Family of Cory Barron, Man Who Fell to Death at Progressive Field Concert, Files Suit Against Indians, Live Nation
Update: The family of Cory Barron has filed suit against the Cleveland Indians, Live Nation and Minute Men Staffing. They contend that the door to the chute down which Barron fell to his death during a Jason Aldean concert should have been locked. Previously, all parties involved passed the buck on security issues that night. An…
(Updated) Bay Village Teens Dump Urine and Feces on Autistic Boy in Twisted Ice Bucket Challenge ‘Prank’
Update II: Five teens have been charged in connection with the case. Two face disorderly conduct-like charges for a juvenile — all the teens are between the ages of 14 and 16 — and three others faces misdemeanor assault charges. Assistant County Prosecutor Duane Deskins, who notes that the teens are friends with the victim,…
(Updated) Cleveland Detectives Seek Help Identifying Rape Suspect: Video from West 104th Street and Lake Avenue Attack
Update: The reward for any information leading to the identification of the suspect in two early morning westside rapes has been upped to $10,000. Investigators have also released a second video that shows the suspect. That video can be viewed here. *** From the Cleveland Division of Police: The Cleveland Division of Police Sex Crimes…
A U2-Related Letter to the Editor from the Archives
U2, with the assistance of Apple, jumped into your iTunes library the other day without so much as knocking on the door. This caused things to be written on the internet. One of those things was written by Deadspin culture editor Rob Harvilla, a noted music writer who’s done time at Spin and Rhapsody and…
Second Annual Cleveland One World Festival Gets Bigger and Better
Now in its second year, the Cleveland One World Festival returns with a more ambitious program. It will again be staged at the Cultural Gardens. But this year’s event, which takes place from 1 p.m. to dusk on Saturday and Sunday, will happen over two days instead of one. “We got some momentum from last…
Response to “Outlandish” James O’Keefe Cleveland Terror Threat Video
I think the first thing that we need to make clear here, (as, to your credit, you do in your piece) is that James O’Keefe is a complete and utter huckster. His entire career is predicated on videotaping people in staged settings under false pretenses, then blatantly editing the videos to remove any relevant context…
All-You-Can-Eat With The O-Line Or Super Bowl Tickets: All the Awesome Things In The Cleveland Browns Charity Auction
The Cleveland Browns are in the middle of a 28-hour “radiothon” over on ESPN850 WKNR, and they’re auctioning some pretty unique/silly/fantastic “exclusive experiences” to raise money for the Cleveland Browns Foundation. You should check out their twitter feed or head on over the auction’s biddingforgood.com page, but auction supports a really good cause: All proceeds…
Say Hello to Your New Visual Arts Editor, Josh Usmani
Scene has been without comprehensive visual arts coverage, and really visual arts coverage at all, for the better part of the last year after Joseph Clark moved on to other ventures. It’s something we know has been lacking, something Scene and Free Times had a long, proud history of covering, and we know the arts…
Where is the quietest place in Cleveland?
A few weeks ago, I asked people on Twitter where the quietest place in Cleveland might be. Apart from some back-and-forth about what precisely I was asking, a smattering of ideas arrived: – the woods next to Wildlife Way in Old Brooklyn – the Lakefront Nature Preserve – the end of Edgewater pier, 5:45 a.m.…
Scene Podcast: Dining Editor Doug Trattner on Barcades, Trentina, Happy Dog East and More
This week host Craig Lyndall tracked down Scene dining editor Douglas Trattner to talk about a whole slew of fun summer food news, including Happy Dog’s imminent opening in the old Euclid Tavern spot, the new 16-Bit barcade in Lakewood, Jonathon Sawyer’s Trentina and more. Subscribe to the Scene podcast on iTunes here. Download this…
Video: AC/DC at World Series of Rock at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in 1979
We always love when vintage Cleveland concert footage hits the web. Last week, a nicely upgraded AC/DC show from 1979 slammed onto Youtube (it was originally posted a year ago). Angus Young is in fine form here. Clevelanders of a certain age and rock ‘n’ orientation will remember that this night of concerts (July 28, 1979)…
Legislation Expected to Move Forward Today in Downtown Pedestrian Bridge Design
Cuyahoga County Council today will discuss and possibly vote on another portion of the contract plans for a pedestrian/bicycle bridge that would connect the Malls with the lakefront. Earlier this summer, the county selected bridge architect Miguel Rosales (of Boston) and the Parsons Brinckerhoff engineering firm for this $25- to $40-million project. Up for talks today…
Video: Actor in ISIS Costume Infiltrates Rock Hall, Shows How Easy It Would Be to Bring Ebola (or Whatever) From Canada to U.S.
Right-wing documentary filmmaker James O’Keefe has made a short film meant to show the lax security on the United States’ northern border. In the video (below), an actor dressed as an ISIS soldier (with a British accent), carries with him bags signifying the Ebola virus and Ricin, a highly toxic, naturally occurring protein which figured…
“Best Band in New York City” Rocked Nighttown Saturday, Will Give Workshop in Rocky River Tonight
New-York-based indie folk/rock sextet 5j Barrow played two rousing sets to a packed house at Nighttown Saturday night. Cleveland, the second stop on 5j Barrow’s “very very very very very very very very first tour” is also hometown to lead vocalist Eryn Murman and keyboardist Eric Namaky. As such, the performance was in many ways…
New Allegations Against Richmond Heights Mayor Miesha Headen Emerge During Recall Campaign
Richmond Heights Mayor Miesha Headen will face a recall election on September 23. In this week’s print edition, look for our exclusive interview with Mayor Headen, in which she discusses her tumultuous nine months in office and her optimism for the future. The latest news out of Richmond Heights is that Headen’s former special assistant…
Rob Greenfield Shows Cleveland How Much Food is Wasted in Dumpsters Each Day
Rob Greenfield motioned over to this big truck parked on Rockwell Avenue, and it was pretty clear that he’s excited. “We got a lotta food!” Packed up in boxes in the truck-bed were bananas, potatoes, heads of lettuce, 12-packs of soda, crackers, ice tea, watermelons, and much more. A cornucopia. A feast. And all this…
Greek Village Owner to Open New Greek Concept in Warehouse District
Tommy Karakostas is on a roll. He opened his popular Lakewood eatery Greek Village Grille — voted Best Greek Restaurant by Scene readers — in 2009. He followed that up with a new Greek Village in Broadview Heights in 2013. This week he opens his third Greek Village, this one in Medina. And by the…
Vintage Tea and Coffee to Combine the Best of Both Beverages in Intimate Downtown Spot
By early October, downtown Cleveland will be home to a new retail experience that combines high-end coffee and tea service. Vintage Tea and Coffee (1120 Chester Ave.) is the creation of Jeff Su, a native of Taiwan and Cleveland State University grad. Vintage joins other recent tea-focused establishments like Cleveland Tea Revival and the Tea…
Paul Weller Plays Stellar Show at House of Blues
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Naturally, Paul Weller’s Sunday night show at the House of Blues—his first Cleveland appearance since a 1979 Agora show with the Jam—overflowed with affection and adoration from the ecstatic audience. The tanned Modfather (who suitably wore pinstriped pants and wingtips) responded in kind with a stellar, fiery set that…
Drew Carey Offers $10,000 Reward to Help Bring the Punks Responsible for the Bay Village Ice Bucket Challenge “Prank” to Justice
Last week, we reported on a cruel Ice Bucket Challenge “prank” by a handful of Bay Village punks who dumped a combo of urine and feces onto a 15-year-old autistic boy, and posted footage from the victim’s cell phone to Instagram. This week, it has come out that funnyman and northeast Ohio native Drew Carey has…
The Black Keys Deliver a Rousing Homecoming Show at the Q
Formed in Akron in 2001, the Black Keys have come a long way. In the early days, the band would play small local bars and clubs such as the Beachland Tavern and the now-closed Lime Spider in Akron. Now, the band headlines sports arenas and last night nearly filled Quicken Loans Arena to the brim…
FOX’s MasterChef is Having an Open Casting Call in Cleveland at the End of September
If you’re jonesin’ to become a professional chef, you’re in luck: FOX’s MasterChef is hosting an open casting call in Cleveland at the end of the month. To attend, you’ve got to pre-register and bring a prepared dish of your choice to wow the judges on September 20. There’s a bunch of additional rules and…
MAP: Less than Half of All Ohioans Root for the Cleveland Browns
The 2014 NFL season kicked off this week and Facebook released a timely map depicting football fandom across each state. The Browns, it seems, are unable to retain fans in more than 50 percent of the state. What do you think? Is this map accurate? Or do we have closeted Browns fans tucked away in…
With Three Reporters Pulled From the Courts Beat, the Northeast Ohio Media Group Continues to Kill the Plain Dealer Little By Little
According to sources inside the Plain Dealer, three top union reporters were pulled from their beats covering Cuyahoga County courts and local justice Wednesday. The plan is to replace them with non-union J-school grads looking for cheap jobs and covering those beats for the Northeast Ohio Media Group in its quest to gather all the…
Wahoo Watch: New York Daily News Will No Longer Print Chief Wahoo Image
Following an editorial decrying the Washington Redskins’ team name and announcing that the newspaper will no longer print it, the New York Daily News announced that it will also abstain from publishing the Cleveland Indians’ logo, Chief Wahoo. From Baseball Insider writer Andy Martino: Another obvious and positive development, and one that won’t prevent us from…
Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran Commands Crowd at Wolstein
Because of an ability to command a stage without any accompaniment, you can often tell when a musician got his or her start performing on street corners and open mics. Such is the case with Brit singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. The guy played plenty of small venues before up-scaling to bigger rooms in late 2012 and…
(Updated) The Horseshoe Casino Wants to Put a Gambling-Themed Sculpture Where the Stanley Block Building Once Stood
Update: The city planning commission was supposed to vote on Biff’s great casino-themed gambling sculpture today after all. (A brief note here: The plans only were made public three days ago. Clearly, as you may have seen around the interwebs, that was enough time for readers to lambast the tacky ode to degeneracy but it…
This Map of Ohio Is Half Funny And Half Accurate
Note: We simply love that “hillbillies” is misspelled. (Via Reddit)
A Cleveland Heights Alum Just Won BET’s ‘Sunday Best’ Gospel Competition
Geoffrey D. Golden, a Cleveland native and Cleveland Heights High School alum, was crowned champion in BET’s ‘Sunday Best’ gospel-singing competition show Sunday night. Though Golden’s last name is purely coincidence, his rich gospel voice was a mainstay of the Cleveland Heights High School gospel choir, which Golden directed as a student there. Golden is…
Here Are Some Swanky ‘Scene’ Jeans
We stumbled across this vintage ad for swanky Scene Jeans and just had to share. If anyone knows where we can score some pairs, do tell. We’d love to outfit our editorial staff.
Johnny Manziel Racks Up 10th Trademark Filing with ‘Johnny Cleveland’
Johnny Manziel’s company, JMAN2 Enterprises LLC, filed its 10th trademark application recently, this time targeting the phrase “Johnny Cleveland.” U.S. Patent & Trademark Office records show that JMAN2 Enterprises LLC has also filed for: Johnny Football JMAN2 JMAN MANZIIEL JIIM JFF The House That Johnny Built JIIM (this time with what seems like Roman numerals rather…
Prosecutor McGinty Spews Fire on Bedford Judge Verdict
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty is not at all pleased with the verdict this morning in the Brothel of Bedford case. Bedford Judge Harry Jacob was charged last year with multiple counts of soliciting sex, bribery, and promoting prostitution. This morning, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Brian Corrigan announced the verdict: Jacob was found guilty on…
Cleveland Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon Cancelled
In news that really shouldn’t be surprising to anyone who checked out the registration fee price (cough, $120, cough) for the race, the Cleveland Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon (and assorted races) are cancelled. Here’s what the organizers said on the race’s Facebook page today: It is with a heavy heart and after careful evaluation,…
Old City Soda Goes ‘Legit’ with the Opening of Midtown Production Facility
“This will be my first legit batch of Old City Soda, Cleveland’s first micro-soda company,” Mike Gulley says from the main floor of his 5,000-square-foot production facility in the St. Clair Superior neighborhood. Up until today, one day after he officially passed his inspections and received his bottling license, Gulley had been whipping up his…
8 Concerts to Catch This Weekend
Friday, Sept. 5 Aqueous/Vibe & Direct/Nevele Earlier this year, Aqueous found success via Kickstarter in funding their new album (due out in late October). That’s just one crest in a vivacious 2014, a year that began with Aqueous holing up in Buffalo for a month-long hometown residency amid thunderous snowstorms and performing, among many other…
Cleveland Jewish FilmFest Kicks Off Tonight
The Mandel Jewish Community Center’s eighth annual Cleveland Jewish FilmFest starts today and includes a lineup of international films and special events. Over the course of 10 days, 25 films from 10 different countries will screen at six different venues. The films all have Jewish or Israeli themes. The festival opens tonight with a screening…
10 Things Going on this Weekend in Cleveland (September 5 – 7)
Gear up for another packed weekend with events such as the Playhouse Square Block Party, Garlic Fest, and Cocktail Week all sweeping through Cleveland. Browse this list for some great ideas, and have fun out there, people.
Case Western Alumnus Who Created “Nike Air” Technology Will Be Honored with New Uniforms, Special Patch
If you missed last week’s college guide and, in particular, our little slideshow about famous alums from Northeast Ohio universities, you likely noticed a few oversights: Don Shula, for example, who graduated from John Carroll in 1951 and went on to become one of the winningest coaches in NFL history. The list was by no means exhaustive.…
Video: Clevelanders Read LeBron’s Coming Home Essay
Here’s this.
Charges Expected Following Four Separate Fatal Beatings in Bucyrus, Ohio
Earlier this week, four fatal beatings took place in four separate homes, puzzling authorities and shaking up the small town of Bucyrus, about 65 miles north of Columbus. Police have arrested a suspect, though as of yet no charges have been filed. The AP reported that the suspect has provided some details to investigators, though…
Future of Cleveland’s Traffic Cameras Up To City’s Voters
Cleveland voters will decide whether to continue with the city’s scheme designed to fleece money from drivers under the guise of public safety or whether actual humans are needed to determine if an infraction actually occurred. After more than 13,000 people signed a petition to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, an amendment to the…
Former Navy SEAL and Auto Dealership Spokesman Lied About Shooting Circumstances, Chase
You all probably remember the unbelievable true story of Christopher Heben, the former U.S. Navy SEAL who, back in late March, was in the Mustard Seed parking lot in Bath Township when he had a run-in with a driver that nearly hit him and then screamed obscenities in his direction. That’s not the unbelievable part.…
Scene Podcast: Gambling Sculptures, Artists in Cleveland, Put-in-Bay Rape Charges and More
This week host Craig Lyndall chats with Eric Sandy and Doug Brown about a whole podcast load of fun stuff. There’s the goofy (read: tacky) idea of the Horseshoe Casino wanting to put gambling-themed sculptures in the old Stanley Block building space, this week’s feature story about the state of Cleveland’s art scene as told…
The Plum Café and Kitchen Will Bring Affordable Farm-to-Table Fare to Ohio City
In the year since Nate Lobas and Jonah Oryszak purchased the 150-year-old building on Lorain Avenue near W. 41st Street, the neighborhood around it has evolved so much that they decided to completely rework their plans for the space. Early models had the joint being a modest coffee shop that only took up half the…
Browns Linebacker Christian Kirksey is Really Tiny in Madden NFL 15
This morsel of hilarity has been making the rounds online this week, but surely if you’ve already seen it you know that it warrants multiple references. Browns linebacker Christian Kirksey not only inexplicably shows up playing for the Tennessee Titans in Madden NFL 15’s “Madden Solo Challenge” mode, but he also appears 14 inches tall. Check out…
Upcycling Upshot: Changing the Neighborhood through Art and Happy Things
Nicole McGee runs Upcycle Parts Shop, an artistic retail project of the Superior St. Clair Development Corp. The store specializes in the art of upcycling — “transforming a material that other people don’t see as valuable into something different.” Cool stuff can be found on every wall, in every basket, on every shelf. And much…
Film Review of the Week: Life After Beth
It’s fitting, isn’t it, that Aubrey Plaza should play a zombie. The bone-dry comedienne who arrived on the scene in Judd Apatow’s Funny People (2009) and became a household name shortly thereafter as April Ludgate in NBC’s Parks and Recreation seems predisposed to the vacant stare and man-eating tendencies of the undead. In Life After…
Surrender: Trentina’s Chef-Driven Tasting Menu Produces a Cleveland Culinary Journey Unlike Any Other
“Eating well is about submission. It’s about giving up all vestiges of control, about entrusting your fate entirely to someone else. It’s about turning off the mean, manipulative, calculating and shrewd person inside you and slipping heedlessly into a new experience as if it were a warm bath.” — Anthony Bourdain At no restaurant in Cleveland…
What’s Fresh at the Oak Barrel
“This time of the year, 90 percent of what we buy is either locally grown or sustainably raised or caught product,” says Demetrios Atheneos, chef and owner of the Oak Barrel Brasserie and Taphouse in Valley View. That includes produce, obviously, but also meat, dairy and seafood. But while seafood doesn’t often make it to…
Talking Shop: Five Conversations on the State of Cleveland’s Art Scene
More than anything, even beer and cased meats, Cleveland is a city built on creativity — everything from the quirky to the fine. The headlines, fixated steadily on the artless worlds of sports and politics, assure us all that Cleveland’s renaissance of awesomeness is now totally under way. Economic development is peaking. Think pieces are…
Afghan Whigs Frontman Greg Dulli Talks about the Inspiration for the Band’s New Album
Back in 2011, Afghan Whigs front man Greg Dulli wrote off the chances of his Cincinnati-based alt-rock band ever re-forming in an interview he did with MTV. The following year, the group was back on the road, playing Lollapalooza and small clubs. Now, having just released a terrific new album, Do to the Beast, the…
Film Series: Mizoguchi’s Greatest Decade Comes to the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque
Along with Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi is considered one of the “big three” of Japanese cinema. Before his death in 1956, he directed more than 80 films (silent and sound). During the 1950s, he directed a series of masterpieces. Many of those films will show at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque…
Working Class Heroes: The Black Keys’ Drummer Patrick Carney Talks About the Band’s Blue-collar Approach
There’s a real intensity that comes through the Black Keys’ music, a gritty 21st update of the blues. But the duo — singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney — isn’t so intense in real life. They even appeared on The Colbert Report earlier this year to witness host Stephen Colbert have his prostate examined…
The Modfather: Former the Jam/Style Council Frontman Paul Weller Continues to be Forward-thinking
Paul Weller has never been one to rest on his laurels. In fact, the prolific 58-year-old colloquially known as “The Modfather”—thanks to his work with pioneering U.K. punk band the Jam and a lengthy solo career that’s kept him in the upper echelon of British rock songwriters—postponed a scheduled late-August interview with Scene because he…
Get Up, Stand Up: Kids Fight for their Rights in Hair Blank Canvas Theatre
Just when you think our society has evolved beyond the concerns voiced in the 1967 Galt MacDermot musical Hair, with book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado, we run into Ferguson, Mo. On TV, there’s an uber-militarized police force aiming armor-piercing weapons at unarmed civilians, and you suddenly have an urge to put…
Band of the Week: Phillip Fox Band
Meet the Band: Phillip Fox (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Jonathan Kampfe (vocals, bass), David Morckel (vocals, guitar), Austin Nill (drums) Straight Outta Cowtown: The Columbus band came together three and a half years ago. Fox, who’s originally from Detroit, had been doing solo work. Kampfe was living in Virginia but moved to Columbus to start collaborating…
Cicada Sunrise Goes for Something Eclectic with ‘Organic Damage’
Cicada Sunrise Organic Damage (self-released) facebook.com/cicadasunrise Led by singer-guitarist Devin Taylor, this local ensemble attempts to marry a few different genres on its new album. It’s a noble effort and the guys don’t sound like any other local act, but the results are rather mixed. Album opener “The First Stone” begins with cooing vocals that…
Pipe Dream’s ‘The Oak’ Full of Pop Gems
Pipe Dream The Oak (self-released) facebook.com/pipedreamofficial The soundtrack to The Fault in Our Stars, the teen melodrama about a young girl with a terminal disease, features a great mix of indie rock acts (Jake Bugg, Grouplove, Ed Sheeran) not afraid to show their sensitive sides. The title track from the latest offering from local indie…
Counting Crows Struggle to Return to Form on ‘Somewhere Under Wonderland
Counting Crows Somewhere Under Wonderland (Capitol) countingcrows.com When Counting Crows emerged in 1993, their distillation of Van Morrison-inspired vocals and alt-country like melodies was truly unique. Their 1993 debut August and Everything After was an auspicious album that heralded a bright new talent. Now, after selling some 20 million albums, the group shows signs of…
Punk Purists: X Revisits First Four Albums
The Doors Ray Manzarek produced the first four albums by the Los Angeles punk band X. But when he first saw the punk band play at the Whiskey a Go Go in Los Angeles, he didn’t even realize the group was covering a Doors’ song. “His wife Dorothy had to tell him that we were…
