The lament of a Browns fan
Well, here we go again, in the midst of yet another dismal Browns season — for the eighth year in a row since its “resurrection,” if you can call it that. But, one bright spot in the Browns organization is its marketing department. Hooray!! Something to cheer about — if you work in that department,…
A victim of Girls Gone Wild?
The nefarious Girls Gone Wild is the focus of a story in today’s Akron Beacon Journal. Columnist Bob Dyer pens the first installment of the sordid tale of a 17-year-old girl’s drunken, naked night at Mango’s, a downtown Akron bar, where she now claims she was victimized by Girls Gone Wild producers. The Cuyahoga Falls…
GQ does Ohio
Suddenly, the swanky men’s magazine has discovered there’s a world beyond Paris Hilton. The November issue includes a feature story on writer Devin Friedman’s journey back to his alma mater, Shaker Heights High. His saga, “The Unbearable Awkwardness of Being,” promises to tell us something about Friedman, “the future of America, and the dude who…
MTV Covers Mushroomhead Spat
The latest chapter in the on-again, off-again feud between Mushroomhead and Slipknot seems more than a little contrived, but it’s sure fun. The two masked metal bands and their followers seemed to leave the hard feelings behind years ago, but Mushroomhead drummer-producer Steve “Skinny” Felton recently launched a salvo of insults at the multiplatinum Iowa…
Artist Shakes Off the Rust
Who’d have thought art connoisseurs would go ape over portraits of rusted metal? Mark Thomas never gave it a second thought. On opening night of his Ballast exhibit at Up Periscope (8307 Madison Avenue, 440-574-9073) earlier this month, the Westlake painter sold seven — seven! — of the 12 pieces on the wall, at $200…
Betty Montgomery: No friend of consumers
The Republican candidate for attorney general, Betty Montgomery, claims that she ran an outstanding consumer protection section when she previously held the office. Large corporate interests probably thought so, but the public had little reason to. Montgomery’s lack of concern for consumers was shown when a Cleveland law firm filed a class-action lawsuit accusing many…
Joan Jett Fights Tears at Agora Gig
When Joan Jett took the stage at the Agora Theatre Saturday night, the tougher-than-leather rock veteran looked uncharacteristically shaken. After a song, she told the crowd she’d just received bad news: Jett’s Runaways co-founder, drummer Sandy West, had just died, succumbing to a long struggle with lung cancer. The show went on, but Jett and…
Nick Jackson’s higher education
Nick Jackson may have many faults, but lying on his resume is not one of them. According to city records, Jackson received associates’ degrees in industrial management technology, quality assurance, and industrial engineering technology from the Applied Technology Institute. Unfortunately, the Cleveland school closed a year after he graduated, which was why Scene couldn’t locate…
The PD’s Bill O’Reilly Affair
Bill O\’Reilly, pictured here with an unnamed male ‘friend.’ Every Sunday, Ted Diadiun, The Creepiest Facial Hair in Journalism�, pens a column for The Plain Dealer answering readers’ questions and explaining the paper’s decisions. If you like having a man stroke his beard at you for 1,000 words, it’s a delightful literary excursion. Otherwise, it…
Beck Center’s money omission
Beck Center announced its decision to remain in Lakewood last week, cooling speculation that the venerable West Side arts institution would be reborn as an Abercrombie & Fitch at Crocker Park. The announcement was heralded at a press conference as the best news for Lakewood since McCarthy’s invented dollar beers. But lost amid the back-patting…
Arshinkoff’s new boy
When Summit County Judge Bill Spicer appointed Kenneth Claypoole to the Hudson School Board on October 16, residents were slightly shocked. After all, Claypoole, a former board member, had been absent from the education scene for nearly a decade. And his tenure during the 1990s wasn’t exactly recalled through a rose-colored lens. Not only did…
Christmas in Queertown
No need to rack your brain over a Christmas gift for that homo who has everything. The North Coast Men’s Chorus is now selling “sponsorships” of songs on its upcoming holiday CD, Sugar Plum Fairies (which is appropriately titled, since the choir is made up of gay dudes). For instance, your recipient’s name goes next…
Gay for Pay
It’s official: Ken Blackwell is totally obsessed with homos. Last week, the man who gave us the Defense of Marriage Act accused happily married opponent Ted Strickland of being a secret homo. The dive into the sewer began during a televised debate, when Blackwell revived an old story that a former Strickland aide was busted…
Rite Aid: No friend of women
In August, the FDA finally approved over-the-counter sales of emergency contraception pills for women 18 and over. The pills will become available over the counter on November 1. But, for those unlucky enough to need it now, they might have more luck getting it in Canada. Last week, a patient of Dr. Patricia Kellner received…
A deaf and dumb scam
Sue McConnell, a crack sleuth at the Cleveland Better Business Bureau, figured she’d seen every low-rent scam imaginable. But she never thought she’d see the day when deaf people were doing the scheming. Lester Sukenik, who owns Colony Lumber in Painesville, got a call from a service for the speech and hearing impaired. An operator…
Liquid Planet Cures Death
Essential energy for mall walking. We overhear the best health tips in — where else? — shot-and-beer joints. Take Richard Raicone, a regular at the Tick Tock Tavern (11526 Clifton Blvd.; 216-631-6111.) Six months ago, the semi-retired collections agent was about to put his 93-year-old mother, Pauline, in a nursing home for a string of…
Roger Brown Switches Teams?
Chris Rose: Not returning our calls today. It looks like Browns fans can hardly believe I jumped shipped from The PD to work for Scene. There’s a debate raging on the team web boards, and there’s even a guy claiming to be me and denouncing my first column as some kind of “parody” — a…
Savage Visits Kent State
Dan Savage: Ask him about santorum. Syndicated sex columnist Dan Savage paid a visit Thursday to Kent State, where 30 people finally found someone to talk to about their snail fetishes and Ted Henry fantasies: Read the Daily Kent Stater’s recap here. For more wisdom from Savage, read Savage Love in Scene, baked fresh every…
Offended by your unfounded attack
I am writing in reply to your article “Friends as Enemies,” published in the October 4 edition of Scene. I have lived in Cleveland all of my adult life, practiced in the human services field, and been active in the gay community. From all of these perspectives, I find your article offensive and disappointing. I…
Another word on Ohio grapes
In the article on the award-winning Ohio Riesling [“Tempted by the Fruit of Another,” October 18], it was written: “In the 1860s, the Ohio region was the biggest producer of wines anywhere in the country. Farmers here harvested Concord and Catawba grapes, which are cheap to produce and resistant to cold climates. But these grapes…
Lies, distortion, and Ohio’s Senate race
It is ludicrous that Sherrod Brown would consider distorting Mike DeWine’s congressional attendance record when he himself has been AWOL from the congress at a disturbing rate. Since being elected to the House in 1993, Brown has missed 316 roll call votes as compared with Mike DeWine who has only missed 10 since 1995. Brown,…
City Club: “Gavels Are Overrated”
Gong Li: Also has no gavel. The City Club of Cleveland may be banging its gong (and getting it on) again, but the gavel that went missing with the Asian percussion instrument is still MIA. But, like William Baldwin and that guy who drummed for Nirvana before they got famous, the gavel really doesn’t matter.…
Prodigal Gong Returns
Authorities are whittling away at a list of suspects. Cleveland’s most famous gong — the one swiped from the City Club earlier this week — has been returned via U.S. Mail, with an out-of-state cancellation. The gong is resting comfortably, but has not responded to questioning. Anyone with tips about the still-missing gavel is advised…
Where the Wines Are
Scene wine expert Becky Meiser always keeps a variety of vintages on hand. So apparently it’s not enough to write about Ohio wineries — readers want to know how to get there too. Gawd . . . Harpersfield Winery 6387 State Route 307W, Geneva 440-466-4739 If you go: Try their 2004 Pinot Noir Debonne Winery…
Old Pervert News
Sean Hannity: Eating foie gras this evening with Uncle Tom. Just when it seemed the governor’s race was losing its juice, Fox News has jumped in to spice things up. Last night the channel cashed-in on an old Ted Strickland scandal about a former aide who was arrested for exposing himself to schoolchildren. Ohio voters…
American Idol Sighting
The dreamy Scott Savol. American Idol finalist Scott Savol (or at least we’re pretty sure it was him) was sighted Tuesday night in the parking lot of a Euclid strip mall. The Cleveland native made it to fifth place on season 4, surprising many viewers who thought he carried a tune about as well as…
A very brief word on Roger Brown
Roger Brown sucks cock. He is a complete retard. End of story. Joe Bennett Brunswick
Bomb Threat Targets Browns Stadium
File photo of bombed fans in Dawg Pound. Sunday’s Browns-Broncos tilt has been implicated in a website bomb threat . . . * Homeland Security rules out bombs from Frye, Plummer. * Opening line on first-quarter nukes: 8-1. See full story at Newsnet 5.
A Tourist’s View of Cleveland
Wholesome Midwestern glamour — with hookers just two blocks away! We always love showing off the city to out-of-towners. So when a Columbus pal visited last weekend, we started out with a Friday-night trip to the House of Blues, where we had drinks and caught a comedy show featuring former SNL writer Leo Allen and…
Beck Center Holds Its Ground
Beck Center: The dilapidated jewel of the West Side arts community. When it comes to economic development, you don’t share bad news till after Election Day. So it was safe to assume that the Beck Center’s scheduled press conference for Wednesday morning was not designed to announce that the arts institution plans to ditch Lakewood…
Bob Ney Gets Raw Deal
Bob Ney’s hair (top), seen here with Bob Ney. Apparently it’ s not only Democrats who are thankful that former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Some Poor Kid’s Pants) is a Class A perv. Daily Show host Jon Stewart reports this week that because of the Foley news, the program has “unfairly neglected many, many other scandals.”…
Roger Brown Packs It In
Snoops say Chris Rose is despondent over Brown’s departure. Nooooooooo! The PD is reporting that sports columnist Roger Brown is among the 64 employees who have accepted buyout offers and will be leaving the paper. How am I supposed to know when Shaker Heights native and Best Damn Sports Show host Chris Rose changes his…
NY Times: Blackwell’s a Weenie
In breaking news reported by The New York Times, gubernatorial hopeful Ken Blackwell has been ruled an idiot. A Times editorial titled “And the Winner is . . . Me” blasts Blackwell and a supporter who is trying to have opponent Ted Strickland disqualified on a possible voter-registration technicality. The editorial board also asserts that…
Hello, Dali!
Tonight’s Cleveland debut of the Dali Quartet is a rarity in classical music: a performance by an all-Latino string ensemble. “We bring a different flavor,” says cellist Daniel Pereira. Tonight’s program focuses on music from Central and South America — regions most string quartets overlook in favor of European classics. Instead of Mozart, listen for…
Fall Formal
After Ohio State-Michigan, our favorite autumn classic is the Lime Spider’s Fall Formal. Sponsored by the retro boutique Revival and so-cool music shop (and Akron-scene benefactor) Square Records, this year’s party features four decades of danceable, unironic music you’ll wish they’d played at your prom. Technically, the event doesn’t have a dress code. But everyone…
Ain’t It Loverly
You’ve probably seen enough movies to know that no matter how much a guy and gal appear to dislike each other in the first reel, they’ll be bonkers in love by the third. You can predict it almost to the exact second. That’s why it’s a treat to reencounter a sturdy old chestnut that defies…
Marked Men
Scandal. What can be a career-ender for one celebrity (Gary Glitter) can be a boon for another (Tommy Lee). Even some politicians manage to survive the front-page torture treatment with their jobs intact (Dick “Quickdraw” Cheney). But for others — like actor-crusader Mel Gibson and disgraced ex-Congressman Mark Foley — a little well-publicized egg on…
Welcome to the Djungel
Sweden’s Vains of Jenna rocks like L.A. in the late 1980s. Its debut album, Lit Up/Let Down (which comes out on Tuesday), sounds just like one of those strip-club-ready albums that blew up on the Sunset Strip back before Axl Rose braided his hair and turned into a recluse. Our favorite moment comes at the…
The Hold Steady
Throughout three albums, the Hold Steady, a powerful bar band built without irony but with purpose, has celebrated subjects sacred to American youth — chemicals, their pushers, and their users — to a party soundtrack. These are empathetic portraits of such hard-time characters as kids making out in emergency rooms and a damaged hoodrat named…
Smother Brothers
Fiction writers tend to love the words they fashion into sentences and paragraphs, probably because the process is so long and agonizing that it feels like giving birth. When the resulting short story or novel — or any other type of brainchild — is then subjected to the taunts of the public, it can be…
Atlantis Rises
Backers of the Flats’ newest club hope to put the pulse back into riverfront nightlife. After a short run as Club Ripple, which emphasized electronica, Club Atlantis (1204 Old River Road) has expanded its repertoire of dance music to include more popular styles while maintaining its techno niche. “This town just won’t support EDM six,…
Ready to Wear
Nearly 50 area designers reveal their winter clothing lines at today’s Wearable Art Fashion Show & Boutique. It begins with a bazaar of handmade jackets, hats, and jewelry by Nagada, Three Goddesses, and others. Shoppers can then enjoy lunch while Ursuline College students work the catwalk in some of the season’s new fashions. “I just…
Glenn Danzig
Best known for incredibly catchy punk songs about murder and monsters, Glenn Danzig is the only alumnus of hardcore’s old school to land an album at No. 1 on Billboard’s classical album chart — 1993’s Black Aria. More sophisticated and eclectic, Black Aria II is wonderfully eerie. Inspired by the apocryphal tale of Lilith (Adam’s…
Capsule reviews of current area theater presentations.
Burn This — There are times when performers are called upon to surmount extraordinary obstacles, as happened to the Charenton group when their opening-night playing space was yanked out from under them by city functionaries. Undaunted, they transplanted this remarkable show to a different location in a couple of hours and turned in an astonishing…
Deicide
How evil is Deicide? Sure, the group’s name is Latin for killing God. And sure, it’s one of the longest-running bands in the genre; formerly known as Carnage, and later Amon, it’s been composed of professional blasphemers since 1987. And their feel-good catalog includes odes like “Where Heaven Burns” and “Death to Jesus” (seriously). And…
Dangerous Doo-Wop
Even Toxic Audio members are confused by their moniker. “Nobody understands the name,” says baritone Jeremy James. “I don’t understand the name.” The a cappella vocal quintet mixes jazz standards, improv comedy, and street-corner doo wop. “We want to make sure we’re breaking out of the stereotypical image,” says member Shalisa James. The set list…
Goat
You have probably heard singer-songwriter Goat before. His eccentric “Great Life” was used in a Kia car commercial and the slasher pic I Know What You Did Last Summer. Goat’s the son of Cleveland Indians star third baseman Al Rosen, and like Dad, he’s a dark-horse favorite. His third album, Twisted Heart, features heartfelt songwriting…
Capsule reviews of current area art exhibitions.
NEW Barcelona & Modernity — Instability breeds creativity. Cling to that underlying principle throughout this unique, immense, and also indigestible exhibition examining Barcelona’s 1868-1939 transformation — through war, artistic breakthrough, and social upheaval — from provincial city into cultural capital. Catalonia (the Spanish region that includes Barcelona) built a formidable legacy at that time, with…
Wolf Eyes
Totaling 16 minutes in length, the first three tracks of Wolf Eyes’ Human Animal segue from one movement to the next in the year’s scariest sequence of music. Its terrifying character comes from its quiet — a lulling, lurching stasis signaling impending catastrophe, foreshadowed but never shown. Electronic signals whir through a matrix of quietly…
Killing Time
The Bang & the Clatter’s stage transforms into an interrogation room tonight for the Akron theater troupe’s production of Frozen. Brit Bryony Lavery’s drama centers on an American researcher who brings a murderer face-to-face with the mother of the 10-year-old girl he killed in London 20 years earlier. “You’re not exactly sure what’s going to…
Akron/Family
Left to their unencumbered imaginations, the members of this New York quartet turn in another fearless record. The nine-minute “Blessing Force” opens with a salvo of metal-guitar riffs before shifting into tribal beats, acoustic drone, and a sax-skronk-and-feedback crescendo noisy enough to herald the end times. It’s like simultaneously listening to several different songs that…
Cold as Ice
Ice hockey isn’t for the weak of heart. It’s a bruising, fast-paced game, featuring large sticks, razor-sharp blades, and far too many angry Canadians. Of course, hockey’s scrappy style is exactly why people love the blue-collar sport. For chrissakes, Stanley Cup winners chug Labatt’s out of the trophy during the off-season. If only there were…
Skerik
The sound of tenor saxophonist Skerik’s Syncopated Taint Septet has been tagged a mix of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Frank Zappa, and Charles Mingus. Sample the Seattle seven-piece’s wares, and these associations ring true. The five horns can make like the congenial chatter of a street-corner band, the contentious bark of a Mingus ensemble,…
Heaven on a Half-Shell
Chef Scott’s steamer works overtime today at the 13th annual Parkview Clambake. Hundreds of clams are boiled in an enormous stainless-steel contraption and served to patrons of the blue-collar hangout. If the weather cooperates, owner Norm Plonski will even open the bar’s backyard patio for outside dining. “I guess we do it right, because everybody…
Nikki Sudden
A truthful accounting of the latest Nikki Sudden record seems pointless, especially after his untimely death last summer. Pointless and tinged with regret. After years of lovely sad strumming, his most recent work (including 2004’s Treasure Island) shows Sudden recharged. The handclapping and boot-stomping of “Don’t Break My Soul” and “Empire Blues” not only sound…
Here are the week’s best releases from the pop-culture universe:
CD — Nashville Rebel: Waylon Jennings is a pioneering badass. Everybody from Kid Rock to Wilco has pledged allegiance to the shit-kicking wildman, who died in 2002. This four-disc box compiles nearly a hundred tracks, starting in 1958, when Jennings was part of Buddy Holly’s band. The outlaw anthem “Are You Sure Hank Done It…
River City Tanlines
The members of River City Tanlines hail from a Memphis scuzz-punk scene that has spawned such lo-fi artists as the Oblivians and the Reatards, as well as the Goner label. No doubt critics will be clamoring that the newest Tanlines CD, I’m Your Negative (Dirtnap), is “too rock.” Luckily, lovely Tanlines mastermind Alicja Trout has…
Killer Queens
As a veteran of the Queens of Comedy tour, Sommore knows how relentlessly catty gals can be. “Women are hard on other women,” she says. “A lady can walk into the club looking just perfect. Another woman will check her out from head to toe, turn around and say, ‘The bitch’s toenail polish is chipped.…
Delroy Wilson|John Holt
In the 1960s, America had Berry Gordy (the Motown label) and Phil Spector (Ronettes, Righteous Brothers) as movers, shakers, and shapers of seminal pop music. Meanwhile, Jamaica had Clement Dodd (1931-2004). Dodd’s career spanned ska to rock steady to reggae and had an impact on the early careers of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, the Skatalites,…
Took a Shot
American Dreamz (Universal) Till this, Paul Weitz had a stellar filmography, a career in ascension: American Pie (good), About a Boy (great), In Good Company (absolutely perfect). But this, er, satire about a dumb American president (Dennis Quaid, channeling whassisname) trying to get smart, a cynical wannabe singer trying to get famous on an American…
Xiu Xiu
The only permanent member of the experimental pop duo Xiu Xiu, Jamie Stewart spins character tales in quivering bass and alto. His multifaceted ventures have featured a rotating cast, but lately family ties have proved strongest — cousin Caralee McElroy alternately anchors and sets songs afloat on the latest release. Coming from a band that…
Night Shift
Tonight, the owls, bats, and raccoons will take over the F.A. Seiberling Nature Realm for Creatures of the Nature Realm. It’s a hands-on event that’s sure to engage all five senses of every visitor. You’ll be able to touch raccoon and squirrel pelts, listen to tapes of owls hooting, and — if you’re lucky —…
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
Thug Stories, Bone Thugs’ first outing in four years, finds the frequently feuding quintet pared down to a trio (Krayzie, Layzie, and Wish Bone) and marking time until their big-label reentry on Interscope next year. But this seeming throwaway isn’t, quite. Sure, the hardcore will be disconcerted by the disappearance of the old rapid-fire raps…
Our top DVD picks for the week of October 17:
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season Two (Universal) Anytown USA (Film Movement/Repnet) Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil (Fox) The Big Black Comedy Show (Fox) Big Love: The Complete First Season (HBO) The Break-Up (Universal) Clean, Shaven: The Criterion Collection (Criterion) Feast: Unrated (Weinstein) Frankenhooker (Anthem) Charmed: The Complete Sixth Season (Paramount) C.S.I. New York: The…
Plays for People With ADD
This weekend’s outing, AtTENtion Span: A Festival of 10-Minute Plays, squeezes eight new works — about topics ranging from death to politics — into less than an hour and a half. So, if one really, really sucks, just step out for a smoke. Oct. 19-20, 8 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 21, 3 p.m.
Pops Go the Divas
The Cleveland Pops Orchestra will accompany Three Broadway Divas tonight in a medley of musical-theater classics from the Great White Way. The trio of singers includes Jan Horvath, who starred in the original Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera and the touring cast of Evita. Her “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” is a…
Elephant Bones
Comparing Cleveland to New York won’t fly in some circles, but the trio Elephant Bones channels the rambling nature of Ryan Adams and the darkness of a SoHo pub with accomplished ease. Produced by drummer Ryan Foltz, Boomerang is a tour de force of mid-’90s singer-songwriter college rock; think Steve Poltz backed by careening Posies.…
Tempted by the Fruit of Another
In late summer 2005, Nick Ferrante knew he was onto something big. The past six months had been kind to the third-generation winemaker. Little rain and lots of long, hot days made for healthy, vibrant fruit in Ashtabula County, where Ferrante Winery and Ristorante is a tourist destination. On the vines, the small, greenish-yellow riesling…
Creature Feature
An obsession with Animal Planet prompted Rachel Shansky, an events supervisor at Kent State University, to bring Jack Hanna’s Animals to campus today. “I love watching exotic animals on television,” she says. “I wondered what it would be like to see them in person.” The program comes courtesy of the Columbus Zoo’s Zoomobile team of…
Quick Draw
At the B.K. Smith Gallery’s 48 Hours of Making Art, about 20 artists will paint, sculpt, and probably not sleep a wink for the next two days. While most of this year’s artists are local, folks from Austin, Chicago, and New York City also get in on the action. It’s hard to say what you’ll…
The New Lou Reeds
Comparisons to Pere Ubu dog the New Lou Reeds, but they’re meant as compliments, and they’re not unwarranted. David Thomas himself probably wouldn’t mind being mentioned in the same breath as this postmodern blues trio. The many impatient ears that have found Ubu unlistenable should still give the band a chance, as should Black Keys…
What’s That Smell?
School began this year with a rare commodity for Cleveland’s kids: hope. New CEO Eugene Sanders was making headlines with a shock-and-awe campaign that started as soon as he arrived from Toledo. He whacked most of the district’s top brass. He stopped paying construction contractors millions of dollars in extra fees. He even fired a…
Cancer in the Comics
Like Harvey Pekar’s Our Cancer Year, Marisa Acocella Marchetto’s Cancer Vixen: A True Story details, in comic form, the author’s battle with illness. Unlike Pekar’s 1994 book, Marchetto’s cartoon account doesn’t wallow in its own misery. “You could look at it as a really negative experience, go into the abyss, and never pull yourself out,”…
Mac Daddy
When Lindsey Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975, the California native transformed the lumbering British blues-rock behemoth into a slick pop machine. Rumours sold a gazillion copies, but Buckingham’s influence was best realized on Tusk. Like a coked-up Brian Wilson, Buckingham layered the album with so many sounds that the songs could never be properly…
The Lowdown on High Hopes
Our road trips to new restaurants are fueled with the anticipation of nifty things to eat and drink. But there are other considerations — namely, the way we’re greeted, seated, and treated — that can take the glow off an otherwise pleasant time. So it was with recent visits to Fedeli, Daniel Duplain’s nearly one-year-old…
Batboys Gone Bad
After three preseason games the Cavs are looking far from ready to challenge Detroit and Chicago — or even Milwaukee — in the much-improved Central Division. Does management still insist that LeBron James was a better draft choice than Central Michigan star Chris Kaman, who was available five slots later than “King James” and has…
Tattoo Tour
Singer-songwriter Jake La Botz takes a different approach to touring. Instead of hitting the usual dive bars to promote Graveyard Jones, his new CD, the alt-bluesman will perform at tattoo parlors across the country, including a stop at 252 Tattoo today. La Botz, who grew up in Chicago, first inked himself with a sewing needle…
Let’s Talk About Sex
According to Doug Kirby, kids won’t be so quick to hop in the sack if you talk to them about condoms and birth-control pills. The California research scientist’s 2001 report on preventing teen pregnancy revealed that the teen-pregnancy rate for girls between 15 and 19 plummeted by more than a third from 1990-2000, the result…
Beef Battle
Pierogies and brats may grab all the ink, but corned beef is an equally beloved Cleveland icon — especially judging by the sparring it prompts among fans of competing delis. We recently hit the road to assess some new contenders. Though our findings may not end the war, they will arm you with ammo for…
Bob Ney Jr.
Teenagers may not know much about politics, but at least one Canton teen understands the meaning of public service — the Bob Ney kind. So the 17-year-old called Thomas Chrysler Jeep in Cuyahoga Falls, claiming that he worked for Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic. He said the mayor needed to borrow a car to drive around…
Brick by Brick
At today’s Lego Imagination Day, artists construct impressive structures out of the little multicolored bricks. Everything from a massive castle to a mini-Darth Vader can be made out of the interlocking blocks. Past events have featured scuptures of the Empire State Building and Homer Simpson. You can even build your own Lego monument at several…
Lions, Tigers, and Scares
Lions, Tigers, and Scares At the zoo, kids trick-or-treat with beasts. Sure, trick-or-treating is all right, but nothing beats begging for goodies in the company of wild animals. The Cleveland Metroparks and Akron Zoos’ respective Boo at the Zoo events are now in full swing, and each offers a pumpkin-shaped bucket’s worth of cavity-causing delight.…
Print the Legend
A single photograph, we’re told early on in Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers, can win or lose a war. But sometimes that photo shows us only part of the story, whether it’s the part we don’t want to see — slaughtered villagers at My Lai, tortured prisoners at Abu Ghraib — or the part…
Hitting the Pike
The godfather of the AIDS Taskforce: I must respond to what I believe is one of the greatest lies ever told in your publication. I believe “Friends as Enemies” [October 4] should have been called “Eric Resnick, Enemy of the Gay Community.” His attempt to pit members of the gay community against one another falls…
Greatest Show Gets Even Greater
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth recently received its first overhaul in 50 years. At the 136th edition of the venerable circus, all the action now happens in one ring, rather than the traditional three. “Moms were complaining that their lives were three-ring circuses,” says ringmaster Chuck Wagner. “The last thing…
Green Day
San Francisco jam-band Tea Leaf Green sounds almost exactly like the Grateful Dead. It’s fitting, then, that filmmaker Justin Kreutzmann would shoot a concert film of the group, since his dad was the Dead’s drummer. In May, Justin shot a Tea Leaf Green concert in Colorado — which can be seen in Rock ‘n’ Roll…
The Grand Illusion
If the greatest magicians never reveal their tricks, Christopher Nolan wouldn’t make it past the children’s birthday-party circuit. It’s not that Nolan has anything against the old hocus-pocus, but it’s the practical side of magic that appeals to him most — the nuts-and-bolts explanation behind the seemingly “impossible” feat. Magic lies front and center in…
Coming Zune
“Wicked!” exclaims Richard Winn at the Bumbershoot music festival in Seattle. He adds, “That’s weird — I got goosebumps on that one,” referring to the French band Nouvelle Vague. He then pulls up the sleeve of his blue sweat jacket to prove it. The bubbly 42-year-old British expatriate is such a fanatic that he knows…
Let’s Go Dutch
The new CD from electronic-dance maven Ferry Corsten can be interpreted two ways. Its title, L.E.F. , technically stands for Loud Electronic Ferocious. But as the DJ and producer from Rotterdam points out, lef also means guts in Dutch. “I needed this album to be strong,” he says. Corsten is best known in club circles…
Shoegazing Revisited
On their debut album, Carnavas, Los Angeles’ Silversun Pickups recall ’90s shoegazers such as My Bloody Valentine. Fuzzy guitars, hazy vocals, and melodies that float miles above the atmosphere collide in a cloud of ambient indie rock, grounded in the celebration of such earthly joys as sex and drugs. On “Little Lover’s So Polite,” singer…
Maritime
Davey von Bohlen will kill you with kindness, if you let him. As the vocalist and guitarist of Maritime, his earnest disposition tugs on tender adulthood affections, and thankfully, he does it without being trite. He brings drummer Dan Didier, a former Promise Ring bandmate, and ex-Dismemberment Plan bassist Eric Axelson along for the ride.…
French Confection
Drop-dead hip or cluelessly clueless? Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, a candy-colored portrait of France’s infamous teen queen, is a graceful, charming, and sometimes witty confection — at least for the first hour. The famously shy Coppola may be an inscrutable personality, but her bold exposé of backstage royalty opens with a big wink and a…
Grammar Rock
Karen O is laughing. It’s a throaty sound, but light, even melodious — not far removed from the slyly unpredictable, declamatory style that has helped transform the former Karen Lee Orzolek into, if not a household name, at least an alt-rock goddess in her role as the leggy fashion plate fronting the Yeah Yeah Yeahs,…
Hasta la Vista, Cavities
Good thing Bobby Jay has an arsenal of funny voices and sound effects at his disposal. As a busy comic on the cruise-ship circuit, he performs for a lot of non-English-speaking audiences. “They look at me like I should have subtitles,” he says. Jay’s stateside shows are packed with more than a hundred pop-culture impressions…
Beatallica
Beatallica could be the world’s finest live mash-up band, gloriously pouring Beatles lyrics into Metallica songs — and vice versa. In a hilarious and skillfully executed collision of classic rock and classic metal, “Got to Get You Into My Life” and “Trapped Under Ice” become the oddly perky “Got to Get You Trapped Under Ice.”…
The Harder They Come
The sex is real in John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus; only the setting — an animated New York cityscape, benignly watched over by a fluorescent Statue of Liberty — is fake. To an extent, that describes the movie: a sexually daring, dramatically timid roundelay that employs unsimulated twosomes, threesomes, and even solos for skin flute in…
Light Fingers, Heavy Fines
Parents, be warned! Children, watch out! A new scourge sweeping the country threatens to seduce innocent music fans into a life of crime! It starts with something as simple as a catchy new pop song, and it ends in federal prison. It goes by the name of “illegal guitar tablature,” and the devil himself spawned…
