Scene december 28, 2016

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| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

| cl cclevescene.com evescene.com m | December Dec e ember 28, 2016 - January Janua uary ry 3,, 2017 2017

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$%#%-"%2 *!.5!29 s 6/,5-% . O 26 Dedicated to Free Times founder Richard H. Siegel (1935-1993) and Scene founder Richard Kabat Publisher Chris Keating

CONTENTS

Editor Vince Grzegorek Editorial Managing Editor Eric Sandy Music Editor Jeff Niesel Staff Writer Sam Allard, Brett Zelman Writer-at-large Kyle Swenson Web Editor Bliss Davis Dining Editor Douglas Trattner Contributing Dining Editor Rachel Hunt Stage Editor Christine Howey Visual Arts Editor Josh Usmani Copy Editor Elaine Cicora

Long-running court cases inch toward resolution, and more

Advertising Senior Multimedia Account Executive John Crobar, Shayne Rose Multimedia Account Executive Kiara Hunter-Davis

21 local bands you should check out in 2017

Creative Services Production Manager Steve Miluch Layout Editor/Graphic Designer Christine Hahn Staff Photographer Emanuel Wallace

'ET /UT

Business Asst. To The Publisher Angela Lott Sales Assistant/Receptionist Megan Stimac Staff Accountant Kristy Dotson

Dozens of events for the holiday week in Cleveland

Upfront

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Feature

Circulation Circulation Director Don Kriss Euclid Media Group Chief Executive OfďŹ cer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating OfďŹ cers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner Human Resources Director Lisa Beilstein Digital Operations Coordinator Jaime Monzon Chief Financial OfďŹ cer William Mickey

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Art

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CMA’s annual Staff Show puts spotlight on employees’ most personal work

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Romero Mosley and Lorine Chia collaborate on new EP

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How no-showing your dinner reservation has a ripple effect on small restaurants

Music

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Albums you may have missed in 2016

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ALL SHOWS AT THE KENT STAGE UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED Tickets available at www.kentstage.org or 877-987-6487 GMK [w cw i {{ © a{ B e~ JJHJF | clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

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UPFRONT CLOSURE COMING Dan Ficker’s family and city of Cleveland may settle in 2011 officer-involved killing

THIS WEEK

THE LATEST DEVELOPMENT IN the long-running wrongful death lawsuit filed by Dan Ficker’s family has his mother and fiancee agreeing to settlement talks with the city of Cleveland. In 2011, a Cleveland police officer shot and killed Ficker at his Parma home.

For the full story of how Ficker ended up dead in front of his suburban bungalow, read our 2012 feature on the case [“Out of Bounds,” 2/15/12]. Here’s how writer Kyle Swenson sums it up: “On the last day of his life, Ficker and his fiancee, Tiffany Urbach, went to a party at the house of Urbach’s cousin in Cleveland. This cousin was married to a Cleveland cop, David Mindek.

“The party featured the usual drinking and holiday merrymaking. Ficker and Urbach left to hit some bars and head home to Parma. Back at the party Mindek’s wife, however, found that $5,000 in jewelry was missing from her bedroom. She immediately suspected Ficker, and relayed her thoughts to her husband. Although he was off-duty at the time, Mindek contacted a friend in the department who was then patrolling the Second District. The two drove to Parma, confronting Ficker on his steps as he an Urbach were coming home.

Craska shot and killed Ficker in a struggle. A grand jury cleared Craska in the shooting. Mindek was charged — and acquitted — of dereliction of duty.”

As we reported this past summer, though, the case was finally scheduled to go trial. If settlement talks break down, the trial is (for now) scheduled for Feb. 13. We’ll keep tabs on how the case develops this winter.

Since 2004, the city of Cleveland has paid out more than $16 million

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in police misconduct and use of force settlements.

OHIO SUPREME COURT RULES DEATH ROW INMATE TYRONE NOLING CAN APPEAL DENIAL OF DNA TESTING OF EVIDENCE IN 1990 MURDER Another update in a yet another case Scene first covered more than 13 years ago…

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled last week in a 4-3 vote that Tyrone Noling can appeal the denial of his request to have shell casings from the scene of a 1990 murder he’s spent 20 years on death row for tested for DNA evidence. Noling has maintained his innocence fervently over two decades and many law enforcement officials and the Ohio Innocence Project believe him.

The gist of the ruling at hand is this: In non-capital cases, postconviction requests for DNA testing that have been denied can automatically be appealed. In capital cases, however, that hadn’t been the case due to state law. Noling previously had won the right to have a cigarette butt from the scene of the crime — the murders of Bearnhardt and Cora Hartig in Atwater Township — tested for DNA. It didn’t match that of Noling.

The shell casings and ring boxes, meanwhile, hadn’t been tested for DNA despite the fact that two labs in Ohio conduct such tests and Noling has remained on Death Row. In last week’s decision, the state supreme court ruled the part of a state law allowing automatic appeals for non-capital cases but not for capital cases was unconstitutional.

Noling now has 45 days to file a brief arguing why the casings and ring boxes should be tested.

Scene’s feature back in 2003

[“The Unlikely Triggerman,” 9/10/03], which you should absolutely read, lays out the many problems in the state’s case, from no physical evidence tying Noling to the crime to recantations from state witnesses.

WITH PUBLIC SQUARE, WORK ALWAYS SEEMS TO BE ‘ONGOING’ BEHIND CLOSED DOORS It’s anybody’s guess what Mayor Frank Jackson, RTA General Manager Joe Calabrese and representatives from the traffic engineering firm of Parsons Brinckerhoff are discussing behind closed doors. Just like the decision to close Public Square to buses, the planning for the downtown transit zone in the wake of that decision is being conducted outside the public eye.

The above parties are presumed to be working on a report for the Federal Transit Administration, though no one has been able to estimate how far along they are or when the report might be submitted to the federal agency. Work, according to the RTA, is “ongoing.”

“We will update when we know more,” a spokesperson told Scene.

At a press conference on Nov. 15, Jackson and Calabrese told a stunned press corps that Superior Avenue would be permanently closed to buses through Public Square.

After the $50 million Square was fully redesigned and built with a bus lane through the middle, the announcement came as a shock, especially because the design was never even tried in its intended form. It was closed to buses from Day One. Daily riders and other transit advocates have mounted protests ever since the decision was made official. Many weren’t and aren’t persuaded by Mayor Jackson’s rationale. He has cited safety concerns — including terrorism — and the overwhelming popularity of Public Square as his two chief reasons for keeping buses off Superior.

Jackson and Calabrese said that the next step would be seeking FTA concurrence on a new traffic plan

ICE IT

NO RANCH?

PLEASE DON’T

Cleveland named one of six host cities for American Ninja Warrior qualifying rounds in 2017. You thought about competing, but then you sprained your ankle walking to the fridge for a beer.

Toby Cosgrove reportedly Trump’s preferred pick to lead embattled VA department. Step one: kale salads for every vet.

The Salvation Army of Northeast Ohio reports 50-percent drop in holiday donations.

Browns players’ offer to mimic Ezekiel Elliott’s kettle jump for local publicity politely turned down as more harmful than helpful.

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

that would be completed within 10-14 days of the Nov. 15 press conference. It has now been at least 35 days since the announcement, and it’s unclear how close the plan is to completion.

That plan is intended to persuade the FTA that the “operational impact” (i.e. traffic delays) caused by re-routing buses around Public Square can be sufficiently mitigated by other means. At both the press conference and at a city council hearing on November 30, officials informally proposed things like traffic signal prioritization and dedicated bus lanes. The plan is crucial because $12 million may hang in the balance. That money was awarded to Cleveland as part of the Health Line BRT project, and when Jackson closed the Square to buses, he breached the agreement, which stipulated that Public Square would remain a transit hub.

As has been reported, the current plan is being composed with help from the Montreal-based Parsons Brinckerhoff. Tuesday, the PD’s Ginger Christ reported that RTA is picking up the $60,000 tab for the firm’s engineering expertise. Messages to Parsons Brinckerhoff’s New York office were not immediately returned.

City Councilman Kerry McCormack, in whose Ward Public Square resides, said he’s had many conversations with residents and stakeholders since the Council hearing, but that he hasn’t been part of or privy to any official meetings outside of council. One of the primary concerns voiced by council members at the November 30 hearing was that they’d been left out of the initial decisionmaking process. They had no idea it was happening. Councilman Brian Cummins specifically asked for a council liaison so that the legislative body could be apprised of developments.

McCormack told Scene that council’s transportation committee would be taking up the issue once again after their legislative recess ends in January.

scene@clevescene.com t @clevelandscene

QUALITY OF LIFE You’re already tailgating for the parade.

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

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Falling Stars

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| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

21 local acts you should pay attention to in the new year

The digital clock in our Corolla meanders toward midnight on a cold Wednesday as we skid along the border of Ohio City and DetroitShoreway. We eventually land at the rehearsal space for Mourning [A] BLKstar. A ground-level door creaks open. We are beckoned.

Inside, the members of the group are arranged cozily against a brick façade. Instruments splay out around them. A few friends join in laughter and conversation. A woman knits gently throughout the night. RA Washington, the de facto leader in a democratic and horizontally structured band of Cleveland artists, leans back: “So how do you want this to go?”

It’s been a year of uncertainty and pain, but, as we look ahead to a fresh spin around the sun, there’s reason to be hopeful, not least because of Mourning [A] BLKstar, the most important band in Cleveland right now.

The story begins with the death of David Bowie in January 2016, an event that kicked off a yearlong storm of innovative musicians passing into the next world. Later that week, Washington was kicking around some beats in the studio. He asked James Longs and LaToya Kent if they’d like to sing on some of his tracks. (They ended up singing on all the tracks.)

“The chemistry was pretty evident,” Washington says. Other musicians pointed it out in the studio, too: There was something special here. And so the trio formed a band on the spot, built on the foundation of that first day’s rough mixes. Right away, during an early rehearsal, Kyle Kidd joined them to add her vocals to the mix. The band became four.

Peter Saudek joined on drums later in the year, and a rotating horn section complements the band onstage now and then.

As the year has gone on, the band’s shows have been picking up bigger and more engaged crowds. Scene was picking up signals this past summer, fervent rumblings among the music community that Something Different Was Going On Here.

“I’m a visual artist, and I’m kinda burned out on it,” Longs says. “So this was an opportunity to investigate a new form of art, a new discipline.”

There’s a purity to what Mourning [A] BLKstar is doing – a will to let the cards fall as they may and to see the beauty in that action.

For many, the introduction to this band came this past spring, when the first single hit Youtube and Facebook: “Field N***as, My Heroes.” It’s a bold song, unlike anything that’s come out of Cleveland in years. The video conveyed an esoteric arrival; these four

Photo by Emanuel Wallace

Mourning [A] BLKstar

Mourning (A) BLKstar musicians are seen walking through a sparsely wooded grove, clad in exotic threads and burning sage among the trees. A manic beat spins through the natural setting, as Kent’s vocals spell out a message about the past and the future. One minute in, the song shifts dramatically. The beat becomes more immediate, and the video flips over to a catacomb of rusted steel. The piece ends in black and white, with the three singers facing away from the camera for a full minute of airy tones.

It’s an arrival. More signals followed.

“The subject matter of the songs is – I hate to say ‘politically charged,’ because that throws it into a category, and it limits the mind and limits the conversation,” Longs says. “But it’s conscious-based.”

Kidd mentions how the three singers in the band each came from different backgrounds, while originating in the same city’s artistic scene. She’s a jazz and gospel singer, for instance, who is finding herself broadening her perspectives on what vocals can be. With Washington at the helm, she says that she’s grown into her own as an artist willing to both stand out and fit in among this eclectic group.

“It’s raw like Cleveland is raw, and it’s real like Cleveland is real,” Kent says. “It’s honest. We’re not hiding our emotions. We’re not hiding ourselves.

We’re very open in being ourselves within the music, onstage and offstage.” She adds that the band touches on most genres of Cleveland music from the past several decades; indeed, the underground is well represented

with Mourning [A] BLKstar.

And that’s sort of the thing here: More than any other band in a good long while (Pere Ubu, maybe? 9 Shocks Terror? This Moment in Black History, more recently?), MAB captures the vibe of Cleveland in a time of cultural growth.

“We have a very renaissance sound, and Cleveland is in the midst of a renaissance,” Kidd says. “You can compare it to the Harlem Renaissance.

There’s a sound, an essence, about that time. We have created a sound that you will be able to identify with the renaissance of Cleveland, the transition, the rebirth. I think that’s the beauty of our band.”

The band’s first album, BLK MUSAK, will drop sometime in early spring on Blue Moon Records. This is the first time the label is pushing a project with vocals. And with an eye on the future, Washington says the second album is already done (and recorded by Brian Straw). MAB is already working on their third album.

“We just want to keep it moving,” Washington says. “This is a punk rock town, and, you know, it’s very rare for bands that are coming from an African-American heritage to be able to cross the river. You know what I mean? We don’t take it lightly.

Pretty much the culture and the way the world feels now is that people are looking for answers and they’re looking for places where they can actually be genuine. For some odd reason, the combination of folks in what we’re doing kinda provides that.

“And I think that it has something to do with the fact that it wasn’t

planned. It was authored by something else.” —Eric Sandy

Falling Stars

They’re both guitar players and songwriters who have been making music in the Cleveland scene for many years. And as long as Tim Parnin (Cobra Verde, Sweet Apple, Chuck Mosley) has known Chris Allen, he’s been encouraging him to explore his rock side. Decades later, the pair finally spent a couple of years writing songs for what would eventually become their first album, Stranded In The Future, which will be released in the spring under the banner of Falling Stars. “It’s funny — this seems way overdue,” Parnin says. “We’ve hinted about it in the past, but have always both been busy with our own bands.”

Once they were able to set aside time for recording, things came together quickly. They laid down basic tracks during three productive days of recording at Mitch Easter’s studio in North Carolina. Easter engineered the sessions with Don Dixon producing and mixing the songs. For those familiar with Allen’s normal work, both as a solo artist and with the band Rosavelt, it’s a slight departure — a purposeful move that both were excited to make. “You’ve been around the block, I’ve been around the block — let’s see if we can find some new streets to hang out on,” Allen says, remembering the initial conversations he and Parnin had at the Happy Dog discussing the potential project. “If we couldn’t do that, we were never going to spend the time recording

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

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Bands to

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it.” Tracks like “Down and Out In Ohio” and “Behind The Blinds” crackle with a fresh energy and plenty of guitars while songs like “Losing Without You” and “The Lonely Keep In Touch” demonstrate the depths of sonic exploration that the pair weren’t afraid to indulge. It’s an engaging listen that longtime fans will enjoy and they’ll probably attract some new ears as well as they begin to play live shows together in the new year. — Matt Wardlaw

Thaddeus Anna Greene

This year, the band released a handful of singles that led up to an EP release in September. The prime example of what these guys are up to these days comes in the title track: “Bleed.” A laid-back, hammer-on bluesy riff lifts up singer TJ Maclin’s soulful and mournful vocals. There’s a sadness in the tune, but the delivery is uplifting — and it makes for some real choice music while cruising around the city. Taken as a whole, Thaddeus Anna Greene’s 2016 stuff is exciting as hell. “We went through a lot to create [those singles],” frontman TJ Maclin says. “From recording an entire album and living in a studio for five days only to never hear anything from those sessions, to quitting music, to finally going in the studio with the mindset to record Bleed. The vision for our latest work was to create something that breathes — something visceral, ya know?” Even the casual listener will pick up on that. These are fullbodied tunes that pair catchy refrains with extended musical interludes and fills. “We all are avid students of music,” Maclin says. “It’s sort of a gift and curse, because it can be safely said that we can’t listen to music recreationally; there’s always a lesson, a jewel, something to learn from someone else. Our songwriting style is an amalgamation of our individual musical backgrounds. That’s the best part about this band, each one of us brings something vastly different than the other, yet we speak the same language in a musical sense.” Here are Maclin’s parting words as we look ahead to a new year: “Expect growth,

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expect new sounds. Do not categorize us, because if you do, we’ll frustrate you. We refuse to be boxed in.” Check them out Jan. 13 at the Grog Shop with Marcus Alan Ward. — Sandy

Heavenly Creatures

Like the incidental snags of a kneading cat’s claws, Amy Shoff’s poignant, witty lyrics expose a hidden snarl beneath the cuddly exterior of Heavenly Creature’s indie rock. In “Snow,” a track from their 2015 EP Your Record Collection, Shoff sings a clever quip about the woes of going stag: “The guys are outside, stupid pride won’t let them say they’re chilly/ their girlfriends stay inside, they all drink wine and say they’re silly/ but I am neither guy nor girlfriend/ and I’m not sure where to go stuck here in the goddamn snow.” Fans of the Vaselines, Bikini Kill, and R.E.M. (Shoff’s biggest inspiration) will find Heavenly Creatures the perfect combination of rock ‘n’ roll power and twee charm. Demonstrated by the band’s appointment to several prominent opening spots this past year (including playing with veteran acts Dressy Bessy and Skating Polly), Heavenly Creatures have already established themselves as one of Cleveland’s go-to indie rock groups. In 2017, the band will follow Your Record Collection with a new EP entitled The Summer Will Kill Us All. Named after the many hurdles the band faced while trying to record (including RNCrelated delays and previous drummer Sydnie Barnette’s move to Oregon), the EP features newest member Kristen Burns on drums, Thomas de Cárdenas on bass, and Shoff on guitar and vocals. “Kristen really transformed the songs and made them stronger, and we’re really excited to get [them] out into the world,” Shoff says. The band hopes to begin work on a full-length almost immediately following the EP’s release. If you haven’t seen them yet (or even if you have), catch them on Jan. 5 as part of the Grog Shop’s Free Weekend. —Bethany Kaufman

Part-Time Lover

Shades of Paul Westerberg cruised through Cleveland last May when newly formed Part-Time Lover dropped Brains Out on the Table, a lively four-song EP that prompted perked up ears from westside to east.

It’s a breezy, borderline psychedelic collection of tunes that blends the old and new spheres of rock ‘n’ roll handily. Bringing together members of Prisoners, Coffinberry and Goldmines (more on them in a bit), Part-Time Lover hit some really mesmerizing

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

Heavenly Creatures notes right as summer was unfolding along the north shore. “The band was basically Mandy [Look] and I wanting to do something together musically,” singer and guitarist Jason Look says, “and I also had songs that needed an outlet. Roseana [Safos] and Pat [O’Connor] were the first two people we thought of for a rhythm section, and luckily they both agreed to do it.” Lucky, indeed. Here at the Scene offices, we’ve been spinning Brains since those halcyon summer nights.

To hone in on what makes the EP so great, cue up “Living in the Past.” It’s a sprawling, sunny-meets-edgy collage of haunting images and messages.

Clocking in at seven minutes, there’s a lot of material to soak up. The song dovetails into an extended, dreamy jam at the end, a perfect example of how they’ve tried to stretch their artistic legs with the project. “The ‘outro’ on ‘Living In The Past’ was written because I wanted to leave the song open ended,” Look says. “If the song were to be on a full length in the future, I wanted to have the option of maybe writing another song that could come out of it, out of that end progression. Maybe it was a halfcooked idea but I think it works.” We agree. Now, the band is working in the recording studio (again with producer Brian Straw). They’re hoping to release something around March, and they’re

booking shows in anticipation of that.

Don’t miss ’em. — Sandy

New Moon Rising

We’ve really been digging New Moon Rising, one of Cleveland’s busiest young bands this past year. Right before we began work on this list, the band dropped the second of a threeEP series — Surreal, a dreamy and jammy little stash that’ll keep you warm in these cold months ahead.

Like the first EP, Pura Vida, frontman Terry Campbell envisioned the seeds of a chilled-out, folk rock album with a pop songwriting vibe. He brought the new material to the other guys — guitarist Evan Stone, bassist Justin Chambers, drummer Steve Deurlein — and, together, the band watered these tunes to full realization. “We will just keep playing the shit out of these new songs until all the pieces start to come together.” he says. “I think we work really well together as a band, and I am always impressed with what the other guys come up with when I bring a song to them.

A lot of times the song will evolve in a way I never could have imagined because of what each member of the band brings to the table.” You can hear that sort of process in tunes like “Over Me, Over You,” which could easily work as a solo acoustic trip in

You may have seen Ricky Hamilton play with the Nico Missile, Pig Flayer, and Ma Holos, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of his most recent musical exploits thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gaining exceptional traction. Fascinating, which performed its ďŹ rst show less than a year ago, has already produced not one but two sonic offerings. Dice Game, which received a proper release in September, was a partnership between Hamiltonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own Quality Time Records and New Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Greenway Records. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Quality Time Records was

Walkinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Cane

Hopefully youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen Austin Charanghat perform many times over the years. The blues guitarist is a staple at bars and clubs all over

Fascinating Cleveland (and the world), slinging Delta vibes and songs both traditional and original, performing under the moniker Walkinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Cane. He recorded a new album a few months back with longtime songwriting partner Chris Allen, as well as Dave Morrison and Fred Perez-Stable. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nobody really knew the songs,â&#x20AC;? Charanghat says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had a good idea of what I wanted, but everybody helped themselves to each tune, and it turned into something

pretty interesting.â&#x20AC;? Keep your eye out for an impending release â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not only of that album, but of the other projects that Charanghat keeps tucked up his sleeve. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have a good feeling about this record,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the best one Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done.â&#x20AC;? As one might be able to glean, Charanghat stays busy and performs in a number of different bands and outďŹ ts here and there. (He just wrapped up his annual stint with the Ohio City Singers, a fun little band

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Fascinating

started to put out music that otherwise would remain in obscurity,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have come to describe our sound as gutter pop. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grounded in the principles of other labels such as Sarah Records, K Records, and Postcard Records, with an emphasis on cassette culture and community building in our hometown of Cleveland.â&#x20AC;? The label has released material by Goldmines and Pack Wolf among other locals.

Fascinatingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s second album, Picture This, is poised for release in early 2017. Like a powerline in a puddle, the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fuzzed-out garage rock sends an attention-seizing jolt to all who tune in and runs in the same vein as Yuck or Titus Andronicus.

The current lineup features drummer Marty Brass, bassist Carter LuckďŹ eld and guitarist Adam Spektor. Original guitarist Alfred Hood left to focus more on his own band, the Venus Flytraps. Fascinating will embark on a crusade of the South this winter, with additional spring dates in support of the new album. Later in the year, the band will record yet again. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Kaufman

Photo by Jacqueline Bon

some westside coffeehouse, but, here, New Moon Rising ďŹ&#x201A;exes the fullband muscle and treats it to a patient, ascending musical narrative. â&#x20AC;&#x153;With every new body of work, my goal is for it to be better than the one before â&#x20AC;&#x201D; always trying to evolve,â&#x20AC;? Campbell says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Really my main goal is just to make music that feels good and sounds good. We also want to create something that is somewhat unique or different, something that sets us apart from other bands and sounds.â&#x20AC;? Little touches like the backing vocal washes on â&#x20AC;&#x153;Surrealâ&#x20AC;? get Campbell and Co. closer to achieving that goal each time they hit record. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re excited to see what comes next. Expect another EP within the next six months. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Sandy

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

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Bands to

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that brings original Christmas tunes to Cleveland each winter.) Looking ahead, Charanghatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got trips on tap to New York City, Detroit, Chicago and Australia, where heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll return to the Blues on Broadbeach Festival.

Charanghat is one of Clevelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hallmark blues musicians, and he serves as an excellent ambassador for the city wherever he travels. And why not? Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got the best job in town. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I just want to make records and hang out with friends,â&#x20AC;? he says. Check walkincane.com for his full schedule; January 2017 is looking pretty full already. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Sandy

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| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

Formed by local underground vet Tony Erba, FYPM exists at the nexus of punk, hardcore and thrash in a city not exactly unfamiliar with those scenes. The band tracks the trajectory of previous Erba-fronted outďŹ ts like 9 Shocks Terror and Gordon Solie Mother Fuckers, but hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the thing: FYPM is happening right now, and theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re kicking ass up and down the I-77 corridor. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nothing more than a chance for me to spew invective while winking at the audience while playing vicious yet somewhat catchy punk-informed hardcore,â&#x20AC;? Erba says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At least thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what my take is on the band; who knows what the peasants think.â&#x20AC;? The bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s next album, Dumbed Down, will drop in March. Expect a good deal of national touring, including a West Coast run, shortly thereafter. (The band received a grant from the local Panza Foundation, which will help fund their journeys across the nation.) And then? â&#x20AC;&#x153;I guess weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll keep writing songs,â&#x20AC;?

Erba says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The next record will be called Colony Collapse, and I want to continue progressing in reverse or â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;de-volving.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Each record should be a bit simpler, faster, catchier than the last â&#x20AC;&#x201D; instead of the exact opposite, which is what always seems to happen with bands.â&#x20AC;? Canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t argue with that; the music scene around Cleveland borders on the soft and heady all too often.

With something of a homebase at the venerable punk joint Now Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Class, FYPM maintains the hardcore vigil for

the Cleveland set that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mind the occasional brick of ďŹ recrackers being thrown into the crowd. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We do what we do with sincerity and work ethic and decent tunes and jumping around like morons on stage, and hopefully people come out,â&#x20AC;? Erba says. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Sandy

Heart Attack Man

Last we heard, the debut album from Heart Attack Man has gone missing. Missing! The anticipated fall 2016 release has been postponed until some act of divine intervention returns the masters to these guys.

Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hope it happens soon, because what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve heard so far is promising and badass. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Surrounded By Morons,â&#x20AC;? the ostensible single off The Manson Family, is a nice ode to the sarcastic middle-ďŹ nger vibe of late-era emo rock. It helps, too, that the tune works a nice melody behind those bummedout lyrics. â&#x20AC;&#x153;All my problems would go away, if I just moved to New York or LA,â&#x20AC;? Eric Bishop sings, reďŹ&#x201A;ecting back the sentiment that all too many early-twentysomethings adopt here in Cleveland. The tune features a cool video to boot. (1,000 bonus points for the slick Peking Restaurant cameo.) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Sandy

Goldmines

Sporting a heavy dose of psychedelic garage rock and a ďŹ ne blend of open-chord strumming and tight indie-rock riffs, Goldmines has seen a great year in the Cleveland music scene. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re pretty eager to see where they take this project.

Part of various Venn diagrams in the community (guitarist Mandy Look and drummer Roseanna Safos also perform in Part-Time Lover, for instance), Goldmines shares that burgeoning vision of Cleveland independent rock â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; roll â&#x20AC;&#x201D; part reverb, part distortion, a notch along the same double helix of, e.g., Northeast Ohioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Black Keys DNA. Check out their self-titled EP, released this past summer. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a breezy listen that works as well with a bowl and a couch as with a grungy dance ďŹ&#x201A;oor in Cleveland Heights. We dig the peaks reached during the chorus of â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Incomparableâ&#x20AC;? and the Liz Phair-esque insouciance of â&#x20AC;&#x153;September,â&#x20AC;? a real road trip of a song. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Sandy

Bre Vibez

The multitalented Bre Vibez has been recording since 2014 but has been a musician for much longer. She played percussion in her school band from 6th through the 12th grade and also plays guitar and the keyboard. She

| clevescene.com m | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

13

Bands to

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cites artists like Kid Cudi, Childish Gambino, Chance the Rapper, and Lauryn Hill as influences in addition to local artists Tae Miles and Ezzy, whom she considers friends.

Bre Vibez’s upcoming project, Vibrationz. is set for release on New Year’s Eve. “I’ve been working on this tape for nearly two years and i must say it feels great to have finished something, even if it took me two years,” Vibez says. “’Vibrationz’ is exactly what the title says, the tape gives off several vibrationz and I went through several vibrationz while writing and recording. It features 12 tracks with features from Aphiniti and Kennedy Blaq. Huge shoutouts to them, because a lot of people didn’t want to collaborate with me because I was so new, but these two artists in particular saw my talent and really wanted to be a part of the project.” That project, she says, was an experiment of sorts. “I didn’t know anything about recording when I began this project. I didn’t know anything about the mixing process, or what dubs were, or reverb.

I didn’t know the importance of adlibs. Things were all new and I’m so glad to have dope engineers at The Coast with Adi Rei and Johnny at Vibe Studios that could teach me and explore things in order to find my sound.” In 2017, Vibez hopes to collaborate with more artists and hit

the festival circuit. — Emanuel Wallace

Hiram-Maxim

Indie rockers Hiram-Maxim — electronics-singer Lisa Miralia, guitarist Dave Taha, singer Fred Gunn and drummer John Panza — initially formed for the Lottery League, the festival that randomly places Cleveland musicians in bands with one another.

At that point, the band decided upon an approach — it would make dark post-punk music. Recorded and mixed

by John Delzoppo at Negative Space in Cleveland and mastered by Chris Keffer at Magnetic North, the band’s debut, the first release to come out on Aqualamb Records, the imprint run by graphic designers Eric Palmerlee and Johnathan Swafford, mixes elements of noise, post-rock and punk.

A new studio release, Ghosts, comes out in March. Recorded and mixed by Martin Bisi at his New York studio, it features a cameo by singer-guitarist Oliver Ackermann, frontman of the noise band A Place to Bury Strangers.

“When we recorded the first record, we had only been a band for about five months,” says Gunn. “On Ghosts, we have had a lot more time together as a group and have grown. This record is far more brutal and focused than our self-titled debut and explores themes of social and political injustices haunting our world.” — Jeff Niesel

Cereal Banter

Cereal Banter’s Joseph Joseph has played drums since he was a teenager (he was even featured in DRUM! Magazine). After spending some time in the Youngstown-based punk band You Are the War That I Want, Joseph would start a short-lived alt-weekly in Youngstown before moving to the Cleveland area and joining Scotfree & the Guilty Plea. The concept for the

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| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

Bre Vibez

| clevescene.com m | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

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Bands to

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artsy, Flaming Lips-like Cereal Banter formed at that point. Its debut single, 2010’s “Edible Confetti,” a song that features squiggly guitar riffs and echoing vocals, established just how off-kilter the band could be. Recorded in Greenpoint, New York, at Lone Pine Road Studio and engineered/ mastered by Guardian Alien bassist Eli Winograd, the band’s 22-minute song/album, Sties of Pigs Flying with Flowers, Fields of Green Watered by Showers, represented another step forward. The song/album offers good, noisy fun that starts slow with some stuttering drum beats but picks up serious steam by song’s end as Pamela provocatively screams “we’re all animals” over pulsating synthesizers.

Last year, Joseph teamed up with singer-bassist Nicholas Gunzburg, a local musician who was a fan of the band. They collaborated on the cassette-only Oatmeal Outburst and quickly recorded another album, Junk Jazz, that’s due out in January. “The intent is to write compositions and put out more of a concept than two guys thrashing,” he says of Junk Jazz. “If you listen to Junk Jazz, we want it to be more sophisticated and pop tune heavy but retain the improvisation and drum fills going to the next part and stuff like that. That’s what makes our music special. You don’t know what will happen next. It’s conceptual not so much lyrically but musically in the sense that there’s a similar theme in the opening as there is in the closing track. We use a different synthesizer on every recording just so you can identify which era of the band you’re hearing.” — Niesel

Joey Aich

Music has always been a tremendous part of Joey Aich’s life. He sang in his school and church choirs as a younger child and found his passion for poetry and hip-hop when he was in middle school.

From that point on, Aich focused on writing lyrics to either vent about or emulate what he saw some of his favorite artists doing. It wasn’t until after leaving Orange High School that Aich began to release music to

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| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

Joey Aich the public. With the encouragement of some positive feedback, Aich decided to keep pushing forward. He released a project just before his sophomore year at Denison University. He admits that it was less than stellar, but it planted the seed. Since then he has released two projects, College D.egree (2014) and AichFiles (2015). “I get to use my voice as much as possible to promote positivity and ultimately change the world,” Aich says. “I enjoy being able to share my world with others and open up my book and allow people to learn about me.”

Aich’s latest project, If Money Grew On Trees, is coming sometime in 2017.

“Currently, the project has about 10 to 13 tracks on it including songs I’ve released this year, ‘Emoticon’ and ‘GED 7249,’” Aich says. “I’m beginning to feel more comfortable with myself and my sound on this project. It’s extremely Joey Aich and authentic to my life. I’m not very flashy and flaunting false realities I’m telling my story. On some of my previous works I’ve tried to be myself, but by doing my own version of other people like ScHoolboy Q, ASAP Rocky, and others. Now I’m having fun creating and being myself.”

— Wallace

Cloud Nothings

With 2014’s Here and Nowhere Else, which was recorded in Hoboken at Water Music over an eight-day period, the band opted for a poppier, cheerier sound than 2012’s Attack on Memory. That trend continues with Life Without Sound, the forthcoming studio effort due out Jan. 27. Last month, the band issued the lead single “Modern Act,” a caffeinated tune that features raspy vocals and sharp power pop sensibilities. The band also announced a run of North American and European tour dates;

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

17

Bands to

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the jaunt includes a Jan. 26 date at the Beachland. “A thing I like to do with all of my records is drive around with them,” says frontman Dylan Baldi. “In high school, I would listen to music for hours like that — just driving through the suburbs of Cleveland. And if it sounds good to me in that context and I can think of high school me listening to it and saying, ‘That’s okay,’ I feel good about the record. This is the one that’s felt best.” Baldi worked on the songs for a good year before putting the finishing touches on the tunes with his bandmates, drummer Jayson Gerycz and bassist TJ Duke.

They then joined producer John Goodmanson (Sleater Kinney, Death Cab for Cutie) at Sonic Ranch in El Paso for three weeks in March of 2016.

“Generally, it seems like my work has been about finding my place in the world,” Baldi says. “But there was a point in which I realized that you can be missing something important in your life, a part you didn’t realize you were missing until it’s there — hence the title. This record is like my version of new age music. It’s supposed to be inspiring.”— Niesel

Olathia

Local metal band Cellbound had a great eight-year run that resulted in three albums and several regional tours. The group even released an impressive, professional looking video for the tune “Fallen Angels” that was shot at a cemetery off Pearl Road. In 2015, Olathia emerged out of the ashes of Cellbound. The group, which includes singer Chris Emig, guitarist Jake Nicholson (formerly with Black Valor), guitarist Steve Albenze (also with Idleblack) and bassist JD Donatelli, raised some eyebrows with its debut, Hunters. The album’s title track features a surging guitar-based intro that gives way to Emig’s soaring vocals. “Hunters did well for us and defiantly opened some doors,” says Emig, adding the album charted on the CMJ charts. “At the start of 2016, we changed our lineup and brought in JD Donatelli on bass to add a heavier groove,” Emig explains.

“The songwriting for our 2017 release

18

combines thrash and straight up metal along with a touch of progressive. We focused on keeping the arrangements and song lengths tight so that the melodic parts and bang your head elements don’t get lost. There are eight tracks ready for the new album, but you never know if there might be another addition by the time all is said and done. That’s the great part, being musically ready and having a focus and a goal, but not boxing yourself in. Metal has so many branches that you gotta climb a few and see what’s hanging there and expand yourself.”

The band aims to record the new album at Brainchild Studios in Akron.

It doesn’t have a title yet, but it should be out in late spring/early summer.

— Niesel

Woulf

Wesley Bright and the Honeytones

Singer Brent “Wesley Bright” Wesley and a different backing band played its first gig a few years ago and he’s been going strong ever since.

Because of its terrific live show — sharp-dressed Wesley is a real dynamo on stage — the soul/old-school R&B band is suddenly in high demand.

Songs such as “You Don’t Care About Me” feature a steady bass beat and soulful, Otis Redding-like vocals. This year, Bright reemerged with a new backing outfit, the Honeytones. “We’re still drawing from the familiar soul tradition,” he says. “The Honeytones are going new places musically, exploring a more diverse, funkier and nuanced sound.” The band will release a series of 45s throughout 2017, the first being “You Don’t Want Me/Work it Out: Part 2),” a cheeky soul pop tune that Bright says sounds like Sam Cooke meets Vulfpeck. “It has gotten entire crowds singing its hook while I sing it at live shows,” says Bright. “’Work it Out: Part 2’ shows the band’s explosive side, calling upon the feeling of James Brown’s classic funk.” The first single comes out this spring, with a “giant release party” at the Beachland to celebrate. — Niesel

Matthew Leeb

Singer-songwriter Matthew Leeb’s new album Life Ain’t Light first developed as a rough demo about five years ago. He was playing in a band in Cleveland called the Jesus Freaks at the time and guitarist Danny McDonnell and he wrote the song “Life Ain’t Light.” Unfortunately, those sessions were lost and Leeb, thinking the title was still very appropriate, decided to try to recreate the songs.

“At the time I thought, ‘Wow what

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

a perfect way to sum up my music career,’” he says. “Life isn’t light, nor is attempting to narrate your life through music. I loved that title and decided to use it at some point down the line when the timing was right, but for the time being put the idea in the back burner.” Leeb, who also plays in the local neo folk act Texas Plant, started writing songs for the album with “the idea that I would be as completely honest as possible about my trials and tribulations with life and love thus far.” The resulting album features a range of music. Highlights include the Beck-like “All This Time” and the rootsy “Lonely Man.” Cleveland native Adam Korbesmeyer of White Out Audio (who now works in L.A.) served as producer/engineer for the project. “With countless hours devoted to focused songwriting, I crafted this project to tell the story of myself,” says Leeb. “Life Ain’t Light is me, summed up as clearly as possible.

Whatever the fuck that means. Here I am. I called on my friends and family, for additional instruments, Danny McDonnell is featured on the guitars on nearly every song and my

cousin Peter Boyle aka Boy Howdy on bass. The rest of the record is my own composition and lyrics. I wrote it for myself but more importantly for listeners to hopefully get a unique perspective into my journey so far and most importantly find a common bond.” — Niesel

WOULF

It was a trip to a Lil Wayne concert in 2012 that showed WOULF (an acronym for Working On Uplifting Life Fully) what becoming a legend can do. The show inspired him to take his music more seriously. After two near-death experiences in car accidents, falling out of college and being put out by his mother, WOULF released The Rebirth, which was subsequently followed by Last Night in Town and I’ll Be Late. By 2016, WOULF saw himself performing with the likes of huge stars like Devin the Dude.

Last year also saw the release of WOULF’s greatest work to date, Wolves Amongst Men. “It’s my biggest project yet because not only did I finally make

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

19

Bands to

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a full length debut mixtape, but it was on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc., for streaming purposes,” WOULF says.

“I also toured around Ohio for the summer.” WOULF calls his supporters Rebels and his movement the Rebel Nation World. In 2017, in addition to recording a new project, WOULF plans to expand beyond this region and take his merchandising to the next level.

“I have a busy year ahead,” he says. “I plan to be everywhere. There’s a lot of new music, new visuals and a lot more shows. I have Rebels all across the country now. It’s time to spread my wings and do some shows in different states. More branding. More and better merchandise, quality over quantity I want my Rebels to feel proud wearing my clothes to the point where they can wear it every day not just to my shows.” —Wallace

20

MAZ

MAZ

MAZ says that she’s been creating since birth. Her mother was a portrait artist and her father a producer, so it would seem almost predestined that she would always follow a creative path in her life.

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

She was always auditioning and began writing songs when she was six years old — mimicking her favorite artists at the time, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. “It wasn’t until high school when I started to try and carve my own aural footprint,” she

says. “I didn’t release anything as MAZ until my 21st birthday.” But her performance roots go back years, like one at the Rock Hall in fifth grade.

“Seeing Michael Jackson’s sparkly glove almost invoked tears and I knew that maybe one day I could be immortalized through my music as well and leave a little piece of me in my city forever,” she says.

The city of Cleveland has definitely been an inspiration when it comes to her art. “Although I was spoiled with culture I came from very humble upbringing and the inner city was not pretty, it almost seemed dark and gritty like Gotham,” MAZ recalls. “I wanted to escape and find sunnier passages without realizing that the darkness is what drove me to create light.” MAZ’s upcoming project, Pale Moon is expected to be released in January and has been in the works for about a year. “Pale Moon was incepted in the summer of 2015,” MAZ says. It’s the bridge I’m building for listeners to come into my world — one that I call tender.land. However, it does come with a few warnings. As for how it sounds, I’d rather you listen for yourself.”

— Wallace

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

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21

SCENE Magazine presents

UNITED WE BRUNCH There’s no better way to chase away a hangover than brunch with friends. And SCENE is once again bringing together the best restaurants in town with one mission: unite to cure Cleveland’s hangover. Brunch tastings, Bloody Mary’s, mimosas, beer, wine and champagne - all in the historic, newly-renovated Galleria & Tower. It’s the ultimate cure for a Friday night party — and a great start to another night on the town! General Admission tickets are $40 in advance and include 5 drink tickets, unlimited brunch tastings and commemorative glass.

VIP tickets are $60 in advance and include early entry, 8 drink tickets, unlimited brunch tastings, commemorative glass, VIP seating and access for full bar. Limited availability.

Saturday, January 21, 2017 Galleria & Tower at Erieview scenebrunch.com

Thanks for a fun 2016!

F I N D O U T A B O U T T H E S E E V E N T S A N D M O R E AT C L E V E S C E N E T I C K E T S . C O M

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| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

everything you should do this week

GET OUT WED

12/28

COMIC

Mike Bonner Call the sitter. Comic Mike Bonner takes the stage at the Improv tonight for a parent-friendly routine. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s kidfriendly. Bonner has made a name for himself as a relatable, down-toearth comedian who understands the everyday struggles of being a father. From dirty diapers to his daughter’s first boyfriend, the BET comedian explores the small joys and annoyances of parenthood through a sardonic lens. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Improv, where he has shows scheduled through Sunday. Tickets are $15 to $17. (Brittany Rees) 1148 Main Ave., 216-696-IMPROV, clevelandimprov.com.

Comedian Greg Morton returns to Hilarities for a New Year’s Eve performance.

See: Saturday.

COMEDY

Pete George: The Rock Star of Comedy A Cleveland native, comedian Pete George has come a long way since the days when he would open for a local magician. George, who got his start in show business as a lead guitarist in a Cleveland based ’80s rock group he says wanted to be like the band A Flock of Seagulls and called themselves A Peck of Peckers, has now played some 7500 shows over the course of a 20-year career. He’s also had roles in The Shawshank Redemption and The Majestic and has made appearances on Blood Relatives, Tabloid, Night Shift, Now That’s Comedy and several national commercials including Audi and nick@nite. He also has a television show about his life in development and has released the comedy CD, Comedy You Can Dance To. He performs at the Hard Rock Rocksino’s Club Velvet at 7 tonight and has shows scheduled through Saturday. Tickets are $35 to $40. (Niesel) 10705 Northfield Road, Northfield, 330-908-7771, hrrocksinonorthfieldpark.com.

HOLIDAY FUN

Friends of the Maltz Museum Hanukkah Candle Lighting Children of all backgrounds can celebrate the Jewish festival of lights today from 5 to 6 p.m. at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage’s Hanukkah Candle Lighting. Patrons can sing songs, play the dreidel game, go on a museum scavenger hunt, learn the story of Hanukkah and participate in a sweet cookie reception. Admission is free with registration. (Jeff Niesel) 2929 Richmond Rd., Beachwood, 216-593-0575, maltzmuseum.org.

FILM

The Fugitive Kind This month, the Cleveland Museum of Art pays tribute to the late, great writer-director Sidney Lumet by showing many of his films. At 6:45 tonight and Friday night, it shows The Fugitive Kind, his take on the Tennessee Williams play Orpheus Descending. Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani and Joanne Woodward star. Tickets cost $11, $9 for CMA members seniors and students.

(Niesel) 11150 East Blvd., 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org.

SPORTS

Monsters vs. Grand Rapids Griffins To show solidarity with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Cleveland Monsters tonight host a Cavaliers Tribute night at the Q. The first 10,000 fans will receive a pair of

COMEDY

“thundersticks,” and college students with a valid ID can buy $6 tickets and purchase a $6 college meal that includes a hot dog, chips and a soda.

The game begins at 7. (Niesel) 1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, theqarena.com.

THU

12/29

SPORTS

Cavs vs. Boston Celtics One of the NBA’s greatest franchises (the team has won an NBA record 17 championships), the Boston Celtics have seemingly recovered from that 2013-14 season that saw them finish with only 25 wins. The team made the playoffs the last two seasons and looks to be competitive again this year thanks to the stellar play of speedy guard Isaiah Thomas. The Celtics go up against the Cavs tonight at 8 at the Q. Tickets start at $63. (Niesel) 1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, theqarena.com.

FILM

Doctor Strange One of the year’s top-grossing movies, Doctor Strange stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange, a brilliant surgeon who becomes incapacitated after a horrible car accident renders him unable to keep his hands steady enough to return to the operating room. In the wake of the event, he takes a journey to find an alternative method to heal his body and becomes a master of the mystic arts in the process. The film screens tonight at 6 at the DOME Theatre in the Great Lakes Science Center, which will show a 6k print of the movie. Beer, wine and other concessions will be available. Tickets are $11 for adults ($9 for Science Center members), and $9 for youth ages 2-12 ($7 for youth members). The movie screens again at 6 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday.

(Niesel) 601 Erieside Avenue, 216-694-2000, greatscience.com.

Dom Irrera Growing up surrounded by relatives, comedian Dom Irrera had an easier time telling jokes when he was a kid.

Irrera got his big break on the ’80s TV showcase Nothin’ Goes Right, which starred Rodney Dangerfield, an early supporter. Since winning awards for his 1988 HBO standup show, Irrera has become a late-night staple and has had small roles in a few films. He’s done so much standup over the years, it’s now second nature. He performs tonight at 8 and tomorrow night at 7:30 and 10 at Hilarities. Tickets are $25 to $28.

(Niesel) 2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com.

FRI

12/30

SPORTS

Monsters vs. Grand Rapids Griffins After a tough November during which the team lost more games than it won, the Cleveland Monsters got off to a hot start in December, winning five of the first six games it played. Tonight, it concludes a twogame homestand against the Grand

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

23

GET OUT Rapids Griffins. The two teams face off at 7 at the Q. As part of the club’s 1-2-3 Fridays promotions, fans can purchase $1 sodas, $2 hot dogs and $3 beers. There will also be a birthday party for the team mascot Sully and a “winter wonderland” post game skate. Tickets start at $10.

(Niesel) 1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, theqarena.com.

SAT

12/31

HAPPY NEW YEAR

The 7th Annual New Year’s Eve Celebration Located on the East bank of the Flats in the Warehouse District, the Studio Cleveland bills itself as “Downtown Cleveland’s Holistic Wellness and Education Center offering donation-based Yoga for everyone.” For the seventh year in a row, the Yoga Studio will welcome the new year with a special program that commences at 6 p.m. with a workout. A Kirtan performance follows at 9:30 and continues until midnight. From midnight until 12:30 a.m., there will be a mediation and “sound bath.” Tickets for the entire night cost $40 in advance, $50 at the door. (Niesel) 1395 West 10th St., 216-621-7085, thestudiocleveland.com.

MUSIC

Cleveland Pops 21st Annual New Year’s Eve Celebration After becoming one of the winners in season six of American Idol, Melinda Doolittle quickly became a national sensation that critics have called “one of the most exciting and talented young vocal artists in America.” Tonight at 9 at Severance Hall, she joins the Cleveland Pops Orchestra for its 21st annual New Year’s Eve concert. After the concert, there will be dancing as a pop and a rock band will perform in two different locations in Severance Hall. Guests will receive free coffee and can order food from a special dessert menu. A balloon drop takes place at midnight.

Tickets start at $48. (Niesel) 11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

First Night Akron 2017 Downtown Akron’s annual New Year’s Eve Celebration, First Night

24

Akron will feature more than 40 performances. Theater, visual arts, dance and music groups will be on hand and there will be children’s activities, delicious food trucks, and two “bursting” firework shows.

METRO shuttles will be available to help make getting around

Celebration Looking for a kid friendly New Year’s Eve celebration? The Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH) hosts its annual New Year’s at Noon event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. today.

All day, guests can create their own party hats, noisemakers and take-

GIve tHe gifT oF RoCk

$15 for adults, $10 for children (ages 3 to 18) and seniors (ages 60 and over). CMNH members and children ages 2 and younger are always free.

Planetarium tickets are $5 or free for members or toddlers. Parking is available in the museum’s garage, located at the corner of Wade Oval Dr. and East Blvd. (Josh Usmani) 1 Wade Oval Dr., 216-231-4600, cmnh.org.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Lago’s 4th Annual New Year’s Eve Soiree: Fire and Ice The folks at Lago Custom Events promise to provide “lavish dancing and entertainment” and “decadent food” at their blacktie optional 4th Annual New Years Eve Soiree: Fire & Ice located in the Aloft Cleveland Hotel. A live band will perform first and then DJ Flaco Flash will spin up to the midnight hour at which point there will be a countdown and toast.

Tickets start at $150. (Niesel) 1111 West 10th Street, 212.343.3920.

BURLESQUE

Get official Rock Hall gear for the music fan in your family, or give yourself the rock star treatment! Inductee t-shirts, vinyl collections, year-long memberships and more gift items can be found in store and online.

rockhallstore.com 216.515.8444 1100 Rock and Roll Blvd.

Cleveland, OH 44114

We're expecting our 11 millionth visitor by the end of 2016!

Big prize to be given. Could you be the one?! downtown easier. Downtown Admission buttons are $10 and are available online, at Acme Fresh Market and at participating FirstMerit Bank locations. Children under 10 are free. The party gets started at 6 p.m. (Niesel) 103 S. High St., 4th floor, Akron, 330-374-7690, downtownakron. com/explore/first-night-akron.

FAMILY FUN

A Kid Friendly New Year’s Eve

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

home crafts. Twelve hours before midnight, countdown to noon with a dinosaur egg drop and find out what’s inside. Spend the rest of the afternoon exploring the museum’s galleries, Global Kitchen and visiting the animals in the Perkins Wildlife Center & Woods Garden.

The event is free with museum admission. Additionally, catch a special New Year’s-themed show in the planetarium for an additional fee. General admission to CMNH is

Let’s Go All The Way ‘80s Prom & Burlesque Show One of the wilder New Year’s Eve parties happening in town, the Let’s Go All The Way ‘80s Prom & Burlesque Show takes a retro approach to ringing in the new year. Organizers encourage patrons to wear ‘80s prom dresses, neon bike shorts, rubber bangles and Miami Vice jackets. There will be an ‘80s-themed burlesque show featuring regional acts such as Ms. Fever Blister, Pandora Foxx, Devon Ayer, Crystal Swarovski, Bella Sin, Shrimp Cocktail and more. A complimentary champagne toast takes place at midnight. It all starts at 9 p.m. at the 5 O’ Clock Lounge in Lakewood. Tickets are $15 for VIP seating, $10 for general admission.

(Niesel) 11904 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, 216-521-4906, myspace. com/5oclocklounge.

COMEDY

Greg Morton Back in the early ’90s, comedian Greg Morton worked as an animator on M.C. Hammer’s Hammerman cartoon. While he continued to dabble in cartoons after that, he turned his attention to standup. He’s most famous for his two-minute Star Wars mashup, which he’s likely to perform tonight at Hilarities where he performs a special New Year’s Eve show at 7:30 and 10. The show starts at 8 p.m. and tickets start at $23 2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com (Niesel)

HAPPY NEW YEAR

New Year’s Eve at JACK To celebrate New Year’s Eve, JACK Cleveland Casino will host a Red, White and JACK party with a wonderland theme that will find dancers and acrobats performing throughout the casino. The band Walk of Shame plays “dance favorites” from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. on the first floor while a DJ will man the wheels of steel on the second floor. Market District Buffet will offer a special seafood menu featuring crab legs, oysters and shrimp. Patrons will receive free party favors before midnight, and they’ll have the chance to win $2,017 (because it’s about to become the year 2017, natch) in free slot play every hour from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. (Niesel) 216-297-4777, jackentertainment. com/cleveland/.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

New Year’s Eve Big ‘80s Dance Party The ’80s are known for New Wave music and arcade video games like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong.

Quality musical acts such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, the Police, Guns N’ Roses, R.E.M. and U2 emerged during the period as well. Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park aims to celebrate all things ‘80s with its Big ’80s party slated to take place on New Year’s Eve. The tribute act the Spazmatics will throw a “nerdy” New Wave Dance Party, and there will be screenings of ’80s music videos. Patrons can also play classic arcade games and participate in a Rubik’s Cube contest. The party will kick into gear at 9 p.m. Tickets cost $35 in advance, $50 at the door.

(Niesel) 10705 Northfield Road, Northfield, 330-908-7771, hrrocksinonorthfieldpark.com.

video (parts one and two), Last Call Cleveland comedy troupe and his very own show on Fox 8 (aptly called the Mike Polk Jr. Show), perform live, you know he really thrives on having an audience at his disposal. He performs a special New Year’s Eve show tonight at 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. at the Improv.

Tickets are $35 for the 7:30 show and $45 for the 10:30 show.

(Niesel) 1148 Main Ave., 216-696-IMPROV, clevelandimprov.com.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

A Nothing Fancy New Year’s Eve While many restaurants and bars around town pull out all the stops for New Year’s Eve, Prosperity Social Club will instead offer a “nothing fancy” celebration featuring “a cozy, firelit spot for friends and family to come together over ‘a cup of kindness.’”

In this case, the cup of kindness can be a glass of champagne or a spiked hot chocolate. Prosperity will open for brunch and then remain open until the midnight hour. The Tremont pub will serve sparkling wine, prosecco and champagne by the bottle and glass in addition to buttery lump crab cakes, smoky Hoppin’ John soup and a crab topped sirloin with au gratin potatoes, roasted asparagus and rich hollandaise sauce. You can also get pan-fried pierogi, veggie empanadas, fried chicken and other comfort food favorites from the regular menu. TVs will be tuned to the festivities at Times Square. Admission is free. (Niesel) 1109 Starkweather Ave., 216-937-1938, prosperitysocialclub.com.

SUN

01/01

HAPPY NEW YEAR

New Year’s Eve Party The Tangier in Akron has planned a big New Year’s Eve bash featuring all the fixings, including a live DJ, a “deluxe” open bar, an appetizer buffet, a balloon drop, hats, noisemakers, champagne toast at midnight, and a coffee, tea and pastry station. The $75 tickets grant admission at 8 p.m., and $45 tickets get you in after 10 p.m. only. (Niesel) 532 West Market St., Akron, 330-376-7171, thetangier.com.

COMEDY

New Year’s Eve with Mike Polk Jr. If you’ve seen local comedian Mike Polk Jr., the man behind the Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video, the Factory of Sadness

BRUNCH

Hash After the Bash Brunch Anyone recovering from a wild night out on the two to celebrate New Year’s Eve will undoubtedly find solace in Prosperity Social Club’s Hash After the Bash Brunch, an event designed to provide the kind of “camaraderie, carbs, coffee and cocktails” needed to start the new year off right.

And given that many bars and restaurants are closed New Year’s Day, it’s good to know that at least one place in town has got you covered. Brunch runs from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (Niesel) 1109 Starkweather Ave., 216-937-1938, prosperitysocialclub.com.

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| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

25

GET OUT BRUNCH

New Year’s Day Jazz Brunch with Dominick Farinacci A former Clevelander who’s become nationally known in the jazz world, trumpeter Dominick Farinacci graduated from the Juilliard School on full scholarship, launched his career in Japan and spent time in the Middle East as a global jazz ambassador for Jazz at Lincoln Center. He recorded his latest album right here in Cleveland. He regularly plays a New Year’s Eve show at Nighttown and this year he’ll even perform at the Cleveland Heights club on New Year’s Day for a special brunch. Tickets are $20, and the event starts at noon. (Niesel) 12387 Cedar Rd., Cleveland Heights, 216-795-0550, nighttowncleveland.com.

MON

01/02

SPORTS

Cavs vs. New Orleans Pelicans If it weren’t for the All-Star caliber play of forward Anthony Davis, the New Orleans Pelicans would be in big trouble. Outside of Davis and point guard Jrue Holiday, the team doesn’t boast too much talent. No wonder the team has lost far more games than it’s won. The Cavs square off against the Pelicans tonight at 7 at the Q. Tickets start at $14. (Niesel) 1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, theqarena.com.

BRUNCH

Industry Brunch Brunch isn’t just a Saturday/Sunday thing. Over at Mahall’s, you can grab a great brunch on Mondays as the club caters to industry folks who have the day off. Not that you have to work in the restaurant industry to indulge. The menu features items such as Chicken and Donuts, a dish that features three pieces of fried chicken along with two “Old Hushers donuts.” Other staples include the Everything Pretzel and the Creamy Egg Sandwich. A live DJ from WCSB will be on hand to spin cool tunes too.

It runs from noon to 4. (Niesel) 13200 Madison Ave., Lakewood, 216-521-3280, mahalls20lanes.com.

FILM WJW.CLEVELAND

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| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

Movie Mondays Every Monday, Cleveland Cinemas hosts $6 Movie Mondays, where film fans can catch up on the latest Hollywood flicks for significantly

reduced prices. Bring your friends and family and make Movie Mondays a weekly tradition — many theaters even offer discounted concession stand items. Participating theaters include Apollo Theatre, Capitol Theatre, Cedar Lee Theatre, Chagrin Cinemas, Shaker Square Cinemas and Tower City Cinemas.

Unfortunately, additional charges apply for 3D movies. (Alaina Nutile) clevelandcinemas.com.

MUSIC

Wing Ding Doodle Blues icon Howlin’ Wolf famously covered “Wang Dang Doodle,” the old blues tune penned by Willie Dixon.

Prosperity Social Club in Tremont has adopted that slogan, calling its wing night Wing Ding Doodle.

The weekly event features specials on Buffalo wings and cold brews.

Prosperity will not only serve up substantial, $1 whole wings, but it’ll also offering meatless Monday “wing” baskets for vegans. Discounted drafts and a playlist of vintage-electric blues and soulful R&B curated by local musician Clint Holley will be on tap as well. Wing Ding Doodle takes place every Monday from 6 p.m. to midnight. (Niesel) 1109 Starkweather Ave., 216-9371938, prosperitysocialclub.com.

TUE

01/03

MUSIC

Vinyl Night While sales of CDs continue to decline, vinyl has seen a resurgence.

In fact, the recent Jack White album became the fastest-selling vinyl album since Nielsen Soundscan began compiling vinyl sales figures in 1991. Jukebox owner Alex Budin has described his 1,350-square-foot music-focused bar in the Hingetown ’hood as “a place where people can expect to hear and learn about music of multiple genres, all of which is concentrated in a constantly evolving jukebox.” In keeping with that spirit and recognizing the burgeoning popularity of vinyl, the club hosts a vinyl night every Tuesday that serves as a listening party for new releases.

The place has partnered with Loop in Tremont so that patrons can hear a new album on vinyl. You can bring your own vinyl and spin it too. We love the concept. It all starts at 7 p.m. (Niesel) 1404 West 29th St., 216-206-7699, jukeboxcle.com.

Find more events @clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

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2 27

ART

Photo by Josh Usmani

ALL IN CMA’s annual Staff Show puts spotlight on employees’ most personal work

By Josh Usmani

INVITES YOU AND A GUEST TO AN ADVANCE SCREENING OF

SATURDAY, JANUARY 7 10:00 AM CINEMARK VALLEY VIEW FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN AN ADMIT-TWO PASS, VISIT GOFOBO.COM/ MONSTERCLE13 This film is rated PG. *Passes are limited and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. No purchase necessary. While supplies last. One admit-two pass per person. Theatre is overbooked to ensure a full house and seating is not guaranteed.

IN THEATRES JANUARY 13

MonsterTrucksMovie.com

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| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

AS ITS YEARLONG CENTENNIAL celebration comes to an end, the Cleveland Museum of Art celebrates its talented employees with its annual Staff Show at Transformer Station. Although the show is held each year, this year’s exhibition seems particularly special as the museum reflects on its first century before beginning its next.

Hosted by Fred and Laura Bidwell’s Transformer Station for the second time, this year’s Staff Show stretches through both of Transformer Station’s exhibition spaces. Transformer Station was founded in part as a west side footprint for the Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA schedules half the year’s programming at Transformer Station, allowing it to “uncover new opportunities, take risks and explore new ideas and new media.”

With each staff member allowed to exhibit only one new work, the exhibition showcases the artists’ most personal work. While viewing

textiles and more.

The CMA was founded in 1913 “for the benefit of all the people forever,” as stated by J. H. Wade II upon its inception. It opened its doors to the public for the first time in the summer of 1916. The museum’s mission statement and longtime financial support from the community ensure that the museum’s collection will indeed remain free to the public forever.

Earlier this year, the CMA was named the second-best museum in the U.S. by Business Insider magazine, second only to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, as well as second-best free museum in the U.S. by USA Today.

This special exhibition showcases the immense talent that contributes every day to the CMA’s world class experience. The Museum employs more than 450 staff members. These individuals, and their collective efforts, are what make the CMA one of the best art museums in the world.

STAFF SHOW Transformer Station 1460 W. 29th St., 216-938-5429 transformerstation.org

the exhibition, it quickly becomes apparent that every work is placed with a purpose. Thanks to this thoughtful curating, unexpected and unintended themes emerge.

These repeating elements, symbols and motifs include: references to art history, trees and foliage, flowers, socio-political commentary, indigenous people and culture, lions (really, the exhibition features three works portraying lions), Cleveland, the incorporation of

The CMA Staff Show remains on view through New Year’s Day, Sunday, Jan. ,1 during regular business hours: Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours until 8 p.m. on Thursday. Closed Monday and Tuesday. As always, Transformer Station is free and open to the public.

jusmani@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

MOVIES THE BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR, ACCORDING TO SCENE

By Sam Allard TWENTY-SIXTEEN, WE’RE TOLD, has been a banner year for both TV and film. And yet, Scene endured a nonstop barrage of some of the worst big-budget offerings in memory. This year produced even more startling evidence of Hollywood’s increasing polarization. At one end, you’ve got brand-name franchises, cinema as spectacle, heartless action without pause. At the other, you’ve got shoestring-budget indies, often lacking refinement in their scripts, technical elements and lead performances. It’s no accident that most of the films on our list fall somewhere in between.

These are films made by exciting directors who haven’t yet been enticed

by Marvel or Star Wars. They are probing films with dark or effervescent world views, notable, indeed, because they have world views. Without exception, these are beautiful, or at least visually interesting, movies to watch. And as the best movies do, these create worlds of their own.

1) Arrival Our number one film of the year is director Denis Villenueve’s sci-fi masterpiece starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner. It’s a breathtaking and ambitious film. Adams plays a linguist summoned to communicate with aliens aboard an obelisk-ish spaceship in the Montana countryside.

The aliens, having landed all over the world, appear to be benign, or at least inert, and the world’s various militaries need justification before they pounce. Against the clock, Adams must decode the aliens’ marvelously foreign language to determine why they’ve come. In an elegant act of mimicry, the film itself comes to mirror this non-linear language, and by the end of movie — its final 30 minutes careening toward a revelatory emotional climax — you’re viewing Arrival not as a sequential series of scenes, but as a singular idea, a transfixing total image of love and loss and language and courage. It is a triumph of both cinematography and adaptation; a stunning marriage of mind and heart.

2) Moonlight One of the most rich and

manages to say more true stuff about friendship and self-discovery than any other movie of the year. It’s often borderline-juvenile (the fart jokes grow thin), but it is pleasantly bizarre, charming and indelible.

Arrival

textured cinematic portraits of the 21st century, Moonlight (written and directed by Barry Jenkins) follows the tumultuous coming-of-age of Chiron at three distinct moments in his life: as a nine-year-old outcast under the wing of a conflicted drug dealer (Mahershala Ali, in one of the year’s best performances); as a bullied high-schooler in the throes of sexual confusion; and as a man, re-invented as a drug-dealer to protect himself, seeking connection with an old friend. A piercing, devastating glimpse into the life of an American Other, Moonlight is as relevantly vectored as it is magnificently acted.

3) Green Room From the hardcore-punk mind of director Jeremy Saulnier exploded the dark and gruesomely violent thrill ride that was Green Room. Anton Yelchin, before his tragic death, starred as a bassist in a traveling hardcore act that, to make cash for food and gas money, agrees to perform at a backwoods neo-Nazi bar. When they witness a murder, they, too, must be disposed of. The movie screeches along in a series of edge-of-your-seat confrontations. It is hands down the year’s best thriller. Furthermore, it’s a corrective to Eli Roth’s torture-porn garbage, a reminder that gory movies must be more than their gore. Sir Patrick Stewart as neo-Nazi kingpin = inspired casting.

4) The Handmaiden Fans of Netflix’s foreign offerings might be familiar with the work of Park Chan-Wook, the Korean auteur who made Oldboy and others. The

Handmaiden is his latest, a movie in three acts, each of which reveal deeper layers of a single story. It’s 1930s Korea. A con man and a pickpocket conspire to lock up an heiress in an asylum. The secrets of each character are well-planted seeds — compounded by the setting: an estate owned by a deviant book collector – and watching them blossom is a thrill and a pleasure. It’s as sensuous and surprising as they come. Downton Abbey meets Hentai.

5) 13th The year’s best documentary doesn’t boast incredible footage from combat zones or secret interviews; it has no conceit, no gimmick; it has no star. It is, rather, an argument, a laser-focused, masterfully assembled treatise on the endurance of systemic racism. Directed by Ava Duvernay (Selma), this essential documentary gathers some of the most cogent black writers and academics to consider a nefarious loophole in the 13thamendment, which outlawed slavery except as punishment for a crime. 13th is a full-frontal attack on mass incarceration, a condemnation of racism in its current incarnation, and a call to action.

6) Swiss Army Man Wacky and wonderful, Swiss Army Man stars Paul Dano as a stranded, suicidal doof and Daniel Radcliffe as the corpse whom he befriends. It is the logical extreme in a progression that began with Tom Hanks and Wilson (the volleyball) in Cast Away. Though undeniably odd, this movie beats with a spurned lover’s heart and

7) La La Land With the most electric opening sequence of the year, La La Land informs you immediately that it’s here to party, and ought to be taken seriously. Its seamless blend of old and new prove that Hollywood musicals, just like romance, can be both timeless and very very modern. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone star, and even though they’re not powerhouse singers, director Damien Chazelle (Whiplash) is a powerhouse director, one with vision and panache. This one’s a splashy fiesta.

8) The Light Between Oceans An elegiac drama with deep wells of emotions in store, led by two of the finest working actors in Hollywood: Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander. Grand and somber and beautiful, this is your chance to observe master craftsmen at the top of their game. Directed by Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine), returning to his dramatic sweet spot.

9) The Witch The year’s best pure horror film, from rookie writer-director Robert Eggers. Satanic possession, paranoia, the 1630s? Yes, please.

10) Manchester by the Sea Casey Affleck, in a performance that should net him an Academy Award nomination (if not a win), plays a janitor summoned to Manchester by the Sea, Massachusetts, where he’s been saddled with the guardianship of his nephew. Writer-director Kenneth Lonergan finds levity among shipwrecked souls. This one is a mirror of true tragedy and features the year’s best scene. *Almost made the cut: Sing Street, Eye in the Sky, Captain America: Civil War, The Neon Demon, Demolition, The Lobster, Hell or High Water

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

29

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| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

EAT

RESERVATIONS REQUESTED How no-showing your dinner reservation has a ripple effect on small restaurants

By Douglas Trattner IT HAD ALL THE MAKINGS OF the perfect Saturday night in the restaurant world. Ushabu, open for just over a month, was riding high from positive reviews. Though tiny by modern standards, the 25-seat Asian bistro was booked solid from 4:30 through 9:30 p.m., at which point tables would remain largely filled through closing time thanks to walk-in customers.

But perfect quickly turned to perfectly disastrous for general manager Michael Flaherty as parties who had reserved tables over the phone or through an online reservation system failed to show up.

Five separate parties totaling more than 20 guests failed to honor their reservations without so much as a call, text or email. When all was said and done, Ushabu did only a fraction of the business it would have. Worse, all the people who wanted to dine there and were turned away couldn’t.

“I know that sometimes people don’t understand the impact that this can have on other people, especially in a smaller place like ours,” Flaherty explains. “I think this is something we can educate people about.”

Flaherty says that remedying the situation isn’t as simple as filling those no-show tables with walk-ins, even as walk-ins continue walking in the door.

“By the time you’ve allowed for

them running late, tried contacting them, and made the decision to cancel the reservation, it’s maybe 20 minutes after the reservation time,” he explains. “That table is booked again an hour and half later so you can’t seat it because you don’t want to delay that party. So for me, in this space, I have no choice but to leave the table open.”

Decisions made by neglectful or forgetful diners cast a wide shadow, one that goes far deeper than simply aggravating a dining room manager whose only goal is to make guests happy. Food is often prepped based on the number of reservations, additional staffers are called in, and diners who call to book earlier in the day or week are rebuffed.

“The restaurant doesn’t make money on empty tables, the staff isn’t making money, and I’m not able to accommodate guests who simply walked in,” adds a frustrated Eric Williams of Momocho and El Carnicero. “I love this business, but there are so many things that have to happen perfectly every single day to be consistently profitable.”

Even parties that do show up for their reservations can negatively affect the fragile ecosystem of a busy restaurant.

“Being a relatively small restaurant, we don’t have a lot of options for where we can accommodate larger parties; we

have to push tables together and start playing Tetris,” notes Ryan Wilkins, GM of Flying Fig. “When people show up with numbers higher or lower than they booked, it has a ripple effect that impacts our business and the rest of our guests.”

Tables that were staged and set for a large party that ends up smaller than originally booked could have been occupied by walk-ins who ultimately were turned away.

Wilkins estimates that on a busy brunch or holiday, that can add up to 10-percent loss.

Larger restaurants, while still affected by no-shows, can more easily roll with the punches. All three locations of Rosewood Grill, part of the Hospitality Restaurants group, recently switched over from call-ahead seating to reservations at the request of its guests.

“With bigger restaurants, we have the benefit where if we have a no-show or two, we can generally fill that back in with a walk-in,” explains Christopher Oppewall, managing partner. “When you do 200 in a night, the difference is negligible. Whereas in a much smaller restaurant, it can be as much as half your dining room.”

Of course, there are ways to maximize your space and bottom line while keeping guests happy. One of those is to do everything within one’s power to eliminate or reduce

the number of no-shows in the first place.

“That starts with training,” explains Seth Bromberg, owner of the reservation-dependent Playhouse Square eatery District. “You have to make sure you have the right phone number. Have the hostess repeat the number back to the diner.”

Calling to confirm (and reconfirm) should be standard operating procedure, he adds, but requiring a credit card should not.

“It’s really a slippery slope with regards to taking credit cards with reservations. Privacy and security have taken over our world – let alone the awkwardness of the request.

People are concerned about giving out their credit cards over the phone.”

As for the suggestion that Ushabu and places like it simply abandon reservations and adopt a first come, first served system, Flaherty responds.

“This isn’t the lower east side of Manhattan with constant foot traffic,” he asserts. “When people try and come to eat at your place and they get turned away two or three times, eventually they’ll be like, ‘Screw that place.’”

Long story short: call to cancel.

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

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All-you-can-eat sushi and hot pot make a comeback at Kintaro

by Rachel Hunt

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FIRST THINGS FIRST: ALL-YOUcan-eat restaurants and all-you-can-eat buffets might sound like the same concepts, but they are separate beasts.

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve all visited restaurants looking to ladle out whichever premade foods we want onto a plate for a ďŹ xed price at the buffet, but â&#x20AC;&#x153;all you can eatâ&#x20AC;? implies a true challenge for a steal.

At the Chinese restaurant Hong Kong King Buffet, owner Zhixin Lu could see his business losing steam thanks to a handful of new sushi spots that opened up nearby. This past October, Lu shuttered then reopened the location as Kintaro (7325 North Cliff Ave., 216-459-8862, kintarooh. com), a full-service sushi and hot pot restaurant with an impressive interior remodel. Pairing down the selections to healthy and up-to-date options while still offering a boatload has helped the new concept thrive.

Paying attention to current trends in the food industry has played a big part in Kintaroâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rejuvenation, as did a new sushi bar, party room and swanky modern interior that resists being categorized as â&#x20AC;&#x153;cheesy.â&#x20AC;? The real allure here is that everything is made to order; nothing has been sitting in a steam table or under a heating lamp.

Upon entering, guests choose between sushi and hot pot, though you can opt out of the all-you-can-eat deal to order menu items individually. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The boss wanted the upgrade to include an all-you-can-eat-hot pot menu, uncommon in Cleveland,â&#x20AC;? says Kintaro manager Jay Weng. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are a lot of hot pot restaurants in big cities like New York, L.A., Chicago, Houston. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very popular right now.â&#x20AC;?

The interactive way in which the soup is prepared makes it especially enticing to groups and traditional to Chinese celebrations. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We pretty much have a large party every night, whoever calls ďŹ rst is who gets [the party room],â&#x20AC;? Weng adds.

For hot pot, a small simmering bowl of Chinese herb, chicken, spicy

Szechuan, or shacha broth will be placed on a portable burner at the table. From there, you have two hours to cook as many types of meat in your hot pot as possible. Choices include typical offerings such as sliced pork, fatty beef, chicken, lunch meat and dumplings, but also a large array of adventurous items like beef tripe, pork stomach, quail egg and cuttleďŹ sh balls.

They also offer 28 vegetarian ingredients and a variety of shellďŹ sh with potato vermicelli, udon, instant ramen, or rice noodles for the base.

The authentic menu provides photos of each raw ingredient before itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s placed into the boiling pot to cook at the table.

To top it off, guests take their ďŹ nished bowl to the sauce bar where they ďŹ&#x201A;avor the broth with oyster sauce, sesame oil, hot chili sauce, cilantro, scallions and others.

The all-you-can-eat sushi menu, located on a large paper placemat, works a little differently, with those participating checking off what theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like. Diners are given the option of appetizers like edamame, spring rolls and miso soup, along with nigiri, classic hand rolls, and specialty rolls.

Two rolls and four pieces of nigiri can be ordered per round. As with the hot pot, participants get two hours to eat but are cautioned to not leave waste behind otherwise theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be charged an additional fee.

Specialty rolls are charmingly named after cars like the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Toyotaâ&#x20AC;? (shrimp tempura and cucumber inside, topped with tuna and a spicy mayo sauce), â&#x20AC;&#x153;BMWâ&#x20AC;? (spicy tuna, yellowtail, avocado, and jalapeno inside, salmon, mango, and crispy onion on top), or the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mazdaâ&#x20AC;? (shrimp and crab, topped with avocado).

Unfortunately, there is no prize at the end of the journey besides dessert, and no winner other than your stomach.

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner

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| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

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EAT CHEF MICHAEL HERSCHMAN PURCHASES LOPEZ ON LEE FROM FOUNDER CRAIG SUMERS

By Douglas Trattner IN 1979, PARTNERS CRAIG Sumers and Brad Friedlander opened the Mexican/Southwest eatery Lopez y Gonzalez in Cleveland Heights, which launched with chef Rick Bayless (yes, the same Bayless of Chicago’s Topolobampo and Frontera Grill) at the helm. It enjoyed an 18-year run before closing at its original location, retooling, and reopening a few years later as Lopez Bar and Grille at its current location down the road.

Along the way, the partners opened other successful ventures together like Café Brio, Boca and Moxie. They “divorced,” as Sumers would say, 13 years ago.

After years of discussions and negotiations, Sumers reached an agreement with his executive chef of six years, Michael Herschman,

to hand over the keys. The official transfer will take place on January 3.

“It’s very conflicting,” Sumers admits. “I never wanted to leave, I never wanted to retire, but I thought it was the best thing for the restaurant, so I made this decision. The only way this would have worked for me was to find someone who was going to take over and keep it as Lopez. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been worth anything to them and it wouldn’t have happened.”

Over the years, Herschman has owned or worked at a number of Cleveland’s best restaurants, including his own Mojo, Tutto a Posto, Players East, Vivo, Lockkeepers and Menu 6. But in a remarkable twist of fate, he opened his first restaurant, the ambitious

Cena Copa, immediately next door to Lopez’s current spot. That was in 1995.

“It’s going to be really cool,” Herschman says. “I’m trying to do a nice seamless transition. Then come spring we’ll come out with a loud bang. You don’t want people to come in after the change and say everything is the same. The menu will get really cool.”

Of course, popular staples will remain, he promises. The new owner will begin by making some capital improvements to the kitchen and building as well as some internal improvements to the systems.

Along with menu changes, diners will begin seeing an expanded beer and wine list, as well as the introduction of fun events like tequila dinners. “There’s something amazing about building a brand like

19797 Detroit Rd. Rocky River (440) 356-1233 michaelsrockyriver.com

Lopez,” the chef says of Sumers. “It’s like a Nighttown or a Players; so many great people have worked at these places. A lot of respect goes to Craig and the legacy he’s built.”

For Sumers, who is on the far end of a wildly successful 40-year career in “the toughest profession in the world,” the transition is a bit surreal.

“The thing that I cherish the most is that I still have the vitality, the inspiration, and the motivation,” he says. “If it was up to me I’d open another restaurant tomorrow. I have so many wonderful memories, so many funny stories that I wake up and just laugh to myself about all the things that have happened over the years.”

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner

Located in the Heart of Cleveland’s Historic Little Italy

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! From Our Family To Yours.

Serving The Community Since 1978!

Join Us

NEW YEARS EVE & NEW YEARS DAY Pork & Sauerkraut for Good Luck and Exclusive Chef Specials & Drinks!

Reservations Suggested 34

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

Delicious Italian Cuisine & Fine Wine Selection 2181 Murray Hill Rd | Cleve, OH 44106 216.231.5977 s NoraCleveland.com

Tuesday-Thursday: 5:00pm to 10:00pm Friday-Saturday: 5:00pm to 11:00pm Sunday: 5:00pm to 9:00pm

Sit down with your guests.

Advertise with SCENE. Call 216-241-7550 for more information.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CHICKEN AND OUR 14 GOURMET SAUCES

★★★★★ “Worth the stop & future excursions from the Near West Side in the future.I can’t find one thing wrong with V’s and the woman taking care of us was just the nicest and personable person ever. For all the food we ordered it was very reasonably priced and held up well on the ride home/ Stopping here in the near future is in order as it puts lousy KFC’s, Popeyes, etc to shame in terms of quality, price, and customer service.” - Jesco D. ★★★★★ “I went here after the good reviews and I was impressed. I had the regular/mild batter. The chicken was light, crispy and delicious. The rice and greens is ingenious! They have a little kick to them but quite tasty. They were buttery and lightly sweet. I enjoyed my meal and will return in the future.” - Ladonna G.

★★★★★ “This is some Seriously delicious chicken. I have lived very close, and almost drive by there daily.

Thought it was part of the convenient store, so I would not go there. After reading the reviews and being extremely hungry, I took the plunge, and I am more than glad I did. I will be coming here so much more.” - Stephanie L. ★★★★★ “It’s no joke, best fried chicken in Cleveland.

They’ve got plenty of sides, but don’t kid yourself, it’s all about the chicken. While there’s a variety of flavors the staff might not give you many clues past identifying the individual flavors. Luckily there’s a brief explanation of them at the restaurant.” Noah F. ★★★★★ “Oh my gosh this place has the best food.The chicken is superbly trimmed and seasoned to perfection. Normally I always get the fried chicken but tonight I went with the fish dinner for the first time and can’t stop jumping up-and-down with joy. Make sure you get the honey biscuits and at least try the greens and rice. Thank you for such great service and the culinary gift you’ve given us.” - Sarah J.

“Five Stars aren’t Enough! This is 10 STAR FOOD!!

LOVE THOSE HONEY ROLLS!! It’s my dinner tonight shrimp, slaw, fries and corn muffin. SO YUMMY” Lonnie R.

“I absolutely love the food here! Best fried chicken I’ve ever had. People should stop in and grab a family chicken dinner instead of spending cash at KFC or any other fast food chicken chains. Best chicken ever!” - Bunny Marie L. “I absolutely loved this place! I will be back soon!”

- Lori M.

“Such a delicious choice for Fried chicken” - Nicole Elaine T.

To Place Catering Order Contact Us At vsgourmet@yahoo.com

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SAT DECEMBER 31 Join Us For Our Annual NYE Celebration Featuring Live Music From

CONUNDRUM OHIO STATE vs CLEMSON Kickoff at 7:00pm

$5.75 PITCHER SPECIAL DURING THE GAME | clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

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| clevescene.com m | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

MUSIC LEFT OF THE DIAL An overview of all the 2016 releases you might’ve missed ABOUT THIS TIME OF YEAR, arts and culture rags tend to deliver their takes on the year’s 10 best albums/books/movies. Most lists read roughly the same. If Radiohead put out an album that year, you know it’s gonna be on everyone’s list. The same goes for whatever socially conscious rapper issued a new release.

Often, however, some of the year’s best releases don’t appear on the typical top ten list. We consulted a few local college radio DJs to find out what great albums came out this year that you might’ve missed. Here’s what they came up with.

ANDREW BIRD Are you Serious (Loma Vista) Andrew Bird’s signature whistling, saw-playing, multi-layered vocals and guitar-string-plucking are prevalent throughout his latest release, but they’re lightened and livened by the most upbeat and poppy production we’ve yet heard from him. Bird is a prolific musician who explores with genre and style, but here he seems happier, and more settled; the result is a more effusively sentimental album. Hints of romance abound in “Are you Serious” and “Bellevue.”

Even “Left-handed Kisses,” a slightly twisted love song duet with Fiona Apple, is sweet. This album probably thrills fans of Andrew Bird; for those who aren’t as familiar with his work, Are You Serious is a great place to start. (Genevieve Mathieson) BOMBINO Azel (Partisan) On this third solo album produced

by David Longstreth of the Dirty Projectors, Bombino demonstrates an apparently effortless virtuosity with the guitar.

Accompanied by a group of percussionists and backup vocalists, Bombino, a Tuareg musician from Niger, performs entirely in Tamashek, singing about politics and current events while weaving a compelling melody. Azel features the kind of rocking guitar and drums that — in a live setting — gets the audience up

on its feet for non-stop dancing. A balance of impressive guitar, crisp, raw vocals and hints of reggae combine to form this perfect example of desert blues. (Mathieson) 9BACH Anian (Real World) 9Bach, a Welsh neo-folk band, has several albums out on the Real World record label. This newest album features electronica-tinged, trip-hoppy versions of traditional Welsh folk and original songs.

Lisa Jên’s lovely, multilayered, ethereal vocals are balanced by occasional piano, guitar, harp, and drums throughout the album. “Anian” in Welsh means “nature,” both of the world and human, and the light melodic sound belies the heavy emotional themes that drive the album. A companion disc offers English-language poems and spoken word pieces from various artists that interpret, explain or respond to the Welsh songs on the first disc. The second disc offers an interesting counterpoint to the obscure but beautiful songs on the first disc. (Mathieson) THE SILVER LAKE CHORUS Silver Lake Chorus Remixes (Six Degrees Records) The Silver Lake Chorus, a 24-member choral group based in L.A., has put out two albums in the last two years that feature original songs from artists such as Sia, Aimee Mann, Carl Newman (New Pornographers) and Wayne Coyne (The Flaming Lips). This album moves smoothly from song to song, blending tempo and tone in a way

that engages the listener through the whole album. For those who prefer to dip in and pick just one or two tracks at a time, standout songs include “Break it Down (Lovett remix),” “Easy to Die (Hammock Remix)” and “Heavy Star Moving (starRo Remix).” It’s rare for a remix album to compare well to its source material, but this one does.

(Mathieson) THE JAYHAWKS Paging Mr. Proust (Sham) From “Quiet Corners and Empty Spaces” through “I’ll Be Your Key,” the Jayhawks’ Paging Mr. Proust weaves poignant silence through melodic chaos, taking the listener on a journey through the autumnal musings of 1992’s Hollywood Town Hall to the sonic explorations of 1997’s Sound of Lies, which frontman Gary Louris and company revived on tour prior to this highly anticipated 2016 studio release. Louris and original members Tim O’Reagan, Marc Perlman and Karen Grotberg team up with producers Tucker Martine and Peter Buck for one of the Minnesota outfit’s most glittering and literate efforts yet. Highlights: “Lover of the Sun,” “Devil is In Her Eyes,” “Isabel’s Daughter.” (Emma Sleva) TEDDY THOMPSON AND KELLY JONES Little Windows (Cooking Vinyl) Poised on the ledge of sweetness, Teddy Thompson and Kelly Jones never falter into the saccharine on this year’s Little Windows.

Approaching originals with the tongue-in-cheek charisma of Dolly and Porter and the earnest harmonies of Phil and Don Everly, Thompson’s Chet Atkins-style guitar and the duo’s pristine vocals refuse to gloss over the history behind them, discarding the requisite irony of trendy “throwback” duos (à la She & Him) and instead imbuing the record with their own histories — Thompson is the son of English folk-rock pioneers Linda and Richard Thompson. Past meets present and unwraps ’50s pop for a new

generation on Little Windows. See: “You Can’t Call Me Baby” and “Never Knew You Loved Me Too.” (Emma Sleva) GRANT-LEE PHILLIPS The Narrows (Yep Roc) Overturning Nashville’s latter day pop to unearth echoes of the Carter Family’s Bristol and harness the dynamism of Sam Phillips’ Memphis, Grant-Lee Phillips (no relation) digs deep into the musical soil of Tennessee on 2016’s The Narrows. Always the troubadour, Phillips thoughtfully meanders through the ruins of the American Civil War toward the young railroad towns of the South (“Holy Irons”) and out to the Western frontier (“San Andreas Fault”). Burnished with an acoustic warmth, Phillips’ self-produced eighth solo release ranks among Americana’s finest this year. (Sleva)

HURRY Guided Meditation (Lame-O Records) Matt Scottoline named his band Hurry as a tribute to the way he writes songs. To the contrary, these songs don’t sound tossed off in the least. The Philadelphia band’s third fulllength, Guided Meditation, is reminiscent of Grand Prix-era Teenage Fanclub blasted through a haze of classic Weezer. If that sounds irresistible, mosey on over to the intersection of power pop and indie rock and listen to some Hurry. Take your time. (Ed Zeitz) Red Fang

HALFSOUR Tuesday Night Live (Jigsaw Records) For having only released a debut full length, this Boston trio sure has its act together with 13 mostly short tracks (10 under two minutes) heavy on choppy, agitated chords, along with forceful vocals from either Zoe, Matt, or both of ’em together.

Nearly all of Tuesday Night Live’s songs feel frantic but never out of control, and the band has that scrappy, underdog quality that endears you to Torche

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

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MUSIC it on the very first listen. Halfsour also unleashed a bustling EP (“Charm School”) late in the year, half doubling our pleasure with six more fully feverish tracks. (Zeitz) LETTERS TO CLEO Back To Nebraska EP (Dot Rat) When you hear that one of your favorite bands from, say, the mid-’90s, is planning to release new music for the first time in almost 20 years, you might hold your breath, thinking “dear sweet jeebus, please don’t let it suck.”

After the first chorus of Back To Nebraska’s bangin’ opening track (“Can’t Say”), you exhale, as a smile creases your face. After the first bars of the next track, “4 Leaf Clover,” pure giddiness sets as you realize that Letters To Cleo has picked up right where they left off. Kay Hanley’s voice has remained pure and muscular, while the rest of the band settles into a familiar and potent groove on all five songs. For fans both old and new, the Cleo comeback is quite welcome.

(Zeitz) KADHJA BONET The Visitor (Fat Possum) Defying categorization, Kadhja Bonet’s debut EP is a tasteful menagerie of songs that highlight her talents not only as a songwriter, but a guitar, flute and string player as well. The penultimate track, “Nobody Other,” is a stunning piece of pastoral pop that serves as a nice counterpoint to the records other classically influenced ditties like “Fairweather Friend.” The Visitor’s fantastical textures and musical imagery sound just as much at home in the present as they do the past and future. (Teddy Eisenberg) EXTRA MEDIUM PONY Meaninglessness (Exit Stencil) Armed with existential dread and a snarling guitar, Cleveland songwriter Rick Spitalsky has penned an impressive assortment of lo-fi anthems on his second outing as Extra Medium Pony. Songs like “Further Along” recall the glory of loveable loser bands

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| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

like Built to Spill, Pavement and Herzog, while tunes like “Reindeer Boots” show Spitalsky expanding his talents as a songwriter. Don’t let the title of this record fool you, the songs here are anything but meaningless.

(Eisenberg) NEW PLANET TRAMPOLINE Dark Rides and Grim Visions (Stow House Records) New Planet Trampoline has crafted the local psychedelic masterpiece of 2016, bringing their own inspired form of haunted rock to the sprawling double LP Dark Rides and Grim Visions. Showing themselves equally as comfortable riding the waves of big riffs on “Dark Rides” as floating through the breezy, Brit-pop melodies of “There Is Nothing More To Say,” this quartet serve as the perfect tour guides through a musical wonderland bigger than the listener knew possible.

(Eisenberg) SISTER SMIRK Ruff Tape (Peanut Butter Records) In a year where pop music can largely be viewed as cookie cutter or uninspired, Cleveland’s own Roseanna Safos challenges the very boundaries of the genre with a dizzying collection of garage gems on Ruff Tape.

Drawing on genres from indie to doo-wop, songs like “Diego” and “I Found My Baby” show pop music at its most distorted, but also it’s most fun. Good luck getting any of these melodies out of your head anytime soon. (Eisenberg)

Tune into WRUW 91.1 FM Cleveland or online at WRUW.org to hear: Genevieve Mathieson: Exploding Plastic Inevitable, Wednesdays 7-9a.m.

Emma Sleva: The Occasional Detour, Saturdays 11a.m.-1p.m.

Ed Zeitz: Chasing Infinity, Sundays 8-10a.m.

Teddy Eisenberg : The ‘59 Sound, Thursdays, 8-10a.m.

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

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| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

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MUSIC

Photo by Phil Chester

BECOMING A BAND Red Wanting Blue strides into the next chapter as a fully realized dream

By Eric Sandy IF EVER THERE WAS A TURNING point in the narrative of Ohio’s own Red Wanting Blue, it might be right now. The band has fulfilled its threealbum deal with Fanatic Records — assembling a mighty trio of rock ’n’ roll — and now they’re packing up the car and hitting the indie circuit again. For everyone on the RWB ride, there’s every reason to be thrilled.

Scene got in touch with frontman Scott Terry, who’s getting the band psyched for a monumental 2017.

They’ll kick things off with a pair of shows Dec. 30 and 31 at the House of Blues, right here in downtown Cleveland, in what’s become something of a budding tradition.

“Cleveland is our favorite place to play,” Terry says. “It’s always felt like a home to us.” Red Wanting Blue, of course, formed out of the Ohio University music scene in Athens, then moved to what would become their homebase in Columbus.

Throughout all of it, though, Cleveland has held a mystique for the musicians and their fans. (The band has plans to check out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame while they’re in town, something that Terry says they’ve never had time to do in the past.)

But there’s more going on for the band right now. 2016 marked the 20th anniversary of Red Wanting Blue getting together in Athens.

To mark the occasion, the band filmed a concert at the Lincoln

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Theatre in Chicago. Thing is, though, they almost missed their own anniversary. It was Terry’s wife who pointed out to them that Red Wanting Blue was turning 20 this year. So how would they celebrate it?

Talk turned to a “20th anniversary tour,” but the band felt that their time would be better spent by doing a mini tour and hitting the venues that have been very special to the RWB scene over the years — like Cunningham’s Journal in Kearney, Nebraska, and the Lincoln Theatre.

to refocus themselves at this most intriguing moment in their collective careers.

In 2014, the band released Little America, which capped their deal with Fanatic Records. They were striking out on their own again, but it took some time to find the right path. “Once again we are the masters and commanders of our career and our destiny,” Terry says, reflecting on the crossroads. “What do we want to do?”

The central issue is that a touring

RED WANTING BLUE 7 P.M. FRIDAY, DEC. 30, 8:30 P.M., SATURDAY, DEC. 31, HOUSE OF BLUES, 308 EUCLID AVE., 216-523-2583. TICKETS: $49.50 - $69.50 FOR TWO-DAY PASS, HOUSEOFBLUES.COM

The video of the Lincoln gig is now for sale and available online.

It’s an interesting show, because the band meticulously crafted a setlist in reverse chronological order — opening with a new song and ending with the late-90s throwback “Decorator.” It’s a cool document, an imprint of a band taking stock of the past and the future.

And so the video is a testament to how energetic and atmospheric RWB gets onstage — something that fans didn’t get to see as much of this past year.

There’s good reason for why Red Wanting Blue pulled back on the touring in 2016. They’re a classic road band — touring extensively for two decades now — but they decided

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

band like RWB has little time to tend to studio matters. When the band decided to record a new album — a decision arrived at in early 2016 on a beach in Mexico — the only rational thing to do was to back off the road a bit.

“It was so necessary. We needed it,” Terry says of the patient approach to recording and the decision to take a year off from touring. “But at the time it was very difficult. It’s a very difficult thing.”

The soul-searching year brought excellent results, from the sound of it. RWB has been a band of best friends for years, but the all-in creative exploration that went into this upcoming album seems to have redefined what they’re doing here in

the first place.

“We all said that we didn’t want to record any songs on this record unless it was 100-percent unanimous — unless everybody loved the songs,” Terry says. “It’s the greatest collective effort we have ever made.”

Throughout the process — writing and recording — the band members learned more about one another than they ever thought they knew. In many ways, Terry argues, the work of the last year pushed Red Wanting Blue into its fully realized destiny. At the peak of their time together — the 20-year mark! — Red Wanting Blue became the band that they set out to be as young kids from Ohio way back when.

The new album will drop Red laterFang this winter. Terry couldn’t get into specifics when we talked, but keep an open eye for the title and release date. “It’s far and away our best effort,” he says.

Until then, expect big things and good times at the two-night New Year’s Eve run this weekend.

The first show will be an acoustic set — something that the band has really leaned into these past few years — and the second show will be an all-out party as this most impressionable year comes to a soaring and anthemic close.

esandy@clevescene.com t@EricSandy

Torche

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| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

41

MUSIC

SENSORY OVERLOAD Trans-Siberian Orchestra ups the ante again for its latest tour

By Jeff Niesel WHEN HE WAS YOUNG, TRANSSiberian Orchestra mastermind Paul O’Neill had trouble reading anything more sophisticated than Cat in the Hat. In the first grade, he was in danger of falling behind.

But then his mother spent a summer teaching him phonetics, and the floodgates opened as O’Neill, whose parents forbid him to watch TV, started devouring the books around the family’s home. As he toured with Aerosmith in the ’70s, he started collecting letters and developing his esoteric sense of the world.

Those literary sensibilities would inform the prog band Savatage, which originally recorded “Christmas Eve Sarajevo 12/24” in 1995. The song would reappear on TSO’s debut, 1996’s Christmas Eve and Other Stories, and launch the band into the behemoth that it is today.

Twenty years on, O’Neill says he feels like he blinked and two decades passed.

“I would love to say that we planned for the Christmas trilogy to resonate like this, but it was just pure luck,” says O’Neill in a recent conference call. “Of course, we did everything backwards. Normally, you have like five or six other platinum albums, then you take on Christmas. It’s all worked out. The only problem is just production that you have to change every year and take it to another level.

It just becomes distracting because in rock there’s a rhythm. You write an album no matter how long it takes.

You record it no matter how long it takes, and then you tour for one or two years, and then you start the whole pattern again.”

This year, the group will revisit last year’s show, The Ghosts of Christmas Eve, which centers on a runaway who breaks into a vaudeville theater on Christmas Eve. The rock opera

42

features tunes such as “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24,” “O’ Come All Ye Faithful,” “Good King Joy,” “Christmas Canon,” “Music Box Blues,” “Promises To Keep” and “This Christmas Day.” This year’s tour will also include an all-new second set containing some of TSO’s “greatest hits and fan-pleasers.”

The Ghosts of Christmas Eve grew from a TV special the band did for Fox, who had asked the group to play its 2000 album Beethoven’s Last Night for an hour.

“I said, ‘If you give me an hour I’ll give you a movie,’” O’Neill recalls.

“They said, ‘Do you have a script?’

I said, ‘I’ll write it tonight.’ We took it pretty simple, runaway from the Midwest comes to New York City, breaks into an old band in Vaudeville Theater. There she was discovered by the caretaker played by Ossie Davis who uses the ghost and the spirits of the band and theater to turn her life around. We were really lucky, because people like Jewel and Michael Crawford joined us to play some of the ghosts. It was only supposed to run

kind of feel like you were in an old movie theater back in the ’20s or the ’30s. By the third song, the band is on the stage, and you’re in the present.

Basically, during the whole rock opera, you’re going between the past to the present.”

Every year, the band ups the ante in terms of the technology it uses. It relies on lasers and pyrotechnics to overload the senses. This year is no different in that respect.

“We always try to keep it secret so it’s always a surprise,” says O’Neill when asked about what new technology the tour would use. “The show that we’re doing this year we couldn’t do five years ago. The show we were doing five years we couldn’t do five years before that. Technology has been moving in such leaps and bounds and brings extra weight. It’s one of the reasons we were able to use the catwalk to connect the back and the front of the arena. LEDs gave us that extra maneuvering room. It also allowed us to save. These new LEDs are just so efficient the way they use

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once and then run again, but it did so well for Fox they ran it multiple times.”

The show took off in syndication and between public TV and Fox affiliates, it runs pretty much every year. Last year, while figuring out how to stage this year’s incarnation, O’Neill says he decided to design the stage so that it looked like an old movie palace.

“The show starts with the curtains coming up and there you would see the legendary Ossie Davis who is no longer with us, but is in heaven somewhere,” O’Neill explains. “You

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

power. We used to have carry two tractor trailers of generators because a lot of the buildings couldn’t handle our electrical poles. Two years ago, the lights got so efficient we were able to drop the generators which left more room for pyro.”

O’Neill says improving the visual experience from year to year has proven to be an enormous challenge since TSO hits the road every year for an extensive tour.

“Actually, a couple of our crew members used to work for Pink Floyd

and one of them said, ‘Paul there is a reason why Pink Floyd toured like once every five years,’” he recalls. “I’m discovering why. It’s a good problem to be having, and it’s also one of the reasons why at the end of every tour we take quite a bit of the production and pretty much cut it up which forces us to have to come up with something new, something different.”

While many shows that emphasize production values charge exorbitant ticket prices, O’Neill says he strives to make a TSO ticket affordable.

“There should be no financial strain to come see this band,” he says. “With Trans-Siberian Orchestra, we agonize to keep it affordable and that’s also one of the reasons why we do matinees also. We put matinees on, and it works.

We realized besides keeping the ticket affordable you have to make it easy for people to get there, fit it into their schedules.”

In today’s world of short attention spans and overnight successes, it’s all the more remarkable that TSO has sustained its popularity during its remarkable 20-year run.

Red Fang “[We want to] keep the show interesting enough that people want to come back to see it and enjoy the story over and over again, see what’s new that we add onto it,” says O’Neill.

“The key is never to get complacent, never to forget that the people that own this band are the fans, and the minute we forget that is the minute the band starts to decline. Again, that’s true for corporations, that’s true for governments, that’s true for anyone.

Again, we just feel really, really lucky that we get make our living doing this instead of being stuck in a cubicle making widgets.”

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel

Torche

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"-- (&/3&4 t "-- 45:-&4 | clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

43

LIVEWIRE

all the live music you should see this week Photo by Ash Newell

WED

12/28

Blackberry Smoke/Whiskey Meyers: Recorded at the Quarry Recording Studio in Kennesaw, Ga., Blackberry Smoke’s new album, Like an Arrow, finds the country/rock band taking a particularly eclectic approach.

Album opener “Waiting for the Thunder” features loud guitars that make the tune verge on heavy metal. The track “Sunrise in Texas” possesses the kind of swagger that’s typical of the best Southern rock of the ’70s. Think “Free Bird” or the Marshall Tucker Band’s “Can’t You See.” Expect to hear a handful of these tunes tonight as the band returns to House of Blues. (Jeff Niesel), 8 p.m., $25 ADV, $30 DOS. House of Blues.

10 X 3 Singer Songwriter Showcase: Hosted by Brent Kirby (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m.

Brothers Lounge.

David Curtis/Old Brooklyn/ Run Thomas Run: 8 p.m., $5.

Beachland Tavern.

Joe Hunter & Friends: 7 p.m., $15. Nighttown.

Key to the Mint/Ugly Sun/Venus Flytraps/Slug Fest: 9 p.m., $6.

Grog Shop.

Sinners Are Winners: 7 p.m., $10 ADV, $13 DOS. Agora Ballroom.

Joshua Smith Quintet with Joe Lovano: 8 p.m., $20. Bop Stop.

THU

12/29

Craig Wedren: Sabbath Session/ Times10/Istvan Medgyesi: Back in the late ’80s and throughout the ’90s, indie rockers Shudder to Think emerged as one of the more interesting bands on the underground circuit. Singer Craig Wedren’s distinctive voice and the music’s atmospheric textures worked to set the group apart from other postpunk acts circulating at the time. Wedren brings his special Sabbath Session, an “ambient vocal music performance good for meditation and live dreaming.” Local musician Istvan Medgyesi will open the show, Wedren will play the middle slot and Times10 will close the night. (Niesel), 8:30

44

Eighties rockers Night Ranger return to Hard Rock Live.

See: Friday.

p.m., $7. Beachland Tavern.

Eddie Baccus Sr. & Friends: 8 p.m., $20. Nighttown.

Kane Brown/Clark Manson: 9 p.m., $25 ADV, $29 DOS. House of Blues.

Bruce in the U.S.A.: 7:30 p.m., $20 ADV, $25 DOS. Music Box Supper Club.

Chris Hatton’s Musical Circus (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m.

Brothers Lounge.

Kristine Jackson Band (in the Supper Club): 8 p.m., $7. Music Box Supper Club.

Jam Night with the Bad Boys of Blues: 9 p.m., Free. Brothers Lounge.

Jeezy: 9:30 p.m., $45-$1000. The Agora Theatre.

New Moon Rising/Essential Groove/Coupe de Grace/Bypass Circuit: 9 p.m., $8. Grog Shop.

Newski1/Kid Tested/Kill the Hippies: 9 p.m., free. Now That’s Class.

Schwartz Brothers/Tanya Kos Band: 8:30 p.m., $7. Beachland Tavern.

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

FRI

12/30

Night Ranger: When it came time to deciding where to record a live album to mark their 35th anniversary, the guys in the hard rock outfit Night Ranger decided Chicago would make the perfect place. They made the right call.

The boisterous crowd makes its presence known on the band’s new live album/DVD, 35 Years and a Night in Chicago. The group still enjoys playing the hits so expect to hear high-energy renditions of tracks such as “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me” and “Sister Christian.”

(Niesel), 8 p.m., $20-$30. Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park.

Moises Borges & Joshua Smith: 8:30 p.m., $15. Nighttown.

Bruce in the U.S.A.: $20 ADV, $25 DOS. Music Box Supper Club.

DJ Hamaradio of Rust Belt Sound System Presents: RIDIM Driven@Class: 9 p.m., free. Now That’s Class.

The Drexels/Morticia’s Chair: 9

p.m., $5. The Euclid Tavern.

Fits of Hail/Aaron Civil War & the Brave Girls/Rainy Day Saints: 9 p.m., $5. Happy Dog. Travis Haddix Blues Band (in the Supper Club): 8 p.m., $10. Music Box Supper Club.

Jimmy Jack (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge.

Jazz Heritage Orchestra: 8 p.m., $20. Bop Stop.

Kick 2016 to the Curb with Church of the Lazy Bastards/ California Speedbag: 8:30 p.m., $5. Beachland Tavern.

The Moxies/Bad Wolfe/Blank Slate/Ledges: 8 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Beachland Ballroom.

Nights/The Commonwealth/Cheap Clone: 9 p.m., $8. Grog Shop.

Nitebridge: 9:30 p.m., $5. Brothers Lounge.

Red Wanting Blue/The Trews: 7 p.m., $29.50-$69.50. House of Blues.

Significant Loss/All Dinosaurs/ ORCA/Wallcreeper/Falls Apart (in the Locker Room): 7 p.m., $5.

Mahall’s 20 Lanes.

LIVEWIRE Moss Stanley: 10:30 p.m., free.

Nighttown.

Worship This!/Stiletto/My Mouth Is The Speaker/Shitty Neighbors: 8:30 p.m., $8. Musica.

SAT

12/31

Clutch/Mariachi/The Mike Dillon Band: While Clutch’s music could be called heavy metal/hard rock, the group also draws from the blues and from progressive rock. The band’s latest album, Psychic Warfare, simply can’t be pigeonholed. A terrific collection of tunes that show a breadth of musical influences, it might be the band’s best effort yet and it serves as a testament to the band’s staying power. With woozy vocals and bluesy guitar licks, sounding like heavy renditions of ZZ Top tracks. The twangy “Doom Saloon” provides a great segue into the album’s second half, which comes off as a bit more subdued than the first half. The band’s concerts have always drawn well as the old fans keep coming back, and new fans continue to come as well. (Niesel), 7 p.m., $29.50 ADV, $35 DOS. The Agora Theatre.

Swing in the New Year with the Jazz Heritage Orchestra: A professional 17-piece not-for-profit performance/education aggregation officially in residence in the Cleveland State University Black Studies Program. the Jazz Heritage Orchestra promises to help patrons “swing in the New Year” at tonight’s special show at the Bop Stop. The price of admission includes a glass of champagne and hors d’oeuvres. (Niesel), 9 p.m., $50.

Bop Stop.

‘80s Night and Beyond with the Sunrise Jones: 9 p.m., $50. Music Box Supper Club.

Anne Cochran / Abe LaMarca & Band: 8 p.m., $30. Nighttown.

Cumulus Entertainment Presents: The Drop: 9 p.m., $25 ADV/$30 DOS. Beachland Ballroom.

Dominick Farinacci: 7:30 p.m., $40.

Nighttown.

New Year’s Eve Skateboard Jam & Show with Cruelster/Weed Whacker/Ma Halos/Fascinating: 9 p.m., $5. Now That’s Class.

New Year’s Eve with Steely Dan Tribute Band the FM Project (in the Supper Club): 9 p.m., $50.

Music Box Supper Club.

NYE Celebration featuring Fifty

Amp Fuse: 9:30 p.m., $35.

Brothers Lounge.

NYE in CLE with Bobby Booshay/ Freshy Ramone/DJ Coop/DJ Chucky/Supreme/Air Jack/King Jerm: 9 p.m., $10 ADV, $15 DOS. Grog Shop.

NYE with Tricky Dick and the Cover-Ups: 9:30 p.m. Vosh Club.

Red Wanting Blue/The Trews: 9:30 p.m., $29.50-$69.50. House of Blues.

Sounds of Jazz featuring: Nancy Redd (in the Wine Bar): 9:30 p.m., $5. Brothers Lounge.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra: 3 p.m.

Quicken Loans Arena.

Jackie Warren: 10:30 p.m., free.

Nighttown.

SUN

01/01

Bush: Keeping one foot firmly in the 1990s’ grunge-adjacent rock scene, Bush has continued to churn out new music in the ensuing years.

But tonight, during their New Year’s Day show in the inner-ring suburbs of Cleveland, it’ll be the early stuff that fans come seeking.

Sixteen Stone and Razorblade Suitcase remain important footholds in that decade’s rock canon, and their current touring reflects that. “Machinehead”!

“Comedown”! “Glycerine”! You’ll get a fine dose of nostalgia and catharsis at tonight’s show, the perfect head-clearing medicine after last night’s new year’s revelry.

Gavin Rossdale wants to help you make 2017 better than 2016. Let him. (Eric Sandy), 7:30 p.m. Hard Rock Rocksino.

New Year’s Day Jazz Brunch with Dominick Farinacci: 12 p.m., $20. Nighttown.

New Year’s Day Soul Brunch with DJs Fishtruck and Alright: 11 a.m., free. Beachland Tavern.

MON

01/02

Skatch Anderssen Orchestra: 8 p.m., $7. Brothers Lounge.

Velvet Voyage (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge.

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01/03

Two-Set Tuesday Featuring Anita Keys (in the Wine Bar): 7 p.m.

Brothers Lounge.

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene | clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

45

BAND OF THE WEEK

Photo courtesy of facebook.com/ImpendingLies

IMPENDING LIES

By Jeff Niesel MEET THE BAND: Davo Billock (vocals, guitar), James Skrtich (guitar, vocals) Jim LaMarca (bass), Chad Heck (programming, vocals), Roger Lewis (drums)

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| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

IT STARTED AS A SUPERGROUP: Originally, Skrtich started writing songs for the band in 2010. He then recruited members of heralded local hard rock acts like Scalera, Vendetta Point, Resist, Puppet, Ground Lift, Element, Rikets and D-Rail to join the band, which came together in 2011. LaMarca, formerly of local metal heroes Chimaira, joined the group last year after seeing the band perform at the Agora. “They sounded excellent,” he says when asked about the performance. “That same night, I saw these shitty young bands play in the ballroom. They jumped around a lot but they didn’t know how to put a song together, and there was no organization. They all sucked. But Impending Lies impressed me. They were really good.”

KEEPING A TRADITION ALIVE: LaMarca says he’s happy to help Impending Lies keep a Christmas tradition alive.

The band’s upcoming show at the Agora represents its fourth annual holiday show the band has hosted.

LaMarca’s former band, Chimaira, also hosted an annual Christmas bash for several years before the band split up in 2014. “For me, it’s reminiscent of the past, and it feels like good that all the years we’ve done Christmas shows have become a part of history in Cleveland,” he says. “Chimaira always had successful Christmas

shows, and I feel the same way about this band. I’m glad this band has done a Christmas show for four years and now the original singer is coming back. It’s been awesome for me to come into this band as its original singer has returned,” says LaMarca.

“I can really feel the vibe of the band.”

WHY YOU SHOULD HEAR THEM: The band recorded its most recent album, Until the Lights Burn Out, at the locally based Empire Recordings.

Not as heavy as the Deftones, the band walks the line between metal to hard rock. A song such as “In Time” features roaring guitars but balances the heaviness with melodic vocals, and the break-up song “Over Again” comes off as a power ballad on steroids. “Fall to Pieces” has a more industrial edge to it and recalls Disturbed or even Nine Inch Nails.

LaMarca says the band has a new single slated to come out in 2017.

“We’re going to just put singles out there,” he says. “There’s no point in putting a record out. We just want to work on one song and release a series of songs with videos by spring.”

WHERE YOU CAN HEAR THEM: impendinglies.com.

WHERE YOU CAN SEE THEM: Impending Lies perform with Skyosis, Day Old Hate, One Click Crazy, Throw the Stone, Soulus and Brothers at Arms at 6:15 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 30, at the Agora Ballroom.

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

47

C-NOTES

Romero Mosley and Lorine Chia

DYNAMIC DUO Clevelanders Romero Mosley and Lorine Chia collaborate on new EP WHEN WE WROTE ABOUT LOCAL producer Romero Mosley back in 2013, he had just released his terrific debut, Lucid Dreams, a mixtape of sorts that features vocal contributions from some of the city’s best R&B singers and rappers and provides jazz-influenced beats for them to sing or rap over.

Mosley recorded the album locally at White Audio, Lava Room Recordings and Clockwork Recordings but did much of the final production work at his home studio.

In the wake of that album’s release, Mosley, who originally played trumpet in middle school and then turned his attention to the drums, moved to Los Angeles, where he now lives.

Now, he and self-described songstress Lorine Chia, another Clevelander living in La La Land, have collaborated on a 6-track EP, When the Morning Comes. Mosley and Grammy-nominated trombonist J.P. Floyd produced the first single, “A Little While,” a sultry tune that shows off Chia’s soulful vocals. The song is now out on iTunes.

The EP drops on Jan. 6 on all digital streaming platforms. —Jeff Niesel

PARKVIEW NITE CLUB TO STOP HOSTING LIVE MUSIC Over the past week, Scene has picked up signals from multiple

48

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

Cleveland blues musicians that a big change was coming: Parkview Nite Club will stop hosting live music.

Recently, owner Norm Plonsky confirmed to Scene that March 29, 2017, will be the final night of music at the venerable westside blues club.

That happens to be a Wednesday, the day of the Bad Boys of Blues’ weekly jam, which has taken place at Parkview since 1996.

“I said that I was going to retire at 60, and then I said I was going to retire at 70. Well, I’ll be 71 in March, and I’m retiring,” Plonsky told Scene.

“We’re still going to maintain what we are. We’re an old bar.”

The history of this place goes back to 1898. Holding court at the northern terminus of West 58th Street, Parkview has long been a staple for the families and musicians of Detroit-Shoreway and beyond. It has that rare ability to attract loyalists of all ages and backgrounds, and Plonsky says that his son will keep that welcoming attitude alive.

But this is it for the music.

“We’re going to go out having fun,” Plonsky said of the live music calendar. He added that Parkview will publish a newsletter sometime real soon, detailing the final three months of shows. —Eric Sandy

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

49

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| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

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EARLIER THIS MONTH, WE recorded our Savage Lovecast Christmas Spectacular live at Revolution Hall in Portland, Oregon. The audience submitted questions on tiny cards before the show, which allowed questioners to remain anonymous and forced them to be succinct. More questions were submitted than my guests and I could get to, so I promised the crowd I would answer as many of their unanswered questions as I could in this week’s column. Here we go…

I’ve heard so many horror stories and seen countless X-rays online— any tips for making sure I don’t lose any objects in my ass?

You know what you never see in those X-rays? Butt plugs and other toys designed for butt play. Stick to butt plugs with flared bases, dildos with bases that look like balls, orange traffic cones, etc., and you’ll be fine.

How common is it really for women to squirt? I get conflicting reports.

This answer, courtesy of the Kinsey Institute, isn’t likely to satisfy you: “Somewhere from 10 to 54 percent of women experience some type of fluid expulsion in tandem with sexual arousal and orgasm.” Maybe the incoming Trump administration can put the scientists they’re pulling off climate change onto female ejaculation and we’ll have better numbers before the 2018 midterm elections.

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| clevescene.com | December 28, 2016 - January 3, 2017

How do I get my partner— who says he’s into it—to top me “properly,” i.e., work me into a sub space instead of him just melting into an ooey-gooey love ball?

There are lots of terrific pro doms in Portland, Oregon. Hire one who’s up for showing your partner what proper topping looks like.

Trans man and cis female, happily married, planning to get pregnant in the next five months.

How do we break it to my wife’s family? Half of them don’t know I’m trans and will be carrying, and we don’t want to lie, but also we don’t want them to see us as anything

other than just a couple.

Telling your partner’s family you’re trans isn’t going to decouple you. You’ll still be “just a couple,” it’s just that one of you is trans. Since you’re not going to be able to hide which one of you is pregnant—not in the Twitter/Instagram/Facebook era—the sooner you tell them, the sooner they’ll have their freak-outs, and the sooner they’ll return to seeing you as the couple you always were and still are.

My partner/husband of 40 years says I still embarrass him. Is this unusual?

If he says it affectionately and occasionally, it’s not a problem and it’s not unusual. If he says it to degrade/humiliate/control you, it’s a problem and it’s unacceptable.

How do white people talk to black people about Donald Trump?

Fifty-eight percent of white people voted for Trump, and 8 percent of black people voted for Trump. So yeah, maybe instead of talking to black people about Trump, white people should shut up and listen to black people instead?

“Hall passes” don’t work for many women because they can’t orgasm when having random sex once with a random guy. What alternative would you recommend?

Where is it written on your hall pass—or anyone else’s—that it can be used only with complete strangers? Nowhere, that’s where.

How do you propose a foursome with your longtime friends without freaking them out or ruining the friendship?

Not proposing the foursome is the only way to avoid potentially freaking your friends out and ruining the friendship.

How do you decide who wins an argument in a same-sex relationship?

A sudden-death round of Golden Girls trivia.

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