Scene april 19, 2017

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| clevescene.com m | April 19 - 25, 2017

| clev clevescene.com e escene.com m | April Apr pril 199 - 25 25,, 20 2017 0177

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!02), s 6/,5-% . O Dedicated to Free Times founder Richard H. Siegel (1935-1993) and Scene founder Richard Kabat Group Publisher Chris Keating Publisher Andrew Zelman

CONTENTS 5PFRONT

Associate Publisher Angela Lott Editor Vince Grzegorek

Cleveland murder captured on Facebook video garners national attention, leads to multi-state manhunt

Editorial Managing Editor Eric Sandy Music Editor Jeff Niesel Senior Writer Sam Allard Staff Writer Brett Zelman Writer-at-large Kyle Swenson Web Editor Laura Morrison Dining Editor Douglas Trattner Contributing Dining Editor Rachel Hunt Stage Editor Christine Howey Visual Arts Editor Josh Usmani Copy Editor Elaine Cicora Interns Johnny Cook, Lawrence Neil

&EATURE

'ET /UT

Creative Services Production Manager Steve Miluch Layout Editor/Graphic Designer Christine Hahn Staff Photographer Emanuel Wallace

COMES TO THE (OUSE OF "LUES ON 4UESDAY

All the events you should check out this week

Business Sales Assistant/Receptionist Megan Stimac Controller Kristy Dotson Staff Accountant Margaret Manzo

!RT

Circulation Circulation Director Don Kriss Euclid Media Group Chief Executive Offi cer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Offi cers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner Human Resources Director Lisa Beilstein Digital Operations Coordinator Jaime Monzon www.euclidmediagroup.com

Spaces’ Monster Drawing Rally revs up artistic action this weekend

3TAGE

Now that the real spring in Cleveland is upon us, a preview of what to catch on the stage this season

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Country icon Marty Stuart brings his ‘glorified garage band’ to town

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| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

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UPFRONT FACEBOOK KILLING PROMPTS INTERSTATE MANHUNT Robert Godwin Sr., 74, victim of ‘senseless’ Easter Sunday shooting

THIS WEEK

AS OF MONDAY MORNING, THE Cleveland police and their partners at the FBI and the U.S. Marshals office still didn’t have any idea where Steve Stephens was. Stephens recorded a video of himself shooting and killing a man selected at random (74-yearold Robert Godwin Sr.) and uploaded the video to Facebook at about 2 p.m.

Sunday.

The location of the homicide — East 93rd St., just south of I-90, in Glenville — remained, as of Monday, Stephens’ last known location. Police Chief Calvin Williams said that reports of cell phone pings in Solon and in Erie, Pennsylvania, were speculation, though Pennsylvania authorities told CNN that Stephens’ phone did release a signal near a tower in Erie.

Williams said that Cleveland detectives had made phone contact with Stephens Sunday and had encouraged the 37-year-old man to turn himself in. That’s a request that the police chief delivered at a press conference Sunday evening and one he repeated Monday morning.

“We’re still asking Steve to turn himself in, but if he doesn’t, we’ll find him,” Williams said. “We’re not going to stop until we find him.”

Late Sunday night, the Cleveland police issued an aggravated homicide warrant and advised that residents of neighboring states should be on alert. Williams added Monday that authorities would be plastering Stephens’ image and information about his white Ford Fusion on interstate billboards. (Stephens is 6-foot-1, 240 pounds, bald with a full beard.)

The murder, dramatically publicized on Facebook, has drawn

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Steve Stephens

“This man right here was a good man. I hate he’s gone,” Godwin’s son said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. ... It’s not real. “ Godwin’s murder marks the 37th homicide in Cleveland so far in 2017.

Though Cleveland police have yet to officially declare a motive, calling the murder a “senseless” crime, Stephens blamed a girlfriend of several years, Joy Lane, for the act.

Said Calvin Williams, “Obviously, he’s got deep deep issues.” — Sam Allard, Eric Sandy

INFAMOUS CLEVELAND SWINDLER OSCAR VILLARREAL SHOT IN BACK IN MEXICO AMID BIZARRE BEACHFRONT PROPERTY BATTLES

enormous attention to Cleveland. In a followup video that streamed live, Stephens claimed to have killed at least a dozen other people and said he’d continue to kill until he was apprehended by police. That claim led to a frenzy on social media as families celebrated the Easter holiday.

Monday morning, Chief Williams confirmed again that Robert Godwin

was the only known victim. He said officers had searched Cleveland “high and low” including “dozens” of vacant properties, looking for bodies, but found none.

Godwin had been walking home after an Easter meal with his family.

His son told local media that Godwin was a retired foundry worker with nine children and 14 grandchildren.

The infamous Cleveland swindler Oscar Villarreal, who fled to Mexico from Gates Mills in late 2013 to escape the probings of the Securities and Exchange Commission, was shot at his home in Tulum last week.

Villarreal is known locally for luring more than 50 of Northeast Ohio’s most powerful corporate leaders into phony investments several years ago. He used that money to goof off on E-trade and live large.

He was considered the cream of Cleveland’s millennial crop, and in that capacity had managed to ingratiate himself among the Union Club elite.

Villarreal ultimately paid back more than $12 million of the funds he obtained, resolving issues with investors “to their mutual satisfaction,” per Villarreal’s lawyer, but the putative wunderkind was still wanted on 21 federal counts.

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Cavs play new Drake song “Free Smoke,” but mute lyrics that mention Golden State Warriors. At this week’s State of the County, Armond Budish to play “This Land Is Your Land” and mute entire song.

The Price is Right offers a trip to Cleveland as its showcase showdown prize. Highlights include Rock Hall, Indians homestand and lengthy meeting with Len Komoroski about Q renovation benefits.

Cleveland.com asserts that Cleveland is not an “It” city like Nashville. Source claims that pro-Nashville coverage stems from editor Chris Quinn’s curious “hot chicken and leather fetish.”

| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

QUALITY OF LIFE Happy 4/20

35 Minimum number of GoFundMe accounts set up to support the family of Robert Godwin Sr., none of which were sanctioned by the Godwin family.

$2,400,000 Amount raised by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown in the ďŹ rst three months of 2017.

230 Jobs added at 62 local arts and culture organizations between 2011 and 2015.

$300,000 Personal funds that businessman John Stahl says he has invested in his SkyLift concept. He wants to raise $700,000 more for a feasibility analysis.

MANSFIELD FRAZIER ENTERS WARD 7’S TOSS-UP COUNCIL RACE The journalist, activist and nonproďŹ t vintner MansďŹ eld Frazier, he of Chateau Hough, has announced that he’ll enter the race for city council, vying for the seat in Ward 7. That seat is currently occupied by T.J. Dow, who is thought to be one of the more vulnerable council members this fall.

The Real Deal Press ďŹ rst reported that Frazier, who pens a column for CoolCleveland.com and hosts a weekly radio show on WTAM 1100, would challenge Dow. “The situation has become intolerable,â€? Frazier wrote in a press release, referring to concerns about safety and development in Hough.

Frazier is a regular and open critic of Dow’s, as is Cleveland. com’s Mark Naymik, who has charted some of Dow’s more ignoble achievements and stances during his council tenure, including Dow’s failure to pay property taxes, his failure to ďŹ le campaign ďŹ nance reports, and his failure to spur development in his ward by trying to legitimize a community development corporation run by friends and family.

Most recently, Dow expressed reservations about a soda fountain at League Park, prompting Naymik to wonder if Dow was “the only elected ofďŹ cial in America to be against baseball and ice cream.â€?

Frazier joins challenger Basheer Jones, who also ran in 2013, and Demar L. Sheffey, the two other candidates in Ward 7 who have ďŹ led valid petitions. Jones’ residency was recently called into question by

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Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not known who shot Villarreal last Thursday, or whether or not his assailant(s) intended to kill him or merely send a message. The local paper Por Esto called the attack an â&#x20AC;&#x153;execution attemptâ&#x20AC;? and said Villarreal had been shot in the back.

His hotel, the Hotelito Azul, is now in operation.

Ms. Sbrizzi wrote to Scene Monday that Villarreal â&#x20AC;&#x153;is making disaster with his dishonest attitude, always ready to cheat people. We have a long list of people that would like to see him dead.â&#x20AC;?

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice said he had no comment on this development.

As of last year, the DOJ was aware of Villarrealâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s location and had been attempting to coordinate his extradition. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Allard

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These days, Villarreal has been allegedly party to much more violent crimes.

Scene was contacted in December

by Paola Sbrizzi, a hotel owner in Tulum, the Caribbean coastal town roughly two hours south of Cancun. Sbrizzi moved to Mexico from Italy 17 years ago and operates the Hemingway Romantic Eco Resort. Sbrizzi called Villarreal an â&#x20AC;&#x153;arrogant and aggressive man,â&#x20AC;? and alleged that he and his father were building a new hotel in Tulum by improper means.

In addition to the allegedly corrupt acquisition of land permits, Villarreal was thought to have orchestrated the violent seizure of two beach hotels. Vandals and thugs armed with â&#x20AC;&#x153;guns and machetesâ&#x20AC;? threw out the occupants and employees of a hotel on Dec. 8, and seized the contiguous hotel later in the month. (The corruption and violence besieging the Tulum real estate market were chronicled in

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UPFRONT Channel 5: He claims to live and pay rent at a home that was foreclosed upon four months ago.

The well-known Frazier stands a fighting chance. —Allard

MEDINA RESIDENTS DEBATING FATE OF OPIATE ADDICTION SUPPORT CENTER The latest controversy in Medina illustrates how visibly the state’s heroin addiction crisis has seeped into Main Street America.

At issue is a proposed addiction support center planned for a vacant restaurant near Public Square on West Liberty Street. The old Medina Steak & Seafood building, one of the oldest buildings in Medina, is within the purview of the Bankers Row Historic Neighborhood Association, and neighbors in the area aren’t keen on welcoming a facility associated with former and struggling opiate addicts.

Bankers Row representatives have also pointed out a desire to preserve the building’s historic legacy.

Medina County Chief Probation

Officer Veronica Perry secured a $300,000 grant from the state’s Department of Rehabilitation and Correction to fund the center. From the jump, county commissioners were onboard with the plan, hailed as a monumental step forward in Medina County’s struggle against the deepening heroin crisis.

The idea is to offer classes and vocational workshops — footholds for addicts who are seeking a productive future. The proposed former restaurant building, naturally, comes with a kitchen setup for work training programs.

But even with county support, the neighbors on and around West Liberty Street had yet to be informed of what was planned.

City councilman Bill Lamb indicated to the Medina Gazette a willingness to fi nd some sort of middle ground: “My objective is to support these neighborhoods. These people have a legitimate concern.

It needs to be addressed. … I’m convinced there’s a way to do this.”

City officials discussed the matter further on Monday night, after our print deadline. Ohio Citizen Advocates for Addiction and Recovery will host a meeting at noon on Wednesday at the city’s Fire Station No. 1. —Sandy

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CITY OF GREEN AMPS UP ROLE IN FIGHT AGAINST NEXUS PIPELINE The ongoing struggle to prevent the approval and construction of a natural gas pipeline in Summit and Medina counties — and elsewhere in the state — has brought in funds from the city of Green. City council last week agreed to donate $10,000 to the Coalition to Reroute Nexus (CoRN), which intends to file a complaint in federal court against the pipeline’s owners.

Nexus, of course, has not been approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. For more than a month now, FERC has been without a quorum of commissioners and unable to approve any projects.

Houston-based Spectra Energy has continued to insist that they’ll begin construction on Nexus by this fall.

With the fate of Nexus still rather nebulous, CoRN legal action would get out in front of any future certifications from FERC, which will eventually see President Donald Trump appoint at least one new commissioner. Observers say the

FERC quorum will likely be reestablished by May. CoRN and its legal counsel are looking specifically to file a Civil Action for the Deprivation of Rights against Nexus and FERC to overturn the final environmental impact statement as “arbitrary, capricious and inadequate,” CoRN co-founder Paul Gierosky tells Scene. “We will seek an injunction to stop FERC from issuing a certificate.”

Federal courts are saddled with the duty to examine FERC environmental impact statements.

The complaint will also request that the court determine whether civil rights, like due process rights and property rights under eminent domain, are being jeopardized under the Nexus project.

“This window of opportunity for a declaratory judgment action [on Nexus’ use of eminent domain under the Natural Gas Act], however, may close should new commissioners be appointed and the certificate be issued,” Gierosky explains.

Summit County will match any funding from the city of Green in this effort, up to $25,000. — Sandy

that the chemical attack had been “100-percent fabricated” so that the U.S. would have an excuse to carry out their military operation.

Dennis Kucinich agrees — maybe not that the chemical attack had been “fabricated,” but certainly that there was more to the story.

He voiced his opposition to the missile strike on WKYC, and sat for an extended interview with The Intercept’s Jeremy Scahill, on that publication’s Intercepted podcast.

Kucinich said he believed the chemical attack that inspired the missile attack was not perpetrated

by Bashar Al-Assad and the Syrian government.

“And here’s why,” he told Scahill.

“Syria had been winning on the ground. They had a major battle that was a turnaround moment in Aleppo. It would go against everything that makes sense militarily and politically to engage in a chemical weapons attack.”

Kucinich said he’d wanted an independent inquiry into the gas attack and suggested that the “absolute refusal” by the U.S. government to conduct one “raise[d] serious questions about whether or not there was an agenda.”

DENNIS KUCINICH JOINS Kucinich was careful to point NATIONAL DEBATE OVER out that he was not sure this was SYRIA STRIKES, MILITARYan instance of a “false flag attack,” INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX but said there were elements in Former Cleveland mayor and Washington aware of the sensitivities U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a man of the American people, who have, in for whom a pierogi and kielbasa the past, relied upon the “big heart” fundraiser was held to help pay for a of the United States to create a “wag mayoral portrait, the dog” scenario, has recently “What is America all drawing been making the countries into media rounds to about? Are we simply a conflict based decry the U.S. on an emotional missile attack on about imperium? Are response to a a Syrian airfield horrific act. this month.

Kucinich we about expanding the That attack likened the reach of what Eisenhow- rapid, almost was launched

by President blind, consensuser called the military- formation to Donald Trump in response to claims of industrial complex?” the a chemical gas WMDs in Iraq, attack in the and the virtually — Dennis Kucinich northwestern unanimous Syrian town support for a war of Khan Shaykhun, roughly there among the nation’s leaders. equidistant from Homs and Aleppo.

“What we’re looking at are Estimates vary, but at least 30 and pretexts,” he said, “pretexts for perhaps more than 80 were killed in running an agenda of regime the gas attack. Images of suffering change. ... You have to ask the children there were said to have question, then: What is America “shaken” Trump. all about? Are we simply about Syrian president Bashar Alimperium? Are we about expanding Assad, the ruler whom many regard the reach of what Eisenhower called as a tyrannical butcher, gave an the military-industrial complex?” interview with the wire service And just because it’s baseball Agence France Presse (his first since season: “When I was kid growing up the missile strike) in which he said in Cleveland,” Kucinich continued,

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| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

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UPFRONT “I used to go to Cleveland Indians baseball games and there was a guy who would walk up and down the steps in the bleachers and go: ‘Scorecard! Scorecard! You can’t tell the players without a scorecard.’

Well, in Washington, D.C. you need a scorecard which includes: Who are the defense contractors who benefit from this? Who’s promoting this in the Pentagon? Who’s promoting this in the State Department? Who’s promoting it at the CIA? And once you have that, you kind of can figure out where this thing is going.”

Kucinich’s ultimate fear: World War III, something he won’t be able to prevent even if he does saddle up and run for governor. — Allard

SUBOXONE BEING SMUGGLED INTO OHIO PRISONS Prescription Suboxone is gaining a national rep as an increasingly useful solution for millions of Americans hooked on heavy-duty drugs. A low-dose opioid itself, when administered along with a doctor’s care, the drug has proven to be key

in freeing folks from the addiction to heroin and prescription opiates.

But Suboxone reportedly has become popular with another circle: Ohio’s prison population. According to a recent report from the Columbus Dispatch, prison officials are finding so much Suboxone inside Ohio’s facilities it’s currently “neck-andneck with marijuana” as the most popular contraband.

Part of Suboxone’s popularity is tied to its size: The drug dissolves on your tongue in little postagestamp-sized strips. Inside prisons, each of those little items goes for $100, according to the Dispatch.

“Suboxone strips are most prevalent in prison because they are so

small and easy to conceal,” Ed Voorhies, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction prison operations director, told the paper.

“It’s been particularly difficult for us.”

The Suboxone slammer craze is borne out in the numbers. Each month, five percent of the prison population is randomly selected for drug testing (testing is also ordered when prison staffers suspect inmates of using). The Dispatch led the charge, requesting and looking over the results for the past three years to find: “Random drug tests performed last December showed about one in 20 inmates tested positive for drugs, including 59 for Suboxone and 68 for

marijuana. Testing done ‘for cause’ in December produced much higher results, with 39.3 percent testing positive, including 128 for Suboxone and 135 for marijuana.”

And: “Results vary month to month and by institution. At the Belmont Correctional Institution in St. Clairsville, 82 inmates were tested ‘for cause’ this past November and 40 had illegal drugs in their system, including 25 using Suboxone. At the Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield, random tests on 296 inmates showed one in five was using an illegal drug.”

The size of these tabs mean prisoners can pretty much smuggle them in any way they can think of: on their person, in letters, tossed over the fence, even melted down and placed like a smudge on a piece of paper which the inmates then ingest.

To combat the smuggling, prison officials are now inspecting every piece of mail using black light.

Scanners will also be installed to detect drug residue. — Kyle Swenson

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

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FEATURE ON MARCH 23, 2017, A BEDFORD HEIGHTS MAN FLEW HOME from Colorado. He was returning with five grams of marijuana concentrate — “wax,” to be vaporized and smoked through your dab rig of choice. TSA agents tipped off the local Southeast Area Law Enforcement narcotics task force after noticing a vial of what looked like heroin. By 6 a.m. the next day, officers were executing a search warrant at his home.

They confiscated the wax and, if this were a typical Ohio petty crime story, the man would have been on his way to a cool $150 fine and a misdemeanor charge in municipal court, to say nothing of interstate transit prosecution. But marijuana laws are changing fast. SEALE officers came back the following day with a promise not to prosecute.

They also returned the wax.

That was the first real case of local law enforcement directly interacting with the state’s budding new medical marijuana law, which is in that precarious place right now of being “in effect” while not being “fully implemented.” Three groups — the Ohio Department of Commerce, the Ohio Board of Pharmacy and the Ohio Medical Board — are sorting out the rules at this very moment.

The law should be up and running in full by September 2018.

Between now and then, patients and physicians and business owners and city council members are grappling with amorphous legal language while trying to stay on the crest of this wave, even as the rules continue to be ironed out. It’s confusing, but it’s exciting. Medical marijuana, of course, promises jobs, tax revenue and a revolution in Ohio health care. Who’d want to miss out?

The real players are already teeing up their pitches, purchasing property, shaking hands with eager municipal leaders and presenting detailed outlooks to the Department of Commerce. Everywhere you look, there’s activity; cities are either embracing the industry or hurriedly shutting their doors and instituting bans on medical marijuana businesses.

Eastlake mayor Dennis Morley acknowledges the rush among local municipalities. His city was the first in Northeast Ohio to greenlight a marijuana cultivation business.

Among the fluctuating facets of the medical marijuana law, the state has only 24 cultivation licenses

to offer. Six will be awarded in Northeast Ohio; the licenses are divvied up evenly by state quadrant.

Each corner of Ohio gets three 25,000-square-foot grow facilities and three 3,000-square-foot grow facilities. The forward-thinking cities get the tax revenue. Morley intends on landing one of the bigger, tier-1 operations, and city council has even sold property to accommodate it. But nothing is certain yet.

If it seems like a convoluted, plodding process so far — remember, we’re still a year and a half away from medical marijuana being available for sale in Ohio — it is.

That’s in stark contrast to the chopchop deliberations that got the law passed in Columbus.

The House Select Committee on Medical Marijuana began its hearings on House Bill 523, without even a hint of knowing smirk, on April 20 last year. By May 10, the House had approved the bill by a 7126 vote. On May 25, the Senate gave its approval. Two weeks later, on June 8, Gov. John Kasich signed the legal medical marijuana program into law. The pace of it all was astonishing.

The recent and relevant history of legal cannabis in Ohio begins in earnest in 2015, when a group calling itself ResponsibleOhio ushered Issue 3 onto the November ballot. The measure would have legalized medical and recreational marijuana, giving exclusive commercial grow rights to 10 facility operators and investors including, notably, Cincinnati native and 98 Degrees boy-band heartthrob Nick Lachey. Issue 3 failed by a margin of 64 to 36 percent. At the time, recreational marijuana was polling right around the 35-percent mark in Ohio.

In a public statement following the election, ResponsibleOhio executive director Ian James said that his group “made two big

RED LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT What you need to know about Ohio’s medical marijuana law, in effect for seven months now and changing every day

By Eric Sandy

| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

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FEATURE mistakes â&#x20AC;&#x201D; by self-selecting limited grow site opportunities and making Buddie the face of the campaign.â&#x20AC;?

(Voters will recall Buddie as a muscular comic book superhero-type with a frosty nug for a head.) But it was that ďŹ rst part of Jamesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; message that voters most strikingly opposed â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the word â&#x20AC;&#x153;monopolyâ&#x20AC;? was often used to characterize Issue 3 during the campaign.

In 2016, Ohioans for Medical Marijuana (an offshoot of the national Marijuana Policy Project) mounted a signature-gathering effort aimed at getting its own proposal on the November ballot.

It was, you may remember, a presidential election year, promising greater turnout than in the failed Issue 3 bout the year before. The OMM measure would have legalized medical marijuana and allowed private residents with qualiďŹ ed conditions to grow their own plants.

The licensing fees for dispensaries ($5,000) and large-scale growers ($50,000) were, in hindsight, much lower than present-day state law.

Before that group could ďŹ nish

14

its work though, state legislators abruptly announced their own Medical Marijuana Task Force and introduced HB 523. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to be framed in statute, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to have a lot of rules,â&#x20AC;? co-sponsor State Rep. Kirk Schuring said during the announcement, signaling what would become one of the more stringently regulated medical marijuana programs in the U.S. Within two months, HB 523 was law, and Ohio joined 28 other states and Washington D.C. in its trip into the world of cannabis.

The ďŹ rst order of public interest was the list of qualifying conditions, which includes cancer, Crohnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disease, epilepsy, sickle cell anemia and chronic pain, along with more than a dozen other maladies. Some saw the list as too broad (â&#x20AC;&#x153;chronic pain,â&#x20AC;? for instance, is rather discretionary), while others saw the list as overly restrictive. OMMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2016 petition also included muscular dystrophy, autism with aggressive or self-injurious behavior, Huntingtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disease, cachexia or wasting syndrome and severe and persistent muscle spasms, for instance. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a shame lawmakers couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have made history with a vote on a substantive and meaningful medical

| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

marijuana bill,â&#x20AC;? said Aaron Marshall, spokesman for Ohioans for Medical Marijuana, on the day the Ohio House approved HB 523. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vote will only bring false hope and empty promises to Ohioans suffering from debilitating conditions who need medical marijuana.â&#x20AC;?

Seven months into HB 523 as law, the process of obtaining medical marijuana is more complicated than it would seem on paper.

Scene spoke with a current Ohio medical marijuana patient, Dan, who asked that his last name not be used. Dan suffers from degenerative joint disease and chronic pain and has been taking opioids for about a decade. He recently began legally purchasing cannabis in Michigan.

He spoke with a physician he met through the Holistic Center in Toledo, the only known doctor currently writing cannabis recommendations in Ohio, who requested a yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worth of medical records proving his qualifying conditions. Danâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s regular primary care doctor printed out the records but was not yet prepared to recommend medical marijuana himself. He, like most other physicians in Ohio, is awaiting the go-ahead from both the Ohio Medical

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FEATURE Board and his employers, but HB 523 already allows any Ohio physician to recommend medical marijuana right now. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just a matter of having a physician willing to take the â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not really risk,â&#x20AC;? Dan says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;but to venture into that area because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s still unknown.â&#x20AC;?

At the Holistic Center, he was provided information about the beneďŹ ts and risks of cannabis use, the current and evolving laws (keep your medicine locked in your trunk while driving, for instance) and the plantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s known interactions with prescription opioids. Medical marijuana, health studies have shown, may increase the effectiveness of opioid medication, decrease the long-term need for those drugs and ameliorate opioidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; notorious side effects. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a big deal in Ohio, which is at the epicenter of the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heroin addiction crisis. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The narcotics they give me make me sick,â&#x20AC;? Dan says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They give me insomnia, make me nauseous. I like the cannabis at night because it gives me comfort. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m able to sleep. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have any side effects, and I feel ďŹ ne the next morning.â&#x20AC;? Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been using smaller opioid doses during the day and cutting them out altogether at night since introducing marijuana as medicine.

For Dan, the physician recommendation allowed him to take full advantage of Ohioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new law and to experience a cleaner route to pain relief. He was pointed toward a list of out-of-state dispensaries that currently accept medical marijuana cards from Ohio.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a hassle, and many in Ohio arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even aware that this is fully legal right now. But so far, the three Ohio boards at the helm of this law have been meeting their prescribed timelines. Cultivation license rules are expected by May 6, with processing and dispensary rules and permitting to follow. Inevitably, Dan will be able to purchase his medicine just down the road from his home instead of driving to Michigan.

Eastlake became the ďŹ rst Northeast Ohio city to embrace the medical marijuana vanguard. A town hall event on Jan. 31 brought some 100 people to city hall, all seeking information about this entrepreneurial new wave and, according to people who were there, mostly embracing the industry.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The majority here has reached out with open arms,â&#x20AC;? Mayor Dennis Morley tells Scene. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You know, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to bring jobs. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re selling a property appraised at $300,000. We have a building thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an eyesore that Andyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s taking down.â&#x20AC;?

Morley is talking about Andy Rayburn, the CEO of Buckeye Relief.

And the property that Morley is talking about is a 10-acre former Nike missile launch site on Curtiss Boulevard, unused since the early 2000s when it housed a recreation center.

On March 14, city council unanimously approved the sale of that site to Buckeye Relief. If all goes according to plan, Rayburn says Buckeye Relief will set up a medical marijuana cultivation and processing facility there.

Cultivator licenses are expected to be awarded in September. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an interesting setup, only because municipalities must enter into formal agreement with an industry that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t yet have a functioning legal framework. The only known quantities are whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happened in other states and the broad body of research into health and safety ramiďŹ cations. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We went into it with an open mind,â&#x20AC;? Morley says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I sat down with my police chief and my ďŹ re chief, and if they hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been on board there wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have been any more discussions. They understand the difference between the medical and the recreational. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve really not found anything thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been negative, from our end as a city.â&#x20AC;?

Rayburnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s initial annual payroll is estimated at $1.5 million across 30 jobs. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We fully expect to double, triple or quadruple,â&#x20AC;? he adds. His is one of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;tier-1â&#x20AC;? 25,000-square-foot facilities, where Buckeye will grow marijuana and then extract its oils and process them for tincture and edible production. The law will not allow patients to smoke marijuana, but rather consume the plantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s active cannabinoids through oils (vaping), tinctures, patches or edibles.

BrieďŹ&#x201A;y, hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how the cultivation process works â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and why Rayburn and others argue that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best to have these things happening on the same property: Marijuana plants are cultivated in staggered groups that include various varieties or strains. A portion of the plants will be trimmed down to ďŹ&#x201A;ower, to be sold through dispensaries. Most of the plant will go to extraction and reďŹ nement for the end oil product, to be sold for direct consumption through vape pens and for edible processing.

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Different strains are grown in different rooms in different, staggered structures. Think lighting levels, air flow, temperature control, “fertigation,” pest control. “It’s a really, really complicated growing process,” Rayburn says. He’s traveled to more than 100 cultivation facilities, from Colorado westward, where the markets are more mature, to get a sense of direction.

Rayburn’s story begins four years ago with a dear friend caught in the final stages of cancer at Western Reserve Hospice Center. He says his friend told him, “I smoked marijuana last night for the first time, and I slept and I woke up with an appetite and I don’t feel miserable for the first time in years.”

“That brought tears to my eyes,” he says. “That was the moment where I was like, ‘Okay, it’s time to really look at what’s going on here.

There’s something of real medical value.’”

Rayburn is optimistic; he’s assembled a team that includes the author of Colorado’s Amendment 64, which set up the country’s first voter-approved marijuana program in the U.S., and the former director of the U.S. Secret Service under President Bill Clinton.

“It’s been a wild ride, and a fascinating one,” Rayburn says. “Five years ago I did not envision myself entering the medical cannabis industry in Ohio, but now we’re well on our way.”

Richmond Heights’ mayor, as it happens, was also at the Eastlake town hall in January to hear Rayburn’s plans. He came seeking information about this new wave of industry, and by March his city had gone on to approve legislation that now allows medical marijuana

businesses to set up shop in Richmond Heights.

His city and Eastlake may be in a small minority at this point, but local leaders in city councils across the state know that decisions need to be made soon, with such a limited number of licensed operations to go around and the potential that the economic impact might arrive next door instead of your back yard.

“If Parma does not allow the industry, other cities will, and we will lose out on the benefits,” council president Sean Brennan said during a March meeting.

Cleveland, among others, seems fine with that. The city instituted a one-year moratorium on medical marijuana permits, lasting through October 2017. By then, the state’s 24 cultivation licenses likely will have been granted.

Other Northeast Ohio cities that have approved various degrees of moratoria on medical marijuana businesses include: Lakewood, Lyndhurst, Mayfield Heights and Highland Heights. Many cities in the area have been passing sixmonth bans and, when the time comes, reassessing and sometimes extending them. The longer they wait, the less the chance they’ll land one of the limited licensed operations.

“Once you do a moratorium, you’re out of the running for anything,” Eastlake mayor Dennis Morley says. “Right now, you’re in a time crunch.”

As the state chugs along its oversight timeline, Ohio residents and entrepreneurs find themselves in a period of uncertainty, if not outright paranoia on some fronts.

The Cleveland Clinic, for instance,

FEATURE has already offered comments to the State Medical Board of Ohio, indicating the need for a process to remove or modify qualifying conditions.

“It is almost certain that the list of conditions for which marijuana can be used will change,” Kristen Morris, chief government and community relations officer for the hospital, wrote in January.

“And while we expect that we will discover new uses for the plant and its components, we can also expect that evidence will emerge to show that marijuana is not efficacious and may in fact be harmful for some conditions.”

The Clinic offered its thoughts during recent Ohio Medical Board public comment periods, which also gave physicians a platform to express their concerns. Based on those anonymous comments, the sentiment among many Ohio doctors isn’t very optimistic.

A sampling of submitted remarks: “Thanks, but no thanks. I will not be whoring out my medical license to recommend pot”; “I know two people who developed schizophrenia after taking marijuana. I am unwilling to risk that”; “No study has proven the effectiveness of marijuana to treat any condition. Marijuana has very serious negative longterm side effects. I do not ask patients to go home and drink beer. Why would I prescribe marijuana?”; “I suspect that everybody in Ohio will soon have a diagnosis of fibromyalgia”; and “scrap the whole thing.”

There’s a smattering of positive responses but, according to a recent Columbus Business First article, fewer than three in 10 Ohio physicians are interested in obtaining the license necessary to recommend medical marijuana for their patients.

For patients like Dan, this presents a problem. What’s the use of HB 523 if physicians — the linchpin characters in the legal process — don’t participate in realistic numbers? The clunky and confusing rollout hasn’t helped to get those numbers churning.

Ohio physicians have actually been able to recommend medical marijuana for their patients since Sept. 8, 2016. It’s right there in the Ohio Revised Code, which says a doctor is immune from civil liability, disciplinary action and criminal prosecution for “Recommending that a patient use medical marijuana to

treat or alleviate the condition” or “Monitoring a patient’s treatment with medical marijuana.” But many physicians and patients are in the dark on that detail, which is why the holistic health center in Toledo is such a rarity in granting approval to patients in need and sending them up to Michigan to purchase medicine.

Because the law isn’t fully implemented — and won’t be until the fall of 2018, most likely — the legal language in the Ohio Revised Code serves as a defensive “bridge” for patients seeking immediate treatment, according to Rob Ryan,

the executive director of the Ohio Patient Network. The transition, obviously, isn’t an entirely smooth one so far.

“There’s a lot of frustration,” Ryan tells Scene. “There’s a lot of pent-up demand for this — for years.”

Senior legislative counsel for the Marijuana Policy Project, Chris Lindsey, wrote on Jan. 3 that Ohio “lawmakers should amend the affirmative defense section of the current law, and make it clear that lawmakers intended for patients to receive immediate legal protections.”

To help matters, Ryan drafted an Ohio Medical Marijuana

Recommendation form. It’s a straightforward document that gives physicians a place to sign their name and agree to the legal ramifications of their recommendation for a patient to use medical marijuana to treat nearly two dozen qualifying conditions. (The form can be found at ohiopatientsnetwork.org.)

Ryan says the form serves three important functions in this interim period: allowing doctors to see patients now, allowing patients to feel more comfortable and protected if and when they use marijuana, and allowing law enforcement to spend its time dealing with actual crimes.

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FEATURE â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are doctors making these recommendations, and there are doctors who are scared because they think they canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t,â&#x20AC;? Ryan says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Doctors have the power to make recommendations today. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crystal clear. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no doubt about it.â&#x20AC;?

And while accurate, physicians have expressed their own professional doubt.

Reggie Fields, spokesman for the Ohio State Medical Association, tells Scene: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re just trying to make sure that physicians across the state of Ohio are aware of the process and are becoming educated about the law and to remind them that it is voluntary. The law as it is written is a little confusing.â&#x20AC;? To wit: Physicians may recommend marijuana, but they must be certiďŹ ed, but thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no certiďŹ cation process yet.

Ohio is the 29th state to step into medical marijuana law. Programs vary wildly, from the original program passed in California in 1996 to the current generation of tightly regulated medical marijuana laws and reforms. Some have been praised by advocates; some have been pilloried. Some have seen ďŹ&#x201A;ourishing success like Colorado, and others have had false starts, like New York, where less than 1 percent of doctors statewide have agreed to be part of the medical marijuana recommendation program.

Some have operated more or less the same since inception; some have changed course. Michigan, for example, approved a fairly progressive medical marijuana program in 2008 that allowed for patients to grow plants at home.

But in 2014, the state reorganized its laws and reformed the program wholesale, bringing the entire cultivation and processing worlds under state control.

Ohio, by most accounts, has taken stock of the changes in medical marijuana policy in the past two decades. While the state may have rushed its law to preempt a voter initiative, as many have suggested, the local leaders who will carry this program across the ďŹ nish line have been ready to make it a success. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They were substantially more open-minded about the business and they were eager to bring new business into Eastlake,â&#x20AC;? Rayburn says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The city needs new sources

of revenue.â&#x20AC;?

Medical marijuana laws across the U.S. have changed the scope and arc of health care, and the businesses theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve spurred have juiced city and state coffers from coast to coast. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rickety, and even more so in this interim period we ďŹ nd Ohio in right now, but the cities and states that persevere in the process have reaped an ongoing bounty. In 2010, Coloradoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s medical marijuana program reaped $2.2 million in taxes. The state went on to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012, leading to more than $150 million in 2016 tax revenue.

One major background concern, though, is the federal government, which maintains marijuana as a Schedule-I drug, illegal across the board. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has no intent of changing that. â&#x20AC;&#x153;States, they can pass the laws they choose,â&#x20AC;? he said earlier this year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I would just say it does remain a violation of federal law to distribute marijuana throughout any place in the United States, whether a state legalizes it or not.â&#x20AC;?

That hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tempered the optimism of people like Serge Chistov, ďŹ nancial partner to the Honest Marijuana Company, based in Colorado, and a self-stylized ganja guru. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As of right now, the biggest unknown is the policy of the attorney general,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;However, based on his most recent outburst and retraction of such statements, we believe the future is to keep the majority of the decisionmaking regarding marijuana in the statesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; hands. The administration has been promising that since last year. That said, investment in the cannabis ďŹ eld will continue with optimism â&#x20AC;&#x201D; no major change in investment attitude is expected since the administration will continue to leave the power in the state hands of local municipalities.â&#x20AC;?

And despite false starts, local municipalities around Northeast Ohio are ready to embrace the future. â&#x20AC;&#x153;From what Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve learned about it â&#x20AC;&#x201D; how itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s helping these people who are having seizures, and things like that â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m just amazed,â&#x20AC;?

Eastlakeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mayor Morley says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The law, through the legislation and all that, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to be what it is. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not going to say there wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be any hiccups, but weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll work through anything on our end.â&#x20AC;?

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TASTE OF SUMMER

ALEFEST

Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial kickoff to summer and Taste of Summer is the perfect opportunity for people to get outside and enjoy the weather. This event will feature food, local music, craft cocktails, beer, local vendors, Cavs and Indians on the big screen and activities for all ages.

The 9th Annual SCENE Magazine Ale Fest will feature over 100 beers from around the corner to around the globe. The celebration is packed with your favorite porters, stouts, pilasters,ales, wheats, Belgians, ciders, and lagers just to name a few. Ale Fest has live music, interactive games, food booths, local vendors and more.

May 26-28 @ Flats East Bank

Saturday, July 29 1p @ Lincoln Park in Tremont

scenetasteofsummer.com

scenealefestival.com

Tickets On Sale Now!

F I N D O U T A B O U T T H E S E E V E N T S A N D M O R E AT C L E V E S C E N E T I C K E T S . C O M

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| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

everything you should do this week

GET OUT WED

04/19

SPOKEN WORD

Cleveland Stories Dinner Party Cleveland Stories Dinner Party is a weekly series that pairs fine food with storytelling. Through it, the folks at the Music Box Supper Club hope to help raise awareness of the mission of the Western Reserve Historical Society’s new Cleveland History Center.

The goal of the Cleveland Stories Dinner Party is to “bring to life some of the fun, interesting stories about Cleveland’s past — from sports, to rock ’n’ roll, to Millionaires’ Row,” as it’s put in a press release. Admission is free, with no cover charge, although a prix fixe dinner, designed to complement the night’s theme, is $20. Doors open at 5 p.m., dinner is served at 6, and the storytelling starts at 7. Tonight, Cleveland-based author Charles Cassady Jr. will speak about Great Lakes shipwrecks and Eerie Lake ghost stories (he’s written a book about each topic). The featured three-course dinner includes iceberg salad, Edmund Fitzgerald braised pork and coconut cream pie. (Jeff Niesel) 1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com.

ART

Drawing Power Once a month, Great Lakes Brewing Company hosts Cleveland’s Drink & Draw Social Club. The event is organized by the Rust Belt Monster Collective and sponsored by Carol and John’s Comic Book Shop. Drink & Draws are an opportunity for artists of all skill levels to drink, draw, socialize/ network and collaborate in a relaxed and welcoming environment. Events take place at 7 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month, including tonight. At the end of each Drink & Draw, prizes are awarded for various superlatives. Admission is free. (Josh Usmani) 2516 Market Ave., 216-771-4404, greatlakesbrewing.com.

FILM

The Freedom to Marry In his new documentary film, The Freedom to Marry, director Eddie Rosenstein (The Greatest Tunnel Ever Built) explores the manner in which same-sex marriage went from being a “preposterous notion” to something widely accepted. The movie makes its Cleveland premiere tonight at 7 at the Cleveland Museum

The Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque screens a digital restoration of Sympathy for the Devil. See: Friday.

$5 and wine is $6; museum members and Case students get free admission.

(Niesel) 1 Wade Oval Dr., 216-231-4600, cmnh.org.

THU

04/20

MUSIC

of Art, where it shows again at 7 on Friday night. Tickets are $9, or $7 for CMA members, seniors and students.

(Niesel) 11150 East Blvd., 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org.

DANCE

Move — Beyond — Live on Tour Siblings Derek and Julianne Hough promise that their current show, which features brand-new stage production inspired by earth, wind, fire and water, will bring fans on “a journey of dance and music, taking inspiration directly from the four elements as an exploration of the human relationship with nature.” The duo will be joined by the Move Company Dancers for group performances that range from ballroom and tap to salsa and hiphop. Tonight’s performance begins at 8 at the Akron Civic Theatre. Tickets are $45 to $79.50. (Niesel) 182 South Main St., Akron, 330-253-2488, akroncivic.com.

COMEDY

Chris Rock A true Renaissance man, comedian, actor, director, writer and producer Chris Rock does a bit of everything.

Rock’s career goes back decades, and he returned this year to host the 88th annual Academy Awards and also recently directed HBO’s comedy special Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo.

Earlier this year, the multi-talented performer announced a return to live comedy with his all-new Total Blackout Tour 2017. His first tour in more than nine years, it kicked off in February.

At 8 tonight and tomorrow night, Rock performs at the State Theatre.

Tickets are $49.50 to $125. (Niesel) 1519 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

HEALTH

Spring into Health 2017: Community Health Fair In partnership with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Gallagher Benefit Services, the Cleveland Museum of Art hosts the Spring into Health 2017: Community Health Fair today from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The fair includes an American Red Cross blood drive, demonstrations by local fitness studios, healthy food samples and free health screenings. Additionally, Cavs legend Elmore Smith will speak at 1:30 p.m., and special fitness and dance demonstrations will be conducted by the Cleveland Cavs Entertainers, including the Cavalier Girls, Scream Team, QSpiritSquad and Monster Hockey Girls. While you’re visiting the museum, don’t forget to check out Basquiat: The Unknown Notebooks.

This introspective exhibition of works by Brooklyn-born Jean-Michel Basquiat closes on April 23. Admission is free. (Usmani) 11150 East Blvd., 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org.

HAPPY HOUR

Think & Drink with the Extinct Billed as “one of the brainiest happy hours in Cleveland,” Think & Drink with the Extinct, a monthly gathering at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, represents more than just an opportunity to get wasted. Rather, patrons actually learn something as the museum’s staff members give interactive demonstrations and talk about topics in science. This month’s event is all about bugs and includes insect robots, live praying mantises, and samples of edible crunchy critters.

The “drinking” part is fueled by Platform Beer Co. It takes place from 5 to 9 p.m. Admission is $8, beer is

Decades Rewind A brand new theatrical concert that features more than 60 songs blended into unique medleys from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, Decades Rewind aims to bring your memories to life with over 100 costume changes and videos that turn back time. You’ll hear everything from Aretha to Zeppelin.

The performance takes place tonight at 7:30 at the Ohio Theatre. Tickets are $41 to $47. (Niesel) 1501 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

MUSIC

Don Quixote Inspired by the Cervantes’ satire Don Quixote, Richard Strauss’ tone poem provides an elaborate and richly detailed portrayal of the deranged Don and his sidekick Sancho Panza. Tonight at Severance Hall, the Cleveland Orchestra performs the piece, which features musical depictions of Don Quixote’s various misadventures. The program also features music by Delius and Vaughan Williams, bringing together a delightful set of musical pleasures.

Rose Breckenridge, administrator and lecturer with the Cleveland Orchestra Music Study Groups, gives the preconcert talk, “Rhapsodies and Dreams.” Performances take place at 7:30 tonight, 11 a.m. tomorrow (minus the Vaughan Williams piece) and 8 on Saturday night. Tickets start at $29.

(Niesel) 11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.

COMEDY

Steve Gillespie Fearless, light-hearted and hilarious are some of the many terms used to describe comedian Steve Gillespie. He combines aggression and absurdity to create a humorous show filled with laughter. He has a crass sense of humor and is not afraid to speak his mind, which makes him appealing and relatable to the audience. He jokes about whatever crosses his mind, such as his own looks and personality, having children and being forced to | clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

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GET OUT

FRI

04/21

COMEDY

grow up and mature. He performs tonight at 8 at Hilarities. Tickets are $18 and $23. (Hannah Borison) 2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com.

Jim Breuer Things are tough for Jim Breuer.

have kids, he’ll probably convince you to delay that decision a little longer.

Breuer is in town for two days, with appearances tonight at 7:30 and 10 and tomorrow night at 7 and 9:30 at

FILM

Lovesong Lovesong, the fourth film from director So Yong Kim (In Between Days, Treeless Mountain), centers on two college friends (Jena Malone and Riley Keogh) who develop feelings for each other after they take an impromptu road trip together. The movie makes its Cleveland debut tonight at 6:45 at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque, where it screens again at 9:30 tomorrow night. Tickets are $10, or $7 for Cinematheque members and students.

(Niesel) 11610 Euclid Ave., 216-421-7450, cia.edu.

SCHEDULE ALL FILMS START AT 7 PM | ROCK HALL’S FOSTER THEATER

WED.

ACTIVISM

A Sign-Making Party On Saturday, scientists, advocates, educators and concerned citizens will take part in the March for Science — on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as well as in more than 425 other locations around the world. Today, Platform Beer Co. hosts a sign-making party from 5 to 8 p.m., where science supporters can create signs and have a drink; Platform will donate $1 from each beer sold to Cleveland’s march. Street parking is available, but attendees are encouraged to park in the Bodnar-Mahoney Funeral Home lot on the corner of West 41st and Lorain.

Admission is free. (Usmani) 4125 Lorain Ave., 216-202-1386, facebook.com/sciencemarchcle.

WED.

Thur.

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Tupac Live at the House of Blues & see the new 2017 Inductee exhibit

Sir Doug and the Genuine Texas Cosmic Groove Celebrating the Summer of Love 50th anniversary

A Hard Day’s Night Beatles. Classic.

CASH BAR available at each film

ART

Emergent 2017 Heights Arts’ Emergent 2017 collects works by recent graduates of local colleges and universities.

First presented in 2015, Emergent 2017 is the second installment of this invitational showcase. Schools represented in this year’s exhibition include Baldwin Wallace University, the Cleveland Institute of Art, Kent State University and the University of Akron. Emergent 2017 opens with a reception tonight from 6 to 9 and remains on view through June 4.

Admission is free. (Usmani) 2175 Lee Rd., Cleveland Hts., 216-371-3457, heightsarts.org.

HAPPY HOUR

FREE for Members • Non-Members $5.50

THEATER

A Streetcar Named Desire A timeless classic about “delusion, reality, madness, love and loss,” the Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire takes place in a small garden apartment in 1940s New Orleans. It centers on Stanley Kowalski, a roughneck whose primitive desires violently class with Blanch Dubois’ longing for a past which may or may not have ever existed. The CSU theater and dance department give it a go today at 7:30 p.m. at the Helen Rosenfeld Lewis Bialosky Lab Theatre on Playhouse Square, where performances continue through April 30. Tickets are $10.

(Niesel) 1407 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

4/26 5/17 5/25

in Collinwood, takes the series farther from downtown than it has ever traveled. This month’s CreativeMornings speaker is Robin VanLear, director of community art at the Cleveland Museum of Art, as well as founder and director of Parade the Circle for the past 28 years. The event takes place from 8:30 to 10 a.m. Complimentary coffee and pastries will be provided.

Registration is free but limited. To register, visit the website. (Usmani) 16010 Waterloo Rd., 216-224-3470, creativemornings.com/talks/robinvanlear.

1100 Rock and Roll Boulevard, Cleveland, OH 44114 | rockhall.com | 216.781.ROCK

He’s got three adorable kids who torture him and make his hangover unbearable. The second one was born with a broken volume control and their favorite antics are conducting parades with pots and pans at 6 in the morning. Poor dude. As if that wasn’t enough, they never want to be part of family pictures and they force their poor dad to play Barbie dolls for hours on end. His drunken-dad shtick can be alarming at times, but he’s actually pretty funny and obviously loves his family. If you have kids, you’ll cringe but relate. If you don’t

| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

Hilarities Fourth Street Theatre at Pickwick & Frolic. Tickets are $35.

(Liz Trenholme) 2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com.

SPOKEN WORD

CreativeMornings CLE CreativeMornings CLE is a breakfast lecture series for the creative community, and part of a global network of CreativeMornings.

The theme for the latest lecture is “beyond.” Fittingly, its location, the Waterloo Sculpture Garden

Happy Hour with Education Happy hour doesn’t have to be just an excuse to get wasted after a hard day at the office. For tonight’s Happy Hour with Education at Dunham Tavern, Casey Forbes, noted wine expert and owner of Vintage Wines, will present a talk about “historic” wines, discuss his personal journey into the fascinating world of wine, and provide tastes of some of his favorites. There will be cheeses and nibbles of all kinds to accompany the wine. Admission is $10 for members, or $15 for non-members.

It takes place from 6 to 8 p.m. See the website for reservations. (Niesel) 6709 Euclid Ave., 216-431-1060, dunhamtavern.org.

COMEDY

Haters Roast: The Shady Tour Self-professed “sharp-tongued queens” from RuPaul’s Drag Race take to the stage tonight with stingers and zingers to address issues ranging from politics to love and social media. The show begins at 8 at the Ohio Theatre. Tickets are $29 to $164. (Niesel) 1519 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017 GLAMJAMCLE.COM

DRESDEN BURAS MUA

| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

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CLE New Wave Connection s 02%3%.43 s

One Year Anniversary of The Flashback

80’s New Wa ve Dance Party DJ’s - Ally, Guy Wires, Dark Nave and Diamond Dave 3ATURDAY !PRIL ND s PM AM

10 PM-2:30 AM

The Chamber

MUSIC

Kent Reggae Jam The annual Kent Reggae Jam aims to promote “reggae rhythms, free flowing jams and other island sounds.”

This year’s jam takes place at 14 venues in downtown Kent. The lineup features a who’s who of local reggae and jam acts, including Outlaws I & I, the JiMiller Band and Rhodes Street Rude Boys. The festival takes place from 5 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. today, and admission is free. For more information on the festival and to see a full schedule, go to the website. (Niesel) kentreggaejam.com.

11814 Detroit Ave. Lakewood OH FILM

Sympathy for the Devil Tonight at 7, the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque will screen a new digital restoration of the Jean Luc Godard classic Sympathy for the Devil.

Godard’s first feature after Weekend, the film features scenes of social and political unrest that include clips of black militants, student revolts and women’s liberationists interspersed with footage of the Rolling Stones in the studio working on the song that gives the movie its title. New Yorkbased visual artist Adam Pendleton, subject of the one-man show Adam Pendleton: Becoming Imperceptible at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, selected the film because he regards it as a suitable companion piece to his 2012 short film Lorraine O’Grady: A Portrait, which will precede the feature. Tickets are $9, or $7 for students and Cinematheque members.

(Niesel) 11610 Euclid Ave., 216-421-7450, cia.edu.

ART

Third Friday With spring in the air, April’s Third Friday open studios event at 78th Street Studios is in full bloom. Each Third Friday takes place from 5 to 9 p.m., with live music at Survival Kit on the third floor beginning at 9 p.m.

New exhibitions include Rock, Paper, Scissors, Rock!, a rock-themed group art show at E11even 2; Six in Studio at the Cleveland West Art League; Catherine Redmond’s The Ineffable at Tregoning & Company; and Thought Vacation at PopEye Gallery. Katy Richards and Mike Meier, alumni of the Cleveland Institute of Art, have ongoing exhibitions at Hedge Gallery and Forum Artspace, respectively.

Additionally, live music will be provided throughout the evening on the building’s ramp (basement) level by the Kent State New Music Ensemble.

Beginning this Sunday, many of the building’s tenants will participate in monthly Sunday Fundays on Third

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| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

Friday weekends. These new monthly events will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Usmani) 1300 West 78th St., 78thstreetstudios.com.

ART

Your Pain is Worth Nothing The Muted Horn, an underground gallery in Cleveland, presents new work by Brooklyn-based artist Johannah Herr. Your Pain is Worth Nothing opens with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. today. Using rich colors and dense patterning to seduce, disarm and subvert, Herr’s work explores “direct and indirect manifestations of state-sanctioned violence.” Herr splits her time living and working in Brooklyn and Mae Wang, Thailand.

She received her MFA in sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2016, after earning her BFA from Parsons School of Design. Herr’s work has been exhibited in several solo shows in New York, as well as in Estonia and Mongolia. The Muted Horn exhibit continues through May 22. Admission is free. (Usmani) 5713 Tillman Ave., 216-202-4971, facebook.com/Themutedhorn.

SAT

04/22

ART

Balancing Work, Family and Creativity: Mother Artists The Shaker Community Gallery is a new arts organization inside the Christ Episcopalian Church in Shaker Heights dedicated to showcasing local artists. The gallery’s first exhibition celebrates the efforts and creativity of artists who also happen to be mothers. Balancing Work, Family and Creativity: Mother Artists opens with a reception from 4 to 7 p.m. today. The exhibition remains on view through June 3. Admission is free. (Usmani) 3445 Warrensville Center Rd., Shaker Heights, facebook.com/ shakercommunitygallery.

COCKTAILS

Cleveland Whiskey Remix: Old City Soda Pop-up Cocktail Party Cleveland Whiskey has teamed up with the folks at Old City Soda for the second event in their 2017 Remix open house series. Dubbed the Old City Soda Pop-up Cocktail Party, the event will feature tastings, distillery tours, snacks, giveaways and entertainment.

Guests can sample Collins-style cocktail creations made especially for the event. All the “fixings” to make each cocktail at home will be available as well. Guests who purchase a bottle of bourbon and a four-pack of soda will receive a limited edition Old City Soda

APR IL 21, 20 1 7

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER “A DIZZYING AND EXCITING PLACE TO BE”

FREE LIVE MUSIC AT 14 DOWNTOWN KENT, OH VENUES! ONE NIGHT ONLY!

The New York Times

SCHEDULE 101 BOTTLES OF BEER ON THE WALL (115 N. WILLOW ST.) 7:30 to 9:30 PM: Xela 157 LOUNGE (157 S. WATER ST.) 8 to 10 PM: Danny Jah BENT TREE COFFEE ROASTERS (313 N. WATER ST.) 4 to 7 PM: G.S. Schray

APR 1 – 23 | OUTCALT THEATRE Ex-cop Walter “Pops” Washington is not about to compromise on the racially-charged lawsuit he filed years ago against the NYPD — even if it means risking the rent-controlled apartment he shares with his son and colorful surrogate family. An exuberant tale of truth, family, and pride.

BUFFALO WILD WINGS (176 E. MAIN ST.) 7 to 10 PM: Gypsies In The Palace

DAVE'S COSMIC SUBS (215 S. WATER ST.) 5 to 7 PM: Dreadlock Dave of Waterband

RAY’S PLACE (135 FRANKLIN AVE.) 9:30 PM to 12:30 AM: The Cliftones TREE CITY COFFEE & PASTRY (135 E. ERIE ST.) 7 to 10 PM: Rhodes St Rude Boys

DOMINICK’S PUB (147 FRANKLIN AVE.) 9 PM to 1 AM: Outlaws I & I FRANKLIN HOTEL BAR (176 E. MAIN ST.) 6:30 to 9:30 PM: Erynn Krebs Steel Drum Duo

VENICE CAFÉ (163 W. ERIE ST.) 8 to 11 PM: JiMiller Band

THE LOFT (112 W. MAIN ST.) 8 PM to MIDNIGHT: Raymon & The Ganjauthorities

WATER STREET TAVERN (132 S. WATER ST.) 7 to 9 PM: Joel Colvendar 9:30 PM to 12 AM: 40oz to Freedom

THE PUB (401 FRANKLIN AVE.) 6 to 8 PM: Raw Sugar

ZEPHYR PUB (106 W. MAIN ST.) 8 to 10:30 PM: Human Nature

written by STEPHEN ADLY GUIRGIS | directed by ROBERT BARRY FLEMING STRONG LANGUAGE AND ADULT/SEXUAL SITUATIONS

216.241.6000 clevelandplayhouse.com | clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

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GET OUT + Cleveland Whiskey Collins glass.

The event takes place from noon to 4 p.m. inside the Cleveland Whiskey distillery. (Niesel) 1768 East 25th St., clevelandwhiskey.com.

MUSIC

$

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10.00HalOf FF the Marathon

Flying Horse Farms’ Campfire One of O.A.R.’s earliest songs, “That Was a Crazy Game of Poker,” came out on the band’s 1997 album The Wanderer. With the twangy first half of the song in which Marc Roberge sings in a bit of a drawl about how he’s “gotta throw it all down and kiss it goodbye,” it continues to be a fan favorite that the group always plays live. Expect the Ohio-based band to bust it out when it performs at the Flying Horse Farms’ Campfire, today at the Tinkham Veale University Center on the CWRU campus. Ohio native and America’s Got Talent star Caly Bevier will open the show. Part of the SeriousFun Children’s Network (SFCN), Flying Horse Farms provides “magical, transformative camp experiences” for children with serious illnesses. The camp, on 200 acres just outside Mt. Gilead, regularly hosts hundreds of children with serious illnesses free of charge. Founded in 1988 by actor, philanthropist and Ohio native Paul Newman, SFCN is a community of independently managed and financed camps and programs creating opportunities for children with serious illnesses. The event, which runs from 6 to 11 p.m., will include cocktails, food, live music and “inspiration.” Tickets cost $200.

(Niesel) 11038 Bellflower Rd., 216-368-5681, humanities.case.edu.

MARKET

Frostville’s Indoor Farmers Market Today is the last day of the season to shop Frostville’s Winter Farmers Market, at the Frostville Museum in North Olmsted. You’ll find local farmers, artisans and speciality food vendors selling seasonal vegetables, honey, eggs, organic cheese, tea, wine, soaps, jewelry and assorted crafts. Today’s market takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the museum’s barn, in the Cleveland Metroparks’ Rocky River Reservation. (Niesel) 24101 Cedar Point Rd., North Olmsted, 330-592-6518, frostvillefarmersmarket.com.

FUNDRAISER

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| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

GatherPalooza A non-profit, community-based cancer support center that focuses on “the social, emotional, physical and spiritual needs of individuals with cancer and their family and friends,” the Gathering Place hosts the second annual GatherPalooza fundraiser at Grays Armory today from 6:30 to 11 p.m. The event will feature a Battle of the Bands between local acts Witness Protection, the Retractors, Faith and Whiskey, and 80-HD, rock bands that include Cleveland area professionals in health care, law and insurance.

Live Nation’s Barry Gabel will serve as the emcee. Proceeds support the free services offered at the Gathering Place. A raffle promises the chance to win two nights/three days at the Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World. The prize package includes roundtrip airfare. General admission tickets are $100 and VIP tickets cost $175. General admission includes food stations along with two complimentary drink tickets. VIP tickets also include a seat at a reserved table and open bar access. (Niesel) 1234 Bolivar Rd., 216-781-2500, touchedbycancer.org/ gatherpaloozathesequel.

ART

Nobody Likes You When You’re 23 Nobody Likes You When You’re 23 is a group exhibition by a diverse collective of artists from Northeast Ohio, as well as New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Montana and Montreal.

The show’s title is inspired by Blink 182 lyrics, and these artists all share one thing in common: They will all turning 23 at some point during 2017. A one-night-only pop-up show, Nobody Likes You When You’re 23 takes place from 6 to 10 tonight. The show includes live music from local musicians. Donations will be collected to support them, as well as supporting Preterm Cleveland and the LGBT Cleveland Community Center. (Usmani) 1390 East 30th St., facebook.com/ events/2016767888550708.

ART

Lab Studios Open House Recently, Glo opened The Lab: An Urban Arts Incubator, a retail space for locally produced products in the 5th Street Arcade. This weekend, Glo hosts an open house for its new Lab Studios, a 5,000-square-foot space that includes the Photo Lab with resident photographer Thomas Sawyer, the Capsule (a 12-foot by 17-foot staging area), an art gallery and more. Lab Studios’ open house takes place from 6 to 11 p.m. tonight. It includes an urban market with local vendors, live performances, local art, and music by

DJs Forrest Getem Gump, ChopUFL, Flava K and Bboys. Admission is free.

(Usmani) 2460 Lakeside Ave., 216-202-7292, glocleveland.com.

SUN

04/23

member and $85 per non-member couple. To purchase tickets, visit the website. Space is limited. (Usmani) 410 East 30th St., 216-621-2900, zygotepress.com.

MON

04/24

MUSIC

BRUNCH

Celtic Woman: Voices of Angels Tour For more than 10 years, Celtic Woman has been a global sensation. The press release for the show promises “a treasure chest of traditional Irish standards, classical favorites and contemporary pop songs.” The four female singers are well-versed in traditional Irish folk tunes. Featuring songs from their Voices of Angels album, the concert will highlight all new stage designs, stunning wardrobes, superb choreography and “magnificent arrangements of timeless Irish traditional and contemporary standards.” The concert is today at 3 p.m. at the State Theatre. Tickets are $45.75 to $105.75. (Niesel) 1519 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

Industry Brunch Brunch isn’t just a Saturday/Sunday thing. Over at Mahall’s, you can grab a great brunch on Mondays as the club caters to industry folks who have the day off. Not that you have to work in the restaurant industry to indulge. The menu features items such as Chicken and Donuts, a dish that features three pieces of fried chicken along with two Old Hushers’ doughnuts. Other staples include the Everything Pretzel and the Creamy Egg Sandwich. A DJ from WCSB will be on hand to spin cool tunes too. It runs from noon to 4. (Niesel) 13200 Madison Ave., Lakewood, 216-521-3280, mahalls20lanes.com.

TUE

04/25

FILM

Conduct! Every Move Counts In his documentary film, Conduct!

Every Move Counts, Gotz Schauder documents the experiences of five young people who travel to the Frankfurt Opera House to compete in the biennial Sir Georg Solti Conductors’ Competition. The movie makes its Cleveland premiere today at 1:30 p.m. at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it shows again at 7 p.m. on April 26. Tickets are $9, or $7 for CMA members, students and seniors. (Niesel) 11150 East Blvd., 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org.

SPORTS

Indians vs. Houston Astros After a few years of rebuilding (and losing 100 games a season in the process), the Houston Astros returned to the playoffs in 2015. While they missed last year’s playoffs, they still won more games than they lost. And the team has a perennial All-Star in second baseman Jose Carlos Altuve.

Tonight, the Astros start a three-game series against the Tribe. The game begins at 6:10 p.m., and tickets start at $13. (Niesel) 2401 Ontario St., 216-420-4487, clevelandindians.com.

YOU CAN’T TAKE IT

WITH

YOU

ART

Open House Collectors Tour In conjunction with its recent exhibition, Ghost Images, Zygote Press hosts an Open House Collectors Tour of the Joan Tomkins and William Busta Collection today from 3 to 5 p.m. Owners of the legendary William Busta Gallery, Tomkins and Busta will open their home to discuss their collection and the practice of fine art collecting. Joining the couple will be renowned Cleveland-based artists Laurence Channing, Kristen Cliffel and Michael Loderstedt. The first in a new series of Open House Collectors Tours presented by Zygote Press, the event supports the nonprofit printmaking organization and helps the public understand how many local collectors have built their collections.

Tickets are $45 per member and $80 per member couple, or $50 per non-

THEATER

Something Rotten The director of Aladdin and the co-director of The Book of Mormon have teamed up to deliver Something Rotten, a Broadway hit that comes to town tonight for a three-week run. Set in 1595, the play tells the story of two brothers desperate to write a hit play.

One critic described the play as “The Producers + The Book of Mormon x The Drowsy Chaperone. Squared.” It opens tonight at 7:30 at Connor Palace, where performances continue through May 14. Tickets are $10 to $95. (Niesel) 1615 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

written by MOSS HART & GEORGE S. KAUFMAN www.karamuhouse.org | 216.795.7077

Find more events @clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

April 20 - May 7 | clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

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is $5, and free for Spaces season pass holders and children age 17 and under.

ART

THE FIRST 100+ DAYS, YOKO INOUE AND HOME AGAIN.

CRASH COURSE Spaces’ Monster Drawing Rally revs up artistic action this weekend

By Josh Usmani NOW IN ITS SEVENTH YEAR, Spaces’ Monster Drawing Rally is one of the city’s most highly anticipated annual art events. For one night only, more than 100 artists from throughout Northeast Ohio will create original artwork inside Spaces’ new home in Hingetown. Drawing takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, April 22, and the event continues until 10 p.m.

It is not often that 100 artists gather under one roof to create.

Typically, artists do their craft in the solitude of their studios, and the completed work appears in galleries like magic. Spaces offers these talented artists the opportunity to perform like tightrope walkers without a net in front of hundreds of viewers. It also gives the audience a rare glimpse into more than a hundred creative processes. In one night, viewers can observe dozens of techniques and styles.

“Everything we do this year in our new home is taking on a different, yet familiar, tone,” says Spaces’ executive director Christina Vassallo. “This year’s Monster Drawing Rally will

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include all the fun things that only Spaces can pull off, like organizing over 100 Cleveland-based artists to create new artwork on the spot, and having space for kids and teens to make their own masterpieces with materials that we provide.

It’s fascinating to see the range of approaches that so many different kinds of artists take to their work, up close in such a frenetic environment.”

Beginning at 6 p.m., approximately 35 artists will begin drawing. The word “drawing” has always been used loosely, with artists frequently printing, photographing, sculpting, etc. During the hour, some artists create one work, while others produce

be purchased while it is being created.

Guests can only purchase a work once it is hung on the wall. A cash-andcarry event, guests take purchases home at the end of the evening. For the audience, the best part may be the ability to purchase work that was created in front of your eyes. Not only do you get a new, one-of-a-kind work of art; you get a story to go along with it.

Young artists are encouraged to join in by creating and displaying their art in the Lil’ Monster and Teen Wolf drawing sections in the Spaces Mistake Lab. Admission includes a spin on the Blick Art Materials Prize Wheel, non-

SPACES’ MONSTER DRAWING RALLY 2900 DETROIT AVE., 216-621-2314 SPACESGALLERY.ORG

several. At the top of each hour, a new group begins, and this continues for three, hour-long rounds.

All works are sold for $75 each to support the nonprofit organization and its programming. Artwork cannot

| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

stop dance party and cash bar. Several food trucks will be parked outside the gallery. Unsold work will remain on view from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 23.

Monster Drawing Rally admission

Less than two weeks later, Spaces debuts its latest exhibitions: The First 100+ Days, Yoko Inoue and Home Again. Opening with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, May 5, all three exhibitions remain on view through June 30.

Curated by Spaces executive director Christina Vassallo, with assistance from Spaces R&D coordinator Karl Anderson, The First 100+ Days is a group exhibition of Ohio-based artists’ initial responses to the first phase of Trump’s presidential term, specifically his immigration policy.

“Through this exhibition and our calendar of related events, we can glean something about how Ohioans are processing the social, economic and political implications of the shifting policies,” says Vassallo. “At the opening reception, visitors can expect to see newly created artworks by nine Ohio-based artists, experience a performance by choreographer and dancer Gregory King, and engage with members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association of Cleveland through the ‘Meet a Muslim’ campaign.”

Based in Brooklyn, New York, Yoko Inoue is Spaces’ current SWAP Artist in Residence. During her time here, Inoue is researching the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Japanese Art Collection, particularly pertaining to former director Sherman Emory Lee and his role as a “Monuments Man” in Japan during post-WWII occupation.

Inoue’s exhibition, Tea Taste Democracy and Upside Down Objects, juxtaposes Lee’s understanding of Japanese cultural identity with the widely circulated kitsch figurines that were stamped “made in occupied Japan” and sold to America’s middle class as home decor. As part of the exhibition, Inoue is working with the Cleveland Institute of Art’s ceramics department to create a series of figurines that question these objects’ contemporary value and relevance.

Curated by Cigdem Slankard, Home Again is a series of videos on view in Spaces’ Vault. Home Again explores the meaning of “home” in a contemporary context, as both a physical place and an abstract emotion.

jusmani@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

STAGE COMING SOON So now that the real spring in Cleveland is upon us, a preview of what to catch on the stage this season

By Christine Howey THERE ARE A NUMBER OF shows on tap from now until the first day of summer that will make you open up like a new daisy, or at least a Venus Fly Trap.

about an American soldier who meets a French girl in the Paris of our dreams.

Ooh-la-la.

Playhouse Square, June 20 to July 9

SING LIKE A BIRD Performers are ready to trill, delivering the songs in musicals such as Freaky Friday, the new musical adaptation of the hit Disney film from back in the day. Mom and teen daughter switch bodies, hilarity and crooning ensue.

Cleveland Play House, April 15 to May 20

SEX, VIOLENCE & RELIGION How can you miss with any combination of those topics? In Hand to God, kids in a small Texas town are taught to steer clear of Satan’s hand. But then, at a Christian puppet ministry, a puppet goes all Damien-ish in this raucous comedy.

Dobama Theatre, April 21 to May 21

Ever wonder what the first musical sounded like? Of course not, but here’s the answer anyway in Something Rotten. At the end of the 16th century, brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom go (hilariously) crazy writing their own show.

Playhouse Square, April 25 to May 14

Is violence the best response to life under a repressive regime? Before we test that theory out for real in the U.S., Massacre (Sing to Your Children) takes a stab at it. This play promises more gore than BOGO-day at the local abattoir. convergence continuum theater, May 19 to June 10

If a four-person, close-harmony guy group of singers has to die in an automobile accident, what could be better than coming back to life for one last chance at stardom? That’s what happens to the doomed but tuneful nerds in Forever Plaid.

Great Lakes Theater, May 5 to 21

Sexual politics and class warfare on a college campus raise their ugly heads in Really Really. Based loosely on the Duke lacrosse team hoax/scandal, the play delves into a story involving a supposed sexual assault and all the issues whirling around it.

Beck Center, June 2 to July 2

It’s “If I Loved You,” it’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” and yes, it’s none other than Carousel by those up-andcomers Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Hey, it’s just the greatest musical of the 20th century (Time magazine).

Mercury Theatre Company, June 9 to 24

Sexual tension = The Taming of the Shrew. Love it, hate it, see it. At the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival — plus, it’s free and it’s outside at various venues around town.

June 16 to July 2

Back when 9 to 5 came out in 1980, we thought it might help change things for abused working women. Ha! So now the musical version will take a swing at the same material, with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton.

Porthouse Theatre, June 15 to July 1 Lush music and stellar dancing: You can have it all in An American in Paris, the new Tony-winning piece

TWISTING REALITY What happens when you discover you’re not alone in your own body?

The insanely prolific Cleveland playwright Eric Coble will provide the answer in These Mortal Hosts at the New Ground Theatre Festival.

Cleveland Play House, May 11 to 20 There are doldrums in a video game store? Hard to imagine. But it happens, along with fracturing realities, in Red Ash Mosaic, an original creation by Raymond Bobgan and his fiendishly

Freaky Friday

Beck Center, 17801 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, 216-521-2540, beckcenter.org.

Blank Canvas Theatre, at the West 78th Street Studios, 440-941-0458, blankcanvastheatre.com. convergence-continuum at The Liminis, 2438 Scranton Rd., 216-687-0074, convergence-continuum.org.

Cleveland Play House, Playhouse Square, 1407 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, clevelandplayhouse.com.

Cleveland Public Theatre, 6415 Detroit Ave., 216-631-2727, cptonline.org.

Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, cleveshakes.com.

Dobama Theatre, 2340 Lee Rd., Cleveland Heights, 216-932-3396, dobama.org.

Ensemble Theatre, 2843 Washington Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-321-2930, ensembletheatrecle.org.

Great Lakes Theater, Hanna Theatre, 2067 East 14th St., 216-241-6000, greatlakestheater.org.

Karamu House, performing temporarily at Tri-C East Performing Arts Center, 4250 Richmond Rd., Highland Heights, 216-795-7070, karamuhouse.org.

None Too Fragile Theater, 1835 Merriman Rd., Akron (enter through Pub Bricco), 330-962-5547, nonetoofragile.com.

Playhouse Square, Connor Palace, 1615 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.com. innovative team.

Cleveland Public Theatre, May 25 to June 17.

Did Einstein and Picasso ever chew the fat? Could be. And comedian Steve Martin wrote up this idea in the “what if” play Picasso at the Lapin Agile.

Blank Canvas Theatre, June 9 to 24 ECCENTRICS AND OTHERS Few writers have ever been funnier than George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, and they prove it with a passel of eccentric folks in You Can’t Take It With You. Karamu House, April 20 to May 7

Life as a transfer student from the Middle East is tough enough without having the vice principal on your case, as he is in Cleveland-bred playwright Rajiv Joseph’s The North Pool.

Ensemble Theatre, April 28 to May 21 Esteemed local playwright George Brant explores what happens when a young man dies and his possessions are fought over by his mother, sister and girlfriend. none too fragile theater, May 6 to 20

scene@clevescene.com t@christinehowey | clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

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| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

MOVIES FIRE BRIGADE Free Fire is jokey ensemble shootout comedy

By Sam Allard IT SEEMS INDELICATE TO recommend a movie that features gun violence so prominently (and so flippantly) in the immediate wake of the Steve Stephens incident, but Free Fire, directed by Brit Ben Wheatley, which opens Friday in limited release, does precisely that. It’s an ensemble period piece (1978, Boston) that’s much more a “shootout comedy” than a traditional “action comedy.” The bulk of the film is an elaborate, often hysterical, warehouse gun fight precipitated by an arms deal that goes south (as arms deals are wont to do).

Chris (Cillian Murphy) is an emissary from Ireland, presumably with ties to the IRA. He’s in the U.S. to buy machine guns from a dandy of a South African dealer named Vernon (Sharlto Copley) and his attache Martin (Babou Ceesay).

The dockside warehouse meeting has been facilitated, to varying degrees, by Chris’s associate Frank (Michael Smiley), a dodgy negotiator named Justine (Brie Larsen) and a pot-smoking, sports coat-wearing fixer named Ord (Armie Hammer).

Tension initially mounts when Vernon supplies the wrong model firearm, but it bubbles over when the opposing “muscle” (Sam Riley and

Jack Reynor, respectively) squabble over a personal disagreement from the previous evening.

Much to everyone’s annoyance, the ordeal becomes an all-out shootout.

The melee is happily, and for the most part coherently, staged, with the opposing combatants taking cover behind vehicles, blocks of concrete, and assorted bags and machinery harvested from the industrial site. Everyone is shot,

repeatedly, and in many cases beaten, burned, strangled and cudgeled in one-on-one brawls.

Yet they all remain chipper throughout, exchanging barbs as they exchange fire. It must be no accident that no one ever seems seriously injured — the duration of a few of the characters’ survival is an ongoing gag — until the end.

And given the tone, even when few are left standing, you half-expect everyone to get up, pat the dust and

blood from their jackets and limp back to their cars as they light cigarettes. It’s more like watching a hyper-realistic paintball battle with ’70s-era costumes and hairdos than an actual gun fight.

The script is bumpy at first. The pre-shootout scenes sometimes play like first takes, and the chummy chemistry only develops as the violence escalates. Copley, with his blond hair and outrageous accent, is the highlight, a source of recurring humor. At one point, he sheathes himself in cardboard to protect his beloved suit.

The shootout, however, isn’t quite diverse or interesting enough in its choreography or internal narratives not to induce a bit of boredom. Given the brief 83-minute run time, why not invest an additional eight or 10 minutes for character development and mystery-building before the shootout? There is a twist relating to the allegiance of one of the characters, and while the idea is appreciated, the groundwork for the revelation is fl imsily laid.

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

SPOTLIGHT: DAVID LYNCH: THE ART LIFE REVIEW YOU MIGHT EXPECT A documentary about David Lynch to discuss and interpret the slew of hugely influential films that he’s directed. However, David Lynch: The Art Life doesn’t cover Lynch’s film work outside of a few short films and the inception of Eraserhead, Lynch’s first full-length feature from 1977. Instead, it paints him more broadly as a singular artist. The documentary features David Lynch speaking and narrating the arc of his development as an artist. In effect, the film is autobiographical, though it only covers the earlier stages of Lynch’s career.

Lynch doesn’t really offer explanations of his work or interpretations of what his work might mean. Rather, the film allows Lynch to obliquely describe his life

and processes that led him to being a creative person. The documentary shows present-day Lynch making a few new pieces of art interspersed with archival footage of Lynch and prior artwork he’s made.

The result is an odd portrait of a deeply internal artist. The beginning of the documentary feels a bit slow, but once Lynch starts describing his “Art Life”, the film really becomes engaging. Strangely, the documentary doesn’t uncover that much new information, but there are little clues to his films hidden within the stories Lynch tells. In some of his anecdotes, fans can piece together how certain elements of his films may have been formed.

Hardcore fans will likely recognize much of the material in the documentary, but for casual fans,

there’s a lot of detail here. Many of the biographical incidents Lynch covers have appeared in interviews or have been written about before, but the film does offer an intriguing and abstract look at Lynch’s creative process — both in the past and in the present. — Johnny Cook

CAPITOL THEATRE TO HOST FUNDRAISER GALA FRIDAY The Friends of the Capitol Theatre group and the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization will host a gala Friday evening to raise money for the Capitol Theatre in the Gordon Square Arts District.

The theatre, owned by the CDC and operated by Cleveland Cinemas, has been struggling since it opened

in 2009 to attract large enough audiences to keep it in operation.

Organizers hope to raise $70,000 for the theater.

“DSCDO is committed to ensuring that the Capitol will remain a neighborhood gem for years to come,” said Jenny Spencer, managing director of DSCDO, in a press release.

The $100 ticketed event ($150 for VIP admission) will include a VIP reception from 6 to 7 p.m.; a party with live music, appetizers and “libations” from 7 to 9 p.m.; and the screening of the 1941 classic Casablanca at 9 p.m. Tickets are available at clevelandcinemas.com.

— Allard

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene | clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

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| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

EAT

FINER DINING Cru, opening soon in Moreland Hills, aims for nothing short of absolute (and pricey) luxury

By Douglas Trattner IF IT WASN’T FOR THE TABLE settings, it would be easy to forget that you were touring a public restaurant and not the private home of the wealthiest family on the street — a street that also happened to be located in the ritziest zip code in town. Guests pull up to the circular drive, which winds around a central fountain built of imported limestone and is flanked by impeccable landscaping. Rising before them is a building that looks like it was plucked from the Normandy countryside, a stucco and half-timber chateau that might have come off as tacky if it wasn’t painstakingly constructed using the finest materials over the better part of a year.

No restaurant project in recent — or distant, for that matter — memory comes close to Cru Uncorked with respect to spare-no-expense construction. The multi-million-dollar passion project in Moreland Hills is the vision and triumph of Bill Cutler, along with parents Sarah and Sandy, who is the retired CEO of Eaton Corp.

Working with Larsen Architects and Kawalek Architects, the team endeavored to create the ultimate finedining destination in the region.

“Our biggest word here is experience,” Bill Cutler explains.

“There’s an experience when you arrive at the restaurant. There’s an experience when you walk into the restaurant. There’s an experience when you walk into the dining room. And there’s an experience when you go into the lounge.”

Inside, soaring vaulted ceilings, sweeping stone archways, geometric parquet wood floors and original artwork exude sophistication at every

turn. The sizeable restaurant is divided into a lounge and four small dining rooms, each with working fireplaces.

Just 108 chairs are divided among those five spaces, which creates a generous buffer between diners.

Servers will be responsible for no more than 14 guests at a time, guaranteeing that no request goes unheeded.

“We don’t want to turn and burn,” says Cutler. “We want our guests to stay, relax and enjoy their time here and the people that they’re dining with. We’re in the hospitality business; we’re doing this because we want to take care of people.”

John Stropki, a classically trained French chef, will preside over a seasonal, Continental-style menu that favors high-end ingredients like foie gras, lobster, duck and tenderloin.

Stropki comes from the Eaton House in Bratenahl, a company-owned

residence that pampered VIPs with room and board.

All meals will begin with an amusebouche, a complimentary starter that has all but gone extinct. Appetizers, priced $10 to $20, include grassfed beef tartare with truffle caviar and a quail egg; bordelaise-glazed escargot with a lemon herb salad; and lobster bisque with lobster meat and foam. Entrees on the spring menu, priced $30 to $50, include a sweet pea ravioli with braised radishes and wild mushrooms; striped sea bass with artichoke emulsion and favas; and a lavender-scented duck breast with duck confit-stuffed onions and hazelnut farro. Housemade desserts run the gamut of gateaus, parfaits, panna cottas and sorbets.

Fitting for a restaurant named Cru, a 6,000-bottle, 215-label wine inventory is spread among multiple temperature-

controlled cellars and displays. The grandest lines both sides of the barrel-vaulted walkway leading to the lounge, a posh half-moon shaped gathering place reserved for dinner guests. Swaddled in ultrasuede wall coverings and capped with fragrant cedar beams, this clubby nook is the ideal place to meet for a pre- or postmeal cocktail.

An outdoor patio, shielded from the road and parking lot by evergreens, can accommodate 32 guests.

You don’t have to be a food scholar to note the dramatic decline of finedining restaurants, the sorts of places that still boast free valet parking, coat check rooms and even umbrella stands. Cru is going to be such a place, a money-is-no-object retreat where one-percenters can dine in the lap of luxury. Whether or not it proves to be a financial success is likely beside the point.

“This location really caters to a clientele that would appreciate all of that,” Cutler notes. “We have always known that we wanted to do fine dining and were excited to be able to offer guests an experience that is different: the experience of coming to a French chateau, enjoying the artwork and the ambiance and the formal service that we are going to provide our guests. There’s nothing better or worse about it; it’s just different, and that’s important to us.”

Cru Uncorked (34300 Chagrin Blvd.) will open for dinner only Tuesday through Saturday beginning in mid-May.

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner

| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

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| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

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IT’S A TALL ORDER TO CAPTURE the spirit and flavor of New Orleansstyle street food unless you happen to be standing on a street in New Orleans. The profile of traditional plates is informed by the city itself, influenced by French, Creole and African culture. Unless you’re eating red beans and rice while listening to jazz in the park, it doesn’t matter how spicy your andouille sausage is: It’ll never have the kick it needs. Jaison Boyd has come up with a new food truck concept called Nawlins City Express (nawlinscityexpress.com) that will be able to chase the party in true form.

After working in corporate restaurants, both up front and behind the kitchen doors, for more than 15 years, Boyd wanted to go into business for himself. “A few years ago I had the opportunity to move to Memphis to open a New Orleans-style restaurant concept called Crescent City Beignets,” he explains. “That’s where I really fell in love.” Boyd moved to Shaker with his family four years ago and he believed that his food filled a niche that Cleveland’s food truck scene was missing.

Between grits and gumbo, authentic NOLA cooking has Boyd hooked.

“What sets Cajun cooking apart, I believe, is the passion and the love that goes into these amazing cuisines,” he adds. “The flavors, seasoning, and spice really make it stand out.”

Until the food truck launches, Boyd is working from behind a makeshift counter inside Lucy’s Sweet Surrender Bakery (20314 Chagrin Blvd., 216-9780246, lucyssweetsurrender.com), where for the time being he dishes up lunch three days a week. Boyd originally debuted his startup at the Fabulous Food Show this past November.

“With Po’ Boys being a major part of our menu, I was in search of a fresh

French roll source,” he explains. “I came into Lucy’s one day looking for that source and got to talking with the owner, Michael Feigenbaum, and the rest was history.”

This entrepreneur’s vision for the truck centers on his beignets, which customers will be able to watch being made from a special eye-level window while they wait for their orders.

“There’s a lot more technique that goes into making a beignet than a traditional doughnut,” he explains. “It’s rolled out a specific way, they have a different consistency and taste, and they’re made fresh to be eaten typically with cafe au lait, a New Orleans style coffee.” Powdered or cinnamon brown sugar is added on top with the option of a chocolate coffee, salted caramel, or berry drizzle.

The food truck is set to launch in the coming weeks with a plan in place to continue and expand lunch service inside the bakeshop. On the menu you’ll find the aforementioned sweets in addition to a selection of gumbos made with chicken and andouille sausage, shrimp Creole, shrimp and grits, Cajun chicken wings, and a plethora of Po’ Boys made with shrimp, fried fish, chicken and sausage, each with a signature housemade remoulade.

Will there be a spot in the garage for the new truck on the block? Time will tell how Nawlins City Express stands up to the competition, but Boyd is looking to have a lot of fun in the meantime, aiming his rig at music and food festivals in the region.

“What I love about New Orleans is not only the food, but the fun and hospitality of the French Quarter. I wanted to bring a touch of that same spirit to the people of Cleveland.”

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

EAT FIRST LOOK Collision Bend Brewery opens in the Flats

By Douglas Trattner THE WATERMARK RESTAURANT on the East Bank of the Flats closed its doors almost 15 years ago, but the space came alive once again this week when Collision Bend Brewery (1250 Old River Rd., collisionbendbrewery. com) opened its doors to the public in that historic brick warehouse, which dates back to the late-1800s.

Interestingly enough, the new restaurant is a homecoming for Andy Dombrowski, the longtime chef of Zack Bruell Restaurants. At the tender age of 17, Dombrowski got his first restaurant job at the Watermark, back when it wasn’t uncommon for the popular Flats eatery to fly through

600 too 800 covers on a busy weekend night.

The 12,000-square-foot groundfloor space now features an onsite brewery, spacious bar and dining

room, four-season patio, riverside patio and bar, and private event space. At full capacity, the space can accommodate 350 people, but day-today use will be more in the range of

150.

With a nod to the building’s original use as a marine supply company, the restaurant boasts recognizable but restrained nautical

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design elements like thick-rope chandeliers, brass post lamps, anchorchain dividers, and dock-cleat side lights. The boat that long hung over the bar at Watermark, alas, has sailed off into the sunset.

To go with those watery views, brewer Luke Purcell, a 20-year veteran of Great Lakes Brewing Company has been running the brewhouse at full tilt since the permits landed in early March. There will be eight house drafts ready to sip on the first day, including a light, crisp German-style kolsch, a Belgian-style saison, and a hoppy American pale ale. Another six handles will be reserved for guest drafts from the likes of Great Lakes, Goldhorn, Market Garden and other local breweries.

“We don’t want to get locked into anything,” Purcell explains. “We want to wait to hear feedback from the guests and see where it takes us. I’ve always believed that you should be brewing beers that cater to the people coming into your place as opposed to what you want to drink.”

Purcell is working hand in hand with the kitchen so that the food matches the beer and vice-versa.

“Normally, in most restaurants, the beverage program follows the food program,” explains Bruell. “The idea here is to sell beer, so the food follows the beverage program.”

That means keeping it light, fun and interesting. Some two dozen small plates join a handful of woodfired pizzas and less than a dozen entrees. Snacks like Welsh rarebit, baked flatbread served with warm beer cheese, pair perfectly with an ice-cold hefeweizen or Grüner Veltliner.

Everything-spiced pretzel bites come with beer mustard, lamb tamales are topped with salsa verde, San Diego-style fish tacos are garnished with shredded cabbage and crema, Moroccan-spiced lamb ribs are braised, fried and paired with refreshing cucumber-yogurt sauce.

In addition to straightforward pizzas, Collision Bend dishes up pies topped with roasted cauliflower, caper berries and pickled peppers, and others with roasted Brussels sprouts, braised pork and fontina.

In the entree department are substantial but approachable items like a beef burger and fries, sausagestudded mac and cheese, malt-crusted salmon with curried potatoes, and grilled steak with broccolini and Romesco sauce.

Given the restaurant’s riverfront location and status as a brewery,

manager Julian Bruell expects to see a wide range of customers: some coming for the view, others for the fresh-brewed craft beer, and still others for the reputation of those running the restaurant. He says that every one of them should expect a level of service commensurate with even the finest of restaurants.

“Just because it’s casual does not mean that the service will be lacking,” he explains. “We’re trying to create a dialogue with the guest instead of just be order-takers; to have conversations with our guests about what they like to eat, about what they like to drink and tailoring our product around that.”

See for yourself. Collision Bend is now open for dinner. Lunch and weekend brunch will follow in the coming weeks.

CHEF STEVE SCHIMOLER PENS HEARTFELT CONFESSIONAL REGARDING ABRUPT DEPARTURE In a post titled “Less is More,” chef Steve Schimoler shares the painful backstory to his rise — and recent fall — as one of Cleveland’s most illustrious and colorful chefs.

Schimoler exploded onto the local scene in 2007 when he opened Crop Bistro at its original location in the Warehouse District. That restaurant later moved to its current spot in Ohio City.

Future restaurants were added — Crop Kitchen, Crop Rocks and Crop Sticks. All except for Crop Bistro (now under new management) would be abruptly shuttered within months of each other, leaving diners to wonder as to the causes behind the crisis.

Now we have a much better idea.

“I finally hit a tipping point that made me realize I didn’t have many choices,” he writes. “The pressure, stress, worry, loss, and mental anguish wasn’t worth the gain anymore. The saying ‘What else do you have than your health?’ started to make sense. Losing my two brothers within 6 months just 4 years ago, started a reality check that I should have heeded more closely. I needed to understand what should be important in life and what my own pursuit of happiness could be.

I finally made the commitment to finding a way to get there. As Yogi Berra said, ‘when you find a fork in the road, take it’. Well I arrived at that fork and took it. I’m not sure yet if it was the left or right direction, but I did it.”

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MUSIC ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS Country icon Marty Stuart brings his ‘glorified garage band’ to town

By Matt Wardlaw WITH HIS LATEST TOUR, COUNTRY singer-songwriter Marty Stuart will finally play his way out of the woods. He lands at the Beachland Ballroom for an intimate show in support of Way Out West, his newest record. As Stuart shared with us during a recent phone conversation, the tour represents the culmination of a vision that he had when he first assembled the Fabulous Superlatives, his backing band.

“When we started the band, after about a month, my assignment to the booking agent was to book me as far back into the woods of America as you can,” he says. “I want to bring the stories of American people and American cultures, we will play our way out of the woods. I don’t want to see a chart, I don’t want to see demographics. I could give a flying shit about any of that — we’re going to develop our band.”

They did that, and along the way they found cultures and causes to represent as they were out playing.

All the while, Stuart knew that eventually he’d bring the band back to the mainstream.

“I knew it would be time to go back into the cities, and I do feel the light of suburbia in the cities of America and across the world internationally on my face again,” he says. “But it seemed to me the most authentic gettin’ on places back in the towns were small rock rooms, [playing] to a different audience than we’ve played to in a long time [with] a new generation of people. It seems to be working, and I love the feeling.”

Way Out West finds Stuart, long a student and advocate of country music history, continuing to dig through the layers of the genre, helping to keep alive a form of music he views as an endangered species.

It’s part of what has been an ongoing process for the veteran artist, who has spent the past decade working on a series of themed projects.

“In my mind, I started way back then with the Superlatives, and I think the first record was Soul’s Chapel, which was kind of honoring the disappearing sounds of the Mississippi Delta gospel, things like the Staples Singers kind of stuff,” he says. “Then we did Badlands:

Ballads of the Lakota, where I wrote about the people up on Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and on and on. And then it became about preserving traditional country music, which is like sliding into the abyss.

Somewhere along the way, Way Out West — the title — appeared and I went, ‘That’s pretty cool.’ It could be a cowboy record, or it could be about space aliens going up in flying saucers out of the Mojave Desert on an acid trip, I don’t know.”

Stuart also quickly identified his perfect co-pilot to help him put it all together.

“It’s a love letter to the American West and so many of the things that inspired me that came from the West. Taking it as a setting and taking it to the edge of the Mojave and kind of making a spirit

world trip out of it with psychedelic overtones had a lot of appeal to me,” he explains. “At that time, I thought, ‘This is not a Nashville record. I have to go to the West and make this record authentically.’ The first person that came to my mind was Mike Campbell. I thought, ‘I’ve got to call Campbell because he’ll keep me honest on this thing.’ So that’s kind of how it came together.”

With Campbell on board, he and the Superlatives became “a glorified garage band,” reaching back creatively to the time, “when we were 14 years old and got our first Fender guitars and were trying to impress girls, wanting to be like those guys in California. That’s where our mindset was.”

He had first met Campbell during sessions for Johnny Cash’s

Unchained album in the mid-’90s.

At the time, he found himself in the studio with Campbell, Tom Petty and the members of the Heartbreakers.

Stuart saw a parallel between the spirit of Campbell and legendary Muscle Shoals keyboardist Barry Beckett, with whom he had also worked in the past.

“Barry was one of those Muscle Shoals players that played on all of those great Swampers records. He was one of those kind of people [that] if he walked into a room, I did better just because he was in the room with me. And Mike’s one of those kind of people,” he says. “That’s part of it. But the other part is that Tom Petty and his band are incapable of playing bad music. Tom Petty’s incapable of writing a bad song. But I always suspected that behind the curtain of that band, that Mike is the guy [who is] kind of the Swiss army knife of the whole deal. We had been focused as a band on traditional country music that was fresh for 156 episodes of [The Marty Stuart Show], and I just knew that I needed somebody that was outside of my world — but understood my world — that could help pull me across the bridge, keep me honest, perhaps get the guitar tones that we’ve never played to, and all of those things came true with Mike Campbell. That [combined] with his very presence in a room just makes everything click.”

Stuart says the hardest part was putting the wraps on the album and letting go. Sessions were so prolific that they found themselves with an overflow of material.

“There [were] about five songs that we recorded and finished out that in truth, it made it too long.

It didn’t quite flow. The biggest challenge was leaving those songs behind,” he says. “You know, it’s kind of fingernails in the trees, and you’re going, ‘No, no, no — let’s take it!’ But [I just had to turn them] loose — and I think that somewhere along the way, there could be a director’s cut, and this could be a part of it.”

Way Out West comes off as an interesting opening act for another project that Stuart currently has in the pipeline. He has accumulated an impressive collection of country | clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

41

MUSIC music memorabilia, rescuing both classic outfits and priceless historical items such as the original handwritten lyrics to Hank Williams Sr.’s “I Saw the Light.” To date, he has more than 20,000 items. Nearly a decade ago, a curated selection of items from Stuart’s collection began making the rounds in the traveling exhibit, Sparkle & Twang, which made a stop at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

More recently, he relocated his entire collection to his hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi, and unveiled plans for Marty Stuart’s Congress of Country Music Hall, which will be both a museum and live music venue.

“The general idea is that Mississippi claims to be the birthplace of America’s music and can pretty well back it up. The spiritual home of rock and roll in Mississippi to me is Elvis Presley’s birthplace in Tupelo,” he says. “The B.B. King Museum and Interpretive Center over in Indianola, up in the Delta, that’s where the blues live. The Grammys put in a museum at Delta State University, so that’s the north part of the state. And the central part of Mississippi, kind of in the land of Jimmie Rodgers, is going to be Marty Stuart’s Congress of Country Music Hall. That’s where my collection, that’s where the spiritual home of country music will live, as far as I’m concerned.”

The idea is something that has been brewing in Stuart’s mind

Stuart talked about his experiences working with Johnny Cash in the early ’80s, long before the Man in Black would enjoy what he called a final “victory lap” in the ’90s.

“In my heart, I always knew [that it wasn’t over]. You know, at that time in his life, he was kind of Patriot Cash,” Stuart says now.

“He was working the older crowds, performing arts centers and state fair settings across America, basically. But when we would go to Europe, it was like I could see the second coming, years ahead. Because it was kids, and it was a different generation of people and the thunder that came toward us on stage was completely different. When it finally happened, I remember he called me and he said, ‘Come out to the House of Cash in the morning, if you’ve got time.’ So I did. He gave me a Coke and he said, ‘Sit down.’”

Stuart had no idea what he was about to experience.

“I sat down on his couch and he said, ‘Don’t say anything for 27 and a half minutes,’” he recalls with a chuckle. “He took his guitar and he sang me about 12 songs, back to back, just him and a guitar. When he finally got through, I said, ‘What did I just hear?’ He said, ‘That’s my new record, with Rick Rubin. What do you think?’ I said, ‘Just you and your guitar?’ He said, ‘It’s going to be just me and my guitar. What do you think?’ I could tell he was a little bit nervous about it. I went, ‘I think you have just reset the clock for Johnny Cash,’ I said, ‘because, I think it’s going to work, and I think it’s so honest, just taking it down to what I’ve known all along, and

MARTY STUART & HIS FABULOUS SUPERLATIVES 8 P.M. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, BEACHLAND BALLROOM, 15711 WATERLOO RD., 216-383-1124.

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for about 10 years, and he says Cleveland played a part in moving the plan toward reality.

“There were some people from my hometown who came up to Cleveland to see that exhibit,” he says. “That’s when they started talking to me, ‘This is something that would be nice in our hometown,’ and I’m going, ‘Oh, really? Okay.’ I’d never really thought of it in those terms. Not long after that, I played a concert for B.B. King over at his place and I went, ‘You know what, they’re right.’ But it was actually in Cleveland that the lightbulb came on, and it was like, ‘This is where this should live.’”

During an appearance at the Rock Hall in December 2008,

42

| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

you’re going to find that kids love you all over again. And even people that don’t know you, they’re going to love you.’”

A couple of weeks later, Cash did a show at the Viper Room, the Hollywood club owned at that time

by Johnny Depp, The rest, as they say, is history.

“That lit the fuse and it was gone,” he says. “But it was just one of those things that when he took off and went back up into the ether, I stood on the ground and watched and went, ‘My old hero, he’s going to do it again.’”

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

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| clev cclevescene.com cl leves eveessce ev cene nee.c .cco om m | April Apprrilil 19 19 - 225 25, 5, 220 2017 017 17

4433

MUSIC A STUDY IN CONTRASTS A personal loss informs the songs on singer-guitarist Bob Mould’s latest album

By Jeff Niesel

DURING THE COURSE OF HIS decades-long career, veteran singerguitarist Bob Mould has often paired bright melodies with dark lyrics.

That formula works to perfection on his latest effort, last year’s Patch the Sky. The shimmering opening tune, “Voices in My Head,” establishes his approach from the beginning as Mould barks the vocals over an incredibly infectious guitar riff.

His mother’s death in 2014 informs the tone of many of the songs, and titles such as “The End of Everything” and “Hold On” suggest their highly personal nature. “[My mother’s death] was a complicated passing, not that any of them are easy,” says Mould in a recent phone interview from his San Francisco home where he’s “laying low” before starting a solo electric tour that brings him to Music Box Supper Club. “That was not debilitating, but it was heavy on my mind. There are other ideas in there.

A lot of them are pretty dark. I’ve been the kind of person that writes what I know. The subject matter was very heavy, and the thing I could escape in the other direction was the heavy melodic element. It’s the contrast of that heavy material and the catchy musical content. I think that’s a writing style I’ve used for a long time — the heavier content and brighter ’60s melodies.”

Though it doesn’t stretch all the way back to the ’60s, Mould’s career goes back decades. In the early ’80s, he began cranking out vibrant postpunk with the Minneapolis band

44

Hüsker Dü, which released several albums on the influential indie imprint SST Records before signing a major label deal. Mould’s fierce guitar playing established him as a guitar hero in a post-punk world where there were few guitar heroes.

“In the ’70s while learning the instrument, I had a Sears SG copy, and the high E string kept breaking,” he says when asked about how he developed his own style.

“I learned a little on five-string. I went from that to learning how to play the first Ramones album, cover

I know and not rely on the standard tricks I used with Hüsker Dü,” he explains when asked the challenges of writing without a band. “It was sort of scary not to have that safety net or that built-in name recognition, which is what we used to call it before we called it a brand.”

One of his fondest memories from that time remains a pair of solo acoustic shows he played in the early ’90s at McCabe’s, the guitar shop in Santa Monica that often hosts intimate concerts.

“It’s a legendary place for singer-

BOB MOULD, JENNA FOURNIER 8P.M. SUNDAY, APRIL 23, MUSIC BOX SUPPER CLUB, 1148 MAIN ST., 216-242-1250.

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to cover, to the early punk stuff that had a great influence. There was also the Buzzcocks, Johnny Thunders, the Dolls. And those were the people I looked to as far as the contemporaries. Obviously, [the Who’s Pete] Townshend and [guitarist Jimi] Hendrix and those kind of guitar players had an influence too. When did it all start coming together?

Maybe in the middle of those SST records, I started combining all the elements in a way that didn’t sound like any of them.”

In the wake of Hüsker Dü’s dissolution, he launched a solo career in 1989, retreating to a farm in rural Minnesota to “hang out with the chickens” and compose the songs that would become his solo debut, 1989’s Workbook.

“The key thing was to write what

| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

songwriters,” he says of McCabe’s.

“You had 150 people sitting and watching. That was so different from the previous nine years of playing loud. It was a great pair of shows and got me started doing sort of what I’m doing on this tour, which is me and a guitar and a songbook.”

Mould says he began doing the solo electric thing on a regular basis in 1991 during a nine-month stretch on the road.

“On that tour, I brought my Yamaha acoustic 12-string that I used all over Workbook, and I brought my blue Strat,” he says. “I did two-thirds of the show with the 12-string and the final third with the electric. For me, the electric is easier on many levels. It’s easier to get a sound with it. It’s a grab-and-go kind of sound. The electric is easier for me

to solo on. As the years have gone on, I have phased out the acoustic. I just bring one electric and it’s more portable and easier on my hands as I get older. It allows me to do a wider variety of things with the guitar.

Over the 25 or 26 years of solo shows, I’ve fallen into the solo electric thing, which is a lot of fun for me.”

Mould admits that as he gets older, “touring gets a little tougher each time around.” But he also says he likes the fact that his past few albums stay more true to the sounds he’s explored with both Hüsker Dü and Sugar, the hard rock act he fronted in the ’90s, because it has meant that longtime fans find the music appealing.

“I do wonder how long the car will run at its optimal setting,” he says when asked if he ever contemplates retiring. “I think I’ll be making music until the day I die, but I don’t know how actively I’ll tour behind every release. I’m more aware of the gratitude and being in the moment and being aware of what I do and how people respond. I’m grateful for that.

For decades, I was the difficult artist who wasn’t doing what’s expected. Not that you have to give the people what they want, but I know what people want, and I know what I have to do.

If they end up being the same thing, that’s great. That’s the first time in my life that this has happened. I keep that in mind as I start to do a tour and write another record. It’s that gratitude and serendipity. I’m enjoying that.”

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel

| clevescene.com m | April 19 - 25, 2017

455

MUSIC THE GRITTY FRONTIER Rapper 21 Savage brings his hypnotic street tales to House of Blues

By Lawrence Neil HOUSE OF BLUES PLAYS HOST to the gritty frontier of hip-hop’s ever-evolving zeitgeist on April 25, as 21 Savage rolls through Cleveland, headlining a packed lineup of fascinating new archetypes in rap.

Born Shayaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, 21 Savage is another asset for Atlanta as it clinches its top spot in hip-hop’s hierarchy. The 24-year-old’s steady rise over the past two years has gained support from the city’s well-known hip-hop figures, demonstrating the powerful, star-making infrastructure of the city’s rap ecosystem.

Noted producer Sonny Digital (ILoveMakonnen’s “Tuesday,” 2 Chainz’ “Birthday Song”) gave him his first mic and copy of the Pro Tools production software after they were introduced by rapper Key!, a mainstay in the city’s various underground collectives. Digital and Savage collaborated on their 2015 Free Guwop EP, a tribute to trap godfather and fellow Atlantan Gucci Mane.

The project was peppered with other Atlantan producers including TM-88, Southside and Zaytoven, all of whom have scored hit singles for artists ranging from Young Thug to Waka Flocka, Drake and Kanye.

Last July’s critically lauded Savage Mode EP was a collaboration with Metro Boomin, hip-hop’s Midas producer, and featured fellow Atlantan Future on his biggest single to date, “X.” While Savage has taken advantage of the robust musical resources around him, his credentials stem from his authenticity.

Kicked out of school by eighth grade for gun possession, 21 Savage ditched his alternative high school after a semester.

He flatly lists the murders of family members, friends and surrogate mothers like he’s recalling what he had for breakfast. He was shot six times on his 21st birthday in a botched drug deal; his best friend was killed in the seat next to him.

In an authenticity-starved society, 21 Savage’s raw portrayals of this lifestyle serve as a potential antidote

46

to packaged cultural constructs, a fact that he is searingly, cautiously aware of. He certainly doesn’t distance himself from representations of his experience, yet he also recognizes that rapping with authority about these street narratives has a certain fetishistic cachet. In a recent interview with the influential New York radio show The Breakfast Club, he comments, “If [I] wasn’t rapping about these things, who would listen to me? Would I even be on this platform talking to you if it wasn’t for me saying ignorance to catch people’s attention?”

Savage’s authenticity as an abstraction is valued and sought after, yet it may be on its way to commodification as well. After all, this is a corporate-sponsored tour: “21 Savage personifies the Outbreak brand while bringing the intensity of Monster Energy,” this show’s press release notes.

Joseph treats this self-awareness with the same cognitive distance that facilitates his deadpan, nihilistic delivery. He appears impervious to external stimuli and influences, manifesting itself in his simultaneously entrancing and occasionally frustratingly simplistic lyrics. As critic Amos Barshad writes, “He raps nearly exclusively about guns, drugs, and loveless sex, and he is insular to the point of claustrophobia.”

Musically, Savage composes this into a style that includes grim, nofrills street tales; eerie, controlled trap production; and a delivery that is understated veering on monotony. The result is purposefully hypnotic, both intensely focused and suggestively kaleidoscopic. On a recent podcast interview, he comments on this numbing, gnawing approach: “You gotta let ’em digest and force them to listen to this over and over.”

Frequent collaborator Young Nudy, along with emerging stars Young M.A. and Tee Grizzley, share the bill with 21 Savage. Young M.A. — an openly queer artist — has been relatively seamlessly accepted into

| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

21 SAVAGE, YOUNG M.A., YOUNG NUDY, TEE GRIZZLEY 7 P.M. TUESDAY, APRIL 25, HOUSE OF BLUES, 308 EUCLID AVE., 216-523-2583.

TICKETS: $33-$43, HOUSEOFBLUES.COM

rap’s mainstream, despite its history of homophobia, especially after her breakout single, “Ooouuu.”

Tee Grizzley’s dizzying viral rise was due almost exclusively to “First Day Out” an autobiographical account of his criminal history and subsequent three-year jail stint, all over a crescendoing flip of Future’s “Perkys Callin.’” Within two months of its release, he was signed to 300 Entertainment. Grizzley’s persona is built on a ‘been there, done that’ selfrepresentation: the first three tracks on his mixtape — an acapella intro rapped over a school lunchtable-type

beat, the aforementioned “First Day Out,” and the track “Real N***as” — speak to the importance of “realness.”

This diverse lineup shares a common thread of authenticity, bringing some of these bright young phenoms to Cleveland for the first time. The tour undoubtedly will be a party when it hits House of Blues. But if you make it out to the show, don’t just accept these bangers at face value.

Take 21 Savage’s cue and digest these raw stories as well.

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

47

MUSIC PERSONALITY CRISIS Dark lyrical content distinguishes indie singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche’s latest effort

By Johnny Cook

NORWEGIAN MUSICIAN SONDRE Lerche has had a career that most artists would kill for. In his early 30s, he released eight studio albums, composed a film soundtrack and embarked upon numerous international tours. He got his start in the early 2000s, making the sort of smooth indie pop you would expect to hear in a coffeeshop or a bookstore; but after his marriage dissolved in 2013, he started to reinvent his music and style.

Lerche isn’t known for making dramatic changes from album to album, but his new album, Pleasure, features electronic sounds and unusual arrangements. The new release builds on Lerche’s jazz and pop background while drawing upon electronic influences from the ’70s and ’80s.

“Pleasure is a hell of a ride,” Lerche says via phone interview from Norway. “When you first hear it, there’s a lot going on, and there’s a lot of deliberately bombastic sounds and emotions, so it can take some adjustment, depending on where you’re coming from. [The album] reveals itself slowly, and sometimes, I’m the last one to see the big picture and see what it’s become. So, it’s exciting to share it with people and hear their opinions.”

Pleasure can be immediately jarring for both long-time listeners of Lerche’s work and for new fans.

Opening track “Soft Feelings” starts with a pounding synth line reminiscent of New Order before Lerche’s wistful voice interjects. The

48

next track, “I’m Always Watching You,” sounds like vintage Madonna viewed through a funhouse mirror.

The electronic sounds are a system shock for a musician who previously just used his voice and an acoustic guitar. Much of album highlights the contrast between the cold, robotic synths and Lerche’s fluid, organic vocals.

“It has some of that tension that you have in live performance where there’s a real risk of everything falling apart. I wanted the record to have that, and so in that sense, I feel like it reflects my personality more,” Lerche explains. “For people who know me from other records or just records from the past, it may seem like a departure, but people who have seen me in concert will recognize that beast, in a sense. The ‘madman’ side of what I do is more

turbulent, strange, exciting, fun, sort of limbo-like existence,” Lerche says about the contrast between his music and his lyrics. “It makes for a strange result, in the sense that it’s probably a little too wild for the charts, and the lyrics don’t adhere to the formula that commercial pop does. But it’s something that excites me and that excites me to share. It’s my way of sharing my own take on all of these things. That’s not to say that other pop music is better or worse, but this is what happens when it goes through my body and my life.”

Whereas Lerche’s previous albums were mostly acoustic, making them easier to recreate live, Pleasure has a lot of instrumentation, so Lerche has had to make choices about his live show that haven’t been an issue before.

SONDRE LERCHE, BY LIGHT WE LOOM 9 P.M. FRIDAY, APRIL 21, GROG SHOP, 2785 EUCLID HEIGHTS BLVD., CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, 216-321-5588. TICKETS: $16 ADV, $18 DOS, GROGSHOP.GS

accented on this record, and it was a challenge to capture that. It almost felt like a split personality getting this record to come together.”

In a sense, the album feels like it has a split personality as well.

It uses the musical and structural formula for a conventional pop song, but the emotional and lyrical content is much darker.

“It’s definitely a juxtaposition I’m just drawn to naturally, and this album nakedly represents the last three years of my life — a very

| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

“When we do it live, I need to keep it very immediate and simple.

We have to represent a lot of these sounds, but I don’t want any sequence thing, or clicks, I don’t want to constrain us or confine us as musicians, so everything is played live. Everything is loose.

It’s not like we have a lot of preset tracks,” Lerche says. “I need to be spontaneous and free in the moment, even when we have this kind of music with a lot of electronic sounds. I need to be free, basically,

and that freedom is something that the musicians who I play with try to provide me with.”

It’s unusual to think of an electronically based album as having space for improvisation, but for Lerche, that’s the space he’s trying to tap into.

“I’m getting to the point where I feel the rawness of the live performance,” he says. “To me, it has much more of the rawness of live performance and the dissonance that I play around with a lot. It has a lot of those elements, even though it’s put together in a deliberate way on record.”

The other new feature of Pleasure is the lyrical content — much of the album explores sexuality, masculinity, and questions of gender roles and gender identity, which hasn’t previously been a concern for Lerche’s songs.

“I’ve tried for many years to talk about sexuality, and to talk about my gender, and shame for my gender, and feeling different from others. It’s the first time I’ve actually succeeded in expressing that side of myself. It took me a lot of years,” he says. “I guess I’ve cracked my own internal code, in a sense, by including that part of myself — my masculinity, my sexuality, and my gender in my music. There were hints of it in Please, but in Pleasure, I feel I’m strong enough to explore masculine vulnerability, and different kinds of intimacy. And to me, that’s a huge step. It’s simply a different phase of my life, where suddenly, all these things just became a part of my vocabulary, musically and lyrically.”

All the twists and turns on the album can be shocking at first. Fans of Lerche’s older albums might have some reservations about embracing a different version of his music, but for Lerche, he can’t help but respond to his own needs.

“I owe it to my audience to be true to my own views and my own life. I’m not a model or an actor who performs a role given to me by others. I’m performing my own role that also corresponds to my own life,” he explains. “I’m thrilled when longtime followers and new fans embrace what I’m doing now, but I totally respect that my needs as a musician won’t always correspond to all of my fans. That’s the price you pay for doing exactly what you want as an artist and it would be disrespectful for me to not do that.”

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

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| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

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Gringo Stew: 8 p.m., $5. The Euclid Tavern.

Jazz Jam Session: 11 p.m., free.

Bop Stop.

Sondre Lerche/By Light We Loom: 9 p.m., $16 ADV, $18 DOS. Grog Shop.

Bill March (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge.

O-Town/Sonny Mackenzi: 9 p.m., $25-$35. Musica.

SF Jazz Collective: 8 p.m., $25.

Music Box Supper Club.

Moss Stanley: 10:30 p.m., free.

Nighttown.

Toro Blanco/The Lucid Furs/ Threefold Law/Blood Shit: 9 p.m., $5. Now That’s Class.

04/19

10 X 3 Singer Songwriter Showcase: Hosted by Brent Kirby (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m.

Brothers Lounge.

Bad Boys of Blues Weekly Jam: 9 p.m., free. Happy Dog. Brant Bjork/Royal Thunder/Black Wizard: 6:30 p.m., $15 ADV, $18 DOS. Agora Ballroom.

Byke/The Drift Tones/Outdated View/Transistor: 8:30 p.m., $7 ADV, $10 DOS. Beachland Ballroom.

Polly Gibbons: 7 p.m., $20.

Nighttown.

Math & Logic/The Scientific Affair/Prof. Postman and the Laboratory Technicians: 8:30 p.m., free. Grog Shop.

Mug Night with DJ Eso: 9 p.m., free. B-Side Liquor Lounge & Arcade.

Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives/Sean McConnell: 8 p.m., $42-$70. Beachland Ballroom.

Terry Malts/Business of Dreams/ Cheap Clone: 8 p.m., $8. Now That’s Class.

THU

04/20

420 Fest with the Groove Prophets/Drunken Sunday/ Coup de Grace/New Moon Rising: 8 p.m., $10. Beachland Ballroom.

Birddog/Xela: 7:30 p.m. B-Side Liquor Lounge & Arcade.

Paula Boggs Band: 8 p.m., $20.

Nighttown.

Daikaiju/Pirato Ketchup/Lords of the Highway: 9 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Now That’s Class.

Libby DeCamp/Ashley Brooke Toussant/M. Moody: 9 p.m., $5.

Happy Dog. Giantology/Short Order/Weed Whacker (in the Locker Room): 9 p.m. Mahall’s 20 Lanes.

Michale Graves: 6:30 p.m., $10 ADV, $13 DOS. Agora Ballroom.

Chris Hatton’s Musical Circus (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge.

Jam Night with the Bad Boys of Blues: 9 p.m., free. Brothers Lounge.

Johnny Elvis & the Crown Electrics (in the Supper Club): 8 p.m., $7. Music Box Supper Club.

The Kandinsky Effect/HR3/

SAT

The Chainsmokers bring their massive spring tour to Wolstein Center. See: Tuesday.

Bluelight/Jared Lee’s Band: 8 p.m., $8. Musica.

Donny McCaslin Quartet: 8 p.m., $20. Bop Stop.

Parsonsfield/Animal Years: 8 p.m., $12 ADV, $15 DOS. Beachland Tavern.

Noah Preminger Quartet: 8 p.m., $20. Bop Stop.

Dan Tedesco/Jeff Powers: 9 p.m., $5. The Euclid Tavern.

The Wedding Present/Colleen Green Band: 9 p.m., $15. Grog Shop.

FRI

04/21

Jim Donovan & the Sun King Warriors/Big Ship/Scott Stiert: 8 p.m., $10 ADV, $14 DOS. Beachland Ballroom.

Hunter Hayes/Jackie Popavec: When most kids were still figuring out how to crawl, Hayes performed “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)” with Hank Williams Jr. on the Nickelodeon game show Figure It Out. At age 7, he was invited to perform for President Bill Clinton for a White House lawn party. After signing to

Atlantic Records, Hayes issued his self-titled debut in 2011 and then followed it in 2014 with Storylines. In 2015, he issued The 21 Project, an album divided into three sections. Each song is available as a studio recording, an acoustic recording and a live performance from his Wheels Up tour. By isolating himself in a studio where he can work 24-7, Hayes has focused on crafting new tunes and “starting from scratch.” Hayes plans to play some of those new tunes when he performs at House of Blues tonight. (Jeff Niesel) 7 p.m., $39$55.

Armstrong Bearcat Band: 9:30 p.m., $5. Brothers Lounge.

Craig Bell/GoldMINES/ Fascinating: 8:30 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Beachland Tavern.

Blue Lunch with Tim Gartland: 8:30 p.m., $20. Nighttown.

DJs Seth Farner & Javier Manic: 6 p.m., free. Happy Dog. Driftmouth/Lawton Brothers/ Jason Frederick: 9 p.m., $5.

Happy Dog. The Fab Four: 8 p.m., $32-$90.

Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield

04/22

Brian Wilson Presents Pet Sounds — The Final Performances: It’s a welldocumented fact that when members of the Beatles heard the Beach Boys’ 1966 album Pet Sounds, it inspired them to write and record Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Last year, Brian Wilson, the architect behind Pet Sounds, embarked on the Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary World Tour. For the tour, he’ll perform the iconic album for a final time. In addition to playing Pet Sounds in its entirety, Wilson will also play “top hits” and “fan favorites” spanning his 54-year career with the Beach Boys and as a solo artist. (Niesel) 8 p.m., $62-$225. Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park.

Bluestone Union: 9:30 p.m., $5.

Brothers Lounge.

Lawrence Daniel Caswell/John Kalman/Andre Cuturic/Joey Nix: 9 p.m., free. The Euclid Tavern.

Cleveland Cello Quartet: 8 p.m., free. Bop Stop.

Eric Comstock & Barbara Fasano: 8:30 p.m., $20.

Nighttown.

The Commonwealth Album Release Show: 9 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Mahall’s 20 Lanes.

Dealer/All Dinosaurs/Orca/Wall Creeper: 9 p.m., $5. Now That’s Class.

Disco Paradiso Vol. 7 (in Club Atlantis): 9 p.m., $7. Now That’s Class.

Jacob Frish (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge. | clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

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Helix/Slow Kills/Breeder: 10 p.m., $5 ADV, $10 DOS. B-Side Liquor Lounge & Arcade.

Cody Jinks/Ward Davis/Colter Wall: 7 p.m., $26-$101. The Agora Theatre.

The Modern Electric: 9 p.m., $10.

Musica.

OEND Benefit with Fuck You Pay Me/Cotton Ponys/Yambag/Dime Disguise/Cruelster: 9 p.m., $10.

Grog Shop.

Salvadore Ross: 9 p.m., $5. Happy Dog. Timothy B. Schmit: 8 p.m., $37.50-$47.50. The Kent Stage.

Schwartz Brothers/The Family Dog: 8:30 p.m., $7. Beachland Tavern.

Space Jesus/perkulatOr: 9:30 p.m., $14 ADV, $17 DOS. Beachland Ballroom.

Ten, A Tribute to Pearl Jam: 7 p.m., $13-$20. House of Blues.

Jackie Warren: 10:30 p.m., free.

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04/23

Blues Traveler: 7:30 p.m., $37.

The Kent Stage.

Mod Sun: 8:30 p.m., $18 ADV, $20 DOS. Grog Shop.

R. Ring/GoldMINES/Split Single: R.Ring, a duo featuring Kelley Deal (formerly of the Breeders) and Mike Montgomery (formerly of Ampline) plays music thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so sparse, fans of the duoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s previous bands might be taken aback.

Songs such as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Saltâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Loud Underneathâ&#x20AC;? feature grunge-y guitars and pitchy vocals. Both tunes utilized off-kilter time signatures. For the forthcoming full-length debut, Ignite the Rest, the band enlisted the help of musical friends such as Laura King (Mac MaCaughan and the Non-Believers, Fleshwounds), Leo DeLuca (Southeast Engine) and Lori Goldston (Earth/ Nirvana). Expect to hear tunes from it at tonightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s show. (Niesel) 9 p.m., $5. Happy Dog. Deadbeat Beat/Ma Halos: 5 p.m., free. Now Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Class.

Death Crown/Inoculation/Blood Tusk: 9 p.m., $6. Now Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Class.

Eskimeaux/The Village Bicycle/ The Sonder Bombs: 7:30 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Mahallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 20 Lanes.

Johnny A./Gaetanoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Underworld:

| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

8 p.m., $20 ADV, $25 DOS. Beachland Tavern.

Lakeland Community Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jazz Impact: 2 p.m., $7. Bop Stop.

Dave Mason: Alone Together Again: 7:30 p.m., $25-$65. Ohio Theatre.

Mike Petrone (in the Wine Bar): 5:30 p.m. Brothers Lounge.

Bob Mould/Jenna Fournier: 8 p.m., $28 ADV, $32 DOS. Music Box Supper Club.

Northbound/Daisyhead/ Tigerwine/An Ongoing Story/ Elbow Room/Cabin Fever (in the Locker Room): 6:30 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Mahallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 20 Lanes.

Pop Up Party with Wes Woods: 9 p.m., free. B-Side Liquor Lounge & Arcade.

Rigz: 8 p.m., $15. Bop Stop.

Thursday/Basement/Touch Amore/Cities Aviv: 6:30 p.m., $27.99-$37.99. House of Blues.

MON

04/24

A Place to Bury Strangers/ Relaxer/Hiram-Maxim: Noisy and atmospheric with an esoteric name to boot, A Place to Bury Strangers has lit up the indie touring circuit over the past few years. With 2015â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Transfixiation, the band casts moody shadows that harken back to both psychedelia and even the early-â&#x20AC;&#x2122;90s space rock scene. Chugging, effects-laden bass lines drive through weird blurps and static discharge while singer Oliver Ackermann inserts a slacker drawl (see â&#x20AC;&#x153;Straightâ&#x20AC;?).

The result of that kind of stuff is a heady album, one that fits best in a grungy basement and a group of buds slinging PBR tallboys before peeling out into the night in a â&#x20AC;&#x2122;75 El Camino. (Eric Sandy) 8 p.m., $15.

Beachland Tavern.

Skatch Anderssen Orchestra: 8 p.m., $7. Brothers Lounge.

Barbara Rosene: 7 p.m., $20.

Nighttown.

The Spirit of the Beehive/ Runaway Brother/Item/Ghost Slime (in the Locker Room): 7 p.m., $8. Mahallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 20 Lanes.

Velvet Voyage (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge.

TUE

04/25

The Chainsmokers/Kiiara/Shaun Frank/Emily Warren: Thanks to some serious support from

commercial radio, the artist/ producer duo the Chainsmokers have embarked on their biggest tour to date in support of their new album, Memories... Do Not Open. The groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s latest single, the mid-tempo â&#x20AC;&#x153;Paris,â&#x20AC;? the followup to its previous hit, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Closer,â&#x20AC;? marries pop sensibilities with sputtering EDM-inspired synths. This year, the group received Grammy nods for Best New Artist, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Closerâ&#x20AC;? featuring Halsey) and Best Dance Recording (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Let Me Downâ&#x20AC;? featuring Daya).

(Niesel) 7 p.m., $41-$81. Wolstein Center.

Indian Music Meets Jazz: Welcome Concert: South Indian musicians take on Western jazz tonight in a special show at the Bop Stop. Vocalists KN Shashikirian and P Ganesh will join violinist S Murari, pianist Leo Coach and percussionist Dylan Moffit in tonightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concert.

Included in the show will be performances of a few John and Alice Coltrane pieces, as well as reinterpreted South Indian songs. According to the Bop Stop: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The title of the concert comes from a composition by John Coltrane. In his albums such as A Love Supreme, it is clear that Indian spirituality had a profound impact on his music and philosophy.â&#x20AC;? (Sandy) 7 p.m., $10. Bop Stop.

21 Savage/Young M.A./Young Nudy/Tee Grizzley: 7 p.m., $33$43. House of Blues.

Avram Fefer & Michael Bisio Duo: 7 p.m., $15. Nighttown.

Hurray for the Riff Raff/Ron Gallo: 8 p.m., $16 ADV, $18 DOS. Beachland Ballroom.

Jason Soliday & Jon Satrom (in Club Atlantis): 9 p.m., $5. Now Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Class.

M2B2 Big Band: 8 p.m., free.

Brothers Lounge.

Nacho Night IV: Magic City/The Cowboy/Diva Cup: 9 p.m., free.

The Euclid Tavern.

Substance & Soul featuring Aloof Recs/Set Hasan/Tone the Poet/ Gates216: 7:30 p.m., $5 ADV, $7 DOS. Grog Shop.

Two-Set Tuesday featuring June Sladek (in the Wine Bar): 7 p.m.

Brothers Lounge.

Vita & the Woolf/Tom Katlees: 8:30 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Beachland Tavern.

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

53

BAND OF THE WEEK

SEXYPIGDIVAS

By Jeff Niesel MEET THE BAND: Nick Gregg (guitar, vocals, drums) and Katie Mikita (piano, vocals, drums) MARRIED LIFE: The multiinstrumentalist husband/wife duo Nicky Beatnick and Katie Cat formed this art rock band while the two were still taking classes at Kent State. “It’s kind of funny because neither of us ever expected to be in a band with one another,” says Gregg. “We are high school sweethearts. Katie happens to be classically trained in piano, and I had been bugging her to play with my bands since we were kids.” Eventually, Gregg’s band broke up, and the two began playing together. “We quickly realized that we were connecting in a deep musical way. I think the way Katie’s classical piano compositions sounded with drums and guitar made her want to keep playing and start a band together. At first, we did have the issue of not being able to play songs I wrote on guitar because Katie didn’t play drums and we didn’t have a third person to fill in. After some very persistent coaxing, Katie now plays drums when I play guitar, and I play drums when Katie plays piano.”

A PEDAL FILE: Gregg uses a variety of guitar pedals and writes about his likes and dislikes on his blog, thepedalfile.com. “I have a lot of fun doing [the blog],” he says, adding that the first pedal that changed his world was the Bit Commander made by local pedal heroes, Earthquaker Devices. “[The blog] serves as my outlet, so Katie doesn’t go mad listening to me talk about pedals. I got into pedals because I was always drawn to gadgets and manipulating sound. They just seemed so cool and mysterious to me, and they opened up

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| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

a world of sounds that I didn’t know was available to guitars. I started out slowly, but I now run a board of 10 to 12 pedals plus a looper with about onethird of it being made up of selections from Earthquaker.”

WHY YOU SHOULD HEAR THEM: Recorded at UHF Studios and mastered locally at Cauliflower Audio, the band’s third album, Gods & Ritual Objects, features crisp synth-pop sounds that recall the alt-rock group Garbage. “White Collar Criminal” starts with twangy guitars that devolve into heavy metal riffage and pounding drums. “You’re Swimming in the Barrel That I’m Shooting” features distorted guitars and manic vocals as Gregg sings, “We’ve been watching you,” over and over. Gregg says the “state of the world” inspired many of the tunes.

“The word ‘moody’ comes up a lot when people hear these songs, and, actually, the word ‘moody’ comes up a lot when people hear us in general now,” he says. “We have been heading in that direction for a while I guess.

We hope people can connect with us and our music and find something meaningful and surprising. I hope they feel like they are hearing something unique, maybe something they haven’t heard before.” The band plays to release a followup to Gods & Ritual Objects later this year.

WHERE YOU CAN HEAR THEM: sexypigdivas.com.

WHERE YOU CAN SEE THEM: Sexypigdivas perform with Holy Rivals at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 22, at Stone Tavern at Michel’s in Kent.

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel

| clevescene.com | April 19 - 25, 2017

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| clevescene.com clev cl eves esce cene nee.c .ccom om | April Appri A riill 19 19 - 225, 55,, 22017 00117

SAVAGE LOVE DICK MONSTERS

by Dan Savage Dear Dan, I’m a queer girl living with a male partner. This weekend, we found ourselves in an after-hours club, made some new friends, and ended up at a house with two other guys and a girl. Things were pretty playful with everyone except for one of the guys. We all wanted him gone, but he wouldn’t take the hint. He bought the booze for the after-party, so we were a little unsure of the etiquette of asking him to leave. Neither I nor the other girl was interested. I made it clear that penetration was off the menu for me, and everyone respected this — except the one guy. He asked if I would do anal, and I refused. He shoved his fingers in my ass, and I stopped him. I positioned myself away from him, but he somehow got behind me again and put his bare dick in my ass — though barely. The host pulled him off me.

We were admittedly all a bit fucked up from partying. I had a stern talk with him about respecting consent — but when I felt his dick enter me from behind a second time, I got upset. My boyfriend threatened him, and the guy punched my boyfriend and broke my sweetheart’s nose. The host threw the guy out with no pants, so he had a well-deserved walk of shame. We don’t know the guy’s last name, so we can’t charge him. My question is this: As a couple, we enjoy threesomes/ moresomes/swingers clubs, etc., and this wasn’t the first time a fun night was ruined by a persistent dick monster. Do you have any suggestions for dealing with pricks like these?

Sober and not horny me has all the answers, but when I’m feeling violated and vulnerable, I’m not the loudmouthed feminist bitch I usually am. We all agree he should have been kicked out before the offenses added up. Maybe he should have been kicked out when we all agreed we weren’t comfortable with him playing with us.

What’s the etiquette of telling someone they can’t join in? I’m done dancing around assholes’ feelings.

— Queer Unicorn Exhausted Entertaining Numbskulls “Persistent dick monster” (PDM) is putting it mildly, QUEEN. This guy sexually assaulted you and physically assaulted your boyfriend — that guy is a VSP (violent sexual predator), not a PDM. And even if you don’t know his last name, report the night’s events to

the police. It’s possible this asshole is already known to the cops — hell, it’s possible he assaulted someone else on his pantsless way home and they’re already holding him and they’d be happy to add more charges.

It’s estimated that only 15 to 35 percent of all sexual assaults are reported to the police, and only nine percent of all accused rapists are prosecuted. While recognizing some folks have legitimate reasons for not going to the cops, we need to get those numbers up — because unreported rapes and sexual assaults can’t be prosecuted.

As for preventing a PDM/VSP from ruining your future threesomes/ moresomes, etc., advance planning — and familiarity among participants — is the best way to ensure a good experience. Spontaneous can be fun, but it’s difficult to pull off safely with groups — spontaneous fun can be difficult to pull off safely in pairs.

Another lesson to be learned from this encounter: Getting shitfaced/shtoned/ shwasted may not be the best plan.

It’s often the worst plan — getting fucked up rarely results in good sex, even between people who fuck on the regular. Plus, it’s easier to ignore red flags/gut feelings when you can barely shee shtraight. Having to remind someone about consent is a major red flag, QUEEN, and one we’re likelier to overlook when we’re shwasted. In a situation where you’re receiving unwanted touches, your polite dismissal of them should be enough. If this reminder has to be repeated twice, that participant should have their pass to moresome mountain revoked immediately.

Two final takeaways: Even kind and decent people can be terrible about taking hints — especially when doing so means getting cut out of a drunken fuckfest. So don’t hint, tell. There’s no rule of etiquette that can paper over the discomfort and awkwardness of that moment, so your group’s designated speaker-upper will just have to power through it. And if you’re going to drink and group in the future, QUEEN, hew to a strict BYOB policy. You don’t ever want to be in a position where you hesitate to show someone the door because they brought the booze.

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