Pic of the Day: Despite Win, Michael Vick Will Always Be a Dick
We figured it was best to wait a few days for the post-opening-loss funk to fall off before posting this picture. Maybe you we’re a little too Muni-lotted out by game time on Sunday to catch it, but before the Browns’ season kicked off in terrible fashion, a large contingent of protesters stood near the…
Concert Review: Billy Joe Shaver at the Beachland Ballroom
A true country outlaw who spent his youth hanging with Willie and Waylon, Billie Joe Shaver is a classic American singer and songwriter. And at 73, the guy still has it. During a two-hour show at the Beachland Ballroom, he regaled the crowd with off-color stories about his troubled past as he pulled from his…
County IT Employee Fired for Overpaying on No-Bid Contract
On paper, that’s a very expensive piece of machinery. Institutional idiocy was the name of the game back in the pre-charter- reform Cuyahoga county IT department. According to reports from the early days of the Ed FitzGerald administration, just as the new bosses were sizing up the mess they’d inherited, under the previous government the…
Cleveland Thinking About More Red Light Cameras, Maybe
19 Action News says an internal memo has been circulating around City Hall that urges council to scour their wards for places where the city can erect more red light cameras. But Cleveland says it’s just talk, all talk, small talk, idle talk, silly talk, talky talk… for now. The city says it’s all just…
Breaking: There’s a Bear in a Tree (Updated)
Update V: The bear is still in Solon for anyone that was wondering. And it’s still news. To us, at least. Bearman Sandiego visited a farm, and WKYC is all over it with quotes from the owner. “The bear was definitely here! Chickens are all accounted for (but I’m sure they had a scare!)” !!!!…
Marylin Hiestand, Teacher at Ohio Online College, Caught Outsourcing Work to Former Student
But how do we know that’s an actual graduate? There’s a lot of information floating on the internet winds about the specious nature of online education. Some additional ammo for the naysayers of desk-top schooling now is coming out of Ohio, where a teacher at a large-scale online outfit allegedly outsourced her duties to a…
Here’s What the Muni Lot Looks Like After a Sunday of Tailgating
Ever wonder what happens to that Solo cup you tossed on the ground at 10 a.m. while getting sloppy for a Browns home game? Of course you don’t. That’s not your problem. That’s just where the cup goes once you’re done with your Bud Light Lime. Well, you should know, you inconsiderate litter-bugging ahole, that…
What To Do This Week: Get Out!
If you’ve got the time, we’ve got the stuff to do. Here are three ways to make your work week pass faster: Monday, September 10 Taste of the BrownsThe Browns may not be the winningest team in the NFL, but for the past 14 years they’ve shown an admirable social conscience with the annual Taste…
Concert Review: Uproar Festival at Blossom Music Center
Joe Kleon Coming on the heels of day-long heavy metal festivals such as Warped, Mayhem, Trespass, and Summer Slaughter, the Uproar Festival, which stopped at Blossom Music Center yesterday, seemed like an afterthought. It didn’t really need to pass itself as a festival. In fact, if the tour had just featured Shinedown, Godsmack, and Staind,…
Video: Brandon Weeden Got Trapped Under the Giant American Flag Yesterday
Looking for signs of auspicious beginnings not only for the Browns but 54-year-old rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden? Can’t do better than Weeden getting stuck under the giant American flag unfurled over the field yesterday during pre-game festivities. How could a 4-interception day not follow?
Concert Review: Rockapalooza at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds
The first year of any concert festival is a learning experience. Just ask Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman. He reportedly lost money the first year he put on the skate punk concert. The organizers of Rockapalooza, a day-long hardcore punk and hip-hop festival held yesterday at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds, undoubtedly learned some lessons from…
Concert Review: Jason Aldean at Blossom
On the two-hour post-show WGAR Jason Aldean/Luke Bryan fest last night, the station played a short clip of a Aldean interview where he explained that he patterned his concert philosophy after Kenny Chesney. Chesney, of course, is a stadium vet, a huge name who packs ’em in with his pals. As traffic snarled — and…
Kids Are Funny/Dicks
Police blotter fun from out west, where we have a half-eaten chicken breast, a mouthy 6-year-old, and an old man at the end of his wits. Via the Sandusky Register: Wednesday, Sept. 6 5:04 p.m. — 500 block Taylor St., 6-year-old boy keeps throwing things over the fence into neighbor’s yard, including a half-eaten chicken…
Morning Journal, News-Herald Parent Company Files for Chapter 11
As if the media business needed any more bad news, this week the Journal Resister Company — the national parent of a handful of mid-market newspapers, including the Lorain Morning Journal and Willoughby News-Herald — announced they were seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. But piggybacking off that bad news was a silver lining of sorts:…
Cleveland’s Collective Psyche Struggles Online with Art Modell’s Legacy
Because we all know the best way to contextualize the life of a controversial figure is to dip into the trigger-finger responses Joe Everymen fire off indiscriminately into the Twitterverse at red lights on the morning commute in. But we’re going to have to call a moratorium right here and now on all Art-Modell-moving-teams-in-hell jokes.…
Art Modell is Dead
Art Modell died early this morning, and just because someone is dead doesn’t mean you have to say nice things about them. There was plenty of good buried in that dessicated husk, sure, but there was also a unrepentant asshole who stole the heart and soul of Cleveland — yes, with help from other unrepentant…
Concert Review: Jason Mraz at Blossom
Joe Kleon Mid-way through last night’s two-hour concert at Blossom, singer-songwriter Jason Mraz introduced “Halfway Home” with a story. He talked about how the track was the second serious song he wrote during a short period of time when he shared a New York City apartment with a roommate who was originally from Cleveland. He…
Rock Hall Pays Tribute to Chuck Berry
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s annual American Music Masters series will pay tribute to Chuck Berry starting on October 22 with seminars, lectures, special programs, and an all-star concert. “Roll Over Beethoven: The Life and Music of Chuck Berry” will celebrate the rock & roll pioneer (and also water-sports fan, though…
Here’s the Trailer for ‘A Christmas Story 2’
Yes, it looks as bad as you might guess. The sequel’s arriving on DVD in October, and Ralphie is now a teen who wants a convertible instead of a BB gun, but all the jokes are the same. Good holiday times for the family. A romp! A timeless classic! A heartwarming tale! A shameless ploy!…
Ghoul Power Comes to Cleveland Heights
In 1971, Ron Sweed took up the lab coat and fake beard of the absurdist late-night horror host Ernie Anderson’s Ghoulardi, becoming the Ghoul. Sweed would put his own scorched mark on B-movie night, blowing up action figures and tormenting a rubber Froggy during between-commercials sketches. Chicago-based graphic and tattoo artist Mitch O’Connell grew up…
Shake Your Schnitzel
Sterles Slovenian Country House has a new owner, but diners can rest assured that the 50-plus-year-old eatery will undergo no major changes. The filling and affordable family-style meals — soup, salad, bread, Wiener schnitzel, roast pork, smoked kielbasa, sauerkraut, potatoes, veggies, coffee, and dessert — are going nowhere. “I bought Sterles to keep alive a…
Soundcheck
Taylor Brynne started modeling three years ago, when a photographer friend asked her to do a “fun photo shoot.” The 22-year-old pierced and tattooed Columbus model has since expanded her portfolio to include numerous fashion magazines and rock calendars. She’s hosting this weekend’s Rockapolooza, a daylong hard rock and rap festival featuring 60 artists, including…
CD Review: Bob Mould
Bob Mould had a hell of a midlife crisis, farting away his late 30s and most of his 40s on disappointing acoustic and electronic albums. The Hüsker Dü and Sugar frontman made a welcome return to guitar-based, hook-filled indie rock on 2009's Life and Times, and continues the upswing on Silver Age. He hasn't sounded…
Something Wicked
The hair-cutting, hate-crime Amish trial currently underway in federal court got off to a sleepy start last week — literally. U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster opened the proceedings on Wednesday morning by having a word with Juror No. 4, who apparently didn’t find the previous day’s opening statements “scintillating” enough. Translation: The juror fell…
Clubland
Studio-A-Rama, WRUW 91.1 FM’s annual music festival, has provided an excellent overview of some of the region’s best bands for 31 years. This year’s fest, which takes place from 1 p.m. to midnight on Saturday at Case Western Reserve University’s Mather Memorial Courtyard, features headliners Cloud Nothings, the Cleveland indie rockers who appeared on Jimmy…
Concert Calendar
9/7 Jason Aldean Last month, CMT – basic cable’s authoritative word on country music – held a Jason Aldean Weekend. That’s a lotta Jason Aldean. But the 35-year-old Georgian has earned it over the past half-dozen years. He’s scored seven No. 1 singles so far, and there’s a pretty good chance that his latest, “Take…
Requiem for a Rapper
Martez Little doesn’t look like a guy who’s just hit a new career high. Sitting on an old couch on a porch in Cleveland Heights, the Cleveland rapper known as “Tezo” is hanging his head, swinging through emotions. “It depends on the day,” he says, squinting against the afternoon sunlight pouring out of a cloudless…
The Strange Familiar
“People want to go somewhere new and eat the same old food,” my father wisely surmised while dining at Lager & Vine in Hudson. That sage and pithy observation came just a few moments after we all glanced at the menus, trying to decide who would order which dishes. It wasn’t that nothing sounded good;…
Facetime
If the face looks familiar, it’s because you’ve probably seen it once, or seven, times before. Jonathan Roberts has paired with athletes and actresses during seven seasons of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars. The 38-year old professional ballroom dancer is also a two-time undefeated U.S.A. Pro-Am dance champion; three-time undefeated Latin dance champion; two-time U.S.A.…
Film Capsules
The Words Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper) has always dreamed of being a published author. But his dream seems to be slipping further and further away, with countless rejections and money problems piling up. When he stumbles across an abandoned and unpublished novel, he thinks he may have found the solution to his problems. The book…
CD Review: Jens Lekman
Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman is all about the big statement. The best song on his third album, and first since 2007's excellent Night Falls Over Kortedala, is called “The End of the World Is Bigger Than Love,” and it's stuffed with swirling strings, springtime woodwinds, and Lekman's swooning croon putting a broken heart in perspective.…
We Get Mail
We Do Work, Occasionally I remember writing in to Scene, slightly in shock over the apparent lack of respect this publication gets [“The Imperial Retiree,” August 26, 2012]. It was basically relatives telling me, “The PD exposed Mike White!” — nevermind the fact that Scene ran same exposé a week earlier — and laughed it…
Local Band in Focus
Meet the Band: Elizabeth Kelly (guitar, vocals), Megan Poletti (drums, vocals), Karah Vance (keyboards, vocals), and Bailey Petersen (bass, vocals). Facebookup: Poletti and Kelly were acquaintances from Baldwin Wallace University when the former contacted the latter on Facebook about forming a band. “I was flattered and thrilled,” says Kelly. Vance was brought in for the…
Beautiful Mess
For many people, turning 30 represents the inevitable transition into middle-age. It’s often a difficult adjustment, especially for those who aren’t entirely satisfied with what they’ve accomplished so far. Sondre Lerche, who turned 30 this week, says he’s looking forward to the next decade. In fact, he celebrated his birthday on September 5 by kicking…
CD Review: Robbing Mary
(robbingmary.com) Chugging, driving alt-country seamlessly pours from this Cleveland group on their full-length debut (they released an EP, Groveland, in 2009). Robbing Mary draw inspiration from their Cleveland roots in songs like “Halite,” which spotlights the city’s skyline (“It’s pretty, even through the haze,” sings frontman Dan Mills), while organ melds with classic guitar solos…
CD Review: Melissa Etheridge
On her last album, 2010's Fearless Love, Melissa Etheridge sounded ready to fight, taking on anti-gay-marriage supporters with her toughest set of songs in years. She takes a breath on her 12th album, checking in with a bluesy, twangy set that's more bar-band bluster than change-the-world pensive. The best songs on 4th Street Feeling (the…
CD Review: Animal Collective
Nobody fucks with modern music, and its fans, as much as Animal Collective. When normal people say they hate hipster bands, they’re specifically talking about this Brooklyn quartet. Over the course of nine albums they’ve bent and twisted their, and our, perception of what indie rock should sound like. On Centipede Hz they check in…
Savage Love
Dear Dan: I have been in a long-term relationship with a wonderful woman who doesn’t have a lot of people she socializes with in her daily life. She is a Burning Man person and converses online with other “burners.” I confronted her when I realized she was discussing the ups and downs of our relationship…
Some Spirits
Johnny Coleman’s art usually has been something you can stand inside, not just beside. The 2003 Cleveland Arts Prize winner and professor of studio art and African American studies at Oberlin College specializes in installation pieces that use architectural constructions, audio, and even smells to immerse audiences. Now, as part of Zygote Press’ artist in…
Screens
The Office: Season Eight This long-running NBC show (well, long-running for NBC at least) took some hits last season, most crucially Steve Carell’s departure. The office-manager musical chairs — mostly occupied by the always reliable Ed Helms, but James Spader’s run as a corporate suit was nutso inspired — filled many of the eighth season’s…
On View This Week
The Brandt Gallery The Wilma Smith Project. From his 1980s childhood in Medina to this evening’s broadcast, artist Dana Depew has followed Cleveland newscaster Wilma Smith. This exhibition, consisting of printed screen captures, deconstructed paintings, and found-item sculptural objects pays homage to the 10-time local Emmy award-winning anchor. Depew says he is now living the…
CD Review: Stars
Stars came up in the same Canadian indie-pop circle as Broken Social Scene. In fact, the groups often shared membership. Now that all the buzz has settled, the Montreal quintet keeps its ambitions relatively simple on its sixth album, as Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan trade vocals on retro-synth songs like “The Theory of Relativity.”…
