Entertainment

Recently I had the opportunity to speak with Noelle Scaggs. Noelle is the co-lead singer of the band Fitz And The Tantrums.

Fits And The Tantrums is headlining their own tour this summer while aslo opening some shows for Bruno Mars.

What's the difference between headlining your own show and opening for another artist?

The time slots, its 35 - 40 min when opening when headlining its hours. Also all of our fans buying tickets to see us when headlining and when opening we are trying to gain fan base so its a mixture of fans. There's a difference in fans depending on the city. In New York we have a huge fan base already.

Have you always had a passion for music?

Yeah I kind of stumbled into it. My father had a huge vinyl collection front to back. I listened to Parliament and Temptations while digging through his vinyl collection. I was aloud 1 hour of television a day so I would watch the video channel writing down the lyrics of songs and trying to learn the process of song writing. Trying to learn by singing in my room before performing in front of crowd.

Sarah Brightman, a classically trained singer and actress, says that she is planning to become the first recording artist to venture into space and is setting her sights on a trip to the International Space Station.

Brightman, 52, revealed that she has wanted to explore space ever since 1969 when she was a little girl watching the historic Apollo 11 landing on the moon on her television. She said:

"I was very lucky and privileged to be living in that time to see that actually happen on a black-and-white TV screen and it changed many of us. I don't think there's been anything to date that was like that."

Brightman says that since that moment, she's wanted to go to space and now is making plans for it to become reality. She added:

"It looks as if a special journey into space will be happening for me in a couple of years."

A news conference was held on what would have been funk music pioneer James Browns' 80th birthday, during which a group of Dayton, Ohio, residents announced their intentions to create a hall of fame for funk music in the southwestern Ohio city by collecting $10 donations from 10 million people.

The Dayton Funk Dynasty Group held the press conference late last week to talk about the details of the planned Funk Hall of Fame and Museum. They also urged fans of funk to contribute to the cause.

A casting call is being held this Saturday, May 4, for football players ages 18 to 25 to appear in the movie "Draft Day" starring Kevin Costner that will be filmed in the Cleveland area.

The casting call is being held from 10am to 1pm at the Garfield Heights High School football field located at 4900 Turney Road. The tryouts are for those who wish to be an extra in the movie, either with or without acting experience, but college football experience is required.

Those interested will register and have a photo taken, and will also be required to run drills. There will be no contact during tryouts, however participants should be prepared to run basic football drills and should wear appropriate workout gear and shoes - no helmets or shoulder pads please.

Researchers at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif. used a two-ton scanning tunneling microscope to make the world's tiniest movie - "A Boy and His Atom". The researchers worked for 10 days moving 10,000 individual atoms around on a microscope surface to build the images of a boy and his interactions.

Of course it takes some serious equipment to pull off this kind of thing, but IBM's lab had the right stuff - a 2-ton scanning tunneling microscope (STM)

One of the goal's of the project is to inspire youth to study and pursue careers in science and technology, and they also believe that the work could eventually lead to breakthroughs in storage and other tech fields.

Taylor Swift performed at Quicken Loans Arena on Thursday April 25th. Ed Sheeran opened the show this evening and also performed with Swift during her set.

Taylor appeared on stage in dramatic fashion with an array of dancers, back up singers, and drummers being hoisted to the ceiling. Her bright white smile and red lipstick sparkled on stage. Swift had at least four wardrobe changes throughout the evening.

She opened the show with "State of Grace". After her opening song Swift greeted the crowd and said she was happy to be in Cleveland. She noted that every single seat was sold out at The Q.

Each song was as happy and cheerful as the last. Even if the lyrics were not cheerful Taylor somehow makes the song seem happy. The entire arena sang along to every note sometimes even drowning out Taylor's voice. Everyone had a smile on their face, even parents who brought their young children.

Swift entertained the crowd for nearly two hours. She worked the stage and performed every song with a high level of energy. At one point Taylor was carried through the crowd on someone's shoulders so she could reach a different part of the stage and be closer to some fans.

On Sunday, actress Reese Witherspoon issued an apology for her behavior during the arrest of her husband, Jim Toth, on Friday on DUI charges. In a statement, Witherspoon said:

"Out of respect for the ongoing legal situation, I cannot comment on everything that is being reported right now. But I do want to say, I clearly had one drink too many and I am deeply embarrassed about the things I said. It was definitely a scary situation and I was frightened for my husband, but that is no excuse. I was disrespectful to the officer who was just doing his job. I have nothing but respect for the police and I'm very sorry for my behavior."

The apology follows the leaking of Witherspoon and Toth's mugshots amid news that pair had been arrested and briefly jailed on Friday morning in Atlanta.

Police reportedly spotted the couple's silver Ford Fusion weaving in and out of lanes, and pulled them over. While officers were speaking to Toth, Witherspoon reportedly stuck her head out of the window and said that she did not believe that the arresting officer was really a cop. After stating that she was a U.S. citizen and insisting that she was allowed to "stand on American ground", Witherspoon quipped "Do you know my name?" The officer responded "No, I don't need to know your name", to which Witherspoon responded " You're about to find out who I am... You are going to be on national news."

The Cleveland International Film Festival, which concluded over the weekend, had a record year. The festival drew in over 93,000 people, which was not only a record but also a nearly 10 percent increase over the previous year.

The festival, which is in its 37th year, included more than 475 screenings of feature and short films from 64 different countries.

The Beachland Ballroom & Tavern's future is in jeopardy after the city of Cleveland appealed a March ruling at the last minute on April 11 which stated that the concert venue should only have to pay the back admissions taxes it owed, and not what it accrued in interest and penalties. If Cleveland is successful in getting the ruling over turned, which would mean Beachland would be on the hook for the $119,320 owed in back taxes plus the $285,707 accrued in interest and penalties, Beachland co-owner Cindy Barber says that the concert club would have to shut its doors.

The $119,320 tax bill is in itself steep, but Barber says that Beachland was working to increase its cash flow in a way that would allow it to eventually pay down the debt.

Beachland is planning to grow its business by expanding food sales and its vintage store, which sells old accessories, apparel, and records. The venue also hosts a popular Sunday brunch, which they've recently expanded to Saturdays. Barber also reveals that they're planning to serve lunch seven days a week, and have informed the city of their plans to increase business.

In recent years, city of Cleveland officials have aggressively pursued concert club venues in the city to make good on back admissions taxes. This has inspired local clubs to lobby for exemption from the admissions tax law, arguing that the nature of the music business already forces them to operate on a slim budget.

Another successful Cleveland International Film Festival has ended. After each year I'm grateful for such a wonderful event in our city. The CIFF is always well organized, creative, cultural, entertaining, thought provoking and educational. I'm already looking forward to the 38th Cleveland International Film Festival!

The Exquisite Corpse Project was a funny film written by a group of comedians. They were formally a sketch comedy group called Old English. The writing process of this film is what makes this film so interesting and hilarious. Each writer wrote 15 pages a script. When it was the next writer's turn to add pages they were only allowed to read the previous five pages.

The film has two parts, the documentary portion that shows the writing process and then the movie portion that shows what the script actually created.

I enjoyed this film for its uniqueness. It was a creative way to write a movie and being able to watch the entire process was fun to see. The director Ben Popik was in attendance and spoke to the audience at CIFF

http://www.theexquisitecorpseproject.com/