Scene january 10, 2018

january 10–16, 2018 • VOLume 48 Issue 26

THINGS

YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

CLEVELAND MUSIC

IN 2018

Saturday & Sunday

BRUNCH SATURDAYS 9AM-2PM | SUNDAYS 9AM-3PM

CROP BISTRO & BAR | 2537 LORAIN AVE. CLEVELAND, OH | OHIO CITY | 216.696.2767 | CROPBISTRO.COM 2

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

GET YOUR BEACH BODY READY!

$ Breast Augmentations Scheduled Before 4-30-18

| clevescene.com m | Januaryy 100 - 16, 6, 201 2018 0 8

3

JANUARY 10–16, 2018 • VOLUME 48 NO 28 Dedicated to Free Times founder Richard H. Siegel (1935-1993) and Scene founder Richard Kabat Group Publisher Chris Keating

CONTENTS

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

Upfront

7

Cleveland police spokesperson has some words about the Browns parade, plus Frank Jackson gets Public Square wrong again

Feature

13

10 things you should know about Cleveland music in 2018

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

Art

23

33

Rising Business The inside scoop on Mediterra

28

Peace and happiness with Yoko Ono in Akron

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.

Stage

29

Angels land at Ensemble, but the results aren’t always heavenly

Film

31

The Post is better feminism than journalism

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’

Dining

33

Mediterra is a business built on bread, plus BrewDog’s plans in Cleveland

Music

37

Keller Williams goes solo at the Beachland, plus a last look back at our favorite albums of 2017

Savage Love

Photo by Douglas Trattner

...The story continues at clevescene.com Take

49

SCENE with you with the Issuu app! “Cleveland Scene Magazine�

Worms turn

COVER BY TOM CARLSON

THE ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY PRODUCTION OF

JANUARY 20 – FEBRUARY 11 | ALLEN THEATRE written by GEORGE BRANT | directed by NEIL PEPE

216.241.6000 | clevelandplayhouse.com 4

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

5

6

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

Photo by Emanuel Wallace

UPFRONT

CLEVELAND POLICE SPOKESPERSON ON BROWNS PARADE: ‘TODDLERS HAVING A TANTRUM’

THIS WEEK

ABOUT 3,000 FANS BRAVED sub-zero wind chills Saturday afternoon for the Browns Perfect Season Parade, a tongue-in-cheek protest/celebration of Jimmy Haslam & Co. after an 0-16 campaign that tied Cleveland with the Detroit Lions of 2008 for the single worst record in an NFL season since the league expanded the schedule to 16 games in 1978.

In the weeks before, as the losses mounted and the record solidified, the light-hearted event had been the subject of a bizarre amount of opprobrium, seemingly becoming, depending upon which side your opinion rested, a flashpoint referendum of sorts on fandom and city pride. Any fears of a disruptive or drunken gathering, let alone one that would somehow showcase the

KILLING OF THE SACRED BANGER Airbnb guest throws NYE “banger” in Seven Hills. Police called to break up party, but do keg stands instead, admitting the only time they’d seen anyone having fun in Seven Hills was during illegal harvesting of deer carcasses.

city in a less than favorable light, were predictably allayed as the parade, whose path was fittingly plotted to make a zero around FirstEnergy Stadium, began.

Fans were greeted with mostly PG-rated humor and floats including a dumpster, a Browns QB graveyard, season-ticket holders driving their brown and orange-festooned buses and vans, and an inflatable T-Rex

DANNY 6:3 Cavs’ owner Danny Gilbert, “moved by Tweet,” opens Tower City lobby to RTA patrons who’d been booted into subzero wind chills. Frank Jackson immediately says gesture is worth at least $10 million in new taxpayer subsidies for Q.

JESUITICAL CORRECTNESS Ohio announces that it will delist roughly 700 liquor varieties and sizes at state liquor stores. John Carroll Men’s Rights Activists protest the “gross indecency” of banning “Cruzan Banana,” their drink of choice for obvious anatomical reasons.

with a sign reading, “No. 1 fan the last time the Browns won.”

All in all, it was good, clean (cold) fun, and a cathartic opportunity for loyal fans to vent about our miserable team literally an hour or so before the NFL playoffs kicked off.

While any resultant anger had mostly subsided from those opposed to the ingenious spectacle by the time everyone headed for warmer

QUALITY OF LIFE Fingers crossed Pilot Flying-J tapes are way worse than anyone’s expecting and Haslam has no choice but to sell franchise, become monk. | clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

7

Arrested For

DUI/OVI" Know Your Rights.

Contact Attorney

Rachel Ladan

Vigorous DUI Defense from a Former Prosecutor

216 - 241- 8333

rladan@rcp-attorneys.com

UPFRONT environs to defrost their chilled appendages, it seemed one group was still harboring some disdain.

Jennifer Ciaccia, a spokesperson for the Cleveland police department, took to Twitter Sunday afternoon in response to a tweet from Christian Kirksey, one of the few Browns players to take an (ill-advised) public stance on the parade.

“A lot of us in law enforcement worked this silly event yesterday … babysitting some toddlers having a tantrum,” she wrote. “We’d do better to support our athletes. @ kirksey thanks for all you do in the community.”

Ciaccia later deleted the tweet because it had tagged Kirksey and she didn’t think involving him in a Twitter canoe of dissent was fair, but

DIGIT WIDGET 827 Current holds on Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,

by Michael Wolff, on ClevNet, the Cleveland Public Library’s online portal. There are eight available copies.

1 Ohio’s ranking among 50 states for high schools with Native American mascots. (There are 85 total Indian nicknames, with 12 “Redskins” and five “Redmen.”)

700 Approximate number of Ohio Amazon employees (about 10 percent of the company’s statewide workforce) who receive food stamps.

$8,500 Cash that Metroparks’ CEO Brian Zimmerman received for unused vacation time in 2017, added to his ballooning salary ($237,723 after a raise in December), SUV and generous retirement package.

8

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

our general objections to it are worth noting still for posterity.

Yes, it perhaps makes a mountain out of a molehill — this is about a fucking Browns parade, after all — but: 1) Cleveland police are paid and employed to protect us all, and for them to opine on which events merit their service and which don’t is troubling; 2) If some angry Browns fans engender this sort of response, imagine their disdain for protests of, ya know, actual issues; 3) City employees probably shouldn’t be in the business of insulting residents; 4) To proclaim we should “do better by our athletes” while openly complaining about serving residents is astoundingly dumb but perhaps not surprising; 5) “Toddlers having a tantrum” could more aptly describe the Cleveland police department’s response to being under a federal consent decree for systemic failings; 6) All that said, at least the continuity of unexamined support of failing institutions is unbroken here.

— VINCE GRZEGOREK

Frank Jackson is Still Dead Wrong About Public Square In an interview with Cleveland Magazine, conducted the day after he won the mayoral election in November (the unabridged version of which was published online last week), Frank Jackson suggested that inaccurate reporting was partially to blame for the Public Square controversy of 2016 and 2017.

“Accurate reporting would help,” Jackson said, when asked why many Clevelanders were under the impression he had wanted the Square closed permanently to RTA buses. “People would call me or people, when I went out to the community and I would talk to individuals or at a community meeting and they would ask me, I would explain it to them. They said, ‘Well, that makes sense, but that’s not what we were told.’ I said, ‘I know, but if you did not hear me say it, I didn’t say it. This is what I’m telling you.’”

Jackson also claimed, as Cleveland.com’s Chris Quinn has, that the Public Square debate was magnified in regional importance by the 2017 election season. The controversy, Jackson said, was in fact a “complete politicization,” of a simple issue.

The mayor felt that his views had been repeatedly misrepresented.

“I never said the square should be closed,” he said. “What I said is, we should engage in a process to determine two things: whether or

not it was feasible to close it and did not provide a financial hardship to RTA; and if operationally it worked, and if the financial hardship was not that severe, then how do you compensate for that? If it in any way was a financial hardship or feasibly you just couldn’t do it, then that was just supposed to be the determination.”

But the reporting on Public Square — spearheaded by the Plain Dealer’s Ginger Christ and supplemented by myself and a handful of TV newshounds — accurately recounted the above. In fact, the debate over Public Square was one of the more aggressively and regularly covered issues from November 2016, until March 2017, when the Square was re-opened to buses at last.

This is from Scene’s very first dispatch on Public Square’s closure, on Nov. 15, 2016: “Everybody knows the conspiracy, don’t they?” Jackson responded to a reporter. “People can believe what they want to believe, and it was not [that I intended to close it to buses from the beginning]. In our initial conversations with RTA, I said to them, ‘You know what my preference is, but if you can demonstrate to us that there’s an operational and

financial harm to RTA, then I will accept that.’”

Jackson’s views were repeated in Scene’s lengthy dismantling of the safety issues that the administration continually cited on Jan. 9, 2017.

Since its first discussions with RTA after the Republican National Convention, the city has always wanted two things, Jackson said: 1) a demonstration by RTA of the operational and financial burden caused by Superior Avenue’s closure through Public Square; and 2) a safety plan which addresses terrorism.

Jackson has indeed been consistent in his messaging. No one has accused him of being inconsistent! But his analysis for Cleveland Magazine was just plain wrong. The actual problem, as far as he was concerned, wasn’t reporting that misrepresented his stance; it was reporting that disagreed with his stance.

Here he is later in the interview: “We are still concerned about [Department of] Homeland Security issues. I don’t care what anybody says. If it was not feasible to close it, for economic or for expense reasons and operational reasons, then you have to demonstrate to me that it would have Homeland Security

concerns addressed.”

In other words, Jackson created a hurdle beyond his initial stipulations, one that was much more difficult to defeat. This hurdle was likewise reported upon earnestly and in considerable depth. In the best piece on the subject, Ginger Christ asked local experts to assess the threat of terrorism on Public Square.

The experts said that Public Square shouldn’t be seen as any more of a security risk than other popular venues in Cleveland. “If you start down that rabbit hole of defending everywhere, you end up defending nowhere,” said one. Events would be of much greater concern than day-to-day operations, said another.

Christ duly reported that the city was nevertheless still concerned about terrorism.

And while Scene (along with City Council, for the record) found Jackson’s terrorism rhetoric unconvincing — for one thing, as an expert explained, if you were serious

about it, you’d have to defend the entire perimeter, not just the central bus lanes — we nevertheless printed Jackson’s quotes and embedded video of a press conference on the subject in our online coverage.

But we also probed the mayor’s quotes. We didn’t accept his stance as gospel fact.

Furthermore, we noted the ultimate problem with his stance: that he’d adopted it after the renovated Square had been designed, built and paid for (at a cost $50 million).

Jackson’s intractable stance, and what it portended for the city’s relationship with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), threatened the long-term financial health of the RTA. Still, Jackson repeatedly pressed the FTA to fulfill obscure federal mandates and perform a safety study on the Square. These mandates turned out to be imaginary.

The FTA told Scene in January that it had no specific requirements for transit agencies regarding

BREAKING NEWS...

• WALK-INS WELCOME • Relaxation has never been better!

Low rates, great friendly staff.

Relaxation Limited

...HOT OFF THE INTERNET PRESS. O N LY AT C L E V E S C E N E . C O M

Cleveland

(216)671-3813 3834 W. 140 ST. | Cleveland, OH 44111

HOURS: Mon ~ Fri : 12PM ~ 10 PM Sat : 12 PM ~ 8 PM | Sun 1pm - 7pm

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

9

terrorism preparedness or mitigation. “Terrorism is an issue covered by the Transportation Security Administration, not FTA,� a spokesperson said.

The reporting on this subject clariďŹ ed, rather than clouded, a thorny, ever-evolving controversy.

And while blaming the press is all the rage these days among politicians, the fact remains: Without Ginger Christ’s daily, dogged, accurate reporting on Public Square, the public it was designed to serve would have been far less informed.

The other narrative thrust around which consensus appears to be forming is that the Public Square controversy was especially (or, taken to its extreme, only) controversial because 2017 was an election year.

Jackson’s unilateral decision was seen as a political vulnerability, in this version of events, and mayoral opponents leaped upon it as a hotbutton issue to wield against the incumbent.

Parts of this are true, but I don’t think the narrative should be accepted and repeated without

factor, and not necessarily even the most important one. — SAM ALLARD

Jeff Johnson to Run for Statewide OfďŹ ce Late Friday, former city councilman and recent mayoral candidate Jeff Johnson announced that he will seek statewide ofďŹ ce in 2018. He intends to challenge incumbent Sandra Williams in the 21st District of the Ohio State Senate.

Johnson represented the district, which encompasses Cleveland’s east side and many of its eastern innerring suburbs, from 1990 to 1998.

In a statement, Johnson said that he would work to provide increased funding for local municipalities. “Our state government must stop undermining local governments, taking away valuable resources and ignoring the challenges local ofďŹ cials and citizens have to ďŹ ght each day,â€? Johnson said. “I want to go to the state senate and ďŹ ght for Northeast Ohio and local municipalities across the state.â€?

Sandra Williams, who recently ran for the Cuyahoga County Democratic party chair, said she’d been told she could expect a primary challenger after she deďŹ ed the

Over 70 Years Downtown Cleveland

(URON 2OAD $OWNTOWN #LEVELAND s s WWW JEROLDOPTICAL COM

10

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Ohio “Voter Purge� Case It’s been a long time coming, but the U.S. Supreme Court is prepared now to hear oral arguments in Ohio’s “voter purge� case, which has taken a national spotlight as we carry on with conversations about how elections function in this country.

The gist, as we’ve written: “Secretary of State Jon Husted’s ofďŹ ce had actively scrubbed tens of

Pop Up

TRANSFORMERS & HE-MAN ★

>r^l >qZfbg^] Â? FZkd =Zobl% H=

establishment by taking on Shontel “Not a Puppet� Brown. Williams ultimately lost in the county party race, despite a plea from outgoing chair Stu Garson for members to vote for either Williams or Newburgh Heights mayor Trevor Elkins instead of Brown. “Of course, it could be because Jeff [Johnson] is unemployed and needs somewhere to go,� Williams told Cleveland.com, assessing her challenger.

Johnson said he has already secured the endorsement of congresswoman Marcia Fudge and new city councilman Anthony Hairston, who has replaced Johnson in Cleveland’s Ward 10. — ALLARD

VINTAGE APPAREL Shop

Seeing Is Believing BIG FUN... &OHYHODQG¡V %HVW 7R\ 6WRUH Gifts for all ages, Cleveland Souvenirs, T- Shirts, Gag Gifts, Greeting Cards.

Come see what everyone is talking about.

Cash for Old Toys, Legos, Star Wars, GI Joes, Transformers, Hot Wheels, NINTENDO, PokĂŠman Rock Concert T-shirts

WE BUY & SELL OLD TOYS 1814 Coventry Road | Cleveland Heights (216) 371-4386 facebook.com/bigfuntoystore | www.bigfuntoystore.com

LEGO ★ STAR WARS ★ GI JOE

★ LEGO ★ ROCK CONCERT T-SHIRTS

UPFRONT

scrutiny either.

For one thing, unlike the Q Deal, which indeed was a prominent and much-talked-about issue during the summer primary campaign season (not to mention a regular ďŹ xture of the mayoral Q&As), the Public Square debate was deeply in the rear view by the time the campaigns were underway.

If and when public transit was discussed at mayoral events, it was almost always from the perspective of sustaining the RTA in the face of imminent revenue losses.

Candidate Tony Madalone got some positive press for proposing a city department of transportation, and other candidates got on board. It was a smart idea which Frank Jackson has shown no sign of embracing or exploring.

The Public Square controversy was controversial for many reasons, among them the weighty ďŹ nancial implications; the bold and remorseless expansion of Frank Jackson’s mayoral powers; the utter disregard for established plans, policy, and taxpayer dollars.

The 2017 mayoral election was certainly a factor as well — look no further than councilman Zack Reed’s recurring presence at protests — but it was by no means the exclusive

NEVER WORN VINTAGE KNITWEAR 100% Wools, Cottons, made right here in Cleveland. Cool styles, fabrics and designs.

Great Prices!

1782 Coventry Rd (Old American Apparel space)

STORE CLOSING! 50% OFF EVERYTHING!!

Hours: Tuesday-Saturday: 12-8 | Sunday : 12-6

thousands of registered Ohio voters from the rolls. The rationale was convoluted, insisting for the most part that those voters had either failed to show up at the polls in recent years or failed to confirm their home addresses. Some were legit: People die and people move out of Ohio, and their names should indeed be dropped from the database.

The total extent of the purge has remained unclear. State officials point out that this has been businessas-usual for years.”

The legality of that process — the “purge” of registered voters who haven’t voted in the past two years in Ohio — is in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court now, which will decide whether Husted’s office acted within the bounds of the constitution. That argument has bounced back and forth between court decisions in the past several years. This federal decision is expected to rest the case.

Husted has adamantly defended the process: “This case is about maintaining the integrity of our elections, something that will be harder to do if elections officials are not able to properly maintain the voter rolls,” he said in a recent public statement.

The other side of the argument, helmed in part by the ACLU, looks to language in the National Voter Registration Act: “Voting in the United States is not a ‘use it or lose it’ right. Ohio’s practice violates the National Voter Registration Act — sometimes called the Motor Voter Law — which expressly prohibits removing voters solely because they did not vote in an election or return a piece of mail.”

Oral arguments begin Jan. 10.

— ERIC SANDY

Tanner Fischbach, Cuyahoga County’s Boy King, To Run Once More Thanks to the watchful eyes of the ace reporters at Cleveland. com, we can revel in the announced candidacy of Tanner Fischbach in this year’s Cuyahoga County executive race. And if that name sounds familiar, then you’re already ahead of the curve.

Fischbach ran in the last race (2014), as a self-proclaimed “young Republican punk” from Berea. We chronicled his campaign, which, if anything, pointed out some of the shortcomings of a Democratic stronghold like Cuyahoga County.

When he ran for a council seat in 2016, he dutifully placed a spotlight on the southern reaches

of the county. His argument then, and in 2014, was that the county is focused too narrowly on the business interests of its downtown Cleveland core. Back then, the obsession was honed on the red carpet for the Republican National Convention; now, there’s a lot of work to be done and a good deal of county debt to tackle.

It’s early in the race, of course, so it’s hard to say how things will pan out. Fischbach is the only candidate to have pulled petitions at this point.

Incumbent Armond Budish will almost certainly run again. In 2014, Budish defeated Republican opponent Jack Schron, who’s held steady as a critical voice on county council.

—SANDY

Scene Updates: Eric Sandy Has Flown the Coop It is with solemnity that we report on our friend and colleague Eric Sandy who, last week, concluded a five-year stint at Scene. Eric served as both staff writer and managing editor here, and will be sorely missed. He has taken a job with GIE Media, a local business-to-business magazine company, and will report and edit stories in the burgeoning field of cannabis production with (we trust) the same fervor and bonhomie that he shared with us.

Eric covered vital local stories on the criminal justice, mental health, music and environment beats.

In 2017, his features tackled an illegal East Cleveland trash dump; the sordid history of local digital redlining, whereby AT&T excluded poor neighborhoods from high-speed internet access; and the wrongful conviction of Kevin Keith in southern Ohio. Last year, he singlehandedly produced an oral history of Speak in Tongues, one of the greatest music stories Scene has ever published. He was one of the region’s top reporters and was committed to expanding the influence and reach of Scene’s news coverage. Everything about him, even his near daily insertion of Phish into conversations and stories, will be missed.

While we’re sad to see him go, we’re excited to bring aboard someone new. Scene is now accepting applications for a full-time staff writer. Send cover letters, resumes and clips to editor Vince Grzegorek (vgrzegorek@clevescene.com). We expect to fill the position within 2 to 3 weeks.

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

9751 CHESTER AVE. CLEVELAND, OH 44106 216.471.8956 www.urbancle.com

Serving The Freshest Locally-Sourced Ingredients MON- SAT: 8a- 9p | Sunday: CLOSED ly F a m id & e n w O ated!

Oper

1390 1 3 W. 9TH STREET

216-687-9494 2

CLEVELANDMALLORCA C LE L .COM (C LEV LEVEL AND W AREHOUSE D ISTRICT )

A TASTE OF SPAIN & PORTUGAL IN DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND FOL OLLOW US ON

@mallorcagroup

Voted Best Seafood In Cleveland 4 Years In A Row! Plan Your Company Party With Mallorca!

(Accommodates groups of 25 or more)

HAPPY HOUR EVERYDAY from 3pm-6pm! rating CelebYears 0 !

2 rvice Of Se

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

11

12

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

FEATURE 10 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CLEVELAND MUSIC IN 2018

By Scene Staff Photo by Emanuel Wallace

Brite Winter Festival

C

leveland is a music town, even if the sports and restaurants take center stage in the national headlines. Gone, however, are the days of Alan Freed. Instead, bands and artists in Cleveland today have taken that spirit of rock ’n’ roll and pushed it to the limit — sometimes in freezing-cold outdoor festival environs. It’s been a thrill to watch this all unfold.

At the beginning of each year, we usually profile about a dozen bands that are worth checking out in the next year. Maybe they’ve got a new album coming out, or they’re headlining some interesting event at Nelson. Maybe they’re just so darn interesting that it would be irresponsible not to write about them in our pages.

This year, though, we’re changing things up a bit. We’d like to present to you a more conceptual outlook on 2018, in hopes that we can corral even more good music into this annual endeavor. With that, we’d encourage you to keep an ear tilted toward these 10 things you should know about Cleveland music this year.

Happy listening.

The Agora Will Close in January for Remodeling Over the summer, the Agora Theatre held a press conference to announce an agreement with AEG Presents, LLC, a company that bills itself as a “global leader in concert promotion and venue management.”

The company has entered into an agreement with current operator Chris Zitterbart. AEG Presents currently operates 60 theaters and

clubs throughout the country. The company, which promotes or books nearly 10,000 events worldwide, plans to “invest capital” in the historic theater and will oversee upgrades to the acoustics, lighting and sound systems. It will upgrade the hospitality spaces, dressing rooms and guest amenities.

Since the theater, which has a capacity of 2,000 in its main hall and 600 in its ballroom, opened in

the 1960s, it has hosted acts such as Bruce Springsteen, U2, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, the Clash, Duran Duran and ZZ Top. “The opportunity to work with AEG Presents and to have them enter the Cleveland music scene is significant,” says Chris Zitterbart, operator of the Agora Theatre for the past four years. “They represent the best of having not only the resources necessary to grow the

business, but because they also remain independently and privately owned they can afford to be patient and do things the right way. That combination bodes well for the future of the Agora Theatre and the types of shows they will bring to this market.”

Agora Theatre and Ballroom operator Chris Zitterbart, AEG Presents chief operating officer Shawn Trell and City of Cleveland councilman TJ Dow met with reporters at the Agora Theatre and Ballroom to announce the changes, and Trell told reporters he was “happy, privileged and pleased” to announce what he called a “co-ownership” of the venue and promised improvements to the venue would result in an “uptick” in the number of concerts the venue hosts.

The venue will close in January so that some of the modifications can be done. It’ll reopen in February with concerts from BORNS (Feb. 8), Neck Deep (Feb. 10) and Machine Head (Feb. 16). The early 2018 schedule also includes appearances by acts such as Portugal.The Man (Feb. 18), Dan Auerbach (March 31) and the Darkness (April 14). (Jeff Niesel)

Blossom is Bound to Have Another Banner Year If you ventured out to Blossom last summer, you know it was quite a year for the outdoor shed nestled in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

The Dead & Co. show drew such an enormous crowd that traffic was snarled for hours. (We missed Photo by CP Thornton

Blossom Music Center | clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

13

Photo by Peter Larsen

FEATURE the entire first set while trying to navigate our way into the parking lot.) Chance the Rapper and Green Day also drew enormous capacity crowds that led to long lines at the concession stands and restrooms.

And that’s not to mention the big country concerts that came to the venue or the punk rock festival Warped Tour, all big draws as well.

For 2018, Live Nation, which exclusively books all the concerts at the venue except for the classical ones, has announced a handful of Blossom shows, including Foreigner (July 10), Weezer/Pixies (July 11), Foo Fighters (July 25) and Niall Horan (Aug. 29). In its final year, Warped Tour is set to return to the venue on July 19. Each year, Live Nation also offers a country “megaticket” that includes admission to the big country shows that routinely come to the venue.

The schedule at Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica, also booked by Live Nation, includes Odesza (May 4), Yanni (May 18) and Barenaked Ladies (July 15). “The 2017 Blossom Music Center and Jacobs Pavilion concert season was incredibly successful,”

says Live Nation’s Barry Gabel. “The best part of the Live Nation summer schedule was the diversity of our programming. Based on what I am hearing, the 2018 summer concert schedule will provide music fans with another exciting lineup with similar diversity in genres at both venues.”

No word on whether there will be an attempt to alleviate traffic woes and add some portable restrooms, so fans don’t have to pee in the woods.

(Niesel)

Cleveland Producers Have Been Soundtracking Rap’s A-List Though local rap artists haven’t quite gotten a foothold on the national scene, the same can’t be said for producers from the Cleveland area. Beatmakers with Cleveland roots have been flying under the radar and getting major placements for national acts. Here are a few: Drum God: The local 14-year-old (yes, 14, you read that correctly) has been popping in trap’s underground, teasing snippets on his Instagram of collaborations with critically acclaimed YG, Atlanta it-kid YFN Lucci, and Los Angeles melodic rapper Yung Pinch. Add those onto tracks with Playboi Carti and Rich

the Kid, and this kid has had a pretty memorable freshman year of high school.

M Stacks: With credits for Mac Miller, Wiz Khalifa, and Curren$y under his belt, the Tequila Ranch house DJ nabbed his biggest single, the 10-million Youtube viewed “Like I Am,” on Rittz’s 2013 album, The Legend of Jonny Valiant. Rittz’s fall album, Last Call, hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Rap charts, and M. Stacks-produced “I’m Only Human” has emerged as a fan favorite.

TrapMoneyBenny: Detailed in Scene’s November cover story on the local hip-hop scene, Mentornative TrapMoneyBenny has been a trailblazer for the iconic wonky, playful, trap-laden vibes of Soundcloud rap’s emergence.

In the past year, Benny has had beats snatched up by Chicago Drill pioneer Chief Keef, Playboi Carti and Atlanta’s 21 Savage.

16yrold: The Oberlin native (now 18 years of age) splashed onto the scene two years ago with the booming, sparkling “rita ora,” since being tacked onto the ranks of superstar producer collective 808 Mafia. Buzzing emerging artists Desiigner, Sahbabii, Nessly, and Ski Mask The Slump God have all tapped the youngster for multi-million

Village Bicycle

streamed tracks over the past few months.

Sosa 808: Managed by the same crew as local rap phenom Ripp Flamez, the 20-year-old Sosa 808 nabbed Producer of the Year accolades at this year’s Ohio HipHop Awards — with good reason.

Sosa has gotten placements on huge tracks this year, including a fall collab with A$AP Rocky and Famous Dex, “Pick It Up.” Alongside tracks with PNB Rock and Fetty Wap, the local instrumentalist is riding high into 2018.

Nate Fox: Though he only spent

Jan 20, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.

Jan 21, 2018 at 3:00 p.m.

Ohio Theatre

Brazil’s

“This astonishingly versatile Brazilian troupe are (an) unstoppable force.”

Grupo Corpo

THE GUARDIAN

DANCE COMPANY C O - PRE S E NTE D BY

D A N C E C L E V E L A N D I S G E N E R O U S LY F U N D E D B Y

JOSE LUIZ PEDEREIRAS

14

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

five years dabbling in Cleveland’s music scene, the Pennsylvania native cut his teeth in this Rust Belt city before he launched into superstardom. Alongside beats for DRAM, Big Sean and Kehlani, Fox has been Chance the Rapper’s primary producer since 2013, painting the sonic landscape for the Chicagan’s meteoric rise — with the Grammys to prove it. (Lawrence Neil)

The Panza Foundation Has a Great Track Record of Helping Local Bands and Musicians For the past several years, the Panza Foundation has established itself not just as a fundraising benefactor of local bands and musicians, but as a purveyor of local taste. The recipients of the foundation’s annual awards are hailed appropriately as bands you should be listening to right now, bands you should go see live at all costs.

Those who don’t heed this advice will miss out on some of the best that Cleveland’s vibrant music scene has to offer.

The Panza Foundation is helmed by musician John Panza and writer Jana Panza.

For 2018, the foundation will lend its support to FreshProduce., a female hip-hop duo about which we’ve published high praise, and one of our “Bands to Watch” in 2016; Pillars, a doom metal trio with a vision that spans both old and new sounds; Uno Lady, a “one-woman choir” who uses looping effects to create lush vocal settings; and the Village Bicycle, a gritty female-led indie band and another one of our “Bands to Watch” in 2016.

Our point is this: The Panza Foundation is a treasure for the Cleveland music scene, and these four bands are well worth your time.

If you’ve missed out on local shows in recent years, use these groups as foundations to get you into places like Happy Dog, Now That’s Class and Grog Shop on a regular basis. These are modern Cleveland institutions, and Panza has spotlit a path into the inner sanctum, just for you.

To get a sense of how Panza’s picks have panned out: Last year, the Panza Foundation awarded funding to Mourning [A] BLKstar, FYPM, Deche and Glass Traps. That’s a mighty fine list, we’ve got to say.

We featured Mourning [A] BLKstar in this same annual feature last year. They’ve remained a dynamite force on the local music scene. You’ll not want to miss these next four Panza-backed artists in 2018. (Eric Sandy)

Sixth City Sounds is Planning a Big Year with Even More Music on RTA Trains We happily wrote about Sixth City Sounds when it launched last year, hosting “mixing sessions” for the music community around Cleveland. The group, helmed by Chayla Hope, Jeanette Sangston and Teddy Eisenberg, seeks to connect and promote the scene here in town.

“It is something that adds to what makes Cleveland unique,” Eisenberg told us at the time, describing the rich tapestry of

bands and musicians along the North Shore. It’s a deep history, indeed; and it’s one that could use a little extra spotlight in a city overwhelmed at times by entertainment options. That’s where Sixth City comes in.

One of the group’s main initiatives in 2017 was its RTA Summer Jam Sessions. These seemingly impromptu appearances from musicians on Red Line trains or outside stations, for instance, is a conduit that can very easily connect riders of all stripes with musicians who are seen mostly under the lights at the Grog. It’s

projects like that (and several more) that are tapping into Cleveland’s DIY ethos — circumventing the east/west divide and the LiveNation booking stranglehold on the city’s music venues.

Last year, Sixth City hosted singer-songwriters like Ray Flanagan and Rachel Shortt at various spots throughout the RTA network. Direct interaction there mirrors the “mixing sessions” that brought musicians and music stakeholders together at Happy Dog at the Euclid Tavern and at Beachland Tavern last year; more of those to come, too. (Sandy)

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

15

LIVE AREA= 19.25 X 12”

COLD DAYS & NIGHTS

16

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

HOT HAPPY HOURS

6

3,5,76

)22'

/

//(<%$/ 92

+ 251 2/( &

0,7&+(//·6 7 $ 9 ( 5 1 :HVWODNH 2+

CLEVESCENE.COM

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

17

FEATURE The Earnest Tube Can Record Music Directly to Vinyl

Find your happy hour.

'RZQORDG 6&(1(·V RԀFLDO happy hour app today! clevescene.com/happyhours

HALF PRICE HAIRCUTS AND $1.00 FACIALS EVERY THURSDAY 11AM TO 3 PM

Expires 1/31/18 © c { { y

VAPORIZERS

DAILY SPECIALS Tuesday – $1 Hot Lather Shave/Beard Trim Day with a purchase of a any haircut Wednesday – “Ladies Day” Buy a basic haircut at $6 and receive a Shampoo, Eyebrows or Facial for $1 Thursday - $1 Facial Day with the purchase of a any haircut.

The School that Barbers Recommend!

NOW HIRING! CLEVELAND EASTLAKE

REGULAR MEN’S HAIRCUTS $5 HAIRCUT WITH LINE-UP $6 FADES $8

GLASS PIPES BUTANE TORCHES INCENSE DIGITAL SCALES DETOX GRINDERS

Your One Stop Shops for All of Your

TATTOO SUPPLY NEEDS STRONGSVILLE CLEVELAND

4264 Pearl Rd. 216.749.3440

19097 Drake Rd. 440.572.8287

EASTLAKE

GIRARD

32888 Vine St. 440.942.8668

16 N. State St. 330.545.8131

LORAIN

BARBERTON

832 Broadway 440.242.4080

536 W. Tuscarawas 330.753.0500

AKRON

MANSFIELD

1004 Kenmore Blvd.

330.753.3600

532 Park Ave. W 419.522.1695

SEE OUR AD ON THE BACK COVER

18

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

STORE HOURS: Tuesday-Saturday: 9am-5pm 2546 Lorain Avenue, Ohio City One block west of the Westside Market

216-241-6684

allstatehairstyling.com

Before 1950, most music was recorded directly to a wax or lacquer disc or cylinder. Recording engineers used special “cutting machines” to carve grooves into the medium that could then be played by a stylus. After 1950, most music was recorded directly to magnetic tape.

In 2016, local audio engineers Clint Holley and Dave Polster, both of whom work at the local vinyl mastering company Well Made Music, launched a side project, the Earnest Tube, in an effort to revive the pre-1950 method of making recordings. They use several vintage cutting lathes to recreate the experience of recording live to disc. It’s direct-to-disc mono recording in the tradition of the 1927 Bristol recording sessions that marked the commercial debuts of Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family and gave the Tennessee town its rep as the birthplace of country music. Holley and Polster work out of a building in Bristol and out of the 78th Street Studios here in Cleveland.

“Dave and I are cutting engineers on a day-to-day for Well Made Music,” says Holley, who does all the mastering for the local vinyl production plant Gotta Groove Records. “It’s great, but we miss

They’ve also recorded Analog Rebellion, a collaboration celebrating “the importance and power of free expression.” The ACLU benefit album features 10 local acts singing songs related to civil liberties.

This year, the Earnest Tube will partner with the local Roots of American Music to record singersongwriter David Childers at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Louis Penfield House in Willoughby.

“That will be the test plate for a project that will involve recording musicians in historic buildings,” says Holley. “I want to try to match the musician to the space. We’d like to pick a few different cities and match the musicians to the place and have a photographer document it as well. It’s in the vein of John and Alan Lomax, who used to collect regional music. We want to show that regional music still exists even if you don’t hear it on the radio.” (Niesel)

Rock Hall Renovations Will Continue

Last year, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame unveiled its new “All Access” Dining & Events, which features food service from Cleveland chefs Michael Symon, Jonathon Sawyer and Rocco Whalen. It also launched a signature multimedia presentation production by Oscar-winning filmmaker Jonathan Demme. Other renovations in the works for this year include the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Signature Experience, which will combine enhanced inductee exhibits.

Photo by Samantha Fryberger The renovations come in advance of the 2108 Inductions, slated to take place in Cleveland for the first time since 2015.

Induction Rock Week events, which will feature free admission for local fans and a sneak peek at the all-new Hall of Fame Inductee Experience, will The Earnest Tube’s Clint Holley precede the ceremony, records music directly to vinyl. which takes place on April 14 at Pubic Hall.

On April 13, the new Hall of being in the studio when people are Fame Inductee Experience will creating music. We don’t do that now, open. It will transform the Rock and we miss seeing that spark of inspiration. That tied with my fandom Hall’s entire third floor with “interactive displays, iconic artifacts of country music and how that was and multimedia that document recorded inspired the idea for the the past 30 years of inductions.”

Earnest Tube, so it seemed like a Additionally, the Rock Hall will natural extension of what we do.” open a new exhibit, Rock & Roll on So far, Holley and Polster have Television, on May 25. recorded an album with Akron“The three things we’re always raised singer-songwriter Tim thinking about are making sure Easton as well as singles with local singer-songwriters Thor Platter and we’re telling a story, making sure we find ways to connect to multiple Charles Hill.

generations and giving people an experience,” says Todd Mesek, the Rock Hall’s vice president of marketing and communications, who spoke to us recently at the opening of the Rock Hall’s revamped Beatles’ exhibit. “A lot of the experience stems from the exhibits themselves, but we’ll have curators and educators talking to groups of people and adding to the experience that way.” In addition, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Library & Archives, which is located on Tri-C’s Metro Campus, will continue to digitize its collection and host author readings. (Niesel)

The Underground Music Showcase at the Grog Shop Has Taken Flight Curtis Jay and Brady Payne have upped the ante in 2017. With a decade of experience promoting parties, the eastside duo kick-started the Underground Music Showcase in March to bring unity to a dispersed local rap scene and a stage to its most talented, unseen members. Five editions in, and the hip-hop centric offering of the city’s emerging talent has taken flight.

Hosted at the Grog Shop, the showcase curates a collection of about 15 artists to play three to

a dynamite all-female lineup as the group teamed up with Akron breast cancer awareness nonprofit Not Just October, and December featured a best-of-the-best bill from the event’s first year.

With a robust debut and no dip in demand, expect Jay and Payne’s Underground Music Showcase to thrive in 2018 as they vault even more emerging artists into the spotlight. (Neil)

Northeast Ohio Music Festivals Will Flourish Again Underground Music Showcase

four song sets before an audience of fans, fellow artists and local industry tastemakers. Despite being an “underground” event, some of the vital players of the local rap ecosystem have made appearances: DJs from Steph Floss to Corey Grand to Nic Nacc show face or co-host, crown prince Ripp Flamez dropped in for a surprise performance at the most recent show, and buzzing young dance duo Nahzzy and Legend popped in for their summer edition.

In the nine months since

opening up the UMS platform connecting up-and-coming rappers and singers, over a thousand artists have applied to be featured, and it’s easy to see why. As a baseline, artists selected as the evening’s best performers win studio time and engineering from local producer P The Artist. A lucky few have gone on to flip strong live acts into radio spins, management contracts and even a slot at 107.9’s Summer Jamz for showcase winner Bellaire Roseff. October’s edition featured

Cleveland has no shortage of music festivals, even if they aren’t nationally recognized behemoths like Lollapalooza and Coachella. And that’s no problem: We’ll keep these special events to ourselves, thanks.

Here’s a look at what to expect in 2018.

Feb. 24 Brite Winter Festival West Bank of the Flats A mostly outdoor Cleveland music festival in February? Of course.

For the past few years, locals have more than gotten used to the idea, showing up through blizzards and frigid temps to hear a slate of great local and national bands. This year’s

Life is Hard

You Should Be, Too

Shockwave restores sexual function in men. No pain, no surgery, no downtime.

Mention this ad to get three treatments for just $500.

Call 216-245-6682 to schedule a free consultation.

Dr. Laurel’s PRP Bar 3439 W. Brainard Rd., Woodmere

DrLaurelsPRPBar.com

and don’t miss

5#55; /#/#5

6($621 running F eb. 8 — Mar. 4 UHJLRQDO SUHPLHUH

216.79 5.707 0 | K A R AM U HO U SE. OR G

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

19

GIFT IDEAS FOR LUCK LADIES! Party Wigs- Fast Way To Go Blonde & Part-Time Hot Red! Wonder Woman Gift CertiďŹ cates for Beauty Services & Products Younger girls like nail polish BUY ONE GET ONE 50% OFF! Bows, Headbands & Princess Package for Nails and Hair Accessory

Call Us For Your Appointment...

Carabel Beauty Salon-Store 15309 Madison Ave. Full Service Salon For Females

WE WENT OUT WHEN YOU COULDNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T. EVENT SLIDESHOWS. ONLY AT CLEVESCENE.COM

Ă&#x17D; "? */-?Ă&#x20AC;$& ? -0$ ??? *?Ă&#x20AC; ? 3? *-?!''? */???Ă&#x20AC;$&$) ?! 0 )"/- . Ă&#x17D; *".? ?Ă&#x20AC;$& .E? '*" $) >?! ..*-$ .?ON SALE

SALES, SERVICE, REPAIRS FAT & MOUNTAIN BIKE RENTALS. #30"%8": "7& #&%'03% r Ų ų ŏ#*,& Ų

Located less than one mile from the Bedford Reservation singletrack bike trail

Under New Ownership 36495 Vine St. Willoughby USE PROMO CODE 420 AT CHECK OUT FOR

CBD IN STORE

10% OFF ENTIRE PURCHASE

KRATOM IN STORE

CBD Oils & Edibles Synthetic Urine & Detox Products T-Shirts | Cards Candles Incense & Burners | Jewelry | Posters Tobacco Products | Peweter & Ceramic Fantasy Statues & Much More!!

20

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

FEATURE free festival features headliners Atlas Genius, an alt-rock band out of Adelaide, South Australia. But as always, the festival focuses on local talent. Among the 40 bands on this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bill: Seafair, Obnox, Herzog, Freshproduce and Mourning [A] BLKstar. Expect six indoor and outdoor stages, along with a slew of vendors, food trucks, ice sculptures and warming ďŹ res. Find out more at britewinter.com.

April 20-22 The 2018 EarlyBird Festival at Nelson Ledges Nelson Ledges Quarry Park, 12001 Nelson Ledge Rd., Garrettsville Kicking off the season of highly anticipated music festivals at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park is the EarlyBird Festival, featuring Daytonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own rock act, the Werks. You can also participate in a cliff-jumping polar plunge to get the blood ďŹ&#x201A;owing. Also scheduled this summer: the Spring BadďŹ sh Festival running June 8 to 10, and Classic Fest for the weekend of June 15 to 17. Go ahead and watch ticketquarry.com throughout 2018 for more details.

June 9-10 LaureLive Laurel School, 7420 Fairmount Rd., Shaker Heights Look out for the biggest lineup in LaureLiveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s short history this June.

With huge headliners Foster the People, Brandi Carlile, Fitz & the Tantrums and Cold War Kids on board, the $100 general admission weekend pass isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t as hard to swallow. Also coming to LaureLiveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lush lawns, thanks to local promoter Elevation Group, are X Ambassadors, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Daya, Red Wanting Blue, Magic Giant and the Record Company. Area singer Emily Keener, a 2016 ďŹ nalist on The Voice, will also be a highlight of the outdoor music festival. Learn more at laurelive.com.

July 19 Warped Tour Blossom Music Center, 1145 West Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s okay to get emotional, punk fans, because touring festival season will never be the same again. In November, Vans Warped Tour founder and producer Kevin Lyman announced the event would cease its full run of stops after 2018. For 23 years, the Warped Tour has brought veteran punks and emo teens together under the blazing summer

sun. Huge bands like No Doubt, Bad Religion, Fall Out Boy and Blink-182 all played the event. The tour comes to Blossom Music Center once more this July (the lineup has yet to be announced). After 2018, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unclear what the festival will look like exactly, but as itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the last of its kind, next summerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s turnout could be one of the biggest in years. Find out more at vanswarpedtour.com.

September 2018 Ingenuity Festival Downtown Cleveland While not much is yet known about this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ingenuity Festival, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be remiss to not mention the weekendlong interactive celebration of music, science, technology, art, dance and humanness. Created by James Levin and Thomas Mulready more than a decade ago, the event highlights our regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s creativity while showcasing a variety of underutilized spaces in downtown Cleveland. Check ingenuitycleveland.com to stay updated on the 2018 festival. (Laura Morrison)

Local Musicians Are Making Good on the National Stage Kid Cudi and Machine Gun Kelly may be the biggest local names to hit nationwide notoriety in recent years, but come 2018, they might not be the only ones. A healthy roster of local acts and musicians is poised on the cusp of wider recognition. For many of these groups, 2017 was a giant leap forward. And theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not done yet.

Cloud Nothings Last year, along with the likes of Machine Gun Kelly, the indierock act Cloud Nothings played Lollapalooza and also toured relentlessly behind its fourth studio album Life Without Sound. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to say,â&#x20AC;? Dylan Baldi told Scene last month when asked about 2017â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highlights. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We played shows that were the biggest weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve played. But it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel that way. We had a giant show in March in London; it was a huge, sold-out show. But it felt like a show, it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel like a milestone. It was weird. I feel like at this point it almost is â&#x20AC;Ś weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re gonna keep doing it until we have to stop, until nobody comes to see the show anymore.

Right now itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Okay, we did this year, we survived this. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s do it again.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?

Up next for the Cloud Nothings: an Australian tour in February and plans for a new album.

Tropidelic Opening for 311 in 2017 was just the tip of the iceberg for the fun-loving

Photo by Reybee Inc.

Lighthouse and the Whaler

reggae/hip-hop/funk act Tropidelic.

Last year, the crew also headlined its own Freakstomp Music Festival in Medina, sold out a slew of shows in Cleveland and released its highly anticipated new album, Heavy is the Head, in November, which hit No. 1 on the iTunes reggae chart. Not bad for a little band from Kent. Since moving to Cleveland a few years back, the group has gained serious traction, sharing stages with the likes of other reggae-influenced bands including Slightly Stoopid, the Dirty Heads, Sublime with Rome and the Wailers.

Up next: opening for Flobots and Badfish on national tours. Also playing the Reggae Rise Up Music Festival in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Welshly Arms After playing Jimmy Kimmel Live and having their tunes featured in ads for the NFL, Indian Motorcycles and Beck’s beer, you might wonder how much bigger Welshly Arms could get. Plenty, we expect. Their catchy-as-hell track “Legendary” (we’re talking more than 20 million listens on Spotify) might be their most well-known song, but the band’s whole catalog is required listening.

Up next: headed out on a fourmonth national tour starting at the end of January.

Lighthouse and the Whaler Everything about local indie rockers the Lighthouse and the Whaler continues to burn bright. Ever since 2015’s Mont Royal received glowing national attention, the band’s been in hot demand, touring with Ra Ra Riot, Run River North and Surfer Blood and getting their songs played on TV shows like Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Last fall, they were back with a fresh EP, Paths, which, as singer Michael LoPresti told Scene in September, explores a theme of battling for relevancy. “I feel like it’s a struggle to be in a band and people don’t fully see that. They look

at it from the outside,” LoPresti said.

“There’s a lot of struggle, especially now, and it’s hard to be relevant in any way. It’s hard to rise above that noise as a band. Basically, it is just difficult to matter.”

Up next: While no tour dates are set yet, presumably the band plans to tour behind the recent EP and keep “battling.”

Fuck You Pay Me As their name suggests, the Cleveland-based hardcore act Fuck You Pay Me is direct. And bracing.

And loud. Which is one of the reasons the rambunctious crew goes over so well touring around the country — that and their awesome band shirts, of course. The band got into action this year rolling through the West Coast, Midwest, New England and the South, thanks in part to a grant from the local Panza Foundation. On top of that, the four-piece released Dumbed Down, and also contributed a cover of the Subhumans’ track “Religious Wars” to the punk compilation album Still Having Their Say. Up next: Expect regional touring and maybe even a new album. The goal is also to do a show in Hawaii.

Archie and the Bunkers Teen brothers Emmett and Cullen O’Connor now summer in Europe.

Since signing to a label across the pond, the guys have found success internationally. This summer they got down to business overseas with the She’s a Rockin’ Machine EP release, a European tour and a video for “You’re My Pacemaker.” Through it all, the high-fidelity organ punk act still made time to come home to Cleveland multiple times.

Up next: This February, expect a new 45 release from Norton Records and a Beachland Ballroom show. A new LP is on the horizon. (Morrison)

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

Wednesday Darts and $1 Sliders

Thursday OPEN MIC NITE hosted by comedian Gary Graham come share your talents all instruments and Genres are encouraged

Upcoming Bands: Sunset Harmony January 20

Sunday Come Watch THE FOOTBALL PLAY on our two 100” screen projectors and 10 TV’s Open Pool Tournament ($5 to enter)

38107 Second Street Willoughby, OH 44094

(440) 602-9780

Tuesday Night

FOOSBALL TOURNAMENTS Sign Up At 7PM

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

21

' ;

BA

22

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

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

WED

Cleveland Orchestra tonight as it tackles Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, a piece that one critic says is “the most heavenly thing” the composer ever wrote. The concert begins at 7:30, and guest speaker Roger C. Klein from the Temple Tifereth Israel will give the pre-concert talk, at 6:30.

Check the orchestra’s website for ticket prices and more info.rmation.

Performances continue through Saturday. (Niesel) 11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.

01/10

COMEDY

Kevin Bozeman Comedian Kevin Bozeman likes to joke about the mundane. “I got one thing out of college,” he likes to say.

“Bad credit.” With his high-pitched voice, Bozeman practically winces as he tells his narrative-based jokes. His problems are everyone’s problems. He has trouble with women and issues with his finances.

Expect him to touch on social issues too, as he’s made fun of the fact that there aren’t any “brothers” in auto racing. He performs tonight at 8 at Hilarities, where he has shows scheduled through Sunday. Tickets start at $18. (Jeff Niesel) 2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com.

SPOKEN WORD

Cleveland Stories Dinner Party The goal of the Cleveland Stories Dinner Party, hosted each week at the Music Box Supper Club, 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. Tonight, Marc Jaffe, one of Seinfeld’s writers, talks about what it was like to work on the popular sit-com. Admission is free, with no cover charge, although a prix fixe dinner, designed to complement the night’s theme, is $20. Doors open at 5 p.m., dinner is served at 6, and the storytelling starts at 7. (Niesel) 1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com.

THEATER

Love Never Dies Set 10 years after the Phantom’s disappearance from the Paris Opera House, Love Never Dies, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, follows the Phantom after he’s escaped to a new life in New York, even though he still longs for his one true love, Christine Daaé. Tonight’s curtain is at 7:30 at the State Theatre; performances continue through Jan. 28. Tickets are $29 to $109. (Niesel) 1519 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

FILM

The Room Thanks to The Disaster Artist, the new James Franco movie about the

COMEDY

The Rock Hall celebrates Martin Luther King Day with an array of festivities. See: Monday.

making of the cult classic The Room, the film’s popularity has soared.

Locally, Cleveland Cinemas regularly hosts midnight showings of The Room, but now Fathom Events, a company that books special onenight screenings at movie theaters throughout the nation, will screen the movie tonight at 8. In addition, Fathom will also screen the new Best F(r)iends trailer that stars Wiseau and Greg Sestero. Consult the Fathom events website for locations and ticket prices. (Niesel) fathomevents.com.

THU

01/11

THEATER

Avenue Q Nobody is ever ready for the onslaught of adulthood that leaps on you, like a rabid raccoon, soon after you graduate from college. But this is the trauma that’s expertly rendered in Avenue Q, the 2003 musical that opens tonight at 8 at the Akron Civic Theatre, where 8 p.m. performances also take place tomorrow and Saturday. This adult and unauthorized spinoff of Sesame Street features puppets attached to their very visible puppeteers and a list of songs that are as witty as their titles. Created by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx (music and lyrics) and Jeff Whitty (book), the play supposedly takes place in an outer borough of New York City where the rent is cheap for twenty-somethings.

Princeton is the new kid on the block and he is instantly indoctrinated into the neighborhood zeitgeist as

the folks croon, “It Sucks to Be Me.” From dating inaction to job disasters, it appears no one is having a good time. But hey, all is not lost: There’s still sex. And these puppets are a randy bunch, willing to be, ah, felt up at a moment’s notice. (Quite a feat, since none of them exists from the waist down.) Even with some anachronisms — what’s a mix tape again? — most of the jokes still resonate. By the end, you’ll wish you could find a flat on Avenue Q. Tickets start at $20. (Christine Howey) 182 South Main St., Akron, 330-253-2488, akroncivic.com.

FAMILY FUN

Disney on Ice Presents Dare to Dream In what’s become a tradition for this time of year, Disney on Ice storms into town to take over Quicken Loans for a 10-day period, sending the Cavs and Lake Erie Monsters out on long road trips so parents can bring their toddlers and ’tweens to the arena for some family entertainment. This year, a cast of over 50 will be on hand. Expect to see familiar figures such as Mickey Mouse and Disney princesses. There will be sing-alongs to songs from films such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Lion King and more.

Tonight’s performance begins at 7; shows run through Jan. 14. Check the Q website for times. Tickets start at $15. (Niesel) 1 Center Ct., 216-420-2000, theqarena.com.

Aries Spears At the age of 14, comedian Aries Spears found his calling. It wasn’t long before Spears was a principal member of the hit sketch show MADTV — not only as a performer, but a writer as well. He recorded his double-disc comedy album, I Ain’t Scared, at the famous Icehouse in Pasadena. He has performed on Def Comedy Jam on HBO and Showtime At the Apollo. In addition to his credits as a comedian, Spears has made appearances in several movies, including Home of Angels, Why Do Fools Fall in Love and Jerry Maguire. His experience on sketch comedy shows and TV gives him an advantage over other comics.

He performs tonight at 7:30 at the Improv, where performances continue through Sunday. Tickets are $25. (Niesel) 1148 Main Ave., 216-696-IMPROV, clevelandimprov.com.

FILM

The Square Elisabeth Moss and Terry Notary star in The Square, the latest effort from writer-director Ruben Ostlund (Force Majeur). The satirical film centers on a Swedish art curator (Claes Bang) who stages a controversial art exhibit. Winner of the Palm d’Or at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, the movie screens at 8:20 tonight and at 7 tomorrow night at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. Tickets are $10, or $7 for Cinematheque members and students. (Niesel) 11610 Euclid Ave., 216-421-7450, cia.edu.

FRI

01/12

MUSIC

MUSIC

Mahler’s Ninth Symphony Franz Welser-Möst leads the

An Evening With(out) David Bowie A couple of years back, local | clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

23

GET OUT Bowiephile Thomas Mulready began hosting “An Evening With(out) David Bowie,” an in-depth presentation featuring rare video clips, “needle drops,” obscure cuts and recently surfaced details regarding the Thin White Duke. The show offers “a multitude of factoids and littleknown background informed by a framework of themes the artist mined at every stage of his career, right up to his untimely passing and beyond.” Tonight’s program, at 10:30, examines Bowie’s Berlin era, 1976-80, which many claim was his artistic high point. Tomorrow night, Mulready presents two different programs. The first, at 7:30, concentrates on “the early years, from Davy Jones to the Thin White Duke.” The second, at 9:30, features material from “the mid-to late period: from Berlin to Blackstar.” Each presentation concludes with live music by local heroes Vanity Crash.

Tickets are $25. (Niesel) 2920 Detroit Ave., 216-771-6551, themusicsettlement.org.

and comedian, John Mulaney most recently teamed up with fellow comic Nick Kroll for the Broadway hit, Oh, Hello. Mulaney, who began his career in New York’s East Village, has since toured the world, and currently writes for IFC’s Documentary Now and for Netflix’s Big Mouth. He performs two shows tonight, at 7 and

• Tam Tam Magic • Digital Arts High School Steppers • ‘Marie and Rosetta’

FILM SCREENINGS All day

“I Have a Dream” Artists Unite Benefit Concert

COMEDY

John Mulaney An Emmy Award-winning writer

3:00 pm Selma

The Opera House A new film by award–winning documentary filmmaker Susan Froemke, The Opera House examines the Metropolitan Opera’s lengthy history. It uses rarely seen archival footage, stills, recent interviews and a soundtrack of Met performances to chronicle the opera’s past 50 years.

It screens today at 12:55 p.m. at area theaters as part of a special Fathom Events screening. Consult the Fathom Events website for locations and ticket prices. (Niesel) fathomevents.com.

FILM

EXPLORATIONS 12:30 pm Cleveland is the City 1:45 pm Rock & Roll and the Civil

Rights Movement

Photo Courtesy of The Plain Dealer

Loving Vincent Directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welshman with voices by Chris O’Dowd and Saoirse Ronin, Loving Vincent uses thousands of pictures hand-painted in the style of Vincent van Gogh to tell the story of the talented Dutch painter. The animated feature dramatizes the events that led to his death in France in 1890. The movie screens tonight at 7 at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it shows again at 1:30 on Sunday. Tickets are $10, or $7 for CMA members. (Niesel) 11150 East Blvd., 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org.

FILM

FILM

SPECIAL APPEARANCES

All day

FILM

01/13

• Distinguished Gentlemen of the Spoken Word

10 AM UNTIL 5:30 PM

Last Call Cleveland Goes Hollywood The local comedy troupe Last Call Cleveland will “go Hollywood” for tonight’s show at the Outcault Theatre. The group will bring its unique mix of live and taped sketches to the venue. Famous for its viral videos, the group will likely draw upon local culture for its routines. Shows start at 8:30 tonight and tomorrow night. Tickets are $18.

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

SAT

• DJ Ryan Wolf

Dr. martin luther king, Jr. FREE ADMISSION

walkabouttremont.com.

Fiddler on the Roof Set in the Ukranian village of Anatevha, the film Fiddler on the Roof centers on Tevye, a poor milkman who struggles to support five unmarried daughters and a wife.

His family troubles, however, become insignificant when the ruling regime turns against the Jews of Anatevka. The classic movie shows today at 11 a.m. at the Cedar Lee Theatre. Tickets are $6. (Niesel) 2163 Lee Rd., Cleveland Heights, 440-528-0355, clevelandcinemas.com.

A CELEBRATION OF

COMEDY

24

on a brutal murder; the murder recalls Cleveland’s infamous Torso Murderer, who dismembered at least 12 people between 1935 and 1938, and then vanished into thin air. Admission to the event is free.

(Niesel) 2258 Professor Ave., 216-961-0084, visiblevoicebooks.com.

1100 Rock and Roll Blvd.

Cleveland, Ohio 44114

rockhall.com

10, at Connor Palace on Playhouse Square. Tickets are $25 to $35.

(Niesel) 1615 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

SPOKEN WORD

Official Book Release Event with Author Michael Jordan Cleveland author Michael Jordan celebrates the release of his latest novel, In the Company of Demons, tonight at 7 at Visible Voice Books.

Set in Cleveland, the book centers

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

DONATIONS We’ll be accepting NEW COATS, SCARVES HATS & GLOVES for Providence House

ALL EXHIBITS FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!

Program Two: Associations The Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque celebrates the 50th anniversary of the San Franciscobased Canyon Cinema with tonight’s program named after John Smith’s 1975 film. Tonight’s selection of films also includes Northeast Ohio native Richard Myers’ film about a young black film student. Myers will make an appearance tonight too. Tickets are $11, or $8 for Cinematheque members and students. (Niesel) 11610 Euclid Ave., 216-421-7450, cia.edu.

THEATER

ART

Walkabout Tremont During this month’s Walkabout Tremont, dubbed the Winter Warmer, you can stop by any of the Tremont art galleries to see their current and/ or new exhibits. Of course, there are also plenty of bars, restaurants and specialty shops in the neighborhood that participate in Walkabout Tremont too. The event takes place from 6 to 9 tonight. Check out the website for a schedule, maps and food and drink specials. (Niesel)

Joshua Seth A noted voiceover artist who can be heard in more than 50 TV shows and movies (including the SpongeBob SquarePants movie, for which he provided the voice of many characters), Joshua Seth is also a famous illusionist. His one-man show Beyond Belief: An Intimate Evening of Psychological Illusion arrives tonight for a monthlong run. According to the press release hyping his appearance, the show “combines thought reading, magic and some good old-

fashioned showmanship to create an atmosphere of mystery and laughter that will absolutely astonish you.”

We’ll see about that. The show takes place today at 7:30 p.m. at the State Theatre. Tickets are $26. (Niesel) 1501 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

FILM

Tom of Finland Pekka Strang stars as Touko Laaksonen, better known as Tom of Finland, a Finnish homoerotic artist, in the biographical drama Tom of Finland. The film shows how Laaksonen’s artwork challenged stereotypes about gay men during the 1950s. The film makes its local debut tonight at 9 at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque, where it screens again at 6:30 tomorrow night. Tickets are $10, or $7 for Cinematheque members and students. (Niesel) 11610 Euclid Ave., 216-421-7450, cia.edu.

SUN

01/14

ART

Graphic Discontent: German Expressionism on Paper At the beginning of the 20th

century, many young artists in central Europe rejected traditional training in state-sponsored art academies and formed groups with other artists who shared their desire to do something different.

Many German groups experimented with form and technique, and the expressionist artists living in Vienna and Berlin used a “condensed, abstracted visual language” in their artwork. They’re represented in Graphic Discontent: German Expressionism on Paper, which opens today at the Cleveland Museum of Art, with more than 50 prints and drawings dating from 1905 to around 1922. It runs through May 13. (Niesel) 11150 East Blvd., 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org.

today at 2:30 p.m. at the Akron Civic Theatre. Tickets are $12. (Niesel) 182 South Main St., Akron, 330-253-2488, akroncivic.com.

FAMILY FUN

MLK DAY

Magical Theatre Company Presents Larger Than Life: American Tall Tales Directed by Dennis O’Connell, Larger Than Life: American Tall Tales, an original production commissioned

by Magical Theatre Company and written by company member Adam Hoffman, draws upon figures such as Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill and Johnny Appleseed. The shows features musical performances as it revisits some of our most famous “tall tales.” It takes place

Cleveland Orchestra Celebration Concert To honor the legacy of the late, great civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., the Cleveland Orchestra will host the 38th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Concert at 7 tonight at Severance Hall.

Franz Welser-Möst will conduct the program that will feature the orchestra along with the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Chorus, a volunteer community chorus that

MUSIC

Davide Mariano Most recently the organist-inresidence at the Kitara Concert Hall in Sapporo, Japan, Davide Mariano has performed as organist, harpsichordist and pianist in prestigious venues in Europe, the U.S. and Asia. The musician’s Cleveland debut concert, which takes place today at 2 p.m. at the Cleveland Museum of Art, will feature works

by Schumann, Widor and J. S. Bach.

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

brings together a wide range of choristers from local churches as well as members of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and Blossom Festival Chorus. Tomorrow from noon to 5 p.m., Severance Hall’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day Community Open House will feature performances by the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and Chorus, the Cleveland School of the Arts R. Nathaniel Dett Choir, El Sistema@Rainey, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society students, and Lafayette Carthon & Faith, all performing in the concert hall.

Today’s concert is sold out, but WCLV Classical 104.9 and 90.3 WCPN ideastream will broadcast it. No tickets are required for tomorrow’s free Community Open House. (Niesel) 11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.

FILM

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Set in Tampico, Mexico, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre centers on three down-and-out Americans who try to find gold ore somewhere in the Sierra Madre mountains.

Academy Award winners Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston star.

In honor of its 70th anniversary, Fathom Events has teamed up with

Tattoo Convention January 19th - 21st 2018

Cleveland Convention Center 300 Lakeside Ave, Cleveland, OH 44114 Over 300 Tattoo Artists from Around the World

COME GET TATTOOED

VillainArts.com

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

25

GET OUT TCM Big Screen Classics to present a special screening of the movie at 2 and 7 p.m. today and Tuesday at area theaters. The showing will include “exclusive insight” from TCM host Ben Mankiewicz. Consult the Fathom Events website for locations and ticket prices. (Niesel) fathomevents.com.

MON

01/15

SPORTS

Cavaliers vs. Golden State Warriors In what’s likely to be a preview of the NBA Finals, the Cavs and Golden State Warriors, the two teams that have met in the Finals for the past three years, meet for the second time this season. The Warriors won a close one in the Golden State on Christmas Day. The Cavs shot the ball horribly and yet only lost in the final seconds of the game. Expect another thrilling battle this time around. The game begins at 8 p.m., and tickets start at $160. (Niesel) 1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, theqarena.com.

MLK DAY

A Rock Hall Celebration Music played a huge role in the Civil Rights movement, and musicians often stood alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. while he made many of his speeches. Today, the Rock Hall celebrates his legacy with special programming that includes educational programs and musical performances. A special program will “explore the history of soul and rhythm and blues music in Cleveland, one of the cities that gave birth to rock and roll music.” The Rock Hall will also accepting donations of hats, coats, gloves and scarves to benefit the Providence House. The Rock Hall opens at 10 a.m. (Niesel) 1100 Rock and Roll Blvd., 216-515-8444, rockhall.com.

MLK DAY

Hear Our Voices: A Free MLK Day Celebration at the Maltz Museum The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage honors civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. today by offering free admission. Guests can see the current special exhibition, Beyond Chicken Soup: Jews & Medicine in America, and there will be live music as well as a panel discussion with Margaret Mitchell (YWCA), Peggy Zone-Fisher (Diversity Center), Jazmin Long (Global Cleveland) and Kayla Griffin

26

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

(NAACP). The panelists will discuss issues of civil rights, gender and race.

The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the panel discussion takes place at 3 p.m. (Niesel) 2929 Richmond Rd., Beachwood, 216-593-0575, maltzmuseum.org.

MLK DAY

Fundraiser at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium The Greater Cleveland Aquarium and the United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland Inc. have teamed up for a special fundraising event today in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., each guest who chooses to donate $1 or more to UBF receives same-day discounted $10 aquarium admission. Last year, MLK Day Aquarium donations nearly doubled over the previous year, with 2,500 guests giving to UBF, a grant-making organization that provides financial assistance to agencies that “both empower and address challenges facing Greater Cleveland’s African American community.” UBF volunteers will be stationed in the FirstEnergy Powerhouse Lobby to take donations and provide the discounted admission vouchers. (Niesel) 2000 Sycamore St., 216-862-8803, greaterclevelandaquarium.com.

TUE

01/16

NIGHTLIFE

Drunken Spelling Bee You might scoff at the kids in the national spelling bee on ESPN every year, but can you do better? Tonight at 9 at the Grog Shop, you’ll get your shot as the club hosts a Drunken Spelling Bee. Sam Handwich (John K) and Buzzed Wallace will host the event, which will take place every Tuesday in January. Admission is free, and there will be drink specials and weekly prize packs. (Niesel) 2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-321-5588, grogshop.gs.

FILM

Maigret Sets a Trap A pipe-smoking detective (Jean Gabin) tries to locate and capture a serial killer in Maigret Sets a Trap, a 1958 crime drama that’s recently been restored. Today at 1:45 p.m., the Cleveland Museum of Art shows the restored version of the movie. Tickets are $10, or $7 for CMA members and students. (Niesel) 11150 East Blvd., 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org.

Find more events @clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

THE HOTTEST PARTY • THE COLDEST VODKA

A SCENE MAGAZINE EVENT

vodkavodka

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2018 | 7–10 PM | RED SPACE

GENERAL ADMISSION: 6 VODKA SAMPLES, AND A SOUVENIR GLASS. TICKETS ARE $35 UNTIL 2/1.

VIP ADMISSION: INCLUDES ONE HOUR EARLY ENTRANCE (6 P.M.), 8 VODKA SAMPLES, A SOUVENIR GLASS AND LIGHT APPETIZERS. TICKETS ARE $45 UNTIL 2/1.

Sponsored By

TICKETS ON SALE NOW! SCENEVODKAVODKA.COM | clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

27

ART i ii iii A much-needed and well-conceived message from Yoko Ono in Imagine Peace at Akron’s Emily Davis Gallery

By Dott von Schneider Courtesy of Yoko Ono/Studio One

IT WAS A COLD AND CRUNCHY afternoon as we drove to the Emily Davis Gallery at the University of Akron’s Myers School of Art. The undisturbed snow embracing the freeway’s banks reflected patches of sunlight like prisms. It was a serene and contemplative trek on an otherwise bleak winter’s day.

The past couple of years have been disconcerting, to put it mildly.

Turmoil is rampant. The world is freaking out. We could use some universal love, and this is exactly what we hoped to find.

As we entered along the windows leading into the gallery, we were greeted with “Imagine Peace” written in 24 of the world’s most popular languages. It’s the welcoming siren to Yoko Ono’s exhibition of the same name. (The show’s original presentation opened at this very gallery in the summer of 2007.) To see Imagine Peace in one‘s home language is a powerful moment, especially when so far from that home. “We’ve anecdotally noticed that our international students have had a strong reaction to seeing their home language displayed and that they have taken the time to be really thoughtful about stamping peace at home (wherever that is),” reports Arnold Tunstall, director of University Galleries. “The opportunity to send good wishes to a place you care about seems to have a strong pull for all visitors.”

A strong pull, indeed. As we viewed Imagine Peace maps, representing Europe, Ohio, Asia, the United States, Africa and the world, we contemplated the grouping of ink stamps and couldn’t help but be moved. To participate is a deliberate action. There were a lot of stamps on North Korea, as well as the Middle East and Washington, D.C. Let’s hope the message is felt.

We sat down in the lower gallery to watch the short documentary Passages for Light, which chronicles the Imagine Peace Tower that opened in Reykjavik, Iceland, 10 years ago, and a device called the onochord. We were instructed by the artist to employ the onochord

28

“Mend Piece, 2014/2017”

(provided at the gallery), a small flashlight that can be used as a key fob, to signal “I love you.” One flash for “I” (i), two flashes for “love” (ii) and three flashes for “you” (iii). This

wishes and the stamped maps will be sent to Ono’s studio in New York at the close of the exhibition. She will then take the wishes up to Reykjavik the next time she lights the Peace

YOKO ONO: IMAGINE PEACE THROUGH JAN. 31 AT EMILY DAVIS GALLERY. HOURS 10 A.M. TO 5 P.M. MONDAY–FRIDAY. 330-972-5950, UAKRON.EDU/ART/GALLERIES/EDG

strong conceptual work invites us all to be participants in illuminating love to our neighbors.

In “Wish Trees,” we were greeted by two dormant Redbud trees sprouting handwritten tags like leaves. Visitors are invited to write down their own wish for the world and hang it on a branch. Both the

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

Tower and spread the wishes over the globe via the light from the tower.

Also on view is Ono’s “Parts of a Light House,” which was originally shown in 1966 and at whose debut John Lennon first met the artist.

Whatever your negative thoughts vis-à-vis Yoko Ono and John, you

need to move past it. Ono is an intellectual and was a major player in the Fluxus experimental art movement, one whose participants were multi-disciplinary and included, but were not limited to, artists, designers, mathematicians and economists. “Parts of a Light House” is something I want to stare at every waking moment.

Constructed of glass prisms, plexiglass and light, it is lovely. Per the description: “The light house is a phantom house that is built by sheer light. You set up prisms at a certain time of day, under a certain evening light which goes through the prisms; the light house appears in the middle of the field like an image, except that, with this image, you can actually go inside if you wanted to.” I wanted to.

Revisiting an action artwork involving broken ceramic cups to signify the destructive acts of war, “Mend Piece” is yet another interactive element of Imagine Peace.

Here the artist invites us to lend a hand in mending two broken ceramic globes (produced by Myers School of Art Ceramics faculty and students) while we “meditate on the physical action of healing and peace within the world.”

We were informed that in observing the globes being reconstructed, a woman pulled out a band-aid and placed it on the finished piece (pictured) in an act to further strengthen the world’s healing process.

Finally, a setlist of 24 solo and collaborative songs by John and Yoko, as well as Yoko herself with the Plastic Ono Band, can be enjoyed throughout the exhibition via portable headphones.

On the drive back north, it was hard not to imagine peace and to engage others in this poignant exhibition. As the artist states, “A dream we dream alone is just a dream; a dream we dream together is reality.”

Collaboration is the key word for 2018.

scene@clevescene.com t@dottschneider

Photo by Celeste Cosentino

STAGE

Craig Joseph as Louis Ironson (left) and Scott Esposito as Prior Walter

ANGELS LAND AT ENSEMBLE And the result isn’t always heavenly in this Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches

By Christine Howey IT SEEMS THE MORE WE TRY to push some plays into the category of “period piece,” the more they fight to remain fresh and contemporary.

For a while now the renowned work of theater, Angels in America, by Tony Kushner, has been considered a devastating snapshot of this country 30 or more years ago when AIDS was a scourge and homophobia was rampant.

We thought that some of those issues had improved in the years since, and perhaps some have.

But apparently hate never dies, it just hibernates — which makes this Ensemble Theatre production of Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches particularly timely. (Ensemble will mount Part Two: Perestroika this spring.)

Although Millennium runs three hours and 20 minutes, with two intermissions, it never feels that long, thanks to Kushner’s glorious language. His words don’t just flow, they prowl and then pounce unexpectedly, keeping the audience on the edge of the playwright’s plea for human connectedness, even in the midst of confusion and tragedy.

In this production directed by Celeste Cosentino, the performances are not consistently solid due to a condition one might call the Very

Important Play syndrome. This Pulitzer Prize-winning script has been so lauded, and is so important to so many people, there is a tendency to invest every line reading with maximum import, thereby weighing the whole enterprise down.

And some actors in the cast appear to be carriers of this theatrical virus.

The show comprises many scenes involving a core group of characters in New York City, five of whom are gay men. Prior Walter is a semiflamboyant fellow who already has several purple patches on his skin indicative of Kaposi’s Sarcoma,

is not a homosexual. Roy Cohn is a heterosexual man who fucks around with guys.” Cohn was the lawyer who partnered with the hateful Sen. Joe McCarthy during the blacklisting Army-McCarthy hearings in the early 1950s.

And as we all know from current news, Cohn served as President Trump’s mentor and counsel for 10 years — prompting our toddler-inchief to recently cry out for a Roy Cohn-like influencer to help him.

If you’re keeping count, the last of the gay men in the show is Belize, a wise, no-nonsense nurse who attends

ANGELS IN AMERICA, PART ONE: MILLENNIUM APPROACHES, THROUGH JAN. 28 AT ENSEMBLE THEATRE, 2843 WASHINGTON BLVD., CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, 216-321-2930, ENSEMBLETHEATRECLE.ORG

the deadly wine-colored indicator of AIDS. While he deals with his disease along with his nervous and talkative lover Louis, closeted Joe Pitt is locked in a tortured marriage with his wife, Harper, who is often hallucinating due to her daily intake of Valium.

Joe is a young acolyte of Roy Cohn, a real-life vile lawyer from the time who explains his sexuality in the third person: “Roy Cohn

Prior during his hospital stays.

Three decades ago, that was a bracing lineup of male homosexual voices that hadn’t been assembled in that way before, providing a new perspective of that portion of our country’s sexual landscape. That led to Millennium receiving nine Tony nominations and winning the award for Best Play. But these days, many gay issues including the right to marry have been resolved. (At least,

we hope so.) In any revival of such a topical play, this many years later, the play needs to be approached less with reverence than with bold risk-taking.

However, the scenic design by Ian Hinz takes this production in a very literal direction. Utilizing slides of specific locations, both photographed and painted, along with select videos, the actors are placed accurately in space and time (here they are in an apartment, there they are in a hospital room or a bar). But the large and eclectic background images add little or nothing to the information already provided by a simple couch, a hospital bed, or a high cocktail table, making the entire staging feel oppressive and overdone.

This literal design concept is matched, unfortunately, in some of the performances. As Harper, Kelly Strand plays moods rather than crafting a singular character, making this conflicted woman much less complex and interesting than she should be. In a similar way, Craig Joseph has some traits of Louis, including talking a mile-aminute, but we never fully sense the person beneath the quirks. That is, until the third-act scene with Louis and Belize (a charming and perfectly sassy Robert Hunter) in a coffee shop where, finally, we see characters engaging with one another in an unforced manner.

Happily, other performers rise to the occasion, including Scott Esposito as tormented Prior and James Rankin whose rather one-note portrayal of Joe is nicely contrasted when he appears as one of Prior’s more voluble ancestors. And Derdriu Ring crafts four small characters with exceptional skill, giving each a distinctive posture, voice and manner.

The fragmented parts of this play should be linked by the repellent character of Roy Cohn, but Jeffrey Grover almost makes Cohn seem cuddly. Instead of feeling the cold wind whistling from the abyss whenever Cohn speaks, Grover’s inherent warmth as an actor tends to soften the edges of that monster.

As staged in Ensemble’s newly re-imagined proscenium space, this first part of Angels once again offers us Kushner’s words, which is always a blessing regardless of other wrinkles.

scene@clevescene.com t@christinehowey | clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

29

5,000 Years of Civilization Reborn YOU AND A GUEST ARE INVITED TO SEE FOREVER MY GIRL Wednesday, January 17TH 7:30 P.M. Cinemark Valley View

ALL-NEW PROGRAM WITH LIVE ORCHESTRA

Visit

www.LionsgateScreenings.

For your chance to win com movie passes go to:

and enter the code tinyurl.com/FMGCLE

No purchase necessary. One admit two pass per person. First-come, wÀÃÌ ÃiÀÛi`] Ü i ÃÕ«« ià >ÃÌ°

IN THEATERS FRIDAY JANUARY 19 ForeverMyGirlTheMovie.com |

A FABULOUS HOLIDAY GIFT TO ALL!

February 3 & 4 | Playhouse Square Tickets: 216.241.6000 I ShenYun.com/Cleveland

30

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

| #ForeverMyGirl

MOVIES POST HASTE Spielberg’s Pentagon Papers flick is better feminism than journalism

By Sam Allard THE POST, DIRECTED BY Steven Spielberg, is less enjoyable than 2015’s Spotlight in much the same way that this year’s The Darkest Hour was less enjoyable than Dunkirk. Both The Post and The Darkest Hour tell behind-thescenes stories that often feel like half of a really great movie. But in the end, it’s not soldiers escaping the beach in The Darkest Hour; it’s stuffy members of parliament making speeches about them. It’s not reporters digging through files, coaxing sources, and stumbling upon major breaks in The Post; it’s corporate trustees talking about the financial ramifications of printing controversial material.

It opens Friday, and you can sleep soundly in the knowledge that despite The Post’s inherent narrative flaws, it’s a Spielberg flick.

And Spielberg knows every trick in the book. As Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks — together for the first time!

— embody their roles as legendary Washington Post publisher Kay Graham and editor Ben Bradlee (note: Streep is far more adept than Hanks), and as composer John Williams rouses his string section during moments both pivotal and not-that-pivotal, and as, for example, women in their secretarial finest convene outside a federal courthouse to pay homage to a trailblazing female executive, you sense that you’re watching an authoritative document of American history.

As history, the film is a much better portrait of a trailblazing female executive than it is of

journalism. The news story at its heart is the leak of the Pentagon Papers. Leaker Daniel Ellsburg covertly printed thousands of pages of Vietnam War files from the Rand Corporation, files that showed how the United States government systematically lied to Congress and to the public about its activities in Southeast Asia, including the broad and merciless bombing of Laos and Cambodia, which was at that time unreported in the mainstream.

Bradlee and his news team — a ragtag crew played by the likes of Bob Odenkirk, Carrie Coons and David Cross — want to get their hands on the documents and print them, even as The New York Times is being sued for doing so by the feds. Meantime, newly widowed Kay Graham (Streep) finds herself in charge of the Washington Post

and preparing for its IPO. The paper’s exclusively white male board of trustees, whose members treat Ms. Graham with paternal forbearance, are certain that an editorial controversy and a federal lawsuit will spell disaster for the paper’s finances. To say nothing of its reputation.

Ethical dilemmas and very important phone calls ensue.

Taking place immediately before the Watergate scandal for which the Washington Post would ultimately become most famous — captured in the 1976 Alan J. Pakula film All the President’s Men — Spielberg’s The Post is a sort of origin story.

It shows one of the nation’s great papers evolving from a metro daily into a major national watchdog.

But it also shows the value of Graham’s leadership. Graham

SPOTLIGHT: BREAKING BALLS A DOCUMENTARY FILM ABOUT bocce ball that was a smash hit at the Cleveland International Film Festival is getting a limited local run. Breaking Balls, directed by CSU film instructor John Vorlis, will premiere at Atlas Cinemas Great Lakes Mall Friday Jan. 12, and will screen twice daily through Jan. 18.

Breaking Balls has enjoyed success in its local screenings

to date. It sold out three screens in one night at last year’s CIFF, following in the illustrious footsteps of Believeland, which accomplished the same feat the preceding year.

And then last fall, the film played to a sold-out house at the Chagrin Documentary Film Festival, a growing annual event to which local film buffs should be paying considerably more attention.

It’s no surprise that the bocce movie is resonating with local audiences. The 75-minute doc follows three bocce personalities as they participate in the 30th Annual Cleveland Challenge Cup, one of the nation’s premier bocce tournaments, held every August at the Wickliffe Italian-American Club. Bocce has roots in the Roman Empire and was developed in its current form in Italy.

wasn’t even a character in All the President’s Men, it’s worth noting, and it is right and just that she be properly restored to history via the cinema. The film’s strongest moments — this should come as little surprise — are courtesy of Streep herself. In her steely defiance of, and sometimes bemusement with, the paper’s board of trustees; in the quiet, uncertain moments she shares with her daughter (Alison Brie); in the glances and words she imparts upon a generation of young women — she is an icon worth emulating.

And though it’s superfluous to mention, Streep can count on an Academy Award nomination.

sallard@clevescene.com t@scenesallard This behind-the-scenes look at the sport, and at a local cultural event, is both enlightening and light-hearted for fans of the sports and for those unfamiliar with it.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled to have Breaking Balls showing on the big screen one more time, especially here in Cleveland!” said director Vourlis, in a press release.

Vourlis himself and several of the film’s stars will be in attendance at the Jan. 12th premiere. Tickets are available for purchase at atlascinemas.net. — SAM ALLARD | clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

31

Harry’s Steakhouse is a Casual Steakhouse serving HAPPY HOUR 2 DINNERS In Harry’s Bar Everyday All Day!

Great Steaks, Chops, & Seafood at a Reasonable Price. $ 4.50

Over 15 Dif erent Cuts of Steaks!

BURGER SPECIALS Bar Top Only - All Day!

16.49

For $

Select items M-F 3:30-6:00pm Sat 3-5 and Sun 12-4

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

BEST NEIGHBORHOOD BAR

NFL DIVISIONAL ROUND! Catch The Action This Weekend Saturday, January 13 & Sunday, January 14

$5.75 Pitch Specials During ALL Games!

CAVS WATCHPARTY HEADQUARTERS! ALL SEASON LONG...

Enjoy $5.75 Pitchers During ALL Cavs Games FRIDAY - WILDCARD LEADER | SATURDAY - STEVE ROBERTS 32

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

EAT Photo by Douglas Trattner

BREADWINNER

Owner Nick Ambeliotis at Mediterra Bakehouse

Mediterra, a family business built on bread

By Douglas Trattmer I CAN’T IMAGINE A BETTER place to spend a frigid Pittsburgh morning than inside the Mediterra Bakehouse. Outside, the temperature is fixed at a toe-numbing 15 degrees, but all that discomfort melts away inside the balmy bakery, where the heavenly aroma of baking bread hangs in the humid air. We’re met at the door by owner Nick Ambeliotis, a gentle Grecian giant who is eager to show us around.

Like many Clevelanders, I first discovered Mediterra and its exceptional European-style breads through the bakery’s retail stand at the West Side Market, which is nearly 10 years old. What I didn’t realize at the time was how productive this Pittsburgh-based business actually is. By the looks of the breads — impeccably shaped and baked artisan-style loaves sporting tantalizingly dark crusts — I assumed them to be the work of a lone boulanger toiling away in a cramped and dusty bakeshop.

Instead, we stepped into a half-acresize warehouse absolutely buzzing with activity.

Ambeliotis might live and work

in Pittsburgh, but he still considers Cleveland home. He grew up in Warren, Ohio, attended John Carroll University, and maintains season tickets to the Browns. For nearly a decade, he worked for Euro USA, a Cleveland-based importer and distributor of gourmet food products.

As buyer, it was Ambeliotis’ job to scour Europe for the world’s finest cheeses, olive oils, pastas and charcuterie.

“During all my travels I would see all these artisans and I thought, I really want to do something like that,” he explains. “I wanted to do cheese, but it’s very complicated. I thought, bread is something I can do.”

Never mind that he knew nothing at all about baking.

Ambeliotis finagled stages at some of the nation’s best bread bakeries, including Rock Hill Bakehouse in Saratoga Springs, Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, and Balthazar Bakery’s production facility in New Jersey.

In 2002, the tenderfoot baker rented 4,000 square feet in an industrial park 10 miles outside of downtown Pittsburgh. His secret weapon: a 10-pound starter from the famous

Gérard Mulot bakery in Paris. Today, following 15 years of relentless growth, the bakery has gobbled up 20,000 square feet and maintains a payroll approaching 100-staffers long.

“We’ve just grown organically, one customer at a time,” Ambeliotis modestly says. “Every time we made a little money we bought a piece of equipment. But I don’t think we’re still really well known because we’re wholesale.”

Whether you know it or not, you’ve more than likely enjoyed a Mediterra product. Michael Symon’s B Spot restaurants go through approximately 20,000 burger buns per week. Matt Fish buys so much bread for his Melt Bar & Grilled shops — roughly 1,000 loaves per day — that the bakery purchased special equipment just for them. And then there’s Whole Foods, which almost exclusively carries breads baked right here at its shops in Ohio, Michigan, Maryland and Virginia.

Ambeliotis says that he never would have gotten this far without the aid of family. His sons Anthony, Mike and Nick Jr. all hold key roles

in the company, as does daughter Nicole, her husband, a daughter-inlaw and two boys (now men) who the boss “informally adopted” from Guatemala. One, principle baker Juan Russell, is so short that he operates the oven from atop a pallet.

“I struggled before Mike came on because it’s hard,” Ambeliotis explains. “It’s a 24-hour-a-day operation and I’d go home and come back the next day and they don’t care, it’s just a job. And the ones who are really good, they move on.”

On the day of our visit, we watch as a tractor-trailer backs up and offloads 65,000 pounds of unbleached, unbromated organic King Arthur flour directly into a massive indoor silo. Mediterra gets one of these shipments every five days. Breads are made the Old World way, using very little or no yeast, instead relying on natural starters called a levain.

Seven different starters become 30 different doughs, which end up as one of 75 different products, each of which has been slowly fermented, proofed in willow baskets or tucked into French linen, and then cut, weighed and shaped by hand.

“We do a lot of volume, but everything is still done by hand,” boasts Ambeliotis. “We do 20,000 loaves a day and every one of them is perfect.”

Two enormous hearth ovens, both built onsite by a seventh-generation French company, are the true workhorses of the bakery. Each has about 35,000 pounds of refractory brick inside, which helps to maintain consistent temperatures throughout, even when opening and closing the doors. Out of those ovens come some of the most seductive and satisfying loaves in the country, from light and airy paesanos and uber-tangy San Francisco sourdoughs, to the dark, dense and chewy Mt. Athos Fire bread.

A few years ago, Ambeliotis began spending more and more time in Arizona where he could escape the daily pressures of the job, he explains. But he soon grew listless and bored.

“So I bought a building and started producing and now we’re the largest artisan bread baker in Phoenix,” he says. “You find something you love to do and you try to get better at it every day. That’s all you can do.”

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

33

EAT

Voted Best Food Truck & Top 3 Best BBQ

©Z_d[C_d ©jWa[ ekj ©Z[b_l[ho ©YWj[h_d] ©\eeZ jhkYa

HOME OF THE WORLD FAMOUS BROWN SUGAR BACON MAC-n-CHEESE

bites

BREWDOG BAR IN THE WORKS FOR CLEVELAND

16700 Lorain Ave Cleveland, Oh 44111 | 216.417.1056 | hatfieldsgoodegrub.com

By Douglas Trattner

NOW IN THREE LOCATIONS!

18405 Detroit Ave. Lakewood 216.221.0676

To See Our Other Locations Check Out indiagardencleveland.com

TOP RATED VEGAN & VEGETARIAN CUISINE

5.00

$

OFF Your Next Meal Sign Up On indiagardencleveland.com

Thanking Our Wonderful Customers For Continuously Making Us The #1 Indian Cuisine Restaurant In Northeast Ohio!

LUNCH BUFFET 7 DAYS A WEEK

HOURS: Mon- Fri 11:30am- 2:30pm / 5:00pm- 10:00pm Sat & Sun 12:00pm- 3:00pm / 5:00pm- 10:00pm

◆ St. Louis Style Ribs, Half Slab .... $9.50 ◆ Baby Back Ribs, Half Slab ........ $10.50 ◆ BBQ Chicken ..............................$7.95 ◆ T-Bone, 16oz. .......................... $13.95 ◆ Porkchops ................................. $8.95 ◆ Jack Daniels Ribeye ................ $13.95 ◆ Roasted Pork & Sauerkraut ........ $7.95 ◆ Chicken Paprikash ..................... $8.95 ◆ Beef Stroganoff ..........................$9.95 ◆ SALADS Greek, Chef, Chicken Caesar) ................. $6.95

WORLD FAMOUS BBQ RIBS & CHICKEN Open for Breakfast & Lunch!

34

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

11526 Clifton Blvd

Cleveland, OH 44102 | 216-631-6111 ticktocktavern.net

CATERING & DELIVERY OPTIONS Available for Large Parties

BREWDOG ONLY RECENTLY stormed the United States by planting a very big flag in Columbus with the opening of its new 100,000-square-foot brewery in Canal Winchester, just outside of town, but

taproom at the production facility.

Following up on rumors we’ve heard about a possible Cleveland spot, we reached out to the company for comment. Up next, says Tanisha Robinson, BrewDog USA CEO, is Cleveland.

“BrewDog Cleveland is in the works!” she confirms. “We want Cleveland to be our first site outside of Columbus, and are currently scouting locations for a BrewDog bar.”

The brewery’s goal, she adds, is to get one open before the end of 2018.

While the hunt already is on for the perfect perch, Robinson is eager to hear your suggestion as to where they should land.

Photo courtesy @brewdogofficial Instagram Tweet them with your this Scotland-based brewery has been bright ideas @BrewDogUSA. making big noise for a decade.

Launched in 2007 by a pair of Sweet Melissa in 24-year-old beer lovers, BrewDog played by its own rules while the Heights Has Closed burning every bridge it could find.

By Year 2 they had become Scotland’s In March of 2014, Sweet Melissa, the popular Rocky River restaurant, largest independent brewery, and by opened a new eastside location across Year 5 they were named the “Fastest town. The new restaurant (20630 Growing Company in Scotland.”

John Carroll Blvd.), in University Along the way they brewed a beer Heights near the campus of John at the bottom of the ocean, projected their naked bodies onto the houses of Carroll University, closed its doors for good this week after nearly a Parliament, and brewed the world’s four-year run. strongest beer ever, Tactical Nuclear Messages posted on the Penguin, which clocked in at 32 ABV. restaurant’s website and Facebook Since launching, the company page were identical, and read as has opened numerous BrewDog bars follows: all across the U.K. and well beyond, “we are sorry to inform you that including spots in Italy, Spain, Brazil this sweet melissa location is now and Japan. But up until this year, all permanently closed. please visit us BrewDog beer had been brewed in at sweet melissa rocky river or cafe Scotland. Now, with the opening of its Columbus brewery, the company is melissa in avon lake!”

In addition to the 10-year-old spot preparing to get its products into the in River, the owners also operate Cafe hands of more American beer lovers.

Melissa in Avon Lake, which opened BrewDog plans to expand distribution throughout the state and five years ago.

Attempts to reach the owners have into neighboring states. Also in the been unsuccessful. works are two additional BrewDogbranded craft beer bars in Columbus dtrattner@clevescene.com — in Franklinton and the Short North — which will join the lively t@dougtrattner

Daily Drink Specials Now Accepting All Credit Cards Hiring For All Bar & Grill Positions!

KITCHEN NOW OPEN $1.00 DOMESTIC BEERS Mon-Sun 4-7pm FREE Pool Games On Mondays, All Day Long.

SIGN UP TODAY!

For Pool & Darts Leagues

WE WENT OUT WHEN YOU COULDN’T. CATCH UP ON LAST NIGHT WITH SCENE’S EVENT SLIDESHOWS. ONLY AT CLEVESCENE.COM SCENE

Great Cleveland Setting Great Food & Drink Live Music Happy Hour Deals- M-F 3-6p

2 0 0 0 E . N i n t h S t r e e t : : C l e v e l a n d : : 216 - 3 57 - 2 6 8 0 parkersdowntown.com | clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

35

3366

| clevescene.com m | January 10 - 16, 2018

MUSIC Photo by C. Taylor Crothers

ACOUSTIC ROOTS Keller Williams returns to Cleveland as a solo act balancing on two record releases

By Eric Sandy THERE’S NO ONE IN THE JAM business like Keller Williams. The guitarist is a powerhouse mainstay of festival bills and a frequent collaborator with a broad spectrum of rock, funk, soul and bluegrass bands and artists. Blending humor with irrepressible rhythm and lead skills, Williams forged a path early on with his penchant for looping acoustic melodies on top of one another. He built a story as a man who could do it all.

These days, he moves kaleidoscopically from project to project, and along the way he’s picked up more than a few neat tricks to store up his sleeve. As 2018 unfolds, Williams is on the road as a solo guy once again. He released Raw, an all-solo album, last year.

“Raw started in 2011 as a concept album of 12 songs on 12 different guitars,” he says. “I did it, and I didn’t like it. Without the visual aspect — the guitars definitely sound different, but it was more meaningful [just] to me. I scrapped it.”

A few years later, Williams was touring on a bill with fingerpicking legend Leo Kottke. The shows were just straight acoustic and vocals, with none of the looping that Williams had brought to past

incarnations. “I had nothing in my work of music that resembled that show,” he says, but he brought an open mind to the lessons that those shows had to teach him.

When a revamp of the Raw stuff came around, Williams resurrected some songs from those sessions with Kottke and then added six more. Out came a new, more complete album.

It was a smooth and simple process,

Berninger and Menomena’s Brent Knopf. The song’s colorful lyrics seem to work perfectly on a Keller Williams record. “It’s very, very different,” Williams says. “It’s kind of a dance-pop song coming from Matt Berninger, who’s like doom-andgloom. It’s really cool, and it really caught me.”

Overall, Williams says, an album like Raw gets him back to some acoustic roots that he hasn’t touched directly in recent ventures. One of the tenets of Williams’ career has been the one-syllable album title, which is used to signal the tone or attitude of the music within. In this decade, prior to these last two discs, Williams has released Thief, Kids, Bass, Pick,

AN EVENING WITH KELLER WILLIAMS 9 P.M., FRIDAY, JAN. 12, BEACHLAND BALLROOM, 15711 WATERLOO RD., 216-363-1124.

TICKETS: $23-25, BEACHLANDBALLROOM.COM

he says now, achieved nonchalantly while he was waiting for his KWahtro bandmates to wrap their tracks on Sync — the other album he released at that time (more on that in a bit).

On Raw, Williams trips through relaxing rhythms and heartfelt energy, like on the chords progressions in “2BU.” There’s a dose of deep, introspective reality in many of Williams’ tunes.

And he knows how to spin others’ work too: “Return to the Moon” is a cover of a tune by EL VY, a band assembled by the National’s Matt

Keys, Funk, Dos and Vape.

With Raw, Williams says he was given a chance to really dig into different tunings and unexpected uses of his guitars. It’s also just a fun album.

Sync, on the other hand, finds Williams in the studio with his KWahtro bandmates, guitarist Gibb Droll, bassist Danton Boller and drummer Rodney Holmes.

“That concept started with the idea of going directly into dance music, but with acoustic instruments,” Williams says. “What came out was kind of a groovy acid

jazz. We still kind of incorporated those dance music elements, but not really going full-on there.”

The KWahtro visited Cleveland in 2016, painting Beachland Ballroom in extended funk improv and intricate jams. This time, Williams is on his own.

“There’s definitely 100-percent zero preparing for it,” he says.

“That’s the beautiful thing of the day job, that is the solo act.

“There are a couple songs that go over all the projects, but very few,” Williams adds. But with his solo act, he can pull from the many outfits he’s been a part of — with only slight modifications. “It’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, I forgot I do this one!’ Without anyone else around, there are no rules.

There’s a whole setlist there that can be a blueprint.” Williams can bounce from era to era in his stylistic repertoire, and he’ll take requests now and then too.

Now, he’s working on an instrumental record that will continue that line of “acoustic dance music” thinking. He’s taken a lot of his solo instrumental pieces and amended them with additional melodies and percussion. The whole thing is pretty much done, and Williams expects it’ll be out in the spring. The title: Sans.

Being able to drive his own destiny remains a prominent goal in Williams’ career, even as he joyously works alongside some of his favorite musicians in the country. “It’s exhilarating, being a solo [act] and then working with other people and jumping into their worlds,” Williams says.

For instance, Williams helms a project called Grateful Grass (Grateful Dead tunes reinterpreted as bluegrass). These days, the band is rounded out by the Infamous Stringdusters, an exceptional bluegrass band that often dabbles in the arena of live improv. Elsewhere, Williams plays with More Than A Little, a funk band out of Richmond, Virginia.

Projects like those give the guitarist a plethora of rooms in which to operate, to hone his chops again and again. “To be allowed to do that: I’m so very grateful,” he says.

And on the subject of the future, of the grand arc of his music? “Let the metamorphosis happen.”

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

37

THE NATIONAL

TWO UNIQUE SHOWS OVER TWO NIGHTS

FATHER JOHN MISTY FEIST FUTURE ISLANDS THE BREEDERS LORD HURON JULIEN BAKER MOSES SUMNEY ALVVAYS BIG THIEF AND MORE TO COME

TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW AT NTLHOMECOMING.COM 38

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

308 EUCLID AVE. CLEVELAND, OH 44114 216.523.BLUE Complete listing at houseofblues.com/cleveland

FOLLOW US:

@HOBCLEVELAND

J U S T TAYLOR BENNETT

A N N O U N C E D TREY ANASTASIO BAND

M CA

BR

ID

GE

RO

O

M

MARCH 4 ON SALE FRI. 10AM

APRIL 17 ON SALE SAT. 10AM

M AY 5 O N S A L E F R I . 1 0 A M

J A N UA R Y 1 8

J A N UA R Y 1 9

THE DEVIL MAKES THREE w/ Roebuck J A N UA R Y 1 4

G. LOVE & SPECIAL SAUCE w/ The Ries Brothers

LALAH HATHAWAY

J A N UA R Y 2 0

J A N UA R Y 2 1

BIG HEAD TODD & THE MONSTERS w/ Luther Dickinson J A N UA R Y 2 3

STARSET

CHIPPENDALES

w/ Grabbitz, Year of the Locust

B LU E S T R AV E L E R w/ Los Colognes J A N UA R Y 2 8

J A N UA R Y 3 0

AVATAR

NEW POLITICS

F E B R UA R Y 3

w/ DREAMERS, The Wrecks

FOZZY

w/ The Brains, Hellzapoppin

COMING SOON

F E B R UA R Y 8

Jan. 12 Jan. 26 Jan. 29 Feb. 2 Feb. 7 Feb. 9 Feb. 10 Feb. 11 Feb. 14

w/ Through Fire, Santa, Cruz, Dark Sky Choir

F E B R UA R Y 1 6

APRIL 2

Capricorn Party ft. Terry Lee Goffee – the Ultimate Johnny Cash Tribute Saved By The 90’s Mod Sun w/ Call Me Karizma, Austin Cain, Angel White, Forget Brennan, DJ Daghe Jacob Sartorius w/ Zach Clayton, Hayden Summerall Greensky Bluegrass w/ Joshua Davis In Association with the Beachland Ballroom In This Moment w/ P.O.D, New Years Day, DED Fayrewether Badfish ‘Tribute to Sublime HEAD HIGH TOUR’ K. Michelle

BUY TICKETS AT

Feb. 15 Feb. 17 Feb. 18 Feb. 20 Feb. 22 Feb. 23 Feb. 25 Feb. 26 Mar. 2 Mar. 3

Above & Beyond AWOLNATION w/ Nothing But Thieves, IRONTOM COIN w/ the Aces Excision w/ Liquid Stranger, Dion Trimmer, Monxx Gaelic Storm PVRIS w/ Flint Eastwood, Cherry Pools Galactic with Lettuce Jeezy w/ Tee Grizzley SonReal Cambridge Room Who’s Bad (Tribute to Michael Jackson)

Buy tickets at HOUSEOFBLUES.COM/CLEVELAND Order By Phone: 800.745.3000 • House of Blues Box Office

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

39

MUSIC A ‘TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCE’ Flobots preach unity on their new album, Noenemies

By Jeff Niesel A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, members of the alternative hiphop rock band Flobots began to think about their next album.

The band — emcees Brer Rabbit (Stephen Brackett) and Jonny 5 (Jamie Laurie) and drummer Kenny Ortiz — decided it wanted to do something different, so it worked with producer and musician Gabriel Otto, who recruited a string section, horn players and a gospel quintet.

Mackenzie Gault (viola) and longtime musical collaborator Serafin Sanchez (saxophone, keys) also co-wrote a number of songs.

“The title came in 2014 as we were pivoting and trying to figure out our next moves,” says Laurie via phone from his Denver home.

“We knew we wanted to approach it differently. We embarked on a project we called ‘Noenemies’ and spent several years with that. The project was about reestablishing collective song as a tool for social movements.”

The program, as Laurie refers to it, was inspired by mentor Vincent Harding.

“He was part of the Civil Rights movement and an associate of Dr. Martin Luther King’s who wrote what is commonly known as the ‘Beyond Vietnam’ speech,” explains Laurie. “He was in Denver and active and mentoring and encouraging young activists. We were some of his mentorees. He thought we needed songs to draw upon when courage is needed. When he passed away, we felt called to write those songs.”

Funded by a Kickstarter campaign that exceeded its goal by a whopping $31,000, Noenemies serves as yet another extension of the band’s ability to write music with a message. When the group first came together in 2004, it sought to be a motivation for political and social change.

“During the election of 2004, we started the band with two goals,” says Laurie. “One was to explore things musically. The other was to get people more engaged in the 2004 election. It began with a group of friends who had different musical training experience, everything from hip-hop to classical and funk and heavier rock and metal. We

40

Photo by Amanda Tipton

got in a room together to see what common ground we could find musically.”

The hip-hop inflected “Handlebars,” a 2008 song about “leading a nation with a microphone” that features rapidfire hits, woozy horns and electric guitars, put the group on the map. “‘Handlebars’ was the fastest charting debut single by a new band

really exciting. After it, we came with a new sense of mission.”

With Noenemies, Flobots continue to mix genres and push boundaries.

“Carousel,” for example, begins with cooing vocals before percolating synths and distorted guitars kick in.

“We experimented with different directions,” says Laurie. “We knew we wanted the human voice to play

FLOBOTS, UPTOWNE BUDDHA 9 P.M. TUESDAY, JAN. 16, BEACHLAND BALLROOM, 15711 WATERLOO RD., 216-321-5588.

TICKETS: $17 ADV, $20 DOS, BEACHLANDBALLROOM.COM

in 10 years; it was objectively a freak of the industry,” says Laurie. “We had a sense that the song was a hit when we saw the response locally, and we noticed there was something about it and how it spoke to 2007 when all this energy was congealing against the Bush administration’s Iraq invasion. We saw it going into the Obama campaign and our song, which seemed like it was talking about something, but it wasn’t clear, and it gave people something to chew on and got stuck in people’s heads. That was a wild ride and

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

a key role but not in a predictable way. We worked with a gospel choir that’s on a number of songs and worked with a children’s choir and the Sacred Heart singing group in Denver. We wanted strings to be a part of the sound and to bring horns back in. We wanted it to be sparser and more deliberate than some of our past albums. It was challenging.”

One of the album’s most soulful tunes, “Blood in the River” features howling vocals and a soulful refrain.

“Mckenzie [Gault], our viola

player, wrote the bare bones of that song and that chorus,” says Laurie.

“She wrote it in response to the different killings by police. We just looked at this state that we’re in where we’re suspicious and the way we look at each other and ask how people could be on the other side. I was thinking of a cousin who has a Confederate belt buckle. I thought about what I would say to him if I opened up. I asked him about it, but it’s about me reaching to him or reaching out to [white supremacist mass murderer] Dylann Roof before what he did or to reach out to any extremist before they do what they do. It’s the moment when you try to shake the person out of it.”

Laurie says the group wrote the hard-rocking “Quarantine” with the hopes that it would become an anthem.

“It’s about that moment when you feel that triumph is imminent,” he says. “It’s the fist-in-the-air and holding-up-a-sign-as-tear-gas-iscoming-down protest song. It felt the most like a Flobots’ song from the past. The rest of the album fills in the spectrum of emotions and experiences around that.”

Given that the songs all speak to the need to take up activism, the music comes across as particularly timely. That’s not lost on Laurie.

“Noenemies came long before we thought the [presidential] election would be like,” he says. “It’s a really divided time when so many people feel the hostility and volatility. It resonates in a whole different way.

It’s a zeitgeist thing. What we felt in a microcosm in our activist circles in 2014 now feels relevant to the whole country.”

Still, he emphasizes that fans don’t need to agree with his point of view to enjoy the music.

“People might think we’re a certain type of music or politics, but we want the live show to be a transformative experience,” he says.

“We grew up in churches and this is our ministry. We try to make it a spiritual experience as well as something that will move your heart and mind.”

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel

+ /;: 3,=,3(:5 *

+ .: = 3 / ) : + /; .96. 67 0+ 3 * < ,

AANN AAMERICAN AS ASTRONAUT

SAT SA AT 1/1 AT 1/13 /13 1

SAINT SA AINTT LIGHT AINT GHT HTT

WED 1/10

BIGI MEA ME MEAN EAEAANN SOUND SOU SO OUND UND NDD MAC MA MACHINE A AC SPA SPAFFORD PAAFFO AFFOORD BIG

SUN 1/28

FRESH BUCKET POMADE

THE SKULL

FRI 1/12 LYRICIST LOUNGE HOSTED BY

FRI 2/2

KIMBERLY HAFFEY

TUE 1/16

SAT 2/3

GROG SHOP SPELLING BEE %6%29 45%3$!9 ). *!.5!29

WED 1/17

THU 2/8

WRECKING CREW RED PANDA BEARS FUNERAL PROPOSALS

THE WHITE NOISE SHARPTOOTH

FRI 1/19

PACIFIC DUB

WED 3/7

SKINNY LISTER THE OUTSIDE VOICES

THE MASON DISTRICT

J RODDY WALSTON AND THE BUSINESS POST ANIMAL

LAND OF PANDA STIMPYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S REVENGE

THE EXPENDABLES THROUGH THE ROOTS

',544/.3s-/.!34%29 BLACK DEATH RESURRECTED

OLIVER HAZARD

BY LIGHT WE LOOM

DO ORIAN WALKER EXP

TUE 3/6

PERFORMING TROUBLEE IN ITS ENTIRET Y

BKA WATTS

THU THU H 1/18

SUN SU UN 11/14 /1114 /14

E

THU 3/8

CONAN THE DITCH AND THE DELTA WEED DEMON BLACK SPIRIT CROWN

FRI 3/9

ANTI FLAG STRAY FROM THE PATH FRI 2/9

SUN 3/11

SAT 1/20

SAT 2/10

TUE 3/13

ACTUAL FORM

JJUUJJUU

MFKNRMX THE BANG MESSIAHâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TURNTABLIST TAKEOVER WITH

JAY KICKS 5.+./7.&2!:%3s*/(. $/%s$* .5%2!

THU 1/25

BASSEL & THE RAFTERS RYAN MANTHEY JOHN KALMAN

FRI 1/26

SHE BEARS HERZOG NIGHTS VILLAGE BICYCLE

WEDNESDAY 1.10 MUG NIGHT THURSDAY 1.11 OPEN STAGE SOUND SYSTEM Hosted by XELA (8-11PM) THE HOOKUPâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;College ID Night with DJ MIKE FILLY (11pm) SATURDAY 1.13 GUMBO SUNDAY 1.14 SOULFUL SUNDAY MONDAY 1.15 SHITSHOW KARAOKE NO COVER! 21+ TUESDAY 1.16 CANVAS & COCKTAILS 8-10 pm LYRICAL RHYTHMS Open Mic Night Signups start at 8 pm THE GROG SHOP PRESENTS AT

AGORA

FOXX BODIES

1000 MODS SIERRA

SUN 1/21

Happy Hour Every Day until 9 PM Twitter & Instagram @BSIDECOVENTRY

SORORITY NOISE REMO DRIVE

GUS DAPPERTON EXOTIC FRUIT CLUB CUCO HELADO NEGRO LIDO PIMIENTE

2875 EUCLID HEIGHTS BLVD CLEVELAND HEIGHTS WWW.BSIDELIQUORLOUNGE.COM

HOT SNAKES

SWEAT Y MAMMOTH

BÃ&#x2DC;RNS

THU 2/8 WITH CHARLOTTE CARDIN AND MIKKY EKKO

EARTHLESS KIKAGAKU MOYO

MEGACHURCH EYE

WED 3/14

FRI 2/16

RIFF RAFF DJ AFTERTHOUGHT

TALIB KWELI RADIO SILENCE TOUR

*/(. 3)3#/s PODEEZY & DOLLABILLGATES

feat NIKO IS w/DJ SPINTELECT

SUN 2/18

THU 2/8

PORTUGAL.THE MAN 3/,$ /54

THU 3/15

FLYNT FLOSSY

BORN RUFFIANS

& TURQUOISE JEEP JOHNNY LA ROCK

THU 5/3

SAT 4/14

THU 2/22

SCREAMING FEMALES 4(/5s()23

SCOTT H. BIRAM THE HOOTEN HALLERS GREAVES

PROTEST THE HERO THE GROG SHOP PRESENTS AT

HOUSE OF BLUES

MON 1/22 MAKE â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;EM LAUGH MONDAYS

SAT 1/27 6:30PM

RUTH B HAILEY KNOX

SAT 1/27 10:30PM

CHIKERE NURU FREE PEACE OHIO CALLMECHRISG

;0*2,;: ;6 .96. :/67 ,=,5;: (9, (=(03()3, ;/96<./

^^^ [PJRL[Ã&#x2026;` JVT

MON 2/26

IRON CHIC HEART & LUNG TUE 2/27

MAKO NIGHT LIGHTS

TUE 1/23

GROG SHOP SPELLING BEE

WED 1/24 VIBEZ SHOWCASE &2)

,), 8!.s /,$ /54

SUN 4/15

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE

TUE 4/17

CUB SPORT

SAT 4/21

GUIDED BY VOICES

TUE 5/15

FU MANCHU

FRI 8/17

PEDRO THE LION

;PJRL[Z JHU IL W\YJOHZLK MVY HSS ZOV^Z H[ [OL JS\I ^P[OV\[ H ZLY]PJL MLL I` WOVUL MVY H Z\YJOHYNL VY H[ HU` VM [OL MVSSV^PUN SVJH[PVUZ! *3,=,3(5+ )9,(2 9664 *SL]LSHUK ,90, :;9,,; .<0;(9: >PSSV\NOI` /,0./;: 4<:0* :/67 *SL]LSHUK /LPNO[Z 3667 ;YLTVU[ 4<:0* :(=,: *SL]LSHUK 4@ 405+»: ,@, 9,*69+: 3HRL^VVK 9,*69+ 9,=63<;065 *SL]LSHUK /LPNO[Z 9,*69+ :/67 >PSSV^PJR :8<(9, 9,*69+: (RYVU ;/, =05@3 .966=, )LKMVYK >(? )6+,.( 3HRL^VVK @6<5. 205.: *SL]LSHUK

SUN 3/18

BIG K.R.I.T.

THE GROG SHOP PRESENTS AT

BEACHLAND

THE MOWGLIS

TUE 2/20 | clevescene.com clevesccene.ccom m | January 100 - 16, 22018 018

41

42

| clevescene.com m | January 10 - 16, 2018

MUSIC ONE LAST 2017 LIST, WE PROMISE An alt-weekly schmuck ranks his top 9 albums of last year

By Eric Sandy TO BORROW SOME perspective from Uproxx’s Steven Hyden (one of my favorite music writers), the whole idea of “top 10” lists at the end of the year is sort of an intellectual non-starter.

“Ranking albums is dumb,” he writes, “but it’s kind of fun ... because it’s really about discovering an album or two (or possibly more!) that you might not have known about otherwise.”

I might have used the phrase “favorite 10 albums of the year,” but, nonetheless, here are the 9 new albums of 2017 that left an impression on me — albums to which I’ve returned and albums from which I’ve drawn creative inspiration in one sense or another.

1. The Barr Brothers, Queens of the Breakers From the initial heartbeat percussion of “Defibrillation,” the Montreal-based Barr Brothers’ third album beckons the listener into a teeming world of steam and flora.

There is a mysticism at work here, helped along by the band’s natural ingredients: harpist Sarah Page’s delicate touch, pianist Andres Vial’s barometric manipulation, drummer Andrew Barr’s eightarmed massages and guitarist Brad Barr’s vibration of life. The Barr Brothers (nee the Slip) are on that same rarefied plane that, e.g., fellow traveler Jeff Tweedy has cultivated for years. They write and perform with an eye toward something greater than the sum of its parts.

On one turn, they’re slipping proto-electronica beats through acoustic melodies on “Kompromat,” while elsewhere they’re tenderly embracing the painfully sweet twists of serendipity in love in “Song That I Heard.” Taken as a whole, this album captures a mural of freewheeling emotions and moods that seem to be in short supply sometimes.

2. Alfa Mist, Antiphon This was an early 2017 find for me, and it held the No. 1 slot until Queens came out. It’s a beneficiary of YouTube’s (fairly marvelous) “up next” algorithm, and it seems like many other users landed on Alfa Mist’s album the same way I did: through happenstance. Here, on

Antiphon, Alfa Mist’s composer skills chill at the forefront of caffeinated beats, smoky sax solos, face-melting lead guitar work and a deft hand with a spectrum of samples. Take the 10-minute “Errors,” which kicks the mood from angular keys to after-hours lounge vibes before slumping into an orchestral swirl of sound. This is Saturday morning music, the sort of thing that complements well the heat of a French press, the shuffling of a thinning Metro section and the gentle nuzzlings of a Labrador retriever.

3. Craig Finn, We All Want the Same Things I can’t get “Ninety Bucks” out of my head, and that’s not a bad thing at all. It’s an infectious Costello-laced tune, and it’s only one slice of the We All Want the Same Things pie, each meant to be folded over on itself and crushed via headphones while tripping down Manhattan Avenue. Elsewhere on this fuzz-folk gem, you’ll find raucous rock like “Rescue Blues” and contemplative spoken-word like “God in Chicago.” Finn covers the gamut here, and you’ll be a changed person by the end of side two.

4. Valerie June, The Order of Time Something that I find evident in this list is how different artists play with time. On The Order of Time, Valerie June does that to startling effect. Her Tennessee congregation vocals invite Southern strings to

take center stage here and there, while leaning into verses that now and then remind the listener that time is a flat circle. It helps that June is a dynamite singer who can take low-key sojourns into the realm of nostalgia and aching. Elsewhere, of course, she’ll turn a song like “Shakedown” into a saloon stomp worthy of even the most jaded dancers.

5. Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile, Lotta Sea Lice Anyone who’s gotten into the habit of making top-10 lists in the past few years is well acquainted with the likes of Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile. They’ve grown into fringe-y indie institutions, and the scene erupted in mostly joy when the two announced a collaboration.

Each colors with a different shade of slacker troubadour, borrowing in equal parts from Bob Dylan and Steven Malkmus and whatever windswept poetry might be floating down the street at twilit hours.

Album opener “Over Everything” captures the duo almost too perfectly with Barnett and Vile trading lines over dreamy reverb melody and a simplified drum beat.

6. Spoon, Hot Thoughts Better music writers than I have already made the point: Spoon remains one of the most consistent bands on the scene these days. From the underrated 1997 EP Soft Effects to this latest effort, Spoon just has an energy that can’t seem to quit. The title

track is a claustrophobic dance that syncs neatly with 2017’s unsettling political landscape. Some strange new sound creeps behind every corner. The nearly industrial bummer, “I Ain’t the One,” bleeds into the jagged “Tear It Down” and the sometimes-Krautrocky “Shotgun.”

7. Slowdive, Slowdive This is easily the best “comeback” of the year, with these U.K. shoegaze masters returning to the “new releases” rack for the first time in more than two decades.

It’s a powerful album, almost undeserving of the “comeback” title’s baggage. Swirling guitars turn pieces like “Star Roving” into more than what might otherwise be a smoky indie rock throwaway.

The band worked quietly, they’ve said, slowly returning to themselves in a way that any one of us might reunite with identities from our pasts.

8. Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Barefoot in the Head The only returning band from my 2016 list, the Chris Robinson Brotherhood is such a cool outfit.

They’re Beachland favorites, and once again they dazzle their crowd with the stuff on Barefoot in the Head. Doesn’t matter if it’s summer or winter — this album hits all the right notes. You’ve got the jive talk of “Hark, the Herald Hermit Speaks” and the trippy mountaintop gaze of “Dog Eat Sun.” Robinson, in only a few short years with this group, has shown how far he can take an artistic vision that differs wholly from the band that made him famous, the Black Crowes.

9. The War on Drugs, A Deeper Understanding I think you’ll see this atop many a “top-10” piece this month.

Pretty much from Wagonwheel Blues onward, the War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel has worked tirelessly to execute a pitch-perfect representation of what’s in his head.

With A Deeper Understanding, it sounds like he’s getting pretty darned close to what he wants to do with his creative work.

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

43

LIVEWIRE

all the live music you should see this week Photo by John C. Benson

WED

01/10

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

Hassles: 8 p.m., $15. Beachland Tavern.

Jonny Lang/Blue Water Highway Band: 7 p.m., $28-$49. House of Blues.

THU

01/11

Ben Caplan/Harrow Fair/Istvan Medgyesi: 8 p.m., $10. Beachland Tavern.

Falling Stars (in the Supper Club): 7:30 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Music Box Supper Club.

Anthony Gomes: 8 p.m., $20. Beachland Ballroom.

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

The Homeless Gospel Choir/ Lawn Care/Alomar/Nic Adkins/ Ashley Blasko (in Mahall’s Apartment): 7 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Mahall’s 20 Lanes.

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

Plymouth House Grog Shop Takeover Featuring An American Astronaut/ persons places things/ Iron Bison/ Two Hands: 9 p.m., $8. Grog Shop.

Russian Duo: 7 p.m., $15. Bop Stop.

Rusted Root’s Michael Glabicki and Dirk Miller/Ryan Manthey: 8 p.m., $15 ADV, $20 DOS. The Winchester.

FRI

01/12

8018 Electronic Music and Arts Festival with DJ Jimmy Mac: 8 p.m., $12 ADV, $15 DOS. Odeon.

Sarah Arafat Album Release/Liz Kelly/Willow Hanks/Yes Lisa: A familiar face on the Mahall’s 20 Lanes stage, local singersongwriter Sarah Arafat is back tonight with a brand new album in tow. Switching between guitar and keyboard, Arafat writes soulful tunes that speak to the imperfection of human nature — its highs and its lows. Take, for instance, her single “Good Enough,” released last May, in which she emotionally questions an ex-lover’s decisions. Recorded over the fall, the new record is

44

The local band ProgNation celebrates its two-year anniversary with a Beachland show. See: Saturday.

sure to show off Arafat’s distinctly piercing vocals. Keeping the show fresh (and timely) with an allfemale acoustic lineup, openers include Liz Kelly of the Village Bicycle and Willow Hawks of the Sonder Bombs. (Laura Morrison) 8 p.m., $8. Mahall’s 20 Lanes.

Ratboys/Curtail/The Scuzzballs/ Failed Astronauts (in the Locker Room): 7 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Mahall’s 20 Lanes.

Capricorn Party featuring Terry Lee Goffee, The Ultimate Johnny Cash Tribute: Local singer Terry Lee Goffee, who headlines this annual Capricorn party at House of Blues, took his Johnny Cash tribute all over the country this summer. The singer, who counts Cash contemporary Marty Stuart as a fan, went to upstate New York, out to Bakersfield, California, and back to his home in central Ohio. Yeah, you could say he’s “been everywhere.” Goffee’s typical set includes almost 30 Cash classics per night, including his interpretation of Cash’s take on the Nine Inch Nails tune “Hurt.” Even if you’re not a fan of Cash (and how could you not be?) or don’t give a crap about Capricorns (now that we understand), this party is a blast and a half. (Jeff Niesel) $10 ADV, $12 DOS. House of Blues.

An Evening with Moises Borges: 9 p.m., $10. CODA. Ezre with Allan Licht (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge.

Lyricist Lounge Hosted by BKA WaTTS: 8:30 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Grog Shop.

Mo Mojo: 9:30 p.m., $5. Brothers Lounge.

Van Morrison Tribute with Nitebridge and Colin Dussault: 8 p.m., $12 ADV, $15 DOS. Music Box Supper Club.

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

Motherfolk/Jason Kaminski/Steve Wright: 8 p.m., $10 ADV, $15 DOS. The Winchester.

Vince Neil: 8 p.m., $42.50$75. Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park.

Nine Layers Deep/Wooly Bear/ Sparrowmilk: 9 p.m. Now That’s Class.

Pillars Album Release/ Wallcreeper/We Live by Night: 8 p.m., $5. Happy Dog. Springsteen Tribute by Swamps of Jersey: She’s the Boss (in the Supper Club): 8 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Music Box Supper Club.

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

The Ray Carr Show (WCSB 89.3) Sponsors a Night of Rockabilly with Duane Albert and Devil’s Rodeo, Johnny Fay and the Bel-Aires, and David Loy and the Ramrods: 9 p.m. The Euclid Tavern.

The Vindys/Old Brooklyn: 9 p.m., $8. Musica.

Keller Williams: 9 p.m., $23 ADV, $25 DOS. Beachland Ballroom.

SAT

01/13

Bummers/Water Witches/The Dreemers: 9 p.m., $5 ADV, $8 DOS. Mahall’s 20 Lanes.

Cauliflower Ninjas/Plinko/Dutty: 9 p.m., $8. Beachland Tavern.

Travis Haddix Blues Band (in the Supper Club): 7 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Music Box Supper Club.

Hubb’s Groove Tribute to Barry White and Teddy Pendergrass: 8:30 p.m., $20. Nighttown.

John’s Little Sister/Sweepyheads/ TRIOS: 9 p.m., $5. Happy Dog. Carlos Jones and the P.L.U.S. Band/Human Nature: 9 p.m.,

$10. Musica.

Les Delices Family Concert: 3 p.m., free. Bop Stop.

Listen, Little Man/Copper Thieves/ M. Moody: 9 p.m., $4 ADV, $7 DOS. CODA. No Matter What/Gin/Chocolate and Bottle Rockets/Dan McCoy & the Standing 8s: 6:30 p.m., $15. House of Blues.

ProgNation Two Year Anniversary Show/Jim Volk: The local tribute act ProgNation formed in response to what members perceive as the exclusion of prog acts from the Rock Hall. The group features locals Tony and Chris Cuda, the bassist and guitarist from the local prog/jazz group, CuDa, KrishNa & CuDa. In addition, it also includes singer Steve Kolesar (Rockin Ravers, ex-Champion), drummer Marty Zlocki (Time Traveler, ex-Fayerweather) and keyboardist Dan Maier (ex-Phillip Glass). To celebrate its two-year anniversary, ProgNation will play the music of Yes, King Crimson, ELP, the Moody Blues, Genesis and a handful of other prog acts from the late ’60s/early ’70s.

(Niesel) 8 p.m., $12 ADV, $15 DOS. Beachland Tavern.

Maura Rogers & the Bellows (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge.

Saint Light/The Commonwealth/ Glowing Moses: 8:30 p.m., $10. Grog Shop.

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

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

SUN

01/14

2nd Sundays with Party Plates: 4 p.m., free. Now That’s Class.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 12 8:30PM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 19 9:00PM

RAY FOGG

FROM PUT-IN-BAY

DOORS OPEN AT 6:00PM

SATURDAY, JANUARY 20 8:00PM

Bassel & the Rafters/Tam Tam Magic/Omar Kurdi: 8 p.m., $7. Beachland Tavern.

C-Town Jazz Quartet: 7 p.m., $10. Nighttown.

Centerfolds/Oh, Weatherly/Plans/ Long Shot/pollen eyes/Among All Things (in the Locker Room): 7 p.m., $10. Mahall’s 20 Lanes.

The Devil Makes Three: 7 p.m., $20-$30. House of Blues.

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

Spafford: We’ve been anticipating a Spafford show in Cleveland for years now, and we’re sure this one will be a real scorcher at the Grog Shop. The Arizona jam band has been blazing up audiences out West for a while now, and the live audio bespeaks a heavy-hitting band that’s honed its chops on arena-sized rock ’n’ roll and the sort of fan-interaction sensibilities that have supported the likes of Aqueous and Twiddle here on the East Coast. Check out the recent “A Taste of Fall 2017” on Spotify for a glimpse into their live action: “Funkadelic” moves through several different phases, with bassist Jordan Fairless leading the charge throughout. “In the Eyes of Thieves” is an uptempo disco freakout jam, complete with rapidfire percussion from Cameron Laforest. (Eric Sandy) 8:30 p.m., $17 ADV, $20 DOS. Grog Shop.

Nicole Sumlin: Sing It All: 7 p.m., $12. Bop Stop.

MON

THE SPAZMATICS SATURDAY, JANUARY 27 9:30PM

CARLOS JONES

& THE P.L.U.S BAND 1414 RIVERSIDE DRIVE LAKEWOOD HGLCMLMCKHFH © l ~y xDy

TUE

Rocky Horror Picture Show Sat., Jan. 20

Wrestling Legends

Live- Comedy - Karaoke Thu., Feb. 8

Uriah Heep

Sat., Mar. 3

The Dixie Dreggs

Texas Troubadours

No Sleep Podcast

Dawn of the Dreggs Tour

The Zombies

Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder

Karla Bonoff

Sun., Mar. 4

Sat., Mar. 10

Fri., Mar. 23

01/16

Amanda & Rick (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge.

Flobots/Uptowne Buddah: 9 p.m., $17 ADV, 20 DOS. Beachland Ballroom.

Anita Keys & Friends/Vicki Chew: 8 p.m., $5 ADV, $7 DOS. Beachland Tavern.

Land of Panda/Stimpy’s Revenge/ Wrecking Crew Red Panda Bears/Funeral Proposals: 7:30 p.m., $6. Grog Shop.

Outlab Session: 9 p.m., free. Bop Stop.

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

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

01/15

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

Shit Show Karaoke: 10 p.m. B-Side Liquor Lounge & Arcade.

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

FRIDAY, JANUARY 26 8:30PM

KentStage The

Sat., Mar. 24

Sun., Mar. 25

JUST ANNOUNCED

Fri., Apr. 6

Brian Henke

& Michael Kelsey Fri., Apr. 20

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 | clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

45

Photo by Giles Clement

BOP STOP

Winner Of

BAND OF THE WEEK

Voted â&#x20AC;&#x153;Best Jazz and Bluesâ&#x20AC;? on Cleveland Hot List 2017

2015/2016 Scene Magazine Best Jazz Club & 2014 Fox 8 Best Nightspot

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Best Date Nightâ&#x20AC;? by users of eHarmony

1/11 | 7PM

1/12 | 7:30PM

1/13 | 3PM

RUSSIAN DUO

DAVID BOWIE: THE BERLIN ERA

LES DELICES FAMILY CONCERT

$15

$25

FREE

1/13 | 7:30PM AN EVENING WITH(OUT)

1/14 | 7PM

1/16 | 9PM

NICOLE SUMLIN

OUTLAB SESSION

$12

FREE

1/18 | 7PM

1/19 | 7:30PM

CLEVELAND UNCOMMON SOUND PROJECT

BRITE WINTER WARMER FUNDRAISER

$15

$75

DAVID BOWIE PARTS I AND II $15/$25 1/17 | 7PM

TIM LEKAN QUARTET $10 1/19 | 11PM

1/20 | 8PM

JAZZ JAM SESSION

BONE-AFIDE $15

FREE

1/21 | 3PM

1/27 AND 1/28

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS CHAMBER MUSIC

THE BAD PLUS

$15-$55

$25/$30

Bar sales directly support The Music Settlement and its many programs.

Tickets to the second sets of our shows are half price for students

11609 DETROIT AVE CLEVELAND 216.226.2767 brotherslounge.com

HAPPY HOUR MON-FRI 3-7PM

LIKE US:

Best Of The West Winner

CHECK OUT OUR MENU

WINE BAR

&7&3: 5)634%": t

BAD BOYS OF BLUES JAM NIGHT

'3* t

BRICE JACKSON

'3* t

EZRE & MAURA

MOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; MOJO

4"5 t

THE TWOSDAYS

Zydeco

4"5 t

SPAZMATICS

MAURA ROGERS & THE BELLOWS &7&3: 46/%": t

MIKE PETRONE

EVERY MONDAY +";; t

VELVET VOYAGE

&7&3: .0/%": t

SKATCH ANDERSSEN ORCHESTRA

TUESDAY 1/16 t

AMANDA & RICK

56& t

&7&3: 8&%/&4%": t 9 4*/(&3 40/(83*5&3 SHOWCASE W/BRENT KIRBY

ACCIDENTAL COMEDY

&7&3: 5)634%": t

contact: the10X3@gmail.com

CHRIS HATTONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MUSICAL CIRCUS

'3* t

ARMSTRONG BEARCAT

"-- (&/3&4 t "-- 45:-&4

.0/ t 8*/( /*()5 5:00-10:00 56&4 t SUSHI 5:00-10:00 LADIES NIGHT 7:00PM-2:30AM

8&% t $5 BURGER NIGHT 5:00-10:00 5)6 t SHRIMP/CHICKEN TACOS

."35*/*4 t 8*/& t $)".1"(/& 1/2 PRICE SELECT WINE BOTTLES

'3* t MUSSELS 5:00-10:00

46

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

5:00-10:00

DEVIL MAKES THREE

By Jeff Niesel MEET THE BAND:

Pete Bernhard (guitarist), Lucia Turino (bassist), Cooper McBean (guitarist) THEY CAME FROM CALIFORNIA: This

bluegrass-y trio has slowly picked up steam ever since forming in Santa Cruz in 2002. Singerguitarist Pete Bernhard says that Santa Cruz, the birthplace of indie rock heroes Camper Van Beethoven, proved to be a good spot to start a band. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Even though itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a very small town, it has a great music scene for the size of the town,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s situated well. There was a big punk rock and rockabilly and indie rock scene in Santa Cruz because of the college, and they have decent music clubs. It was a great music scene, and people were very supportive. We got on community and college radio early on.â&#x20AC;?

A FOLKIE AT HEART: Bernhard says he

grew up in a folk music family and only started appreciating bluegrass music later in life. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My dad was a big Woody Guthrie fan,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My brother was big into rock â&#x20AC;&#x2122;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; roll, and my aunt was a folk singer.

My dad and brother are the ones who got me into early blues and country blues. I tried to play that when I ďŹ rst picked up a guitar and learned how to ďŹ ngerpick and play the slide guitar.â&#x20AC;?

WHY YOU SHOULD HEAR THEM: With its latest release, Redemption & Ruin, Devil Makes Three pays tribute to the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest inďŹ&#x201A;uences with new interpretations of songs originally recorded by people like Tom Waits, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Townes Van Zandt. Also, special guests like Emmylou Harris, Tim Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Brien, Jerry Douglas, Darrell Scott and guitar great Duane Eddy make cameos on the disc. The Muddy Watersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; track â&#x20AC;&#x153;Champagne and Reeferâ&#x20AC;? features some terriďŹ c slide guitar and cooing backing vocals as it has a gritty edge to it. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a huge Muddy Waters fan, and [the blues is] a big part of what we do,â&#x20AC;? says Bernhard. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That might be overlooked a bit because we have an upright bass and people think bluegrass. We take a big inďŹ&#x201A;uence from the blues, especially that era of Chess Records and all the blues greats that recorded for that label. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a huge inďŹ&#x201A;uence and it ďŹ t well on the album. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the ďŹ rst time we covered Muddy Waters but hopefully not the last, since I really love doing it.â&#x20AC;?

WHERE YOU CAN HEAR THEM:

devilmakesthree.com.

WHERE YOU CAN SEE THEM: Devil Makes

Three performs at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 14, at House of Blues.

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel

$1 pints $5 mules HAPPY HOUR

till 8p

m DAI

LY

SLASH

BOOK YOUR PARTY TODAY FOR FREE.

LOVES OUR GAMEROOM!

GO TO TIMEWARPBAR.COM FOR RESERVATIONS

• BIG BALL BOWLING • BILLIARDS • SHUFFLE PUCK • GOLDEN TEE • POWER PUTT • NBA JAM

BACHELORETTE, CORPORATE, BIRTHDAY OR ANY OCCASION.

“Coolest local live band venue I’ve seen in a long time” - Slash

FRIDAY, JANUARY 12

SATURDAY, JANUARY 13

FRIDAY, JANUARY 19 ...........................................GRUNGE DNA SATURDAY, JANUARY 20.................................... BILLY MORRIS FRIDAY, JANUARY 26 ............TRICKY DICK & THE COVER-UPS SATURDAY, JANUARY 27 .............................................. GRIZZLY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2 ...............................................OLD SKOOL SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3 ................................................ TOAST FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9 ....................................BREAKFAST CLUB SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10 .............................................. SHOUT FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16 ..........................................SPAZMATICS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17 ...............................DISCO INFERNO FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23 .............TRICKY DICK & THE COVER-UPS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24 ...........................CLEVELAND ROCKS FRIDAY, MARCH 2 .............................................THAT 80’S BAND SATURDAY, MARCH 3 ..................................................... GRIZZLY FRIDAY, MARCH 9 ..................................................GRUNGE DNA SATURDAY, MARCH 10 ..............................................OLD SKOOL FRIDAY, MARCH 16 ......................................................... CHEERS SATURDAY, MARCH 17 ...................................BREAKFAST CLUB FRIDAY, MARCH 23 ..................TRICKY DICK & THE COVER-UPS SATURDAY, MARCH 24 .....CARLOS JONES & THE P.L.U.S BAND FRIDAY, MARCH 30 ...........................................DISCO INFERNO SATURDAY, MARCH 31 ...........................................SPAZMATICS

BREAKFAST CLUB CHEERS CLEVELAND

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

47

C-NOTES

GREAT FOOD ]h[Wj cki_Y © ]h[Wj j_c[i

PW

Patrick Murphy

FAMILY TAVERN Featuring.....

Enclosed Heated Patio Smoked & Grilled Foods Every Weekend 139 Inch Projection TV

WEDNESDAY

OPEN MIC NIGHT LIVE ENTERTAINMENT

Sit down with your guests.

Advertise with SCENE. Call 216-241-7550 for more information.

01/12

Wixy 1260 Band 01/19

Sunset Harmony 01/26

Blue Matter ALL BANDS FROM 8P-12A 1868 PEARL RD | BRUNSWICK

330.220.2682

The local rock band No Matter What will reunite and play House of Blues.

FOR A GOOD CAUSE No Matter What to reunite for benefit

By Jeff Niesel

48

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

POPULAR LOCALLY IN THE late ’90s and early ’00s, the Cleveland cover band No Matter What has just announced it will reunite for a special show that takes place at 7 p.m. on Saturday at House of Blues .

The band, which features singer Jen Farley, singer-guitarist Tom Tonkli, guitarist Joe Del Re, bassist Pete Scorzino and drummer Bob Horwatt, last played for an Autism Speaks benefit in 2013. The House of Blues show will benefit the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, and Lee Weigman will play bass in place of Scorzino for the show.

“It’s so important to provide affordable, reliable, healthy food to all people in the area, and that’s exactly what the Greater Cleveland Food Bank does,” says Del Re in a press release announcing the show.

Farley will also bring her altpop trio Gin, Chocolate and Bottle Rockets to town. The House of Blues gig will mark that group’s first show in Cleveland since forming in 2014.

“I’m very excited to return to Cleveland for a special night with friends while giving back to the community,” she says. “Cleveland will always be home.”

Tickets for the all-ages show are

$15. The local alt-country act Dan McCoy and the Standing 8s will share the bill as well.

A New Beginning With his former band, Shadow Division, local bassist Joe LaGuardia teamed up with local producer Jim Stewart to release a terrific EP. The band regularly played around town too.

Now, LaGuardia has turned his attention to a new group, Mr. Carnivore.

“This group is the realization of working in music for over 15 years now,” says LaGuardia. “I believe in this project more than anything I have ever worked on before.”

Currently at work on an album, the band has just released a music video featuring LaGuardia’s brother, Pat, who gives himself a haircut in the video.

“Saying exactly what I mean without being shrouded and cloaked in cryptic lyrics excites me,” says singer-guitarist Pat LaGuardia, who wrote the track. “In a general sense, the song is about being okay and comfortable with a perceived major change — like cutting all that beautiful hair off of my head.

It could be perceived as a big deal or a big change, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter to anyone.”

In addition to the LaGuardia brothers, the band includes singerguitarist Mike Pappas and drummer Kevin Hannah.

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel

SAVAGE LOVE WORMS TURN

by Dan Savage Dear Dan I’m a 67-year-old gay man. After a breakup 15 years ago, I believed the possibility of emotional and sexual intimacy with a partner was over for me. Then a couple of months ago, my desire for sexual contact increased dramatically. For the first time, I began using apps, and I felt like the proverbial kid in a candy store. Also, I was surprised — not unpleasantly — by the whole Daddy phenomenon, never imagining that this old face and body would interest younger men. You can probably guess what happened next: I was contacted by a 22-year-old man who revealed himself to be mature, intelligent, sweet, and, fatally, the physical type that arouses me most. I fell hard, and he seems to like me too. Am I a creep? A fool? Is my judgment impaired?

— Dumb And Daddy The sexy “Daddy” thing — which has always been with us — seems to be undergoing a resurgence. Perhaps our omnipresent abusive orange father figure is giving us all daddy issues that are manifesting (in some) as a burning desire to service kinder, sexier, more benevolent daddies.

Or perhaps the internet is to blame for making it easier for people to anonymously seek out the kind of sex and kinds of sex partners they truly want. Even if the initial looking is anonymous, DAD, discussing one’s desires with others who share them helps people grow more comfortable with their desires and themselves — nothing melts away shame quite like knowing you’re not alone — and more people are coming out about their non-normative sexual desires, partner preferences, relationship models, etc., than ever before.

That said, DAD, if the affections of a consenting adult 40-plus years your junior is your particular perk of aging, go ahead and enjoy it.

Keep your expectations realistic (a successful STR is likelier than a successful LTR), don’t do anything stupid (see Father Clements, below), and reacquaint yourself with my constantly updated and revised Campsite Rule: When there’s a significant age and/ or experience gap, the older and/ or more experienced person has a

responsibility to leave the younger and/or less experienced person in better shape than they found them. Do what you can to boost his knowledge, skills, and self-confidence while you’re together, and do your best to stick the nearly inevitable dismount — the chances that you’ll be together forever are slim, but you can forever be a friend, mentor, and resource.

While the age difference will creep some out, DAD, that doesn’t mean you’re a creep. Don’t want to be a fool? Don’t do anything foolish. Worried about infatuationimpaired judgment leading you to do something foolish? Ask a few trusted friends to smack you upside the head if you start paying his rent or lending him your credit cards. We associate age with power, but youth and beauty confer their own kinds of power, and that power can be abused — it can also lead seemingly sensible men to sign their life savings over to 24-year-old Romanian “models.”

For example: “A 79-yearold retired priest has been left heartbroken and homeless after his 24-year-old husband left him just after their home was put into his name,” LGBTQ Nation reported.

“Philip Clements sold his home in Kent, England, for £214,750, before moving to Romania and purchasing an apartment for the couple to live in in Bucharest. He signed over the property to Florin Marin, so that Marin would have security after he passed away … Marin broke things off just weeks after the apartment was put in his name, and Clements found himself homeless.”

Keep Father Clements’ sad story in mind, DAD, but don’t be paralyzed by it. Because there are lots of examples of loving, lasting, non-creepy, non-foolish relationships between partners with significant age gaps out there. So enjoy this while it lasts, and if things start to get creepy, then you’ll have to pull the plug. But if this turns into a loving, lasting, healthy, and unconventional LTR, DAD, then one day he’ll get to pull your plug. (When that day comes, which hopefully won’t be for a long, long time.)

mail@savagelove.net t@fakedansavage

REAL PEOPLE REAL DESIRE REAL FUN.

Try FREE: 216-377-6292

More Local Numbers: 1-800-926-6000

Ahora español Livelinks.com 18+ | clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

49

FIND YOUR

HAPPY HOUR!

ADULT SERVICES A MOUNTED “MAN TO MAN” MASSAGE *HOTEL DISCOUNTS*

Let a man rub you down like only a man can! Full Body/ Full Service “Man to Man” Massage given by hot naked masculine white dude. 24 HRS Hotel & house calls welcome or stop by my Massage Studio. Versatile any scene. 2 guys also available. Low Rates. Well equipped and ready to play... Call 216-491-4501

PHONE LINES 100’s OF SEXY LATINO SINGLES

DOWNLOAD SCENE’S OFFICIAL HAPPY HOUR APP TODAY!

clevescene.com/happyhours

Meet Hot Latin Locals!

Get your FREE trial! 18+ 216.626.7777 440.325.7777 www.questchat.com

ALL KINDS OF SINGLES Straight 216-912-2222 Curious 216-912-6000 FREE Code 3227, 18+

CALL NOW, MEET TONIGHT! FREE to try! 18+ 216.626.7777 / 440.325.7777 Other Cities: 1.888.257.5757 www.questchat.com

EXPLICIT CHAT WITH SEXY LOCALS

Get your FREE TRIAL! 18+ CALL The Night Exchange NOW! 216.502.4388 / 440.499.6400 www.nightexchange.com

FUN SEXY SINGLES

Send Message FREE! 216-912-2222 Use FREE Code 3229, 18+

Hot Guys! Hot Chat! Hot Fun! Call FREE! 216-377-6300 or 800-777-8000 18+ www.guyspyvoice.com

HOT LOCAL URBAN SINGLES!

Are looking to hook up now!

Try it FREE! 18+ 216.367.1010 / 440.424.0303 www.metrovibechatline.com

LOCAL LESBIAN SINGLES Reply to Ads FREE! 216-912-6000 FREE Code 2643, 18+

Make a Connection. Real People, Flirty Chat Call FREE! 216-377-6292 or 800-926-6000 www.livelinks.com 18+

MEET GAY & BI LOCALS

Browse & Respond FREE! 216-912-6000 Use FREE Code 2642, 18+

Where Local Girls Go Wild!

Call 216-377-6290 or 800-700-6666 Try FREE! www.redhotdateline.com

WHERE SINGLES MEET

Listen to Ads & Reply FREE! 216-912-2222 FREE Code 3228, 18+

Always FREE to listen and reply to ads!

Cleveland:

Your premier choice for classy & fun entertainment providing firstrate entertainment for all occasion, including a wet & wild bachelor parties, divorce parties, birthday celebrations & retirement parties!

Whatever the reason is that you request our services, rest assured that we have what you’re looking for! Our carefully selected adorable playmates cater to any occasion! We offer a diverse selection of exotic, classy, sophisticated & gorgeous ladies for you to choose from.

50

| clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

(216) 377-6336

www.megamates.com 18+

NORTH

Massage - Certified

Upgraded suites. Efficiencies and 1BR available. Off-street parking available. 216-392-5384

CARING MASSAGE Days & Evenings, weekends.

Warm candlelight atmosphere.

Lakewood/West Suburbs Linda 216-221-5935

MASSAGE FOR SINGLES/COUPLES By a certified married couple.

330-741-0001

Bulletin Board WANTS TO PURCHASE minerals and other oil & gas interests. Send details P.O. Box 13557, Denver, CO 80201

Professional Services Seeking Talent!

Models, actresses, massage therapists and exotic dancers wanted for R-rated films Please call (216)334-0582

Rentals: West/Suburbs

METRO LOFTS APARTMENT Located at 3307 Scranton Rd., in Cleveland. 216-351-6936.

21 Loft Style Apartments Secured Entry Off-Street Parking Available Pets welcome w/ fee Central A/C

PARK PLACE

Real Estate: West/Suburbs

Spacious 1BR and 2BR suites available. Steps from Edgewater Park.

Heat included. Off-street parking available. 216-392-5384

Hedgewood Manor Spacious updated 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom suite, Secured entry, laundry on site. Air conditioning.

440-829-8444.

LET’S HEAR IT FOR LAST NIGHT. EVENT SLIDESHOWS. ONLY AT CLEVESCENE.COM SCENE

Real Estate Services

WE BUY OLD ROCK CONCERT T-SHIRTS

1814 Coventry Rd, Cleveland Hts. 216-371-4386 Playmates or soul mates, you’ll find them on MegaMates

PARKSIDE Spacious 1BR and 2BR suites available. Steps from Lakewood Park. Heat included. 216-392-5384

BROOKSIDE OVAL APARTMENT Located on Park Fulton Oval near the Cleveland Metroparks! 216-351-6936 Choose from any of our newly remodeled 1 & 2 bdrm apartments, all w/ modern kitchens & bathrooms. All feature air-conditioning & Garage parking also available.

Brookside is located close to I-480, I-71, and I-90, just minutes from downtown Cleveland. Come home to the beautiful park-like setting of Brookside Apartments! You’ll be happy to call Brookside home.

Advertise with SCENE. WATERBURY Large, remodeled 1br and 2 BR suites. Heat included. Off-street parking available. 216-392-5384.

Located on a private tree lined street, 1BR and 2BR suites available. Off-street parking available.

Heat included. 216-392-5384.

G N I K A E BR S...

NEW ...HOT OFF THE INTERNET PRESS. O N LY AT C L E V E S C E N E . C O M

LAKEWOOD CLIFFS APARTMENTS 18900 Detroit Extension Newly Renovated 1-2 Bedroom Apts Heat & Water Included Updated Laundry on Site Off Street Parking Air Conditioning Secure Entry Lake and Park Views Call for our Specials 216-392-5384 *****some restrictions apply*****

Successfully In Business For 16 Years!

MON-SAT: 10:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M. Please call MARIA at 216-253-0042 Located off W.140th | No Texts

Open desires...

Hidden identities...

Pop Up

NEVER WORN VINTAGE KNITWEAR

STORE CLOSING!

Cleveland:

(216) 377-6345 www.megamates.com 18+

HOME BUYERS!!!

FREE MONEY!!!

DOWN PAYMENT PROGRAM* (for new kitchen, new roof, new carpet, appliances, paint, basement waterproofing, windows, heating & cooling)*

NEVER EVER EVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO BUY A HOME!!!

Great Low Fixed Interest Rates* When YOUR dreams come true... OUR dreams come true!!!

440.342.7355 (SELL) To Buy...or Sell

Try FREE Now: 216-377-6290 More Local Numbers: 1-800-700-6666

50% OFF EVERYTHING!!

Hours: Tuesday-Saturday: 12-8 Sunday : 12-6

Call 216-241-7550 for more information.

BUY YOUR DREAM HOME!!! Plus Get Up To $100k + More*

VINTAGE APPAREL Shop

100% Wools, Cottons, made right here in Cleveland.

Cool styles, fabrics and designs.

Great Prices!

1782 Coventry Rd (Old American Apparel space)

Always FREE to listen and reply to ads!

Sit down with your guests.

EDGECLIFF Large, upgraded suites. Heat included. Overlooking the metro parks.

Free off-street parking available.

216-392-5384

ELBUR

BIG FUN

redhotdateline.com 18+

FREE TRIAL

Discreet Chat Guy to Guy

216.626.0320

Call Grizzell *Some restrictions may apply *for those who qualify... we consider...

'//$ #2%$)4 s "!$ #2%$)4 s "!.+2504#9 | clevescene.com | January 10 - 16, 2018

51

OHIO’S PREMIER

SMOKE SHOP & TATTOO SUPPLY HEADQUARTERS! Serving Ohio for 15 Years and Counting!

ɞVAPORIZERSɞ

Huge Selection GLASS PIPES! Indians Browns Cavaliers GREAT GIFT!

FULL LINE OF CLEANSING PRODUCTS

AMERICA’S #1 INCENSE

TWISTY GLASS BLUNTS Coming Soon!

PAPERS CONES TIPS WRAPS TRAYS

BUTANE & TORCHES

6 FT TALL

BATS PIPE POUCHES MULTI PIPE TOOL POLLEN BOXES

NEW & UNIQUE COLLECTABLES!

Come & Check Out Our RICK & MORTY Masterpiece At Our Cleveland Store CLEVELAND 4264 Pearl Rd. 216.749.3440

EASTLAKE 32888 Vine St. 440.942.8668

BARBERTON

LORAIN

AKRON

536 W. Tuscarawas 330.753.0500

832 Broadway 440.242.4080

1004 Kenmore Blvd.

330.753.3600

GIRARD

MANSFIELD

STRONGSVILLE 19097 Drake Rd. 440.572.8287

532 Park Ave. West 16 N. State St. 419.522.1695 330.545.8131 AUTHORIZED DEALER

www.glasshouseohio.com