Scene, May 4, 2022

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CONTENTS MAY 4-17, 2022 • VOL. 52 NO 22

Upfront .......................................7

Eat ............................................35

Feature ..................................... 10

Music ........................................ 39

Get Out .....................................28

Savage Love .............................. 43

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

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“Cleveland Scene Magazine” COVER ILLUSTRATION BY RAGON DICKARD

May 4-17, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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UPFRONT CUYAHOGA COUNTY SHOULD NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, POUR MILLIONS MORE DOLLARS INTO THE FREAKING GLOBAL CENTER

Global Center for Health Innovation

MAYBE IT’S THE IMMINENT prospect of Roe V. Wade being overturned. Justice Samuel Alito’s leaked Supreme Court draft opinion Monday night read as both a cruel culmination and a rabid ramping up of a decades-long Republican campaign to drag the country back to the enforced moral norms of White America’s 1950s, in defiance of popular opinion. (It’s needless to note that Ohio’s legislators stand drooling in the wings, aching to pass their so-called “trigger law” that will outlaw abortion statewide the moment the Supreme Court’s opinion is official.)

Maybe it’s the apparent electionday malfunctioning of Cuyahoga County’s voting system. Voters

Photo by Erik Drost/FlickrCC

awoke Tuesday to news that polling locations were unable to properly scan and record ballot stub numbers.

And while the Board of Elections claimed that scanners at no time were unable to read submitted ballots, voters were nevertheless turned away across the county early in the day, resulting in widespread confusion and mistrust.

Maybe it’s the fact that few bothered to vote anyway, an outcome that’s at least partly another cruel culmination of a Republican campaign: the contemptuous redistricting process in Ohio. A handful of Republicans, up to and including the Governor of the state, refused to honor the will of voters by producing fair legislative maps,

jeopardizing elections in the process and simultaneously reducing the electorate to apathy and disgust, all while smirking in the knowledge that no consequences would be visited upon them.

Maybe it’s the fact that the incumbent congresswoman in Ohio’s 11th District, Shontel Brown, refused to vacate her seat as the chair of the County Democratic Party. She has steadfastly defended her dual roles, even as local media and voters have called foul. The conflict of interest Brown claims does not exist was nevertheless dramatized by the lackluster (nonexistent?) get out the vote efforts in Ohio’s supposed Democratic stronghold and the precipitous decline in Democratic

requests for mail-in ballots. Brown either didn’t have sufficient time to do her job as party chair or was content to let numbers sag, knowing that low turnout benefits the incumbent.

Maybe it’s the fact that Brown’s campaign has been generously bankrolled not only by the Israel lobby but also by the fossil fuel industry, and elected leaders in her party, the one that theoretically cares about impending climate disaster, couldn’t be bothered to utter a peep in protest, or to throw their weight behind her challenger. Maybe it’s the fact that a 50-year-old climate activist named Wynn Bruce literally set himself on fire on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, and it barely registered as news.

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UPFRONT Democratic favorite in the Ohio Senate race, Tim Ryan, has made jingoistic attacks on China the centerpiece of his primary campaign.

Maybe it’s more generally the devolution of politics into partisan sporting event, one in which the final score is all that matters, where cheating therefore goes unpunished and ends are understood to justify rotten means; one in which those who fight hardest for human rights and dignity are often regarded as disloyal because they’re perceived as not fighting hard enough for the team. Maybe it’s the fact that people of privilege overwhelmingly accept and promote this narrative.

For any of these reasons, cynicism was surely among the dominant emotions on primary day in Cleveland, Ohio, at least for those of us who haven’t been pummeled into ignorance by decades of disenfranchisement. One of the conclusions to draw from all of the above is that as human beings and political constituents, we have extremely limited influence upon the decisions of our so-called leaders in our so-called democratic society.

We can “make our voices heard,” sure, especially now that public comment is permitted before our local legislature. We can even organize city or statewide campaigns to change unjust policies. But the effects are often muted. In some cases, as in the constitutional amendment on gerrymandering, the victory of the people is ignored outright.

Nothing so luridly illustrates the disdain for the electorate in Cuyahoga County right now than a plan to devote $46 million to upgrades at the Global Center for Health Innovation. It is impossible to read news of this plan without crawling out of one’s skin.

The $46 million ask — $5 million from ARPA funds (surreal), $5 million from the Convention Facilities Development Corporation, which oversees the Global Center, and $34 million in Cuyahoga County bonds, the principal and interest on which will be taxpayers’ bill to foot for ages — will supposedly modernize the Global Center and make it more attractive for bigger conventions.

The scope of work includes adding a couple of escalators, expanding the junior ballroom and jazzing up the outdoor space.

If that sounds like small potatoes to you, you’re not alone.

Unfortunately, devoting millions

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more dollars to a facility universally regarded as a boondoggle is in keeping with the governing style of County Executive Armond Budish, whose ever-blossoming garden of contempt for his constituents now includes nominating a repugnant has-been to an important board post shortly after he’d been booted by Mayor Justin Bibb. Budish is trying madly to repair what will be his fetid legacy, but all he knows how to do is fast track costly physical monuments that impoverish the tax base for decades. So we’re being saddled with more of the same.

The Global Center upgrades were skewered by local architect William Eberhard in the editorial pages of Crain’s recently. His commentary is worth quoting at length.

“The proposed scope, ambiguous as it is — even if a justified need, which again has not been established — and proposed costs are far out of line,” he wrote. “The very building exists because Cuyahoga County previously failed spectacularly to establish a legitimate need for the proposed project, which is still bleeding taxpayers.

“This project’s infamous history tells us that the original failure to thoroughly vet an alleged and unsupported program of needs and the county’s failure to cogently forecast and manage costs means that we need to require vetting in a far more serious and responsible manner of such expenditures of our money on the ideas from those around the campfire this time. Like its previous iterations, this latest idea appears to be an unjustified, unneeded and wasteful project at an absurd cost, adding further insult and injury to Cleveland’s greatest mistake on the lake to date.”

In other words, it’s not clear that the Global Center even needs these upgrades, and even if it did, the proposed costs are outrageous.

That perspective is widely held. The Global Center is properly viewed as an embarrassment, and it cannot and should not be resuscitated with massive injections of public money. This is the dictionary definition of throwing good money after bad.

With the exception — perhaps the exclusive exception — of County Executive candidate Chris Ronayne, (whom Republican challenger Lee Weingart is keen to note has received more than $10,000 in campaign contributions from employees and PACs tied to the Global Center-affiliated Project Management Consultants and their parent company, Thomson Hine), voters do not want our tax dollars

used in this frivolous way. The return on investment, just as with the Medical Mart itself, is hazy and speculative, pure imagination.

Furthermore, spending these public funds is the height of imprudence when one considers that cascading global pandemics may permanently alter the contours of the convention and tourism industry on which the region has already gambled away so much of its fortunes.

But the news Friday, diligently reported by cleveland.com’s Kaitlin Durbin, is that these upgrades must be greenlit as soon as possible — selecting a contractor for the design and construction must happen

by June, according to the honest brokers at Project Management Consultants — so that the planned 18 months of renovation can begin by 2023 and completed in time for the August, 2024 gathering of the American Society of Association Executives, a conference repeatedly referred to as the “Super Bowl” of convention events to beguile us into thinking that $46 million for escalators and a more versatile ballroom makes financial sense.

Does anyone still wonder why Cuyahoga County is in the pits?

Does anyone still wonder why the quality-of-life metrics, particularly for residents of color, are routinely the worst or among the worst in the nation? Does anyone wonder why Cleveland is still so desperately and intractably poor?

Forty-six million dollars! For escalators at the Global Center!

Beyond the obvious injudiciousness — and Durbin reports glumly that the decision appears to have been made, that “everything is on pace to ensure [the fast-tracking of the project] happens” — what’s enraging is that they are pushing this through in the face of nearly universal public opposition. In fact, they are pushing it through as hastily as possible to ensure that the universal public opposition doesn’t have a change to get organized, reducing the population once again to apathy and disgust. Recall that we are supposed to be living in a democratic society, but voters in this county are utterly powerless to restrict the profligacy of the Budish administration.

As a thought experiment, consider the recent efforts of the local grassroots group Participatory Budgeting Cleveland (PB Cle). The group’s demand is straightforward.

They want the city of Cleveland to set aside $30.8 million, (a symbolic figure that corresponds to the percentage of residents in poverty), and allow the public to determine how it’s spent.

Participatory budgeting increases engagement among residents and gives them a direct say in how the government spends a portion of its tax dollars — a bit of actual democracy, in other words. This demand is nevertheless viewed as radical and impossible to implement. City Council ties itself in knots objecting to what they see as a logistical nightmare that could result in redundant programs, inefficient spending and internecine ward disputes.

Some of those concerns might be valid if they weren’t voiced in such bad faith. But the handwringing over participatory budgeting looks especially cartoonish in the light of the fast-tracked Global Center enhancements, in which far more than $30.8 million will be set on fire as fast and as stupidly as possible to prevent public input. Its flames can be counted upon to burn for years in the faces of poor, hungry, weary residents, who will continue to struggle against this insanity and cry out for basic representation.

-Sam Allard

Board Responsible for Reviewing Complaints About University Circle Police Did Not Do So in 2020 or 2021, Lawyer Says In advocating for legislation to expand his police department’s jurisdiction to Little Italy, University Circle Police Chief Jim Repicky told Cleveland City Council members how the department responds to residents’ complaints about police conduct. It’s a process outlined in the agreement that University Circle Inc. (UCI) signed with Cleveland in 2018 requiring complaints to be reviewed by a board of civilians.

What Repicky didn’t tell council members during the mid-April meeting is that the department didn’t follow that process for complaints filed in 2020 or 2021.

Cleveland safety officials, as well as several council members, have endorsed the pending legislation, calling it a “force multiplier” for the University Circle and Little Italy neighborhoods, which draw 50,000 visitors and workers to the area each day. Similar legislation, if passed, would also expand the jurisdiction of the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) police department to include Little Italy and a residential slice of Glenville from E. 105 Street to E. 120 Street reaching north to Ashbury Avenue and south to Wade Park Avenue.

Some council members and residents have raised concerns about how the private police agencies, such as those of UCI and CWRU, will

amendments that would require the director of public safety to report quarterly to the committee about the police agencies’ activity in their jurisdictions. Both emergency ordinances would still have to be approved by the Finance, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and then voted on by the full council. -Doug Breehl-Pitorak, Cleveland Documenters

Officials discuss the University Circle policing plan

interact with residents, particularly young people, and whether they will be required to follow the same rules for training, use of force and responding to complaints put in place for Cleveland under the U.S. Department of Justice Consent Decree and the recently passed ballot initiative, Issue 24.

The agreements, or memorandums of understanding (MOUs), are meant to set expectations and ensure consistent protocol among the Cleveland Division of Police (CDP) and the private departments that they partner with.

They date back decades — 1992 for UCI and 2007 for CWRU — and both have been amended previously.

The city’s agreement with UCI was amended in 2018 to “further the goals of constitutional and effective policing, address training of UCI Officers and Dispatchers, certain UCI Police Department policies, and complaint handling,” according to the legislation.

Repicky laid out the complainthandling process during the twohour April 13 Safety Committee meeting. It includes the use of an outside investigator to look into complaints about officers and a review by a civilian board that “will sit down and discuss the findings of the investigator, and then they make a judgment on the case.”

The UCI Police Department received two complaints in 2021 “and the same in 2020,” Repicky told council members.

Cleveland Documenters requested copies of complaints the board received and reviewed in each of those years, as well as how they were resolved. Kevin Butler, legal counsel for University Circle Inc., responded in an email that there were no records that satisfy the request.

After a reporter pointed out that Repicky stated the number of complaints in a public meeting, Butler wrote: “I confirmed the review board

has not been trained yet to conduct investigations into citizen complaints against the police department, and that the scheduling of this training is underway. As such, the board has neither received nor reviewed any complaints in 2020 or 2021.”

Cleveland Documenters has again requested the resident complaints filed in 2020 and 2021 but has not received those complaints. Repicky has not responded to questions asking why the board wasn’t trained in 2020 and 2021 or if the board was ever trained following the 2018 agreement. UCI did provide the names of the individuals it says are complaint-board members.

Butler’s response about UCI’s complaint board is similar to what ProPublica was told two years ago. In its September 2020 story about racial bias among several Cleveland private police forces, ProPublica reported that UCI was still in the process of establishing its complaint board as required by the 2018 agreement, which gives it 90 days to do so.

Council Member Kevin Conwell (Ward 9) told Cleveland Documenters he wasn’t too surprised by the board not being trained in 2020 and 2021 because of UCI police behavior described in the ProPublica report, specifically the fact that 88 percent of the nearly 2,000 drivers cited by UCI police since 2015 were Black.

Regardless, the legislation is needed based on a safety-first principle, Conwell said.

“My job is to protect people that live, work and travel through the City of Cleveland,” he said, adding that he constantly hears from neighbors about gunshots and once had to fend off someone trying to break into his home. “I want [the legislation] because I need safety for my residents.”

Oversight and accountability are needed, too, he said, from council and from the Department of Public Safety.

In an April 27 Safety Committee meeting, where discussions of the legislation resumed, Council Member

Courtesy TV20

Charles Slife (Ward 17) asked what options the city had if an agency were to deviate from what’s written in their MOU. Director of Public Safety Karrie Howard said it could choose to end the MOU, which he views as agreements of mutual aid.

“It’s logical to assume that the reason we are in these MOUs is that our partners foresee a need or a time that they will need us to assist as we will need them to assist,” he said in the meeting. “That need creates the obligation for us to be in compliance with the agreement that we have.”

The Department of Public Safety, which proposed the expansion legislation being considered, did not provide comment for this story. The agreement with UCI is set to expire Dec. 1.

Council Member Mike Polensek (Ward 8) also told Cleveland Documenters that accountability is crucial. And with several private police agencies operating in the city, a uniform adherence to Cleveland Division of Police (CDP) policies — including body cameras, oversight, and providing due process to citizens with complaints — is needed, he said.

“That was one of the reasons why the Justice Department came in here; the citizens were not treated right and fairly,” Polensek said. “And so I think we’ve made good progress.

But are we where we need to be collectively, not just within CPD, but with all these outside agencies? No, I don’t believe we’re where we need to be at this point.”

Polensek, in the April 27 meeting, reiterated the need to make sure all future MOUs require private police departments to adhere to the same policies CDP does, including the consent decree, for the sake of accountability and transparency.

The committee approved the UCI and CWRU legislation, with

scene@clevescene.com @clevelandscene

DIGIT WIDGET 27 Number of sexual assaults reported to Sandusky Police at Cedar Point employee housing since 2017. Only two men, out of at least 32 suspects, have been charged in the cases.

<1,000 Number of 2021 tax refund requests by suburban residents who work in the City of Cleveland, far less than was previously anticipated by the city. “Tax revenue for 2021 does not suggest that the sky is falling,” said Cleveland CFO Ahmed Abonamah.

28,567 Total in-person attendance at the 2022 Cleveland International Film Festival, held for the first time at Playhouse Square. In its final years at Tower City, CIFF regularly attracted upwards of 100,000 guests, but organizers say they were pleased with the turnout, given changes to the festival caused by the pandemic.

$928,000 Lump sum that outgoing CSU President Harlan Sands will receive to leave his job. CSU announced last week that they were parting ways with Sands over unspecified differences.

Sands will also receive an annual salary of $348,000 to teach at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law (a condition in his contract).

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How what you eat

T O D AY

The following is excerpted from Michael Betzold’s new book, The Green New Meal: What You Eat Impacts Us All, which is available now.

T

hrough most of history, only the wealthiest or the most talented could bequeath to their offspring material or artistic treasures. Because human civilization is now at an unprecedented crossroads, anyone — rich or poor, accomplished or unsuccessful — today can leave to their children and grandchildren something of great value: a fighting chance to survive. But if you don’t act very soon, you’ll leave them nothing but an apocalypse.

Our gift to those who will follow us in this world requires only that we be willing to relinquish a habit that harms all inhabitants of our planet. If enough of us embrace this unique opportunity and do so quickly, we can leave behind a transformed world of more kindness.

Doesn’t that seem like an easy choice? So why isn’t it happening?

Why is the step we must take often left out of the discussion altogether?

On June 7, 2021, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography reported that the level of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere had once again hit a new all-time high — as it has every year since the institute began measuring that greenhouse gas at the peak of Mauna Loa in Hawaii in 1956.

This record CO2 level got little attention. Many media outlets didn’t even report it. It elicited, at most, a collective shrug.

Isn’t it remarkable that we’ve grown accustomed to living with the most daunting, overwhelming,

frightening prospect in human history? That such signs of the impending collapse of our civilization don’t even command the attention of most people? Extreme and even deadly weather events clearly caused by human-made climate disruption are now routine.

As these latest alarms went off, my partner’s great-granddaughter was starting her thirteenth month of life. With every climate wake-up call, we are again jolted into clearer awareness that much of her life could be a struggle for survival in an unimaginably hellish world. That thought is intolerable. News reports continue to pass over a key aspect of the climate story. Why don’t they say that despite the enormity of the threat, we each hold the power to do something to prevent catastrophe?

Our civilization is imminently endangered by global temperatures rising to unprecedented levels, with consequences so drastic they are almost unthinkable. What is rapidly unfolding now is a global climate emergency. And that’s exactly how it was characterized in a report issued in October 2021 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body of scientists convened by the United Nations.

The New York Times noted just how dire the IPCC’s conclusions were: “Even if nations started sharply cutting emissions today, total global warming is likely to rise around 1.5 degrees Celsius within the next two decades, a hotter future that is now essentially locked in.”

With a climate that warm, the Times said in summarizing the report, “nearly one billion people worldwide could swelter in more frequent lifethreatening heat waves. Hundreds of millions more would struggle for water because of severe droughts.

Some animal and plant species alive today will be gone. Coral reefs, which sustain fisheries for large swaths of the globe, will suffer more frequent mass die-offs.

“Every additional degree of warming brings far greater perils, such as ever more vicious floods and heat waves, worsening droughts and accelerating sea-level rise that could threaten the existence of some island nations,” the Times summarized the IPCC report as saying, adding that it noted that the last decade “is quite likely the hottest the planet has been in 125,000 years. “ Is the world on an emergency footing? Hardly. Many people won’t even acknowledge they smell the smoke.

We’re all going to suffer if enough of us don’t take the recommended action. And the climate emergency is the No. 1 public health concern of all time. In terms of potential impact, it makes COVID look like a hiccup.

The full scope of the problem — the need to tackle all sources of harmful atmospheric emissions and the real and extreme urgency of the threat to civilization —is rarely explored in an honest and comprehensive way by the so-called “adults” in the room.

In 2019, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, 16-year-old Greta Thunberg told the gathering of global financial leaders: “Adults keep saying: ‘We owe it to the young people to give them hope.’

But I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.

“I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.”

There’s abundant evidence that

the climate emergency is not just some vague far-off threat. In 2020, Australia and California had their worst fires in recorded history, with millions of acres of forests aflame, consuming towns, roasting people alive before they had enough time to flee through raging infernos, and threatening major population centers. Online, you can view clips from real-life disaster movies, with people barely escaping the conflagrations with their lives while losing their homes and belongings.

On July 9, Death Valley reached 130, matching the hottest verified temperature ever recorded on Earth. By July 20, there were 80 large fires in the U.S. and 200 in British Columbia. The Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon prompted evacuations and produced its own weather — towering pyrocumulonimbus clouds propelling smoke and ash 45,000 feet into the atmosphere, spawning rain and lightning and erratic winds which made firefighters temporarily retreat.

In Detroit and Toronto, a blood-red sun rose through windblown haze produced by smoke from fires in Manitoba.

In the ensuing months, blistering heat waves killed hundreds of people in the United States and Canada. The Dixie Fire destroyed one town and forced thousands to flee their homes in Northern California.

We are already living in an extreme climate emergency. The magnitude of what’s unfolding is an emergency affecting almost every place in the world — and it’s only going to get worse unless we act on the entire problem.

Sea-level rise is already endangering the treasures of Western civilization in Venice.

And many other flood-prone cities

can save our children

B Y M I C H A E L B E T Z O L D • I L L U S T R AT I O N S

BY

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throughout the world face calamity.

The low-lying nation of Bangladesh is home to 150 million people, many of them poor and already coping with frequent flooding. If the seas rise three more feet, which is sure to happen this century unless something significant changes very soon, a fifth of Bangladesh will become permanently uninhabitable, which means 30 million people will have to relocate.

Such changes are already creating millions of climate refugees.

In the United States, much of the Southwest is becoming too hot and parched for human habitation, with water a scarce and expensive resource. The East Coast and Gulf Coast are increasingly plagued by hurricanes and rising sea levels, and people will soon have to move from major population centers near the sea. In coming decades, cities like Chicago and Detroit will see a massive influx of climate refugees because they still have a tolerable climate, relatively few extreme weather events, and plenty of water — at least for now.

We’re not just heading toward disastrous climate change decades down the road — it’s already happening. The longer we put off appropriate action in response, the more we’re putting our children and grandchildren in grave peril.

We’re rapidly running out of time and approaching dangerous tipping points beyond which there is no turning things around — no matter what is done.

Already set in motion are several processes that if left unaddressed we can never reverse. One is the “albedo effect”: white surfaces reflect sunlight, dark surfaces absorb it.

As the polar ice caps melt, vast stretches of white are replaced by more dark surfaces, which absorb more heat from the sun, accelerating the warming in a self-reinforcing feedback loop.

Another unprecedented event with unknown implications is the more frequent appearance of massive methane gas bubbles in the Arctic. Huge amounts of that potent greenhouse gas have been trapped under the polar ice for centuries.

The methane has already started to escape as the Arctic permafrost thaws. No one knows how much will surface and further heat the atmosphere.

Vast swatches of rainforest, which absorb carbon dioxide, are disappearing. The Amazon is the single most important safeguard on the planet against a climate catastrophe. By itself it produces 20 percent of our planet’s oxygen.

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Scientists don’t know exactly when these “tipping points” will be reached and, if surpassed, how much heat they will add to the atmosphere.

This uncertainty calls into question any estimated timeline for decisive action. We don’t have the luxury to wait any longer to take effective countermeasures.

Considering there are so many unknowns, that the level of warming is unprecedented in human history and the consequences of an insufficient response so devastating, it is stunning how casually the world has so far responded.

So far, the most notable international response is the Paris Climate Accord. Even if met, its modest and fairly vague goals would not prevent further catastrophic disruption — the deadly fires, droughts, and hurricanes we’ve been seeing that will continue to worsen if the world sees a temperature rise between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius.

Societies would have to accept the flooding of major cities, the displacement of population centers, and the massive migrations sure to result — as the latest IPCC report emphasized.

And a major cause of the climate emergency is not addressed at all in the Paris accord.

Jeff Anhang, a leading environmental specialist at the World Bank, notes that “the amount of renewable energy infrastructure needed to stop climate change has been estimated by the International Energy Agency to cost at least $53 trillion and take at least twenty years, by which time it’s projected to be too late to reverse climate change.”

The 2021 IPCC report concluded that even if all the pledges to address the climate made by all the countries to date were implemented, they would, according to the New York Times summary of the report, “result only in a 12 percent decrease in emissions by 2030 — well short of the 45 percent cut needed to keep the world on track to meet the most ambitious aims of the Paris agreement.”

Over the past 30 years it’s become increasingly obvious that our civilization is in dire danger — yet that approaching apocalypse is too often shrugged off or wished away.

Even as it starts to overwhelm us, we can’t believe the disaster unfolding right before our eyes.

Billions are being invested already in building “resilience” by using the high-tech equivalent of higher seawalls. These infrastructure “hardening” measures are often characterized as “adaptation to climate change” —

extending the illusion that somehow civilization can continue in a much hotter climate (when many places are already struggling with the climate we have created).

Getting to net zero carbon emissions by 2030 or 2040 or 2050 or some other future deadline will never by itself save our civilization.

That’s because we have to reduce not just carbon emissions but all greenhouse gasses. How do we do that? Not just by turning down our thermostats, getting better mileage, and recycling. We’ve been doing those things for decades. Those actions are insufficient, because the source of much of our civilization’s deadly emissions is what we eat.

According to a United Nations report, production of meat causes more greenhouse gas emissions than all the planes, trains, and cars in the world combined. The billions of ruminants we eat each year belch methane, a greenhouse gas 23 to 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and they excrete feces filled with nitrous oxide, which is an estimated 256 times more potent than CO2.

The World Resources Institute says we’ll need a 30 percent decrease in consumption of animal foods to meet the greenhouse gas emissions targets set in Paris. That is a goal that can be met or exceeded — if we all do our part.

Most of our farmland is used to raise crops to feed the animals we eat, much of our energy is used to transport their body parts to market, and those activities produce a huge amount of greenhouse gas emissions.

Eating animals is, by most measures, the largest single driver of human-induced climate change.

And it’s the one aspect of the climate emergency that we as individual consumers can affect — by choosing what we eat every day.

In addition to the direct emissions of methane and nitrous oxide, largescale animal agriculture degrades the environment and contributes to carbon emissions in many other ways.

The Amazon and other rainforests are being cut down to create land for livestock grazing and for crops to feed cattle. We’re turning them from carbon sinks to carbon producers, which is worsening the crisis.

Almost all the animals we eat in the U.S. are raised on factory farms — concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Factory farms are places of torture, mutilation, and experimentation on living sentient beings. Animals live in spaces so cramped they can’t turn around.

They never go outside or see the sky.

Animals are imprisoned, fattened

up with hormones, and slaughtered as soon as they reach the optimal weight.

CAFOs are what give us the Big Mac, the KFC meal, and all the meat packaged to conceal the animals within the world’s snack food.

Industrial animal agriculture is such a massive enterprise that if cattle were a country, it would be the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world, behind China and the U.S. Eating animals at the scale we do — 80 billion a year — is a terribly inhumane, dangerous, and inefficient way of getting calories into the stomachs of human beings.

Anhang emphasizes: “Replacing animal products with alternatives offers unique dual opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions quickly while freeing up land to enable more trees to capture excess atmospheric carbon in the near term.

So replacing animal products with alternatives seems to be the only pragmatic way to reverse climate change before it is too late.”

In fact, if everyone on Earth restricted consumption of animals to just once a week, it would equal saving the emissions from 91 billion miles of driving cars.

Most of these well-documented facts about the devastating costs of eating so many animals too often go unmentioned — or are quickly glossed over — in discussions about climate. The massive contribution of animal agriculture to our climate emergency is largely kept hidden from consumers. If we hope to preserve life on Earth, we must change our diet. Even if all other targets on carbon neutrality are met on time, if we continue as a civilization to consume animal products worldwide at anywhere near the same rate we do now, we won’t keep global warming to a tolerable level; we’ll be courting sure disaster. Our diet must change radically and quite soon for us to have any chance at all. But if we do take steps now to change what we consume as food, we can give our children and grandchildren a fighting chance to survive.

It’s our duty to do so — and it’s also our privilege.

We all make choices every day when we sit down to eat, and we all pay a price for everyone’s choices — not just environmentally, but financially. No matter how many animal products we consume, as American taxpayers we are paying for our collective demise and the ruination of our children’s and grandchildren’s future — and for the torture of billions of animals and the erosion of our own health. In

2020, more than $30 billion in U.S. government subsidies went to meat, dairy, and animal feed production.

Without this massive government handout, a Big Mac would likely cost about $11.

This entitlement for the meat industry makes plant-based food less competitive in price. While our government is touting its current and future investments in “green” and “sustainable” energy and infrastructure as meaningful steps to counteract the climate crisis, it’s also spending billions fueling that same crisis by subsidizing meat and dairy products. Those of us who don’t eat animals subsidize people who do.

In addition, governments could start to label food products with accurate figures informing consumers how what they buy contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Now, food items must be labeled with calorie and fat content, presence of potential allergens, and other crucial dietary information. If consumers must have this information, don’t they also have the right to know how much the food they buy contributes to a disastrously warming climate?

Given the urgency of our situation, we must respond to the climate emergency with all the effective means at our disposal. We ought to have policies that promote clean energy, but we also should address animal products. We need the strongest possible “Green New Deal” to make a decisive transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. As consumers, we can help that shift by choosing electric or hybrid vehicles instead of gas guzzlers. And we can also make smarter choices about the foods we buy and eat without government policies that thwart those decisions. It all must happen if we want to save our civilization.

What’s holding us back? Many prominent leaders and activists are loath to tell the whole story. The facts are easily available to anyone — just do a little Googling. But to date there’s been little serious political response to the real scope and depth of the climate emergency — and a deep reluctance by many to even speak about diet as a part of the solution.

The most prominent youth-led climate activist group, the Sunrise Movement, won’t touch the climate issue either — even though many of their members are vegans or vegetarians.

We can’t wait any longer for politicians and corporations to act strongly enough and soon enough. In all the years since the alarm has been sounding, we’ve gone from turning

40 billion animals a year into food to slaughtering and consuming 80 billion land animals annually. While we’re hearing political pledges about starting to control carbon emissions, we’ve doubled the quantities of methane and nitrogen emissions.

Why sit back and hope others will act when there is something every one of us can do today that will have an immediate impact? We can start working right now on the biggest threat to our families’ future. By doing so we can have an influence on others through our personal contacts, and we can help drive changes in the marketplace.

Making changes in personal habits in order to help save the environment doesn’t require a new mindset. Many of us have been motivated to do such things for a long time. You probably have been recycling or turning down your thermostat or limiting unnecessary driving for many years. At first, you might have thought those were burdensome sacrifices. Now you don’t give it a second thought when you put an extra blanket on your bed and turn the heat down at night.

And just as with using less fossil fuel to travel or heat your home, anything you do with your diet has a measurable impact. You can make a significant impact by choosing to not eat meat a few days a week, or by eating one plant-based meal per day.

We’re in the greatest public health emergency imaginable, everyone’s lives are at risk, and everyone’s actions are crucial.

The greatest source of methane is animal agriculture. We can control methane by changing our diet, and doing so will reduce temperatures. If you have other agendas and concerns, eating fewer animal products won’t interfere with them at all.

We are fast approaching the point of no return from a catastrophe beyond anyone’s imagination. Who and what are we defending or protecting with our inaction?

Is eating animal products worth the price we are all paying — and will be paying for generations to come?

We are eating our way to mass extinction. We have both a right to choose and a right to life, and we have a rapidly narrowing window of opportunity to choose life.

Michael Betzold is a Detroit-based journalist, an Emmy-winning author of ten books, and a member of the Climate Save movement.

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GET OUT Everything you should do in Cleveland this week WED 05/04 Immersive Sound Listening Party At this special monthly event at Music Box Supper Club, you will hear a classic album played through a breakthrough Immersive Sound System. Frank Foti, CEO of the Telos Alliance, a pioneer and world leader in audio processing headquartered in Cleveland will be on hand to show off his cutting-edge technology. This week, you’ll hear Duran Duran’s Rio. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $14 at the door.

1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com.

THU 05/05 Black Violin Black Violin members Kev Marcus and Wil Baptiste met in orchestra class at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale. After college, they produced beats for South Florida rappers and began building an audience in local clubs. They later went on to win Showtime at the Apollo in 2005, and eventually sold-out headline performances at venues across the country, merging string arrangements with modern beats and vocals. They bring their tour in support of 2021’s Take the Stairs to the State Theatre, where they perform tonight at 8. Check the venue’s website for more info.

1519 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

FRI

05/06

The Big Photography Show This group exhibition featuring works by 16 veteran and new Cleveland-area photographers opens today, with a special reception that takes place from 6 to 10 p.m. Artists include Jay Brown, Matthew Chasney, Hadley Conner, Jacques Gauvin, Jef Janis, Keith Marlowe, Ken Matosky, Barbara, Merritt, Bryon Miller, Karen Novak, Anastasia Pantios, Bob Perkoski, Barney Taxel, Steve, Vaccareillo, Danny Vega and Brad Williams.

818 Jefferson, 216-870-2012, merrittphoto.com.

SAT 05/07 GlamGore GlamGore is Cleveland’s newest

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Singer-songwriter Valerie June comes to the Beachland Ballroom. See: Friday, May 13.

monthly addition to LGBTQ nightlife. Each month, GlamGore features a variety of performance artists under one roof, ranging from beauty queens to drag monsters. One of few all-inclusive and all ages productions that incorporates themed performances to elevate artists and audiences alike, GlamGore features wellrounded drag entertainers of all shapes, sizes and styles from all over the country. Tonight’s event starts at 9 at the Grog Shop. Tickets cost $12 in advance, $15 at the door.

VIP tickets which include a photo opportunity, a meet-and-greet prior to the show and seating, cost $20.

2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland

Heights, 216-321-5588, grogshop.gs.

SUN 05/08 COYO Spring Concert Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra will perform its annual spring concert tonight. Expect to hear pieces by Esmail, Mendelssohn, Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff. Vinay Parameswaran will conduct. The concert begins tonight at 7 at Mandel Concert Hall. Consult the orchestra’s website for more info.

11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.

Courtesy of Shore Fire

MON 05/09 Rupi Kaur Known for her spoken word poetry performances, international star Rupi Kaur comes to the Ohio Theatre tonight at 8 to read unpublished pieces as well as poems and “greatest hits” from her many books. Check the venue website for more info.

1511 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

TUE

05/10

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Part of the Broadway in Akron series

with performances at E.J. Thomas Hall on the campus of the University of Akron, Charlie and Chocolate Factory features songs from the original film, including “Pure Imagination,” “The Candy Man” and “I’ve Got a Golden Ticket” alongside a new score from the songwriters of Hairspray. Performances take place at 7:30 tonight and tomorrow night.

Check the venue’s website for more info.

198 Hill St., Akron, 330-972-7570, ejthomashall.com.

SAT

05/14

Alyssa Edwards Alyssa Edwards brings her Life, Love & Lashes — Memoirs of a Queen world tour to town tonight.

Press materials for the trek proclaim that it’s “a must-see tell-all story about her life, drag and finding love.”

The show begins at 8 at the Ohio Theatre. Check the Playhouse Square website for more info.

1501 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

WED 05/11 SUN 05/15

AJR — The Ok Orchestra Tour AJR, the indie rock act that recently released the single “Record Player” with indie pop trio Daisy the Great, regularly delivers punchy, high-energy live shows that should translate even in a sports arena like Wolstein Center, where the band performs tonight at 7:30. Check the venue’s website for more info.

2000 Prospect Ave., 216-687-9292, wolsteincenter.com.

THU 05/12 Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps Great Lakes Theater’s Production of Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps mixes suspense with Monty Python in what’s been called a “fast-paced, madcap whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre.”

Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30 at the Hanna, where performances continue through May 22.

2067 East 14th St., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

FRI

05/13

Valerie June Produced by June and Jack Splash, singer-songwriter Valerie June’s latest album, last year’s The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers, shows off her beautiful voice and exquisite harmonies.

Her tour in support of the album comes to the Beachland Ballroom tonight. Expect to hear songs from The Moon and Stars as well as well as plenty of new tracks, including the woozy, horn-driven “Use Me.” Tonight’s concert begins at 8.

Singer-songwriter Chastity Brown opens the show. Tickets cost $30.

15711 Waterloo Rd., 216-383-1124, beachlandballroom.com.

The Gilmour Project A “descendant” of Blue Floyd, the early 2000s group made up of Allen Woody, Matt Abts, Marc Ford, Berry Oakley Jr., and Johnny Neel and a tribute to Pink Floyd singer-guitarist David Gilmour, the Gilmour Project take Pink Floyd tunes and put a twist on them. The group performs tonight at 7:30 at MGM Northfield Park — Center Stage.

10705 Northfield Rd., Northfield, 330-908-7793, mgmnorthfieldpark. mgmresorts.com/en.html.

MON 05/16 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.

TUE

05/17

An Evening with Neil Gaiman The author of works such as Neverwhere, Stardust, American Gods and Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman speaks tonight at 7:30 at the State Theatre. In 2020, the prolific author published The Neil Gaiman Reader: Selected Fiction, and a new children’s book, Pirate Stew.

1519 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

Shawn Colvin

Marc Cohn

Al Stewart

Wed. May 11

Sat. May 14

Wed. May 18

Bodeans

Teddy Robb

Jimmy Buffett Tribute

Thurs. May 19

Sat. June 4

Bluffett

Sat. June 11

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

Wednesday, June 8 | The Music of Cream NEW! Sunday June 12 | America Tuesday, June 28 | The Zombies NEW! Friday July 1 | Hard Day’s Night - Beatles Tribute Saturday, July 9 | Jordan Rudess NEW! Tuesday July 12 | Todd Rundgren NEW DATE! Friday, July 28 | Keillor and Company NEW! Thursday August 4 | The Abrams Sunday, August 21 | The Wallflowers NEW! Friday October 7 | Marcc Nutter

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene May 4-17, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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ARTS ARTS DECONSTRUCTED DECONSTRUCTED BIRD BIRD

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EAT WELCOME ARRIVAL

Elle is on its way to becoming the rare dining gem in Solon

By Douglas Trattner ASK A RESIDENT OF SOLON where he or she goes to eat when searching for a great meal and you’ll likely get responses like Chagrin Falls, Tremont, Ohio City, Hudson, Cleveland Heights… In place of hip, chef-driven bistros serving compelling and delicious foods, this far-flung suburb subsists on a steady diet of bland national chains, repetitive regional chains and cozy but predictable local haunts.

Few people are more acutely aware of that reality than Solonbased restaurateurs Izzy Schachner and Jay Leitson. As co-owners of the popular 56 Kitchen and new-butnotable fast-casual fried chicken spot Birdigo, the pair likely has a better handle on the local clientele than most.

“The complaint we constantly hear is that people have to leave Solon to have a nice night out,” Schachner told Scene. “There are places around here, but they are not in Solon.”

After surveying the landscape, the team decided to swing for the bleachers by opening Elle, a restaurant that aims to keep discerning locals closer to home.

The bistro, which welcomed its first guests in December, is most certainly on the right track. But if its owners hope not only to appeal to neighbors but also generate some reverse migration from further afield, they’ll have to tighten up their game.

The space the owners selected for Elle was an appropriate one.

For many years, this building was home to Harvest, Solon’s most recent attempt at finer dining. The freshly renovated interior offers a clear demarcation between past and present, with seemingly every inch of the space revised in some fashion. Lush fabrics, sparkly chandeliers and handsome furniture combine to create an eclectic, bohemian and inviting dining room and bar.

Like the setting, the menu is duly of-the-moment, with trendy foodstuffs like burrata, octopus, lamb meatballs and whole bronzini paired with equally chic, global

Cutline, style is roman with a character style for italic

accompaniments like espelette cream, harissa, ricotta salata, preserved lemon and bagna cauda.

It’s a menu that foodies, for lack of a better word, truly can get excited about. Diners can expect core items to stick around but should expect frequent seasonal tweaks.

At the gentle urging of our server, who touted the dish as “charred and right off the grill,” we ordered the octopus appetizer ($12). Perhaps she was referring

capped with a bright punch of salsa verde. A half dozen roasted oysters ($15) were doomed from the jump by an onslaught of cold tomato vinaigrette, which literally filled the half shells and turned the oysters from hot to lukewarm.

There were no issues whatsoever with the ricotta gnocchi ($26), a season-appropriate composition of well-browned dumplings, savory braised lamb, wilted greens and plump favas. Fish fans who aren’t

ELLE 33730 BAINBRIDGE RD., SOLON 440-656-3553 ELLECLE.COM

to the shishito peppers, which indeed were beautifully blistered, but the octopus, while tender and mild, would have greatly benefited from some flames. A trio of golf ball-size eggplant fritters ($12) arrive perfectly crisp, with a hot, creamy core that goes great with a pepper-spiked aioli. They’re

afraid of a little work should order the bronzini ($32). The meaty, sweet flesh separates easily from the spine and there are almost no small bones to worry about. Unlike that octopus, a wood-roasted chicken ($26) is cooked to a heavenly chestnut brown, with leopardspotted skin wrapping juicy meat.

I’m not sure what the olive oil whipped potatoes were supposed to look like, but by the time they got to my table they had separated, melted and wept to the outer rim of the plate.

After sampling a couple of the wines by the glass we opted to go with a bottle because we detected some age on more than one of the opened selections.

The bottle list is short Doug Trattner but populated by plenty of appealing choices. We landed on a lovely Nebbiolo ($60) from Piedmont that paired perfectly with the wood-fired meats. A crisp, pleasantly sharp and perfectly balanced negroni ($16) offers proof that the bar knows its way around a jigger and a spoon.

Given the abridgement of menus taking place lately, it’s refreshing to see one that reverses the trend.

Diners here enjoy more than a dozen different entrée choices – plus daily features – that are sure to satisfy omnivores and pescatarians without offending the vegetarians.

I’m looking forward to following the menu’s seasonal journey through the farmers’ markets and global pantry.

It won’t take much tinkering to transform Elle from a good restaurant to a great one. Already, she’s one of the most exciting new developments to happen to the Solon food scene in a decade.

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene May 4-17, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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Cutline, style is roman with a character style for italic

BITES

HoneyBirch Bakehouse, a ‘European-inspired bakery,’ to open on Larchmere

By Douglas Trattner RENEE AND ELAN HOENIG were on the hunt to find the perfect location for their bakeshop. They ended up finding it on Larchmere Boulevard. The pair will open HoneyBirch Bakehouse at 12204 Larchmere Blvd. Neighbors might know the spot as the former home of 3 Aprons Bakery and Grey House Pies.

“When we were looking for a space, we were looking for a neighborhood to be in — that’s just the vibe we enjoy,” says Elan.

“We want a small neighborhood where we would get to know our customers and see familiar faces as often as possible.”

Elan, a longtime staffer at the Wine Spot in Cleveland Heights, and his wife have been operating HoneyBirch as a cottage business, hosting the occasional pop-up.

Renee describes the shop as a “European-inspired bakery and sandwich shop.” In the morning, there will be drip coffee, breakfast pastries like cardamom knots, ham, egg and cheese sandwiches and sweet and savory puff pastries.

At lunch, the bakery will roll out a menu of creative sandwiches, including a New Orleans-style muffaletta on a house-baked Italian round and tuna with hard-boiled egg, olives, boiled potatoes, tomato and a lemon-harissa mayo.

The bakery will offer a lineup of core breads like French baguettes, Italian, Vienna and, on weekends, challah. Cookies, shortbreads and other sweet treats will round out the menu.

The store will also have a small market section offering items like imported chocolate bars, local eggs and cheese, condiments and tinned fish.

At 900 square feet front and back, the bakery is exclusively carry-out, but there will be some sidewalk seating in the coming weeks.

HoneyBirch will open Friday, May 13.

“We’re trying to stay small at first,” Elan adds. “It’s just me and my wife.”

Mendel’s Kansas City BBQ to Bring Kosher Smoked Meats to Shaker Heights “Kosher” and “barbecue” are words one often doesn’t hear together – and for obvious reasons. The rules behind the Jewish dietary law forbid the eating of pork, so there goes all that delicious pulled pork, St. Louis-style ribs, pork belly and juicy pork sausage. And

then there are the million other rules that regulate the procurement and processing of the permissible foods.

If kosher barbecue restaurants are seeing an upsurge across the country – and they are – Mendel Segal can take some of the credit.

Segal, the “rabbi pitmaster,” has been demonstrating for years that there is no reason why barbecue can’t be both incredible and kosher.

For the past five years, his Miamibased restaurant courtesy HoneyBirch Mendel’s Backyard BBQ & Brew has been proving on a daily basis that kosher and barbecue can, in fact, coexist. Next, Segal will attempt to replicate the success he’s found in Miami here in Cleveland when he opens Mendel’s Kansas City BBQ in Shaker Heights. Segal says that the move was the result of consistent urging by “friends, family and really good customers” – many of whom are snowbirds – to open up north.

“No one’s taken the risk,” Segal explains. “And until a couple years ago, I don’t know if it would have been worth it. But the community is growing like crazy and I’m confident in my product. I’m not just relying on the orthodox community; it’s really good barbecue.”

Segal describes his barbecue journey thusly: “First it was for fun, then competition, then business.”

He started like many pitmasters by cooking at home for family and friends. Then the competition bug bit him. Soon, he had cultivated a reputation large enough to support a restaurant.

Segal is calling his Cleveland restaurant Mendel’s Kansas City BBQ. “That’s my style, that’s where I come from and that’s where I got into the whole barbecue scene,” says.

The restaurant will open in the former home of Lucy’s Sweet Surrender. The building on Chagrin Boulevard is across the street from Van Aken District, which was a huge selling point for Segal.

Like his Miami restaurant,

the Shaker spot will be a little more upscale than your typical roadhouse. The restaurant will be full-service, but family friendly.

And with items like brisket, smoked pastrami, giant beef ribs, beef back ribs, smoked veal brisket, lamb ribs, smoked turkey, burnt ends and smoked chicken, nobody will miss the pork.

In addition to the foods coming out of the pit, the restaurant will offer non-BBQ foods like soups, salads, wings, burgers, fish and steak. To drink, there will be plenty of craft beer and a full liquor license.

As a certified kosher restaurant, Segal’s Backyard BBQ & Brew in Miami can’t prepare foods or accept payment on the sabbath – aka sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Segal still manages to serve his customers at the restaurant, however, through a unique system of prepayment for meals already prepared. That approach could make its way north if there’s demand for it.

Look for the restaurant to open in late summer or early fall.

Rum Runners Now Open in the Flats Thirsty Dog Brewing in the Flats closed over winter. Taking its place is Rum Runners(1085 Old River Rd.), which opened last weekend.

To Flats-goers of a certain age, Rum Runners is a name that doubtless conjures memories.

Rum Runners, along with places like River’s Edge, Fagan’s, D’Poo’s on the River and Peabody’s Down Under, was a staple attraction during the Flats’ halcyon days in the 1980s and 1990s.

After a beach-themed makeover, the 7,000-square-foot space welcomed its first guests on April 28. After a few soft opening weekends, the bar and restaurant will convert to its regular summer hours Memorial Day Weekend.

There will be live music on weekends on the indoor “Endless Summer” stage, plus live music on the front patio down the road.

To eat, there are starters such as hush puppies, calamari, onion rings and quesadillas. A grilled chicken Caesar joins sandwiches like the grilled grouper, Cubano and grilled chicken. Burgers, flatbreads, coconut shrimp and jambalaya round out the bill of fare.

To drink, there are plenty of rumfueled drinks, mojitos, margaritas, frozen pina coladas and 20-ounce tiki “fishbowls.”

May 4-17, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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| clevescene.com | May 4-17, 2022

MUSIC CANADIAN INVASION

Simple Plan and Sum 41 bring their Blame Canada tour to House of Blues

By Jeff Niesel ON THEIR CURRENT TOUR dubbed Blame Canada, co-headliners Simple Plan and Sum 41, two poppunk bands that emerged from the Great White North in the early 2000s, will revisit their respective debut albums.

The two acts perform on Wednesday, May 11, at House of Blues.

Sum 41 plans to play its debut, 2001’s All Killer No Filler, in its entirety at the show, and Simple Plan will play most of 2002’s No Pads, No Helmets… Just Balls. Since the groups will co-headline, each will play a 75-minute set that’ll also feature songs from throughout its career as well as tunes from its latest album.

In separate phone interviews, Sum 41 singer-bassist Cone McCaslin and Simple Plan singer Pierre Bouvier talked about the upcoming tour that pairs the groups together for the very first time.

Talk about how the concept for the tour came together?

Bouvier: I think it’s been in the works of a long time. Our drummer Chuck [Comeau], who always manages the stuff with the band, has been trying to put it together.

In my mind, there are three bands that came together on the coattails of Green Day and Blink-182 and had an impact. Those bands to me were Good Charlotte and Simple Plan and Sum 41. I’ve always imagined a tour of the three us together. That hasn’t happened yet, but we’ve been knocking on Sum 41’s door for a few years. Finally, [Sum 41 singer] Deryk [Whibley] was like, “Yeah, I think it’s a good time to do it.” We have parallel careers, and we have both had lots of success around the world and have been able to maintain that over the years. I look at our numbers on Spotify, and we both remain relevant. It’s awesome to go out with them. I’ve been a fan of Sum 41 for a long time. There are some cool guys in the band. Finally, after

20 years of being out there, we get to go out on tour together.

McCaslin: We haven’t been friends all along. There was some kind of grudge that started in the early days way back in 2000, and it kind of just spun out of control in the media.

In interviews, we would do, we would shit talk each other back and forth.

We were just never Simple Plan and Sum 41. friends in the early days. Now that we’re preproduction in L.A. and got the all over 40, we just threw up our arms and said, “What are we fighting songs ready. We all have great home studios. We sent tracks to about? Why aren’t we doing shows each other. We spread out and together?” We were both looking recorded the songs in our own home to do anniversary tours of our first studios. It was really comfortable. albums. It just kind of made sense.

As far as the heavier sound goes, we were just headed that way after Talk about your latest album.

Bouvier: [Harder Than It Looks] was [2016’s] 13 Voices. It was kind of completed right before the pandemic. heavy. [The 2011 album] Screaming Bloody Murder was heavy too. With We had a tour lined up with Newfound Glory that got cancelled in us, we just take things as far as we can. Even on the new one, some of summer of 2020. We figured it was the songs on that are some of the a bad time to put a record out. We are all dads and our kids were being heaviest we have ever done. We like

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pulled from school. At the time, there was so much going in the news that we felt like the record would get buried. There was a good chance [former U.S. President] Donald Trump would do something stupid that would overshadow everything else. We figured with all this going on, we put the brakes on to reassess.

At some point, we realized it just had to come out.

McCaslin: it’s one of the most aggressive albums we’ve done. We did it a little differently. We did

that stuff, so we go there.

What will the setlist be like?

Bouvier: The tour is packaged as a 20th anniversary of our first album.

Sum 41’s album came out 21 years ago. They have committed to play their first album in its entirety.

We want to participate in that, but I want to be sensitive to fans who maybe don’t want to hear the whole first album We’ll play almost the first album in its entirety and both bands will play 75 minutes. The first album

Ellenor Argyropoulos and Ashley Osborn

should take up 30 or so minutes of our set. Then, we’ll go into all the other songs and put some new songs in there too. We will play a few shows and see what the response is like and change things up if we need to. I look at myself as a fan, and it’s usually the first record you fall in love with it. I love hearing the whole thing. We will start from there.

McCaslin: It doesn’t look like we will play our first album in sequence.

We like to juggle the songs around, but we will play every song. There will be other songs in the set too.

Some of the album tracks on All Killer No Filler we haven’t played in 20 years. I had to sit down and relearn some of the tunes. We will all practice on our own, and we will get together a couple of days before the tour and just jump right into it.

We did some of those songs when we were 20 years old. We were good but not great. There are just four chords to lots of the songs. Now, as I’m relearning [the new] Order in Decline songs, I have to really focus because there are a lot more notes.

It’s actually kind of cool to have an easier record to play after we’ve been off the road for more than two years.

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene May 4-17, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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| clevescene.com | May 4-17, 2022

MUSIC THRASH TALK

Testament singer discusses band’s latest effort, Titans of Creation

By Jeff Niesel WHEN TESTAMENT SINGER Chuck Billy joined the Berkeley, CA-based hard rock act Testament shortly after it formed in the early ’80s, thrash metal had not yet become fully established as a musical genre. Given his musical background, Billy had to make a few initial adjustments to adjust to a style of music that broke new musical ground.

“I’m older than the guys,” he says in a recent phone interview while taking a break from rehearsing for the tour that brings the band to the Agora on Tuesday, May 10.

“The Bay Area was known more for hair metal bands. That was what I grew up with. Dokken and Ratt were popular. [Guitarist] Eric [Peterson] and them guys were brought up with Mercyful Fate and early Angel Witch and stuff like that. When I got into the band, I didn’t know thrash metal as well. I went to college and learned how to become a singer with melody. That was my thing. When I got into the band, it was so different because the music was so fast. I didn’t know where I could put melody in. I didn’t understand it, but they liked that I had some melody and Eric [Peterson] worked with me from Day One. I was on a crash course on how to become a thrash singer.”

After learning the songs that original singer Steve Souza sang, Billy eventually segued into writing for the band’s albums.

“On the first tour we did in Europe, we had a lot of time, and we were writing a record on the bus,” he explains. “That’s when I got to participate. By then, I had a good grip on the cadence with a little bit of melody and made my own style.”

That “style” has certainly served the band well over the course of its decades-long career. And while the band’s latest album, Titans of Creation, might not represent a huge departure in terms of its sound, the group took a different approach

Stephanie Cabral

Testament.

to writing. After the band visited Jerusalem a few years ago for a music festival, Peterson was inspired and began to work on new riffs. He presented the tunes to Billy, who decided he’d write to the riffs instead of requesting changes to them like he usually does.

“When we wrote this record, I wanted to give Eric [Peterson] a lot more freedom because usually when we write a record together,

virtually speaks his way through the tune’s intro, and for “Night of the Witch,” he enlisted Peterson to sing parts of the track.

“To me, I’ve been writing music with the same band for thirtysomething damn years and to try something different and new was kind of cool for me,” says Billy.

“When we finished the album, the songs stand out on their own. It was better than we expected. All the

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I jump in and rearrange a lot of the riffs,” he says. “[Released in 2016,] Brotherhood of the Snake took us two years just to get the whole thing complete. I didn’t want to go through that again. I decided that if [Peterson] gave me the music, I would do the best I could with it.

That’s how it worked out this time around. It actually was better. It was more challenging. I had to find my way through the riffs. In the past, I would’ve said, ‘Change that because I didn’t hear me singing on it.’ This time, I came up and tried different things and different voices.”

On a song like “City of Angels,” a sprawling tune with atmospheric guitars and beefy bass riffs, Billy uses a different texture of vocals and

songs had their own identity, and it makes for a good listening record.

They all have their own identity. We didn’t write it as a concept record or think they needed to be in the same vein. That’s what makes it a better record. Some bands have been together 30-plus years and might take the easy way out and write something that’s the normal thing they do. We didn’t approach it that way. We always want to challenge ourselves. From Day One, we always thought we wanted to write a better record and sound better with each release. There’s always something that has to change.”

A prescient tune, “Symptoms” addresses mental health issues, something that the recent pandemic

has only exacerbated.

“I think it was written during the time [singer-songwriter] Chris Cornell and Chester [Bennington] from Linkin Park had passed,” says Billy. “It was something that was brought up and talked about.

[Guitarist] Alex [Skolnick] wanted write about that. That was what inspired that. When Alex writes his songs, we don’t know what he’s giving us actually until we’re there in the studio. He writes them at home, and we don’t work on them together. When we finally got together, we tried it out, and we worked through it.”

Billy says that “to be able to get to try something new and not just do what’s comfortable” has kept touring and recording with Testament exciting all these years.

“I’m a believer that things happen for a reason,” he says, adding that the group just recorded a performance of the entire album with drummer Gene [Hoglan] prior to his official departure from that band. The performance will appear on an upcoming DVD. “We struggled trying to finish Brotherhood of the Snake, and I didn’t want to do that. In the end, it made it for a better record and challenged me to try something new [with Titans of Creation].”

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene May 4-17, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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| clevescene.com | May 4-17, 2022

SAVAGE LOVE OPEN AND SHUT

By Dan Savage Hey Dan: Straight guy here in a one-sided open relationship. My wife and I opened our relationship just for her and to females only, so she could explore her bisexual side. I’m super proud of her for coming out and wanted her to feel fulfilled. When we agreed to this, I was naive and figured anything she experienced would be purely sexual and nothing more. She recently caught feelings and now has a girlfriend. She stays at her girlfriend’s place one to two nights a week. I get jealous and sick to my stomach when she is over there. She has that “new relationship energy” going and talks about her girlfriend all the time. Aside from the jealousy, I feel like I am not a priority. I’m hoping my feelings get better with time. Besides this, our marriage is great. I love my wife very much and want to support her in this. Are one-sided open relationships something that can work? Are my feelings unjustified and what can I do to better deal with them? The logic used when we talked about a one-sided open relationship was that I can’t satisfy the female side she desires. But since I’m hetero, I don’t have an “unfulfilled” side.

Home Alone Your wife isn’t the first person to come out as bisexual after making a monogamous commitment to an opposite-sex partner and then ask for permission to sleep with other people — without wanting to extend the same permission to their straight spouse. Since she’s bi and can’t get pussy at home, the reasoning goes, she should be allowed to get pussy elsewhere. Since you’re straight and can get pussy at home (when that pussy is at home), you’re not entitled to the same allowance. But as your wife is demonstrating, HA, it’s not just pussy she’s getting elsewhere.

While she’s getting one very specific need met outside your relationship — admittedly a need you can’t meet — she’s getting a lot more than that. In addition to pussy, she’s getting variety, adventure, unique experiences, new relationship energy, and two overnights a week. Why shouldn’t you have some of that too? Not to even the score, but to feel like you’re an equal partner in this marriage and, as such, entitled to equal terms, equal treatment, and equal benefits.

And it doesn’t sound like you two were on the same page when it came to what opening your relationship entailed. You seem to have assumed — or figured — that your wife would be seeking sex elsewhere, sex and only sex, but your wife “caught feelings” and now she has a girlfriend.

Agreeing to a one-sided open relationship is not the same thing as agreeing to one-sided polyamory. If you didn’t agree to that, HA, your wife had no right to expect that from you or impose that on you.

That said, one-sided open relationships can be great, HA, but they work best when the person who isn’t seeking sex outside the relationship either isn’t interested in having sex with other people or is turned on by the erotic power imbalance of being forbidden something their spouse is allowed — basically, this could work if you were a cuckold. Which you’re not.

Hey Dan: I’m a straight man who has been married to a wonderful woman for 35 years. I’m the only person she has ever been with. Over the years she has evolved into a wonderful giving partner open to things that turn me on. I take pride in being able to give her multiple orgasms although she only wants to do this about once per month. She has been happy to give me pleasure multiple times per month even, but she talks of it like it’s a chore (“wifely duties”) and is always asking me why I want it so much. I tell her it is more normal for men to want it more, and I wish she would want it more as well! I have used porn to get off since my teens. She accepts this because it means fewer chores for her, but she doesn’t like it. Recently I started using my phone to take videos of her performing oral on me as I enjoy watching this and it cuts down on the porn. She checked my phone and was upset at what she saw. I told her I was sorry, but she says I should’ve asked for permission. I told her I would have asked for permission, but I knew the answer would be no! She said of course it would be no and she called it sick and gross! I tried to explain again that it is quite normal behavior for most men to want to watch and it is for my eyes only! As I said, she has evolved, as early in the marriage she would have never done some of things she

Joe Newton

has learned to do while pleasuring me!

Long story short, any words of advice on this sexy-for-me, not-so-much-forher activity.

Sincerely Appreciate Your Advice, Sweet Savage It’s not OK to take photos or videos of someone performing a sex act without their consent, SAYASS, even if that someone happens to be your wife.

Even if that someone happens to have a lower libido than you do, even if that someone would rather you not look at porn, even if that someone enjoys most of the things you want them to do — not only isn’t it OK, SAYASS, it’s a crime. It’s not normal behavior, it’s asshole behavior — and, again, in most places it’s literally criminal behavior. So your wife has every right to be upset. You violated her and did so knowingly; you say you didn’t ask for permission to make those videos because you knew she would say no.

Dude. If your wife had been writing me, SAYASS, I would advise her to get a lawyer and divorce you.

Hey Dan: We hear so much about the all-important commitment to monogamy in marriage. What about the less emphasized but clearly important commitment to a healthy sex life? I’m a straight man. I’ve been married for about 20 years. I’ve never cheated on my wife, although I’ve come close in recent years. My wife and I had a healthy sex life for the first 10 years. For the last 10 years, we haven’t had sex at all. We are both in our late 40s, athletic and attractive, and neither of us has any overwhelming physical or mental

problems. My wife is just so engrossed in her work and personal identity that she has stopped caring about sex. It’s all well and good to say, “You need to talk about this with her,” but I know from years of experience that would be futile. She refuses to discuss it. And she has made it clear that if I were to do anything outside the marriage, it would amount to an unforgiveable betrayal. I vacillate between acceptance, frustration, bitterness, and deep anger.

Yes, I signed on for monogamy. But what did she sign on for? Can a woman or man in a monogamous marriage unilaterally cut off sex for no reason and still expect or demand monogamy, as my wife does? What do I owe her?

And what does she owe me? Despite this issue, we are good partners, good friends, and good parents to our two teenage children. Protecting them from the trauma of divorce, and not hurting my wife — these are the reasons I stay in the marriage. But it doesn’t feel right or fair that I have to be monogamous, that I will never experience physical intimacy again, not so much as a kiss or a touch, for the rest of my life, because my wife decided she is finished with that part of her life. What do other people think?

Saddened Over Love’s Omissions People in the comment threads at savage.love have been taking me to task recently for being too quick to give my blessing to cheating.

So, instead of answering this one myself, I’m going to open it to the commenters: What do you guys think SOLO should do? Personally, I don’t think a person can insist on monogamy while refusing to meet their partner’s reasonable sexual needs. (Well, a person can insist on it, but they shouldn’t expect it.) Please don’t tell SOLO to talk with his wife.

He’s tried talking about it — he’s tried again and again for 10 years — and his wife refuses to discuss it. So, gang, what should he do? Should he do the “right thing” and get a divorce?

Or should he do what he needs to do to stay married and stay sane? I’ll see you in the comments thread.

questions@savagelove.net t@fakedansavage www.savage.love May 4-17, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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