Scene October 9, 2019

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| clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

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Dedicated to Free Times founder Richard H. Siegel (1935-1993) and Scene founder Richard Kabat

CONTENTS

Publisher Andrew Zelman Editor Vince Grzegorek

CONSULT SPECIAL

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Applied To Procedure Fee

Editorial Music Editor Jeff Niesel Senior Writer Sam Allard Staff Writer Brett Zelman Web Editor Laura Morrison Dining Editor Douglas Trattner Visual Arts Writer Dott von Schneider Copy Editor Elaine Cicora Interns Alice Koeninger Advertising Senior Multimedia Account Executive John Crobar, Shayne Rose Multimedia Account Executive Kiara Davis Creative Services Art Director/Production Manager Steve Miluch Staff Photographer Emanuel Wallace

Upfront

5

Feature

13

Get Out!

19

Art

24

Film

25

Eat

27

Music

32

3AVAGE ,OVE

Business Sales Assistant/Receptionist Megan Stimac Controller Kristy Dotson 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 Creative Director Tom Carlson Digital Operations Coordinator Jaime Monzon

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UPFRONT CITY BLOCK IS JUST KIND OF A FUTURISTIC MALL AT TOWER CITY NOW Photo courtesy of Vocon

LEADERS OF THE BLOCKLAND initiative unveiled reconfigured plans for the Tower City development they’ve dubbed “City Block” last week in a presentation that showed how significantly the flagship project has evolved.

Both Bernie Moreno, Blockland’s creator, and Jon Pinney, the local attorney and co-chair of Blockland’s “Place” committee, admitted to major challenges and changes thus far.

“At first, we were focused on a tech hub or traditional incubator,” Pinney said. “But after input, it occurred to us that we needed to think broader and bigger. It’s a lot of work, and there’s still a lot of work to do.”

City Block will now be focused chiefly on “entrepreneurship,” a term presumably broad and big enough to encompass pretty much anything. Per a July press release from Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock Detroit, which has given a tentative green light to the project, City Block will be a 350,000-squarefoot entrepreneurial center that aims to transform the heart of the city into “a buzzing cross-section of entrepreneurs and services.”

But as yet, even with this capacious terminology, there are still no confirmed tenants, according

to Pinney. He said Wednesday that leaders were “close to” inking commitments from some of their first tenants and were waiting on a commitment from a “big-name” company — which of course may or may not be true — and he told folks who attended the meeting at Cleveland.com that they may be asked to contribute by renting space there.

Moreno acknowledged that he’s had to adjust his personal thinking on City Block as well. He said that a year-and-a-half ago, he envisioned the space as a campus setting with startup teams eating pizza as they coded at monitors round the clock.

Now, the dramatic transformation of the Avenue at Tower City is mostly physical. Conceptual renderings provided by Vocon depict an urban parkway on Prospect Avenue and what look like Penrose staircases of skywalks through the atrium.

City Block is designed to be both a public and private space that keeps the Cleveland Cinemas theater, honors the importance of the central transit hub and offers restaurants, retail, gathering spaces and private amenities for companies and City Block members alike.

So … kind of like a mall.

What is an “entrepreneurial center,” what is “a buzzing cross-section of entrepreneurs and services,” if not a mall? It’s a futuristic mall, no doubt, with an aspirational design and flavor that’s very neat to look at and think about. But it’s worth remembering that this pie-in-the-sky project, the first phase of which Pinney said would cost upwards of $100 million, retains only trace elements of the vision that Moreno and Pinney had been promoting through 2018.

(That vision was promoted, by the way, with the exuberant cheerleading of the region’s corporate and civic leaders, whose attention deficit disorders never fail to stun. Those leaders are now by and large devoting their energies to promoting Cleveland Rising, another corporate-sponsored initiative which hosts its meetings at Cleveland.com.)

Unmentioned during the City Block presentation Wednesday was the word “blockchain,” which is striking in the following respect: Blockchain was originally the whole point. The name of the project, City Block, was a cute little civic double entendre. It was not even 18 months ago, remember, that Blockland’s leaders stood on a stage and instructed Clevelanders to

learn and embrace this purportedly revolutionary technology, teasing that soon Cuyahoga County would be the first entity in the nation to adopt blockchain birth certificates and so forth. City Block was to be where all the emergent blockchain start-ups would converge and explode.

There were obviously no successful blockchain companies interested in renting space, so the vision broadened.

Fair enough.

But even the idea of tech is now being soft-pedaled. “[City Block] is an entrepreneurship center,” said Pinney, “not a tech center.”

Also nowhere to be found in the current design is “Genesis,” the imaginary CMSD school which was to have been a key component of City Block and was absolutely central to Bernie Moreno’s view of Blockland as an initiative that would make Cleveland a center of innovation for all. (It goes without saying that assent from the school district ought to have been a prerequisite.)

The project’s incubator amenities for now include “2000+ desks” “16 innovation boxes,” “30 meeting rooms” and “50 residential pods” — lingo for a “co-working space” with “conference rooms” and “studio apartments” — and are intended, as in the original conception, to create collisions among innovative workers and thinkers. But City Block’s wobbly evolution means that some or all of these amenities might not be in the next round of conceptual renderings. Moreno repeatedly stresses that these are just ideas; that these are “aspirational” designs. And we should take him at his word.

Creating the urban parkway on Prospect, to take one example — which looks very cool! — would require dealing with a traffic engineering department that has been notoriously hostile to non-autocentric street uses, and the same sluggish, petulant administration that still hasn’t removed unsightly Jersey barriers from Public Square. Taking a street off the downtown auto grid would be, in Pinney’s words, “a very heavy lift.”

In the same way that the Medical Mart, which was supposed to be a “Disneyland for Doctors,” | clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

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UPFRONT became a very expensive banquet hall perpetually on the hunt for thematically aligned office tenants, City Block, which was supposed to be the world’s “largest and most advanced technology and entrepreneurial ecosystem hub,” could end up being a very expensive mall, perpetually on the hunt for its own thematically aligned office tenants.

Bernie Moreno is still preaching equity (in the fad-like way that all civic leaders have adopted the rhetoric of “inclusive prosperity”) and said Wednesday that focusing on entrepreneurship was more inclusive than focusing on tech. This may very well be true.

“This is a broader vision of Cleveland,” he said. “If you could take half of our citizens who are living in poverty and turn them into successful middle-class citizens, how many Amazon headquarters would that be worth?”

Aspirationally? Twenty. Fifty. Six hundred and seventy-four.

— Sam Allard

Jack Casino’s Proposed Pedestrian Bridge Gets Green Light From Cleveland Planning Commission, Final Approval Still Awaits

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After receiving approval from the Downtown/Flats Design Review Committee last Thursday, the Jack Casino’s proposal to build a second pedestrian bridge, this one above Ontario connecting the May Company building and parking garage to the Higbee Building, passed the planning commission Friday morning on a 3-2 vote. It will go back before design review to address a handful of concerns raised Thursday and then reappear before the planning commission for final approval.

Jack’s arguments — presented

by Len Komoroski of Jack Entertainment/the Cavs/Dan Gilbert’s general family of businesses, Craig Wasserman of Nelson architects, and Gino Del Pup of Jack Entertainment — focused on three separate issues they argued were all interconnected.

As for how a pedestrian bridge was the only, best or even “a” solution at all was never made clear. That was thanks partially to a committee that, for the most part, never pressed the representatives for any reasoning more substantive than a generally shared feeling that Ontario Street

could be better and It’s Dan Gilbert, and He Owns a Bunch of Stuff, so let’s just say yes.

Komoroski led off with a stirring jargonoliloquy, declaring the pedestrian skyway would be a “catalyst” for the revitalization of that stretch of Ontario, ushering in a new era of increased foot traffic that would drive street-level retail and investment.

How, exactly, would a pedestrian skyway add to foot traffic when people would be parking in the May Company garage and either going to offices in the Higbee Building or the casino?

The answer was that it just would, which was good enough for everyone, apparently. Density, Cleveland planning chief Fred Collier said, was good, and packing as many people as possible into downtown, and thus collecting income taxes and having them spend discretionary dollars downtown, is good.

Which … is good.

And it seems that desire, and the shared desire to make Ontario Street something more aesthetically pleasing and vibrant than it is, is the justification by which the city is going to let this happen when there’s little evidence that a pedestrian bridge is needed to achieve it.

Bedrock currently has around 100,000-square-feet of unleased office space in the Higbee Building, the Jack team told the commission today. And the reason the vacancy — something like 80 percent, they estimated — has endured so long is because prospective tenants have complained about the lack of covered parking.

The May Company garage, which is a dark and old structure that Bedrock also owns and which it will be renovating in a $35 million project, is one of the two main reasons it wants the skyway. It wants to lease those offices. And it wants more people to be able to park and walk directly into the casino. (Filling a parking garage they own that currently runs at about 70 percent capacity would be a cherry on top.) That’s it. Everything else is a sales job to get the votes they need.

Komoroski essentially admitted as much when, after calling the proposed bridge a “catalyst” for future development multiple times, he referred to it as the “final piece” in Bedrock’s plan.

And a statement (which could double as a version of two truths and a lie) issued by Mark Dunkeson, CEO of Jack Entertainment, lists the benefits much as Scene understood them in order of priority.

“The walkway, which is a critical piece to our larger downtown plan, will allow us to better serve our guests, providing a convenient

| clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

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UPFRONT

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crosswalk from the May Company Garage directly into JACK Cleveland Casino. It will also serve as an access point into the Higbee Building which will significantly enhance the attractiveness of the office space by adding connected, adjacent parking,” Dunkeson said. “In addition, the walkway will support downtown retail by giving visitors and those located within the Higbee Building an easier way to access the street level retail.”

Never mind that studies in other cities have found that skyways reduce foot traffic for the natural reason that everyone will just waltz back and forth to their car without ever setting foot on the sidewalk, thus removing human beings from the landscape and creating scenarios exactly like the one the planning commission is trying to change.

Never mind that Dan Gilbert’s companies can and will address the streetscape designs of their buildings and get different tenants whenever they damn well choose. (Whether that happens before or after Phase II of the casino is the only question, because they were very, very clear they did not like the current lineup of tenants.)

Never mind that, again, a pedestrian skyway has nothing to do with that business decision.

Never mind that Craig Wasserman described the upside of the skyway bridge as something that would be “more safe” and create a “more customer friendly experience,” which is literally just another way saying getting people into the casino.

And never mind that maybe a renovated garage in and of itself will draw more tenants to their building, regardless of how they get across the street. (Literally, again, across the street.)

If Jack is paying for this, why should we care?

First of all, it reeks of capitulation to Gilbert for the fact that he is Gilbert.

(Collier referred to the skyway as “part of a package,” meaning all that Gilbert has going on.) Second, despite the fact the design review committee gave a green light, it seems to run contrary to good design. (Collier said in this instance, the “benefits outweigh the aesthetic concerns.”) Third, it will probably not achieve, and will likely hinder, all the things it claims it will do. (Collier seemed to have his doubts.

“Is it enough to stimulate the ground floor? Maybe,” he said.)

Only two members, Charles Slife and Kerry McCormack, both of whom voted against passage, raised

substantive questions, the basis of which echoed all the concerns stated above.

“We don’t need a bridge to tackle the streetscape,” Slife said in opposition, while also noting the further degradation of the view down Ontario to Public Square and Lakeside.

“Why a bridge instead of some other connector?” McCormack asked, mentioning bump-outs and traffic calming measures that could not only invite foot traffic to the street, but make it easier to cross from the garage to the Higbee building.

Komoroski was pretty direct and honest in his answer, which did not include all the promises of foot traffic and activation. Instead, it was, “Look, we can’t lease this space we have, and this is a key part of the investment.”

Which is why he probably wasn’t pleased with the “no” votes from Slife and McCormack.

Outside on the sidewalk following the meeting, Komoroski was on the phone debriefing someone on the vote while waiting at a crosswalk. Loud enough for anyone to hear, including this reporter, he was expressing to whomever was on the other end of the line his vigorous and sincere displeasure with the councilman’s vote.

“And one guy switched his vote at the last minute to a ‘no.’ Kerry McCormack,” Komoroski said. “Kerry freaking McCormack.”

It’s almost as if they expect to get what they want, and unanimously with total acquiescence at that, with no inspection of what seem to be hollow promises. Where have we heard that story before?

— Vince Grzegorek

Unify Project is now ‘Unify Labs,’ New Partnership with United Way Raises Questions, Eyebrows The organization formerly known as the Unify Project is now Unify Labs. Under that name, it is entering into a partnership with United Way of Greater Cleveland (UWGC). Though the partnership was formally announced at United Way’s annual luncheon last week, neither organization is prepared to disclose details of the arrangement.

United Way CEO Augie Napoli, in his prepared remarks Sept. 27, was enthused to promote a new “Impact Institute,” a place where “ideas — and data — are the currency of innovation.”

The Impact Institute was made possible by a $1.5-million gift this summer from former United Way

board chairman (and current “life director”) Alexander Cutler and his wife Sarah Cutler. It will be led by former Cleveland Clinic CEO and current United Way director and 2018 campaign chair Toby Cosgrove.

United Way board chairman Paul Dolan called the Impact Institute a “think tank with an action plan.”

According to Napoli, it will put “the why of poverty — not its symptoms but its root causes — under the microscope.”

United Way describes itself as “an independent nonprofit organization relentlessly dedicated to building empathy for the profound needs of our community.” It is the largest privatesector funder of health and human services in the region and has recently prioritized anti-poverty programs.

In the new approach to combating poverty that Napoli outlined, a “Community Hub for Basic Needs” will fund organizations that address the “immediate, here-and-now” exigencies of the community, while the Impact Institute will study deeper issues in an attempt to identify systemic solutions.

“We have to recognize that this isn’t just about ‘those people’ in the inner city,” Napoli said, in surely one of the speech’s weirdest moments, “or ‘those people’ in the neighborhoods miles away from where we sleep at night.

This is about all of us.”

Napoli described Unify Labs as the engine of the Impact Institute’s forthcoming work. His fetishistic references to “data” and “outcomes at scale” mimicked the language that the Unify Project and its emissaries have used since that organization’s muchballyhooed, if hazy, conception.

Napoli stressed that part of the United Way’s new focus, indeed part of the “new United Way,” will be placing a high priority on measuring outcomes.

“What we measure and learn,” he said, “will provide a valuable data set that will be used as an informed jumping-off point for the Impact Institute’s development of more effective and powerful solutions.”

United Way’s partners at Unify Labs, as well as Case Western Reserve University and the Center for Community Solutions, will all, said Napoli, help “create a more dynamic measurement set” to power those solutions.

“One of the important components of these solutions,” he said, “beyond what we learn through our realtime delivery of services, will be the addition of groundbreaking technology and data powered by our partner, Unify Labs. At our fingertips will be the predictive modeling and

testing that’s vital to creating the right strategies that can grow into real-life sustainable solutions.”

When asked to elaborate on the relationship with Unify Labs and the services they would provide, United Way’s director of corporate communications, Katie Connell, said it was “too early” to comment beyond Napoli’s remarks.

(Imagine our surprise! United Way of Greater Cleveland, after all, purports to “embrace the values of accountability and transparency as a matter of ethical leadership, as well as legal compliance.”)

But Unify Labs wouldn’t comment either. Their VP of external affairs, Jessica Cohen, only provided a brief comment on their new name — “the tweak reflects how we continue to evolve as a tech startup” — but said they were “not ready” to answer our other questions.

Our other questions sought clarification on the “groundbreaking technology” Napoli referenced, the data to be measured, and the nature of the relationship with United Way. (Is it a contractual relationship, for example? And if so, what is the contract’s length, dollar value and deliverables?)

Or is Unify Labs, in effect, becoming an arm of United Way?

That’s what some current United Way employees are concerned about.

And perhaps for good reason. United Way of Greater Cleveland is currently headquartered at the Mandel Community Building on Euclid Avenue in Playhouse Square. Though Cohen would not confirm, Unify Labs is rumored to be relocating to the fourth and fifth floors of that building, which are currently under renovation.

One employee told Scene that negotiations on the space are nearly complete, though the paperwork may not yet be signed.

Before the renovation, United Way’s top executives, including Napoli, occupied the fifth floor, and they are likely to return there when renovations are complete in early 2020. If that’s the case, Unify Labs and United Way leadership will be working alongside one another, a highly unusual arrangement that some feel goes beyond a traditional third-party relationship.

The new partnership raises additional eyebrows because Unify Labs’ CEO, Sharon Sobol Jordan, and one of its founders, Charlie Lougheed, both serve on United Way of Greater Cleveland’s board of directors.

Moreover, United Way, in recent years, has funneled significant funds to contractors with direct or indirect

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board connections, as in its major expenditure on digital marketing through Cleveland.com. (Editor Chris Quinn serves on the board.)

United Way employees would be less suspicious if Unify Labs was a known entity that provided any recognizable service. But Unify Labs’ work and products are still totally unknown.

Scene was shown slides of a Unify Labs presentation at an UWGC all-staff meeting last month. It was meant to explain the “new partnership,” but its content left employees baffled. The material was either utterly inscrutable or utterly rudimentary. One slide featured a graph about automation and “The Knowledge Network” that no one understood. Others, which focused on the “future of work,” harvested data from Wikipedia and the U.S. Census.

One United Way employee told Scene that if the new partnership was merely an experimental data-sharing arrangement, there was little cause for concern. It could even yield some productive insights.

But if United Way was paying Unify Labs — or was, in some sense, fusing with them — it would be extremely troubling because United Way would be providing the equivalent of venture capital. This would be an irresponsible use of donor dollars, in the employee’s view.

Stephen McHale, one of Unify Labs’ co-founding partners, happened to appear at a Blockland meeting Wednesday. He was asked by attorney Jon Pinney to explain his work. His response provides some perspective on what Unify Labs may hope to accomplish with United Way. The following is a transcript: “We organized a board of CEOs of those who are key drivers of the economy — the health systems, banking, higher ed, sports teams, things like that — to get together to work on modeling, using data science, tech, social science, behavioral science and modeling, to not just build theories, but to actually build actionable solutions, that by coming together through profit, private sector, nonprofit, public sector, how do we come together and start to really leverage our strengths and the opportunities and find optimization?

And so I think Blockland fits right on it. JobsOhio fits right on it. And as we all keep triangulating on this, our hope is to — we are a 509(a)3, so we are an independent trusted broker of data and analytics — so

what we really want to center on is solutions that we can build together.

We’re not gonna be the solutions.

We’re just gonna make the problem solvers better. That’s our mission, and the purpose that was set by the executives and the CEOs, to create the first expanding economy powered by inclusive prosperity.”

Creating an expanding economy powered by inclusive prosperity is exactly the sort of specious drivel that CEOs and executives can be counted upon to champion. And creating the first such expanding economy is the sort of distinction Cleveland CEOs and executives relish with special fervor.

Cleveland, lest we forget, boasts the first United Way chapter in the United States. The city’s tradition of corporate responsibility is vastly more storied and sacred than the tradition, say, of the Browns.

But if CEOs’ and executives’ idea of inclusive prosperity now means giving millions of dollars to startups like Unify Labs, who study poverty according to the whims and directives of a board of CEOs … who are key drivers of the economy,” the results are unlikely to pinpoint real root causes, which have at least something to do with the fact that CEOs and executives tend only to concern themselves with “inclusive prosperity” once they’ve achieved prosperity for themselves.

Here’s one systemic solution free of charge, divined without the use of data science or analytics. Why doesn’t Paul Dolan (net worth: ~$4 billion), chairman of not only United Way but also the Cleveland Indians, start paying property taxes on Progressive Field (which he conveniently doesn’t “own”). Taxes on the stadium would net the city of Cleveland (in 2015 dollars) about $6.2 million per year, $3.72 million of which would go to funding CMSD. Say “Yes!” One can’t help but recall the words of Roldo Bartimole, the sharpest and most prescient critic ever of Cleveland’s “corporate responsibility.”

“I believe that not only is the carefully nurtured image of corporate responsibility in general a myth,” he wrote in the Business and Society Review in 1973, “but most of its Cleveland forms have amounted to little more than subterfuge for the advancement of private interests.”

Thus can United Way of Greater Cleveland purport to tackle poverty by giving millions of dollars to Dr. Toby Cosgrove and an untested tech startup led by two of its own directors. And receive a standing ovation. — Allard

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

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| clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

FEATURE A VICTORY FOR THE ‘WINNING CITY’ Maple Heights mayor Annette Blackwell on the successes and struggles of one of the region’s oldest suburbs

By Hannah Lebovits Photo by Emanuel Wallace

AT THE END OF OUR 90-MINUTE interview in her Maple Heights office, Mayor Annette Blackwell says there’s one more thing she wants to show me.

It’s in council chambers.

The municipal building isn’t large, so the walk takes less than a minute.

She leads me through a row of green chairs and to the back wall where the photos of each Maple Heights mayor are hung.

Fifteen white men. One black woman.

It’s a strong, visual symbol of the changes the community has undergone over the past few decades, and why representation at the top truly matters. The image speaks volumes, but Blackwell can sum it up in just a few words.

“Maple Heights has struggled because ‘diversity and inclusion’ have been elusive for a long time.”

long and no one takes responsibility for it.”

There was a time, when the state declared the city to be in fiscal emergency and it was $2.7 million in debt, that some thought Maple Heights would be the next East Cleveland.

Blackwell has led the charge back, and Maple Heights has rounded the corner from being on the brink.

That progress is reflected in the slogan with which she has branded her community: “Maple Heights – A Winning City.”

But its story isn’t just that turnaround. It’s about what can happen when communities are led by people who can see them, understand them, and advocate for them. It’s also a cautionary tale about how cities like Maple Heights and their turnarounds are constantly constrained by existing systems that continue to alienate them, and how collaboration is the only way to ensure progress going forward.

*** Maple Heights, like many innerring suburban communities, has undergone significant social, economic and demographic changes over the past several decades. The city was incorporated in 1915, and like many other communities that surround older, central cities, it was designed to be a residential escape from the so-called ills of urbanity … and from the communities of color that were moving into Cleveland.

However, several decades ago, the community began to change.

Middle-class black families moved into the city from Cleveland and other surrounding areas. In response, white families of means left for other neighboring suburbs.

Since the 1970s, Maple Heights has lost more than a third of its population. Economic stagnation, and that loss of population, led to a steady decline toward fiscal instability. Twenty-two percent of its 22,000 residents now live beneath the poverty line, while the rest of suburban Cuyahoga County averages 10.9 percent.

And even as its demographics shifted over the decades — 40 percent African-American two decades ago; a 70-percent minority population as of the last census — leadership remained

***

white. That is, until Blackwell won the mayor’s seat in 2016, becoming both the first black and first female mayor of the suburb.

While Blackwell’s victory can be seen as a sign of progress, there’s something else she sees behind the numbers.

“Black leadership gets these cities when they’re broken,” she says.

“That’s when it becomes our city to fix.”

Blackwell says in trying to fix things, the key is not to avoid problems or pretend it’s going to be easy, but rather, to face every challenge head-on.

“Everything we do is extremely hard,” she says.

Blackwell has spoken at length about the work that needs to be done to rectify the legacy of racism, which in its institutional and systemic nature has created and maintained spatial and social inequality.

“I’m only two generations from sharecroppers,” Blackwell says.

Though born near Selma, Alabama, Blackwell and her family moved to the St. Clair area of Cleveland when she was 2 years old. Growing up in Cleveland in the 1970s, Blackwell not only saw but experienced the political, social and cultural shifts in the county. When she moved to Maple Heights, the city had significantly less poverty and instability than it has today.

The legacy of racism, to Blackwell’s frustration, has also driven the dominant narratives that surround places like Maple Heights.

“I’m saddened by the brush that we’re painted with because we’re a city that has challenges,” says Blackwell.

“Cities that turn brown or black are already just written off as being less desirable because, ‘They all live there.’

Well, we’re all here because racism has persisted in this country way too

Only a few seconds after sitting down in her office, Blackwell jumps right into one of the key issues facing her community: the low-rated public school system. Only a few days before, the state released school district report cards, grading every school system on an A-to-F scale.

Maple Heights earned a D. Blackwell knows exactly what these scores measure.

“Social concerns, that’s it,” she says. “Got a lot of kids in your school [who are] living in poverty, with family issues, and it doesn’t matter what they’re teaching or how incredible the teachers are. You’ll get a D.” Sitting in her office, I see several pictures of Blackwell’s daughter, a product of the Maple Heights school system. Blackwell tells me that people like her daughter, “overlooked gems” as she calls them, are seen as exceptions. However, Blackwell argues that many students who’ve been in the district since first grade are doing well. They get good grades, take on extra-curriculars, and many go to college. It’s the students who transition in and out of the school | clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

13

FEATURE system, moving constantly from one area of the county to another, that struggle the most.

Blackwell points again to her daughter, now a senior at Ohio State University and a product of Maple Heights schools. Unlike many of her high school peers, she never went to school hungry or without an adult to see her off. Her parents could afford to launder her clothing regularly and purchase additional supplies and resources needed to be successful within the school system. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some will say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Oh, excuses, excuses,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? Blackwell says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s excuses. I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reality.â&#x20AC;?

Many families in the Maple Heights school district, like those in similar school districts across the state, struggle to make ends meet every month. Blackwell has seen ďŹ rst hand what many education policy scholars continue to ďŹ nd: grading schools based on various performance measures only captures the wealth and cultural elements of a community, not the value of the school district.

(Not surprisingly, median household income is an almost direct predictor

of a districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grade.) And these grades certainly donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t consider diversity and inclusion to be of great value.

Blackwell notes that this is directly contradictory to the private sector, where diversity and inclusion, she argues, are considered key factors in determining whether a workplace is highly-ranked in its industry or region. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is paramount to being on the [top] â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;100 places to workâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lists â&#x20AC;&#x201D; you better have a plan for diversity and inclusion or youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll never make it,â&#x20AC;? Blackwell says. But, this value doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t often extend to the banking or governmental sectors, she tells me. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is in terms of who they hire, which employment opportunities they have, but it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t extend to the people they serve. Why doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t diversity and inclusion meet the loan ofďŹ cerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s desk?

Why doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t diversity and inclusion meet the department of education?

In banking, why isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the formula adjusted to send money where there is the most need?â&#x20AC;?

Blackwell knows why, of course.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s because systems of opportunity, value, resources and rights are inherently unequal and tied to race and place. Things we love to talk about â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to host forums on, to discuss over lunch. But not things we often tackle head on.

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*** Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that thing called when a city government proactively takes responsibility for its future by engaging constituents and using resident knowledge to improve local practices? Ah yes, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s called â&#x20AC;&#x153;governing,â&#x20AC;? that frequently tricky, sometimes difďŹ cult practice of recognizing trade-offs and choosing to act in the best interests of the communities you serve. Governing, right.

Blackwell has made it a priority.

Cities across the region have looked to business development as the primary model to drive economic activity. Blackwell has done some of that work, and has drawn on her professional experience as a commercial property tax evaluator in that regard, but she sees economic development as tied primarily to the economic stability and well-being of the residents who live in her community, speciďŹ cally in regard to home ownership.

As a bedroom community, most of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s services rely on the value of housing stock and the personal income levels of residents.

In other words, without a signiďŹ cant number of local employers, the city has historically been funded

through personal wealth. Blackwell knew early on that a key element of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s revitalization would be securing homes for folks who could afford them. So she sought to better understand which barriers might prevent people from achieving homeownership and whether or how she could alleviate those concerns.

One issue she discovered was related to code violations.

When a home is sold, code violations need to be resolved either by the seller or by the home buyer. If the homebuyer agrees to resolve the violations, they will likely have only several months to do so. But hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the kicker: When Blackwell ďŹ rst entered ofďŹ ce, the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legislation required that anyone who purchased a home that included violations had to place an estimated sum into escrow, then ďŹ x the violations before getting the money back out of escrow. Residents told Blackwell that the practice required them to have twice the amount ready from the get-go, which was often a near-impossible feat for people who were scraping together money for a mortgage and down payment. So she went to city council and asked them to halt the practice, at least for a year. Council agreed.

Since then, the change has added to the rapid sales of homes across the

city, now at over 400 in the past few years.

Blackwell recalls the story of one mom who closed on her house right before Christmas. She had told her kids there wouldn’t be Christmas because she had to put so much money into escrow. However, when she came to the building department, they told her the good news: There was a waiver for the escrow amount. All she had to do was sign an affidavit saying she’d take care of the violations. She and her children burst into tears right then and there. They could have Christmas. The young mom asked the department employees if she could hug the mayor. Blackwell was not in the building at the time but vividly recalls the story.

“No one had told her; the realtor didn’t tell her,” she says.

After a year, council reapproved the program.

Blackwell has also helped create the Maple Heights Homeownership program, which works with the Slavic Village CDC and the Cuyahoga County Land Bank to sell homes that had previously undergone tax foreclosure.

By going through the state Board of Revisions, they’ve been able to eliminate the tax issues and resell the homes. To ensure that the investment is worthwhile, the sale comes with a two-year restricted deed. According to Blackwell, they’ve sold about 20 homes through this program, with folks leaning on family and other communal support systems to raise the down payment amounts. Several of the homes have already been redone, a welcome change to what would have been foreclosed, vacant and abandoned structures.

Blackwell has also worked with investors in the city to ensure that rehabbed homes are high quality and long lasting. Blackwell tells me that she welcomes those who want to come in and build nice homes and sell them for market value. But, while she’s not anti-investor, she’s “pro-homeowner,” in her words.

“I’m anti-investors that put in something substandard, that they themselves wouldn’t even live in.”

That’s because what she wants for her community is what middleclass, white communities have had for decades: a chance to use the housing market to create generational wealth.

“We don’t start at 10,” she says. “We start at zero.”

The lack of financial education and literacy along with few opportunities to secure wealth, recreate systems that ensure generations of poverty and insecurity. She asks me whether I’ve heard about the mother who was found dead on Libby Road several

weeks ago. I had not. Without any life insurance or family planning efforts, the women’s children had to set up a GoFundMe page to bury her.

Blackwell explains why these events create larger issues down the line.

“If we all have to help bury mama, well, I don’t want to be the daughter that doesn’t help bury my mama, so I give my light money because we’ve got to bury her,” she says. “It sounds so silly, but it’s so true.”

In contrast, Blackwell says that when her children’s father died a few months ago, people told her she was lucky that he had insurance. It’s not luck, she assures me.

“It’s education and the way you’re socialized,” she says. “When you grow up with a lack of financial education, you need to learn these things.” Blackwell would like to see her community learn more and improve their practices. And it’s for this reason that the city has social workers available for assistance.

But the issues are cyclical, and even a one-time heating and energy payment won’t prevent future needs, particularly when costs are so great and wages so insufficient. But there’s more than just individual or even communal practices at play. Success can be stymied by factors outside of Blackwell’s control, especially those tied to other governing systems.

*** There are at least two additional housing needs Blackwell would like to see filled in her community: senior housing and multi-generational housing. Neither has gained the support needed to be immediately actionable. Blackwell thinks much of the issue is related to the small size of many suburban communities as well as the prevailing narrative around suburbs.

Inner-ring suburban communities haven’t been discussed enough, Blackwell tells me. They’re struggling now, sometimes more so than city neighborhoods, yet many continue to assume they aren’t in need of assistance. However, Blackwell knows it goes deeper than that. It’s also about the ways we perceive those who live in struggling communities. Got a good idea in Westlake? It’s progressive, exciting, and sure to get the attention of a developer and the media. But, “if it just [happens in] Maple Heights,” Blackwell tells me, “people will say, ‘Oh, they do that because they’re poor.’”

The Wallick Homes project is a good example of the first concern.

Homes owned by long-time, older residents are selling quickly in the city, Blackwell reports, because they’ve been well-maintained. But many

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Maple Heights seniors don’t want to move. “But, the minute mom falls going from the basement to the freezer, [the kids] move her out because there’s [no senior housing] here. But mom’s church is here, grocery store is here, friends are here and she wants to stay.”

The city submitted a plan for a senior living facility to the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) to qualify for low-income housing tax credits, a common incentive program used to encourage developers to take on such projects. Blackwell shows me the application. The glossy photos reveal a well-planned facility that seems likely to appeal to elderly folks and their families. It’s an exciting project and one that would be beneficial for her constituents. But as I leaf through it, Blackwell shares the unfortunate news.

The application was denied. With fewer than 50 units, OHFA decided the project was not worth the undertaking.

When it comes to multi-generational housing, Blackwell doesn’t yet have a concrete plan, but her concerns around the issue relate to the second topic: perception. Multi-generational housing allows for community care and intergenerational interactions.

Blackwell is open with me about how important these elements are, not only to societies, but especially within African-American communities.

Housing that supports social, economic and familial exchanges can encourage more sharing of oral histories, a greater capacity to pool resources, and family systems of childcare. But without others on board, she fears Maple Heights won’t get the support needed to build such housing.

“We need talking heads and policy makers to talk about it and introduce these ideas,” she says, preferably at the county level. “People don’t want to be different because then it brings finger pointing and isolation.”

In both cases, collaboration across communities seems key to drawing additional resources. If struggling communities will get denied tax credits because their projects are too small, perhaps a regional project, divided between multiple communities, could capture someone’s attention. If poverty and stigma limit the ability of a community to invest in housing best suited for that community, perhaps policymakers across the region can work together to support these efforts.

“I can’t do it on my own,” Blackwell says to me, “because then it would be something poor people do. But if it’s cool … then all of a sudden banks [are] selling it, putting together a loan

product that can make it attractive and affordable.”

*** Suburban communities might not come to the front of our minds when we consider social concerns and municipal struggles. In fact, most research on local governance not only focuses on large cities, but prioritizes large central cities, those core cities in a metropolitan region. But many suburban communities include units of government that must provide quality services, respond to resident concerns and attempt to plan for the future.

Resource constraints limit the capacity to do these things and a continuous state of austerity has a multiplying effect.

The Maple Heights that used to exist is still enshrined in the posts of a Facebook page titled, “Mourning Maple Heights.” The page provides a platform for those who seek to “cherish its past and damn its current state.” Blackwell knows about the page and what those people are really saying. The city hasn’t moved, but the white middle-class families have.

Like other communities across the region, the steady stream of white flight along with the region’s declining economy and national housing trends have left the city with fewer tax dollars and greater service needs.

But, as Blackwell puts it, “People are still choosing Maple Heights.” Despite what the Facebook page might suggest, Maple Heights can be a sustainable community, Blackwell argues, if it diversifies its housing, which is its primary asset. Blackwell, who notes that in the most recent property reappraisal by Cuyahoga County, residential values in Maple Heights had climbed 7.2 percent, wants to see every sort of housing in her community.

“We get those and we are on our way,” she says. “Can you imagine how many people would want to live here?”

If that sounds overly hopeful, maybe it is. Blackwell is only one politician, a single individual limited to the systems around her, and not impervious to the real and constant threats to her, or anyone’s, capacity to govern and create change. But in her actions, she’s been an exemplar, a valuable reminder of the fact that success can be tied to diversity and inclusion, when those words are meaningfully applied, when the leadership in a city is representative of that community.

The sixteenth photo in the back of council chambers is just the start.

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GET OUT everything you should do this week 10/09

Photo courtesy of Tri-C

WED THEATER

The Music Man Tonight at 7:30 at the Hanna Theatre, Great Lakes Theater presents its version of The Music Man, the play about salesman Harold Hill and his attempts to con people into buying instruments and uniforms for a band he never intends to form. The six-time Tony-winning musical features tunes such as “Seventy-Six Trombones,” “Ya Got Trouble” and “Till There Was You.” Performances continue through Nov. 10. Tickets start at $15. (Jeff Niesel) 2067 East 14th St., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

FUNDRAISER

RetroMania RetroMania, a benefit for St. Augustine Health Ministries, invites guests to party like it’s 1969, the year the organization was founded in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood. Held tonight from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the bash will feature live music, auctions, raffles and food from nearly 20 local restaurants, including Alley Cat, Black Pig, Parker’s Downtown, Rocky River Wine Bar, , and more. Tickets are $100 ($150 VIP) on the website below. (Douglas Trattner) 1100 Rock and Roll Blvd., 216-515-8444, retromania.org.

FILM

Punk the Capital: Building a Sound Movement Filmmaker James June Schneider and Minor Threat drummer and Discord Records co-founder Jeff Nelson will be on hand for tonight’s screening of Punk the Capital: Building a Sound Movement, a documentary that revisits the time period when punk rock erupted in Washington, D.C. The film shows at 7 p.m. at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. Tickets cost $11, or $8 for Cinematheque members and students. (Niesel) 11610 Euclid Ave., 216-421-7450, cia.edu.

Mexican piano prodigy Daniela Liebman gives a free recital at the Cleveland Museum of Art. See: Sunday.

THEATER

Summer Summer, a musical about the life of pop singer Donna Summer, centers on how a girl from Boston with a “voice from heaven” went from singing gospel music to becoming a dance floor diva. The score features more than 20 of Summer’s classic hits, including “Love to Love You Baby,” “Bad Girls” and “Hot Stuff.” Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30 at Connor Palace, where performances continue through Oct. 27. Tickets start at $10. (Niesel) 1615 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

THU

10/10

COMEDY

Adam Ferrara Adam Ferrara, who hosted the BBC America car show, Top Gear U.S., worked as a comedian well before he started talking about automobiles. He

friends and musicians showed up at the Happy Dog to play a couple sets of tunes by the late, great Gram Parsons.

Dubbed the New Soft Shoe, the group has been at it ever since, spreading the gospel of what it refers to “Gram’s Cosmic American Music.” Anything that Parsons played, the New Soft Shoe covers: tunes from the International Submarine Band, the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers. It also plays songs from Parsons’ solo album GP/ Grievous Angel. Tonight at 8, the band performs in the Waldorf Hall at Forest City Brewery. Admission is free, but a donation is requested. (Niesel) 2135 Columbus Rd., 216-228-9116, forestcitybrewery.com.

has performed standup several times on the usual late-night outlets and had a role in the FX series Rescue Me. He regularly shares stories from his personal life, and in one funny bit about his girlfriend moving into his house, he jokes that it was a “hostile takeover” and that he hardly knew what happened. He performs tonight at 8 at Hilarities, where he has shows scheduled through Sunday. Consult the website for ticket prices. (Niesel) 2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com.

COMEDY

Danny Gonzalez and Drew Gooden With their touring comedy show We Are Two Different People, YouTubers/ comedians Danny Gonzalez and Drew Gooden take a different approach from general comedy tours and include skits, standup routines, musical numbers and more. They even use props and lasers and have said they intend their live performances to come off as variety shows. The event begins

at 8 tonight at the Agora, and tickets start at $27.50. (Niesel) 5000 Euclid Ave., 216-881-2221, agoracleveland.com.

FILM

I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians This black comedy from director Radu Jude centers on a theater director who courts controversy when she decides to re-enact the murder of tens of thousands of Jews in and around Odessa by Romanian troops. It screens at 8:25 p.m. today and at 8:10 p.m. on Sunday at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. Tickets cost $10, or $7 for Cinematheque members and students. (Niesel) 11610 Euclid Ave., 216-421-7450, cia.edu.

MUSIC

New Soft Shoe Nine years ago, on what local singersongwriter Brent Kirby calls a drunken dare, a group of Cleveland

FRI

10/11

FREAKSHOW

999 Eyes Freakshow with That Damned Band Billed as “the last genuine timetraveling freakshow of its kind,” the 999 Eyes features a rotating cast of sideshow acts and genetic human anomalies. Performers can include human blockheads, glass walkers, sword swallowers and human pincushions. That Damned Band, a group featuring members of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, provides the soundtrack. There will be a backdrop of original hand-painted sideshow banners, a circus band and an authentic traveling dime museum time machine as the show’s creators demonstrate that “abnormality is something to be celebrated, not abominated.” The show starts at 8 p.m. at the Beachland Tavern. Tickets cost $20. (Niesel) 15711 Waterloo Rd., 216-383-1124, beachlandballroom.com. | clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

19

GET OUT ART

BAYarts October Receptions Unconventional, award-winning local artists Robert Hartshorn and Sharon Pomales present variations on the theme of water at BAYarts tonight.

The exhibits open at 7 with a special reception where the artists invite their audience to “jump in and see water from all new perspectives.” Night Gallery, a group show that revolves around a theme loosely based on the Rod Serling Twilight Zone series, also opens tonight. Admission is free.

(Niesel) 28795 Lake Rd., Bay Village, 440-871-6543, bayarts.net.

meaning, and consequences, of their actions. A deep dive into the difficulty of ever truly knowing oneself or others, Copenhagen is as much about philosophy as physics. Tonight’s performance takes place at 8 in the intimate Kennedy’s Down Under, in Playhouse Square. Tickets cost $18, and the show continues through Oct. 26. (Niesel) 1501 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

The movie will screen at 7 and 9:45 tonight, tomorrow night and Sunday night. Today, the original 1982 El Camino that was used in the TV series will be on site for photo ops with fans.

The car’s owner, Daniel Rearick, who bought the vehicle at an auction, will be at the theater from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.

The car will be parked in the main parking lot at the rear of the theater.

Film tix are $10 for adults, $9 for students, $7.50 for seniors and $7 for

DANCE

Groundworks Dance Theatre Tonight’s GroundWorks dance performance at the Allen Theatre will feature a world premiere by guest choreographer Brian Brooks as well as the return of two works from GroundWorks’ repertory, Remora, choreographed by Eric Handman, and Chromatic, choreographed by executive artistic director David Shimotakahara.

Tonight’s event starts at 7:30, and tickets cost $25 to $30. A performance takes place tomorrow night at 7:30 too.

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

FAMILY FUN

Boo at the Zoo The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo’s annual Boo at the Zoo will be in full swing this weekend with unlimited 4-D Theater movies, carousel and train rides, costumed characters and a monster mash dance party. Each night, the first 1,000 guests will receive a special treat bag courtesy of Meijer. The festivities run from 5 to 9 p.m. today through Sunday, and then continue on weekends through Oct. 27. Consult the zoo’s website for ticket prices. (Niesel) 3900 Wildlife Way, 216-661-6500, clemetzoo.com.

THEATER

MUSIC

Brahms Symphony No. 3 Johannes Brahms was on vacation when the melody for his Third Symphony came to him. He cancelled the rest of his trip and spent four months penning the piece (a contrast to the 20 years he took to write his First Symphony).

The Cleveland Orchestra performs the Third Symphony today at 11 a.m. at Severance Hall. Additional performances take place at 8 tonight and at 8 tomorrow night. Consult the orchestra’s website for ticket prices.

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

ALL NEW – Interactive Jam Space Live your dream of being a rock star inside the museum by making music with real instruments. Learn as a beginner or jam with friends and turn your trip up to 11.

Cleveland Rocks! Northeast Ohio residents receive exclusive offers on admission with a valid ID at the box office. Go to rockhall.com/letsrock and start planning your tour today.

THEATER

Copenhagen Presented by Cesear’s Forum, the Tony Award-winning Copenhagen centers on an actual meeting that took place between the two great physicists, Germany’s Werner Heisenberg and Denmark’s Niels Bohr, in 1941, in occupied Denmark. The play is presented fictionally, “inside the heads” of three characters, as they relive their memories and speculate on the

20

is crowned Miss Piña Colada. Director Carlos Ferrari explores “society’s frivolous obsession with appearances and the irrational behavior that seizes those who dream of fame, fortune and being on the social spotlight.”

Performances are at 7:30 tonight and tomorrow night at the Helen Rosenfeld Lewis Bialosky Lab Theatre. The show will be presented in Spanish with live English translation. Consult the Playhouse Square website for ticket prices. (Niesel) 1407 Euclid Ave, 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

FILM

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie The Cedar Lee Theatre will be the exclusive Cleveland venue for a limited theatrical run of El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. A continuation of the AMC series Breaking Bad, the film follows Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) and chronicles what happens to him after the events of the show’s finale.

| clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

children. (Niesel) 2163 Lee Rd., Cleveland Heights, 440-528-0355, clevelandcinemas.com.

THEATER

El Insólito Caso de Miss Piña Colada LatinUs Theater Company’s El Insólito Caso de Miss Piña Colada centers on Ofelia, a “stage mom” who will go to any length to ensure that her daughter

The Member of the Wedding At the suggestion of her friend Tennessee Williams, Southern writer Carson McCullers adapted her novella, The Member of the Wedding, into a play that was an enormous success when it opened on Broadway in 1950.

It depicts the “intrinsically enmeshed lives of whites and blacks in the American South.” Regional talent Eric Schmiedl direct this version of the play at the Beck Center for the Arts through Nov. 3. The cast includes Lisa Louise Langford, Ellie Ritterbusch, Chase Oberhaus, Peter Lawson Jones, Corin B. Self and Fred Gloor. Tonight’s performance takes place at 8, and performances continue throughout the weekend. Tickets are $10 to $33.

Group and student discounts are available. (Niesel) 17801 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, 216-521-2540, beckcenter.org.

SPORTS

Monsters vs. Syracuse Crunch The Cleveland Monsters host the Syracuse Crunch today and tomorrow at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse as their 2019-2020 season gets underway.

As part of opening weekend festivities, fans will receive one free magnetic schedule courtesy of University Hospitals Sports Medicine. Opening Night is also a 1-2-3 Friday, so there will be $1 Pepsis, $2 Sugardale hotdogs and $3 select 12-oz. beers.

Both tonight and tomorrow nightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s games begin at 7. Tickets start at $10.

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

FILM

The Mountain Jeff Goldblum stars in this movie about a traveling lobotomist and a photographer who drive across the country to promote the doctorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s debunked procedure. Loosely based on a true story, the ďŹ lm is set in 1950s America. It screens tonight at 9:15 and tomorrow night at 6:30 at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. Tickets cost $10, or $7 for Cinematheque members and students. (Niesel) 11610 Euclid Ave,, 216-421-7450, cia.edu.

BEER

Pints & Pies â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Craft Beer and Pizza Festival A spin-off of the Akron Craft Beer Festival, Pints & Pies will feature handcrafted beers from some of the best craft breweries in Ohio and across the nation, along with samples of artisan-style pies. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll ďŹ nd close to 100 beers, presented in stations throughout the venue and organized by style. Fred Karmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hoppinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Frog brewery will unveil Sattlerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Civic Pride IPA, a New England-style IPA with the addition of fruit. Restaurants include Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Agnese, Pavonaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pizza Joint, Missing Falls Brewery, Mustard Seed, Garnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pies and more. The event begins today at 8 p.m. at the Akron Civic Theatre. Tickets cost $40. (Niesel) 182 South Main St., Akron, 330-253-2488, akroncivic.com.

COMEDY

Jerry Seinfeld Known for his ability to joke about â&#x20AC;&#x153;the little things in life,â&#x20AC;? Jerry Seinfeld currently helms the Emmy-nominated web series, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. He also recently made his NetďŹ&#x201A;ix debut with the original standup special Jerry Before Seinfeld. Most recently, Seinfeld has been performing at the Beacon Theatre in New York City as part of an ongoing residency he began three years ago. He comes to the State Theatre tonight for shows at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Tickets cost $50 to $175. (Niesel) 1519 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll hear inspiring stories from patients and caregivers and celebrate the efforts of the Clinicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Champions of Hope. General admission is $150; doors open at 6:30. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit the website below. (Niesel) 4601 Payne Ave., clevelandclinic.org/thesocial.

BEER

Three Hos Brewpub Release Saucy Brew Works is kicking off the holiday season a little early with A Nightmare Before Christmas-inspired Three Hos Brewpub Release Party.

According to a press release, the amber Christmas ale is â&#x20AC;&#x153;bright red and delicious with a kick of cinnamon.â&#x20AC;?

Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kick-off party commences at 11 a.m. There will be giveaways, brewpub specials, games and samplings.

(Niesel) 2885 Detroit Ave., 216-666-2568, saucybrewworks.com.

ART

Walkabout Tremont Walkabout Tremont, which takes place on the second Friday of every month from 5 to 10 p.m., showcases the best of this smart neighborhood, with art openings, extended hours at galleries and shops, restaurant and bar specials, street performers, live music, pop-up vendors, neighborhood walking tours and much more. This month, the theme is Trick or Treat: Art and Eats.

See the eventâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Facebook page for more info. (Niesel) facebook.com/WalkaboutTremont.

The Social: An Evening of Hope Cleveland Clinic and Chris Hodgson, a local chef and Food Network star, team up tonight at the Madison for a night of food and spirits thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll raise money for cancer patient support services.

for home and away games!

For home games, FREE shuttle to the stadium, 30 minutes before, entire duration of game and 30 minutes after end of game.

Miller Lite, Makerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mark & wing specials.

Ask your server how you can enter to win a Punch Bowl Social gift card from Scene.

All home/away games on Big Screen TVâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s with volume up!

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COMEDY

Kym Whitley Cleveland native Kym Whitley got a break when she was cast as Auntie Suga in the 2000 ďŹ lm Next Friday.

Since then, she has appeared in The Nutty Professor, Along Came Polly, and dozens of other ďŹ lms. Whitley likes to crack jokes about the challenges of motherhood during her standup routines. She performs tonight at 7:30 and 10 at the Improv, where she has shows scheduled through Sunday. Tickets cost $17.

(Niesel) 1148 Main Ave., 216-696-IMPROV, clevelandimprov.com.

SAT

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Blue Skies: Irving Berlin and the American Dream The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra and the Musical Theater Project have teamed up for tonightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tribute to composer Irving Berlin, who wrote songs such as â&#x20AC;&#x153;White Christmas,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Easter Paradeâ&#x20AC;?

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GET OUT and “God Bless America.” The concert begins at 8 p.m. at the Ohio Theatre. Tickets cost $35 to $65.

(Niesel) 1501 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

BEER

Canton Hops and Harvest Festival For several years now, David Lockshin and Mark Puma have talked about bringing a beer festival to Canton. Puma, based in New York, works in music promotion and artist management. Canton’s Lockshin owned Fame Beverage Co. in Massillon, a company he sold just over 10 years ago. All that talk will turn into action tonight at the Canton Hops and Harvest Festival, held at the Canton Memorial Civic Center. Attendees will have the opportunity to sample more than 100 beers from every region of Ohio as well as national and international brews. Food trucks and local restaurants will be on hand as well. A portion of the proceeds will benefit local nonprofit organizations including Wishes Can Happen, the

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Stark County Hunger Task Force and the Stark County Humane Society. Some of the 50 participating breweries include the Canton Brewing Company, Sierra Nevada, Rhinegeist Brewery, Platform Beer Company and Hoppin’ Frog Brewery.

Tickets range in price from $15 to $60 and are available online. The event has two sessions — a 1 to 4 p.m. afternoon session and a 6 to 9 p.m. evening one. A VIP ticket allows early entry. (Niesel) 1101 North Market Ave., Canton, 330-489-3090, cantonhopsandharvestfestival.com.

THEATER

Pipeline A dedicated inner-city school teacher sends her own son to private school in Pipeline, “a compelling, must-see portrait of the systemic school-toprison pipeline and the experience of being a parent to a young black man in America.” The Cleveland Playhouse production comes to the Outcalt Theatre tonight through Nov. 3. Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30. Tickets start at $20. (Niesel) 1407 Euclid Ave, 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

FILM

CATS

International Cat Show More than 1,000 famous cats, fancy cats, athletic cats and adoptable cats return to the I-X Center today and tomorrow for the Cat Fanciers Association’s International Cat Show. This year’s show features 125,000-square-feet of pure cat bliss with 45 unique breeds and famous cats that’ve become YouTube personalities. Today’s hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; tomorrow’s are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Adult general admission is $14; find tickets on the website. (Niesel) One I-X Center Dr., 216-676-6000, ixcenter.com

| clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

Seder-Masochism This animated feature from director Nina Paley (Sita Sings the Blues) retells the story of Exodus with irreverent musical numbers that include songs from Louis Armstrong, Led Zeppelin and Gloria Gaynor. In the process, Paley takes aim at the patriarchal nature of Passover and adds a few “non-biblical goddesses” to the mix too. The movie screens at 8:40 tonight and at 6:30 tomorrow night at the Cleveland Institute of Cinematheque. Tickets cost $10, or $7 for Cinematheque members and students. (Niesel) 11610 Euclid Ave,, 216-421-7450, cia.edu.

SUN

10/13

MUSIC

Daniela Liebman Mexican piano prodigy Daniela Liebman has performed with more than 25 orchestras on four continents.

At 2 p.m. today at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium, she’ll perform as part of the 2019-2020 Performing Arts Classical Piano Series presented by Cuyahoga Community College. Last year, Liebman released her eponymous debut album, which includes a recording of Manuel Ponce’s “Balada Mexicana” that’s been streamed more than a million times on Spotify. Forbes Mexico named her one of the 40 Most Creative Mexicans in the World and one of the nation’s 100 Most Creative and Powerful Women. Liebman’s performance is the first of four concerts in the college’s 2019-2020 Performing Arts season.

(Visit tri-c.edu/performingarts for a full schedule.) Today’s concert is free; come early for the best seats. (Niesel) 11150 East Blvd., 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org.

FOOD + MUSIC

Gospel Brunch The monthly Gospel Brunch has been

a spiritual Sunday staple for years at the House of Blues. The recently reinvigorated show puts a bit more emphasis on the music. As for the food, the all-you-can-eat musical extravaganza features Southern classics like chicken jambalaya, biscuits and gravy, and chicken and waffles. Seatings are available today at 10 a.m. Detrich Burgess & Company will perform. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased online, by phone or at the box office. (Niesel) 308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-2583, houseofblues.com.

SPOKEN WORD

Science Cafe The second Monday of each month, Music Box Supper Club hosts Science Cafe, an informal lecture series that brings scientists from throughout the region to the club so they can talk about science topics. Tonight at 7, Monica Webb Hooper, Ph.D., a professor and director of the Office of Cancer Disparities Research at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, will speak about tobacco use in Cleveland. Admission is free. (Niesel) 1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com.

FILM

The Miracle of the Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s book The Little Prince has been translated from French into four of the world’s most endangered languages, and filmmaker Marjoleine Boonstra documents the process in her new film, The Miracle of the Little Prince. It makes its local debut today at 1:30 p.m. at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it screens again at 1:45 p.m. on Tuesday.

Tickets cost $10, or $7 for CMA members. (Niesel) 11150 East Blvd., 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org.

BOOKS + MUSIC

Paul Shaffer and David Ritz Paul Shaffer spent 33 years fronting the World’s Most Dangerous Band as David Letterman’s music director.

He’s also recorded with many of the world’s top musicians and served as musical director and producer for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. He chronicles his career in his best-selling memoir, We’ll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives, which David Ritz co-authored. As part of the Tri-C Performing Arts Series, he and Ritz will tell stories, play music and share clips from Shaffer’s life at 7 tonight in the Fran and Jules Belkin Theatre at Tri-C’s Metropolitan Campus. Tickets are $5 to $15 and can be purchased on the website. If available, tickets can also be bought at the door. (Niesel) 2809 Woodland Ave., tri-c.edu/paulshaffer.

MON

10/14

DRAG

RuPaul’s Drag Race Aquaria, Detox, Monet Exchange, Naomi Smalls, Plastique, Violet Chachki and Yvie Oddly — several of the top performers from RuPaul’s Drag Race — will grace the stage at the Agora tonight at 8. Tickets start at $52. (Niesel) 5000 Euclid Ave., 216-881-2221, agoracleveland.com.

TUE

10/15

SPORTS

Cavaliers vs. Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics will still likely make the playoffs this year, but they’ll have to do so without Kyrie Irving and Al Horford, both of whom signed with other teams during the off-season. The retooled team comes to town tonight to take on the Cavs in a preseason game at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Tip-off is at 7, and tickets start at $6. (Niesel) 1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, rocketmortgagefieldhouse.com.

MUSIC

Classical Revolution Cleveland Today, and the third Tuesday of every month, Classical Revolution Cleveland brings chamber music to the Happy Dog. Performers like the Trepanning Trio, students of Cleveland Institute of Music, and even Cleveland Orchestra members grace the stage in these exciting, free concerts. Tonight’s performance starts at 8. (Patrick Stoops) 5801 Detroit Ave., 216-651-9474, happydogcleveland.com.

Presented by

F O R U M

SPOKEN WORD

From the South Bronx to Sesame Street (A Puerto Rican Story) One of the first Hispanics on national television, Sonia Manzano, who portrayed Maria on Sesame Street from 1971 to 2015 while also writing for the PBS show, will speak today at Case Western Reserve University as part of the 2019-2020 Power of Diversity lecture series. The talk will take place at 4:30 p.m. at the Thwing Center Ballroom on the CWRU campus.

It’s free, but registration is required.

(Niesel) 11111 Euclid Ave., case.edu/diversity.

SEPTEMBER 20

th thru

OCTOBER 26

th

Friday and Saturday at 8pm two Sunday matinées at 3pm on

OCTOBER 6

th and

13

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Kennedy’s Down Under in Playhouse Square 1501 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland

216.241.6000

or

www.playhousesquare.org

Sponsored in part by

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

The Bonne Bell Family Foundation | clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

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ART DO TOUCH Pieces, Parts and Moving Things at Rant Gallery is a joyous experience

By Dott von Schneider Photo by Dan Miller, Rant Gallery

WE HAD AN IDEA OF WHAT awaited us as we entered Pieces, Parts, and Moving Things at Rant Gallery, but we weren’t prepared to go from grumpy to smiling like a fool. Usually we enter a show, reflect upon the artwork and plop down some — hopefully meaningful — words to describe our experience.

On this day we encountered the latest body of work by So Fun Studio, and it sparked so much joy we could hardly think about anything else.

You’ve probably seen artwork

by So Fun Studio, a collaboration between Erin Guido and John Paul Costello, whether it was the massive interactive birthday card commissioned by the Cleveland Public Library to celebrate its 150th birthday or Guido’s wonderful mural, “I Love You Very Much.

I Love You Very Much, Also,” on West 25th Street as you enter the westbound Shoreway.

“I’ve been a big fan of Erin’s work. I love how positive, how genuinely optimistic it is,” says Dan Miller, owner and curator of Rant Gallery. “And some of it is kind of tongue in cheek, but still fun with all the bright colors. John Paul and I have been friends forever, so they were some of the earliest artists I had approached to do a show here.”

In the exhibition, there are

24

gears and turning mechanisms reminiscent of children’s playthings. The gallery looks like a pop-up book come to life. Some of the pieces are hand cut and some are created using a laser cutter. “This is two artists together, dancing.” Miller points out. The two figures look like they’re straight out of a coloring book. Both are in their underwear. Costello is wearing a backward hat and his tattoos are painted on the wooden figurine. Guido is wearing rainbow underpants. And the figures spin around and dance only if the viewer turns the crank that motivates the gears.

that have Guido’s signature colorful phrases. “Would You Please …” is one of these constructions that begs the viewer turn the crank and complete the sentence. We landed on “Clean This Place Up,” which reminded us to do our dishes later.

One very large wall piece in particular caught our eye. It looked like a relief sculpture until we took a closer look. “These are woodcut magnets on metal,” Miller reveals.

“It’s really a gamble, but I love this work.” In short, the viewer is invited to rearrange the magnets to create their own compositions and stories. It’s a deeply conceptual piece with some incredible

PIECES, PARTS AND MOVING THINGS THROUGH OCT. 31 AT RANT GALLERY 5228 LORAIN AVE., 216-282-4062 RANTGALLERY.COM

The idea is repeated in the series of five artworks titled, “I Love Dancing With You So Much.” The feeling we get from the spinning and clacking is almost ASMR (audio sensory meridian response).

“It’s a lot of Erin’s colors, but John Paul is figuring out how to make everything work,” adds Miller.

In the main gallery space there are boxes made with natural wood

| clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

potential applications. This is art for everyone who was told “do not touch” when entering the high holy confines of any cultural institution.

Miller adds, “This is a doctor’s office, a pediatrician’s office, all day! Nobody will tell you, ‘don’t touch that.’ The artists have taken an untouchable thing and they do stuff like this. It’s very bold. It’s getting the audience involved and

it’s conceptual art, as well as fun play stuff. I love this; things could be terrible, but there’s still some positivity in here. The honesty of validating those feelings is really important.”

The artists state that, “With everything going on in the world and the demands of everyday life, sometimes we forget how much creating and being silly, and not being so serious all the time can help to deal with stress and sadness. [So Fun Studio] aims to bring moments of joy, optimism, and a feeling that we are all in this together as participants engage with our (sometimes pointless) artworks.” As per their statement, the exhibition is intended to foster a relationship between the art and all the visitors of the gallery.

Pieces, Parts, and Moving Things might be the most interactive analog exhibition we’ve encountered in Cleveland in some years. In a time when everything feels like a dumpster fire, Guido and Costello remind us to take time to play as they defiantly bring a joyful noise to world.

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

MOVIES OUTLAW CRITIC Joe Bob Briggs comes to the Capitol

By Matt Wardlaw

Photo courtesy of Cleveland Cinemas

A 1987 ARTICLE IN THE CHICAGO Tribune described Joe Bob Briggs as “the nation’s first and only drive-in movie critic.” The article went on to note that Briggs covered a unique beat, praising “scenes of decapitations, motor vehicle chases, rolling heads, rivers of blood, bared garbonzas and other staples of the B-movie industry” in a satirical fashion.

Born in Dallas and raised in Little Rock, John Bloom began his career as a writer at Texas Monthly, eventually landing a gig at the Dallas TimesHerald. He created the Joe Bob Briggs persona as a way to explore the films and genres that were far off the beaten path for most critics.

As he describes it to Scene, he was able to be an “outlaw,” offering exposure to film genres that were not only niche, but “despised.” At the same time, there was an audience for those movies and for his commentary. His column quickly found eyeballs and, later, a syndication deal that put it in newspapers across the United States.

It was only a handful of years after his first columns in January of 1982, when someone hatched the idea that the public should get a chance to meet Joe Bob Briggs in the flesh.

“I was performing as Joe Bob at places like Kiwanis clubs. People would know the written stuff and they would ask me to do it,” Briggs recalls in a recent phone interview. “I would perform it in an exaggerated redneck voice at civic clubs. But it wasn’t paid jobs. It wasn’t anything professional.”

As it happens, Cleveland was where Briggs performed his first professional show, in 1985.

“This promoter at Cleveland State University — I don’t know if he taught there or what, but he was associated with [the university] — asked me to come to Cleveland and do my show. I said, ‘I don’t really have a show.’ He said, ‘Well, how long would it take you to do a show?’ I think I had three months to prepare. I thought I would go in, and it would be a small space, and I would go in and get out. I didn’t know anybody there. I thought it would be a good tryout. Like they say, you go to a small comedy club in the middle of nowhere and you try stuff out.”

It was a scenario that made a lot of sense on paper, but Briggs had a different reality waiting for him when he got to Cleveland.

“It wasn’t like that at all! It was 600 people. It was in the paper the day I got there that it was going to happen! It was on the six o’clock news the night before,” he laughs.

The show took place at the Berea Convention Center, which Briggs quickly learned was simply the auditorium at Berea High School, “right there in the flight path of the Cleveland airport,” with the occasional plane rumbling overhead. He brought a punk band as his backing band — Stick Men with Ray Guns — which had been converted for his needs to play country-western songs; it was a good thing, too, as the songs bailed him out frequently when he perceived his material wasn’t hitting the mark.

“I walked off the stage and I thought, ‘I’m never doing this again,’” Briggs recalls. “It was a disaster from beginning to end. I didn’t really know what I was doing.”

He came out into the lobby and was surprised to find that the audience was still there.

“I’ll always remember that it was an awful show, but the people knew that it was my first time. They were so kind. That’s why I have a soft place in my heart for Cleveland. I walked out into the lobby and they stayed afterward and were encouraging,” he says. “They were giving me advice on my show. They were just great.”

Nearly 35 years later, Briggs will

return to Cleveland for a show at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 9, at the Capitol Theatre, promising a “fast and furious two hours” of entertainment under the banner of How Rednecks Saved Hollywood. Reviewing the history of rednecks in America using over 200 clips and stills from classic exploitation and mainstream movies, he’ll share the “identity of the first redneck in history,” the “precise date the first redneck arrived in America” and “the most sacred redneck cinematic moments.”

“I always try to give a little local color to the show because, eventually, the redneck menace infiltrated every part of the country,” Briggs explains.

“There’s always some connection to every city. Most of the people who come, they’re exploitation movie fans, they’re cult movie fans. They love the fact that I’m doing a deep dive into areas that they haven’t heard about before, both in the mainstream movies, failed mainstream movies, and in the hardcore exploitation movies, including some that could never be exhibited today, could never be played in a theater today. They’re just too awful. Not awful in terms of filmmaking, but just the subject matter, you couldn’t show them today.”

Host of two late-night television shows that enjoyed lengthy runs on the Movie Channel and TNT, Briggs is currently hosting The Last DriveIn on AMC’s streaming platform Shudder. Picking up where Briggs left off with TNT’s MonsterVision

in 2000, the new show was initially positioned as his “farewell to movie hosting.” But like so many times before when he’s tried to walk away, they keep pulling him back in: The program proved so popular that it was recently renewed for a second season.

He’s also got a long-gestating book on the history of the exploitation genre that remains in the pipeline.

“I’ve been working on it forever, and I’ll probably be working on it forever,” he says. Of course, he still watches a ton of movies as well, mentioning 2009’s The House of the Devil as one favorite he’d like to recommend.

“It’s not that popular with the fans — the fans think it’s slow — they have a lot of opinions about it. It’s a little bit hokey, in that it presumes this satanic panic thing that happened in the ’90s,” he explains. “But it’s just a superb slow-burn, extremely well-crafted movie that really held my attention throughout. That was a real surprise to me. That was old-fashioned horror movie making. It wasn’t trying to be a horror comedy. There’s so many young film directors. It’s like, ‘Oh, it’s a horror comedy.’ It’s like, you know, grow some balls and try to scare people!”

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene | clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

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| clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

EAT VERSION 2.0 A reborn Lit in Tremont reflects a changed neighborhood

By Douglas Trattner Photo by Emanuel Wallace

THERE MIGHT BE NO BETTER sign of the times than the recent transformation of the Literary Cafe in Tremont to the Literary Tavern.

For nearly 30 years, the Literary Cafe — or, simply, the Lit — served as a sanctuary of creativity, a bohemian hideaway where events like art exhibits, poetry readings and life-drawing sessions could take place with blithe abandon. Now, the building is home to another place to eat.

When it comes to the pursuit of fun, dining out has eclipsed antiquated pastimes like art, theater, dance and music. And nowhere is that more apparent than in Tremont where, for better or for worse, gallery hops have given way to small-plate sorties, progressive dinners and Taco Tuesday. We can now add the freshly minted Literary Tavern to the list of places worth checking out.

It took three years, heaps of cash and bottomless reserves of resolve for new owner Ross Valenti to see this ambitious project to the finish line. When he finally got there, he had succeeded in reshaping the come-as-you-are saloon into a crisply tailored tavern that likely will appeal to his neighbors, many of whom have plunked down upwards of half-amillion dollars on an angular new townhome.

In terms of a culinary identity, the Literary Tavern is tough to categorize. It’s not a chef-driven bistro, Italian trattoria or newfangled deli. It doesn’t specialize in tacos, pizzas or ramen. It’s a bar with food, much of it Mediterranean in origin, some of it American, and all of it dished up in a clubby, cosmopolitan lounge away from the main drag. Some will lament the loss of “character,” while others will appreciate the stylish decor, comfortable fixtures, relaxed atmosphere and consistent hours of operation.

Also new to the 150-year-old building is a kitchen. Valenti, a Tremont resident, operates a pair of Broadview Heights restaurants, D’Agnese’s and Cantine, two very different styles of dining united by a common cuisine. Those menus appear to offer inspiration for the one

proffered at the Lit, where a modest selection of largely satisfying fare is dished up at below-market prices.

Nearly half the menu is devoted to snacks, appetizers and salads. The rest is handed over to burgers and sandwiches, pastas and large plates.

Much like our visits to the restaurant, an appetizer of veal meatballs ($10) produced mixed results. Valenti knows balls, and the trio that landed on our table were light, beefy and stuffed with a surprise dollop of cheese. All are

shined in a seasonal salad ($11) of ripe heirloom tomatoes, supple dollops of buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil and sweet-tart fig balsamic dressing. Another salad ($10) tamed the bitter bite of frisee with a fruity raspberry vinaigrette.

Tossed into the mix were walnuts, bite-size chunks of green apple, and droplets of goat cheese. Again, each component was flawless.

A light breading allows the delicate texture of calamari ($10) to come through, and we enjoyed the

LITERARY TAVERN 1031 LITERARY RD., 216-862-1916 LITERARYTAVERN.COM

gilded with pesto and cream sauce, perched in a summery marinara and sided by thick toasted bread for dipping. Too bad they were presented in a cold cast iron skillet that essentially functioned as heatsink, rapidly draining the food of its warmth. The same fate befell an otherwise solid version of elote ($6), the popular Mexican street corn slicked with crema and cotija cheese, and other items served in similar skillets.

A handful of stellar ingredients

unconventional method of tossing the hot squid with garlic, greens and bell peppers and presenting it atop a pool of charred tomato salsa. A plate of Brussels sprouts ($7) is representative of the genre oddly finding room on menus as an appetizer, this one approaching fine, but generally kind of limp.

While lacking the classic loaf, a muffaletta ($8) does approximate the flavors and textures of that famous Big Easy sandwich. Layers of goodquality mortadella, sopressata and

provolone are bound to the bread with a sharp olive spread. Burgers come in both meaty and meat-free constructions, the former in the omnipresent diner-style double ($10) with cheese and pickles, the latter in the form of a roundly satisfying housemade veggie patty.

I was served a fetid piece of squid ($12) that somehow managed to escape detection despite the fact that it was hand-stuffed and laid to rest on a bed of risotto. It was discarded with apologies. Far better was a many-layered lasagna ($15) starring fresh pasta and flavorful braised lamb. Another pasta, this one an indulgent carbonara ($12) with charred corn and flurries of grated cheese, also featured housemade noodles.

Gone are the days when a single working tap dispensed Miller Lite.

Visitors to these storied halls now have a choice of stellar wines by the glass, crisp and clean craft drafts and expertly blended cocktails.

Bemoan the transformation all you want, but prices like these for scratch-made food are nearly impossible to find these days, much like art galleries in Tremont.

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner | clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

27

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CHICKEN, RIBS, FISH & OUR OWN 13 GOURMET SAUCES! V’s HOURS

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| clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

COMING SOON!

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OPEN 7 DAYS Monday - Thursday 7am-3pm Friday & Saturday 7am-4am | clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

29

EAT BITES

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Hot Chicken Takeover now open at Crocker Park

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By Douglas Trattner Photo courtesy Hot Chicken Takeover

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HOT CHICKEN TAKEOVER, THE Columbus-based restaurant that specializes in Nashville hot chicken, opened for business at Crocker Park, its ďŹ rst location in Northeast Ohio, on Tuesday, Oct. 8.

Since launching ďŹ ve years ago as a weekend-only pop-up, the homegrown startup put down roots on the second ďŹ&#x201A;oor of the North Market. They have since added outposts in Clintonville and at Easton Town Center north of Columbus. Next up for the quickly growing brand is Greater Cleveland, speciďŹ cally Crocker Park.

Beloved for its crispy fried chicken, offered in varying degrees of heat from zero to â&#x20AC;&#x153;holy,â&#x20AC;? Hot Chicken Takeover has been pursuing steady but cautious expansion. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When it came to selecting our ďŹ rst site outside Columbus, Cleveland was the obvious choice for all of us,â&#x20AC;? states founder Joe DeLoss. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the community and to deliver our mission: creating extraordinary experiences for extraordinary people.â&#x20AC;?

That â&#x20AC;&#x153;missionâ&#x20AC;? also includes providing meaningful jobs, beneďŹ ts and support services to people who might not ďŹ nd them elsewhere, including those with disabilities, criminal records, homelessness and other barriers to employment.

Its hours going forward will be 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

Now Open: Salsarito IndoMexican Restaurant in Tremont Salsarito (2399 West 11th St., 216-675-1011), the Indo-Mexican restaurant that took the place of

30

| clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

Merchant Street in Tremont, is now open. The new business is operated by the same management team behind Tandul Indian restaurant (2505 Professor Ave., 216-860-4530) in the same neighborhood.

Billed as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mexican, but with an Indian twist,â&#x20AC;? the cuisine combines popular Mexican restaurant chestnuts with other dishes that incorporate Indian ingredients, sauces and ďŹ&#x201A;avors. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The idea came from some of these large cities like New York and D.C., where they have different varieties of Indo-Mex that they are experimenting with,â&#x20AC;? owner Ashish Patel explains. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But those are more of the fast-casual variety. We wanted to do something more sit-down, where a family can enjoy a meal together.â&#x20AC;?

In addition to traditional Mexican starters, like chips and salsa and guacamole, there are â&#x20AC;&#x153;Indo-Mexâ&#x20AC;? appetizers such as samosas stuffed with beans, peppers and cheese, paired with Indian-style chutneys.

Corn or ďŹ&#x201A;our wrapped tacos starring grilled chicken and beef sit shoulder to shoulder with others containing paneer, the fresh cheese common at Indian eateries.

A dozen different Mexican-style burritos are stuffed with all matter of chicken, beef or shrimp â&#x20AC;&#x201D; along with the requisite pico de gallo, sour cream and lettuce â&#x20AC;&#x201D; while others star chicken tikka and chutney.

The same formula applies to enchiladas, quesadillas, chimichangas and fajitas.

Salsarito is open daily 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner

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216.241.6000 clevelandplayhouse.com Use promo code PIPELINE and SAVE 25% off tickets! | clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

31

ROW RO WIING G UP ON THE EAS A T SIDE OF Clev Cl evel e aan el nd, nd, d, rap appe perr To pe Toob obee Fr ob F esco listened t mus to u ic all day lon ong g as a youth. He wrrotte hi w his fir his first st son ong g at age 10, and in seeve ventth grrad ade, e, he st s ar arte ted te d 3 Ki Kingz, a hip-hop grou gr oup. p I n th In hee wak akee off tha hatt gr grou oup’ ou p s breakup — it diss di iss ssol o vveed w wh hen n Fre r sc s o re real a iz al ized d his bandmates were we re mor ore in i teereest sted ed in sp spor orts or tss than in reeco cord ord rdin ing — he in he lau aunc nche nc hed he d a so solo l career with M . De D ll Fr Fres resco essco. He He’s ’s bee e n a presence on 2009 2009 20 9’ss Mr th he lo l ca call ssccen ene ev ever verr sin ince ce. ce Eaarrllie i r tth his month onth on th, he offi ffici cially opened his ci new re ne reccoord rdin ing ng sttud udio io,, Br io Brea eakt ea k hr kt h ou o gh Sound, in n a nonde onde on desc scri riipt p bui uild ldin ing in g in Bed edford. He hope p sh hiis DI DIY ap appr p oa oach ch wil illl appeal to local musi mu sici sici si c ans a ns w an wh ho pllay ay all kin inds ds of differen nt mu m ussiic. c.

It wou It uld ld haavve be been been n suc u h a do down wner wn e if it didn’t com come co mee thr hrou ough h, bu but I go gott a de depo posi po s t together in si Dece De cemb mber mber er of la lasstt yeaar, r and it wo work r ed out.”

In the h paasst, Fresc reescco w wooul uld d re recoord at Tri-C’s East Ea s er ern n Ca Camp mpus wheere re he ut util iliz ized rehearsal sp paces es and would run n cor o ds bet e we w en practice boot oths ot hs. “ Tha “T hat bu b g bi bit me m fro rom th ther ere, er e ” he says. e, Hee bou H ough g t aalll h hiis is geear ar ove v r th he past eight to ten mo te m nt n hss an nd d is us usin ing in g a 32 32-c -cha hann n el analog boar bo ard th that hat at he p pu urc rcha h se ha s d fr from o som om omeone who had poosstted ha ed it on on Facceb e oo o k. k ““T The he anaalo l g so soun u d iss muc u h ri rich c er,” he says.

“It’ “I t’s no noott as as dig igit itiz i ed e and har arsh sh. Re sh R cording tth hro rou ug gh an gh an an naaloog booar ard d wi with th h all l the original prree--am p amps ps and nd utili tili ti lizi zing zi ng g tha hatt na natu tura r l original and oorrg an and gaan niic so sound un nd ccaan an ma m ke k or br b eak how a song so ong ng hittss.. A son o g wi will l hit ll it you one way if it’s rreeccoord rded ed on nee way. I th hink in nk ad addi ding di n that analog ng

The idea to open a recording studio came to him last year when he worked at Studio 14, a facility that was in the same building as the Agora.

“I had always wanted to open a studio before working at Studio 14, but I didn’t know anything about ProTools, and I didn’t know anything about how to build a studio,” says Fresco one afternoon from his new space.

“Working at that studio, I learned about ProTools and how to set up a studio with paneling and soundproofing. That studio closed, but a week before they closed, I had an intense thoought to open my own stud dio.

At the time, e I was still und e, derr contract wiith them. Then n, th hey closed an nd that becamee my my opportunity y.”

Hee started lookiing H g for a spa p ce he coulld

element can do something for hip-hop, indie rock or soul.”

So far, Fresco says he’s recorded 63 sessions. His previous engineer did 15 sessions, and his new engineer has done five sessions since he’s been there.

“You have gear now that you can buy to get a successful mix in a bedroom, which is cool,” he says when asked about the advantages of recording in a proper studio. “The problem is that you have other elements that can take away from how effective that song is.

In a studio, you have proper isolation and experienced engineers who know what they’re doing. You have other gear that would cost you hundreds of dollars. Creating a solid demo at home is great, but for the final product, it’s best for you to be in a professional facility.”

Fresco hopes local musicians will gravitate

turn into a studio and found an empty office in Bedford by combing through real estate ads. He says the space needed some “serious transformation.” He ripped out the ceiling and redid the floors. He made his own sound panels and created vocal booths, where he glued foam to the ceilings.

“It stuck out to me because it’s about 10 minutes from where I live,” he says of the space. “When I first saw it, it was an open floor plan, and I walked in and had a floor plan drawn up for an idea. I realized lots of things would have to change. We also wanted to take steps to do some soundprooofin ng, so we w uldn’t be a nu wo uisan ncee. I prayed on n itt becau ause s I didn’t wantt too play y my myself, in a sen ense. I ssaaid d, ‘L Lord d, iff thiss isn n’t gooing to turn ou ut in n thee r ghtt waay, let ri et us nott goo thrrough et g wit ith h thiss.’’

to the space. While it’s still a working in progress, he’s hung vinyl albums from acts such as Prince, Michael Jackson and Daft Punk on the walls to help create a welcoming vibe.

“When I was first planning and putting together the business plan, I was trying to see how many musicians there are in Cleveland,” he says. “There are so many musicians, it’s obnoxious. The thing I wonder is how things would be different if they had the right access and how could they stand out more. That’s a reason for this. We can offer that as a resource, and we’re really affordable. We keep the prices really reasonable, so any and every body can have access.”

jniesel@clevescene.com |

@jniesel

| clevescene.com m | October 9 - 15, 2019

33

34

| clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

@masoniccle @hobcleveland

@masoniccleveland

J U S T A N N O U N C E D - O N S A L E F R I DAY

SCOTT Y SIRE

COMING SOON

w/ Toddy Smith, Bruce Wiegner, Chris Bloom

BUY TICKETS AT

COMING SOON TO MASONIC CLEVELAND

Buy tickets at Ticketmaster.com or 216-523-BLUE

MASONIC CLEVELAND: 3615 Euclid Ave, Cleveland OH 44115 HOUSE OF BLUES: 308 Euclid Ave, Cleveland OH 44114 masoniccleveland.com / houseofblues.com | clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

35

KentStage =HGÍM FBLL MA>L> @K>:M LAHPL MB<D>ML HG L:E> GHP 532 W. MARKET ST. AKRON, OH 330-376-7171

THIS FRI. OCT. 11 Josh Christina

Kent Ghost Walk

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Thu October 10

Fri October 11 / Sat October 12

Fri October 11 / Sat October 12

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Special EFX All-Stars

Steven Page

3.2

Feat: Chieli Minucci, Elliott Yamin, Eric Marienthal, Lao Tizer, Karen Briggs

(Formerly of Barenaked Ladies)

feat Robert Berry Wed October 16

Sun October 13

Tue October 15

Rocky Horror Picture Show

Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy

Fri October 18

Thu October 31

Emerson Lake & Palmer Live On!

A Tuba to Cuba: The Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Special Guests Yusa

Fri November 1

KentStage WEEK

HORNS & THINGS

FRI. OCT. 18

THE OHIO PLAYERS

MUSIC

Mat Kearney City of Black & White Revisited Acoustic Tour

Sun October 20

Richard Thompson Solo & Acoustic

Tue October 22

MINDI ABAIR & THE BONESHAKERS

plus Eliza Gilkyson Mon October 21

Marti Jones and Don Dixon

SAT. OCT. 19

Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi

SUN. OCT. 27

KEIKO MATSUI

There is no Other tour Wed October 23

SiriusXM Coffeehouse Tour

Sam Bush The Travelin’ McCourys Thu October 24

Featuring

Joshua Radin & The Weepies Lily Kershaw Fri October 25

FRI. NOV. 1

HIROSHIMA

40th ANNIVERSARY TOUR SAT. NOV. 2

Ekoostik Hookah Sat October 26

50th Anniversary of The Music of Cream Sun October 27

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36

| clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

SHOW TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE! www.thetangier.com BANQUET FACILITIES AVAILABLE FOR EVENTS

Photo by Bradford Jones

MUSIC

Just the Two of Them Cracker brings its stripped-down acoustic tour to MGM Northfield Park–Neon Room

By Jeff Niesel AFTER INDIE ROCKERS CAMPER van Beethoven broke up in the late ’80s, singer-guitarist David Lowery approached childhood friend Johnny Hickman about starting a new band.

The duo began writing songs together and even played a few shows as the David Lowery Group before forming the alt-rock act Cracker with drummer Greg Weatherford (since replaced by Coco Owens) and bassist Davey Faragher (since replaced by Bryan Howard). The current Cracker lineup also includes Matt “Pistol” Stoessel on pedal steel and Thayer Sarrano, who sometimes tours with the band, on keys and backing vocals.

When it came time to cut its debut album, Lowery says the band simply wanted to make a good roots-rock album. That was during the height of grunge, and when the band’s debut came out, the band won an MTV Music Awards nomination for best new band (along with acts such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam).

Released in 1992, the resulting self-titled album delivered a hit with the sarcastic first single “Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now),” and while it might seem like the success came out of nowhere, Lowery says the band had an early warning that the song would go over well on commercial radio.

“What’s weird about that is that we had an inkling that it was hitting a spot,” he says in a recent phone interview from his Athens, Georgia, home. Cracker plays a

special acoustic show at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at MGM Northfield Park–Neon Room; the group will perform as a duo for the occasion.

“You never know what will be a good single. We went to a radio convention a few weeks before that song came out. The record company made us go to there to shake hands.

We just got drunk and went to the Spinal Tap show.”

At the convention, however, label reps played the record in a blind taste-test for a panel of DJs. They all went crazy for it and wanted a copy of it to play.

“It was weird,” says Lowery. “DJs don’t make hit records. Audiences do. But we did have an inkling [that it had a chance of becoming a hit], so when it came out, it just took off.

unpredictable. It doesn’t mean that talent doesn’t matter, but you only see skill and talent from an artist mean something over a longer period of time. We also didn’t sound the same as the other alternative rock bands. We crossed over into the jam scene a little bit with our second album, and that was an accident. Nobody ever planned anything.”

Lowery says that because the core of Cracker simply consists of just him and Hickman, it was designed for longevity.

“We did that on purpose because if there were only two of us in the band, it would be largely immune to breaking up,” he says.

The band’s most recent album, 2014’s Berkeley to Bakersfield,

UP CLOSE AND ACOUSTIC: CRACKER 8 P.M. SATURDAY, OCT. 12 MGM NORTHFIELD PARK – NEON ROOM, 10777 NORTHFIELD RD., NORTHFIELD 330-908-7625 | TICKETS: $25, LIVENATION.COM

We had hit songs with Camper van Beethoven, so we weren’t unfamiliar with it. The difference was that in 1989, there were maybe 30 alternative rock stations. In 1992, there were like 200 of those stations playing alternative music. What had been a minor niche for Camper van Beethoven had become something with a huge audience. We were just in the right place at the right time.

The music business is completely

shows just how eclectic Cracker has become. Half the album features twangy ballads such as “California Country Boy” and the other half features crunchy rock tunes like “March of the Billionaires.”

“I think the main thing was that we usually jumble up the country roots rock, and the punk, and the rock ’n’ roll type of stuff and mix them together,” says Lowery when asked about the disc. “For that

album, we took them apart and separated them just to do something different. We stayed in the country mode for the Bakersfield disc; and we stayed in the punk/glammy rock mode for the Berkeley disc. That’s something we haven’t normally done. Part of it was that we made all these records and wanted to do something differently. We used two different backing bands too.”

At the moment, Lowery is at work on what he calls a “weird solo album that’s autobiographical.”

“People have compared it to [Springsteen’s] Nebraska, but it’s different than that,” he says. “If I was to compare it to a Springsteen record, I would compare it more to Ghost of Tom Joad, but it’s strippeddown acoustic and some odds-andends instruments on it. I made only 1,000 physical copies and sold them on tour only, and I’m kind of mocking the movies business. It’s like, ‘It’s only in theaters now.’ I’m working on a second disc. Once that’s done, I’ll do a similar thing where it’s only available at shows.

Once that’s sold out, I’m going to put it out to the broader market and go to streaming. There’s also a book that will eventually go with it. If I was to make another Cracker record, it would be a pure 1992 or 1993 alternative rock record. We haven’t done in that in a while.”

jniesel@clevescene.com scene@clevescene.com @clevelandscene t@jniesel | clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

37

27 YEARS! G IN T A R B E CEL

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THU 12/19

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| clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

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WEDNESDAY 10.9 FOREST CITY MUG NIGHT (7pm)

ART ALEXAKIS

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THURSDAY 10.10 THE PEOPLE POETRY SLAM (7pm)

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LIVEWIRE

all the live music you should see this week Photo by Mia Sakai

WED

10/09

Don Broco: 7 p.m., $17 ADV, $20 DOS. Mahall’s 20 Lanes.

Paul Cherry/Smith Taylor and Soft Copy: 8 p.m., $10. The Winchester.

Dynohunter/Uncle Gnarly: 8:30 p.m., $10. Beachland Tavern.

Electronic Histories/Jordan Reyes/ SuRAH Orchestra/DJ Alive: 9 p.m., $6. Now That’s Class.

Great Day: The Music of Thelonious Monk: 7 p.m., $15. Bop Stop.

John Lennon Remembered – A Celebration of John Lennon’s Birthday: 7 p.m., $5. Beachland Ballroom.

Orville Peck/Bobby Tenderloin Universe: 8:30 p.m. Grog Shop.

The indie pop group Kero Kero Bonito comes to the Grog Shop. See: Tuesday.

THU

10/10

Alba Trio: 7 p.m., $15. Bop Stop.

An Evening with Branford Marsalis: 7:30 p.m., $25-$45. Ohio Theatre.

Hallo FUNK’n Ween with Universal Funk Mob/Dave/216 Jokes/ Liberty/Woejay Simpson: 8 p.m., $10. Grog Shop.

Paul Kovac’s Big ’Grass Band: 8 p.m., $15. Nighttown.

Liberty Deep Down/Bonnie Clydeman: 8 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Music Box Supper Club.

Radattack/The Bobby Lees/ Anaconda Vampires (in the Locker Room): 8 p.m., $8. Mahall’s 20 Lanes.

Shy Moon/Caleb McCoach/Death Hags: 8:30 p.m., free. Happy Dog. Styx: 7:30 p.m., $49.50-$99.50. MGM Northfield Park.

Therapy Thursday Featuring Ghost Noises & Marcus Smith: 8 p.m., free. CODA. The Wailers/Umojah Nation: 8 p.m., $25 ADV, $30 DOS. Beachland Ballroom.

FRI

10/11

Bowling For Soup & Less Than Jake/Authority Zero: Continuing their 25th anniversary celebration, pop-punksters Bowling For Soup have teamed up with the ska act Less Than Jake for a co-headlining tour they’ve dubbed Good Vibes & High Fives. Bowling for Soup’s big hit, 2004’s joke-y “1985,” tells the story of a housewife longing for a return to the ’80s. It became a hit on commercial radio and helped land the band on Warped Tour.

Another Warped Tour alum, Less Than Jake delivers high-energy sets that draw from old-school ska and punk. Expect the mosh pit to be going strong at this show. (Jeff Niesel) 7:45 p.m., $25 ADV, $30 DOS. House of Blues.

Dan Bruce’s Beta Collective: 8 p.m., $15. Bop Stop.

DD Island/Kitschy/Slow Glows: 8 p.m., $7. CODA. DJ Kishka Polka Happy Hour/Those Guys Polka Band: 6 p.m., free.

Happy Dog. DMBQ/Terminal Lovers/Bwak Dwagon: 8 p.m., $10. Now That’s Class.

The Early November: With its fifth studio album, Lilac, Early November shifts toward a more pop-centric sound, something that’s apparent right from the opening track, “Perfect Sphere (Bubble),” which features soft vocals and gentle guitar riffs. Tracks such as “My Weakness” and “Comatose” have more of an edge to them, so you can expect the band’s live show to feature a mix of material. (Niesel) 7 p.m., $17 ADV, $20 DOS. Mahall’s 20 Lanes.

Sammy Figueroa & His Latin Jazz Explosion: 8:30 p.m., $25.

Nighttown.

Into the Blue: Grateful Dead Revival: Regardless of your take on the Grateful Dead — the band to which Into the Blue, an ensemble of local musicians, pays tribute — the group maintains an important stature in the rock ’n’ roll canon.

Into the Blue revives that spirit and lends it the respect Jerry & Co. rightfully deserve. Anyone interested in hearing — and seeing

— great music flow from the stage should check out what these guys are doing. Fellow musicians and artists will glean inspiration. (Eric Sandy) 9 p.m., $11 ADV, $14 DOS. Beachland Ballroom.

Jinjer/The Browning/Sumo Cyco: 7 p.m., $20. The Winchester.

Carlos Jones & the P.L.U.S. Band/ The Ark Band: 8 p.m. Music Box Supper Club.

Jul Big Green Album Release/ Nathan Paul/Orange Animal: 8:30 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Grog Shop.

Motown & More: Divas Edition (in the Supper Club): 8 p.m., $10.

Music Box Supper Club.

Sirius XM Presents: The Highway Finds Tour Featuring Hardy/ Hunter Phelps/Sean Stemaly: 8 p.m., $18 ADV, $23 DOS. House of Blues Cambridge Room.

George Thorogood & the Destroyers: Influenced by blues guys like John Hammond and Hound Dog Taylor, George Thorogood and the Destroyers released four albums before hitting the mainstream with the 1982 hit “Bad to the Bone.”

Then, the hits kept coming as the gruff-voiced singer delivered tracks such as “I Drink Alone” and “Who Do You Love.” Expect to hear these songs and more at tonight’s show.

(Niesel) 8 p.m., $27.50-$65. MGM Northfield Park.

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

Nighttown.

SAT

10/12

Cave In/War On Women/Lazer Wulf: 9 p.m., $21 ADV, $23 DOS. Grog

Shop.

Johnny Gill & Ralph Tresvant: 8 p.m., $49.50-$99.50. MGM Northfield Park.

Herzog/Sammy Slims/Cathalyn: 9 p.m., $6. Happy Dog. Keep on ROAMing: Celebrating 20 Years of Roots Music Education and Outreach: 7:30 p.m., $0-$150.

Beachland Ballroom.

Carol Leslie: Torch Songs By Twilight: 8 p.m., $15. Bop Stop.

MercyMe Imagine Nation Tour with Special Guest Crowder: 7 p.m.

Wolstein Center.

Morticians Chair/Lotus Pedal: 8 p.m., $7. CODA. Joe Policastro Trio: 4 p.m., $20.

Nighttown.

Nora Jane Struthers/Jim Donovan & Sun King Warriors: 8 p.m., $10 ADV, $14 DOS. Beachland Tavern.

Tiger Army/ SadGirl/Clover: 7 p.m., $25-$30. The Phantasy Nite Club.

Tropical Cleveland (in the Supper Club): 11 p.m., $15. Music Box Supper Club.

Duke Tumatoe & the Power Trio (in the Supper Club): 7 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Music Box Supper Club.

Up Close And Acoustic: Cracker: 8 p.m., $25-$30. MGM Northfield Park.

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

Nighttown.

SUN

10/13

Ty Bri Release Party: 9 p.m., $15.

Grog Shop.

Chris Bullock Boomtown With Electric Kif: 7 p.m., $20. Bop Stop.

Dominick Farinacci: 7 p.m., $20.

Nighttown. | clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

39

40

| clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

| clevescene.com m | October 9 - 15, 2019

41

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| clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

Lo-Fi Chill Hip-Hop Beats to Study To with Amani.Cove/ Kamaahshatee aka DJ Toltecbase/ Him Hun/Coco Ebony Hun/Hickey Hun: 8 p.m., free. Now Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Class.

Lust Records Battle of the Bands: Today, Lust Records hosts its ďŹ rst Battle of the Bands in Cleveland.

The event features â&#x20AC;&#x2122;60s-minded contemporary garage-punk, rock â&#x20AC;&#x2122;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; roll, rhythm & soul and psych talent from across the country, and performers include Clevelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s MA HOLOS and Oregon Space Trail of Doom, South Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Boo Hag, Detroitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Moonwalks and Rochesterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Televisionaries. The winner headlines a private recordrelease party at Franklin Castle and records a 7-inch with Lust Records and Norton Records. A panel of judges will select the winners., 7 p.m., $4-$8. Mahallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 20 Lanes.

The Mentors/Bar Trash: 4 p.m., $5.

Now Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Class.

Oh Sees/Prettiest Eyes: 8:30 p.m., $23 ADV, $25 DOS. Beachland Ballroom.

Steven Page: Since parting ways with Barenaked Ladies, singer Steven Page has kept busy. He has composed six Stratford Festival scores, has collaborated and toured North America with Torontoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Art of Time Ensemble and performs as a member of the Trans-Canada Highwaymen. He serves as the host of the TV program The Illegal Eater and became a Chopped Canada champion in 2017. He also recently appeared in the awardwinning Riddle Films production of Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas and is currently working with playwright Daniel MacIvor on a musical commissioned by the Stratford Festival called Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s What It Takes. Last year, he released his ďŹ fth solo album, Discipline: Heal Thyself, Pt. II, an album of catchy pop tunes that often recall â&#x20AC;&#x2122;80s synthpop; and earlier this year, he embarked on an East Coast tour with Symphony New Brunswick and took his trio on the road. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have the trio in tow for tonightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gig. (Niesel) 8 p.m., $22-$32. The Kent Stage.

Special EFX All-Stars Featuring Chieli Minucci, Elliott Yamin, Eric Marienthal, Lao Tizer, Karen Briggs: 7:30 p.m., $30-$40. The Kent Stage.

Toto: The classic rock act Toto has been touring the globe over the course of 2018-2019 in celebration

of the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 40th anniversary.

Along the way, the group performed in front of well over a million fans across Europe, North America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and even Indonesia. The bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s popularity has recently surged thanks to a rediscovery of favorites from their beloved repertoire thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s captured on the new release, 40 Tours Around the Sun. The live performance was recorded in front of a sold-out crowd exceeding 18,000 fans last year at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam. The group performed a wide range of songs, including hit singles, rarely performed live deep cuts and two newly recorded tracks. Toto brings the ďŹ nal leg of this extensive global tour to town tonight. (Niesel) 7:30 p.m., $48.50-$75. MGM NorthďŹ eld Park.

Ugly Radio Rebellilon performs â&#x20AC;&#x153;Frank Zappaâ&#x20AC;? with Ike Willis: 8 p.m., $8. The Winchester.

MON

10/14

Cas Haley/Rubix Groove: 8:30 p.m., $10 ADV, $15 DOS. Beachland Tavern.

TUE

10/15

Gold Dime (in the Locker Room): 8:30 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Mahallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 20 Lanes.

Dermot Kennedy: 8 p.m., $29.50.

House of Blues.

Kero Kero Bonito/Negative Gemini: After the release of last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Time â&#x20AC;&#x2122;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Place, the London-based bilingual art-pop band Kero Kero Bonita returned last month with the new EP Civilisation I. Written, produced and recorded in the bedroom of KKBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gus Lobban, the EP explores themes from religion to the apocalypse and features a shimmering mix of pop and jazz fusion in songs such as â&#x20AC;&#x153;The River,â&#x20AC;? a breezy track that offers ďŹ&#x201A;inty synths and upper-register vocals.

(Niesel) 8:30 p.m., $15 ADV, $20 DOS. Grog Shop.

Little Feat/Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams: 8 p.m., $34.50-$74.50.

Masonic Auditorium.

Messer Chups/The D-Rays: 8 p.m., $15 ADV, $18 DOS. Beachland Ballroom.

Outlab: Experiments In Improvised Music: 9 p.m., free. Bop Stop.

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| clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

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SAVAGE LOVE THREE CITY SWING

By Dan Savage WE BROUGHT SAVAGE LOVE Live to the Music Box Theatre in Chicago, the Barrymore Theatre in Madison, and the Pantages Theatre in Minneapolis over three nights. As is always the case at live shows, the crowd had more questions than I could possibly answer in a single night. So in this week’s column, I’m going to tear through some of the questions I wasn’t able to get to.

*** If you use food for vaginal play, is there any type you should definitely avoid?

Lasagna makes for a lousy insertion toy. (Food doesn’t belong in vaginas; there could be bacteria on the food, even after washing, that results in a nasty infection. #FuckFirst #EatAfter)

*** How do you feel about relationships that have a time frame or defined end point? For example, one person is going away for school or a new job?

Relationships don’t have to be open to, or become, long-term in order to be a success. (Did you meet a nice person?

Did you have some good sex? Did you part on good terms? Success!) And the world is filled with couples that met at a time in their lives when school or work commitments meant they couldn’t be together — and yet, years or even decades later, they’re still together. You never know.

*** Is it okay that I always seem to hate my partners’ mothers? Is this normal?

It isn’t and it’s not. When you’re the common denominator in a lot of high-stress, high-conflict relationships, you’re most likely the problem.

*** Why do straight guys like anal so much?

Superhero movies, bottled beer, watching sports — there are lots of things straight guys like that I just don’t get. But I get why they like anal: Done right, anal feels amazing.

And not just for the person doing the penetrating. When it’s done right, it is also great for the person being penetrated. And sometimes the person being penetrated is a straight guy.

*** After a year of dating, my boyfriend told me he is polyamorous. I don’t know how to proceed. Any tips?

If he meant, “Polyamory is my sexual orientation, and you have to allow me to date other people, and you can’t break up with me over this because that would amount to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation,” that’s bullshit and this relationship is over. But if he meant, “Polyamory is a better relationship model for me than monogamy,” that’s not bullshit and the conversation is just getting started. If you prefer monogamy but you’re willing to consider polyamory to be with him, i.e., if that’s a price of admission you’re willing to pay, it could work out. But if you aren’t, and monogamy isn’t a price he’s willing to pay to be with you, it won’t work out.

*** I work in secondary education and I’m in an open marriage. My job is awesome, but I’m so afraid of a student or a parent seeing me when I’m out with a different partner. What should I do?

You could hope people would mind their own business and continue to make out in public with your other partners — or whatever it is you’re doing in public that makes it clear you’re fucking/dating someone who isn’t your spouse — or you could be discreet. Since antidiscrimination statutes don’t offer protections to people in open relationships, and since people regularly freak out about teachers having sex at all, you really have no other choices besides discretion (when out with others) or shouldering the risk (of losing your job).

*** My poly friend has started bringing her flavor-of-the-week partners to social events instead of her awesome wife.

How do I tell her I’d rather hang out with her and her wife than her and her (usually boring, always temporary) new fling?

Maybe your poly friend’s wife doesn’t want to hang out with you.

Wait, I can say that in a nicer way: Maybe your poly friend’s wife is an introvert who would rather stay home and she’s only too delighted that the flavor-of-the-week is willing to escort her wife to the box social. But if you miss your friend’s wife, maybe give her a call and invite her to lunch?

*** My former lover cheated on his current live-in girlfriend with me. She has no idea. Should I tell her what a narcissistic cheater her boyfriend is?

Vengeful former affair partners don’t have much more credibility than narcissistic cheaters — indeed, people view both with similar contempt. But you do you.

*** My husband and I are swingers.

For him, it’s who he is. For me, it’s something I do (and like!). We argue over how often we go out or have sex with other couples. Any suggestions for finding a happy medium?

More often than you’d like, and less often than he’d like — call it the bittersweet spot.

*** What tips do you have for lesbians in long-term relationships who want to keep sex fun and interesting?

My advice for lesbians who want to keep their LTRs hot is the same as my advice for gays, straights, bis, etc., who want to keep theirs hot. At the start of the relationship, you were the adventure they were on, and they were the adventure you were on. That’s why it was so effortlessly hot at the start.

But once you’re not each other’s sexy new adventure anymore — once you’re an established couple — you have to go find sexy adventures together to keep it hot. And that requires making a conscious effort. Explore your kinks,

buy some sex toys, have sex someplace other than your bedroom, invite very special guest stars, etc.

*** How do I create a sexier bedroom for even better sex?

Bedrooms are overrated, if you ask me (which you did), whereas basements, office stairwells, clean single-seat restrooms in upscale restaurants, dark corners of public parks, the space underneath banquet tables in hotel ballrooms, etc., are all under-utilized.

*** Can you explain why male chastity is such a popular kink? I’m not offended by it, just curious about its sudden widespread popularity.

“I think a big factor is that people are enjoying the heightened mental connections that tend to develop with chastity play,” said Christopher of Steelwerks Extreme, makers of the Rolls-Royce of male chastity devices.

“Frequent business travel and longdistance relationships also make chastity an increasingly popular kink as the cage-wearer and key-holder can maintain a playful dynamic without needing to be in the same room.”

*** I’m 99.975 percent sure I don’t want kids. My boyfriend of almost four years has a vasectomy scheduled for the end of the year. Should we go through with it? My boyfriend is really fucking sexy, hence the .025 percent doubt.

Vasectomies, like pregnancies, are reversible. Your boyfriend could also go to a sperm bank and put a load or three on ice.

Thanks to everyone who came to our live shows! Savage Love Live comes to Toronto and Somerville on Oct. 11 and 12. For info and tickets go to savagelovecast.com/events.

mail@savagelove.net t@fakedansavage | clevescene.com | October 9 - 15, 2019

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