. “Wouldn’t it be great to be a fly on the wall when chefs entertain?” she thought way back in…
Culture Jamming
TOP PICK KISS Monster (Universal) The heavy metal veterans sound surprisingly inspired on this, their first studio album in three years. Guitarist Paul Stanley’s voice is a little more weathered and worn than normal, but the band sounds energized on songs such as “Hell or Hallelujah” and the grunge-y “Back to the Stone,” both of…
Present at Creation
Behold the progress of the Cleveland dining scene. As any well-seasoned foodie can tell you, it wasn’t all that long ago that our steaks were well done, great seafood was rare, and arugula was an exotic mystery. Into the culinary wasteland of the early to mid-1990s marched a few brave chefs —innovators like Zach Bruell,…
CD Review: Zedd
Best known for his work with Lady Gaga, Germany’s Zedd (Anton Zaslavski) has only been an active producer for three years. And yet there’s a fair amount of anticipation for this, his full-length debut. The album gets off to slamming start with “Hourglass,” a clubby techno track that features sultry vocals courtesy of Madonna wannabe…
Art With Character
Cleveland-based artist Dexter Davis has it both ways at the Cleveland Museum of Art – not only does he hold down a day job working security, but he’s one of the artists featured in the collection. A longtime staple of the Cleveland art scene, Davis creates mind-warped collages that are immediately striking: images sprung from…
Opening This Weekend: Sinister
Not sure what the hell actor Ethan Hawke has been doing for the past couple of years but he’s not in particularly good form in Sinister. He portrays Ellison, a true crime writer who stumbles upon a serial killer of sorts. The movie has a surprisingly strong start but limps to the finish as Ellison…
Drink Up
O-Honey at Table 45 Let’s raise a glass to the bees — those underappreciated agriculturalists who both pollinate our produce and provide the wherewithal for treats like honey cakes, honey pies, and Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey. A mellow blend of honey liqueur and good ol’ Jack, the whiskey forms the backbone of a series of…
Film Feature: Led Zeppelin: Celebration Day
When noted concert film director Dick Carruthers worked with Led Zeppelin nearly ten years ago in putting together the DVD How the West Was Won, he and guitarist Jimmy Page sorted through hours of footage that had been locked away in the vaults for years. So when footage of the band’s 2007 reunion concert remained…
Opening This Weekend: Argo
Argo Ben Affleck’s drama about the rescue of six American diplomats during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis deserves credit for placing the events in accurate historical context. The movie leads with a narrated history of events leading to the crisis, including the 1953 U.S.-engineered coup that deposed Iran’s prime minister Mossadegh (who dared to nationalize…
Bring Back My Bonny
Although he’s one of Ireland’s most celebrated playwrights, Martin McDonagh has said he prefers writing movies to plays. He told an interviewer that while he respects the history of films, he has “a slight disrespect for theater.” Theater, McDonagh said, “isn’t something that’s connected to me.” Yet it is McDonagh’s grounding in the theater, and…
CD Review: Jeff Lynne
There aren’t really any surprises on this, Electric Light Orchestra leader and vocalist Jeff Lynne’s second solo studio album. A collection of covers, it commences with “She,” an old British pop tune that Lynne makes sound like an ELO track. And the same goes for the Rodgers and Hammerstein tune “If I Loved You.” Lynne…
CD Review: Machine Gun Kelly
This highly anticipated debut from Texas-born and Cleveland-based rap sensation Machine Gun Kelly starts off with a bang with “Save Me.” MGK lays down raps like “216 forever in my soul” as his heavy hitting guests — singer M Shadows and guitarist Synyster Gates (both of Avenged Sevenfold fame) — help turn the song into…
Dynamic Duo
For the past five years, singer-guitarist Holly Golightly (yes, she’s named after the character in Truman Capote’s novel Breakfast at Tiffany’s) and multi-instrumentalist Lawyer Dave have released an album a year as a duo they cheekily call Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs. Evoking the rural music of the American South, Golightly and Lawyer Dave play…
