Letters We’d Like to Get
We get plenty of letters and comments from you, our readers. Sometimes, however, we think about feedback we would have liked to receive from people who didn’t take the time to write us. Here are a few examples.Dear Scene:Your recent article about Terry Egger retiring as publisher of the Plain Dealer seems to indicate that…
The Quality of Cleveland Life Report
Your guide to living in fabulous Cleveland. 1. Akron announces it will hire 38 firefighters in the coming months. Cleveland announces it will pay all of their overtime. 2. Josh Mandel accuses Sherrod Brown of criticizing his military record. A representative for Brown responds: “At no time has the Senator ever questioned his opponent’s claims…
Power Rankings: The Five Most Important People in Town This Week
Bill Mason: After 14 years on the job, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor resigns to take a job at the Bricker & Eckler law firm with four months still left in his term. Last seen giving Frank Russo a high five while packing up his office. Nailah Byrd: The Cuyahoga County Inspector General’s work leads to…
Afternoon Brew: Pep Rally Photo Causes Tizzy, McGinty Stepping In, West Nile Takes Another, and Jim Brown Still Thinks He’s Relevant
Good afternoon, Cleveland. Here’s some stuff to read while you pepper Mark Shapiro with inappropriate questions on Twitter. — Some Perry High School kids dressed like cheerleaders and one even held a baby doll (insinuating the cheerleaders were pregnant, get it?) at a pep rally, and it was all aimed at Massillon kids. A photo…
Ohio Running Out of Execution Drug
Ohio’s supply of execution drugs is running low, according to new reports. If the state plunges ahead with the current 10 death sentences on the books through March 2014, the remaining stock will only support seven executions before the tank hits “E” in fall 2013. The supply cut is due to business decisions on the…
Concert Review: Alkaline Trio at the Grog Shop
The fans at last night’s sold-out Alkaline Trio show at the Grog Shop started singing along to the songs right at the start of the band’s set, which kicked off with “This Could Be Love.” The singing didn’t stop until the very end of the 19-song set, and fans even gave some extra effort during…
Cat Goes on Vacation
Update: Bob-Bob the cat is back home safe in Ohio, recovered from his impromptu vacation to Florida. You may now stop worrying and return to your regularly scheduled day. (WEWS) *** It’s Friday afternoon. Time for a story about a cat. Here it goes: Bob-Bob the cat didn’t want to stay home in Ohio. Nope,…
Afternoon Brew: Bill Mason Resigns, Drunk Mom, Fat Man, and Saving on Road Salt
Shirt choice for mugshot: A+. Good afternoon, Cleveland. Here’s some stuff to read while you get over the shock of Chris Perez not having said anything stupid or inflammatory in over a week. — Bill Mason will resign as county prosecutor October 1, months before his term is up. Not strange at all. (Cleveland.com) —…
Judge Orders Cleveland Heights Club MYXX To Shut Down
After months of the kind of familiar push-and-pull that happens when a struggling club tries to restart its flat-lined business with a game plan that grinds against the neighborhood’s wishes, one Cleveland Heights club has been ordered to close its doors for good. MYXX, located in the Cedar-Fairmount area, must cease operation by October 1st,…
Outgoing Plain Dealer Publisher Terry Egger Addresses Staff in Memo
The Plain Dealer newsroom was given more reason to worry when PD Publisher Terry Egger recently announced that he will retire January 1, 2013. Egger addressed some of the concerns — read: admitting changes are coming in the coming few months and trying to assuage the stress in the short term and soliciting staff questions—…
Concert Review: Gotye at Lakewood Civic Auditorium
Mid-way through last night’s 90-minute concert at Lakewood Civic Auditorium, Belgian-Austrian singer-multi-instrumentalist Gotye invited patrons from the cheap seats to the front of the stage where they could stand and/or dance. Most of the fans took him up on his offer and migrated down from the general admission section. It was a good move on…
People Were Mean to Mark Shapiro on Twitter
Tribe team president Mark Shapiro was pretty active on Twitter earlier this year, posting pics, interacting with fans, giving away tickets, and such. And then he disappeared. Hey, Twitter’s not for everyone, and the man’s busy (doing what, we’re not sure), and the team took an unparalleled nosedive in the standings, and… None of that…
Here’s Dash Cam Video of the Drunk Topless Woman Who Led Police on a 110 MPH Chase (Updated)
Update: Remember nearly nude Erin Holdsworth, the fine lady who led cops on a 100 mph+ chase while wearing only a g-string, fishnets, and high heels? Sure you do. (And if you don’t, do check out the video below to get up to speed.) Holdsworth finally got her sentence, 18 months in all with at…
Concert Review: Kiss and Motley Crue at Blossom Music Center
Joe Kleon To state the obvious: Kiss and Motley Crue make for perfect touring partners. While both acts are admittedly past their primes, their theatrical approaches compliment each other nicely and make for some damn good entertainment. That was certainly the strength of last night’s show at Blossom Music Center that started off with a…
Video: RIP Space Spiral
Space Spiral came down at Cedar Point to make room for the new wing coaster. There is video of the toppling. Timber!
Concert Review: Frank Turner at the Grog Shop
In 2005, Frank Turner started an acoustic project after ending his time with the hardcore band Million Dead. Seven years on, Turner and his band that accompanies him, the Sleeping Souls, have become critically acclaimed by the likes of renowned people in the music industry such as Brett Gurewitz, guitarist for Bad Religion and founder…
Mike Polk Tells a Story About a Boy at Wal-Mart
This happened at Steelyard. Had to have.
Hair Today, Art Tomorrow
Artist Gráinne Bird is taking a collection on Sunday, September 23. But she wants something more personal than your cash. Rather, Bird will be hosting a “hair-raiser,” at Tomorrow’s salon in Rocky River, to collect material for her newest art project. In return for donating your locks, Bird will pick up the tab for your…
CD Review: Dave Matthews Band
The last time Dave Matthews Band made an album, 2009's somber Big Whiskey & the GrooGrux King, they paid tribute to their late saxophonist LeRoi Moore, who passed away the year before. On Away From the World they return to the amiable but repetitive bro-rock of their early records, even calling back producer Steve Lillywhite,…
Soundcheck
Plenty of indie-rock bands have had lineup changes. But Dayton’s Guided by Voices take the gold medal, with 20 or so people claiming membership over the past 30 years. After their 2004 farewell tour, GBV’s “classic” lineup — featuring singer Robert Pollard, guitarists Tobin Sprout and Mitch Mitchell, bassist Greg Demos, and drummer Kevin Fennell…
Back on Course
If consistency is the aim of any worthwhile restaurant, then the West Side Market Café would earn poor marks. Tucked away in the southeast corner of the market, the diminutive diner has been chugging along in some fashion or another for more than half a century. But only recently have serious attempts been made to…
On Stage This Week
At Cleveland Play House LombardiJust in time for football season, Cleveland Play House kicks off its 98th season with a new production of the Broadway hit Lombardi. Based on the book When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by Pulitzer Prize winner David Maraniss, the intimate and often hilarious work explores the life…
Facetime
Tavis Smiley and Cornel West are in Cleveland this week on their Poverty Tour 2.0, which they hope will bring issues of economic injustice to the forefront of the presidential campaign. The hosts of the syndicated public radio program Smiley & West are also promoting their book The Rich and the Rest of Us: A…
Film Capsules
Arbitrage Successful businessman Robert Miller (Richard Gere) seems to have the perfect life: He’s rich and powerful, and about to sell his company for millions. He’s got a beautiful wife, great kids, and even a hot French artist to bang on the side. But looks can be deceiving. Robert’s company is having serious money problems…
We Get Mail
Yes, That’s Why This is a typical example of why some people don’t take the UFO phenomenon seriously, because of the shoddy and amateur way in which the topic is handled by so-called “journalists” [“Lakewood Resident Spots UFO,” Scene & Heard blog, September 4, 2012]. Can we just have the facts without the tongue-in-cheek editorializing?…
Artist of the Week
Meet the Artist: Over the past four years, singer-songwriter Tom Evanchuck has become one of the area’s most popular troubadours. Alone Again, Naturally: After playing solo acoustic gigs for a while, the Chardon-based Evanchuck pursued a fuller electric sound with help from his cousin on drums and a bassist and keyboardist. The band, Old Money,…
CD Review: The Great Hum
(thegreathum.com) The Great Hum sound mature and refined on their debut album. But that shouldn’t be a big surprise, since the Kent-based trio aren’t exactly newcomers. Between the three of them, they’ve played in at least five other bands over the years. A Good Enough Time for Change mixes things up, from the straight-up rock…
CD Review: Matchbox Twenty
Not much has changed for Matchbox Twenty since their last album five years ago, a greatest-hits set that included six new songs. They're still pushing guitar-speckled mom-rock (the title of that 2007 release? Exile on Mainstream) and making major issues out of the smallest things. North is their first full album of new material in…
CD Review: Metronomy
Mixed by Joseph Mount, frontman for the British electronic quartet Metronomy, the latest Late Night Tales compilation throws together 20 songs — ranging from Outkast to Cat Power to Kate & Anna McCarrigle — for a super-chill set that doubles as a comedown from your after-hours clubbing. Most tracks are obscure enough to blend into…
Field of Dreams
Michael LoPresti had just returned to Cleveland in the winter of 2008 after attending college in Florida, where he studied literature and theology at Southeastern University. Inspired by Herman Melville’s classic man-vs.-sea novel Moby Dick, he called his new band the Lighthouse and the Whaler, and headed into the studio and started recording songs with…
A Sale of a Lifetime
For 30 years, the Reverend Albert Wagner’s East Cleveland home served as a church and a museum for the hundreds of artworks he constantly produced with whatever materials he had on hand — acrylics, markers, graphite, plywood, toys, driftwood. If Wagner worked like a man on a mission, it’s because he was. Fixing up his…
Groggy Memories
Groggy Memories Sitting in the small, graffiti-covered space that passes as the Grog Shop’s green room, Kathy Blackman, the club’s owner, leafs through various flyers for the many indie-rock acts that have played there over the years. The club turns 20 this month, so Blackman has booked two weeks of special shows to mark the…
On View This Week
Faces of Chinatown Launching its national tour in Cleveland, this exhibit — featuring work by such award-winning artists as photographer Steve Cagan and video producers Luanne Bole-Becker and Bob Becker — uses pictures, text, and audiovisual clips to document the histories of Cleveland’s Chinese-American community. An opening reception will be held Friday, September 14, from…
The Publisher Bails
“Change is coming, that’s clear by what the company has been doing. We don’t know when and we don’t know what.” That’s what Plain Dealer managing editor Thom Fladung told the newsroom, according to multiple sources, at a meeting last week called to announce the retirement of 55-year-old PD publisher Terry Egger, effective January 1,…
CD Review: The Avett Brothers
On their 2009 breakthrough album I and Love and You, North Carolina’s Avett Brothers abandoned their DIY roots, packed up their acoustic guitars and banjos, and headed to Rick Rubin’s Los Angeles studio, where the guru-like producer helped shape their most ambitious record. On the follow-up, the Avetts’ seventh album, they once again work with…
Art for Art’s Sake
Maybe it was the abrupt firing of the coaching icon Paul Brown. Or the fact that he was from New York and a suspicious fit with Clevelanders. But from the beginning there was uneasiness with Art Modell, who died last week at 87. My experiences with Modell began one day in the spring of 1966,…
Battling the Bulge
After two months of work with nutritionist Holly Unger, chef-restaurateur Brandt Evans is already seeing results. “I don’t do scales,” says the strapping 42-year-old. “But I’m already down three or four belt loops, and I’m feeling great.” Evans — chef-owner of downtown’s Pura Vida and chef-partner in the Twinsburg-based Blue Canyon Kitchen & Tavern —…
CD Review: Raveonettes
A decade and six albums into their career, this Danish duo are still capable of learning a few new tricks. They add some piano to their usual reverb-soaked Jesus and Mary Chain-like guitar assaults on Observator, but this is mostly the same retro-leaning indie rock the Raveonettes have been churning out since 2003's debut. Keep…
Clubland
The last time Blowfly (aka Clarence Reid) played Cleveland, two years ago, the rapper had a rather unpleasant experience at the Lakewood Travelodge where he stayed. “The hotel clerk was real pushy about getting an autograph for a friend of hers,” he recalls. “She was a total pain in the ass, but I love my…
Savage Love
Dear Dan: I want to buy my 14-year-old niece a dildo, some lube, and an age-appropriate book about sex. (Can you recommend one?) I have her mother’s permission, but I wanted to double-check on whether there are legal issues I should be concerned about. (I live in Oregon.) Do you think it would be inappropriate…
Washed Up
The 300-foot-long wooden fishing pier at Euclid Beach collapsed into Lake Erie decades ago, but the crumbling concrete base still juts out toward the water like the stub of a lost limb. A picturesque view of downtown Cleveland can be glimpsed from its edge — partially blocked by a pile of trash, driftwood, and eight-foot-high…
Screens
Spirited Away: Seven Films by Hayao Miyazaki The Cinematheque is launching a two-month film festival this weekend that you’ll want to clear your calendar for. The seven films on the schedule by director/animator Hayao Miyazaki rank among the all-time best animated movies ever made (hell, we’d put them right up there with live-action movies too).…
