Gavin DeGraw is currently on tour promoting his new album, Sweeter. I recently had the chance to talk to Gavin about the tour and his new album. He is stopping in Cleveland at PlayhouseSquare with David Cook on November 6th. Tickets are available at PlayhouseSquare.com

Candis: You're currently on tour with David Cook and we're happy that you are stopping in Cleveland on November 6th. How is the tour going so far?
Gavin:So far so good. Two weeks now and two more weeks to go. In November we'll start to do holiday promos and the tour will end. We'll still be out on the road doing end of the year events.

Candis:What is your least favorite thing about touring?
Gavin: Not being able to get off the bus. Get to see a lot of the world but you can't stop wehenver you like. We have a timeline to stick to . Can't just open the door of the bus or I would start rolling down the street.

The Head and The Heart
were back in Cleveland Sunday night playing a sold out show at The Beachland Ballroom. The Indie Folk band was in Cleveland this past summer opening for The Decemberists. I had heard how good they were as an opening band and was thrilled when I found out they would be back to the Beachland. The Devil Whale and Thao with The Get Down Stay Down opened the show on Sunday night. Both bands were impressive. It's not often you get to see three great bands in one night.

The show was sold out and there were no tickets available at the door. It's great to see a band that was formed in 2009 see such rapid success from their 2009 self-released album titled The Head and The Heart.

The band rolled through songs off of their debut album. Fans sang along to 'Down in the Valley', 'Couer d'Alene', 'Cats and Dogs' and one of my personal favorites 'Ghosts'. During the performance of 'Lost in My Mind' members of The Devil Whale and one lucky fan joined the band on stage. There were so many people having fun.

Fleet Foxes performed at Masonic Auditorium in Cleveland on Wednesday night. Surprising there were still tickets available at the door. The opening act for the night was The Walkmen. While watching The Walkmen I noticed that a few members of Fleet Foxes were also enjoying the show. They blended in with the crowd, walking around the general admission area and then sitting in some open seats next to the stage.

When Fleet Foxes took the stage a little after nine, the Auditorium was almost completely full. The folk rock band opened the show with "The Plains / Bitter Dancer" which is almost six minutes long. The band played a nineteen song set list that included an encore of four songs, "Helplessness Blues" being the last song played. Fans also enjoyed "White Winter Hymnal", "Montezuma", "Grown Ocean" and "Bedouin Dress". It's hard to pick a favorite moment from the show, I enjoyed every second.

It's always great when a band sounds better live than expected. Fleet Foxes is definitely a band that is meant to play live shows. They seemed so comfortable on stage and each song sounded incredible. Wish I could see them again tonight.

Sara Bareilles is currently on the road with Sugarland. Throughout this tour Bareilles is also headlining her own shows in-between the scheduled Sugarland dates. She'll be stopping at the House of Blues in Cleveland on August 9th, with opening act Raining Jane. Joshua Radin will also be supporting Bareilles in select cities.

"Little Voice", Sara's debut album is certified platinum. Her sophomore album, Kaleidoscope Heart was released on September 7, 2010 and debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200. "King of Anything" received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Recently I got to speak with Sara while she took a short break from her busy tour schedule.

CH: Is there a difference in opening up for another artist and headlining your own show?
SB: Yes, when opening for another artist it's like being in someone else's house and I want to be respectful. "I ditch the swear words, I swear like a trucker." I'll play more obscure songs and want to make sure the performance packs a punch.

Last night CAKE performed at the Masonic Auditorium in Cleveland. The sold out show was scheduled to start at 8 p.m. with no opening act. It was almost 8:30 when CAKE appeared on stage. Fans were still filing into the auditorium at this time. The band seemed concerned fans might not have known there was no opening act for the night. Lead vocalist, John McCrea announced to the crowd they were opening up for themselves.

I've lived in Cleveland my entire life and have never been to the Masonic Auditorium. It is an amazing venue for a concert. It has the atmosphere of a large theater similar to the State theater at Playhouse Square but more intimate. There was standing room on the floor for ticket holders who purchased those tickets and inclined theater seating for all other fans.

On May 17th, CAKE will be in Cleveland performing at the Masonic Auditorium. Most of the shows on this tour have sold out so be sure to get tickets early.

CAKE has been writing, producing and performing their own music for twenty years now. The band began making music in the early nineties. In 1996 they became popular after releasing "The Distance" off of the album, "Fashion Nugget. John McCrea, lead singer/vocalist and trumpeter Vince DiFiore are two of the four founding members still with the band.

Continuing to thrive in the music business CAKE released their sixth studio album on January 11, 2011 titled "Showroom of Compassion".

“We still exist,” explains McCrea, “because we’ve always stayed outside of current trends. We’ve watched them inflate and deflate. We’ve never been invited to the party, so we’ve never had to leave the party whether the police arrived or not. It’s a sad and beautiful world.”

Tickets are available at ticketmaster.com.

General Admission Floor Standing - $42.00
Reserved Mezzanine - $35.00
General Admission Balcony - $28.00

Photo Credit: Robert McKnight

The 35th Cleveland International Film Festival will be coming to an end this weekend. However, there is still plenty of time to see a few films. If you are planning on attending the festival this weekend please donate to the challenge match. The CIFF is on target to reach their $35,000 goal.

I'm still thinking about the film I saw last night, "Meek's Cutoff". It seemed to be a popular choice as the theater filled up quickly with pass holders. The last few seats were taken right before the film started. There are some familiar faces in this film. Emily is played by Michelle Williams, Paul Dano plays Thomas Gately and Solomon Tetherow is played by Will Patton.

"Meek's Cutoff" is about three families taking a journey across the Oregon Trail in 1845. Stephen Meek is the man guiding these families across the trail to a promising land of better opportunities. The families have been traveling for much longer than originally planned and become suspicious about Meek and his intentions. It's easy to see that the group is now lost with no sense of direction.

In Afghanistan 40% of children die before the age of 5. That's a very sad statistic. Not only is the 35th Cleveland International Film Festival entertaining but it's extremely educational.

"Outside the Wire: The Forgotten Children of Afghanistan" is a documentary about the children living in the tribal areas of Afghanistan. During the film you see how U.S. troops are trying to help these children by building schools and reaching out to them. Relief agencies usually do not go to these areas of Afghanistan because of the danger that is involved.

Filmmaker Anthony Hornus ventures beyond the protected army bases with Colonel Victor Kuchar to show the story of these children. Kuchar runs Operation Care. Through his organization he distributes, clothes, blankets, supplies, food and water to orphans in poor villages and camps throughout Afghanistan.

Watching the footage of these children begging for handouts is heart wrenching. They're looking for necessity items such as shoes and hats. Troops are risking their lives in order to make the lives of these children a little better.

You can see "Outside the Wire" on Thursdsay, March 31st at 1:55 p.m.

The "Colors of the Mountain" showing at The 35th Cleveland International Film Festival
is a story about Columbia and how families are forced to leave their homes as guerrillas invade their village.

The film focuses on the children and their lives as they go to school and play in the village. Even though the subject of the film is far from happy, the 9 year old boy Manual will keep you laughing throughout the film. All the children in the village attend the same school which has one classroom. Teachers come to the village but then leave abruptly because of the guerrillas.

One day as Manual and his friends are playing they accidentally kick their ball into a grassy field that is known to have land mines. Manual tries to convince his friends to help him get the ball back that his father had given to him. As the children take steps towards the ball, you can only hope they do not step on a mine.

The 35th Cleveland International Film Festival
has had record breaking attendance every day this year. On Friday, over 6,000 people attended the festival. You still have plenty of time to see a few films.

Last night I saw a film that was said to be "the hottest ticket of the festival", "Danny Greene: The Rise and Fall of the Irishman". Many Clevelanders have been talking about this documentary along with the hollywood version of the story "Kill The Irishman" which is currently in select theaters.

The stand-by line seemed to go on forever last night as people patiently waited to get into the theater. Danny Greene: The Rise and Fall of the Irishman was shown in two theaters at 9:45 pm. Every seat in both theaters was taken when the film started.

My interest in seeing this documentary spiked while reading the description of the film. It's an interesting story about Cleveland’s legendary gangster, Danny Greene and his battle with the Italian mofia. I was unfamiliar with the entire story of Greene and how he was perceived by the city of Cleveland.