Scene July 27, 2022

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| clevescene.com | July 27-August 9, 2022

July 27-August 9, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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| clevescene.com | July 27-August 9, 2022

CONTENTS JULY 27-AUGUST 9, 2022 • VOL. 53 NO 2

Upfront .......................................6

Eat ............................................ 15

Feature .......................................8

Music ........................................ 19

Get Out ..................................... 12

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 Creative Director Haimanti Germain Art Director Evan Sult Production Manager Sean Bieri Graphic Designer Aspen Smit Staff Photographer Emanuel Wallace Business Business & Sales Support Specialist Megan Stimac Controller Kristy Cramer Circulation Circulation Director Burt Sender

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July 27-August 9, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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UPFRONT BIBB, GRIFFIN ANNOUNCE CITY ABORTION POLICIES POST-ROE, INCLUDING “REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM FUND” CLEVELAND MAYOR JUSTIN BIBB and City Council President Blaine Griffin announced last week a suite of city policies related to reproductive healthcare. The policies emerged, they said, from weeks of discussion in the aftermath of the Dobbs decision, in which the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

These policies are circumscribed by a commitment to non-enforcement and non-prosecution. In the first announced policy, City Prosecutor Aqueelah Jordan has pledged that neither she nor any city attorney will participate in charging abortionrelated crimes. She effectively joins Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Mike O’Malley and other district attorneys nationwide in refusing to deploy court resources to prosecute private medical decisions.

Cleveland police personnel, too, will not waste time and energy investigating abortion-related criminal charges. These will now become “the lowest priority for the use of City resources, including personnel, time, and funds,” a press release announcing the policies said.

In terms of its own resources, Bibb and Griffin say that they are currently working together to introduce legislation that will create a $100,000 Reproductive Freedom Fund. This city money would be used to cover the costs of Cleveland residents seeking abortions out of state. As Scene has previously written, these expenses include not only the cost of the procedure itself, but travel, lodging and potentially childcare and lost wages. The fund would be geared toward travel costs.

Both Bibb and Griffin affirmed their support for abortion as healthcare and access to abortion as a human right.

“We must do everything in our power to defend a woman’s right to choose what happens with her own body - not allow government or activist judges that control,” said Griffin, in a press release.

Two additional policies relate to the human resources department.

The city affirmed, as Bibb did weeks ago, that Cleveland HR will continue to “explore the city’s options” for employee health

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Clevelanders came out in droves to oppose drastic new abortion restrictions.

insurance plans. They are still making efforts to determine if all city plans cover elective abortions out-of-state. Additionally, the city has committed to not sharing employee related to pregnancy status, including information that identifies a doctor or patient, except in the cases of medical emergency.

This non-disclosure commitment is to ensure that pregnancy-related information is not wielded against employees in the prosecution of abortion crimes.

Lastly, the city says that is drafting an amicus brief in the case currently before the Ohio Supreme Court that seeks to overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban.

“As we hear about more and more extreme measures being considered at the state level, my administration will continue to look at all possible options—executive, administrative, legislative, and from the bully pulpit,” said Mayor Bibb, in the release. “Reproductive rights are human rights, and I am committed to protecting those rights to the maximum extent that I can.” -Sam Allard

| clevescene.com | July 27-August 9, 2022

University Circle Starbucks is 4th in Cleveland, 200 th in Nation to Unionize The University Circle Starbucks on Euclid Avenue is the fourth location of the popular coffee shop to unionize in Northeast Ohio.

The National Labor Relations Board tallied the votes late last week and announced that workers there voted 11-9 to form a union. The University Circle store follows in the footsteps of counterparts at W. 6th Street downtown, Mayfield & Lee in Cleveland Heights, and Clifton Boulevard, near the Cleveland/ Lakewood border.

The location is now the seventh Starbucks store in the state of Ohio to unionize. And Starbucks Workers United, the union representing stores across the country, noted that no store that has filed for a union election in the state has lost.

But the University Circle election was more contentious than the previous three in Cleveland, where unions were voted on unanimously.

In University Circle, a string of recent terminations and threats, alongside slashed hours for

Photo by Madeline Fening

employees known to be supporting the union and constant anti-union messaging from management, jeopardized the result for the union’s supporters.

“They pulled out everything to try to union-bust us, and we still won,” said Ken Walker, a former shift supervisor who was fired in recent weeks. “I was written up for things that I didn’t do, and they fired me two or three days after we filed charges against the company with the NLRB. This victory shows that Starbucks’ retaliation won’t work. Workers are stronger than Starbucks’ union-busting tactics.”

In recent weeks, workers and their organized labor allies have been demonstrating at locations across town to protest union-busting.

Rallies at the W. 6th location and at the University Circle location precipitated the latest NLRB votes.

The University Circle vote is also a significant milestone for Starbucks organizing efforts nationally. It is the 200th store to form a union since December 2021, when a Starbucks location in Buffalo, New York became the first to do so, launching a national wave that has not yet

UPFRONT crested. -Sam Allard

A Report on Fare Evasion from the Cleveland Documenters People who don’t pay public transit fares in Cleveland can get a criminal record, spend up to 30 days in jail, and owe up to $250 in fines. More than a dozen community members have publicly addressed Cleveland City Council in 2022 about that reality, sharing this message: No one should face that kind of punishment for not paying transit fares.

Despite that advocacy, and the council introducing legislation to create an option for lesser penalties, the consequences will likely remain the same—a possibility of incarceration and a maximum allowable fine 100 times greater than a one-trip ticket for adults – because the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) follows state, not city, law.

The number of riders cited for the nonpayment of transit fare, known as fare evasion, is low relative to total ridership. GCRTA Transit Police cited riders for fare evasion 79 times total in 2020 and 2021, according to Robert Fleig, GCRTA Public Information Officer. Ridership was 15.9 million in 2021, equating to about one fare-evasion citation for every 883,000 riders, he said.

Cleveland Municipal Court records show that the riders charged in the city between 2019-2021 were mostly Black—about 83 percent.

“The decriminalization of transit fare evasion is a social justice issue.

It is a class and poverty issue. It is in some ways a racial justice issue, which [the city] just declared to be a public health crisis,” said Clevelander Mark Schumann at a January meeting.

Public commenters, mostly speaking on behalf of advocacy group Clevelanders for Public Transit (CPT), demanded that City Council: Decriminalize fare evasion (so people aren’t charged with a crime).

Eliminate or reduce possible financial penalties.

Remove the possibility of jail time for fare evasion.

Several council members, with support from Mayor Justin Bibb, introduced legislation in April that would amend existing city law to lower the potential financial penalty for fare evasion to $25. It would also remove the possibility of jail time. But, as public commenters pointed out,

the proposed law would still classify fare evasion as a fourth-degree misdemeanor, carrying the potential of a criminal conviction and the costs and consequences that come with it.

“Just as no person would ever expect to go to jail over a parking ticket, no person should ever go to jail over a bus pass that costs $2.50,” Natalie Ziegler, CPT vice chair, said in April. Ziegler commended the council for its proposal but said it needed to go further. “The proposed legislation must protect against the collateral consequences of a criminal conviction.”

Ziegler, noting that existing state law still carries stiffer punishment for fare evasion, also said the city must ensure RTA cites only the city law.

Ward 3 Council Member Kerry McCormack, a lead sponsor of the city’s pending legislation, told Cleveland Documenters that because RTA chooses to cite the state code, the council’s amendment would be “largely symbolic.”

Regardless, CPT would like to see the legislation passed.

Alex Rubin, a volunteer with CPT and a member of the coordinating committee, said the legislation, warts and all, would be a departure from the status quo. And, Rubin hopes the city would use its leverage—namely that the mayor appoints the most board of trustees members (4 of 10)— to influence GCRTA’s policy choice.

“It’s up to the mayor and City Council to sort of determine how important this issue is to them and how much leverage they want to expend,” Rubin said.

How can people cited avoid criminal charges?

Adults who pay a $25 administrative fee to GCRTA within 72 hours of being cited for fare evasion will not have a criminal citation filed.

Otherwise, GCRTA will refer the citation to court for criminal prosecution. Adults can pay those fees here and in person at GCRTA’s Customer Service Center in Tower City. GCRTA issues riders under 18 a written warning for the first incident. The second citation, and any after that, require them to pay $25 within 30 days, or else GCRTA sends the citation to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s office. People under 18 can pay fees here and at Tower City.

No adult paid the fee to avoid criminal processing in 2020; one did in 2021. The Transit Police did not cite anyone under 18 during those years, according to Fleig.

In an interview with Cleveland Documenters, neither Michael Gettings, Deputy Chief of Police, nor Floun’say Caver, Chief Operating

Officer, could answer why so few people pay the fees.

What’s the reason for the dropoff in citations from 2021 and 2020?

GCRTA gave no explanation for the dropoff. It isn’t something Transit Police would spend time analyzing, said Gettings, who added that fare evasion accounts for a small fraction of the department’s calls.

What fare evasion law does GCRTA cite, and why?

The GCRTA Transit Police enforce fare evasion under Ohio code 2917.41(A) in all 59 municipalities in Cuyahoga County, instead of using city codes, for consistency, according to Fleig.

GCRTA — to the best of its knowledge — has never cited the city law.

How do the existing state and city laws compare?

The state law, as currently written and enforced, has been in effect since 2003. City Council enacted the relevant section of the city code in 2009. City Council amended the code in 2013 by adding more behaviors to legally be considered misconduct on public transit and making a first violation of fare evasion a fourthdegree misdemeanor. Until then, the city code said a first violation was a minor misdemeanor, which carried no possibility of incarceration and a maximum $150 fine.

The state law specifies that 75 percent of each fine paid for violating the law goes to the treasury of the county where the incident happened.

The rest goes to the body operating the transit system — in this case, GCRTA. The city code does not specify where fines must go.

That provision doesn’t influence GCRTA’s decision to cite the state code, Fleig said.

What’s the status of the pending legislation?

McCormack delayed discussion of the city’s pending amendment at a June 1 Transportation and Mobility Committee meeting. McCormack, who chairs the committee, said in the meeting that the city’s attorneys were looking at the matter, and given the robust public input, he was putting the legislation on hold for the moment, as noted by Documenter Christina Easter.

Some public commenters asked the council to enter a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with GCRTA requiring the transit authority to

scene@clevescene.com @clevelandscene

cite only the city code, if amended, not the state code. Would GCRTA consider that?

Gettings and Caver dismissed the idea of adopting city-specific policies regarding fare evasion in any of the municipalities GCRTA operates in.

GCRTA gets its authority from the state, not any one city, they said, adding that GCRTA has to remain regional with its policy.

“Our authority extends wherever service extends,” Gettings said.

-Doug Breehl-Pitorak, Cleveland Documenters ‹

DIGIT WIDGET 4 Cleveland Clinic’s ranking in the annual U.S. News and World Report Best Hospitals list. For years, the Clinic was the nation’s second-best hospital, behind Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic. This year, it dips below Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A. and NYU Langone Hospitals in New York as well.

10, 13 Ages of Cleveland sisters who were raped and impregnated by their mother’s boyfriend in 2021.

Last year, only one was able to obtain an abortion in Ohio. (The 13-year-old was beyond the 22week threshold.) With a six-week ban now in effect, neither would be able to receive reproductive healthcare in the state.

84 Age of Cleveland’s “Rebel Priest” Fr. Bob Begin, who died this week. Begin was the longtime pastor at St. Colman’s parish in Detroit-Shoreway, and was known for his activism against the Vietnam War and his advocacy for the poor.

1:15:00 Typical length of commute for Northeast Ohio worker traveling by public transit to jobs that would take a typical car commuter only 20 minutes.

July 27-August 9, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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THE MONIQUE MACHINE Monique Smith was the only candidate to flip an Ohio statehouse district red to blue in 2020. Now, she’s got a more complicated battle — against a Democrat.

By Sam Allard STATE REP. MONIQUE SMITH moved to Northeast Ohio 20 years ago, the week before she and her husband, a North Olmsted native, got hitched. And like other young couples of a social and liberal bent, they gravitated toward Lakewood, the bar-hoppable first-ring suburb on Cleveland’s west side. Not only did they live there happily for 15 years, Smith cut her political teeth as a Lakewood councilwoman from 2010-2014.

But when Smith first ran for Ohio State Rep. in 2020, her Democratic primary opponent, Joe Romano, tried to turn voters in the western suburbs against her for having lived there.

On the campaign trail, Smith told Scene recently, she’d be in rooms talking to voters in Fairview Park or Rocky River, and Romano would cast her as “this crazy former Lakewood lady.”

“I’d just tell voters, ‘Yes I lived in Lakewood, but how many of you here have ever lived there?’ And everyone would raise their hand!”

Smith said. “Old people, young people, married people, single people, divorced people – it’s actually a big divorce depot. The joke is that everyone spends a year in Lakewood, right, that it’s the gateway to the western suburbs. [Romano] thought this was a shortcoming for me, but it was actually an asset. He was stuck standing there, and I was like, ‘If you know, you know.’”

Smith is, at this moment, emerging from her Black Chevy Bolt in the parking lot of Bay Middle School, announcing herself with a self-deprecating smile as a “menace to society” and promptly firing up the MiniVAN mobile canvassing app. It’s an early evening in midJuly, and Ohio’s believe-it-or-not second primary election is less than three weeks away. For the next hour, Smith will be door-knocking

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State Rep. Monique Smith.

prime turf here in Bay Village, the northernmost suburb in the new House District 16, where she’s running to retain the seat she won in 2020.

Face-to-face contact with constituents is Campaigning 101, but it’s critical during the home stretch of this particular primary, as even the most enlightened Northeast Ohio voters tend not to have a clue what’s going on. They are aware of the downstate Republican scourge in an abstract way, sure. They shake their heads at the “redistricting scandal” and the unjust and

| clevescene.com | July 27-August 9, 2022

Ohio Statehouse

increasingly depraved society that gerrymandering has wrought. But after the fourth or fifth or millionth map was declared unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court this year, with not a whisper of meaningful consequences for the villains drawing them up, the whole saga got a little heady. People stopped paying attention to details.

And who can blame them?

It was once memorably written that those wielding political power are keenly aware of the boredom and cynicism and disgust of the electorate, and they understand

well that it is in their interest to keep voters bored and cynical and disgusted to depress turnout on election day. That’s of course true in Ohio, where confusion and dismay over redistricting, to say nothing of the six-week abortion ban, have been the most recent on-ramps to said disgust. But statehouse Republicans have taken it one step further. The naked aim of gerrymandering is not to depress turnout — that’s just a convenient side effect — but to eliminate the power of voting altogether.

Except don’t tell that to Monique Smith. After defeating Romano in the 2020 primary, Smith shocked incumbent Republican Dave Greenspan, defeating him by a razorthin 51-49 margin and becoming the only candidate to flip an Ohio statehouse district red to blue.

Not that the Cuyahoga County or Ohio Democratic Party cared to inquire into her campaign strategy, but Smith was backed by a volunteer army of roughly 250 west-side suburban women, many of them mothers and grandmothers, who’d been mobilized in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency and who channeled their rage into local political action. By themselves, this team of volunteers crafted messaging, designed and distributed signs, wrote postcards, knocked on doors, phone banked and litdropped their way to Smith’s victory.

Multiple women who volunteered for Smith told Scene that the energy around the campaign was infectious, precipitating other Democratic victories in the western suburbs, including in heated school board races where rightwing Critical Race Theory candidates looked to be gaining footholds. In Smith, women who for years had felt alienated or ignored by political leaders in Ohio suddenly had a candidate about whom they were passionate, and in

whom they saw a sister and friend.

That is to say, they saw themselves.

“She was just one of us,” activist and supporter Susan Polakoff Shaw told Scene, about Smith’s 2020 victory. “She was a mom who lived in the suburbs and was pissed off about the same things we were pissed off about.”

Smith seemed poised for a long political career, cocooned by an engaged and devoted constituency.

But this year, she was drawn out of her district, a casualty of Republican mapmakers. After her tour of duty in Lakewood, Smith moved with her husband and children to Fairview Park, but her address didn’t fall within the new House District 16, which includes (from north to south) Bay Village, Westlake, North Olmsted, Olmsted Falls and Berea, and among them just under 70% of the voters who elected Smith in 2020.

She is not officially the incumbent in HD16, but she nevertheless has no qualms about calling the district hers.

Smith’s supporters believe she was intentionally targeted by vengeful Republicans. And looking at the new map, it’s easy to see why.

House District 17, adjacent to HD16, begins on the shores of Lake Erie in Rocky River, extends down through Fairview Park and Cleveland’s southwestern tip, widens at Hopkins, and dives south along I-71 through Brook Park, Middleburg Heights and the MAGA stronghold of Strongsville.

Like other newly imagined districts, HD17 is less coherent as a political entity than it is as a Republican maneuver, designed to complicate, if not foreclose outright, pathways to victory for Northeast Ohio Democrats. It includes about 32% of Smith’s former district and 38% of the current House District 14, repped by Bride Rose Sweeney. If either were to run in HD17, they’d be forced to face Strongsville Republican Tom Patton in the general election, a tall and unpleasant order.

Bride Sweeney’s registered address, incidentally, is the home of her father, the conniving former Cleveland City Council President and current Cuyahoga County Councilman Marty, who, some may remember, resigned from his statehouse seat in 2018 to make way for Bride. That address, in Cleveland’s Jefferson neighborhood, has been drawn into the new HD13, the Lakewood-centric district repped by popular Democrat Mike Skindell. In the uncertain early months of 2022, Sweeney filed to run not in HD16 or in HD13 but

The newly drawn 16th district.

in HD14, the new Parma district that includes Cleveland’s BellairePuritas neighborhood, just south of Sweeney’s registered home. She later changed her mind and filed for a residency change with plans to run in HD16, where none of her current constituents live.

Smith and Sweeney are now vying for the same seat in the August 2nd Democratic primary. It’s a dream scenario for Republicans, who are guaranteed to rid themselves of either a popular grassroots candidate or the ambitious daughter of a major Northeast Ohio political family.

“They’re doing their Dr. Evil laugh,” Susan Polakoff Shaw said of the Republicans.

Throughout the tumultuous process, the Ohio Democratic Party (ODP) and the House Democratic Caucus have cast their lot with Sweeney and seemed content to throw Smith and her volunteers to the wolves of Strongsville. Both Smith and Sweeney have family connections in the new HD16 and have declared residency at the homes of their in-laws in North Olmsted and grandparents in Westlake, respectively.

But Smith — this is what she and her supporters have repeatedly tried to convey — has voters. She is a State Representative, right? Shouldn’t the idea of representation matter to the party? Hello?

Smith filed to run in HD16 on Feb. 1 and had always made it clear that she would run wherever her constituents were. “I’ll go where they go,” she said at a March press conference. The only hiccup, which party leaders pounced upon, was that she was late filing paperwork

Ohio Secretary of State

to change her residency. Smith told Scene (and party leadership) that this was due to the constantly changing district maps. With school-aged children, she didn’t want to file to move to a new address that would require her to move again, or to go through the hassle when a later map might have rendered an initial move unnecessary.

In any case, Smith was alarmed when Sweeney filed to run against her in HD16 in early March. In an email and series of texts on March 17, Smith contacted House Minority Leader Allison Russo to register her displeasure and to set up a meeting to discuss an “incumbent protection plan.”

Russo responded that Sweeney’s filing in HD16 was part of an “important legal strategy.”

“I know it seemed messy,” Russo wrote, “but I can assure you that this leadership team’s intention is to bring every single one of our incumbent[s] back.” She acknowledged that this effort would require “some discomfort at times.”

Smith responded that she wished Sweeney had selected another Rep to run against in whatever legal strategy they were pursuing. Why not run in the district where her registered address was? Why not run in HD14, where there was no other incumbent and where a number of her own constituents remained? Indeed, why not run in HD17, where activists had recruited Troy Greenfield, President of the Fairview Park Democratic Club, to run on the Democratic side as a potential “placeholder” candidate?

“West Shore area women activists are infuriated,” Smith wrote to

Russo in a lengthy text, “and felt specifically targeted as the women who did the heavy lift of flipping the only district in the state in 2020.

I am happy to tell them we should all move on, but this can’t happen again. It is explosive and bad for [the Cuyahoga County Democratic] party. These are the newest, most idealistic activists our party has seen in years and we need them. We can’t discourage them and turn them off with internal party food fights.”

Russo responded that Republicans were clearly targeting both Smith and Sweeney, “so keeping them guessing as to where you will be running is the smarter approach.”

Near the end of April, the House Democratic Caucus sent an email update that indicated Smith would be running in HD17, not HD16.

Smith and her campaign manager, Misty Elek, immediately moved to correct the error and met with party leadership the following week. They reaffirmed Smith’s intent to run in 16, where she had been filed all along. Allison Russo said that this would not be possible, that Smith’s “window to move” had closed and that she would be forced to run where she lived, in HD17.

Through the month of May, then, Smith’s team “reluctantly” considered the possibility of running in HD17, though they were far behind the curve, campaign-wise.

Smith’s heart was not in the race, and she ultimately told Russo that she was considering backing out entirely. But after a directive from Secretary of State Frank LaRose on May 28, which extended the deadline for residency changes due to the mapmaking chaos, Smith met with a private attorney and was advised that her easiest and most straightforward path was simply completing her residency paperwork and running in HD16. Running in HD17 would have required an amended petition and legal challenge.

That’s when the gaslighting began.

Members of Smith’s team told Scene that through June, state party leadership deployed a pressure campaign urging local Democratic party leaders to get Smith to back out of the race. In an email to ward leaders in HD16 and HD17, Allison Russo portrayed Smith as going back on her word and painted Bride Sweeney as a conscientious candidate who’d moved to HD16 to avoid a primary with Mike Skindell.

“It is my urgent request that you strongly encourage Rep. Monique Smith to continue the plans she communicated to the Ohio

July 27-August 9, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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Why on earth was this beloved grassroots candidate being cast as the villain for running against Sweeney, who had never represented a soul in HD16, and not the other way around?

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| clevescene.com | July 27-August 9, 2022

House Democratic Caucus to run for HD-17, not HD-16. With Rep. Smith remaining at her home in Fairview Park, we stand an excellent chance at having Democrats win both seats this November. Should Rep. Smith run for HD-16, HD-17 will be essentially abandoned in November’s election. Additionally, HD-16 will become an unnecessary and contentious Democratic Primary that will have no positive outcome for our party or Cuyahoga County constituents who will be left with fewer Democratic voices at the Statehouse.

“If Rep. Smith does not run in HD-17, we will certainly lose one Democratic House seat in Cuyahoga County to Republicans this fall and one additional Democratic incumbent in the Ohio House. Rep. Smith committed to run in HD-17 in multiple communications and direct conversations with our Caucus, and we committed to fully supporting her in this effort.”

To say nothing of the disrespect this correspondence showed for Democratic candidate Troy Greenfield in HD17 (for whom a number of suburban Dem clubs and grassroots groups plan to bust ass in the general), the email inaccurately portrayed Smith’s intentions, her team told Scene. Smith had only agreed to run in HD-17 briefly, and then only after being instructed by Russo herself that there would be no legal way for her to run where she wanted to.

Formal correspondence was only one element of the pressure campaign, members of Smith’s team said. Elected leaders across Cuyahoga County implored Smith to back out, asking her if she might like to run for Cuyahoga County Council instead — Smith declined — and even hinted that her endorsements and political future could be in jeopardy if she failed to play ball.

Smith’s activist network, meanwhile, was incredulous at the way the race was being framed.

How on earth could Monique Smith, whose charisma mobilized an army of suburban women into action and led to dramatic results at the ballot box, not least the booting of an incumbent Republican, now be branded as a spoiler in the very district she worked so hard to win over? Why on earth was this beloved grassroots candidate being cast as the villain for running against Sweeney, who had never represented a soul in HD16, and not the other way around? For that matter, Sweeney had more constituents in HD-17 than Smith did. Why wasn’t

she being urged to run there?

As state party leadership and Sweeney’s campaign operatives applied pressure, Smith’s campaign manager Misty Elek sent an email to Russo, reminding her of the 2020 victory and the importance of the grassroots coalition that had been cultivated in Cleveland’s Western suburbs.

“Our passion for change is centered around the fact that activists can change things locally,” Elek wrote. “We focus on backyard issues… We saw the fruits of our labor when we elected Monique Smith, who is a true representative of this district. I’d like to counter your statement that, ‘no district belongs to any of us — they belong to Ohio voters.’ Rep. Smith belongs to Ohio House District 16. We fought to get her, and we’ll fight to keep her.”

Elek also noted the tactical wisdom of Smith running in HD-16.

Smith’s connections and grassroots network, she argued, made her a stronger candidate in a general election.

“Since Sweeney moved to Westlake, what sort of outreach has she done to build a coalition of support in Bay Village, Westlake, and North Olmsted?” Elek asked.

“HD-16 is not a sure thing for any Democrat. Frankly, Rep. Sweeney’s move to Westlake because of redistricting would be seen as a negative in this district and not a positive. The Republican candidate would surely use this to his advantage. Because, again, it’s about representation — not just politics.

Rep. Sweeney could very well lose in HD-16 altogether as I’m not convinced that she would amass the same sort of volunteer support as Rep. Smith. We won HD-16 because of our ground game that was executed by community members — again, mostly moms — who wanted true representation.”

Smith is still door-knocking, by the way.

In terms of heat out here in Bay Village, the best comparison might be the surface of the sun.

Getting barbecued during the summer campaign season comes with the territory, but Smith isn’t complaining, especially now that she’s canvassing leafy Oakland Road, hitting addresses that her app has identified as likely Democratic primary voters. As far as vibes go, Smith is every bit the suburban mom: jeans, Taos sneakers, breezy summer top, tote bag over the shoulder, iPhone accessorized with finger grip. She is a woman who seems fully actualized in her 40s, and like other moms, presents as

Bride Sweeney.

OHIO STATEHOUSE

perpetually ready for action.

“Look,” she says suddenly, pointing and waving at two pigtailed girls riding their bikes. “Oh my God, that is the most Bay thing in the world. I love it.”

Smith is content to talk strategy, lamenting the wacky time frame and geographies that the redistricting process have produced. But she’s careful not to speak too harshly of Bride Sweeney. She even commends the velocity with which her opponent has knocked on the district’s doors.

“It feels like every address I hit, she’s already been there,” Smith says.

(Even Smith’s supporters, who in informal conversations have accused Sweeney of “district shopping,” also recognize that the Republican mapmakers should bear the lion’s share of the blame.)

“I hear from a number of women who think it’s such a shame that there are two Democratic women in this race,” Smith says. “Older women in particular. They are just speechless and heartbroken.”

For Smith and her team, more dispiriting than Sweeney’s political machinations is the fact that Democratic party leadership locally and statewide still don’t seem to recognize the power of grassroots organizing. Leaders can’t hope to grow the party or to win on popular policy reforms if they continue to treat districts like puzzle pieces instead of human constituencies, if they fail to recognize that Smith’s 2020 campaign, and its ripple effects, are exactly what they should be trying to emulate.

But no one was interested in the ingredients to Smith’s secret sauce, she said, which she later summed up for Scene as “relational organizing, basically working through every PTA mom we’ve ever been friends with.”

In fact, the only person that contacted the Smith team after the 2020 victory was Ryan Puente, then the campaign manager for Cleveland

mayoral candidate Justin Bibb.

Puente not only gleaned valuable organizing insight, he also acquired key personnel. He hired Zoe Toscos, who had worked in a fundraising capacity for Smith and who became Bibb’s West Side Field Director.

(Toscos now serves on Chris Ronayne’s campaign team).

But for Smith and her most active supporters, being primaried by a candidate with statewide party support in a district that they worked so hard to conquer just two years ago is a slap in the face. To some, it represents a version of a narrative that has repeated itself in Cuyahoga County over the past several years: grassroots candidates who harness the power of committed volunteers are pitted against “machine” candidates who harness the power of party resources. From Monique Smith in 2020 to Justin Bibb and Rebecca Maurer in 2021 to Cuyahoga County Chair Dave Brock in 2022, the scale appears to be tipping toward grassroots candidates.

But forecasters are predicting historically low voter turnout on Aug. 2, and Sweeney, a gifted politician herself and the ranking member of the House Finance committee, has earned the endorsement of the Plain Dealer — the editorial board backed Sweeney for her “knowledge, Statehouse influence and grasp of legislative nuance” — and has marshaled party connections in North Olmsted and Olmsted Falls. Both are out here pounding pavement.

In fact, Sweeney is literally on Oakland Road, door-knocking herself. As Smith walks up a driveway where women are chatting on the porch, she stops and quickly pivots back to the sidewalk. “It’s Bride,” she mouths, and redirects down a cross street to spare them both an awkward encounter.

When asked what edge she thought she had on Sweeney, given that they were both white Democratic women appealing to largely the same voters, Smith mentioned her “army” of volunteers, her connection to moms, and what she saw as her advantage in a general election based on her history in the area. She paused and looked almost dotingly at a nearby church where she said she recently attended an Eagle Scout ceremony.

“I just feel like this is my corner of the world,” she said. “These are my people.”

sallard@clevescene.com t@scenesallard

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GET OUT Everything you should do in Cleveland this week WED 07/27 Music on the Malls This free weekly summer music series on Mall C will feature live music, outdoor seating and food trucks each week. Mall C offers a park-like setting and views of Lake Erie. The event takes place from 5 to 7:30 p.m. On select dates, the Cleveland Division of Police Mindfulness Group will present a free yoga class at 4:30 p.m. The event continues through Aug. 31. downtowncleveland.com.

THU 07/28 Igudesman and Joo: Play It Again Violinist Aleksey Igudesman and pianist Hyung-Ki Joo bring their Play It Again show to the Hanna Theatre tonight at 7:30. The duo combine music, pop culture and “pure zaniness” in the program that features a bit of everything, including martial arts, step dancing and Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks. Check the Playhouse Square website for more info.

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

FRI

07/29

Bill Bellamy If comic Bill Bellamy did nothing more than coin the phrase “booty call,” he’d go down in comic history.

But the guy has been a staple on the standup circuit for nearly 30 years now. His star power hasn’t diminished over that time, either. His material tends to stick to tried-and-true topics like the differences between men and women when it comes to romantic love and surviving the trials and tribulations of getting through security at the airport. Still, this guy is a pro storyteller who knows how to work the room. He performs tonight at 7:30 and 10 at the Improv, where he has shows scheduled through Sunday.

Check the Improv website for ticket prices and more info.

1148 Main Ave., 216-696-IMPROV, clevelandimprov.com.

SAT

07/30

Scene’s Ale Fest Scene’s Ale Fest returns for its 12th

12

The Cuyahoga County Fair returns. See: Tuesday, Aug. 9.

year. The event, which takes place from noon to 5 p.m. at Lincoln Park in Tremont, will feature more than 100 beers from around the corner to around the globe, including crowd favorite porters, stouts, wheats, pilsners, ciders, lagers and many more styles. There will be live music, games and food as well. VIP tickets are available in addition to general admission. Find more info on the website. scenealefestival.com.

SUN 07/31 NEO Comic Con This annual event has just expanded to cover 26,000 square feet this year. It’ll feature cosplay, comics,

| clevescene.com | July 27-August 9, 2022

action figures and gaming. Proceeds support Make-A-Wish. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the event will be held in North Olmsted at the Sportsplex. One hundred dealer and artist’s tables will have more than one million comic books on hand, and there will be adequate spacing for safety reasons.

31515 Lorain Rd., N. Olmsted, neocomiccon.com.

MON 08/01 Guardians vs. Arizona Diamondbacks The Guardians return from a lengthy 10-game road trip to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks in a three-game interleague series that begins tonight at 7:10 at Progressive

Courtesy of the Cuyahoga County Fair

Field. The Diamondbacks sit at or near the bottom of the NL West, so the Tribe should be able to take this series. Check the club’s website for more info.

2401 Ontario St., 216-420-4487, mlb. com/guardians.

TUE

08/02

Lyrical Rhythms Open Mic and Chill This long-running open mic night at the B Side allows some of the city’s best rappers and poets to strut their stuff. The event begins at 8 with a comedy session dubbed 2 Drinks & a Joke with host Ant Morrow. The open mic performances begin at 10 p.m. Tickets cost $5 in advance, $10 at the door.

2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-932-1966, bsideliquorlounge.com.

WED 08/03 Video Game Night The first Wednesday of the month, Platform Beer Co. hosts Video Game Night at its Lorain Ave. Pub. The brewery will have five tables hooked up with old consoles (Nintendo, SNES, Game Cube, Genesis, and a Playstation) as well as Quiplash set up on the TV to play. If you don’t want to play, you can just join the audience and vote for your favorite responses. Admission is free, and the event takes place from 7 to 10 p.m. first Wednesday of every month.

Continues through Dec. 7.

4125 Lorain Ave., 216-202-1386, facebook.com/platformbeers.

THU 08/04 Grateful Thursday At this monthly DJ event, Proof promises to take you back to the origins of file sharing. From 7 to 10 p.m., a DJ will play Live Grateful Dead performances captured on original bootleg cassette tapes.

Drink specials will include $1 Miller Lite drafts, $3 Sierra Nevada drafts and a $7 Ramblin’ Rose cocktail.

Food specials will include $3 Cuban Steam Buns and $5 Half Mile High Nachos. first Thursday of every month.

2258 Professor Avenue, 216-583-0551, proofcleveland.com.

FRI

08/05

GlamGore GlamGore is Cleveland’s newest 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 well-rounded 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. first Friday of every month.

2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-321-5588, grogshop.gs.

SAT 08/06 Matt Fulchiron Best known by his nickname “The Full Charge” because of the way he “rocks microphones,” standup comic Matt Fulchiron is a scruffy-looking guy who like to deliver one liners such as “I drove here tonight in a meat wagon because this next joke is going to fuckin’ slaughter.” He’s better when he tells anecdotes about going on dates and makes fun of his married friends who need to party when their wives are out of town.

Fulchiron has a casual delivery style that makes him easy to listen to.

He performs tonight and tomorrow night at 7 at Hilarities.

2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com.

Tinsley Ellis

The High Kings

The Abrams

Sat. July 30

Wed. Aug. 3

Thurs. Aug. 4

SUN 08/07 Reggae Sundays This special Reggae Sunday Happy Hour Concert series is a summertime tradition at the Music Box Supper Club The indoor/outdoor concert series will take place rain or shine with live music from 4 to 7 p.m.

Music Box will also offer food and drink specials exclusive to the series.

Continues through Sept. 4.

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

MON 08/08 WWE Monday Night RAW The popular wrestling event returns to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse tonight at 7:30. Self-proclaimed superstars such as the Miz, Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, Seth “Freakin’” Rollins, Asuka and Bobby Lashley will be on hand for the event. Check the venue’s website for more info.

One Center Court, 216-420-2000, rocketmortgagefieldhouse.com.

TUE

08/09

Cuyahoga County Fair The Cuyahoga County Fair is back at the County Fairgrounds in Berea. It features Arts & Crafts and Home & Hobby exhibits in addition to livestock auctions and 4H and Junior Fair Members showcases. There will be fair food and midway rides, and a fireworks show takes place on Aug. 11 and Aug. 13. Find more info on the website.

19201 East Bagley Rd., Middleburg Heights, 440- 243-0090, cuyfair.com.

Steep Canyon Rangers Sat. Aug. 13

Al Stewart

GREATEST HITS TOUR

with Empty Pockets

Wed. Aug. 17

The Wallflowers

with Marc Lee Shannon

Sat. Aug. 21

ALSO COMING IN 2022

Saturday, Aug. 27 Thursday, Sept. 1 Saturday, Sept. 3 Thursday, Sept. 8

| | | |

Friday, Sept. 9 | NEW! Saturday Sept. 10 | Wednesday, Sept. 21 Friday, Sept. 23 NEW! Sunday Sept. 25 NEW! Saturday Oct. 8 Friday & Saturday Oct. 21 & 22

| | | | |

Sunday, Oct. 23 Thursday, Oct. 27 NEW! Wednesday Nov. 2 Thursday, Nov. 3 NEW! Friday Nov. 4 NEW! Saturday Nov. 5

| | | | | |

BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet An Evening with Al Di Meola Hayes Carll Duane Betts feat. Johnny Stachela & Berry Duane Oakley "Dog Daze Acoustic Tour" The Fixx with Jill Sobule Jimmy Carter of Blind Boys of Alabama Watkins Family Hour Steve Kimock & Friends Jim Messina Blues Traveler 35th Anniv. Show!

Jonah Koslen/Tommy Dobeck/ Daniel Pecchio Songs & stories from the first three MSB albums Martin Sexton Jon McLaughlin with Kris Allen Sophie B. Hawkins Tab Benoit Tim O’Brien-Jan Fribicius-Chris Smither John McCutcheon’s Pete Seeger 100th B-Day Celebration

AT THE GOODYEAR THEATER

Get tix at goodyeartheater.com or ticketmaster.com

Foghat

with special guest PAT TRAVERS Thurs., Aug. 11

Don McLean

American Pie 50th Anniversary Tour Fri., Sept. 2

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene July 27-August 9, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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EAT “YOU CAN’T JUST GIVE UP”

As historic Cleveland restaurants continue to shutter, Marie’s is still dishing up quality comfort food four decades in WHEN BALATON HUNGARIAN restaurant announced this past January that it was closing after 60 years, I reluctantly shared the news with my father. For decades, he owned an auto parts store on Buckeye Road, a short mile west of the restaurant’s original location.

He and a friend met there for lunch every single Friday until the early `80s, when the restaurant relocated to Shaker Square. When I revisited Balaton for this paper back in 2018, I did so with my father sitting across the table. You never know when you’re enjoying something for the last time, and for my father, that was the case that day.

By now we’re sadly familiar with the sudden anger, grief and regret that comes from losing one of our beloved local restaurants. And while the first two emotions are predictable, it’s the regret that stings. If only I had dined there a little more frequently, we say to ourselves, would that have made a difference? Yet, even after two and a half years of this slow-motion trainwreck, we still take so many of our community treasures for granted until it’s too late. Which leads to the next unavoidable emotion: guilt.

Take Marie’s Restaurant, which has been quietly chugging along since 1982. Will you be sad if it closed its doors tomorrow? Have you dined there recently? Have you ever eaten there? I, for one, had not, so I rounded up some friends and made a night of it. We ate until we were stuffed, drank until we were rowdy, and tipped excessively. But will that be enough to tip the scales in favor of continued survival?

“We’re trying,” says owner Tanya Sabljic. “It’s not easy, that’s for sure.

But knock on wood, we’re still here.

And we’re going to keep trying and going until we can’t.”

I will never have the opportunity to interview Mila “Marie” Sabljic, the matriarch who opened the restaurant on St. Clair, back when that area was home to one of the largest Croatian and Slovenian communities in the U.S. Sabljic passed away last year, but Tanya and her sister-in-law Anna and the rest of the family have no

Photo by Doug Trattner

By Douglas Trattner

intention of packing up.

“We’ve been doing it for all these years,” Tanya says. “You can’t just give up.”

Little at Marie’s has changed since the start. Guests can still count on a warm welcome, gracious service and huge portions of family-style Eastern European food. The menu is loaded with comfort food staples like

casing-free sausages made from beef, pork and veal. The boldly flavored sausages are served with raw white onion to cut through the richness. Entrees like the luscious beef goulash ($16) and the earthy but sweet liver and onions ($14.75) come with a choice of noodles or dumplings. Only a fool chooses the packaged noodles over the pudgy

MARIE’S RESTAURANT 4502 ST. CLAIR AVE., CLEVELAND 216-361-1816, MARIESRESTAURANT.NET

beef goulash, chicken paprikash, stuffed cabbage, liver and onions, and wiener schnitzel. Those items are joined by a few curveballs like chicken marsala and shrimp alfredo.

“It’s still the same menu,” says Tanya. “Even our daily specials are the same. I think we only added two things since we opened. I think that’s one of the things that people love about us; we don’t change. Even after mom passed away, we just try to do it like she did it.”

Every meal should include an order of the cevapi ($15.75), grilled,

homemade dumplings that arrive the size of gnocchi. Some dishes, like the stuffed cabbage, stuffed peppers and chicken paprikash, appear only on their assigned day of the week. Most meals come with a choice of simple side salad or bowl of chicken noodle soup and all the fresh bread and real butter you care to eat.

If you’ve never been before, like me, you’d be wise to order the combo platter ($23), an intimidating stack of meats that includes cevapi, breaded pork chop, wiener schnitzel and city chicken. For those who

didn’t grow up in Cleveland, city chicken is a Depression-era holdover of skewered, breaded and pan-fried pork. Yes, pork. Here, it is grilled – and excellent.

We knocked back bombers of Croatian doppelbock ($7) in a largely empty dining room, wondering if we just happened to catch the restaurant at a quiet time.

Like Balaton before it, Marie’s has watched as its once-loyal clientele has moved farther and farther east, if they’re even still with us.

“There were lots of Croatian people, Slovenian people, but everybody moved out,” adds Tanya.

“And we had so many people who used to work downtown and would come here for lunch, but they retired or switched jobs. They still come back occasionally.”

Here in Cleveland, one of our favorite pastimes is to wax nostalgic about dearly departed restaurants.

Let’s do a little more on the front end so we have fewer to mourn.

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner

July 27-August 9, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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Photo by Doug Trattner

EAT BITES

First look: Terrestrial Brewing’s new restaurant, now open in Battery Park

By Douglas Trattner AFTER A HANDFUL OF PRIVATE events, the restaurant at Terrestrial Brewing(7524 Father Frascati Dr., 216-465-9999) opened to the public on Friday, July 22. Owners Ralph Sgro and Ryan Bennett have been working on the project since last fall, when they announced that they were taking over the next-door space, which had been vacant since 2017.

The restaurant, which Sgro likes to describe as “40-percent fancier than the taproom,” is headed up by executive chef Michael Lovano, formerly of One Red Door in Hudson, Lola Bistro downtown, and Summer House in Lakewood, where he was chef de cuisine.

“We pivoted the way of more upscale gastropub,” the chef explains. “I want the menu to be fun food that people will enjoy, but not necessarily in one direction of cuisine — more of a culmination of things that I’ve learned and liked throughout my career.”

One such dish is the hanger steak with chimichurri.

“The hanger steak is kind of an homage to Lola, because John [Baier] my sous chef and I both worked at Lola and that kind of was one of the things it was known for and was something we wanted to do. “ Obviously, beer makes its presence felt throughout the menu, popping up in dishes like pretzel bites with beer cheese, beer-braised duck poutine, beer-battered walleye sandwich, and the stout pot du creme. Other items include vegan mushroom wings, wagyu corn dogs, gnocchi with mint pea pesto, smash burger, and a half chicken.

There are plenty of draft beers at the bar, but guests will find a more wine- and cocktail-focused beverage program than they would next door at the brewery.

The 80-seat restaurant will serve dinners only Wednesday through Sunday to start. Saturday and Sunday brunch will kick off in a week or so. Everything but the entrees will be available to those in the brewery on evenings that the

restaurant is open. Brunch will be served throughout the property.

Wyne Tasting Bar to Open Next Month in Former Sweet Moses Space in Gordon Square This past fall, Sweet Moses closed its doors in Gordon Square after 10 very sweet years. Taking its place in the coming weeks will be Wyne Tasting Bar, a wine bar and wine retail shop.

Owner Belinda Klein describes the venture as a “relaxed wine lounge” where wine novices and pros alike can sample a broad range of wines.

“I wanted to make the bar to make wine more accessible to more people,” Klein explains. “The wine industry has a very honored and beautiful background. Having said that, I just want more people to enjoy wine and generally that involves the need to taste it, as opposed to having to look at a menu and make a selection on something you really have no idea what it is.”

The heart of the enterprise is the high-tech wine preservation and pouring system. On offer will be 32 different bottles of wine that span the varietal spectrum. The innovative self-pour system allows guests to dispense 1-ounce tastes, half or full glasses. All the wines in the machines will be available for sale by the bottle at retail. The selection likely will rotate monthly.

Self-pour does not mean self-serve, Klein stresses, as guests will receive

as much guidance, advice and attention as they would like.

There will be room for 45 in plush soft seating areas and at hardwood high-tops with velvet stools. To eat, there will be a light food menu offering snacks like cheese, charcuterie, hummus, flatbread and chocolates.

A subtle wine education theme will be represented through descriptive artwork and wine tasting events.

Klein is planning on a midto late-August opening. Follow the bar’s Instagram account (@ wynetastingbar) to keep track.

First Look: Choolaah, Opening Friday, July 29 in Ohio City First announced in 2019, Choolaah (1903 W. 25th St., 216-453-8444) now is days away from opening the doors to its beautiful new Ohio City restaurant. Located on W. 25th Street, just steps from the West Side Market, the fast-casual Indian eatery will open to the public on Friday, July 29.

Formerly home to Howard Hanna, the 3,000-square-foot space has been transformed into a colorful, artfilled space with indoor and outdoor dining. A wall of windows opens up to the sidewalk patio, while a rear patio offers a more private space to dine outdoors. Inside, there is room for 60.

“We were waiting, waiting, waiting for the right spot in Ohio City,” co-CEO Randhir Sethi

said of the space. “We think the neighborhood is such a great fit for us because of our vegan, vegetarian and restricted-diet menu options. So many of our main menu items are built for that; we are on the forward curve for those things.”

Choolaah launched its fast-casual Indian BBQ concept eight years ago in Orange Village (27100 Chagrin Blvd., 216-350-3136). Since then, the company has gone on to open shops in Pittsburgh, King of Prussia, Sterling, Virginia, and Boardman, Ohio. Ohio City is number seven for the fast-growing company.

All the food is made from scratch on site at each location, including the fresh-baked naan, which is prepared in tandoor ovens in the open kitchen.

The roster of wholesome, flavorful and approachable bowls, wraps and street snacks is highly customizable, allowing guests to shape their perfect dining experience.

“This is a fast-casual dining experience not only unique to our market, but to the entire category,” notes co-CEO Raji Sankar.

“Choolaah’s mission is to delight every guest, every time by delivering delicious food people love to eat, know is good for them, compulsively rave about, and can’t wait to come back for. And best of all, we never stop evolving.”

Next up for Choolaah is a location in Westlake, which currently is under construction.

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner

July 27-August 9, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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| clevescene.com | July 27-August 9, 2022

Incubus.

Photo: Delta PR

MUSIC

ALL ABOUT RESTRAINT

Incubus singer Brandon Boyd reflects on how the art-rock band learned to refine its sound

By Jeff Niesel IN 2019, INCUBUS RETURNED home from a tour in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the 1999 album Make Yourself. The momentum from that tour would’ve lead nicely to a UK tour, but the pandemic spoiled those plans.

“It was an unusual experience,” says singer Brandon Boyd via Zoom from his Southern California home, when asked about getting grounded. Incubus performs with Sublime with Rome on Tuesday, Aug. 9, at Blossom. “I have to say, though, in hindsight, as disappointing as it was to have an entire European tour just disappear, it felt like the least of our problems at that moment. The world got turned over on its head, and it felt like we should just stay home. This is really the weirdest thing that has been ever happened to our species in about 100 years.”

During the downtime, Boyd started to record covers of songs he liked, including a rendition of the Cat Stevens classic “Wild World.” Inspired, he then reached

out to producer and musician John Congleton, whom he’d never met in-person, and the two began collaborating on what would become Boyd’s solo album, Echoes & Cocoons.

“We sent music back and forth and did Facetime sessions,” Boyd says of working with Congleton. “In short order, we had a full album. I sat on it for a little while to make sure it came out properly. There was part of me that was concerned that putting an album out wasn’t a good idea. [Given the state of the pandemic,] it was impossible to notice anything. I thought it would just disappear. I waited, and even then, it’s still the internet. You’re competing with something you just can’t compete with.”

Boyd also had surgery on his septum and fixed a problem that had afflicted him for years.

“I kind of lucked out with my surgery,” he says. “I had a nice long window to recover. My nose was broken a couple of times when I was a kid. I learned how to sing with

INCUBUS, SUBLIME WITH ROME 7 P.M. TUESDAY, AUG. 9, BLOSSOM, 1145 W. STEELS CORNERS RD., CUYAHOGA FALLS, 216-231-1111.

TICKETS: $25+, LIVENATION.COM.

one functioning nostril. I think it was strangely advantageous. I don’t why, but it created a certain tone in my voice. As we get older, our noses and ears never stop growing, and that was creating deeper and deeper complications with breathing and singing. In the surgery, they basically beat up on the side of my face. [Incubus] was going to go back out in 2020. It would have been fine.

I would have adapted, but it ended up being a blessing in disguise because my face and nose got to recover.”

Earlier this year, to mark the 20th anniversary of 2001’s Morning View, the band performed the album in its entirety during a livestream that took place in the very room

where the band wrote and recorded the album.

“It was a beautiful experience to go back to this place that didn’t look that different at all,” says Boyd. “It was this big ostentatious house on a cliff in Malibu. It’s not a nice mansion. On the outside, it’s gigantic. But you go in, and it’s kind of falling into disrepair. For us, that was paradise. If it had been too pristine, we would have bruised it a little bit. You couldn’t hurt it.

It was fun and freeing for us to be there. What an amazing thing to go to the place where we wrote and recorded this record that deeply changed our lives.”

Boyd says the current tour will be “Morning View-heavy,” but he says the band won’t play the entire album.

“We don’t do it front-to-back,” he says. “We have too many places to visit sonically and creatively in the set as well. We need to visit all the other places where Incubus has been as well.”

Coming in the wake of Make Yourself, an album that had had some commercial success, Morning View found the band continuing to develop the proggy, art-rock side of its sound. While the band had been lumped in with nu-metal acts such as Korn and Deftones, Incubus had started to explore other textures.

Songs such as the riveting “Nice to Know You,” a tune that effectively lurches from quiet moments to loud ones, and the atmospheric “Wish You Were Here,” a song with subtle turntable scratches and shimmering guitars, suggest the musical shift.

“I think we started to learn about restraint,” says Boyd of the approach on Morning View. “We had the ability and capacity to play lots of notes and get as many sounds in as possible. Our first album, S.C.I.E.N.C.E., is representative of that. As we were graduating into bigger rooms, the songs from S.C.I.E.N.C.E. started to sound more disjointed as they echoed in rooms that were bigger. It started to creep into our general consciousness.

Space played a huge role in both the writing and recording of Morning View. Every time [drummer] Jose [Pasillas] would hit a snare, you could hear it off the ceiling in a different way. The bigger the room, the better the song sounds.”

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel

July 27-August 9, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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THURSDAY JULY 28 | 6-10 PM

FRIDAY JULY 29 | 7-11 PM

TED RISER

SUMRADA

SATURDAY JULY 30 | 1-5 PM

SATURDAY JULY 30 | 7-11 PM

GIMMIE SUGAR

CUSTARD PIE

SUNDAY JULY 31 | 2-6 PM

WEDNESDAY AUG. 3 | 6-10 PM

KC & COMPANY

SELLOUTS

THURSDAY AUG. 4

FRIDAY AUG. 5 | 7-11 PM

ROLLING STONES TRIBUTE

FREE SALSA LESSONS 6-7 PM

SAMMY DELEON Y SU ORQUESTRA 7-10 PM

SUPERBAD

SATURDAY AUG. 6 | 1-5 PM

SATURDAY AUG. 6 | 7-11 PM

COLLAGE

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

SUNDAY AUG. 7 | 2-6 PM

WEDNESDAY AUG. 10 | 6-10 PM

DISCO INFERNO

TEA BAGS

QUEEN TRIBUTE

July 27-August 9, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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Courtney Barnett.

MUSIC

Photo: Mia Mala McDonald

SONIC PRODUCER

Here and There fulfills a childhood dream for Courtney Barnett

By Jeff Niesel WHILE GROWING UP IN Australia, singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett listened to a range of different musical artists and began to develop the kind of knowledge that would make her into the remarkable musician and curator that she is today.

“When I was a real young kid, I guess I listened to what my dad listened to,” she says in a recent Zoom call from France, where she was performing at a festival. Barnett brings her Here and There Festival to the Agora on Wednesday, Aug. 10.

“He listened to a lot of jazz records.

He listened to Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis and Nina Simone and that kind of stuff. And then, I listened to what my brother listened to, which was Nirvana and things like that. I’ve always loved a lot of different music.”

As she began to discover her favorite musical acts, she would make mixtapes and dream up her own music festivals. She’d even design the T-shirts and pair up musicians for collaborations.

“Those mixtapes would have had songs on them by Janet Jackson, Nirvana and No Doubt,” she says.

“It would have also been the Beatles.

Jimi Hendrix would have been on there for sure.”

Barnett’s past as a traveling musician also informed her decision to create the Here and There Festival. When Barnett first started playing shows, she drove vast distances through the Australian bushland and desert, passing occasionally through small towns and stopping at gas stations and fast-food outlets. Eventually, she’d arrive at a city, unpack the car and sing. She’s written a number of songs about those experiences, some which appear on her early EPs and debut album.

At about that same time, Barnett formed her own record label, Milk!, if only to put out her own music and release the music of artists from her hometown of Melbourne. She’d graduate to releasing music by a few U.S.-based friends she’s made along the way, namely Sleater-Kinney,

HERE AND THERE FESTIVAL 6 P.M., WEDNESDAY, AUG. 10, AGORA THEATRE, 5000 EUCLID AVE., 216-881-2221. TICKETS: $40.50-$70.50, AGORACLEVELAND.COM.

Chastity Belt and Hand Habits.

“It was so low-key,” she says of the decision to start her own label.

“I just started it, so I could sell my CDs through it. I started releasing friends’ music, and it just kept going from there. It’s been hard to maintain, but it’s so great and fun.”

Back in 2019, Barnett curated a festival named Sonic City in Belgium, and her childhood dream had become a reality. That set her down the path that led to Here and There.

“Curating Sonic City gave me the courage to think about it more,” she says. “It always just felt like a bit of a pipe dream. I saw other festivals like ATP and how they curated things, and it never seemed possible. Sonic City was such a joy, making this child-like long list of bands that I loved and then passing it on to someone and being like, ‘OK. Make this happen.’ It seemed so outrageous, but watching the bands that night at that festival just felt so special.”

Then, in 2020, Barnett hosted an event for the Newport Folk Foundation and served as musical director, curator and performer along with several top-notch folk and indie artists. At that point, she started planning Here and There.

“I can’t take credit for a lot of the work that’s been done [for Here and There],” she says. “I know it’s a lot of work. We couldn’t decide on a place, so that’s why it wound up as a bit of a roaming festival. We found a bunch of places we liked, and we wanted to do a few different shows.

Maybe one day, it’ll just be in one spot. That’s the fun of it, seeing how it grows and what happens.”

At the time of this interview, Barnett wasn’t sure if collaborations would take place on stage between her and the other artists.

“I would love to open the doors and the stage [to collaboration],” she says. “That was in my childlike brain when I was thinking about it. I want to make that space available and see what everyone does. I reckon that would be really fun.”

An impressive list of indie musicians, including Alvvays, Arooj Aftab, Bartees Strange, Bedouine, Caroline Rose, Chicano Batman, Ethel Cain, Faye Webster, Fred Armisen, Hana Vu, Indigo De Souza, Japanese Breakfast, Julia Jacklin, Leith Ross, Lido Pimienta, Lucy Dacus, Men I Trust, Quinn Christopherson, Sleater-Kinney, Snail Mail, the Beths, Waxahatchee and Wet Leg will join Barnett at various tour stops.

The Cleveland gig will pair her

with singer-songwriters Dacus and Christopherson.

“I have played with them before and they’re both so great and talented,” she says of Dacus and Christopherson. “They’re also great humans.”

In addition, the Ally Coalition (TAC) will provide site-specific programs throughout the tour.

Founded in 2013 by Jack Antonoff (Bleachers) and fashion designer Rachel Antonoff, TAC is committed to “bettering the lives of LGBTQ youth.” To show her support, Barnett will donate $1 from every ticket to TAC and its work supporting LGBTQ Youth across the country.

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel

July 27-August 9, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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Singer-songwriter Brent Kirby.

Photo: Jen Poland

MUSIC

THE SONG’S THE THING

Brent Kirby’s 10x3 singer-songwriter showcase finds a new home at the Bop Stop

By Jeff Niesel BACK IN 2011, LOCAL SINGERsongwriter Brent Kirby launched 10x3, a showcase modeled after offnight jam sessions he would attend when he lived in Nashville. One such event was called 12 on 12, and it featured 12 bands playing the club 12th and Porter. Bands would play three tunes, and acts coming through town would sometimes sit in.

A Wisconsin native, Kirby, who also fronts his own band, leads a Gram Parsons tribute act and plays in the local roots rock act the Jack Fords, has become the face of altcountry in Cleveland since moving to town about 20 years ago and issuing his local debut, The Mean Days, in 2005. He’s also part of the Ohio City Singers, the local group that plays original Christmas music during the holiday season.

For nine consecutive years, Kirby had hosted 10x3 at Brother’s Lounge. When the pandemic forced the club to close in 2019, Kirby’s long-running event came to an end.

Earlier this year, however, Kirby announced that his 10x3 showcase will return. This incarnation will happen at the Bop Stop at the Music Settlement on the first and third

Wednesdays of the month. The event will take place from 7 to 10 p.m., and the first one is slated for Wednesday, Aug. 3.

The concept of the 10x3 is a pre-arranged line up with 10 songwriters/bands performing three songs each, two of the them are required to be original and the third can be the artist’s choice.

Once music venues started opening up again, Kirby had some hesitation in continuing the showcase, and the wine bar at Brother’s Lounge was no longer an option.

“I wasn’t comfortable having an open mic scenario with performers sharing the stage and mics at such a quick pace, so I decided I would wait before I considered doing the 10x3 again,” he says in a press release about the showcase’s return.

A big part of the 10x3 is moving ten acts through the stage quickly to keep the momentum of the show.

In order to do that, a full PA and backline of guitar and bass amps, drums and piano is required. The Bop Stop, with its full professional backline, Steinway grand piano, listening room vibe, great sight lines and central location gives Kirby just

10X3 7 P.M., WEDNESDAY, AUG. 3, BOP STOP, 2920 DETROIT AVE., 216-771-6551.

TICKETS: FREE, THEMUSICSETTLEMENT.ORG.

what he wanted.

“I have great friends at the Music Settlement organization that I’ve worked with before, including [Bop Stop director] Gabe Pollack, who is a super supportive fan of the 10x3, and it seemed like the most natural place to present the showcase,” says Kirby.

Kirby has adjusted the frequency of the 10x3 performances from weekly to twice a month. All time slots at the 10x3 are pre-arranged.

Kirby believes that limiting the number of time slots a month will raise the bar for the performance quality of songwriters and bands and create a tighter focus and attention for the audience.

Kirby says he’ll continue to develop theme nights, either as a way of celebrating a particular artist or taking on specific songwriting prompts.

“I have lots of ideas for themes, and I’m definitely going to

lean harder into encouraging songwriters to create more,” Kirby says, “because I think it’s a challenging thing to do, and the songs [the performers] end up writing and sharing with their audience are fantastic and unique.”

Pollack expects the partnership to have a positive effect on the Cleveland music scene.

“The mission of the 10x3 is to strengthen Cleveland’s music community, encourage collaboration, and showcase original music, which aligns perfectly with the goals of Bop Stop,” Pollack says. “I also want as many musicians and music fans as possible to experience the venue, and this is a great way to build awareness for Bop Stop and Cleveland talent. Because Bop Stop is a listening room, I think the vibe is going to be perfect.”

Admission to the events is free.

If you want to perform at the 10x3, please email THE10X3@GMAIL. COM or visit brentkirby.com/ bk10x3 to request a time slot.

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel

July 27-August 9, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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LIVEWIRE

Real music in the real world

Sarah Shook & the Disarmers return to the Beachland. See: Friday, July 29.

FRI

07/29

A Day to Remember Founded in Florida nearly 20 years ago, this hard rock band has dabbled in both punk-rock and metalcore. It comes to Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica tonight on a tour in support of its latest album, last year’s You’re Welcome. Songs such as album opener “Brick Wall” show off the band’s ability to infuse its noisy tunes with a good amount of melody.

The concert begins at 6. The Ghost Inside, Beartooth and Bad Omens open. Check the venue’s website for more info.

2014 Sycamore St., 216-861-4080, jacobspavilion.com.

Outlaw Music Festival Curated by country icon Willie Nelson, the inaugural Outlaw Music Festival made its debut in 2016 in Scranton, PA. That show went over so well that Nelson has turned it into a traveling festival that hits the road each summer. Musicians such

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as Robert Plant, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Eric Church, Bonnie Raitt, Luke Combs, Chris Stapleton, Sheryl Crow, Sturgill Simpson, the Avett Brothers and many more have been a part of the Outlaw Tour. Nelson once again headlines this incarnation that features like-minded acts such as ZZ Top and Gov’t Mule. The show begins at 5 p.m. at Blossom. Check the venue’s website for ticket prices and more info.

1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, livenation.com.

Sarah Shook & the Disarmers Led by Sarah Shook on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, the Disarmers feature Eric Peterson (lead guitar), Aaron Oliva (bass), Will Rigby (drums), and Phil Sullivan (pedal steel). With Shook out front, the altcountry group really rocks. Produced

by Grammy-winner Pete Anderson (Dwight Yoakam, k.d. lang), its latest album, Nightroame, is a collection of 10 songs that “take a hard look

| clevescene.com | July 27-August 9, 2022

Chad Cochran

at relationships, but do not claim to have one-size-fits-all answers.” The lurching single “Talkin’ to Myself” features droll vocals and a subtle touch of organ. The group performs tonight at 8 at the Beachland Ballroom. Tickets cost $17.

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

SAT

07/30

Clairo Bedroom pop singer-songwriter Clairo became a sensation back in 2017 when her self-released single “Pretty Girl” went viral. She subsequently inked a major label debut and her profile increased even more. In support of the release of her sophomore album, Sling, a collection of low-key tunes that show off her supple voice, the 22-year-old comes to the Agora tonight at 7. Check the Agora website for more info.

5000 Euclid Ave., 216-881-2221, agoracleveland.com.

Earth, Wind & Fire When Earth, Wind & Fire played at the Q (now Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse) in 2017, the band delivered a solid performance. After playing a video about how music has “the power to heal,” members matriculated onto the stage wearing matching sliver sequined outfits.

They immediately broke into a choreographed dance routine as they played “Shining Star,” their 1975 hit.

Expect a similar performance when the veteran soul, funk and R&B group comes to MGM Northfield Park — Center Stage tonight at 8. Check the venue’s website for more info.

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

Elton John When Elton John brought his seemingly never-ending farewell tour to town back in 2018, his expansive 24-song set drew from his extensive catalog and included just about every major hit. The show began with the familiar piano

BA N D O F T H E W E E K:

THE JÖTUNN

By Jeff Niesel MEET THE BAND: Paul Kahan (vocals), Shawn Kahan (guitar), Cole Martinez (guitar, bass), Kenny Tomko (drums) A SURVIVAL STORY: A couple of years ago when local metal guitarist Shawn Kahan become terribly sick with COVID, he began furiously writing songs even though he didn’t have a band to record them. “He was afraid he was going to die, so we started pumping out songs in his room and getting the feeling of what he was going through,” says singer Paul Kahan.

“He wanted to churn those out. He sent them to me, and I thought Artwork for the Jötunn’s upcoming concert. they were incredible.

Courtesy of the Jötunn I said, ‘You have got to do something with these.’” The Kahan brothers, who hoarse vocals. It’s also surprisingly had played in the local metal band melodic and suggests the way in Dagger Rebellion for more than which bands such as In Flames, decade, decided to come out of what Abigail Williams, the Faceless, they called “band retirement” to Black Dahlia Murder and Darkest form the Jötunn and record their Hour have influenced the group. “I debut EP, Graveworshipper. love playing that song; it’s fucking AN ORGANIC EVOLUTION: The group recruited local metal guitarist and bassist Cole Martinez to produce the album. He enjoyed working on the record so much that he asked to join the group. “Once everything was done, he said he wanted to be part of the band because of how he helped shape everything,” says Kahan.

“Shawn and I had seen Cole play in [the local band] Years of Fire when we were still in high school. We thought he was the coolest dude in the world.

We looked up to him, honestly. The fact that he wanted to be in a band with us was great. Everything just came together naturally.” Kahan recorded vocals in Columbus with Knox Fields. He sent the recordings to Martinez, who mixed them for the album. Josh Schroeder handled the mastering. “I have never been so happy with a record that I have been on,” says Kahan.

WHY YOU SHOULD HEAR THEM: “Infinite Stalker,” the first single from Graveworshipper, features blistering guitar solos and

awesome,” says Kahan when asked about the track. “That’s probably my favorite one to play and the one I’m most excited to do live. I actually got the inspiration for the lyrics from an anime, which is really weird because I don’t watch a ton of it. I saw this cool anime called When They Cry. It’s about these girls who are time loopers, and they chase each other through multiple lives and kill each other.

I just thought that was really metal.” “Dissolve,” another album highlight, comes off as a Goth-y track that’s more Sisters of Mercy than Metallica.

WHERE YOU CAN HEAR THEM: jotunn.bandcamp.com.

WHERE YOU CAN SEE THEM: The Jötunn performs with Befallen, Druparia, Paradox Rift, and Kingz & Thievez at 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 30, at the Foundry in Lakewood.

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene July 27-August 9, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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July 27-August 9, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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SAVAGE LOVE POUND FOR POUND

By Dan Savage This is a preview of this week’s Savage Love. The full version is now exclusively available on Dan’s website savage.love.

Hey Dan: A friend hooked me up with a much younger guy for weed. Let’s call him “Pretty Boy.” He knew something about me — Pretty Boy had been to a party at my house — and I knew something about him: He’s a burner, like our mutual.

Consent is supposed to be a core burner value, and before we hook up, Pretty Boy asks if he can bring his paddles. We had a talk, and I tell him I’m open to a little pain, but I’m mostly meh about it. (Except love bites. I love me some love bites.)

Long story short: Pretty Boy thinks he’s a great fuck cuz he’s got a great big one and can pound long and hard. My pussy ain’t been touched in almost three years, but “OUCH” is the universal safe word! Maybe I should’ve picked a better one because I had to say it so many times! I figured it was heat of the moment stuff, so I wasn’t mad and agreed to hook up again. Much more OUCH but on both sides this time. (Love bites!) Next day I’m figuring out how to manage this. I find a thing called an Ohnut, and I tell Pretty Boy I’m willing to plunk down the money to make his PIV pounding less OUCH. Then we have this conversation: Sore Lady: “So, surely this has happened before, yes?”

Pretty Boy: “Of course. LOL.” Now I’m mad. He knew! He did it on purpose! I ask him if he got off on it, and he won’t answer. Which means he did. Now I want to set him on fire.

But here’s the thing: Pretty Boy is the finest thing I’ve ever had the pleasure of putting my hands on. I ratted him out to the dude who hooked us up. As for Pretty Boy, I could tell him to sit down, shut up, and hear my truth, but I delivered that message. (See: OUCH.) I should probably slam the door, but he is the finest thing! And I’ve never had a hookup that wasn’t a bit sketchy.

This is too much, right?

Boys Are Supposed To Ask, Right Dan? P.S. I didn’t even cum either time!

So Pretty Boy doesn’t care if you come or not, he ignores your feedback during sex, and he engages

in rough sex knowing it’s sometimes painful — in a bad way — for his sex partners. Fuck that guy.

By which I mean, of course, don’t fuck that guy. But you’re obviously tempted to fuck that guy again, BASTARD, as you make clear in your letter (a letter I spent an hour editing for, um, clarity). Pretty Boy is so hot, BASTARD, that you’re tempted to fuck him despite wanting to set him on fire — in a bad way — after you spoke to him about the sex being painful.

Look, BASTARD, having a hot FWB is great, but having a hot FWB — or boyfriend or girlfriend or enbyfriend — who’s a shitty, selfish, inconsiderate lover is like owning a house with an amazing view that happens to be right next door to a trash incinerator. Sooner or later you get used to the view and start taking it for granted, BASTARD, and the only thing you really notice after that is the stench.

If you’re inclined to extend Pretty Boy the benefit of the doubt, BASTARD, it wouldn’t be hard to whip one up. He’s young! It’s entirely possible all the women he’s fucked up to this point in his short life liked his style. It’s also possible the women he’s fucked hated his style and, like you, hoped Pretty Boy would hear “OUCH,” stop, solicit their feedback and correct course. Seeing that’s not something he’s either able or inclined to do, you’re gonna have to use your words and the actual leverage you have over him — your pussy, not your mutuals — to get him to fuck you without hurting you.

If he wants back in your pussy, tell him he has do it/things/you differently. More foreplay, going slower, using lube, not going all the way in (with or without an Ohnut) — whatever he needs to do to make sex more comfortable and pleasurable for you, that needs to be a clearly stated (by you!) and enforced (ditto!) condition of him getting near your pussy again.

And if he laughs it off, BASTARD, set him on fire (not literally).

P.S. What happened to the paddles?

questions@savagelove.net t@fakedansavage www.savage.love July 27-August 9, 2022 | clevescene.com |

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