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FEBRUARY 21-27, 2018 • VOLUME 48 NO 34 Dedicated to Free Times founder Richard H. Siegel (1935-1993) and Scene founder Richard Kabat Group Publisher Chris Keating Publisher Andrew Zelman Associate Publisher Angela Nagal Editor Vince Grzegorek Editorial Music Editor Jeff Niesel Senior Writer Sam Allard 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 Michael Wu, Matt Poshedley

CONTENTS Upfront

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Kucinich comes out for an assault weapons ban in Ohio, Budish’s administration is targeted by public corruption investigators, and more

Feature

Advertising Senior Multimedia Account Executive John Crobar, Shayne Rose Multimedia Account Executive Kiara Davis Events and Marketing Coordinator Maggie Lilac

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For years, media outlets chased clicks promised by Facebook. Now, the social media giant threatens to destroy them

Creative Services Production Manager Steve Miluch Staff Photographer Emanuel Wallace

Get Out!

Business Sales Assistant/Receptionist Megan Stimac Controller Kristy Dotson

All the best things to do in Cleveland this week

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 www.euclidmediagroup.com National Advertising Voice Media Group 1-800-278-9866, voicemediagroup.com 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 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.

Subscriptions $150 (1 yr); $80 (6 mos.) Send name, address and zip code with check or money order to the address listed above with the title ‘Attn: Subscription Department’

Stage

23

43

Livewire Rapper Jeezy comes to the House of Blues on Monday

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An odd mix of horror and laughs in Misery at Great Lakes Theater

Film

29

A seemingly ordinary murder-mystery game goes awry in Game Night

Eat

31

Gunselman’s Tavern is serving up comfort food worth coming back for, plus Ninja City is on the move

Music

37

The 13 bands you need to see at Brite Winter, plus all the shows you should check out this week

Savage

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UPFRONT

Ohio gubernatorial candidate Dennis Kuchinch at Monday’s rally

DENNIS KUCINICH WANTS TO BAN ASSAULT WEAPONS IN OHIO DOZENS OF RAIN-SOAKED rallyers gathered in a meeting room at the downtown DoubleTree Hotel Monday afternoon as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dennis Kucinich and his running mate, Akron City councilwoman Tara Samples, alongside a roster of speakers and sign-wielding supporters, promoted a grassroots effort to ban assault weapons in Ohio.

The massacre that left 17 people dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last week prompted the rally. The school shooting has riled Republicans as well as Democrats.

Student survivors have called out their elected representatives on social media for failures to create sensible gun laws.

Even Ohio governor John Kasich has changed his tune. He deleted a pro-gun portion of his website, and on a CNN appearance this weekend, he called for gun regulations and pressure on city and state legislatures. If local entities enact gun control legislation, Kasich

suggested, Washington would follow.

“If you’re a strong Second Amendment person you need to slow down and take a look at reasonable things that can be done to answer these young people [from Parkland],” Kasich said.

That position is something of an about-face for Kasich, who has been a dear friend to Second Amendment enthusiasts and who has passed six pieces of pro-gun legislation since his tenure began in 2011.

Among other things, those laws have allowed guns in Ohio bars and restaurants and reduced the hours of training required for a concealed handgun license.

But his stated position, to pressure local governments, is precisely what Kucinich’s #BanAssaultWeapons rally was all about. Kucinich called the current national moment a “tipping point” and characterized the effort, which has already garnered nearly 2,000 signatures on his website, not as a political campaign but as a social movement.

“Enough is enough” was the

mantra repeated by several speakers.

The Monday event was hastily relocated from the steps of City Hall due to inclement weather. But if the DoubleTree crowd’s clothes were dampened, their spirits certainly weren’t. Many stayed after the prepared remarks for an organizing meeting to coordinate strategies for applying pressure in their local communities.

Councilwoman Tara Samples from Akron and councilman Marty Gelfand, from South Euclid, pledged to bring resolutions to their respective legislative bodies, calling on the Statehouse to implement an immediate ban on assault weapons. Cleveland city councilman Kevin Conwell was present as well. He spoke about violence in his community — “You can get guns before you get jobs in my neighborhood,” he said — but did not address a Cleveland resolution directly.

Kucinich noted that, in 1991, Cleveland was among the first cities nationally to enact an assault weapons ban. That ban was

overturned 19 years later when the state’s attorney general took a case to the U.S. Supreme Court that restricted cities from enacting local gun-control laws.

That attorney general was none other than presumed 2018 Democratic gubernatorial frontrunner: Richard Cordray.

Cordray hasn’t spoken in concrete terms about issues he’d tackle as governor. And the gun issue may become one of the sharpest divides between him and Kucinich. On social media, Cordray called the Parkland, Florida, shooting “gut-wrenching” and said “we need to come together to find better solutions to gun violence.”

But in the past, Cordray has said he would not support a statewide ban on assault weapons. Cordray is beloved by both the NRA and the Ohio Buckeye Firearms Association, who voted to endorse Cordray over Republican Mike DeWine for attorney general in 2010. (DeWine won that election, and is also the Republican frontrunner in the 2018 governor’s race.) | clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

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“EVERY SINGLE OFFICIAL ACT Richard Cordray has ever taken,” wrote the Buckeye Firearms Association, in 2010, “has been consistent with a vibrant support of your Second Amendment rights.”

(All-caps in original.)

It’s unclear if or how Cordray’s position has evolved. A spokesman provided the following statement: “Gun violence is an epidemic that has plagued our communities for far too long, and needs a comprehensive and solutions-based response. Rich and Betty have a concrete plan to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and protect our schools and our communities from gun violence. They know that solving this problem is going to require serious answers, not political slogans.”

Joe Schiavoni is a Democratic gubernatorial candidate from the Youngstown area who lost some momentum in the statewide race after the union of Cordray and his running mate Betty Sutton and the announcement of Dennis Kucinich’s campaign. He told Scene Monday that while he would not support a full ban on assault rifles, he is nevertheless committed to making sure they don’t end up in the wrong hands.

“We’ve got to be realistic,” Schiavoni told Scene by phone. “If you want to put forward a plan to save lives today, if you want to start really making a difference, we need well-rounded gun restrictions.

If you ban assault weapons, the underground world would go crazy.”

Schiavoni said he is actively speaking with policy experts, legislators and stakeholders — including, notably, pawn shop owners — to create a bill. He said closing a gun show loophole (background checks are not enforced for certain private dealers at gun shows), mandating comprehensive background checks, effectively

tracking online sales, and eliminating discrepancies in current regulations are all high on his priority list.

For example, Schiavoni said, gun dealers in Ohio must report purchases of two or more handguns to their local police department.

Dealers are not, however, required to report purchases of multiple assault weapons.

“That’s a huge discrepancy and it doesn’t make any sense,” he said.

Schiavoni, a state senator, also plans to introduce legislation again this week that he has introduced twice before, the first time immediately following the Sandy Hook school shooting. He wants to dedicate funding (an estimated $33 million) to give school districts flexibility to increase safety measures at their buildings.

As for Kasich’s national message this weekend, Schiavoni said he phoned the governor’s office Monday and intends to keep pressuring him to make good on his talking points.

“Politicians say things,” Schiavoni said. “If he’s going to go and say that on national news, we’ve got to make him own it.” — Sam Allard

What We Know About Cuyahoga County Subpoenas Investigators from the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office have served subpoenas at county headquarters seeking records on multiple officials at the top of county executive Armond Budish’s administration. There are two tracks here, possibly related, but little information on the direction of the investigation is available so far. (PDFs of the subpoenas can be viewed at Clevescene.com.)

A spokesperson from the prosecutor’s office had no comment on developments last week.

A statement from the county’s law director Bob Triozzi read: “We’re not aware of any specific allegations being made; it’s inappropriate to speculate simply based on the public records we’ve been requested to provide. We are cooperating fully with the investigation. If there is any evidence of wrongdoing, we are as interested as the Prosecutor in ensuring that we find it and take immediate action.”

One subpoena, served on Jan. 24, seeks emails and communications between chief transformation officer/ chief information officer Scot Rourke; director of special initiatives Emily McNeeley; and the firms Hyland Software, One Community, OneCleveland, Everstream, and DigitalC. It also asks for any records of self-reported outside employment, travel or income for each. Two sources told Scene that McNeeley’s spouse works at Hyland in a department that deals with government contracts.

The other, served Feb. 9, seeks the travel and time records, reimbursements, parking information and basically everything on file for recently departed chief of staff Sharon Sobol Jordan. Jordan, whose county salary eclipsed $170,000 a year, last week announced, on the

very day the subpoena was served, that she’d be leaving her position as Budish’s No. 2 for a job at a new nonprofit.

Budish had allowed Jordan time off from her job for travel and study at Ohio State in pursuit of an MBA degree. That allowance probably factored into the county gossip mill that churned for years with complaints that Jordan was seldom around.

Scene had requested her travel reimbursements in a public records request last year. A county spokesperson noted at the time that Jordan didn’t use the county parking lot, which explains the receipts for parking garages around Cleveland throughout 2016, of which there are many, but hardly the amount you’d expect from a full-time employee.

Perhaps also a reason county employees groused about Jordan’s performance.

Armond Budish is running unopposed for re-election this year.

Semi-related to all of this: Here’s what Cleveland.com editor Chris Quinn wrote two years ago after a judge released all of the recordings and exhibits from Jimmy Dimora’s corruption trial.

“The chief lesson learned from the county corruption crisis, which broke

into our collective consciousness with a massive FBI raid in the summer of 2008, is that we can never again relax our vigilance over those we elect to govern. Not the voters. Not the criminal investigators. Not the media.

And yes, I know, we in the media dropped the ball. The Plain Dealer repeatedly endorsed these criminals, and the news team that I oversaw at the newspaper did not catch the corruption before the FBI did. For all of you who repeatedly note our lapse, I’ve said before and say it again: We blew it, and I humbly apologize.”

Cleveland.com, since then, has dispatched one reporter to cover county government. That reporter is also responsible for covering higher education in Northeast Ohio and gambling. In other words, in Cleveland.com’s eyes, sunken with regret over letting this happen once on its watch, the county merits onethird of a full-time job.

We’ll now hop off our soap box.

— Vince Grzegorek

ACLU of Ohio Challenges State’s Ban on Down Syndrome Abortions The ACLU of Ohio last week filed

a lawsuit challenging the state’s ban on abortions in cases when a fetus has been diagnosed with Down syndrome. The new law, signed by Gov. Kasich in December, is set to take effect on March 23 of this year.

The civil liberties group’s suit, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, is on behalf of Preterm Cleveland, Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and other abortion providers throughout the state.

Arguing that the law, which makes it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion if the physician knows the woman’s decision is based on a likely diagnosis of Down syndrome, is unconstitutional, the ACLU is seeking for a hold on its enforcement until a court can hear arguments.

“Banning a woman from having an abortion because of a fetal diagnosis is not only unconstitutional, it also does absolutely nothing to address discrimination against people with disabilities,” Freda Levenson, legal director for the ACLU of Ohio, said in a release. “If Ohio politicians wanted to proactively take a stance for people with disabilities, they should improve access to health care, education, or other services. This ban

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is just a thinly-veiled attempt to criminalize abortion in Ohio. We are committed to work to ensure this unconstitutional law is never enforced.� “When a woman has decided to end a pregnancy, she deserves care without judgment. This law would undermine the relationship between doctors and patients, making it harder for a woman to have an honest and informed conversation with her health care provider. Politicians should stop trying to prevent Ohio women from making thoughtful decisions about growing their families,� said Chrisse France, executive director for Preterm, in the same release. —

| clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

A nascent network of Ward 4 neighborhood activists has come together to empower their community and hold veteran councilman Ken Johnson accountable. “This ward is so beat down,� said activist and chef Michelle Jackson in a phone conversation with Scene. “We’ve elected the same councilperson for four decades and nothing has changed.�

Jackson and a small group of female residents living near Shaker Square have formed what they’re calling the People’s District. They want to champion voter education and civic engagement in the hopes of radically improving voter turnout and ultimately unseating Ken Johnson in 2020.

Jackson, who worked for both the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigns, said she hosted successful voter forums in 2017 in both Ward 4 and Ward 6.

In the Ward 4 event, seven of the eight council candidates showed up to the forum to speak to voters, Jackson said. “The incumbent [Ken Johnson] was the only no-show.�

The People’s District group has met only once, with a turnout of about 18, but they’re planning to meet again in March, when they’ll whiteboard specific strategies and goals. Jackson said the group has particular interest in the ward’s finances. “We’re following the money,� she said, noting that the group will likely take aim at Johnson’s usage of Community Development Block Grant dollars and his relationship with the Buckeye Area Development Corporation, a CDC Jackson sneeringly referred to as

councilman Johnson’s “washing machine.�

She said that activists have an additional goal of training the next generation of the ward’s leaders.

Ken Johnson was challenged in 2017 by Gail Sparks, a political newcomer with limited credentials, who nevertheless came within 13 points of unseating Johnson.

In Jackson’s precinct, Sparks prevailed. “I go door to door and I tell my neighbors, ‘Don’t expect Obama to pave your streets,’� she said. “It’s all about the councilman. And we’ve got to agitate.� — Allard

DIGIT WIDGET $45,000 Amount Cleveland water department paid the zoo for special branding on videos of animals getting bathed. Channel 5 reports the department’s 2018 advertising budget is $400,000, despite, of course, having no competition.

$100,000 Amount Kent State will pay Michael Keaton to give this year’s commencement speech. The fee will be paid from a special donation fund and won’t draw from taxpayer or student tuition money.

18,000 Number of Medicaid recipients who gained coverage under ACA expansion in Ohio who’ll lose coverage if the state’s proposed work requirements go into effect, according to Ohio’s own estimates.

18,195 Total attendance for CSU men’s basketball games in 2017, a signiďŹ cant decrease from 2016’s total of 28,669, which itself was a signiďŹ cant decrease from 2015.

Advance Ohio VP / Chief Revenue Officer Out Josh Trust was hired as vice president and chief revenue officer of Advance Ohio, the controlling company for Cleveland.com, in late September 2017. His arrival was trumpeted with a Q&A on the site that included his thoughts on digital media, local reporting, advertising, sales and revenue.

He lasted less than four months on the job.

Sources said Trust is no longer with the company. His profile page on Advance Ohio’s site now goes to a 404 error. As for when his departure occurred, that’s unclear.

He was quoted in a Cleveland.com article on Jan. 17, in his capacity as VP, about a possible sale to the city of the company’s building at 1801 Superior Ave., for use as a new police headquarters.

Sources said he was successful on the revenue front and had few details as to the reasons for his departure — i.e., whether he quit or was fired. We’ve heard rumblings about the circumstances but no official word. Advance Ohio editor and president Chris Quinn didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.

—Grzegorek

CWRU Refuses to Say What Students Objected To in Mural Celebrating Women in STEM Cleveland.com reported last week that a mural at Case Western Reserve University celebrating women in STEM would be removed at the end of the academic year due to student complaints.

The mural, painted by local artist Rachel Latina, “aimed to combat stereotypes in math and science by representing the female faces of the fields,” according to the university when the piece was commissioned last year. That would be in keeping with Case’s stated goal of diversifying images on campus, a goal spearheaded by the Office of Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunity and which includes the “Trailblazer Project” in the Kelvin Smith Library, celebrating alumni of color.

A university spokesperson declined to elaborate on what exactly students objected to in Latina’s mural. Painted in a colorful pop-art style, the mural combines diverse faces of young women with engineering material. It looks almost like a comic-book spread.

(You can see images on Cleveland. com.)

Much of Latina’s work, available on her website, is painted with similar color and flair.

But when Scene asked Case to elaborate on student objections — what were the nature of the complaints? — a spokesperson merely reiterated the comment already provided to Cleveland.com.

“The mural was commissioned specifically to celebrate women in engineering and has drawn praise from many for both its aesthetic appeal and its message. Some have objected to the representation of women and discussed their issues with staff at the university’s Flora Stone Mather Center for Women.

After learning about these concerns at the close of 2017, the department chair explored potential options to address them. Ultimately, he embraced the concept of a rotating series of murals for that space — a new one roughly every two years — with selections overseen by a student committee and including the Mather Center’s director.”

(Italics added.)

Great. Obviously. We get it. But what were the complaints? What about the representation of women was objectionable, in the students’ view? Was it a matter of aesthetic preference? Did students feel that the imagery objectified women?

Did they feel that the mural was counterproductive?

Scene reached out to Dr. Lisa Nielson, the director at the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women, where students had reportedly discussed their complaints. Nielson referred us back to CWRU media relations. She said she did know the specific nature of student complaints but was “not at liberty” to disclose them. The complaints, she said, were reported in confidence.

(We weren’t seeking student names or anything. We were honestly just trying to understand — even in a general way — why students were bothered by the imagery.)

Artist Rachel Latina, when reached by Scene, called the whole episode an “unfortunate situation.”

“No one is right or wrong here,” she said. “As CWRU is a private university, their priority is their students, and I will respect their decision, however I wish to move on and continue with my work.”

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FEATURE FEED FRENZY For years, media outlets desperately chased the clicks promised by Facebook. Now the social-media giant threatens to destroy them

By Daniel Walters Illustrations by Jeff Drew

AS WITH ANY TOXIC relationship, the possibility of a breakup sparks feelings of terror — and maybe a little bit of a relief.

That’s the spot that Facebook has put the news business in. Last month, the social media behemoth announced it would once again alter its News Feed algorithm to show users even more posts from their friends and family, and a lot fewer from media outlets.

The move isn’t all that surprising.

Ever since the 2016 election, Facebook’s been under siege for creating a habitat where fake news stories flourished. Their executives were dragged before Congress last year to testify about how they sold ads to Russians who wanted to influence the U.S. election; and so, in some ways, it’s simply easier to get out of the news business altogether.

But for the many news outlets that have come to rely on Facebook funneling readers to their sites, the impact of a separation sounds catastrophic.

“The End of the Social News Era?” a New York Times headline asked. “Facebook is breaking up with news,” an ad for the new BuzzFeed app proclaimed.

When a giant like Facebook takes a step — until recently, the social media site had been sending more traffic to news outlets than Google — the resulting quake can cause an entire industry to crumble.

Consumers, meanwhile, have grimaced as their favorite media outlets have stooped to sensational headlines to lure Facebook’s web traffic. They’ve become disillusioned by the flood of hoaxes and conspiracy theories that have run rampant on the site.

A Knight Foundation/Gallup Poll released last month revealed that only a third of Americans had a positive view of the media. About 57 percent said that websites or apps using algorithms to determine which news stories readers see was a major problem for democracy.

Two-thirds believed the media being “dramatic or too sensational in order to attract more readers or viewers” was a major problem.

Now, sites that rely on Facebook’s algorithm have watched the floor drop out from under them when the algorithm is changed — all while Facebook has gobbled up chunks of print advertising revenue.

It’s all landed media outlets in a hell of a quandary: It sure seems like Facebook is killing journalism.

But can journalism survive without it?

“Traffic is such a drug right now,” says Sean Robinson, a 53-year-old investigative reporter

at the Tacoma News Tribune. “The industry is hurting so bad that it’s really hard to detox.”

YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT It’s perhaps the perfect summation of the internet age: a website that started because a college kid wanted to rank which co-eds were hotter became a global Goliath powerful enough to influence the fate of the news

industry itself.

When Facebook first launched its “News Feed” in 2006, it ironically didn’t have anything to do with news. At least, not how we think of it. This was the website that still posted a little brokenheart icon when you changed your status from “In a Relationship” to “Single.”

The News Feed was intended to be a list of personalized updates from your friends. When Facebook was talking about “news stories,” it meant, in the words of Facebook’s | clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

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| clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

FEATURE announcement, like “when Mark adds Britney Spears to his Favorites or when your crush is single again.”

But in 2009, Facebook introduced its iconic “like” button.

Soon, instead of showing posts in chronological order, the News Feed began showing you the popular posts first.

And that made all the difference.

Facebook didn’t invent going viral — grandmas with AOL accounts were forwarding funny emails and chain letters when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was still in grade school — but its algorithm amplified it. Well-liked posts soared. Unpopular posts simply went unseen.

Google had an algorithm too. So did YouTube.

Journalists were given a new directive: If you wanted readers to see your stories, you had to play by the algorithm’s rules. Faceless, mystery formulas had replaced the stodgy newspaper editor as the gatekeeper of information.

So when the McClatchy Company — a chain that owns 31 daily papers including the Tacoma News Tribune and the Bellingham Herald — launched its reinvention strategy last year, knowing how to get Facebook traffic was central.

“Facebook has allowed us to get our journalism out to hundreds of millions more people than it would have otherwise,” says McClatchy’s vice president of news Tim Grieve, a fast-talking former Politico editor.

“It has forced us, and all publishers, to sharpen our game to make sure we’re writing stories that connect with people.”

With digital ad rates tied to web traffic, the incentives in the modern media landscape could be especially perverse: Write short, write lots.

Pluck heartstrings or stoke fury.

In short, be more like Upworthy.

A site filled with multi-sentence emotion-baiting headlines, Upworthy begged you to click by promising that you would be shocked, outraged or inspired — but not telling you why. (One example: “His first 4 sentences are interesting. The 5th blew my mind. And made me a little sick.”)

By November of 2013, Upworthy was pulling in 88 million unique visitors a month. With Facebook’s help, the formula spread.

The McClatchy-owned Bellingham Herald headlined a short crime story about the arrest of a carjacker this

way: “Four people, two cars, one gun. What happens next?”

A short Herald story asking for tips about a recent spree of indecent exposure was headlined, “She was looking at her phone, but the man wanted her to watch him masturbate.”

Even magazines like Time and Newsweek — storied publications that sent photojournalists to war zones — began pumping out articles like, “Does Reese Witherspoon Have 3 Legs on Vanity Fair’s Cover?” and “Trump’s Hair Loss Drug Causes Erectile Dysfunction.”

Newsweek ’s publisher went beyond clickbait: The magazine was actually buying traffic through pirated video sites, allegedly engaging in ad fraud.

On a recent Monday, Newsweek senior writer Matthew Cooper resigned in disgust after several Newsweek editors and reporters who’d written about the publisher’s series of scandals were fired. He heaped contempt on an organization that had installed editors who “recklessly sought clicks at the expense of accuracy, retweets over fairness” and left him “despondent not only for Newsweek but for the other publications that don’t heed the lessons of this publication’s fall.”

Mathew Ingram, who covers digital media for Columbia Journalism Review, says such tactics might increase traffic for a while.

But readers hate it. Sleazy tabloid shortcuts give you a sleazy tabloid reputation.

“Short term, you can make a certain amount of money,” Ingram says. “Long term, you’re basically setting fire to your brand.”

One strategy throughout the industry is to downplay the location of a story: Readers in other markets are more likely to click if they don’t know it happened thousands of miles away.

Robinson, the veteran Tacoma News Tribune reporter, says local cops have complained about crime stories from elsewhere that were being shared on Facebook by local TV stations without context — worrying local readers were being misled into thinking they happened in Tacoma.

Grieve, the McClatchy executive, says that he doesn’t ever want to sensationalize a story. But he also says that “internet and social media are noisy places,” and papers have to sell their stories aggressively to be heard over the din.

“If you’re writing stories that aren’t getting read,” Grieve says, “you’re not a journalist — you’re keeping a journal.”

Clickbait and switch Plenty of media outlets have tried to build their business on the foundation of the News Feed algorithm. But they quickly got a nasty surprise: That foundation can collapse in an instant.

As Facebook’s News Feed became choked with links to Upworthy and its horde of imitators, the social network declared war on clickbait. It tweaked its algorithms, which proved catastrophic for Upworthy.

“It keeps changing,” Ingram says.

“Even if the algorithm was bad in some way, at least if it’s predictable, you could adapt.”

A 2014 Time magazine story estimated that two to three global algorithm tweaks on Facebook were happening every week.

Six years ago, for example, KHQ, a TV news station in Spokane, Washington, told readers they’d have “an ENTIRE day here on FB dedicated to positive local news” if the post got liked 500 times. It worked. The post got more than 1,200 likes, and KHQ followed through a with a puppy-pictureladen “Feel Good Friday!!!”

Under the current Facebook algorithm that tactic could get

their entire page demoted. So could using shameless “you-won’t-believewhat-happened-next” style phrases.

Much of the time, Facebook and Google don’t announce their shifts up front. Media outlets often have had to reverse-engineer the changes, before issuing new commands to their troops in the field.

“Oh, they changed their algorithm again?” Robinson says.

“Oh, what is it today, coach? Okay, it’s 50-word [headlines] instead of 60?”

A pattern emerged. Step 1: Media outlets reinvent themselves for Facebook. Step 2: Facebook makes that reinvention obsolete.

Big publishers leaped at the chance to publish “Instant Articles” directly on Facebook, only to find that the algorithm soon charged, rewarding videos more than posts and rendering Instant Articles largely obsolete. So publishers like Mic.com, Mashable and Vice News “pivoted to video,” laying off dozens of journalists in the process.

“Then Facebook said they weren’t as interested in video anymore,” Ingram says. “Classic bait and switch.”

Which brings us to the latest string of announcements: The News Feed, Zuckerberg announced last

month, had skewed too far in the direction of social video posts from national media pages and too far away from personal posts from friends and family.

They were getting back to their roots.

And now, news organizations who’d dumped a lot of money into eye-catching pre-recorded video would suffer the most under the latest algorithm changes, Facebook’s News Feed VP Adam Mosseri told TechCrunch last month, because “video is such a passive experience.”

Even before the announcement, news sites had seen their articles get fewer and fewer hits from Facebook.

Last year, Google once again became the biggest referrer of news traffic as Facebook referrals decreased. Many sites published tutorials pleading with their readers to manually change their Facebook settings to guarantee the site’s appearance in their news feeds.

“Some media outlets saw their [Facebook] traffic decline by as much as 30 to 40 percent,” Ingram says. “Everybody knew something was happening, but we didn’t know what.”

It might be easy to mock those who chased the algorithm from one trend to another with little to show

for it. But the reality, Ingram says, is that many of them didn’t really have a choice.

“You pretty much have to do something with Facebook,” Ingram says. “You have to. It’s like gravity.

You can’t avoid it.”

Zuckerberg’s comments that stories that sparked “meaningful social interactions” would do the best on Facebook caused some to scoff.

“For Facebook, it’s bad if you read or watch content without reacting to it on Facebook. Let that sink in for a moment,” tech journalist Joshua Topolsky wrote at The Outline.

“This notion is so corrupt it’s almost comical.”

In subsequent announcements, Facebook gave nervous local news outlets some better news: They’d rank local community news outlets higher in the feed than national ones. They were also launching an experiment for a new section called “Today In,” focusing on local news and announcements, beta-testing the concept in cities like Olympia.

But in early tests, the site seemed to have trouble determining what’s local.

Seattle Times’ reporter Joe O’Sullivan noted on Twitter that of the five stories featured in a screenshot of Facebook’s Olympia

A frightening history repeats itself…

Decades ago, the Torso Murderer brutally killed 12 victims and then vanished, eluding even the legendary Eliot Ness. What if he returned to modern-day Cleveland to commit one final act of vengeance?

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| clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

17

FEATURE test, “NONE OF THEM ARE OLYMPIA STORIES. ZERO.” The Seattle Times and other outlets say they’re taking a “waitand-see” approach to the latest algorithm, analyzing how the impact shakes out before making changes.

They’ve learned to not get excited.

“It just, more and more, seems like Facebook and news are not super compatible,” says Shan Wang, staff writer at Harvard University’s Nieman Journalism Lab. At least not for real news. For fake news, Facebook’s been a perfect match.

Faking it There was a time Facebook was positively smug about their impact on the world. After all, they’d seen their platform fan the flames of popular uprisings during the Arab Spring in places like Tunisia, Iran and Egypt.

“By giving people the power to share, we are starting to see people make their voices heard on a different scale from what has historically been possible,” Zuckerberg bragged in a 2012 letter to investors under the header, “we hope to change how people relate to their governments and social institutions.”

And Facebook certainly has — though not the way it intended.

A BuzzFeed investigation before the 2016 presidential election found that “fake news” stories on Facebook, hoaxes or hyperpartisan falsehoods actually performed better than stories from major trusted outlets like The New York Times.

That, experts speculated, is another reason why Facebook, despite its massive profits, might be pulling back from its focus on news.

“As unprecedented numbers of people channel their political energy through this medium, it’s being used in unforeseen ways with societal repercussions that were never anticipated,” writes Samidh Chakrabarti, Facebook’s product manager for civic engagement, in a recent blog post.

The exposure was widespread.

A Dartmouth study found about a fourth of Americans visited at least one fake-news website — and Facebook was the primary vector of misinformation. While researchers didn’t find fake news swung the election — though about 80,000 votes in three states is a pretty

18

small margin to swing — the effect has endured.

Donald Trump has played a role.

He snatched away the term used to describe hoax websites and wielded it as a blunderbuss against the press, blasting away at any negative reporting as “fake news.”

By last May, a Harvard-Harris Poll found that almost two-thirds of voters believed that mainstream news outlets were full of fake news stories.

The danger of fake news, after all, wasn’t just that we’d be tricked with bogus claims. It was that we’d be pummeled with so many different contradictory stories, with so many different angles, the task of trying to sort truth from fiction just becomes exhausting.

So you choose your own truth. Or Facebook’s algorithm chooses it for you.

Every time you like a comment, chat or click on Facebook, the site uses that to figure out what you actually want to see: It inflates your

| clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

own bubble, protecting you from facts or opinions you might disagree with.

And when it does expose you to views from the other side, it’s most likely going to be the worst examples, the trolls eager to make people mad online, or the infuriating op-ed that all your friends are sharing.

That’s partly why many of the 3,000 Facebook ads that Russian trolls bought to influence the election weren’t aimed at promoting Trump directly. They were aimed at inflaming division in American life by focusing on such issues as race and religion.

Facebook has tried to address the fake news problem — hiring fact checkers to examine stories, slapping “disputed” tags on suspect claims, putting counterpoints in related article boxes — but with mixed results.

The recent Knight Foundation/ Gallup Poll, meanwhile, found that those surveyed believed that

the broader array of news sources actually made it harder to stay wellinformed.

And those who grew up soaking in the brine of social media aren’t necessarily better at sorting truth from fiction. Far from it.

“Overall, young people’s ability to reason about the information on the internet can be summed up in one word: bleak,” Stanford researchers concluded in a 2016 study of over 7,800 students. More than 80 percent of middle schoolers surveyed didn’t know the difference between sponsored content and a news article.

It’s why like groups like Media Literacy Now have successfully pushed legislatures in states like Washington to put media literacy programs in schools.

That includes teaching students how information was being manipulated behind the scenes, says the organization’s president Erin McNeill.

“With Facebook, for example,

why am I seeing this story on the top of the page?” she asks. “Is it because it’s the most important story, or is it because of another reason?”

But Facebook’s new algorithm threatens to make existing fake news problems even worse, Ingram says. By focusing on friends and family, it could strengthen the filter bubble even further. Rewarding “engagement” can just as easily incentivize the worst aspects of the internet.

You know what’s really good at getting engagement? Hoaxes.

Conspiracy theories. Idiots who start fights in comments sections.

Nuance doesn’t get engagement.

Outrage does.

“Meaningful social interactions” is a hard concept for algorithms to grasp.

“It’s like getting algorithms to filter out porn,” Ingram says.

“You and I know it when we see it.

[But] algorithms are constantly filtering out photos of women breastfeeding.”

Facebook hasn’t wanted to push beyond the algorithm and play the censor. In fact, it’s gone in the opposite direction. After Facebook was accused of suppressing conservative news sites in its Trending Topics section in 2016, it fired its human editors. (Today, conspiracy theories continue to show up in Facebook’s Trending Topics.)

Instead, to determine the quality of news sites, Facebook is rolling out a two-question survey about whether users recognized certain media outlets, and whether they found them trustworthy. The problem, as many tech writers pointed out, is that a lot of Facebook users, like Trump, consider the Washington Post and The New York Times to be “fake news.”

The other problem? There are a lot fewer trustworthy news sources out there. And Facebook bears some of the blame for that, too.

Feast and famine It’s not fair, exactly, to say that Facebook killed the alt-weekly in Knoxville, Tennessee. But it probably landed the final blow.

The internet, obviously, has been killing newspapers for a very long time. Why, say, would you pay a monthly subscription to the Daily Cow, when you can get the milk online for free?

It killed other revenue sources as well. Craigslist cut out classified sections. Online dating killed personal ads. Amazon put many

local mom-and-pop advertisers out of business.

Yet the Metro Pulse, Knoxville’s longtime alt-weekly, was still turning a slight profit in 2014 when the E.W. Scripps Company shut it down. So editor Coury Turczyn and a few other staffers set out to start their own paper.

But in the six months it took to get the Knoxville Mercury off the ground, the market had changed.

“We lost a lot more smallbusiness advertisers than we expected,” Turczyn says. Facebook had captured them.

At one time, alt-weeklies could rake in advertising money by selling cheaper rates and guaranteeing advertisers to hit a younger, hipper, edgier audience.

But then Facebook came along.

The site let businesses micro-target their advertisements at incredibly specific audiences.

Like Google, Facebook tracks you across the web, digging deep into your private messages to figure out whether to sell you wedding dresses, running shoes or baby formula.

“You go to Facebook, you can try to pick your audience based on their geographic location, their interests,” Turczyn says. It’s cheaper. It’s easier. And it comes with a report chock-full of stats on who the ad reached.

“Even if it doesn’t result in any sales and foot traffic, it at least has this report,” Turczyn says.

Mercury ad reps would cite examples of businesses who advertised in print and saw their foot traffic double the next day — but the small businesses wouldn’t bite.

Attempts to rally reader donations weren’t enough. The Mercury shut down in July.

“It’s just more of the same sad story,” Turczyn says. “It’s a slaughter, there’s no doubt about it.”

Turczyn says two decades of journalism experience hasn’t helped much with the job search.

Journalists aren’t what outlets are looking for.

“The single biggest job opening I see consistently is social media manager. Or ‘digital brand manager,’” Turczyn says. “Those are the jobs on the marketplace right now.’

It’s not that nobody’s making massive amounts of money on advertising online. It’s just that only two are — Facebook and Google — and they’re both destroying print advertising.

The decline in print advertising has ravaged the world of altweeklies, killing icons like the

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Boston Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, the Philadelphia City Paper and the Baltimore City Paper.

Dailies keep suffering too, no matter how prestigious or internetsavvy.

The West Virginia Gazette-Mail won a Pulitzer Prize last year for reporting on the opioid crisis. It filed for bankruptcy last month.

Eleven staffers were cut from the Oregonian on Jan. 31, the same day Silicon Valley’s San Jose Mercury News slashed staff.

McClatchy’s made a lot of cuts in the last year, too, though Grieve declined to say exactly how many positions have been eliminated. He, for one, doesn’t blame Facebook.

“Our newsrooms are smaller than they once were, but because we’re so focused on serving the needs of our communities, we’re actually reaching more readers than we ever have before,” Grieve writes in an email.

Yet the convergence of layoffs with the pressure to get web traffic, Robinson says, has influenced coverage. When potential traffic numbers are an explicit factor in story selection and you’re shortstaffed, you have to make choices.

Stories about schools don’t get many

clicks. Weird crime stories do.

But as a long-time reporter, Robinson knows that bombshell scoops can sometimes begin with mundane reporting. Fail to report on the dull stuff, and you don’t know what else you’re missing.

“The media companies want the traffic, the traffic, the traffic,” Robinson says. “The stuff [readers] need to know — but don’t know they need to know — disappears.”

Asked if there’s any reason for optimism, Ingram, at the Columbia Journalism Review, lets out a wry laugh.

If you’re not a behemoth like BuzzFeed, he says, your best bet is to be small enough to be supported by die-hard readers.

“If you’re really, really hyperfocused — geographically or on a topic — then you have a chance,” Ingram says. “Your readership will

be passionate enough to support you in some way.”

That’s one reason some actually welcome the prospect of less Facebook traffic. Slate’s Will Oremus recently wrote that less news on Facebook would eventually cleanse news of “the toxic incentives of the algorithm on journalism.”

Maybe, the thinking goes, without a reliance on Facebook clicks, newspapers would once again be able to build trust with their readers.

Maybe, the hope goes, readers would start seeking out newspapers directly again.

But even if Facebook suddenly ceased to exist, there are other sites with other algorithms that can drive traffic and shape coverage. As traffic referred by Facebook falls, the focus at McClatchy is already shifting. You can optimize your news coverage to appear high in the Facebook News Feed — but you can also optimize it to appear higher in the Google search results.

“We’re all about Google, again,” Robinson says. “Google, Google, Google.”

A version of this article first appeared in The Inlander.

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

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| clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

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| clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

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THE 5th L ANNUA

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FRIDAY FEBRUARY 23, 2018 101 Bottles Of Beer On The Wall 115 N. Willow St. 8:30-10:30p Bethany Joy and BC Hudson

Laziza 195 E. Erie St. 6-9p Sean Benjamin

157 Lounge 157 S. Water St. 8-10p Raw Sugar

The Loft 112 W. Main St. 8p-12a Beatles Karaoke w/ DJ Man Entertainers

Belleria Pizza 135 E. Erie St. #202 8-10p Nick Wilkinson

McKay Bricker Gallery & Framing 141 E. Main St. 6:30-8p The Kathy Johnson Trio

Bricco 210 S. Depeyster St. 7-9:30p Peggy Coyle

Popped!

175 E. Erie St. #201 6-8p Strums & Drums

Buffalo Wild Wings 176 E. Main St. 6:30-9:30p The Jillettes

Ray's Place 135 Franklin Ave. 9:30p-12:30a Gaetano Letizia & The Underworld

Dave's Cosmic Subs 215 S. Water St. 5-7p Gretchen Pluess Dominick's Pub 147 Franklin Ave. 8p-12a Abbey Road Franklin Hotel Bar 176 E. Main St. 7-10p Opus 216 Kent Cheesemonger 155 E. Erie Ave. #201 5-6p & 6:30-7:30p Behind the Music of the Beatles Presentation with Rick Iacoboni Last Exit Books and Cafe 124 E. Main St. 2-4p Emily Anne and Maddie Indre 8-10p Dale Galgozy

Tree City Coffee & Pastry 135 E. Erie St. 5:30-7:30p Babies In Black 8-10p Ray Flanagan & The Cranfords Treno Ristorante 152 Franklin Ave. 6-9p Tucker & Davis Venice Cafe 163 W. Erie St. 7-9p Doug Smith 9:30p-12:30a Colin Dussault's Beatles Project Water Street Tavern 132 S. Water St. 6:30-9p Up'Til 4 9:30p-12a Ritch Underwood's Monopoly Zephyr Pub 106 W. Main St. 8-11p Revolution Pie

Wednesday

Darts and $1 Sliders Thursday

STAND-UP COMEDY OPEN MIC Hosted by

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Upcoming Events: 02/24 Comedy Show with Bill Squire from Alan Cox, hosted by Gary Graham; $10, Doors 7:00pm, Show 8:00pm

03/03 Come see the band

Sunset Harmony at 8 pm (Free show)

Friday

AYCE Fish Fry

03/10 Come see the band

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| clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

GET OUT everything you should do this week Photo: Emanuel Wallace

WED

02/21

SPOKEN WORD

Cleveland Stories Dinner Parties Cleveland Stories Dinner Party is a weekly series that pairs fi ne food with storytelling. Through it, the folks at Music Box Supper Club hope to raise awareness of the mission of the Western Reserve Historical Society’s new Cleveland History Center. The goal of the Cleveland Stories Dinner Party is to “bring to life some of the fun, interesting stories about Cleveland’s past — from sports, to rock ’n’ roll, to Millionaires’ Row,” as it’s put in a press release. Admission is free, with no cover charge, although a prix fi xe dinner, designed to complement the night’s theme, is $20. Doors open at 5 p.m., dinner is served at 6, and the storytelling starts at 7. Tonight, local author Robert Sberna and local fi lmmaker Laura Paglin team up to talk about Cleveland’s infamous serial killer Anthony Sowell. Sberna has written about the man, and Paglin recently made a documentary about him.

(Jeff Niesel) 1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com.

weekday from 3 to 7 p.m. Tonight, the brewers visit the tasting room from 5 to 7 p.m. While they don’t fi ll growlers, you can drink bottles on site or take ’em to go. The place also offers a “Hoppin’ Frog Rare & Vintage” list as well as a guest bottle list. And you can order from a limited food menu too. (Niesel) 1680-F Waterloo Rd., Akron, 234-525-3764, hoppinfrog.com/tasting-room.

COMEDY

THEATER

Chad Daniels Babyfaced comic Chad Daniels likes to joke about how immature he was as a kid — and how immature he continues to be as an adult! He says that when his son became a teenager, his wife asked him what to do. He says he told her that they need to knock on their kid’s door because “teenage boys are the most disgusting creatures on the planet.”

That’s just one of many bits that he’s come up with based on personal experience. He performs tonight at 8 at Hilarities, where he has shows scheduled through Saturday.

Tickets are $18 to $28. (Niesel) 2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com.

The Invisible Hand Tonight at 7:30 at the Outcalt Theatre, the Cleveland Play House presents The Invisible Hand , a play about an American investment banker who’s held hostage in Pakistan by Islamic revolutionaries.

The play’s author, Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar, exposes the “treacherous intersection of terrorism and capitalism, where greed and deceit prevail and no one escapes without blood on their hands.” Performances continue through March 11, and tickets prices run $25 to $105. (Niesel) 1407 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

House of Blues hosts its annual Local Brews Local Grooves. See: Saturday.

THEATER DRINK

Hoppin’ Frog Hoppy Hour Much like the Fat Head’s tasting room in Middleburg Heights, the Hoppin’ Frog tasting room in Akron is in a nondescript strip of storage facilities and warehouses.

But step inside and you’ll fi nd a cozy space with a huge array of the brewery’s wonderful libations. The place features “hoppy hour” every

Misery Based on a Stephen King novel about a woman who rescues a famous novelist from a car crash and then proceeds to persecute him when she fi nds out that he killed off one of her favorite characters, Misery continues its run at the Hanna Theatre tonight. Great Lakes Theater puts on this production of William Goldman’s adaptation

of the novel. Today’s performance takes place at 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 to $80. (Niesel) 2067 East 14th St., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

on Playhouse Square. Tickets are $29.50 to $49.50. (Niesel) 1501 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

THEATER

SPORTS

Monsters vs. Stockton Heat The Monsters haven’t played well this season and they’ll have a tough opponent in the Stockton Heat, a team that boasts a winning record and has a shot at the playoffs.

The Monsters and Heat go at it tonight at 7. It’s College ID Night, so students with a valid ID can buy tickets for $6 and receive a $6 college meal that includes a hot dog, chips and a soda. The two teams play again at 7 p.m. on Friday.

That evening, a special 1-2-3 Friday concession deal includes $1 Pepsi products, $2 Sugardale hot dogs and $3 beers. Tickets to both games start at $10. (Niesel) 1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, theqarena.com.

THEATER

Musical Thrones: A Parody of Ice and Fire Composed by Jon and Al Kaplan — the same jokesters who delivered Silence! The Musical — the bloodthirsty Musical Thrones: A Parody of Ice and Fire takes aim at the popular HBO series Game of Thrones. Imagine: your favorite scenes of violence, sex and power struggles, all punctuated by singing, dancing and a bunch of jokes! (Dancing with dragons, perhaps? You bet!) Performances take place tonight and tomorrow night at 8 at the Ohio Theatre

The Price is Right Live America’s favorite game show comes to the State Theatre tonight, complete with a chance to “come on down” and win valuable prizes, including appliances, cars and fancy vacations!

An interactive stage experience, The Price is Right Live brings with it the show’s classic games, including Plinko, Cliffhangers and the Big Wheel. Wanna be a contestant? Call or visit the box office for the complete rules and regulations. It all goes down at 7:30. Tickets start at $35. (Niesel) 1519 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

FILM

Rock Hall Film Series: Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap In celebration of Black History Month, the Rock Hall will screen the 2012 film, Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap, tonight in the Foster Theater. Directed and produced by rapper Ice-T, the film includes interviews with many of rap’s most influential stars. Tickets are free for Rock Hall members and $5.50 for the general public. (Niesel) 1100 Rock and Roll Blvd., 216-515-8444, rockhall.com.

THU

02/22

SPORTS

Cavaliers vs. Washington Wizards Even without terrific guard John | clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

23

THEATER

GET OUT Wall, who recently had knee surgery and is on the DL, the Washington Wizards are one of the Eastern Conference’s better teams.

The playoff-caliber team should give the new-look Cavs a good challenge when the two teams face off tonight at 8 at the Q. Tickets start at $22.

(Niesel) 1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, theqarena.com.

Flanagan’s Wake No one knows grief and mourning like a Catholic, let alone an Irish Catholic. Now in its eighth year in Cleveland, Flanagan’s Wake transports the audience to an Irish wake where villagers tell tales and sing songs for their dearly departed Flanagan. Finding the humor in life and death, the wake acts as

28. Tickets are $26. (Patrick Stoops) 1501 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

FOOD

Lenten Fish Fry From now until the end of March, Prosperity Social Club hosts its Lenten Fish Fry every Friday from 11 a.m. to midnight. The special Lenten menu includes

THEATER

Black History Month

COMEDY

Jordan Rock The younger brother of comedian Chris Rock, Jordan Rock likes to joke about how much he enjoys being part of Generation Y. “I tell jokes and smoke weed; that’s me,” he says in one bit. “That’s all I do. If I make $40 this week, I’m balling.”

Rock performs tonight at 7:30 at the Improv, where he has shows scheduled through Sunday. Tickets are $17 to $20. (Niesel) 1148 Main Ave., 216-696-IMPROV, clevelandimprov.com.

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MUSIC

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Thibaudet Plays Ravel Matthias Pinscher, who led the Cleveland Orchestra in February of last year and is a former Daniel R. Lewis Young Composer Fellow, will conduct the orchestra tonight as it presents a program of Ravel. Special guest pianist Jean Yves Thibaudet is featured in a performance of Ravel’s piano concert that was written for the left hand only. Performances take place at 7:30 tonight and at 8 tomorrow and Saturday night. Consult the website for ticket prices. (Niesel) 11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.

FRI

Django With Django, director Etienne Comar creates a compelling portrait of the influential “hot jazz” Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt. The handsomely made fi lm, which opened last year’s Berlin Film Festival, dramatizes Reinhardt’s evasion of the Nazis in Paris during World War II. As you might guess, the score is pretty remarkable too.

The movie screens at 6:45 tonight at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Tickets are $10, or $7 for CMA members. (Niesel) 11150 East Blvd., 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org.

24

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rockhall.com/onstage to purchase tickets or RSVP.

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02/23

FILM

POC, now brewed by Double Wing Brewing Company which recently resurrected the storied brand and recreated a version of its clean, crisp European-style pils that should pair well with the fi sh.

(Niesel) 1109 Starkweather Ave., 216-937-1938, prosperitysocialclub.com.

It pays to be from the home of rock & roll.

Northeast Ohio residents can go online and purchase general admission tickets for just $19.00! (reg. $26.00) 1100 Rock and Roll Boulevard, Cleveland, OH 44114 | rockhall.com | 216.781.ROCK

a dark backdrop to an otherwise hilarious show in which alcohol fuels the humorous reminiscing.

Sort of like a grim Tony ’n’ Tina’s Wedding, the interactive and improvised show engages the entire audience as the guests are treated as the friends and family of the deceased. Tonight’s show starts at 8 and repeats tomorrow night at 8 at Kennedy’s Theatre. Performances continue weekends through April

| clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

the Big Fish Fry, a seasonal staple that features a generous portion of haddock in a fluffy beer batter blanket, complemented by homemade coleslaw, house tartar sauce and old-school-style mac and cheese. Prosperity received national attention when the homecooked Big Fish Fry was featured on TV chef Andrew Zimmern’s Delicious Destinations. To drink, this year’s featured beer will be

NPR Politics Podcast Live According to industry watcher Podtrac, the NPR Politics Podcast is the most downloaded political podcast in the country. Named as one of the best podcasts of 2016

by Vulture, the podcast wound up in Esquire and The Atlantic’s roundups of “must-listens” and “reliable news sources” during the 2016 election. Tonight’s live show takes place at 7:30 at the Ohio Theatre, and will feature the expected blend of jokes, news analysis and “all things politics.”

Tickets are $30 to $45. (Niesel) 1501 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

SAT

02/24

MUSIC + DRINK

Local Brews Local Grooves This year’s installment of Local Brews Local Grooves, an annual event that pairs local blues and rock acts with craft breweries, takes place today at 6 p.m. at House of Blues. Local artists such as the Vindys, Whiskey Bound, the Ohio Weather Band, Chris Allen, Diana Chittester and Tom Evanchuck will perform. Breweries including Jackie O’s, Lager Heads Brewing Company, Willoughby Brewing Company, Masthead Brewing Co. and Revolution Brewing will be on hand. Additionally, there will be wine samples from two local wineries and food stations located throughout the venue. Ticket prices range from $20 to $50. (Niesel) 308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-2583, houseofblues.com.

FILM

Program Four: Continuum The Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque celebrates the 50th anniversary of the San Franciscobased Canyon Cinema with tonight’s program, Continuum, named after Dominic Angerame’s silent, blackand-white city portrait from 1987.

Tonight’s selection of fi lms also includes Bay Area fi lmmaker Karen Holmes’ late 1970s landscape and performance fi lm and Los Angeles’ effects artist and fi lmmaker

Pat O’Neill’s 1973 short, Down Wind. Tickets are $11, or $8 for Cinematheque members and students. (Niesel) 11610 Euclid Ave., 216-421-7450, cia.edu.

SUN

02/25

SPORTS

Cavaliers vs. San Antonio Spurs Even without its best player, Kawhi Leonard, for most of the season, the San Antonio Spurs have still competed well in the tough Western Conference. They beat the Cavs earlier this season in a tight game, so you can expect today’s matchup at the Q will also be a close one.

Tipoff is at 3:30 p.m., and tickets start at $67. (Niesel) 1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, theqarena.com.

COMEDY

Cleveland Improv Jam The Angry Ladies of Improv has hosted the Cleveland Improv Jam for almost seven years now. A few years back, Scene described the show as “fierce, formidable and very funny.” The women have some serious experience too. Katie White-Sonby is an actress who’s performed at Clague Playhouse, Karamu and Kennedy’s Cabaret.

Marjorie Preston is an alumna of Something Dada and Rockwell 9 improvisational comedy troupes.

The event begins with a short-form set of improv games, followed by a long-form improv set. It begins at 5 p.m. at Coffee Phix. Arrive early if you want to sign up and perform.

Admission is free. (Niesel) 4485 Mayfield Rd., South Euclid, 216-381-5706, coffeephixcafe.com.

MUSIC

Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra Winter Concert Vinay Parameswaran conducts the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra in a winter concert that includes compositions by Sibelius, Hanson and Dvorak. The night begins with a free concert prelude at 7, with both the Youth Orchestra and the Youth Chorus, performing select chamber music pieces.

That performance takes place in Reinberger Chamber Hall. The main concert follows in Severance Hall.

Consult the website for ticket prices.

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

COMEDY

Jim Tews A former Clevelander, comedian and

writer Jim Tews, the man behind The New York Times’ best-selling Felines of New York , is a rising star in the comedy world. He made his standup television debut on Last Comic Standing and has been featured in an episode of Louie.

He was one of 2011’s “New Faces” at Just For Laughs Montreal and has performed in the Bridgetown Comedy Festival and the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival, as well as at SF Sketchfest. Tews also recently created, co-wrote and starred in The Undone Sweaters web series about “a sociophobic Weezer cover band.”

Funny or Die and Nerdist.com posted the series. As if that weren’t enough for his resume, the prolific Tews also created the HBO Labs’ web series The Opener and recently directed Make Fun, a feature-length documentary about Cleveland’s independent comedy scene. Tews performs tonight at 7 at Hilarities.

Tickets are $13 to $18. (Niesel) 2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com.

Coming Attractions Seven seasons!

Five actors!

One Dragon!

MUSICAL THRONES A Parody of ICE and FIRE

February 21 & 22

THE MUSICAL BOX Genesis’ Selling England by the Pound

March 1

FILM

Tokyo Story As part of its tribute to Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, the Cleveland Museum of Art screens his most famous film, Tokyo Story, at 1:30 p.m. today and at 1:45 p.m. on Tuesday. The film follows an elderly husband and wife who visit their children in Tokyo and become distraught when they realize they’ve become a burden. Tickets are $10, or $7 for CMA members.

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

STEVE WINWOOD Greatest Hits Live Tour

March 6

BREAKING NEWS...

RAIN Celebrating 50 Years of Sgt. Pepper!

March 10 BURLESQUE

Toxic Burlesque Over the past few years, the folks at the local burlesque promotion company Toxic Burlesque have thrown a number of events at Brothers Lounge. According to promoter Frank Ian, who runs the company with his wife, there’s been a “packed house every time.”

For tonight’s show, they’ve booked Carmen M’Knoxide, the Team Toxic gals, Fever Blister and Kay Cee Sunshine. The show begins at 7 p.m. and tickets are $15. (Niesel) 11609 Detroit Ave., 216-226-2767, brotherslounge.com.

MON

02/26

NIGHTLIFE

Monday Night Trivia Do you have tons of obscure music knowledge? Are you a student of fast food menus and their nuanced

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25

OPERA THEATER

HANSEL &GRETEL

Wednesday, February 28 – Friday, March 2 7:30pm | Kulas Hall

Saturday, March 3 3pm | Kulas Hall NNN New NNN matinee performance!

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW! $20 adults | $10 students | $15 seniors and groups of 10+ 216.795.3211 or cim.edu

GET OUT histories? What say you about the geographic evolution of Scotch whisky? Tonight’s your chance to wow your friends, make yourself instantly more desirable to someone you’re newly dating, and hang with Cleveland’s headiest hipsters and hot-dog lovers. It’s the Happy Dog Monday Night Trivia. Starting at 8 p.m., expect themed rounds and general knowledge questions that seem considerably trickier than some of the other live trivia locales in town. Obviously, have a hot dog and a craft brew while you’re at it.

And arrive early: Seats fi ll up fast.

(Sam Allard) 5801 Detroit Ave., 216-651-9474, happydogcleveland.com.

FILM

BRING HOME THE VIBRANT TALE OF FAMILY, FUN AND ADVENTURE

Visit tinyurl.com/ COCOScene and submit your information for the chance to win a Digital HD copy!.

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| clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

Movie Mondays Every Monday, Cleveland Cinemas hosts $5 Movie Mondays, where fi lm fans can catch up on the latest Hollywood fl icks for significantly reduced prices. Many theaters even offer discounted concession stand items. Participating theaters include Apollo Theatre, Capitol Theatre, Cedar Lee Theatre, Chagrin Cinemas, Shaker Square Cinemas and Tower City Cinemas.

Unfortunately, additional charges apply for 3-D movies. (Alaina Nutile) clevelandcinemas.com.

NIGHTLIFE

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 that allows patrons to choose from “an unlimited selection of jams from hip-hop to hard rock.”

Participants are encouraged to “be as bad as you want.” Fueled by drink and shot specials, it all goes down tonight at 9 p.m. (Niesel) 2785 Euclid Hts. Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-932-1966, bsideliquorlounge.com.

FOOD

Wing Ding Doodle Blues icon Howlin’ Wolf famously covered “Wang Dang Doodle,” the old blues tune penned by Willie Dixon. Prosperity Social Club in Tremont has adopted that slogan, calling its wing night Wing Ding Doodle. The weekly event features specials on Buffalo wings and cold brews. Prosperity will not only serve up substantial, $1 whole wings, but it’ll also be offering meatless Monday “wing” baskets

for vegans. Discounted drafts and a playlist of vintage-electric blues and soulful R&Bwill be on tap as well.

Wing Ding Doodle takes place every Monday from 6 p.m. to midnight.

(Niesel) 1109 Starkweather Ave., 216-937-1938, prosperitysocialclub.com.

TUE

02/27

SPORTS

Cavaliers vs Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets continue to struggle, so the Cavaliers should get a breather when the two teams meet tonight at 7 at the Q. The Nets continue rebuilding around a group of young players that includes Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and D’Angelo Russell, but they have yet to reach the .500 mark. Tickets start at $20. (Niesel) 1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, theqarena.com.

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.

MUSIC

Vinyl Night Jukebox owner Alex Budin has described his music-focused bar in Hingetown as “a place where people can expect to hear and learn about music of multiple genres, all of which is concentrated in a constantly evolving jukebox.”

The club hosts a vinyl night every Tuesday that serves as a listening party for new releases, partnering with Loop in Tremont, so patrons can hear a new album on vinyl.

You can bring your own vinyl and spin it too. Tonight, the Jukebox pays tribute to Miles Davis’ album Bitches Brew. Dogfi sh Head will be hand to serve up special concoctions, including Wood Aged Bitches Brew Stout and Lupa Luau Toasted Coconut IPA. It all starts at 7 p.m. (Niesel) 1404 West 29th St., 216-206-7699, jukeboxcle.com.

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

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27

STAGE AN ODD MIX OF HORROR AND LAUGHS The tone of Misery at Great Lakes Theater is a mystery

By Christine Howey SOME YEARS AGO, I REFERRED to Andrew May’s performance in the Great Lakes Theater production of Love’s Labours Lost as a “walking orgasm.” He invested his character Armado with such squirmy physical sexuality that you couldn’t take your eyes off him, and he was hilarious.

So it’s wonderful news that May, who has pursued other acting opportunities in the ensuing years, is back on the GLT stage a dozen years later. Unfortunately this irrepressibly physical actor has been confi ned to a bed where he lies virtually motionless. He plays the battered novelist Paul Sheldon in this rendition of Misery, a script written by William Goldman based on the novel by Stephen King, which was then turned into a movie.

Sheldon wakes up in the guest bedroom of the reclusive Annie Wilkes, after she found his car crashed in a snowy ditch near her isolated ramshackle cottage in the woods. Once she recognized the badly injured driver as her favorite author, she dragged him back to her house where, as a former nurse, she can help him heal. And where she can keep him captive to her primary whim, which is forcing Paul to write, against his will, another of his formulaic Misery Chastain novels she loves so much.

This is the second time in consecutive years that the good folks at GLT have tried to turn a fi lm thriller into a stage play, and let us hope they’ve gotten that urge out of their system. Last year’s Wait Until Dark turned out to be a very long and futile wait, in the dark, for a thrill to appear. And in this production, it’s not entirely clear whether director Charles Fee wants us to be scared or amused.

Right from the start, Kathleen Pirkl Tague as Annie spills the beans on the suspense by intoning her signature “I am your No. 1 fan” line with such doom-layered melodrama that it’s almost laughable. (Fun idea: If you’re sitting at the bar at the rear of the audience, which has a fi ne view of the stage, line up some shots and slug one every time Annie says,

28

Photo by Roger Mastroianni

“I’m your No. 1 fan.” You’ll be on the floor soon.) Adding to the hunch that this is a just-for-laughs hoot are May’s droll line readings, a shooting that is more farcical than horrific, and Annie’s fi nal Grand Guignol appearance complete with maniacal laughter.

On the other hand, for much of the play it seems we’re to take all of this seriously. But to have that work, the tension must be taut.

Instead, this version of Misery feels like a 107-minute movie dropped into more than two-and-a-half

a corner. As a result, there is a lot of dead air time (and not “dead” in a scary sense) while the actors move from here to there.

In essence, Misery is a spotlight vehicle for the actor playing Annie, since she is the ambulatory one and controls all the action. As Annie, Tague has some fi ne isolated moments, particularly when she and Fee decide to underplay some of Annie’s more psychotic tendencies.

But those well-modulated moments are often subsumed by the overall inconsistent tone. As for the mostly

MISERY THROUGH MARCH 11 AT GREAT LAKES THEATER, 2067 EAST 14TH ST., 216-241-6000, GREATLAKESTHEATER.ORG

hours of stage time. As presented on scenic designer Gage Williams’ handsome, two-level set (part of the house appears elevated from the downstage-center guest bedroom, but actually is not), the two principal actors are left to flounder while batting Goldman’s words back and forth. Indeed, to move from the guest bedroom to the kitchen, the actors have to disappear behind a wall section then reappear and turn

| clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

horizontal May, he does what he can from his prone position. But this ain’t his play, and it shows.

There is one climactic turning point in the second act, “the scene everyone remembers,” that falls fl at. Annie, with a sledgehammer in hand, is intent on enforcing her control over Paul. But the ghastly nature of her act is softened by faint-hearted staging: Annie swings the sledge more like a

delicate chipping iron than a monster driver. And later, when the local sheriff (Nick Steen) fi nally discovers captive Paul in the bedroom, Annie goes all Yosemite Sam on his ass, generating more laughter than shock.

Wittingly or not, adaptor Goldman has channeled one of novelist King’s worst impulses, a fondness for endless repetition.

And that’s too bad, because there is actually an interesting concept at the core of this piece: how it is that authors, and artists of all kinds, can be held captive by their fans, forcing them to follow old and popular artistic paths instead of forging new ground. When writers or musicians depart from that welltrodden trail, the backlash can be, well, scary. (See: Bob Dylan’s fi rst electric concert, Ricky Nelson’s song “Garden Party,” and so on.)

Next season, let’s hope GLT fi lls this non-Shakespeare slot in their schedule with an actual top-quality play, written originally for the stage, into which their talented company can sink their teeth.

scene@clevescene.com t@christinehowey

MOVIES A WHODUNIT WITH A TWIST A seemingly innocent murder-mystery game goes awry in Game Night

By Jeff Niesel THE SCRIPT FOR GAME NIGHT, the new dark comedy that opens area-wide on Friday, reportedly dates back about five years. That’s when creator Mark Perez (Accepted) first pitched the concept to a studio. The project stalled until last year when co-directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (Vacation, Spider Man: Homecoming) were hauled in to rewrite the thing and put it into production.

As a result, the finished product feels a bit choppy, and while the film gets off to a good start, it quickly loses momentum when we realize an innocent murder-mystery game isn’t so innocent after all.

The film centers on Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams), who meet cute one night at a bar while playing trivia on opposite teams. Bonded by a common love of Pictionary and charades, they quickly fall in love.

After marrying and moving in together, they don’t hit the bars like they used to, but they continue to host “game night” at their home, sharing cheese trays and wine with all their yuppie friends — well, almost all of their yuppie friends.

They’ve had to exclude next-door neighbor Gary (Jesse Plemons), a cop who turned weird and creepy

after his wife divorced him.

When Max’s showoff brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) rolls into town in a Stingray Corvette and rents a luxurious condo, he invites the gang over to his place for a murder-mystery game he promises they’ll never forget. It’s not giving too much away to say that the “game” quickly turns serious when a couple of thugs show up and

kidnap Brooks before the murdermystery actors show up.

Of course, Max and Annie think it’s all part of the game until they find out that Kyle has pissed off an unnamed Bulgarian (Michael C. Hall) who holds Brooks ransom until Max can meet his demands.

While the setup here works well, the film takes a predictable path once we realize the murder-mystery

game isn’t really a game after all.

The jokes — and there are some good ones — come at the film’s beginning when Max and Annie don’t realize that the thugs they’ve confronted are really thugs and not actors. In one funny scene, Annie brandishes a pistol in their faces and takes a page out of Pulp Fiction as she dances with what she thinks is a fake firearm.

The film also takes an unexpected detour when Gary reenters the picture and tries to keep the Bulgarian at bay after using his detective skills to determine that Max and Annie might be in trouble.

And yet despite some fine performances — Bateman and McAdams have great chemistry and the always-solid Plemons somehow keeps a straight face while petting his dog and dryly delivering his lines like he’s some kind of Norman Bates — the movie just doesn’t possess enough laughs. Not nearly as campy and funny as Clue, Game Night ultimately comes off as a bland dark comedy that doesn’t have enough going for it to turn it into a cult classic.

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel

SPOTLIGHT: CURVATURE IN DIEGO HALLIVIS’ Curvature, which premiered at the Filmquest Film Fest in Utah last year and opens Friday for an exclusive engagement at Tower City Cinemas, Helen (Lyndsy Fonseca) must break into a top-secret facility and travel back in time to prevent herself from committing a murder.

The films co-stars Jim Gaffigan look-alike Glenn Morshower and a bad actor named Zach Avery who plays Helen’s befuddled co-worker and whose sole purpose amounts to describing the film’s plot as it unfolds. He makes remarks such as “you were just gone” and “that was definitely your car.”

But this aspirational sci-fi thriller just doesn’t have enough meat on its bones to sustain a 90-minute run time.

You get the sense that it would love

to be mentioned in the same sentence as Shane Carruth’s 2004 cult-classic time-travel flick Primer, though it has none of the originality or lowbudget verve. In production value, performance quality and script depth, it views much more like a TV episode, focused on the travails of a heroine and her bumbling sidekick, both of whom are supposed to be genius engineers, as they elude generic corporate bad guys from “the lab.”

Aside from occasionally artful camera work and some truly lovely interiors — both Helen’s home and cabin look as if they’ve been copied wholesale from a Pottery Barn catalog — the film offers little to recommend it. After nearly 60 minutes, you’ll still be scratching your head over basic plot points.

We learn early on that Helen’s embarrassingly named husband “Wells” — get it? H.G. Wells? Who wrote The Time Machine? —has committed suicide. Wells’ partner Tomas (Morshower) tells Helen that he would like to continue their groundbreaking work — time travel, presumably. Helen then wakes up to discover that a week has elapsed. She gets an emergency phone call from her future self and is instructed to flee from a pursuer in the same play-byplay style that Morpheus used when guiding Neo away from Agent Smith in an early Matrix scene.

Repairing to her cabin with Alex (Avery), who reveals that he, too, lost a loved one some years back — cue the sappy musical accompaniment — Helen tries to figure out what on earth

is happening. But in this slow and sedate cabin interlude, she’s visited by visions of cloud formations, wide-scale ecological disaster, and sentimental moments with Wells before she and Alex process the various ill-defined plots playing out around them.

In keeping with its TV episode style, Curvature features a cameo by Linda Hamilton of Terminator fame. It also stages a decent car flip for a film of presumably tight budget constraints. But the budget wasn’t the problem here. It would have required a full script overhaul in order to overcome its assorted drawbacks. — Sam Allard

sallard@clevescene.com t@scenesallard | clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

29

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| clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

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EAT STAY AWHILE Comfort is at the heart of Gunselman’s Tavern’s latest chapter after a century of old-fashioned Photo by Emanuel Wallace barroom lore

By Douglas Trattner IN THE 1930S, HENRY Gunselman worked as a whiskey salesman for the Weideman Co. When the owners of the Pastime Cafe in Fairview Park couldn’t settle up, they were forced to sign over their business. That colorful origin story may or may not be true, confesses owner Joseph McDonough, but that doesn’t change the fact that this “seven-sided brick building” at the corner of Lorain and West 215th Street has enjoyed many vivid episodes throughout its nearly 100year existence.

The latest chapter kicked off a couple years ago when McDonough, David Grace and John Caine purchased the iconic corner bar. The trio, pals since sprouts growing up in this very neighborhood, had decided to go into the hospitality business together. After scouring the market, kicking the tires of numerous big, pricy downtown spots, the partners found themselves in the strangest of places: right back where it all started.

“Gunselman’s was the last place in the world we were looking for,” cracks McDonough. “We had been in here so many times over the years, but it was always that stinky old-man bar that we never even thought about it.”

Growing up in Fairview Park, the bar has always had a presence in the partners’ lives — though never an extremely positive one. As a kid, McDonough would deliver newspapers to the place, which required popping inside to collect the subscription fees. Back then, as he recalls it, the place was dark, dreary and teeming with boilermakers — the living, breathing kind, not the shotand-a-beer combo named after them.

But soon after taking ownership, the owners happily fell down the rabbit hole of Gunselman’s lore, which turned up references to the German mafia, Louis Armstrong, and yarns too blue to share.

“We knew from Day 1 that we weren’t going to change the name after checking with surviving family members to make sure it was okay,” McDonough notes, adding that family members who grew up in the

apartment upstairs still recall with dread being woken up most mornings by the sound of coins rapping against the windows. Back then, a shot and a beer cost a quarter and folks showed up bright and early to claim them.

Gunselman’s hadn’t served food for years, and when it did, it was the type that was prepared in a crockpot, ladled into a bowl and passed unceremoniously through an opening in the kitchen door. Food was always part of the plan, says

should walk on by, says management, as Gunselman’s is all about comfort food.

You can still order a boilermaker at the sturdy wooden bar, a handsome holdover from Henry Gunselman’s day. But you can now also order a craft beer from the likes of Jackie O’s, Rhinegeist or Fat Head’s, as well as a glass or bottle of wine from a workaday list that was practically heretical when it was unveiled. That was nothing compared to the panic

GUNSELMAN’S TAVERN 21490 LORAIN AVE., FAIRVIEW PARK 440-331-5719 GUNSELMANS.COM

McDonough, but first they had to do a little maintenance, like build a kitchen, redo the bathrooms, rip up the floor and install new electric, gas and HVAC. Small stuff, which would take two years.

When the time came, it wasn’t difficult to track down a chef.

Nicholas Pejeau, who ran the Black Dog Kitchen downtown, lived right down the road and often bellied up to this very bar. He soon signed on and set to work crafting a menu that suited both bar and neighborhood.

Diners in search of gastropub fare

that ensued when the bartender unboxed a set of four martini glasses, McDonough chuckles, adding that he’s never witnessed all four in service at once.

We played Keno, knocked back cans of Truth ($5) and snacked on some seriously meaty chicken wings ($10 per pound). Go for something like the “garlic zing” or the sweet barbecue instead of the Buffalo, unless you don’t mind the overpowering flavor of artificial butter. Kevin’s Jailhouse chili ($7), made by a bona fide retired

warden who works in the kitchen, hits all the right notes. It’s meaty, aggressively seasoned and gilded with cheese. If you’re in the habit of saying “fuck it,” tack on an order of the Buffalo chicken dip ($10) and chips.

True to our server’s word, both the meatloaf ($13) and the chicken paprikash ($13) are crowd-pleasing comfort foods, with the paprikash taking the prize thanks to the plump little dumplings swimming in creamy paprika-scented gravy. The meatloaf lost points on account of boxed – or something akin – mashers. Burgers are done properly here, made from fresh-ground chuck from Foster’s Meats at the West Side Market. Nine different models are priced $9 to $11.

Our fries could have — should have — been crisper.

Meanwhile, the owners are having a blast running a place they’d never be caught dead in just a few years prior.

“We’ve seen so many people that we’ve known since the ’70s, people we went to grade school with, many who have moved all over and ended up right back here,” says McDonough.

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner | clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

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NINJA CITY TO CLOSE UNIVERSITY CIRCLE LOCATION, REOPEN IN GORDON SQUARE

By Douglas Trattner AFTER NEARLY FOUR YEARS IN University Circle, Bac Nguyen will close Ninja City (11311 Euclid Ave., 216-860-0510), his fun and funky Asian-themed bistro. The last day of operation, he reports, will be Saturday, Feb. 24. He encourages all friends of the operation to stop down for one last hurrah before this chapter of the story ends.

But when one door closes, as they say, another door opens, and that’s precisely what will take place for Ninja City. Nguyen prefers to call the news a “relocation” rather than a closure as he will be reopening the restaurant in the heart of Gordon Square.

“We were nearing the end of our lease and the opportunity in Gordon Square presented itself,” he explains.

“I think we’re going to be a great fit there.”

“There” will be the former Old City Libations spot, a short-lived bar concept from the owners of that local soda company. The 2,500-square-foot storefront space (6706 Detroit Ave.) is in the Near West Lofts building in Detroit Shoreway. Nguyen is estimating a late spring or early summer opening.

For diners who have never been to Ninja City — even for those who have but not for a while — Nguyen says the business model has really changed since he and partner Dylan Fallon opened it in 2014.

“We have evolved a lot as a concept,” he notes. “Originally, we thought we’d be a quick-serve Asian food concept in a full-service setting.

Over time, our menu got broader

and we really started becoming a neighborhood restaurant and bar with the Asian aspect becoming secondary.”

As time went on, the emphasis on Asian food began to wane as comfort food items like the spicy shrimp nachos, chicken and waffles, fried catfish sandwiches and bacon-avocado burger with tater tots began to take off. Of course, many of those items have subtle Asian twists or tweaks.

Those join staples like banh mi sandwiches, pho, ramen bowls, rice bowls and bento boxes.

“We have a huge contingent who come in and don’t like Asian food at all, but they like the bar and they like our other food,” he adds. “We’re selling as many burgers as we are Asian noodle bowls.”

That formula will be pushed even further at the Detroit Shoreway location, Nguyen says.

“As we move forward, we’re not trying to compete with other Asian places, including Bac; we just want to be a fun, laid back, affordable kitchen and bar,” he says.

They’ll add items like spicy mac and cheese topped with a choice of fried fish, chicken or tofu. A Sunday brunch will offer basics like eggs, pancakes and waffles, but also breakfast banh mi, breakfast steamed buns, dumplings and Bloody Marys.

As for the space, Nguyen says that guests can expect the same sense of whimsy, color and energy as at the original, with fully illustrated comic book-style menus courtesy of artist Kyle Harlan.

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“Expect lots and lots of action figures on display,” Nguyen says. “It will be very much the same vibe as the first: Comic books meet hip-hop.”

As for stakeholders in the neighborhood, they seem excited by the news, agreeing that it’s a great fit.

“We are thrilled because of the experience Bac brings to this venture,” says Adam Rosen, economic development and marketing director at Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization. “He has been in the restaurant business for eight years in Tremont and the last four years in University Circle.”

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| clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

Chef Josh Kabat loved sandwiches so much, he opened a downtown eatery devoted mainly to the craft.

It’s been six years since Cleveland Pickle opened its doors at 850 Euclid Ave., during which time the owners launched — and closed — a westside outpost and birthed a retail pickle line.

That pickle line is all that remains now that the downtown shop abruptly closed its doors on Jan. 31.

“Our lease is up,” explains Kabat.

“We had to make a decision if we wanted to commit to more years operating a restaurant. If we did, we need to open more locations so we can start making the kind of money we want to support our family. As you know, there’s not a lot of money to be made with one sandwich shop; you need many.”

Kabat says that for now he’ll focus on his retail pickle line, which is being carried by all the major local grocers and distributed across 11 states. He and his wife Kiaran also are launching a new product line geared specifically to pregnant ladies called Preggo Pickle. The products utilize ingredients that provide relief from pregnancy symptoms, notes Kabat, such as fresh lemon and lavender to calm and fresh ginger to relieve nausea.

“We are sad to go and not be able to serve all of the great customers that helped make us the best sandwich shop in the city, but this is a decision we are happy that we made,” says Kabat. “If you wanna soar with the

eagles, you have to jump at some.”

Corner 11 Bowl and Wrap Brings Poke Craze to Tremont Thiwaporn Sirisuwan has opened Corner 11 Bowl and Wrap (2391 West 11th St., 216-7131757), where she will bring the fresh flavors of Hawaiian poke to a prime corner space on Tremont’s Lincoln Park. Most recently, the space belonged to Merchant Street Provisions, a short-lived market-like offshoot of Merchant Street Eatery next door, but it has seen more than its fair share of occupants over the years.

The owner is from Thailand, but it was a trip with her husband to Hawaii that kindled an appreciation for poke. Pronounced POH-keh, the dish typically consists of freshly cut raw fish that is served atop rice or greens, sauced and garnished with various vegetables. But there are countless iterations, variations and customizations.

“The main food here is poke,” says the owner. “My inspiration is from Hawaii. When we were there we tried many foods and we love their food, we love poke and fresh raw fish and fresh vegetables. It’s trendy food, from New York to California, and now it’s everywhere but not in Cleveland. I never see a poke station yet. There are a few restaurants that have poke bowls, but they don’t let you customize your bowl.”

The restaurant has already eased into a soft opening with a main menu rollout planned for March 1.

The fast-casual eatery will have guests order, pay and pick up at the counter. Customers have their choice of protein (raw sushi-grade salmon or tuna, cooked chicken, shrimp, scallop or tofu) choice of base (rice or greens), choice of gluten-free sauce (Thai spicy seafood, creamy tom yum, spicy mayo, sweet shoyu, teriyaki), and choice of toppings (corn, carrots, edamame, pineapple, guacamole).

Bowls come in three sizes.

Citing a lack of Asian noodle bars in the immediate area, the owner will offer a handful of options like pork-and-shrimp-filled wonton soup, Thai-style noodle curry soup, and Thai pink noodle soup.

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| clevescene.com m | February 21 - 27, 2018

Photo by Emanuel Wallace

MUSIC THE BRITE STUFF 13 bands to see at the Brite Winter Festival THIS YEAR’S BRITE WINTER Festival promises to be bigger and better than ever, with more than 40 bands on six indoor and outdoor stages, and assorted vendors on hand as well. There will also be ice carving demonstrations and “fire & light” dancing. The event takes place from 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Saturday on the West Bank of the Flats.

The annual winter music and arts festival began a few years back in the Flats near what is now Merwin’s Wharf. Organizers had to learn a few hard lessons — the event took place in the midst of a blizzard in Year 1 — before they were able to turn the fest into the well-oiled machine it has become.

For the next four years, Brite Winter took place in Ohio City, moving to its current location in 2016, where it’s been hugely successful.

Admission is a $5 donation, but Brite Winter also offers VIP packages which include enhanced viewing near the outdoor stages, heated tent access, private restroom trailers, and refreshments and snacks.

Here are a few bands worth checking out at this year’s event.

FRESH PRODUCE 4:45 p.m.

Center Street Stage This local hip-hop duo is changing the music industry one fresh song at a time. The group’s lyrical imagination, rapped by Playne Jayne, flows over the soulful beats of DJ Red-I. Their sound is real and timed to perfection. What began as spontaneous sessions in RedI’s apartment became a full-length project, which led to their debut album We Are Fresh Produce in 2015. The duo’s ingenuity will have you feeling laid back with a steady surge of head bobbing. Already responsible for three albums, they show no signs of stopping. Songs such as “Pocket Watchers” and “No Diamonds” keep it crisp. (Matthew Poshedley) THE JACK FORDS 5:40 p.m.

Center Street Stage Singer-guitarists Brent Kirby and Bobby Latina have played together since 2005, when they would jam at

the now-defunct Town Fryer. The Jack Fords formed at about that time too, and the local roots rock act has become one of the city’s best bar bands. With its snarling vocals and restrained guitar riff, the title track to its 2015 album, There It Is, sounds like a cross between vintage Tom Petty and AC/DC, and “Getting Back” comes off as a rowdy garagerock tune with a good, greasy guitar riff. The album shows off the band’s ability to veer from country-ish ballads to hard rocking anthems.

(Jeff Niesel) SMOKE SCREEN 6:10 p.m.

Covermymeds Stage Chemist (Thomas Sheridan) and Mooke (Rodney Mynatt), the duo that formed the local hip-hop group Smoke Screen some 10 years ago, grew up together. Since a show at Peabody’s a few years ago, the group has been plenty busy and shared the stage with acts such as Kid Cudi, Wale and People Under the Stairs.

In 2007, the band released SelfEducated Learning Process, and dropped a few “free projects” before releasing the full-length followup, Imagination Beyond Illustration, in 2010. The band recorded the album Return to the Sun at its own studio and outsourced the mixing. Directed

by Turnstyle Films, the music video for the single “Breakbeats and Bass” features footage from throughout the past decade spliced with current-day shots of the group. The album kicks off with “Eternal Flame,” a tune that features percolating synths and rattling bass beats as Sheridan and Mynatt deliver rapid-fire raps. Last year, the U.K. record label Collective Resonance even released a new compilation on vinyl that features the band’s single, “Breakbeats and Bass.” (Niesel) PUNCH DRUNK TAGALONGS 7:05 p.m.

Covermymeds Stage Punch Drunk Tagalongs come from a long tradition of bands led by fierce female singers. Anchored by equally vulnerable and ferocious lead singer Alisha Stahnke, the band writes songs that run the gamut of emotional intensity. Since their performance at last year’s Brite Winter, the band has toured

extensively throughout Ohio and surrounding regions, continuing to develop an easy chemistry. On their recently released single, Hazy, from their upcoming debut album, pulsing guitar work glides along and spikes, matching Stahnke’s bursts of frenetic energy. Inspired by the grunge and riot grrrl movements, Punch Drunk Tagalong’s live shows allow their frenzied instrumentals to come alive while paired with their intimate songwriting. (Michael Wu) MATT HECTORNE 9 p.m.

Cleveland Clothing Company Stage at Music Box Up A singer-songwriter from Hernando, Mississippi, Matt Hectorne has been writing songs since he was 10 and played in bands throughout high school. He moved to Northeast Ohio on a whim almost a decade ago. In addition to playing with local folk rockers Humble Home, who have since disbanded, he’s released solo albums for the past five years and put out a couple of EPs and a full-length album.

Hectorne’s new album, Work, shows off his songwriting chops. With their cooing vocals and slide guitars, songs such as “Only Way Into Your Heart” and “It Don’t Matter at All” have a Wilco vibe, and the mellow title track possesses a Grateful Dead feel. In Hectorne’s talented hands, the songs come across as natural roots-rock explorations. Expect to hear many of Work ’s songs when Hectorne and his local backing band play tonight. (Niesel) HERZOG 9:30 p.m.

Center Street Stage Herzog draws from indie ’90s pop and rock. The Cleveland-centric band first got national recognition when NPR chose its tune, “Silence,” as Song of the Year in 2011, just one year after they formed. Now

with three solid albums, the band’s active, mellow sound will have you feeling warm, lively and wanting more. Popular tracks such as “Mad Men” and “Full Stick” are songs you can play on a loop. Listen for subtle references in their songs to known Cleveland spots, including the Rock Hall and West Boulevard. (Poshedley) FRUIT AND FLOWERS 9:50 p.m.

Irth at Mulberry’s Don’t expect to stand still during Fruit and Flowers’ set. Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, the band excels at propulsive drums and endlessly catchy guitar riffs with lead vocalist Caroline Yoder’s slick voice easily cutting through. On their latest release, Drug Trax, the band channels fuzzy warm-weather days with a healthy dose of ennui through its stealthily gloomy take on the normally upbeat surf rock sound. Highlights from their new album include lead single “Out of Touch” and also “Subway Surfer,” a track built for sticky summer hours spent on New York City public transportation. The four-piece has steadily built its onstage confidence by touring around the country. They were even named one of “NYC’s Hardest Working Bands” by concert aggregator Oh My Rockness. (Wu) ATLAS GENIUS 10 p.m.

Covermymeds Stage In the early days, Atlas Genius used to play cover tunes in the clubs in its Adelaide, Australia, hometown.

After building a home studio in 2009, the band recorded “Trojans” and then independently released it as a single. Buzz began to build immediately for the song that starts with soft vocals and then escalates into a catchy, mid-tempo pop tune that sounds a bit like a more refined version of the Strokes. The band’s success is all the more remarkable | clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

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MUSIC when you consider it didn’t have much support in Adelaide, a city of just more than a million people that supports drinking and gambling more than live music. (Niesel) FALLING STARS 10 p.m.

Cleveland Clothing Company Stage at Music Box Up What started a few years ago as a tentative pairing between veteran Cleveland musicians Tim Parnin (Cobra Verde, Sweet Apple, Chuck Mosley) and Chris Allen (Rosavelt) has now blossomed into a fully formed rock four-piece. Finally putting out their debut record Stranded in the Future last summer, the guys brought in drummer Gerry Porter and bassist Dave Padrutt and have been performing hard ever since. As the album suggests, Falling Stars believes in the power of classic rock and good storytelling. Plus, their guitar riffs wail passionately without getting too obnoxious. Their tune “Another Wrong Way Out” is certain to get the crowd singing.

(Laura Morrison) AUTOMATIC WEAPONS 10:50 p.m.

Irth at Mulberry’s Automatic Weapons, multiinstrumentalist duo Vinny DiFranco and Michael Bashur, hail from Ohio Sky, which scorched Northeast Ohio with an ethereal blend of heavy riffs and soaring soundscapes for about a decade. As that band’s activities fizzled, the two musicians took their downtime jamming into more defined directions. Released last year, Young Lovers/Dystopian Future stems from lengthy sound experiments at a home studio in Gates Mills. Surrounded by guitars, cameras and a warm, woody ambiance, the guys ran sounds through an old Hammond Auto-Vari analog drum machine.

What came out on the other end were polyrhythmic backbones that formed the genesis of the vibrant new material. (Eric Sandy) RAY FLANAGAN & THE AUTHORITIES 11 p.m.

Cleveland Clothing Company Stage at Music Box Up Ever since Ray Flanagan & the Authorities launched in late 2012, the group has emerged as one of the better indie acts on the local circuit.

Flanagan admits he’s been inspired by roots rockers such as Bruce

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| clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

Springsteen, Tom Petty and Neil Young, but he also cites Metallica and Pantera as influences and admits that his music tends to be “a little more aggressive.” Flanagan recently released a new seven-song album that features the catchy, Weezer-like “Fun and Phony,” a sarcastic song that showcases his nasally vocals, and “Morning Light,” with crisp guitar licks and gentle lyrics that feels like a Jayhawks tune from the early ’90s.

Flanagan is a fantastic guitarist and watching him play live at Brite Winter will be a real treat. (Niesel) THE DREEMERS 11:40 p.m.

Ports Petroleum Stage at Music Box Down Pay no attention to this Akron act’s misnomer of a name. This isn’t some dreamy, hippie bullshit group; instead, the Dreemers are one of the most raucous and riotous band around. As the group told Scene late last year, “We’ll have a punkier song or a bluesier song and then throw some kind of riff at the end, and it will go into doo-wop or some other genre. We just jam a lot, and when we do that, we blend styles together.”

All of those styles can be heard on the group’s recent debut album Beach Mode, by far one of the most fun locally released records of last year.

The three piece, together since 2015, could easily roll into schtick territory with its mix of vintage sounds and over-the-top personas, but it somehow manages to keep it fresh and in the now. (Morrison) MARCUS ALAN WARD Midnight Cleveland Clothing Company Stage at Music Box Up Closing act Marcus Alan Ward is here to melt your mind with his progressive and powerful arthouse pop. But he wants you to dance your ass off too. Take, for example, his latest original track, “BodyFeelGood,” which melds groovy beats, goopy bass and techno. Listen to it long enough and you’ll realize how much is crammed into the track; but no matter how complex, all it makes you want to do is move. The much-buzzedabout artist is certainly due for a new record, and here’s to hoping 2018 sees that release. In the meantime, just float along with his current repertoire. (Morrison)

Brite Winter Fest, 3 p.m. to 1 a.m., West Bank of the Flats. Tickets: $5 donation, britewinter.com.

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Photo by Laura Partain

MUSIC TWICE IS NICE Indie rockers Deer Tick return with an instant-classic double album and a two-set tour

By Eric Sandy JOHN MCCAULEY HAS THE FLU. Actually, all the guys in Deer Tick have the flu. When I call McCauley at his home in Nashville, he’s recuperating with a cup of Italian ice.

“Strawberry,” he says. “Luigi’s.”

Deer Tick just wrapped its European tour, wherein the band treated invigorated audiences to its new two-set format — acoustic and electric, in keeping with the new double-album release, Deer Tick Vol. 1 and 2. No opener. McCauley says it was a great ride and a thrill to feel the rhythms of the road once again.

(On the last night or so, the tour ended with an abrupt band-wide bout of influenza.) Until recently, Deer Tick has toured only sporadically, mostly maintaining a three-year hiatus of sorts. They’re eyeing a U.S. tour now; the band plays Beachland Ballroom on Tuesday.

Until then, it’s rest period at the homestead for McCauley & Co. “I’ve just been watching nature documentaries on my couch on the BBC channel,” he says.

From the foundational years in the mid-2000s as a songwriting and touring vehicle for McCauley, Deer Tick grew quickly into something of a road warrior band and a natural descendent of things like grunge rock, early-’70s Neil Young and the solitude of one Hank Chinaski.

Together, these days, they’re a force onstage. Rounded out by guitarist Ian O’Neil, bass player Chris Ryan and drummer Dennis Ryan, Deer Tick is something with which one contends.

For years, the term “indie folk” followed Deer Tick like a hapless hound. The thing is, Deer Tick has far more in common with rock ’n’ roll outfits like the Replacements — the two bands practically share DNA. But in Deer Tick’s case, their acoustic songwriting in the studio bore little resemblance to the raucous, garageinspired country punk power-pop that fans saw out on the road. This was a case of split personalities, which is to say Deer Tick is probably a lot like you and me.

In 2017, the band settled the score. McCauley led them out of their winter and released a double

40

album that massaged their acoustic needs (Vol. 1) and their electric needs (Vol. 2). After a decade-long balancing act, followed by a few years’ worth of seclusion, the guys in Deer Tick decided to let it all hang out at Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee (which is where the Replacements recorded Pleased to Meet Me).

There are no electric instruments on Vol. 1, and there are no acoustic instruments on Vol. 2. It was like a game, almost, as McCauley began writing the new material and realized that he shouldn’t have to relent and consolidate the stuff onto just one album.

And why not?

They took the idea to the road, and they’ll do so in Cleveland on Tuesday, with one acoustic set and one electric set, which they’ll stretch out as long as they see fit and as long as the crowd is eating it up.

“Comparing this to any of our shows in the past — there’s really no similarity, I guess,” McCauley says.

“We did that acoustic tour a couple years ago. And that was something that we wanted to continue doing somehow, but we thought if we could do it all in one night that could be really fun. It’s kind of crazy. It’s a lot of work, and it’s a long show and a lot of singing.

McCauley says. “We just never used to bring our acoustic guitars out on the road, because, I don’t know, we always thought they were too much of a pain in the ass to get a good sound going with them. We never used to have our own sound guy, so it was, like, who knows who’s going to do your sound every night? They used to use speaker monitors, and shit would just feedback and it just drove us crazy. So we never played acoustic guitars on the stage until pretty recently.”

Fans seem to dig it. The band’s legacy rests just left of classic Americana songwriting. Based on Rhode Island and surrounded by personal strife (family troubles as young men, substance abuse problems), Deer Tick is rooted strongly in the despair and introspection that clings tightly to McCauley’s spirit. Most likely, he won’t be remembered for his cheery songs.

In most of his best songs (“Twenty Miles,” “Baltimore Blues No. 1,” “Art Isn’t Real”), you can almost picture

DEER TICK, SOLOMON GEORGIO 8 P.M. TUESDAY, FEB. 27, BEACHLAND BALLROOM, 15711 WATERLOO RD., 216-380-1124.

TICKETS: $22-$25, BEACHLANDBALLROOM.COM

“If you like our band, I don’t see why you wouldn’t like this show,” McCauley says dryly. “It’s a careerspanning night of Deer Tick’s music.”

Precisely. Based on critical acclaim and road-tested experience, Deer Tick has earned a chance to reflect on the years that brought them to this moment, to this tour.

They’ve done things.

There’s stuff from every album in each set, although, of course, there’s a gentle spotlight on the newer tunes.

“The new albums ... the format of the new albums kind of serves as a good format for our entire catalog,”

| clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

McCauley, right there, through a dusty window pane, singing his way into a new song for the benefit of his soul. He’s an acoustic songwriter, surely, and this new tour allows him to share a bit more of that with longtime fans.

“I like doing both, but I always thought I liked playing electric stuff more,” McCauley says. “I always thought it was more fun or something, but getting to do both every night makes it harder for me to choose a favorite. I do enjoy, in the acoustic sets, how we have a lot of different folk instruments onstage,

from a mandolin and bouzouki and pennywhistle and all kinds of stuff that we know how to play but maybe never really used on our records before. It’s kind of fun to show off our musicianship a little bit in the first set.”

And it’s all there in the dazzling Vol. 1. Each of these new albums feels like a cohesive set of tunes, and still they work in harmony as two parts of a whole. “Doomed from the Start” carries McCauley’s classic cloudy weather, ramshackle rhythms and all. It feels like an acoustic Deer Tick song, and it feels natural in that Vol. 1 silo.

“Most of them were pretty obvious to me,” McCauley says. “I came up with ideas pretty early on, when we just had a couple songs, and I thought, ‘Oh, we could go in two different directions with this. We could make two albums.’ There were a couple songs where we tried recording them in — you know, we tried doing an acoustic version, and maybe it didn’t work. So, we did an electric version — or the other way around. Most of the songs were pretty obvious in that aspect.”

And it certainly feels right, listening from one album to the next (or jumping around from song to song).

“I’m just happy to be back on the road and doing it more frequently than we have in the past few years,” McCauley says. “We’re going back to a few places that have always been good to us and a lot of places that maybe we’ve neglected to show enough love for over the years.

Cleveland is maybe one of those places that we haven’t played too often.

“It feels good, being able to get around again and to use our music as a vehicle.”

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene.com

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41

42

| clevescene.c clevescene.com com om | February Feebru brruary 21 21 - 27 27, 7, 20 22018 18

LIVEWIRE

all the live music you should see this week Photo courtesy Universal Records

WED

Pools: 8 p.m., $25 ADV, $27 DOS. House of Blues.

Ross Livermore/Gretchen Pleuss/ Trevor Larkin /Collin Miller: 9 p.m., $4 ADV, $7 DOS. CODA. Will Schmid Trio/Eric Street & The Country Corner: 9 p.m., free. The Euclid Tavern.

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

Nighttown.

02/21

10 X 3 Singer Songwriter Showcase hosted by Brent Kirby: 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge.

Enslaved/Wolves in the Throne Room/Myrkur/Khemmis: 6 p.m., $25 ADV, $30 DOS. Odeon.

Bob Frank and Walkin’ Cane: 7 p.m., $10. Bop Stop.

Mobile Deathcamp/Ivy League: 8 p.m., $8. Now That’s Class.

John Nemeth/Sam Hooper/DJ Pete London: 8 p.m., $15 ADV, $17 DOS. Beachland Tavern.

THU

SAT

02/22

Scott H. Biram/Hooten Hallers/ Graeves: Scott H. Biram once performed right after Kris Kristofferson at SXSW. Rather than wilt under the pressure, he allegedly told the crowd, “They said that was a hard act to follow ... I’m a hard act to follow, motherfuckers!” And that’s the swaggering sentiment Biram brings to all aspects of his life. Through the traditional Americana and contemporary rock instrumentation, the oneman act waxes poetic about being crazy and drunk and blue. His records serve up helping after helping of raw hillbilly-blues stew, including his recent album, The Bad Testament . Expect the unexpected from his Beachland Ballroom set. (Laura Morrison) 9 p.m., $12 ADV, $15 DOS. Grog Shop.

Blues Chronicles: 8 p.m., free.

CODA. Sabra Dodge: 7 p.m., $12. Bop Stop.

G3 2018: Satriani/Petrucci/Phil Collen: 7:30 p.m. Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park.

Gaelic Storm: 9 p.m., $25 ADV, $30 DOS. House of Blues.

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

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

Paperwhite: The Be Here With Me Tour/Captain Kidd: 8 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Beachland Tavern.

Rosello and Friends/BKA Watts/ Bobby Jaggerjack/Skinner/ Rosco No E/Jay King/Po/Ya/ OKAYC/Philly O: 8 p.m., $10.

Now That’s Class.

Rapper Jeezy performs at House of Blues. See: Monday.

FRI

02/23

Archie and the Bunkers Record Release/Lords of the Highway/ DJs Miriam Linna & Nick Knox: 8:30 p.m., $8. Beachland Tavern.

Commander Cody (in the Supper Club): 8 p.m., $22 ADV, $25 DOS. Music Box Supper Club.

A Concert for Open M: 8 p.m., $10.

Musica.

Daisyhead/Early Humans/ American Opera/Dark Spring/ Dominic Martin/Night In (in the Locker Room): 7 p.m., $10.

Mahall’s 20 Lanes.

Sammy DeLeon Latin Jazz Sextet: 8:30 p.m., $15. Nighttown.

Disco Paradiso with Glacial 23/ ADAB/DJ Empirical (in Club Atlantis): 8 p.m., $7. Now That’s Class.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds: Three years ago at a sold-out House of Blues show with his High Flying Birds, singer-guitarist Noel Gallagher showed the passage of time hasn’t diminished his vocals, songwriting or rabid fanbase.

Gallagher and his band tore through a good portion of their self-titled 2011 debut and 2015’s stellar Chasing Yesterday.

Occasional appearances by a threepiece horn section added brassy, staccato backbone (especially on electrifying versions of “Do The Damage” and “The Mexican”) and circus-like loopiness on “The Death Of You and Me.” For tonight’s show, Gallagher & Co.

will also draw from their new album, Who Built the Moon?

(Annie Zaleski) 8 p.m., $46-$329.

Goodyear Theater.

Glass Traps Record Release Show/ Ma Halos/Harlequins/Iron Oxide/Mr. California: 9 p.m., free.

Now That’s Class.

Valerie June/The War and Treaty: Last year was full of performances and promotion for Tennessee artist Valerie June. Her schedule even included a stop at Farm Aid with Willie Nelson. Starting with the release of The Order of Stone, the followup to her 2013 record co-produced by Dan Auerbach, the singer-songwriter has been on the move. Given her nasally, profoundly affected and haunted voice, it makes sense she’s a star on the rise. Her music stems from that old-timey sound and possesses a sort of calming blues effect.

With its lyrical prose, the latest record is especially moving. June is sure to bring all of that to the Beachland Ballroom stage tonight.

(Morrison) 8 p.m., $25. Beachland Ballroom.

Lazy Ted Band: 9:30 p.m., $5.

Brothers Lounge.

Lil Xan/$teve Cannon: 6:30 p.m., $18 ADV, $25 DOS. Grog Shop.

Tracy Marie’s Fourth Friday Concert Series Featuring Jim Tigue (in the Wine Bar): 9 p.m.

Brothers Lounge.

Bob Marley Tribute by the Ark Band/Carlos Jones and Mark Hunter: 8 p.m., $12 ADV, $15 DOS. Music Box Supper Club.

PVRIS/Flint Eastwood/Cherry

02/24

Case Western Reserve University Battle of the Bands: 7 p.m., free.

The Euclid Tavern.

Hard Day’s Night: 8 p.m., $12 ADV, $15 DOS. The Kent Stage.

Heavy Chest/Hello, Bandit: 9 p.m., $4 ADV, $7 DOS. CODA. The JiMiller Band: 8 p.m., $10-$12.

The Winchester.

Kid Rock: Rapper and singer Kid Rock became a mainstream success in the ’90s with hits such as “Bawitdaba” and “Cowboy.” To date, he’s sold some 26 million albums and currently holds the Michigan record for most tickets sold, with 150,000 for a run of 10 consecutive sold-out shows in his home state. Tonight’s show at the Q comes in the wake of the release of his new album, Sweet Southern Sugar, a hard-rocking set of tunes that ranges from Motley Crue-like rockers (“Greatest Show on Earth”) to rap-rock rants (“Po-Dunk”).

(Jeff Niesel) 7:30 p.m., $29.50$129.50. Quicken Loans Arena.

Nunslaughter/Destructor/ Kurnugia: 8 p.m., $10. Now That’s Class.

Sounds of Jazz Featuring Nancy Redd (in the Wine Bar): 9 p.m.

Brothers Lounge.

The Spazmatics: 9:30 p.m., $5.

Brothers Lounge.

Nora Jane Struthers/Thor Platter: 8 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Beachland Tavern.

Jonathan Toubin-Soul Clap: 10 p.m., $10. Mahall’s 20 Lanes.

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

Nighttown.

WCSB Presents: The Mothership (in the Locker Room): 9 p.m., free.

Mahall’s 20 Lanes.

Whiskey Daredevils: 9 p.m., $7.

Musica.

SUN

02/25

Genaro Aiken Quintet: Dexter Gordon: 7 p.m., $12. Bop Stop. | clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

43

WE WENT OUT WHEN YOU COULDN’T. EVENT SLIDESHOWS. ONLY AT CLEVESCENE.COM

KentStage The

=HGÍM FBLL MA>L> @K>:M LAHPL MB<D>ML HG L:E> GHP

Hard Day’s Night Sat., Feb. 24

Jimmie Dale Gilmore h ~ { \ { © Yw { h z { Sun., Mar. 4

Shelby Lynne Wed., Feb.28

No Sleep Podcast Sat., Mar. 10

Uriah Heep Thu., March 1 iw DB cw y~ I © iebZ ekj

An Evening with

John Moreland & James McMurtry Thu., Mar. 22

LIVEWIRE Galactic/Lettuce: 8 p.m., $32-$40.

House of Blues.

Mike Petrone: 5:30 p.m. Brothers Lounge.

Sound Underground Trio/Kevin Martinez/Gretchen Pleuss: 8 p.m., $8-$10. The Winchester.

Trevor Hall: 7:30 p.m., $35 ADV, $40 DOS. Music Box Supper Club.

MON

Dixie Dregs Dawn of the Dregs Tour Fri., Mar. 23

The Zombies

Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder

Sat., Mar. 24

Sun., Mar. 25

Western Reserve Folk Arts Association Presents

Rodriguez March 16, 2018

at the Akron Civic Theatre

02/26

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

Iron Chic / Heart & Lung / Blacklister: 8 p.m., $12 ADV, $15 DOS. Grog Shop.

Jeezy/Tee Grizzley: Rapper Jeezy worked a few key collaborations into the mix for his latest album, last year’s Pressure. He teams up with Puff Daddy on “Bottles Up,” and recruits Tee Grizzley for “Cold Summer.” Not to be outdone, Tee Grizzley, who opens tonight’s show, delivered a huge hit last year with Moments, an album that features collaborations with producers such as DJ Mustard and Helluva.

Both rappers have rapid-fi re deliveries that should complement each other well at tonight’s concert. (Niesel) 8 p.m., $40 ADV, $45 DOS. House of Blues.

Mammoth Grinder/Cryptrot/ Cringe/Hellhound: 7 p.m., $10.

Now That’s Class.

Robert Stevenson/I Am Strikes: 8 p.m., $13-$15. The Winchester.

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

TUE

FRIDAY, FEB. 23 © 7:00PM

02/27

Deer Tick: Twice is Nice Tour/ Solomon Georgio: 8 p.m., $22 ADV, $25 DOS. Beachland Ballroom.

Lee Dewyze: 8 p.m., $18-$55.

Musica.

Livid/Huntsmen/Pillars: 8 p.m., $5. Now That’s Class.

M2B2 Big Band: 8:30 p.m., free.

Brothers Lounge.

Mako/Night Lights: 8:30 p.m., $12 ADV, $15 DOS. Grog Shop.

Rollin’ Joe Porter (in the Wine Bar): 7 p.m. Brothers Lounge.

A 9 Piece Vegas Style Tribute Show to

FRANKIE VALLI & THE FOUR SEASONS DINNER AT 7PM SHOW 8-10PM VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24 8:00PM

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27 7:30PM

SWINGTIME FRIDAY, MARCH 2 8:30PM

DISCO INFERNO

www.akroncivic.com

ALL SHOWS AT THE KENT STAGE UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED Tickets available at www.kentstage.org or 877-987-6487 GMK [w cw i {{ © a{ B e~ JJHJF

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| clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

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| clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

MEET THE BAND: Chuck Cieslik (guitar),

Steve Crobar (drums), Matt Hallaran (guitar), Sarah Paul (voice), Sebastian Wagner (bass) IT STARTED WITH A PILE OF DEMOS: The

band formed in 2015. Cieslik was in a band with Wagner. Hallaran and Crobar were in a different band with Wagner. When both groups broke up, Glass Traps formed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had a pile of demos I had been working with,â&#x20AC;? says Cieslik. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was trying to get the sound I wanted out of them, and I played them with 15 different people over the years and couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get the sound until Sebastian brought Matt and Steve into the group.â&#x20AC;? Hallaran had talked about collaborating with Sarah Paul, an associate professor and chair of sculpture and expanded media at the Cleveland Institute of Art, for a few years. He played her a demo, and she laid something down over the top of it on her iPhone.

Cieslik says he knew right away the lineup would work. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s extremely talented,â&#x20AC;? says Cieslik when asked about Paulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contribution. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She brings a sense of mystery to the band. I tend to put emotion into the guitar lines, and she keeps a balance. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not necessarily overcommiting emotionally in her vocals. She was in a band in Albany in the early â&#x20AC;&#x2122;90s, and that band was amazing.â&#x20AC;?

AN ANALOG VENTURE: The band recorded its self-titled debut in Cleveland with Paul Maccarone of Zombieproof Studios. Ryan Foltz mixed and mastered it. It will be released digitally and as a limited edition of 300 12-inch vinyl LPs. The band emphasizes â&#x20AC;&#x153;sonic gritâ&#x20AC;? on the discâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eight tracks. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We had done a number of records with Paul over the years; heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of the best guys locally to record with for a heavier sound,â&#x20AC;? says Cieslik, who adds that the group used money from a Panza Foundation grant to help pay for the recording. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all on half-inch tape.

We did a limited release cassette

with a few of those songs and then gave the recordings over to Ryan, who does sound in Cleveland, and he remixed and mastered it for us.

It was actually quite a long process.

In other bands, I was happy to get things done quickly. This was a band where we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to make any compromises. It was worth the wait.â&#x20AC;?

WHY YOU SHOULD HEAR THEM: Album

opener â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cold Cutâ&#x20AC;? features hiccupping vocals and heavy drums and sounds like a heavier Siouxsie and the Banshees, and distorted guitars distinguish the undulating â&#x20AC;&#x153;Line.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Kowloon Walletâ&#x20AC;? beneďŹ ts from an explosion of postpunk guitars. Keith Richardsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; autobiography inspired the album closer, the moody â&#x20AC;&#x153;Obron.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;As a guitar player, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m interested in how other guitar players view things,â&#x20AC;? says Cieslik. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In [Richardsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;] autobiography, he was talking about open tunings and drone notes. With the Stones, you can hear how heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s playing open notes and changing chords. His ďŹ nger isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t on the fret; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just this open, ringing drone. After reading that, I made a conscious decision to explore that methodology, and that riff was written off that.â&#x20AC;? Paul added lyrics during the Cavs playoffs, and the tune includes an oblique reference to LeBron James. Later this year, the local vinyl boutique label Wax Mage Records will release one additional song from the sessions.

WHERE YOU CAN HEAR THEM: glasstraps.

bandcamp.com WHERE YOU CAN SEE THEM: Glass Traps perform with Ma Halos, Harlequins, Iron Oxide and Mr. California at 9 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 23, at Now Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Class. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; JEFF NIESEL

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel

C-NOTES

HOMECOMING MUSICNOW

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

APRIL 28-29, 2018 xx CINCINNATI, OH xx SMALE PARK

ADDRESSING ‘CATASTROPHE’

FRIDAY 4/27

Local singer-songwriter Joshua Jesty returns with a new single

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MUSICNOW OPENING NIGHT CELEBRATION

By Jeff Niesel ONE OF THE MORE PROLIFIC musicians on the local scene, singersongwriter Joshua Jesty issued a string of EPs between 2013 and 2016.

Then, he suddenly stopped releasing new music.

“It wasn’t that I stopped out of burnout or fatigue,” he says in a press release announcing the release of his new single, the mid-tempo pop number “Catastrophe,” which is now out on all digital streaming services. “My girlfriend — now fiancee — Kaycee Zach had developed ALL, a form of cancer that required around-the-clock treatment. Life simply took a complete turn and went from music all the time to hospitals all the time” Now, with a reason to celebrate (Zach is in the clear, though she’ll still need to be regularly tested), Jesty says he’s turned his attention back to writing and recording songs.

“It’s a new chapter,” Jesty says.

A folk-y number, “Catastrophe” makes use of guitar, banjo, harmonium and keyboards. The digital release will include the poppy B-side, “I Love You Like a Fire that Never Goes Out.” To celebrate the release, Jesty will perform with Teasebox and Maura Rogers and Bellows on Saturday at the Euclid Tavern and with Jenna Fournier and Emily Keener on Wednesday, Feb. 28, at the Beachland Tavern.

Archie and the Bunkers Issue New Single Archie and the Bunkers, a local group featuring teenage brothers Emmett and Cullen O’Connor, formed five years ago and has gradually picked up steam ever since.

It’s legitimately now become a national act and has released a number of albums through the U.K. imprint Dirty Water Records.

The group has even toured Europe on a couple of occasions.

To celebrate the release of their new single, “The Traveler”/“Looking,” the brothers will play a special

Photo courtesy of Joshua Jesty

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Singer-songwriter Joshua Jesty

release party at 8 p.m. on Friday at the Beachland Tavern.

The release marks their debut on the stateside Norton Records. A few years back, Nick Knox of the Electric Eels/Cramps called the label to tell Norton owner Miriam Linna about the band. Initially, she didn’t think they were quite right for Norton. But she subsequently met them when they performed at a private party at Franklin Castle, and the duo won her over.

“I thought they were great, and people were going nuts for them,” Linna says. “It was a total gas. At the end of the night, Cullen was playing ‘Whiter Shade of Pale’ on a pump organ. Some people were passed out on the sofa and other people were leaving. He was playing that thing and then he began playing this other melody that was totally captivating.

It was really haunted. They’re really talented songwriters.”

The vinyl version of the single even has the words “Franklin Castle magic” etched into the “dead wax.”

At the Beachland, local rockers Lords of the Highway will perform, and Knox will DJ alongside Linna.

Records, posters and T-shirts will be available at the concert, which marks Cullen O’Connor’s 17th birthday.

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel

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This situation is complicated by the near certainty that my boyfriend has some sort of hormonal disorder.

He has a very young face, a feminine figure, and not a lot of body hair. He orgasms but he does not ejaculate; and although he has a sizable penis, his testicles are more like the size of grapes than eggs. He struggles a lot with feeling abnormal and unmasculine. I try to be as supportive as possible and tell him how attracted to him I am. But he can tell his bi-ness makes me nervous and uncomfortable. I think that because he appears more feminine, I worry that he would feel more comfortable or “normal” with a man.

How do I stop worrying that he’s gay or would be happier with a man?

I feel horrible for these anxieties considering that I’m bi too, and should know better.

— Anonymous Nervous Girlfriend Seeks Tranquility “Many people who encounter us Bi+ folk in the wild just project their insecurities onto us with impunity and then blame us for it,” said RJ Aguiar, a bisexual activist and content creator whose work has been featured on Buzzfeed, HuffPo, Queerty and other sites. “As someone who’s bi herself, I’m sure ANGST know this all too well.”

So why are you doing it to your bisexual boyfriend?

“This hypothetical so-and-so-isgoing-to-leave-me-for-someone-hotter scenario could happen to anyone of any orientation,” said Aguiar. “But

48

| clevescene.com | February 21 - 27, 2018

maybe because the potential ‘pool of applicants’ is over twice as big for us Bi+ folk, we get stuck with twice as much of this irrational fear? I don’t know. But here’s what I do know: most Biphobia (and jealousy for that matter) is projected insecurity. Built into the fear that someone will leave you because they ‘like x or y better’ is the assumption that you yourself aren’t good enough.”

While feelings of insecurity and jealousy can undermine a relationship, ANGST, they don’t have to.

“We all have our moments!” said Aguiar. “But we can turn these moments into opportunities for open communication and intimacy. The key is to understand that feelings aren’t always rational. But if we can share those feelings with the person we love without fear of judgment or reprisal, it can help create a space of comfort and intimacy that no piece of ass will ever be able to compete with.”

I’m not going to lie to you, ANGST. Your boyfriend could be gay (some people who aren’t bisexual identify as bi before coming out as gay or lesbian), and/or he could one day realize that he’d be happier with a man (just as you could one day realize that you’d be happier with a woman).

But your wonderful sex life is pretty good evidence that your boyfriend isn’t gay.

Very few people wind up spending their lives with the person they were dating at 18. Stop worrying about the next six or seven decades of your life and enjoy this time and this boy and this relationship for however long it lasts.

Finally, on the off chance your boyfriend hasn’t spoken to a doctor, I shared your letter with Dr. John Amory, Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington.

“An 18-year-old male with testicles the ‘size of grapes’ indicates an issue with testicular development,” said Dr. Amory.

It could simply be delayed puberty or it could be something called Klinefelter syndrome.

“Bottom line: Small testes at age 18 means it’s time for a doctor’s visit,” says Dr. Amory.

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