Rock City From the back of the stage to the front, Andrea BeldingElson, Joshua Riehl and Chayla Hope of Seafair perform at Brite Winter on the West Bank of The Flats in Cleveland.
Robert Muller / Brite Winter
Jewish musicians, promoters and venue operators hit all the right notes to keep Cleveland rockin’
W
eaving original rock ’n’ roll music into the community fabric is a key goal of partners Chayla Hope and Teddy Eisenberg, respectively lead singer of Seafair and the group’s manager. Performing original rock is critical to Sean Benjamin, a singer-songwriter from Lakewood. And helping spread word of the area’s diverse rock scene matters to Kathy Blackman of Cleveland Heights, who has owned the Grog Shop in that innerring suburb for more than 25 years. Hope, 31, is the leader of Seafair, an eclectic, six-piece group of great range and richness. Eisenberg, 24, manages Seafair and, with Hope and concert promoter Jeanette Sangston, runs Sixth City Sounds, a nonprofit dedicated to furthering the Cleveland rock scene. Hope’s daytime job is vinyl press operator at Gotta Groove Records in downtown Cleveland. Eisenberg is manager of business operations for EZ ERISA Plan, a sister company to the Cleveland law firm Zimon LLC.
42
Jstyle
Spring 2018
By Carlo Wolff
Both attend Temple Israel Ner Tamid in Mayfield Heights, where his father, Matthew, is the rabbi. Benjamin, 34, performs solo around the area – and around the world. By day, he’s digital marketing manager at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland. The son of a Jewish father and an Irish mother who converted to Judaism when she got married, he was raised in a Jewish home. He recently performed in England, Scotland and Ireland, fulfilling a dream that resonated with his background. Benjamin used to attend Temple Ner Tamid in Euclid and was bar mitzvahed there. (In 1997, Temple Ner Tamid merged with Temple Israel of Greater Cleveland to become Temple Israel Ner Tamid.) Blackman attends Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple in Beachwood. All operate in the shadow of Live Nation, the area’s largest concert promoter, where Michael Belkin is senior vice president, carrying on the tradition of his father, Mike, and his uncle, Jules.
Mike and Jules Belkin founded Belkin Productions, an ancestor of Live Nation, in the mid-’60s. Belkin Productions was the premier concert promoter in Cleveland and the Midwest until its sale in 2001.
Working for the common good Seafair is deep into a follow-up to its first album, “The Querencia,” released in 2015. “We’re working on all of the songs, and there are about six we’re really proud of so far,” says Hope, who converted to Judaism last June. “Once we get there, we’re going straight to the studio.” A favorite at Brite Winter, where it co-headlined in February, Seafair was founded in 2012. Eisenberg, who manages the band “on a daily basis,” says Seafair hopes to have the new album, or at least another single, out by fall. He also finds time for both Seafair and Sixth City because he has “passion for the local scene and what it provides the city of Cleveland as a tangible asset both economically and artistically.”
jstylemagazine.com