More Urban Agriculture Progress in Cleveland
As many of the area’s new urban farmers have testified, it’s not easy jumping through the hoops to get a large-scale agricultural project going in Cleveland. After seeing the complex juggling involved in getting the six-acre Ohio City Farm up and running this summer, we were a little skeptical when we heard that a new…
Voter Turnout Smaller Than Excpected
No you didn’t. Well Cuyahoga County, you obviously didn’t take Lee Fisher seriously. On Sunday the Dem’s Senate candidate told the crowd assembled at the Wolstein Center that nothing less than the fate of the planet rested on the local turnout. But according to the Plain Dealer, not many people went to the polls today.…
News Flash: Almost Half of OSU Students Don’t Finish In 4 Years
Ultimate or class? Or drinking? So, how exactly is this good news? Ohio State University says 78 percent of its student body is getting out of school in six years. 53 percent are wrapping things up in the standard four year run. Is it really a big deal that students are getting out in six?…
CavFanatic Jerseys for 2010-2011
Even though the Cavs haven’t officially unveiled this design yet, images of the supposed 2010-2011 CavFanatic jerseys have been floating around message boards, so what they hell, here they are. As for the verdict? Well, what can you say except these are atrocious. Sure, the Cavs couldn’t well ignore the awful black designs forever, and…
Art Thief Hits Willoughby (Or, More Likely, a Metal Thief)
Merchants in Willoughby wanted to court new business by installing a sculpture garden downtown. What they’ve attracted so far are thieves: Twice last month, pieces were robbed from the Divine District display. The merchants’ association launched its sculpture garden in September, with 23 pieces donated by 14 artists, says Jackie Bertolette, co-owner of My Song…
Guerrilla Art Goes Bye-Bye
Loren Naji’s gigantic wooden orb began to arouse curiosity the moment he brought it to rest at the base of the Detroit Superior Bridge for the Ingenuity Festival. For more than a month, the eight-foot, 3,000-pound sphere remained parked there. “No one told me to take it down,” Naji told us in October. “I guess…
Rat Poison Found in Kid’s Halloween Bag
Not as yummy as Snickers. You hear the horror stories, you listen to the warnings of over-protective parents, but you never believe this crap actually happens. I mean, the worst you can expect your kid to endure on Halloween night is the old lady giving out pennies or the goody-goody mom giving out toothbrushes, right?…
Pic of the Day: The Terminal Tower is Purple for a Reason
November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month and purple is the color for this cause, like pink for breast cancer and blue for prostate cancer, so the Terminal Tower will be resplendent in purple every night for the entire month.
Rosanne Cash Calls John Boehner an Asshat
He’s a tan asshat though. Ever-orange John Boehner has been making plenty of speeches lately in preparation for today’s elections and in them he’s said plenty of crap, but one line has drawn the ire of Johnny Cash’s daughter. As Gawker points out, the line is dumb “even by stump-speech standards,” but that hasn’t stopped…
Cleveland Asks Ohio EPA to Lighten Restrictions on Brownfields
The City of Cleveland has asked the Ohio EPA to reduce cleanup requirements for groundwater emissions. A pending application would declare the entire city an “urban setting,” which basically gives the city a pass on cleanup because nobody’s drinking water directly from the land. So far, 20 percent of the city already bears that distinction.…
Pic of the Day: Fugitive With Awful Beard
First, the serious part of this story: Jeremy Shirazi escaped from police custody today and is on the loose. Be on the lookout. Second, you’ll be able to tell Shirazi apart because he is apparently sporting what could be the worst beard we’ve seen in a long time. (Via WOIO)
Don’t Bring Cocaine to the Airport
On the list of things not to bring to the airport, drugs fall somewhere below guns but above mini bottles of shampoo. They are still on the list though. Vincent Brown, a Florida native, either didn’t know or didn’t care because he tried to get some blow through security at the Akron Canton airport a…
Pedro Rodriguez Indicted for Murder
Less than two weeks ago Pedro Rodriguez arrived at ParkOhio Products and allegedly shot Graciela Morales and Eduardo Pupo to death. Today, he was indicted on two counts of murder. Police say that on October 22, Rodriguez shot Morales four times in her car then walked into the factory after swiping her ID and shot…
Casino School Coming to Cleveland
The evolution of the workforce in Northeast Ohio has gone something like this: There were dock workers and steel workers until no one needed dock workers or steel workers anymore. Then there were comfy manufacturing jobs until the economy tanked. Then Clevelanders fell under a category which, though there’s no official name, could be classified…
Ken Lanci Drives a $340,000 Car
The Ken Lanci mobile. The car you drive says a lot about you. A minivan? You’re responsible, with a family, got some kids too, and they likely play soccer. A hybrid? You’re into status, the environment, and telling people about your status and the environment. A broken down 2000 Saturn with no heat, radio, horn,…
Barack and Joe Walk Into a Room: Notes From the Sunday Rally
That’s President Obama, in case you can’t see. They’re wailing at the President, and not in a good way. Three guys up in the middle section of the Wolstein Center: white, mid to late 20s, angry. The President’s only about a minute into his remarks and things are getting awkward here, a mid-air collision between…
Lee Fisher’s LeBron Spoof Commercial
Lee Fisher has taken to making spoof LeBron commercials in the waning moments of his campaign. He gets bonus points for his incredibly cheesy fake tattoo, for the so-bad-it’s-good acting on the court, and for making the effort at all.
One Clevelander’s LeBron Costume (Sorta NSFW)
Well, he went as Dwyane Wade, but there’s a special LeBron James attachment.
Rally for Anthony Sowell’s Murder Victims Tonight
One year ago the nation turned its eyes to a home on Imperial Avenue. By the end of the investigation at Anthony Sowell’s house, 11 bodies would turn up. Tonight, there’s a rally and vigil in front of Cleveland’s house of horrors to remember and honor the victims — the 11 women who died at…
Filming a High School Girls’ Fight Lands Student in Trouble
Where can you order one of these babies? Allen Allan — yes, that’s his name — is a junior at North Olmsted. When he saw two girls fighting in school recently, he did what any other curious, red-blooded male witnessing a catfight would do: he began filming it. Allan then posted the video to Facebook,…
Robert Bonness, Former Cleveland Cop, Arrested for Attempted Rape of a 12-Year-Old
Robert Bonness, 53, is a retired Cleveland cop with 23 years on the job. He now finds himself on the wrong side of the law. Bill Mason’s office says that Bonness replied to a post on Craigslist in July involving a father and a daughter. Little did Bonness know, the poster was really an ICAC…
Pic of the Day: The Last Picture of LeBron at The Q
This is the last remaining image of LeBron James at Quicken Loans Arena. It’s part of the mural out in the main lobby detailing the history of the franchise. Notice that LeBron’s pictured in his Team USA uniform, not a Cavs uniform. Nice touch.
Stella Salamone, Longtime WRUW DJ, Passed Away This Week
Stella Salamone, 1966 -2010 Sad news coming in from Case Western Reserve University’s campus radio station WRUW. 91.1 officials have confirmed that one of the station’s longtime DJs passed away this week. Stella Magee (real name Stella Salamone), one half of the political-punk cocktail Domestic Decay, died unexpectedly on October 27th. No word yet on…
19 Action News’ Scott Taylor Wants To Be a Very Bad Boy
WOIO’s investigate reporter Scott Taylor wants you to know he’s going to be a bad, bad prisoner this weekend. Good for you, Scott. Folks: What are the odds Scott coyly asks his girlfriend to say, “Shame on you, you bad bad prisoner,” this weekend? 2:1?
Vanessa Bayer From Saturday Night Live Made a Pretty Awkward Dating Video Back in the Day
Vanessa Bayer, aka sassy2, made a video for “Dating on Demand” back in the day, circa 2007, in exchange for a gift certificate. At least that’s what the description on the YouTube video says. The current SNL actress and former Clevelander has a lot to say. What do you need to know about Vanessa? Or,…
Corey Bason Arrested For Raping 5-Year-Old Girl
Corey Bason, 20, is in custody and being held on $1 million bond for allegedly raping a 5-year-old girl. Police were called after the victim informed her aunt, who was babysitting that night, that Bason had “pulled her pants down and performed a sexual act.” The aunt informed the child’s mother. Why Bason was in…
Here’s Dennis Kucinich on His High School Football Team
If you’ve never seen this picture before, it’s worth checking out. Guess which one is Dennis?
Matthew Warmus, Cavs Parking Lot Killer, Found Guilty of Murder
Matthew Warmus, the 25-year-old accused of shooting and killing David Williams on April 7 in a parking lot on E. 9th, has been found guilty by a Cuyahoga County jury. After three days of deliberation, some of which was loud and contentious enough to be heard outside the jury room, the twelve jurors decided that…
Fail: Candidates Urge You to Vote on November 4th
Typos and grammatical errors on campaign material aren’t anything new, but rarely are the mistakes as egregious as the ones on a flier distributed by Zack Milkovich, an Ohio State House candidate, and Frank Comunale, a candidate for Ohio State Senate. Election day, of course, is November 2, not November 4. And early voting began…
Matthew Trakas Arrested for Exposing Himself to Teens
“Dude, where’s yout shirt? And your pants?” Matthew Trakas was arrested for waving at the neighborhood kids — waving, but not with his hands. According to the Chronicle-Telegraph, the 41 year-old Elyria man had a habit of getting down to buck and standing before his full-length glass front door while the kids walked home from…
Man Asks Cops For His Pot Back, They Politely Decline
A man in Chagrin Falls encountered a double dose of buzzkill recently when a neighbor and the cops joined forces to put a damper on his recreational ganja use. The trouble started when an elderly neighbor called police because the suspect had been “continually stinking up the building with the skunk-like smell of marijuana.” Well,…
Marc Garofoli, Cuyahoga County Bailiff, Arrested for DUI
Now we all know who you are. 19 Action News has the story of Marc Garofoli, a bailiff for Cuyahoga County Probate Judge Anthony Russo, and his arrest for DUI last night. It’s your run-of-the-mill DUI case for the most part: a cop spotted Garofoli weaving and speeding on I-480, pulled him over, and went…
Pic of the Day: World’s Longest Snake Dies
It’s giving us the heeby-jeebies just writing this — we’ve got a little… OK, huge fear of snakes — but we’ll soldier through. Fluffy, the world’s longest snake according to Guinness World Records, died Tuesday at the Columbus Zoo, where she lived since 2007. She was 24-feet long, 300-pound, 18-year-old reticulated python. (Via CNN)
Group Uses LeBron James in Attack Ad on Candidate
If you didn’t think there was any way to connect LeBron James, Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, guns, concealed weapons laws, and crime, you’d be wrong. Because in Ohio, there’s no better way to sully your opponents reputation than by comparing him to LeBron, even if the comparison makes zero sense. Americans United for Safe…
Afternoon Brew: Smoking Tax, Smart Clevelanders, Ad Blitz, and Maxwell Returns
A pile of money for the arts! Good afternoon, Cleveland. Here’s some stuff to read while you pretend that you’re really still interested in the Cavs. — The Daily Beast ranked the smartest cities in America and Cleveland came in at number 17, up from the 31st spot it claimed last year. We’re not entirely…
George Steinbrenner: Bay Village a “Hicksville Town”
Not a fan of Bay Village. A lovely old lady named Mary Jane Schriner has nearly two dozen letters that a young George Steinbrenner wrote to her back in the day. The AP has previously reported that the New York Yankees are preventing her from publishing them in a book, but that hasn’t stopped her…
Cleveland to Sue Cleveland Clinic Over Trauma Center
The outrage over the Cleveland Clinic’s decision to close two trauma centers doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. Mayor Frank Jackson said today that Cleveland and East Cleveland plan on suing the Clinic over the closure of the trauma center at Huron Hospital, according to NewsNet5.That news comes days after a rally was staged…
Dan Gilbert Backtracks on Spilling LeBron Dirt
All heart, that Dan Gilbert. When Dan Gilbert fired off his scathing and passionate open letter to Cleveland following LeBron’s decision, there was one section in particular that had people talking. There is so much more to tell you about the events of the recent past and our more than exciting future. Over the next…
Buzzkill of the Week: A Gluten-Free Halloween
Journalists sometimes have to break hearts for the sake of public service. Courtesy of Channel 3: Just when you finally convinced little Johnny and Jane they were just like all the other kids despite the Celiac’s, Halloween comes around and you have to try to explain why we can’t keep that King-Sized Snickers. The station…
Four Loko Invented By Ohio State Grads
Four Loko, the highly caffeinated high-alcohol-content adult beverage du jour on college campuses these days, was invented by a trio of Ohio State grads. Go figure. Four Loko’s been in the news lately after nine college kids in Washington were taken to the hospital with severe alcohol poisoning after chugging a bunch of Four Loko.…
Cloud Nine
Dylan Baldi is a music digger, one of those kids who searches obsessively on websites and at record stores for new tunes. He’s vague about his actual sources, but you get the impression that he gets his favorite new low-fi records from an obscure noise blog written by some kid in Idaho or maybe from…
Trick or Treat?
Halloween: the time of year when most of us can break out of our daily grind by slapping on a rubber mask for a party or handing out Smarties to a bunch of kids dressed like Iron Man. This weekend, a bunch of local musicians will work out their rock & roll fantasies by playing…
A Cut Above the Rest
Saw 3-D, the seventh movie in the series about a serial killer with the most gruesomely awesome torture machines you’ve ever seen, comes out on Friday. Before you head to the theater for the franchise’s first 3-D outing (we can’t wait for a limb or two to leap off the screen and into our lap),…
Skimming the Surface
One of the joys of immersing yourself in a good book or a great play is the opportunity to lose track of yourself. You become so involved with another person’s life or culture that it feels a bit strange when you exit that experience and have to readjust to living your own life again. That…
Stay In!
TOP PICK — DVD Psycho: 50th Anniversary Edition (Universal) One of the best movies ever made — and still one of the scariest — finally comes to Blu-ray in this special anniversary set. Extras include everything from trailers to an interview with director Alfred Hitchcock to a complete breakdown of the shower scene. The remastered…
Concerts? Concerts!
GREG LASWELL Who’d have guessed that a prime-time soap opera about young, pretty, horny, and neurotic doctors would turn out to be such a cultural watershed? Not only did Grey’s Anatomy give Katherine Heigl’s booming career a leg-up, it also jolted singer-songwriter Greg Laswell out of obscurity. Not that he’d be completely unknown without the…
A Touch of Class
About eight years ago, British singer Helen Welch (helenwelch.com) was skiing in the French Alps when she met “a man from Cleveland.” She fell “head over in heels in love” and moved to Northeast Ohio to marry the guy. She quickly made friends with local jazz and classical musicians. “The arts scene is remarkably good…
CD Review: JONAH KOSLEN
Michael Stanley Band and Breathless alum Jonah Koslen handpicked the 15 songs on this live compilation, plundering the vaults for tracks that span his 35-year career. Some originate from Coffee Break Concerts he played at the Agora; others dip into concerts from the old Coliseum. Strike Up the Band kicks off with the Koslen-penned title…
On Stage This Week
An Ideal Husband — The Great Lakes Theater crew spins Oscar Wilde’s witticisms into a seamless symphony of laughter. Set in the hot-house environment of elegant London society, the play is mixed with just enough social relevance to give the whole enterprise more heft than you might expect. (Howey) Presented by the Great Lakes Theater…
Good Sports
John Owen and Dave Rudiger have a knack for transforming overlooked pieces of property into buzz-worthy neighborhood gems. Three years ago the partners gutted a forgotten pizza parlor and rebuilt it as the chic little eatery Wine Bar Rocky River. More recently, the pair worked their magic on a former municipal impound lot, of all…
On View This Week
DAN TRANBERG Dan Tranberg is still making close-up abstractions that make you wonder what exactly it is you’re looking at, but his recent work in acrylic on paper seems to have taken a turn that’s part origami, part M.C. Escher. Planes of painted color intersect to look like folded paper constructions, with color and texture…
Bites: An Interview With Brian Okin
Chef Brian Okin of Verve (1332 Carnegie Ave., 216-664-5500) recently hosted a culinary experiment at his restaurant called “Dinner in the Dark.” He and co-founding chefs Jeff Jarrett (of North End in Hudson) and Scene’s newly crowned Best New Chef, Ellis Cooley (of Amp 150), rounded up a few friends and threw an eight-course dinner…
CD Review: ELTON JOHN/LEON RUSSELL
Forty years ago, when Elton John was making his U.S. debut at a Los Angeles club, popular session man and songwriter Leon Russell was in the audience, cheering him on. These days, John’s level of fame is beyond quantifying while Russell has become a footnote in the rock & roll history books. John pays tribute…
At the Arthouse
Let the Right One In The recent U.S. remake Let Me In didn’t do all that well at the box office, which is a shame, because it’s a faithful and pretty good re-creation. Here’s your chance to see the original 2008 Swedish version on the big screen as part of the Cinematheque’s Halloween-week schedule. Let…
CD Review: BRYAN FERRY
When you’re as timelessly stylish as Bryan Ferry, why even bother to change? On his first album of new material in eight years, the suave singer enlists some help from relative youngsters Scissor Sisters and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, but mostly he falls back on old habits — even collaborating with former Roxy Music bandmates Brian…
The Emperor’s Old Clothes
It all started with four words uttered by a man named Patches:”Shit, I’ll wear anything.” It’s mid-September and Gus Garcia-Roberts is conducting an experiment on the streets of Miami. The former Scene staffer and current Miami New Times scribe has strayed just a few hundred feet from the King’s new castle: American Airlines Arena, home…
CD Review: Liz Phair
Liz Phair established a career’s worth of indie cred with her 1993 debut, Exile in Guyville. She hasn’t quite lived up to that swaggering estrogen-and-profanity-laced chick-rock manifesto masterpiece, but her sixth album features her most freewheeling and uninhibited set of songs since then. Funstyle kicks off with the one-two punch of “Smoke” and “Bollywood” —…
Sister of Mercy
“Justice is like a train that is nearly always late,” wrote the Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Few are more aware of its delayed arrival than the people who sit in prisons, wait on death row, or are serving life sentences for crimes they didn’t commit. Since 1989, 259 wrongfully convicted people in the U.S. have…
CD Review: THE GHOST OF A SABER TOOTH TIGER
The music on the Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger’s debut album — mostly wispy folk and delicate pop — comes naturally. Of course, growing up the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono will do that. Sean Lennon and his girlfriend Charlotte Kemp Muhl recorded Acoustic Sessions in their living room, and the sound…
Film Capsules
Buried (R) — What do you get when you give an artful director 95 minutes of real time, one actor, a coffin, and a handful of props? The answer is a mostly realistic, mostly engrossing art-thriller that zeroes in on Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds), an American truck driver doing contract work in Iraq. After his…
Get Out!
Wednesday, October 27 <pCAVALIER BASKETBALL Time to Rise Up Again It’s been a few years, but you remember how this works: You show up to see your basketball team give its best and to find out whether that’s good enough. No more big-star sideshow, no more degrading adoration . . . no more standing around…
We Get Mail
IN THE SHADOW OF JAMES BROWN I really enjoyed the story “Soul Brother No. 2” [September 15, 2010], sad as it was. R.J. Johnson was connected with one of the biggest names in music, and with all the local talent in Cleveland, it seems someone should be able to connect him with something better. There…
