Goldilocks Gets a DUI
All DUIs are created equally in so much as you should never drink and drive. In terms of entertainment, however, not all DUIs stand on equal ground. Via the Bay Village police blotter, our second costumed DUI incident from Halloween weekend: OVI, LAKE ROAD: Police stopped a car on Lake Road near Columbia Road Oct.…
Issues With Issue 3
With Election Day looming, all the hubbub has been about Issue 2 — the proposed repeal of Senate Bill 5, which affects public union negotiating. Much less has been said about Issue 3, but it could have just as great an impact on Ohio — especially on the state Supreme Court’s docket and the billable…
Shaq: LeBron Never Listened to Mike Brown
Shaq has an autobiography coming out and excerpts have started to pop up across the web. Most of them have to do with Kobe and L.A., but the latest one focuses on Shaq’s one season in Cleveland. Coincidentally, that one season would also be LeBron’s last season. And the breaking news from Shaq: LeBron never…
The Quality of Cleveland Life Report
Your guide to living in fabulous Cleveland. Ellen’s Degenerates: Cuyahoga Council favors moving meetings from 6 p.m. to 3 p.m. President C. Ellen Connally notes, “The fewer members of the public who can attend, the better. Did I say that out loud? Wait. What I meant to say was they’re stupid. Wait …” Let Them…
Movieland Museum May Not Open This Year, May Leave Cleveland
Leg lamps may dominate the holiday-tour circuit around town. But another local venture has quietly gathered the world’s largest collection of Christmas-themed movie memorabilia. It’s called the “Holly”wood Christmas Movieland Museum, and in recent years it’s shared billing with the Christmas Story House on Lolly the Trolley’s annual holiday tours. Movieland features more than 400…
Concert Review: New Found Glory at House of Blues
After Blink-182’s highly publicized return recently, it’s easy to forget that their former tourmates and fellow pop-punks New Found Glory never really went anywhere. The Florida quintet has been playing the same fast-paced music for 15 years, which they made abundantly clear when their Pop Punk’s Not Dead Tour stopped at House of Blues last…
Afternoon Brew: Peyton Hillis No Shows Charity Event, Stolen Vodka, Scared of Virgin Mary, and CMSD Official Resigns
Good afternoon, Cleveland. Here’s some stuff to read while you turn Jesus toward the wall because you think might get lucky tonight. — “The total value of the two bottles of vodka was $7.98.” You’re eying the wrong score, my thirsty friend. (WOIO) — “The thief turned a statue of the Virgin Mary to face…
Democrats Launch Petition Drive to Repeal New Congressional Map
The agenda of the current general assembly and Governor John Kasich is proving to be really, really unpopular. The Ohio Democratic Party announced today that it is launching an unprecedented third repeal referendum petition drive since May. Following the successful campaigns to place SB 5, which limits union collective bargaining, and HB 194, which creates…
Two Ghosts Have Sex In This Woman’s House, or That’s Just Some Weird Light, One of the Two
It’s sweeps week, which means all the local TV news-gathering organizations and newsplexes are pumping out their most tawdry, scandalous material during the late-night broadcasts. 19 Action News had housewives who moonlight as ghost hunters. (!) WKYC had… um… we fell asleep a little just looking at headlines on their site, so we’re not sure.…
Ohio State Study Says Freshman 15 Bogus
Consider this myth popped. We’re not sure if this news is going to comfort or confound some fragile teenage psyches, but here we go: There’s no such things as the Freshman 15, that fabled weight gain we’ve all been told comes from dining hall ice cream dinners, post-bong session munchies, sleeping till noon, late night…
New Cloud Nothings Album Coming in January
One of Cleveland’s best bands, Cloud Nothings, will release their second album at the beginning of the new year. Frontman Dylan Baldi expands his sonic template on Attack on Memory, which comes out on January 24. Like he did with last year’s self-titled record, Baldi recorded the album in a real studio, rather than using…
Dimora Judge Not a Fan of Scene
“Wait, can I grab my copy of Scene before you take me away?” As we told you earlier, Judge Lioi denied Jimmy Dimora’s request of a change of venue for his upcoming corruption trial. Dimora’s lawyers had argued that media coverage has been unflattering and prejudicial to the prospective jury pool. Lioi said not so…
‘Occupy Strongsville’ is a Lonely Movement
There’s Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Cleveland, Occupy Canton, and rallies with protesters in plenty of big cities across America and Ohio. The Occupy movement in suburbs, however, can be sparse if existent at all. Take Strongsville, for instance, where we never knew there was an Occupy Strongsville protest until we read this police blotter item…
Cuyahoga County Released “Dirty Dozen” List of Top Tax Delinquents
The message is pretty clear here. There’s nothing like a little public shaming to get people to fulfill their duties as tax payers. That’s the thinking today behind a move on the part of Cuyahoga County’s new government under Executive Ed FitzGerald. This morning the office blasted out of list of the county’s top delinquent…
Ohio Man Gets Two DUIs in One Night
26-year-old Robert Huber pulled off a unique and dangerous feat Sunday morning: two DUIs in less than four hours. The Morning Journal brings the derelict details. It’s easier to start at the end, when Huber was pulled over a 4 a.m. in a Jeep Grand Cherokee. When coppers came to the window, they noticed the…
Video: Rush Live in Cleveland From Upcoming DVD
Rush’s upcoming concert DVD, Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland, will be released on November 7, just in time for holiday shopping. The show and tour celebrated the 30th anniversary of Moving Pictures, which Rush performed from start to finish at each stop. Below, a clip from the DVD. “Working Man.” Enjoy. brightcove.createExperiences(); (Via Music…
Jimmy Dimora’s Lawyer Wants Trial Moved Out of Northeast Ohio (Updated)
Update: A federal judge yesterday denied Jimmy Dimora’s request to move his upcoming corruption trial out of Northeast Ohio after his lawyers argued that saturated, unflattering media coverage would prejudice the jury pool and create a media carnival. Via the PD: Lioi described the majority of the newspaper articles about Dimora as unflattering and sometimes…
Afternoon Brew: Ohio Millionaires Hurting, Questionable Church Literature, Prosecutor Candidate Rundown, and Sowell House Coming Down
Good afternoon, Cleveland. Here’s some stuff to read while you feel sorry for former millionaires. — A report says the recession is hurting Ohio’s millionaires. The dozenaires have been hit pretty hard too. (AP) — If the Halloween comic given out by your local church includes a boy hanging himself and a “mean momma” with…
Zombie Attack Helps Ohio Authorities Practice Response
You may remember earlier this year when the CDC posted a tongue-in-cheek piece explaining how to be prepared for a zombie attack. Yes, funny. They slipped in some practical advice about preparedness for more realistic disaster scenarios among the zombie lines. A spoonful of sugar situation, if you will. For example: Plan your evacuation route.…
Pic of the Day: “The Palace”
Yeah, foreclosures, empty buildings, ruin porn, de-industrialized Cleveland, empty streets, boarded-up windows — it’s all depressing and visited enough. Why one more picture? Eh, this one caught our eye. “The Palace.” How perfect. The pic comes from MetroBlossom’s recent trip to Cleveland. More photos at the link. Credit to photog David Schalliol.
Cuyahoga County Council Favors Moving Meeting Times to Afternoon
Seven of the 11 members of Cuyahoga County Council favor moving the twice-monthly, Tuesday meeting times from 6 p.m. to 3 p.m. We know that because Council President C. Ellen Connally instructed a clerk to take an “email straw poll” of council members, a move which transparency advocates say violates Sunshine laws.The PD reported on…
Missed Connections, Halloween Edition
Craigslist’s Missed Connections are always fun. They’re even more fun at Halloween. Three of our favorite missed connections from this weekend below. To the 4 different girls I saw dressed up as Annie Hall last night – w4w – 32 (Cleveland Ohio) I don’t know why all of a sudden it’s in vogue to be…
Letter: A Criticism of Occupy Cleveland Leaders
Time for another spin through Public Square, our semi-regular feature where readers get to vent. Sometimes that involves calling Scene worthless rag, sometimes it means calling out politicians. Today, a reader explains his issues with Occupy Cleveland leadership. Every group suffers from infighting on some level. It looks like Occupy Cleveland is no different. One…
Afternoon Brew: Couple Gives Away Kid, Turtle Thieves, Rich Lowrie Talks, and Browns Mustaches
Good afternoon, Cleveland. Here’s some stuff to read while you pretend mustaches are really magic enough to help the Browns beat the Niners on Sunday. — If you’re a cracked-out couple and you give away a toddler to a stranger, you have to expect some trouble. (NewsNet5) — A couple stole a $300 turtle from…
Plain Dealer Obviously Didn’t Pay Attention to Ed FitzGerald’s Request to Spell His Name Correctly
It was less than a week ago when Ed FitzGerald beamed out a notice to his senior staff that he would no longer sign documents on which they spelled his name incorrectly. It seems they, like all of us, forget to capitalize that pesky G every once in awhile. The PD covered the story and…
A Reminder to Obey Road Work Signs
Sometimes beyond those “Road Closed” signs there’s no actual road work going on and no reason why you can’t drive through. Sometimes, however, there’s freshly poured cement. A visual reminder from a driver who lost that 50-50 proposition, courtesy of the Morning Journal, below.
Steven Barrett, Local Arts Guru Accused of Filming Roommates in Shower, Pleads Guilty (Updated)
Update: Steven Barrett was sentenced yesterday to seven years in prison. (19 Action News) *** In June we brought you the disturbing story of Steven Barrett, a name that until this spring had only found its way into our column inches as a regular on the city’s music and arts scenes. That all changed, however,…
Suburban Cleveland Poverty Highlighted by New York Times
To look around Northeast Ohio, the poorest areas seem easy to pick out. Cleveland, East Cleveland, the near-west side of Cleveland come to mind, all beset by increasing poverty levels, foreclosures, declining employment bases. Places like Westlake, Strongsville, Mayfield Heights, meanwhile, retain the illusion of happy middle class life with picket fences and trimmed lawns.…
Alleged Cockfighting Ring Busted in Medina (Updated)
Update: Prosecutors filed charges yesterday against Dale Lind, the Medina County man whose property was home to an alleged cockfighting ring according to the Medina SPCA. The early October raid and seizure of a menagerie of animals, including chickens and roosters, led to the charges which include one for cockfighting, one for possession of criminal…
Marissa Kingery, Elyria Teen, Dies After Trip to Dentist (Updated)
Update III: $1 million is the final settlement between the family of Marissa Kingery, the 13-year-old who died during a routine dental procedure, and the insurance company for Henry Mazorow, the now-retired dentist who performed the sedation. According to the Chronicle Telegram: Marissa’s parents, Amber McEwen of Elyria and Jason Kingery of Sheffield Lake, each…
Bounty Hunter
“The book is hopeless,” Hunter S. Thompson wrote about his semi-autobiographical novel The Rum Diary, which went unpublished until 1998. Even so, this zesty adaptation, with Hunter protege Johnny Depp as journalist Paul Kemp, is the best Thompson adaptation to hit the screen. Kemp, a hard-drinking but idealistic newspaperman, lands at a failing San Juan…
Corrections Officer Charged With Raping Man, Woman (Updated)
Update:James Belle was found guilty of raping a male inmate under his watch at the Cleveland House of Corrections. He’ll be sentenced November 3. (19 Action News) *** Meet James Belle, asshole of the week. 19 Action News reports that Bell, a corrections officer at the Cleveland House of Corrections, is facing two charges of…
Powering Up at AMP 150
It’s been almost five months since Jeff Jarrett took over as top toque at Amp 150. In that time, he’s kept a pretty low profile — at least, as low as possible for a guy running the enormous kitchen at the Cleveland Airport Marriott. Now though — armed with a new website, plans for a…
Bowling Green Knows How to Promote Its New Arena
Are we late to the party on this? Yes. Do we care? No. We’re sure there’s plenty of you that haven’t seen this BGSU gem yet, and it’s worth rewatching again if you have.
Wife Wants Rescued Exotic Animals Back (Updated)
Update II: Nevermind. As one might have suspected, the state was going to do something to make sure this didn’t happen. Per 10TV: “BREAKING: Ohio Dept. of Agriculture issues a quarantine on exotic animals, meaning they must stay at Columbus Zoo.” *** Update: The six rescued animals from the Zanesville exotic animal mess have been…
Hudson Mayoral Candidate Doesn’t Have an Actual Ph.D. Per Se
The Hudson mayoral race has generally been about anything but the issues. While personal attacks are part of most political campaigns, the race in Hudson provided enough of that petty carnage that coverage now includes headlines like this: “Controversy aside, Hudson mayoral candidates have addressed some traditional issues.” Always good to fit in some actual…
Parma Man Doesn’t Remember Shooting Himself
Sleeping pills are a helluva drug, especially when you combine them with alcohol. Drug companies are open about this, which is why commercials say stuff like, “Do not take Ambien if you have been drinking, and do not operate heavy machinery. In fact, just remain on your bed if you take one. And don’t even…
Afternoon Brew: Joe the Plumber Could Win, $5,000 in Dimes, #RapeStow, and the Third Street Bridge Debacle
Good afternoon, Cleveland. Here’s some stuff to read while you pretend that you totally don’t pick up loose change off the street. — Esquire’s political writer, the great Charles Pierce, thinks Joe the Plumber could actually become Joe the Congressman. That is scary. (Esquire) — A Brink’s armored truck accidentally spilled $5,000 worth of dimes…
Man in Tinky Winky Costume Gets a DUI
Ah, Halloween, the time of year when every bizarre crime that finds a home here at Scene & Heard is populated by bizarre criminals wearing costumes. Fun times. We have our first entry. Via the West Shore Sun and Bay Village: A man was pulled over on Columbia early in the morning of October 23…
Meeting About East Cleveland’s Traffic Cameras and Layoffs Includes ‘Rocky’ Music and Cardboard Cut-Out of Mayor (Updated)
Update: Fox 8 reports that Tuesday night off-duty East Cleveland officers took to knocking on doors and speaking to residents to stump for the upcoming vote on the city’s traffic cameras. The mayor has already said that the cameras are such a cash cow for East Cleveland that if voters decide to get rid of…
Film Capsules
Puss in Boots (PG) Shrek may have closed the book on his final chapter last year, but his furry friends are still around to keep the lucrative franchise alive. The first spinoff stars the swashbuckling cat (voiced by Antonio Banderas), who’s on a quest for some magic beans and to redeem himself for some mistakes…
Local Band in Focus
Meet the Band: Joey Nix (vocals and guitar), Aaron Beck (bass and vocals), and Drew Siegel (drums and vocals) A Load of Crap: Nix says the band was named after his rusty old 1994 GMC Jimmy truck, which he sold sohe could buy a Vox amplifier. He claims the soul of the truck still lives…
CD Review: Cereal Banter
(cerealbanter.com) You’ll most likely have questions after listening to the new album by Cereal Banter: questions like How much pot is left? and Where am I? Imagine 30 minutes with a strobe light taped to your face. Lights Lights Lights starts with an assembly of pitchy murmurs and jarring synthetic harmonies calling you into the…
Chinese Buffet
American students may learn of the brutal material realities of 20th-century China, but rarely do they hear of the internal conflict between ancestral loyalties and desire for modernization and recognition on the world stage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, in conjunction with the Nanjing Museum, reveals one artist’s efforts to define his national identity in…
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
The 2011 edition of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s annual American Music Masters series kicks off on Monday, and this year it’s paying tribute to one of the greatest voices of all time: Aretha Franklin. The five-day event — which includes a mix of historical, scholarly, cultural, and of course musical programs —…
Art Listings
Akron Art Museum: Reviewing the View The Akron Art Museum aims to beat nature at its own game in three new exhibitions exploring historic and contemporary interpretations of landscape art. First, Landscapes From the Age of Impressionism presents more than 50 impressionistic paintings by French and American artists, including Claude Monet and Willard Metcalf. In…
Contact High
There are way too many bearded folkies holing up in cabins deep in the woods to make records these days. Either that or they’re decking out the studio to sound like they were holed up in a cabin deep in the woods. But only Blitzen Trapper could truly pass themselves off as a band from…
At the Arthouse This Week
The Last Circus A happy clown and a sad clown square off against each other for the love of an acrobat, who also happens to be the abused wife of the happy clown. This surreal new movie by Álex de la Iglesia, who directed The Day of the Beast, was a hit at the Venice…
Savage Love
Needs a Good Beating Dear Dan: My boyfriend and I are in college and doing the long-distance thing until June 2013. Over the years, he’s granted me increasing amounts of freedom to be intimate with women — I’m female and date women while we’re apart — but I still don’t have full autonomy. It’s much…
Liquoring Up
Tom Herbruck never intended to expand his Bainbridge micro-distillery. He was perfectly happy focusing solely on his fine Ohio apple brandy, Tom’s Foolery, which sells out as fast as he can make it. Then again, he never expected to meet members of bourbon royalty and learn about an historic bourbon still system. “I wasn’t looking…
Running on Empty
Go to any museum and you’ll find displays of beautifully crafted bowls. Even though they’re empty, they’re still remarkable works of art. So it is with David Mamet’s Race, now at Beck Center. Well-shaped by both Mamet and the cast, this play seems to have substantial heft. It ignites sparks onstage, and its ideas ricochet…
CD Review: Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson has gotten a free pass ever since music snobs realized that, yeah, Pet Sounds is pretty fucking amazing. That means his Christmas album, his reworking of the lost Beach Boys album Smile, and his recent dives into the Great American Songbook were all greeted with nearly universal acclaim despite their many flaws. Maybe…
Take Your Pill
S cene’s recent report that Medical Mart and Convention Center general manager Brian Casey is refocusing the project away from medical sales floors and toward medical education understandably sparked surprise and confusion around town. But it is a mistake to view the potential new direction as a decision project developer MMPI made on the sly…
Concert Calendar
Joe Bonamassa With all the recent hoopla surrounding blues-rock singer-songwriter Joe Bonamassa, you may be surprised to hear that the 34-year-old, New York-born guitarslinger had to go to Europe to make it big before his career exploded here. His 2009 CD/DVD Live From the Royal Albert Hall is a perfect intro, showing him at his…
Stage Listings
At the Play House: Daddy Long Legs Cleveland Play House continues its inaugural season in the Allen Theatre with a musical love story in the tradition of Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott. Created by John Caird (Les Miserables) and Paul Gordon (Jane Eyre) — and based on a 1912 best-seller by Jean Webster that…
Meet the Competition
For those first 20 years,Michael Brown never had problems getting a job. Perhaps it was his unfailingly polite demeanor. Maybe it was the put-together vibe he exuded, with his ever-present wire-framed glasses and the crisp clothes he wore even on casual days. Brown looked every bit the part of a disciplined, get-it-done type of guy.…
CD Review: Tom Waits
From the steampunk-sax honk that opens “Chicago,” Tom Waits’ first album in seven years comes on like a locomotive heading straight into no-man’s noir territory. Waits even yells “all aboard!” like a caffeine-fueled conductor leading passengers to their one-way destinations. In other words, it’s business as usual for the boozy, bloozy singer-songwriter on his 17th…
CD Review: Deer Tick
John McCauley has this chameleon-like ability to inhabit any genre he dives into — whether folk, country, or straight-up rock & roll. On Deer Tick’s fourth album, the singer and songwriter turns his band loose, bringing their live-show intensity to the studio and giving the album an amps-to-11 swagger and squall. From the opening sonic…
Get Out!
Thursday | 27 Greg Fitzsimmons at Hilarities He Loves Hecklers Hecklers? Bring ’em on. Comic Greg Fitzsimmons doesn’t mind. In fact, he actually enjoys their antics. “I love them,” he says. “[They’re] dynamic and bring out what I consider to be my strengths — improvising and humiliating jackasses!” Jackasses aside, Fitzsimmons, a frequent guest on…
Home Movies
Jurassic Park: Ultimate Trilogy (Universal) Steven Spielberg made the first two Jurassic Park movies around the same time he was directing two of his most personal, intense, and best films, Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. The thrilling dinosaur epics served as escapist contrasts to the brutal real-world atrocities of his World War II dramas.…
Stay In!
TOP PICK – BOOK The Joker: A Visual History of the Clown Prince of Crime (Universe) Batman’s arch nemesis is one of the all-time great comic-book villains. He’s also one of the sickest. This terrific book chronicles the Joker’s twisted path, from his first appearance in 1940 to Heath Ledger’s brilliant take in The Dark…
Slow Burn
It was 10 years ago almost to the day that I first discovered Phil Davis and his trademark chicken and waffles. I had been on the food beat for all of one month when I paid a visit to Phil the Fire, then a “pop-up” Sunday brunch that took place in a rented church basement.…
A Sort of Homecoming
The first movie Tyler Davidson produced was the 2002 drama The Year That Trembled, a coming-of-age story set at Kent State University in 1970. Not too many people saw it, and those who did weren’t all that impressed. His latest, Take Shelter, is having no such problems filling up theater seats or picking up buzz.…
Apocalypse Pow
The looming, unshakeable dread that hangs over Take Shelter starts with the opening scene: Leaves rustle in the wind as gray skies dump oily, rust-colored rain on Curtis LaForche, a 35-year-old Ohio sand-mine manager with a loving wife, a deaf daughter, and the usual blue-collar problems of not having enough money to go around. The…
We Get Mail
One Thing Never Changes The unfortunate reality is that the geniuses behind the Med Mart project have never particularly cared whether or not it worked [“Med Mart Version 2.0,” September 28, 2011]. Whether the facility is profitable — or even useful — is irrelevant to the Greater Cleveland Partnership, Positively Cleveland, and their corporate enablers.…
