Music Video: The Manhattan Scene "Where Were You"

Despite filming in a sweltering print shop in +90-degree heat, these boys (and film crew) still rocked it out.


Cast: The Manhattan Scene
Brandon-Marshall Edmond – lead vocals
Matthew Augusta – lead guitar
Ryan Augusta – rhythm guitar
Dan Thompson – bass
Andy Moore – drums

Filmed at Live It Up print shop in Akron, Ohio, with the permission of owner Andy Moore (featured drummer in the music video).

Directed by Stephen Mlinarcik

Videographers: Terry Geer and Ralph Miller


The Manhattan Scene | Where Were You from Stephen Mlinarcik on Vimeo.


Post updated August 23, 2011
Originally posted August 6, 2011

IndieBOX live concert: The Chuck Shaffer Picture Show at Musica

IndieBOX released video of The Chuck Shaffer Picture Show's last Northeast Ohio performance on Blip.tv. If you missed the CSPS set at Musica in Akron on July 22, watch it in this 18-minute video.

The band played several songs off its pending release, an EP called Protect Your Silence, as well as popular songs off For Your Eyes Only, including "Spinning" and the instrumental fan favorite "Mercury."

The modern rock band from Harrisonburg, Va. made its Northeast Ohio debut in April 2010 when it performed at the FTF Music Conference and Showcase in Kent alongside local artists Winslow, Maid Myriad, Sean Benjamin and Vitium. 


The overwhelming fan response compelled the band to return to the Cleveland area last July to take the stage with local new wave metal band 3SO at Peabody’s Concert Club. 

Since it’s inception, the band’s aggressive, energetic stage presence earned this alternative-rock-inspired three-piece group tour slots with national acts including Papa Roach, CKY, Hawthorne Heights, Civil Twilight and Boombox, among many others.

The band has endured an extensive summer tour with stops in Columbus, Ohio; Washington, D.C.; Jacksonville, N.C.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Marietta, Ga.; and multiple cities in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Tennessee and Virginia.

About CSPS

Ryan Johnson (vocals), David Stiefel (bass) and Pat Kenney (drums) formed the three-piece band at James Madison University in 2009. The trio released their first album, For Your Eyes Only, the same year. More information about The Chuck Shaffer Picture Show can be found on the band’s website, www.cspsband.com, as well as Facebook and ReverbNation.


UPDATE 8/14 – CSPS releases Protect Your Silence EP. 

Video produced by Todd Volkmer and Erin Ludlam
© 2011 Wasted Talent Media

Concert review: Energy ebbs, flows at Interpol show with The Soft Moon

Interpol at House of Blues - Cleveland, Ohio
Photo courtesy of Bryan Pauley

The Rhythm Report presents a concert review by guest writer Bryan Pauley:

In support of their self-titled release, Interpol graced the Cleveland House of Blues with their presence, along with San Francisco-based neo-punk group The Soft Moon.  Dedicated fans from all over Northeast Ohio came out to support the group. While large enough to hold Interpol’s fan base, but small enough to preserve intimacy, the House of Blues seemed to be the ideal venue for the evening. The New York City-originated post-punk group played for nearly an hour and a half, making the crowd bob their heads the entire time. 

The Soft Moon led off the night with an hour-long set filled with drum-machine-based, electronic samples and loops. Their unique song structure, characterized by long repetitive sections, was sounded progressive, reminding me of the psychedelic experimental trio, Animal Collective. Guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Luis Vaszquez, played minimal guitars, allowing the repetitive loops and drums to take care of the rhythm section. Vaszuez’s vocals where emphasized by many one-syllable noises yelled into the mic and very short sections of melodic lyric singing. The talk of the crowd was that The Soft Moon was a modernized version of Joy Division. Drum programmer Damon Way acknowledged this comparison. 

“I listened to a lot of bands on that label [Factory Records],” said Way. He cited Section 25 and Suicide as two of his personal influences. 

Interpol took the stage to many cheers from their loyal fan base. With help from a touring keyboardist, the usual four-piece performed with five members, including a new bass player to fill in for the departed Carlos Dengler. A founding member, Dengler left the band shortly before the release of Interpol to pursue other projects. Although he left prior to the release of the album, he was still credited for recording the featured bass tracks. 

As the band’s set rolled along, it became apparent as to why most of the fans came out. Songs from their previous albums were well received, while the crowd seemed unfamiliar with the newer material. Even if you were oblivious to the chronology of Interpol’s records, you could tell the old from the new by how the crowd either passionately sang along or stood there bobbing their heads as if waiting for the band to play another classic. Not to undermine the quality of their new album, Interpol’s best works seem to be in the past. 

Singer/Guitarist Paul Banks’ distinctive baritone voice has not changed a bit throughout Interpol’s lifespan. Almost haunting, his voice resonated throughout the venue, sounding just like it does on all of their recordings. Unlike most guitar-playing frontmen, Banks performs a lot of the lead guitar work while singing, a detail that would typically go unnoticed until seeing the band live. Drummer Sam Fogarino doesn’t do anything too outlandish behind his kit. While his fills are somewhat generic, I found that Fogarino kept a consistent groove, which coupled with the rhythm section, kept the music flowing along. “C’mere” and “Slow Hands” seemed to be the fan favorites of the night, receiving the most during the intro to and completion of the songs. With a new member in the band, the creative direction in which Interpol was going may be altered. Wherever it takes them, I hope can be comparable to their work in the 2000s. 

Last-minute music fest takes Rock Hall, Science Center

Humble Home – © The Rhythm Report 2011

Need to pull together a multi-artist concert with Northeast Ohio’s finest musicians in two weeks? Call Bad Racket Recording Studios.

Organizers for 6ixth City Tech Fest called on Bad Racket’s Tom Fox when they decided to add musical entertainment to its lineup of technology and entrepreneurial-based conferences held at The Great Lakes Science Center and The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum on Saturday, July 23.

Bad Racket has worked with a few of the area’s most successful musicians, some of whom Fox and partner Adam Wagner turned to as they sought to pull together a last-minute lineup of more than 10 bands.

“I just went through the Cleveland playlist of people who I like that play in Cleveland and people who I’ve worked with at Bad Racket and said, ‘Are you available?’” Fox said. “People just got back to me like, ‘Hell, yeah! I’m not going to miss that for anything. Rock Hall. Science Center. All this energy going on.”

Nick Zuber Band (NZB), Nights, and Tom Evanchuck and The Old Money are a few of the bands on the Bad Racket client list who came out to perform. NZB and Nights played the indoor stage at the Science Center and the Evanchuck crew headlined the outdoor set on the Rock Hall’s museum plaza.

Nick Zuber Band – © The Rhythm Report 2011

Zuber jazzed up his acoustic, boy-on-the-beach guitar sound with the backing of a saxophonist Bryan Connell and longtime drummer, Angela “AC” Cutrone. Also playing as a trio, Nights serenaded a modest audience in the atrium; the whimsy of their melodies capturing the attention of a few passersby. Evanchuck and band played a set in grueling, over 90-degree heat after standing by to support several acts who played before them, including Humble Home and Thaddeus Green and The So & So’s.

Much credit was given to the outdoor performers who braved the sultry weather to play for a small audience who sparsely congregated on the barren plaza. The lack of a solid crowd is one drawback to piecing together a music festival in such a short timeframe at two locations where visitors’ primary objectives are to tour the facilities and escape sweltering temperatures.

“I wish more people had stopped to listen, but it’s definitely cool to play at a place that’s made for music,” said Anthony Foti, drummer for Humble Home and Thaddeus Green, about performing at the Rock Hall.

Fox said beyond familiar acts to form the day’s roster, he also reached out to bands that Bad Racket is scouting to work with in the future. Two acts that stood out to The Rhythm Report were:

Humble G  – © The Rhythm Report 2011

• Humble G, a quintet that blends the sounds of classical violin, African beats and hip hop into forms of music it calls “HipHope” and “Afri-pean” and
• The rambunctious Zach Freidhof, of Zach and The Bright Lights, who played an acoustic set, escaping the confines of the stage during his final song to flee up the escalator and entertain Science Center visitors on the main level of the venue before security stopped him from dashing up to the third floor. (Watch the video here.)

“That’s rock and roll,” Freidhof said.

Bad Racket pulled together a multifarious cast of artists from Rob Geer, of The Conductor and The Creator, who played a solo set composed of original songs and creative covers, to the rap squad Wildlife Soundz, who performed with live drums and vocals over prerecorded instrumentals. Other acts included The Commonwealth, Filmstrip and Tha Outsiderz.

Bad Racket does not have plans to coordinate any other festivals this year. But who knows in another 16 days, Fox said. However, the studio is planning an event to celebrate the one-year anniversary of its video series Live from Bad Racket in the fall and its team plans on being a part of The 6ixth City Tech Fest next year.

“The Tech Fest is this entrepreneurship showcase. They’ve got all these people that are doing startup companies, and they’re all kind of in this rockstar mindset of going their own way and trying to figure out how to make something in this world,” Fox said. “It’s the same thing as music. It really is, from an emotional standpoint. If they do this again next year, we’re only going to do it bigger.”

Photos can be seen on The Rhythm Report's Facebook page. 
Videos of select performances are available on YouTube or in this previous blog post.


Written by Priscilla Tasker