Cleveland SCENE 7/30/25 by greatlakespublishing

SECOND ACTS

CLEVELAND HAS HOUSED 180 HOMELESS PEOPLE WITH FREE RENT AND UTILITIES FOR A YEAR THROUGH A NEW PROGRAM.

WHY THE CITY IS DIVING INTO THE “HOUSING FIRST” MODEL TO BREAK DOWN BARRIERS.

BY MARK OPREA

REWIND: 2016

Nine

UPFRONT

HIGH HOPES: CAN THE OHIO CANNABIS INDUSTRY CULTIVATE QUALITY JOBS?

THE LEGAL CANNABIS space supports more than 440,000 full-time equivalent jobs, per an April 2024 report from marijuana staffing company Vangst and analytics firm Whitney Economics.

Industry observers interviewed by Scene remain bullish about Ohio’s potential, despite legislative interference with the state’s recreational marijuana initiative that could hinder the creation of quality jobs.

Based on Indeed data, dispensary consultant positions in Ohio typically pay $17 per hour, while general managers earn up to $26 per hour. In Cleveland, cannabis cultivators bring in $39,000-$70,000 each year, with lab managers grossing about $60,000 annually.

With the sector still in its infancy, a strong job market has room to emerge, notes Lenny Berry, founder and CEO of the Ohio Cannabis Health & Business Summit, which brings vendors, speakers and industry leaders to the International Exposition Center every October.

Even with high entry-level turnover, the anticipated introduction of pre-rolls and other combustible products could open up more job opportunities, Berry said.

“The (Ohio) Division of Cannabis Control can give guidance to operations on how and what can be manufactured,” said Berry. “You’ll have processing jobs, so there will be opportunities to work with machinery around pre-rolls. You’ll need technicians to make those products, and people to infuse them.”

Today, most cannabis positions in Ohio encompass cultivation, retail, compliance and administration. Cultivators and trimmers operate on the grow side, as well as processing technicians who handle extraction and preparation of marijuana products. Dispensary consultants, security personnel and management staff round out the employment rolls for most companies in state.

Berry said that while bigger brands may focus on job volume, smaller businesses are better positioned to develop employees for long-term, higher-paying careers. Berry has his own stake in this as co-founder of Tom & Berry’s Special

Reserve, a startup that sells flower to regional dispensaries.

Along with partner Tom Mikulski, Berry aims to train a workforce that can thrive in the cannabis realm long-term, he said.

“I’m not training up people for another company, but I’m creating a quality worker who can be a face for our industry,” said Berry. “Bigger companies that are more fast-paced don’t have time to curate employees like a mom-and-pop. The more quality people you have, the more it helps with the overall landscape.”

Achieving a livable cannabis wage is tough, even in markets far more established than Ohio’s. For instance, the majority of California’s marijuana workers earn less than the state’s average living wage of $65,000 per year. Although employees receive a median hourly wage of $19.50 – above California’s minimum wage and median wages in retail and delivery – workers across demographics struggled to pay for food and groceries within the past year.

According to the survey of 1,100 marijuana employees by the UCLA Labor Center and the Cannabis Worker Collab research hub, nearly 43% of women, 29% of men and 81% of gender-nonconforming workers had difficulty covering their daily expenses.

The study offers several recommendations for improving job quality, including paid apprenticeships, mandated certified training for new hires, and investment in workforce development courses.

Although Ohio’s average cost of living is much lower than California’s – about $48,000 a year – onlookers are hopeful that wages will grow a pace with the state’s cannabis sector.

Wesley Bryant, a hemp manufacturing wholesaler in Brookpark, hired most of his 50 current staffers from the Cleveland School of Cannabis, an accredited career institution for marijuana employees. Seventeen of Bryant’s hires receive full benefits and 401k plans, he said.

“People are coming in pretrained, and for those who aren’t, we have a payment plan to get them back into school,” Bryant said. “There’s in-house education taking place as well.”

Bryant said Ohio’s excessive regulation of cannabis products has resulted in thinner profit margins, making it harder to pay employees higher wages. A bottle of THC gummies, for example, is twice as costly to produce as the same serving size of hemp gummies.

Which also highlights a larger problem – a political establishment unwilling to “release the beast,” said Bryant

“With a new market, you’re still pushing against politicians,” he said. “The surge in legal cannabis users in Ohio is a direct reflection of the will of the voters. But no further facilities were opened to handle that new influx of adult-use cannabis, so we’re sitting with the same amount of facilities to produce ten times as much cannabis for the open market.”

The result? A workforce stuck in limbo, facing lower wages within a still-developing market, adds Bryant.

It appears one major impediment to Ohio’s cannabis market has been tabled, at least for now. Senate Bill 56, which proposed major revisions to the recreational cannabis law passed by voters in Nov. 2023, was pulled from the schedule on June 18, just hours before it was set for a vote.

Among its provisions, the bill would have removed a social equity and jobs program designed to provide licensing opportunities for minority entrepreneurs. Cannabis summit founder Berry is aware of at least one company that pulled funds from its social equity licensing due to the uncertainty.

“These are businesses focused on (provisions) that were voted for legally,” said Berry. “This company could have created jobs just on social equity alone. It’s a big impact for the community and state, and I don’t understand why you’d take that away.”

Ohio allowing operators to hold public information sessions would significantly benefit the job market, Berry continued. Though Berry’s annual industry summit educates those interested in cannabis, consistent year-round messaging would further reduce stigma and help people see marijuana as a viable career path, he said.

“Let’s bring some normalization to the industry, where people can feel okay navigating through the space from a consumer, employee and ownership standpoint,” Berry said. “Everything in the space will evolve from there.” – Doug Guth

Scene archives

FEATURE

SECOND ACTS

Cleveland has housed 180 homeless people with free rent and utilities for a year through a new program. Why the city is diving into the “housing first” model to break down barriers. By

Mark Oprea

TWO YEARS AGO, Robert Lucas was living in a homeless camp on a secluded grass lot close to the Conrad’s off West 144th and Lorain.

There were about 50 similar homeless camps around the city in recent years, some popping up as authorities came in and shut others down, others enjoying relative longevity and stability, which in this Whack-A-Mole reality could mean mere months.

It goes without saying that these are options of last resort, desperation, and necessity. No one wants to step around needle casings to navigate their way to the sidewalk or wake up to rats nestling in their tent. But for any number of reasons, and often a combination of them –drugs, mental illness, poor credit, pandemic-era job losses, the affordable housing crisis, racism, a criminal record, limited shelter space – this is the reality for more Northeast Ohioans than you’d think.

According to Cuyahoga County data, there were some 23,000 homeless people in the region in 2023.

“Every last one of them is on the run from something,” Lucas said. “They all got something that’s gonna keep them from being able to get a job, or be able to fucking get a home.”

For him, that was his record.

Lucas, now 34, is five-foot-seven with blond hair worn in a side part and carries the tattooed build of a construction apprentice. He talks in jumping sentences and leans toward skepticism. Lucas grew up in Parma with a single mother and lived in three houses by the time he was 18. He dropped out of high school his sophomore year to work the trades. Years later, his brother died, an episode Lucas paints as a schism for his family. “I left home, then came back home, then left again,” he said. “I was just trying to get away from the house. Trying to be on my own. Trying to figure it out.”

He fell into handiwork. Lucas spent his twenties working in tool and die shops, casting aluminum carburetors for lawnmowers and leaf blowers. He got engaged and

he was 24, he took a job with a friend working maintenance at a senior living complex. Lucas was up for promotion when, in early 2017, he was accused of selling two residents’ stolen jewelry to a nearby pawn shop. (Lucas told me he was set up.) Like many staring down a trial with possible prison time at the other end, he took a plea deal –a level two felony burglary charge and two counts of theft. He agreed to serve two years of probation.

It was the beginning of his journey through the system; one he likens to being subsumed by a pool of quicksand.

While on probation, Lucas got high in Medina, which led to a twoyear prison sentence. Out on parole, he caught a violation—visiting an ex—living at his sister’s house in Akron and did six more months. He got out. In 2022, Lucas plead guilty to stealing a $1,237 casino voucher out a machine at the MGM, which segued to another felony obstruction charge the following year. He fell out with his sister. His search for a new place to live and a job were futile. “Countless” landlords

ployers. And that’s how Lucas ended up at the homeless camp on the west side.

“I can’t get a lease, I can’t get a car, I can’t build my credit to get a car,” Lucas said. “And I can’t build my credit to get a car because I don’t have a lease to pay or have a means to pay it. It’s a Catch-22. It’s never-ending.”

Last year, the Bibb administration decided to circumvent the barriers that were keeping Lucas and other homeless people like him from getting a lease by kickstarting the Home for Every Neighbor initiative. Mayor Bibb propositioned the program as a way to “eradicate homelessness by the end of the decade.”

Like similar rapid housing programs in Chicago and San Antonio, over $2 million of city money would be spent on a year’s worth of rent and utilities for roughly 180 people. Unlike federal voucher programs or the typical shelter-to-house model, the city would ask barely any questions or run any checks. In other words, surmount all your typical barriers. “There are only two qualifications,” Liam Haggerty, the pro-

gram’s director, told Scene. “You’re homeless and you’re breathing.”

Which automatically qualified Lucas, when his case manager, Mario Thompson, helped find him a place off East 93rd and Union last August. Lucas had spent eight years living with others: siblings, cellmates, junkies. He was now lined up to get a place of his own in 11 days.

“We continue to see a rise in housing insecurity in our city,” Bibb said at a press conference at a furniture warehouse in Independence in April, flanked by Haggerty, a trio of case managers and Lucas in a camouflage hoodie and a Cavs T-shirt. “A rise in mental health issues and challenges. Drug abuse and alcohol abuse. Historically, sometimes government has gotten in the way.” Bibb nodded. “Sometimes red tape and bureaucracy has gotten in the way.”

Let’s talk about red tape for a second.

People are routinely denied

The west side campsite where Lucas spent about a year of his life. It was cleaned up by the Bibb administration earlier this year. | Mario Thompson

housing for a spattering of reasons. Our governments are designed to step up when those denials are unjustified, with Fair Housing laws to guarantee a signed lease for anyone in the so-called protected classes (in cases where there is proper legal representation). In Cleveland, that means you can’t legally refuse to rent to anyone because of their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, ethnicity, veteran status, family status, marital status or ancestry.

So, what’s left?

Of course, there are the standard denials for a bad credit score or failing to meet the monthly income mark. Maybe landlords don’t entertain freelancers or take Section 8 or any other housing subsidies. Or maybe you’ve been evicted once or twice in the past. Maybe you have debt or have declared bankruptcy. In Cleveland, all of these are completely justifiable and legal reasons to refuse to hand over keys to a would-be renter. (Just as having pets or being a smoker might be.)

But what if City Hall is vouching on your behalf and picking up your bills? The whole premise of Home for Every Neighbor, many participants, case managers and supervisors told me, is that it’s a housing-first program: people without homes are given keys to apartments without any credit check, any great concern for past evictions, or whether or not they have drug problems. Haggerty likens HFEN to the emergency sheltering response after a hurricane. “We’re not, like, keeping track of… ‘We know folks have this and this,’” Haggerty told me. “It’s more about, we just want to get everyone housed.”

“I think the broader goal is that ultimately,” he added, “we’re trying to end homelessness by saying, ‘Hey, there’s a reason why these folks didn’t have access to housing, and, well, how can we change that?’”

Kait McNeeley, deputy director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, works directly with HFEN, mostly through assigning her outreach workers to specific campsites. “This program directly attacks all of the barriers,” she said. “The core of this work is the belief that housing is a human right, despite whatever circumstances led a person to become homeless. We just look past that.”

If we set aside mental health issues and substance abuse—which, if you’ve got a good attorney, can be framed as disability discrimination—then one of the central blockages to finding housing, whether it

be for two years or 20, is having a felony or even a misdemeanor on your record. And it doesn’t mean you have to be found guilty either. In several apartment leases I reviewed for this article, and in conversations with about a dozen felons, landlords can deny you even if you’ve just been charged with a crime. Even if 25 or 35 years have passed. “You could make tens of thousands a week,” one supervisor of an apartment complex in Downtown Cleveland told me. “As soon

HFEN, by its design, takes care of the bill.

“None of that mattered. They didn’t care. They just want to get you up out of here, you know?” said Jonathan Atkins, 36, who, after living in a tent near the Ohio City Rapid Station, moved into an apartment this year. It was his first time living alone since a robbery conviction in 2010. “I just took advantage of the situation: ‘If y’all gonna help me, I’ll appreciate it. All I need is a year. And I’ll never need your help again.”

as I see felony, that’s it. ‘Sorry, you can’t live here.’”

Maybe you made a plea deal for something you didn’t do, as many in the criminal justice system do. Maybe you’ve long served your time and paid your debt to society. Maybe it was decades ago.

What may linger with you the rest of your life are what are commonly referred to as collateral sanctions, or the tiny or large indirect consequences of having an F on your record, as one in 11 Ohioans do. And it’s not just landlords that throw you that rejection email. No longer can you own a gun, serve on a jury, vote in every election, donate blood, sign up for most health insurers, get access to college scholarships, travel easily to 38 countries, or get hired at one in four Ohio jobs. (Along with roughly 1,000 other sanctions.) Even if you’ve served your prison time, passed parole or cleared probation. “Sure, you’ve paid your dues,” one criminal justice nonprofit worker put it, “but you’ve still got to pay the bill.”

in a raspy voice that boomed around the room. “A lot of times, you see people lock their doors, wondering, ‘Hey cuz, what you done did?”

Ward looked around the space. “Anybody in the room that has a felony conviction, raise your hand,” he said. A few people turned their heads. “It’s okay,” Ward said. “This is a safe space.”

About half of the room raised a hand.

“Anybody in the room that has a family member that has a felony conviction, raise your hand,” Ward said.

Ten more raised.

I raised mine.

“Anybody in the room that has a friend that has a felony conviction, raise your hand,” Ward said.

Seven more raised.

“And anybody that has faith in a higher power, restorative justice and redemption, raise your hand.”

The remainder of the room raised.

Ward allowed some silence, like a pastor. He rested his chin philosophically on an open hand.

“You’ve paid your debt, done your time, paid your fines, paid your fees—at some point in your life, you should be able to move on,” he said.

“Amen,” one woman said.

“Just because you might have done that,” Ward said, “that don’t mean you are that.”

There’s probably no greater an expert on collateral sanctions in Cleveland than Fred Ward. Ward, at 57, wears black jackets and Egyptian-jewel necklaces that give him the aura of a violence interrupter. Which he very well has the credentials to be. After multiple felonious assault and aggravated robbery charges in his early twenties, Ward served seven years of a ten-year sentence at Lorain Correctional. He got out in 1997. Sixteen years later, he helped found Building Freedom Ohio, a nonprofit with the sole goal—legislatively and culturally—of removing as many collateral sanctions statewide as humanly possible.

Recently, in May, Ward brought his developing Felony Impacted Liberation Movement, or F.I.L.M., to a brick-walled meeting space at MidTown’s Tech Hive, which attracted about 45 or so in a talk that quickly morphed into group therapy.

“A lot of us directly-impacted don’t even want to identify, because felon is a scarlet letter,” Ward said,

It was near the start of July last year when 39-year-old Terrie Williams had to be rushed to the hospital. She and her husband Jason had been sleeping on benches at the West Park Rapid Station, and it was storming. They had been staying on the Red Line until breakfast hours, but were being kicked off by transit cops. So, like everyone else, they pitched a tent.

Terrie woke up in the middle of the night drenched. She has asthma and bronchitis, so early-morning rain led to Jason calling for an ambulance, which took Terrie to MetroHealth, where she was diagnosed with pneumonia and a listeria infection. “I also found out I’m diabetic,” she said. She stayed there for a month. By the time Terrie was ready to be discharged, Jason arrived with even better news: a guy named Mario Thompson was hooking them up with a free place to stay, for a year. Jason could take a tour tomorrow.

“I told him, ‘Just take it. Don’t even bother looking at it,’” Terrie recalled. “And that’s exactly what we did.”

Fred Ward, the head of Building Freedom Ohio, cites difficulty getting housing as one of the main barriers for felons re-entering society. “Just because you did that,” he said, “doesn’t mean you are that.” | Mark Oprea

Jason and Terrie don’t have criminal records. They don’t have drug or alcohol issues. They don’t have evictions on their rap sheet. And before they left Terrie’s sibling’s house, they held regular jobs, in maintenance and management, at a west side Rally’s.

“I would say that their biggest barrier was that they owed utility balances,” Thompson told me, sitting at a chair at Jason and Terrie’s kitchen table. “It was only a couple hundred bucks. But you know, landlords won’t let you move in until that’s paid.” He smiled. “And we took care of that.”

Case managers like Thompson, and the seven others contracted by the city, work their caseload more like a sponsor than a decisive parole officer.

“I’ll just come over here, we’ll just sit and talk,” Thompson, who was homeless himself for a year as a teenager, said. “Just figuring out their story. I mean, people like Terrie and Jason, they learn how to be resourceful on their own.”

That, of course, isn’t the case for everyone. In an interview with one of the property management companies working with HFEN, a sour taste pervaded most of the discussion. Since August, it’s been a roller coaster for half of their HFEN tenants: people kicking in doors, stealing hot water heaters, destroying bathroom ceilings, filling the living room with bikes, shooting up heroin in the basement, flushing “everything known to man” down the toilet, throwing kitchen grease out the window. “Domestic violence, screamin’ and hollerin’, hitting the walls, trash everywhere,” the manager told me.

“But what does Liam say? ‘As long as they’re homeless and breathing, they qualify,’” they said. “Hell, we’re all breathing. Does that mean I could live anywhere I want on the city’s dime without any repercussions?”

I brought up the list of complaints to Thompson during a recent visit to Terrie and Jason’s, a reasonably quaint apartment on the southern edge of Slavic Village. There, the kitchen cabinets are topped with single roses and plastic swords and the memories of relatives. There’s a stocked pantry, a working bath, a small TV, Terrie’s medicine tray next to Jason’s chair. As rain started to tap against the roof, I thought of the storm that sent Terrie to the hospital, where she almost died a year ago.

“I mean, I have a nice, comfy bed to sleep in,” Terrie said. “One of the

biggest things is having a shower. Or just a normal place to go to the bathroom—the Porta Potties are cool, don’t get me wrong. But you don’t want to go at night.”

Jason’s mind seemed to shift to those that haven’t used the opportunity afforded them by the program. “So, second chances are extremely hard to come by,” Jason said.

“That’s true,” Terrie said.

“People ought to take advantage of them when they get one.”

“Especially now that homelessness is illegal.” Terrie said. She looked around the space. “I would rather have this house than sit in a jail cell.”

In early June, nearly a year after the city began visiting and cleaning up homeless camps throughout Cleveland, I get a text from Robert Lucas. There had been some radio silence since we’d met in April, so I had figured that Lucas disappeared back into the private life. Or, I had just become one of the latest people he decided to knock from his life.

“I apologize for not being in contact with you,” Lucas texted. “Truth is it’s been a little overwhelming to say the least, but I am however moved into my new place, and as you know, packing and setting up furniture. And things of that nature are pretty tedious to say the least.”

The next week, Lucas invited me over to what I would find out is his second apartment through HFEN, one just two blocks north of the Cleveland Zoo. Lucas had been living in a complex off Union and East 93rd, but there was some sort of confrontation. A man wanted by the DEA showed up to Lucas’ place

and wouldn’t leave. Management found out. Lucas, through Thompson’s advocacy, was reassigned to an apartment in Brooklyn Centre, in late May.

Regardless, this is Lucas’ first time living alone in nearly a decade. Around the apartment there are traces of normalcy—the canvas prints, the Browns Dawg Pound signs, the toaster oven. (All donated.) “Sorry, I have to use these Glade Plug-ins,” Lucas, dressed in a white tank top and jeans, said, sorting through a pile of them on his kitchen table. He swiped them to the side, it seemed, as if I was the first guest worth the tidying up. “I’m really sensitive to smell, so I have to use them. I get headaches. Same thing would happen in prison. Headaches all the time.” Lucas relocated his toaster oven to the counter. “So, can I get you something to drink?” he said.

Earlier this year, Haggerty sat down with Cleveland City Council to convince them that HFEN must be renewed and funded for a second year. In late April, Council agreed. (Not without debate. “I understand the concept of getting the homeless off the streets. I think it’s a great practice,” Ward 16 Councilmember Brian Kazy noted at the meeting. “But I don’t think it’s the city’s job to be doing this.”)

But it passed, and when the first year’s spending expires in August, the city will mark off $1.9 million more in the same effort to house roughly 80 additional homeless people. Even when I brought up reports from landlords that have experienced issues with tenants, Haggerty doubled down in his philosophy. House first, he said, problems later. “You don’t ask a person

who is drowning to learn how to swim,” he said.

And, as homeless advocates will quickly tell you, it’s not just about helping the individuals. Society bears a high cost from strains on emergency rooms, on police calls, on court cases. One 2017 study found that one chronically homeless person costs a city’s taxpayers about $35,000 per year. Home For Every Neighbor, in theory, halves that cost.

Since last August, Lucas has entered Suboxone treatment for meth addiction. He has, Thompson speculated, a job lined up for him at the city. (Meeting Bibb in April helped.) “When he found out I was someone he could trust, Robert opened up to me,” Thompson told me. “I’ve seen him choke up many times.” And most direly, he has an apartment. I asked Thompson what Lucas’ life might be if he’d never trekked to that campsite to help him. “Realistically? He’d either be dead or in jail.”

I brought this up to Lucas at his kitchen table. After all, Lucas will be covered by a long-term voucher from the Emerald Development and Economic Network, which means the county will pay his rent after his lease renews—or doesn’t—come September.

“The last 10 years, it’s been stressful. I’ve been around people, and people just suck. Seriously.” Lucas fidgets with a Glade Plug-in, then looks up at me. “But I can’t allow myself to get complacent. Because every time I get to that point, something comes in and fucking takes it away.”

LEFT: Mario Thompson, a case manager working with HFEN, has helped house more than a fourth of the formerly homeless working with the city’s program.

RIGHT: Robert Lucas talking to Mayor Bibb at a press conference in April. | Mark Oprea

GET OUT

WED 07/30

Kimberly Akimbo

This musical about a 16-year-old who is about to move to a new town with her family features a Tony Award-winning book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire (Shrek), a Tony Award-winning score by Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home), choreography by Danny Mefford (Dear Evan Hansen) and direction by Tony-nominated director Jessica Stone. Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30 at Connor Palace. Performances continue through Aug. 3. 1615 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

Wade Oval Wednesdays

Featuring an eclectic mix of local bands, the popular concert series returns to Wade Oval. It takes place from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. The concerts continue through Aug. 20. 10831 Magnolia Dr., 216-791-3900, universitycircle.org.

THU 07/31

2025 NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Weekend

The annual NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival touches down in Canton again today with a weekend’s worth of pigskin-flavored hoopla. Festivities kick off at noon today with “game

day” events such as live music and food. The annual Hall of Fame game commences at 8 p.m., and events continue throughout the weekend. 2121 George Halas Dr. NW, Canton, 330-456-8207, profootballhof.com.

A Taste of Black Cleveland

This annual event at Rocket Arena showcases Cleveland’s talented Black chefs. The tasting portion will take place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., when guests can sample signature dishes and desserts from more than 20 Black-owned establishments. After the tasting, organizers will tally the votes and announce whose food took first place. The bar will remain open, and there will be music and entertainment.

One Center Court, 216-420-2000, rocketarena.com.

FRI 08/01

A Chorus Line

A Chorus Line, which began a lengthy run in the West End in 1976, was revived on Broadway in 2006, and in the West End in 2013. Beck Center will present a revamped version of the play. Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30 p.m., and performances continue through Aug. 10.

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

Craig Conant

Now sober, this comedian recently received accolades for his appearance on MTV’s Greatest Party Story Ever Told. He also has a hugely successful podcast, Community Service. He performs tonight and tomorrow night at 7 and 9:45 at Hilarities.

2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com.

Guardians vs. Minnesota Twins

The Guardians go up against division rivals the Minnesota Twins as a three-game series commences tonight at Progressive Field. The Twins got off to a slow start this season, but have rebounded to play .500 ball (or close to it). First pitch is at 7:10, and the series concludes on Sunday. The first 20,000 fans who arrive at tomorrow’s game will receive a free Jose Ramirez jersey. 2401 Ontario St., 216-420-4487, mlb. com/guardians.

Marlon Wayans

One of the best-known comics to emerge in the late ‘80s, Marlon Wayans has come a long way since working with his brother Shawn on sit-coms such as The Wayans Brothers and films such as Scary Movie, White Chicks and Little Man. He’s refined his standup skills and will perform tonight at 7 and 9:30 at the Funny Bone, where he has shows scheduled through Sunday.

1148 Main Ave., 216-696-4677, cleveland.funnybone.com.

SAT 08/02

Cleveland Puerto Rican Parade

The Puerto Rican Parade of Greater Cleveland carries a “strong history of cultural awareness, pride, and education.” It takes place today and tomorrow at the Quad Park on the main campus of the Metrohealth Hospital.

2500 Metrohealth Dr., 216-7787800, puertoricanparade.org.

SUN 08/03

Reggae Sundays

This special Reggae Sunday Happy Hour Concert series is a summer highlight. The indoor/outdoor concert series will take place rain or shine with live music from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Music Box. The venue will also offer food and drink specials exclusive to the series., free. 1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com.

MON 08/04

The Winchester Presents Locals Only

This event that takes place the first Monday of the month at the Winchester in Lakewood will showcase local bands. The $5 cover will go directly to the band. Doors open at 7 p.m.

12112 Madison Ave., Lakewood, 216-600-5338, facebook.com/ TheWinchesterMusicTavern.

TUE 08/05

Cuyahoga County Fair

The Cuyahoga County Fair returns to the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds this week. The Midway rides are back this year, and there will be arts and crafts, beer and wine gardens, bee-keeping exhibits, a demolition derby, dog shows, a draft horse pull, fireworks, harness horse racing and a livestock auction. The event continues through Sunday. Check the website for more info.

19201 East Bagley Rd., Middleburg Heights, 440- 2430090, cuyfair.com.

The Cuyahoga County Fair returns to the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds in Berea. See: Tuesday, Aug. 5. Courtesy of the All Media Design Group

WED 08/06

Shitshow Karaoke

Local rapper/promoter Dirty Jones and Scene’s own Manny Wallace host Shit Show Karaoke, a weekly event at the B-Side Liquor Lounge wherein patrons choose from “an unlimited selection of jams from hip-hop to hard rock,” and are encouraged to “be as bad as you want.” Fueled by drink and shot specials, it all goes down tonight at 10 p.m. Admission is free.

2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-932-1966, bsideliquorlounge.com.

THU 08/07

Laufey: A Night at the Symphony

The singer and pianist will play both original songs as well as “a few unexpected surprises” when she performs tonight at 7 at Blossom with the Cleveland Orchestra.

1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, clevelandorchestra.com.

FRI 08/08

Piano Men: Generations

This special concert pays tribute to Billy Joel and Elton John, the two American pop stars who famously toured together in the ‘90s. The concert featuring the father and son duo Terry and Nick Davies begins at 8 p.m. at the Hanna Theatre. 2067 East 14th St., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

SAT 08/09

Mahler’s Titan

Elim Chan conducts the Cleveland Orchestra as it takes on Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 along with Ravel’s Shéhérazade. The concert begins at 7 p.m. at Blossom.

1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.

Peninsula Flea

This upscale flea market features handmade, repurposed and vintage items from dedicated artists, crafts people and collectors. Local musicians are slated to perform and food vendors will be on hand. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Heritage Farm. Admission is free. 6050 Riverview Road, Peninsula, 330-657-2788, explorepeninsula.com

SUN 08/10

Beachland Flea

Vendors who specialize in vinyl records, retro clothing and handmade jewelry will be on hand for this flea market that takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Beachland Ballroom.

15711 Waterloo Rd., 216-383-1124, beachlandballroom.com.

The Music of Billy Joel

Singer-pianist Tony DeSare joins the Cleveland Orchestra to pay tribute to piano man Billy Joel at this special concert that takes place tonight at 7 at Blossom.

1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.

Matt Rife: Stay Golden Tour

The comedian who courted controversy for his jokes about domestic violence brings his Stay Golden tour to Rocket Arena. The show begins at 6 p.m.

One Center Court, 216-420-2000, rocketarena.com.

Salsa Across Borders: Festival and Competition

The dance competition takes place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Rock Hall. Admission is free with an RSVP.

1100 Rock and Roll Blvd., 216-515-8444, rockhall.com.

MON 08/11

Josh Johnson: The Flowers Tour Daily Show writer and correspondent Josh Johnson brings his the Flowers Tour to Hilarities. In one famous bit, he talks about catfishing the KKK on Craigslist and pretending to be white. He performs at 7 and 9:45 p.m.

1511 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org

TUE 08/12

Beetlejuice

Based on Tim Burton’s film, this musical centers on a teenager who “meets” a recently deceased couple and a demon with a thing for stripes. Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30 at the State Theatre, where performances continue through Aug. 17.

1519 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

scene@clevescene.com t @clevelandscene

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Contact The Fair Housing Center to speak with an advocate about your rights.

EAT

STEP BY STEP

Methodical and measured growth has allowed the talents of Chef Liu Fang to blossom organically at Abundance Culinary

By Douglas Trattner

THE FRENCH HAVE A SAYING:

“petit à petit, l’oiseau fait son nid,” which translates to “little by little, the bird makes its nest.”

That adage comes to mind when I think about Liu Fang’s culinary journey. In place of bold action and pricy gambits, the chef plows steadily ahead in her efforts to build a sustainable following for her food. Since first sharing her vision at pop-up events at Larder in Ohio City, Fang has made a series of moves and improvements designed to better showcase her unique brand of contemporary Chinese cuisine.

In 2023, Fang and husband Carl Setzer opened Abundance in the diner cars on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights – a location they shared with Rising Star Coffee. At first the dining experience was a hybrid style that combined the carry-out packaging of the early days with a casual dine-in experience for those who desired. That didn’t matter to the people who had grown desperately fond of the chef’s wings, dumplings, buns and noodle dishes.

Late last year, Rising Star moved to a new location in Cleveland Heights, giving Abundance the freedom to expand and make the space its own. After removing the coffee counter and enlisting the services of a designer, Fang and Setzer unveiled earlier this year a refreshed interior that lives up to the food and full-service experience. Also, as planned, the restaurant secured a liquor license so that it could serve beer, wine, cider, cocktails and mocktails.

To craft her menus, Fang plucks

classic dishes from all over China and prepares them through a lens of a Northeastern Ohio cook. The results feel – and taste – more like situational cooking as opposed to gimmicky fusion. Menus and preparations shift with the seasons, but the framework – and certain staples – remains steadfast.

Chef Fang’s chicken wings ($20) are not to be missed. They are supremely crispy, meltingly tender and seasoned in a way that will leave your mouth watering long after you cleaned the bones. They are available in a tongue-tingling “China-hot” flavor or a subtler, sweeter honey version. Abundance was built on buns (3/$10), pockets of yeastraised dough stuffed with juicy meat or vegetable fillings bursting with flavor. Elegantly shaped dumplings ($18) arrive in a rainbow of colors and star fillings such as spicy pork sausage, beef with fresh herbs, and, in winter, sauerkraut with fennel and spice.

During a recent lunch we started with the spiral-cut cucumber ($12), which resembles a dragon’s tail when lifted from the plate. All those intricate cuts and slits allow the dressing to penetrate all the way to the core and the texture is ridiculously satisfying.

Abundance offers a “lunch for two” and “lunch for four” option, a design-your-own-adventure meal that combines a choice of wings, buns, dumplings and noodle dishes. We selected the comforting dan dan noodles ($22) with ground pork and a tea-stained soft-boiled egg. When popped and stirred into the noodles, the yolk enriches the savory sauce. The only constant at Abundance is change, but diners can always expect to find dishes like Xiao Chao Beef with shaved brisket and Lazi Chicken starring dried chilies and sweet peppers joined by seasonal specials like honey-glazed roast pork shoulder served with rice and millet. The chef has a great touch with vegetables and diners can expect to find at least a few stellar preparations.

By now, customers have largely adjusted to the incongruous nature of a Chinese restaurant set in a shimmering 1940s-era diner car, but that doesn’t mean we can no longer start our days here. Rising Star might have decamped to a new address but that great brew is still served at Abundance. And now, so is breakfast.

“There is so much more about Chinese cuisine to explore and breakfast is one of those things,”

says Fang.

For a quick bite, guests can enjoy items like scallion cheese buns ($6) served with chile oil, a jam-andcream-cheese-filled pineapple bun purple with ube ($6), and a brown butter and miso cookie ($4) that awakens the tongue with the slight tingle of Szechuan peppercorns. Better still are the breakfast sandwiches ($12), served hot and fresh. Like everything here, the sandwiches fit the theme without any culinary gymnastics. Neatly stacked in a sesame-topped milk bread bun is a custardy steamed-egg patty, zesty Chinese sausage, cheese, crispy scallions and a chili-oil aioli.

Next up for Abundance and its passionate, persevering chef is the completion of the interior renovations, new Sunday brunch service and an expanded patio.

“I’m never where I want to be,” says Fang. “I always wanted Abundance to be the best Chinese restaurant in America and we’re trying to make that happen.”

Food at Abundance. | Photo by Daniel Lozada

Abundance | 1975 Lee Rd., Cleveland Heights | 216-785-9959 | a-bun.com

BITES

Noble Beast Biergarten on Pace to Open Spring of 2026 in Ohio City

By Douglas Trattner

IT’S NO SECRET THAT

Shaun Yasaki has been on the hunt for property on which he can expand the brand that he’s cultivated for the past eight years at Noble Beast Brewing (1470 Lakeside Ave.).

It’s been over two, three years,” Yasaki says of his quest. “We weren’t really trying to force anything.”

That search ended recently with the acquisition of multiple plots of property on Lorain Avenue in Ohio City. The parcels at 3801, 3813 and 3815 Lorain will become the new home of Noble Beast Biergarten, a year-round, indoor-outdoor destination for beer, food and camaraderie.

“We’re so space limited at Noble Beast; we don’t really have much outdoor space other than the tiny patio,” Yasaki says. “I’ve always wanted to do something outdoor-centric. There aren’t many better ways to drink good beer than in a European-style beer garden.”

If Yasaki and wife JoLyn have their way, local beer lovers will be enjoying a cold one by patio season 2026. The grounds will combine a “heavily landscaped” beer garden, original two-story structure, new one-story building and a greenhouse that will serve as an antidote to Cleveland’s short, dark, cold days.

“I always wanted to do this in Cleveland, to build a greenhouse where you have a nice warm space full of light, full of plants,” says Yasaki.

The beer garden will serve “primarily” Noble Beast beer – including a lineup of styles unique from the original location – plus a few classic European brews and local brews. There will be a few wines and cocktails as well.

The new building will house a full kitchen, overseen by chef-partner James Redford, that will offer food inspired by European beer gardens that relies on seasonal local ingredients. The rear of the original structure will house a separate concept described as a small cocktail bar.

Despite its off-the-beaten-path locale, Noble Beast is widely regarded as one of the best and busiest breweries in the region. The combination of stellar beer, approachable, high-quality food and a vibe that appeals to couples, families and groups equally is one that Yasaki and his team have cultivated since day one. He hopes to achieve the same thing on the near-west side.

“I’ve lived in Ohio City for more than 12 years and what we want to have is something that is relaxed, casual, walk-in-and-grab-a-seat. I don’t think that exists here,” he says. “This will be family friendly as well. We’ve raised three kids at Noble Beast.”

I’m proud of what we’ve built and so incredibly grateful for everyone who helped shape it -- from my staff (past and present), to every DJ, musician, artist and guest who brought life into our space,” she said.

If you’ve enjoyed a drink or bite at Re:Bar over the past six-plus years, there’s still time to show some love.

“We’re going to go out the same way we’ve always shown up…with love, music and community.

Chopt Creative Salad Co. to Open at Eton Chagrin in Woodmere and Crocker

Re:Bar Downtown to Close Saturday August 2

Since taking over at Re:Bar, an off-the-beaten-path bar and cafe in the Gateway District, owner Rachel Ulloa has endeavored to create a unique, diverse and inclusive venue.

“I wanted to create something more than just a bar,” she said. “I wanted a space that felt like home -a place where people from all walks of life could come together over great food, cocktails, music and art. A place that celebrated local talent, amplified voices and gave creatives a stage to shine.”

Since purchasing Re:Bar (2130 East 9th St., 216-465-4268) in late 2019, Ulloa has tripled the bar’s footprint, added a kitchen and fostered partnerships with local food operators like La Plaza and Sauce the City. For the past year the Ulloa ran her own food operation dubbed The Kitchen.

But all that ends in about two weeks.

“We went from a small dive bar to tripling our space, building a kitchen and hosting some of the city’s most creative and inclusive events.

“We are thrilled to welcome Chopt Creative Salad Co. to Eton Chagrin Blvd. Their commitment to fresh, healthy dining options perfectly complements our mission to provide a diverse and vibrant experience for our guests. Adding Chopt to our array of premier shopping and dining destinations enhances Eton’s reputation as the ultimate place to shop, dine, and play. We look forward to seeing the positive impact Chopt will have on our community.”

An opening date is still TBD.

Another Chopt location is set to follow at Crocker Commons in Westlake. Details on that are still a bit down the road.

The wait is nearly over for salad lovers. Ohio’s first Chopt Creative Salad Co. is almost ready to open its doors at Eton Chagrin Blvd. (28801 Chagrin Blvd.).

The new restaurant will feature Chopt’s full line of fresh salads, warm grain bowls, wraps and signature dressings. Chopt is adored by diners in search of speedy and efficient health-conscious salads and wraps.

“We’re so excited to be entering the Ohio market and bringing Chopt to the Woodmere community,” says Colin McCabe, Chopt Co-Founder. “It’s an amazing opportunity to introduce our love for healthy, and creative meals with a whole new audience. We can’t wait to share what makes Chopt so special with our new neighbors and become a place at Eton Chagrin Blvd. where people can come together over a meal.”

The Eton Chagrin location will include plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. A digital ordering system will make pickup or delivery a breeze.

Stacie Schmidt, VP of Marketing at Stark Enterprises, said recruiting Chopt to Woodmere was a major win for the east-side shopping plaza.

It’s the summer of pho in Cleveland.

Build the Pho has debuted in North Olmsted (400 Great Northern Blvd.) as plans continue to open its third location soon in Ohio City.

As the name suggests, Build the Pho is a build-your-own-bowl-style concept, with diners having numerous options with respect to noodles, broth and meats. Owner Eric Weng says that customers prefer the customization model over having to select from a short roster of predesigned bowls.

“People like the way we do things because we let them order what they want,” he says. “Nobody wants a Happy Meal.”

The broths – beef or vegan – are made in the restaurant each day. Noodle options include rice, wide rice, egg and vermicelli. Diners can add any combination of proteins –including double or triple portions – from a list that includes rare beef, beef brisket, meatballs, beef tendon, beef tripe, sliced chicken, shrimp and tofu. Weng says that a spicy version of the beef broth likely will be added to the menu down the road.

In addition to the noodle soups, the restaurant serves spring and summer rolls, grilled pork buns and grilled steak over rice.

Further expansion is always in the cards, Weng told Scene.

“We want our brand to go big. Either we do it the best way possible or we don’t do it.”

Commons in Westlake

Build the Pho Now Open in North Olmsted

Courtesy Photo

Back to the Heart of It All

By Jeff Niesel

THANKS TO A LITTLE HELP

from WJCU DJ Bill Peters, who has played the band’s music on his Metal on Metal radio show since the group’s early days, the Southern California heavy metal trio Night Demon has a devout following here. Night Demon will return to what it considers its adopted second home on Saturday, Aug. 9, for a show at the Rock Hall. Cleveland was the first city to embrace Night Demon outside of California.

“It’ funny because we first started touring in 2014 and we were on tour with [the metal act] Raven,” says singer-bassist Jarvis Jarvis Leatherby via phone from his California home. “We ended up in Cleveland with three days off, and it was very cold. We didn’t know anybody at that time. We were just sleeping in the van. We were on the verge of freezing to death. We played in Akron and all these people showed up. There were people in the audience singing the words. We were just getting our feet wet. We didn’t know how people knew about us. We just had an EP out. It was only four songs.”

They started talking to people, and they said that Bill Peters played the band on Metal on Metal. Peters was at the show, and someone introduced them to him. “It kind of all kicked off from there,” says Leatherby. “It was like a domino effect.”

The group’s fanbase was strong enough in Northeast Ohio, that the band convinced its record label to let it record a live album in 2017 at the Beachland.

“It was the 35th anniversary of Bill being on the radio,” explains Leatherby. “He was doing the food

drive he does at Christmas. Our label was pushing us to do a live album. When we suggested Cleveland, at first, it was met with ‘no way.’ They wanted us to do it in Germany, where the band is extremely popular. I said, ‘There is something going on in Cleveland. Just give us a shot.’ We didn’t allow people to use their phones at the show. There were close to 800 people at the show. It was awesome. We just had one shot. It was a lot of pressure, but it did extremely well. It was the Top 40 of the German charts. That felt good for us.”

In addition, the band’s Ohiothemed merch uses the Ohio slogan “the heart of it all.”

“That goes back to 2015,” says Leatherby when asked about the shoutout to the state on the band’s merch. “You are always looking for new merch ideas. Our first album had come out, and we were on a headlining tour. We were selling ten times as many tickets in Cleveland as anywhere else. We wanted to do something special for Cleveland. We had the shape of the state on our shirt, and our mascot on it with a beating heart. We made it a couple of times, and the fans really like it.”

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the breakthrough album Curse of the Damned, the band will perform it in its entirety, along with other fan favorites.

“We’re releasing this boxset that has this insane amount of material,” Leatherby says. “We had to open up the archives and go through everything. There were bootleg recordings of live shows, but digging deep into the stuff we had was pretty good. It’s crazy to see how much you’ve grown over the past ten years. I think it’ll be interesting to play the entire record, but the fans have a different relationship. Once you release something like this, it’s no longer yours. It did extremely well and won awards, if that means anything. On the Metal on Metal poll in 2015, we took the top spot. That’s the thing with Cleveland, we’re adopted sons.”

Cleveland metal act Destructor will open the show and perform its classic Maximum Destruction album in its entirety.

“We have known them for a while, and it’s the fortieth anniversary of their album, so the show lined up really well,” says Leatherby.

There will also be special tribute set from cult local act Sacred Few in honor of the group’s frontwoman Sandy Kruger.

“At that first show we played in Akron, there was a woman there named Sandy Kruger and we got to meet her,” says Leatherby. “She was a big part of the metal community. She was in a band in Cleveland that put out one record in the mid-’80s. Our same label also reissued their

record. That created a revamped interest in the band, and she got them back together.”

Night Demon has a festival called Frost and Fire and the group brought Sacred Few out in 2018. Sadly, Kruger passed away a couple of years ago. It sent shockwaves through the scene.

“She was an upbeat person and a good friend,” says Leatherby. “If there was a good metal show in Cleveland, you can guarantee she will be there. It’s left a bit of a hole in the scene. Anytime there is something cool going on, there is this feeling that somebody is missing. I thought there was never a proper sendoff. I contacted her son about doing a tribute and a lot of people have come on board for that.”

In yet another move that will endear it to the Cleveland metal community, the night before the Rock Hall gig, on August 8, Demon will co-host the Metal on Metal radio show with Peters.

“We did that ten years ago in June of 2015 when we played the Agora,” says Leatherby. “That will be a lot of fun. We’ll even play some tracks off the boxset that are not yet available.”

Night Demon, big in California and Cleveland.

Photo by Daniel Strub

Real music in the real world

WED 07/30

Marc Roberge

O.A.R. has always had a knack for crafting catchy, meaningful tunes — songs that stick with you and tend to capture the essence of fun summers along the north shore. Marc Roberge, guitarist and singer, is the man behind many of the most iconic moments in O.A.R. songwriting. Tonight and tomorrow night, he plays solo shows at the Music Box. The concerts start at 8. 1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com.

FRI 08/01

Barenaked Ladies:

Last Summer on Earth Tour 2025

The Canadian pop-rock band brings its annual summer tour back to Blossom. Since Cleveland is close to the group’s Toronto home, the guys have always drawn well on the North Coast. Expect a solid turnout of fans who know all the words to hits such “One Week,” “It’s All Been Done” and “If I Had $100000).” The concert starts at 7 p.m., and Sugar Ray and Fastball open.

1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, livenation.com.

Ramble On

Led by powerhouse singer Alex Nikki, this Led Zeppelin tribute act includes drummer Steve Budgie Werner (Ace Frehley, Leslie West), bassist-keyboardist Felix Hanemann (Zebra) and guitarist Richie Ranno (Starz and Stories). The show starts at 8 p.m. at the Beachland Ballroom. Vanity Crash will open the show with a David Bowie-inspired set. 15711 Waterloo Rd., 216-383-1124, beachlandballroom.com.

Spyro Gyra

Still touring in celebration of its 50th anniversary, this terrific jazz fusion act that formed in Buffalo in the 1970s no longer features the same lineup as it did upon its inception. But with original founding member Jay Beckenstein still leading the group, it still has at least one guy who played on the seminal records from the early days. The group performs tonight at 6:30 at the Kent Stage.

175 E. Main St., Kent, 330-677-5005, kentstage.org.

Wild Rivers

After providing support on two high-profile tours (the group opened for the Chicks in summer 2023 and opened for Noah Kahan during the European leg of his Stick Season tour last year), the Wild Rivers have embarked on a headlining tour. The group, which received a Juno Award nomination for last year’s Never Better, draws from classic singer-songwriters such as Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon. It performs tonight at 7 at Globe Iron.

2325 Elm St., globeironcle.com.

SAT 08/02

An Evening with Vince Gill

Now 68, this terrific country singer-songwriter has had quite a career. In the ‘70s, he joined the rock group Pure Prairie League. In the ‘80s, he launched a successful solo career. And in 2017, he joined the Eagles following the death of founding member Glenn Frey. He performs tonight at 8 at the State Theatre.

1519 Euclid Avenue, 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

The Isley Brothers

The classic soul/R&B act that formed in Cincinnati in the 1950s churned out several big hits in its early days, including “Shout,” “Twist and Shout,” “This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)” and “It’s Your Things.” The veteran ensemble comes to Cain Park in Cleveland Heights tonight. The show begins at 8.

14591 Superior Rd., Cleveland Heights, 216-371-3000, cainpark.com.

The Moody Blues’ John Lodge

Following the success of his Days of Future Passed Tour, Moody Blues singer-bassist John Lodge decided to mix up the set list for the current tour, dubbed the Singer in a Rock and Roll Band Tour. The current trek, which rolls into the Agora Theatre tonight at 6:30, will feature songs from what Lodge calls “the core seven albums” by the Rock Hall Inductees, including Days of Future Passed, Seventh Sojourn and Long Distance Voyager.

5000 Euclid Ave., 216-881-2221, agoracleveland.com.

A Cleveland favorite, Barenaked Ladies return to Blossom. See: Friday, August 1.

Photo Courtesy of Live Nation

SUN 08/03

The Red Clay Strays

The up-and-coming Southern rock act comes to Jacobs Pavilion. The tour supports the band’s latest album, Made By These Moments, a collection of moody tunes that draw equally from Allman Brothers and Drive-By Truckers. In addition, the group will release their first live album, Live at the Ryman, later this month. The band recorded the album last month during a sold-out, three-night headline debut at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium. Tonight’s show starts at 7, and singer-songwriter Wilder Woods opens. 2014 Sycamore St., 216-861-4080, jacobspavilion.com.

TUE 08/05

Nelly with Ja Rule, Eve and Special Guests: Where the Party at Tour

Rap star Nelly had a monster hit in the ‘90s with the infectious “Hot in Here,” a tune that crossed over onto the pop charts. He hasn’t reproduced that magic, but he still has name recognition. He headlines this multi-act bill that also includes Ja Rule and Eve. The concert begins at 8 p.m. at Blossom.

1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, livenation.com.

The Struts

The UK rock band celebrates the 10-year anniversary of Everybody Wants the Struts with this show at House of Blues. Frontman Luke Spiller has the same kind of onstage charisma as the late Freddie Mercury, and the group’s glam-rock sound compares favorably to Queen as well. Doors open at 7 p.m. 308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-2583, houseofblues.com.

THU 08/07

An August Evening with Wilco Prior to starting Wilco in the early ‘90s, singer-songwriter Jeff Tweedy established himself as a musical innovator with Uncle Tupelo, a group that arguably began the alt-country movement. Wilco carried that torch for several years before Tweedy

tweaked the band’s lineup and turned to indie rock. The group rarely comes to Cleveland, but it performs at 8 tonight at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights.

14591 Superior Rd., Cleveland Heights, 216-371-3000, cainpark.com.

FRI 08/08

Reaper on Red

The indie rock band with ties to Northeast Ohio comes to the Beachland Tavern. The band’s Robert Cherry and Carla Cherry lived in Cleveland for many years and regularly gigged around town. They’ve just released their second album, Doom Daze, a collection of postpunk tunes with a Goth-y vibe that compares to acts such as Joy Division and Bauhaus. The show begins at 8 p.m., and Poem Rocket and the Elder Goths open.

15711 Waterloo Rd., 216-383-1124, beachlandballroom.com.

Toto + Men at Work + Christopher Cross

A triple bill of yacht rock superstars rolls into Blossom tonight at 6:45 p.m. as Toto, Men at Work and Christopher Cross team up for this triple bill of smooth grooves that go well with margaritas and other fruity drinks.

1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, livenation.com.

TUE 08/12

Goo Goo Dolls with Dashboard Confessional — Summer Anthem Tour

An enduring alt-rock act out of Buffalo, Goo Goo Dolls return to Blossom with indie rockers Dashboard Confessional. Early on, the Goo Goos shifted from their punk and even metal-ish predilections to deliver anthems such as “Name” and “Iris.” Expect them to stick with the slower stuff tonight. The show starts at 6:30 p.m.

1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, livenation.com.

SAVAGE LOVE

FADING AWAY

by Dan Savage

I’M A CIS BISEXUAL woman in my 30s, married to a man. I am an American and I’ve been living in Europe for the past decade. I’m self-employed, and it’s a pretty lonely existence sometimes. I don’t speak the local language well. It’s a very tight-knit culture, and everybody seems like they’ve had their friend groups since birth. I’ve had a really hard time forming close relationships with people here. ANYWAY. My husband and I tried opening our marriage around 2018 and slept with other people on and off until last year. I don’t feel like the experience was a net positive for me; it really exacerbated my loneliness and anxiety, but we’re monogamous again and our marriage is fine. In the midst of all of this, I met a woman, and we became friends. It came up in conversation that I’ve been to certain nightclubs in Berlin and, after dancing around the topic, we both admitted to being in open relationships. Since then, whenever we hang out, she spends a lot of time talking about her dating life and how great it is, and goes into really explicit detail. I’ve told her that I’m not dating anymore. I’ve cried in front of her, telling her the effect that it all had on my mental health, but it doesn’t seem to stop her from viewing me as her kinky, open friend that she can talk about this stuff with.

I have hardly any friends, so I’d hate to lose her, but I also don’t enjoy her company when it’s so much about her amazing sex life. I get really anxious hearing about other people’s sex lives, which I recognize is a “me” issue. It’s not like I’m her only outlet for sex talk, because she tells me (brags, even) that she can talk very freely about her sex life with other friends, coworkers, and even her siblings. Do I politely decline her invitations to hang out until she gets the point and stops reaching out? Do I tell her directly that listening to her stories puts me on the verge of a panic attack? Do I work harder in therapy?

I Can’t Hear You

Fading away — declining your friend’s invites until she gets the hint — will definitely send a message, ICHY, but it’ll be a vague, self-defeating, and needlessly cruel message.

Zooming out for a second: this woman would have to be dense not to realize you don’t wanna listen to her sex stories. But some people are dense. You met her when you were open, and you cried in front of her when you shared your own story. Someone of reasonable emotional intelligence might think, “Hey, it might be painful for my friend to listen to my stories about KitKatClub when her experiences there were so painful.” But this friend — if she is a friend (more on that in a moment) — might figure you’re okay hearing about her stories since her experiences aren’t the ones that made you cry.

If you haven’t told her that hearing about her sexual adventures dredges up your own painful memories, your friend — if she’s really that dense (and some people really are) — might not know she’s upsetting you. And if she really is that dense, she’s not going to be able to figure out what she did wrong when you ghost her and might obsess over what she did wrong.

Or — hey — maybe she knows hearing about the last four dicks she sucked is making you miserable, and she doesn’t care.

There’s only one way to find out whether your friend is either a well-meaning but clueless dolt who might be capable of a course correction or whether she’s a self-involved asshole who doesn’t care about you: speak the fuck up. If you say something — if you politely ask her to spare you the sex stories — you might save this friendship. If you ghost her instead, you’re definitely going to lose one of the few friends you have. Seeing as you feel isolated, ICHY, it seems to me that you should err on the side of saving this friendship.

If you can’t find the words, ICHY, feel free to copy, paste, and send this to your friend: “I like spending time with you but when the conversation turns to your sex life it makes me feel anxious — not because you’re doing anything wrong but because I’m still processing the fallout from my own experiences with openness, which weren’t great. Remember how I cried? You’ve got lots of other people you can talk to about this stuff — even your siblings — so I want to be the friend you talk with about anything and everything

else. Deal?”

If this woman is an asshole, the next time you get together, she’ll launch into a story about her last visit to KitKatClub, and you can feel free to ghost her. If she’s not an asshole, she’ll talk with you about the shows she’s binging or the museums she visited in Berlin when she wasn’t getting fucked on the dance floor at Berghain, and you can keep hanging out.

I’ve been seeing this boy I really like for six months. I’m writing to you and not some other advice columnist because I don’t want my hangups to screw up the best relationship I’ve ever had. He’s into latex (he owns SO much latex clothing) and loves BDSM. When he has kinky sex with someone, he’s absolutely euphoric afterwards. Nothing we do together makes him feel the way a “play” session with a dominant man makes him feel. He says he enjoys vanilla sex with me, and I shouldn’t think he’s lying about that because he initiates all the time. But he only watches kink porn, never vanilla porn, and it’s hard not to get in my head about it. We’re both gay and in our twenties. He’s a little younger than I am, but he’s way more sexually experienced. He tells me that he’s never met someone in the kink scene he wanted to date (although some kinky men have wanted to date him), and he’s sure he wants a vanilla life partner. How do I know that’s not a lie? How can I be sure he won’t catch feelings for some kinky guy he plays with? I could never do the things he needs because I can’t bear to hurt him (or anyone!), and he says it wouldn’t work with me doing it to him anyway. Tell me why you don’t think he’s lying to me and how I can relax and enjoy this relationship. Tell me it will work out. And please don’t beat up on me, Dan, as I’m not the one who’s into that.

Very Anxious Nerd In Love Lacking Assurances

I won’t beat you up — you’re not into that — but I’m not going to lie to you.

This relationship might not work out. Most relationships don’t. And your boyfriend could be bullshitting you about what he wants. In his kinky heart of hearts, your boyfriend might want a life partner who shares every single one of his kinks. But then he met you, VANILLA, and he really liked you… and he really enjoyed having vanilla sex with

you… and right now, he’s thinking about settling for you.

That sounds awful, I realize, but being “settled for” isn’t a bad thing. No one gets everything they want in a relationship, VANILLA, which means there’s been some compromising—there’s been some settling — on both sides of every successful long-term relationship. There’s no settling down without settling for. So, if giving up on finding a kinky life partner is the price of admission he’s willing to pay to be with you, VANILLA, you can let him pay that price. And sucking up your insecurities — willing yourself to take his “yes” for an answer — will be the price of admission you pay to be with him.

Now for the good news: It’s entirely possible your boyfriend is telling you the truth. Some kinksters don’t like to mix romance and kink. Someone like your boyfriend may need his kinky play partners to be fantasy figures. VANILLA, and while life partners can make good or even great sex partners (and it sounds like you guys have good sex), life partners are not fantasy figures. They’re reality figures. And the fact that your boyfriend is young and experienced argues in favor of him telling you the truth. If he’s played with and dated kinky guys, he’s speaking from experience when he tells you that mixing kink and love doesn’t work for him. So, it’s entirely possible your boyfriend isn’t settling for you at all — well, at least not where his kinks are concerned. And so long as you don’t make the mistake of asking him to choose between your insecurities and his kinks, this could work.

It actually sounds like this relationship is already working, VANILLA, and will keep working — and may even work out — if you don’t let your insecurities screw it up.

Got problems? Yes, you do! Email your question for the column to mailbox@savage.love!

Or record your question for the Savage Lovecast at savage. love/askdan!

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