Crushing a Contrarian
How nauseating it has been, in the aftermath of the attacks by Muslim fanatics, to watch the first big defeat for freedom of thought and speech, as tens of thousands of Americans demanded the head of Politically Incorrect host Bill Maher and came away with enough of Maher’s noggin to parade through the public square.…
Suicide Machines
Part rock and roll apparatus, part image and attitude, Detroit’s Suicide Machines know the value of well-timed placement in the mainstream. Not that these ratty 21st-century punks have chart domination in mind. With a decade already logged, the Suicide Machines have absolutely no chance of making the cover of Rolling Stone this — or any…
Tuba or Not to Be
In the 1980s, the Mighty Marching Cardinal Band was a booty-shaking force to be reckoned with, 177 students strong. When the pride of East Cleveland’s Shaw High School took the field, first you got chills, then you got soul. Led by their “ladies of distinction” — dancing girls in white go-go boots — they marched…
Richie Hawtin
Considering that Richie Hawtin has long been considered a pioneer of minimal techno, 1999’s Decks, Efx & 909 mix CD was surprisingly dense. The mix documents Hawtin’s refutation of DJ culture and tradition as he includes realtime beats and on-the-fly effects while pumping through several dozen floor-burning tracks, stacking up layers of cymbals and synth…
Death Mute
Poor Christopher Worman. Unlike the ingrates on Death Row, who refuse the state’s most hospitable offer to whack them, he wants to die. He just can’t get Ohio to kill him. In September, Worman was set to go on trial for the slaying of Mary Davis, his mate of 19 years. According to Cleveland’s Finest,…
The Chargers Street Gang
About 40 seconds into the opening cut, “Say No More Forever, Amen,” the Chargers Street Gang begins to curiously tug at the fraying musical threads of complacent contemporary pop rock ideals. That tug, over the course of an entire record, initiates an unraveling so menacing and manic that, upon hearing it, you’d be hard-pressed to…
A Two-Sided Coin Grab
Now the bad guys are the ambulance chasers: As a fraud investigator for one of the larger auto insurance companies (not Allstate), I found Erick Trickeys piece [Good Hands People? September 6] quite interesting. It is true to some degree that Allstate does have a reputation for playing hardball with bodily injury claims. However, I…
The Brave & the Bold
Before he was editor in chief at Marvel Comics–which, by all rights, makes him the man who tells Spider-Man what he can do with himself and the X-Men where to go–Joe Quesada illustrated a comic book titled Ash. The title did not last long; there was, perhaps, little market for a gangly, anxious superhero whose…
The Subject Was Noses
If Edmond Rostand hadn’t appropriated the life of French poet/soldier/philosopher Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac (1619-1655), shrewdly reconfiguring his life into the ultimate stage archetype of sensitive swashbuckler masquerading as noble clown, the floridly romantic playwright would have ended up as an esoteric footnote in 20th-century French literature. With Cyrano de Bergerac’s lyric verse and pomp,…
Animal Instincts
The handsome white clapboard building sits on a slight rise, surrounded by ancient hardwoods, on the eastern border of Avon. According to local lore, it began life sometime in the early 1800s, as a stagecoach stop along the rutted dirt road leading from Cleveland to Detroit. It also had a snug stone basement and reasonable…
Culinary Kudos
The Cleveland foodservice community is a remarkably generous bunch of restaurateurs, distributors, and culinarians who often come together to support the industry. One of their best endeavors is the annual August LoPresti Scholarship Dinner, a little-publicized event that provides recognition, as well as cash support, for outstanding culinary/hospitality students and educators. The scholarships reward exceptional…
Bubbling Crude
The Spinal Tap for the 21st century, Tenacious D has set itself up for greatness. The acoustic-rock comedy duo of Jack Black and Kyle Gass introduces its shows with proclamations such as “Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Molly Hatchet could not be here tonight. But they all had sex and are proud to announce the…
Aliens Over Easy
The Denny’s in Garfield Heights is a pretty unassuming place. Most of the time, it’s filled with senior citizens looking for a cheap meal or drunks sobering up over a dish of “Moon Over My Hammy.” But on the first Saturday of the month, it’s also the place where you can say, “I saw a…
He Once Was Lost
Writing humorous songs has been Loudon Wainwright III’s calling card since the late ’60s. But the death of his mother in 1997 blocked him deeply. It took him nearly four years to get over it, and he called on his artistry — a distinctive blend of introspection, self-analysis, and showmanship — to effect his return…
Kramer’s Cosmos
Seriousness and play — two complementary forces of the creative process — are reflected in record-producer Eddie Kramer’s photo exhibit, From the Other Side of the Glass, opening today at the Rock Hall. There’s Jimi Hendrix, grinning broadly behind a giggling Steve Marriott, singer-guitarist for the bluesy British rock group the Small Faces. A contrasting…
Spin Cycle
With his disheveled hair and casual attire, Rob Sherwood doesn’t look like the kind of guy who gives a shit about his image. But he does. “What’s the angle for this story? Local DJ makes good?” he cautiously asks one afternoon from Amazona, the new Warehouse District club he manages with Scott Lucci. Sherwood hopes…
Bad Cop, Bad Cop
This may be a strange time to release a thriller about the dangers of corrupt law enforcement, but Training Day — with no explosions, no cheap thrills, no international conspiracies — is about as distant from current East Coast realities as possible. Still, that doesn’t mean that it qualifies as escapism. This gripping police drama…
Maxwell
Three years ago, Maxwell was the most pretentious soul singer in America. That’s when his second album, Embrya, a mannered and complicated work filled with artsy titles and a cluttered birth-to-death theme, was released. It carried the promise of Maxwell’s 1996 debut, Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite, to its most extreme point and offered upscale, modern…
Road to Ruin
A quarter-century after “Convoy,” C.W. McCall’s smash novelty single, there’s still a generous spirit out there for our 18-wheeled good buddies. But consider the less catchy flip side of that single, “Long, Lonesome Road,” and its lament about a maddeningly grim and endless horizon. It’s within this uniquely American wasteland that Joy Ride gets its…
The Guess Who
The Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Guess Who turned early success in Canada into fame in the States after scoring hits with a multitude of singles (“These Eyes,” “No Sugar Tonight,” and “No Time”). Along the way, one of its founders, guitarist Randy Bachman, left and formed Bachman Turner Overdrive. As the years passed, a succession of other…
Say Nothing
Serendipity already feels archaic, like some dusty relic that’s been unearthed from an antique store’s attic and polished off for display. It reeks of quaint and cute, from its gauzy panoramas of Manhattan at Christmastime to its tattered plot of lovers bound by destiny to its scenes of travelers casually loitering in New York airports.…
Trans Am
The protocol for a so-called post-rock show like this one almost demands that the crowd avoid any overt or spontaneous signs of enjoyment while the music is playing. Between bursts of song-ending applause, audience members should stand still, ineptly imitating mannequins in the window of a Salvation Army thrift shop, but nodding their heads occasionally…
Hell to Pay
It was a beautiful wedding. The groom looked stunning in his African ceremonial robe, and so did the other groom. Charles Underwood and Wayne Toles pledged their love for one another before a crowd of 50 friends at Trinity United Church of Christ on West 25th Street. Their union was presided over by the Reverend…
Megadeth
Since forming nearly 20 years ago, Megadeth has seen its ups and downs. There was a time when the guitar virtuosity and political posturing of frontman Dave Mustaine were a force in the metal arena, and the band attained critical and popular success. Mustaine posed — with his silver Harley-Davidson Fatboy, his dogs, and his…
Life on Booze Row
The guy, whoever he is, picks the perfect time to piss on a building. Perfect, anyway, if you’re a pair of activists trying to show that even in broad daylight, crime, grime, and general malaise plague Buckeye Road. The man’s head swivels when he hears Van Glen Neal and Carol Davidson scuffling across the parking…
Remy Zero
For its last record, 1998’s Villa Elaine, Remy Zero holed up in the hotel of the same name, a once great Hollywood hostelry-turned-artists’-flophouse. The group spent two years crafting the album, an outpouring of rich existential pop, which faded like so many L.A. dreams. Finding an audience to sustain their brand of ethereal alt-rock has…
