The City Club’s stolen gavel caper
The City Club of Cleveland — which prides itself on being “the oldest continuous free speech forum in the country, renowned for its tradition of debate and discussion” — is a lot less audible these days. Seems that someone walked off with its gong and gavel set, which has been used for more than 70…
Voinovich gets a fabulous new look
George Voinovich, the distinguished U.S. senator from Ohio, has just released a new “official photo.” Keen observers will notice that the new ph0to differs significantly from previous “official” photos. It George smiling as if he’s just successfully gutted another environmental bill. Older versions seemed to express George’s joy over having just screwed some elderly people…
What’s really in that melting pot?
Gastronomic gumshoe Scott Taylor: Protecting you from Chinese buffets. Rest easy tonight, knowing that award-winning Action 19 investigative reporter Scott Taylor is out there protecting you and your children from the bad guys who want to lure you to a $5.99 all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet infested with cockroaches — which, incidentally, is still a great deal!…
Denise Grollmus: Crime Fighter
She may be a wee little lass, but Denise Grollmus reports like a middle linebacker Scene staff writer Denise Grollmus makes an appearance in the recently released Best American Crime Writing 2006. Her story, “Sex Thief” [September 14, 2005], the tale of an Akron man who invented the perfect crime by raping strippers, was chosen…
To Deport a Predator
The tale of the Barnetts, a young couple who spent this past spring robbing pedophiles in a scheme inspired by Dateline’s “To Catch a Predator” segment, finally came to a close last weekend. On Saturday, Maria Barnett returned home to Rome. The Review, an East Liverpool paper, reported that she agreed to voluntary deportation. In…
Carl Wolfe pervert alert!
He’s too sexy for mom, but Big Otis will surely be into him. We met Carl Wolfe when we were in Athens Sept. 29& 30 for parents weekend. He was waiting on us at a Bennigans that just opened. My daughter and her friend were with us, and he kept coming to our table aking…
“Erroneous and offensive”
In response to the October 4 article “Friends as Enemies”: Upon my initial read, I noticed there was no discussion of the larger public-health messages surrounding bathhouses. The article alludes to the difficulties explaining the purpose and functions of a bathhouse, but does nothing to address the inherent public-health and civil-rights issues. Furthermore, it threatens…
Iron Mike Shocks the World Again
Fight analysts say Tyson may be looking past this week’s foe. Just when you thought it was safe to ignore Mike Tyson, the heavyweight buffoon has administered another smackdown to good taste. This time the follies were served up with garlic bread — at a press conference at J-Bella’s restaurant in Strongsville, where all your…
Bad ‘Shroom
Mushroomhead: Eight men, but no Mann. Former Mushroomhead frontman J. Mann isn’t back in the band, but you might not have known it by watching TV. A Tower Records commercial that aired during this week’s Headbanger’s Ball hyped Mushroomhead’s new CD, Savior Sorrow, by running a clip that was identified as a video for the…
Chad Hanging in Cleveland
Lowe: No longer a Swank accessory. C-list celebrity Chad Lowe comes to town on Saturday to give both of his Cleveland fans a sneak peek at his new movie, Beautiful Ohio. Dayton-born Lowe directed the coming-of-age film set in Shaker Heights. It co-stars William Hurt and Mrs. Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, neither of whom needs…
Cavs Ink Key Veteran
Tait: He’s weathered more loss than the French army. Amid the minor pickups and cuts that have marked the Cavs’ preseason, a notable acquisition just went down under the radar: Radio voice Joe Tait has been re-signed for two more seasons. Sure, it’s the play-by-play equivalent of Sinatra being invited back to the Sands; Tait…
GOP Quits on DeWine
DeWine: His tab is now closed. The national GOP has given up on Senator Mike DeWine (R-Hopeless). According to an article in today’s New York Times, national Republicans decided to yank their ad dollars after internal polls showed DeWine trailing challenger Sherrod Brown. Says The Times: “The Republican National Committee and the Republican Senatorial Campaign…
Rapist Nathan Ford finally sentenced
A decade after Nathan Ford started attacking women in the Cleveland area, his victims can finally see him behind bars. This summer, Ford pleaded no contest to multiple felony counts for raping at last eight women, including a 13-year-old girl and a 55-year-old schoolteacher (“Screams in the Dark,” September 26). But his sentencing was delayed…
Fire Maurice Carthon
Maurice Carthon Jason Vari’s been a Browns fan since he was four years old. The first birthday present he remembers receiving was a Brian Sipe jersey. Like many of us, he also swears that from 1996 through 1998, there was no such thing as football. “I didn’t watch a single game,” he says. And like…
Is Dan Gilbert going Cuban?
Dan Gilbert It’s never a good idea to model yourself after a grown man who barks at referees and wears oversized jerseys. And who knows if Cavs owner Dan Gilbert wants to become the Mark Cuban of the North. But the two gazillionares-turned-NBA owners certainly have plenty in common. Both made their fortunes with the…
Ney Can’t Say No
Ney meets with Afghan President Karzai to see if there\’s any legislation he needs in exchange for a free golf vacation to Kabul Even after admitting to crimes while in office, Rep. Bob Ney (R-Rikers) isn’t saying when he’ll resign his seat. On Friday, Ney pleaded guilty to conspiracy and lying charges for his role…
Branson Wright’s super powers
The PD’s sports staff is becoming more and more like the X-Men, only they all have the same super power: knowing absolutely nothing. Branson Wright, who covers the Cavaliers, put his super powers on display yesterday with a story titled, “Jackson works hard to earn time.” Wright obviously used all of his knowledgeable sources inside…
Esquire smacks Blackwell
The new issue of Esquire endorses elves Kucinich and DeWine, but at least nails Blackwell spot on The November issue of Esquire, which hits newsstands this week, devotes 17 pages to endorsements for the upcoming election. It’s an odd choice for a mag that usually ponders such weighty issues as whether one can catch a…
Jackson’s G-thing
The Invisible Mayor Ok, let’s recap. In the last month or so, the Mayor of The Poorest City in America has taken a stand on a number of pressing issues. Gambling: Good Smoking: Bad Stray cats: Must Die. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m starting to be a little troubled by this policy direction. Isn’t…
Can the next governor even vote?
Today’s Akron Beacon Journal reports that Ken Blackwell will decide whether Ted Strickland should be allowed to vote in the Nov. 7 election, in which both Blackwell and Strickland are competing for governor. Last week, a Columbiana County resident — i.e. Republican operative — filed a complaint challenging Strickland’s right to vote in his congressional…
Happy Hauntings
If the early snow’s not doing enough to scare you this weekend (winter jackets in October? Eke!), head on over to 7 Floors of Hell at the Berea fairgrounds. Ohio’s favorite haunted house was recently voted one of the Top 13 haunts in the country by Hauntworld magazine, and has even sparked the interest of…
Fulwood Watch: Sam Reads a Book!
… And shares his findings with you, dear reader! Headline: Elizabeth Edwards is looking for you Date: October 12, 2006 Topic: Sam apparently read the new book by Elizabeth Edwards, in which she mentions two anonymous women who talked to her about breast cancer at an East Side restaurant. So on his weekly trip out…
Multimedia Basement King
This week’s local-music spotlight features Corey Bing and Bahb Branca, the key members of the massive all-star metal project King Travolta. When the two Medina lads aren’t composing harsh odes to dope and the devil, their idea of a good time is shooting holes in their records and blowing stuff up. (And we say that…
Last Call at House of Blues
Last Call Cleveland, the sketch comedy crew that intertwines daringly choreographed musical numbers with daringly tasteless gay jokes, will perform in the House of Blues’ Cambridge Room Sunday at 8 p.m. I checked out their last show, so I was going to tell you that it was worth the $5 admission just see the opening…
Cats protest killing
A spokesman for the National Association of Feral Felines issued this statement today on Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson’s plan to trap and kill stray cats in the city.
Blackwell finds mate
Good news! Uncle Tom Blackwell, our favorite Cabbage Patch-kid turned gubernatorial candidate, is hosting a rally next week with Sean Hannity of Fox News fame. C-Notes believes the event will do wonders for Tommy’s campaign, considering that Hannity is also a spokeman for GM. One guy represents the company that has laid off hundreds of…
DeWine jeopardizes soldier
Senator Mike DeWine likes to play politics with national security. But he seems to have a problem with those pesky details. The first time DeWine tried to accuse opponent Sherrod Brown of being soft on terror, his ad geeks decided that September 11 just wasn’t horrifying enough. Though the deaths of those 2,819 people packed…
Brown-DeWine a Tossup
The latest poll numbers this week from the University of Akron show that the Ohio Senate race is a virtual dead heat. Meanwhile, in the governor’s race, Ted Strickland holds a commanding 14 point lead over rival Uncle Tom Blackwell. Senate race: Mike DeWine (R), 41.7 Sherrod Brown (D), 41.5 Other 2.5% Undecided 14.3% Governor’s…
Metal Halloween
Halloween With Halloween approaching, Scene ushers in the Season of the Witch by welcoming Metal Show host Chris Akin and his top five fall classics: 1. Halloween, Don’t Metal With Evil. These Detroit rockers have been largely overlooked throughout metal history because they came out at the same time as Helloween, but their Don’t Metal…
Battle of the Bartenders
Oh, the scandals our “Best of” edition has stirred up — at least for Best Gay Bartender David Axford at the Edge (11213 Detroit Ave., 216-221-8576). We hear that two mixologists at sister club Grid/Orbit have taken issue with our description of Axford as being able to “rattle off recipes for 500 different cocktails and…
West Sixth Market moves
In a stroll through the Warehouse District yesterday, we passed the West Sixth Street Market (1313 W. 6th St.; 216-579-1314) and noticed the doors were dead-bolted and the shades were drawn. Two lonely signs hung in the window. The first one announced that the store had relocated to the Flats (1335 W. 10th St.); the…
The view from North Korea
Katherine Robbins As the U.S. government continues to insist that North Korea’s nuke tests are an imminent threat to America’s safety, Scene foreign correspondent Katherine Robbins let’s us know what’s really what. Robbins recently left Akron for South Korea, where she’s teaching English for the next year. She’s living in a cockroach-infested apartment as far…
Fine Art . . . for Free
My boyfriend is a hater of all things dramatic — apart from Steelers games, which have become much more traumatic than dramatic these days. See a show about piss — for free! But even he can be persuaded to attend theater events . . . when they’re free. The Cleveland Theatre Collective is sponsoring “Free…
Where the Gay Boys Are
Looks like Cleveland’s gay glitterati are eyeing a new “Homo Heights,” as they lovingly call it. A trusty gay source tells us that the area’s next gay hotspot will be at the corner of St. Clair and East 25th downtown. That’s where the owners of the blue-collar Union Club Tavern have sold the building to…
The Old Beer Police
I was rooting through the well-stocked coolers of my favorite crossroads tavern the other day when I saw it: that familiar Great Lakes Brewing Company label, the one with the green wagon and its cargo of shiny red Christmas bulbs. “Hey!” I called over to the bartender. “How did you get Christmas Ale this time…
Resnick’s ‘twisted and baseless’ story
What a bizarre and outrageous article [“Friends as Enemies,” October 4]. I don’t know what axe Eric Resnick has to grind with the Greater Cleveland AIDS Taskforce. I grant that in Ohio’s “culture of corruption,” reporters need to approach public figures with a critical eye. But this article was so twisted and baseless that Resnick’s…
An ‘unethical and ludicrous’ lawsuit
I am writing this letter in response to the ridiculous accusations about the female impersonator Hershae Chocolatae [“Bitter Chocolate,” September 13]. I have worked in the female impersonation business for 17 years and have never heard of anything like this. Hershae has never made any kind of similarity to the Hershey Company. That a big…
You actually like us
I loved “Up in Smoke” [August 9]. The writing was excellent and really captured the essence of the people involved. Madison is a great place to live and work, but we do have our share of fringe individuals. There apparently is not enough to keep people busy in this town. Nellie Vince Madison
In Defense of Santiago
As a small business owner in an under-developed city, I appreciate the work of my councilman, Joe Santiago [New Guy, August 2]. As a business owner in the Lincoln Heights/Starkweather “block club,” I have watched all the businesses on my block go under the microscope by the resident-run block club. Business owners here are banned…
Wolfe in Pimp’s Clothing
Wouldn’t you want this man to paw you? Carl Wolfe’s Myspace page helpfully reveals that he is none other than the guy who brought sexy back. But that hot, shirt-unbuttoned guy in the picture happens to be the same Carl Wolfe who was indicted on 21 felony charges in June, after allegedly sexually assaulting five…
Wherefore Art Romeo? He’s Next to Dick
Do you cringe every time the Browns run a draw on 1st and 20? Do you break into a cold sweat when you see Maurice Carthon’s face on TV? Ever wonder why Romeo Crennel doesn’t rip Carthon’s headset off and beat him in the face with it, leaving the play-calling to the nearest beer vendor?…
Slipknot vs. Mushroomhead: This Could Get Ugly
The Slipknot-Mushroomhead feud could be Cleveland’s greatest rock controversy of the modern era. And it just won’t die. Long story short: Once upon a time, in a town called Cleveland, there was a masked band called Mushroomhead, with eight or nine members, dressed in jump suits, and the bassist wore a pig face. Metal label…
Things to Do at Work Other Than Work
The smart money’s on this guy. The music department here at Scene Enterprises does not condone spending your entire day goofing off at YouTube and MySpace. Leave that to pros like us. But once you catch up on your coffee and database entry, check out Ugly Pictures’ “Battle of the Album Covers” and watch more…
Tracks of Their Tears
Think of Bears as something like a rudimentary weather machine. They fashion sunny nuggets of ’60s psych-pop and breezy, jangling bursts of melody that disguise sometimes bittersweet sentiments. The recording duo of drummer Craig Ramsey and guitarist Charlie McArthur expands to a six-piece in concert, to recreate the rich texture and details of the band’s…
Adem
Like approximately seven-eighths of the world’s breathing singer-songwriters, Adem Ilhan waxes sad and poetic about love and loss, supported by a quotidian chord catalog. Ilhan — teenage collaborator with Kieran “Four Tet” Hebden in the overlooked electri-post-rocker Fridge — spent his first two solo records poring over promises and relational difficulties. Love and Other Planets…
Brush With Greatness
You’ve seen Bob Ross — the afro-sporting TV artist who painted “happy trees”? Well, if he had redesigned Legend of Zelda, it would look a lot like Okami. That may sound like an unlikely premise, but this is no ordinary game. In Okami, to save the world from an ancient evil, you control a god…
Rock Like a Man
Singer-guitarist Wendy Case is at home onstage. The Telecaster slung across her long shoulders jabs the air, and her downstroking arm and lanky torso set off the flash of limbs and hard edges. Her mouth is cracked as if caught in mid-sneer; a shock of bowl-cut hair falls about her face. It’s Iggy Pop as…
The Capitol Years
Frontman Shai Halperin and his band swim experimental waters, mixing ’60s and ’70s rock and latter-day power pop with softly strummed guitar and harmonic indulgence. Somehow “Revolutions,” a single-tempo-shifting song — complete with interludes — manages to refer to ’80s synth-pop bands, trad rock, and Pink Floyd. Despite the array of influences, Capitol Years sounds…
Here are the week’s best releases from the pop-culture universe:
CD — Up From the Catacombs: The Best of Jane’s Addiction: Once you get past the fact that the band’s greatest song, the signature “Jane Says,” is included only as an inferior live version, this is a sturdy 16-track compilation from one of the most influential groups of the ’90s. Find out what Dave Navarro…
Chimaira Meets Ferret
Chimaira has signed new deals with two major underground labels. Ferret Music will handle the band’s U.S. distribution, while German metalworks Nuclear Blast (Meshuggah, Dimmu Borgir) will distribute overseas. Though best known for hardcore, Ferret has found success with heavy metal bands as well, helping push In Flames’ and Killswitch Engage’s sales over 100,000. The…
Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey
Heavy metal is the redheaded stepchild of the music industry, rarely shown from a positive or even neutral perspective. Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, is the first documentary since Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years to delve deeply within the scene; the difference being that Metal does so without a trace of irony. That’s…
Our top DVD picks for the week of October 10:
The Andy Milonakis Show: The Complete Second Season (Paramount) The A-Team: Season Five, the Final Season (Universal) Bloodied but Unbowed: Bloodshot Records’ Life in the Trenches (Bloodshot) Carlos Mencia: No Strings Attached (Paramount) Click (Sony) Don’t Go in the Woods Alone: 25th Anniversary Edition (Code Red) Everybody Hates Chris: The First Season (Paramount) The Exorcist:…
The Sword
Metal shows are no longer solely a refuge of longhairs in black shirts, coated in white grease paint, parsing cryptic Nordic iconography: Half this crowd will be the cool kids in the black hoodies. Reactions of those who’ve now devoted decades to topics like death vs. doom and stoner vs. sludge range from cheated (“We’ve…
Embalmer
Cleveland grindcore legend Embalmer is back, on Rhode Island’s Pathos Productions, home to kindred cuddly acts like Clitorture. Rick Fleming (as in phlegming Rick) regurgitates indecipherable lyrics like Cookie Monster with a taste for human flesh. After an eight-year layoff — playing this fast and hard takes its toll — the quintet returns, spewing thrash…
Scene‘s Guide to Halloween Night
Bloodview Haunted House 440-526-9148 www.bloodview.com Bloodview delivers a show unlike any other. From the moment customers arrive till the moment they flee in terror, they are surrounded by the oldest haunted house acting troupe in the world. Bloodview features the Hollywood style make-up and acting that has made it a household name in Northeast Ohio.…
Drive-By Truckers
The Truckers’ country-blues songs offer a panorama of misfits, miscreants, and losers. The prickly edges of the band’s rootsy rumble match the characters’ jaded, hard-won resilience. Since their breakthrough opus Southern Rock Opera in ’01, they’ve recorded three more terrific albums, establishing them as leaders of the rock underground. All three guitarists write — one…
Brian Lisik
Brian Lisik taps the same ragged roots-rock vein as the Replacements and Old ’97s, cooking Stones-style country-blues and jingle-jangle twang into a variety of enticing recipes. From “The Outskirts,” whose soulful, horn-fueled shuffle recalls early Springsteen, to “Nothing I Can Do,” whose opening refrain harks back to the Byrds’ “Turn! Turn! Turn!”, producer Todd Tobias…
Dance of the Decade
After a more than 15-year absence from the area, Israeli troupe Batsheva Dance Company kicks off Dance Cleveland’s fall season. “The opportunity to see them in this country is so rare,” says Sally Keyes, director of marketing for Dance Cleveland. “When they become available, we jump.” Batsheva performs just one piece tonight: “Deca Dance,” an…
Ready, Set, Mow!
Bruce Kaufman — aka “the Sodfather” — studies the soggy field at the Richland County Fairgrounds. He is debating whether to postpone the National Lawnmower Racing Championships. To postpone would be rather inconvenient. Around 90 of the country’s fastest lawn jockeys have converged in Mansfield, about an hour south of Cleveland. The best among them…
Soilwork
This bill echoes one of Tom Green’s most brilliant tossed-off lines: “Swedish! Sweeed-ish!” — as in the new wave of Swedish death metal and its American bastard sons. With a full-time keyboardist and two guitarists who hit humming harmonies, Soilwork has been shredding since ’95 (an early lineup adopted the Soilwork name in ’97). In…
Mifuné
Mifuné blends disparate elements into an eclectic mélange of world music. Its debut bubbles with electronic textures reminiscent of Stereolab. The Cleveland eight-piece experiments with jazzy funk (“Don’t Do All Your Talkin’ to Me”), politically tinged Afrobeat (“Storm Troopers”), and soul-pop (“I Don’t Know What Love Is”). Mifuné handles each well, but the album’s best…
Candy Man
As a relatively new comedian making his bones on the stand-up circuit, Roy Wood Jr. travels a lot from gig to gig. Lately, he says, it’s become quite a hassle. “I was on a flight from Houston to Tampa, and they [confiscated] my Skittles,” recalls the 26-year-old Alabama native. “They told me, ‘It might be…
The Face of Incompetence
He’s a dick. An egomaniac. A bully who struts around as if he’s mayor. He terrorizes employees. Turns a negotiation over a festival permit into a power play. Doesn’t return a councilman’s phone calls. Doesn’t even pretend to care. This is what people say about Nick Jackson. They whisper this in secret, of course, when…
Ian McLagan and the Bump Band
Ian McLagan earned his rock and roll stripes as the legendary keyboardist for both the Small Faces and the Faces, before sitting in with such rock icons as Dylan, Springsteen, and the Stones. (He’s opening for the Stones later this month.) While McLagan’s own music might not be as well known as that of the…
Diamond Dog
Anchoring the tony Bertram Inn & Conference Center in Aurora, the Leopard has been intended as a showcase for fine dining since it opened in March 2000. Our inaugural visit came not long after the restaurant’s debut; at that point, the service and ambiance were first-rate, and if then-executive chef Zachary Conover’s robust cuisine didn’t…
Word Freaks
NPR game-show host Richard Sher sums up Says You! listeners as people whose “best conversations take place in their living rooms.” The Boston radio personality brings his show to Cleveland for a two-program taping this morning at WCPN-FM 90.3 (it will air in late November). The 10-year-old program — heard at noon on Sundays —…
Her Final Fantasy
Grandma is slaying zombies with a fairway wood when a reporter stops by the house. It’s Saturday afternoon. Grandma doesn’t usually go about her killing until after supper. But the grandkids are out shopping, so she’s stealing some time in her favorite recliner, whacking the shit out of those pesky faceless bastards. She’s used to…
Islands
This six-piece Montreal art-pop troupe — led by brooding singer-songwriter Nick Diamonds — fashions quirky rock arrangements that sound like something from Paul Simon (“Don’t Call Me Whitney, Bobby”), Super Furry Animals (“Rough Gem”), and the Unicorns, Diamonds’ now-defunct former bandmates. Diamonds frowns on such comparisons. “I really stopped thinking about all that — the…
Overdone
The leaves aren’t all that have been changing: Several notable restaurants have weathered shakeups in their kitchens, with chefs departing and new ones taking their place. At rustically elegant Lockkeepers (8001 Rockside Road, Valley View, 216-524-9404), the kitchen is now the domain of first-time executive chef Ky-wai Wong. The California native and graduate of London’s…
Cold as Ice
For more than 25 years, DJ Freeze has been a favorite at almost every gay bar in the city. The secret: customer service. “When you ask for a song, I get it on ASAP,” says Freeze (aka Toni Lavelle). “I don’t give you this song and dance, because I bring enough music to cover all…
Dems Blow It Again
If Jennifer Brady doesn’t win a trip to the Ohio House this fall, it won’t be because Brady’s a Democrat in a staunchly Republican district. And it won’t be because her party is less organized than Whitney Houston’s coke drawer. No, it’ll be all Uncle Tom’s fault. At least that’s what Democrats will tell you.…
Pelican
Pelican leavens the ominous churn of doom metal with a sense of elegance lifted from King Crimson. Their glacially paced epics feature repeated droning riffs that slowly gather intensity and complexity. The sometimes plodding instrumentals are insistently melodic, producing a hypnotic effect, like the Jesus and Mary Chain enveloped in the narcotic metal sludge of…
Voter Fraud
Barry Levinson hasn’t made a movie of note in almost a decade — not since 1997’s Wag the Dog, to be precise, and even that was less a work of substantial relevance than a bit of lucky timing based on someone else’s better novel. Granted, it had its moments — at last, it seemed, Levinson…
Battle Cry
Think of Overlord as a precursor to Full Metal Jacket. Combining vintage newsreel footage with the story of a young soldier preparing for D-Day, Overlord was one of the first films to examine the psychological effects of basic training. The British movie was made in 1975 but wasn’t released in the U.S. until this year,…
The Way It Is
On his new boxed set, Intersections: 1985-2005, Bruce Hornsby documents two decades of his songs. Only thing is, most of them sound nothing at all like the versions that were on the radio. Rather than load the box’s four CDs with previously released material, Hornsby gives fans a 53-song summary of his career through drastically…
Out of Control
Lousy parenting makes for rotten kids: I am writing in regard to “Teaching Mr. Dreyer” [September 13]. I am pissed and fed up with these so-called students, who think they can get away with disrespecting authority and adults; their parents, who cry that someone picked on their child; and the administrators, who hide in the…
Shai Hulud
In the mid ’90s, Shai Hulud unknowingly nudged hardcore toward metalcore and mall punk, bringing together metal musicianship and personal emotional content. Revelations Records’ new reissues of the band’s two discs set an important standard for reissues — not so much because metalcore engineer Zeuss (Hatebreed and 19 similar bands) remixed the discs, but because…
Repeat Offender
Infamous, this year’s retelling of how Truman Capote wound up in Kansas writing his nonfiction novel In Cold Blood, never comes close to the quiet, devastating brilliance of Capote, last year’s retelling of how Truman Capote wound up in Kansas writing his nonfiction novel In Cold Blood. It’s not that Infamous, written and directed by…
Bach to Basics
Amateur orchestras don’t get much attention, but the Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra is worth a listen. Today’s performance of Bach’s Third Orchestral Suite headlines the ensemble’s first concert of the new season. “We play all the standard stuff very well,” says William Slocum, the group’s longtime music director. “Now we’re nibbling away at the fringes.” Today’s…
Kill the Messenger
A college dropout with 20 years of reporting experience — including four years at The Plain Dealer and a Pulitzer Prize on his resume — Gary Webb broke the biggest story of his career in August 1996. Titled “Dark Alliance,” his three-part series for the San Jose Mercury News linked the CIA to America’s crack-cocaine…
Bouncing Souls
Few bands epitomize the camaraderie and spirit of punk like the Bouncing Souls. Neighborhood kids who came together jumping BMX bikes off homemade ramps in each other’s yards, they picked up instruments while in junior high 20 years ago. For a long time the most political pronouncement from these creators of joyous punk-pop party tunes…
Absolute Power
In The Last King of Scotland, an adequate thriller redeemed by Forest Whitaker’s sensational turn as Idi Amin, freshly qualified Scottish physician Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) arrives in Uganda in 1970, ravenous for adventure. Under the rigorous and vaguely romantic tutelage of a lithe blonde with a flabby marriage and a thick braid hanging delectably…
Nature of the Crime
Local homeschooled kids play F.B.I. of the Forest today, as they search for mushrooms, worms, and potato bugs at Brecksville Reservation. The program is part of the Cleveland Metroparks’ Hiking for Homeschoolers outdoors series for children. The students will track down fungi, bacteria, and invertebrates on a 1.5-mile hike through the park’s fields and woods.…
Crazy for Love
Like Robert Plant, Jolie Holland can’t stop talking ’bout love. Her music is informed by the same passion and raw, bluesy spirit as Zeppelin’s, but instead of gut-busting power, it relies on a tremulous delicacy and bare-wire emotion; each song threatens to fly off the rails at any moment. It’s a lot like love itself.…
Viva Voce
Dust off the Pixies records, dig out those classic Alternative Press mags with Velocity Girl and the Afghan Whigs on the cover, and reminisce about the rumored romance between Juliana Hatfield and Evan Dando. Wasn’t ’90s college rock great? Viva Voce’s Kevin and Anita Robinson show the way back to those halcyon days. Alabama expats…
‘Tis a Silly Thing
There is a certain irresistible attraction that silly jokes create, and the sillier the better. Icky too. So it’s not surprising that so many people are obsessed with the comic stylings of Monty Python, the Brits who exhibit an almost religious devotion to a sublimely juvenile sense of humor. The highs and lows of fart…
Metal Head
Hunks of rusted metal inspired Mark Thomas to launch his first solo art show, Ballast, now on display at Up Periscope. The 12-piece exhibit features aging steel, brass, and copper in various stages of corrosion. “The chemical change — from being polished and shiny, breaking down over time, and turning dull and brittle — makes…
No Longer the Acoustic King
“I don’t really talk about influences anymore,” says Kaki King from her tour bus in Seattle, where she’s riding to an in-store performance. King’s recalcitrance is understandable, even warranted: For her first two albums, she was seen either as the cute girl with the pierced lip and the ferocious one-trick chops or as the cute…
Hanzel und Gretyl
How better to celebrate Friday the 13th than with a big, sexy techno-rock party, headlined by Hanzel und Gretyl? The members of this N.Y.C. troupe like to slide into leather and vinyl, then play like they’re from Deutschland, dropping mongrel semi-German into song titles like “Fukken Über Death Party.” The fetishists’ early work recalled the…
Not a Prayer
In some ways, the invention of PowerPoint computer software was one of civilization’s sadder moments. It seduces people into assuming that they have actually organized information when, in reality, all they’ve done is put a lot of slick-looking bullets in front of random facts and phrases. In a similar way, the new Karamu show Gospel!…
Viva Barcelona!
You’ll have to wait till 2008 to see the Cleveland Museum of Art in all its glory, but to tide you over, check out one of its best-ever exhibits — Barcelona & Modernity: Picasso, Gaudí, Miró, Dalí, which opens today. The exhibition (which includes more than 300 pieces) marks the first time that the 1868-1939…
One-Stop Shopping
A while back, there was a big foofaraw on the ultranerdy music-discussion board I Love Music about the results of the 2004 Village Voice critics’ poll, which had placed OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below in its No. 1 spot, mostly on the basis of votes from critics who listed no other rap records on their ballots.…
Lisa Germano
Even if you’ve never heard of her (and you’re far from alone), you probably know Lisa Germano a little — she’s John Mellencamp’s longtime violinist, providing the biggest hook in the indelible “Cherry Bomb” (the “That’s when a smoke was a smoke, and groovin’ was groovin'” song, among others). She’s since backed David Bowie, and…
Capsule reviews of current area theater presentations.
Hamlet — Some shows sound just about perfect on paper: When Beck Center envisioned a production of perhaps the best play ever written, directed by the supremely talented David Hansen and featuring a stellar cast highlighted by the chiseled and powerful Sarah Morton as the melancholy Dane, it must have seemed a sure winner. Alas,…
Greater Omaha
Omaha’s Tilly and the Wall records for Team Love, the label Conor Oberst formed as an independent alternative to Saddle Creek’s increasing mainstream presence. On its latest album, Bottoms of Barrels, the co-ed quintet makes cheery indie pop bursting with mariachi horns, breezy organs, and heavenly harmonies. But you have to see the group live,…
Basement King
King Travolta singer-bassist-drummer Corey Bing has been called “the Dave Grohl of sludge.” That description makes him wince, even though he masterminded the sessions for the underground metal project. “I don’t play all the instruments or anything,” says the bearded Bing, smiling to match the grinning devil on his ballcap. “It’s really unbelievable how many…
The Rapture
No one heeded the call for more cowbell in 2003 like the Rapture, whose hi-hat hijinks and gut-grating guitar played the supporting role in the bandmates’ screech-sing, post-punk melee. As the band thumps its way into the latter half of ’06, Pieces of the People We Love softens the spasticity and lessens the urgency, with…
Capsule reviews of current area art exhibitions.
NEW Mike vs. Mike — No one really wins this friendly but nonsensical duel between Cleveland’s Michael Lassins and Milwaukee’s Michael Kloss. Not Lassins — although he outranks his opponent on every technical measure — and certainly not the viewers encountering a random, uninspired display. Lassins, a recent grad of the Cleveland Institute of Art,…
Guitar Heroes
A dozen Summit County physicians will drop their scalpels to shred on axes at tonight’s Docs Who Rock competition. “Some doctors are golfing on Wednesdays; these doctors are in their garages with their guitars,” says Michael Gaffney, a spokesman for the United Way of Summit County, which sponsors the third annual event. This year’s lineup…
Desert Isle Discs
Six Parts Seven guitarist Allen Karpinski offers his favorite five. 1. Nick Drake, Pink Moon Bleak, yet not without hope. “Which Will” could be the most gorgeous song ever. 2. My Morning Jacket, At Dawn Echolocation. Perfect for long drives, watching the landscape dip and stretch out . . . 3. Van Morrison, Astral Weeks…
The Doxies
Hard to pin down stylistically, yet easily digested, the Doxies’ fourth long-player brings emotionally compelling lyrics and fertile melodic hook lines to contagious tunes, throwing in a few choice rhythms for good measure. Formed in Columbia, Missouri, and expanded to a quintet with the arrival of lone female member Phylshawn Johnson (drums/vocals), these post-teen pop…
The Delightful Dud
A Prairie Home Companion (New Line) This all-star sing-along — with Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Tommy Lee Jones, Virginia Madsen, Woody Harrelson, etc. — that wears its smile bright and wide looked for all the world like a summertime sleeper hit. Not so much, even though no movie this year was more amiable or possessing…
Cake Walk
Talk about timing. With Sofia Coppola’s flashy biopic Marie Antoinette hitting screens next week and a recent PBS doc, the long-dead French monarch is a hot Hollywood property. Now Kentucky Poet Laureate Sena Jeter Naslund fictionalizes Antoinette’s story in Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette. “She’s an exciting subject,” says Naslund. “Her story is like…
