RADIO HANNIBAL

20 years ago Cleveland Browns football was over

While yesterday saw the all too familiar end of another disastrous Cleveland Browns season it was 20 years ago that Cleveland fans were left without a team at all.  As bad as it is to see another head coach and general manager fired, the pain is insignificant to what Clevelanders felt when the Browns left town. 

Over this past season I've been sporadically posting photos to a blog called Browns End Days.  Here you'll get a visual feel for what it was like to be there for those last few Cleveland Browns home games in 1995. 

 

Ohio City Singers holiday show tickets going fast

I'm hearing it from a number of people.  It's hard to believe we're approaching the holiday season with the incredible weather we've been having this November here in Cleveland.  All of that's about to change as a look at my Weather Channel app 15 day forecast tells the story.  38 for a high on Sunday.  

Apparently others are not so easily fooled and are well aware of the impending Christmas season.  That explains why local holiday supergroup The Ohio City Singers is selling tickets to their upcoming shows at a brisk pace.  

I already got shut out of the G.A.R. Hall show in Peninsula on Saturday December 12.  Luckily I met an angel last night who offered me to watch from the side of the stage.  That prompted me to buy tickets this morning for the other concerts.  

The annual kid's show, held again this year in the main room at The Music Box, is always a blast.  Since the band has been together for about ten years there's a whole generation who consider songs like "White Cleveland Christmas, "Holiday Hop" and "Egg Nog" as essential to Christmas as "Jingle Bells" or "Frosty The Snowman".  And they'll be singing along to them with the spirit of the season.  It's an afternoon affair at 1pm on Saturday December 5.  Grab tickets at the Music Box link above.  

A couple of years ago OCS held their kid's show at Vosh in Lakewood.  This year the band will be in residence there on the weekend of December 18 and 19 with shows both Friday and Saturday night.  These are the showcase shows.  You can buy tickets at EventBrite.  I scored a weekend pass.  

What can I say, I love Christmas music, and the fact that friends of mine write and perform original holiday music that's as good as anything out there makes me feel blessed.  The Ohio City Singers don't have a new album this year but they've released a new single guaranteed to get you in the spirit.  

 

Good music and good beer

We're in the midst of Cleveland Beer Week.  It's one of my favorite events of the year.  The craft brewing revolution is an amazing story that's gone from hobby to a major economic boon.And it sure tastes good.

Let's see, I've done an opening bar crawl, as it were, through the new entertainment scene on the eat bank of the Flats trying various small batch barrels from local brewers.  I've attended a bluegrass festival featuring bands and beers.  There's been the Society of Northeast Ohio Brewers (SNOB), a hobbyist group,  collaborations with local brewers and the Onshore Pour last night.  Tomorrow night I'll be boarding the Cuyahoga Valley railroad line for a ride through the national park while enjoying craft beers.

Then it's time for work.  If you call DJing two featured Cleveland Beer Week events work.  I'll be cranking out the tunes at the premier beer week event Brewzilla taking place at the Wolstein Center arena Saturday night.  And then rising early to provide music for the Browns/Broncos tailgate party at the Huntington Surface Lot.  There's still tickets available for both events.  You can buy them here.  

 

My picks for the 2016 Rock Hall Inductions

The Rock Hall just announced their list of nominees for the 2016 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Earlier this year Jann Wenner made a move that could jeopardize the integrity of the hall of fame by shedding a group of older voters in favor of youth.  The speculated theory is that these younger voters will help induct younger artists and make it more attractive to sell the ceremony to HBO.  What did Dylan say?  Money doesn't talk, it swears. 

The list of nominees this year doesn't look bad at all though.  The Cars, Chic, Chicago, Cheap Trick, Deep Purple, Janet Jackson, Chaka Khan, Los Lobos, Steve Miller, Nine Inch Nails, N.W.A., The Smiths, The Spinners, and Yes.  Some of these first time nominees are long overdue including Cheap Trick and Chicago.

You can make a small impact on who gets in by voting for your top five here. 

And now my five choices:

Yes - Prog rock has been given short shrift since the Rock Hall began.  Yes was both hugely popular as well as being innovative and influential.  Sadly, bassist Chris Squire recently passed away.  Is this a sympathy nomination?

Los Lobos - One of the best American bands of all-time.  Their Kiko album is a classic. 

Deep Purple - Not so much a prog rock band as a heavy metal forebearer.  Another nominee long overdue.

The Smiths - They were nominated last year and made my top five.  Here's hoping we may get to see a Smiths reunion.  Fat chance, right?  Even if they do make it would Morrissey and Johnny Marr bury the hatchet?

Chicago - I'm going to get some haters with this pick but hear me out.  Those first three albums and the following four disc live set at Carnegie Hall are monsters.  They brought a powerful horn section to rock and roll and truly kicked out the jams.  The fact that they morphed into schmaltz does have me holding my nose a bit.  

Others that could've made my list include Cheap Trick, The Cars, and Steve Miller.  Sadly, when I voted for my choices and looked at the current standings the saying "the masses are asses" came to mind. 

Let the comedy of errors begin

I've said it before and I'll say it again, mediocrity is boring.  If my football team can't be highly competitive then the next best thing is to be astoundingly awful.  Both make for good reading in the sports section and conversation on the topic is never dull.  Granted, I'm not a Cleveland Browns season ticket holder. Why on earth anyone is at this point is beyond me.  

I had zero expectations going into yesterday's opener against the Jets in Jersey.  Though a ten year opening day losing streak had me leaning in a certain direction.  That gut feeling was confirmed early on when our journeyman starting quarterback decided to play hero and ended up helicoptering into the end zone, coughing up the ball and sustaining a concussion. 

Now it was Johnny Football time and for a short period the cringing ceased on a nice touchdown pass to Travis Benjamin.  But once the Jets figured out Manziel and the Browns limited set of offensive tools the rout was on and the laughs were aplenty. 

I really couldn't be happier with a home opener starring Johnny Manziel.  I truly applaud him working through his inner demons and getting clean and sober.  The problem is that he just doesn't have what it takes to be an NFL quarterback.  I've seen enough of a sample size to feel confident in that statement.  And there you have the central topic of heated discussion and hand-wringing for the week ahead.  Now that's entertainment. 

Meanwhile the Cleveland Indians are in an actual playoff race and no one seems to know or care in Cleveland. 

Cleveland Browns End Days, a photo blog commemorating the 20th anniversary of the last season

Back in January I digitized a large collection of photographs taken by a friend who wanted to capture those last games of the Cleveland Browns back in 1995 when Art Modell moved the team to Baltimore.  I created a blog called Browns End Days in order to commemorate and share these images. 

Now with the start of another Browns season, filled with low expectations once more, it's time to look back on a team, a stadium and its loyal fans and what was one surreal time. 

Getting a fix of Phish

When I read the news yesterday that the rumored union of John Mayer and members of The Grateful Dead was true and that they were touring this fall I felt a bit betrayed.  The headlines were misleading though as Phil Lesh is not in the line up.  Add to it the revelation that Mayer first turned onto the Dead in 2011 through Pandora and, well, you realize he's no Trey Anastasio.

Leading up to those Grateful Dead shows in Chicago there was a strong debate amongst the Deadheads on whether Anastasio was the right choice to fill in for the late Jerry Garcia.  I even heard that in the stadium during the shows which had me scratching my head.  Weren't these people hearing what I heard and saw on stage?  Trey filled in admirably and, in fact, shined on many occasions during the five show Fare Thee Well run. 

I'm not a huge Phish fan.  In the 90s I dismissed them as novelty due to some of their goofball antics and certain cheesy element to some of the songs.  I'm still not a fan of Gordon and Fishman.  But for me McConnell and Anastasio make it worth embracing the band. 

In 2000 a friend of mine burned me a CD of his favorite Phish songs.  It was filled with the good stuff and not the hokey.  I was hooked and found a true appreciation for the band. 

Phish are playing Blossom Music Center tomorrow night.  I've seen them there twice before and they've been a blast.  It's the closest one can get to that Dead scene which I got to re-live in Chicago in July.  Now I need that fix again and Trey is the perfect conduit. 

Craft beer at the ballparks must not be settling with the big boys

I confess.  I hadn't made it to Progressive Field to watch an Indians game this season until last Wednesday's afternoon affair.  It was a good one to attend as the Tribe ended a six game losing streak and an eight game home losing streak by a score of 12-2.  This over the Royals, a team likely to be in the World Series again. 

The new bar area in right field is outstanding.  It's got two levels, a fire pit, rows of standing rails and plenty of tapped craft beer. 

It's about time the Indians embraced the new beer culture.  I guess is that they met with some resistance from Budweiser, Miller and Coors.  Probably in the form of threats about advertising dollars being pulled.  In fact, as I sipped my Brew Kettle beer I looked around the venue and could not find any beer signage.  Remember the big script Budweiser on the scoreboard?  There's nothing now.  Nowhere. 

Now the story is the Browns will be serving up beer from eight Ohio craft brewers at First Energy Stadium.  I wonder if the national beer signage will be yanked there as well.

24th annual Mid West Reggae Fest begins tonight

For all you early bird reggae fans the 24th annual Mid West Reggae Fest actually begins tonight as the gates open to campers.  Maybe you've got that perfect spot in mind at Clay's Park to pitch your tent and you're afraid it'll be gone by Friday night.  That's reason enough to head south for an extra long weekend of mellow vibes. 

Promoter Packy Malley had initially intended this year's fest to be a shorter affair, but the man can't help himself.  So now the live music begins Friday and doesn't stop until early Sunday evening.  That includes The Mighty Diamonds on Saturday night and a slew of regional reggae acts from Carlos Jones to Flex Crew. Here's the line-up. 

The Boys bring The Clash

It's no secret that Cleveland's Boys From County Hell are fans of The Clash.  The group that started off strictly as a Pogues cover band has been slipping more Clash songs into their sets in recent years.  This Saturday night at The Happy Dog at The Euclid Tavern The Boys From County Hell, along with All Dinosaurs, will play nothing but the music of The Clash in what they're dubbing Cleveland Calling, a fundraiser for the Joe Strummer Foundation.

All Dinosaurs will handle material from the British band's first two albums, the punk years, while The Boys From County Hell will tackle their more expansive sound that began with London Calling, for my money the best album of all time.  Expect some Joe Strummer solo material as well.  Though I doubt we'll be treated to any Big Audio Dynamite. 

Last night I stopped by The Harp to catch most of The Boys doing an acoustic warm up set for Saturday's show.  What fun it was to hear this band run through some of my favorite music.  I was such a fan that in college I painted a Clash logo on the back of an old jean jacket.  I'll be wearing it Saturday night. 

There will be no tickets available at the door and they plan on selling out the show before the weekend.  Heed my advice and buy your tickets now. 

Some of The Boys From County Hell working on Clash material at The Harp