When local singer-songwriter Kramies was still a teenager, he began playing shows with his shoegazer band Pot Roast. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, the group played Flash Gordon’s, a now defunct venue that Kramies, who grew up in Fairview Park, describes as a “glam metal divebar.” It was a formative experience.
“I opened for TOOL and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones when I was 17, and from that point on, this is all I’ve been doing,” he says one afternoon while sitting cross-legged on a sofa at Dark Currents, a rehearsal space/studio located on Cleveland’s near West side. With his frizzy hair and maniacal laugh, Kramies comes off as a gentler and kinder version of the titular character that Gene Wilder portrayed in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
Kramies, who returned to Cleveland earlier this year, has just released an EP of acoustic tracks taken from his 2022 self-titled LP and is now working on a full-length of new tunes slated to come out in 2024.
After Pot Roast, Kramies joined a band called Grooveyard that featured Jerry Becker, who would go to join the San Francisco pop-rock band Train.
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“Then, I wanted to write my own songs,” says Kramies. “I wrote all these songs and was super into David Bowie and the whole art-rock thing. I have always had an addictive personality. I was getting into drugs and would write acoustic David Bowie-esque type stuff.”
He moved to Hudson and recorded a solo album at an old church there. Local musician Matt Cassidy, a talented producer in addition to being a terrific player, brought the album to life; it came out under the band name Channel.
“[Cassidy] was a guitar player, and I couldn’t believe how much sound came out of his instrument,” says Kramies, adding that Channel opened for national acts such as Calexico, Grandaddy and Red House Painters. “To this day, Matt has no idea how much he influenced me back in those days.”
That band lasted until 1998. At that point, Karmies was using cocaine and had developed an addiction that he says impaired his ability to develop and mature as an artist. In 2004, he decided to get sober and eventually signed a solo deal with Hidden Shoal, an Australian label with world-wide distribution. While touring in Ireland Kramies became inspired by the unique wooden toys he saw one evening at a Galway, Ireland toy shop called the Wooden Heart. He then reached out to Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle and Guided by Voices’s Todd Tobias to produce a collection of songs. The Wooden Heart EP released in 2013, that album caught the attention of acts such as Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev.
“Things took off from there,” says Kramies. “I was recording music in a tiny closet in a small apartment in Denver. I got huge traction. At that point, I started doing interviews as a solo artist, and my name was going overseas.”
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A sold-out show at a French theater yielded the live album, Forêts Antiques Live at the Grand Théâtre. It finds Kramies playing acoustic versions of songs such as “Sea Otter Cottage” and “The Fate That Never Favored Us.” The songs possess the fragility of tunes by someone like the late Nick Drake, the great English singer-songwriter who released three albums in the early 1970s before retreating from the public spotlight.
In the wake of that his album’s release, NPR and BBC picked up his music.
“All the labels that used to ignore me started to contact me,” says Kramies. “I started understanding the business and cutting out middle people. What blows me away is the amount of press I’ve received in the last nine years. I’m in awe of it and super grateful. I got called the American Dream-Pop Troubadour, and I hated that. I was going to destroy that with the 2018 EP Of all the Places Been & Everything the End [which was written in 2017 while Kramies lived in a haunted castle in Ireland], but that EP made the American Dream-Pop Troubadour title worse. I remember talking to Jerry [Becker] from Train, who said, ‘Just go with it. At least they’re fucking talking about you.’ So I let it go.”
In 2022, he released a self-titled album featuring Tyler Ramsey, Patrick Carney (Black Keys), Becker, and Lytle and followed it with “Ohio I’ll Be Fine,” a track featuring Becker on keys, guitar and strings as well as Counting Crows drummer Jim Bogios. In 2022, he also recorded music for the soundtrack to a French book and went on a book tour throughout France.
For his forthcoming studio album that’s due out next year, Kramies and producer Mario McCulty (David Bowie, Prince) have teamed up.
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“He’s worked with everybody including my biggest influence, David Bowie,” says Kramies. After a “really nice conversation,” the two decided to work together on the forthcoming 2024 album.
“He’s taken things to a whole new working level,” says Kramies.
With the success of the 2022 LP, which landed two songs in the top ten radio charts and was awarded seven “top albums of the year” by various critics/polls, Kramies decided to release four of the songs from last year’s LP as the original acoustic takes cut back before all the studio magic was added. This is a one-off limited release acoustic EP.
Kramies says another overseas tour is in the works as well. While his name and work continues to be that of an international act, Kramies says he’s happy to be back in Cleveland.
“I love it here in Cleveland,” he says. “This is the next stage of stuff, and I’m really excited to be back after 16 years where it started. I never know where I’ll be off to next but It’ll be amazing to see where it goes. It’s been an amazing ride.”
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WWE SummerSlam 2024 from Cleveland, Ohio advertised six championship matches. Among them was Solo Sikoa challenging Cody Rhodes for the WWE Undisputed Championship, LA Knight challenging Logan Paul for the WWE United States Championship, Sami Zayn defending the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Bron Breakker and GUNTHER challenging Damian Priest for the WWE World Championship.
This week’s broadcast of WWE Raw garnered 1.412 million viewers on SyFy after being preempted by the Olympics.
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WWE SummerSlam Results | August 3, 2024
Liv Morgan def. Rhea Ripley | WWE Women’s World Championship
Bron Breakker def. Sami Zayn | WWE Intercontinental Championship
LA Knight def. Logan Paul | WWE United States Championship
Nia Jax def. Bayley | WWE Women’s Championship
Drew McIntyre def. CM Punk
GUNTHER def. Damian Priest | WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Cody Rhodes def. Solo Sikoa | WWE Undisputed Championship
WWE SummerSlam 2024 Ticket Sales
WWE SummerSlam 2024 Venue: Cleveland Browns Stadium (Cleveland, OH)
WWE SummerSlam 2024 Tickets Distributed: 55,858
WWE SummerSlam 2024 Tickets Available: 807
WWE Money In The Bank 2024 Winners And Grades
Liv Morgan Def. Rhea Ripley
Despite all the talk of The Judgment Day competing by themselves, Dominik Mysterio accompanied Rhea Ripley to the ring.
Michael Cole noted the last time Rhea Ripley lost a singles match was 26 months ago. To Liv Morgan.
This match started as a cat-and-mouse as Liv ran away from Ripley. Fans became frustrated and booed Liv loudly.
Rhea dominated this match until Liv Morgan dodged a charging Ripley and followed up by throwing her, shoulder-first, into the turnbuckle. Ripley could be heard (kayfabe) saying “it’s out, it’s out!”
Fans were split as they made dueling chants of “let’s go Rhea/let’s go Liv!”
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Liv Morgan (kayfabe) popped her shoulder back into place by running herself into the announce table and fans went crazy.
Ripley hit the riptide, but did not pin Morgan. Instead, she grabbed a steel chair that Morgan brought into the ring. Mysterio grabbed the chair from her, which was the wise decision because she would have gotten herself disqualified. This led to an Oblivion for a nearfall and “holy s—t” chants.
Dom distracted the ref, leading to an Oblivion on the steel chair for the win. After the match, Dominik Mysterio kissed Liv Morgan and they left together.
Backstage, Damian Priest was furious with Dominik Mysterio for his actions. Finn and the rest of the Judgment Day vowed to go find him. I don’t trust them.
Rhea Ripley vs. Liv Morgan Grade: A-
Bron Breakker Def. Sami Zayn
Bron Breakker hit his always impressive Breakkensteiner early on, then he proceeded to scream “quit!” at Sami Zayn.
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Bron Breakker cut Sami Zayn off with a Spear, then he hit ayn with another Spear for the win. This wasn’t necessarily a squash match, but it was definitely a dominant win for Breakker.
Bron Breakker vs. Sami Zayn Grade: B
LA Knight Def. Logan Paul
Logan Paul wore a Cleveland-inspired American Flag vest and greeted two security guards on his way to the ring. One of hte security guards turned out to be Cleveland’s own MGK.
LA Knight shattered the glass on Logan Paul’s Prime vehicle before making his way to the ring.
Paul cleared the table, but LA Knight got the better of him with a modified TKO, though the table didn’t break.
Paul won these people over with a springboard moonsault on LA Knight. Though they cheered the spot, they eventually came to their senses and chanted “you still suck!”
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After jumping up on the top rope, LA Knight hit a scary looking superplex. Fans chanted “this is awesome” after a nearfall.
Logan Paul borrowed brass knuckles from MGK. After a shot to LA Knight, Knight countered with a BFT.
Logan Paul vs. LA Knight Grade: A-
Nia Jax Def. Bayley
Bayley relentlessly knocked Nia Jax off her feet early in the match.
Nia Jax took control of the match, to the point where she hit the Annihilator, but Bayley kicked out.
Jax called herself “reckless” and “clumsy” while trash-talking Bayley on offense.
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Bayley hit an awesome power bomb on Nia Jax from the top rope. The fans were fervently into a match that struggled to follow Logan Paul vs. LA Knight.
A Tiffany Stratton cash-in was thwarted by Bayley, but the distraction led to two power bombs and two Annihilators for the win.
Nia Jax vs. Bayley Grade: A-
Drew McIntyre Def. CM Punk
Seth Rollins walked out in a long cloak, and what was under the jacket was certain to be even wilder.
WWE used ref cameras on the referee’s ear, and there were never more ref cam shots than during Seth Rollins’ entrance.
Rollins’ referee outfit were baggy, bedazzled pants and a cutoff shirt similar to Shawn Michaels.
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Fans chanted “CM Punk” to start the match as punk donned pink gear in homage to Bret Hart.
Rollins did a great job working the fans into a frenzy before ringing the bell. When the bell rang, Punk and McIntyre brawled like crazy.
Instead of counting to 10 while Punk and McIntyre were outside of the ring, Rollins instead chose to tie his shoes. Rollins also took immense pleasure in seeing Punk and Rollins beat the hell out of one another.
During an Anaconda Vice on McIntyre, Punk secured his friendship bracelet and the entire stadium celebrated.
Punk stopped his GTS on McIntyre dead in its tracks and confronted Rollins about wearing his bracelet, which Rollins picked up off the ground did wear, but out of no malice.
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After a ref bump and a nearfall (followed by a second visual pinfall), Punk and Rollins got into a heated argument. Punk hit a Go To Sleep on Rollins and took his bracelet back, but it cost him the match.
Drew McIntyre vs. CM Punk Grade: B+
GUNTHER Def. Damian Priest
Finn Balor wished Damian Priest luck before the match. Famous last words.
GUNTHER already had chop marks on his chest before the match even started.
GUNTHER and Priest chopped the hell out of one another to the point where GUNTHER was bleeding from the chest.
Finn Balor hit the ring, presumably to save Priest, but he ended up costing Priest the WWE World Heavyweight Championship by putting GUNTHER’s leg on the bottom rope.
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After this match, Jelly Roll, The Miz and R-Truth took out A-Town Down Under.
GUNTHER vs. Damian Priest Grade: B+
Cody Rhodes Def. Solo Sikoa
Cody Rhodes ran into Arn Anderson backstage, and Anderson said he called in a few favors to a few allies of Cody Rhodes. Some of whom he knows, some he doesn’t.
For a full recap of Cody vs. Solo Sikoa in Bloodline Rules, click here.
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“The Biggest Party of the Summer” goes down tonight.
WWE SummerSlam 2024 takes place this evening, live from Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Scheduled for tonight’s premium live event is Cody Rhodes vs. Solo Sikoa in a Bloodline Rules match for the WWE Universal Championship, Damian Priest vs. GUNTHER for the WWE World Championship, as well as CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre with Seth “Freakin’” Rollins as the special guest referee.
Additionally, the show this evening will feature Liv Morgan vs. Rhea Ripley for the WWE Women’s World Championship, Bayley vs. Nia Jax for the WWE Women’s Championship, Sami Zayn vs. Bron Breakker for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, as well as Logan Paul vs. LA Knight for the WWE United States Championship.
Join us here tonight for live WWE SummerSlam 2024 results.
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