What to Do Tonight: Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo’s new CD is called Popular Songs, but that title isn’t is as ironic as you’d presume. After a quarter century and a dozen albums, the New Jersey trio’s spare, haunting indie rock takes on some new shapes and guises on Popular Songs. There’s bang-and-clatter garage rock, pasty R&B, droning lo-fi and yes,…
What to Do This Weekend: Taylor Swift
A couple weeks ago, Kanye West went from eccentric genius to total asshole with one dumb-ass stage rush. It’s not that Taylor Swift really needed another award to add to the batch she’s justly collected over the past two years. It’s not that the country star needed MTV to validate her pop-princess standing either. But…
What to Do Tonight: Common
Back in the day, rapper Common went by the name Common Sense. That should give you an idea about how serious he took himself. He dropped the second half of his moniker after two albums and began lightening up a little. His records from the early part of this decade — Like Water for Chocolate…
Zombieland is a worthy addition to the zom com genre
The world has been devastated by a plague that turns the infected into flesh-eating killing machines. Among the few survivors are uber-wuss Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg, in Michael Cera-lite mode), who’s lucky this is a comedy and not a horror movie or he would have been dead before the opening credits. This is a guy who…
Capitalist punishment is the theme of Michael Moore’s new film
Considering how op-ed documentarian Michael Moore has been flogging the same themes now for 20 years, it’s either a testament to Moore’s prankster wit or the miserable times we live in that the fellow doesn’t have to repeat himself as he cheekily exposes portfolio after portfolio of Stupid-Evil Corporate Tricks. In Capitalism: A Love Story,…
What to Do Tonight: Amazing Baby
You have every reason to hate Brooklyn-based hipsters Amazing Baby. They’ve got the tousled style of a thousand indie bands before them. Their music meshes dance-floor euphoria with garage-rock psychedelia. Plus, they’re Brooklyn-based hipsters. But on its debut album, Rewild, the quintet manages to pull a few hooks out of all the detached sounds buzzing…
10/4: Neil Gaiman at the Cleveland Public Library
Acclaimed fantasy author Neil Gaiman will kick off the Cleveland Public Library’s 2009-2010 Writers & Readers series Sunday, 2 p.m., at the Cleveland Public Library’s Lake Shore Facility (behind the Memorial-Nottingham Branch), 17109 Lake Shore Blvd. Gaimain wrote the Sandman graphic novels, the New York Times young-adult bestseller The Graveyard Book, and the novel that…
Five Essential Fall Films
The problem with most seasonal movie previews is their annoying tendency to cram every random title into a finite amount of space, thereby doing an injustice to the films most worthy of a discriminating moviegoers’ attention. Certainly anyone who genuinely cares about the motion picture as an art form doesn’t give a flying fuck that…
QUEERS! HERE! GET USED TO IT!
The Gay Games are coming to Cleveland in 2014. OutSports.com reports: “Cleveland demonstrated to the Federation of Gay Games that they understood the mission of the Gay Games and our principles of ‘Participation, Inclusion, and Personal Best,’” said Kurt Dahl and Emy Ritt, FGG co-presidents in a statement. “We were highly impressed by the facilities…
All Time Indians Name Team — Snuffy Stirnweiss Division (Nicknames)
And now, in Part II of the great Indians name listing experiment, it’s time to tackle the great nicknames of the club. Now, some clarification. While “Pronk” may or may not be a great nickname, I tried to go by nicknames that stuck to the point of either a) Always using it when referring to…
All Time Indians Name Team — Rivington Bisland Division (Real Names)
Ossee Schrekengost — Now, that’s a freakin’ name. There isn’t much left to say about this current group of Indians, but browsing through the historical roster for one reason or another the other day, I started chuckling at a couple of names. One thing led to another and suddenly I was scribbling down my favorites.…
SANDMAN COMETH
Acclaimed fantasy author Neil Gaiman will kick off the Cleveland Public Library’s 2009-2010 Writers & Readers series Sunday, 2 p.m., at the Cleveland Public Library’s Lake Shore Facility (behind the Memorial-Nottingham Branch), 17109 Lake Shore Blvd. Gaimain wrote the Sandman graphic novels, the New York Times young-adult bestseller The Graveyard Book, and the novel that…
Cavs Media Day Report (Or: The Night That the Lights Went Out in Independence)
It’s like the Olympic podiums, except it’s workout equipment and photographers. Dan Rydell: Eli’s Coming.Casey McCall: Eli?Dan Rydell: From the Three Dog Night song.Casey McCall: Yes?Dan Rydell: Eli is something bad, a darkness.Casey McCall: “Eli’s coming. Hide your heart, girl.” Eli is a inveterate womanizer. I think you’re getting the song wrong.Dan Rydell: I know…
Tuesday Music News Roundup
Britney’s new single is all about how she wants to get freaky with you and someone else. Apparently DJ AM didn’t mean to kill himself when he piled all those pills into his mouth. American Idol Adam Lambert says he’s no puppet. Then his nose grew. Barbra Streisand releases a new album. Aging gays rejoice…
Out Today: AFI
AFICrash Love(DGC/Interscope) 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…
YOUR DAILY FEAR REPORT
Pity us Clevelanders. Daily, it seems, our friends in television news are reminding us of all the things that might kill us, maim us or leave us broke. Take this headline on WKYC’s Web site: “Funeral homes prepare for possible H1N1 surge.” Northeast Ohio funeral homes must stock up on extra caskets and embalming fluid…
Out Today: Alice in Chains
ALICE IN CHAINSBlack Gives Way to Blue(Virgin/EMI) 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…
Best Songs of Summer 2009
You can put away the shorts and pull out the sweats, because summer’s officially over. Yeah, we know, it sucks. But we’ll always have our memories — most of them powered by a kick-ass soundtrack that included everything from head-bobbing hip-hop to shimmering pop-country. Here’s a look back at 2009’s Top 10 Summer Songs: 1.…
Photo Show: Kiss at the Q, 9/28
Scene’s Johnny Angell rock and rolled all night with Kiss at the Q. Sadly, he can’t party every day because he has to work. But he did bring back some awesome pics.
What To Do Tonight: Marshall Crenshaw
Marshall Crenshaw’s 1982 self-titled debut stands as a power-pop classic, packed with a dozen slices of hooky nirvana. Timeless tunes like “Someday, Somewhere” and “Cynical Girl” serve as simple yet sublime examples of Beatlesque tuneage (perhaps not surprisingly, considering Crenshaw played John Lennon in an early production of Beatlemania). The down side of making a…
What To Do Tonight: Streetlight Manifesto
Streetlight Manifesto represent everything that made the third-wave ska revival great: a tight, flashy horn section; uptempo arrangements full of frenetic energy; punky guitars and vocals; a slight hardcore edge. What they blessedly lack is the watered-down, formulaic ska-light pap that rode the heels of that wave onto the radio dial in the mid-’90s. Thanks…
Win tickets to see Rosemary’s Baby at the Cedar Lee
Roman Polanski’s award winning 1969 horror classic Rosemary’s Baby comes to the Cedar Lee Theatre this Saturday as part of Cleveland Cinemas’ Cult Classic Series. In the film, Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse move into an apartment in a building with a bad reputation. Strange things start to happen: a woman Rosemary meets in the washroom…
A Q&A with Troma co-founder Lloyd Kaufman
Now in its tenth year, the B-movie convention Cinema Wasteland (cinemawasteland.com) is back at the Strongsville Holiday Inn this weekend. One of the returning guests is Troma Entertainment co-founder Lloyd Kaufman, who’ll be there to help the “Troma Army” man the film studio’s booth. Famous for putting out classic B-movies such as The Toxic Avenger,…
Testicle-Gargling Steely Dan Coming to Town
Seth Rogen may have claimed that Steely Dan “gargles my balls” in Knocked Up, but I side more with Paul Rudd, who defended the arch and artsy duo in the movie. Admittedly, Steely Dan make more sense when you get older, when their dry, smart-ass lyrics and jazzy melodies play better to older, more seasoned…
NAY-BORHOOD ACTIVISTS TRY ANOTHER OBSTACLE TO HEALTHCARE REFORM
Should you need further evidence that Republicans don’t give a good goddamn how many American families go bankrupt due to illnesses or must forgo healthcare, consider their latest obstacle to reform, reported today in The New York Times: In more than a dozen statehouses across the country, a small but growing group of lawmakers are…
Heading to Cavs Media Day
Off to media day, which is going to be a circus, so no more posts this afternoon. Check @vincethepolack on Twitter for updates. Tonight I’ll post a review and some pics, and if some players cooperate, some video.
Music News Roundup
Lady Gaga wins Rising Star award at Women in Music event. Judges must not have seen her penis. OG American Idol gets married. A few people remember to show up. Michael Jackson’s movie sells out in two hours. Meanwhile, you can probably find Creed tickets real cheap online. —Michael Gallucci
Ron Harper on Not Winning a Championship for Cleveland
Another day, another column about LeBron’s decision to stay or go in July of 2010. One difference here: The writer relays an anecdote about talking with Ron Harper about his rings and whether not winning one in Cleveland made him feel good, bad, indifferent. Some years ago, I spent some time with former NBA player…
A Q&A with In Search of Beethoven director Phil Grabsky
When making his previous film, In Search of Mozart, director Phil Grabsky heard enough about Beethoven to make him think that should be his next subject. The result, In Search of Beethoven, is a documentary about the classical music icon that attempts to debunk many of the myths about how the composer. Grabsky will attend…
Tribe: Firing Everyone, Firing the Fans
I hope you’ve been keeping up with Let’s Go Tribe’s ongoing series entitled: Fire Everyone! They’ve taken Dolan, Willis, Shelton, the Mission, Anything and Everything, and the Farm System to task. As Jay says, it’s time to hold someone accountable for the putrid mess that runs out onto the field in Indians’ uniforms. Next up…
Concert Review: Mute Math at House of Blues, 9/26
There comes a day when shitty little clubs and small acoustic shows get a little redundant for music fans — no matter how great the bands are. Sure, there’s great intensity in a good local rock show, and probably at least a handful of captivating tunes. But given the choice, a performance by U2 or…
What To Do Tonight: KISS
Surprised these old timers still want to rock ’n’ roll all night and party every day? Well, consider the marketing opportunities. Perhaps the only rock band to hawk caskets, Kiss have billed their latest tour as a “Kiss Alive 35” anniversary jaunt, undoubtedly necessitating an entirely new line of T-shirts, posters, programs, etc. There’s a…
9/30: Amazing Baby at the Beachland
You have every reason to hate these Brooklyn-based hipsters. They’ve got the tousled style of a thousand indie bands before them. Their music meshes dance-floor euphoria with garage-rock psychedelia. Plus, they’re Brooklyn-based hipsters. But on their debut album, Rewild, the quintet manages to pull a few hooks out of the detached sounds buzzing around it.…
9/30: Carolina Chocolate Drops at Kent Stage
Appalachian string music can seem mighty monochromatic. But this wasn’t always the case. The all-black Carolina Chocolate Drops learned much of their traditional Piedmont repertoire from North Carolina fiddler Joe Thompson, who’s known as the last black traditional string-band player. The Drops’ Rhiannon Giddens, Dom Flemons and Justin Robinson trade tight harmonies and traditional instruments,…
9/30: Dixie’s Tupperware Party at 14th Street Theatre
Some drag queens are divas. Some are nuns. Some are torch singers. Dixie Longate is a Tupperware lady. In Dixie’s Tupperware Party, a one-woman show written by Kris Andersson and Elizabeth Meriweather, the protagonist talks about her trailer-park life (including multiple ex-husbands and slutty kids) while filling us in on the myriad uses of re-sealable…
9/30: Masha Hamilton at Joseph-Beth
Writer Masha Hamilton’s new novel, 31 Hours, asks questions that have plagued our nation since the 2001 terrorist attacks. It tells the story of a mother who wakes one night, certain that something is wrong with her adult son Jonas. Readers already know what she doesn’t: Jonas is being sequestered by a group of Islamic…
9/30: Sukkah Raising and Fall Harvest Celebration
The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage (2929 Richmond Rd., 216.593.0575) combines ancient tradition with contemporary environmental concerns at its Sukkah Raising and Fall Harvest Celebration happening from 4-6 p.m. today. The festival of sukkot honors the years Jewish people wandered in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. During the seven days, the…
Local sci-fi thriller debuts at the Cedar Lee on Sunday
About a year ago, writer-director Jon Mancinetti, a graduate of the Columbus College of Art and Design, moved back home to Cleveland. He had finished a student film while at school but he wanted to do make another film and figured Cleveland was the right place to do it. “I wanted to go all out…
What To Do Tonight: Rhett Miller
Rhett Miller says you can tell what his Old 97’s bandmates don’t like about his songwriting by his solo work, which typically features songs that get booted by the group. If so, the Old 97’s’ voting majority might want to rethink their strategy, given the strength and depth of Miller’s fourth solo album beyond the…
What To Do Tonight: Mute Math
“Typical,” the lead single from Mute Math’s 2006 self-titled debut, comes barreling out of the starting gate with a hard-charging guitar hook, pauses briefly for a verse, then soars straight into rock ’n’ roll anthem territory during the chorus. Fans who’ve seen the band play live over the past few years know that singer and…
9/28: Kiss at the Q
Surprised these old timers still want to rock ’n’ roll all night and party every day? Well, consider the marketing opportunities. Perhaps the only rock band to hawk caskets, Kiss have billed their latest tour as a “Kiss Alive 35” anniversary jaunt, undoubtedly necessitating an entirely new line of T-shirts, posters, programs, etc. There’s a…
9/29: Marshall Crenshaw at the Beachland
A great first album can be both a blessing and a curse. Marshall Crenshaw’s 1982 self-titled debut stands as a power-pop classic, packed with a dozen slices of hooky nirvana. Timeless tunes like “Someday, Somewhere” and “Cynical Girl” serve as simple yet sublime examples of Beatlesque tuneage (perhaps not surprisingly, considering Crenshaw played John Lennon…
9/29: Streetlight Manifesto at the Agora
Streetlight Manifesto represent everything that made the third-wave ska revival great: a tight, flashy horn section; uptempo arrangements full of frenetic energy; punky guitars and vocals; a slight hardcore edge. What they blessedly lack is the watered-down, formulaic ska-light pap that rode the heels of that wave onto the radio dial in the mid-’90s. Thanks…
PUPPETS EXPLAIN HEALTHCARE — NO, WE DON’T MEAN FOX NEWS
On Monday, Cleveland will host a visit by Mad as Hell Doctors, six Oregon MDs who are traveling cross-country in their “Care-a-Van” — a white 1986 Winnebago named “Winnie” — to Washington D.C. to promote the cause of single-payer health-care reform. They’ll present their case in a free, open-to-the-public townhall meeting at 7 p.m. at…
MOST-LY BEETHOVEN
When a conductor like Franz Welser-Möst leads the Cleveland Orchestra through a piece of music that’s as great and as familiar as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, you expect more than just refinement; you expect grand ideas and attitude. The orchestra’s most famous music directors — George Szell, Christoph von Dohnonyi and Welser-Möst — have all…
O’MALLEY SHIPPED TO CINCY — FOR HIS PROTECTION OR OURS?
Patrick J. O’Malley’s life as a federal convict is almost over, and the shamed politico took one step closer to freedom this week. The former Cuyahoga County recorder went to prison in October after he pleaded guilty to a rare federal obscenity charge. The feds discovered a catalog of illegal porn on two of O’Malley’s…
GET YOUR WRITE ON
Print journalist and blogger John Ettorre hosts a writing workshop on Saturday, September 26, 9:30-11:30 a.m., at the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Library, 2345 Lee Rd. The workshop, hosted by the Heights Observer and FutureHeights, is the third in a series designed to help people who want to foster discussion of community issues by writing for…
Friday Music News Roundup
Noted music purist Eminem sues Apple for selling his songs on iTunes. Oh no! Who will fill the overrated-British-singer-who-hip-Americans-pretend-to-like spot if she quits? Michael Jackson’s old adviser published a book based on their conversations. What took him so long? Who loves their daddy?
Surrogates offers sci-fi action with a social dimension
Robert Venetti was packing boxes in the warehouse at Top Shelf Comics when he had the idea for his successful graphic novel series The Surrogates. With the release of this sci-fi action movie starring Bruce Willis, he’s living a fanboy dream. The story is a conventional dystopian conceit: in a 2054, which looks a lot…
MEET THE ORCHESTRA
Cleveland Orchestra music director Franz Welser-Möst opens the orchestra’s family season with an introduction to his ensemble today. He’ll lead them through music selections that showcase each section so kids can get a feel for the sounds of the different string, woodwind, brass and percussion instruments. You can show up an hour before the concert…
Nashville Singer-Songwriter Comes Home This Weekend
Cap your weekend by catching young singer-songwriter Carley Tanchon at the Beachland Tavern on Sunday. Now based in Nashville, the Chagrin Falls native developed a passion for music at a young age, learning guitar from her mom — who joined her onstage for a duet at her CD-release party at the Barking Spider this past…
What to Do This Weekend: Death
A decade ago, the obscure proto-punks Death never even blipped on the radars of the vinyl junkies or noise-lovin’ hipsters who heap praise on them these days. That’s because the three Hackney brothers put out only one single, which was self-released in 1976 and limited to 500 copies. They formed in Detroit in 1970 as…
Concert Review: Sufjan Stevens at the Beachland, 9/24
Flash-forward to the encore of Sufjan Stevens’ sold-out show at the Beachland Ballroom last night. Oddball trombone and trumpet solos, haunted house-style synths and Stevens’ ethereal, echoed vocals twisted together in a new concoction that Miles Davis might have thought up 100 years into the future in the middle of an apocalypse. It was wild…
What To Do Tonight: H.R.
Bad Brains’ mercurial frontman H.R. was once one of the very best, displaying acrobatic ferocity that rivaled the music’s feral intensity. His meek latter-day performances fronting the legendary hardcore band have earned him much scorn, but he can still be an engaging performer when the spirit strikes him — which seems to happen more frequently…
Space madness abounds in Pandorum
In the not-too-distant future, astronauts Bower (Ben Foster) and Payton (Dennis Quaid) wake up from suspended animation suffering from memory loss (a common side effect, the movie helpfully informs us). The crew members they were supposed to relieve are nowhere to be found and the ship’s reactor is on the blink. Payton gets sent into…
Fame descends to American Idol-like theatrics
The pulsating opening of this remake, in which kids nervously audition for the New York High School of Performing Arts, momentarily quiets doubts about the wisdom of remaking the landmark 1980 Alan Parker film. The sequence, culminating in an eruption of hip-hop song and dance in the gritty cafeteria, could stand alone as a fine…
CHALMERS TRIBUTE PLANNED
Friends of the late Brian Chalmers, artist and all-around good guy, are invited to a tribute at Parma Tavern on October 10. John Gorman has the details. — Frank Lewis
Mick Ronson’s Biographers Talk About Bowie Guitarist
David Bowie made his first appearance on a U.S. stage at Cleveland’s Music Hall on September 22, 1972, backed by his Spiders From Mars Band, which featured guitarist Mick Ronson. Ronson, sadly, died of liver cancer in 1993 at the age of 46. He was a familiar and much-loved figure to Cleveland rock fans, who…
Raise the PBRs! The Grog Turns 17
Here’s a shout-out to the Grog Shop, which has been bringing up-and-coming indie-rock bands into town for 17(!) years now at its two different locations on Coventry Road. (Many hardcore underground rockers preferred the older, funkier one; we prefer the current one with air conditioning, decent sight lines and restrooms you don’t feel compelled to…
Abby Linhart Returns
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Abby Linhart was a familiar face and voice on the Northeast Ohio acoustic music scene in the ’70s and early ’80s. A steady presence on the coffeehouse circuit, she hosted a Sunday-night folk showcase at the old Red Horse Hollow Tavern in the ’70s. During that time, she also studied briefly with Liam Clancy…
Get to Know the Band: For Feather
It’s appropriate that Brooklyn, New York’s For Feather make their Cleveland debut at the Arts Collinwood Gallery. The band has a visual sensibility that comes across in everything from its handcrafted promo materials to its live show, where two artists accompany the group with live video and animation projections. “I’m interested in things that are…
AG HOLDER LOOSENS GRIP ON SECRETS, BUT DOESN’T LET GO
Via the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (Scene is a member): Attorney General Eric Holder has laid out out new procedures that will “provide greater accountability and ensure the state secrets privilege is invoked only when necessary and in the narrowest way possible.” Open government advocates like OMB Watch and Sen. Patrick Leahy have “expressed cautious…
Thursday Music News Roundup
Miley grows up, but still not fast enough for all of the law-abiding perverts out there. Now they’re bringing Michael Jackson’s doctor’s girlfriend into this mess. Can’t we just say he took to many drugs and forget about the whole thing? John Phillips bones his daughter, giving us more reason to hate the Mamas &…
WE SHOULD BE ASHAMED …
… that the “pub bike” was invented in Oregon and not here.
Things To Read That Might Not Suck: Someone’s Got a Crush on Dan Gilbert Edition
He does have a dreemy smile. Subtitle: Dear lord my blackjack habit can’t handle a casino next to the parking lot I use for work. — Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson is lining up next to Dan Gilbert on the whole Ohio casino thing: The casino, which Gilbert plans to build along the Cuyahoga River near…
Listen to One of the Year’s Best Albums
NPR is streaming the Avett Brothers’ I and Love and You, one of the best albums of the year. We got a review coming for you in next week’s Scene (and on C-Notes the day it’s released, September 29). In the meantime, you can hear it here. —Michael Gallucci
We Like Grown-Up Miley
Too bad Miley Cyrus didn’t release this a few months ago. It’s a great summer song. —Michael Gallucci
Concert Review: Bell X1 at House of Blues, 9/23
Irish rockers Bell X1 recorded their fourth album, Blue Lights on the Runway, in an Irish castle. No wonder they’re so moody. Former members of Jupiter (Damien Rice’s old band), Bell X1 took their name form the first plane to break the sound barrier. While they haven’t broken any records themselves, their single “Eve, Apple…
Concert Review: White Rabbits at the Grog Shop, 9/23
It’s not every day that you see two drummers sharing a stage with one hell of a percussion set-up. On a Wednesday at midnight to boot! Soon after the guitar fuzz cleared, White Rabbits’ dual drummers punched up their set’s first song at the Grog Shop last night as their sticks hit in unison and…
Drake, Kanye, Eminem, Lil Wayne and LeBron “Forever” Video
If or when the above video gets pulled, you can head over to this direct link to watch the video, which features plenty of nostalgic shots of LeBron and his teammates at St. V from their high school days. Below is an interview LeBron did with MTV where he said Eminem’s verse was his favorite.…
What To Do Tonight: Goatwhore
It’s taken New Orleans thrash-metal quartet Goatwhore a dozen years, but it’s finally put out a focused record. Their fourth album, Carving Out the Eyes of God, may not sound all that original, but it is engaging from start to finish. Guitarist Sam Duet formed the band in 1997, following the demise of acclaimed sludge…
9/27: Remembering the Sights & Sounds of Euclid Beach Park
Euclid Beach Park closed in 1969 after 75 seasons. With the growing trend toward super-parks, the amusement parks that had sprung up in the late 1800s and early 1900s rapidly disappeared: Canton’s Meyers Lake in 1974, Youngstown’s Idora Park in 1978, Medina’s Chippewa Lake in 1984. Euclid Beach is remembered with particular affection and has…
9/27: Meet the Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra music director Franz Welser-Möst opens the orchestra’s family season with an introduction to his ensemble today. He’ll lead them through music selections that showcase each section so kids can get a feel for the sounds of the different string, woodwind, brass and percussion instruments. You can show up an hour before the concert…
9/27: Death at the Beachland
A decade ago, these obscure proto-punks never even blipped on the radars of the vinyl junkies or noise-lovin’ hipsters who heap praise on them these days. That’s because the three Hackney brothers put out only one single, which was self-released in 1976 and limited to 500 copies. They formed in Detroit in 1970 as just…
9/27: Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White at HOB
Back in 1973, pianist Chick Corea, bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White got together for the first time during a weeklong gig that would ultimately launch their lineup of Corea’s fusion mega-group Return to Forever. Last summer, the three reunited with Al Di Meola to revisit some of the band’s electric classics. But on…
9/27: Cavani String Quartet at CIM
Beethoven’s string quartets cover a lot of musical ground. The early ones are in the classical tradition: very orderly and clear. The middle ones — known as the Razumovsky quartets — push the form and add some drama, and are the most popular. The later ones are the most complex. Having played all 16 of…
9/26: Teddy Bear Day at the Zoo
So your kid won’t leave the house without his stuffed teddy bear/panda/ tiger/koala. And it’s making you crazy, because he keeps leaving it somewhere, then melting down and then you have to go back and find it. You can actually reap a benefit from all this today: The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo (3900 Wildlife Way, 216.661.6500)…
9/26: Soulsavers at Grog Shop
Soulsavers started off as a British downtempo duo, with producers Rich Machin and Ian Glover making eerily good electronic music. Since then they’ve grown into a collective of big-name artists collaborating on an ever-expansive range of musical tastes. The group’s new album, Broken, features a mosaic of styles, including beautiful piano sonatas (“The Seventh Proof“),…
9/26: Rhett Miller at EJ Thomas Hall
Rhett Miller says you can tell what his Old 97’s bandmates don’t like about his songwriting by his solo work, which typically features songs that get booted by the rest of the group. If that’s the case, the Old 97’s’ voting majority might want to rethink their strategy, given the strength and depth of Miller’s…
9/26: Mute Math at House of Blues
“Typical,” the lead single from Mute Math’s 2006 self-titled debut, comes barreling out of the starting gate with a hard-charging guitar hook, pauses briefly for a verse, then soars straight into rock ’n’ roll anthem territory during the chorus. Fans who’ve seen the band play live over the past few years know that singer and…
9/26: Jason Kuebler Benefit at Happy Dog
Drummer Jason Kuebler has been behind the kit for 20 years, playing with local bands like Confront, Grain, Windpipe, the Ohio City Rollers and the Swills. He now plays drums for indie rockers Tinko. He was recently diagnosed with a treatable form of cancer but needs chemotherapy. Some of the city’s best bands are coming…
9/26: The Cleveland Orchestra
When a conductor like Franz Welser-Möst leads the Cleveland Orchestra through a piece of music that’s as great and as familiar as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, you expect more than just refinement; you expect grand ideas and attitude. The orchestra’s most famous music directors — George Szell, Christoph von Dohnonyi and Welser-Möst — have all…
Never Thought I’d See The Day Shannon Brown Had His Own Shirt
But from LA Purple and Gold, here’s the “Throw it down like Shannon Brown” tee. (Found via Ball Don’t Lie.)
9/25: Thursday at the Beachland
Fans love New Jersey rockers (or post-hardcore rockers, if you’re a stickler for genre categorization) Thursday, no matter what they do. Fortunately, their live show measures up to expectations. The band’s latest album, Common Existence, offers a rawer and more explosive sound than many of its earlier records. Openers the Fall of Troy will release…
9/25: H.R. at Now That’s Class
Bad Brains’ mercurial frontman H.R. was once one of the very best, displaying acrobatic ferocity that rivaled the music’s feral intensity. His meek latter-day performances fronting the legendary hardcore band have earned him much scorn, but he can still be an engaging performer when the spirit strikes him — which seems to happen more frequently…
9/25: B-W Symphony Orchestra
Back in the day, conductor Dwight Oltman was a prominent fixture in Cleveland’s classical-music scene. He served as music director of the Cleveland Ballet for more than 20 years. He was also the founding conductor and music director of the now-defunct Ohio Chamber Orchestra for two decades. These days, Oltman teaches conducting, directs the Baldwin-Wallace…
9/24: Sufjan Stevens at Beachland
Possibly the most interesting and musically talented man toiling in the acoustic indie scene these days, singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens gives one amazing live show. Strapped into butterfly wings and a letterman sweater, the light-eyed multi-instrumentalist reinterprets orchestrated masterpieces from a string of albums that range from his 2001 electronica release, Enjoy Your Rabbit, to Illinois’…
9/24: The Mystery of Edwin Drood at Hanna Theatre
Rupert Holmes joins a long line of writers with his Tony-winning musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which picks up where Charles Dickens left off. Originally planned as a 12-part serial, Dickens completed only six episodes when he died of a stroke in 1870. But unlike other writers, Holmes was more inspired by the story…
9/24: Goatwhore at Peabody’s
It’s taken New Orleans thrash-metal quartet Goatwhore a dozen years, but it’s finally put out a focused record. Their fourth album, Carving Out the Eyes of God, may not sound all that original, but it is engaging from start to finish. Guitarist Sam Duet formed the band in 1997, following the demise of acclaimed sludge…
9/24: Eldar at Nighttown
Last month, 22-year-old pianist Eldar Djangirov released the invigorating Virtue, a follow-up to 2007’s Grammy-nominated re-imagination. The new album augments Eldar’s classically tinged, dexterous acoustic piano work with futuristic warping from an electric keyboard. It’s a heady explosion of sound. Eldar’s playing often recalls Brad Mehldau’s, especially on ballads like “Insensitive,” “Iris” and “Lullaby Fantazia.”…
9/24: Heartless Bastards at Dionysus Club
Don’t let the name fool you — Heartless Bastards burn with feeling and emotion. The Austin power trio (originally from Cincinnati) blasts out blue-collar country-rock that pits love and hate in an arena of static-filled guitars, blasting percussion and singer-songwriter Erika Wennerstrom’s Janis Joplin-style moans. The band’s third album, The Mountain, might be its most…
SCENE/DOBAMA “10 MINUTES” CONTEST WINNER: FIRE AND ICE
To help Dobama Theatre celebrate its 50th anniversary and its first season in its new home, we asked readers to send in essays about 10 minutes in Cleveland that changed their lives. We received a wide range of entries, including some that adhered closely to the guidelines and some that took liberties but still made…
SCENE/DOBAMA “10 MINUTES” CONTEST WINNER: YOU GOTTA BEREAVE
To help Dobama Theatre celebrate its 50th anniversary and its first season in its new home, we asked readers to send in essays about 10 minutes in Cleveland that changed their lives. We received a wide range of entries, including some that adhered closely to the guidelines and some that took liberties but still made…
SCENE/DOBAMA “10 MINUTES” CONTEST WINNER: HOW I MET YOUR FATHER
To help Dobama Theatre celebrate its 50th anniversary and its first season in its new home, we asked readers to send in essays about 10 minutes in Cleveland that changed their lives. We received a wide range of entries, including some that adhered closely to the guidelines and some that took liberties but still made…
SCENE/DOBAMA “10 MINUTES” CONTEST WINNER: HOW I MET YOUR FATHER
To help Dobama Theatre celebrate its 50th anniversary and its first season in its new home, we asked readers to send in essays about 10 minutes in Cleveland that changed their lives. We received a wide range of entries, including some that adhered closely to the guidelines and some that took liberties but still made…
SCENE/DOBAMA “10 MINUTES” CONTEST WINNER: YOU GOTTA BEREAVE
To help Dobama Theatre celebrate its 50th anniversary and its first season in its new home, we asked readers to send in essays about 10 minutes in Cleveland that changed their lives. We received a wide range of entries, including some that adhered closely to the guidelines and some that took liberties but still made…
Moments in Curious Basketball Analogies
From an editorial in the Arenac Independent from Michigan: On the basketball court, President Obama, for a man in his mid-40’s, moves pretty well. Kind of like a seasoned point guard, Jason Kidd, for example. But when it comes to executing his executive order on closing Guantanamo Bay, this guy is more like Zydrunas Ilgauskas,…
SCENE/DOBAMA “10 MINUTES” CONTEST WINNER: FIRE AND ICE
To help Dobama Theatre celebrate its 50th anniversary and its first season in its new home, we asked readers to send in essays about 10 minutes in Cleveland that changed their lives. We received a wide range of entries, including some that adhered closely to the guidelines and some that took liberties but still made…
OBSCURE POP CULTURE REFERENCE OF THE WEEK
Unless you listened to The Dr. Demento Show in the early ’80s you probably never heard “Rap Master Ronnie” (as in Reagan) by Reathel Bean and the Doonesbury Break Crew, and that’s a damn shame. As insightful as anything by NPR faves The Capitol Steps, and as viciously sarcastic as Will Ferrell’s Bush takedowns, “Rap…
Taking a Look at the 2010 Rock Hall Nominees
Music fans are praising the list of 2010 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees for its diversity. There’s Genesis, Kiss, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stooges, Abba and LL Cool J. The thing that most people are ignoring is that a lot of these nominees suck. Kiss? Please. They were a joke in the ’70s,…
Momentous — A Fan’s Essay on the 1964 Browns Championship
To help Dobama Theatre celebrate its 50th anniversary and its first season in a new home, we asked readers to send in essays about 10 minutes in Cleveland that changed their lives. We received a wide range of entries, including some that adhered closely to the guidelines and some that took liberties but still made…
Tropicália Thunder
Guitarist Sérgio Dias formed Os Mutantes in the mid-’60s with his brother Arnaldo Baptista and singer Rita Lee. They recorded six studio albums (one of which, Tecnicolor, went unreleased until 2000) before Lee departed. Baptista followed her out the door a year later, leaving Dias to keep the band going until 1978 with one more…
Local CD Reviews
Rachel’s Secret Stache The Brown Bag (self-released) myspace.com/rachelssecretstache Rachel Roberts is a woman you can’t get out of your head. Her smoldering, torchy croon winds serpentine around a retro-’70s blend ranging from foot-tapping folk that channels Joni Mitchell (“Bloody Knees”) to sultry, wah-drenched rock rave-ups (“Skelebones”), shoulder-shimmying cocktail soul (“Modest Affair”) and bouncy, rock-tinged Americana…
It’s Just Jarrod
Jarrod Gorbel is a man without a band. Well, sort of. Even he isn’t quite sure about the future. After six years fronting the Honorary Title, Gorbel is ready to move on. “Nobody knows — you heard it first,” says Gorbel. “I mean, people know, but it’s not 100 percent because it’s kind of confusing…
CD Review: Pearl Jam
One reason Pearl Jam’s ninth album is their best since 1994’s Vitalogy? It flies by. Without any of the plodding, moody ruminations and self-serious space fillers that have weighed down the band’s records for the past decade, Backspacer — clocking in at a breezy 36 minutes — hits the ground running and plows through its 11…
Down Under Drive-In
It’s fitting that Quentin Tarantino is the first person onscreen to talk about Australian drive-in movies in Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! The Inglourious Basterds director has spent his entire career paying homage to the type of blood-soaked and boob-stacked films sampled here. After a brief scene in which a bunch…
CD Review: Mike Lee and Ted Chubb
Mike Lee is a saxophone master who has worked in the New York City area for almost two decades. His latest CD, a co-billing with trumpeter Ted Chubb, is an angular and daring affair. It’s piano-less, modeled after the original Ornette Coleman Quartet; this is post-bop, not bop. Cleveland Heights native Lee is a big-toned…
Reel Cleveland: Rock Poster Scene Movie
Five years ago, Iranian-born Canadian photographer-turned-director Eileen Yaghoobian started making a movie about the underground rock-poster scene. Having frequently visited gigposters.com, a comprehensive guide to indie-rock artwork, she wanted to know the stories behind the punk and post-punk images she saw. “I love the way the posters twist pop culture and take something from the…
CD Review: Monsters of Folk
Monsters of Folk were spawned in post-show jams between Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket and M. Ward in 2004. Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis, Jim James (My Morning Jacket) and Matt Ward started working on material then, but it’s taken them five years to translate the structured backstage jams into a studio experience.…
The Wintour Hour
As Vogue magazinE Editor for 20 years, Anna Wintour believes that most of the public doesn’t understand and is frightened by fashion. And many members of the public believe that the people in the fashion industry are frightened by her. R.J. Cutler’s documentary The September Issue doesn’t dispel or confirm this. Instead, it follows the…
CD Review: The Pastels?Tenniscoats
The Pastels are one of the most fondly remembered bands on the C86 cassette compilation released by British music magazine New Musical Express in 1986. The Glasgow group helped define C86’s earnest, scruffy, melancholy, neo-psychedelic guitar pop. Since 2000, the Tokyo-based duo Tenniscoats have been making indie pop that epitomizes what Westerners love about classic…
Around Hear: Ventana Debut
The debut album by Cleveland electro-metal quintet Ventana comes out on Tuesday, October 6, on Trustkill, the hardcore/metal indie label whose catalog includes Terror, Bullet for My Valentine and Throwdown. Ventana features Mushroomhead programmer Rick “Stitch” Thomas. The 13-track CD, American Survival Guide Vol. 1, is a joint effort between Trustkill and Mushroomhead’s Filthy Hands…
CD Review: The Dodos
Pulsating syncopation and scattered rhythms have always been the cornerstones of the Dodos’ strangely attractive music. Time to Die is no exception. Logan Kroeber’s frenetic drumbeats guide the jagged fingerpicking of singer-guitarist Meric Long. This time, however, the duo adds a third member: Keaton Snyder laces electric vibraphone into many of the songs. The additional…
THE PLACE IS THE THING
With cars thumping the expansion joints overhead, All Go Signs director Chuck Karnack shines the biggest flashlight he has at the still pool of spring water that had seeped into the eastern end of the concrete cavern that makes up the subway level of the Detroit-Superior bridge. He tosses in a rock, and the resulting…
CD Review: Brand New
Brand New have never done the expected. Their 2001 debut, Your Favorite Weapon, was full of biting songs you couldn’t stop singing. Deja Entendu, an extraordinary record that broke new musical ground, followed, and 2006’s The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me featured some of the band’s darkest lyrics and most mature musicianship. For…
Arts News: The Cleveland Arts Prize
If it had any physical manifestation beyond the medals hanging around the necks of its honorees, the Cleveland Arts Prize would serve as a searching record of local accomplishment in the arts. Inspired by a 1960 lecture to the Women’s City Club of Cleveland by composer Klaus Roy, it’s the longest-running regional arts award in…
CD Review: Volcano Choir
Like Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago, Volcano Choir’s Unmap is best listened to in isolation. Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon’s side project with members of Wisconsin’s Collections of Colonies of Bees results in a bunch of stark, loopy, synthed-out tracks. Like Vernon’s other work, the album is a masterpiece of layered vocals. His warm,…
PAINT CRUSH
From one perspective, the bulky physicality of paint belies its use as an optically transformative medium. The flawlessly smooth paintings of Rembrandt and Vermeer epitomize the perfection of the painted surface as an illusionary skin, invisible as a mirror. But from Post-Impressionism on, the physical reality of paint has provided another means for artists to…
Man Up
I often joke with my wife that I’m not a lucky person. I can count on one hand the times I’ve won something. But somehow, I’ve managed to pull the cancer lottery and get one of the rarest forms of cancer for men. In November or December of 2008, I started to notice an occasional…
SPONGEBOB AWESOMEBOX
TOP PICK SpongeBob SquarePants: The First 100 Episodes (Nickelodeon/Paramount) Celebrating the 10th anniversary of everybody’s favorite porous pineapple dweller, this massive box loads 14 DVDs with the series’ first 100 episodes. There are some bonuses (commentary, a documentary, a few featurettes), but the real reason to add this to your collection is SpongeBob — the…
ORIGINAL CYNICISM
Newcomers to Cleveland express amazement at the lack of traffic, the modest cost of living, the array of arts and the East Side-West Side divide that it is as much a part of the suburban cocktail hour as olives and ice. The other discovery newcomers make, and with some chagrin, is the negativism that permeates…
Perfect Strangers
Performing outside the Reddstone Tavern during a sunny Labor Day weekend, the Magpies reflect the end of summer. Tossing piano, slide guitar, cymbals, accordion, bass and choral harmonies into a street barbeque of originals and covers, the band’s bright rock ‘n’ roll captures a perfect Sunday — cold beers, a warm breeze and a shimmering…
IDENTITY CRISIS
What would you call a candidate who was on the right fringe of reproductive choice issues and used attacks on gay marriage to get elected? If you’re like most people, you’d probably call her “Republican.” But in the case of Marietta’s Jennifer Garrison, state representative from Ohio’s 93rd district, you’d be wrong. Garrison’s district is…
TWO OF A DINE
When Blake’s Seafood Grille in Chagrin Falls succumbed to a nasty bout of the norovirus two years back, it proved as good a time as any to shut down and reboot. Restaurants had been trending away from fine dining for some time, and diners were electing to sidestep special-occasion joints in favor of upscale-casual eateries.…
Bites: West End Bistro
Around the corner from Jekyll’s Kitchen is the new West End Bistro (79 West St., 440.247.3460, westendchagrin.com), a sharp little eatery that replaced Village Exchange. Like the Exchange, West End is operated by Gamekeeper’s Hospitality, the folks behind nearby Gamekeeper’s Tavern and 87 West. Management retooled the short-lived restaurant from a casual salad and sandwich…
Look Both Ways
Everywhere you look at Dobama Theatre this week, you’ll find the past and future pulling against each other. After more than four decades in a Coventry Road basement and four years without a home, the company begins its 50th season in a new facility on Lee Road, in the former YMCA building across the street…
ODE TO OY
Thanks to the Cleveland Play House, our fair city has had the opportunity to experience Hershey Felder’s automaton-like reanimations of George Gershwin, Frédéric Chopin and now a special pal of Ludwig van Beethoven. Each of these impersonations is worthy of a place in Disney’s Hall of Presidents. Beethoven, As I Knew Him offers up soporific…
Capitol Theatre set to re-open on October 2
Shuttered since 1985, the Capitol Theatre (1390 W 65th St., 216.651.3010, clevelandcinemas.com) is set to re-open next week after a multi-million dollar facelift. Originally opened in 1921 as a vaudeville and silent film house, the theater became the property of the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization, which has been applying for grants and working with…
A Short Quiz Concerning Your Cleveland Browns
If you watched the Browns play the Broncos on Sunday, and you managed to not turn the channel to Khloe and Kourtney Take Miami out of sheer boredom, then you were undoubtedly subjected to some bad numbers concerning the Orange and Brown. The statements followed a general pattern: The Browns haven’t (x) since (y), where…
Out Today: Alice in Chains
ALICE IN CHAINSBlack Gives Way to Blue(Virgin/EMI) 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…
DEATH BY 1,000 CUTS: GOP GENEROSITY IS KILLING US
One of the most dearly held beliefs of the conservative faith is that tax cuts stimulate economic growth, leading to even greater tax revenues. This old koan is as holy and unquestionable to hardcore righties as the virgin birth is to Christians — just less plausible. There’s no direct evidence against the immaculate conception, but…
