Blogs

Zero Defex bassist and Suicide Girls columnist Brad Warner will read from his latest lively Zen Buddism book, Sit Down and Shut Up, at Visible Voice Books (1023 Kenilworth Ave., Tremont) tomorrow at 7 p.m. After the talk, he’ll screen his Cle-punk documentary, Cleveland’s Screaming. The event is free.

Warner's tenure as a writer for alt-porno/social networking website Suicide Girls has earned him the misleading nickname "The Porno Buddhist," which he has since embraced. Warner recently launched The Porno Buddhist website, in which he applies Zen as therapy for survivors of sexual abuse. -- D.X. Ferris

Unless you recognize a comedian’s name as That Girl From that Movie or the Dude from That One HBO Special, it can be hard to tell whether a stand-up is worth seeing. Lucky you: Scene did the legwork, and the skinny on this week’s big comedy shows, video included, is just a click away. This week, Russell Peters leads the week’s biggest comedy shows. Read on for a full rundown. – D.X. Ferris

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Every Friday, Scene calendar editor Cris Glaser provides a random but reliable sampling of things to do this weekend. For more options, log onto entertainment.clevescene.com. And check back Monday for C-Notes' Picks of the Week.

Friday: A fusion of denim and dinner jackets rules the dress code at tonight’s Black & Blue Ball in the Flats. The benefit for the Northern Ohio Hemophilia Foundation www.nohf.org sports a “comfy-chic” fashion statement as revelers chow down on a buffet of apps, from chicken teriyaki to bacon-wrapped water chestnuts. And the open bar will burst with an overflow of beer, wine, and mixed drinks. An $80 ticket gets you in the door between 7 p.m. and midnight at Windows on the River, 2000 Sycamore Street on the West Bank of the Flats. Call 216-834-0051.

Saturday: Classic-pop powerhouses Kim Carnes and Scandal’s Patty Smyth help headline tonight’s It’s Only Rock and Roll concert at Public Hall. The fund-raiser for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum www.rockhall.com also spotlights an auction of high-end bidding for trips to Europe, dinner with LeBron James, and a college internship at Rolling Stone magazine. The concert starts at 7 p.m. at Public Hall, 500 Lakeside Avenue. Call 216-515-1930 for your $15 ticket.

Sunday: The beer is flowing again in Akron today for the grand re-opening of the Ohio Brewing Company. After a brief shutdown, director Chris Verich and brewmaster Dennis Holland are showing off their plant’s new 15,000-square-foot pub with its 90-foot bar. More impressive is the retooled line of microbrews from the ruby-colored Cardinal Ale to their Buckeye State tribute, the Ohioppy Ale. Take a tour between 11 a.m. and 2 a.m. at the Ohio Brewing Company, 222 South Main Street in Akron. Call 330-376-3008 for the 411.

Now this looks like fun, doesn't it, boys?

Members of the Only Undies Club don’t usually need an excuse to socialize half naked. After all, that’s the entire point of this online-based scene, started in Cleveland, where punker twentysomethings prefer to skip the whole clothes thing and mingle in their skivvies.

But if the cause is worthy, all the more reason to hit the bar in tighty whiteys and garter belts, right? ...

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We’re not quite sure how Mick Boogie finds the time. Besides being Cleveland’s busiest DJ, he also runs what is emerging as one of the best hip-hop blogs in the region. He must own a Blackberry or something. ...

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After years of being parodied for our alleged dowdy dreariness, it’s about time Cleveland started scoring on national TV. And we have to admit, it feels kind of good.

30 Rock seems to have made it its personal mission is to raise our self-esteem, going so far as to pen a song about our city’s fabulousness.

Cleveland will be in the national spotlight once again tonight, thanks to American Idol. The remaining four contestants will croon songs selected from the Rock Hall’s list of 500 Songs that Shaped Rock Music. Throughout the show, cameras will pan to different rock hall exhibits as a narrator talks about the museum’s history.

Of course, it would have been better if the contestants actually performed at the Rock Hall, but beggars can’t be choosers. But at least we’ll hopefully be able to see David Archuleta sing Highway to Hell. –Rebecca Meiser

The feud between struggling post-industrial towns is heating up. And the biggest blows aren’t being thrown on the hardwood or in the shared waters of Lake Erie. No, for evidence that the long-festering rivalry between Detroit and Cleveland has boiled over, one need not look further than the staid halls of their respective symphony orchestras, where a robotic arms-race threatens the fragile peace cobbled together ever since Lebron torched the Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals. ...

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Only Cleveland could have produced a character as splendiferously vindictive as Don King. A Kent State dropout and former local numbers-runner, King killed two people in our fair city (one was ruled self-defense, the other manslaughter) before breaking into the boxing racket as a ruthless promoter — or, more appropriately, a pugilistic embezzler. From Larry Holmes to Mike Tyson, King has spent the last 30 years confusing and trapping pudding-headed boxers into surrendering their winnings. Even Muhammad Ali, one of the shrewdest men to step into a boxing ring, got stiffed and manipulated by this ultimate conman.

How do we know all this? We just got the DVD of the HBO biopic Don King: Only in America, starring Ving Rhames with a Bride of Frankenstein ‘fro. ...

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Every Monday, Scene calendar editor Cris Glaser provides a random but reliable sampling of things to do in the week ahead. For more options, log onto entertainment.clevescene.com. And check back Friday for C-Notes' Picks of the Weekend.

Monday: New Jersey’s Black Hollies crank up a medley of ’60s-inspired garage rock tonight, when they command the stage at the Beachland Ballroom. Bassist Justin Angelo compares the quartet’s originals as “Northern soul in a lavender grove while viewing through a kaleidoscope.” Heavy, dude. Show time is at 9 p.m. at the Beachland, 11571 Waterloo Road. Tickets are $7. Call 216-383-1124 for details.

Tuesday: At tonight’s Uncorked!, Cleveland Institute of Music students play a classical repertoire while revelers sample 20 wines and grub from 38 Northeast Ohio vintners and restaurants. The second-annual benefit raises cash for the school’s scholarship and outreach programs. The party starts at 6 p.m. at Windows on the River, 2000 Sycamore Street on the West Bank of the Flats. Tickets are $75 by calling 216-791-5000.

Wednesday: Slash your booze bill in half tonight at Time Warp’s weekly Rock, Paper, Scissors challenge. Here’s how it works: When you’re ready to leave the club between 9 p.m. and 2:30 a.m., ask the bartender on duty to a round of the game. If you beat him or her, you’ll pay half-price for your tab. The bar is located at 26261 Center Ridge Road in Westlake. For more info, call 440-871-8463.

Thursday: Lyndhurst native Eric Roediger plays one of six geeky whiz kids who learn that winning isn’t everything in the touring production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The show – which opens a 10-day run on Playhouse Square tonight -- so wowed New York critics during its 2005 debut that it came from behind the pre-ceremony favorites to win the Tony for Best Musical. Showtimes are at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, and 6:30 p.m. Sundays through Sunday May 18, at the Palace Theatre. Tickets are from $10 to $57.50 by calling 216-241-6000.

Tina Fey won't move to Cleveland until we get an IKEA.

There are many reasons why C-Notes loves “30 Rock” – for its wit, for Tina Fey, and for its endlessly loving riffs on Cleveland.

In last week’s show, our fair city once again played a prominent role. Liz Lemon’s (Fey) old flame Lloyd is stuck in New York, due to inclement weather caused by annoyance: global warming. A tornado has struck a Cleveland street, taking out “a bowling alley, two liquor stores, and a liquor store museum.” ...

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Every Friday, Scene calendar editor Cris Glaser provides a random but reliable sampling of things to do this weekend. For more options, log onto entertainment.clevescene.com. And check back Monday for C-Notes' Picks of the Week.

Friday: Dress designers across Northeast Ohio have been looking ahead to the start of the eight-day Fashion Week Cleveland. It kicks off at 8 p.m. tonight with the admission-free Glam Party at La Dolce Vita (12112 Mayfield Road in Little Italy), where DJs GO and Impure spin dance tracks for revelers dressed in “fashion-forward” attire. The week wraps up on Saturday, May 10, with the ultra-chic Cleveland Fashion 2008 Gala at the Galleria at Erieview (1301 East 9th Street; $50), where guests in tuxes and gowns can check out designer Tad Boetcher’s new line, tad b., and listen to Miss America Kirsten Haglund sing Broadway hits. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.fashionweekcleveland.com.

Saturday: And they’re off … to the bar! Race fans can sip mint juleps and watch widescreen TVs as a 20-horse field makes the Run for the Roses at the West Side Ecumenical Ministries’ eighth annual Kentucky Derby Party at the Great Lakes Brewing Company (www.greatlakesbrewing.com). For a $60 ticket, the brewery will lay out a spread of entrées and apps, like beef tenderloin and bread pudding laced with a Jack Daniel butter sauce, before the 6:04 p.m. derby time. And if you’re the betting kind, Big Brown is the pre-race favorite at 3-to-1 odds. The party runs from 4 to 8 p.m., and the brewery is at 2516 Market Avenue. Call 216-651-2037 or visit www.wsem.org for details.

Sunday: At Carl’s Badass Tea Party, debauchery trumps decorum for Adams Street’s weekly dance party at the venerable Akron gay club. With bartender Carl in his trademark leather chaps, Long Island Ice Teas and Bloody Marys flow as electronica dance tracks blare from the DJ booth. If you’re lucky, owner Dan Brown may spring for a stripper or two to bump up the action between 5 and 8 p.m. The bar is at 77 North Adams Street in Akron. Call 330-434-9794 for the 411.

Comedian John Caparulo’s Saturday, May 3 show at Playhouse Square’s Ohio Theatre (1519 Euclid Ave.) will be taped for a DVD. The funny man appeared in Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy show. The show takes place at Playhouse Square's Ohio Theatre (1519 Euclid Ave.), 8 p.m., tickets $17.50 with student ID/$22.75 without (Tickets.com). He's a Rustbelt guy, so help a brother out. Quote: "If you're on a health kick, fine. If you want to live to be 90, fine. But if that means no butter, fuck off. I'll put butter on Skittles." -- D.X. Ferris

The Beachland (15711 Waterloo Road) will host its annual adult prom night Saturday, May 17. The Helper T-Cells and Dreadful Yawns will provide the music to which you will cut your rug and, if your date lets you, slide your hands inconspicuously onto his or her ass until Miss Heinrich comes by with a ruler and tells you "hands to yourselves." The club hasn't released full details yet, but these things are always a blast: You dress up in your best duds. Or your best duds from 1998. Or someone else's polyester onetime best duds that they sold to an old thrift store. And you come to the Beachland Ballroom for a night of food, dining, keepsake photos, and dancing. Previous live entertainment has included bands such as Cobra Verde, regaling the crowd with prom anthems of yesteryear. Tickets are $3 with prom attire, $5 without. Party starts at 9 p.m. -- D.X. Ferris

Unless you recognize a comedian’s name as That Girl From that Movie or the Dude from That One HBO Special, it can be hard to tell whether a stand-up is worth seeing. Lucky you: C-Notes did the legwork, and the skinny on this week’s big comedy shows, video included, is just a click away. Read on for a full rundown. -- D.X. Ferris

More

The first Saturday of every month, Cedar Lee Theatre (2163 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights, 440.564.2030) plays a different cult flick at 9:30 and midnight. It’s their “Cult Film Series”, and this week, they play one of the more F’ed-up love stories in Hollywood history.

Harold and Maude is a 1971 dark comedy about the carnal relationship between a morbid rich 19-year old kid who’s into faking his own suicides and a 79-year old woman at the end of her life. Not surprisingly, the film was a commercial flop—but has become a cult favorite as new generations of weirdos have discovered it.

19- and 79-year-olds with proof of age get free popcorn at Cedar Lee, a theatre always eager to pile on inventive promotions. And grandmothers will be spared the $5 admission fee if accompanied by a paying grandchild, which, considering the film’s plot, is pretty creepy. -- Gus Garcia-Roberts