Soft Boiled
September is supposed to be when the teen-demographic action films give way to “classier” stuff, but now we have Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever arriving in theaters just in time to beat out Jackie Chan’s The Tuxedo and two Luc Besson-produced action films. Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever moves a lot more gracefully than its title does,…
Steve Earle
Yes, this is the CD that contains “John Walker’s Blues,” the most misunderstood song since George Will discovered “Born in the U.S.A.” and decided, by virtue of its title, that it was a patriotic anthem. The cut is a first-person account of what made John Walker Lindh forsake America and do what he did. Never…
Coward’s Quest
Although his name sounds like an inventory notebook for candy bars, Heath Ledger is presently overcoming this confusion — as well as the plight of the pretty boy — to become one of contemporary cinema’s more vital actors. In The Four Feathers — as in The Patriot, A Knight’s Tale, and Monster’s Ball — Ledger…
71 North
You wouldn’t know it from such single-minded cuts as “Clap That Booty,” “Junk in the Trunk,” and the regional club smash “Boodie Bounce,” but the 29-year-old founder of 71 North actually knows about bouncing more than backsides. In fact, Mucci (a.k.a. Mark Wynn) has bounced back from a three-and-a-half-year tour as a U.S. Marine, a…
Almost? Not Even.
In The Banger Sisters, Goldie Hawn plays Suzette, an aging groupie too stuck in a gloriously seedy past to move into the future. It’s 2002, yet she acts as though it’s 1969 and nothing’s changed — not the Sunset Strip’s Whisky A Go-Go, where she still tends bar behind sunglasses and illicit slugs of rum…
Dances of Death
Three cerebrally endowed stage works, all revolving around death and transfiguration, portend an almost frighteningly challenging theater season. Cleveland Public Theatre’s Blue Sky Transmission, auteur Raymond Bobgan’s ode to Eastern-influenced forms of stomping and chanting, will likely glide over the heads of the uninitiated; for those with Neil Simon theatrical palates, it’ll be about as…
A Weekend at the Wine Bars
At its best, a wine bar is a friendly, relaxing spot that offers wine lovers of all stripes a chance to savor old favorites, discover new passions, and have fun doing it. To this end, an interesting, well-organized wine list is essential; wine-savvy staffers are a necessity; and simple, wholesome foods designed to complement the…
Full-Service Frolicking
The debut of Pickwick & Frolic (2035 East Fourth Street, 216-241-7425) took almost a year longer than originally anticipated, but the downtown entertainment venue, with a restaurant, martini lounge, cabaret, and comedy club, finally marked its “soft opening” on September 6. (Grand-opening festivities are planned for late October.) Owner Nick Kostis designed the 27,000-square-foot complex…
Furry Logic
The Super Furry Animals know the rules have changed. Their music is a throwback to the ’70s and earlier — all pretty harmonies and dreamy strings and expansive, meandering song construction — and yet they’ve laced it throughout with studio trickery, updating the Beach Boys’ sound with Beck’s sensibility. Because in the Age of Irony,…
Arm’s Reach
If Mark Arm’s sounding like a kid again, that’s because, in a way, he is. “I’ve recently taken up skateboarding again, because of that damn Dogtown [and Z-Boys] movie,” the Mudhoney singer-guitarist says with a weary laugh. “I was watching that, and my head was just popping,” he says of the skateboarding documentary, which rekindled…
Grog’s Greatest Hits
Keeping a Cleveland rock club up and running for more than a decade is damn near as unfathomable as sitting through a Cavs game, or Fannie Lewis. But Kathy Simkoff has forged an indie-rock institution at the Grog Shop, the Coventry Road cubbyhole that’s long been one of Cleveland’s best clubs. With plans to relocate…
Dad Man Dancing
Rick Zavatchan is the kind of guy you’d call to help you move. He’s 6 foot 2 and 250 pounds. His thinning hair, thick beard, and a hard-to-miss paunch suggest a man who’d be happy to spend Saturday afternoons shuffling around the garage, belching the alphabet and reminiscing about great carburetors of the 1970s. All…
Kreator/Destruction
Normally, when a genre is overtaken by retro impulses, it’s a sign of rot, if not an outright death rattle. So listeners would be wise to get a little nervous when considering the mass of retro-styled metal releases that have emerged in the past year or two. Whether it’s Manowar’s frozen-in-time new album, ’80s-sounding thrash…
Where the Grass Is Greener
Duane Hurley always had a steady supply of free teenaged labor. That’s because in Avon Lake, bored teens were bound to find alcohol, just as bored cops were bound to track down house parties. And when the teens got their underage drinking tickets, they were introduced to Hurley. The city’s “constructive community efforts supervisor” –…
Colin Blunstone & Rod Argent
Known for such hits as “Tell Her No,” “She’s Not There,” and “Time of the Season,” the British beat group the Zombies forged a unique sound across the ’60s airwaves, both in the States and in their native England. Led by vocalist Colin Blunstone’s winsome croon and keyboardist (and main songwriter) Rod Argent’s jazz-inspired organ…
Game Over
Before his cousin got killed, before a jury convicted his brother of murder, before he became a member of one of the most notorious gangs in East Cleveland, Shawntel Gibson was just a scrawny kid fighting for his life. He was 14 and weighed 112 pounds when his family moved to Shaw Avenue in 1988.…
Toby Keith
Since last September 11, the past year has brought out the best and worst in Americans. To his critics, Toby Keith exemplifies the latter. In early August, the country star’s eighth album, Unleashed, debuted at the top of the Billboard country and pop charts, thanks to the controversy over its lead track and first single,…
The Scam Remains the Same
The faded red words painted on the front of Bowie’s Market announce “We Accept Food Stamps & WIC.” It’s no longer true — the store stopped taking welfare coupons three years ago. But when it did, a more precise pitch might have read, “We Accept Food Stamps & WIC for Beer, Cigs & $$$.” There…
Neko Case
Every so often in a Neko Case song, her voice rings out so full of dimension, you’d think it had a body of its own. Such a moment occurs on the chorus of “Deep Red Bells,” from Case’s third solo album, Black Listed: She pulls the words “deep” and “bells” from her very blood, and…
Breaking the Bank
“Squeeze Play” wasn’t fair to Ohio Savings: I have to voice my extreme displeasure with “Squeeze Play” [August 21]. I’m severely disappointed that such an article made it into the Scene. David Martin writes, “The lawsuit was filed in 1985. Seventeen years later, it has yet to be resolved.” This clearly says it all, right…
Disturbed
Disturbed’s second album is a giant leap for the band and a hopeful sign for metal. On Believe, the group has traveled far beyond the electronic-tinged rhythm-and-riffs territory of its debut, The Sickness, creating one of the best metal records of the year. David Draiman has developed into an actual singer, and the musicianship here…
Doggy Style
The competitors at Syd Friedman’s third annual beauty pageant won’t be insulted if you call them dogs. In fact, considering that they are canines — and the contest is the National U.S.A. Beauty Pageant Goes to the Dogs — it’s to be expected. “The contestants can have pedigrees or no degrees,” says 85-year-old Friedman, a…
Beck
“The sun don’t shine, even when it’s day/Drive all night, just to feel like you’re OK . . .” Out of nearly anyone’s mouth but Beck Hansen’s, these lines would come off clichéd and cheaply sentimental. But Beck — emotionally flinty at best, gimlet-eyed and nasty at worst — isn’t one to let any sap…
Honky-Tonk Hero
It’s little wonder director Randal Myler wrote a play about Hank Williams. The late country singer and songwriter’s life — and death — was made for one. “His story lays itself out like a country and western song,” Myler says. “[When I was in Nashville,] I was told, ‘If you’re looking for Hank down here,…
Bouncing Souls/Anti-Flag
When they say Split Series, they’re not kidding: Not only do New Jersey’s Bouncing Souls and Pittsburgh’s Anti-Flag each get six songs on Los Angeles label BYO’s fourth volume of the series, but they each get their own set of liner notes. Jersey Beat ‘zine founder Jim Testa handles the Souls, while U.K. Subs guitarist…
