52 Weeks of Cleveland

I moved

2010-06-29T22:18:00.000-04:00

I thought I posted this before but I have moved.

Find me here: New 52 Weeks Page

or on Facebook: 52 on Facebook

Double Down: Brothers Lounge & Kristine Jackson

2010-06-08T21:20:00.000-04:00

So right down the street from The Chamber is conveniently Brothers Lounge. We have talked about Brothers in the past. My reviews were honest but more always on the sketchy line of "Good but could be better". I have not been in the concert hall for quite some time, and I wanted to go see Kristine Jackson for the first time (yeah embarassing huh? and I call myself a Clevelander). I can say without a doubt the sound in the hall was excellent. The service at the packed bar was quick. The patrons at the bar were very cool letting people scoot in to order a couple drinks. The Bartender Craig was awesome and fast. The crowd was respectful in listening to the band. The cover charge was $5. I think this helps weed out the folks that use it for a place to talk loud and not pay attention to the band in the front bar. You can hear the band fine out there and talk all you want and not annoy people who actually came to enjoy the show.

The patio out back is very nice. It's a nice secluded, albeit on the sterile side, area to enjoy the evening summer night, have a cocktail and a smoke. Some greenery out there would be nice. The concert hall is great with one thing I would change. The ventilation of that hall blows and not in a good way. Multimillion dollar rehab of the joint and there is not a single fan to be found. The hall is huge, and it can get very packed. The lack of airflow through the joint makes it a bit on the muggy side. So invest a few more bucks in the place and get some fans in the hall and some plants on the patio and you got something I will never be able to be able to bitch about. The Manager, John Golubic, was out there busting his ass in all three bars making sure everyone was enjoying their experience. He is like watching a choreographed well oiled machine making sure everyone is being taken care of. So, that being said Brothers, you obviously have a top notch staff, good food, nice sound system, nice decor and a great following just get some air flowing through the place.

Kristine Jackson...ah Kristine Jackson. Here's my problem in a nutshell; you hear the same name over and over again and you kind of blow it off. Ahhhhh I'll see her some other time. Well some other time finally came and I am pretty happy it did. I am also glad I saw her with the full band as it was amazing. Gs Harper on guitar, Mike Petrone on keys and (hey I never said I was a great reviewer) a really great bass player and drummer who you got me on their names. Every single person in that band brought something to the table that blended perfectly with one another. Kristine Jackson is an amazing singer and guitar player. Is she one of the best in the Cleveland area? Absolutely, and I am confident in saying that after only seeing her one time. She has this sultry, smokey voice that just absolutely sucks you in and she plays the guitar with the skill and ease of Curtis Loew (yeah go look it up for your obscure music reference of the day). Gs, is Gs. He is amazing with a powerful soulful voice and man can he play guitar. Petrone? Holy shit can he play those keyboards. I have never seen such keyboard mastery since seeing Medeski, Martin and Wood live. Yeah he is that good. At time subdued in the background other times letting loose like a madman slapping around both of his keyboards like the keys were an extension of his fingers.

If you are an idiot like me that has yet to see Kristine Jackson do yourself a favor and check her out. For that matter go see any of these guys (and gal) solo and you will be pleased. I took some kick ass pictures, and I feel like showcasing some of them so hope you enjoy the pictorial.

Kristine Jackson live @ Brothers Lounge

Double Down: The Chamber

2010-06-08T20:15:00.000-04:00

I had not been to the Chamber in years. I just got out of that whole goth scene years ago. It got to the point the music was never the same with the onslaught of crappy techno bands posing as industrial ala VNV Nation, and just plain shit music like She Wants Revenge. This ain't no Skinny Puppy, or Ministry of the 80's and 90's it all just turned into garbage overnight in my ears at least. The Phantasy used to be this incredible club when I was growing up. I saw countless bands here; Peter Murphy, Love and Rockets, Erasure, Ministry, Jane's Addiction, Jesus and Mary Chain, Thrill Kill Kult, Revolting Cocks, Dead Kennedy's, Black Flag, Public Image, 7 Seconds...put it this way, If they were alternative in the 80's they either played the upstairs with the famous boat for a small show or if they were bigger the played the Theater. And the Phantasy begat The Chamber some years later.

I don't know why exactly the Phantasy died out in popularity. It was "THE" place to be in the 80's. If it was bigger than the Phantasy the show went to The Agora. I'd like to hear that story one day honestly. Do they still have shows? Yep, they sure do. However I have yet to see a bill I would want to go to in many many moons. No offense to the club, no offense to the bands that play there, but I just think the eclectic dynamic of the club is gone. It seems like the goth thing, for the longest time there, was the only thing going on at the club. Here I go pissing off that whole industrial and goth circuit, which for the record is alive and kicking in the area though. Honestly the thing I don't like about the whole Industrial and or goth music thing is that it has never grown much from what it was in the 80's. It all sounds the same and the fact that it never went away is just another reason it will never have that retro comeback feeling for me. In order to come back into style you need to actually go away.

That being said, did I like the Chamber? God yes I did. I had a blast. The bartenders are great, the prices are reasonable, and they even have a nice patio now. It was a bit hot in there, circulation kind of sucks and for me (non-vampire) it is too dark. Those are my only bitches about the place. You have to understand people LOVE this place and have such respect for it that when they had a huge fire not too long ago the regulars were there rebuilding and cleaning up for free for weeks. I don't know any other bar in the area that would have that kind of outpouring of support. So please stop mother fucking me already. I grew up in this building through High School. I used to hang out in that very spot when it was the rehearsal hall for a little known band called Nine Inch Nails. It brings back so many great memories for me, and honestly for me it isn't so bad as a guilty pleasure here and there. So, I am sorry I was such a stranger for such a long time. I think it is a nice place for that whole entire scene to hold on to.

Personally I could see it being so much more though. Not just The Chamber though mind you. The Chamber can stay the Chamber it is what it is. It's a small dark, really dark mind you, haven for what once was me 20 years ago (I'm old shut up). But that whole building that houses what used to be 3 of the best concert venues in the Cleveland area needs to somehow make a resurgence. I don't know how they can do it, and I don't know if they can do it either. Like I said I don't know the back story of why and when it started to cease to be what it once was. All I know is there is potential still there. Parking sucks yeah, but parking sucked 20 years ago too. Get over it. I wish them all the success in the world because that complex is a piece of Cleveland history and deserves to be a viable option to see a show in the area.

Friday's alright for Polka

2010-06-08T19:30:00.000-04:00

There is no good reason to continue on about my praises for the Happy Dog. But, I will, yet again. Had some friends out for the DJ Kishka Polka Happy Hour last Friday and turned on a few new converts. The Hot Dog of choice this go around was Cheese Whiz...hold the phone because I am going to debate the Whiz. I don't want to call Bullshit here on my friends at the Happy Dog but I don't think it really is Cheese Whiz. I suspect they use Easy Cheese because of the telltale ornate ruffle pattern of the orange goo. That is cheese in a can! Imposter, reveal yourself. That all being said does it really fucking matter? Neither one is actual Cheese and they pretty much taste the same. Either way I am cool with it, your secret is safe with me . So I did "Whiz", house made ketchup, yellow mustard and Spanish Onions.

I went pretty traditional honestly plus a side of tots with the the Saffron Aioli and Oaxacan Red Chile and Chocolate Mole dipping sauces which went well with my Okocim Polish Pilsner. I have mentioned the fine beer selection they have here but they change them up here and there too which keeps things fresh. Kishka was Kishka. What more do you want from your local tavern Polka DJ? Ice Cubes and Beer, 7 versions of the Liechtensteiner, and other popular sing-a-long favorites. He keeps the crowd engaged the entire night, and even was doing a little polka himself with the ladies. I still want to get my dad out here on a Friday night to check it out. It's the timeless old world charm that is endearing to all ages here.

The reason for the review though this time was due to the exceptional service. Now mind you the service is pretty damn good all the time and that is one of the reasons I keep coming back. The bartender-server we had taking care of our crazy table, which for the record had at minimum 10 separate tabs going is the reason I wanted to add on to my Happy Dog dairy. Yeah, yeah I'm a dick I know, way too many checks going for one table. However if you knew the way my friends drink there is no way I am going on a split tab with those fucking alcoholics. Our server Nikki, never had her before as a server, treated me like I was the best and only customer in the place. She was fast, she was friendly, she was chatty and had some great ink and a smile that would knock your socks off. So just another reason I love this place so much you can add Nikki to that list and pretty much the entire staff from the Sean's on down.

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-06-02T22:04:00.001-04:00

So the long weekend was ok, more relaxing for me than a crazy booze and rib fest sort of thing. I spent some time with family because my pop is arguably one of the best cooks in Cleveland. We had brats and ribs and pasta salad. Saturday night I just headed out to Paninis in Westlake again for a couple cocktails and the UFC fight. I am not some huge UFC fan but a friend of mine is and I felt like hanging out on a patio and my friends already got a table early on in the night. The service was excellent, friendly, tall and attractive. Buckets of domestics, or 5 beers for $12 basically. To me however there is something truly wrong about the bucket. It's like a feed troff for livestock, with us being the little piggys sucking down our very own swill. To cap off the night I had an egg and cheese Panini which was as usual pretty damn good. A friend of mine had the bacon cheese fries, or "heart attack platter". It was ok, not much flavor but what do you expect. Don't ask me who won the fight, I was never really paying much attention.

Sunday night we heading over to Tremont. I wanted to check out that Revolution Brass Band at Edison's then head over to the Treehouse to see GS Harper and Michael Bay. Ok first off, Edison's, turn on the air or turn it up. When you have a band of like 8 people and a pretty packed front bar it is going to get kind of fucking hot in there. The Brass Band was good, however they started off with the same couple songs I heard last time. You might want to mix up the set list. Don't get me wrong, you guys are great at what you do, but all the talent on that floor and we get the same song to kick this off as last time? Switch it up. They seriously sound great but I wasn't about to stay in that bar with it being so damn hot. So we headed over to the Treehouse a lot sooner than we expected to.

GS Harper is a great guitar player. I never saw Michael Bay before but the guy had some sills himself. GS if a funny dude too. He is a great storyteller. His between song banter only adds to the overall package deal. He went through a good hour set of originals and covers and for the crowd he had there everyone was receptive to his choice of cuts. I highly recommend seeing GS if you get the chance he has a certain Texas twang to him that likens him to a modern day cowboy, minus the hat. There is a grittiness to his voice that brings the blues and country out in perfect harmony. He can do Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and the Stones all justice on guitar and on that mic.

The Treehouse though...oh boy you have changed a bit. Maybe when I was younger I was more tolerable of drunks, assholes and trashy people or something. I used to love coming here for excellent service, friendly bartenders, and a decent respectable crowd. There was one bartender that night who was worth a shit and covered all the above. I wasn't drinking Sunday and he was quick on my soda refills which was cool. Bars are pretty much the biggest peer pressure to drink. I feel bad for the bartenders and feel like a dick not spending money but I sometimes would rather not drink. Try it sometime kids, it's hard to say no. Something was missing that I remember back in the day when it was "the place to go". It lost that feeling of being a cool hang out.

Shortly after the first set or during the first set at the end the crowd started popping in. A very talkative crowd so much to the point you really couldn't hear GS all too good. Some 40 something year old woman and her husband-boyfriend sat next to me and freaked me out a majority of the night and that was early on. She was crawling in her own skin, you could tell she was coked out or on meth or something other than the beer she was drinking. She was always touching at herself and had the biggest case of the cocaine jitters I had seen in a bit. She was freaking me the fuck out. So I sat in my uncomfortable stool and watched the freak show so she didn't spill her beer on or knock over my camera.

An hour or so later my wife went outside while a friend smoked and I was stuck holding the two stools. In their absence in walked 6 or so of the most derelict hillbilly drunks that ever left the trailer. They looked like Cleveland circa 1990 with sleeveless tees on the guys and acid-washed short shorts on the overly tanned permed hair girls. Now they were in their late 40's so they long passed being girls. They looked like the kind of white trash you would get tailgating at a Jimmy Buffett show. They smelled like the beach and not in a good way. It was more like a combo of sweat, dead fish and dog shit. So the drinks of the wife were sitting on the bar and said hillbilly folks decided to come stand behind where we were sitting. Mind you there really wasn't any room for them. They kept edging towards the bar until they were next to the stools but not sitting in them, pushing our drinks away like no one was there. After I told them someone was sitting there they kind of backed off, but stayed within nostril range of all of us. After bumping into my wife accidentally for the 20th time I knew it was pretty much time to get going. Yet they added the last nail in the freak show coffin when one of the couples started making out a foot away from me. His hand in her jean shorts pocket, locking lips, smooching and for a lack of better description fucking with their clothes on. Just when I thought I saw everything one of the other guys in the group starts watching and rubbing up on them, touching her hair, touching on the guy a little. It was just fucking weird. It wasn't just weird, it was disgusting.

So that is my new memory of The Treehouse, and it is pretty doubtful I'll go back. I think they have some great bands and solo artists that play there but honestly there is something missing from the bar that used to make it a fun place to hang out. The cool crowd is long gone from this place and now it seems to attract the dregs of society or something. The guy bartender was awesome and gave really great service. The bar hasn't changed much in 10+ years. It still seems like it could have something to offer but from the coked out chick next to me and the fucking carny sideshow behind me I would rather hang out somewhere else. Was it a fluke? No clue, but a lot of folks told me of the demise of The Treehouse and I never believed it until now. I still see it having this great potential again but if that is the regular crowd now, fuck that. I'll go elsewhere. That is hard for me to say knowing how much I push for people to love this city. I almost didn't want to write this I feel that bad saying it, but I have to call a spade a spade here. It just wasn't a very good experience for me or anyone involved and that was mostly due to the clientele.

Sweet Basil Neapolitan Style Pizzeria

2010-05-28T21:37:00.001-04:00

Well Sweet Basil in Westlake sure made me feel stupid today. They have been in business for over 2 years, and 5 minutes away from my house but I never got around to try them in all that time. I notice them every time I drive down Canterbury Road and the Center Ridge intersection. They are going on speed dial first and foremost and will become one of my top pizza destinations in the area. I know this place does a great business because during peak times the place is packed. I am Still shaking my head as to why it took me so long to register that in my head that they make a good pie.

Today was one of those weird and wonderful days that just sort of worked out where my wife and I got out a little early from work. Why I thought Sweet Basil, you got me. The voice of reason perhaps telling me to try something new and the pile of dishes in the sink I just didn't want to get around to were a huge help. The place was quiet, well the place was dead but it was like 3 in the afternoon. The dining area is spotless, everything looks clean. The Owner, Dan Joyce, came over to take our order and we were finished out by Kathleen who many folks will remember from Danny Boys in River because she was there for years. Dan is proud of his restaurant, you can tell. He helped out us first timers by suggesting getting a half and half pizza. The one half was The Queen Margarite and the other half a more traditional sausage and pepperoni pie. We also split a house salad. One is big enough for two people easily and the house dressing is phenomenal. He also showed us how to drink our Shocktop Ales we ordered. I never knew there was a trick to them. It is a beer with instructions on the bottle. Hey figure it out yourself this is about the pizza.

The pizza took about 15-20 minutes to cook. The craftsmanship of this pizza itself was a thing of beauty. Dan was tossing the dough the old style way. This is no easy task, when I try it at home(1) it never works (2) I get holes in it, rip it, and get really pissed off. Dan on the other hand makes it look easy. So when you order a pizza here know it is being made fresh. I think fresh is the whole key in this entire review. Everything is made fresh. The sauce, the dough, the salad dressing all fresh and homemade. The pizza is thin crust. It's that New York style that everyone pretends they can make but never quite pull it off. Sweet Basil pulls it off perfectly.

The crust is still a little chewy with just the right amount of crisp to it. So many times you order a thin crust around here and it's like a cracker. That is fine and all but it's not true Neapolitan style crust. This is the pizza you see the Guidos eating in the mafia movies. You can't fold it all the way over until you get a few bites in. The slices are huge. The pizza is huge as a matter of fact and an 18 inch will cost you around $15. The toppings are generous as well with thick cut pepperoni and thinly shaved real Italian sausage. There is this incredible balance of flavors they are able to pull off by using fresh ingredients and real Romano and Mozzarella cheese. You can taste different flavors in each bite. Fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil obviously but also the fennel in the sausage and the Mozzarella they use has an incredible flavor.

We got to talk a bit to the Chef who brings it all together. The guys name is Justin and he has a true passion for what he is creating. He seems to be a very creative and talented guy. They do some great sounding sandwiches for lunch along with the basic pizza menu. There are no deep fryers, poppers, chicken fingers or ranch dipping sauce here and there really shouldn't be. There is no reason when you do pizza as well as they do. I can see this guy having a Melt-esque following down the road because the Owners really seem to give him freedom to make some unique items. It is a great thing to see local businesses like this doing well in these tough times. It is also frustrating to know there are people that still go to Domino's, Pappa Johns, and Pizza Hut when something this good and as reasonably priced is in our own backyard. If you want cheap pizza made from canned ingredients stick with the chains. If you want a unique and authentic Neapolitan style pizza you really need to check this place out.

Bar Symon Pork Fiesta

2010-05-28T20:06:00.001-04:00

I just want to do a short little photo blog from the awesome Sierra Nevada and Pork pairing at Bar Symon last Monday. I think I have said a lot about the talent of Matt Harland and of Bar Symon itself. It was an incredible meal yet again and well worth checking out. Only $50 and the beers were flowing like the Cuyahoga River, and 2.5 nonstop hours of delicious dish after dish.

Pulled Pork Sliders

Chef's Choice fine Sausage

Pork Pate and the famous Bertman's Stadium Mustard

Panzanella Salad with Braised Pork Belly

Bar Symon Chef Matthew Harland and the Sierra Nevada Beer

fellow who I completely am blanking on his name.

Neck Bone Pork Tacos with tomatillo Salsa and whipped avocado

Spicy Pork Loin with peaches, arugula and almonds

There was desert as well but I neglected to take a photo before I inhaled it. It was a warm apple and bacon crisp with thyme caramel sauce and blue cheese anglaise. The Sierra Nevada beers served were the Summerfest, Pale Ale, Kellerweis, Southern Hemisphere Harvest and Bigfoot. All excellent choices and complimentary to the delicious pork offerings.

Bar Symon itself is a treasure and welcome addition to the Avon area located on Walker Road just south of 83. They serve some of the best beers I have ever seen on tap and the micro and craft bottle collection would rival even the most well stocked bar in Cleveland. Prices are affordable for regular dinners and they have great nightly specials. The restaurant is clean and spacious. The patio is perfect with ample tables and comfortable couches and chairs to sip cocktails all night. It has a perfect mix of neighborhood bar and casual dinning. The staff is efficient and friendly and Nolan Cleary who runs the floor is a class act. He doesn't just run the show he choreographs every minor detail to make the ultimate dinning experience. As I have said before and probably will continue to say once a month the last Monday of the month is one of the best deals in town. Join me next month for the Founders Ale Feast, or just try it for yourself any day of the week.

Arturo's, Ned's Beverage and Deli & Garage Bar

2010-05-23T21:15:00.001-04:00

Friday night brought many choices with many incredible options. There was a big concert at Now That's Class featuring Cobra Verde, Uncle Scratch and more. Then there was something else but honestly I have no idea what it was now. I was tired, worn out if you will from a rough week. We decided to hit an old reliable for dinner, and went out to Arturo's in North Olmsted. I am not a stranger to "Art's". We have been going here for the better part of the last few years. The food is always good, and the atmosphere is always friendly. I have not been there in months honestly and this was my regular haunt. We didn't miss a beat since our last time out and hung out with some old familiar regular Arturo friends. These are just good, friendly people. Plus Dino was behind the bar. Dino is one of the heirs to the Arturo's throne. He's a good guy minus his strange love for the Denver Broncos.

I always go in with the intention of getting a pizza because honestly it's probably the best pie in the area. With Pizza around my side of town you have multiple options. I hit a bunch of different places depending what I am in the mood for. Quick delivery goes to Marco's, New York style Capri, authentic Italian pizza from scratch, well that's Arturo's. However I never get the fucking pizza anymore. I curse the daily specials menu because there is always something really good on there. My wife had this Steak Romano that was ridiculously good. It was pounded steak rolled, stuffed with cheese, breaded, deep fried served with a side of spaghetti. I got the cold pasta salad entree and the Cajun Popcorn Shrimp Basket with Fries. The shrimp and fries I am always a fan of. It's just true comfort food. Fried goodness. The cold pasta salad I wasn't a huge fan of. It was OK, but I know I could have done better after I tried the wife's steak, sweet Jesus was that good. The pasta salad was just a tad too seasoned for me. Next time I go though I will not deviate from getting a pizza. I miss that Arturo's pizza pie. We left incredibly full and spent the rest of the night on our respective couches watching Where the Wild Things Are.

Saturday I thought I had the memorial service for my friend Gilly, but I was off by a week. It's not until next Saturday. So all suited up we stopped in Ned's Beverage and Deli in Fairview Park. I never have been to this place but have driven past it multiple times and I was kind of hungry. Counting on the fact that every deli needs to have a signature corned beef sandwich I knew what I would be eating for lunch. The store itself isn't too bad. It has your basic staples, and a surprisingly excellent beer selection, plus they sell live bait. A corned beef sandwich there runs you $6.99 and comes with a pickle. Truly you really can't fuck up a sandwich especially something as simple as corned beef.

However, I wasn't a fan of the heating of the sandwich in the microwave bread and all. It made the rye bread a little sticky. It wasn't a deal breaker but at the same time I thought that was a little silly. The sandwich itself was a decent size but when you eat a corned beef sandwich from a deli and you live in or about the city of Cleveland you compare it to Slyman's. Slyman's is the best of the best and the measure of the greatness of any corned beef sandwich. Ned, you make a good sandwich but there really is only one Slyman's and your sandwich was about half the size of a Slyman's, and the whole microwave thing was a turn off. In a pinch sure you do a nice sandwich but when I want the Cleveland original I will make the trek down to East 31st and St. Clair for the real deal.

After some laziness around the house we geared up to get down to some rock and roll at Garage Bar on 25th in Cleveland. I am not going to lie I had not been back to Garage Bar in over two years. The last couple times I went here I absolutely hated the place. It was full of "those guys". You know the ones. The sideways visor, Ed Hardy, shirts 2 sizes too small douchebag club. It was wall to wall pretentiousness. It was a meat market with the beautiful girls with their spray on tans and noses stuck high in the air looking for Mr. Right Now. The service completely sucked. They played horrible music and it was a DJ (not Larry Szyms) selecting the finest cuts of the worst 80's shit music possible. Honestly it was everything I hate about the whole West 6th Street vibe only moved a few blocks down the road. So I never went back after my last poor experience and I want to say that was at least 2 years ago.

I am not going to say it has completely changed because some of that same element was there, but it was not so prominent. What has changed though is the service as it was nothing short of phenomenal. The bar is still the same. It's a gearheads paradise with motorcycle and automotive memorabilia adorning the walls. The beer taps are old lit up gas pumps. The beers on tap are so so at best but they have a great selection of micro, import and craft bottles as well as a nicely stocked bar. The patio is spacious but the chairs look like they are made from recycled swimming pool ladders, and they are not comfortable at all. They are more devices of torture than they are stools. The bathrooms were decent, and pretty clean but there is this grate under your feet at the urinal. Think about a puppy at the pet store. It's like a urine drain pan of sorts and that was pretty amusing-disturbing-disgusting. There is an elevated back bar area and it seemed this is where the douche crowd hung out like vultures wearing the latest Old Navy collection stalking their prey.

A funny thing has been happening to me lately and I think I might have a stalker. It is a very odd thing because a couple weeks ago at the Happy Dog and now here at the Garage Bar Kenny Crumpton was lurking in the crowd. I think Kenny is a great guy but I think he is trying to steal my thunder. Well, either that or he reads my blog and knows I am the guy that knows where the action is. Honestly I don't buy into that at all. It just is weird and worth mentioning I keep running into Kickin' it with Kenny all over the fucking city. I respect his celebrity and leave him alone but if he shows up at another bar we are going to have to have a talk about boundaries. No one really bugs the guy though. He seems like such an animated guy on Fox in the Morning you would think he would be the center of attention. I have seen other Cleveland "celebrities" out and about and a lot of them are complete assholes. Kenny seems pretty approachable and chill.

There had to be a damn good reason to get me back to the Garage Bar after my couple year hiatus, ban or whatever you want to call it and that was the rock and roll bands. My friends, those Jones, from Scoliosis Jones were headlining a 3 band bill. The first band was actually all the way from Long Beach California. Nice SoCal punk rock 3 piece called Adams Dagger. They played about a 40 minute set of nonstop 3 chord punk rock and hardcore. It reminded of of bands like 7 Seconds, Social D and Agent Orange. There really is no mistaking that SoCal sound and they had it down pretty good. The 2nd band was a 4 piece from Toledo called Homeward Bound. They were pretty good. I just couldn't figure out the sound. Hardcore? Rockabilly? It was hard to pinpoint. I also don't think they were very into playing up here for whatever reason. The crowd was pretty sparse in the bar so that might have been part of it. It was just a nice patio kind of night.

Scoliosis Jones took the stage pretty late in the night. Honestly lost track of time watching the bands and hanging out. They put on a really good set of PBR fueled rockabilly. I think I ripped into them pretty hard after the Spitfire show, and I was just being honest. This was like seeing a completely different band from that night. The new drummer AC Jones had the time to gel with them much better. You would think he was with them from the get go. Heidi Sue was absolutely on with her vocals and so was Ty. He was seriously up there manhandling his bass, riding it, spinning it around, and slapping the shit out of it in general. Tox was on with the guitar licks and pulled out the slide for a couple cuts that sounded great. I always thought he had some talent up there but there were actually moments of guitar genius on the stage that night. I was so impressed I got him a shot of Jim Beam Black to end the night right.

Scoliosis Jones was a different band last night. They sounded well rehearsed. They dropped the chip off their shoulder they had at the Spitfire and just had a good fucking time entertaining the crowd with some good old rock and roll music. They brought quite the crowd with them last night as people were dancing on the floor and the front of the house was pretty packed. They are going to be playing next Friday with the Jim Rose Circus, and Lords of the Highway at the Cleveland Burlesque Fest International at Now That's Class which should prove to be very entertaining. If this was a warm up for what they are bringing next Friday it is a show not to miss as that is one hell of a line up.

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo & Sokolowski's University Inn

2010-05-20T22:30:00.001-04:00

So, woke up early this morning to an unexpected day off which was honestly very nice after a long week of, as Chuck Barris would say "more stuff". All is good, no worries. We headed out to one of our favorite Cleveland landmarks; The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. I have been coming to the zoo longer than I can even remember. The zoo has been an affordable option for Cleveland residents since the 1800's. However, I have only been coming since the 70's as a kid. I remember back in the day when you could feed the animals. We would stop off at the Wonder Bread outlet store and pick up countless loaves of the stuff to throw to the lions, tigers, bears and monkeys. This was way before the days when animals were on silly restricted healthy diets. I am not 100% certain when the change took place but I think it is funny to look back and think holy shit what were we thinking? It probably saved on the food bills for the zoo but I am guessing the animals had shorter lifespans and were fat as fuck.

I remember the times of the Zoo Key which at the time was high tech gadgetry. They sounded like a busted Taco Bell Drive-thru, and spouted little snippets and factoids about the animals that were probably bullshit like "The Polar Bears love eating stale Wonder Bread". I don't know or remember because we never had the coveted Zoo Key, we obviously spent too much money on Wonder Bread to get a key. I knew the zoo layout like the palm of my hand as a kid. To this day my favorite animals are still in their same spots. The zoo itself has changed over time including multimillion dollar projects including the Rainforest and the Elephant Crossing which is being built now. The zoo itself is always being updated in one way or another. I still want to know what happened to the old monkeys on Monkey Island though. I think some weird fringe conspiracy shit went down there, but then again I am nuts.

The mission today? Go see the lonely Polar Bear. There is nothing sadder in life than a lonely bear. I think the bears name is Aurora if I am not mistaken but the poor thing just lays around most of the day with no interaction except from the folks that come to visit. It is kind of sad to see. So hey Zoo..go get another Polar Bear dammit. Steal one of the ones at Erie or something. While we were in the Northern Trek we checked out the various other bears, and the sea lions who were very active except for one guy who looked hilarious sleeping in the sun. You had to take the Zoo Tram to get to the Trek due to the bridge they have been building for what seems like 20 years above that general area. That was fine by me because that hill totally sucks anyhow. It was quiet and we were the first tram up to the Trek so it was nice to have the place to ourselves for a bit.

Next stop was over to the Dinosaurs! exhibit. No, I am not yelling it is "!" Dinosaurs. Honestly these guys are pretty cool. They scared the bejesus out of some of the kids, as they should, and others loved them. They even had a couple of them that spit out water if you are so inclined to be spat on by a dinosaur this is the place for you. They are completely interactive with lifelike movement and dino-growls. I love this new little exhibit however I think it's bullshit people are more into the fake animals than the real thing. I think it is really there to make up for the crowd pleasing Elephants since they are in Columbus waiting for their new home. The new Elephant crossing looks amazing for the record and I can't wait to see the grand opening. The Zoo is an amazing place for all ages to enjoy. It's an affordable option for something fun to do all day. You can tackle the zoo in one day or make a weekend of it checking out the main zoo one day and the Rainforest another. Either way you do it, it is a Cleveland treasure.

On the way home we decided to hit Sokolowski's University Inn for lunch. I have been here many times but this is the first time this year. It is a popular place for lunch because it is cheap, affordable and pretty amazing. It is a cafeteria style eatery; grab a tray and go on down the line. Salads and deserts are first, then the soda fountain then comes the entrees. I had to grab a rice pudding first off which was excellent. I saw they had Vernors Ginger Ale on the fountain which I had to get. Where do you ever see that? For lunch I had the Salisbury Steak with beefy mushroom and onion gravy (phenomenal), mashed potatoes (so-so), and potato pancakes (awesome). The Salisbury Steak is more like a mini-meatloaf smothered in a wonderful rich thick beef gravy. I get it every time and will never deviate from that menu option. I will change side dishes here and there because they have some of the most amazing pierogies around.

The portions are enormous and you won't ever leave hungry. The one thing I have never figured out is the drink thing. The fountain pop thing is in the middle of the line making it impossible to jump back in for a refill. So I don't know if you can even get refills because you would be going against the lunch rush tide in order to get a refill. I never asked to be honest but I was super thirsty as I drank my Vernors way too fast. So my drink to lunch ratio was all out of whack which was bothersome. So here's the deal, as I tell the Cleveland institution that is almost 100 years old how to do business, get bigger cups or figure out a way to make it easier to get a refill. It is irritating. Other than that I love you. You are a long standing Cleveland tradition serving up good old fashioned homestyle ethnic eats. I think every one in Cleveland needs to eat here once in their life. It should be a right of passage to be able to call yourself a citizen of the city.

Wayne "The Train" Hancock @ The Beachland Tavern

2010-05-20T20:44:00.000-04:00

When Wayne "The Train" Hancock comes to town you know you are in for a great show. Not only a great show but a really long one at that. Wayne rolled into town last night to The Beachland Tavern. As much as I could try to muster folks to come up to the show I didn't get much buy in. Kind of like the whole polka DJ Kishka thing at the Happy Dog or some raspy voiced singer named Ryan Bingham who just won an Academy Award with some guy name T-Bone Burnett for a song from Crazy Heart. If you don't get it, you either never will or you are going to catch on too late. One thing I truly do appreciate about the Beachland is their support from artists like Wayne Hancock. They have such an eclectic mix of music that plays the tavern and ballroom sides. For as big of a country town as Cleveland is (I think WGAR is always up there in the ratings or at least they used to be) they sure as hell don't have many "country" shows outside the the major label acts that come to Blossom. The Beachland has tons of Alt & Outlaw country artists coming in the next few months. By tons I mean Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Blackberry Smoke, Old 97's, The Sadies, The Waco Brothers and countless others. They also really look out for local artists in that genre with the multi-band Barn Dances and throwing bands like The Not So Good Old Boys, Heelsplitter, and Misery Jackals, an opening spot when they can.

So Wayne the who? Wayne is old time country. He makes no bones about his feelings on some of the stuff that passes for country music these days. Call him a throwback or whatever you want but the guy has the soul of Hank Williams in his voice. He is the kind of guy that could write a song in a matter of minutes, and the songs he writes you would think they came from the early days of Sun Records. He takes the best of the swing days of country throws in a little Hank Williams, mixes in a little surf guitar and the lyrical prowess of Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson or Johnny Cash. He is a gifted and talented songwriter to say the least.

He rolled into town as a three piece and played well over 2 hours of nonstop originals, country classics and standards. His backing band consisted of Shane Kiel on the upright bass and Matt Thomas on the electric guitar. Shane Kiel comes from The Two Timin' Four and is no stranger to the Hancock's music. He plays the bass like an old pro and could go toe to toe with Lee Rocker in skills and tattoos. Thomas is a Austin native and his guitar chops are amazing. His guitar sound is unique being a combo of surf-Hawaiian, country and juke joint jive. There was a point when a piece of the guys guitar fell off. Sure obviously nothing too important as he continued playing. Not only didn't he miss a lick, he didn't even notice until Wayne pointed it out to him as it lay on the floor of the stage. Both are incredibly talented players and you can tell they love sharing the stage with Wayne.

The banter between songs was comical, the songs sounded incredible and the packed in crowd loved every minute of it. The sound was dead on and the audience was respectful throughout despite the NASCAR look of them. They were hardy drinkers that's for sure and honestly a very diverse crowd of real hardcore Hancock fans. I tend to get creeped out when I am out of my element however I have come to learn I no longer have an element. It is just a great thing to see real fans coming out to see a true roots country show. The next time Mr. Train comes rolling into town you really should hit it up. You won't be disappointed at all if you truly love the roots of country music. Hell even if all you know is that ass clown Toby Keith or think Carrie Underwood is real country you would enjoy seeing this cat live. He is a yodelin', guitar strummin', country croonin' real McCoy.

Playing Catch Up...Cleveland Police Auction, Mi Pueblo, Urban Exploration, Cranky's

2010-05-20T19:17:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday, beautiful weather to go out and hang out all over the city. I heard about the Cleveland Police auction so I got up early to check it out. Can I tell you I had to take the most fucked up detour to get down to this thing since the bridge was out? You normally would get down to West 3rd without an issue by hooking a left before the Carnegie Bridge. Well, the bridge down that desolate industrial parkway is closed for repairs. I had to take a 20 minute detour just to get down there. I was "mother fucking" the whole way down there, and got lost twice. The detour signs SUCKED. When I got there I found out it was cash only. It is doubtful I would have bought anything, but still I was willing to write a check. I mean seriously who would give a bad check to the cops?

The auction consisted of various junk, and a lot of it. Broken lawnmowers, old computers, cameras, TV's, tools and bikes. It was like a hillbilly garage sale for the most part. I am sure some folks got some good deals, but it is total buyer beware. You have no idea where this stuff came from, did it work, did it work well or is some drug dealer taking down your license plate number to come back and get his shit back. The building itself is very nondescript. I probably drove past it countless times not even knowing what it was. Now I know never to mess with breaking in there at the very least.

So as that was a bust I drove around the post industrial wasteland of the city and over to the flats. There are tons of great places to take pictures if you are into the urban exploration sort of thing. However the area was crawling with cops for whatever reason. Without a lookout I was kind of limited to what I was able to pull off. I have mentioned this in the past but some of my photo shoots are not necessarily 100% legal from a trespassing point of view. I have been run off by cops in the past but from a safety perspective I don't like going into this buildings alone as you never know who or what you might run into inside of some of this creepy abandoned buildings. For the most part I stuck to the main drags, railroad tracks and various bridges which are all in abundance in that area.

After a couple hours cruising the desolate ruins of the once vibrant Flats area I had enough and headed over to pick up dinner for later in the night from Mi Pueblo. As far as Mexican dining goes the restaurant is one of the best options in the Cleveland area. The grocery store attached is wonderful for grabbing some takeout, fresh meats, guacamole and various other Mexican favorites. They have wonderful to go tamales, pork or chicken at basically a buck a piece. Well worth the $12 for the dozen. The chicken ones are good but the pork are out of this world. I picked up some seasoned skirt steak that awaits becoming a soup one of these days in my freezer. Aside from the food they sell various other items including cds. So I went through the cd rack, looking for the guys that looked the best in their coordinated suits and picked that one up. No idea who they were, still couldn't tell you the name for them. It is a wonderful cd though, don't get me wrong. I just don't speak Spanish in the least.

So after eating way too many tamales we headed over to Visible Voice Books over in Tremont to shoot the shit with the guys there and look for some reading material. Visible Voice is a great local independent book shop. It's small, they have a patio, and the serve wine. I think that is something the chains can't offer. They offer new releases, a section of used and a great local section. It honestly is a great little pitstop or a lazy afternoon kind of place to hang out. It's pretty quiet there but it really has a charm to it that makes it a hidden treasure in the area. The house next door to it? Well, that is another story completely. Let's just say it kind of adds to the fun of the shop. They are harmless but well I don't know what else to say about it. Just go check it out for yourself.

We headed over to Cranky's Manatee, the former Matinee over on 25th to check out Afternoon Naps, Very Truly Yours, and Trouble Books. Honestly I knew the Afternoon Naps, the others I had no clue. The night started off with Akron's Trouble Books who were just a nice ambient kind of shoegazer indie rock 4 piece. I really enjoyed their sound. It was ust really different. Hard to explain really, but worth checking out. One thing I would have liked to see was a bit more harmonizing on the vocals from them. They sounded great singing alone but when it came to backing vocals for each other it sounded a bit off. Was it supposed to sound that way? No idea, so no offense if that is what you are going for. I still really enjoyed the sound of these guys and gals overall.

Next up was the 5 piece Very Truly Yours out of Chicago. I dug these guys in that Yo La Tengo kind of way. Just nice subdued indie rock. By the time these cats were done the place was packed so for the most part we just listened to Afternoon Naps out on the patio. It was a nice night for patio drinking. A little chilly and the patio is so-so at this joint but we made due with what we had. Cranky's isn't a bad little place honestly. They have some old school video games to play, but they seem to have way too many shitty beers for my liking. There were some decent choices too but tall boys of cheap crap were the crowd favorite. They could stand a few more liquor choices too. I think you really need to cater to the crowd and their crowd appears to like large volumes of cheap beer. They serve some sandwiches and wraps which I did not witness myself.

The bar itself looks very nice, ample seating, long bar and a damn good bartender, who I suspect is the owner as well. One guy being able to handle a packed house is a huge plus in my book. Sound system had some hiccups, but I am sure that will work itself out in time. They have a small area with a pool table, however it was blocked off with gear cases from the bands. It was a Saturday, I know, but the 10:30 start on a 3 band bill was a little late for my liking. One big "watch out" though. Watch out for the first step going in. It is poorly lit at the entrance and had I not looked I probably would have fallen on my ass. A big plus is the parking. They have their own lot which provides a lot of space. They have a patio bar now that was not open when I was there. Like many of the bars in the area there is that "funk" smell about it that will hit you in the nostrils from time to time especially in the downstairs bathrooms. Honestly I hope this place does well as I think they are doing a lot of good for the local music scene. It is new, there are some kinks to work out but I think they are moving in the right direction.

Brothers Lounge

2010-05-16T18:33:00.001-04:00

Well it was a long quiet week for me here due to the passing of my old friend Gilly. So in that I kind of lost my voice for a bit there more or less. However early in the week we headed over to The Brothers Lounge over on Detroit in Cleveland. A long time mastermind of Cleveland Bar Management took over the joint by the name of John Golubic. John has been the man behind quite a few successful restaurants and bars. He has a knack for thinking outside of the box and his promotion style is unique. He has run the Ironwood Cafe in its heyday, took over the Sunset Grille and turned it into the Summer yacht rock party mecca and now he is over at Brothers to work similar magic.

I had issues with Brothers previously for a couple of reasons. The first is the whole parking thing which there is pretty much nothing you can do about. It is not their fault the place is jumping on the weekends. The second was the whole bar over the band thing. The bands I thought were second to the crowd. No one was really there to listen to the bands they were more there to drink and talk. So at times I would get annoyed a bit. On a personal level I'd like to see them open it up to more than the blues thing too which they seem to have been doing but get out of that cover band mode. I guess you need to cater to the crowd though and to get bodies in the door most folks want to see something like a Journey cover band over some of the folks that play at the Beachland, Grog or Happy Dog. However a once a month Cleveland showcase would be nice.

Tuesday is sushi night and they do sushi pretty damn good. We had the Cajun Blues Sliders as well which were awesome. Little mini-burgers cooked to order with blue cheese and some spice. So how is a Blues bars sushi? It was actually pretty decent. The shrimp tempura ones were the best of the bunch, simple, and full of flavor. Tempura battered shrimp, avocado and masago. The dynamite roll was pretty good too with spicy tuna, salmon and avocado. The Brothers roll was just kind of meh however the biggest of the rolls and the most expensive clocking in at $8.00 (the others are quite a deal at $5). It was crab, wasabi, mayo, lettuce, avocado and cucumber. The crab tasted off kind of gamey. It could have been canned or it might have been fresh shredded, no idea but it the crab overpowered any of the other flavors. Presentation was what you would expect at a sushi joint. It all looked amazing. They have an extensive beer list and a decent happy hour. The service as well was spot on, exceptional, knowledgeable and friendly.

To even say Brothers Lounge conjures up fears to folks who have not been in years. It used to be a dump. I mean a huge dump. As in junkies, and whores dump. I used to play darts there years ago when I was in a league with friends and there was always something questionable going on there. Well, the remodel they did on it was amazing. The only thing that is the same is the name. However while not the white glove Disneyland of the House of Blues it is very clean. At times too clean especially for those of us who have been to the old Brothers. I don't know how to explain this because it is stupid but it's almost too sterile. It's like the scene in Slap Shot when they start smacking the bus with sledgehammers to make it look mean. I want something in there to look rock and roll however a lot of it comes over as Applebees. So, if being too clean is a bad thing they lose, but I am probably 1 in 5,000 who would even think that so what do I know? I just like my music clubs to have a little bit of grit to them. However, Golubic + good food + excellent service + solid entertainment = ???. We shall see in the upcoming months how Johnny G makes things happen. I have faith things are going to at the very least get interesting at Brothers.

Rick "Gilly" Gilmour RIP old friend

2010-05-12T20:22:00.002-04:00

He was known as Newsradio WTAM 1100’s “Media Darling.”

Former talk show host Rick Gilmour has passed away at the age of 48 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Gilmour, known to listeners as “Gilly”, was born on May 30, 1961. Gilly graduated from Fairview Park High School in 1979.

Rick worked in radio at college station WCSB, 1300 AM-WERE and here at WTAM 1100 from August '97 to 2004.

He was hired by program director Ray Davis after the resignation of Morton Downey Jr.

Rick Gilmour is survived by his mother, Irene.

Gilly was a friend of mine. When I first heard the news over a year ago that he was sick I was kind of shocked. I saw him only a week or two before at one of the local watering holes over here in North Olmsted. We were drinking cheap beers, smoking way too many cigarettes and trying to have a game of Scrabble, but kept getting interrupted by the lack of attention span of my friend Elliott or something. I don't recall 100%. It's honestly the last time I saw him in all of his vibrancy.

Gilly was one of the smartest people I ever met. He knew everything about cars you ever needed to know and saved me multiple screwings by less than scrupulous mechanics around town. To say he knew cars is an understatement. However Gilly wasn't just some dumb grease monkey he was incredibly smart to the point of being gifted. He had genius wit and timing. He knew what to say, and when to say it just at the right time to make everyone bust out laughing. I remember nights out in Fairview Park drinking it up at the Cleveland Motel Lounge or Gunselmen's just shooting the shit until the wee hours of the morning.

I remember the now famous time going to the white trash filled (now defunct) Cleveland Motel Lounge. I walked up to the bar, sat next to Gilly, ordered whatever was "cheap, cold and easy" as Gilly would say, walked over to the jukebox and played Michael Jackson's "Black or White" 12 times in a row. No one noticed until about the 3rd time but after that it was like all hell broke loose. Gilly tried to convince them it was a different song after the first go around but the slack jawed yokels at the bar weren't buying it when it came on the 5th time. Needless to say I was kicked out for a bit after that, but I was probably back there the next week throwing darts, playing Sinatra and drinking and smoking with Gilly.

I remember being down in Tremont the night his cohort in crime Gary died. I was at Hotz partying with friends when what seemed to be every police car in Cleveland zoomed passed heading towards Professor. I thought something bad happened and man was I ever right. As the way Gilly told me he turned his back for one second from his friend Gary only to turn back a split second later to see Gary more or less swallow a bullet at his own hands. Gary suffered with depression for years. He was a shy kind of guy. I always enjoyed being out with him quite honestly. Outside of the shyness I didn't see someone that would take his own life. It is hard to even get me to go into Edison's anymore after that. I have been there since but I just can't be comfortable there anymore.

Anyhow, Gary, I miss you too, but Gilly, Jesus man. The one guy who always seemed larger than life to me wasn't supposed to die of cancer. Especially not brain cancer. He was legendary. He was this college radio jackass funnyman that somehow made it into the hearts and homes of 10's of thousands of people that listened to him on the AM radio dial. He was funny, smart, witty and humble. He was gifted and talented and a good friend. The kind of guy where months would pass by and we would pick up just right where we left off. He was kind to others but still had a sarcastic wit to him that would crack me up every time.

When I heard the news today he died I lost it. I wasn't there at all. It was the entire shock of hearing the news. Gilly wasn't supposed to die. I was worthless from 11AM this morning until...well honestly until I talked to our buddy in common Mark from WCSB. Death sucks because of the fact you keep thinking of the person gone. Nope, I'll never see Gilly again, but I have some great memories of my friend because honestly there are no bad ones. We never got in a fight, never got pissed at each other. We complimented each other when we were out and about. We played off each other like a old vaudeville comedy team. I worked in blue while he was the G-rated straight man. I'm rambling now but all I want to really say is Rick "Gilly" Gilmour you will be missed by many but to the ones who you were close to you are never going to be forgotten.

Jack Fords "The Way Things Should Be"

2010-05-09T13:34:00.003-04:00

I've been on that whole Jack Fords kick for the last few moths first seeing them at the former Town Fryer earlier in the year playing for a handful of folks at a benefit show. I saw them a couple times now but last night was unreal. There is much to be said about a band that can play a 2 and a half hour set nonstop. Honestly, there's not because no one really does it anymore. Well, the Jack Fords do, but outside of that you are lucky to get an hour or so out of most of the shows I have been to. National acts hardly do an hour and a half with an encore yet the Fords can go all night. Cleveland is on the cusp of greatness with having some of the most hard working bands in the Nation. There is more talent playing out any given night around town than any buzz city around. Seattle in the 90's? Fuck 'em. Boise Idaho today? Fuck you too. Why Cleveland is so under the radar bugs the piss out of me.

You can't say we don't support our local bands here. We do, but we get overlooked for whatever reason on a national level. Hearing and seeing bands like The Jack Fords, Hot Rails, Sweet Apple, Whiskey Daredevils, Scoliosis Jones, Heelsplitter, Misery Jackals, Lou Reeds, Cobra Verde, or anyone on the Exit Stencil label for that matter proves Cleveland is rock and roll to the core. Venues out there thrive on this music scene and make a home for many of these folks to play and sell their stuff. Well, I should say the Independent venues in Cleveland really embrace this entire thing we got going on right now. I say that because of the fact alone based on last night this show with pretty minimal advertising was packed. Packed as in getting to the bathroom was as much of a journey as getting off a Japanese subway car at rush hour. Packed as in, hey House of Blues why are you still plugging cover and tribute bands when you could have had this show downtown in the heart of downtown Cleveland last night? I guess I'll never get them. I have noticed a lot of their cover band bullshit is gone, but I still get bitter if only because of the simple fact I have to pay a $1.00 toll to wash my hands after taking a leak. It is piss extortion.

Anyhow the venue choice for the release of the Jack Fords "The Way Things Should Be" was a place I am no stranger to, The Happy Dog. I think it was a great choice. The blue collar old school Cleveland feel made me remember exactly why it is one of my favorite places to visit. It defines Cleveland. It has the old world charm of Cleveland when taverns were the place the working men and women of would unwind after a hard week at the factory. It takes me back to my late 80's early 90's Cleveland where people craved something new and different. This is where I saw little bands like Nine Inch Nails at the Phantasy or national acts like like Nirvana would come to the old Empire downtown. It's clean enough to make me comfortable but gritty enough to keep me sucked in. The food, well we talked about this before the hot dogs are incredible. The beer selection is ridiculous, and the staff is 100% top notch friendly. Even with some 50 year old woman sticking her tongue in my ear and grabbing my ass I was able to order cocktails with minimal effort and much ease. I am left a little scarred from it, but it just makes me a stronger person. God love the women of this world that have the unique gene that causes them to have a Kevin James fetish.

The crowd...oh the crowd. Cleveland I love you but we are a rough and tumble bunch of weird mother fuckers are we not? You had your hipsters, scenesters, old timers, and normal folk. It was diverse to say the least. A little 52 Weeks of Cleveland etiquette though for ya'll. People sitting at tables got that privilege by coming in early so standing in the way of said sitting folks is pretty much an asshole move. If you worked out in the yard all day go take a shower or at least give yourself the once over with the Speedstick. My table is actually not the place your empty beer bottle goes. What you do is this. You return it to the bar where they will throw it away for you and they will allow you to purchase another one. It's a great system. Now the biggest faux pas of all was the ass in the face thing. Outside of maybe the gay community (no offense LGBT) an ass in the face is actually not cool to a lot of people. I do not want your ass or your crotch in my face neither does my wife. Start being more mindful of your ass or crotch to face proximity. I would say a good foot is a perfect starting point for that. I know it is crowded but that is just kind of rude. Just be mindful of the ass to face rule and the world will be a better place. Ok, on to the show.

The warm up was great Chris Allen acoustic with Tom Prebish on bass. Chris and Tom both play across the city in many different bands and I have seen them a few times in many of these bands. They also appear on the "The Way Things Should Be" cd so it was fitting for them to start it off. It's a different kind of thing seeing that live acoustic with the electric bass. They ran through about a 45 minute tight set. It was a great little combo to start off the night. Allen is an incredibly talented songwriter and musician. Prebish owns the bass plan and simple just like his playing style. He doesn't jump around or rock it out like Gene Simmons he just hangs out and adds his craft to the already great song styling of Allen. The crowd was into it and it honestly was like this perfect mellow pairing to compliment the rock and roll that was about to come.

After a short set The Jack Fords came to the stage. The band itself is animated by a couple of things, the first being Bobby Latina on guitar. He has a rock and roll swagger to him that takes from some of the greatest showmen in the game. It's not just the way he plays that guitar which is flawless rock and rock but it's the way he owns the fucking stage. His facial expressions lead you to believe that he is working as hard at making that thing sound good as John Henry did digging his tunnel. He is serious but you can still tells he is just up there having a good old time as he scans the crowd and gives you that little nod as if to say I see you out there, I am doing this for you. He'll joke with other band members and no matter how I attempt to throw him off his game he will still crack up like Jimmy Fallon in a Will Ferrell skit but not miss a note. He might miss a chance at the backing vocals but he won't miss a lick on that guitar.

The other folks in the band are equally as tight. Ed Sotelo is the bassist and Jim Wall on drums. First off something has got to be said about the complete annihilation of the drum kit. I can't walk for 2 and a half hours yet Walls can play that kit with unparalleled intensity for a complete set. He doesn't just play his drums he owns them. He plays them with such vigor if there wasn't a mic hooked to them you would still hear them down the street. He doesn't go easy and gives his all on every song. Sotelo is a machine. He is not a stand in place kind of guy. He is always moving around the stage, albeit the stage is small, but he still needs to be constantly on the go up there. He slaps that thing around like a former playboy model in a trailer park by an abusive husband. To put it mildly his bass is his bitch. There are moments where he loves and respects it but for the most part he is a rock and roll bass player that wants to make the floors shake from the sheer power of his tool.

Brent Kirby is the center of attention with this part of him not knowing why all this attention is being given to him. He is a humble rock and roll front man along the lines of a Jeff Tweedy. He is there to entertain the masses yet at the same time doesn't realize what he is doing is as good as it is. He is unassuming up there and honestly just having fun. He is the real deal entertainer. It could be for 10 people at some dump on a Tuesday night or the packed house at the Happy Dog last night. It doesn't matter to him. He is up there as a performer and never once have I ever heard him say shit about a show with a small turn out. Small room or large he is up there doing what he loves. He is proud of his work and still getting comfortable in his own skin writing real lyrics about the heartland of Cleveland. He writes blue collar rock and roll songs for a blue collar town and introspective ballads about his life that we all can relate to.

On his solo release he was a little more subdued. With the release of "The Way Things Should Be" some help of a slew of incredibly gifted musicians, Bobby Latina and Eric "Mother Fucking Roscoe" Ambel (ok so embellished his nickname a bit but come on the guy is a legend) it is no holds barred Cleveland rock and roll. If Wilco, The Stones, ZZ Top and The Who fucked this record could have been the outcome. It is a lot of rock and roll mixed with a southern twang roots Americana thing. The cd starts with the track "Cutting Blow" which is just this epic balls out rock song with serious props being paid to southern rockers like ZZ Top. It is bluesy without being too over the top like a bad George Thorogood song. You could put this one on repeat and crank it a few times before heading on to the next track but when you do get there it's a Matthew Sweet infused pop tune called "Old Habits Die Hard". Just enough rock to keep it flowing until the third track "Cover's Blown" that really accents Kirby's vocal chops.

The next cut "Who Do You Trust" takes me into the Stones reference. Subdued in the back is Chris Hanna with some honky tonk key work. It's reminds me of a slowed down Mooney Suzuki cut. There is this polished garage sound to it to make it poppy enough to be radio friendly but dirty enough to keep the White Stripes crowd in check. Next up is the album title track "The Way Things Should Be" which follows in the same vein as the last cut only a little more polish to it. Next up is the balladesque "Brightest Star". Slowing it down a bit not a true "ballad" really but more of a Neil Young kind of slow down. "Bent Out of Shape" we kind of pick up the pace a bit and showcase the rock again only to set it up for the real stripped down "Together We Rise" which could have easily been on a Ryan Adams record. Saying well that's enough of the slow stuff we get back into full tilt boogie with "Done You Right" leading into Who-esque rock and roll guitar in "Smoke 'N' Spirits". It has this Cheap Trick meets The Who thing going on to it with guitar solos and everything. Just when you think it is over it almost is. They throw in a nice slow one called "All Over Now" and end it rocking out the way it started with "Last Call Whistle".

To say it is a great record is an understatement. You can tell just how much effort went into this thing. It's great to see someone like Roscoe producing the record too. The guy just knows exactly how to mix in the right elements to showcase all the talent that is contained in the disc. There are standout tracks, yet there are no throw away cuts or easily skipped tracks. It all flows together into an incredible body of work. It amazes me this is self published. You have incredible talent in Kirby, Latina and the backing band, an amazing producer yet no label backing. Sure it is not easy to get a record deal these days, but fucking-a man it is a excellent record! All I have to say has been said before on the Jack Fords if you have yet to see them stop waiting get out there and check them out. As far as just straight forward rock and roll goes between them and like the Whiskey Daredevils and Hot Rails Cleveland actually does have more than a handful of rock and roll saviors and they are one of the best ones around.

Friday Night Kishka & The Greenville

2010-05-09T08:58:00.001-04:00

Friday coming soon...I just want to get the Jack Fords taken care of first.

My lovely City of Westlake

2010-05-04T18:25:00.002-04:00

Fed up with the fact I need to replace my mailbox once if not twice a year I sent this wonderful email to multiple members of the City of Westlake including my council rep who has never once gotten back to me. The only person that has is Dan Glauner and he was a pretty decent guy minus the fact he couldn't do much to help me out.

Hello all,

After exhausting multiple people to try to speak with on my issue I thought I would send this mass email to everyone I could think of that might be able to help. I have been a resident of Westlake for 8 years with the last 5 being at (insert address here). In that time I have replaced 6 mailboxes due to people whipping around (Street) and (Road) at excessive speeds. Multiple cars have ended up in my ditch or the neighbors ditch as well.

I came home yet again to a shattered wood post mailbox. My mail floating in the ditch, skid marks on the road in front of my house, the lawn torn up by the ditch and of course no contact information from the person that hit the mailbox. No accident was reported to the Police, of course, and I am left here to again replace yet another mailbox post and dig out the 50 pounds of concrete that secured it in place.

First off times are tight. I do not have the money to hire someone to come out and do this again for me, for the 6th time. The problem is this is a very dangerous intersection yet no one there seems to believe me. Imagine myself or my wife out there getting the mail when this happened? We would be dead. Never have I once witnessed one police car to monitor speeds and traffic around my house or the intersection even after multiple cars being pulled out of the ditch and 6 mailboxes being destroyed. The only thing I can even think to do is put cinder blocks on the tree lawn and look like complete hillbilly's. Of course if I did that guess who would get sued for damages? Yeah, me as the homeowner.

These incidents alone tell me the small stretch of road in front of my house is a hazard. I am just wondering if someone actually has to die before anything is actually done because it sounds like that is the only way anything is going to done here. Guardrails, signs, filling in the ditch completely would remedy this I would imagine yet any time I suggest it it's not the problem of the city. Never mind the road in front of my house has sections of the road that dip right into the soil and ditch itself. I already had that battle and lost it last year. Even though you can visibly see the indentations in the roadway where it is eroding into the ditch the Engineer says, nope nothing is wrong here. I welcome you to come on over and cut the grass out there and see how much fun that is. I am not an Engineer at all so I don't know about grading and road maintenance. What I do know is I am livid at the fact that nothing is ever done or it can be done however I would have to pay for it out of my own pocket.

I do not have the extra income to replace the mailbox at this time. I have replaced six of them already to the tune of about $600 in total. Am I just supposed to build this into my cost of living when some careless and reckless driver does this once or more a season? I don't think I should as a tax payer in this city. I would appreciate someone coming out and looking at it and even fixing it if possible this time because I am absolutely fed up with it. It is not my problem anymore. I feel it is the problem of the city of Westlake. I don't ask for much of the city besides my safety and the safety of my family. I think allowing this to go on for 5 years without putting up warning signs, guardrails or other safety measures including Police involvement is a blatant disregard of that safety. I have no intention of fixing the mailbox this time around. If it hangs by duct tape and becomes an eyesore as well I am done. The city has known about this problem going on 5 years now. Nothing is being done about it, obviously no one cares about it so why should I at this point?

Sincerely,

Jason

Mr. Peabody's Night Out

2010-05-03T19:38:00.001-04:00

So Saturday was the little get together. It was a decent amount of folks that showed up, enough to party and not enough to be annoying. The beers were cracking open left and right, the Cavs game was on, the shots were flowing and everyone was getting ready for the karaoke! Actually no one was really getting ready for karaoke, that's a lie. A handful of us troopers managed to get up there and rock the mic. Right after the Cavs turned that game around the crowd was fixated on the televisions that ran the length of the bar for the last quarter. We all went nuts in the winning seconds of the game. You would have thought we won the championship that night.

Ahhh Mr. Peabody's, located on Pearl Road just north of Brookpark and the 480 overpass. The sign beckons you in from a distance. The logo looks like the outcome of a romantic encounter if Mr. Peanut and the Pringles guy got it on. It's a nice sized tavern with pool tables, tons of those video crack machines and ample seating. They serve your standard wing and burger bar food of which I was told was actually pretty good. Parking isn't the greatest. There is a small lot and the rest is street parking. The clientele is pretty blue collar with no real targeted age range. The bar stools were actually very comfortable. The tables however had the most uncomfortable chairs known to mankind. They were like something out of a medieval torture dining set with straight backs that crushed your spin. The decor is NASCAR and Cleveland sports with hard wood accents. The bathroom worth mentioning here smells horrible. It seriously smells like the old elephant building at the Cleveland Zoo. Blame it on old pipes or something but it fucking stinks. It was clean and everything but sweet Jesus man air freshener by the gallon wouldn't help here. I thought Anthony Sowell used this as a dump site it smelled that bad.

Overall though it is a decent working mans bar. It's like something you would find in the Tremont or Ohio City area only in the middle of next to nothing. The prices are pretty good; domestic bottles were only $2.50. The taps are in need of a cleaning or the kegs need to be switched because there was zero carbonation and a funky taste to the Amber Bock I tried. There were quite a few folks here for the karaoke and as with all karaoke there were some pro's and some absolute garbage. Leroy Jones from Scoliosis Jones and myself both took a couple turns up there after some liquid courage. We even belted out a little duet of David Allan Coe's famous "You Never Even Call Me By My Name" to cap off the night. Let me tell you it was something to see and hear. You wouldn't know that I had a set of pipes on me but yeah I actually do. I can sing just can't play no damn guitar or nothing crazy like that.

The little mixer thing was great though. We had folks from all walks of life from Fringe & Foundation studio Owner and Stylist Allison Bates, to Heidi Sue and Leroy Jones from the aforementioned Scoliosis Jones. We had Professors to sales folks to normal blue collar working folks shoulder to shoulder having a good old time cheering on the Cavs, talking about Cleveland and enjoying a few cold ones. It's a decent little shot and beer joint. Don't expect any premium craft microbrews here, but you can drink on the cheap here and have a good time. Service was hit or miss however they had probably 20 more people than they would on any given Saturday night so the hit or miss service at times I wouldn't think would be a normal occurrence. I can see myself coming back to Mr. Peabody's honestly. It was something different, off the beaten path and outside of the norm. It's not my normal sort of night out but as a one off getting away from the mainstream of things yeah it's definitely an option.

The Woods + Bela Dubby

2010-05-02T19:20:00.001-04:00

I wanted to break out "The Deck" I picked up from The Cleveland Independents however I didn't really want to drive far from the 52 Weeks Batcave nor did I really want to drive too far. I flipped through my deck and found a coupon for The Woods over in Rocky River. I have not been to The Woods in years honestly. I am not sure why honestly. It's decent, moderately priced Italian food. I remember The Woods from years ago. My mom actually used to work here in the 70's when I was really young. Back then it was Domincs Pizza, a little dumpy pizza shop. It really has come a long way since it's early days. Dominics had 2 locations, the one where The Woods stands today and now what is Cleats on Dover and Detroit in Westlake. I have great memories of both places as a kid. I think part of the reason I am a bigger guy is because my mom used to smell like pizza. But that's really for me and a therapist to work out one day.

The Woods is a nice little Italian eatery. The decor is rustic, part bar, part pizza joint. The layout is odd with three dinning areas, and the parking lot can be challenging due to the narrow driveway. There is nothing really earth shattering or ground breaking on the menu. It is your standard Italian menu. Pizzas, pasta, burgers and your normal Italian basics. We started with the calamari. It looked great, with green, red and cherry peppers. The breading was light with a nice flavor. Unfortunately the texture was not consistent. Some pieces were a little on the "chewy" side. Not like rubbery, but still a bit tough. For our meal we both had The Sicilian Trio; Eggplant Parm, Lasagna, and choice of Veal or Chicken Parm. We both opted for the veal which was a bad call. The veal itself was tough and actually difficult to cut through with the butter knife. The Lasagna and eggplant were both wonderful though. Overall I thought it was a satisfying meal. It did its job, it was very filling but I have had better. I was just a bit disappointed by the two things every Italian joint should be doing flawlessly.

Onward and upward. Later in the evening I met up with my buddy John up at Mi Pueblo. I obviously couldn't eat anything from the giant meal I just hit up at The Woods. It felt good just sitting around and bullshitting about Cleveland, the music scene and my future plans to take over the city while sipping a Pacifico. It was pretty quiet but when the jukebox came on holy shit was it loud. After an hour watching my friend eat some amazing tacos we headed over to Bela Dubby over on Madison in Lakewood. Bela Dubby is a nice artsy coffee shop/bar. They have an excellent beer selection, a very friendly hmmmm what is she a Bartender or Barista...no matter she was very cool. The vibe of the place is very Soho chic. Local artists works adorn the walls and folks sit around sipping beer, coffee or tea while conversing or playing some scrabble. It was perfect for what I was looking for in a chill kind of Friday night.

A couple bands were playing that night. The first was a two piece band with drums, keys and guitar that very much reminded me of something along the lines of Explosions in the Sky meets The Evens. Just a very low-fi band with a real cool shoe gaze quality to their music. Both members of the band; Katherine Mikita and Nick Gregg did a lot of double duty playing drums. Gregg primary behind the kit or guitar and Mikita on Keys and vocals. They call themselves Sexy Pig Divas and hail from Kent. It was just a really interesting experimental indie low-fi thing for me at least. It's just the kind of band you can really get sucked into. Mesmerizing kind of like a "Dry the Rain" Beta Band head bobbing kind of stuff.

Next up was Xela and the Uncanny. Keys, drums, bass, guitar and Xela singing. Apparently this cat is pretty well know in the area. He does open mic nights all over the city. It's nice to wake up and see someone like him and this band. Blues, indie rock? I don't know what you call it. They had a great sound that was pretty much all over the board. Nice funk, rock and a little bit of everything in between. He is a pretty amazing guitar player honestly and his vocals would rival Jeff Buckley. To say Xela is a talented singer and songwriter would be an understatement. They played a nice hour long set that got a couple folks dancing at least. The entire band was incredibly talented as well. It was a nice way to cap off a pretty damn good night overall. I recommend Bela Dubby pretty highly for a nice night of something different. It's just a really cool place to kind of zone out and just hang. The Woods, yeah I would recommend them, but I don't know maybe stay clear of the veal or something.

Karaoke, Cavs Party at Mr. Peabody's Pub

2010-04-29T22:09:00.001-04:00

It's been 17 weeks I have been doing this thing. It has been one hell of a ride thus far honestly. I have been to multiple venues, restaurants and have seen a fair share of the local Cleveland talent out there. I imagine in this time I have drank upwards of 150 beers and or shots in that time. I have had some incredible food and have seen some great bands. I got picked up by The Cleveland Independent to write some shit for them too and that was a great thing too. I have met countless people who follow the blog or really dig what I do. I put this small little dent in the independent Cleveland community and people are taking notice. I have been contacted for a Cleveland Magazine article. I have pissed off some bands, but I have made some great contacts and friends as well who are musicians, Bar owners, booking folks, artists, restaurant people and just fans of Cleveland.

I have this blog thing where I pretty much tell everyone who wants to know where I will be any given weekend night yet I still get asked what are you doing this weekend. That honestly is pretty fucking annoying. I do this for a reason. It is so people will actually read the Godforsaken thing. It just screams to me. Hey Jason...I seriously don't read your blog. I have alienated people a bit doing this thing but for everyone I have alienated I replaced with more interesting people in my life. Some of my old friends dig what I am doing, some have this hidden animosity towards it, others don't get it, others are possibly jealous of it somewhat. Why, I have no idea. I just want to go out there and have some fun.

My cohort in crime, Mrs. 52 Weeks of Cleveland, stopped asking "is anyone coming out?" about a month ago because after countless disappointments, no shows, and hearing shit like he'll only go to things he plans, so I said fuck it. I'm just going out to have fun. You want to come along for the ride please feel free. You want to check out some great bands, and new bars? Let's go I am down. So I have turned folks on to people like DJ Kishka, Scoliosis Jones, Whiskey Daredevils, Schwartz Brothers, Heelsplitter, Jack Fords. Or to bars like the Beachland, Prosperity, Bar Symon, Smedley's and the Happy Dog. I make mistakes. I make them all the time but thus far for 2010 me and this wonderful city are batting 1000. I have yet to be out anywhere and shake my head and say wow that was stupid, or man that sucked. If Cleveland were a racetrack I would be hanging in the winners circle because it seems like I have picked nonstop winners for the last 17 weeks of doing this.

The one thing I do love about this city is the fact there is such an eclectic mix of things to do. Polka , Rock-n-Roll , great food , great beers , good value , Americana , Bluegrass , Art , Theater . It's all there guys. The shopping list is pretty much covered kids. I can find anything I am looking for within that famous "20 minutes" of wherever I might be. I support anyone and every place I go. I even support the bands I might have been somewhat critical on. You are out there doing it. You are the scene and making this entire ride of mine possible. I respect you like you would not believe. I want people to go out and check out the local independent bands, bars, clubs, restaurants and businesses. If I didn't want you to succeed I wouldn't be trying stuff like this Guerrilla Barfare thing I got going on Saturday.

Yeah, Saturday night I picked this random bar in the city of Cleveland. It's on the outskirts of town. It is never packed and I want to load the place for just that one night. I want them to make some cash and show them that yes indeed the people of Cleveland actually do give a shit and they can come together to give you a night to remember. I picked Mr. Peabody's over at 4967 Pearl Road. I have no ties to them. I have no hidden agenda other than to make their night. The rub? As great of an idea I hear this is I can't get people to go. Maybe I am lacking the street cred or something or maybe people are afraid of karaoke. I know there are folks playing in bands that night that can't make it out. That is understandable. I know the Cavs are playing that night too but what does it matter what flat screen TV you are watching it on that night? Frankly I will be glad if they turn the sound down at the bar for the karaoke. The commentators are either sound like idiots or assholes. All they do is piss me off most of the time. Who knows maybe they won't start until after the game.

So the thing is this. I stopped having party like things after my disastrous birthday party last year when I hired on the talents of a couple local bands to play Now That's Class and only a handful of people showed up. Then I tried again for New Years and again that was lackluster. I loved the folks that came out, but at the same time you ask 100 and you get 10. It's a horrible ratio. There are a small handful of folks that come out to a lot of the stuff I do. I appreciate them for that. It's always a good time. However it seems the more important it is to me the more people show their apathy. I'm not trying to change the world or feed starving kids here. I am not trying to torture people either yet you would think I was asking for an organ donation. Hey guys I want you to come out and have a good time and share in this incredible thing I got going here. Stop acting like I am trying to pull your teeth out while I punch you in the balls. It just bugs me is all that people are afraid to try something out of the norm. If it sucks, you fucking leave. It really is just that simple. 17 weeks I have been doing this, not once have I said it sucks and left. Well...almost if you don't count that horrible U2 and Elton John bullshit at the House of Blues. It's not about the bar, or band. It is about the company you keep while you are there. That being said I hope to see you out Saturday so I can feel like a rock star this time around and make this Peabody cat some cash.

Edison's, good beer, so-so pizza and Revolutionary jazz

2010-04-28T20:52:00.000-04:00

Yeah this one is going to be short. I honestly didn't stay very long. I stayed long enough for a couple beers, a slice of pie and about 5 songs. Edison's used to be the hip hang out years ago when the Tremont area was just starting to make a name for itself. It has stood its ground serving up a great beer selection without ever changing much. Local artists work lines the walls of the narrow corridor-esque back dining area. Not very good artwork this time around mind you. Reproductions of old vintage postcard blown up selling for $295 is not really art to me kids. I'll just buy new postcards at Hopkins 5 for a buck. The asking price on them makes me want to frame my stuff for a show and give people a bargain. There is a pool table in the back with minimal room to really shoot but still gets a bit of action and a patio out back that is comfortable during the warm spring and summer months.

I have been reluctant to head back over to Edison's because an old school friend blew his brains out in the bar a few years back. So honestly getting me to Edison's under normal circumstances would have been a difficult task. Enter, John Kuegeler and the Revolution Brass Band. John is an old ghost of mine from high school past. A really good friend from back in the day as a matter of fact. He tipped me off to his band after coming out to the Nomo show a couple weeks back. There are 8 folks in the band. They have horns and drums and that's all they need. They cover it all from the New Orleans sound to reggae to plain old funky traditional swing. They are "Cleveland's newest experimental second-line, afrobeat, new jack swing, free-range, certified organic, fully-operational shape-shifting brass band." Given the fact I still get a little creeped out by Edison's, and I had been going nonstop for 3 days all I could really muster was like an hour. It wasn't that they were bad or anything. I thought they were great and aside from the jackass that yelled out for them to play Slayer I would love to see them in larger venue anywhere but Edison's.

Here's the rub on the Edison's overall experience though and why seeing bands there annoys me a bit. The bands play in the front room which comfortably seats next to no one or like 20 people tops. Doesn't matter if there is a 3 piece, 8 piece or 20 piece band in there if you have to take a leak you are actually a part of the band. The stairs going to the bathroom more or less share the stage with the entertainment. However they have been making due with it for many years the exact same way and usually have a decent crowd. The beer selection is incredible. They have quite a lot of craft brews there. The food comes from next door, and I think it is a separate thing but still it is called Edison's Pizza Kitchen. If I was hammered I think I would have liked the pizza more. It's semi-New York style, thinner crust but way too much sauce on it. Plus a slice is $2.50. I think it is a bit much. The slices aren't like a giant movie style fold over piece you see the Mafia folks eating at the corner pie store. 6 or 8 of them would make a large pie, more like 8 I am thinking. So you are looking at a $15-$20 pizza here when you do the math that isn't anything to sing about. Summary: Great band, great beer, questionable art, so-so pizza, and a weird bathroom situation.

Scoliosis Jones at the Spitfire 4.24.10

2010-04-28T19:59:00.003-04:00

Ahhh Spitfire with your glorious cage you beckon me in once again to see some rock and roll. The place itself was pretty damn crowded on Saturday night for this show. It is always great to see that many people coming out especially in the shitty cold weather and rain we had all day. It was so packed it was hard to really move around too well with the camera, however I did get some great shots. Drummer shots unfortunately for the Jones band were eclipse by that giant bass. The Spitfire added a little something-something in an upgrade since I was last there. Since the vantage point is blocked by the giant beer cooler and some stupid supporting beam (who needs that right?) they put in a camera that hooked to the flat screens they have at the bar. This baby is pointed right at the stage House of Blues style. So, you can actually see the show without getting doused in beer like some slutty chick in a wet t-shirt contest or won't have to duck from the occasional angry mosh pit elbow in the gut. Nice little added touch Spitfire, well fucking played.

So, I got to say this first and foremost. The opening act the Hellbound Grifters had a lot of support in the crowd. A lot of hooting and hollering done by family members doesn't mean you got it down to a science just yet. I will say this last time I saw them they had no PA and were playing straight from amps, and they didn't have a bass player either. The sound from that show was night and day. You could tell they had done some work since then to polish up for this show. If I am not mistaken this was their first real gig. I could be 100% wrong but let's just go with that. I get what they are doing, and they are having a shit load of fun up there. But...you knew that was coming. The guitar was really out of tune and they were all off a bit at times. It just wasn't 100% gelling for me at times. What they lacked in that blended sound they made up for in enthusiasm for what they were there to accomplish, which was rocking that fucking place out. I don't think the Spit has monitors so part of it could have been not hearing the mix right. I am not sold on them yet but I think in time they could have their shit together.

The Randy Rhodes guitar however I think needs to go. If you are ballsy enough to play that fucking thing you need that shit tuned up right from note 1. I think Vince has the swagger to pull that off but looks ain't shit if you can't deliver on it. The vocals were decent, and as much of a fan everyone else was of the Johnny Cash cover I just wasn't into it. Jake, the Bass player was actually keeping up pretty well and the drummer Levi was pretty good on his kit. So you ask did I like it? I sure am criticizing the fuck out of these guys honestly, but with practice and a few more gigs under their belts they are going to turn out alright in time. Just don't rush it, tune the guitar off the bat and bring what you brought to the table Saturday only slow it down. The adrenaline rush of the packed house had a lot to do with them being somewhat off. I'd like to see these cats again in like 3 months time. I have no doubt that they actually do have the swagger to rule that stage. Hints of some good stuff were in there Saturday night they just need some practice to put it all together.

Scoliosis Jones, with a new drummer mind you were also a little bit off. Nothing to do with the drummer. I thought he did a fine ass job. Did I dig the show? Abso-fucking-lutely. However the between song banter sounded canned a bit, but the rock was still there at the very least. I think Singer-Bassist Ty might have been hopped up on 'roids because there was a rage thing going on with him. At times he came off almost too serious. The first time I saw these cats they were laughing and having a good time. I didn't think the hillbilly drummer added anything to the mix in the old line up so with him out I was actually kind of pleased. A.C. Jones looked like trucker Elvis, it was a great look with those shades. For not being with them for too long I would have sworn he was with them for years. But like I said there was some element of the "just having fun playing some rock and roll music for some fans" was lacking. It lost some spontaneity from the last show. It was a bit stiff is what I am getting at here.

I think the Spitfire has a decent enough sound system but without floor monitors and being used to hearing the mix would throw anyone off. I think it threw both bands off enough to take them off their game a bit. I think a lot can be said though for the musical ability up there in the Jones family. Ty knows how to manhandle that bass, Heidi Sue has some decent pipes and Leroy knows how to play that guitar like a champion. I mean really knows how to play it too. Watching him in the moment on stage you can tell he is 100% focused on that thing. So while the openers were too relaxed I think Scoliosis Jones just wasn't relaxed enough at times. Lesson to learn kids? Just have fun on stage. The people that come to see you want to be entertained. Just get up there, play some rock and roll music and have fucking fun. Lose the ego, but keep the swagger. I would rather see a tight band, having a good time up there than the shtick any given night of the week.

In other news there was this fucking guy. I understand he goes by the name Drunkin' Art from Stibbs over at Smedley's. Well maybe he doesn't go exactly by that. He probably just goes by Art. So apparently he gets around if he is known miles away at Kamm's Corner. At first I thought he was the father of one of the kids playing in the Hellbound Grifters because he started yelling at the Drummer like a pissed off T-Ball dad would if his kid didn't hit the ball hard enough. As a matter of fact he was talking nonstop shit to pretty much anyone that would give him the time of day. I wasn't even drinking and I wanted to pop the loud mouth in the face. There is just something about a belligerent drunk acting like an asshole that can spoil an evening for everyone. Beyond the heckling the guy was smashed to the point he walked like he shit his pants. I really didn't see him actually drinking so I assume they might have cut the guy off, and if they didn't they should consider it. Coming from a life working behind the bar a lifetime ago and DJ not so long ago I know what people like that can do to a bar. It's funny for like a minute then it gets old real quick. Other than that I had a pretty decent time Saturday at the Spitfire and I still don't like the cage.

Cleveland Independents Deck

2010-04-24T13:29:00.000-04:00

I just want to hip everyone to the folks running Cleveland Independents. I seriously could go on and on for what they are doing for the local area food scene however they have done quite a good job of it on their own site. What I will say is "The Deck" is one of the best values around for people who support local area independent restaurants. The Deck itself is loaded with 52 different $10 gift certificates (coupons) for a ton of ridiculously incredible local hot spots. The deck is essentially a deck of playing cards neatly packaged that you can carry around in the car, your purse or pocket. So for $29.95 you get $520 in discounts to your favorite local restaurants making it much easier to nudge you into trying out that place you heard about from your friends, local area blogger or media source.

Directly taken from their website Cleveland Independents:

Imagine being able to save $10 at 52 of your favorite, locally-owned Cleveland Independents restaurants. Each card in The Deck features a $10 special offer from some of Northeast Ohio’s favorite restaurants. No wonder The Deck is ideal for corporate gift-giving or for anyone who loves to explore the area’s many diverse, local flavors.

Each card features an informative description of the restaurant as well as its special offer
Each card is a $10 Gift Certificate at the restaurant it describes
Each card includes the restaurant’s location and phone number.
Each card is easy to redeem. Present it to your server. It’s that simple!

Terms and Conditions:

Card valid for one use unless restaurant specifies otherwise
Valid only when used in conjunction with the purchase of one entrée
Limit one card per party
Cards are not accepted on any major holidays including Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve
Cards may not be used in conjunction with any other offer including Cleveland Independents’ Gift Certificates
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The Wayback Machine

2010-04-24T12:46:00.001-04:00

So a friend of mine was playing out last night and an old friend since I was 5 years old had the itch to go out with the wife. Wonderful lovely people. The suggestion came out to head down to the Cadillac Ranch. My friends wife likes to go out and dance and whatnot. Me, not so much of a dancer. As a matter of fact one of the last times I recall even dancing was at The Chamber and that at least 10 years ago. And you know what happened that night? Well honestly I don't remember much either, however I do remember dancing with some random girl and then out of nowhere just like in the movies my head snaps back a little after someone sucker punched me in the face. I pretty much laughed it off because it really didn't hurt but it was something out of a dream sequence. All I remember was shaking it off, laughing a little thinking holy shit I just got jacked in the face. I soon spotted the little goth fucker running away out the door to make an escape.

I haven't been back to the Chamber since to my knowledge that wasn't under duress or force, and I didn't go to the Cadillac Ranch either if you are still guessing. Baby steps might get me to the Cadillac Ranch. I just don't think I am ready for bull riding, bad music and overpriced cocktails. I just am not a big Friday night person for whatever the reason, but I wanted to have an early night, a little music and hanging with friends. Back in the day when I was the average age of the clientele of the bar we chose I would hit up Fagan's, The Basement, various bars in the Flats and any one of the bars in the Lakewood area. I went to a lot of great places when I was in my 20's. I used to love the Lift, 9 of Clubs-Alter House, Metropolis, Smart Bar pretty much all the hip wannabe hip clubs with doormen and trendsetters. So to think back and reflect on it I was probably "that guy" back then. Now I am that old guy or something. Last night I decided to get nostalgic and went to one of the dumps I used to frequent; Around the Corner in Lakewood.

Well it's not really a dump anymore. The patio is huge, they expanded the thing into a warehouse space in the back, they have a party room off to another side but the main room looks very much the same minus the rickety chairs and tables. By the same I mean it still has that rustic looking ugly green wall paper and looks like a Yacht Rock bar. I never really did ever like to come here to be quite honest when I was younger and I really don't have much intention of going back there as a hey I really want to go to Around the Corner kind of night. The tree still grows on the outskirts of the patio which I always thought was silly but now I appreciated it as the sole standing reminder of the place I remember.

The servers were great, I believe ours was named Vanessa and she was attentive and as sweet as pie. Same with all of the bar staff I came into contact with. Service is great. The bar is comfortable and the band was great. It was Chris Allen and Brent Kirby doing their acoustic kind of thing. Two incredibly talented musicians up there on stage. No one was really paying much attention to them though fortunately for folks that wanted to do so. There were very few people in what once was a packed to capacity room 20 years ago. I only saw Chris a couple of times jump on stage at a couple other shows but he is a very talented songwriter. I actually heard him unknowingly on NPR when they were doing a special on The Ohio City Singers Christmas CD. This cat has worked with folks like Don Dixon and Mitch Easter. To put that in layman's terms these are the guys behind some of the best records by bands like REM, Counting Crows, and Pavement. Tonight he worked with Brent Kirby blending together a great Americana set including originals from both of their many releases and covering everyone from Springsteen to Uncle Tupelo.

So where is the problem? Seems like I had a decent night, right? Staying in the main original barroom was fine it was anywhere outside that general area I took issue in. Not because it of the bar itself it was more of a people thing for me. Old man Jason just wasn't hip to hanging with the much younger crowd. The last time I saw that many Ed Hardy T's was in the TJ Maxx clearance bin. The Baby Gap sized shirts on these cats was disturbing to me. The girls weren't much better and there really is something to be said for some sense of modesty. It wasn't everyone in the bar but apparently the hip fashion trend for most is looking like that Situation dago and Snooki from the Jersey Shore, which for the record I only watched once, but was well enough for me to understand it. Most of the people were orange in hue from the fake baking and just had a presence that shouted "Yes, I am a douchebag". The girls...ah the girls. Yeah lots of cute girls but the titty popping low cut stuff on some of you was a bit much even for me. The super short skirts that leave nothing to the imagination I think could have been worn by strippers at The Lido. Again...old man 52 Weeks of Cleveland just found some of the folks a tad over the top.

The bathroom...ah yes the bathroom. There are a couple of them. The one in the basement is disgusting. There was piss all over the floor and it is a giant 3 urinal stainless steel troff thing. It is a hideous metal beast that splashes urine all over the fucking place. Someone did the honors of puking all over it on one end early on in the night and as the night went on it was never cleaned up. Beyond the puke it was still disgusting with piss all over the floor. Just seriously pay better attention to the cleanliness as every so often you might just have a grown adult at your bar in the evening. So the bathroom is strike 2, the people were strike 1, strike 3 for me was the fact they serve everything, minus bottled beer out of plastic cups. Seriously Around the Corner folks I am not at some frat party and as an adult I am not coming to your bar to drink in a plastic fucking cup. I was drinking Tequila rocks, lime. It does not belong in a plastic cup. For that matter neither does a pint of Guinness. Fuck it...none of it belongs in a plastic cup.

Add to the fact I kind of wanted to watch some of the Tribe game they either don't have Fox Sports Ohio there or they couldn't find it on TV either way that was kind of silly. To end the night off the Bouncer comes through the bar like a deranged maniac with a bull horn shoeing people out like cattle. Really? You seriously need a bull horn? I so wanted to shove that thing straight up the guys ass. Around the Corner is like this training camp for the people who aren't quite ready to take their douchebaggery to the West 6th Street level. I imagined the Pink Floyd meat grinder from the wall just churning out preprocessed popped collar, orange hued, cleavage popping, 3 sizes too small shirted guys and girls getting them ready to send them out to West 6th. Do what you are doing Around the Corner, you obviously are making some coin and have a lot of fans. The place was pretty crowded most of the night. However, probably not going to get me back in there any time soon.

Beachland Barn Dance

2010-04-18T22:24:00.001-04:00

The Beachland has put a lot of time and effort really trying to grow the local Independent Folk-Americana scene. They have been booking more and more of underground National acts as well in the genre. Some completely country and some more of that New Grass sound. If you check the upcoming acts they have on the concert board right now it is pretty damn impressive. You have country music legend Wanda Jackson coming May 13th. The chick is in her 70's and still rocking it out. Shelby Lynne coming May 5th, Wayne "The Train" Hancock May 19th, Yonder Mountain String Band June 9th, and the an all star line up with Cracker, Horton Heat and Splitlip Rayfield May 16th. The list of Alt-Country artists coming to the Beachland in the upcoming couple months is amazing.

Personally I am pretty excited for all these shows just because bands like these rarely used to come to the area. The closest you could get to country would be the major players that came out to Blossom. Number one it's not the same thing. There is a huge difference between the mainstream large venue acts and the ones that play the Beachland. For years I have been seeing bands like Old 97's, Charlie Louvin, Shooter Jennings and countless others here. These are bands that have a very dedicated fan base here in the Cleveland area. It just took a venue like the Beachland to seriously take a huge risk to try getting them here to play Cleveland. People travel from miles around the area just to get a chance to see some of these folks. But not only is the Beachland promoting the Outlaw and Alt-country acts they are fostering a growing scene in the area of local acts that played Friday night at the 2nd Beachland Barn Dance.

The first Barn Dance was such a huge success it was a no brainer to book a 2nd similar show. As far as value goes presale tickets were $5.00 and the door was $7.00. So for less than a buck a band you get an entire night of entertainment. The Barn Dance is more of the whole New Grass genre. This is old-timey country music that ran the gambit from traditional Appalachian bluegrass folk stylings of One Dollar Hat, Too Far Gone and the Timberwolves to a more hardcore Bluegrass sound of Hoots and Hellmouth and Heelsplitter. Also on the bill was a band of younger guys from Hiram Ohio the Hiram Rapids Stumblers. Now I am not saying the other Ohio bands aren't great but The Hiram Rapids Stumblers show the most promise of really being a driving force in this country revival in Cleveland.

The Stumblers are a group of younger dudes and honestly I don't think they have any idea exactly how good they are. I am pretty sure they know they are good, but seriously they have no idea they are "that" good, as in you could tour with a national act good. As you all know me and names...well, I just am not good with them but you got Lester - Fiddle, Banjo, Vocals, Scottie - Guitar, Vocals, Dusty - Upright Bass, Vocals, Jesse - Guitjo, Vocals, Handsome Bruce - Mandolin, Jay - Slide Guitars, Banjo. They really handle their instruments with more skill than their youth might lead you to believe. They have a great professional sound but one thing I would like to see is more of the eye contact while playing in that circle. It's kind of like at times they are just playing solo with a bunch of other guys around them. So less looking at the instruments and more focus on each other. I think it's just polish at this point for them because they still sound incredible. All the vocals were pretty damn good, and instrumentation was pretty close to flawless. Throw in an accordion in this thing and I would be all set.

It was kind of a double headliner thing with Hoots and Hellmouth and Heelsplitter. Both bands step away from the more traditional bluegrass sound. Bluegrass on amphetamines maybe? The first up was Hoots, a 4-piece outfit for Philly PA. They run the gambit from soulful country ballads to high energy foot stomping countrified anthems. When I say stomping I literally mean it. They play on these mini stage boards that are mic'ed up and have tambourines attached to them that they stomp on to create a backing beat for most of their songs. They put on a longer set than the opening bands clocking in at just over maybe 45 minutes. Frontman duties are pretty evenly split between Sean Hoots and Andrew "Hellmouth" Gray. Hoots looks like the live version of a young Kris Kringle from the old Christmas special A Year Without a Santa Claus. He is highly animated on stage dancing a gyrating like he is possessed by the soul of the music that comes out of his mouth and guitar. "Hellmouth" Gray is more subdued but is quite the balladeer himself. Rounding off the band were Rob Berliner on mandolin and vocals and John Branigan on the bass.

Heelsplitter ended the night with a high energy set. The Splitters are a multi-instrumentalist 4 piece from Cleveland consisting of Baggins - Banjo, Dr. Hoople - Guitar, Klaus - Mandolin and Kicker - Guitar. All share duties with vocals and slapping around on a homemade one stringed weed wacker monstrosity of a bass aptly named Frankenbass. They started out on the stage and ended up doing an all acoustic final couple songs on the Ballroom floor. Heelsplitter is probably the hardest working band of the line up playing shows pretty frequently in the Cleveland area. You can find them all over town from The Beachland, to Parnell's or even an occasional stint at Now That's Class.

It was a great time and pretty decent draw for the Beachland and I am hoping it takes off and becomes a regular thing. They even had an MC for the evening in Miss Firecracker who entertained the crowd between the sets on her own little personal stage on the floor. Miss Firecracker sings overtly sexually charged sing-a-longs with themes from pickles to pussy. No kidding kids and the crowd loves singing along about her pussy cat. Part singer songwriter and part comedienne she is an absolute blast to check out. So the next time you see the Barn Dance coming back to the Beachland y'all come on down and set a spell. You will have a good old time and it is very easy on the wallet.

Brent Kirby & The Shapeshifters + bonus New Soft Shoe

2010-04-17T13:41:00.003-04:00

I was late on this whole Jack Fords thing. The first time I got to see or hear Brent Kirby or any of his many projects was one of my first stops on my 52 Weeks tour at the now defunct Town Fryer for a benefit concert. I was amazed at the song craftsmanship seeing this cat play solo. Throw him in front of the Jack Fords and you have pure rock and roll with this hint of an Alt-Country Wilco thing hiding in the background. Just when you thought they would get more twangy they got more rock. The talent in the Jack Fords alone is ridiculous to say the least.

Fast forward a couple weeks later and I check Brent do a solo show again at Brothers lounge. He was doing quite a lot of the material that would end up on his new CD Last Song on the Soundtrack. Just a guy and his guitar. Turn the clock ahead to Thursday April 9th and I had to check out his project he is playing in called The New Soft Shoe; a Gram Parsons tribute band. To say I was blown away would be an understatement. Tribute bands in Cleveland are all over the place. For the most part they are all pretty cliche, and 90% of them are metal. I have even seen a Santana cover band out there which I don't 100% get but that really has nothing to do with where I am heading here. The Gram Parsons legacy is legendary. Without him it is doubtful you would have the country twang of some the Stones records, you wouldn't have Emmylou, and Nudie suits never would have happened.

There are certain things in life you probably shouldn't fuck with. Live rattlesnakes, red headed girls with crazy eyes and trying to cover Gram Parsons, The Byrds, and The Flying Burrito Brothers come to mind. Not only does The New Soft Shoe pull it off they also do it with respect and true homage to the man himself. We aren't talking greatest hits material here. We are talking about the entire Gram Parsons library. They don't just do it well these guys absolutely 100% nail it. I did my homework this time folks. The band consists of Brent Kirby on guitar and vocals, Al Moss on Pedal Steel from Hillbilly Idol, Jon Niefeld on drums from such bands as The Rembrandts (yeah the Friends theme folks), Tom Prebish on bass from Bar Flies and Boys From County Hell, and Andy Leach who is somewhat of a mystery man band history-wise. Put them together in one group and you have one hel of a line up. Throw in one other cat named Adam Constantine on Keys and this is also the line up for the Shapeshifters.

It is always nice to be pleasantly surprised by a band. It's even better to be surprised twice by virtually the same band. When I heard solo release I just thought like a solo set, a guy and his guitar. I knew nothing of this Shapeshifter business. So since these two shows happened back to back last week rather than focus in on the tribute show which you honestly have to see to believe I think the Last Song on the Soundtrack release show is what you need to know about. First off, the CD itself is amazing, go buy one. It is not just full of twangy pop songs either. It's the kind of shit you see VH1 Storytellers. Songs with meaning and purpose. There are songs in here if it was 1989 that I would put on girls mix tapes to try to win the affection of a young lady. What do I liken it to in this decade that the kids would understand? Pop songs with catchy hooks, incredible instrumentation and lyrics with actual soul.

The show itself was at a packed Happy Dog. Imagine that, me at the Happy Dog? The opener was Doug McKean, front man for The Boys From County Hell. He did a great short set and is well worth checking him out beyond The Pogues Tribute he pulls off so well. I think I actually pissed him off asking for a Pogues song but oh well. I had to ask, he does Shane MacGowan better than Shane MacGowan does and all with nice teeth. He sings and plays guitar solo singing some great roots style Americana songs. He was joined on stage with Brent for a couple tracks and Sorca McGrath who hail from Dublin Ireland. Sorca had an incredible voice. He was a great warm up for what was too come, and very talent songwriter himself.

After seeing the New Soft Shoe the night before from a musician standpoint I knew what I was in for. I however didn't expect what was delivered. It was a flawless show. The crowd was into it and the band was eating it up never missing a hook. The band itself was incredibly talented. I can't say there is one single standout performer at all. Every single one of them added something to the mix in this ensemble. I have never seen a Pedal Steel played live before and there is something eerily haunting about the sound of that instrument. It is melodic and completely unmistakable in sound, and Al Moss played that thing well. When it is singled out in the mix it takes you back to a 70's honky tonk listening to songs about trains, drinking and the girls that broke your heart. It does not look like an easy instrument to master. Just setting this thing up looked like putting a tent together with all of its stakes, pedals, parts and pieces. It is an instrument that requires an intense about of focus and Al owned that thing all night.

Ok...Andy Leach ladies and gentlemen. Holy shit. To say he is animated playing his guitar is an understatement. The way he plays his guitar makes you think quite possibly he was born with it in his hands. His skills playing lead or rhythm make me wonder why in the world I have not seen more of him in the area. He is really into playing. It is like he hears every single note he hits. There are times he gets into this trance like state playing this thing that I don't even know if he remembers that he is actually playing in a band. You'll catch him smiling when he is on and it sounds good, and then there are times he plays that thing like he is taming some wild stallion breaking the notes into submission until they come out perfect. When that happens he gets this quizzical look on his face that says holy shit did I really make that noise come out of this thing? It's as if his hands are somehow a part of the guitar, like some mad music scientist fused his hands to the thing to make these amazing sounds come out of his amp.

The beats were kept going by Niefeld who never missed one. He was on fire the entire night with this Charlie Watts-esque mellow thing going on. Understated in the background, smiling yet serious he kept rocking his kit the entire night. Tom Prebish himself has a great voice doing a lot of the back up duties as he manhandles his bass most of the night pounding out the grooves like it's nothing. He had this smugness to his playing that said oh yeah, this thing? I play a little...and play it well he does. The only cat that wasn't with the Soft Shoe when I saw them was Adam Constantine. He is a great keyboardist who was able go from honky tonk player to absolutely rocking the thing out on certain songs slapping those plastic ivories like he owned his corner of the stage. There were a couple guest musicians up there with Chris Allen doing a couple songs on the guitar and Matt Charboneau on bass who plays on the CD release.

Kirby...I have said a lot about Brent in previews reviews. He is a talented entertainer who is comfortable on the stage. You can tell he is proud of the CD he put out, and he has every right to be. He is an incredible Songwriter and it is proven in his live performance and on Last Song On the Soundtrack. All the while being 100% professional on the stage he smiles and genuinely loves what he is doing up there. His respect for the musicians he plays with on and off that stage is legendary in the area. He respects those in the Cleveland music community from the bar owners, folks that book him to play and his fans. Even I got a shout out at the show and to my surprised got a decent amount of applause. I am still not completely comfortable with my D-list celebrity but honestly it is nice to be recognized by someone up there that is actually out there playing bars and clubs 4 or 5 nights a week at times.

His artistry those last couple nights as a Frontman was spot on. First off with The New Soft Shoe he can pull off Gram Parsons. As a long time Parsons fan knowing this is as close I could ever get to hear Parsons music live and I was beyond impressed at his command over the vocals. I never thought I would hear $1,000 Wedding ever done live or Ooh Las Vegas for that matter and done so well for that matter. He can pretty much pull off anything in that Alt-Country vein of music as I have heard him do Son Volt, Tupelo and Wilco pretty damn good too. His new solo record was the feature of the night though at The Happy Dog and it really is a great piece of work. Well worthy picking up when you check him out next time he is playing in his many musical incarnations. He is a Roots and Americana singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist that writes incredible songs that capture the heart and soul of life inside or outside of Cleveland. These are road songs, love songs, and pop songs that run the gambit of emotion. He is a storyteller with a guitar plain and simple.

The CD is reminiscent of the blue collar Midwest. It's pretty raw without sounding gritty, yet not overproduced at all. There are the heartstrings tugging ballad-esque cuts like Somewhere Down the Line, honky tonk sounding cuts like Don't Cry For Me, and introspective catchy Dylan-esque pop tunes like Silently Stepping Out Surreal. What it really boils down to is Kirby put out a blue collar working mans record that fans will enjoy, but will most likely never get into mainstream airwaves. I am not saying it shouldn't, not at all and I am sure fame and fortune were not the driving force behind putting this out. I am saying this is a pioneering record that can pave the ways from the rest of the folks in this Roots Americana Cleveland music scene to follow. It just proves you can make a good straight forward rock and roll record these days without screaming vocals, and speed metal guitars. While the band, and the instrumentation is great it's Brent Kirby as a true Midwest American balladeer that shines through on this release.

There is this new focus in Cleveland on just writing songs these days. It is artist like all these above mentioned that are changing the landscape of Cleveland Music. It's the roots thing that has slowly been taking off over the last couple years. You have everything out there these days from the balls out rock and roll from bands like the Hot Rails, Jack Fords to the rockabilly riots of Scoliosis Jones, Uncle Scratch, Whiskey Daredevils, to the new grass sounds of The Misery Jackals and Heelsplitter. Even bluegrass is making head waves with bands like One Dollar Hat and The Hiram Rapids Stumblers. Cleveland has a lot of offer in the realm of music. It is a tight knit community of bars, clubs, bands and fans. They all know each other and treat each other with respect, and help each other out. It's actually a pretty cool scene to be a part of right now, and it was definitely a blast checking out those last couple of Kirby shows.

Unedited Prosperity Social Club

2010-04-17T10:32:00.000-04:00

There are certain things in Cleveland that need a multimillion dollar renovation. Places like Hopkins Airport, the Lake Front, and even the old Coast Guard Station come to mind. Hopkins reminds some visitors of a bus station that allows air travel. The Lake Front is one of the most underutilized waterways in the country. The old Coast Guard Station looks like something out a Scooby Doo mystery cartoon. However there are places in Cleveland that do better without. If you put the Beachland against the House of Blues the Beachland wins on atmosphere alone. Pit the Spitfire against and it's steel cage match of a stage versus somewhere like a Savannah and the Spit leaves it a bloody mess.

The rock and roll I grew up with was never pretty and clean. Rock through the ages for that matter has been dirty and raw. Elvis was proof of that in the 50's, Metal in the 80's, grunge in the 90's, and the rebirth of Independent music in this decade. The polished stuff comes off as fake, and real fans or the connoisseurs, if you will, don't fall for the bullshit. Whenever I hear "Supergroup" it is guaranteed to suck. Over processed in music leads to catchy, campy teenage schlock. Over Processed in the realm of restaurants or venues is just as bad. It is actually kind of depressing to see an old landmark turn into an Applebee's clone. In an attempt to make it look like an old tavern they stock the walls with kitschy old photos, memorabilia, and even go so far as to age the wood to make it appear more rustic. It's a sham and most of the public is easily fleeced.

However there are still bars, nightclubs and restaurants in Cleveland that don't feel the need to make these multimillion dollar upgrades to become more like a Disney themed fun park than what they are. Opening any sort of watering hole is a huge risk. Certain areas of Cleveland have more bars and restaurants per square mile than churches. Yet over the past few years these spots have done just fine without the ginormous wads of cash thrown into them. The aforementioned Beachland and Spitfire come to mind in that regard. Who would have thought a concert venue outside of Collinwood would be going 10 years strong and be the catalyst for the rebirth of the Waterloo area? Who thought a punk rock dive like the Spitfire would drive a spike through the vein of a sleeping music genre? And so the Spitfire begate Now That's Class, and they begate even more small clubs on the west side of Cleveland.

The Happy Dog is another that only took a little spit shine, a unique simple menu and some live music and entertainment to turn it into a viable hipster option. Then there are places like Steve's Lunch and the Hot Dog Inn that essentially didn't do a damn thing and remain standing strong in a horrible economy. Some have not been able to capitalize though like the Phantasy or even have gone by the wayside like the Agora. The Agora however had a nice little shove into the depths of failure due to some bad business dealings with a certain less than scrupulous area promoter. Tremont is a home to many of these old style eateries. Sure they have some high end rehabs out there that work well in the area but they have places like the Lincoln Park Pub and Edison's. What they also have is a hidden gem on the outskirts of the Professor Avenue Tremont hub called Prosperity Social Club.

Prosperity Social Club was born from the ashes of the old Oasis. A tavern that got little to no traffic over the years because of the reputation of being a little on the dumpy side. I can honestly say I had never even went into it when it was the Oasis for that exact reason. Only after a few short years of taking it over Bonnie Flinner has lost the stigma of being a dump and taken on a new one. A much better one as a matter of fact. They serve incredible food, have an excellent beer and wine list and host local entertainment. The bar itself has undergone minimal upgrades since the days of the Oasis. It has the feel of an old German party hall with style. The bar and dining area have rich hardwood accents throughout. The bathrooms are reminiscent of a middle school faculty lounge. The walls are loaded with old school beer memorabilia that work well with the true rustic decor. The main room has a small stage for the mostly acoustic local and national acts to play. The smaller room to the back has retro lounge furniture, dining tables, a real old style bowling machine, a pool table and a tiki hut cabinet that is home to classic board games such as Battleship, Candy Land and a circa 1987 Cleveland Trivia game. Walk outside and you will find an amazingly spacious patio with picnic tables and retro lounge furniture. We are talking those old metal bouncy chairs mom and dad, grandma and grandpa had in the backyard. It's like walking into a time warp of sorts.

I went twice just to take it all in last week. The first was to check out a Canadian country outfit called the Silvertones that Happy Dog Opry DJ Clinton Holley turned me on to the night before. The second night was to check out for myself if the food was as good as everyone said. So Saturday was a night of live music, booze and debauchery then a nice meal Monday on the patio on a perfect Cleveland spring night. Saturday the band was tight. They were a little three piece outfit that did some rockabilly light with a hint of alt-country. All in all a nice double set of some covers and originals that wasn't too loud to not be able to hold a conversation and not to quiet that you couldn't pay attention to the music if you wanted to. I can't call them great because Cleveland has an amazing Americana scene going on now with bands that absolutely blow me away. Beer selection was excellent. They have a few taps with some micros and a nice selection of bottles from Schlitz to Lambic. The shots were strong, mixed drinks were stiff. The wine list is pretty all encompassing but the standout had to be the fresh Sangria as it looked amazing. I just didn't feel like running the triathlon that night. We mostly sat in the back taking it all in that night checking out the crowd, listening to the band, playing a shitload of Cleveland trivia and talking with friends. The staff was friendly and service was very quick even at the peak of the evening.

Monday night for dinner we sat out on the patio. The night was perfect. To say the food was incredible was an understatement. For appetizers we had the Panko Breaded Fried Oysters and Roasted Vegetable Empanadas. Both choices were amazing. The oysters were full of flavor and cooked to perfection and the empanadas were stuffed with cheddar, black bean corn salsa and creole rice. For entrees we tried out the Sausage and Seafood baked Ziti and the Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage. The portions were huge and every bite was full of flavor. I think the standout was the Stuffed Cabbage. These were dense and stuffed with a pork and beef mixture with just a small amount of rice. The Paprikash sauce that covered the Pigs and potatoes was amazing. It was thick, rich and loaded with that Hungarian old world flavor. As I ate this monstrous meal the church bells were ringing out in the distance the Hallelujah Chorus and it became almost spiritual for me. After a meal like that you have only two choices; go into battle or take a nap. No dessert but a couple of drafts, 2 appetizers and two entrees and the bill came to just over $50 and change. It was a value for that price. Old world comfort food, and an old style vibe make Prosperity well worth checking out on my 52 week Cleveland tour.

Beachland Barn Dance Friday

2010-04-14T20:01:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to throw out another additional plug for the Beachland Barn Dance Friday night going on in the ballroom. You can still get tickets now for $5 or pay $7 at the door either way it's a bargain for what you get. Six bands, well plus Miss Firecracker hosting is always a treat, so you really get 7 bands in total. That, my friends, is a great deal. I never have been good on math but you are looking at less than $1.00 a band pre-sale price. Nonstop entertainment from 8pm until the wee hours of the morning, or when the cows come home but don't ask me my country watch is broken.

The thing about Cleveland which might shock the outsiders looking in is that we have an incredible growing Americana music scene here. Hell even as a long time resident of the area I had no idea of the growing underground country scene we had going here until I saw a show a few months ago featuring a string band outfit called One Dollar Hat and a high speed east side bluegrass on speed sounding band called Heelsplitter. Call it Outlaw Country, Alt-Country, Bluegrass, Folk, Browngrass, Pillbilly or whatever you want this ain't your mama's country. Some of it might be your great grand mama's country in some cases because the bands are all over the board from traditional Appalachian folk to New Grass. None the less you will hear some of the most amazing twangy strummin', hoedown fiddlin', jug blowing mother fuckers you will ever lay your ears on.

You will be amazed, and awestruck by the line up that is playing the Beachland on Friday. Most of these folks are from the area with the exception of the showcase band Hoots and Hellmouth who hail from PA. (check out their CD here The Holy Open Secret or Hoots and Hellmouth) All share one common bond though in expressing the times we are living in by throwing back to real roots Americana music. This isn't some Toby Keith overproduced Ford Truck commercial music. This is down home music with a feeling and true American soul. These are young kids playing like The Hiram Rapids Stumblers along sided seasoned vets like One Dollar Hat. These are family folk making music fueled by beer and just to have a good time like Heelsplitter. These are barkers and buskers playing on the city street festivals just because they love to play.

I think new music has proven one thing over the last couple of years. Nickleback's will come and go, and I do sincerely hope they do go and keep going into obscurity. True America folk will always be around. The music of the past is making a come back. Woody Guthrie would smile down upon any one of these bands for continuing on the great American songbook the way they do. I applaud the Beachland for fostering this scene over the last few years and letting it grow to be as big as it is now. The last show was packed. I expect the same this Friday. If you want to jump in on this New Grass revival then come on down and sit a spell on Friday night. I'll be there. This is music in it's most bare form; naked, unplugged, straight on true American made, God bless A-fucking-merica, born in the USA, no frills, hoot and holler hootenanny music. See y'all there.

In Tall Buildings, Nomo at the Grog Shop

2010-04-13T22:48:00.000-04:00

First off I will say this had it not been for the fact I was taking Monday off for opening Day I probably would have been irritated at the start time of the show. Grog Shop, seriously, I absolute love you but at times you frustrate me to no end with your start times. It is a Sunday night there is no reason to start a show with 3 bands after 9pm. I get it. I understand why you do it. You need to make money at the bar. I understand but there are multiple bands I would come to see if you just had an earlier start time. Working folks in Cleveland do not go to shows at the Grog during the week for that simple fact. All my friends say the same thing to me. I feel better getting that out in the open though. It needed to be said. You are an incredible venue rich in Cleveland music history. You have an awesome place. Your sound is great. Your late night weekday shows kill me though. It seriously has to be a HUGE band for me to come on a weekday though because I have to be a functioning adult the next day. The venue itself is a nice small rock club. They serve great beers. The service is always excellent. I have never had a bad time at the Grog Shop.

So on the bill for the night was Nomo, Cleveland Zoo and In Tall Buildings. I have been wanting to see Nomo for a couple years but the timing never worked out until Sunday night. I am very glad I was able to come to the show because they were great. The first band went on some time after 9pm. In Tall Buildings is a melodic indie rock band out of Chicago. The band itself is the solo brainchild project of Erik Hall who just so happens to be a touring member of Nomo. Without getting too obscure I was thinking something along the lines of the pop of The Jim Yoshii Pile Up with a little of the drone of Explosions in the Sky. The touring band was comprised of Jake Vinsel on bass and Quin Kirchner on drums who both are in Nomo as well. They had a nice tight set that went on a little over a half hour. The crowd was a bit sparse through the set, oh who am I kidding the crowd was sparse through the entire show. I was kind of in disbelief because Nomo is usually a decent draw here in Cleveland. So lots missed out on getting turned on to In Tall Buildings who were really damn good. Given time these guys should gain some major buzz with the talent they have backing them up on stage.

Kids, here is where it may get ugly. I feel horrible about saying this because the next band was Cleveland Zoo. These are super young area kids trying to do some music so I am going to be as nice as possible. I guess the easy way to say this is they really weren't my style of music. It was just this really messed up concoction of reggae, punk and hell I don't know. I just could not get into them at all. It was like listening to a record of Sublime B-sides or something. They had some fans in the Grog though as most of the people there were actually there to see them. So hey more power to them. They obviously have a decent fan base and don't need my approval. However that being said I think they need a lot of work. It seriously was like listening to 3 different bands at the same time. The main thing I didn't get was how exactly did they get booked on to this line up? It didn't fit at all. It was nothing like the style of music that was to come.

After a short break and a pretty drawn out set by the Zoo Nomo started setting up the stage. Nomo is an afro beat band that hail from Ann Arbor Michigan, or used to as they all seem to be based out of Chicago now. They are anywhere from a 5 piece to a 9 piece band. When I first heard Nomo it was the track Nu Tones from the album of the same name. First off do yourself a favor and you tube that song to see them in action. I assumed they were some prodigies of the late Fela Kuti in Nigeria that I would never see in my lifetime. Little did I know they were just some white boys from Michigan. I was absolutely floored by the professional sound of the music they were creating. Genius would describe the sound more than anything. Mix in tribal grooves, funky bass, some guitar licks and two of the most amazing horn players and you have Nomo.

Nomo is fronted by Elliot Bergman who is a multi instrumentalist (as are many in the band). He creates some of the devices he uses on stage and makes more to sell for fans and musicians. I won't lie here because as you can see in the picture the cat has the charisma of the Jesus. He seriously looks like if Jesus moved to Soho. Get over the Jesus look and move on to the music where he is nothing short of flawless. Drum details were handled by Kirchner and Hall with Hall doubling down on guitar. The double drum thing was incredible. It is always amazing to see drummers go head to head, and it was especially cool to see it with that afro beat sound. Vinsel slapped the bass around like it was some rag doll busting out funk grooves that would make Bootsy drool. Justin Walker did double duty on trumpet on some digital synth device that was part theremin and part space horn. It was amazing and I still have no clue what the hell it was.

The set was short but I can't blame them due to the small turn out. They kept the music pretty solid for about an hour with little between song banter. I would imagine it would be hard to come from a venue in Ann Arbor with about 1,500 to play for less than 50 in Cleveland. I will give it up to the Cleveland Zoo fans and band for sticking around to check out the Nomo set. I don't know why it was so dead. They have a new(er) record out. They area phenomenal band, but Sunday night at the Grog I don't know if people are afraid to risk getting out at 1am or what. Nomo closed out the set with Nu Tones and it was a great way to end the evening at the Grog. If folks weren't already shaking and dancing they were at the end of that cut. I certainly hope they do come back so more people in Cleveland can get hip to their afro beat sound.

Opening Day AKA me going off on Cornhole

2010-04-13T21:16:00.000-04:00

Ahhhh opening day, watching the first pitch, hearing that first crack of the bat and more often than not watching the Indians lose. Honestly it is so much more than that. It's a culture all to itself. It's tradition. It's the start of real spring and the Summer is just around the corner. Baseball takes me back so many years and countless opening days. I remember my mom and dad taking me to ball games as kids at the old Municipal Stadium. The giant Chief Wahoo beckoning you in crouched in his batting stance off the Shoreway. The smell of hot dogs wafting through the air mixed in with fresh roasted peanuts. I remember the days when the Tribe had Buddy Bell, Super Joe Charboneau, and Phil Niekro when he was 800 years old. Baseball conjures up all these thoughts and to risk sounding like that ass hat Bob Costas, or a John fucking Fogerty song (post-CCR) I can leave it at that.

I continued on the tradition for many years after going to opening day for many years. Opening day has change from the romanticized version I recall. It went from this huge family deal of calling the kids off from school, oiling up the glove the night before in hopes of catching that foul ball or illusive Tribe homer to more or less another Cleveland drunk-fest. Don't get me wrong I saw a lot of dads with their kids but I also saw a lot of drunks stumbling down East 9th street. Maybe as a kid I don't remember the drunk 20 to 30-something crowd. I mean shit, there was 10 cent beer night in '74 but I was far too young to remember that. It just seemed every bar within a 2 mile radius around Progressive field was loaded to beyond capacity. I think it is great for the local bar business, but holy shit man. There are two viable explanations for this. The first is I am turning into an old square and the second is Cleveland has a drinking problem.

So, I head down the road after parking for $30. Yeah $30 dollars. Hard to swallow when the 2 tickets I purchased were less than that. First stop was at Forti's. It was packed beers were $2.50 for domestics. The stereo was blasting rock anthems from all of your 80's favorites. Why for the love of God this is the soundtrack of Cleveland I will never fucking understand. I hated that hair metal shit back in the 80's and I cringe when I hear people singing Bon Jovi at the top of their lungs. I don't care if Johnny worked on the docks or at a fortune 500 company, that song still sucks. I still like Forti's and think it is the best option for a cocktail before a sporting event. However after a few minutes I felt trapped by the huge crowd of 80's loving super fans. We went on down the road and I was amazed at the amount of bodies herded in like cattle in these little metal pens grazing on cheap domestic bottle specials. All the way on down there they were, a sea of red, white and blue jerseys. It would be enough to make you feel patriotic until you realize it's just a bunch of various Indians gear bobbing their head and singing along to 80's metal. It was as if they all had the same horrendous DJ's all the way down the road.

After having just about enough of that we walked into the sea of bodies to enter in at Gate C. Bob Feller beckoning us in with arms outstretched throwing his fast ball directly into the heavens if not Lake Erie. Obviously these folks never went to catholic school to understand how a single file line works. The line moved slowly with drunk girls not understanding the concept of a purse check. As you know they are the most likely to smuggle in contraband into a MLB game. I wonder what they look in the purses for at times. It's not bombs I am sure, probably the hidden flask or something equally as deadly. After a few short minutes we were greeted to the ballpark with our magnet schedule and a smile from the friendly yellow jacketed staff. Our mission to get in grab a beer and watch some Cleveland Indians baseball from the Batter's Eye Bar out in center field. I loved coming out there the last couple years. Nice view of the field and a laid back atmosphere. Well, that changed too.

Enter the "Rigid Job Site" brought to you by the nonchalantly sexually named Rigid Tool Company. Oh...I get it. Rigid Tool, like a cock. That's funny. Well, screw it right? They just changed the name. It will be fine. Well, no it wasn't fine. It was horrible. They took away the tables and made it standing room only. The service at the bar itself? It sucked. I kept joking I was in the cold corner. You would have sworn I was invisible. Yes, I get it they are busy but seriously they were terrible. A third I blame on them, another third I blame on the fact they serve mixed drinks and the last third I blame on the assholes that are ordering the mixed drinks at a baseball game. What would Babe Ruth do if he were to see the center field bar selling frozen daiquiri's? Well beside drink like 20 of them that is? He would smack the shit out of them I am guessing.

Beer = baseball, baseball = beer not some fancy drink with an umbrella in it. Take that bullshit back down to West 6th Street. So after being ignored enough to ruin my self esteem I ventured down to tackle a beer vendor in the concourse. He had two buttons on, one said $4.50 the other $7.75. I figured $7.75 was for like a Heineken or something. Nope, $4.50 was for a little bag of peanuts. It was $7.75 for a bottle of beer, Bud, Bud Lite or MGD. Holy shit, are you kidding me? I just bought a 12 pack for the price of one beer. I could have had a nice dinner for that price somewhere or a case of beer for that matter. I am not so out of it I don't know they jack up the beer prices at the stadium but hey dip shits why is attendance down besides the team roster looks like something out of the flick Major League? Because it is no longer an option for a family to take the kids to the game and not have to take out a 2nd mortgage on the house to do it.

I still haven't gotten to the thing that set me off the most of all at the ballpark; corn hole. Yes the game that rivals beer pong, quarters, golf, poker as the biggest cliche in drinking games. And let me tell you Progressive Field indeed did have corn hole! You know where it was? Right at the Rigid Tool bar. Right off to the side where people used to watch the game and sit at the tables that are no longer there or lean against the railing to watch. Yes folks they had about 20 feet plus of space sectioned off for 4 people to play corn hole. Not just people mind you but uber corn hole assholes fighting about the score, getting in the way and taking up a huge 20 foot section where people should be watching the game. God forbid if you walked into their corn hole playing field or you would get the evil eye. I cannot tell you how close I actually came to grabbing one of the bean bags mid air to shove it up their collective asses. This single thing alone could have been the most asinine things I have seen to date at a sporting event. This jackass game belongs in backyards and tailgate parties not in the way of baseball fans trying to watch a game at a packed house on opening day.

So to say some of the mystique of opening day in Cleveland is gone is kind of an understatement. It doesn't change my love of the sport or of my cherished Indians. Before all the games used to be on television my dad would always have them on the radio, just like his mother in law, my grandmother did. The Indians are the baseball tradition here in my family and many of the hearts and minds of us Cleveland folk. The corporate folks in Indians-land can keep jacking up prices, naming a bar after a penis, and putting corn hole boards in the middle of center field for all I care. Because, you see, none of that shit matters when you have memories of what it used to be like. Listening to the ball game on the radio or the '90's Indians road to the World Series for me will always be better than the memories created on opening day 2010.

Cinema Wasteland & Fat Heads

2010-04-11T01:16:00.001-04:00

Well I probably will make this one brief because honestly I wasn't 100% wowed by the Cinema Wasteland experience. You see all these crazy fun festivals for horror, sci-fi and comics in the bigger cities and while this con (con is short for convention for those less geeky) is pretty cool it just didn't have that same mystique for me. I don't want to say it was bad because it still was pretty cool but you more or less paying $20 to get in to spend more money. I know the owner of the con, actually let me correct myself it is a movie and memorabilia expo, needs to make money or cover costs but $20 for what you got was a little on the high side. There were most definitely some stand outs at the show but for the most part the vendors on a scale of wow to blah were just meh. I think you really need to be a huge fan. I mean like Über-super fan into it. You need to be in there searching for that one DVD to add to your collection or know what you really want. I was just kind of into it. I like horror films a lot honestly but I am not like a super fan geek.

That being said, I spent well over $100 in merch and 1 autograph. So I did actually buy some stuff. There was a cool T-shirt table that sold vintage style punk T's from Dead Kennedy's to T.S.O.L and everything in between you can check them out online. They even have stuff that would fit my svelte frame. (FTP Ink) There were various other local production film companies and we picked up different 3 DVD's from them (support your local Zombies dammit!). I am sure they are going to be absolutely wonderful. There were your general creppy Zombie folk dressed up in incredible makeup too. However for as much good there was there were also tables of things only a collector would dig. If you were looking for a certain movie you probably could have found it here and more than likely not have spent much more than $10 for it. Akron's Son of Ghoul was there selling his flicks, and some great old school Cleveland Akron classics too. The guy honestly is a class act and all around great guy.

The theme was Zombie for the Expo and they had some of the "greats" and some of the "really?". I am a fan of Tom Savini and he was there signing stuff. He is an incredible makeup artist and horror actor and I don't know if he just wasn't into it but he was kind of quiet to the point I sort of thought he was kind of a jerk. I felt like I was really putting him out to get a photo with my wife. He didn't personalize my autograph or even ask, just signed it. Maybe he is just a quiet guy. I don't know but I was a little disappointed. A friend of mine who has met him in the past had the opposite experience. So who knows maybe he was having a bad day or whatever. Honestly I knew of the other folks signing but $20 an autograph for someone that was in like 2 minutes of a horror flick I liked was a little silly to pay. Jim Krut who will forever be known as the Helicopter Zombie from Dawn of the Dead was pretty much one of the coolest ones and was more than willing to chat about his roles old and new. It was pretty cool talking to him for a few minutes. I always feel weird chatting up celebrities (B-list or C-list) but he was super cool to talk to. He has such a passion for his craft you would have sworn he won an Oscar.

The stand out merch table for me and many other had to have been Cleveland's own Jeff Hartz. Jeff owns buzz-works which does some pretty sweet Gothic art and collectible stuff. He also scored the creepy Zombie Influx CD which is a must for anyone that is looking for that creepy Halloween background music. Jeff has a voice you can't mistake and he does the Public Service Announcements on the CD that add to the overall vibe of creepy. The premise is a full on Zombie invasion with eerie layers of atmospheric soundscapes coupled with the occasional frantic PSA's of a world taken over by the dead. It takes creepy to a whole new level with the help of long time horror music collaborators Joseph Vargo and William Piotrowski of Nox Arcana. This is no cutesy Monster Mash thing. This is a balls out creep-fest. Aside from the horror scores Jeff has some great handmade mask work along with your general freaky gargoyle, monster, and horror sculptures. He is super affordable too and well worth checking out.

The one thing we really managed to do was scare up an appetite after a couple hours at the Expo. (insert canned laugh track here). Fat Head's Saloon opened recently in North Olmsted and is seriously 5 minutes from our house so we thought we would finally give it a try. Yes it is a chain. Yes it started in Pittsburgh (boooooooooo!), but it's actually pretty damn good. The restaurant itself is huge. It used to be Danny Boy's Farm Market which I really miss. It used to be such a great local market. Now it's a nice giant brewery. The bar stretches for what seems to be a mile, and there is ample seating in the bar, the main dining area and a patio. The money they must have put into this place was well spent because it looks incredible. However I will say one thing when it is not packed it looks very empty. I didn't have any beer. I just wasn't in the beer mood. We just came to have lunch and catch the end of the Tribe game.

The portions are huge. Seriously an appetizer could easily be considered a meal in itself. We started with the Parma Karma. This $9.95 beast of an appetizer came with a char-grilled brat, a banger, and kielbasa. On the side you get three sauteed pierogies served on top of a mountain of onions. They come with a very mild horsey dipping sauce and Bertman's Stadium mustard. The sausage trio was very good. It was hard to distinguish the brat from the banger. Oh, hell I have no idea what a banger is and I am trying hard to not throw in some sort of banger your mom joke here so let me just get that out of the way. All I know was the kielbasa was very flavorful, and one of the gray tubers was incredible while the other was a little mealy. I couldn't tell you which was which though. The pierogies were stuffed with potato and perfectly done.

As if I didn't eat enough already I moved on to an enormous sandwich called the Cuyahoga. This was one of those we are going to give you a bun just to mess with you because there is no way in hell you can pick it up with your hands burger served with fries and a ranch dipping sauce. So what is on the Cuyahoga you ask? It is a giant burger smothered in pulled pork swimming in their Beasty BBQ Sauce. But wait there's more! It is topped with melted Swiss and covered in what seemed to be 500 jalapenos. I am accustomed to ordering something "spicy" or "hot" and being disappointed. This Beasty BBQ sauce is hot. It's burn your mouth hot, but not wipe your brow sweating hot. There is a sweet tangy flavor to the sauce that is still there one bite then an ass kicking smack in your face burst of heat in another. It is definitely a knife and fork burger unless you want to look and act like a complete hillbilly which they give you extra napkins for just in case. I think Fat Heads is worth a try, a little pricey but the portions are ridiculous.

The Happy Dog DJ fix

2010-04-10T23:12:00.001-04:00

Yeah, it was kind of a Gram Parson's kind of weekend but I'll get to that in the next post. More than that it was more of a Happy Dog kind of weekend. I honestly can say I clocked more hours at the Happy Dog in the last few nights than a full day of work. It started last Friday and continued on until...well last night...or more accurately, the wee hours of Saturday morning. Last Friday I went in for dinner and to see the DJ styling of Mr. Clinton J. Holley and his Ohio City Opry. Now as you know the Happy Dog serves 4 things. They serve a create your own hot dog with 50+ toppings, tater tots, french fries and...entertainment.

On the hot dog front I went with Momocho's habanero hot sauce, bleu cheese coleslaw and potato chips. This turned out to be a great combo with the coolness of the slaw fighting the ass kicking habanero sauce. The chips I just threw in there to snack on because they always kind of just fall off. It's like getting a bonus side. I went with the saffron aioli dipping sauce for the tots and another side of the molten lava Momocho hot sauce as if the slathering of it on the hot dog wasn't enough to hurt me. If you think a hot dog and tots isn't filling think again. It is a hammer of a meal and will keep you well satisfied. All for the reasonable price of $7.50 total. I think someone bitched about a $5.00 hot dog not too long ago. Oh yeah, that was me. I'm sold on it now because of the quality of the dog and it's toppings itself. The meal is worth every penny of the $7.50.

Now there were a couple things that complimented this hot dog dinner. The first is the venue itself which I have spoke of in previous posts. Think of it as the charm and comfort of a local dive in a clean tidy package. The beer choices were of the Polish variety; Tyskie and Okocim. A nice pale ale standard, light and refreshing. The stuff you want to grab for in the back of the fridge after a hot summers day to reward yourself after cutting the lawn. Sounds like a beer commercial in the making but it's pretty accurate. All I need is some hot Polish chick in pigtails in a cleavage revealing white off the shoulder top to complete the fantasy...ok bring it back...bring it back. The reason we came to check it out was to see Clinton J Holly spinning some old school country music.

Many Cleveland folk might remember Mr. Holley from his long run booking bands for the Beachland Ballroom. Others might know him from his work with bands like Hayshaker Jones and many other fine projects. Well, he is holding DJ court at the Happy Dog on select Friday nights playing classic and outlaw country favorites. I used to be in that whole DJ thing some time ago and have hung up the golden scratching hands for a life of 52 Weeks of Cleveland. Well that and I was sick of people who would request really bad music. Folks we are talking about grown adults asking for Hannah Montana songs. I remember the beginning of the end of my DJ career when some sideways wearing douche asked me for Young Jeezy. My reply back was "What the fuck is a Young Jeezy?" Sad to say I actually did have the song and ended up playing it. I had so much crap downloaded on my laptop I didn't even know the extent of my catalog was shit I would never listen to in a million years. Sure there were other classic moments in DJ-Sin's Illustrious career. There was the time I threw a microphone at a patron, the time I packed up my gear proclaiming "I'm a fucking artist, I don't need this shit." and walked out the door an hour into a 5 hour set. I think multiple people have a story of me being the worlds biggest asshole DJ in the world. It is the thing of legends in the area. However the times I was on, I was really on. That being said I am retired but would love to go back to doing it after seeing Holley and of course Kishka since it seems there finally is a market for genre DJ's again. I specialize in old school funk, soul and deep grooves from the 60's and 70's for whoever wants to give it a shot.

Anyhow enough of the shameless self promotion. It's not about me, right? I used to hate people coming up to request stuff so I went ahead and requested stuff from him because well that is how I roll. Honesty I wanted to introduce myself because there is something inherently creepy about some dude taking your picture for no apparent reason. Clinton is a fan of the blog and an all around good guy. We chatted up music and a whole lot of Cleveland stuff. Anyone who wants to talk Cleveland and music with me is cool in my book. He tipped me off to Prosperity Social Club which I am a huge fan of and where I spent most of the next Saturday night seeing a Canadian three piece alt-country group call The Silvertones. The Dog was kind of quiet but those who were there were really enjoying the tunes. He hit it all from Johnny Cash, and Charlie Louvin to Wanda Jackson and Loretta Lynn. He even played me a little Texas Tornadoes. It was a nice vibe and a different change of pace from the normal boom boom rump shaking bullshit that ends up causing countless unwanted pregnancies in West 6th Street girls.

DJ II was a cat I talked about in previous blogs going by the name of DJ Kishka. Genius. That is all. His Kishka character, now with Busha on a drum kit doing the ba-dum-bum-CHING drum roll details after Kishka's many punchlines. He drinks, he sings, he dances, he tells jokes, claps along, plays the accordion and incites general merriment among those in the audience. He is a real deal entertainer. Why no one thought of this concept or how he thought of it who knows, but it is nothing short of genius. You have blue haired old ladies clapping along with hipsters. It just works for whatever reason. To say it was a packed house last night is putting it mildly. The place was wall to wall packed. Wall to wall packed to see a DJ? You bet your dupa!

It's not just a DJ thing with him it's a polka party. The records skip because of the dancing in front of the stage. He plays the same songs multiple times in a night. As a matter of fact I think he played Ice Cubes and Beer polka probably 4 times but each time the crowd got more and more into it. The crowd as a matter of fact could care less about the skipping songs because it is this vibe thing that sucks you in and makes you stay. Polka music is a guilty pleasure to many folks, and from the packed house you people all know who you are! I have been asked by friends to explain the phenomena of this whole thing and it really is something you have to see to truly understand the beauty of it. Many still don't get it but I am trying to convert as many people as possible. It's just something words can't do justice. Skipping songs, polkas, accordion, same songs multiple times turns into a laugh induced, beer chugging singalong dance party. There is not much else out there happy hour-wise that can compete with the overall vibe of DJ Kiska's Polka Happy Hour. Hey now! You need to try it for yourself to truly understand it.

Hotz-Prosperity-Hot Dog Inn

2010-04-04T03:05:00.000-04:00

...Sucka's, read about it in the next issue of the Independent. Seriously, great time but I can't spill everything. Check out the next issue of the Independent for details. Thanks for your support though. I think you'll dig seeing this one in print.

Walton School...

2010-04-01T19:04:00.000-04:00

So I had one of the most eye opening experiences I have had in a long time. To quote the great Dante Hicks from Clerks..."I not even supposed to be here today!" True, it wasn't my gig today. I had the honor to sit in teaching a class of 4th graders today at Walton with my coworkers because of schedule conflicts with my boss. He couldn't swing it so he sent me and my boy Rob in there to cover. Before heading over to the school in the morning for our class assignment my boss Tim and us 2 Junior Achievement teachers in training headed over to Sam's club. We picked up a big 88 color pen set, some mechanical pencils and Laffy Taffy. I brought like a package of Post-It notes to add to the till that I had bought weeks back and never really used. When I gave them to our 4th grade Teacher you would have thought we gave her gold.

Here's the thing kids, you hear about how the Cleveland schools are in bad shape but you don't really understand what that means until you see it first hand. Walton school is a very small K-8 elementary school located on Cleveland's west side. It sits back in the Ohio City area a stones throw from some of the places I frequent. There were quite a few volunteers from work who took place in a blitz. Our mission was to teach the kids from K-8 a little bit about banking, finance, goods and services and a little of everything in between. We all met up in the tiny library in the middle of the school. Immediately I noticed the lack of books, let alone the lack of shelves for books. They were even using milk crates to house some books. The books they did have showed a lot of wear. I remember my elementary school library having so many books I wouldn't even begin to be able to read them all. That being said I did go to a private school in Bay Village as a kid. So I was afforded certain luxuries on that front. I remember Curious George and Frog and Toad and everything in between. I don't know if these kids even know who or what Huck Finn is.

When we arrived in our classroom we were escorted to our class room by one of our kids in the class. The roundabout way we had to take to get to our classroom was odd in itself. First off we had to walk around outside the building. Secondly we had to cut through other classes just to get our class room. It was strange to say the least. While walking to the class we passed by the courtyard which is fenced off on all sides with a big metal security gate that separates the school from the general public. The playground is located in the parking lot area. It was ok but not anything special at all. A crappy playground to anyone that has a soul is a pretty sad thing. These metal and wooden monsters remind us of our childhoods where we would run around, play games, slide, swing, laugh and play. This one didn't do much for me. It was more of an afterthought stuck off to the side of the building in the parking lot. A lonely playground is probably one of the saddest sights in the world, but you just need to make due with what you have to work with I guess.

The classroom itself is pretty small. The one I was in wasn't overcrowded or anything. There were 15 or 16 adorable kids in my 4th grade classroom. They were respectful and willing to listen and learn our 3 hour class on natural resources. Our teacher was very nice and very gracious. She had very good control over the kids when they started to get a little restless. She was very helpful for two guys who basically were more than a little under prepared. There was also a translator in our class because many of the children knew English as a second language. So there is that language barrier there that makes their learning experience that much more difficult. Classroom supplies? What supplies is more like it. The maps that used to roll down like a 50's window shade in the classrooms I grew up in are regulated to a solo map of the state of Ohio.

So it's not a lack of good teachers, or kids willing to learn. It is a severe lack of funding for the most basic of supplies. Don't get me wrong I know there are bad apples, thugs and your ordinary average asshole bully type but at the same time you got to have a chance to make it. I am sure there are also the teachers out there that could care less too. I think these are the exception and not the rule. In order to really reach them you need more than outdated books and classrooms so minimal that learning at all period is a challenge. It's not like a lot of these kids can go online and look stuff up. It's doubtful many of them even have computers. It's the dark side of Cleveland that we know about, we talk about, we bitch about, then shrug our shoulders and say fuck it nothing I can do. It's broken. My kids don't go there, not my problem. It's part of the problem we have in Cleveland but what exactly is the solution?

The easy answer is more funding however from who? From the parents that have limited income? From the city who has been dropping the ball for the better part of 20 years now? The funds need to come from the community. Now the issue with that is if you know the area at all they really don't have the money. Many families struggle to make ends meet. This has been proven through the rampant foreclosures in the area, the boarded up businesses, warehouses and factories. Look just in the immediate area of what used to be the Clothcraft Building. It was sold to a developer with the intent of lavish condos and townhouse city living. The start of it can still be seen off 90 right near the Clothcraft building; a row of brand spanking new town homes already boarded up because the builder went bankrupt and the city just allowed it to happen.

The city officials of Cleveland, the city I love, allow absolute bullshit loopholes and things like this just happen. To get business in the city, to get the developers in to build and take on projects they offer a tax abatement. We need that tax revenue to fund education in Cleveland. It's like this grand illusion of commerce and growth. Look at the Cleveland Flats. Here is perfect example of a builder being allowed to more or less bulldoze a hub of Cleveland entertainment with the promise of fine dining, and luxury high rises that now resembles a Scooby Doo wasteland. There is no accountability to these big corporations when the funding doesn't pan out quite the way they wanted it to. So the business is lured in with promises of tax free sweetheart deals and the people who need the money the most, like the Cleveland Public Schools, get fucked.

I think a tax abatement for housing in Cleveland is a good thing, but for business it is abused and it shows. The Mayor, the County Commissioner among others allow this to happen. We have so much corruption in Cleveland politics there are all kinds of investigations going on. Yet, we the voters and tax payers keep voting these scumbags back in year after year. I have serious doubts that this Medical Mart will ever happen. I have visions of the Music Man coming to town scamming and fleecing us all with pipe dreams of something that is just too good to be true. I think the 3 stooges involved in this are on the take and just continue blowing smoke up our ass until it finally breaks ground in another city.

Pheewwwww...ok off that soapbox. What to do about the schools? I still don't know. Let's adopt a classroom. Let's adopt a school. Hold a rally, a concert, or a benefit and donate your kids old books and just the basic school supplies so these kids can have something better. So they can look at a map of the United States like we used to as kids and pick out the states so they can identify where Nebraska is. A pack of 88 colored markers almost brought tears to the eyes of a teacher I met today, and I don't feel right about that at all. Would we send police into a shootout without guns? Would we send the firefighters to a blazing inferno with garden hoses and spray bottles? Of course not because they need those things in order to survive. Yet we send our teachers into a battle against literacy, competence, math and science with the bare minimum. If this isn't ok with you tell me what you are going to do about it?

I'm one person, yet one person with a big old fucking megaphone right now. I have limited street cred at this point but maybe someone is listening in the area. Maybe a bar owner out there or a band is saying I would get behind something like this, this is my community, I can change things and I can make things happen. Well what's stopping you? Host a benefit and set up a benefit show. Donate a certain amount of profits right back into the school in your backyard that needs help desperately. Can you imagine the impact if for one night in Cleveland every music venue around town said yep it's time to give back a little more to my community. I believe what this crazy 52 Weeks of Cleveland guy is saying. I can do something and I will do something. Charge $5.00 at the door or a donation item that anyone can pick up at Office Max to give these kids a little better than a slim chance at making it to college. It could work and trust me when I say it would make a difference. To you teachers out there in the meantime I say one thing...Thank you.

Bar Symon Meets Dogfish Head

2010-03-30T21:50:00.004-04:00

Here's the thing; I'm not a "foodie". I don't like anyone calling me a foodie either. It sounds like something you say to a baby for crying out loud. "Jason want some foodie? Here comes the choo choo!" I will Never say "Om nom nom nom" because frankly it makes anyone that says it sound like an asshole. I don't use terms like "my palate" or for that matter talk about the contrasting flavors of the __________ to the _____________. It's just not my thing kids. I eat, and from my frame I do it pretty well. What I know is what tastes good. I also know people watch far too much food television. I don't think it is a bad thing because without the Food Network Bar Symon might have never been made. I just think it turned a nation of folks into Professors at Le Cordon fucking Bleu. I am not a Professor. I am a blue collar Clevelander with 40 years experience eating everything this town has to offer. I lucked out and got to take part in a food pairing at Bar Symon with Dogfish Brewery last night.

Bar Symon is located in Avon Lake in an unassuming strip mall on Walker Road. A giant metal pig sign beckons you in to know you are coming into the realm of the Cleveland king of pork, Michael Symon. However while Symon physically was there this was pretty much all about Matthew Harlan tonight who runs the kitchen at Bar Symon. His influence was felt in the all the dishes served. The bar itself is a vast open space with high ceilings with tables, booths, and patio seating options. The decor is elegant yet cozy. The bar itself is a decent size and can fit I would think around 20 people. They have well over 20 beers on tap as well as a ridiculous selection of bottle choices. They range from a $2.50 PBR draft to a $65 bottle of Cantillon Lambic and everything in between. The crowd was hard to gauge but it was more 40's than 30's. I kind of felt young there which is a good feeling pushing 40 myself. It was more of a social gathering kind of thing than a packed out bar, but than again this was a Monday night. I imagine this was not a good gauge for the normal clientele. Tonight though was about the food. Five courses paired with five Dogfish Head beers. My mind was only on the prize that was to come.

The first course was a little cocktail hour sort of thing. The beer was DFH 60 Minute IPA. The food choices were sweet roasted almonds, seasoned popcorn, little pork sliders, pork cracklings, and kielbasa. The beer was a nice smooth drinking beer. It had a nice fruity hoppy taste. It was the perfect compliment to the kielbasa at the very least. I think biggest standout on the tables were the fresh crispy cracklings. More or less we are talking a fresh delicate pork skin lightly seasoned, less crisp than the bag variety and full of flavor. If you are a pork rind fan you'll never want to go back to the bag. Everything else was good but nothing was standout. Then again this was just finger food to tide everyone over for the next 4 courses to come. Being born and raised Polish I was not very impressed with the Kielbasa sorry to say. I am completely biased on the subject though as my one true kielbasa love can only be found at State Road Meats in Parma. The next best I have tasted was from Chef's Choice Meats in Berea.

The second course was DFH Red & White and Linguini w/Shrimp, mussels, tomato, oregano in Red & White sauce. This was the start of the goodness. I was expecting a very small plate but this was a very good size. The pasta itself was incredible. It was full of flavor, light and very refreshing. The sauce had a nice mild tomato flavor with hints of the Red & White beer. The shrimp and mussels were cooked to absolute perfection. The sauce had such great flavor I wanted to steal dinner rolls from a table a few feet away to sop it all up. The Red & White was probably my least favorite of the beers. It is fermented in pinot noir juice. It just wasn't enough of a beer flavor to me. It was more like a wine that was pretending to be a beer or vice versa. I was able to get through like half a glass.

The third course was Roast Walleye with carrots, beets, shiitake and fennel. It was paired with Pangea. The Pangea was a nice ale with a hint of ginger spice to it. The beer is unique as it is made with ingredients from all 7 continents. It was a perfect choice to go with the fish. The walleye was light, and tender with a little crispness from the skin. Normally I am not a fan of the walleye (I know shoot me). It tends to be a little too high on the gamey side for me. That was anything but the case for this amazingly done fish. The taste was perfect, the Pangea infused sauce was exquisite. The carrots were tender and sweet like candy. The shiitake mushrooms were unfortunately sparse but the flavor was certainly there. The shredded beets were a little too small and seemed to be overpowered by all the other strong flavors of the dish. All in all this was an amazing light and refreshing course.

The forth course was served family style. It was a slow roasted rump roast with celery root mash, Dogfish gravy and Onion Rings. It was paired with DFH Indian Brown Ale. It was a hearty ale that went very well with the slow cooked roast. The celery mash was wonderful. The texture was creamy and flavorful. They were rich with butter and seasoned just right. The roast was, in a couple words, fucking incredible. This was so tender you could cut it with a spoon. The edges had the perfect browning and the inside was a perfect pink-brown color. It was tender without that soupy texture you get from slow cooking at home. The Dogfish gravy was rich with flavor and went well with the mash. The onion rings fell a little short. They lacked flavor and seasoning. They were served on top of the roast which made them absorb some of the juice which took away some of the crunch. Honestly they didn't ruin the meal by any means but they were just kind of blah.

The fifth and final course was paired with DFH Midas Touch. It had a nice honey flavor and was as close to actual mead I have ever come. The course itself was an amazing apricot brown sugar sorbet that was just melt in your mouth delicious. I have never had a frozen dessert that tasted so creamy and decadent. It was the perfect ending to the evening. The honey peach crisp wasn't sweet enough for me. However I have never been a fruit pie guy so I don't have much to compare it too. I just didn't care for it that much. I did enjoy the roasted blue cheese it was served with though. It kind of gave it a little more flavor and made it kind of unique for me. It's probably something I would never order off the menu though so take it for what it is worth.

See, that wasn't so painful to read right? After reading through it I just decided I am not really a food critic. I am more of an overall vibe, people and band critic. That being said I had a great time. I am sitting in this restaurant with Iron Chef Michael Symon. Matt Harlan is an amazing Chef himself. I was so amazed when each course came to the table I even forgot to take pictures of it. The presentation alone was so amazing I forgot the $1,000 machine that is usually strapped to my arm anywhere else. That's just how good this was. Bar Symon is a great place to dine and I sat across the table from and dined with the Jonathon Sawyer, the Chef-Owner of The Greenhouse Tavern. It was like eating with a fucking rock star. I had incredible conversation and a great night out with the wife. That's my real review for you right there. I ate tons of incredible food and hung out with one of the biggest buzzworthy Chefs in Cleveland right now. I was able to shoot the shit with Matt Harlan the man responsible for this feast between courses and that was pretty cool too. So did I have a good time? I had a momentous evening out for a Monday on the outskirts of Cleveland drinking incredible beer and eating amazing food.

On to the social commentary part though now. No one really shares meals like this anymore. Where else in the world can I sit at a table of six complete strangers who all turn out to be amazing people from different walks of life? Applebees? Fridays? Hell no. It takes an event like this to get people together, to talk about life, Cleveland, beer and food. Food is that one thing we all have in common. It is the thread that can sew together completely different personalities. If someone said people are going to really read your shitty blog and it will be in print one day I would have laughed at you a couple of months ago. If you told me I would be essentially breaking bread and toasting glasses with Iron Chef Michael Symon and Jonathon Sawyer I would have said get the fuck out of here. Strange things happen with food as the common bond. The real pairing here were the people for me. That is what made the meal. I thought I would be stuck with a bunch of stuffy armchair Iron Chef Judge asshole types. I was pleasantly surprised. Cleveland you never cease to amaze me. You are a melting pot of culture and I love you for what you do to me.

I would like to go back to Bar Symon on a non-event night. The big board specials look amazing as does the entire menu. They serve brunch on Sundays as well. The layout of the restaurant itself is open and spacious. It appears to be very handicap friendly. The patio is very large with fire pit. Even the patio makes you forget you are in a strip mall in Avon Lake. Be prepared to wait a bit during peak hours. I didn't ask about reservations but the website says "for parties of 6 or more". Happy hour is a buck off drafts and some discounts on some bottles. The bar is spacious and looks very comfortable, but seating is limited so get there early because once people get in there they don't want to leave. You can get an incredible meal here for less than $20 or a burger for $11. Brunch will run you around $10. The service for the event was fast, friendly and courteous. The staff was also very knowledgeable about the menu options. Bar Symon is an oasis in Lorain County that offers affordable dining options for everyone. You will not be disappointed, go check them out.

The Happy Dog Revisited...

2010-03-28T14:09:00.000-04:00

I had to fight to stay in the game last Sunday. I have been wanting to see DJ Kishka for a couple months now and he was spinning his craft at The Happy Dog. This was a little pre-party for his upcoming Buffalo gig at Dyngus Day. See, DJ Kishka isn't a normal DJ. He is a one man Polka machine. Sitting at a chair throwing back a Tyskie with a single turntable spinning Polkas, button boxes and tambourine ready to kick out the jams. He plays popular Cleveland Polka favorites along with some really obscure gems. See, the beauty of this is Kishka isn't some stuffy old Polock, he is the alter ego of Cleveland's Magpies keyboardist Justin Gorski. His act is priceless. He is funny while still being respectful to the music he plays.

The DJ Kiska outfit is basically a horrible (in a good way) fake Yiddish looking beard, a hat and some thrift store pants with suspenders and a white shirt. He looks like something straight out of a Parma basement meets an Amish old man. It's bizarre, yet it works so well. He sings along to the songs, knows many of them by heart, beating along on his tambourine the whole way. He delivers his shtick so well you forget he is 30-something year old seriously gifted musician. He insights banter with the fans in the crowd and is beyond animated. He plays with a single record player and talks to the crowd when he is switching over records. Honestly if he did the whole mixing thing I don't know if it work as well. I liked his between song banter just as much as the music he was playing. It's the package deal and he pulls it off like a champ.

Polka music over the years have gotten a pretty bad rap. It's like the burning river we have been trying to hide in the Cleveland closet for years. Polka music has been swept under the carpet of Cleveland for years. It is great to see someone younger muscians trying to embrace it again. We have the Chardon Polka Band, Joey Tomsick Orchestra and of course Johnny Koenig. We also have the official Polka Hall of Fame. I think the whole white socks, black shoes stigma is over. It's fun music. It's party and drinking music honestly. You can find bands like these playing all over the city and its suburbs any given weekend at Slovenian Halls and bars off the beaten path.

I never have heard of or seen an actual Polka band at the Happy Dog. However, it has the spirit of the old school working mans bars in Cleveland that would embrace this sort of thing. The social halls of the past where the dock and factory workers would blow off steam and share a brew with their neighbor after a hard days work. Maybe there was a perch fish fry or something, and working men with their families would be throwing back a P.O.C beer. I think one of the smartest things Eric Williams did (well outside of Momocho) was to take ownership in this bar and not change it. It remains old school. There are some modern touches added to the decor but for the most part you can imagine this bar was probably pretty close to the same if you walked into it 40 years ago. The rich wood bar, the paneled walls, the closet of a bath room with the grade school urinals. It is authentic Cleveland when the local tavern was the hub of activity and the heart of the community.

They have an incredible jukebox with an eclectic mix heavy on the indie-punk tip. The walls are adorned with incredible photos that feature Elvis Costello to Domo Kun among others. An Elvis bust lamp sits in the corner by the pinball machines. Booths line the walls, with some table seating in the open area of the bar. The bar is...a giant U-shape. However it works much better here than other places because there really is ample room to move around with the exception of a small congested area leading back to one of the bathrooms. The sound system until recently was problematic with snaps, crackles and hissings like the old boiler in the Christmas Story house. Recently the speakers were mounted on the ceilings and the sound is 10x's better. So either they got a new board or the Soundman has earned his wings.

As far as entertainment goes the Happy Dog shows incredible promise to become the Beachland Tavern of West Cleveland. This in itself is refreshing to myself making a much shorter commute to see some of the local talent the city has to offer. Any given weekend is a who's who of Cleveland independent music. The stage is on the small side but works well in the space. They offer different styles of music from a Gram Parson's Tribute, an Opry night, Kishka spinning records, to bands like the Jack Fords Playing rock and roll. It is good to see them keeping it fresh and trying out different things. All too often the local Cleveland taverns become to comfortable with one certain type of music. So they cease to exist as a tavern and become that blues bar, the goth-industrial bar, that punk bar or that cover band bar. While it is good to have those types of bars it's another to have people from all walks of life come into a place any given night.

Now the menu of the Happy Dog is simple; Hot Dogs. Plump, juicy, delicious all American hot dogs. A place where they can make a tater tot a gourmet experience. A place where they can make a hot dog a culinary masterpiece. This is not the chili or kraut dog served up at Steve's or the Hot Dog Inn. Those are amazing in their own way. The Happy Dog takes this simple all American favorite and twists it to a build your own dream dog. They have a sushi style menu where you can pick up to 50 different toppings to build your tubular masterpiece on a bun. Kim chee, Whiz, fried egg, candy sprinkles, bacon...dear God the list goes on and on. They even have some popular combos for those who just can't make that decision for themselves.

I have bitched in the past about the fact it's $5.00 for a dog, but I'm over it. I found the core of my bitterness. I was afraid that places like Steve's and the Hot Dog Inn who have been long standing traditions in the area would have been hurt by the loss of business. While the these three places serve hot dogs it is a different world between the three of them. It is doubtful anyone will lose their core business. Steve's and the Hot Dog Inn have been open for years. You were a Steve's guy or you were a Inn guy. I was always a Hot Dog Inn guy because my mom would take me there as a kid after trips to the ballpark or the Westside Market. Well until there was a shooting outside of there or something back in the early 80's. Then I rediscovered it back in the 90's. The only thing now is there is another dog on the block and it is really just as good if not better than the others . It's just different. So while the blue collar Cleveland boy will always have a soft spot for the Hot Dog Inn I think the Happy Dog is now the one to beat. However the Inn and Steve's probably aren't going to be making any changes since they have been the same for years. The Happy Dog has a little of everything, good food, excellent beer selection, attentive servers, and great music. It is well worth checking out.

Local Girl Gallery, Sullivan's, Trio Tavern, Manja

2010-03-21T21:36:00.002-04:00

Sometimes I feel like I am running a marathon. An alcohol induced relay race with friends and this city. I want to do everything and I am no longer stable without activity of some sort. Last night I started out at an incredible fund raiser at Linda Goik's Local Girl Gallery in Lakewood. The Soul Food exhibit and fund raiser was to raise support and funding for Trinity Lakewood Community Outreach. To say it was a success is an understatement. I went in expecting to view some art, shake some hands and schmooze a bit but movement was impeded severely by the wall to wall patrons. It was packed and I love seeing such support behind such a very worthy cause. I was pretty much regulated to a small 4x4 patch of floor in the back of the gallery just chatting it up with friends. I was fine with that. As I chatted away I glanced at all the works hanging on the walls and there were some wonderful pieces. The gallery on a normal day I would imagine to be bright and spacious. The thing that made my entire week was being noticed as that guy from 52 Weeks of Cleveland by someone. Mind you it was not just someone, it was a stunning female. So, that was an added bonus for the evening and made me say wow, alright people are really reading this, and it's not just weirdo's living in their moms basement (no offense). I would be a jerk not to drop a shameless plug for my new found friend Allison and her Fringe and Foundation Salon in my hometown of Westlake.

So after my head cleared from my ego boost and about a half hour or so at the gallery show I headed up to Madison Avenue to Sullivan's Pub to meet up with some friends. With 24 beers on tap and bottles of whiskey hanging from the walls like fine works of art ready to be poured it was difficult making a decision of what to try out. I went with a Murphy's Irish Red backed up with some 10 year old Bushmill's. The bar is gorgeous with hard wood accents and very spacious. The service and the sense of humor of our Bartender were a pleasant way to start off the night. I was still reliving my Bottom's Up experience from last weekend when the Bartender breaks in and says, "umm, it's called Bottom's Up. That didn't tip you off?" Something in an Irish Bar brings out the storyteller in everyone it seems and that's what we proceeded to do for the next hour or so swap stories from everything from pot smoking with Agent Orange from an airplane Coke can years ago at Peabody's to exploits at the infamous Lido Lounge on W. 117th Street.

I didn't eat anything here tonight, however, I have in the past and I can tell you they have some great Irish fayre. Their Boxty is some of the best around and my favorite menu item would have to be the Fish and Chips; a tempura dipped cod that tastes out of this world. They also offer the standards of corned beef and cabbage and Shepard's pie year round. They also host live entertainment about once a month with Cleveland Irish music legends The New Barley Corn. It was kind of quiet last night but there were some groups of folks hanging out. I think it is a great place for that honestly. There is no blaring music, it is nice and bright inside and the service is excellent. However, like most Irish Pubs you are dealing with a little bit on the expensive side to just hang out and drink black and tans all night. I will say it seems to be much more affordable than The Harp and Flannery's though. It is definitely worth checking out for dinner or with a group of friends for cocktails.

After an hour or so here we all headed across the street to the Trio Tavern to check out the Hellbound Grifters. The Trio Tavern is a throw back bar from the old school beer signs that adorn the walls to the clientele. They serve PBR drafts for a buck for the brave and your standard other beers. One of the charming things I always liked about this joint was the old school bowling machine, but alas it is no more. They have a giant cigar store Indian (or is it Native American?) and one of those old built in oak phone booths. The bar area is a big old U-shape again, that I can't seem to escape lately. They have a large open area off to the side where the band played along with some tables, chairs, dart boards and a pool table. So in theory you can get shit faced wasted here, play pool and call a cab from the phone booth for under 20 bucks. The service was decent enough but they close at 1am which I found odd.

The Hellbound Grifters are a upstart 2 piece band consisting of drums, guitar and vocals. They are trying their hand at the White Stripes, Black Keys thing by going bassless. They weren't too bad at all. The problem I thought was not truly having the mix down due to no sound system to speak of. The Trio isn't really a live band bar. There is no stage or PA system. Anyone who would play here would have to bring their own so the mix of the vocals was upstaged by the wailing guitar and pounding drums. They will be opening for Scoliosis Jones at the Spitfire in April so it will be interesting to hear them with real live sound. Just seeing front man Vince's black flying V accented with white polka dots is probably worth the price of a ticket. That is one fucked up Quiet Riot looking instrument. They played a short set that lasted about a half hour and we proceeded to close the place down at 1am. Why 1am? No idea, I didn't bother to ask. We just walked on across the street to Manja.

Manja has been a mainstay in that Lakewood-Madison district for quite some time. However though I don't remember if they closed for a bit or what because I haven't been there in ages. Before the Spitfire and Now That's Class came around Manja used to be the Indie-Punk hangout. Seriously I have no idea what happened over the last few years since I have been there. It still has the same vibe to it but a different clientele. I was fine with that because they still remain to have one of the best jukeboxes in town. My buddy slapped a five in that thing and we enjoyed everything from The Pixies to the man in black. It is a small bar with normal bar seating and some living room furniture to relax on. I think it struggles to find an identity in the area. Is it still the hipster place it was a few years back? Not really, but it's still a decent place to stop. Due to it's limited size and seating I couldn't see staying here for a long period of time if it was packed. I can't believe bands used to play here. It's been so long I can't even remember where the hell they used to play.

I had a pretty eventful Saturday night to say the least. I'd love to say come follow me around next Saturday but I won't be in the state. I am heading to Presque Isle in Erie PA to lose some money at the Casino. I really can't wait for Cleveland to open our very own casino, but until then I will travel like it's a dirty secret to PA to get my fix on hearing them winning bells that the slots make when I hit the jackpot. If you are in town though you seriously should go to the Beachland to get in on The Hot Rails cd release party or Parnell's to see Heelsplitter.

Just me bloggin' me

2010-03-19T22:03:00.000-04:00

So I went to the Doctor today to get a routine finger prick blood test that turned into 5 vials worth at the lab. I like my Doctor. He is a pretty funny guy honestly. When I complained about some arm soreness he asked how that happened. I had to tell him the truth he's my doctor after all. I went to a work function at Dave and Busters and seriously fucked up my arms by....playing that video boxing game. Yeah the one with the fake gloves that you throw jabs, and uppercuts while you bob and weave. You know the one. Well without Mick in my corner telling me to "stick and move Rock" I made it 3 rounds. I was proud of myself but I was fatigued like I was actually boxing without getting hit. The outcome of this? I am out of shape like you would not believe, and my own Doctor laughing at me for being such a walking disaster.

So, the Doc wants to see how the ticker is doing, along with running some other tests because Diabetes is a right of passage in my family. I already spoke in a previous post of the vertigo, which in itself sucks but I started this involuntary twitching when I yawn sometimes. I can't recreate it either with fake yawns so he wants me to check in with a Neurologist just to see what kind of craziness this is all about. It's not a little twitch. It's like a full on shake, rattle and roll thing in my hand. Now of course it is in the side of my arm where I have broken, dislocated, and sprained it several times so that makes me worry a little less. It's the not knowing stuff that always freaks me out. You know the "well it could be nothing at all or it could be Parkinson's" sentence. Why not just leave out the "or it could be" part? I am perfectly happy with it could be nothing at all.

So after being laughed at by the Doc a little more out of the blue this time from him picturing me boxing a machine and pulling a bicep muscle he gave me the talk. I am narrowly escaping being put on blood pressure medication and something else I blocked out. He wants me to lose 24 pounds in 6 months which seems like a decent time frame to do so. I started doing the whole Vegan thing in hopes that I might lose a few pounds, and that didn't really do shit. I didn't feel any better. I didn't have more energy, and I didn't really lose any weight minus maybe a couple pounds.

I think it is a compassionate lifestyle and I applaud any and all that live that lifestyle. I love animals. I am a compassionate person. I follow Buddhist philosophy about that. Karma, right? I think that things such as dairy products and eggs are gifts from the animals and I don't have a problem eating that sort of thing. I honestly could go without meat the rest of my life. That's 50% compassion and 50% worry about what is now in the animals. The hormones injected into them, the antibiotics, pigs that live in such a sterile environment humans can only enter their "sanctuary" wearing masks and bio-hazard suits in fear of one germ would completely wipe out the entire lot of them. Cage free is bullshit, organic is a crock, and eating local farm raised meats and produce in Cleveland is only possible 5 or 6 months a year when the farm markets are open.

So Vegan wasn't my thing. The problem with any diet, be it Vegan or South Beach or Weight Watchers or Atkins I go on benders. I crave what I can't have because it is my personality. I could be doing great for a month and then someone waves temptation in my face and I cave. Once I cave I know I screwed up for the week, once I screwed up for the week well fuck it, it's over and this diet sucks it doesn't work let's go get a Roman Burger. Then it starts all over again. I think vegan options have gotten so much better as of late it would be easy to embrace compassionate eating even a couple days a week. I like the fake chicken patties and nuggets better than the real ones. I like a good veggie burger too, but I like it with french fries which are a vegan option, but a horrible choice.

I love watching the celebrity folks that go on diets and lose like 50 pounds in a matter of months. Hell, look at Matt Damon in his recent roles or even Deniro in Raging Bull. They packed on a ton of weight and lost a ton of weight for their craft. How did they do it? Well, lets think about it. They have the luxury of not working a day in their life. They can hire a nutritionist, a personal chef and build a gym and hire the chick from the Biggest Loser to work them out while man servants fan them with palm tree leaves and women feed them grapes by hand. They just make it so unrealistic when they say "they watch what they eat" and "work out".

All I know is I have 6 months to lose 24 pounds, and if I don't do it I am going on a Roman Burger binge or maybe I will just find the Zen to dieting. I don't know. All I know is a vegan diet just isn't my thing because vegans can eat total junk food too. I'd end up being a miserable overweight vegan. I am going to start introducing more proteins into the diet. I am not going to make myself suffer and learn what moderation actual means. If I want to go out to eat somewhere I just won't make lousy options. It's ok to slip up too just get back on the horse immediately. I am going to "de-junk food" the house tomorrow. If it isn't around it will make me actually have to make a conscious decision to get in the car and drive to buy junk food. I hope in the time the shame and guilt kicks in that it will make me turn around. My enemy is impulse, always has been. If I learn to curb impulse I can do this.

That is all. I am human at times too. It's not all rock and roll, concerts, beers, booze and good times. It just feels good for me to read this, and if someone has something to offer me then excellent. If not at least I can see this in print to remind me of the mission I am on.

Struttin' Cocks at the Spitfire Saloon

2010-03-14T22:53:00.000-04:00

I must say I have not been to the Spitfire in some time. After a lack of interest from my friends to go just hang out and chill at the Lincoln Park Pub I decided to get out of there and go see one of my Cleveland favorites The Struttin' Cocks there. We started out at the Lincoln Park at around 8:30 and it was pretty dead. It's honestly a nice Tremont tavern. People tend to dive deeper into the belly of the Tremont beast on the weekends leaving the LPP as more of an afterthought. They have great food, an excellent beer selection and the food has been great every time I have been there. The service is always great too and I always love when Jen is behind the bar. She wasn't last night but it was still good service.

The layout of the bar is basically two rooms, the bar area, and a dining area with a fireplace which is a quaint touch. The wood gives it a rustic tavern feel and it is very nondescript which gives it a more casual feel than some of the more trendy bars in the area. They have a huge patio for the spring and summer months which also is kind of nondescript. However while it kind of lacks character it doesn't lack charm. I think they could really do some minor cosmetic upgrades to the place to make it look a little better. The lighting is a little to dim in the bar area for me and that has a lot to do with the dark wood and paint choice. This place is jammed packed on Tuesday Taco night where they have specials on Mexican beers and well tacos (duhhhh). The tacos are pretty damn good as is everything on the menu. I really enjoy hanging out here for a quiet night out especially in the spring and summer months to play some pool and just hang out on the spacious patio. I'd really like to see more live entertainment here. I think it is the perfect place for it, but maybe due to regulations in the area they can't do it or something. A nice acoustic solo artist, maybe an Irish band or something would be pretty cool on the patio in the summer or even over by the fireplace in the colder Cleveland months.

After sitting and waiting like a nerd on prom night for a couple hours with no one showing up to join us we decided to go up to the Spitfire to go check out the Struttin' Cocks. A private party was just starting to fill in the LPP too so it was the perfect time to make an exit. The Spitfire Saloon is located right on West 117th and Franklin. They have a very small parking lot and the street parking is always difficult. I can't fault them for that but unfortunately it sucks at times to find a spot. The bar itself is a dive. It's a punk rock bar and shows all the wear of a punk rock bar. It's walls are painted black the bathrooms are adorned with graffiti and bumper stickers. The walls have old records on them hung as art, and band stickers are plastered on many of the walls. Local artists also use the wall space to hang up their craft which is usually pretty amazing. Sean Burns art was hanging tonight and Burns, for the record is one of Cleveland's finest around.

The bar itself is huge. Not the space, the actual bar. Its giant U-shape takes up the majority of the entire bar. I personally hate the U-Shape bar. I find the monstrosity of them to be annoying and a waste of space. However this beast of a bar predates the Spitfire so it's what they had to work with. Had they had a bunch of cash to put into this place I am pretty sure they might have went a different direction because the space is on the small side. They have some booths for seating on the left side of the bar as well as stools that go all the way around the giant U. They have a free jukebox filled with punk rock classics built into the wall which is pretty cool, and a small DJ area where the great Larry Szyms and other locals spin their craft.

The vibe, and the decor as well as the clientele is punk rock but honestly everyone is friendly as can be. You'll see guys in GG Allin shirts, and girls in roller-girl attire as well as just regular folks like myself, but mainly punk is the thing here. The bar staff is pretty quick and very friendly. The bartender last night I would seriously put next to a Suicide Girl any day of the week. Such a great change of pace from seeing the rah-rah cheerleader types of other bars. Cute girls behind the bar is always good for business, but cute girl with tats that is friendly and quick is a giant bonus. Her male counterpart was just as good too slinging the booze. They have a huge selection of beers from the downright shitty to some great high end micros. Two giant flat screens show whatever they feel like from the ball game to Jackass on both sides of the bar. The stage area is tucked away in the corner and is now fenced in which I wasn't a fan of at all. I just don't get the fenced in part. Is it for safety or what is the point of it? I just don't like the look of it. If it has to be there for whatever reason my bad but I think it's ridiculous. Due to the big U-bar you can only watch the bands right in front of the stage which can get a little rough. To say the sound is loud is an understatement. It is ear piercing, can't hold a conversation loud, but it's Cleveland's own little CBGB's so it is kind of expected.

Rustbelt Homewreckers took the stage first at around 11pm, and played about 45 minutes. I think the sound was a nice blend of old school punk and country without being too cowpunk. Maybe think Mojo Nixon hopped up on amphetamines. This 4-some from PA had a great sound that really got the crowd at the bar ready for the headlining Struttin' Cocks. The lead singer role switched multiple times between the band which kept it interesting. Aaron the drummer had the Oi thing going with the shaved head and belting out vocals on the more punk tracks. The dude looks like an ass kicker, but honestly seemed like a stand up guy after talking when they were done playing. The bass was assaulted with lightning fingers by a cat named Josh, and Mike handled the rhythm details like a champ. Front and center was Mick who looked like fucking Grizzly Adams slinging the guitar and singing like a man possessed.

After a short break the Struttin' Cocks took the stage. These are local guys who pretty much sneeze out punk rock anthems. Every song is 3 minute boozed fueled sing a long from "I'm Going to Jail" to "Get Outta Cleveland". People were climbing the cage, and an open mic was used as a backup mic for the local fans who mostly are in punk or garage bands themselves. On the first note everyone in the bar went front and center to not only listen to but become a part of the show. Beer spills, accidental and planned, were enough to soak multiple people including the band. The band themselves go by stage names, which as I have said before I don't particularly care for. These guys are really great and don't need to hide behind pseudonyms they are that good. I totally get it but that doesn't mean I need to like it. The set was very tight but maybe about 45 minutes. However they pack more energy in 5 minutes of their set than most bands around the Cleveland area. It blows my mind these guys aren't on the Warped Tour or at the very least opening across the country for a bigger national act. Their songs and music are infectious. They should be on a label and selling a bunch of records. They are a must see if you are in Cleveland and can be found at multiple venues in the area any given weekend.

After the set was over and the extent of the hearing damage could be diagnosed we decided to head down the street to a place called Bottoms Up. Bottoms Up used to be this total blue collar NASCAR place so I thought it be a nice way to end the night on a quiet note. Well...it changed a bit since I was last there a few years back. Bottom's Up, which the name alone should have clued me in, is a gay bar. Gay Bar as in a cage behind the bar with a dude dressed only in a tiny blue thong banana hammock gay bar. I am the most non-homophobic person in the world but the shirtless bartenders and overall vibe of the place was pretty much beyond a 360 from where we just came. After a cocktail and a cherry bomb served to us by aforementioned cage dancer, who by the way could have balanced the tray on his erection, we were all set to go back to the Spitfire to end it on a less surreal note and that we did.

So 3 bars and 2 bands in one night running the gambit from a quiet Tremont tavern, to a loud punk rock bar to a surreal experience at a local gay bar ain't too bad for a nights work. It just goes to say Cleveland has a little something for everyone on any given night. Cleveland is a diverse community that seems to be tolerant and accepting of everyone. I had a great time the majority of the night and I think all of these places are worth checking out depending what mood you are in. You can go for a low key night at the Lincoln Park Pub, a loud wild night of punk rock at the Spitfire, or get your groove on to the dance music of Bottom's Up and see cage dancers in blue thongs. It just goes to show Cleveland is a melting pot of different styles and cultures but no matter where you go you are bound to find a good time.

Smedley's and the Jack Fords

2010-03-07T19:40:00.001-05:00

I just can't get my head around this thing today. I have been looking at the blank white of this new post screen for going on three hours. My shit just ain't working right today. I have a case of the cobwebs of the head or something. It wasn't a drinking thing or anything honestly I just have been feeling off. Vertigo spells a couple times last week coupled with this fatigue that I felt like I had to battle just to keep my eyes open the better part of last week. Like I said before it happens from time to time, but I still am going to try and bring the "A" game so to speak. The Jack Fords certainly did last night at Smedley's. It's the least I can do.

Smedley's...ahhhh an oasis on a street filled with the beautiful people bars across the street. Kamm's Corner has turned around by leaps and bounds since the old days when it used to be pretty much dead. The most action you could find was down the road over at the Public House. Now it is a mini West 6th street kind of scene over there. Honestly the bars across the street are not my kind of thing. I have been a couple times when coaxed out my friend's but it's not my style. I think there are excellent bars over there I just don't like the high fashion crowd. I don't fit in there too well and feel like a dirtball at times. It's not like I wear ripped jeans and white shirts with pit stains or anything, but I just feel out of place in that type of environment. I honestly commend them for what they brought to the area.

However, as long as I can remember Smedley's has been there. It was called a couple different things over the years. I used to live down the road from it when I was in Fairview and would hit it for a cheap karaoke night back in the day. I don't recall what incarnation or name it was back at that time though. I just remember they had cheap drinks and great food specials, and I would throw darts there. Not much has changed. The drinks and food are still cheap. I think my tab was under $30 for more than a couple rounds between friends. The space itself is pretty big; long bar, small stage and dance floor area, multiple tables, pool table in the back. They took out the old school bowling machine which I was a little sad about but we made due.

The walls are adorned with biker memorabilia, military flags and regalia. To say this bar is pro-military is like saying I am pro-Cleveland music. They beyond support our troops, they embrace them with open arms. The crowd is mixed but heavy on the biker thing. Not the hobbyist type, but the real deal. We are talking the guys you would see as Extras in Easy Rider or running security at Altamont. I am not saying Hells Angels here, I don't know that, but these are some serious bikers. God love 'em, they are nice people too. Some of them look scary as fuck, but no one really bothered anyone. I guess there were a couple of altercations there last night but they were so subdued I didn't really notice. I think that is pretty much because of Stibbs behind the bar. If they had a photo in a dictionary for "people you probably shouldn't fuck with", you would see a picture of Stibbs. Stibbs is a mountain of a man and seems to be well respected behind the bar. He is a great bartender #1 and acts as Bouncer and general keeper of the peace.

I never once felt unsafe at this place at all. Everyone I talked to was friendly and they even joked about the man purse I carry that is my camera bag. So, I paint a picture of a pretty gritty place but honestly it is what it is. It is gritty. It's a dive biker/military/law enforcement/firefighter joint. If you walk in their looking for trouble it more than likely is going have no trouble finding you. That being said I don't think many are stupid enough to do so. On the other hand it is a great place to drink and eat on the cheap and honestly a great place to see a local band. That is what we were there for, to see The Jack Fords bring that shit home, and did they ever.

The Jack Fords, 2007's Best Rock and Roll band, as voted by the now defunct Free Times is the reason we decided to come to Smedley's. The Jack Fords mix in some down home southern rock, blended with a little alt-country and finish it off with some dirty blues. They are rock and roll personified and pull it off with a swagger that would rival the Stones. They ran through 20 plus songs in what seemed to be a never ending first set. The 20 plus, I need to add were all originals and incredible. I would clock the first set in at an hour and a half to pretty close to 2 hours. The second set was chocked full of covers to appease the masses as the dance floor was packed by the end of the night. They did it all from Johnny Cash to The Band to Cheap Trick. This was a great warm up for what will be an awesome show for the release of their new CD The Way Things Should Be May 8th at the Happy Dog.

To call them a hard working group of musicians is putting it mildly. Singer-Guitarist Brent Kirby can be seen solo all over town or playing with The New Soft Shoe doing all Gram Parsons material. Bass player Ed Sotelo can be found laying down fat beats in The Fords and playing with Cobra Verde, The New Lou Reeds and his newly formed Beachland Lottery League band. Jim Wall lays down the drum tracks. Jim's resume reads like a who's who of Cleveland blues playing with the Bad Boys of Blues, and a stint sitting in with Big Brother and the Holding Company. He was also a member of the touring Love, Janis show. Bobby Latina plays he guitar like a man on a mission. He is a great player and to call him animated would be an understatement. He's a ham, he knows it, and I am good with that. The bands he plays with or played with were all pretty damn solid. We are talking The Cowslingers, Hayshaker Jones, and The Whiskey Daredevils.

Add all this talent into one band or you are in for one hell of a ride taking you from dirty blues that would get a standing ovation from the Black Keys to alt-country numbers that would make even Wilco jealous. They have an energy to them that keeps people enthralled and the have built up a solid fan base in a pretty short amount of time. How a band like this remains unsigned should be a crime, but it makes for a night on the cheap for entertainment an easy thing. There was no cover last night and you can see them around town for under 5 or 10 bucks. I would not only say go see them, but go see them now when they are truly at home playing at a true rock and roll bar like Smedley's. They look and feel like they are at home playing places like this. Smedley's is a great place to check out combined with a truly great rock and roll band like The Jack Fords made it even that much better.

I like the Oscars...

2010-03-04T23:04:00.000-05:00

I'm not like one of those Oscar party people or anything, but I really enjoy film. As soon as the Oscars become like the Grammys or they bring back Billy Crystal I will probably stop watching. This really has nothing to do with Cleveland but I thought I would share my picks for the big ones this year...but impress your friends and go lay down some bets in Vegas because my shit is that dead on.

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart

Best Actress: Sandra Bullock The Blind Side

Best Director: Kathyrn Bigelow The Hurt Locker

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz in Basterds

Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique in Precious

Best Animated Feature: Up

Best Adapted Screenplay: Up in the Air

Best Original Screenplay: Inglorious Basterds

Best Original Song: The Weary Kind Ryan Bingham Crazy Heart

Best Visual Effects: Avatar

Best Documentary: The Cove

Best Costume Design: The Young Victoria

Best Cinematography: The Hurt Locker

Best Art Direction: Avatar

Best Foreign Language: The White Ribbon

In other news Saturday I will be at Smedley's. It's a little dive over on Kamm's Corner. The Jack Fords are playing. Come say hello if you get the chance.

MC

Brothers Lounge Wine Bar with Brent Kirby

2010-02-28T21:15:00.000-05:00

I have written a novel thus far today based on my day Saturday. West Side Market in the morning followed by breakfast at Mi Pueblo. I would have one or two more to write had the weather been better and I made it out to Reddstone and or the Winchester if it weren't for the roads being snow covered. We did make it out to Brothers Lounge to see Brent Kirby from the Jack Fords in the Wine Bar, and I was pretty impressed with Mr. Kirby himself and the Wine Bar. I was also surprised to see one of my photos gracing the flyers for the event which was kind of cool even though they never asked permission. I had mixed feelings about it for like 2 seconds but with me being an attention whore I really liked it.

It's been a while, like 6 years, since Brothers went through it's reconstruction period. The old Brothers was a complete dump. I mean seriously the dregs of society would crawl to this joint. There were some pretty shady folks that used to hang out at this place, myself included to play the occasional round of darts and drink on the cheap. I am speculating but based on folklore and witnessing some weirdness with my own eyes booze and beers weren't the only thing being slung at the old Brothers Lounge. I never thought I utter the words let's go to Brother for a glass of wine, but that's all changed. I am guessing the renovations to the place were in the 7 figure range. Three bars including the main bar, the wine bar and the concert hall. This is if I recall correctly because I only hit the wine bar Saturday night.

Now here's the issue I have with Brothers and why I never went back after the last time. They spent a lot of cash on the sound system in the large concert hall room, but they are not listener or fan friendly. If you actually come here to see a band you are only going to leave pissed. Maybe it has changed in the main hall. I don't know. They always seem to be packed with private parties in the big room or its just packed period. It's mostly not packed with people to see the bands. It's packed with people that like to talk, and talk really loud so you can't really enjoy the show. The Wine Bar was a little different, but barely. The music at Brothers seems to be nothing more than an afterthought. They have great local bands that play both sides of the Lounge but it can at times seem like nothing more than background music to loud conversations.

That being said I did not leave pissed Saturday but I think only because we got there early enough to score great seats at the bar very close to the stage. Had I been in the back I think it would have changed things a bit. The Wine Room is gorgeous with tin ceiling tiles and rich hardwood all over the place. The chairs are super comfy. The service is pretty good but 2 bartenders might not be enough at times. The wine and beer selection is pretty extensive with a little something for everyone. They offer 2 ounce flights of 3 wines for $9.00 to sample to find what you are looking for which I thought was very cool. The menu looked decent but we only had the Wine Board. It was decent, you got a couple bread rolls in this giant cone shaped thing and a plate with some capicola rolled up, a couple slices of prosciutto, 4 cheese wedges, a smattering of grapes, crackers and craisins which I thought was a little on the tacky side as a fruit offering on a "Market Price" wine board. The rest of the menu seemed like standard bar food with an upscale twist. Prices were moderate but nothing stood out that made me say I must come back to try this.

The reason we came out on a snow covered Saturday night though was to see Brent Kirby who we saw for the first time a couple weeks back do an abbreviated solo set at Ali-Fest at the Town Fryer. Brent does triple duty with his solo career, and as front man for The Jack Fords and his new Gram Parsons tribute The New Soft Shoe. He is a very talented musician and singer songwriter. He does his own material which is excellent and covers of bands like Wilco, Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo and Ryan Adam to name a few. The way he does his covers you would think he wrote them himself. He owns the stage and can captivate an audience. He is a modern day Dylan mixed with a little Jeff Tweedy meets Jack Johnson. Brent is the kind of guy that would be the center of attention around a campfire slinging his guitar like a master and blowing his harmonica with an equal amount of soul. He is a professional musician and you can tell he is meant to be on stage. You can tell he not only enjoys what he does, but he truly gets behind every note he plays and sings.

The sound at times was hushed by the droning nonstop chatter from the bar patrons. Again, I have to say at times the music seemed more of an inconvenience to some than entertainment. I guess that's just the way it is at Brothers though. Brent drew a nice amount of fans to Brothers on Saturday night but it was about 50/50 on those who wanted to enjoy the show and those who wanted to just hang out and talk. It is weird going to a bar like this wanting to see a performance. I am spoiled I think by the many music venues I go to where people are there to watch the bands. I will say this though, there was no cover and I think with a small door charge it might help remedy that a bit. So, I didn't have to pay for the show so I shouldn't really harp on it.

I'd really do plan on seeing Kirby again either solo or with his other projects and possibly booking something under the 52 Weeks of Cleveland banner. I just think he is that good. He really gets behind his craft. He's the kind of guy I'd hang out with and talk music for hours on end with which we did a little bit. I can't really say I would come back to Brothers without reason though. It would need to be to see a band or something. The parking can be challenging, and I am just not part of that scene. I am there for the music and certainly not the atmosphere. I am not hating on it although it seems I might be. I think it is gorgeous lounge. It is probably one of the nicest looking places I have been to in a while. I just don't think it is a true music venue. It's bar first, lounge second in my ever so humble opinion. They are obviously doing a great business and what they did to the place needs to be applauded at the very least. So Brothers I truly love what you did with the place but you just missing the mark a bit on the music venue piece of the equation.

Mi Pueblo and the art of Huevos Racheros...2.27.10

2010-02-28T18:42:00.001-05:00

First off can I say how difficult it was not to rip into a couple smokies from Czuchrah Meats, or a hot fresh Brat from Frank's at the West Side Market? It was difficult, let me tell you. Walking aisles upon aisles of fresh cut meats, smelling the bouquet of fruits coming from the stands in the West Side Market Arcade. Walking past Frank's Bratwurst multiple times just smelling those juicy brats and fresh sauerkraut boiling could bring a grown man to his knees begging. I stood there and watched a Cleveland Police Officer order his, and devour it like a starved bear. However just thinking about a fresh hot breakfast from Mi Pueblo made me hold off from going nutty at the Market Saturday. For such amazing willpower and self control I think I deserved the reward that was Huevos Rancheros at Mi Pueblo.

Do I know the history of Mi Pueblo? Nope not at all. All I know it has been over on the corner of West 122nd and Lorain as long as I can remember. They specialize in authentic Mexican food from burritos to Menudo. Yeah, not the Ricky Martin boy band, shut up. The spicy tripe soup concoction. Myself, I am not that brave. I just can't do tripe. I tried tripe once and was put off by the texture. The restaurant itself is pretty wide open with tables and booths and a small bar/counter area where you can sit and stare at the slow cooking pork spinning slowly on a spit. You can also watch the cook prepare your meal on the giant griddle from the bar.

The service is really good here, and has been consistently good each time I have been here. I would estimate the time of order to plate in front of me was like 5 minutes. It was dead on Saturday. I think they just opened the doors when we walked into the joint. So, we had the whole place to ourselves. The prices are beyond reasonable. Most everything is under $10 on the menu with the exception of some of the more traditional dishes. It's breakfast though and that means Huevos Rancheros which is what I usually get here. Every once in a while I go off the board and get a burrito that would make the entire Chipotle corporation as a whole cry.

To start of the meal you get the old standard basket 'o chips. These are fresh, and even have the malformed ones that stick together so you know they are freshly made in the kitchen. You get 2 different salsa the red hot salsa and a more mild green tomatillo salsa. The red was a bit on the hot side for me at 9 in the morning or whatever the hell time it was, but the tomatillo was perfect. You also get a small dish of Mexican pickled carrots which were fantastic. There isn't much time before the actual meal comes out so good luck downing all this. I usually don't because the chips act as a magnificent corn spoon for the part of my breakfast that doesn't make it into the warm corn tortillas.

The huevos rancheros come with three fried eggs, and generous helpings of freshly made refried beans and rice. A nice mild red sauce is served over the eggs which normally I really enjoy. Because this is homemade sort of thing the batch will vary on occasion. This time I think the garlic was a bit overpowering. I really liked it but if there was one thing I would change is a little less garlic. It just at times overpowered the other balanced flavors of the dish. The corn tortillas are served warm and separate in their own warmer and hold up well the warm gooey goodness that is Mi Pueblos huevos rancheros. I lost the battle of corn tortilla to egg ratio and ended up using my chips to scoop up the rest. This is a battle I am more than willing to lose. Overall it was an excellent breakfast choice.

After the meal we headed over to the Mexican grocery next door to pick up some goodies to take home. The store has been there as long as the restaurant but my dumb ass never went in there until yesterday. They have a great selection of Mexican foods to take home from fresh produce including cactus petals to giant foot long sheets of fried pork skin. I opted out of both of those options and picked up some corn tortillas, fresh pico de gallo ($2.59) and a 12 pack of freshly made pork tamales ($12). The pico de gallo was incredible but a little on the hot side. The tamales were unreal. The best I have ever had since Arizona. These are the homemade real deal and worth the trip to the store to pick up a pack for yourself. Don't make the mistake I did and ignore this hidden little treasure of a grocery store. You will not be disappointed in Mi Pueblo or it's adjacent Mexican grocery.

Cleveland's West Side Market...2.27.10

2010-02-28T15:34:00.001-05:00

I woke up early Saturday morning. Actually a little bit more early than I normally would because I have a dog for an alarm clock. She is used to getting up with me for work which means pretty much 7 days a week I am up around at 6 in the morning. Now a lot of times she will give me an extra hour of sleep and she did Saturday which was nice, but I could have used a couple more Zzzzzz's. This morning I had every intention of heading down to Cleveland's West Side Market, just not this early. I'm starting this 21 day detox-vegan challenge thing. It's not really called a detox but when you cut out all meat products and bi-products I would need to call that a detox. You can check it out or take the challenge by clicking here. So I wanted to head to the West Side Market to stock up on fruits, grains and vegetables which are not only plentiful here but also half the price of your local grocery store.

According to local history the WSM started in 1840. The Market as we know it, with the glorious clock tower was built in 1912. The Market has two sections. The outdoor arcade where you can get any fruit or vegetable you can imagine and the inside concourse with choice cuts of meat, fish and poultry. Many of the stalls have been family owned and operated for over 50 years like Bacha Produce where my family has shopped since the 70's. Bacha is always my last stop just for the simple fact I leave with about, no exaggeration here, probably about 15 pounds of fresh produce. Celery, onions, carrots, cabbage, mushrooms, tomatoes...you get the picture. You want it and it's a vegetable? Bacha has it covered.

Plus, and this is a sad note for a while there other vendors were really selling some junk as far as product goes. I can't tell you how many times I got bad product from some of the less than scrupulous vendors in the '90's. I almost quit coming to the market for a bit because of the garbage I was getting. However it has gotten much better over the last few years. If you sold poor product you didn't get my business anymore. I am sure I wasn't the only one who took that stance, and now the bad vendors more or less ran themselves out of business. I am still on my own as far as fruit goes. I haven't found the perfect stand like Bacha, but I wish they would branch out because it would be my one stop shop.

So my fruit dilemma continues at the WSM, but I managed to pick up some nice pink grapefruit. There is tons of fruit to be had at the market but I didn't partake. They have everything from your basic apples and oranges to giant sugarcane stalks. If the whole variety thing doesn't suck you in about the market then the prices are the real reason to come. It is a place where low income families can get good nutritious food at budget prices. Growing up I lived in the affluent Cleveland suburb of Bay Village. Times were tight in the 70's with my mom working 2 jobs for a while and my father was left unemployed when the Glidden plant closed over off Berea Road and West 117th. Because of the WSM we were able to still eat more than peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We ate a things called Chinese Apples, and had oxtail soup. Now Chinese Apples are known as pomegranates and are a delicacy as well as the oxtails which were basically throw away meats in the 70's that sell for $5.99 a pound today.

The main concourse can be overwhelming. It's a vegans nightmare honestly. It is wall to wall and stall to stall meat, meat, meat and more meat. There are some bakery stalls, and ethnic cuisine thrown in here and there, but the major percentage of the concourse is dedicated to protein. There are fish stands, poultry stands, pork stands, dairy stands, and beef stands. Giant cow tongues and whole sucking pigs sit in glass cases lined with ruby red cuts of the finest beef. Fresh butchered pork is the pink color of a kids cheeks after a day on the sledding hill. Whole fish lined up in rows laying on beds of ice stare up at you so fresh you wonder if they might jump out at you. Loaves of fresh golden baked bread are stacked end upon end. Frank's serves up hot bratwurst with kraut and Stadium Mustard for breakfast and lunch, and you can wash it down with an amazing cup of joe from Cleveland's finest coffee maker City Roast.

Cleveland has an affection for the smokie. A ready to eat meat snack in a variety of flavors. There is only one place I ever get my smokies and Iron Chef Michael Symon will agree that Czuchraj Meats is just that place. He picked their beef jerky as the best thing he ever ate. Smokies again, like the Chinese apple and the oxtail back in the 70's were an affordable treat for lower income families. Now, well they are $5.99 a pound, still affordable but more of a once and a while treat. These wonderful meat sticks are loaded with flavor, and come in multiple flavors in turkey or beef. You have the Cleveland original, cajun, cheese, and jalapeno to name a few. A trip to the market without visiting Czuchraj meats is like going to the ballpark and not having a hot dog. It just doesn't feel right.

The yin to Czuchraj's yang in the dairy department is such a hard toss up with 3 to choose from, but I would have to say Meister Foods wins that award. They have undoubtedly the best selection of cheeses and dairy products along with farm fresh eggs. The crown jewel is their case would have to be the old fashion, whipped cream cottage cheese. It is a thick rich non-diet version of what you might find in the store. It is loaded with large cheese curds and thick and creamy like no other cottage cheese you have ever tasted. It is so good I have a friend who will dry ice the stuff and fly it back to Florida when he comes to Cleveland. They also carry fresh Ohio maple syrup and a variety of Ohio honey. My loyalty will always remain with Meister because back in the day they used to give away the cheese ends on the cheap to my mom. My dad would make the best Mac & Cheese with it. Unfortunately that practice has gone to the way of the cheap oxtail. They cube the ends and sell them in one pound bags for $4.99. Still affordable but just not the same.

Cleveland's West Side Market is one of the reasons Cleveland is not miserable. It is a cultural melting pot of Cleveland heritage. It's long standing building is rich with history and memories of days past and present. Everyone has a West Side Market story to tell like me. Be it chili dogs for breakfast, a Frank's Brat to end a morning of shopping, or a pizza bagel breakfast everyone in Cleveland has their own unique West Side Market tradition. It is the one single place in Cleveland almost everyone can agree on as one of the things that makes our city what it is today. It is a small but mighty building with it's clock tower beckoning you in from West 25th street. It is by far as much of a Cleveland landmark as the Terminal Tower, and will remain a long standing tradition for thousands of Cleveland families.

The Pub Road Block: The Linden Tavern

2010-02-26T22:08:00.001-05:00

So here is what happens whenever I actually plan on having dinner somewhere. It ends up to be packed to the hilt or there is a private party. The Pub in Rocky River was no exception to that rule. It was packed with A PRIVATE PARTY and of course packed to the hilt. So that will need to come another day. Tonight was also supposed to be a night at the Beachland Ballroom to see the infamous Glenn Schwartz and the Schwartz Brothers. The weather sucks tonight, as it is Cleveland, and February. The roads are sheets of ice and slush making even the normally short drive to Rocky River an ordeal. Mr. Schwartz we shall see you again one day.

So weather sucks , hungry , Rocky River...where to go? Michael's has an all you can eat fish fry, but seriously Michael's was good for one thing only and that was breakfast. Well, not just breakfast, but drunken breakfast after the bars closed at 2am on a weekend. Well that and the Big Mike Burger, and that was again at 2am on a weekend after drinks. Dun dun duhhhhhhh! Enter the Linden Tavern. The Linden Tavern has been a long standing establishment in Rocky River. Family owned by the Eglinski's since 1989 and serving excellent comfort food including surf and turf specials every Saturday. Really cheap surf and turf Saturdays mind you as in tomorrows special of prime rib and lobster tail for $19.99. But we came for the fresh perch fish fry.

Back at the turn of the century emigrants flocked to Cleveland to work in the factories of the industrial revolution. They formed enclaves through the area and built their churches that still anchor many of the neighborhoods today. Shortly after the churches came the neighborhood bars, social clubs and taverns. Back in those days Friday's were still meatless and these neighborhood pubs served up an inexpensive seafood caught fresh in good old Lake Erie. The Lake Erie yellow tail perch was abundant and right outside Cleveland's front door. The Friday church or pub fish fry became a Friday night family ritual for many. It is good to see that in Cleveland this tradition lives on in places like the Linden Tavern.

The Tavern itself is pretty small. I didn't see the whole tavern as there was a back area and getting back there would have been silly when we were seated in the front. It is a very narrow tavern. I am talking double wide at best. The bar takes up half the joint, and the place is full of regulars that probably have been coming sine 1989. Our server Joe was really attentive but food service was a bit slow only due to the fact it was completely packed. We started with a couple glasses of Riesling, a nice fruity one that you know was probably a $12 bottle, none the less it went well with the brie appetizer. The brie came covered in a berry preserve, had a fair amount of sliced almonds and some grapes on the side. The bread served with it was a little on the dry side and more like a sliced crouton. I would have much preferred a nice fresh sliced baguette but hey it's a mom and pop tavern.

The perch dinner was very good. Unlike my last perch offering from Mitchell's last week was obviously fresh. It had that gamey Lake Erie flavor to it. It was moist, lightly breaded, and fried golden brown. The dinner came with about 6 pieces of perch served on a pile of fries, a side of coleslaw and a roll. Like I said the perch was fabulous. The fries were like McDonald's which isn't a bad thing but seriously how hard is it to buy some regular spuds throw them in the old fashioned cutter and toss them in the deep fryer. So while the fish was great, the combo fell a little short from the perfect fish fry I am searching for. So, the white whale gets away yet again, but just barely. I would definitely go back here again to try the rest of the menu especially on one of those surf and turf Saturdays.

Here's the rub, and where I can digress into my funny anecdote story tellin' fool self. Back in the early 90's I dated a lot. I also liked to party a lot. Like really party a lot. During this time I met this girl named...to protect the innocent we'll just call her "Roxy". She was a dancer, well no, she was actually a stripper dancer who worked at what was back then the Circus. Roxy and I ended up dating for a few months, or couple months honestly we are talking 1992 it is vague at best. Roxy had a substance abuse problem along with a 5th of Jack Daniels a day habit. Now that doesn't make her a bad person, but the relationship went south real quick after having dinner and meeting her dad at her place. Little did I know her dessert of choice was cocaine with the old man. I obviously was way out of my league with this one. She was used to bad boys that would rough her up and a little more crazy than I was willing to offer. I was crazy in my own special way at the time. Plus at the time I was running for city council of my local little suburb trying to make things happen for me. While it was fun while it lasted it was a horrible heartbreak I think on both sides. Well where is this going? I caught Roxy out of the corner of my eye tending bar at the Linden and that isn't a can of worms I have any interest in revisiting. Plus I like my fish fry without a side order of potential scorned vendetta food tampering.

I got me a fancy Facebook fan page!

2010-02-24T22:14:00.001-05:00

52 Weeks of Facebook

Basically keep up to date on where I will be going so you can come along for the ride if you wish. Stalk me or whatever. I don't care. All that matters is you come out and enjoy what Cleveland has to offer...even if it is for some sick, twisted perversion.

I will also be posting full sets of photos from shows and various other photography projects. If you think what I post on here is good, you should see the stuff that never makes it up here.

Beachland Barn Dance 2.20.10

2010-02-23T21:06:00.001-05:00

Cleveland never ceases to amaze me at times. The Beachland Barn Dance was held last Saturday night. First off I have to say when I heard this was in the Ballroom and Robert Bradley was playing in the Tavern I thought it was a mistake. No offense...no offense band people but I am ye of little faith I guess. I seriously thought it would be a smaller crowd just because well, people aren't 100% hip to the bluegrass barn dance thing 'round these here parts. I was like awesome I can sneak up to the stage with ease and snap some pics. Boy was I ever fucking wrong. The Ballroom was packed. So was the Tavern for that matter but I didn't hit the Bradley show, well just snippets of it when I went out to smoke. So seven bands took the stage for $7.00, a value at that price for the budget minded folks in this "miserable" Cleveland economy.

So my first mistake of the night was getting there at like 8:30ish because I missed the first band The Timberwolves. Sorry guys...I am sure you were good but I was in the car. I actually got in to see most of the One Dollar Hat set. One Dollar hat is, I am going to sound like a broken 45 because I'll probably use this phrase more than one, a true Roots-Americana band. Usually a three piece they were joined on stage by (pardon me if I get this wrong) Nate McDonald on bass. Nate was on that stage a lot playing with various folks Saturday. The sound of One Dollar Hat is the sound of the soul of rural America. Twangy, and picky sometimes somber others downright dancey. It's just old time stringband music. Zach Smolko, Gordon & Louise Keller make up the band.

Next up on the 7 band chock full of goodness bill was Pete McDonald and the Waxwings Stringband. The band is made up of Pete (guitar and guitar-like instruments, vocals) and Nate McDonald (bass, vocals) and Lisa and Laura Cyrocki (oh I give up these gals played everything known to man, banjo, guitar, strings, washboard and vocals) Ok, a little side note on this one and more proof I will never make it as a journalist in the real world I want to say I was introduced to Lisa (could have been Laura, give me a break they are sisters!) after the set. I melted like I just met Gillian Welch. Seriously I had become tongue tied and was at a loss for words like I just met a rock star. Their set was incredible and would love to see them again. Pete himself seems to have a nice little solo career cut out for him in the folk scene but with this band behind him I was an instant fan.

Holy shit! It's Heelsplitter again. Yeah after seeing so many Heelsplitter shows I can do duets with them at this point. I might even master the Frankenbass in time. I like them. I think they put on a great show and they are friends. So, yep I have seen them multiple times. This however was the first time on the Beachland Ballroom stage. They did a nice quick set that was pretty flawless. When they played Eff It, also known as Fuck it, children ran for the doors. Yes there were some kids in the audience. I am fine with kids at rock shows but if you can't handle hearing an F-bomb being dropped here and there at a concert you probably shouldn't be taking them there. Plus it was like 10:30pm so maybe it was bed time. It was just kind of funny how the kids were gone after that set. So, I had to rub that fact in to them more than a couple times after the set. Might as well give the little shits some whiskey to calm them down or something if you are bringing them to a concert. It didn't bother me, just amused me.

Next up were The Hiram Rapids Stumblers. Sorry guys there are 8 of you I didn't get or remember many names. These cats were good and I expect to see them headlining some stuff on a regular basis or at the very least taking the opening slots for larger national acts. They are young and full of energy. They have a style of bluegrass-americana that would actually bring a shot in the arm to pick up some younger fans. Honestly I think this movement is full of younger fans just because of bands like this (and all of them for that matter that played here). Indie rock is getting weird, country is pretty shitty, but making real music is making a comeback. See, that's what these guys do. They write real songs and with expert craftsmanship turn out some great music. They put on a great set but like those before them it was abbreviated to allow for the 7 band line up.

Horrible journalist alert. JP and the Chatfield Boys took the stage next and I think I caught like 2 songs. Mind you not because they were bad or anything. I thought they were really good. I was under mind control of the aforementioned Cyrocki. Beyond that though I was involved in some great conversations with Leroy and Heidi Sue Jones of Scoliosis Jones, The Heelsplitter and Misery Jackal folks and Miss Firecracker. What topic wasn't covered? Booze, drugs, the mortgage crisis, the Forbe's article, Anthony Sowell, the Lottery League we really ran the gambit. It just goes to show these are some good people. So, while I missed the set for the most part I really had a great time just chilling out for a few minutes in the bar area. So after taking in all those bands I deserved a break. Plus I got a great shot of the Bartender hijacking my Blatz picture.

Last up was the Misery Jackals all the way from Akron Ohio. The Jackals are always a favorite. Described as Pillbilly Browngrass they fit the bill but think bluegrass on a bender. I do have a crush on Pirate Jenny too though because she is the sweetest person known to mankind. So they have that special place for me. Maybe its the outfits I am not sure. On a down note they lost their part time vocalist full time guitar slinger Beaner Nix. Honestly the guy was a fucking incredible piece of the Jackals. So, I can't say he wasn't missed because he was, but stepping into his guitar duties was a fellow that goes by KGB and he was really fucking good. I think Beaner had a really soulful voice on cuts like Crack and Similac but Jenny was able to hold her own taking the reins. I did however really miss the accordion but Jenny is still nursing some bad wounds from a recent spill she took. But because they share so many duties of singing from Sweet Billy C and Doghouse Timmy the exclusion of Beaner was missed but not a nail in the coffin or anything. Plus it is fun watching Phil Yonder on that hillbilly tuba and the brown jug. It just worked I guess, needs a bit of a spit shine but that is due to a lot of misfortune in the matter of a few short months. They will be back to 100% soon enough. I still liked it just fine.

Pardon any typos and spelling errors. I am pretty sure they are all over this thing. I am suffering a spell of vertigo but I wanted to get this done. Next stop...I have no idea. I actually have nothing planned for this weekend. Well Friday I think I am heading to The Pub in Rocky River to get my Lenten Friday fish fry fix. Saturday, I got nothing. So invite me somewhere, or I'll just see you around Cleveland.