Out Today: Tim McGraw
Tim McGrawSouthern Voice(Curb) Country superstar McGraw sticks to the basics on his 10th album. That means there are a few goofball toss-offs (“It’s a Business Doing Pleasure With You,” co-written by Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger), some twangy nostalgia (“Ghost Town Train,” the title tune) and the usual dose of heart-tugging weepers (“You Had to Be There,”…
Afghan Star has its local premiere tonight at CMA
A documentary about an American Idol-like TV program that’s become hugely popular in Afghanistan, Afghan Star screens tonight at 7 and at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18 at the Cleveland Museum of Art Lecture Hall. Here is our review of the movie. Afghan Star (US/Afghanistan, 2009) Much like American Idol, Afghan Star is a TV…
What to Do Tonight: The Mars Volta
The Mars Volta has always been about the noise — the rolling, room-shaking, mind-blowing and beautiful noise. On their fifth album, Octahedron, they go kinda quiet, turning down the amps and turning up the soft lights. The lyrics are still so cryptic you’ll need Wikipedia and a bong to help penetrate them, and there’s still…
Reviews of the Cedar Lee’s weekend films
The Cedar Lee Theatre opens two new movies this weekend. Here are our reviews. The Boys are Back It’s funny how the movies will change a person. Consider Simon Carr, a political columnist for Britain’s The Independent, whom former Prime Minister Tony Blair once called “the most vicious sketch writer working in Britain today.” Yet…
What to Do Tonight: Metallica
Metallica’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. After more than a decade of lackluster albums, last year’s terrific Death Magnetic put the veteran metal band back on track. On 2003’s St. Anger, they sounded like they were a million miles away from…
What to Do Tonight: Trey Songz
Trey Songz rips a lot from R. Kelly’s playbook. He’ll sweet-talk you into taking your clothes off (the first cut on his latest album, Ready, is called “Panty Droppa”). He’ll boast about how he invented sex. And he’ll get all freaky till the breakadawn, annoying the hell out of the neighbors who are trying to…
Throw Down Your Heart screens at CMA tonight
A documentary about Bela Fleck’s trip to Africa in search of the banjo’s roots, Throw Down Your Heart screens tonight at 7 at the Cleveland Museum of Art Lecture Hall. Here is our review of the movie. Throw Down Your Heart (US, 2008) In this documentary, American banjo man Bela Fleck heads to Africa to…
They Might Be Giants Talk About Their Happiest Album
They Might Be Giants plays the Beachland Ballroom on Thursday. To celebrate the album’s 20th birthday, they’re performing the classic Flood in its entirety, bouncing through ecstatic jams like “Birdhouse in Your Soul” and “Particle Man,” in addition to other favorites. The Giants were just a duo when John Flansburgh and John Linnell recorded the…
Just out on DVD, American Violet dramatizes a tragic true story
American Violet didn’t generate much attention at the box office when it was released earlier this year (bypassing Cleveland altogether), but that’s not a reason to dismiss the movie, out today on Blu-ray and conventional DVD. Directed by Tim Disney (yes, he’s part of that Disney clan), it’s based on a true story about a…
Clarence Bucaro Visits N’Awlins
While the peripatetic Clarence Bucaro hasn’t lived in Northeast Ohio since the early 2000s, it’s not hard to think of him as one of ours, since he grew up and established his musical credentials here. He released his debut CD, 2002’s Sweet Corn, right about the time he left town. He spent a couple of…
RUMBA RUMBLINGS
Orchestra gigs and Dancing with the Stars keep Tiempo Libre busy on their way to the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Q&A With Dan Gilbert on Issue 3
By D.X. Ferris Casino gambling is back on the ballot. This proposed state constitutional amendment to be decided by voters on November 3 would not only legalize casino gambling, it would grant exclusive rights (for now) to Cavs and Quicken Loans owner Dan Gilbert and Pennsylvania-based Penn National Gaming to develop four casinos, one each…
Where the Wild Things Are is a creature feature for grown-ups
This adaptation (by the guy who directed Adaptation, Spike Jonze) of Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak’s beloved children’s book, has everything going for it … and against it. Lit hipster Dave Eggers wrote the screenplay, and the rumpus-starting monsters are played by real people in giant furry costumes (though some CGI is used…
Blue News: Blue Lunch Wins Blues Contest
For the first time this year, the Cleveland Blues Society decided to choose its entrants for the annual International Blues Challenge via a public competition. The event was held Sunday at Wilbert’s, and the winners were eight-piece, horn-driven swing/jump blues veterans Blue Lunch, led by founder Bob Frank. The band will now compete against dozens…
Danzig Days: Tribute Tuesday
Danzig’s music, if you didn’t catch on by now, is a perfect October soundtrack, mainly because of his dedication to the horrorcore aesthetic. Though his material has grown progressively grim, his Misfits songs pulsed with a morbid glee. The ‘Fits broke into the public’s awareness in 1987, four years after they’d broken up, when Metallica…
It’s All Greek To Me, Literally
They’re saying something nice about you. Really, they are. Trust me. The annual NBA GM survey revealed that 37.9% of the respondents thought the Cavaliers have the best home court advantage in the league. It was good enough for first on the list, followed by Utah, the Lakers, and Portland. After piling up a 39-2…
NO IMPACT?
Colin Beavan’s No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal who Attempts to Save The Planet and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way Of Life In The Process (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, September, 2009 288 pages, Hardcover, $25) promises something big in the drama of its title, and the promise has…
This Just In: Concert Announcements
This week, we have 45 new shows, including Dylan, Tegan & Sara, Art Brut, Artful Dodger and plenty more art. —D.X. Ferris CANCELED: Dan Auerbach (of the Black Keys): New date, Wed., Dec. 9. House of Blues. NEW DATE:The Graduate/the Morning of/Linden/PM Today/the Hoodies: Thu., Nov. 12, 5:30 p.m., $12. Rockstar Cleveland. THIS JUST IN…
PSA on Cavs/Monsters Games and Issue 3
If you’re heading to the Q for a Monsters or Cavs game, be prepared to see a lot of Issue 3 stuff. Just a head’s up.
The Only Perspective You Need on Bills vs. Browns
Listen, it wasn’t pretty. In fact, there’s little more to say except, “We won.” In addition, the ineptitude displayed on the field in Buffalo was so great that this was the only analysis of the game that I deem worthy to pass on to others. ESQ: How much did the swirling winds add to the…
Monday Music News Roundup
Miley Cyrus quits Twitter so she can have more time to do other things — like make a YouTube video about how she quit Twitter. A new Michael Jackson song hits the interweb thing. Betcha there won’t be a tour. Lady Gaga digs gay people. Because without them, you know, she’d be a waitress at…
Danzig Days: Misfits Monday
Scene is proud to launch Danzig Days, a month of daily posts to celebrate the wide-ranging career of Glenn Danzig. We figure it’s a nice buildup from the Halloween weeks into the Samhain season. Check back daily for music, trivia, reading and more. Since 1976, Danzig has fronted the Misfits, Samhain and — for more…
ANOTHER GUY WHO WON’T BE RETURNING OUR CALLS
Public relations is considered by some in media as the dark side, and Cleveland port communications manager Luke Frazier, a former broadcaster, helped reinforce that notion last week. The frustrated flak treated Scene to a 30-minute telephone rant in response to the article “Lake-effect snow job?”, which highlighted public skepticism about the port’s relocation plans.…
Yay! Bruce Will Play All of “Born to Run” in Cleveland
We’re getting oh-so-tired of all these bands trying to spark sagging ticket sales by performing albums in their entirety (seriously: Does anyone really need to hear everything from Dr. Fucking Feelgood?). But we’re all for the latest bit of news coming Cleveland’s way: Bruce Springsteen will perform Born to Run in its entirety when he…
Swag Alert: No York LeBron Tees
The zenith of LeBron free agency mania is still beyond the horizon, which obviously isn’t stopping anyone from obsessing about it right now. Looking forward, the only thing that will grow at anywhere near the pace of LeBron/NY/free agency stories is LeBron/Stay in Cleveland websites. Came across another one the other day: NoYork.com, which is…
Photo Show: B.B. King at House of Blues, 10/9
Blues legend B.B. King rocked House of Blues Friday night (well, he rocked it as hard as an 84-year-old could). Scene’s Johnny Angell was there to capture the action.
Concert Review: Anna Ternheim/Loney Dear at Grog, 10/11
What does it take to win the Swedish equivalent of a Grammy? Apparently one hell of a haunting voice, a hint of sorrow and exquisitely written songs. Anna Ternheim brought all that and more to the Grog Shop last night during her opening spot for Loney Dear. The beautiful, leggy blonde started her set with…
Trick R Treat anthology does the trick
No disrespect to John Carpenter, but it’s hard to think of a movie that better captures the spirit of Halloween than Michael Dougherty’s superb anthology Trick R Treat. At times this film has an almost childlike sense of magic, mischief and fun. But just like the pagan holiday it celebrates, beneath Trick R Treat’s harmless…
10/12: The Laramie Project
After Matthew Shepard was beaten, tied to a fence and left to die, playwright Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Company conducted interviews with Laramie, Wyoming, residents to gather their reaction to the hate crime. Almost a decade after they staged The Laramie Project, Kaufman returned to the town to see how views…
10/12: Tiesto at Aura
With his smart mixes and charismatic stage persona, Dutch-born DJ Tiësto has been a fan favorite for almost a decade. His fame exploded with the release of his first solo album In My Memory in 2001, after he’d spent 15 years developing his style through club work and production work. That album produced five hits,…
10/13: Young Frankenstein at Playhouse Square
With Broadway thriving on revivals and movie adaptations, it was only a matter of time before Mel Brooks revisited his 1974 film Young Frankenstein. The eminently quotable film tells the story of Dr. Frankenstein’s grandson, who inherits the famous castle and picks up where the old man left off. Brooks wrote the lyrics (which earned…
10/14: Kylesa/Saviours at Grog Shop
This is a must-see show if you like metal that’s big, ugly and adventurous. Oakland’s Saviours deal in thick guitar crunch on their new unhinged and dangerous album, Accelerated Living. A stoner-rock vibe rumbles in raging shit-kickers like “We Roam.” Album opener “Acid Hand” sounds like a rawk cover of Slayer’s “Hell Awaits” — from…
10/14: Kurt Rosenwinkel at Nighttown
Not quite 40, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel’s innovations can be traced to many of today’s developments in jazz guitar. Up-and-comers like Adam Rogers and Lage Lund owe much to Rosenwinkel, who first hit the New York scene in 1990. Consolidating the folk-like muse of Bill Frisell with a linear sense of melody and a taste for…
Paranormal Activity has a shaky premise
Consisting of supposed found video documenting a terrifying, possibly supernatural event, Paranormal Activity works on the same premise as The Blair Witch Project. Both films are complete fiction, but there’s nothing wrong with the “true story” gimmick if the movie is good, as was the case with Blair. That’s not the case with Paranormal. Micah…
“Light It Up Like Vegas” Starring Mike Polk On FSN Soon
Below is the teaser/trailer for a special show on FSN starring Mike Polk. I’m still not sure whether it’s an ongoing show or a one-time deal, but the premise centers around Cleveland sports misery. There’s time travel, sadness, and, I’m guessing, some sort of happy ending. It’ll premiere Monday, October 26 at 10 p.m.
SEAN HANNITY: BELLIGERENT IDIOT
… and sycophant and sick bastard and race-baiting bigot and hypocrite and good friend of Ohio gubernatorial candidate John Kasich! Here’s Hannity talking to Robert Kuttner, author of Obama’s Challenge, in September 2008: You’ve got to convince the American people the economy is in bad shape and the war is lost, and it’s all based…
If You’re European and Looking for an American Vacation, Come for the NBA, Stay for the Giraffes
“Attention passengers, this is your guide. If you look to your left right now you’ll see a Deshawn Stevenson in his natural habitat. Notice how he stares you down. Notice his battle cry, which consists of incoherent but constant yapping. The plumage and distinctive skin markings are meant to scare off possible predators, but unfortunately,…
An Imagined Conversation in the TBS Booth That Quite Possibly Could Be Real
By Steve Buffum Bill: Welcome to another beautiful evening in New York City from the shrine that is the New Yankee Stadium. Here at TBS, we strive to bring you the best in baseball entertainment, and nothing says “Best” quite like our obsequious fawning. Ted: You mean, “Being allowed to share a bit of spacetime…
BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HOLD MINERAL RIGHTS
… for royalties shall be theirs. From the Beacon Journal: STOW: A Ravenna-based oil and gas company plans to file paperwork this week seeking state permission to drill a well on a church property over the objections of neighboring property owners. … The church says it is seeking the well for financial reasons. In addition…
Cavs Once Again Donning “CavFanatic” Jerseys This Season
Last year the Cavs wore special “CavFanatic” jerseys for select games during the season. These were basically mashups of previous uni combos that formed the bright blue, gold (yellow?), and wine final product. Well, they’re doing it again this season, according to uniform maven Paul Lukas, who posted this photo on Uni Watch this morning.…
Concert Review: Japandroids at Now That’s Class, 10/8
If you see a group of twentysomethings walking around sporting hoodies and hearing aids, it’s a tip-off: They’re probably preparing for a night of Japandroids’ vicious and loud garage-rock. Amps bigger than human bodies took up most of Now That’s Class’ stage last night, when Vancouver’s tightest new rock band came to town. Though Japandroids…
THAT GUY LOOKS FAMILIAR
The Other Paper in Columbus notes the lazy use of stock photos in Ohio politics: Despite the fact that TruthPAC had claimed him so prominently, campaigners for OhioACT, a coalition opposing Issue 2, apparently could not resist the white-bearded, blue-collar charm in a stock image of a construction worker when they put him on their…
Why I Hate Kiss
The reason I hate Kiss doesn’t have so much to do with their music. Sure, their pedestrian four-chord stomp is designed to grab the attention of ADD-riddled 12-year-olds in less time than it takes to say “I wanna rock and roll all night, and rip you off every day.” And yeah, the band’s songs —…
CUYAHOGA COUNTY: WE GOT ISSUES
Confused about the competing county reform proposals (Issues 5 and 6)? Join the club. Is Issue 5 just a stall tactic to avoid facing problems in the county? Is Issue 6 really a plot to upend a functional system to benefit a handful of people, while pretending “corruption” makes it necessary? Is Cuyahoga a Native…
eBay Item of the Day: Brownie the Elf/Mickey Mouse Mashup
For just $9.99 you can have your very own piece of art that combines Brownie the Elf — god among men when it comes to NFL logos — and Mickey Mouse. Why you would ever want such a thing is beyond me. Why not throw Daffy Duck or Winnie the Pooh in there too. I…
WE’RE NUMBER ONE!
Cleveland’s arts scene scored well in Travel and Leisure magazine’s 2009 list of America’s Favorite Cities, the Rock and Roll capital’s first appearance there. Our orchestras, conservatories, galleries, and theaters —plus a good supply of inexpensive hotels—made Cleveland the magazine’s Number One affordable getaway. And it’s for reasons you might expect: No. 2 for its…
SEAN HANNITY: SYCOPHANT
… and sick bastard and race-baiting bigot and hypocrite and good friend of Ohio gubernatorial candidate John Kasich! Over-under on combined IQ: 130. “If every American … got to read those daily briefings, those threat assessments that your read every day, do you think they’d have a different view of you, the job, the pressure?”…
Thursday Music News Roundup
Aerosmith singer is acting like a little bitch toward his bandmates. Now that the cancer scare is behind them, the Beastie Boys are getting back to what really matters: making spiritual trips to India. Grandma and gay people spent some money last week: Barbra Streisand debuts at No. 1. Taylor Swift extends tour — just…
Get Your Weed Ready — JamRock 2010 Is Only Six Months Away
It sounds like a little piece of heaven for reggae and jam-band fans: Negril, Jamaica. Three special concerts — two on the beach and one on a cliff — featuring Cleveland reggae group Carlos Jones and the P.L.U.S. Band and Columbus-based jam-band Ekoostik Hookah. And an informal acoustic jam session around a bonfire you can…
Money Where Your Mouth Is: Jer Coons
C-Notes music writers are still engrossed by the Beatles reissues, so we’re gonna let an artist explain why you need to see him. This time, it’s lively singer-songwriter Jer Coons. —D.X. Ferris Artist: Jer Coons Websites: http://jercoons.com , http://www.myspace.com/jercoons Hometown: Burlington, VT Sounds Like: “John Mayer and Jason Mraz were riding on a tandem bicycle…
Stirring in the Bullpen: A Man, His Father, and the Jake
Scene and Dobama recently ran a contest looking for readers’ best stories about a simple premise: 10 minutes that changed your life in Cleveland. We got a ton of great entries, including the one below. It didn’t win, but it was enthralling and interesting nonetheless. Michael Lawless writes about losing his father and honoring his…
Ralphie Releases Record
Berea native Toby Fallsgraff graduated from Ohio University in Athens in 2004 with a journalism major and headed off to grad school in political management at George Washington University in D.C. He left behind a musical legacy: While in Athens, he played as a solo performer and part of a duo, and released two albums…
Review: Michael Symon’s B-Spot at the Q
As you probably know by now, Michael Symon has opened two new joints within the Q to provide Cavs fans with tastier edible options during games. During Tuesday night’s preseason affair downtown, I wandered over to the “B-Spot” to sample some of his offerings. (It looks like a prototypical Symon restaurant. It’s by the Cavs…
LeBron Still Trailing Kobe in China
Jersey sale numbers for the Chinese market were posted on NBA.com and once again Kobe is ahead of LeBron. It’s the third straight year he’s claimed the top spot. People like to look at the jersey numbers both in China and in Europe, where LeBron was third behind Kevin Garnett and Kobe, and extrapolate facts…
It’s Not Rock ‘n’ Roll — But We Like It
OK, so it’s not really rock ’n’ roll. But this weekend, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum will lend its big lobby stage to performers of various cultures to show off their distinctive ethnic music and dances. From noon-5 p.m. Sunday, October 11, the Rock Hall’s annual World Festival returns with performers…
DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW, PAY LATER
Propublica reports on a neighboring state’s slow realization that handing out natural-gas drilling permits like candy is having serious consequences: Workers at a steel mill and a power plant were the first to notice something strange about the Monongahela River last summer. The water that U.S. Steel and Allegheny Energy used to power their plants…
10/11: Up Close and Personal With Close’s Friends
One of the Akron Art Museum’s most iconic paintings is Chuck Close’s portrait of Linda Rosenkrantz. It serves as the cornerstone of Familiar Faces: Chuck Close in Ohio Collections, which gathers three dozen examples of Close’s cutting-edge portraiture in various media in an exhibit that runs through January 3. At 2 p.m. today, Rosenkrantz herself…
10/11: An American Salute at CIM
When wind director Gary Ciepluch and orchestra director Kathleen Horvath were programming their upcoming concert — which features the University Circle Wind Ensemble, Case Western Reserve University Symphonic Winds and the CWRU/University Circle Orchestra — most of the works ended up being by 20th century American composers. With a few exceptions, most of us have…
10/11: Loney Dear/Asobi Seksu/Anna Ternheim at Grog
Loney Dear’s Emil Svanängen compares his relationship with music to others’ association with God. The multi-instrumentalist is a self-deprecating Swede who says music makes him feel small whenever he thinks about its infinite possibilities. For a guy who made his first few albums in his parents’ basement and other home-recording setups, Svanängen’s “smallness” has taken…
10/11: Burning River Ride for AIDS/HIV
The AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland held the last of its long-running AIDS Walks earlier this year. It’s now launching something new with the first Burning River Ride: A Journey for the Future of People With HIV/AIDS. The event is an all-day, ride-at-your-own pace event for people of all ages that offers a variety of…
10/10: Something Dada 15th Anniversary
Call them the Little Improv Troupe That Could. In 15 years, Something Dada built their own home in a Warehouse District basement after a period living as nomads, got evicted and became nomads again before settling into a new home in the Tower Press Building (1900 Superior Ave.). They outlasted the mighty Second City’s foray…
10/10: Willie Nile at Wilbert’s
The list of “New Dylans” is a long one, stretching from David Blue to Conor Oberst. It’s a term that’s a mixed blessing at best, bringing high praise and even higher expectations. For a brief time in the early ’80s, Buffalo-born, New York City-based singer-songwriter Willie Nile wore the crown. His 1980 debut received critical…
10/10: Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries
Apparently it’s impossible for kids to overdose on dinosaurs. The Cleveland Museum of Natural History (1 Wade Oval Dr., 216.231.4600) is happy to feed that jones. In addition to its three permanent dinosaur replicas, it opens a new exhibit Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries today, focusing on how scientific and technological advances have allowed us…
10/9: The Two Sides of Kocar at Art Gallery
Artist George Kocar’s most familiar works are plump-nosed caricatures of humanity — cartoons he uses in social commentary, satire and illustration. They’ve appeared in Playboy, GQ and dozens of other publications, packed with bright colors and visual noise. But Kocar also has a dark side, where the colors turn bleaker, the edges less sharp and…
10/9: Elizabeth & the Catapult at Beachland
These NPR-approved New Yorkers roll their influences all over their debut album, Taller Children. Elements of classical, folk, pop, rock and a few other old-school genres meld on this laid-back mix. Frontwoman Elizabeth Ziman is the focal point here — sultry and jazzy one minute, spunky and poppy the next. Plus, she smacks down whiny…
10/8: Youth Group at Musica
Since the late 1990s, these stylish pop-rockers have been swimming around the indie-rock ocean of Aussie acts, releasing three albums in the vein of emotive bands like Death Cab for Cutie and the Smiths. This time around, gloomy nautical blues abound on The Night Is Ours. No big surprise, since parts of the record were…
10/8: Umphrey’s McGee at HOB
Mantis, the sixth album by 12-year-old Chicago jam-band Umphrey’s McGee, goes where very few jam-band albums go: into the studio with intentions other than pounding out some recent stage-worn songs. Most of the tracks were shaped during recording by the sextet, and the result is an album that plays around with sounds more freely than…
10/8: Twelfth Night at Hanna Theatre
Sir Toby Belch is drunk the entire Christmas season in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, which begins when Belch’s niece shipwrecks in a land filled with treacherous pirates. She dresses up as a guy and lands a job as a page in the duke’s court, launching a comedy of sexual confusion and social ambition. Sir Belch may…
10/8: Strike Anywhere at the Grog Shop
While most of their melodic hardcore peers were consumed with heartbreak, Virginia’s Strike Anywhere spent the decade building a reputation as one of the best political punk bands. Led by Thomas Barnett’s screaming (but decipherable) vocals, the quintet mixes raging rhetoric with chunky riffs, machine-gun rhythms and occasional breakdowns, all played with incendiary energy. The…
10/8: The Alice Seed at CPT
Cleveland playwright Michael Sepesy’s The Alice Seed tells the story of a little girl who died of cancer. A year later, her mother sees the girl’s ghost, who leads her to a field where she meets Charon, ferryman to the underworld. He gives her a seed, which sprouts something that looks a lot like Alice.…
10/7: Tom Russell at the Beachland
“I write movies in my head all night,” declares Tom Russell in the song “Grapevine.” And given the humanity reliably found in the characters inhabiting those settings, the 56-year-old, L.A.-born, Texas-transplant singer-guitarist-songwriter crafts some very memorable “movies” indeed. Whether tearing a page out of his own world-weary journal or speculating the fate of a pair…
10/7: CIM Orchestra
At 26, James Feddeck has already had a career a lot of conductors would envy. After obtaining degrees at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music — where he studied piano, organ, oboe and conducting — he became assistant conductor of the Memphis Symphony, where he was promoted to resident conductor earlier this year. He was…
KUCINICH: I WAS RIGHT!
Dennis Kucinich’s web site calls him “America’s most courageous congressman.” Say what you will about that, but he has earned the right to say ‘I told you so’ about Iraq: Seven years ago this week the House of Representatives debated the Iraq War Resolution which was presented by President Bush. I made the case for…
Exotic setting can’t save Couples Retreat
It’s axiomatic that a beautiful tropical setting will do nothing to save a bad movie. In this offering written by the Swingers team of Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau, the best moments come before its four couples arrive at their island paradise. Hyper-organized Jason and Cynthia (Jason Bateman and Kristin Bell), troubled by infertility, persuade…
The Not So Best of 2009
My latest Buzz Report is now live. You’ll find recent albums by Wilco and the Arctic Monkeys on there, even if I wasn’t completely overwhelmed by them. The latest Buzz Report — which I compile quarterly to gauge some of the best albums released during the period — makes one thing clear: 2009 has been…
WONDERFUL WIZARD
TOP PICK The Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition (Warner) It would take you days to go through everything on this gorgeous Blu-ray set: the books, the archival material, the extras (including silent-movie versions of Oz) and of course the film classic, making its high-def debut. The scene where Dorothy first steps into…
CD Review: AIR
Never has a band’s name fit its sound better than Air, the French electro-pop duo whose music floats effortlessly on sparse arrangements and breathy vocals. Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin recorded Love 2 in their new studio intending to capture more energy and spontaneous composition than ever before. Not satisfied with making background music, Air…
THE DARNA INITIATIVE
You don’t have to know a single thing about Moroccan cuisine to fall for Darna. From the exceedingly comfortable space to the alluring and delicious food, the operation seems to be designed around exceeding diners’ expectations. Granted, those expectations are probably nil considering that we Clevelanders have had very limited exposure to Moroccan cooking. Our…
CD Review: AFI
A lot has happened in the world in the three years since glammy punks AFI last released an album: ongoing war, economic meltdown, new leaders. But you’d never know it by listening to the Bay Area drama queens’ eighth album, Crash Love, where it’s all AFI, all the time. Frontman Davey Havok takes the breakups…
So close
And now the beginning to any good sports discussion: While American Idol will not debut season nine until January, the auditions were wrapped up this summer in seven cities. Bear with me. It gives me a chance to relate the tale of when I stared down the Idol lords at Browns Stadium during the auditions…
CD Review: Alice in Chains
It’s funny that one of the first lines on Alice in Chains’ first album in 14 years claims, “There’s no going back to the place we started from.” Because for the next 54 minutes, that’s precisely what these ’90s Seattle rockers attempt to do on Black Gives Way to Blue. The point is clear: After…
Q&A: SUBODH CHANDRA
Locally, Subodh Chandra is best known as a former Cleveland law director and candidate for state attorney general. Recently, Chandra earned some national recognition — in the lefty blogosphere, at least — for taking on Orly Taitz, a California lawyer and leading “birther” (those who claim that Barack Obama was not born in the U.S.…
CD Review: Exene Cervenka
Cervenka keeps it short, sweet and simple on this one. The miminal, everybody-up-front production quality suits the brief-to-the-point-of-haiku songs. Most of the tracks feature Cervenka’s own strum-a-strum guitar with some light strings, bass and drums. The opening track, “Trojan Horse,” is a bouncy number that wouldn’t be out of place on a Donna the Buffalo…
LAKE-EFFECT SNOW JOB?
As the most significant transformation of Cleveland’s lakefront in this generation looms, the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority wants you to believe this: Trust us — we know what we’re doing. A fight for the hearts and minds of Greater Cleveland persists, as port officials make a political push to relocate the languishing port to a…
CD Review: Miranda Lambert
An audacious country renegade with a straight-shooting lyrical style, Miranda Lambert is worlds removed from your average cookie-cutter country singer. As she herself puts it, “just down the middle plain” has never been her style. Revolution, her third CD, finds Lambert taking an if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it approach. She’s kept the same producers and musicians as last time…
Takin’ a Ride
When car repossessions go wrong, they go wrong in a spectacular fashion. There’s even a TV show about it. If you don’t watch reality TV, maybe you caught a similar story on the local news recently. If a bank or a buy-here-pay-here car lot owns a vehicle’s title, Ohio law permits them to repossess it…
CD Review: Ghostface Killah
Here’s where anyone who thought Ghost was an indistinguishablethug learns a thing or two. Offering to make up a plate of cheese and crackers for a pregnant woman, noticing “your neck smell good,” and imploring his baby mama to give his own big belly a rub, he confirms that no one in rap has a…
Quarterly Buzz Report
We’re heading into the homestretch of music-release season. The next couple of months will unleash a flurry of big-name albums as record companies prepare their holiday gold. The year’s third-quarter releases were typically marked by word-of-mouth freshmen and career artists settling into their territories. Here are five of the best. Arctic Monkeys Humbug WHAT’S THE…
CD Review: The Black Heart Procession
Distilling melancholy into music is a predominantly youthful pursuit. That’s why the Black Heart Procession is such an interesting band. For more than 10 years, the San Diego group has offered mature, rehearsed takes on sepulchral imagery and somber themes, speaking with the voices of Poe and Lovecraft, rather than the histrionic tones of melodramatic…
For Pete’s Sake
Peter Billingsley is best known for his role in 1983’s A Christmas Story, in which he played Ralphie, the hapless kid who wants a BB gun for Christmas. But Billingsley, whose stints as a young actor also include playing a steroids-taking wannabe jock in an after-school special alongside a young Vince Vaughn, has continued to…
Reel Cleveland: Haunted House Doc Rocks
A makeup special-effects guy who has worked on films like The Usual Suspects, The Dead Matter and Buried Alive, David Henson Greathouse (a.k.a. House) spent 13 years making Legion of Terror, his documentary about the Bloodview Haunted House acting troupe. “It hasn’t been 13 years of nonstop work, but every October I’d film a little,”…
Life’s a Beach
The Beaches of Agnès opens with a shot of 80-year-old French filmmaker Agnès Varda on the shore, talking to the camera: “I am playing the role of a little old lady, pleasantly plump and talkative, telling her life story. But it’s others I’m interested in, others I like to film.” And so begins the wonderful…
Around Hear: Brian Chalmers Tribute
On Saturday, October 10, the Parma Tavern (5680 Broadview Rd.) will host a tribute to Brian Chalmers, the Cleveland artist whose work included some of the iconic WMMS graphics. Chalmers died suddenly in June, at the age of 54. Long-running rock band Teaser will host the event. Brian’s brother Mark is the band’s drummer. The…
The Droids You’re Looking For
With their much-feted debut Post-Nothing, Vancouver’s Japandroids arrive in the wake of a burgeoning noise-pop movement captained by acts like No Age, the Death Set and Wavves. Like those bands, guitarist Brian King and drummer David Prowse offer a loud, tuneful sound, blending the garage-rock intensity of the Sonics, Hüsker Dü’s ringing walls of distortion…
Arts District: Print Fair
Founded in 1919, the Print Club of Cleveland (printclubcleveland.org) is just a few years younger than the Cleveland Museum of Art. The low-profile group — formed to add to the CMA’s print collection and educate members about print collecting — holds its 25th annual Fine Print Fair fundraiser this weekend. Included are etchings, photos, woodcuts…
Sax Appeal
The slim, intense Selvaggio, 40, grew up in Cleveland, worked in New York for four years and moved back home so he and his wife Chelsea could raise a family. (Their son Julian is 10.) He’s the youngest of three sons of Pete Selvaggio, an accordionist who played with Guy Lombardo, the Three Suns and…
THE EVOLUTION OF DANCE
The way people express themselves with movement has constantly evolved through history, both in social dance — as hilariously explored in comedian Judson Laipply’s “Evolution of Dance” video (which has racked up 127 million hits on YouTube since 2006) — and in concert dance. Verb Ballets surveys the evolution of modern concert dance this week…
Blackmore and Night
For 12 years, former Deep Purple/Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore has toured and recorded with his wife Candice Night as Blackmore’s Night. Calling from the “enchanted forest” that is their Long Island home, he and Night discussed their interest in minstrel music, a far cry from the power metal Blackmore played with his previous bands. Their…
SOMETHING LIKE A DAME
To fully savor the classical nuances that flourish in PlayhouseSquare’s presentation of Dixie’s Tupperware Party, you may want to take a cursory glance at your moldering high-school Cliff’s Notes. Playwright-actor Kris Andersson and director Patrick Richwood have obviously spent many scholarly years cruising around ancient Greek and bawdy Roman farces. This learned frolic comes equipped…
Local Disc Reviews
Gene’s Jazz Hot (self-released) myspace.com/genesjazzhot.com It’s hard not to like this affable group of old-timers who have made Loganberry Books their home away from home. Recorded live at Loganberry earlier this summer, Live, Love, Laugh & Be Happy lives up to its ecstatic title. The band brings a youthful energy to standards, hamming it up…
DEATH RATTLE
Beset by financialtroubles and an ill-advised expansion to Cleveland caused by what Alan Greenspan might term “irrational exuberance,” the Bang and the Clatter founders Sean McConaha and Sean Derry have been forced to fold their tents in both Cleveland and Akron. But their final production gives a capsule view of what they contributed to the…
Bruises Easily
With all the cut-rate rehashes of meaningless entertainment phenomena currently making the rounds (90210 and Melrose Place, we’re looking at you), it’s time a true landmark of ’80s/’90s music became known to a new generation of listeners. That would be the Revolting Cocks. Singer Josh Bradford joined the industrial/metal band in 2006, helping them pick…
Bites: Momocho, Bistro du Beaujolais, Souper Market Updates
Souper Market owner Matthew Moore realized that in order to expand the company, something had to change. Since opening his flagship soup shop in Ohio City (2528 Lorain Ave., 216.737.7687, thesoupermarket.com) almost seven years ago, business in bisques has been brisk. Moore added a second location in Lakewood (14809 Detroit Ave., 216.712.7292) in 2007 while…
CD Review: Islands
If it wasn’t already apparent from his mug gracing the cover of Islands’ third album, Vapours, all the pre-album press certainly confirms it: This album is a Nick Thorburn production. The de facto leader of the Montreal sextet seemed content to hide behind the Vapours moniker and the rest of his bandmates for Islands’ first…
This Just In: Concert Announcements
This week we have 27 new shows, including the Kent Stage Folk Festival Headliners, old-school soul from Morris Day & the Time, whole-album shows by Steely Dan and funtime with Flobots. —D.X. Ferris Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s Wild & Swingin’ Holiday Party: Tue., Dec. 15, 8 p.m., $22.50 ADV/$25 DOS/four-pack of general admission tickets $66…
