Dateline Euclid: Revealing Study Proves Cops Prefer Hot Chicks
A loyal reader told us of a troubling experience that confirms what we’ve always suspected: If you want to get away with shitfaced driving in Cleveland, wear your hot-chick disguise. This particular reader was out partying at Cleveland Heights’ Lopez — home of margaritas strong enough to kill a goat — the night of her…
Breaking News: Cities Are Cool But Kinda Dangerous
This just in from The Plain Dealer: kittens are cute. The PD’s always had a penchant for stating the obvious. But today, the paper snatched their own cake when they smacked Northeast Ohio in the face with a front-page barrage of the widely known. Elizabeth Auger’s report: “Why cities still matter.” The sub-headline: “Proximity to…
Steelers Fans Show Graces, Throw Free Shit at Angelic Browns Girls
Last night, about 30 Steelers fans gathered as always at Panini’s on Coventry to watch Pittsburgh pound Baltimore 38-7. But the Pittsburgh fans had a nasty surprise awaiting them last night: A couple of Browns cheerleader-types were walking through the bar, blocking prime television views and handing out free Browns paraphernalia. Pittsburgh fans, apparently unaware…
The Latest Concert Announcments: All that and then some …
This week, 34 new shows meet your entertainment needs. The serious dude from Blink-182 visits House of Blues with Angels & Airwaves. Blues Gal Big Leg Emma brings her thang to Wilbert’s. Dieselboy and friends drop some drum & bass on your ass. And Ozzy Osbourne and Rob Zombie bring a very big show to…
In Summit County, Another Economic Development Deal Bites the Dust
You’d think the guys running Summit County were taking their economic development cues from Cuyahoga. Exhibit A: Their two biggest plans to date. Last December, former County Executive James McCarthy announced that the county would be investing in a $327 million professional soccer stadium. McCarthy believed the stadium would be a “destination location” that would…
Jesus for Sale: Readers Respond to our Rex Humbard Story
Excerpts from a few of the phone calls that came in responding to last week’s cover story, “Jesus For Sale,” the tale of Rex Humbard’s not-so-Godly invention of scam televangelism. Angley’s Healing a Hoax “I found out a lot of stuff about this man that I never knew about. I had an opportunity to meet…
Troubleshooting Info for Voting on Tuesday
The fine folks at Progress Ohio are offering these links for people who may need information for voting tomorrow: BRING ID WHEN YOU VOTE For more information about valid identification VOTE AT THE RIGHT PLACE To find YOUR polling location QUESTIONS? Contact your local Board of Elections (listed by county) REPORT YOUR VOTING EXPERIENCE Let…
Cleveland Heights Schools: If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Run for Office
For those planning to vote in Cleveland Heights tomorrow, there’s one election worth checking out. Remember all those parents who filed a lawsuit to keep Coventry Elementary open? Well, they lost that battle, but now one of their most vocal members has decided to switch sides. Nancy Peppler, who we featured in a story about…
Last Night at Lolita: A Word with Next Iron Chef Judge Michael Ruhlman
Last night was again standing room only at Lolita’s for the latest viewing of The Next Iron Chef. As Michael Symon advanced to the finals, the whole restaurant raised glasses to the embarrassed chef. The crowd also had a surprise visitor: Michael Ruhlman, Cleveland native, culinary expert, and Iron Chef judge. Ruhlman, clad in a…
Carl Stokes’ Other Legacy: Creating the Model for All Show and No Go
The PD ran an interesting package of stories yesterday to mark the 40-year anniversary of Carl Stokes’ election as mayor of Cleveland. When he won in 1967, Stokes became the first black to hold the mayor’s office in a major American city, pioneering what would become commonplace 40 years later. Unwittingly, he may also have…
Punk-Turned-Priest Brad Warner to Speak About Hardcore, Meditation, and Hardcore Meditation
Akron’s Brad Warner has returned home for a whirlwind tour of lectures and loud live music. Warner is best known locally as the bassist for old-school Rubber City hardcore band Zero Defects. Internationally, he’s better known as the author of Hardcore Zen and Sit Down and Shut Up: Punk Rock Commentaries on Buddha, God, Truth,…
Money Where Your Mouth Is: Euros Childs
In which the Scene Music Department let a band speak for itself, because they were out late after the Colts-Pats party got out of control. What, you think a bunch of guys that paid to download the new Radiohead don’t dig some gridiron action? Anyhow, it’s some really catchy electro-pop. And they have a song…
Michael Symon closing in on title of Next Iron Chef
The odds of Cleveland being home to the Food Network’s Next Iron Chef improved last night, as hometown boy Michael Symon (Lola, Lolita) survived the 7th round of culinary challenges to move on to next week’s winner-take-all finale. He’s vying for the Iron Chef title – and the opportunity to star on the long-running television…
A New Loophole in State Law: Gambling for Toilet Paper
It seemed as if Governor Ted Strickland had delivered the death blow to shady Ohio gaming parlors a couple weeks ago when he signed a bill outlawing so-called “skill games” – machines like Tic-Tac-Fruit, which are sort of like slot machines, but tweaked to rip you off even more. The games started popping up in…
Springsteen at the Q: He’s Not as Effective as He Once Was
I was hoping that Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band’s concert at Quicken Loans Arena last night would shed some light on their new album, Magic. I reviewed the CD a month ago, calling it “a tonic for the downer material found on 2005’s Devils & Dust and the post-9/11 musings of The Rising.”…
Stevie Wonder Show Postponed
Stevie Wonder’s concert at the Q on Tuesday has been postponed. A make-up date hasn’t been scheduled yet, but it’ll most likely be sometime in early 2008. In the meantime, enjoy this fabulous performance of “Superstition” from Sesame Street. –Michael Gallucci
Commune with the Spirits at Momocho
Don’t hang up the Halloween costumes quite yet; you and the wee ones have one more chance to wear them this Saturday Nov. 3, as chef Eric Williams and his Momocho crew host a Dia de Los Muertos celebration at the “modern Mexican” restaurant in Ohio City. The traditional Day of the Dead activities –…
When Drew Carey Smells The Chronic, He Smells Freedom
Drew Carey’s not much of a Cleveland guy anymore – he lives in Los Angeles, works with a rotating series of hot models, and plays $500-a-hand blackjack. But we’ll cut him some slack. While hanging out two weeks ago in Vegas, ace reporter Joe Tone caught the Drewster dropping a cool grand on his hometown…
Andre Lacroix and the Case of the Missing Hockey Trophy
Though he now lives a quiet life in Chagrin Falls, hiking to Starbucks every morning for coffee and daily dose of chit chat, former hockey great Andre Lacroix remains an idol to thousands of fans in Canada. In 1964, at age 18, the 5-foot-8 inch center won his 2nd Red Tilson Trophy – the equivalent…
Julius Ciaccia, the Great Escape Artist
Yesterday, we learned that three more people have been indicted in the federal government’s investigation of a long-running bribery scam at the Cleveland Water Department. This brings the total to 13 people — including five city employees– implicated in the scheme, in which water employees allowed contractors to overcharge the city in exchange for cash…
After Season-Opening Suckfest, an Episode of Pineapple Envy in Cavs’ Locker Room.
At yesterday’s season-opener, the Mavs crushed the Cavs and Bron Bron managed 10 points. There: now you don’t have to read that Terry Pluto column. Let’s get to the random shit. After the game, in the Cavs’ locker room, a mob of reporters had one thing on their collective minds: backing LeBron James against his…
Breaking News: C-Notes Obtains 9-1-1 Tape of Chicken Choker Caught by Trucker
Now that Carl Monday’s on board at Action News, masturbating in public just isn’t safe anymore. While at Channel 3, he broke story of a man caught smacking the bishop in the Berea Public Library. Now, Action News reporter Denise Strzelczyk has apparently taken Monday’s beat off his hands with the shocking tale of a…
Crazy for Corn
We love bat-shit crazy around here. And it doesn’t get more bat-shit crazy than people making sculptures out of vegetables and meat-substitute, soy-based products. Such as … Morningstar Farms — which manufactures everything from fake bacon and hamburgers to faux chicken nuggets and BBQ ribs — recently sponsored a nationwide Morningstar Farms Veggie Creations Contest…
Nick Jackson: He’s more than just underqualified
By now, you probably know Nick Jackson as Mayor Frank Jackson’s little bro, and as a shining example of how far having an important brother can take you in life, even if you don’t have much in the way of skills or tact. But you probably didn’t know that Jackson’s also a race driver. (We…
Diversion of the Day: “It was unidentified!”
Today’s break from your cubicle madness comes courtesy of Presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich, who (sort of) fesses up to (kind of) seeing a UFO while hanging out with Shirley MacLain. Even more amusing is Action19’s story on Kucinich’s admission, wherein the reporter hits the streets to find out whether the news will “affect his chances…
Yet Another Reason to Smear Yourself With Sour Cream
Break out the aluminum foil. In honor of Halloween, area Chipotle restaurants are handing out free burritos between 5 p.m and 10 p.m. to anyone who comes dressed as a burrito. True, it may be cheaper to simply buy a burrito yourself than to cover one self in beans and rice, but what fun would…
Watch Ron Jeremy Crack Some Eggs
Two classy ladies try to coax Ron Jeremy in spilling his recipe for Char Siu Duck. Nope, that headline’s not slang for some unspeakable act Ron pulled off in Hung Wankenstein; this is an honest-to-God video of adult-filmdom’s favorite roly-poly cheeseball making a swiss and mushroom omelet. And it’s just one of hundreds of cooking…
Sports Guy: Cavs to Play Like It’s 1999
ESPN.com scribe Bill “The Sports Guy” Simmons pumped out a list-y NBA season preview this week, from which you can draw only one conclusion: Bill Simmons hates the Cavs. His predictions: The Cavs will finish under .500 and miss the playoffs altogether. He ranks them among his best picks for betting the win-total over/under; Vegas…
R.I.P. Robert Goulet
Lounge singing lothario Robert Goulet died yesterday. With all due respect to Burt Reynolds and Tom Selleck, this guy was the greatest moustachioed lothario of our time. And anybody who inspires the above SNL skit deserves a C-Notes tribute. — Gus Garcia-Roberts
Ravenna Native Found Dead at Cambodian Hostel
A self-described wandering writer, 26-year-old Todd Wunderle’s life Kerouac-esque travels came to a tragic end on October 20 in Cambodia. Wunderle, a graduate of Kent State University and Ravenna native, more than a year teaching English in Korea with his girlfriend before the pair heading out on a Southeast Asian adventure this fall. But the…
Diversion of the Day: Costumes, slutty costumes, and plain-old sluts
Today’s diversion comes courtesy of local comedian Mike Polk, who stars in the video series Man in the Box. This week, “Greg” — that’s Mike’s character’s name; apparently they thought “Mike” was too wacky — wishes everyone a very Happy Halloween.
Pressed for Success
It’s Thursday night at Paladar, the Nuevo Latino restaurant that opened in August at Woodmere’s swanky Eton-Chagrin. The joint is jammed, beset by a noisy, eclectic crowd of upscale shoppers, after-work rejoicers, and the usual East Side foodies. Spare, stylish, and slightly industrial, the space is a sophisticated pour of silver, black, and gray, enlivened…
Jens Lekman
While his melancholy brand of string- and sample-laden indie pop has netted comparisons to Stephin Merritt and Belle & Sebastian, Swedish export Jens Lekman seems more inclined to align himself with the late James Brown. “I consider myself the hardest-working man in showbiz,” he says. And now that the Godfather of Soul has gone to…
Celtic Christmas
Besides celebrating Christmas nearly two months early, the four sopranos in Celtic Woman will welcome a fresh face at tonight’s concert in Akron. Just don’t expect new member Lynn Hilary to sound anything like the departed Méav Ní Mhaolchatha. “It’s important for each one of us to go out and be an individual,” says Lisa…
Young and the Restless
When stand-up comedian Mike Young put together the Young American Comedy Tour to showcase up-and-coming funny people, he had no idea how clever he was. “I came up with the [title], but I didn’t even know that my name was in there,” he laughs. “Other people pointed it out to me. They were like, ‘You’re…
Get Stoned
Add The Reddstone, Josh Kabat’s new eatery on West 76th Street, to the ever-expanding options in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood. Nestled inside the former Snickers space, the restaurant/bar opened October 11 and serves daily dinners and Sunday brunch. Part chef, part rocker, the 29-year-old Kabat wants The Reddstone to evolve into a solid neighborhood hangout with…
The New Flesh
Baltimore’s New Flesh has been honing their style of steamroller noise for more than five years now. The sound falls somewhere between frenetic, grimy, and slow. But it’s never dynamic. The tarred-and-feathered guitars (those are some seriously shitty pedals), un-superstar singing, and assaulting rhythm hang together in a pack — sorta like those fat, greasy rats that live…
Straight Outta Brooklyn
A softball rivalry sparks an unlikely cross-cultural friendship in The Chosen, which opens at the Cleveland Play House tonight. The production is based on a 1967 novel about best pals who come from opposite sides of Brooklyn’s divided Jewish American community. “The differences are almost entirely cultural — seen through fashion and religious practices,” says…
Alien 5: The Fatherhood
John Cusack, who more or less began his career sneaking a peek at Molly Ringwald’s panties in Sixteen Candles, has finally become an onscreen daddy. Except he’s not exactly the most fortunate family man on film: In Martian Child, he plays a widower who adopts an abused child with an alien complex (the kid thinks…
Melt-Banana
Melt-Banana is hugely responsible for the reputation that Japanese bands have for their live shows going way over the top. After seeing this group in concert, it becomes difficult to accept anything less than total hair-raising insanity from anybody else onstage. While these noise punks have been together and steadily releasing albums, cassettes, and seven-inches…
Lessons Learned
Students honor their late mentor at A Tribute to Masumi, which opens at Cleveland State University today. The exhibit serves as a memorial to the late photo artist Masumi Hayashi, who was shot to death in her Ohio City apartment last year. Eight artists (including Suzanne Adams, Paul Jacklitch, and Deborah Pinter) who studied under…
Harlem Knight
American Gangster, a would-be epic directed by Ridley Scott (Matchstick Men, Black Hawk Down), aspires to enshrine Harlem dope-king Frank Lucas in Hollywood heaven, heir to Scarface and the Godfather — or, as suggested by one writer, a real-life Superfly. Ambitious as American Gangster is, it’s well suited to Denzel Washington’s particular star quality —…
Lee Rocker
It figures that some of the best rockabilly music since the genre’s revival back in the ’80s comes courtesy of a dude who’s one-third responsible for that renaissance. More than two decades after the Stray Cats laid down the rules of retro-rock, stand-up bass boss Lee Rocker still plays, sings, and writes as if the…
Class Acts
North Ridgeville native Spencer Myer tickles the ivories at tonight’s Oberlin College Presidential Inauguration Concert. He’s one of the featured alumni performing at the show honoring new president Marvin Krislov. “Even in high school, I didn’t know what a career in music actually meant,” says Myer, a 2000 graduate. “But I knew it was what…
Theater by the Numbers
It’s an interesting opportunity, to be able to buy a ticket and walk into a simulated world that accepts you at face value. Better still is realizing that while in that world, you can participate as you wish: quietly watch, laugh at the antics of others, or behave like a jackass — all without real-world…
The Whispers
Made up of four solid R&B singers, the Whispers’ lineup has remained relatively unchanged over the past 44 years. In 2006, they released For Your Ears Only, after nearly a decade’s absence from recording. And they remain at the top of their game with dance grooves (the Babyface-penned “Rock Steady”), spirited sing-alongs (“And the Beat…
Ready, Sets, Dance!
Anna Costanzo can’t stand jogging. But she’ll sweat through a couple hours of Sets lessons each week. Sets are the Irish version of square dancing, and Costanzo says anyone can shed a few pounds doing the jigs. “It’s an aerobic workout,” she says. “It’s like running a treadmill: You sit down and take a break,…
Capsule reviews of current area theater presentations.
Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit — As musical-revue franchises go, they don’t come much healthier than Forbidden Broadway, which has enjoyed several iterations over the past 25 years. Featuring comedy knockoffs of popular musicals, this most recent version is a mix of old material (Les Miz lampoons) and newer stuff, like spoofs poking The Lion…
Exit Clov
There’s so much to like about Exit Clov, it’s tough picking a starting point. Twin sisters Emily and Susan Hsu’s thoughtful, politically acute lyrics are rife with harmonies, delivered in bright, airy voices that recall Elizabeth Fraser and Sarah Shannon as well as, more obviously, Tegan and Sara. Employing a musical soundscape that evokes both…
All the Right Moves
The esteemed Martha Graham Dance Company hasn’t performed in Cleveland in more than a decade. America’s oldest contemporary dance ensemble celebrates its 80th anniversary this year with a nationwide tour. It stops at Playhouse Square for a pair of performances this weekend. “The choreography will be brought to a new generation,” says spokeswoman Michelle Jackson.…
Capsule reviews of current area art exhibitions.
NEW Dreams and Illusions: The Photography of Lynn Goldsmith — Photographs from this well-established celebrity photog’s “In the Looking Glass” series of self-portraits are displayed here alongside her rock mosaics — portraits of rockers like Mick Jagger and Bruce Springsteen, assembled from hundreds of smaller black-and-white pictures. Goldsmith’s “In the Looking Glass” works are uncanny…
Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder’s first U.S. tour this millennium is bound to disappoint. That’s because the R&B legend has enjoyed so many hits and has so much beloved material, it’s impossible to fit it all into a single evening. Nevertheless, those left wishing Wonder had dusted off classics like “Knocks Me off My Feet” or “That Girl”…
Balls of Fury
Today’s Duck ‘N Dodge Cleveland dodgeball tournament at the Sports Dome is all about channeling your inner Ben Stiller. Teams of six to nine players square off in three games; winners head to single-elimination playoffs. The victors snag free burritos for a year. There’s both a high-school division and an adult tourney . . .…
A Bitter End
No End in Sight (Magnolia) Charles Ferguson’s debut doc, easily the most important in a year full of notable fact-gathering films, assembles some of the key players behind the invasion and occupation of Iraq and seems to ask them but one question: “What went wrong?” In short: everything. But Ferguson’s doc is no fist-shaking stab…
Patti Scialfa
Patti Scialfa recorded two albums — 1993’s Rumble Doll and 2004’s 23rd Street Lullaby — before Play It as It Lays. But she’s never exuded more soul than she does here. Surrounding herself with girl-group harmonies straight outta the early ’60s, Scialfa draws equally from vintage soul, folk rock, and country music. In a dumbed-down…
Almost Famous
Steve Buscemi plays a typically twitchy loser in Delirious, a satire about disposable fame by director Tom DiCillo, who also skewered celebrities in Living in Oblivion. The bug-eyed Buscemi stars as a N.Y.C. paparazzo who spends his days and nights chasing vapid pop stars and action heroes, hoping to land “the shot heard around the…
Fun With Fluids
It must’ve been a scorching summer day when the game developer stared at his thermometer and realized, “Sweet sassy molassey, this would make a helluva game!” How else to explain the existence of the quirky puzzle series Mercury Meltdown? Debuting on the PSP, the original Mercury Meltdown turned Marble Madness (and, more recently, Marble Mania)…
Vanessa Carlton
On her third album, the piano-pounding Carlton hooks up with hip-hop mogul Irv Gotti’s record company, enlists various producers, and makes a CD about N.Y.C. No, she’s not snatching Jay-Z’s crown. Heroes & Thieves is still pretty much guided by the 26-year-old singer-songwriter’s ivories-based melodies and adult-alternative beats. But she does throw down occasionally. Opener…
Grape Adventures
Rudolph Chelminski can’t figure out why his fellow wine snobs sniff their noses at Beaujolais. He thinks it’s a mighty tasty vino — which he makes an eloquent and witty case for in his new book, I’ll Drink to That: Beaujolais and the French Peasant Who Made It the World’s Most Popular Wine. “It’s been…
Our top DVD picks scheduled for release this week:
The Amicus Collection (Dark Sky) Angel: Complete Series Collector’s Set (Fox) Beastie Boys: The Complete Story (Video Music) Benny Hill: The Complete Megaset (A&E) A Christmas Story (Warner Bros.) CSI Miami: The Fifth Season (Paramount) The Cup (Festival Media) Day Watch (Fox) Dear Jesse (Sovereign) The Devil Came on Horseback (IFC) El Cantante (New Line)…
Sightings
Einstürzende Neubauten, electro, the Jesus and Mary Chain, minimal techno, Suicide, Iannis Xenakis, and electric Miles — what a list, right? Not only is Through the Panama, Sightings’ sixth album since 2002, a post-everything fusion of all these jammers, it’s a new form of modern rock. Thirty years from now, stoned heads will worship this…
Lettuce Laugh
Comedian John Pinette doesn’t need to look too hard for his stand-up material. He pretty much grabs stories from his life. “It’s the funniest thing I can think of,” he says. “And for some reason, people enjoy seeing me lose my cherub-like demeanor.” Everything sets him off — from the French to food. “I went…
Han in Hand
TOP PICK — Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron (LucasArts) One of our all-time favorite video-game series returns with a Han Solo-led, galaxy-spanning adventure for the PSP. A gang of space cowboys takes on the Empire in eye-popping locales like Endor and Hoth. The coolest new feature lets gamers guide the Millennium Falcon into combat or…
Band of Horses
Band of Horses frontman Ben Bridwell writes lyrics that are drenched in utopian platitudes (“Lucky ones are we all, till it is over”) and cringe-worthy pillow talk (“When you smile, the sun, it peeks through the clouds”). The group’s weakest songs are ready-made for campfire sing-alongs. Its touring bassist even has a jam-band history. It’s…
Road to Forgiveness
The documentary Forgiving Dr. Mengele tells the story of twin sisters who were kept alive at Auschwitz in the name of Nazi science during World War II. For nine months, the siblings were test subjects in genetic experiments conducted by Josef Mengele, who was known as the Angel of Death. More than a half-century later,…
Not Your Average Joe
“The New McCarthyism,” October 17 McCarthy exposed the red in red-blooded America: There are two glaring flaws in Lisa Rab’s article. First, it is premised on the false assumption that foreigners have an almost unfettered right to come and go in America on their own terms and with the minimum of inconvenience to themselves. This…
The Best of the Boss
Bruce Springsteen is the quintessential American artist, blending soul-driven rock and folk with a sturdy working-class ethos. His romantic portraits of out-of-work/-love/-luck characters holding on to the last shreds of hope are almost operatic, thanks to a signature style that delivers Death of a Salesman themes via West Side Story’s playbook. With 14 studio albums…
Proph the Problem
While thousands of other hip-hop clones sell their souls to hit the blingy big time, Proph the Problem stays true on The Proph LP. Look no further for proof than on the gospel-tinged “Let Me Do Me,” in which the rapper proclaims, “I’m still stayin’ the same, no changes involved.” Proph is also not afraid…
Red, White, and Screw
BFF talk has taken a trashy turn over the past six weeks at Gusto!’s Girls’ Night of Wine Flights. Blame the vino: It’s prompting a lot of gals to let their hair down . . . and let their jaws flap. “Girls are getting together, just like guys do,” says owner Bill Salerno. “They say,…
Jesus for Sale
It was the moment Rex Humbard had been waiting for — his final day of judgment, the moment he’d come face to face with the Lord he’d so passionately invoked for more than 60 years. Since 1953, Humbard had appeared on television sets throughout the world, reaching more than 25 million viewers on over 2,000…
Piano Girl
Tori Amos is now on tour supporting American Doll Posse, her best CD in years. It’s the piano-playing singer-songwriter’s 10th studio album — if you count the record she made with Y Kant Tori Read, a cringe-inducing hair-rock band she formed in Los Angeles at the end of the ’80s. On American Doll Posse, Amos…
Insurrect
On first listen, it’s easy to mistake Insurrect for a horde of transplanted Swedes. Fucking Infinity’s melodic death metal recalls tuneful headbangers like In Flames and At the Gates. But like the miscreant offspring of a Black Dahlia Murder superfan and a Lake Erie water demon, the group’s roots are firmly ensconced in Cleveland. Guitarists…
Short Kuts
Short CutsSportswriter Mike Lupica practically stumbled into his newest gig as a best-selling author of young-adult novels. When one of his sons was cut from the seventh-grade basketball squad, Lupica suspected it was because he was too short. So he wrote Travel Team for all the kids who weren’t considered good enough to play with…
Concertmaster Meltdown
It appears that William Preucil, esteemed concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra, is having a trying year. In February, we detailed how Preucil had been accused of propositioning a Cleveland Institute of Music student — and how the school covered up the incident by paying for the girl to transfer [“Sour Notes,” February 14]. Orchestra members…
The Times They Are A-Changin’
“You’re feeling your freedom, and the world’s off your back/Some cowboy from Texas starts his own war in Iraq.” So runs a line from “Some Humans Ain’t Human,” a song from John Prine’s latest album, Fair & Square. For Dave Collins, a former Marine who fought in Vietnam, that couplet was galvanizing. “You can talk…
The Comedians of Comedy Tour.
As seen in their self-titled Comedy Central on-the-road docu-comedy, the Comedians of Comedy are </frickin’ funny. Brian Posehn (pictured, rear) plays TV’s first gay dude — not gay character, but average, everyday dude, who just happens to be gay — onThe Sarah Silverman Program, though he’s better-known for bits about married life, popular culture, and…
Dead Reckoning
Four local artists continue a 3,000-year-old Mexican tradition of paying tribute to deceased ancestors in Dia de los Muertos, now on display at the North Water Street Gallery in Kent. “They have these ways of honoring the dead that are much different than the way [we do],” says venue owner Jeff Ingram. The exhibit features…
Sympathy for the Devils
The e-mails came rolling in, all with the same words, same subject line: “Cable monopolies block access to NFL Network.” As grassroots revolts go, this was not to be filed under “Glorious Insurrection.” The outrage was scripted by the NFL Network. All protesters had to do was type in their name, click, and go back…
Psychic Reaction
The toilet in Miss Cleo’s half-bathroom has been flushing on its own lately. Whenever she walks by the room, she says, it flushes. Consider it an episode of paranormal activity if you wish, but for Miss Cleo, it’s nothing out of the ordinary. She says she’s been ensconced in the spirit world for as long…
Portugal. The Man.
Mash up the rootsy grit of the Black Keys and the boundless eclecticism of rock-era Radiohead, add in a double dose of analog psychedelia, and you’ll have something like Church Mouth, the second full-length album from Portugal. The Man, an Alaskan trio with a sound the size of Texas. They may be from the land…
Down on the Farm
Jason Ringenberg used to sing about “Broken Whiskey Glass[es]” and the “Shotgun Blues” when he fronted cow-punks Jason & the Scorchers back in the ’80s. These days, he sports overalls, wears a goofy hat, and writes songs like “Punk Rock Skunk” and “The Doggie Dance” as Farmer Jason. Still, as far as tot-rockers go, Ringenberg…
My Good Friend Drew
I’m slumped in the Viva Las Vegas Lounge, a swanky bar in the City That Never Stops Reaching in Your Pocket and Saying, Is That a Quarter? I would be gambling, but a blackjack dealer named Jimmy just pulled 85 consecutive 21s, causing me to lose my bankroll before the arrival of my first “free”…
Buzzard’s Best Days
John Gorman’s new memoir, The Buzzard: Inside the Glory Days of WMMS and Cleveland Rock Radio (Gray & Company), tells the story of 100.7-FM WMMS and how local rock fans turned the radio station into a national tastemaker. It helped cement the city’s reputation as one of the great rock and roll towns. Gorman came…
Bright Light
Jimmy Eat World was emo before there was a name for it. The Arizona group’s first two albums — 1996’s Static Prevails and 1999’s Clarity — were recently reissued in special expanded editions with bonus tracks. Even back in the day, the band mixed pop-punk guitars with heart-on-your-sleeve rumination. Its new CD, Chase This Light,…
Death Becomes Them
It should be pretty evident by its moniker what Oakland’s All Shall Perish sounds like. Maybe the fact that its current tour is called Killing Spree 2007 will help. Yep, the band plays death metal of the most brutal variety. Its new CD, The Price of Existence, includes such cheery odes to humankind as “Wage…
