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| clevescene.com clev e esce c ne.com m | August Augu gust st 155 - 21, 21, 2018 2018
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AUGUST 15-21, 2018 • VOLUME 49 NO 7
Dedicated to Free Times founder Richard H. Siegel (1935-1993) and Scene founder Richard Kabat Group Publisher Chris Keating
CONTENTS Upfront
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Publisher Andrew Zelman
Bird scooters arrive in Cleveland, local rents hit a highwater mark, and RTA tables plans for a tax levy
Associate Publisher Angela Nagal Editor Vince Grzegorek
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Editorial Music Editor Jeff Niesel Senior Writer Sam Allard Staff Writer BJ Colangelo Staff Writer Brett Zelman Web Editor Laura Morrison Dining Editor Douglas Trattner Stage Editor Christine Howey Visual Arts Writers Dott von Schneider Copy Editor Elaine Cicora Interns Rebecca Goldfarb, Sarah Parr
Feature
An oral history of WMMS as the legendary station turns 50
Advertising Senior Multimedia Account Executive John Crobar, Shayne Rose Multimedia Account Executive Kiara Davis
Get Out!
Creative Services Production Manager Steve Miluch Staff Photographer Emanuel Wallace
Circulation Circulation Director Don Kriss Euclid Media Group Chief Executive OfďŹ cer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating OfďŹ cers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner VP Digital Services Stacy Volhein Digital Operations Coordinator Jaime Monzon
Rolex Featured Designer
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All the best things to do in Cleveland this week
Business Sales Assistant/Receptionist Megan Stimac Controller Kristy Dotson
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Film
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Hollywood secrets pulled from behind the curtain, plus Mushroomhead’s new DVD
www.euclidmediagroup.com National Advertising Voice Media Group 1-800-278-9866, vmgadvertising.com
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Cleveland Scene 737 Bolivar Rd, #4100 Cleveland, OH 44115 www.clevescene.com Phone 216-241-7550 Retail & ClassiďŹ ed Fax 216-241-6275 Editoral Fax 216-802-7212 E-mail scene@clevescene.com
Say hola to two new Mexican joints worth your time, plus Pour Cleveland’s new Tremont roastery
Music
Cleveland Scene Magazine is published every week by Euclid Media Group. VeriďŹ ed Audit Member Cleveland Distribution Scene is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader Copyright The entire contents of Cleveland Scene Magazine are copyright 2018 by Euclid Media Group. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Publisher does not assume any liability for unsolicited manuscripts, materials, or other content. Any submission must include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. All editorial, advertising, and business correspondence should be mailed to the address listed above.
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Our chat with Flaming Lips’ frontman Wayne Coyne, plus all the shows to see this week
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| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
UPFRONT THE BIRD WAS THE WORD Photo by Sam Allard
THE CITY OF CLEVELAND waited less than 24 hours before attempting to banish a fleet of electric scooters that arrived on downtown streets last Friday morning. The city’s law director sent a letter that very night to the LA-based startup scooter company (Bird) asking that all scooters be removed immediately. “Please be aware that Bird Rides, its agents, or customers, are not permitted to place property on the sidewalks of the City without obtaining a permit,” Cleveland law director Barbara Langhenry wrote. “We believe that you would agree that the placement of unattended, commercial, electric scooters on City sidewalks raises important safety issues that need to be fully explored and properly addressed with the City.” The letter also asked that the scooters, which are charged overnight, not be reintroduced Saturday and concluded with the warning that unattended scooters on city sidewalks would be subject to removal and impoundment. Councilman Kerry McCormack, who represents downtown and parts of Tremont and Ohio City — areas where most of the 100 scooters were dropped off Friday morning — said he was not in favor of the city’s hasty decision. He was joined by other neighborhood leaders and transit activists who critiqued the city’s response, which can basically be summed up as, “Cleveland gonna Cleveland.” In a statement to the Plain Dealer, a Bird spokesman said the company had reached out to city officials and “[looked] forward to working with Cleveland to develop a framework that permits our affordable and convenient transportation option.” The city’s letter was either a bluff, or else there have been private negotiations. Because Monday morning, dozens of Bird scooters were parked and available for riding — via the Bird App— downtown and in Ohio City. -SAM ALLARD
Plain Dealer, in Cost-Cutting Move, Discontinues New York Times Syndication Plain Dealer editor and president George Rodrigue has confirmed
to Scene that Ohio’s largest newspaper has discontinued its subscription to the New York Times syndicate service. That subscription allowed the PD to reprint news articles and opinion pieces produced by the Times and its global network. The wire reports are crucial for the PD, which, due to a depleted staff, regularly and heavily supplements its print edition with syndicated stories. The decision, Rodrigue said, was “entirely due to financial considerations.” A recent Sunday edition of the PD featured articles — including opinion pieces in the Forum section — from the Washington Post, the
Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Associated Press, so there’s still a good deal of coverage from national outlets. But the loss of the New York Times will be a significant blow, especially for readers who valued the Times’ international reporting and the palace intrigue of the Trump administration written by reporters like Maggie Haberman, not to mention the deluge of #MeToo stories by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey last year, which won a Pulitzer Prize in Public Service Journalism. As recently as July 31, when NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik visited Cleveland,
Rodrigue has stressed that the Plain Dealer must stay relevant and vital by providing what no other outlet can for its readership. That means, according to Rodrigue, deeply reported local news. This was also more or less the stance of former PD editor Susan Goldberg, and it makes sense. It’s understood that even the New York Times can’t hold a candle to reporters like Rachel Dissell, John Caniglia, Ginger Christ, Brie Zeltner and Michelle Jarboe (to name a few) when it comes to local beats. Rodrigue has cited a figure by the writer James Hamilton that for every dollar invested in investigative reporting, communities reap $100 in benefits. Presumably, given the limited pot of money, Rodrigue wants to ensure that his local reporters aren’t losing resources and intends to prioritize reporting with direct local impacts. But discontinuing the wire service is no small decision, and it will change the tenor of the print product. It’s even more harmful these days, now that Steve Koff isn’t in D.C. providing original material. Koff was Cleveland. com’s Washington bureau chief and regularly appeared in the print PD. He was among the handful of veteran staffers who accepted voluntary buyouts earlier this year. The Plain Dealer and Cleveland. com are owned by Advance Publications, which has pursued digital-first strategies at its publications nationwide with mixed results. It’s rare to see reporting from other Advance newspapers — the Oregonian, the Times-Picayune, for example — in the PD, and if reporters at those outlets have been indoctrinated with the same digital priorities as Cleveland.com, it’s not a mystery why. The Advance papers did team up to produce “Guns: An American Conversation,” a special report that appeared in the PD earlier this summer. Rodrigue has been up front about the paper’s financial challenges at a series of community conversations held at libraries across the region. He’s trying to engage with readers to generate story ideas and flag areas where the paper could be better. He has | clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
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UPFRONT championed, as in the past, both solutions-oriented journalism and investigative reporting. But he has also said that subscribers bear a greater responsibility for supporting the print product than ever before, given the dramatic losses in ad revenue and the fact that Cleveland.com doesn’t support itself with a paywall of any kind. That discrepancy will get harrier in 2019, when the PD’s union contracts expire and questions about the future of print journalism in the region become a lot less abstract. At one such community conversation last week, held at Cleveland Public Library’s Lorain Branch, the discontinuation of the New York Times wire subscription did not come up. -ALLARD
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As development continues at a rapid pace in some parts of the city, the cost of living is making a leap while wages sit at a standstill. That means we’re now paying more for rent without having the income to supplement the difference in cost. According to a monthly report from Rent Cafe, average rent costs in Cleveland have jumped 0.4 percent compared to last month, and have jumped 2.7 percent compared to last year. The biggest jumps came from two bedroom apartments, which hopped 3.9 percent overall compared to last year. Studio apartment rents increased by 3.7 percent. A two-bedroom apartment in Cleveland now has an average cost of $1,177 per month, a dollar amount that most Ohio jobs don’t pay enough to cover. In 2016, 48 percent of Cleveland renters were cost burdened, and this number is only going to continue to grow if housing doesn’t become more affordable. What’s also concerning is that Cleveland has the highest rental costs compared to every other major metropolitan city in the state, including Columbus, which boasts a much larger population. Cleveland is still trying to claw its way back from the housing crisis, but the construction for new housing opportunities are overwhelmingly geared toward
luxury living. These new city developments are targeting new professionals moving to the area, but Cleveland residents are still struggling to find affordable housing. This upswing in housing costs isn’t only impacting those that rent. Last week concluded the sexennial reappraisal of homes in Cuyahoga County, which revealed residential values increased by 10.8 percent countywide, and commercial values increased by 8.7 percent. County Executive Armond Budish said in a press release about the increased values, “I am pleased that overall our property values have significantly increased. It’s a sign that our county is prospering.” Unfortunately, many of these homes were appraised for a lot more than the are worth. Many homes saw property values go up 100, 200 or even 400%. Cleveland’s increase in rent costs was still below the national average, so we’re not quite as screwed as other parts of the
DIGIT WIDGET 44,843 Total full-time equivalent employees at the Cleveland Clinic, Northeast Ohio’s largest employer, an eight percent increase from employment last year.
14 Cuyahoga County overdose deaths over a week-and-a-half stretch in early August. Half of the victims were over 60 years old.
95% Decrease in citations for fare evasion on RTA’s Red Line and HealthLine from January - June, 2017 to January - June, 2018.
326 The new Ohio area code approved by PUCO for new numbers in the 937 area code in Southwest Ohio. It’ll be the state’s 13th area code once it takes effect in 2020.
country (like Tampa, Florida, which saw an increase in rent costs by a whopping 6 percent). However, with an Ohio minimum wage of $8.10 per hour, employees are only able to take away $1,296 per month before taxes, and a two-bedroom apartment costs $1,035 monthly. It’s impossible to afford an average twobedroom apartment while working minimum wage. -BJ COLANGELO
There Will Be No RTA Tax Levy in 2018, Despite Trevor Elkins’ Solitary Appeals Newburgh Heights Mayor Trevor Elkins couldn’t even get a second when he introduced a motion to place a sales tax levy on the November ballot last Tuesday at a Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) board committee meeting. The motion died thereby. With seven total board members present, Elkins presented the levy’s case. He argued for a four-tenths-of-a-percent sales tax increase over 10 years. That increase would yield an estimated $73 million per year — costing the average county resident about $1 per week — and would restore transit service to 2015 levels while
88 69. Including Prescription Lenses
also reducing fares and chipping away at the agency’s considerable state-of-good-repair backlog. But Elkins’ colleagues all voiced opposition. Karen Gabriel Moss, an Armond Budish appointee to the RTA board, worried that Elkins’ proposal was arbitrary. Why four tenths of a percent and not ďŹ ve, she wondered? Why 10 years and not eight? She said, moreover, that if Richard Cordray were to be elected Governor in November, she was optimistic that he would make good on his recent campaign promise to invest in infrastructure, including public transit. Mayor Jackson appointee Valarie McCall thanked Elkins for his commitment, but reiterated statements that she has made in recent months about the failure and disarray of RTA’s leadership. Despite Elkins’ opinion that RTA should not be afraid to fail at the ballot, and indeed, could apply lessons from a failed campaign to an effort next year, McCall said that the agency simply had to do more due diligence before it asked voters for more money. A lack of due diligence was probably the primary objection to a ballot measure this year. South Euclid Mayor Georgine
Welo, an appointee of the regional mayors association, said that she’d received an email about a parking tax that she found promising and said should be considered. (“Dead on arrival,â€? murmured a rider in the audience.) Had other funding mechanisms been fully considered and vetted, Welo asked. “Raising money is going to take time,â€? she said. “I personally get questions about who’s going to be acting GM. Have we really done the due diligence? Do people trust us enough to give us more money?â€? Mayor Dennis Clough, Board President, said much the same. “You really only want to go to the ballot once,â€? he said. “I’d rather not try to learn from my mistakes by putting something on prematurely. I’d like to do more due diligence. We’re not there. We’re just not there.â€? Rev. Charles Lucas said he’s “100 percentâ€? in favor of taking a measure to voters, “just not now.â€? And Sonny Nardi said he disagreed with the terms of the proposal, preferring a ďŹ ve-year measure to prove to voters that RTA could be accountable with taxpayer dollars. While Elkins argued that a 10-year levy would provide more stability for the agency, he ultimately
proposed a six-year levy as a concession to Nardi. Despite Valarie McCall’s efforts to characterize the board as being in agreement on big-picture issues — “I don’t want this to seem like one colleague is for something and nine others are against it; that’s not accurate,� she said — the discussion was very much a back-and-forth between Elkins arguing the merits of the levy and his six colleagues in attendance expressing reservations. Elkins said it was frustrating, for example, to hear his board colleagues speak so passionately about the need for due diligence. “In this county, we have spent an insane amount of taxpayer dollars on funding for professional sports facilities,� Elkins said. “If due diligence and research matter to us, we would never have done that because all of the research, right up to the Federal Reserve, says spending money on those facilities does not ever generate an economic return. Does research and data really matter to us? Only when it’s convenient, it appears.� -ALLARD
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Illustration by David Helton
FEATURE
THE BUZZARD AT 50 An oral history of WMMS, Cleveland’s legendary radio station By Matt Wardlaw and Jeff Niesel IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG FOR WMMS to turn into a juggernaut after making its debut on Sept. 28, 1968. Thanks to its forward-thinking staff, it took the progressive rock format of the 1960s and 1970s to the limit and played acts that would go on to national acclaim and popularity well before other commercial stations embraced them. Throughout the ’70s and into the ’80s, the ratings soared, and the station became synonymous with rock ’n’ roll in Cleveland. Its program directors and DJs would go to great lengths to obtain exclusive tracks from acts such as Fleetwood
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Mac, whose hit album Rumours sold one million copies in the Cleveland area alone. WMMS played David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” well before other stations in the country would play anything by the Thin White Duke, and after embracing Bruce Springsteen early in his career, WMMS built a library of his unreleased tracks that no other station had. WMMS DJs interviewed thenlittle known acts such as U2 and John Cougar Mellencamp when they came through town, many of which would play the station’s fabled Coffee Break Concert series too.
| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
But after key personnel left WMMS in the late ’80s and early ’90s, the station lost its dominance and its ability to shape listeners’ taste in music. Its credibility took a hit too. In 1988, it admitted to stuffing the Rolling Stone ballots to win the annual Rolling Stone Readers’ Poll for Radio Station of the Year. Also, during a 1994 broadcast of The Howard Stern Show, which aired on rival station WNCX, WMMS engineer William Alford cut the cable to the broadcast, committing a felony in the process. (Okay, that move had some legit old-school WMMS cred.)
The station survived those controversies and still broadcasts today, of course, focusing primarily on talk radio with Rover in the morning and Alan Cox in the afternoon. As WMMS celebrates the anniversary, both on-air and online, using archival audio, memorabilia and station-related artifacts to offer a cross-section of the station’s diverse history and the numerous people who played a part in it, we add this oral history in the spirit of celebration. It’s admittedly incomplete -- an entire book would be needed to do it rightful justice
Photo courtesy Cleveland Memory Project
-- but we’re thankful to all the folks who contributed highlights and tales from the station’s glorious life, one that made it an irreplaceable soundtrack to a city.
1968-1972 THE BIRTH OF A STATION BILLY BASS: [In the 1960s,] I worked at the Music Grotto, the hippie music store in town. We sold all the music that was considered the new rock — Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead and the Doors. At the time, all this great music was coming out of San Francisco, but nobody had ever heard of it. If Rolling Stone was writing about it, I would stock it, and, sure enough, people would buy it. I had the store selling all this music played on WNEW in New York and KSAN in San Francisco and KMET in Los Angeles and WMMR in Philly. They were all owned by Metromedia. Metromedia also owned WHK and WHK-FM in Cleveland. Pat McCoy was the music director of WHK, and the FCC made a ruling that if you owned an AM and an FM in the same town, you couldn’t simulcast. You had to come up with original programming. He was made the program director, and the first thing he did was come to Music Grotto to tell me he wanted to do at WHK-FM what they were doing at WMMR. I didn’t know about that. I talked to my wife, and she said she didn’t think it was a good idea. I realized it wasn’t a good idea, but I wanted to do it anyway. Now, I was on WHK-FM, which was really the first incarnation of WMMS. The program director had no idea what was going on, so I basically got to do whatever I wanted to do. I would segue songs together. I told stories. I was very anti-war. Pat McCoy didn’t know about it, but all the music had an anti-war slant. Then, WHK changed the format from underground radio to easy listening, and that was the end of me. Luckily, I was so popular that WIXY hired me. And then, I got offered a deal I couldn’t pass up at WNCR. They asked me to be the program director and that involved bringing Martin Perlich and Doc Nemo, two of the original underground radio DJs, with me. I wanted to bring David Spero with me too because he knew a hit record when he heard one. SPERO: I remember Billy calling me up on a Thursday night, and he said, “Hey, I’ve got something big that might be happening.” I think I was doing 7 to midnight at ‘NCR then. It was decided that the following Monday we would start on WMMS. I was going to do the morning show and be the music director. Billy was
going to do afternoon drive and be the program director. Denny Sanders was already there, and Lou “King” Kirby was there as well as Dick “Wild Child” Kemp. I don’t remember who we had on the all night [shift]. I was like, “Can we play everything that we want?” “Yeah.” That’s all we wanted to hear. DENNY SANDERS: I came in October of 1971. Metromedia [owned the station, and they were] a major owner of FM stations in those days, all of which were album oriented rock. You could only own five stations in those days. They had WNEW in New York, WMMR in Philadelphia, KMET in Los Angeles, KSAN and WMMS in Cleveland. This was a heavyweight lineup of stations. I had made somewhat of a name for myself in Boston and the vice president of Metromedia gave me a feeler call in Boston and said, “We have an opening for the night show in Cleveland, would you like to come and do it?” SPERO: We went over there, and it was a totally different experience. They actually had marketing money and stuff that they were willing to spend on us. We became very community-oriented. Dennis Kucinich was the councilman for that area, and he helped get us permits and stuff to do free concerts. I’m talking about free concerts with people like Joe Cocker. We would do these things just to get our call letters out there. Honestly, we didn’t know what we were doing. Our goal was that we were now looking at radio not as a way to become famous or to make a lot of money, because neither of those two things was going to happen, but an art form. And it was a way to find a way to play Led Zeppelin into Joni Mitchell into some sort of a classical or jazz piece and a little bit of spoken word and find your way around to introducing music that nobody had ever heard. SANDERS: WMMS was highly undeveloped in [the early] days. They had attempted to do an album rock format in 1968, and it was aborted after several months by the national office, because they made the mistake that often people outside of Cleveland make and that is that, “Oh, Cleveland’s not a hip enough town to appreciate an album oriented rock format.” They tried Top 40 and all kinds of different things. And then in 1970, Nationwide Insurance put on WNCR as an album rock station and Metromedia said, “Well, if anybody’s going to put on an album rock station in Cleveland, it’s going to be us.” So they switched the station back to album rock sometime in 1970 or early ‘71. The mistake they
Billy Bass.
made was they kept the Top 40 jocks. They didn’t know what they were playing. Metromedia realized their mistake, and I was their first attempt to bring in an album oriented music personality with some credibility to come in and try to build the station’s cred up. BASS: [When I returned to WMMS], the problem was we were in the underground state of mind, and I didn’t know how to reposition ourselves. There was nothing new happening. We were still playing stuff from 1967. The new stuff was coming out of the South, and it was ZZ Top and the Marshall Tucker Band and all these Confederate flag-waving motherfuckers. I said, “I’m not playing that shit.” My music director at the time was Denny Sanders. He was the only guy I kept when the general manager brought me over to WMMS. He knew radio, and he knew stuff about ratings. I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out what to do next. Denny played me “Space Oddity” by David Bowie. Not only did I like it, but I told the staff that at that moment I knew where we were going. I had seen the light. We didn’t have to play that “let’s go out and hang niggers”
music. We started playing “Space Oddity.” Almost the next day, or so it seemed, [David Bowie’s] Hunky Dory came out. Now, we had more to play of that kind of music. And then, Ziggy Stardust comes out. We also had Lou Reed, Mott the Hoople and T. Rex. The more we played it, the more popular we got. SANDERS: Billy Bass was really one of the most outstanding on air personalities that ever worked in Cleveland. He was only there for a year, but he made a big impact. I was music director in those days. I think the signature act that we played during that period was David Bowie. How that came about was I was music director and Chuck Dembreck, who was the RCA Records guy for northern Ohio, came into my office one day with a blank label record. And he said, “I want you to listen to this and tell me what you think.” We put it on and we listened to the first track, the second track, the third — I couldn’t take it off the turntable. I said, “This is absolutely outstanding. I’ve never heard anything like it. Who is this?” The album was Hunky Dory. It wasn’t yet released, but it was about to be released. Now, we had kind of heard the name before because he had | clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
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FEATURE made some preliminary recordings for Mercury and other labels, but they were fairly undeveloped and not that distinguished. I went to Billy, who was the program director, and I said, “You’ve got to listen to this.” He listened to the album and fell in love with it and mobilized the forces of the radio station to break that record nationally. So, people always say, “Well, who gets the credit for breaking David Bowie?” The best way I can put it is if it were a football game, I had the ball, and I threw it to Billy who made the touchdown. SPERO: In the end, as it became more corporate, I had started managing the Michael Stanley Band. I was getting a little bit of smoke from the FCC about how you can’t manage an artist and play their music on the air. You know, it starts looking like Alan Freed. Changes were coming and all of a sudden, John Gorman was crossing tracks off. He had now replaced Billy — Billy had left, because he was just done. John came in as program director and it wasn’t as freeform as it used to be. It was like, “Well, if you play this album, you can
only play a choice of these three tracks and you have to write down what time you played it so it doesn’t get played again in the next 24 hours.” It stopped being spur of the moment music where you just would grab a song because it felt like the right thing. You know, there were times that I hadn’t picked the next song until I saw we were about to fade out in 10 seconds. It was like, “Ah, I got it!” These things weren’t planned out. It was creating a mood and a feel that if someone was listening to you, they had you on for the afternoon and they went along for the whole ride.
1972-1978 PUSHING THE PROGRESSIVE ROCK FORMAT SANDERS: Metromedia sold the radio station to Malrite Communications, which is Milt Maltz, one guy. Billy didn’t get along with Milt Maltz, so he left and Martin Perlich went to the coast and David [Spero] hung around for a little while and I became program director. I needed to fill some slots, so I put out my tentacles looking for people that had music cred to bring on the station and part of the tentacles reached out to the Cleveland State University station, which was not on
FM in those days, but it was a closedcircuit station. I had solicited tapes from these people because my feeling was that the college radio folks were the people that knew music. You know, I didn’t want to bring in another 45-year-old ex-AM guy that had no idea what the hell he was playing. I hired Kid Leo. Matt the Cat came over. I was music director, program director and doing six hours a day on air along with the six-hour weekend shift. And I was really burning out. So I went to Milt Maltz and we talked and I said, “Look, I can’t do both these jobs. I know a guy in Boston who would make a great program director, why don’t you bring him in?” KID LEO: Being born and bred in Cleveland, I was way past delirious when I got a job at WMMS, as I was a fervent fan of the channel back in the early ’70s. And that job grew into so much more. It allowed me to become an important and integral part of people’s lives. [Listeners] accepted me and my quirky musical tastes, which turned out to be not so quirky after all. In those days, Cleveland was a joke to most in the national media and therefore to a lot of America. Our sports teams were inept, our mayors were fodder for late night talk show hosts’ monologues and hell, our river even caught on fire. But Cleveland
had a very good reputation as a music city. We not only nurtured that fact; we became the place for bands to break out of, the town Rolling Stone magazine and other hip publications wrote up because no other metropolis showed anywhere near the kind of the fervor we displayed. The station and the music gave Clevelanders a reason to be proud. JOHN GORMAN: Prior to moving to Cleveland, I had been to Cleveland one year earlier to visit in the summer of 1972. We thought it was a nice city. I had nothing but good memories. WMMS was a great sounding radio station. I thought it was in some ways better than the progressive rock station in Boston. [In 1973] when Denny told me the staff was gone and asked if I was interested, I definitely was. Beyond that, Denny stressed that we could do what we wanted to do in Boston but could never achieve. We had always wanted to build our own radio station. Denny hired Jeff [Kinzbach] as production director. He didn’t have an interest in being on the air, but he was a whiz at production. You had to use a razor blade to splice magnetic tape together. He could splice things together. Ed “Flash” Ferenc was working for WHK and came in as an intern. I heard his
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| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
voice and realized he belonged on radio. CHARLIE KENDALL: John Gorman came to me when I was at WVBF in Framingham, Boston. I went to work there in 1971, not long after I got out of the Navy. As the station actually grew and different people came into the corporation, they tried to make it more commercial and make us insert hit records along with Deep Purple and the Stooges and MC5. He heard that and asked me if I would consider coming to Cleveland to work at ’MMS. He said, “I want you to come to Cleveland and do mornings. Because, unless we can crack mornings, we can’t get in the top ten as a radio station. You play whatever you think Cleveland’s going to want to hear!” And I said, “Really?” I had never worked at a totally freeform station. [When I was at the station, there were guys like] Bill [B.L.F. Bash] Freeman. He turned me onto the Stooges and the MC5. I turned him onto Deep Purple and Dio and some of the other hard rock and heavy metal things. We would listen to music, a couple of boy howdys and put on some tunes and turn ‘em up loud. Bill was the only guy I’ve ever heard who could actually drop acid, do a show and you really weren’t sure if he was off or anything, other than the fact that he was laughing so much. B.L.F. BASH: Oh yeah, I did quite a bit. I kind of perfected that up in Fargo. Word got out that maybe the Bash might be doing some acid on the radio. So one day, Larry, the general manager, he’s in the hall, and I said, “I’m going to do one of these purple ones” and he said, “Oh, no, no.” The fact is that we were King Kong. We were the main test market in the country in Fargo. So our national sales manager, we hardly ever saw him. He was either out in L.A. or New York buying time. When I got off the air, they were all waiting, and they said, “Wow, that might have been the best damn show I’ve ever heard anybody do. Let’s go over to the 5 Spot.” We went over there and with pitcher after pitcher of beer, they said, “What do you see when you’re on that stuff?” So I explained. When all was done and said -- and I was still flying pretty high on this shit -- I just basically reconstructed on how to do a radio show. ED “FLASH” FERENC: After the first six months at Cleveland State, I joined the radio station at the school and met Kid Leo and Matt the Cat. It was 1972, I think. I got a radio show and moved up the ladder there and became the program director. Fast forward to 1973, and Malrite had just purchased WMMS. They got rid of a
lot of people. They needed someone to work for two bucks an hour to help out in the newsroom, and that was me. Right at the same time, Kid Leo, who wasn’t yet called Kid Leo at the time, got a call to fill in on nights from midnight to 6. He jumped on it, and I jumped on the opportunity to stick my foot in the door. In 1975, Charlie Kendall was doing the morning show. He was a great jock, but he liked to party. The ladies adored him. A morning show guy has to get up, and Charlie couldn’t get up. KENDALL: Yeah, I enjoyed Cleveland’s nightlife a little too much. Every show was ours. We could get into any club. We never had to pay a bar tab. You know, it was rough. I’ve gone from Charlie Daniels’ hotel suite with him over to the [morning] show, and he sat and did the show with me. Dr. Hook did that a few times. I did it with a lot of guys. We ended up at the after-show at their place and then back to the hotel rooms and then onto the radio station for the morning show. That happened a lot. We had everybody you could think of. FERENC: [Kendall] would miss two or three mornings a week, so they called Jeff Kinzbach, who lived in Lakewood, to fill in. JEFF KINZBACH: Charlie Kendall is this charmer. He’d call me at 4 in the morning and tell me to do the show. I’d fill in for him and for Debbie Ullman, who did mornings, for a while too. Flash and I just clicked, and we were good friends off the air. I was happy to take over the morning show. I guess I was destined to wake up at 4 a.m. for the rest of my life. My whole idea was to rock listeners awake. Traditionally, radio stations played softer music in the morning. I would put on Led Zeppelin or Rush. We were always a homebrew radio station, and it took us about three years to realize what we had and where we could go with it. DONNA HALPER: There was a Canadian record promoter named Bob Roper. He sent me this manila envelope with a record from A&M of Canada. I open it up and it’s got this really “loving hands at home” kind of cover, like, ooh, somebody got together and made a record. And, it’s from this band called Rush. I’ve never heard of them. I’ve heard of Mahogany Rush -- they’re from Montreal. I open it up and I’m looking for a long song, because we are an album rock station. Long songs were jokingly called bathroom songs, because when the DJ was on the air late at night and needed to go, it was nice to have a long song. So I’m always looking for a
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Photo from Scene Archives
FEATURE
Boom as Mr. Destructo.
long song, but it has to be a good song. Emerson, Lake and Palmer, welcome back my friends, to the album that never ends, no thank you. I drop the needle on “Working Man” and I knew immediately. I got in touch with Roper and I’m like, “What’s up??” He says, “We’re not going to sign them, they’re not ready, but I heard something, see if you hear something.” I’m like, “Are you kidding me, yeah, absolutely.” “Working Man” is a perfect Cleveland record. I get up at 7 and I go to work at 9, got no time for livin’, yeah, I’m workin’ all of the time. There they are and Cleveland’s a factory town back then, Republic Steel, the night sky is orange with pollution. I just figured it would resonate. I brought it down to Denny Sanders and I said, “Denny, you’ve got to play this. He did and the phones light up immediately. “When’s the new Led Zeppelin coming out?” Nope, not Led Zeppelin, Canadian band, Rush! Wow, okay, play it again? Pretty soon, we’re getting requests for it. You know the rest, I got in touch with their management and I said, “Hey, you guys are doing really well in Cleveland.” They’re like, “Really?
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Nobody in Toronto wants to play us!” One thing led to another, we got a box of records down, put them in Record Revolution, Peter Schliewin, God rest his soul. Back then, that’s where you got your imports, at Record Revolution. GORMAN: Back then, there was the Allman Brothers and Jeff Beck and Led Zeppelin, but there was other music taking place. We started reading New Musical Express and the British music magazines. When Kid Leo joined the station, he was playing the post-’60s bands like Roxy, Mott the Hoople and T. Rex. We played some of the stuff from New York too like the New York Dolls. We wanted to put all the music together in some kind of format. The moment I knew it would work was when I realized we could play Roxy Music, Led Zeppelin, the Allman Brothers and New York Dolls all in the same hour and make it work. We started playing Suzi Quatro as an import. We had a lot of help in getting music. [The late singer-guitarist] Peter Laughner was a brilliant musician and songwriter. He died way too young. He lived not far from the station on Prospect. He would come down to the station and turn us on to
| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
different music. We became the first station in the country to play Patti Smith. He went to New York and saw Patti Smith and picked up her single which was a cover of “Hey Joe” and the other side was “Piss Factory.” Peter Schliewin at Record Revolution turned me onto Queen long before that album came out. LARRY BOLE: Working at WMMS was a real musical education. Before I started there, I had been working at the Cleveland State station, which became the farm team for WMMS. We knew immediately Leo was a star. I mean, what college student goes walking around campus with a silk jockey cap and long hair and a beard and calls himself “Kid Leo”? It’s so amazing, I was a part-timer and I could program my own show. That’s unheard of on a major station. There were some guidelines that John Gorman gave us. He told us things like “don’t play two instrumentals together.” But those were just guidelines. I had an import hour show. I worked at the Music Grotto, so I had access to the imports there. We had old German Krautrock and all the British stuff. I have run into two people in the last month who have told me what avid listeners they
were. Even after I left the station and started working for Warner Bros., I kept doing shows at WMMS under the name Beebop Kirby for the first couple of months in 1979. SANDERS: Everyone was so uniquely talented. Betty Korvan was tough and sassy and one of the earlier female rock jocks, but unlike someone like Allison Steele in New York, she never tried to be sultry. After Betty, you will notice that women on Cleveland rock stations got away from that purring kitten stuff. That was Betty’s influence. She loved the Rolling Stones and had two cats named Mick and Keith, as I recall. She later moved to Deadwood, South Dakota where she was on KSQY out there for many years and was quite popular. BETTY “CRASH” KORVAN: I had worked at the radio station at Cleveland State so I knew Matt the Cat, Kid Leo, Larry Bole and Flash. Flash said to make a tape for John [Gorman], and I did. I knew he liked Linda Ronstadt so I made sure I put that on there. That was 1973. I was on all nights for the first couple of years. People would have parties, especially on the weekends, so I tried to be a nice soundtrack for that. I
had been a Stones fan. I saw them in the early 1970s at the Akron Rubber Bowl and Stevie Wonder opened for them. Somebody turned me onto Goat’s Head Soup and then I realized there was more to the Stones than I ever thought. I played them a lot but being on the all-night show you could get away with playing longer, maybe jazzy tunes and live stuff. I liked to do that. SHELLEY STILE: Betty was a complete and total rock and roll girl. She really liked heavy metal as well and she was very, very different. She had her own specific following. She did 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., so she was a night owl. Betty adored Jimmy Page. I had a really good friend who was head of promotions, a guy by the name of Danny Marcus, one of the greatest promotion men of all time. Anyhow, we were really good friends and Zeppelin was on tour. I believe that it was either ’76 or ’77. I went out with them for a week. It was just extraordinary. I was at Madison Square Garden with them. They were probably the most drug-fueled band I’ve ever been in contact with. When they came to Cleveland… I’m sure you’ve heard tales of Swingos and the debauchery that went on there. I called Betty up and I said, “Meet me at Swingos.” She walked in and there’s the band sitting around the table with me and Danny. I thought she was going to pee her pants. She was like, “Oh my God!” Not a groupie, you know what I mean? She didn’t want anything to do with that. She was just in awe of Page. And then that weekend, we got Bonzo to completely destroy a hotel room. Because I made the mistake of saying, “Hey Bonzo, let’s go wreck Danny’s room.” Which he proceeded to do in about 60 seconds. Swingos put up with that kind of shit -- televisions being thrown out windows and rooms being completely destroyed. I mean, did you see the movie Almost Famous? That whole hotel situation, that was Swingos, 100 percent. KORVAN: Shelley was the one who got me to meet Led Zeppelin. We were at Swingos, and Robert Plant came in and I melted. I just didn’t think anyone could be that good looking up close. Being a guitar person, I wanted to meet Jimmy Page. After that, we went up to their room and Shelley and this record label guy were laying on a four-post bed. [Drummer] John [Bonham] walks in and takes the two bottom posts of the bed and rips them off and says, “I got me a new set of drumsticks!” That was incredible. I was just standing there with my mouth hanging open. That was one of the highlights. I didn’t
want to see anyone throwing TVs out of the window and there were a lot of groupies hanging around and everything started getting kinda plastic, so I went home to feed my cats.
1978-1987 THE HEYDAY AND CAMPAIGNING FOR THE ROCK HALL DENNY SANDERS: The mid-’70s to
mid-’80s were really the classic days. We had ratings that nobody could touch. We had 11, 12, 13, 14 shares of total audience. You don’t see numbers like that today. The highest ratings you’ll see today is maybe a 10. And that’s during Christmas when a station is playing Christmas music. At one point, at the height of the station’s fame -- you have to remember there’s 1.7 million people in metropolitan Cleveland --we had a regular audience of almost 700,000, which meant that one in three people in the entire metropolitan area listened to the station. It was that dominating. GORMAN: [During the mid-’80s], out of the blue one day, I got a call from Eddie Spizel, who had had an agency in Cleveland. He had moved to San Francisco where he created a successful ad agency. I was wondering why he was calling me. He started talking about how Bill Graham was building a Rock Hall near Ghirardelli Square. It would be a tribute to the bands that made rock ‘n roll but it’s all the San Francisco. He was yelling at me about how rock ’n’ roll started in Cleveland, and it should be there. He said, “You need to do something about this.” The first thing that came to mind was Atlantic Records. I met [founder] Ahmet Ertegun, but I didn’t know him. We were good friends with Tunc Erim. He was one of Ahmet’s right hand people. He loved coming to Cleveland because we were breaking all this music for him. Roxy Music was on his label. When they played Cleveland, they would play Public Hall. In other cities, they would play small halls. We talked to him about the Rock Hall of Fame idea, and he took it to Ahmet. Tunc says Ahmet had only one thing to say. He said, “What will Cleveland do to get the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?” I said, “If you build it in New York, it’s just another building. If you build it in Cleveland, it will be the most important building in the city.” The next call was made to George Voinovich, who was the mayor at the time, and Dick Celeste, who was the governor. We pitched it by talking about this huge audience we had. If you had told me back then that it
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Photo courtesy Billy Bass
FEATURE
Kid Leo and Billy Bass.
was going to happen, I wouldn’t have believed it. The only disappointment I have is that Eddie Spizel and Tunc don’t get the credit they deserve. FERENC: There was a concerted effort to bring the Rock Hall to Cleveland. WMMS led the drive because Cleveland sold more records per capita than any other city. We heard a poll was coming out in USA Today, and we got the phone number you could call. It was 50 cents for a call. We hit the ground running. Being No. 1, everyone copied us. The other radio TV stations and radio stations did the same thing. We pounded that sucker. They had to take Cleveland because we blew the phones up. The Rock Hall wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for WMMS. I’m not alone in saying that. [CEO] Greg Harris at the Rock Hall will even tell you that. SANDERS: As we got into the ’80s and we played Prince and Michael Jackson -- we got a lot of shit for playing Michael Jackson. I remember an interview, somebody said, “Why are you playing Michael Jackson?” And I said, “Well, bear in mind that Eddie Van Halen did probably the hottest set of guitar licks that I’ve heard him do in a long time on ‘Beat It.’ Mick Jagger recorded with him on ‘State of Shock.’ [Paul] McCartney recorded with him. What are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to blank out the Michael Jackson vocals?” [Laughs] C’mon, get with it! Every party I’d go to, there they
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were playing Michael Jackson. You know, you’re not going to play Foreigner block parties in the middle of the whole musical revolution. And our signature, the WMMS signature in those days, was always staying abreast of current music. So we played Michael Jackson. Now, when we played Michael Jackson and Prince and Culture Club and some of the newer cutting edge acts like Depeche Mode, OMD and Psychedelic Furs, Thompson Twins and stuff like that, we made sure we had a Rolling Stones or J. Geils Band [song] after it, so that you weren’t really stressing the audience too much. You’re not going to break music to a handful of aficionados. You’re going to break music to the masses and the only way to reach the masses is to have a commercial service and the only way to have a commercial service is to realize the patience of the audience is limited. So you’ve got to know how to do it, and we were very successful and I’m very proud of those days.
1988-1994 THE PARTY’S OVER SANDERS: John [Gorman] and I left in 1986. Partly because Malrite Communications, which owned the radio station, partly because of the revenue generated by WMMS, was able to expand into other cities.
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They ended up in New York with Z100 and they ended up in L.A. with a country music station and a few other markets. And then they decided that they needed a national program director. The headquarters of the company, of course, were in Cleveland. Well, they brought in this guy and I won’t mention his name, who was the national program director. He came in and the first thing he did was start screwing with WMMS. I remember John and I and others saying to him, “What’s the matter with you? This is a successful radio station!” He said, “This isn’t supposed to work!” I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “Well, you’re playing Michael Jackson and Ozzy Osbourne and you’re playing the Pretenders and the next minute, you’re playing Bob Marley and the Wailers and then you’re playing the Average White Band and you’re all over the place!” I said, “But it works, please, don’t touch it. We’re never going to be able to create this thing ever again.” FERENC: When Gorman left, Kid Leo pretty much took over. But when Kid Leo left in 1988, things started to unravel. Gorman had to leave because of corporate meddling. Once they realized what a monster was created, not by them, they got their hands in it. Everyone was coming after it and there was no such thing as classic rock at the time, and WNCX came on in 1987 or
1988 and capitalized on the music that we had broke. [John] Lanigan didn’t call it the Zoo, but he built up his morning show. It was great to have competition, but in the late ’80s, you saw the wheels coming off the train. When we moved in 1991 or 1992, we knew they were dressing it up to sell the station. When it was sold, it was sold to one group and then to another. What happened to radio is what happened to every small business in America that was making a lot of money. The mom and pop hardware store became Lowe’s or Home Depot. The corner pharmacy became Walgreens or CVS. All that mattered was money. MICHAEL LUCZAK: Everybody was caught up in the house of cards where they were just buying and selling [radio stations]. Jeff and Flash had been there 20 years or whatever. I’m sure they thought they were going to be there until they were 60 too. It was a shock to the system. KINZBACH: It was funny. It wasn’t like anyone came to town and beat us. The organization made mistakes and shot themselves in the foot. A key person would leave a key position. Instead of filling with someone locally who was qualified, they’d bring someone in from another part of the country. Sometimes, they wouldn’t replace a person who left to save some money. LUCZAK: I liked the fact that Jeff
and Flash had strong ratings, they had been together and they were signed up for another five years or something. Just leave these guys alone and things should be okay. It wasn’t like I was getting in there to say, “Man, you oughta do this,” because I had some cockamamie idea about how I thought the morning show could sound. I more or less said, “This is what I inherited and it’s pretty good.” When you talk about the demise of the ‘MMS morning show, it was Howard Stern. Cleveland was the fifth market that he went into and I remember at the time, [Malrite National Program Director John] Chaffee told me to do some research. They had a research department at corporate, so I was able to get the ratings books from New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Los Angeles. I looked at what the Howard Stern station did against the rock station that they were attacking. In his first syndication days, he was always on rock stations and he was always going against an established heritage type of station. These books are almost like carbon copies of each other. Stern would get there and after six months to a year, he’s number one in the market. If the heritage station had a 10 share and the Stern station had a two, after a year’s time, it would
be flipped. That was what really killed ‘MMS. RIC ‘ROCCO’ BENNETT: Luczak had a vision for what he wanted out of the night show. There was actually a thing down in Texas called Outlaw Radio, which was the flavor he wanted. We would have a pre-show meeting and he would give me things that he thought I should do and we’d go over the day before. It was like a morning show as far as entertainment value goes, because I had something going pretty much every 15 to 30 minutes. That was Gonzo Radio, it was unpredictable and my time spent listening was off the chain. That was because of things like, BOOM, here’s a six pack from Judas Priest. I had that going. And I had major comedians coming through. Ron White, Jeff Foxworthy, you know, these guys who went on to be famous were coming through at night, because it was easier for them and a lot of times, Jeff and Flash had a full schedule and they didn’t want to deal with comedians. LUCZAK: The end of my time there, I never knew what was going to happen. There was always going to be a surprise and usually it was bad. I think I shared that feeling with a lot of the staff, because we just didn’t know what was going
to happen tomorrow. It wasn’t like Walt had come in as the new GM and said, “Okay, we’re Shamrock now, we’re going to invest a hundred thousand dollars in our TV campaign and we’re going to take this kind of position and we’re going to dominate the market again.” They were just treading water and just hanging onto it. What do they call it? Pump and dump. Shamrock saw the call letters, they saw the heritage station and they saw a station with decent ratings. Stern signed on in ’92, but I don’t think the ratings really showed until the end of ’93. That’s when it got pretty bad. Chuck Bortnick, the guy who hired me, was gone. Chuck’s boss and my boss on the music side, John Chaffee, he was gone, because Malrite said goodbye. You didn’t have that comfort of knowing that if you’ve got a problem, you can walk down the hall and talk to the top guys and they’d help you work it out. We didn’t know the top guys and they didn’t know us. All I wanted to do was hang onto my job and continue to be the program director and live and grow old in Cleveland. But there’s no way I could have predicted the future. It’s really kind of sad. Carl Hirsch, he lied to me. He said I was going to be there and that I’d have a job. My contract expired at the end
of December in 1993 and I took a few days off for Christmas and New Year’s. I came back in, the first day back, Walt calls me into his office and says, “Well, Omni is taking over and they don’t want to retain you. So here’s two week’s severance and we’ll see you later.” That was really fucked up. But you know what? It wasn’t like it was only happening at ‘MMS. That was going on at 50 rock stations across the country.
1994-1996 THE NEXT GENERATION BENNETT: We were being sold and we knew to who. The devil was back and an excruciating two weeks of interviews went on. People waited for the death march to be called over to the ‘MJI building. There were those of us, Jeff, Lisa, yours truly, we were never called over to be talked to. I’m trying to remember, but it had to be about 3:30 in the afternoon on a Thursday or Friday. Gorman showed up in the lobby with a cart rack and a bunch of kids. I was like, I guess I gotta go now. And that’s how I was fired after eight years of service. It was my pleasure, you know, I wouldn’t have changed a thing, but what a fucked up way to go out. But
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Photo by Janet Macoska
FEATURE
Phil Collins at WMMS in 1980.
I’ve got to give [Gorman] credit, because he and Denny [Sanders] created….they made me. I was also lucky enough during my engineering time there to have one of my best friends in the world, the late Mike “Mondo” Knisely, as my assistant chief engineer. I was at my dream job, with my best friend, doing what I lived and breathed. And they paid me. I felt like I was stealing every day! I’m glad ‘MMS is 50. It’s not the same. It can’t be. And who would want it to be? GORMAN: There were some great talented people involved with the Next Generation. Among them, Brian and Joe (who moved from The End, WENZ), Lou Santini, Jennifer Wylde, and Sue Tyler. And, for some reason, the station gained popularity in Canada - and we had steady listeners from Windsor, Chatham and London, Ontario, which could pick up the station’s signal. And some of the on-air talent and the BuzzardFest concerts at Blossom were covered by MuchMusic, the MTV of Canada at the time. MITCH TODD: I remember the very, very awkward day that we were
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going to flip the format. I had to very awkwardly walk into the studio about 2:30, because I think they were going to flip it at 3, something like that. I had a big handful of carts with all of the new imaging. I remember Rocco was on the air and I didn’t’ know Rocco, I just knew of him. I walked in and I said, “Hey man, I’m Mitch, I’m over at Majic, I’m the imaging guy, how’s it going?” He said, “How the fuck do you think it’s going?” And I’m like, okay, I just need to very quietly put some carts in here and hopefully not get into a fistfight. I said, “Look, man, I know it’s awkward, this is really weird, I’m just working for here, I’m just doing my job, dude.” It was emotional, because there were people that were losing their job. JENNIFER WYLDE: I’ve got to give props to Lisa Rodman, who found my tape at the bottom of a shoebox. I came in there with some cocky attitude, because I didn’t know any better back then. You know, I didn’t realize I was standing in front of John Gorman. I was this cocky 22-year-old kid. He’s like, “What’s your favorite band?” I go, “Red Hot Chili Peppers, they have a new album
| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
out.” So that’s how I got hired at WRQK. He was the consultant there at that time. I was not at ‘RQK for too long and then he brought me over to WMMS. It was a dream come true, because obviously, being a Cleveland girl, growing up in Cleveland and listening to ‘MMS, it was so surreal. Especially B.L.F. Bash coming in after me and how many nights in high school did I listen to him? TODD: Gorman was a master at spotting talent, sometimes diamonds in the rough, and hiring them and developing them. Jennifer Wylde is a great example of that. She became pretty successful down in Miami. He would pursue people. He chased me for a year before I came to work for him. I think working with John was probably the crux of the heart of the fun of the whole thing, because he made it fun. He was definitely the ringleader of this nuthouse. All of these different talents kind of came together through him. And we made history there, I think, honestly. I mean, I don’t want to romanticize it too much, but that was a talked-about station for years, nationally. SUE TYLER: I was working at Jammin’ 92 doing overnights. A
girl kept calling the request lines and it was Jennifer Wylde. She was working nights at WRQK and she lived in Solon. She must have called every night, more than once. She kept telling me that I needed to come work for The Buzzard, that John Gorman was going to reinvent the Buzzard and he was building a new station and that I should come work with them. I told her that there was no way John Gorman was going to hire me. But she set up an interview between me and John. He told me that he had listened to my tape and that he had already filled all of the part-time slots, but he really did want me to work with them, so he offered me swing, so I would do weekends and fill-ins. Obviously, I took it, but I had to actually work under two names.I needed the money, so I didn’t want to quit Jammin’ 92. On Jammin’ 92, I was Shannon Steele. John said, “Well, now we have to give you a new name.” He asked me who my favorite artist was, and that was Steven Tyler. He said, “Okay, your last name’s Tyler, what’s your middle name?” I said, “Sue.” He said, “There you are, you’re Sue Tyler. I became Sue Tyler and I worked five nights
a week on Jammin’ 92 as Shannon Steele and two days a week on ‘MMS as Sue Tyler, until I got busted by my PD at Jammin’, who told me I either had to quit my full-time with him, or quit ‘MMS. So I quit my full-time job, because I wanted to work for John and I believed in what he was doing at ‘MMS. WYLDE: You know, I just heard her on the air and even though it was Top 40, I liked her sound. There’s something about Sue Tyler and I -we’re just soulmates. I heard her and said, “She’s got to be on our team. What’s she doing over there? Why’s she talking about Tevin Campbell, “Can We Talk,” you know? Because I know that this girl doesn’t want to be playing that record. She got there on her own merits and her own talents. But I definitely would call her when she was on the air and be like, “Oh my God, you’ve got to be with us!” TODD: For a production guy, [the radio wars were] a lot of fun. John Gorman is a spin master and he was great at coming up with funny ways of directly attacking the competition. First, it was The End, and then we ended up stealing Brian and Joe from there. Then it was ‘NCX, [with] Doug or “Drug” Podell, as we used to call him. He wasn’t mean-spirited. Sometimes later it got that way with other people in other markets I worked in. He said, “You know, it’s just like lawyers, they’re in court all day, they’re on the opposite side of the fence, they’re at each other’s throats, but at the end of the day, they all have a beer across the street at the same pub and laugh about it.” We didn’t quite have that camaraderie with the competition, I mean, it was probably a little tenser than that. But we didn’t take it seriously. We were just having fun. I think just in the nature of the creativity that John particularly led, we got under their skin. And we beat them. TYLER: The sound of the station was so full and balls to the wall. It was so fun to listen to and it was so fun to hear them do production, like “Where the Music Means Something,” taking on ‘NCX with the “Jurassic Rock” thing and John just loved to get them where it hurt. We had such a huge feud [with WNCX]. John made us feel like we were the gladiators that owned the world. He was the greatest at giving pep talks to a station and giving us hope for the future. WYLDE: It was just a magical time. Because also remember, the music was changing so much too. I don’t know how Tommy Lee had our hotline, but we did some promotion with Motley Crue. Gorman didn’t want to do it, because we’re phasing out the hair bands. That’s just not what the Next
Generation was about anymore. I remember Tommy calling and being like, “Why won’t anybody play our records anymore?” He was like, crying. I wanted to be like, “Because you’re a friggin’ hair band and hair bands are out!” Still, me being an ‘80s chick, I thought it would be awesome to interview Tommy. So I had him on reel, and I was interviewing him. Gorman wouldn’t let me air the interview, so I had to pretend to interview Tommy! [Laughs] I went through the whole interview on reel and I couldn’t tell him that I wasn’t allowed to air it! TODD: We called it The Next Generation, obviously, after the Star Trek thing, because that had just come out then. You know, there was a tie to the past, Boom, yet we were in the future with Keith and the modern approach. You’ve got to remember, we were kind of reinventing what alternative production sounded like. Eventually, everybody copied that style. But we were figuring it out on our own. Because Z100 was more CHR, of course. Here, we were really doing a mashup of alternative and rock. It was a hybrid format, which was really, really unique and cool. The Next Generation was a unique span of time for that legendary station. It was a second wind, I think. Before the wind just kind of died out of the sails completely. And then Nationwide Communications bought it, and it became part of Clear Channel [later] and went to hell after that.
1997-2003 ACTIVE ROCK, TALK RADIO BOB NEUMANN: I was there from 1996 through 1998. I came from programming WNCX and WENZ across the street. Looking back, it’s always easy to troubleshoot the decisions made. The decision to take the station active rock was the right decision in the long run. It’s still active rock, 20 years later. Perhaps our formula was not quite right, but let’s not forget that alternative took a huge hit as a format just a few years later, which drove many heritage alt stations out of the format like WBCN Boston, and K-Rock NYC, the home of Howard Stern at that time. The decision was based on research, pure and simple. WNCX had the lock on Classic Rock and with Howard as the morning show, who wants to be the second classic rock station without Howard? The company wanted to gather more 25 to 54[-yearold] persons, which alternative as a format was not delivering. I can’t comment on our first morning
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CLEVELAND GARLIC FESTIVAL AUG 25-26 Shaker sq. clevelandgarlicfestival.org | clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
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Photo by Janet Macoska
FEATURE
Starship free concert 1987.
attempt. I believe our second attempt was a good one. I brought Danny Czekalinski, a true Cleveland guy and one of the most talented morning guys I’ve worked with in my nearly 40-year career, back to his hometown and paired him up with Darla Jaye, Cory Galant and D.C. DANNY CZEKALINSKI: I was in Kansas City anchoring morning drive at Mix 93.3. Everyone flew into Kansas City, but Cleveland will always be home, so it was a nobrainer for me to come home to the station I grew up listening to. I knew the market having grown up there so I knew all the past nuances in the history of the city. It was a blue-collar edition of Seinfeld. There weren’t any secrets [on the show with Darla Jaye and Cory Gallant]. Everyone lived their lives on the radio. The day my belongings were being loaded into a moving truck, Nationwide sold the company to Jacor, so everyone knew that a lot of us would not make
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the cut when new management took over. In my opinion, the show and station never had a chance since the new guys were gonna want to put their team in place. Bob Neumann was great. He was a coach and only offered advice and never insisted we do this or we do that. Even though he knew he was most likely living on borrowed time he never mentioned it or let it show. By far the best Program Director I have ever worked for. Bob and Spaceman [Scott Hughes] were great being the buffers between the morning show and the sales department. They made a great team and always had our backs. I have no doubt that we would have enjoyed great success if Jacor didn’t blow up the show. TONY TILFORD: I started at ‘MMS in the winter of 1999, Feb. 1, I think. Jacor had purchased the station, and they were going to give it another go as a full-on rock station. I was working in Lexington, Kentucky,
| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
at the time, and they called and asked if I would be interested. Of course, I replied yes, and we set a date for me to come up to Cleveland and interview. The first thing I did after I hung up the phone was throw up. I was a bit in shock and, I guess, nerves, and adrenaline and whatever took over. Someone had just asked me if I wanted to program WMMS. Honestly, at the time, I think throwing up was the appropriate response. Yes, the station had lost its way for a bit, but ‘MMS was the standard. There were other really good rock stations around, but those other stations opted in to carry the live broadcast of the ’MMS birthday show. That’s how big ‘MMS was. Other stations carried their birthday show. Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Detroit, St. Louis... they ran another station’s birthday party. RICK EBERHART: I came there in the fall of ’99 with the Dick Dale Show. Dick called me and said, “Hey, they
want to talk to us in Cleveland, Ohio. Some guy named Tony Tilford called and they want to fly us up there. We’re not going to get the job or anything, but it’s a good reason to take a weekend, they’ll wine us and dine us, we can see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.” I’m like, “Yeah, whatever, I’ll do it!” We go up there and under the cover of night, they sneak us into the radio station. They had this guy named Matt Harris [doing mornings at that time]. They snuck us into the night and Seth [the Barbarian] was there. Tony Tilford was like, “Yeah, these are my cousins from Florida. I’m just showing them around.” TILFORD: Dick was probably the most talented on-air talent I worked with when I was there. I remember they did an interview with Vince Neil one time. They pretended like they were just two dorky kids in a basement, and spent three minutes asking him if he liked cats, what
his favorite kind of cat was, what his cat’s name was, and other goofy shit about cats. Listening to Vince Neil try and ďŹ gure out what the hell was going on, and then trying to answer questions about cats, it sounds dumb, but it was crazy funny. It’s a shame that real life got in the way. That show may very well have worked. After that we brought in Wolf and Mulrooney from Albany. Somebody in the Ivory Tower had this crazy idea that they could do a live show in two markets at the same time. Not syndication mind you, but two live shows. One segment would be content that could run in both markets, then a 20-minute segment for Cleveland, and then a 20-minute segment for Albany, repeat. That sounded about as good as you might think it did. Those guys lasted less than a year, and it was some sort of high-level drama with them every week. Including a time when they were in the smoke room during a break -- you could still smoke in the building back then. Apparently one of them tried to put out a cigarette in the other’s eye. I did not see it happen, but that was the story, and it had some serious credibility. Yet another short lived failed experiment. This is when I tried the Maxwell/Deke experiment.
In retrospect, they were probably right to steer me away from that show. I love both those guys, but [Maxwell] had yet to achieve the level of maturity he currently enjoys, and the only reason I was able to bring Deke up from Cincinnati is because he got himself into some sort of highlevel trouble with management. COUSIN DEKE: It was such a different time back then -- long nights and late hours -- and working on a deadline with equipment that wasn’t anything like we have today. It was a cool place to walk into -- obviously it had the history and the clout -- but I was also coming in from WEBN, who, arguably at the time, had even more of that going on. ‘EBN was a year older and hadn’t almost been killed off. I do remember being shocked at how small the staff was. It seemed like they’d pared things down going into that format ip that never happened and never got around to re-stafďŹ ng the place. TOM MEGALIS: I was at MMS from like 2002 to 2004. We had a revolving crazy door of a show. Cousin Deke, then Rocko [of Boston radio duo Rocko and Birdsey] and then Rick [Eberhart]. I was doing some guest appearance stuff at WDVE in Pittsburgh when Gene Romano there said, “Hey, wanna do your crazy
characters in Cleveland at WMMS?â€? I was like, The Buzzard?â€? I grew up in Warren, so me and the Buzzard go way back. Then, I got to work with the dynamic duo of Jim Trapp and Kevin Metheny.[Post-Rocko], oddly enough, just when it looked like we were catching some traction and people were responding, Kevin [Metheny] walks me into his ofďŹ ce and says, “Funny show today. But I’m afraid our experiment has ended.â€? So out the door we all went.
2003- PRESENT THE ALAN COX AND ROVER ERA TILFORD: We almost brought Maxwell in [to WMMS in the early ’00s]. I had known him, as Pawley, from his days at WEBN. After he was let go in Tampa and moved back to Cincinnati, I brought him up and put him on air with Cousin Deke for a week. I was trying to pair them up for the morning show. The powers that be felt it was too toxic a combination. I think it was that they both had a complete disregard for authority. They felt that the team would be uncontrollable. I told them that I liked managing the crazy ones, and that the two of them would listen to me.
They told me I was nuts for wanting a headache like that, and passed. Fast forward to a short time later, I take a job in Dayton and when I get there, Maxwell is part time doing the 3 to 7 Saturday shift. Cleveland starts talking to him again, and [Kevin] Metheny hires him to come up. DEKE: The Maxwell story is just crazy — I’m still bitter about that. We could’ve had a great show, but Tilford never asked anyone permission before he gave us that tryout. They didn’t even care that we’d clicked so well and had such a good time doing it. They wouldn’t even listen to the tapes of it. BO MATTHEWS: I had been working for the company that owned WMMS in a different city. It was funny the way it worked. I mentioned WMMS by name at the time when I was getting ready to sign a contract in Jacksonville. I said I would love to get back there to program that station. I think it was like a week later when they called me and said there was an opportunity. I was over the moon, but when I got there I realized [the station] had been the unfortunate victim of a lot of change over the years and changes with the morning shows where nothing had caught on. It was also trying to ďŹ nd its identity and what
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| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
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Photo courtesy John Gorman
FEATURE
Left to Right: Ed “Flash” Ferenc, John Gorman, Jeff Kinzbach, Gov. Dick Celeste, Ruby Cheeks.
it stood for. The heritage had been beat up, so you couldn’t get by being the Buzzard. I hired a morning show that didn’t work. CRISTI (CANTLE) JOHNSON: A record rep, Howard from Atlantic Records, put a bug in our ear when he found out that ‘MMS was looking for a morning show. They were interested because they had heard about the success Sean [Kelly], Hunter [Scott] and I had in Michigan. There was a lot that [Bo Matthews] and I didn’t see eye to eye on, but even when my own partners tried to throw me under the bus, he consistently had my back. Our show fell apart internally & was replaced by the Bob and Tom Show. Our failure was a real team effort, and we never worked together again, but if I’m being real honest, I was the Johnny Manziel of the crew. Too young, too overconfident and too drunk to handle the responsibility that was given to me. However I have no intention of playing Canadian football. MATTHEWS: I hired Maxwell in the afternoon. Slats, who is a very talented guy, had some success doing comedy in the afternoon. We wanted to create a content destination in the afternoon but not
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turn WMMS into a talk station. I found Maxwell in Pittsburgh. I was familiar with him. I met him and we brought him in to do a music show that we could grow into more content. That’s ultimately what we ended up doing. I also hired Rover. Rover is such a talented guy and was such a thorn in our side. We had gone through different failed morning show attempts and company initiatives that hadn’t worked for us. Myself and Kevin Metheny sat down with him and told him he had the opportunity to come across the street and work with us. When you’re dealing with talent in the market and want to steal someone away, there is a huge amount of time where they have to wait out a non-compete. He had a deal with Chicago, and it hadn’t worked out there, so the Cleveland station for CBS was paying him as an affiliate even though they had him live in the studio. He didn’t have a talent contract. It was really unique. When that contract was done, we could overnight take him from CBS into our building. I think we did it over a week’s time, but it wasn’t a six-month waiting period like it would typically have to be. It was a matter of Kevin Metheny and
| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
I saying that he had all the ratings built in. He was on 92.3 at the time. We felt that if he came to WMMS, he would bring these people over and him being on a heritage station like WMMS would help his audience grow. Once, he came over to WMMS, he had everybody. It worked out the way we hoped. I am so proud and happy for him. He’s such a talented and hard-working guy. I also hired Alan Cox. That was a situation where there are talented people who end up out of work. Alan Cox had worked in Pittsburgh. It has a similar sensibility. He had had some success in Pittsburgh, but he was different from Rover. He had some talk background, so he could do longer stuff. Because of Maxwell, we had already arrived at the notion that we wanted a content destination in the afternoon. He had a skill set that was more cerebral and almost like a Daily Show-type of vibe. Not that Rover is not. I don’t know that there is a better interviewer on the planet than Rover. Those are some of my favorite moments on the show – when he does a one-on-one with another guest. He’s amazing and really smart when it comes to that kind of stuff. When I was there, he did a lot of stunts and extreme stuff with people
eating bugs or getting bloody in the hallway. Alan Cox had none of that, so it was a nice contrast. EDITOR’S NOTE: Unfortunately, iHeartMedia declined our request to chat with any current employees, including Cox and Rover, unless we promised a positive story and approval on the final printed product. So this oral history of Cleveland’s legendary station will end not with quotes from its current roster but from middle management at a bankrupt national conglomerate of stations. Enjoy. KEITH ABRAMS, REGIONAL SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF PROGRAMMING, IHEARTMEDIA: We have heard from
your folks that you are doing a story and talking to others. We would not want to participate in a story that was negative to what MMS is today. The radio station played a very positive, important role back in the ‘music only’ days...but is very different today....and so is the radio business. And please stop contacting current IHM employees.
scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene
| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
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| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
GET OUT everything you should do this week Photo by Emanuel Wallace
WED
a farmers market and free kids’ activities — all laid out on the Wade Oval lawn, adjacent to Cleveland Botanical Garden, the Cleveland Art Museum, and the Cleveland Natural History Museum. Some museums will stay open late too. The old school funk band the Benjaminz performs tonight. Details are on the website. (Niesel) universitycircle.org.
08/15
FESTIVAL
Cheick Hamala Diabete Earlier this summer, the Cleveland Museum of Art and Front International announced the schedule for City Stages, CMA’s summer concert series that takes place in Ohio City. This year, some shows will still take place outside the Transformer Station in Ohio City on Wednesdays throughout the month of July; but they’ll also migrate to other parts of the city. Tonight’s concert, for example, takes place at the Mall B. It features Cheick Halama Diabate, a West African musician who plays the ngoni, a stringed lute that’s considered to be the predecessor to the banjo. The concert takes place at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. (Jeff Niesel) clevelandart.org.
FOOD
Walnut Wednesday Walnut Wednesday is one of summer’s great traditions. Today it continues, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Perk Plaza at Chester Commons — at East 12th and Walnut streets — as food trucks gather to serve up lunch to area residents and employees. Check out the Downtown Cleveland Alliance website for weekly updates on vendors, entertainment offerings and more. The series continues through Sept. 26. Admission is free, but the food will cost you. (Niesel) downtowncleveland.com.
MUSIC
Cuyahoga Valley National Park Summer Concert Series Each summer, the National Park Service teams up with the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park to produce a free summer concert series at Howe Meadow in Peninsula. This summer’s schedule includes several terrific local acts, including tonight’s talent, the local group Cats on Holiday. The concert starts at 6:30 p.m. For more information visit the website. (Niesel) 4040 Riverview Rd., Peninsula, conservancyforcvnp.org/concerts. FESTIVAL
Feast of the Assumption The intrusive construction that turned Little Italy’s Mayfield Road into a one-way street for a month and a half has finished in time for the 120th annual Feast of the Assumption that takes place today through Saturday. Once again, Holy Rosary Church’s parish hosts this free, family-friendly festival. Starting and ending with religious processions celebrating the Virgin Mary being taken into Heaven, the Feast includes classic festival staples as well as fireworks, a raffle, and observances and services for those who celebrate the Catholic Holy Day. Restaurants in the area as well as specialty vendors are set to have stands lining the streets, offering traditional Italian foods, desserts and beverages for purchase. Carnival rides and
THU
08/16
COMEDY
The Feast of the Assumption takes place in Little Italy this week. See: Wednesday.
games, live music (including opera, Italian choirs and local bands) and a casino in the church’s lower level are all available for entertainment during the fest. Since Mayfield Road from E. 125th St. to E. 119th St. is closed to vehicles during the fest, and relatively far-away parking spots are available for a fee, the best way to attend the festival is via the RTA red line’s stop in Little Italy. The Feast’s hours are noon to 11 p.m. today, 6 to 11 p.m. tomorrow, 6 p.m. to midnight on Friday and noon to midnight on Saturday. (Sarah Parr) holy-rosary.org. THEATER
Hamilton Since making its Broadway debut three years ago, Hamilton, the hip-hop musical that tells the story of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, has been a smash hit. It traces the life story of Hamilton, referred to in the play as “a bastard, orphan, son of a whore,” as he joins the Revolutionary War and then plays a key role in writing The Federalist Papers and serving in President George Washington’s
Cabinet. There’s plenty of drama in Hamilton’s life, which ends in a duel, and the play exploits every bit of it with a superb soundtrack of catchy songs that tell his remarkable story. Tonight’s show takes place at 7:30 at the State Theatre, where performances run through Aug. 26. A few tickets still remain. (Niesel) 1519 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org. FESTIVAL
Summer in the City Each Wednesday through Aug. 22, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame hosts a free concert as part of its Summer in the City series. Tonight’s event, which begins at 7 p.m., features the Austin-based glam rock band A Giant Dog. Sister Smirk opens. Admission is free. (Niesel) 1100 Rock and Roll Blvd., 216-515-8444, rockhall.com. FESTIVAL
Wade Oval Wednesdays A summer tradition continues tonight from 6 to 9 at Wade Oval in University Circle. It’s Wade Oval Wednesday, and there will be local food vendors, a beer and wine tent,
Gary Owen Comedian Gary Owen has been entertaining audiences across America for more than a decade. He’s not limited to the stage either, as he’s had roles in the film Think Like A Man and in Tyler Perry’s show House of Payne. Owen says he was always the class clown growing up and it has followed him into his adult life. Ebony magazine proclaimed him to be “Black America’s Favorite White Comedian.” Owen’s set mainly focuses on his personal life and racial stereotypes. Catch his performance tonight at the Improv at 7:30. Tickets are $35 to $50, and performances continue through Sunday. (Martin Harp) 1148 Main Ave., 216-696-IMPROV, clevelandimprov.com.
FRI
08/17
ART
78th Street Studios Third Friday Art Walk Time again for the Third Friday Art Walk at the cavernous 78th Street Studios. More than 50 studios and galleries will participate in this popular indoor art walk; be sure to check out spots like the Derek Hess Gallery, | clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
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GET OUT Tregoning & Company and Hilary Gent Studio. Look for food trucks out front and live music on the first floor. Hours are 5 to 9 p.m. and admission is free. (Niesel) 1300 West 78th St., 78thstreetstudios.com.
25333 Cedar Rd., Lyndhurst, 216-382-3871, legacy-village.com.
SAT
08/18
COMEDY
FESTIVAL
Jim Norton Over the past decade or so, comedian Jim Norton has built quite a resume. He’s had acting gigs ( Lucky Louie, Spider-Man), written a best-selling book ( Happy Endings: The Tales of a Meaty-Breasted Zilch) and become
Beachland’s Rockin’ Flea Market The Beachland’s Rockin’ Flea Market features more than 50 vendors, both inside the ballroom and in the parking lot (weather permitting). Wares include art, clothing, records, music
SPORTS
Cleveland Browns vs. Buffalo Bills After two miserable seasons, the Cleveland Browns return to action at FirstEnergy Stadium tonight to face the Buffalo Bills in a preseason game. The Browns have retooled their roster. Former Bills’ quarterback Tyrod Taylor will be the starting quarterback (top draft pick Baker Mayfield will be waiting in the wings), and young players such as Myles Garrett should start to shine. We hope that translates to wins. Tonight’s game begins at 7:30. At press time, resale tickets were going for as low as $5. (Niesel) 100 Alfred Lerner Way, 440-891-5000, clevelandbrowns.com.
ALL SUMMER LONG
Indians vs. Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles threw in the towel earlier this year when they traded star player Manny Machado to the Los Angeles Dodgers. They have one of the worst records in all of baseball and have clearly decided it’s time to rebuild and start thinking about next year. As a result, the Indians should be able to have their way with them when the two teams face off tonight at 7:10 at Progressive Field. The three-game series concludes on Sunday when there will be a special Jim Thome Hall of Fame bobblehead giveaway. Tickets start at $15. (Niesel) 2401 Ontario St., 216-420-4487, clevelandindians.com.
8/15 A Giant Dog
8/29 MJ
w/ Sister Smirk
B-day Celebration
8/16 Bike Nite w/ JD & the Straight Shot
8/22 Sarah Shook & the Disarmers
8/31 Believe in CLE Yoga A giant dog
w/ The Whiskey Hollow
8/25-26 InCuya MUSIC Festival The weekend boasts local, regional and national artists including New Order, Avett Brothers, SZA and AWOLNATION in downtown Cleveland.
Sarah Shook
(Hall & Oates) w/ Good Road Band
Details & tickets: rockhall.com/onstage
| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
08/19
MUSIC
BAR & FOOD TRUCKS OPEN FOR ALL EVENTS
a radio personality (Opie and Anthony’s XM satellite show). And he continues to work the standup circuit. His jokes tend to center on topics of a sexual nature and include countless references to the male anatomy. He performs at 7 and 10 tonight and tomorrow night at Pickwick and Frolic. Tickets are $88. (Niesel) 2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com.
Sparx City Hop Now in its 16th year, the Sparx City Hop connects residents and visitors to many art and cultural sites and events in Downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods. As in previous years, the event’s Main Hub is located at Playhouse Square, featuring vendors from the Cleveland Bazaar, activities from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Studio to Go mobile art station, “Take a Hike” historical walking tours of Playhouse Square and a full day of live music. From the Main Hub, guests can take free trolley rides to the Flats East Bank Festival of the Arts and the 5th Street Arcades, Ohio City and Hingetown or Asian Town Center and artist studios at the Tower Press Building and Art Craft Building. Sparx City Hop takes place from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. today. Admission is free. (Niesel) 1501 Euclid Ave., downtowncleveland.com/events/ sparx-city-hop.
SUN
9/15 2014 Inductee John Oates
MUSIC
24
Beer and Metal Fest Ten bands will perform on two stages at the inaugural Beer & Metal Fest that takes place today at 5 p.m. at House of Blues. The event will feature limited oneounce samples from PBR, the Brew Kettle, Voodoo Brewing, Latitude 42, Wild Ohio, DuClaw Brewing and Rusty Nail. The lineup includes A Killer’s Confession, Impending Lies, Brothers At Arms, SYKOSIS, the Killing Of June, the Party, Fallen Empire, Alone and Waiting, Psycho Plantation and Age of Echidna. Tickets are $15. (Niesel) 308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-2583, houseofblues.com. ART
SPORTS
Legacy Live One of Northeast Ohio’s most popular free concert series, Legacy Live has become a tradition that families and couples look forward to each summer. The concerts, which take place on the Legacy Village lawn at 6:30 each Friday and Saturday night throughout the summer, feature local bands that play everything from blues to jazz and rock. Tonight’s entertainment comes from the Beatles tribute act Revolution Pie. Tomorrow, Ricky and the Rockets will play acoustic rock. Admission is free; the series continues through Aug. 31. (Niesel)
FESTIVAL
memorabilia, vintage items and more. In addition to vendors, the Rockin’ Flea includes a beer garden and live music; this month’s musical theme is the blues, performed by the Northeast Experience. While visiting, enjoy brunch with a full bar and patio seating. Hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free. (Niesel) 15711 Waterloo Rd., 216-383-1124, beachlandballroom.com.
Concerts at Lake View Cemetery Now in its fifth year, the Concerts at Lake View Cemetery series offers locals yet another great opportunity to catch a free outdoor concert this summer. The six-concert series takes place on the Garfield Monument lawn, making it one of the most unique settings in the city; each concert showcases some of the city’s best jazz acts. Today, the jazz group Hot Djang will perform. The organizers encourage fans to bring a lawn chair, blanket or a picnic. Hours are 4 to 6 p.m. Admission is free. And if it rains, the fun will be delayed until Saturday, Aug. 26. (Niesel) 12316 Euclid Ave., 216-421-2665, lakeviewcemetery.com.
GO TO the clevescene.com giveaways tab For Your Chance To Win A Pair Of Tickets To
INCUYA!
| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
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drink and shot specials, it all goes down tonight at 10 p.m. (Niesel) 2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-932-1966, bsideliquorlounge.com.
GET OUT BOOKS
FRIDAY, AUGUST 17 8P-12A
CRUISIN’ SATURDAY, AUGUST 18 2-6P
Sunday Beat As part of a Sunday Beat promotion at Visible Voice Books, if you purchase a New York Times at the store, you’ll receive a free cup of coffee or tea and a Jim Alesci’s Place pastry. An added bonus: A jazz, Americana, samba or bossa nova band will perform from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Anyone who shows a Sunday receipt from Music Box, Prosperity Social Club or any of the Tremont restaurants that offer brunch can enter a same-day drawing for a $30 Visible Voice gift certificate and a $25 Visible Voice Loyalty Card. They’ll also receive 10 percent off any Visible Voice book purchase. The bookstore is open today from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Niesel) 2258 Professor Ave., 216-961-0084, visiblevoicebooks.com.
MON
08/20
MUSIC
8P-12A
CARLOS JONES SUNDAY, AUGUST 19 | 2-6P
TED AND RISER FULL BAND SUMMER HOURS: Mon - Thurs. 4pm - Close | Fri - Sun. 11am - Close
www.facebook.com/whiskeyislandstillandeatery www.whiskeyislandstillandeatery.net 26
| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
Gourmet Matinee with Loras John Schissel Cleveland Orchestra violinist Beth Woodside has played with the orchestra’s second violin section since 1994. Today, she performs at the Cleveland Orchestra’s 2018 Gourmet Matinee Series, a meet-theartist event that includes lunch with a performance at Knight Grove, the party center at Blossom Music Center. The matinee begins at noon, and tickets are $50. (Niesel) 1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra. com. TRIVIA
Lunch Hour Live Trivia Last Call Trivia, a live hosted trivia game during which teams compete for prizes by answering oddball questions, takes place every Monday throughout the summer at 12:30 p.m., at U.S. Bank Plaza on Playhouse Square. Designed to be “a spirited competition,” the contest lasts an hour. Admission is free. (Niesel) East 14th St. and Euclid Ave., 216-7714444, playhousesquare.org. KARAOKE
Shit Show Karaoke Local rapper/promoter Dirty Jones and Scene’s own Manny Wallace host Shit Show Karaoke, a weekly event at the B-Side Liquor Lounge wherein patrons choose from “an unlimited selection of jams from hip-hop to hard rock,” and are encouraged to “be as bad as you want.” Fueled by
TUE
08/21
DANCE
Dancing Under the Stars As a part of the 13-week outdoor dance series at Playhouse Square, local dance instructors lead Dancing Under the Stars tonight, and every Tuesday night through Aug. 28, at U.S. Bank Plaza. Tonight at 6, teachers from Viva Dance Studio will teach the salsa; Papo Ruiz provides the music. The dancing begins at 6:30 and continues until 9 p.m. Admission is free. (Niesel) East 14th St. and Euclid Ave., 216-7714444, playhousesquare.org. MUSIC
Open Turntable Tuesday Tonight from 6 to 9, the Winchester hosts its weekly Open Turntable Tuesday. DJ Kris Koch offers 20-minute slots to people who want to bring their own vinyl and spin their favorite songs or deep tracks. Turntables are provided; you can play three to five songs during your time slot; and a mic is available to talk about the selections. (Niesel) 12112 Madison Ave., Lakewood, 216-600-5338, facebook.com/ TheWinchesterMusicTavern. FILM
Retro Tuesdays Sometimes, there are experiences worth going the extra mile for, like the Aut-O-Rama Twin DriveIn Theatre in North Ridgeville. As audiences grow increasingly frustrated with people talking, texting or bringing their young children to movie theaters with $15 popcorn, the drive-in is a perfect way to catch a new film without having to worry about any of the hubbub brought on by other people ... or yourself. Visiting the Aut-O-Rama is a magical experience. Built in 1965 by the Sherman family, the drivein is still owned and operated by the family’s third generation. You can catch the latest films on the weekends, but the Aut-O-Rama also offers classic double features for Retro Tuesday. Tonight’s features: Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles. Check the website for times and ticket prices. (BJ Colangelo) 33395 Lorain Rd., North Ridgeville, 440-734-1786, autoramadrivein.com.
scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene
A RTS i n A UGUST freeartsprogrammingin Tremont’sLincolnPark
Presented in Partnership: cleveland COUNCIL MEMBER
Kerry McCormack WARD 3
PUBLIC
theatre
Arts in August is a special time of year in Tremont. The community gathers in Lincoln Park for artistic performances using professional lighting and sound to bring magic to Tremont. All Arts in August events are FREE and are held in Tremont’s Lincoln Park. Please visit tremontwest.org for up to date information, rain locations/dates and program details, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @artsinaugust Bring a picnic, order take-out from one of our Tuesdays in Tremont participants listed below. You definitely want to bring a chair or a blanket to sit and remember you are in a park at dusk, so you might want to bring bug spray too!
Tony Mikhael | 7pm Sat | Aug 18 | Cleveland Jazz Orchestra |7pm
THIS WEEKEND
Fri | Aug
17 |
presented in partnership with Arts Renaissance Tremont
FREE IN TREMONT’S LINCOLN PARK
Fri | Aug
24 | ContempOpera | 7pm Sat | Aug 25 | Papo Ruiz Y La Dulzura de la Salsa | 7pm Fri | Aug 31 | INDY Music | 7pm The Village Bicycle | By Light We Loom | The Ohio Weather Band
tremontwest.org Carolyn Bentley (216) 470-1502
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| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
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INVITE YOU TO SEE INVITES YOU AND A GUEST TO AN ADVANCE SCREENING OF
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2018 7:00PM CINEMARK VALLEY VIEW AND XD FOR YOUR CHANCE TO RECEIVE AN ADMIT-TWO PASS, VISIT STXTICKETS.COM/ SCENEHAPPYTIME216 *The Happytime Murders is rated R for strong crude and sexual content and language throughout, and some drug material. Passes are limited and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. No purchase necessary. While supplies last. One admit-two pass per person. Theatre is overbooked to ensure a full house and seating is not guaranteed. A recipient assumes any and all risks related to use of ticket, and accepts any restrictions required by ticket provider. STXfilms, Cleveland Scene and their affiliates accepts no responsibility or liability in connection with any loss or accident incurred in connection with use of a ticket. Tickets cannot be exchanged, transferred to redeemed for cash, in whole or in part. Void where prohibited by law. This screening will be monitored for unauthorized recordings. Any attempted use of recording devices will result in immediate removal from the theater, forfeiture, and may subject you to criminal and civil liability. Additional terms and conditions may apply. The promotion is subject to the STX Entertainment Privacy Policy located at http://www.stxentertainment.com/privacy
IN THEATERS AUGUST 24, 2018 /happytimemovie |
www.thehappytimemurders.movie @happytimemovie | @HappytimeMovie | #HAPPYTIMEMURDERS
VISIT HTTPS://TINYURL.COM/AXLCLESCENE AND SUBMIT YOUR INFORMATION FOR THE CHANCE TO WIN AN ADMIT-TWO PASS VALID AT CLEVELAND-AREA REGAL LOCATIONS. Winners will receive pass by mail. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. One entry per person. NO WALK-INS OR TELEPHONE CALLS ACCEPTED.
IN THEATERS AUGUST 24!
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MOVIES CELEBRITY SKIN Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood gives a megaphone to Hollywood gossip By BJ Colangelo J. EDGAR HOOVER ENJOYED cross dressing, Katharine Hepburn was a lesbian, Cary Grant and Randolph Scott were lovers, and Scotty Bowers spent his life after World War II as the sexual liaison to the biggest names in Hollywood. Now 95, and with most of his former partners long since dead, Bowers’ tell-all memoir, Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars, has been turned into Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, a gripping documentary, putting the urban legends of the Golden Age of Hollywood’s rumored sexual deviancy on front street and told in a way that could only be explained by the man at the center of it all. The movie opens at the Cedar Lee Theatre on Friday. It would be easy to dismiss Bowers’ claims as nothing more than celebrity gossip embellished over the course of a lifetime, but director Matt Tyrnauer, a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, did his homework and says that
all of Bowers’ stories have been confirmed by outside sources. Bowers has remarkable storytelling abilities, and every encounter he describes is dripping with personality. He was once considered a “sexual producer” to the stars, finding partners for Hollywood A-listers to spend their time with, if he himself was not a suitable option. He claimed to have slept with Bette Davis as well as enjoyed a threesome with Ava Gardner and Lana Turner. Bowers believes that his introduction of the closeted Rock Hudson to Cary Grant is what helped launch his career and describes himself as a “sexual omnivore.” His self-proclaimed sexual orientation is important, because the sexual climate of Hollywood in his prime was not the same as it is today. Coded language like “bachelor” was used not to just describe a single man but likely a man that was enjoying sexual encounters that blurred the lines between gay and straight. Bowers
doesn’t subscribe to the traditional labels, saying they’re “for squares,” but instead presents a very loving and accepting mindset that doesn’t demonize or glorify any sexual activity. Everyone is on even footing in his mind, and there’s nothing too salacious or vanilla. Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood could have easily devolved into TMZ-style exploitative trash, but instead presents a kind
and unashamed retelling of the private lives of dead celebrities, while preserving the legacies of those that lived them. It’s an extremely entertaining celebrity documentary good for a watch, but one that won’t likely leave a desire for repeat viewings.
bcolangelo@clevescene.com t@bjcolangelo
SPOTLIGHT: MUSHROOMHEAD’S VOLUME III FEW CRITICS FIGURED THAT the local metal act Mushroomhead, which first formed in 1993, would still be going strong 25 years down the road. But the band has fared well — it continues to relentlessly tour and is currently gearing up for the Summer of Screams tour that’ll pair it with Powerman 5000, the Browning, Psychostick, Kissing Candice, Unsaid Fate, Voodoo Terror Tribe and Earth Caller. That tour comes on the heels of the release of Volume III, a new DVD that hits shelves on Friday. The DVD features more than 90 minutes of new material, including new music videos, footage of backstage antics and exclusive never-seen-before content. Pre-orders are available now via Amazon. “We started work on this DVD three years ago, and we do everything DIY, so it always
takes us longer,” says producer/ drummer/founder Steve “Skinny” Felton when asked about the genesis of Volume III. “We’ve always been into the art side of things, and we’ve always had artistic music videos. We modeled our first DVD after the Pantera Vulgar videos. I’m a huge fan of those, but after the second DVD, we wanted to do something more serious and cinematic and do some more storytelling. We wanted to put something together that was a little more fun and little more challenging. The main reason to do all this is to take advantage of all this technology. Ten years ago, we didn’t have drone shots. We would have had to have a helicopter.” The gory music video for “We Are the Truth” that focuses on a couple staying in a haunted cabin in the woods pays tribute to the horror film Evil Dead. The video,
which features a remixed and re-recorded version of the song, includes members from the band without their masks on. Band members built the sets themselves too. “We’re huge horror fans,” says Felton. “That video took about 22 days of editing. It was a lot of edits. The song is more of a gangstyle sort of song. It’s strange because each singer tells their own tale and then it repeats. It’s almost like a series of cameos. It’s a typical Mushroomhead song in that it doesn’t have a traditional arrangement.” Felton put drones to good use in the DVD’s opening music video, which finds the band performing on a field of ice in Geneva-on-the-Lake. “We shot that in the middle of February when the temperature was something like minus 14,” says Felton. “We were about a mile out.
With the technology, we got some great shots. I still don’t know how I got everyone to come out at 7 in the morning for that shoot.” In celebration of the release, the band will host an exclusive, onenight-only screening/premiere of the entire two-hour DVD at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 15, at the Cedar Lee Theatre. Tickets, which include a copy of the DVD, are $25. Then, on Thursday, the band will take part in a special DVD signing at the Exchange in Parma Heights from 7 to 10 p.m. that will feature the band members in full costume. DVDs will be available for purchase at the signing, and a DVD must be purchased in order to have access to photos and autographs with the band. — JEFF NIESEL
jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel
| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
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| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
EAT A SIMPLY DELICIOUS TRIP TO LA FIESTA By Douglas Trattner Photo by Emanuel Wallace
THE FOLKS WHO RUN LA Fiesta (7403 Denison Ave., 216212-3423) in the Stockyards neighborhood, not to be confused with the long-running eastside eatery of the same name, could not be more friendly and accommodating. We were greeted warmly upon entering the restaurant, which occupies the first floor of a building that’s been standing in this community since the mid-1800s. It doesn’t take a visitor long to see that this is a modest operation run by a couple and a single cook. Chips and mild tomato salsa land on the table in a flash, followed quickly by a pair of squeeze bottles filled with brews more exciting than the first. Both, a bright, tart salsa verde and a smoky-hot chile de arbol sauce, saw plenty of action throughout our meal. The concise two-sided menu is populated by street food items like tacos, tostadas and quesadillas and homestyle entrees sided by rice, beans and a small salad. We loved being able to mix and match starter snacks like chorizo tostadas ($2.50), lengua tacos ($2.50) and chicken quesadillas ($3.50). The tacos arrive on a pair of warm corn tortillas garnished simply with chopped white onion and cilantro. A crispy tostada shell was slathered with refried beans and piled high
with zesty ground meat, shredded lettuce and cool crema. The owner apologized for not being able to fill an order for guacamole because he had no ripe avocados. Who can blame him? Larger plates star items like flautas, grilled steak and whole fried tilapia. A trio of soft enchiladas comes stuffed with tender shredded chicken ($7.99)
and ladled with red or green sauce. An order of shrimp mojo de ajo netted a massive portion of garlicy shrimp and sautéed onions. In addition to the excellent refried beans and sunny Spanish rice, most entrees also come with warm tortillas, a nice touch. It wasn’t until later that I noticed a discrepancy between the menu price for the shrimp ($12.99) and
the price on my receipt ($15). Given the festive name La Fiesta, you might expect a lineup of cold beers and boozy margaritas, but the beverages here run soft. On tap are sweet, creamy horchata, tart, refreshing agua de tamarindo, and bottled Jarritos sodas from Mexico.
dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner
PLENTY OF REASONS TO COME BACK TO TAPATIAS TAQUERIA THE LAST TIME I WAS AT 12501 Lorain Avenue, the space belonged to a Middle Eastern eatery that sold whole roasted chickens for $4, and that price included warm pita and garlic sauce. These days it is home to an easygoing Mexican restaurant called Tapatias Taqueria (216-6005505). After a bit of a rocky start with respect to service, we all settled into a nice groove that left us with fond memories and a desire to return. Our meal started with chips, but no salsa, no silver and no napkins. It all turned around, however, after we raided the taco fixin’s bar in
search of supplies, alerting our server and setting us all on a better path. Tapatias’ warm queso dip ($3.99) is thinner than most, but the texture is silky smooth and the flavor mellow and appealing. That same queso is also available with the additions of chorizo or steak. Other starters include guacamole, quesadillas and house-made seafood ceviche. The broad menu has spots for tacos, tortas, sopes, tostadas and burritos, all available with any of the eight or so meats that fill the tacos. Just like at La Fiesta, the tacos ($2.50$3.99) here are done right, with warm
corn tortillas arriving with generous portions of chorizo, al pastor, tripe, barbacoa and little else. A garnish bar does the rest. On offer are four excellent salsas and fresh trimmings like chopped cilantro, radishes, pickled red onion, jalapenos and pico de gallo. Everything was well-stocked and orderly. A dozen big plates built around items like grilled steak, whole fried fish and grilled shrimp all come with Spanish rice, refried beans and a short stack of warm tortillas. We were pleasantly surprised by how tender, rich and flavorful the carne
asada ($12.99) was, with loads of savory grilled beef, sautéed onions and hints of spice. Thanks to those tortillas, salsas and garnishes, we rolled our own beef tacos until we could eat no more. Unlike La Fiesta, Tapatias Taqueria has a full bar that dispenses cold Mexican and domestic beers, frozen margaritas by the glass, goblet and pitcher, and the gimmicky Coronarita that combines the two. — DOUGLAS TRATTNER
dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner
| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
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| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
DESPITE HIS INITIAL reluctance to do so, Pour Cleveland owner Charlie Eisenstat is launching his own small-batch roastery, which will sell a small line of high quality coffees. “It was never really my intention when I started Pour to get into roasting,” explains Eisenstat. “But once we made the switch to being a multi-roaster shop that dabbled in lots of international and award-winning roasters, we’ve been sent hundreds of samples from different coffee roasters all over the world. After trying so many different coffees and approaches to roasting it sort of developed into this underlying desire to put our own stamp on coffee and put our own product out there.” Eisenstat, who opened the highly regarded downtown shop nearly five years ago, says that both he and his clientele have settled into a preference for Nordic-style roasting, which leans to lighter and more acidity-driven coffees than American-style, where fuller, sweeter brews are the norm. “In our opinion they are more exciting to drink,” he says of Nordicstyle coffees. The boutique roastery is located at 807 Literary in Tremont, a small storefront across the street from Barrio. Only a few permits separate Pour Coffee Co., as the venture is called, from its opening day. Eisenstat says the focus will be on creating a few “extremely high quality coffees” for sale to wholesale customers. While the space will not be open to walk-in customers on a regular basis, it might open a day a week down the road. “It’s a pretty small space, so I have no intent to open a retail café, but it will be a nice showroom for what we do and can do with our coffees, and for customers to come in for training and to try stuff out,” he says. Pour Cleveland, a separate entity, will continue to serve single-origin coffees that you can’t get anywhere else, but will replace the main coffees with product from Pour Coffee Co. This Thanksgiving will mark five
years for Pour, and Eisenstat surely has had a hand in helping the local coffee scene mature. “The Cleveland coffee scene is way different and improved since we opened up,” he says. “It was really difficult at first to break down that language barrier of people who, for the most part, were only familiar with Starbucks.” Early on, customers were baffled by terms like pour-over, long service times and relatively steep price points. “We have a more sophisticated customer base these days who can taste the difference in quality and understand why it costs more. People are really into what we do and are excited that we’re here.”
Whistle & Keg Self-Service Craft Beer Bar Will Take Over Prospect Music Space Downtown The Nine-Twelve/Gateway District slice of downtown will welcome its second self-service craft beer bar come this winter. Whistle & Keg, which is based out of Youngstown, will take over the spot in the Caxton Building currently occupied by Prospect Music, which will close in early September. Once open sometime later this year, it won’t serve any food but will offer 44 self-service taps. “It’s a true tasting room, where people have the freedom to pour wine and mead and beer and cider, and you pay for what you pour,” co-owner Joe Thomas told the Plain Dealer. “You can have one ounce and you pay as little as 15-30 cents and then you can move along and try other beers. When you have to buy an entire pint you often end up going with a beer you’re already familiar with. Our approach encourages people to sample more beers until they find what they like.”
dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner
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| clevescene.com clev cl e esceenee.com com | August Augu Au g stt 15 15 - 21, 211, 20 2018 18
Photo by George Salisbury
MUSIC
A FEAST FOR THE SENSES The Flaming Lips bring their theatrical live show to the Agora By Laura Morrison IN THE LATE ’90S, THE Flaming Lips were asked to play a New Year’s Eve show. They brought in all the required party tricks, such as balloons and confetti falling from the ceiling and a screaming champagne toast, and when the show was over, they wondered how they could keep the party going. “We fucking loved it. It was a little bit of an insane moment,” frontman Wayne Coyne recalls via phone. “For the rest of the year, we wanted every night to feel like that. And the next New Year’s, we did a next one, and we did 10 times as much.” Building off of that, the Flaming Lips’ shows are now famously known as insane, wild feasts for the senses. Lighting displays, screen projections, dancing fairies
and wondrous falling objects all enhance the experience. Coyne says that playing with his group in these moments is as good as any drug. The more theatrics, the more emotional, musical connections, Coyne says. “We don’t really want
stories and answers questions warmly. The 57-year-old is nowhere near as strange as you’d expect for someone who has no qualms wearing fuzzy Care Bear sweaters, releasing vinyl albums made with actual blood and beer and hanging
THE FLAMING LIPS 8 P.M. FRIDAY, AUG. 17, AGORA THEATRE, 5000 EUCLID AVE., 216-881-2221. TICKETS: $45-$75 ADV, $50-$75 DOS, AGORACLEVELAND.COM.
to stand there and play music for ourselves,” he says. Today, Coyne is outside his Oklahoma City home, sitting in his “home office,” his Prius. He’s the kind of person who could probably spark up a conversation with a rock. He tells long, insightful
out and recording with Miley Cyrus. Bringing the band’s fully realized show to the renovated Agora on Friday, Coyne seems somewhat enthused to get on the road. Today, he’s just come from the studio, where he writes and
records nearly everyday. Warner Bros. Records, the band’s longtime label hasn’t interfered with their sound or off-the-wall ideas from the beginning, something Coyne has described as some sort of miracle. After the band’s last record, 2017’s Oczy Mlody, Coyne’s ready to pump out more of his act’s experimental, psychedelic rock. “A long time ago I had a conversation with [the Who’s] Pete Townshend, who said, ‘You’re so lucky you get to keep recording and to make records. When the Who was at our peak, we didn’t do that,’” Coyne recalls. “He made me realize he was right. Now, I’m in the studio making music almost every day. We’re mostly a band that makes records, and the idea that we go out and play shows, it’s almost like an interruption. But most people see | clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
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MUSIC us the other way around, as a band that does crazy shows and also records.”
Unleashing the Hits Head to any artist’s Spotify page and you’ll see their Top 10 mostplayed songs right at the top. In this way, Coyne says, Spotify has already made a best-of playlist for all artists. He figured it was time for his band to get in on that action and curate its own list. Earlier this year, the band released Greatest Hits, Vol. 1, which included their most well-known songs, B-sides and a couple of previously unreleased tracks. They also released Seeing the Unseeable: The Complete Studio Recordings of The Flaming Lips: 1986-1990, which includes more than 70 songs over six discs that Coyne swears he’s listened to in its entirety. “I don’t really think the Flaming Lips are a Greatest Hits band,” Coyne admits, as they don’t have any huge radio hits. But he says he and his bandmates have always been fans of the Best Of format from their favorite acts. He says there’s nothing wrong with liking these records, as the songs are the best for a reason. “We wanted to make things interesting; if you like this song, maybe you’ll like this song,” Coyne says of how they picked the lineup of tunes. “Because we do have so many songs, and some of them are very likeable. Not everything we do is so weird.”
Singing Cowboy Coyne says he’s not a singer. Of course, other than the band’s first two years when his brother Mark was frontman, he’s been the lead singer of the Flaming Lips for nearly four decades. “No one ever came up to me and said, ‘You should be able to sing,’” Coyne says. “But I started to be able to sing things. I’ve had a lot of help. [Multi-instrumentalist] Steven [Drozd] has helped me hone in on the little quirks of my voice to make them work.” Drozd, Coyne says, is the band’s secret weapon: “He could play anything … with his feet if he had to.” “Steven’s pointed this out: ‘People are going to hear a 1,000 singers hit notes perfectly and it won’t matter. If
36
| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
you don’t hit it okay, it will be more powerful.’ So I’m going to try, if I don’t get there the audience gets to feel that with me. I’m lucky that I’ve navigated that enough I can own that.” Coyne certainly isn’t some powerhouse, go-for-the-rafters-type singer, but what he brings to the Lips is a raw, sweet vocal power. In embracing his imperfections, he feels free. “I try very, very hard,” he admits. “There’s nothing worse than watching someone who doesn’t care.”
Ode to a State Rock Song Ohio is the only state with an official rock song — the nonsensical O-H-I-O anthem “Hang On Sloopy.” Oklahoma used to have a state rock song as well, in the form of the Flaming Lips’ most well-known tune “Do You Realize??” Coyne says he always thought the song was a bit too sad to be the state rock song. Its lyrics are beautiful if not morose: “Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die?” When the song was voted as the No. 1 choice in a state historical society poll back in 2009, he remembers heated internet discussions. “I mean, people were saying things like, ‘How dare you, it should have been a Toby Keith song” Coyne recalls. “Maybe it should have been, but the people had spoken. We certainly didn’t choose this.” Following the will of the people, then-Gov. Brad Henry, a Democrat, signed an executive order officially making the tune the state rock song. When Gov. Mary Fallin, a Republican, took over in 2013, she chose not to re-sign the executive order. At the time, state office officials said the decision had more to do with her political priorities than her taste in music and musicians. “Yeah, fuck her,” Coyne says. “She just didn’t care. Her loss.” But Coyne, who doesn’t live far from his childhood home, is still happy to represent Oklahoma in other ways. “I still have my song,” he says. “It makes you realize how easily things can come undone, especially in today’s political climate.” He says he’s not worried if it gets reinstated or not, that Ohio can keep its distinction, and that he’s positive that he and country singin’ Toby Keith can friends.
lmorrison@clevescene.com t@lowesays
308 EUCLID AVE. CLEVELAND, OH 44114 216.523.BLUE Complete listing at houseofblues.com/cleveland
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Cole Swindell w/ Adam Craig SOLD OUT SiriusXM Presents: The Mighty Mighty Bosstones w/ Mustard Plug, Buster Shuffle Ace Hood Cambridge Room Lil Baby w/ YK Osiris, City Girls, Kollision, B La B, 24 Heavy Blink 180-True & The Pinkertones (Tribute to Blink-182 & Tribute to Weezer) Strangelove (Tribute to Depeche Mode) In Real Life w/ *JAGMAC Cambridge Room Life of Agony w/ Silvertomb Cambridge Room Tamia MC50 presents KICK OUT THE JAMS – THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY
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Gary Numan w/ Nightmare Air Butch Walker w/ Indianola Alina Baraz w/ JMSN - In association with the Grog Shop Iration w/ Common Kings, Katastro The Score w/ The Orphan The Poet, birthday Cambridge Room Bullet For My Valentine w/ We Came As Romans, Bad Omens Andy Grammer Mod Sun Wish You Were Here (Tribute to Pink Floyd) Rainbow Kitten Surprise w/ Caroline Rose
Buy tickets at HOUSEOFBLUES.COM/CLEVELAND Order By Phone: 800.745.3000 • House of Blues Box Office
| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
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Photo by Chris Jensen
MUSIC A PAIR OF INDUCTEES Dave Mason and Steve Crooper team up for the Rock & Soul Revue By Matt Wardlaw DAVE MASON WAS ALL OF 19 years old, by his telling, when he put pen to paper and wrote “Feelin’ Alright,” which wound up on the self-titled 1968 debut from Traffic, the band he co-founded with Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi. The song from the British rock group has become a staple moment in Mason’s live set, but it found even more ears when Joe Cocker got a hold of it and put his own version out for his 1969 album With A Little Help from My Friends. In the lyrics to the song, Mason wrote, “Got to stop believin’ in your lies/ Cause there’s too much to do before I die.” Little did he realize that he had a lot of days, months and years ahead of him as he wrote those words down. So it’s easy to understand why he’s been looking forward to his current Rock & Soul Revue tour with guitarist Steve Cropper. The two perform at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday at the Kent Stage. “I’ve been doing ‘Dave’ for over 50 years,” he says with a chuckle, during a recent phone interview. “I just want to go out and put a cool rock and soul revue on the stage.” With Cropper, he’s got the right ammunition to do just that. They’re both Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees — Mason, in 2004 with the members of Traffic, and Cropper, a 1992 inductee for his work with the legendary soulful rhythm and blues band, Booker T. & the M.G.’s. The amount of history that Cropper and Mason can bring to the stage together for one night is staggering. And as a fellow guitar player, one could understand if Mason found the prospect daunting. But he has a good view on the situation. “I have to admit that things like ‘In the Midnight Hour,’ ‘Green Onions’ or stuff like that, I pretty much step off stage. Because for me, putting in another guitar in there, is kind of a bit redundant,” he says. “I want to hear his stuff and I get to sing some of them, which is great! That’s a kick. I get to sing ‘Midnight Hour,’ which is a trip. And we mix it up! There’s some of my stuff, there’s some stuff that Steve either cowrote or played on. Then we throw
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other things in there, like ‘Gimme Some Lovin’’ and ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll.’ It ties in a lot of history. There’s a hundred years or more between me and Cropper. We get to go out and play and do a great show with no dead weight in there, songwise. It’s cool.” In true revue fashion, Mason and Cropper are distributing the load a bit, with the help of Mason’s band, which forms the instrumental core on this current tour. “I’ve got my keyboard player singing some stuff, ‘Soul Man’ and ‘Knock on Wood.’ I have a great female singer in there, Gretchen Rhodes, who is singing ‘Try A Little Tenderness’ and a couple of other songs. It’s very much a revue. We have these great songs and we get to be up there together and play. I’m playing a couple of my songs without Steve in there and I’m stepping out for about three or four of his things. Because he’s the essence of the song, those guitar parts and I want them to come through without sitting back there and [adding something that isn’t necessary]. It’s cool. I mean, I hope people get turned onto it and get to enjoy it.” Cropper is similarly excited about the current tour, which he spoke about during a separate phone call. “It gives me a chance to play on some other stuff. I’ve been playing the same thing since I was a kid,” he laughs. “I try not to deviate too much. So I’m not really what you would call...even though I’ve been accused of being a guitar player’s guitar player, I’m not that kind of a
Dave Mason.
all I know how to do! [Laughs] When I sit in with people at different times, they just expect me to be me and I try as best as I can to be me, what they know me for.” He sees a lot of common ground between himself and Mason, when looking at the work that they’ve done individually across the years. “I’ve been fortunate, and so has he, to work with great singers and great artists. His work, a lot of it was done by other people and not by him,” Cropper says. “But he had his own hits too. I never did really have my own hits. In a way, I did with Booker T. & the M.G.’s, but we were a four-man group, so we had to share everything, so I was one-fourth of something. Dave’s hits, ‘Only You Know and I Know,’ that one was him and he did more as well on his own. But a lot of the hits, other people did, like Joe Cocker’s hit. I didn’t even know he wrote that, because I don’t really get into that so much.” Mason was in the right place to be able to sit in with the Rolling Stones on a couple of cuts on their Beggar’s Banquet album, and
DAVE MASON AND STEVE CROPPER 7:30 P.M. SUNDAY, AUG. 19, KENT STAGE, 175 E. MAIN ST., KENT, 330-677-5005. TICKETS: $55-$125, THEKENTSTAGE.COM.
guy. I do this same sound over and over and over and people dig it and I give them what they want and they seem to enjoy that. Dave allows me to do behind his stuff, stuff that was not on the record and I just play Steve Cropper. I do the same thing — that’s
| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
he’s cool with it, even though his work went uncredited at the time. “I just played some of the drums and that weird horn on the end of ‘Street Fighting Man.’ I was there. We all used the same studio, and we were all using the same engineer,
Eddie Kramer,” he explains. “Traffic and the Stones were using the same producer, Jimmy Miller. It was not unusual for people to stop by each other’s sessions back in London. There were only so many places to record. There were very few places to record. And everybody was in London. You would go out to some clubs at night, sort of semiprivate clubs, and there’d be some of the Beatles, some of the Stones, whatever artist was happening, they would be there. It was very easy to cross paths with people.” Cropper remains humble about the success that he’s had with his work. “Al Jackson [a founding member of Booker T. & the M.G.’s] said the most profound statement that I think I’ve ever heard. He said, ‘Well, Steve, you know, they’re all hits until they’re released,’” he remembers. “I went, ‘I never looked at it that way!’ [Laughs] Because it’s true. You do something, and it doesn’t mean that it’s going to make it, just because you like it and everybody else likes it. You’ve got to play it for the fans and see if they like it. If they like it, it will probably do something. If they don’t, it won’t. Fans are the best judges of your work. I’ve been fortunate, I’ve never had what I would call a bad show where people get up and walk out and say, ‘Eh, this ain’t nothing.’ They have fun. We get everybody’s booty moving and we get them dancing and having fun and singing along. It’s always a party wherever we go.”
scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene
| clevescene.com m | August 15 - 21, 2018
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| clevescene.com m | August 15 - 21, 20188
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displays her gorgeous vocals and lyrical talent with toned-down piano backing. “Hide the Wine,” Pearce’s latest single, sets the tone by opening with a killer riff. The upbeat track is about avoiding getting sucked back in by an old flame. (Weber), 7:30 p.m., $32.50-$97.25. Blossom. Rhymin’ ‘N’ Stealin’/Old Skool/ Sparky B: 8 p.m., $15 ADV, $18 DOS. House of Blues. Sinatra Night with Michael Sonata (in the Supper Club): 7:30 p.m., $10. Music Box Supper Club.
08/15
Nicole Atkins/Ruby Boots: 8:30 p.m., $15. Beachland Tavern. Bad Boys of Blues Jam: 9 p.m., free. Smedley’s. The Dead Dasies/Dizzy Reed’s Hookers & Blow: 7:30 p.m., $25. Agora Ballroom. Annihilation Time/Lecherous Gaze/Char-Man: 8 p.m., $12 ADV, $15 DOS. Now That’s Class. Lydia/Jared & the Mill/Cherry Pools: 8 p.m., $15 ADV, $17 DOS. Grog Shop. Many Rooms/Angelo De Augustine/Andy Hoffman/ Mason Pena: 7 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Mahall’s 20 Lanes. The Vindys (in the Supper Club): 6 p.m., free. Music Box Supper Club.
THU
SAT
08/16
FreeByrds Musician’s Night: 10 p.m., free. Smedley’s. Nikki Hill/Roshambeaux: 8 p.m., $15 ADV, $18 DOS. Music Box Supper Club. Terence Jack/The Tom Katless: 9 p.m., $5 ADV, $8 DOS. CODA. Jam Night with the Bad Boys of Blues: 9 p.m., free. Brothers Lounge. The Pink Spiders/Stalemate/Public Squares: 8:30 p.m., $13 ADV, $15 DOS. Beachland Tavern. Sam Supreme/Tribe Untitled/ Mellow Xzackt: 9 p.m., $5. Now That’s Class. Shawn and Shelby’s Living Room Sessions with Brett Borovic and Katie Napoleon/Mack McKenzie/Olivia Martinez: 8:30 p.m., $5 ADV, $7 DOS. Beachland Ballroom. Summer Don’t Go Featuring DJ ChopUFL: 10 p.m., $15 ADV, $20 DOS. Grog Shop. Toad the Wet Sprocket: A Matchbox 20-meets Goo-Goo Dolls late ’80s/early ’90s rock band, Toad the Wet Sprocket claimed our hearts many years ago with its melodic tunes. Catchy as hell, “All I Want” still maintains an edge. The track tells the story of longing to feel close to someone. “Walk on The Ocean” shines with its perfect string production and metaphoric lyrics. “Something’s Always Wrong” is a frustration anthem for people who can’t seem to make it work, even when they
Country singer Carly Pearce joins Rascal Flatts at Blossom. See: Friday.
want to. “Fall Down” explores a darker side of the band; the notes are deeper, the lyrics are more angsty and the sound is louder overall. “Good Intentions” brings the band back to its roots with a quick and quirky Barenaked Ladies vibe, but the song slows down at parts giving it depth. (Halle Weber), 8 p.m., $50-$140. The Kent Stage. Water Seed: 8 p.m., $20. Nighttown. Sarah Wilson and The Whiskey Business/Nick Wagner (in the Supper Club): 7 p.m., $8. Music Box Supper Club.
FRI
08/17
Moises Borges & Friends: 8:30 p.m., $15. Nighttown. The Flaming Lips: 8 p.m., $45$128.50. Agora Theatre. Incite/Aethere/Anthropic: 8 p.m., $10. Now That’s Class. The Larry Keel Experience/Jon Stickley Trio: 8:30 p.m., $15 ADV, $18 DOS. Beachland Ballroom. Josh Krajcik: 9 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. CODA. Neil Young Tribute by Broken Arrow: 8 p.m., $20 ADV, $25 DOS. Music Box Supper Club. Sebastian Olzanski & Wes Stromberg: 6 p.m., $15-$79. Mahall’s 20 Lanes. Pedro the Lion/H.C. McEntire: 9
p.m., $20. Grog Shop. Poro Album Release/Punch Drunk Tagalongs/Shiloh Hill: 8:30 p.m., $8 ADV, $12 DOS. Beachland Tavern. Purple Reign: The Prince Tribute: 8 p.m., $29.50-$39.50. Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park. Rascal Flatts/Dan + Shay/Carly Pearce: Rascal Flatts are one of the most iconic country bands of all time. Heartfelt ballads like “Bless the Broken Road,” an anthem for anyone who believes everything happens for a reason, are the band’s best work. “What Hurts the Most,” a twangy breakup tune, is the clear standout of the band’s hit-filled catalog. With thoughtful lyrics and catchy instrumentals, it’s the perfect sing-along. Dan + Shay’s career has skyrocketed in recent years. The duo saw major success with its 2018 single “Tequila,” a stripped-down nostalgia-filled ode to an ex-lover. In “Speechless, a more optimistic track, the duo describes the beauty of a special lady. The soft, R&B infused production laid over everything, but the chorus makes the song a cool change-up for a country act. Carly Pearce has quickly become a vital part of the revolution for females in country music. “Every Little Thing,” the most intimate song Pearce has ever written
08/18
Moises Borges Quartet: 8:30 p.m., $10. CODA. Ray Charles Tribute/The Reid Project (in the Supper Club): 7 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Music Box Supper Club. Judy Collins: 8 p.m., $38-$58. The Kent Stage. Michael Franks/Najee/Sammy DeLeon Featuring Jackie Warren/Forecast Featuring Von James: 5 p.m., $49-$69 ADV, $52$72 DOS. Cain Park. Hide/Kontravoid/Relentless Corpse: 9 p.m., $10. Now That’s Class. Joe Joyce Band Release Show/ Glendale/Jazz Handerson/The Willow Tree/Post Saga: 7:30 p.m., $8. Mahall’s 20 Lanes. Kinsman Dazz Band: 8 p.m., $15 ADV, $18 DOS. Beachland Ballroom. MIGHTY/ Niights/ Friendly Faux: 9 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Grog Shop. Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes: 8 p.m., $29.50-$37.50. Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park. Evelyn Wright/David Thomas Trio: 8:30 p.m., $15. Nighttown.
SUN
08/19
Cro-Mags/Killer of Sheep/ Mercenary/Subtype Zero: 8 p.m., $15. Now That’s Class. Gildersleeve: 1 p.m., free. Cain Park. Honky Tonk Happy Hour with Shooter Sharp and the Shootouts/Charles Hill Jr./Cody J. Martin: Akron-based singersongwriter Ryan Humbert is one of Northeast Ohio’s most active musicians. If he’s not playing solo dates, he’s paying tribute to icons | clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
41
LIVEWIRE such as Roy Orbison and Bob Dylan with large, extravagant shows. And that’s not to mention his elaborate Christmas concerts. Somehow, he’s found time to also play and record with the side project, Shooter Sharp & the Shootouts. In addition to Humbert, the group features guitarist Brian Poston, bassist Dan Nauss and drummer Dylan Gomez. They headline today’s special Honky Tonk Happy Hour and BBQ at the Beachland. (Jeff Niesel), 6:30 p.m., $10. Beachland Tavern. Jah9/Indubious: 8 p.m., $12 ADV, $15 DOS. Beachland Ballroom. Dave Mason and Steve Cropper: 7:30 p.m., $55-$125. The Kent Stage. The Pizza Creeps/Bow and Arrow: 8:30 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Grog Shop. Reggae Sundays: Jah Messengers: 4 p.m., free. Music Box Supper Club. Brandon Reilly/Chris Regan/My Mouth is the Speaker/Jimmy Lo Fi/Jonathan Rogers (in the Apartment): 7 p.m., $12. Mahall’s 20 Lanes.
MON
08/20
Beatles vs. Stones: 8 p.m., $19-$45. The Kent Stage. Ceramic Animal/Super Doppler/ Swell Tides/Funeral Proposals/ The Dollyhoppers (in the Locker Room): 7 p.m., $12 ADV, $14 DOS. Mahall’s 20 Lanes. Impalers/Roobydocks/Lacerate: 9 p.m., $7. Now That’s Class. Skatch Anderssen Orchestra: 8 p.m., $7. Brothers Lounge. Velvet Voyage (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge.
TUE
08/21
In the Whale/So Long, Albatross/ King Buu: 8:30 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Beachland Tavern. Joe Marcinek Band: 8:30 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Beachland Ballroom. Rass Kass/Jetset/Poohmanchew/ Doc Remedy/TUT/Arrogant/ Muamin Collective/DJ Know1: 8:30 p.m., $12 ADV, $15 DOS. Grog Shop.
42
| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
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Photo courtesy of the Cory Grinder Band
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| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
SCENE
MEET THE BAND: Cory Grinder (vocals,
fiddle and rhythm guitar), Jason Willis (bass), Stephen “Tebbs” Karney (pedal steel), Anthony Papaleo (guitar and fiddle) and Roy King (drums) BACKGROUND: While Grinder plays old school country music now, he didn’t group up listening to that style of music. “I heard countrypop on the radio but didn’t care for it at all,” says Grinder, who grew up in Kent. “I played violin at a young age but wasn’t crazy about classical music. In high school, I started to discover gypsy jazz and bluegrass and country music like Hank Williams, stuff I was never exposed to as a child. It just blew my mind. Once I heard Hank Williams, I never looked back, and I have been obsessed with old country music ever since.” Originally, Grinder played in bands such as Johnny & the Apple Stompers, Fast Molasses, and Rodney and the Regulars. “I was co-fronting Johnny & the Apple Stompers, and we played solid there for a minute,” he says. “Sometimes, it was bluegrass and sometimes jazz. It was always hillbilly music.” He recruited a few of those former band mates to join him as the Cory Grinder Band. IT CAME FROM CANTON: Local singersongwriter David Mayfield mixed Cory Grinder Band’s new album, Cahoots and Other Favorites, with Abby Rose, who served as assistant engineer, at Sweetwide Recording Company in Canton. Featured musicians include Mayfield on vocals, baritone guitar and high-strung guitar, Kevin Johnson on six-string bass and rhythm guitar, and Rose and Jennifer Ann Wichryk on vocals. “David is a guy who’s done quite well for himself,” says Grinder. “He knows old country music and loves it. He has the old microphones and the know-how to do
it. It’s great. He had just opened up, and we were the first group to record. This is the first thing I’ve recorded with this group. I’ve always done the mixing and recording myself, so it was good to put that in someone else’s hands and just focus on writing and performing.” WHY YOU SHOULD HEAR THEM: “Crazy As Me,” the album’s twangy first track, features the freewheeling vibe of a Blasters number as Grinder practically yodels his way through the tune. “I’ve written some stinkers that have never seen the light of day,” he says, “but I put song together and thought it was alright. It was one good step in the right direction, and it pays tribute to the days of the Apple Stompers and doing fast rag songs that are pretty wild. Once I had that song and the title track, I knew I wanted to make a honky-tonk album.” For the live shows, Grinder says he relies heaviliy on his pedal steel player. “I’m fortune to know some great players and the leads they take are hot,” he says. “I have this beaming smile when I play live because of that. I just try to have a good time, and we poke fun of ourselves a bit. We try to look the part and wear the Western shirts. I will usually don a powder blue suit and try to look like an old country star at the Grand Ole Opry.” WHERE YOU CAN HEAR THEM:
corygrinderband.com. WHERE YOU CAN SEE THEM: Cory Grinder Band performs with the Cave Twins at 8 p.m on Friday, Aug. 17, at the Venice Café in Kent and with the Prime Prines at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 28, at the Beachland Tavern. — JEFF NIESEL
jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel
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| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
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| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
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SAVAGE LOVE SECRET PERVING By Dan Savage I’ve been enjoying consensual nonmonogamy for the past two years, in part thanks to your column and podcast. I have a delightful young lover, and our connection has evolved into a kind of Master/slave relationship. I “allow” her to fuck other men and women, and she delights in asking my permission and recounting the details of her other trysts to me. We are curious how much of this she needs to disclose to her other lovers. They know she isn’t monogamous and they are aware of her relationship with me, but so far she has chosen not to tell them the extent to which I “own” her and have jurisdiction over her body and actions. Is it wrong to be using these people as pawns in our game without their knowledge and consent? There’s a perverse thrill in her other lovers being totally oblivious to it, but we want to be ethical in our polyamorous ways. Masochists And Sadists Tackling Ethical Relations This falls under the header of permissible secret perving (PSP), MASTER, and I will allow it—with one caveat. My go-to example of PSP is the foot fetishist who works in a shoe store. So long as he’s good at his job and his secret perving is undetectable—no bulges, no heavy breathing, no creepy comments—no harm done. And if he goes home and jacks off about all the sexy, sexy feet he saw and, yes, handled during his shift, he’s not hurting anyone or doing anything unethical. It’s important, however, to note that the foot fetishist salesclerk’s perceptions aren’t the ones that matter. The secret perving you’re doing— the girlfriend has to beg for your permission to fuck other people and report back to you afterward—is small and it’s a bank shot. The other people she’s fucking provide mental fodder for your D/s role-playing games, MASTER, you aren’t directly involving them. Your role-playing games take place before she fucks someone else (when she asks your permission) and after she fucks someone else (when she recounts her experience). Now for the caveat: If one of your girlfriend’s lovers strongly objects to Dom/sub sex, relationships, or role-
playing games, and your girlfriend is aware they object, and you two want to be exquisitely ethical, MASTER, then either your girlfriend shouldn’t fuck that person or she should disclose your Master/slave dynamics to that person and allow them to decide whether they want to fuck her anyway. Zooming out for a second: Some people in open relationships don’t want to know what their partners get up to, and these couples usually have “don’t ask, don’t tell” agreements about sex outside the relationship. But many more people in open relationships do want to hear about their partners’ adventures because it turns them on. Someone who doesn’t want to risk being fodder for a couple’s dirty talk or even their D/s roleplaying games shouldn’t be sleeping with people who are partnered and in open relationships. There are things we have a right to ask the people with whom we have casual sex—like whether they’re practicing ethical nonmonogamy, if they have an STI, what kind of birth control they’re using, whether they’re on PrEP, etc.—but a casual fuck isn’t entitled to details about your relationship.
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My boyfriend of one year has refused to delete photos from his Instagram account that show him with his ex-girlfriend. They were together for three years and briefly engaged, and they broke up two years before we met. They aren’t in contact in any way, so I don’t have any worries there, but I think making photos of him with someone else available to his friends and family— and now my friends, too, as many are now following him—is incredibly disrespectful. We’ve had numerous arguments about this, and his “solution” is for me to “stop thinking about it.” He refuses to discuss this issue, even as I lose sleep over it. I’ve tried calmly discussing this with him, I’ve tried crying, I’ve tried screaming my head off—nothing works. Personal Insult Causing Stress There’s definitely something your boyfriend should delete, PICS, but it’s not old photos of his ex.
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| clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
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GroundWarehouseJobs.fedex.com
FedEx Ground
#OLUMBIA 2OAD
2ICHlELD /( %AST !URORA 2D 4WINSBURG /( %QUAL /PPORTUNITY !FlRMATIVE !CTION %MPLOYER - & $ 6 #OMMITED 4O ! $IVERSE 7ORKFORCE &EDEX COM US CAREERS
BROOKSIDE OVAL APARTMENT Located on Park Fulton Oval near the Cleveland Metroparks! 216-351-6936 Choose from any of our newly remodeled 1 & 2 bdrm apartments, all w/ modern kitchens & bathrooms. All feature air-conditioning & Garage parking also available. Brookside is located close to I-480, I-71, and I-90, just minutes from downtown Cleveland. Come home to the beautiful park-like setting of Brookside Apartments! You’ll be happy to call Brookside home.
SIT DOWN WITH YOUR GUESTS.
ELBUR
Located on a private tree lined street, 1BR and 2BR suites available. Off-street parking available. Heat included. 216-392-5384.
ADVERTISE WITH SCENE.
PARK PLACE
Spacious 1BR and 2BR suites available. Steps from Edgewater Park. Heat included. Off-street parking available. 216-392-5384
Call 216-241-7550 for more information.
Who are you after dark? LAKEWOOD CLIFFS APARTMENTS
18900 Detroit Extension Newly Renovated 1-2 Bedroom Apts Heat & Water Included Updated Laundry on Site Off Street Parking Air Conditioning Secure Entry Lake and Park Views Call for our Specials 216-392-5384 *****some restrictions apply*****
Free trial for men, always free for ladies.
1-216-377-6290
HOME BUYERS!!!
FREE MONEY!!! DOWN PAYMENT PROGRAM*
BUY YOUR DREAM HOME!!! Plus Get Up To $100k + More* (for new kitchen, new roof, new carpet, appliances, paint, basement waterprooďŹ ng, windows, heating & cooling)*
NEVER EVER EVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO BUY A HOME!!! Great Low Fixed Interest Rates* When YOUR dreams come true... OUR dreams come true!!!
440.342.7355 (SELL) To Buy...or Sell
Call Grizzell *Some restrictions will apply *for those who qualify... we consider... Se Habla Espanol
More Numbers: 1-800-700-6666 Redhotdateline.com 18+
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216.626.0320
'//$ #2%$)4 s "!$ #2%$)4 s "!.+2504#9 | clevescene.com | August 15 - 21, 2018
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