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CONTENTS APRIL 20-MAY 3, 2022 • VOL. 52 NO 21
Upfront .......................................7
Eat ............................................ 21
Feature ..................................... 10
Music ........................................ 25
Get Out ..................................... 16
Savage Love .............................. 31
Dedicated to Free Times founder Richard H. Siegel (1935-1993) and Scene founder Richard Kabat Publisher Andrew Zelman Editor Vince Grzegorek Editorial Music Editor Jeff Niesel Senior Writer Sam Allard Staff Writer Brett Zelman Dining Editor Douglas Trattner Visual Arts Writer Shawn Mishak Stage Editor Christine Howey Advertising Senior Multimedia Account Executive John Crobar, Shayne Rose Creative Services Production Manager Sean Bieri Editorial Layout Evan Sult Graphic Designer Aspen Smit Staff Photographer Emanuel Wallace Business
Euclid Media Group Chief Executive Officer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner VP Digital Services Stacy Volhein Digital Operations Coordinator Jaime Monzon www.euclidmediagroup.com National Advertising Voice Media Group 1-800-278-9866, vmgadvertising.com
REWIND: 1991 Lenny Kravitz, hot on the cover of Scene three decades ago, somehow hotter now.
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UPFRONT THE SIGNAL FOR 89.7 FM, NEW HOME FOR LOCAL NPR AFFILIATE, SUCKS ACROSS MUCH OF CLEVELAND ON A RECENT SATURDAY morning driving through Ohio City with the 89.7 FM dialed up on the radio, the signal went grainy and then out for two blocks around Dave’s Supermarket. I was far from alone in encountering that problem with WKSU around town. Ever since the newly merged WCPN and WKSU public radio operations switched NPR/Ideastream programming from 90.3 to 89.7, complaints have cascaded across Cleveland from longtime WCPN listeners dismayed that the signal for 89.7, to put it simply, sucks in ways that 90.3 never did. Ideastream Public Media is aware of the issue, which is very much a Cleveland problem. In order to best serve the 22-county listener audience resulting from the merger, Ideastream chose 89.7 FM for all news programming. It has a stronger signal, already had a system of repeater stations, and reaches as far south as Mansfield. WCPN’s old home at 90.3, meanwhile, has a weaker signal and half of its coverage area is over Lake Erie. “We wanted to make sure that places that have fewer options, that we don’t reduce news and information services in those areas,” Ideastream Public Media’s Chief Marketing Officer Todd Mesek told Scene. “When you look at the signal area overall [for 89.7], 98 percent of the listening audience is not affected. We know it’s important and we have every intention and motivation to reach as many people as possible. Mesek said there was never going to be a perfect choice as the stations sorted out the merger, and radio frequencies have never been the perfect solution, but Ideastream knows many Cleveland listeners aren’t getting the same service and are working on solutions. “There’s boosting technology that we’re piloting and testing now,” he said. “The more significant boost though will happen later and requires FCC approval. We are moving aggressively for that 2 percent of the listening area — low areas and by the lake — to have interim solutions but the long-term
Photo courtesy Ideastream
solution requires approval and to get it we needed to effectively move everything to 89.7, remove news from 90.3, so we can demonstrate to the FCC that there’s a real need to restore this coverage area and there’s demand in the community. That’s the long-term solution, where we’ll employ boosting technology on existing towers and use additional repeater equipment.” He’s also happy to remind everyone that Ideastream has leaned into smart speakers and livestreaming and programming is available on Smart TVs and on Ideastream’s app. In the meantime, “We want to hear from people,” he said. “I’m not eager to hear complaints, but when we have those responses from people that helps us go back to the FCC and say there’s a real need, you have to fast track this.” -Vince Grzegorek
Cleveland Documenters Guru Tapped to Lead New Local Newsroom from American Journalism Project Lila Mills, currently the associate director of Neighborhood Connections, has been tapped as Editor-in-Chief of a new newsroom in Cleveland funded by the American Journalism Project and the Cleveland Foundation. Mills was hired after an extensive five-month search, according to a Tuesday morning press release, and will oversee editorial operations at the hotly anticipated digital outlet that
aspires to become one of the largest and most trusted news sources in Cleveland. Mills was an integral part of the creation of Cleveland Documenters, the corps of community members who live Tweet public meetings in an effort to shine a spotlight on local government agencies and increase civic literacy throughout the community. According to the Tuesday announcement, Cleveland Documenters will be folded into the new newsroom, which has already secured upwards of $6 million in private funding and plans to hire close to 20 editorial staffers. The Documenters will work with a team of editors and beat reporters in a collaborative reporting model. “I am so honored by this opportunity to build a newsroom focused on equity and trained in community-building practices,” Mills said, in a prepared statement. “Our reporting will tell the stories residents care most about, hold decision-makers accountable, and be a primary source of verified information people need for their daily lives, in ways that are accessible to all. Above all else, we will never stop working to build trust with Greater Cleveland communities.” Mills was previously a reporter at the Plain Dealer, an advisor at the Cuyahoga Community College student newspaper, and the editor of Greater University Circle Neighborhood Voice, a community newspaper also launched by the Cleveland Foundation.
“Lila is the visionary, servicedriven leader Greater Cleveland needs to produce a new kind of independent, high-quality local journalism,” said Michael Ouimette, a senior VP at the American Journalism Project and a member of the hiring committee. “The coalition and board are immensely grateful for the work of the search committee and residents who gave their valuable time and input into this process.” The hiring at the newsroom will continue apace, according to the announcement. Now that the EIC has been secured, next up is the CEO, (what historically might have been called a “Publisher”), to lead the publication’s business operations. Dual managing editors will also be brought on board, one to focus on news, including hiring the reporting team and overseeing coverage; and the other to focus on community, including managing engagement efforts and ensuring that the publication’s coverage centers community needs. Those roles and others will be posted on the website of the Ohio Local News Initiative, the Cleveland newsroom’s statewide umbrella organization. The Marshall Project, the PulitzerPrize winning national journalism nonprofit focused on criminal justice reporting will launch a Cleveland bureau in the coming months as well. It announced Tuesday that the editor of its Northeast Ohio operation will be Jim Crutchfield, a veteran journalist who served, from 2001 to 2006, as the president and publisher of the Akron Beacon Journal. -Sam Allard
Gigi Traore Will Be First Black Mayor of Cleveland Heights, Despite Rumored Ouster Newburgh Heights Village Councilwoman Gigi Traore took over as Mayor Monday after Mayor Trevor Elkins resigned as part of a plea deal related to campaign finance charges. Last week, it was unclear of Traore would be allowed to ascend. Local politicians and area
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UPFRONT activists flooded a meeting of the Newburgh Heights Council when a rumor circulated on social media that the meeting had been called specifically to remove Traore as president pro tempore, thereby jeopardizing her claim on the mayor’s seat. Village Councilman Bill Dunman denied to Channel 19 that the meeting had been called for that purpose. “The meeting was not called to take specific action or not take action,” he said. “It was to give council an opportunity to hear Ms. Traore and to respond as a council, which we did.” In public remarks to her colleagues, Traore said that she was “hurt” by the last-minute meeting. Both she and the local elected leaders who gathered to support her assumed that the goal was to sideline her. That was not the real reason the meeting was called, according to those with knowledge of the agenda, (although electing a new president pro tem was a possible outcome, Scene was told). Traore is in the midst of a civil dispute with her landlord in Newburgh Heights. And members of council, who had been apprised of those proceedings, reportedly wanted to get to the bottom of it before Elkins formally resigned. They reportedly wanted to avoid a situation in which one mayor resigned and his successor moved out of the community in a short span. The council retired to a private executive session to discuss the matter at length, and when they emerged, they appeared to have reached an understanding. Congressional candidate Nina Turner attended the meeting, and Scene caught up with her by phone while council was in executive session. “Gigi Traore is the only black woman on this council and would be the first black woman to serve as mayor,” Turner said. “She has done an extraordinary job for her community.” Turner said that Traore had been a mentee of hers and that when she received a call from the councilwoman afternoon, she came to the meeting as a show of solidarity, alongside other current and former black women elected leaders in Northeast Ohio, including State Rep Juanita Brent, former State Sen. Shirley Smith and Cuyahoga County Councilwoman
Yvonne Conwell. Smith also spoke to Scene by phone. She said that, like others, she attended to show support for Traore. “She cares a lot about the people,” Smith said. “Everywhere there are people who are deprived, she has worked to uplift them. She deserves to be mayor.” Mayor Elkins is likely to resign Thursday as part of a guilty plea. His misdemeanor charges concern the improper siphoning of campaign funds for personal use. Elkins will avoid jail time as part of the deal but must resign as Mayor of Newburgh Heights and pay a small fine. He will also agree not to run for office in Cuyahoga County from 2024-2028. Elkins was a supporter of Traore’s when she was first appointed to council. When reached by phone, he confirmed that he had not called the council meeting. He spoke highly of Traore as an elected leader. “I am thrilled that Gigi is on council, and we’ve had a long positive working relationship,” he said. “I’m confident that she’ll do a good job as mayor.” Traore spoke with Scene Tuesday and said that she believes the overwhelming presence of political and community leaders Monday night was an important factor in council’s ultimate decision. She also confirmed the nature of the executive session without going into details. “We had to clarify some things and hash some things out,” she said. “But we came out with an understanding that a system of trust and communication would be in place and that we would hold each other accountable to ourselves and the residents of Newburgh Heights.” Traore said that as the only black woman on council, she had come to expect uneasiness about her leadership from certain quarters. “There are dog whistles and nuanced things that you pick up on,” she said. “You learn the code. People are leery of change. And this is gonna be a change.” -Sam Allard
Plain Dealer Endorses Nina Turner Over Shontel Brown in Congressional Race After Testy Interview The editorial board of cleveland. com and The Plain Dealer has once again endorsed former Cleveland
City Councilwoman and State Senator Nina Turner in the 11th district congressional race. In the May primary, Turner will face Shontel Brown, the former County Councilwoman and current chair of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party who defeated her in the 2021 special election and is now the incumbent in the seat formerly held by Marcia Fudge. Arguing that Turner would be a “fighter” in Washington and would govern in the tradition of former Congressman Louis Stokes, the editorial board said Turner had “the passion, experience, toughness and out-of-the-box thinking to give Cleveland a powerful, socially committed and independent congressional voice.” The hour-plus exchange with members of the editorial board allowed both candidates to make their case to voters. They described themselves in much the same way their campaign literature did in 2021. Shontel Brown sees herself as a cooperator, someone who can work with anyone, including those with whom she disagrees, to deliver results for constituents. Turner sees herself as a fighter, someone who’s willing to go to bat for residents and the issues they care about, even if it means putting her career at risk or speaking out of turn. Turner stressed that while much could be accomplished in the halls of congress, there was equal power and potential in the streets. She argued that public pressure was often the most effective way to achieve change. Both candidates agreed in broad strokes on the importance of voting rights, the urgency of providing resources for reproductive healthcare in an era when abortion rights are increasingly threatened, of taxing the wealthy and increasing employment to shore up social security, and of providing aid to Ukraine while pursuing diplomatic solutions instead of escalating a global conflict with Russia. The vocal disagreement, which arrived later in the interview, largely concerned Shontel Brown’s decision to remain in her position as Chair of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party through the last election and the current one. Brown maintained that there was no conflict of interest, especially because the party had not endorsed in the race. She said that last year,
scene@clevescene.com @clevelandscene
it would have been premature to resign before she knew her fate. She plans to relinquish the chairmanship later this year at the conclusion of her term but did not want to neglect her responsibilities or short-change her party electors by vacating the post early. Turner rejoined that regardless of how Brown felt, there was an appearance of impropriety. She said that Brown had enjoyed an unfair advantage and that candidates across Ohio were suffering because the chair of the Democratic Party in Cuyahoga County — the state’s most important Democratic stronghold — was only able to provide a fraction of her time and attention to the crucial tasks of voter outreach and mobilization. -Sam Allard
DIGIT WIDGET 18 Total outdoor pools in the City of Cleveland. These are open, off-and-on, for two months per year, and are irregularly maintained by the city’s division of public works. (Mayor Bibb is now considering a standalone Department of Parks and Recreation.)
1 Cleveland’s nationwide rank in outdoor public pools per capita. $240 – Value of West Side Market coupons available to needy families with children as part of new pilot program offering free fruits and vegetables for the next 10 weeks.
1801 Superior Avenue, address of the Plain Dealer building in downtown Cleveland, which sold last week to an undisclosed party. The editorial staff at cleveland.com has largely worked remotely during the pandemic but will now be required to work in person one day per week from the PD’s production facility on Tiedeman Road in Brooklyn.
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We need to talk about Geauga County judge
TIMOTHY GRENDELL BY SAM ALLARD
THE FACT THAT GEAUGA COUNTY Probate and Juvenile Court Judge Timothy Grendell employs an armed constable is something of a peculiarity. A constable. It sounds both old-fashioned and provincial, something you’d expect to encounter in a BBC period drama, not a 2022 news report. But in Geauga County, the wooded and largely rural territory to Cuyahoga County’s immediate east, the constable functions something like a manservant and errand boy for the judge. According to his appointment orders, constable John A. Ralph is empowered to “serve, process and subpoena in all cases involving the court.” He was hired to this unusual post in 2012, a year after Grendell was himself dispatched to Geauga County from the statehouse by Ohio’s thengovernor, John Kasich. Grendell is a local boy, a St. Ignatius, John Carroll and Case Western Reserve University alumnus who served in the state legislature from 2000-2011. He is now among the most divisive and menacing figures in Northeast Ohio politics. Few sources dare to speak openly about Grendell for fear of retaliation, but everyone knows that his constable has broad discretion to do his bidding. The whispered speculation is that John Ralph was hired because he’d be content — in fact delighted — to follow the judge’s orders without asking questions. Blind loyalty is required from Grendell, for though he has amassed a network of cronies and an army of foot soldiers from what remains of the Geauga County Tea Party, he has also alienated elected officials, mainstream Republican organizations, and county employees, not least members of the Sheriff’s Department, who have expressed uneasiness about carrying out his judicial will in the past. To take a recent high-profile example, Grendell in early 2020 sent two teenage boys to jail for a weekend when they refused to resume visitation with their estranged father. The story alarmed legal experts and child advocates, and was outrageous enough to garner national headlines, though it was hardly the first time Grendell was accused of radical
judicial overreach. A lieutenant in the Geauga County Sheriff’s Department, in this case, was so discomfited that he penned a memo to his staff a few days later advising that in the future, verbal orders from the Judge would be insufficient justification for dragging kids to jail. “The only times we should be taking juveniles into custody or to Portage is when we have had direct involvement with a juvenile via an unruly or delinquent issue and have [probable cause] for a charge and we contact the Judge directly for placement and he orders the juvenile into custody, we have an arrest warrant or written court order in hand...” the memo read. “In this above-mentioned incident, we had no charges and no [probable cause] for the lock up, simply the judge’s verbal order, which is not enough.” John Ralph has no such qualms. A personal buddy of Grendell’s who is rumored to have long aspired to leadership in actual law enforcement, the constable embraces his role as Grendell’s muscle on the streets of Chardon and throughout the adjacent boonies, where he has become a known quantity. “Sure, I know John Ralph,” one resident told Scene last month on a reporting junket to Chardon. “He walks around with his open carry. You walk into Home Depot and there he is, open carrying.” Ralph is the guy that Grendell sends to collect people. Like when a meeting was scheduled with advocates from the Protect Geauga Parks group at the Chardon Library, a neutral public location where the opposing parties could hash out one of their recurring disputes, Grendell sent
Ralph over to deliver a message: The venue had changed. The meeting would now be held in Grendell’s courtroom across the street. Grendell prefers to conduct business from his judicial seat, which many now understand that he regards, and expects others to approach, as a throne. The Protect Geauga Parks folks had no interest in prostrating themselves that day and so declined Ralph’s escort. They feared that in his own courtroom, Grendell would devise a way to hold them in contempt, one of his favorite tactics. On June 24, 2020, a few weeks after Grendell sent the teenage brothers to the Portage County Jail, the case was accumulating media attention. Grendell’s printed statement that his job as juvenile court judge was “to protect the best interests of the children who come before the court” evidently wasn’t passing muster with the hounds at Cleveland’s TV news stations. Channel 5 investigative reporter Sarah Buduson was looking into the matter, and Fox 8 was sniffing around the edges, too. Both stations seemed likely to send reporters out to Chardon for a hearing the following day. To avoid this coverage, some speculated, Grendell made a last-minute schedule change, moving the hearing up from 2 p.m. to 10 a.m. He sent John Ralph to deliver notice of the time change to the parties in the case. Stacy Hartman, the mother of the two boys, wasn’t at her home in Geauga County when Ralph arrived. Following a tip and his own initiative, he drove to her fiancé’s home in Windsor Township in Ashtabula County. Hartman wasn’t there either, but her fiancé was, and Ralph’s encounter with him resulted in criminal trespassing charges. In an affidavit, Hartman’s fiancé accused Ralph of lingering on his property for nearly 20 minutes; of placing his hand on his firearm to intimidate him into accepting the court documents; of making a series of bizarre and threatening statements; and of taking pictures of his home and shining his phone’s flashlight at him. In a later statement, he alleged that Ralph had
caused more than $4,000 in property damage as he crushed a power transformer with his Jeep Cherokee on his way out. The fourth-degree misdemeanor, which one source close to the case described to Scene as “piddly,” should have been open and shut. Never mind that it had taken more than a year to physically get Ralph into Ashtabula Western Court, as he had dodged the court summons for months. The prosecutors had video evidence on their side and fully expected that the jury would find Ralph guilty with minimal friction. In the words of one observer, the prosecution “had a field day” at trial. But something strange happened. After two drawn-out days of testimony, Ralph’s defense attorney Thomas Simon called for a Rule 29 acquittal, which would have cleared Ralph of the charges based on insufficient evidence. The attorney had invoked Rule 29 twice during the trial already and had been denied. But this time, presiding judge Michelle Fisher excused the jury to their meeting room and retired to her chambers. When she re-emerged, blanched and fumbling, she granted the Rule 29 motion and released the jury. Ralph was off the hook. Case closed. The prosecution, and Hartman’s fiancé, were dumbfounded. What on earth had just happened? A rumored explanation surfaced quickly, if quietly: Some thought Judge Grendell had shown up and met with Judge Fisher in private to put his thumb on the scales. He had been on the defense’s witness list, but never appeared in any formal capacity, though was seen in the courthouse. Scene has confirmed no eyewitness accounts of Grendell’s communication with Fisher at the Ashtabula Western Court on November 17, 2021. Assistant Prosecutor Gene Barrett, for example, never left the courtroom during the time in question and did not see Grendell in person. Judge Fisher’s Clerk, Michele Mihalick, who served as bailiff on the case, denied to Scene that Fisher spoke with Grendell and acknowledged that doing so would have been wholly improper. A court
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employee who was said to have handled Grendell that day did not respond to Scene’s multiple inquiries. A source close to the prosecution did respond and confirmed that given the tenor and substance of the trial, the acquittal made no sense, legally, without the intercession of a third party. Judge Grendell himself, in response to a series of emailed questions from Scene, confirmed his presence at the courthouse but said he had been sitting in the hallway, prepared to testify, when the judge dismissed the “baseless and frivolous” complaint. “I never discussed the case with the trial judge or the appellate judges,” he insisted. “Any story alleging otherwise would be libel per se.” (The Ashtabula Prosecutor’s office did thereafter file an appeal of the Rule 29 acquittal, but it was denied.) IT’S DIFFICULT TO OVERSTATE just how skittish both official and unofficial sources were in discussing Grendell. In the small pond of Geauga County, home to just under 100,000 souls, the judge is a Great White Shark whose dorsal fin lurks in the communal periphery. Across multiple interviews, it was taken for granted that offering even gentle criticism might result in the loss of one’s job or a vengeful court summons. Take the parks. Like other probate court judges in the state of Ohio, Grendell is empowered with the appointment of commissioners to the county parks district. Unlike most other probate court judges, he has used that appointment power an awful lot. Before he arrived from Columbus in 2011, the parks district had been overseen by a total of 13 commissioners since its founding in 1961. Since 2011, Grendell has appointed 16. Under Grendell, opponents say, the parks district has abandoned its core mission of natural resource preservation to pursue recreation and construction projects. The board has expanded from three members to five and now includes businessmen whose companies routinely score lucrative park contracts. Public comment has been outlawed. The advocacy organization Protect Geauga Parks (PGP) was formed in 2014 to agitate against this new direction and the fishiness therewith. Its members bought yard signs to promote their message, but quickly clocked the scope of Judge Grendell’s influence when they tried to distribute them. “We had people tell us, ‘I really would like a sign, but my son works for jobs and family services, or my
nephew works for the sheriff,’” Barb Partington, current president of PGP, told Scene. “People were afraid Grendell would fire them or retaliate against their family members. Just for having a sign in their yard! We now have a board of 12 people, and none of us have relatives who work for public services. Our houses are paid off. Our septic tanks are okay… If you’re going up against Timothy Grendell, you’ve gotta have nothing to lose.” Responding to a question about PGP members and their fears of retaliation, Grendell wrote, “The members of that so-called park advocacy group falsely accuse me of many things and in each case, including the false claim contained in your question, they are wrong.” Partington and others characterized the Parks as merely one weapon in Grendell’s arsenal. He is perceived as dangerous not only because he is a shrewd legal mind and a savvy political operator, but because he has at his disposal what one opponent called a “posse of underlings,” who help him settle scores and punish enemies from perches of authority that he directly or indirectly coordinates. Above all, multiple people said, he is a man who knows the rules well enough to bend them to his will, which is another way of saying he makes his own. Nancy McArthur, the chair of the Geauga County Republican party, knows firsthand. “For the record, I never called him mentally ill,” she said, referencing comments attributed to her in an email that made its way to Judge Grendell back in 2014, after which Grendell summoned her to court and threatened her with incarceration for contempt. “I did say he was a narcissist, and that Kasich appointed him in Geauga County to get him out of Columbus. But everyone knows that… And he’s been on the warpath ever since.” The incident was roundly condemned at the time — the PD’s Brent Larkin called Grendell’s actions “astonishing and disturbing” — because McArthur was not a party to any case before the probate or juvenile court. Grendell was attempting to punish someone who’d privately spoken out against him. “Geauga County isn’t Russia,” Larkin wrote in his column. “And downtown Chardon shouldn’t be known as the place that’s home to a Kangaroo Court.” Grendell’s despotic vibe may seem risible from afar — his achievements in the McArthur case earned him the Popehat blog’s “Censorious Asshat of the Year” award in 2015 — but his actions are not joking matters in
Geauga County, where a culture of constant controversy has left many residents exasperated. In fact, beyond the fear of retaliation, weariness was the most common theme in our reporting. People are simply sick and tired of the Grendell drama. Which is why everyone has May 3rd circled on the calendar. The Republican Party is the only one that matters in Geauga County, where State Route 44 is both a physical and symbolic axis. In the bedroom communities to the west, places like Chesterland and Russell and Bainbridge, residents are by and large your typical white-collar fiscal conservatives. But out around the fairgrounds and farmland east of 44, it’s Tea Party Country, and that’s Grendell’s stronghold. In any case, just like in Cuyahoga County’s local partisan races, the primary election carries far more significance than the general. This year, the hottest race in the sticks is for Geauga County Auditor. In one corner stands a man named Chuck Walder, the incumbent, a former businessman who has reformed the office and brought greater transparency to public spending after an embezzlement scandal under his predecessor in 2017. In the other corner stands a Larry Householder-aligned state rep who has recently made headlines for her sponsorship of such glittering legislation as the “divisive concepts” bill and the anti-trans “Save Adolescents From Experimentation” bill: Diane Grendell, the Judge’s wife. CHUCK WALDER’S OFFICE, ONE floor below Judge Grendell’s on Chardon’s main drag, is spare. Other than his desk and a small conference table, it’s largely bereft of photos and plaques. Multiple easels line the perimeter and disclose, on their giant paper pads, evidence of recent team-building exercises and customerexperience brainstorms. Walder says the bare-bones look is intentional, part and parcel of an important paradigm shift after the previous auditor. “It used to be all about pomp and circumstance,” he told Scene. “It was about having your stickers on the gas pumps and your name on the sides of cars. I don’t care about any of that. What I care about is fixing the policies and procedures of this office to perform better for the residents of Geauga County.” Unlike in chartered Cuyahoga County, where the finance chief is appointed by the County Executive, Geauga County’s auditor is the elected fiscal officer. The role oversees all county spending, payroll, tax
assessments, and IT. “It’s extremely detail-oriented,” Walder said, “and the vulnerabilities are obvious.” Vulnerabilities? Scene wanted to know. “Look, you’re setting people’s property values,” he said. “That happens on a panel with a treasurer and a commissioner, but the auditor is the main author of those valuations. That process has to be totally blind and based on fact. You can’t steer them based on political affiliation or who screwed you in the last election. And just think about IT.” The “vulnerabilities” in IT, according to Walder, include unscrupulous snooping, vindictive internet outages, slow walking the purchase of urgently needed equipment, and so on. Walder presents physically as Breaking Bad’s Brian Cranston on an extreme diet. He is lean and goateed and speaks with an affable intensity that conveys, somehow, executive experience. He emerged from the private sector, having run a software company in Twinsburg from which he divested in 2005 to pursue a couple of personal hobbies: real estate development and collector car restoration. With his increasing spare time and his background in business, he applied for the position of fiscal officer in Russell Township, where he lived, and was appointed there in 2013. He quickly established a reputation as an honest and meticulous public finance guy and was approached to run for Geauga County Auditor in 2018. Not long after he pulled petitions, the previous auditor resigned in the wake of the embezzlement scandal — an IT employee had defrauded the county out of $1.8 million over eight years — and Walder was appointed as interim. He is now finishing his first full term. Over the past four years, as Walder has tried to reform the office by creating standardized procedures and new transparency measures, he has faced one chief antagonist: Judge Grendell. Their escalating spats have come to dominate political headlines in Geauga County to such a degree that Walder now jokes there may be residents willing to vote against him just to be rid of the nonstop letters to the editor in the Geauga Maple Leaf and the Chagrin Valley Times. Grendell and his underlings have tried to make Walder a villain. Instead, they’ve made him a fighter. And just like the Geauga Parks advocates, Walder knows that to fight with Grendell is a dicey proposition. “There’s no such thing as Judge Grendell losing,” Walder said. “He’s got frontal attacks and ancillary attacks.
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He uses his leverage with other people to get them to attack you, to wear you out, so you either surrender or you lose. And even if by some miracle you win, he still claims victory.” The victory that Grendell has been most keen to promote in recent weeks was handed down by no less than the Ohio Supreme Court. That body ruled 7-0 in February that Walder had to reimburse Grendell for a number of disputed court charges, including a robocall and newspaper advertisements, which Walder had refused to pay on various grounds. Walder and others noted to Scene that Grendell’s so-called “public outreach,” paid for by the court, tends to increase quite a bit during election season, which makes it look much more like campaigning. Walder also told Scene that over the course of a series of oneon-one meetings related to the charges, Grendell threatened to hold him in contempt if he would not pay them. As the dispute made its way through the courts, an old Grendell pal, Bill Seitz in the Ohio legislature, sought to amend the Ohio Revised Code on the very issue. (Grendell denies that he nudged Seitz into doing so, saying that judges are not permitted to “lobby,” but everyone more or less spits out their coffee in hilarity at the notion of Grendell abiding by what’s permitted.) The amendment, on which Diane Grendell is listed as a co-sponsor, provides that judges need no longer offer evidentiary material (invoices, receipts, etc.) when seeking reimbursement from county auditors for court-related expenses. All that’s required now is a court order. The new amendment was the basis for the Supreme Court’s ruling in Grendell’s favor. Walder told Scene that since the ruling in February, Grendell has already submitted court orders totaling roughly $60,000 and no longer provides evidentiary material of any kind. As auditor, Walder must now certify the court orders and provide payment. If he objects to them, he still must pay them. His only recourse is doing so “under protest,” a designation that removes his personal liability. While Walder’s professional background has made him uniquely qualified for the auditor position, he said, it also made him uniquely enraged by the new standard imposed by the legislature and reinforced by the state’s high court. “Do you think anyone who’s ever run a business would pay an employee’s bill without a receipt?” He asked. “I’m not here to judge what you’re doing. But if you give me a bill for two pickup trucks, you shouldn’t be buying a Lamborghini. If you
spend a night in a hotel, you shouldn’t be giving me a credit card bill. I need the itemized receipt… As auditor, I’m just here to pay what’s proper. And the Supreme Court has now neutered my ability to do so. It has created a hierarchy where if you’re a judge, you’ve got a separate set of standards, and it doesn’t include the same transparency expected of everybody else. I find it morally and ethically wrong. It rubs against every fiber of my being.” When Scene sent Judge Grendell a series of questions related to the auditor’s race, he responded with the subject line, “Answers to additional one-sided and ridiculous questions” and quickly specified that as a judge, he was unable to participate in political discourse. “As a husband,” he wrote, “I fully support my wife.” AT 77, DIANE GRENDELL IS NINE years her husband’s senior. Unlike Chuck Walder, she interpreted the recent Supreme Court ruling as an indictment of the current auditor’s performance. She called it a “spanking” in an interview with the Geauga Maple Leaf and cited it specifically in her decision to abandon the statehouse. “Due to recent events (see State ex rel. Grendell v. Walder, Slip Opinion No. 2022-Ohio-211), it has become apparent that the Auditor’s Office in Geauga County is in need of real and serious leadership,” her candidacy announcement read. “It is very clear that where I can best serve the people of Geauga County now lies within its borders.” What’s very clear to political observers is that with a newly drawn Democratic-leaning district and with disgraced former House Speaker Larry Householder out of the picture, Diane Grendell wouldn’t stand a chance in another statehouse race (her recent spate of culture-war legislation notwithstanding.) Years ago, Diane Grendell served as state rep but spent most of the 2000s as a judge on Ohio’s 11th District Court of Appeals. In 2019, she was appointed to fill the State Rep seat vacated by Republican Sarah LaTourette. That appointment was made over the objections of the Geauga County GOP, who had put forward a South Russell councilman named Dennis Galicki. Larry Householder had other plans. Housholder, of course, is the guy alleged to have orchestrated the largest bribery scheme in the state of Ohio’s history. He bypassed Galicki to select Grendell after a meeting with both Diane and the Judge. Diane Grendell voted on Householder’s House
Bill 6, the corrupt FirstEnergy nuclear bailout, within hours of her swearing in, a vote that prompted everyone with two eyes to suspect a quid pro quo arrangement. “It takes a third grader to figure this out,” Chuck Walder said. “And that’s no insult to a third grader.” In 2020, when Diane Grendell ran to retain her seat, her campaign was flooded with Householder money. Nearly $400,000 of the $500,000 she raised in the race came directly from the House Republican Campaign Committee, which the FBI has alleged Larry Householder controlled to funnel resources to his political allies. Grendell defeated political newcomer Frank Hall, the Chardon high school teacher and football coach who famously chased student gunman T.J. Lane out of the school building in 2012. Grendell spent roughly $63 for every vote she secured. Hall raised $11,000, about $2 per vote. Though Grendell professed to have a “heavy heart” when the HB6 scandal broke, she nevertheless refused to vote Householder out of office, another indication of her loyalties to Geauga County residents. She missed her first opportunity, claiming to have been stuck in traffic as the vote took place. And on June 16, 2021, when Householder was finally given the boot, Grendell was one of only three representatives who did not cast a vote. Scene invited both Judge Grendell and Diane Grendell out to dinner for this story, but the Judge’s court administrator alluded to professional standards preventing a joint interview. Diane Grendell did not respond to additional outreach via her statehouse phone line. (That’s not entirely unexpected. Diane Grendell also skipped the PD/cleveland.com endorsement interview. And when the paper reached out to try to schedule a time that worked for her, she never responded.) The mainstream of the Geauga GOP now largely backs Walder in the race, according to party chair Nancy McArthur. She referenced Walder’s recent improvements to the office but also said she and many others were aghast at the prospect of two Grendells in power. “The top-of-mind concern is conflict of interest,” she said, reporting on conversations she’s had with Geauga County voters. “That’s number one. They don’t think it’s proper, and there’s no degree of confidence that she’d be independent. But number two is competency. She just has no background in finance or IT. Up until recently, she didn’t even have an email address.” Others were far less charitable when asked about her qualifications.
Walder largely refrained from personal commentary, but did say he worried that under Grendell, the auditor’s office would return to its worst tendencies. “Should it go that way, I believe this office would become very hierarchical,” he said. “The Grendell approach is dictatorial, retaliatory, and not necessarily about what’s best for everybody. I guarantee you their name will be back on the stickers.” An attorney in Geauga County who spoke with Scene on background had a different fear, if Diane Grendell were victorious. “Most of the people who work in that office,” he said, “or at least the people who are worth anything, would just quit.” JUDGE TIMOTHY GRENDELL won’t be quitting anytime soon, but opponents in Geauga County take some solace in the fact that his current term will be his last. In Ohio, you can’t run for a judicial seat if you are older than 70. But they remain baffled that a man who seems to flout rules, judicial ethics and human decency so often has avoided punishment. “I think he understands exactly where the legal cliff is, and walks right up to the edge,” Barb Partington said. “He knows the law, and he knows how to manipulate it with incredible efficacy,” another source said. “He gets away with stuff that you’d think would be cause for discipline,” another agreed. “But he’s untouchable. It’s like he knows where the line is.” “He’s a bully in the courtroom and a bully in his personal life. He’s a very intelligent bully, but he’s still just a bully,” said the Geauga County attorney. “He does these bullying things that, whether or not he has the power to do, he does them,” said Nancy McArthur. “And it’s up to people to say no. No you can’t.” “The only way his behavior will be changed,” said Chuck Walder, “is through public pressure.” But as McArthur and others know, Grendell is generally the party applying pressure, not the one succumbing to it. After responding to Scene’s questions for this story via email, Grendell sent a follow-up. He asked for the names of our sources who suggested Grendell intervened in the John Ralph trespassing case — so that his attorney could prepare libel suits against them.
sallard@clevescene.com @SceneSallard
April 20-May 3, 2022 | clevescene.com |
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GET OUT Everything to do in Cleveland for the next two weeks
Lewis Black comes to the Goodyear Theater in Akron. See: Friday, April 22. Courtesy of Lewis Black
WED 04/20 Zakir Hussain Tabla master Zakir Hussain performs at 7:30 tonight at the Cleveland Art Museum as part of the museum’s annual performing arts series. The preeminent classical tabla virtuoso of our time, Hussain is renowned for his genre-defying collaborations. He’ll deliver an evening of Indian classical music with guests Kala Ramnath (violin) and Jayanthi Kumaresh (veena).
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| clevescene.com | April 20-May 3, 2022
Check the art museum’s website for more info. 11150 East Blvd., 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org.
THU 04/21 The Gentle Villainy of Richard III, Troubler of the Poor World’s Peace The CSU Allen Theatre Complex season concludes with a performance of The Gentle Villainy of Richard III, Troubler of the Poor World’s Peace. The production adapts Richard III
GET OUT into a cautionary bedtime tale told by Queen Margaret shortly after the death of her husband and son. The production is directed and adapted by CSU Theatre assistant professor of practice Toby Vera Bercovici. Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30 at the Allen Theatre, where performances continue through May 1. Consult the Playhouse Square website for more info. 1407 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
FRI
04/22
Lewis Black Comedian Lewis Black regularly touches on current events, social media, politics and anything else that “exposes the hypocrisy and madness in the world,” as he puts it. Given the state of international affairs these days, Black’s analysis of the “hypocrisy and madness in the world” seems all the more relevant. The comedian brings his Off the Rails tour to the Goodyear Theater tonight at 8. Check the venue’s website for more info. 1201 East Market St., Akron, goodyeartheater.com.
SAT 04/23 Ricky Smiley & Friends Standup comedian, actor and radio personality Ricky Smiley brings a few of his comedic friends to MGM Northfield Park — Center Stage tonight at 8. Check the venue website for more info. 10705 Northfield Rd., Northfield, 330-908-7793, mgmnorthfieldpark. mgmresorts.com/en.html.
SUN 04/24 Stephane Wrembel One of the most highly regarded guitarists in the world, Stephane Wrembel specializes in the style of composer/guitarist Django Reinhardt. Gypsies at campsites in the French countryside even taught him how to play. Wrembel released his latest album, The Django Experiment VI, last year, so you can expect to hear tracks from it at tonight’s shows, which take place at 6 and 8 p.m. at the Bop Stop. Check the venue website for more info. 2920 Detroit Ave., 216-771-6551, themusicsettlement.org.
MON 04/25 Vegan Monday Each Monday, the Winchester chef puts together a special vegan menu featuring items such as comfort burgers, Philly burgers and peach cobbler. The kitchen opens up at 4 p.m. and stays open until midnight. Check the website for more info. 12112 Madison Ave., Lakewood, 216-600-5338, facebook.com/ TheWinchesterMusicTavern.
TUE
04/26
To Kill a Mockingbird Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork has been a huge hit on Broadway. Now, a touring version of the play comes to the Connor Palace. Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30. Check the Playhouse Square website for more info. The play runs through May 15. 1615 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
WED 04/27 Shitshow Karaoke Local rapper/promoter Dirty Jones and Scene’s own Manny Wallace host Shit Show Karaoke, a weekly event at the B-Side Lounge wherein patrons choose from “an unlimited selection of jams from hip-hop to hard rock,” and are encouraged to “be as bad as you want.” Fueled by drink and shot specials, it all goes down tonight at 10 p.m. Admission is free. 2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-932-1966, bsideliquorlounge.com.
THU 04/28 Orquesta Akokán The Grammy-nominated Cuban/New York big band Orquesta Akokán released its acclaimed new album 16 Rayos late last year on the New York label Daptone Records and a tour in support of the album arrives at the Music Box Supper Club tonight. The band features Havana’s greatest instrumentalists who “continue to explore, develop and expand Cuba’s rich rhythmic palette and repertoire,” as it’s put in a press release. The band plays Cuban grooves with a “renewed vitality and powerful sense of akokán, the Yoruba word used by Cubans to mean “from the heart” or “soul.” Tonight’s concert starts at 8. Check April 20-May 3, 2022 | clevescene.com |
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| clevescene.com | April 20-May 3, 2022
GET OUT the club’s website for more info. 1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com.
FRI
production will feature a diverse cast and combat styles from around the globe. Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30 at the Allen Theatre, where performances continue through May 22. Check the Playhouse Square website for more info. 1407 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
04/29 MON 05/02
John Morgan Also known as the Ragin’ Cajun, comedian John Morgan adopts a redneck persona for his standup routines. The fast-talking comedian uses plenty of jargon and slang as he talks about things like the trials and tribulations of getting older. “I ain’t one of those men who like to brag about things they ain’t doin’ no more,” he jokes, explaining why he no longer brags about his sexual prowess. While not quite as big of a redneck as, say, Jeff Foxworthy, the Ragin’ Cajun comes close. He’s
Movie Mondays Every Monday, Cleveland Cinemas hosts $5 Movie Mondays, where film fans can catch up on the latest Hollywood flicks for significantly reduced prices. Bring your friends and family and make Movie Mondays a weekly tradition — many theaters even offer discounted concession stand items. Participating theaters include Apollo Theatre, Cedar Lee Theatre and Chagrin Cinemas. Additional charges apply for 3-D movies. clevelandcinemas.com.
The Guardians face the Padres. See: Tuesday, May 3.
also able to do a number of vocal impersonations that make for a lively standup show. He performs tonight at 7:30 and 10 and tomorrow night at 6:30 and 9 at the Improv. Check the venue website for more info. 1148 Main Ave., 216-696-IMPROV, clevelandimprov.com.
SAT 04/30 The Three Musketeers The Three Musketeers, an adventurous tale of brave friends fighting injustice, features secret plots, treacherous spies, dazzling swordplay and sweeping romance. Directed by Cleveland Play House’s Artistic Director Laura Kepley and designed by Lex Liang, this
Expires 6/30/22 • Must Present Coupon
TUE
PHOTO BY EMANUEL WALLACE
05/03
Guardians vs. San Diego Padres The Guardians take on the San Diego Padres today in an interleague game that takes place at 6:10 p.m. at Progressive Field. The Padres might’ve missed the playoffs last year, but the team was and still is loaded with talent. The two teams face off again at 1:10 p.m. tomorrow. Consult the Guardians’ website for more info. 2401 Ontario St., 216-420-4487, clevelandindians.com.
scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene April 20-May 3, 2022 | clevescene.com |
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Aimee Mann
Shawn Colvin
Marc Cohn
Wed. April 27
Wed. May 11
Sat. May 14
Al Stewart
Bodeans
NEW!
Teddy Robb
Thurs. May 19
Wed. May 18
Sat. June 4
AT THE GOODYEAR THEATER
Janis Ian The Final Tour with special guest Tom Rush
Wed. May 11 Get tickets now at goodyeartheater.com or ticketmaster.com
Friday, April 29
Rocky Horror Picture Show Wednesday, June 8
The Music of Cream NEW!
Saturday, June 11
Bluffett
JIMMY BUFFETT TRIBUTE
Tuesday, June 28
The Zombies Saturday, July 9
Jordan Rudess NEW DATE! Friday, July 28
Keillor and Company Sunday, August 21
The Wallflowers
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| clevescene.com | April 20-May 3, 2022
EAT PARM CITY
Nights & Weekends in Ashtabula Harbor is dishing up quality Neapolitan pie to locals and vacationers COLE EMDE AND JACQUELINE von Tesmar traveled and worked from coast to coast before settling down on Bridge Street in the Historic Ashtabula Harbor, where they opened Nights & Weekends, the area’s first wood-fired pizzeria. The journey and destination grow less implausible the more you learn about the couple’s backstory. The two met in New York, but von Tesmar hails from Ashtabula while Emde grew up in Rocky River. But it was the third partner of this enterprise, Chris Capo, who served as the main inducement to set up shop in this charming lakeside hamlet. “Chris is the part of this story that made Ashtabula most desirable,” explains von Tesmar. “When we left San Francisco, we knew we wanted to live in a small town and start a brewery or a pizza place. We hooked up with Chris and came up with our plan.” Around these parts, Chris Capo is a member of pizza royalty. His grandfather opened Capo’s Pizza in Geneva-on-the-Lake nearly 60 years ago, making him a third-generation pizzaiolo. Granted, Capo cut his teeth on brick oven New York-style pizza and not Neapolitan, but the technique was hardly foreign to him. “I had always been interested in wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizza,” Capo notes. “I bought a home version oven and messed around with different dough recipes, cooking with wood, working with high heat. It’s a big learning curve compared to the traditional pizza.” The final piece of the puzzle for the team was securing the ideal location, and even that ended up falling into their collective laps. Just as Capo, Emde and von Tesmar were exploring various sites around the county, a prime double storefront on Bridge Street – just steps from the harbor – became available. Built in the 1890s, the handsome space received a much-needed makeover, including new lighting, new paint, new tile and a hand-lettered, goldleaf sign pointing the way. There is no better seat in the house than at the chef’s counter
Photo by Douglas Trattner
By Douglas Trattner
in the main dining room. There, diners are close enough to the wood-fueled oven to feel its warmth and to watch the action, a wellchoreographed dance between Capo and Emde. Like most Neapolitan pizza joints, the menu is intentionally spare, with the attention placed squarely on the pies. Start with a perfect little platter ($8) of bright green and buttery Castelvetrano olives, thinsliced Italian salami and sea salt
pizza, but the owners of Nights & Weekends know that we are powerless to resist its call. Here, the dough exits the wood oven golden brown, shellacked in a garlicky, bubbly cheese blend, and paired with marinara for dipping or topping. By now, Capo and Emde have had about eight months to zero in on a dough recipe and familiarize themselves with the oven. Their pies are a delight to behold and a joy to eat. They exit the oven with a lovely
NIGHTS & WEEKENDS 1035 BRIDGE ST., ASHTABULA 440-661-4061, NIGHTSANDWEEKENDSOHIO.COM
crackers. The housemade whipped ricotta is as light as cotton and slicked with a sweet-and-spicy chile honey. I adored the Italian chopped salad ($10), a fresh take on a classic pizzeria starter. All the traditional components are there: iceberg, pepperoncini, chickpeas, cherry toms, red onion, provolone, vinaigrette. The only thing missing is the woven wood bowl. Cheesy bread ($8) might seem superfluous when you’re getting
loft, char and aroma. The dough is characteristically soft and tender but pleasantly chewy too. We enjoyed versions topped with pepperoni ($15) and prosciutto and arugula ($18). To drink, there are white, red and sparkling wines by the glass and bottle, a handful of seasonal cocktails, and even a few choice amaris to sip on. But Emde, a homebrewer turned pro, is partial to the craft beer list, which is populated by local and regional lagers, ales and
ciders. “When I was a brewer, I would try to brew beers that would go well with the food that we were serving and I take the same approach with our beer menu now,” he says. This learning-curve thing works both ways, adds von Tesmar. Nights & Weekends took over a spot long occupied by a convention pizzeria, and for many in the community, this is their first experience with Neapolitan-style. “We definitely took the learning curve into consideration,” she says. “But after these first six, eight months, I feel like the word has gotten out about what we do.” Soon, the crowds will once again swell with the annual return of vacationers, boaters and wine lovers. Ashtabula Harbor’s location near Geneva-on-the-Lake, the Grand River Valley and local yacht clubs all but guarantees a fresh crop of new faces. “We’re in prep mode for what’s about to come this summer,” says Emde.
dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner
April 20-May 3, 2022 | clevescene.com |
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| clevescene.com | April 20-May 3, 2022
Photo by Douglas Trattner
EAT BITES
First look: Blue Agave, opening on East 4th this week By Douglas Trattner SINCE TAKING OVER THE former Zocalo spot on East 4th Street, Alex Martinez and his team have been busy transforming the 14-year-old, two-level restaurant into something a bit more current. “The bones were beautiful, but we want it to be more trendy and modern,” Martinez explains. All that stands between Blue Agave (2071 East 4th St., 216-4172545) and its first customers are a few permits, new signage and a sizable booze delivery, Martinez says. He hopes to open the restaurant sometime next week. Martinez and his partnership group operate numerous Northeast Ohio restaurants, including Tres Potrillos, Jalapenos, El Palenque, Fiesta Habaneros, Tito’s Mexican Grill, Tacologist and Blue Habanero. “It will be more like Blue Habanero and Tacologist,” Martinez says of the restaurant. The menu offers appetizers like chips and salsa, guacamole, Mexican street corn, seafood nachos and queso with various topping options. Street tacos are served on housemade corn tortillas and feature fillings like chicken tinga, slowcooked pork, grilled fish and garlic shrimp. If you go the “bowl” route, you’ll get one filled with greens, black beans, cilantro rice and salsa topped with your choice of vegetable, fish, seafood or meat. In the entrée department, there are traditional platters like fajitas, burritos and chimichangas mixed with house specialties such as seafood-stuffed chile rellenos and carne asada. To drink, there are cocktails like Palomas, Mojitos and Mexican Mules, signature margaritas made with fresh-squeezed fruit juices, and an all-Mexican draft beer list. Martinez was hand-picked to take over the space by Ari Maron of MRN. “What we do on East 4th Street is try to collect the best operators in the city and put them all on one street so it becomes a destination,” says Maron. “These guys are the best; everything from the design and construction to the operation.”
Sophie La Gourmande, a Patisserie Cafe, Now Open in Cleveland Heights For three long years, Bob Sferra has been quietly working behind the scenes to open his dream business. In 2019, the longtime chef, caterer and culinary instructor took over a 1930s-era building on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights that had been vacant for a handful of years. Last weekend, he opeedn the doors for the first time to Sophie La Gourmande (2275 Lee Rd.), which he calls a “patisserie café.” For the past decade, Sferra, who lives in the neighborhood, has operated Culinary Occasions, a fullservice catering company. In many ways, Sophie La Gourmande is a natural extension of that successful endeavor. The café will offer sweet and savory breakfast and lunch items alongside high-end Frenchstyle pastries. Many of the items will be prepared and on display for quick grab-and-go service or for enjoyment in the bright and cheerful café. Up front, a mini marketplace is stocked with prepackaged pastries like biscotti, hand-tempered chocolate bars, seasonal shortbread cookies, and Florentines. Those confections will be joined by pantry items such as Duck Rabbit coffee, Storehouse teas, olive oils and vinegars. “The market is really where the Sophie brand started,” Sferra explains. “Chef Tom [Francescangeli] expanded the pastry products and that became the Sophie brand that we were selling at retail.” A lengthy counter will be stocked with baked goods like croissants, pain au chocolat, macarons, palmiers, coffee cake, financiers and heartier items like breakfast
danishes and ham-and-cheese buns. At lunch, cheese-topped focaccia, croque monsiers and seasonal quiches will join a roster of pressed sandwiches filled with tuna, egg and tapenade or roasted eggplant, tahini and fig jam. A selection of healthy vegetable-based salads that can be enjoyed hot or cold will also be available. Everything is made from scratch by hand in kitchens that open both to the dining room and the street through large windows. That kitchen is staffed by a deep bench of chefs, both savory and pastry, who share Sferra’s deep appreciation for the craft. “It started with me, working for a long time with Parker Bosley when I was a baby chef,” says Sferra. “That idea that you make what’s fresh, you make what’s in season by hand from the beginning. Everyone of these people, that’s their thing. I have the greatest group of people that have so much food integrity.” That group includes a pastry team comprised of Tom Francescangeli, Ange Lupica and Shanna Stella and a savory team starring Sfarra, Robbie Ackerman, Marie Finch and Blue Keough. In the rear of the building is a separate but complementary custom cake studio called Cenza, which is owned by Sferra’s niece Haley Sferra, who studied at the French Pastry School. Sophie will open for a “spring preview” the weekend of April 14. The shop will close to the public for a week or so and do another preview April 25-27 before taking another pause until it opens for real in early May. When Sophie does open, it will join an increasingly diverse food and beverage community on Lee
Road that includes Mitchell’s Fine Chocolates, Marchant Manor Cheese, Stone Oven Bakery, the Wine Spot, CLE Urban Winery, Boss Dog Brewery, Bottlehouse Brewery and numerous restaurants. Down the road, Sferra hopes to add a liquor license and to host special dinners and other foodthemed events.
Well-Known Kent Operator Partners with Cleveland Bagel to Open Cleveland Bagel Café in Iconic University Building When Starbucks closed its Kent store at E. Main and Lincoln streets last summer, the move set off a wave of concern for the future of the building. Long before Starbuck’s took possession, the 1920s-era Tudor-style structure was home to Brady’s Café, Captain Brady’s and Robin Hood restaurant, the original occupant. Kent State University purchased the property a few years ago and there was talk about the building being demolished. After many discussions, the property has landed in the hands of Mike Beder, a well-known businessman in the area. Beder has operated numerous businesses in the area, namely Water Street Tavern, Venice Café, Franklin Hotel Bar and Tree City Coffee. “The university really wanted to put something vibrant and local back in there and I was the first call they made,” says Beder. “And as much as I was ready to get out of coffee a couple years ago, the opportunity in that space was too great.”
dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner
April 20-May 3, 2022 | clevescene.com |
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MUSIC COVER GIRL
Cat Power completes a trilogy of covers albums with latest release By Jeff Niesel WHEN SHE WAS IN HIGH school, singer-songwriter Chan Marshall, who records and performs as Cat Power, saw the Replacements play. At the concert’s end, ’Mats singer-guitarist Paul Westerberg arrived without his band to sing the tune “Answering Machine.” Marshall was struck by the performance, and she acknowledges the band’s influence on her on her new album, Covers, which includes a rendition of the Replacements’ tune “Here Comes a Regular.” “He just threw his guitar off his body and ran away after playing it,” she recalls in a recent phone interview. Cat Power performs on Wednesday, April 27, at House of Blues. “It impacted me so much. When I moved to New York, I had three favorite songs on the jukeboxes at the two bars I would go to — Sophie’s and Mona’s. I would play ‘You Don’t Know Me’ by Ray Charles and ‘Try Me’ by James Brown at Sophie’s. And then, I would walk to Mona’s and play ‘Here Comes a Regular’ as many times as I could if I had any change left. That song is so beautiful. It’s almost a ballad for the heartbroken and weary who have found alcohol to help them. It’s just crushing.” Covers represents Marshall’s third album of cover songs and completes a trilogy (though Marshall says she’s not opposed to recording another album of cover tunes). The tracks started to come together during an organic jam session at Rob Schnapf’s Mant Sound Studio in L.A. “I like to warm up before the session starts,” Marshall says. “While the band was warming up and I was setting up the mics with Rob to make sure everything sounded good and that we could do everything in week, I started composing. The band is really talented and open-minded and willing to let me guide them.” At that first session, Marshall and Co. proceeded to play what would become the album’s first set of covers. They started out with a deconstructed rendition of Bob Seger’s “Against the Wind” that features hushed vocals and fragments of piano and guitar.
Cat Power.
Mario Sorrenti
CAT POWER 7 P.M., WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, HOUSE OF BLUES, 308 EUCLID AVE., 216-523-2583. TICKETS: $42.50+, HOUSEOFBLUES.COM.
“I had never played it before,” she says of the Seger tune. “I got the lyrics and said, ‘Fuck it.’ I got the lyrics and sang it, and we recorded the first take. It sounded great. I jumped back in and had nothing to sing and was reminded of Nick Cave’s ‘I Had a Dream Joe.’ Never in a thousand lifetimes would I have thought to cover that song, but we did. I again jumped in the vocal booth and didn’t know what to play and played ‘Endless Sea’ by Iggy Pop.” Marshall also covers one of her own songs, “Unhate.” She says she regularly revisits an older song of hers when she’s assembling tracks for a covers album. “I always do a new cover of one my songs because things change in
my life,” she says. “I remember I was in Africa and was singing that song on tour. I thought I was sick. When I came back to America to continue my tour, I found out I was pregnant. When I started to sing that song again, I changed it right away. That song is specifically about suicide. When I got sober, that’s when I made a pact with myself to not hide anything and not be afraid to ask for help and do the therapy and all of that stuff. It helped me be a stronger human. That’s why I didn’t play that song for many years. Then, I started playing it again because I changed the words. Everyone gets the blues in a real bad way. It’s just to say, ‘Don’t ever try it.’” The rendition of Nico’s ballad
“These Days,” a song penned by Jackson Browne, is incredibly beautiful as Marshall’s echoing voice possesses a mercurial, Nico-like quality. “I think the Velvet Underground in general was a huge influence on me,” she says. “They broke the mold with their sound. Nico broke the mold by becoming a female icon. She was so broken. That European classical way to singing that I wanna say is very Catholic is very influential. It’s that church-ingrained mentality. It’s like don’t speak and don’t have an identity — just conform. She brought such strength and grace and elegance and such sadness and darkness. We started playing it on the Wanderer tour. One night, Jackson [Browne] came to the show, and I played it for him, and he liked it and now plays it again when he’s on tour. I got to meet him, and he’s super cool.” With a career that now stretches back 31 years, Marshall has somehow managed to survive in a world that doesn’t make it easy for independent artists. So what’s been the key to keeping her career going? “Basically, it’s been my community,” says Marshall. “It was playing shows with these people and meeting them over and over through the years. Elliott Smith and SleaterKinney and Quasi. It’s a long list of different bands. That’s what kept me going. Lana del Rey asked me to go on tour with her when I was dropped from my record label. Being a part of the music community has kept me going. It’s that community, and the community that would come to these shows and offer places to sleep on their floors. I developed those friendships all around the world. In all these different places, I have friends who are not part of a clique. They’re not part of the scene. We fortified each other as a peer group. Maybe we weren’t so happening. These are painters and writers and different people I’ve met along the way. I think that’s what helped me survive.”
scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene
April 20-May 3, 2022 | clevescene.com |
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| clevescene.com | April 20-May 3, 2022
April 20-May 3, 2022 | clevescene.com |
MUSIC A PAST WORTH REVISITING
Guitarist Steve Hackett aims to keep the Genesis legacy alive with latest tour By Jeff Niesel LIKE SO MANY OTHER musicians, Steve Hackett found himself grounded when COVID hit in 2020. The time off, however, gave Hackett the opportunity to conceive of his next tour, and the former Genesis guitarist decided to revisit the 1977 Genesis live album Seconds Out. Last year when touring resumed, the band played the album in its entirety on a tour dubbed Genesis Revisited: Seconds Out + More. It brings the trek to the States this month. Hacket and Co. come to the Goodyear Theater on Sunday, May 1. “Last fall, we did a UK tour that’s the most extensive that I’ve ever done. It was 31 dates up and down the country, which was great,” says Hackett via phone from the UK. “We’ve done European stuff and we just came back from Poland where we were a couple of hours away from the conflict going on in Ukraine. At this point, we’re happy to go anywhere. We’re on a world tour basically that started last fall, and it should keep going, God willing, around the globe.” Hackett has been “revisiting” the Genesis songbook for some time now. Way back in 1996, Hackett, who left Genesis in 1978, first re-recorded Genesis material for Watcher of the Skies: Genesis Revisited. He followed that album up with 2012’s Genesis Revisited II. Seconds Out represents what Hackett describes as “a particularly creative” period even though singer Peter Gabriel had left the group and doesn’t appear on the album. “We’d been recording shows for a couple of years,” says Hackett when asked about the origins of the album. “Finally, we played a show in Paris we felt was the best show that we’d done in that era. Chester Thompson was on drums. We were all extraordinary musicians. When [drummer] Phil [Collins] wasn’t singing, he was running back to the drums. He was very young and fit back then. That was rather wonderful to see the level of energy going on stage. Of course, we lost Peter [Gabriel], who was an extraordinary frontman.” Gabriel’s departure left Genesis without one of its most creative
Steve Hackett.
forces, and Hackett says he was displeased the band didn’t approve of Gabriel’s desire to pursue a solo career.
Lee Millward
concluding the show with “Dance on a Volcano” and “Los Endos.” “On the original recording, I remember not being happening
GENESIS REVISITED: SECONDS OUT + MORE 7:30 P.M. SUNDAY, MAY 1, GOODYEAR THEATER, 1200 E. MARKET ST., AKRON. TICKETS: $42.50+, GOODYEARTHEATER.COM.
“[Gabriel] wanted to have a parallel solo career and [bassist] Mike [Rutherford] and [keyboardist] Tony [Banks] were not keen on him doing that,” he says. “I left for the same reason. I wanted to have a parallel solo career too. I needed creative autonomy. It’s not musical differences. It really isn’t. It was just the way Genesis was being run at the time. Until it became a three piece, people were not really allowed to do things outside of the band. I don’t think bands should be run like that. I think it’s important to have creative outlets beyond the band. I don’t think bands should be sucking you dry. I’m very proud of the work I did with the band, but I had to operate outside of it in order to start my own little thing.” One aspect of Seconds Out that Hackett says worked particularly well for the original live show was
with the quality of the mix or the production,” he says. “But in the fall when we were touring, we recorded a show in Manchester, and it sounds wonderful. For my money, I managed to do the corrections I wanted to make. Better late than never is what I say. It’ll be interesting when that comes up, and it will be an absolute comparison. With any luck, it will be a great moment but not harmful to any of the band’s history.” Hackett’s touring band will feature keyboardist Roger King, bassist Jonas Reingold, saxophonist/ flutist Rob Townsend and singer Nad Sylvan on vocals. Craig Blundell (Steven Wilson, Pendragon) will be on drums and percussion. It’s obviously a much different incarnation than the Collins-fronted Genesis that just wrapped up a farewell tour.
“Genesis has been a three-piece creatively for quite some time now and have managed to rationalize that,” Hackett says. “It’s a creative impulse they share. Let’s put it this way: If Peter Gabriel and I had been involved [with the recent tour], it would have been more into the 1970s than into the 1980s. It was more album-based when Peter and I were involved. [The group] became more singles based once MTV supported that second incarnation of the band. It seems as if there will be no more [Genesis] concerts now, but I very much intend to continue championing the work from back in the day, and I’m very happy and very proud of it.” A real road warrior, Hackett, 72, hopes that he can continue to keep the music of Genesis alive for years to come. “I have been blessed with good genes from my mother’s side,” he says, adding that he intends to play Genesis’s 1972 album Foxtrot on his next tour. “I have an uncle who lived to 108 and an aunt who’s about to turn 104. I hope all those genes get passed onto me, so that I can put on
scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene
April 20-May 3, 2022 | clevescene.com |
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SAVAGE LOVE LOVE & LEASHES By Dan Savage Hey Dan: I’m a married gay man. I’m nervous about sending this question and my husband is afraid you might answer it. I’m a fairly vanilla guy, while my husband is into bondage. We’ve been able to make it work because he’s into a kind of bondage he calls “storage.” On “storage nights,” I put him in bondage and play video games while he “suffers.” So far, so good. But I worry about accidentally killing him. Most often I put him in his sleepsack — picture a leather sleeping bag you can’t get out of — which is strapped to a bondage board on the floor by our couch. I play video games for a few hours with my feet up on him. Every half hour, I tighten the straps. Toward the end of the night, the straps are so tight he can’t move or even take a deep breath. If he doesn’t complain or ask to get out, he’s rewarded with a hand-job when I’m done. We do this about twice a week. (We also have a leather straitjacket, but we use it a lot less often.) I’m worried that he’s going to have an embolism or something because of the straps. Some go over him and around the board, pressing him down to the board, others go around his body and cinch in. The straps aren’t tight at first. But for the last hour they’re fairly tight, and for the last 20 or 30 minutes they’re almost unbearably tight. I never leave him alone. If it matters, he’s in his 40s, in great shape, normal blood pressure, etc. He didn’t want me to write, because he doesn’t want to find out it’s dangerous and have to stop. For the same reason, he doesn’t want to ask his doctor. We’ve been doing this for 10 years and I haven’t killed him yet. Is there a chance I might? Can you ask a doc for me? Seeking Advice Concerning Kinky Dangers P.S. It feels crazy to say this, but “storage nights” are special couple time for us and an important part of our intimacy. I don’t want to give them up any more than he does. “Hours-long bondage and restraint raises a few concerns,” said Dr. Seth Trueger and Dr. Ryan Marino, both doctors who specialize in emergency medical care. (They read your
question and shared their thoughts in an email they composed together.) “First, however long you’re tying someone up, having some sort of safeword or action-equivalent alarm system of some kind seems prudent.” If your husband is gagged when you store him, SACKD, a one-twothree pattern of grunts can be used in place of a safeword. “For a mix of reasons, restraining people prone — on their belly — can be particularly dangerous,” said the docs. “We know this from both patient safety research and examples from law enforcement. That doesn’t mean tying people up on their backs is always safe but tying someone down on their belly is worse. There’s also a known link between unexpected deaths and compromising the airway and breathing.” So, don’t strap your husband face-down on your bondage board, don’t put anything around his neck or otherwise restrict his air intake, and if you haven’t already agreed on a safeword and/or safegrunt and/or safegesture, settle on one and/or all now. “Another potential risk from tight restraints would be muscle breakdown potentially causing kidney damage and electrolyte issues (‘rhabdomyolysis’),” said the docs, “so platitudes like ‘stay hydrated,’ i.e., drink plenty of water before and after, is reasonable advice. And physical restraint plus ‘chemical restraint,’ i.e., sedation or intoxication, is a much more dangerous combination, so it’s probably safer to avoid anything like alcohol [when you play].” It doesn’t sound like you’re doing rope bondage, SACKD, since sleepsacks and straitjackets designed for BDSM play are usually secured with leather straps, not ropes. But Dr. Trueger and Dr. Marino urge rope bondage fans to use quickrelease knots. “If things go south, it’s easy for anyone to get flustered or start to panic, which does not make untying tight knots any easier,” added the docs. Safe and sane bondage tops know to keep a sturdy pair of safety scissors nearby for the same reasons. As for your concerns about leather straps causing a potentially life-
threatening pulmonary embolism… “There is going to be some level of risk with immobility and restraint with things like blood clots,” said the docs, and blood clots can cause an embolism, and embolisms can kill. “But it’s doubtful that using straps instead of ropes would make a difference as far as clot/embolism risk, or that a short period of extra tightening — 30 minutes — would be riskier for clots or an embolism or anything other than bruising or other soft tissue injury from direct pressure.” Long airline flights famously present a risk for embolism — all that time spent sitting on your ass — but flights of less than three hours “don’t raise the risk substantially,” said the docs, “and using straps has the added benefit of being a bit more straightforward to release in a pinch.” Be aware of the risks, mitigate them as best you can, and you don’t have to give up your storage nights. “The way our brains work, we get lulled into feeling safe when we do risky things a lot,” said Dr. Trueger and Dr. Marino. “So, it’s important to not get comfortable and then get lax because nothing has gone wrong before. Figure out good safety rules and stick to them. And pay special attention during times of escalation.” So, when you’ve pulled the straps so tight your husband can barely move — during that last half hour — you should put the game pad down, SACKD, turn off the TV, and focus all your attention on your poor, miserable, suffering-just-the-wayhe-likes-to-suffer bondage freak of a husband. Follow Dr. Seth Trueger on Twitter @MDaware. Follow Dr. Ryan Marino on Twitter @RyanMarino.
Hey Dan: I’m a 59-year-old, cis, het, kinky Dominant woman. I’ve been in the D/s lifestyle for about 10 years. Last year a younger man found me on Fetlife. We messaged and met for coffee. I was impressed with his maturity and self-awareness. We’ve had a wonderful time meeting about every two weeks to play and explore. During that time we discovered that he really loves pegging. I’ve pegged him several times, and he’s told me he’s slightly addicted to the incredible orgasm he receives when being pegged. One of
our D/s rules is that he ALWAYS has to ask permission to come. No matter what we’re doing, he must ask. And he always has. However, the last time I pegged him with my vibrating dildo, I realized he was coming without permission. I said, “Bad boy, you didn’t ask permission!” He was stunned and responded, “What? Am I?”, and then shot an even bigger load. We were talking afterwards, and he swears he didn’t know he was coming until I said something. He says he didn’t feel like he was coming until a good five seconds later. Could this be due to prostate stimulation? I’ve never been particularly successful with prostate milking with other subs, so I don’t know. I have no concern that he disregarded our rules. He’s never been a brat in our dynamic. I’ve had other subs lose it without asking and apologize profusely while they’re coming. (Which, I have to admit, I kind of love.) Any insight here? My Inexperienced Sub Toy’s Recent Ejaculation Somewhat Suss Congrats, MISTRESS, you may have finally done it — you may have milked a man’s prostate — but here’s how you can tell for sure: did that first wave of cum drool out of his dick? Prolonged stimulation of the prostate gland can sometimes cause the prostate to release seminal fluid. But without the contractions that accompany an orgasm, “milked” seminal fluids don’t shoot out, they ooze out. If your sub was already leaking pre-ejaculate, the release of seminal fluids from his milked prostate wouldn’t feel like an orgasm, but like a big release of pre-ejaculate. It wasn’t until the orgasmic contractions kicked in and he started shooting that he could feel himself climaxing. And since the prostate gland produces only 30% of seminal fluid released in a typical orgasm, he still had plenty left to shoot when those orgasmic contractions kicked in. But even if your sub didn’t come without your permission, MISTRESS, he’s still a bad boy and should be punished regardless.
questions@savagelove.net t@fakedansavage www.savage.love
April 20-May 3, 2022 | clevescene.com |
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