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$%#%-"%2 s 6/,5-% .O Dedicated to Free Times founder Richard H. Siegel (1935-1993) and Scene founder Richard Kabat Group Publisher Chris Keating Publisher Andrew Zelman
CONTENTS 5PFRONT
Associate Publisher Angela Nagal Editor Vince Grzegorek
Recreational marijuana may be on 2018 ballot, West Side Market parking lot
Editorial Managing Editor Eric Sandy Music Editor Jeff Niesel Senior Writer Sam Allard Staff Writer Brett Zelman Web Editor Laura Morrison Dining Editor Douglas Trattner Stage Editor Christine Howey Visual Arts Writers Dott von Schneider Copy Editor Elaine Cicora Intern Lawrence Neil
changes loom, and more
Feature
17
An argument against luxury seating at the movies
Advertising Senior Multimedia Account Executive John Crobar, Shayne Rose Multimedia Account Executive Kiara Davis Events and Marketing Coordinator Maggie Lilac
Jim Brickman
'ET /UT
All the events you should check out this week
Creative Services Production Manager Steve Miluch Layout Editor/Graphic Designer Christine Hahn Staff Photographer Emanuel Wallace
!RT
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 Digital Operations Coordinator Jaime Monzon www.euclidmediagroup.com
will be at the State Theatre on Saturday
Darius Steward opens up life’s handbags in Baggage Claim at Tregoning & Company
Stage
29
Get your biennial Santa stiffy with the Loush Sisters at Cleveland Pubic, er, Public Theatre
National Advertising Voice Media Group 1-800-278-9866, voicemediagroup.com Cleveland Scene 737 Bolivar Rd, #4100 Cleveland, OH 44115 www.clevescene.com Phone 216-241-7550 Retail & ClassiďŹ ed Fax 216-241-6275 Editoral Fax 216-802-7212 E-mail scene@clevescene.com
Film
31
Known sexual assaulter Woody Allen has made yet another movie
Cleveland Scene Magazine is published every week by Euclid Media Group. VeriďŹ ed Audit Member Cleveland Distribution Scene is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader Copyright The entire contents of Cleveland Scene Magazine are copyright 2017 by Euclid Media Group. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Publisher does not assume any liability for unsolicited manuscripts, materials, or other content. Any submission must include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. All editorial, advertising, and business correspondence should be mailed to the address listed above. Subscriptions $150 (1 yr); $ 80 (6 mos.) Send name, address and zip code with check or money order to the address listed above with the title ‘Attn: Subscription Department’
Dining
33
Cleveland Culinary Launch & Kitchen is set for a major expansion, in space and service
Music
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Lived experience grounds local rapper Kipp Stone’s debut album
3AVAGE ,OVE
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UPFRONT
Photo by Brian Shamblen
RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA IN 2018? ResponsibleOhio team plots ‘free market’ path to ballot
THIS WEEK
A TEAM OF PROSPECTIVE southeast Ohio marijuana investors will aim for a constitutional amendment to be placed before voters in November 2018, which would fully legalize pot across the state. You may remember these folks: Jimmy Gould, Ian James and others ran the 2015 ResponsibleOhio ballot campaign, which ultimately failed by a 64-36 vote margin. The team had invested more than $20 million in that campaign. Now they’re back with an intent to get a “free market adult consumption” legal marijuana measure under way by the end of 2018. The main idea involves a
regulated structure that mirrors Ohio’s medical marijuana law in some ways and Ohio’s alcohol regulations in other ways. Cues will be taken from Colorado, Oregon and other legal marijuana states, as well. Some sense of the proposed ballot language is expected in January, Gould said. You may offer suggestions to the team at ballot@ gal.holdings. Recall that the 2015 ResponsibleOhio measure would have instituted something akin to a monopoly, with 10 named investors locked in as the sole sources of legal marijuana cultivation in Ohio. That arrangement, dubbed a
THIS HOSPITAL ROOM IS MY HOSPITAL ROOM Michael Stanley to undergo quadruple bypass surgery. Fans can look forward to a 2018 double album featuring choice cuts like, “Applesauce of My Eye” and “My Heart (Might Go On).”
“cartel” by many an op-ed writer, was the apparent death knell of that electoral effort. Gould specified this week that dispensary licenses and testing certification would have been a more open process in that measure, but that the “monopoly” conversation prevented any public debate from reaching that point. “We took that,” Gould said this week. “We understood it, we listened to people. We talked to a lot of people. We covered our losses.” The path to the ballot involves obtaining some 305,000 signatures from registered Ohio voters, something that ResponsibleOhio achieved in 2015.
“We are going to do everything within our power, within our money, within our influence — we are going to do everything to make sure that the people of Ohio get what they want, which is to be a part of the process,” he said on Monday. “This isn’t where Issue 3 started. That was then and this is now. Free market. Anybody 21 and over can participate. Home grown? Follow the Oregon model. Four plants per household.” Additional ideas that Gould offered in an aerial view during his Monday remarks included legal hemp cultivation on Ohio farms; local control over the law; no public consumption; proximity limitations
SELF ON A SHELF
ZZZ ...
Agents from the FBI, HUD and IRS raid Cleveland City Hall in ongoing investigation. Sources report that feds arrested a small group of elves that secretly controls Frank Jackson’s every movement and word.
New Browns GM John Dorsey says he wants to “reawaken the sleeping giant.” Reached for comment, the sleeping giant mumbled something into its pillow and slammed its fist onto the snooze button.
QUALITY OF LIFE Fuck the Yankees, today and forever more.
| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
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on marijuana businesses (500 feet from public schools, like the current medical marijuana law); and landlord rights, with regard to home grows. This latest announcement came hot on the heels of news that the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program had awarded its 12 Level-I cultivation licenses, which allow approved companies around the state to grow cannabis in facilities of up to 25,000 square feet. Gould and James, who had applied for a license in southeast Ohio under the name CannAscend, did not score high enough for a license. In his Monday press conference, Gould said that the state had signalled in some way that CannAscend held good standing for a cultivation license. “When they announced the licenses, literally that day I was stunned,â€? he said. “I was stunned of the attitude that was conveyed in not getting it. There was dead silence — like an eerie silence — that was kind of following around everything.â€? Gould led a charge of threatening legal action after the licenses were awarded, telling the public that his team has found a concerning “patternâ€? in how the licenses were awarded. “When we announce what that pattern is, it’s going to stun you,â€? he said on Monday. In a press release last week, he laid out 10 speciďŹ c questions about how licenses were awarded. “One award winner has numerous fatal aws in their application,â€? he wrote, “including failures to submit required forms, failure to obtain criminal background checks for persons who may signiďŹ cantly inuence or control the activities of the cultivator, and so forth. “We plan to challenge the entire process and seek a complete review of all scores and re-assessment by new graders, with proper oversight,â€? he wrote, “because this process is severely broken.â€? No civil complaints or legal proceedings have been ďŹ led as of Dec. 11. The state has not formally responded to Gould’s claims, though state auditor Dave Yost has called for an independent investigation into the process. Yost’s statement revolved around the revelation that one of the scorers of the applications had pleaded guilty to “manufacturing, delivering and possessing drugs, with intent to manufacture or deliverâ€? in 2005 in Pennsylvania.
Observers throughout the state called into question the integrity of the scoring process. “This is an epic fail,â€? Yost told WKSU last week. “I am outraged.â€? Indeed, the state has yet to conďŹ rm whether background checks were done on any of the individuals who assisted in scoring the license applications. Gould and James had teased the idea of a free-market recreational marijuana ballot initiative in early 2016, shortly after the failed ResponsibleOhio bid. Now, though, with the medical marijuana law trundling along, Gould is prepared to return to voters. The campaign began this week. And on a semantic endnote, Gould offered this: “We don’t call it recreational. That’s a term
DIGIT WIDGET 72,814 Deer killed during Ohio’s weeklong gun-hunting season, about 6,000 more than last year. Two more days of deer gun season await on Dec. 16 and 17.
30 Areas of Cleveland that qualify as a food desert , deďŹ ned as 30 percent of the population living below 200 percent of the poverty line in areas where the nearest store offering healthy foods is more than a half-mile away.
$10 MILLION Price tag for the 20 new “MetroHealth Line� buses that debuted last week along the West 25th Street corridor. MetroHealth will pay RTA $4 million over 25 years for naming rights.
52.3 Students per 100 that the Maple Heights school district suspended last year, the highest rate in Cuyahoga County. Cleveland schools suspended 28 students per 100.
the mediauses. We call it adult consumption.� — Eric Sandy
WHAT ABOUT GUN OWNERSHIP FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA USERS? Well, while we’re on the subject, the federal-state interface on the marijuana and gun rights issues is presenting a bit of confusion for pot patients around the U.S. We’ve noticed some debate in Hawaii and elsewhere over whether medical marijuana users may be allowed to own ďŹ rearms. In short, the answer is unclear; and Ohio, with its budding medical marijuana law, is no different. On the federal level, marijuana remains an illegal Schedule-I narcotic, of course, and federal law prohibits any “unlawful userâ€? or addict of any controlled substance from possessing or selling ďŹ rearms or ammunition. (This law was initially passed as part of the Gun Control Act of 1968.) But state laws are changing rapidly, and it’s become a very gray area for those interested in civil liberties. A 2011 memo from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives clariďŹ ed the federal
stance. A Nevada woman pushed back on the policy and took her arguments to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in 2016 that the federal stance does not violate the Second Amendment. (Read the memo at clevescene.com.) Ohio lawmakers expect the medical marijuana program to be fully operational by September 2018. Estimates hover around 24 percent of the state’s adult population that will be eligible for a medical marijuana card. Hawaii’s ongoing debate may be an example. “This is a new area of concern for cities across the country, and we in Honolulu want to develop a policy that’s legally sound and serves our community,� Honolulu police chief Susan Ballard said in a news release. “Formulating the policy will take time, but we want to do it right.� — Sandy
NOACA ANNOUNCES MULTIMILLION DOLLAR FUNDING FOR DEDICATED BIKE PROJECTS In news you may have missed from late last week, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, a planning agency that delves out state and federal funding for
regional transportation projects, announced major, multimilliondollar funding for two dedicated, protected bike lanes. It’s yet another recent development giving hope to bike and transit advocates that Cleveland, whose long and storied history of ignoring or otherwise screwing up bike infrastructure has long been derided, might actually be making serious progress. The details: $8.3 million for the ďŹ rst leg of a dedicated bike lane running down Superior Avenue from Public Square all the way to East 55th Street. The “Midwayâ€? would eventually constitute a 50-mile series of bike-only pathways down the
middle of some of Cleveland’s most spacious streets. Construction is planned to begin in 2020. There is also $6.1 million for the Lorain Avenue Cycle Track, running along Lorain Avenue between West 20th and West 45th streets on the north side, and then switching to the southern side of the street between West 45th and West 65th. Construction there is expected to begin in 2022. Bike Cleveland and other groups have long sought dedicated bike lanes in the city, something Cleveland has been admittedly slow in adopting. While the NOACA funds won’t cover the full
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costs of the projects, it’s a major step that’s been widely celebrated and welcomed, especially in the broader context of where NOACA is allocating funds. The agency has put more focus on equitable planning for non-car households: $33.5 million of this round’s $47 million total is earmarked for projects oriented toward transit, bikes and pedestrians. “We are just starting to catch up now,” councilman Matt Zone told the Plain Dealer. “I appreciate the urgency that’s starting to happen with thought leaders like [NOACA director] Grace Gallucci and NOACA. Even Mayor Jackson is beginning to come around.” — Vince Grzegorek
Even before the lease ended, tenants were frustrated by how cars tied up the spaces. Browns game shuttle services left cars sitting in the lot for hours; brunches would turn into weekend bar-hopping, which led to cars being left overnight. “Right now you could park your car on [West] 25th on Friday at 6 p.m.,” McNulty told Scene, “and not pick it up until Monday at 8 a.m. and you’d be fine.” With no plans to introduce a parking garage in Ohio City, the expanded parking lot plans were seen by the city as an amelioration of neighborhood growing pains. Public transit isn’t easing those pains as much as one might like; last year saw a record low ridership rate on the RTA, which has a Red Line stop across the street from the market. — Sandy
WEST SIDE MARKET PARKING LOT CHANGES SHOW SHIFTING FOCUS AT CITY HALL
OHIO COPS FOR KIDS ‘CHARITY’ ACCUSED OF MULTI-MILLIONDOLLAR FRAUD SCHEME
The new payment structure at the West Side Market parking lot hasn’t yet come online, but the equipment was recently installed. The plan: Anyone parking between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. will receive 90 minutes free upfront. Beyond that, drivers will pay $1 per hour with a max of $10 per day. The new fee structure will begin on or around Jan. 1, according to those close to the operation. No official date has been set. “There will be free parking and available spaces for market shoppers,” West Side Market Tenants Association president Ed Meister tells Scene. “That’s going to help us quite a bit, and that’s going to ensure that we have adequate parking for market customers.” But while the 90 minutes of free parking will certainly help, the overall payment structure is indicative of broader shifts in Ohio City and at City Hall. The city has owned the triangular parking lot behind the West Side Market for decades. And for decades it leased the lot to the market’s tenants association at no charge. The city let the lease expire in August 2014, teeing up the three-year march of renovation. In those ensuing years, market tenants have voiced some opposition to the move — both to the lease termination and to the notion that a fee scale will be introduced. It’s a long-running point of contention, as more businesses move into Ohio City and, with them, more customers with cars.
Alleging that the charitable organization Ohio Cops for Kids spent only 2 percent of its donations on actual charity, attorney general Mike DeWine has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to shut down the operation. The lawsuit argues that Cops for Kids organizers Thomas Duffy and Charles Hitzel — and their for-profit charity solicitor, Telcom Enterprises — used contractual language to pocket almost all of the $4.2 million in donations received from 2005 to 2015. “We believe Cops for Kids is a sham operation that has defrauded Ohioans out of millions of dollars while performing almost no legitimate charitable work,” DeWine said in a public statement. All told, the group spent just $73,840 on charitable purposes in that 10-year period, according to state investigators. Ohio Cops for Kids is a supposed youth charity based in Ashtabula. The group purports to fund law enforcement education programming and “activities and events that involve kids of all ages.” In reality, DeWine’s office alleges, the group has basically just been sending boxes of teddy bears to police departments. The millions of dollars in financial donations, which came from countless Ohioans over the years, went to the group’s leaders, investigators claim. “There are plenty of children’s and law enforcement groups that could use support, so to run this kind of scheme is shameful,” DeWine said in public statements.
UPFRONT
CHOOSE SUPERIOR MUSIC EDUCATION
Photo by Rick Dikeman
Ohio Cops for Kids claims to be “Ohio’s Number 1 Children’s Charity!” on its Facebook page. — Sandy
DEWINE INSERTS HIMSELF INTO COLUMBUS CREW STADIUM KERFUFFLE WITH “ART MODELL LAW” Ohio attorney general Mike DeWine sent a letter to Columbus Crew owner Anthony Precourt, notifying him that the state may take legal action should he follow through with his threats to move the Major League Soccer club to Austin, Texas, if the team doesn’t get a new stadium. The legal basis here dates back to Art Modell, patron saint of shitty professional sports teams’ owners. After Modell absconded to Baltimore with the Browns, Ohio passed a law meant to protect cities who funnel tax money to, and otherwise financially support, stadiums or arenas used by professional sports teams. The nitty gritty of Ohio Revised Code 9.67, passed in 1996 says an owner must have permission from the locality to move, or give six months’ notice and a chance for the city or local investors to buy the team. “Ohioans are very loyal fans who passionately support our teams and take great civic pride in their accomplishments,” DeWine’s letter reads. “Our teams are a part of our communities. That is why when ownership moved the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore in 1995, the Ohio General Assembly took action and passed a law to protect Ohio and its communities when they provide tax-funded support for professional teams’ stadiums. As a United States Senator, I, along with Senator
John Glenn and Congressman Louis Stokes, introduced similar legislation in Congress. “The Ohio Attorney General’s Office has reviewed the law passed after the Browns’ move. We believe the evidence will show that this law would apply to the Columbus Crew and Mapfre Stadium. As Attorney General, should ownership of the Columbus Crew initiate a move of the team without complying with Ohio law, I am prepared to take the necessary legal action under this law to protect the interests of the State of Ohio and the central Ohio communities which have all invested to make the Columbus Crew a proud part of our Ohio sports tradition and help Mapfre Stadium earn its reputation as ‘Fortress Columbus.’” Rep. Mike Duffey of Worthington had asked the Ohio AG to review the law, which has never yet been tested, and its possible application with regard to the Crew. There’s certainly debate about its language and what qualifies as “financial assistance.” In this case, Duffey and Dewine believe the dots connect: Mapfre’s acreage is tax exempt, and PSV leases the land for parking lots, which recently enjoyed a multimillion-dollar renovation at taxpayer expense, at below-market rates. Precourt and Precourt Sports Venture have been mum on the development other than acknowledging its existence. Meanwhile, they’ve debuted new renderings for a proposed $200 million stadium in Austin, and talks between Columbus, the MLS, and Precourt have essentially come to a halt. — Grzegorek
scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene
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FEATURE
T N E D A DEC AND : D E V A R DEP ment against
An argu g at n i t a e s y luxur ies v o m e h t ard By Sam All
THE LUXURY LOUNGE CHAIR IS DECADENT AND DEPRAVED The increasingly popular luxury reclining chair is a scourge on the moviegoing experience. Featuring heated seats, padded footrests and leather upholstery, these reservable, oversized, electric-powered armchairs have been installed incrementally at the country’s major movie theater chains. In Greater Cleveland, one can “kick back” and “immerse [oneself]” in them at Regal Entertainment Group’s Crocker Park and Willoughby Commons, AMC Entertainment Inc.’s Westwood Town Center and Ridge Park Square, and Cinemark Theatres’ Valley View and Strongsville at Southpark.
Luxury reclining seats have changed the way we see movies in three important ways: 1) They complicate the ticketing process. 2) They drastically reduce auditorium capacity. And 3) They represent a new hierarchy of values where individual comfort is prioritized at the expense of movies themselves, not to mention the enjoyment of communal viewing. This is all bad.
THE LUXURY LOUNGE CHAIR COMPLICATES THE TICKETING PROCESS The midnight premiere of Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince, in July 2009, remains the single greatest moviegoing experience of my life. It
was also the most crowded. I arrived at Valley View with my mom and two sisters when the sun was still high in the sky, and we joined a line that snaked from one of several visible nuclei within the theater out into the parking lot. Everywhere, fans were donned in elaborate Harry Potter costumery. Though this was before cosplay took off in the mainstream, watching robed adults dueling with plastic wands occasioned no discomfort or weirdness. That sort of behavior was customary at the late-night screenings. This was pre-2014, before movie studios slackened their interpretation of the weekend gross, and “midnight premieres,” which were still being marketed to and
attended by film franchises’ most ardent fan bases, actually referred to premieres at midnight. The excitement of seeing a long-awaited release — in Half-Blood Prince’s case, one that had been twice delayed already — was rarefied by the hour. That night, in an act of what still seems to me like surrender, the Valley View management permitted at least one auditorium capacity’s worth of guests into their seats several hours before showtime to reduce the swelling of the crowd outside. My family was among this cohort. We thundered like escaped cattle along the speckled carpet and up the auditorium’s non-uniform steps to claim our chosen seats. I was a young, spry college boy at | clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
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FEATURE the time, and managed to plant a ag at our desired location ďŹ rst: prime middle seats in a central row. All around us, hundreds of other salivating Harry Potter diehards were doing the same, inging purses and articles of clothing to save seats for loved ones further back in the herd. This was all exhilarating and wonderful and totally in keeping with the evening’s giddy electricity. But at the major multiplexes, this doesn’t happen anymore, even for Thursday night “premieres.â€? That’s because of luxury seats, and an element that underpins the secondmost common argument — in my view, the strongest argument — in their favor: the fact that they are reservable. Online, one can purchase tickets an hour or a week in advance and avoid the clamor of the box ofďŹ ce. This is a convenience that redounds to the beneďŹ t of both customers and theater staff. Customers obviously don’t have to bother with long lines because the reservations are no longer general admission: SpeciďŹ c
seats are attached. Patrons can arrive 30 seconds before showtime and stroll to the seats they handselected days earlier, seats that, in years’ past, they might’ve had to arrive 30 minutes or more beforehand to snag. The convenience is most pronounced at blockbusters on opening weekends, which is when the vast majority of Americans go to the movies. The online reservations are also beneďŹ cial for theater staff. Even though major openings are still frenzied and anarchic, particularly for releases that rise to the level of cultural events, like 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, there’s less pressure to marshal ungainly lines and process patrons at the ticket boxes. But in practice, the supposed customer convenience of online reservations is undercut by a host of impractical ramiďŹ cations. For one thing, many people who go to the movies enjoy doing so in groups. And unless you are in a ďŹ nancial position to buy tickets for your entire group (if you are a parent, say, buying tickets for yourself and your kids), the buying experience is a humongous pain in the ass. If you’re planning to see The Last
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Jedi, which opens Friday, with two adult friends, and you all intend to pay for your own ticket, and you’re of the school where sitting by your friends is desirable — which I’ll assume you are, because otherwise why are you even going together? — you’ll have to simultaneously text or chat with your companions as you navigate the online steps. Like other sorts of negotiations pertaining to logistics, this is maddening and laborious. “Row D or row E, guys? Guys? Are we okay with row D? Or actually, would we prefer the middle of F? The D seats are kind of off to the side? Guys?â€? But you’ve got to do it, because if you don’t all buy your tickets at the same time, (if one of your friends is a routine procrastinator, say) you simply won’t be able to sit next to each other. For major premieres, these theaters ďŹ ll up quick. “But that’s what Venmo is for,â€? many of you will rejoin triumphantly. Why not just have one person buy the tickets and get reimbursed? To that I say: Be my guest. But note that primetime movies ain’t chump change these days, and if you’ve got a friend who is not only a routine procrastinator but who
also routinely “forgetsâ€? to Venmo you back, or who says things like, “I’ll pick up the popcorn,â€? and you get the sneaking suspicion that he means, “I’ll pick up the popcorn in lieu of paying you back for the ticket,â€? boy, does it get dicey in a hurry. These inconveniences are often almost unmentionably minor. I attended It on the Sunday of its opening weekend in September with a group of friends who changed their minds about the conďŹ guration of their seating arrangement after I’d reserved my ticket. This was by no means an insurmountable issue, but it wasn’t ideal. I almost certainly would’ve moved to the other end of the conďŹ guration if given the opportunity. But once you purchase your seat (and I’ll trust it goes without saying that I resent the online surcharge), you’re stuck there. This precludes the possibility of determining where you’d like to sit, and amending your determinations, once you’re inside the auditorium. I can’t be alone on this. Everyone has seating preferences, of course — I myself prefer to sit closer to the screen than the average moviegoer — and those preferences are easy
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enough to adhere to when buying tickets online. But every venue is different. Certain screens are angled ever so slightly, such that a seat or two to the left or right might present a better vantage. Other obvious factors come into play as well. Sometimes, after plopping down, we realize that we’re a tad too close to the screen and would prefer not to strain our necks so much. Sometimes we find ourselves in the code-red position of being directly behind texting teens whose screens glow and psychedelically pulse through the previews, and we want those phones out of our sightlines pronto. Sometimes, we are joined by a late-arriving additional guest — though spontaneous last-minute invitations are now history — and we’d like to shift our grouping down a few seats to retain a central position. Again, these are all small adjustments, but they are also totally standard. And they are no longer possible. All of which, it has been argued to me, is small potatoes. People have to deal with suboptimal seats all the time, my friends advise, so quit whining. (Virtually everyone I’ve spoken to about these matters is enthusiastically pro luxury seating, by the way.) But it’s just a fact that not everyone is on the same page with the new model. Many moviegoers continue to make the minor seating adjustments mentioned above in spite of their reservations. And while I personally regard with distaste the visual sensation of entering an auditorium and gazing upon rows of recumbent adults, most of whom are scrolling through social media feeds with the despondent glaze of dialysis patients in Hour 4, what’s even more distasteful is the prospect of confronting one of these recumbents and having to go through the excruciatingly awkward, public process of comparing tickets in low light — which, good luck even finding your ticket, now that it’s wintertime and there are about 18 pockets it might’ve gotten into. And then, when the recumbents refuse to move or reciprocally fish for their ticket (some folks being pretty militant and territorial despite being in the wrong), trying to weigh whether or not it’s worth tracking down a flashlight-toting theater manager and making a bit of a scene, or just shrugging your shoulders and sitting someplace else, someplace unwanted, so that the chances of your occupying someone else’s reserved seat is as remote as possible. This is a nightmare.
Dear friends of mine have argued that these confrontations, which (because they don’t go to the movies as often as I do) they regard as mostly theoretical, beat the abhorred, if universal, practice of “seat-saving.” They know that my revulsion for seat-saving (and line-jumping) is deep and inbred, but I have to say I prefer my quiet contempt for seat-savers to these new disputes. Only on very rare occasions does seat-saving malcontentment lead to verbal argument. Everyone agrees that people who save seats ought to be banished to North Korea, but everyone also agrees (with the exception of my dad, for whom seatsaving is as flagrant a violation of the social contract as tax evasion) that saved seats ought to be honored. This is because we’ve all done it before ourselves, malcontentment notwithstanding. I admit that at the premiere of Half-Blood Prince, my sister and I actually locked arms, protecting a seat between us for our little brother, who was hauling ass from a summer musical rehearsal and was still 30 minutes out. All of the logistical headaches inherent in the current ticketing model are exacerbated by the second problem.
THE LUXURY LOUNGE CHAIR HAS DRASTICALLY REDUCED AUDITORIUM CAPACITY In the summer of 2015, on a free weekend evening, I drove by my lonesome to Valley View to see Straight Outta Compton, which I was eager to catch in its second weekend despite early mixed reviews. I made no reservation. To my surprise, the showing that I planned to attend (probably 7:00 or 7:30 p.m.) was sold out. Standing at the kiosk, I observed, with even greater surprise, that every showing for that evening was sold out as well. The movie had performed fairly well at the box office — in its second weekend, the film grossed a respectable $26.4 million, good for the top spot on the charts — but not that well. This was by no means sell-out material. Dismayed, and having already seen Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, I went home. I recently told this story to a friend, who conveyed a similar experience he had last year, also at Valley View, with the Oscarnominated Fences, based on the play by August Wilson. Not only was the showtime that he planned to attend sold out; so, too, were showtimes later in the evening. This was Fences, a film that never | clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
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FEATURE eclipsed the No. 6 spot on box-office charts during its theatrical run, overshadowed by the likes of Rogue One, Sing, Moana and, eventually, Hidden Figures. Maybe this is smart economics from the theaters’ perspective. Maybe they have nailed a supply/ demand sweet spot, the goal of which is to generate as few empty seats as possible. But these movies just shouldn’t be selling out. It’d be like planning to attend a Wednesday night Indians-White Sox game, in April, with Josh Tomlin on the mound, and finding no tickets available. It’s not because these films don’t deserve bigger audiences. They often do. But that’s why luxury seating, and the resulting reduction in auditorium capacity, is a problem. The same factor which is making non-blockbusters sell out when they shouldn’t is eliminating nonblockbusters from the lineup when blockbusters come to town. Because movie theaters make their money on refreshments (which are fiendishly consumed by early-
arriving patrons at hotly anticipated releases); and because movie theaters have every right to maximize their profits by maximizing crowd size on the weekends of hotly anticipated releases; and because, thanks to oversized luxury reclining chairs, auditoriums now seat roughly half as many asses as they used to, theaters must now devote twice as many screens to showing hotly anticipated films. Check your local listings this weekend. Count how many screens the likes of Crocker Park, Ridge Park Square and Valley View devote to The Last Jedi. You’ll notice that, to make room for the bigmoney premieres, indie films and middling performers get sacrificed. In extreme cases, everything else gets sacrificed. Maybe Lady Bird and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri and Roman J. Israel Esquire will share a single screen at these venues this weekend. Or maybe they’ll disappear entirely. Beyond the fact that having more than one option at a multiplex is preferable from a consumer’s perspective, the continual presence of many and diverse voices enhances the vibrancy of the art form. If we’re serious as consumers and advocates
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THE LUXURY LOUNGE CHAIR REPRESENTS A NEW HIERARCHY OF VALUES WHERE “COMFORT” IS PRIORITIZED AT THE EXPENSE OF MOVIES THEMSELVES, NOT TO MENTION THE ENJOYMENT OF COMMUNAL VIEWING My argument’s final tentpole is perhaps the least stable. Or, in any case, it’s the one on which I’ve received the most pushback from
friends. (Recall that just about everyone I’ve talked to about this tells me I’m smoking something.) But it’s the crux of my personal objection. It is the idea — the fear, really — that the reclining luxury lounge chair may be too comfortable. I first encountered this fear at a press screening for 2016’s Arrival, which would become my favorite film of the year. Viewed on Valley View’s XD screen, the experience was marvelous, breathtaking even. But it was sullied by the fact that, two seats over, another local film critic was audibly snoring, conked out in the warm and cozy comfort of his recliner. Above, I mentioned the sensation of entering an auditorium and observing rows of recumbent adults, who are typically not only thumbing their mobile devices, but also mindlessly ingesting the nachos or popcorn atop their bellies. (Note: I do this too.) It’s the closest approximation of the bloated Buy N Large consumers of Pixar’s Wall-E that America has yet produced, and that’s a comparison we should all regard with real disquiet, if not horror. Nevertheless, far and away the most popular argument I hear in
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about supporting an environment where diverse voices can thrive in the film industry, we must choose to hold studios accountable. With our ticket-buying habits, we can help send the message that women and people of color need to be represented on both sides of the camera in major blockbusters. And 2017’s Wonder Woman, directed by Patty Jenkins; 2018’s Black Panther, directed by Ryan Coogler; and A Wrinkle in Time, directed by her majesty Ava DuVernay, are striking examples of a positive trend. But it also means supporting films at lower levels. Cinema, like the United States itself, has a shrinking middle class, and luxury seating may accelerate its demise.
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favor of the reclining seats is that they are really comfortable. They are, I’m told, super comfortable. They are plush. They are deluxe. They are exactly what they purport to be: luxurious. Here, for example, is how the major chains have recently marketed these new seating options. From AMC: “The power to relax is in your hands. Seat warmers make it cozy, AMC makes comfort easy! Take your movie experience to the max when you tilt back & sink in to the comfort now reclining near you!” From Regal: “Kick back and enjoy Regal King Size Recliners at select movie theatre locations. These luxurious recliners are cozy, comfortable and spacious, adjustable to multiple positions and include padded footrests. Regal guests can rest and relax in these movie theatre recliners, becoming further immersed in the movie while experiencing this luxury environment.” The seats are supposed to help us “kick back,” “sink in,” “rest and relax.” In short, they facilitate our ability, and encourage our proclivity, to lounge. I agree with my friends who insist that these seats provide unprecedented comfort. I just don’t feel that’s a 100-percent positive thing (especially when seats at the major chains were already pretty daggone comfortable). When I go to the movies, lounging is not at all what I’m trying to do. I note without irony or cheek that we describe ourselves in states of eagerness as being “on the edge of our seats.” That’s because when we’re excited about experiencing something, we incline toward that experience. We look forward to it. And I don’t know about you, but accidentally falling asleep in a “luxury environment” is not how I “further immerse myself” in a movie. In fact, it’s the opposite. It’s how I further immerse myself in a chair. I think this is why I have no bones whatsoever — yet! — about technological enhancements to theater screens: 3-D, IMAX, trillion-color XD. Bring ’em on. Those advances seemed designed to improve movies themselves. Not so with luxury seating. Even if they’re not designed specifically for this purpose, luxury reclining seating makes it easier to ignore the movie. Among other things, they make it easier to keep social media browsing discreet, and they make it easier to snooze. (I myself drunkenly snoozed through a late-night screening of 2015’s Ant-Man at
Ridge Park Square, which I’m not proud of.) They also make it much harder to quickly jet to the bathroom. You find yourself trying, and usually erring, to straighten your seat with the confusing buttons and then waiting as the slow electric whir returns you to an upright position. Most distressingly of all, the seats have a profound atomizing effect. Due to their expansive size, and the correlative growth of row width to allow for reclining, one never has the sense, anymore, of being in a really crowded theater. It sometimes feels like you’re all alone. And if going to see Fences is like a midweek baseball game in April, going to see The Last Jedi should be like the World Series. I’ll submit the fact that extraordinarily fun, competitive regular-season sporting events are described as having a “playoff atmosphere,” an atmosphere that generally connotes a higher level of competition — which makes for higher-quality viewing — and loud, engaged crowds. A playoff atmosphere is never a bad thing. I need not specify that people spend inordinate amounts of money on tickets to playoff games. But it seems pertinent to ask why on earth they do so. Is it for the luxury of avoiding a long line and sitting in a comfortable seat where it’s easy to tune out one’s surroundings? Certainly not. Those tickets are so expensive because of economics, because so many people want them. And being part of a crowd, an engaged and exuberant and exclusive one, is what makes playoff games so thrilling. I submit energetically that experiencing something joyful — or funny, or scary, or fantastical — in communion with others is a rare and wonderful thing, and that the communion itself heightens the experience. This is why I cherish so many of my moviegoing memories over the years. And from that rich pool of memories, not a single one concerns the upholstery or cushioning of the chairs I sat in. The communion, with both my family and with total strangers, was certainly what made Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince so special. I remember vividly clutching my sister’s hand as the iconic WB materialized out of the darkness on screen, and the auditorium, altogether, inhaled.
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| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
GET OUT
everything you should do this week Photo by Emanuel Wallace
WED
reflux. Philip Grecian is listed as the playwright, but everyone understands that the bulk of insights and telling detail comes from the mind of Jean Shepherd, who wrote the original story, co-authored the movie, and narrated the flick in his distinctive, triple-wry voice. The Cleveland Play House’s production of Story rides a two-hour wave of intricate details to unerringly establish the period and to help even the youngest patrons make the leap back to a time before televisions were omnipresent and cowboy hero Red Ryder was king of the wireless. See it tonight at 7:30 at the Allen Theatre. Performances continue through Dec. 23. Tickets are $25 to $110. (Howey) 1407 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
12/13
COMEDY
Aaron Kleiber Voted class clown in high school, comedian Aaron Kleiber has built up quite the resume. He received some terrific exposure when he embarked on the #Deathsquad Tour with Doug Benson, Tom Segura, Tony Hinchcliffe and Brian Redban, and he’s appeared on the very funny podcast Doug Loves Movies with Doug Benson. An alum of Chicago’s Second City, Kleiber recently served as standup director for the Pittsburgh Comedy Festival. A frenetic comic, he likes to joke about personal things such as his marriage and kids. Tonight’s performance begins at 8 at Hilarities. Tickets are $13 to $18. (Jeff Niesel) 2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com. THEATER
Macbeth In their final MFA show, the 2018 class of the acting program at Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Play House presents Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a play about a powerhungry Scottish general. Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30 at the Helen Rosenfeld Lewis Bialosky Lab Theatre, where performances continue through Saturday. Tickets are $10 to $15. (Niesel) 1407 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org. THEATER
On Your Feet Directed by Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots) and featuring choreography by Olivier Award winner Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys), the musical On Your Feet tells the story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan’s journey to America to become pop music sensations. Tonight’s show takes place at 7:30 at Connor Palace; performances continue through Dec. 23. Tickets are $29 to $109. (Niesel) 1615 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
Scene’s FLAVOR event returns to the Crawford Auto-Aviation museum. See: Thursday. MUSIC
it on National Public Radio back in the day. Since then, it has been staged locally at many venues featuring various actors. Tonight’s performance takes place at 8 at the Outcault Theatre, where performances continue through Sunday. Tickets are $32.50. (Christine Howey) 1407 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
THU
12/14
COMEDY
Josh Blue Winner of the 2006 edition of Last Comic Standing, comedian Josh Blue received rave reviews for his 2011 Comedy Central special. Recently, Blue, who has cerebral palsy and often references that in his routines, debuted the one-hour Showtime special, Sticky Change. Blue, who likes to joke that he’s a “white African-American” because he was born in Africa, performs at 8 tonight at Hilarities, where he has shows scheduled through Saturday. Tickets start at $23. (Niesel) 2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com. SPORTS
THEATER
The Santaland Diaries The Santaland Diaries returns to Playhouse Square in a production by Cleveland Public Theatre. Now a staple of Christmas in Cleveland, this onehour memoir by gay humorist David Sedaris, relating his incarceration (er, employment) as an elf in Macy’s Santa Village, was a huge hit when he read
Cavs vs. Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers, one of the best franchises in the NBA, have spent the past few years rebuilding in the wake of Kobe Bryant’s retirement. The team is still rebuilding, though it has one of the most promising rookies, guard Lonzo Ball, playing for the team this year. The Lakers have lost more games than they’ve won this year so
expect the Cavs to take home a win tonight when the two teams play at 8 at Quicken Loans Arena. Tickets start at $23. (Niesel) 1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, theqarena.com. THEATER
A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens was a hell of a writer, but he could be a tad verbose. So it’s convenient that there have been so many great stage and screen versions of his classic ghost story. One of them — required viewing for anyone with a Netflix membership — is the 1951 movie starring Alastair Sim as a Scrooge for all eternity. And the other is this Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival production, which never fails to engage and delight. Framed cozily as a story within a story in this Gerald Freedman adaptation, the production really comes alive once the ghost of Jacob Marley appears, dragging his chains and creaking eerily with every movement. This annual tribute to knee-jerk liberal sentiments, like compassion for the downtrodden, is always a must-see, whether you’ve seen it before or not. Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30 at the Ohio Theatre. Tickets are $28 to $75. Performances continue through Dec. 23. (Howey) 1501 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org. THEATER
A Christmas Story A Christmas Story, a near-genius piece of American reminiscence, is so period-perfect and charming that the squishy sentimentality (of which there is plenty) never leads to saccharine
Cleveland Orchestra Christmas Concert The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus celebrate the holidays with their annual series of Christmas concerts at Severance Hall. You’ll find sing-alongs, guest choruses and a “surprise visitor” as the orchestra teams up with the Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus, the Cleveland State University Chorale and the College of Wooster Chorus for these seasonal performances. Tonight’s concert, the first in this year’s series of 10, begins at 7:30; the Cleveland State University Chorale joins the orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, for the performance. Consult the website for ticket prices. (Niesel) 11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com. COMEDY
DeRay Davis Comedian-turned-movie-star DeRay Davis has been a regular on the standup circuit for a while, so it isn’t surprising to see that his most recent standup special includes a clip showing his well-honed ability to completely dismantle a heckler. Between bits from his attitude-laced routine, which touches on everything from rappers with AIDS to the perks of being a Hollywood actor, Davis shows that his quick wit comes naturally as he thinks of insults on the fly. Though one hopes he won’t have to deal with such a situation when he comes to the Improv tonight, his ability to talk down a rude audience member could make for a truly memorable show. He performs tonight at 8 at the Improv, where he has shows scheduled | clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
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GET OUT through Sunday. Tickets are $30 to $35. (Jacob DeSmit) 1148 Main Ave., 216-696-IMPROV, clevelandimprov.com. SCENE EVENT
Flavor Local culinary artists from restaurants around the city will participate in Flavor, Scenee’s annual local food event. This year’s food-and-drink fest takes place at 7 tonight at the Crawford Auto
Aviation Museum, and features dishes from more than 40 Cleveland-area restaurants. Top chefs from around the city will compete in the Iron Fork Competition. Each chef will have 30 minutes to cook up a unique dish and impress a trio of local celebrity judges. Select beer, wine and cocktails will be available, and there will be live music as well. Admission is $40 in advance or $55 at the door, and includes six drink tickets and unlimited food sampling. The event will benefit the non-profit Kids Kicking Cancer. Tickets are available on the website, below. (Niesel) 10825 East Blvd., 888-377-4510, sceneflavor.com.
MUSIC
Sing! An Irish Christmas Ireland’s Keith and Kristyn Getty have written many a holiday hymn and carol; they’ll be on hand tonight for Sing! An Irish Christmas, which takes place at 8 p.m. at the State Theatre. They’ll play Celtic, bluegrass, Americana and classical tunes with a “special guest.” There’ll be dance and choral sounds of the season as well.Tickets are $35 to $105. (Niesel) 1519 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
FRI
12/15
ART
78th Street Studios Third Friday Art Walk Stop by SmArt Space, on the ramp level of the 78th Street Studios, for the Third Friday Art Walk that takes place today between 5 and 9:30 p.m. More than 50 studios and galleries will participate in this popular indoor art walk; be sure to check out spots like the Derek Hess Gallery, Tregoning & Company, and Hilary Gent Studio. Needless to say, this is a fine opportunity to finish up that holiday shopping. (Niesel) 1300 West 78th St., 78thstreetstudios.com. FOOD
Holiday Feast with the Chef Tonight at 6:30 at Music Box Supper Club, Chef Dennis will prepare a special holiday feast that’ll enable him to show off his culinary skills. The menu includes a five-course dinner and festive cocktails. A ticket to the dinner includes free admission to the concert from FM Project, a local Steely Dan tribute band. Tickets are $65, or $55 for Music Box club members. (Niesel) 1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com. FILM
Rebels on Pointe Rebels on Pointee, the first documentary about Les Ballets Trocadero de Monte Carlo, shows how the troupe has become an international success despite enduring many hardships. The film offers a behindthe-scenes look at the all-male drag ballet. One critic even called the movie “laugh out loud funny.” It screens at 7 tonight and at 1 p.m. on Sunday at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Tickets are $10, or $7 for CMA students. (Niesel) 11150 East Blvd., 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org.
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| clevescene.com clevescene com | December 13 - 19 19, 2017
*On general admission when showing a valid ID with ZIP beginning in 440, 441, 442 or 443.
Scuba Claus & the Seas’N of Play Scuba Claus & the Seas’N of Play continues at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 24. You and the kids can see how hula hoops, fish-cicles and other toys and treats keep the Aquarium’s residents active and engaged. Seas’N of Play also features parallel sensory activities such as practicing to aim like an archerfish spurting a stream of water at a moving target. From noon to 1:30 p.m., patrons can see Scuba Claus dive into 230,000 gallons of water. You can even ask him questions while he visits a porcupine pufferfish, a green
moray eel and other aquatic creatures. Children get an original Scuba Claus coloring book and a temporary tattoo. Aquarium hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Check the website for ticket prices. (Niesel) 2000 Sycamore St., 216-862-8803, greaterclevelandaquarium.com.
SAT
12/16
SPORTS
Cavaliers vs. Utah Jazz After losing star player Gordon Hayward to free agency in the offseason, the Utah Jazz have played remarkably well this season. Rookie guard Donovan Mitchell has played so well, he might even emerge as a candidate for Rookie of the Year. Expect tonight’s game to be a tough one for the Cavs. The two teams face off at 7:30 at the Q. Tickets start at $41. (Niesel) 1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, theqarena.com. HOLIDAY FUN
Christmas Story Dinner and Party Today, Touch Supper Club will hold its annual Christmas Story Dinner and Party. The night will begin with a Christmas Story-inspired dinner featuring Peking duck, lo mein noodles, miso soup and wine. This special menu will be available all night. After the dinner, guests can stay for the party featuring music by DJs Go and Impure upstairs, and for a Princethemed dance party called Princemas with DJ Darrick Grant (WCSB) spinning Prince tunes. Consult the Touch website for prices and times. (Niesel) 2710 Lorain Ave., 216-631-5200, touchohiocity.com. MUSIC
I Believe: A Holiday Celebration of Song This holiday concert promises to feature “a chance to reflect, to celebrate and to believe.” The event takes place at 7:30 tonight and at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon at Kennedy’s Theatre. Tickets are $24. (Niesel) 1501 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org. HOLIDAY MARKET
Jingle Bell Rock & Shop Now in its third year, the Grog Shop’s Jingle Bell Rock & Shop will feature more than 40 vendors hawking food, music, fine art and fashion. There will be booths stocked with the best gifts from Coventry Street merchants. DJ Rachel H. from WRUW’s Guilty Pleasures will spin holiday favorites and their contemporary counterparts, and there will be “boozy” hot cocoa
and spicy Bloody Marys at the bar. The event takes place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Grog Shop and B Side. Admission is free. (Niesel) 2785 Euclid Hts. Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-321-5588, grogshop.gs. COMEDY
A Very Last Call Cleveland Christmas Local comedy troupe Last Call Cleveland presents a special holiday show tonight at the Grog Shop. Hometown comics Mike Polk Jr., Zachariah Durr, Aaron McBride and Matt Vitelli anchor the group as it presents what’s billed as “the variety show extravaganza of the year.” The show starts at 7 p.m., and tickets are $10. (Niesel) 2785 Euclid Hts. Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-321-5588, grogshop.gs.
SUN
12/17
SPORTS
Browns vs. Baltimore Ravens Each week, we keep thinking the Browns have a chance of getting their first win. And each week, they come up empty-handed. Today at 1 at FirstEnergy Stadium, they get their last chance to win a home game this season. They take on the Baltimore Ravens, a team that beat the Browns by two touchdowns earlier this season. The Ravens, with a solid defense but a suspect offense, are still fighting for a playoff spot, so don’t expect them to let up for this game. Tickets start at $30. (Niesel) 100 Alfred Lerner Way, 440-8915000, clevelandbrowns.com. HOLIDAY FUN
A Christmas Story Live Watch Party A Christmas Story is the latest Broadway show to receive the live TV musical treatment on Fox. But rather than merely watch it at home today, Clevelanders can experience the extravaganza outside Tremont’s own A Christmas Story House and Museum. The free fun begins at 5 p.m. with a viewing of the classic 1983 Christmas film, followed at 7 p.m. by a broadcast of the live musical, as viewers — presumably dressed in bunny pajamas — watch from their own blankets and chairs. Expect food trucks and Jack Frost Donuts as well. Lolly the Trolley will ferry attendees to and from an off-site lot throughout the evening. The nearby Rowley Inn is hosting an after party, too. They’ll serve plenty of Ovaltine as well as slightly stronger beverages. (Laura Morrison) 3159 West 11th St., 216-255-6651, achristmasstoryhouse.com. | clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
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Wednesday Darts and $1 Sliders
Upcoming Bands:
Sunday Come Watch THE FOOTBALL PLAY on our two 100” screen projectors and 10 TV’s Open Pool Tournament ($5 to enter)
Melanie May December 23
Gravity January 6
Sunset Harmony January 20
38107 Second Street Willoughby, OH 44094
(440) 602-9780
Tuesday Night
FOOSBALL TOURNAMENTS Sign Up At 7PM
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| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
GET OUT FILM
It’s a Wonderful Life An Akron native, Arizona State University film professor Joe Fortunato introduces tonight’s screening of Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. James Stewart stars as a banker who discovers the true meaning of Christmas. Fortunato will discuss the film’s history and provide commentary. It starts at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are $12. (Niesel) 11610 Euclid Ave., 216-421-7450, cia.edu.
MON
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A N D N N UAL O C ES
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12/18
SPORTS
Monsters vs. Iowa Wild Tonight at 7 at the Q, the Cleveland Monsters kick off a two-game stand against the Iowa Wild, the farm team for the Minnesota Wild. It’s College ID Night, so college students can purchase $6 tickets and $6 “college meals” that include a hot dog, chips and a soda. Tickets for the general public start at $10. (Niesel) 1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, theqarena.com.
TUE
2018
12/19
FILM
HOLIDAY FUN
Disney in Concert: Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas Tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30 at Severance Hall, the Cleveland Orchestra plays Danny Elfman’s score to The Nightmare Before Christmas while the cult classic shows on the big screen. The film centers on Halloweentown’s pumpkin king and his evil plan to bring Christmas under his control by kidnapping Santa Claus. Get tickets on the website. (Niesel) 11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.
Find more events @clevescene.com t@clevelandscene
SUNDAY 12/31 7PM BILL NYE INSPIRED COCKTAILS NO COVER / THE SCIENCE GUY SHOW MARATHON
BILL”NYE”2018 HYPER COLOR TEES
PLUS
Dalida Dalida, a new film from director Lisa Azuelos, dramatizes the life of the Egyptian-born singer and actress who sold more than 170 million albums before she committed suicide in 1997. It screens today at 1:45 p.m. at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Tickets are $10, or $7 for CMA members. (Niesel) 11150 East Blvd., 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org.
ONE WILL BE GIVEN AWAY EVERY MINUTE FROM 11PM-MIDNIGHT!
16-BIT BAR+ARCADE 15012 DETROIT AVE + 16-BITBAR.COM | clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
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ART
“My Inheritance,” by Darius Steward
WHAT THEY CARRY Darius Steward opens up life’s handbags in Baggage Claim at Tregoning & Company By Dott von Schneider THE HANDBAG IS ITS OWN metaphor. It has long been recognized as the accessory within which, traditionally, women have held their lives. This article, made from so many different materials, is indeed cross-cultural. It is a symbol of status and necessity at once. Some bags are highly organized, while others act like the abyss, a black hole that sucks change in between the lining and the bag, impossible to figure out and even more so to reach. There is the old bag, the new bag, the clutch, the tote, the messenger, the bucket, the hobo and the backpack. Each relays a tale of the person who carries that baggage. The raw nakedness one feels when unable to locate her purse or, worse, if it has been stolen. “My whole life is in there!” may be screamed aloud, but more often merely whispered in our heads — because we don’t want everyone to know that our whole life is held in our purses. God forbid one’s handbag falls and spills its contents for the world to see. It’s worse yet if something precious breaks in the spill. Darius Steward’s latest exhibition, Baggage Claim, now on view at Tregoning & Company, is part homage to his late mother, and most dedicated supporter, Rhonda V. Steward, as well as his own coming
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to terms with inherited and life-lived baggage. “Coming out into this exhibition are issues I had to deal with when my mom passed. All that weight to clear my closet, so to speak. Getting some things out and for first time I’m really portraying women. It is remarkable the type of weight people have to carry with them. I wanted to push ahead the idea if I could physically show people my baggage, what would that look like?” In this solo exhibition, Steward has included past works, not because they hadn’t been shown before, but because they are touchstone pieces:
watching my son, all the way up until we got the new baby home. She was sick the whole time, but she didn’t want to tell me she was sick while she was watching my child, while I was having another child. She spent the last moments with my son so, you know, that piece is very important. It is important that I put them up.” To carry baggage, as part of life’s course, is to keep moving. In this exhibition we find a small painting of a woman walking. As she strides forward, she is unleashing her baggage behind her. Despite its diminutive size, there is a massive sense of airy liberation. We see those
BAGGAGE CLAIM THROUGH JAN. 20, 2018, AT TREGONING & COMPANY 1300 WEST 78TH ST., 216-281-8626 TREGONINGANDCO.COM
pieces that were included in the final art show that his mother was able to attend. “If You Too Cool You Lose” and “Looking In, Only Looking IN” are portraits of his son, who Ms. Rhonda loved so very much. “It was the last work she had seen. Actually, this was her favorite piece that she had seen,” Steward directs us to the print depicting his son looking in through a window, wearing a T-shirt that says POLO. It is a moving etched print, rife with emotion. “She was
| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
same handbags in the much larger and more boldly painted “Grin and Bear It.” Here a woman is holding four bags on each forearm. The weight she bears causes her to hunch forward in an effort to balance her day-to-day. One of the most visually and emotionally stunning pieces in Baggage Claim, however, is titled “Destination.” A reddish-orange handbag, solo and love-worn, slightly open with its shadow to the left as
if the sun is setting upon it, almost brought tears to this writer’s eyes. “This is a very important bag to the family,” says Steward. It belonged to his wife’s sister who passed away. He goes on to reveal that, “this was her every-day bag.” To say that Steward’s work is like looking into a dream is an understatement. His adroit use of negative space is a hallmark of his gorgeous paintings, drawings and prints. In “My Inheritance,” we see the artist standing alone, looking up, surrounded by bags of items. The bags are nearly the same color as the stark white background and seem to fade into, or are pushing out from, that background. These bags contain all of his mother’s things. He has, as the artist explains, essentially inherited her baggage and is coming to terms with what to do with all of this information. “When a loved one dies, you gotta clean out all they stuff, this is some of her bags of stuff ... this is what I end up being with: memories and plastic bags filled with stuff. [It’s] what I feel like I have to carry around. and even though I am not carrying them physically, I am thinking about them constantly.”
scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene
STAGE OH, OH, OHHH … COME! (ALL YE FAITHFUL) Get your biennial Santa stiffy with the Loush Sisters at Cleveland Pubic, er, Public Theatre GRAB YOUR BALLS, BEN WA OR otherwise, and prepare yourself for another dip into the jazzy, jizzy pool of double entendres and song fragments that is the Loush Sisters franchise at Cleveland Public Theatre. Warning: A drink or two, or five, might help this experience go down more easily. Yes, the woozy-boozy gals are back in their latest biennial stagger across the CPT stage, this time in a supposed parody of the greatest Christmas film ever, Die Hard. In this case, the always over-written, sexreferenced title is, The Loush Sisters Get Hard for the Holidays (Yippie-KaiYay Mother-Loushers). The show is created by the trio of Beth Wood (director) and Liz Conway, each of whom perform on stage respectively as sisters Holly and Jolly, and Michael Seevers Jr., who is also the associate director, music director and choreographer. It’s not really a satire of the iconic and much-loved Bruce Willis film, but rather the sisters’ seedy cabaret act with their orgasmic explosion of pop, rock and Christmas song fragments. On top of this are thrown various pulled threads from the first Die Hard movie, none of which stitch together with much clarity as the show reels from one schtick and sniggering sex joke (heh, heh) to another. From the moment early on when the always entertaining Conway coughs up a pubic hair, an observer who is new to this act might get the sense that this is not gong to be an evening imbued with subtlety. Indeed, instead of “getting hard” with edgy comedy, the script is often shooting pool with a rope. That’s just fine for most of the audience members, some of whom are attending in festive holiday groups. They’re just looking for an excuse to over-imbibe, hang some mistletoe from their “It Ain’t Gonna Lick Itself” belt buckle, yell at the stage, and get it on for Santa. Indeed, the whole purpose of this show is to bypass functioning brain matter and directly attack the viewer’s inner fifth grader, who laughs uproariously at the mention of dick or boobs. Jolly’s co-lead perv-former Holly is played by Wood (heh, heh), and the two work seamlessly together, since
Photo by Steve Wagner
By Christine Howey
THE LOUSH SISTERS GET HARD FOR THE HOLIDAYS (YIPPIE-KAI-YAY MOTHER-LOUSHERS) THROUGH DEC. 23 AT CLEVELAND PUBLIC THEATRE, 6415 DETROIT AVE., 216-631-2727, CPTONLINE.ORG
they’ve been doing some version of these characters for many years now. In the two most recent iterations, the creators hooked the Loushes (it’s a combination of “lush” and “loose,” as they repeatedly inform us) to other holiday-ish shows. In 2013, it was The Loush Sisters DO The Nutcracker (wink, wink), and in 2015 it was The Loush Sisters Love Dick’ns: Great Expectations (nudge, nudge). The lead women are aided by perennial co-stars Brian Pedaci and Sheffia Randall Dooley. This time, Pedaci is the Hans Gruberlike villain Krampus (“the Austrian
demon of Christmas”) and Sheffia Randall Dooley, as always, is Butter Rum, who’s now a stand-in for John McClane, out to rescue her sisters from Krampus’ clutches. Pedaci looks rather dashing wearing horns and hooves to remind us that he’s, you know, the bad guy. And the sisters seem only mildly distressed when he takes them hostage, since they’re rather turned on by the gold handcuffs. There are also four “Minions” (Ryan Edlinger, Brian O. Jackson, Colleen McCaughey and Hillary Wheelock) who vainly attempt to
capture that cartoon flick’s vibe while serving as Krampus’ operatives. What happened to Karl, the deadly blonde Germanic killing machine? Another character that fails to generate enough zazz is Karla, Krampus’ partner in evil played by Jennifer Woda. Woda is there mostly for her well-trained voice, since her attempts at looking or sounding threatening go limp. But you won’t care since you’ll be starting on your fourth glass of wine by that time, and everything will be taking on a hazy holiday glow. You won’t even care when a distressed Holly admits that, “I was covered in what I thought was my own sweat!” (Heh, heh.) Anyhow, Dooley’s Butter Rum sings like Tina Turner and manages to rescue the dynamic duo of Holly and Jolly, complete with trademark McClane moves: body rolls and walking barefoot through broken glass. The show ends with a Christmas medley, including that line from “Oh Holy Night:” “Fall on your knees ...” (heh ... oh, never mind). By that time, you will have forgotten that a lot of the jokes fall flat due to dated references or just a lack of wit. You won’t care that they never do a song from start to finish. And you won’t even notice that the sisters aren’t given a dazzling costume change after the intermission. (Hey, screw story logic, give the girls some more dazzling duds!) Since these shows serve as a welldeserved cash cow for CPT, there certainly will be more in the offing. Will they decide to do parodies of stage classics? Perhaps Schlong Day’s Journey Into Night, or The Magic (Skin) Flute, or Of One-Eyed Trouser Mice and Men. The mind reels. If you’re out for a good time and you’re not a stickler for theatrical niceties such as coherent plot development and consistently clever writing, Conway and Wood will no doubt trigger your holiday laugh boner. On the other hand, if this show fails to give you a nipple chubby or a trouser Nazi, it will certainly provide ample reasons to drink excessively. It’s a win-win.
scene@clevescene.com t@christinehowey | clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
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WOULD YOU GET SMALL TO HAVE IT ALL?
INVITES YOU AND A GUEST TO SEE
INVITE YOU AND A GUEST TO A SPECIAL SCREENING OF
MONDAY, DECEMBER 18 7:00 PM
CEDAR LEE THEATRE
Wednesday, December 20 at 7:00 P.M. Cedar Lee Theater Visit www.focusfeaturesscreenings.com and enter the code DARK5629 for your chance to download passes for two. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. RATED R FOR SEQUENCES OF STRONG VIOLENCE AND LANGUAGE THROUGHOUT. Limit one (1) admit two pass per person. Must be 13 years or older to receive passes. SEATIN IS LIMITED SO ARRIVE EARLY. PASS DOES NOT GUARANTEE A SEAT AT THE SCREENING.
IN THEATERS DECEMBER 22
INVITE YOU AND A GUEST TO A SPECIAL SCREENING OF
Monday December 18 at 7:00 P.M. Cinemark Strongsville Visit SonyScreengings.com and enter the code JUMANJI7259 for your chance to download a pair of passes. *No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. Limit one pass per person. Each pass admits two. No phone calls, please. Seating is not guaranteed. Arrive early. Theater is not responsible for overbooking.
IN THEATERS WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20 @jumanjimovie #JUMANJI
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| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
TO ENTER FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A PAIR OF PASSES, VISIT GOFOBO.COM/ DWNSZECLE This ямБlm is rated R. One entry per household. No purchase necessary. While supplies last. Prize details can be found on entry form.
IN THEATERS DECEMBER 22 @DownsizingFilm #Downsizing
MOVIES WONDER WHEEL IS BAD BUT WOODY ALLEN IS WORSE Known sexual assaulter has made yet another movie By Sam Allard WONDER WHEEL, THE BAD NEW film starring Kate Winslet, Justin Timberlake, Juno Temple and Jim Belushi, was written and directed by Woody Allen, a known sexual assaulter. Allen writes and directs a new movie every year — he is as prolific an artist as any Hollywood has produced — and does so with the happy participation of A-list stars. These are the same folks who have condemned Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Bret Ratner and other prominent figures in the world of entertainment for sexual misconduct over the years. But Allen has been spared. As recounted in a recent column by Allen’s daughter Dylan Farrow, who has relentlessly and unchangingly testified about her abuse at the hands of her father, Allen’s public relations and legal team have so thoroughly obfuscated the story that few know the simple details: Allen engaged in a pattern of inappropriate sexual behavior with his young daughter. The goal of the PR machine, Farrow argues, has been to create a fog in which the veracity of the allegations against Allen seem suspect. (They are not.) Farrow quotes multiple actors, including Wonder Wheel’s own Kate Winslet, juxtaposing their comments about Weinstein with comments about Allen. It’s striking to read. That column, from the L.A. Times, is called: “Why Has the #MeToo Revolution Spared
Woody Allen?” In any case, Allen has made a very bad movie called Wonder Wheel. It opens at theaters areawide on Friday. Featuring both Allen’s trademark wit and his more recent trademark first-draft carelessness, the big takeaway from Wonder Wheel is that it is at times almost impossible to watch. It tells the story of a love affair on Coney Island between a melancholy former actress, Ginny, (Kate Winslet) and Mickey (Justin Timberlake), a lifeguard who aspires to be a famous playwright. Ginny is unhappily married to Humpty (Jim Belushi), a lately sober carousel operator. Humpty is the father of Carolina (Juno Temple), a radiant young woman who has been “marked” by the mob. She flees to her father’s apartment after years of estrangement: Humpty had cut ties when Carolina married her high school sweetheart, a known gangster. Ginny’s son Richie, from her first
marriage, is a pyromaniac who’s getting into trouble at school and getting more criminally adventurous to boot. All of this material is conveyed in one or two loud, ambling expository scenes in Humpty and Ginny’s apartment overlooking the amusement park in the shadow and twinkle of the eponymous Ferris wheel. Much of the film takes place here, and it often feels like we’re watching a rehearsal for a college play in which, as an exercise, the actors had been encouraged to improvise. The film’s bizarre lighting strengthens the “is this a student script?” sensation. The color palette is confusing and constantly changing from the start. The opening shot is a bright, wide angle of a popular beach. It’s got all the yellows and reds of a midcentury Coca-Cola ad and is — I don’t mind admitting — pretty visually impressive. Justin Timberlake begins his voiceover, warning us of
the melodrama to follow, and there’s almost a Where’s Waldo? feel as you try to pick out Timberlake from the crowd. But as the film progresses, the ambient light is suffused with gray in the rain, green in the twilight, blue in the night, and red in moments of Ginny’s despair. This is either an intentional effect (the coloring as a reflection of Ginny’s mood?) or a big post-production mistake. I was never not distracted by it. The Ginny-Mickey romance is, at least, credible in its broad strokes. Mickey likes Ginny mostly for the fact that her life is so explosive with drama and tragedy. He sees her, in part, as material. Ginny sees Mickey as an escape valve. She envisions herself as the star of his plays. But, predictably, Mickey meets Carolina and becomes smitten with her. Then Ginny goes off the rails. Winslet is a phenomenal actress with enormous range, but her performance here continually clashes with Allen’s script. True to its word, the whole thing’s an embittered, melodramatic gabfest. But telling an audience at the outset that a story will be melodramatic doesn’t get one off the hook. Least of all known sexual assaulter Woody Allen. This sucks. And be on the lookout for the jaunty “Coney Island” song that plays about 2,000 times throughout. If you don’t want to hammer your teeth in by its final appearance, I’ll buy you a hot dog.
SPOTLIGHT: THE SHAPE OF WATER MEXICAN AUTEUR GUILLERMO del Toro has always been regarded as something of a curiosity, a man with a voracious visual appetite and an imagination that sometimes transcends his film crews’ skills. He produces weird and unique visual delights, and it can be said about Guillermo del Toro — something that can be said about very few directors today — that his movies are always stimulating viewing. (Wes Anderson and Tarsem Singh come to mind as well.) His movies are, for varying reasons, interesting to look at.
Del Toro is foremost a monster man. His Hellboy series and his sci-fi action romp Pacific Rim (which remains underrated!) both featured original monster designs. And his opus Pan’s Labyrinth, which was one of the most celebrated films of 2006, portrayed a lavish dreamscape of bizarro flora and fauna. In The Shape of Water, which is likewise shaping up to be very warmly received, del Toro’s monster is more practical, more subdued. But a monster is indeed at the movie’s heart. The film
opens areawide on Friday. An amphibious creature (played by del Toro’s go-to monster guy, Doug Jones) is captured and held at a research laboratory in 1960s Baltimore. A mute janitor named Elisa (Sally Hawkins, perfectly cast) befriends the creature, even as a violent military man (Michael Shannon) brutally oversees his captivity. The lab’s military wing, in full Cold War paranoia, would prefer to see the beast dead, lest Russian spies capture it and harvest its mysterious anatomy to
create advanced weapons. With strains of Amelie, Stranger Things and Beauty and the Beast, The Shape of Water is no doubt one of the odder love stories you’re likely to encounter on screen. The splendid set decoration of both the research lab and Elisa’s apartment should be considered as successful as the monster itself. Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins and Michael Stuhlbarg co-star. — Sam Allard
sallard@clevescene.com t@scenesallard
| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
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| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
EAT START US UP Cleveland Culinary Launch & Kitchen is set for a major expansion, in space and services FOR THE PAST FOUR YEARS, the Cleveland Culinary Launch & Kitchen (CCLK) has helped small food startups make the transition from dream to reality, spinning out success stories like Cleveland Kraut, Randy’s Pickles, Chill Pop Shop and Saucisson, to name a few. Under one roof, food-focused entrepreneurs have access to shared prep and cooking facilities, dry, cold and frozen storage space, and a professional incubator program to guide them every step of the way. But what happens once those people cultivate an audience for their product? Where do they go next? “When people outgrow our kitchens at CCLK, it’s very expensive for them to build out their own space,” explains partner Eric Diamond. “And while some of them can do it, others cannot and are forced to look at other options, like co-packing.” A co-packer, or contract packager, is a third-party entity that will manufacture, warehouse and ship your food products to your specifications. They make, you sell. But most co-packers are out of state, require very large minimum orders, and often wield control over what ingredients do and don’t get used. When Diamond and partner Gordon Priemer launch the new multifaceted Cleveland Food Hub, area producers will gain a local partner. Occupying one small sliver of a newly acquired 138,000-squarefoot warehouse in Midtown, the co-packing facility will have small minimums for producers of everything from pasta sauce and salsa to energy bars and beef jerky. Proximity to your co-packer means you are nearby for quality control and when inevitable production snafus arise. “It will also allow individuals who don’t want to produce their own products to still be able to say that it is produced locally here in Cleveland,” Diamond adds. But the co-packing element might be the least exciting component of the Food Hub. Six individual kitchens will serve as rentable production space for the specialty food businesses of tomorrow. Unlike the
Photos courtesy of CCLK
By Douglas Trattner
shared commercial kitchens found at CCLK, these are all yours 24/7, notes Diamond. Each 700-square-foot space is outfitted with a hood, range, steam kettle or tilt skillet, prep space and hand-washing sinks. The cost will be $2,000 per month. “There is a need for those niche spaces,” adds Diamond. “We’ve been hearing for a long time, ‘Hey, I’d love to have a gluten-free kitchen,’ and we haven’t been able to accommodate that [at CCLK]. Under this scenario, we will be.” This setup opens the door to certifications such as USDA Organic, Kosher, Halal and gluten-free. Tenants also will have access to shared-use dishwashing and storage outside of their individual kitchens. Plans call for more than 7,000 square feet of dry, cold and freezer storage space that will be available not only to CCLK and Food Hub tenants, but also
the food community at large, offered at per-pallet prices. To facilitate loading and unloading, the facility will have three loading docks and one drive-through dock. “Once we have this up and running, it will be the largest production facility for food in the state of Ohio,” says Diamond. Five startups already have expressed interest in the kitchen space, he says, with products that include fermented foods, bakery items and even a candy maker. The final leg of the Cleveland Food Hub stool is retail. Souper Market has had both its production facility and retail soup shop at this location for years, and we recently shared the news that Cleveland Bagel will soon join them. But plans call for one or two additional food-based storefronts to fill the spaces in between. Given the recent development taking place
in the neighborhood, Diamond says the demand already exists. “We really think Midtown is a great location because of all the new businesses that have moved into the area and the food hasn’t caught up yet,” he says. “We looked at it like it was the perfect opportunity to add retail. Having Souper Market and Cleveland Bagel as anchors have brought out many more clients saying they want to be here too.” Shoppers will have access to free parking. As for CCLK, Diamond says that the success of recent graduates like Cleveland Bagel prove that the nonprofit incubator’s formula is working, an essential element of which is an eight-week program that covers food regulations, product development, packaging and marketing. “We encourage everybody who has never been in food production before to go through our incubator course,” he explains. “If you look back at the most successful companies who have come out of the kitchen, they all followed the same path, which was: take the course, produce a product, sell at farmers markets for a year, get a following, and then go into retail.” The kitchens should be up and running by spring, with retail to follow.
dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner | clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
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Photo courtesy of Luna/IG
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| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
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By Douglas Trattner SINCE OPENING LUNA BAKERY & Cafe (2482 Fairmount Blvd., 216231-8585, lunabakerycafe.com) in Cleveland Heights, owner and pastry chef Bridget Thibeault has been making all the right moves. In the six years since the shop debuted, it has grown steadily in size and scope. By taking possession of adjacent spaces, Luna has grown from 1,400 square feet to 2,800, jumped from 15 seats to 75, and greatly expanded the savory side of things. To cap it all off, the owner recently bought out her founding partners John Emerman and Tatyana Rehn of Stone Oven Bakery. Next up for Thibeault is a new shop in Moreland Hills, a 2,800-square-foot space between ML Tavern and Flour. She is shooting for a May opening. “I’ve been thinking about expanding for the last year, but in my mind I was thinking I would wait a little longer because we’re still growing here and still working things out,” Thibeault explains. “But then the space became available and it just kind of happened a little faster than I anticipated.” Thibeault says that customers ask her on nearly a daily basis when she is going to expand either east or west. Further east, she says, made the most sense given where she lives and where many of her customers come from. “I’ve been looking out that way because we get a lot of people who drive in from there,” she points out. “There’s not really many breakfast places, bakeries and coffee shops
that are not a chain, so I feel that there’s definitely a demand.” Along with its physical dimensions, Luna has expanded its food operations as well. Initially, the idea was to be primarily a bakery with a few light savory food options like crepes and panini. But the business has evolved to one that flips that paradigm on its head. “When we first opened we really thought we would be more of a bakery than a cafe, but the food side of it really took off,” Thibeault explains. “We are now two-thirds restaurant to one-third bakery.” That will be the formula going forward at the new shop, with perhaps an even greater focus on the cafe side of things. Diners can look forward to the same great breakfast items, soups, salads, crepes and panini, but just more of it. “We will expand the menu and introduce some new food options that we aren’t able to do here because of space,” she notes. “More breakfast items, grain bowls and salads.” Thibeault is working with Richardson Design, the team behind Mabel’s BBQ, Bomba Tacos and B Spot Burgers, to transform the bland, boxy space into a cozy bakerycafe. “I’m really excited,” the chef says. “I think this is going to be a good fit.”
CLEVELAND BAGEL TO OPEN AN EASTSIDE LOCATION It’s been four and a half years since partners Dan Herbst and
Mon - Fri: 7am - 3pm Sat & Sun: 7am - 4pm | cl clevescene.com levves esce cene ene ne.c .com om m | December Deecem cembe ce ber er 13 13 - 19 19,, 20 2017 17 17
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| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
Geoff Hardman peddled their first homemade bagel at the Gordon Square Farmers Market. Since then the bagel boys have moved production from Herbst’s apartment to Cleveland Culinary Launch and Kitchen, to rented space at Ohio City Pasta, and finally to their current home, a production facility and retail storefront in Ohio City, which they launched with help from investor Alan Glazen. Next up for Cleveland Bagel Co. (4201 Detroit Ave., 216-6005652) is an East Side facility that will closely mirror the 1-yearold shop in Ohio City. The new production facility and retail shop will assume roughly 2,800 square feet of a massive 140,000-squarefoot warehouse on Carnegie Avenue at East 77th. That facility also is home to Souper Market and Produce Packaging. A dedicated parking lot will make it easy for busy commuters to stop, shop and roll. Herbst says that his best estimate for an opening is late spring or early summer. Business continues to grow at Cleveland Bagel, where it’s not uncommon to see 250 customers on a busy weekday and 550 on a busy Saturday. In addition to the delicious bagels, which are rolled by hand, slowly fermented, proofed, water boiled and baked, the shop continues to add new products. First there were just bagels and schmears. Next up came hot breakfast sandwiches, like a bacon, egg and cheese bagel. That was followed by new toppings like hummus, guacamole and lox, all of which are made in house. “The menu is simple, but we try to lead with quality,” Herbst says. Cleveland Bagel employs a staff of 15, who all earn a minimum of $15 an hour plus tips. That roster should more than double when the new shop comes online, notes Herbst. “We are asking a lot of our employees to show up at four in the morning and be on your feet all day,” the owner says. “So paying a living wage goes a long way. If you pay them a decent wage and treat them with respect, you’ll get dedication and loyalty.” Having facilities on both sides of town will allow the owners to greatly expand their wholesale
business. Down the road, Cleveland Bagel can use additional available space at their new facility to move into the frozen bagel market. Fully baked, sliced and frozen, the bagels toast up to a delicious finished product. “It’s nice to see business steadily grow and keep growing,” Herbst says. “Everything continues to fall into place as and when we needed them: kitchen opportunities, opportunities to grow, this second place. It keeps coming together at the right times.” But if you still are holding out hope for a rainbow-colored bagel, Herbst says you can forget it. “It’s just food dye. Do you normally eat lip gloss?”
THE SAUSAGE SHOPPE, AN 80-YEAR-OLD INSTITUTION, TO CLOSE THIS SPRING Fans of the West Side butcher shop The Sausage Shoppe, which originally opened in 1938, learned last week that the store and smokehouse would be closing for good this spring. Owners Norm and Carol Heinle announced the sad news on Facebook with the following message: “Norm and Carol and all of the Heinle Family want to THANK YOU for being our customer during the last 80 years. As 2017 comes to a close, we will start a 3-month closure. Saturday, March 31st will be our last day of business. Thank you for sharing your lives with us. We will miss you.” The Old Brooklyn shop opened on March 3, 1938, as Kirchberger Sausage under the ownership of Hans Kirchberger and Theo Johanni, immigrants from Bavaria, Germany. The original location was at 4425 Memphis Ave., but it relocated to its current space in 1962. At the tender age of 13, Norm started working for Hans, doing small jobs like mowing the grass and doing dishes. Over the years, he mastered the art of sausagemaking. He officially took over the business in 1974. They changed the name to The Sausage Shoppe in 1979. If you have not yet visited this Cleveland culinary treasure, do so before it’s too late.
dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner
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CLEVELAND ROCKS | clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
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| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
MUSIC KNOTTED WITH ANGST Lived experience grounds local rapper Kipp Stone’s debut album RAPPER KIPP STONE OPENS the door of his East Cleveland home wearing an Adidas hat and tracksuit bottoms, and a dark Cavs sweater. He winds downstairs to a concretefloored basement, occupied by laundry machines and bisected by sheets hanging from the ceiling. With a sweep of his hand, Stone unveils his laboratory behind the partition. A black leather L-couch dotted with ashtrays takes up one side, punctuated by his producer, engineer, and right-hand-man Blokhead Johnny. The other half is populated by speakers, a makeshift microphone booth, and a laptop with an spiderwebcracked screen. It seems easy to lose track of the world in this place, and Stone, a self-described separatist, doesn’t let many folks in. Despite East Cleveland’s disproportionate influence on Cleveland’s rap scene (the city of 17,000 has produced Ray Jr., Doe Boy and Pooh Gutta, among others), Stone keeps a tight, self-sufficient circle. Johnny and Jason Anderson serve as his producers, and his management is handled by a hefty tag-team. Truth Walker is one of Cleveland’s few serial managers, previously working with Corey Bapes, Chip tha Ripper, Tezo and Bankie Iz; and Ryan Cunningham, a publicist with the national PR firm Biz3, came on in 2015 as a manager and serves as a national connection for Kipp’s sound. Stone trudges to the couch in house shoes, falls into it and lights a Newport. He’s tall and scruffy. A stubbled beard crawls up his cheeks, and his eyes are heavy-lidded from a marathon recording session the previous night. His right brow bears a thick twist of scars from a 2010 car accident. His speaking voice is subdued and gravelly, the result of years of cigarettes and keeping to himself. Stone’s debut album, Dirty Face Angel, came out last week through indie distributor Empire. The 12-track project sweats longing and shouts desperation. It’s knotted with angst. It’s really good. Written in the solitude of Stone’s bedroom or on bus trips as he leaned against frosty RTA windows, D.F.A. is grounded in vivid experience. “Speak life, it’s my native tongue / You can’t treat it like it’s only music,” Stone raps
Photo by Emanuel Wallace
By Lawrence Neil
in “Celebration,” a standout on the project whose shiny veneer betrays its wrenching lyrics. “All my life I’ve spent trying to feel something / Maybe I should just disappear or something.” Stone’s dexterous flow teems with sonic texture, multisyllabic and internal rhymes, his bars bursting with lines that are at once playfully loose and surgically precise. “All the fake cannot be chipped away/It’s better off obliterated/Into pieces, boxed up and shipped away,” he maneuvers on “7 Dayz,” over an eerie, twangy guitar. Stone is versatile on the mic, as comfortable in a swinging, pocketed boom-bap flow as he is with a teetering, rapid-fire delivery. His lilt blends a Scarface growl with 2Pac’s delicate sing-song, but also evokes Kendrick and Schoolboy Q in syncopation and delivery. The result is simmering, dense and rich. The title track kicks off with a beseeching, repeating chorus from the twice-featured singer Vari — “Why me? Why me?” — as Stone riffs above it, “I love the cash, but I hate what the cash do.” It’s compact and upwardgazing. On “High Road,” a silky, textured refrain from singer NIIA
ripples over gurgling, 808-textured spidery pianos, Japanese strings and complex keyboard chords. Stone delivers quotables again, “Sacrifice them sand castles for them coliseums, boy, I’m talking mad vision.” The hard-hitting “Shoebox” feels like a Kendrick reference track, while the sole rap feature, local rapper Nuke Franklin, squeaks up into harmonics on a sneering, neck-snapping guest verse over one of the project’s grittiest trap beats in “Megatron.” Another highlight, “B.I.N.S.I.,” flips a soul sample into an extended melancholic exhortation. “By a show of hands, who was on the farm when the boy was dead broke?” Stone raps. “Who was there to talk me out banging and selling dope? Who I’m tagging in when Satan got me on the ropes? Case closed.” These poignant moments create a cohesive tone for D.F.A., one that speaks to gray areas between good and bad, right and wrong, dirty and angelic. Kipp uses these 12 tracks to shine a light on that pivot point. “To me, I know people called ‘criminals’ who are really good people. They’re giving people, people that have
helped me in ways that I couldn’t even really begin to talk about. These guys were positive influences in my life, driven by circumstance. The stigma about criminals is that they’re bad people. ‘Throw ’em in jail, throw away the key.’ I don’t see street dudes like that. “But it’s also me and my temptations,” Stone continues. His own face appears on the album’s cover, inked with tattoos like “Pain Pain Pain,” “Death,” and “Hope.” “We’re always broke as fuck, and we’re always saying we should start selling dope or something because something’s gotta shake. That temptation is crazy, especially when you know you could make a killing if you wanted to. “It’s that duality. It’s the dichotomy of a street dude. It’s my good side and my bad side.” To add to the undergirding experience Stone alludes to throughout the album, the recording happened on the thinnest of shoestrings. Kipp and Blokhead Johnny were scraping the bottom when they recorded the album last winter in the Windy City. Kipp, who was previously signed with Chicago indie darling Closed Sessions, had free studio time from the label and slept in the studio. But when Johnny left his wallet on the bus, and after buying beat packs for the album, they were down to $20 each for a week’s worth of food. “For a week, we were living off Cheerios, ramen noodles, and hella Doritos,” the pair say, shaking their heads. They guzzled studio-provided Red Bull and nabbed whatever leftover bottle of brown liquor they could find. Luckily, Johnny ended up flipping a small trove of beats, and they were able to eat properly for the last few days of the recording. The proof is in the pudding: Dirty Face Angel is a full meal, one that takes time to digest. In the end, however, it’s delicious, nuanced and nourishing. And while Stone mulls over just disappearing, it’s another of his rapped appeals — for the world to “Pay attention to a broken nigga from a broken city full of broken dreams” — that we hope will come true instead.
scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene
| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
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MUSIC REVISITING CHRISTMASES PASSED The Ohio City Singers look back at 10 years of spreading Christmas cheer By Jeff Niesel
2008 Allen: We recorded our first record, Love and Hope, and played our first show at the House of Blues Cambridge Room. We recorded the album at the Sachsenheim, and we did the singing parts at the Happy Dog. It was the first time playing publicly, so it was a bit of an experiment, to say the least. Most of our family and friends showed up. We had about 150 people there.One thing we realized was that it was going be a family thing. Sobol: We had to take the Cheech and Chong stuff out of the set. 2009 Allen: We did our first kids’ show that year at Around the Corner. It was packed. We weren’t equipped to play for kids. We were loud and the set was long. We were killing it, but we had to figure out how to do it for a different audience. We were shocked at how packed the show was. 2010 Allen: We released “Snow Day” as a single. Doug was living in Ohio City, and we realized we needed more material to fill out a full set. We were writing a really pretty song about
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We set up and rehearsed. We were going to do it as a live album. We had everything set up and it was raining like mad that day and the roof started to leak. The room sounded like crap, and the recording sucked. But it was still fun. Charanghat: Everyone had a great time, even though the band didn’t play that great.
Photo courtesy of the Ohio City Singers
MORE THAN A DECADE AGO, local singer-songwriter Chris Allen, his sister Molly and singer-guitarist Doug McKean worked up four Christmas tunes and then threw a big party to which they invited their musician friends. They played the four original tunes as well as a few choice covers, recorded them and delivered them on a CD to their families as a Christmas gift. That signaled the birth of Ohio City Singers, a group of local musicians that plays several Christmas-themed concerts each year. This year, the group celebrates its 10-year anniversary After a recent rehearsal at his westside home, Allen revisited the past decade to provide some highlights, joined by singer-guitarist Austin “Candy Cane” Charanghat, singer-bassist Tom Prebish, singer-guitarist Matt Sobol, singer-accordion player Nick “The Clobberer” Stipanovich, percussionist Fred Perez-Stable, singer-drummer Brent Kirby, singer Kelly Wright and McKean.
Christmas and we decided it was complete garbage. It changed the way we thought about writing songs. McKean: Writing “Snow Day” was the start of trying to do more material and fit it into what we were doing as a band and making the transition from the loose collective to the unit that put on those live shows. Allen: That year, we did a Saturday night show at the Happy Dog and that was cool, and we did a show at the South Side, out in the cold. We knew it was turning into a party and that we had outgrown the Happy Dog. Wright: We sang “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” I had to teach it to you guys. Allen: Sometimes our attempts at showmanship didn’t work, but that was a great show and one of the most memorable moments.
We released that record. McKean: That was the first time we did a record of original material that was written since we had played live. After that, we started putting out records regularly.
2011 Allen: That was a good year. It
2013 Allen: We started writing the A
2012 McKean: We wanted to get “The Grinch” on a record. “The Grinch” had become a big thing live. Kirby: My daughter wouldn’t talk to Auggie because it scared her so much. She came to the rehearsals and if he started to sing it, she would leave the room. Charanghat: You’re welcome. I thought it was funny because after we put out the Grinch, kids would come up to me and say, “Hi, Mr. Grinch.” Kirby: You own that song. People think you are it.
OHIO CITY SINGERS 7 P.M. SATURDAY, DEC. 16, HOUSE OF BLUES, 308 EUCLID AVE., 216-523-2583. TICKETS: $18, HOUSEOFBLUES.COM
forced us to really practice. We wrote the Snow Days record all winter and had to rehearse for it in the summer. We did a Christmas in July show at Stone Mad. We recorded here in my basement in August. Once the tracks were done, we brought the recordings upstairs and we brought over family and friends to sing on the record. All the party noises are real party noises.
| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
Town Called Christmas record early in the year. We did it at Suma. It was the first record at a real studio. We did it in one day pretty much. Kirby: That was a lot of fun. Allen: We went all in that year. We had the Snow Days beer brewed at Portside. We did an animated video of “A Town Called Christmas.” We played that year at Roc Bar in the Flats.
2014 Allen: We did a show down in Akron and Don Dixon wrote a radio play, A Town Called Christmas. While in the dressing rooms, in the bowels of Akron Civic, we read our parts. Kirby: It was terrible. Allen: Don got it done, and he said he would send it to us, but he said, “To a man, you are the worse actors.” Sobol: We didn’t capture the spirit of what he was talking about. Allen: We never put it out. Kirby: I still think it’s kind of endearing. 2015 Allen: We played the Music Box and G.A.R. Hall in Peninsula, and both shows were sold out. The family shows started to take off. We did “Baby, Don’t You Know It’s Christmas.” We came to realize that Kelly is the best singer. Kelly: You tried unsuccessfully to give me other rock jams. They would still be slow but not in my key. 2016 McKean: Chris told me we were doing a record. In May or June, we got back to it. We wrote a bunch of songs that summer and then recorded at Chris’ mom’s house. It was a busy summer writing and recording those songs. It was as active as we’ve been during the off-season. We went back to the house party vibe. Allen: We also did two shows at Vosh that year. One night we played the entire Love and Hope album and the second night was a greatest hits night, and we leaned on more covers. Don Dixon sang William Bell’s “Everyday Will be Like a Holiday.” Charanghat: We really need to put that one back in the set.
jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel
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MUSIC AN ANNUAL ANTIDOTE Pianist Jim Brickman brings a new Christmas tour to town By Jeff Niesel WHEN PIANIST JIM BRICKMAN moved to Los Angeles in the ’90s, he tried to get signed to a record label. Given that he’s an instrumentalist, it wasn’t easy. “The most common reaction would be, ‘There’s no singing or anything? There’s no rhythm section? There’s just piano? It’s just you?’” he says via phone from a Grand Rapids tour stop. “That still happens in my live performances. I often have to explain that it’s just me.” For Brickman, who performs at 8 p.m. on Saturday at the State Theatre, the holidays tend to be a busy time of the year. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he says he was “a little bit of a black sheep,” Brickman released his first Christmas album some 20 years ago. He’s issued Christmas albums and put together holiday-themed tours ever since. “The music by nature is of an emotional quality,” he says when asked about what first made him embrace the format. “It tends to be celebrated quite often during high emotional times like weddings and the birth of a child and Valentine’s Day. It really lends itself to the emotional connection with the nostalgia of Christmas. Because it’s instrumental, up until that point, you wouldn’t hear solo piano versions of something like ‘God Rest You Merry Gentlemen’ or ‘Silent Night.’ These songs are so oversaturated that when someone tries to cover it as a vocal, there are only so many ways to do it. Beyond that, it’s always compared to the definitive. It’s never so unique. If it’s too different, it doesn’t sound like the song, and if it’s too much the same, why bother covering it.” Brickman’s latest endeavor, A Joyful Christmas, shows off his range. The album commences with the meditative piano number, “Celebration,” before giving way to the gospel-tinged “Hallelujah, I Believe,” a tune that features soulful vocals courtesy of guest Leslie Odom. The contemplative “The Magic of Christmas” recalls George Winston, a guy who released a
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JIM BRICKMAN 8 P.M. SATURDAY, DEC. 16, STATE THEATRE, 1519 EUCLID AVE., 216-771-4444. TICKETS: $10-$75, PLAYHOUSESQUARE.ORG
number of Christmas albums during a lengthy career that dates back to the ’70s. Other guests include the rock act Five for Fighting and veteran actor/ singer Dick Van Dyke. “One of the things that’s happened over time is that there’s lots of original songs,” says Brickman. “As a songwriter, which is what I think of myself as more than a pianist, I started to write songs that are their own
| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
contemporary Christmas classics. There’s always a portion of original music. ‘Hallelujah’ is original. It’s an anthem made for choirs. That’s made for them. ‘Christmas Where You Are’ is a tribute for the troops. That’s the Five For Fighting duet. The aim is to be as eclectic as possible and give as much variety as possible, while keeping the through-line being my version. There’s a consistency in the tone but a variance of energy and emotional moments. I love the idea of
having Dick Van Dyke on the same album as Five for Fighting. You can still play it while you’re trimming the tree. Especially in a playlist world, it acts that way in some fashion.” “We’re Goin’ Caroling,” the jazzy tune that features Van Dyke, has a real swagger to it. Brickman says it was a thrill to collaborate with someone he’s admired for years. “The first movie I had ever went to, my grandmother took me to Mary Poppins, and I was enthralled,” says Brickman. “It had an impact, with the music and joy and just the energy of it. I was so enamored with Dick Van Dyke. I told my mom that I wanted to call him on the phone and tell him how much I liked his performance. My mom said I couldn’t. When I met him, I told him it only took me 50 years to get his number. It’s the only kind of song he could sing and have it be like that. It has to be nostalgic. Dick is 92. He sounds like he hasn’t aged at all. It was a perfect talk/singing song for him.” Brickman admits it’s a challenge to keep his Christmas tours fresh and exciting. “If you have a handful of hits that people want to hear, then some of it will be the same because the songs are the same,” says Brickman, who’s dubbed his current tour A Joyful Christmas. “People want to hear the hits. There’s a certain aspect that requires you play certain songs.” He says he varies the “tone and concepts” to make each tour unique. “A few years ago, the tour was called On a Winter’s Night,” he explains. “It felt like a time that was more reflective, and people were talking about the meaning of Christmas. This year, what’s missing is joy and happiness and fun and escape. I want the tone to be lighthearted and joyful. I don’t want anybody to think about anything. I want people to come and laugh and have fun and escape the chaos of the holiday season. Hopefully, it’s the antidote to the chaos.”
jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel
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| clevescene.com m | December 13 - 19, 2017
LIVEWIRE
all the live music you should see this week Photo by Alysse Gafkjen
WED
12/13
Sister Hazel/Noah Guthrie: Best known for catchy ’90s alt-rock radio single “All For You,” Sister Hazel has remained active to the present day. With a new album every other year or so, the Florida band has increasingly blended country influences into its laidback jangly folk rock. Tonight’s show will deliver the hits, no doubt (including, one hopes, stuff like “Happy” and “Change Your Mind”), while also keeping fans in touch with the newer material off 2016’s Lighter in the Dark. The latter is almost a full-on country album, though the classic Hazel vibe is well intact. Darius Rucker, of Hootie and the Blowfish renown, appears on “Karaoke Song.” (Eric Sandy) 7:30 p.m., $28 ADV, $32 DOS. Music Box Supper Club. 10 X 3 Singer Songwriter Showcase hosted by Brent Kirby: 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Lunchroom Heroes/BKA Watts/B. jones/Crazy8thegreat/R The Czar: 8:30 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Grog Shop. Milo/Scallops Hotel/s.al: 8:30 p.m., $13. Beachland Tavern. SWMRS/The Interrupters/The Regrettes: 6:30 p.m., $15 ADV, $18 DOS. Agora Ballroom. SZA/Smino/Ravyn Lenze: 7 p.m., $25-$35. House of Blues. Tri-C Jazz Workshop: 7 p.m., $5. Nighttown. Scott Tixier With Walter Kemp: 8 p.m., $15. Bop Stop.
THU
12/14
98° At Christmas: 7:30 p.m. Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park. Barlow/Biitchseat/Relaxer: 9 p.m., $10. Mahall’s 20 Lanes. Mike Doughty: 7:30 p.m., $20 ADV, $25 DOS. Music Box Supper Club. Chris Hatton’s Musical Circus (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Jam Night with the Bad Boys of Blues: 9 p.m., free. Brothers Lounge. Mapache: 9 p.m., $5. Now That’s Class. Matisyahu/Common Kings/ Orphans: 8 p.m., $27.50 ADV, $32.50 DOS. House of Blues. Michael Ode Sextet Tribute to Tony Williams: 8 p.m., $10. Nighttown.
Country music icon Marty Stuart plays House of Blues. See: Friday.
Roots of a Rebellion/Vanishing Apollo: 9 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Beachland Tavern. Mark Russo Quintet: Tribute To Horace Silver: 7 p.m., $12. Bop Stop. Unsane/Bigibrave/Child Bite: 9 p.m., $12 ADV, $14 DOS. Grog Shop. The Weak Days/Caving/Sarah Arafat/Night In/Social Hostages: 7 p.m., $10. Mahall’s 20 Lanes.
FRI
12/15
Lil Pump: Rapper Lil Pump is that 17-year-old who has no problem giving the middle finger to authority. He’s now in hot water with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for allegedly filming a music video at an area Catholic school without permission. The video, featuring an actual tiger and plenty of references to underage drinking, is for the south Florida artist’s huge hit, “Gucci Gang.” As heard on his self-titled mixtape, which came out this fall and features big rappers like Gucci Mane and 2 Chainz, the party song is currently in the Top 5 on the Billboard charts and fits right in with the slew of mumble rap singles so hot right now with the kids. Lil Pump, who only started releasing music on SoundCloud last year, rolls into the Agora Theatre tonight. Expect his tune “D Rose” to get a fine reaction from Cavs fans in the audience. (Laura Morrison) 7 p.m., $27 ADV, $30 DOS. The Agora Theatre. Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives: With his latest tour, country singer-songwriter Marty Stuart will finally play his way out of the woods. He’ll land at House of Blues tonight for an intimate show
in support of Way Out West, his newest record. The tour represents the culmination of a vision Stuart had when he first assembled the Fabulous Superlatives, his backing band. By playing small, off-thecircuit cities, Stuart has found cultures and causes to represent, knowing that eventually he’d bring the band back to the mainstream. Way Out West finds Stuart, long a student and advocate of country music history, continuing to dig through the layers of the genre, his way of helping to keep alive a form of music that he views as an endangered species. It’s part of what has been an ongoing process for the veteran artist, who has spent the past decade working in earnest on a series of themed projects. (Matt Wardlaw) 8 p.m., $25 ADV, $25 DOS. House of Blues. Petula Clark: 8 p.m., $49-$65. The Kent Stage. Daddy Longleg’s Homegrown Revival CD Release Show/Root Shock: 9 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Beachland Tavern. The Dandelion Moon/The Dorian Walker Experience/ MagneticWest: 9 p.m., $5. Beachland Tavern. Digitour Winter: 6:30 p.m., $25. Musica. Glenn Holmes Quartet: 8 p.m., $12. Bop Stop. In Training and Heaven is in You Present: DJ Python/Black Noise/ Adab/ Father of Two: 9 p.m., $8. Now That’s Class. Jazz Jam Session: 11 p.m., free. Bop Stop. McCafferty/Heart Attack Man/ Runaway Brother/Jetty Bones: 8 p.m., $12 ADV, $14 DOS. Grog Shop. Night Ranger: 8 p.m. Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park. The Schwartz Brothers/Myth &
Company: 8 p.m., $7. Beachland Ballroom. Sinatra CLE (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Moss Stanley: 10:30 p.m., free. Nighttown. Steely Dan Tribute by The FM Project (in the Supper Club): 8 p.m., $12 ADV, $15 DOS. Music Box Supper Club. That 80s Band: 9:30 p.m., $5. Brothers Lounge. Umojah Nation: 10 p.m., $5. Musica. Window Dogs/The Waves/The Skies Above Us/Hello,Bandit: 8:30 p.m., $15. Mahall’s 20 Lanes.
SAT
12/16
Jim Brickman: A Joyful Christmas: 8 p.m., $10-$75. State Theatre. Extra Medium Pony/Aunteater/ Heavenly Creatures: 9 p.m., $5. Happy Dog. First Snow: Trans Siberian Orchestra Tribute: 8 p.m., $7-$15. The Kent Stage. Hubbs Holiday Groove Celebration: 8 p.m., $20. Bop Stop. Madison Crawl (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Sonny Moorman Group (in the Supper Club): 8 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Music Box Supper Club. Motives/Wild Dirt & The All Purple Everything/Dead Fall/ Fake News/Puppy Love/ Coldswell: 7 p.m., $10. Mahall’s 20 Lanes. Nathan James & the Scarlet Thread/Left & Leaving, Before There Was Fire, Glendale, Groundstate, Funeral Proposals: 7 p.m., $10. Mahall’s 20 Lanes. Ohio City Singers/Alexis Antes: 8 p.m., $18 ADV, $20 DOS. House of Blues. Say Anything/Radar State/ Backwards Dancer: 8:30 p.m., $25 ADV, $29 DOS. Beachland Ballroom. Spazmatics: 9:30 p.m., $5. Brothers Lounge. Super Awesome Macho/Just Shy Of/Murphy’s Children: 9 p.m., free. Now That’s Class. Jackie Warren: 10:30 p.m., free. Nighttown. Helen Welch Holiday Show: 8:30 p.m., $20. Nighttown. The Whiskey Charmers/AJ & The Woods: 9 p.m., $5. The Euclid Tavern. Whiskey Daredevils/45 Spider: 9:30 p.m., $8. Grog Shop. Winter Warmup with Minnesota/ | clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
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| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
LIVEWIRE Psymbionic/Unlike/Pluto/Wuki: 9 p.m., $20. The Agora Theatre. Neil Zaza’s One Silent Night: 8 p.m. Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park.
SUN
12/17
“ Rainy days seem to wind up sunny”
at Margaritaville
Darklighter/Jul Big Green/Shawn Brewster: 8 p.m., $10. Grog Shop. Frank & Friends Together Again: 7 p.m., $25-$35. The Kent Stage. The Gospel Music Historical Society Presents An Evening Of Christmas Music: 6 p.m., $15. Bop Stop. Mike Petrone (in the Wine Bar): 5:30 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Plaque Marks/Ancient VVisdom/ We Live by Night/Goosed: 8 p.m., $8. Now That’s Class. Ron Zehel Guitar Center Christmas Concert (in the Supper Club): 5 p.m., free. Music Box Supper Club. Bill Rudman’s Christmas Cabaret: 7 p.m., $30-$35. Nighttown. Say Anything/Radar State/ Backwards Dancer: 7:30 p.m., $25 ADV, $29 DOS. Beachland Ballroom. Slingshot Dakota/People Like You/ Us and Us Only (in the Locker Room): 7 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Mahall’s 20 Lanes.
MON
12/18
Skatch Anderssen Big Band: 8 p.m., $7. Brothers Lounge. Bill Rudman’s Christmas Cabaret: 7 p.m., $30-$35. Nighttown. Shit Show Karaoke: 10 p.m. B-Side Liquor Lounge & Arcade. Velvet Voyage (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge.
TUE
WWW.MARGARITAVILLECLEVELAND.COM • (216) 615.8855
12/19
The Dead Licks/The Things with Feathers/The Vital Organs: 8 p.m., $7 ADV, $10 DOS. Grog Shop. Billy Galewood: 8 p.m., $15. Beachland Tavern. Sands Hearn (in the Wine Bar): 7 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Liz Huff & Friends: 7 p.m., $15. Nighttown.
scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene
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| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
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PETULA CLARK By Jeff Niesel Photo courtesy of the Bloom Effect PR
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Saturday, Jan. 27
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| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
NOT A NORMAL CHILDHOOD: Born in England in the 1930s, Petula Clark originally sang in her church choir. “The ďŹ rst time I sung in front of an audience was in front of a congregation in Wales,â€? says the 85-year-old singer. “I had never sung in front of an audience. It was a great honor to do a solo.â€? Then, during World War II, the actress and singer entertained the troops. “We’re talking about a very different time,â€? she explains. “We had the war and they were dropping bombs on us. We would arrive at the camp. We never knew where we were. We would do our show and go home. We loved it. It was a very strange kind of life, I suppose. I don’t really know what a normal childhood is.â€? A BIG BREAKTHROUGH: Clark recorded a number of hits throughout the ’50s and would go on to release her signature song, the orchestral pop tune “Downtown,â€? in 1965. Producer and collaborator Tony Hatch played her a working version of the tune that she liked. After she recorded it, she didn’t have any sense that it would become a smash hit. “Tony simply came to Paris to visit me and talk about the next French session,â€? says Clark. “He was writing this song. He said it had a title, but it wasn’t done yet. He played it for me on piano. I really liked it, but even when we made it and recorded it, we only knew we had a very good record, but we had no idea it would become as big of a hit as it became.â€? FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME: Clark’s current tour across the States, which
includes a show at the Kent Stage, represents her ďŹ rst-ever extensive U.S. tour. “It sounds strange,â€? she admits. “When I ďŹ rst came over here, I had this huge career going for me in Europe, and I had two small children. I couldn’t do everything, so a tour was out of the question. I did concerts here and there, and I did Vegas and stuff like that, but it’s been great to ďŹ nally tour the States. It’s been really fun so far.â€?
WHY YOU SHOULD HEAR HER: “Living for Today,â€? the moody title track from her latest album, ďŹ nds her speaking as much as singing. “All that really matters is from now,â€? she sings prior to a shimmering guitar solo. “I think the song came to me on a journey,â€? she says when asked what inspired the tune. “I co-wrote it with my musical director. We recorded it in his living room. It was one of those deals. We were just having fun with it. I performed it on stage and people immediately loved it. I thought that was good. I don’t like to get too involved with politics in general. It’s more about making the most of every day.â€? The lush “Rainbowâ€? represents her ďŹ rst collaboration with Hatch in years, and Clark capably covers Steve Winwood’s “While You See a Chance,â€? Peggy Lee’s “Feverâ€? and the Beatles’ “Blackbird.â€? WHERE YOU CAN HEAR HER: petulaclark.net. WHERE YOU CAN SEE HER: Petula Clark performs at 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 15, at the Kent Stage.
jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel
Photo by Bill Peters * 5 $ 1 , 7 ( 7 , / ( 0 $ 6 2 1 5< & $ 5 3 ( 1 7 5<.
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Fans packed the Beachland for the annual Cleveland Metal Holiday Food Drive.
A WORTHY CAUSE
Fri., Dec. 15
By Jeff Niesel LAST YEAR’S CLEVELAND Metal Holiday Food Drive, an annual event organized by Auburn Records owner and WJCU DJ Bill Peters, set records in terms of how much food and money it generated for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and Friends of the Cleveland Kennel. This year’s event, which took place on Dec. 2 at the Beachland Ballroom, drew an even bigger crowd and produced even more food and revenue. Four vans and trucks hauled away some 8,833 pounds of food, and cash donations came to $10,124.80. Headliners Night Demon, who recorded a live album during the event, donated $400 from their merch sales. “For once in my life it’s difficult for me to articulate and put into words my feelings on paper, but I will do my best here,” says Night Demon’s Jarvis Leatherby in a press statement regarding the band’s participation. “When the idea of doing a live album came up, many people close to us thought it would be best to execute this in areas such as Europe, Latin America or South America due to the obvious fact that these are the places that are
Petula Clark
hotbeds for the band, and have the most dedicated fans per capita in a concentrated area. However, in our minds we already knew where this performance needed to take place — Cleveland, Ohio.” He recalls the band’s first show in Ohio and says he was shocked that fans knew the words to their songs. “After the show, we talked with fans who told us about this guy Bill Peters who had been playing our debut EP on his Metal on Metal radio show for the previous year and was the reason all of them got turned on to the band,” says Leatherby. “A lot of them thought we were an English band, purely based on our sound. When the reality is that we were just hard working struggling Americans just like they were. When I was a kid and heard Kiss’ Detroit Rock City, I was fascinated by a place that they described as the heart and soul of the band’s ideology. It’s safe for me to say now that my band has its own place for that now, and it’s there in the blue collar hearts on the shores of Lake Erie.”
jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel
The Empty Pockets
Frank and Dean Together Again
First Snow Sat., Dec. 16
Sun., Dec. 17
Uriah Heep
Bret Renst
Thu., Dec. 21
with Special Guest: Chad Zumock Sat., Dec. 23
Sat., Mar. 3
Texas Troubadours
No Sleep Podcast
Dawn of the Dreggs Tour
Sun., Mar. 4
The Dixie Dreggs
Sat., Mar. 10
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Brian Henke
& Michael Kelsey Fri., Apr. 20 ALL SHOWS AT THE KENT STAGE UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED Tickets available at www.kentstage.org or 877-987-6487 GMK [w cw i {{ © a{ B e~ JJHJF | clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
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| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
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| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
SAVAGE LOVE NEURODIVERSE By Dan Savage Dear Dan, As a 36-year-old straight woman with autism, I am often misidentified as lesbian because my social signaling must read as masculine. I am not bothered by this. However, it is annoying when someone who should know better thinks I would hide it if I were LGBTQ. I’m very direct and honest — sometimes to my detriment — and the idea that I would hide something so fundamental about myself is abhorrent to me. I don’t consider myself disabled; I am different than most people but not broken. But as a person with a diagnosed “disability” that includes an inability to accurately read and display social cues, I know that a person’s perception of your sexual orientation is definitely affected by social signaling. I enjoy your podcast and I feel like I am educating myself about how neurotypical people think. But I wish there was as good a source of advice for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). I have been searching, but a lot of the advice for people with ASD is written by people who are not on the spectrum and focuses on passing for neurotypical. — Not Disabled, Not Lesbian, Not Typical I shared your letter with Steve Silberman, the award-winning author of The New York Times best seller NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, NDNLNT. I really have nothing to add to his response — your question is outside my supposed areas of quasi-expertise — so I’m going to let Steve take it from here. “I’m not surprised to hear that NDNLNT is more annoyed by people thinking she’s in the closet than by them misidentifying her as gay. In my experience, a passionate concern for social justice — and compassion for other stigmatized and marginalized people — is so common among folks on the spectrum that it’s practically diagnostic.
Furthermore, there seems to be an interesting overlap between being autistic and having a nonstandard gender identity — whether you define yourself as gay, bi, trans, straight but not cis, or nonbinary. “My autistic friends share NDNLNT’s concern about the lack of good resources for autistic people who want to learn more about the nuances of sex, dating, and gender identity. As she points out, many of the advice books written specifically for people on the spectrum take the approach that the route to success in this arena involves acting as much like a neurotypical as possible, which just adds stress to an already stressful situation. They also tend to be tediously heteronormative and drearily vanilla-centric. “But there are exceptions. My autistic friends recommend Life and Love: Positive Strategies for Autistic Adults by Zosia Zaks, The Aspie Girl’s Guide to Being Safe with Men by Debi Brown, and the anthology What Every Autistic Girl Wishes Her Parents Knew edited by Emily Paige Ballou, Kristina Thomas, and Sharon daVanport. While not autismspecific, The Ultimate Guide to Sex and Disability also comes highly recommended. My favorite autism blog, Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism, runs frank and fascinating pieces like ‘Autism and Orgasm.’ Another place to look for useful advice is in presentations by autistic self-advocates like Lindsey Nebeker, Stephen Mark Shore, and Amy Gravino (whose TEDx talk ‘Why Autism Is Sexier Than You Think It Is’ is on YouTube).” Dan here: Thank you so much, Steve. And to everyone else: There’s more about Steve and his work at his website (stevesilberman. com), and I strongly recommend following him on Twitter (@ stevesilberman), where he daily battles Republicanism, ignorance, and hatred. (I’m sorry, was that redundant?)
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| clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
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'//$ #2%$)4 s "!$ #2%$)4 s "!.+2504#9 | clevescene.com | December 13 - 19, 2017
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