Cleveland's two most well-known breweries unite for an exclusive IPA and Pale Ale event. Great Lakes Brewing Company and Fat Head's Brewery will offer up an in-depth look at their most prized offerings on Thursday, March 31 from 7 to 9 pm at the Great Lakes Brewing Company Tasting Room (across from Dave's Supermarket) located at 2516 Market Ave in Cleveland. Cost is $30 per person, which includes both tax and gratuity. Attendees will receive between six to eight 7 oz. tastings of Fat Head's and Great Lakes Brewing Company's IPAs and Pale Ales along with a guest beer from Fat Head's Brewery....
Ohio is the home of rock ‘n’ roll, but the validity of that statement always seems to be brought into question. There’s a laundry list of reasons why “the heart of it all” and “the heart of rock ‘n’ roll” are synonymous. The Godz is one of those reasons. Since their formation in 1976, The Godz has been known as one of the hardest-rocking, hardest-working bands in rock. Before they were even signed to a label they toured as an opening act on KISS’s “Love Gun” tour, along with Cheap Trick. Their work got them noticed by Casablanca Records, and in the summer of ’77 th...
Brawls, a would-be stripper, extramarital affairs, a transsexual, a diaper-wearing man, rednecks, profanity, Jesus, Mary, God, Satan and a group of tap-dancing Klansmen — “Jerry Springer: The Opera” has it all. The production, running through March 27 at the Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood, isn’t for children, nor is it for the easily offended. In fact, about 150 protesters upset by the show’s crude content showed up at the opening performance, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The protestors’ main complaint was what they called the blasphemous nature of the producti...
Back in college, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost ranked just under David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino for hip favorite film people — and they were much funnier than the other two. “Shaun of the Dead” theme parties were a semi-regular occurrence and “Hot Fuzz” viewing nights took place more than once. I even knew someone who spent half his junior year writing a thesis about how Pegg/Frost films paralleled British social classes. This was serious stuff. So when I heard about their latest collaboration, “Paul”, I was jazzed. And when I found out that a friend of mine — a college class...
With crystal clear skin and peridot eyes beneath a halo mane of fuchsia hair, Tarina Tarantino is the namesake of an illustrious brand of accessories and jewelry, all made in the United States. The designs are incendiary, truly original pieces of art. These aren’t pieces for the shrinking wallflower — you’ll be the center of the universe. Known internationally and dubbed the “Queen of Irreverent Luxury”, Tarantino and her husband, Alfonso Campos, launched the brand in 1995. In those early days, Tarantino was working as a makeup artist. Her day shift behind the MAC makeup counter y...
From 1920 through 1933, the 18th Amendment criminalized the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcoholic beverages. Though Prohibition — also known as the Noble Experiment — did little to curb America’s alcohol consumption, it did require bar owners and patrons alike to get a lot more creative. Regular folks started making their own liquors at home — liquors of such poor quality (often known as bathtub gin or rotgut) they had to be mixed with fruit juice and sugar water to make them drinkable. Out of this impromptu mad science came the origins of what we consider today to be a ...
Since the mid-1990s, the accordionist one-man band known as Corn Mo has been performing catchy rock anthems with a powerhouse golden singing voice. Among his admirers, They Might Be Giants, Ben Folds, the Polyphonic Spree and the World Famous Pontani Sisters have all taken Corn Mo on tour as a supporting act. These days, Corn Mo is hitting the road as a headliner with his new band, .357 Lover. The group’s 2009 full-length debut, “The Diorama of the Golden Lion”, was an infectious masterpiece of eccentric, ambitious pop grandiosity in the spirit of records like Ween’s “The Mollusk...
Fort Wayne Indiana seems to have a burgeoning music scene and is a city that seems similar in many ways to Canton and Akron. Blue-collar and just beginning to embrace a growing art and music scene, the weather is pretty much the same and I have a feeling that the musicians that live there have that same sense of longing to escape as the guys from around here do. As the first chords of The Dead Records new cd blared from my speakers I imagined these guys spending the winter holed up in a basement, staying warm by ripping into their instruments,writing songs and hanging out together. The g...
“The Love We Share Without Knowing” by Christopher Barzak I was working in the shop one day, and Molly, one of the Buzzbin editors, stopped in and asked me what the next book review was going to be. She suggested that reviewing a love story, the month being February, might be the way to go. I was unsure, as I had read nothing but my usual obscurantist literature for several months (which I can write a two-word review of right now: “loner overdoses”). I had nothing, love being a literary topic best avoided by adults. Then I remembered what would easily qualify as the greatest c...
Mitch Reed is a blues man. After winning the Cleveland Blues preliminaries late last year, the Mantua native and long time Kent resident is now headed to Memphis, Tenn. to compete in the 27th International Blues Challenge. This event, the world’s largest gathering of blues acts, represents an international search for up-and-coming blues acts. Reed’s story began when he started playing guitar as a kid. While most attribute their love of music to family tradition, his story is a bit atypical. “I am the only one in my family who plays. I just always kind of dug it,” Reed said. “My...
If there’s one thing the greater Akron area has become known for in the decades since the rubber industry packed up and peaced out, it would have to be unleashing upon the world a number of musically talented oddballs. Personally, I’d much rather see that as our lasting legacy as opposed to the Rubber Capital of the World. We are responsible for the Beefheart-inspired zaniness of Tin Huey, the X-rated (and, at times, just plain fucked-up) country stylings of David Allan Coe, the warped, catchy pop of The Waitresses and, of course, the energy dome-sporting New Wave prophets Devo. And that...
It’s easy to lose faith in humans’ ability to properly court each another. If you’re 35 years old and unhappily single, you may be dating impaired. Don’t cry. It’s okay. Some of us just make terrible first impressions, and I’m here to help. If you constantly find your first dates falling flat, it’s probably your fault. Although I can’t pick out your clothes or cure that offensive odor that oozes from your body, I can give you advice on the finer points of first dates — mainly location, location, location. For all you wannabe studs and sluts, get ready to cross some ideas o...
The Anderson Creative gallery is located right by the Buzzbin Art & Music Shop in downtown Canton. We’ve been covering the monthly exhibitions there for years. I bumped into the owner, Kevin Anderson, one day on the corner and mentioned that I was heading to the math class I teach. We started talking Fibonacci, the Golden Ratio and all those things that scientifically define beauty. His eyes lit up — we’d both found a fellow art and math geek in town. The more I talk to Anderson, the more we find in common. Math geek? Check. Artist? Check. Serial Entrepreneur? Check. I didn’t ...
Are you looking to increase your social awareness? Do you vacillate between giving to one of the numerous worldwide children’s aids and something a little closer to home? Have you wondered how you can help others while living on a budget? Try taking in a play. Playwright and activist Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” hits the stage at E.J. Thomas Hall for a single performance on February 13, and it’s a reasonable $10 a ticket. All monologues will be performed by University of Akron students. For more than 15 years the sometimes controversial, always in-your face-production t...
This year saw the release of Dogfish Head’s latest one-off creation, Bitches Brew. The beer was previewed at the SAVOR beer-and-foodie convention in Washington, DC this June and its official debut even garnered a feature on the Discovery Channel’s new show, Brew Masters. Brewed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the seminal Miles Davis album by the same name, Bitches Brew is as unique as Dogfish Head’s motto, “Off-centered beer for off-centered people”. Bitches Brew has been tricky to acquire since its first batch ended, though the Dogfish Head website advertises that a sec...
